The Sims™ Creator
Readme document
http://thesims.ea.com
14 March, 2002
MAXIS - Electronic Arts
Version 1.1

Table of Contents

General
Overview
Main/Start Screen
Face Photo Wizard
Sim Wardrobe
Paint
Save
Rendering Options

General
-------
For the latest up to date information on The Sims™ and The Sims™ Creator visit:
http://www.thesims.com.
You can visit fan sites and find message boards, FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions), 
walk-throughs and hints on the site. Visit the chat area of our site to chat with other players. 

Overview
--------
The Sims™ Creator allows you to paint your Sim, add a new face to the head of your Sim, 
add a logo to your Sim and change your Sim's clothing.

The Sims™ Creator reads the data from your Skins folder in The Sims™ and all expansion packs 
(Default Folder: \Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\GameData\Skins and \Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\ExpansionPack...). 
The Sims™ Creator tool will allow you to modify skins from The Sims™ 1.0, installed Sims expansion packs and any other 
Sims skins you may have downloaded. 


Main/Start screen
-----------------
This is where you can select the major physical attributes of your Sims such as head and body. 
You can also change the age, gender, and skin tone of the Sim you wish to modify on this screen. In the 3D Preview window, you 
can view your Sim from many different angles.


Face Photo Wizard
-----------------
The Face Photo Wizard is an import tool for photographs so that they can be used for Sims heads.  Acceptable photo file types that are compatible with The Sims™ Creator are: .png, .jpg, .tga, .bmp and .tif. 

Step One: “Load an image”
     -	Click “Face Photo Wizard” from the Main Menu
     -	Click “Load Face,” and browse to the photo you wish to import
     -	Use the “Rotation” and “Size” sliders to position the face so that it fits within the box boundaries. 
     -	Click “Next>” when done. 

Step Two:  “Editing”
Once imported, the next menu screen details the editing options available to edit your Sim Face. 

Tip: Use the wire frame and the mask sliders to help position the image on the head, 
this helps to align the eyes and the nose


Sim Wardrobe
------------
The Sim Wardrobe section contains the tools to dress your Sim. You have the option to add 
accessories to the Sim's original clothing or click “Undress” to start from scratch.  You can layer clothes here 
also by just selecting more garments. A feature within this tool is the ability to select and import new clothing 
material skins for Sim Clothing. To import new materials, click “Load Texture” and browse to the photo file you 
wish to import. Similarly to the Face Photo Wizard the only photo file formats accepted by Sim Creator are: 
.png, .jpg, .tga, .bmp, and tif. For best results the materials photos should be of 8bit or 256 color.  

When you click on the Add Logo button you will be brought to the Logo Selector screen. 
Here you can add logos/images to your Sim in the 2D view, and see how it will look in The Sims™ in the 3D view.  
Choose from the provided logos or add your own with the Load Logo button (.png, .jpg, .tga, .bmp, and .tif 
are the file types that you can use in The Sims™ Creator, and for best results they should be 8bit or 256 color).

Unfortunately, The Sims™ Creator cannot add or remove hats. Some heads have hats that 
are part of the skin and these cannot be removed. Also note that some heads have hats in The Sims™ 
but do not show up in The Sims™ Creator, there is no way to modify these hats in The Sims™ Creator 
because they are not part of the skin.  Some Skins may also have accessories that are 
separate meshes. These will also not show up in The Sims™ Creator. 

(Example: there is a skin provided with The Sims™ Livin' Large Expansion, and available for download from http://thesims.com, 
that should have a hat but the hat does not show up because it is a separate accessory file, 
this skin will be missing the top of his head.)


Paint
-----
The Paint tool allows you to paint your sim in either a 2D or 3D view. This option is 
available from the Main Menu by clicking the “Paint” button.  
The tool panel at the bottom of the screen allows you to paint with many different 
colors and textures, you can move the skin just about any way needed to paint it, and fix any mistakes you may have made.

Once you finish painting your Sim clicking "Done" will bring you back to the Main screen 
(where you can now save your new skin) and your painted Sim will be in the place of 
the original skin(s). The default skin is still there unless you save over it, but 
you will need to restart The Sims™ Creator to view and work with the default skin again. 

Save
----
The save screen allows you to save your modified skin. Just give the skin a name and 
click Save. The new skin will be saved in your skins folder 
(Default Folder: \Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\GameData\Skins).


Rendering Options
--------------------------
Pressing P will bring up the Rendering Preferences. From here you can change from OpenGL to Software. 

More recent graphics cards take advantage of the compatibility settings. By turning on the Share GL Resources it will increase the painting speed. Turning on the Cache Sims Models will speed up the frame rate of interacting with the models. These features will require a restart of The Sims™ Creator.

If you have changed any of the Settings of The Sims™ Creator and it crashes when you run it, this means your graphics card cannot handle the settings. The next time you run it it will be in Software mode. 

To set the rendering mode from the command line you can type:
For Software type: TheSimsCreator.exe -rS  
For OpenGL type: TheSimsCreator.exe -rO















