Correcting the DNA of Strangetown premade characters

[chrystalia]

Ok. Just trying to make sure I have everything clear before trying to add the fix for Strangetown. I am so not awesome that I must take this in baby steps!
1. Is it ok to put the file in Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods\N002 as Venusy suggested? From my very limited understanding, this sounded like an option that would not require me to remember to do anything else with it later on (or is my memory/lack of understanding playing tricks on me?).
2. If Strangetown has been entered, can this be used or must I reinstall to avoid very bad things?
3. Looks like there was a fix for Veronaville as well. Is it still possible to get this?

[Elven Ranger]

is there any news on the Veronaville fix? Ive never played that N'Hood and dont particually want to while it's broken

[jsalemi]

is there any news on the Veronaville fix? Ive never played that N'Hood and dont particually want to while it's broken

Well, you could get SimPE and use the instructions in this thread as a guide for fixing the Veronaville characters yourself. It's actually a good way to get familiar with SimPE, and at worst, if you screw up Veronaville you can just restore the backup you made before you began messing with it.

[Morphar]

Ok. Just trying to make sure I have everything clear before trying to add the fix for Strangetown. I am so not awesome that I must take this in baby steps!
1. Is it ok to put the file in Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods\N002 as Venusy suggested? From my very limited understanding, this sounded like an option that would not require me to remember to do anything else with it later on (or is my memory/lack of understanding playing tricks on me?).
2. If Strangetown has been entered, can this be used or must I reinstall to avoid very bad things?
3. Looks like there was a fix for Veronaville as well. Is it still possible to get this?

1. It is OK.
2. A started Strangetown will not be effected at all as the new file is copied from Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods\N002 to My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhood\N002 only when you start Strangetown from scratch. When you start the game and there is already a My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 directory nothing will be copied.
3. The Veronaville fix didn't work as it was created after Veronaville was entered. The changes in that fix you can easily do yourself with SimPE as there are only a few sims that have missing DNA. At least the game will not crash then.
To make a full correction of Veronaville so that each Sim will get their correct DNA as if they where born in game will take a lot more time and efforts. According to StarrKist we have to change the apparence of some of them as they can't possibly be childs of their parents. Veronaville is lost.

[Elven Ranger]

is there any news on the Veronaville fix? Ive never played that N'Hood and dont particually want to while it's broken

Well, you could get SimPE and use the instructions in this thread as a guide for fixing the Veronaville characters yourself. It's actually a good way to get familiar with SimPE, and at worst, if you screw up Veronaville you can just restore the backup you made before you began messing with it.

I 'could' attempt it ... but to be honest I detest that program, lol .... the last 3 time's ive used it in an 'serious-getting-to-know-you' kinda way ..... well, ive ended up having to re-install the whole game!
Im just hoping that some nice person will do a lil' plug in like they did for strange town

[jsalemi]

Hmm, I'm having a hard time thinking of what you could do with SimPE that would force a complete re-install, unless you were mucking around with files in the program files subdirectories, and not those in your My Documents\EA Games directory.  SimPE has a built-in backup facility, which is always a good thing to do before you start making changes to any files.  And if you really screw up a neighborhood, there are simpler ways to restart it from scratch than to reinstall the whole game.

[Dea]

is there any news on the Veronaville fix? Ive never played that N'Hood and dont particually want to while it's broken

II have been trying to figure out how to get Veronaville to work but for some reason its not.  I have looked at all possible scenarios that Morphar said so I have uninstalled all my eps and worked on expansionless versions so that the only requirememnt is TS2 but I have moved and dont have high speed internet yet.

I think Veronaville wasnt working properly bc I had FFP installed.  When I did Strangetown I only had Uni and NL, so thats the only thing I could come up with.

Its really easy to fix and only takes two minutes if you just copy paste the missing strings.  It takes a little while longer if you want genetics that reflect ancestry.

[chrystalia]

Thanks, Morphar, now I should be able to put in the fix for Strangetown!

Unfortunately I can't use SimPE. I'm on a Mac. So for things like this I depend on the talents and kindness of others.

[Melanija]

So, for the new versions of SimPE, would this be correct?

Dominant Gene:
- Skintone = 6 (dtString) (Skin tone passed on, Dominant and Expressed)
- Skintone Range = 2 (dtString) (Parent 1)

Recessive Gene:
- Skintone = 268435462 (dtString) (Skin tone passed on, Recessive)
- Skintone Range = 268435458 (dtString) (Parent 2)

I'm not sure if that's entirely right based on what people have said, but I'm kind of confused as to what else it could be? Also, I think I read that only the expressed skin tones are passed down now, so what's the point of any of the recessive or parental values?

[jsalemi]

Also, I think I read that only the expressed skin tones are passed down now, so what's the point of any of the recessive or parental values?

Any of the 4 skintones can be passed down (2 from each parent), though the odds are greater for the dominant ones to pass down than the recessive ones.  I think someone mentioned the various odds here, if not in this thread in one over in The Podium.

[simfan]

How do i so this with the new simpe?

[Morphar]

I like to take the opportunity to describe how to correct the DNA in Strangetown. According to the latest findings you do like this:

1 - Download the file N002_Neighborhood.zip from:
http://web.mac.com/simsbaby/iWeb/Simscorner/Downloads.html (at the bottom of the page).
Correct link:
http://gobblin.ownit.nu/DNA/StrangetownHeterozygous.zip

2 - Backup the file  N002_Neighborhood.package in the directory Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods\N002 by renaming it to N002_Neighborhood.package_bak.

3 - Unzip the file you downloaded and place the extracted file N002_Neighborhood.package in the directory Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods\N002

4 - Next time you start a game from scratch you will have a corrected Strangetown.

[miros]

(All adults made in CAS are homozygous. I'm not sure whether this rule applies also for children that you make in Create-A-Sim by mixing together the genes of the parents you've made.)

Any Sim made in CAS using the pacifier will be heterozygous.  I use this trick to make my created Sims have recessives:

1) Make 2 adult Sims (4 if you're making a couple).  Give them interesting names like temp1 and temp2 so you remember they aren't "real" Sims.
2) Use the pacifier to make one or more offspring.  Change them to adults.
3) Delete the temporary Sims.
4) Make children for the "real" Sims if desired.  This will also give you an idea how their kids will look in the game.
5) Hook up the relationships in family tree mode.

Dang, now I wanna make a family with married cousins...

[Motoki]

I do that too. It works out especially well from black and brown hair because then they have a chance of having a child with a different hair color.

[notveryawesome]

Unfortunately I can't use SimPE. I'm on a Mac. So for things like this I depend on the talents and kindness of others.

I have a Mac too, but I also have a Windows partition installed on it, as well as a Linux one (yes, I'm a complete nerd). If you happen to own an iMac or PowerMac that's running the most updated version of OSX Tiger, just download the BootCamp software from apple.com (OSX Leopard already includes it) and you too can have a nifty WinMac of your very own.

This does rather defeat the purpose of getting a Mac in the first place, but I hate waiting months, or even years (or even never), for the mac-compatible versions of my favourite games to be released. Oh, the sacrifices we make for our games...

Edited for spelling - oops!
Edited again way after the fact, because I just noticed some wrong information. Oops again!

[miros]

I do that too. It works out especially well from black and brown hair because then they have a chance of having a child with a different hair color.

What's cool is when your heterozygous CAS sims have grandchildren... and "great grandma" and "great grandpa" are suddenly looking at you even though they were deleted in CAS!

[asciident]

Hi guys, I hate to be tedious, but I am trying to figure this out.

I'd certainly love to be able to download a file from http://web.mac.com/simsbaby/iWeb/Simscorner/Downloads.html and plunk it in without messing about in SimPE (I'm relatively unskilled with SimPE). But, I can't.   The link doesn't work; I did find http://web.mac.com/simsbaby/iWeb/Simscorner/Downloads/Downloads.html which doesn't include any downloads for Strangetown as far as I can see.

So, I've been trying to puzzle out how to do it manually with the latest version of SimPE (0.60). It looks like this:

PT#9's new DNA
1 (dtString): 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435457: 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435459: 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
268435461:
268435462: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
3 (dtString): 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
4 (dtString): -858851246:2142037590:1
5 (dtString): brow,mouth,cheek,cheekbones,eyes,ears,
6 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46

So I'd fill in...

Dominant Gene:
Eye: 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
FacialFeature: brow,mouth,cheek,cheekbones,eyes,ears,
Hair: 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Skintone: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
SkintoneRange: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46

Recessive Gene:
Eye: 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
FacialFeature:
Hair: 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Skintone: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
SkintoneRange: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46

I'm sure you're all rolling your eyes at me by now, but I want to make sure I'm doing this correctly. I don't need Veronaville info, so the stuff provided here for Strangetown is enough--I just want to make sure I'm putting things in the right places.

[V]

Well, I am not rolling my eyes. I am anxiously awaiting an answer to your question, too.   

[asciident]

Well, I am not rolling my eyes. I am anxiously awaiting an answer to your question, too.   

I went ahead and edited, since this is an isolated Windows profile and won't affect my 'main' neighborhoods/profile. It seems I have the correct order, but if anyone wants to tell me otherwise I welcome it.

[jsalemi]

Check messages 109 and 115 on page 3 of this thread (they're near the middle of the page) -- they have the equivalences between the string labels and the new  SimPE labels.  On quick glance, though, it looks like you got it right.

[V]

Okay, then, I will ask you my question: why did you leave the recessive facial features blank? Should that be copied from the dominant gene section?

[jsalemi]

The only one that should be blank in the recessive fields is the facial features.  No sim has that field filled in (AFAIK), regardless of if their DNA is ok or not. The game only uses the dominant facial features of the parents to blend the kid's face.

[V]

Is the dominant one always just a list of facial features?

[jsalemi]

Yes, but it could be as little as one feature.  How the game decides how many facial features a sim should have, I don't know.  I checked a B.I.G. toddler before I answered to make sure I wasn't blowing smoke , and all she had in facial were 'nose, ears', though both her parents have more than that in their DNA.

[Marhis]

Now I don't remember exactly where, but a Maxoid said somewhere that that list influence the probability of passing that traits in the next generation: if parent A has i.e. the nose in that list, and parent B not, the probability that the offspring will inherit the nose of parent A is higher than that of parent B nose. If both parents have the same trait in the list, then probability will be 50/50.

I'll search for that original post.