TUTORIAL: Merging the Maxis neighborhoods.

[FlamingoKicker]

Yeah, that's what I'd LIKE to do.  Keep my existing Pleasantview setup but have Strangetown and Veronaville merged as Downtowns and Riverblossom merged as a Shopping District.

Sorry if I seem like a complete spud head with these questions but before I go back and restore my game from my backup and attempt again I might as well ask first.

If I set it back to normal and then install your pre-made merged neighborhood (which seems like it would be the fastest least painful way) if you could please tell me what additional step would be required to import the existing Pleasantview data in.

[SaraMK]

I don't think there is any way to do that. There is no safe way to get sims out of one neighborhood and into another.


If you want to try to use your existing Pleasantview as the base, I suppose I could tell you how to do it, but it is more complicated than the tutorial in this thread. These instructions are for adding Stragetown, Veronaville, and Riverblossom as Downtowns.

You need to make TWO copies of your Neighborhoods folder (yes, the whole thing). One copy you will be working with, while the other is a backup. Put both of these copies on the Desktop. The original is, I assume, still in My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\ at this point.

Run the game and attach THREE additional Downtowns to your Pleasantview (it does not matter if you already have one or more attached). Exit the game. Open each of the Downtown files (N00#_Downtown00#.package) in SimPE. Extract ID Number from each of them and save them to folders called 1, 2, and 3 on the Desktop.

DELETE the Neighborhoods folder.

Install one of the copies of the Neighborhoods folder that are on the Desktop. Open the N00# folder that represents your Pleasantview (probably N001). Temporarily remove all the sub-hood files, so that the only files left in the N00# folder are N00#_Neighborhood.package and its picture.

Now proceed to follow the tutorial from PART 2, and skip PART 3 from Step 3 onward.

When you get to PART 8 you will be importing the files from those folders 1, 2, and 3 that you created earlier.

Sorry if I seem like a complete spud head with these questions but before I go back and restore my game from my backup and attempt again I might as well ask first.

Really, I'm just afraid you're going to screw up your game. Your questions suggest that you don't know the "basics" that you need to know before you can mess with these files without total disaster. At least try not to forget to make a backup and keep it in a safe place.

[FlamingoKicker]

Actually I think I am following your instructions. I'm just not saying it in the correct way.  I definitely have been methodical about backing up my game.  I'm blown it up enough times in the past to learn that lesson. 

I don't want to move sims from one neighborhood to another if that's what it sounded like I was implying.
Nope. I just want to use my existing Pleasantview as my base neighborhood so I should be able to follow your instructions.

Thanks for all the help

[SaraMK]

Okay, well, then the instructions I posted should work. Good luck.

[FlamingoKicker]

OK, just for clarification.

When you say 

>>>Now proceed to follow the tutorial from PART 2, and skip PART 3 from Step 3 onward.

Are you saying that I do PART 2 and then do Steps 1 and 2 of PART 3 but skip the rest of the Steps of PART 3 but then continue with the rest of the PARTS?

[SaraMK]

Yes, that's right.

[simfan]

ok, i am good on all parts, except the part about using the batch renaming thing.
how do i use it to rename all files?

[FlamingoKicker]

OK, using my existing Pleasantview as my base neighborhood I was successful in attaching Strangetown as a Downtown and I also had my existing Downtown attached as my first Downtown as well.

Now here is where things came to a screeching (and puzzling halt). After successfully attaching Strangetown I exited the game per the instructions. Then I went back to repeat the process with Veronaville and that's when I noticed I now had only one Downtown attached to my Pleasantview (the Strangetown one) and the default template option was no longer there.

What the heck did I do to cause this?

Could it have something to do with the Neighborhood.reia file in the Veronaville folder (when I'm replacing those files into the D001 folder)? I noticed I had to leave that file out when I was successful getting the Strangetown folder to work. I'm going to try that now.

[SaraMK]

Did you remove the file representing the new Downtown (which is Strangetown)? You need to remove it (temporarily... put it on the Desktop) before you will be able to attach another template.

Neighborhood.reia is just the neighborhood fly-over movie that plays when you first load a neighborhood. It can be safely deleted if you don't want the silly movie anymore. It does not do anything else.


simfan, you can use any program that allows you to rename files based on conditions you set out (such as "replace all instances of N00 with D00"). There are many programs that do this, and I even gave you a link to one that I use myself. You might want to looks at any Help files that come with whatever program you choose to use.

[FlamingoKicker]

Do you mean delete the neighborhood from the Downtown screen (drag it into the little trashcan)?  I mean when you see the screen that would have the Strangetown icon screen and then the blue screen with the Plus Sign for adding new neighborhoods?  Or do you mean go into the Neighborhoods folder and delete the Downtown001 file?

[SaraMK]

Go to C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods\N00# (whatever # your neighborhood is) and TEMPORARILY remove any files other than N00#_Neighborhood.package and its picture. That means you need to remove all the files like N00#_Downtown00#. You DO NOT want to delete them. Keep them safe, because at the end you will need to put them back in.

If you are using the OFB template instead of Downtown, you would need to be careful and NOT remove the N00#_Suburb00# files that represent the two additions made by Pets and Seasons, but DO remove the one that represents the sub-neighborhood you added (which will be the file with the highest # at the end). Since you are using Downtown, this is not a problem for you, I'm just adding this in case someone else is going to be following this thread trying to do the same thing.

[stormygsa]

Sara,

First, I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate the templates and tutorials you've done on merging the neighborhoods  .  I've decided that I'm much better at downloading then modding, so...let me take this moment to get down on my knees and ask you to Please, Please, Please create a merged cleaned up Pleasantview which includes Riverblossom.  I'm not in any hurry - I just wanted you to know that there is still someone out here who needs your cleaned up neighborhoods. 

Thanks for listening 
Gail

[SaraMK]

Well, the problem with a merged AnyNeighborhood(s) + Riverblossom is this:

A merged Pleasantview + Strangetown + Veronaville can be created using only the base game + NL. This makes it compatible for a lot of people, since only the NL EP is required. That's why my downloadable merged neighborhood only requires NL.

However, there is currently no way to run base game + NL + Seasons, since the only options on the Base Game Starter program are to run any ONE pack or UP TO a particular pack. Unless I were to uninstall some of my EP's, which I am not interested in doing, this means that a merged neighborhood that includes Riverblossom would require ALL EP's, and thus will only be compatible for the lucky few who have all the EP's installed.

So, I am looking into the possibility of merging Riverblossom using only base game + NL. Although it would still require Seasons so that the game does not barf when you attempt to load Riverblossom, in theory  this has a chance of working, which means the end result will require only the NL and Seasons EP's, rather than every EP. On the other hand... chances are high that the game will barf when trying to attach Riverblossom, due to the extra Seasons code, and that will be the end of it.

It will probably be a while before I get around to this (big) project, since there are several other things I've been meaning to do. Working with stuff that "should work... in theory" is pretty time-consuming.

[FlamingoKicker]

 
Just wanted to tell you how great your tutorial is. And thanks for answering all my questions. I'm sure it must have seemed like I was asking the same thing over and over.

It took me about two days but I finally figured out what I was doing wrong. Duh!  Now it seems so obvious. Can't believe it took me so long to grasp something so simple.
Anyway, I wondered why I saw 3 Suburb package files but I reasoned I should use the last one when I imported the ID information into the game from my existing backup. Anyway, it all seems to work fine now.  Pleasantview merged with Strangetown, Veronaville and Riverblossom Hills and of course Sim State University and BlueWater Hills. 

My only "problem" now is I have so many families to choose from I don't know which one to start with.  LOL

Thanks a million again

[ElfPuddle]

It will probably be a while before I get around to this (big) project, since there are several other things I've been meaning to do. Working with stuff that "should work... in theory" is pretty time-consuming.

Take your time, sweetie. Having played your combined neighborhood, I have every reason to know that you will get it done as soon and as well as is humanly possible.

[simfan]

I am so helpless, can someone please take a pic of the batch rename thing so i can now how to use it?
I am sorry.

Thanks

[SaraMK]

If you're having trouble with that, I really don't see how you're going to do the SimPE part.

The program I suggested works like this:

Right click on a folder that has the files you want to rename. Click Bulk Rename.



Select the files. Put the text you want to replace. Click the big button.

[simfan]

thank you Sara, you are a life savor. I am fine with the simpe part, i have been using it since it came out.

[amysmom]

Hi, Sara,
Thank you so much for this tutorial, I never used simPE in this capacity before, and love to learn stuff like this!
I did get lost, tho, on when to use the cleaned up neighborhoods you have for download, and in renaming stuff: it would stop and say it couldn't rename something because it already existed.  So because of time,  ;DI did end up downloading your merged N'hoods from fileplanet, and I am just loving it!

I was thinking that I would attach Riverblossom hills as a second shopping district, tho, since your merged hoods say NOT to attach any more downtowns, but your post above that you don't know if it will work is a yellow flag.  I guess I don't see why it should be any different that adding another n'hood to an existing one...would you recommend waiting till the new simPE is out, it doesn't seem like it would matter just to change the ID?

Again, thank you for all this! I was getting soo tired of having all the repeated families and repeated Bluewaters in every neighborhood!

[SaraMK]

I was thinking that I would attach Riverblossom hills as a second shopping district, tho, since your merged hoods say NOT to attach any more downtowns, but your post above that you don't know if it will work is a yellow flag.  I guess I don't see why it should be any different that adding another n'hood to an existing one...would you recommend waiting till the new simPE is out, it doesn't seem like it would matter just to change the ID?

There is a tutorial for adding Riverblossom (as either OFB or another Downtown) in post #59 of this thread: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4274.msg216423

There is no reason that I know of to wait until the new SimPE, since you are not really editing anything in the neighborhood in SimPE. Just loading it for the purpose of swapping the Number ID shouldn't mess anything up. I have tested attaching Riverblossom to a neighborhood, I just haven't tested adding it to an already-merged Pleasantview/Strangetown/Veronaville. I would say everything should work fine there, too.

[amysmom]

Wow! That was fast!  Thank you!

[Kralore]

SarahMK: In the thread where you posted an already merged neighborhood, you mention that you resurrected the tricou family because of corrupt death tokens.  Should the tricou family be resurrected when creating your own merged neighborhood?

[FlamingoKicker]

Are you saying that any "dead" sims will be now alive when you merge the neighborhoods because I noticed none of my previously dead sims in the cemetery are there anymore so I'm wondering just where they are?

Is there something you have to edit in their files in SimPE to make them dead again or is it not that simple?

If it's too messy then don't bother because I can just kill some existing sims or let them die of old age and then put them in the cemetery but I just wondered if it was something that everyone encountered or just something unique to me?

[SaraMK]

SarahMK: In the thread where you posted an already merged neighborhood, you mention that you resurrected the tricou family because of corrupt death tokens.  Should the tricou family be resurrected when creating your own merged neighborhood?

You don't need to resurrect them if you don't want them alive. However, if you ever decide to resurrect them, remember that they have corrupt tokens that need to be deleted in SimPE.

I resurrected them because a lot of people do  want them alive, and it's much easier to kill sims than to resurrect them, if they have problems like corrupt tokens or wrong memories or whatever.

Are you saying that any "dead" sims will be now alive when you merge the neighborhoods because I noticed none of my previously dead sims in the cemetery are there anymore so I'm wondering just where they are?

No, if you merge the neighborhoods yourself, all sims that are dead should stay dead. I haven't noticed any vanished tombstones, but that's a common glitch. You need to get Pescado's hacks: nounlinkondelete and lot debugger.

In the already-merged neighborhood that's up for download, it's just the Tricou family in the Downtown (who are the only dead sims in the cemetary) that's alive. Everyone from the main three neighborhoods should still be dead.

EDIT: Oops, correction, everyone except Bella Goth. But she wasn't truly dead.

[Kralore]

You don't need to resurrect them if you don't want them alive. However, if you ever decide to resurrect them, remember that they have corrupt tokens that need to be deleted in SimPE.

I resurrected them because a lot of people do  want them alive, and it's much easier to kill sims than to resurrect them, if they have problems like corrupt tokens or wrong memories or whatever.

If I understand this all correctly then,  the corrupt tokens only cause a problem if you resurrect them through normal methods. IE. Using one of the downtownie teens with a tricou as a father, sending them to college, a job in the paranormal career, and using the Grim Reaper phone. I'm guessing the phone doesn't clear the death tokens properly?

Thanks for your last reply and for the tutorial. I now have the ultimate sims neighborhood.  A custom hood with both Sims Lifestories hoods attached, a Sims 1 remake hood, Strangetown, Riverblossom, and Veronaville. Plus the original Downtown and Bluewater village.