anyone noticed this in CAS?

[witch]

more pics

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[nectere]

I would think it might be interesting if each of you created a sim me (you) to use. Imagine, if this went available public wide you would all be a part of sim history! (and everyone would have your faces, now if we can just JM's in there)


Motoki, I was wondering if this will effect the parts templates as well or are those separate? Like I said I havent sat still long enough to look or even really think about it. I realize the archetypes are the templates for the townies etc, but do they also use the parts as well to randomize? Would we need to think about toning down some of those templates as well or would it matter, and is it a whole face or just part of a face that would have to be modified in a 3d program? Speaking of sitting still, I am gotta run, off to check out a frac job and do some norm work up north today, woot!

[Motoki]

It does do the parts too as well as the face, I checked.

I supposed I can do more than one set for variety. Maybe we could have people vote on sim faces to use? Keep in mind we'll be seeing these faces a lot if they get made templates.

I can go over how I did it, it's really not too bad. First you want to go into the CAS in the game in debug mode (boolprop testingcheatsenabled true then hold shift and N). Now go to the screen with the facial templates and hover over them. This gives you the internal names of those facial templates. I actually ran the game in windowed mode and left it open while I was hunting for the face files.

Now the file you need to look for is Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\Sims3D\CASFace.package. If you are going to leave the game open then you will need to make a copy of this file to work with it, SimPE won't open the original while the game is running. I just made a copy of it on my desktop.

Now open the file. On the left side there's several selections. You want to pick Geometric Data Container because those are the actual meshes and the only files we're really concerned with. Then I would hit the "type" bar above all the geometric data container listings on the right side to sort them alphabetically because it's just easier to deal with.

Now fine the face or faces in question (remember, you can get the names from the CAS in debug mode) and then export them. Make a new file in SimPE and import them. You can delete the exported files once you've added them to your new file and saved it. The face templates will always be in sets of 2, the regular and LOD15 version so make sure you get both geometric data container files for each template.

Now find a sim whose facial structure you like and open their package file in SimPE. You can do this from neighborhood character files if you know the sim's character #, which you can get in the sim browser in SimPE, or you can do it with a bodyshop sim template. Those will get saved in the SavedSims directory and tend to get file names with numbers so you might not be able to easily tell who they are unless you just have one in that directory. SimPE also has a sim surgery plugin where you can export any neighborhood sim's looks to a bodyshop template in the SavedSims directory and call it whatever you want.

Now when you open your sim's file go to Geometric Data Container. Their might be multiple selections here, particularly if the sim has gone through all the different ages in the game. For Adults, look for the ones with age3_0_gmdc and age3_0LOD15_gmdc in their names and extract these two entries as well (you can preview the mesh if you go to the 3D Mesh tab down below).

Now go back and open your new file (the name doesn't matter btw) with the original face templates and go to the Geometric Data Container again. For the template you want to replace, highlight it on the main upper window on the right hand side and write down or copy the "filename" somewhere where you won't lose it. You will need it in a sec. Do this for the LOD15 version too. So in my example where I was replacing the first male facial template called amArchHeart I copied down the filenames amArchHeart_tslocator_gmdc and amArchHeartLod15_tslocator_gmdc. The second is the same name but with LOD15 inserted after the archetype name.

After you've stashed those names somewhere, highlight those files again on the upper right window and do a right click on them. Choose replace, then load the data you previously extracted from your sim. Make sure you replace the LOD15 from your sim with the template's LOD15 and the regular one with the regular one. You might want to save them to different places when you extract them.

Once you've replaced them (the entries should show up in italics in SimPE to signify that they were modified) then highlight them and change their filename back to that of the template. So you may see something like #0x6f0009f8!age3_0LOD15_gmdc, in my example if I wanted to change the adult male 'heart shaped' template I would rename that file name to amArchHeart_tslocator_gmdc. If you saved those names before to a temporary notepad file you can just copy and paste them back over. Now do this for both the regular and LOD15 version of the template and commit then save.

That's it. Now put it in your downloads folder and run the bodyshop and you'll find your face there. Of course you'll have to do this many times over for all the templates and both genders. Probably all the ages too. A quick tip though, if you have a sim whose face you like, you can open them in the bodyshop, change them another gender or age and resave them to get the female or child etc versions of that same face to use for templates. This way you can keep matched sets for both genders when you do the replacing.

[Brynne]

I don't think my sims are generic at all. I've done my best to keep them as realistic as possible. If any of these appeal to you, let me know:

[Motoki]

They're very nice sims Brynne, but they're all so pretty and also unique. Maybe we could do one or two replacements with your sims but I think a neighborhood full of them would kind of ruin their uniqueness don't you? Plus, having them pass down their genes wouldn't be so special anymore because half the town would have them. 

Maybe we could do an alternate all-Brynne template replacer.

[Brynne]

Oh, I do have other ethnicities in my game, too lol

[Brynne]

I posted at the same time as you. lol
I just realized that I probably should have shown a few different sim-families, not just ones who are all related.
I do have some more "generic" looking ones I could hunt down and post...I misunderstood, sorry. I was thinking you were specifically looking for non-generic, but you're right. That doesn't make sense. My bad.
And I do have a neighborhood full of sims that look like those guys, because most of them are Romance sims, and..."well known" among my Pleasantville residents. Not big on birth control, those guys
Anyway, I'll look through my photos and see if I can find some a little more generic looking. 

[AllenABQ]

You've definite got some sims I'd like to use, Brynne!

I used the exchange to upload a few of mine, and witch has some of hers there now.  Whether Motoki creates one file for people to use or people do their own according to the instructions, the Exchange might be the best place to post them for others to grab.  Just make sure your packaged sim you put there is 100% Maxis in content.  By doing this, the download size is only ~160KB for a given sim.  The Exchange also allows you to upload pictures of your sim now so if you want to throw in a screenshot of them all dressed up in custom content.  Randomized townies won't turn out that way, but I might grab some for playable use in the game myself.

Witch, that one female "Biergut" looks sorta like Nicole Kidman.  She'd make a great replacement for the Jan Tellerman face. 

[Brynne]

Well, Allen, I have to thank you for your awesome skins, most of my hot males have them!
I have the three guys in the tuxes available for download at my yahoo group (link in my sig), if you want them. If any of the others appeal to you I can package them up, too. It's a restricted membership because I want to have some control over where these guys go and who downloads them. They are definitely not mostly Maxis content! So, out of respect for you and the other people whose clothes my sims are wearing (and I can't remember who did a lot of those outfits! Bad, Brynne. Bad.), I'm being picky about who they go to.

*Pretty Sure* you'd be approved lol 

[AllenABQ]

Well, Allen, I have to thank you for your awesome skins, most of my hot males have them!
I have the three guys in the tuxes available for download at my yahoo group (link in my sig), if you want them. If any of the others appeal to you I can package them up, too. It's a restricted membership because I want to have some control over where these guys go and who downloads them. They are definitely not mostly Maxis content! So, out of respect for you and the other people whose clothes my sims are wearing (and I can't remember who did a lot of those outfits! Bad, Brynne. Bad.), I'm being picky about who they go to.

*Pretty Sure* you'd be approved lol 

Thanks. 

I'm in the last stretch of finishing my master's degree in computer science.  1.5 months to go to graduation.  I've barely had time or energy to work on body hair project since I started school.  I did my last set in December last year.  But I'm planning on doing more once school is out of the way.  There are so many different types that could be done, and I'm itching for something new!

[Tgdrysix]

we cant just provide the facial data files?

Well sure you could. I just figure a lot of people are SimPE-o-phobic and it would be easier for them to just do a package sim.

Add me to that phobia list too.....I don't even have  SimPE.....just the thought of trying to figure it out sends me running in fear....I leave it to you guys who are so much more awesome than me!  ( Do you see an avatar under my name....well that should speak for itself!) Tgdry6

[Motoki]

I'm definitely going to make at least one set of replacements, but I don't mind if someone else makes some based on the instructions I gave. I have a feeling it's going to be somewhat time intensive if we end up having to do all the ages and genders (not sure if we need to do elder since AFAIK they use the same mesh just with a different texture) so it might be a while before I can get enough time together to do a full replacement but I did download Allen and Witch's sims and have them saved.

If anyone needs more clarification on the instructions or any of the steps let me know.

[Brynne]

I'm in the last stretch of finishing my master's degree in computer science.  1.5 months to go to graduation.  I've barely had time or energy to work on body hair project since I started school.  I did my last set in December last year.  But I'm planning on doing more once school is out of the way.  There are so many different types that could be done, and I'm itching for something new!

One and a half months, huh? So close! Congratulations in advance on that.
Looking forward to your new creations!

[AllenABQ]

I'm definitely going to make at least one set of replacements, but I don't mind if someone else makes some based on the instructions I gave. I have a feeling it's going to be somewhat time intensive if we end up having to do all the ages and genders (not sure if we need to do elder since AFAIK they use the same mesh just with a different texture) so it might be a while before I can get enough time together to do a full replacement but I did download Allen and Witch's sims and have them saved.

If anyone needs more clarification on the instructions or any of the steps let me know.

That's why I was thinking, the more the merrier.  There are 26 adult faces of each sex (discounting the Vulcan/elf face).  That's 52 adult sims alone and more if teens, children, etc. are included.  I would hate for you to have to come up with even a quarter of those by editing sims yourself unless you've already got a bunch to use.  So the more people that donate a sim or two (or 3, 4, 5...) the easier it'll be on the Awesome One who figured out how to do this.

 

[Motoki]

I'm not really sure what they did exactly to exclude the elf face from generating townies based on it, but I'm going to look into that. If I do enable it though, I'll make it totally optional as I know some people have serious issues with paranormal type sims (aliens, zombies, vampires etc.)

It's funny because looking through that template, I noticed there was an alien face template too. If I could somehow tie it to always use the specific alien skintone then I'd try and enable it too (again as optional), but I don't think that's doable. I'd like to maybe tie certain features to darker or lighter skintones and certain eye colors too if I could.

[AllenABQ]

I'm not really sure what they did exactly to exclude the elf face from generating townies based on it, but I'm going to look into that. If I do enable it though, I'll make it totally optional as I know some people have serious issues with paranormal type sims (aliens, zombies, vampires etc.)

It's funny because looking through that template, I noticed there was an alien face template too. If I could somehow tie it to always use the specific alien skintone then I'd try and enable it too (again as optional), but I don't think that's doable. I'd like to maybe tie certain features to darker or lighter skintones and certain eye colors too if I could.

I was about to suggest hunting around the Nightlife files to see if you could find the Maxis templates that are used to generate downtownies.  They seem to be more consistent in terms of skin tone usage, etc.

But at first glance all I could find was this:

F:\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Nightlife\TSData\Res\3D\CASFaces.package

and all it appears to contain is vampire teeth info.

[Erdehel]

Motoki,

Thank you so much for your easy to follow SimPE tutorial. In just a few minutes, I've been able to change one of those ugly faces. I think, I'll change some more tonight and then wait for you or someone else to come up with some other new faces.

Thanks again.

[witch]

Witch, that one female "Biergut" looks sorta like Nicole Kidman.  She'd make a great replacement for the Jan Tellerman face. 

Her face is in shadow there too, she's got a lovely little face. She's quite naughty in my game but all the sims love her.

Motoki - that tutorial looks good. I am counting down 7 weeks to my annual leave, I have so many things I want to try in sims, that I just don't get time for in my everyday life. I have saved your tute as a doc, hope you don't mind.

I'm in the last stretch of finishing my master's degree in computer science.  1.5 months to go to graduation.

WOO HOO! Masters too. I remember when I got my Bachelor's, the paper arrived in the post, I snuck into a deserted corridor at work and sat down and had a cry for joy.

Congratulations! I'm two papers towards a masters, but they've put me in sucky business computing, not computer science because my maths and programming aren't good enough. I want to build robots, not learn about bloody e-commerce.

Anyway - wotcha going to do with your masters? Gunna be a Dr or go make lots of money?

[AllenABQ]

Witch, that one female "Biergut" looks sorta like Nicole Kidman.  She'd make a great replacement for the Jan Tellerman face. 

Her face is in shadow there too, she's got a lovely little face. She's quite naughty in my game but all the sims love her.

Motoki - that tutorial looks good. I am counting down 7 weeks to my annual leave, I have so many things I want to try in sims, that I just don't get time for in my everyday life. I have saved your tute as a doc, hope you don't mind.

I'm in the last stretch of finishing my master's degree in computer science.  1.5 months to go to graduation.

WOO HOO! Masters too. I remember when I got my Bachelor's, the paper arrived in the post, I snuck into a deserted corridor at work and sat down and had a cry for joy.

Congratulations! I'm two papers towards a masters, but they've put me in sucky business computing, not computer science because my maths and programming aren't good enough. I want to build robots, not learn about bloody e-commerce.

Anyway - wotcha going to do with your masters? Gunna be a Dr or go make lots of money?

Already got a job as a software developer where I'm quite content.  Work paid to send me to school for the new degree. 
That being said, once I go back to work I won't have nearly the amount of time to play the Sims or post to the forums.  But I will have free evenings and weekends to do whatever I feel like.

[AllenABQ]

I actually ran the game in windowed mode and left it open while I was hunting for the face files.

How does one do this?

[Venusy]

I actually ran the game in windowed mode and left it open while I was hunting for the face files.

How does one do this?

On the "Target" line of the desktop shortcut, simply add "-w -r800x600" (sans quotation marks). So, if you have NL, the "Target" line will look like this:
""C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Nightlife\TSBin\Sims2EP2.exe" -w -r800x600"
Replace 800x600 with whatever resoloution you'd like to run the game in.

[Motoki]

Motoki - that tutorial looks good. I am counting down 7 weeks to my annual leave, I have so many things I want to try in sims, that I just don't get time for in my everyday life. I have saved your tute as a doc, hope you don't mind.

Nope, I don't mind at all.

re: how to run in windowed mode

You right click on the Sims 2 (or University or Nightlife) shortcut or you can create a new shortcut. In the line where it has the path to the program like "C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 2 University\Sims2EP2.exe" (I'm going from memory, not sure if that's the exact path and filename) just add -w after the end quote. You can also add -r and set the resolution. Like mine is set at -r640x480. In general, if you are just running the game to get names out of the CAS or delete stuff it's best to run as low res as possible with all the settings turn down so it doesn't run all slow on you.

*edit: Venusy beat me to it.

[AllenABQ]

Yowza!!!

I just replaced my first template face using Motoki's tutorial.  For some reason I had this strange idea that the process would end up making a new CASFaces file.  Even cooler is that faces are atomic and so can be replaced individually.  So basically if people get tired of one of their templates they can always replace it with another.

This is pure AWESOMENESS!!!

Good-bye mile-wide lips!
Good-bye side-of-head eyes!
Good-bye Pinnochio noses!
Good-bye you Komei-Benajmin-Kennedy Clonus Horrors!

My Pleasantview is gonna be so much more pleasant soon!   

[Motoki]

Oh good! I'm glad it worked for you and aerdehel. It's actually really not that bad to do once you know how. It'd be nicer if a lot of different people made different replacer sets for variety. And like you said you can mix and match too.

[AllenABQ]

Oh good! I'm glad it worked for you and aerdehel. It's actually really not that bad to do once you know how. It'd be nicer if a lot of different people made different replacer sets for variety. And like you said you can mix and match too.

Somehow I think that once word of this gets around we'll probably see a number of people publish their own replacer sets.  I expect MTS2 will have several.  The great thing about this is that it has immense application for people who want to do specialized neighborhoods whether they be ethnic, alien, what have you.

The only thing that would make it better, as you mentioned before, is if way could be found to tie certain traits like hair or skin color to the templates.  And I figure there must be a way to do it since Maxis appears to be doing it with the NL downtownies.  Maybe their templates will have additional details that'll provide the right clues.