How to adapt a user-made recolor so it appears as an option for a cloned object

Using SimPe, open the .package file that you downloaded as the recolour.  You should see something like below.

Click on Material Override on the left.  This lists one or more Material Override packed files.  The example below only has one new colour.

Right-click on the first (or only) Material Override listed.  Select Clone.

Below you will see that now you have another Material Override (MMAT) with all the details exactly the same as the original.

You must change the Instance number to something unique or the game will get confused.  Click on one of the two identical MMATs.  This loads up the information for that MMAT.

In the lower left of your SimPe window (see below) there are some tabs to click on.  Choose the Packed File tab.

In the Instance input box, change the number to one that has not already been used for a MMAT in this .package.  It doesn't matter if the Instance has been used in another package.  But please note: check the Group is 0xFFFFFFFF.  If it is not, then the person who made the recolour has done something wrong that might spoil the other colour choices in your game.  You should delete the .package file and let the creator know they have made a mistake.

You can see a "make all listed unique" as an option you could use instead, but I prefer to edit the numbers manually as it reduces the chance of something going wrong that you might not notice.

Click "commit"

With the same MMAT still selected, turn to the Plugin View tab (see below)

Find where it says objectGUID, and highlight that line.

On the right of that are some input boxes.  (see below)

In the Value box you will see the unique ID of the object the recolour was originally intended for.  If you want the recolour to apply to the simlogical Reservable Crib, you need to change that number to 0x27272761.  0x27272761 is the "GUID" of the Reservable Crib and no other Sims object in the world should have that number.

Click the Commit button.  To make sure the commit has completed properly, unload the new MMAT from memory by selecting the original MMAT, and then it is safe to Save the package and Exit from SimPe.

If there was more than one Material Override file inside the recolour package, you should follow the instructions for cloning and editing each of them before exiting SimPe.

You can follow the same principle for other user recolours if they are not being offered for the clones you have.   The trick is to find out the GUID of the cloned object in order put it in the Value box above.  You can do that by opening the cloned object in SimPe (see below).

Click on the Object Data filetype on the left.  If you have one packed file listed, select that, click on the Plugin View tab, and make a note of the GUID number.

If you find there is more than one Object Data packed file listed, it is outside the scope of this tutorial to tell you how to work out which one to use.  This will apply to most multi-tile objects such as beds.   If that is the case, you could ask the object creator to let you know the GUID of the "master object" for his creation.  The relevant GUIDs for some of my objects are shown below.