Empty and Cleaned-up Templates. [UPDATED]

[Magicmoon]

How Can I spawn female Grand Vampires? I've accomplished everything else that I wanted using the clean templates, but can only get male Grand Vamps to spawn.

[SaraMK]

Are you using the NPC tree? It has an option to spawn NPCs of whatever sex you want. You need to select "Switch to making Downtownies," then choose options like skintones and sex, and then spawn a Grand Vampire.

[Magicmoon]

I spawned an item that looks like a dead tree. It lets me spawn Grand Vampires in the NPC EP2 part of the menu, but they are all males.

There is another option in the Downtown part of the menu that spawns both male and female vampires , but it looked to me like it was spawning random Sims that were vampires instead of actual Grand Vampires. Those spawned from this part of the menu were all wearing random Maxis clothing rather than vampire clothes. My memory is weak, but I also think they did NOT have Count or Countess as part of the name.

The last option was on the mailbox itself, where spawn Grand Vampyre (sic) was available on the menu. But whenever I try this one, it just drops out of the queue without any Sims at all being spawned. I have no idea why the word vampire is spelled differently in these two places or why I can't get this one to work.

Aren't Grand Vampires slightly different than other vampires in the game? If there is no actual difference, I can spawn the females using the 2nd method above and then dress them correctly and change their names.

I hate townies and so made my entire townie population servos. I wanted the Grand Vampires so that my Sims would have a chance of being bitten as I want that to be random. I have JMP's vampire mods in place but don't understand every rule that goes into it. I got the feeling somehow that the Grand Vampires had a higher chance of biting unsuspecting Sims and so I was trying to put a few of each sex into the game.

[J. M. Pescado]

Normal vampires do not autonomously bite at all. Only grand vampires will do that. The vampire fixes are critical, but there are no "esoteric rules", so much as that certain classes are outlawed: NPCs cannot be autonomously bitten (BFBVFS from Crumplebottom bites, general endless pool cycling if something else), nor can playables not of the current family (can cause instant death on load of home lot). Everything else, including the townies you want to see bitten, are fair game.

[SaraMK]

I spawned an item that looks like a dead tree. It lets me spawn Grand Vampires in the NPC EP2 part of the menu, but they are all males.

Right, that's the one, but you need to choose the options (sex and skintone, etc) before you spawn them. Here's a visual guide, since a lot of people seem to be having a heck of a lot of trouble with this:

Step 1: Spawn the NPC and Townie Maker (a dead tree will appear).



Step 2: Click on Switch to make DownTownies. A pop up will tell you that you are now making downtownies.



Step 3: Click on Set Gender and choose Male or Female.



Step 4: Click on Set Skin to choose the skintone you want the sim to have.



Step 5: To make a Grand Vampire, click on Generate EP2 NPC. This step is a bit different if you don't have Pets installed. I believe it would be under Special NPC or something like that if you don't have Pets.



Step 6: Click on Grand Vampyre to spawn the sim. A sim will appear next to the dead tree.



Step 7: Click on the dead tree and choose Keep. The sim will vanish. You will need to save the lot in order to keep this sim in your neighborhood. The sim will be lost if you do not save, although you do not need to save after each sim.

[Magicmoon]

Thank you for making that so crystal clear. I skipped steps 3 and 4 and went straight to step 5, thinking that just ordering it to make a Grand Vampire would make a random one. I thought the selecting of gender and skintone was for creating the townies, not the NPCs.

Male must be default and that is why I got all males. Thanks again.

One last question. Will "Repeat Last" give you the exact same type of Sim without actually giving you the same exact Sim?

[J. M. Pescado]

Hmm. Interesting. If you don't keep, does it still create a character file if you save the lot?

[SaraMK]

One last question. Will "Repeat Last" give you the exact same type of Sim without actually giving you the same exact Sim?

For me, Repeat Last has usually resulted in a sim that's identical to the previous one in every way. I don't know if I've just been unlucky or a victim of the game's sadorandomness, but I don't use that option. If I want the same type of sim I just select it again from wherever it is on the menu ("Generate EP2 NPC" or whatever).

Here's a tip/trick: if you usually edit your townies/npcs for personality and interests, makeup, name, or (townies only) clothes, you can do that using your favorite hack before clicking Keep. Saves you the trouble of teleporting that sim back to the lot for a makeover.

Hmm. Interesting. If you don't keep, does it still create a character file if you save the lot?

It's worse than that, actually (well, what did you expect?!). It creates a character file that's unlinked. I usually save after each sim and if I get a crappy sim I exit without saving.

[witch]

I'm having a bit of a problem. I followed all the steps for the clean templates, no Maxis characters. I deleted the lot catalog files. Then I created a downtown - no characters. Same with Uni. But when I create a Bluewater sub-hood, I get 2 families in the bin and this for the hood.


I have patched pets / unholy hybrid. (Original .exe from CD over the patch .exe.)

[SaraMK]

Which families are you getting?

[witch]

OK. Just went and made a new test hood, double-checked all steps to making clean template. I also included this step:

To get rid of the Pets pre-made lot-binned families, simply do this:
Open C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Pets\TSData\Res\UserData\LotCatalog
Delete everything inside that folder (after making a backup, in case you ever want them back).
This stops the game from putting the occupied houses in the lots bin.

BTW This step is not in any of the instruction.html docs.

Made a Bluewater and got same scenario again.
Families in bin; Larson, Gieke. Families on lots; Delarosa, Ramirez, Laandgrab IV, Jacquet, Tinker.


Looking closely you can still see owned businesses.

[jrd]

witch: do NOT delete the lot catalog. All it does is put some houses in the catalog... unless you place them, you never ever see those characters.

What you need to do is replace the template package, and delete the characters folder of that package. This is the only way to get the 'hood with lots intact, and Sims gone. As per the first post.

[SaraMK]

It sounds more like you deleted files from the Lots folder, not the LotCatalog. LotCatalog only has lots that are in the bin, not ones already placed in the neighborhod. Lots has ones that are already placed in the neighborhood, and you should never delete stuff from the Lots folder.

In any case, you shouldn't be deleting any of the lot files for Bluewater. Those instructions were for PETS only, because Pets puts occupied lots in the bin. OFB does not, so there is no reason to delete them.

[witch]

I actually used this text "C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Pets\TSData\Res\UserData\LotCatalog" from your first post, I pasted that into Windoze Explorer, so I assumed it was in the right place?

I haven't deleted anything else except for deleting the character files in the folders that matched the package files provided.

I did go over it all a second time...

Never mind, its 1am here, so I'll try again in the morning.

I also have the Kim and Kat occupied lots in my hood bin, so something's not right.

[SaraMK]

The Seasons update is now available. Download it to stop nasty-looking sims from being dumped into every neighborhood.

[Sarimar]

I have a stupido question. Do I have to install the empty Seasons template before firing up the game for the first time. I was thinking that I'll use the new hood as a testing area before I actually make my own sims suffer from freezing or burning. Will the game generate the fugly townies into my custom hood even if I don't play it before installing the empty template?

[SaraMK]

I have a stupido question. Do I have to install the empty Seasons template before firing up the game for the first time. I was thinking that I'll use the new hood as a testing area before I actually make my own sims suffer from freezing or burning. Will the game generate the fugly townies into my custom hood even if I don't play it before installing the empty template?

I'm pretty sure that the ugly sims are dumped into a neighborhood when it is loaded up for the first time after installing Seasons. If you don't load it, you may be okay.

I wouldn't take the chance though. Either move your own neighborhoods out for safe keeping, and let the game regenerate the four Maxis neighborhoods (Riverblossom, Pleasantview, etc.), or at least make a backup of your own neighborhoods.

[Sarimar]

Thanks for the quick answer I think I won't take any chances. I'll install the empty template after installing Seasons.

[PlayLives]

To stop this disgusting behavior, download this file and use it to replace the one in C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Seasons\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate\G002

Download: http://www.box.net/public/d6j78gvmxk

Then open the Characters folder in the same location, and delete everything inside it. Delete the Thumbnails file, too

But if I already installed and played Seasons, then it is not a good idea to delete the characters in the TSData\Res folder, correct?

[jrd]

That does not matter. The only time the templates are called are on creation of new neighbourhoods, and updating of older ones. It doesn't matter one bit what you do with the templates after that.

[SaraMK]

But if I already installed and played Seasons, then it is not a good idea to delete the characters in the TSData\Res folder, correct?

You still need to delete them. It will only have an effect on any neighborhoods you create afterwards, not on those that you've already created.

[PlayLives]

Thanks.

[polonius]

Thanks so much for the swift update.  You can imagine my shock when I created a new neighborhood, checked the Characters folder - and saw a bunch of files in it!  Stupid EA.

[miros]

If I have all the stupid ugly Maxis townies, downtownies, dormies, etc. all zipped up where the neighborhood creator can't find them, do I need to unzip them to make the Seasons installer happy?

I'm just waiting for Ste to say GrowUp is Seasons-friendly and I'll be at EB pronto!

[SaraMK]

If I have all the stupid ugly Maxis townies, downtownies, dormies, etc. all zipped up where the neighborhood creator can't find them, do I need to unzip them to make the Seasons installer happy?

I did not remove the empty templates before installing Seasons, so I would say no, you don't need to do anything.

The ONLY installer that has EVER complained about the empty templates was the OFB patch. The only reason it would ever complain is if something was being updated as far as the pre-made families or houses in the template neighborhoods. The OFB patch did that because one of the houses was seriously glitchy, but normally patches and new EP's do not touch the old neighborhoods.

Besides, it is much simpler to not do anything until/unless the installer does  complain about it. If it doesn't like something, it will pop up an error during installation. Why do any work until then?