Creating Sims 3 Rabbithole Careers: The Beginner's Guide

[MissyHissy]

After three years, I've developed my own way of creating the careers for Sims 3. I've also begun experimenting more with the kind of features the careers I create have, particularly in the last year.
Also in that time, I've worked with lots of creators to help them create their own careers. It's been brought to my attention on multiple occasions that there are some issues with the current tutorial. So I've re-written the tutorial, the way I create the careers. It's similar to the current, but there are a couple of differences.

If at any time throughout the tutorial, you have a problem, feel free to start a new thread and I'll help as much as I can.
If there's anything in the tutorial you don't understand, please reply to this thread. 
I take no credit or responsibility for the programs used. This is merely a guide to tell you how to create the careers and how to use the tools to do what you need.

You Will Need:

Sims 3 Package Editor
STBL Creator by Twallan ~ STBL.zip (3.15 KB)
Bootstrap Creator by Twallan ~ Bootstrap Creator.zip (4.43 KB)
BLANK Career File ~ BLANKCareer.package (9.03 KB)
Twallan's Careers Mod
A Graphics Editor (I use GIMP, which is free and simple to use. But theoretically, any graphics editor should do.)

I recommend using Notepad ++. It's a free program and makes the creating process a lot easier and clearer. It's not a requirement, but I do strongly recommend it.

Before You Begin

A note about coding: Capital letters matter! As do spaces. For example, "EstateAgent" is very different from "estateagent" and "Estate Agent". So bear this in mind when coding your career.

I'm going to use my Estate Agent Career as the example in this tutorial. Feel free to use any of my careers for comparison when creating your own.

*Contents*

• Planning Your Career
• Editing the .DLL Files
• Career Images
• Editing the .Careers File: Part 1
• Understanding Metrics
• Editing the .Careers File: Part 2
• Editing the .Tones File and Creating the UnhashedKeys String
• The English Strings
• Finishing Up

[MissyHissy]

First Things First: Planning Your Career

When it comes to creating careers for Sims 3, it's a very sensible idea to have a rough plan of what your career is going to be. It's not much help diving into a tutorial and realising you don't actually know what career you'd like to make. Lots of people choose to create their own career in the game, so this might be a good starting point.

You need to make a note of the basic information:

• Career Title ~ This is the in-game title. For my career, I've used Estate Agent. Do not add 'Career' to this. The game does so automatically.

• Wages per hour ~ For each level, you need to know how much the sim will earn per hour. Note. Level 1 is the starting level when your sim joins the career. This is needed for each level.

• Retirement Pay ~ Similar to the wages, but this is per day, not per hour, for when a sim retires. This is needed for each level.

• Wake Up Time ~ The time the sim will be woken, if sleeping, before going to work. This is in 24 hour clock format (12, 13, 14...21, 22, 23 etc) and is usually two hours before the work day starts. This is needed for each level.

• Work Start Time ~ The time the work day begins. This is in 24 hour clock format and is needed for each level.

• Day Length ~ The length of the work day, in hours. You can use half hours if you wish. This is needed for each level.

• Days to Work ~ The days of the week your sims has to work, for each level. These should be in capital letters, no spaces and separated only by commas: M,T,W,R,F,S,U

M = Monday
T = Tuesday
W = Wednesday
R = Thursday
F = Friday
S = Saturday
U = Sunday

• Carpool Type ~ This is the car that collects your sim for work. This is needed for each level. I usually use the CarUsed1 and CarUsed2 at the lower levels, CarNormal1 at the medium levels and CarExpensive1 and CarExpensive2 at the higher levels, occasionaly ending with a Limo, but it's entirely up to you.
The options are:

1. CarBusSchool
2. CarExpensive1
3. CarExpensive2
4. CarHatchback
5. CarLimoBlue
6. CarLimoPink
7. CarLimoWhite
8. CarNormal1
9. CarPickup2Door
10. CarPolice
11. CarSedan
12. CarServiceFiretruck
13. CarSports
14. CarUsed1
15. CarUsed2
16. CarVan4Door
17. Limo
18. Taxi

• Career Job Titles ~ The titles for each level of your career. Some special characters don't work so well in job titles, so try and keep these to a minimum. Apostrophes (') work if you're using Notepad, but not Word.

• Career Job Descriptions ~ These are the descriptions you see for each level of your career. These are needed for each level. Try to be descriptive and creative with these, particularly if you wish to upload to Mod the Sims.

• Metrics ~ These are the requirements for promotion. These are needed for each level.

• Job Title ~ The wording that appears when you click on the rabbithole building. For example, "Join Estate Agent Career".

• Job Offer ~ This is the text when you send a sim to the rabbithole to join the career. Example: "The life of an Estate Agent appeals to your charismatic charm. You’ll be out and about, showing clients around homes of all shapes and sizes and negotiating a price. No two days will ever be the same!"

• Coworker Title ~ The name that appears beneath your coworkers in the relationship panel. For example, "Coworker"

• Coworker Metric Title ~ The name that appears in the metrics part of the job panel, when they show as a requirement for promotion. For example, "Estate Agents".

• Tones ~ The tones are what your sim is doing while they're working. It's the drop down menu when your sims goes to work, with options like "Business as Usual, Work Hard etc" available. These can be customised to suit your career.
The standard tones are:

• Business as Usual ~ Normal work and effort
• Work Hard ~ Increses work performance faster, but reduces the fun meter.
• Take it Easy ~ Decreases stress.
• Meet Coworkers ~ Lets your sim meet any available coworkers.
• Hang with Coworkers ~ Builds up the relationship with your sim's coworkers.
• Suck up to Boss ~ Builds up the relationship with your sim's boss, if there is a boss.
• Some careers also have a Sleep at Work tone, which increases your sim's energy.
• A Skill Booster Tone ~ This is usually the tone that helps build the skill needed for promotion. For example, my Estate Agent career has two skill boosting tones: Photograph House, which builds on the Photography skill, and Negotiate Price, which builds on the charisma.

• Boss ~ Decide whether your career will have a Boss or not.

• Rabbithole Type ~ Deciding which rabbithole building your career will be based at. For example, my Estate Agent career is based at the Business and Journalism building.
The available buildings are:

• Arboretum (Requires Supernatural)
• Bookstore
• BusinessAndJournalism
• CityHall
• DaySpa
• EquestrianCenter (Requires Pets)
• Grocery
• GypsyCaravan (Requires Supernatural)
• Hideout
• Hospital
• Mausoleum
• MilitaryBase
• MovieSet
• PoliceStation
• Restaurant
• School
• ScienceLab
• Stadium
• Subway
• Theatre
• VaultOfAntiquity (Requires Supernatural)

I don't recommend using the Combo rabbitholes. The careers often don't seem to show up on these. But if your career is based at CityHall, for example, it will show on any combo rabbitholes. So bear that in mind.

For your ease, I have created a basic spreadsheet, including some of the basic information. It has columns for Job Title, Wages, Pension, Wake up Time, Start Time, Day Length, Metrics, Carpool Type and Uniforms. The uniforms field can be ignored if you are only just starting out with creating.

I strongly advise you write all this information out before touching any BLANK career files. Trust me, when you've got all this written out beforehand, your coding happens a lot faster.

Career Plan.zip (5.68 KB)

[MissyHissy]

Editing the .DLL Files


First of all, rename the BLANK careers package to whatever you wish. I usually use something like "EstateAgentCareer" or something along those lines. But it's entirely up to you.

Each career has its own unique ID instance number, so this needs to be changed for your career. In order to do this, we need to open up your new career package in s3pe. So open s3pe and go to File --> Open and browse for your newly renamed package, in this case "EstateAgentCareer".

You will see a number of files within your package. These should be:

70214830780050.dll
70214830780050.dll
Blank.Careers
Blank.Tones
Blank_Pic
Blank_Pic_s
Strings Blank UnhashedKeys

The order of these doesn't matter, although they can be reordered by selecting Name, if you prefer to have them match the above list.

You need to create a new .dll file for the career to be truly unique. This is done by simply running the Bootstrap Creator program you downloaded earlier. You'll see in your folder a new file generate, looking a little like this: 02112436129743.dll (The number will be different for everyone - this is good).

Go back to your career package and find the 70214830780050.dll with an S3SA tag beside it. Right-click and select Import DLL and navigate to your newly generated .dll file. Select Yes to continue. S3PE has now crossed out the old file and your new one appears underneath.

Save now. You'll see the old file has been removed, leaving your new one in it's place. Now, you'll want to return to your new .dll file in the folder and copy the full name (including the .dll). To do this quickly, right-click and select Rename and press Ctrl+C on your keyboard.

Double click on the first 70214830780050.dll in your career package. This brings up the Resource Details window. Remove the old Name and paste in your new one. Press FNV64 to change the instance id and click OK to save your changes.

Repeat this for the second .dll file. Once you've done this, both .dll files should display the new set of numbers you generated.

Now, double click on the Blank.Careers file. Once again, this brings up the Resource Details window. Replace the BLANK with the career title (in this case, EstateAgent). Press FNV64 to rehash to your new name and press OK to save the changes. Do the same with the BLANK.Tones file.

Save your changes. Your files should now look a little like this:

02112436129743.dll
02112436129743.dll
EstateAgent.Careers
EstateAgent.Tones
Blank_Pic
Blank_Pic_s
Strings Blank UnhashedKeys

Remember, your numbers will be different to mine, as will your career name.

Now, right-click on the .dll with an XML tag next to it and select Notepad (or Text Editor, if you're using Notepad ++ or another external text editor).

Change the two BLANKs in there to match the .Careers and .Tones file names you edited just now. So for me, this would be: EstateAgent.Careers and EstateAgent.Tones.

Go to File --> Save to save the changes to the file and close Notepad. Select Yes to continue and once again, you'll see the old file crossed out. Save the package again, and the old file will disappear.

Looking good so far 

[MissyHissy]

Career Images

For the career images, I'm a big fan of using EA icons. I personally feel they blend the custom career into the game better. Obviously, you can use whatever image you please. But in case you're interested in using EA icons, I have zipped up all the icons I have and made them available to download Here. Now I downloaded these from SimsVIP, but unfortunately, a lot of the links no longer seem to work.

It's advisable to have transparent backgrounds for your images but again, it's not required.

Inside your career package, you'll see these two files:

Blank_Pic
Blank_Pic_s

These will become your images for your career. To edit them, you need to export both files. So right-click on the first one and choose Export --> To file and save it somewhere (preferably in your working folder). Do the same for the second file.

The images are both a different size. One is 54x54 and the other is 24x24. Your new images must be the same size as these. They won't display in-game properly if they're bigger then this.

The easiest way to edit your images is to open you chosen image in your graphics editor and Resize to 54x54 and save it as the file name with Blank_Pic in it (yes, overwrite the file). Then resize again to 24x24 and save it as the file name with Blank_Pic_s in it (yes, overwrite this file too).

Once you've done that, go back to your career package and right click on Blank_Pic and select Replace. Navigate to the correct file (the one named Blank_Pic). Do the same for the second image file.

Double click on the first image file and change the Blank to match your career name. In this case, it'd be "EstateAgent_Pic". Press FNV64 and then ok. Do the same for the second image file.

Save your package. The files should now look something like this:

02112436129743.dll
02112436129743.dll
EstateAgent.Careers
EstateAgent.Tones
EstateAgent_Pic
EstateAgent_Pic_s
Strings Blank UnhashedKeys

[MissyHissy]

Editing the .Careers file: Part 1

Now we begin some of the serious coding.

Before I move on, a note to anybody wanting to use Notepad ++ for this section. S3PE supports Notepad and that's the standard go-to to edit the files. But if you want to use Notepad ++, you need to set it up as the external Text Editor. This is really easy to do.

In S3PE, go to Settings --> External Programs. Tick the box beside 'Use an external text editor' and navigate to the application file for Notepad ++. Select that and press OK. Save the setting (Settings --> Save settings).

Now, we're ready to begin.

In your career package file, find your .Careers file. Right-click on it and select Notepad (Or Text Editor, for Notepad ++ users). This will bring your file up in Notepad and we're ready to start editing.

This is where you refer to the plans you wrote out at the beginning. I will talk you through each section of this file. I'll break it down into sections of code to make this easier to follow.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<Careers>
<CareerList>
<CareerName></CareerName>
<CareerDescription></CareerDescription>
<OvertimeHours>2</OvertimeHours>
<MissWorkPerf>-10</MissWorkPerf>
<OvertimePerf>6</OvertimePerf>
<MaxPerfFlow>14</MaxPerfFlow>
<MinPerfFlow>-8</MinPerfFlow>
<MaxPerfFlowMaxLevel>8</MaxPerfFlowMaxLevel>
<MinPerfFlowMaxLevel>-10</MinPerfFlowMaxLevel>
<BonusAmountInHours>12</BonusAmountInHours>
<RaisePercent>0.15</RaisePercent>
<RaisePercentMaxLevel>.1</RaisePercentMaxLevel>
<RaiseChanceMin>.01</RaiseChanceMin>
<RaiseChanceMax>.25</RaiseChanceMax>
<FunStressPerHour>-5</FunStressPerHour>
<MinCoworkers>BLANK</MinCoworkers>
<MaxCoworkers>BLANK</MaxCoworkers>
<WorkHardTone></WorkHardTone>
<TakeItEasyTone></TakeItEasyTone>
<MeetCoworkersTone></MeetCoworkersTone>
<HangWithCoworkersTone></HangWithCoworkersTone>
<SuckUpToBossTone></SuckUpToBossTone>
<SleepAtWorkTone></SleepAtWorkTone>
<ExtraTone1></ExtraTone1>
<ExtraTone2></ExtraTone2>
<ExtraTone3></ExtraTone3>
<ExtraTone4></ExtraTone4>
<ExtraTone5></ExtraTone5>
<FullClassName></FullClassName>
<Guid></Guid>
<AltGuid></AltGuid>
<TableName></TableName>
<Text_JobOffer></Text_JobOffer>
<Text_Retirement></Text_Retirement>
<Text_BranchOffer></Text_BranchOffer>
<Text_BranchName1></Text_BranchName1>
<Text_BranchName2></Text_BranchName2>
<SpeechBaloonImage></SpeechBaloonImage>
<WorkInteractionIcon></WorkInteractionIcon>
<Category>FullTime</Category>
<DreamsAndPromisesIcon></DreamsAndPromisesIcon>
<Topic></Topic>
<LearnedInfoText></LearnedInfoText>
<RabbitholeType></RabbitholeType>
<CoworkerPool>BLANK</CoworkerPool>
</CareerList>

<MinCoworkers> The minimum number of coworkers your sim can have. I usually set this to 2 or 3 but it's up to you.
<MaxCoworkers> The maximum number of coworkers your sim can have. I usually set this to about 5 but once again, it's entirely up to you.
<CoworkerPool> This should be your coworker name with Pool added to the end. Example; EstateAgentPool.

<CareerList>
<CareerName>BLANK</CareerName>
<CareerDescription></CareerDescription>
<FunStressPerHour>-3</FunStressPerHour>
<MinCoworkers>BLANK</MinCoworkers>
<MaxCoworkers>BLANK</MaxCoworkers>
<WorkHardTone>BLANK</WorkHardTone>
<TakeItEasyTone>BLANK</TakeItEasyTone>
<MeetCoworkersTone>BLANK</MeetCoworkersTone>
<HangWithCoworkersTone>BLANK</HangWithCoworkersTone>
<FullClassName>Sims3.Gameplay.Careers.Music, Sims3GameplaySystems</FullClassName>
<Guid>Music</Guid>
<AltGuid>BLANK</AltGuid>
<TableName>BLANK</TableName>
<Text_JobOffer>BLANKOffer</Text_JobOffer>
<Text_Retirement></Text_Retirement>
<SpeechBaloonImage>Career School</SpeechBaloonImage>
<WorkInteractionIcon>BLANK_Pic_s</WorkInteractionIcon>
<Category>FullTime</Category>
<DreamsAndPromisesIcon>BLANK_Pic</DreamsAndPromisesIcon>
<Topic></Topic>
<LearnedInfoText></LearnedInfoText>
<RabbitholeType>BLANK</RabbitholeType>
</CareerList>

<CareerName> This should be your title. Example; EstateAgent
<MinCoworkers> Same as above.
<MaxCoworkers> Same as above.
<WorkHardTone> This is where you reference to the Tone names you decided in the planning stages. So this will be whatever you chose for Work Hard. If you don't want to change it, then the standard is WorkHard.
<TakeItEasyTone> As above. If you're not changing, then the standard is TakeItEasy.
<MeetCoworkersTone> Again, whatever you decided in the planning stages. Example; MeetAgents. If you're not changing, then the standard is MeetCoworkers.
<HangWithCoworkers> As above. Example; GossipAtCoffeeMachine. If you're not changing it, then the standard is HangWithCoworkers.
<AltGuid> This needs to be your career title. Example; EstateAgent. This will ensure your career is totally unique.
<TableName> Again, your career title. Example; EstateAgent.
<TextJobOffer> Again, your career title. Example; EstateAgentOffer
<WorkInteractionIcon> Your small image name. Example; EstateAgent_Pic_s
<DreamsAndPromisesIcon> Your larger image name. Example; EstateAgent_Pic.
<RabbitholeType> This is the rabbithole you decided on in the planning stage. Example; BusinessAndJournalism.

<BLANK>
<Title></Title>
<BasePay></BasePay>
<PensionPay></PensionPay>
<WakeupTime></WakeupTime>
<StartTime></StartTime>
<DayLength></DayLength>
<DaysToWork></DaysToWork>
<HasBoss>BLANK</HasBoss>
<Level></Level>
<BranchName>Base</BranchName>
<BranchSource></BranchSource>
<Metric1>Mood</Metric1>
<Mappings1></Mappings1>
<Args1></Args1>
<Metric2></Metric2>
<Mappings2></Mappings2>
<Args2></Args2>
<Metric3></Metric3>
<Mappings3></Mappings3>
<Args3></Args3>
<Metric4></Metric4>
<Mappings4></Mappings4>
<Args4></Args4>
<PromotionRewardData></PromotionRewardData>
<ConsiderGiftingReward>0</ConsiderGiftingReward>
<OutfitMale></OutfitMale>
<OutfitFemale></OutfitFemale>
<OutfitMaleElder></OutfitMaleElder>
<OutfitFemaleElder></OutfitFemaleElder>
<Text_Promotion></Text_Promotion>
<Text_Promotion_Female></Text_Promotion_Female>
<CarpoolType>Taxi</CarpoolType>
<CoworkerTitle>BLANK</CoworkerTitle>
<CoworkerMetricTitle>BLANK</CoworkerMetricTitle>
</BLANK>

<BLANK> This will be your career title. Example; EstateAgent.
<HasBoss> Determines whether your career has a boss or not. Valid entries are True or False.
<CoworkerTitle> As you decided in the planning stage.
<CoworkerMetricTitle> As above, this was decided during the planning stage.
<BLANK> This should be your career title, just like the one at the top. Example; EstateAgent.

[MissyHissy]

Understanding Metrics

A metric is the requirement for promotion. Each level can have a maximum of 4 metrics and these can be a mixture of Mood, Relationship with Coworkers or the Boss, Skills or other various requirements.
In this tutorial, I will cover Mood, Relationships and Skills. I talk about other metrics Here, but they're not easy to do, so not designed for beginner creators.

For each metric, you have to decide what is defined as 'Awful', 'Normal' and 'Outstanding'. This is defined in the mappings section.

Mood Metric and Mapping

<Metric1>Sims3.Gameplay.Careers.MetricMood, Sims3GameplaySystems</Metric1>

<Mappings1>-500,0,50</Mappings1>

The first line is the code for the Mood Metric.
The second line defines the Awful, Normal, Outstanding values. In this instance, -500 (which is impossible) would be Awful, 0 would be Normal and 50 would be Outstanding. It appears that a value of 100 would indicate a full green bar, and -100 would be a full red bar.

Skill Metric

<Metric2>SkillX</Metric2>

<Mappings2>-2,0,2</Mappings2>

<Args2>Charisma</Args2>

The first line indicates it's a Skill Metric we're working with.
The second line defines the Awful, Normal, Outstanding values. So -2 (which is impossible) would be Awful, 0 would be Normal and 2 would be Outstanding.
The third line defines the skill itself. Skill names can be found in the GameplayData files, but I've compiled a rough list of the visible skills:

• Athletic
• Charisma
• Cooking
• Fishing
• Gardening
• Guitar
• Handiness
• Logic
• Painting
• Writing
• Photography
• MartialArts
• Nectar
• Sculpting
• Inventing
• Bartending
• BassGuitar
• Piano
• Drums
• Riding
• Science
• SocialNetworking

Coworker Relationship

<Metric3>RelCoworker</Metric3>

<Mappings3>-500,0,30</Mappings3>

Once again, the first line tells us this metric relates to Coworker Relationship.
The second line, as before, defines the Awful, Normal and Outstanding values. So -500 would be Awful, 0 would be Normal and 30 would be Outstanding.

Boss Relationship

<Metric3>RelBoss</Metric3>

<Mappings3>-500,0,30</Mappings3>

Just like the Coworker Relationship. The only difference being the metric itself is RelBoss.


The minus figures are used to allow sims just joining a career to begin with Normal career performance. If 0 had been used for the 'Awful' value, every sim starting the career would immediately have negative career performance.

Metrics can be used in any order and with any combination. You could choose to only require a good mood for a promotion. Perhaps you want four skills for metrics. The choice is entirely yours.

Here's an example of the first level metrics for my Estate Agent career:

<Metric1>Sims3.Gameplay.Careers.MetricMood, Sims3GameplaySystems</Metric1>

<Mappings1>-500,0,50</Mappings1>

<Metric2>SkillX</Metric2>

<Mappings2>-2,0,2</Mappings2>

<Args2>Charisma</Args2>

So to be promoted to Level 2, a sim would require a good mood and level 2 in Charisma skill. Not too much to ask, is it? 
So now you understand a bit more about Metrics, we can move on.

[MissyHissy]

Editing the .Careers file: Part 2

So let's move on to the second part of the .Careers file.

This section of the file relates to each individual level of your career. This is where you'll set the job titles for each level, the wages, pension pay, days to work, working hours, the metrics and your carpool. So make sure you have your notes at hand, because they're going to be important and will allow you to complete this section a lot faster.

<BLANK>
<Title>BLANK</Title>
<BasePay>BLANK</BasePay>
<PensionPay>BLANK</PensionPay>
<WakeupTime>BLANK</WakeupTime>
<StartTime>BLANK</StartTime>
<DayLength>BLANK</DayLength>
<DaysToWork>M,T,W,R,F,S,U</DaysToWork>
<Level>1</Level>
<Metric1>BLANK</Metric1>
<Mappings1>BLANK</Mappings1>
<Metric2>BLANK</Metric2>
<Mappings2>BLANK</Mappings2>
<Args2>BLANK</Args2>
<Metric3>BLANK</Metric3>
<Mappings3>BLANK</Mappings3>
<Text_Promotion>Entrylevel</Text_Promotion>
<Text_Promotion_Female>EntryLevel_Female</Text_Promotion_Female>
<CarpoolType>BLANK</CarpoolType>
</BLANK>

It's all fairly self explanatory, but I'll go into each one separately anyway.

<BLANK> This needs to be your career title. Example; EstateAgent
<Title> This is your first, or entry level, level title. Example; Receptionist
<BasePay> This is the hourly pay you decided on in the planning stage. Example; 20
<PensionPay> This is the daily pension pay you decided on. Example; 50
<WakeupTime> The wakeup time you decided on goes here. Example; 7
<StartTime> The hour the work day starts at. Example; 9
<DayLength> Length of the working day. Example; 8
<DaysToWork> The days the sim will go to work at this level. Example; M,T,W,R,F
<Metric1> The metrics we discussed in the last section. Add or delete these as you wish. Remember, you can have a maximum or four and a minimum or one.
<CarpoolType> The type of car that will collect your sim. Example; CarUsed1
<BLANK> This needs to be your career title. Example; EstateAgent

You should now be able to fill in the rest of that file. Just do the same for each level and refer back to this post should you need assistance.

When you've filled the file in, go to File --> Save and close Notepad. Press Yes to continue and save your Career package.

[MissyHissy]

Editing the .Tones File and Creating the UnhashedKeys String


The next file we're going to edit is the .Tones file. This file is where all the information for our Skill Building tones will go, so make sure you have that information handy.

Right-click on the .Tones file and select Notepad (or Text Editor if you're using Notepad ++). The only parts we're editing here are the BLANKS.

<Tone>
<ToneName>BLANK</ToneName>
<FullClassName>NRaas.Gameplay.Tones.CareerToneEx, NRaasCareer</FullClassName>
<CareerGuid>BLANK</CareerGuid>
<SkillCount>1</SkillCount>
<Skill1>BLANK</Skill1>
<SkillRate1>1</SkillRate1>
</Tone>

<ToneName> The tone name will be in this format: YourCareerTitleTone.YourCareerTitleCareerYourToneTitle Example; EstateAgentTone.EstateAgentCareerPhotographHouse
<CareerGuid> This will be your career title. Example; EstateAgent
<Skill1> This will be the skill your tone will increase. Example; Photography

If you want to have a second skill boosting tone, just copy the code above and add it underneath.
As an example, to .Tones file for the EstateAgent career looks like this:

<Tone>
<ToneName>EstateAgentTone.EstateAgentCareerPhotographHouse</ToneName>
<FullClassName>NRaas.Gameplay.Tones.CareerToneEx, NRaasCareer</FullClassName>
<CareerGuid>EstateAgent</CareerGuid>
<SkillCount>1</SkillCount>
<Skill1>Photography</Skill1>
<SkillRate1>1</SkillRate1>
</Tone>
<Tone>
<ToneName>EstateAgentTone.EstateAgentCareerNegotiatePrice</ToneName>
<FullClassName>NRaas.Gameplay.Tones.CareerToneEx, NRaasCareer</FullClassName>
<CareerGuid>EstateAgent</CareerGuid>
<SkillCount>1</SkillCount>
<Skill1>Charisma</Skill1>
<SkillRate1>1</SkillRate1>
</Tone>

So the first tone, Photograph House, builds the Photography skill and the second tone, Negotiate Price, builds on the Charisma skill.

If you don't want any skill building tone in your career, then leave the Tone file looking like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ToneList>
<Tone>
<ToneName></ToneName>
<FullClassName></FullClassName>
<ProductVersion>BaseGame</ProductVersion>
<CareerGuid></CareerGuid>
<SkillCount>0</SkillCount>
<Skill1></Skill1>
<SkillRate1></SkillRate1>
<MotiveCount>0</MotiveCount>
<Motive1></Motive1>
<MotiveRate1></MotiveRate1>
<MustHaveVisibleSkill>False</MustHaveVisibleSkill>
</Tone>
</ToneList>

Go to File --> Save and close Notepad. Select Yes to continue and save your career package.

Now we're going to move onto the strings resources.

These files tell us what text should appear in the game when we're playing our careers. To start with, we need to work on the UnhashedKeys file.

So open a new Notepad (or Notepad ++) file and copy the following text:

<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; CareerList:EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Careers/GetJobInRabbitHole:JoinCareerNoCareer</STR>
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANKOffer</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; CareerList:EstateAgentOffer"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your co-worker title. Example; EstateAgent:Coworker"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your co-worker metric title. Example; EstateAgent:EstateAgents"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st tone title. Example; MeetAgents"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st tone title with Description added. Example; MeetAgentsDescription"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANK</STR> "Should be your 2nd tone title. Example; GossipAtCoffeeMachine"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANK</STR> "Should be your 2nd tone title with Description added. Example; GossipAtCoffeeMachineDescription"
"If you decided to change the names of the WorkHard and TakeItEasy tones, this is where you would add them. Just copy and paste the code above."
"(These are only the tone titles and descriptions for normal tones, NOT skill boosting tones)"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st skill boosting tone title and is the same line of code used in your .Tone file. Example; EstateAgentTone.EstateAgentCareerPhotographHouse"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st skill boosting tone title with Description added. Example; EstateAgentTone.EstateAgentCareerPhotographHouse Description"
"Again you can also add or delete more skill booster tones if you wish here, depending on what you decided during the planning section. Just copy the code layout from the others above."
"This next section contains all the career titles from levels 1 – 10."
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your first career job title. Example; EstateAgent:Receptionist"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:EntryLevel</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:EntryLevel_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your second career job title. Example; EstateAgent:Assistant"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel2</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel2_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your third career job title. Example; EstateAgent:TraineeSalesNegotiator"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel3</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel3_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your fourth career job title. Example; EstateAgent:LettingAgent" <KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel4</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel4_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your fifth career job title. Example; EstateAgent:EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel5</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel5_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your sixth career job title. Example; EstateAgent:SeniorNegotiator"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel6</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel6_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your seventh career job title. Example; EstateAgent:CommercialPremisesAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel7</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel7_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your eighth career job title. Example; EstateAgent:Manager"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel8</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel8_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your ninth career job title. Example; EstateAgent:Surveyor"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel9</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel9_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title followed by your tenth career job title. Example; EstateAgent:AgencyOwner"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel10</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"
<KEY>BLANK:</KEY>
<STR>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel10_Female</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; EstateAgent"

and paste it all into the new Notepad file.

You're only going to edit the <STR></STR> lines for now. So follow the instructions on each line.
Once you've completed that, you can delete the instructions.

In order to fill in the <KEY></KEY> lines, we need to go back over to our career package and go to Tools --> FNV Hash. This will bring up a little window.

Go back over to your new Notepad file and copy the first <STR> line, but without the <STR></STR>. So it will look like this:

Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:EstateAgent

Paste that into the Text to Hash field and press Calculate.
In the FNV64 field, copy all the numbers and paste them into the first <KEY></KEY> line. So it will look something like this:

<KEY> 0x2C9E4E21AB471A43</KEY>
<STR> Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:EstateAgent</STR>

Do this for the entire file.

When you've completed the entire file, go to File --> Save and save it as Strings YourCareerTitle UnhashedKeys. Example; Strings EstateAgent UnhashedKeys.

Go into your working folder and drag the file you've just created onto the STBL Creator. This will generate a file with the same name as your UnhashedKeys, but with .stbl at the end.

Go back to your career package and right-click on the Strings BLANK UnhashedKeys file and select Replace. Find your new STBL file and select that. Once you've replace it, double-click to bring up the Rsource Details and change the BLANK to your career title. Example; Strings EstateAgent UnhashedKeys. Press FNV64 and select OK.

Save your career package.

[MissyHissy]

The English Strings

We're nearly there! Well done for making it this far!

The next strings file is the English strings. Obviously, if your game is not in English, then this will need to be in the language your game is in. But I'm going to use the English strings for the example.

Open up another new Notepad (or Notepad ++) file and copy and paste the following into it:

<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your career title. Example; Estate Agent"
<KEY>Gameplay/Careers/GetJobInRabbitHole:JoinCareerNoCareer</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your get job title. Example; Join Estate Agent Career"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANKOffer</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your job offer description"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your co-workers title. Example; Coworker"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your co-workers metric title. Example; Estate Agents"
<KEY>BLANKTone.BLANKCareerBLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st skill booster tone tile. Example; Photograph House"
<KEY>BLANKTone.BLANKCareerBLANKDescription</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st skill booster tone description."
"This is where you add any extra skill booster tones and descriptions using the same format, that is if you have added any extra in the other stings file."
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st tone tile. Example; Meet Agents"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANKDescription</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st tone description."
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 2nd tone tile. Example; Gossip at Coffee Machine"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/CareerList:BLANKDescription</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 2nd tone description."
"This is where you add extra tones and descriptions, such as Work Hard and Take it Easy, using the same format if you have any."
"This next part is where all the career titles are added followed by the promotion descriptions for males, and females starting with the entry level going up to level 10."
"If you wish the description to be the same for both male, and female sims, then simple use the same text."
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st job title. Example; Receptionist"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:EntryLevel</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st job description for a male sim. (Entry level description)"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:EntryLevel_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 1st job description for a female sim. (Entry level description)"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 2nd job title. Example; Assistant"
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel2</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 2nd job description for a male sim.£
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel2_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR> "Should be your 2nd job description for a female sim."
"Carry on down the list adding the job titles and descriptions per career level."
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel3</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel3_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel4</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel4_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel5</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel5_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel6</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel6_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel7</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel7_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel8</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel8_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel9</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel9_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:BLANK</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel10</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>
<KEY>Gameplay/Excel/Careers/BLANK:PromotionLevel10_Female</KEY>
<STR>BLANK</STR>

All the <KEY> lines in this file are exactly the same as the <STR> lines in the UnhashedKeys file, so you can copy and paste those if you wish.
The <STR> lines in this file will be the text that actually shows up in game. So yes, you will need to use spaces in this part.

When you've completed the file, go to File --> Save and save it as Strings YourCareerTitle English. Example; Strings EstateAgent English.

Now, we need to apply this to the career.

So go back to your career package and go to Resource --> Add. This brings up a Resource Detail window.

Fill in the fields like this:

Resource: STBL 0x220557DA
Group: 0x00000000
Name: YourCareerName English

Press FNV64 but DO NOT PRESS OK yet. You need to change the first two numbers to match your language code. So for English, this is 00.
Example:

Resource: STBL 0x220557DA
Group: 0x00000000
Instance: 0x494292A286440200
Name: EstateAgent English

Changes and becomes

Resource: STBL 0x220557DA
Group: 0x00000000
Instance: 0x004292A286440200
Name: EstateAgent English

The codes for the other languages are as follows:

English: 00
Chinese: 01
Taiwanese: 02
Czech: 03
Danish: 04
Dutch: 05
Finnish: 06
French: 07
German: 08
Greek: 09
Hungarian: 0A
Italian: 0B
Japanese: 0C
Korean: 0D
Norwegian: 0E
Polish: 0F
PortugueseStandard: 10
PortugueseBrazillian: 11
Russian: 12
SpanishStandard: 13
SpanishMexican: 14
Swedish: 15
Thai: 16

Now you can press OK.
Right-click on your new STBL and select Edit STBL. This brings up the STBL Resource Editor window.

There's a small, thin field toward the bottom of this window with buttons beneath it. In this box, you need to paste the first <KEY> line of your English Strings. Then press "Add" and you should see a series of numbers appear in the large box above. In the box on the right, type in your Career name.

Follow down the rest of the file. Copy the <KEY> lines into the thin box, press Add, then paste the contents of the <STR> line into the large box on the right.

Once you've done the entire file, press Save. Select Yes to continue.

Save your career package.

Now do this for all the other languages on the list. This is important because if you don't, your career will not be able to be used by simmers whose games are installed in a language other than yours. So by adding these strings, you add compatibility for all the other languages.

[MissyHissy]

Finishing Up

This is the exciting part; you're going to test the career in game.

First of all, make sure you've got the updated version of the Careers Mod. Once you're certain you have it, put that and your new career package into your Mods folder and load up your game.

When the game loads, click on the rabbithole you've set your sim up. If all has gone well, you should see JoinCareer[StringOfNumbers]. This is great.

Make a note of these numbers, because you're going to need them in a minute.

Close the game and get back your UnhashedKeys Notepad file.

On the line where it says:

<STR>Gameplay/Careers/GetJobInRabbitHole:JoinCareerNoCareer</STR>

change the NoCareer to the string of numbers you made a note of just now. Now copy the whole line and paste it into the FNV Hash box we used earlier (Go to Tools --> FNV Hash). Copy the FNV64 field and paste it into the <KEY> line above the line you just edited. Save the file.

Go back to your working folder and drag the UnhashedKeys file onto the STBL Creator again. This will replace the STBL file you already have, and that's good.

Go back to your career file and right-click on the UnhashedKeys file and select Replace. Navigate to your new STBL file and select it. Press yes to continue.

Now go to the English strings Notepad file and paste the same string of numbers you made a note of in the same place. Copy that line of code that looks like this:

Gameplay/Careers/GetJobInRabbitHole:JoinCareer12771533684546438208

Go back to your career package. Right-click on the English file and select Edit STBL.

Click the Second line of code, Join [YourCareerTitle] Career.

Paste the new line into the thin box and press Change. Press Save and Yes to continue.

Save your career package.

Copy and paste the new career package into your mods folder and test in game. If all goes well, your career should now show up and be ready to play!
 
Well Done! You've just created your first full Sims 3 Career! Have some cookies! :cookies:


If for some reason your career hasn't shown up, feel free to start a new thread with your problem and I'll do what I can to help! 

[Corylea]

Your tutorial is clearly a labor of love, and I appreciate how much you've put into this. But I do wonder why you're laboriously hashing each string individually when the Nraas Packer program will do all of that for you automatically?

I'm using Nraas Packer to edit the career I'm making now, and I haven't had to hash a single string, and they're all showing up just fine in the game.

[MissyHissy]

Mostly because I prefer it this way. It's easier to edit the career and I don't like using Packer. I do also find I learn more about the workings of the career if I take the time and effort to do so manually and troubleshooting and debugging is far easier 

[jollysam]

Hey MissyHissy, thanks a lot for this tutorial.

[MissyHissy]

You're welcome 

[spoonsthings]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! I've never worked with package resources or the notepad edit function except in a very piecemeal, sporadic kind of way, and this tutorial made it as painless as it could have been for me!

One thing I would like to point out, because I'm not sure if it's an oversight on my part or not: the BootStrapCreator.exe file that you uploaded needs a BootStrap.dll file to function, which wasn't linked on this thread. I was able to obtain that dll file by visiting NRaas, where they provide a zip file with both the executable and the dll. I'm pretty sure I'm just being silly here, as I'm the first person to bring this issue up and apparently everyone else has been following this tutorial with no problems. But just in case anyone else was wondering where the dll is, it's at the NRaas Careers download page.

Although I think it might be a good idea to reupload the BootStrapCreator as a zipped file for a different reason? I use Firefox, but depending on the browser / security program someone uses, they might have trouble downloading an exe file directly, because it might trigger false warnings.