Game guide:Making your own custom TV channels

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Making your custom TV channels

"Make your custom TV channel of your dreams" (thumbnail of a youtube video from Random Sims)

Do you want to make your custom TV channel? Well, this is what this guide is all about...

Requirements[edit | edit source]

Install and configure required Tools[edit | edit source]

  1. Prepare your Workspace
    For a better overview, I recommend a small folder structure.
    First, go to your (C:\)-drive and create a folder named ModTheSims.zip and in it folders named "ChannelData">"Edited", "Data">"as_text", "Trash" and "VirtualDub".
    It looks something like this (the files came later):

    Then download all tools from the requirements list and do the following:
    • Extract the "sx.exe" from the "SoundExchange30101.rar"to "C:\ModTheSims".
    • Extract the "GUI.exe" from the "SoundExchange30101_GUI.rar"to "C:\ModTheSims".
    • Extract the "VP6Converter005.exe" from the "VP6_Builder.rar"to "C:\ModTheSims".
    • Extract the content of the "VirtualDub-1.10.4.zip" to "C:\ModTheSims\VirtualDub".
  2. Install Software and Codecs
    Download and install the VP6 Codec by double-clicking on the downloaded "vp6_vfw_codec.exe". The installation wizard is very simple and the installation path can be the given one or somewhere you like.

    To separate the install instructions and the main tutorial for preparing your video, I will now explain how to install FFDShow.
    As I've said, it's not essential. If your preferred video files have a supported codec by VirtualDub, you can skip this installation. Otherwise, install FFDShow by the following steps:
    • Double click on the downloaded "ffdshow_rev4531_20140628.exe".
    • Select your language and on the main wizard click "Next".
    • Now scroll down the list of the available components, activate the VirtualDub PlugIn, and click "Next".
    • Select your speaker configuration (I've used 2.0) and click "Next".
    • Paste in your preferred install path (I've used the given one) and click "Next".
    • Click "Install" and when it's finished be sure to uncheck all suggestions because we don't need to configure FFDShow.

Working with VirtualDub[edit | edit source]

  1. Open your Video file
    Before you can begin, you need to make sure that you have a VP6 compatible video resolution and some other params (see the list).
    The width has to be a multiple of 32 and the height a multiple of 16. So I decided to use the same as the original tv channel videos: 256x144 Pixel.
    To resize your video file, simply use tools like the component of FreeStudio: Free MP4 Video Converter (Download from www.dvdvideosoft.com).
    Load your file into the tool, select "AVI" in Preset, and on the right side, click on the magic wand.
    In the appearing window, you need to set the following video parameters:
    • Container: AVI
    • Video-Codec: MPEG4
    • Frames per Second: 15
    • Bitrate: As input file
    • Width: <Multiple of 32> (e.g. 256)
    • Height: <Multiple of 16> (e.g. 144)

In the appearing window set the following video parameters:

    • Format: MP3
    • Sampling Rate: 48000 Hz
    • Channels: Stereo
    • Bitrate: 320 Kbits/s


Well, start VirtualDub by double-clicking on "VirtualDub.exe" inside the "VirtualDub" folder.
Open your Custom Video by clicking on "File", "Open video file ..." and select your video. If an error with unsupported video codecs appears, install the FFDShow.
recommend using an AVI video file because this worked

  1. Convert the VBR to CBR
    After you've checked the error with unsupported video codec, another warning popup will appear:

    This means, that the AVI has a variable bit rate in the audio stream. That's not supported by the game and will crash if the movie will be played in succession.
    So we need a constant bit rate.
    First, click "OK" and go to "Audio" and activate "Full processing mode" by clicking on it.
    Open the "Audio" menu again and select "Compression...". Make sure that "<No compression (PCM)>" is highlighted, then click on "OK".
    Select "File", "Save WAV" and name it "TempAudioStream.wav".

    After you created the temporary WAV, go to "Audio" and click on "Audio from other files...". Select "TempAudioStream.wav" and click "OK".
    Return to the "Audio" menu, click on "Compression ..." and select "MPEG Layer-3". On the left side select "320 kBit/s, 48.000 Hz, Stereo 40KB/s" and click "OK".

    Before you save the CBR video file, go to "Video" and make sure that "Direct stream copy" is activated. In the same way, check-in "Audio" that "Full processing mode" is still activated".
    Now save the file by clicking "File", "Save as Avi ...", name it "CBRVideo.avi".
    Then please completely close VirtualDub to reset all settings from above.
    To clear your workspace, move the following files into the "Trash" folder:
    • All video files excluding "CBRVideo.avi".
    • All WAV files.

So now, you have the following files in the "ModTheSims" folder:

    • "GUI.exe"
    • "VP6Converter005.exe"
    • "sx.exe"
    • "CBRVideo.avi"
  2. Set the right video codec and export necessary files
    Now start a new instance of VirtualDub, click on "File", "Open video file ..." and select "CBRVideo.avi". The VBR-warning popup should not appear.
    Click on "Video", "Compression...", select "VP60 Simple Profile" and click "OK".
    And make sure, that in the "Audio" menu "Direct stream copy" and "Stream 1" in "Source audio" are activated.
    After that, click on "File", "Save as Avi ...", name it "VP6Video.avi" and save it into the same folder as "GUI.exe" and "VP6Converter008.exe" (It should be the folder "ModTheSims").
    Right after that, click on "File", "Save WAVE ..." and save it as "AudioStream.wav".
    Exit VideoDub.
    To clear your workspace, move the "CBRVideo.avi" file into the "Trash" folder.
    So now, you have the following files in the "ModTheSims" folder:
    • "GUI.exe"
    • "VP6Converter005.exe"
    • "sx.exe"
    • "VP6Video.avi"
    • "AudioStream.wav"

Convert the Audio Codec[edit | edit source]

  1. Generic Stream Creator
    Right-click on "GUI.exe" and "Run as administrator".
    When the tool is open, click on "Browse" and select the "AudioStream.wav".
    Before you click on "Create", you have to add some commands to the "Input file" line:
    C:\ModTheSims\AudioStream.wav" -fps"15" -loops"-1" -loope"-1
    Please note: The fps must be the same as the fps of your Custom Video file. To get this info, use VLC MediaPlayer or define the fps in the Free MP4 Video Converter, for instance.

    Now click "Create" and after the "AudioStream.dat" is created, click on "Exit"

Create the final AVI file[edit | edit source]

  1. VP6 Converter
    Right-click on "VP6Converter005.exe" and "Run as administrator".
    When the tool is open, click on "Browse" next to the text field for "Input video file" and select the "VP6Video.avi".
    At the next step, activate "Audio", click on "Browse" next to the text field for "Input audio file" and select the "AudioStream.dat"

    Please notice, the official download link (from where I've downloaded the tool) of the VP6Converter in version 0.08 is no more available from http://sg.redsys.ru/files/video/VP6_Builder.rar

If you've got errors, please search for version 0.08 on the internet and if you find a functional download link, please leave a comment.
Now click "GO!" and after the "VP6Video.vp6" is created, click on "Exit"

  1. Rename the VP6 file the last step for preparing your video file is: Simply rename "VP6Video.vp6" into "FinishedVideo.avi".
    That's it.

Search for the right Instance ID[edit | edit source]

  1. Open "ClientFullBuild1.package" using s4pe
    Start s4pe and click on "File", "Open". Navigate to your installation path: "Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 4\Data\Client" and select the "ClientFullBuild1.package".
  2. Activate filter to find all video files
    Todo this: Simply activate "Filter active" (1), activate "Tag" (2), fill in "AVI" (3), and click on "Set" (4)
  3. Search for the video to replace
    The easiest way to watch all video files is to select all AVI files, click on "Export" and "To file ..", select a folder, and open these files.

    Please Note: The Windows MediaPlayer cannot play these video files (because of the unsupported codecs), instead use the VLC MediaPlayer, for instance.
    In this way, I found the intro files for my "No-Intro"-Mod:     http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=532966

    For example, the filename of the Sports Show is "S4_376840D7_00000000_83AA458A9FF99646%%+_AVI.avi".
    The syntax of exported files using s4pe is: "S4_Type_Group_Instance%%+_AVI.avi". Because of that, the instance ID of the Sports Show is "0x83AA458A9FF99646"

Last preparations and create Package[edit | edit source]

  1. Rename your "FinishedVideo.avi"
    After you've found your favorite video file which you want to replace, copy its filename.
    Then rename your "FinishedVideo.avi" to the copied name.
    For example, rename "FinishedVideo.avi" to "S4_376840D7_00000000_83AA458A9FF99646%%+_AVI.avi". So the custom video will be played instead of the Sports Show in the game.
  2. Create a new package file and save it the Mods folder
    Start a new instance of s4pe, click on "File" and "New".
    Right-Click on the space, then on "Import" and "From file.." and import the replacement video.

    In the appearing window, uncheck "Use resource name" (1) and click on "OK" (2).

    To save the package, simply click on "File", "Save", goto "Users\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Mods" and name it uniquely (e.g. "Replace Sport Show.package").

Have Fun with your custom video[edit | edit source]

  1. Start The Sims 4
    That's it. Now start the game.
    A "MODS"-a window will appear, where you can see the filename of the package (without file extension).
    Load your savegame and watch the channel you've edited.

Additional Requirements[edit | edit source]

Install and configure required Tools[edit | edit source]

  1. The Sims 4 Data Tool and the TS4 STBL Editor
    Simply download and place the tools from the additional requirements where you'd like.

Search for the right Instance ID[edit | edit source]

  1. Open "ClientFullBuild0.package" using s4pe
    Start s4pe and click on "File", "Open". Navigate to your installation path: "Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 4\Data\Client" and select the "ClientFullBuild0.package".
  2. Activate filter to find all DATA files
    Todo this: Simply activate "Filter active" (1), activate "Tag" (2), fill in "DATA" (3), and click on "Set" (4)
  3. Export all DATA files
    Click on "Resource", "Select all" (This will take few seconds), and then on "Resource", "Export" and "To file .." and select the "Data" folder in "ModTheSims" (This will take more seconds).
  4. Search for the video playlists
    If you want to know how I got all playlists, click on the button below:
    • Start "The Sims 4 Data Tool", click on "Browse" and open one random ".data"-file in the "Data" folder.
    • Click on the "Export all" button and wait for it to finish. This will convert all ".data"-files to ".txt"-files and put them into the "as_text" folder.
    • Because the Windows Search Engine can search in text files, we can now search for "VideoPlaylist" in the "as_text" folder.
    • The result is a list of 9 files and this is the video playlists.


Now go into "C:\ModTheSims\Data", search for the following files and copy them to "C:\ModTheSims\ChannelData":{| id="inlinetable_62200" border="0" cellspacing="1" |- ! data-column="0"| Filename ! data-column="1"| Description |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_EFE29AB011F5411A%%+DATA.data |Action Channel |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_E8CB9FDC4B99B39D%%+DATA.data |Sport Channel |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_C908D4D7C3EF5D31%%+DATA.data |Comedy Channel |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_88D4D4581A01C683%%+DATA.data |Kids Channel |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_5D630A58015C3E89%%+DATA.data |News Channel |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_5120A894AE36D1F8%%+DATA.data |Cooking Channel |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_2EDC07BA49FB2931%%+DATA.data |Drama Channel |}
These DATA files contains videoplaylists too, but there channel names are not present by default in the game:{| id="inlinetable_36741" border="0" cellspacing="1" |- ! data-column="0"| Filename ! data-column="1"| Description |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_AAEE767EB7683E1D%%+DATA.data |Music Channel (This Channel will be available when you upgrade your TV.) |- |S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_A9D0C45A4A9CC2C5%%+DATA.data |Surf Channel (I will found out its function soon.) |}


Working with the STBL Strings[edit | edit source]

  1. Open "Strings_<Your locals>.package" using s4pe
    Start s4pe and click on "File", "Open". Navigate to your installation path: "Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 4\Data\Client" and select the "Strings_<Your locals>.package".
  2. Export the STBL file
    Richt-Click on the STBL file, "Export" and "To file .." and select the "ChannelData" folder in "ModTheSims".
  3. Edit the STBL file
    Now you have to start the TS4 STBL Editor, click on "File", "Open STBL File" and select the exported STBL file.
    You can edit the Strings directly in the Tool, but there is a very huge number of Strings and currently, we have no Search function in the tool (I'm working with release 1.2).
    So we should simply export the STBL file to a more comfortable filetype: Click on Export and export it as an XML file to the "ChannelData" folder.

    Go into the Windows Explorer and open this XML using the Editor (Notepad) by right-clicking on it and select "Edit".

    Now hit the shortcut for searching: CTRL+F (For all germans: STRG+F).

    Then type in the IDs of the strings you want to edit. To shorten your work, here is the list of the IDs:
    {| id="inlinetable_62460" border="0" cellspacing="1"

|- ! data-column="0"| Channel ! data-column="1"| ID of the displayed text in the Channel menu ! data-column="2"| ID of the tooltip, which will appear on mouseover the channel name |- |Action |FF6ECE89 |17061643 |- |Comedy |6391A87D |F569CD4F |- |Kids |2DF89760 |C7F00AD8 |- |Cooking |4E8C22E3 |EB04D85E |- |News |E4727FBA |75632946 |- |Romance |A6EAE91B |D4AE3D3F |- |Sports |C5CAF575 |4F2091C7 |}
When you've found the string you want to edit, type in your favorite channel name between the <text>-Tag.
Save the file by pressing CTRL+S (For all germans: STRG+S). and close the Windows Editor.
Go back to the TS4 STBL Editor, click on "Import" and select the just now saved XML file.

Then click on "File" and "Save". Sometimes the editor crashes for me by clicking only "Save", if it crashes for you too, select "Save as.." and overwrite STBL.


Last steps and Packaging[edit | edit source]

  1. Create a new Package file using s4pe
    Start a new instance of s4pe, click on "File" and "New".
    Right-Click on the space, then on "Import" and "From file..".
    In the appearing window, you can now select the custom Video file from Tutorial Part 1.
    If you don't rename the "FinalVideo.avi" to the s4pe syntax (S4_Type_...), the video will not be listed in the appearing Import window. Anyway, to import the "FinalVideo.avi" just click on the dropdown menu ("Exported files (S4_*.*)") and select "All files (*.*)".

    Open the AVI file and fill in the following Resource Details:
    • Type: _AVI 0x376840D7
    • Group: 0x00000000

The instance has to be a new id that is not in use. You don't have to imagine an ID, still use s4pe.
To do that, make sure "Use resource name" is activated and fill in a unique name for your movie in the text field near to "Name".
(Don't use words like "Test", "Movie" and so on, they could be already used in the game).
For example, "FinalVideo.avi" contains the official Sims 4 tv commercial, so I filled in "Sims 4 TV Werbespot" (It's german )
After you've chosen your favorite name, click on "FNV64". This will create a hopefully unique id in the "Instance" field.
For me, the video file will have the instance: 0xB1DCED21EFBD7BB0
Now uncheck "Use resource name", otherwise s4pe will run into an error.
To finish the import, click on "OK".

Important: Do not close s4pe, we're continuing with it in step 3 "Import the new Playlist DATA and save the Package".

  1. Add the Custom Video to a Playlist
    Now we have the new instance id, which will be added to the Video Playlist.
    In the next step, you have to choose the TV Channel where you want to play your Custom Video.

    Start now a new instance of "The Sims 4 Data Tool" and click on the "Browse" button.
    Go into the folder "C:\ModTheSims\ChannelData" and select your favorite channel data (See the list above to find the right file name).
    I will open the Kids Channel data: S4_545AC67A_00BF458B_88D4D4581A01C683%%+DATA.data
    You will now see a simple list in the main part of the tool:

    Then just right click on the last TGI item and click "Clone TGI: [Key]".

    The syntax of these TGI keys is similar to exported s4pe files: "[Type]-[Group]-[Instance]"
    The only thing you have to do now: Double click on the cloned key and change the [Instance] to the newly generated one from the step before.
    I will change "0x376840D7-0x00000000-0x8F5640B725DAD241" to "0x376840D7-0x00000000-0xB1DCED21EFBD7BB0"

    Just click on "Save" and save it into the folder "C:\ModTheSims\ChannelData\Edited".
    Important: Do not rename the DATA file, because you need the right filename syntax for importing in s4pe.
  2. Import the new Playlist DATA and the customized STBL file
    You are very good. These are the very last steps.
    Back into the opened s4pe, Right-Click on the space, then on "Import", "From file.." and select your edited DATA + the customized STBL file.
    (Simply select the DATA and hit SHIFT while clicking on the STBL).
    Make sure that "Use resource name" is disabled on the appearing import window and click on "OK".

    To finish the progress, save the package: Click on "File", "Save", go to "Users\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\Mods" and name it uniquely (e.g. "Sims 4 Channel instead of Kids Channel.package").

External links[edit | edit source]

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