From the depths of The Sims 2 archives...

[bondchick_nett]

I often (and I'm sure many others do too) get asked to share the houses my sims are living in. But the problem? I have sims living in the houses so I can't share them! Not particularly wanting to move the sims out and then back in again, I went hunting for a solution and FOUND one in the bowels of thesims2, (from 2005!) which I thought would be useful for

Comments

[perchalicious]

*memories the hell out of that entry*

That's a fantastic find! Thank you for sharing the link. :D

[mikelisryker]

This. Is. Awesome. Thank you for digging it up! :D

[engram_au]

I remember that post! This method sounds like a definite alternative to using Inge's Stay Things Shrub, which is my usual method for getting copies of lots that are lived in - make a copy of the hood, plonk a Stay Things Shrub on the lot, move out the sims and shove the lot into the bin.

I might do a spot of experimenting with it because I suspect that if you're doing this to legacy lots with graves on them, there might be an itty bitty problem of the graves coming with the lot and killing the next neighbourhood with junk data from the dead sims. *is a party pooper* Though this may not be the case and it might be perfectly safe. We won't know until someone tests it!

[bondchick_nett]

I didn't think of that, as my sims change houses so often and I have so many vamps that I rarely have graves! *laughs*

There's surely a way to get around that though ^_^

[skorpioni5]

Yes, this is a great tut and works just fine.

Out of experience, I'd like to add a warning that you MUST store all personal rewards, graves and unfinished business to the sims "backpacks" first.
I've had a few bugging lots that don't open at all and crash the game. Also some that open but where there's a painting easel with a half finished painting on it and you can't touch it. It's not deletable and the sims don't recognize it.
So remember to do some cleaning on your lot first!

[bondchick_nett]

Oooh! This is an excellent addendum, I'll edit my post now to include this info.