4t2 Clothing Tutorial
Since there isn’t a written 4t2 clothing tutorial guide, I thought I would write one for those who would like one! If you prefer a video, check out @mdpthatsme‘s video tutorial here.
This is PART 1!
Step 1: Downloading and Extracting the Mesh(es):
First of all, you need to download a sims 4 mesh. I downloaded Marigold’s MBottomRollUpJeans since I asked them for permission to convert. 😊
Once your file has finished downloading, extract your rar or zip file (if needed) and open the DPBF package file with the sims 4 package editor (if you don’t have it you need to download “s4pe.0.3.c.exe“ from the link).
Once Sims 4 Package Editor loads, you’ll want to look through the “geom” files.
We are going to be looking for the “geoms” that has a shader listed as “SimSkin”. These files are the base mesh and there are normally between 3-4 of these meshes. You’ll want to extract all of these geoms. Some sims 4 package files will have geoms with a shader that says “none”. Sometimes these can be useful if they contain a small part of the mesh (details such as bows). You won’t know if you need to export these, too, until you look at the mesh in milkshape. For general purposes, just skip them (90% of the time they just contain morphs-which is why a lot of non-EA/Maxis meshes lack these extra geoms). Name them whatever you want or keep the original name. I usually change it to 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
Once all of the geoms have been “extracted to file,” we can start looking for the textures. The textures are under the tag “RLE2”.
We’ll want to export them to DDS. Once you export all of the recolors that are available (or you can pick and choose), the next step is to use the Sims 4 CAS tools.
Like the picture above, the CAS tool is not installed via exe. It just runs with the files in the folder. Double click that application file.
The TS4 CAS Tools window will pop up and you will want to go to “Mesh Tools” and then “Conversions TS4/other” and from there click “Select”. Search for your folder and if your files don’t show up with the “GEOM mesh files” selected, hit “all files”. I named my geoms 1-4 since there were four “simskin” geoms.
Scroll over to the right so you can see the file sizes of your geoms. You will want to use the largest file since it is the most detailed. Select it and then open it. The popup window will go away and your screen should look something like below:
Most people either convert to MS3D (milkshape file) or convert to OBJ. Personally I prefer the MS3D because I can just double click the file and milkshape will open it. If you choose OBJ then you will have to open up milkshape and then ‘import wavefront obj’. So it is just an extra step.
I clicked Convert to MS3D and so a popup window will ask me what I want to name my file and where I want it.
Double click your newly generated file. (If you chose obj- open up milkshape and import wavefront obj).
Step 2: Editing Your Mesh in Milkshape:
Milkshape should now be open.
You will first want to start off with clicking the mesh in “groups” and then hit “select” for it to select all. Go to “face” at the top and hit “smooth all”. You may notice some black spots but we’ll (try to) take care of those later.
This is where I delete the “skin” parts of the mesh.Hit select again so it deselects the mesh.Now select the vertices that are parts of the sims 4 skin and delete them. If you need more in-depth instructions on this step- here is a tutorial on it.
From this point there are two paths- which will have separate posts to minimize confusion.
Path 1: I am converting a bottom only, shoes, or a sleeveless top/full body.
Path 2: I am converting a full body or a top that has arms or sleeves.