Tutorial on how to make Maxis NPC Cars Drivable/Ownable Sims 2:
1- We will look for a reference car from the existing, drivable Nightlife (NL) vehicles (e.g., Smord, Yomoshoto Evasion, Smoogo Minima, The Landwhale by Heaveola, etc.). Open SimPE and search for it under Object Workshop > Cars; click "Next" and then "Clone." Leave the settings as they are and save the NL car as a .package file with a recognizable name in your Documents folder (for this example, I will choose the Yomoshoto Evasion).
2- With the .package file open in the "Resource Tree" tab, locate the "Geometric Data Container" (GMDC) and click on it. Then, in the "Resource List," click on the complete mesh (e.g., `vehiclesedanwhite-[d446...`); usually, the complete mesh is the first item, while the second is just the shadow—leave that one alone. Right-click on the mesh and select "Extract," then save it with a recognizable name in your Documents folder as a .5gd or .simpe file.
3. Now, open MilkShape (you need to register to use it; tutorials are available), go to **File > Import > Sims 2 Unimesh Import v4.09**, and select the file you just saved in the "extract" step; this will load the groups and joints assigned to the NL car.
*! I recommend saving your progress as you go—in case something goes wrong, you can revert to the base version!*
4. We will close MilkShape, reopen SimPE—Object Workshop—and search under "vehicles" (we will use the Sedan Carpool as an example).
5. We will repeat steps 1 and 2, then return to MilkShape and repeat step 3; however, with the file open in MilkShape, we will go to File > Export > Wavefront OBJ and save it in our Documents folder with a recognizable name as an .obj file (e.g., Sedan.obj).
6. We will return to the Yomoshoto Evasion NL (drivable version) or the drivable base car; under "groups," we will delete all the groups belonging to the drivable car, then go to File > Import > Wavefront OBJ and import the Maxis NPC car .obj file.
7. Here comes the most tedious part of the job: we have to separate the car group by group because, being decorative, everything is connected and we need it to be drivable, right?
☆(Here's a tip: in another file, open only the .obj NPC file and separate the car into parts (the 4 doors, the windows, the 4 wheels, the two rearview mirrors, etc.)
8. To avoid working blindly on the project in MilkShape, go to "Materials" > "New" > None > >None< and locate the PNG texture image for the NPC car (e.g., Sedan Texture). You can find this for download in SimPE under `sedan.package` > Resource Tree > Texture Image (TXTR) > Resource List > main image; then, in the Plugin View, right-click the image, select "Export," and save it with a recognizable name.
9. With our project open in MilkShape and [Sedan PNG] loaded as Material 01, we need the texture to appear in the 3D view. To do this, select each part (group by group), go to **Window > Texture Coordinate Editor** on the menu bar, select the chosen group, and click **Assign** under **Materials**; repeat this process for each part.
10. Once we have each group ready—with the drivable "Yomoshoto Evasion" NL and the "Sedan" .obj positioned over the cleared-out "Evasion Yomoshoto" NL—we return to the clean, original drivable car. For each group, we go to the "Comments" section and copy the values from the "Evasion" to the "Sedan" .obj; this allows us to check if the texture aligns correctly with the car. Afterward, in the original drivable car, we go to "Joints," select each "Sel Assigned" joint, and determine which group needs to be assigned to which joint (we must maintain the driving mechanics of the original "Yomoshoto" car).
11. Once we finish with each one, we will save using File - Export - Sims 2 Unimesh Import v4.09.
12. We will go to the drivable car (from Yomoshoto Evasion) and replace the GMDC in original (in SimPE .package) and then replace the TXTR image from Yomoshoto Evasion with the one from Sedan Carpool (e.g.) and save it with a name of the converted car (e.g., Sedan) (don't forget to press "Commit" and then File - Save or Save As) then we will close SimPE and place it in the downloads folder
https://modthesims.info/d/30839/simpe-latest-version-0-75f.html
https://www.milkshape3d.com/
https://modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Unimesh
