Dannimarie Builds

[dannimariebuilds]

Decided to create a whole separate tumblr to showcase my builds, recolors, and conversions. I will try to be WCIF friendly if I know where the item is from but check out my main tumblr page as I’m 99% sure i reblogged my friends.

My humble beginnings at @dannimariesims

[andallthatparalives]

Sims 4 -> Paralives Hair Conversion Tutorial

Do you want a specific hairstyle in Paralives? Selection too limited for you? I'm gonna show you how to convert any Sims 4 hairstyle to Paralives in 7 easy(ish) steps!

This tutorial requires you to have some basic knowledge of Blender, modelling, and texturing, so this is by no means a beginner tutorial- if you want that, I'd recommend checking out Paralives' wiki.gg modding guide!

You will need need to download Blender 4.2.4, the Human Rig, and the UV Layout from this page here. To export models and textures from TS4, you will need Sims 4 Studio. This tutorial also requires access to a painting or photo editing tool with layers, I'm using Clip Studio Paint.

Step 1: Pick your hair

Not every hairstyle will be a good fit! Since Sims and Paras don't have the same head shape, any hairstyle that shows the hairline or head will require a lot more work to shape it and remake the textures. For your first try I'd recommend a medium-length style with no hairline showing. I'm using Sienna's hair from Horse Ranch, which only has a bit of hairline on the right side of the head, to demonstrate.

Once you've picked the style, open Sims 4 Studio. Select "Create CAS Standalone" and hit "CAS." Select the grey or greyish white variant of the hairstyle you like, and create a dummy package (you can delete this later).

Now, under the Texture tab, make sure "Diffuse" is selected and export the texture. Name it something or place it somewhere so that you'll remember it's the original. Go to the Meshes tab and export the mesh.

Step 2: Prep The Hair

Open up your original hair mesh in Blender. It'll come with a bunch of crap you don't need, plus three files labelled s4studio_mesh_1-3. That's your hair mesh and the two hat chops. Shift+select those three files and export as FBX. Make sure you tick to limit to Selected Objects. Now you can open up HumanRig and import your hair FBX. Sims are bigger than Paras, so you can grab all three of them and scale them down in layout mode, I chose 0.85 in this project. There will be a weird cap attached to the hair- move the whole object so that it roughly lines up with the head (it doesn't have to be perfect!), paying careful attention to matching the ear position. This cap will be your hairline later. Make sure all your hat chops are all still aligned.

Once all of this is in place, apply all transforms and reset your origin to the 3D cursor. Do this any time you need to adjust it in layout mode!

Step 3: Remodel VERY CAREFULLY

Make sure all three meshes are still selected, and switch to edit mode. Any changes we make to one mesh should also be made to the other two. When you need to move a vertex, switch to X-ray mode and drag to select all overlapping vertices. Enable proportional editing to move larger areas smoothly. Since paras don't have the same head shape as sims, the skull cap won't match up perfectly- we want to approximate a smooth transition by burying the edge vertices in the head, but keep the rest visible so that the hairline shows up correctly. Be careful not to rip any vertices or create any differences between the three meshes. If you make a mistake, don't be afraid to restart. You should also fix any other issues at this stage- sims have huge foreheads, so my para's head was sticking straight out the top of this mesh, I used proportional editing to carefully lift it up.

Step 4: Fix your hat chops!

Hat chops are the alternate version of the hair that is shown when the character wears a hat. In both Paralives and TS4, there are straight and angled hat chops. Identify and label which is which. Under the HatStandards folder, there are a number of reference models we can use to check our work. For each chop, carefully move the vertices with proportional editing so that they match up with, but don't exceed, the "hair limit." With the angled chop, turn on the "HatStandardAngled" model to test if your hair is visible through it- if so, bring it closer to the head.

Step 5: Oh, Textures...

Textures are maybe the most annoying part of this. Load in your base texture as the Base Colour for the material your hair is using. Looks nice, right? Probably not very Paralives-y. Paralives uses a much flatter and more cartoony rendering style than TS4. To fix this, we're going to edit the texture. Now, regardless of what happens, you're going to have to edit the UVs at some point- I'll be doing it at the end and showing you how, but if you find it easier, skip to that step and go back here when you're done.

Here's a sample hair texture from the game and the hex codes it uses. We'll want to adjust the brightness of our texture to roughly match, that way it won't show up too bright or dark in game.

I have a clever strategy for this in Clip Studio. I make a rainbow gradient map, and adjust the colours until they match each zone.

Now that we're in a good colour range, I'm going to separate any important hairline details onto their own layer, lock transparency of the main "block," and start messing with it until it's a good base to draw on. I posterized it with 11 colour levels and then did a gaussian blur for a decent base. Then I went in with a brush to exaggerate and smooth out the shapes. The Paralives team uses a very blendy gradient with some fingertip pulls to make it look paintery, then some more defined shadows. I go in with my dark pencil to sharpen up the shadows and then blend out the other colours.

At this point, you can start saving your file and importing it to Blender. Check what it looks like and start making adjustments. If you find an issue, you can bring the model into Texture Paint mode, paint a dot on the offending piece, and see where the dot appeared on the map to quickly reference where the problem is.

The rest of the painting process is just art! Try replicating a texture from the game that's similar to your hairstyle.

Now that we're done with the fun part.... it's time for UV hell.

Step 6: Suffer

I've never met a single artist who enjoys doing UVs. Luckily, we don't have too much to do here.

Open up the UV editor and replace the background image with the Parafolks UV Layout we downloaded earlier. Now, switch to edit mode and grab all the vertices of your hair. Under the UV tab, select "Export UV Layout." Save the image using a name that indicates it's the original. Now grab that big box of vertices and move it to the right and down so that it lines up with the cyan box labelled "hair." Move the skullcap part up and align the ears. If your hair has extra textures hidden within the skull part of the head, you'll need to move these around to fit into the remaining space in the purple "head" zone. Once your UVs are finished, export them again, this time marking them as the new ones.

Okay, you survived that far. Now back to the image editing. Import both the original and new UVs to your texture file. Place the new UVs below your texture layer, the original UVs over it, and set the texture to a low opacity. With both the original UVs and texture selected, draw a selection box around your square of UVs, and move it to the bottom corner. Place it so that the UV lines match up exactly, pixel for pixel. Voila, now your texture matches the new UVs.

There's just the issue of the hairline (and, if you have them, any pieces hidden on the skull section). Sadly, there's no way around it, you're gonna have to do it manually. Grab each piece using the same method and the lasso tool, and line them up one by one. For hairlines that you had to manipulate, align as much as you can with the least stretched part of the uvs, and then cut, rotate, and stretch them into place. This is why I didn't paint the hairline during the last part. Now that it's in place, I paint it to match.

Step 7: Set up the mod!

Now that you're happy with your hair's model and textures, you can follow this official tutorial to skin it, create a mask, and set up the mod in-game. This Sienna haircut is not available on the workshop yet because uh.... well it's definitely not because I got lazy and didn't feel like skinning it today (the only thing worse than UVs is weight painting).

But now that you're done this tutorial, go forth! Be free! And steal assets from The Sims 4! Just remember to get permission before converting any other CC creators' work. And if you use this tutorial, please let me know! I need more hairstyles....

[dannimariebuilds]

Any old conversion I forgot I had in my backup folder when I was obsessed building an airport. Feel free to use in airport builds. Download for free on my patreon.

DOWNLOAD HERE

@alwaysfreecc

[thesimstree]

Clear Sims 4 Cache: Fix Lags, Errors & Slow Loading (Windows & macOS)

Sometimes The Sims 4 starts acting weird: little bugs pop up, thumbnails don't display right, and loading times get a bit longer than usual. These are all pretty normal signs that it's time to clear your game cache. Deleting temporary files is a good habit for any player – it helps keep things tidy and makes everything run a little smoother. Let's figure out together what cache is, why you need to clear it, and how to do it properly and safely.

What is cache and where does it come from?  

In The Sims 4, cache means temporary files and folders that the game creates to speed up loading, store thumbnails, save mod info, log errors, and handle various in-game processes.  

Every time you start or play the game, it generates or updates some of these files. Cache is there so the game “remembers” which thumbnails and objects you’ve used lately, finds things quickly, and saves certain settings and operational data.

The cache includes:  

— Images (thumbnails) of Sims, lots, and objects;  

— Temporary settings and launch data;  

— Working data from mods and scripts;  

— Logs about errors, crashes, memory limit overflows, etc.

Why do you need to clear the cache?  

If you don’t clear the cache regularly, it builds up old or corrupted data – which can lead to all sorts of problems:

Lags and long loading times because of excess or broken files;

Errors and crashes, especially after removing or updating mods or the game itself;

Wrong thumbnails showing: for example, an item is deleted but its thumbnail is still there;

Mod and script bugs due to leftover data;

Endless loading screens, crashes, or even corrupted saves;

Overall drop in performance.

This happens especially often if you use a lot of custom content or actively add/remove mods.

How often should you clear your cache?

1. After every game update.

2. Whenever you make changes to the Mods folder (adding, deleting, or updating mods).

3. If you notice weird bugs, really long loads, crashes, or errors.

How to clear Sims 4 cache (Windows and macOS)  

Step 1  

Exit the game. Never clear cache while the application is running.

Step 2  

Open The Sims 4 folder:  

Documents — Electronic Arts — The Sims 4

Step 3  

Delete the following files and folders (important – not all of the folders or files listed below will always be in your The Sims 4 folder, and that's totally normal):

General cache  

— cache (folder): holds temporary data (mostly image previews from the Gallery); this folder gets filled only while the game is running, so you can safely clear it between sessions  

— cachestr (folder): cache for script mods  

— onlinethumbnailcache (folder): thumbnails of Gallery items  

— avatarcache.package: used mainly to fix Gallery errors on Mac, but can grow quite large  

— localsimtexturecache.package: cache of composite sim textures (max size – 100 MB); deleting helps solve character display issues  

— localthumbcache.package: thumbnail file; it’s useful to delete this from time to time, and absolutely after adding, deleting or updating mods  

— UserData.lock: auxiliary or temporary service files, may pile up  

— ReticulatedSplinesView: auxiliary or temporary service files, may pile up  

— notify.glob: auxiliary or temporary service files, may pile up  

— ConnectionStatus.txt: auxiliary or temporary service files, may pile up  

Error logs  

— lastCrash.txt (all files)  

— lastException.txt (all files)  

— lastUIException.txt (all files)  

These log crashes and game errors. Most players don’t need these, but if you’re having constant errors you can show them on forums for troubleshooting. Old ones (with numbers) can always be deleted.

Auxiliary folders (delete only if empty)  

— ConfigOverride

— Recorded Videos  

— Screenshots  

Step 4 (optional)  

You can take it a step further and clear cache files built up by certain mods:  

— BE-ExceptionReport.html (all files)  

— BE-UIExceptionReport.html (all files)  

— WickedWhimsInfoLog.log / WonderfulWhimsInfoLog.log  

Important: Don’t delete the Saves, Tray, or Mods folders – these are your games and custom content.

Step 5  

Restart the game. Sims 4 will automatically recreate all the necessary files from scratch. You may need to re-enable mods and CC in the game settings after clearing the cache.

You can make it easier  

For players who want to cut down on the routine, there’s an automated solution – a Cleanup Script for Windows by @andirz-mods. This is a special one-click utility that automatically deletes all recommended temporary files and error logs, without touching your mods or save files.

It automates the cleanup, but you’ll need a Patreon subscription to the author for access.  

So, to make sure you can always tidy things up quickly on your own (without scripts or third-party programs), keep this guide handy:

🌱 Create your family tree with TheSimsTree

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[dannimariebuilds]

I just wanted some insulated walls for my rags to riches builds as they build their home. Download below at my patreon for free!

DOWNLOAD HERE

@alwaysfreecc

[aroundthesims]

ATS3 & ATS4 - Back online, but still not "updatable"

Everything is in the title! The server works, the sites are online, but I still have the FTP access problem that prevents me from uploading anything (the last two updates, then). But well, things are progressing!

[madebycoffee]

s'mores knowledge since this was something i needed to learn when I switched from an older version of blender to v 3.whatever I'm on.

So all my old files could be opened BUT the textures weren't loaded. Everything was grey like so:

It was indeed on the "texture" tab and yet, no textures to be found. I tried reloading the texutres in the UV editor, and some other things but alas no luck. Eventually I searched the right things to find a solution so here it is WEEE!! (under a cut b/c lotsa images)

Step 1: Click on the mesh of the texture you would like to replace.

Step 2: Go to the Materials tab.

Step 3: Click on 'Use Nodes' under the 'Surface' drop down menu.

Step 4: Click on the little dot next to Base Color

Can't take a screengrab of this, but a menu will pop up that has a bunch of options. Select 'Image Texture'

There will now be some extra things on it!

Step 5: Click the little photo that has the arrow next to it, and find your mesh's texture!

Step 6: Rejoice in the texture being back!

And then repeat for as many meshes as you might need to replace the texture of. :) If there's a faster way to do it I'd love to know, but this is how I managed to do it lol. It was necessary considering I have so so sO many meshes exported to pose around. And I don't want to just be staring at grey blobs u feel.

[luthsthings]

Sims modders/CC creators, this is for you...

PLEASE put your name in your filename. One, someone will have a clue who it's by when they go to find more by you or to finally organize their Mods folder. Two, you're less likely to end up with the exact same filename as another creator.

PLEASE put your name FIRST in your filename. Alphabetization is super useful. It's less useful to alphabetize by the cute name you gave that hair or set of chairs.

PLEASE, for the love of all things Sims, consider not only using your initials. My Mods folder now has three different creators whose files start "MM". There might be even more of you MM's out there.

This has been a public service announcement.

[hazelminesims]

for realllll!!

[peacheryy]

Happy black history month to all my black simmers, ily ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽

[jayveesim]

Friendly Reminder:

Save your tray files.

Saves you saves

Update your graphics card

Update your drivers

Delete your localcache file and cache in general

Get rid of those broken mods

Stop downloading CC for like 10 minutes you shopaholic.

Oh and drink your water, stretch, and actually sleep tonight. ♥

k love you bye!

[strangegrapefruit]

Alright. I need people to understand that cc creators can't please every one of you with the things they create. If someone creates something a certain way, then that's what it is

You might think that edit you're asking for is such a small thing, it really might be, but accepting your suggestion leads to other people also asking us to make changes & I think we're missing the point here. It's not a commission where you can get exactly what you want. It's a thing some dude made for his own characters the way he envisioned it & that's what you get. That's how my cc works

The reason I learned how to use blender in the first place was so I could edit things the way I wanted them. A creator doesn't have to make a new separate version of their cc because you don't like that 1 decorative ring on it, or because you want it for a different cas category. It takes one minute to edit it yourself

[beebeesiims]

I’ve been thinking about the colorism ask @neishroom got a couple days ago and like. I’m not even going to lie, that shit is part of the reason I stopped posting as much. I was sick of analyzing all of my generations to make sure my sims were black enough and being worried people would think I don’t care about my black sims if they married someone not black or were bad people (even if them being bad people is fucking EA canon or just a matter of perspective and lack of growth).

Why are we really out here putting this kind of pressure on black simmers like its not simmers out here with 7 generations of only white sims on their blogs.

[neishroom]

Colorism is a real thing that affects every aspect of social mobility and identity in many marginalized communities.. that being said telling a darkskin woman she must hate herself due to how she plays a game because you didn’t take the time to look through her blog… is questionable. Despite me having countless conversations about racial identity, identity politics, dark skinned sims and being open about my political ideologies btw.

I do agree with OP though, playing and posting this game as a black woman comes with a certain level of stress. Instead of enjoying your game and playing however you want, you constantly have to think about the social/moral implications of what you’re posting which isn’t inherently bad but can be suffocating when people pigeon hole you to certain standards. I’ve gone through similar thought processes of the optics of what if my black sim or sim of color marries xyz, what does that say? It’s a double edged sword, I think you should be aware of the optics of your gameplay but being hypercritical makes this game unenjoyable. Black people and POC have to be hyper critical over their portrayal to the point where if somebody feels you aren’t doing xyz enough, you automatically hate your skin, your race and ethnicity. If I was a white tumblr user this wouldn’t even be a topic of conversation. It’s tiring!

What I have to say to that is I don’t have to do shit but stay black and die. I’m already marginalized bitch what do you want from me?! but seriously though, post what you want, be mindful of optics to a certain degree and enjoy your game. :)

[cinamun]

Oh this is important! I remember awhile back when the conversation was around "aesthetics" and trends and how that was also carrying over to the skintones of the sims being portrayed.

Being a Black woman writing a Black ass drama for my own pleasure (and luckily the pleasure of others), I refuse to censor myself. My cast is all Black because you don't see that anywhere, not in gaming, not in movies, not even in your favorite shows that you stream. We simply don't see us. When I started my story it was really just what I was accustomed to seeing around me. Blackness.

Blackness is not monolithic.

I come from a beautiful brown rainbow of Blackness, therefore, my characters, too, are a beautiful brown rainbow of Blackness. I love that for my characters. The thing about the creative mind, is it transcends politics, it transcends these elementary ideologies that were mentioned above. As Black women we are allowed to do whatever we want creatively. Whether that be an all-Black cast or not! Why can't we just BE and DO?

As Neish already stated, white simmers aren't held to any standards because they dominate the game. And by dominate, I mean there's more of y'all.

My advice is this: I refuse to be hypercritical of my shit, I refuse to accept fuckass assumptions made of me because of my storylines, my characters, etc (long time followers know I've been through the ringer about my portrayal of Blackness). I know I, too, will continue to get dumbass asks that are race-bait. I know I will continue to get asks from people who only want to use my platform for some fuckass opinion. I also know that I no longer have time for that in my Black ass life.

Black women, specifically: Do not censor yourselves. Keep this game enjoyable for yourselves, showcase what you love to see for yourself and make simming your respite. Block the fuckshit.

Wishing you all good tidings in the New Year.

[ophernelia]

I think folks need to focus more on craft mastery prior to jumping to paywalls. Poses are one of the simplest things to make once you understand the program you’re using. If you’re at the point where you can monetize your craft, you should be able to make your content from scratch. Like full stop. If you’re creating anything and putting it out for mass consumption, then you need to learn how to navigate creative spaces. Taking bits of other people’s work and/or replicating or “drawing over it” is tacky and rude. That’s like a main creative no-no, I fear. Especially on monetizing it too. And especially without credit.

[alltimefail-sims]

I've been meaning to make this post for a while because there are always arguments and frustrations regarding WCIFs here on simblr. With new users and simblrs popping up every day, I thought it wise to take a few minutes to inform people on this topic as some people really might not even know what WCIF means or what the universally acceptable way to approach WCIF asks is.

WCIF is shorthand for "where can I find..."

If you are a simblr, it is a good idea to clarify in your blog's bio if you are open to messages asking about cc, that way people visiting your blog don't have to guess. You can indicate this by saying you are either WCIF Friendly or WCIF Unfriendly/No WCIFs. If someone is WCIF friendly, it means that they welcome messages in their ask box regarding where to find a certain mod, piece of cc, etc. If someone is WCIF unfriendly, this means they do not welcome messages in their ask box of this nature.

When someone is WCIF unfriendly, you should respect their terms and boundaries by not sending them a message asking where to find something for the sims. Yes, this means even "well-intended" asks that are ultra polite are not welcome to them (which is perfectly okay). Instead, first check if the user has a "CC Finds" sideblog where they reblog the cc they use.

If they don't have a "CC Finds" blog where they essentially archive the cc they use, you can make a post on your own blog with a screenshot (with a link to the original post) and/or a description of the cc you're looking for and tag it as public wcif, this way people can respond if they know what the mod or cc is. There are also reddit threads for sims 4 wcifs you can post on. If you don't want to do any of that, try googling it by description! You'd be surprised how intuitive the results can be.

On the other hand, if someone is WCIF friendly they are open to helping you find a specific piece of cc for the sims, but you should always send them a WCIF in their ask box, not through a private message or a comment on their post. This is so they can make one public post and avoid inquiries about the same cc over and over again. They will likely tag these posts on their page as "WCIF," so be sure to check their tags before you ask them about a piece of cc because they might have already linked to it in a different ask!

It should go without saying, but even though someone is WCIF friendly this doesn't mean you can disregard kindness when it comes to asking someone a favor. Say hi, ask politely (please and thank you go a long way ya know!), and be patient. People who are wcif friendly choose to take their time to link cc for others, so they're doing you a favor...be nice!

I think I covered the basics as simply as I could; the most important thing is to remember that there are real people on the other side of simblr blogs, and whether they have 13,000 followers or 3 they deserve to be respected. Just be kind and respect people's boundaries. I hope this helps someone, and if you didn't know about any of this... now you know! 👍

[dannimariebuilds]

I wanted an option of a simlish uhaul. I saw this texture on a sims 3 recolor of the university moving truck and decided to use that. I'm still looking for their TOU before possibly sharing it

[dannimariebuilds]

Download link now available!

@maxismatchccworld @alwaysfreecc

[dannimariebuilds]

I wanted an option of a simlish uhaul. I saw this texture on a sims 3 recolor of the university moving truck and decided to use that. I'm still looking for their TOU before possibly sharing it

[dannimariebuilds]

Download link now available!

@maxismatchccworld @alwaysfreecc

[dannimariebuilds]

I wanted an option of a simlish uhaul. I saw this texture on a sims 3 recolor of the university moving truck and decided to use that. I'm still looking for their TOU before possibly sharing it