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Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 3rd Feb 2009 at 3:28 PM Last edited by Digitalchaos : 17th Apr 2011 at 7:56 PM. Reason: Updated title to reflect Sims 2
Default TS2 - Creation of Custom Default Maxis Radio Stations
UPDATE 8/11/2009:
Not every file included in the zip, is required to complete the tutorial. [ See Below]

==> Files Required To Complete Tutorial:
  • Custom Radio Station - Tutorial.pdf
  • TEMPLATE_RADIOSTATION.package

==> Extra Files used by Tutorial [you don't have to use them]:
  • HardLinkShellExt_win32.exe

==> Included Files that are created by following tutorial [Can be deleted]:
  • Custom Radiostation – Custom1.package
  • Custom Radiostation – Custom2.package

==> Obsolete files (will be removed, when I get a chance):
  • None

UPDATE 2/4/2009: In the tutorial, the downloader is informed that they must choose an ID value for there station based on the games they have installed and add 1 to it, then add 1 for each station (from section: Making sure your custom Radiostation does not overwrite any default ones). These steps are no longer needed. THe downloader can choose any value between 0x0015 and 0x007F (21 to 127) for their station and they do not have to be inorder. But, please be aware that if two radio stations are using the same ID, whichever one is loaded last will be the one that is added to the pie menu.

Hey, Everyone I have cooked up a tutorial that demonstrates how to create custom default maxis radiostations (with or without free time). This tutorial is compatible with any of the following games (But no less than Pets):

Pets
Seasons
Celebration! Stuff
H&M Fashion Stuff
Bon Voyage
Teen Style Stuff
Free Time
Kitchen & Bath Stuff
IKEA Home Stuff
Apartment Life
Mansion and Garden Stuff


Store Edition - See note below - (ALSO: EA has closed the Sims 2 Store, this may no longer be available)

If you do not have any of the above games, you can download the Sims 2 - Store Edition ... as suggested by Numenor. I have not tested Store Edition, but according to Numenor it works. This general consensus is that if you make the changes for a particular EP and then install a later EP, your custom stations should be "carried-forward" into the new EP. The Sims 2 - Store Edition can be downloaded here: Download Link: EA Download Manager. Apparently Once you download and install the EA Download Manager - Store Edition will eventually become available for download throught it (I am not entirely sure about the exact process, though).

The tutorial is in PDF format, and I have included everything that you should need to create these default radiostations, no longer will you have to use a default radiostation and think R&B=XYZ or whatever. I cloned the template custom radio station from a radio station from the base game (there shouldn't be any conflicts with expansion packs that came out before another [like a radio station added in Bon Voyage will not create conflicts for Pets, etc]).

Here are examples for the pie menu options for all radios This is a global mod by the way:




Additional Credits:
I would like to thanks the creators of SIMPE, without them I never would have gotten the template radiostation created or even extracted from the game.

I would also like to thank MAXIS for creating this great and fun game.

And finally I would like to take a moment to thank the creators and supporters of ModTheSims2.com - because without them and their hard work everything else would be a moot point.
Screenshots
Attached files:
File Type: zip  Custom Radio Station - Tutorial - DigitalChaos.zip (2.47 MB, 866 downloads) - View custom content
Description: Custom Radio Station Tutorial
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#2 Old 3rd Feb 2009 at 8:22 PM
Hey, this looks interesting! I haven`t read the tutorial itself yet, but do you think it is possible to include tracks that are stored outside the EA directory heirarchies? I have my music collection on an external hard drive [actually, it is a headless Linux file-server!], and it would be nice to be able to play [some of] that library in-game without copying it to my internal hard drive.

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The ModFather
retired moderator
#3 Old 3rd Feb 2009 at 9:22 PM
Question:

If I have all the EP's up to Bon Voyage, I should assign to my new station the ID 0x0014, according to the tutorial; what if I assign it 0x0015, instead?
The reason for my question is to better avoid clashing with other people's ID (my custom station 0x0014 would be unusable for FreeTime players...).
EDIT: I found the answer myself; I installed your pre-made station with ID 0x0015 in a Base+Store game, and it worked.

However, I don't think there will be many uploaded custom radio stations (the creator should upload a station without the music which would be quite pointless); in most cases, the two pre-made custom stations that you provide would be enough, imho; but you could think providing a couple more, so to fulfill even the most demanding users' needs.
This would prevent any possible ID conflict.

I've finally started my Journal. Information only, no questions.

My latest activity: CEP 9.2.0! - AnyGameStarter 2.1.1 (UPD) - Scriptorium v.2.2f - Photo & Plaques hide with walls - Magazine Rack (UPD) - Animated Windows Hack (UPD) - Custom Instrument Hack (UPD) - Drivable Cars Without Nightlife (UPD) - Courtesy Lights (FIX) - Custom Fence-Arches - Painting-TV - Smarter Lights (UPD)


I *DON'T* accept requests, sorry.
Instructor
Original Poster
#4 Old 4th Feb 2009 at 3:36 PM Last edited by Digitalchaos : 4th Feb 2009 at 4:59 PM. Reason: Doing some more research
Default More Research on the ID Values ... In progess
Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
Question:

If I have all the EP's up to Bon Voyage, I should assign to my new station the ID 0x0014, according to the tutorial; what if I assign it 0x0015, instead?
The reason for my question is to better avoid clashing with other people's ID (my custom station 0x0014 would be unusable for FreeTime players...).
EDIT: I found the answer myself; I installed your pre-made station with ID 0x0015 in a Base+Store game, and it worked.

However, I don't think there will be many uploaded custom radio stations (the creator should upload a station without the music which would be quite pointless); in most cases, the two pre-made custom stations that you provide would be enough, imho; but you could think providing a couple more, so to fulfill even the most demanding users' needs.
This would prevent any possible ID conflict.


I am currently doing some more research on the ID value that the stations use. Right, now it is looking like my original statement about the ID's having to be in sequence is hereby nullified - meaning you could use any value (that does not currently exist). I am working to try to find the range of ID's that can be used. I will update the main post and my tutorial to reflect these changes (after I gather some more data, which will be very shortly).


Numenor, first of all I do not have Store Edtion, if you can use ID: 0x0015 by adding Store Edition ... that would work, even for those who might have all EPs + Store Edition.

The main problem, is that ID value for each radio station's pie menu has to be 1+ the last pie menu option. For people who have a selection of EPs say Base game + Uni + Nightlife + OFB + Pets would have to change the value of whatever radiostations that I upload (they may not want to install Store Edition or any other EP). They would have to change 0x0015 to 0x000E for it to work with their setup. If they have all EPs and/or Store Edition, then yes, they could just use 0x0015.

I could upload some generic radiostations and the downloader would just change: The Pie menu Switch To Text, The link to the music (i.e. stereo_whatever), and make the changes to thier TSAudioUnpacked file, to suit it to their setup.

However, if they don't have all EPs they would to change the ID for every radiostation that I upload to suit their setup (Store Edition is free, but they may not want it).

And lastly, the other issue would be how many radiostatios to make (knowing that if it is high value, a downloader could have a lot of stuff that they would need to modify).

I do have most of the special folders as radiostations I could upload those they use ID 0x0015 to 0x0018 ... it also uses 0x0019 but that was for splash and I can't seem to get splash working.

On A Side Note:

I have been wondering if a bhav could be hacked or modified for either the Radiostation itself, or a global hack for the stereos that would automatically determine (at game-time) the correct ID values? Maybe you could work your magic, Numenor.

Moreover, their maybe some logic that could be adopted from Free Time. For instance, how does Maxis add the FreeTime Custom radio stations into the pie menu?
Instructor
Original Poster
#5 Old 4th Feb 2009 at 3:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by GeneralOperationsDirector
Hey, this looks interesting! I haven`t read the tutorial itself yet, but do you think it is possible to include tracks that are stored outside the EA directory heirarchies? I have my music collection on an external hard drive [actually, it is a headless Linux file-server!], and it would be nice to be able to play [some of] that library in-game without copying it to my internal hard drive.


Yes, it is possible to include music outside of the Music directory, this is explained at length in the tutorial. With that being said, you can't just point the game to external folder, you will somthing like HardShellLink or other utility that exposes junction points, hardlinks, symlink, and resparse points, from the NTFS file system, to the OS. I have included HardShellLink with the tutorial, it works on XP & Vista. Also, this method will only work on local files - it will not work for files located on a network folder (except if you have Windows Vista, this is explained in Updates & Corrections in the tutorial).

You can create HardLinks, on XP, to your external music and pull those into your music folder and on Vista you can create symlinks. I would recommend that you download the tutorial and it will walk you through performing all of these steps, as well as actually creating the two custom station(s).
#6 Old 4th Feb 2009 at 8:11 PM
I already downloaded the tutorial [yesterday]; I just haven`t had time to look at it yet.

Unfortunately, it looks like I will not likely be able to use this the way I had hoped, because my music is, as I stated above, on an external file-server volume, and I`m running XP, not Vista. I already knew about hardlinks and such.

Hmm, XP has an option to make a directory contain a reference to an external drive, hidden in the "Microsoft Management Console" "Disk Management Extension": You right-click on a partition`s graphic in the bottom of the screen, select Change Drive Letter And Paths, Add, and the resulting window allows you to "Mount in the following empty NTFS folder". I thought that this could combine with your technique to make my music available from the Linux server, but that "drive" doesn`t show up in the DME.

Another idea: Do you know what happens when you right-drag a directory onto the Start Menu, and create a short-cut there? It does *weird* things. The resulting "shortcut" is an almost-empty directory that behaves, in Windows Explorer, like it contains the contents of the original directory. Very different from what happens when you create a shortcut-to-directory elsewhere. This wouldn`t help either, would it?

The whole idea is to keep my music OFF my internal hard drive, where I haven`t sufficient space. I`ll still have a look-see at your tutorial, when I have a chance. Thank you for taking time to reply to me.

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Instructor
Original Poster
#7 Old 4th Feb 2009 at 8:55 PM Last edited by Digitalchaos : 4th Feb 2009 at 11:30 PM. Reason: Update
Quote: Originally posted by GeneralOperationsDirector
Hmm, XP has an option to make a directory contain a reference to an external drive, hidden in the "Microsoft Management Console" "Disk Management Extension": You right-click on a partition`s graphic in the bottom of the screen, select Change Drive Letter And Paths, Add, and the resulting window allows you to "Mount in the following empty NTFS folder". I thought that this could combine with your technique to make my music available from the Linux server, but that "drive" doesn`t show up in the DME.


Network drives do not show up in Disk Mangement Snap-In, only local drives show up here. I have XP in a virtual Machine and I have Linux, I will see what needs to be done, to be able to do what you are wanting to do. For Vista users I suggested the use of MKLINK for network drives (as exp. in tutorial), there is something similar for XP it is called LINKD, I think it is in one of reskits (server 2003, I think). THe problem is for MKLINK/LINKD, I believe the music must be shared from a drive with NTFS (you can do NTFS on linux).

As I said, I will do some research and come up with an answer ... this will not only help you but anyone else running XP with music residing on the network.

UPDATE: EDIT - I forgot that you didn't have enough space on your XP drive...it seems there is nothing that can be done (unless you can move your music to an external USB drive, conntect it to the XP machine, and share it from there). You will be able to access you music from any machine, including the one with Linux [using samba and smbfs].
The ModFather
retired moderator
#8 Old 4th Feb 2009 at 9:38 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Digitalchaos
I have been wondering if a bhav could be hacked or modified for either the Radiostation itself, or a global hack for the stereos that would automatically determine (at game-time) the correct ID values? Maybe you could work your magic, Numenor.


I still haven't tried, but it should be possible. Each station, when first created in the game, could possibly scan all the existing stations, reading their "Sub-selector" number, and find the highest existing ID; and then add 1 to the found value, and set its own Sub-selector.

But really I'm not sure it is required, and I see from your edit that you agree with me; the various ID's are not necessarily to be adjacent to each other.
After all, for example, the "World" radio station has always ID=0x0013, whether the game contains other EPs or not...
This means that if you provide some pre-made custom stations, the user has only to change the station name in the TextList.

I've finally started my Journal. Information only, no questions.

My latest activity: CEP 9.2.0! - AnyGameStarter 2.1.1 (UPD) - Scriptorium v.2.2f - Photo & Plaques hide with walls - Magazine Rack (UPD) - Animated Windows Hack (UPD) - Custom Instrument Hack (UPD) - Drivable Cars Without Nightlife (UPD) - Courtesy Lights (FIX) - Custom Fence-Arches - Painting-TV - Smarter Lights (UPD)


I *DON'T* accept requests, sorry.
#9 Old 5th Feb 2009 at 2:00 AM
Thank you, Digitalchaos. I hate to try your patience further, but things aren`t as simple as you infer. I said that my external hard drive is really a "headless Linux file-server", and it is, but you have no idea just HOW headless it is. The box has a power-in jack, a USB jack for external drives [NOT for mice or keyboards!], an Ethernet portal for networking, and a power switch. The power switch also contains a drive capacity LED indicator and a power/activity LED indicator. The only other portals are air vents and a place to connect an anti-theft cable. I bought the box thinking that it was an external USB drive, but when I got home with it, it turned out to be a LINUX-based file-server instead, but as it does the job I bought it for, I`m not picky HOW it does it.

Not only is the box incapable of being expanded save for the addition of USB drives, I have no clue how to access the box`s OS from my XP machine, despite being somewhat familiar with LINUX systems. The box is a Western Digital My Book World Edition II, and I have never bothered to install the access software, because it requires that I subscribe to a service I have no use for, and the box works fine without it. All I need from it is the storage space, accessed from my own computer, which I have without installing the software; the software establishes the ability to access my drive from ANYWHERE, which I don`t need because I only need access to it from here, and which I probably cannot use because my DSL modem likely would firewall the drive away from incomming Internet access anyway.

That`s the long of it; the short of it is that I cannot access the LINUX system in the box, nor am I likely to be able to, but I have unfettered access to the terabyte of storage it contains, as long as I access it from my own LAN.

Ah, sorry about the size of that, but if you`re going to try to help me, you need to understand what you`re dealing with.

As for not having space on my internal hard drive, the 10.3 gig remaining free of the 26.8 gig total there is reserved for expanding things that cannot be accessed from the terabyte drive, such as userdata for TheSims2. I may even need to move some of my other stuff to the external drive to open up additional on-board space.

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Instructor
Original Poster
#10 Old 5th Feb 2009 at 3:12 AM Last edited by Digitalchaos : 5th Feb 2009 at 3:15 AM. Reason: Starting to Highjack Thread
GeneralOperationsDirector: How do you access the External Drive on your XP box? Is it through a local drive letter or is it a network share?

Also What Model is the Western Digital My Book World Edition II? It sounds a lot like a Netgear SC101 (which is a micro-SAN) and it is accessed through a local drive letter. I almost forgot, what is the filesystem type on the external drive, is it NTFS, FAT32, DataPlowSFSZ (common on Micro-SAN), etc?

If it is NTFS and a Local Drive Letter (not a network drive) you might be able to use HardShellLink, instead, to get it done. Just drag a file, by right-clicking on it like to copy or move, and if it is going to work you should see "create hardlink" in the right-click menu.

P.S. This starting to Highjack this thread. Why don't create a new thread for this issue, or we could continue this discussion through PMs. I can always edit the main post and add any updated info.
#11 Old 5th Feb 2009 at 3:38 AM
I access the external drive via a drive-letter-mapped network share. I don`t know what model it is. The filesystem is presumably one of the native LINUX filesystems, but it appears to Windows as a generic networked fileshare, and I do not know how to check the actual filesystem. I do not see "create hardlink" on my context menus. I don`t see any reason to take this elsewhere, as there isn`t much else for me to say, unless you have further questions: I already provided as much relavent data as I could think of. PS: I`m downloading the updated tutorial as I type.

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Instructor
Original Poster
#12 Old 5th Feb 2009 at 3:49 AM
GeneralOperationsDirector: Well, it seems that there isn't anything that can be done. I would recommend that you upgrade the hard drive in your XP machine to a larger drive and/or invest in a USB drive attached to the xp machine - you store your music there, share it over the network, and have no issues with any utilites like HardShellLink or Linkd (server 2003 reskit). Other than that, I don't what to tell you.
#13 Old 5th Feb 2009 at 4:12 AM
::sigh:: I figured as much. If I get a USB drive [like I thought I was getting originally], there won`t be any need to share it over the network, as the only items ON the network are the XP box, the terabyte drive, and the DLS modem [which acts as router for the "network"]. Still, I appreciate all you`ve done to TRY to help me, and I *will* read your tutorial [eventually], as it is sure to be interesting, even if not particularly useful. I might yet copy some few of my favorite songs to the internal drive and use your custom radio station hack to play them. I`ll just have to be more particular on what tracks I include, no?

Again, thanks for all you`ve done to try to help me.

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Test Subject
#14 Old 3rd May 2009 at 4:32 AM Last edited by Blanman : 3rd May 2009 at 4:43 AM.
I get a 404 error every time... Ive seen the problems with others, and know its existing problem with some stuff, but just letting people know since the other ones were flaged of sorts letting me know I may not get the file.
#15 Old 4th May 2009 at 7:28 PM
Well, my computer died, and my replacement computer is a far superior machine in nearly all ways, especially including hard drive space. Furthermore, my dead computer`s hard drive has been transplanted into an external USB enclosure. My music collection is still on my headless Lunux server, but "local" drive space is not currently an issue. This is still somewhat low-priority for me at the moment, but it has at least been placed back ON the to-do list.

Regarding the 404 error that Blanman posts about, did your tutorial get lost in the server crash? Does it need re-uploading?

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Test Subject
#16 Old 23rd May 2009 at 6:55 PM
Hello everyone!

I also can't download the tutorial, get the same 404 error. Is there any other way to get my hands on this? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?!
Instructor
Original Poster
#17 Old 4th Jun 2009 at 7:11 PM
Quote: Originally posted by etainian
Hello everyone!

I also can't download the tutorial, get the same 404 error. Is there any other way to get my hands on this? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE?!



I re-uploaded the file - all should be able to download it now. If you have any more problems, just let me know.

All TS2 Downloads Link
All TS3 Downloads: Link
All Other downloads: Link
Skyrim SKSE 1.6.x gamepad key support: Link
Banned
#18 Old 21st Jun 2009 at 7:09 PM
I'm a little late on this, but the tutorial starts with "Copy template to Custom 1 and Custom 2".(Paraphrased)

I don't...know if I'm just ridiculously dense, or if this is really horrible english. I have no idea what you mean by saying to copy a file to two other files...
Instructor
Original Poster
#19 Old 22nd Jun 2009 at 2:32 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Claeric
I'm a little late on this, but the tutorial starts with "Copy template to Custom 1 and Custom 2".(Paraphrased)

I don't...know if I'm just ridiculously dense, or if this is really horrible english. I have no idea what you mean by saying to copy a file to two other files...


I believe the extact wording is:

Code:
Copy “TEMPLATE_RADIOSTATION.package” to “Custom Radiostation – Custom1.package” and “Custom Radiostation – Custom2.package”


The above means:
1) make two copies of the file: TEMPLATE_RADIOSTATION.package (this file is included in the zip)
2) And rename them to Custom Radiostation – Custom1.package and
Custom Radiostation – Custom2.package (these files were included with the tutorial as well - you can just delete them [if you want to create them by following the tutorial].

Claeric: does that answer your question?

- Digitalchaos

All TS2 Downloads Link
All TS3 Downloads: Link
All Other downloads: Link
Skyrim SKSE 1.6.x gamepad key support: Link
Banned
#20 Old 22nd Jun 2009 at 2:52 AM
Yes, it does. Thank you. Finally somebody actually responds to a question...

Frankly I don't know how anyone else managed to understand that. >_>
Test Subject
#21 Old 2nd Aug 2009 at 5:28 PM
Do you have to download it and i clicked on the file of corse then i extract it but where do i extract it to? and then what do i do?

Shop Advertisement Pictures Uploaded Soon I Hope! :)
Instructor
Original Poster
#22 Old 12th Aug 2009 at 1:24 AM
Quote: Originally posted by beckstermanutd
Do you have to download it and i clicked on the file of corse then i extract it but where do i extract it to? and then what do i do?

The attached zip file just contains the tutorial and some sample package files used in the tutorial.

You can extract the file anywhere you like. Just follow the tutorial to create your own custom radio station and then copy the created package file into your Sims 2 downloads folder.

If you or anyone else have any other questions I would be more than happy to answer them.

Please see: [UPDATE 8/11/2009] in the opening post: For information about what files are absolutely needed to complete the tutorial and which files can be deleted, etc.

All TS2 Downloads Link
All TS3 Downloads: Link
All Other downloads: Link
Skyrim SKSE 1.6.x gamepad key support: Link
Field Researcher
#23 Old 13th Oct 2009 at 11:28 PM
Does it affect the beas game and/or the University, Nightlife, and Open For Business expansion packs?
Instructor
Original Poster
#24 Old 28th Nov 2009 at 1:57 PM
Quote: Originally posted by SimBeatle1979
Does it affect the beas game and/or the University, Nightlife, and Open For Business expansion packs?

From testing it seems you need -at least- one of the following installed: (repeated from main post)

Pets
Seasons
Celebration! Stuff
H&M Fashion Stuff
Bon Voyage
Teen Style Stuff
Free Time
Kitchen & Bath Stuff
IKEA Home Stuff
Apartment Life
Mansion and Garden Stuff
-or- Store Edition


If you know of another game setup that works, that is not listed here, or you cannot get it to work with the ones listed - let me know.

All TS2 Downloads Link
All TS3 Downloads: Link
All Other downloads: Link
Skyrim SKSE 1.6.x gamepad key support: Link
Test Subject
#25 Old 26th Mar 2011 at 6:28 PM
I don't have any of the following EP's/SP's, and I tried to download the store edition, but couldn't find it. Is it possible that it doesn't exist anymore?
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