More Awesome Than You!

How can I put this without losing my rag?  I don't know if it's NL or the patch that is doing this, or whether it's a third-party item, but EVERY SIM I HAVE PLAYED SINCE INSTALLING NL HAS HAD THEIR DNA RESET.

ALL played Sims are now like CAS default Sims.  Whatever hair colour they have, that's also their recessive colour, ditto their eyes and skin.  They have no DNA whatsoever from the other parent.  This means that all my aliens are pure alien, even though they have human parents.  Unplayed Sims are fine, but as soon as they're played this is happening to them.  Elders no longer show their original hair colour, instead they have two grey-hair genes.  Does this mean that if an elder male fathered a child and that child expressed the father's hair gene, it would be grey-haired from birth?

How long is it going to take to look-up the other parent's DNA and copy it back?  How will I know which gene the other parent passed on? 

I have a baby due to be born in my game and I am going to see whether it carries DNA from both parents or one.  In the meantime, I would like EVERYBODY who knows how to check the DNA of their in-game created Sims that have been played, either in SimPE or in game (using the SimDNA Simname command in the cheat window).  I need to know if this is due to the game itself, the new version of SimPE I am using, a download ... until I know if anyone else is experiencing it, I can't even begin to work that out.

I will refrain from commenting further (and breaking my asterisk key by doing so) until I know for sure that the game itself is causing this. 

Extra Bit: Having just checked quite a few Sims in SimPE, I can now confirm that the DNA has been changed since installing the patch.  Those Sims played after installing NL but before installing the patch who haven't been played since installing the patch are still showing their correct DNA.

Okay, I'm panicking. I can't figure out how to use the SimDNA cheat. I keep getting "unknown command". Is that all I should be typing? I'm trying to check on a little girl that was born this evening. Her name's Perry. So I type 'SimDNA Perry'? Or am I not doing it correctly? Obviously, I'm not doing it correctly, since I keep getting "unknown command".

edit to add:
okay, my game is already running and I just read that I have to have the testing cheats enabled in the user startup file. Bleah.

The new version of TS2 Enhancer actually has a nice interface showing the carried DNA of any given sim from both parents. Too bad it's a pay program. :p But you can at least download the trial and use it for 2 days before the trial runs out if you've never done so before.  :-\

I'll have to check some of mine and see if this happened to them. TS2 Enhancer does actually let you change the carried DNA pretty easily too so I can do that if I need to because I'm somewhat ashamed to admit I caved a long time ago before SimPE had very many features and paid the damned $20 and bought the thing. :p

Welp, somebody confirm that for me, so I can have a compelling reason not to install it when I get it.

As far as I'm able to tell, my Sims' DNA are okay. I only have 5 playable Sims in my neighborhood so I don't have a lot to go off of but everyone's DNA is showing up mixed like it should. My main adult Sim has red hair(Father)/black hair(Mother), dark blue eyes(F)/dark blue eyes(M), and light skin(F)/light skin(M) genes, her adult sister has red hair(F)/black hair(M), dark blue eyes(M)/green eyes(F) genes, and her 3 children have black hair(M)/blond hair(F), dark blue eyes(F)/dark blue eyes(M), and light skin(F)/light skin(M) genes. This neighborhood was created right after I installed Nightlife and the fourth generation was in their teens when I applied the patch. I am disappointed that the first generation's dark skin didn't get passed down at all and only one Sim still carries the genes for green eyes, but since the hair and eye color genes aren't homogenous I'm assuming their DNA hasn't been reverted back to the CAS default.

Ack.

Oh man I hope this isn't true.  I will try to check if I can figure it out.

I have only had 3 kids born in my game since installing the patch...and oddly they have all been almost clones of their father so far..I'm a bit worried...

I was messing with the SimDNA Simname command the other day and noticed that the DNA was the same, ie whatever skin, hair etc they have is also their regresive DNA.

Didnt think much of what I saw until a read this post.

Will check again tonight as I have Sims I have not played since the NL patch to compare to ones after.

I just downloaded SimEnhancer trial.

(I won't buy it 'cos I bought the sims1Enhancer. Every time I re-installed my computer, I had to apply for a new unlock code. I could only apply 3 times a year. Bugger that, I re-install often, I purchase s/w, I don't rent it. /rant)

Anyway, I tested a sim born since the patch, different DNA for each parent - although simenhancer shows it the wrong way round as it was originally the father who had snake skin and eyes.

Edit: Text deleted, reason - idiotic test.  :-[

I found a born-in-game sim, that I have not played since the patch and took a pic of her DNA. I booted the game, loaded the lot. The family were all standing at their bedsides with green bars as they do after a patch or install reset. I made her change appearance then I saved and exited. Her DNA hadn't changed when I looked in simenhancer after leaving the game.

[attachment deleted by admin]

^^I downloaded a trial of that program as well to try it out...

(off topic but tis a nice program it seems..and simple to figure out..however don't know how I feel about forking over $20 for it at the moment)

Anyways...

It is not detecting any changes.  Both the mother and father's DNA are showing up correctly *whew*

It just looks like all the babies born in my game after the patch resemble their fathers so much b/c the dads have been having the dominant DNA in all the cases so far.

I had this problem with some of my sims before the patch and before nightlife. Some of my sims, when turning elders had their DNA change to match what they look like (both dark blue eye instead of dark blue and green (recessive) and custom color hair instead of brown for exemple ( sim born with brown hair that changes to custom with the mirror).
But nothing happens since nightlife and the patch. The ones with this problem don't change and the ones without problem are ok.
I hope some understand what I wrote...
Pioupiou

I'm rather obsessive with checking my Sims' DNA.  I've had 5 babies born since the patch, and they carry DNA from both parents.  I've checked Sims of all age groups who have been played since the patch, and also unplayed ones, and their DNA is as I remember it and carries traits from both parents (if they had parents, i.e., if they were not CAS-created or former NPCs).

Phyllis

I looked at mine, looks like they are all fine.

after I installed the patch, the second time without any downloads and I added my downloads then I went into the game and two of my woman had the default maxi black hair and when I tried to change it to any of the custom hair using the mirror,  it would not stick.

so, I went into cass and the custom hair is showing up fine and I can make a sim with custom hair.

 but just those two have that ugly black default hair.   Oh yeah and I can change it to another maxi hair style or color but not a custom one.    very strange.  ::)

After much work involving several back-ups and another neighbourhood, I've discovered the cause of this problem (it's also the cause of several Sims constantly erroring and not being playable).  It occurs whenever I delete a character with the new tool in the beta version of SimPE.  Just one character deleted is all it takes.  If anyone else has tried using this tool (I know Brynne was intending to), has it happened to you?  If not, it could be a mod conflict in my game or something.

I haven't tried it yet no, I'm a little too afraid too truth be told. I know we can do backups but backups only help if the problem is immediately noticeable and it looks like your problem wasn't. :(

No, I haven't tried it yet either. And now I'm afraid to, as well! I would be interested to know if simpe is why your sims are resetting, though. That's kind of a major bug. :P

So... does anyone know if the latest version of SimPe (released October 21st) has this problem?

I've been using the new version maybe 3-4 weeks and have noticed no oddities to date. :) Version 0.50 Alpha

Turned out it was being caused by the Sim Deleter tool in the beta version, which isn't released to the general public.  The current version (50) would have included it, but because of the problem with the DNA it isn't there.

I need to update to that, then. I didn't know there was a new alpha version!

Okay - thanks a lot.  :)

Welp. I'm digging this back up to announce that I have, in fact, run into this problem.

It's definitely NOT a problem introduced by Nightlife, patch or no, since I traced all the way back to my pre-Nightlife backups, and the Uni files were similarly damaged in this fashion (but there was no SimDNA cheat to prove it).

I thus got to spend the day repiecing everyone's DNA back together from scratch, equipped with a handy set of dice to reroll their associated genetics randomly. Fun.

I just checked all the DNA of sims born-in game in Pleasantview and they are all fine except one.

Dylan Bachelor is the only one that has CAS Default genes.  The rest of my kids have genes from each parent.

Micheals DNA is Tan/Blonde/Blue (I changed his hair from what it shipped with bc Micheal's DNA showed Gray Hair) and Dina's DNA is Medium/Blonde/Green.  Dylans DNA is Medium/Blonde/Green.

I even checked Brandi's third child Violet and her DNA is Expressive-Light/Black/Gray and Recessive-Light/Blonde/Green.  So if Violet got dna from both parents I dont understand why Dylan didnt.

When were they born? Pre-NL, or post-NL? Post-NL births should be fine, the bug is definitely not in NL. Pre-NL sims should probably all be garbled.

Oh they were Post-NL...I just checked another family though in a different neighborhood and they were fine too but they were the only 2 kids I had pre- NL...I packaged them before I installed NL.




ps I didnt realize this was an old post: I just skimmed to read the latest reply...


I tried to do that with Veronaville Maxis Made characters bc I figured if I could make at least one neighborhood have the right genes it would be a neighborhood I hadnt started to play yet.  I scrapped that plan soon after I started and went back to equally dysfunctional Pleasantview.

While the concept of this annoys me... I don't have the patience to check it out or fix it if it is a problem. :D

Necromancy!! ;D

I have noticed that alot of my sims with custom hair when giving birth the custom hair is not passed down so I use the simenhancer to find the right colour from the parent and passed on to the child it has been rather annoying to find the toddler with blonde or brown or black or red when I know that it should be a custom hair.

I had one of my born-in-game sims have a baby with Tosha Go after they graduated.  I had given Tosha a custom hairstyle, but as you know, she is naturally a blonde.  The custom hair was blonde too, but it was a custom style.  After the baby was born, I was looking in SimPE and noticed that Tosha's DNA showed a custom haircolor instead of the normal blonde, and her child had the gene as well plus a black hair gene from her father.  I can't figure out why changing Tosha's hair in the mirror would change her genetics, though?  I edited the DNA for both sims so it would be correct.

What's the timetable on that? Did this occur BEFORE or AFTER the installation of NL and/or Uni? Currently, I have data which suggests that any sim formed for any reason post-NL is "clean", but any sim as of at least Uni p0 has any current "form" imprinted into their DNA instead. For instance, I have a lot of elder sims currently displaying their genetic haircolor as gray. In fact, all my deceased elders display this, since all of them formed pre-NL, but anyone who became an elder post-NL lacks this.

It had to have been since NL because I had downloaded some new hair and used it on her, which was probably a month or so ago.  Until then, she had the hair she came with.

Just want to say that when I tried modifying dna with TS2, my modified sims couldn't move and I had to use a backup.

Keep in mind that custom hair is gender-specific.  In some cases a baby born to parents with custom hair can be born with standard Maxis hair, for example if a baby girl inherited only male custom hair genes on both sides (or vice versa) -- when there is no custom hair of the appropriate gender available, the game will assign a Maxis default.  Also, if the baby girl's dominant gene is a male custom hair and the recessive gene is female custom hair, the female hair style will be displayed even though it's "recessive".

Also, in my experience at least, custom hair that is based on red or blonde doesn't pass down as often as custom hair that is based on black or brown, once you get past the first generation. 

Karen

Just a reminder you can use the Sims2DB w/SimPE import to check recessive genetics, although of course you can't use it to change the DNA.

I am so glad you added that feature...before I had all of that written on paper...So Its very useful to me

Just checked mine and all is ok.  I only have one alien child but she has the father's genes listed too according to the simDNA command, I don't use SimPE).  

The only strange thing I have happening is when I had a Sim marry the DJ.  I never noticed before that they all look the same but when I clicked on him to talk I got a different thumbnail so I guess that hair is just part of his "work" clothes.  However, marrying him into the family I couldn't change his hair color.  He shows up as blonde but when I go to the mirror the black is marked (which is his DNA anyway and what he looked like as a DJ).  Was kind of a bummer.  My hood is overrun with black hair already - guess it is dominant.

In my experience, this problem is not related to any expansion/patch issue, but may be due to the deletion of sim DNA entries in the neighbordood file (I'm using SimPE)

I inspected my Pleasantview data, and asserted that only my last four born in game sims had their DNA correct!  :(

I had manually deleted many townies before (as well as other "surgery sims"), following these steps:

• delete sim's memories
• delete sim's relations
• delete sim's wants/fears entry
• delete sim's DNA entry
• delete sim's Description entry
• finally delete character file

This fact alone wouldn't confirm it, but then I recalled that in my Strangetown - wich I had not played for a long time - I had also deleted characters, with the only difference being that time I didn't delete any DNA and wants/fears entries (ignorance is bliss ?).

In that neighborhood, my sims DNA appeared to be correct.

Is there a remote chance that the Enhanced Memory Editor Tool, as much as I love it, is causing this the same way that the alpha version of SimPE with the deleter tool was causing this?  I am finding more and more of my sims that are not showing the correct recessive genes.  I am going to have to fix all these kids now before they start breeding, because half the fun was seeing how the genetics turn out.   >:(

Well, there's one way to prove that theory: Go and backup your neighborhood, verify some recessive genetics in a sim, then go on a wholesale deleting spree as described above and see if any of the undeleted sims are damaged in the fallout.

I don't think so, I've used its functions in all my neighborhoods. The only difference is that in my Strangetown I kept all the sim DNA entries (at that time I didn't know that those records were somehow linked to the sim description).



Same here, but considering that some of that data was wrong anyway - after I changed the genetic weight of the custom skins - I'm sure my Gameplay/Maintenance time ratio will remain reasonably low :P

This is a bit offtopic and I don't know if it's related to anything, but one of my last born-in-game sims - apparently not affected by all this mess - is a bit of an oddity: the parents are dark and tan skinned (originally were Uni townies, so they are homozygous), but the child has medium-dark skin!

Here is the relevant data as seen in SimPE:
Parent A (dominant & recessive):
 - Skintone : 4
 - Skintone range: 4
Parent B (dominant & recessive):
 - Skintone : 2
 - Skintone range: 2
Child:
(dominant)
 - Skintone : 3
 - Skintone range : 4
(recessive)
 - Skintone : 3
 - Skintone range : 2

How could the game assume that genetic mixing of dark and tan skins would generate a medium-dark skin? Perhaps hidden game data, or an imminent BFBVFOS ?

My game did that in multiple installs pairing up Lilith Pleasant with Dirk Dreamer.

Dark + Pale skin = 1 child tanned, 1 child pale.

Sounds normal to me. The game automatically knows how to mix any Maxian (or, recently discovered, "genetically enabled") skins to produce intermediate tones.

This sounds like what I've been after, who discovered genetically enabled skins and where could I find out more? Google doesn't know.

Changing Dominant/Recessive Values on Skin and Eyes
location - MATY/Peasantry  ;)
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=2966.0

Thanks Sleepycat, what I was actually after was melding or creating intermediate skins.

I was always disappointed with sim skins - so binary - no melding - just either / or.

I've downloaded the tutorial doc, I'll see what happens if I get a chance to play with the genetics. From what I think I understand though, if I have a purple sim and a white sim, I still won't get a lavender baby. :(

Thanks JMP and Sleepycat, you are right, changing the values in the genetic field will also induce the behavior I described.
I'll just quote Syera's text, highlighting the part I skimmed previously :-[

ahhh BUT if you make or have a custom lavender skintone and set the genetics so that the lavender skintone fits between the white and purple skintones (change them so they aren't custom anymore) then your sims would have a chance at getting a lavender baby!

*giggles* If you don't use regular skintones at all then you could make default files in the colors you perfer and then do a bunch of combined colors (like lavender) that fit between the main 4 default skintones.

S1 - white
between - light pink
between - pink
between - lavender
between - lilac
S2 - purple

The problem with that logic is that skin tones are on a linear scale, not a 2D scale. So if you classify the "purple" skintone as being "darker", and you then breed with a "lighter" sim, you get any skintone in the inclusive range between them, which may include completely non-purple skintones, like green or orange.

*knows that* That was just an example *laughs*


But, if someone worked out their skintone colors ranging from light pink to very dark purple across all 4 defaults (with some shades inbetween if they want) then they would get the same effect as the maxis skintones, only in the colors of their choice. If someone went with something like my example then they might want to only breed sims in the same color range and use the other default ranges for other colors. 

Just had almost an entire neighborhood experience this resetting of DNA   On 2/19  I  cloned a custom neighborhood containing 91 Sims,  20 of whom were CAS created,  the rest born in game except for a few newly generated NPCs and two new townies.   DNA for all sims in this hood was normal.   

I cloned the hood in order to fast forward procreation of new generations.  Have had 77 new sims born in this hood since 2/19.   The last couple of days I had noticed a few toddlers converting with custom hair.  None of the original CAS sims had custom hair as I wanted the genetics to work as normally as possible. When I checked DNA with Simpe I found that every one of the 91 sims that this hod began with were all set as CAS sims.   NO recessive genetics at all.   Those who had been given custom hairstyles with a mirror after their creation/birth now had that custom hair in their genetics. 

Of the 48 children born from  2/19 to  2/26 only 5 have heterozygous DNA  Of the remaining several could only have received DNA from one parent, having the same skin tone in both slots when parents were homozygous for different skin tones.  Some had the same custom hair in both slots.  Of those, two at least received the custom hair after birth  so are in the same category as the original characters, having been given CAS status later.  Begining on 2/27 almost all of the 29 children born since are heterozygous for at least one trait,  though some have received custom hair.

So it looks like possibly something happened to reset nearly all the sims created before 2/27.  But I can't imagine what.   I have had Nl since it came out and patched it the first time but have not the second.  I use hacks heavily in this game,  primarily InSimenator and Inge's teleport shrub.  I also have Inteenimator plus a lot of Pescado's and TwoJeffs hacks plus sevaral of Inge's.  The only new hack that I have added in this time period is the NoBusker hack.  But don't see any way that would affect it.   Only other additions have been some new hairs plus meshes,  a bit of makeup, a few clothes but no clothes meshes.

I haven't deleted any sims,  with Simpe or without.  Only thing I have used Simpe for is to change some babies last names.   (Still using V.48)  I did run DatGen sometime during that time frame to weed out some downloads but don't think that could affect character files. 

So it looks like I either trash this neighborhood or go through and rewrite 130 or so DNA files.   What fun.   :-[   

I had to go through and redo DNA for my older Pleasantview since my previous post.  I downloaded Pegasys' database and imported my sims, which made things a lot easier because I could see the parents' genetics and how they related to the children.  I had to go through and do all the family ties manually, but Pegasys has really made some improvements that make it a lot easier.  I had been intending to do this, but when I heard you could view genetics with it and import from SimPE, it spurred me into action.  Between SimPE, I finally got things straightened out the best I could, and I backed up the neighborhood with the date and DNA in the folder name.  I am getting to the third generation finally, and I want to see how the genes mix!  I can't do that if everyone is basically the same as a first generation CAS sim.   >:(

Thanks for sharing your experience, hedgekat.  Hopefully it will help shed some light on the situation and maybe someone (Pescado?) can figure out what the heck is going on. 

I think I located the actual time period that whatever happened did occur.   The last child with CAS-type DNA was born at 7:18 pm on 2/26,  The next, with normal DNA was born at 8:27 pm, same day, same household.   I'm pretty certain I did not leave the game in the middle of playing one house.  At least not voluntarily.  I don't remember any crash, but I do think there were a couple times the game hung and once I may have had to cntrl-alt-del to get out,   but don't remember if it was at that time or not.   It's definite though that I would not have left the game to add or remove anything from downloads. There are only four children born prior to that time that still have normal DNA.  Three of those were not modified by the game after I saved their households shortly after they transitioned to toddler or child.   So none of them were ever invited home with any other children.  The fourth child did not show up on any other lot until yesterday. 

Where can I find Pegasys's database?   Is it on this site,  or at MTS@,  or elsewhere? That sounds like something that would make my repair job much easier.   

Pegasys has her own site.  The link is in her siggy:  http://www.sims2db.com/  You can use it to keep track of different types of information that isn't even in SimPE, and print out different types of reports on your sims.  It's really cool.  And no, she did not pay me to say that.  :D