I use the invisible vampire skin here:

 http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=92042&highlight=Default+Vampire

I love it! No red eyes, no blue skin. They keep all their original genetics. Been using it for months and have had no problems at all.

Yes, I would try only a base hood, and then deleteallcharacters, then generate without exiting the game. Since the business district doesn't add any new characters unless you choose Bluewater, it should work fine. Are you sure you don't have a hack hiding somewhere that may be causing the conflict?

By the way, I don't personally use deleteallcharacters. I delete the character files. But until this test for the tutorial, I never wanted to generate townies, either.

If you can make a new hood in an account without any downloads/hacks, that may tell you if it is a problem in your downloads folder.

How did you create your neighborhood? If you don't mind going through all the steps you took, perhaps that would help. And which terrains you used would be helpful, too. I will try to re-create the problem on my pc.

The problem is that you added subhoods and then deleted all characters. That doesn't work with OFB.

Here is a tutorial I wrote specifically for thie

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=4090.0

Hope this helps you

I always use clean installer, but I de-select the default intallation and put them in the saved sims folder, and they always show up. I was thinking of packaging all the Maty sims lots (the sims and their houses) from Matyville. Maybe you would be interested in those?

Great! I will give it a try. No thanks for you because you hate them, so thanks for nothing

And this is exactly the reason everyone should never leave their home unless it is absolutely imperative!

How would I flag something to be hidden in the catalogue? I have tried tinkering with the files myself, but with no luck so far. I saw that you made some things hidden for certain outfits, but I have a whole slew of custom career outfits I want to be able to hide before I reinstall them.

Thanks for this info, by the way - not that I am saying thanks or anything....hehe

To roll back your Nvidia drivers:

Right-click on My Computer, select Properties. Go to the Hardware tab, click on Device Manager. Click the + sign on Display Adapters. Right-click on Nvidia GeForce FX550 and select properties. Click on the Drivers tab, then click Roll Back Drivers. Follow the directions from there. That is it =)

For the record, I have the same video card and have the latest drivers and they work great. (84.21 I beleive) You just have to install them before you install the game, or reinstall after installing the drivers.
Oddly enough, I was running the game at the default graphics settings (medium all) and at 600x800 because I thought it would be easier on my card. This does not seem to be the case. I - for the hell of it - set everything on high, including shadows, and only reflections are off. I have the resolution at 1024x768 and refresh at 60mhz. It runs great - better, actually. I can load larger lots than I could before upping the graphics. View distance is small and fade is medium. I do not have the fastest pc - I run at 1.83gHz, and I have 1gig of ram. I would have never thought it would work that way, but somehow it does.

You may want to just uninstall and reinstall the newest EP since it automatically resets your graphics info. Just backup your files and make sure you back up your custom terrains! Uninstalling OFB deletes some custom sc4 terrains, I found out the hard way.

What I do is I package the lot - family and all, and then using clean installer, install the lot file only. This will install only the lot, and nothing else.

did you actually try to make a greek house or get to know a ss member? that would be the way to find out.

That would be them. Thanks! Now I know where they came from.

I have beer bottles, but I have no idea where they are from. I can zip them up and send/upload them when I find them. I think they are miller lite or bud - I think I might have both actually.

If it is working, that is great. I didn't even try it I will make sure it works in my game before I change the post - thanks for the info!

Edit: It did work, thanks! It makes too many new sims for my taste, but it is good to know the option is there.

If you plan on deleting all the downtown characters, a Maxis subhood doesn't work because of all of the extra information attached to them. You can attach any Maxis neighborhood if you plan on keeping all the characters intact. If it is the buildings you want, move them to the lots and houses bin, or better yet, package them and then install them as the "lot file only" to get rid of all the person and other erroneous data that may be attached to it.

Eh no problem The other thing I remembered about placing lots after making all your townies is because if you screw up the townie making process, you won't have worked hard to make the hood nice for nothing.


jsalemi is quite correct. I have suspicions, but I am not positive of what, exactly, the problem is. I suspect it has something to do with the quantity of character files. I also suspect that since downtown and university have specific functions for each neighborhood not available in the base hood, that might cause something weird, as well.

OK, lots copied from any custom neighborhood show up (which I am used to), lots from Pleasantview will not. Just shows how tweaked Maxis hoods are. You can create Mr.Big and the Grand Vampire without a downtown - the Gypsy spawns on her own. So far, I have not seen any but the gypsy. I think it is probably because their coding requires they show up in downtown lots. I Imagine this will be true with all neighborhood specific NPCs, with the exception of the gypsy because if you have NL the option to call her as a service is automatically there.

That I have not tried. The option is there to create them as long as you have the EP, though. That I can test out, I am quite curious to know now. As far as the lot thing, I meant that specifically for packaged Maxis lots from Maxis hoods (since they have so much info attached to them that is not really lot-related) - in case that is what people wanted. Which brings me to another test I am going to try. I am going to make an empty Pleasentview terrain, DAC and then cgo into the normal one, delete the occupied houses and then exit and copy the files in the lot catalogue and see what happens. Will post results as soon as I have them!

And you're welcome! Glad I could finally offer something of use rather than just random and excessive babbling 

This is specifically for OFB, but it can be used for non OFB users as well.

This is PRE OFB PATCH ONLY until further notice.

Deleting, Creating, and Generating Townies


INDEX:

1.) Getting rid of all characters
2.)Making new townies
   a.)To Make Maxis townies
   b.)To Make Custom Townies
3.)Adding a Downtown
4.)Adding A University
5.)NPCs

The BIG no no: DO NOT do this in a Maxis made neighborhood! Meaning

Pleasantview, Strangetown, and Veronaville. Doing so may blow your game

up beyond repair. I cannot stress this enough.If you really want to get

rid of the sims in these neighborhoods, kill them off individually in

game. If it is simply the houses you want, Package each one you want to

a file and install them after you have completed your new neighborhood.

If you are using clean installer (I hope you are) select LOT FILE ONLY.

This is important. Failing to do this will potentially blow your game

up.

Or you can be really patient and wait until I finish the empty, bug-free version of some neighborhoods, as well as custom townies with no custom content. This will be a while, so don't hold your breath - you will probably turn blue and die if you do.

DO NOT use the deleteallcharacters cheat more than once per

neighborhood. You will get an error during townie creation. If you

screw up the first time, start over. If you accidentally forgot to

delete all the characters before generating townies (meaning you have

two full sets of townies in your neighborhood), deleteallcharacters

will give you an error when you try to generate them again. Add all

your lots and houses AFTER making your townies/downtownies.

NOTE: If you have tried this in a clean neighborhood and you are still getting errors: First, exit and delete the NeighborhoodManager.package from your Neighborhoods folder. If that doesn't work, make sure you have no hacks that prevent townie/dormie regeneration, etc. If that doesn't work, then remove your hacks and try again. If that doesn't work, then I'd say you are SOL. Sorry!

-------------------------

1.) Getting rid of all characters:

Start in a brand new neighborhood, do not make any sims. Do NOT make a

downtown or University. You may make a new Shopping District, but an empty one - NOT Bluewater Village.

 Besides that one exception, NO SUBHOODS ALLOWED! The reason for this exception is that an empty

 Shopping District does not create any new characters.

Adding any others before you delete the characters will make your game blow

up. I will explain how to add Subhoods later in this tutorial, so be

patient!

There are two ways to go about this.

One is while in neighborhood view, hit Ctrl+Shift+c to open the cheat

console. Type in deleteallcharacters, at which point you will be

prompted as to whether or not you really want to do this. Of course you

do, so select yes. At this point the neighborhood will reload and there

will be no one there.

The second one, is to exit the game and delete all the files in the

character folder. (C:\My Documents\EA Games|The Sims

2\Neighborhoods\<insert your neighborhood folder here>\Character Files)

There should be 87 files there. Make sure you pick the correct

neighborhood folder. Once you have navigated to this folder it is wise

to leave it open and Alt+Tab to access it in-game and keep track of

things as you are going through this process.

--------------------------

2.)Making new townies:

First, get either Inge's Teleporter Plus shrub found  HERE : http://www.moreawesomethanyou.net/smf/index.php?topic=2757.0 , or get the proper version of the

InSIMenator (the Sim Edition) for your game version found HERE: http://www.insimenator.net/forumdisplay.php?f=38

or you can use both. This is simply a matter of preference. Read up

(thoroughly!) on both to find out what they do and choose which method

you prefer, and please note that if you choose to use just the

InSIMenator you will have to have a sim ask the townies you exported to leave

the lot. Also, you can adjust their gender preference before

exportation with the Personality Adjustor. With the shrub, you can

remove all non-residents and they will vanish off the lot. Both have

advantages the other doesn't.

This will be split into two sections. Making Maxis townies, and making

custom townies.

  a.)To Make Maxis townies:

Make a sim in CAS aka Create A Family. Move them into a house or empty

lot - it is up to you. As soon as the lot loads for the first time, one

townie, the Grim Reaper, Mrs. Crumplebottom (If you have Nightlife),

the Shrink, and the NPC-Remote Control Car will be generated. Now, open

the cheat console again, and type in boolprop testingcheatsenabled

true. Then you can either Shift+click on your sim and select

spawn...NPC and Townie Maker. It looks like the dead willow tree. Or,

you can Shift+click on the mailbox, and on the second set of menus you

should see *DBG - FORCE Create Townies. It will ask you if you want to

create them now, select yes. SOmetimes you will get a random skintone

option as well. If you have Nightlife, you will have the option to

create Downtownies. Do not pick this one, you will simply get an error.

Now your townies will be generated without a hitch if you have followed

the directions thusfar. More often than not during the creation of said

townies, you will see the icons of the one townie, the 4 NPCs, and the

sim you made where the game is showing you it is creating townies. Do

not be alarmed - this is normal. About halfway through, you will begin

to see other faces as well as blank ones. By the time you are done

generating townies, the paper will likely have been delivered and your

NPC paper delivery teen will have been generated. Save your game. You

should now have 32 files in your Characters folder. 1 is your sim, one

is the paper delivery sim, and the other 30 are townies.

  b.)To Make Custom Townies:

In CAS create 24-30 sims of your liking (preferably in groups of 6-8),

using whatever custom content you want, and leaving them in the Sim Bin

until you are done (it seems to be easier that way). After you have

created your townie sims, move one group into a lot at a time,

preferably an empty one. I prefer to use the same lot for townie

exportation, leaving one sim behind so I can just combine households

(you must have University for this option) with the remaining sims in

the Sim Bin. No waiting for the lot to move them in that way. Do not

give them a phone. Do not greet any visitors that may come to welcome

your sims. This makes the process easier.


Shrub instructions: With each sim, click on the shrub and choose Make

Me A Townie. As you do this, the selected sim will automatically

change. When you have exported all on the lot, you will no longer have

the "make me a" option. Sims will remain on the lot and wander around

doing sim stuff after exportation if you do not pause the game, which

is recommended. After you are done exporting every sim on the lot,

click on the shrub again and select Remove All Non Residents. This will

cause all of them to vanish. Exit the lot, and repeat with the

remaining sims you made that are still in the Sim Bin.


InSIMenator Instructions: click on the ground and select Spawn...Family

Tree. Click on the Family Tree and select Remove From Household...As

Townie...<insert sim name here> -  Leave Downtownie alone for now, and

I highly recommend not touching the NPC option. Continue until you have

one sim left. Have this sim tell everyone to leave. If you do not do

this, they will remain on the lot, even after exiting the lot. If you

have University, you can now take another group from the Sim Bin and

combine households. If you do not have University, export this sim and

then exit back into the neighborhood and move your next group in.

Continue this process until you have sucessfully exported all, and

there will be one exported sim on the lot left. If you wait until it is

really late, they will leave on their own - or if their motives get too

low they will leave before that. If you have a refrigerator and a bed

they will stay, so leave these items off the lot, as they will use them and stay indefinitely. Otherwise,

you can tell them to leave when a new family moves in, but I do not

recommend that.


---------------------

3.)Adding a Downtown:

Before you add a downtown, go to your character files folder and look

at the highest file number (example:N001_User0x00032) and remember it,

write it down, whatever. Now it is safe to make a downtown. Make ONE

and ONLY ONE! DO NOT use the Maxis made Downtown!

Immediately after making your subhood, exit the game. Go to the

Character Files folder and select all the new character files, then

Shift+delete. (This will bypass the Recycle Bin and delete them from

your hard drive). This will normally create 78 new character files.

Start the game, and follow the instructions above for making townies.

It is exactly the same, simply select Downtownie instead of Townie in

each case.

---------------------

4.)Adding A University:

Follow the same instructions for making a downtown, making a note of

the highest character file number, and deleting all new files. There

should be 98 of them. What happens next depends on what you want to do.

Maxis Young Adults: Can be generated by selecting "Create Townies" on a residential lot in a University hood, but be warned: This makes 49 YA, unlike every other neighborhood, which makes 30.

If you make a YA sim and move them into a dorm it will automatically

generate one cafeteria worker, Professors, the Gypsy (if you have

nightlife), a cow mascot, and enough dormies to fill up your dorm. Then over time it will produce a llama

 mascot, a cheerleader, and a streaker. If you put another student or students in another dorm, it will

generate enough dormies for that dorm, as well as a new cow, llama, cheerleader, dorm cook, and streaker.

If you put your sim in a house,  about 30 sim minutes or so after lot load,

the game will produce the required Professors (29), but no dormies or other

YA. On first visit to a community lot ON campus, the game will generate

the necessary NPCs and a Secret Society member - but that is it. If you

want more YA then put a sim in a dorm or make your own.



Custom Young Adults: To make your own YA, follow the same instructions

for making custom townies, only do so in the University CAS. You MUST

do this on a regular lot - not in a dorm. Young Adults are considered

Townies in most (if not all) cases. So export them as Townies, unless

you really want a few as Downtownies for some strange reason.
---------------------

5.)NPCs

NPCs will be automatically created by the game as needed, so it really

isn't necessary to generate them all. If there are NPC's that you never

use or see, there is no point in making them anyway. You can choose to

generate all NPCs with the mailbox (DBG-FORCE Create NPCs) or the tree

(Make All...Base Game NPCs or EP2 NPCs) for the base game or Nightlife.

You can generate special NPCs for each expansion, except Open For

Business, individually with the tree, as well as EP/non-EP specific

NPCs (maid, burglar, repoman, barista, streaker, mascot, Grand Vampire,

Dateable Slob, Mr.Big, Chef, DJ, etc.) If you find you want specific NPCs

and do not want to wait for them to generate on their own, then this is

a good option.


Edit May 17:

If you wish to let them generate on their own, they will. When you create a sim and move them into a downtown lot, it will make a downtownie, if you move a sim into the main hood, it will make a townie. This will happen every time you add a new sim to your neighborhoods. When you first visit a community lot, it will create a new sim plus NPCs every time you go. The first 10 or so seem to be teens, and then it begins to make adults. This is still experimental as far as the numbers are concerned, but so far my new hood has made 26 character files.

Thanks to Jordi for the inspiration!

That's it! Hope this helps

Sure, why not. That is a good idea, Ness. The topic seems to be popping up enough to warrant one. Hopefully it will get sticky status to prevent 10,000 threads asking the same question I will do it sometime tonight or tomorrow probably.

Here are the specific results of the tests we did, and workarounds. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.net/smf/index.php?topic=4031.msg114293#msg114293

It is the remote control car in the catalogue under electronics/games, as far as I know. All the robots you can make in OFB seem to have NPC status as well, and I would imagine it is because they have their own animations, are programmed to do specific functions, and are controllable by sims. Just a guess.

My personal opinion is that it was rude to post it in this specific thread. I think it would have been more appropriate  in Retardoland, and may have been received in a more positive way. That's all. I don't think you are wrong for wanting to post the link. 

They have odd stuff like that. One of the lines in the globalprops.xml file is "noStupidIFFUnlocking" it is something that is enabled or disabled like testingcheats, but I have no idea what it is. I just find it humerous that they call something stupid....and now crappy! 

I was paying attention to the character icons that were showing as the townies were being generated and after the 6th time I realized that it uses the icons of existing characters and blank ones until new character files are established. Then it starts using the ones it first generated about halfway through. Completely useless information, but that is why you see grim, crumplebottom, the psychiatrist, and I think the blank one m,ight be the remote control car...and you see the sim you made to generate townies.

Completely useless information, but interesting nonetheless