Too many files/sims explanation for dummies needed

[angelyne]

I double-checked my numbers now that I am home.  The original game generates around 127 characters for Pleasantville.  I did a deleteallcharacters and then added uni and downtown.  I ended up with 245 characters.  So 127 + 245 - some duplications with NPC's and - my own characters you have roughly 400 pre-generated characters... and you haven't even started playing the game yet!

Conclusion : Deleteallcharacters is your friend


damn, i just noticed I'm no longer tasty

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, we were all Asinine at one point!  It can only get worse!!!!!!

I'm seriously considering making clones of any characters that I may want (I already have most of the playables) then reinstalling and deleting all characters after loading a College and Downtown just so at least most of the characters will eventually be MINE!  (After all, it's MY GAME once it's on my pc,and if I don't want Goopy and Co, that's my choice.  Maxis should just have made it easier!  I'd actually like it if they made it just delete: then give a list of townies etc to choose form.)

[Bangelnuts]

Well, we were all Asinine at one point!  It can only get worse!!!!!!

I'm seriously considering making clones of any characters that I may want (I already have most of the playables) then reinstalling and deleting all characters after loading a College and Downtown just so at least most of the characters will eventually be MINE!  (After all, it's MY GAME once it's on my pc,and if I don't want Goopy and Co, that's my choice.  Maxis should just have made it easier!  I'd actually like it if they made it just delete: then give a list of townies etc to choose form.)

I just went throe sim enhancer and got rid of  a bunch of ugly townies that I never play keeping only essential characters and ghost files .I also kept NPC's and Uni personnel

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, NPCs and Profs only get replaced, and what you get next time might be worse!  Just wish they'd found a way of having an Education career track and using the sims who are actually in that career to be the profs  - I mean, how hard could it be?  (Go on tell me, too hard!)

[Bangelnuts]

Well, NPCs and Profs only get replaced, and what you get next time might be worse!  Just wish they'd found a way of having an Education career track and using the sims who are actually in that career to be the profs  - I mean, how hard could it be?  (Go on tell me, too hard!)

I kept all NPC's and Professors,service personnel like store clerks,Uni Mascots,Cafeteria workers as I didnt want the game to regenerate anyone.I only got rid of  townies and I also Kept the frat house kids at SSU and the Sorority house YA's  I also kept the Bright house intact  and the students that Maxis Puts in the Uni Bin. they might have a purpose at some point in my hood so I kept them. Heather Huffington I plan on using a swingin single in my Neighborhood  so I kept her.her aspiration is Romance.

[veilchen]

Yes, that's what happens with 'delete all'. Whenever you need an NPC, like the paper-girl/boy, the mail delivery person, maid, nanny, etc. the game generates it. And as ZZ points out, the game may lag while doing so. But really, no worries, there will always be the postal worker, the delivery people or anything else that you need. Delete all characters in conjunction with 'noregeneration' will just prevent the spawing of towines, not the spawning of NPC's.

I ususally just use the 'noregeneration' because the townies bring in some variety. For the ugliest ones there is always the career reward surgery and/or SimSurgery in SimPe. Personally, I don't alter much, just über-long noses, fish mouths, and frog eyes :D. There is even a tutorial on how to make the surgically altered DNA permanent, it's a simple and easy proceedure. It's posted on MTS2 and the link to it is posted here as well.

[Bangelnuts]

if I alter DNA like eye color or skintone I use Sim Enhancer because it records the changes and makes them permanent in SimPE. other changes like Uber long noses  I have to use SimPE to make the change permanent

[ZephyrZodiac]

I just can't be bothered with all that!  Best thing is to partner the ones with original big noses etc. with aliens with original no noses etc., then maybe the kids will be somewhere in the middle!  But I wish, if you put a green skin and a blue skin together, you could have turquoise babies!

[Trubble]

Maxis CLAIMS that with the patch for Uni/Nightlife that they have upped the limit of sims for neighborhoods to remain stable.  I do not know if it is true...and what the new limit is suppose to be now.  According to MaxisHunter they are now unable to recreate the Final Exam bug...and the Dead/Elder bug...since the patch.  Again I do not know how true this is.  Does anyone know?

Would like confirmation of this also...

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, I started getting corrupted character files at 365 characters in my last install of Pleasantview ( and I've played it before NL with double that number and no problems) so I'm sceptical about how well they've done the programming for that upped limit.  Or whether it's one of their own objects that caused the problems I've had (every sim with this problem has the restaurant podium token in their memories, so I wonder if that has issues, and if so, it would affect every darn sim who ever goes out for a meal, and every sim who appears on that lot!)

[asthehind]

I have a couple of questions about this problem that I hope someone can answer...
1. A hypothetical question really; what if I exceeded the recommended number of character files so I had to do a clean install, but there were one or two families I really didn't want to lose. Could I just upload them to the sims exchange and download them after reinstalling and have no problems, or would they bring all their associated character files with them therefore reintroducing problems to the game?
2. Where would I get a hack that stops townies from regenerating (for TS2 and NL)? Are there any problems associated with them?
Thanks for any help,

As the Hind

[J. M. Pescado]

I have a couple of questions about this problem that I hope someone can answer...
1. A hypothetical question really; what if I exceeded the recommended number of character files so I had to do a clean install, but there were one or two families I really didn't want to lose. Could I just upload them to the sims exchange and download them after reinstalling and have no problems, or would they bring all their associated character files with them therefore reintroducing problems to the game?

No, this would simply re-import the BFBVFS back into your neighborhood.

2. Where would I get a hack that stops townies from regenerating (for TS2 and NL)? Are there any problems associated with them?

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/hacks/nl/

[asthehind]

Thanks 

As the Hind

[asthehind]

I can't get that link to work - it says URL not found?

As the Hind

[Kyna]

Asthehind, you could try searching the board for 'notownieregen' ... or hope that someone with enough nice points comes along and gives the correct link. 

Bleah, I guess my 6 niceness means I'll tell you.  Try this http://moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/nl/hacks/ and then look down the list for notownieregen and if you have uni, you'll want the nodormie one as well.

[ZephyrZodiac]

If you want to, you can use SimPE to recreate your sims that you want to keep.  You need to clone each of them, and make notes of all the personality, voice, aspiration and interest data.  Then, you create a package file of each of the sims you clone, put it into Saved Sims or Downloads and then you will find the faces when you go into CAS and you can recreate your families.  You will need to edit their interests in SimPE afterwards if you are bothered about this.

However, before you give up on your neighbourhood, try checking for any extra copies of the sims you have in your game, if they have nor relationships and are unlinked, then you can safely remove tham from your Characters folder.  Similarly, any townies, dormies, SS or Downtownies with no relationships can be safely deleted. 

Check also for multiple baristas if you haven't been using the nonpcspam mod.  Any that have no relationships can be removed.  If you still have more than three baristas, you will need to get rid of the relationships and the memories of "Met so and so" for each sim they have met, after which they can be deleted too.

My current hood is an old one which I played without any of JM's mods and eventually became a BFBVFS, but luckily I had back-ups, still full of unwanted characters, most of which I deleted, and the game is now playing perfectly well.

[asthehind]

Thanks for the advice, I must say that I am ridiculously sentimental about my sims, and the thought of them all dieing in an apocaliptic explosion scares the blank out of me!

As the Hind

[ZephyrZodiac]

I'm very fond of my sims too, they're rather like part of the family!  the thing that really scares me rigid is the thought "If I die, who will look after my cat ..... and MY SIMS!"

[asthehind]

And I thought I was the only one!

As the Hind

[ZephyrZodiac]

No, I think there are quite a few of us who'd like our sims to be buried with us ready to take that final journey to wherever!