Skunk as pet ;)

I need a finger-point in the right direction as far as tutorials, or mentors, who could help me figure this out. Hopefully?

Hattie (my daughter) is happily playing SimAnimals on the Wii - she has about 30 skunks on there and is having a great time taking care of them all. She wants a skunk for real, but our HOA won't allow it. Pity, as I'd like one too - did you know most domestic skunks are rescue animals? They are fur-factory rejects which have been de-scented at birth. There are organizations who save them and find homes for them...

Anyway. It dawned on me, Sims 2 has the Stinky Skunk NPC/object (untouchable, I know) already in the game. Is there a way I can extract/clone the mesh/skin and create a new animal - like Beck's farm animals - with it. I'd like it to behave like a cat, but not BE a cat. I've tried the skunk-skin-cat route already. It just wasn't right.

So, I'm thinking, why can't I combine the mesh/skin of the skunk with the cat animations, and come up with a separate animated animal that can be kept and treated as a pet on your lot?

I am NOT a programmer (in case that was not fairly obvious already LOL) but, I really want to do this. I want to learn. Where do I start?

I have no idea, but sounds cool! (Sorry, I'm no help, lol)

Incredibly hard to do. Rebekahs animals are based on the Radio Controlled car I think, and there is a sim farm set that made the animals as NPCs - I have not used that set. But what you want to do is very big. Echo might manage it, me certainly not. The skunk as Cat is really the better solution.

The skunk in TS2 *is* a cat on which the EAxians have performed a similar operation as on some special NPCs. So putting the skunk 'skin' on a cat shouldn't be too hard. Programming it to not sound and act entirely feline, though, will be a lot tougher.

She wants to select it as a different animal. That was the impression I got from Catherine's post. Adding a totally new animal (not a MAXIS animal) as a pet has not been done.

Yes... I was thinking as a different animal. A mewling skunk just didn't do it for me (us.) And the face can't be shaped quite right. And the tail isn't right either...

*sigh* I know it'll be a huge job. And, I probably won't be able to do it. But, mannnnn, I'd sure like to try.

Should I go straight to Echo? Or, should I post in a different forum? What's the best way to go about asking for help on this?

Thanks!!! Here, I made brownies -

You can ask Echo - she retired but I still see her online on MTS sometimes. Or maybe try Rebekah.

I understand that. I'm just saying it will be very hard! And making them independant entities like cats and dogs in TS2 are... as actual pets... no, I don't see it. Even Echo's farm animals are essentially just semi-animated devices - objects - to produce dairy products. They can not be called pets. Real pets would be available for creation in CAS. I don't believe one can make that unless they act completely like a cat or dog. In which case you'll simply have made an odd-looking cat or dog.

It may still be fun to DO, but it will not really be a new and different animal, I'm afraid.

Oh poohey pooh pooh poo! I want to do this so bad! Maybe I'll contact Echo (and Rebekah too) anyway... It can't possibly hurt to ask, right?
I don't want them to do it for me, I want to do it - eventually, with guidance. *sigh*

What is it about the cat as skunk that's the problem - is it just the sound?