Unlinked and relink

[jrd]

Looking at the default 'hoods with SimPE I find there are many characters who are by default unlinked, but character data is still present. In the case of dead characters, what does this actually do? Does it prevent them from getting a ghost? Can I safely set unlinked to 0, or do I need to use the 'relink' option in SimPE?

Additionally, can I somehow (and safely) merge duplicate characters, so that Skip Broke can become his child's DNA contributing father again, and all memories point to the correct version of them?

[Ancient Sim]

Don't know about merging duplicate characters, but if you make Skip Broke unlinked (by changing the 1 to 0), he will contribute his genetics normally to Brandi's third child.  You do this with the one that has the character data, of course.  The other one is just a thumbnail picture as far as I know, but what would happen if you deleted it I have no idea. 

If they're unlinked, it means they can't be resurrected as they don't appear in the Reaper's list.  By linking them, they can be resurrected.  As far as I know, that's the only difference it makes (apart from the genetic thing).  I've unlinked all deadies in my neighbourhoods, not because I want to bring them back, but because I felt like it.

[jrd]

Thanks. Weird that Maxis left some unlinked while they linked most others...

[ZephyrZodiac]

Not so much wierd as careless, wouldn't you say?  Like the way too many unrelated sims are ticked as Family!  As if they've played around with stuff and then forgotten to put it back to how it originally was.