My Townies all spawn with the same colouring

[KTK10]

Hi all, I have noticed that no matter what file I start - all my spawned townies are dark skinned, dark eyes and dark hair. Now normally I love it - but when doing a long apocalypse challenge, I want to start to get some variety into the genetics.. is anyone else finding this issue and is there anyway to liven the variety up? 

[oshizu]

@KTK10

I have noticed a lot more townies that look like you described since the release of City Living, with Indian-sounding names.
But in my case, I'm still getting a balanced ratio of blonds and redheads. (Most of my sims with Japanese-sounding names are blond. Why?!)

Since you're not playing a Hall-of-Fame-eligible challenge, what if you placed a closet at the park so you could change hair color.
If you're still still stuck at home, why not place a closet on your front lawn to change the hair color of sims passing by?
There's a career lock (Space Ranger?) that restricts placing objects outside on your home lot, but you are trying to remedy a genetic glitch, not growing a garden or anything like that.

The only "by-the-book" way to change skin color would be to lift the Oracle career so you could start importing Wonder Children with different looks into your neighborhood.
Of course, once any sim is moved into your household, you can use "Change Sim" on a mirror and make a lot of changes to their appearance.

Not sure if any of these ideas appeal to you, but I wish you luck!!!

[KTK10]

Thank you so much @oshizu I hadn't thought of the closet.. I have lifted the Teen career for changing appearance, so wouldn't feel as though I was cheating so much  It's the eye colour as well.. that can't be changed unless I do cheat.. a pity really! Thanks again 

[oshizu]

Can't you change the eye color using a mirror and "Change sim"? That would be after moving a sim into the household (and before Try for Baby), of course.
What a shame, though! Having to make the changes yourself eliminates the sense of discovery and randomness!

[KTK10]

@oshizu, No eye colour can only change when using the full edit cheat.. But funnily enough.. just started another file for something and blond blue eyed people are wondering round EVERYWHERE! hahaha!! First time in about a dozen game files! 

[oshizu]

@KTK10

Just now, I started a new test game to confirm how "Change Sim" works.
Without using the cas.fulleditmode cheat, I'm able to take my sim to a mirror, select "Change Sim," then change his wardrobe and tattoos (the usual stuff, right?) BUT also the color of his hair/eyes/skintone and enter "Detail mode" to change his facial features.
What is the career unlock for using mirrors? Musician?

Haha, funny about your new file with all the blue-eyed blond sims.  You know it only happened because you complained about it on this forum, lol.

[Trip]

My games are upwards of 50% redheads. Japanese and Indian redheads generating with fantasy grey skintones.

I think @oshizu covered it all, except that I've never been able to change skintone in Change Sim without cheats. (Oh, and off-topic detail, but closet makeovers are 100% kosher for dynasties. This isn't TS3 where it resets age)

[oshizu]

@Trip

Oh, that's odd about not being able to change skintone with Change Sim.
In that test I did for the previous post, I simply fired up a new game with the first default sim that appeared in CAS, moved him into Crick Cabana, then hit Change Sim on the bathroom mirror.
I didn't use the cas cheat and was able to change his eyes and skintone.  Weird.

Do you think it was because Change Sim was the first action that new sim did after coming out of CAS?
I'd do another test right away but I'm in the middle of practicing for the tournament. :-)   

[Playalot]

There is a bit of a glitch that sometimes allows you to change a sims skin tone etc without using the CAS cheat. I think it is related to the game mechanics that allow you to change a newly converted vampire's Dark Form once without cheats.

[oshizu]

@Playalot
There's so much to keep track of!!!
I have been using Change Sim to modify all my vampires' dark forms, but never realized I could only do it once because...I guess I didn't care enough to change their dark forms twice, lol.
Think about that...some poor unfortunate vampire, doomed to eternal life in a hideous dark form, because it can only be changed once without cheats. *wipes a tear

[oshizu]

@KTK10 and @Trip and @Playalot

After using a young adult sim in a tournament challenge, which ended when the sim aged up to an adult, I had him go to Crick Cabana and use the mirror to Change Sim.

Besides the usual stuff, I am also able to change the color of his eyes and skintone. I'm not using any cc or mods in this save since it's for a tournament.

I'd like to say that I've always been able to change eyecolor and skintone using Change Sim but, very frankly, I can't remember. :-p
Not much help, I know, but testing with a played sim gave me the same results as a brand-new sim.

Maybe, for once, my game is glitched but in a good way?

[Trip]

@oshizu: Interesting! I'll have to try it myself. I just remember that my last immortal dynasty attempt was full of waiting for the right colorful sims to generate.

[coolsim9999999]

@oshizu --- When I first found out about changing a Sim's appearance without cheats, I had been playing for about 2 weeks --- I hadn't found Carl's Guide or forum, yet.  Since that time, by using a mirror, I have always been able to change Sims' clothes, hair, makeup, tattoos, skin tone and eye color.

[Playalot]

Huh? That is weird. I've used the wardrobe often and not been able to change skin color etc. I will test this out later but you know that once you have turned the cas cheat on (cas.fulleditmode on) it stays on so is enabled the next time you take a sim into CAS you can still change all the attributes? Maybe that is what is occurring. Either way, very interesting!

Well I'll be!! Looks like you can change eye, hair and skin tones and basically remake your sims face body shape etc by pushin' and pullin' when using the 'change sim' option on the wardrobe that came with Get Together. I obviously don't use the wardrobe nearly often enough.

Not sure if it was always that way as I still think that may have been introduced with the patch that either allowed us to change aliens disguises in CAS or with the vampires but either way it is a legit thing that does not require cheats! I can't imagine having missed a trick like this when I was first playing around with the wardrobe.

Mirrors do the same thing when choosing 'change sim' by the way.

Good news for dynasty players lol. No more ugly townies or offspring!

[oshizu]

@Playalot

We can push and pull all we want, but once a pear shape always a pear shape.