More Awesome Than You!

Android Skinning Tutorial for the SimPE Challenged

It takes me ages to work things out in SimPE, so I thought I'd give the similarly challenged a helping hand.
With thanks to Veilchen, Renatus, Gus Smedstad and Pioupiou who all gave hints and instructions. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=3634.0
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4320.msg121216#msg121216
This tutorial can also be found at Witch's Haunt @ Laverwinkle sims (http://www.laverwinklesims.com/).

Featuring Marvin and Martha Tinker as guineadroids.

Make an android sim.

First of all you'll need an android skin (http://modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=42554) of course.

Find the DNA number of the android skin.

See Pioupiou's tutorial down the thread on how to find your android skin number. :)

Replace Servo's skintone

Click on Sim Description on the left hand pane, then click on your Servo sim's name on the right hand pane.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/nz_witch/android%20tutorial/simdesc.jpg)

Same as before, click on More and Open Sim DNA.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/nz_witch/android%20tutorial/dnaoriginal.jpg)

Put the new number - for example mine was 51029641-48da-8d3f-ffcd-018b0db906ba - in each of the four fields.
Dominant Skintone, Dominant SkintoneRange, Recessive Skintone, Recessive SkintoneRange.
Commit and Save.

Your Servo DNA should now show the new android skin number.
(Don't just use the number I have in this post, my android skin is really old, not Version 6.5 and I don't know if that number has changed).
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/nz_witch/android%20tutorial/newdna.jpg)

Pioupiou told me the next bit.

Click on More again, but this time choose Open Character File.
Click on Age Data on the left hand side, then again on the right, the bottom pane should load and look like this.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/nz_witch/android%20tutorial/agedata.jpg)

Click on Skincolour on the left, then change the Value on the right to the new number.
Commit and Save.

Property Sets, can/should? also be changed for Servo, look for Pioupiou's instructions further down the thread and change the skincolour for each age. Servo may not have any Property Sets when you first open the character file, they may be created after changing Servo to android. Not sure at this point. (Note, my Servo's Property Sets had already been changed to the new android skin when I went back after running the game).

Close SimPE

See Servo's new skin ingame

Load up your Sims game and go to Servo's house.
Open the command prompt with Ctrl Shift C
Type agesimscheat on

Hold down the shift key and click on Servo
You will probably have to click on More, then Set Age
Set age to elder and let Servo transform.
Do the same again, shift click, Set Age and make Servo an adult.
Servo should now be an android.
Save and exit.

Don't know yet if this skin holds for community lots.

and voila - an android sim. (If a little unfit!  :D)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/nz_witch/android%20tutorial/Marvin.jpg)

Does this stick when a sim is visiting?

That's the next thing I will test.
Edit: - Oh do you mean when Servo visits another lot that is being played? I'll check it out.

I forgot to mention your clothing tool, I used that to assign the 'no clothes' outfit to my droids, haven't checked the dressers yet, or the mirrors. The clothing tool works with no problems.

Well no, the Servos don't keep their android skins when not in player control.

If I take them to a community lot, they're fine.

If I play another house and invite them over, they come as the old servos. Same with Inge's teleport bush. I didn't test downtown and wait for them to turn up, I'm guessing they'll be ordinary servos.

I wonder if there's a setting to change that or would it be something servo specific.

There's a shorter way to find the DNA number of your android skin : simply open the skintone package and in the skintone xml look for the number in the line family. That way you don't have to create a dummy sim to find out.

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b138/pioupiou1717/Image2.jpg)


Another way, for simpe allergics is to create a sim and while still being in CAS (in debug mode) use the simdna command to find out.
In my game I have to put the game in debug mode before starting (userstartup.cheat) for the simdna command to work.

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b138/pioupiou1717/Image3.jpg)



Witch: I check my only servo and she has property sets in her character file.... Don't know why you didn't find one in yours  ???
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b138/pioupiou1717/Image1.jpg)

Happy you manage to change your servo's skin.
For the problem of community lots and other sims' house : in my game, sometimes the servo shows right (human skin) and sometimes she reverts to the servo appearance. Don't know why. I use monique computer to change outfit...everyday, and usually (at least in my game) it fixes the problem immediatly, until she made a appearance on another lot.

Pioupiou

Thank you Pioupiou - very much appreciated. Like I said, I'm SimPE challenged! ;)

I'll have a look again for property sets.

Edit: I lied, I did find the Property Sets this time! I'll make the changes and also a note in the tutorial.

Edit again: Well the Property Sets already showed the new android skin - maybe they get updated automatically? I have run the game since making the original changes.

I just went in and did this for the only servo in my game (thanks for the tutorial, folks!), and there's definitely nothing named 'Property Set' when I open the character file in SimPE (version .58, if it makes a difference), at least via the 'More' menu in the sim description plugin. I'll open it directly from the directory now that I know the file number and see if that makes a difference.

Maybe the property sets are there only when you have already changed the servo apearance to human ? (that's the case with my only servo...)

Perhaps -- I'll play the lot with the servo tonight and then check the character file after I quit to see of the property sets appear.

Thanks jsalemi, if you get a chance to have a look at the servo's property sets before it gets changed to an android. I don't have another servo to look at, I've only enabled two.

A bit of good news is that Marvin the paranoid android does wear his android skin when he visits a community business that I'm currently controlling. (And yes I do keep him paranoid, he's usually just verging between green and red in his aspiration).

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v730/nz_witch/MarvinDowntown.jpg)

What's the simDNA cheat?
(I know it might be a dumb question...but I'm still a newbie when it comes to almost all of the cheat codes.)

It's a cheat that display your sim's DNA ingame (you can then see what's his recessive genes)
You need to enable the debugging mode (boolprop testingcheatsenabled true) before. (in my game it is set in my userstartup.cheats), but it may work if you enable the debugging mode from the neighborhood view, I don't know...
Then you just have to type (while being on a lot and the sim being physically on the lot too) : simdna john
If your sim's name is mary sue you have to type simdna "mary sue"
Pioupiou

Merci bien!
In CAS screen then, it would show for whichever sim you're building, right?

yes if you have named this new sim (even if the name is test or 1 or abc....)


see :
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b138/pioupiou1717/Image3.jpg)

Thanks so much, pioupiou!

Ok, I got before and after, and there's definitely a LOT more information in the character file after I changed my servo to an android, including the 'Property Set' entries.  I used the age up/age down method to change the servo to an android; maybe that adds all the extra info?

Cool, thanks for that info! I'll amend my notes in the first post tonight.

Another question for Pioupiou - How do you get your userstartup cheat stay turned on? I make it turned on, then don't turn it off after all the list of alias', yet when I go into the game, I still have to turn debug mode on.

I just tried it and if we don't put it in the userstarup file it does not work.

witch : I have all the cheats I want to be permanently on at the beginning og my userstartup file, typed like that :


intProp maxNumOfVisitingSims 8

boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true

floatprop tvvolume 0.2

boolprop allow45degreeangleofrotation true

and then the aliases I use and that's all
and it has always worked without a problem.

Maybe you have another line further down the file that turn it off ?? I have seen example of userstartup file where there is the cheat turned off before each alias. It may be worth checking that.
Other than that I have no idea.
I attach a zip with my userstartup file for you to try it. Hope it helps.
Pioupiou

It seems to me you can skip a lot of work assigning skin, hair, eyes, etc. by using a sim template created in body shop and using the plugin at http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=3563.0 (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=3563.0).
Use a custom clothing tool such as MATY's or http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=108057 (http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=108057) to assign clothing.
Use Insimenator or similar to change appearance if needed.
Servo then has a constant appearance. Doing this has worked for me and has not caused problems with my game. Please comment on what information I am missing or wrong about.

blackjacksims, have you noticed whether that resolves the issue of Servos appearing in the Maxis Servo outfit when they show up as guests on another lot?

It seems that the game is programmed to not load the appearance character data for servo when not in it's own lot. Another possibility is that the game is programmed to skin the servo in the default male or female servo clothes (which acts as a body/head suit).
I do not think it is possible, regardless of method for changing the servo character data, to load a custom servo appearance away from it's resident lot without a)changing what data is being loaded b)changing the data.

Yeah, I figured -- didn't think it was likely that the alternate method would change that behavior.

I think we're stuck with Maxis-style Servos when they go visiting until someone produces default replacements or a tutorial that explains how to create them.

My random theory is that when spawning a servo, it dresses them in the "robot" outfit as part of the clothing code. I haven't really spent much time investigating this, though. Perhaps you can see if versions, possibly including outdated versions (new versions may include specific robot-handling code), of Crammyboy's "Wear Everyday" hack has any effect.