Well you can't from the library, but I often take a family I like - for instance the Goths and copy them to the library exactly as they are, as soon as that is done I go back to my main menu and go to the town I wanted to add them to and place them. Once they are placed, delete their copy from the library. Now go to their house to play them and bring each one to the mirror and click on the option to send each one to the bin and you will have all 3 Goths in your bin where you can do what ever kind of makeovers you want to be or just to have them. As it is true in the bin they lose their relationship and skills, but you can improve them, fix their traits, give them a new name and make them a family again and you will have them in your bin to use over and over. While the one in SunsetValley and the ones you have in this other town will be the original Goths - but best of all they are not in the library which could produce a doppleganger and trouble. When you send them to the bin the ones in the town do not leave - you just send another clone to the bin. Hope that makes sense.
Well adding lots can break routing with the ingame editor, but often you can get away with one or two, or a few smaller lots. I just try one lot at a time (saving before each lot) with the ingame editor as I need a lot. Then I play my hood for a bit to see if I start getting lag or freeze problems or anyother weirdness, as well as send sims to the area of the lot, along the road, the sidewalk - you know here and there if I don't get those little freeze hesitation and nothing looks pecular or acts different in the area, then it's generally makes that lot okay to use. But if you start seeing the lagging and problems like that - they are usually not severe, just minor to start with, and you have looked around to make sure there are no stuck strays or tourist which can also create a similar lag or freeze, then you can save and try another. Personally I just wish they would figure out why it is doing this as it did not do this when we first got it or with the first eps after that.
I will tell you CAW is not a picnic. I won't use it. Probably if we could just use it to work on already finished worlds to add lots and roads, then I might have tried harder, but to make an entire map from scratch and sculpt mountains and have to learn binding boxes, and layers, and all the other CAW terms and keep account you don't have more than 8 kinds of trees or more than all the other particulars it warns you about, well I just as soon live with what the creators make. I used to play all the Sims Cities and would make worlds from scratch - this is 20 times harder. Roads are a piece at a time - you have to add intersections and other things, and they must snap together and be smoothed - it's really hard. Not much frustrates me about learning new things but that did. My hats off to all the people who have mastered it. On a good note though I learned an awful lot about what to look for so I test worlds for creators to help them iron out the problems. There is a group of us that usually test them together.
But There are wonderful worlds, better than EA's out there that run flawless. Rflong, Quailhogs, Doc sprock, Geminiagre, MagicDancer, JohnnyWr, SimRealtor - and many others have some Gorgeous world without CC and without problems with tons of extra lots ready to add your own buildings if you want. That is the route I go. Many creators have even recreated some of EA's worlds - made them bigger and the lots are in place. But that is what I do instead of having to deal with that long drawn out process to add a few lots with the ingame editor.
