Tutorial: Clean custom neighbourhoods + townie creation (updated for Seasons)

[Liz]

Thank you very much for all this help and for the kindness of this community

Well.  That's something you don't see every day. 

I know, right? Think we should get that post bronzed or something

Catioucha, bienvenue a MATY! La raison que nous rirons (?) un peut est parce-que si quelqu'un est une espece de guignol ici et n'ecoute pas, nous ne sommes pas de tout sympathiques. Mais si vous avez une questionne, and vous pensez et essayez comprendre, les personnes ici peut etre tres sympathiques. Je suis heureux que jolrei peux vois aider! Et je regrette ma francais horrible. Je sais qu'il est du merdre (^_-)

[English: Catioucha, welcome to MATY. The reason we laugh a little is that if someone acts like an idiot here and doesn't listen, we're not very nice at all, but if you have a question, and you think and try to understand, people here can be very nice. I'm glad jolrei could help you. And I'm sorry for my horrible French. I know it's for shit (^_-)]

[pamysue]

My original Pleasantview finally turned into a BFBVFS.  I'm planning to start all over and would like to use this method to play a 'clean' Pleasantview.
My question is:  should I use the Seasons instructions if I have all EPs through BV and all SPs through TSS?
I've never tried anything like this before and just don't want to waste my time seeing if it screws up before I ask.
Thanks!

[kutto]

From what I've heard, TSS seems to think it's an expansion pack and not a stuff pack. I would try the Seasons instructions myself, but I wouldn't shocked if TSS messed it up somehow.

[Kyna]

My original Pleasantview finally turned into a BFBVFS.  I'm planning to start all over and would like to use this method to play a 'clean' Pleasantview.
My question is:  should I use the Seasons instructions if I have all EPs through BV and all SPs through TSS?
I've never tried anything like this before and just don't want to waste my time seeing if it screws up before I ask.
Thanks!

Yes, you need to follow the instructions for every EP you have, unless you want the additional families added by these EPs (such as the Ottomas family from Seasons, the Traveller family from BV and the Katt family from Pets).

[pamysue]

Did I miss the instructions for BV in this post?  (I easily could, was up all night llast night with the $%@% tornadoes.)

I'm going to do a fresh install.  So I could easily follow the instructions after BV and then install TSS.  Or probably better yet, wait until the next EP comes out before installing TSS.  It is still sitting on my desk in the box where it's been for quite some time.

[Kyna]

The BV clean template is buried mid-thread, here.

You might find it helpful to read the discussion that starts on the page before that post.

[pamysue]

Kyna, you are a dear.  Thank you so much for your help.

[Berney]

I have posted an update for Bon Voyage here: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,10798.0.html

[TashaYarrr]

I use TS2 Enhancer. It's unusable on clean custom neighborhoods, either ones I've created myself via the steps here and empty templates, or 'empty' neighborhoods I've downloaded from MTS2. It returns an "index out of bounds" error on just about any operation.

It doesn't happen on any of my old/non-'clean' neighborhoods. It happens whether or not Townies have been batch-spawned or NPCs generated.

I'm not expecting support here for TS2 Enhancer, obviously, just curious if anyone has any theories about what might be different between a 'clean' neighborhood and one that has auto-generated its own townies etc that would make the program choke on virtually anything I try to do (usually minor operations on individual Sims..."index out of bounds (-1)" upon attempted save.)

Thanks for any thoughts. I understand that the answer is probably 'don't use SimEnhancer', I'm just curious.

[TashaYarrr]

I think I've used up my edits or something. In addition to the error above, I forgot to mention that the neighborhood .package file is fatally corrupt afterwards.

[TashaYarrr]

For posterity's sake: in the end I had to reinstall the game from scratch. (Bottom line was that I couldn't open any clean neighborhoods (my own generated via clean templates, or downloaded clean lots) in SimPE or make edits with TS2 Enhancer.) My best guess is that I somehow screwed one of the steps in my initial clean-template setup.

[missaaliyah]

I just wanted to know a couple of things.

1.  I read in the posts, that if we create townies, we can make them into downtownies and use the teleporter shrub.  (I am not sure what I have to do with this step). Can someone clarifty what I have to do with this?

2.  What about the townies that come with Seasons.  Do I batch create them, or do I make them singularly or what?

[missaaliyah]

Okay so it worked for me, it deleted all the families in the neighbourhoods, was that meant to happen?  No Lothario etc...

But let me say, that forcing creating batch townies, was excellent, the townies are all good looking, default CAS face replacements, and their names are awesome as well.  I used Jordies mod to replace name. 

Thanks.  Such a pity I lost my usual sims.  I loved them.  Not the townies.

[Madame Mim]

It is designed to change the creation of new Neighbourhoods and will not affect existing ones (other than if they are un-upgraded hoods for which you add an alterred template before you upgrade them).

[lerosenoir]

Alright I'm already confused on step one. 

It says: "Replace P001_Neighborhood.package with an empty version. This prevents the standard Pets and Pet NPCs from being added to every 'hood. It also prevents the two families from magically appearing in your new 'hood's family bin."

The same goes for G002. But where do I get this empty version? It wasn't really explained...

[talysman]

Alright I'm already confused on step one. 

It says: "Replace P001_Neighborhood.package with an empty version. This prevents the standard Pets and Pet NPCs from being added to every 'hood. It also prevents the two families from magically appearing in your new 'hood's family bin."

The same goes for G002. But where do I get this empty version? It wasn't really explained...

Because I am a nice person. I will not point and laugh.

I will merely point.

You get empty neighborhoods from the thread named Empty and Cleaned-up Templates. [UPDATED].

Which is, like, three or four threads below this one. AND linked in this very thread, in the instructions you were reading.

[lerosenoir]

No, please do laugh. I just found that myself. 
Thanks anywho! 

[Kyna]

First you need to read this post in the FAQ.  Pay particular attention to the "How NOT To Post" part of the post.

Then you need to familiarise yourself with the search function on this site.  We don't spoonfeed people here, not even when they're new.  If it can be found by searching the site, we expect people to do so for themselves.

Since I'm feeling nice today, I'll save you the trouble of searching for what you looking for.  You need to read this thread to find out how to delete sims.

[jolrei]

what i want is to delete a bunch of townies while keeping my current sims, the hood, the buildings, landmarks, etc.  is there a way?

As Kyna suggested, read and follow the "Deleted 2" procedure.  If you have over 200 townies, this will take the rest of your life.  How many character files are in your neighbourhood folder anyway? 

If I had a "200 townies and I can't stand them anymore" issue, I would delete the whole hood and start over.  Sounds like you need notownieregen.

[CAFlanny]

What part do you need help with?  You're going to have to be more specific.

[Kazzandra]

Well, my guess would be that you're missing some empty templates. Make sure you have empty templates for each expansion you have, including the new ones.
Links for all clean templates, install as you have installed the others:
Base-Seasons
Bon Voyage
Free Time

I installed Free Time before the empty template for Free time came out, and I was finally infested with Goopy!!! Oh noes!!!!!

[jolrei]

And make sure you are installing the empty templates into the proper directory/folder.  These are all in [drive letter]:\Program Files\...  and not in the My Documents directories.

For example, to avoid getting default townies, you need to install your Pleasantview empty template to:
[drive letter]:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods

[pseudonymph]

I have a quick question.

Is it safe to delete the neighborhoods I don't want from the main menu? OR, should I download the empty templates first, and THEN delete them. I don't wanna mess up any code or anything, and I'm wondering if the latter is necessary to ensure that.

[jsalemi]

You can delete hoods from the main menu at any time -- those are stored in your "My Documents\<etc, etc>\Neighborhoods" directory, and deleting them doesn't affect the original templates.  It just removes them from your current game.

[pseudonymph]

^Thanks for the quick response.

So, okay...in order for me to have a totally clean hood when I start a new one, I would still have to overwrite all the templates with clean ones though, right? I hope I'm not making this any more confusing than it has to be lol.