Game Help:Geneticized Skintones
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Geneticized Skintones
The term "genetic skins" or "geneticized skintones" is occasionally heard in reference to custom skins for Sims 2, but what the heck does it mean?
Skintone Genetics
The skintones in the game, S1 (light) through S4 (dark) have genetic values assigned to them. These values work on a "blend" system, so that a sim that has S1 skin can breed with a sim with S4 skin and have a child that falls anywhere in the range (including tan or medium, as well as the extremes, light and dark). This same system works for default replacement skins, which just change the appearance of the skins but not the genetic data.
Custom skintones, by default, do not have the same range of genetic values. Instead, custom skin is dominant: if one sim has custom skin and the other has any shade of Maxis skin, the custom skin will always be dominant, and their children will always have the custom skintone. If two sims with custom skin breed, then there is a 50/50 chance of the child getting one or the other custom skin of the parent.
How Genetic Skintones Differ
Unlike normal custom skintones which do not have special genetic values, Geneticized Skintones have been modified to add values similar to how the default skintones work - using the "blend" system. In this way, you can increase the range of skin values your sims can have - you can have extra-pale, extra-dark, and more intermediate shades as well, and all the genetics will work happily together. If you download a nice expanded set of Genetic Skins that are well thought out, you can increase the genetic diversity in your game.
Issues with Geneticized Skins
Geneticized Skins are considered part of the "pool" of possible skins for babies. This means that you may have two sims with default skin and the baby will have a custom skin that neither parent had - because that custom skin had a genetic value between that of the parents. This is fine if you have no genetic skins besides those that match your default set, but it can be confusing or annoying if you don't realize a set is geneticized and a random skin pops up that you weren't expecting.
For this reason, it is recommended that you only download geneticized skintones if you use a matching default set, or if you don't mind this seemingly random aspect to breeding.
