Restarting Neighbourhoods

[Ferdrya747]

So, I posted a thread before asking how to restart a neighbourhood and I think I finally understood what I have to do, but I can't find the thread! Anyways, I know you have to copy the said neighbourhood (My Computer> Program Files> EA Games>.....Res> Neighbourhoods) and paste it in the Neighbourhoods folder in My Docs> EA> Sims 2> then rename the neighbourhood and all the files in the folder. There was a link on the first thread to the website that you could download a file renaming program to do it for you. Anyone know where I can find it?

[MissDoh]

Do you want to reset them all or just 1 Maxis hood?

[Ferdrya747]

Just Pleasantview.

[MissDoh]

Then the easiest way to do it so all the new folders are there (since Nightlife, the game is creating a new storytelling folder in each N00X folders) is to do this:

1- Copy your entire c:/mydocuments/eagames/thesims2 folder so it is your back-up
2- Once safely copied, delete the sims 2 folder and start the game, the game will regenerate all the basic hoods when you do this so do not be surprise it takes longer to get to neighborhood view.
3- When you see the neighborhood chooser screen, quit the game
4- Go in the newly created c:/mydocuments/eagames/thesims2/neighbohroods folder and copy the new N001 folder it made
5- Go in your back-up folder, delete the N001 in that one and copy/paste that N001 folder you just got in the same place /thesims2/neighborhoods
folder)
6- Delete the new Sims2 folder the game create and copy/paste back your back-up one that now includes a new resetted Pleasantview.

Doing it this way will ensure your Pleasantview includes all the folder and that you won't loose any of your downloads, sims or lots you created.  You can also keep, before you delete the new Sim2 folder created, make a copy of the complete neighborhoods folder the game newly created so whenever you feel you want to reset any of those Maxis hoods again, they will handy.

[Ferdrya747]

that sounds.... like a lot, but I'll try thank you.

[Ferdrya747]

Are you sure thats the easiest way? Its taking half and hour just to copy it for step 1.

[MissDoh]

You must have a huge amount of downloads then.  If you already have a back-up of your downloads folder than no need to include it in your back-up.

There is another way but some folders will be missing in your N001 folder.  The way I propose will ensure all is there.

[MissDoh]

This is a link to your older post you could not find, if you prefer to follow the way in there go ahead but some folder will be missing:  http://www.insimenator.org/showthread.php?t=61440

[Ferdrya747]

First time, worked great. Forgot to copy new Pleasantview folder. Second time trying to reset, the game didn't re-create Pleasantview! So now I have to put my original game back which is gonna take another half an hour. Any idea on why it didn't re-create the Pleasantview?

[MissDoh]

Which methoud did you use to reset your hood after all?

If you follow the method I suggest I see no reason why it would not recreate Pleasantview.  If you used the other method and instead of copy/paste the N001 folder you cut/paste it, the game can no longer found that original folder so it cannot create a new Pleasantview.

You could get that N001 folder back by looking on the original game cds, it will be in the same path as mention in the other method suggested.  I do not remember on which of the 4 cd's it is on though.

[MaryH]

The first time I ever copied a neighborhood, I deleted it from the directory the game itself is on-not the "core"game-then I went back to the "core game", which is installed on your hard drive in another place, and copied the folder for that into the game. This will reset the neighborhood to the pristine one that came with the game.
Worked like a charm-although if you don't save your families, you will lose them..so throw them out of the house, literally. Bundle them up and put them in the folder named "saved sims". You should not lose any CC, if  you have those  in a "downloads" folder" in the game.
In reference to the second part of the answer-I was the person who asked that question, and it was to recreate a second additional type of neighborhood; If you want to save any of the neighborhoods you already are playing, you can copy another edition of the neighborhood folder and renumber it to be different from the first: IE, if you have one "Pleasantview" that is going to be NOO1. The "second" Pleasantview folder should be renumbered (the entire folder, not just the label-all of the contents) to another number, as long as it is not the same as the original "Pleasantview" folder.
That way you can have 2 Pleasantviews, 2 Veronavilles, and 2 Strangetowns in one game-although for the life of me, I wouldn't want to renumber all those files in one sitting!
Hope this helps.

[Ferdrya747]

Which methoud did you use to reset your hood after all?

If you follow the method I suggest I see no reason why it would not recreate Pleasantview.  If you used the other method and instead of copy/paste the N001 folder you cut/paste it, the game can no longer found that original folder so it cannot create a new Pleasantview.

You could get that N001 folder back by looking on the original game cds, it will be in the same path as mention in the other method suggested.  I do not remember on which of the 4 cd's it is on though.

I used the method you suggested. It was listed as N001-A when it re-created, but as it was not N001, it didn't show up on the neighbourhood chooser. N001-A is the name i tried to use before your suggestion when I tried renaming the files. Did I do something VERY wrong?

[MissDoh]

Oh if you rename the folder the game does not recognize it anymore, remove the - A part and all should be fine

You cannot rename hoods in your my documents folder.

[Ferdrya747]

I renamed it again to N001 and it works perfectly! Thank you.

(Now if only it was that simple to get Bella back...)

[MissDoh]

Glad it is working again.

I never cared about bringing Bella back so I cannot help you with that.

There are surely tutorials around explaining how to do so but you will need SimPe for sure.