Game guide:Which NPCs are safe to play as?

Non-playable characters

Various NPCs performing particular jobs

This article describes features that are only available in The Sims 2.

You may know some of the townies and non-playable characters (NPCs) available in The Sims 2, but playing with some of them is considered to be dangerous and a threat to the stability of the game, though, some are just considered to be annoying and others are actually safe to play and add to households.

The dangers of certain NPCs

Dangerous NPCs are objects that, if played with and have anything changed about them, may threaten the safety of your entire game. They should never be played with and/or added to a household. The following list consists of NPCs that are considered to be dangerous. Each NPC is listed below with the reason to why they are NOT safe and are dangerous when interacted with in any other way than what the game intends to. You may also want to consult the article on avoiding corruption first, for more details about how interactions with certain NPCs will affect your neighborhood and your Sims 2 game installation files. Interacting with these NPCs:

1. By using the options allowed by the game in normal game play without cheating.

2. By setting your objects.package files to read-only status.

Are considered safer and should not affect the integrity of your game.

A general rule of thumb to know whether an NPC is dangerous or not, is if cheats are the only way to make a certain NPC selectable, you are best leaving them alone. There are a few types of NPCs that cannot be made playable without cheats but are safe to do so, as listed below.

NPCs who are considered dangerous

These NPCs are actually objects stored in the objects.package file. Making them playable may result in having to restore a backup of objects.package, or needing to reinstall the game if no backup was made.

• Big Boss (NPC)
  • The Big Boss was a scenario similar to the Headmaster Scenario that EA abandoned before the game's release.
    • This does not apply to the Big Boss NPCs that the game generates to respond to phone calls when a Sim calls in sick. The Big Bosses listed below have playable character data and names like regular Sims. They may also occasionally show up on community lots. This refers to the Big Boss NPC that was originally going to be used in the Big Boss scenario.

• Bigfoot Bigfoot (NPC)
  • This does not apply to the bigfoot character from Exotic Destinations, as they are cloned from this object template. The clone is an active Sim with playable character data.

• Bird

• Father Time

• Genie

• Good Witch Cat

• Grim Reaper

• Hula Zombie

• ideal plantsim
  • This is not a normal PlantSim but a "hidden" one with the genetics used when a safe PlantSim, such as Rose Greenman, spawns a toddler.

• Mrs. CrumpleBottom

• Penguin
  • The penguin appears in Seasons and above, The penguin can appear in any season though it is more likely to come when snowmen are built on the lot and/or when there is fish on the lot. The penguin will look at fish if it's hanging on the wall or will eat it if you leave it lying on the ground. It is not a sign of corruption to see a penguin outside of the winter season.

• Pollination Technician
  • Not to be confused with Pollination Technician #9 Smith from Strangetown. Pollination Technician #9 Smith is an active Sim with playable character data. Similar to ideal plantsim above, this Pollination Technician is a source of genetics when a male sim is abducted by aliens, and also appears on the family trees of their children.

• Remote Control Car
  • Hidden Sim that controls remote control vehicles.

• Robot
  • This does not apply to the Servo robot created from the Robot Crafting Station. When activated, the Servo will act like a regular Sim with playable character data. This refers to the ones such as the SentryBot.

• Rod Humble
  • Not to be confused with any townie or anyone with a normal name that is safe. Rod Humble is a FreeTime NPC that brings you a computer on the household's first day. You should not attempt to interact with him or set any flags with SimBlender (or similar) when he comes on the lot.

• Santa Klaus

• Stinky Skunk

• Skunk Skin
  • Hidden Sim that is used to give genetics to the skunk.

• Spectral Assistant

• TemplateDog

• Therapist (Shrink)

• Toddler New Year

• Witch Doctor (Shaman)

NPCs who are considered safe, and can be interacted with normally

NPCs that are safe to play as

• Animal Control Officer

• Barista

• Bellhops

• Bigfoot
  • This is for the Bigfoot character seen from your forest vacation's secret lot. Not to be confused with Bigfoot Bigfoot (NPC), which is an object as listed above. Safe Bigfoots will have a real name as their first name, followed by the "Bigfoot" surname.

• Butler

• Cash Register Clerk

• Cafeteria Chef
  • The one which is spawned with ShinyTyme Cooktop in University subhoods.

• Chef/Cook
  • Not to be confused with a Food Stand Chef from Bon Voyage, who is an NPC.

• Chinese/Pizza/Grocery Delivery Person
  • Not to be confused with the carpool/taxi drivers, who have some issues when made playable. These are the ones who get out of the vehicle to deliver stuff.

• Coach

• Dining Podium Host

• DJ

• Dormie

• Downtownie

• Firefighter

• Gardener

• Hair Stylists

• High Witches/Warlocks

• Hobby Instructor

• Housekeeper
  • This is for the housekeeper that spawns at hotels.

• Landlord

• Maid

• Mail Carrier

• Masseuse

• Newspaper Delivery Person

• Obedience/Pet Trainer

• Police Officer

• Reporter
  • These are NPCs that may come to owned business lots, browse the shop, and review it. They can't be distinguished from townies, unless they are seen taking notes. Otherwise known in real life as "Secret/Mystery Shoppers".

• Server/Waiter

• Social class townies
  • These are townies that will move in to apartments and are dressed in clothes relative to their social class.

• Townie
  • This includes townies that are employed in an owned business.

• Tourists
  • These are townies that you will see/meet at a Vacation Destination dressed in tourism clothes. Any children coming with them will not wear tourism clothes, such as Pong King.

• Vacation Destinations Locals
  • These are townies you would normally see/meet during a vacation in a Vacation Destination and will be dressed according to the theme of the vacation. They will be wearing clothes that represent the area, such as Jace Fuchs wears lumberjack clothes.

Safe NPCs with strange or annoying quirks

These glitches may be fixed using Cyjon's Debugger.

• Bartender
  • Safe, but their plumbobs may be in the wrong place.

• Big Bosses
  • Safe, but their plumbobs may be in the wrong place.
    • Not to be confused with Big Boss (NPC), which is an object as listed above. These Sims are generated to respond to phone calls when a Sim calls in sick. They have Big Boss character data stored in their files, but they have normal names and playable character data, and can be interacted with like regular Sims. In addition to responding to phone calls, they may occasionally show up on community lots, but may be difficult to distinguish from regular townies as they do not have a fixed uniform.

• Burglar
  • Safe, but may continue with sneaking behavior. They will also have the option to "Sneak Here" when clicking the ground.

• Evil Mascot (Cow)
  • Safe, but may sometimes wear the cow costume even after being given different clothing.

• Cheerleader
  • Safe but will continue cheering frequently.

• Mr. Big/The Diva
  • Safe, but will continue to primp frequently.

• Exterminator
  • Safe, but their plumbobs may be in the wrong place.

• Grand Vampire/Vampiress

• Gypsy Matchmaker
  • Safe but will continue with spit-polish behavior.

• Headmaster
  • Safe, but their plumb-bobs may be in the wrong place.

• Hot Dog Chef
  • Safe, but immediately disappear.

• Human Statue
  • Safe, but immediately disappear.

• Mascot (Llama)
  • Safe, but may continue to wear the llama costume in certain circumstances even when changed out of it.

• Nanny
  • Safe but will continue with insane behavior.^{[clarification needed]}

• Professor
  • Safe, but Drama Professors will continue with flirty behavior.

• Repairman
  • Safe, but their plumbobs may be in the wrong place.

• Slob
  • Safe, but will continue to burp and fart frequently. The premade slobs are Grayson Butler and Rebecka Garth.

• Streaker

NPCs that are considered safe, but cannot be interacted with normally

These NPCs may require special editing in SimPE to be made into fully functional sims. Namely, changing their Interaction Table ID to 129, and their Orig. GUID field to "0x7FD96B54". This will make the game recognize them as a normal Sim and effectively remove any NPC status they previously had.

• Break Dancer
  • Safe, but when added to the household they will never move, can't complete interactions, and have static motives. The only interactions available to other Sims are learn how to break dance or wait for a performance, but these interactions will never finish properly if selected.

• Carpool Driver
  • Safe, but the interaction menu does not appear when they are clicked, regardless of which Sim is currently selected. They can interact with other Sims, however.

• Fire Dancer
  • Safe, but behave the same as Break Dancers. Sims can only interact with them to learn how to fire dance and wait for performance, but nothing will happen like with Break Dancers.

• Food Judges
  • Safe, but behave the same as Break Dancers. They can't be interacted with at all by other Sims. They appear during cooking competitions.

• Food Stand Chef
  • Safe, but will throw constant "too many iterations" errors as the NPC is looking for a Food Stand to interact with. This will result in them constantly spinning if testing cheats are off, or constant game-halting errors if testing cheats are on.

• Ghost Captain
  • Safe, but can't be interacted with and has static motives. He also isn't actually a ghost, but just has the ghost flags set.

• Ninja
  • Safe, but when added to the household they will teleport frequently around the lot, other Sims can only interact with them to learn how to teleport. Once a Sim does that, they will disappear from the lot and household and will disappear again if you reload the lot.

• Repo Man
  • Safe, but lacks turn on and offs, and their plumbobs may be in the wrong place.

• Social Bunny
  • Safe, but they are invisible for everyone other than the Sim they spawned in for, and will disappear completely when said Sims social need has been regained. They also lack turn ons and offs.

• Social Worker
  • Safe, but they only have the name "Social Worker" as their first name, and no surname. The game may behave in unexpected ways when surnames are involved, but this is not harmful in any major way. If the Social Worker is moved into a household of her own, her household name will match that of the family she previously lived with.

• Tour Guide
  • Safe, but like the Carpool Driver, they can't be interacted with by other Sims or themself. They can interact with other Sims if they are selected.

• Unsavory Charlaton
  • Safe, but can't be interacted with by other Sims. The Charlatan can interact with other Sims, but can't chat. Ha also lacks turn ons and offs, and has static motives that will never deplete.

• Wise Old Man
  • Safe, but he can not be interacted with or controlled unless he is served tea from the Tea Time Table. Serving the Wise Old Man tea is not permanent, and must be done every time a lot is loaded.
    • Until he is served tea, he remains in place meditating, his needs will never deplete, and he can't interact with anything. If other Sims try to interact with him, the actions will be cancelled.
    • After he is served tea, he behaves mostly like a normal Sim. His motives will deplete and he can use all normal interactions, although other sims cannot flirt with him.

What happens if you add them

Ninja, Grim Reaper, Hula Zombie, Skunk, Leader Wolf and three invisible NPCs in a portrait

Most unplayable NPCs cannot be added even through the use of the testing cheats, although it is possible to use mods and hacked objects to add them. When added to a family, these NPCs can be invited over by other families and may even appear on community lots.

The following is a list of NPCs and their behaviors when they are made playable. It should be noted that adding an unplayable NPC may cause corruption and should not be attempted. The following results were obtained when playing the game with the game files set as read-only.

• Grim Reaper, Therapist, ideal plantsim, Genie, Spectral Assistant
  • Disappears immediately upon spawning and/or reloading the lot, although they will appear in the family portrait.

A faceless female

• Remote Control Car, Bird, Robot.
  • Disappears immediately unless they are currently in use, in which case they still cannot be controlled and will throw errors. They do not have thumbnails or profile pictures and will appear in the family portrait as a faceless woman with long black hair in a brown shirt and grey jeans.

Hula Zombie's profile picture will be much larger than it should be, the same applies to the therapist

• Hula Zombie
  • Performs a hula dance and slowly fades away. Cannot be controlled, but will appear in the family portrait like normal.
• Social Bunny
  • Disappears immediately unless it has been spawned for a Sim, in which case it can be controlled like a normal Sim. When selected, it will become invisible, and will reappear when the Sim that it belongs to is selected again.
• Ninja
  • Will continuously teleport around.
• Leader of the pack
  • Will eventually forcefully leave the lot, but will reappear upon reloading and stay on the lot for some time. Their eyes will only glow when they are on the lot where they are made playable.

Skunk ordered to play with Leader of the Pack

• Stinky Skunk
  • Pets and Sims can only perform the usual skunk-related interactions. Skunks can perform cat interactions on Sims and pets (e.g. ask a Sim for a hug).

Penguin in a family

• Penguin
  • Hard to control. When told to move to a location, its animation will freeze and it will "slide" to its destination. Most actions cannot be cancelled and the penguin will disappear after a period of time. Penguins do not have a thumbnail and will use the faceless female Sim body in the family portrait. When visiting another lot or when invited to another house, it will behave like normal.

Deformed Good Witch Cat with attached gamepad

• Rod Humble
  • Rod Humble will leave his present near the front door of the lot and then leave, even when invited over. He will still leave the present even if the household had already received it.
• Mrs. CrumpleBottom
  • Cannot be controlled and will continue to behave like normal Mrs. CrumpleBottom.

Good Witch Cat (left) in a family portrait

• Good Witch Cat
  • Will be deformed to resemble a Sim. Sims and pets can only perform cat-related interactions on it, while the cat can perform normal Sim interactions. Any interactions made on the cat will result in an error, and any interactions performed by the cat will randomly throw errors. Any items the cat picks up will become permanently stuck on it. The Sim's thumbnail appears normally, but the cat will appear deformed in the family portrait.

See also

• Article about which NPCs are safe to play as and which are not, which this game guide was based on.
• ModTheSims - NPCs that are safe to marry.
• Game guide:Avoiding corruption, for more tips on protecting your game.