Curious' Townie Pool - Custom and Default Replacement

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Uploaded: 25th Sep 2024 at 12:44 PM
Updated: 26th Sep 2024 at 5:36 AM
For celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Sims 2, here is my very own Townie Pool Replacement!*cue the confetti*🥳

Overview
About a year ago, I learned about custom townie pools and how it's possible to make of your own. I discovered Delijume's and Queen of France's works, as well as others over on Tumblr, and thought it was super cool and creative to be able to do that - I wanted to do that. And so, after a good couple of months of work, I have!

Like others that have been playing this game for a long, long 20 years (or there about), I was getting tired of seeing the same townies over and over again. I would restart Pleasantview one too many times and whenever I would make my own worlds, I would still see the same faces. Of course, I eventually learned about how you can stop the game from generating them, or even download a version of hoods without them there. I did that for quite some time until finally, I decided I wanted to do something different.

One the main reasons for wanting to make this entire thing was that I wanted townies that looked to my taste while also having as much genetic variety as possible. All age groups are included from elders to children. All skin tones, hair colors, and eye colors are included. The genetics are also paired in as much variations as possible. Sim A will have skin tone 1, hair color 1, and eye color 1, while sim B will have skin tone 1, hair color 2, and eye color 1. So on and so forth. They may not be the same sex or age, but the difference is there. It's not perfect, but I tried my best to make it that way.

Basic Information
This was created with the Ultimate Collection. Plenty of the sims are wearing hairs and clothes from various expansion and stuff packs.

Each sim was made with the intention of creating a group fleshed out characters. Whether they stay as townies in your game or integrate into playable households, they all have everything a sim needs. From first and second aspirations, turn on's, turn off's, sexual orientations, differing body types, jewelry, randomized skills, appropriate hobbies, appropriate life time wishes, (some) college degrees, and careers. All sims in their age group also have differing amounts of days left before they age up. The only thing I didn't change to give variety were the grades of teens and kids (because I didn't think of that until I was pretty much done).

If you choose to install one of the default versions, the names I gave each sim will stay the same.

If you choose to install one of the custom versions, the names I gave each sim will randomized.

If you don't mind the different names, should you choose a custom version, you're good to go! The only thing that will be noticeable is that all sims have a bio. Their original name will most likely be in there but you can change it to match. If you would prefer to have the original names that I gave, you will either need to have some sort of mod that lets you change a sims name in game, or you can use SimPE to change them back.

All sims that were made for this project were:
  • Created in bodyshop
  • Created using the "Pooklet Method"
  • Created using default replacement face presets
  • Possibly tweaked using custom sliders
Every sim was created as an adult before I changed them to the appropriate age so that I could guarantee they didn't look too odd. While every sim was made as stated above, I also went in to make sure that all sims had smaller eyes across the board. I was never really a fan of how large eyes that all the Eaxis sims had.


Meet the Townies
As you can see in the images, each sim has two pictures. The first gives their name and an idea of what their genetics look like. The second shows what their hair and clothes look like in game. The left is labeled "M" for Maxis (even though it was EA at the time but I didn't think of that when I labeled) and the right is labeled "CC" for Custom Content (even though all things that are shown on that side are technically default replacements).

There is no custom content or defaults in these hoods. I just thought it would be nice for you to see what they may look like in your game should you play with any.

Below, you can see some basic information about all the sims should you be interested. I tried to keep the aspirations different but there will be some overlap. The first turn on, I always make a randomized hair color. The second turn on and the turn off are also randomized using a generator. Refer to the images to see which sim is which.



Installation
There are 4 versions that are available for download.
  • "FULL - Custom Version" includes a total of 72 sims aged elder to child. Broken down, there are 8 elders split male and female, 32 adults split male and female, 16 teens split male and female, and 16 kids split male and female.
  • "LITE - Custom Version" includes a total of 36 sims aged elder to child. Broken down, there are 4 elders split male and female, 16 adults split male and female, 8 teens split male and female, and 8 kids split male and female.
  • "N001 - FULL Default Version" Is a default replacement which includes the same 72 sims as above.
  • "N001 - LITE Default Version" Is a default replacement which includes the same 36 sims as above.
  • The custom versions require Open for Business. If you do not have that expansion pack, the only two available to you are the defaults.
Once you have chosen a download, read on to see where to install.
  • For a "Custom" townie pool, place the file name "FULL" or "LITE" into:
    Program Files (x86)\EA Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Best of Business\EP3\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate
  • For a "Default Replacement" townie pool, place "N001" into:
    Program Files (x86)\EA Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Double Deluxe\Base\TSData\Res\UserData\Neighborhoods
  • If you do not have the Ultimate Collection but do have Open for Buisness, and you are getting the custom version, you need to direct to the latest expansion pack you have, then go to TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate
You can only have one N001 default hood in your game. If you follow the directory above, and find there is already an N001, that is where the usual townies like Ivy Copur and Abhijeet Deppiesse are spawning from. backup the N001 that is there and then remove it to replace with this download.
You can technically download both custom versions, however, if both are attached to the same hood, half of the sims will be redundant. If you do want both, ensure only one is attached to a single hood.
I encourage you to create an empty test hood to add these sims to before adding to any hoods of your own. It's good to just be able to see the added sims and decide if you truly want them.

Where to find the sims
  • The custom hoods are subhoods. They can be added while in your main hood. Select the icon in the top left that says "Add a shopping district". There, the custom hood should be found with an image showing which version you have.
  • The default hood will be automatically added to any hood you open after adding to your game files. Once again, I would ask you to create a test hood first to see if you like the sims and if all looks well. backup any hoods you want to add these sims to.

Recommended Mods
Mootilda's Fix Subhood Selection
A name changer mod like this or simPE.
Different townie name mods like this or this
Some sort of lifespan mod like this or this
Smart AgeCorrect by Lazyduchess


Credits:
Delijume for the inspiration and helping along the way. Anytime I had a question, you were there to answer.
xfivexfivex for DR face templates "Butterflies and Hurricanes".
DeedeeSims for non-DR face templates of Beccabear’s "Masquerade".
simNopke for custom sliders.
PlatinumAspiration for the DR hairs.
Rudhira for half of the DR clothes.
Malvern for half of the DR clothes.
randomgenerators.com for helping me create interesting and fun names for all these sims.
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