substituting default pets with my own creations

[amjoie]

I hate the EA/Maxis default pets. They are almost all purposefully ugly and distorted like most of the default sim people. Instead of needing to use SimPE surgery on all of the pets spawned, I decided to try something different.

I deleted all the default breeds out of the PetBreeds folder. (I also deleted the petbreedbinpackage, by mistake. But the game generated a new one, automatically.) Then I took all the breeds I have created and put them into the PetBreeds folder. I started up a new neighborhood, and had a sim call to adopt a pet, both when I had the hack that stops pet spawning in the game and without the hack. In both cases, the game spawned needed pets (more without the hack, of course) from my created breeds.

Wolves were spawned from somewhere other than the PetBreeds folder, because they were in the game even though I never created any wolves.

So far, no hiccups. The game plays just fine. But all the pets are much more realistic and beeeUtiful ...

I opened up an older neighborhood I was going to delete anyway, to see what happened to the default Maxis/EA pets already in old hoods. They were all still there, unchanged. So once a pet is in the game, it doesn't call upon the PetBreeds folder anymore, apparently. The breeds seem to be used as templates, rather than meshes.

Can anyone see any long-term reason my default pet replacement method will not work? Does anyone suspect any hidden problems I have not yet encountered, because I did this?
........

If no one sees a problem, and if anyone else wants to try it, I have put the whole PetBreeds folder-worth of my created pets in one RAR for download on my website. Many pets in the RAR have not been pictured on my site, as of yet. There are 70 files in the folder. The RAR download is right near the top of the page. http://www.virtualpetz.net/id21.html

If no one foresees a problem, and you decide to test this out, please let me know if it works in your game.
........

[amjoie]

I've tried editing, twice, and the edit won't save. So pardon the double post.

This is important, though: The Maxis/EA default breeds in the PetBreeds folder are named. Any garbage character names are custom content pets you have created, so don't delete those unless you want to get rid of them. Probably best to backup the PetBreeds folder before messing with it. 

I don't want to get blamed for someone's missing pet breed creation. 

[notveryawesome]

Excuse me whilst I behave like an overzealous fangirl: SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!! I love your petbreeds - they are indeed beeeUtiful. Thank you very much for this. *downloads*

[amjoie]

ACK! Wait -- DON'T do what I did, until somebody awesome verifies that it won't splode a hood!

... But you can still enjoy my breeds, regardless. And, thank you for the compliment.

[notveryawesome]

No worries. I was just going to put your breeds in the PetBreeds folder anyway, because I don't mind the Maxis ones that much.

[Arina]

I've only just backed up my main hood and my other is completely expendable so I'll try out what you did (not that I am awesome, of course... XD)

I play with the nostrayrespawn but that doesn't let me adopt via phone, so I'm taking it out anyway.

Your breeds are all adorable. I even like the dogs, and coming from me, who hates the sim dogs more than anything, that's probably saying something! It's funny - from your 'deer' and 'sheep' breeds I could tell you were a Petz player before I read the links at the top. I remember all the 'fish' and 'giraffes' I used to have in those games, I guess it reminded me of it.

[amjoie]

Well, as long as it is expendable.

After you verify that it works without the respawn hack, try putting it back in and see if you can adopt something over the phone. I was able to do it both ways, with and without hack, using this method.

[amjoie]

What is it with the edit feature no longer working. I hit the return key before I was actually done writing, and I went back to add the last little bit, but no go. I get a green bar across the top that says "loading" and then the edit window is available. The green bar stays, and the edit won't save. Wha??

[Arina]

It doesn't work, but I doubt it is this - it's hanging up and eventually completely crashing just like it always had. It's most definitely not nostrayrespawn because I removed that, but I doubt it's this either. :S

Never mind - I forgot that simply thinking and typing that you will move a hack from your downloads folder doesn't make it happen. I'll go back in and try again

2nd edit: Ok, without the hack, it works. As in, phoning spawns animals - I'm assuming they must be yours (I think I'd need the siamese to tell) as everything else from the petbreeds folder is in documents\ea games\backup breeds. I'll have a look in CAS too

3rd edit: No breeds show up in CAS. I'll move them out of the folder and see if that works. This would explain the pets I generated all being rather homogyneous in appearance, as they weren't using breed coats or anything.

4th edit: After putting them in the main \petbreeds folder, they show up fine. They're even better looking in the game The breeds don't have names, but I can deal with that. Thanks again for making all of these!

[amjoie]

ROTFL!

OK, it is obvious you have  no problem with edits.    It looks like I have some settings sleuthing to do.

Yes, you have to put them into the root PetBreeds folder -- no nesting allowed, just like in the SavedSims folder. Sorry, I should have mentioned that.

Try adopting a few of the bland ones, and see if the game will spawn a few new ones from my actual breeds with the right coloring.

I'm curious, where are the names not showing up? In CAS? I named each breed in the folder, so I'm a bit surprised they don't have names in the game.

Thank you. I'm glad you like the pets.

Could you do me a favor. Could you start a new hood, and see if they spawn right in that? How many do you get? And are they varied, as far as lots of breeds? I can't test some things because I have the mod that removes the pets in the Programs folder, so my game only generates less than twenty pets even without the spawn mod and in a brand new hood.
 

[Arina]

Is the weird thing on the side an edit button? I'm not using that one :S But perhaps the Gods of Editing just like me today XD

In the folder, they're all named and credited. But in CAS, they're all called 'Enter breed name here...' or whatever that default is.

I'll go back into the house and ring up the adoption place again - while I was hunting for a cat breed I could recognise, not noticing they weren't being used, they came up different each time I loaded the house without previously saving, so I'll just do that again.

I'll try a new neighbourhood, but I've got blank templates? Does that still help your testing at all? Some of them I did myself but one I had to download, I think it may have been the pets one.

[amjoie]

Hmmm. I have names in CAS. Perhaps because I actually installed them instead of just dropping them in. But I don't like sending the installers in a RAR, because then the breeds are named all garbage characters and no one will ever know what they are or where they came from.

Oh, you have blank templates, too. Well, let's see, anyway. I think it will help. A different game is still a different game, and might kick up something new.

How unawsome are you? Do you understand SimPE? Can you tell after the new hood spawns, if everything looks normal in SimPE?

I really appreciate your sense of adventure! Thank you for exploring this.

I hope someone really awsome has some answers, here. It sounds like a great idea, but other "great ideas" have exploded games, before. So I wanted to be sure before I spent months on a Hood, only to see it disintigrate.

[hippi]

You could rar the installers and unpack them with clean installer, that way the names won't mess up.

[gethane]

This is a fantastic idea. Your pet work is beautiful. Maybe I'll even start playing with some pets again.

I don't have the empty templates. Would you like me to spawn a new neighborhood and see what happens?

[amjoie]

hippi: Thank you for the suggestion. You are correct, and I have Clean Installer. That's what I use, but not everyone who will download my pet creations uses that or has access to it (Mac people, I think, can't use it?). So I just named the pets individually, as the lesser of two evils. At least, if people have to rename them in CAS, they know what to name them.

gethane: I'm glad my pets might add some enjoyment to your game. That makes me feel really good. And I would be thrilled to have you spawn a new hood. Please let me know what happens.

[gethane]

How many pets would I need to adopt to have the game spawn some more? I adopted 3 large dogs and when I call to adopt more, there are no new ones in the panel for large dogs.

I did see your new breeds in CAS though.

[amjoie]

I think, for the purpose  of this experiment, that you might need to adopt the small dogs that they have made available, and maybe the cats , too. Try that. Then the big dogs should rolll.

[Arina]

I am fairly unawesome. I can use SimPE to do simple editing without, like, breaking things, but I have no idea what 'normal' is meant to look like... ^_^;

The pets in the adoption pool were yours in the (existing) neighbourhoods I just checked. After an hour of normal play today, nothing has exploded.

[amjoie]

Don't feel bad. I'm in about the same state of unawsomeness, concerning SimPE. 

Can you tell me how many pets were spawned? Just count them in the SimPE browser or surgery mode, and let me know. You don't have to count wolves.

I played for a several hours without ill effect, also. Based on the fact that no one has yet blanched sickly white, and declared this "a bad idea," I think it may well end up being a "good idea."

Either that, or no one really cares enough to comment ....  LOL

[maxon]

I think it will be a good idea.  I tried your beasts in the way you suggested and they worked in CAS though, like the others, I didn't get the names of the breeds in CAS which is a little annoying and a shame but I'm sure there'll be some workaround. 

However, I would like more variety in the breeds available (this is not your fault or responsibility and I like the animals you've done so far) and I so am currently plotting putting together a collection for myself of the favourite dogs and cats I've collected so far and having them in the Pet Breeds folder without the Maxis defaults so that they get used for adoption in my new hood (I have no stray respawn and started up the hood clean without NPCs/townies).  Maybe a short tutorial on how to do it posted somewhere would be good?  I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in that and I'd certainly be sending people your way.

If you make more dogs/cats, be sure to post about it.

[Ambular]

If you make more dogs/cats, be sure to post about it.

Indeed.  If you'd like to try your hand at an Irish Setter, Cocker Spaniel or Cockapoo, I'd be very happy to try them out for you.  XD  I'm now using a mix of Maxis defaults and your breeds plus a few I've picked up from elsewhere, and overall I'm quite pleased.

[amjoie]

Thank you both for the additional feedback. It seems no one has had a problem, which was what I suspected. Logically, I can't see how it could cause problems. It looks, to me, fairly straight-forward and uncomplicated. (shrug)

I could write up a tutorial on how I did it, with a disclaimer that it is still somewhat experimental, I suppose. I may do that ....

As far as more variety in the game, pet-wise, that is in the game plan. I want more variety, too. So I will definitely be working on more dog breeds. Just keep an eye on my website over the next few weeks. First, I need to get pics up on my site of all the breeds I have already created. Then I can start on some new ones.

Did you see the "Lady and the Tramp" I made available in the last couple days? Do you think the type of Lady is close enough to the Cocker Spaniel, if I just do some nice recolors?

I will be doing the Irish Setter, for sure. That is on the list of must-do breeds.

What size Cockapoo did you have in mind? They can be either large or small, and vary in type so greatly. But I may attempt one. I have only seen a couple of them, up close and personal, and they were small. It may not be at all what you are thinking of, but probably still worth a try.

Lastly, when I do make more breeds, I don't think I can just post about it in this forum -- unless I have overlooked a proper place to make such announcements? So I think, perhaps, if everyone who is interested can just make a bookmark, that would be the easiest solution.

Oh, one other thing -- how many pets spawned in the neighborhoods without the respawn mods? By checking in SimPE, can you see if it filled up the whole quota of 60 or so pets?

[maxon]

oooo - if you're taking requests (sidles over and fixes amjoie with blinding grin  )

How about a Manchester terrier? - you already made my beloved dog Harry with the Liver Doberman (he died last year), but Meg isn't there.

[Ambular]

Did you see the "Lady and the Tramp" I made available in the last couple days? Do you think the type of Lady is close enough to the Cocker Spaniel, if I just do some nice recolors?

Your Lady is adorable!  But I think the cocker my parents had had a longer coat.  Perhaps they just didn't trim her often enough?  (She wasn't a show dog, just a pet.)  She was a lovely honey gold color, as well.

What size Cockapoo did you have in mind? They can be either large or small, and vary in type so greatly. But I may attempt one. I have only seen a couple of them, up close and personal, and they were small. It may not be at all what you are thinking of, but probably still worth a try.

Well, my cockapoo was of a medium to smallish size and very shaggy, almost like a sheep dog, though he somewhat resembled a poodle the one and only time we had him trimmed (long story.  XD)  He had very bushy, expressive eyebrows, rather like a Scottie.  He was black with a white chest, paws, whiskers and eyebrows, and a long wavy tail.  In fact he looked quite a bit like this little guy, but darker and with floofier feet:



But whatever you think is most appropriate--you clearly know your breeds much better than I do!

Lastly, when I do make more breeds, I don't think I can just post about it in this forum -- unless I have overlooked a proper place to make such announcements? So I think, perhaps, if everyone who is interested can just make a bookmark, that would be the easiest solution.

You might also post about it in this thread--those who've already posted here will get the notifications and anyone interested later can subscribe.

Thanks for making so many lovely pets for us to enjoy!

[CAFlanny]

I love your breeds and would love it if you did a Cockapoo.  Here is my puppy:



Obviously, there are many variations!