This tutorial, inspired in a question published at MTS, will show how to convert a wall (pattern) from TS4 to TS3, how to make it recolorable for “create a style” functionality, and how to pack it for the Mods folder.
This example will use the wallpaper included in this collection made by Felixandre. The finished package will not be available for download here, because I’m not sure about the TOU of this creator in particular.
These are the apps that I use in this tutorial: The sims 4 Studio, The Sims Resource Workshop (TSRW), and Adobe Photoshop (you can also do this with GIMP, but I don’t include instructions here). You will also need to install a DDS plugin for Photoshop (or for GIMP).
Step 1: Extract the texture from the TS4 package. Open the package with S4Studio, choose the swatch of your preference, and under “texture” click on “export”. Save the exported image to a specific location, a work folder.
Step 2: Open TSRW, choose “create a new project”, then “build item”, and then “walls and floors”. Give it a minute for it to list all of the walls and floors in game, and then use the search bar at the bottom to search for “Wall_ wainscot_2 square_2 panel”. Select that particular wall, and click, “next”. Give your project a name, and click next, finish.
Step 3: Click on the “Textures” tab, and then highlight “Multiplier”. Next to it, you’ll see an “Edit” button, which you should click. A new window will show a bigger image of the Multiplier. Click on “export”, and save the image to a known location.
Step 4: We’re going to start by making the multiplier. Open this image in Photoshop, and open the TS4 texture in this same file, as a separate layer. Fit the TS4 texture to the size of the TS3 one.
If you don’t want your wall to be recolorable, this is the end of the path. Just save this “as copy”, in .dds format, BC3 / DXT5 (see step 6).
In TSRW, you will have to change the “mask” field for something full red, and you will have to disable all color patterns but the first. (see step 9).
Step 5: Add a “black and white” adjustment layer. I painted the mask of this adjustment layer to exclude the little birds, since these tiny details are almost impossible to recolor effectively. We’re just going to leave them like this.
In this swatch in particular, the top and bottom are very light, which will make them completely oversaturated and washed out in game. We need to match their shade to the same gray as the rest of the image. Select the top and bottom, and add a “curves” adjustment layer. Adjust the color until it more or less matches the rest of the image.
I also decided to darken the white flowers, to match the rest of the image.
Save “as copy”, choose the .dds type, and select a known location. In the Texture Tool plugin screen, make sure you select “BC3 / DXT5”
Step 6: Now we create the recoloring mask. This is the reference that the game will use to know how to recolor this item.
Import the colored image at the new size, and select one of the colors of the image with the option select → color range. Once the selection is made, add a color adjustment layer, and make it pure red (255, 0, 0).
Repeat this step with two other colors, and make the adjustment color layers pure yellow (255, 255, 0) and pure magenta (255, 0, 255).
Finally, we need to add the fourth color, which is going to be the top and bottom trims. We have to select those two areas, and go to the channels tab. Create a new Alpha channel, and fill the selection with pure white.
Go back to the Layers tab, select the image, right click, and flatten image. Save as copy, select .dds format, and in the Texture Tool plugin choose “BC3 / DXT5”.
Step 7: The last image that we need to generate is the Normal map.
Import the multiplier (step 5) into Photoshop, right click on the layer and flatten image. Then, go to Filter → 3D → Generate Normal Map. Make the adjustments as you prefer in the popup window, and “ok” the result.
Back in the artboard, go to the channels tab, create a new alpha channel and do the following:
· Activate the red channel, copy all and paste in place in the Alpha channel.
· Activate the Green channel, copy all and paste in place in both the red and blue channels.
Again, “save as copy”, select the .dds format, and in the Texture Tool plugin choose “BC3 / DXT5”.
Step 8: Now it’s time to put the whole package together.
Go back to TSRW, in the textures tab, click on Mask → Edit, and in the pop-up window select “import”. Here, you need to select the mask that you created (step 6). Of course, you have to do the same with the Multiplier, right below.
In the “Mesh” tab, click on the three dots next to “Default material: material”. In the pop-up window, click on the “edit” button next to “Normal map” and import the Normal map that you created (step 7).
Step 9: Back to the “textures” tab, now you have to select the color for this preset. Right below the images for the texture, you have the patterns. Since we have selected “Wall_ wainscot_2 square_2 panel”, we have all four patterns enabled. If you chose to do just one color, you need to disable all the patterns that you’re not using.
When you select a pattern, you’ll see an “edit” button next to the image. When you click it, you’ll get a pop-up window that will allow you to change that pattern to whatever you want.
Click on the little folder at the top left corner, and you’ll be able to switch to any pattern that you have installed in game.
In this case, we’ll use solid colors, so we’ll go to miscellaneous, and select the “solidColor_1”, in white, by clicking on the pattern and then on “done”.
In order to change the color, you can click on the little arrow next to the color.
Repeat the process with all four patterns.
Step 10: Below the patterns, you’ll find the “categories” option. If you want your wall to be in a different category, this is where you have to change it.
You can also adjust the price of this item under the “Project” tab.
Finally, when the package is ready, click on the Edit → Project contents menu, and you’ll get a pop-up window. Select all the items, and click on Export →to package. Name it, save it, place it in the Mods →packages folder, and test it in-game.
You can see this in my game under the paneling section, and it works ok!
I hope you found this tutorial useful.
Happy simming!
A sims' escape 
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