🚧🎓 [S4S] Fashion Choice (Generic Tags) and how it intersects with Physical Frame and Clothing Preference -- This one is complicated.
📖 BACK [🌐] to "Age Appropriate" — FORWARD [🌐] to "Occult"
⚠️ These posts will be re-dated so that they appear in order in the Collection.
🎙️ The problem is plain to see...
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This post covers the "GENERIC TAGS" found in:
STUDIO (tab) » CATEGORIES (tab) » "Fashion Choice"
These tags are the bee's knees! The bestest thing sliced bread!
This is one of, if not the most complex and versatile tags in the game.
Strap in, baby. This gon' be a wild ride.
☆// - RELATED READING:
🎓 Stunt 101: PartFlags & Tags - https://../collection/view=condensed
☆// - TABLE OF CATENTS:
FASHION STEREOTYPES AND "RESTRICT OPPOSITE"
WHEN TO USE THESE TAGS
HOW THEY RELATE TO RANDOMIZATION
WHAT IT DO, PIKACHU
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DISCLAIMER + PROGRESSION
☆// - FASHION STEREOTYPES AND "RESTRICT OPPOSITE":
I don't care about real-world fashion stereotypes in The Sims 4 because wearing clothes that don't match your "Physical Frame" results in "body deformities".
Wearing clothes that don't match your "Physical Frame" also changes your posture a.k.a. the way the your sim stands and the position of your arms.
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The reason we experience "body deformities" at all is because over the past TEN (10) YEARS, EAxis has consistently flagged and tagged their CAS content improperly. This is not a "transframe" sim issue, it affects everysim, whether or not you have noticed it.
Before Update 7/23/2024 broke (18) "Deformer Maps", breaking all "transframe" bodies, the "body deformities" manifested as deformed crotches, fingers, and necks:
Deformed crotches occur when wearing the "wrong" TOP, BOTTOM, or FULL BODY item.
Deformed necks occur when wearing the "wrong" NECKLACE, and maybe when wearing the wrong TOP or FULL BODY item.
Deformed fingers and fingernails occur when wearing the "wrong" FINGERNAILS.
Between Update 7/23/2024 and Update X/XX/2025, if you had a "transframe" sim, your entire spine and your neck was either protruding out of your body like a malformed fish fin or sunken into your body like an earthquake fault line.
This !@#$ went on, unaddressed, for (7) months until EAxis !@#$ed it up even more by breaking children's bodies, at which point, they fixed everyone within a week.
Can you smell what this rock is cooking? I ain't ever gon' let no baddie forget this !@#$, because this is just one in a laundry list of "bugs" that EAxis has dragged their feet on, while high-fiving themselves for the great work they do and gaslighting us at the same time for not giving them all the money in the world so they can justify making The Sims 5.
Did you miss that last bit? I didn't.
After Update X/XX/2025, we're back to deformed crotches, fingers, and necks.
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I match the "Fashion Choice" tag to the mesh that was used to make the item:
If a skirt was made with the FEMININE mesh = "Feminine" tag
If a skirt was made with the MASCULINE mesh = "Masculine" tag
I do this with TOPS, BOTTOMS, FULL BODY and SHOES (but never bare feet) because it allows me to "unlock" those items for all sims by not using any "Restrict Opposite" flags, while keeping them organized with the "Fashion Choice" tag.
Randomization is never an issue because I simply disable it on these specific items.
I do this because despite the "body deformities" we experience, we might want to wear something that was only made for the opposite "Physical Frame" - yes, there are numerous items that were only made for one "Physical Frame", much to my dismay.
Example, Scarlet is MALE with FEMININE PHYSICAL FRAME. Scarlet mostly wears FRAME-appropriate feminine-meshed clothing so that their posture is "correct", but there are a few masculine-meshed clothing that I like - sometimes I dress Scarlet like a boy and kiss the girls, OH MY, so scandalous:
If our TOPS, BOTTOMS, FULL BODY and SHOES all used RESTRICT OPPOSITE FRAME, Scarlet would never be able to wear anything flagged for MALE sims (that use the masculine mesh, as it should be flagged). Masculine-meshed clothes is "FRAME-inappropriate" for Scarlet and would cause some "body deformities".
If our TOPS, BOTTOMS, FULL BODY and SHOES all used RESTRICT OPPOSITE GENDER, Scarlet would never be able to wear anything flagged for FEMALE sims (that use the feminine mesh, as it should be flagged). Feminine-meshed clothes is "FRAME-appropriate" for Scarlet and would give them the appearance of having breasts if the mesh used had breasts.
If our TOPS, BOTTOMS, FULL BODY and SHOES have no RESTRICT OPPOSITE flags at all, but use correct FASHION CHOICE tags, then Scarlet (and every other sim - "cisframe" and "transframe") can wear whatever they want, whenever they want, by simple switching their FASHION CHOICE filters in CAS. In Live Mode the CLOTHING PREFERENCE trait comes into play. This is all very complex and very, very cool.
Fixing CAS and making it inclusive for literally everyone isn't rocket science. It's just PartFlags, Tags, "an open mind" to understand everything I just said, and the will to do it, baby.
☆// - WHEN TO USE THESE TAGS:
You should always add at least one of these tags to every item, no matter what age group the item is for. You can omit these tags from your items, but you shouldn't.
There are different ways to use these tags and it depends on:
Which category your item is in.
Whether or not you're using RESTRICT OPPOSITE flags and if your item was made with a gendered mesh.
Whether or not you're enabling randomization with ALLOW FOR RANDOM.
☆// - WHAT IT DO, PIKACHU:
These tags are connected to randomization and outfit generation via the "Clothing Preference" trait.
These tags also enable filtering in CAS. If none are used, then all "Fashion Choice" filters must be removed in order to see the item in CAS.
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☆// - HOW THEY RELATE TO "CLOTHING PREFERENCE":
If I'm understanding this correctly, then the "Clothing Preference" trait utilizes the "Fashion Choice" tag for randomization and outfit generation.
I need to finish my work-in-progress BASE GAME costume mod and/or my LOVESTRUCK Costume Box BUGFIX so you can see how this works when the CAS items are configured properly and the Tuning resources are coded properly. Reading it is one thing, seeing it in action is another thing entirely.
Let's use Scarlet and Career outfits as an example.
Scarlet is MALE with FEMININE FRAME and uses the Feminine "Clothing Preference" trait.
If CAS items are configured with proper "Fashion Choice" tags and "Restrict Opposite" flags and Tuning resources are coded to use the "Clothing Preference" trait instead of the "Gender" trait, then Scarlet's Career outfit will generate with:
TOPS, BOTTOMS, FULL BODY and SHOES tagged with Feminine "Fashion Choice".
HAIR, ACCESSORIES, FINGERNAILS flagged for Female "Gender" and "Restrict Opposite Frame".
HOWEVER, if I enter Live Mode CAS and switch my "Clothing Preference" to Masculine, then Scarlet's Career outfit will generate with:
TOPS, BOTTOMS, FULL BODY and SHOES tagged for Masculine "Fashion Choice".
HAIR, ACCESSORIES, FINGERNAILS flagged for Female "Gender" and "Restrict Opposite Frame".
☆// - HOW THEY RELATE TO RANDOMIZATION:
If ALLOW FOR RANDOM is enabled and at least one of each of the following flags and tags are used together, then randomization will be enabled for all sims who match the profile:
Gender (from Age & Gender Flags)
Age Appropriate
Fashion Choice - YOU ARE HERE
Occult
Outfit Type
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☆// - DISCLAIMER + PROGRESSION:
I do not work for EAxis and I am not a member of the S4S developer team.
I am not an expert and there are gaps in my knowledge.
But I have devoted a considerable amount of time trying to understand these PartFlags and Tags because I mean to fix the mess EAxis has created in CAS with my "CAS Overrides" project - every Pack, every Kit, every item in the BASE GAME. EAxis CAS is an incompetent mess and fixing the majority of it is as simple as checking or unchecking a box.
Some of this is straightforward.
Some of this you might already know.
Some of this might go against what you believe to be true or correct.
If you think (or know) that something I've said is incorrect, then comment and let me know and we can compare notes. If I am wrong or if we discover something new, then I will update the post accordingly.
I don't bite unless biting is the necessary response.
PROGRESSION:
⚡ ...
🎉 5/24/2025 #1 @ XX:XX - Post created!