If you're a programmer, please consider creating one or all of the following programs:

• GUI (not command-line) ASCII body mesh/model (.skn) and animation (.cmx) extractor
• read/decode/decompress The Sims' XA sound format and perhaps even convert to WAV.
• I'm also trying to get the original wall and floor textures from the wall.iff and floor.iff files but I'm only getting the menu thumbnail icons. I think they're in the IFFs as Targas (TGA) because I see .tga filenames within the IFFs, but my rippers don't recognize 'em. :/ I'm not a programmer so I'm probably missing something.
• WLL/FLR browser: the BMPs are easily extractable with a ripper but a thumbnail browser (i.e. ACDSee) would be nice.

Transmogrifier		Export and create object bitmaps. The closest thing to an object editor yet.
BodyWarp Beta 4 (222K) website		View/scale (among other things) head/body meshes/skins. Supposedly no longer in development.
SimEdit .9 Beta (194K, Win9x) Georges Giroux		"Lets you view the head meshes and textures for now, but I am vertex editing as we speak, so everyone will be able to modify the head meshes. I will later add support for body mesh editing as well." (source) And from an email: "It should be available by the end of the week, since vertex editing is already in (but not face editing). The only thing left to do is saving to the .cmx and .skn files and then testing out new models with the game. I'm working on editing the body.skn files, but they are a bit more complex and I will have to get into touch with Maxis." Note: no word yet and it's been a couple months or so.
Blueprint Bil Simser		object modeller/converter and other utilities, including Xantippe (XA-to-WAV converter)
M a x i s	FaceLift Gold (8.9MB Win9x+)	sculpt faces
	HomeCrafter (2.43MB, Win9x+)	create custom wallpaper/floors
	SimShow (5.51MB, Win9x+) tutorial (566K)	skin-on-body previewer
A l a d r i n K e l a h n	FAR Extractor (12K/Win9x+)	Extracts these file formats from FARs (The Sims' database format): bmf (binary/body model format?) bmp (Windows bitmap image: user-interface graphic, texture/skin) cmx (body joint structure?, as bcf: binary compressed file/format?) cfp (body model animation) fon (font) iff (some other database format) hit \ hot  > sound-related hsm / ndx (index) skn (ASCII body model, as bmf--see above) tga (Targa image: user-interface graphic) xa (sound) From the following FARs (note, not all FARs have all above files in each one): C:\Program Files\The Sims\ (or wherever you have The Sims installed) Downloads\PartyBalloons\PartyBalloons.far Downloads\GuineaPg\GuineaPg.far GameData\Animation\Animation.far GameData\Global\Global.far GameData\Objects\Objects.far (object models) GameData\Textures\Textures.far (skins/textures) UIGraphics\UIGraphics.far (in-game user interface graphics)
	BMF2SKN (DOS)	Converts bmf to skn
	Skn->Obj	OBJ is a generic 3D file format. Convert any single-piece object (heads, hands, glasses, bottles, wrenches, etc) to an OBJ.
	IFF Editor	Will extract and re-combine all the items in an IFF file. This will allow you to modify these items and recreate the IFF file; in development(?).
texture & model rippers Simsruleus		Not as user-friendly as FAR Extractor but they work (only on animation.far and textures.far, though), and the model ripper gets the correctly-named ASCII SKNs, while the texture ripper just gives numerical-named BMPs. To prevent annoying crashes, drop the animation.far or textures.far onto the appropriate .exe.
FarView II (Win9x+) Marginal Software		Textures.far viewer/extractor with texture preview and list.
texture.far extractor (41K/DOS) Tea Fume
Sim Search Dday		View/replace textures in textures.far. Note that it's unnecessary to replace skins in textures.far since you can simply put the skin in the GameData/Skins directory and The Sims will use that one for the default instead of the one inside textures.far.
Character Editor		Edit sims' abilities like cooking, charisma, mechanical, creativity, etc. without studying; and sims' attributes like activeness, playfulness, neatness, etc.

Textures

The Sims uses 8-bit (256-color) Windows bitmap (BMP) images for textures.

These textures were originally extracted from ...\GameData\Textures\textures.far with Multi Ripper (but any BMP ripper will suffice) before I found FAR extractors. The original pre-patch texture names were found and edited out with a hex/text editor. Use the above FAR extractors if you'd like (a) specific texture(s) extracted.

Skins "Skins" are just textures applied to 3D body models. Skins are just textures which can contain flesh (skin), clothing, faces, hair, hats, etc. The Sims uses 256x256 pixel resolution BMPs for full-body skins, 128x128 for faces, hands, hats, and accessory objects like the policewoman's nightstick, gardener's watercan, fireman's fire extinguisher, maid's sponge, newspaper girl's bag, etc are 64x64. Note: these are for the original Sims without any expansion packs. NPCs/Services burglar firefighter gardener maid newspaper girl ("newsie") pizza guy policewoman postalwoman repairman (handyman) repoman social worker Careers astronaut superhero Other bride groom skeletons

Body Types This info expands on SimShow's docs. B###_____.bmp, where ### is: 001: short-sleeved shirt and shorts 002: short-sleeved shirt and long pants 003: long-sleeved shirt and long pants 004: male formal coat and pants (tuxedo) 005: female: short-sleeved shirt and skirt (maid's outfit); male: non-formal jacket-and-tie

Objects Object texture sizes vary, but are usually 64x64.

Floors Floor textures are 64x64.

Walls Wall textures are 128x240. bamboo concrete logcabin plywood wood panelling (various)

Other

Neighborhoods

Copy the existing, or create a new, "UserData" directory under "C:\Program Files\The Sims\" (or wherever you have The Sims installed) and add the command-line switch "-ngh:userdata1" (or whatever you name the new neighborhood directory) in another The Sims shortcut. There are also neighborhood changer programs available but I don't have the links for them off-hand. Note: starting with Livin' Large this is no longer necessary.

Importing

Neighborhoods have changed with Hot Date. When copying from previous expansion packs be sure to copy the downtown lots (House2#.iff) and description text (DTDesc.iff) files to the UserData directory or the game will not let you out of downtown when a sim visits (and they can't visit any lot because the data just isn't there, empty or not) and you won't be able to build there.

Command-Line Switches

Cheats

Patches

• nude censorship patch (<1K): removes aliased "blur" when sims go to the bathroom and get naked (bathtub, hot tub, shower, etc). Not for Hot Date and beyond.

• Version 1.1

  Note: this patch is included in Livin' Large (and later versions) and updates the following files:

  C:\Program Files\The Sims\ (or wherever you have it installed)

  • Clcd32.dll
  • Clokspl.exe
  • Dplayerx.dll
  • Sims.exe
  • Sims.icd
  • GameData\Careers.iff
  • GameData\Credits.iff
  • GameData\Live.iff
  • GameData\UIText.iff
  • GameData\Animation\Animation.far
  • GameData\Global\Global.far
  • GameData\Textures\Textures.far
  • GameData\Objects\Objects.far

  And adds:

  • Downloads\Unsnacker\unsnacker.far
  • Downloads\WallLite\walllite.far

  The first 5 files are available here for those who don't have them and/or are having trouble installing the patch because it says the file contents are different. I would advise making a backup of your Sims.exe before overwriting it. These 5 files (as well as everything else in the \Downloads\WallLite\ directory) can be safely removed after the patch runs. Your original Sims.exe can also be restored, allowing all old cheats to work and no-CD crack intact.

Expansion Packs

Expansion pack installation giving you problems? Don't trust the installer to update your registry correctly? Here's what's going on with the registry (original Sims REG file):

These changed/added key values are in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Maxis\The Sims\:

House Party

• EP2Installed = 1
• HP_INSTALL_COMPLETE = 1 (DWORD)
• SIMS_GAME_EDITION = 4
• Version = 1.2 (even though House Party's Sims.exe is 1.3)

Hot Date

• EP3Installed = 1
• EP3Patch = 2 (if patch installed)
• SIMS_GAME_EDITION = 7 (not 5 like one would think, considering House Party is 4...)
• Version = 1.2 (stays the same as House Party, not 1.4 like Hot Date's Sims.exe is, oddly)

Vacation

• EP4Installed = 1
• SIMS_GAME_EDITION = 15 (!; should be 6)
• Version = 1.0 (going backwards, Maxis? should be 1.5, like the exe)

Unleashed

• EP5Installed = 1
• EP5Patch = 2 (if patch installed)
• SIMS_GAME_EDITION = 47 (!; should be 7 but I've also seen "63" in someone else's registry so this seems to vary)
• Version = 1.2 (now back to 1.2 again, Maxis? should be 1.7, like the exe)

Reinstallation

With the increasing amount of expansion packs available now (5 as of early 2003), reinstalling them is a pain. Here's a way to combine them all. If you don't have all the expansion packs you can still do this but it's not a good idea to install a previous expansion pack over a more recent one.

Note that this will take around a couple gigabytes of disk space for all expansions (plus the original The Sims, of course) minus whatever you've added to The Sims (skins, objects, houses, etc). Also, how full/many neighborhoods, downtowns, and vacation areas you have influences disk space usage.

In the registry editor, go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Maxis and export the entire branch to a file ("thesims.reg", "sims.reg", whatever). If you're worried about your EA electronic registrations, export HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Electronic Arts\Maxis, too, but I wouldn't bother.

Archive/compress (ZIP, RAR, ACE, whatever) the "The Sims" directory (with all subdirectories and files) with the registry files. Nothing is installed outside of this directory: "C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims" by default, but you can easily change it if you update the registry settings.

You can also include the program shortcuts so they're easily moved to your Start menu (or wherever) after unarchiving/decompression.

In case you don't know, registry files (*.reg) can simply be double-clicked to merge with the Windows registry.

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