Having recently finished my first (and possibly last) set of default face replacements, I found myself realising that I kind of wish there had been a more comprehensive guide to making them, that covered all the bases from start to finish.

So I decided to write one!

First, you'll want to download the Face Template Files by AllenABQ. That will save you a lot of trouble. Save these somewhere you'll remember them, and then let's leave them be for now.

Secondly, let's assume that you don't all ready have the faces you want to use made. If you're starting completely from scratch, you'll want to empty out your SavedSims folder, which is usually found under (C:\Documents and Settings\~YOURNAMEHERE~\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\SavedSims), at least if you have Windows XP. Just copy all the files in there and past them to a separate folder on your desktop.

Another recommendation I would make is to take everything out of your downloads folder except for default replacements, and things like hair, eyebrows, and genetics. Furniture and objects will still make BodyShop load slowly, and you don't need them right now. However, if you don't have your downloads organised, or don't mind the wait, disregard this step.

Okay, you've emptied SavedSims, now boot up BodyShop. There shouldn't be any premade sims in there (except for the Maxis-made ones, and if you don't want those to show up, you can always get a sim bin hider), which makes it easier for you to find the sims you make, and it will also save you the trouble of having to delete all the sims you're about to create one-by one later on.

Be sure to keep the SavedSims window open, so you can keep track of which files are which, because you won't be able to delete the files when BodyShop is open!

So, now you'll want to make a sim.

If you're just going to de-uglify the Maxis templates, feel free to select the full face archetypes one by one and change them as you like, for both adult genders. However, if you're planning on making a sim "from scratch," and especially if you're currently using a different set of replacements, here is the method I recommend to make sure that your sim doesn't look too much like your current defaults:

Go to the full-face archetypes, and choose one. Then, from there, move the sliders on the other faces (not all of them, just pick a few at random) just slightly, to alter the features, but not change them completely.



See how a lot of little subtle changes can make a big difference? Then, once you're happy with the way the face looks, go to Modifiers and tweak at your leisure. Chances are, the sim you're making will look pretty unique. Hopefully also pretty AND unique.

So, let's say you started out with a boy (I've found it's much easier to make a good-looking man first, and convert it to an attractive female, than the other way around. If you make the woman first, the man tends to end up slightly feminine. But if you're into that, go ahead). You've gotten him the way you like him, now save him. Then select him in the sim bin and clone him.



Then you'll want to change the gender to the opposite one, in this case, female. Tweak her until she looks the way you want her to - but keep in mind to keep the face shape similar: If you make a man and a woman of the same archetype look too different, you could end up marrying them to someone whose template doesn't match the opposite gender of theirs, and their opposite-gendered children could end up looking unfortunate.



So you have a male and a female sim that hopefully look pretty similar. Clone one of them (I recommend always doing the first gender first), and convert them to teen, again tweaking until it looks normal (usually that doesn't require much, BodyShop will do most of the work for you. I made some of my teens' eyes one click bigger, however, just to make them look a little more childlike), then save. Do this again for elder, and with both genders. For child and toddler, however, there is only one, unisex face file. So choose whichever template you like best (male or female), and then clone it, set the age to toddler, and then tweak. To make sure that it won't look too much like the opposite sex than it is, switch the gender back and forth once or twice. Then save, and you're set!



So now you have a full "family" for that template. Keep BodyShop open, and look to your SavedSims folder. You kept that open, right? If you didn't, you'll have to Sort Icons By > Modified. The last eight files should be your family, in the order that you made the sims.



If you've been following the tutorial step-by-step, the order will be: Adult Male, Adult Female, Teen Male, Teen Female, Elder Male, Elder Female, Child, and Toddler. If you didn't do all of one gender first, that's fine, just check the order of the sims in your bin. The newest ones will be first, and you can just count backwards.

Anyway, name those files according to gender and age, and copy them to a new folder, named after the face template you want to replace. Tada! That one's done! Do this 25 more times. I know, I know, easy to say, incredibly hard to do.

A few optional hints!

*Use the same skintone, eye, and hairstyle on every starting-point face you make. This will help you gauge how different one face is from another, because skin and hair can drastically change the look of a sim.

*Don't forget about the profile! Make sure to check how your sim looks from the side from time-to-time. Often, this is where differences in the faces will become most apparent. So be sure to use the rotate function often!

*To make a sim with the elf ears, simply go to the archetypes and select the last full-face template, which should be the elf one. Then tweak the face to be the way you want it. Also! Unless you have a hack, the last face WILL NOT spawn on townies. So if you want elf-eared townies without that hack, you'll want to give another face (or all of the faces, if that tickles your fancy), the ears. And, finally, a warning: if you select the elf-eared template, do NOT use the archetype sliders! Make sure you only use "Modifiers" because using the archetype sliders will diminish the elf ears.


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Have all your faces finished? All in neat little folders, named for each age and gender? Excellent! Now, the hard part.

Make two folders, label one "regular" and one "low def." You'll want these to be close to the folder that all your faces are in. Then open SimPE twice (as in, two windows). With the first instance of SimPe, you'll want to open up the first file of the first face, which is likely the adult female of 01 HEART. With the second instance of SimPE, open up the corresponding file from AllenABQ's face template files, which you should have downloaded earlier per the tutorial, and extracted close to the files you're currently working with.

With the first instance, on the right, in the Resource Tree, select AllRes > Geometric Data Container. There should be two files only, but if there are more, you want the one containing "age3_0_gmdc." If the number after "age" (3, in this case), is different, that's fine. That number indicates, obviously, the age. 3 is adult, 4 is elder, and so on. 7, however, is Young Adult, and should be ignored, since they use the adult face files.



Right button click on age3_0_gmdc (or the correct equivalent) and choose Extract, then save that file (don't change the name) in the "Regular" folder that you made earlier. There should be another file labeled "age3_LOD15_gmdc," this is the low-def version of your face, so that if you have Sim Detail on low in the game, these faces will show up. That makes it important to convert both, otherwise the faces will look VASTLY different on different game settings. So, extract that file as well, save it to the "Low Def" folder.



Now you'll want to switch to the other SimPE window, which contains the final face file. Again, select Geometric Data Container. Now, the lines under Resource List should read "afArchHeart_tslocator_gmdc" and "afArchHeartLOD15_tslocator_gmdc," depending on which file you're editing. "af" stands for Adult Female, and "Heart" is the face we're working on, so these will differ from file to file. You're going to want to replace these with your files, regular and low def, respectively.



To do this, copy the "Filename" to a text document, because you'll need it later.



Then right-button click on the "afArchHeart_tslocator_gmdc" and choose Replace, then choose the correct file (out of the Regular folder). The correct file is the one that ends in .5gd, NOT .5gd.xml! However, you'll only see the file extensions if you have them enabled. If you do NOT have file extensions enabled, then choose the one that doesn't have .5gd at the end.



When the program prompts you to reload, choose "Yes."



Now copy the Filename from the text document back to the text box you originally got it from, overwriting the text currently in there. Now choose "Commit." Do this for both regular and low definition, then save the file. Wella! One file of one face is finished!



You'll want to delete the contents of your Regular and Low Def folders between files, because the difference between "AC4F8687-080F8CBD-FFFFFFFF-FF3B7D95.5gd" and "AC4F8687-FB6A951D-FFFFFFFF-FF639D72.5gd" is not huge, and you don't want to end up putting the wrong file to the wrong face.

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Once you're done with all the files for all the faces, you're gonna notice that you've got a lot of files. I recommend separating them into folders by face template (so, all ages and genders for 08 EASI go in a folder labeled 08 EASI), as it will make the next step easier.

Now, you can ship them off as-is, no problem. But it'll be nicer for everyone who downloads to only need one file per face. So you'll want to condense them.

To do this, open up one file of one face, and choose Add.



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You'll need to change the file type to .package in order to see the rest of the files.



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Then, select all the files except for the open one, and confirm. Ta-da~! They're all there now!



Just save it as a different file, now, and you're all set!



Wash, rinse, repeat. Once you've got all the files condensed, I recommend using the Compressorizer to bring down the filesize a bit. And you know what?

NOW YOU'RE DONE. :DD Congratulations! Throw them in your downloads folder (be sure to take our your old ones first!), or zip them up and upload them, whatever you want, because you are DONE LIKE DINNER.