Correcting the DNA of Strangetown premade characters
baratron:
OK, I put this together some months ago and haven't really looked at it since. Thanks to Ancient Sim, rainbow and xptl297 (from VS) who helped me puzzle this out.
Most of the premade sims in Strangetown have messed-up genetics, which can lead to problems if you make them parents. There are two main issues:
1) A crash can occur while a child is being born. This happens because the game is unable to assign a skintone to the new baby. This error is fixed with the patches.
2) Babies can look inexplicably nothing like their supposed parents. For example, Pollination Tech #9 and Jenny Smith will have a baby with skintone 4, the darkest Maxis skin. This is not fixed, as far as I know.
Strangetown sims with missing DNA:
Jenny Smith, Chloe Singles, Erin Singles, Lola Singles, Kristen Singles, Loki Beaker, Circe Beaker, General Buzz Grunt, (Lyla Grunt), Ripp Grunt, Vidcund Curious, Olive Specter, Ophelia Nigmos.
Strangetown sims with missing AND extra DNA:
Pollination Tech #9 Smith, Johnny Smith, Jill Smith, Tank Grunt, Buck Grunt.
Strangetown sims that are OK:
Ajay Loner, Nervous Subject, Pascal Curious, Lazlo Curious, all the townies.
Note: Nervous's DNA isn't right considering he is supposed to be Olive Specter's son, but this is probably because Olive is lacking the "Skin tone passed on" options. He is, in fact, just a clone of the Grim Reaper with gender inverted (as always happens with clones - see Brandi Broke's third child for more information).
OK. So what is sim DNA supposed to look like? Here is the DNA of a Maxis-made sim from before Uni (Daniel Pleasant), with comments along side:
1 (dtString): 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 = Expressed hair colour (Red hair)
2 (dtString): 00000002-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 = Expressed skin tone (Tan skin)
268435457: 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 = Recessive hair colour (Red hair)
268435458: 00000002-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 = Recessive skin tone (Tan skin)
268435459: 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7 = Recessive eye colour (Green eyes)
268435461:
268435462: 00000002-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 = Skin tone passed on (Tan skin)
3 (dtString): 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7 = Expressed eye colour (Green eyes)
4 (dtString): -858851246:2143197002:1 = Present in the DNA of all sims that have been moved between Neighbourhoods - don't alter
5 (dtString): mouth,eyes,ears, = characteristics to be passed on
6 (dtString): 00000002-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 = Skin tone passed on (Tan skin)
Like most sims created in Create-A-Sim, he is homozygous for all his characteristics, i.e. he has two identical genes for each characteristic. (All adults made in CAS are homozygous. I'm not sure whether this rule applies also for children that you make in Create-A-Sim by mixing together the genes of the parents you've made.)
Like all premade Maxis sims, he has a couple of extra lines of DNA compared to a sim made in Create-A-Sim. These being the lines that start 268435461 (dtString): and 4 (dtString):. These lines are harmless.
In comparison, let's look at the DNA of a Maxis-made sim that's messed up (Pollination Tech#9 Smith):
1 (dtString): 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 = Expressed hair colour (Red hair)
2 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46 = Expressed skin tone (Alien skin)
268435457: 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 = Recessive hair colour (Red hair)
268435458: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46 = Recessive skin tone (Alien skin)
268435459: 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51 = Recessive eye colour (Alien eyes)
268435461:
268435462:
268435463:
268435464:
3 (dtString): 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51 = Expressed eye colour (Alien eyes)
4 (dtString): -858851246:2142037590:1 = Present in DNA of all sims that have moved neighbourhood - do not alter!
5 (dtString): brow,mouth,cheek,cheekbones,eyes,ears,
6 (dtString):
7 (dtString):
8 (dtString):
Poor Pollination Tech #9 is missing both the lines 268435462: Skin tone passed on and the line 6 (dtString): Skin tone passed on. As a result, the game doesn't know what skin tone to assign to his baby, and uses the default - skintone 4. He can be fixed, but to do so requires editing his Sim DNA in SimPE.
baratron:
Here is my corrected DNA for the Smith family. I've put all the comments at the bottom so you can just cut & paste the lines into the Sim DNA in SimPE. Remember that you have to Commit to every single change you make in SimPE, or they don't stick ;).
PT#9's new DNA
1 (dtString): 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435457: 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435459: 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
268435461:
268435462: 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
3 (dtString): 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
4 (dtString): -858851246:2142037590:1
5 (dtString): brow,mouth,cheek,cheekbones,eyes,ears,
6 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
I've made him homozygous for alien skin and alien eyes, as he is a "true" alien. He is also homozygous for red hair - I didn't change this from the way the game had him set up already. As alien skin is dominant over normal skin, this version of PT#9 will always have alien-skinned children. If you want to change this, change the line that starts 268435462: to a different skin tone.
Jenny's new DNA:
1 (dtString): 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435457: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 00000002-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435459: 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
268435461:
268435462: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
3 (dtString): 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
4 (dtString): -858851246:2133502647:0
5 (dtString): brow,cheek,ears,
6 (dtString): 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
She is homozygous for blonde hair and green eyes. I've made her heterozygous for skin colour (light & tan) to reflect her parentage and the fact that 2 of her brothers are tan skinned. However, I've set the "skin colour to pass on" to be light skin. This is fairly irrelevant in her children, as they will inherit an alien skin gene from their homozygous father, and alien skin is dominant over other skin colours - but depending on her children's partners, her grandchildren may revert to light skin.
Johnny's new DNA:
1 (dtString): 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435457: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435459: 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
268435461:
268435462: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
3 (dtString): 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
4 (dtString): -858851246:2141648567:1
5 (dtString): brow,mouth,eyes,ears,
6 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
He is homozygous for blonde hair and green eyes. I've made him heterozygous for skin colour to reflect his parentage. He may pass on alien or light skin.
Jill's new DNA:
1 (dtString): 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435457: 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435459: 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
268435461:
268435462: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
3 (dtString): 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
4 (dtString): -858851246:2133599162:1 = ??!
5 (dtString): nose,brow,cheek,cheekbones,eyes,ears,
6 (dtString): 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
She is homozygous for skin colour, which is weird - she "should" have one alien skin gene. I've left her as she is, though. She is homozygous for green eyes and now heterozygous for hair colour (expressed = blonde, recessive = red) to reflect her parentage.
Just to prove this works, here is the DNA of Jake Smith, the new third child of PT#9 & Jenny. Note that Jake's DNA is in the new order introduced by University. Each line still codes for the same thing (so the line that begins 1 (dtString): still codes for Expressed hair colour), but the order of lines is different - just to be difficult :D.
Jake's DNA:
6 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435462: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435458: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
1 (dtString): 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435457: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
3 (dtString): 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
268435459: 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
5 (dtString): mouth,cheekbones,eyes,ears,
268435461:
Jake is heterozygous for skin colour and could potentially pass on either alien or light skin. His expressed hair colour is red, but he also has a blonde hair gene. He has alien eyes but a recessive green eye gene. This is what the game generated for me, based on my modified DNA for PT#9 and Jenny.
baratron:
All the Singles girls have the same surname of Singles, because until Uni came in it wasn't possible to have a single Household name that was different to a sim's Family name. In correcting their DNA I've also corrected their names.
Chloe "Singles" new DNA: (Curious/Smith)
1 (dtString): 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435457: 00000004-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435459: 32dee745-b6ce-419f-9e86-ae93802d2682
268435461:
268435462: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
3 (dtString): 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
4 (dtString): -858851246:2139289422:1:
5 (dtString): brow,mouth,cheek,cheekbones,eyes,jaw,
6 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
Chloe is the daughter of PT#9 and Glarn Curious, so I've made her heterozygous for skin colour: expressed skin colour = alien, recessive = medium (3). She is homozygous for red hair. I've made her heterozygous for eye colour so that she cannot (hopefully) have children with alien eyes & normal skin. I've assumed that Glarn Curious had brown eyes, though it's difficult to tell as he has no character data. Studying his other children just makes for a whole mess of confusion:
Pascal has dark blue eyes, Vidcund has light blue eyes, Lazlo has brown eyes and Jenny has green eyes. They're all homozygous for eye colour, which seems a bit impossible if they are supposed to all have the same parents. It's possible that one parent had dark blue & light blue eye genes and the other had brown & light blue eye genes, as brown & dark blue are both dominant, but this doesn't account for Jenny's green eyes. I blame the milkman - or more likely, some Maxoid who wasn't thinking properly when they coded Create-A-Sim. (To be fair, for all we know, it could've been finished at 3am one day by someone who'd been in the office since 8am the previous day).
Lola "Singles" new DNA: (Curious/Smith)
1 (dtString): 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
268435457: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435459: 32dee745-b6ce-419f-9e86-ae93802d2682
268435461:
268435462: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
3 (dtString): 12d4f3e1-fdbe-4fe7-ace3-46dd9ff52b51
4 (dtString): -858851246:2131016629:1:
5 (dtString): mouth,cheekbones,eyes,ears,
6 (dtString): 6baf064a-85ad-4e37-8d81-a987e9f8da46
I've edited her to be heterozygous for skin & eye colour in the same way as Chloe.
Erin "Singles" new DNA: (Beaker)
1 (dtString): 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435457: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 00000002-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435459: 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
268435461:
268435462: 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
3 (dtString): 51c4a750-c9f4-4cfe-801c-898efc360cb7
4 (dtString): -858851246:2140914850:1;
5 (dtString): brow,cheek,ears,
6 (dtString): 00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
She is homozygous for blonde hair, light skin and green eyes. She could be Jenny Smith's sister ;) Again, it's weird that she's homozygous for green eyes when her brother Loki is homozygous for light blue eyes - but not actually impossible.
Kristen "Singles" new DNA: (Loste)
1 (dtString): 00000002-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
2 (dtString): 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435457: 00000002-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435458: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
268435459: 2d6839c5-0b7c-48a1-9c55-4bd9cc873b0f
268435461:
268435462: 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
3 (dtString): 2d6839c5-0b7c-48a1-9c55-4bd9cc873b0f
4 (dtString): -858851246:2132641881:1;
5 (dtString): brow,cheek,cheekbones,jaw,
6 (dtString): 00000003-0000-0000-0000-000000000000
Kristen Singles has no living relatives in Strangetown, so it's impossible to be sure what her recessive genes "should" be. I've left her homozygous for brown hair, dark blue eyes and medium skin (shade 3), and just added the extra lines for skin tone to be passed on.
I haven't fixed any of the other Strangetown inhabitants yet because I don't intend for any of them to have children, but hopefully this gives you enough of an idea to work with.
baratron:
OK, this will be step-by-step. I hope.
1. Run SimPE by double-clicking on its icon.
2. The menu at the top of the screen says File, Tools, Extra, Window, Help. Choose Tools --> Neighbourhood --> Neighbourhood Browser.
3. Click on the icon of the Neighbourhood you want to edit - in this case, Strangetown.
4. If you don't already take regular backups, choose Create Backup from the options at the bottom of the Neighbourhood Browser. Making a backup takes a few minutes. Don't be alarmed if your SimPE window goes completely blank for a while.
... waiting for mine to finish.
5. OK. The Neighbourhood Browser will still be open. Select Strangetown again, & this time choose Open. Eventually, the Neighbourhood will load.
6. Now, go to the menu at the top again. Select Tools --> Neighbourhood --> Sim Browser
7. Scroll down the list of sims until you find the one you want (e.g. Pollination Tech #9). Double-click to load him.
8. You then get a Sim Description Editor appear in the window at the bottom of the screen. There are 10 icons to choose from. Pick the last one, More --> Open Sim DNA.
9. The DNA editor appears in the window.
To change the contents of a line:
1. Click to highlight it
2. Go to the Value box on the right
3. Click inside the Value box a couple of times until the whole line is highlighted, then hit backspace or delete on your keyboard to remove it.
4. Go to my corrected DNA file. Highlight the new Value, and press CTRL-C to copy it to the Windows clipboard.
5. Back in SimPE, press CTRL-V in the Value box. The new value will paste in.
6. Click Commit at the top to commit the changes.
To delete the contents of a line:
1. Click to highlight it
2. Click "delete" at the bottom.
To add a new line:
1. Click "add" at the bottom. It will add a new line at the end of the DNA.
This becomes quite a pain in the bottom, because there doesn't seem to be any easy way to reorder the lines. The only way I've managed to do it is by cutting and pasting a lot to get the lines into the right order. But you can make it quicker because whatever line is highlighted when you hit "add", that line will be duplicated at the bottom.
When you have finished editing your DNA, go back to the main menu at the top of the screen. Go to File --> Save. And it should save the changes.
I hope that helps. If you need more assistance ask around here until you find someone who's better at explaining than me, or who has the time to make lots of screenshots :).
Meek_Monkey:
Thank you that was very helpful and explanatory post. Even though I have all ready done the dna fix. I wish that this was around when I was trying to work it out. I hope u dont mind that I give a link back to here If I come across someone that requires the info.
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