Potentially silly question

Lucy_Henley

Say I have a family and move them onto a lot, and then at some point get them to move out, and have them move into a different lot. Is it OK to move another family onto the lot that the first family vacated? The first family wasn’t deleted or anything. I am trying to stay very aware of hood corruption and not do anything that will definitely cause it (such as deleting families from the bin or saving the game when a Sim is on the phone kind of thing).

AyKooChao

I haven’t played TS2 for a while, but I think it’s fine as long as you don’t move any occupied lots into the bin.

Lucy_Henley

I thought it would be OK. I just felt a little paranoid about corruption. I noticed some symptoms of corruption in a custom hood I’d made, and had no idea how it had happened. So now I’m hyper-aware of it.

SimmerGeorge

As a rule of thumb that applies to (not all but) most cases of corruption: If the action you want to take, partially or fully removes data tied to other sims, it will cause corruption.
Best example of that is (like you probably know) deleting sims, who other sims have memories of or deleting custom food that one of your sims particularly liked.

Since the lot is unoccupied and since the game wipes out all belongings left behind by the previous family, moving them in will be safe imo.
It really is not a silly question since corruption in the Sims 2 is so absurd, like the saving while on the phone thing, that you can never know.

Cinebar

I didn't used to think this would cause corruption. However, I was looking for a mod one time where I read that Mootilda's neighborhood, lot cleaner or something was based on the assumption vacated lots didn't hold any data but someone later found they actually did. This was over in a long conversation on MTS from after she passed. It is possible they hold data from visitors to those lots (walkbys and others) who stopped by the lot or visited. I don't know about this but it was later decided previous occupied lots actually do hold over left over data. But in many cases you would not notice any corruption for many Sim years later in your neighborhoods. The Riverside neighborhood (custom) is an example of this, where there is left over data on Sims and in lots where the creator removed Sims (maybe even deleted some) and the data remained on the actual lots. Another example is if you have ever downloaded a lot you assumed was never used and lo and behold there is a Sim (perhaps a Sim who visited and or walkedby) and their information was not seen in the Sims2PK cleaner when you installed it. ETA: This stuff happens during saves (invisible stuck Sims on a played lot) depending on when a player saves their game, like when a Sim is on the phone or a walkby is out front etc. Those files can be attached to the lot even after vacated. But we won't see it unless perhaps we download it etc and actually see the Sim. But in most cases we never see the Sim but their data remains.

Lucy_Henley

The family in question didn’t actually remain on the lot long. I moved them there temporarily, used the motherlode cheat, and then moved them out again. All so they had the simoleons to buy a bigger house. The family came straight out of CAS.

Cinebar

@Lucy_Henley I don't think you really have to worry about that. It would be months (if any) of play or perhaps years of play before that vacant lot you used would cause any corruption. And the way to get rid of most corruption in TS2 is to bulldoze any lot (after Sims are moved out) and remove any copy from the bin. The kind of corruption I was speaking about was after a lot had been occupied and Ron Humble and others had already arrived and even then there wouldn't be enough left over data in the game to really do much damage at all, and if there was ever any it would be on the lot which can be bulldozed. I do that sometimes because some of my Sims have the same last name and hard to get the game to accept familyfunds amounts and give it to the first family etc. I have moved Sims back home from college after parents died and ghosts on lot so I don't really see a quick move in and move out would actually cause much corruption. I once used the hood cleaner mod from MTS and I wish I had just lived with some corruption since doing that imploded my game because yes, there was a lot of left over data and 'hidden' Sims on some of my lots but removing all of those etc. with that mod actually did more harm than good in the end.

Lucy_Henley

Fair enough @Cinebar. I’ll delete the lot!