How to fix pixelly body shop items?

[hwes]

Whenever I make something in body shop, it looks fine, until I move it into the game, and then it looks pixelly. It doesn't do this for downloaded items. Any ideas or suggestions??

[Mirelly]

What paint program are you using? Be sure to save your work as 24 bit (true-color) bitmap images.

Find one of your home made packages and upload here as a file attachment and I'll take a look at it for you.

[hwes]

I've been using GIMPshop, but I wouldn't begin to know how to save it as a 24 bit image... All I did was click save, and assume that it would save it in the same format that it was opened as. *shrugs* And... to make me look even sillier, I can't seem to work out a way to attatch a package like you said. Ah, I think it's time for bed.

[Mirelly]

I've been using GIMPshop, but I wouldn't begin to know how to save it as a 24 bit image... All I did was click save, and assume that it would save it in the same format that it was opened as. *shrugs* And... to make me look even sillier, I can't seem to work out a way to attatch a package like you said. Ah, I think it's time for bed.

If you click the "quote" or "post reply" buttons you should get the advanced posting controls.

Below the main message box (where you type your reply) is another panel of "Additional Options" look in there for manage attachments

You can only attach sim2pack files not package files so you'll either need to use Body Shop to export your package or else use Windows' zip function (right click the package you want and choose "add to archive" and save it somewhere so you can find it again to upload it as an attachment)

Urr ... hope that helps.

[hwes]

Alright then, I hope I have it right now, but I wasn't sure whether to zip just the package file or the whole folder, so I did the latter. *looks hopeful* If that wasn't right, I'll have another go. At least one of us knows what they're doing. Sorry for being such a bother.

[Mirelly]

Ooh, I just came out of an impromptu play session. I added your shirt to my downloads folder before starting the game ... it didn't show up :( At all. Now waiting for Body Shop to load to see if I can find it there. What category is it in? (gender, age??)

I can tell you that the image you have edited looks fine and has the right properties. Can you take a snapshot in game of the pixellation and post that, instead. Maybe you are just expecting too much ;)

Odd ... doesn't show up in Body Shop and yet SimPE opened it and it seems to contain all the right bits an pieces (adult female top ... right? )

[hwes]

Yep, adult female top. I took two snapshots, one of the unedited shirt, and one of the edited. It's heaps more pixelly in the edited one, even the pants she is wearing turned pixelly, seemingly just following the trend, I guess.

[Mirelly]

Oh mama! That's just craziness :eek: That's nuttier than a pecan pie with extra nuts. I'll take another look at the contents of that zip file but frankly I am all out of ideas .... As far as I am aware editing a top with body shop should not affect bottom garments in any way. It's not physically possible ... which is my way of saying I have no idea what is up.

It's an outside chance but ...

First establish what version of The Sims you are using.

If you have no expansion packs then it will just be The Sims 2

However if you have expansion packs then the launcher will reside in a directory named after the LAST expansion pack you installed.

Likewise Body Shop is also launched from a new location if the game installation is altered.

So if you downloaded the original Body Shop and then bought the game you should no longer be using the old Body Shop start menu icon/desktop shortcut etc.

So you should be starting Body Shop with:

C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\CSBin\TS2Body Shop

Or if you have installed Expansion Packs such as University, Nightlife, Open For Business then use:-

C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 [name_Of_Last_Exp_Pack]\CSBin\TS2Body Shop

When you find that file just right click and choose "Send to" and choose Desktop --- Windows will make you a shortcut on the desktop so you can double click that to launch Body Shop in future.

If that doesn't work ... we'll have to hope a genius appears with right answer ... :rolleyes:

[hwes]

Nope, don't have any expansion packs whatsoever, nor did I download body shop before getting the game. I tried skipping the shortcut and going directly to C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\CSBin\TS2Body Shop like you said, and editing another shirt, but it still did exactly the same thing. At least I wasn't imagining the problem, and that it really is a problem.
Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and hope for a genius to appear. *puts out cookies and milk to entice said genius'* I'll settle for a genie too, if one comes. *stands ready with her butterfly net*

[Mirelly]

Ah now that's style. I like to see mendicants with a sense of humour. Good luck and sorry I couldn't help. I'm as mystified as a mystified thing stuck in a labyrinth wearing a blindfold ... :o

[hwes]

Now THAT is mystified. *nods wisely*
So... any genius reading this... HELP! (please)

[babewithbrains_14]

I am a genius. However, on your problem I am unable to help.

Yep, pointless.

I am a genius though.

[Mirelly]

:smirk: Ayup. Babe's definitely lost the plot. Nurse get me my biggest syringe ... :mischievous:

[babewithbrains_14]

Woah, last time we had a nurse on this forum - well... *holds up hand to show BIG scar.*

No nurses!

[hwes]

*tackles thread further up the forums in case a passing genius might notice it*

[Mirelly]

I boosted the relevant areas of your samples, Wes.

Let's refresh ourselves on this one. You edit the shirt and it pixellates the pants ...

The image you are using for the panel on the top is little coarse (see the huge enlargement of the detail taken from your Texturename.bmp) ... but whatever is happening to the top should not affect the pants. I think something is up with your picture taking cos the pants would NOT be affected. Try using a sharper image.

It's no use I'm gonna boot up Body Shop and have a tinker ... stay tuned :rolleyes:

[Mirelly]

an idiot walks by :rolleyes:

In living BodyShop technicolor .... it looks a little whacky cos like I said your image was a little coarse grained and I couldn't be bothered scrolling past a zillion other shirts to get to the one you used so I used one a lot like it :p

I then put your Texturename.bmp in there and BodyShop said:

"you gotta be kidding me, man! There's no picture there."

Now that had me conflubbled, I can tell ya. Put back the original and BS was so happy I heard it purring over the Christopher Tin I was listening to ... oh no that was the bass box against my ankle ... er, it might've been the cat, she's got a very loud purr when she's happy--

eh? Oh the point? I looked at the himmages in my PhotoShop and sure 'nuff they looked pretty much the same, I even looked at the prophurties of the sed himmages and shore 'nuff they were hidentickle hexcept for the number of pixels. Pay attention, Abby (that's my real name) ... boy, did I feel thilly with a capital th :o

Your Texture name had half the number of pixels that mine did. I told you the pic must've been compressed. Well it was. It was compressed from 1024pixels square to 512pixels square ... that's a quarter of the size, man!

Sheesh.

Vive la difference!

Note all Body shop images must not be resized :rolleyes:

Now go to the back of the class and wait for me to stop wearing this pointy hat so I can make you wear it too!

[hwes]

Well... ok... *sits at the back of the class and cries cos she has no idea what she did wrong* As far as I can tell... I resized something somehow?? *shakes her head emphatically* Not I. Well, not a-purpose, and not by fluke, as I've tried many a time. Maybe 'tis the program I used... but I think it did it when I used good ol' paint too... I'll try and fiddle with something when I get back on the appropriate computer, but really, I am still as lost as ever.

[Mirelly]

Trouble I am responding to you in my early afternoons by which time you're in bed.

The main thing is the set of images in the project folder all need to be the same size and the size should be 1024 by 1024 pixels for clothing. If you somehow get a reduced size then, there is less detail for the game to wrok with and pixellation is the result.

GIMP is a great package but some parts of it not exactly intuitive ... but compared to MSPaint it's perfect :rolleyes:

Anyway I hope you soon report that you successfully figured it out. I was just glad I finally spotted what the problem was.

[hwes]

Yes, thanks for figuring it out for me... I'll just have to go figure it out for myself now. Well, perhaps tomorrow. It's too late to be trying to swap computers now. Ah well. *hates stupid pixels that run away without telling her*

[hwes]

I went to bodyshop and started a brand new project, and went and looked at it straight away, didn't open it with anything, and it was already 512 by 512. So... it's bodyshop that is doing it. Help??!

[Mirelly]

Urr ... stay tuned ... (make sure you are subscribed to the thread) ... I'll put my thinking cap on (and play around with BS when I find the time)

Anyone else got any ideas?

[hwes]

I have uninstalled the sims, defragged the 'puter, reinstalled the sims, installed nightlife, and while doing that fixed the reflections in the game that didn't work before, and fixed (I hope) some jumpy-bug that my sims had in the custom neighbourhood, BUT... it didn't do anything to help with this problem. And that was a really long sentence.

[hwes]

*runs screaming into the thread* IT'S FIXED!!!! YAY!!!! *runs in circles screaming for many minutes, until she finally calms down enough to tell about it*
Was doing something completely different, and I found a thread which told about another thread, which fixed it!!!! I think this link is the right one;
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?p=1157535
Thanks for helping, Mirelly! *runs screaming out of the thread*

[Mirelly]

Nice one. Thanks for the link, hwes. This game doesn't half do some odd things, doesn't it? :rolleyes:

[KatAnubis]

*runs screaming into the thread* IT'S FIXED!!!! YAY!!!! *runs in circles screaming for many minutes, until she finally calms down enough to tell about it*
Was doing something completely different, and I found a thread which told about another thread, which fixed it!!!! I think this link is the right one;
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?p=1157535
Thanks for helping, Mirelly! *runs screaming out of the thread*

From what I can tell, this happens because of lower ability videocards. It's something that we have run into since we only had downloadable BodyShop (before TS2 came out.) Thanks for putting the link here to make it easier to find.

[AmirYeah!]

I had the same problem...
After reading ALL of the replies, I fixed the problem by choosing the Resize option under Image (Using Corel Paint Shop Pro X). I changed the measures to 1024x1024 pixels and the problem solved!!
Try doing that, it might help.:o

[Dirty_Pop]

I have the same problem, whenever I modify a piece, clothes or hair, on the game it becomes pixelly. I use Jasc Paint Shop Pro IX.

[Mirelly]

Do us a favour, Pop, and don't resurrect old threads. If you have the same problem then the same fix (as described above) will fix it. If that doesn't work start a new thread explaining what is happening.