Are sims forever saved in the sim bin?

[Claeric]

I just realized I really would love to keep as-is versions of sims I made so far. Will those copies in the sim bin stay there forever to be re-used whenever I please? And if not, can I do that? D:

[lewjen]

Hrm... I think so. If I understand your question, you're asking if sims in the sim bin will stay there forever? In that case, yes.

[J. M. Pescado]

Define "Sim Bin". If you mean, "the sim bin", as in, the CAS saved bin, then yes, they stay there forever with no harmful side effects. If you mean "the library", the panel you can plop in edit town, you should not leave loose sims in the library, because they will clone themselves into your neighborhood, resulting in duplicate copies of the same sim running around. In both cases, however, they will remain there forever and not delete or alter themselves, but in the latter case, they WILL repeatedly be added to your neighborhood by some unknown thing. And this is double-plus-ungood.

[Claeric]

Oh, they're in some sort of bin. :( I can "place a copy' into town, I assume that means it's the CAS bin and they'll stay there to be copied?

I suppose I could just package them and reinstall when I want them.

[squeam]

If you mean "the library", the panel you can plop in edit town, you should not leave loose sims in the library, because they will clone themselves into your neighborhood, resulting in duplicate copies of the same sim running around.

Oh wow, thanks. That's actually really good to know.

[simbalena]

Oh, they're in some sort of bin. :( I can "place a copy' into town, I assume that means it's the CAS bin and they'll stay there to be copied?


It sounds like you're talking about the library. If you save them there they'll keep all their skills, job, etc, but will lose all relationships with sims outside of their household.

I save my families to the library all the time so if my game becomes corrupt I can still start a new game with the same family.

When I first played the game I had the problem of the game adding them to the town (one sim had herself as her boss... I made them fall in love!), but it hasn't happened in a long time. I thought one of the first few patches fixed that?

[J. M. Pescado]

Oh, they're in some sort of bin. :( I can "place a copy' into town, I assume that means it's the CAS bin and they'll stay there to be copied?
Nope, that's the Library. You should avoid retaining sims in the library for extended durations. If you want to keep them, move the files out of your LUSER/Library directory so the game won't mess with them and try to clone them into the neighborhood.

[Claeric]

Is that the Sims3/Library folder in the documents? I can't find any other library folder except the one in Gamedata, and that has all the default bin sims in it.

[jenipunch]

^ No. When you go to Edit Town, the menu to put new/more Sims into your neighborhood will show up. There'll be a bunch of Sim family portraits in the menu, which scrolls from side-to-side. That is your Sim family library.

Basically, to ensure you won't get a bunch of family duplicates in your game, save Sims into the Sim Bin. To do this, select the Sim you want to save, send him/her to a mirror/dresser, and enter CAS mode. Then, down at the bottom of the screen where your Sim's portrait is shown, there'll be a little (...). Click that, then select 'save Sim to bin'. And there you go!

[sharkloverplayer]

I have my sims in the library bin in neighborhood and I've never seen clones. If this happens it must be a bug and is a rare event.

[J. M. Pescado]

We don't know if it's a bug or not, but they DO appear, possibly not if they are attached to lots at the same time, but they do. You won't notice it until you notice that your sim appears to know itself, or that another sim appears to know your sim while your sim does not know them, or you see them both together at the same time. At that point, you realize there's an EVIL CLONE loose in your neighborhood.

[candistyx]

Does that happen also with the sims that came in the Library before you make your own? And more importantly how can I delete those ones (because they are annoying me cluttering up the place anyway).

[J. M. Pescado]

Yes. You can find them in %INSTALL%\GameData\Shared\NonPackaged\Library. Move them to someplace else in case a patch needs them.

[jenipunch]

You can delete any family you want from the Library, I think, doesn't matter if you made them or not.

[sleepyrose]

Pescado is right. In the beginning, when I got the game, I didn't realize that the sims in the library can appear in the neighborhood at one point. So, I just kept the ones I created there. After some time I saw a clone walking around. :blink:
From then on I just deleted them from the library.

[squeam]

Can this be used to our advantage? Like putting a bunch of sims in there that will hopefully show up in the neighborhood? Or is it rare enough that it would be too much work to do that?

[Srikandi]

Can this be used to our advantage? Like putting a bunch of sims in there that will hopefully show up in the neighborhood? Or is it rare enough that it would be too much work to do that?

You can definitely do that. That's the intention, I think.

[squeam]

Oh! Sweet!