Sims Talk: Guitar Recolours

[strangetomato]

Do you remember how I was whining about the loss of my custom instruments hack a while back? The hack didn't work with the hobby enthusiasm in FreeTime, and it's unlikely to be updated, so adding FT made it necessary for me to remove my custom instruments from the game.

Anyway, there is good news! nessa_seragon has brought it to my attention that it IS in fact possible to recolour the guitars, but the options just don't show up in the buy menu. You have to access them with the Design Tool option. Let's take a look at this, shall we?

To recolour the guitars, we need to use the Design Tool. Now, this is something that I'm ashamed to admit that I have never even noticed before, and have therefore never used it. Yes, I have sold objects to buy them again in other colours... like a FOOL! Has everyone else been using this Design Tool thing? Why was I so in the dark about this?

Yeah, go ahead. Have a little laugh at how clueless I am, and then we'll move on.




So, with the Design Tool selected, we can click on the guitar and voila (or is that "wella"?) - we have recolours. There are two other Maxis options, but they are so similar I can barely see the point in including them (all are natural wood finishes, which is nice, but I desire different colours). We can now also use cc recolours. Hooray!

I downloaded these 21 Guitar Recolors by Irv the Mongral (not all 21, though - some of them, like the yellow and cobalt blue, were not to my tastes). These were the only really decent guitar recolours at MTS2, but there may be others at different sites. I'll have to look around.




This one looks something like the Daisy Rock guitar that I previously used for Jaxy. It's close enough, and the colours are right, so that's good enough for me.




And here's a white one for Ripp. Clean and classy, just like Buck would have picked out.

Well, I'm happy. *grins*

Thank you for pointing this out, nessa_seragon. You rock!

Comments

[sofieamalien.livejournal.com]

Cool!

I knew about the design tool, but not about the hidden guitar recolors! :D

Congrat for finding out. Please give Ripp the coolest one, kk?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you can only see the recolours using the design tool. Isn't that odd? It's just a little issue that they never bothered to fix in a patch or with an new EP. It probably wouldn't even be hard to fix.

Well, Ripp has always had a white guitar, so that's what he'll be getting again. I think it's pretty cool. I've always liked lighter guitars like that. The guitarist in my SO's band has a light turquoise one that's super cool.

[sofieamalien.livejournal.com]

I never thought about what guitar colour I prefered... lol! :D And I actually didn't notice that Ripp's guitar was white *feels like a lousy fan*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

My knowledge of what makes a cool guitar is pretty limited to colour and design details only. I know very little about musical instruments. I love music, but I really can't play anything (or sing, really).

What a bad fan you are. *snicker* That's a pretty tiny detail to remember, so I'll have to forgive you. ;)

[dothesmustle.livejournal.com]

OH! Yes, this is wonderful. I only found out about the hack after I installed FreeTime, so now I get to see the pretty custom guitars.

*resists urge to play and see the colorful guitars*

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Actually... sorry to disappoint, but these are not the same guitars as the ones you can get with the custom instruments hack. They're the same shape as the original with different colours. The hack gave you different shapes too.

[dothesmustle.livejournal.com]

Oh, haha. I should have read the entry more carefully. I didn't even know it offered custom shapes.

I wish I found out about the hack earlier, though. Maxis should have designed more guitars, or atleast have guitar recolors, like drum set has recolors.

The drum sets do have recolors if I remember correctly? I hope I didn't make that up. XD

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

You're almost as bad as me. I'm terrible for skimming over things (I blame my short attention span). I have to really force myself to slow down and pay attention to things, so I won't miss anything.

I agree. One type of guitar is not enough. Who not give us an acoustic guitar too? Or a normal electric base? I could go on and on about that. I was expecting more from FT, where instruments were concerned. Like, how about a microphone, so someone can be a solo vocalist? That's a major omission to me. All we have is a karaoke machine and freestyling, which is a very specific type of singing. I don't understand why that's never been included. I was pleased about the violin, but that just makes me want to see a saxophone and others things too.

Yeah, there are four options for the body of the drums, and four colours for the front of the bass drum, if I recall correctly.

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

Well, there is gonna be a microphone in the new (last?) EP, Appartment Life.

According to the screenshots (and a couple videos) I've seen, the sims will now be able to sing (and maybe join a music group as a vocalist), recite poetry and perform stand up comedy (Man! that'd been perfect a few updates ago for me! :P).

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, really? That's great news. :) Thanks for sharing that. I'm really looking forward to that EP now. I've been wanting to see poetry readings for a while too. Now that will make for some excellent comedy. :P (I'm allowed to say that because I've actually participated in those most earnest of things. *blush*)

Yeah, you could have made great use of the stand up thing. :) Oh well... you'll have it for the future anyway.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

I knew about the design tool, but only because I was a nerd and bought the Prima guide when I first was playing the base game. :}

I'm going to have to download some of those guitar recolors now, though. I'm glad you've got Ripp's guitar back.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I AM a nerd! :P That's why I'm surprised that I didn't see it before. I only recently picked up the Prima Guides in that nifty paperback boxed set, and I haven't read the base game guide cover-to-cover yet. I wonder what else I might be missing out on?

That's a nice set for guitar recolours. You get options for a good selection of colours in different combinations. It should cover all of my guitar recolouring needs.

Well, Ripp's guitar will still have mysteriously changed shaped, but that's not as noticeable as a sudden unexplained change in colour (and I think that Jaxy would be pretty pissed off if they both had the same guitar).

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

Oh, so that's how you change the design of the guitar! I remember that the game had two other colors back when I only had University installed, but since I installed OFB and up I couldn't find them anymore. And I was seriously sick of the same old boring color all the time!

Thanks for the tip! I'm gonna try the design tool and see what other stuff can be re-designed with it.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

So that's when it changed. You'd think they would fix that in a patch or something. How lazy. Those two colours are still there, if you use the design tool, so it's nice to know.

You can make changes to any object that has recolours with that tool, and it costs 15 simoleans, which is a good deal when compared to the expense of buying a new object. It's pretty useful.

[simgarooop.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's amazing how the guys at EA tend to broke earlier functions when they come up with a new EP and rarely fix them! (And now that the patches like the latest Free Time will be infested with an agressive form of Suckurom, I'm afraid I won't install them at all :( ).

Man! I'd expect some sort of quality control in their headquarters or something!

It's also amazing how I never paid attention to the little tools in buy mode, like the design tool, the one "drop" one and the little hammer. Oh! and the one that lets you see the lot from up (bird's view, I think?) in an instant! :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'm always afraid to install patches. This last one doesn't seem to have borked as many games as the first one did, so maybe I will install it, once I find a new no-cd crack to go with it. I'm not risking SecurRom in any of its forms.

What's up with this new Super-SecurRom? Is it still possible to work around it with the no-cd things?

Yeah, I only picked up on the sledgehammer recently. It's useful for quick deletions. There are a lot of useful little features there, if you take the time to explore them. I still have a lot of game features to figure out, it seems. :) There's always something new to learn.

[uber-orange.livejournal.com]

:o the bubble blower has hidden pillow colors too. You can switch them around to your desire x3 pink, blue, yellow and green, and they are colored individually as well. I was so excited when I found that out.

I knew about the guitar thing for a while. But it took me a while to find that out too. Possibly 2 months after actually owning the game.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Oh, how cool! Thanks for that tip. The bubble blowers will be much more customizable now.

Well, two months is better than a year and a half, isn't it? *snicker* I've seen that little button there, surely, but I've never bothered to try it out. I'm the same way with a lot of the build options. I have a lot to learn.

I LOVE your icon! :D Rock on, Mr. Humble.

[uber-orange.livejournal.com]

I tend to color them all different colors, then giggle whenever a supposedly manly guy sits on the pink one even though all the other colors are open. One must amuse ones self constantly while playing Sims. :D

The one I haven't used as of yet is the hammer tool. But I haven't really had any use for it yet either. Maybe I should download some furnished houses I want to un-furnish and try it out >D

Thanks :D I love his many expressions xD he just looks so utterly joyful to have delivered that computer.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

My Mr. Humble always looks extremely pizzed off when he brings my sims' computers. :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get the Angry!Humble a lot too. He makes me laugh. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

"One must amuse ones self constantly while playing Sims."

I full agree. :D

I've used the hammer tool. It's convenient and fun to just destroy everything with the hammer instead of deleting it. Seems therapeutic.

I've really grown to like Humble. His expressions are always amusing to me. I don't see that joyful one that much, though... mostly the one that's filled with hatred. :P He gets so angry about some of those deliveries. I guess he's just having a bad day, maybe?

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

I only found out about the design tool when I downloaded the invisible magisplay tray and the OMSP's. It's MUCH easier to place your sims on the tray and OMSP's (or whatever else you're placing) put them where you want them, and then use the design tool to make the tray and OMSP invisible. HOOBOY it has saved me many a headache! (There's nothing worse than fishing around for invisible things to grab and position, know what I mean?)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know... because I've been doing that. *smacks forehead* I think they even explain that in the tutorial, don't they? That's what I get for not reading all of the directions. (I have trouble asking for directions when I'm lost too. I'm a bit of a dude like that.)

In my defense, I've only used those OMSPs once or twice. *snicker*

[silentsteel.livejournal.com]

!!! Thank you! Damnit, I had no idea the design tool was there . . . *sheep* ^^;; eeheheheheheh . .

And thank you for the link to the recolors for the guitar too. :)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Well, I feel better knowing that I'm not the only one. It obviously can't be that easy to find. ;)

You're welcome. Those are nice recolours. The quality seems pretty consistent with the originals.

[franwi.livejournal.com]

Eeps. I always use that feature. Did I actually figure something out before I learned it from you? LOL. And that's a LOT of guitar recolors. Will there be a guitarist rock-off contest or something? Hmm, how many guitarists can you fit in one shot?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think everyone is ahead of me on this one. *snicker* It wouldn't be hard. Sometimes I'm so clueless about these things, and just don't bother to check out all the options.

I tend to go overboard with recolours. I like having them there, just in case. Maybe I should try to reorganize myself and just download things as need, but I usually decide what I want while browsing.

Well, I DO have a lot of musicians (and artists) in this story... it's not hard to see which types of hobbies I favour. ;)

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I didn't know the guitar had hidden recolors too! Why didn't they just put it like they did with the bass and the drums? Silly Maxis.

I'm glad your sims got their instruments back (or well, something close to them). I think I just might download that alternative recolors thing as well. After all, Ripp's star pupil Marina NEEDS a purple guitar.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Apparently, they were visible with University, but then they disappeared after OFB is installed (and maybe any EP after that too). Silly Maxis is right... why not just fix it?

Oooh, good idea. Marina does like purple, so that would suit her perfectly.

[indigoleo.livejournal.com]

Well I'll be damned....and I'll be checking that out soon, too!
I've used the design tool but I never thought to use it on the guitar since it seemed to be a one-color. I wonder if there's anything else like that in the game. You do realize that now I have to use the tool on everything to see if something else has hidden colors I didn't know about.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I also wonder if there are other hidden options like that. There are more options on the bubble blower, I've been told, so you never know what you might find if you look around with that tool.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

Hee hee. I knew about the design tool but it wasn't until a few months back that I "discovered" the eyedropper tool. When I had to match wall coverings, I would diligently scroll through every damn one and hold it up to see if it registered a price on an already covered wall.

So, your lack of observation does my heart good.

(so, now that you can have the custom colored guitars, will the band come back around, I always thought the lack of variety might have helped you decide to move on with the band storyline)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I remember you mentioning that about the eyedropper. You must have had such a difficult time before discovering that. I think I'm going to devote some time to reading through the basegame Prima guide to see if I'm missing out on any other basic functions of the game. You never know...

That wasn't the reason I decided to add this "breaking up the band" storyline. I've been planning that for a while. Still, the instrument thing helped with the timing (I also made it coincide with Gunnar's graduation, which is a logical time for him to decide to move on). I was really annoyed by that.

[80sfiend.livejournal.com]

I didn't know about the design tool either!!!! :O


That is really cool. :)

[nessa-seragon.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I could help.

Well, I noticed the design tool

[half-pace.livejournal.com]

But I didn't know what it did - so I left it alone for fear of things exploding.