Thank you so much! This tutorial is so easy to follow. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Really appreciate it.

Wow, this looks like just what I was looking for to apply Bink13y's nifty RoboMaid 3000 textures to a human maid NPC. I guess if this works, the same could be done with Bink13y's other models for gardeners and such.

Which reminds me, are there any adverse affects from renaming an NPC in SimPE? After all, a RoboMaid with a name like "Gina Seavey" would be kind of strange.

Yes, this will change the genetics.

About renaming an NPC... I haven't tested extensively, of course, but to date, I've had no adverse effects.

I know it isn't the necessary function of the post here.. but I want to give a huge thanks to the OP for this.. not to mention the creator of SimPe!

I pre-ordered TS2 because of the Maxis aliens.. and once I heard about Strangetown I knew I would love the game....

Ever since I first started playing the game and messing around with SimPe, I have wanted to create an 'all alien' town, but could not make heads or tails of SimPe, other than to adjust the stats of the Sims I created to play.

With this tut, I am now in the process of creating an alternate Strangetown, where all NPCs will be Maxis aliens...

A bit odd.. I will admit.. but.. I can't wait til its finished!


Thanks again to the tut creator and the maker of SimPe... I bow at your feet in awe... :D


*edit for typos.. :smash:

can we change the nanny to a teen/adult person using this method?

I hope someone can help me with this.

I made over a few NPCs with the help of this tutorial, and it worked out nicely. I got a beautiful maid, a monkey driver and some robot staff.

However, in game they change back to Maxis skins and clothes. The maid comes charmingly freckled, but when she leaves, her freckled skin changes into Maxis skin. The monkey driver is supposed to wear overalls and have furry skin, but instead has normal skin and wears driver's uniform. The robot gardener does not wear his robot gear and is bald. When the robot maid left the house, she turned into normal maid, only with shiny electronic blue eyes. :/ What should I do?

:confused:

I've been doing this NPC replacement thing as well... have about 50% of the NPCs replaced, then read the previous post. I went in and did some tests.

I had replaced the pizza people already and made the call for delivery. First instance, I got a pizza girl, Maxis alien that I had replaced. I called again.. and got a regular sim.

In the replacement process, I did replace all three instances of the pizza person, so I should have gotten another replacement sim.

Does this mean that any changes we make are not permanant??

Help? Please...?

Has anyone else had this, or do everyone else's replacements work out okay?

I think that there are BHAV codes in each NPC that cause them to revert to their original uniforms. Mharpharm has some details on how to use SimPE to bypass the op code that initializes what the NPC wears. You have to do this for each individual NPC of whom you want to change clothes, however.

As for keeping a custom skin, there's probably similar code in the Init BHAV functions that does for skin what the above function does for clothes. I'm just starting to delve into NPC hacking, so my knowledge of these things is limited (and if anyone knows of good reference information for NPC hacking, I would be extremely grateful! ).

Some NPC's require this, like the drivers. They are NPC's that you cannot interact with. As far as the maids and gardners, etc.... they should not change back at all. Whatever changes you make to them will be permanent.

Just remember the interaction thingy.

So far all of the NPCs I have changed have reverted back... maids, community lot NPCs (vendors, etc), Pizza people..

I followed the tut exactly.. what else should I be changing? What interaction thingy?

Lee

The same has happened in my game; all the NPCs revert back. Not completely, though, but their hair, skin and costumes.

You're sure that you followed the tut exactly? Do you have the latest version of SimPe?

Interaction: NPC's that you can interact with. Talk to, invite to hang out, etc. Car drivers and the like cannot be interacted with.

Your changes should not revert to originals.

I'm not sure what you're trying to do. This is to make them prettier. I know some folk have tried to make them wear regular clothes to work, etc., but quite frankly I have not yet tested those. This is only for their looks.

If you can give me exact examples of what you did, maybe I can duplicate it in my game. But I've tested across two computers, 4 neighborhoods, with and without University, and nothing has gone wrong. The folks who tested for me also kept their changes.

I tried to:
- have a maid with freckled skin
- have a robot maid and gardener, with their own skin, hair and clothes
- have a chimp driver with his own skin and overalls.

OK, you're talking custom content here. I'll have to experiment with that a bit, but I've only worked with game content. Still, the skin part should not revert. Weird.


The chimp driver, that you cannot do. It won't work.

Grapholina,

I have tried to replace the NPCs with the unlocked Maxis Alien that mtbeer had at Maxis way back when.. I have the file if you don't already have it, as it is no longer at the Maxis site.

Using the uploaded Sim, (in Bodyshop, then under the CAS tool in-game) I was able to create male and females with the skin tone and eye shapes (per Maxis).

These where the bases that I used to create the alternate NPCs.

Please let me know if there is anything else I can offer/give you to help you try to duplicate this.

Lee

Am I correct in understanding that a key point in the tutorial is starting an interaction with the "victim" npc, then saving game while that interaction is still happening?

I've been having the exact same problem...when my maid arrives she has the new custom skin and looks that I gave her through surgery, but almost right after she finishes her work and says she going home the game freezes up for about 30 seconds and then she reverts back to her original skin tone. The hair, makeup, eyes, etc all stay the same, just the skin. I'm trying to find out more about this myself and I've started a thread at SimsPE website...if I get any info I'll post it here.

Okay, after fooling around with the maids in my neighborhood I finally got it where the new custom skins that I applied on them stay. The problem is, I'm not sure exactly what I did... IMPORTANT: Back up your neighborhood before doing surgery, I lost Lucy the Maid and have no idea where she went...sims tend to disappear. The first time I did surgery and had the skin problem it was with an older version of Simpe, so I suggest updating it. Secondly, in SimPE I went into Extra-Preferences-File Table and added my downloads folder with the custom skins to the list. Then, I went to a backed up version of my neighborhood, went under characters, and copied my maid files into the neighborhood file that I was currently using. (You may not need to do this step, but I had to replace my maids multiple times after experimenting with them...) Finally, I just went along with the surgery as usual and the maids finally didn't revert to their original maxis skins. The only new, but minor, problem is that after they finish their shift and say they're done their mouths tighten up wierdly (as seen in the pictures below), but the next day their mouths are fine until they talk again. Let me know if any of these steps have helped anyone, and I will continue testing to see if I can get rid of the wierd lip problem.

I found a link that might solve the lip problem: http://ambertation.de/simpeforum/vi...d+faces+surgery

I haven't tried it yet...also for the pictures above, you can see how at the beginning of the shift the maid has a normal mouth, but at the end (right) it gets stuck in that position until she leaves...but the skin doesn't revert!

I seem to be posting to myself...lol. Anyways, I did what the above link said to do, took some time, but the maid's lip no long stays fixed in one position. So if anyone has any questions feel free to ask, especially about the tutorial on how to fix the lips, as it left out a lot of information. Here are the results of my new maid! (You can see she can show expressions after her shift is over...)

While playing around I also found a simplier solution to the lip problem. If you're using surgery on your own created sims or townies just go into the mirror, or select makeover from the vanity on your townies, and then just press the check mark. You don't need to change their apperance, just check it like you would if you did. It should solve the lip problem for sims that you can use mirrors on.

Your mad PattyMcPat! Really, you should give others a chance......jeez....lol, only joking.
I'll check this tut. out! Looks cool! Especially as I want to give Remington Harris a makeover for his wedding

haha, yeah...so many people had that problem I just wanted to help out! :D

I could never get the handle on all SimPE can do. not enough time i guess.
I just use Eric and Kathy's inSIMenator, I make the npc selectable long enough to raise there asperation to platnum, change thier looks on the plastic surgury machine,(using the insimenator to unlock rewards) and appearence in a mirror and i am done. Cute maids, nanny's, you name it. But the toutorial is so nice of you.