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suepixels
Rising Rookie
8 years ago

TUTORIAL: Create Gallery NOCC-Paintings with Legacy-Edition

Updated! 18th. August 2021

A lot has changed and I haven't been online in a long while.

Another update damaged our dream to create NOCC Art. Yet, there are Simmers who are still able to create them.
How does this work now, you wonder?

What will you need to do ahead? Do this before you start to create your ART!

  • Have your images gathered in one place, if you want to paint them later in your game (always choose those with the highest resolution)
  • Photo Edit-Software like Photoshop, Gimp, or Paint.net (check below for more info on that)
  • Sims4Studio-Software Link
  • TS4 & TS4 Legacy Edition (free to download via Origin if you own TS4 already)
  • Two Mods, one that will improve the quality of your images the other to make it work! Set filters on paintings by reference and both are by Scumbumbo
  • Some time and a bit of patience, Simmer.


    mysimsdreamhouse made also a video tutorial on Youtube here. For those who need visuals! Thanks for your time and effort to do this! <3

    Keep in mind you don't need Photoshop in order to create your own art! ;) Make sure to follow mysimsdreams' video instructions on how to install the Legacy Edition As you will need to choose the 32bit Version during installation and disable Origin ingame!

    Now you can either watch the video tutorial or continue to read my extended tutorial. Let the fun part begin.

    There you go:
    There are two ways how you can create your own art & upload them to the Gallery as NOCC:

  • You download existing CC and paint those for the upload
  • You're using Sims 4 Studio download here and create your own art with pictures/images from Google. A very useful and easy tutorial did TheSimSupply simply check his youtube tutorial here
    Remember you will need an "Image Editing Software" for that like Photoshop or use Freeware instead like Paint.net "easier for newbies" or Gimp "not bad if u have advanced skills. Type those names in the search bar of Google and you will find what you need.

    NOTE
    You don't need to save the images as .dds files you can save them also as .png files because lot of editing software don't support .dds files (in most cases you need a seperate plugin for this) and .png files are way easier for this purpose to handle ;) trust me!

    LET'S START
    Assuming you have already the art of your desire you want to turn into NOCC for the gallery, just go along with the now following steps:


  • Remove all existing mods
  • Create a new save file with a new random Sim (make sure it doesn't have needy traits I used "Creative, Loner, Cheerful) who will be your painter! After that, I named my save file "ArtGallery" Now exit The Game! Pronto! ;) LOL
  • Add now the art (.package files) of your desire into the mods folder
  • Open the new save file "ArtGallery" (I went to Newcrest)
  • Use two empty adjacent lots
  • Setup of the first lot: Use the foundation tool to build a 3-tile wide foundation "place it very close to the edge of the lot near the second lot for the case to have the CC from the second lot close to you) add stairs to the foundation. Place along the whole way the most expensive easels :). So since our simmies get hungry, need to pee and sleep I did build beneath a bunk where it can get all needs fulfilled :D
  • Use cheats: Open the console with Left CTRL+Shift+C (press/hold in that order) Helpful cheats for that are testingcheats on or testingcheats true motherlode & bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement . Make sure to get the most expensive easels (for the highest/best quality, capeesh? ;)
  • Now set up the second lot with your custom content art. Place your art very close to the front edge of the lot nearest to the first lot. Place them on a wall up to 3 levels with the tallest height (my suggestion). I use mostly a black/sometimes white wallpaper (depends on art) because I do frame them before upload + it looks way better later if you aren't 100 % accurate! Place your art along the wall (make sure to leave some space in between). HINT: Enlarge the art you want to paint 2 or three times but depends on the art you have - so that you can paint it from the other lot way easier and it fits within the picture when you start to paint. Be prepared sometimes you have to travel between the two lots to adjust the size of your cc art so that it fits within your painting :p
  • Time to travel back to the first lot B). Make sure that all needs are satisfied.
  • Best time to paint is during the daytime of course between 8:00 am & 6:00 pm depending on the light effects u prefer, which of course will change during the daytime, take this into consideration ;) Now it's time to paint by reference (or take a photograph) use the cheat stats.set_skill_level major_painting 10 or stats.set_skill_level major_photography 5



    Once the mission is accomplished, your painting or photos will not be flagged as CC. Because you use the Legacy Edition and this one has no connection to the Gallery! Save it in your library - restart the game and open the Gallery. Now upload the room with your latest NOCC Pictures and yay, it can be used in builds without being flagged. Upload to the gallery as a room or within your build B) yay.


    Further helpful things are good to know:

    As BryonRae (see quotes) strongly recommended already, so do I:

    Store your artwork in the sim's inventory, but not the household inventory, as there is a bug that can cause them to go blank when stored in the household inventory.


    When done imaging your CC, I recommend going to another fresh lot. Set up up a wall and place all of the created art on that wall "Motherlode" cheat is quite helpful in that case o:). Save that room to your library and check if it's getting flagged. If it's flagged you must redo all steps & start over again. So a good piece of advice is to try it out with one picture first before painting for hours :D I did that mistake, trust me, lol!

    Also, if I could offer just one tip to newer builders, especially those using bb.moveobjects, it would be to make sure to test saving your lot to the library and then placing it from there. There are a lot of bugs that don't show their heads until you do this, so you won't even know there's a problem with your lot. But your downloaders will quickly find it... I recommend doing this at several points during the building process, so you won't discover you have a lot of rework looming at the end.


    Now enjoy creating your own NOCC - Art! Show off how creative you are ;) and use this post if you have questions. I might won't be able to answer all questions but fellow simmers will for sure answer if needed.


    Show me your creations or hashtag me with #simsforumtutorial by #suepixels on the gallery if you want me to know it & show from where you got the skills to show your art & show how others can do it for themselves. Thank you, simmers :)

    Appreciate each insightful/like/awesome you give if you like it ;) <3 o:) it shows you found it helpful.

    OBSOLETE
    @BryonyRae did a short tutorial in 2015 here you can find her tutorial. Sadly that one is after a bunch of patches, now obsolete!

    So let's get artsy! B)