The Sims 3: Hiding EA patterns in-game
Starbearysims raised an interesting issue in a past post, namely the ability to hide default patterns from showing up in the catalog.
And I was interested because, let’s face it, even with my good computer I feel a sense of dread before opening the Themes section.
How to do this:
1. Navigate to your basegame install folder. Mine is: D:\ Electronic Arts \ The Sims 3 \ GameData \ Shared \ Packages
2. Open the DeltaBuild0.package file in S3PE. You can either:
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sort by the PTRN tag, or
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sort by instance ID, for 0x1BDE14D18B416FEC.
3. Once you locate this resource, called InGamepatternlist, export it somewhere and then import it into a newly created .package.
Close the DeltaBuild0.package. Never work directly on game files.
4. Right-click your PTRN resource and open it with Text Editor (I like to use Notepad++ but you can open it in anything you want). Each line that looks like this:
represents a pattern. Delete it to hide the pattern from your game.
5. Save your .package and put it under Mods \ Packages.
How to identify which pattern is which?
To my knowledge, there are two methods in which you can identify patterns:
1. using TSR Workshop (TSRW): create a new project (Create New Project \ Clothing) with a random clothing item that’s recolorable, then go to the Presets tab and the Patterns section, click on the Edit button in the Pattern A space, at which point the window below will open:
Click on the leftmost button at the top, the one with the folder. When a new window opens, use the drop-down menu to select which pattern category you want to view.
2. using CAS Texture Unitool (CTU): I haven’t used this in a very, very long time, but if you install and configure it according to the guide, it will create a folder called patterncache (I think you can specify its location yourself) containing thumbnails of all the patterns.
FAQ below. If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll add them below!
FAQ
Will this cause my game to crash?
I’ve tested this method several times, removing patterns from each category, and haven’t encountered any crashing.
Will doing this hide patterns applied to clothing/objects?
No, those still remain.
Can I recolor hidden patterns on clothing/objects?
Yes, you will be able to recolor “hidden” patterns that are already applied to objects / clothing, but will not be able to add them again if you replace them (unless you use the Undo option). In the catalog, they show up with the white “custom preset” flower thumbnail. You can also transfer presets with patterns from one object to another, by clicking and dragging the preset from the channel column, onto the target object.
What happens if I remove all the patterns from one category?
The category will simply show no patterns.
Can I move patterns from one category to another (e.g. from Fabric to Masonry) by copy/pasting the codes from place to place?
Surprisingly, yes! I tried copy/pasting some lines from one category to another, and what do you know—it works!
