This may well already be known but since I for some cockamamie reason a week or so ago I decided to start comparing GUIDs between beta and final... so here's the full list I was able to come up with (format: "Beta OBJD Name = Final OBJD Name (part/all of final catalog name)"):

AnimTester = AnimTester.iff (not Bones AFAICT)
Aquarium = Aquarium (Poseidon's Adventure)
Bed = Bed - Double - Moderate (Napoleon Sleigh)
Bed Expensive = ????
Book = ????
Bookshelf Moderate = ????
Chair Moderate = Chair - Living Room - Cheap 1 (Sioux Sity)
Coffee Table Moderate = Coffee Table Moderate (10W-40) (Wow! It really kept that GUID the entire time!)
CoffeeCup = ????
Computer = Computer - Moderate (Microscotch Covetta)
Counter = Counter - Kitchen - Cheap 1 (Numica)
Counter Expensive 1 = Counter - Kitchen - Expensive #1 (Barcelona Outcurve)
Counter Expensive 2 = Counter - Kitchen - Expensive #2 (Barcelona Incurve)
Destination = Destination - For Go Here & Shoo
DiagDoor = ????
Dishwasher = ????
Door1 = Door - Window (Federal) (Federal Lattice Window Door)
Dresser Expensive = ????
Dunne Uh = ????
Easel = Easel
End Table Moderate = Table - End - Moderate 1 ("Anywhere")
Flamingo = Flamingo (Pink Flamingo)
Floor Lamp Expensive = ????
Floor Lamp Moderate = Lamp - Floor - Cheap (Halogen Heaven)
Food Processor = Food Processor (XLR8R)
Fritz Frisbee = NPC Pizza Dude ("original GUID" only, actual GUID different; may mean he was cloned off Fritz)
High Shrub = ????
House Plant = Plant - Floor - Rubber (Rubber Tree)
Josephine Solo = ????
Kitchen Chair = Chair - Dining - Very Expensive (Parisienne)
Level 1 = ????
Level 2 = ????
Level 3 = ????
Level 4 = ????
Low Shrub1 = Shrub - Hedge Low (Boxwood)
Meal = Food - Regular Meal
Mercedes = ????
Microwave = Stove - Microwave (Positive Potential)
Mirror Expensive = ????
Nightstand Expensive = ????
Outside = KNOWN MISSING in final (is what triggers "missing objects" dialog on House11)
Painting Expensive = ????
Painting Moderate = ????
Phone = Phone - Table (SCTC BR-8 Standard Telephone)
Puddle = ???? (not Flood)
Refrigerator = Fridge - Cheap (Llamark) ("original GUID" only, actual GUID different; may be clone)
Refrigerator Expensive = ????
Ross = ????
Sam = ????
Shower = Shower
Sigmund Silver = ????
Sink = Sink - Kitchen - Cheap (SpaceMiser)
Sink Expensive = Sink - Kitchen - Expensive (Epikouros)
Snack = Food - Bag of Chips
Social = ???? (not Social Interactions)
Sofa - 2 tiles = Sofa - Loveseat - Cheap 1 (Contempto Loveseat)
Sofa - 3 tiles = Sofa - Cheap 1 (Contempo Couch)
Sofa Chair = ????
Sofa Moderate 1x3 = Sofa - Expensive 1 (Deiter)
Stereo = Stereo - Boombox (Down Wit Dat) ("original GUID" only, actual GUID different)
Stove = Stove - Cheap (Dialectric)
Stove Expensive = Stove - Expensive (Pyrotorre) (interestingly has a different original GUID, can't check original GUIDs in beta)
Table 1x1 = ????
Table 3x2 = ????
The Colonel = ????
The Duchess = ????
Tile Cursor = Tile Cursor
Toilet = Toilet - Cheap (Hygeia-O-Matic)
Trash Can = Trash Can Inside
Tub = Tub - Cheap (Justa Bathtub)
TV = ????
TV Large = ????
TV Small = Television - Cheap (Monochrome) ("original GUID" only, actual GUID different)
Wall Cursor = Wall Cursor
Window = Window - Circular (El Sol Window) ("original GUID" only, actual GUID different)

It's interesting which of these objects are really different looking (as compared with some other one which might look similar but maybe lack any GUID relation) and which are really close to the same looking.

Nice that you went ahead and spotted the character identifiers as well --- it makes perfect sense to me that the pizza dude is merely a post-rehab Fritz

Fritz' day job!

Is he you?

@purplewowies; that YouTuber is having a blast with your aquarium/end+coffee table set!




(Edit: couldn't help but notice that none of the custom sound events play in their game....... I wish I had a second PC close to me right now so I could see if it happens in spite of the (hypothetically) correct placement of the CC folders. But part of me believes that if it were a design mistake, I'd be sent plenty of angry emails @ this point )

If it helps, IIRC your objects' sounds play in my dev copy (well. with a stray C++ error or two sometimes) and I think also mostly or entirely play on my actual installation, where the likelihood of a sound ID conflict is potentially higher due to the number of objects. 🤔

(The aquarium's *definitely* play in both places for me or I would have probably held off on uploading it.)

I've been thinking once I finally solve all the bed issues I might have it use final game audio just because I really don't want to control for if the snoring goes awry lol

As it stands, I've stepped briefly away from Sims coding to put together a new computer and learn my way around Linux. (My Sims CDs will not install via Wine because for whatever reason the installer has decided it doesn't recognize disc 2 of Deluxe so I can't get to the point of even having a base game. That is okay because I still have the Windows laptop... I was just hoping to code on a bigger screen! )

Thank you - one day it will be timely to set up a public spreadsheet (a la Magic Cookie Database) where people let others know of the sound event ids that they are using in their own custom objects! The last time that I assigned a custom FWAV for a port, I did make sure to look up for the number that directly follows the lastest (as in highest numerically) id used by an MM object. IIRC it helped me to fix this old problem where sounds wouldn't play on the Legacy ports here on my end.

But then again, if anyone else's ports are frustratingly silent, irrespective of them following the instructions correctly, let us know! As Maxis aficionados, we mostly learn things by doing the things that it take for us to learn the things that we learn by doing!

And oh, yeah, in this stage I'm also ferociously avoiding the importation of the non-Lawlor and non-Kaerin simlish sfx to the objects LOL

My growing need for cyberprivacy is begging me to set up a Linux (I'm a recovering data giver! Only very recently I traded all the Chromium crap for Firefox and other browsers..._ and the legends have it it's the perfect OS for those who want to experience a bug-free Sims 2, eh?

-----

Edit: I think I will schedule for this weekend a commented video where I navigate 2000's and 1998's Edith Bunker 1.0 (how can both of them be 1.0 when they're so different?) to showcase the odd "beta" leftovers that are exclusive to the flamingo object!

Ha, I went for Linux because I was due for a new computer and really really didn't want Windows 11 specifically (for privacy AND aesthetic reasons). Plus, I was building the PC from scratch and this way I don't have to pay for an OS if I don't want to. (Meanwhile my moving from Android to GrapheneOS was a function of "I want a degoogled phone but it needs to still be able to run Android apps (so I can keep trying to code some) and also I have exactly one app that needs to ping Google Play to give me premium features".)

...I got someone with a Linux virtual machine to test installing Deluxe by using Wine and they had the same problem as me; their guess is it's weirdness with how the computer is mounting the drive... 🤔 (Though I probably won't try to figure out how to fix that if so, I mostly tried installing it as a test. :P)

First solid year of this ongoing project! According to my SFS dashboard, the objects (both individual and mega pack files) were downloaded at least 1.5K times (let us loosely assume 80% off this amount are in fact unique downloads, in assuming that some are inclined to download multiple mega pack files just to see which one fits their needs best), which gets me pondering about the mysteries surrounding the traction of the files beyond thread visibility. Not to say that I am becoming the next MrBeast in the context of data obsession, but sometimes I go like "where on Earth are our peers? manifest yourselves!"

Oh I think I'll update the first post's introductory paragraphs as well. Something along the lines of "it's for educational purposes! don't sue us, EA!"

So I saw on reddit that this buddy was looking for post-steering committee lot recreations. I told him about an old effort of mine in that regard, but of course they all miss the object ports. I guess that this week I will update the importable save files with the beta objects and post here

Teeny tiny bed3 update: I routed around lingering repeating animations (the beta uses two separate animations to get into bed, final game uses one, I had replaced both lines in the beta logic with the final animation initially just to make sure SOMEthing was playing) and I solved some SLOT issues by just using the basegame bed's slot. This actually puts the bed in a mostly finished state with just some cleanup to do (applying child animations, making sure some slight issues with adult animations are hammered out, add sounds)... though the animations CLEARLY are not compatible with this bed (positioning is weird, dunno if maybe some sort of change to the slot could fix that, but also the animation is just meant for a bed that's a different height so Sims sink into it). Without the skills to port the beta animations or make new ones, though, that's gonna be the best I can have it do.

"This actually puts the bed in a mostly finished state"

...My hubris. I got everything finished, put it in my actual game to test in a real install... and promptly found out the Sims are not legally awake when they exit the sleeping interaction. (I tested it in my actual game on a lot with three Sims and no alternative beds. I ended up in a situation where the game was auto fast speeding despite one of them being awake because they'd all used the bed.)

On the one hand, this probably explains why they were still gaining energy after waking (or maintaining existing energy)... but on the other hand I'm not sure what's making it happen.

EDIT: I've fixed the issues and put it up! http://www.simfileshare.net/download/5719060/

This is a raw hex port like the aquarium (so it's using beta resources with some auto-updated by Edith--all but one BHAV should have beta-accurate TREE info this time!) but with more tweaks. For example:

- Several parts of BHAVs were slightly changed to make it work and look "right" (well. as right as possible. animations are bad)
- SLOTs were replaced with basegame slots.
- Categorization was adjusted to ensure functioning with subcategories in later expansions.
- Front facing direction was adjusted so the "correct" side of the bed faces forward in generated BMPs. (I opted against using the beta's catalog BMP this time around.)
- Inits were changed to keep the bed from being able to be placed halfway through a wall. The beta did not need this for whatever reason but the final game does.
- The TTAB has been adjusted slightly so that Sims will actually autonomously sleep in the bed.

It's still using a CATS rather than a CTSS so anyone who uses this should let me know if they experience issues with the catalog name or description. (It would be a very easy fix to change that over, but I left it as a CATS since it was working and it's "more authentic".) I "versioned" this as 0.5.0 for the bad animation reasons (even though those might never be fixed with my current skill. and also because I suspect the bed is advertising itself a little too strongly and may need to be toned down--I've left it as is in this version, but in tests, it appears the Sims on the lot will try to use this bed to the exclusion of all other beds on the lot even if it's in use and thus not available. They WILL fall asleep on the ground instead of trying for another bed. That may be a bug regarding fully communicating that it's in use, instead, but for right now I've left it the way it currently works. Might take another look and quickly update it tonight if I find out it's not just the TTAB coming on a little strong.

EDIT 2: Sims clamoring for the bed fixed! It WAS that the bed wasn't fully communicating it was full, so I duplicated basegame code for that into the check tree for the sleep interaction.

The Long-Lost Outside.iff

"Our archaeologists have unearthed a rather rare find--buried under layers of ancient reticulating splines and a healthy layer of neon green astroturf lay an unassuming iff file. Our scientists have looked deep into its hex code and painstakingly reconstituted it bit by computer bit into the form you see today and hereby present you with this faithful replica, almost entirely unchanged from the form used by ancient peoples in the long-forgotten year of 1998."

...I thought it best to announce the release of this particular "object" using the fun part of the catalog description (and the catalog title) since it won't be visible in-game otherwise (without tinkering in SimCategorizer or IffPencil, that is).

Yes, it's the first hex-reconstitution I tried but put off fixing, because last night I realized I could get a program on my computer to play .xa files and see if any of them played the same audio as the beta Outside.iff's wavs. This might neatly sidestep the repetitive sounds issue? Maybe? All but two sounds (the dog sound that was not a dog sound and the cricket loop) were replaced with near-identical xa samples, and the ones without identical sounds available received ones with similar vibes. I can't tell if it actually worked because outside sounds just... play normally. XD At any rate, since two-thirds of my motivation for doing this was to produce an inobtrusive placeholder object that could suppress the missing objects message on House11, it at least serves that purpose without having one corner of the lot sound like a dog-filled jungle.

This file is almost exactly the same as Maxis's 1998 beta version of Outside.iff (right down to using the original's GUID! yes, that's right, no magic cookie was used in the making of this object and it might technically be termed a default replacement even though Outside.iff did not make it to the final game). It was created by copying the beta file's raw hex code for each resource over one by one. The only changes were automatic changes Edith makes to outdated resources in the object (updating the OBJD, POSI to TREE conversion, etc.), sounds from the beta replaced by me with sounds from the final game, a change to ensure it won't spawn on newly entered lots it's not already on, and the catalog entry since the original object did not have one. (This paragraph is a modified version of the boring part of the catalog description lol)

Okay! So!

I finally finished Level 4! It was actually sitting there 99% finished for months, but I wanted to be sure I was satisfied with what I was posting. It comes with four levels of accuracy instead of three: one final-game copy of an empty lot 1, one final-game unchanged (other than to remove Outside.iff) copy of house11 renamed to house01, one house11 transplant with no Outside.iff and the beta trees added, and one house11 transplant that has the beta trees AND Outside.iff. http://www.simfileshare.net/download/5806405/ (EDIT: Forgot to mention all house11 copies have also had a car portal added so they have all the "required" objects on-lot.)

ADDITIONALLY, because Level 4 is a nothing kind of scenario on a nothing kind of lot, I've also made this pair of houses meant to replicate the two decorative houses in the beta! These houses use ONLY Maxis objects and come in a base game flavor (houses only) and an all-EP flavor (houses OR imports (the houses don't have families but the imports will let you keep the titles and descriptions I borrowed from the little popovers from the beta). http://www.simfileshare.net/download/5806404/

I've got three really fun updates!

Update 1:

This is not exactly a beta recreation, except that it is. So, inside the base game's chairs iff, there's this one chair that has a bad palette, or rather, it's referencing a palette that was later replaced with the Sioux Sity chair's palette. In late September, early October, I was planning to manually reconstitute this graphic's PALT resource *by hand*... only for something to come to light RIGHT THEN that made the whole thing a bit easier. Because I was not planning on doing an actual beta conversion... this isn't one, exactly! It's a direct clone of Sioux Sity but changed to use the surviving SPR2 and DGRP and the PALT "rescued", along with a price and catalog info change that I made up myself--the Sioux Sity graphics are even still in the object, just not actually referenced anymore. Enjoy! http://www.simfileshare.net/download/5883553/

Update 2:

This IS a beta recreation, and wow is it interesting! Well... the object itself isn't that interesting. It's just the floor lamp, the one that totally looks like a base game floor lamp. What's INTERESTING is how I made it! The base I used to start before doing things like modifying the GUID (so it doesn't conflict with stuff) and getting things updated so they properly work in the final game? ...It was ENTIRELY manually converted by hand in hexadecimal. What does that mean? It's not like the previous routes I've taken of exporting the data of given resources and importing them one by one in Iff Pencil. What I did this time, after studying a few 1.0 iffs, was take the 1.0 iff and open it side by side with an empty iff generated by IffPencil... and then manually copy each entire resource over one by one, paying attention to what its label in the NAME resource was, and make each resource have a version 2 compliant header (this mainly consisted of changing the label reference in the 1.0 chunk header to a label as a 2.0/2.5 chunk expects it. This whole project really helped me put to work my learnings and investigations about 1.0 iff structure.

This object IS using final game sounds instead of beta sounds because I hit those pesky repeating sounds again and, rather than band aid it, I wanted to spend more time figuring out why. But at the same time I'm getting ready to move the drive that has Windows on it in this laptop to another motherboard and there's an unlikely but possible chance something bad happens during the moving and I stop doing Sims stuff for awhile or I lose the data (we're backing it up. but still.) so I wanted to at least share this version, even if it could do with a LITTLE bit more polish. But the only stuff that's off is the little stuff, like the sounds and MAYBE one animation that stops weird? http://www.simfileshare.net/download/5883552/

Update 3:

This is actually related to update 2 but I don't want to explain why yet (even though I've mentioned some specific stuff about what this is in one or two other non-MTS places). I don't want to oversell it but I'm doing something REALLY cool (perhaps one of the cooler things I've EVER done...) and I'm very close to finished with it and I think once I share it you'll understand why I find it so cool! ...It's not an object, though. But it IS beta conversion related, which is why I mention it in this post. (And I will be able to share it even if this drive blows up for whatever reason because, due to what it is, I can work on it places other than my Windows laptop. 👀) EDIT: Drive didn't blow up! Windows didn't even temporarily deactivate!

Remember update 3? This is update 3!

I debated making this a separate thread because it FEELS big (I suppose I could still do it if warranted)... but it's so tightly related to this kind of project that it made sense to make a reply to this thread.

...I've made a little something called IFF You Really See Eurydice.

Now, without context that means nothing, so let me give you context.

This is an application (for Windows only right now; I have the ability to make a Linux version if I can squash a terminal issue I've been having, but I cannot make a Mac one) that takes a 1.0 iff file as input and spits out a 2.0 file saved in a location you choose that you can more easily use in "normal" hacking tools like IFF Pencil 2, etc. (I picked 2.0 so I wouldn't have to handle rsmp in the file--also some (all?) iff editors will make it a 2.5 when you do edits (which you will NEED to do to have a working object) so win-win. ) I thought it'd make this kind of conversion for complex objects (i.e. stuff with a lot of sprites or drawgroups) easier to do, easier than taking each resource's data and importing it manually to a 2.5 file or manually making an entire conversion via the hexadecimal by hand. (...Can you see why I said this was related to update 2?) I got overexcited over holiday break time and got this program's functionality working in a little over a week, and I've spent the last few weeks refining it as best I can (squashing bugs, making sure it could handle both 1998 and early 1999 files, etc.) and now I think it's in a releaseable state!

That's right! I've made a converter!

If you want a much wordier introduction, you can take a look at the readme displayed on the homepage of its GitHub repository, and if you'd like to download it, you can head to the repository's releases page.