Greg's Fantasy Download Manager - Page 2

Hokieman · 03-26-2008, 01:14 AM

Ok, I learned something new about the skintone changer this weekend. Would I have read the brief txt file past the first few lines, I would have known about it earlier - it's a man thing I guess.

It doesn't change the genetics permanently. And the skintone changes only last as long as you're playing the lot. As soon as you save and exit the lot, the skins revert back to what they were. Worse, if you change a Warlokk body shape, they will revert back to default size. And if you delete the skintone, that will also cause a default reversion.

Another thing, if you take out the Christianlov file and load the game again, everything you changed will revert back regardless if you enter a lot or not.

Now that I managed to royally mess up an entire pinup family 3 generations deep, I'm looking for a way to restore them to back to pinup on a permanent basis.

Using SimPe, all I've managed so far is to change the skintone but not the bodyshape, although from what I've read, it will change the genetics so in theory, the bodyshape should come back in the next generation. I'm going to check that out later in the week.

I see that Rick Halle had updated the TS2 Enhancer for Freetime and I'm going to try that tonight to see if will work. From previous use, I know the skintone will change permanently. What I don't know is if it will also change the bodyshape. Here's hoping that it will work.

Anybody got any other ideas?

Hokieman · 03-26-2008, 02:43 AM

Well, I struck out with TS2 Enhancer - it would not even read most of the skintones for Warlokk's bodyshapes and many of the better default size ones either. Kept giving bad data read errors.

Miros1 · 03-26-2008, 12:33 PM

Try this for permanent changes: http://www.insimadult.net/showpost.p...66&postcount=8

I thought the skintone changer saved the changes when you saved the lot. All the other things you mentioned should cause it to revert...

Greg · 03-26-2008, 11:29 PM

That's news to me! I've been using Christianlov's thingie for months and none of the sims have reverted back. Maybe the problem is that the change is not genetic; that is, not passed on to children.

Hokieman · 03-27-2008, 12:27 AM

Miros, you are right. The skin will hold as long as the sim is on a lot unless you take the skintone changer out of the game altogether and then restart the game. Thanks for the link. I'll check it out tonight.

I had finally gotten tired of going through skintones that I didn't like everytime I created a new sim or used the changer. So I took out more than 50 skintones. Also found I had to create some new ones since I wiped out all but a couple for some bodyshapes. I also overwrote the changer with a fresh copy and then proceeded to start the game, forgetting to reload the skins into the changer again.

As soon as I figured out what I had done on the 1st lot I went to, I shut down, loaded the skintones into the changer and restarted. What I found was that every single sim that I had changed , regardless of whether the lot had been played or not, had reverted.

Per the readme that came with the skintone changer, if you take it out of your downloads folder and load the game, the skins will revert. I really do wish I had read that readme before I pulled this stupid stunt.

Greg, I would guess that you have not taken it out since you loaded it originally and restarted with it not in. I was in the habit of constantly replacing it by only dealing with the skintones for a single bodyshape at a time. I never noticed the problem because I was reloading to add new skintones so it looks like the skins hold as long as you still have the skintones in the changer and the changer loaded. I'm not sure on that though as I might have just missed some of them that changed originally.

Miros1 · 03-27-2008, 12:30 AM

BTW, Sita had the same problem with SE2.

Greg · 03-27-2008, 12:45 AM

Hokieman, I suspect that you are right. I don't recall ever removing Christianlov's Skin Tone Changer, thought at least once I had to redownload it.

Hokieman · 03-27-2008, 02:07 AM

Miros, I checked out the link and that's the SimPE tutorial I've been using. The problem I have is that while I've successfully changed the skintone using that method (although it usually takes me several tries LOL) I can't get the mesh to change - it stays a default size. I haven't tried with a pinup to a pinup though but for the sims that I want to change back it probably won't work since they reverted to default sizes already. I'll give it a try though but at this point I'm not very optimistic that it will work.

So, I'm down to trying to see if any of the suceeding generation sims will grow up with the right mesh since, the changes made with SimPE are supposed to be genetic. I've got a default sim that I changed to a Rio skintone with SimPE that's preggers so I think I will use Insim to force grow the baby to an adult once it get's to a toddler to see if it actually works.

The only other alternative I can think of is to trash this game (which I really would rather not do), salvage the sims with SimPE, fix the meshes and skintones in CAS and start a new game. The bright spot is that at least I only have around 75 sims so far, unlike the last game that got trashed where I had somewhere around 1000 active sims at the time my computer went south. I'm still salvaging sims from that game so what's a few more, eh?

Miros1 · 03-27-2008, 03:57 AM

Ow. Sounds like the tales of Baumdoubt Valley (check the Hullabaloo for details... Greg still winces about that disaster.)

Actually, your game should be fixable without trashing the hood. Use SimSurgery to extract the Sims, fix them up in BodyShop, then use SimSurgery to copy the template back to the playable Sim.

The only reason I can think of for them to stay "default sizes" when nude is if the skintone changer or its remnants are somehow interacting with the changes you made in SimPE. The meshes are referred to inside the skintone files, so they really shouldn't be coming up Maxis-sized.

Hokieman · 03-27-2008, 11:57 PM

I read about Greg's Baumdoubt Valley. From what I could tell, he couldn't even recover the sims. So far, I have been able to recover a lot of the sims and all but one lot so I consider myself lucky. Where I really got hit was in the downloads folder where a ton of files got corrupted and I can't find new copies of them on the web anymore. It mostly happened during file transfers between hard drives due to a motherboard that was damaged but not dead.

Anyway, the only thing I have ever really been sucessful with using Simsurgery for is extracting. If I understand what you are saying is that I can overwrite the genetic part of the sim and still retain the skills, badges, etc.? I didn't know that could be done. Is there a tutorial on how to copy a template back to an existing playable sim without wiping out the friends & family connections, skill levels, etc?

Miros1 · 03-28-2008, 03:35 AM

I've been told that you can copy a template back over the Sim's genetics. I've never done it personally. You'd definitely want to backup your 'hood before trying it!

Greg · 03-28-2008, 11:27 AM

Yup, the game bombed out Baumdoubt very effectively. I didn't try recovering the genetics for sims that I didn't have backed up. If that had worked it would made sims that looked like my characters, but without all the memories, relationships, and achievements that they had.

Hokieman · 03-30-2008, 02:53 AM

Well, SimSurgery does make the skintone change genetic. My Rio had twin girls and I forced them to grow up using the Insiminator. The one with the mother's skintone grew up with a Rio shape and the one with the father's skintone grew up with a default shape.

Greg · 03-30-2008, 05:35 AM

Neat! I was unaware of that! Did your Rio start out as a Rio or did you use Christianlov's coverter on her?

Hokieman · 03-30-2008, 06:55 AM

No, she was a default size. I changed her skintone using SimSurgery. She's the only one I did that way. Next I'm going to try changing one of my messed up pinups and using Insim to make her a teen and then grow up again. (crosses fingers

)
If it works, I'm back in business without having to trash the game this time.

Greg · 03-30-2008, 03:18 PM

Aha! Yup, that's the key test.

I haven't had any luck changing the "skin tone only" in Sim Surgery. For some odd reason, SimPE just returns an error when I try that.

Hokieman · 04-01-2008, 02:43 AM

Ok folks, I think I managed to fix my messed up sims today and learned something along the way.

Roofmonkey's tutorial only goes so far and works fine for default size sims. It will work for special bodyshapes except all you change is the skintone itself. You don't change the bodyshape.

But, after looking at some of the default size and bodyshape sims I didn't mess up, I noticed something different about bodyshapes versus the default sizes and lo and behold, by copying the skintone ID to another place in addition to the skintone field, the bodyshape changes.

So, what you do is follow the tutorial all the way through and change the skintone field to the skintone you want. Then you also change the field right below it called SkintoneRange to the same value you put in the skintone field.

By changing both fields to the same skintone value, the bodyshapes appear with the skintone you selected.

Anyway, I changed some 30 odd sims and each and every one showed up as it should be. I reverted some to teens and others to elders and they all held their bodyshape when I made them adults again. A little age adjustment with Insim and my sims were right back where they were supposed to be. I did take Christianlov out first before I did anything just to make sure it didn't get in the way.

Greg · 04-01-2008, 03:44 AM

Hooray! There are several sims that I would like to tune up. Now it's just a matter of noting down who they are and then doing it.

Sita · 04-01-2008, 06:47 AM

OWW
I set up a Sim last night, a lovely one with the Warlokk 36DDN36 body, a skin for that size that I thought was showerproof (a light one from Pearlsims) and all was great until she jumped into bed with someone.... then discovered that skin wasn't showerproof.
Is there a permanent way to save her? Or should she have a nasty accident? I HATE non-showerproof skins. From discussion above Christianlov's thing is temporary and I was hoping she could have kids. But I can't face headless kids running about...
If it's SimPE I need a VERY detailed explanation.

Miros1 · 04-01-2008, 01:01 PM

Here's Roofmonkey's tutorial: http://www.insimadult.net/showpost.p...66&postcount=8

Hokieman recommends the following additional step:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hokieman

< snip >So, what you do is follow the tutorial all the way through and change the skintone field to the skintone you want. Then you also change the field right below it called SkintoneRange to the same value you put in the skintone field.

By changing both fields to the same skintone value, the bodyshapes appear with the skintone you selected.< snip >

Good luck!

03-26-2008, 11:29 PM	#24
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	That's news to me! I've been using Christianlov's thingie for months and none of the sims have reverted back. Maybe the problem is that the change is not genetic; that is, not passed on to children. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

03-27-2008, 12:45 AM	#27
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Hokieman, I suspect that you are right. I don't recall ever removing Christianlov's Skin Tone Changer, thought at least once I had to redownload it. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

03-28-2008, 11:27 AM	#32
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Yup, the game bombed out Baumdoubt very effectively. I didn't try recovering the genetics for sims that I didn't have backed up. If that had worked it would made sims that looked like my characters, but without all the memories, relationships, and achievements that they had. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

03-30-2008, 05:35 AM	#34
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Neat! I was unaware of that! Did your Rio start out as a Rio or did you use Christianlov's coverter on her? __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

03-30-2008, 03:18 PM	#36
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Aha! Yup, that's the key test. I haven't had any luck changing the "skin tone only" in Sim Surgery. For some odd reason, SimPE just returns an error when I try that. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

03-26-2008, 01:14 AM	#21
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	Ok, I learned something new about the skintone changer this weekend. Would I have read the brief txt file past the first few lines, I would have known about it earlier - it's a man thing I guess. It doesn't change the genetics permanently. And the skintone changes only last as long as you're playing the lot. As soon as you save and exit the lot, the skins revert back to what they were. Worse, if you change a Warlokk body shape, they will revert back to default size. And if you delete the skintone, that will also cause a default reversion. Another thing, if you take out the Christianlov file and load the game again, everything you changed will revert back regardless if you enter a lot or not. Now that I managed to royally mess up an entire pinup family 3 generations deep, I'm looking for a way to restore them to back to pinup on a permanent basis. Using SimPe, all I've managed so far is to change the skintone but not the bodyshape, although from what I've read, it will change the genetics so in theory, the bodyshape should come back in the next generation. I'm going to check that out later in the week. I see that Rick Halle had updated the TS2 Enhancer for Freetime and I'm going to try that tonight to see if will work. From previous use, I know the skintone will change permanently. What I don't know is if it will also change the bodyshape. Here's hoping that it will work. Anybody got any other ideas?

03-26-2008, 02:43 AM	#22
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	Well, I struck out with TS2 Enhancer - it would not even read most of the skintones for Warlokk's bodyshapes and many of the better default size ones either. Kept giving bad data read errors.

03-26-2008, 12:33 PM	#23
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	Try this for permanent changes: http://www.insimadult.net/showpost.p...66&postcount=8 I thought the skintone changer saved the changes when you saved the lot. All the other things you mentioned should cause it to revert...

03-27-2008, 12:27 AM	#25
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	Miros, you are right. The skin will hold as long as the sim is on a lot unless you take the skintone changer out of the game altogether and then restart the game. Thanks for the link. I'll check it out tonight. I had finally gotten tired of going through skintones that I didn't like everytime I created a new sim or used the changer. So I took out more than 50 skintones. Also found I had to create some new ones since I wiped out all but a couple for some bodyshapes. I also overwrote the changer with a fresh copy and then proceeded to start the game, forgetting to reload the skins into the changer again. As soon as I figured out what I had done on the 1st lot I went to, I shut down, loaded the skintones into the changer and restarted. What I found was that every single sim that I had changed , regardless of whether the lot had been played or not, had reverted. Per the readme that came with the skintone changer, if you take it out of your downloads folder and load the game, the skins will revert. I really do wish I had read that readme before I pulled this stupid stunt. Greg, I would guess that you have not taken it out since you loaded it originally and restarted with it not in. I was in the habit of constantly replacing it by only dealing with the skintones for a single bodyshape at a time. I never noticed the problem because I was reloading to add new skintones so it looks like the skins hold as long as you still have the skintones in the changer and the changer loaded. I'm not sure on that though as I might have just missed some of them that changed originally.

03-27-2008, 12:30 AM	#26
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	BTW, Sita had the same problem with SE2.

03-27-2008, 02:07 AM	#28
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	Miros, I checked out the link and that's the SimPE tutorial I've been using. The problem I have is that while I've successfully changed the skintone using that method (although it usually takes me several tries LOL) I can't get the mesh to change - it stays a default size. I haven't tried with a pinup to a pinup though but for the sims that I want to change back it probably won't work since they reverted to default sizes already. I'll give it a try though but at this point I'm not very optimistic that it will work. So, I'm down to trying to see if any of the suceeding generation sims will grow up with the right mesh since, the changes made with SimPE are supposed to be genetic. I've got a default sim that I changed to a Rio skintone with SimPE that's preggers so I think I will use Insim to force grow the baby to an adult once it get's to a toddler to see if it actually works. The only other alternative I can think of is to trash this game (which I really would rather not do), salvage the sims with SimPE, fix the meshes and skintones in CAS and start a new game. The bright spot is that at least I only have around 75 sims so far, unlike the last game that got trashed where I had somewhere around 1000 active sims at the time my computer went south. I'm still salvaging sims from that game so what's a few more, eh?

03-27-2008, 03:57 AM	#29
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	Ow. Sounds like the tales of Baumdoubt Valley (check the Hullabaloo for details... Greg still winces about that disaster.) Actually, your game should be fixable without trashing the hood. Use SimSurgery to extract the Sims, fix them up in BodyShop, then use SimSurgery to copy the template back to the playable Sim. The only reason I can think of for them to stay "default sizes" when nude is if the skintone changer or its remnants are somehow interacting with the changes you made in SimPE. The meshes are referred to inside the skintone files, so they really shouldn't be coming up Maxis-sized.

03-27-2008, 11:57 PM	#30
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	I read about Greg's Baumdoubt Valley. From what I could tell, he couldn't even recover the sims. So far, I have been able to recover a lot of the sims and all but one lot so I consider myself lucky. Where I really got hit was in the downloads folder where a ton of files got corrupted and I can't find new copies of them on the web anymore. It mostly happened during file transfers between hard drives due to a motherboard that was damaged but not dead. Anyway, the only thing I have ever really been sucessful with using Simsurgery for is extracting. If I understand what you are saying is that I can overwrite the genetic part of the sim and still retain the skills, badges, etc.? I didn't know that could be done. Is there a tutorial on how to copy a template back to an existing playable sim without wiping out the friends & family connections, skill levels, etc?

03-28-2008, 03:35 AM	#31
Miros1 Goddess for Life Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: NY State Posts: 3,303	I've been told that you can copy a template back over the Sim's genetics. I've never done it personally. You'd definitely want to backup your 'hood before trying it!

03-30-2008, 02:53 AM	#33
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	Well, SimSurgery does make the skintone change genetic. My Rio had twin girls and I forced them to grow up using the Insiminator. The one with the mother's skintone grew up with a Rio shape and the one with the father's skintone grew up with a default shape.

03-30-2008, 06:55 AM	#35
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	No, she was a default size. I changed her skintone using SimSurgery. She's the only one I did that way. Next I'm going to try changing one of my messed up pinups and using Insim to make her a teen and then grow up again. (crosses fingers ) If it works, I'm back in business without having to trash the game this time.

04-01-2008, 02:43 AM	#37
Hokieman Solar Max Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Las Vegas Posts: 520	Ok folks, I think I managed to fix my messed up sims today and learned something along the way. Roofmonkey's tutorial only goes so far and works fine for default size sims. It will work for special bodyshapes except all you change is the skintone itself. You don't change the bodyshape. But, after looking at some of the default size and bodyshape sims I didn't mess up, I noticed something different about bodyshapes versus the default sizes and lo and behold, by copying the skintone ID to another place in addition to the skintone field, the bodyshape changes. So, what you do is follow the tutorial all the way through and change the skintone field to the skintone you want. Then you also change the field right below it called SkintoneRange to the same value you put in the skintone field. By changing both fields to the same skintone value, the bodyshapes appear with the skintone you selected. Anyway, I changed some 30 odd sims and each and every one showed up as it should be. I reverted some to teens and others to elders and they all held their bodyshape when I made them adults again. A little age adjustment with Insim and my sims were right back where they were supposed to be. I did take Christianlov out first before I did anything just to make sure it didn't get in the way.

04-01-2008, 03:44 AM	#38
Greg Da Guy Wut Owns Dis Joint Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 3,566	Hooray! There are several sims that I would like to tune up. Now it's just a matter of noting down who they are and then doing it. __________________ Who are all these people and what do they know?

04-01-2008, 06:47 AM	#39
Sita Solar Max Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: England Posts: 371	OWW I set up a Sim last night, a lovely one with the Warlokk 36DDN36 body, a skin for that size that I thought was showerproof (a light one from Pearlsims) and all was great until she jumped into bed with someone.... then discovered that skin wasn't showerproof. Is there a permanent way to save her? Or should she have a nasty accident? I HATE non-showerproof skins. From discussion above Christianlov's thing is temporary and I was hoping she could have kids. But I can't face headless kids running about... If it's SimPE I need a VERY detailed explanation.