If you have been playing The Sims since it was first released over 20 years ago (turning 21 in 2021, by the way), you probably remember iconic chequered floor tiles. Almost as iconic as Bella Goth’s red dress, those black and white tiles were what Sims aspired to before aspirations were a thing.
We are now seven years into The Sims 4 and yet there is still no floor tile that quite matches those plain, but perfect black and white squares from The Sims 1.
Sure, you can make your own black and white floor tiles from items in the game (which won’t even cost your Sims anything), but that might not work for all builds ? and it can take a bit of time to put together.
Luckily, as is always the case in The Sims, there is workaround for that. In this case, it’s not so much a workaround, but rather a DIY effort which will unlock a whole new world of possibilities once you realise just how easy it is to make your own CC.
Making Sims 4 CC floors with The Sims 4 Studio
You have probably heard of or even used The Sims 4 Studio before. It’s a piece of software which we could not live without.
Perhaps you have even read a few tutorials, but felt that all this making your own CC stuff just looked far too complicated.
Well, fellow Simmer, it is not. While this More Acceptable Floor Tile is not quite perfect yet, it was whipped up fairly quickly on a rainy Sunday afternoon when somebody (this writer) should have been doing other things.
It was also a welcome reminder of just how easy it is to do and just how much potential there is even for somebody like this writer who possesses absolutely no talent whatsoever.
If you prefer to just use other people’s content instead, then you can grab the tile over here on Sim File Share. There’s a slight clipping issue around the edges of the tile, but nothing overly offensive. You might even be able to fix it yourself.
Let’s start with the a key question which many players feel is what is preventing them from creating their own CC: editing software.
Do you need Photoshop to make Sims 4 CC?
The answer is absolutely not. While having more sophisticated editing software certainly helps (we use Affinity Photo, which is very similar to Photoshop but is only a once off fee, rather than a monthly bill), it is not a requirement for making Sims 4 CC. You can use freeware options like GIMP or even Paint. Yes, really.
In fact, this floor pattern, which you can download on Sims File Share if you like, was made using only Paint. Once you learn how easy it is, you might never use the in-game floors ever again.
Paint won’t be your best option if you want to do a recolour, but it will work if you are playing around with making some of your own patterns – which is far easier than it sounds. Ready? Let’s get started.
Make your own Sims 4 CC floors: TS4 Studio Quick tutorial
If you have not done so already, you obviously need to download and install The Sims 4 Studio. While our tutorial will help you through the basics, you might also want to opt for additional reading on TS4 Studio forums. There are many extremely helpful people who and existing tutorials that will help you through the process of more complicated creations.
Before you begin, it’s worth creating a folder for your supplies and creations. Like a little craft nook right on your desktop. It’s not necessary, but it will help with organising stuff.
Our tutorial will only focus on the most basic way of making your own floor CC for The Sims 4 and this tutorial is specifically for floor tiles ? although a similar process is followed for almost all recolours. Our tutorial will not cover how to use photo-editing software, though – there are simply too many options. But, as you’ll discover, you might not even need it.
Sims 4 Studio: Floor tile CC basic tutorial
Open The Sims 4 Studio and underneath Build, select Standalone Recolour from the welcome screen. Change Type to Floor and from here you can pretty much select any tile you want. More technical options include creating your package from scratch, but we?re not that technical.
Select any tile and then click next at the bottom of the screen. You?ll be prompted to name and save your file. Name the file something you?ll remember ? or whatever you want to call it in-game (you?ll still have to add that officially later on) – and save it to that craft folder you created earlier.
The file will open automatically in The Sims 4 Studio. The tabs on the right are where the magic happens. The Catalog tab lets you set the name (what you see in-game), description and the price. If you want to create zero-cost floor tiles for Rags to Riches challenges, we are not here to bestow judgment.
You can come back to the Catalog tab to fine-tune those details later on. For now, we will work with the Texture tab. Here you?ll see a bunch of options, but the most important is the ?Texture? panel with Diffuse, Normal and Specular.
Diffuse is the part you want to change to whatever it is you want your floor tiles to be. If you want to simply recolour using photo editing software, you can select Diffuse and then click Export. You?ll be promoted to save the PNG file texture? see why that craft folder might be useful?
After saving, and if you are doing a recolour, you can open the PNG in your preferred software and adjust it accordingly. Save it once you?re done and then simply ?Import? it from the texture panel in The Sims 4 Studio again.
If you didn’t do so earlier, head back over to the Catalog tab and add details like name, description and price. You can also the Tags tab to select the categories in which your newly created Sims 4 CC floor tile will appear when using the search filters.
Then hit save and you’re all done. Move the package file over to your mods folder and you should see it in your game – remember to turn on mods and CC if you have never used any CC before.
Creating Sims 4 CC tiles without recolouring or photo editing
The alternative to recolouring is to simply use an existing pattern. There are many sites with free resources from where you can import floor tiles and patterns. Raw Pixel is one great example ? and also happens to be where we got our ?Paint? tutorial tile showcased above from.
For this method, find an image of the floor tile you want to use and save it to your craft folder. You’ll need to resize it to be 512×512 and in a PNG format. Follow all of the steps above, but skip the export step and go straight to import – importing the tile pattern you downloaded and resized. And then proceed as normal.
Keep in mind that if you use a square pattern floor tile – whether that’s through your own creation or downloading a texture, you need to make sure that final colour is different to the one at the start – or you might end up with rectangles rather than squares when tiling a large area – as you can see below.
If that is the look you are going for, though, go wild. You do you, this is The Sims… you can do whatever you want to do.
How to recolour Sims 4 items using photo editing software
If you want to use the recolour option for your floors and you’re not that familiar with photo editing software, the video below form Illogical Sims is a useful starting point. They use freeware, so don’t worry if you do not have Photoshop.
We hope this basic tutorial helps you add your own special touches to The Sims 4. If you have the Adventurous Trait, you go ahead and give recolouring walls a try, too. Objects are slightly more challenging – as you’ll see in the video above – but every day is a school day.
This article was updated on 4 February to correct a typo in the sentence which now reads: Perhaps you have even read a few tutorials, but felt that all this making your own CC stuff just looked far too complicated. Far had previously read “fart”. We are eternally grateful to the reader who let us know.