anyone noticed this in CAS?

[Motoki]

I'm still not convinced they didn't just make those downtownies by hand. It seems like elders don't get generated if you create a new downtown but only if you play the default premade downtown.

[AllenABQ]

I'm still not convinced they didn't just make those downtownies by hand. It seems like elders don't get generated if you create a new downtown but only if you play the default premade downtown.

It's kind of puzzling.  I posted on another thread a rogue's gallery of new downtownies made by the Townie/NPC Maker.  Most of them were close or exact copies of the default downtownies.  Maybe they just have some full sims hard-coded somewhere and that's what you'll always get when downtownies are made by the game?

By the way, I discovered an additional step.  In order to get the new face templates to show up in CAS, you have to delete the file:

C:\My Documents\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\Thumbnails\CASThumbnails.package

It's safe to delete.  The game will generate a new one.  If you don't do this the thumbnail picture of the old face template(s) will still be present in CAS.

[Sagana]

I'm still not convinced they didn't just make those downtownies by hand. It seems like elders don't get generated if you create a new downtown but only if you play the default premade downtown.

eep, thanks for mentioning it. I'm just about ready to make my own downtown (along with a new Uni) and the elders and teens (the Tricou-generated errors), the most likely ones to be made by hand, are the only default ones I actually want. Guess I need to save them out with simpe and stick them in bodyshop so I can put them back in again.

Why do they make the best stuff difficult

[SaraMK]

Aren't the downtownies here? C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Nightlife\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate\D001\Characters

I thought it worked exactly like the default Pleasantview townies. They sit in their own neighborhood character folder, ready to be copied over to any new neighborhood you create. The only difference would be that they seem to get random names.

I could be wrong, of course. I've not really been interested enough to check where the downtownies are coming from. I just needed their pictures for something I was working on, and the files inside that folder contain large portraits of them.

[Motoki]

By the way, I discovered an additional step.  In order to get the new face templates to show up in CAS, you have to delete the file:

C:\My Documents\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\Thumbnails\CASThumbnails.package

It's safe to delete.  The game will generate a new one.  If you don't do this the thumbnail picture of the old face template(s) will still be present in CAS.

I didn't have to do that myself, but my Bodyshop never caches right like it's supposed to anyhow. 

As for the CAS, if it's anything like buy mode in the game you should be able to refresh a thumbnail by holding control and doing a right click I think.

[AllenABQ]

Aren't the downtownies here? C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Nightlife\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate\D001\Characters

I thought it worked exactly like the default Pleasantview townies. They sit in their own neighborhood character folder, ready to be copied over to any new neighborhood you create. The only difference would be that they seem to get random names.

I could be wrong, of course. I've not really been interested enough to check where the downtownies are coming from. I just needed their pictures for something I was working on, and the files inside that folder contain large portraits of them.

That would be them.  Looks like Motoki is right. They are pre-made Maxis characters.  And all the more irritating that when you get rid of a downtownie the game regenerates from files with the same-looking characters all the time.  I've noticed there are SOME dynamically generated downtownies.  Not many, but those that are use the standard random-assignment fugly templates we here are currently trying to replace.

sigh... well Maxis DID say they'd give us better looking townies in NL... 

[Erdehel]

By the way, I discovered an additional step.  In order to get the new face templates to show up in CAS, you have to delete the file:

C:\My Documents\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\Thumbnails\CASThumbnails.package

It's safe to delete.  The game will generate a new one.  If you don't do this the thumbnail picture of the old face template(s) will still be present in CAS.

I didn't have to do that myself, but my Bodyshop never caches right like it's supposed to anyhow. 

As for the CAS, if it's anything like buy mode in the game you should be able to refresh a thumbnail by holding control and doing a right click I think.

Thank you AllenABQ for that info.

Yesterday evening I replaced 2 faces. In Cas, none got updated. In bodyshop, only the first one got updated. I was going to investigate on this tonight but you already got the solution.

[Andygal]

I think the ones that it ues the standard tempates for are the "special" downtownies like the Diva, Mr Big and the Slobs.

[lindaetterlee]

Motoki, Love the tutorial. One guestion for the lazy lol *grins*. Are you going to release any replacements for people that this might be out of their league.

[Motoki]

Motoki, Love the tutorial. One guestion for the lazy lol *grins*. Are you going to release any replacements for people that this might be out of their league.

At some point, yes. But it may be a while between being really busy at work (though not so busy that I can't stop to post this lol) and having a bf who whines I don't spend enough time with him and spend too much time online (*looks around to make sure he's not looking*) and keeping up with the posts here and Bines daily finds and TSR every few days etc it's hard for me to squeeze the time in. To be honest, I was hoping someone would beat me to it lol. I'll try and work on it this weekend though if I can.

[Brynne]

... and having a bf who whines I don't spend enough time with him and spend too much time online (*looks around to make sure he's not looking*)

You too, huh? I don't get the whining from my husband, I get the silent sulking...

[Bangelnuts]

... and having a bf who whines I don't spend enough time with him and spend too much time online (*looks around to make sure he's not looking*)

You too, huh? I don't get the whining from my husband, I get the silent sulking...

I get the screeching  hubby

[Motoki]

You too, huh? I don't get the whining from my husband, I get the silent sulking...

Oh he does that too. But when that doesn't work, and it usually doesn't , he gets vocal.

[Bangelnuts]

You too, huh? I don't get the whining from my husband, I get the silent sulking...

Oh he does that too. But when that doesn't work, and it usually doesn't , he gets vocal.

the screeching doesnt work either

[Brynne]

and neither does the sulking. Which leads to louder silent sulking.

[AllenABQ]

OK, folks.  Here's a first test drive of this thing.  I had some time to burn the evening and thought I'd at least do the adult males.

These are simply the default face templates tweaked to look a bit more normal.  No huge lips, doll eyes, and other wildly exaggerated features.  I didn't use anyone else's stuff -- just my own adjustments to the Maxis stuff following Gigge's face editing tutorial for the most part.

This is adult men only.  Drop the package files somewhere in the Downloads folder.  (I created a sub-folder in Downloads called "Face Templates".)  Each file has both the number of the template face in the order it appears in the face selection dialog in CAS and Bodyshop and also the internal face name.  If you don't like one of these or want to replace it with something else, just identify it by number and delete/replace it.  I didn't do the Vulcan/Elf template (#26) because it is not used for random townie/NPC generation.

I've already tried generating new NPCs with these, and they appear to work fine.  Randomness still doesn't alleviate really bad combinations of hair, skin color, etc., but it's a bit better than the defaults by a long stretch.

<file removed for now>



[attachment deleted by admin]

[Bangelnuts]

OK, folks.  Here's a first test drive of this thing.  I had some time to burn the evening and thought I'd at least do the adult males.

These are simply the default face templates tweaked to look a bit more normal.  No huge lips, doll eyes, and other wildly exaggerated features.  I didn't use anyone else's stuff -- just my own adjustments to the Maxis stuff following Gigge's face editing tutorial for the most part.

This is adult men only.  Drop the package files somewhere in the Downloads folder.  (I created a sub-folder in Downloads called "Face Templates".)  Each file has both the number of the template face in the order it appears in the face selection dialog in CAS and Bodyshop and also the internal face name.  If you don't like one of these or want to replace it with something else, just identify it by number and delete/replace it.  I didn't do the Vulcan/Elf template (#26) because it is not used for random townie/NPC generation.

I've already tried generating new NPCs with these, and they appear to work fine.  Randomness still doesn't alleviate really bad combinations of hair, skin color, etc., but it's a bit better than the defaults by a long stretch.

File is located here (a bit too big to post on MATY):

http://home.comcast.net/~hairysims/AdultMaleFaceTemplates.zip

I'll likely move it to MTS2 in the near future.  Just wanted to give people here a chance to play first. 

they are very good  thanks

[lindaetterlee]

My hubby is just as addicted to the sims. We sit up all night playing them. We love building and designing.

[Motoki]

Thanks a lot for making these Allen. It's a huge improvement. I know all the file management stuff in SimPE can be tedious and time consuming so I appreciate it.

BTW, I did confirm that you can go into the CAS (but not bodyshop) and hold down control and right click on the faces one by one to get the thumbnails to refresh. It's probably faster to just delete the file but I actually like this way better because you get to see the dramatic difference between before and after. 

[AllenABQ]

Thanks a lot for making these Allen. It's a huge improvement. I know all the file management stuff in SimPE can be tedious and time consuming so I appreciate it.

BTW, I did confirm that you can go into the CAS (but not bodyshop) and hold down control and right click on the faces one by one to get the thumbnails to refresh. It's probably faster to just delete the file but I actually like this way better because you get to see the dramatic difference between before and after. 

Glad I could help out.   

I've been working on the women this morning, and I've made an interesting discovery.  I had thought that the facial data of a particular sex was locked on some linear correspondence to the opposite sex.  That is, because I hadn't altered the women yet I thought that if I loaded up a Maxis female face template and then flipped the sex to male, I'd still get the unaltered male face.  That's not true.  I got my new templates for males instead.  So if I adjusted a maxis female face (per Gigge's tutorial) the male version of that face would look like its new male template PLUS the changes I'd made resulting in some very weird looking male "twins" of the women.

The lesson here is that if you are doing a new facial template, it's probably a good idea to make the male and the female version at the same time.  Then put both of them in the Downloads folder at the same time.  If you do one based on the new template of the other, then one sex might be capable of passing some underisable traits to children of the opposite sex.

PS -- This isn't to say that my adult male templates people are using are bad because I didn't do the women.  It just means I have to take them out of *my* Downloads folder while working on the female set.

[witch]

...per Gigge's tutorial...

Speaking of Gigge, I haven't seen it in this thread so far, but Gigge does an excellent line in elder clothing as well as her face tutorials. www.sagesims.com. In fact I just emailed her about a download link that wasn't working on her page, I might just send her a link to here too, she may be interested in this.

Edit: Just realised I meant to post this is the elder clothing thread, never mind I'll post it there too.

[Motoki]

Yeah, Gigge's cool. I like her stuff. I should let her know about my adult clothes for elders mod too. 

[witch]

I was just composing a telegram!

PS I was in fact working out how to link direct to your first post about the elder skin mod.

PPS I'll just leave it up to you then, shall I? 

PPPS You being the creator and all, wouldn't want to step on any toes now... 

[Motoki]

LOL I don't care and I'm lazy haha. But I'll write her. I wouldn't want it to be your fault in case something else goes wrong because we know enough things are already your fault.

[Baa]

OK, folks.  Here's a first test drive of this thing.  I had some time to burn the evening and thought I'd at least do the adult males.

These are simply the default face templates tweaked to look a bit more normal.  No huge lips, doll eyes, and other wildly exaggerated features.  I didn't use anyone else's stuff -- just my own adjustments to the Maxis stuff following Gigge's face editing tutorial for the most part.

This is adult men only.  Drop the package files somewhere in the Downloads folder.  (I created a sub-folder in Downloads called "Face Templates".)  Each file has both the number of the template face in the order it appears in the face selection dialog in CAS and Bodyshop and also the internal face name.  If you don't like one of these or want to replace it with something else, just identify it by number and delete/replace it.  I didn't do the Vulcan/Elf template (#26) because it is not used for random townie/NPC generation.

I've already tried generating new NPCs with these, and they appear to work fine.  Randomness still doesn't alleviate really bad combinations of hair, skin color, etc., but it's a bit better than the defaults by a long stretch.

File is located here (a bit too big to post on MATY):

http://home.comcast.net/~hairysims/AdultMaleFaceTemplates.zip

I'll likely move it to MTS2 in the near future.  Just wanted to give people here a chance to play first. 

Thanks! This is awesome! Some of them are still a big on the ugly side, but I'll just follow the tutorial and edit them myself.