Face Template Replacements - Semi-Hypothetical Question

[Nailati]

This is my first post. Please slap me with a splintered ruler if this is a retarded question. And hi. 

I've tried all the CAS/Body Shop replacement faces I could find, and I'm dying to make my own. (If I'm not building houses in TS2, I'm making Body Shop sims and breeding them.) I read Motoki's Tutorial and it looks pretty straightforward.

One problem: I'm a Mac user and I don't have Virtual PC, so I can't run SimPE. Doing it on the computers where I work is not an option. I have a friend who would let me use her PC, but it's antediluvian and would likely choke on SimPE, let alone Body Shop or the full program. (It also has no internet connection or USB ports, so transferring files would be a real song and dance.)

So I had the crazy idea that, if I should complete a set of Body Shop sims with the faces I'd want to use (I'm turbo-perfectionist, so it could take a while)--if I did that, maybe I could upload the sims, packaged in Body Shop, and rely on the kindness of some peecee-using stranger who might be willing to do the SimPE legwork. Their compensation would be credit and, uh, good karma.

Is this technically possible? Would anyone hypothetically be willing to do this, if the faces were good enough? (I would first post screenshots so potential volunteers could decide if it was worth their time.)

I'd like to start work on the faces ASAP, because I'm all fired up, but I'm not sure if I'd be wasting my time. Thanks for any help!

[BlueSoup]

I would do it if it's possible (someone would have to tell me if it is though, since I don't know much about that kinda stuff, although I am learning SimPE pretty well.)  I wanted to get my own replacements anyway, and I don't much like the ones currently out there.

[Jelenedra]

Yeah, generally all the replacement sets out there, the sims look too similiar.

[Nailati]

Great! I hope it's possible. It should be--I've never had a problem with my packages not working for other people. I'll start working on it, then...but no promises about how long it will take.

I definitely don't like blandly pretty sims, or sets that lack variation. What really annoys me (especially about the original Maxis templates) is female faces that look monstrous as males, and hence pass on monster genes to their sons. I like faces with interesting noses and some strong features, and they especially tend to become grotesque when translated into males. So, that's at least one thing I'm looking to rectify.

Thanks for the responses. 

[Metalkatt]

Well, do post them in peasantry when it's all said and done...  I'd love some new genotypes for my sims.

[Motoki]

Nailati: I don't think you would have any problems finding people willing to do the SimPE part. Making all the faces is by far the hardest and most tedious part.

[BlueSoup]

Like I said, I will do the SimPE part if you want.  I hate BodyShop stuff though, so it works out. 

[Nailati]

Awesome. But again, I'm obsessive-compulsive, so it will take a while. One down, eleventy-thousand to go. I'll post pictures (in Peasantry I suppose) when there's significant progress.

[BlueSoup]

No problem.  Let me know when you're ready.  Will you be uploading the files anywhere when you're done?

[Nailati]

Yes. When I finish the packaged sims, I'll upload them to my site temporarily to be "picked up"...when they're ready to go, I figure they can go on MTS2 and/or my site.

[TreyNutz]

I would do it if it's possible (someone would have to tell me if it is though, since I don't know much about that kinda stuff, although I am learning SimPE pretty well.)  I wanted to get my own replacements anyway, and I don't much like the ones currently out there.

I've done a set of replacements.  It's pretty easy, but rather tedious.  Organization helps a lot.  I also found that if I only replaced adults, I got weird effects when sims aged.  So I replaced all age groups and let CAS do the aging.  I also made each template a M/F pair, but I don't know if that's required.  If you let CAS switch the gender I found that female sim's jaws and chin were is some cases almost non-existent (I started with 26 males).  If I 'fixed' it and switched the gender, the male ended up with a huge jaw and chin.  I ended up tweaking all the female faces before saving to extract the data and not worring that they didn't exactly 'match' the males.  So far no ill effects. 

Blue - read Motoki's thread.  AllenABQ has the default templates you'll need on MTS2 (there's a link on the thread).  It will save you a lot of work.  I also have all the GDC names in notepad files if you want them.

[BlueSoup]

Blue - read Motoki's thread.  AllenABQ has the default templates you'll need on MTS2 (there's a link on the thread).  It will save you a lot of work.  I also have all the GDC names in notepad files if you want them.

Ok thanks. I haven't read his thread very thoroughly (the procrastinator in me figures I can wait until I get the stuff from Nailati  ) yet.  I knew you were working on a default replacement set, but I lost track of how it was going.   

[TreyNutz]

Worked out well.  It's on the Simposieum.  I like the new faces.

[Nailati]

(the procrastinator in me figures I can wait until I get the stuff from Nailati  )

Uh oh. I fear if you and I ever meet, we will rip a hole in spacetime with the power of our combined procrastination. I'm almost there, I just need thismuch to tip the balance. 
At least this project is currently the method of my procrastination and not its object.

I also found that if I only replaced adults, I got weird effects when sims aged.  So I replaced all age groups and let CAS do the aging.  I also made each template a M/F pair, but I don't know if that's required.

I plan on making a Sim for each gender and each age group (not sure if I need to do YA though), so 27 x 2 x 5 = a pantload of Sims.

[TreyNutz]

You don't need to do YAs, they use adult faces.  The minimum you need to make is adults.  Blue can take the adults and in CAS, make toddler males, and teen females (or female children) to get everything you need.  When you make an adult in CAS, the game puts the adult face and the elder face for that sim in the package file.  When you make a toddler, the game puts the faces for the toddler, child, teen, adult, and elder in the file.  In general, CAS puts the facial data for all future age groups of that sim in the package file of the characters you create in CAS. I don't think BodyShop does this, but I could be wrong. 

So if you are comfortable with CAS aging your sims, you can save yourself a lot of work by creating 27 adults in BodyShop, importing them into CAS and creating a male toddler version and a female teen version.  From those two sims you'll have all the facial data for one template family.

The downside of doing it this way is that you won't be able to tweak the faces at each age.  If you are planning to tweak all the faces in all the ages, then you'll have to do them all in BodyShop. Otherwise just give Blue the adults and let CAS provide the faces for the different ages.  Or you could create the toddlers and teens, put them all on lots, and ship them to Blue.

Note:  the game does not have different toddler and child faces for each gender.  It uses a 'unified' face for those ages.  The only difference between M/F toddlers and children is the hair, clothes, and perhaps voices.  From the male toddler sim, I extracted the toddler, child, teen male, adult male, and elder male faces.  From the matched female child sim, I extracted the teen female, adult female, and elder female faces.  I used female children instead of teens because they are easier to create in CAS since you don't have to pick an aspiration or turn on/offs. 

So you only need to make 27 x 8 sims at most.  The 2nd to the last facial template - the elf one - is not used by the game when making townies and NPCs.  Replacing that one is up to you, it won't be used by the game.  I only made 27 sims.  I let CAS switch the gender (which I tweaked a bit) and let CAS do all the aging as I described above. 

[pioupiou]

The 2nd to the last facial template - the elf one - is not used by the game when making townies and NPCs.

Not true in my game : I have a lot of townies and service NPC with the elf face.... Too much for my taste....

[Nailati]

In general, CAS puts the facial data for all future age groups of that sim in the package file of the characters you create in CAS. I don't think BodyShop does this, but I could be wrong. 
{...}
If you are planning to tweak all the faces in all the ages, then you'll have to do them all in BodyShop. Otherwise just give Blue the adults and let CAS provide the faces for the different ages.  Or you could create the toddlers and teens, put them all on lots, and ship them to Blue.

Thanks for all the info. I'm definitely doing males and females separately, but I wouldn't mind saving myself some work with the kids. (Wasn't looking forward to them anyhow. I don't have any ankle-biters in my game...they go straight from birth to teenhood.)

I'd heard that packaging a sim on a lot could make things 'splodey for the end user--don't know any specifics. Would it be safe to upload the teens and toddlers on empty lots? Should each one have a separate lot? If I instead package each age in Body Shop, I would still only have to package one gender for the toddlers and children, right?

[TreyNutz]

When I did it, I made 27 males in BodyShop.  I did all my work in a custom neighborhood that I had no intention of ever playing in.  I'd load one up one male in CAS, make the toddler, add to family.  Then load up the same sim from the SimBin, make into a female child, add to family.  I named them both in such a way that I new they were a matched pair (M01 - male for 1st template, and F01 - female for 1st template, etc).  After I had done 3 sims from the SimBin that way, I added a random sim as a parent, set the required relationships, and saved the household.  Then I moved them onto an empty 2x2 lot.  When I had all 27 templates done (in 9 or so households) I saved all the lots as files simply to back them up.

I was thinking you could send those lot files to Blue.  She could then create a new neighborhood, and install them there.  When she is done with the templates, she can just delete the neighborhood.  Adding too many character files can eventually cause problems, but I thought that limit was per neighborhood, not per game.  If you installed the lots in a custom neighborhood you are never going to play, I would think you weren't going to have any problems in your other neighborhoods.  Especially if you later deleted it.

After Blue installs the lots, she would then exit the game and start working in SimPE.  She'll need the names of each sim, what gender they are, and what template they are supposed to replace.  You should probably send her a list in notepad (simpletext).  She'll have to look in SimPE's Sim Browser to find out the name of the character package file for each sim, then open that up to extract the facial structure data.  Once that's extracted for every age group (male and female) she'll then open the package files from AllenABQ and replace the default data with the yours.

I have no idea if Blue could work with the lot Sims2Pack file directly to get the facial data.  She could probably use the Sims 2 Clean Pack Installer to put the package files into a folder.  But I don't know how she would tell which sims were supposed to matched.  It's probaly doable though.

If I instead package each age in Body Shop, I would still only have to package one gender for the toddlers and children, right?

Yes.  If you choose to make each age in BodyShop, you only need to do the toddlers and children in one gender.

Not true in my game : I have a lot of townies and service NPC with the elf face.... Too much for my taste....

I'm jealous.  I've never seen that face used in my game. I made a buch of templates with elf ears for that reason.  I actually made that statement because that's what I read in the original thread that producted Motoki's tutorial.  AllenABQ has a link to it on one of his posts on MTS2. 

[Motoki]

I've never had an elf generate by just replacing the elf template with another elf. Are you sure you didn't replace a human template with an elf one? As far as I know, the Maxis elf and alien templates are set not to generate townies based off of.

[TreyNutz]

I assumed it was that template position that was not used by the game, not what it was set to.  I put elf faces on some of the other templates and now I get townies with elf ears.  I actually put the alien PT face in the eelf template because I assumed it would not get used by the game, but still be available to me in CAS/BodyShop.

[Motoki]

I thought there was a flag on it, but you may be right, it may be the position. I will have to check again.

I know the alien template is definitely flagged hidden. I guess I could try enabling it to show in the bodyshop and CAS, but I'm not sure if there's a female version or other ages. It's been a long time since I looked at those files.

At any rate, if you just replace the elf template with another elf template, you shouldn't be getting elf townies. If you do, something wrong.

[TreyNutz]

At any rate, if you just replace the elf template with another elf template, you shouldn't be getting elf townies. If you do, something wrong.

I agree. 

I downloaded PT from PatchesSims2 simpage and used that sim to make a template replacement for #18 - Caus.  I didn't leave it in the game, but the randomize button in CAS would use it.  I've never extracted the alien face from the game.

[pioupiou]

I've never had an elf generate by just replacing the elf template with another elf. Are you sure you didn't replace a human template with an elf one? As far as I know, the Maxis elf and alien templates are set not to generate townies based off of.

I don't use face template replacements. In my Legacy neighbourhood that I started with deleteallcharacters I have 3 or 4 townies (teen and adult) with the elf face (I did not create them, nor did I use the mailbox or the dead tree, they were created when I went to community lots) and at least a maid and a burglar with the elf face.

[BlueSoup]

Which one is the elf face?  Anyone got a pic?

[pioupiou]

the one with the pointy ears (I don't have a picture)