#sims 4 fix-it tutorial

[adelarsims]

downloading a bunch of files from sfs folder a bit more comfortably (on PC)

you know this feeling when you see a sfs folder with many separate files and no full set archive, so you just sigh, click on a file, download it, go back, repeat with the next one, go back, try to recall which one you already downloaded and which you didn't... so i've come up with a little workaround that'll make it faster and a bit more comfortable! it's pretty 101, but my friend found my explanation useful, so maybe someone else needs it too.

there's this thing about SFS, that if you open the same page again in a certain period of time, i think it's a day or maybe a few hours, it won't open the page again, but instead it'll just automatically download its file. that's exactly the thing we'll be utilizing here. when you left click on a link with pressed ctrl, this link will be open in another (inactive) tab. so to "automatically" download files from this folder, just hold ctlr and click on each file you need twice.

on the first click, it'll open the inactive tab with it, on the second click, it'll just straight up download the file without you having to go away from the page you're on. when you're done downloading everything you need, just close all tabs it opened. not ideal, yes, but much faster and less annoying than having to manually open each page and click on the button. happy simming!

[adelarsims]

Thank you very much for the last overlay, you are a real wizard. It has a vibe similar to my former favorite, who was nice in everything, but covered almost all the details like wrinkles and freckles and was very frustrating. And now I am in absolutely rapture. Do you know, by the way, why such a problem can arise when creating this kind of CC?

yep, i know. good news: your favorite overlay is very easily fixable

each item has a sort layer number that defines which texture goes over/under of which. texture with bigger number covers texture with smaller number. when someone makes an overlay on a base of maxis genetic detail but doesn't lower the sort layer number, it ends up having the same priority as all other details, so it's a gamble which one will end up covering the other, i saw a face overlay where one swatch covered freckles but the other one didn't

sort layer number for all maxis details is 2200 the lowest which is acne is 2025 now, so i make my overlays 2100 or something like that they have to be 2000 now, to make sure it goes below other details

if you want to, you can follow this tutorial and fix your favorite overlay yourself, the process is absolutely the same, just the number you put in must be anything lower than 2200 lower than 2025 now. or you can reach out to me and i'll help you fix it.

[adelarsims]

Hi! Please tell, do you have any recommendations to prevent clothes from turning into a mess on male sims with a feminine frame? I mean, the pants which distorted in the groin area, and the tops which add at least a size of the "breast". Or are you a virtuoso and even make your androgynous sims on a male frame?

i am a virtuoso and make my androgynous sims on a male frame, but that doesn't mean i can't at least try helping you.

let's try one thing. this will not work with all clothes, but might quickly fix at least some of them.

1. open the item in studio, choose categories tab and look at age and gender flags. both genders should not be checked at once.

some people mistakenly check both, thinking it'll allow their clothes to be used by all genders, but it's not what these flags are for. these flags are to tell the game which frame the item is already specifically tailored for and doesn't need to be adjusted to. so when both are checked, it prevents the item from morphing according to another body shape, because the game thinks "ah, this item is already made for this other frame, too, i don't need to change anything".

if both are checked, keep only the one with the intended frame, remove the other and apply to all swatches.

2. fashion choice flags don't physically change the item, that's simply to make it appear in feminine, masculine or both catalogs. you can check one or both.

3. now part flags setting at the very end of the list is what really allows items to be used on other gender/frame.

restricting opposite gender is not allowing the item to appear in whole other gender catalog, regardless of the frame - it checks the gender icon that you chose.

restricting opposite frame is not allowing the item to appear for different frame, but it will appear for opposite gender with the same body type - it checks the physical frame setting, regardless of the gender.

so if you wan't the item to be accessible by everyone, uncheck restrictions. then apply to all swatches and save.

with wrong gender flag removed and restrictions removed, the item should now morph normally on your sim's body, if that was its problem. hopefully it'll help you fix at least some of them!

[adelarsims]

mini-tutorial: fixing pants/stockings texture overlapping

maybe you've had this happening as well. it's rare, but can be very annoying if it happens with pants that you really love but can't use with socks and stockings.

it's a very quick and easy fix. here's a simple explanation how to do it.

open pants in question in sims 4 studio

repeat exactly the same process as when you fixed pants/shirt overlapping

the only difference is sort layer numbers you'll be typing in this time. if it's anything other than 14000 (bugged bottoms most often will have 10400), make it 14000 for each CAS part.

that's it. we've fixed it :)

quick infodump in case someone's curious as to why that happens: creators often use panties as a base, because panties base is comfortable to work with. but panties have texture layer priority lower than stockings, so they go under stockings. and if a creator makes pants or skirt on that base and forgets to change the sort layer to match actual pants, they still go under stockings :)

[adelarsims]

Tutorial: fixing pants/shirts texture overlapping

friend requested this but i figured someone else might find it useful :)

so you know how sometimes you put pants and shirts together and they do this godawful thing?

that's a shirt problem. it happens when the creator uses a tucked in top as a package base but makes an untucked top mesh and doesn't change this setting. when a skirt/pants and top textures overlap on a texture map, the game considers the shirt tucked in and puts the texture of the pants over it.

luckily, it's a super easy fix!

you'll need a Sims 4 Studio and a mean to locate your shirt file. open the file with Studio by clicking on "my projects".

after you open the file, switch to the warehouse tab and sort by type for your convenience, because you only need "CAS part" here. click on a CAS part and scroll the right part almost all the way down until you see sort layer.

sort layer is, to put it simply, a priority of a texture. bigger number, bigger priority, texture goes above textures with lower numbers.

sort layer for tucked in tops is 13000. sort layer for untucked tops must be 16000. change it to 16000. do the same with each CAS part. it might be tedious if your top has a lot of swatches.

after you finish, click save.

now checking the result in the game... success!

---

UPD: You can also do the opposite, if you have a top in a form of a bodysuit and it goes over your pants, just change 16000 for 13000 to tuck it in.

[adelarsims]

"mercury shine" tutorial

i didn't know you guys @occultradio and @aliengirl would want a tutorial on what was a genuine fuckup on my part, but i love how excited it got you, so here you go! your tutorial! you can now make alien clothes and funky face details!

1. by default, the shape of the mask (the right black and white one) is based exactly on diffuse texture, so just export it and edit the part that doesn't say mask. if the item you want to edit doesn't have it, you can click on make blank to generate it (the specular itself will be empty).

2. for your own convenience, resize the diffuse texture (any swatch where you can see elements of the texture very well) and put it under your specular map while you work on it, because the placement of elements on specular map correlates with the main texture, and if you make patterns and standing out elements with your specular, like shiny buttons or leather belts or anything, you want to see where they are on the texture. 3. so as you may know, the specular texture depends on the color (like metallic shine for accessories will be yellowish, leather shine will be purple-pinkish, bigger opacity = stronger shine). make areas you want to have the "mercury shine" pure white (#ffffff)! 4. the opacity of white in this case seems to not matter, 100% and 10% opacity white yielded the same result when i tested it, probably because unlike different opacity of colors, white on white doesn't really change the hue :) so if your clothes are supposed to have mercury parts and non-mercury parts, i guess the easiest way to make a specular texture would be just slapping solid white parts/patterns on top of your usual specular if you use any. this way, if it's solid, you won't need to erase parts of non-mercury specular underneath, which makes for less dirt and loose pixels on the final thing. 5. WARNING! if parts of your specular go outside of the white area on the mask, next time you'll use the item in cas, this mask will be rewritten based on your specular map, and you'll have shining blotches on sim's skin and anywhere you don't need them, so don't forget to erase everything else. just put the mask png on top of the specular you've made (it's the same size anyway), select all black areas and then delete the selection on your specular.

you can check this test file if you want to disassemble it and take a look at the specular, just notice that studio doesn't show the shine, you'll need to open cas to see the result of your work.

[adelarsims]

display index list (numbers)

for sorting your cc in cas!

i've been mentioning sorting cc a lot lately, and one thing i mentioned is that i started it all mainly because i hated how maxis items are always scattered among cc - it doesn't look good, and i keep forgetting some things exist

so one of the most important points for me was to figure out the biggest display index number maxis uses, and give all cc numbers bigger than that, so all maxis items would go first. for people who want to do the same but don't know how to figure out numbers, i'll post my numbers list to use.

i also recommend skipping display numbers between your folders (e.g. 300, 305, 310 or 300, 310, 320 etc instead of 300, 301, 302), so that in case you look in cas and don’t like where you put a batch of cc and want to move them later, you have a wiggle room and don’t have to reassign everything else.

warning: this list is just for human adults. i didn't check infants, toddlers, children and werewolves because i don't use cc for them.

these are maxis numbers, you need to use numbers bigger than these.

-

Hair: 220

Eyebrows: 0

Facial hair: 50

-

All genetic details: 0

All scars and body freckles: 0

All tattoos and medical wearables: 0

Teeth: 6

-

Top: 1025

Bottom: 1000

Fullbody: 1075

-

Hat: 5000 (maxis, why?)

Necklace: 195

Earring: 160

Glasses: 0

All face piercings: 0

-

Shoes: 170

Socks: 175

Tights: 140

Gloves: 90

-

Bracelet right: 80

Bracelet left: 40

Index finger left: 15

Middle finger left: 25

Ring finger left: 15

Index finger right: 0

Middle finger right: 10

Ring finger right: 10

Fingernails and toenails: 0

-

Eyeshadow: 20

Eyeliner: 20

Blush: 1 (maxis, what's even the point?)

Lipstick: 35

Facepaint: 53

-

[adelarsims]

hi how do you even fix hairs and make hat compatible? is it something that you need to know how to use blender?

you need to know basics of the blender to make a hat chop if the hair doesn't have it, because it involves some mesh editing, yes.

for hair that has hat chops already but they're just tagged incorrectly, like in this example, you can easily fix it without knowing how to use blender, just following a few very simple steps:

export the mesh. you'll need to have a blender installed to do it.

open it and you'll see this on the right.

things that i circled as (1) are hair meshes.

one mesh is for full hair (normal hair that you see on your sim), and other two are for two different hat types (parts that go under the hat are chopped off, that's why they don't stick through the top of the hat)

eye icons circled as (2) are here to make layers visible or invisible

click on them to figure out which layer is for which hat chop (because there is no rule and every creator and even maxis has their chops in different order, it doesn't matter as long as it's tagged properly)

the number circled as (3) is the most important thing here!

this number is what makes hat chop mesh work with the specific type of hat and that's exactly what needs to be fixed here. now, the most important info:

Horizontal (low) chop 0000

Slanted (high) chop 0001

Hatless (full) hair 0002

i leave a single hat chop layer visible to avoid confusion and just left click on its name to work with it.

as you can see, we have a horisontal (low) chop here but the number is 0001, which is for high slanted hats like beanies. that's exactly why it looks like that in CAS, this number makes the game think that this part of the mesh should be used with high hats.

so what we do is we change it to the right number (0000). then we go to high hat chop layer and type the right number for it (0001)

IMPORTANT: MAKE ALL LAYERS YOU EDITED VISIBLE BEFORE SAVING YOUR BLEND FILE

because the studio will only replace parts of the mesh that are visible. then save your blend file and go to meshes tab in sims 4 studio, just like in step 1 but this time we will be importing.

import your blend file that you just fixed. it might be instant or take a while, depending on the amount of polygons of the hair. when it's done importing, save the package.

then enjoy the job well done