Here's the scenario:

I have two sims, Jack and Lucas, who are married. Jack has been abducted by aliens and had twins. The family tree reflects that the twins are children of Jack and Pollination Technician.

What I'd like to do is have it show that they've been 'adopted' by Lucas, if possible. I'd like them to consider Lucas as a family member instead of, well, a stranger that lives with them. Is this possible or will I just have to pretend?

I've never had any luck with that. I wonder if you could edit relationships in Simpe?

You can edit relationships in SimPE.

Actually I think it is even possible with the SimBlender. I'm not 100% sure though

The SimBlender has an option to create different relationships between Sims -- I don't think it edits the family tree, or creates an official memory (like "Adopted ____!"), but it lets the Sims see each other as related.

I had two married male sims who became plantsims and each spawned a female plantbaby. Since plantbabies are clones of the parents, I knew the girls would have two bolts for each other -- after all, their fathers did -- but for reasons of Plot, I didn't want them to fall in love. I used the SimBlender to set them to sisters, and they have no romantic interactions available. Their portraits in the relationship panel also display the little blue "family" symbol. However, I'm pretty sure that the family tree only shows father --> daughter, not father + stepfather --> daughter and stepsister.

Thanks everyone, I'll try SimBlender and tell you how it goes.

You can edit relationships in SimPE, such that "adopted" children of the type of which the OP speaks will have the family flags. (I do this all the time with my Sims who have kids via surrogates or artificial insemination. In those cases, the kid has three parents, the two biological ones plus the non-biological, adoptive one. That way,the kid(s) can't grow up to have crushes on the adoptive parent, due to the family flags.) However, this isn't reflected on the family tree. I've never found a way to make that happen. Which makes me think that it can't be done because, if it could be done, it's one of those things that I'd think someone would have modded by now. If I'm wrong about that, I'd love to know how to do it.

ETA: I don't have the SimBlender, but I do still use the Insimenator and with that you can alter relationships, too. But, again, the changes aren't reflected on the family tree. I have a feeling the same will be the case with the SimBlender. However, if I'm wrong about that, I'll go off and download the SimBlender ASAP.

If you use Inge's teleporter cat, it will edit the family tree. The pollination tech will no longer be on the tree, though.

There are two places in SimPE you can change the relationships. One is in the relationships panel of your sims's character file (in Sim Description). You can set the child-step parent as being 'family' there though you cannot define the relationship as a step-parent/step-child thing though you can make the relationship parent-child if you want (you can also leave this part out and just have them show as family). This part shows in the relationship panel in game. To show in the family tree you have to go to Family Ties section in SimPE and find your sims - they'll be listed under their families. Family ties provides you with a sort of visual editor for family trees - look for the drop down boxes to define relationships and you can pull around the little arrows to attach sims to one another. You can add in parental/sibling/child relationships. However, a sim can only have two parents so if you make the step-dad the other parent, PT will no longer show in the family tree.

If you can't work it out from fiddling about, I could probably post some pictures. Also, you often need to check the relationship from both ends, i.e. you can set the step-parent as parent to the child but you should check that that child is also set to being a child in the parent's file - IYSWIM.

Thank you, maxon, for this. I was only using the relationships panel. Didn't know the other existed. However, I'd still like my surrogate moms to show on family trees so...dilemma! Not so concerned about "sperm donors." In fact, I often break family ties with them, anyway, to make them "anonymous," as if someone just went to a sperm bank to get baby-fied. Surrogacy is usually a little more interactive than that, as well as a helluva bigger investment for the surrogate, so I think surrogate mothers deserve recognition.

Well, you can also use the Family Ties editor to delete relationships (though I don't know if that buggers the family tree coding, so back up first). Personally, I use the family trees as a sort of genetic trace so leave them alone for the most part. My main experience of using it was from the period when I rebuilt Little Carping from scratch including adding back to a newly empty templated Little Carping all the sims who had lived there including all their memories, relationships, recessive genetics, etc. etc. It was a summer project in 2007.* Anyway, I use the relationships panel to show the more 'social' relationships - i.e. the ones the sims actually recognise day to day. I think you might be able to add as many parent-child relationships there as you like as, AFAIK, that data is not linked to the family tree. Don't take my word on that though - I've not tested it. I think it is the relationship (SRels) data and the family flags that affects in-game behaviour though - like them lecturing their wayward teen if they catch them sneaking out.

*Obsessive, moi? Surely not.

Okay, I've played around with it and it's not possible to make Lucas adopt the toddlers in a way that alters the family tree correctly. The best way was to just set the kids as his children, though the family tree won't reflect this, the game will correctly recognise the toddlers as Lucas' family and vice versa.

What did you want the tree to show? Luke, the technician and Jack?

Like others have said you can use Sim Blender to either adopt or set as "my child". You have to fiddle around with it, at least that's been my experiance. But make sure both parents are part of the family tree. When you have the adoptee become the parent of an alien/normal baby, it can remove the actual parent from the family tree. Once you have the parents you want in the family tree, it will show all the children they have. However, there won't be a memory-at least with the Sim Blender- of ever adopting. And the toddlers may want to be tickled or have some kind of attention, but it won't show their "adopted" parent's faces in the panels, like regular adopted or natural born children do. However, the children regardless on how they became part of the family. If they have a high relationship with the parent, they will run out and greet them, when they come home from work.

Also, if you adopt a townie, unless you have SimPe, they won't have the same last name. Or I have yet to figure out how to do that!?

There's a name changing painting mod. I've yet to modify relationships in SimPE because I'm concerned I'll screw up somehow. I tend to adopt using Inge's cat and then change the name with the painting.

Are you thinking of merola's painting? Because, I have that and it only changes a Sims first name. Now, if there's another painting I should know about, please let me know...or is it an Inge painting?

The SimBlender will let you change a sim's first name to the last name. It will also let you copy the first name. So you could theoretically use it to change a last name like this:

1. Sim is named "Abhijeet Wright"
2. Change sim's first name; sim is now named to "Johnson Wright"
3. Copy first name to last name; sim is now named "Johnson Johnson"
4. Change first name again; sim is now named "Abhijeet Johnson"

I assume you're talking about "adopting" a Teen or older by adding them to the family? Any sim adopted via the Social Worker automatically takes the family's name...

@esmeiolanthe - Yes, but you cannot adopt a teen through the normal game rules, you have to use a mod. I need to check out this Sim Blender. I hear so many good things about it. The painting I referenced does the same thing with the names. Until I got Simpe, I used it to change names all over my medieval hood. I still use it to change the occasional individual because it's faster than firing up Simpe.

@simwhisperer - You have it in that file of mods. It's Christianlov's LastNameCopier. (http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=289073)

@VerDeTerre: I thought that might be it. I just like to clarify things sometimes . Thanks for helping out!

Thanks for this! I've just went though the trouble of using SimPE to change some last names. It did work. But, a painting is much easier!

Thanks, I once tried the copy the last name thing, and when I got "Adam Adam", I thought I did something wrong. I didn't realise I wasn't finished!

As for the adoption I was talking about. I was talking two different things. One to adopt a townie teen or child, I've had to add them to my household, and then use the Sim Blender to have them adopted, and be part of the family tree, plus changing their last name- which I'm learning there's a few methods. And then there's Sims like the Newson's, whom I added to a family using the Sim Blender, I had the family adopt them, so they'd all be one big happy family! However, by either doing the add a Sim or adopting sims, like the Newson's through the Sim Blender, they won't have memories of being adopted, or the parents adopting. You are correct, if they go through the social worker, then yes, there will be memories of that event.

Isn't it possible to tweak memories in Simpe?

I believe so, but I've never done that, nor am I sure if I should!

I know you need to be careful, and know what you're doing with Simpe, and when it comes to Simpe, I am new to it to an extent.

U can make him have a baby by boolprop from another man if u wanted.

Me too. I've learned how to do one thing - Change the way a Sim looks in Sim surgery. Everyone said it wouldn't be enough to have the genes pass down, but so far it has, so the code must have been rewritten. There seem to be thousands of things you can do with various files, object and clothing also, but I have no clue and am not feeling overly adventurous.

The main thing you need to remember about SimPE (or any editor, including in-game ones) is to make a backup of your neighborhood. An advantage, for the timid, is that SimPE requires you to commit to a change before it will take effect, and then you have to save; so you have to make your mistakes twice before they're final; and since you can't have the game open while messing with it, messing with it can only cost you gameplay if you neglected to back up first.

Poke around in the character files, figure out the SimBrowser, look at the Family Ties and the Fami Data and the memories, without changing anything till you're comfortable with how things look and work in there; then make a backup and try things out. You can even make a test neighborhood and only play with those files till you understand how they work, if it makes you feel better. I still can't do much in it, but I've changed memories, and family ties, and names, and extracted sims, and nothing's exploded yet.