Sending a sim to the NPC Household?

[GnatGoSplat]

My NPCs all have the same ugly faces, so I decided to try changing them, starting with a particular maid.  I tried editsim on the maid, which went well until I clicked Accept and nothing happened. I discovered no other button would work either, they made the click sound, but did nothing.  I was forced to End Task.  Fortunately, I had the foresight to save her to the bin, which led to the bright idea of using testingcheats and "Add Sim to Household", then I was able to bodysnatch.  Using one of the Debug interactions, I was able to do "Make me a NPC".  However, that only made her un-selectable.  Is it possible to kick her ass back into the NPC Household and have her resume her role as a maid?

[Claeric]

You COULD just edit her again since that one-time glitch you experienced probably won't happen consistently.

[Buzzler]

However, that only made her un-selectable.  Is it possible to kick her ass back into the NPC Household and have her resume her role as a maid?

She probably already belongs to the NPC household, but isn't assigned to any particular service. I don't know of a way to add a sim to a service. That is, a way that's available right now. I'll look into it. It's probably easy to do with a scripting mod.

[GnatGoSplat]

You COULD just edit her again since that one-time glitch you experienced probably won't happen consistently.

I could, but I had already spent a ridiculously long time on her and would rather not have to do it again.  I'd already tried this once before, it worked, but I wasn't happy with the result so I tried editsim a second time in the same session and it hung at the CAS loading screen.  It seems this particular maid doesn't like being edited.

She probably already belongs to the NPC household, but isn't assigned to any particular service. I don't know of a way to add a sim to a service. That is, a way that's available right now. I'll look into it. It's probably easy to do with a scripting mod.

When I shift-clicked and selected "Add to household", it actually took her out of the NPC Household and added her to the active household.  "Make me a NPC" made her unselectable, but didn't remove her from that household.

[Claeric]

...But you saved her to the bin. Editsim, click the bin, pick the saved sim.

[GnatGoSplat]

Editsim gives you access to the bin?  For some reason I didn't think it did.  I'll have to look again when I get home, but I can't believe I'd have missed it if it's there.

[Orlando]

...But you saved her to the bin. Editsim, click the bin, pick the saved sim.

I can see why that could be confusing because you can SAVE SIM TO BIN from editsim command but as far as I can tell you cannot access the actual bin.
Would be really great for swapping sims if you could access that sim.
I can relate to your annoyance with the EA puddingface sims as NPC members in your town.
I was thinking it would be handy to populate my family bin with sims from my SavedSims file but the family bin requires .package whereas the SavedSim folder has .sim files.
Does anyone know a way to convert .sim to .package? If I understand correctly then sims moved into our games would henceforth be the custom ones and not the default EA sims but does this include NPC staff spawned ingame and tourists?

[GnatGoSplat]

Yeah, I checked last night and there's no way to access the actual bin from editsim.
The only way I know of to get sims into the family bin is to go into CAS, add sims to your family from CAS, then click Accept.  That should put them into your family bin.  However, I have never seen any sims from the family bin get moved into the game from story progression.  It always adds new randomly created sims of varying clothes, skin, and haircolor, but with the exact same 2 or 3 annoying faces every time.

[Orlando]

Yeah I have mutant spawn with very dark skin, bright blue eyes and white hair as a general rule.
They all seem to be swimming in the shallow end of the gene pool but what's worse is that they marry my custom sims behind my back.
I've been pulling them into CAS with editsim in roll-turn but it's time consuming. How exactly does the body-snatch command work? Do I need to type bodysnatch and then the name of the target sim while playing the sim intended for replacement?

[GnatGoSplat]

Yes, bodysnatch works exactly the way you mentioned.  The sim you're playing becomes the target sim in appearance, and the target sim disappears.

[Orlando]

Thanks for the confirmation on that command, it wasn't clear enough in my mind to attempt it on my game.
I remember that movie was very creepy.
They get you when you sleep. (Go Donald.)

I'd like to see some eventual development about NPC spawn rules such as setting the max number of them in your town and having them generate from the custom sims bin but until then, I will use bodysnatch to maintain order.
At least I can use the locked door features to seclude the live-in maids and babysitters from my household by creating maid chambers and staff kitchens. We've come a long ways since the game launched about a year ago.

[Claeric]

Huh. I could've sworn editsim took you to CAS, with full bin access (that's why it says "Are you sure you want to discard this family" or whatever instead of "cancel your changes"). That's weird. I am also pretty sure I used the bin from there before...maybe it changed?

[Orlando]

@Claeric: I haven't updated/patched or installed EP2 yet and I most certainly don't have access to the SavedSims bin when using editsim BUT I can save to it which is better than nothing. Access to the bin would be convenient.
I sometimes just randomize my sim in CAS from editsim until I have something I feel I can work with. I've seen some horrendous puddings on randomize, it amuses me.