SIMply Schmoozin'

Thank you for your feedback, Sandy and Cher.
I know something as inconsequential as the lot's family name being wrong should not bug me, but it does.
I think it's because I realllllllly like the Benedettos AND I worked dang hard on their new abode.
I'd like them to truly OWN it & have their name on the mortgage title. Ya know?

If either of you learn anything, DO let me know. I'd appreciate it MUCHO!

I'd want it fixed, too.

I did just find this and the second answer tells a way to do it in SimPE:

Quote :

Open SimPE, after it's open go to Tools, Neighborhood, Neighborhood Browser, pick the hood and wait for that to load, pick a sim from the family (or just pick the family but you edit it through one sim).
Click on the sim and click the tab that says 'More' then in the drop down list pick 'Open Family'.
Then where it says your sims name change that to the name you want and when in the game the lot name has now changed to that name.
If you happen to have sims living there that you need to keep their name then just don't pick that sim!
Once changed click Commit and then Save and you're done.:)

I'd have never stumbled on that just poking around in SimPE.

I actually found that, too, Cher! Thank you.
It's one of the very few things Google search actually pulled up.

Quote :

Then where it says your sims name change that to the name you want and when in the game the lot name has now changed to that name.

The thing is, ALL of the Sim are Benedettos.
NONE are Kavanaghs (the original lot name).
In other words, when I "Open Family" they're all going to be Benedettos already.

I also found this, the last entry. What I'm not clear on there is if that only changes the name of the household for the lot description, or if it would actually change the last name of everyone in the lot. It seems like maybe not, since there's a separate set of instructions for doing that, but I can't say for sure.

MTS has a way that seems more certain to be what you want, but also seems (to me) more complicated.

This will undo all your furnishings unless you have a mod to prevent that, but I read where you can move the family out, move the lot into the lot bin, then move it back out and move the family back in.

Sorry, I was hoping there would be some very simple procedure in SimPE, but I can't find one. I did several searches on the forum, but all I can find is changing a family's last name and changing the lot's name (like 1 Main Street to 2 Main Street, but nothing about the family).

I'm sorry, Cher! I somehow missed your response last time I popped in.

This might be doable, though I'm always a bit concerned with messing with stuff like this.
I only use SimPE to recolor CC, though I know it's used for much, much more:

Changing a Household Name

Launch SimPE and BACKUP YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!!! Go to Tools/Neighborhood Browser, click the desired neighborhood, and click "Create Backup".
Go to Tools/Neighborhood Browser and open the desired neighborhood.
Select "Family Information (FAMI)" in the "Resource Tree" pane.
Locate the Household Name you want to change in the "Resource List" and select it. This should open the "FAMi Editor" pane. Verify this is the correct household by looking in the "Family Members:" box and making sure the Sims in the household are the ones you expected.
In the "FAMi Editor" pane, delete the name in the "Name" field and enter the new name you want for the household.
Click "Commit" and go to File/Save (CTRL-S).

Thank you for finding that for me.  
It might do the trick, as you've suggested.
I'm not clear on the same aspect you are confused about, but it might become clearer, once I open up SimPE and check it out.  

The MTS Daysies' way just made my brain implode, girlfriend!  

This may be a long shot, but I've been pondering an idea on the matter...

I have a hacked shrub that allows me to move a family out and keep everything in the house still there.
I'm wondering...
If I moved Anthony out first (he didn't move in with the Kavanaghs when KimberLee first did).
Then, move the rest of the family out ... Move Anthony back onto the lot ... Move the remaining family members back into the house.
Would that change the name of the lot from Kavanagh to Benedetto?
Or would I still have the same problem with the lot being called Kavanagh, rather than Benedetto?  

Thank you for all of the information you provided.
I appreciate your efforts, Cher.  

Changing the household name like that through SimPe would only change the name displayed on the lot. Any sim living on the lot would keep their last name.

Don't quote me here. But if memory serves me correctly when moving sims out of a house, The household name would be the last name of the sim who initiate the move out. That's if You're using the find own place interaction on the computer or news paper. The household name remains unchanged if the whole family moves out.

Thank you for stopping by this thread to shed some light on the problem, Aaron.  

Aaron wrote:

Changing the household name like that through SimPe would only change the name displayed on the lot. Any sim living on the lot would keep their last name.

Okay, good to know. So that clears that up! Thank you!

Aaron wrote:

The household name would be the last name of the sim who initiate the move out. That's if You're using the find own place interaction on the computer or news paper.

Hmmm...
This makes sense. I believe it was Eli Kavanagh who moved out first by choosing the interaction on his computer.
Evie, his twin, moved in with Zen Haeven next, I think.
KimberLee Dellarosa moved in sometime right before Evie moved out of the Kavanagh abode.
THEN, the whole Benedetto family moved in with KimberLee.
And even though I moved them in and out and even on to another lot, that must be why the Kavanagh name stuck with KimberLee (Dellarosa) Benedetto.
Is that about right, Aaron?

You know what I hate about our game? Creators who make clothes but then don't make fat/preg morphs for them! *grumble grumble grumble* I also hate that I can't figure out which mesh they are using so I can go in and alter them to have a fat/preg morph! You know what else I hate? How a lot of times the little pics that represent a sim/clothing in the CAS isn't in fact the sim/clothing when you click on it. I still love the game though! I'm kind of wanting to start a side kick story, having a problem locating people's Sims...Of the ladies I know Sugah's, Toni's, Ulli's, thanks to Sandy I know Cher's and I think Ari's, I'd be real appreciative of you guys posting a pic of what your Sim should look like in CAS so I can find them easier! lol

I've downloaded and put Elle, Em, Jenn, Sandy in my downloads but not positive what they look like...Comparing the one I thought is Elle, to the pic on the board I'm not so sure it is her...HELP!

Grykon wrote:

Comparing the one I thought is Elle, to the pic on the board I'm not so sure it is her...HELP!

As I recall, Elle's hairdo and headband made her recognizable. It is possible, perhaps that she didn't show up with them in your CAS. BTW, I've noticed that in the screen displaying existing sims, that the pictures may have no relationship with the underlying sim. You really have to bring each one with a * up and look at it.

Here's a couple of pictures of something I wasn't aware happened in the game. Basically if You have a Cowplant(Natural Science career reward) on the lot and a ghost that was eaten by the Cowplant. The ghost will tease the Cowplant with a piece of meat when the ghost is haunting the lot.

The first picture is the ghost teasing the Cowplant.


In the second picture the Cowplant is trying to grab the piece of meat from the ghost and missing when the ghost pulls the meat just out of range of the Cowplant.

Aaron wrote:

The ghost will tease the Cowplant with a piece of meat when the ghost is haunting the lot.

I didn't know they did that either-never used the cowplant-I get too attached to my Sims-although it looks pretty funny

How funny! The only time I kept the cowplant, I was playing in a hood with a cemetery and I had a section dedicated to victims of the cowplant. There were quite a few co-workers and school chums buried there.

Sandy, I don't usually use the Cowplant either. But in this case I had a sim who was in the Natural Science career and wanted to drink the sim in question(they were enemies). Since the sim was a townie I went ahead and allowed him to be eaten.

Cher, That's one of the reasons I use a mod that helps control who the Cowplant can and can not eat.

This would have been a fun post to share in our Strange Occurrences/Twilight Zone thread, Aaron.
I don't play with the EP that has the Natural Science Career/Cowplant.
That thing looks like the result of a Venus Fly Trap marrying old Bessie the Cow!
What a hoot! This is too wild, folks!

Just for fun, here's a shot of the Pirri Pirri cemetery, with a close-up of the Cowplant Casualty section. Notice it has the most graves of any section in the cemetery.  If I remember correctly, there were a couple of deaths before I started doing the cemetery thing. Seems like there was a roughly equal number of school chums and co-workers. All those poor, non-LTW-achieving Sims.  

Beautiful cemetary Cher.  The cowplant section is


Edited this post, because I didn't want to double-post lol

Since we discussed the CowPlant-I actually had a Sim become a Natural Scientist and he got the CowPlant. I put it in the backyard of his house and promptly forgot about it. Many Sim days went by. Then one day he brought a co-worker home with him named Shea Johnston. My Sim went in the house and did his usual bathroom break and then got some food out for him and his friend. The friend didn't come in the house and when I called him in to share the dinner, he didn't come in. I think you've probably figured out what happened to him. I looked in the backyard for him and saw a gravemarker in front of the CowPlant!! I was shocked and then bust out laughing-Poor shea!! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture

Argh! You know, the other day I had a wild hair...For what the last 2 or 3 years getting close to December, I would dust off the old project of mine and work on it and every year I get frustrated, fix something, something else breaks...So the other day I pulled it out of the moth balls and took a look. I probably spent 4 hours fixing textures/masks/bumps for it. Decided to take another look at the mesh and see if I couldn't fix what was wrong with it. Made adjustments here, made adjustments there, half hour later I think 'Hrmmm...I think that took care of it.' So I package it all up, load up Bodyshop cause it is a lot faster to load to see if all the problems I had before were fixed or not. Surprise of surprise they were!  

I was so very happy, I thought...'Man...this Christmas present I have been working on for you guys might actually turn out and I can get it uploaded!' I had found an old cd rom drive...not even sure if there was any life left in it and hooked it up and boom...game is up and running! *faint* The game kind of locked up on me a few times...not sure why but I finally get to a house and buy the outfit and try it on...While standing there in it, looks good! yes yes yes Normal/Fit/Pregnant all look good...Fat...not so much, looks different from Normal, but not 'Fat'...But too I am still having some mesh collision errors with it when the Sim moves...some not too bad...some pretty bad. Took a bunch of snaps so *IF* I decide to go back and mess with the mesh again. *sigh* Sorry, I was hoping to have something for you guys.  There is still one 'simple' mesh/texture fix but I'm more worried about the collisions then something I know I can fix. lol

It's an alpha mesh so the textures can be played with a lot. I'd wanted it to be a surprise, but at this point...I think I will just share a pic of it... The jacket is just a half-jacket, but could be colored out as well as the wrists bands...the bands were suppose to be white 'fur' on both ends and red in the middle, but the mesh isn't right, didn't realize it was 'tucked in' that much on top. But that is an easy fix as I said. The boots could be colored out, but then she would be walking around without lower legs! lol

Tim, glad to hear you got your game working-yay!! The Christmas outfit basic design is so cute! Great job! I hope you keep fiddlin' with it-I know I would proudly have one of my Sims wear it

Sandy wrote:

Tim, glad to hear you got your game working-yay!! The Christmas outfit basic design is so cute! Great job! I hope you keep fiddlin' with it-I know I would proudly have one of my Sims wear it.

Well said, Head Cheerleader, Sandy!
Tim, thank you for all of your efforts on the surprise mesh you've been working on for SP.
I can definitely see the potential in what you have accomplished so far.
I admire your patience and tenacity with such a project.
I don't think I'd have the stick-to-it-ness nor the skills to take on meshing.
So, kudos to you and I'm so happy your game is up and working again.
Yaaaaay!

Tim, I hope you don't give up on that mesh. I think it will be a great holiday outfit.

I haven't even figured out recoloring; I'm impressed with anyone who tackles meshing!

Have you guys seen some of the brand new TS2 mods that have come out?  I've been seeing these on tumblr and have been trying them out.  I had to spend two days tweaking my game configuration, but I finally got the water one to work.  But check this out!



It's animated too.  I'm going to see if I can post a video of it. (It's still uploading as I post this.)



The mods are Pond and Seawater Overhaul - http://modthesims.info/d/587597
The Great Sky of Totalitarianism - http://lowedeus.tumblr.com/post/151597207546/the-great-sky-of-totalitarianism-redux-redux-of

Speaking of Tim's meshes, a few months ago, I tried playing around with a mesh that he made for me a long time ago.  It had an outer alpha-editable layer, so that I could do different versions of the same outfit.  I had some problems with the inner layer sticking through where it wasn't supposed to, but I was able to work around it.  I was going to show off what I did with it, but I guess I didn't take any pictures (or I can't find them.)  I'll have to go back and take some pics later.

Em Those are beautiful and thanks for the video!! I congratulate you for knowing how to tweak your pc to use them. I'm too much of a chicken to even try-

I had to read through the comments to figure out what to do. I probably shouldn't be so risky with my game. I did have a graphics problem where one of my lots started doing some really crazy things, but I'd had several special effects items on that lot already for some pictures I had been taking and I think it got to be too much. Once I removed those items, it acted normally again. If I keep seeing that problem I might have to go back to how things were before.

Thanks for the info on those new mods. They look great. Nice to know that there's in-house expert on them here at SP.

Had to share! Story of my entire simming life!