Em's Random Sim Pics and Projects

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I've been trying to play (my own version of) the Royal Kingdom challenge and I have to say it's a lot of fun. I would totally recommend it to anyone. Even if you don't have or want period downloads in your game, I think it would be a fun way of playing in just a regular modern hood.

Are THESE the correct rules, Em?

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I'm debating on whether I should make a thread for it in the general challenge area.

Oh, by all means, please do.
If you're going to share ANY challenge with us, I'd love it if you'd post it in Challengetown, Simville.
The more activity in that area, the better!

I've always liked Sophie Miguel. She looks lovely in your game.

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I've got another Name a Sim idea for you all, since the last one was kind of fun. I have a sim couple that's expecting a baby very soon...

Forgive me, I confuse easily. Sophie and Christopher already have little Elsa.
Are they the ones expecting a baby? Or is it another couple?

Thank you so much for sharing what's been going on in your game, Em.
I'm glad you were able to spend some time playing the Sims, during your break.

Hmmm - I'm in a Claudia mood for a girl, or maybe Sydni (a top female name Harry and I were considering when I was pregnant with Cam).

For a boy...hmm....nothing at the moment. I'll get back to you.

I agree with Sugah - Sophie does look really pretty in your game. I had forgotten what a cute sim she is.

Yes, those are the correct rules. There's a ton of rules especially when it comes to career limitations, so I kind of simplified them to suit me. I'm trying to follow the basic premise of it as much as possible though.

Christopher and Sophie are expecting their second child. Elsa is the first, the one Sophie is pregnant with now is the baby that needs a name. They both want to have 4 kids (ACR has an option where you can set their "ideal family size" how many kids they want to have. In my semi-random system of assigning ideal family size, the both ended up wanting 4.) I'm not sure if they'll end up having that many or not.

Thanks, Ari. Those are both great names! Claudia strikes me more at the moment, but I could see them using either one.

SimEm wrote:

They both want to have 4 kids (ACR has an option where you can set their "ideal family size" how many kids they want to have. In my semi-random system of assigning ideal family size, the both ended up wanting 4.) I'm not sure if they'll end up having that many or not.

Whaaat? I didn't know that! I need to find that so I can go play with it! How fun!

It's not with the original version of ACR. They added it with an updated version, so if you have the original you probably wouldn't have heard about it. I downloaded the updated version after I heard about that feature on another simmer's blog, specifically for that feature. I haven't tried it out enough yet to see if they really stop trying to have babies on their own once they reach either of the parents' ideal family size.

Yeah - I couldn't find anything about it with the version I have. It sounds pretty interesting, though.

You always give the best ideas Em...

Sheesh, I feel out of sorts. I don't know about all of these cool mods you all use in your game.
I need to get up to date :))

That is such a beautiful couple and I bet the baby is going to grow up to be just as pretty :))

Aw, thanks, Jen.

I finally got to play my New Eden hood and visit the Straights and . . . It's a girl! I decided to go with Sydni.



Here's a family portrait.

Aww, they all look cute together.

A very nice looking family.

Woah! This is wild, Em.
I was thinking of names for my next few Sims and Sydni popped into my head, too, just yesterday.
I really like that name much moreso for a female than male.

What a pretty baby she is! Nice fam!

Thank you for sharing with us, as always.

Thanks. Sydni was one of the names Ari suggested. I kind of like that everyone in the family has the S sound in their name somewhere.

Hi Em, Nice Family, Sidni is a sweet name, good choice

Even though I have a million other things I should be doing. I got this idea that I just had to give a try. I happened upon a Sims 3 blog the other day where someone was starting a challenge where they start out with 4 couples, living very primitively and from those founders they try to build up to an advanced civilization. I decided I want to try it myself, with Sims 2, of course.

I'm trying to develop rules for advancement. I don't want to let them buy anything that's available in the catalogue that they can afford. I want to make them earn it somehow. I'm thinking about using talent badges as a guide. Maybe having sims earn the robot crafting station badges before they are able to buy anything electronic or the toy crafting badges before they can buy extra furnishings or other items . . . I'm still figuring out and kind of playing to test out the idea.

So I started with 8 sims. If I were writing this as a challenge I would probably recommend making married couples. I didn't, because I wanted them to choose their own partners. (I'm not quite the matchmaker Sugah is. And I like randomness)



I think I remember most of their names, but I used a random name generator because I was feeling indecisive and didn't have time to overanalyze what to call them. I only meant to play a little while so I wouldn't end up going to bed too late, but I ended up playing one of my couples for 3 seasons.

Two of my couples paired up right away. I'm still deciding how to split up the other 4, since one of my ladies has negative chemistry with both of the available single men that are left.



Each couple will move into their own 2x2 lot and be given just the bare minimum a sim needs to survive without being constantly miserable. I'm planning on giving them exactly the same furnishings, house size, garden size, etc. on their lots. Then after they plant their first crop, I set their family funds to 0.



I gave them a double bed, a toilet, sink, refrigerator, one counter and a bookcase. I kind of wish I could do with less, but since sims can't sleep on the ground, pee in the bushes, wash up in the pond or store their food out of a refrigerator, this is what I needed. I forgot I was going to start them all off with a crib, so I may cheat to let them buy one if they don't have the money . . . or maybe I'll make them wait until their first harvest comes in and they can afford it. I won't use the talent badge restriction here. I let my first family buy a shower when they had money, since I figured in reality they would be able to bathe or bring water in from the pond.





Besides, after several simdays, Jake's want for a tub hadn't disappeared and his roommate, Karina was complaining about how bad he stunk. (Sponge bathes helped, but apparently weren't good enough.)



Then I had something exciting happen. Karina turned into a plantsim! Jake was shocked too.



I never really played one before, so this is new for me. At first I was immediately thinking about how to turn her back. They would have to save up some money from their crops, then find the gypsy matchmaker, which will be hard since they don't have a phone. Which reminds me, I need to make a simple community lot, so they have a place to go in case they want to see their neighbors. But anyway, I was trying to decide what the rules should be, then I learned how easy a plantsim is to take care of. They don't need to eat, they don't need to sleep, they don't need to have fun. All they need is sunshine, water, and love. The first few days water was a problem and she was constantly getting drinks from the sink. After I bought the shower, that was taken care of very easily. Then sunlight became a problem as it got to be winter and I was afraid to keep them outside too long.



Love was not a problem at all. After the inital surprise, Jake was unfazed by her altered appearance.









So just keep her outside as much as possible during the day and she's really easy to take care of. And she can work constantly in the garden or fishing without getting bored or uncomfortable or hungry and she doesn't use any of the family food resources. It's almost too easy. I'm debating on whether or not to change her back. I like playing with a plantsim, but I also miss the way she used to look. They're expecting their first child, but I might go and set up my other families and play with them for awhile before I have to come back to them and make a decision.

This sounds fun I would like to this try aswell.
Is there any more rules then those you have written down?

She is cute as a plantsim they usually like plantsims.

Thanks, Ulli. That would be fun if you decide to try it as well. The blog I read didn't have rules, so I'm still trying to make up my own. I'm testing it out as I go. If you want to test things out too or try any ideas you have that would be great.

What I have so far . . .

Start with 8 sims or 4 couples. You can create them as married or single, as one household or in multiple households, however you prefer.

Move each pair into their own lot as soon as possible. You should start with 4 residential lots one for each couple. I used 2x2, but you can choose whatever size you like. They should all be the same size though so everyone starts out evenly.

Each lot gets a house with a double bed (you could do two singles, but you'll probably want a double for baby-making), one toilet, one sink, one refrigerator, one counter, and one bookcase. Outside you'll want to make a fishing pond and a garden for each lot. Try to make the houses and the garden the same size for all lots, so everyone starts out the same. After your sims plant their first crop in the garden, set their familyfunds to zero. I used insim to do this. You could also use the familyfunds cheat or use the terrain tools, buy plants or walls or floors until it's down to zero.

The idea is for the sims to be founding a totally uninhabited area, so move-in, marriage, having children with townies and NPCs is not allowed (you'll want to avoid having these extra characters in the hood as much as possibile). I want to see if they can get past 3 generations just by marriage and having children just between the original sims and their offspring. I've been trying to work it out in my head, but I'm not entirely sure if it will be possible to go that for or if everyone will be too closely related to breed.

Since the hood is brand new, there are no traditional jobs from the newspaper, at least at the beginning. As it grows I may start to add them in as they make sense. Like once there are school aged children in the hood, sims can start to work in education. Maybe when they reach a certain population number they may have the need for police or military. I'm still thinking about the details. I probably need to go through a list of sim jobs and make decisions on each one. I'm thinking about requiring someone to be able to buy a community lot business for each career path before anyone can take a job in that area.

Since there are no stores, sims can't just buy things from the catalogue. I want to pretend like they're able to build them by themselves. I'm still working out the specifics for this too. So say if someone in the family has a bronze talent badge on the toy building bench (which I'm thinking of as just general woodcrafting) they can buy simple furnishings like tables, as they earn more badges they can buy more advanced items, chairs, couches, counters. Same with the robot building bench and electronics. If someone in the family earns one of the smaller badges can buy small electronics and appliances when they get to the higher badges they can buy the larger appliances and more advanced electronics. I'm thinking for the flower bench or the easel and pottery wheel once they become more advanced they can buy decorative items. I want it to seem like they're making them themselves.

There should be some items sims can buy without having badges, just for convenience. I think they should be able to have at least one bed per sim. So they are allowed to buy a crib when they have a baby and a bed for children as they get older, as long as they have the money to afford one. Crafting benches and skill/hobby related things (like the sewing machine, easel, pottery wheel etc) they should be allowed to buy as long as they have the money, so the community can advance.

You can have as many community lots as you once, but they have the same restrictions as the residential lots. Once one family is skilled enough to make small electonics, for example, then you can add those type of items to the community lots.

I think that's all I've come up with for rules so far. I may think of other things as I play more.

Oooooo...interesting! I'm curious to see what happens next. Oh Em...for the love of humanity, please bend the rules about the shower! For the sake of not looking cheaty, you can...well, cheat a little by buying them one of those makeshift looking jobs. We can have non-smelly simmies, and the realistic-ness of the makeshift shower might appease the Cheaty Police.

Have you decided what to do about the negative chemistry thing? Do the rules allow you to change hair colour, or add/remove makeup and glasses etc, to try to tweak the attraction a little?

I eagerly await more updates!

I've never played a plant sim before. In fact, I've not played any supernatural simmies. Well...witches, but I use a mod that doesn't change their skin or clothing, 'cause the wiccans I know don't have green skin, skin that glows nor do they wear pointy hats. lol! Well, not in public anyway.

Okay, okay, okay, I guess they can have a shower. I thought about starting with one, but I didn't. I'm not sure if I just forgot or decided against it. My first couple really seemed to do okay with just taking sponge baths from the sink. My second couple wasn't so keen on that idea. They would wait forever to wash up and refuse to do anything useful in the meantime. If you read carefully you'll see I did buy them a shower as soon as they made some money from their crops. Since that's what I did with the first family I played, that's how I'm going to do it with the rest of them to start off.

I see no problems with changing appearances or turn ons/offs to create better chemistry.

I've never played plantsims before. I've played vampires some (they are a pain to keep alive) and zombies a little. I don't have the EP with witches. Plantsims are pretty interesting.

Oh, I thought of one more think to add to the guidelines. I'm starting them out with the food that comes with the fridge, but after that they have to live off what they harvest in the garden or catch in the pond. They can trade with their neighbors if they need to (I'm not sure how, exactly) and they are allowed to sell produce and fish from a home or community lot business if they have the means to create one. Until someone is able to start a grocery/ farmer's market business, there's no delivery. And I won't even use the trick I always used to do of selling the fridge and buying a new one.

Em wrote:

...a challenge where they start out with 4 couples, living very primitively and from those founders they try to build up to an advanced civilization.

I like it already!

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The blog I read didn't have rules, so I'm still trying to make up my own. I'm testing it out as I go.

Very cool and industrious of you, m'lady. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with as the challenge progresses.
Didn't we attempt something like this at PTS before, called "A Whole New World" or something like that?
Or am I remembering incorrectly? Why is that stuck in my head?

Em wrote:

(I'm not quite the matchmaker Sugah is. And I like randomness.)

I'll have you know, missy ma'am, that the latest love affair going on in my game (Sapphira & Reid Michael) was totally random & unexpected.
Though I do not deny I am a bit of a matchmaker - of sorts- for the most part.
Oh, alright. I can't help myself, dang it! Just call me "Yenta"!

Em wrote:

Two of my couples paired up right away.

Em wrote:

Love was not a problem at all. After the inital surprise, Jake was unfazed by her altered appearance.

Don't you just love it when that happens?

Lady E wrote:

I see no problems with changing appearances or turn ons/offs to create better chemistry.

Em wrote:

I kind of wish I could do with less, but since sims can't sleep on the ground, pee in the bushes, wash up in the pond or store their food out of a refrigerator, this is what I needed.

Em wrote:

Sponge bathes helped, but apparently weren't good enough.

Toni wrote:

Oh Em...for the love of humanity, please bend the rules about the shower!

Lady T wrote:

Well...witches, but I use a mod that doesn't change their skin or clothing, 'cause the wiccans I know don't have green skin, skin that glows nor do they wear pointy hats. lol! Well, not in public anyway.

I was just talking to Elle about the ugly green skin and annoying fumes/bubbles attached to the witches.
I want to experiment with that aspect of Apartment Life but do not want to deal with the above.
What is the mod? Where may I find it, Toni?

I really like what you've got going on so far, Em.
I do not play with Seasons, so I wouldn't be able to participate with the rules as they stand currently (badges, crops, fishing etc).
I wonder how challenging it would be to revamp a few of the rules to include those of us who haven't got Seasons installed?

Thank you so much for sharing what's been going on in your game with us.
Have you thought up a name for your original challenge yet?

Oh Em, I just love this!!!

What a unique and interesting challenge....

I have never played a plantsim either but it does appeal to me since you have shared your secrets with us. I found a couple of links for custom Plantsims skintones, not sure if you can use them or not ...

Modified Plantsims Skin and this one is a default one

I am so happy that you decided to let them purchase a shower, you can't have them making babies if the other one doesn't like how they smell

Sugah wrote:

Didn't we attempt something like this at PTS before, called "A Whole New World" or something like that?
Or am I remembering incorrectly? Why is that stuck in my head?

Yes, we did! And I thought of that when I started thinking about this. It's kind of an expanded version. I don't think I even had Seasons yet when we did that challenge. I thought about going back to see if I still had a copy of that hood.

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I'll have you know, missy ma'am, that the latest love affair going on in my game (Sapphira & Reid Michael) was totally random & unexpected.
Though I do not deny I am a bit of a matchmaker - of sorts- for the most part.
Oh, alright. I can't help myself, dang it! Just call me "Yenta"!

I didn't mean that you always plan it out. Just that you're good at when you do.

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I do not play with Seasons, so I wouldn't be able to participate with the rules as they stand currently (badges, crops, fishing etc).
I wonder how challenging it would be to revamp a few of the rules to include those of us who haven't got Seasons installed?

I thought about that. Actually I thought about you in particular since you don't have Seasons. Do you have OFB? I couldn't remember. I guess if you don't have Seasons, you would either have to look for other ways for your sims to make money or allow them to have jobs from the start. I'm not sure how it would work without Seasons or OFB.

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Have you thought up a name for your original challenge yet?

No, I haven't thought about it yet.

Jen wrote:

Oh Em, I just love this!!!

What a unique and interesting challenge....

Aw, thanks.

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I have never played a plantsim either but it does appeal to me since you have shared your secrets with us. I found a couple of links for custom Plantsims skintones, not sure if you can use them or not ...

Thanks for the links. The custom skins look great. Plantsims have been fun. Much less maintainence than vampires and not as creepy as zombies and werewolves. I'm tempted to keep her that way, but I miss her old look too. I kind of wish I had a plantsim that started out that way, so they wouldn't have lost their human form. Plantsims can spawn baby plantsims. I knew that from when I briefly checked out the family that came with Seasons that had a plantsim. I'm not sure if I should make her have a plantsim baby or not. I'm also curious to see how the baby she's carrying turns out, if it will be a normal sim or if there's a chance that it will be a plantsim too.

Do you have the link to the original challenge, Em? I would like to read it and see what it's all about. Is it like a population challenge? Or a building up the civilization challenge? I really like the idea of sims learning to survive and gaining skills. I think the reason why I'm having trouble getting into my MCC is that the pig farmers, for example, do the same thing everyday and never gain any skill. It's quite dry. I like the idea of a few couples putting the world back together and learning how to build up their world while trading from each other to get the things we need. That is the basis for the Warwickshire Challenge, by the way - to have a society that doesn't use the catalog, but trades for everything they need. I am interested in learning more about this.

I have a couple of goodies for you that might help. Oh, but first, a note about the sponge bathing. You may be ok with this, but after AL came out, the sponge bathing mods would no longer work for children because something in the code changed and the modders couldn't make the kids use the sponge bath option. That applies to both the sponge bath mods I was looking at. Since you are pre AL, it may work just fine for you. But while I was playing the Apocalypse challenge, kids could not sponge bathe and they became the biggest pains on the planet. They refused to do anything and complained all the time. This was before the family unlocked the Medical career and was not allowed to own showers and tubs. They were horrid little beasts and I longed for childhood to end quickly - and I often resorted to locking them in their rooms because they were driving me nuts!

Ok! Here is a sleep on the floor hack, that allows sims to sleep anywhere. Someone in the comments said it worked for all EP's, but I haven't tried it out.

You'll love this one! A Squat Anywhere that allows your sim to potty outside - no toilet!

And for the wee ones to wee in: Bucket potties! Check out the ones here and here

There's also a barrel shower to get a more primitive look, with recolors somewhere (I'll have to look those up for you if you're interested). I know I've seen other medieval/primitive bathing options, I'm just trying to remember where.

Also, a chamber pot bowl and sink that might be useful. I realize it's medieval, but it could work for a society starting out with nothing.

For fridges - there are snack closets which I have not tried yet, and a food cellar which I have tried and works great! You can stock fish and produce in it, but if I remember correctly, you can't get bottles from it.

I also use many of Boiling Oil's hacks - including his breastfeeding hack, children get bottles, and his farming and fishing hacks which make the price gained from farming and fishing less than the game's values, and most importantly, makes the meals fill up a sim normally, instead of being sparkly and super filling. Check those out here. Poke around the whole site while you're there - he has a ton of useful things.

For schooling, you can use Inge's Flexi School to home school children.

I know there was more that was in my head I wanted to share with you, but I've forgotten it. If I remember, I'll be sure to let you know. I am currently bored with my MCC, and am looking to do something new, so I'm interested in this. I've been going back and forth for days, trying to figure out how to tailor the MCC to my playstyle or start a prosperity type challenge. I'm missing sims, but don't know what to do. Maybe I'll try this out when I get more info.

It wasn't really a challenge, exactly, but just a Sims blog that game me the idea. Here's a link to it.

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That is the basis for the Warwickshire Challenge, by the way - to have a society that doesn't use the catalog, but trades for everything they need.

I'll have to read the link that you shared with us about that challenge. Maybe it will give me some more ideas for playing this hood.

Thanks so much for the links. Those are great! I have the barrel shower (but in my other game) and I'm using a outhouse style toilet. The other links, especially the homeschooling one will be really helpful. I'll have to download those for sure. And I wasn't aware that children wouldn't take sponge baths in the sink without a mod. Good think I bought them a shower.

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They were horrid little beasts and I longed for childhood to end quickly - and I often resorted to locking them in their rooms because they were driving me nuts!

Thanks again for all the links. Wow! They're really great!

Sugah wrote:

I was just talking to Elle about the ugly green skin and annoying fumes/bubbles attached to the witches.
I want to experiment with that aspect of Apartment Life but do not want to deal with the above.
What is the mod? Where may I find it, Toni?

Yes ma'am! Carrigon has a No Witch Skin and Witch Clothes Hack.

She also has a No Witch FX mod which nixes the witch glow.

Then here is her No Witch Name mod which I especially like, and while we're on the subject of witches looking and acting normal...she has a No Idle Witch Animations.

Then to make things even easier, Squinge has done a Friendship Not Needed To Become Witch mod.

Tah dah!

With all that said, like the gorgeous plant sim skins that Jen recommended, there're some pretty rockin' default witch skins out there if that's your thing. My favourite is THIS ONE which uses Enayla's Pixie Emerald skin.

By the way Em...if you're interested, poifectly_poiple has done a mod that gets rid of the leafy plant hair, and lets you change your plant simmies hair to anything you want...and here's some nicer coloured Default Replacement Plantsim Clothes....still leafy, just prettier!

Awesome finds there Jen and Ari!