What's the proper way to edit NPCs with editsim?

[GnatGoSplat]

I built a custom dance club in Barnacle Bay, and the game generated a dreadfully hideous Mixologist and wimpy looking bouncer for it.  I have AM, so I decided to edit them with editsim.  That all went without issue.  However, after closing time, not only did their outfits change, but their faces did too - back to the way they were.  Face, makeup, even haircolor.  I noticed in editsim, if I select any other outfit, the sim's face reverts back to its original appearance.  It's strange, I hadn't realized the game stores separate face meshes for the NPC work outfit.  If I edit the face in the Everyday outfit for example, and then click Okay, the game hangs with the spinning wheel and I have to End Task.  I'm only able to successfully exit CAS if I edit the sims in their NPC work outfit which only affects their face in that outfit.  I've only had this problem with NPCs as I have never seen this behavior with normal sims.

Normally I would have just used bodysnatch which is nice because I can use a sim from the bin, but unless I'm wrong, bodysnatch only works on selectable sims.

Is there a way to properly edit NPCs?  Better yet, any way to replace them with a sim from the bin?

[Bottle-O-Cunt]

RTFM!

[wizard_merlin]

If the game is regenerating the NPC every time it calls them, then I doubt you could get the changes to stick.

[Sigmund]

Physical changes won't stick with editsim. You could try the bodysnatch command, but I'm not sure if it would work with NPCs.

ETA: *smacks forehead* Never mind, I just realized you mentioned bodysnatch in your post.

[GnatGoSplat]

RTFM'd, but I didn't see this issue covered specifically in the FM.  Maybe I fail at reading.

They're not being regenerated, it's the same NPC every time the dance club opens.  It's just that after using editsim on them to change their face, their face reverts back to the ugly old one when the club closes and they change back to their Everyday outfit.  The facial changes do stick with editsim, but only while they're wearing their NPC work uniform.  The next day when they come in for work in their NPC work uniform, they do look the way I changed them, but leave work in their Everyday with their old, ugly face.

I did find a workable solution, and that's to use editsim on them when the dance club isn't open.  A side-effect of doing that, is they'll lose their special NPC work outfit clothing category entirely and NPC makeup.  They'll come to work in their Everyday.  It's not ideal, but better than a sim whose face changes!  I did try editing them with the club open and just toggling the outfit to Everyday before changing their face, but that doesn't work because it results in the game hanging upon clicking Accept.  So it seems the club HAS to be closed before using editsim on one of these NPCs.

Bodysnatch doesn't normally work with NPCs, but I did manage to get it to work with Twallan's StoryProgression.  I have StoryProgression set to disallow homelessness.  After a few sim days, all NPCs are gradually forced to move into houses, making them selectable and allowing bodysnatch to work.

[ciane]

Do you have Twallan's Master Controller? If so, did you try the "stylist" option on the Sim menu?

[GnatGoSplat]

I didn't have Master Controller, but I installed it after you mentioned it.  Stylist won't do the job because it looks like the career outfit isn't a selectable category.  The "Edit in CAS" feature does the job and also works when the sim is working.  It didn't lose the career outfit either, until I went back in a 2nd time and made all kinds of slider changes, skintone, voice, life want, etc.  Then for some reason, like editsim in AM, it lost the career outfit.  It's definitely more foolproof as it never once hung the game no matter what I did, but the end result of losing the career outfit is the same, which is acceptable.  One thing I do like is the body weight and muscle sliders do work with Master Controller's Edit in CAS.  I verified with bodyinfo that it sets the sim's genetic weight and muscle.  Nice!  That makes it unnecessary to use setfitness and setfatness.

[sheep_plushi]

If you just want to change the clothing, their hair, makeup etc, use the makeover command. I was able to fix uniforms and the makeover does stick. All my bartenders spawned with stupid hats. One was santa.

[GnatGoSplat]

Usually it's the ugly faces of the spawned NPCs that I want to change.

I spoke too soon, the NPC I used bodysnatch on broke and became a regular sim.  She never came back to perform her Mixology job.  With some experimentation, I discovered selecting an NPC immediately removes their Role, effectively turning the sim into a regular, non-NPC sim.  So selecting an NPC and using bodysnatch definitely won't work.

I didn't see anything in the way of debug commands or debug interactions to give a sim a role.