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[Tutorial] Convert from The Sims 4 to XPS — Description

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Things you will need:
The Sims 4.
Sims 4 Studio (Free with account creation)
Blender 2.76 ; THIS IS INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT! SIMS 4 STUDIO IS VERY, VERY, VERY BUGGY IN LATER VERSIONS AND THIS MAY NOT WORK WITH ANYTHING HIGHER THAN 2.79
Noesis
Noesis .mesh.ascii plugin
XPS 11.8 or higher
1: Install Sims 4
2: Install Sims 4 Studio
3: Set up Sims 4 Studio by setting paths to the game files & folders, and the Blender .exe, and setting a creator name. This can be anything, as you won't need it for its intended purpose.
4: Find an item you want to export out by selecting Standalone Recolor on any of the three options. Once you have, select the item you want, or (for CAS) all swatches by holding down shift and left clicking.
5: Export the diffuse texture of each swatch you want as .png
6: Go to Meshes and export LOD 0
7: Open Blender and open the LOD0.blend file you just saved.
8: Export as .fbx
9: Open the resulting export in Noesis.
10: Export as .mesh.ascii
11: Open the resultant .mesh.ascii in XPS. Click through the texture warnings.
12: make the mannequin/body optional + retexture the mesh you want.
13: Clean up the bones; anything with "CAS" or "end" can be safely hidden & removed
14: Save as .mesh.ascii and .xps
15: Done! Do what you will with it from here.
*Note 1: Sims 4 content is weighted, not rigged, which means things like skirts, dresses, and hair will move with the legs and head, respectively, not have separate adjustment bones. While this shouldn't matter for the majority of content like shirts and pants (and shorter hairstyles), if this bothers you...you're going to have to either transfer weights and rigging from something that has them, or learn how to rig by yourself. This is just a ripping tutorial!

Note 2: respect content creators guidelines. While ripping/converting for personal use should be no big deal, if a content creator has asked that you not redistribute/reupload their content, don't do the thing. If you want to rip/convert CC, you'll need to figure out any additional steps by yourself.

Note 3: The Sims 4 Base Game is free to claim and download through the EA App. While it has plenty of content, if you want any of EA's expansion/pack content, you'll need to either purchase and download them separately, or acquire them...elsewhere. For the purposes of this tutorial, either will work. You're after meshes, not getting the game to load and run. (No, I will not help you acquire the game "elsewhere"; this is a ripping tutorial, not a piracy tutorial!)

Note 4: "Silver can you help me convert to MMD/SFM instead--" No. Once you get your mesh into Blender you can probs take it anywhere, but I use solely XPS/XNA and will not help for programs I do not use. Do not start with me.