Updated: Nov 29 2014 (Instructions revised for Windows 8.1)
Lets say you want to play with Pleasantview, Strangetown or Veronaville, but you don’t want to spoil the original neighborhood. While it is possible to replace N001, N002 or N003 (PV, ST & VV respectively) in “My Documents” with a mint copy from
(Program Files \ EA Games \ The Sims 2 \ TSData \ Res \ UserData \ Neighborhoods),
doing so will overwrite all your gameplay progress.
Or you have a custom neighborhood (eg. N004) which you put a lot of effort into, and want to clone another copy of it (N005), so that you can take it in two different directions, like parallel universes.
For this example, let’s try to clone Strangetown (N002). In the “My Documents \ EA Games \ Neighborhoods \ ” folder, choose “N002” and “Edit/Copy”.
OR if you are using Sims 2 Double Deluxe, go to the “Documents \ EA Games \ The Sims 2 Double Deluxe \ Neighborhoods \ ” folder, choose the “N002” from there, and “Edit/Copy”.
Now go to your MAIN “My Documents” folder, “Edit/Paste” N002 there, and RENAME it to “Nxxx”, where “xxx” is any 3-digit number that is unused in the “My Documents \ EA Games \ Neighborhoods \ ” folder. For this example, let’s call it “N112”.
1. OPEN Command Prompt (“Start \ All Programs \ Accessories \ Command Prompt”). OR choose “Run”, and type “cmd” into the dialog box. It should say something like:
C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo>
(In Win 8.1, you get) C:\Users\Aldo\
Type “cd documents”, C:\Users\Aldo\cd documents
and you’ll get C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\
Follow the instructions for Win 8.1 if you’re using Windows 7 or later versions.
2. Change the directory by TYPING “cd N112″ (without the quotes ” “)
C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo>cd N112
OR C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\cd N112
and you’ll get
C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo\N112>
OR C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\N112
3. Now RENAME the files in bulk using the following command
C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo\N112>ren N002* N112*
OR C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\N112\ren N002* N112*
4. This changes all the “N002” prefixes into “N112”. TYPE “dir” to confirm this.
C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo\N112>dir
OR C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\N112\dir
5. REPEAT Steps 3 & 4 for the “Characters” & “Lots” subdirectories.
C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo\N112\Characters>
C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo\N112\Lots>
OR C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\N112\Characters\
C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\N112\Lots\
The command for going back only one directory level is “cd..”
Eg. C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo\N112\Characters\cd..
brings you back to C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo\N112\Characters>
OR C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\N112\Characters\cd..
brings you back to C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\N112\
6. Go to the “Thumbnails” subdirectory, and RENAME “N002_FamilyThumbnails.package” into “N112_FamilyThumbnails.package”.
C:\>Documents & Settings\Aldo\N112\Thumbnails>ren N002_FamilyThumbnails.package N112_FamilyThumbnails.package
OR C:\Users\Aldo\Documents\N112\Thumbnails\ren N002_FamilyThumbnails.package N112_FamilyThumbnails.package
7. Check that everything is renamed correctly. TYPE “exit” to close Command Prompt.
8. COPY & PASTE the N112 folder into the
“My Documents \ EA Games \ Neighborhoods \ ” folder
OR “Documents \ EA Games \ The Sims 2 Double Deluxe \ Neighborhoods \ ” folder
and you’re ready to play. N112 is completely distinct, yet indistinguishable from N002, until you begin to play it.
WARNING: If your source nhood has community lot tombstones, or tombstones that have *ever* been placed in community lots, those tombstones will vanish in the destination newly cloned nhood.
You may also like: [How to Reset Sims 2 Neighborhoods]
