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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 2nd Oct 2015 at 1:51 AM
Default Replacing default cars in The Sims 3
Is there any way I can replace the default cars with custom content cars? When I say default cars, I mean the taxis, police cruisers, and limousines. I know it's possible, but I searched online and couldn't find a guide. I really want to replace them with real-life, accurate cars, and I just want instructions on how to do it properly, so if anyone knows or has experience, please respond.

Also, I couldn't find instructions on how to create custom repaints for custom content cars, so please post them here as well. Thank you.
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Instructor
#2 Old 2nd Oct 2015 at 5:51 AM
Quote: Originally posted by SEA747
Is there any way I can replace the default cars with custom content cars? When I say default cars, I mean the taxis, police cruisers, and limousines. I know it's possible, but I searched online and couldn't find a guide. I really want to replace them with real-life, accurate cars, and I just want instructions on how to do it properly, so if anyone knows or has experience, please respond.

Also, I couldn't find instructions on how to create custom repaints for custom content cars, so please post them here as well. Thank you.


Yes it can be done but there's no easy step, in order to make them work like default cars you'll need to replace them inside the main game data files which are Deltabuild0 Fullbuild0 Fullbuild2 and AllThumbnails, is not like merging mods files but replacing them one by one.

I'm currently still working on it, so far it works but I still haven't figure why each time the NPC uses the replacement car, the game didn't show the right colors as it was designed to, for instance I replaced the CarUsed2 (which is BigLemon) with Volvo 242T, the Volvo 242T showed up but not with the color its suppose to show up, I customized the Volvo with 2 materials color only, which are red and blue but the NPC still showed up with Black color in their Volvo 242T, even the rims also black.

And there's also one more thing about replacing them with realistic cars, you'll need to edit the premade world via CAW to replace all default cars in premade world, otherwise the replacement car didn't showed up when Sims drives them. You can do this in edit town and replace them one by one, or you can replace them in CAW, currently I'm still trying to find the missing link why the proper color didn't show up.

Here is one of the car I already replaced, the police car, the cop will come (when you call 911 in your game) with Ford Crown Victoria Interceptor.
Screenshots
Top Secret Researcher
#3 Old 2nd Oct 2015 at 3:05 PM
J4Ks (Stevset at MTS) over at NRaas has a good tutorial that might help you with replacing vehicles: NRaas Blacklisting Cars
Instructor
#4 Old 2nd Oct 2015 at 5:39 PM
Quote: Originally posted by barbarat
J4Ks (Stevset at MTS) over at NRaas has a good tutorial that might help you with replacing vehicles: NRaas Blacklisting Cars


Thank you Barbarat!! Just what I needed!! I was stuck for some times with some the texture/colors over ridding my replacement cars!! Didn't thought it was there!! Thank you thank you :lovestruc
Instructor
#5 Old 2nd Oct 2015 at 7:22 PM Last edited by PapaEmy : 4th Oct 2015 at 3:52 PM.
hmm.. unfortunately Barbarat, it didn't help to fix my problem with wrong color showing up, it does help preventing NPC from buying the cars, therefore I didn't see them anymore (cars with the wrong color), but that's not the case with service car like the one used by University mascot, if I blacklisted all NPC from buying those cars, none of them will show up, the mascot won't show up each time new game started, repairman didn't show up with their pickup truck.. etc, because NPC will look for the ones available left, and they don't go to the custom (realistic) cars automatically, therefore they're not showing up because all default cars have been blocked for them to buy.

I think what the OP is looking is the same with I've been trying, replace all default cars, and the game automatically starts with replacement cars, that's what I did and it works, the problem are, some of them didn't have the proper color (not the texture), and all the cars that has been set up in the premade world needs to be re-setup manually.

Well anyway, here's how to replace default cars the way I was trying to make it work:

1. Open S3OC and cloned the car you wanted to replace from Deltabuild0.package
2. Thick every boxes when cloning, and use the original STBL
3. After it's cloned, open it with S3PE Now open the replacement car with S3PE, you will have 2 S3PEs windows opened, one for default car, one for the replacement car.

4. Compare them side by side
5. Export replacement car's OBJD to file and save it.

Now back to default car S3PE window

6. Import the replacement car's file to default car's OBJD
7. Select default car's OBJD and click Grid
8. Navigate to TGIBlocks and replace its OBJK ResourceKey with default car's OBJK ResourceKey
9. Click Commit and save

10. Now select default car's OBJK and click Grid or you can right click it to edit.
11. Navigate or Open TGI Blocks, replace its VPXY with replacement car's VPXY ResourceKey
12. Select Commit and save it.

13. Open Deltabuild0 with S3PE, and open Fullbuild0 with S3PE 14. Copy the OBJD and OBJK you just edited.
15. Import or paste OBJD to Deltabuild0 and OBJK to Fullbuild0
16. Select replace to confirm it.
17. Save Deltabuild0, save Fullbuild0.
18. Now it's time for test run

Now you can put the replacement car package file in your Mods folder as usual, or you can move all its data from S3PE into Deltabuild0 altogether, or separate them to Fullbuild0, Fullbuild2 and Thumbnails so it really replacing the one you just cloned just like default car original database (only do this if you know what you're editing in S3PE), if not just leave it in mods folder and just modify/edit the OBJD an OBJK the one you'd like to replace. I suggest it's better to start with the cop car so when you test it by calling the cop to come, the replacement car showed up in the game, if this work.. I'm sure you know what to do with the rest, good luck :D


PS: Do this at your own risk, don't forget to backup the ones you're editing so if anything goes wrong you can replace them back with your backup Edited for # 14: Just copy the edited OBJD to Deltabuild0, the edited OBJK goes to Fullbuild0 as is original located in Fullbuild0 (not in Deltabuild0)
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#6 Old 3rd Oct 2015 at 12:35 AM
Moving to Create.

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Lab Assistant
#7 Old 3rd Oct 2015 at 1:48 PM
Is it possible to replace the cars only in one world?
In the future there are other default cars as in your homeworld.

Would be nice if I can have some 30's style cars in Roaring Heights.
Instructor
#8 Old 3rd Oct 2015 at 9:55 PM Last edited by PapaEmy : 4th Oct 2015 at 3:41 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Expect No Mercy
Is it possible to replace the cars only in one world?
In the future there are other default cars as in your homeworld.

Would be nice if I can have some 30's style cars in Roaring Heights.


Yes it's possible, you don't have to replace all the cars in the premade world that you're not playing in your game, with this setup you don't need to set it up in CAW, you can just replace them in edit town, but if you want by default that each new game in every world would start with realistic cars then you'll need to replace them for every world in CAW.

Well you can have 30 or more custom/realistic cars, but not all of them would act like default cars because I think in Base Game it have less than 30 cars available to replace with (including the hidden ones such as cop, taxi, limo etc), because in order for the replacement cars to be used by the game as its default cars, you'll need to keep the original OBJD and OBJK resources,

I've tried them by using the replacement car's OBJD and OBJK resources (that came from the creators) and just renamed its instance with default car's instance resource number, and it didn't show up, the cop never show up no matter how many times I called them, so to make the replacement cars replaced default cars it needs default car's OBJD and OBJK original resources, you just need to navigate the OBJK to read replacement car's VPXY onward instead of its original VPXY.

So if you want 30 or more custom cars replacing default cars in your game , it can be done If you have Fast Lane and other EPs and/or SPs that came with cars in it, just repeat the steps to replace them. I don't remember how many cars are they in total includes the ones that came from EPs and SPs, Let's say they are 30 in total and you have 50 replacement cars then the last 20 replacement cars would just be additional cars just like in mods whether you put them in mods folder or insert them into the game data base.

One thing to watch if the game crashed when loading your saved game or new game, usually it's because you just set the wrong OBJK ResourceKey when modifying the OBJD.


Quote: Originally posted by SEA747
Also, I couldn't find instructions on how to create custom repaints for custom content cars, so please post them here as well. Thank you.


I forgot to answer this one, to edit or create custom repaint, you'll need to edit OBJD's MaterialBlocks for each Material, let's say there are 4 materials in your replacement car's OBJD, that means you have 4 cars with 4 different color or style (in buyable catalog), you can edit them by opening OBJD with clicking the Grid, just play with it until you get the basic concept which one are body color, rims, etc, TSR tool also useful for this purpose.


So basically those steps above are the simple steps I can answer here, some custom cars would work by linking them through OBJD - OBJK - VPXY from Deltabuild0 or Fullbuild0 to your cars collection in your mods folder and some are not, some that are not usually because some contents conflicts with each other, you should double check your car replacement's OBJD before exporting its data and then importing them to default cars OBJD (especially in its TGIBlocks), that's why in #4 step above you should compare them side by side, because when custom car stays as stand alone as mod or additional object, it won't affect default cars because it's stand alone, but when you want them to be replacement for your default cars (especially if you moved them into game database like I did), then all links in VPXY such as vehicle ftp FTPT, _RIG, RSLT, carX FTPT needs to be adjusted because some of them are shared between default cars.

When viewing VPXY with Grid, #5 or 0x72EA999DC83FC4F4 is vehicle ftp which is shared between default cars but stand alone for mod, when viewing OBJD some _IMG such as item overlay, RChannelOnly, Rgbobject or RgbaObject _XML, etc are shared but stand alone for mod, and the same also with MODL, MLOD 0000 0001, some _IMGs for custom cars are shared but not shared in default cars (it's vice versa), you don't have to adjust all of these if you don't want to because it's consumes time to do it, it still works though, but it affects game performance or car visual appearance when it runs as default car replacement.

Additional notes: there 2 versions OBJDs for cars, version 16 in Deltabuild0 and version 15 in Fullbuild0, therefore when cloning cars before replacing them I always cloned it from Deltabuild0 from my actual BG folder, S3OC will scan all its database from Deltabuild0, Fullbuild0, Fullbuild2 and AllThumbnails packages, therefore each car will have all it links its needs to be adjusted. and I usually just deleted the version 15 from Fullbuild0. And for service car replacement such as cop car, taxi, limo etc, it also needs its OBJD to be adjusted so they are hidden from buy mode menu.

So far though I'm not confirming it, I found that all cars replacement that I had moved into game database loads faster compared to when it was still in mod folder, the same also applies with custom hairs, clothing in CAS and any other objects because I also have tried that for replacing other objects, at first I was only doing it to replace cars but since I'm running out of space in RAMDisk because my mods collection are getting bigger, so I just removed objects that I don't used anymore and replaced them with objects from my mods collection, but of course that'll be another topic.

Alright then, all credits go to Peter and Inge Jones for these wonderful tools, and also Fresh Prince for the realistic cars, the only car that missing for replacement car is the Taxi, I need Ford Crown Victoria Cab, New York won't be the same without them :D
Lab Assistant
#9 Old 5th Oct 2015 at 11:52 AM
Quote: Originally posted by PapaEmy
...

Well you can have 30 or more custom/realistic cars, but not all of them would act like default cars because I think in Base Game it have less than 30 cars available to replace with (including the hidden ones such as cop, taxi, limo etc), because in order for the replacement cars to be used by the game as its default cars, you'll need to keep the original OBJD and OBJK resources,
...


No, I don't want to have 30 cars or so replaced.

What I mean is, that I can replace the Roaring Heights Taxi and the others with some of the matching era only for this world.
Now where can I get some matching cars?

Or who will do this mod for? :D
Instructor
#10 Old 5th Oct 2015 at 1:11 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Expect No Mercy
No, I don't want to have 30 cars or so replaced.

What I mean is, that I can replace the Roaring Heights Taxi and the others with some of the matching era only for this world.
Now where can I get some matching cars?

Or who will do this mod for? :D


Yes you can, but unfortunately Taxi is the one that I didn't found either for TS3, here's the link to Fresh Prince's Car http://www.freshprincecreations.com/ts3vehiclespg.htm

Don't forget to check the custom/realistic car's OBJD with Grid view when editing, cause some custom cars' earlier version may have version 15, if you find the replacement car's version is 15, then use the default car's OBJD in Fullbuild0 (instead of Deltabuild0) to replace the car you're going to replaced, and delete the same default car's OBJD version 16 in Deltabuild0, otherwise the wheels won't spin when the car is running. If you want to edit its OBJD to version 16 then you'll also need to edit its _RIG data.
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 6th Oct 2015 at 1:55 PM
Thanks for your help! Good to know this.
Test Subject
#12 Old 5th Jun 2017 at 3:18 AM
Sorry to necromance this, but I'm trying to see if its possible to use this method to make futuristic service vehicles show up in Lunar Lakes. To clarify, these are the instructions posted earlier:


1. Open S3OC and cloned the car you wanted to replace from Deltabuild0.package
2. Thick every boxes when cloning, and use the original STBL
3. After it's cloned, open it with S3PE Now open the replacement car with S3PE, you will have 2 S3PEs windows opened, one for default car, one for the replacement car.

4. Compare them side by side
5. Export replacement car's OBJD to file and save it.

Now back to default car S3PE window

6. Import the replacement car's file to default car's OBJD
7. Select default car's OBJD and click Grid
8. Navigate to TGIBlocks and replace its OBJK ResourceKey with default car's OBJK ResourceKey
9. Click Commit and save

10. Now select default car's OBJK and click Grid or you can right click it to edit.
11. Navigate or Open TGI Blocks, replace its VPXY with replacement car's VPXY ResourceKey
12. Select Commit and save it.

13. Open Deltabuild0 with S3PE, and open Fullbuild0 with S3PE 14. Copy the OBJD and OBJK you just edited.
15. Import or paste OBJD to Deltabuild0 and OBJK to Fullbuild0
16. Select replace to confirm it.
17. Save Deltabuild0, save Fullbuild0.
18. Now it's time for test run

So...step 8...what does "its" refer to? Certainly one wouldn't need to replace the default's OBJK key with the default's, its already default by being the default. I tried to go through these steps with the hoverpolice car and default police car but got really confused here. Also, how would one set the car type used in edit world?
dodgy builder
#13 Old 5th Jun 2017 at 3:41 AM
I haven't tried this before, but it's fairly similar to how S3PE is used it seams.

You want to get rid of the default car and put the new car in it's place. Try to remember what you want to use and what you will get rid of. It's easy to get confused. It looks to me as Papaemy was the one getting confused her. If I were you I would just start trusting myself and follow my best judgement. Just make sure you have your backups in order. If you do something wrong you have it all sorted, that way the risk should be minimum.

Also make sure you delete your cache files between each reload of the game.
Test Subject
#14 Old 3rd Jun 2019 at 2:40 AM
Hey I know this thread has been dead for 2 years, and honestly don't expect a response, but I've tried to grasp this a few different ways and have got nowhere. Either the cop car wouldn't show up, it would remain default or my game wouldn't even boot. I've been stumped for two weeks and just need something to better understand this; screenshots, the exact OBJDs and OBJKs (on the default and replacement sides), what to actually import and/or replace (I think that what's really getting me cause I can't tell if I should do one then the other or just one). Anything would help, thanks.
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