That split file is known to happen with service NPCs.

The real problem I've seen with incorporating service NPC's/townies with split files is that they almost never have an updated picture in SimPE-I have a couple from the pool and they're never given a profile picture so that when I'm inputting data into the Sims2DB, I have to resort to taking an quick shot of their profile to put into their listing. I do believe it's because the hair,etc is scattered all over those files that they can't be rejoined.
I'd love to have just once where those split files did not screw up their profile pix.

We are talking about different things.

When you move in an NPC to a playable household, they become playable. They lose their NPC role, and a new NPC is created in that spot the next time someone calls them. For example, I moved in a maid the other day, a male with pale skin and blonde messy hair, and when the maid showed up for work at a neighbour's house the next day, a new maid had been generated - a female with dark skin and red hair.

When you use MidgeTheTree's NPC Apartment neighbours, NPCs are allowed to spawn as (nonplayable) apartment neighbours. These NPCs are not considered playable and they do not lose their roles - the maid shows up when you hire a maid, police officer appears when you call for an emergency etc, even if they are a neighbour in someone else's apartment. I like this because it makes it much easier to get to know the various NPCs without having to specifically hire that service etc, and makes those NPCs feel more a part of the neighbourhood rather than that they are just teleported in from space whenever they are needed

However, if I am playing an apartment and my neighbourhood currently has one maid, and they are my apartment neighbour, the game won't allow that neighbour to show up for maid service, so a new maid will be created. So it can cause excess sim creation and some players may dislike this (e.g. if you have antiredundancy installed). If it bothers you, you can always go into the mod and edit which types of NPC are allowed to be used as neighbours. Personally I don't mind this at all.

I am experiencing an issue currently, where apartment lots, usually where I have had a neighbour move in or out and then when I play another playable neighbour's lot, sometimes create multiple clones of sims who all start talking to each other I am unsure if it's related to that mod. Currently I just treat the symptom (use a teleporter to clear off non-residents, sometimes quit without saving to avoid that relationship being created, not that a relationship with self is harmful, it just creates unfulfillable wants) and put it down to "apartments are buggy" but I might investigate it more closely at some point.

Just write down the file number of the sims whose portraits you want, and get the portrait out of that file. The portrait is always in the file that doesn't end in .1, unless the sim is a newborn baby. There's no reason to load the whole neighborhood just extract portraits.

Yeah, I know that. My original question had been about making something that allowed moved in NPCs to be able to keep their jobs.



That's weird. The larger files for me are the .1 ones and the portraits are in there.

From what I see, the way the file is split seems to depend upon what aspect of the character was changed. For some split file NPCs, I can change their appearance in-game just fine with the gussyup mod. But for others, doing that completely breaks their face and I get a horrible faceless monster!


Does exporting the images with SimPE not work? You can do this without launching SimPE by using the -rufio switch.

I can see the profile pics of my split character NPCs using that.

I do have that program-I honestly didn't think of that..of course,
I'll see what I can do.

Do you think service npc animation/interaction can be enabled or transfered to playable and townie sims? Just food for thoughts.

You can change a playable sim or townie into a service NPC if that's what you are asking.

You can?

https://modthesims.info/showthread....152#post5875152

I don't think it's possible to have them live in a playable household as an NPC though. Some players have sim duplicates (for example- have their sim in a firefighter career, and have a custom clone of that sim as an NPC firefighter so that they appear on lots to put out fires).

I have duplicates for the firefighter, the mail carrier, the paperboy, the animal control officer and the social worker.

Is there a way to prevent DUPLICATE EFFECT when you add in/make playable mail carrier/paper boy/girl,...? I think its LAME to have your freshly playable sim meet their duplicate.

Being playable but keeping most of the animation/interaction would be the best.

Change the appearance to a new sim, I guess.

I only use the duplicate method for sims that can't be "interacted with", like the driver, because like @Lena88, I hate the idea of my sims meeting themselves. Besides, I'd know that they aren't really them, and if my other sims were to interact with their service npcs, they'd be developing relationships with a random sim instead of the one who is supposed to have that job.

I'm thinking that an option could be: turning a sim into an NPC and leaving them unplayable so they don't lose their NPC status, and when I get to their "household" in my rotation, I could teleport them over, make them selectable, and play them that way. I could pretend they live there normally and still have my playables be the service nps of my hood. I might try this and see if it works.

Well my sims don't interact with them.
My only issue is the paperboy. My playable one comes home from work when the NPC one delivers the paper at his home. I can live with it though.

I wish there was a way to render the reporter playable.

If its possible to UNLOCK animation/interaction of paperbiy/girl, firefighter, for playable sims...I am sure it can fit nicely with Chris Hatch's GOING TO WORK mod (kind of active work place on community lots).

Most of the animations can be extracted and put in an animation box. Some of them have issues, especially if they've been made to interact with other sims or accessories (holding items or directly interacting with other sims). A few throw errors because they're meant to interact. I've only worked with extracting animations for boxes, though.

Some interactions can be unlocked or used in other ways, like for a mod. I guess it depends a bit on how it's done. Not my area of expertise...