Tutorial - Custom Television Channel

[Eric]

Hi everyone,

I put together an example television channel and a simple tutorial on how to create and add your own custom television channels to the Sims 2...

[Eric]

Let's open the Custom Television Channel.package file in SimPE and begin with the "Object Data" file...

[Eric]

Next let's choose what we want our pie menu caption to say...

[Eric]

now let's change the text value from tvstation_insimenator to what you want your channel pointer to be called in the Broadcast.ini file....

[Eric]

now, we will add a new television station directory to our game and name it whatever we want it to be called... in this case I named it TvInsim

[Eric]

Now let's finish up and add our new channel to the Broadcast.ini file...

NOTE: If you try modifying the Broadcast.ini file in "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config", it will be overwritten to default configuration by the ini located in "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 University\TSData\Res\UserData\Config" and the custom channel will not work correctly.

EDIT: If you do not have University Expansion Pack installed, please read post #32 (t.styler) and #39 (Dan&Mel) on Page 2 of this thread. Thank you.

[Eric]

Now all you have to do is make your own .movie files (.avi files might work also?) and place them in your new channel directory... load your game up and have fun

NOTE: place the .package file in your "My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Downloads" directory for it to work

[Ultimate_Simaholic]

awesome!! thanks

[eddief66]

You can use .avi clips but they shouldn't be larger that 128x128 pixels and shouldn't have more than 15 fps.


http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/thesims2/hints.html

[Eric]

thanks eddie.... I was not sure what other filetypes that the channels would play and I have no idea what software that someone would need to use to produce new .movie files

[RGiles]

Thank you for the tutorial, Eric. I've seen a few people asking how to do this. Hehe... and by now I'm surprised there hasn't been a Sim-mutiny because they have to watch the same dumb shows over and over. ;)

[LizzLove]

Thanks so much Eric, you are the master. ;)

[~kathy~]

Oh god please don't call him master..He already has a big enough head lmao

[RGiles]

Yeah, but if we call him the slave, then your head will get all puffed up too. :) We should all go back to worshipping cats. There's really not a chance in hell they could get any more full of themselves.

[Eric]

RGiles, her head is already puffed up... except it is from the hot air balloon effect (it goes well with the empty head effect :D)

[VickVegas]

Thank u!!!!now, i can create my hot channels

[Vilaki]

Perhaps could you also make a Tutorial in which it is explained how one can make transmitters of his own in the radio?

[ehwhat]

ohmigod!!! :jaw: thank you so much!!! :) :) :) this is what i really wanted and now i have it. yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TK_GUY]

i still dont under stand. what is that program you are using in the pictures. sorry, im a bit dim

[~kathy~]

TK_GUY, the program that Eric is using, to open and modify .package files, is called SimPE. You can download SimPE at http://sims.ambertation.de/ and familiarize yourself with its use.

[Eric]

In the Object Data image in post #2, I made a mistake. It is not necessary to click a yes or no after clicking Commit, the change is committed automatically. I have corrected that error... my apologies.

Eric

[sentairanger]

WOW! this is easy and it works! thanks a bunch eric etc!

[jms]

:confused: whats a directory pointer. i also dont understand what to do in the 5th screenshot step 3 at the bottom of the page it says now add your directory pointor (directory poitor is located in "my documents/ea games/the sims 2/movies/broadcast"directory)
how do i add it to my config.
plz help :confused: :D

[Eric]

:confused: whats a directory pointer. i also dont understand what to do in the 5th screenshot step 3 at the bottom of the page it says now add your directory pointor (directory poitor is located in "my documents/ea games/the sims 2/movies/broadcast"directory)
how do i add it to my config.
plz help :confused: :D

Hi jms,

the directory pointer is the target directory (the new folder that you create to hold the movies that are used by the new channel) for the new channel....

In the image that you are referring to, pay attention only to the second line
Folder =Broadcast/TvInsim ...change the word TvInsim to the name of the folder that you created in the 4th image posted above.

Eric

[mstybl95]

i got it to work as far as showing up on the pie menu, but the channel is just flashing blue. is anyone else having this prob? does anyone know where i can get a few .avi files to test? i used the ones off this site and they are the ones flashing blue.

[jms]

:D thanx eric.

[kool4ya91]

does anyone have there custom channels up for download?

[FoxieRoxieNYC]

thank you for this, I started doing this a few months ago but could never get past the flashing blue when I changed to the channel. Very fustrating, I'm going to try this out!

[cwirsing]

What program do you use to make the avi 128x128 and 15 fps

[Cecil]

Thanks for the cool tutorial. Now I've run into a bizzare problem. WHen I was trying to use my own videos, I was getting a screen of just the words tvstation_cbs (Which is what I defined the channel as in my Broadcast.ini).

Other folk's videos were doing just fine. But now, no one's videos work. Not mine, not ones from this site. I still get audio, but no video. Attached is an image of what I'm talking about.
Is this some kind of weird codec issue? I've even tried .avi's that are not at all compressed.

Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.terminalpacketloss.com/tvstationproblem.jpg

[Eric]

Thanks for the cool tutorial. Now I've run into a bizzare problem. WHen I was trying to use my own videos, I was getting a screen of just the words tvstation_cbs (Which is what I defined the channel as in my Broadcast.ini).

Other folk's videos were doing just fine. But now, no one's videos work. Not mine, not ones from this site. I still get audio, but no video. Attached is an image of what I'm talking about.
Is this some kind of weird codec issue? I've even tried .avi's that are not at all compressed.

Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.terminalpacketloss.com/tvstationproblem.jpg

Hello Cecil,

That certainly is bizarre. I am not sure how much help that I can be, since I have not had anything like that happen in my game. My ignorance of anything involved in custom channels, beyond the mechanics of simantics and file structure, is close to absolute. Could you possibly email me a copy of the changes that you have made in the .package file and a copy of your broadcast.ini. Perhaps there is a detail out of place in your revision?

My email is [email protected] ... I will be more than happy to take a look and try to be of help, if possible.

Sincerely,
Eric

[t.styler]

Hey there,
okay this is for all the people who got the same problem as me, with that blue flashing tv screen.
The only thing to solve this problem is to edit the broadcast.ini in your download directory, and not in your game directory.
Should work then... :-)
But i think this is only for Sims 2 and not for the Expansion Pack players.

greets,
t.styler

[rjrobbie]

KOOLNESS!
We could now watch sim movies that we make and download!

[jcfranklin27292]

Great tutorial thanks for posting!

[Ali_2k]

I can get it to work with the pie menu, but it flashes blue when i click it in the game, any help would be realy apreaciated.

[meme]

iv tried other ways they have sort of worked but not this good thanx

[Eric]

I can get it to work with the pie menu, but it flashes blue when i click it in the game, any help would be realy apreaciated.

Hi Ali_2k,

Do you have University EP installed? If you do not have University installed...

Hey there,
okay this is for all the people who got the same problem as me, with that blue flashing tv screen.
The only thing to solve this problem is to edit the broadcast.ini in your download directory, and not in your game directory.
Should work then... :-)
But i think this is only for Sims 2 and not for the Expansion Pack players.

greets,
t.styler

He is refering to the broadcast.ini in your "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config" directory.

From post #6...

NOTE 2: I am assuming that if you do not have university installed then you would need to modify the broadcast.ini file located in "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Config".

It appears my assumption is incorrect? Confirm this please?

[Ali_2k]

I have university installed, but i got a bit confused when you talked about "Channel pointers" and "Instances" could you clarify what these are and what .ini files i need to edit, and what i put in them, thnks

[Dan&Mel]

First of all thanks to Eric for the simple tutorial.

For all those pre-university struggling with the blue flashing screen, here is what I did to get it to work:
1. Modified the broadcast.ini files in both the installation and the download directory (hey, better safe than sorry). Initially this still didn't seem to work.
2. Then I created an empty station subfolder also in the game installation directory: ...EA Games/The Sims 2/TSData/Res/Movies/Broadcast. I had already created the station subfolder in the download folder structure. And this solved the problem for me.

Please note that I put my own movie files in the station folder in the download folder structure. The station subfolder in the installation directories remains empty.

It may be that step 1 is sufficient, because when I did step 2 I also double checked and redid step 1, just to ensure I did not make any typo's...

[Eric]

Hello Dan&mel,

Thank you for your post ....very helpful, both as a supporting post and confirmation to t.styler's post.

Sincerely,
Eric

[Ali_2k]

hmm, ok, i have gone bak through the tute, again, still no luck, but i havent edited the .ini in the download directory becouse i cant find it, can someone tell me where it is, thanks

[Eric]

The directory that is being refered to is the "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config" directory. it should work fine without modifying the broadcast.ini file in that directory if you have university installed... it does for me :\

[Ali_2k]

arrgg, this is annoying me now, it just wont work. can someone not just make me a channel called 2k TV and send me the files?

[Enira]

Everything works here, except for the Text List 12E.
I edit it, and it shows the name in SimPE but in the game it is still 'Change to.../InSIMenator Broadcasting Network (IBN)'
This is probably because I am using the Dutch version.
I tried Hex editing the package (with Hex Workshop).
It kinda works now but not as it is used to be.
My Program name has to be the same text size as the original English, so when I enter a name which hass less characters, I have to add spaces(looks kinda odd...).

Does anyone know how to translate this text list?

[Dan&Mel]

Enira,
You will have to provide the Dutch translation. In SimPE this can be done by clicking on the 'enable all languages' and then selecting the '0x07 - Dutch' in the drop down list.

[Vchat20]

im gonna have to try again, but last time i tried it, one sim was in the middle of watching tv (floor model wide screen). directed to shut it off. then i couldnt turn it back on. couldnt select it at all. again, probably just a bit glitchy will try again and get back to you.

on a side note, is there possibly a way to get the tv to load the video files and start at random sections in the video? im in the middle of making a move channel for my sims. ive already got 4 full length movies converted and ready to go. but its a major pain when the movie starts over every time you turn on the tv. would be nice to get it to start at random spots in the movie.

[Enira]

Oh thanks. I figured it out now.
I thought you had to input your text and then make a selection in which language you want the text to be available. That's why it didn't got translated.
That's my bad.

im gonna have to try again, but last time i tried it, one sim was in the middle of watching tv (floor model wide screen). directed to shut it off. then i couldnt turn it back on. couldnt select it at all. again, probably just a bit glitchy will try again and get back to you.

This is probably because your channel keeps active.
Only when you watch tv back again you won't notice this perhaps because there are first ads before your movie starts to play again.

(At least that's what I think of your problem, correct me if I am wrong)

[rld6869]

Ok got it all to work but not sure on how to get or make any of the avi 128x128 and 15 fps files what program will work for this and where can i get it..

[Vchat20]

virtualdub. google it

[tomas1274]

Hi everybody. I have a problem: my custom videos show correctly in the game but only for 1 or 2 minutes, then they still. I have them put in the download video folder. They are in .avi format. I don't have the EP version installed.
Can anyone explain this? What can i do to see them all in the game?
As you can maybe see my english is not so good, so please be very clear!!!
Thanks

[Ali_2k]

has anyone had any luck in resolving the flashing bue screen problem, ive had this for ages and its annoying me

[Vchat20]

only thing i can suggest is to re-encode your videos. best format is: 128x128 15fps 256kbps "VP60 Simple Profile" video, 56kbps, 22,050hz, stereo Mpeg 3 audio. thats what i used for my movies and they show up really well. barely no slowdown ingame and comparable quality to the maxian channels.

[Ali_2k]

well, i have d/lded a moview off of here and that was 128x128 but not to sure about th bitrte and framerate tho, unfortunatlt adobe premier pro cant change the visual size, so could you post a small movie for me to download and test? this would be grate thanks again

[Vchat20]

here ya go.

and for future purpose: VirtualDub is a great program for this kind of video work. it can resize and re-encode as needed. i used it for all my movies.

http://www.virtualdub.org/

[Ali_2k]

kool thanks, ill try that in about 5 days, im away in japan at the moment, thanks again, ill let you kbow how it goes. :beer:

[Prothoss]

What?!? I didnt get any of that!! Its so frustrating theres people out there that know how to do something on simPE and they wont make it SIMPLE!!! For example the first step it says select Object thing. When i open up simPE theres nothing in that box on the left hand side

Please make it simpler

[simmygurl]

Let's open the Custom Television Channel.package file in SimPE and begin with the "Object Data" file...

??? Sorry I aint good at anything but major making... where do you open your custom , telivision channel.package from?!

Thx
Simmygurl
P.S Prothoss you need to click on plugins or something, I dunno.

[Eric]

What?!? I didnt get any of that!! Its so frustrating theres people out there that know how to do something on simPE and they wont make it SIMPLE!!! For example the first step it says select Object thing. When i open up simPE theres nothing in that box on the left hand side

Please make it simpler

1. It appears that you did not pay attention to the download in the first post of this thread that says "Custom Television Channel.zip". Download that file (I uploaded it for a reason :)).

2. It appears from your post that you also did not pay attention to the entire sentence in the first step in Post #2

Let's open the Custom Television Channel.package file in SimPE and begin with the "Object Data" file...

[radiophonic]

Another suggestion I might add: Please do not encode avi files using DIVX as the DIVX tray icon will force your game to swtich back to the desktop to show itself and currently there is no way to disable the annoying little tray application. :)

[EvilW787]

Hey,
what do you change the guid to?

[SimmerLu442]

Same here I'm having problems with the GUID. I'm guessing you have to go to the SIMpe homepage and register but I dunno.

[~kathy~]

Yes you have the register the GUID through SimPE.

[coffeehedake]

Hmm... Think I may have found a fix for the 'flashing blue screen' issue.

Tried a few things, but first off, here's my setup:

Sims2 + EP (University)

A) Went through the tutorial (thanks 'eric etc' btw) a few times, and noticed I had used a few capitol letters when naming my INI handler in SimPE, don't do that. Use all lower case if possible (I'll explain why in a minute). Feel free to use upper case all you like when naming your radial menu text, but for the ini handler/tag, no caps...

B) Went through my broadcast.ini files (all of them, the one in 'my documents\EA GAMES\blah blah blah\', the one in program files\..\Sims2 University\, and the one also in the Sims2 directory, but I highly doubt the one in the Sims2 directory is the culprit, like stated earlier, better safe than sorry) and I made sure that my tags which I changed earlier (made them all lower case in SimPE) were also lower case in the INI.

If you look through all of the other tags in the broadcast.ini file, you will notice that Maxis' are all lowercased, perhaps this matters not... but after editing mine... all of a sudden it works... even after several hours of trying what everyone else has tried here.

Just a thought...



Also, on a side note... you'll notice this switch:

"CommercialInterval=XX"

It may seem obvious, but this is the length of your TV broadcast before the game automatically tries to cut off from one video file, load a commercial, then load another video file from within your 'station' directory.

I just converted every Robot Chicken episode (which are around 10-11 minutes each) and thusly set my CommercialInterval to about 600. Haven't had any problems with it so far.



In case anyone was wondering, I've tried a few different methods, and ended up sticking with 'Vchat20's' settings for video/audio compression/conversion. I tried it with DivX as well, but for simplicity's sake (I converted dozens of large videos all at once with VirtualDub's batch mode) I ended up sticking with his method.



For advice on using Virtualdub... I've been using it for years...

If you need to resize your source video down to 128*128, do the following:

Take your source video (mine was 320 wide by 240 height) and divide the larger number (320 for me, and for standard NTSC stuff, will always be the width) into 128. (128/320=0.4), this gives you your conversion multiplier. Take your other number (240 which was the height) and multiply it by the conversion multiplier (which was 0.4 in this case). For me, I got 96. So, without adding bars to the top and bottom, my video frame size is now 128x96. In case that was kind of confusing (I've been up all night, and may not be making any sense at all) here's a formula for NTSC video 4:3 ratio:

w=width
h= height
c=conversion multiplier
x=height before letterboxing

(128/w)=c
(h*c)=x


Go into virtualdub, hit the video->filters menu, and select resize. Configure the filter. Input both of the numbers we just figured out (128w x 96h for me), then go down to the checkbox that says resize and letterbox image, check that box. Our letterboxed size will ALWAYS be 128x128. Preview it, and check out your new letterboxed (bars on the top and bottom, or left and right depending on the original ratio) video.

Hope this helps... if anyone is interested, I'll be adding some retro TV show intro sequences into my game as commericals (Thundercats, Silverhawks, Knight Rider, etc) possibly even adding a 'commercial' channel, for funny and worthwhile commercials made over the years (Superbowl commericals sound promising for this one) let me know if anyone would like these... maybe I can Rar/Zip them up.

-Coffee


Also, worth noting... I use Sims2Pack clean installer, and after everything was all said and done in SimPE, I made sure to open the *.package file with Sims2Pack and install my newly created package that way...

Again... Hope I helped in some small way... :)

[sam-chan]

Thanks to eric, for the very easy tutorial, and thanks to coffeehedake, too, for the solution about the Flashing-Blue-Screen.

Now my Sims have a Sci-Fi Channel, and can watch Stargate on the right Channel.

[SimmerLu442]

I used the VirtualDub tutorial for the test video someone posted and I still get the flashing blue. Can anyone help?

[SimmerLu442]

I. Am.So.VFrustrated. I have done exactly what the tutorial says and I still get the flashing blue screen!!! What the hell am I doing wrong?

[coffeehedake]

Worst case scenario, try editing all of your broadcast.ini files (there should be at least 2 of them)... make sure you use only lowercase letters when making the reference to the tag to your broadcast.ini, and inside the ini, make sure you use all lower case letters.

Also, make sure you have the dummy folders set up too... need an empty folder that is the same name as the custom station in your \program files\EA GAMES\SIMS2\Movies\broadcast\ folder, or in the same folder in your University folder.

I have to say, it took me hours (all night) to finally get it working the other night, and I'm not exactly sure which step fixed it...

[SimmerLu442]

Oh ok so I need only one folder to have the actual clip in it and is that the one in TsData or under The Sims 2.

[sam-chan]

Worst case scenario, try editing all of your broadcast.ini files (there should be at least 2 of them)... make sure you use only lowercase letters when making the reference to the tag to your broadcast.ini, and inside the ini, make sure you use all lower case letters.

Also, make sure you have the dummy folders set up too... need an empty folder that is the same name as the custom station in your \program files\EA GAMES\SIMS2\Movies\broadcast\ folder, or in the same folder in your University folder.

I have to say, it took me hours (all night) to finally get it working the other night, and I'm not exactly sure which step fixed it...

by me the lowercasesletters were the problem

[coffeehedake]

Oh ok so I need only one folder to have the actual clip in it and is that the one in TsData or under The Sims 2.

The folder with the clip in it should be in your 'My documents' folder, as anything put in there (whether in the Downloads directory, movies, broadcast, anything...) takes priority over what is loaded from the game directory (as far as I understand it). So the game is checking in your 'my docs' folder before it checks what is in the actual game directory.

My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Movies\Broadcast\[YOUR TV STATION NAME HERE]

From what I can tell though, you at least have to have a dummy directory with the same name as the one in your my docs folder, in your game directory for it to work properly. Think of it like this, the game is trying to mirror the contents of your my docs folder into your game directory, but for the mirroring to work, it has to have the directory structure already set up, so you just need an empty folder named the same way as the other folder, and *bam* the game copies everything over.


I ran into a little snag with my Retro TV show videos... All of my source video is in Microsoft WMV format, which is basically illegal to transcode (or at the very least a pain in the butt). I found a converter online, but it's not free, and the trial puts a big watermark across the whole thing...

[coffeehedake]

Quick question for Eric Etc: Any way I can add multiple new, custom channels in one package file? I thank you for your wisdom with the tutorial, after a little bit of working out the bugs, it works brilliantly. However, I wonder if you might know how to do more than one channel at a time, in one package file.

Thanks in advance Eric.

-Coffee

[tomthedude]

Hey I have made a channel and have got some avi files in the folder but In the game all i am getting are the commercials!
Also is there a way to change what the pie menu says because in SimPE i changed it to my channel name but i still get the default name! Please Help! :weep: :weep: :weep:

[Eric]

Quick question for Eric Etc: Any way I can add multiple new, custom channels in one package file? I thank you for your wisdom with the tutorial, after a little bit of working out the bugs, it works brilliantly. However, I wonder if you might know how to do more than one channel at a time, in one package file.

Thanks in advance Eric.

-Coffee

Hello coffeehedake,

EDITED: Originally, after reading your post, I had thought that multiple channels in one package might be possible. After reviewing the file structure in a television channel, it appears to me that each channel has to be a seperate package file.


Hey I have made a channel and have got some avi files in the folder but In the game all i am getting are the commercials!
Also is there a way to change what the pie menu says because in SimPE i changed it to my channel name but i still get the default name! Please Help! :weep: :weep: :weep:

Hey tomthedude,

Did you click commit before saving the change to the text list string? Sorry, I know next to nothing about avi files.

[coffeehedake]

Thanks Eric, after posting that I played with the package file in SimPE for a while, and basically figured they needed to be in seperate packages. Glad to hear you came up with the same results too.

Have to admit, I'm pretty new to using SimPE, I'm going to cruise around the forums a bit to see if I can find an answer, but maybe you know off hand:

I'm wondering if I could possibly have sub-channels in the radial menus. Something like this:

ComedyTV -> Robot Chicken
|
\/
Stand-Up Comedians


Sort of like having 'On-Demand' television, where you can watch the show you want, but have them categorized by content.

The main reason I'd like to do this, is to have a bunch of 80's TV shows on my RetroTV station, but be able to choose between say, Thundercats and Knight Rider, or Silver Hawks and GI JOE.

I'm not sure if the TV channel selection menu is simply set up exactly like the conversational radial menus used to interact with other sims/objects/etc or if there is some special procedure for the Televisions. My theory is that they are set up in the same way as everything else in the game, and it would only be a matter of figuring out how to set things up in the package file and correctly defining things in the broadcast.ini.

If this works out, perhaps I can work on some new mesh for a Satellite/TiVo/Digital Cable Reciever object that we could release for custom channels.

I'm still trying to learn exactly how to get new mesh/objects into the game, but as far as the 3D modeling side of things goes, that should be a breeze. (Been doing modeling for years).

Well... Back to reading, I've got a lot to learn about :)

[AnimalYeah101]

I was wondering how to do this,thanx:)

[cwirsing]

very good tutorial

[Eric]

Thanks Eric, after posting that I played with the package file in SimPE for a while, and basically figured they needed to be in seperate packages. Glad to hear you came up with the same results too.

Have to admit, I'm pretty new to using SimPE, I'm going to cruise around the forums a bit to see if I can find an answer, but maybe you know off hand:

I'm wondering if I could possibly have sub-channels in the radial menus. Something like this:

ComedyTV -> Robot Chicken
|
\/
Stand-Up Comedians


Sort of like having 'On-Demand' television, where you can watch the show you want, but have them categorized by content.

The main reason I'd like to do this, is to have a bunch of 80's TV shows on my RetroTV station, but be able to choose between say, Thundercats and Knight Rider, or Silver Hawks and GI JOE.

I'm not sure if the TV channel selection menu is simply set up exactly like the conversational radial menus used to interact with other sims/objects/etc or if there is some special procedure for the Televisions. My theory is that they are set up in the same way as everything else in the game, and it would only be a matter of figuring out how to set things up in the package file and correctly defining things in the broadcast.ini.

If this works out, perhaps I can work on some new mesh for a Satellite/TiVo/Digital Cable Reciever object that we could release for custom channels.

I'm still trying to learn exactly how to get new mesh/objects into the game, but as far as the 3D modeling side of things goes, that should be a breeze. (Been doing modeling for years).

Well... Back to reading, I've got a lot to learn about :)

If you have University EP installed you can use second level submenus (the core game does not support second level submenus) to achieve subchannels.

in post #3, Step 4... use an additional ".../" to add another pie menu level

"Change To.../ComedyTV.../Robot Chicken"
"Change To.../ComedyTV.../Stand-Up Comedians"

[coffeehedake]

I can't thank you enough Eric! :)

I'll be working on this little beauty:
http://home.comcast.net/~coffeehedake/images/hughes_tivo_HD_DVR_sims2.jpgIf the image isn't loading try clicking here (http://home.comcast.net/~coffeehedake/images/hughes_tivo_HD_DVR_sims2.jpg)

Hughes TiVo HDTV DVR / DirecTV Reciever

Although I have a feeling doing the package editing for it will be quite more than I've bargained for.
Would be kindof cool if I can get this to work, will be my first Sims2 Custom object. :)

That's the 3D Model rendered from 3D Studio MAX... still learning how to add it into Sims2, but so far I'm finding JWood's Tutorials fairly helpful for that purpose (a bit too much walking the reader through the 3D editing part for my taste, but good nonetheless).

[Eric]

You're more than welcome coffeehedake....

btw that DirectTV object/mesh looks fantastic... I hope you can get it to work the way that you intend in the game

[Alice-chan]

Thanks for this great tutorial. After some trial and error and returning to this thread every 5 minutes I finally managed to stop the TV from blinking blue and change the name in the Pie Menu to the desired one. (Didn't even know, that I installed English UK instead of English...) But now I am stumbling into the same problem, Cecil encountered (page 2, post 30). I have audio for my custom station, but the screen has a test picture consisting of a red X and tvstation_aliceeros. All other stations work just fine, only Alice Eros has a test picture. A little help would be appreciated, before my Sims sue me for not serving the promised content. Thank you in advance...

[coffeehedake]

Hmm... haven't run into that one myself... but for one reason or another, it sound like your video isn't even being loaded at all... either due to a framesize, framerate, or some funky reason that I have yet to think of (LOL ambiguous enough?).

The only other time I've heard of this (except for Cecil's post in this thread) was on a custom channel made for download by someone else here on MTS2, I noticed the same result (big red X and such) on their screenshots, because the person hadn't loaded any video into the folder, they had made the custom channel in hopes that others would fill the folder with their own content... which is what makes me believe that your video (if it's in the right folder) simply isn't being loaded (for whatever reason). I'll have to look into it a bit, to see if I can reproduce the error, and I'll let you know what causes it in my tests.

- Coffee

[boricuitablue]

what program do I use to make it work?, i fyou can let me know.

First of all thanks to Eric for the simple tutorial.

For all those pre-university struggling with the blue flashing screen, here is what I did to get it to work:
1. Modified the broadcast.ini files in both the installation and the download directory (hey, better safe than sorry). Initially this still didn't seem to work.
2. Then I created an empty station subfolder also in the game installation directory: ...EA Games/The Sims 2/TSData/Res/Movies/Broadcast. I had already created the station subfolder in the download folder structure. And this solved the problem for me.

Please note that I put my own movie files in the station folder in the download folder structure. The station subfolder in the installation directories remains empty.

It may be that step 1 is sufficient, because when I did step 2 I also double checked and redid step 1, just to ensure I did not make any typo's...

[kool4ya91]

What do you change the guid to? To anything you want?

[Eric]

Change it to an 8 character alphanumeric.

letters must be between A and F
numbers can be between 0 and 9

example 1: AF09F2D3
example 2: DC9B27E2

Keep in mind that whatever GUID that you choose may conflict with a maxis GUID or a custom content GUID.

[bradfordkf]

thanks a lot for this, eric and coffe. now, im assuming this would add the channel to all tvs, right? is there a way to add a channel to only one television? also, how would i go about doing this without downloading erics base channel? i want to start completely from scratch. thanks again everyone.

[Star Ranger4]

Change it to an 8 character alphanumeric.

letters must be between A and F
numbers can be between 0 and 9


This is because the GUID is effectively a text representation of a Hexidecimal (Base 16) number. Since the arabic numbering system that 90% of us were trained in in school is a base 10 number, the letters were added to represent 10 (a) through 15 (f).

Ergo, you use a letter other than a-f and you get something that cant be converted back into Hex, thus rendering the GUID garbage.

[lakeyboy]

I can't believe this. Thanks heaps for it. I have nighlife and have put the movie folder and the modified broadcast.ini in the Nightlife Program Files Directory while the Extra Channel Package is placed in the Sims 2 Download Folder in My Documents. It works perfectly in the game with my own AVI file but the name stays the same. The one you gave it. I have attatched my Package of your template file which i edited using the pictures in the tutorial but still no luck. Can you help me and do you know whats wrong?

[gapikm]

In .movie files you mean .mov that you can open in Quicktime, right?
And is this tutorial for an expansion pack and can it be used in original Sims 2?

[sailormewmew]

ummm, in the last step, how do i get the directory? yes, im a bit slow, help me out here peopel -_-;

[SimmerLu442]

Can you please rewrite this for the new version of Simpe because I'm vbery confused on some parts and very annoyed when the stupid plugin view keeps sliding back down.

[~kathy~]

I'll ask him if he has time simmerlu442 but keep in mind it may take a week or two and he will use classic guid.

[lakeyboy]

It's not that hard to do with the new SimPE. I've done it now and can edit the descriptions with ease. Just remember guys to change the text for different languages but at least for English and UK English.

______________________
Please ignore this section unless you love SimCity4!

[labine730]

thanks eddie.... I was not sure what other filetypes that the channels would play and I have no idea what software that someone would need to use to produce new .movie files

gif files maybe?

[Godimis113]

Wow, that was aggravating. After straining my brain for the last half an hour trying to get rid of the flashing blue screen, I fixed it. Thanks coffee for the post about upper and lowercase letters. I had to change one letter in the ini file and now it works. Now I can finally sort all these avis into proper channels. Thank you for the tutorial and thanks for making my game better.

[The Sim Vlad]

I've been a member here since last year and I just really never post as much lol. I'm usually a reader. Anyway Thank you a lot Eric for giving us the insight on how to create our new TV channels and I can't wait for that DDR receiver coffeehedake. Anyway I did the modding and I got everything to work fine, the movies work but I was wondering if there is a limit on how many movies you can watch because I noticed that, when I direct my sims to watch the channel not all the movies in the directory play, only a couple of them play. So is there a set limit on the amount of .avi files or movies you can put in that custom channel folder? Thanks In Advance.

-Vlad

[simscrazy]

thank you eric and coffeeshake for the instructions. I have followed your instructions but, i can't get my movies to show, all i get is the blue flickering screen. They were showing before i patched nightlife. Any suggestions how i can get around the patch?

[Sootycarone]

Very good tutorial eric thank you. I too have managed to get my own videos to work (avi) by following your instuctions but cannot change the name from your default in the in game pie menu. I have added 2 extra channels to my game (no add ons) and they both show up as your default name.
I have rechecked several times and have read and tried all the sugestions from others in this forum to no avail, any further advice from anyone would be welcome thanks again for this tute.

[ANIMA85]

nice job man... it took me awhile to figure it out but it wasnt hard, it was quite easy after i started thinking calmly. thanx a million. peace

[ANIMA85]

why cant i add more channels, i made one channel and then i tried making another one and it doesnt give me the option in the pie menu to switch to my new channel.

[Khalhambra]

Eric and Coffeeshake thanks for this wonderfull tutorial!

I finally got rid of the blue thingie! But I had to change the Broadcast.ini in Nightlife as well to make it work -and- I had to fill my dummy folders- I just copied the contends of TvChildren into them and then it worked!



Don't ask me -why- though....... :moose:

I've got a question- It seems impossible for me to make an AVI file that runs for more than about 30 seconds. If I try to make an AVI that is longer, the immages run fine but the sound starts to stutter and keeps repeating the first few moments over and over.

And another one- is there a way to order de AVI files in a folder? It seems to me they are shown randomly. Now if I could order those 30 second AVI files, I would have a solution for them being so short. One of sorts, anyway.

Any ideas anyone?

[Tustin2121]

thanks eddie.... I was not sure what other filetypes that the channels would play and I have no idea what software that someone would need to use to produce new .movie files

(if no one has told you this yet becouse it has been such a long time since Eric said this...) The .movie filetype is not acctully a .movie but a .mad filetype. This is the file type most commonly used by EA for its game (says http://filext.com/) (to find the real file type and not the extension, open the file in question in Notepad and look at the first few capital letters.) If you guys can make anything of this info, please do.

[jstmel]

Now all you have to do is make your own .movie files (.avi files might work also?) and place them in your new channel directory... load your game up and have fun

NOTE: place the .package file in your "My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Downloads" directory for it to work

Hello there! I have made the changes as needed and made the .avi file for my new directory. Questions though:

1.) Does the .avi file have to be a certain size? The one I have done is a little over 12MB. (The ratio of it is 128x128 and less than 15fps)

2.) Do we have to rename the .package file? The one supplied has spaces in it.

For some reason, when I have my sim go watch tv, the whole game locks up and I have to reboot. These are the only two things I can think of that might be giving me probs. I haven't tried changing the name of the .package file yet. Thought I would ask first...game takes a bit to load.

Any reply from anyone who knows would be geatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Oh, thoguht of another question:

3.) Does it matter what the .avi file is named?

[seejay86]

You can use .avi clips but they shouldn't be larger that 128x128 pixels and shouldn't have more than 15 fps.


http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/thesims2/hints.html

What program do you use to convert files from other formats to AVI, and where could I find it...
Thanks

[vividwolf]

Might Answer Some Questions 4 Newbies......

GUID - I made up a number and it works great, I suggest you change 1 or 2 numbers so it knows it's unique.

Blue Screen - this is NOT a problem with your movie files. it's a problem with your broadcast.ini files. I edited all my broadcast files. see list below

C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Config
C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 University\TSData\Res\UserData\Config
C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Nightlife\TSData\Res\UserData\Config
My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config

It may work by just changing one or two of these. but i changed them all to be on the safe side. Please note. i have all EP's which is why i changed these files. however if you do not have nightlife for example, then you don't need to change it, because you don't have it.

Please make sure when you do edit the broadcast.ini files. that everything is case sensitive. MAKE SURE YOU BACKUP YOUR FILES BEFORE EDITING

I know this works because i was having all the same problems everyone else was having untill i done the above. now my Adult Late Network station works and is watched ALOT by my sims lol

[PGTDigital]

Everything works here, except for the Text List 12E.
I edit it, and it shows the name in SimPE but in the game it is still 'Change to.../InSIMenator Broadcasting Network (IBN)'
This is probably because I am using the Dutch version.
I tried Hex editing the package (with Hex Workshop).
It kinda works now but not as it is used to be.
My Program name has to be the same text size as the original English, so when I enter a name which hass less characters, I have to add spaces(looks kinda odd...).

Does anyone know how to translate this text list?

copy and paste it into word 2003, and then highlight the text and click translate.

hope this helps a tad.
PGT

[DexterII]

I don't understand it. I'm stuck on like step one when you open SimPE and I click object data then click the instance this is what I see. Me screen looks nothing like the example. What am I doing wrong?

Also I just have Nightlife installed will this still work?

[Echo]

Go to Window > Plugin View. :)

[BrokenLit]

Oh my God! My sims are watching Serenity an a floor to ceiling projector screen. :bow: This is so awesome!

I love you! Would you like my first born? (you can't have it, but I thought it'd be nice if I at least offered)

THANK YOU!

I think I'm gonna go watch Serenity with my sims now.

[obJeff]

Is there a reason that a channel that worked perfectly well in University now does not appear in Nightlife? I added it to Nightlife's broadcast.ini file. Is there anything else that must be done?

[Sim2Lew]

You have saved my sim's lives :nod:

Thank you!

[disco peppermint]

im stuck on step 1. Im new to simpe, how do you see all those things under filetype?

[obJeff]

Okay, new issue. I figured out where the channel was, though I would like to figure out why the name isn't the one I gave it.

Anyway, bigger issue. If a sim turns to the channel I made, it tells me that a debugger was detected and shuts down. I have Nightlife, and these same videos worked just fine in University. They're uncompressed AVI files with no audio. Thoughts?

[sVyro]

After spending several hours within the game attempting to get the blue screen to disappear. I've come to the conclusion that it isn't going to happen.

All attempts i've tried at this point have come back to me in failure. I've tried everything mentioned on this forum:

- Lowercase lettering in the broadcast.ini and in the plugin view value.
- Quadra-checking the broadcast.ini in all directories. (Uni, and Nightlife also, as well as MyDocs, and the original Sims 2 Config folders)
- I tried Coffe's dummy file suggestion, hell I even tried the one person who mentioned copying the contents of those files into the dummy folder. So at one point I had 3 folders full with the same avis. Still no go.
- Then I attempted removing the files one at a night from each of the 3 folders, and trying over 20 possible combinations, as I saw Uni and The Sims 2 movie folders were duplicating the same folder into My Documents/Moves/Broadcast - which confused me.
- I tried opening the .package in Hexworkshop outside of SimPE and still not working.

In conclusion i believe i've tried every possible combination there is, even making sure I had the latest patches in the game. The pie chart thing was simple to replicate, however getting the movie to work on the tv screen isn't.

And yes I am using a 128x128 avi file, which was promoted by a previous poster on this forum. I'm sorry for not giving proper credit i'm not really able to shift through the forum pages and get their names at the moment.

The only thing I could assume that is causing this to not work for me when it has for so many others would be the fact I did a custom intallation onto a different partition than the main install dir.

My game is installed to D:\Games\EA Games\The Sims 2
Along with Nightlife and University which have their own folders in the EA Games dir.

To where all the configuration (Like it or not) is defaulted to the C Drive (main partition), into "My Documents"..

But even so, I tried pointing the folder in the broadcast.ini to "C:\Documents and Settings\ etc etc" still didn't work.

Anyone has any solution let me know please?

I'm running all episodes, and soon will have EP3. Any help would be appreciated.


BREAK THROUGH:

Even though mjy game installationw as english, the code understands only the "Dutch" version of the handlers. I would like to make this a point to anyone out there that hasn't tried this yet. TRY ADDING THE SAME VALUES FOR ALL LANGUAGES in SimPE.

I think I got this now. Sorry for the meltdown earlier.

[sVyro]

After spending the better half of two days, in and out of the game (Constantly) I've come to a pretty much guaranteed result to make the pie chart, and the blue menu go away.

For my information I have both University and Nightlife installed. I don't think there's really a difference between the two if you have Nightlife installed, just use the original EA Games dir. If you got Uni is when you have to modify the broadcast.ini past the first My Documents (This is because the expansion adds the "Sports" channel, and therefore forces the game to drop the My Documents broadcast on EACH AND EVERY LOAD) - However if you want to be over-cautious about it. Go ahead and change every broadcast.ini related to Sims 2 on your system. (Better safe than sorry)

- The following directories would be where you can find a boradcast.ini file (If you have Nightlife, and University installed)

Please note: These directories are only relative if you have used the "DEFAULT" installation. Which I have not, but most people do. If you are like me and used a custom installation, just replace the "C:\Program Files\" etc etc up until the game name itself, with the actual directory and partition you installed it on.

C:\Documents and Settings\[Account Name\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Config
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 University\TSData\Res\UserData\Config
C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 Nightlife\TSData\Res\UserData\Config


The rule of thumb here to be (certain) is for each change you make in one file, make it to them all. In reality you only need to really change the University dir. If you don't have University, and just Nightlife just change the one in the My Documents folder. The same goes if you don't have University or Nightlife installed, focus only on the My Documents broadcast.ini.

Within the broadcast.ini ONLY use lowercase lettering when pointing out your handlers. Which was explained in a post from coffeehedake. The reason why is unknown to me really, I just know it works like this.

You are free to use any length of characters, or capitalization in pointing to the directories within the broadcast.ini within the [category] call.

THIS ONLY APPLIES FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE UNIVERSITY
- Examples, Although the game defaults to "Broadcast/[Foldername]" fill free to do any lenght of sub folders, afterwards (This is useful for organization. I believe coffeehedake's also discovered this as well.)
- Here's a small sample. Folder=Broadcast/Comedy/Dave Chappelle - Ah here's something not many people know without some experience with .ini referencing. You can put spaces in folder "pointers" by grouping them entirely quotes. Folder="Broadcast/Comedy/Dave Chappelle" =)

THIS APPLIES FOR EVERYONE UNIVERSITY/NIGHTLIFE NON-EP
There's been a lot of posts on the forum with people having issues with "Dummy files" coffeehedake suggested. although this might work for a few people, I found it to be more or less a bloated solution to the real issue. Which in most cases is a "translation" issue. When creating your .package file (tv channel) make sure (if you're ENGLISH) to point the language you installed the game with. I.E. me I'm "ENGLISH" however the game understands a dutch routine call (Dunno why) however, as longs I point the same information to English, and English - UK it works fine.

Also an important note on the above comment. Please make sure you "Committ" everytime you make a change to the data strings within the .package. This is crucial (I'm sure eric pointed this out multiple times). A lot of people have issues with just getting the "PIE" charts to show up. On most standard english installations. It's important to change the "English - UK" value and not the "English" value. You can test to see what language your game understands, by placing a small number next to each language and making a note of it when you load the game. For me it was "Testing 2" which turned out to be the English - UK language.

If you followed me up to this point. Then you should be running a nice little .avi clip on your brand new channel. If you have University installed - Make note that you can "SUB" pie menus - Otherwise you have to use single category pie values. (Sorry non-uni users =( )

The only real limitation of the file size has to do with hardware rendering. The file size isn't really relevant however the video size is. 128x128 is the safest viewing. I would try avoid putting files larger than 50mbs into a folder. This caused my system to lockup several times when I would put the game into triple speed mode, while running custom mp3's on the radio.

My system specs were
Radeon x850XT
3.2GHz CPU
2GB DDR434

It's not a glitch with my hardware. It's just far too much to fast-forward a 200mb file at 480x250 in triple 3 mode. I mean think of it. If you got the game at 1600x1200 and running it with full graphic support. It's going to lock up (logically).

I've encountered no issues with running files less than 50mbs in size, at 128x128 size. I've put them to the test. I believe the hardware limitation is with forcing the card to resize the movie into the small television while in game play. Ridding your system of this job alone allows it to run without so much stress.

Enough of my rambling however. I followed both Eric, and Coffeehadek's advice in the forums posted in the past. They have some great advice on how to get the custom channels to work.

- The one thing not mentioned on any page of this forum other than ONE person. Was that this will work with people who have both University and Nightlife installed. Not only for the people who have only University installed.

If anyone has any questions. Or i confused the hell out of you all, feel free to ignore my post. If i've helped someone in some small way. I'm glad. I'm sorry i'm not more clear with my instructions. If you want clearification however feel free to ask me.

Thank you for your time, and for reading =)

[Jazze]

Awesome, thank you for this :thumb: been wanting to be able to do this...

Bit premature with post :(

Tried a few music videos, but cant get them to play past about 2-3mins, the vid just freezes, followed everything in the Tuts to the letter....

HELP!!!

[wEsDwEbN]

You rock! It took me a second to figure out what to do, but it's done, I went to my game and the channel is there! You rock!

[Peggy Ross]

mstybl95--I've got the same problem, so I guess we wait until Eric can find the answer. hope it's soon, I'd like to see the movies I've downloaded. So hang in there girl. Peggy

[plypret]

to complicated i did what u said like u said 2 open the custom channel package thingy in simpe but it didn't work thwey said it was the wrong file help me man help me!!!

i gotta little prop on stage one the 5 instruction says save changes so i did but simpe said that i cant save changes why?? help me man heelp me plz plz plz???????

they said that the custom channel package is protecteds what do i do

[TUBBO]

My custom channel is also flashing blue and it's really annoying.

[Jet Pack Trooper]

Thanks ill be using this now!

[Kissamies]

It'll be cool to put my coutless custom programs on their own channel, thanks!

Edit: Took some wrestling with it to get it working, post #114 was very helpful. Thanks, sVyro.

[lchristianes]

A tutorial someone suggested in this forum says that AVI videos must be 128x128, which looked pretty small for me.
320x240 works fine!

[Kissamies]

320x240 works, eh? All the tutorials I have seen have told me to use 128x128. Anyways, the TV screens in game are not square, so the width is going to get stretched if you do 1:1. The small TV might be 4:3 and the bigger ones look a bit wider. When I do my size conversions, I assume the end result is going to be shown in 4:3 and factor that into my use of letterbox. I guess the amount of letterbox you need (if you need it) is much easier to figure out if you don't have to use 128x128.

[bort]

Just make your own videos and put the videos in the certain channel folders, and the blue screen will go away

[pedroezcurra]

THIS APPLIES FOR EVERYONE UNIVERSITY/NIGHTLIFE NON-EP
There's been a lot of posts on the forum with people having issues with "Dummy files" coffeehedake suggested. although this might work for a few people, I found it to be more or less a bloated solution to the real issue. Which in most cases is a "translation" issue. When creating your .package file (tv channel) make sure (if you're ENGLISH) to point the language you installed the game with. I.E. me I'm "ENGLISH" however the game understands a dutch routine call (Dunno why) however, as longs I point the same information to English, and English - UK it works fine.


I've tried everything except this, and the reason why is because I have no idea what you're talking about. Point the language I installed the game with? Is that something I do in SimPE? And if so, how? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks in advance! :)

[Jakian]

Okay.
I'd done everything, but when I go into the game, they are soooooo small.
Do you know what happend?

[Emma_Barrett]

wow ... i never knew it was so simple ... thanks :)

[esalkin]

.... All of my source video is in Microsoft WMV format ... I found a converter online, but it's not free...

Try Super http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html video converter. It will read even badly damaged files in just about any format and save them as any size and/or format. Best part is the price :alarm: free :alarm:


In .movie files you mean .mov that you can open in Quicktime, right?...

.movie is a proprietary format by EA Games.
http://wiki.multimedia.cx/index.php?title=Electronic_Arts_MAD

...the DIVX tray icon will force your game ...no way to disable ...

I wonder what would happen if you gave the file a different extension not associated with the DIVX player? If I get some time I will try it.

[dirtbiXe]

ThanX! this is great now i can watch shows

[TUBBO]

i finally got it working past without the blue screen but the channel is still called insimanator broadcast ibn does anyone know why?

[TUBBO]

i actually managed to do it

flashing blue screen : get rid of it by changing the channel pointer things on every sims 2 ep and the original

channel saying insimentor instead of your own : i think youve got to translate it even if its uk engilish thts what i did i changed it from english to uk probobaly which ever language you instaled it as

[Jarf]

Very useful, my sims love to watch Tom Goes to The Mayor.

[theusedrocks]

erm...my screen keeps flashing blue and i have university, nightlife, open for business and family fun installed...must i modify all the expansion files as well?

i've read all the other posts but i still don't understand how to modify the config files and all...sorry. i'm pretty slow at this...:wtf:

[mari jo]

Hi everyone,

I put together an example television channel and a simple tutorial on how to create and add your own custom television channels to the Sims 2...

Ok so... I have been at this for a few days... hours at a time sometimes. At first I didn't get any of it. I went to the SimPe website, registered myself. My SimPe program was timing out whenever I requested a new GUID.

But finally a break through today! It gave me a new GUID. No glitch, no error message.... no time out.

But get this, STILL NO NEW CHANNEL!! :faceslap:

Now Eric, I have read your posts and all the posts here inside and out. I still do not have my channel. It seems like it's impossible for me to have a new channel because of how badly I want it. I need a better walk through, because what I have been reading of "your guidelines & explanations" aren't good enough for me. And get this! I am computer savy... and I have followed your instructions, but I have gotten no luck. One freakin channel is all I want!! One!!

Someone... message me on AIM please and walk me through this. I have Sims 2 on PC. There is something I am missing, I know it. I've done every step.. where am I going wrong?

Thanks.

Mariounne

[Cmaniac 2006]

:new: :mod: For people needing for help :mod:

Hey guys, I'm new here. For people in trouble, try this tutorial:
http://z9.invisionfree.com/Sims_Sentral/index.php?showtopic=277

The problem is that you only can change the name and the menu using SimPE, the rest is (almost) everyting done. For more instructions, go to the site tutorial.

:blink: But something funny happened: by the tutorial, any of the "Broadcast" files on the expansion pack folders can be used, because of this text:

"You have to paste this line:
#=tvstation_StationName
With the # symbol indicating whichever number happens to fall next either into:
C:\Documents and Settings\Username\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\broadcast.ini for just the original Sims 2
or into
C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\insert expansion pack folder here\TSData\Res\UserData\Config\broadcast.ini"

The Bold part tells that any expansion pack folder can be used, because there isn't no limitacions.

:mod: Prove :mod: : I tryed to use the OFB broadcast.ini file and it worked :rofl: !

But the chanel will be callet StationName and the menu is "Change To.../StationName", what isn't problem to English Simmers, but for others languages (ex: Portuguese, my language :P), there will be 2 menus: The StationName menu and their language menu, with the others channels :wtf: ...

Using Eric's tutorial, you can change the name and menu, but you're having problems with Eric's tutorial... click here (http://z9.invisionfree.com/Sims_Sentral/index.php?showtopic=277).

The Cmaniac

(Sorry by my bad English... ;) )

Edit by Delphy to standardise text. Note that this exact same stuff is in Eric's tutorial in the first place so please read that first.

[Yoshikuru]

I....I con't do it.....I'm so pathetic. xD

[pinksalamander]

LOL, i fell at the first hurdle. I can't even find the object data screen to in the first post! Doh!

[Reedy69]

I testet everything! My Avi Files dont work.I have a custom channel and movie files working in it. But not avi.I converted my source-files with virtual dub in 128*128 ,vp6 codec and encoded audio,15fps....! Where is the Problem? What name must the avi Files have?

[WolfwoodSama]

Hey, just wondering how you'd go about making a station that increases a sim's skill, much like the cooking channel. It'd be cool to have channels that increase logic, creativity, etc.

[whiteghost]

Brilliant tutorial, cheers!

[Reeman93]

Hey, this is the fist thing I'm doing with SimPE. What should I change the GUID to? I have all expantions exept nightlife if that matters.

[littleb3ll]

I don't understand anything... :wtf: the names isn't the same in my SimPE... I have the newest which works with Pets. And what should I change the GUID to?

[PlyPencil]

Thanks for the tutorial. Just a few more things I would like to say, you can create your own commercials by changing the commircial directory and also can you find a way to do this to a radio please.

[ncagl280]

Okay, my question is about editing the channel's attraction for various age groups. What is this channel based on? The Yummy Channel? Is it possible to go into the package and edit the attraction data?

My channel is a LifeStyles type channel with news of my wealthiest and greatest- what their wearing and where they live, etc. I want the appeal to be for adult and elder sims. The Sims Broadcast Channel would probably work if I had the channel has to be cloned.

I can't tell you how much this adds to my game. Thank you!

Also, to those having problems with this, don't forget that the numbering will have changed with the addiction of new channels in the new expansions. You may want to check out this thread: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=127958 as it has information about how that channel is installed and there are a lot of useful questions and answers.

[Sims&Slayer666]

cheers for that man, this is gonna be sweet

[spriteTAB]

i cant find where the heck the whole "custom television channel" thing is. do i need to download something first? i need help! ( p.s. i just joined recently and know this is kinda old tutorial)

[tacos]

mine too. i dont understand how to get my movies on the tv channel cause i dont know how to make the folder. do i just make up a folder and put the movies in there? please help

[Bubby bob]

Umm its kinda weird i have my video for my channel and i think i followed it carefully but my movie can't play, EVEN NOT ON THHE SIMS2 THEY DON'T WORK IN MY DOCUMENTS! and i have 2 really bad errors the flashing blue screen and it dosent say what i want it to say, and where do you put your movies? :(

[Everend]

I only get blue flashing blue screens.
I know it is not codec as my computer can play all the files before and after conversion perfectly fine. The files are in "\My Documents\EA Games\Sims 2\TSData\Res\movies\broadcast\TvMovie" (the folder I made), and just in case I put them in "c:\program files\EA Games\Sims 2\TSData\Res\movies\broadcast\TvMovie" and in downloads previously as :"Broadcast\TvMovie" and currently as "Movies\Broadcast\TvMovie" I put the .package files we were supposed to have made in downloads folder and edited the .ini file as indicated. Why doesn't it appear?

[$RaMRoM$]

Hi Eric this is a great tutorial and thanks for it.
If u will agree Im more than happy to re-create this as a MS Word format and/or a PDF format.

[skiingiggy]

Does this still work with seasons? I had a whole ton of cool channels, and when i updated the stuff for seasons the game crashed everytime i started. This was before i re-installed, and i had to because of a bad file in the stuff, but the TV might have done it too. Does it work with seasons? Thanks in advance!

[aberry5000]

can some one who uses the season simpe make a new Tutorial since this one is a bit out of date and is now kinda hard to follow?

[Tebbiki]

Did the Seasons EP change something regarding broadcast channels? Most of what I've tried doesn't work. I might not be doing it exactly right, but I can't get it to work at all. I'm pretty sure it's probably my error, but is there an easier way to have only my programming (and no Maxis shows) run on at least one TV channel? Can't I just delete the Maxis shows and insert mine instead?
To sum up all my many questions into one, concise one: Is there a "Custom Sim2 TV (including Seasons) tutorial for Extreme Dummies?" Any help is appreciated!

[Spong3y]

can .mpeg files work in the custom channel?

[funney250]

i am stuke at stage 3 step 4 can someone help me i am still young

[IgnorantBliss]

funney250, how old are you?

Can you be more specific about what you're having problems with? Are you not finding the options in SimPE you're supposed to? Please, give more detail so that people can help you.

[Sophie-David]

Try Super http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html video converter. It will read even badly damaged files in just about any format and save them as any size and/or format. Best part is the price :alarm: free :alarm: This is an excellant tip, and Super is a great program for converting WMV files to AVI. In contrast, I found VirtualDub to be completely useless because it could not read Windows Media Player MPEG formats.

However I spent several hours trying to get a workable output file from Super because I was using the wrong Output Video Codec. My output files were not working in Windows Media Player, so I knew they would not work within the Sims 2.

As a general rule the Sims 2 will play almost any AVI formatted file that Windows Media Player will play. However, it would be overkill to use Super at its highest settings because the Sims 2 in-game player has such low resolution. But you shouldn't skimp on the audio quality, because you will quickly notice degradation if you cut back on the sound parameters.

Please see the screen capture of Super at Post #107 here (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=84234&c=1&ht=0&page=5&pp=25) which shows the settings that I found by experimentation to be ideal.

Sims99.com (http://www.sims99.com/) is a great source of creative movies made using the Sims 2. These works are copyright, so any conversions that you make for use within the game should not be redistributed.

There are currently three TV channels that actually build specific skills and raise fun while watching them. SEVEN's FIY TV Channel (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=127958) increases Mechanical skill and already comes with its own videos, so you do not need to make your own. Katy has two TV channels (http://www.pc-sims.com/smb/showthread.php?t=28), one for Logic and one for Creativity, but currently there are no videos for them, so Super provides a means of adding them.

At the moment there is a clash in the channel names for the Mechanical and Creativity channels which can be fixed using SimPE, as I posted in Katy's thread above.

Monique also has a Do-It-Yourself (http://www.insimenator.net/showthread.php?t=31664) channel that improves all skills at once, but I would find this a little too much of a cheat.

[sims1234]

I followed the tutorial but i get a flashing blue screen on the tv channel in the seasons EP do i have to do anything else to get it to work

[Sophie-David]

I followed the tutorial but i get a flashing blue screen on the tv channel in the seasons EP do i have to do anything else to get it to work I would suggest installing SEVEN's FIY TV Channel (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=127958) using the directions, if you haven't done already. His download comes with a video, so if you get that channel working with a known good video then you can use that video as a test one for other channels such as Katy's.

Any video you use must be playable in Windows Media Player - if you cannot play it there then you are not going to be able to play it within the Sims 2. Once all the other setups are working such as the .INI file and the package file for the Downloads folder, I found that the Sims 2 internal player itself seemed to be able to play almost anything, as long as it was in .AVI format.

[sims1234]

thanks i will give that a try

[sims1234]

i tried that and the tv channel i made still doesn't work, the video is playable in the game so i don't know what i have done wrong

[Sophie-David]

i tried that and the tv channel i made still doesn't work, the video is playable in the game so i don't know what i have done wrong Well at least you know your video is OK. Did you make your own package file - perhaps by modifying one of the others?

[sims1234]

i just changed the tutorial file to what i wanted the channel to be

[Sophie-David]

i just changed the tutorial file to what i wanted the channel to be I'm finding it difficult to help you because of lack of information in these one-liners, but I would suggest that if you can first get Seven's FIY channel to work then you would be well on your way to getting an alternately titled channel to work. I did not personally use Eric's tutorial here, because in my case I found the FIY instructions easier to follow, but that's just me. BTW, Eric also posted this thread at InSIMenator (http://www.insimenator.net/showthread.php?t=121), and you may find some useful information there too.

[sims1234]

Thanks for your help, i really appreciate it

[monicaking77]

I'm stuck at the first step. Sorry, apparently I'm an idiot, lol. anyways, When I open up the file in sim pe and then click on the "object data" on the left hand side, nothing happens. The screenshot you have has all these other boxes and stuff but on my screen all it has is that left hand column. If you could help me, I would greatly appriciate it! Oh and sorry for being a complete moron. :) (screen shot attached)

[IgnorantBliss]

monicaking77, try clicking the Reset Layout icon in the top row, that should return your view to the standard one.

[monicaking77]

Okay I did that. now it is still doing nothing... or something weird. I dunno. lol. sorry! and thanks! (see screenshot)

[IgnorantBliss]

What is the screen resolution you're using? I remember using a small resolution caused problems for some people viewing the SimPE window properly. If you have an option on your monitor to increase the resolution, try and see if that helps.

[Echo]

You want to increase your resolution, but there is a fairly quick fix. See attached piccy. :)

[spriteTAB]

ugh!!!! i used this before and it worked, but after i bought seasons the channels just showwed flashes. same thing happens with the new channels i make. I NEED HELLLP!

[Sophie-David]

ugh!!!! i used this before and it worked, but after i bought seasons the channels just showwed flashes. same thing happens with the new channels i make. I NEED HELLLP! Seasons will have overwritten your broadcast.ini file when it installed - it will have done so because it actually adds a new weather channel. Copy and rename My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\broadcast.ini to broadcast.ini.old, then edit broadcast.ini as in the tutorial. Backup this modified broadcast.ini by copying and renaming it to broadcast.ini.new. When you next install a game update, you will have a working copy of your modifications to restore from.

[onion_girl_9]

A few things:
While this is a simple enough tutorial to follow you must have some understanding of how a program calls files in order to deviate in any way from Eric's original instructions.
1. If you have any EPs installed you must edit the broadcast.ini file of the most recent EP. You will always find the broadcast.ini file under:
\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 <ep>\TSData\Res\UserData (unless you installed the game initially to a different location).

2. The image attached is a screen shot of my broadcast.ini file (most of it any way)
Pay attention to the numbering of the existing channels. I have all EPs so my last used channel # is 12 for the Season 12=tvstation_weather_winter channel.
So my first custom channel must be 13. You'll notice that the station data (begins midway through the file) in the original .ini file is in the same order as the numbered station names at the top. ie. tvstation_weather_winter data is the 12th block (I couldn't capture it in the screen print but trust me it is).
So your custom channel data block must correspond to the channel # you assign it (the easiest way to say it, always put your new block below everything else).
In my case I have to place the new data as the 13th or last block. Although these blocks are not numbered for your benefit the computer will "count" the data to correspond with the folder (TV pie menu choice in game) selected.

3. This goes back to the mirroring coffeehedake mentions.
Your channel folder must be named exactly the same in the custom channel.package file and the data block in the .ini
So when you follow the step for editing text lists instance 0x00000088 to your custom channel name ex. tvstation_frightnightnetwork
you must use this same name here in the .ini file
ex. 13=tvstation_frightnightnetwork
and here:
[tvstation_frightnightnetwork]
Folder=Broadcast/TvFrightNight_Network
CommercialInterval=60
CommercialFolder=Broadcast/Commercials

by the same token, the folder that you create (@ <most recent EP>\TSData\Res\Movies\Broadcast) must match the folder you have told it to look for exactly
ex. Folder=Broadcast/TvFrightNight_Network
so my folder name is
C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Seasons\TSData\Res\Movies\Broadcast\TvFrightNight_Network

4. Also, for the sake of mirroring, you must have the exact folder in your EAGames folder where your user stuff like downloads is stored. For me it is:
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Movies\Broadcast\TvFrightNight_Network
*I have also copied & pasted the broadcast.ini from the program files installation (see 1st bullet point) to:
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config
allowing it to overwrite the broadcst.ini there. *I'm 99% certain this is necessary.

5. Put your properly coded and sized movie files in the channel folder you created in the EP program file, leaving the corresponding folder under your user file (my documents\ea games\the sims 2) empty. You do not need to put the movie file in both places. Rule of thumb, If you want to view a downloaded movie in a maxis created channel and you want it to override Maxis TV shows, you would place it in the folder under my documents, if you want to add to the list of shows on a channel you place it in the channel folder in the program file with the maxis content. So your movies will work if placed in either of these locations in your new custom channel folder but is only taking up hard drive space if you put it in both.

Keep in mind that when you install a new EP (and patches) most if not all user data and configurations are overwritten. You will need to manually update the new .ini and your channels will likely need to be re-numbered (if the new EP comes with any of it's own TV programming).

Please don't beat up Eric for a tutorial that you don't understand due to your personal lack of technical experience. It was written many patches and EPs ago. Have patience enough to experiment and learn. Remember to always back up any game file you change.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p147/oniongirl999/broadcast.jpg

[Sophie-David]

Actually you do not need to edit any of the broadcast.ini files in the program directories. Most people will find it easier to keep track of the broadcast.ini file in My Documents -

My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\broadcast.ini

- since this path does not change no matter what future expansion pack or stuff pack you may install.

Editing only the My Documents broadcast.ini file has these advantages:

1) It is easier to locate for most users

2) The file path is always the same

3) It is more likely to be backed up. Some people do back up their My Documents folders on a regular basis. Very few back up their Program Files.

4) Any files or settings in My Documents are dependent on which user is logged onto Windows at the time. The broadcast.ini file - and in fact the whole contents of the EA Games folder including the Downloads subfolder - can therefore be tailored for each individual user. (As an aside, I currently run a separate user logon so that I can have a version of the Sims 2 with only the custom clothing and objects belonging the Victorian period or earlier).

[Sophie-David]

1. If you have any EPs installed you must edit the broadcast.ini file of the most recent EP. You will always find the broadcast.ini file under:
\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 <ep>\TSData\Res\UserData (unless you installed the game initially to a different location). I recently installed the H&M Fashion Stuff Pack and found that I had the flashing blue screens that so many have reported. Curiously, the extended menu selections for the additional television stations were displaying correctly, and the approprate skill gains were also occuring for Sims who watched these flashing blue channels. This indicates to me that the modified Broadcast.ini file in My Documents was being processed correctly, apart from the actual video display.

It appears that for some installations it is not enough to modify My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\broadcast.ini as I described above. After renaming the original Broadcast.ini file in your most recent expansion or stuff pack as Onion_Girl describes above, the modified ini file should also be copied to that same directory. The safest procedure is to ensure that both the My Documents and Program Files paths contain the same modified file.

Personally I would view this program behaviour as a bug in the game's coding. Configuration changes should normally be defined by one ini file only, not blended in some non-intuitive way between two different files. The most logical place for "UserData" is the My Documents folder. I suspect that the programmers' intention was for the user ini files in the Program Files path to be for backup purposes only. Clearly this is not always the case.

[aberry5000]

ok so i believe i've followed this tutorial 100% but it's still not working and i think it's something i'm doing and hope so one can help me.

so 1st i open the file with sim pe and go to "object data" to change the GUID.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/1stpic.jpg

2nd once i've commit and saved the new GUID, i go to "text list" and then to "MakeActionString prim String set"

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/2ndpic.jpg

3rd i add 0x0: to the string

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/3rdpic.jpg

4th using the string box, i change the name of "0x0: change to.../inSIMenator Broadcast Network (IBN)" to "0x0: change to.../Scrubs Broadcast Network (SBN)" i commit and save it.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/4thpic.jpg

[aberry5000]

5th i go to "Material Names"

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/5thpic.jpg

6th i changed "tvstation_insimenator" to "tvstation_scrubs" though the string.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/6thpic.jpg

7th i go to "my documents/ ea games/ the sims2/ movies/ Broadcast" and add my new file "TvScrubs"

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/7thpic.jpg

8th i go from "my documents/ ea games/ the sims2/ movies/ Broadcast" to "my documents/ ea games/ the simes/ config" and open Broadcast.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/8thpic.jpg

9th i oen up Broadcast and add "9=tvstation_scrubs"

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/9thpic.jpg

[aberry5000]

10th i go the very bottom of the page and add
"[tvstation_scrubs]
Folder=Broadcast/TvScrubs"

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/10thpic.jpg

11th then i went to "my computer/ local disk (c)/ program files/ eagames and the sims2 pets?

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/11thpic.jpg

12th i go to "TSData/ Res/ UserData/ Config/ Broadcast" and add the exact same things as i did for 9 and 10?

13th i go in to my game and tell my sim to turn on the channel

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/13thpic.jpg
(now in step 4 i thought i chaged inSIMenator Broadcast Network (IBN) to Scrubs Broadcast Network (SBN)?

14 and last i get a nice flashing blue sceen.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/aberry50/Screenshot-1.jpg

i really hope some one can tell me whats going on.

[Sophie-David]

ok so i believe i've followed this tutorial 100% but it's still not working and i think it's something i'm doing and hope so one can help me.

so 1st i open the file with sim pe and go to "object data" to change the GUID. I assume you have already pregistered a block of GUIDs for SimPE.

2nd once i've commit and saved the new GUID, i go to "text list" and then to "MakeActionString prim String set"

3rd i add 0x0: to the string

4th using the string box, i change the name of "0x0: change to.../inSIMenator Broadcast Network (IBN)" to "0x0: change to.../Scrubs Broadcast Network (SBN)" i commit and save it.

5th i go to "Material Names"

6th i changed "tvstation_insimenator" to "tvstation_scrubs" though the string. This all looks correct.

7th i go to "my documents/ ea games/ the sims2/ movies/ Broadcast" and add my new file "TvScrubs" I assume you also put a working video in this directory. You could double-check if the video is working by putting it in one of the EA provided channels. Conversely, you could install the working video from SEVEN's FIY TV Channel (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=127958) in your new folder. Incidentally, a folder may contain more than one video - the game will play them in sequence.

8th i go from "my documents/ ea games/ the sims2/ movies/ Broadcast" to "my documents/ ea games/ the simes/ config" and open Broadcast.

9th i oen up Broadcast and add "9=tvstation_scrubs"

10th i go the very bottom of the page and add
"[tvstation_scrubs]
Folder=Broadcast/TvScrubs" CommercialInterval and CommercialFolder are optional, specifying how often to introduce commercials, and where to find them.

11th then i went to "my computer/ local disk (c)/ program files/ eagames and the sims2 pets?

12th i go to "TSData/ Res/ UserData/ Config/ Broadcast" and add the exact same things as i did for 9 and 10? Yes. Make a backup copy of the original, then just copy the new ini file over from the My Documents path.

13th i go in to my game and tell my sim to turn on the channel

(now in step 4 i thought i chaged inSIMenator Broadcast Network (IBN) to Scrubs Broadcast Network (SBN)?

14 and last i get a nice flashing blue sceen.

i really hope some one can tell me whats going on. Did you save your new package file somewhere in the Downloads folders? Perhaps double-check too that your changes in SimPE were committed and saved properly. Otherwise I can't see what else could have gone wrong - but for sure try a known working video in your new folder, and your own video in one of the standard TV channel folders.

[aberry5000]

thank you for replying Sophie-David, loast night i tryed somethink diffrent and now it works :D
but still i have one problem the pie meanu is still comming up as inSIMenator Broadcast Network (IBN)

[Chaser13]

i have the same problem with the blue screen, how did you fix it?

[mari jo]

I'm seeming to not be able to figure this out. I've done it before, a long time ago. But now all I am getting is the blue flashing screen.

What causes that? Do you know??

:blink:

[sims445]

Great tutorial I'm so gonna try to make a show from my favorite Sim family

[mogbog123]

Perhaps could you also make a Tutorial in which it is explained how one can make transmitters of his own in the radio?there already is w way, i might post a tute about it...

after i make my simtel channel | :rofl: |

[morgonrocks2]

there already is a way, i might post a tute about it...

after i make my simtel channel | :rofl: |(note these are both my accounts :P )

how do i post tutes? it says im not allowed

[Menaceman44]

thank you for replying Sophie-David, loast night i tryed somethink diffrent and now it works :D
but still i have one problem the pie meanu is still comming up as inSIMenator Broadcast Network (IBN)

Did you ever sort this problem?
I've just followed this tutorial for the first time and when I came to alter the pie menu text I DIDN'T add any 0x0: to the front of the option. I just altered the channel name so that it read; Change To.../Horror
Before committing the file I clicked on the "Default lang only" button and then committed. I've had no problems with pie menu options.


On a different note it also appears that there is a Pets channel listed in the broadcast.ini file.

[KingK]

I seem to get the blue screen everyone talks about.. only its light grey, and it appears even when I test on standard channels, is this some seasons bug? I tried testing with a downloaded avi supposed to work.

[lovekamijo86]

Okay I've read all of this and I've done it over and over again but I don't get a blue screen I get nothing but commercials and not what I put in the folder for it to play...Can someone help me out here?

[lovekamijo86]

thank you for replying Sophie-David, loast night i tryed somethink diffrent and now it works :D

How did you get your to work?

[Jrocca]

How can i compress videos or movies to watch on the sims 2 im talking about Movies by the megs and gigs

[Sophie-David]

How can i compress videos or movies to watch on the sims 2 im talking about Movies by the megs and gigs There is a tutorial for doing so here (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=84234), although personally I don't do it quite that way - see Post #107 in that thread.

Since the Sims 2 video player is operating at such low resolution, video compression is not really a problem, and a typical movie will come in at under 200 MB. It is actually the audio that uses more bandwidth, since if you scrimp on that it will be noticeable - a movie's audio quality in the Sims 2 is more a function of your playback hardware than of the game itself.

The video file size is however a problem for the game's player, because it tends to jam out with files much over 15 MB. Typically the audio and video will start to fall out of synchronization, and then one of the other of them will freeze. You can try to work around this by breaking up your source video into 15 MB segments, but the disadvantage is that the game will play these back in pseudo-random order.

A more basic problem relates to the time scale of the Sims world itself. For your Sims, a movie trailer or music video is equivalent to a full length feature in our world. By the end of a movie trailer many of them (depending on "personality") are ready to move on to something else.

So although I did convert a full length public domain movie for my contest project, The Hollywood Movie Collection (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=252487) - House on Haunted Hill - I never posted it, nor do I use it at home, because of the factors mentioned above.

[Sophie-David]

Okay I've read all of this and I've done it over and over again but I don't get a blue screen I get nothing but commercials and not what I put in the folder for it to play...Can someone help me out here? I hope you were able to sort out the playback problem since you posted here. You may want to work through the instructions posted in The Hollywood Movie Collection (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=252487), which have worked for a great many people. In case there was a problem with file conversion, try one of the videos that I posted there.

If you have a Mac it appears you are out of luck, unless someone can prove otherwise!

[beyoncefanny]

Hey I'm having a problem here as well!
I'm also using the dutch version of the game, and I read that you have to make it dutch then but..I'm using the newest version of SimPE that was provided and I have to import that language?
How do I do that :(?

EDIT: Ok about the language..I seem to have fixed that, it does pop up under an english change to but the name is now correct.
Thing is..my screen keeps flashing blue.
The movie works I have checked that on a original channel
My changes were committed and I have put the package file in the downloads folder
I have changed both the broadcasts and as far as I know I have done all the other stuff right as well
So how comes my screens keeps flashing and how do I fix this?
(I saw Aberry had fixed it but to bad didn't tell how? I'll send Aberry a pm as well if that anwser is quicker i'll share it so others know it as well)

[Sophie-David]

One way to approach this it to try to see if you can have any custom channel working. Flashing blue screens usually indicate a problem with at least one of your broadcast.ini files, but it could also be that the required directory where you have stored your video cannot be found. Also make sure that your new package file uses the identical channel name to the one you are using in broadcast.ini.

May I suggest working through the installation procedure for The Hollywood Movie Collection (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=252487) which will give you a known working starting point for custom channels - successful now for several hundred people - from which to proceed...

Unless you have a Mac there is no way that adding a custom channel cannot work, but there are a lot of finicky details to trip you up along the way.

[crappyone]

Yeah I've made Custom channels in the past and they worked.
then my wife stopped playing it for awhile and just started playing it again recently.
For some reason I can not figure out what I'm doing wrong, I know SimPE is quite a bit different than I last used it. I've check files to make sure they work, but I can't change Channel name nor can I get rid of Blue flashing Screen.
Unfortunately this is the ONLY place I can find a tutorial for this and it seems about 2-3 years old.

[Sophie-David]

I would suggest focusing on making the channels that you had working in the past work with the game as you have it now. If there has been any new expansion packs, stuff packs, or game patches installed since your wife was last playing then the broadcast.ini files will have been set back to default. The two copies of broadcast.ini must be indentical in both the My Documents and Program Files folders with the paths described in this thread or the Hollywood Collection thread

Your custom channel is typically cloned from one of the built-in channels, and needs its new channel name and menu option to be specified in SimPE as shown in the attachments. I am using the latest release verions of SimPE, and both these settings are found in the Text Lists section of the Resource Tree. The channel name as specified in the Material Name Resource List must be included in your modified Broadcast.ini. The two Broadcast.ini files index this name to a particular folder in the Movies\Broadcast path.

The file shown, SDTV_Film.package, was cloned from the Music channel and therefore its highest attractiveness is to teens. You are welcome to use this file as a basis for your own, as described in the Copyright Notice at The Hollywood Movie Collection (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=252487). The most important consideration is to make sure you use your own GUID.

[Nimoemo]

Now I've read the whole thread and noticed that many people have the "flashing blue screen"-problem - so do I!
How can I fix it? I've tried everything here...

[Sophie-David]

Now I've read the whole thread and noticed that many people have the "flashing blue screen"-problem - so do I!
How can I fix it? I've tried everything here... This most typically means that at least one of your Broadcast.ini files is not pointing to your video folder. These are the Broadcast.ini files you must modify: C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\Broadcast.ini and C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Latest EP\TSData\Res\UserData\Config\Broadcast.ini. Please see The Hollywood Movie Collection (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=252487) installation procedure for further details, and working sample videos.

[Aquacoon]

I feel dumb for saying this, since everyone else doesn't seem to have a problem with it, but I don't really understand the guide at all.

It really isn't helpful to me, because I don't understand the program your using, or most of the terms your using. If I was going to be able to modify TV channels I would probably need the process explained to me as if I didn't know what a GUID is, or director point...whatever. ._.

It's not a big enough concern for me to potentially damage my game experimenting with all this.

I'm not saying it's a bad guide, since everyone here knows how to use it, but basically I can't make heads or tails of it.

[benji4138]

If anyone is interested I was successful with this whilst having seasons installed. At one point I had the blue screen problem but was easily fixed by changing the broadcast.ini file to make sure I had no capitals. I also changed the file in SimPE with the instance value of 0x00000088 to have the string name with no capitals. Once i had done this and saved all changes the blue screen problem had been resolved.

I know that this solution has been mentioned earlier in this thread but it seemed like people may have thought it was not compatible with seasons.

Thanks Eric for a great tutorial and coffeehedake for the tips on solving the problems :up:

[M&M99]

Looking for some help here ... I have been trying to add custom video content to my game as it is described in the origial EA sims2 stratgey guide
wich as it is described there simply involves placeing files into the directory that you wish them to play from

....... IE just adding a music video into the TVmusic folder in mydocument/ea/sims2 and it should play under the sims dance channel .........

i have my videos resized down to 128 x 128 and operating at 15 Fps as these are the only guidelines mentioned in the guide however when i load the sims2 and turn the TV to Sim dance channel the gmae freezes or it will crash and i get an " applicaion had terminated" message

has anyone tried adding content in this manner ?

.... As opposed to this mod which i really dont feel i understand enough of to start editing my game files ....

[Sophie-David]

Yes, please see Post #107 in this thread (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=84234&c=1&ht=0&page=5&pp=25#startcomments) for the exact settings I use with Super, a freeware conversion program. The video should be in AVI format, and as a general rule if it plays with Windows Media Player there is a good chance it play within the game. If it doesn't play with Windows Media Player then it definitely will not play within the game.

[M&M99]

Fantastic! Thanks so much for recomending the program .. my movies have all worked on the first try ....

I had been using two seperate programs to edit the movies , one to resize it to meet the limits and another to match the 15 second frame rate, that must have comlicated the file somehow ...

thanx very much

[talonhunter20]

Okay... I have been following this entire thread in hopes of adding a better channel to the TVs. I have gotten the channel to show up on the radial menu, but not what I have named it. Also still having the "Blue flickering screen" effect.

1) Tested video to work in TvChildrens channel in game. Video works great.
2) Double checked both broadcast.ini files and added data as needed.
3) Tested in-game and received blue screen.
4) Triple checked both broadcast.ini files..... <--- problem for me.
** broadcast.ini in My Documents\Ea Games\Sims 2\Config is reverting to original settings. Not saving the added channel data. Switching file to read-only does not prevent the game from changing the file back to original settings. The game overrides and unchecks the file's read-only status.

Any help? Please?

[userdny7783]

Has anyone else's game been crashing when trying to change the channel to the custom channel. Mine keeps crashing.

[Sophie-David]

Okay... I have been following this entire thread in hopes of adding a better channel to the TVs. I have gotten the channel to show up on the radial menu, but not what I have named it. Also still having the "Blue flickering screen" effect.

1) Tested video to work in TvChildrens channel in game. Video works great.
2) Double checked both broadcast.ini files and added data as needed.
3) Tested in-game and received blue screen.
4) Triple checked both broadcast.ini files..... <--- problem for me.
** broadcast.ini in My Documents\Ea Games\Sims 2\Config is reverting to original settings. Not saving the added channel data. Switching file to read-only does not prevent the game from changing the file back to original settings. The game overrides and unchecks the file's read-only status.

Any help? Please? The game must be overwriting the broadcast.ini file from somewhere. Most likely the source file for this overwrite is the broadcast.ini file in the program directly path. Provided the source file is correct then the overwrite shouldn't matter. I would double check the source file and ensure that it correct and in the correct place. If you have a stuff pack that is later than your latest EP you may want to put your modified broadcast.ini file there too - it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Good luck - David

[Sophie-David]

Has anyone else's game been crashing when trying to change the channel to the custom channel. Mine keeps crashing. An outright crash would suggest to me a problem in the new channel package itself. All I can suggest is to retrace all your changes carefully.

If you were using a clone of the sports channel and then tried to run it in a non-University environment it would probably crash.

[talonhunter20]

The game must be overwriting the broadcast.ini file from somewhere. Most likely the source file for this overwrite is the broadcast.ini file in the program directly path. Provided the source file is correct then the overwrite shouldn't matter. I would double check the source file and ensure that it correct and in the correct place. If you have a stuff pack that is later than your latest EP you may want to put your modified broadcast.ini file there too - it certainly wouldn't hurt.

Good luck - David

You are correct. Thank you for helping me figure that out. I have all the expansions and stuff packs with exclusion to Freetime. I was configuring the broadcast.ini in the Bon Voyage folders instead of Teen Style Stuff (which was released after BV). The channel and videos work now.

I am still stuck trying to figure out why the name doesn't change on the menu however.

[userdny7783]

Sophie-David:

Actually, it wasn't the package. I refered to another person problem's answer that you gave them. I used SUPER and it works fine now.

Thank you so much!

[notbob1]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Prothoss
What?!? I didnt get any of that!! Its so frustrating theres people out there that know how to do something on simPE and they wont make it SIMPLE!!! For example the first step it says select Object thing. When i open up simPE theres nothing in that box on the left hand side

Please make it simpler



1. It appears that you did not pay attention to the download in the first post of this thread that says "Custom Television Channel.zip". Download that file (I uploaded it for a reason ).

2. It appears from your post that you also did not pay attention to the entire sentence in the first step in Post #2


Quote:
Originally Posted by eric etc
Let's open the Custom Television Channel.package file in SimPE and begin with the "Object Data" file...

Eric I can't download the file, it's corrupted. :help: :cry:

[Dubird]

Ok, have a question that involves the Free Time expansion. Since they added movies, I thought I'd stick a few of mine own in, just for fun. First of all, this is a great tutorial, and I was able to create new movie choices for each of the movie types, so thank you for that! However, it doesn't show up in the first pie menu. When you first click on the tv, there's a Watch Movie option right away. Do you happen to know where that can be changed? I can't find it anywhere. These work if the sim is already watching TV, which is good, they just have to actually watch it first.

[simthirsty3play]

hi, im also experiencing the same problem ( blue flashing screen). I edited the broadcast ini file in the installation and download directory and it still doesnt work. my video file is a flv file and i got the video off youtube. please help and please tell if it's possible to download videos from youtube that will work on the sims 2 channels IM SORRY IF THIS IS TOO LONG

[M3g7e]

Wow! Eric this is really exciting. It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, but I'm not sure I'm up to the challenge--I've read the entire thread, printed out a ton o' posts and am trying to make the decision of what would work best for me, so I have a couple of questions . . .
1. If I just want something different for my sims to watch, not necessarily a whole new custom channel, can I simply substitute different .avi files in the existing channel folders without any further changes?
2. I have FT (and all EPs) so would the same thing work for the movies? Just wondering.
3. If I get started down the path, and have a HUGE problem (knowing me . . .) :turtle: how do I put things back to the way they once were (nostalgia!)??


Also, on a (slightly) tangential note, I am aware of the wonderful work done by Sophie-David on the classic movies and the SEVEN FIY channel by bkn1978, so I was wondering if anyone had contemplated having videos increase hobby interest points, rather than (or possibly instead of) just skill points . . .?

[Echo]

1 - Yep. You can switch video files over with no other modding necessary.
2 - Not sure, as I don't have FT... Worth a try though!
3 - Make sure you have backups of everything before you change it, and don't save any games with a broken package in there. That's the best option. :)

The ability to build skill points from watching tv was part of the original game (the yummy channel), it's just a matter of specifying which skill you want to build, and can be entirely contained inside a custom channel package file. I haven't looked much into it, but my guess is that to make a channel increase hobbies you'd have to set it up as a BHAV hack, which is a good deal more complicated. Not impossible, but not a quick and easy project by any means. :)

[bottlewater]

I keep hearing all about the scary blue screens, just like the blue faces on some of my sims that don't nessisarily attatch to their face O.O maybe it's an attack . . . and I know I'll have the same problem when I get to try, but for now I'm stuck on something real stupid--the first step >.<

You talk about opening object data after opening the TV channel package, but I don't have that!! My screen is just blank. Only difference after opening the file are the words on the title bar.

I don't think I have the latest version because a box pops up every time when I start simPE...but when I was downloading it everything everyone said made no sense! none none none...

[coward67]

what?!?!? what do i do after the renaming bit? can you dumb it down please? i am a little bit on the not so smart side!

[coward67]

im really sorry what is a .ini and how do i get it to the file? please tell me this looks really cool but it makes my walnut sized brain hurt!

[coward67]

Let's open the Custom Television Channel.package file in SimPE and begin with the "Object Data" file...

CHANGE IT TO WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[Dibler]

I wonder should it be possible to make with this new "Watch movie..." possibility. For example "Watch movie.../Horror.../Evil Dead" and then I should be able to watch that movie after putting it into the folder with correct name and adding these lines Broadcast.ini

23=tvmovie_evildead
...
[tvmovie_evildead]
Folder=Broadcast/TVMovie_Evildead
DontRestart=1

I've been trying to do it but it won't work. It won't appear in the "pie". Any solutions? Or should the .package be totally different?

Never mind. I got it fixed.

[christianlasha]

Alright, I'm a giant moron- what do I change the GUIDE to? Or can I change it to whatever? :blink:

[simsample]

Do you mean GUID? No need to change it unless you wish to use more than one in game, or you wish to share it with others.
http://linna.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=32228
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=298444

[Vixnbrianaf]

What about custom moives? I'm so sick of the same 2 movies from each category on there...plus it would be neat to have my sims who are in the show buz career star in their own movies...lol

OK NM actually doing the tutorial step by step has allowed me to figure it out...this tutorial was released soon after UNI came out....the Sim PE program is a bit different than the pics you had but I was still able to figure things out where I was missing information. I want to say thank you for making your tutorial easy to follow...there was a couple times I got stuck for a second but it was as I said because the program was a bit different now. You have done a very good thing by sharing this with us and I can't wait to try out my new channel.

[bt20008]

to fix the blue screen problem,you should edit all broadcast.ini on all
Expansion & stuff pack,where the direction :
c:\Program Files\EA GAMES\"Expansion & stuff pack"\TSData\Res\UserData\Config\broadcast.ini

it can fix the blue screen absolutely

[sonira]

Having a problem I don't know how to fix... here's a picture of it: http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3426/tvstationglitch.png

I've followed everything as accurately as possible, given my inexperience.

EDIT!: Fixed it! I just misnamed the folder when editing my broadcast.ini files...

Thanks for the tutorial; with a little work, even a newbie like me managed to make a custom channel!

[paurri]

Ok, everything on this is working fine for me until I have to save the changes I made to the brodcast file. It keeps saying that it cannot create the file and to make sure that the path and file name ar correct. How do I get past this?

[[email protected]]

hey can some one please make me a movie chanel becuase i have a movie theter
but no movie tv chanel for my sims to watch tere please can some one do this
it can be any movie except for movies that are rated R PLEASE

[todbro]

what version are you using???

[daniogrobe]

Hi i couldn't create my channel, the audio in the video works perfectly, but on screen it's just like:

TVSATION_NICK TVSTATION_NICK
TVSATION_NICK TVSTATION_NICK
TVSATION_NICK TVSTATION_NICK
TVSATION_NICK TVSTATION_NICK

with a big cross in th middle.
Can anyone help?
thx

[YasunaHarumi]

This is too fucking confusing. I tried to modify and it is already done for me...and I tried to start a new one and none of the options were open....gahhh.

[sanderth]

Hello,
This works for me but i don't have the right channel name. I got i think it is the default for the .package used in this tutorial. How to change it?
Bye,
Sander

[Velindraklew]

This is probably the most simple tutorial i have ever seen here. Thank you so much!

[Tigas001]

Hmm... Think I may have found a fix for the 'flashing blue screen' issue.

Tried a few things, but first off, here's my setup:

Sims2 + EP (University)

A) Went through the tutorial (thanks 'eric etc' btw) a few times, and noticed I had used a few capitol letters when naming my INI handler in SimPE, don't do that. Use all lower case if possible (I'll explain why in a minute). Feel free to use upper case all you like when naming your radial menu text, but for the ini handler/tag, no caps...

B) Went through my broadcast.ini files (all of them, the one in 'my documents\EA GAMES\blah blah blah\', the one in program files\..\Sims2 University\, and the one also in the Sims2 directory, but I highly doubt the one in the Sims2 directory is the culprit, like stated earlier, better safe than sorry) and I made sure that my tags which I changed earlier (made them all lower case in SimPE) were also lower case in the INI.

If you look through all of the other tags in the broadcast.ini file, you will notice that Maxis' are all lowercased, perhaps this matters not... but after editing mine... all of a sudden it works... even after several hours of trying what everyone else has tried here.

Just a thought...



Also, on a side note... you'll notice this switch:

"CommercialInterval=XX"

It may seem obvious, but this is the length of your TV broadcast before the game automatically tries to cut off from one video file, load a commercial, then load another video file from within your 'station' directory.

I just converted every Robot Chicken episode (which are around 10-11 minutes each) and thusly set my CommercialInterval to about 600. Haven't had any problems with it so far.



In case anyone was wondering, I've tried a few different methods, and ended up sticking with 'Vchat20's' settings for video/audio compression/conversion. I tried it with DivX as well, but for simplicity's sake (I converted dozens of large videos all at once with VirtualDub's batch mode) I ended up sticking with his method.



For advice on using Virtualdub... I've been using it for years...

If you need to resize your source video down to 128*128, do the following:

Take your source video (mine was 320 wide by 240 height) and divide the larger number (320 for me, and for standard NTSC stuff, will always be the width) into 128. (128/320=0.4), this gives you your conversion multiplier. Take your other number (240 which was the height) and multiply it by the conversion multiplier (which was 0.4 in this case). For me, I got 96. So, without adding bars to the top and bottom, my video frame size is now 128x96. In case that was kind of confusing (I've been up all night, and may not be making any sense at all) here's a formula for NTSC video 4:3 ratio:

w=width
h= height
c=conversion multiplier
x=height before letterboxing

(128/w)=c
(h*c)=x


Go into virtualdub, hit the video->filters menu, and select resize. Configure the filter. Input both of the numbers we just figured out (128w x 96h for me), then go down to the checkbox that says resize and letterbox image, check that box. Our letterboxed size will ALWAYS be 128x128. Preview it, and check out your new letterboxed (bars on the top and bottom, or left and right depending on the original ratio) video.

Hope this helps... if anyone is interested, I'll be adding some retro TV show intro sequences into my game as commericals (Thundercats, Silverhawks, Knight Rider, etc) possibly even adding a 'commercial' channel, for funny and worthwhile commercials made over the years (Superbowl commericals sound promising for this one) let me know if anyone would like these... maybe I can Rar/Zip them up.

-Coffee


Also, worth noting... I use Sims2Pack clean installer, and after everything was all said and done in SimPE, I made sure to open the *.package file with Sims2Pack and install my newly created package that way...

Again... Hope I helped in some small way... :)

It Didn't work
the blue screen contineus :(
but i can see my videos on other channels, but i whant my own channel pleaze help me

[happymintchocolate]

I'm totaly lost i think im using a newer version and the layout if different. can some make an updated one but use more detail and explain stuff.

[thetestgame]

thank but one question why is it just blinking blue?????? i have movies in the file but still is just blue!!!

[Herzrasen]

Ok, everything on this is working fine for me until I have to save the changes I made to the brodcast file. It keeps saying that it cannot create the file and to make sure that the path and file name ar correct. How do I get past this?

Do you have Vista? If yes, you don't have the administration rights (because of some kind of security thing) and that's why you can't change the file.
Google it, there's plenty of stuff about it out there.

[the evil writer]

I tried everything in this thread to eliminate the blue flashing screen, and nothing worked. However, I discovered something on my own:

There are actually *two* broadcast files in c:program files/ea games/the sims 2 mansion and garden stuff/tsdata/res. One is under c:program files/ea games/the sims 2 mansion and garden stuff/tsdata/res/Config which is the one everyone talks about. The other is under c:program files/ea games/the sims 2 mansion and garden stuff/tsdata/res/UserData/Config It looks like the same is true of AL as well.

By changing *both* of these files, as well as the one in my documents, I was able to eliminate the blue flashing =) If everything else fails, give this a shot.

[SammyTheSim]

First of all, thank you very much. I used this tutorial years ago and I'm not sure if I ever expressed my gratitude.
Ok, have a question that involves the Free Time expansion. Since they added movies, I thought I'd stick a few of mine own in, just for fun. First of all, this is a great tutorial, and I was able to create new movie choices for each of the movie types, so thank you for that! However, it doesn't show up in the first pie menu. When you first click on the tv, there's a Watch Movie option right away. Do you happen to know where that can be changed? I can't find it anywhere. These work if the sim is already watching TV, which is good, they just have to actually watch it first.
I have the same problem, whether I use my custom movie category or an existing one. Could someone please let us all know how to add new Movie options (not channels)?
http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n112/4826721/games/th_Sims2EP9_CustomMoviesNotWorkingRigh.jpg (http://i110.photobucket.com/albums/n112/4826721/games/Sims2EP9_CustomMoviesNotWorkingRigh.jpg)

[planetkitty]

This worked great for me! New version of simpe a little bit different than in screenshots, but got it figured out. First time I ever tried to mod a game like that!

[thesims2>thesims3]

i have double deluxe, and i have the blue screen problem. i did what skyler and dan&mel but i dont have a broadcasts thing in my downloads folder. i got the pie menu ting up but thats all i can do, so any tips for double deluxe users?

[omlás]

Am I able to just change the existing chanels name to something else and not go through all the confusion by creating a brand new one ?

[omlás]

And what about custom radio stations ?

[CenSorShot]

I have a problem: I don't seem to have a "Custom Television Channel.package" file! what do I need to get one?

[Miharu-sama]

I'm totaly lost i think im using a newer version and the layout if different. can some make an updated one but use more detail and explain stuff.

Same here = = I don't know how to work with SimPE, so it's kinda not understandable for me ^^" I'm stuck at changing the caption, there's no "value" thing in the newer SimPE, there's only filename, string and description.

I know it probably sounds stupid but I've never seen the program before D:

[natigirl101]

ok so i have all the expansion and stuff packs from sims 2 deluxe instead of base game and nightlife to mansion and garden. so what am i supposed to do in regards of the broadcast.ini file? it says:

[Broadcasts]
0=tvstation_sbn
1=tvstation_music
2=tvstation_children
3=tvstation_food
4=tvstation_workout
5=tvstation_static
6=static_short
7=tvstation_sports
8=tvstation_pets
9=tvstation_weather_spring
10=tvstation_weather_summer
11=tvstation_weather_fall
12=tvstation_weather_winter
13=tvmovie_familyfun
14=tvmovie_bubblebath
15=tvmovie_bwcat
16=tvmovie_checkers
17=tvmovie_faires
18=tvmovie_fetch
19=tvmovie_mimecat
20=tvmovie_pooltable
21=tvmovie_weather
22=tvmovie_werewolf

so am i supposed to add my channel as 23=tvstation_"name" right after number 22?

or should i add it between numbers 12 and 13 and make the new channel number 13 and adjust the rest of the numbers?

please help i am really confused thanks :)

[ThEtYrOnEgUy]

i have managed to find channel but havent name or vids, please help

[VioletPadfoot]

my question is the same as natigirl's. Do i adjust the numbers or add the channel at the bottom? (actually i originally wnated to know why the custom channel i downloaded worked, but all my movies from freetime flashed blue, but i figured that out. i had gone the easy route and copied the broadcast file the creator provided over my m&g broadcast file, except it was made pre freetime. so now that i'm going to fix that issue the right way, do i need to adjust the numbers or can i just add the new channel to the bottom of the list?)

EDIT: I checked and added my new channel(s) to the bottom of the list using the next available number and all three channels I've added work just fine. And nothing else screwed up like it did befroe.

[hackman127]

What's happening with the blue screen is that some of the later expansion packs are overwriting your broadcast.ini file in your "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config" folder. What I did to get around it:

Edit "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Config\broadcast.ini" to add in your station
Save the file
Right click on broadcast.ini and click "Properties"
Check the box marked "Read Only"
Click "OK"

Your blue flashing screen should now be fixed.

[lestyboss]

Ok, spent a few days toying around with tutorial. Vista users cant change the Broadcast file in game, so copy the Broadcast.ini file from the LAST expansion BEING USED.

C:/Program Files (x86)/EAGAMES/Apartment Life/TSData/Res/UserData/Config

and paste it to your desktop, edit that one. Use lower case only for that one, no caps! If your last channel listed is

[Broadcasts]
0=tvstation_sbn
1=tvstation_music
2=tvstation_children
3=tvstation_food
4=tvstation_workout
5=tvstation_static
6=static_short
7=tvstation_sports

then yours would be #8. If your last channel listed is

[Broadcasts]
0=tvstation_sbn
1=tvstation_music
2=tvstation_children
3=tvstation_food
4=tvstation_workout
5=tvstation_static
6=static_short
7=tvstation_sports
8=tvstation_pets
9=tvstation_weather_spring
10=tvstation_weather_summer
11=tvstation_weather_fall
12=tvstation_weather_winter
13=tvmovie_familyfun
14=tvmovie_bubblebath
15=tvmovie_bwcat
16=tvmovie_checkers
17=tvmovie_faires
18=tvmovie_fetch
19=tvmovie_mimecat
20=tvmovie_pooltable
21=tvmovie_weather
22=tvmovie_werewolf

then yours would be #23.


When finished, copy the finished one and replace the old ones. (It will prompt you for permission, say yes, and its done) Must replace the Broadcast file for ALL expansions and its subs (mansion, etc.)

C:/Program Files (x86)/EAGAMES/Bon Voyage/TSData/Res/UserData/Config
C:/Program Files (x86)/EAGAMES/Nightlife/TSData/Res/UserData/Config

and so on.

Also, when making your changes to the CustomTelevisionChannel.package with Sim PE, the material names instance 88 file MUST be lower case only. The others seem to matter not.

I also found that there was a Name Reference (NREF) file within the SimPE CustomTelevisionChannel.package that said Television_Channel_SBN, I changed that file also to read my channel... Television_Channel_ReelTv (which is what my channel is called). Dont know if that matters or not, but it took only 5 seconds to do, so why not.

Hope this helps!
Mine works great. Thanks for the tutorial!


Another note for those that asked; anything you record within the game converts it to an .avi . To test if your new channel is working, play the game, hit the "V" key to record, it then saves it into your documents/EA Games/Sims 2/Movies. Rename and move that video clip into your new channel directory and it should work. You can also place those into existing Maxis channels to over ride the Maxis TV shows.

[nhocmap]

I have Mansion and Garden and AL . So which Broadcast.ini should I edit ?
And when editing , should I write
[tvstation_abc]
Folder=Broadcast/TVstation_abc
DontRestart=1

or :

[tvstation_abc]
Folder=Broadcast/TV_abc
CommercialInterval=300
CommercialFolder=Broadcast/Commercials

[malysz9999]

hello, i make new Movie options (movie channel?) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNDUYIi-tAw (polish game version)