Is there a way to change the sex of a baby in Sim PE?
minonda:
Quote from: jsalemi on 2006 August 22, 02:43:14
In any case, it may not hurt to grab JMP's census tool, and take a look at the sex balance of the hood, both playables and non-playables. If there is a noticeably higher number of males, the sadorandom generator may have just been insisting on restoring the balance.
I don't think you've mentioned it -- have you tried using the re-randomize function in the Lot Debugger before the baby is born? I run it before every birth in my game, and haven't had the 'First Born' effect since I started using it. Maybe re-randomizing might get your game off being stuck on giving Circe a girl.
Maybe there is a balance inherent in the game. I haven't had a chance to get beyond generation 2 because every time I play a neighborhood something horrific happens and I have to start over again (or at least, I thought I had to start over again because of my lack of knowledge) so I haven't had a chance to observe the balancing over time. Most likely that much-hoped-for baby boy would have arrived even if the initiating Sim was male. With any luck at all I will be able to see what happens as I move on to generation 3 and beyond.
I am ashamed to admit that in the throes of my last catastrophic problem, I uninstalled every hack I had, so I don't have the lot debugger. I did have it but hadn't used it. At the moment I'm afraid to use anything extra since I had some weird, game-spoiling problems when I had hacks installed. The first big problem came when I downloaded InSIMenator. At the time I had JM's Macrostatics, Auto-Yak and one other Auto-Something. After the catastrophe (which is how it was described by someone on the InSIMenator board) I removed InSIM and Macrostatics.
Then about a week later I installed a few hacks (no more than 3) from this site and one from ModtheSims2. Everything went fine. Then I downloaded a bunch of hacks, and had the catastrophic problem again (in which the lot acts like it's a community lot and I can't quit or save, and there seems to be some issue with the car) so I uninstalled everything.
If I ever get the nerve to use a hack again, I will try your suggestion. In the meantime, I will trust that Maxis has built in some long-term neighborhood-balancing thing so my Sims can propagate without me creating mates just for them.
J. M. Pescado:
Quote from: minonda on 2006 August 22, 11:29:04
Then about a week later I installed a few hacks (no more than 3) from this site and one from ModtheSims2. Everything went fine. Then I downloaded a bunch of hacks, and had the catastrophic problem again (in which the lot acts like it's a community lot and I can't quit or save, and there seems to be some issue with the car) so I uninstalled everything.
If a Residential lot develops this problem and you retain control over selectable sims, simply use "Restore UI" on the lot debugger, which will unblock save/exit/buy/build. This is a harmless nuisance that occasionally happens, particularly in connection with lot transportation or burglars. Naturally, the lot debugger needs to be there in advance! APO will also contains an option for this under SHIFT-CLICK.
Macrotastics is Awesome and you should never be without it! It is clearly more awesome than you.
Quote from: minonda on 2006 August 22, 11:29:04
If I ever get the nerve to use a hack again, I will try your suggestion. In the meantime, I will trust that Maxis has built in some long-term neighborhood-balancing thing so my Sims can propagate without me creating mates just for them.
I wouldn't count on it. If the "balancer" theoretically exists, and there is some degree of statistical evidence for it, it is flawed. Firstly, it is believed that there is a bias towards male NPCs, as there are supposedly more NPCs which are always male than those which are always female. If not, then the bias is likely in the other direction.
Secondly, my playable neighborhood currently skews about 60/70 M/F. However, the "full census" is somewhat more balanced, suggesting the bulk of the male population is concentrated in the nonplayables. Of course, most of us do not marry non-playables, for a certain good reason! Marrying NPCs is liable to create more of them, and if thus marry the surplus "male" NPCs, more males, as they may be required to be male, will spawn to replace them, thus skewing the ratio even MORE. Also, most non-playables simply cannot be considered breedable material, being either of inappropriate personality, too hideous to behold, possess NPC codes that wig out when moved in, or simply are NPCs and thus undesirable because they self-respawn, skewing the ratio again.
Thirdly, the count is often off due to elders, whose partners may have died already. If old lady's husband kicks it, you PROBABLY aren't looking to remarry her off, as this won't produce another generation, and will disrupt your marriage lines. Plus she may kick it in a few days as well. However, the game will count the orphaned elder in its "balance", and thus spawn more of the other. This produces a vicious cycle: For instance, a surplus of females is created. Due to insufficient playable males, they thus marry later in life, older than their mates: They die first, and their dying skews the ratio again towards males, so the game tries to compensate by creating MORE females, which simply perpetuates the same problem ad infinitum.
Fourthly, the game has no way of measuring your intent to breed: Some sims you may not have any intention of ever breeding (vampires), or may not be physically capable of it (robots, zombies). These are counted in the ratio anyway, and skew things. You *DO* tend to have more control over this, and can use it to stack the deck back the way YOU want it: If you have a running surplus of females, and you turn them into vampires and don't breed them, they'll serve as a "drag weight" on the surplus nonplayable males and bring the spawn ratio back into balance.
All in all, however, the balancing system, if it exists, is BROKEN and will generally worsen, rather than alleviate, existing population dynamics issues. Homosexual pairings will further exacerbate existing problems.
minonda:
Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2006 August 22, 11:49:20
Macrotastics is Awesome and you should never be without it! It is clearly more awesome than you.
[I wouldn't count on it. If the "balancer" theoretically exists, and there is some degree of statistical evidence for it, it is flawed. Firstly, it is believed that there is a bias towards male NPCs, as there are supposedly more NPCs which are always male than those which are always female. If not, then the bias is likely in the other direction.
All in all, however, the balancing system, if it exists, is BROKEN and will generally worsen, rather than alleviate, existing population dynamics issues.
Wow, JM! I really and truly AM in awe of you. Thank you for this mini-treatise, most of which I admit I have trouble following, but which is fascinating information nonetheless. I wish you would write a book about the Sims 2 -- there's obviously so much going on in there that a player like me has no conception of.
And of course, Macrostatics is more awesome than I. Awesomeness is one quality I never claimed to have, at least when it comes to .... whatever all this is called. Ok, I will download the lot debugger and Macrostatics again. Thank you again. It took two days, but I got a real answer out of you!
J. M. Pescado:
I'm not much of a book writer. If I had to write something the size of a Prima Guide, without someone to remind me of what I was talking about, I'd forget what I was talking about and go off on some side tangent in an extended rant.
Avalikia:
But it would be a facinating read anyway, I'm sure.
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