Common Problems & Helpful Threads : *READ BEFORE POSTING!*

• Specular is normally responsible for the shine. Even if the specular was done correctly, the creator may have attached an incorrect specular mask.
  
• See this S4S tutorial to familiarize yourself with speculars
• If your shine has a yellow/blue/green hue, it may also be a bump map problem (missing alpha or incorrect size), see this S4S tutorial to familiarize yourself with bump maps
  

• You might be seeing the original bump map/specular over the new texture
• See this S4S post
• Important - Make sure you smooth out the alpha channel as well!
  

• At first glance it might look like the texture isn’t lined up correctly but often times it’s because you have overlapping vertices. All you need to do is remove doubles
• See this picture for reference (Make sure you’re in edit mode and have your object selected)
  
• See this blender tutorial (I leave the “merged distance” alone)

• You need to make sure that ALL of the LODs under the "Mesh" tab in S4S have been replaced
• See this photo for reference (All 6 of these slots need to be replaced).

• See this S4S tutorial on how to edit shadows.
  

• You can move things around under S4S’s “tag” tab
• See this photo for reference. Doesn't get any easier than that!

• Incorrect alpha or missing alpha
• Correct compression format is dxt5 argb 8bpp | interpolated alpha
  

• Make sure your .dds is the correct size and have mip-maps checked
• Your textures must retain the multiple of 2 ratio, so this means your textures can be 256 x 512, 512 x 1024, etc.

• Could be a variety of things. Check the cut number, or make sure you have assigned bones correctly

10. How do I recolour CC without including the mesh as per original creator's wishes?

• "Create CAS Standalone" option does not copy mesh data, therefore your recolour would require the original mesh to work in the game. See this S4S tutorial.
  

11. I recoloured someone else's CC but in the game there is no thumbnail and the item is invisible/sim is missing body parts

• You need to have the original mesh in the game for the recolours to work because S4S does not carry over mesh data when you recolour a piece of CC
  

• You need to clone the item you want to create standalone recolours for, including existing CC
• If you open up the item through "My Projects", you will be editing the original. See this S4S tutorial

• The game doesn't recognize the texture
• This can be caused by a missing spec/bump, wrong texture size, or an unwanted alpha
  

• That is the default texture on the model, they will be gone in the game (brujah created a set of replacement skins here)

• The original creator carelessly/accidentally enabled the garment for Nude
• You could ask them to fix it, or you could fix it for your personal use with the help of recategorization. See question 6
  
• If you have correctly tagged the item and it is still showing up as a default garment or when the Sim is supposed to be nude make sure that all swatches have the DefaultForBodyType box in the CASPart unchecked:

• See this S4S tutorial

• When "Remove Doubles" action is taken, parts of your mesh may become extra "glossy". You can fix this by splitting edges on the affected area(s). See this S4S tutorial

• You may need to change the "sort layer". This is done through the warehouse on each "CAS part". See this S4S thread

• Clear the thumb cache (localthumbcache located in the TS4 folder)

• Take a look at this thread, and this S4S tutorial

• Can't import the second meshgroup - add new geometry to LODs in CAS Part first, then re-import the blend file ( step 5 );
  
• Rendering issue in-game ( triangles ) - need to layer the mesh;
  
• The transparent meshgroup displays skin texture instead of being see-through - move the meshgroup's UVs in the extra space in the bottom-right corner, away from the body UVs. Use this template as a guide.
  

• Dxt1- No alpha should be used for objects that have no transparency. 

• Dxt5 - Interpolated alpha should be used for objects that require transparency.  

• If you’re using the latest version of studio, you can just save as a .png. Note that if you are saving as a .png, and the item is not supposed to have transparency, you need to create a new layer under your image and completely fill that layer so that there is no part of the image that is uncovered by texture.  If you do not do this your .png will be saved with transparency and it will look wrong in the game.  Conversely, if your .png does require transparency you need to be sure that some small part of the image is not covered by texture or else it will be saved without transparency and it will look wrong in the game. 
  
  

• Ex: 64px, 128px, 256px, 512px, and 1024px 

• It can either be a square or rectangle but it has to use the numbers listed above. 
  
  

• Make sure your Map fits the texture! 
  
  1. You can view your texture in blender by going into edit mode - Select All (hit a) - and browse images
  2. If you don’t see your texture, go into the image tab - open image.
  3. Tip: Use the UV selection sync to view your entire map at all times while in edit mode. This should make it easier to edit your map
  4. You want to make sure that you allow for some space around your uv islands.

        
                

                

                

• Make sure you only have one uv map.  
  
  
  • This is important for people who frankenmesh.
  • When you append a mesh, it will bring over all of its properties including the uv map. In order for your newly joined mesh to properly share the same texture, you need to make sure that all the uv maps have the same name BEFORE you join. If you don’t, blender will keep the maps even after the meshes are joined. This can cause the game to read the wrong map.
    
  • If you find yourself with more than one uv map, you can simply remove the ones that you don’t want.