Yup, they are showing up in SimPE.

Well, problem has been solved.  It had something to do with Vista's lovely compatibility files.  I Came across them whilst digging in the folders, and started poking and hoping.  Apparently I did something right because the Travellers have returned to my game. 

Yup, somebody sent me the file.  Now I just need to figure out why they aren't showing up at all.  Strange thing is that I allowed the game to generate a new Sims 2 folder on my other computer and the same thing happened.     It's very baffling.  If this is happening on two different installations, it would seem it must be happening to others too.  Perhaps I just have some odd curse me.

I'm at a complete loss and much hair has been pulled from my head.  I made a new copy of the original hoods by taking out the Sims 2 folder and letting a new one spawn.  Everything loaded fine and dandy, but when I load up a neighborhood, the Traveller family is missing from the sim bin.  The family files do not show up in SimPE, however it does show that the game is creating tourists and vacation locals normally. 

I've tried everything I can think of to figure out what has happened to them.  No files have been messed with, fresh game install, all original templates, no empty or cleaned versions are being used.  I made several attempts at creating a new Sims 2 folder, and had the same results.  I downloaded a copy of the original V001, replaced it, failed.  I extracted the V001 file from the BV disc, tried it, failed.  Craziness ensued, and I uninstalled BV, installed it again, loaded the game...and guess what?  That's right.  They're still missing.  Every other stinking bin family is there, but apparently Trent, Tina, and Trisha are too good for my game now.  This makes absolutely no sense to me at all, and I'm frustrated beyond belief.

I'm throwing all this information out there in the hope that somebody has an idea or suggestion for me to try.  Yes, they are ugly Maxis sims, but I want them dammit!  Also, I'm a bit afraid my game is somehow corrupted.  If I need to install yet again, I'd like to know now so I can mourn and move on.   

Experts indeed!  I looked under every option available with no luck.  Very strange, yes.

Okies, I'll try to be more specific.  I'm currently in the middle of a big project.  I'm taking the new merged hood (found in peasantry) and inserting all the premade townies and service npcs that were taken out of it.  I'm an insane completist, I guess.  With all that said, I've made clones of all the townies and service npcs.  I then will be putting said clones on top of the npcs/townies that I spawned with the gun.  Your ideas are great, but not quite what I'm trying to achieve.

P.S.  I'm still perplexed as to why these seem to be the only service npcs not included on the gun.   

I actually wanted them to be game generated and made specifically for the eating establishments downtown.  Yes, I have OFB but I detest running buisnesses.

I'm currently making npcs by spawning them from the towine/npc gun.  Everything has gone according to plan, but I hit a glitch when I started making the nightlife npcs.  The gun has options to make the chef, gypsy, djs, hosts, and vamps.  Unfortunately, I don't see the option for creating a waiter/waitress. 

So, here is the question:  Do any programs give the option to make an existing sim into a waiter/waitress? 

Great news. Phew!

I sort of added the vacation destinations without rereading this thread first.    If I'm understanding correctly, I made a mistake because doing this may have caused broken memories?  Who gets the broken memories, and is there a way to fix them?

I've had 48 uni sims living in one house.  Crazy fun.  As for side effects, speed 3 doesn't work.  Just make sure your graphics card can handle it, or you'll get flashing blue crap all over the place.

I sure did.  I'm glad your problems have vanished.  Nice to know somebody can load their game without wanting to throw a large tv out the window.

Hope!  I'm giong to try one more time to download that update.  I had kind of a mess the last time I made an attempt, so hopefully things will go better now.

Edited to add that the driver installation worked, but the black screen remains.  Back to square one.

Well, I have hope after the last few posts.  I also wondered if it could be a video driver issue, but my machine is being uncooperative in updating drivers right now.  I'll try and check it out at a later date, as I'm out of town and don't want to totally screw things up without my backups. 

The perplexing thing is the fact that after I installed the game, it was loading perfectly fine.  Out of nowhere, poof.  Black screen. 

Head explosion or computer explosion.  As sick as this is, I'll take the former.   

Intel and nvidia for this girl.  You all are freaking me out about the hardware problem scenario.  I'm thinking a backup is in order.  Like now.

Yup, Vista for me.  When I load the game in windowed mode, the black screen doesn't appear.  However, the game just sits in the background (doing nothing) for up to a minute before the window will pop up on the screen.  Once the window pops up, first the EA logo flashes, then the regular loading screen appears.

Hmm.  I loaded the game on my new computer a few months ago, and the problem started happening shortly after install.  If the comp is already conking out, watch out for a raging lunatic.

All of them are out of the folders, but the problem remains.  Every single time I see that black screen my blood pressure shoots through the roof.  I know there is an easy solution.  Now to find it.

Edit:  Zero downloads.  Super vanilla.

Yes.  From this folder, correct?  C:\Program Files (x86)\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Double Deluxe\Base\TSData\Res\Movies

I already had them out of that folder.  Is there another folder I am supposed to be deleting them from?

Up until a few months ago, my game ran very smoothly.  It took my game a minute to get from clicking the desktop shortcut to entering a neighborhood.  Now I am stuck with an infuriating problem.  My game suffers from an unsightly black screen that pops up right after I hit the shortcut.  The blackness will last from one minute to three, after which it  continues on to the EA logo and loading screen.

The tech side of things:   The game and packs are bought legally.  I do have an EP9 no cd crack exe.  I have tried other cracks and they produce the same result.  Using the game's original disc to load also leads to the black lagging screen issue.

I am very impatient and I want my short and snappy load time back! {insert dramatic tears here} If anybody has any comments or suggestions to aid me in finding a solution, please step forward.  My last resort will be to uninstall and reinstall.  Must. Not. Happen.

Found the tut, gracias.

Very well done.

One question, is there anyway for me to import the townies and npcs of Strangetown and Veronaville into this hood?  I'm ocd and really feel the need to have every maxis created character in my game.  Insane? Ya, that's me.

Somewhere along the line, the pictures did end up showing in the edit mode.  I'm so freaking jazzed right now.  Now I'll go in and recreate the story and add the text.  Much thanks for being so patient and helpful during my sims crisis.

Okay, I'm understanding what you are saying, but when I open the neighborhood story after loading a hood there is nothing at all inside of it.  No pictures and no text.  How would I go about adding pictures in the neighborhood story box?

Where is the text exactly?  Is it supposed to be in a file in the storytelling folder? 

I have the same thing happening to all the hoods, base and eps.

I have played the hoods, which is why I'm trying to keep them.  Hard to let go, ya know?  As for regenerating the game, I did that and the new folder contained the storytelling and the neighborhood stories.  So frustrating!

I meant to say I used the templates for the ep hidden hoods.  I used regular game generated copies for the main hoods.