The Sims

[Benji]

So, thanks to stupid Cymbols, I have started playing Sims 2 again. I tried Sims 3 and hated its "one family" gameplay and tried a quick demo of Sims 4 and it tried to do the same from the offset. I like having a town to play with and creating a soap throughout the town, so I went to the old favourite - Pleasantview.

Started with the Brokes and Brandi had a baby who I named "Barry" (I couldn't be arsed with a witty name). He did not grow up well, but Beau did, and Dustin has managed to put his life back on track and found another job and increased his grades. One problem... Brandi tried to fix the TV and died. Genuinely an accident, but I stuck with it because of all the times I have played, it's not something I ever conceived happening, plus Brandi had a lifetime want of 20 kids, which was never going to happen so no big loss. So now Dustin is stuck looking after his child and toddler brother on very little money. I'm basically going to have to wait until Beau becomes a teenager to move Dustin to college, and then do the same with Beau for Barry, then hopefully by the time Dustin graduates then he and Angela Pleasant can move back into the Broke's house as their new home... unless someone else gets electrocuted before then, or I have the timing wrong on them growing up, or Dustin and Angela break up, or anything else goes wrong

The Oldies moved into the same area as The Brokes, not much happened with them, but I have Herb set up to have an affair... Coral too Probably going to wind up sending them to live with Mary-Sue Pleasant once Daniel Pleasant sleeps with one of the Caliente sisters (since they're her parents). This family is messed up Angela and Lilith's paths haven't changed at all, both have popularity aspiration so will probably wind up with one (or both) in the Sim State Sorority.

The Burbs are probably the least soap-y of the families, with Jennifer having gotten pregnant. She's also switched careers to crime (in my head it's because she is bored of her down home family life). Lucy grew up well and I'm trying to socialise her with the Sim State Sorority so that she can move in when she leaves for college.

The Goths saw Mortimer marry Dina Caliente, and then promptly die in a suspicious pool accident With Dina in charge of the family fortune, she forced Mortimer's children Cassandra and Alexander to move out (though not before Cassandra had a failed marriage attempt with Don Lothario), and Cassandra moved in with the Dreamers. Thinking their lives were free and clear, the Calientes were set to enter a life of luxury... until Dina gave birth to Mortimer's twins. Now her and Nina's relationship is strained, and Dina is left holding the babies, whilst Nina is out with Don Lothario (also Dina's lover) and the latest rich guy target - Malcolm Landgraab IV. Serves her right for that suspicious pool accident, I say.

Dreamers had the aforementioned Cassandra and Alexander move in. Dirk's grades proceeded to drop (in my mind it's a combo of Alexander making him look bad, and girlfriend Lilith Pleasant's influence), whilst Alexander thrived in the new middle class environment. Cassandra is inspiring Darren to paint his great masterpiece, but he's not quite there yet.

Don Lothario is doing what Don Lothario does best with Coral Oldie, both Calientes, he's trying it with Mary-Sue Pleasant (to no avail, at least until Daniel does his thing), Kaylynn Langerak (the maid), and a bunch of townies. He's fun to play because he is the only one person household and his lifetime goal is so hilariously single minded (plus Nightlife makes it so much easier to meet people and build those relationships).

Malcolm Landgraab IV is running his business. I never ran a proper business before in Sims 2, and it is easy enough, but a bit tedious. I think Nina Caliente might wind up moving in with him at some point to bring some of that Goth cash, not sure though. Right now he basically only exists as a Caliente play thing/for me to try out Open for Business.

Over in the university, the Freshman are humming along. Sam wants to join the Sorority but is struggling, Ty wants to join the Frat but is struggling, and Jared is just doing his weird hippy thing plus trying to become a teacher.

The Sorority has Brittany and Heather at odds, but making friends all over campus (Heather has already got 2 out of her 20 lifetime woohoo partners, Brittany is working towards her politics career by making a lot of actual friends), whilst Tiffany works hard and isn't really friends with anyone.

Men's Fraternity I haven't started yet.

Bright I haven't started either, but I'm pretty sure one of the Reuben brothers is going to get killed off because having two in the gene pool seems redundant for characters that I don't particularly care for.

Deleted Phoenix and Swain from Uni as they are boring characters (I've allocated them to one of the other neighbourhoods for if I ever attach Sim State to one of them), also deleted all non-Landgraab others from the other locations as Open for Business is interesting but not something I want to make a habit of, and none of the other families really felt like they would add anything.

[JasonM]

5 minutes ago, Benji said:

plus Brandi had a lifetime want of 20 kids, which was never going to happen so no big loss.

Not with that attitude!

[Benji]

I have my own mental "Soap Rules" on Pleasantview, one of which is "no sci-fi/supernatural stuff" (all of it can happen in Strangetown, and Veronaville is restricted to the Supernatural, each of which causes their own little cults, never really bothered with other locations so don't have mental rules for them). Getting 20 kids would require Elixir of Life, which breaks one of those "no sci-fi/supernatural" rules. The exception to that rule is the Re-Nu-Yu Orb, because sometimes the game sets lifetime goals that aren't achievable without aforementioned Elixir, I just found Brandi's death more interesting than using it on this occasion.

Plus, 20 kids is mental and would absolutely wreck the Pleasantview gene pool.

[MDK]

See, I reinstalled Sims 2 for similar reasons as Bingo Bango Benji, but its been so long since I have played it I have no idea what I am doing. And why are people randomly walking into my house and trying to be friendly for me? I created me, the dog and the cat and we want to live in peace, you bastards. 

[Benji]

32 minutes ago, MDK said:

See, I reinstalled Sims 2 for similar reasons as Bingo Bango Benji, but its been so long since I have played it I have no idea what I am doing. And why are people randomly walking into my house and trying to be friendly for me? I created me, the dog and the cat and we want to live in peace, you bastards. 

motherlode cheat, no doors. Boom, home free of pests.

[Rocky]

Just checked and I still have it installed from when Origin had the deluxe edition for free that one time. Might need to dust it off for a whirlwind romance or something.

[MDK]

16 minutes ago, Benji said:

motherlode cheat, no doors. Boom, home free of pests.

I figured out you can lock the front door  

[Benji]

Don't forget SimPE in case y'all need to change any hidden info.

Also, figured since I mentioned them I'd post my rules for neighborhoods. So...

 

Pleasantview "Soap" Rules:
1. Each household must be played at the same rate - one season at a time. Seasons are 5 day increments (Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring).
2. No supernatural/sci-fi with the exception of things that can alter preferences and personalities.
3. At least one baby every season, at least one death every season (can be old age), should ideally balance out.
4. Every generation, at least one family member's genes from the Pleasantview originals must be passed down (Goth, Caliente, Burb/Pleasant/Oldie, Dreamer, Broke).
5. Every year (4 seasons), 1 new family can be introduced of any size.

Strangetown "What Rules?" Rules:
1. Go fuckin' nuts. No time restrictions, no supernatural restrictions, no nothing. Add and remove who you want, bring in versions of folks from other towns. Aliens, Vampires, Werewolves (Oh My!). Just don't be boring.

Veronaville "Star-Crossed" Rules:
1. Each household must be played at the same rate - one season at a time. Seasons are 5 day increments (Summer and Spring only, as these boost effects on inter-household relationships and that is the focus of this neighbourhood).
2. Kill off redundant houses/Sims (hey, civil blood is spilled in fair Verona).
3. Create a bunch of other Shakespeare based houses to add over time because holy crap this gene pool is shallower than a puddle.
4. The first two of the following that a Sim meets, they must try to become that thing until they are succesfully a hybrid in true "Romeo & Juliet" fashion: Plant, Ghost, Witch, Alien, Vampire, Werewolf, Zombie, Servo or other I may have missed.

I've never bothered with Riverblossom, Belladonna Cove nor Desiderata Valley rules as I have never played them. I assume Belladonna I would probably go with an "only apartments rules" (since it was added in Apartment Life) and have otherwise similar rules to Pleasantview but more lax on the supernatural/sci-fi rule. Desiderata Valley is a hobby addition so I think I would likely make it the only neighbourhood outside of Strangetown (and setting up Veronaville or introducing new characters to neighbourhoods) where I allow myself the money cheat and just make sure nobody ever has to work. Riverblossom ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Cymbols]

Riverblossom is the expansion town from seasons right? My advice would be to go and add a whole bunch of houses from that town into the housing bin, because there's some pretty sweet ones in there I won't lie. 

I also now might start up a new game for fucks sakes ?

[MDK]

I might make an EWB house

[Benji]

EWB Big Brother. Featuring WobbleChops!

Also not a bad idea for Riverblossom Cymbols. I wanted to introduce a farmer to Pleasantview in true Zack Dingle fashion, and Riverblossom has one already. Plus there's the Goth imitation Roths to give that story a happier ending.

[MDK]

Can you import sims? If you can, make up yourself and I will import.

[Meacon Keaton]

1 hour ago, MDK said:

I might make an EWB house

Great idea.

I knew coming into this thread would make me want to start playing all over again, and sure enough. Thanks Benji. 

[Benji]

Right? They need to go back to the Sims 2 formula cause 3 and 4 suck in comparison.

[Mick]

2 hours ago, MDK said:

I might make an EWB house

 

Well, good luck.  

 

3 hours ago, Benji said:

Strangetown "What Rules?" Rules:
1. Go fuckin' nuts. No time restrictions, no supernatural restrictions, no nothing. Add and remove who you want, bring in versions of folks from other towns. Aliens, Vampires, Werewolves (Oh My!). Just don't be boring.

 

 

I see what you're getting at, Benji, but doing this can cause stability issues with the game. 

 

The rules are great. I absolutely hate playing Pleasantview, but here's why. I don't want to ruin the town! It's got such a great little story, I don't dare mess with it. 

Strangetown is fun because, well, it's Strangetown  

I've never cared for Veronaville. 

 

 

I did have a couple of diary ideas that never came to fruition. The first was an Aslyum Challenge. Basically, you can only control one given Sim. This sim must fulfill their lifetime wish, and the rules are pretty strict. You can only have so much seating, only certain objects, limited objects, etc etc. I called it "Sousa Goes Nanners"  .

The second would have been my version of Sims 2 Strong Style, though it would have been Sims 3. 

 

Speaking if which, my biggest criticism of Sims 3 was the removal of all the goofy stuff. Yeah, we got the supernaturals later in the expansion cycle, but come on. The neighborhoods were dull, I could care less about the people (except those established in Sims 2 or Sims 1), and the expansions brought shit into the game that could remove all of the challenge. 

 

Anyway, here's my favorite Sims 2 Exploit: 

1) Get yourself some stats and friends, enough to get the Journalism career reward. It's a little statue that boosts your motives periodically. Quit job, get Journalism job over and over again util you have a few of these statues. 

2) Buy the Weather Control Device from the Aspiration Rewards. Set that fucker so that it's always Autumn. Why? You get a learning boost in Autumn. 

3) Go crazy with your skilling.

 

You guys could also try the Legacy challenge. It's pretty easy to start. Basically, in the neighborhood of your choice, plop down the largest lot possible. If you want, edit it to make it flat. Make one Sim, move him in. He'll be pretty poor starting out. Go from there. The goal is to reach 10 generations. I usually give each generation a letter for their names (Adam, Andrea, Bill, Brittany, etc).  

 

[Benji]

52 minutes ago, Mick said:

I see what you're getting at, Benji, but doing this can cause stability issues with the game. 

Depends who you bring in and whether you fix those issues before loading the characters.

One of my favourite Strangetown past times is creating a adult Mortimer Goth-a-like and creating memories of the Strangetown version of Bella Goth in SimPE and reuniting them. I also like bringing in the PlantSim family from Riverblossom because they are strange for Strangetown, and I like them living next door to The Smiths, both with their lovely lawns in this horrid desert, whilst Buzz Grunt acts like an asshole to them both because he is a big horrid racist (specist?) before I try and make him pregnant with an alien Sim.

Also, I totally forgot the legacy challenge. I might do that in Riverblossom.

[Cymbols]

Two problems I've had is that I saved all the neighbourhood save info onto a memory stick before jumping to my new computer, and though I've put it back in the right place, I can't recover my old data, which sucks because I don't particularly want to start again.

Second, I downloaded a populated town from Mod the Sims, and installed it exactly how it says it should be done, and that just doesn't show up either. 

Both of these are super frustrating because I just wanna either carry on with what I had, or have something completely different.

Anyone got any experience in doing either and know what I might be doing wrong? Or would anyone be willing to take my old save data, and see if they can get it working?

[Benji]

37 minutes ago, Cymbols said:

Two problems I've had is that I saved all the neighbourhood save info onto a memory stick before jumping to my new computer, and though I've put it back in the right place, I can't recover my old data, which sucks because I don't particularly want to start again.

Second, I downloaded a populated town from Mod the Sims, and installed it exactly how it says it should be done, and that just doesn't show up either. 

Both of these are super frustrating because I just wanna either carry on with what I had, or have something completely different.

Anyone got any experience in doing either and know what I might be doing wrong? Or would anyone be willing to take my old save data, and see if they can get it working?

RE: Did you copy and paste over the old neighbourhood info? If yes, delete all the Neighbourhood information and then paste it, don't just paste over it.

Alternatively, uninstall and delete everything, copy your save over, and THEN re-install the game.

The latter - do the downloaded towns have any related mods in the notes or on the site?

Honestly though, it sounds like you might just be putting them in the wrong place. Generally should be: C:\Users\[YOURNAMEHERE]\Documents\EA Games\The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection\Neighborhoods

What downloaded 'hood out of interest?

[Mick]

I hope it's the gender-bender Pleasantview, Weivtnasaelp. Everyone is now the opposite gender. They have masculine versions of their names (Donna Lothario, Nino and Dino Caliente, etc), and wear similar clothes. 

[Cymbols]

50 minutes ago, Benji said:

RE: Did you copy and paste over the old neighbourhood info? If yes, delete all the Neighbourhood information and then paste it, don't just paste over it.

Alternatively, uninstall and delete everything, copy your save over, and THEN re-install the game.

The latter - do the downloaded towns have any related mods in the notes or on the site?

Honestly though, it sounds like you might just be putting them in the wrong place. Generally should be: C:\Users\[YOURNAMEHERE]\Documents\EA Games\The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection\Neighborhoods

What downloaded 'hood out of interest?

Hm not sure, I tried this a while back, and it's the thing that's stopping me from picking it back up. I'll try the former tomorrow I think. P sure I reinstalled last time to no avail. 

Can't remember the hood off the top of my head, will check when I get the chance, wouldn't have downloaded if it said it had mods tho.