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This guide covers retexturing – painting a new outfit onto an existing body mesh. You paint a new texture in GIMP, then use The Sims Creator (TSC) to generate the companion files the game needs. No 3D modelling required. For background on how clothing files work, filenames, body types, and the xskin chain, see the Clothing Overview. For a full reference of all file types and naming segments, see the File Reference page.
Getting the Tools Working
Legacy Collection needs a registry fix before old Maxis tools will run
The same registry fix described on the Clothing Overview – Getting Tools Working section applies here. If you have already completed that setup (via the Feraligatr installer or manually), everything you need for clothing retexturing is already installed.
.CMX and .SKN companion files the game needs, and export finished outfits. Installed via the Feraligatr installer or from the Internet Archive.GameData\Skins\, so you may not need this.Getting Your Starting Files
Three ways to get a body BMP to paint over – pick the one that fits your goal
Before painting anything, you need a base body BMP to work from. Never start from a blank canvas – you need the UV layout from a real body file so your painting lands on the correct parts of the 3D mesh. A blank canvas would look correct in GIMP but would be randomly misaligned on the Sim in game.
Path A: Copy a Maxis body file
Simplest
Best for: recolouring an existing outfit (e.g. making a blue dress from a red dress).
Navigate to your Skins folder
Open GameData\Skins\ inside your Sims Legacy Collection install folder. On Steam, the typical path is:C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims Legacy Collection\GameData\Skins
On the EA App, the folder is usually under C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims Legacy Collection\GameData\Skins – but check where the EA App installed your game if you are not sure.
Find body files (B-prefix)
Look for BMP files whose names start with B. The filename tells you exactly what the file is.
Example: B300FAFitlgt_redskirt.bmp
B– Body (everyday clothing)300– mesh numberF– femaleA– adultFit– fit body typelgt– light skin tone_redskirt– identifier
There will be many files in this folder. You can sort A–Z to group all B-prefix files together, or type B*.bmp in the Windows search bar to filter just the body BMPs. For a full breakdown of all filename segments, see the File Reference page.
Copy (do not move) the file to a working folder
Pick the outfit you want to repaint. In Windows File Explorer, right-click on the BMP file and select Copy. Then navigate to a working folder on your desktop (for example, create a new folder called ClothingProject on your desktop), right-click inside that folder and select Paste. Never edit original game files directly – always work on a copy.
Open the copy in GIMP
In your working folder, right-click on the copied BMP file and select Open With → GIMP. If GIMP is not listed, select Choose another app and browse to GIMP. The image is 256×256 pixels. To zoom in so it fills the screen, go to View → Zoom → Fit Image in Window (or press Shift+Ctrl+J).
Path B: Export a template from The Sims Creator
Recommended
Best for: creating a new outfit that needs fresh CMX and SKN files generated alongside it. TSC lets you see a live 3D preview of your texture on the actual body mesh while you paint.
Open The Sims Creator
Launch TSC. The main screen lets you select the head and body for your Sim, and change age, gender, and skin tone. A 3D preview window shows your Sim from different angles.
Select a body mesh
On the main screen, browse the available body options. Choose the body type that matches what you want to make (female adult fit, male adult skinny, etc.). The body mesh you select here determines which 3D shape your texture will wrap around.
Open the Paint tool
Click the Paint button from the main menu. TSC opens a painting view where you can paint in either 2D flat view or directly on the 3D model. The tool panel at the bottom of the screen has brushes, colours, and textures for basic changes.
For more detailed painting (layers, precise selections, hue shifting), you will want to work in GIMP instead. See the GIMP Basics section below. TSC and GIMP work well together – you can do rough changes in TSC's 3D view and fine work in GIMP.
Save your skin
When done painting in TSC, click Done to return to the main screen. Click Save, give your skin a name, and TSC saves the BMP, CMX, and SKN files directly into your GameData\Skins\ folder.
Path C: Use another creator’s mesh
Advanced
Best for: painting a skin for a custom body mesh that another creator has already made and released. Many creators share their meshes specifically so that other people can paint new skins for them. You supply the BMP texture; the creator’s mesh files (CMX + SKN) go in your GameData\Skins\ folder alongside it.
GameData\Skins\ with your BMP – do not redistribute the mesh files separately without permission.Where to find meshes and skins from other creators: SimFreaks (simfreaks.com) has an archive of community meshes. Many of the active CC sites listed on the Mod Download Sites page also host custom body skins that include their mesh files.
TSC Sim Wardrobe
A quick way to change clothing without touching a separate image editor
TSC has a dedicated Wardrobe section that lets you dress and undress your Sim, layer clothing items, and import custom image files directly onto the body without leaving the tool. It is a good starting point for simple changes, but GIMP gives you more control for detailed work.
Access the Wardrobe
From the TSC main screen, click Sim Wardrobe. This section shows your Sim with their current clothing and gives you options for changing it.
Dress and undress
Click Undress to strip the Sim back to their base body, or browse clothing items from the list to add outfits. You can layer multiple clothing items on top of each other by selecting more than one garment. This is TSC's intended workflow for mixing existing Maxis clothing.
Import a custom texture with Load Texture
Click the Load Texture button to import your own image file and apply it to the body. This is useful for quickly previewing a texture you have painted externally. TSC accepts .png, .jpg, .tga, .bmp, and .tif files. For best results, the file should be 8-bit (256 colours) – a full-colour image can be imported but may lose accuracy when the game converts it.
Add a logo or graphic with Add Logo
Click Add Logo to open the Logo Selector screen. This lets you place a logo or graphic image onto the Sim's clothing in the 2D view, and see how it looks on the 3D model. You can choose from TSC's included logos or click Load Logo to import your own graphic. Accepted formats are the same: .png, .jpg, .tga, .bmp, and .tif.
GIMP Basics for Bodies
The specific GIMP skills you need for body skin editing – nothing more
You do not need to learn all of GIMP. For body skin editing you need exactly five things:
- How to switch colour modes
- How to use layers
- How to pick colours from the image
- How to paint
- How to select areas
Each one is explained below in the order you will use them.
Body skin BMPs are 256×256 pixels – four times the area of a 128×128 head texture. This means you can use slightly larger brush sizes and see more detail while painting, but the core workflow is the same.
1. Switching colour modes (Indexed ↔ RGB)
Sims 1 body BMPs are saved in Indexed colour mode – a fixed palette of 256 colours maximum. When you open one in GIMP, the title bar will say “(indexed)” after the filename. In Indexed mode, GIMP restricts you to only the colours already in that palette, so you cannot freely pick new colours to paint with. The first thing to do is switch to RGB mode.
Switch to RGB mode
Go to Image → Mode → RGB. The title bar changes from “(indexed)” to “(RGB)”. You can now paint with any colour you want.
2. What layers are and why you need them
A layer is like a transparent sheet of paper stacked on top of your image. You paint on the sheet without changing anything underneath. If you make a mistake, delete the layer and the original image is untouched.
Create a new layer
Go to Layer → New Layer (or press Shift+Ctrl+N). In the dialog that appears, set “Fill with” to Transparency. Click OK. You now have a blank transparent layer sitting above your body texture.
Check you are on the right layer
Look at the Layers panel on the right side of GIMP. If you cannot see it, go to Windows → Dockable Dialogs → Layers. You will see your new transparent layer on top and the original BMP below it. Click a layer name to make it active. The highlighted layer is the one your brush paints on.
3. Picking colours from the image
Instead of guessing what colour to use, pick colours directly from the existing body texture to match skin tones and existing clothing colours exactly.
Select the Color Picker tool
Press O on your keyboard (the letter O), or click the eyedropper icon in the toolbox. Click on any pixel in the image. The colour of that pixel becomes your active foreground colour, shown in the colour swatch at the bottom of the toolbox. You can then switch to the Paintbrush and paint with that exact colour.
4. Painting with the Paintbrush
Select the Paintbrush tool
Press P on your keyboard, or click the paintbrush icon in the toolbox. The foreground colour swatch at the bottom of the toolbox shows what colour your brush will paint with.
Adjust the brush size
In the tool options panel below the toolbox, look for the Size slider. For a 256×256 body texture, you can use larger brushes than for head textures: 5–20 pixels for detail work (seams, edges), 30–60 for larger areas (torso fill, trouser legs). Use the [ and ] bracket keys to make the brush smaller or larger quickly.
Paint on the canvas
Click and drag to paint. Press Ctrl+Z to undo your last stroke. Use the Eraser tool (press E) to erase parts of a layer without affecting the original image underneath.
5. Selecting areas (for recolouring)
To change the colour of all the clothing fabric at once rather than painting pixel by pixel, select the area first, then fill or adjust the colour in one go.
Select By Color
Select → By Color (or press Shift+O), then click on the clothing colour in the image. GIMP selects every pixel matching that colour – you will see a dotted “marching ants” outline around the selection. Adjust the Threshold value in the tool options panel if it is selecting too much or too little (higher = more similar shades included).
Fill with a new colour
Pick your new colour from the colour chooser or use the Color Picker on a reference image. Then go to Edit → Fill with Foreground Color (or press Alt+Backspace). Only the selected area gets filled.
Remove the selection
Select → None (or press Shift+Ctrl+A) to deselect the marching ants when you are done.
Painting the Body Texture
Understanding the UV layout – why the flat image looks the way it does
How the body is laid out on the 256×256 canvas
The flat BMP is not a front-on photograph of the Sim. The body parts are “unfolded” and arranged across the 256×256 square so the game engine can wrap them back onto the 3D mesh. This unfolding is called the UV layout. When you start from a Maxis BMP, the UV layout is already correct – that is the main reason you never start from a blank canvas.
The approximate layout for a standard adult body skin:
- The front torso (chest and stomach) sits in the centre of the image.
- The arms run as horizontal strips to the left and right of the torso.
- The legs are arranged at the bottom of the image.
- The back torso sits near the front torso, often directly above or beside it.
- Not every pixel in the 256×256 square is used – there is some blank dead space.
Seam matching
Where two body parts meet on the 3D mesh (for example, where the arm connects to the torso, or where the leg meets the hip), the edge pixels of those two areas on the flat BMP must match in colour. If they do not match, you will see a visible seam line on the Sim in game.
Zoom in on the boundary areas
In GIMP, press + or use View → Zoom In to zoom to 200% or 400% around the edges where body parts join. The seam areas are usually at the borders of the arm strips and the top of the leg area.
Sample the colour from the adjacent part
Use the Color Picker tool (press O) to sample the exact colour of the edge pixel on one side, then paint that same colour on the matching edge pixel on the other side. A few pixels of matching colour at the join is usually enough to prevent a visible seam.
The actual painting process
Study the original first
Before painting anything, zoom in and look at the existing texture carefully. Notice where the top ends and the trousers begin, where the skin areas (arms, neck) are, and where each body part is positioned on the canvas. If you can, compare the flat BMP against a screenshot of the outfit on a Sim in game.
Create a working layer
Layer → New Layer → Fill with: Transparency → OK. Paint on this new layer. The original body texture stays safe on the layer underneath.
Paint the clothing areas
Use Select By Color (Shift+O) to select the areas of clothing fabric you want to change, then fill with your new colour. Or use the Paintbrush for hand-painted detail. For completely different colours or patterns, painting on the new layer gives you the most flexibility – you can erase and redo without touching the original.
Keep skin areas correctly toned
The skin areas visible on the body (arms, neck, any bare skin) must match the skin tone suffix in the filename. A light-tone BMP (lgt) needs a light skin colour painted in those areas. See the Skin Tone Variants section below.
Flatten the image
When you are happy with the result, go to Image → Flatten Image to merge all layers into one. Before flattening, consider saving a layered backup first: File → Export As → save as .xcf (GIMP's own format). You can reopen an XCF later and still have all the layers to edit.
Making Skin Tone Variants
Why you need three files and how to make them efficiently
If your outfit has any visible skin areas (bare arms, legs, or neck), you need three separate BMP files – one for light (lgt), one for medium (med), and one for dark (drk) skin tones. The clothing areas (the actual fabric) stay identical across all three files. Only the skin-coloured areas change between them.
The most efficient workflow is to finish the light skin version completely first, then create the medium and dark versions by adjusting only the skin areas.
Finish the light skin version first
Complete all your painting on the lgt file, including all skin areas using a light skin tone. Flatten the image. This is your reference for the other two.
Open a Maxis medium-tone body BMP
Find any existing Maxis body BMP with med in the filename (for example, any B-prefix file ending in med_somename.bmp) and open it in a second GIMP window. This gives you the exact medium skin tone colours to sample from.
Sample the medium skin tone
Use the Color Picker (press O) to click on the skin area in the Maxis medium-tone BMP. The sampled colour becomes your foreground colour.
Make a copy for the medium version
Switch back to your finished light version. Save a copy of the file with med in the filename instead of lgt (using File → Export As). Open that copy in GIMP. Switch to RGB mode again (Image → Mode → RGB).
Repaint only the skin areas
Use Select By Color (Shift+O) to select the skin-coloured areas in your medium copy. Fill them with the sampled medium skin tone colour. Clothing stays untouched. Flatten and convert to Indexed BMP (see the next section).
Repeat for the dark skin version
Repeat the process using a Maxis dark-tone BMP to sample the correct dark skin colour. Save with drk in the filename.
lgt file twice and rename the copies to med and drk. The game still needs all three files to exist, even if they are identical.Converting to Indexed BMP
The critical final step before the game can use your file
Flatten the image
Go to Image → Flatten Image. This merges all layers into a single layer. If you have not already saved a layered XCF backup, do that first.
Convert to Indexed mode
Go to Image → Mode → Indexed. A dialog appears. Set Maximum number of colours to 255 (not 256 – one slot is reserved). Leave the other settings at their defaults. Click Convert.
Export as BMP (not Save)
Go to File → Export As. In the file browser, navigate to where you want to save the file and type the filename with the .bmp extension. Click Export. A BMP options dialog may appear – click Export again to accept the defaults. Do not use File → Save – that saves a GIMP XCF file, not a BMP.
lgt, med, or drk) must match the actual skin colour painted in the file. See the Filename Format on the Clothing Overview for the full format breakdown.Getting It Into the Game
Generating the companion files and testing your outfit
Displaying a custom outfit requires three file types: BMP textures (one per skin tone), a CMX config file, and an SKN mesh file – five files in total. You have painted the three BMP files. TSC generates the CMX and SKN.
Open TSC and select the matching body mesh
Launch TSC. On the main screen, select the same body mesh type that your BMP was painted for (female adult skinny, male adult fit, etc.).
Import your light-tone BMP via Wardrobe
Use the Wardrobe Load Texture button to import your light skin tone BMP. TSC displays your texture on the 3D preview model.
Save to generate CMX and SKN
Click Save on the main screen. Give your skin a name – this becomes the identifier in all the filenames. TSC saves the light-tone BMP and generates a CMX and SKN file alongside it, all into GameData\Skins\. Then manually copy your medium and dark skin tone BMPs into the same folder – TSC does not generate these.
Verify the files are in the right place
Navigate to GameData\Skins\ and confirm all five files are present: three BMPs (lgt, med, drk), one CMX, and one SKN. All five must be in the root of the Skins folder – not in any subfolder. The game does not scan subfolders.
Test in game
Launch the game and open the Create-A-Sim screen (buy a new Sim from the catalogue, or use an existing household). Your outfit should appear in the dresser under everyday clothing. If it does not appear, see the Common Mistakes table on the Clothing Overview, or the CC Troubleshooting page.
GameData\Skins\ directly with your new versions, keeping the same filenames. The game will use the new textures the next time it loads. You do not need to run TSC again if the mesh (CMX and SKN) has not changed.Other Outfit Categories
The B prefix covers everyday wear only – other categories work the same way but use different prefixes and folders
Everything in this guide so far has focused on everyday body skins (B prefix), which appear in the home dresser. The Legacy Collection also includes sleepwear, formal wear, swimwear, winterwear, and high fashion categories – all introduced by Hot Date and later expansions.
The painting process is identical for all categories. Only two things change between them:
GameData\Skins\. Appears in the home dresser and Create-A-Sim. This is what all the steps in this guide have covered.ExpansionShared\SkinsBuy\ instead. Appears on clothing racks at community shopping lots – your Sim must visit a shop to buy it. The painting process is identical.For the full list of prefixes, what each category is called, and which expansion introduced it, see the File Reference – Skin Prefixes page.
Editing CMX Files
Duplicating, renaming, and reusing skins across categories
A CMX file is what links a skin texture to a 3D mesh. It is a plain text file – nothing special about it – which means you can open it in Notepad and edit it directly. Knowing how to do this opens up a lot of options: sharing a mesh between several outfits, moving an outfit from a shop to the home dresser (or the other way round), or attaching something like glasses or a hat to an existing skin without touching the 3D model.
What a CMX looks like
Open any CMX in Notepad and you see around a dozen lines of text. Most of them are structural and the same for every CMX – only two actually need editing:
The two starred lines are the ones you change. The line holding the CMX’s own name has to match the filename on disk exactly – if it does not, the game ignores the file without any error. The line holding the mesh name tells the game which SKN to load; pointing it at a different SKN makes the skin use a different mesh.
How filenames connect up
Once you understand how the game matches files to each other, most CMX editing follows on naturally. The rule is:
- The first part of a skin BMP’s filename – up to and including the body code and skin tone – is what the game matches against a CMX. In
B001FAFitlgt_MyOutfit.bmp, the matching part isB001FAFit. The skin tonelgtlives only in the BMP filename, not in the CMX. - Anything after the underscore is a label you choose. It lets you have many different skins that all use the same CMX, or many different CMX files for the same body type.
- A CMX named
B001FAFit_01.cmxwill serve any BMP whose filename starts withB001FAFit– all three skin tones, as many different labels as you like. You only need a separate CMX when you want something specifically different (like a different mesh, or different accessories attached).
N (nude) can point at a mesh whose filename starts with B (body). This is how custom body types stay out of the wardrobe – the skin and CMX use a non-B prefix so the game does not treat them as outfits, but both still reference a working B-prefix mesh. Worth knowing but rarely needed for ordinary outfit-making.Use case 1: Using a mesh for a second skin with different accessories
If you just want a second skin that uses the same mesh, you do not need a new CMX at all – the existing one already handles any BMP whose filename starts with the matching code. A new CMX is only necessary when the second skin needs something the first one does not, like a hat or glasses attached via the CMX. In that case:
Copy the CMX file
In GameData\Skins\, right-click the CMX, choose Copy, then Paste into the same folder. Windows will add “- Copy” to the filename.
Rename the copy
Change the filename so that the body-code part still matches your new skin’s BMP, but with a different label after the underscore. For example B001FAFit_MyHatted.cmx.
Update the name inside the file
Open the copy in Notepad. Change the self-reference line so it matches the new filename (without the .cmx extension). Leave the mesh line alone – you still want to use the same mesh.
Save with Windows line endings
Save as plain text – ANSI or Windows-1252 encoding. Line endings need to be Windows-style (CR+LF), which is the default on Windows Notepad. Avoid Unicode, UTF-8 with BOM, or Mac/Unix line endings.
Use case 2: Moving an outfit from a clothing shop to the home dresser
Buyable clothing (formal, swim, sleepwear, winter, high fashion) lives in ExpansionShared\SkinsBuy\ and starts with the appropriate prefix letter. To make one available as everyday clothing in the home dresser, you need a parallel set of files with a B prefix in GameData\Skins\. The proper way is to rename every file in the set so the prefix letter is consistent across them, and update what is inside the CMX and SKN to match.
Copy the whole set to your work area
Take the BMPs (one per skin tone), the CMX, and the SKN from ExpansionShared\SkinsBuy\ and copy them to a temporary folder on your desktop. Work from the copies – leave the originals in place.
Rename every file so the prefix is B
Change the first letter of every filename from whatever it was (F, L, S, W, or H) to B. Keep everything else identical. Example: F042FAFitlgt_BlackDress.bmp becomes B042FAFitlgt_BlackDress.bmp. Do the same for the CMX, and for the SKN (the xskin- part stays; the letter after it changes).
Update the CMX content
Open the renamed CMX in Notepad. The self-reference line needs to match the new CMX filename. The mesh line needs to match the new SKN filename. Both without extensions. Save.
Update the SKN content
Open the renamed SKN in Notepad. The first line is the SKN’s self-reference – update it to the new filename (without .skn). Do not touch any other line – the rest is mesh geometry. Save.
Drop the renamed set into the everyday skins folder
Move the renamed files to GameData\Skins\. The outfit now appears in the home dresser alongside your regular clothing.
There is a shortcut where you write only a new CMX (keeping the original SKN filename) and let the game find the mesh through the CMX’s mesh-name line. It sometimes works, but the prefixes and body codes have to agree in ways that are not always predictable. The full rename above is more work for one outfit but it fails in fewer unexpected ways.
Use case 3: Keeping the outfit available in both places at once
If you want a buyable outfit to also appear in the everyday dresser without losing it from the shop, do the Use Case 2 rename but on copies, leaving the originals untouched in their buyable folder. You end up with two parallel sets: the original buyable set with its original prefix in ExpansionShared\SkinsBuy\, and a B-prefix copy in GameData\Skins\. The game treats them as two separate outfits.
Use case 4: Attaching an accessory to an outfit
An accessory (glasses, hat, hair piece) is a separate mesh that the CMX tells the game to load on top of the body mesh. Each accessory adds four lines to the CMX and increases the mesh count on line 8 by one. The structure for each accessory is: a body part to attach to, the mesh name (without extension), and two 0 lines.
Adding a pair of spectacles to a body CMX looks like this:
Where you attach the accessory matters. Adding it to the body CMX means it comes and goes when the Sim changes clothes – the spectacles appear only with that specific outfit. Adding it to the head CMX instead makes it a permanent part of the Sim regardless of outfit – useful for extra hair meshes, for example, but overkill if you want the accessory to come off when the Sim changes clothes.
When a mesh silently fails to appear
If a Sim shows up with no body, no head, or floating hands instead of a full figure after you have edited the CMX, the mesh file exists and the CMX is being read – but something inside the files is wrong enough that the game gives up on the mesh without crashing. This is usually down to one of three specific causes in the SKN or the FAR packaging, covered in the Sim Appears Headless, Bodyless, or With Floating Hands section of the CC Troubleshooting page.
Optional Matching Textures
How the game links hands and other skins to your outfit using the end-tag
The game uses the end-tag – the part after the underscore in the filename – to link related textures together. If two skins share the same end-tag, the game treats them as a set and uses them together when your Sim changes clothes.
For example, if your body skin is B300FAFitlgt_MyOutfit.bmp, you can optionally create matching hand textures that the game will use when your Sim is wearing this outfit. All matching textures must use the same end-tag (_MyOutfit) and the same skin tone suffix.
Hand textures
Hand textures are 64×64 pixels (not 256×256 like body skins) and go in the same GameData\Skins\ folder. The Maxis filename specification defines three gestures for hands – Open (letter O in the filename), Closed (C) and Pointed (P). If you omit any of them, the game uses the default Maxis hand for that gesture.
| Filename | Gesture |
|---|---|
HUAOlgt_MyOutfit.bmp | Open (O) |
HUAClgt_MyOutfit.bmp | Closed (C) |
HUAPlgt_MyOutfit.bmp | Pointed (P) |
Replace lgt with med or drk for the other skin tones. For a full breakdown of the hand filename format, see the File Reference page.