Premades and Precepts

A while ago, I received a family tree from a relative who asked us to help update it. Only problem was it was in an XLS spreadsheet – rather difficult to navigate, to put it finely. So I went looking for good, free family tree software. I learned about GEDCOM, tried out about half a dozen freeware solutions, and found out that 90% of genealogy software costs money and looks like it was written in 1998.

Nevertheless, I ended up with two excellent pieces of free software: GenealogyJ and GRAMPS.If you like keeping Sims family records, both are good free choices.I know that there are popular services like TribalPages but I specifically wanted software that could keep a local database, and perhaps export to a website or better yet, a graphical family tree.

Here’s a little comparison of GenealogyJ and GRAMPS.

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I just wanted to put in a shout-out for Hook’s RandomStuff. I’ve been using randomstuff for ages for choosing names and even randomizing appearances in TS2. Basically I configured the text file to give a number for each preset – face 4, brow 6, eyes 10, nose 12, etc. Unlike townie generation, which just chooses from a pool of 27 faces (I think) you can create unique-looking Sims in CAS very quickly by randomizing the presets.

It will be interesting to see how face generation works in TS3. Hopefully the engine is a little more chaotic and each facial feature will be randomized, rather than getting the same couple of dozen faces. I’m not big on obsessing with genetics (that’s a topic for another whole post) but I like seeing variations.

As for TS3, from what we’ve seen of the screenshots, Sim faces are overall smoother. Although they’re all premades… I wonder if we’ll be seeing the return of the ‘uglyface townie’ phenomenon. Personally I prefer plasticky soulless-eyed wax dolls over the angular faces, ridiculous noses, and red mohawks/mismatched outfits of TS2′s townie generating. Well, the last may still return.