First: thanks for this tutorial, recolouring is a great thing. ^^

But now I've got a small problem:
When I want to recolour 'Will Lloyd Wright Dollhouse', I can make a package file, but then it says that the object is created. Other files work fine, but this file not. How come?

The dollhouse is not recolorable, not even with the CEP.

I have not tryed this my self yet... but I think you have to "clone" it... not "recolor"...

Oh, okay. Thanks.

Thread Update
 

Added Spanish translation by Angelskin, in Word DOC format
Added Norwegian version by Ghostsim: it can be found in this web page (EXTERNAL LINK)

Thanks to Angelskin and Ghostsim for their contributions!

SnowStorm's Recolourable DollHouse can be recoloured normally, using Object Workshop. Of course, it's a custom object, and therefore you have to start Object Workshop and click "Open..." instead if "Start".
In order to use the recolour in game, SnowStorm's package must be installed in the Downloads.

Good tutorial, Numenor.

Thank you for the wonderful tutorial Numenor! It makes things so easy :D
Though I have a slight problem, I've already looked through the 22 pages in this thread but I couldn't find a solution on it, or I might have missed it, but I'm trying to recolor some of Sunair's objects but some of them somehow can't be recolored.
They do show up if you load them in the workshop, but there isn't information on what it is or what price, only the poly count. And if I try to export it it doesn't have any textures. The weird thing is, there are recolors of them, by Sunair, but I can't seem to recolor them. Other objects of Sunair seem to work fine, but it's really annoying since I'm trying to get the sets complete!

I have installed the latest SimPE and CEP.

Ninika, can you specify which objects by Sunair you can't recolor? It's impossible to say what the problem is without looking at the object itself . CEP shouldn't matter in any case, since they are custom objects.

Sunair sometimes uses the "Repository technique", i.e. only one object of a set contains the actual textures; if you load in SimPe a "slave object" (i.e. one that does not contain textures because they are borrowed by the Repository), the recolour package can't be created. You have to find the Repository object, and create a recolour for it.

From SER Bedroom B: Sunair T371 SER Ceiling Lamp (I get two picks for the textures, but when I get to export/import it just shows white?)

Weird thing is, when I reinstalled the Nvidia thing, most of them seem to work again, apart from that one ceiling lamp! Could it be the Nvidia thing, or that I restarted the computer?

Edit: Thank you Numenor, I never thought of that!

Edit2: I know what was wrong, it has something to do with transperacy!

Oh, I see, it's a pay object, so you can't post it here. You should ask to Sunair, then; I don't like giving support for pay items (and I can't anyway, for I don't have a subscription to TSR...)

Ah, I can understand that, I have to earn the free days myself (saving up for Japan, sp any spare cash is really helpful!)
I think I found a way to edit it

Edit: It works, woohoo, thanks Numenor!

I recolored a number of objects I made myself but some of them worked right and some of theme have not even one possibility in the game while I made them all on the same way.
My bath bed didn't work but my cupboard and sink worked fine, how is this possible and what can I do?

TimSimser, did you update the MMATs with the master GUID when you got new GUIDs for your objects? Open up the MMATs and see the value for line objectGUID, does it match the number of your new master GUID? If not, you can change it manually by just editing the value to the correct one, committing and saving.

Why my custom content isn't in the recolor choice... =(

You mean that your custom object is not recolourable? You must clone an object that is already recolourable, in order to have a recolourable clone. Having installed the CEP expands the number of recolourable object to clone; but some Maxis objects still are not recolourable, even with the CEP.

What object have you cloned?

x0o0x,

lol, may read back Step1 hint of this tutorial (it's right before Step2) too if you think necessary.

Thank you Numenor for the great tutorial! I'm just learning to recolor, and having lots of fun!

My question is this: (I've been peeking in other creator's packages to see how they created their stuff...) and I've noticed something I've yet to see explained in a tut (here, and at SimPE) A few creators have added recolor txtr options to the base-mesh package - for instance: DH's Handmade Rugs. It is a stand-alone object (rug) but it has 5 different textures included. How did DH do this? And, if I make a personal recolor of it, can I add my txtr to the original package? How do I add another txtr? I'd rather add to the original package than have another file in my download folder...

Through trial and error I figured out how to replace one of DH's original txtrs (Thank you for back-up advice!!!) If I missed the obvious answer somewhere, please steer me in the right direction...

Thank you!
Catherine

I'm starting to sound as a broken record, but I don't personally recommend adding several color options into one package. That way people can't pick and choose which color options they have, since the recolors that are in the mesh package can't be deleted in game, and also have to be downloaded all in one batch. I'd recommend keeping recolors in separate recolor packages. It doesn't really affect file size much, either, since whether it's one or several packages, the same amount of textures and other files are still needed.

Thank you, Ignorant Bliss, for repeating yourself yet again...

I know I have serious organizational 'issues' - my husband can't understand why I don't just play the game... I will add seperate recolor packages and learn to be happy.

I'd still like to know how DH did it - how to add recolors directly to the mesh package?

Thank you (again)
Catherine

I confess my guilt: I too have sometimes added more colour options into the mesh package. But I promise I won't do that any more! -

But, from a purely educational point of view, I can share thies piece of knowledge, too (but again, don't put the blame on us if your downloaders complain about having deleted your mesh by mistake...)

I just create several separate recolour packages; then I restart SimPE and drag and drop the mesh and all the recolour packages into SimPe at the same time. This forces SimPE to merge all the packaged (mesh and recolours) into one big package.
The last, extremely important thing to do, is to be sure that all the Material Overrides have different Instance numbers (you can modify the instance number of a MMAT from the "Resource" tab, on the bottom of the window).

Forgive me, Modfather, but can you please clarify that last trick? It sounds incredibly cool, being able to combine package resources so easily, but I've tried it and I can't seem to get it to work.

I can open the base file I'd like to add to... And opening another instance of SimPE with the files I'd like to add doesn't seem to work - I can select multiples but it won't let me drag them, just tries to select a box again...

And while it does seem to want to let me drag and drop a .package from my Desktop into the resource list, it doesn't add the resources - just opens the other file.

Seems like I'm missing something in dragging and dropping other than those two ways, perhaps... but I really want to be able to do this, as combining packages is done a lot in Body Shop stuff, like to put all your ages of hair meshes together in one file, and saving the extract-add step would be groovy.

1. To add files of recolours into the mesh package(s), extract all the files from the recolour packages.
2. Either right-click and add all the xml files of the extracts or drag them from the windows explorer into the file window.
3. as Numenor has stated out in post 547, get to the resource tab view, variate the instance ID for all the material override (MMAT) files. (so, all these MMAT files have different instance IDs from one another.)
4. save the package.

I personally do the opposite of the process... I "dissect" the recolour files from the mesh package ... for my copies! :D

hum o_o when I right click build dxt is greyed out.. D: any ideas?