TS2 to TS3 Object Conversion Tutorial - 2026 Edition

This tutorial is aimed to be a starting point for anyone who wishes to convert TS2 objects to TS3, since the few tutorials on the subject are quite outdated.
I’ll be converting the “Inner Atmos End Table” from TS2 Pets as an example in this tutorial.



Disclaimer #1: The workflow I’m showing in this tutorial is what works for me after collecting tips and reading tutorials of other creators, and by no means is it the “right way” to make a conversion.
I myself am still learning a lot with my CC creation journey.
This workflow is a base you’re more than welcome to modify for your needs and methods.

Disclaimer #2: This tutorial isn’t for complete beginners. You’d need to know the basics of 3D meshing, texture editing for TS3 and the basics of using TSRW.

You can refer to The Sims 3 Tutorial Hub on Tumblr for resources and tutorials. This blog is so helpful and has helped me a lot as a beginner.
Also, you can join the TS3 Creators Cave discord server. This server is really helpful!

Programs needed:

1. SimPE (I’m using version 0.75.69)
2. S3PE
3. S3OC (Optional, you can also clone directly from TSRW)
4. TSRW (I’m using version 2.0.86.0)
5. Blender (I’m using version 4.2, but you can use any version you prefer)
6. Milkshape
7. Photoshop (Or any image editing software that supports alpha channels and can handle DDS files)

Project Preparations:

Every CC project starts with creating a folder.
Create a new folder with a name you’ll remember (I usually name the folder after the object I’m converting).
Inside the folder, create two subfolders - TS2 Ref & TS3 Ref.

TS2 Ref - The files you’re going to extract from SimPE will go here.
TS3 Ref - The files you’re going to extract from TSRW will go here.
After creating all the needed folders, I usually also create a notepad file and name it “Details”, I’ll paste there the Sims 2 object name, description and price from SimPE.

Right now, your folder should look like this:



01. Extracting data from SimPE:

Boot up SimPE and launch the Object Workshop (I have Advanced mode enabled, you don’t need to enable it for this tutorial).
Click “Start” and the workshop will load all the objects in the game files.



After all the objects have finished loading, you should see the categories window.



For this tutorial, I’ll be looking for the end tables (Found in Surfaces > Endtable) and choosing the object I want to convert.
In this window, you can also see the price, so I usually write it down in the notepad file I created.



After selecting the object, click “Next” and you should be met with this window:



Make sure your settings match the ones in the picture (If you don’t want to copy the original name and description, you can uncheck “Change Description”).

Click “Next” again and you’ll see this window:



Copy the name and description to the notepad file and click “Finish”. SimPE would prompt this window:



Since we’re not making TS2 CC, you can just click “OK” and save your package file to the “TS2 Ref” folder.
Still in SimPE, change from the “Object Workshop” tab to the “Plugin View” tab and select the “Geometric Data Container” tab in the resources tree.



In the resource list window, select the file that contains the 3D model.

Now you might be asking - But how do I know which file is the right one?

And the answer is to select each file and check it in the Plugin View window.
What we’re looking for are names that make sense that they’re part of the 3D model.

For example, the first file in the list looks like this:




From the names in the Plugin View, we can understand that this is all the shadow data, which we don’t need, so let’s move on to the next file.



Here we can see the names describe parts of the table, which means those are the parts we’re looking for.
You can also click the “Preview” button to display the 3D model. (It is really helpful with more complicated objects like counters.)
If you start to check / uncheck parts and click “Preview” again, you’ll also have a better understanding of what each part is and if you need to export it.

Now that we have found the 3D model, make sure all the needed parts are checked and click “Export”. SimPE will export it as an .obj file.
Save the exported model to the “TS2 Ref” folder.

After exporting the 3D model, we’re moving on to the texture files.
In the resources tree, select the “Texture Image” tab.
You can preview the textures by selecting each texture and seeing it in the Plugin View window.

Note: TS2 can have multiple textures for each part of the object since CASt wasn’t a thing.
In this case, we have a separate texture for the legs.
For such a minor part that doesn’t have details we need to take into consideration, we can skip it or export it just for the color reference later on when we’ll make the presets in TSRW.

Select each texture if you want to copy all the swatches to TS3, make sure it’s on the highest resolution, and export it to the “TS2 Ref” folder.



Congrats! You successfully extracted all the needed data from SimPE!

Brief explanation about TS2 textures:

Since TS2 didn’t have the create a style tool like TS3 does, the UVs and textures are mirrored, which means it’ll create an uneven pattern if we put it unedited in TS3.
You can export the textures and just make an unrecolorable object with the original swatches, but I prefer to do this extra step of editing the UV and re-bake the texture so it’ll be compatible with CASt.

I do export the original textures as a reference for the color presets and details I need to repaint in Photoshop, and in cases when I’m going to have an overlay (like a wardrobe with toys on top of it).
It is a more tedious progress but it ensures you’ll have a clean multiplier and make the item CAStable.

My TS4 Get Together Closets conversion is a good reference (TS2 and TS4 work on a similar logic about texturing).
I did the extra step of remapping and re-painting the multiplier.

The original texture:



The edited texture:



I redid the UV map and baked a new multiplier, then in Photoshop I repainted the needed details, such as shadows and highlights and the result is a clean multiplier that can take advantage of CASt and all its patterns.

02. Creating TS3 package file:

After we close SimPE, we’re going to boot up S3OC.

Note about this step:

As I mentioned in the beginning, this step is completely optional.
If you wish to skip it, go down to the “Creating a TSRW project file” step.

When creating an object for TS3, always clone a game object that is similar to the object you’re making.
In our case, we’re going to clone an end table.

In S3OC click “Tools” at the topbar and select “Search”, you should see this window:



Type “end table” in the search bar and check those settings:

Where to search: Check everything (except “Include custom content”).
Kind of object: Normal object

Click search and wait for the program to finish loading. You should see this long list now:



Select the “TableEndModern” and click Clone or Fix.

You should see this window now:



I usually check the “Create missing string tables” option and leave “Deep clone” and “Include thumbnails” unchecked.
I’m also pasting the name, description and price I saved in my notepad file.
Make sure “Renumber/rename internally” is checked and give your package a name.

I usually name mine like this: Crystal-S2toS3_Inner_Atmos_End_Table

So yours should be: Creator_Name-S2toS3_Object_Name

As you can see, I have no spaces or special characters in my file name.
This naming method is better for the game’s loading time, especially if you have lots of CC in your Mods folder.

Once we checked that all the settings are okay, click the “Start” button and save the package to the main folder we created in the beginning.

We now have our base package file! Yay!

Now you might be asking - But why did we clone with S3OC instead of just booting up TSRW in the first place?

And the answer is that I don’t trust TSRW.
This program is glitchy and unstable and for my ease of mind, I prefer to clone via S3OC.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this tutorial, the S3OC step is completely optional, you can skip it if you prefer to clone directly from TSRW.

03. Creating TSRW project file:

At this point we have our TS2 reference files and TS3 package file if you cloned it with S3OC.

Time to create the project file for our object!



In TSRW, click on “Create New Project”.
If you cloned your package file with S3OC click on “New Import”.
If you skipped this step, click on “Object” to clone the modern end table.



On the “Project Details” dialogue, I usually only write the project name and leave the object name and description empty since I already put this info in S3OC.
In case you’re cloning with TSRW, put the name and description in this dialogue.

Click “Next” and then “OK”.
Before doing anything in the program click File -> Save and the save the project file to the main folder of your project.

As I mentioned, TSRW is a really unstable program, it can crash at any second and it’s best to save often.

Additional step for those who cloned with S3OC, if you didn’t use S3OC you can skip it:

Go to Edit -> Project Contents, you’ll see a popup with all the resources of the package file.
Select all the resources (seriously, all of it, don’t leave a single resource unselected).

After selecting all the resources, right click and select “Remove”.
Click “Yes” on the warning that pops up.

You should have all the resources removed:



After removing all the resources, go to Import -> from .package and select the package file created with S3OC.

TSRW will say it imported all the resources successfully.
Don’t worry about the popup still being empty, it’s just a glitch. The next time you open the project contents, you’ll see everything again.

Click “OK” and we’re back in our project file.
Don’t forget to save after that!

Now you might be asking - Why do we need those extra steps?
Doing those steps makes it so that when we export the final package file, all the resources will have their names in S3PE and ensure TSRW will export the correct STBL resources for the object name and description.

04. Getting the needed TS3 files and removing unused presets:

After creating the project file, it’s time to get the object file for placement reference in Blender.
Also, we’re going to delete all the presets in the “Texture” tab expect the first one.

Why are we deleting all the presets? Because we don’t need them.
Once we import the new textures we’ll create new presets anyway.

After deleting all the unused presets, go to the “Mesh” tab and select “High level of detail” in the details dropdown.

You’ll see two groups - Group 0 is the drop shadow and Group 1 is the table.

Note: Not all TS3 objects have the first group as the shadow group, so it’s good to check it using the Material Editor.

To enter the editor, select the “Default Material” line in the group you want to check and click on the “...” that’ll appear.

If you see this in the editor, it means it’s the shadow group:



Only the High detail (LOD 0) will have a shadow group, the lower LODs don’t use it.
Now, after getting familiar with the Mesh tab a bit, it's time to export the mesh.

Click on the “Export” button, it’s the one with the red arrow.
We’re going to export twice - First export the wso file and save it in the “TS3 Ref” folder, we’ll use this file when we assign bones in Milkshape.

After saving the file, click on “Export” again, this time save it as an obj file in the “TS3 Ref” folder.
We’re going to use the obj file as a size and placement reference in Blender.



Also, back in the “Textures” tab check the size of the Muliplier texture.
You can check that by selecting the Multiplier, click “Edit” and see the image size on the footer.



Why are we checking the texture size? For performance.

As a CC creator, it’s good to keep in mind that not all simmers have the same PC specs as you, and even for your own game, don’t make it do extra work if there’s no need for it.

TS3 is a game from 2009 that can only use 4 GB of RAM.
Having lots of CC objects that use high resolution textures will increase lag and will cause the game to crash because it’ll reach its limit faster.

If an end table uses a 512 x 512 texture, there’s no reason to scale it to a 1024 x 1024 texture.

Of course it depends on the object, my rule of thumb is never go beyond 1024 px.
When I do use 1024, it’s either because I really need this extra space for a sharper texture or because EA uses it in the object I’m making (wardrobes for example use a 1024 texture).

After that, you can close TSRW for now.

05. It’s Blender time:

We have all the files we need, so it’s time to boot up Blender.
If you’re unfamiliar with Blender, there are lots of tutorials on YouTube that’ll show you the basics.

Simply search your Blender version + basics.
For example: Blender 4.2 basics tutorial

I recommend using Blender 3.6 if you’ll also want to create clothes in the future.
For making only objects, use Blender 4.x or Blender 5.x.

First, import your TS3 obj file, make sure “Split By Group” is selected in the import dialogue.

After importing, rename the collection to “TS3 Ref” for better organization.
After that, create a new collection folder in Blender and name it “TS2 Object” and import the obj file we exported from SimPE.

Don’t forget to save your project file!

Your project should look like this:



Now, uncheck the render option in the “TS3 Ref” collection folder, we don’t want Cycles to use it when we render the new Multiplier.



Also, an important thing about TS3 objects - Always keep the same group order and names!

If an object has 2 groups, keep it 2 groups.
Also always make sure you keep the shadow group the number it originally was, in our case, it’s Group 0.

Now, make sure the TS2 table is the correct size and placement according to our TS3 ref before hiding it, so we can edit our TS2 object.
I’m not going too much into details about how I edit the object since, as I mentioned, you should have the basics of using 3D software already.

But I’ll share my editing process briefly:

1. First, if the original TS3 object uses only one group for the actual object, I’ll join all the TS2 meshes into one mesh and rename it as “Group 1” or “Group 0” (depends on what the shadow group is).
2. I’ll enter edit mode, select the entire mesh and hit M -> Merge by distance.
   The reason I’m doing that is to remove all the doubles from the mesh to mark seams more easily for UV unwrapping (A good tutorial about UV unwrapping ).
3. I’ll mark sharp edges that need to be separated (usually it’s the same edges of the UV seams) and use a split edge modifier (uncheck the angle option in the modifier).
   The reason I’m doing it is because the final mesh I’ll import to TSRW should have the vertices separated where it’s needed in the mesh.
4. Duplicate the original shadow group and adjust the UV to match the object I’m converting (A tutorial about editing the shadow group ).

After doing the necessary editing, your project should look like this:



Now it’s time to bake the multiplier.
Create a new 512 x 512 black image texture for Group 1, your mesh will turn black, like in the picture.

To make sure you see the texture without having to switch to material mode, make sure your 3D preview is setup to texture:



Now time to bake the texture, make sure Group 0 is disabled for render so only Group 1 is enabled and go to the “Render” tab in Blender.

Change the render engine to Cycles, mine is set to GPU instead of CPU, since I have a strong GPU.
You can leave it on CPU if you prefer.
Uncheck “Noise Threshold” under the Render dropdown, set the bake type to Ambient Occlusion and margin to 3 px.



After changing all the needed settings, click on “Bake” and let Cycles render the image.



And we got our multiplier!

Go to Image -> Save As and export the baked image, also export the UV map.
We’ll edit the multiplier and other textures in Photoshop soon.

First, we need to create the LOD 1 mesh (Medium level of detail).
Duplicate Group 1 and rename it to - Group 0 MED.
The reason it’s Group 0 is that in LOD 1 the table only has one group.

Add the deciamte modifier and make sure it’s above the split edge modifier.
I usually set this modifier to 0.7.

Now that we have all the meshes, it’s time to export and get into Milkshape for bone assignments.

Select the LOD 0 groups (Group 0 & Group 1) and go to File -> Export obj.

Those are the settings in the export dialogue:



Make sure “Selection Only” and “Object Groups” are checked and export the mesh.
After that, select Group 0 MED and export it as well.

We’re done with Blender, congrats!

06. Assigning bones in Milkshape:

It’s Milkshape time (sadly).
We need Milkshape to assign the bones and export our mesh as a wso file that we will import to TSRW.

Boot up Milkshape and import the wso file we exported from TSRW.
The reason for importing it first is to have the bones in the “Joints” tab.



Most of the static EA objects use only one bone, which is named - 0xCD68F001.
Another name for it is the transform bone.

Even though the table doesn’t have any animation, you have to assign the transform bone to it, or the table will disappear in game.

Now take a look at the “Groups” tab, the way the groups are named and ordered in here must stay the same for export.



Import the LOD 0 mesh we exported from Blender:



Delete the original groups, rename the imported groups and re-order them to look the same as the original mesh.
Also, remove the materials from the “Materials” tab.

After reordering the groups, it’s time to assign the transform bone.
Select Group 1 from the list and click on “Select” under the groups list, your mesh will turn red.



Now go to the joints tab, select the transform bone from the list and click “assign”.
That’s it, your mesh is ready for export (do not assign bones to the shadow group).

Export as TSRW object and repeat those steps for LOD 1.
Don’t forget to give reasonable names to both meshes.
I called mine Table-HIGH and Table-MED.

Also don’t forget that LOD 1 only has Group 0.

07. Texturing Time:

After closing Milkshape it’s time to boot up Photoshop.

TS3 has 4 types of textures:

• Multiplier: Defines the values of the object, the base value is 50% gray (RGB 127, 127, 127).
  On this base value you build the shadows and highlights.
• Mask: There two types of masks, RGB & RGBA.
  RGBA is used when an object has 4 recolorable channels.
  The mask defines the recolorable areas of the object.
• Specular: A specular map defines how reflective the object will be in game.
  Justmiha97 has a good tutorial about specular maps .
• Overlay: An overlay texture overrides all the other textures, used for non-recolorable decals on the object.

I usually create all the needed textures in the same Photoshop file and separate each texture into groups.

Let’s start with the multiplier.
Open up the bake from Blender and also import the UV map we exported.



Hide the UV map, we imported it as a reference for when we’ll make the mask texture.

Add a solid background layer beneath the bake and use this hex code for it - #242424.

Now add an exposure adjustment layers above the bake later and clip mask it.
In the “Exposure” settings put in this value: -2.2

Now our bake is in the correct values for TS3.
Edit the bake as needed such as adding shadows and highlights and select all the layers and type ctrl + g on your keyboard, it’ll group all the selected layers together.

Rename the group to Multiplier.



Export it as DXT1 since it doesn’t use an alpha channel.

Next texture is the specular map.
According to the original TS2 object, only the legs got reflective light, so the specular should affect only this part of the mesh.




You can see I created a new group, called it “Specular” and deleted everything expects of the legs.
I then adjusted the values with an exposure adjustment layer and created an alpha channel with only the legs visible.
Export this as a DXT5, this is the DDS format that supports transparency.

Final texture is the mask.

Use Photoshop’s RGB swatches to get pure red, blue and green.
Red is the first channel, green is the second and blue is the third.
I’m going to make the table use all the 3 channels, use the UV map as a reference to see you’re placing the colors in the correct spots.

Before export go to the “Channels” tab and paint the alpha completely white and export as DXT1 again.



You can close the PSD file now but don’t close Photoshop yet, import the swatches you exported from SimPE in the beginning.

08. Back in TSRW for the final package:

We’re almost done!

If you reached this point in the tutorial, then congratulations!

With Photoshop still open with TS2 swatches, boot up TSRW again and open the project file, it’s time to import everything, edit slot placements, create the presets and export the final package file.

In TSRW, open the “Textures” tab and import all the new textures we created in Photoshop.
Don’t touch the overlay texture since this table doesn’t need an overlay.



Our table will look like this since the new textures only fit the UV map of the new mesh we made in Blender.

Go to the “Mesh” tab and import LOD 0 and LOD 1 that we exported from Milkshape and regenerate the sun shadows.



This looks much better!

Now, let’s return to the “Textures” tab, time to create the presets.
The way I do it is I pick a pattern that resembles the most the texture from TS2, color pick in Photoshop the swatch to copy its values and tweak a bit if needed.



Now it looks like the original object from TS2!

Add all the presets you want and edit the slots to fit the new table.
A video tutorial by Gruesim that explains how slots work and how to edit them.
After you’re done with editing the slots, go to Edit -> Project Contents -> Export -> to .package.
Rewrite the original package file we created with S3OC and you’re officially done!

Compress the package file using S3RC, put it in your Mods folder, test in game and that’s it!

Congratulations on your first TS2 to TS3 Conversion!



I also uploaded the project files so you can inspect them yourselves and use as a reference.

Good luck with your TS2 conversions!