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

[Simsane]

Thank you Zazazu.  I figured that's what I was supposed to do, but wanted to ask to make sure.

[jolrei]

I did everything right until step 4, my characters folder was empty and all. Then I created a sim and moved her in, wrote boolprop cheat code, but when I clicked on my sim, there was NO spawn menu  Should I have shift+clicked or something?

Yes, I think shift+click on your sim should give you the spawn option.  If that doesn't work for you, try using the mailbox (shift+click on the mailbox) and follow the instructions for that in Jordi's tutorial (also in step 4, I believe).  That should give you your full set of townies.

[miros]

Also the P001 folders for the Pets families in the SimBin.

[Emma]

I just followed all the instructions and all is working well. :)Thanks Jordi and Sara. I just wanted to know, does the game generate townies, downtownies, special npc's when needed, or do I have to spawn them myself using the townie tree? I do not have any noregen hacks installed but I do have antiredundancy.

[jrd]

It will generate townies etc. as needed (at the rate of one per lot, until the limit is reached), but the process is fundamentally flawed. You're likely to end up with a townie population of only male teens for example, as the game only checks for total number, not age and gender.

[Emma]

Ok, thankyou I will use the townie tree. I was just feeling lazy as usual

[Emma]

*Sorry for the double posting.

Okay, I did spawn all the townies and downtownies. I only spawned one of each gender for the special NPC Downtownies, is that ok or do I need 2? Will the game spawn replacements for these special NPCs if I move one of them to be a playable sim?
Sorry for the daft questions, but I just need to know before I start playing and get too attatched to my neighbourhood

[jrd]

I have just one grand vampire of each gender, seems to work fine.
The game should autospawn a special townie when it calls one and none is available -- I know this works for slobs, so likely also for grand vampires and Mr.Big/Diva.

[Emma]

Thanks for the quick answer I'll keep it as is then

I didn't need to do anything for Crumplebottom then? Does she just spawn when she is needed?

[miros]

She's actually stored in one of the files with the objects except for her relationships with other Sims and NPCs.  Also Father Time, Grimmy, and Baby New Year. 

For safety, you'll want to get the vampwerefixes hack and make all .package files in subdirectories of C:\Program Files\EA Games readonly.

[Emma]

Thanks miros. I have the vampwere fix.

I'll go away now and stop asking stupid questions...

[jolrei]

When creating custom townies/dormies, will they only wear Maxiswear???

While I was too caffeinated to sleep and too tired to really play last night, I decided to add to the population of my university and bodyshopped a couple of new YAs to move in as dormies.  Got to the Uni hood, went in to CAS and got my newly created sims out of the bin, dressed them nicely, and moved them into the dorm.  Using Insim, I moved them right out as dormies.  As happens, they just wandered off the dorm site, which I felt was very normal and well adjusted of them.  The new YA woman came back onto the dorm lot a few seconds (real time) later and was wearing a different top.  I noted that she had "changed" out of a custom download beadwork blouse, into a Maxiswear white tanktop.

Is this normal?  I'm assuming that the change is as a direct result of making her a dormie, since she arrived on site wearing what I originally dressed her in.

[Emma]

* Emma creeps into thread again

Sorry, I'm back and I am sure I am doing something really wrong. I used the tree to spawn townies and downtownies, and I ended up with about 3 clones of each sim (they all had different names though) I'm not sure I am choosing the right option on the tree. I am seriously confuzzled. I generate townies-that is fine and there are 30 of them. (When I first move my sim onto the lot in my main n'hood there are about 15 character files that are created-I am assuming that these extra characters are stray pets) I then spawn the tree, click on make townies and choose the 'townies' box. When that is done I do the same but choose 'downtownies' It then creates 30 'townies' (what is says in the pop up box). I then create 1 of each gender of the special NPCs but after I make one it pops up the box saying 'creating downtownies' I know I am doing something really wrong. I add my sub-hoods before making my sim in CAS. Help! I do not have noregen hacks.

I have the empty templates for N001,U001,2 and 3, D001, P001 (and now G001-thanks Sara )

[jrd]

EAMaxis made it so that any NPC spawned with the tree will use a downtownie template since Pets. And the downtownie templates are severely limited, so you will get many near-duplicates.

On the second menu of the tree there's a switch to make townies or downtownies -- make sure it is set to TOWNIES, or it will use downtownie templates even for townies despite your choice in the dialog.

I skipped creating downtownies completely in my current 'hood. Normal townies show up downtown anyway, and I just marked about ten of them as DTs with SimPE to allow for walkbys.
I don't use notownieregen nor the nopets thing, but do use completely emptied N001, P001, and G002 templates. When I first load a lot, there is one townie autogenerated, that's it.

[SaraMK]

Emma, I'm fairly sure that what you're seeing is normal. Annoying, but normal.

I doubt this will help, but here's a tree tutorial:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,4306.msg205277.html#msg205277

Thanks to what Jordi mentioned above, it may no longer work properly after Pets/Seasons.

[Emma]

Thankyou both so much! That was the trouble, I wasn't making any downtownies just 2 sets of townies Silly me.

* Emma goes away to try this thing again.

[edit] Just popped back in to say everything works properly now, and I don't seem to have a single clone! Thanks again

[Frally]

OK, another person here trying this for the first time and having weird things happen. I set up my neighbourhood last night as per the tutorial and everything seemed to work grandly. I only had 36 character files, no more. Today I finished off naming my townies and nuking the family connections in SimPE. I am not very experienced with SimPE so I thought I'd mention it just in case I've buggered something up at that stage.

So, I go back into my hood and start adding my subhoods. I'm lazy and don't want to build new ones, so I've added the Maxis hoods (downtown, bluewater etc.) My understanding is that now I've added the blank templates, these shouldn't generate any new townies, right? Well, I now have 119 character files and there are 2 families in my bin (Gieke and some twin one. Jason and Jane?) and I noticed some Gilscarbo chick taking a stroll past my house. Where did they come from all of a sudden?

[jrd]

You either forgot to delete the characters folders when you emptied the templates, or you replaced the wrong ones.

You have to go to the folder where you installed the expansion(s), not "My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\", and then replace the neighbourhood package with the empty version, and remove the characters subfolders.

At minimum you need to do this for the following:
P001 (Pets) -- this one adds the strays to all 'hoods, and Pets families in the Simbin.
G002 (Seasons) -- this one adds all the Seasons NPCs, and Seasons families in the Simbin.

You also need to rename or remove the N001 folder to prevent the default set of townies.

If you plan on adding a default uni (U001, U002, U003), the downtown (D001), or the bluewater district (B001), you also need to empty those templates. Replace the neighbourhood package, and delete the characters subfolders.

If you skip any step you will get some or all EAMaxis defaults in your new 'hood.

[jolrei]

If you skip any step you will get some or all EAMaxis defaults in your new 'hood.

He's right, you know.  Make sure you replace, rename, or delete the N001 folder in your program files Sims\neighborhoods\ folder, not just the one in your "my documents" folder.  I failed on this step at one point and was justly chastised. 

[Zazazu]

The Gilscarbo chick could also just be a randomly generated townie, unless you downloaded Jordi's name hack (can't give enough thanks for that one). The game only uses a limited number of weird first & last names.

[Frally]

Just so I can make sure - I definitely replaced all the folders in the tsbin install path as per the tutorial, but are you saying I need to do the same with the N001 folder in My Documents as well? Because that one I didn't do. *edit* sorry, reread your answer and I understand now. Must have missed a step with the expansions.

Does anyone know which expansion the gieke family in the bin are attached to? That would explain which expansion I missed a step with.

*baaah* Thanks for taking the time to help, much appreciated.

[Emma]

Gieke family came with OFB so you need the B001 empty template.

[miros]

Something I discovered... when I installed Seasons, 8 files appeared in my formerly empty P001 folder.  So double check before creating a new hood!

[Strangel]

I've done a clean custom 'hood.. added one CAS sim (Agnes Nutter) and went to check the Character Files via SimPE... and there's TWO sims listed. Agnes Nutter and some bartender chick. I thought it was odd, opened the Character Files folder in MyDocs/etc.. sure enough, there's TWO files there.

Am I safe to delete Random Bartender? Agnes hasn't left the Sim Bin, so I'm not sure why the game chose to create a bartender.

[SimFeliz]

I've been slowly making my custom hood, and by slowly I mean over the last few months.
I've just added an empty uni neighborhood. To add my own uni students do I use the shrub and selected make me a townie? Will this make them uni NPC students and dormies (if needed)?

I've also been wondering, I like to use less townies and downtownies then the game likes to create for you. If I create them and have the required hacks in place to stop the game making its own townies etc will that stop it or will the game create more to make up the required number the game likes to have. I hope this last part makes sense.