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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 13th Mar 2017 at 9:58 PM Last edited by Thanos : 13th Mar 2017 at 10:00 PM. Reason: clarification: I'm not asking for a tutorial
Default Is it safe to change the gender and age of NPCs?
I have changed the gender and/or age of some NPCs, but with caution so far: maid from male to female, university teachers from elder to adult. I know that the game can handle that, because those NPCs are randomly generated within those types. But what about turning the always male headmaster into a woman, or the always teen paper boy into a child?

I mean, I know how to do that, but before actually doing that, I would like to know if it is safe.

And this last time looking back I'll see my home, for she awaits me reaching for my soul. She calls my name, and waves me on. The fallen one, she stands in flames
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The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#2 Old 13th Mar 2017 at 10:08 PM
No idea for sure tbh - I know changing the age of an NPC can make the clothes you choose stick. For example, changing a maid from adult to teen means you can get a teen working as a maid but dressed in their own clothes. This is because there are no maid clothes for teens. Maybe try it out in a test hood? Paper persons can be female too - or they can in my game.

I have to say I'm always fiddling about with the NPCs - changing their appearance with SimPE but I've seen no problems with it. I'm not that interested in changing their ages though. It won't bork your game, if there's a problem, just your neighbourhood (NPC files are in the neighbourhood folder). Just don't try to change the universals (except maybe with a default replacement).

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#3 Old 19th Mar 2017 at 2:56 PM
Isn't the Repo Man a universal NPC?

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#4 Old 19th Mar 2017 at 4:26 PM
Never tried changing a repo man but Frogz is correct, his files are in your neighbourhood folders.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Mad Poster
#5 Old 19th Mar 2017 at 5:44 PM
But the Repoman is unable to be interacted with, and he doesn't have his own name. So I think he's in a special category.

You can safely marry a headmaster, maid, deliveryperson etc, but not the Repoman.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Instructor
#6 Old 19th Mar 2017 at 9:26 PM
Repomen are in the same category as social workers. As in, if you tamper with their character files or use them in a different way the game designed them for, your neighborhood can end up corrupted, because their character files are incomplete.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#7 Old 19th Mar 2017 at 10:00 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simsfreq
But the Repoman is unable to be interacted with, and he doesn't have his own name. So I think he's in a special category.

You can safely marry a headmaster, maid, deliveryperson etc, but not the Repoman.

Yes, anyone without a name and drivers are problematic but they don't cause corruption or damage your game. The problem is they are so wedded to their coding you can't have sims socialise with them properly in any form. Drivers and other nameless NPCs do things that normal sims do - have memories for instance. You'll find your drivers have memories of every single promotion your sims gain (unless you delete them - as I do) since they are driving when the sim comes home and gets their promotion.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#8 Old 20th Mar 2017 at 2:29 AM
Quote: Originally posted by frogz2007
He's just handled differently than the other NPC's (All BV ones seem to do this; the game likes to generate a new one every time they're summoned instead of re-using the same one)

I thought that was fixed in the patch? Maybe not - I've used the no regen hacks so long, I never see duplicates.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Instructor
#9 Old 20th Mar 2017 at 4:53 AM
As far as I know (because I don't use UC), it is patched. The lag caused by the Charlatan is normal, it happened to me when I played with no CC at all. But if you want to be sure, why don't you take a look at your neighborhoods in SimPE? That should clear your doubts.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#10 Old 20th Mar 2017 at 5:22 AM
The UC is fully patched. I would not try and change the age range on NPC's since the outfits they wear will not be available. Changing a teen paper boy/girl to a child-what will they wear? I am guessing, only guessing that they will look exactly the same (like a teen) but the game will treat them as a child with child height animations. If there are none for child I am guessing a jump bug or some other strangeness. I highly doubt you will get a sim who looks like a child nicely placing the newspaper down. But test it out and post pictures!

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 20th Mar 2017 at 10:04 AM
Sim Surgery is fine, that is just changing facial appearance and or skin tone.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#12 Old 20th Mar 2017 at 8:36 PM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
The UC is fully patched. I would not try and change the age range on NPC's since the outfits they wear will not be available. Changing a teen paper boy/girl to a child-what will they wear? I am guessing, only guessing that they will look exactly the same (like a teen) but the game will treat them as a child with child height animations. If there are none for child I am guessing a jump bug or some other strangeness. I highly doubt you will get a sim who looks like a child nicely placing the newspaper down. But test it out and post pictures!

No, as I posted above, it's a technique, worked out years ago, to get NPC sims to wear the outfits you wanted. It's precisely because there are no newspaper outfits for children that they will be forced to wear what they normally wear. I should add the caveat that I've never changed the newspaper person though I have changed ages with other NPCs.
Quote: Originally posted by frogz2007
I legitimately wonder now if Sim Surgery can safely be used to alter an NPC's appearance? I'm thinking the surgery function doesn't do anything harmful to them and how they behave and perform their tasks, but I could be wrong.

I wouldn't use SimSurgery to change ages though.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#13 Old 21st Mar 2017 at 11:26 PM
I've never swapped the repoman - swapped plenty of other no-name NPCs though including the social worker.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#14 Old 21st Mar 2017 at 11:50 PM
I remember reading it wasn't a good idea to swap repoman to female. I can't recall why, just that it was not something you should do.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#15 Old 22nd Mar 2017 at 1:31 AM
Repomen are usually male. You can change gender with most NPCs without a problem. It's a fairly cosmetic quality after all unless you make the NPC playable. I never make NPCs playable so it's never a problem for me. If you're likely to do that though, I would say be cautious because it's not unlikely you'd forget you'd changed an NPC's gender and then move them in and then things would get confusing. It's a moot point with the repoman since you shouldn't try to make him playable anyway. I'm wondering if that (the don't change to female thing) is just because he's normally male, just like the social workers are normally female. I don't imagine anything in the game actually depends on his gender and I really doubt it'd cause a problem. Still that's a nice experiment to make if the OP is up for it - in a test hood.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#16 Old 22nd Mar 2017 at 1:52 AM
Maybe the issue was the clothing, I don't know. I just remember reading that it wasn't a good idea. I have no interest in changing npc genders since I try to use as little NPC's as possible. I am interested in making some of those look like playable-again still have not bothered to actually do it. Now I did find the gender swapped Pleasantview interesting. Again never bothered with it myself but I saw the pictures.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#17 Old 22nd Mar 2017 at 4:42 AM
I'm sure you can do that, but I don't know how successful it would be.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#18 Old 22nd Mar 2017 at 5:47 AM
Baaaaaaaaaah..you could find the repoman clothing, make a female version of it, then use alt simsurgery on him to replace by a female repolady that you just created in Bodyshop...there are ways to change the gender in simper, in sim browser etc.
Something to try, as Maxon said, if the op is up for it - in a test hood.

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The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#19 Old 22nd Mar 2017 at 9:11 PM
NPCs will wear their uniform no matter what - the point of the changing age technique is that it forces the game to use their regular clothes because there is no regular clothing available for that age group. So if you change an NPC's appearance without changing their age, they will simply default back to their regular uniform the next time the game calls them up.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Forum Resident
#20 Old 23rd Mar 2017 at 10:00 AM
I never thought about changing NPCs gender since my game already have done that by randomness. Suddenly everything there was female became male no matter what, so apparently there is no women in my neighborhood. Rather there was as I emptied the game to get it to run smoother while I have a very sucky math program there does my game just...

But maybe when I get a new PC or uninstall the program interupting with my pc I may try myself to change the gender on the NPCs idk. On the other hand, I have been thinking over doing something different...
Of cause since my game made all NPCs male I had a few troubles. Special with the babysitter which usually is an elder female... an elder male... he kept glitching... that said, usually there is no big danger unless the game have one of those forced controls on only one gender. I don't think changing their age does much difference.

I build small houses *^*
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