stretching skeletons = continual aging :)

Stretching skeletons has been around since the base game, so this is not really a new concept here - but just something I'm finally getting around to trying. And I can't believe I never tried this before now, because it's really fun! :)

You might notice in my next update (will post tomorrow, maybe) that Matthew is taller than Leila. I'm basing the default adult Sim height at 5'9", and have set Matthew to a value of 1.02 (5'10") and Leila to 0.98 (5' 7 1/2"). I'm testing this out with just a few Sims for now, and if it works out for me, I could implement varied heights throughout the whole neighborhood.

Oops, kissing is a bit awkward, lol! For future kissing shots, I'll pop her height up momentarily and pretend she's standing on her tippy-toes. I can pop her back down after the kiss, or because I've modified her height in SimPe, she'll return to her customized height again the next time the lot loads.

ETA: a sort of follow-up to this, an extended look at modifications and work-arounds for different height kissing.

Also notice that little Liza Hathe is turning twelve this summer, and has gotten taller and gangly in her pre-teen years. She's anxiously awaiting the day she grows some boobs, but for now, at least she's taller than the little kids.

Stretching skeletons is doable for all age groups. For comparison's sake:

How much fun is this??? Here you have 15 year old Summer (teen, default), 12 year old Fiona (teen, 0.87), 11 year old Liza (child, 1.20), and 9 year old Ryanne (child, default), at all different heights!

Liza is turning 12 in August, so I've made her a little taller. It makes her look like a bean pole, but I really like the differences. It looks much better to make my 12 year-old teens a little shorter instead of making children any taller than Liza is here. The goal of this is that when 11 year-old Liza transitions from a tall child to a short teen at age twelve, the change will be gradual - like she grew boobs overnight, lol, which is actually pretty realistic for a lot of pre-teen girls.

Something close to gradual aging? ;)

The cheat, if you need it: StretchSkeleton [factor]

This is a multiplication factor, so 2.0 would mean double size, and 0.5 would mean half size. Go ahead and play around with this cheat if you want - you can't do any damage as the changes are wiped as soon as you leave the lot.

The in-game cheat works just as well as making the changes in SimPe, except it's not permanent. Because I age my Sims so slowly, it would be worth it for me to make the permanent changes in SimPe, so that they're already adjusted when I load their lot, or when they show up on community lots. Those of you who age them more quickly probably wouldn't want to bother. But because my Sims stay in one age group for so long, and are such varied ages within those groups, I'd like my 17 year-old teens to look different than my 12 year olds. My 11 year old children to look different than my 5 year olds. And my 3 year old toddlers to look different than my 18 month old toddlers.

In my game, I followed this tutorial for SimPe, to make the changes permanently - that is, permanent until age transition, when they'll revert to Maxis default. But the process is actually simpler than this tutorial describes. I've written up my steps here instead... Make sure you back up your neighborhood first! And you probably shouldn't be messing around in your character files unless you're already somewhat familiar with SimPe. If you bork your Sims, I can't help you fix it...

1.) Load your neighborhood, and under Resource Tree, click on Sim Description (SDSC). This will load all of your Sims and you can browse to find the exact Sim you want to modify.
2.) Once you've found your Sim, you can access their character data from the "more..." tab... Open Character File.
3.) Now, in the Resource Tree, click on Age Data (AGED), there's only one file, and click on that.
4.) Select "stretch (dtSingle)"... and modify the default number in the "Value" box.
5.) Commit, and Save Package. That's all! Easy-peasy :)

ETA: a PRICELESS time-saving tip from Sari at Wellington, if you intend on modifying more than one Sim - do step 1 as described.

Then once you have your list of Sim Descriptions, you can go through each Sim you intend on modifying, look at their character file number under the "more" tab, but DO NOT open the character file. Just note the character file number. Carry on and note all the character file numbers of those Sims you wish to modify.

When you're finished, go ahead and open the character file of one of them, and carry on to step 3.

For the next Sim you wish to modify, you can open their character file straight from the "open" menu, without having to load the whole neighborhood first.

Finally, be glad you've been granted this knowledge, because a lot of us had to do it the long way first, lol! :)

So, most romantic interactions look normal still (except for standing kissing interactions, mostly), and almost all platonic interactions look normal, even with larger height differences. I always imagined Adrian a taller man.

The twins have really sprung up lately, just before their seventeenth birthday (Summer is default teen, by comparison). The boys are as tall as their mom now. Maybe because their dad is taller, they might be tall men when they're adults. If I want height to be genetic like that, I'll have to enforce it myself. Here is Adrian (adult, 1.06), Aurora (adult, default), Tyler and Beau, who are turning 17 this summer (teen, 1.0), and Summer who is turning 16 (teen, default). Maybe I'll make Summer genetically dispositioned to be a short woman. Maybe she'll never get any taller than she is at sixteen. I know I didn't, lol! :)

Most romantic interactions are normal for teen height differences too. Tyler may be taller, but he wonders if he'll ever outgrow those zits! Don't worry, Tyler, it'll happen!

Height differences can be interesting though, a kiss on the forehead? Awww, that's sweet :)

The strange thing is that they can angle their necks to look at each other when they're just standing, but I guess they didn't think to program the same thing into kissing? Ah, well...

If anyone else is familiar with the stretch skeleton stuff, here are the numbers I'm using for reference (mine as well as yours) - this is based on an average adult height of 5'9", and I've made my own reference chart. I know other tutorials base average height calculations at 6'0", but how is that average? LOL! That isn't average for men or women! I figure 5'9" because it's a little tall for women, maybe a little short for men, and a pretty good base line for adult Sim height.

Anyway... teens, YAs, and adults (and I assume elders) work with this scale. Numbers are slightly rounded for the sake of simplicity. No need to be that anal, you know ;)

0.87 = 5' 0"
0.885 = 5' 1"
0.90 = 5' 2"
0.915 = 5' 3"
0.93 = 5' 4"
0.94 = 5' 5" (default teen height)
0.955 = 5' 6"
0.97 = 5' 7"
0.985 = 5' 8"
1.0 = 5' 9" (default adult height)
1.015 = 5' 10"
1.03 = 5' 11"
1.045 = 6' 0"
1.06 = 6' 1"
1.07 = 6' 2"
1.085 = 6' 3"
1.10 = 6' 4"
1.115 = 6' 5"
1.13 = 6' 6"

Children and toddlers work on different scales...

11 year-old Sarah, on the left (child, 1.2) - 9 year-old Ryanne in the middle (child, default) - 5 year-old townie girl, on the right (child, 0.93).

I am not correlating the child stretches to any actual human heights, but just their ages:

1.2 = 10/11 year-olds
1.0 = 6-9 year-olds
.93 = 4/5 year-olds

Children don't stretch as well as the other age groups. When standing still, their arms go funny, straight down when they're stretched taller, and buckled when they're stretched shorter. Ryanne is default in the middle. It seems like their hands have to remain in the same place no matter what their height. When animated, their arms look normal, so only take pictures when they're doing something, I guess?

Toddlers work better than children do, and look quite realistic.

From left to right: 3 year-old Devon (toddler, 1.2), 2 year-old Bianca (toddler, default), 18 month-old Felicity (toddler 0.95), and for comparison, 5 year-old townie girl (child 0.93). Again, default toddler is 1.0.

I think the skinniness on Devon actually suits a three-year-old quite well. And I can almost believe that wobbly walk on a three year-old, but not for a four year-old. So I'll have to add my four year-olds to the child age group, and with my ages/school grades set up the way they are, this would mean two years of pre-school. Maybe that's better than avoiding them the whole year they're four, lol.

For toddlers, I will likely just use the in-game cheat, since they stay toddlers for so short a time, and you aren't likely to see toddlers out on community lots or anything. The in-game cheat is very easily applied.

Well, there you go, something close to gradual aging, and this will surely add all kinds of new dimension to Lakeside Heights (no pun intended, lol!)

*** ETA, two more examples ***

Here is ten year-old Angelo (child, 1.17) and his little sister, four year-old Devon (child, 0.93). I have since decided that 1.17 looks better on older children, being slightly less extreme.

And fourteen year-old Lucy (teen, default, 0.94) and her little sister, twelve year-old Sarah (teen, 0.87).