Sims 3 CC to Sims 4 Conversion

I just spent more than an hour typing up instructions on how to do this, then realized you might take one look at it and go, "no way." I'm afraid that converting these items is not going to be as straightforward as you think and will require tinkering and adjustments to both the meshes and the textures. If you're very new and have never worked much with Blender before and/or Photoshop and are unfamiliar with how textures are handled in Sims 3 you'll get overwhelmed very easily. I'm happy to explain it all if you'd like. I might consider converting them for you--no need to pay me; I'll just post the conversions publicly on my Tumblr page--but it could be a while considering that I have two other projects I'm currently ignoring.

Well, I'm glad to know you understand Photoshop because you will need to tweak the textures to fit Sims 4 standards. I'm currently writing up instructions and will post them later tonight.

For now, I'll explain a little how Sims 3 textures work.

TS3 uses a multiplier, which is essentially a greyscale image that you bake in Blender. A multiplier provides the shading on a mesh so that it appears 3D instead of a flat 2D. Here is a tutorial explaining what a baked texture is for and how to make one. If you were making an item from scratch and needed to make a diffuse, you'd bake a texture in Blender then import the baked image you made into Photoshop, put your texture on a new layer, then change to layer mode to overlay, or possibly soft light so that the baked texture's shading shows through. You'd have to play around with it to see what works. For a TS3 to TS4 conversion, however, you would not need to bake a texture; the multiplier is a baked texture.

Sims 3 has a feature that lets you apply textures to an object in-game, so Sims 3 items require a mask. The mask will be painted blue, green, and red. Sometimes, a mask will be painted with just two of those three colors; sometimes just one. How the mask is painted depends on the UV layout of the mesh--different parts of a mesh can receive a different texture in the game and the mask dictates what parts can be recolored. TS4 does not use a mask so you will not need to bother with that.

Some meshes in Sims 3 will have parts that are not supposed to be colored in-game. Those parts of the texture are called an overlay. The items you want to convert have overlays, and those could easily be incorporated into a diffuse texture which is what you need for TS4. But, in the case of your project, not all of the mesh is covered by the overlay. Some parts are meant to be colored in-game so no diffuse-like overlay was provided. You would need to color those parts yourself in Photoshop using the multiplier as a base as I explained above.

You have a specular map that controls how shiny your object is. TS4 uses specular maps, so no difference there. In TS3, most people take the baked multiplier and make it brighter.

There is a bump map (sometimes called a normal map) that is sort of an optical illusion to make a mesh appear to have more details than it actually does--the goal in gaming, ALL gaming I believe, is to keep your mesh's polycount as low as you can. This is done to prevent lag since not everyone has a beast of a computer. TS4 objects use bump maps, as well. I could not find the bump map for any of the items you want to convert in TSRW. I thought for sure the bump maps were under the meshes tab in the materials section but when I checked I came up empty. If there was no bump map made for these items, you will need to make a bump map yourself but it is way easier than you think, especially if you know your way around Photoshop.

Here is an example of a bump map. Note that it is purple, but in TS4 it would be grey because there are things that would need to be done to the image.



Here's an example of the effect a bump map can have on a mesh. The meshes are identical. The only difference is that one is using a bump map and the other isn't.



So, to sum it all up, TS3 uses a baked multiplier, a specular map, a bump map, and a mask. Sometimes, it uses an overlay and sometimes a stencil. The objects you want to convert aren't using stencils but they are using overlays.

TS4 requires a diffuse, specular map, and a bump map.

In my next post, I'll explain how to prepare the meshes. They will need a little work, unfortunately. Afterward, I'll explain how to prepare the textures.

Hoo, boy. I've been writing for hours trying to describe what needs to be done and I am exhausted!

The more I look into this the more I think this is not a project for a beginner. All of the meshes need work.

The bikes have to be separated into two mesh groups since it has an area that has transparency. There's also a slot to be considered.

The kiosk has two meshes that have to be joined, but once you join the meshes you'll have to do some adjustments to avoid faces overlapping one another. And the UV map needs to be adjusted as well, which means you'll need to bake a new ambient occlusion map (aka multiplier in TS3).

The grocery bag has transparency. That means separating the meshes.

The key fob and lunchbox are pretty straightforward.

The textures are all incomplete and you would need to hand-paint parts of all of them.

I am so sorry, but the more I type the more I think that this is not a good project to get your feet wet. I would have to explain so much. Too much, really, if you're new to Blender. And as I said, I'm exhausted. All this typing is killing my arm, too! (I had shoulder replacement surgery last year. Still haven't fully recovered.) If you really want to learn to convert things, start with something easy. Do the key fob and the lunchbox. Clone the Mega Couple of Books decor for both since it sits on a table and has one mesh group. Export the UV maps as described in this tutorial. The exported UV layout will be your guide for identifying what UV island pertains to what parts of the mesh. The diffuse texture is incomplete so you will need to open the overlay, the UV layout, and the multiplier and put them all in one document. Then, using the UV layout as a guide, bucket fill areas to color the parts of the mesh that haven't been touched by the overlay. Take a look at this tutorial for help with using the multiplier to add shading to the diffuse. In a nutshell, in Photoshop in a new layer, add the colors you want, change the layer mode to overlay or soft light or something so that the multiplier shows through. You'll have to play around with it to see what layer mode looks best. Delete the UV layout so that all that's left is the overlay, the multiplier, and the layer with the colors you added, and flatten the image and save it as a DDS file using DXT1 No Alpha. Make a new bump map. Instructions are here. I think this is enough to get started learning.