Neighborhood corrupted by surgery dummies

[Noke Wan]

O.k., make fun of me if you like, but in the past I've done some massive surgery on my townies, kept them in the bin and from there - deleted them afterwards. This was before I knew this was a bad thing to do. Now I've noticed that in SimPe all my Sims have memories of the dummies. It wasn't until some ‘Wants' turned blank (just no picture, the want were readable when hovering over) that I've started searching for an explanation and hopefully a solution. Even after doing a lot of reading I'm still not sure how to rescue my hood from becoming a BFBVFS.
Fortunately, I play my Sims much like in Sims 1 mode, they never marry, get babies and don't die, so I don't have to worry much about the DNA part (I think). Would it be enough to delete all the memories (in the SimPe's memories box) with the ‘nuke memories' option, or should I use the Lot Debugger instead. I have it installed but I don't quite understand all the options. Furthermore should I do some work on the SWAFs as well - I've noticed that in the SimPE box some Wants turned blank also.
Or, is this Neighborhood (Pleasantville) beyond rescue and should I go for the empty and cleaned templates that I read about.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,4306.0.html
I hope someone will give me some directions. My EP's are NL and OFB. Thanks for any help.

[Emma]

I'd start fresh if you aren't too attatched. You can generate a new Pleasantview by renaming and/or deleting your Sims 2 folder (remember to move your downloads and other stuff you want to transfer over such as saved sims, packaged lots etc) You can either play as-is or if you place the empty template for Pleasantview before generating the new Sims 2 folder, when you enter the neighbourhood for the first time, all the houses will be empty. You can make your own sims to live in the Lothario, Broke and Goth houses then

[Gwill]

You're screwed.  Start over.

[Noke Wan]

Thank you so much for your answers. @Gwill: By saying ‘start over', I hope you don't mean ‘start over' - from scratch …, do you?.   By using the clean template method I can actually save my Sims and houses, right? Or am I dreadfully mistaken… For now I hope I'm not and presume that what will happen is that my Sims will loose all contacts with my Townies etc., which is a minor problem, I can populate and befriend my hood easily enough. I'm a bit scary and exited at the same time, it would be quite a job, but populating my (sub)hoods with self-made Sims would be a great advantage and definitely worth the effort. I suppose this is the best tutorial to follow?
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,5861.0.html
Some questions however:

1.Can I populate downtown and leaving the vampires out ( I never cared for them much), or is that something the game will make anyhow.
2. How about my businesses? By getting rid of my old townies, they will loose a lot of customers so I suppose my ranking goes down?
3. How do I go about moving my Sims to the new cleaned N.hood. Packaging with CleanInstaller, I suppose? Will S2PCI not copy all the ‘bad things' like memories, SWAFs etc.?
4. Related: When I clean the character file(s), but copy and later replace my ‘saved Sims' folder, won't  this reintroduce this' garbage' or am I right in suggesting that these data are exclusively stored in the characters folder.
5. I'm a bit confused by this:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,4090.0.html
(by Nec) That's an older post so I suppose I can ignore this and just follow the one mentioned before:  ‘Creating a Claen Custom Neighborhood' by Jordi?

I'm really very grateful for your help and the excellent tips I found over here. Awesome

[Roux]

Yes, they mean starting over from scratch. Sims and lots are not saved to the neighborhood templates; they are saved to My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Neighborhoods. You will lose your sims and lots unless you take steps to preserve them in some way. Unoccupied lots can be packaged, but I'm not sure about sims.

But when your neighborhood is very corrupted, your best option is to delete it and start new. I have seen some confusion around clean and empty templates, so allow me a moment to clarify them (my apologies in advance if you already know the following):

• If you have clean templates, you will still have the original Eaxis playable sims and a few townies, but they will be in their original state. Like Emma said, you can get those neighborhoods to regenerate by deleting your 'The Sims 2' folder in My Documents (move your Downloads and Saved Sims folders first, otherwise they'll be lost). So if you're playing Pleasantview: Brandi Broke will be pregnant, Beau a toddler, Dustin a teen, Cassandra and Don will be engaged, the Burbs and Oldies in the sim bin, etc.
• If you have empty templates, you will have NO sims at all upon regenerating 'The Sims 2' folder: no playables, no townies, no NPCs. Empty templates are required for players who want a totally custom-made 'hood, or for players that want to make their own sims and move them into the Goth house, as Emma described.

I actually have a combination of clean and empty templates - my main neighborhood templates are clean, but all suburbs and stealth hoods (Universities, Downtown, Shopping District, Pets, Vacation Destinations, Hobbies) are empty. When I want to test something, I can generate a new 'The Sims 2' folder and use the Pleasantview playables for testing. But when I want to create a new 'hood, I can do so without getting any Eaxis-made sims.

I suppose this is the best tutorial to follow?
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,5861.0.html

That tutorial worked well for me. Read the whole thread, though, because there should be some information specific to the Bon Voyage and FreeTime expansions.

5. I'm a bit confused by this:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,4090.0.html
(by Nec) That's an older post so I suppose I can ignore this and just follow the one mentioned before:  ‘Creating a Claen Custom Neighborhood' by Jordi?

Yes, that's an old post and only applies if OFB is your latest expansion pack.

I tried tackling questions 1-4, but there was a lot of "I think" and "I believe" in my answers. You'll be better off getting more solid information from people who are sure of that stuff.

[Emma]

Post in the relevant thread that Roux linked to. You'll get more help that way

[Noke Wan]

@Emma : I would, but I don't know what link you're referring to.

edit: You mean this tutorial I guess. O.K. I'll try that.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,5861.0.html

[jolrei]

Additionally, there are tutorials at MTS2 on changing sim genetics - there may also be a thread on that at MATY.  I know I've changed genetics (sim appearance, etc.) in SimPE without getting a lot of extraneous characters.  If you do get other characters, best to just put them on a lot and kill them in interesting ways (do not delete from the sim bin), or use Deleted 2 to expunge them completely.

[Noke Wan]

I've read about any tutorial at MTS, also the ones about changing Sims, simsurgery etc. but I must have looked over the warning or it simply wasn't there: that you should never delete from the neighborhood sims bin. That's exactly what I did. In SimPe I now have quite a few unlinked and ‘no character data' clones. I thought it wouldn't do any harm so I left them. But all of a sudden these deleted Sims started popping up as people they brought home from work. Later I had an invasion of gardeners that brought the game to a standstill. Only then I suspected that there was something seriously wrong. There are about 15 gardeners now in my game….
I think I know by now how I can safely get rid of them, the others (the clones without character data) are a different story, I wouldn't know how to get them back in the game in the first place. Besides, I don't know what ‘Deleted 2 ‘ is, to be honest.
Anyway, I think my hood is (eventually!) beyond rescue. I had some hopes that starting with a clean template, it   would be possible to just put my beloved Simmies back in, but now I understand they still will be infected with orphaned DNA, memories, wants&fears and what have you.
The only positive thing is that I don't let my Sims reproduce or die, so the DNA effects are minimal. I've done some clean up work on the memories part with the  "lot debugger" and the game plays remarkably well. For the moment that is. I hope until Sims 3 comes out….

Still, I'm very angry at Maxis for including this apparently disastrous option ( delete button in the bin ) in their game in the first place! There was no way for me knowing that something simple as that could wreck the game that much. I'm a careful player, made a lot of backups, don't have too many hacks installed and now it's Maxis itself that screwed up my game.

[jolrei]

I've read about any tutorial at MTS, also the ones about changing Sims, simsurgery etc. but I must have looked over the warning or it simply wasn't there: that you should never delete from the neighborhood sims bin.

Yes, you are right.  The advice "do not delete sims from the sim bin" is not included with the MTS2 tutorials.  It is, however, a very bad thing to do.

[Roux]

Besides, I don't know what ‘Deleted 2 ‘ is, to be honest.

I'm feeling generous today: Here is a link for you.

[Noke Wan]

LOL, I just found myself  what Deleted 2 is, - it's like… Electric Boogaloo! Thanks anyway, you're help is sweet - which you will find utterly offensive I trust  ( I'm slowly getting the hang of this site). I'll keep reading more before asking silly questions. No guaranties, however.

[maxon]

If you have sims you created in CAS or who were born in game that you would like to keep, you can always use SimPE to make clones of them.  They will have to start as fresh characters but you can have a go at recreating their personalities with SimPE too and have lookalikes in your new neighbourhood.

[Sivany]

With some patience and a lot of messing about in SimPE and in game it is possible to rescue a neighbourhood that might at first appear trashed. Back when I decided to go back to playing my original nrighbourhood I had to pull it apart and stick bits back together to undo all the VBTs I'd done before we all knew any better. It takes a lot of work though, but if you're prepared to do it you might be able to save your neighbourhood.