Transferring lot files between neighborhoods

[leaths]

I have decided to rebuild my neighborhood from scratch for various reasons. Since I play in Strangetown, I added a new account on to my pc to start a clean game and not have any cross-fire between the new Strangetown and the old. I would like to make this rebuild as easy as possible, so instead of having to package and remodel lots, I'd like to know if it is possible to just take the lot files from the old N002 and transfer them into the new N002 (overwriting the default lot files).

I tested it out and it seem to work great for community lots. I am thinking that this method is pretty safe for those since there won't be any character data tagging along with the lot. Is that correct?

My next question is about using this method with occupied residential lots. I know that using an old lot file is safe to do within the same neighborhood because I've seen several posts that people use that method to restore furniture and such after a move out. My question is whether it is safe to do between these two "same but different" hoods.

When I tested it, I found that the characters in the household had been set to their positions/actions at save in the old N002 and any characters not present in the original household were standing by the mailbox. Therefore I wondered if I was carrying some bad character data from the old hood into the new. But before I re-remodel all of the houses, I thought I would check here and get the scoop.

Oh, and one final question. I tried packaging the downtown House of Fallen Trees (or whatever it's called--the creepy old house in the default downtown) and got an error. Would it be safe just to take that lot file and copy it into the new downtown? I'm going to be building the new N002 downtown from scratch, but I do need that house. The house is currently occupied in the old hood. I'm wondering if the error is because of the graves on the lot, but I don't actually need them, just the lot.

[jolrei]

I think if you search on "very bad thing", you will find a lot of the information you are looking for.  However, in summary:

1) You can move unoccupied lots to the lot bin.  They will be available for placement in any neighbourhood.  This is fine.

2) Do not move occupied lots to the lot bin, nor should you transfer any sims directly to a new neighbourhood.  This is a very bad thing (search on "move occupied lots" and "bad thing"), and causes ultimate doom.

3) If you wish to move sims, note their personality, skill, interest, etc. points, and clone your sim (search on "clone sim" for tutorial - you will need SimPE).  Install your clone via CAS and rebuild the personality to remake the sim in the new 'hood.

My next question is about using this method with occupied residential lots. I know that using an old lot file is safe to do within the same neighborhood because I've seen several posts that people use that method to restore furniture and such after a move out. My question is whether it is safe to do between these two "same but different" hoods.

When I tested it, I found that the characters in the household had been set to their positions/actions at save in the old N002 and any characters not present in the original household were standing by the mailbox. Therefore I wondered if I was carrying some bad character data from the old hood into the new. But before I re-remodel all of the houses, I thought I would check here and get the scoop.

I have no idea why this would be the case.  When replacing a backup of a lot file after sim moveout, the characters should not appear at the mailbox (they've moved out, dammit!).  The characters should be in the character bin in the old hood.

If you replace the lot file in the old neighbourhood when it is still occupied, it would probably reset the characters, yes.  No idea why you would do this at this stage or whether doing this is a "bad thing".  However, if the characters are appearing after the lot was transferred to the new hood, you have just done a "very bad thing".  Moving lots between neighbourhoods should be done as in point #1 above (unoccupied).

Oh, and one final question. I tried packaging the downtown House of Fallen Trees (or whatever it's called--the creepy old house in the default downtown) and got an error. Would it be safe just to take that lot file and copy it into the new downtown?

Graves imply ghosts, which includes character information which would be a "bad thing" to move between neighbourhoods.  Do not just copy the lot file when the ghosts are on the lot.  Delete tombstones first.  Save lot.  Move to lot bin.  It will be available for placement in any hood. 

[Maygus]

Is there a way to clone sims without SimPE, or are Mac users just out of luck?

[leaths]

My next question is about using this method with occupied residential lots. I know that using an old lot file is safe to do within the same neighborhood because I've seen several posts that people use that method to restore furniture and such after a move out. My question is whether it is safe to do between these two "same but different" hoods.

When I tested it, I found that the characters in the household had been set to their positions/actions at save in the old N002 and any characters not present in the original household were standing by the mailbox. Therefore I wondered if I was carrying some bad character data from the old hood into the new. But before I re-remodel all of the houses, I thought I would check here and get the scoop.

I have no idea why this would be the case.  When replacing a backup of a lot file after sim moveout, the characters should not appear at the mailbox (they've moved out, dammit!).  The characters should be in the character bin in the old hood.

If you replace the lot file in the old neighbourhood when it is still occupied, it would probably reset the characters, yes.  No idea why you would do this at this stage or whether doing this is a "bad thing".  However, if the characters are appearing after the lot was transferred to the new hood, you have just done a "very bad thing".  Moving lots between neighbourhoods should be done as in point #1 above (unoccupied).

Thanks, jolrei. I already am well aware of 1-3, so no worries there.

I think I realize where I went wrong with copying the lot file. I suppose the method I should have tried was move sims out, replace lot file from backed up hood. Go into the lot to see if everything is as it should be, then copy the unoccupied lot file into the new neighborhood. I couldn't get it to work properly, which is why I was trying to do the replacement with occupied lot files. I missed a step in there.

I was trying to avoid having to go through the neighborhood and package all of my lots. With all of the moving in and out required, it really seems like using the lot files isn't actually saving me any time.

Oh, and one final question. I tried packaging the downtown House of Fallen Trees (or whatever it's called--the creepy old house in the default downtown) and got an error. Would it be safe just to take that lot file and copy it into the new downtown?

Graves imply ghosts, which includes character information which would be a "bad thing" to move between neighbourhoods.  Do not just copy the lot file when the ghosts are on the lot.  Delete tombstones first.  Save lot.  Move to lot bin.  It will be available for placement in any hood. 

I have packaged occupied lots in the past with gravestones and used the Clean Installer to remove everything but the lot package. The graves are gone using this method. Since I've done it in the past, I have no idea if the graves are the reason why the lot won't package. I'll try getting rid of them before packaging, though, just in case.

Thanks for your help.

[Zazazu]

I had issues fairly recently with a lot not packaging. It was an owned business at which the owners became stuck. Through a process, I got the owners back where they belonged, but the business lot undoubtedly still kept references to them. It refused to be packaged. I would suspect this is a similar type of situation. Does Leaths have AL?

[leaths]

Yes, she does.   

I had no trouble packaging my owned business lots, but the downtown house and the graveyard would not package. No game errors were thrown, but I got an in-game message saying that there was an error packaging the lot. The cemetery isn't a big deal to me, but the house I need.

[jolrei]

Try moving some sims into the house.  Go into the occupied lot and save it.  Go back to neigbourhood view and move the family out again.  The house might just reset.  Then you might be able to package the lot.  Not saying it WILL work, but it's what I would try.

After that, I'd get frustrated and bulldoze the lot, considering it borked.  Have you browsed the various "House of Fail" threads?  Some great houses in there that might just work as a replacement.

[talysman]

You know, I have serious doubts about this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but what you're saying is: you have two separate accounts on the same computer, with each account thus having its own Neighborhood folder containing separate versions of Strangetown? One of which you've played through?

Sounds dangerous.

There was a discussion last month, or maybe the month before, in which Pescado mentioned that IDs for things like sims and lots are, stupidly, not kept distinct for each neighborhood, but intermingle in weird ways, which is the source of much of the weirdness when occupied lots are moved into the bin. Assuming the new sims installation has *never been played*, in any neighborhood, you might be able to transfer a lot from old Strangetown to new Strangetown. This is assuming that the neighbor IDs and things like that are assigned sequentially. If they aren't, or if you've played one of the other neighborhoods or started adding lots, things may blow up. Also, I am assuming here that there's no saved catalogue of all lot/neighbor IDs, that it's recalculated each time the game loads. If there *is* a catalogue, it will be corrupted if you move a lot or family with an ID already in use.

This doesn't apply to restoring a house from a backup because you are replacing a file with the same lot and neighbor IDs. It's a lot like editing characters in SimPE: the game already knows about those characters, so changing information about them, like their current bladder state, won't hurt the game. In contrast, something I've been wanting to do -- add characters by hand to a neighborhood, bypassing the normal CAS interface -- probably won't work, now that I've paused to reflect on this.

[leaths]

jolrei--The house is actually already occupied. I might try moving them out and packaging, though. I actually like that house now that I've remodeled it and I've had a few scenes there for my story, so I'd rather not have to use a different one if at all possible.

talysman--That was my feeling too, which is why I asked. I was just trying to find a simple way to transfer the lots between neighborhoods. However, it seems like packaging the lots, removing character information, and then dropping them into the new hood is the best way to go. I was just trying to be lazy, honestly, but I don't mind doing it the long way.

I remember that discussion your referenced, and if I remember correctly creating two accounts with two different hoods was ok. It was having the same hood--but with different neighborhood file numbers--on the same account that was dangerous. Either way, I won't be playing the new hoods at the same time. Once the transfer is done, I'll remove the old one.

[seelindarun]

Have a look at this post by Mootilda.  It outlines a way to empty a 'hood of residents, but keep all of the lots furnished and placed where they are.  Once you've done this, you should be able to move the entire Neighborhoods folder to a new installation, or keep it where it is and simply re-populate.

I remember that discussion your referenced, and if I remember correctly creating two accounts with two different hoods was ok. It was having the same hood--but with different neighborhood file numbers--on the same account that was dangerous.

You remember correctly, the OP was trying to clone a neighbourhood just by renaming all the relevant files.  He wanted to play them on the same account.

[jolrei]

jolrei--The house is actually already occupied. I might try moving them out and packaging, though. I actually like that house now that I've remodeled it and I've had a few scenes there for my story, so I'd rather not have to use a different one if at all possible.

Yes - if you are transferring to a neighbourhood on a new account, it is the same as transferring lots between neighbourhoods.  Do not transfer occupied lots.  Move the sims out, package the lot, and reinstall it into the game on the new account with cleaninstaller (same as if you had just downloaded the lot).

talysman--That was my feeling too, which is why I asked. I was just trying to find a simple way to transfer the lots between neighborhoods. However, it seems like packaging the lots, removing character information, and then dropping them into the new hood is the best way to go. I was just trying to be lazy, honestly, but I don't mind doing it the long way.

I think the long way is safest if you want your 'hood to stay alive.

I remember that discussion your referenced, and if I remember correctly creating two accounts with two different hoods was ok. It was having the same hood--but with different neighborhood file numbers--on the same account that was dangerous.

This was my recollection as well.  The two 'hoods are in two seaparate "My Documents" folders, and are distinct.

[leaths]

jolrei--The house is actually already occupied. I might try moving them out and packaging, though. I actually like that house now that I've remodeled it and I've had a few scenes there for my story, so I'd rather not have to use a different one if at all possible.

Yes - if you are transferring to a neighbourhood on a new account, it is the same as transferring lots between neighbourhoods.  Do not transfer occupied lots.  Move the sims out, package the lot, and reinstall it into the game on the new account with cleaninstaller (same as if you had just downloaded the lot).

Well, what I've actually been doing is packaging the occupied lot to a file, updating the package to contain the lot file only using the Clean Installer, and then using the updated clean package to install the lots into the new neighborhood. Is there some reason why that would not work?

edit:

Have a look at this post by Mootilda.  It outlines a way to empty a 'hood of residents, but keep all of the lots furnished and placed where they are.  Once you've done this, you should be able to move the entire Neighborhoods folder to a new installation, or keep it where it is and simply re-populate.

I'm not sure that I completely understand everything she said in that thread, so I would be afraid to attempt it. Plus, I need the Maxis Strangetown playables. I could clone them from my old hood too, but I'd rather not since they're sitting right there ready to go. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[jolrei]

Never done it that way myself, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.  If the lot is clean, it should be fine.

[leaths]

Cheers. I will just keep going with that method then.

[crowmgr]

I have never had a problem packaging an occupied lot and moving it to a new neighborhood so I dont understand why it is such a bad thing to do. I have done it several times with no adverse reaction with my game or otherwise.

[witch]

I have never had a problem packaging an occupied lot and moving it to a new neighborhood so I dont understand why it is such a bad thing to do. I have done it several times with no adverse reaction with my game or otherwise.

I suggest you do several things to help yourself.

1) Read the site FAQ.
2) Use the site search engine to answer your own question about why moving sims between hoods is a very bad thing.
3) Don't whinge if someone sporks you for being stupid.

If you don't follow these instructions your chances of getting butthurt will increase exponentially.

[jolrei]

I have never had a problem packaging an occupied lot and moving it to a new neighborhood so I dont understand why it is such a bad thing to do. I have done it several times with no adverse reaction with my game or otherwise.

I suggest you do several things to help yourself.

1) Read the site FAQ.
2) Use the site search engine to answer your own question about why moving sims between hoods is a very bad thing.
3) Don't whinge if someone sporks you for being stupid.

If you don't follow these instructions your chances of getting butthurt will increase exponentially.

Also, you may simply not have played the neighbourhood long enough to have experienced problems.  Many people at MATY have nursed a single neighbourhood through many generations of sims, and have managed this because they have not done things which are known to cause problems, like moving sims from one neighbourhood to another.  If you have done this, you may as well keep playing, but the likelihood is that your 'hood will ultimately be doomed.