How to make an exact clone?

[funewchie]

In the current story I'm running, my female Sim is (in my mind) an evil geneticist, who plots evil schemes.

But, she's getting to a a point in her story that she's thinking about the future, and wants to groom a successor.
Naturally, of course, the only person worthy to succeed her legacy...is herself.

So, of course, being a skilled evil geneticist, she's desiring to clone herself and mold this clone of her into an even more beautiful and evil scientist villain, one worthy to succeed her dark legacy.
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...So, what's the best way to get a clone that will look exactly like her?
(I'm fine with the clone starting off as a infant. In fact, that's actually preferable for story purposes)

I've tried using the science station to clone her, but the clone's personality is all wrong, and doesn't even have the right hair color.
It doesn't have to just be the science station, any method will be fine, even supernatural (in-story, she has dabbled a bit in the psuedo-sciences)

(I'm not adverse to mods, either, if there's one that can help)

[Grand Merchant]

Originally posted by funewchie:

I've tried using the science station to clone her, but the clone's personality is all wrong, and doesn't even have the right hair color.

Once you have the child-clone, you can edit the sim through a cheat method. Using "testingcheatsenabled true" there will then be an option edit the sim with CAS. You can then change traits/age/looks.

[marstinson]

As answers go, this one ^^^ is both simple and reasonable. And that really bites because solutions need to be complicated and require a degree in advanced rocket science to implement, gosh dang it. So here, in all of its glorious convolutedness (it's a word), is mine.

I've obviously been watching way too much John Oliver, but the point is that you shouldn't need to go back into CAS to adjust stuff down the line. You do need to remember which traits to assign, though. Master Controller with the Cheats add-on makes some of this a bit easier, but it's not strictly necessary except for setting up the family tree (because I don't know how to do it in the console) and clearing out one hanging bit at the end (because the in-game solution can cause problems later).

1. Make a new saved game just in case something goes south that I didn't think of. Turn on "testingcheatsenabled" in the console, shift-click your Sim and select "Edit in CAS" (or click your Sim>NRaas>MasterController>Advanced>Edit in Create-a-Sim)

2. Change your Sim's first name and choose whichever younger life state suits your fancy; toddler is a young as you can go. That's cool because babies just lay there, and either sleep or demand to be fed/changed. Unless you're going to make a complete clone of your present self, toddlers can only have two traits, children get three, teens get four and they need to be age-appropriate. Children, for example, cannot be Great Kissers. If all of your Sim's traits are only available to teens and older, your clone will either need to change some traits later or start life as a teen. The game will automatically toss any age-inappropriate traits, but you can pick and choose among the rest. Kids can be evil geniuses. Just ask any babysitter.

3. Once everything is set the way you want it, click the ... button next to the portrait and save a local copy. Then exit CAS without saving anything.

4. Go into Edit Town mode and click the Create-a-Household button. I'm going to assume you made a younger version of yourself. If you just cloned your adult self, you can skip down a couple of steps, but you need an adult in the household if you made a younger version.

5. Do whatever you want with the initial Sim. If you're not using Master Controller, you might want to make them at least somewhat interesting, but it's not necessary. You can just randomize everything, pick a lifetime wish, and move on.

6. Add your saved Sim to the new household. Use the pre-made Sim button and find them; they'll have a folder icon on their portrait.

7. Accept the household and do not edit the relationships.

8. Place the new household on a lot somewhere and then evict them. This moves them to the clipboard.

9. Place a copy of the clipboard household into your household, but only add your clone. Leave the other Sim on the clipboard.

10. Put the adult back onto that lot and leave them alone. You're Evil, so who cares what happens to the poor schmuck (who knew Yiddish was censorable). If you're feeling charitable you can merge them into a different household, though. One full of carnivorous hamsters would be good.

11. Return to Game Mode. I'd make another new save at this point, but your clone is now in your household.

Lingering issues: you will need to fix the family tree relationship with your adult self. In Master Controller it's click the clone>NRaas>MasterController>Advanced>Family. Since both you and your clone are genetic offspring of your parents, "Add Sibling" is the technically correct choice (you're an evil scientist and are supposed to know this kind of stuff). Select "Active Family," click your Sim and accept. Family tree fixed.

There is still the issue of that random sim you did something with. If you check the relationship tab of your clone, they are on it. If you are not using Master Controller, just leave them alone. Deleting them only deletes the instance. It does not clear out all of the data associated with them. If you leave them alone, they'll eventually degenerate into "stranger" and your clone can make their acquaintance later if you want to.

If you want to clear them out completely and are using Master Controller, right-click their portrait to focus on them, click them>NRaas>MasterController>Advanced>Total Annihilation and confirm. This wipes them from the game, but also removes other references to them. There is no going back from this, so if you just want them dead, just get creative (you're an evil genius, remember?).

I tested this out shortly after you posted the question and it seemed to work OK. I aged up the clone from toddler through young adult. They kept skin tone, hair and eye color, wing style and color (I cloned a fairy), sign, favorites, voice, and all of that. They did not keep the weight slider setting, but it was pretty close (my sim was a bit on the skinny side and the adult version of the clone was average). Should have cloned a female so I could check whether the bust slider carried over, but oh well. Now about those carnivorous hamsters...

[igazor]

I may have to sit at the kids' table after reading the long way method (which should, of course, work fine).

Just wanted to point out that there is an LTR available for 45,000 points that creates a child-aged clone for a YA or older sim, redeemable at the science center rabbithole lot. The Generations EP is required. This is the method I usually use, and in some cases pick up a second clone because it's always nice to have a spare around just in case. The genetics of the science center clone should match the original sim exactly, hair color though may need adjusting and possibly traits. Although not every sim manages to save up 90,000 points in time for this to be helpful, those can be cheated upon in an emergency. :)

There is also a Supernatural way to obtain a clone by way of an elixir, but that one is much more complicated to work through, I don't think the resulting clone is necessarily an exact match for the sim it was generated from, and it won't be a child with a parent-child relationship pre-defined.

[funewchie]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.

I had her use two methods, one was using the Clone Voucher (courtesy of NRaas MasterController's Sim>Intermediate>Lifetime Happiness (+45,000) option).
Which turned out amazingly well.

(Although for a moment, it turned out too well, as the girl had her original's Flirty trait, but the game then quickly removed it. In CAS, I then changed the now-blank slot to her original's Evil trait)
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I also had her use the Science Station and clone herself (once she was at Science skill 9, she was automatically awarded DNA sample of herself).
The resulting baby (which I had MasterController quickly age into a toddler) didn't inherit her eyebrows or hair color (I couldn't tell if she inherited her features).

I used MasterController's Advanced>Transfer Genetics>Full Transfer, from the original to the toddler.
I'm not sure if that does what I'm thinking it does, though.

Then, in CAS, I edited her eyebrows and hair color.
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So, she now has two children cloned from her.
Both of whom have the Evil and Genius traits.

And to help her out, her boyfriend (a semi-evil roboticist) build a female Plumbot with the Nannybot, Simulated Emotions, and Cleaner trait chips.
Who will serve as a nanny to help the scientist. (At least until the girls are smart enough to reprogram her for their own evil purposes)
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And while I did think of Marstinson's advice to set their family tree to all be siblings... in my mind, while they are indeed copies of her... really, she did cause them to be created/born (and intends to raise them, and groom them to be her successors), I would imagine she'd view them as her daughters.

(Kinda like how Jango Fett viewed his clone (Boba Fett) as his son.)

So, I set them to (socially) be her daughters (even though, biologically, they'd be her identical twin sisters)