Should I Edit My Sims' Children? RESOLVED!

If you change the gender in CAS, make sure you edit the voice also and it would be a good idea to age them up in CAS and edit their features if they were going to grow up with a particularly masculine or feminine facial structure. Then age them back down. Some of that stuff is set when they are toddlers and doesn't change just because you switch the gender tag.

I say edit them to what you want at least go with the name change simple enough.

OMG, I read the title as "Should I eat my sims' children?" :D Please, don't eat them. Just edit them to your liking.

Little late, but edit them. Personally, it doesn't seem much like an issue I would sweat. I do always edit RNG children, but it is usually just clothes and appearance tweaking. Rarely full rewrites needing the cheat full edit mode. Even then, I don't really try to force RNG children in any direction. If I were particular, I would have just designed them in CAS.

That being said, if it bothers you there is no harm in fixing it. Actually, it seems to me that you have every reason to fix it if you are truly unhappy with it. We play for fun, so do whatever to make it fun.

"Daephene;c-18146838" wrote:
If you change the gender in CAS, make sure you edit the voice also and it would be a good idea to age them up in CAS and edit their features if they were going to grow up with a particularly masculine or feminine facial structure. Then age them back down. Some of that stuff is set when they are toddlers and doesn't change just because you switch the gender tag.

Thank you for that. I have a hunch that I will delete the fourth daughter and replace her with a bio son from the parents to avoid any such problems. But, I'm glad to have the information you gave, just in case I change my mind, when it all comes down to the moment.

"DaniRose2143;c-18146797" wrote:
Go ahead with the flashback story and see what comes of that. If you don't get what you're looking for, then go into CAS and make the changes you need. I wouldn't roll back and lose all that Erik has accomplished and have to redo it all. CAS is your friend, your assistant, and your fixer-upperer.

Thanks, the thought of a do-over, I think is what's making me hesitate. I suppose changing them in CAS would be the way to go. As I stated in a post, I will scrupulously write down the kids skill levels of whom I will change, and perhaps keep the level of the one I totally replace. I still have to decide what to do about the baby that's nearly here. I could return the number on the lot to default, that way once the baby is born, I can take the family into CAS and baby will likely be gone. I accidentally did this one other time. No one in the family was distressed at all over the disappearance of the 'extra' Sim. My poor Sims have just gone through so much, lately.

"Nate_Whiplash1;c-18146790" wrote:
TS4 is a fantasy game, a dollhouse if you will; I say make them look however you'd like them to look

It's not about their looks at all. It's their gender and birth order. I wanted twins, not triplets. The next two were supposed to be boys, but I failed to engineer that via MCCC, since I got triplets instead of twins. :open_mouth: ( Note to Self: Check the number and gender of the baby in the Third trimester!) I didn't even look after that for the subsequent pregnancies, let alone choose the gender. Had I done so, I wouldn't be up this tree. :)

"Calico45;c-18146899" wrote:
Little late, but edit them. Personally, it doesn't seem much like an issue I would sweat. I do always edit RNG children, but it is usually just clothes and appearance tweaking. Rarely full rewrites needing the cheat full edit mode. Even then, I don't really try to force RNG children in any direction. If I were particular, I would have just designed them in CAS.

That being said, if it bothers you there is no harm in fixing it. Actually, it seems to me that you have every reason to fix it if you are truly unhappy with it. We play for fun, so do whatever to make it fun.

I also edit them starting with when they age up to Toddler. I loathe the clothing the game puts them in. Some totally inappropriate. I do this every time they age up. I tried to play getting triplets instead of the twins, but things aren't working for me. Especially when I got a fourth daughter instead of the third son. If I'm trying to get back to the save where things went kablooey on me (corrupted save) then I am seeking the original children Erik had. At that time I just let the game decide the birth order and gender. It worked out well, all-in-all. But then a Patch hit, and that's the one time I failed to make a back-up. Face/palm. This has been a two-year struggle, I'm sorry to admit. Too many patches, too quickly, I've had to restart just to fix the mess. This time, I'm trying only to roll back, when necessary, or to just do a save recovery. But, the fact the kids aren't in their proper birth order and gender has me bugged beyond belief. I don't know why this is tripping me up, but it is. Thank you for your sage advice.

I always edit children from looks to gender. I want them to not have strange squished chins or whatever the game genetics gets wrong. I also have no issue changing gender because the game likes to give me girls and that gives my game a pretty severe imbalance. I don't have mods to ensure anything so if I want a family to have a boy, they get a boy regardless. I'll even spawn a twin in full edit if I wanted twins. Play with the cast you want, that's how I view my game anyway.

"DoloresGrey;c-18146896" wrote:
OMG, I read the title as "Should I eat my sims' children?" :D Please, don't eat them. Just edit them to your liking.

ROFL Thank you for my morning chuckle! I confess, there have been subject lines I have misread, too. I blame my eyesight, or lack thereof. No, no cannibalism here. Or would that be simnabalism? Just want to age the third triplet down, remove the fourth daughter to exchange her for a bio brother. I want Peter back. The original children were as follows: Jamison, twins Melodie and Harmony, Andrew, Peter and lastly, Cadence.

Make backup saves and then toss the ones that don't turn out the way you want. That's what I do sometimes. I've only had twins occur twice, and triplets once.

I do sometimes edit them if they come out a way that I don't like.

"GalacticGal;c-18146639" wrote:
Or Should I just have them go for Ten kids?

This one! ^

As for sim-editing: I have no regrets if a Sim pairing ends up with bizarre-looking children because it's game mechanics and in real life Caleb Vatore's kids might have eyes like his... not weird, tiny ones that look nothing like his. Every. Time. Fixing game mechanics is all good. But I am so sorry about the plastic surgery I gave to Alexander Goth just because he didn't grow up as cute as I'd expected (based mostly on Bella and Cassandra's looks).

The moral of this story is that if the idea of changing them makes you feel guilty, maybe don't. Maybe just keep having kids until you've got all the ones you want. BUT. If you're just going to be sad without the Sims you lost, maybe edit the ones you have before you get attached to them, too.

Still going with "have all the kids," though. That sounds like the most chaos, and you don't seem to mind a little chaos in your Sims. :)