Okay, I'm not asking HOW to do this... well, not EXACTLY, as I found this: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...pic,5861.0.html

I have all the Sim expansion packs through Mansion and Garden, and what I wanted to know is which packs have the folders I need to back up etc to do this?

All the main expansion packs.

Okay, I am still confused by this...

How do I 'replace' a package file with an empty one?

"Replace P001_Neighborhood.package with an empty version. This prevents the standard Pets and Pet NPCs from being added to every 'hood. It also prevents the two families from magically appearing in your new 'hood's family bin."

And I hope it works that I just renamed my character, storyteller and thumbnail folders to (name)-bak rather than deleting them totally like it says.

Last edited by Glitchie : 28th Apr 2012 at 09:41 AM.

Remove the original (I'd store it somewhere in case you decide you want to go back and/or add a new expansion pack) and put the new one in its place. If you haven't already, you will need to download an empty version of the file from somewhere.

A much easier way is to create an empty text file using Notepad, save it using the "All files" option and name it the same as the old file.

I found this:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...hp?topic=4306.0

But they only give Pleasantview that I've seen in the first part. Where it says to get the StrangeTown and Veronaville ones, it send you to Emma's thread at http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s....html#msg334133. Should I use the one a little lower by Kazzandra instead? Otherwise, I can't find StrangeTown and Veronaville.

This won't screw up my game at all?

I have never heard of doing it that way. I would think that it would give you a neighborhood that is so completely empty that it also has no terrain.

That method would be good for creating an empty package for things where you don't want any information at all in the package, while still wanting the package in game. But I have no idea why you would want to do that. Completely empty packages ordinarily serve no purpose other than to bloat the CC folder and slow the game.

An Empty Neighborhood has the townies and lots removed. It often has the neighborhood decoration removed as well. But the terrain should still be in the package.

Yeah, that's what I thought. I'd like the terrain available. I believe I got the 'empty' pack for Pleasantville from the thread I posted, but I've not yet found one for the other two, Veronaville and StrangeTown.... if you use SaraMK's link at the bottom of the top thread that says

Repeat the process for StrangeTown and Veronaville, located here:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s....html#msg334133

it takes you to a comment by Emma who attached

U001.zip (204.21 KB - downloaded 1953 times.)
U003.zip (228.37 KB - downloaded 1648 times.)

This has me confused, because the zips 'appear' to be the wrong ones, being for the university pack with the u in the name, not the n from the base set.

SWEET! I just found this! http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...pic,4274.0.html with it, there's no need to download the three terrains separately.

Last edited by Glitchie : 28th Apr 2012 at 03:01 PM.

That's a merged neighborhood. You can't use a merged neighborhood to replace the individual neighborhood templates.

This is the current list of empty templates.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...ic,13382.0.html

You need to replace each neighborhood with the empty neighborhood that has the same name. N001 replaces N001, U002 replaces U002, etc. Anything else will cause problems.

It's a bad idea to make up your own procedure unless you actually know what you're doing. Follow the instructions and everything will be OK. Make up your own procedure and you'll have to test it thoroughly to see whether it's safe and does what you want. I haven't tested your procedure, but I would guess that it's a bad idea.

Most empty neighborhoods have all sims removed, but the terrain, deco, and lots are intact (at least if you follow instructions). I will verify this if you'd like. [Update: verified.]

If you really don't want the neighborhood, there are better ways to do this. Personally, I often just rename the entire Neighborhoods or NeighborhoodTemplate folder, which means that the game won't bother with them at all, but they remain available and intact when I want them.

Last edited by Mootilda : 28th Apr 2012 at 03:36 PM.

Move them out of the folder or do what Mootilda says - what you've done sounds like a potential disaster.

If you are looking to just be able to build your own custom neighbourhood, you don't need to find empty template files for Strangetown or Veronaville, only Pleasantview and any of the neighbourhood folders for any expansions you have that add sims to any neighbourhood (mostly what Mootilda calls stealth neighbourhoods).

Last edited by maxon : 29th Apr 2012 at 12:36 PM.

In addition, you may want empty neighborhoods for all subhoods that you intend to create. For example, if you intend to create a custom Downtown, you may want an empty Downtown template so that the game doesn't add all of the standard downtownies to your neighborhood.

It may seem like alot of information to take in and handle, doing this, but it really isnt. Its actually quite easy. Just take it a step at a time and double check everything.

Dont mean to hijack, but I have a quick question: I downloaded and installed cleaned everything a while back and made a hood based off of them. Including Downtown. But when I added a downtown to one of my older custom hoods, I created all Downtownies. Then using Christinalovs hacked clothes rack at the time, I went to modify downtonies, and saw there were 2 of each maxis premade Downtownies. ...Why did this happen? I followed the directions right, and none of the other hoods did this...?

The only thing I can think of, if you really have an empty D001 folder, is that you added a downtown before. The characters are created when you attach the downtown. With an empty D001 folder, the game has nothing to copy. You did empty out the characters folder as well as using the empty template? Mind you, it should only make one set of characters so if you have two, it sounds like somehow the neighbourhood got flagged as not having had a downtown before.

Oh wait, you said cleaned? Well, cleaned templates are not the same as empty templates. Mootilda knows more about that - perhaps she'll comment.

I'd be more likely to help if he'd remove that signature. He's on my ignore list because I just can't stand seeing it. Sigh.

Perhaps a new thread would be better. After all, Glitchie is clearly confused enough already; should we really confuse her/him more by discussing other problems in this thread?

Last edited by Mootilda : 28th Apr 2012 at 09:10 PM.

Hello. Sorry to interrupt but i think i read somewhere that the default townies can cause corruption. Is really safer to use the clean templates or do people just do this if they don't like the default townies? Thank you

P.S. - If you use clean templates, how many new townies should you make?

Oh sorry, I guess it is a bit inappropriate... ill remove it. They were empty, not cleaned, but I think Maxon pinned it, I might have added one before. So that must have been it. Thanks. Sorry if this lead to confusion

It would help if we had a link to the article. There's a lot of misinformation on the internet.

Safer than what? Safer than using the uncleaned templates? Yes, definitely. Depending on the creator, clean templates often contain a lot of fixes to the remaining sims. For example, here is a partial list of all of the changes that Tarlia made to the templates. Her most recent version has even more fixes.
http://meetme2theriver.livejournal.com/29134.html

As many as you want?

Last edited by Mootilda : 29th Apr 2012 at 03:03 AM.

Actually it was on this site. I believe you wrote or helped write the article. I just wanted to make sure I understood that particular piece of information correctly.

http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?tit...Hood_Corruption

As far as the number of townies, people here have said that overpopulation can cause major problems, so I was wondering if there was a limit.

Yes, the total number of sims can be a problem, especially with the base game and earlier EPs. You'll have to search to find the actual limits. I don't even remember which EP increased the limits to more reasonable values.

moreawesomethanyou has some good information about various problems with the shipped neighborhoods. The list that I linked above gives you some idea of the kinds of problems that exist in the shipped neighborhoods, but I believe that Tarlia found most of the information about problems and their solutions at MATY. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that there is any one thread that contains all of that information.

However, I believe that most of those problems are not specifically problems with the default townies. They are often problems with playable sims or dead ancestors. You can't fix most of these problems by just removing some of the default townies; they require special fixes.

The thing is: only you can decide how you want to play. Many people play the neighborhoods as shipped. Others use clean templates to avoid known problems. Still others avoid known problems by avoiding the shipped neighborhoods altogether, playing only custom neighborhoods. Many of those people install empty templates to avoid the default townies, but some people play custom neighborhoods with the shipped townies. There's even the option to create your own "clean and fixed" neighborhoods, by finding and fixing all of the known problems with the shipped hoods.

Last edited by Mootilda : 29th Apr 2012 at 05:25 AM.

Not in the least. All it does is keep the game from automatically generating the premade hoods and subhoods - and more importantly, all the crap that comes with them - when you start the game, leaving you free to create completely customized hoods with custom townies, custom terrains, custom everything.



WRONG.

It's not possible to have a terrainless neighbourhood: the game is built to require that a terrain be selected first before a hood is created. Replacing the premade hood files with 0KB versions will simply mean that the premade hoods will not be available. If I wasn't 100% sure of this, I wouldn't have done it in my own game. Essentially, the game detects the neighbourhood template file, reads it, finds nothing in there, shrugs and goes on to the next item.



Sadly, that doesn't always work. Believe me, I've tried. Overwriting the template files proper is the only surefire way to ensure the absence of premade hoods. If you want to keep the premades hidden away, you can create a backup copy of the templates you want. For example, I simply renamed each template as "X001_Neighborhood.bak" and named the blank template file as the original.

As Pescado would say, ACCEPT NO KEWIAN-BASED SUBSTITUTES!

Funny, it always works for me. I never have to worry about unwanted sims.

It's also the technique used by the AnyGameStarter, and by plasticbox on the Mac (after I explained how the AnyGameStarter works).

Probably the biggest advantage to this technique is that you can have multiple Neighborhood_x folders which are easily swapped in and out, based on what you want at the moment. Personally, I often have Neighborhoods_Original, Neighborhoods_Clean, Neighborhoods_Empty, and Neighborhoods_Test. For the NeighborhoodTemplate folders, it's basically the same set, along with NeighborhoodTemplate_Stealth, since I hate the Stealth neighborhoods with a passion.

Exactly. And since you're not Pescado...

Or, was that supposed to be an argument for your technique? Are you suggesting that Pescado recommends your method? Link?

At the very least, your method is unconventional and inelegant. It copies large numbers of useless files to your Neighborhoods folder.

The standard method is to install empty templates. However, if you want a truly empty environment, then you'll want to use the AnyGameStarter empty game technique, which I described briefly. Your method doesn't seem to have the advantages of either of these more accepted techniques, but has some obvious disadvantages.

Last edited by Mootilda : 29th Apr 2012 at 11:22 PM.

Actually, someone on MATY invented the technique I use: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...pic,5861.0.html





Wait... what? Are we on the same page here?

My method may be somewhat inelegant*, sure, but I don't recall copying large numbers of useless files anywhere. The only time files are being copied are if you actually want to backup the Maxis neighbourhood templates, a process which is entirely optional and only exists to keep you from having to reload each individual template off the game disks if you decide you want the premade hoods back. Blank template .packages = no borked townies, lots or other things that would interfere with your game. The only disadvantage I can see in my method is the fact that you would essentially start out with no neighbourhoods at all and would have to create all hoods and subhoods from scratch, including universities, downtowns, vacation spots and even hobby lots.




*now that I think about it, an automated batch file would be a great way to get around the inelegance...

Isn't that what we were talking about? Making a back up.

As far as I can tell, no one at MATY (especially Pes) has suggested that you create your empty hood package using notepad. That's your own (somewhat bizarre) interpretation.

The actual suggestion at MATY is to replace your hood package with a modified hood package which someone has cleaned of sims, but which is still a valid neighborhood with valid lots. Each of the shipped hoods and subhoods have been safely cleared of sims by someone knowledable and these "empty" hood packages are available for download:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...ic,13382.0.html

If you're not convinced, jrd even includes a link to empty templates in the original post of the thread that you're quoting. If you need further proof, just tell them what you're doing (but be sure to wear something flameproof ).

Your method is a non-standard procedure which is not endorsed by anyone except yourself, based on an incorrect interpretation of a valid and widely used method. In this case, your method is the kewian-based substitute.

The other endorsed method is to create a completely empty environment using the AGS method which I explained above (rename the parent folders).

When the game is started, it finds all valid hoods in the installation folders and copies them intact into your save game, modifying them as required. If you replace the hood package with an empty text file, the game still copies all of the (now useless) files. I tried your method with N001-N003 and verified that you do not get empty hoods, but useless ones with hundreds of useless files. Even when your method is used for stealth subhoods, the game clearly struggles to figure out what to do with the text file and ends up replacing your text file with a completely empty (but valid) Sims 2 package, without terrain, lots, etc.

Unfortunately, I am not supposed to use my right hand for several days (doctor's orders), so typing is extremely difficult and a more detailed explanation will have to wait.

Last edited by Mootilda : 1st May 2012 at 01:23 AM.