Clean Purist Pleasantview + Optional Extras

Pleasantview is probably one of the most played and known Neighborhoods of The Sims 2, and it surprises me that, although there are many projects revolving around it, the base templates for it are rather scarce. Not having found one that satisfies fully my vanilla likings, I have aimed to create from scratch a Pleasantview base that attempts to be as purist as possible: this means that I tried to leave as many lore/story elements as-is, and worked mainly on cleaning up inconsistencies and data leftovers. I have also expanded on more (optional) customization without altering the Maxis feel of the Neighborhood.

The general features you can find here are:

• All ancestors are resurrectable and everyone is here: unless you pick the no townies version, you will have all the characters that come originally with the neighborhood.
• No age has been modified, as I worked on memories more to make them line up with the Eaxis Canon better than before. All characters will have their default set of days remaining in their lifespan, unless you use a lifespan mod.
• The Hood has never been initialized in-game and is compatible with any system (Windows, Linux, MacOS), game version or expansion pack (Legacy Collection as well).
• Fully modular: It is possible to pick between having the regular, cleaned up neighborhood or also the additions of heterozygous sims, infant faces, correct astrological signs and merged clones.

Changes
I initially planned to write down everything I changed, but the list is way too big. Here's a summary of what I did:
(future updates will also be displayed here.)


Extras

Genetic Infant Faces
Hidden away in the game's data are stored face templates for infants, which means they should have been initally intended to have a different face each. This feature might have been scrapped later on in development, as they look rather unique (and even ugly or silly at times) and not always as cute as one might expect. Thanks to Meowingcookie's amazing job, all of these templates have been restored and will apply to each newly generated sim- older sims won't be updated, though, and their children will still come out only using face 2 (Archbase) or Archalien based on circumstances. ivycopur has already done all of the job in her own project (check it out here) and has been so kind to share all of them with me. I absolutely take no credit here except substituing all of the sims with the respective baby faces for three hours straight. All kudos go to these amazing people!

Heterozygous Sims
The Sims 2 is notorious for its implementation of recessive and dominant genes. I suspect that all pre-created sims were made in Bodyshop or with this function disabled, because they all have homozygous genes: they only carry genetics they already show. Here's how it works, briefly:

I tried to give wherever I could recessive genetics, basing myself on the parents of the subject sim. In cases where the child had genetics that made no sense (example: Bella Goth has black hair but nor his mother or father have it), I have given to the parents recessive genes to justify them.

Merged Clones
Hidden in the neighborhood there are leftovers of previously present sims... that are clones of currently deceased ones. Skip Broke, Darleen Dreamer and Michael Bachelor are some of the first sims created- in fact, their clones sit close to their relatives, meaning they have been created alongside their respective family members. Upon inspecting their character data, it's obvious that they have been deleted and their files have been reduced to stubs. I personally don't believe there's any story reason to this, as these characters probably suffered a data loss or became unstable and needed to be deleted, so Maxis attempted to re-create them from scratch (which is why they bear some differences). Since both appeareances displayed should then be logically correct, I have merged them together to create the ultimate Skip, Darleen and Michael, who now bear characteristics of the old and the new. Keep in mind I have given them their old aspirations back, as giving them two would've required me to use Freetime (I aim to keep this basegame compatible).
Old Darleen and Michael have been provided by carrit, while I have taken care of Skip (he's a boring face 2 like basically any other man in this place).

Correct Astrological Signs
A lot of things have been changed during the development of the game, consequentially some data might have not been updated as time went by. I assume astrological signs used to work differently (probably they were freely assigned and they didn't hold any peculiar meaning in the game mechanics?) because all pre-mades have them mismatched. I went my way to correct all of them, so expect attraction calculations to work differently (if you have NL). Townies haven't been modified, as they have astrological signs that match their genetic personality, but their current one seems to have been modified to give them more variety.


The disappearance of Bella Goth

The Bella in this template is the same as the one that Maxis brings to you. She's stuck in her neither dead nor alive limbo, and she cannot be brought back. She won't phone you and you won't find her roaming the streets.
If you however combine this with a Strangetown template, you will have her Strangetown version walking around, but her family won't find themselves related to her and viceversa, as the neighborhood has now two Bellas.
It's a minor inconvenience you can fix yourself with SimPE, if you feel comfortable enough. I plan anyways on releasing a mega/uber/-hood base that has Pleasantview and Strangetown together and that fixes this issue, so stay tuned.

How to install MAIN HOOD
Option A

Option B


How to install SUBHOOD


Notes and CC used

• Skip, the Caliente twins and their father have recessive genes in every template.
• Kaylynn and Gordon are always included because they have roles in the story.
• Everything is Basegame compatible, but I have included Open for Business as a requirement for the Subhoods.
• Although these Neighborhoods are clean and safe to use, the game just naturally piles up some stuff from now to then. Make sure to run your Neighborhood through Hoodchecker every now and then to get rid of them.
• The recreations of some resurrectable ancestors include content that was cut from the game. These modders have restored these items, who have been used in the recreations by carrit. I have included an extra piece I suspect has been used, too. If you won't use these, the sims who use them will have randomized clothing or hair instead.
  Lost and Found Remade Maxis Clothing
  Lost and Found Yellow and Green (Turquoise!!) Cardigans
  Beehive Hairdo
  Darling Pageboy Hair
• I suggest using Infant Faces yourself to ensure every new sim has them.

Usage
Do whatever you want with this. Set it on fire, share it around, make projects with it! Just credit back here for the original template, so if there's an issue with it people can report it.

Special Thanks

• carrit, who tried their best to make accurate recreations of the ancestors with their own new method. They saved me a lot of time and I find their work truly inspiring!
• ivycopur for basically EVERYTHING! She is the one who has written the Infant Faces Tutorial, and she also shared ALL the infant faces she has created herself for every sim in Pleasantview. She also taught me how to fix a naughty issue with SimPE! This hood is basically done in collaboration with her!
• MeetMeToTheRiver and Dorsal Axe for inspiring me.
• Pescado and the people at MATY for leaving helpful tutorials from where I deducted how to delete sims manually.
• Mootilda for Hoodchecker, truly a life saver. Rest in peace.
• The SimPE Team for creating this handy dandy infuriating tool.
• The very nice people in The Sims 2 Community for helping me with inputs and suggestions, other than testing this hood and ensuring it works. I'd like to mention ivy(copur), cricket-sims and homekeys (Thank you for saving women).
• You, for playing this Hood !