My game exploded and now clones are taking up my genetic possiblities...

[dnilecosplayer]

Well I kinda exploded my computer. So after installing everything (All eps to free time, no sps) and putting my extra old back up downloads folder in, (Which was missing lots of things to say the least.) I started playing one of my families not noticing until the 4th kid that all of them look like their dad (Which was cool, cause he was good looking but anoying)...exact clones... So i remembered like maybe a year or 2 ago there was a fix for this, but I don't remember where I got it, or the name of it. I was thinking it was from here since all awesome things come from here. Can anyone tell me what will fix the clone babies?

Also I'm a noob to actually posting here. So I may be in the wrong place....

[maxon]

AFAIK there is no hack to prevent physical clones though why that should be happening in your game, I don't know.  Unless, of course, they just look very like their dad rather than being identical.  There is the first born effect (for which you use the Lot Debugger each play session) but that is not to do with physical clones - only personality-clones.

[Grugly]

There's also the old-fashioned non-awesome way of just re-rolling the Create a Family babymaker a few times to clear it up (assuming it's just the stuck genetics effect and not something weirder.)

[Kyna]

The reason sim siblings tend to be similar in looks is due to the way genetics works in the game.

- Some hair colours and eye colours are dominant.  If you have a CAS couple, one with black or brown hair, and one with red or blonde hair, then their offspring will always inherit the same hair colour as their dark-haired parent.
- It's the same deal with eyes, some colours are dominant over other colours.
- Then there's the dominant facial regions.  Most sims normally have some dominant facial regions (e.g. brow, nose, mouth, cheek, jaw, eye shape, ears).  If one parent has a dominant nose, and the other parent doesn't, then the offspring will always inherit the dominant nose.

So, while the appearances of siblings are very rarely 100% identical, the offspring will tend to inherit at least some of the same physical characteristics from their parents.

Appearance is not subject to the "first born" effect, so is not affected by re-randomising the sim generator on the lot debugger.  Personality is affected by the "first born" effect, and is why Pescado added the re-randomise option to the lot debugger.

For more information on the "first born" effect, and how it affects the personalities of the offspring, check out this thread in the War Room.

[dnilecosplayer]

Well for the most part I understand the genetics aspect of it. (Which is the whole reason I play the game to test out different genetic possiblities between parents.) It just seems that looking at all of them, in side/front view they have the exact same nose(which is a bit wonky in some places specific to his face that the mother's face might fix...which I was hopping for), eye color(which i can deal with), same facial structure completely as their dad once they grow up(Even the girl they just had is showing the same signs, which makes her look like a japanese child tranny somewhat).  His azn face couldn't be completely dominate over her fat maxis face could it? Since i do so much "breeding" in game, something like this is just weird... But thanks for the help. Hopefully their grandkids will look different when other genes are mixed in. Or I'll just nuke the family. I love asians, but I have too many for the neighborhood to handle at the moment.

[Kyna]

It sounds like the father has a dominant nose, while the mother doesn't.  This is why all the kids are getting his nose.  If both parents have a dominant nose, then the offspring could inherit either nose.

The SimDNA cheat can tell you which characteristics are dominant, although I believe debug mode has to be turned on in your userstartup.cheat file for this particular cheat to work.  If you don't want to turn on debug mode in your userstartup.cheat, you can open the neighbourhood in SimPE and look at the parents' DNA to see which facial characteristics are dominant for them, and compare with their offspring's DNA.

While I have seen many threads both here & elsewhere explaining how eye & hair dominance works in the game, I don't think I've ever seen a thread explaining why a particular sim's chin or nose is dominant.  I just know (from looking at their DNA) that sims have some dominant facial features, and that the offspring will inherit the dominant features.

[dnilecosplayer]

How do I look at it through SimPE? I just got it once I reinstalled everything on my computer but I'm kinda scared to fudge up something while playing around with it. And I really wouldn't know where to look to open the families file in there unless I have to do the upload lot thing or.....Eh....I'm about to say fux this and hope it never happens again....But I'm stubborn so I have to know how now.... I kinda see their are some files with the SimPE but I don't have adobe up on my computer again but I'm thinking that's the format for the instruction manual or whatever it is. So I'll try reading that see if it'll tell me. But thanks again.

[Roux]

How do I look at it through SimPE?

Here's a tutorial on MTS2. Specifically, it's about editing genetics for NPCs, but the first section covers steps to view DNA in SimPE. Note that for hair/skin/eyes, you will need to translate the DNA codes.

[dnilecosplayer]

Thanks I will look through that and hopefully I'll figure out everything. If I don't I'll come back? I don't understand why my friends seem to think everyone on this site is more non-helpful and mean. Must be they aren't used to sims merged with the chans I guess...

[Kyna]

Thanks I will look through that and hopefully I'll figure out everything. If I don't I'll come back? I don't understand why my friends seem to think everyone on this site is more non-helpful and mean. Must be they aren't used to sims merged with the chans I guess...

We find we get quite a few people coming here with questions.

Unfortunately many of them don't ask their question(s), as you did.  They demand, whine, and insist on being spoonfed the answers right NOW!!!!  These are the ones who find us non-helpful and mean.  If people are going to treat us like dirt when they want something from us, then we're not going to be nice back to them.  OTOH, if people have used some basic netiquette, demonstrated some common sense, and/or taken the time to read the FAQ before they ask their question(s) then they do find us helpful.

[ElfPuddle]

(psst...Kyna, you forgot to mention the grammar. Tell people to speak properly or risk being stoned.)

[aubreylaraine]

(psst...Kyna, you forgot to mention the grammar. Tell people to speak properly or risk being stoned.)

now is stoning just for grammar or for all violations? i believe i have only seen poking and the occasional food toss from the peanut gallery.

[dnilecosplayer]

While I'm here asking questions and reading the tutorial. What does BFBVFS mean? I've searched the site for a definition or some sentence that explains more than something short of computer explody due to some known/unknown factor. And is there a thread that contains more commonly used accronims(sp)? It seems I just haven't lurked enough to catch most of them.

Also ocassionally, when a townie or certain dogs come on my lots they kinda...black out and spike in wierd directions. I'm thinking its just my computer fudging up, since I think this has only been happening since I got my new video card. I have other problems with Sims 2 shutting off/crashing my computer, and coming up with weird Direct 3d and other errors before and after the new video card, but one of my IT/gamer friends is trying to help me out there but he doesn't live close enough to come check out my computer in person. So I'm not sure if anyone here can help me with that too.

[buddha pest]

While I have seen many threads both here & elsewhere explaining how eye & hair dominance works in the game, I don't think I've ever seen a thread explaining why a particular sim's chin or nose is dominant.

And I would love info on that. It's always the really bad stuff somehow...like Loki Beaker's eyebrows.

[Jelenedra]

While I have seen many threads both here & elsewhere explaining how eye & hair dominance works in the game, I don't think I've ever seen a thread explaining why a particular sim's chin or nose is dominant.

And I would love info on that. It's always the really bad stuff somehow...like Loki Beaker's eyebrows.

According the Prima Guide, the facial features are split up as dom/rec depending on the gender of the parents. I believe nose and chin are dom for males, for example.
I'd have to dig out my book.

[rufio]

Well, I've definitely had sims inherit their mom's nose, and other sims inherit their dad's.

[Kyna]

Given that the following information is from the section on genetics in the Base Game Prima Guide, it cannot be trusted to be correct.

The Prima Guide lists five facial features: brow, mouth, eyes, jaw, nose.
Compare this with a sim whose DNA I just checked, randomly selected, he just happened to be on the lot I'm playing right now.  For him, it lists as dominant: brow, mouth,cheek, cheekbones, eyes.  Why am I not surpised that he has dominant facial features that are not listed in the Prima Guide?

For what it's worth (not much really), here's some more info from the Prima Guide.

When a sim is made in Create-A-Sim, each region  of his face is randomly labeled dominant or recessive.  Gender, however, makes certain features more likely to be dominant than recessive.

Dominance Probability for Facial Features:
Feature        Male        Female
Brow            66%        50%
Eyes             50%        66%
Nose            66%        50%
Mouth          50%        66%
Jaw              66%        50%

If only one is dominant, the child has a 66 percent change of inheriting the dominant feature.  If both sides for a region are dominant or both sides recessive, the inheritance is random.

What I'd like to see is factual information of this nature, from a more reliable source than the Prima Guide.

[toad]

Commonly used acronyms are in the FAQ, dnilecosplayer.  The spikiness sounds like a problem with your video card but that's the extent of my knowledge - I'm sure there's info somewhere around here on how to fix it though.

[dnilecosplayer]

I wouldn't trust anything official for sims, except patches perhaps and random cars from some deal they made with ford..... And also knowing maxis I'll be waiting a long time for the AL patch. Which I wont be playing that ep before it comes out. I have enough crap wrong with my computer and sims put together....

An accurate inheritance chart would be nice...I could play my game in a more scientific way....but I doubt anyone could find out those values? Besides the creators....right?

But I'm pretty certain that its the video card that's doing the spiky-ness but its a new card...and the one that comes in the computer wasn't better so I guess I'll just do some searches through the site to see how I went from bad to worse in so many ways.

Also, thanks @ theangelofdeath. I understand so much more now.

[maxon]

And I would love info on that. It's always the really bad stuff somehow...like Loki Beaker's eyebrows.

Loki's eyebrows!! How can you not love Loki's eyebrows?  They're magnificent!  They could give Pescado's beard a run for its money.

But I'm pretty certain that its the video card that's doing the spiky-ness but its a new card...and the one that comes in the computer wasn't better so I guess I'll just do some searches through the site to see how I went from bad to worse in so many ways.

Yes, that sounds like issues NVidia cards produce.  Try updating/rolling back drivers - or, probably better, wait for some knowledgable NVidia person to come along who knows more. 

[dnilecosplayer]

I just got a KFA somthing or other  GeForce Series 8600 GT card....When I get home I'll post what it is.

[buddha pest]

Loki's eyebrows!! How can you not love Loki's eyebrows?  They're magnificent!  They could give Pescado's beard a run for its money.

To be honest, I kind of enjoyed it. His little girl certainly had character. My point, however, is that it's always the malformed-looking things. That kind of made me wonder if the game somehow favored more extreme, mutated slidings to be dominant.

I've not bred Benjamin Long, but I hear his nose and chin are deadly, and I do intend to breed him in my current neighborhood that I made solely to breed with the standard Pleasantview townies.

I'm not looking foward to it all that much. My founder was quite the looker. She bred with Joe Carr who once bred beautifully for me, but this time it is failing. All the kids and grandkids got his big honker and none of the rest of his pretty.

I like "pretty" sims. I can't lie. I'm practically gali about it, but without all the heavy makeup.

[dnilecosplayer]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm just gonna deal with it since simpe doesn't work all the well after I installed AL....

[Gastfyr]

There's also the old-fashioned non-awesome way of just re-rolling the Create a Family babymaker a few times to clear it up

Is that what we're supposed to do to re-ranomize personalities?  I thought just rolling random adult sims was enough.     I think I need to get this lot debugger thing...

[Zazazu]

Rolling adults is enough. But get the debugger...makes life easier in so many ways. Plus, you can smite people with it. You NEED that.