BV Locals from backup as 'newly spawned' in new custom hoods empty template

[Leeahna]

Title bit longwindy, but i really hate the cliffhanger topics like: how can i...?

I have for a previous planned custom hood (that i never actually came around to playing) made a nice batch of asian, tropical and nordern vacation locals.
I'm planning to make a new custom hood with all the empty templates and i don't mind making new townies, downtownies etc..but i would really like to use the custom locals i already made.

I know the information is somewhere floating on Maty as i do remember i've read it before, but i can't find it back for the life of me. How do i manage in letting these locals be spawned in every future vacation neighborhood?

I've tried to rename the file (they were called G663 etc) to A001 or M002 and T003 etc (looked in simpe if it was an asian or nordern and changed the name to reflect this, nr 1 through 12), and plopping them in the c/program files/tsdata/neighborhood template/characters folder (while replacing the neighborhood template by the empty one) and making a new test neighborhood to test this with.

So far theyre not showing up, i have at this moment no hacks in my game yet as i'm waiting for all the updates for Apartment Life.

Pls if someone can point me in the right direction or has any clue what i'm doing wrong it's appreciated.

[SimWitch]

The information can be found in the clean templates discussion in the middle of the 23 pages here: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,4306.250.html

From what I have discovered (someone please correct me if there is a newer method), the only way to generate new BV locals in the game is to make them CAS characters, make them townies, and then turn them into Vacation townies. There is a hack by Argon that will make the Vacation townies have the correct local information (so they can teach gestures and such.) Get it here: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,9684.0.html

The method is described in detail on the threads I linked, but the short version will be to load your custom sims into CAS and make them a family, then get onto a lot and use Inge's shrub (or an alternative townie-maker) to townify them, and then turn them into Vacation sims with the NPC/Townie Maker object.

[Kyna]

SimWitch, I think you misunderstood Leeahna's question.

She doesn't need to know how to make BV locals, as she already has a set of BV locals that she made herself.  Her question is how can she use these custom BV locals as templates in future custom neighbourhoods without going through the steps you describe whenever she makes a custom hood.

I'd be interested in the answer.  Yes, I know I could I package my CAS made BV locals so that I can easily remake them in CAS later.  But then every time I create a custom hood I'll have to go through the "place on lot, townify, make into local" steps.  I'd like to know how my custom BV locals could be made into templates for A001, M001, & T001, so that I can bypass those tedious steps.

[SimWitch]

Whoops! Yeah, I completely missed the important part of the question there. It's what I get for posting without being properly caffeinated. *facepalm*

I didn't even consider making a spawnable (making new words, there) templates as a possibility. If it IS possible, I'd be keenly interested myself. I hate doing the song-and-dance for my BV locals and I'm half tempted just to leave the damn things empty these days.

[Leeahna]

 Her question is how can she use these custom BV locals as templates in future custom neighbourhoods without going through the steps you describe whenever she makes a custom hood.

I'd like to know how my custom BV locals could be made into templates for A001, M001, & T001, so that I can bypass those tedious steps.

Correct, and kind of glad to find out that i'm not the only one that does not know this =).

[squish]

I'd be interested in finding out the answer too. I've given up adding any vacation spots to my current hoods because i don't like the Maxis locals and have clean templates, and I get fed up with having to make my own every single time I make a new hood. Someone made some new Asian ones on MTS2, though they've never answered the questions on how they did it.

[Madame Mim]

One way would be to use Theo's custom Sim surgery to paste your vacation Sims over the top of the existing templates. Time consuming but fairly certain to work - although you might get some name drift. Changing names in SimPE isn't always sticky due to the English/US English divide EAxis set up.