Converting cars to TS3 by lastinpurple.

You need:
S3OC Sims 3 Object Creator S3PE Sims 3 Package Editor ObjMSPlugins (for Milkshape) S3ObjectTool A program that can edit .DDS textures (Photoshop + DDS Plugins for example)

Step 1:
For this procedure you will need open S3OC, and click Cloning/Normal Objects. After all the objects of the game have been loaded, look for cars in the game and clone the car you have choosen. In this case, the Big Lemon, called here CarUsed2

You are able here to change the name, the description and the price, although I recommend you to wait to that. Click start, and save the file in a separate folder Open S3PE and click File/Open, and look for your package. Once its opened, move the Type bar to the right, and in the Tag bar, look for the different MLODs, the MODL and the _IMGs. Extract them to the folder you have choosen (Resource/Export/Extract to file).

Once extracted, I recommend you to follow this method: Put all the _IMG (.dds file extension) in one folder, and make a different folder for all MLODs and MODL, and place them, all in separate folders. The number of MLODs (.lod file extension) varies from one car to other. The Big Lemon has five MLODs, plus the MODL, so we will need seven folders (one for the .dds, and six for all the MLODs and MODL). I also recommend to order the files by their sizes, so the biggest file would get the first folder and so on.

Once youve placed all the files in their respective folders, its time to decompile them using S3ObjTool

Open it, click Decompile and decompile all the MLODs and the MODL. Once youve decompiled them all, go to Milkshape, click File/Import/Sims 3 Object Import, and look for the first MLOD, which is the most detailed one. That way, you will get the mesh of the car in Milkshape. At that point, open another window of Milkshape, and look for the car you want to convert to TS3, in my case, the Lelion Sandrine. Before extracting the mesh, well have to do some modifications: First of all, TS3 cars only have one texture, while TS2 cars have two (one for the surface and one for the matte). So, youll have to find a gap in your matte texture where you can place your surface one. Since the Sandrine uses a plain texture, Ill make a small white square in a place not used in the texture (you can do that even with Paint)

Once done, save your texture and go back to Milkshape, and assign the surface texture to the matte one and put it in that small square:

Something you will also have to do is to delete the wheels, since were importing the wheels and the body separately.

Once youve done all this, export the car in .obj model, and save it in the folder youve created earlier

Now, go back to the TS3 model and hide all the vertices of it. Then, import the .obj youve just saved. Now, youve got to try to fit your model to the proportions of the TS3 one. You cant move the neither the wheels nor the passengers, so youve got to try and fit your model to the TS3s one proportions.

Once youve done it, place your model exactly over the TS3 one. Now, you have to have both models together on the same place:

Now, go back to the TS2 model, and export the wheels, only the wheels. I recommend you to change the wheels group name, that way they dont get regrouped when theyre imported. Import the wheels on the TS3 model, and place them exactly where the old wheels were placed, also with the same dimension. That way, the wheels will rotate correctly ingame.

If you have placed the wheels correctly, now you can delete the TS3 model. Now, you can move the wheels a bit in order to make the car look correctly, but only on the X-axis. You can also close the TS2 model, and now, open the base TS3 model again. Now, youve got to pay attention to two things: the groups and the joints. Every TS3 car is different from each other here, but they have some similarities:

All the cars will have in a different group the glass, the lights, and the rest of the car. Also, most cars will have a different joint for each wheel, and another for the body. The Big Lemon has five groups: group00 - Nearly the whole car group01 - Steering wheel (this is odd, since the steering wheel is not needed in game) group02 Three wheels (some cars have the four wheels in the same group) group03 Lights (the Big Lemon doesnt have all the lights in order to give it the clunker feel) group04 Glass Luckily, the Big Lemon has more conventional joints, only five joints, one for each wheel and one for the body. Now, youve got to respect the groups order. I recommend you to assign the joints first and later, build the groups.

Compare both cars to check you have assigned the joints correctly. Now, its time to build the groups. Youve got to respect everything thats needed to make the car work correctly. Before starting regrouping, I recommend you to build the lights group first, since youve got to take them out of the group 1/matte to their own one.

Once youve separated the lights, youll have to regroup the matte and the surface, and in the case of the Big Lemon, also the rear left wheel.

Now, you have four groups: the main one, the one of the lights, the glass and the three wheels. Now, well have to make the steering wheel, but I dont think its necessary, so, instead, Ill fit a placeholder. Never delete a group, if you arent going to use it, put a placeholder. In this case, Im going to make a small plane and place it inside the car, that way nobody will notice. Dont forget to assign a joint to the placeholder. Now, rename the groups as in the original TS3 model and place them in the correct order, otherwise, it wont be correct ingame. Once done, overwrite the old .lod file with the car youve just made. Check the car has been exported correctly, and now, its time to do the textures. With Photoshop, open all the textures you have extracted. You will find different sort of textures

These three textures are assigned to the texturing of the group00, and can be replaced by the same base texture we have taken from our TS2 model. Remember to use the texture you have modified before. But, you will notice that one of these textures has an Alpha channel. This Alpha channel is very important, since it tells the game what has to be changed of color and what hasnt. I want to make recolorable the seats, the rims and the body, so Ill select them, and paint them black in the alpha channel. The rest of the texture wont be recolorable, so it will be white.

Combining all the channels, you will see in red what you want to recolor. Overwrite the old dds file and open another texture. The other two textures dont use alpha channels, so just paste the new texture on it and overwrite the old file. Now, you will find a texture like this:

This is for defining which part of the car should have a different color. The unrecolorable parts wont show any difference if they are colored by one color or another.

Check that you have assigned the colors correctly, and overwrite the old file. Colors must be exactly equal to the ones of the first file.

Then, theres this. I cant work out whats this texture for, since it doesnt match the old file. So, youve got to fill the texture and the alpha channel with the grey shown in the spaces.

This is how your finished product should look. Dont forget to do the alpha channel as well. Overwrite the file and save. Now, youve got to replace all the MLODs and the MODL. I recommend you to save your finished car as an .obj and import it over the resting models, always respecting the original joints and proportions.

These models are used for giving the reflections and shadows, so youve got to replace them correctly. The best you can do is use the wheels to direct you, and put them in the same place with the same proportion as the original mesh.

Using S3ObjTool and recompile all the MLODs and the MODL Import all the .dds files, the .lods and the .model from their respective folders using S3PE and save. If all is done correctly, you will see the old files over lined.

For the finishing touch, open S3OC and open your package. Click Clone or Fix, and replace the name, description and prize if you want, click Copy English to all Languages, and click start. Wait until S3OC has finished fixing the package. Now, your package is ready for testing! If everything has been done rightly, you will be able to enjoy your new car in The Sims 3!: