More Awesome Than You!

-------- Downloads -------
Custom face templates. Age & gender complete.

Nailati_faces_complete.zip
Mirror 1 (Mediafire): http://www.mediafire.com/?1k53a15byk4 (http://www.mediafire.com/?1k53a15byk4)
Mirror 2 (myfreefilehosting.com): http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/d5f0f48008_3.54MB (http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/d5f0f48008_3.54MB)

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Incomplete face templates. These include faces for only adult males and females. Sims using these incomplete templates will revert to default Maxis faces at all ages other than adult.

Nailati_faces_incomplete.zip
Mirror 1 (Mediafire): http://www.mediafire.com/?vb2ywmvm2ru (http://www.mediafire.com/?vb2ywmvm2ru)
Mirror 2 (myfreefilehosting.com): http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/4e181f2bf4_1.93MB (http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/4e181f2bf4_1.93MB)

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Complete faces (these are included in Nailati_faces_complete.zip):

02
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face02_2007-01-07.jpg)

08
(Outdated pic)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face08.jpg)

14
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face14-final.jpg)

15
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face15-final.jpg)

(ADDED 2007-12-09) 17
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face17-final.jpg)

18
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face18-final.jpg)

24
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face24-final.jpg)

27
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face27-final.jpg)

-------- Info -------

What do these files do?

These face templates (or "archetypes") will replace the default faces in CAS and BodyShop which you use in making your own Sims, and which the game uses to create new townies.

How do I install them?

Just put them in your Downloads folder (Documents:EA Games:The Sims 2:Downloads). To uninstall them, remove them from the Downloads folder.

If you are using other custom templates, note that you can only use one template at a time for each face. So, for instance, if you want to install my template for #2, you must first remove any custom #2 template you may already be using.

Will these affect my current townies, or my current Sims?

No. The Sims that already exist when you install these templates will not change in any way (appearance or genetics). Only Sims you create and/or townies you generate while the templates are in your Downloads folder will have these new faces.

Will my Sims or townies go back to normal if I uninstall these templates?

No. Sims keep the appearance and genetics they were created with, regardless of whether you later remove or replace templates. So you can, for example, create a few Sims with my #2 face, then replace it with a different #2 template, make a few Sims with that one, etc.

You can combine these with templates from other creators, as long as you use only one template per face.

Have fun.  :)

 --------- Original Post: ---------

Thanks to BlueSoup's gracious offer of help in this thread, (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=3701.0) I'm working on a new set of face templates for CAS & Body Shop. I thought I'd post screenshots of my progress here to see if anyone has comments/critiques. Your suggestions will be...duly noted.  ;)

I'm trying to retain the unusual features of each face, just not the fugliness. I'm going backwards, roughly. I'll be doing templates 21, 25, and 26 later. Here's what I've done so far...

Looks pretty cool, I would definitely use these in my game.  :)

Looks good!  I would use them as well.  :)

The biggest problem I have with all the faces in the Sims is eyelids, or lack of. The men especially seem to need more eyelid definition. We can put eye shadow on the women, but the men are always weak looking. Eyelids.....

And it's okay if you have a gas mask too. And I would download your templates. Amazing job.

Awesomes.  :D


I'm not sure how to fix this--I'll fiddle around in BS. Maybe sinking the eyes in, then moving the brows up, then re-selecting the eyes from Genetics...don't know if that'll work. Any suggestions?


Excellent. I shall defer to your status as the OG (Original Gas-Mask-Wearer).

Yes, I'm a dork.

These are lovely.  If you're looking for eyelid definition, Hairfish made some "eyeshadows" that are really just lid definitions--work *great* for males.  Let us know when they're done, ne?

Nice, nice. I would use these in my game!

Me too, that's a great job you've done there :)

Thanks so much for the encouragement, you guys. I plan on going back and making some final tweaks to all of these faces, so feel free to make suggestions.


Absolutely. I'm getting there...I should have another batch of pictures tonight. I'm enjoying this entirely too much.

I tried to finesse the eyelids, but I couldn't work anything out. Sometimes I can "fool" Body Shop by using temporary placeholder facial features to smush things around in a way that the sliders won't allow. Not sure if I explained that very well, but it's very much a trial-and-error process.


You're referring to these ones, (http://www.hairfish.com/mermaidcove/html/2character.html) right? They look fantastic--I'll definitely try them out.

Very cool,
I really like them, it's the first set I've seen where the faces are 1.Not completely hideous, yet still 2. Not identical. I am pretty thrilled with what I see so far and will anxiously await their completion.

Only 1 suggestion, which you can note or disregard as you see fit...

When you upload them, can you do them separately?
I have an elf replacement that is not too bad and I think it would be wonderful to have the option of mixing and matching. (perfectly happy to download them all, but some default replacement packages come in one big file that are not easily separated by the likes of me) It would be nice to be able to switch them around when generating new townies to get a variety.

:)

Actually, I finally figured out (after much looking at other people's files) that it's pretty easy to figure out which face is which to know if you want replacements or not.  In BodyShop and CAS, the faces are in numerical order from 1 through the last.  If you don't mind back-tracking when you lose count, just note the number of the face and replace that file with a custom-made one.

I've downloaded a couple of different sets and have come up with some good replacements, and was also working on a set of my own, but that's before I got completely side-tracked and honestly when it comes to making things I'm very lazy--if I can find someone else's that I like why bother? ;)

At any rate, I think Nailati is doing an absolute great job with these faces!  I'll be looking forward to them, too. :)

Another batch of previews.

[Faces 16 - 19 moved upthread --3 June]

I really appreciate the feedback--thanks, everyone.


Yay! That's my goal exactly.


I think I know what you mean--I've downloaded templates that had, for instance, the male and female in one package, so you couldn't replace just one.

I plan to have each face separated and further divided into gender & age packages. Each template would be broken into unisex toddler/child, female teen, male teen, female adult/elder, and male adult/elder. So you'd be able to pick which templates to install and whether you want both genders. (You could install only certain ages, too, but it would probably turn out badly.) I'm also going to include comparison pictures, like the ones I've been posting, so you can see which face is which without launching the game.

To get back to this:


I think I may have worked it out with #16, the latest one. It's hard to see in the picture. The eyelids are pulled up--making the eyes look more heavy-lidded--and the area above the eye is set back somewhat instead being melded with the eyebrow. Is that what you were thinking of? (If there are any Body-Shoppers who want to know exactly how I did it, I'll get technical.)


Some ramblings:

Wherever possible, I've tried to determine what ethnicity each template is supposed to represent. (If there's a list somewhere I'd love to know about it.) Based on that, I've used reference photos to guide my changes.

For instance, the infamous #18, CAUS; (http://www8.plala.or.jp/Wizardry/image/monster/doom_toad.gif) I figure the AUS is for Australian, more specifically Aboriginal Australians. It's sure not Austrian. I dug up photos of Aboriginal Australians, and it turns out they're actually completely human, (http://www.pbase.com/sheila/image/39231789) and are not a grotesque frog-human hybrid. Maxis. They do have distinctive facial proportions, particularly the short nose and the wide face. But having a wide face isn't the same as having a wide head, as the template does. Their heads aren't particularly wide, but are short, so they may seem squat and wide. I toned down the bloated head and other exaggerations, but hopefully I succeeded in keeping the unusual proportions.

These are looking really awesome, Nailati. I do have a question - are you shortening the faces at all? As they come in the game they've got very long foreheads and I usually shorten them. It kind of looks like you have but I can't quite tell.

Even if you haven't, I will probably use yours when you are done. I LOVE that you are using pictures of actual ethnicities the templates seem to be named after. Maxis's gross parodies actually kind of upset me. Maybe I should write a letter. :P

I'm Australian, and your versions are much more Aboriginal in appearance than the originals - the originals look terribly exaggerated and I've never seen an Aboriginal man or woman with those facial features. I agree with Renatus - they are pretty upsetting and offensive.

Wow, you REALLY improved on fugly number 18! I'm impressed.

It's been my theory for years that when it comes to The Sims Maxis does many things just because they can, and the #18 template face seemed to me to be one of those.  I can see them now, "Hey, we can make REALLY awful looking faces here!  Look at this one!  I just know EVERYONE will want to kill this sim over and over and over again!"

I remember in the movie "Quigley Down Under" some pretty wild-looking aboriginals, but even the 'ugliest' ones were downright cute!

Wow... This must be the best face template EVER!
When and where can we expect this?  ;D

I have to add a prop and a poke as well... You've managed to make them all look different, but not hideous!  How far along are you to being done?

OMG, I have been looking at template replacements and I agree with what everyone has said here...these are really nice. Plenty of variety but all nice looking. I'll be keeping an eye on this :D

I think you might want to move the eyes closer together for a number of them as well- I think many of the Maxis templates have them unnaturally far apart. Like in number 19, I think they look too wide.

Finally got back onto the site. Wow! Thanks for the feedback. More pictures soon.

As far as how soon these will be done:
I'm working on #14. I have 16 more to do. In RL,  I'm also in the process of deciding whether to renew the lease on my apartment, and what to do if I don't. I'm working hard on these templates because I really don't want to think about this stuff, but I can't set any hard deadlines--I hope to wrap them up within a month if I'm not homeless. :)


Yes and no. I'm correcting the proportions within the face--eyebrow to chin--which makes it a bit shorter, especially the distance from the eyebrow to the bottom of the nose. In the process, the face's position on the head shifts upward slightly, to even out the overall proportions, but it doesn't move up as far as it would if you just gave the move-face-up button a click.

I move the face up and down a lot while I work.  I also do a lot of blending of the Maxis features. At the end I move the face back into place, and--because it no longer matches up perfectly--just slightly higher than the original Maxis face (using the eyebrows as a guide).

I don't raise it an entire click because I hope to maintain some compatibility between these faces and the Maxis faces--and all of the user-made faces at the "standard" Maxis height--so that their offspring won't be complete mutants. It may be pointless, though, since the nose-chin area is consistently higher on these templates anyway. What do you guys think?


I've noticed that as well, in addition to the long noses and weak chins. I've tried to move the eyes slightly closer together on the faces I've done, more or less depending on the reference photos I'm looking at. Do any of the ones I've posted still look too wide-set?

Back to the grind...

The nose-chin area being higher is probably going to have some weird effects anyhow, if some of my earlier experiments are any indication. I'd personally prefer the foreheads to not be as high as the default since I find it to be much too large. As it is most of the changed templates you've posted do improve on that at least a little.

As for the eye width, from what I could tell by eyeballing and by-the-thumbnails measuring the eyes on the changed templates are less widely set than the defaults and generally one of their widths apart from the other. Some are a little wider set, none seem to be narrower set. Perhaps some templates could have slightly narrower set eyes for variety.

I'm currently working like crazy to get all of Inge's stuff on The Laden Swallow (http://www.nectere.net/smf), so please, take your time!

No worries. The perfectionist in me will never be satisfied, so I'll keep fussing and tweaking until you're ready. :)


Okay--thanks. I'm keeping notes on all of this--once I finish all the "rough drafts," I'll go through them and make final adjustments.

The smoothing in the game always makes the faces seem a little more bland and averaged out than they looked when I made them--including the eye distance, which seems closer in BS. I'm not sure if that actually changes or if it's just an effect of the lighting/DOF differences. I should check the faces in CAS more often while I'm working, but it's such a redass. I'm learning bit by bit which things I need to compensate for, even if they look weird in BS.

I'll definitely bring some of the eyes closer together. I'm going to make the rest of the face heights consistent with the faces I've already made, for simplicity's sake, and then if I decide to raise them it'll be a snap to do them all at once.

I've also noticed that faces can look considerably different in CAS than they do in bodyshop. The lighting definitely has something to do with it - it's extremely bright in CAS, especially compared to how very dim bodyshop is.  Having the faces static vs. animated makes a big difference as well, even when they aren't grinning like loons in CAS.

You're doing an excellent job so far. :D

Therein lies the problem for the Australian Aborigines  :(

The funny thing is that the appalling #18 was carefully labelled as CAUS so that no American cultural group would get offended.  I think that had they tried to have such a template labelled so it was clearly African Americans or even Native Americans there would have been absolute uproar.

Nailati - I think you are doing a wonderful job and I would really love to have your kind of sims in my game.

The latest. I'm trying a new style of thumbnail, in an attempt to make it easier to compare the faces.

[Faces 12 - 15 moved upthread --3 June]

(#15 is supposed to be Ethiopian; #14, "Teutonic;" I don't know what ECER stands for, so I decided to go with Cherokee for #13.)

I like these last examples, you've managed to make the existing faces much smoother.

These are fantastic.  I would totally use these.  Wow!  I am guessing you will also let us know how to do the replacements?

C

Fae, when they are done, Nailati will be shipping them off to me for the SimPE part (since she's a Mac user) and then she'll be posting them for download, I believe.

piping in again just to tell you that you are doing a fantastic job and I am still watching this thread closely...

I can't wait to have these in my game!

 
but no pressure ;)

take your time, these look better everytime I see them

I, too, am keeping a sharp eye on this thread. Not so very long ago I very nearly DL'd one of the other CAS face replacements springing up just now and I'm glad I hesitated. These are very, very promising so please Do take your time as you're, obviously, doing something Right.

Something to consider, perhaps--I, like so many, enjoy playing my Sims as close to 'reality' as possible, and so, have had very little use for the 'Elven' face templates. This really is a shame, and a waste, as the two faces that are rounded out with the pointy, Elven ears are interesting. I really like them--but, I really don't want Spock ears popping up all over my neighbourhoods. :-\

I can't be the only one who feels this way. So, I was wondering, and please keep in mind that this request comes from one with No concept what degree of effort this might entail, so, simply ignore me if my suggestion is outlandish...but, would it be possible to upload two versions of the face templates? One, with the original Elven ears, for those who enjoy using them, and Another set with 'normal' ears for those of us who prefer our games a tad more true to life? I figured that it couldn't hurt to ask.

Thank You for working so hard on this project!

I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone pop up with those ears unless I've deliberately put them in the hood...
I kind of like the elf face, though of course I have a replacement for it so it isn't so uh, Spock-like.. pointy and harsh looking.

Just adding my name to the list of those eagerly awaiting these templates.  Beautiful job!

Goopy Gillscarbo has the pointy ears, but you usually can't see them because his default hairstyle covers them.  But don't let him breed -- any kids will most likely have the spock ears (and be REALLY FUGLY to boot).

The pointy-ear face template is not used to spring townies.  It's the only one set up not to do that, so there's no need to have a separate round-ear template.

Your work is beatiful, m'dear.  We're all eagerly awaiting the final product, but don't rush!

I've put the ninja costume (incl. hat) to good use so I don't have to look at him  :P  However, I might just make over Goopy eventually, using Nailati's stunning templates of course and give him some new clothes.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone.  :D

I want to make these available as soon as I'm satisfied with them, so I'll just be doing the standard set of 27. I'll see how I feel after those are uploaded--I'm considering making alternates at some point, but I'll probably need an extended Body Shop detox first.


Yep--after Blue h4x0rz the faces into templates ;) , I'll upload them to MTS2 (and will let you guys know, of course). Then it'll be a matter of putting the ones you want in your Downloads folder.

Ah, I see...it looks like your observation was accurate, Zeljka :)...
Good to know I needn't live in fear of the generation of any more pointy, Goopiesque Sims infiltrating the ranks of my neighbourhood. *shudder* It's a pity that it would be those templates which bear the curse of the Elven, as they also happen to be two of the more palatable, as CAS aesthetics go, at least. Not that this will soon matter since Nailati will, shortly, broaden our horizons.

Goopy is now a zombie wandering around in my game, and his fugly kid had an unfortunate meeting with a falling satellite... ;)

Goopy is long dead in my game. Yes, I also let him breed. His great grand daughter is gorgeous. I finally managed to get rid of the Goopy traces in the family's genes.

Boy, I can see a difference in #16's eyelids.  Looks terrific.  My name is on the growing list of people leisurely waiting for them to be available for download. No hurry. We will all be playing the Sims for a long time.

These are very nice!  :)

These are awesome! I can't wait 'til you finish the lot of 'em, so I can start using them in my game. I love that you chose to keep the characteristics of the original faces and just de-uglify them. Keep up the great work!

Here's the latest batch--they just about killed me. For one, I find it difficult to make convincing Asian faces with Body Shop. Also, I've been getting pickier (this must violate some law of physics). I'm still trying to find that balance between grotesque and gorgeous, but I've been looking at these particular faces for too long to be able to judge anymore. As always, suggestions are welcome. *collapses in a corner*

By the way, #11 is an attempt at a Mexican face; my logic was may=Mayan=Mexican, which may be a stretch, but I ran with it since I hadn't done any specifically Latino faces yet.

[Faces 7 - 11 moved upthread --3 June]

Oh, yeah, and a new thumbnail style as well. I swear I spend as much time dicking around with the thumbnails as I do making the faces.

->hands Nailati some Red Bull and vitamin pills.
Great work indeed! Don't you collapse just yet, you've still not released those!  ;D

This looks like a labour of love and you have done well. My only criticism is that it appears to my eye that your own preferences in regard to facial characteristics are in danger of overshadowing your obviously genuine desire to approach the job impartially. By that I mean that some of the changes from the Maxis versions are quite drastic ... perhaps more than was needed. Just a personal point of view though. The overall quality is excellent and I would certainly use many of your revised templates when they're all ready. :)

/Slight ramble .... I remember how disappointed I was with the pre-release version of BS when I discovered that Maxis had utterly ignored natural facial anatomy and, instead, opted for a dogs' breakfast assemblage of lumps of virtual putty. The clearest examples of what I mean are:

• Two cheek options - one for size and another for gaunt/plump and neither work exactly as might be reasonably anticipated
• Width adjuster for upper and lower face - operates irrationally
• Cheekbones have 3 adjusters! none of which successfully mimic the only significant variable of the real thing: width
• Absolute omission of an adjuster for the most important facial proportion: the so-called middle third dimension

LOL Maybe Maxis just couldn't afford to hire an orthodontist to advise them ::)
/Diversion ends  ;)

I make no claim to any special expertise re the aesthetics of facial structure, and though lowly layperson, I thought it topical to point out that, Clearly, many of these templates Required drastic intervention. I bear nary a single degree of fondness for the Simian trolls which Maxis chose to infest our neighborhoods...so for me? The farther you can deviate from their abnormal norm, the better.

However, as with you earlier batches--to my eye, this group boasts a pleasing degree of variety, and succeeds at retaining any good inherent to each, while respecting the spirit of the originals...as far as common sense could allow, that is. Considering the origin of your enterprise? No small task.

Again, thank you for tackling it for the rest of us who, without the generosity and intervention of yourself, and others like you, would remain saddled with fewer choices, and the goon squad, ad nauseam.

Yes, Natilati, these are lovely harmonisations of proportions, ones that will most likely breed well among each other.  Thank you so much for your hard work!

I always get really excited when I see that this thread has been updated ... As always, they look awesome.

I was afraid that might be the case, since I probably spent too long on these. Are there any particular faces/features that stick out to you?

One of the things that's most important to me is that these faces be able to breed well (as Metalkatt mentioned). I find it ironic that combining very different faces in the Simverse creates monsters, while in real life, the more ethnically diverse a person is, the more attractive other people tend to find them. At the same time, it's important to me that the faces represent human biodiversity somewhat more accurately than the current Maxis faces do.

So I'm trying to avoid offspring with distorted faces, by keeping the position & depth of each feature within a certain range--while maintaining the relative positions & depths of the features within each face, so they still look unique. I do want to avoid making the range too narrow, or too skewed to the "caucasian"/white/Northern European (which I am, so I can't rule out the subconscious influence of growing up in a family of people with caucasian faces). It's a difficult balance, so I am certainly open to any specific pointers. :)

To join in on the slight ramble:


I know--it makes me insane. So much of the time I spend in Body Shop is dedicated to working around this stuff. For instance: if I need to make the cheeks wider/narrower, I usually have to adjust the upper-face-width, and then start from scratch with the forehead as it's become hopelessly distorted. To make the forehead wider or narrower, I adjust the upper-face-width and then start from scratch with the eyes. (And why must the eyes and cheeks be one unit?)

By "middle third dimension," are you referring to the width of the middle third, or the depth? Both desperately need their own sliders...I spend a lot of time making faces more or less "flat" by moving noses and jaws in and out, and then correcting the distortions (especially of the mouth) that result. And then when I fix the mouth, the cheekbones will be all farked up and I'll have to mess with the eyes and AAAAAACK *sputters*
*accepts Red Bull from DrBeast and adds something strong to it*


Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions. :D

I think the changes for number ten may have been too extreme, because it is my impression that that was the maxis attempt at an oriental face.

You also shouldn't be afraid to leave a few of them with relatively thin lips, or weak chins- so long as it is believable.

This is the only reason I come back here anymore.

Part of the problem with making a Sim that looks Asian with the Maxis controls is there is no good way to make the epicanthal fold. It's not -too- hard to give them an almond shape, but if the sim is of an ethnotype where they should have the single eyelid, that has to be faked. Since all but #7 of these are Asiatic... wow, quite the headache! For you reference, I refered to this - http://www.deviantart.com/view/32046017/ - guide when making my critique as well as remembering what my variety of friends with Asiatic roots look like. I trust the maker of that guide; she's a professional artist and has spent years researching this information.

#11 looks good - while Mayans are way too far south to count as Mexican ;) I don't recall seeing any images of South Americans that had them look like Maxis has them. I don't think it would hurt to go ahead and push the noses and mouths back in a tiny bit, though - the Central and South American natives have very Asian ethnotype features. The guide I linked to actually does have a Amazonian face reference, as well as an Andid (from the Andes) face - while I do like this one how it is, it wouldn't hurt to blend some of the Amazonian features in to give the face a more modern (ie grab bag of ancestors  ;D) look.

On #10 I'd say that the chin juts too far outwards - I can't tell precisely what ethnotype that face is, but if it's what I think it is, it should not have a prominent chin. The face overall should probably be a bit flatter, with the features not so prominent, and the men not having their lips be quite so fleshy.  I do like that the eyes aren't so narrow - yes, yes, Maxis, many Asian ethnotypes don't have wide open eyes but they certainly do not liike like human masks with little slits for eyeholes. I do suggest making them less round and more almond-shaped, however - sure, the controls that change that are essentially faking it but that's as good as we're going to get with this game!

#09 is also much better - I have an Indonesian friend and your version is a hell of a lot closer to what he looks like! However, again the features are too prominent, no jutting chin, the nose should be shorter and the face rounder/more square. Again, eyes need to be not-round.

#08 looks to be a generic Asian face, so not much to say. It looks pretty good, but yeah, the eyes again. The woman's are now too small.

#07 I'm thrown off by the pale skin ;D but it looks much more authentically, err, generic African. Haha, oh Maxis. I do think you should keep the prominence of the features, however, pushing them in gives the face a little too Caucasian look, and a little thicker lips on the women. Honestly, this is one of the templates that I didn't find stupidly insulting, even though it has it's obvious flaws (eyes so far apart they are near unto being fish eyes and general Maxis ick).

In general - the Asiatic faces should still have eyes that have that almond shape (due to the epicanthal fold that is there on real people), somewhat round faces, and non-prominent features (especially chins). Unless you want to make one of them Ainu, but that's a whole different kettle of fish of another colour.

Don't get me wrong, I think you're doing a great job.  ;D I think you'll be able to get a lot of milage out of that ethnotype guide, probably more than out of my rattling on.  :D

Wow--thanks for the great critique! It's flattering that people are taking the time to help me do this properly. I've learned so much throughout this process--and physical anthropology is a fascinating subject for me, as I create figure art when I'm not Simming.

I collect about a dozen reference pictures for each face before I make it, but it's harder to find concrete information about measurements and proportions. Cedarseed's guide will be a great help--I'll use it when I make revisions (which I'll do when I take my second trip through the templates, to make final adjustments).

In general--I'll work on making the eyes less round, and the features less prominent.

#10 - I have no idea what ethnotype Maxis had in mind; I wanted references, so I arbitrarity settled on Thai (well, it's got a T, and so does ESTE  ::)) I based the faces on some references I found on Getty Images, who were perhaps not as representative as they could have been, since they were models. If you have another idea about what ethnotype #10 is supposed to be, I can give it a shot.

#08 - I used Chinese references, simply because I wanted something to look at, and it's an ethnotype I come across often.


Yeah, "African" was just as helpful as "Asian" in narrowing things down. However, I didn't use references for this one, just tried to tame the exaggerations down. (I decided from the beginning to use the pale skin for all of the faces, because (a) it's easier to see against the backgrounds in BS and CAS, and (b) if I've done a good job, the ethnotype should be recognizable regardless of the skin color.)

By the way, anyone have any idea what CMAS (#6), CBAN (#5), ETGE (#27), or CPLA (#23) are supposed to stand for? Or, for that matter, what the C and E prefixes mean?

Could CBAN be Bangladesh?

I think that these are a definate improvement over Maxis' faces.

You're doing a good job and it's something I want to use when it's done, so hey, why not help make it even better? :D


I think choosing Chinese references for #8 was wise - the default female face reminds me of the doll-like look women in traditional Chinese art are given.

#10 - Err, I wish I could remember what I was thinking yesterday because now I've completely forgotton. How embarassing...  :-[ Perhaps I was thinking of the Chinese guy in the International Relations club when I was in uni, who looked a little like the default but without the slits for eyes, I seem to remember he had somewhat prominent cheekbones. Thai is as good as any as far as I'm concerned, though.


Yeah, I figured. :)


Buh. No idea. C and E could mean Central and East, but why would they only have Central and East prefixes? *fires up bodyshop, waits half a billion years* ... CMAS looks to me like it may be some sort of African group, but I can't tell. CBAN might very well be Bangladesh, in which case I'm irritated as I have NEVER seen an Indian person who looks like that abomination (and it would be awesome to have an Indian template). CPLA and ETGE I have absolutely no clue. ETGE looks like some sort of Scandinavian or maybe Russian if I were to guess, but it's a wild guess. CPLA baffles me utterly - it could be a mangled Finno-Ugaric ethnotype, it could be some equally mangled Middle Eastern or Indian ethnotype. If the answer is not forthcoming relatively soon, I'd suggest you not waste time on figuring them out but decide what ethnotypes are underrepresented in the templates so far and make some of those. It's not like those templates couldn't be just about anything anyway, what with the cryptic labelling and the ham-fisted work Maxis did. :P

Wow, these look great.  Awesome job, Nailati!  I'm not sure I'd have the patience for what you are doing, and you are doing it so well.  It is truly a labor of love, as someone said.  I shall also be patiently waiting for you to finish these and upload them somewhere. :)

Yep, that's why I figured it ought to be Bangladeshi  ;D

Whoooops, I should have said, "CBAN might very well be Bangladesh, as vilia said, ..." but I forgot to do so.  :-[ Credit to you for that, of course.

Why do I persist on posting on message boards before morning coffee?  :-X

*Nudges*  Don't mind me, I am just sad to see this topic dropping further and further down the board.  *Hopeful for update soon!*  :)

Amber, I almost did this yesterday too, when I was trying to make an ethic face and I had such a hard time making a sim that didn't look like a mutant.

I too am anxiously awaiting these!!!

C

I'm ready anytime Nailati is.

What is an ethic face??  Or was that supposed to be ethnic? 

(just curious) :)

These past few weeks have been a bit of a flail for me, between moving out of my apartment (must be done by the 31st) and dealing with the FRELLING ASSHAT LANDLORDS who--oh, hell, nevermind, let's just say it involves bloated rat corpses and court dates. Anyhoo, I have been working on the remaining faces when I can, and I'll post a previewlet this weekend.  8D  <-- *crazed smile*

Landlords can be a b**ch, can't they? Look on the bright side... once you get settled into your new place, create a sim of your landlord and then kill him off. Then resurrect him. Then kill him off again... lather, rinse, repeat.

Yes, it was supposed to be an ETHNIC face.  Thanks rainbow.    ;)

C

I was just checking, you never know, there could be an ethic face.  :)

Ohnoes!  *Snuggles Nailati*  No worries, hon, I don't mean to pester.  Hope you get the asshats dealt with and your move sorted out as quickly and painlessly as humanly possible...

These look amazing, I always wondered why Maxis made such hideous faces.

As promised--a small update:

[Faces 2, 4, and 5 moved upthread --3 June]

Lovely, lovely.  I don't know how you find the patience, let alone the time as busy as you are.  Thanks for updating!  :D

/me is bouncing off the walls waiting for this.

I've been watching this thread like a hawk.  Thanks for the update Nailiati. The faces look great.

*Joins Blue and bounces in the opposite direction so we criss-cross in the middle of the room.....

I am so excited for these!

c

I'm also excited for this project. I have a set of template replacements already but they tend to all look the same. These look wonderful. Even with all the same eye color and hair styles and skintones you can still see the differences.

Yet another harmonius set of faces.  This will be, I think, the best template set to come out yet.  Thank you in advance for your eventual sharing them all with us!  Finally, a set of faces that will breed well, yet be distinctive.  (*click, baaa*)

*joins Blue and dink and bounces at a 90 degree angle to their direction of travel...

*hopes his timing is right or we're gonna have a big mess in the middle of the room in a bit...

I have been on the edge of my seat waiting for these since I first saw them... Poor chair is about to break!

Thanks so much for the support (and the snuggling  ;) ).

* waits for the perfect moment, then chucks a water balloon into the center of the room *

* runs away, cackling *

You better run away... Get back to work! Before you go, though, could you hand me a towel?

are we there yet?

how about now?  are we there now?
:)

I have to pee

Why do I suddenly want to watch Forrest Gump?

Patience, my friends, is a virtue.  :D

/me waits patiently... and uses this post to flag when the thread is updated - hopefully with a complete set ready for download!

Can't wait, can't wait... :D

IF I HAVE TO TURN THIS CAR AROUND...

(Made you look)

/me throws a rattle at Nailati

GIVE ME!  GIVE ME!

*starts bouncing again - but from ceiling to floor this time.

These are definitely the best replacement face templates I've seen. I can tell you put a ton of work into them. I'm really looking forward to having them in my game  :).

Thank you   :D .

The latest update is up in post #1, and I've rounded up all the screenshots there, as well.

A couple of questions for everyone. First, how does face #2 look in terms of proportions? I tried to make it as averaged-out/ideal as possible (taking the name "BASE" literally) so I'd have a generic base to compare the rest of the faces to when I'm checking the compatibility of the features.

Second: faces #21 and #25--ugh. (Those are the "broken" templates.) I understand that they pass on face #1 genetics, so I tried combining each of them with face #1--which resulted in 2 slightly crappy variations on face #1. I could just make them look exactly like face #1, but personally, I've never much liked that template. (Though I haven't changed it much because it's popular.) Now I'm considering making #21 and #25 into hideous freaks, so you'll have eminently killable sims who can still be allowed to spawn. Thoughts?

#2 looks quite nice to me.  :)  Re. #21 and 25...not *too* hideous, I hope?  I don't like to kill my Sims no matter how ugly they are, poor things.  :)

Another question: how do these faces look when they're aged up or down?  And do you plan to make other age sets to match?  (I would think if they age and de-age well you could just use the same proportions, not have to make all new ones...)

I second what Amber said about not liking to kill sims.  I want decent looking sims if I must have them wandering around my game.  :)

I think that even your version of 'crappy' has got to be an improvement over the regular templates.  Could you post some pics for us to see?

These are absolutely beautiful.  I may even try a DAC for the first time to spawn pretty new townies and test these all out

C

* waits anxiously *

Seriously, they are a vast improvement on what's in the game originally, and for just that reason I'd be happy to have them as is.  I don't think they need much (if any) tweaking...  I just want them - NOW!   :P

*breaks out the keg of Guinness

This is a cause for celebration and revelry! The True Faces are nigh! Rejoice!

Stunning, Nailati! Hats off to you!

Some ugly Sims are good. But if you could make them look ugly and still human, that would be what I would like best. My problem with Maxis faces isn't the ugliness per se, it's the fact that they don't look like people at all. It's like they escaped from a mutant science experiment gone wrong, especially the males.

I also like your alternate version of the elf face better, it's much more interesting to look at.

Grouped all together, WOW, it's really amazing to see the difference! Your templates looks so much better and real. They've kept the stylized look of the game but they look so much more like people I can think of people who look like them for pretty much all of the templates - there was no way I could do that with the freakish exaggerations Maxis provided us with.

I would prefer not to have any hideous or particularly ugly templates. They are templates after all, which are supposed to be a kind of a baseline. If I want or need ugly townies I can make my own, and there's always surgery if I want to mutilate an NPC. :D

All of these faces, while less hideous, all retain idiotic grins. Shouldn't they have a somewhat more neutral, or, more realistically, a frowny to scowly expression?

I must say these are absolutely amazing. Add me to the list of future downloaders.

My one complaint is the male nose for template 15. It's not at all pointy like the original. From what I can tell, you kept the female's slightly pointy, but the male is totally different. And, I like pointy nose guys. :-[

Okay; templates 21 and 25 will not be hideous--I'll go with making them slight variations on #1 (because that's the genetic data they pass on). I've started fresh on them, and I'll post them a bit later on; I'm going to work on finalizing some of the others first.


The files I'm going to upload will include all age groups. The adults will be hand-made. I'll have Body Shop age them and make tweaks where appropriate (probably just on the teens; I've done some of them already).


Yeah, some of Maxis's males look like they've got serious malignant growths going on.

Elf face #2--thanks. I prefer it as well. It was an attempt at something Claudia Black (http://images.google.com/images?q=claudia+black)-esque, though all of my serious attempts to sim her have failed.


I don't know. Any other opinions on whether I should go through and turn down the corners of the mouths a bit? (Allowing for the fact that they're all extra-smiley because I shot these in CAS.)


I can do that. It's still going to be a lot less pointy than the original, because the Ethiopians in the reference photos I used didn't have pointy noses, but I can temper it a bit.

I noticed that the Sims all had too-smiley mouths as well, but I did figure they were those idiotic grins they sport in CAS.  Of course, they only grin like idiots when you take the shot lol.

 I usually tweak my sims not to smile so stupidly,  but I figured that's just because I'm a sourpuss myself  ;) That does however remind me of something to add to the BBS thread Blue started, about how putting make up on a sim who is prancing around and grimacing in CAS is a royal pain!
 I really like these templates though, can't wait for the final product

Leave the mouths how they are. Sims always smile in CAS and that is exaggerating how turned up the corners of their mouths actually are. Also, while it is indeed more realistic for the corners of the mouth to turn down slightly, it doesn't look good on the stylized faces of sims. Rather than making them look neutral when they don't have an expression like on real people, it makes them look sad, angry, or miserable - not something one sees normally on a real person unless they are quite old and have been frowning steadily all their life. It also doesn't breed well (as I found out with one of my first sims... yikes).

Well, just let me say that if you make them so the kids don't look all bloated and the elders cadaverously thin, you would not only be a Mod God, but officially one of my favorite people ever.  XD

I like them, but why are the eyes so close together? I get this "cross-eyed" feel looking at most of them. Other than that they're quite nice.

I don't see any of the eyes that are too close together (in my opinion). In fact, they are all about the same distance apart as the defaults.

The eyes are not too close together. They appear to be, at the closest, one eye width apart, that width changing with the width of the eyes on that particular face. That is human-normal. Many of the faces have eyes that are slightly farther than one eye-width apart.

The closer eyes take some getting used to. When I started out I was afraid I might be making them too close, because I'm so used to looking at the Maxis defaults. I got braver as I went on. I'm now about 1/3 of the way through making final tweaks to the adult faces (starting from #27), and in most cases I've brought the eyes a bit closer still, because they look too far apart to me now, a couple of months after making them.

I'm still open to any suggestions, on eye distance or anything else.

The only eyes that looks a little close to me are the elf male v1 but that is just personal preference.  If you compare the maxis ones with yours, their eyes are really quite wide - esp #05.

I love the way you have redone the browline on the elf faces. I really hate the way some of the Maxi premades have those huge, frowning slashes for eyebrows (Alexander Goth, Vidcund Curious, etc.) that can only be changed via plastic surgery. Seriously, who has eyebrows like that? Well, other then J.M., I suppose. ;)

I've always felt the sim's foreheads were too prominent.  All the women look like they have receding hairlines.  I generally use hairstyles with bangs for that reason. Can't do that with the men.  Have you thought of bringing the faces up a couple of clicks to eliminate the massive foreheads on men?

You are doing a superb job on these faces.  All excited about downloading when they are ready.

Meh, well, see, my forehead really *IS* massive, and I have to bring the face DOWN a couple clicks on my sim to properly simulate my large forehead.

I'm bringing all the faces into approximate alignment with #2, so here's hoping you like that forehead. ;)

JM, I do believe you are just being contrary today.  Don't tell me every sim in your game looks like you? Or do you just have a *big forehead* neighborhood?  :D

@Nailati:  Getting more excited every day about your finished products. Thanks for considering our suggestions.

Well, they don't all look like him, because he was sharing a story at one time about BlueSoup, Brynne, and some other self-sims he was putting through Uni.  I don't know what happened to that story, he never finished it.  He had Bluesoup beating up everyone.  I think he liked having Blue beat up Kewian or some such thing.  I think when he got OFB he got sidetracked.  But I'm not sure what his other sims look like.

Apparently they're perpetually grimacing creatures with brow ridges that start halfway down their heads.  :D

I'm honestly grateful for the suggestions, because I've learned a great deal from them, and noticed things I might have missed. It's also forced me to break some old habits (like my tendency to give all my sims very strong chins). Also, I'm really excited at the thought of lots of people using these in their game. Resistance is futile.

That said, @DarkEmpress: After considering it, I've decided to leave Mr. 15's nose how it is. The pointy nose of the original just doesn't look Ethiopian, and besides, I'm attached to my version. ;) However, I'm certainly willing to entertain other suggestions. Any other templates which seem too de-pointy-fied?

Evar? Sooo cool!

After looking at some of the elders I think I'll fill out the cheeks a notch and make the eyes less deep-set, so it won't look like the nursing home staff have been starving them.

I'll also tame the chipmunk cheeks on the child-creatures.

The teens have such short foreheads--I'm thinking of lowering their faces by a click, and also moving each feature down by a click. (I'm hesitant to move the features themselves too much, because the more you do that the more distorted things get.) I might also make their cheeks less full by one click. I think they have a bit too much baby fat for teenagers.

I haven't started working on any of these other age groups yet; I'm about 2/3 of the way through bringing the adult faces into alignment. I'll remove the old headshots and put up the new ones once I've finished that. I really want to make sure the adult faces are ready to go before I do any other ages.

As always, I'd like to hear any thoughts on this stuff.

[ Edited because I'm a Punctuation Nazi. ]

I just want to say WOW and thanks for all the time and hard work you're putting into this!  I know it will show in the results.  I know we all have different ideas about what looks good and what we want, but anything has to be an improvement over the Maxis defaults.  I appreciate the time you are taking to do it right, and the end results will be worth the wait.  :)

I am so excited about these. I recently decided to start my game over (again) and have been putting off actually playing because I want to wait for these to get ready first. Just so you know, it's all your fault that I went out and spent my hard-earned money on GTA: Liberty City Stories for the PS2.  :P

Well, I've actually done the same thing (again) and am waiting to start over until I can use the templates. I haven't done a spot of playing since I started them. I can't run SimPE, so I can't fool with these (except as Body Shop sims)--hence my eagerness to finish. :)

It got eaten by Hurricane Josh, and the parties involved have ceased showing up enough to progress the story in an interesting manner. Especially Brynne. Did I mention that she sent me the wrong file?

No, I don't believe you mentioned that.  You don't have the pictures still on your game PC? 

Just remember to be careful of dangling SWAFS if you do deleateallcharacters as they could cause problems generations into the future http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4249.0

Yes, I found that out AFTER I followed the DAC instructions...  It'll be redone in my game after these delicious new templates come out.  Hopefully I can have a hood that lasts more than a month.

These look much more human, much better than the first templates I got.

I know its been said over and over but I'm really looking forward to these. Every time you post new previews I just drool that much more.

Nice to see the new pics Nailati.  The black and white makes it easier to picture all types of skin tones.

[whips out her fedora and tips it rakishly over one eye]

hmm... my concern about the faces is this- if you shorten the forehead, what does the neck look like? I am also slightly concerned about #2 and (I think) #4... pretty busy at the moment, but I will edit this post later tonight with more constructive, specific feedback.

Generally speaking, I think it looks great.

I really love your New Templates . But why had #4 Totaly lostst his Charakter ? (have loved his Ears and Nose)

are we there yet?

ok this has been my dopey impression since studying the faces and looking up different regions and studying different ethnic groups:
eas = El Salvadorian
cer= Romanian
teu = I suspect this is actually supposed to be Ukrainian
eth = Ethiopian
eng = English/British
ara = Arabian
Aus = Aus Aboriginal
cel = Celtic
ind = indian as in American
cmed = central mediterranean
pla = Palauan
pol = polish
tge = Uyghur possibly? seems obscure - but...the faces kinda fit.
rus = Russian
emed = Eastern mediterranean
ban = Bangladeshi
mas = Malaysian
afr = african (typical/generic)
easi = asian (typical/generic)
ino = Indonesian
este = East Timor
cmay = Mayain

At least I would like to think they put some thought into the templates and what/who they are supposed to represent...

If that was considered character then i'm glad it's gone. I'm sorry but male4 is my least favorite default template, it's really hard to think of one I hate more. It looks like a wooden puppet.

Nailati, these faces are definitely an improvement all the way around. Thanks for actually taking a project like this on...

Not all Humans have aerodynamik Ears why Sims ? The nose was to long , i a am whit you in this.

I think the character of the ears and nose on #4 have been preserved very well. The sideshow freak part has just been discarded. Maybe Simchildren will no longer run screaming at the sight of Remington now. I know he's considered handsome by some, I just don't understand why.

I always thought #4 would look really neat without the mutant aspect, so I tried to keep its character--in particular, I wanted to keep the funky nose, but give it a more realistic structure.

The change in the ears was entirely unintentional; it happened because I started with a sim I'd made a while back, who was based on a different template. (Stupid Nails!) The only way to change the ears now is to start over with the correct Maxis template. (Stupid Maxis!) I'm looking into a workaround to avoid that, as I have nothing against #4's original ears.


This was also a concern of mine, before I decided to go ahead and raise the faces--it does make the necks longer, but I don't think it looks unnatural. If it's not to everyone's liking, then perhaps I could upload both raised and "Maxis-height" versions of these faces.

I'm whipping up some in-game screenshots to give you guys a better look at #2, #4, and the neck/head area in general.

@ nectere - Thanks for the list--I never would have thought of some of those (like Palauan). The only one I disagree on is POL--I thought of Polish first, as well, but after looking through some photos, Polynesian seems closer to me. (That's what I based my version on.) The whole selection of ethnicities seems so arbitrary, doesn't it?

Great job, Nailati! We can never have enough of these, especially since mine all look alike, allegedly. ;D
Well, okay. Most of them do look alike. But they breed so well together, I promise!

I admire how you've made this a community effort. Your faces look great, and they look like they'll blend really well with each other and even with other sets.

To everyone else, let's see more people creating and sharing face templates. Yes, it's tedious, but it's soooo worth it.

Okay--I haven't looked for a loooonnnng time.  These're awesome!  (Number 4 default is one of my two favorite default faces--funny nose and all.  Hmmm.  In fact, my other favorite, #16, has a honkin' nose, too!  LOL

The great thing is, though, that if a person wants to keep an in-game template you simply don't add the file that will over-ride it to your game.

I am wondering about one thing, though.  Where you raised the faces, will this cause problems when they have children with other sims?  I always tend to raise my sims' eyes to the level eyes should be--eye corners level with the tops of their ears, and in essence raise their faces.  I've noticed not everyone does this, though.  Just food for thought.

At any rate, I'm anxiously looking forward to these!  I like to rotate templates so I don't end up with so many duplicate faces in my game. :)

Regina, I would think using these in a clean, DAC wiped new neighborhood would cause ALL sims to have these characteristics (long neck) unless you went into body shop and lowered faces for CAS sims.  isn't that right peeps?

C

Yes, whenever a new sim is generated, it'll have the new template. Only Maxis-made sims that pre-exist in a neighborhood template will remain unaffected, i.e. if you add a Maxis sub-hood after the DAC

But, if you added the sub-hood AFTER these default replacements, wouldn't these defaults affect every single sim in the game from that point forward?  In all neighborhoods?  For example, when i replace default skins, even Dirk Dreamer has the new skin.  Woudn't these templates affect say, Chloe Singles as well if they are in place before adding a uni?

C

Nope. These templates are used to define facial structure on random Sim generation only, and are not retroactively applied to existing Sims.
Any template Maxis Sims are not affected.

Yea, the only way to get any new default faces on existing sims is to do some plastic surgery, either with the station, or through testing cheats or insim.  Which is at least one way to fix the fugly townies that already exist. :)

Ah, bummer.  Well, there's always the cowplant....
C

I simply adore all of these replacements. Will--without a doubt--download. One of the only modification that I dislike is #08 both the male and female's eyes are far too small and nose too wide. (This was about the only template that I would use from Maxis, giving that most of the features were one of the most decent looking ones)

Please consider.


I'll love you for that! Please do so.

I don't agree.  It's nice that they're not so "China-doll" like, while still retaining the characteristics of the idea.  There's always Tweak-a-Sim where you can go in and fiddle, after all.

Sorry about the slow progress. A bit overwhelmed in RL, and I wasted a day's worth of work on this--I painstakingly obsessed over the miniscule details on some age-adjusted templates which I ended up BALEETING. Long story short, the kids and teens have super-short faces for a reason.

The good news is that I got my paws on Virtual PC, which means I can now run SimPE, so I've been able to play around and test these things out. (Blue is still my Tech Support should Virtual PC go pear-shaped, and is awesome because I never would have started this project without her offer of help, and also she has quite a skinny head I'm sure. So there!)

First the pics, then the replies.

These are screenshots of face #17, all ages. I brought the elders' eyes to a normal depth and filled the cheeks out a little. I made almost no changes to the teens. I made the child less fat-faced and more balanced, but it still creeps me out. I made the toddler less fat-faced, and refined its jaw; I think it came out okay.

Elders, Adults, and Teens (If it looks like their bodies are overlapping, that's because they are.)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/17f.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/17m.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/17m-side.jpg)
Child and Toddler
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/17child.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/17toddler.jpg)

Pics of #2 and #4 are forthcoming. I was able to fix #4's ears with the aid of SimPE.


I've had a couple of comments about the eyes being too small for #8, so I'll fix that. The adjustments to the nose are based on the reference photos of Chinese people which I used, so unless there are others who dislike it, I'm inclined to leave it how it is.


Yep--existing Sims are unaffected when you install/delete/change templates. They keep their appearance and genetics. Which is actually great, because you can switch out templates as often as you want, to freshen up the gene pool without affecting previous generations.


Yes, it may cause problems. I've tried breeding one of my Sims with a Maxis Sim, and while the offspring weren't quite freaks, they were a bit...off. If there's call for it, I may release a second version of these at "Maxis-height."


Thanks for the comment, terrakosmos. You know I admire your templates.

Also: So what if they look alike? Some people like it that way--and those who don't can just install the ones they want. My previous set-up was a combination of your templates and AllanABQ's; some of his were too jagged for my tastes, and some of yours too smooth, so they complemented each other well.

I'll second your call for more templates.

< tangent > I was thinking to myself that it would be cool if people started releasing their Sims with optional template versions, and it would be awesome if they'd make these single faces usable in any of the 27 spots. It would take a bit of copy-and-paste work to make 27 templates of a face, but nothing too taxing--and then people could start plugging new faces in whatever slot they wanted to.
It would be good, however, to have some standards for face height/length, so you'd know if a face would breed well with your other Sims. Perhaps "human proportions" vs. "Maxis proportions." < /tangent >

Thanks again for all the comments. Off to wrangle some more uglies.

The face for children look really nice. No more cartoon eyes.  :)

Whoa, sweet update. The children look, well--normal. Wonderful job.
And yeah, I undersand, but thank you for considering the adjustment with the eyes. The nose isn't an actally big deal, when the eyes are tweaked a bit bigger, evyerthign should balence out.

The child template actually looks like she related the the above generation.
The toddler's face looks great too, I love the defined jawline and how the face in general looks smooth. No weird sag lines or puffy areas.

Doesn't changing the child templates affect what the sim looks like when it grows up? The lower age categories essentially produce their faces as a deformation process of the original, so wouldn't "correcting" warped childfaces produce warped adultfaces?

From my experience, this is not true of templates. When you age a child who has template childface n, you get an adult with template adultface n, whatever you stuck in that slot. (If you didn't put anything in the adult slot, the child sprouts the default Maxian face on reaching adulthood.) Hence why templates 21 and 25 don't age properly--the game can't access their nonadult versions, so rather than interpolating, it grabs some other template.

As far as I can tell, the deformation only happens in the case of Sims created in BS or CAS, who only have one defined age-face and thus must be deformed. When that kid is aged up as a non-template, BS Sim--yeah, it's not pretty.

If you have the option faceBlendLimits set to on (the default), there is some normalization occuring. So in those cases altered templates may affect how a child grows up.
This is one of the reasons why Sims end up with pointed ears: the game normalizes faces to the Elf template.

I have it set to OFF.

Could you elaborate on that a bit, Jordi?  What effect would shutting it off have on CAS Sims as opposed to template-generated Sims, for example?

Wow, that is a fantastic idea! I really hope people give it a try.
Nailati, you are "teh awesomeness." Keep up the good work.

Just wondering here. Could custom templates be made that don't replace maxis ones? The Jeanette sim includes a new face, the only annoying thing is they didn't include faces for males or other ages.

If you mean what I think you mean: At present the only way to get a custom template is to override one of the existing Maxis ones. You have to use one of the 27 available slots (more if you consider age and gender variants). There's no known way to add more slots. It would be great, if it's possible.

New pics: here are some shots of #2 and #4, if anyone wants a closer look at them (I think there were concerns).

#2: I made this one by blending almost all of the Maxis templates together, then making some adjustments to feature height/depth. I didn't try to make it look like Maxis's #2: I tried to make it as average as possible, so I'd have something to compare the other faces against.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/2-a.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/2-b.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/2-c.jpg)

#4:  I've restored the original ears. Compared here to the Maxis original, so you can see the effects of raising the face.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/4f-a.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/4f-b.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/4m-a.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/4m-b.jpg) (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/4m-c.jpg)

By the way: Obviously, I'm Photoshopping these, but I did want to mention that all I'm doing is desaturating the shots and tweaking the levels (for better contrast). Otherwise, these are straight out of the game.

On CAS Sims it won't have any direct effect, as the normalization only occurs on age transition. It *will* have an effect on CAS children (which is how I first found out about it). It is most noticable on aging: age a child with the setting on and off, and (especially with parents with quite different facial structures) notice the difference.

How the game works with it set to off is basically like this: any two Sims' facial structures are compared, and a random selection of the dominant features of either parent are applied to the child (check SimPE for this, can be cheekbones, brow, etc.). The rest of the features are decided by averaging parent A and parent B. If you edit the parent Sims in SimPE and remove all dominant features they will tend to have children which look almost exactly alike, as all features are basically averaged: no dominant feature by either parent exists. Conversely, if only parent A has dominant features, all children will tend to look more like A than to their other parent.

The faceblendlimits option, when enabled, comes into effect at the averaging step. A further step is taken, and the result facial structure is compared AND NORMALIZED to the existing CAS templates. Thus, if parent A is template 1 and parent B is template 2, their child will be a mix of those two. Some features will be normalized to templates 1 and 2. The goal of this is ostensibly to prevent horrible mutants from being born with over-exaggarated cheekbones, missing chins, etc..

Where this causes problems is with the elf template. The elf template is nearly identical to one of the others (from memory, #2), and therefore the normalization may accidentally be applied to the elf template rather than #2. When this occurs, the child will get pointy ears--even if no other family member has these!
You can reproduce this in CAS. Make two parents based on the template and generate children. Some of them will have the elf ears.

HTH.

How about a child Sim built in CAS but not based on parental Sim units?  Will he/she just normalize to whatever template you started with?  (And thank you for the explanation, it's very helpful!)

There will be some normalization occuring, so the child may get closer to the original template on each age transition. If you only made small changes to template 1 for example, a Sim may end up with a full template 1 face teenager or adult.
It is not always that noticable, but it does explain why after a few generations of breeding custom Sims with custom Sims they still end up looking like templates.

Nailati, these are beautiful.  The lips look a little pinched on top still though (giving the goofy smile effect), but not on all of them, most on #2.

C

This is fascinating. I'll have to do some breeding experiments with faceblendlimits turned off (if I ever play again :D).

I never was sure what faceblendlimits did--I thought turning it off would result in children with deformed faces. Although, come to think of it, couldn't have been much worse than what I was getting.

So, have you gone through several generations of custom sims with faceblendlimits turned off? Any notable results, or are they just less template-y?


Thanks. I noticed the weird upper lip on #2, as well, when I was taking the shots. I'll fix that (and keep an eye out for it in the other faces).

Rambling: I'm wondering if I haven't made a lot of the noses too long, generally. #4 is supposed to have a long nose, but I may have overdone this trait on the rest of the faces. (Easy to fix, if I have.) It's hard to tell when I'm working in Body Shop. In profile the noses often look too long (too close to the upper lip), but face-on they seem too short (causing a long upper lip), and I've learned that leaving them a bit on the long-seeming side makes them look more normal in-game. I want to be careful, though, to avoid that nasty effect in the children of Maxis sims where the nose becomes one with the upper lip (*shudder*).

No, not too long.

/me just wants the templates already.  :P

Ha! Okay, I know, I'm nutty. :P You guys have to keep me in line when I start using my anal-retentive superpowers for evil rather than for good.

*resists temptation to straighten the fringe on the rug*

I am in gen 9 now in my main hood (started from 2 CAS Sims), and none of my playables look much like a template. I have one branch with a dominant brow, and another with a dominant nose.

Since I don't breed ugly Sims, I probably don't need the extra protection of faceblendlimits. I guess it might come in handy with Marduk the Destroyer spawn though... but if you play that kind of Sim, you are likely not interested in realism anyway.

*whispers*
Don't mind me...just reading up and tired of losing of my place in the thread.

Jordi, thanks for the info.
Nailati...can't wait!

I'm with everyone else when I say to just hurry up and get these done.  ;D They look good! I'm not going to cry if they aren't absolutely totally perfectly flawless, because they're already 100% better than the Maxis templates. I suspect if there are any I can't live with, I can deal with changing one or two templates (where I ran shrieking from the thought of doing 27).

Also, thank you very much, Jordi, for that info about face blending. It explains a lot of things I was confused about and why kids in my all-custom neighborhood were losing some of the features of their parents and getting something template-y instead.

I'm with BlueSoup and everyone else: these look amazing! I am actually remembering to check this thread once in a while, no mean feat for a woman of Very Little Brain and Even Less Memory, because I am so excited about this.

Did you know you can use the "Show new replies to your posts" at the top of the page if you've replied to a post?  It will show you replies to all threads you've ever posted in.  I use it all the time.  ;)

No, I didn't! Thank you! Wow, look at that, I have commented occasionally...  ;)

I have a question for anyone who knows what will happen...

I already use default replacements from MTS2, but plan on switching to these post haste. My question is what will happen to my sims when I do? I really can't possibly even think of not being able to continue on with sim me's adventures, but she married a townie with a replacement face and has kiddies. Would changing cause mutations to occur?

Your self-Sim and her family will not change when you change the defaults, but depending on how different your current default replacements are from Naitali's, they may or may not breed well with Sims spawned in the future.  (If you're using AllenABQ's faces, which are not that radically different from Maxis', just as Naitali's aren't, I wouldn't think there'd be *too* much of a problem...)

I love these templates and have been checking up on this thread for a while now waiting for them to be done.  You really have done a great job.  All the other replacement packs are either too pretty or too much like the Maxis.

These are so great. I can hardly wait to start a new neighborhood with these. But are you saying that the default townies (Goopy, Komei, Kennedy, et al) will still have their old faces?

I like how you've kept the spirit of the Maxis looks while making them more normal. Let's face it, IRL we seldom have extreme beauty or extreme ugly.  Maxis seemed to go all out for extreme ugly.

Goopy & co will still have their old faces so if you want to get rid of them you need to delete all characters and create new ones - check out Nec's thread here http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4090.0

All this will do is change all future sims' faces and not any of the defaults

Yes, they will, but you can always use a tool like the Insiminator to do 'surgery' on them and change their face to something more appealing.

You just have to remember to delete the CASThumbnails first so you can see what the new faces look like

Or you can use Ctrl + right click on the thumbnails to refresh them.  You might need testingcheats enabled for this.  Sims' portraits can be regenerated with "change appearance" or "regenerate portraiture" on the clothing tool or Lot debugger.

Ooh, I didn't realise you could refresh the thumbnails to see the new templates when in CAS or using the surgery machine. cool. I'll have to test it out once the new templates are available.

With Nailati's templates, if a Sim were to have a baby with Goopy, would the baby have the new template genetics or Goopy's original genetics?

The baby would have Goopy's original genetics.  You can use SimPE to replace original facial data with the secondary facial data from the plastic surgery so that it is genetic.  Step-by-step instructions can be found here (http://www.simposieum.net/content/view/30/9/).

Just to make sure my summer-vacation-brain gets it....
New templates change the defaults for new sims only. To change current scaries, I'll have to apply some kind of surgery and then use rainbow's link (thanks!) to make them permanent?

You got it.  New custom neighborhoods get the default townies from Pleasantview, unfortunately.  I thought I'd get a bunch of new random ones, but I got Goopy, Brandon, Ivy Copur x 2, Marsha Bruenig, etc.   You have to do some kind of DAC to get rid of them and generate your own, which is doable, but can be a bit of a PITA.  >:(

Hooray! My brain hasn't "mushified" yet. My brain lapses are almost enough to make me wish for year-round school.

Hey! Don't hurt me! I said "almost."

*hits thanks! for rainbow*

Wow, what a pita. I don't suppose anyone is working on a plugin to facilitate the process.

A long time ago, our own jordi posted a fix for this on MTS2.

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=110889&highlight=names

I don't get freakout names anymore with this in.  (Granted, I DO have to do a DAC and regen the townies, but I'm used to that.)

I can't wait to get these templates. *croses arms*

I've been designing houses, downloading nice new clothes for my future sims to wear and planning out plots in my head. 

I've uploaded the adult faces for anyone who wants to test them--see the first post.

realy natural.. realy nice... but i prefear character like....


is realy fun and to have wird charater.. they are realy expressive and mixing his dna his realy intresting  ;D

I'm going to give them a go, but what am I supposed to be testing, exactly?  ;D I'll presume that we're supposed to be seeing if they look all right. I can do that, all I HAVE are test neighborhoods right now. I'll try to get to them in the next few days although I can't make any promises; writing eats up most of my time anymore.

Corporal vilia reporting for duty, ma'am [salutes]

I'll DAC a test hood tonight, let the game generate some townies and see what I can randomly turn up.

Sorry to be unclear. Yeah, I pretty much want to know if they look all right and if they breed all right. I've made quite a few changes to the first ten, in particular. I'm not entirely happy with some of them, but then again I'll never be entirely happy, so I wanted to see what you guys think.

How do the proportions look? Are the necks too long?

Any faces that look too similar? Any faces that bug you?

How's the breeding going? (Personally, I've had mixed results with breeding dissimilar parents, but no monsters so far.)


You can try out a DAC if you'd like, but it's not required...might be sort of boring, since any non-adult townies will still be Maxian. :)

Thanks, all.

Been just randomly generating Sims in CAS with these and they all look great.  I thought at first a couple of the male templates weren't loading properly, and then I realized I was getting templates #21 and 25 (I do hope you normalize those at some point!  XD)

A few of the females do look just a tiny bit long in the neck to me, but I also noticed that this impression is also affected by what hair and clothing styles the Sim winds up with, so it may not be a real problem.  Cuz some people just do look that way.  :)

Drat! Drat! Drat!

*cries softly....I can't test...and I've been waiting so nice and patiently......sniffle*

You made the elf faces' eyebrows curve a little.  Nooooooooooooo.  Must be stick straight!  Aghghgghgh!

I've had a chance to try these out in my game and they look great.  Sims with gaunt features do not breed well with sims that have rounder faces (but that has always been the case anyway). Some of the women have quite large eyes (vertically speaking)- esp. when you compare them to their male equivalent.

If possible, could you move the eyes of faces 4, 9 & 12 (in CAS) out 1 notch as in-game they look a little close? This becomes more apparent when you start breeding them.

Apart from that, I thought they looked really good and are a definite improvement over the originals.

Same here. My computer's power supply blew out over the weekend. While trying to load The Sims, of course. :-[

Wow, that's always fun.  :(

I'm sorry, neriana. *crosses fingers for a swift return of your game*. I'll be back to mine next month...just in time to start school. ugh.

I've got mine back now -- just in time for some sports game to be released, causing me to work substantially more hours this week and play Sims 2 much less. Bah. Well, at least the hours pay for the computer repair. And I can test the templates now.

There's no major flaws as far as I can tell either. I don't even think the eyes on 4 are too close together myself but I think that's a personal prefrence. (Sim eyes by default are farther apart than human eyes were ever intended to be. I prefer my sims look more human than sim like.) They look great, I can't wait to see how they age. ^^

Big thanks to everyone for trying these out. I needed some fresh sets of eyes.

My inspiration has returned, and I'm buckling down on this...hopefully, my next update will be the completed set. My goal is to finish them by the end of the month. But don't hold me to it.  :D

I'm working on the face-height issue. As it is now, the templates are basically aligned at eye-level; I think perhaps lining up the noses, instead, will eliminate the Grinch effect (unnervingly large distance from nose to upper lip) that I've noticed on some of the offspring.

As always, I'm still interested in your opinions and suggestions.

Aside:
I've unwisely attempted to explain this project in general terms to a few of my friends -- none of whom are Simmers nor computer geeks. They find it at once baffling and unbelievably boring. They respond to my excitement much as you'd respond to an enthusiastic child, who, beaming with pride, has just presented you with a disastrous marriage of macaroni and glue. Verbal pat on the head, change of subject.
"Huh. That's...neat!  [pause for two beats]  Say, isn't that show about to come on? That one show? With the guy?"
Stupid friends. Stupid real life.
But the people on the on-line intarweb net forums understand!

So far I like what I see. The heights of the faces look pretty good to me. I always hated how, with the Maxis defaults, the position of the eyes was way too low compared to the ears.

Thanks for the update Nailati.

I'm keen to see what the next round looks like BUT the most important things are that you a) are enjoying it, and b) know that your work is appreciated.

I just got a chance to test these tonight. Holy shit, Nailati! These are wonderful! I was floored by how much better the sims look with those faces, much better than even 'realistic-izing' the faces with Gigge's method. Even the faces I don't particularly like look human.

All of the CAS blending I did resulted in suitably human-looking sims as well. Some faces don't blend super well, as usual, but the results from these are much, much better looking than with the game defaults - not a single one I made was hideous or even unfortunate (and with face blending limits off some of the problems I saw with unlike faces being blended, like really big cheekbones, smoothed much better). The only remotely monkey-faced sim I ended up with still looked decent, and she would have been pretty with the right lipstick.

The eyes may be a little close together after all. Some of the faces they seemed like they could stand to be a click apart, others they seemed like they'd be better a click narrower, sideways. But this was up close, zoomed out the faces looked good. Up to you, I'll use these either way.

As a side note, these faces look really good with the Louis skins (I'm using the ShinySims versions).

I'm REALLY looking forward to having the completed set. Testing these has made me want to play again.

 I've been playing with these in CAS for a while, crossbreeding through many generations. I really like them, even trying for ugly still got much more realistic looking faces. No more sims that look like they  are trying to eat thier noses or look like they got a hanger stuck sideways in their mouths! ;D

These templates look incredible!

Here's hoping for the completion. Just wow.

While I impatiently wait for these gorgeous templates to get done:

Is it possible to mix them with some other templates? I have found some that have child templates, you see.

EDIT: I can't even download the ones you have made, "too many people are downloading..." error message.

Thank you all so much for the continued interest. I'm sorry I've been MIA; I'm going through a devastating breakup (not trying to be drahmatic, that's just the nature of the situation, and I'm sure many of you have been there) so I haven't been able to muster up flying fuck. I'm set on finishing these, though; I've got to do something with myself.

I agree that the eyes look too close together in the current templates. I think that's because Sims' heads are narrower than human heads. To make them the correct width you'd have to either a) widen the upper & lower faces, which looks distorted and cuts into some of the hairdos, or b) shorten the face (to gain more relative width) to the point where it is too small for the body and neck. (I think I've verged on doing this with some of the females.)

So it turns out that to avoid overcompensating for the head's width, you have to live with the fact that the eyes will be somewhat larger and closer to the edges of the face than a human's.

Before stuff happened, I made a better base face (#2) based on pictures of computer-generated "average" or "ideal" faces ( like this (http://www.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_II/Psychologie/Psy_II/beautycheck/english/durchschnittsgesichter/durchschnittsgesichter.htm) and this (http://perception.st-and.ac.uk//Attractiveness/attract.htm) and this (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/Time_Fall_1993.jpg)) and on the Marquadt golden ratio mask (http://www.beautyanalysis.com/). Picture:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face02-1.jpg)

I feel pretty good about the adult #2; I'm working on the other age groups, and then I'll use #2 as a guide to making corrections in the other faces.

@SciBerg: You can mix these with any templates you like, but be advised that it could be weird if the different ages for a particular template are very dissimilar in appearance.
I'm able to download the zip; are you still having problems?

Break-ups suck. Good luck with yours.

Break-ups do NOT suck. But good luck with it anyway. And remember.
FREEEEEEEEEEEEDOM!
LIVE FREE OR DIE! Hopefully you have learned something from this particularly stupid move and won't repeat it. Otherwise I will make fun of you.

Geeeez!

Feel the love in the room!!  ::)

I don't see why people are so upset about breaking up. I mean, doesn't the inherent concept just fill you with an urge to paint yourself blue and run screaming naked across the field screaming "FREEDOM!"? What's so BAD about getting rid of that pesky ball and chain that has managed to attach itself to your ankle? I really don't get it. Isn't ditching that loser a GOOD thing? Shouldn't this be a HAPPY event accompanied by a chorus of angels singing "HALLELUJAH!"?

JM, for someone who describe themselves as someone who would stay committed, you definitely seem enthralled by the pospect of not being in a relationship anymore. Although I do have to agree with you, I'm sure Nailati actually cared for that person.

Anyway, if I could make some suggestions Nailati, could you make the female's eyes a bit more wide for #2? That and perhaps make the eyes a little longer on the male, with maybe thicker eyebrows and less gaunt cheeks? I hate to sound like I'm nit-picking and perhaps I'm just not used to the templates, but I think it may make it look a bit better, or at least more like the first one you linked to, which you may not be trying to replicate.

All in all I have to say that these are a major improvement over the Maxis defaults and am anxiously awaiting their completion

Of course I'd be committed. Victory or death. There is no other way. The objective of a relationship is to be the one to hold out, because under the terms of any relationship I'd bother to engage in, the winner takes all. Anything else is an invitation to chicken out. Having thus committed to such a struggle, I am not about to surrender! VICTORY OR DEATH! VICTORY OR DEATH!

If so somebody breaks up with you, it means that you have achieved VICTORY! Now all their base...are belong to you, and you are rid of them. VICTORY OR DEATH!

JM, you are a gigantic windbag and more full of shit than the NYC sewer system.

Nailati, I'm sorry to hear you've been having troubles with your personal life - I hope my PM didn't pester you too much.  :-\ The revised #2 templates look great, and it's really cool that you're going back and revising them all to fit even better. Take your time and take care of yourself.

Ah, finally!

The voice of reason and compassion  :)

I take everything JM says with a huge bucket of salt.  :P

One question that I'm sure has crossed everyone's mind...  with the departure of BlueSoup, will these templates ever actually get finished?

Yep

I'd also advise a shot of tequila. And I really like the new #2 templates. Something about it strikes me as correct. (And those links were very intresting.)

And you wonder why you people are constantly whining about your pathetic and simpering "relationships" that NEVER WORK. The objective of any relationship is the same as anything else: to WIN. You WIN when the other party dies or breaches contract. It's that simple. What's so "shit" about that?

Reason and compassion are inherently incompatible objectives. Compassion is inherently unreasonable.

Clearly, BlueSoup has failed us! You must not!

Saltlicks are good. J.M. is a jerk, and never claimed to be anything else or anything less.

Otoh, he does have sort of a point this time. Instead of dwelling on how hard a break-up is, it's good to dwell on how awesome it is that you are free again, and have escaped from a relationship that wasn't giving you what you needed.

I'm puzzled here - if relationships are a battle and the spoils go to the winner why are you not doing this:


Instead of a Blue Soup, you could have a Blue JMP.  Hallelujah?

BlueSoup isn't a relationship. BlueSoup is a symbol of unreliability and failure to be brandished about as an warning to others, not to mention used as part of inaugural speeches for MATY officeholders: Clearly, BlueSoup has failed us! You must not! Besides, do I sound upset about it? Of course I'm not. I have a new dead horse to beat, what could be better?

Ah - I think my work here is done.  :-*

Not to be crass, but is anyone else working on this? What other face template replacements are available out there?

Doc Doofus has a good set over at MTS2.  And AllenABQ has a good set that I'm currently using.  I think his are over on insimenator.net, but don't hold me to that. :)

AllenABQ's are okay, and I'm using them, but they're not nearly as nice as these.  (Edit: IIRC, they're at MTS2)

Please don't let JMP's ranting discourage you, Naitali.  I hope everything works out well for you.

Haha, the 'you people' argument - couldn't find anything to personally insult me with, hmm? Have fun beating up that straw man!  :D

You people, as in, PEOPLE WHO ARE LIKE YOU, YOU INCLUDED. You are the representative of an entire class of people who simply do not get it. The purpose of everything in life is to win. To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, hear the lamentations of their women, etc., etc. Get it? This applies to relationships as well: the objective is to win. To break your opponent's will in a contest of winner-takes-all. Therefore, a break-up is a GOOD thing...provided YOU are not the one breaking up, and YOU are the one winning. When your opponent cuts and runs, or slashes his wrists, jumps off a bridge, etc., leaving you with all the loot, this is not a tragedy. This is VICTORY! And an opponent who gives out so easily is a weakling and hardly worthy of respect.

Ah, I see you are into Conan and you pick one of the very few speaking parts he has to use here in your post. 

We all respect your can-do attitude, Pescado. You are truly More Awesome Than Us.  ;D

Ah, the gaping anus flaps again, releasing its gas into the atmosphere. Hmm... this would this be an ad hominem attack, an argument from ignorance, or a combination thereof.

I wouldn't say we were having any kind of debate at all. I thought it started when you insulted me, so I insulted you back. Aren't insults by definition "ad hominem"? So you don't actually *HAVE* any kind of argument to respond to anyway.

Ah, the "But HE started it!" argument. Well JM, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...  :-*

I think it is disrespectful of Nailati to disrupt her thread like this.  I agree, please take this elsewhere or split the thread so we can keep this relatively on topic.  :P

I just thought I'd let you know that many more people than have posted here are watching your progress on these templates Nailati.  They are being discussed on at least 2 other sites that I know of.  You are doing an awesome job!

I'm really sorry you are having a rough time - break-ups DO suck!

No, they don't. Name one logical reason why they'd suck. Think of the LIBERATION. The FREEDOM. The VICTORY!

Unless you lost. But then YOU'RE the loser and YOU are the one that sucks.

 Nailati I'm sorry you are going through such a tough time.    I just posted because I wanted you to see a lot of us that don't post very often are watching your thread for your face templates.    They look terrific and I can hardly wait to use them. 

Marg

It's not "tough". Tough is having your toenails pulled out through your nose. Snap out of it and quit whining.

  Where's the pfffft smilie when you need one?   

People suck in general.  All people suck, hence you suck also.

The lack of sex.  :'(




Don't give up Naitali, you have come so far already! I would still be happy even if you never got around to the other age groups at all. So long as the kids grow up well, I find it amusing if they are kind of funny looking as children. Kind of like the ugly duckling.

*Snuggles Naitali*  We're all pulling for you, dear.  Well, except possibly Pescado, but he's a troglodyte.  :p

Did you see the movie "Braveheart"?

Rainbow, see above quote.  The answer is yes, apparently.

C

Yes, Chris, I was being sarcastic again.  ;)  I forgot the winky smilie. 

Ah, pffts.  See what happens when I post with a headache.  You ever notice that when you have a headache nothing is very funny?

C

Yes, I have.  Hope you feel better soon.  :)

I'm still more than happy to assist (even when I wasn't at MATY because I was at other sites) Nailati if she needs it.

I am using Nailati's templates (the ones that are finished) now.
They are absolutely beautiful!
And the one that you just posted is perfect, don't change a thing on it.

I know what you are going through, Nailati, take care, deal with the problem but if it gets too much for you, you can always distract yourself with templates... :D

So these templates are complete to use fully in the game now? If not all, which ones?
thanks

The ones that Nailati has released are incomplete so you need to wait until they are finished.  Beta templates have been posted (see first post) for adults #1-26 minus #21 & #25 so you could use those but as Nailati has stated that she is considering tweaking them too, they are not final.

I wouldn't mind having the non-breeding faces be kind of fugly, just for interest.

And we're all patiently waiting. patiently. not tapping toes. nor shrieking in despair. yep, epitome of patience, you betcha. ;)

Oh, was that my outside voice? sorry. ;)

*huggles Nailati* Take your time, love.

Just wondeing if this project was still inching forward?  :P  Looks fabulous so far!!!

It's not Nailati's project, but AmberDiceless has made a facial template replacement set here (http://www.nectere.net/smf/index.php?topic=506.0).  Registration not required to download.

Ack, I didn't want to steal Naitali's thunder!  But thanks, Blue.  Note that a revised set is in the works there, but it still won't be as nice as this one.

What I like is that we simmers now have more face template replacement options to choose from.

You can take our lives, but you cannae give us a haircut!

Shouldn't that be "Ye cun tak owr lives, bu ye cannae gi'us ah hahrcut!"?  :P

yae mon

Just wanted to show my face, so to speak... I'm one more supporter waiting with bated breath :).

I've been there with the breakups too, hon.  I'm sorry you've had to go through one.  It always gets better with time though, even when it doesn't seem like it will.  Keep your chin up :) *hug*

download link isn't working for me either :(

NO DOWNLOAD FOR YOU!

Okay, but seriously, dude, dog, dude, I'm ready to whack these into shape now. See, I had this commission thing? Where I did some crap, kinda like this crap, but then someone gave me money? I know, it was weird. And I would have called, but stuff happened, and you know how it is.

Congrats, AmberDiceless! No thunder to steal, since the more templates come out, the more people will start using them. I'll check 'em out when I'm through with this set.

Thank you thank you thank you everyone for the comments, and the suggestions, and the snuggles and gropings and other inappropriate touches.

(And thanks for the sentiment behind defending me, but...if I were one to be offended by Pes's tactical rantings, I wouldn't have mentioned my personal problems on this board.  Besides, by his "logic," I'm on a real winning streak. Pass the body paint! FREEDOM!)

Oh, I wasn't so much defending you as I was taking the excellent opportunity presented to me to get into a verbal fistfight with Pescado. So don't worry, Nailati - I'm sure your MATY street cred is still intact.  ::)

Nailati!!!!!!

She's back!!!!!!!!
 *does dance of extreme happiness and joy*
Hurray! Huzzah! Three Cheers! Hip Hip Hooray!

*stops for breath and to hug/grope Nailati*

Nailati - any chance at all of these hitting the street before the next EP hits at the end of the month, or whenever it comes out?

I can absolutely guarantee that these will hit the street by whenever. ;)

But seriously, I'll shoot for that--it's all a matter of fighting my crippling perfectionism. And the 15 other projects I'm doing.

(BAD TOUCH!)

Woo! The Face Master is back!! Uh...Mistress, sorry! What a perfect gift for my birthday, you showing up again on just that day! Guinness for everyone!!  :D

Thanks for the update Nailati  ;D

*stops hugging/groping Nailati so that she can work*

*starts hugging/groping Elfie...just to free up Nailati, you understand...;)*

Looking forward to seeing the final product, like everyone else. But we promise to be patient. (Don't we? I can't hear all of you... ::))

(I would also like to see a compare-and-contrast of this project and Amber's sometime. Not to have them competing with each other...just so I could have a better idea of the differences.)

*stops mangling hugging/groping Kevin long enough to say that she's patientily waiting for Nailati and only using Kevin to distract herself from other chores....and goes back to hugging, groping, etc.*

Elfie! I'm only being used?  :o  :-[  :'(

Well, okay. I can live with that.  :D

*Carries on with the hugging, groping, etc. Especially the "etc."*

 ;) :-*

woot!  so glad to see you're still alive and well... and also of course that the project is still inching forward lol :P 

Take your time, although honestly, to judge from what we've seen so far, a template you consider "imperfect" is probably infinitely better than the "finished" ones in Maxis's set. 

Lol I'm as excited (or maybe more so) about this project as for the upcoming EP!

Heh, in a nutshell, Naitali has been working her hieny off to get everything nice and consistent and anatomically plausible and ethnically accurate while keeping the basic "feel" of the faces, whereas I went through and said, "Hmm, this guy's nose is absurdly big.  Let's make it smaller!  That kid's eyes are so far apart he looks deformed!  Push them closer together!" and so on.

As someone at MTS2 pointed out, mine have a rather Anglo feel because I found it such a pain to try to make pronounced ethnic features that look both accurate and attractive (the game really doesn't accommodate them very well, which may be why they went with such grotesque cartoony distortions instead.)  I admire Naitali's determination to work around that.  Hers will also likely breed better than mine because she's been so careful to stay consistent with how the features are spaced.

Frankly, I made mine mostly as a stopgap until hers were done.  They're still a lot less fugly than the defaults.  And, er...they're available now.  XD

Thanks, Amber.

I really do hope these are ready soon so I can use them in my new neighborhood. But you did a very nice job in providing a "stopgap" alternative.

Yup...the gap's good and stopped, I'd say...  ;)

Coming into this thread REALLY late.  All I've gotta say, Nailati, is:

WOW!  :o

You go, girl!  Finish these off!  I'd love to replace several of my own that I'm currently using in my game with your creations.  VERY well done!

Just wondering if we could maybe get an update on the project, to see how far along things are... not that I'm trying to rush you, of course, I'm just eager to create my new neighborhood with your lovely sims in it. :)

Yay! AllanABQ! What a reversal--you posting in my thread. And yay, everyone else! Thanks for sticking around despite my inconsistency.

So. Status:

Don't ever do what I did.

I've spent the past few months working intermittently on perfecting face #2. A couple of days ago I declared her finished. Huzzah!

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/02_2006-12-14.jpg)

Now to round out the other ages & genders--then I'll be able to simply mix a little of template 2 into any faces that are too wonky. I could be done in time for Festivus! So I flipped her over to male--

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/gah.jpg)

gah.

What I've done, thinking I was so clever, was to use my beta templates to make a few versions of #2. Then I turned those versions into temporary templates and used them to make the uber-2. Problem: my beta templates carry hidden Maxis freakshow genes for every age except adult, and, compounding that, my temporary #2 templates carry freakshow genes for everything other than adult female. Meaning I can't get this face to convert.

So now I'll attempt to replicate her from Maxis templates (or else make my beta templates complete--awful lot of work for supposed betas--and then attempt to replicate her with those). Unless somebody knows some SimPE voodoo that would fix this. I can't imagine a way around it, though.

Good thing you're returning from time to time Nailati, or else Pescado would announce you dead! ;) These face templates have turned into a royal PITA, eh? Well, I'm glad you still have the energy to continue working on them! We're all awaiting patiently still for you to finish them...they're surely worth the wait!

I made the mistake of forgetting to put these back in when starting my new neigbourhood after pets.
I'm now blessed with a headmaster with the most hidious #18 face.  I can never get over how awful that face is.  What the hell was maxis thinking?
Luckily I noticed before creating townies, so it's just a few NPCs that look like mutants, and even they have mostly been luckier than the headmaster.

Since I'm posting anyway; I have to tell you how in love I am with the second elf face.  That's one elven hunk!

O_o

...you know, it may just be that I'm up way too early right now, but I made my own set of templates and I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.  LOL!  XD  Although now that I think of it, I believe I used a much different methodology than you have.  Hmmm...she's very beautiful, there must be some way to get her to work...if you'd like to PM me a copy I can putz around with her and see if I can help...

Wow, just wow. Somehow, you have managed to recreate my face with almost pinpoint accuracy  :o . I'll only need to tweak the nose angle and eye shape a little and voila, sim-me. And I must say the rest of your templates are looking fabulous (except for that male #2 conversion that didn't really turn out well :P ) I know it's kinda late but I came her to support you and I beg you to please finish this project. I'm sure you'd be making a lot of people very happy.

Edit: don't forget to spell-check kids!

Eleonora, you must be hot!

Nailati, the work you've done so far is amazing.  I hope someone can help you straighten this out!

Yay! Nailati's still alive!  ;D  I was starting to worry lol.  Seriously, though, I can't believe how much work you've put into this project.  I would have given up ages ago!  ::)  I'm glad to see you're still working on it, even if intermittently.  It's definitely worth the wait!

*throws an early celebratory party*

Nailati hasn't forgotten us!!

Oh, ouch! :'( I've had that happen before. No way to fix it that I know of, but I can sympathize. Here are some tips that are probably painfully obvious to you now, but may be useful to others thinking about trying these:
-- Work on only one archetype at a time. Trying to work on all faces in one age group increases the chance for this kind of error, unless you are in the habit of keeping frequent backups of your SavedSims.
-- Flip over to other ages and genders often to avoid... surprises.
-- Complete all eight gender/combos of a face before replacing any files. I do them in this order now: Create AF, AM, TF, TM, CU, PU in BS. Check faces in CAS. Make changes in BS. Check faces in CAS again (stupid perfectionism). Then replace files. Replace EF and EM with AF and AM, respectively. Fiddle with EF and EM in BS. Optional CAS check. Replace EF and EM files. Replacement is always my last step.
-- Make obsessive backups of SavedSims rather than deleting them, and keep them organized by archetype and/or date discarded. (This can't help you if your backups are based on incomplete replacements, of course.)

Best of luck completing your replacements, Nailati! They look luverly and unique. No matter when you release them, they'll be a hit.

This thread, plus the recent related activity on MTS2 has made me begin work on my contention that the same linkage method I used for adding a new dog collar will allow new things to be added to CAS, including non-replacement face templates.

My first attempt to do so has been ignored, probably because I had only an "af" template in the package, instead of all eight age/genders. So I will add the rest and see if I can make this work.

Because I am such a poor artist, I borrowed some (Eelf) of AllenABQ's face meshes rather than make poor imitations. His posting at MTS2 said it was OK to copy and use them, and I plan to leave him with the credit for the artistry anyway.

If I get the package construction details correct, someone else that actually has talent can use it for a template to put some original non-replacement templates into CAS. Please continue with the replacement efort, because I can't guarantee I will succeed (although I have done a lot of research on this already), but if I do, the GMDCs you guys  guys and gals all are creating will need to be available to put into the set(s).

Anyway, I am just awed by AllenABQ and Nailati's artist's eye for balance and detail (Mr. "Can't-draw-a-stick-man-with-a-ruler" here).

<* Wes *>

 :D I guess so, but I wear my grumpy face most of the time, so it isn't that noticeable  :P

Is there a working link for the betas at the moment?

OK -- Keep cool, my babies, as Conan would say. I'm chipping away at this. :)  Here's the current set of faces for template #02 BASE:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face02_2007-01-07.jpg)

You can download them as regular, non-template Body Shop Sims if you want to take a look. Let me know what you think.

Download face #02 test Sims (http://www.mediafire.com/?4zz5ndjyimk)

I really like these faces, and I'm using your old replacements at the moment. My newly-generated townies are soo much prettier. I'm assuming there will be wider noses coming up as well like before? I especially like the bridge of the nose in all 5 faces. Good job, can't wait!

woooooooooooHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! 
I always get so excited when I see this thread has been updated ;D
I was afraid (again lol) that you'd abandoned the project.  These are so much better and well-rounded than any set I've seen, let alone the Maxis fuglies.  These will totally be worth the wait, IMO.

I like the distance between the eyes and the jaws. Very nice!

These will definitely be worth the wait!

I'm planning to run every Townie or Dormie I can get my hands on through the plastic surgery station the second these are finally released.

I like that they all really look like the same person, the guys look like guys and the child is not hideous.
I'm really looking forward to using these when they are finished.

I really enjoy the ways these look so much realistic. Thanks and cant wait for the rest of them. Move over old townies theres new faces to this town.

In my opinion these are looking very awesome. I also really like that you are keeping them a bit like the original maxis faces but deffinately not as Ug.

I'm going to keep my eye on this thread from now on. :)

Nailati, I was interested in taking a look at the new non-template bodyshop sims, but the link doesn't work properly. It just goes to a blank page?

Yes, I'd like to ask the same thing. I've searched the thread and can't seem to find a link anywhere.

Whoa, definitely amazing work, Nailati, thanks for it.

Why, thank you, but I was refering to something else. If I remember correctly, I think there was something up for download that allowed you to try out the finished defaults. Maybe I'm just imagining things, though.

The defaults have not yet been completed so the beta templates are all that are available. Naitali has created beta templates for most of the face templates but still has to create a few and tweak the betas.

vilia, a few posts up she mentions that we can download some of the 'templates' as regular sims, just to play with them until the real replacement templates come out. But when I click the link I don't get a download link just a blank page, as I stated above.

I haven't had any trouble downloading them (I tried again a few minutes ago) but as you are having problems, I've uploaded her #2 Beta Face Templates in the form of CAS Sims to Megaupload here (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YJ69YC84)

I'm not sure why the betas are no longer available - possibly because they have been made obsolete by the latest work Nailati has been doing. Anyway, I've zipped the ones that I have and you can find them at Megaupload here (http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Z7P4G0EY).

Please remember that these are only betas and so you may want to try them out in a separate neighbourhood or something (I use them in my main hood with no problems). You will need to delete your CASThumbnails.package found in your My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Thumbnails folder which means your thumbnails will regenerate when you load up your game and show the new templates.

@ Nailati - if you removed your link deliberately and don't want these being shared then let me know and I'll delete the files.

That's ok. At least you can always un-install the toolbar after downloading.

Oh crap. Seems megaupload.com has been banned with a court order (for IP's from my country). Oh well I'll just have to wait then. If it's not a very large file, would anyone mind sending the CAS sims version to me? I can PM you my email.

pm me

I pm'd you vilia, I have the files now, thanks for the offer. (and Feexje too)

*I have the files, if anybody else is having problems downloading from that link, I can help out now ;)

Sorry about my unresponsiveness--my internet tubes are broken, so I'm having to post this from a friend's house. Work continues, however...

I've completed all age/gender variations for faces 02, 25, and 27, which you can download in template format below. Let the breeding experiments begin!

Templates for faces 02, 25, and 27. Age & gender complete. These are not final versions. Pick a mirror:
 - FileHo.com: Nailati-faces-2007-01-27.zip (http://fileho.com/download/3ed13913040/Nailati-faces-2007-01-27.zip.html)
 - RapidShare.com: Nailati_faces_2007-01-27.zip (http://rapidshare.com/files/13885472/Nailati_faces_2007-01-27.zip.html)
 - MediaFire.com: Nailati_faces_2007-01-27.zip (http://www.mediafire.com/?20fxatmot1w)
 - FlyUpload.com: Nailati_faces_2007-01-27.zip (http://www.flyupload.com/?fid=2081000)
 - free-file-host.com: Nailati_faces_2007-01-27.zip (http://www.free-file-host.com/44918d6ecb3b1eed28f8167f39dc9a51)

(No preview pics this time--sorry. I'll include them with my next post.)

Please note that although these are "full" templates (all ages, both genders--unlike the previous set), I still consider them "betas." (Or maybe more like "omegas" at this point.) So I'm certainly still interested in suggestions. I've already started a list of tweaks I'm going to make, such as fixing the eyelids on a few faces.

All comments are welcome; I'm particularly interested in whether the faces seem proportional and "human," whether the age variations are consistent enough, and whether the offspring are presentable.

For example: after rolling the offspring of faces 25 & 27 in CAS, I think I should make the upper cheeks slightly smaller on the male 25's. They're too extreme when combined with the gaunt lower cheeks of 27. (You can see this for yourself, as I haven't made the adjustment yet--just noted it.) The same cheek combination is extreme in the females, too, but perhaps acceptable. I'm fine with striking and/or ugly offspring, but not mutants. Mutants must be eliminated.

Awesome, can't wait to try these out in game!  I'll post back with my thoughts tomorrow after I have a chance to look at them.

Thank you!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH!  BAAH! 

Ugly Townies are the bane of my existence!

Now for the stupid question, where do I put them?  They're in SavedSims until I hear otherwise.

Which ones? You should put the face templates for 02, 25 & 27 into your downloads folder and then delete your CASThumbnails.

Thanks, moving them now!

BAAH!  BAAH!

(Ok, I'm a little excited at non-ugly Townies...)

Stupid question: Where are those? I have a bunch of templates I got earlier.

Now waiting for my stupid answer.

Directory path:

My Documents
EA Games
The Sims 2
Thumbnails
CASThumbnails

Don't feel bad; I had to look it up in my directory to tell you where it was. 

Thank you!  :D

Sorry. I didn't put in the file path as I had listed it a couple of posts above.

I was wondering how I install these? I've never installed something like this before.
Do you just put them in your downloads folder, or is there another location?

Two posts ago, d'uh!

d'uh! doesn't really help.
And YES I saw that post and it didn't make any sense to me, thats why I ask...
So Never mind I just wont use them.

dearie dearie me

Settle down tabbs, help is here. 

You need to do is download the files and then extract them using winzip, 7zip etc. You need to put them into your downloads folder \My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads. As there are rather a few files, you might want to put them in a sub-folder and call it Beta Face Templates or something similar. If there is now Downloads folder within \My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\ it means that you have not installed any custom content and therefore must create one. If you have already downloaded face templates from elsewhere then you need to temporarily remove them from the Downloads folder or just delete them as Nailati's are bound to be nicer.

If you want to try out all of the beta face templates including the latest that Nailati posted, then download them here:

- Rapidshare.com (http://rapidshare.com/files/14060620/BETA-Face_Templates-Nailati.zip.html)
- Mediafire.com (http://www.mediafire.com/?ezgizhjznmd)

Once you have put these files into your downloads folder, you need to delete the thumbnails so the game will regenerate with the new faces and not the old maxis ones, so go to \My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Thumbnails and delete CASThumbnails.package.

I just made a new 'hood last night.  Best looking bunch of Dormies I've ever had!  Thanks so much Nailati!

I checked out the three finished face templates and they are gorgeous! I can't wait for the rest. Thank you!

These are great! I hate fugly townies and NPCs! Fantastic job! :D

I'm itching for a fresh beautiful neigbourhood, but I'm going to hold myself back until all of these are completed for all ages.

I used your fabulous faces with Jordi's wonderful tutorial, and I'm so happy -- no Sandy Bruty in sight. :-)

Your faces are just wonderful -- varied and reminiscent of the originals without being caricatures of human beings.

These aren't showing up in my game for some reason.  I downloaded the full set vilia provided and deleted the CAS thumbnails file (though it isn't just the thumbnail that's not working, it's the whole template).  I tried taking them out of a subfolder and putting them directly in the downloads folder, but to no avail.  When I go into CAS, I still have the fugly maxis templates.  Anyone have any ideas?

Did you delete the "cigen.package" file where the thumbnails for the CAS faces are stored?

Yup. 

It isn't that the thumbnails are wrong.  They are correct, in fact - the faces themselves are the Maxis defaults.  When I click on the awful CAUS, my poor sim's face bloats up like a balloon!

What is your Sim detail setting set to? These overrides only apply to high quality.

These look lovely! Thanks for all your hard work.

If you want further reference material, most Life Drawing illustration books have tips about what proportions and measurements body parts and facial features should have in relation to other parts. Such as the "eyes should be spaced one eye width apart" (e.g., eye, eye-width nose bridge, then other eye), foreheads should be so many eye heights high, noses should be roughly so many eye widths wide, etc., and then the better guides also offer tips on how to account for various ethnicities. Older folks also tend to get droopier, larger cartilige-area features such as noses and ears, drooper eyes and more prominent brows, especially males. This is why a lot of little old men start to look a lot alike, and a lot like gnomes. (I'm glad that Maxis refrained from adding hairy ears and nostrils to the already insulting stereotypical elders.)

I can dig around in my illustration book library for better specifics if you need or want them. Frankly, if you aren't already using them, I'm surprised, because you're instinctively doing the right thing, esp. when it comes to accommodating the Maxis head proportions.

That's a good thought, Jordi, thanks.  But unfortunately, I just brought up my game and checked performance options - sim/object detail *is* set to high.   :-\
I'm going to try a different set of default replacements and see if they work.  *These* are the ones I want in my game, though, even if they only affect the adult townies.
Updates posted as events warrant...

You could try taking them out, running the game, then putting them back in.

These face replacements are working in my game, and I will further note that the eyebrows are back if you update the thumbnail (ctrl-right-click on the faces in CAS).

I didn't know you could do that dizzy - thanks.

Howdy to all.  I don't post much... but I do read a lot and I have read all of the posts in this thread.  I didn't download the face files because my Sims don't have a lot of children and any that come into the neighborhood are through CAS.  I thought I'd get around to downloading them if I ever decide to let my Sims have kids of their own but I found that highly unlikely because the couple of times that I did the little ones were so bugly that I told the Sims ... no more kids!!

However, recently, one of my long time married couples went behind my back (I had them on free will while I was AFK for a minute).  When I heard that "Rock a bye baby" I just rolled my eyes.  I let them have their baby... but it turned out to be 2.. natural Maxis-made twins.  As it turned out they looked alright... no surgery needed so I thought, ok, I'll give it a shot.  One of my couples who has been with me in various venues for many many years (through Sims 1+) moved to Veronaville.  I decided to let them have a baby.  Wouldn't you know it... another natural Maxis-made set of twins.  Boy and a girl.  When they finally turned into toddlers I was absolutely shocked.  That little girl was SOOOOO bugly I wanted to throw her in the pool!!  ;D  After several surgeries she's somewhat decent looking but my thoughts flew to Nailati's faces and here I am. 

I have downloaded several files but I'm not sure if I have them all.  Could someone please post a complete list of the filenames.  I'm not asking for each individual file name... nope.  Way too much work!  Just the names of the RAR'd or ZIP'd files.  I do know that one opens to sims2packs which are self-installed and I read that the other unzipped/unrarred files go into a sub-folder under /Downloads and I also read that you have to delete the CASThumbnails.package from The Sims 2/Thumbnails.  Are there any other instructions I missed?  Oh, and maybe this is a stupid question to some but how will I know they're Nailati's faces I'm looking at? (Nope, didn't download any other faces either.)  I've looked at all of the pictures on the previous pages and the comparisons and they look somewhat different but,... well, :)   I'm just not as good as most at distinguishing one face from another.  Are the backgrounds different color?  Do they display Nailati's name or signature?

If someone could *please* make up a post with all relevant info for those of us who aren't as good as we used to be at doing a whole lot of stuff.  :-X


Thanks!


Sundown

TXSundown - I have already done this on page 8 of this thread. I'm afraid I'm not sure how much clearer I can make it but as your post undoubtedly took you a decent amount of time to type, I'll have another go.

Included in these zip files are ALL of the templates that Nailati has released so far. These are still in the beta stage so expect some changes at some point. Also not all of the toddler/child/teen templates have been released - only those for 02, 24 & 27 - so if your children are drawing from other templates they will still retain their maxis look.

There are two options for downloading as some people have problems with one or more of the download sites so download either from Rapidshare or Mediafire. The files once they are unzipped go into your /downloads folder. Note I have chosen to zip the files rather than rar them as some people are unable to use rar. (The links are in the 'quoted' section below).

How can you tell they are Nailati's? Well why not create a new sub folder (within the /downloads), call it Nailati's face templates and put all of the files in there? Each of the individual file names have Nailati's name included e.g. BETAFace-01AF-Nailati.package or Nailati_face-test_24-em.package.

Given the fact that you seem to want beauty rather than realism, I suggest you do not use these templates but rather go to MTS2 and download terrakosmos' face templates http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=135121 (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=135121) as they have made the differences between all of the templates less - so they will breed more 'beautifully'. Terrakosmos' templates are finished so they include toddler/children/teen/adult (young adult is the same as adult).

Giving sims surgery will change their look but it will not change their genes. This means that when they breed, the traits that you tried to get rid of may be passed on. If you want to ensure that does not happen, you will need to read this tutorial at MTS2 http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=56241 (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=56241) and follow the steps. Now this tutorial was written for SimPe 0.48C so it is a little old and the pictures have gone but it is very easy to understand.

Actually Vilia, I did read your post on Page 7 of this thread and went to those two links in your post and downloaded whatever they'd give me.  However, it added files to my already present Nailati folder that I didn't have in there which led me to believe that maybe I was missing some so, I asked.  Sorry for that.

Since someone else had posted that another file (other than the CASThumbnails.package) had to be deleted for the thumbnails to show up but there was no follow-up on that I wanted clarification.  So, I asked.  Sorry for that too.

I already have the Nailati files I've downloaded in a separate subfolder in my TS DL's directory as well as in my /The Sims 2/Downloads sub-folders (that's 2 copies) but even though it's easy to just look in the subfolder and see which ones are hers/his, that does not translate to graphics in the program.  Must not have made myself clear on that one and so, sorry for that too.

I greatly appreciate your suggestion to not use Nailati's templates and for directing me away from them to something else but I think I will use them anyway and just muddle through with trying to figure things out on my own instead of asking for help again.

I was already familiar with gene alteration... I'd read that quite some time ago but I'm sure someone will appreciate the link you offered.


Oh, and if I wanted strict realism, I'd not have bought Sims in the first place but thanks for pointing that out. You've been such a tremendous help. :)   Have a good weekend.



Sundown

I've uploaded age & gender complete betas for faces 14 and 15. Links are in the first post. I really, really hate the teen males (not just on these two faces, but generally) and their mashed-in faces. Any thoughts?

Sundown--thanks for your interest; vilia--thanks so much for all your help!

Sundown: The two files I link to in the first post of this thread (Nailati-faces-2007-01-27.zip and Nailati_faces_2007-03-09.zip) contain the five templates that are age & gender complete. These are #s 02, 14, 15, 24, and 27. You can erase any other versions you have of those five faces--the ones in these two zip files are the most current.

I haven't poked around the files that vilia's uploaded, but as far as I know they contain my first round of betas, which were adult faces only. You can use these if you'd like, but be warned that Sims you create with these templates will be Maxis-ugly at every age other than adult.

If you've downloaded any self-installing Sims2Pack files, those are probably Body Shop Sims I uploaded for preview purposes. They're not templates, so you can trash them (and you can trash any Body Shop Sims you installed with these Sims2Pack files).

If you want to make sure the templates have been installed, and you can't tell from the thumbnails, you might try this:
- remove all template files from your Downloads folder
- launch Body Shop and make a Sim for one of the faces you plan on installing--for instance, if you're going to install face #2, then make a Sim with the default #2 face, and save it.
- quit Body Shop, and put the template files back in your Downloads folder.
- launch Body Shop (or, if you prefer, launch the game and enter CAS). Select the Sim you saved before, and re-apply the same face. In my example, I'd select face #2 again. If the template isn't working, the face won't change; if it is working, you should see the face change from Maxis #2 to my #2.

Good luck. :)

Yep, first round of betas and those you have released as completed 02, 25 & 27 (with the betas for those removed). It's great you have a couple more to try out. I can deal with the teen males - everyone tends to go through a 'plain' stage at some point in their lives and it is nice to see them grow into their features when they get older.


Well Nailati's will be the best set of realistic templates when they are complete but not all the sims will be conventionally 'beautiful' which may not suit all simmers.

One set of templates is all that is needed - so delete the one that is not in ...My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads. 

Also, deleting the CASThumbnail.package is all that you should need to do. If that doesn't work, check your graphics settings and try again. If it still doesn't work then ctrl-right click on the face in CAS to get the thumbnail to regenerate.

TXSundown - I might have misunderstood what you were saying but AFAIK if you are breeding sims already in your game, installing the face templates won't make any difference to babies from these existing sims.  As I understand it, the CAS templates (v. nice, and thank you Nailati) can be used with CAS made sims but when sims breed, the resulting face of the child is derived from the faces of the parents.  If the parent has a Nailati face from CAS, all well and good, but if they have a different face (say from the original archetypes), this doesn't change when you put the templates in so the baby's face is still derived from that.  AFAIK I don't think the CAS archetype face will be used on sims that are already in game - at least Goopy looks just the same as he ever did in my game.  Or maybe I've not understood something fundamental about these templates.

Happy to be corrected anyone?

Nailati, I'm happy to see your set coming along so nicely. The teen males piss me off, too. Especially their lips. I finished another set last month and I'm testing them now. Testing means generating new townies and making sure I can tell the new archetypes apart from a reasonable distance, which is something I didn't do with the last set I uploaded. So far so good, but I have a feeling that I'll end up starting from scratch again anyway. I really admire you for taking your time to put the best product out there.

Actually, they will probably make a difference.  Sim DNA is derived from the parents, but as I understand it, unless you've got the faceBlendLimits variable set to 'off' in your userstartup.cheat file, the face will be somewhat "normalized" to the face templates as the Sim ages.  I believe this is designed to prevent even worse grotesqueries from happening when two badly matched faces are blended in a child.  This is why you'll see CAS-designed children with highly customized, realistic faces, or children of adult CAS Sims with such faces, appear more and more "standard" with time--their features are being gradually returned to Maxis norm (or whatever face templates you're using.)

Thank you very very much for the detailed instructions as well as the filename list.  I'm sure that I am not alone in appreciating the information.  I have cut and pasted your instructions into a separate folder where I store your face files so I can have it handy.  I'm not as computer or Sim saavy as most so I do really appreciate the time you took to detail the information.  It's not a great feeling being lost and muddling through unclear or confusing or missing instructions.
Re: the sims2pack files - if I hadn't put the extracted files that seemed to end up at the bottom of my downloads folder I would not have any idea how to 'trash' them.  Luckily I did and dropped them into the folder I have set aside specifically for your files.

Best Wishes!


To Maxon -  I probably did not make myself clear enough regarding that.  I did read somewhere back around page 3 or 4 that only the new Sims brought in (through CAS) after the templates are in place will change and then it would have to filter down through generations before the bad DNA were eliminated.  Does that pertain to those created in Body Shop too?  I don't know.  From what I read I am guessing that they'd have to take a sidetrip in the CAS screen in game to have their face altered since Nailati said to trash the Body Shop files.  I usually don't use the CAS except to put together families of Sims I have already made in Body Shop.  Thanks for the clarification though.  One can never have too much information on a subject IMLTHO. ;)

Sundown

Thanks for the two new complete faces!  BAAAAH!  BAAAAH!  BAAAAH!  BAAAAH!  BAAAAH!  BAAAAH! 

Please tell me this isn´t so. I want to sims in my game, whom I spend days creating and I aged the sims I made in Bodyshop down to toddlers in CAS. I want them to grow up in the game, but I want them to look exactly like I created them once they are adults.

 Am I understanding right, that my sims I spend so much time creating will end up looking like a facetemplate once they are adults? And is there anyway around this? I don´t really want to turn faceblend off, because of all the ingame born sims.

I think this is a misunderstanding. Amber is, at best, talking about what happens over generations. Sim genetics should not be altered due to natural aging, only that sims allegedly have 3 "parents": Your two input sims, and a baseline face.

Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, abelle!  O_o  I expressed myself very poorly there.  The genetics in a CAS Sim won't change, and if you design a Sim to look a certain way at a certain age, they should look that way as they grow up.

What I mean is...okay, have you ever noticed that when you make a Sim and age them up and down in CAS, the features that look really nice at one age can become weirdly distorted and more noticeably Maxian at others, requiring you to adjust them and make a lot of compromises to get a Sim that looks nice at all ages?

One example that particularly comes to mind is face thinness: make a kid in CAS without the overly plump Maxian cheeks, and then age her to Elder, and she'll wind up looking cadaverously thin.  Adjust them so the Elder looks normal and then regress her to a toddler, and she'll be bloated.  This is because the game is using the face templates to help it figure out how to change the features from one age to the next.  (Drives me up a bloody wall, incidentally.)

Create a CAS Sim without bothering to check how they look at other age stages and adjust to your tastes, and they and their children will be pretty much at the mercy of the templates--their genetics will still be there, but the game will interpret them without your input.  If you use replacements, those will become the guide for the game instead and you'll get different (and hopefully less annoying) distortions. 

However, in the context above, I was primarily talking about children born in game, not CAS Sims.  As Pes says, the genetics get diluted over the generations.  I'd say the best way to avoid it is to regularly introduce new CAS Sims to the hood so the Maxian component doesn't overtake everything else.

Templates 08 ("Asian") and 18 ("Australian") are up.

Not sure if they eyes on #18 are too big.

I haven't tested these extensively for "breedability," so please let me know if you come across any awkward feature combinations. Thanks!

You fixed the most hidious of all the maxis hidiouses!
I could actually risk creating a neigbourhood with just these replacements (but I won't; I'll be patient a while longer).

I love you so much for doing this; thank you.

That is good to know. I did notice, that the toddlers I created in bodyshop and CAS were looking strange, when I aged them up there. I didn´t know, that the facetemplates played such an important role for ingame born sims though. This is another reason to have good facetemplate replacements. I can´t wait for these to be finished. I feel like I have been following this thread for a year. The finished templates look amazing though. Well worth the wait.

For faces 8 and 18, when I click on the FileHO links, I get this message:


What the hey? I'm assuming that the links you provided to the other file sharing site will work once that site has finished it's maintenance.

Just for you, my fellow crazy cat lady.


Huh. That's bizarre. What, they think it's some kind of pirated goodies?

Off to do link maintenance.

EDIT: Added some more mirrors, trashed the FileHO links.

*click* Baaaaah!

Err, I mean...thanks, Nailati. I appreciate it. :)

This may be a stupid question, but how many faces have you done altogether?  I mean, I see the seven in the links on the 1st post, but are there more? :p

I ask this because I seem to have downloaded a lot of them in the past and am interested in making sure I have the newest and theoretically most shiny versions (I'm ransacking my download folder in hopes of fixing some Seasons-based conflicts, so I figured I'd try to do some other mod housekeeping/updating at the same time).  Is there a way to, say, download them all at once? ;)

There are 7 complete sets, with all ages.
All other faces from the game has only been finished for adult, and as far as I understand, just beta versions.

Naitali, I would like to give you a bit of feedback, although I am sure you have heard what I'm about to say from many directions already. So far I am seeing a great range of diversity & interesting faces with your template betas installed. I am pleased to say that in a new hood I have already noticed considerable improvements to the pleasantview-default townies. The faces are interesting & diverse without being cariacatures of racial prototypes. I have to commend you for the quality of your defaults thus far.

These templates are fabulous.  I can't get over it - some of my townies turned out to be gorgeous!  There was a nasty surprise for me when one of my sims aged to elder, though - I had forgotten that most of the templates are still adult-only.  I'm pretending that he was involved in some sort of disfiguring accident lol.

I like the way you preserved the distinctive characteristics of each template, so the resulting faces look human instead of like porcelain dolls. 

I hope work is continuing on this wonderful set.  Thanks this is great! :P 

Yes yes I know, scary undead red skull dude, but ummm...Naitali?  You still alive?  XD

Thanks for the waking of the dead Amber as I was just wondering about this as well.  :)

Hey, guys. I'm desperately searching for a job and have been without internet access for several months now (I'm writing this from the public library, elbow-to-elbow with the hobos). So I can't work on this project now and to be honest I don't know if it'll ever be finished. Of course you can always help things along by contributing to Nailati's Rent and Cat Litter Fund.  :P

Y'all are free to take the faces and do with them as you will. A while back I got a pm from someone who wanted to know if they could make some templates based on my #2, and I'll state here publicly what I told them: absolutely. If you use my faces as a starting point for your own, I would very much appreciate credit, but you do what you want.

Later!

Edited due to a momentary lapse of spelling

You're okay, and that's what matters.

Good luck with the search! :-*

Exactly!  Here's hoping that things will look up for you soon.  Best wishes.

Here are all of the Nailati faces (http://www.4shared.com/file/29814564/8fea5d25/FacesByNailati.html) that I have. I hope that it is okay with her that I've uploaded them but they are so beautiful that it would be cruel to hoard them for myself.
There are several sets of replacement face templates that are meant to "fix" the EAxis faces. At the moment my two favorite sets are by Terrakosmos (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=135121) and
Selzi (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=250376). Both of those posts have links to tons of other face replacement sets so you shouldn't have trouble finding one that you like.

Heh, well, the EAxis originals were kinda ugly to start with, which is the whole point of replacements, so if you go too subtle that's what you're going to get.  XD

Having said that, AllenABQ's set, which was the first to be made, is basically a mild defiglification of the originals:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=106077&c=1&page=1&pp=50 (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=106077&c=1&page=1&pp=50)

And I tried to keep some of the character of the originals in mine:

http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=194488 (http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=194488)

I use Amber's face replacements and they are great looking without being too pretty-pretty. I like my sims to have some facial character rather than constant good looks.

Ditto -- I tried a bunch over the years, but settled on Amber's.

I haven't used face templates until recently.  Currently I'm using Zazazu's, which have a nice variation in face sizes (or so it seems to me) - not constant large foreheads, small mouths, etc.  Her set also has slightly larger eyes (I think), which I know some folks think is a bit cartoony, but I like it.

What I like is the mix and match. I think I used faces from just about every talented creator: Selzi, Amber, Nailati, etc. I had the perfect set going in my game. Of course all of that, including all the downloads of the full templates, have gone down with my computer. Stupid computer.

Meh. I will have to do it all over again, but because I know where I got the most templates from, it'll not be that hard. The hardest part was/will be finding the odd little here's and there's. Thanks to Amber and the 'abandoned mods' thread I was able to find quite a few of those back.

This is what I do too.  There are some Maxis faces I don't mind, so I don't replace those.  Then, I put in some replacements for those which I only want modified slightly.  Finally there are some I never want to appear, and I choose the prettiest or most interesting version from one of several creators.  I think in total, I have borrowed from around 6 different sets.

Doing it this way does expose my game to some ugly babies from face size mismatches, but it avoids the problem of homogeneity.  I don't fault any of the creators; it's only natural that we each have an individual sense of what we find pleasing and that's bound to be an overriding influence when you try to make up 20+ faces.

I try to resist the urge to give plastic surgery to any of my sims.  I've found that by playing even the ugly ones, I can eventually find something attractive or interesting about them.  What I hate about the maxis uglies is that they're all unbearable in exactly the same way.

#17 is complete. Thanks to Gwill for doing the SimPE legwork!

(All ages are included.)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v28/Nailati/TS2/face17-final.jpg)
Download (http://www.mediafire.com/?bintnc1me0x)

/me downloads

A word of caution to others who download this. MediaFire requires cookies enabled.

Yay! Nailati, I'm so happy you're back ;D. These are quite excellent, I love that the noses still have lots of character.

These are STILL some of the best templates I have ever used. The reason I came back hunting for them is the set i'm using now just isn't doing it for me. The adults looked ok but the young adults...ouch.

That's odd, don't the YA's use the adult face templates?

I'm not sure, I always thought they used teen ones so obviously I don't have a clue. Seasons apparently broke the face textures and that may be contributing to the strangeness I noticed. (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,8122.0.html) In any case my new batch of dormies looked oddly off.

They use the teen texture, at least in some skintones.  Face templates are the same as adults.

Normal YA's use adult face templates, but not dormies.

Interesting. Just because I'm too lazy to research it: what face templates do dormies use? Teen?

(I've spent as little time as possible on Uni campuses, so I haven't had much interaction with dormies.)

Dormies look to me like they use some hideous predefined templates (for the whole sim, not just the face).

My dormies look just fine.  They're randomly generated and use towniefied CC.
Could this be related to the problem I had with downtownies? http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,10094.0.html

My dormies use my replacement templates and CC as well.

Perhaps the dormies in the standard Uni neighborhoods are pre-made.  The dormies I see in the custom Unis I have made look like they use the alternate face templates I have loaded.

The first batch of dormies you get with a newly-added Uni are pretemplated. Future ones are generated normally.

Isn't that the same as with any other type of townie?  If you use clean templates you don't get the fuglies.

NAILS! FIND YOUR BACKUP! WANT!

I don't really care if they are for all ages- adults only is fine by me.

So, even though I have cookies enabled, I still cannot download these. It keeps saying I am suffering from a java script error. This makes Jelenedra sad.

Thank you very much for these. I have despaired over the ugly Maxian face templates for a long time.  I appreciate these from the bottom of my heart.

CM

Sorry, guys--I'll fix the upload when I get back from work.

Hi,

The first face (02) seems to have been taken down.  I get an error when I try to download it.  I got all the others just fine.

TG

Let me know if there is any more dull SimPE work that needs to be done.

Just a heads up that I tried downloading Face template 02 but its not coming up for download, just an error page saying it is not available.

Pescado, can you host these files, so we won't have this problem every few weeks?

Is there anyone who might be willing to reupload 02 at some point? Since, as mentioned a couple of posts up, it's not there anymore.
It'd be much appreciated. Thanks!

I've had to compress it to make the file rar small enough for Pescado's rules, but I assume it still works.

Great, thanks very much for the re-upload. :)

No update, but new links in the OP. I've also uploaded the incomplete, adult-only faces, should you want to use them, even though you probably shouldn't. :P

Thanks for uploading #2, Gwill. I was off on Planet Nails and I completely forgot about it.

ARISE FROM THE DEAD, OH THREAD OF AWESOMENESS! CALL FORTH THY MISTRESS THAT SHE MAY HEED MY PLEAS (and bribes)...

Dear wonderful fabulous beloved Nailati, I have two proposals for you:

1) You mentioned a while back:

So I was wondering, how much would I have to donate to you through paypal to lay claim to your time to complete ONE of the beta templates? Or if I can afford it, more than one. I realize that real life happens and time is money. I want your time, I will give you what money I can afford. Anyone else willing to help buy her time away from real life? Of course results are free for all on this thread then.

2) If you absolutely do not want to do any more templates for a few months or so:

Would you accept my humble offerings of adapting the BETA templates to the other ages so they look related? So you could tweak them if anything is horrible and template-ize them? But I'd much rather have your original stuff... unless my giving you some templates to tweak would inspire you to rework them to truly meet your standards? Pretty please with a cherry on top?

I like your attitude. However, I couldn't accept money for this. I'm waiting for an official announcement that TS3 is delayed before I re-install TS2, so in the meantime I totally encourage you to work on the other ages if you'd like. As far as making the faces into templates, I don't have a way to run SimPE at the moment, but I'm sure volunteers could be found either here or in #grah.

Supposedly it was delayed until the Summer. June or July? Is that a long enough delay? I love your templates.

TS3 Press Release: New Ship Date for The Sims 3 (http://thesims3.ea.com/view/pages/newsItem.jsp?item=1183392783)

God damn it.

So... I'll start making the other ages? Let's say I'll start working on 26 and submit it for your approval before making a template. Which I will also submit for posting.

Aaaaand you could start from 1, 3, or 4? (The other end). Then we'll meet in the middle and have it done definitely before you uninstall Sims 2 again? :-)

Or if you think you'd rather do it all by yourself I'm happy to wait.

Go ahead. My powers of procrastination know no bounds.

I'd be willing to contribute to the bribes too.  If you won't take money, how about chocolate chip cookies?

(My summoning spells are limited; no cool text messages pertaining to Necromancy.)

Thank you so much for these face templates :D  Are we to understand that since The Sims 3 is out, you are abandoning this project?

Yes, and unless something can be done about the horrifying sliders in TS3, I'm going to stick to building from now on.

Something can be done, and we've done it, yes. You can yank on them until your head implodes.

Helpful, but insufficient. The types of changes that can be made are the problem, ultimately, not the magnitudes.

Well, mostly, the main missing thing is the lack of ability to edit the forehead and stuff, but that is more Delphy's department. The capability exists, though.

Thanks for letting us know :).  Good luck. :D