So, you're telling me I shouldn't delete sims?

[Richcelt]

So, you're saying I shouldn't have deleted all of the townies, CAS f--- ups, and other various sims I just don't want to play any more? That that's the reason why I'm getting the error messages I'm getting and not because I might have downloaded a virus-laden mod that no one here warned me about? Well....

1) Who's brilliant idea was it to write the code that allowed THAT to happen?! (they should be deleted!) :wtf:

2) Just what am I expected to do with those sims? Kill them off and hope their ghosts don't take up too much more of my memory space? What if I don't want to see them, or their ghosts, EVER!?

3) What do I do about the errors this has apparently caused so far? Reload everything? *sigh* :faceslap:

[FranH]

Sorry, but when Maxis/EA created this game, they probably had no idea people would do such things, and thought it would not harm the game (conjecture on my part)...or they just didn't care.

So what to do with your game now? If you're getting errors, it's going to get worse, until the game is basically unplayable.

I'd gently suggest you dump the neighborhood you're using, and copy a fresh one into your game.

This time, don't delete any sims. If you want to avoid them, you should go over to Simbology and download the "Visitor Controller" which will enable you to ban all those sims you do not want in your neighborhood from showing up in the lots.

If you do want to get rid of the townies, the old fashioned way of killing them always works, and it doesn't lead to game corruption.

In addition, if you really want to have a project for a clean empty neighborhood, you should get clean and empty templates which once installed, will totally eliminate all townies and downtownies from your game forever. The game will only create those sims required to do the basic stuff, like the mailman, fire department, etc.

[joandsarah77]

That's right, you shouldn't have.

I have over 500 mods and never got a virus from any of them. I think well made mods are better than a lot of EA code.

1) Maxis and EA! Yah! *confetti* (laden with mace)

2. Well your hoods are corrupt so killing off sims now is a bit late, but yes you can kill them off or better yet put in clean templates. You will need to either play until they blow up/become unplayable or get rid of those hoods. So long as your game isn't corrupt. Only then do you need to reinstall.

3.) Reload? If you mean regenerate your game, clean things up then yes.

[Mootilda]

There is no known way to fix a neighborhood after you've deleted sims. You have several options:
1) Keep playing your existing neighborhood until it becomes unplayable.
2) Create a brand new neighborhood and avoid things which will hurt it: http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Avoiding_Hood_Corruption
3) Try to recreate your existing neighborhood by extracting the appearances of the sims that you want and recreating their families from scratch. You can save the neighborhood and deco using HoodReplace (see my profile) and you should also be able to package your lots and install them (unoccupied) into your new neighborhood.

Installing clean or empty templates and all of the no-regen mods will ensure that you don't get the hundreds of unnecessary sims that ship with the game. This must be done before you create your new neighborhood.

For clean templates (all playables, some townies, some ancestors), I would recommend Tarlia's cleaned and fixed neighborhood templates:
http://meetme2theriver.livejournal.com/63030.html

For empty templates (no playables, no townies), most people use the ones at MATY:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,13382.0.html

Here are the no-regen mods:
http://www.modthesims.info/showpost.php?p=3644268&postcount=8

[Saturnfly]

Best thing to do with sims that you don't like, is to ignore them, or put them all on a lot then put them in the sim bin so they don't take up too much space. Neeever delete them, though. It's one of those things; just because EA made it possible, doesn't mean it should be possible.

[d_dgjdhh]

Mootilda, about recreating the existing neighborhood into a clean template...there's something I tried that I'd like your opinion about.

You currently have a thread in your Moo Tools social forum for a Neighborhood Re-Creation Utility (http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=471434). How's that coming along, by the way?

So...here's what I've done recently. My old neighborhood had several Sims that have duplicate information as seen from SimPE (several of the same Sim with blue backgrounds, and one with grey). It was becoming slow, and crashes started occuring every hour I played the game. So what I've done is the following (with mods, including no regens, no redundency hacks, etc.). It's long, so I placed it in the info button. Also, although I seem to have been successful, I don't know if this method will work for everyone else. It needs testing first:


1. Add a neighborhood via the neighborhood screen. Let the game fill in the necessary townies, service NPCs, etc.
2. Exit the game, and use your Hood Checker to clean the memories of the new neighborhood.
3. Enter the game, and enter the old neighborhood.
-----------------------
Now here's the parts I'd like your thoughts about.

4. Choose a lot, and package it. Wait for the game to package the lot (could take 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, depending on how many relationships the lot's family has).
5. Repeat step 4 for each lot you package.
6. Exit the game.
-----------------------
7. Open Clean Installer, and checkmark the items with the following types: "Packaged Family, Packaged Sim, Packaged Lot".
8. Click "Save As...", and save a new sims2pack file so that only those items remain.
9. Repeat step 8 for each sims2pack file.
10. Open the new sims2pack file of your choice.
11. Click Install and place the information into the Teleport folder.
12. Repeat step 12 for each new sims2pack file.
13. Exit Clean Installer.
-----------------------
14. Open your folder for the new neighborhood.
15. Open the folder "Lots"
16. Take note of the latest lot number (e.g. the last file in the folder is...N00#_Lot2.package, or N00#_Lot28.package, or whatever)
17. Keep that note aside.
-----------------------
18. Open your game, and choose your new neighborhood.
19. Place each of your occupied lots into the neighborhood. DO NOT enter/play any of the lots just yet.
20. Exit the game.
-----------------------
21. Open SimPE.
22. Open your neighborhood file (e.g. if your neighborhood's folder is N002, open N002_Neighborhood.package)
23. Choose "Neighborhood/Memory (NGBH) (1)", and click the instance called "Neighborhood/Memory"
24. Choose a family from the drop-down list.
25. Choose a family member from the list.
26. Right click the family member's picture, and click "Nuke Memories".
27. Repeat step 26 for each member of the family, then back to step 24 to choose each family for the lots.
28. Commit, then save the file.
29. Find "Sims" Scores (SCOR)", and delete all instances under that category.
30. Find "Inventory Iten (INT)", and delete all instances under that category.
-----------------------
31. Open the "Lots" folder from your new neighborhood.
32. Find the lot that comes after the N00#_Lot-number your kept note of from step 16.
33. Open the lot after the one from step 16 using SimPE.
34. In SimPE, find "Sim Relations (SREL)", and Delete all instances under that category.
35. Find "Sims: Scores (SCOR)", and delete all instance under that category.
36. Save the lot file, and close the file.
37. Repeat steps 34 to 36 for each lot file after your saved one, until you reach the last lot.
-----------------------
38. Close SimPE.
39. Open Hood Checker, and run the "Remove" option towards your new neighborhood.
40. Close Hood Checker.
-----------------------
41. Open your game, and choose your new neighborhood.
42. Play any lot you'd like.

PRELIMINARY RESULTS:
- Each Sim from the lots will have their relationships intact with each other on the lot.
- Each Sim has their personality, skills, fears/wants/zodiac intact.
- Each Sim will contain only 1 file in SimPE for reference (instead of the multiple blue ones from the old neighborhood)

However...
- They'll have no inventory items.
- Their talent badges will disappear because their "Sims: Scores" were removed (e.g. no sales badges)
- They'll have no family tree aside from the siblings living on the lot (e.g. no memory of the grandparents/great-grandparents, etc.)

After 2 months...
- No crashing, except from building lots using too many CFE/move object cheats and building too many levels. That's my fault rather than the method above.
- No crashing, except from bugged mods/hacks that were found out quickly.

Slow downs still occur when witches come to the lot, or when changing appearances. That's normal, though.

[Alijah]

I know this is a bit too little too late, but if you don't want to see the sim you could always just kill them off and then ship their grave to a community lot graveyard or something (If you have that capability). Then you won't see their ghost unless you visit the graveyard at night.

If I have a playable that I'm just tired of playing, I turn them into townies. Yeah I may see them around town every now and then but there's nothing to make me interact with them.

[Allimae]

I think you can get rid of the dead just by selling the Urn or grave. I did before I had graveyards to stash them in.

[julmoo]

I think you can get rid of the dead just by selling the Urn or grave. I did before I had graveyards to stash them in.

NEVER do that!
It's just as bad as deleting Sims. By selling the gravestone you're deleting the dead character.

[d_dgjdhh]

Yeah, since April 2012, I've been using MATY's method (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,6205.0.html) of deleting Sims.

[AlexandraSpears]

This is what I use: http://sims.ambertation.de/en/kb/entry/62/

[d_dgjdhh]

The link to the installer is broken. Is there another location for that?

EDIT: From MATY, this thread (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=10861.0) addresses the Sim Deleter Tool. The Lot Debugger ("Batbox") is able to remove the memories and relationships, and also to follow "Deleted2".

[JDacapo]

NEVER do that!
It's just as bad as deleting Sims. By selling the gravestone you're deleting the dead character.

It's only bad if you don't have the nounlinkondelete mod from More Awesome Than You.

[joandsarah77]

I still would not purposely delete a tomb stone/urn even with nounlinkondelete. As far as I know that is more for accidently smashing of an urn or for vanishing tomb stones. I have both the hack and move tombs carefully to a cemetery via an inventory or just keep them on the lot. I wouldn't bin a house with them either. Better to keep to safe play practices.

[Mootilda]

You currently have a thread in your Moo Tools social forum for a Neighborhood Re-Creation Utility (http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=471434). How's that coming along, by the way?It's not. Real life has interfered and I expect to be basically unavailable for the next 6 months or more.

Now here's the parts I'd like your thoughts about.I can already see that you've missed the SWAFs; there may be other data which should be deleted to remove invalid references.

As well, I believe that you are relying too much on the HoodChecker. It doesn't check the SWAFs either.

On a related note: I have never been able to find the instructions for creating the empty templates from MATY. I would assume that that article (if it exists) would contain the full list of things which need to be removed.

[Dizzy-noodles]

Hiya :)

Everyone else has answered you really well, and given you all the important stuff, but I have a tiny little tip for you, if I have sims I don't like, I 're-cycle' them. I give them new hair, make-up, clothes (it's amazing how different they can look!). If personality is the problem, I adjust that with the Sim Modder (I'm assuming you know what that is, if not I will explain). You can change their aspiration with the ReNuYo Senso Orb (or whatever it's called). You can change their name in SimPE. (I can explain if you're interested/don't already know how).

I do this now because I did exactly the same as you and deleted loads of sims :( I decided to delete my neighbourhoods and start again, now I'm a bit paranoid about corruption!

[Dizzy-noodles]

If I have a playable that I'm just tired of playing, I turn them into townies. Yeah I may see them around town every now and then but there's nothing to make me interact with them.

How do you do that?

[AlexandraSpears]

SimBlender, Sim Manipulator will turn playables into townies (or downtownies).

[maxon]

You can change their name in SimPE. (I can explain if you're interested/don't already know how).
It's better to use the batbox for changing names - SimPE only half does it. It's not a corruption issue (AFAIK).

[GEGNER]

Re: Townie maker: With BoolProp you can spawn the Townie Creator (or something of that name-- I know it's a tree) and if the sim is in the bin, you can make them into a townie by selecting them by name.

I don't think that causes any problems, but I'm not 100% sure.

[Lerf1950]

How do you do that?

Or Inge's teleporter cat.

[maxon]

I think the last time we discussed this, we decided it was Argon's townie brick that was the most reliable and complete method of making sims into townies. Specifically, the brick is the only one that converts all the code properly for vacation locals. If you use any other method, they are missing their local actions (not something I miss, btw, but it's a case of preference). BTW Gegner, with the later EPs, it's a gun not a tree.

[Gcgb53191]

I think the last time we discussed this, we decided it was Argon's townie brick that was the most reliable and complete method of making sims into townies. Specifically, the brick is the only one that converts all the code properly for vacation locals. If you use any other method, they are missing their local actions (not something I miss, btw, but it's a case of preference). BTW Gegner, with the later EPs, it's a gun not a tree.

So is my game messed up because I use a different method? :o

[Mootilda]

Did you make any vacation locals?

[maxon]

So is my game messed up because I use a different method? :o
Oh no, sorry - other methods are fine, just not entirely complete when it comes to vacation locals.

[Peace]

The easiest way to kill off sims, in my opinion, is to use SimSlice's Venus Sim Trap! You can tell it who to eat! Ha! Its a pay item but its at the booty, here. (http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org/booty/ts2/simslice/objects/venus_sim_trap/)

[DJ.]

The Sims 2 coding is very stupidly designed. They said they're gonna publish the game on March 2004, and instead they ended up half year later coding the game.

There are videos on YouTube such as The Sims 2 Beta Gameplay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XwpoR9-jWc), or even this leaked footage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq1LScuyzCA&feature=related) which was uploaded on April 2012 (it was very confidental back then). As you can see, at first the game had totally different concept; different UI, cursor, speech bubbles, CAS!, and it was even supposed to have weather.

And suddenly, they came up with an idea, "Let's make everything different!" But since they thought of that too late, instead of re-building the game, they went overwriting the codes. That's why a lot of pre-deceased Sims have unused hairstyles and clothes, or hairstyles and clothes hidden in game (boolProp required), or hidden even deeper in game and accessible only through GameShark or other cheat engines. You can see that here (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Unused_accessories).

The quick recoding is also the reason of Olive Specter's victims' glitchiness - none of them has character data, and therefore they're just "decorative". Threated anyhow different except than just looking at them could result in game corruption. And yes, talking about Melissa Sims (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Melissa_Sims), Vicki Sims (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Vicki_Sims), Lyla Grunt (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Lyla_Grunt) and almost everyone listed here (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Sims_who_died_on_the_Specter_lot), although not as much as those three.

Also, when EA was coding the game, they forgot to remove the "Delete Families" button, which can just erase each Sim's character data, and corrupt the neighborhood. Also, they were very very wwerry stupid when they coded tombstones to hold Sim's character data (at first it seemed fine, because a ghost (i.e. Sim) rises up from it) - but they could've made the tombstones undeletable, or store Sim's character data somewhere else (like Skip Broke (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Skip_Broke) - his tombstone is nowhere to be found, and he is resurrectable!).

Now, how could a simple file lead to a neighborhood corruption, how? Well, let's say Sim1 knows Sim2. You delete Sim2 (either from Family Bin or by deleting his/her tombstone), and Sim1 gossips with Sim3 about Sim2. But, the game can't find Sim2's character file, so therefore you see stripes in the speech bubble. But, Sim3 now knows the juicy gossip, and goes to tell it to Sim4 (you don't have to know about this - you can focus on your current Sim on community lot, and on the far left corner of the lot those two bastards can be the ones who'll corrupt the neighborhood!) - Sim4 tells that to the Sim5 and they two go to the party. Then suddenly, 10 Sims know a gossip about Sim2 which doesn't exist anymore, and by that, game each time tries to find the file which - doesn't exist. You load up your HDD, and by that your loading screens take forever to load, and so on, and so on...

Also, EA made some duplicates in the game (such as Skip Broke 1 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Skip_Broke) and 2 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Skip_Broke_%28hidden%29), Darleen Dreamer 1 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Darleen_Dreamer) and 2 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Darleen_Dreamer_%28hidden%29), Nervous Subject 1 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Nervous_Subject) and 2 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Nervous_Subject_%28hidden%29) and Bella Goth (although there are two Bellas, they can both be made playable - one is "fake (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Bella_Goth_%28Strangetown%29)" and is a Strangetown townie, while the other one (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Bella_Goth) is "dead" (but not recognized as dead) and resides in Pleasantview, categorized as abducted)).

Another crap they made is Lots and Houses Bin. When you try to put a lot with a family in it, the relationships the family had with other members of the town will become erased, but only partially. When you place the lot back (even in the same neighborhood!) the game will try to clone each Sim the family knows. Again, neighborhood corruption.

And about those special characters (such as Therapist, Grim Reaper, Social Worker...) - it's kinda okay that they made them, but only under condition that you don't know about boolProp cheat. Treating them anyway differently than the game allows will result in neighborhood corruption, because those characters are unique. By using Tombstone of L & D, if you add Grim Reaper to your family, even though he's gonna fade out instantly, you can still see him in your family thumbnail and therefore his trapped in that family, unable to perform ... rituals? ... Therapist is also weird, and as I remember he has a hidden image of him as an elder in his character file. Social Worker is a b*tch, because she looks like she can be treated like a maid for example, but will ruin your neighborhood if you marry her.

Thank God, there are many wonderful creators on MTS and other TS2 sites, who do their best on fixing/preventing glitches EA made to this poorly coded game. Of course, if you don't want to face the concequences of those glitches, remember that you have Wiki.

Oh, EAxis.

~DJ.

[M.M.A.A.]

The Sims 2 coding is very stupidly designed. They said they're gonna publish the game on March 2004, and instead they ended up half year later coding the game.

There are videos on YouTube such as The Sims 2 Beta Gameplay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XwpoR9-jWc), or even this leaked footage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq1LScuyzCA&feature=related) which was uploaded on April 2012 (it was very confidental back then). As you can see, at first the game had totally different concept; different UI, cursor, speech bubbles, CAS!, and it was even supposed to have weather.

And suddenly, they came up with an idea, "Let's make everything different!" But since they thought of that too late, instead of re-building the game, they went overwriting the codes. That's why a lot of pre-deceased Sims have unused hairstyles and clothes, or hairstyles and clothes hidden in game (boolProp required), or hidden even deeper in game and accessible only through GameShark or other cheat engines. You can see that here (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Unused_accessories).

The quick recoding is also the reason of Olive Specter's victims' glitchiness - none of them has character data, and therefore they're just "decorative". Threated anyhow different except than just looking at them could result in game corruption. And yes, talking about Melissa Sims (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Melissa_Sims), Vicki Sims (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Vicki_Sims), Lyla Grunt (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Lyla_Grunt) and almost everyone listed here (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Sims_who_died_on_the_Specter_lot), although not as much as those three.

Also, when EA was coding the game, they forgot to remove the "Delete Families" button, which can just erase each Sim's character data, and corrupt the neighborhood. Also, they were very very wwerry stupid when they coded tombstones to hold Sim's character data (at first it seemed fine, because a ghost (i.e. Sim) rises up from it) - but they could've made the tombstones undeletable, or store Sim's character data somewhere else (like Skip Broke (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Skip_Broke) - his tombstone is nowhere to be found, and he is resurrectable!).

Now, how could a simple file lead to a neighborhood corruption, how? Well, let's say Sim1 knows Sim2. You delete Sim2 (either from Family Bin or by deleting his/her tombstone), and Sim1 gossips with Sim3 about Sim2. But, the game can't find Sim2's character file, so therefore you see stripes in the speech bubble. But, Sim3 now knows the juicy gossip, and goes to tell it to Sim4 (you don't have to know about this - you can focus on your current Sim on community lot, and on the far left corner of the lot those two bastards can be the ones who'll corrupt the neighborhood!) - Sim4 tells that to the Sim5 and they two go to the party. Then suddenly, 10 Sims know a gossip about Sim2 which doesn't exist anymore, and by that, game each time tries to find the file which - doesn't exist. You load up your HDD, and by that your loading screens take forever to load, and so on, and so on...

Also, EA made some duplicates in the game (such as Skip Broke 1 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Skip_Broke) and 2 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Skip_Broke_%28hidden%29), Darleen Dreamer 1 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Darleen_Dreamer) and 2 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Darleen_Dreamer_%28hidden%29), Nervous Subject 1 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Nervous_Subject) and 2 (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Nervous_Subject_%28hidden%29) and Bella Goth (although there are two Bellas, they can both be made playable - one is "fake (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Bella_Goth_%28Strangetown%29)" and is a Strangetown townie, while the other one (http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Bella_Goth) is "dead" (but not recognized as dead) and resides in Pleasantview, categorized as abducted)).

Another crap they made is Lots and Houses Bin. When you try to put a lot with a family in it, the relationships the family had with other members of the town will become erased, but only partially. When you place the lot back (even in the same neighborhood!) the game will try to clone each Sim the family knows. Again, neighborhood corruption.

And about those special characters (such as Therapist, Grim Reaper, Social Worker...) - it's kinda okay that they made them, but only under condition that you don't know about boolProp cheat. Treating them anyway differently than the game allows will result in neighborhood corruption, because those characters are unique. By using Tombstone of L & D, if you add Grim Reaper to your family, even though he's gonna fade out instantly, you can still see him in your family thumbnail and therefore his trapped in that family, unable to perform ... rituals? ... Therapist is also weird, and as I remember he has a hidden image of him as an elder in his character file. Social Worker is a b*tch, because she looks like she can be treated like a maid for example, but will ruin your neighborhood if you marry her.

Thank God, there are many wonderful creators on MTS and other TS2 sites, who do their best on fixing/preventing glitches EA made to this poorly coded game. Of course, if you don't want to face the concequences of those glitches, remember that you have Wiki.

Oh, EAxis.

~DJ.

DJ. That was great, you summarized everything for everyone! :gjob:

[Richcelt]

Well, okay, don't delete and don't move sims/houses to new neighborhoods. Makes sense to me why that causes glitches now. I've done just about every one of the things listed here and on the other thread that was just resurrected of things NOT to do (in some cases, multiple times). Basically my neighborhoods are all FUBAR. Thanks. :D

[M.M.A.A.]

Well, okay, don't delete and don't move sims/houses to new neighborhoods. Makes sense to me why that causes glitches now. I've done just about every one of the things listed here and on the other thread that was just resurrected of things NOT to do (in some cases, multiple times). Basically my neighborhoods are all FUBAR. Thanks. :D

Now you need to know that you will either:

a) be able to play those hoods of yours for some time until they become unplayable

or

b) you can start a new hood from now, start with one only, to begin with, play a bunch of families, try not to do anything that can corrupt it, see how it goes on, then start another if you want to.

[Darby]

Well, okay, don't delete and don't move sims/houses to new neighborhoods. Makes sense to me why that causes glitches now. I've done just about every one of the things listed here and on the other thread that was just resurrected of things NOT to do (in some cases, multiple times). Basically my neighborhoods are all FUBAR. Thanks. :D

If the no-nos you've done include making any of the "universal" sims playable, I'm afraid it's not going to be enough to simply refresh your 'hoods. When the universals are messed with (added to family or otherwise made playable), the game is corrupted at the level of the installation files themselves, and unless you have backups of all the objects.package files involved, the only fix is reinstallation. Otherwise, your game will still be corrupted, even with all new neighborhoods.

List of universal NPCs:
Toddler New Year
Father Time
Santa Klaus
Hula Zombie
Pollination Technian
Grim Reaper
Therapist
Mrs Crumplebottom
Stinky Skunk
Witchdoctor
Bigfoot Bigfoot
Ideal Plantsim
Rod Humble
Genie
Spectral Assistant
Good Witch Cat

[lauratje86]

If the no-nos you've done include making any of the "universal" sims playable, I'm afraid it's not going to be enough to simply refresh your 'hoods. When the universals are messed with (added to family or otherwise made playable), the game is corrupted at the level of the installation files themselves, and unless you have backups of all the objects.package files involved, the only fix is reinstallation. Otherwise, your game will still be corrupted, even with all new neighborhoods.

List of universal NPCs:
Toddler New Year
Father Time
Santa Klaus
Hula Zombie
Pollination Technian
Grim Reaper
Therapist
Mrs Crumplebottom
Stinky Skunk
Witchdoctor
Bigfoot Bigfoot
Ideal Plantsim
Rod Humble
Genie
Spectral Assistant
Good Witch Cat

Bigfoot? As in, the bigfoot you can invite to move in with you if you make friends with him at the secret vacation lot in Three Lakes? How about the social worker, some people have said that making her playable is a no-no?

[Mootilda]

Bigfoot is a special case. When you ask Bigfoot to move in with you, a clone is created and that's the sim that moves in. You can play the clone, but you mustn't muck around with the original.

The social worker is also a special case. She isn't a universal sim, but she can't be played with either.

[maxon]

unless you have backups of all the objects.package files involved, the only fix is reinstallation. Otherwise, your game will still be corrupted, even with all new neighborhoods.
Of course you have back ups of your objects.package files - they're on the game disks and you can search for them there.

[lauratje86]

Bigfoot is a special case. When you ask Bigfoot to move in with you, a clone is created and that's the sim that moves in. You can play the clone, but you mustn't muck around with the original.

The social worker is also a special case. She isn't a universal sim, but she can't be played with either.

Ah right, thank you for explaining :-)

[Saturnfly]

Who the heck is Toddler new Year? o.O

[M.M.A.A.]

Who the heck is Toddler new Year? o.O

He is an npc who is the result of Father Time. Father Time turns into a dancing toddler new year at midnight if you have Happy holidays Stuff pack installed.

[Darby]

Of course you have back ups of your objects.package files - they're on the game disks and you can search for them there.

Yes, but the objects.package files on the disks are unpatched, if one is using the early standalone editions, and from what I understand, replacing corrupted patched installation files with uncorrupted but also unpatched originals from the disks is not advised.

@Lauratje, speculation is that Bigfoot Bigfoot is the bigfoot template from which the playable (safe) in-game Bigfoots are generated. I believe Bigfoot Bigfoot shows up on the Tombstone of Life and Death, as do many of the other universal sims that shouldn't be touched, so it's a good one to be aware of as particularly dangerous. Any Bigfoot that appears with a real name, like Steve Bigfoot, would be okay.

As for the Social Worker, she's a particularly bad one because she's befriendable, and thus seems safe. But she's not. A good rule of thumb is that if an NPC does not have both a real name AND can be befriended via normal non-cheat means, it should be left alone. Social Worker can be befriended normally, but does not have a real name. An example from the other side is that carpool drivers have real names, but can't be befriended normally.

[d_dgjdhh]

Maybe add to that list, "AND people who can appear/disappear when crossing the sidewalk"?

[Darby]

Color me dense? I'm afraid you'll have to explain that further. ;)

[d_dgjdhh]

Oh, well having three criteria:

- Have real name
- Is Befriendable
- Can appear/disappear on the sidewalks

The criteria eliminates the drivers who have real names but are objects. Also eliminates the bellhops who're confined to their check-in desks (& who can't disappear by walking on the sidewalks).

I don't know, just thrown that into the mix. I mean, like every Sim who passes by the neighborhood passes through the sidewalk portals, right? Well if a Sim can't fulfill this (alongside the other two criteria), then perhaps the Sim in question is better left alone.

[maxon]

Yes, but the objects.package files on the disks are unpatched, if one is using the early standalone editions, and from what I understand, replacing corrupted patched installation files with uncorrupted but also unpatched originals from the disks is not advised.
I thought there were patched versions available online somewhere? And the other question is, does the patch do more than just update the objects.package?

@Lauratje, speculation is that Bigfoot Bigfoot is the bigfoot template from which the playable (safe) in-game Bigfoots are generated.
No speculation, that's exactly what Bigfoot Bigfoot is. You can tell who the untouchable universal sims are by looking at them in SimPE if you create a neighbourhood with a clean template. The universals are the only ones that show up in the neighbourhood but there are no character files in the neighbourhood characters folder.

[Darby]

I see. Sims who can't be walkbys. I suspect, though, that all who qualify as non-walkbys are also non-befriendable anyway?

[Mootilda]

does the patch do more than just update the objects.package?Different patches patch different files, depending upon what needs changing. Not every patch modifies the objects.package. The only way to tell which files are modified by a patch is to check which files have been modified. Unless someone knows of a list which details each file modified by each patch.

The best idea is to backup your objects.package(s) after patching, and then make the original files read-only to try to protect them.

[d_dgjdhh]

Uh, not sure. Haven't experienced enough gameplay (especially regarding downtown townies...never had any of my Sims meet Mrs. Crumplebottom yet, lol) to judge that. Mr. Humble who delivers the computer gift, for example, is a walkby Sim, although he's not befriendable. He fulfills 2 of the 3 criteria.

[Darby]

Humble isn't really a walkby as he shows up just the one time per lot. Regardless, he's on the list of untouchable universal sims anyway, so there's no question about him being one of the baddies. Which I find ironic. :p

@Maxon: Thanks for the clarification on Bigfoot Bigfoot. I remember a discussion where we weren't sure who/what that was, and was still in speculation mode.

To no one in particular: I made backups of all my objects.package files recently, and recommend everyone do so. It's a nice feeling! When the whole issue of these files came up not long ago, I checked the dates on mine and found that my objects.package file for M&G had been altered recently. Scary thing is that I have absolutely no idea why, because I haven't knowingly done anything in my game to have caused such an alteration. The lucky thing was that since M&G was never patched, replacing the file from the game disk was not a problem, and I did not have to go through a reinstall like I did a few months ago after learning the hard way that universal sims aren't safe even in test 'hoods! Oopsie.

[Mootilda]

I suppose that someone (...) really ought to go through and list all of the objects.packages which are modified by patches.

[Darby]

How would one go about doing such a thing?

[Mootilda]

Well, I just happen to have backups of each installation folder before and after the patches, so it should be fairly simple to compare the dates and sizes for each objects.package.

Let me see what I can do.

[Update:] Unfortunately, I don't have the Nightlife information, because I have Deluxe, but here are the rest:

Patches which modify the objects.package:
- The Sims 2
- EP1 University
- EP3 Open for Business
- SP1 Family Fun Stuff
- EP4 Pets
- EP5 Seasons
- EP6 Bon Voyage
- EP7 Free Time
- EP8 Apartment Life

Looks like all of the EPs, plus Family Fun.

Let me see whether I have the Nightlife info on my other computer... No, I don't have that information. Does anyone have a backup of their Program Files before installing the Nightlife patch? Can anyone tell whether the objects.package was modified after the release of Nightlife?

[omglo]

The criteria eliminates the drivers who have real names but are objects. Do these unsafe drivers include the Sims who deliver food and photos?

[Mootilda]

The food delivery people are separate. I suspect that the photo delivery people are also different; although I'm not 100% sure.

[d_dgjdhh]

The pizza delivery guy (NPC - Template - Pizza Dude) is listed as an NPC in the Sims 2 objects.package file, along with a few other NPCs:

I'm interested in knowing if someone can explain the unused NPCs, such as "NPC - Template - Boss", and "NPC - Template - Demo Dummy"
http://thumbs2.modthesims2.com/img/4/3/1/2/8/9/5/MTS_d_dgjdhh-1299964-stuffobjects1.jpg

[Peni Griffin]

The pizza delivery person is safe, as s/he a) has a name and b) can be dated normally, without cheats.

The Boss is from a scenario that wasn't developed. "Template - Demo Dummy" sounds like a placeholder in development to me.

[Mootilda]

Here's the difference:

A universal sim doesn't have a user file in the Characters folder of your neighborhood. Instead, the SimID links directly back to your objects.package, or in some special cases to your custom content. The game is so stupid that it can't tell whether the character info is in the neighborhood folder, or in your Download folder, or in your installation files, so it just blindly makes the requested changes, even if it will destroy your game installation.

Templates contain user data which is cloned to create new non-universal sims in your neighborhood. That data is used by the game, but does not describe actual sims in your neighborhood.

EA usually tries to follow fairly set release dates, and will pull functionality if it is incomplete. So, sometimes there will be objects (including sims) which are incomplete in the objects.package.

[omglo]

The food delivery people are separate. I suspect that the photo delivery people are also different; although I'm not 100% sure.Okay that's good to know. Thanks.