Do you live in Dull Street but found that life is anything but dull? Is your lastname the same as half the neighbours' ? Do not fear, because there exists a tool for changing local street names and even family names! Guest writer Laurel Norton tells you how.

In Askansia region, people had gotten tired of having the same street names in every neighborhood.  Sure, it made it easy to find an address when in a strange neighborhood but most people wanted more individuality for their hoods.  After decades of petitioning,  the Bureau of Public Affairs and Records finally agreed to alllowing each hood in the region to decide for themselves how they wanted their streets named and agreed to make the necessary changes in Public Records and issue new street signs.

Another change in procedures involves family names.  Although it has been possbile for years for an individual to ask to have their first name changed, the Bureau has refused to change family names due to the greater difficulty.  With the development of the new procedure they have now agreed to allow this.  The first in this area to take advantage of this are the members of the Dogsbreath family. Descendents of  the Kukutkikettle Clan of the First People, they were given the name Dogsbreath by pioneering families of the Second People who found their
true name too difficult to pronounce. (I suspect a considerable amount of 
animosity was also involved.)   In succeeding generations this family has
endured much taunting due to their name causing many to marry out of the family to escape it.  Now all the surviving members plus many who have married out wish to change their name to a simplified version of the original.  They will now all be known as the Kettle families.

Since both these procedures require   using a special program to change the records the Bureau has decided to share the procedure they use with any other areas who are interested. 

You will need a program called IffPencil 2.  This may be obtained from
The Sims Resource Workshop.

First, find the records folder for the neighborhood for which you wish to change street names or the name of a family.  This will be called UserData, UserData2, etc. depending on the location of the neighborhood in your area. Before making any changes back up the file you wish to work on and store the copy in a safe place. 

Changing Street Names
Using IffPencil 2,  open the file called StreetNames.iff.  You will see two entries in the window on the right.  Double click on the one called street names.  A window will pop up giving the current names of all the streets in the hood.  Select the first name you wish to change. Two boxes will brighten at the bottom of the window.  In the box containing the street name, change the text as desired. Do not alter the %.   Do nothing in box at bottom.  When all street names that you wish to change have been done, click OK   Now go to the file menu and click save.   Then close iff pencil. 

Street sign production will be automatically initiated and postal employees, car pool and bus drivers, etc will begin using the new addresses immediately. Within a short time all residents and visitors to the neighborhood will be able to view the new signs.

Changing Family Names
Using IffPencil2 open the neighborhood.iff file.   (Don't forget to backup this file before making any changes.)

In the left hand box,  select FAMs.  (The number you see next to this tells you how many families are listed in your neighborhood.   Families who live downtown, on Vacation Island, Studio Town and Magic town are also listed here.)

In the right hand box you will now see a list of numbers representing files on each family.   Neighborhood families are listed first but are otherwise in somewhat random order.

You will have to leaf through the files to find the family whose name is to be changed.  The #0 file is a default file and can be skipped.

Double click on #1.  This will bring up a window showing the family's name.  If this is not the family you want,  click cancel and try #2. 

Continue until you find the family you want.  When you have located the family, click on the family name.  The editing box at the bottom will brighten and you can change the name. Click OK.

In the file menu, click save.

Close Iffpencil.  All of the family's records will now be under their new name. 

For more information you may contact the Bureau of Public Affairs and Records at  bpar_askansia@yahoo.com   or myself, see top of page.