Tutorial-Giving your in-game sims a permanent make-over.

[wirelessguy]

Tutorial-Giving your in-game sims a permanent make-over.
(or how to de-uglify your townies and default Maxis sims)

This tutorial will show how to de-uglify the Maxis sims and Townies that come with the game.

Programs/Tools required

To follow this tutorial you will need to have the following programs:

The Sims 2 + any EP’s/Stuff packs you have installed
SimPE (version 0.58 is used in this tutorial)
Body Shop

It is also a good idea to back up your neighbourhood folder before trying this.

The subject sim in this tutorial is Jason Larson, part of the Larson family that comes with the Open for Business EP.



This tutorial has also been compiled into a pdf file which is available below.

[wirelessguy]

Step 1 – Extracting the sim to be made over.


1. Start up SimPE. When it has loaded click on the Tools option at the top of the screen.

2. Then select the Neighbourhood option.

3. Then click on the Neighbourhood Browser.

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4. When the Neighbourhood Browser window has opened. Select the neighbourhood that has the sim you want to do the make over on and then click on the Open button.
(in this case I’m using my test neighbourhood Sims Area 51)

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5. When the neighbourhood file has opened (may take a few minutes as a lot has to load up), click on the Tools option again.

6. Then again select the Neighbourhood option.

7. This time click on the Sims Surgery option.

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8. When the Sims Surgery window has opened, select the sim you want to do the make over on from the list of sims on the left-hand side of the window.

9. Now click on the use section of the Patient Sim part of the window to load the sim you want to export.

10. Now click on Export to start exporting the sim you want to do the makeover on.

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11. When the Export CAS Sim window opens, it will show a filename that usually starts with a N followed by the neighbourhood number and a sim number. It is most important that you DO NOT use that filename to save the exported sim. I usually save them as their in-game name as shown in the pic below.

12. Once you have re-named the file, click on the Save button to save the file/sim in your SavedSims folder.

13. Now close SimPE.

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Step 2. Giving the extracted sim a make-over and getting ready for re-importation.


1. Start up Bodyshop and select the Build Sims option.

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2. In the Build Sims area select the Build or Clone Sims Option.

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3. Now locate the sim you exported (they may be quite a way back in the list) and clone him/her.

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4. Once the extracted sim has been cloned, you can change them in any way you like. Once you have finished making the changes, click on the Done building sim check mark.

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5. The sim you made-over should now appear at the front of Bodyshops sim list. Now close Bodyshop.

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6. Now start up the game, load up the neighbourhood you want to make the change in and go into CAS.

7. In CAS select the sim you just gave the make-over to. I also tend to give the sim the same first name and a slightly different surname as the sim I want to change.

8. In CAS it is not important what aspiration/star sign/likes/dislikes you give him/her as they won’t be changed, but the clothing selection is as it will be changed along with the sim. You can also do any final tweaking of the sim here.

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9. Once you have finished with the sim in CAS, just leave them him/her in the Sim Bin.

10. Now exit out of the game.

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Step 3. Making the change.

1. Start up SimPE and load the required neighbourhood file again.

2. Go into the Sim Surgery option in the Neighbourhood tools.

3. First select the original sim to be changed and click on the use in the Patient Sim area to load the sim there.

4. Then select the made-over sim and click on the use in the Archetype Sim area to load the made-over sim.

5. When both sims have been loaded, click on the Surgery button to make the change.

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6. When the Sim Surgery has been done, the sims file will be loaded into SimPE.

7. Now Save the sim and close SimPE.