SIMply Schmoozin'

LOL! That is hilarious, Em!

Sugah - those are awesome shots of Bay playing! She looks like a pro, for sure.

Cam has played around with Sims 2 on his computer - he was interested in learning after watching me play, so I installed the base game on his computer. He started off with a couple of brothers, but things got too hectic and he ended moving one out. But the sim he kept playing, a fortune sim, was in platinum most of the time and had a small fortune after just a few days. Cam was doing a great job attending to his needs. He had built him a small house and decorated it to his tastes. My older boys, when they tried it, nearly killed their sims because they didn't take care of them, lol. I remember having to go into Jared's game one time to save his sim and 2 cats.

I regretted Seasons at first. It is quite a big change because you have to be mindful of the weather now. My computer was slower back then, so any of the weather effects (rain and snow) would slow my game down to a crawl. But you can download a nifty weather controller from Paladin's Place under Sims 2/Objects/Other Objects. You can set the season or turn off the weather entirely. When I upgraded, it was nice to watch the snow fall and the rain. One major problem, though, that you may want to be aware of - temperature. Your sims can get too hot or cold - and if sim kids overheat themselves by jumping on the bed, you'll get a social worker on your case. There are several things you can do to counteract this - Paladin's Place also has a mod called 'No Social Worker for Too Hot or Cold' listed under Fixes. Or you can get the No Welfare mod by Inge Jones which stops any social worker for coming to your house for any reason. That's what I use, I think the Social Worker idea is done too extreme. Taking all the kids away because one kid gets an F in school? Really? And also, Paladin's Place has a mod to keep sims from randomly bursting into flames because they are too hot. I think I've only seen this once, ever, so it is pretty rare to begin with. I used to have this mod, but I took it out! Now I'm hoping to see a sim burst into flames, lolol.

You will also need to make sure your houses are completely covered in all living areas. Many of the pre-Seasons houses (by Maxis included) have gaps in upper levels to make the roofline pretty, but sims that sleep up there can get too hot or cold.

Please don't think I'm trying to scare you into not getting Seasons. I love it and can't imagine my game without it. The gardening is so much better than in Sims 1. Your sims will not have a good crop, most likely, because they have to get good at gardening - but then they turn out some beautiful crops that you can juice, sell, or harvest. I saw pictures by one girl playing some sims that lived on a beach with some beautiful orange trees. They spent their days playing in the sand, sleeping in hammocks, and drinking juice - it was pretty awesome. And fishing! It is so cool to be able to catch and cook your own fish. Seasons adds another whole dimension of realism to my game. I like to make families completely dependent on their environment, like caveman sims or medieval sims. That wouldn't be possible without the ability to harvest my own food.

One thing that I just learned recently, is that the ocean changes color by season. The water is much darker in fall and spring. Like this:


It is truly breathtaking to see the deep, dark ocean sparkling.

And snow covered everything is just so cool. Sometimes kids get snow days - and it's neat to see how much snow has fallen all around. Here is a cool picture I took of my castle at nighttime in the winter with the frozen moat surrounding it:




And if you try it and decide that you just hate it, you can always uninstall it and go back to your old setup if you've backed up your game before installing. Happy Seasoning!

Astral Faery wrote:

It is truly breathtaking to see the deep, dark ocean sparkling.

Ocean??? What ocean???

LOL! I'll take that as a compliment!

SS, I'd like to encourage you to start your own game antics thread again.
I will leave it up to you, but what you've posted in this section is just the kind of thing we encourage our members to share in their very own.

Quote :

Talk about awkward! Bella on one side, Dina on the other while Mortimer lip locks Laci!!! lol

Now THAT'S livin' dangerously!

I love your Bella and Dina makeovers...SIMply gorgeous!



Ari, I never got a chance to thank you for all of the valuable input regarding the Seasons EP.
I am still on the fence about it, even though Elle has been telling me I can turn off the seasons, if I wish for it to be summer all year long.

Ms Faery wrote:

One thing that I just learned recently, is that the ocean changes color by season. The water is much darker in fall and spring.

Will do. I thought they belonged here. I am so confused. lol Beginning my own thread again. lol

I had no idea the ocean changed colour by season! I play my beach lot hood as semi tropical, so I have it set to three seasons of summer and one of rain (spring). I'd never noticed that before! How cool!

Speaking of never noticed, after playing TS2 for over eight years...I just saw a sim want, I'd never seen before. I don't know what EP it was introduced with. has anyone seen this one before?

I've seen "Stay Home from Work" several times, although I've never used it - 500 points is barely worth it and my sims are pretty career oriented.
I went through all my Prima guides, checking out the "What's New" chapters at the beginning - no mention of it at all so I don't know if it came in with an EP or was always around. It's rare, though.

The particular simmie only recently graduated from university, and it's his first job. This want came up while he was sleeping at the end of his first day at work.

I'd say that's pretty typical of a new entrant into the working world!

I've seen it several times, too. Lousy points for it, though, so I always ignore it and tell my sims - 'heh, tough, get your butt up and go.'

Came across this and was reminded of you guys. Thought you'd all like it! (hope this is the appropriate thread)

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mattbellassai/the-weirdest-things-ever-to-happen-when-playing-the-sims

Hey Hobbes! It's been ages. How are ya?

LOL - some of those are hilarious!

I have to be honest, I don't pay attention to some of my Sims wants as much as I should.
That's a new one on me, too, Toni!
Thanks for looking into it, Mac. Wonder which EP it came from?

I was telling Ari last week about how enamoured my grandgirl, Baylee, is with Ms Faery's Thulian.
Every time Bay comes over and plays the Sims, she creates a new family using Thulian as the male head of the household.
She knows I create for the game and that I have a team of creators with me.

On Monday, while in CAS, she looked at Thulian, then me, and said (with all the exuberance of a triple Leo):
"NANA!!! Who MADE this guy??? This guy is AWESOME!"



I snapped this pic of her while she was getting Thulian's (who she renamed Mike Star or Mike Shine - Can't recall) family's loungers set up on the beach.
I can not tell you how thrilled she was when she learned Sims can actually swim in the ocean.

"Look how deep they're going, Nana!!!" said she.



It's amazing seeing the game through a six year old's eyes and jeez, does this kid know her way around the Sims!
Unbelievable what she can do already!
She even announced to me that she wants to learn to create clothes for the Sims.
I told her the programs are a bit difficult to learn, but she assured me she will have no problems with them.

Somehow, I'm prone to believe her.

Sugah wrote:

I was telling Ari last week about how enamoured my grandgirl, Baylee, is with Ms Faery's Thulian.
Every time Bay comes over and plays the Sims, she creates a new family using Thulian as the male head of the household.
She knows I create for the game and that I have a team of creators with me.

On Monday, while in CAS, she looked at Thulian, then me, and said (with all the exuberance of a triple Leo):
"NANA!!! Who MADE this guy??? This guy is AWESOME!"

Sugah wrote:

I snapped this pic of her while she was getting Thulian's (who she renamed Mike Star or Mike Shine - Can't recall) family's loungers set up on the beach.

Mike Star has a really nice ring to it!

Sugah wrote:

She even announced to me that she wants to learn to create clothes for the Sims.
I told her the programs are a bit difficult to learn, but she assured me she will have no problems with them.

That is awesome!

Ollie my granddaughter she plays Sims on my oldest computer.
We only use that one for the game.

She wanted me to fix her vampires and ware wolfs she got those bottles from Parsimounius.
Now her entire hod is full of those creatures of the night.

She wants Zombies too I have to figure out how to make those things.

What´s next?

Ulli - does she have the University expansion pack? She'll need that to create zombies. You can use a hack, or you can call the Grim Reaper on the Resurrect-nomitron and have him bring a sim back to life - if you pay the full amount (I think it's $5,000), then he'll bring your sim back as he or she was before. BUT, if you underpay him, he'll bring a dead sim back as a zombie.

Pay him about 2500 and you will get a zombie for sure!

It's so neat that your grandgirl is playing the Sims 2, too, Ulli.
I can't recall ... Is she Bay's age or a few years older?

I don't play with Uni, so I am unfamiliar with zombies.
Baylee thinks I need to install Pets since no house should be without cats!

Baylee is so cute! Looks like we may have a new skinner emerging :)

I'm hoping this is the right place for this pic.

I haven't played a pet in a while so I recently added a puppy to a family that lives in a beach lot. There happened to be snow and the puppy wandered outside most likely because nature was calling. I wasn't paying attention and hadn't noticed it leaving the house. I went searching for it and could only see the thought bubble. Looks like it is hoping to hide from the wolf.

poor puppy!

Sandy wrote:

Baylee is so cute! Looks like we may have a new skinner emerging :)

Thank you, Sandy. She is truly Nana's greatest source of joy.
And I wouldn't put that skinnin' thing past her, if she had her mind set on it!

Karen, thank you for sharing this way cool capture!
Looks like that pup is no idiot, buried in snow, with a wolf fast approaching!
Did the puppy emerge on his own? Did the wolf sniff him out? What happened next?

Karen wrote:

I'm hoping this is the right place for this pic.

This is just as good a place as any to share.
If you'd like to share more of your game antics with us on a regular basis, feel free to start your own thread HERE. Rules for doing so are HERE.

Sugah wrote:

Looks like that pup is no idiot, buried in snow, with a wolf fast approaching!
Did the puppy emerge on his own? Did the wolf sniff him out? What happened next?

The puppy did make it back to the house unharmed. The next day he grew up to an adult dog, so I wasn't able to see what else might happen.

What I find puzzling is how he went out the front door and then wandered all the way to the back to do his business. And this is a long lot. Yet another 'sim path' that is baffling.

I didn't know where else to post this, but it had to be shared!  

This is awesome!