Thanks to boblishman for teaching me this. This is his information that I'm putting together in a simple tutorial since it was requested.

This tutorial will show you how to extract a born-in-game sim so you can make copies or upload them.

You will need the following tools-
-SimPE (this tutorial uses the most recent version)
-Body Shop


Step 1 [b]

Open SimPE From the "File" tab-Select Open, and navigate to the neighborhood that houses the sim you wish to extract.


For this tutorial I will be working in Neighborhood 4.

[b]Step 2
Navigate to My Documents/Ea Games/Sims 2/Neighborhoods/N004/N004_Neighborhood. And select open or ok. Let this file load.



Step 3
On the left you will see a small window with options in it. Click once on "Sim Description".
The box now to the right of this window will show you a list of all sims in that neighborhood.


Step 4

Find your sims name on the list in the box to the right and click once on them. This will open up the bottom plug in view with their photo and personal statistics.



Step 5

Now go back up to the top and select
Tools-Neighborhoods-Sim Surgery



Let this load for a moment.

Step 6
The Sim Surgery window will open up. To the left in the pool is a list of all sims in the neighborhood arranged alphabetically by first name. Find your sim on this list. Once you do, click once on thier photo to highlight it.



Step 7

Under Patient sim, select the USE button. Your sims picture will now appear in the first box.



Step 8

Now you will select the EXPORT option at the top of this window. It will open up a save screen into your Saved Sims folder. You can rename the sim or leave it as the file name SimPE gives you. Hit save.



Step 9

Close SimPe.
Open Body Shop

Step 10

Go to Build or Clone sims.
Sort through your list of custom made sims if you have any in body shop. The sim you just exported may not always show as the first sim, so sort through until you find him or her. And select the CLONE option at the bottom of your body shop window.
This will create a duplicate of the sim you just extracted.

Hit the check mark to save the sim.
Now back up and select "Package Sims" from the body shop main menu.
Package your sim to a sims2package file and Thats it!
*****MAKE SURE YOU PACKAGE THE CLONE OF THE EXTRACTED SIM****

You've just packaged up a born in game sim and can share him with your friends. I hope this helps some of youw ho had trouble with this like I did. Good Luck!

For anyone who doesn't know the Neighbourhood Number of the lot that contains their Sim....here's another way to find him/her.....

1. Open SimPE ...then


2. Go to Tools/Neighbourhood/Neighbourhood Browser



3. Give it time to load..... then select the Neighbourhood where you Sim is and click OPEN ...



4. Give it time to load....then Select Tools/Neighbourhood/Sim Surgery






Once Sim Surgery has opened, you follow the proceedure as above (from STEP 6) onwards....

p.s I take NO credit for this....it's stuff I learned from threads already here (mostly by Pinhead)

Thanks you guys.

I need some help with this, I have a question.

K, say I want to change the appearance of a Sim I've already made and put in the game. So I do these steps and get him/her in bodyshop and start editing. THEN what do I do next to override the character thats still in-game, so that it can have the changes I made, but still keep its memories, personality, and all its traits? Just to replace its look?

Also, are you able to package a Sim not just from Bodyshop, but after you've giving it its personality and traits like that? So that you can give it to someone else with its personality, experiences and relationships intact?

why the clone and not the sim?

I've learned that by extracting a Vampire from the game using SimPE you get a regular sim but with FANGS. They're quite adorable really....hahaaaaa

..........aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand....

you can change their face too(not their full bodies) and they keep the fangs....

So you can have many different looking Sims with fangs.

Thanks for that tip Punk- how cool.

The vampire flag is held with the sim, not their physical information. The Dying Informant, use the archetype created and make a temporary sim in-game in THAT neighborhood. The using sim surgery, use the temp sim as the archetype and the original sim as the patient.

Yes, I would also like to know why. What happens if you package the sim and not the clone? Is it ok to delete the sim out of bodyshop and keep only the clone in there?

Yes it is.

I have a question... I see more than one of my sim... is this supposed to be this way or is something terribly wrong?

Could you clarify that?

Thanks much for this post, this is something I've been wanting to do with some of my born in game sims. One of them, unfortunately, has already died, and I don't have the Resurrect thingie-a-tron (that's with Uni right?) (but I do have NL). I extracted her anyway, cloned her in BodyShop and made her an adult, so maybe she'll be able to walk through walls?
Think I'll be looking in the tutorials section more often. Thanks a lot!!

I don't think so. When you extract them to body shop, all you extract is their looks.

I have a question, but looking at the post nobody seems to be answering any questions, anyhow on the off chance somebody might, I did the above tut and found that my sim came into bodyshop without custom items like makeup, eyes, the outfit and hair was there, but no makeup and for the celebrity sim Cher I made she needs her makeup with all the plasto surgery she has had done, lol. Did i miss something when exporting her and do u have to check the box's makeup, eys and face?

Thanks Donah

You may need to have SimPE scan the folder(s) where those are located.

I just tried checking the three boxes makeup, face and eyes and made no difference, the custom makeup, eyes and skintone still did not show up in bodyshop. Does the custom stuff have to be imported in to bobyshop seperatly, but then why does SimPE export the hair and outfit but not the makeup, skintone and eyes? Please is anyone else had this prob and what am i doing wrong.

Thanks Donah

ok it ther a tut on scaning the folders for custom content? I am very new to useing SimPE so every tut helps lol.

Thanks Donah

okay,I did everything that is in this tutorial and my sim won't show up in Body Shop,does anyone know why?

Are you sure you saved him or her in the Saved Sims folder?

i have the exact same problem as SimsRox and it really bugs me!! and im positive that i saved her in the Saved Sims folder.

I havent encountered that problem- You could try putting her file in the downlaods folder and see if she shows in body shop then?

nope...in fact, anything i put in the downloads folder doesn't show up in my body shop. i feel so useless! gahh

are you certain youre going through my documents and not program files? its a common mistake.. make sure your content is in
My Documents/Ea Games/Sims 2/Downloads

i hate to be so annoying, but im pretty sure thats what im doing. plus, i have probably hundreds of custom content files in that folder, and not one shows up in body shop.

Thankie You's I've got a sim I've wanted to share for a while....^-^