I was let known that my personality-based witch idles mod causes new sims to have split character files.
It made me look into the issue. Since the information about it is spread across various forum threads and lacked some details too, I decided to gather what I've found in this post.
What does a 'split character file' mean?
Each sim has its own character file in Documents directory. For example, Neighborhoods \ E001 \ Characters \ E001_User00024.package is Samantha Cordial.
When a character file is split, in addition to the usual E001_User00024.package there's also a file named E001_User00024.1.package. It would still be Samantha Cordial, but her data would be stored in two files instead of just one.
What kind of mods cause it?
Mods that edit character templates. That means: TemplatePerson (group 0x7FEDFE16), TemplateCat (0x7F99E646), TemplateDog (0x7F3C1917), and TemplateSmallDog (0x7F593B25). In addition, NPCs have their own character templates too.
These templates seem to get copied whenever a new sim or a pet is created. If you have a mod that includes a part of them, it appears the game creates a second character file and then copies any related BHAVs from the mod into it.
Do split character files cause problems?
In SimPe's neighborhood browser, a split character file might not be displayed properly and it's possible that you won't be able to edit the sim's stats with SimPe if that happens.
The game itself seems to be able to parse the sim together from two character files in most cases. However, it's plausible that it causes the empty/wiped face glitch to appear. As I tested the issue, I was able to replicate this myself multiple times with split character files and others have seen this happening in their games, too.
There are also people in related threads who say they have split character files and haven't noticed it causing problems.
Why do mods edit these templates, then?
I don't think it's been common knowledge what exactly causes the issue. And to be fair, creating new sims and then inspecting their character files isn't probably a part of many modder's testing routines. It sure hasn't been a part of mine.
The unpleasant fact is that if we want to make some things happen through mods, editing the code related to templates might be necessary. Ideally, Maxis would've only used them to create new sims and pets, but that's not the case. Their code gets called in various other situations – when witches idle, for example.
Now that we know which groups are involved, I hope modders can at least alert players when we share mods that cause this issue.
How can I know if the mods I use cause split character files?
It's not that common for mods to edit the templates, so suspecting all mods isn't necessary. Here are some mods that do edit them:
My Personality-based Witch Idles (includes code from TemplatePerson, the NPC witch template, and the NPC servo template) the latest mod update doesn't cause split character files anymore
Object Freedom 1.02 by @fwaysims (TemplateCat, TemplateDog, TemplateSmallDog)
lobonanny by Pescado (the nanny NPC template)
Spectral Cat Variety by @hexagonal-bipyramid (the spectral cat NPC template)
AntiGoodWitchIdleAnims by @paradoxcase (the link is broken and kestrellyn hasn't reuploaded this one to MTS, but assumingly involves the same templates as my witch idle mod)
Landlord Gardens Only Communal Areas by simler90 (the landlord NPC template)
Business Mod by simler90 (the chef NPC template, the reporter NPC template)
Gypsy Matchmaker Fix by simler90 (the matchmaker NPC template)
Buy Build Enabler for BV by cathair2005 (the social worker NPC template)
More points for woohoo with professors by Marhis (the professor NPC template)
No Relationship with Servers by Neder (the server NPC template)
Baby Toddler Mod by simler90 (the nanny NPC template)
Burglar Mod by simler90 (the burglar NPC template)
More Dangerous Burglars by @blueybre (the burglar NPC template)
Butler Asks To Fire by Cyjon (the butler NPC template)
Vacation Mementos LTW (not the special version) by @lamare-sims (the fire dancer NPC template)
Espresso Machine And Barista Improvements by jonasn (the barista NPC template)
Gardening And Cleaning Duties by jonasn (the maid NPC template, the landlord NPC template, the gardener NPC template, the nanny NPC template, the NPC butler template)
Bartender Cleaning Duties by Big Woe (the bartender NPC template)
Realistic Newspaper Delivery by smithycpl (the paper person NPC template)
Gardener Invasion Fix by Lenna9 (the gardener NPC template)
There are probably more but in most cases, only specific NPCs are affected. Quite many people have reported having split NPCs in their games without noticing any issues with them.
Using these mods doesn't affect existing character files, but it will affect any new ones. You can prevent the split from happening by temporarily removing these mods from your game before creating new sims or pets, but you should keep in mind that this also includes spawning townies and NPCs (when their template is involved, that is) as well as born-in-game babies.
Can we stop the character files from splitting altogether?
If we can, it's sadly beyond my skillset as it appears to be hard-coded. I'm interested in testing if split character files can be safely merged back into one but I don't know about that either, yet.
I hope this clarifies the issue for someone! If I missed some crucial info, please comment.
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