#mod tutorial

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this game is basically nothing without mod and cc creators, so all credit and love to them ♡

step 01: setting up your mods folder

open file explorer, go to documents, and find the folder labeled electronic arts. then click on the sims 4.

you'll see a folder labeled mods - pin it to quick access [this will make accessing it easier]

step 02: downloading mods and cc

you can find cc and mods so many ways!! tumblr, youtube, pinterest, instagram, etc. there are a lot of blogs on tumblr specifically for cc finds too

make sure you're downloading things from a reliable source. for example - a creator's patreon/tumblr or website, simfileshare.net [often linked as sfs], google docs, curseforge, itch.io, and *unanimously hated* thesimsresource.com → the sims resource is hated because of all of the fucking ads lmaooo

you'll be downloading package files and zip files. you'll find them in your downloads in file explorer

step 03: installing mods and cc

navigate to downloads in file explorer

package files can be simply dragged into the mods folder

zip files need to be extracted, then you can drag and drop the unzipped folder into your mods folder → whatever you put into your mods folder can only be one extra folder deep or it won't show up in your game

when it comes to mods [not cc], creators will often have instructions for you. follow those exactly

step 04: mods + game updates

sometimes mods break when there's a game update. it's just a very annoying part of the game at this point lol

some mods will have a pop-up in the game letting you know it needs to be updated. but if it doesn't and you notice something is fucked up, you can google 'broken mods' and usually someone else will be having the same problem and can let you know to update it

if a mod is broken, remove it from your mods folder and go download the new version from the creator → a lot of mod creators update very quickly [like the same day or within a couple days] but sometimes they don't. just be patient and check for updates periodically

recommended: the sims 4 mod manager // dl here → the mod manager will allow you to see and deactivate or remove mods and cc from your game [it's automatically connected to your mods folder and can be helpful when you can't find broken mods or cc]

gameplay mods i recommend

mccc by @deaderpoolmc // dl here ✧ gives a you a lot of control of your game

tool by @twistedmexi // dl here ✧ place and size things however you want

better build/buy by @twistedmexi // dl here ✧ gives you easier access to things in build/buy that you'd normally have to use cheats for

relationship and pregnancy overhaul by lumpinou // dl here ✧ more realistic gameplay [this one is essential!!]

lgbtqia+ by lumpinou // dl here ✧ gender identity, gender affirmation and transition, self-discovery, coming out, dating apps and lot traits [i love this mod so much!!]

healthcare redux by adeepindigo // dl here ✧ adds illness, injury, chronic conditions, allergies, medical emergencies, etc

childbirth mod by @pandasamacc // dl here ✧ good for family gameplay

snbills by @simrealist // dl here ✧ bank accounts

also want to mention milk thistle & sunblind by @softerhaze ✧ the lighting with these mods is *essential* pls check them out!!

create-a-sim [cas] mods i recommend

cas backgrounds // i love vyxated ✧ these are just extra fun!! you can find a lot on tumblr or youtube to download. it's a super easy drag and drop into your mods folder. but when you want to change it, make sure you remove the current one or it won't work!!

gentle cas lighting by northerin siberia winds // dl here ✧ replaces the ea lighting in cas with a softer glow and shadows

any cas lighting by helgatisha // dl here ✧ i like the colors they have!!

custom content [let's make your sims hot!!]

cc creators i love: @kumikya @dogsill @aladdin-the-simmer @arethabee @imvikai @jius-sims @northernsiberiawinds @oakiyo @its-adrienpastel @daylifesims @twisted-cat @madlensims @miikocc @obscurus-sims @evoxyr @powluna @pralinesims @simandy @sentate @simstrouble @christopher067 @aharris00finds @bluecravingcc @crypticsim @gorillax3-cc @gegesimmer @frzrbunny @greenllamas @lisatrait @joshseoh @liyahsim @thatonegreenleaf @trillyke @waterlily0210 @clumsyalienn @johnnysimmer @lamatisse

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Outfit Studio (maybe not technically necessary, but I prefer it for my method)

NifSkope

The Method:

Open facegen that contains the headpart you want in Outfit Studio.

Export only the part you want as to a nif (right click the mesh name in the box in the upper right corner.) You must export each part individually (like hair and hairlines must be separate meshes.) Save.

Open your newly saved mesh in NifSkope. Expand the block list to see all the stuff.

should look something like this

4. You will see that your mesh (in this example, '000CotA_ErandurHL') is under the BSFaceGenNiNodeSkinned. This will cause problems, so you need to right click your mesh and then go Block -> Copy Branch

5. Click your Scene Root (0) record. Right click it then Block -> Paste Branch.

6. Return to your original mesh record under BSFaceGen-Node. Right click -> Block -> Remove Branch.

should now look like this

7. Click on your new mesh block. Click the flag by the Flags record to open the dialogue box, uncheck Bit 26, then click 'Accept'. It should read '14'.

before

after

8. Expand your mesh so that you see the BSDismemberSkinInstance record and click on it. Double click the Skeleton Root number and change it to 0.

before

after

Edit: one last thing...

9. Under BSLightingShaderProperty -> Shader Flags 2, remove the Packed_Tangent flag.

I'm giving Stardrop a spin these days, so the folder path is somewhat different.

My Mods Folder looks like this:

Within the Stardrop Installed Mods folder, it looks like a typical Mods folder setup if you're doing manual installs:

You'll need to go into the folder I have highlighted, "Farmer 2.0 ESWF."

It should look like this:

We're going to need to go into the assets folder that is highlighted there. Inside, you should have a file structure similar to this:

(Note, if you've just installed, you won't have anything like the "Callie" or "Quinn" folders. We're getting ready to set that up.)

Now, for this setup, I'm doing the "Player 1 - No Emotions" because pixel art is not in my wheelhouse and this is a pretty straight-forward set up. This one allows you to set up different portraits for different weather types, as well as different portraits for indoors versus outdoors if you want your character to not have a coat on while inside or whatever.

The first thing you need to do is Copy and Paste the "Player 1 - No Emotions" folder within that same assets folder.

In older versions of Windows, instead of it tacking on a "- Copy" at the end, it oftentimes will add a "(1)" or "(2)" instead. You're going to rename that to the name of your Farmer--not your farm, but your character. Hence why I have a "Callie" and a "Quinn."

For this demonstration, I'm going to use Quinn since I used the No Emotions setup for them.

Inside of your Farmer Folder, you'll see this:

That portrait file? You can replace it with a base portrait. The most important thing is that you A) don't delete it and B) if you do replace it, make sure you keep the same file name of "portrait." Otherwise, the mod will bork hardcore.

You'll notice that it has eleven folders for different seasons/events/locations. For this example, we'll go into "Fall."

Inside are subfolders for different weather conditions. "Sun" is the default portrait that it uses on most days. For this example, however, we're going to go into "Rain," as I actually use different outfits/portraits for indoors and outdoors in those conditions.

The files are pretty straight forward: "portrait" is for when Farmer is outside, and "portrait_indoors" is for when Farmer is inside. (Side note: to make my portraits, I used this portrait creator. When I saved my files, I saved them as either "portrait" or "portrait_indoors" and replaced the original files in that folder. Make sure you download the 64x64 version and not the 256x256.)

But what if you don't want to use a different portrait while indoors?

Just reuse the same image!

Once you have all of your portraits for the various seasons/weather/events set, you're going to want to copy your Farmer's folder to elsewhere on your hard drive. That way, if it gets deleted during an ESWF update, you have a back up and can just copy it back into the assets folder.

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What you’ll need: DAI Mod Maker (i use v1.1.0.17 because other versions can be finicky. Scroll down a bit on that link to find it.) GIMP (you can also use Photoshop, but i only know how to do this in GIMP. It should still be similar steps if you want to use Photoshop.)

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First, we need to export the tattoo texture for the vallaslin. Open up DAI Mod Maker and go to Data > da3 > actors > baseheads > textures > tattoos.

The ones listed as “[TextureAsset]” starting with “tattoo_elf” are the ones we are looking for.

In Inquisition, you can only override what is already in the game; no standalones. Meaning you’ll have to change out one of the vallaslins already in-game for your own. You can pick any of these three to override. To see which vallaslins are in the texture, double click the texture asset and click Preview. In the texture preview, you’ll see red, green, blue, and white boxes in the top left corresponding to the RBG and Alpha channels. Each of these channels has a different vallaslin on it. Toggling them all off and selecting them one at a time will show you which ones.

Edit: It is possible to edit any of the channels, however I only know how to override the Alpha channel, so that's what I'll be showing. So in the preview, look in the Alpha channels to find the one you want to override.

Once you decide on the texture you want to override, you can close the texture preview. In the asset preview, click Import/Export > Export Asset. Save it as a .dds file.

After it’s exported, you can close DAI Mod Maker for now. Next, we move on to GIMP. When opening the .dds in GIMP, make sure to uncheck the box for “Load mipmaps”. The other setting, "Automatically decode..." should stay checked. (The newest versions of GIMP support .dds files without needing a plugin.)

Once you have it open in GIMP, the first thing i suggest you do is get a placement reference to draw your vallaslin on. To do this, we’re going to take one of the vanilla vallaslins and save it on it’s own image. That way you can design your vallaslin easily and not have to worry about stretching and scaling to fit later on.

On the right side of the window, open the channels tab.

For the placement reference, i’m going to use the full-face Sylaise vallaslin because you can clearly see where the eyes, forehead, cheeks, and chin are. You might want to use a vallaslin that you also see the neck on if you plan on designing vallaslin onto the neck. In the Channels tab, click on the eye symbols to the left to toggle visibility to find which channel the vallaslin you want to use as a reference is on. In this case, it is on the red channel.

Next we're going to go to the top left and select Colors > Components > Decompose.

In the pop up, the Color model should be RGB, "Decompose to layers" should be checked, and "Foreground as registration color" should be unchecked.

This will separate all of the color channels into layers. So, we need to go into the Layers tab and delete the other color layers we don’t need. In this case, that’s blue and green. When you only have the layer that you need, we’re going to go to Colors > Invert to make it easier to draw on. Then you can export it.

You should now have something that looks like this:

So, now you get to design your vallaslin! You can use whichever program you prefer (i originally used GIMP, but also used Krita for one). One tip i have that sounds obvious but i didn't do the first time is use mirroring while you’re designing it. You can find out how to do that in whatever program you want with a quick google. Just put the placement reference we made in a layer behind your drawing layer and go crazy.

This is what my final version looked like for my Inquisitor. Keep in mind that the way that it actually looks on your character will be determined by the shape of their face, so you may have to do a few tries to get it exactly how you want.

Now to put it in the game!

Open the original exported texture .dds back into GIMP and go into the Channels tab. We're changing the Alpha channel, so make sure that only the Alpha channel is selected. Then, go back over the Layers and erase the vallaslin you see there.

Next, open your vallaslin image in GIMP. Go to the Channel tab again and make sure only Alpha is selected. Hit Ctrl + A, then Ctrl + C to copy. Then, go back to the original texture. Alpha should still be the only selection in the Channels tab. Hit Ctrl + V to paste your vallaslin.

Go back into the Layers tab, right click the floating layer, and select Anchor Layer. You should see the other channels through your design like this:

Next, go to File > Export as, and export with these settings:

Time to make it into a mod! Open DAI Mod Maker and go to Data > da3 > actors > baseheads > textures > tattoos again. Open the texture that you picked before. In the pop up, go to Import/Export and select Import Asset. Find the .dds you made in GIMP and import it. It should give you a pop up saying it was successful!

Then, in the Mod Maker window, go to File > Save as and save your mod however you want.

Click Create and save it where you want, and there you have it! Then, all you have to do is merge it with your DAI Mod Manager and you should have it waiting for you in-game!

Now go crazy and draw on your ocs' faces all you want.

First step is extract the vanilla hair meshes with BAE. Then open the mesh you want to edit with Outfit Studio. It’s easiest to just edit things in Outfit Studio, but you can only stretch and shrink meshes in Outfit Studio, not cut up. If you drastically edit the mesh, you’re gonna want to reweight it. So to do this, load another similar hair mesh as reference. Then left right click on the name of your hair and click “copy bone weights.” You can use use the reference shape as well reference for where things should be. Then export as big into a folder, either character/characterassets/female or a new one you made. If you want a mesh with multiple parts, I wouldn’t set one as reference and export with reference, I would set each as Outfit separately and have them be separate pieces.

A bit more complicated if you really want cut up meshes so skip this if this is too involved. First, you need 3DS Max with a nif plug-in (or Blender). Then you’d open the mesh, right click and convert to editable poly. Then delete the strips, convert again. Then on the drop down in the third tab click Skin Wrap. Import in the mesh of the hair you’re going to weight this to. Change it to face deformation and click weight all points and then select the reference shape you imported. Wait a second and then click the apply button at the bottom. Then delete skin wrap and add a BSSubindexModifer. It’s easiest to just unlock it, select the whole mesh and then lock it. However, then the hair won’t be hat compatible. If someone wants a hat compatibility tutorial I can go into that… but anyways….

Adding in game time! Since this is just mesh editing you don’t need to do anything to the textures or materials. Open up FO4Edit and optionally another hair esp as well. Copy a record from a hair into your new esp, change the name. Now if you have a second mesh in the hair, copy over the records from a extra piece hairline (or a hair, you’ll just have to change more things). Change the files paths to your path, and if you want it female or male, check that box, if you want unisex check neither. If it’s an extra piece, check “is extra part” and make sure under Type it is “Misc” not “Hair”. In your Hair hair add the extra piece in by right clicking and typing in its ID, ex. “[HDPT:010xxxxxx]”. It’s also a good idea to keep in a vanilla hairline, maybe the one the hair originally had if you didn’t edit it too much. Then save your esp, check it in NMM and check out the barber! (or slm 14)

Invisible hair bug shooting:

- the extra part isn’t properly set up, check other esps for ref

- the paths are typed in incorrectly in FO4Edit

- check above and below your character, after weighting sometimes stuff get mixed up and the hair could be floating 10 feet above or below you. Move the hair up/down significantly in Outfit Studio. This is annoying because you’re sort of shooting in the dark as to where the head might be and the references you bring in will be in the wrong spot :/

other bugs:

- if you get infinite stretching, try reweighting

- if you have an extra part with cloth bones (physics) the main hair needs cloth bones on it too, or the whole hair will be stiff