The Ultimate Sims Genetics Tutorial! Chapter 4
Okay, so it's time to learn how to make your CC genetics behave the way you want them to. First of all, you'll need to get a few things in order:
- Find the genetics you want to modify--if you have NL or later, you can use subfolders, and it may be helpful to get all the hair in one folder, skintones in another, eyes in another at the least.
- Download a utility program that will let you change your package files. I will be using SimPE to give my instructions, along with screenshots. You could also use jfade's Wardrobe Wrangler. It has just recently been updated to fix a few bugs, though since I have experienced some of the bugs myself, I have decided not to use or support the program with this tutorial. (Plus, SimPE still allows for a few more options, which probably makes it a "better" tool overall, though I concede the WW is more user-friendly.)
Modifying Custom Hair
The way custom hair behaves in game is rather annoying. However, it's one of the simpler things to fix to work properly. In fact, it's so easy that it's pretty much done by all hair creators when they distribute new hair now! How do they do it? The process is called hair binning/color binning.
Basically, it means modifying the property of a hair recolor so it appears in the proper "color bin" in the game. So your blonde custom hair actually appears in the section with the blonde tab. It will appear as a blonde hair to the turn-on/turn-off system, as well, not a custom.
Furthermore, properly binned hair can will also behave just like Maxis hair--different colors of the same style will be in the same "family," so if you switch color tabs, the sim will merely switch between colors of the same hairstyle, and there will only be one elder gray among the entire family. There are cases where you may not want your hair to behave like this, but we'll go over that in a second.
How do I bin hair?
Even though binning is commonplace now, maybe you're a new creator who's just done some recolors or retextures, or maybe you've had an older hair in your game for ages and you want to fix it. It's not hard at all. You'll need a copy of SimPE and Theo's Color Binning Tool Plugin.
(Small note: SimPE has come with the plugin, without the plugin, if you don't have it, fear not--you can get the plugin here.)
1. Open up SimPE. You will then want to open up the binning tool. You can find it under Tools-->Color Binning Tool.
2. Look at the Color Binning Tool window. Note the six tabs. Each tab represents a "bin" in the game. There's one for black, brown, blond, red, grey, and custom hair. Most of the time, you would only use the first four bins.
The bottom section of the window has two areas. The Texture Preview box shows you a picture of the texture. It's good to double check this to make sure that you're actually putting a black hair in the black bin, for instance. You can select any of the textures included for any of the ages for a preview. This is also a way to see, if you've got a hair that's only for certain ages (like teen to adult), whether or not the creator left in unneeded ages. If they left a maxis toddler style in there, it can be removed.
3. All right. Find a hair you want to bin. Click on the tab for the bin you want to add the first texture to. Then, add it to the bin one of two ways: 1) Package-->Open or 2) Right Click in the bin-->Open Package...
All right, you can see the textures for each age that are included in the hair. But wait? Isn't that hair brown? That's easily fixed. Right click on that filled bin, and use the menu option: Move To-->Brown. I wish all creators actually gave their textures descriptive names, don't you?
Continue doing this for each of the colors you have for the hair. (If you have more than four, we'll cover that in a bit.)
4. Now that you have your bins full, take a look at the bins. For each age, there is a ticky box. If it is checked, that means it will be included in the new copy that you save. If it is unticked, then it will be removed. This is one way to remove duplicates for hair that is not intended for all ages, but has textures for all ages.
Also, if you look again at the picture in step three, you will see that the elder boxes appear unchecked by default. This is why: often creators will add the same elder gray to every texture's package. Since you don't need copies of the same texture multiple times, you can remove them this way. You will need to pick ONE bin's elder gray, and this will be the elder recolor for this set of textures.
Note: Some hairs keep the same color for all elders. In this case, you can either:
- choose to tick the box for all the bins (if you don't mind elders with "dyed" hair)
- choose to keep the box unticked for all the bins (making that particular style unavailable to your elders)
- find a silver/gray recolor of the hair - you can put that recolor in the gray bin (if you want it JUST for elders, only tick the box for the elder age--other ages should end up in the custom bin)
Got everything in your hairstyle set and binned? It's time to determine how you want to save.
5. Package-->Options
The first tab is "Package." This contains three items.
GUID: This is the family your textures are in. Textures in the same family will keep the same hairstyle when you switch colors in-game, and they can also share the same elder gray.
Text: This is the tooltip the pops up in the game. You can change this if the one provided by the creator doesn't give you any description--or not enough. (For instance, it'd probably be good to change this one to add the hair number.)
Hide from catalog: Self-explanatory. I don't think many people would want to do this, but you can if you want.
Output Tab -
Create Backup Packages: I haven't played around with all the possibilities. It doesn't override your SimPE settings, so if your SimPE is set to make back-ups, it still will, even if this is not checked.
Generate Single Packages: Puts ALL of your texture files into one file. I used to use this option...it is a good way to keep all your recolors together. However, it makes it pretty much impossible to go back and change the package. Plus, if you decide you hate ONE of the textures, packaging them this way makes deleting them in game or bodyshop all screwy.
Remove Unchecked Recolors: Self-explanatory. If you don't have this option on, all the recolors you unchecked won't appear, but they'll still be in the file. If you're paranoid and think you'll go back and change things, leave it unticked. I'd say leave it ticked, because you shouldn't waste space on useless textures. This is also a MAJOR place where Theo's tool is superior to the WW...I've been rebinning countless hairs that supposedly only have one elder texture...because they were merely hidden on three of the hairs.
Compress Textures: Reduces file size a bit. Still doesn't compress as much as the compressorizor, so it won't save you a step there. (It's one of those "might as well" things for me.)
Rename Files: You get to choose a new name for your recolor files. Helpful if the originals were gobbeldygook. If you are saving as separate packages, you get "new file name + black" as the actual package file names. Etc. for the other binds.
You probably won't need the other two tabs, with one exception. Under Hairtone, there is a ticky-box called "Hat." If the custom hair you're binning has a hat, then tick the box. So then the game thinks it's a hat, with proper turn-on/off response.
6. When you are done picking your options, go to Package-->Save As. Despite it being "Save As" instead of just plain "Save," you will only be prompted for a file name choice if you chose "Rename Files" or "Create Single Package" in the options. Enjoy your properly binned hair!
Binned hair will pop up randomly on townies and NPCs (that don't have a set hairstyle)--making it the easiest thing in the game to "townify."
Wait, what if I have 18 shades of brown of the same hairstyle?!?!
Okay, if you have multiple shades of brown, blond, red, or black--hey, I like to bin streaked hair in its base color's bin, okay?--you've got a few options on how to handle it.
a) Make a base set, with black/brown/blond/red. Bin the other recolors individually.
Pros: Your basic set behaves like described. Other colors won't be randomly aging up into separate shades in the same bin.
Cons: You won't be able to switch bins with all your shades. Every recolor won't be able to share the same gray.
b) Make several sets (i.e. bin every brown with another red, blonde, etc).
Pros: Each set behaves like described above. Each set can have its own gray (allowing for different SHADES of gray, if you choose).
Cons: Most creators don't make different shades in even sets that let you have several familes with all four bins. If you only want ONE shade of gray, you'll still need one for each family for them to behave correctly.
c) Bin EVERYTHING in the same family!
Pros: Each hair is in the same "set," so it all behaves like described above. Every hair can share ONE gray recolor.
Cons: The game will pick one of the recolors in the bin as the "proper" version of that color. You can select the others in CAS or in Change Appearance, but the "proper" version will be the one that pops up after age transitions, and also if you clone the hair for a project in BodyShop. Since I give makeovers after every age transition, and only clone hairs to completely retexture them, this does not bother me.
I prefer this most of the time, so here's how you do it. Remember that GUID listed on the options screen?
Bin your first set of the hairstyle but, before you save, COPY the GUID.
Save that set, then bin any other shades you want as you want. (Make sure to remove the elder grays if you already kept one in the first set.) Before you save each shade you want IN THE SAME FAMILY, bring the options screen back up. PASTE the GUID you copied into that field, then save.
On "Actual" Custom Hair...
A word of warning, if you add a hair to the custom bin while binning other hairs into a family, the custom hair won't work properly. You will be able to select it in Change Appearance, but the sim will then be actually wearing whatever hair texture was binned into the hair they have naturally. If you have done this, or downloaded a hair that had been binned like this, open up the binning tool, click on the custom tab. Load the custom hair. Go to options, and look at the family number...
See how that Guid next to the text box is blue? Click on it, and it will generate a new family number. Save the hair, and it should be all fixed for you. If you have natural binned hair that you want to change to custom (it's too bright of a red, or you have streaked hair you want in the custom bin), I suggest you change the family number like that when you bin it, just to be on the safe side.
Eyebrows and Facial Hair
Custom eyebrows and facial hair will clutter up your custom bins as well. If you so desire, you can also use the binning plugin to put all of your eyebrows and facial hair in the right bin. They can also be townified like eyes and skintones, which you will be shown how to do in the next chapter.
Chapter 5: Modifying Custom Eyes
- Find the genetics you want to modify--if you have NL or later, you can use subfolders, and it may be helpful to get all the hair in one folder, skintones in another, eyes in another at the least.
- Download a utility program that will let you change your package files. I will be using SimPE to give my instructions, along with screenshots. You could also use jfade's Wardrobe Wrangler. It has just recently been updated to fix a few bugs, though since I have experienced some of the bugs myself, I have decided not to use or support the program with this tutorial. (Plus, SimPE still allows for a few more options, which probably makes it a "better" tool overall, though I concede the WW is more user-friendly.)
Modifying Custom Hair
The way custom hair behaves in game is rather annoying. However, it's one of the simpler things to fix to work properly. In fact, it's so easy that it's pretty much done by all hair creators when they distribute new hair now! How do they do it? The process is called hair binning/color binning.
Basically, it means modifying the property of a hair recolor so it appears in the proper "color bin" in the game. So your blonde custom hair actually appears in the section with the blonde tab. It will appear as a blonde hair to the turn-on/turn-off system, as well, not a custom.
Furthermore, properly binned hair can will also behave just like Maxis hair--different colors of the same style will be in the same "family," so if you switch color tabs, the sim will merely switch between colors of the same hairstyle, and there will only be one elder gray among the entire family. There are cases where you may not want your hair to behave like this, but we'll go over that in a second.
How do I bin hair?
Even though binning is commonplace now, maybe you're a new creator who's just done some recolors or retextures, or maybe you've had an older hair in your game for ages and you want to fix it. It's not hard at all. You'll need a copy of SimPE and Theo's Color Binning Tool Plugin.
(Small note: SimPE has come with the plugin, without the plugin, if you don't have it, fear not--you can get the plugin here.)
1. Open up SimPE. You will then want to open up the binning tool. You can find it under Tools-->Color Binning Tool.
2. Look at the Color Binning Tool window. Note the six tabs. Each tab represents a "bin" in the game. There's one for black, brown, blond, red, grey, and custom hair. Most of the time, you would only use the first four bins.
The bottom section of the window has two areas. The Texture Preview box shows you a picture of the texture. It's good to double check this to make sure that you're actually putting a black hair in the black bin, for instance. You can select any of the textures included for any of the ages for a preview. This is also a way to see, if you've got a hair that's only for certain ages (like teen to adult), whether or not the creator left in unneeded ages. If they left a maxis toddler style in there, it can be removed.
3. All right. Find a hair you want to bin. Click on the tab for the bin you want to add the first texture to. Then, add it to the bin one of two ways: 1) Package-->Open or 2) Right Click in the bin-->Open Package...
All right, you can see the textures for each age that are included in the hair. But wait? Isn't that hair brown? That's easily fixed. Right click on that filled bin, and use the menu option: Move To-->Brown. I wish all creators actually gave their textures descriptive names, don't you?
Continue doing this for each of the colors you have for the hair. (If you have more than four, we'll cover that in a bit.)
4. Now that you have your bins full, take a look at the bins. For each age, there is a ticky box. If it is checked, that means it will be included in the new copy that you save. If it is unticked, then it will be removed. This is one way to remove duplicates for hair that is not intended for all ages, but has textures for all ages.
Also, if you look again at the picture in step three, you will see that the elder boxes appear unchecked by default. This is why: often creators will add the same elder gray to every texture's package. Since you don't need copies of the same texture multiple times, you can remove them this way. You will need to pick ONE bin's elder gray, and this will be the elder recolor for this set of textures.
Note: Some hairs keep the same color for all elders. In this case, you can either:
- choose to tick the box for all the bins (if you don't mind elders with "dyed" hair)
- choose to keep the box unticked for all the bins (making that particular style unavailable to your elders)
- find a silver/gray recolor of the hair - you can put that recolor in the gray bin (if you want it JUST for elders, only tick the box for the elder age--other ages should end up in the custom bin)
Got everything in your hairstyle set and binned? It's time to determine how you want to save.
5. Package-->Options
The first tab is "Package." This contains three items.
GUID: This is the family your textures are in. Textures in the same family will keep the same hairstyle when you switch colors in-game, and they can also share the same elder gray.
Text: This is the tooltip the pops up in the game. You can change this if the one provided by the creator doesn't give you any description--or not enough. (For instance, it'd probably be good to change this one to add the hair number.)
Hide from catalog: Self-explanatory. I don't think many people would want to do this, but you can if you want.
Output Tab -
Create Backup Packages: I haven't played around with all the possibilities. It doesn't override your SimPE settings, so if your SimPE is set to make back-ups, it still will, even if this is not checked.
Generate Single Packages: Puts ALL of your texture files into one file. I used to use this option...it is a good way to keep all your recolors together. However, it makes it pretty much impossible to go back and change the package. Plus, if you decide you hate ONE of the textures, packaging them this way makes deleting them in game or bodyshop all screwy.
Remove Unchecked Recolors: Self-explanatory. If you don't have this option on, all the recolors you unchecked won't appear, but they'll still be in the file. If you're paranoid and think you'll go back and change things, leave it unticked. I'd say leave it ticked, because you shouldn't waste space on useless textures. This is also a MAJOR place where Theo's tool is superior to the WW...I've been rebinning countless hairs that supposedly only have one elder texture...because they were merely hidden on three of the hairs.
Compress Textures: Reduces file size a bit. Still doesn't compress as much as the compressorizor, so it won't save you a step there. (It's one of those "might as well" things for me.)
Rename Files: You get to choose a new name for your recolor files. Helpful if the originals were gobbeldygook. If you are saving as separate packages, you get "new file name + black" as the actual package file names. Etc. for the other binds.
You probably won't need the other two tabs, with one exception. Under Hairtone, there is a ticky-box called "Hat." If the custom hair you're binning has a hat, then tick the box. So then the game thinks it's a hat, with proper turn-on/off response.
6. When you are done picking your options, go to Package-->Save As. Despite it being "Save As" instead of just plain "Save," you will only be prompted for a file name choice if you chose "Rename Files" or "Create Single Package" in the options. Enjoy your properly binned hair!
Binned hair will pop up randomly on townies and NPCs (that don't have a set hairstyle)--making it the easiest thing in the game to "townify."
Wait, what if I have 18 shades of brown of the same hairstyle?!?!
Okay, if you have multiple shades of brown, blond, red, or black--hey, I like to bin streaked hair in its base color's bin, okay?--you've got a few options on how to handle it.
a) Make a base set, with black/brown/blond/red. Bin the other recolors individually.
Pros: Your basic set behaves like described. Other colors won't be randomly aging up into separate shades in the same bin.
Cons: You won't be able to switch bins with all your shades. Every recolor won't be able to share the same gray.
b) Make several sets (i.e. bin every brown with another red, blonde, etc).
Pros: Each set behaves like described above. Each set can have its own gray (allowing for different SHADES of gray, if you choose).
Cons: Most creators don't make different shades in even sets that let you have several familes with all four bins. If you only want ONE shade of gray, you'll still need one for each family for them to behave correctly.
c) Bin EVERYTHING in the same family!
Pros: Each hair is in the same "set," so it all behaves like described above. Every hair can share ONE gray recolor.
Cons: The game will pick one of the recolors in the bin as the "proper" version of that color. You can select the others in CAS or in Change Appearance, but the "proper" version will be the one that pops up after age transitions, and also if you clone the hair for a project in BodyShop. Since I give makeovers after every age transition, and only clone hairs to completely retexture them, this does not bother me.
I prefer this most of the time, so here's how you do it. Remember that GUID listed on the options screen?
Bin your first set of the hairstyle but, before you save, COPY the GUID.
Save that set, then bin any other shades you want as you want. (Make sure to remove the elder grays if you already kept one in the first set.) Before you save each shade you want IN THE SAME FAMILY, bring the options screen back up. PASTE the GUID you copied into that field, then save.
On "Actual" Custom Hair...
A word of warning, if you add a hair to the custom bin while binning other hairs into a family, the custom hair won't work properly. You will be able to select it in Change Appearance, but the sim will then be actually wearing whatever hair texture was binned into the hair they have naturally. If you have done this, or downloaded a hair that had been binned like this, open up the binning tool, click on the custom tab. Load the custom hair. Go to options, and look at the family number...
See how that Guid next to the text box is blue? Click on it, and it will generate a new family number. Save the hair, and it should be all fixed for you. If you have natural binned hair that you want to change to custom (it's too bright of a red, or you have streaked hair you want in the custom bin), I suggest you change the family number like that when you bin it, just to be on the safe side.
Eyebrows and Facial Hair
Custom eyebrows and facial hair will clutter up your custom bins as well. If you so desire, you can also use the binning plugin to put all of your eyebrows and facial hair in the right bin. They can also be townified like eyes and skintones, which you will be shown how to do in the next chapter.
Chapter 5: Modifying Custom Eyes