Mod The Sims - XML Extractor for The Sims 4

Simmiller

Rabid Recoloring Renegade

retired moderator THANKS POST

#2

28th Aug 2015 at 7:23 AM

I know I will need this someday. Thank you!

coolspear1

Smeg Head

THANKS POST

#3

28th Aug 2015 at 7:33 AM

If anything is going to get me started on the modding trail again, it will be this. Nice one, scumbumbo.

heidi137

Forum Resident

THANKS POST

#4

28th Aug 2015 at 11:48 AM

Thank you so much for this program, I 'm going to last, it's great

DarkWalker

Lab Assistant

#5

28th Aug 2015 at 5:26 PM

Does anyone even use the 0x<group>!0x<instance>.0x<type> format that the game can natively read from outside .package files? I'm not sure I've seen anyone besides myself using it.
Not exactly a request to add it, mind; I have my own set of scripts to handle converting Sims 4-related file names, and they already handle the format you have used. It's more that I'm curious about whether other people make use of it or not.

egureh

Field Researcher

THANKS POST

#6

28th Aug 2015 at 5:59 PM

A must-have for modders! Thank you! :D

egureh

Field Researcher

#7

28th Aug 2015 at 6:34 PM Last edited by egureh : 28th Aug 2015 at 6:48 PM.

Hi scumbumbo, I am curious about how does this extractor choose string file.
I am using English version Windows 10, my Origin client setting and the language setting of TS4 are both en-US.
But I got a copy of Chinese strings after extracting... and all the string comments of xml files are in Chinese.
The only Chinese relevant setting I made to my system is Country and Region, which I set to China, will this affect the extractor?

Deaderpool

Mad Poster

THANKS POST

#8

29th Aug 2015 at 3:03 AM

Thanks! I'm sure I'll be making use of this! :)

scumbumbo

Deceased

Original Poster

#9

29th Aug 2015 at 3:16 AM

Quote: Originally posted by DarkWalker

Does anyone even use the 0x<group>!0x<instance>.0x<type> format that the game can natively read from outside .package files?

I'm familiar with that numbering but didn't realize it would work outside of a package file. I wonder if that format can be reloaded in game then like you can with a loose file script?

It would be easy enough for me to add that naming selection since it sounds like it could be useful. The next time I update the program that will be included.

scumbumbo

Deceased

Original Poster

#10

29th Aug 2015 at 3:27 AM

Quote: Originally posted by egureh

Hi scumbumbo, I am curious about how does this extractor choose string file.
I am using English version Windows 10, my Origin client setting and the language setting of TS4 are both en-US.
But I got a copy of Chinese strings after extracting... and all the string comments of xml files are in Chinese.
The only Chinese relevant setting I made to my system is Country and Region, which I set to China, will this affect the extractor?

Hmmm, interesting - you must have both the Chinese and English string packages? The program just looks for all of the Strings_*.package files and if a string hash is already in the index then it is ignored, so in the case of multiple string package files whichever of the filenames comes first would be the language the strings end up in. It doesn't look at the game settings at all.

I'll give it some thought about how best to alter that situation.

egureh

Field Researcher

#11

29th Aug 2015 at 4:05 AM

Quote: Originally posted by scumbumbo

Hmmm, interesting - you must have both the Chinese and English string packages? The program just looks for all of the Strings_*.package files and if a string hash is already in the index then it is ignored, so in the case of multiple string package files whichever of the filenames comes first would be the language the strings end up in. It doesn't look at the game settings at all.
I'll give it some thought about how best to alter that situation.

So I understand, I do have all the 17 language packages, and the program alphabetically reads Strings_CHT_CN.package first.
Yah, I try to delete other 16 string packages, leaving only Strings_ENG_US.package, and the extracting result is perfectly fine now.
Thank you! :D

scumbumbo

Deceased

Original Poster

#12

29th Aug 2015 at 4:10 AM

@DarkWalker - Regarding the 0x<group>!0x<instance>.0x<type> format, the files I'm seeing from EA that use this convention do not have a "0x" before the type, they just use 0x<group>!0x<instance>.<type>. I'm going to assume that the notation you originally typed is what works for you and include that 0x before type, but if that was a typo let me know and I'll fix that.

scumbumbo

Deceased

Original Poster

#13

29th Aug 2015 at 4:11 AM

Quote: Originally posted by egureh

So I understand, I do have all the 17 language packages, and the program alphabetically reads Strings_CHT_CN.package first.
Yah, I try to delete other 16 string packages, leaving only Strings_ENG_US.package, and the extracting result is perfectly fine now.
Thank you! :D

No worries, glad it's working for you now but I have a plan of attack already on a proper fix so you don't have to go through all that

ETA - @egureh - How did you get all the different string files like that? Would be useful for me for testing to be able to do the same. I'll Google it, but if you see this first....

egureh

Field Researcher

#14

29th Aug 2015 at 4:46 AM

Quote: Originally posted by scumbumbo

No worries, glad it's working for you now but I have a plan of attack already on a proper fix so you don't have to go through all that

ETA - @egureh - How did you get all the different string files like that? Would be useful for me for testing to be able to do the same. I'll Google it, but if you see this first....

Well the story is a bit long, thanks to EA we do not have Origin server in China mainland, the download speed in Origin client is kind of terrible.
So I use a sniffer tool to get the direct download link and download the game via a download tool, which could reach my max network speed.
And this will download the whole game as a zip file, ignoring language setting, so here we go, I got all the 17 string packages.
Anyway, as long as you purchased a world wild version, you could get the multilanguage zip file. Hmm, seems the story is not that long.

scumbumbo

Deceased

Original Poster

#15

29th Aug 2015 at 5:01 AM

Quote: Originally posted by egureh

Well the story is a bit long

Interesting

Sounds like more work than I need to do though. I was just curious how well the extract worked with the strings in a different language, and you've really answered that anyway - it sounds like that does work.

egureh

Field Researcher

#16

29th Aug 2015 at 5:05 AM

Quote: Originally posted by scumbumbo

Interesting

Sounds like more work than I need to do though. I was just curious how well the extract worked with the strings in a different language, and you've really answered that anyway - it sounds like that does work.

Yep, I guess if the program only reads Strings_ENG_US.package then there is no such problem.

scumbumbo

Deceased

Original Poster

#17

29th Aug 2015 at 5:15 AM

Quote: Originally posted by egureh

Yep, I guess if the program only reads Strings_ENG_US.package then there is no such problem.

The next version will scan the installed Strings_* packages at startup and give you a combobox to select which language package you want to extract the strings from.

With both that and the new file name pattern, I will probably get it posted ASAP, maybe later tonight yet.

egureh

Field Researcher

#18

29th Aug 2015 at 5:42 AM

Quote: Originally posted by scumbumbo

The next version will scan the installed Strings_* packages at startup and give you a combobox to select which language package you want to extract the strings from.
With both that and the new file name pattern, I will probably get it posted ASAP, maybe later tonight yet.

Sounds cool! :D

DarkWalker

Lab Assistant

#19

29th Aug 2015 at 7:17 AM

Quote: Originally posted by scumbumbo

@DarkWalker - Regarding the 0x<group>!0x<instance>.0x<type> format, the files I'm seeing from EA that use this convention do not have a "0x" before the type, they just use 0x<group>!0x<instance>.<type>. I'm going to assume that the notation you originally typed is what works for you and include that 0x before type, but if that was a typo let me know and I'll fix that.

Well, I've always used 0x before the type when representing it as a hex number, I didn't even know it could be left out.

It's possible, though, to use non-numeric types by adding them to the resources.cfg file, in which case the 0x should be left out; I do this for my personal use, as it makes finding the correct file to edit easier. I can provide instructions and examples later (when I'm not posting from my mobile) if you are interested.

scumbumbo

Deceased

Original Poster

#20