Blank want icons since OFB - should I worry?

[ZephyrZodiac]

That would be wonderful, if it could be done!

[cwykes]

There's a wish list for SimPE - I added the SWAF request the other day.

http://ambertation.de/simpeforum/forum/viewforum/3

quaxi says he is figuring out whether he can use NET2.0 for the next version so it might be a while.  If anyone here knows that stuff,  there's a debate over there on it linked off the front page.


In case anyone cares I got my SWAF files down to 10 less than my number of character files - I deleted a few for old dead maxis sims who I hope don't need them.

[cwykes]

Outstanding questions:
1. should there by ANY unknowns in simdescription?
2. should the grim reaper, the hula zombie and the therapist have SWAF files?  (In my game they have old style SWAF files with no LTWs)  The don't have DNA files.  (Mrs crumplebottom and PT don't have either in my game)
3. Do dead sims need SWAF files?
4. should I delete any SWAF file that wasn't updated to add an LTW?

Update on the story..
I've cleaned out the DNA files as well - it's not hard, just easy to screw up because you have to do it only by instance number.  Still there were long sequences that could be deleted in one go.  That's because they were created all at once when I moved an occupied lot into the lot bin.

I can now make sense of the 'hood numbers.  Hurrah!
I have 358 character files in my neighbourhood character folder.
Adding the 5 NPCs who are objects and don't have flies (grim, hula, therapist, Mrs C and PT) ...
I should have me 363 sims with a sim description. 
Unfortunately I have 365 because there are 2 unknowns in sim description.  I guess these are leftovers from incomplete cleaning.  I've been round Quaxi's list at least twice as well - try again tomorrow....
As the 5 NPCs and 2 unknowns don't have DNA files, I should have 358 DNA files - AND I DO!
I deleted some corrupt SWAF files that should regenerate and I hope I will then have 358 SWAF files as well.  The only corruption I saw was a couple of sims with 5 wants apart from the ones that hadn't been updated to add a LTW (all dead sims)

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think one of the unknowns might be the car!  However, deleting the unknown swafs won't matter that much, if the characters exist, they'll create new ones. 

And yes, ghosts etc. do have wants and fears, though I think the premades won't have LTWs, although maybe if you've played the lot where their grave is, then they will generate one!

[cwykes]

the remote control car!  aha - that's possible.  It would explain why the unknown keeps regenerating when I clean everything up and delete it.  There should normally be one unknown sim then.  It won't have any DNA or SWAF then!

There are a whole load of dead sims in veronaville, some with no character data and some unlinked.  They've all got swaf files and I noticed some of the ones on lots I've played have got LTW's - it's bizarre.

DNA was easy ZZ - you just need to keep to-ing and fro-ing between the sim description list and the DNA list.  I put the sim description list in instance order and looked for missing numbers.  Then I went to the DNA list and looked to see if there was DNA for the missing numbers. I worked a screen or so at a time, so I could carry the missing numbers in my head. Once you get out of the maxis sims with lots of missing instances into a series of your own sims, it goes very fast.  No probs so far except Michael batchelor in Pleasantview - I remember reading that his files were a mess ages ago.  He has two files - one is linked to his family with no DNA, the other has DNA but is unlinked...  aarrgghh.   

[DrBeast]

IIRC, the two Unknown are the RC car and a bot (as of OFB). Not Servos, bots like the Sentry Bot (if you use Merola's Mind Control Mirror, it actually comes up as selectable).

[ZephyrZodiac]

They really messed up all the Pleasantview ghosts, in my opinion!  I think what they did, they moved Michael, Skip, Darleen and Bella into a house and then put the house in the bin.  That way they got a clone of Bella to move across into Strangetown, but when they moved the house back and left Michael, Skip Darleen and the other Bella to die, in fact two Michaels, etc. died, the original Michael etc. who was unlinked, and the playable Michael etc. who would have been the clones.  The Bella they took to Strangetown would have been the one living in the house (the clone) and the one left behind would have been the unlinked Bella.  I think, you see, that if you put an occupied house in the bin, the sims that are in it if you put it back in the hood are the clones (ie the memories of each other) while putting the house in the bin actually unlinks the original characters. 

'll shut up as I'm getting mixed up in what I'm trying to say and it probably makes absolutely no sense!

[Dark Trepie]

Ah.  So that explains why all of the sims on one of my lots have an "Unknown" in their relations pannel.  I had a sentry bot in there.

And I don't think Maxis would go so far as to lotbin Bella and move her to Strangetown.  If you compare Pleasantview Bella and Strangetown Bella side by side they have slightly different facial structures.  So I'm pretty sure they're two totally different sims.

Not to mention it would be a lot easier for them just to make Strangetown Bella in CAS than it would to go through the trouble of lotbinning her.

[ZephyrZodiac]

In that case they deleted one Bella, but I can't see how else they got two of each of the others unless the lotbinned them.  Since they didn't have access to simPE then (and unless they have a similar program that they've never let on about) I can't see how they could have cloned them outside the game, but then, I know nothing about programming!

[jsalemi]

Oh, I'm sure the programmers at Maxis have internal tools that do everything SimPE does and more. I can't imagine them programming something so complex by hand -- they'd have to have tools to speed the mundane processes. The tools are probably proprietary, though, so we'll never see them out here in the real world.

[ZephyrZodiac]

That would be too much to ask, of course!  I imagine they think they've given us enough with Bodyshop and Homecrafter.

[cabelle]

I haven't deleted anyone in Pleastantview and I occasionally get blank wants for the following sims when I load their lots-

Nina and Don Lothario-Caliente
John & Jennifer Burb (happened once to Lucy Burb before she left for University)
Beau Broke
MarySue Pleasant

Edit- Nevermind, I decided to go ahead and attempt to delete all the dangling SWAFs. Considering how unawesome I am it was a simple though tedious process. There were more than I'd originally thought, about 90 dangling. But now I have 528 character files and SWAF files. Pleasantview seems to be operating as it should for now. *crosses fingers*

[cwykes]

IIRC, the two Unknown are the RC car and a bot (as of OFB). Not Servos, bots like the Sentry Bot (if you use Merola's Mind Control Mirror, it actually comes up as selectable).

Thanks a lot for that - can I rename them safely in SimPE so I know what they are?

I agree with ZZ, they must have lotbinned Michael Batchelor etc at some point - it explains the mess in the pleasantview files.

[jrd]

Late reply (Necomancers can go to heck ): No, you cannot rename them. Quaxi needs to implement an autodetection for them like exists for other default NPCs.
I have posted on this in the SimPE QA forum.

FWIW, I have three unknowns, which I assume to be the RC car, driving bot, and floating bot.

[cwykes]

Thanks Jord i - roll on the new improved SimPe with NET 2.