Recategorising Deco objects and clutter in game catalogues via SimPE

I wish to reproduce this tumblr post in order to have it here permanently accessible :

http://sims-influence.tumblr.com/post/175172661274/ts2-clutter-categorizing-ideas

TS2 - Clutter Categorizing Ideas!

We usually clone deco objects from sculptures or plants so they will go in these categories. See what I mean? Yeah, we eventually end with Deco category overloaded with tons of assorted clutter and it takes ages to find the thing needed. Collections are not always work: none of them shows in dorm lots, some doesn’t work at comminity and again, it’s hard to find the collection you need among 100500 others.

A solution? Put your objects in different categories (it can be done via SimPE or The Categorizer but I don’t recommend the latest because of some bugs). Here are some ideas by me:

   Food & related clutter (dishes, cutlery and so) will work perfectly with Appliances - Misc. This category is not used by default (but become active if there are things in it) so you’ll see only food-related things there.
   Drinks, glassware and bottles along with bar accessoires will also fit General - Party.
   Bathroom clutter will work with Plumbing - Misc as well as some beauty things (creams, perfume, hair brush, razors…). I also put cleaning & laundry stuff there. This category is unused by default too so you’ll see no other things there.
   The General - Dressers category can also be used for clothing & accessories clutter along with makeup items.
   All hobby stuff will go… yes, to the Hobbies category. Art (including photography) & music clutter to Creative, books (and maybe globes) to Knowledge, sports & fitness clutter to Exercising… well, you caught the idea.
   If you have tons of baby & kids-related clutter you may want to put them in General - Nursery category to have everything at hand.
   Electronics - Misc for small electronics clutter like photo lenses, deco cellphones, walkie talkies, USB devices & wires? Why not?
   Bed deco like blankets, pillows and throws? Sure the Comfort - Beds category!
   Candles can be placed in Lighting - Misc category. Even if they are non-functional it’s way easier to find them.
   Not so obvious: the Surfaces - Desks category will do for office & study clutter (papers, stationery, school stuff & so on).
   Not obvious at all: condoms and other adult bedside things for Beds category. If you have a lot of them it will come handy.
   And even if you have no ideas for placement of particular clutter you can always put it in General - Misc category. I use it for keys, medical items, weapons and other handy things which I don’t wanna be buried deep in deco section.

Of course you are free to categorize your stuff any way you want. If you’re OK with Deco section, go for it. But for me this setting saves a lot of time when decorating any room and especially taking pictures. Maybe it will also be useful for you and your fellow simmers.

Please reblog if you support clutter categorizing! The more creators will be aware the more organized our Buy Mode will be.

____________________________________

At simbology forum an easy tip was posted. Basic knowledge of SimPE is necessary. I tested it with a cyclonesue object (Heineken bottles that I recategorise in Party and it works)
URL simbology topic http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=8682.0

- Open up SimPE and the object mesh
- Then go to the navigation bar, Tools > PJSE > OBJD Tool

From there you'll get a pop up window looking like this



Catalog sort and Function sort could certainly be easier to use for simple sorting.

"Decorative"  is listed in a drop box where other object functions are available. For example cyclonesue's cyclonesue_bottles_threeGreen might be relocated either in Party or in Appliances > Other.

Note that recategorising objects via SimPE has strictly nothing to do with the way you organise your Downloads folders, subfolders, etc. If you have a complete kitchen set from a creator, including clutter (dishes, pans, etc.) that you want to find easily ingame, recategorising such items meshes in SimPE will just be really helpful. Also make sure that all objects meshes having duplicates in lots you created/downloaded or sets you downloaded would be recategorised exactly the same way. At any time you can possibly run a search for some object packages to remove their duplicates before recategorising them properly as you want.

Additional info

Might you find objects like rocks for outdoor (example 4eversimfantasy outdoor sets), thanks to the process described above, you can choose to place such rocks in Decorative > Miscellaneous, get them as Outdoor (by room) and then untick the botton Trees. Once this specific regategorising choice commited in SimPE, such a rock will no longer be in Build > Garden > Trees.

Example SimPE (new choices made)

The fact that Hibiscus tree is still visible (you can't change it), doesn't affect anything in the new recategorising choice.

Result ingame :


It is strongly recommended to get rid of the original mesh (not recategorised), in order to avoid possible catalogues conflicts ingame. Therefore be very meticulous during your recategorising project with several meshes. Take your time and optionally create a Word document to list Objects (by package name, function) that you recategorised in SimPE, also check further on for duplicates. Also work per function/room such as first Kitchen clutter/objects, then Bathroom clutter/objects (cosmetics, etc.), and so on. Or the random recategorising process might end up with a few headaches for you.

Have fun !

Thank you for sharing. I always use this way:



Maybe I've missed something, but I don't see why you'd do it the way described above.

I find the tips from simbology (by Aaroneous) via the PJSE tool easier. In the other process from your illustrative pic, I don't see the Build mode sort tab - or it's me missing something.

I got a set of fences from shoukeir which seem to disappear when put in a packaged lot, I have still to find out why, while those fences aren't replacements. And it also bothers me. Some stuff I got in Build mode, labelled as Doors aren't actually doors, but fences or other Build mode titems. I need such sorting in that category too.

Then I managed to find two brooms, one by taroo and one very similar by Birgit43. One is put in Dressers - got out figure why -. I need now to find out which one is a problem in my game, because both objects look quite the same. I don't know much about GUIDs and such, but one broom needs to be removed totally from my downloads now. Or I'll choose completely different ones by other meshers. It's for old houses projects and such.