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mightyspritesims
Rising Hotshot
4 years ago

Total beginner seeking intro to modding

Hello! I've not ever gotten into modding games at all, although I have done some programming in Python and enjoy making little characters and animations in Blender already. I'm interested in some sort of general intro to how modding works. (Reading preferred over videos if possible, reading is much faster for me than watching a video, and much easier to skim around and find the info I want.)

I'm most interested in making custom animations, gameplay modifications, and reskinning objects.

Also if there's some kind of library out there where I can check to see if someone has already made a mod to do what I want to try, before I start putting a lot of work into an idea.

I found the "General Modding Tutorials" section on modthesims.info, but it's pages of this, which I can't make head or tail of as a beginner :o

Sims 4 General Modding Tutorials
EA Core Mod Support

June 2016, Expanded Create A Sim - http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/888736
Sept 2015-Mod dir resource.cfg change - http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/855532
July 2015 : Script mods now support .ts4script extention - http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/13838037
Sept 2014 : Core Maxis Modding documentaion. http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/779844 EA has not updated it since launch, so a little outdated.


File Formats

Nov 2018: CAS Part Resource(0x034AEECB) v42 https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/950389
Aug 2018 : Region Description v11 (0xd65daff9) http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/904213
Aug 2018 : World Object Data v8 (0xfcb1a1e4) https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/946705
June 2018 :Terrain Mesh Resource (0xae39399f) v0x200 http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/941128
Oct 2017 :CAS Preset Resource (0xEAA32ADD) v12 http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/927162
April 2017 : KD Tree Resource (type 0x033b2b66) v0x100 http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/915757
April 2017 : Terrain Blend Map Resource (type
  • Are we talking about pose player animations, or new animations inside of interactions? Because there are no tutorials on the latter other than some basic stuff for objects. You can piece together info from different threads on S4S if you search though. You also don't need Python for the majority of modding, but once you need it having experience is helpful. XML Injector can usually handle most situations though.

    There is no full mod library out there unfortunately, and then you also have to factor in WIP mods that aren't released yet or mod ideas on people's to-do list. Like people ask about arranged marriages but this is something I'm working on, as well as re-creating missing content from Sims 3 like Martial Arts, sewing from Sims 2, etc. You can get an idea for most mods by looking through this list, and ask around in different Discord servers or forums like here or S4S (but Discords like MCCC is generally a faster response). Usually someone has heard this or that and can give a response.

    Start Scarlet's tutorials that will get your workspace setup and teach basics like overrides (starting on page 2): https://simsvip.com/category/the-sims-4/how-to-create-a-mod/page/2/

    Then once you are ready for custom mods use Zer0's tutorials, which goes over creating interactions, buffs, etc. (second link is more Mod Constructor oriented but they explain what certain files are for in general):
    https://www.patreon.com/posts/tutorials-35031545
    https://www.patreon.com/posts/mod-constructor-45356828

    My server Creator Musings is filled with modding, pose/animation, object, and CAS tutorials and resources if you need more stuff or help.
  • ...never mind, I found the manual <3
    https://sims4studio.com/thread/662/index-studio-tutorials-online-manual


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