Goodbye, EA swatches! Hello, creative freedom!
A new mod for The Sims 4 is here and it’s a complete game changer for builders and decorators! Carl has once again worked technical magic on the game and created a Colour Picker tool that can recolour almost anything in-game!
Getting Started
Before you do anything, you’ll need to install the mod. Download the Colour Picker mod, extract the .zip file and put the folder directly in your Mods folder.
If you’re new to installing mods, see our guide Getting Started With Mods and CC.
Enable the testingcheats true cheat in-game. Carl’s Colour Picker will only be visible with testingcheats.
General Use
Colour Picker options are in Live Mode. SHIFT+Click any object to bring up Colour Picker options. Clicking on a single object will only recolour that object. Clicking on the floor will recolour everything in the room.
By default, recolouring an object recolours every object of the same type but you can change this by turning Apply to Multiple Objects off under ColourChanger > Apply Colour from List.
Swatch Picker
Let’s start with the simplest tool. The swatch picker is limited to EA swatches but it allows you to quickly match an entire room or multiple sets of objects without having to go into Build Mode.
This tool is most useful when applied to a whole room. Using it while clicking the floor will attempt to find the best matching swatches for everything in the room. You can create perfectly matching sets with one click.
Colour Changer
This is the more advanced but more creative tool. This tool allows you to go beyond EA swatches and truly make any object in the game your own.
The most basic thing to remember when using this tool is that it doesn’t change the underlying base colour; it adds tints to the base colour. So if you want bright neons or pale pastels, start with a white or neutral-coloured object. If you want dark, rich colours, start with a darker coloured object.
With that in mind, the tool I found easiest for beginners to work with is the Adjust All RGB option. This is as simple as picking your hue and dimming/lightening it as you please the same way you’d adjust the colour and brightness of lights. Locking the colour of an object and copying custom colours from one object to another are also simple tools anyone can grasp.
However, if you want to get into advanced stuff, you definitely can! Players with knowledge of colour theory can also apply any colour of the rainbow and then further adjust the tint by increasing or decreasing reds, blues, and greens within that colour. If you have a specific colour you’re looking for and know the hex code, you can even input hex codes to get the exact look you want.
There are over 100,000 colours available with the mod and text commands you can use to further customize colours. Check out Carl’s more detailed explanation for a thorough breakdown of every feature.
Things to be Aware Of
- Builds that use this mod can be uploaded to the Gallery but the other players will need to have the mod installed for the custom tints to show up in their game.
- Recolouring an item recolours the entire object. You can’t pick and choose which parts of the object to recolour.
- Occasionally, a colour might get stuck while dimming/brightening it but we easily fixed this by just clicking another hue and then clicking back to the previous hue.
The ColourPicker mod is in early access. It goes public on September 8th, 2022!
