Went back and checked, it's the current version. I'm going to try the cheat you talked about. Do I have to put all the families in the bin to stop them from being deleted?
Sorry. When you deleteallcharacters, you delete ALL characters. You could clone them and import the clones back in, but memories will be gone. If you make sure the mod is installed correctly and custom content is enabled, no FURTHER townies will be generated after the current crop meets with a swarm of flies or a pool missing a ladder or a cowplant.