Customizing dress styles

To re-enumerate all the relevant lines in the section of the character IFF file which the IFF editors call, among other things, "bodystring":

#2: CMX/skin for normal clothes

#3: head CMX/skin

#14: skin tone (lgt/med/drk)

#15: nude CMX/skin

#16: CMX/skin for underwear/swimsuit

#17-18: CMX/skin for open hand

#19-20: CMX/skin for pointing hand

#21-22: CMX/skin for closed hand

#27: formal CMX/skin

#28-#29: CMX/skin of gloves to go with formal, only open hand

The dress styles among which the Sim can switch using a wardrobe are: Normal, Work, Swimsuit/Undies, Pyamas, Formal; then there's Nude for taking baths. (Vacation adds Winter, and SS adds High Fashion; see lower down.) What the Work outfit is, is decided by the career, and how to change Normal other than through the wardrobe is explained two sections back.

Nude, Swimsuit/Undies, Pyamas and Formal can be changed to suit a character's unique skin tone (say, someone who has a red or stripy skin) and the last three can also be made into matching sets for a character. This is done simply by giving them all the same identifier. The identifier is the bit that follows the slash in the skin filename, and for default skins is generally "01" or absent. (For an explanation of skin name format, see Skin essentials.) The default Nude skin's name is NMFitlgt_01.bmp or some variation on that, depending on skin tone and body type. The Undies skin is UMFitlgt._01.bmp. The Pyama skin, PajamaMlgt_01 and the formal skin, FMFitlgt_01.bmp. Finally, the hands are called HUAOlgt.bmp, HUAPlgt.bmp and HUAClgt.bmp. They, too, can be made part of the set.

Suppose I want a character to have a day/nightwear set in purple. Having created the skins, I call the main skin something like "B001MAFitlgt_ManInPurple.BMP". That is the Normal skin. I make three other skins and name them:

UMFitlgt_ManInPurple.bmp
PajamaMlgt_ManInPurple.bmp (note: no body type!)
NMFitlgt_ManInPurple.bmp

A bit of fussing with the wardrobe, and the custom skins will become that Sim's personal wardrobe, even if, like the pyamas, they aren't even in the bodystring.

Note: kid pyamas need special treatment. The names of kid pyama skins are "Pjsf[skintone]_01.bmp" and "Pjsm[skintone]_01.bmp", but the game ignores these. To make a set for children, name the custom pyjama skin "PajamaF[skintone]_[identifier].bmp" or "PajamaM[skintone]_[identifier].bmp", replacing the square brackets by whatever's applicable.

Now for a Sim who happens to have a green skin. Some more skin editing follows, and I produce the set:

B001MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
NMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
UMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
PajamaMlgt_GreenMan.bmp
FMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
HUAOlgt_GreenMan.bmp
HUAClgt_GreenMan.bmp
HUAPlgt_GreenMan.bmp

It's only possible to make one set for a Sim, so it's either/or.

All that is how it went before Hot Date. Note that, with this method, I can only customize skin bitmaps, not CMX files (especially not for the Pyamas). So I can't write a CMX file that has a person's hair tied up in Formal style, and loose in all others.

After Hot Date, lines were added to the bodystring:

#30: buyable formal wear
#31: buyable swimsuit
#32: buyable lingerie
#33: buyable winter wear (Vacation)
#34: buyable high-fashion wear (Superstar)

These lines use almost the same naming conventions as the Normal dress style, except that they start with the letters F, S, L and W. F replaces Formal, S replaces Swimsuit/Undies, L replaces Pyamas and W is an extra for Vacation. They can be filled in in the same way:

[cmx name],BODY=[bmp name]

To use a normal skin as Formal or other special skin, rename it to start with the right letter, fill it in in the bodystring with an IFF editor, and put it in the SkinsBuy directory. Much cheaper than having to rake out Simoleans for it!

The old dress styles are now ignored, except the Nude and hands skins. I can try to fill in something for the sake of compatibility when preparing a family for upload, but when I save inside the game, that extra editing is gone. (Correction: if I make sure the old dress-style skins/meshes are in the Skins directory, the editing will remain in the bodystring after saving. It will still be ignored, though.)

The new dress styles have one big advantage: I can now also customize the CMX. (I've kept this info in for completeness, but messing with the CMX identifier can make the game very unstable. Don't do it if you don't have to.)

#30  F100FASkn_bkbun,BODY=F100FASknlgt_original
#31  S100FASkn_bklong,BODY=F100FASknlgt_original

These two lines use the default skins with two custom CMX files which have a hair-up mesh and a hair-down mesh.

Just as the BMP files were auto-selected through the identifier in the old system, so the CMX files may be auto-selected through the same in the new. Creating a character using the CMX "B300MASkn_BKlong.cmx", I found that the equivalents F100MASkn_BKlong.cmx, S100MASkn_BKlong.cmx, L100MASkn_BKlong.cmx and W100MASkn_BKlong.cmx had automatically been filled in for me!

(However, if I try to create a Sim with an identifier "_bklong" and I don't have swimwear, formals etc. with the same identifier handy, the game may just crash. Editing the bodystring afterwards is safer.)

Customizing the Nude skin is the same in both systems, ie. bitmap-only. Before Deluxe/Unleashed, it was possible to change the name of the nude CMX in the bodystring; after, the only way to do it is to invent a new body type, which is a bit too advanced for this section.

Customizing the hands is also the same in both systems, and has one unpleasant side effect: apart from the possibility to specify gloves for the Formal style, the hands stay the same through all styles. So a Sim wearing a Sailor Moon outfit will still be having her gloves on in the pool. The only way to get the gloves off for other dress styles is to change to a normal outfit without gloves. The hand CMX can't be changed, so it isn't possible to attach long nails to the hands, for instance. I can fill in a new CMX name, but it's simply flushed out and ignored.

Between versions: importing a character from a "HD+" (Hot Date or later) installation into an earlier installation or vice versa will undo any sets that were made for the character, as HD+ ignores the old strings and filenames, while anything pre-HD ignores the new ones. If having a Sim change to Formal before the wardrobe doesn't produce a visible effect, it's time to edit the bodystring.

Repairing a pre-HD set in HD+ is the more simple operation, as the pre-HD system only allowed bitmap customization. Say, I want to HD-ize my green man. I will rename the Undies, Pyama and Formal skins:

UMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp becomes: S100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
PajamaMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp becomes: L100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
FMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp becomes: F100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp

All three skins are then moved to ExpansionShared/Skinsbuy, or wherever the Skinsbuy directory is. The nude and hands skins stay as they are.

Then, strings #30 to #32 of the bodystring are edited with an IFF editor to:

#30  F100MAFit_original,BODY=F100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
#31  S100MAFit_original,BODY=S100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
#32  L100MAFit_original,BODY=L100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp

Done! Repairing a HD+ set in a pre-HD installation is harder. The skins are easy to transplant: find the files "F100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp", "S100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp" and "F100MAFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp" in the SkinsBuy folder, rename them to "UMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp", "PajamaMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp" and FMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp and move them to GameData/Skins, as a pre-HD installation won't look anywhere else. There is no pyama bodystring, and the other two will be changed by the game after having the character pick a new outfit from the wardrobe, although, as said above, this is a bit tricky and doesn't always work immediately; or, edit the bodystring, lines #16 and #27:

#16  UMFit_01,BODY=UMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp
[...]
#27  FMFit_01,BODY=FMFitlgt_GreenMan.bmp

If the character has no custom formal outfit, it may still be necessary to enter the default formal string by hand:

#27  FMFit_01,BODY=FMFitlgt_01

Now for the hitch; if the HD+ Sim had special CMX files for these dress styles - a nightie, or a nightcap to go with the pyamas - then in nightwear style, this is lost. The CMX files for the Nude, Swimsuit and Formal (only for adults) are in the Sim's IFF file and can be edited. I have little experience with customizing CMX files in a pre-HD setup; all I've managed to do is make the game crash, so I'll leave it at that.