Custom skins and townie generation

[seelindarun]

Can townies/NPCs be generated by the game with genetic skins in between the default ones, if they're available?

Thanks to another generous, long-suffering MATY-lander, I have an extensive system of geneticised custom skins, some of which have genetic values in between the game defaults.  What I want to know is if new townies/NPCs generated by the game have access to the full spectrum of genetic skins, or whether they're restricted to just the discrete default values.  Lacking SimPE I can't definitively confirm one way or the other in my own game.  Visual inspection is too coarse, given the number of variables I have operating at this time.

I could simplify my custom skin system by ripping most of it out, and force-generating new townies in a test 'hood, but then I'm still reduced to manually teleporting and inspecting the townies one by one, to check whether they all look the same or not.

I figure that MATY is pretty much the only group to possess this kind of arcane knowledge if it's already been determined.

Addendum:

Over on MTS2, Enayla has been making some very exotic coloured skins with beautiful markings.  I wish to use them for a special otherworldly enclave within my normal 'hood.  I wanted the skins to be heritable in the usual way, rather than having them simply dominate all the time, so that I would have the possibility of interesting matings between my normal playables, and this select population.

My first priority was to avoid having townies cheapen those skins.  Thanks to all of you, I've (mostly) determined that this can be taken care of by geneticising the skins at the extreme ends of the spectrum, or in the interstices between the default values.

My second preference would be to have these skins come up as a genetic option only if one of the parents already possesses it.  What I'm thinking of is that these markings would give the bearer the privilege of joining the elite, but that unmarked siblings could not.

Ideally, I'd like the skins to be blended into the normal spectrum so that children would inherit a skin colour that's of similar depth to their parents whether they're marked or not.  However, if the skins are classified this way, is there any way of conditionally restricting their inheritance?

[BlueSoup]

Townies only have access to the genetically proper things, whether they be skins, hair or eyes.  If the hair is properly binned, that is.  Default skin and eye replacements will be on the townies, but they won't choose custom.

And according to Pescado, DAC is hopelessly broken, more than was originally thought, so to be safe you should make custom townies the long way anyway.

[KevinTMC]

Does that mean that we should consider the "Deleting, Creating, and Generating Townies" tutorial by Nec no longer operative?

[jsalemi]

Does that mean that we should consider the "Deleting, Creating, and Generating Townies" tutorial by Nec no longer operative?

The deleting part is still ok; it's the part that's supposed to generate all the new townies at once that's broken.  It's better now to make your own townies in CAS, and then use testing cheats or Inge's transporter bush or some similar mod to turn them into townies and downtownies. You can also use the testing cheats to generate townies one at a time, which is still ok.  Or you could just let the game generate them individually as needed -- it means a slight lag whenever the game generates the new townie for a walk-by or for a comm lot, but that's only a one-time thing for each townie.

[J. M. Pescado]

And according to Pescado, DAC is hopelessly broken, more than was originally thought, so to be safe you should make custom townies the long way anyway.

DAC does a VERY incomplete job, leaving dangling SDSCs and even SWAFs everywhere. After you use it, you have to go to SimPE and finish the job by deleting all SDSCs and SWAFs.

[BlueSoup]

Does that mean that we should consider the "Deleting, Creating, and Generating Townies" tutorial by Nec no longer operative?

The deleting part is still ok; it's the part that's supposed to generate all the new townies at once that's broken. 

No, the deleting part is broken too.  See above post.

[KevinTMC]

DAC does a VERY incomplete job, leaving dangling SDSCs and even SWAFs everywhere. After you use it, you have to go to SimPE and finish the job by deleting all SDSCs and SWAFs.

Is this a problem even with brand new neighborhoods that have just been created?

(Maybe I'd already know the answer to that if I was familiar with what SDSCs and SWAFs are...but I'm quickly out of my depth here. Which is why I am mourning the loss of the tutorial's usefulness.)

[kutto]

Is a DAC necessary for each neighborhood, or can you use the townies that come with it safely? Frankly, I don't mind the townies that the game makes.

[J. M. Pescado]

You can use the neighborhood as prestocked if you want, and don't mind that the townies will be the same familiar faces every time...which isn't really a problem if it's your first and only neighborhood and there aren't any familiar faces. Besides, familiar faces give everyone a common frame of reference. When I talk about Komei, everyone knows I mean *THE* Komei, not one of the many random Komeis. And when I talk about Emma's boyfriend, everyone knows who I mean.

[kutto]

(Un)Fortunately, I primarily play Strangetown, and have never seen Komei first-hand. I've heard numerous stories, though.

[Sleepycat]

Or you could just let the game generate them individually as needed -- it means a slight lag whenever the game generates the new townie for a walk-by or for a comm lot, but that's only a one-time thing for each townie.

that also appears to be broken in OFB.

When starting a new cleaned out hood for beta testing InTeen (months ago) the game did not want to create adult/elder townies (it made teens/children townies and NPCs ok)  I ended up having to open a business just to force it to create some for customers. Even then it didn't create very many that were adults/elders, I had to use twojeffs visitor controller to ban teenagers from the lot so the game was forced to create adults.

[jsalemi]

When starting a new cleaned out hood for beta testing InTeen (months ago) the game did not want to create adult/elder townies (it made teens/children townies and NPCs ok)  I ended up having to open a business just to force it to create some for customers. Even then it didn't create very many that were adults/elders, I had to use twojeffs visitor controller to ban teenagers from the lot so the game was forced to create adults.

Hmm, I haven't encountered that; I have all the eps and sps, and my custom hood that I did a DAC on generates all townies just fine on its own.  I've seen many adult townies without having to force the issue somehow.

[Weaver]

I created a new custom neighborhood and got the full famous townie battalion (Komei / Goopsy).
My guess is without the N001 Pleasantville present, the new hood assumes the place, gaining the preassigned group.

Interestingly enough, the townies generated on this creation start much later in instances (D1-12C,133) and leave room for playables to assign earlier values.
This does not happen when done with DAC, SimPE house cleaning and in-game regeneration - townies claim the next identification in line. 

When using the DeleteAllCharacters method, townies have only generated stagnantly when visiting community lots.
It looks as though Maxis never intended the cheat to be a common-use for players beginning additional neighbourhoods.

[Ominous]

My guess is without the N001 Pleasantville present, the new hood assumes the place, gaining the preassigned group.

Any new neighborhood (not subhood) gets the 'famous townie battalion'

Interestingly enough, the townies generated on this creation start much later in instances (D1-12C,133) and leave room for playables to assign earlier values.

They start later because they are premade specfically for Plesantview, so when you start another hood they just copy them from the PV template and there are your townies.  If you start a blank Downtown/Uni you will get the same not-so-fugly downtownies/dormies each time as well but they will have unique names.  That is what I think happens at least.

[aqualectrix]

To reply to the OP:

Generated sims, like townies or anyone produced by the CAS randomizer, have access to all properly-binned hair as Blue Soup mentioned.  To my knowledge -- and I have not done extensive testing, but report only the mass of my observations -- they do not have access to any skintones but the default four, although of course they will pick up custom replacements.

[Emma]

And when I talk about Emma's boyfriend, everyone knows who I mean.

* Emma moons Pescado

[Weaver]

My guess is without the N001 Pleasantville present, the new hood assumes the place, gaining the preassigned group.

Any new neighborhood (not subhood) gets the 'famous townie battalion'

I've experienced new hoods (N004 onward) created with the three pre-made present being a completely new set of townies.
That's the reason I thought only the PV template is loaded specifically for the N001 neighbourhood: I've never had that same identical set (name/personality/appearance) in any other numbered hoods. But yes, they do retain the same archetype face templates but with imposter names.

As for townies with custom content; only binned hair in the four default categories have appeared on newly generated for me.
Should you want full custom content townies (skintones et al), manual creation through CAS is the method to use at present.

Maxis townies must have signed the 'no custom-content selection' agreement.

[Witches]

Actually, I've noticed colorbinned custom hair showing up on townies in neighborhoods after downloading that hairstyle. For example, there's a waitress in Veronaville who has Seomi hair.

I had a sim with Enalya's bronze skin have a baby with a sim with default replacement paler skin and the kid is pale too. But another sim with Enalya's darkest skintone had a baby that looks just like her.

It seems pretty random to me, even with the default skintones. I've had game default "black" sims with "white" grandchildren, no infidelity involved.

[Jelenedra]

As far as I can tell, even with genetically coded skintones, the townies still stay on the power four. But randomizing sims in CAS get to choose from the wonderful spectrum I created.

HOWEVER. I have not ever done DAC, so I do not know if the game would choose my "in-between" skintones if it had to do it from scratch.

[BlueSoup]

To reply to the OP:

Generated sims, like townies or anyone produced by the CAS randomizer, have access to all properly-binned hair as Blue Soup mentioned.  To my knowledge -- and I have not done extensive testing, but report only the mass of my observations -- they do not have access to any skintones but the default four, although of course they will pick up custom replacements.

You stated that so much better than I did.   My mind was going in circles of logic.

[Ancient Sim]

I have quite a few custom skins binned in exactly the same way'  Although the majority of my non-playables have Maxis skin, I have three townies with binned custom skins and also a pizza delivery person (although in the case of the latter, I think I altered him myself as he's a redhead so I wanted him to have my redhead skin complete with freckles).  I also get babies born with those skins even though their parents don't have them, that happens quite often.  The binned custom hair comes up more often, I have quite a few non-playables with those.

[jsalemi]

I've also had new townies show up with custom skin tones, but that's because I went through all of the custom skins in my game and fixed their genetics so they fit properly in the Maxis skin spectrum. I learned how from here -- I believe there's a thread in Peasantry about it.

Yup, here it is: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,2966.0.html

[JadeEliott]

And according to Pescado, DAC is hopelessly broken, more than was originally thought, so to be safe you should make custom townies the long way anyway.

DAC does a VERY incomplete job, leaving dangling SDSCs and even SWAFs everywhere. After you use it, you have to go to SimPE and finish the job by deleting all SDSCs and SWAFs.

Umm.. Pescado. Will you explain or point to a post that explains what a dangling SWAF/SDSC is? *looks down* 'Cause last I checked my SWAF was definitely NOT dangling, thank you very much.

[KevinTMC]

Cause last I checked my SWAF was definitely NOT dangling, thank you very much.

Good thing. If it dangles too much you'll have to have it removed...and that's painful, believe you me.

(I shouldn't have just been reading that thread about the poor Chinese fellow...)

[Jelenedra]

Dangling SWAF/SDSCs are caused by improper deletion. Basically, when you delete a sim00015 in-game, you just delete the sim, the sim description and their Wants and Fears and all that jazz is still hanging around in your game files.

This can cause a BFBVFS when you get a new sim (either by birth or through CAS) as instead of getting a brand new sim file, they get the old number, sim00015. New sim, but the old sim's SWAFs are corrupting the new sims files. So, you got two different SWAFS and SDSCs hanging around for one sim.

Like I said earlier in another topic, it's how you get toddlers with LTW other than "Grow Up." Because an adult sim was the last one with simfilename00015, they get the adult's Wants and Fears instead of toddler ones. Which is a VBT.

Do I get a gold star? Or did I confuse everyone?