TUTORIAL: Dissecting Sim PE Packages (for bodyshop CC)

What is a Sim PE Package?
Any individual file for your game which can be explored with Sim PE. When you export a recolor in bodyshop, it generates all the little bits and pieces (resources) needed for that bit of content, minus the mesh, into one package. However, these resources don't all need to be in the same package to still work, they just need to exist somewhere in your downloads folder where your game can find them. For example, you may have noticed that the game resources are organized together by type, with the TXTRs in one package, the Property Sets in another, etc.

You can separate or combine the individual resources of bodyshop generated packages by right-clicking > "extract", saving it to your computer, then starting a new file and adding your extracted file with right-click > add. Once you've moved it over, the original resource can be deleted from the other bodyshop generated package. You can also add an entire package into another one by doing right-click> add and changing the type of file you're adding to "All Files", as seen in this tutorial. Your game has an easier time loading files that are packaged into bundle rather than packages that are broken up by each individual recolor.

Never, ever delete or alter the Maxis game files in your Program Files folder in any way. You can however, right-click and extract them (leaving the originals exactly the same) and put them in a new package. This new package is an "override" or "default replacement" of the game files which can be safely edited.

In this tutorial we will go into:

1. WHAT'S IN A BODYSHOP PACKAGE? - Basics of each resource


2. TXMT (Material Definition) - A few tips and tricks for this resource


3. BUMPMAPS - JUST DELETE THEM - What's a bumpmap and how to (and why you should) delete it.

( What's in a bodyshop package? )