Cloning EP (or custom) content with CTU (and S3PE)

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#1

28th Jul 2010 at 3:54 PM

Cloning EP (or custom) content with CTU (and S3PE)

Tutorial:Cloning EP content with CTU^wiki

It's amazing what you can do in a morning, aside from forgetting to have lunch. Comments, questions etc all welcome.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.

emhpb

Instructor

#2

29th Jul 2010 at 11:17 PM

YES! Thank you for this! I haven't read it yet, but it should help me a LOT on my CC adventures. :D

Cocomama

Inventor

#3

30th Jul 2010 at 10:38 AM

Great work, another very nice tutorial Whiterider !!

If you have a copy of all the fullbuilds in My Documents, and always open that with S3PE to extract files from, there should be no conflicts because CTU uses the fullbuilds in the Program files.
I really love the way you have explained it all, now its also easy to extract the base meshes with CTU.

I have not succesfully made new textures for an expansion mesh yet, but that probably is something I did wrong.

Maybe you could add a bit about that, and what you can and can not do with the new package at the end of your tutorial?

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#4

31st Jul 2010 at 12:18 PM

Yes, that's a good point about having copies of the fullbuild files - I'll add that later.

Well, as far as I know, you should be able to do anything with the file that you could with a normal basegame-cloned file - although I haven't actually tried much beyond a simple texture replacement, so there may be stuff I've overlooked.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.

jilliebee22

Test Subject

#5

4th Aug 2010 at 9:17 AM Last edited by jilliebee22 : 4th Aug 2010 at 9:30 AM.

This is a great tutorial! It was really easy to follow. And you saved me! Thank you soo much!

EDIT:

I'm having a problem with the custom mesh. It doesn't show my texture. I tried it on a CAS mesh and it shows up fine. But when I put it on the custom mesh it doesn't show up.

Kiara24

Theorist

#6

5th Aug 2010 at 2:54 PM

Great tutorial! Thanks!

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#7

10th Aug 2010 at 5:50 PM

jilliebee22, does the texture work in the CTU preview? If not, what do you get - no texture, the old texture, something else?

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.

GnatGoSplat

Theorist

#8

9th Nov 2010 at 9:14 PM

I've been trying to follow along with the Wiki, but I'm not sure what this is supposed to do. Is it supposed to make EP items show up in CTU? I'm using the most recent CTU and have added all the Fullbuild*.package files as shown, but the EP items don't show up in CTU. I'm thinking maybe I've misunderstood something, because the next step of having to manually dig for the meshes in the Fullbuild*.package files in S3PE kind of implies they can't be extracted by CTU. I guess I'm just all around confused!

Resident wet blanket.

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#9

28th Nov 2010 at 12:00 AM

No. This tutorial covers how to clone EP or custom content manually - it doesn't make the content show up in CTU. Adding the FullBuild files to the options in CTU is to enable CTU to load the mesh and textures in the preview.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.

tonya3507

Test Subject

#10

11th Aug 2011 at 1:17 AM

Re-categorization causing game slowdown?

Thanks for the awesome tutorial!
I tried to change categories for custom package files (not sims3pack) after I read your tutorial. Opened my file with CTU and changed the category for the clothes and commit save. The thing is it awfully slowed down my game loading...
Did I do something wrong? No one seems to have this kind of problem..

sushirice25

Test Subject

#11

13th Nov 2011 at 6:42 AM

This is working...so far. When I try to export my package, it only gives me the option to open, so I can't save my file. Help, please?

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#12

13th Nov 2011 at 10:34 AM

You're exporting from S3PE, I take it? Once you've typed a filename, you should be able to hit Open or Save or whatever the button says and have it work.

Also, this method may well not be the quickest and easiest any more, as S3OC can now clone CAS content.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.

sushirice25

Test Subject

#13

14th Nov 2011 at 2:07 AM

Oh. Junior moment. I forgot to add a filename. I feel stupid. Thanks though!

poppyberry

Test Subject

#14

17th Nov 2011 at 8:41 PM

woohoo! I read instructions and it works! Thanks so much for this tutorial! I had a bit of a problem with the same thing sushirice25 had.

poppyberry

Test Subject

#15

21st Jan 2012 at 10:59 AM

I have just had a message that the new tshirts I have made using this method have made the star tshirt in generations go missing. Is there any way to fix this? Thanks.

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#16

21st Jan 2012 at 11:51 AM

Something went wrong with step 3.3 - when you were changing the Instance. Redo that bit.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.

poppyberry

Test Subject

#17

21st Jan 2012 at 11:16 PM

Would I be able to amend the files I have made or should I redo them altogether?

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#18

21st Jan 2012 at 11:18 PM

You don't need to start again, just use the files you already have.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.

poppyberry

Test Subject

#19

23rd Jan 2012 at 9:09 AM

Thanks for your help! I was able to find the incorrect file, I think I had just missed the step where you give it the new number thingy, everything is fine now and only one file was bad.

random.person

Lab Assistant

#20

16th Feb 2012 at 7:46 AM

Thanks so much for this tutorial <3

I'm going to make all toddlers and childrens clothing, hair and other things available for both sexes, so since I'm not actually going to be changing how they look, would there be any point in making them non default replacements?

poppyberry

Test Subject

#21

1st Mar 2012 at 5:58 PM

Just made some clones of the teen generations scoop neck tshirt. However they all still have the silly star logo on them, anyone know if it can be removed and if so how?

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#22

1st Mar 2012 at 8:04 PM

poppyberry, in CTU, go to Designs, pick whichever design has the stencil on it; then under the Stencils tab, make sure all the dropdowns are set to None. Commit and save.

random.person, well, kinda depends how you look at it

. If you're not changing anything, then you can do it either way - a default replacement is neater, but a non-default can't ever conflict with anything.
Either way, I would suggest changing the gender flags in S3PE - you don't need to use CTU at all for something so small.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.

poppyberry

Test Subject

#23

1st Mar 2012 at 8:35 PM

Quote: Originally posted by whiterider

poppyberry, in CTU, go to Designs, pick whichever design has the stencil on it; then under the Stencils tab, make sure all the dropdowns are set to None. Commit and save.

random.person, well, kinda depends how you look at it

. If you're not changing anything, then you can do it either way - a default replacement is neater, but a non-default can't ever conflict with anything.
Either way, I would suggest changing the gender flags in S3PE - you don't need to use CTU at all for something so small.

Thank you. I just checked and it does show all at none already and I never chose a stencil one, but it has the stencil/logo in game

Nysha

Née whiterider

retired moderator

Original Poster

#24