Old, Archived Dead Threads Graveyard 3

yuppers I am :D

Ari wrote:

Kinda sucks if you have an alarm you can't kick some burglar butt, though.

Ari wrote:

If Adela had a baby with him it would surely be the spawn of satan.

And just what do you think happens to deserters of the abbey....

Ari wrote:

(was broke from maxis when they released the game )

Wow...what a surprise! Maxis never breaks anything or puts out a borked product!

Ari wrote:

She even gets paid if she does a poor job, like her makeover of Reeve Bloodstone.

She gives him another makeover and messes it up again. His face is a twisted mask of anguish.

Ari wrote:

Ysabel: "Blow out the candles while daddy is bathed in an unnatural, otherworldly light."

Ari wrote:

Unlike most knowledge sims, he hasn't once rolled up the want to become abducted. I guess it wasn't a very pleasant experience for him.

Ari wrote:

Toni wrote:

I dunno...I kinda like the idea that he thinks he's a werewolf! It just makes him even more eccentric! I totally love it!

You know, now that you put it this way, I'm liking the idea, too!

Aw, thank you so much for the wonderful comments, Elle. It seems like I've been away forever. I've been playing my game like mad, and have taken so many pics, that it's going to take me forever to get everyone caught up. I don't know how many rotations I've gone through since I last posted, but the heirs that were just children/young teens the last time I left off are now almost ready to graduate from Uni and take their places at head of their households. And it's time for a new crop of babies to start (already has started in some households). Since I have so much to share, I think I'll just update by household, rather than season. It's going to take me awhile to organize all the pice, but I'll try to get that started very soon.

Lady A wrote:

Since I have so much to share, I think I'll just update by household, rather than season. It's going to take me awhile to organize all the pice, but I'll try to get that started very soon.

Chapter 8 Of Aj Loner series is up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF5-uMHSBNA

Why hello all you lovely folk! How are you? I am baaaaack! WOOHOO! My crazy (but super fun) summer is over! Now I am finally back to simming. I'm in another play right now, but we only have rehearsal twice a week, so it's not nearly as time-consuming as 10/7 during the summer. So I've been spending the last two weeks rebuilding my downloads/mods on our family computer, because I can't wait for my dad to fix my laptop. I haven't played very much, but today, after one last (not) downloading binge, I started my game up and went into CAS, with the intent of creating a female sim to use as a future baby-maker. After half an hour of going back and forth on makeup/jaw features/lip size/nose width, I think I'm finally happy with how she's turned out...




Her name is Jolene Willows. She's a Leo Fortune sim whose LTW I don't remember. I was planning on having her be a play-thing for Don, and maybe Mortimer, but we'll have to see. She's so gorgeous, I might have to use her for a legacy challenge. Probably gonna have to change her name though. No offense to all who are named Jolene, but the first thing I think of when I hear that name, is a fat farm wife who butchers pigs, and wakes up at 4am to milk cows. Not a sly seductress, or even a hoochie-mama. Lol. It was the first thing that popped into my head in CAS, and I forgot to change it.

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to try to actually play tomorrow (unlikely), so maybe I'll have some snapshots to share. Ta-ta for now!

Ari wrote:

Since I have so much to share, I think I'll just update by household, rather than season. It's going to take me awhile to organize all the pice, but I'll try to get that started very soon.

I know I'll be looking forward to it, Ari. It is always a great pleasure to read your updates.

Holly, sorry I haven't responded sooner.
This was not only our update weekend but my hubby's birthday as well.

So glad to have you back, sunshine!

Jolene is SIMply lovely. Gorgeous eyes & sexy, fully lips ... What a pretty Sim!



Can't wait to learn what you decide Jolene's future will hold.
Thank you for sharing & come back soon.

Look what I found!

Pretty prezzies! (Click the piccie to go to the link)

What a great find, Toni! Thanks for sharing it!

Thanks Elle!

I just HAD to come back with another! Check this out! Computers disguised as books!!! How cool is that?!

Thank you so much for the goodies, Toni! The dresses are absolutely gorgeous! And I LOVE the computer disguised as books! As you know, I was using a crystal ball computer (link coming later) and I loved it, but sadly, it's not updated for Freetime. So there are many things sims can't do with it. If these books are updated for FT - I'll be so happy!

I know I owe pictures! I've actually needed a break from my medieval game and have just been jelling around and goofing off with other things at the moment. I'll have to get into that later - as I'm getting ready to run out the door for an appointment. I just didn't want anyone to think I was ignoring them or my thread.

EDIT to add link for Xanathonian CrystalSphere Personal Conjurer

EDITed again to add a goody to my own thread. OOH! Check out the new recolor to Phae's Phone Book

A double post! I confess...I don't have pictures to share. I also confess that I'm a little tired of my RKC. Not burned out on them at all - but I need to take a break. Perhaps I'll save the pictures for when I get back into those families because I admit I'm lazy and just don't feel like sorting and uploading them.

In the meantime, I've been a sick, sick girl. I've been reading lengthy Medieval challenges and I'm going to do both. They are very long and involved, but should function nicely if I do the Medieval Charter Challenge and then the Warwickshire challenge after the city has built itself up to thriving and crowned a monarch.

So all weekend long, I've been reading the rules for these challenges, thinking, downloading, downloading, downloading. I have a lot of elements I want to put into my game and have already rolled up my starting families. I'll be adding new mods to my game, as well, including A fantastic lighting mod. I test ran it in a different game setting and it was love at first sight. If you're interested in trying it, you should read this that downloads Numenor's Scriptorium - there's an option to download the lighting mod in the set up - and then you're all set to download other script files for your game, as well.

I've also been playing around with the Apocalypse challenge - Phaenoh has an huge mod that helps with the rules. I started playing it with the intent to tell a story with it, but got caught up in the mechanics of the game, double speeding most of the time, and forgot to take frequent pictures. Mostly I just wanted to do it to see if I could.

ALSO! Yes, I've been busy the last week, lol. I ran across Cyjon's page, and will be using a lot of his mods, too. My poor game is going to have so much stuff added to it.

One more link to dump on you guys: A Study of Chemistry which I found confusing, but interesting. Did you know the custom hair turn on/turn off trait doesn't even work? And all this time I had been using it!

Ok, that's enough blabbing for now. I'll post piccies of my new families after I get them made. I rolled up some weird ones. I wonder if they'll be able to survive?

What's that sound? I think it's the sound of crickets chirping. It's like a tomb in here - where is everyone?

Ok, so I'm starting the Medieval Charter Challenge (see link above). Don't worry about the Kingdom of Dragonfae - I'm still attached to them all and will never leave them - I'm just taking a break to try something different.

This challenge is about turning a modest settlement into a thriving city by establishing an economy and discovering culture. At the end of the challenge, a monarch will be crowned. This will not be an easy challenge, because life in the middle ages was very difficult, with so many tragedies often befalling the citizens. I may or may not share the tragedies here, though, as it's sure to be a dark and gritty challenge. But I can occasionally let you know how each of the families are doing.

The first families that need to be created for this challenge are one Gentry family, and 4 Peasant families. Also, a steward for the castle needs to be created and placed in the castle - to accept taxes and fund the treasury, then to use those funds to build the community's common lots like marketplaces and such. All the families are rolled randomly using dice.


This is my Gentry Family - The Quartermaine Family. From left to right we have adult brothers Benedict and Charles, the children are both Benedict's - little girl Isabella, and baby Nathaniel. Their mother died in childbirth. I don't really have a backstory on them yet.



The Bradshawe Family. Teen Julian will be on his own, as his dad is merely a placeholder. So the story I've made up for Julian is that his former village was wiped out by the plague. After the death of his mother, his father Julius, decided they needed a fresh start and heard of the lush landscapes and ponds full of fish of the settlement of Shorehaven. But Julius was weakened and barely survived the trip, only to die shortly after moving into their new house - leaving Julian on his own. His profession will be fishing.



The Goldwell Family. Elder Richard, his son Nicholas, and grandson Luke. Like father, like son, like son? Nicholas always looked up to his father Richard, just as his own son looks up to him. All three aspire to be popular and offer their wares of foraged mushrooms and strawberries to the community.



The Gardyner Family. Sadly, the father holding the toddler is only a placeholder - because the game doesn't allow you to make elders and kids and connect them through family ties without going through an adult. Stupid, I know. Three elders and a baby. From left to right the elders - Hugh, Ellen, and Reynard. The baby's name is Gabriel. Ellen and Reynard are married, and Gabriel is their grandson. They lost their son (I already forgot his name since he'll be killed as soon as the family moves in), and I believe I made Hugh a brother of Ellen. They, too, fled their former life to get a fresh start. Will Shorehaven have more to offer them? They will be gardeners and poultry farmers.



The Wylde Family. Again - another placeholder - the lady in the (mauve?) dress. So ignore her. The teens from left to right - Walter, Rose, and Piers, and their grandmother Bridgette. Perhaps the teens' mother was persecuted for witchcraft because she gave birth to triplets and the family fled to Shorehaven to escape the public eye. Whatever the case may be, they'll never tell. This family will have an orchard and beehives to make their living. And incidentally, how beautiful is teen Rose? Even in this family shot she stands boldly in the middle, slightly apart from her brothers. As one of the very few eligible females of the entire neighborhood, I admit I already have a soft spot for her and thought the name Rose Wylde was just the coolest ever. I know we're not supposed to pick favorites, but...

So those are my starting families. I don't know if I'll have the heart to actually role to see if mothers and children survive giving birth, infancy, and childhood, but if I don't start with harsh rules right away, I'll never be able to put them in later because I'll become too attached. *cough* my current Royal Kingdom Challenge *cough*. I've already got the realistic sickness mod installed.

Wish them all luck!

Quote :

It's like a tomb in here - where is everyone?

Hmmm... Let's see if I know this...

---I don't think Jen has internet yet and she's still diligently & tirelessly working on her new home.
---Em is juggling working, going to school and being a full time mom & wife.
---Toni has been incredibly busy with work lately and is preparing to travel a bunch (for work & vacay).
---Elle just gave birth to a healthy baby boy and is resting & recuperating.
---Jackie is having some annoying puter issues, I believe.
---I'm not sure what's going on with Sir Mac or Russ.
---Ulli is probably back @ work teaching again.
---Oh, and as for me, I've been blessed to have some extra time with Snacky and my girls lately, so I've not been on the puter as much.

Did I leave anyone out?

I'm hoping the old gang will be around again soon.
And I'd like to have another couple of SP updates before the holidays, actually...

Quote :

Did you know the custom hair turn on/turn off trait doesn't even work? And all this time I had been using it!

No, I did not. That's interesting (and a total waste of turn on/turn off choice evidently ).

I must say, I admire your willingness to read through, set up, download for and participate in lengthy, involved challenges.
I don't know how you have the patience & tenacity to do so.

Don't forget to share your new Medieval Charter Challenge in our Challenge Central section, if you wouldn't mind, m'lady.

Quote :

I may or may not share the tragedies here, though, as it's sure to be a dark and gritty challenge.

Yikes!
That bad, huh?

Love your new families and the backstories, esp. the fams with "placeholders".
Plagues & witchcraft persecution & 3 elders and a baby ... Oh my!

I so envy your imagination, Ari.
I can never think of ANY backstories for ANY of my Sims.
Hell, that's why I was so bad at thinking of Share a Fams.
I wish my mind was a fraction as creative as yours and all of our other amazing storytellers here...just a FRACTION even, would be so great.

What neighborhood are you using as Shorehaven, just out of curiousity?

You have a lot of lovely Sims making up your Medieval Charter Challenge fams, Ms. Faery.

Quote :

And incidentally, how beautiful is teen Rose? ... I admit I already have a soft spot for her and thought the name Rose Wylde was just the coolest ever. I know we're not supposed to pick favorites, but...

She's darling. Hey, we can't help but pick favorites. Anyone who claims they don't have fave Sims is full of malarkey.

Thank you for sharing your starter families with us.
Looking forward to seeing how you handle all the hardships (eg rolling to learn if mothers and children survive giving birth, infancy, and childhood ).

Bon chance, Lady A!

Sugah wrote:

---I'm not sure what's going on with Sir Mac or Russ.

I've been awfully busy lately - my Mom - about 3 months short of 100 is failing very badly and alas, not herself any more. Plus sorting out her finances.

I did post in my 'hood on Oct 2 and am still finding time (and distraction) playing with it. Never thought that paper dolls for grownups could be so engaging!

I'm so happy for Elle and Cherub and am waiting with bated breath for his name (hope it's not "Cherub" ) and pictures of the little guy.

This site , and my wonderful wife Maikki (maikkij on this site) keep me going.

Ooooooo....looking forward to the tales of your new hood. What a shame to have to kill off simmies before you start.

I did that once to get a teenagers only house, and the wailing and the sobbing had me completely gutted! lol! And I had like no attachment to the placemarker simmie at all! I'm such a hot mess!

And your 'Mauve-Dress Wilde' is so stunning too! *sigh* Was she generated by the game?!

Nonetheless...I'm looking forward to seeing what your new simmies have in store!

I have quite a few of Cyjon's mods, but had not read his stuff on sim-Chemistry! I knew their actual personalities contributed to the score, but I didn't realize they just had to be on the same side of a trait for the effect to take effect....or that the mid-score (5 points) had no effect on the compatibility rating. That was very, very useful! Thanks Ari.

I pop by Sugah's every day, but I usually will only post when I have time to do a proper response. But I totally understand how weird it is when no one responds to you. I keep my eye on the number of page views to tell if people are reading my thread.

In addition to it being crazy at work...and my preparing to make two trips back-to-back (work-related), I've also been busy on an exercise to replace Maxis default clothing with better-looking garb (it's been quite tedious), I'm testing a mod for a friend of mine AND I'm trying to clean up my hood using a new tool my Mootilda, the Hood Corruption Checker .

But with a new town to share with us, I imagine there'll be more action around these parts soon!

And as ever, I come baring gifties for your new families!

Zx Ta has converted some gawjus tables from Sims Medieval to TS2


He/she has also done all the barrel end tables and the rough-hewn coffee tables etc.

Sugah - I used the default neighborhood 'Driftwood' when setting up. It was recommended because of it's grid like pattern. I used a name generator to come up with Shorehaven and all of the sims' names who live there.

Sugah wrote:

Looking forward to seeing how you handle all the hardships (eg rolling to learn if mothers and children survive giving birth, infancy, and childhood).

I am torn. The official rules for this challenge simply has you limiting the number of children per family to simulate the small families due to childbirth deaths.

But if I'm going to merge this into the Warwickshire Challenge later on, which has percentages and dice rolling for childbirth survival, I need to start the harsh rules now because I'll never be able to start them up later. It sounds morbid, I know, but keeps the game from getting too easy and risk me losing my interest because there's no challenge. Also, I kind of like my sims taking their reproduction into their own hands so I don't have to tell them when to try for baby. I like it to happen on its own.

But the creator of MCC says, "...number of children are strictly limited. This is in order to mimic the low and slow birthrate during the Middle Ages, yet reduce the number of files in your game and hopefully prevent possible game corruption by having to kill off a great number of mothers and babies."

Does anyone know if there's any truth to that? Will having many more deaths screw up the neighborhood? In this challenge, the graves are placed in a communal cemetary instead of on the home lot. Does that help at all? I really have no idea. Therefore, I have no idea which way I'm going to go with this.

Mac - I am truly sorry to hear about your mother. Never underestimate the distraction power of a good spouse and pixel dollies!

Toni - thank you for the link to the tables! They're gorgeous.

And yes, sadly, Mauve-dress Wylde is no more. Her name was Marissa, I believe, and she was completely generated by the game in CAS.

How cool that you're helping to test a hood corruption detector.

As per Sugah's request, I have posted all the pictures that I've put here, plus some new ones in the Challenge thread. You can find them here

Toni wrote:

I pop by Sugah's every day, but I usually will only post when I have time to do a proper response. But I totally understand how weird it is when no one responds to you.

That's what I do too. I stop in and read everything, but feel like I don't have time to write out a full response, so I save it for later, then forget to come back and respond.

Wow, lots of great reading. I have to admit I didn't read all the rules for the challenges, because then I'll want to play too. Just seeing the pics of your new family makes me start itching to play. I have to keep reminding myself, test tomorrow, term paper due Friday, no more simming until after then.

Even after reading the post about the Scriptorium, I'm kind of not sure what it's for or if it's something I'd need. I'm looking forward to seeing how the lighting mod looks in your game. I used to have a lighting mod in mine, but I took it out because it made everything too dark. Maybe one day I'll look into a new one.

Your new families look great. What a shame you have to make placeholders just to kill them off (I hate how restrictive CAS is in terms of family ties. It doesn't allow much creativity in families.)

I started out with my royal kingdom rolling to see if babies and/or mothers survive childbirth or if there was a chance of miscarriage. I made the odds really high that they would survive, so there were no fatalities with my first rolls, then I lost track of which pregnancies I'd rolled for and which I didn't and some I'd forget to roll for at all. I like making my sims have babies too much to go through with it. Maybe I'll have to give rolling for a random chance of tragedy again, if I can find a way to keep better track and if I don't get too tempted to cheat if I get a bad income.

I don't think there's a problem because of too many deaths necessarily, but I think I heard that neighborhoods can start to have problems if you have too many characters files total (alive and dead combined). I don't know what the threshhold is, but I think it must be pretty high, probably too high for you to have to worry about. But I'm no expert.

Astral Faery wrote:

Toni - thank you for the link to the tables! They're gorgeous.

Aren't they?! He/She has done some wonderful TSM conversions!

Astral Faery wrote:

How cool that you're helping to test a hood corruption detector.

Oh no, I'm testing another un-released mod. Mootilda's Hood Corruption Detector was released on MTS2, for all to try.

Honestly though if you're not comfortable with simPe you might find it a little daunting.

HOWEVER, Mootilda's also provided some good info in the thread about how deleting tombstones and deleting simmies from the bin can lead to troubles. Even if you don't use the tool, the info about avoiding corruption should be useful to you as you start a new hood.

Mac, I'm so sorry to hear about your Mom.

Hiiii Sugah and Em!!!

Thanks for that information, Em. I had a feeling it was just simply files - whether the sim was alive or dead. But while browsing forums, i often come across messages in which people explicitly refer to having dead characters adding to the files - like they would add more than others, and being hesitant to kill off extra sims because it adds to the game files. But it won't add any extra than having that same sim alive, right?

I posted some pics in the challenge thread - there's a shot or two of the lighting mod at work. Definitely not for everyone, and yes night time is very dark - but I am so loving the look and feel of it.

Toni - no I'm very not comfortable poking around in SimPE - the only thing I ever do with it is clone sims.

Now I have a question for both of you, since you seem to know more about the game than I do. A few years ago, I came across some information about how to clear townies out of a new neighborhood. This approach had you create the hood, exit the game, find that hood's character folder and delete all the character files in it - before creating any sims to live there. Open the game back up and no more townies. Then you could create your own having them spawn using whatever defaults you have installed. And any NPC's would be spawned upon need. This was preferable to the 'deleteallcharacters' cheat, which is a big no-no. Have either of you heard of doing this before? I've actually been doing this for years with no problems, but I don't know if there are any 'artifacts' left behind, like when you delete sims from the bin or delete gravestones, or long term problems I need to worry about. I was talking about this over at MTS2 with the creator of the MCC challenge, but had trouble finding any information to back it up. Most people install clean neighborhood templates, but that sounded complicated in comparison. I did stumble upon this, though, and this may have been the place where I read about it in the beginning. Any thoughts?

Sir Mac wrote:

I've been awfully busy lately - my Mom - about 3 months short of 100 is failing very badly and alas, not herself any more. Plus sorting out her finances.

I posted this in a couple of other threads, but I am so sorry to learn about your dear, elderly mother, Mac.
My heart goes out to you and your Maikki for all you are going through at this difficult time.

Toni wrote:

I pop by Sugah's every day, but I usually will only post when I have time to do a proper response.

Em wrote:

That's what I do too. I stop in and read everything, but feel like I don't have time to write out a full response, so I save it for later...

I think most of you know I feel the same.
I try very hard to keep up on everyone's posts and respond fully.
Sometimes it seems impossible for me to do so, so I tend to put off responding until I can truly give each post the time it deserves.
Before I know it, there is so much to read and respond to, I feel too overwhelmed to tackle it all.

I am always grateful for all the sharing. That's what I want everyone to know.
And though I can not keep up as I'd like to, I hope you each always continue to share your game antics with us here.
It means so much.

:thanx:

That being said...

I forgot to tell Toni the download links she's been providing are fabulous finds!

Lady A wrote:

I need to start the harsh rules now because I'll never be able to start them up later. It sounds morbid, I know...

Ari wrote:

As per Sugah's request, I have posted all the pictures that I've put here, plus some new ones in the Challenge thread.

Astral Faery wrote:

A few years ago, I came across some information about how to clear townies out of a new neighborhood. This approach had you create the hood, exit the game, find that hood's character folder and delete all the character files in it - before creating any sims to live there. Open the game back up and no more townies. Then you could create your own having them spawn using whatever defaults you have installed. And any NPC's would be spawned upon need. This was preferable to the 'deleteallcharacters' cheat, which is a big no-no. Have either of you heard of doing this before? I've actually been doing this for years with no problems, but I don't know if there are any 'artifacts' left behind, like when you delete sims from the bin or delete gravestones, or long term problems I need to worry about. I was talking about this over at MTS2 with the creator of the MCC challenge, but had trouble finding any information to back it up. Most people install clean neighborhood templates, but that sounded complicated in comparison. I did stumble upon this, though, and this may have been the place where I read about it in the beginning. Any thoughts?

Hmmm...I've not done that before. I sounds a bit dodgy. We now know how bad it is to delete simmies willy nilly, from the sim bin and stuff like that. Let me do a little research. I know Pescado has a mod called 'notownieregen' which stops new townies from generating, and NPCs only regenerate if they are needed. So if you find some way to get rid of say the bartenders (marry them into your family, have them meet an untimely death etc), no new ones will be generated if you never hire one again. But it's the getting rid of them part I'd approach cautiously. If it can wait a few days, I'm on vacation next week, and I'd happily go prowling for info on this.

I'll probably do it anyway, 'cause it's good stuff to know.

Sorry, I meant to respond to this earlier, but forgot. Just now trying to type I had a kid all up in my face and then accidently closed the tab before I finished my response.

Quote :

I posted some pics in the challenge thread - there's a shot or two of the lighting mod at work. Definitely not for everyone, and yes night time is very dark - but I am so loving the look and feel of it.

I saw your pics in the other thread (still meaning to drop in and comment there too) and I like how the mod looks, especially with the shadows. I may need to try it again sometime. It may look better on this laptop than my old one since the overall graphics on this one is better.

I would be wary of deleting character files. I think I remember hearing that deleting special NPCs like the Grim Reaper or the Pollination Technician might cause problems. I'm nor sure how much of a problem artifacts would be if you haven't played the hood at all yet and no one has interacted at all. I think I've heard of that method, but I've never tried it. I used to use the deleteallcharacters cheat. It seems like I read that it probably won't cause problems if you use it once, but if you try to use it multiple times on the same neighborhood it can have really bad results. Personally I like using the clean templates. I don't remember if I had to clear them manually or if there were blank templates to download, but I remember it was really easy to do. In fact I need to look up the info on how to do that again, since I haven't done that again since reinstalling my game.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Toni - I would be very happy, if you did research (if you find the time - don't kill yourself or anything), because I'm curious as to whether artifacts are being left behind. I've never had a problem with doing it - but it also occurred to me that I tend to hop from project to project and tend not to stay in any particular hood for a really long time. I am not terribly married to any of my sims, so if it does cause problems down the line, it wouldn't be the end of the world. So no rush.

Em - yeah, the artifacts is what I was concerned about. My pollination technicians and Grimmie all function as they're supposed to, but I wonder if I'd have problems in later generations. I've never used the clean neighborhood templates before. They sound complicated.