Good One! That's A Neat Find.

I was reading a thread on MTS and saw this at the bottom and just stared out the window for a couple minutes

the way silent hill 2 remake without the fog just looks like an average day in the uk

Recent finds I really like: Different Colour Standards into hexes, here's RAL:

w3schools.com

W3Schools.com

W3Schools offers free online tutorials, references and exercises in all the major languages of the web. Covering popular subjects like HTML,

Royal Skies' fast tutorials for Blender. He has playlists full of knowledge, here's one.

YouTube

Blender 2.8 Procedural Texturing (Speed Tutorials)

Ambient CG, a website for free & ready to use materials. Has really good stuff.

ambientcg.com

ambientCG - Free Textures, HDRIs and Models

Free 3D Assets Never Looked This Good! Get 2000+ PBR Materials, HDRIs and more for free under the CC0 Public Domain license.

Nvidia’s vMaterial Library, it's fantastic. It’s free but requires registration, 2gb~ of textures.

NVIDIA Developer

NVIDIA vMaterials

A free library of ready-to-use materials and lights for your AEC workflows.

Free section at Poliigon has some good stuff as well.

Poliigon

Free PBR Textures, 3D Models and HDRIs - Poliigon

Download over 100 free PBR Textures, 3D Models, and HDRIs from Poliigon. Free for personal and commercial use. Compatible with all major sof

22.04.25: Free 3D models at CG Trader's free section. Really interesting stuff.

Resources for Creating: My Go-To things.

Update: I’ll be updating the list on this page from now on, since Tumblr can’t handle so many hyper-links in one post, on Dreamwidth - right here, so I won't have to update it multiple times. Please note: I keep updating this list, and updates aren't showing up on reblogs. Please check the original post for the most up to date list.

Sooo this is going to be a long comprehensive list. I got back to this game after a long time and with a different computer, with a dedicated graphics card, hurray! It made me want to return to making things, so while gathering back all the necessary stuff, I've complied this list. It might be is updated as I go along, but these are the main things I use. Maby one day i'll even finish something. So here are my go-to resources & tutorials; I'm posting it here for safekeeping, and hopefully others will find it helpful. Everything that's listed is here free. So many wonderful things for free under the cut.

Programs – General:

Creating: Blender. Blender Addons: 3D Print Toolbox – comes with blender, enable it from within the program. Originally for 3d printing. Good for fixing flipped normals, and some quick general repairs. Source Tools And source tools wiki – for exporting as SMD!!!! (SimPe: to enable bump maps for the mesh on import). GMDC Addon for Blender 4.0+ by Nopke.

GIMP. GIMP Addons: G'MIC-Qt. Resynthesizer. Nvidia dds?. Doesn’t it come with Gimp?

Other: Nvidia Texture Tools Exporter (iirc it works with all graphic cards that are compatible, doesn’t require Nvidia). For making Normal / Bump / Cube Maps. For high quality compression.

NormalMaps - Online, For making all types of maps, has good setting menus. A very cool tool.

Converting: Umodel, for Unreal Engine (Static meshes: export as gtlf.2. Animated meshes: export as psk. Requires Add-on). AssetStudio, for Unity. AC Viewer, self implied (+ USD Addon for blender). QuickBMS* and support forum, for basically everything else. (don't forget the required scrips, down the same page). *I haven’t tested it fully yet, but it was recommended here. A tutorial for it is listed further down. Works like a charm.

UV Mapping: UV Mapper, Classic (free) and the most recent Demo (for visualization).

Programs – Sims:

Never Mind the Bollox, Here's Osab and MAGIkarp to the rescue!

Latest version of SimPe, works with a non-default installation path. Chris Hatch's updates.

Home Crafter installation, Post by Huge Lunatic at Sims2Artists.

Repository Wizard, by Pick'N'Mix Mods. A game changer.

DBPF Compare, by Pick'N'Mix Mods.

Object Relocator, also by Pick'N'Mix Mods.

SMD Tools, by Lazy Duchess.

The Compressorizer, by JFade – Lazy Duchess's edit.

Bulk Rename Utility, to change file names in well, bulk. As explained by io here.

Lot Adjustor, by Mootilda at MTS.

Tutorials:

Override the game's graphic settings via Nvidia, as explained by iCad. The settings to Nvidia Profile Inspector she linked to at MTS have been deleted for some reason, here they are via WebArchive.

Meshing in Blender:

Mesh Optimization Info (and links), by Crisps&Kerosene.

Additional - Reducing Polycount:

Tutorial, by Flaming-Chickens (another username on other sites perhaps?)

Edge – Un-subdivide, a quick one by CG Link.

Transfer high poly details to low poly object in Blender, by 3Dnot2D.

Shrinkwrap Modifier - Blender Tutorial for Beginners - Basics, by in2vert.

Placeholder for this Addon that I want to try but haven't found, something for AR that was on facebook's defunct AR.

Scaling tips, by Blender Secrets.

How to fix inverted/ flipped normals, by ipaintsmallthings.

Converting: How to Extract 3D Models, Textures, Music from Unreal Engine Games, by iwanMods.

Extract 2D/3D/SFX Unity Assets fast & easy from your Unity Game, by iwanMods as well.

How to use QuickBMS, by darkhorse.

Guide to Converting 3t2 and 4t2 Part 01 and Part 02, by Chiaroscuro/tenlittlepandas.

Converting TS4 Windows and Doors, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Using Different Material Maps as Shading/Details for Base Texture, in Gimp or Blender, by Pineapple Forest & Crisps&Kerosene: https://www.tumblr.com/crispsandkerosene/764893644571525120/great-info-thats-the-reason-some-conversions?source=share

Texture Editing in GIMP:

Using Gimp Add-ons: G'MicQT. Resynthesizer. Both by Davies Media Design. This guy's channel for Gimp in general – here's a good one to begin with. And another one about layer masks.

Making a texture Tile Seamless: 1. My favorite - How to Make Seamless Textures for Cinema 4D - 3 Levels of Photoshop Wizardry using iPhone Photos, by School of Motion.

2. Simple Trick for More Realistic Texture Patterns in GIMP, by Davies Media Design – Quick and simple, using the Resynthesizer plugin. Good for patterns.

Making walls in SimPe out of a square texture, with minimal quality loss. To be written.

SimPe: Cloneable Objects: A List of Good Objects for Cloning, by IgnorantBliss at MTS.

Huge Lunatic's Tutorials, Her website.

Object Creation for Absolute Beginners, by Moune.

Sims 2 start to finish Object Creation Tutorial, by JWoods, Numenor, Lethe_s & IgnorantBliss.

The Material Definition (TXMT) Guide, by PixelHate – very comprehensive. Part 5 is about Bump/ Normal maps.

Null (Texture-less) Groups, by Skell. For bodyshop, for Objects see an elaboration by Midge the Tree below.

Crisps&Kerosene discovered how to add specular maps to objects! It's incredible there are still new things to discover in this ancient game.

More on Specular Maps, by Pineapple Forest.

Making new flooring & walls with SimPE, by Charisa. Includes adding Bump/Normal maps. She added a file to clone from in the comments below. It works for normal maps as well. Here's cool discovery in the game files.

Expanding footprint: a mini tutorial, by Deedee.

How to add correct drop shadows to objects, by Yuxi, via Wayback Machine.

Making Objects Viewable in Neighborhood View, by iCad.

Making Objects Visible In Build/Buy Mode, Invisible In Live Mode, by Midge the Tree.

Making Seasons-Friendly Trees, by Echo.

Io/ Serabiet's resources list, mainly for Bodyshop but not just.

Pineapple Forest's Tutorials, useful tips for efficiency and optimization.

MTS modding forum in General.

The Sims 2 Tutorials, on Tumblr. A database, is more updated.

Sims2Artists tutorials section.

LeeFish modding forum.

Garden of Shadows, Tree of Knowledge section.

Troubleshooting: What to do if you get a System.OutOfMemoryException Error, SimPe Forum, via WayBack Machine. Thank you @fanseelamb for the find.

How to read object error logs: I just want to know what causes it!!, by Episims.

Common TS2 errors, by Midge the Tree.

General game fuckery: How to Stop Sims 2 Crashing (Memory Allocation Fix and 4GB Patch Repair), by Jessa.

Graphics card problems, LeeFish forum.

Graphics help - DIY, by Kiri. How to fix faulty Texture Memory allocation, and the problems that stem from it. Tumblr can't handle anymore hyper links so here it is: https://celebkiriedhel.tumblr.com/post/189431721483/graphics-help-diy

General: Switching between save folders without renaming them, by Nopke.

Resources:

3D Models Online*: Various furniture designers' websites: Porada, Zanotta, Muuto, Hay, Poltrona Frau, many luxury furniture designer basically.

3D Warehouse, belongs to Sketchfab (get the Collada files).

Scan the World.

Wikimedia Commons. And more.

*(NOT OPTIMIZED).

Textures: Architextures.

Fabrics & Wallpapers: Natural Stones: Wall Plasters:

iCad's Woods. Shastakiss's Cluedo Metals, Yeti Metals, Pirate Woods. Goat's Woods.

Textures from other games: Dishonored, Thieve and much more, by Saricoya at GoS. Dreamfell by io.

Resource sharing threads at Garden of Shadows.

SimPe - General: CEP Extras list, HugeLunatic at Sims2Artists.

TXMT settings for different materials, by Hafiseazale.

Extended SimStandardMaterial Shader for the Sims 2 + Optionally Brighter Sims, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Custom CubeMaps, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Shiny TXMT Settings & Cube Maps Packs, by Pineapple Forest.

Build/ Buy: Templates for Recoloring Maxis items; MTS Templates sction, Hafiseazale (+cc), ZeroDark.

Template for Seasonal Trees, Gwenke at Sims2Artists.

Making Roof Recolors, Tutorial & template by Numenor, great template by iCad.

Pack for making food clutter usable, by DeeDee.

CAS: Default Makeup Packages - BYO Packages, by Huge Lunatic.

Body shape, Io/Serabiet on Tumblr.

Skin template, Io/Serabiet on Tumblr.

Hair texture, iCad.

Color Actions, Pooklet on Tumblr.

That's it for now.

Edit: forgot about CEP extras. Added more links. Edit 02: Added Troubleshooting section under tutorials.

BOOST

🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨

Change.org

Sign the Petition

Defend the Internet Archive

I didn't know about the guid database at MTS, does anybody know if it's still being updated?

Sims 2:

Because I'm working on a simple solution, but idk if its still an issue.

Mini tutorial on how to improve catalogue thumbnails for custom TS2 decor items using SimPe

Tiny object mesh combined with large shadow mesh often results in crappy thumbnail (even if you can’t see the ground shadow that doesn’t mean there isn’t one).

The most popular TS2 deco cloning material ever: Fruit bowl & Chinese vase both come with custom (non-standard) thumbnail camera settings. Vase settings may work well for some cc meshes but usually don’t. Fruit bowl camera settings are sh*t.

Note: obviously you can also replace the shadow with a smaller one.

Note2: By “the entire mesh” I meant: everything above the ground level ;)

And if you’d rather fix a shadow instead of removing it, I did a tut on that.

Sometimes it’s enough to clear out custom thumbnail camera settings in thumbnailExtension. Sometimes removing or resizing the shadow will do the trick - often it’s both.

Pond Bottom Defaults

The void of doom has bothered me for a long time. I finally found the textures in the program files months ago, and it took me months to get around to making an upload. I also found out how to get paint under the water, but I imagine there’s at least one person who would want the simpler way of using a default.

Here’s the preview/swatch of all 3 options:

As shown in the first picture, the terrain.ini can be edited to get rid of the sand edge (which shares it’s texture with the beach texture). Editing this file is optional, but I personally recommend it. I included a terrain.ini in the download, which is from the MG program files.

I haven’t seen any differences between various EP/SP combos, but you may want to edit your own if you’re way pre-MG or have your own configurations already in your own terrain.ini. Open the terain.ini file in the program files of MG or your newest EP of you don’t have MG. The file path will be something like InstallLocation/Sims 2/Most Recent EP\TSData\Sys. For example mine is C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Fun with Pets\SP9\TSData\Sys

These are the values I used:

ShallowPaintDepthMin=-0.35 DeepPaintDepthMin=0 ShallowPaintDepthMax=5 DeepPaintDepthMax=2BeachPaintPeakDepth=0 BeachPaintEndDepth=0 BeachPaintMaxAlpha=0

Any terrain.ini edits won’t apply to existing ponds, although this is pretty easy to fix. Just redig around the pond edges (some objects may need to be moved) then undo it. The pond paint will be updated. Then fix any terrain painting/objects/deco that got messed up.

All files are compressed with included swatch and preview. I also included the terrain.ini instructions.

Download | Alt

Credit to Nilxis for the textures.

I've put together some of my favourite shiny TXMT settings - these are for TS2 CC creators /anyone editing recolors in SimPe.

I've included two custom envcubes.

Also recommended: my Shine Removal Kit.

Shine TXMT Settings

Download: SFS | BOX

These settings should be added to TXMT with 'merge' button /not 'import'/. Instructions are included.

As is the case with StandardMaterial, envcube reflections get much stronger outdoors. This pack includes various TXMT settings for opaque object recolors, to simulate materials such as glass, porcelain, gold, polished metal, stainless metal, cars and other glossy outdoor objects.

Shine settings can be merged with all kinds of settings (tinted, transparent, with textures, or textureless).

stdMatEmissiveCoef and stdMatDiffCoef brightness might affect the intensity of reflections

Please note my shine settings can also be used for SimStandardMaterial stuff BUT results will be a little different /CAS accessories using that shader look the same indoors and outdoors/.

One of the setting files features my custom greylivingroom-envcube, it's based on TS2 gothlivingroom_01-envcube, which I very often use for glazed pottery or glass bottles -BUT it doesn't have any brassy tones, unlike original.

And there's also pfmall-envcube which I created for cars displayed indoors, but it's not exactly how I imagined it - I haven't found much use for it so far. Both custom envcubes are tiny, 64x64 px DXT5.

A Bit Of Gloss: porcelain / glass kind of shine, good for small objects, I often use it for bottles

A Bit Of Neutral Gloss: same as above, but no warm hues

Cool Sparkles: highly polished surface effect, good for small and larger objects

Shiny Gold & Stainless Steel Shine: what it says on the tin

Subtle Shine Blueish: barely visible indoors, this one is good for outdoor metals

Car Varnish Glossy Outdoor: reflection with green grass, trees and sky

Glossy glowing: for lit panels and such

Quick GUID Checker for Sims 2

This is an expansion on @picknmixsims Microsoft Excel sheet available here. It is a table I made that is incredibly lazy but effective and quick at searching for searching for Maxis GUID conflicts when you create new GUIDs. It's a little easier to use since the GUID Database has been down for a long time and you can add your own GUIDs onto the list and update the formula if you're savvy enough in Excel.

DOWNLOAD SFS

DOWNLOAD MEGA

The Conclave fandom on Twitter appears to be in a crisis of tone (and whether its appropriate to be posting priest yaoi rn) and it's the most entertaining thing I've seen in fandom this year