I am converting a hat from Sims 3 Base Game to Sims 2, and I am at the step where I am supposed to link the BodyShop file's 3D IDs through the Body Mesh Tool's linking stage to the converted mesh files, however it does not appear to be working as only the original mesh shows up in BodyShop. I have deleted SimPE and redownloaded it, I have checked to make sure I am using the right 3D IDs, and I have tried using another hair mesh, but still no luck.

This is most likely not a SimPE problem, so no need to delete and reinstall it. Instead, check your files.

If you made a recolor file in Bodyshop, make sure you're working on the file that appeared in SavedSims when you clicked "Import to game", and NOT the file in the Project folder (that one doesn't work for this purpose).

When you make recolors of the item after it's linked, you have to make a new project using the linked recolor.

Are you getting an error message when linking? If so, does the mesh file have more than one age group in it? The auto-linking only works if there's one set of mesh files in the file you're trying to link (one each of GMND, GMDC, CRES, SHPE - if there are more, there are other ways to link it).

If you're not getting an error message, check that you're using the correct 3DIR. The Instance of the 3DIR and the PropertySet should match if it's the right age/gender combination (sort by "Instance", not the "Instance (high)")

You also need to delete the Accessory and Groups cache files if you get weird things happening, like the mesh or recolor showing up with a mix of the first things you did and any new changes, or if the same item shows up different on two sims.

I made sure it's the file from SavedSims, I haven't gotten as far as to making recolors, there is no error message, and I do not have multiple meshes in single files, and I have been routinely deleting my caches after using BodyShop. I have also checked the Instances and they all seem to line up. One thing I read in Serenity Falls' tutorial for hair conversions is that the "override1subset" in Property Set is supposed to say the new mesh, instead of the default "hair", but no matter how many times or what instances I use to link, they are all stuck at "hair" and do not say the new mesh at all. I have also made sure to click away from the 3D ID file before saving.

Can you upload the files (mesh + recolor)?

There is usually supposed to be one "hair" subset for the head part, and then however many "Hair_alpha" groups are needed (hairalpha/hair_alpha/hairalpha3/hair_alpha5 - these usually come in a variation of similar names).

Likely there's something that's not adding up with the group names.

Most certainly!

Your mesh needs to have the same group names as listed in the PropertySet, and they need to be of the type "hair", "hairalpha", and so forth. Yours both have one group and is listed as "GEOM-00"

The ones listed in the PropertySet are "hair", Hair_alpha3" and "hair_alpha5"

You need to extract the "tmhairbald" and "amhairbald" meshes to use alongside this, because otherwise the head is going to have invisible parts. You can use "hair" group for the head part, and "Hair_alpha3" for the hat.

The mesh also lacks a skeleton and joint assignments, so that needs to be fixed.


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- Extract "amhairbald" from SimPE as a GMDC/5GD file (this way you get the proper skeleton, too)
- Import "amhairbald" into Milkshape
- Import your mesh (either as an OBJ or as a GMDC, make sure you don't import another skeleton)
- Select one of the vertices on the "hair" group, but not the ones in the bottom row of the neck
- go to Joints tab, click "show", see that it says "head - 100%"
- Deselect (click anywhere)
- Go to Groups tab, select your mesh so it's marked in red
- go to Joints tab, click "assign"
- Briefly tick "Draw vertices with bone colors" - everything except a few vertices at the bottom (orange) should be pink. Untick again.
- Go to Groups tab, rename your mesh/the hat to "hair_alpha3"
- click on the "hair" group, then on the "comment" button. Copy the comments and paste them in here, but fix the "ModelName" so it matches the group name. (Important: if the mesh has single vertices that are assigned to more than two joints, use "NumSkinWgts: 3")

ModelName: hair_alpha3
Opacity: -1
HasTangentArray:
NumSkinWgts: 2

- export as Sims 2 Unimesh file.

- You'll likely also have to re-link the mesh and the recolor, because some things have been changed.

Now it should work.

Do the same for the teen file, but use the "tmhairbald" mesh instead.

I followed the steps and they are still not showing up in BodyShop.

Looks like there's something wrong with the CRES in the meshes. This usually means you have to remake the mesh files (the Package files).

I took another look at the files, and they didn't seem to be linked together (I compared the instance numbers and 3DIRs). I tried linking them up, and then they showed up with the right numbers, so I'm unsure what happened on your end.

I have a trick that so far has managed to avoid that CRES issue since I started using it - you extract the mesh, don't click on any of the resources, but go directly to "Fix integrity" and give your mesh a new name, then save the file, close the file, and reopen the file. Then you can replace the mesh and do other changes you need to do.

You'll have to relink the meshes and recolor afterward.

I redid everything by scratch and even made sure I didn't have the CRES issue and that a skeleton showed up in Preview along with the mesh, but it is still not linking the 3D IDs. My only guess is that I have my Sims 2 files on my E Drive instead of the default C Drive which might be causing issues. I would use the C Drive but it has not enough space for the game whereas the E Drive does. I linked the 3D IDs by Instance number for tmhairshort_black and tmhairhatballcapup_meshgreyblack to the TM mesh file, and amhairshort_black and amhairhatballcapup_meshgreyblack to the AM mesh file. but nothing.

Can't see why that would cause SimPE not to link properly, though. You are using the "linking stage" in the PJSE, and making sure the mesh you're linking to for each age only has one set of resources?

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It's possible to link manually, if you can't get it to work otherwise.

- Extract the CRES and SHPE from the mesh files (make sure to separate them by age, I just tend to rename them to TM or AM or whatever else works) by right-click and extract.
- Open the recolor file, import the CRES and SHPE for one of the ages, but make sure you're working with the correct age 3DIR (don't import the resources for both ages at the same time, or you'll have trouble recognizing which is which)
- Open the 3DIR, click the "package" button
- find the CRES and SHPE, drag them from the window (PackageSelectorForm) to the 3DIR list. They should appear at the bottom.
- Delete the original Resource Node and Shape at the top of the list.
- Mark one of the new ones, click the "up" button as many times as needed. Then do the same with the other one. The Resource Node should be the first one in the list, and Shape the second in the list.
- Click "Commit" when you're done.
- Delete the CRES and SHPE resources you imported in.
- (Save when done, but you can do the other age first)

- Do the same with the other age.

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It sounds a bit like you've got a hat-hair to work with, which has two sets of resources, one for the hat-hair, and one for the hair that shows for PJs/undies/etc. If you have Seasons (and above?) that no-hat hair isn't really needed, since you can set hair categories ingame (this "feature" was more useful pre-Seasons). If you want the hat to be visible with all the categories so you have more freedom, it can be a good idea to just remove the no-hat hair. Look at the PropertySet - the ones with category set to 7 (or 7 at the end) are the ones you want to keep. The rest you can set to 0 for the age and gender categories (or simply delete). When you make recolors, Bodyshop will properly delete all the resources that aren't needed (this can sometimes get a bit messy if you try to do it yourself). You can edit the category line for the remaining ones to 137F to make the hat/hair visible for all categories.

Still not showing up... Do I need to delete the SavedSims I made first? Or do I need to use Linking Stage on the 3D IDs in addition to dropping the CRESs and SHPEs in them?

Yes, you need to delete/remove the other file. You can only keep one copy of the recolor file (the edited one). If you have two different edits of the same file, the original recolor and one you've linked up to the new mesh, the game is going to pick one of them to display ingame - one file will override the other, and most likely you'll get issues with them.

You can use either one of the methods. You don't need to do both (they do the exact same job).