default/replacement face templates

[Argon]

I also have Argon's fix to allow the "elf" template among the townie population but opted not to have the "alien" face breeding among the general populace without abductions. ;o)

Actually that one was by terrakosmos. As far as tweaking between ages is concerned, wouldn't that only be useful for Sims made in CAS/townies? As far as I know, the children inherit the facial data of the parents, if you have the archetype different between ages it won't make any difference. Does anyone know if that is right or not?

[Doc Doofus]

Changing the archetype files has NO effect on the gene pool of already existing Sims.

I'm not sure I understand the question about tweaking "between ages" and how that relates.

[Doc Doofus]

I would pay big, smacking whomploads of cash (if I, you know, had such a thing ;p) for them to quit with the Stan Laurel routine. Both in CAS and out of it.

That is one of the things I hate about Sims 2. 

I was a Sims 1 fanatic.  Some of us had spent a lot of time figuring out how to make realistic faces for the Sims in Sims 1.  I had it down to an art, using model and celebrity photos and a kind of formula for transforming and warping the photo to fit the various head meshes.  Then along came Sims 2 and the cartoon heads you couldn't work around.  It was so disheartening I quit the game for about a year.

Ya know, I've been pissing around with this game since the beginning.  It's something to brag about, perhaps, but god, what a shame.  I could have done something more useful with my life.

I recall, back in 1983, I had just asked a girl I loved to marry me and been turned down and dumped in the course of a month.  And been layed off.  I had just got a plug-in synthesizer system for my Apple II, and spent about three weeks holed up in my apartment converting Beethoven's 7th Symphony into a computer synthesizer version.  At that time, I had possibly the last half-civil conversation with my father at t.  He dropped by, and I showed him all the work I was doing, excited.  The floor was covered with cigarette butts and cat puke and sheet music photocopies and schematics.  He shook his head, confused and obviously disapproving, and said:

"So what are you going to do with it, sell it?" 

"No.  Hadn't thought of it." 

"Then why are you doing it?"

"Good Lord, it's Beethoven's 7th Symphony!" I said, outraged.  "What further explanation could possibly be necessary!"  End of conversation.

His ghost still haunts me.  I'm sure his ghost doesn't approve of my spending time on Sims.  But shit, Beethoven you just don't mess with.

[dizzy]

"So what are you going to do with it, sell it?"

Any sane person would instantly regret asking such a stupid question. 

[Ambular]

As far as tweaking between ages is concerned, wouldn't that only be useful for Sims made in CAS/townies? As far as I know, the children inherit the facial data of the parents, if you have the archetype different between ages it won't make any difference. Does anyone know if that is right or not?

If you mean installing the templates and then growing up children who existed before you installed them--no, I don't think it will affect how those existing Sims look.  However, due to the way the game uses the templates to blend features in newly-bred Sims, it may have some effect on what their descendants look like.

[Liz]

I also have Argon's fix to allow the "elf" template among the townie population but opted not to have the "alien" face breeding among the general populace without abductions. ;o)

Actually that one was by terrakosmos. As far as tweaking between ages is concerned, wouldn't that only be useful for Sims made in CAS/townies? As far as I know, the children inherit the facial data of the parents, if you have the archetype different between ages it won't make any difference. Does anyone know if that is right or not?

Thanks for the correction, Argon, and apologies to terrakosmos - duly noted!

As far as the "between ages" tweaking goes, I've been working under the assumption that, yes, the actual elder template face will really just be an issue for CAS/townies, but on several of the models, that little difference actually does matter to me enough to make the effort. For instance, my 02base Elder Female... I don't know why, but it didn't seem to matter what I did with the adult female's chin/jaw, when I switched to Elder, that chin/jaw would insist on shrinking away to nothing. Really, the adult/elder tweaks I'm doing aren't so much about what might happen in-game as they're about tweaking how CAS/townies might pop up looking. And as Amber mentioned, given the possibility of template-related blending in game-born sims (unless using "faceBlendLimits off" in userStartup.cheat), I figured it was worth the little extra effort in a few cases to discourage their excessive withering/drooping later in life.

[Liz]

Okay. Phew. Other than some in-game breed-testing, I might actually be finished with my main replacement templates ~ huzzah and premature celebration!!

I'm about to go in and give Papa PolTech & Daddy Plantsim a shot, but one thing I'm wondering... does the alien eye not come up in CAS's debug mode? I've checked but haven't seen it as an option. Likewise, I have the alien, vamp-e-quin, and zombie skintones showing in debug but don't see the plantsim skin. Offhand I'm thinking that since the SporeBaby is by definition coming from a Plantsim parent, the game will know to give the baby the right epidermis and obligatory leaf hair, but shouldn't I be able to rustle those up in DB-mode CAS somewhere? Or are the Group ID numbers given to these defaults somehow informing which skin/hair/eye to use? I'm going to go muck about and see if I can figure it out for myself, but if you guys have any advice, I'd appreciate it.

Doc - I know all too well what you mean about family just not "getting" it. My husband at least understands that there's something he's failing to grasp, but he knows to let me be when I get obsessive over some new technical/creative challenge. And even when he doesn't see the point, he at least gets that I'm pushing myself to learn/accomplish something new and can be pleased for me. My parents, though... not so much 

[Faizah]

For the alien eye the Sim must be already using the alien skin tone. The alien eye is in with the other eyes then, because the alien eye is actually more an absence of eye - the black eyes are painted on the skintone. I think it's a dark brown, the CAS eye 'thumbnail' I mean. It looks similar to the other Maxis eye thumbnails, which confused me at first.

[Gwill]

Squinge had a hack to stop CAS animations, but I'm not sure it's as powerful as it should be.

[Ambular]

Squinge had a hack to stop CAS animations, but I'm not sure it's as powerful as it should be.

I think the Squinge hack just prevents the little routines they go through when you change their personality traits, and possibly the yawn-and-stretch bit when they've idled awhile.  It doesn't seem to stop their expressions from changing or the teenager slump, etc.

[Gwill]

Is that what it does?  But those animations are cute and perfectly harmless.
Stupid thing.

[Liz]

Yikes, I... I think I'm done with the templates! Holy crap! I still want to breed for a couple/few generations before I upload the files anywhere, but thank you guys so very much for all your help. I do plan to have some pics to show soon, in case anyone's actually interested in trying them out or just taking a peek.

Meanwhile, I also managed to whump together what appear to be a decent replacement for the Pollination Technician and the Ideal Plantsim. I'll be posting them over in the Peasantry in a few, along with a few pics, so if anyone's interested in testing/using/pointing and laughing, that's where they'll be (^_-)

Cheers! 

[selzi]

If your replacement faces are as gorgeous as your Pollination and Ideal Plantsim then I'm dying to see them ...