The Sims 2 Hood Duplicator: Duplicate neighborhoods in just a few clicks! (Windows only)

Did you ever wish for a new copy of Veronaville while keeping your current one intact? Did you ever want to split your neighborhood into an alternate timeline, but The Sims 2 didn't have a "Save as" function? Look no further! The Sims 2 Hood Duplicator can help you with that!

It's possible to copy neighborhoods using batch renaming utilities such as SimPE or good old-fashioned batch scripting, but the entire process of hunting for the template neighborhood and renaming is quite tedious. I was actually inspired to make this after the steps I took just to create a fresh copy of Pleasantview. This tool aims to simplify the process with just a few clicks.

I tested this app on my machine, but since I can't examine all configurations, testers and feedback would be greatly appreciated!

It's possible that Windows Smartscreen or your antivirus might block this program because it's homemade, so you need to allow them to run it.

The app also comes with an updater built in, so it will automatically detect any new versions in the future.

How to use:
1. Launch the .exe file.
2. Select between "New" and "Existing". As their names imply, "New" lets you make a fresh copy of a premade neighborhood (depending on what packs you have installed), while "Existing" lets you copy one of your own neighborhoods. You can also click on "Select Folder" to copy any folder on your drive.

3. Choose a neighborhood from the dropdown list.
4. Click on Duplicate.

5. Wait for confirmation that the neighborhood was copied successfully.


Requires: .NET 4.7.1

Guaranteed to work on the following environment, since this is what I had:

• Windows 10 64-bit
• All The Sims 2 packs installed from CDs
• English installation

I haven't tested on the following, but it should still work:

• 32-bit OSes
• Any OS Windows 7 and up
• The Sims 2 installed from DVDs
• Installations in languages other than English
• Installations that lack EPs with premade base neighborhoods, such as Seasons

I'm not sure if it will work correctly for the Ultimate Collection, because I'm not sure if it uses the same registry values as the discs. Any feedback from UC users would be helpful! Friends who have the UC helped me test this, and it should be able to locate the neighborhood template folders correctly. Please let me know if this isn't the case.

Neighborhood ID Editing
Each neighborhood package file has a unique internal ID in its file. When the game detects a conflict, it assigns a new ID to the neighborhood. This has the side effect of removing the neighborhood's story album. As of v1.1, the Duplicator will get existing IDs from other neighborhoods and attempt to assign new IDs to the duplicated neighborhood, as well as rename the related album and screenshot files. This doesn't always work for reasons unknown to me, but it will try its best to retain the story album files.

Planned updates for the future

• Adding a proper icon Added as of v1.1
• Allowing the user to select any folder from a file picker and duplicate that Added as of v1.2

Source code is available on Github: https://github.com/icemanfresh/Sims2HoodDuplicator