More Awesome Than You!

Alternate Sim Surgery Plugin

Fixed 19/03/2006:
 - The plugin would blow up when using the export function.

Changes 03/01/2008:
 - Built with .NET 2.0 for SimPe 0.64
 - Fixed obsolete error message

Changes 03/01/2011
 - Built with .NET 2.0 for SimPe 0.73.1 (alpha)
 - Fixed incomplete sim list (sims with no pictures)

This plugin adds a menu item named "Alt Sims Surgery..." under the Neighborhood menu.

It works exactly as the standard Sim Surgery (from which it was built), but with the possibility of
selecting a sim template package as the Archetype Sim, thereby avoiding the need to
create a sim in the game for the sole purpose of plastic surgery. 8)

You can do this by clicking the new "Load..." link button that appears on the "Archetype Sim" panel.
It will prompt you to select a package from the filesystem. Sim template packages are created
with "The Sims 2 Body Shop" tool, and are normally placed on the "SavedSims" folder.

After the file is loaded, the file name appears instead of the archetype sim name, and the "Surgery"
button becomes clickable - from here you can proceed as usual.

If a dialog box appears with the text "The selected template file is not valid", it means that
the selected file most certainly isn't a sim template.
If you have doubts on what each file contains, you better start renaming files :þ


Bugs/Limitations

 · Sim templates are like CAS sims! They don't have recessive gene data, so your patient sim will
become genetically homozygous.

 · Sim templates carry only one piece of clothing. After the surgery, the patient sim will wear that
particular garment in every situation (work out/swim/sleep/formal).
To correct this, you'll have to re-plan the sim's outfits using a wardrobe.

 · Sim templates don't have pictures. Even after the surgery process, you'll find that the patient's
picture is not updated. This behavior is intentional. You'll have to correct this in-game by
changing the sim's appearance with a mirror.


Testers Wanted

I still haven't tested the "Face/Makeup/Eyes" options, because I seldom use them, but for the ones willing
 to test them in combination with the Load feature, please post back your results in this thread.

** Do not select any other kind of package to do surgery with! **
The plugin tries to sort out the package contents, but it is not foolproof. So, unless you are a fool and want
to create a frankenstein (the non-working, non-loadable anymore kind), ** select only package files created with BodyShop **

Ok, I might be joking with the frankenstein thing, but bad things may happen even if you do it by the book,
and the fact it worked in my game doesn't mean it will work flawlessly in yours, so:

-> Backup your neighborhood before any procedure <-

Damn! Wrong forum :D

Ahhh, I'm sure Pescado can move it for you.  :)  If I had any idea how to use SimSurgery, I'd be happy to check this out for you.

Thanks, I'd appreciate that  :-[

ooh, I'll try it and edit to let you know how it goes...

Well, everyone makes mistakes, I guess it was my turn now ;D
Anyway, it seems that Pescado moved this to the right place. Thanks again!

this isn't working for me for some reason.  I extracted a sims I got from MTS2, loaded it up with BodyShop.  Cloned it and saved it using BS.  Used the plug in to select a sim as the patient sim.  Loaded the package file in my saved sim folder.  The name of the sim becomes the package name.  I click on the surgery button and I get the invalid package selected message.

I know it's the right package because I took the precaution of deleting all other packages beforehand

Sorry for the delay, didn't notice you edited the post (zzz).
What version of BodyShop are you using to make the clone (UNI/NL/OFB)?

It's working perfectly for me and the sim I use it on have all the right clothes of the model sim (I mean the right pajamas, the right undies etc...)

This happened when I used the tool on a townie, but I haven't yet determined the cause. :(

I also tested it on a sim that had many clothing items on the wardrobe (more than one of each type), and they became randomly reassigned (but seemed to give preference to 'stock' maxis clothing).

Maybe your sim had only one clothing item of each type, so they wouldn't change?

No problem.  I should have realized that editing a post would prevent you from receiving a notification.

I have all EP's (so OFB).  Standard US version. Nothing special as far as I know what would make my install different

Angelyne, perhaps the sim template package is missing some resource. ???

Could you post a list of resources of that package?
You can do that by opening it in SimPE, then select Tools > Create Description > from Package. You can then save the resulting list in any format.

Turns out it was probably because of what I was attempting.  I was trying to SIm Surgery a Droid (in human form) with a regular sim.  Guess that's what it didn't like.  Too bad cause I am dying to change my robot to a android like apperance.

I tried to sim surgery a different Sims and that worked......to an extent.

I had the WEIRDEST bug.  I loaded up the lot and my sim appeared to have been altered as per the surgery except he was dark all over.  Dark as in desaturated.  He appeared to be standing in shadows no matter how much light there was.  He was also bald. I had him do a change appearance and he appeared correctly in the mirror....also his icon adjusted.  However the sim himself was now completly BLACK, like a shadow.  No details just black.  I tried the change appearance again and he remained a black shadow.  Very weird!.  I took a screen shot.  So I exited the lot and saved. When I re-entered it everything was fine.  Weird huh?

Anyway I have a question. I only noticed one line in the facial date of the sim file.  Does that mean that he will pass on his new appearance correctly?

You mean a Servo? I still haven't created one, but it could mean that servos are missing some resources in their character file, since they lack a face, technically speaking (vd. Motoki's thread about servo recoloring).

I'll try to create one in my game so I can see what's happening. If it turns out that it's just a resource requirement, it can be easily fixed.  :)

The bald, default-face-template looking effect is not harmful AFAIK, and is fixed with the mirror.

As for the shadow sim, it's still a mystery. ???
It happened to some of my sims, surgery patients and otherwise, with no clear pattern.
A sim would be shrouded in darkness only indoors, and it would become normal when deleted and summoned with the Ingeological painting.
At first I thought it could be a conflict between OFB and GunMod's lighting config, but uninstalling the latter yielded no results (apart from an insipid looking game)  :P

I have the black 'shadow' Sims, too.  In my case, it's just a couple of them, both dormies.  They're fine outside, but black inside (some of the time, not all - often happens after they've had a bath).  The only thing they have in common (apart from both being SS members) is that they were originally female and I changed them to male.  This is because when I went to the SS lot it created 8 flaming female members, so I deleted half of them and made two of them female.  Of course, the next time it created 8 male. 

Yeah! It finally worked for me. Not sure what I did different.  Anyway it worked beautifully.

Here is a picture of my new android

(http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f280/Angelyne22/BetaBot.jpg)

He has a shiny and almost transluscent aspect to him, that's very cool.

One strange thing however.  I might be wrong, but I think that my male robot's voice was changed?  Is that possible?  Does the cloning process change the voice?

Also, are the genetics changed with this procedure? I  know it's not with the regular surgery.

That's odd! In my first attempts to make this plugin, I found that the patient would assume the new skintone only if the DNA record was changed accordingly.
Did you do full surgery, or only skintone surgery?

I don't think that's possible, as the voice definition is normally stored in the Sim Description resource. This resource is not changed by a surgery, neither by this plugin nor the original.

You must have used BodyShop to clone the exported Servo. BodyShop adds some resources to the sim templates, so that these files meet the requirements of the plugin (which by the way, will be loosened a bit in the next update).

I should warn you that I'm writing all this out of my head, because I didn't have time yet (again) to test the surgery in a servo.
I did manage to create a servo, but then I got carried away by the game, and next thing I know, it's 5am and I'm still busy doing some tuneup  ;D

Thanks,
I love this one. I don't have uni and my butt ugly sims have stayed butt ugly to the end of their miserable lives, because I don't want to mess my neighborhood with dozens of dublicates.

But I have had some intresting bugs with this. Once my sim turned black. He was a shadow man inside the house and turned into normal when he went outside. Couple of sims got wrong face when they looked to the mirrow first time, but got the right face after couple of attemps. Anyway, I have always been able to get the right appereance after some playing with inSimenator/mirror.

Does anyone know if this SimPE plugin can be used as is with the Pets EP or an update is required? I haven't been playing for a while and am still sorting stuffs out.

It appers to be working with SimPe 0.60, but I can tell for sure that the Export to BodyShop function doesn't work with pet characters, because the package contents have many fundamental differences.

The good news is that due to new data regarding the AgeData resource, it will be possible to fix the missing face and clothing bugs... somewhen. ::)

I just used the plugin with Pets installed, and it works great :)

Right, thanks y'all. I'd hate to lose this very useful plugin.


Er, I have no idea what that means. :-[ Missing face and clothing bugs? But I did find out it's not a good idea to dress a sim in formal clothing then use its template for surgery. I did it in once and found a few elder sims in my game had turned invisible. Luckily it can be fixed with another surgery.

I don't dare mess with the AgeData resource other than fixing the eye colour post-original SimPE surgery plugin's 'eyes only' option. The 'patient' sim's eye colour appears to have picked up the change but not in the mirror; you get them to change appearance and the image generated in the change appearance window still retained the old eye colour. I hope that made sense.

Wow, J.M. almost scared me off with a big nasty picture of a devil.  <shakes>

Anyway,  I just tried this plug in with Seasons and lo and behold it worked.

I have a question for you Theo, if you are still around hopefully.


The plugin does work, except that it doesn't load a thumbnail when you click on load package.  You just get the file name, nothing else.  I believe that happened the last time I used it, several versions of SimsPE ago, so I'm not sure that it's a new expansion issue.

Do you have any idea why?  it still works, but it's mighthy difficult to insure you are cloning the right archetype on your sims.

That problem happens because templates created in BodyShop don't have a thumbnail to display.
What I normally do is to rename the template packages so that I know which one I want.

But if you load a package of a live sim from any neighborhood, then its thumbnail will show up.

I want to defuglify some of the Riverblossom Hills townies.  How do I use this tool w/ the Pets version of SimPE?  Riverblossom Hills doesn't show up as a neighborhood.

I am amazed to find this thread! I was just trying to puzzle out in my own mind how to change the appearance of a sim who lives in a different neighbourhood to the archetype sim without creating a new family in CAS.

This might be the answer I was looking for. I will try it and let you know!

Hello Elvie : don't try with the neighborhood browser but with the menu item open mydocume'nts/eagames/etc...G001. It should work. Well, it worked here

Hi, Theo : I use all of your plug-ins akmost everyday. I think I have tested them in every situation as I reskin all townies and NPC everytime I create a new NB and use the excellent clothing tool to give them my own clothes.
I didn't find anything wrong with alt-simsurgery yet, at least nothing wronger than the standard simsurgery : Sometimes the resulting character file is corrupted and sometimes I get the infamous Alpha shadow character ( all black then becomes invisible after a while). Nothing irreversible, though and These problems were already present with the original simsurgery.

My problem here is with the new flavor of sim deleter tool. Could you add a "hardcore"version with the DNA deletion back ? I wouldn't make a long message but I think it is very useful when creating an "archetype pool neighborhood". I end with 387 characters and 2384 DNA. Of course, I can delete all DNA manually but if it is simpler to put back the option... because some character files are more" than 2MB large. Thanks in advance

By the way, I think the exported character and then the patient sim is not really homozygous. I used some in-game born sims as archetypes, with custom blue eyes among both parents and alien green skin and SOME of their children have the original alien eyes from their grand-parents ( When creating a child from 2 sims in CAS, not tested in game, but I suppose it is the same). Same thing with the custom grey skin. It reappears even when both exported parent have another default skin. Deleting the DNA could be usefuln even if just for a smaller character filesize

I have an interesting (I think anyway) observation to make regarding genetics of a sims that has been altered using this technique.

It seems that the DNA is modified by the surgery, but not the recessive traits.  For example I used a BS created red hair/green eyed sim with pale (S1) skin and altered with with a BS created dark haired/green eyed tanned (s3) sim.  When I examined his DNA i discovered that while he expressed the DNA for dark hair, s3, his recessive traits were still for the old character.

So his children also had recessives genes for red hair and light skin.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing and I am not going to modify the DNA. But it's good to know.

I looked at the code - which I had to download again after being unable to find it on my computer (thanks MATY! :D) - and the recessive genes are being set only when you choose the full sim cloning. If you check the "Skintone only" box, it will only set the dominant genes, leaving the recessive genes of the patient. Is this consistent with your observations?

And for the deleter tool, that change is simple enough to be available in a few hours. I'll just add a dialog box asking if you want to delete the DNA too  8)

huh.  I'm an idiot.  I just realized that I'm using your alpha version (2006.10.01).  You know.  The "highly experimental" one I wasn't supposed to use on my sims.

I switched to that version, because I thought it would show me the thumbnail of the archetype sim.  It didn't, although I know why now.  I never switched it back.

First, I'd like to say how much I appreciate all your plug-ins. It would be very unpleasant to play without them.
But to the point : I have some concerns with the new version, with the 2 windows. I can't get it to work in SimPE 0.61n :
The window opens, I can select the patient and the archetype then a potato head appears as the archetype and when I click the "surgery" button something seems loading but there is no change made on the patient sim. I tried to check and uncheck all option boxes, try different ways but with no result.
Sometimes I get an error message, with the archetype package not recognized as a character, but I'm certain the character file is good.
With the previous version ( the one looking like the original simsurgery) in SimPE 0.60b all works well, with the same patient and archetype.

I thought I missed something, as I'm confused with the new display, used I am to the looking of original simsurgery, or is it simply not for SimPE 0.61 but only for 0.60 ?

By the way : I saw you kept the eyes only option. Does it work  now ? There were issues with simsurgery when trying to change a sim eye color that way. Did you achieve to fix it in this version ?

I would like to second how wonderful this mod is.

However I am getting the same experience as cascaneda, I have exported Angela and Lilith Pleasant, after making new modified clones in Bodyshop I have tried to sim surgery them.

When I first click load the saved sims folder comes up. I select the newly created sim. When it returns to the simsurgery screen it has the file name correct, but once I click on use, it goes to the thumbnail and name of the patient sim.

I'm running all expansions and all stuff packs inc Celebrations. I'm running SimPe 0.60.2.20832
I haven't had any error messages.

-Skadi

Well, the experimental version never worked in an acceptable manner, so it's basically a project left in the drawer  :-[



The "use" and "load" actions should be mutually exclusive, so you must choose only one of them.
Sorry for the bad button link placement ;)

Not sure which version I'm using, but it worked great to export a Sim so I could package him with BodyShop!  Thanks!

Amazing Plugin!

I have a few questions...

1. Does it work on pets?
2. Do both sims have to be the same age group and same sex?* I ask for DNA purpose :) *

Thanks
Rich
:D

Pets - no, not that I know of. Never tried it - I did try it on a dead Sim once to fix another problem I caused.

Same sex - no problem, any old gender is OK, different ages too, but you might want to go into the Sims file after you've applied the template of another gender/age over the top of them so that everything matches again. Or you'll have Sims that look one way but are really another.

<editted to include missing word - I make even less sence than normal if I don't put all the right words into my sentances>

Thank you for replying!

Does it work on plantsims?.... I would like to give them real hair not the leafy stuff  ???

Thanks
Rich

It should work - but if you can't change their hair in the mirror (I don't play with the 'supernatural' Sims normally) how are you going to build a Sim with the correct skin and alterred hair in BodyShop or CAS? And wasn't there a fix somewhere else for Plant Sim hair.

In any case, back up your Neighbourhood and try. If they end up looking silly or other problems occur just put the backup back in.

I've been looking for a plantsim hair fix since I saw Rose in Riverblossom....

haven't found one yet thou...

Rich

Is Theo still around??

I was wondering if this plug-in would be updated for the new SimPe (which hasn't been release yet, in case you're wondering).  I tested the plug in with it, and it the surgery part appeared to work.  However the export sim function gave a call to obsolete function error.

ye ye here is me !
 the necromancer !  :P

 the bast@!#os Rick Halle didn't reply to my eamails and i didn't wont to pay ts2enh. again !  >:(
 so i hope that someone here poke Theo and revivie him  :-\

Oi, I've updated the code in January, but I didn't bump the thread :P

You'll find it on the first post.

This is still the original sims surgery made by Quaxi, with a few modifications. The other one at my site was a futile attempt to get it more user-friendly, but I never made any progress since the Pets expansion. It's still there in case anyone wants to develop it.


cheers

yee necromancing rulez !  ;D
thnx alot Theo  ;)

I know I am being a NECROMANCY, by can you tell me if there is an updated version of this plugin.  Thank you.

I have used and loved this plugin right through to Mansions and Gardens and even though it hasn't been updated in a long time it still appeared to work.

Now I can't seem to get it working with the latest SimPe. I hope there are still some Sims 2 fans out there that can help me get it working again. I admit I am a bit puzzled about how to install it. I tried throwing all the files into the Plugins folder but this didn't seem to work.

I know many have moved onto Sims 3 now, but I am sure there are other Sims 2 fans out there, like me who have no interest in Sims 3 and are mainly interested in playing, and perfecting their Sims 2 games. Please help if you can!!

*tumbleweed*

How exactly is it not working? Is the 'Alt. Sims Surgery' item not in the Neighborhood menu, does it fail to start when clicked, or is it failing to do its purpose?

I could at least make it show up in the menu by installing SimPe (http://sims.ambertation.de/en/2009/04/11/simpe-07344-qa-for-everyone/), doing the manual update for M&G (http://www.simlogical.info/SimPE/SimpeMGUpdate/SimpeMGUpdate.htm), and finally copying the plugin dll into the Plugins folder.

Hi Theo,

The problem I am having is that the option for Alt. Sims Surgery does not show up at all as an option in the Neighbourhood menu. That's why I was wondering if I had installed it correctly. I would be so grateful if you can look into this for me!

Thank you!!

Try using the attached file and see if it fixes anything.

Edit: Obsoleted test version; new version at http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,3563.msg562404.html#msg562404

Hi Theo,

I've had a chance to try the new version now. The good news is the option for "Alt Sims Surgery" now shows up when loading Sim Pe, so that is great - thanks! The bad news is for some reason not every neighbourhood NPC is loaded as a candidate for Sims Surgery. The regular Sims Surgery loads every NPC, but your version doesn't for some reason.

For example, I wanted to make over a waitress but she does not appear in the list. The only NPC's that appear in my list are:

The reporter
The break dancer
One waiter
The delivery guy
The human statue
The firefighter
The gypsy

There are three others but I am unsure of their roles. I will try to note what they do next time. Maybe they are just random townies - though I don't think so as this is a clean neighbourhood and I have the no townie hack regen. by Pescado.

So your plug-in is partially working which is a lot better than not at all, but not every neighbourhood sim is listed.

I'm trying this out, the most recent version with 73_44-QA and it worked fine for the first three sims, but the fourth . . . okay, you know how some sims don't have pictures in SimPE?  Usually in Sim Surgery their name is there without a picture.  In your plugin, they don't show up at all.  I'm probably not making much sense, but here's what I'm trying to do: I downloaded a replacement face for Jessica Picaso.  I want to fix her face, so she passes on the correct dna to her kids instead of the broken template she's made from.  When I go to sim browser, she shows up, but with the potato-head picture instead of her own.  When I go to normal sim surgery, her name is there without a picture above it.  When I go to your plug-in, she's not listed, along with a number of others who are also missing their photos.
I know the photo is not strictly necessary for the export function to work on normal sim surgery, because I've used it for that purpose with sims without pictures before.
I do appreciate your work on this, and it's making my fussing around with my game much easier and tidier.
I know I'm necromancing, but I think you're still around and looking at feedback, at least you were a month-and-a-half-ago, and while mine may or may not be useful, there's always a chance it might be.

I've removed the sim picture restriction; test it on your system and see if it works.

ETA: Updated OP (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,3563.0.html).

I don't have a picture-less sim in need of surgery at the moment, but I can see all of them just fine now.  The surgery tool itself seems to work (I'll be sure in fifteen minutes after I fire up my game and I'll let you know if it didn't).

This isn't necromancy since an update was posted March 1, 2011.

Theo - I'm trying this update out with the latest SimPe (SimPe_0_73_44-QA). It lets me perform surgery with an archetype from a neighborhood other than the patient's, but, although it loads a file from SavedSims (I can see the name), it doesn't seem to do any surgery with it. I know the file is the right one because I emptied out the SavedSims folder ahead of time to make sure. I feel like I'm missing something about... I don't know, the format of files in SavedSims... or... I don't know. What am I missing?

Also, please clarify: clearly you need to click"use" on the patient side, but, it's not so clear that you hit "use" on the archetype side after you see the filename. Should you? Click use on the Archetype, even though you get the icon of the patient there when you do? Or, do you just load the file name and hit "surgery"?

Either way, thanks, if I can use sims from another neighborhood that will work to keep out the simglut. I'll have to make a special SimHell neighborhood for the poor little clones, but... well... so be it. :P

I am not Teo, but I tried it and works just fine. The changes do not appear while working with SimPE, you will notice no difference. You have to start your game and visit the "patient" Sim to see the surgery was successful.

I got it now. I'm sure I was just missing a step somewhere. It works perfectly. I don't know why there's not more talk about this on other forums. All that complaining about the superfluous sims, everyone should try this. Thanks, Theo.