#yeah we get a lot of walkbys

[legacycrossoverdiaries]

Shall we

?

Well, apparently May and Tony did...

Because here comes trouble once more.

And I don’t mean Hakor Stiles and his flamboyant walk-by.

Nor do I mean Terry Mitchell and his oh so innocent jogs past the house.

And trouble it is!

Mayua: “This one is of excellent quality, you are thinking, I am sure.”

Welcome to the crossover, Beretta Corleonesi (I’m not every sorry).

Hot on her heels (because we used fertility treatments and various other nefarious but perfectly legal ways of increasing our odds for multiples), is her very distressed twin brother.

Welcome to the crossover Luca Corleonesi!

This boy’s chin is giving me some strong Mayua vibes.

Tony is definitely the ‘nicer’ of the two parents, he’s never rolled up a whim to be mean to any of his kids.

This one, on the other hand, has to be monitored or she does crap like this.

Mayua: “There is no cause for leaking, this is not an object you use.”

Mattéo: *wails anyhow*

The walk-bys continue.  Eerily, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this cat smile before.

Oberon: *enjoys walking while armed*

Tony: “Huh.  Why don’t I remember posing for these?”

[sushigal007]

Over to the last Monty household.

Beatrice: Dad just magically graduated college! Benedick is dying. Beatrice: This isn’t about him.

But yeah. I don’t know if he had flu or food poisoning, but I guess it got worse when he was showing up in the background for the last few years and as soon as I made him playable, he keeled over. Antonio: WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Beatrice: Dad would you chill for a sec? I’m trying to catch a shiny. Beatrice: Aaaaaaaand... pause.

Beatrice: Please don’t reap my brother, it’ll ruin my week.

Grim: All right, you know how this goes.

Beatrice: BIG YES!

Grim: Look, this happens quite a lot, you really don’t have to make such a big deal- Beatrice: VICTORY DANCE!

Benedick: Thanks, sis, you’re the best. Beatrice: And don’t you forget it.

I’m not sure anything’s gonna top being brought back from the dead, game.

Cornwall: How dare you! I’m married! And you interrupted my very important bin-kicking!

Anyway, Benedick’s motives are all skew-whiff after that near-death experience, so I sent him out to use up some energy.

Bottom: Oh my, what a stud! Benedick: Hee hee hee boing boing.

Benedick: Throw a real punch!

Isabella: She calls that a punch? What d’ya think, should we go in there and teach those infants how to throw a real punch? Albany: Perhaps after dinner.

Isabella: All right, fucko, dinner’s over, and dessert is a KNUCKLE SANDWICH! Ginger: So hey, those old people behind you are going for it like a rock’em sock’em robot. Benedick: Please. Don’t acknowledge them.

Albany: A SANDWICH ISN’T EVEN DESSERT! Benedick: I’m just... gonna go get a drink.

Bartender: Aren’t you a teenager? Benedick: A teenager with money.

The fighting was getting annoying, so I had Benedick hit up another lot and hit on Isaac Curious here.

And then, home, just in time for... *squints* Alvin Futa here to kick over the bin. Alvin: I’m a Capp now! No you’re not, you’re barely a character. You’re lucky I even went to the effort of googling your name, I thought you were Ricky Cormier.

Antonio: Money can be exchanged for goods and services and legal name changes.

Beatrice: Ahh, a nice cup of tea.

Roxie: Hey, quick question, what the fuck? Honestly no idea, babes. You can have some new gloves when I get to your household.

Beatrice: I love this place. My memory is a bit shit, but I seem to recall it’s glitched and I had to teleport some people in to trigger walkbys? Beatrice: Why would you do that? The lack of people was what I liked best.

Cute stray.

Sharla: Yeah, money’s pretty great. Benedick: But you know what’s even better? Sharla: What’s that?

Benedick: LEAVES!

Sharla: But is it art?

A joke that will probably only make sense to about three people, one of which is me.

Antonio: And that’s why I became an architect!

Antonio: And now to look around for building inspiration.

Beatrice: Computer’s broke. HOW!? I literally just brought that! I’m not even joking, I brought it so she could fulfil a want, and she immediately broke it.

Decided it was time to invite Isabella and Patrizio over for a little family bonding. Patrizio: So long as the bonding involves a delicious, home-cooked meal.

No comment, just happy family fun times.

This time Antonio was the one whose energy was out of sync, so he did some skilling over at the library.

And then the next morning, I sent them out for breakfast. Beatrice: Where’s Benedick? Oh, his hunger bar’s full, so he-

-has decided to lean right into that stereotype about teenage boys eating tons by joining the group anyway. Benedick: Gotta keep my strength up in case I die again!

And then it’s off to the local museum. Beatrice: Can you say “parrot”? Parrot: Parrot. Beatrice: Yes! My very own Pokemon!

Chloe: Oh, I’m serving something, all right.

More leafy fun.

And to round off the week, I invited Bianca’s family over. Townie: Hey kid! Paris: Mom? Bianca: Remember what I told you, don’t make eye contact with them, and they can’t hurt you.

Antonio: I never realised how fulfilling being an architect could be.

Beatrice: Don’t suppose you could help we with some maths? Bianca: I’ll be honest with you kid, I intentionally forgot how to do any of that the moment I aged up, you’re gonna have to ask someone else.

Beatrice: Aliens? Any of you lot know trig?

Benedick: Um, are you two OK? Sahira: Definitely not, please help.

Bartended: You again? Benedick: Life is short. Townie: Heeyyyyyy teenage boy! Benedick: For some people, not short enough.

Uberhood Index

[goatskickin]

When we last left Hope, she was starting out unexpectedly on a medical path.  There was a guy in a cowboy hat, and we saw a lot of hot dogs.

Onward!

Hello hello and welcome back to another day in paradise. This is Ajay, bringing the blues and the news.

The PVCJ held a candlelight vigil for the victims of last week’s protest for worker rights at the 24 Hour Gas Station. Donations for funerary services may left with Mamma Marguerite at Wendy's Saloon.

Up in the next radio hour is The Cure, the Clash, and all things alternative. Stay tuned.

Hopelessness

The physical effects of the nuclear winter are clear, but it is only half of the devastation. The damage to the population’s mindset and willpower has also been great. People are starting to give up hope and despair has begun to set in. People have no motivation to band together or leave the shelters they have made.

-You cannot move in or marry in any Sims or pets.

-Once your founder reaches the top of a career (ANY of the 14 careers, it doesn’t matter which) they show the region that the worst is over, and that things can and will begin to get better. A few Sims are even willing to risk traveling the streets to be with the regions new and only ray of hope.

Hope’s only social outlet is walkby’s, as she can’t use the phone unless it’s a Tuesday (dang Gamer restriction) and can’t invite anyone over (also the Gamer restriction). This is Benji, Koda (aka Cowboy Hat)’s son.

And this is Noodle, a local stray. 

Medical, Business and Culinary need to be lifted before Hope’s family can have any pets. And there are 3 pet jobs with significant restrictions attached to them.

“Listen Benji, I’m sure this is not news to you but your dad...well, he’s well-intentioned, is not the best with people. He gave me some good advice about surviving out here, but his manners need work”

“Yeah, he’s old-fashioned for sure! John Wayne wannabe. You should have seen him when he first met his fiancée! It was all “Good day miss” and “I trust your family is in good health”. What a DEEB”.

“No kidding! Also a word of advice; if the universities every open up again, don’t become a mascot. This one llama mascot really screwed me over...”

Outgoing Hope needs a lot of social interaction. With no one living with her, she’s keeping the bar low as to whom she talks to. Most people respond well to her friendliness.

Noodle the cat: “I didn’t trudge through the snow to NOT get some pets, hissss”

Gossip and snowball games aside, life continues to be difficult and scary.

Hope regularly cooks a meal while stinking.

The locals seem receptive to this newcomer who as still not figured out when to wear Outerwear.

The apocalypse may have taken a lot - but sims can still dance!

The only solution to green stink clouds - Hope’s trusty bucket sink.

So Koda’s alluded to this, but once a week, sims need to pay protection money.

In the original iteration of the challenge, you were supposed to sell all sellable items in your lot that were over $100. The loss of deprecation of the objecst was intended to be protection money due to the local mob boss, Joey the Comb.

However, it was quickly found that selling and then replacing all of the objects in a sims’ house was annoying. What you can do as an alternative is familyfunds a 60% loss in a household’s income.

Goodbye money.

Hope continues to disappoint me by not being at the top of her career already!! haha...jk....kind of

While she very often forgets to put on Outerwear outside, she does manage to wear it inside sometimes. On the bed.

Boyfriend #3 Hobart can only be interacted with in a limited way as a mailman, limited to only Flirt and maybe Tip. Oh well. He and Hope remain friendly.

“Hi Hope! Of to work again I see! Please pay your bills on time, the bright orange and red envelopes hurt my eyes. Have a good day!”

A promotion at work! Just one more and we can clear the Medicine restriction. 

Another day passes and Hope doesn’t bring me a promotion, but does bring home this coworker. 

As if you could be doing much better without a shower at home! Piss off.

SPEAKING of people who can piss off - 

And finally, after over a week of adulthood, Hope reaches the top of the Medicine career. 

Once a leader in the medical field emerges from the family, they lead the Red Cross restoration effort. This restores clean running water to the region and brings supplies of medicine, contraceptives and to the people who need it. The medical restrictions are lifted.

You may move-in/marry spouses for your founder and future heirs.

You are still restricted to moving in only those who will contribute to the next generation.

Hope’s first purchase with the job title change and boost in pay is this rustic little roadster for $155. 

Hope cannot use the phone to invite anyone over, but she can use the car to swing by and pick up anyone she’s BFF’s with (according to the Military restriction). 

And it’s Patrick that gets to visit! Boyfriend #1!

“HisorryPatrickI’vebeensolonely-”

“Hi hey it’s alright! Times are tough. I’m happy to see you Hope”.

Patrick, in comparison to Hope, is less self-conscious, more lighthearted. It was this quality that first attracted her to him, and it was the same quality that helped her decide to take a leap of faith and ask him to be in her life. She knew it would be a difficult life, but she also felt that no matter the circumstance, that he’d bounce back and persevere. 

Love can still overcome in this snowy, stinking and hungry existence.

aww

I also just liked Patrick the best, okay!

As Patrick was a dormie, this means he gets to grow up.

Of course it’s dark and hard to tell but he’s managed to age up into some decent outerwear.

What a sweetie :3

Patrick is a fortune sim (LOL good luck with that buddy) but I am giving him a Knowledge Secondary. 

I am hoping its perks will get him to the top of his career track, as he’s entering adulthood with a lot less skills than Hope.

Reconnecting with Patrick in the snow has resulted in our founder (coatless once again!) catching a chill.

“So - uh, work innuendo. Ah, I’m built like a factory...something something steam engine. I’ll...unionize...that bod? Er. Supply chain logistics aren’t the only thing I can....wait-”

“You are really just terrible at this! I still like you though.”

While Hope sleeps, we get working on Patrick getting skilled up.

Life is still tough. But at least she’s not alone any more. 

Patrick is adapting well to this kind of life, and brings much needed levity. “Can we play the game Patrick? You know the one...”

“Sure! We’re eating lobster rolls - no, po boys. Shrimp po boys! The shrimp was caught fresh that day, and the remoulade is made with real mayonnaise, not the stuff in the container. We’re on a boardwalk, someplace warm. The ice in our to-go lemonade keeps melting because we’ve chosen not to sit in the shade. We are having a bite to eat before going to a movie, and the theater is just down the street. We leave the boardwalk, sand crunching underneath our sandals, into the cool, private cave of the movie theater. In the chill of the theater, I can feel the warm of the sunburn you have, as you’re sitting next to me. I saw you burning earlier today at the beach, but I didn’t say anything, because I was half asleep by the time I noticed. The next morning, we wake up late and have a petit déjeuner of pastries and coffee. We make plans to stay out of the sun that day, to explore the local shops and get sundaes after”.

While Hope sloughs skin off rotting sickness patients, Patrick finds ways to occupy himself.

“Oogie oogie oogie! Ooh ooh OOH”

Between skilling, smustling and smelling, he befriends local teens in his underwear. 

Our sweet tempered Patrick is destined to lift the Culinary restriction. Planning the one meal a day per household is as much of a drag as you can imagine. 

Hope’s job as the Chief of Staff means a nice new outfit. Rishell would approve!

“I feel like this is the most money I’ve ever - HURGH UGHGU OMIGOD”

And it was this image - of Hope reclining stinkily on the bed - that reminded me that she’d cleared the Medical restriction yesterday and I had not done a thing about it!

Super duhhhhhhhhhh. I was so focused on the fact that she’d cleared the Hopelessness restriction that I forgot!

*sniff* isn’t it beautiful? 

The first hot shower of the apocalypse.

Hope’s frozen coworker missed the daily hot dog plate, but he is still here after dark, hogging the stereo.

"Ca va hop dee nop coo! va heep tur naap mow! va neep tur dur ow! va neep tur doop dow!”

Hope utilizes the only action that will provide creativity points that can be done without restrictions, ‘Write Novel’ on the computer.

Ooh! We’ve got a preg - *squints*

...a pregnancy that shows me that this default top has no preg morph, got dang it. >:(

This here is also the closest Hope has come to starving. 

I needed to wait for her to go to work (where her Hunger meter would be filled) because Patrick would need to eat during the day, so I had to save the one meal of the day for him. 

Newly pregnant Hope did not appreciate having to wait.

~~~

And that is all for this chapter!  How will Hope’s pregnancy go? Patrick will go into the Culinary career track, but when? Will Patrick and Hope ever get to eat something besides hot dogs? Until next time, Carry On, Woman!

[bcdwhcre]

“Faded”

Ship: Calum Hood x Reader

Summary: Calum has always faked a smile, until he met you.

Warnings: not much but cursing and hints of depression.

•••••

Once the interview cameras cut off, his smile faded. Disappeared into thin air like it was nothing. He was emotionless and he didn’t hesitate to get up and leave the guys behind to chatter about. He kept the leather jacket tightly on him, the only sense of comfort he’ll feel until he gets to the hotel and lays in his bed.

He felt completely empty. He did appreciate the band, the perks that came with it and his heart always went to his fans but lately it’s just been too much for him to handle, the quick walkbys without saying a thing- faking a smile for the pictures when they ask for them. He couldn’t help it, he put on a front- a show every single day for 24 hours. He felt useless even though the guys have reassured him and tried to make him feel otherwise. It didn’t work though.

He stumbled along the street, deciding to walk back to the hotel instead of catching a ride with everyone else- he needed time to himself. He always needed that. He pulled out the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, a habit he got into a little while back to relieve his stress but it only worked until the stick ran out. He put it between his lips, lighting up the end of it and inhaled the addicting cancer stick.

As he stood by a coffee shop, back leaned against the wall and his face zoned out like he was overthinking his entire life until he heard a small voice beside him.

“You know you shouldn’t be doing that to your body.” A young woman mumbled, her bright eyes that were so full of life staring back at his dull ones. It was like a shining stroke of light shined down on her from the sun, dramatic but beautiful in a way.

“I honestly don’t care what happens to my body but thanks anyways.” He shrugged, raising up the cigarette like it was a wine glass cheering it before taking another hit to blow out the smoke above his head.

“Bad day?” She still sat there and in the back of his head he wanted to tell her to simply fuck off but for one, he wasn’t that cruel and two, this was the only girl that wasn’t throwing herself at him begging for pictures and autographs.

“More like a bad year.” A small chuckle left his lips, flicking the stick onto the floor and steps on it with his black boots.

“How bout I buy you a coffee and you can tell me about it.” She stared up at his tall frame, her eyes full of hope and he was close to shutting her down and going back to the hotel but something inside of him dragged him towards her that he just simply nodded his head and walked beside her towards the coffee shop.

Calum opened the door for her, letting her step inside and go off to order the coffee while he took a seat at the small booth in the back of the shop, secluded just like how he was- closed off and alone.

When she slid in the booth across from him, sliding the cup of coffee towards him and cleared her throat as she seated in the seat while sipping on the steaming hot drink.

“I’m Y/N, by the way.” She chuckles, reaching her small hand over the table towards him to shake his hand. She noticed how closed off he was, distanced and unsure about a lot.

“I’m Calum.” He simply said, staring at her hand for a moment and gently shakes it before pulling back to sip onto the coffee, not caring whether it was steaming hot or not.

He never really did this, talk to strangers outside of the band. But here she was, sitting across from him, curious and full of life yet Calum was the opposite. Not that she wanted to help him, she did find him attractive and he seemed lonely, like he needed someone and was screaming for help without doing a thing.

“What do you do, Calum?” The question made him think twice about telling her about being in band or should he casually say he works a normal job so he can seem normal?

“Uh, I’m sort of- in a band.”

“You look like the type to be in a band. Like guitarist.” She laughed softly, her laugh gently yet quiet and nervous, like she was on a first date.

“More like bass.” A small chuckle left his lips and for the first time, it wasn’t a fake one. He was taken back, his brown eyes moving up to connect with hers and he shakes his head, it was silly.

“What’s running through your head?”

“Everything.” Calum shrugged his shoulders and stared at her for a moment before looking away, he didn’t want to open about the terrible few months he’s had especially to a stranger who might think he’s crazy.

“Alright come on, let’s go somewhere to ease your mind.” She gave him a bright smile, scooting out of the booth and stood up as she gestures him to follow her out of the coffee shop.

He didn’t want to at first, he felt awkward but he also felt somewhat at ease talking to someone who didn’t even know who he was; Calum Hood, the bass player, the singer, 5 seconds of summer.

He didn’t realize his feet was taking him outside and following right beside her, staying quiet as she talked a little bit- only short answers leaving his lips until they got to where she wanted to take him. A viewpoint, a somewhat ledge that looked over the water with the sun setting.

He was quiet, caught off guard with the view and how beautiful it actually was. It was calm, the water crushing into the rocks, no people, isolated where you can watch the water, the sunset or just look out and relax.

“Why did you bring me here?” He asked quietly, watching her sit down on a large rock and patting the spot beside her for him to sit down.

“I don’t know, just by looking at you- you put on this mask where you don’t wanna be recognized or be who you are anymore. You act alone when you’re far from alone, you seemed tensed up and always looking over your shoulder like someone is going to come in and drag you out.” She read him like her favorite book, she could easily see through him and the costume he’s trying to put on to cover himself.

Calum starts to laugh a bit, a real laugh but somewhat awkward with how spot on she was. Did she actually know who he was and she’s just lying to get to him? Or was she just that good at calling people out on their shit? He didn’t know and he couldn’t tell but he felt a sense of ease when he was around her even if it’s been a few hours or barely getting to know her, it felt weird but it felt real.

“Thanks for exposing me I guess.” He shook his head, the smile on his face remaining there until it eventually disappeared.

“I’m sorry, you just need this- being relaxed and not feeling so pressured all the time.” She turned her attention to the water, staying quiet and enjoying the soft sounds of the ocean and sighed under her breath.

Calum looked down at his phone, the first time he’s done it since before the interview with the guys earlier. He saw a bunch of text messages and missed calls from them, including their manager. He rolled his eyes, stuffing the phone back into his pocket and glances over at her, almost admiring her in a way. He knew that this might be the last time he’ll see her, this wasnt his home town and he only came to perform but in the back of his head he didn’t want to leave, he didn’t want to see her only once. The laugh and the smiles he’s cracked today- were definitely genuine, because of her.

“I have to get back to my friends, you can tag along for the rest of the night- if you want to I mean. I think it’s just dinner and us having a few drinks.” Calum rambled on a little bit and she laughed at how nervous he was acting now.

“Yeah, I’ll love to go.”

•••••••••

I randomly came up with this at like midnight then tumblr erased half so I had to retype and here we are.

••MASTERLIST••

[dramallamadingdang]

I've seen you post about off-road lots, but how do you actually place those lots in the neighborhood?

The short version? You initially place the lot on a road, as usual, and then move it to wherever you want it to be on the neighborhood map with the Lot Adjuster. 

There’s a much longer, more detailed, step-by-step version with pictures behind the cut.

1. In the game, place a lot on a road, as usual. It can be empty or fully-built when you move it, your choice. Put it as close to the area you want to move it to as you can. However, once moved (and during the process of moving), you can’t rotate the lot, so make sure you place the lot facing the direction you want it to face in its new location as well. Here’s my example lot and where I want to move it to:

2. Pick up the lot and SLOWLY move it to the spot to which you’ll want to move it, counting the neighborhood tiles (in any/all directions you move it, as viewed from the front of the lot) as you go. You won’t be able to place the lot off-road this way, of course. You’re just seeing how many neighborhood tiles you need to move it, when you’re in the Lot Adjuster.

3. Unless you really trust your brain to remember, note down the number of tiles you need to move the lot. Or, you can do as I do and rename the lot that way, like so:

4. If the lot is a brand-new empty one, you’ll need to enter it once before you can move it or else the Lot Adjuster won’t be able to move it. You don’t need to do anything to it, just open it, then exit back to the neighborhood, making sure to save changes. You don’t need to do this if it’s an already-built lot.

5. Exit the game and load the Lot Adjuster.

6. As you can see, it can do a lot of things. You can do any of those things in any combination to your lot while you’re in there, or you can just move it. Whatever you’re going to do, click the “Start” button.

7. Choose the neighborhood your lot is in:

And click “Next.” Then choose the lot you want to move:

Since I rename mine with the number of tiles to move the lot, it’s easy to find. Click the “Next” button and you get this:

8. The moving-a-lot function is one of the advanced functions, so click “Advanced…” and the screen now looks like this:

9. You want to move the lot, so check the “Move lot” option, and then that area will change to look like this:

10. Now, on that little compass that came up, click the buttons for the direction(s) you need to move the lot as many times as needed. For me, I want seven tiles backward and two to the right. So, when I’m done clicking, the compass area looks like this:

11. “Optional options”:

– If you are creating a roadless neighborhood and/or if you want to be able to build on the ten tiles at the front of the lot where the road usually is, you’ll want to remove the road in front of the lot. This allows you to build on that area, if you want. If you want to do that, click the “Add and remove roads” option and then in the “Change Size of Lot” section of the screen, decheck the road along the front yard. I’ll show you what happens with this when we go back to the game.

– If you’re moving a lot so that it becomes a beach lot, check the “Beach lot” option, but have a look at this tutorial over here because there are some additional things you’ll need to consider and do to make it work properly.

– Also note the “Keep current lot elevation” option. This is checked by default, and you can leave it checked if the elevation of the lot in its current location is the same as it will be in its new location. If you are moving the lot to a higher or lower area on the terrain, however, you will want to de-check that option! If you don’t, the lot will appear either inside a hole in the terrain or it will be at the top of a hill exactly the size of the lot. Either way, you won’t be able to modify the terrain around it (with the “modifyneighborhoodterrain” cheat) because the lot will “lock” the terrain around itself. So be careful with that! In my example case, though, there’s no elevation difference, so I’m going to just leave it checked.

12. When you’ve set everything as you want it, click the finish button. The Lot Adjuster will do its magic and if everything’s hunky-dory, you’ll get a screen that confirms that things were changed properly. If it didn’t work, you’ll get a screen telling you why.

13. Exit the Lot Adjuster and reload the game. (Yeah, this is a pain if you’re doing this in a CC-heavy game, but suck it up, buttercup. :) )

14. Back in the game, my lot is now moved:

That black square – which can also be turquoise; it’s just that this neighborhood has a horizon globe under the terrain – in front is where the road was. Whatever color it is, it’s a hole in the terrain. If you didn’t tell the Lot Adjuster to remove the road, you won’t have the hole. Don’t worry, this is fixed simply by entering the lot, which now looks like this in lot view:

And then removing the road and sidewalk tiles (You have to turn on moveobjects to do that):

And then saving and exiting back to the neighborhood:

No more hole! And with the road removed, you can now build or place deco or whatever where the road was on the lot. That being said, the portals for cars and pedestrians are still there so that the lot still works properly. You can see where they are if you use the Portal Revealer. You may want to move the pedestrian ones so that walkbys don’t walk through stuff you don’t want them to walk through. Moving the car portals isn’t recommended, though, and can screw up the lot. Either build around their path or just don’t build on what was the road if you’re still going to allow cars to access the lot. (Like carpools and services and stuff, not just owned vehicles.) If you’re not going to allow cars on the roadless lot, then you don’t have to worry about it. Whatever the case, just leave car portals alone.

15. You can now build on the lot – or move in a family and build/play – as usual. Here’s the Traveler family moved into their new, empty, roadless lot:

I have special cameras disabled in my game, so I don’t get the “the new family arrives by taxi” move-in thing, but if I did, it might look a little odd. That being said, as I said all the portals are still there even though there’s no roads, so walkbys will still walk by and resident Sims can still walk to other lots, and go to work in a carpool, and own/drive cars, and call the taxi, etc. The car stuff will, of course, look a bit funny. But then, if you’re removing roads from your neighborhood, you’re probably not intending to have people driving around in cars, anyway. :)

So that’s that. Two warnings, though:

1.) Obviously, if you ever want to move an off-road lot to a different off-road location, you’ll need to do it with the Lot Adjuster, the same way as you moved it off-road in the first place. You can, however, snap it back to a road SO LONG AS YOU HAVEN’T REMOVED THE ROAD. If you have removed the road, and you want to put the lot back on a road, you’ll need to go into the Lot Adjuster and add the road in front back first. Then you should be able to snap it to a road.

2.) Off-road hotels, much to my chagrin, don’t work right. They’ll work fine as community lots, but if you send Sims to the lot to check into it, they’ll never arrive. I do not know why, and I’m still fussing with this to see if I can get it to work. It might not ever work, though, because I suspect it’s something about the vacation neighborhood coding that’s the problem. Community lots, apartment lots, and plain residential lots are fine. I haven’t tested dorms yet, but since they are very much like apartments, I suspect they will work fine as well.

[asimmingpunsquared]

ISLA BRISA // YEAR ONE, WEEK TWO // FIRE/LOTT/BRIGHTLY HOUSEHOLD

Follow the cut~

Jannick! No, that’s not for you!

Check out the ROS rolled for this week:

Minor events: Tax refund: Turns out you paid too much tax, and you're getting a refund. Add d10 * 100 to the family funds. 

Major events: Alien abduction: It looks like you've been 'chosen'. Get abducted d12 times within one rotation -- if you end up with a little 'present' from your visits it's up to you to decide what you do with it.

They rolled a perfect 10 for the tax refund, giving them and extra thousand, and ELEVEN for the alien abduction! Caroline’s the lucky winner there, since Jannick already produced a child and Boris is a family sim.

Oooh, Marjorie sighting! I always get so excited for a mayor walkby.

Caroline’s fishery is going well!

Caroline: Ignore the unhappy customer behind me. You know how these tourists are.

seriously??????????

The Sims 2 businesses are a mystery to me.

With the tax refund, I decided to build a tiny little store on the lot. This is a preview of what Caroline’s actual community lot will look like, if we ever unlock it in her lifetime.

I always forget when my sims are playful!

YOUR STORE IS DOING WELL, STOP IT

And that night...

Boris passes the time while he waits for Caroline by playing fetch with Tiffany.

Splat! Accompanied by a funny little jingle.

This was a strong contender for the teaser pic, but the bulk of this update is Caroline’s alien abduction. Despite my immense love for Boris, it just wasn’t as relevant.

Caroline: I think that spaceship made me spacesick.

Oooh, hi Taylor! I’m not sure how I feel about this plantsim replacement. It’s a bit too Maxis-Matchy. But it definitely beats just the plain old Maxis one.

Fucking Yvette Zhang here is the local business reviewer, and she is FICKLE.

I love this cat! Its name is Sake! I want this cat!

Tiffany: Am I being replaced?

just Caroline’s daily breakdown nbd

The cash register animations are so cute, even if they do take forever.

Pregnant! Caroline doesn’t take to it well. 

While Caroline is out of commission, Jannick fills in at the shop. Boris is too shy and busy with Tiffany.

Caroline: The sun is good for Baby!

Jannick: You are Boris’s dog. Not mine. This is not my job.

I feel like I haven’t given a good shot of Caroline’s face yet, so here she is. I created her based off a word prompt--I was going to do randomly generated word prompt sims for download, but decided against it, and instead I’m doing the NATO series. The word was “combination” or something to that effect; hence the neon and the multi-colored color scheme. She, Jana Plum and Philippe Vamsi were all sims I had lying around that fit into what I rolled for the challenge. The rest were all created for it.

Second trimester.

Jannick: Your pregnancy has me thinking, Caroline. I miss Jana and Maggie. I want to turn it from a fling to a relationship.

Caroline: What about Boris?

Jannick: The feeling, it is not the same. Why else would I have strayed?

Another strong contender for teaser pic.

lol dogs eat the snow

Random wolf fight!!!! The Alpha asserts his position once again.

Tiffany: I guard pregnant human. 

Caroline: Jannick, the baby! Wake Boris!

!!!

Boris: Hold her. I feel another one coming.

So here are the babies. Two girls. On the top is the secondborn, with alien skin and eyes, named Olivia. On the bottom is the firstborn, with Caroline’s skin and eyes is Sam.. Yeah, those gray eyes are supposed to be Caroline’s rainbow-colored eyes. Guess I’ll have to look into why that’s happening. I fix it later in SimPE.

Jannick: Boris, you are a beautiful, beautiful man, but I have a confession. I do not love you. I love Jana.

Boris: It is because I am demon, yes?

Jannick: No, not that! Never that! It’s just that when I think about my future, I think about Jana.

Boris: She is so mean to me, Jana. She only likes humans. It must be because I am demon.

2/11

Back at work! In her pajamas, but she’s a new mother, we can forgive her.

A puppy! Quick, Boris! 

Jana comes around, ostensibly to shop at Caroline’s store but really to visit Jannick. But when Jannick tries to kiss her, she denies him.

Jannick: Jana, I am crazy about you. I broke it off with Boris.

Jana: Did you really? You dumped that demon?

Jannick: Please, there is no reason to be mean to him. I have no hard feelings.

Drama! Drama all around! Caroline is less pleased about this pregnancy than the first, and having to break out the maternity dress Boris had so kindly sewn for her.

The twins’ birthdays come so quickly. A quiet affair, celebrated at home.

Olivia crawls off to the doghouse before I get a chance to do her makeover. Sam lagged behind in her aging, and I kept having problems with the cake.

Which led to this.

Jannick: Please, do not take her! She is like a sister to Boris and me! She has children, children she loves!

Success!!! I was on the edge of my seat, so afraid. As if I couldn’t love Jannick more, he saves Caroline from certain death ♥

We can finally geta round to Sam’s birthday!

Jannick: I hope you can both understand. This business with life and death in this house, it has helped me realize what matters most. And that is Jana and Maggie. I have decided to move in with Jana, so that we may  be a proper faily.

Caroline: But...the twins...and I’m pregnant again...Jannick, I think of you like a brother. I understand you love Jana, but...why can’t she move in here?

Jannick: Do not be silly. We all know this house is not big enough. You can use my room as a nursery, now.

Boris: You hurt me deeply.

Olivia is still bald and neglected while the adults sort out their problems.

But with the help of nanny Boris, here, I’m able to get the makeovers accomplished.

Sam Lott

Sloppy/Neat: 10 Shy/Outgoing: 0 Lazy/Active: 10 Serious/Playful: 5 Grouchy/Nice: 10

She looks more like Caroline than her sister. She does have the pointy alien ears, which you can see at some angles, but I thought this hair was too cute on her to pass up. Still with the gray eyes; they’re fixed two rounds from now.

Olivia Lott

Sloppy/Neat: 10 Shy/Outgoing: 6 Lazy/Active: 10 Serious/Playful: 1 Grouchy/Nice: 8

Olivia is the more serious yet outgoing twin, but otherwise her and Sam’s dispositions are pretty similar. She and Sam both grew up with custom hair--presumably from Caroline--but I let Sam’s be black and gave Olivia the custom hair.

Boris picks up the childcare slack while Caroline enters the later stages of her pregnancy.

Purely platonic, with incompatible orientations, they still find comfort in one another after Jannick’s departure. They understand that he loves Jana, but they cannot help but feel betrayed.

We end this update with shots of adorable Olivia and Sam (I favor Sam, ngl.) A very eventfual week for the Fire/Lott/Brightly household, which has been reduced to the Lott/Brightly household. Jannick moving out and alien babies! Boris fell back from the limelight, but not for long. You’ll see.

[emmelfish]

‘After woohoo, I like to celebrate with a long hike to ponder the fact that my wife being pregnant means it’ll be a while before we can have more babies.’

Pfft, keep dreaming John. Like that want about playing for tips, nice try – you have zero creativity points. Stick to wanting to praise Tabby, becoming besties with Lucy, and befriending Darren. Also if it’s so hot maybe you should take off your outerwear when you get inside?

FACK

John: What’s the best thing about gardening? Getting down and dirty with your hoes!

Jen: These interactions ALWAYS result in one of us walking away with minus points, why would you think this one would be any different? Anyway, come look at this, you’ll like this.

Jen: LOOK! He’s watching sports on TV like he’s people!

John: Oh that’s adorable! Hey speaking of sports, how is woohoo like a game of bridge?

Jen: *screams internally*

Finally, Jen gets to hang out with some intelligent lifeforms.

Jen: Alright. ‘Examine the lives of the best and the most fruitful sim and sims and ask yourself whether a tree which is supposed to grow to a proud height could do without bad weather and storms: whether misfortune and external resistance, whether any kinds of hatred, jealousy, stubbornness, mistrust, hardness, greed and violence do not belong to the favorable conditions without which any great growth even of virtue is scarcely possible?’

Tabby: Screw this.

Jen: ‘The poison from which the weaker nature perishes strengthens the strong sim – and he does not call it poison.’

John: My wife! I am so proud of you for reading to our child and furchildren and yet-to-be-born children AND getting a golden ticket to My Muse from the spiky-haired man because of your musical talent.

(Hey it’s Justin Kim again! Wonder if he’s come searching for his Hot Tub Time Machine mom.) 

Justin: I’m a child and even I know that if you jump on her like that it’s not good for your yet-to-be-born children.

Pop

Jen: The hell is this?

John: You said you wanted new clothes. 

Jen: But blue is so not my color.

John: But darling, now you match my shorts! 🎵Off to tend to my peppers I shall go...

Glitches

John: 🎵 With a broken arm, yes oh-ee-oh

Another day, another dollar simoleon...

Jen: TUCKER II! You lucrative little furball, thank you so much for pulling your weight while Mommy is carrying so much of it and thus can’t work herself, all thanks to that great big tit I’m married to.

John: What’s that?

Jen: I said is that the Greater Blue-Tit you’ve spotted there dear?

John: I think it is!

Jen: YAY I am so proud of you!

John: Me too!

John: Unff

I’m sorry, I can’t suspend my disbelief with this game any longer because Lucy IS the classmate that saw the rated R movie, and would be the one describing boobies and butts and bloody violence to the innocent child this chance card was actually meant for. So I picked Ignore, because a) no, and b) chance cards are bullshit, they have a 99.999999999999% chance of undoing all your good work in any scenario.

Oh looky who it is! Everyone’s favorite Desiderata resident. And, three nanoseconds of a chat with Jen results in Jen’s crumpled face of confusion and Natasha’s hatred thought bubble. Shame, really.

I’ve noticed the community tends to call her Nat, but all the Natashas I’ve known in my life (all two of them) go for Tash or Tasha. I’m torn. I’ll tell you what I’m NOT torn on. Her exquisite grilled cheese dress by the exquisite @strangetomato, amirite? 🧀

GO TABS!

Good: Tabby promoted Good: Smart investing Bad: Justin falling out with Lucy, probably because he was the kid the chance card was meant for and she was traumatizing him with talk of blood and boobies. I’m not gonna lose sleep over it, he’s all the way out in Viper Canyon so it wasn’t like they were gonna be besties in childhood. Maybe at college or something.

This family, I swear. They’re like the sim embodiment of Bender’s ‘impression of life at big Bri’s house’ in The Breakfast Club.

That’s if, uh, Bri’s parents constantly make sexually-charged advances toward one another. 

Meanwhile, dat text doe! Brandi Broke Hair Hour is upon us.

Jen: Sweetie I’ve found myself wearing something I wouldn’t choose even if it were the last garment on the planet and I’m scared.

Lucy: It’s okay Mom, if I’ve lost all respect for you it’s primarily because I’m on the precipice of puberty and that’s what’s supposed to happen.

John: The heck is this? I’m the Family sim here. You can’t have it both ways.

John: THAT’S more like it. Hai little bestie!

Lucy: Hai Dad! Why are all these people in our house?

John: Oh, well Brandi Broke was on a walkby so I wanted to paint a picture of what your hair will look like tomorrow so that you’re prepared. And I got one of those annoying messages about whether I’d been abducted by aliens from Darren even though I spoke to him yesterday, so I felt guilty.

Meanwhile, Jennifer stares longingly at her guitar and gets all introspective about this five-minute lack of romance in her life, exacerbated by Brandi heartfarting at Darren. That Family/Knowledge attraction, it never fails. And yet, somehow I can’t see Dustin and Dirk as stepbrothers, but we need to find Brandi someone soon as she needs to up her brood to six for that stupid LTW about marrying off multiple kids. WHAT IF UNBORN BABYBROKE ISN’T THE MARRYING KIND, Brandi, ever think of that?!

(Makes mental note to create drahmz by making Unborn Babybroke a Romance sim who constantly disappoints its mother)

Jen: Oh that DOES it. You lot might be able to sit around waiting for these babies to fall out of me but I have to DO something.

Brandi you utter utter terrible stupid moron you are PENNILESS WHY are you tipping Jen all those simoleons 😱

Lucy meanwhile stares at her father and tries to picture Brandi’s hair on his face in a vain attempt to glimpse into her near future.

And yet... are these two meant to be though? The synchronized terrible dancing and constant thoughts of one another may be a sign. That said, Dina Caliente does that with Darren too and, much as I love Darren and Dina as individuals, the thought of that is so godawfully wrong that I always have to direct sims to speak with each of them separately in an attempt to stop them autonomously eating one another’s faces whenever they always show up in the same GD welcome wagon. #StopDinarren #SaveTheDreamers #ACRYouMonster

Lucy manages to alienate yet another boy from districts afar (like does her schoolbus refuel in Viper Canyon or something?) by saying things about art or theater that offend Gallagher Newson so deeply, he launches a tirade of vitriolic mansplaining at her while she checks her nails, unfazed. Atta girl. 

Brandi: I wish we could all get along like we used to in middle school... I wish I could bake a cake filled with rainbows and smiles and everyone would eat and be happy...

Best not look outside then Bran.

Tabby: Huh? Yeah? You want some o’ this? Come at me bro!

Tabby: Oh you think I can’t take you? Think again assclown, I’m a stunt double now, I eat fear FOR BREAKFAST.

And so the thrill ride begins. Lucy’s face is that unique mixture of anxiety and resignation that plainly says, ‘Well, my reign is at an end. It’s been real, friends.’

I love Tucker II, but the fact that he chooses THIS moment to act out for the first time in his life and start destroying the furniture is far from cool. Clearly he too is worried about upcoming changes in the pack hierarchy.

Stone cold Tabs meanwhile favors staying outside in the rain and having no part in any of this.

Tabby: 🎵 Hello darkness my old friend...

Urgh

IS NOOBOO TIME!

Spoiler alert: this nooboo actually ends up with blue eyes because I quit without saving to roll the pacifier a couple times, which is sad because neither nooboo has black hair now. But we’ll survive. Somehow. I just liked this snap.

When both your dog and your seconds-old nooboo are thinking about Brandi, it’s probably time for her to leave the house. But she won’t, because she’s a Family sim who subscribes to the stereotype of only caring about other people’s children. And pets.

3 days off? Pahaha. I don’t even have any hacks installed to share parental leave (I really should), and Jen was somehow still back at work the next day.

Poor Babygirl Burb (not her permanent name) isn’t getting a great start in life considering everybody’s just yelling about Babyboy Burb and not even acknowledging her. Well, except Jen, who hasn’t yet put her down. See that, Family sims?! That’s how to do it.

Case in point.

Brandi: Congrats!

John: Oh yeah, the nooboos? Great aren’t they. I’m sure I dropped The Boy around here somewhere.

The Boy: And my suffering beginneth...

John: The Boy! Ah, The Boy. There you are. The Boy.

(If you can’t already tell, John will be saying ‘The Boy’ in the same relieved and happy voice as the dad from 8 Simple Rules for the rest of his natural life, primarily because both of his daughters are genetically engineered to make his hair grey.)

Hey Brandi, ever feel like you’re intruding on an intimate family moment?

Brandi: Nup!

Lucy: I just can’t picture it ON me...

Brandi: Kid, what is it with you and my hair?

John: I’VE LOST THE BOY AGAIN

Lucy: Haha, my parents can be so incompetent sometimes.

Lucy: Actually... where are my parents?

Well Lucy, get ready to upscale that judgment of incompetence because...

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. John’s face. John’s face right there. Is the most smackable face I’ve ever seen.

Not only did Jennifer Burb give birth TO TWINS less than five minutes ago...

... but they unceremoniously dumped both twins in the Bouncinators, and they’re now screaming.

To which, their creators remain oblivious. There are some pretty terrible parents out there in the Sims universe BUT THESE TWO ARE HOT ON THEIR HEELS right now.

Hey, while these poor minutes-old creatures are stuck screaming in their Bouncinators while John presumably tries to create more problems for the family with his testicles, why don’t we meet them?

This is not at all named solely to give Alexander Goth a younger wife one day Cecilia! You can’t see them here because they’re squeezed shut in agony and anguish, but her eyes are deep blue, presumably from her grandfather Jeff Pleasant. Perhaps upon looking at her, her uncle Daniel will be overcome with the guilt referenced in his bio and try to send her to Mars.

And here’s Patrick! With his skintone plus the brown eyes and brown hair, he’s probably destined to be a John / Lucy clone, but we shall see. Let’s get one thing straight though (or should I say curly), when these anklebiters transition they are both leaping right into Jennifer Burb tousled waves territory.

Lucy: WHAT DO I DO

Don’t worry Lucy, we’ll pause this one here as it’s already been far too long a round and no doubt everyone involved is tired as hell.

Until next time!

[sushigal007]

Frances J. Worthington III

A single sim living alone, my favourite, sarcastic yay!

Thankfully there’s plenty of walkbys in university, so I grab Mickey Dosser and the cheerleader off the street to keep him company.

Later that evening, Mickey called and invited him Downtown. That didn’t happen with the other two households I played, I’m guessing because this one’s not a dorm or a Greek house, so the game’s treating it like a regular residential lot.

But it’s not without its bugs. Case in point: absolutely NOBODY showed up on the outting, not even Mickey. Waiter: DINNER FOR ONE? Frances: ...yes.

Another change from the previous couple of households is that Frances rolls academic wants straight away, so I make him grab the few skill points he needs before he completes his assignment for a nice, quick aspiration boost.

Next up: term paper.

Streaker: Wanna see something cool!? Frances: Absolutely not.

And once he befriends the professor, he never has to go to class again. Well, this semester, at least.

Which means I can send him out to the student union to socialise and, with the help of my build/buy enabler, pick up his orientation gift.

Monica: Hey there cutie, I’ve got a little orientation gift for you too-

Frances: Um, no thank you.

Monica: I insist. Frances: I’d really rather you didn’t.

Frances: -500 I hate karaoke. Then... why? Frances: She can’t kiss me if I’m singing.

Unfortunately for Frances, he can’t sing forever and once again, he’s forced to reject Monica’s amorous advances.

Happily Jessie is here to protect him from further unwanted sexual harassment. Frances: No, I’m not going to model shoes for you.

Tired? Frances: Being desirable is exhausting.

Seriously, everyone’s after Frances tonight. Coach: Down on the ground! I wanna see sweat dripping off your ripped pecs!

He doesn’t even get any peace at home! (Oh hai name popup, didn’t see you there.) Frances: HELP THERE IS A NAKED LADY IN ME!

Frances: Somebody call a doctor! She broke my arm!

But despite everything, Frances makes the Dean’s list. Go Frances!

Frances: So. Handcuffs, Thoughts? Blossom: I wouldn’t be opposed.

Once again, he immediately rolls a want to write his term paper, so I sent him back out to the student union. This was mostly because I was hoping other playable sims would socialise and skill in the background. Strategic gameplay for the win!

Frances: Done! Are you proud of me? Very. Now go have fun.

And fun was had.

Jasmine: *poses* Unsavoury Charlatan: *lurks* Hmm, good luck with that, they’re all skint college students.

Back home, Frances decided he wanted to throw a party. And the Llama mascot decided he wanted to throw Roxie Sharpe down a set of stairs.

And then this happened.

Yeah, fighting and flu don’t make for the best of times.

But he doesn’t let it affect his schoolwork.

Frances: Got a couple of ideas for the next party.

But first, a nap!

I really didn’t feel like nursing him through flu, so I decided university students were entitled to free healthcare, and summoned an ambulance over to cure him.

That’s better.

Frances: And now I’m just gonna lie in bed all day. If I’d known that was your plan, I wouldn’t have bothered with the ambulance.

OH GOD THAT’S DISGUSTING!

Frances: MY KITCHEN IS FULL OF DEAD ROACHES CRY CRY CRY! I won’t lie, this is an entirely appropriate reaction.

So I don’t blame Frances at all when he hits the bar.

The Llama mascot decided he didn’t like Frances either.

Frances: Alcohol makes my problems go away!

Alcohol does not clean up stinky Chinese food cartons though. You gonna deal with that, Frances? Frances: Haha! No.

Finally-

Oh. OK. You’re... you’re just gonna eat it instead.

Really finally, he gets the hint and starts throwing them away.

Frances: Yeah, it’s been a bit of a busy week, so I just wanted to let you know that even though I haven’t been to class, I’m all up to date with my schoolwork. Professor: That’s all right then. I’m glad we had this purely academic chat. Frances: That’s great! OK, bye now, I’m going to have a nap.

Professor: Bye! Enjoy your nap! And call me if you need any extra tutoring, wink wink nudge nudge!

WOW THAT’S INAPPROPRIATE THAT WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE A REGULAR GOODBYE WHAT THE FUCK!?

Frances: ...I need more alcohol. Yeah, top me up while you’re at it. Frances: And maybe a restraining order.

I would just like to note that it was all Frances’ hard work that got him on the Dean’s list again and nothing to do with Professor Pervert.

And I decided it was high time he threw another party. Jessie: Woo, punch! Monica: Can you keep it down? Some of us are trying to study. Jessie: Some of us clearly forgot this was supposed to be a party.

It turned out to be a bit of a plague party because some of the guests must have caught flu during the last one, oops. Ambulances showed up all night to try and cure the guests, but they just kept reinfecting each other. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you should vaccinate your children!

And then the Llama gatecrashed and beat Frances up.

Booo.

Frances: Apologise first. Then murder.

Monica: Would you like me to kiss it better? Frances: I am honestly too tired to resist any more.

Coach: Boo. Monica: Aaand I’m going now. Sorry Frances, you’re on your own.

At least he gets his own, personal cheerleader to support him. Cheerleader: And work those legs! You’re doing great! Keep it up! I believe in you!

Dormie: GRR. Matthew: Not my problem. Matthew: *God, Sarah’s such a bitch, how dare she get mad at me for kissing her friend ugh I wish I’d kicked that bin first*

Oops.

Frances: Ooooh, snow!

And then! Just as I was thinking nothing interesting was going to happen before the end of term, Jessie came strolling by. Frances greeted her and then they hopped straight into bed.

Frances and Jessie: True love!

Frances: Kiss kiss. Jessie: Teehee!

Then they have one last smooch in the snow...

...Before Frances makes the Dean’s list again.

UBERHOOD INDEX

[dramallamadingdang]

Hi! :) I was wondering if you could do a mod resources list?

Ohhhhh, man… I don’t know that I can. I have more than 1000 mods, and I don’t know where many of them came from since I’ve had some of them for literally a decade. But, since I needed a hair break, I put together this long-but-partial list, with links.

Note: I’m not going to list that things that everyone ought to have to reduce the chance of game/neighborhood corruption. Go here for that. One thing that everyone ought to have, though, is a mod to suppress the expression of the debug Super Hug code. I use Boiling Oil’s No Sim Loaded for this, but there are others you can use. People freak out about this “bug” (which isn’t really a bug at all), but there’s no need to. Put in a suppressing mod and fuhgeddaboutit.

Now, on to the more fun stuff!

Modded Objects That Are Critical/Useful to the Various Ways I Play:

Sim BlenderUseful for fiddling with all sorts of things in-game instead of having to do it in, say, SimPE. Some people prefer the Sim Manipulator, which does a few things the Blender doesn’t, but nothing that I would personally use, so I stick with the Blender.

InsimenatorMost of the functions of this are redundant if you use the Sim Blender and/or they are functions available in debug mode. BUT it can do two things that are important to how I play and that I’ve found nowhere else:

Adjusting a Sim’s age, up or down, by single days (instead of 3-day intervals like the Blender/Manipulator) 

Adjusting household funds by single-simoleon amounts – instead of 100-simoleon increments like with, say, Monique’s computer – which is useful when you can’t use familyfunds for a particular household.

So, I use both the Blender and the “object” version of the Insimenator to fiddle around with things.

Sim TransformerI use this for two things: 

Turning randomly-selected townies into various kinds of supernaturals, when I want townie supernaturals.

In my game supernaturalness is heritable with a decreasing chance of expression as the generations pass (I keep track of each Sim’s “genes” manually as part of my tracking spreadsheet), so I use this to “turn” any applicable Sims when they reach the appropriate age.

Sim Transporter I use this to easily move Sims, permanently or temporarily, between households. It’s useful for stuff like running schools – without school mods – and day cares and when playing playable orphanages, to move adopted kids into their new households.Hacked telescopeIt allows Sims to autonomously choose to be alien-abducted at any time. I like aliens and I can’t lie. In most of my neighborhoods, all Knowledge Sims get a free one of these babies. I use this in conjunction with Boiling Oil’s Alien Experiments (linked below) to add supernaturals to my neighborhoods as well.

Job Stopinator For controlling to what level in their career a Sim can rise, which is governed by various rules in the neighborhoods that I play.

Monique’s computer Mostly for its banking functions and money-transfer functions. I usually use the more-autonomous version that I made, though. It makes the functions that are autonomous on “normal” computers also autonomous on Monique’s. Otherwise, Monique’s is completely non-autonomous.

Visitor Controller Mostly for making community lots with very specific purposes meant for only a certain type of Sim. Like, say, a “queer people only” bar. Or a teens-only hangout. Or a meeting place for a witch coven. Things like that.

My Must-Have Mods:(Meaning “I Won’t Play Without These”)

Autonomous Casual Romance Because I want my Sims, not me, to decide how many babies they’ll have. Also, it’s customizable down the Sim level with its multitude of settings so that I can, for instance, make unapologetically slutty Sims or completely asexual ones who won’t even flirt autonomously. Or I can make philanderers or completely-faithful monogamous Sims. Or I can make ultra-jealous, possessive Sims or ones who are into open/polyamorous relationships. Its “friend zone” thing is also very useful, particularly for teenage step-siblings who might otherwise be attracted to each other or to their step-parent. People seem to think that ACR just makes Sims always-horny – and that’s kind of true with default settings – but you can do SO MUCH with the settings. Hence, why it’s a must-have for me.

The InteenimaterI really couldn’t care much less about teens being able to get pregnant. I have this for:

Automatic “independent teens” in order to shorten the teen lifestage without really shortening it because doing that tends to screw up age-syncing between siblings who do and don’t go to college. 

YA pregnancies/families.

Miscarriage. 

Yeah, you can now do all those things separately with different mods and such, but I prefer to just have Inteen in there because it does it all and then some.

Community Time If I didn’t have this, I’d never use community lots or have Sim-owned community-lot businesses because the “they arrive home at the same time they left” thing is a total dealbreaker for me. I just wish it worked on Uni campuses. *sigh*

Community-Lot Buy Enabler With this, Sims can access their inventory on community lots. So they can, for instance, bring their personal musical instrument to community lots and busk, which is one of the ways that Sims who don’t have a “regular” job can earn money in my neighborhoods. (The mod says it’s updated to Pets, but it works fine in my all-EPs/SPs game.)

Things I Usually Use but Don’t HAVE to Have:(Basically, things I like and use in some neighborhoods but not in others.)

Nudist mod I grew up in a “clothing optional” household and we always vacationed in family-friendly “clothing optional” places – in Europe, not the US, obviously *eye roll* – so casual nekkidness is normal and completely non-sexual to me. Also, in the game, it just amuses me when Sims are inappropriately naked, like when they go off to take finals at Uni. Call me weird or perverted, if you wish.

Real Sickness Because I’m a cruel goddess. Also, it’s population control, which is sometimes necessary with the way I play, and it often makes things less-boring, like if you’re suddenly left with a single parent of 6 kids because one of the parents croaked after catching a cold.

Hat’s Aging Mod/My Tweak of It and the Adjusted ACR Controller that @kidsimblr Made For It. For when I want more relaxed playing with plenty of time for the pixels to do things besides obsessively skilling and making sure they have enough babies to continue the population. :p There are a bunch of “associated” mods I use with this, too – things that make jobs harder, skilling slower, etc., so that you don’t have Sims who’ve maxed all their skills by the time they’re done with childhood. They’re mostly those that Hat lists in her massively-long mod description, so I won’t do a repeat here.

Alien Experiments Aside from too-liberal use of pesticides and playable vampires turning people, this is the only way supernatural states are inflicted upon my long-suffering pixels. And it’s customizable, which is a big plus. This is useful if you want a neighborhood with lots of alien-abduction – via mods or hacked telescopes or whatever – and don’t want every abduction to result in pregnancy but you want abduction to do something.

Community-Lot Skilling So that Sims can skill on community lots. In some of my neighborhoods, they must do this because they’re not allowed to have skilling objects on home lots.

Prisoner TokenIt’s part of Inge’s playable prison system, but it can be used separately. I give one to any Sims – playable or otherwise – that I don’t want to appear on community lots or as walkbys for whatever reason. It’s surprising how often I need to trap Sims in their homes for various reasons…

School Changer and Custom School TypesHomework “Placemat”I use these for homeschooled kids – of which I have a lot because in most of my neighborhoods the game’s regular school isn’t available until the neighborhood reaches a certain population level. I also use the prep school instead of the game’s private school (because I don’t want to bother with the “impress the headmaster” thing) and the boarding school for wealthy families in age-modded neighborhoods where the child+teen lifestage is 56 days long.

Things that make baby/toddler-wrangling more sane, particularly important for the stupidly-large families I like to play:

Toddlers/Babies sleep through the night Cribs have stupidly-high energizing properties. It’s unrealistic. Sure, babies/toddlers always sleeping through the night is also kinda unrealistic…but at least it’s less annoying than toddlers who only sleep for three hours at a stretch!

The one that fixes the Maxis code for toddlers playing in toilets. It’s supposed to be something they only do when in a bad mood, but Maxis FUBARed the code. I also use the Self-Exploding Bottles and the Potty Fixes on the same page.

Less autonomy baby care Because no, pixels, YOU WILL NOT INTERFERE WITH YOUR GODDESS-GIVEN BABY CARE SCHEDULE! DO NOT FEED THAT BABY UNLESS I TELL YOU TO, DAMMIT! The mod I use is Inge’s, on the same page as the “toddlers sleep through the night” one. Also, for various reasons, I prefer Inge’s mod to Pescado’s version, which Inge mentions. Inge’s works just fine in my game.

No Social WorkerBecause it’s ridiculous that kids can be taken away from getting too hot from jumping on beds or too cold from having fun playing in the snow. So, I nuke the social worker entirely. There are several different mods out there, but I use Inge’s, on the same Simlogical page as the others linked to in this section.

Supernatural-related things:

Deadly vampire biting Because I like vampires who can kill people. It’s consistent with the lore and it’s population control. With this mod, bites aren’t automatically fatal, though; it’s an option you choose. This is useful if you want your playable vampire to either kill OR turn people.

Biting fills hunger for vampires Because, seriously, if vampires don’t survive by sucking the life essence from other people and can, instead, metabolize toaster pastries, THEN THEY AREN’T VAMPIRES, FOR GOD’S SAKE! With this mod and the deadly bite one in your game, you can have vampires kill people, turn people, OR just drink from them without either turning or killing them. Options are good!

Werewolves don’t transform every damn night. Geez, the lore is they only do it when the moon is full.

Zombies eat brainz and turn other Sims into zombies.TBH, I don’t often use zombies in my game, so this mod isn’t often in my game, but when I do decide to allow zombies in a neighborhood…Yeah.

No Plantsim hairBecause I tend to have so many Plantsims – they’re my favorite supernatural, and I have Alien Experiments set to give me more Plantsims than other supernaturals – that it’s hard to tell them apart if they’re all running around naked – the better to photosynthesize, my dears – and all have the same stupid leaf-hair. With this, at least they all always have a different hairstyle.

No Stupid Reagents Because who has time for that????

Keyed Doors This is a global mod that adds up to four keys to all (non-apartment and non-hotel-room) doors and gates so that you can (but don’t have to) assign usage of any door to only certain, individual Sims. It’s useful for allowing only certain Sims in certain rooms of lots, like individual rooms of a military barracks or a college dorm when you’re not using the Myne doors for some reason. Or for keeping visiting Sims out of certain rooms of a house. It’s also useful for playing townhouses or boarding houses and such if you don’t want to make them into apartments or don’t have AL (Hi, Mac users! :) ) so you can’t do so.

Miscellaneous Things What I Like:

Pets sleep on beds with childrenIt’s just entirely too cute, dammit! I just wish it worked with teens/adults, too.Toddlers/Puppies/Kittens can use stairsBecause otherwise it’s a pain in the ass to have to carry them everywhere and/or build all one-story houses with no foundation. :P

No Plumbbobs Removes the plumbbobs in neighborhood view and the ones that hang over Sims’ heads. Call me sacrilegious, but I haaaaaate those things. The link is to a reupload I did because I couldn’t find Ja’s original upload for the life of me.)

Homework SometimesBecause I don’t want kids/teens saddled with homework every damn day. Hell, I disagree with the entire concept of homework for school-age kids in real life – It’s one of the reasons I homeschooled my kids – so why on Earth would I want so much of it in my game? :P

No Apartment NoiseYeah, it’s probably unrealistic not to be woken up by your neighbors when you live in a cheap apartment with paper-thin walls…but I got tired of it in my game.

No 20K Handouts(Because who gets $20K just for moving out of your parents’ basement?)No Bathroom Dishes (Because who washes dishes in bathroom sinks when there’s one much better suited to the task in the kitchen?)

Both of the above are Pescado’s. Go here, pick your latest EP, then find these on the list.

Townie Body Diversity So that townies/dormies/NPCs spawn as fat or fit or “normal,” not just “normal.”

Perfect Plants So that you don’t have to water flower squares or trim shrubbery. Sure, it’s unrealistic, but who has time to do that? It’s also unrealistic for everyone to be able to hire a gardener. I don’t use the one that makes produce gardens perfect, though, because I like my Sims to have to maintain those.

Tweaks I Like for My Own Playstyle:

Most of these are very specific to me, so I’m not going to give a bunch of links, but if anyone wants more specifics/links, feel free to yell at me.

I am mostly a wants-based/free-will type of player because I’d rather my Sims decide to do things for themselves, when they don’t have any wants I can actively fill, than tell them what to do. So, I have lots of mods that alter autonomy in-game, either to make things autonomous that aren’t or to modify existing autonomy levels or to make non-autonomous some behaviors that I want to disallow (like autonomously and obsessively smelling every flower square on the lot) in favor of pixels doing other, more interesting/productive things. Some of them I made, others I downloaded.

Lots of Cyjon’s mods. They’re mostly annoyance tweaks or fixes for things that Maxis screwed up and that I want fixed. IMO, everyone ought to go “mod-shopping” at his site. There’re lots of mods there that are very useful for tweaking your game “just so.”

A number of mods that change what skill or hobby enthusiasm an item affects. For instance, this one changes karaoke from a Creativity activity to a Charisma one. (There are tons of things Sims can do to increase creativity, precious few they can do to increase charisma…and most of those things are utterly boring to watch and/or for the Sim to do. Karaoke is fun for the Sim and for me. :) )

[dramallamadingdang]

Buncha replies...

Because I’ve been neglectful. For @aquilasims, @littleblondesim, @celebkiriedhel, @wesleesims, @kayleigh-83, @olivesplum06, @holleyberry, @twofingerswhiskey, @penig, @taylors-simblr, and @fuzzyspork...

aquilasims replied to your photoset “Yup, subway tile…or some of the colors could also pass for brick. :)...”

darn. i would love to use this in my game but i have a mac :(

Yeah, sorry about that. :( I was going to make a Mac-friendly version, too, but when I sized down the image to accommodate the stretching that happens when a 256x512 texture is used, it kinda messed up the tiling between the 256x256 “blocks” that I initially drew ( so that I could make floors, too, eventually). The tiling between the “blocks” was skewed by like half a pixel (which was really noticeable because the “grout” between the tiles is only two pixels wide) and I didn’t feel like redrawing the whole thing. But now that I think about it, it might look OK if the 256x768 textures in the wall files were sized down to 256x512 which would “flatten” the individual tiles somewhat. Then perhaps the stretching that the game does would re-stretch them to about the right dimensions and not screw up the tiling. I’ll have to experiment a bit, see how it looks...

littleblondesim replied to your photo “And Simon became a Real Grown-up™. He let his hair down and sprouted a...”

Time to be a big boy and get a big double bed!

Well, unfortunately for him the firehouse he lives in now only has single beds, too. :) But it does have couches so, since he lives there alone at the moment, he could bring home some “company”... Or, knowing this neighborhood, company will just barge right in. :) I still don’t know what’s up with that...

celebkiriedhel replied to your photoset “Matching recolors of the cheap counters, stove, and refrigerator, in...”

I can do that - do you want a cabinet with or without doors?

With doors, I think. But then again, without might be good, too; I could see it as a good place to store “cookbooks” and those wouldn’t necessarily have to be behind doors. So, if you’re feeling ambitious, both? :) Or just with doors. Whatever you feel like, really. :) And thank you! You’re awesome. :)

wesleesims replied to your photoset “Pet stuff! Suzy grew up into a basenji. (I love basenjis. They’re one...”

very cute, but not a basenji (; i'd guess a shiba inu? they do have basenjis in the game, too. and yeah, feisty is the right word for basenjis, but despite being difficult at times, they are still one of the best dogs out there! but i may be a bit biased since we have two of them at home ;D

Yeah, you’re probably right. The head’s a bit too bulky for a basenji. I just saw small and curled tail. :) But yeah, they’re awesome dogs. I love their yodel. :) And their wrinkled foreheads. And their feistiness. And their lack of stink. I’m definitely getting at least one when some of my current pack pass away. (8 dogs is enough, when they’re all together, especially because they’re all large!)

kayleigh-83 replied to your photoset “It’s winter! Time to take care of the autumn leaves because I don’t...”

oops trigger happy on the enter key.... try that again... every time I've tried to burn the leaves my Sims have ended up setting themselves or something else on fire, so I gave up on it! LOL I do like getting witches to zap them though!

I’ve only ever had that happen once. I think the key is not to have anything around when you light up the pile. :) Kind of like how fireplaces will light stuff that’s within a tile away unless you’ve modded that out, like I have. (Maybe that prevents leaf-pile fires, too, now that I think about it; it probably uses the same coding.) But then, I think fires are kind of fun sometimes. (In the game, that is! Not in real life! *laugh* )

olivesplum06 replied to your post “I’m bummed. :(”

Have you downloaded felicity island for TS2? It's a copy of the CS island, that along with all the build, buy & CAS stuff it's pretty close to CS!

I haven’t, no. Mostly because I don’t want to play castaway scenarios in TS2. I actually prefer Castaway Stories for that. I like its “careers” and its way-more-logical routing. (Like, Sims can actually talk to each other when standing on a slope; the lack of that in TS2 drives me NUTS! And I imagine that it would be a real problem with that TS2 version of Felicity Island, since that map is ALL slopes.) And I definitely prefer the way CS handles “walkbys.” (No “greeting” needed; they just make themselves at home, gives it a genuine communal tribal feel.) And its want trees are more appropriate for castaway scenarios, of course. And I especially like its things like spearfishing and its swimmable on-lot water (without having to screw around a lot to make on-lot water swimmable, like you have to do in TS2) that also increases hygiene.  

So...Yeah, I definitely wanna play it in Castaway, not TS2. The only downside is, yeah, having to play the stupid story again. But, I can do that in one session, since I just do exactly what I have to do to get to the next “chapter,” without screwing around and with playing on higher speeds whenever I can, because I don’t care about the story at all. I just want to unlock all the stuff. :)

holleyberry replied to your post “I’m bummed. :(”

Oh No! Well, at least you'll have fun setting it all back up.

Yeah. :) And I’m thinking I might see about the possibility of making a completely empty template for the freeplay island, so that there won’t be any “townie” natives or premades. Like the empty Pleasantview template you use when you don’t want the “standard” townies. My biggest disappointment with the first stab at this scenario was that, while I could use the Visitor Controller to prevent the “natives” from waltzing onto my castaway lots, I could only set it in a way that prevented ALL non-household Sims from “walking by” because Castaway doesn’t seem to internally distinguish between townies and playables. That sort of killed the “tribal” atmosphere I wanted. So, I’m thinking that if I can make it so that there are no “townie” natives and premades from the get-go, that would be better than using the Visitor Controller. So...Yeah, it was probably for the best because I was kind of thinking about starting over to address this issue anyway...

twofingerswhiskey replied to your photo “More devastation for poor Simon. At least Sharon was still hanging...”

sleep when you're dead? ;)

Something like that. :) I still haven’t quite figured out the logic behind ghosts being pissy if their bed isn’t there. I mean, why on Earth would they care??!

kayleigh-83 replied to your post “I are sad. My brother and his husband went back home to hell Indiana...”

I sometimes attempt to catch up when I've been behind and I have to say I sure wish mobile was set up like the desktop site, where it will show you on your list of followed blogs when the last time they updated was. Then you can just only click into ones that have been updated since the last time you were on! Sometimes I just wanna lay in bed or on the couch and catch up on the ipad, but it doesn't show you that info! Fix it Tumblr, fix it!

HAH! Well, you’re better off than me. The Tumblr app for Kindle (my only mobile device) hasn’t been updated in, like, four years. The dashboard on it doesn’t work anymore, and it doesn’t even have messaging. And all looking up your followers does is bring up an alphabetical list of them. The only thing I can really do in the app for Kindle is see notes and look at my own posts/queue. And I can make posts, but I don’t often do that because I hate virtual keyboards. I’m pretty sure the apps aren’t actually made by Tumblr, though, but are made by third parties. So I’m afraid that for this, it’s not Tumblr we need to be yelling at but the folks who make the apps. 

But yeah, because of this I only “do Tumblr” when sitting at my desktop, which definitely cuts down on opportunity. Otherwise, I could do it when, like, sitting in waiting rooms at doctors’ offices....

kayleigh-83 replied to your photoset “Jupiter became a grown-up dog and…uh…well… I swear, my game habitually...”

Hahaha my dogs are the same, my game seems to give me a lot of sorry looking mutts. Lol

What I don’t get is that the small dogs in my game seem to be OK, but the big dogs are just...what? I mean, why would only one dog size be weird? Why not both?

taylors-simblr replied to your photoset “Because you can’t have awesome 50s kitchens like this…...”

I'm pretty sure our new kitchen has that gold lino ha ha

Heh. Well, it WAS a very popular color in the 60s/70s. “Harvest Gold” and “Avocado” were The Shit, at the time. :) Probably not so much in the late-40s-through-early-60s that I’m targeting, but...Well, not having a dark yellow would’ve thrown off my spectrum, man. ;)

penig replied to your post “I are sad. My brother and his husband went back home to hell Indiana...”

It's supposed to be fun, not an obligation. You can always use the archives to catch up on situations involving continuity, at your leisure, and if you miss stuff - so do we all.

I know, I know...I just feel bad because I like to give notes and especially replies and stuff. Tumblr is just so...non-validating, you know? Like, made for the short-attention-span generation. I suppose clicking the little heart shows “enough” appreciation, but it seems like very little, and not doing that at all just feels like shirking. But yeah, I know that’s all on me. I just wish there was more time in a day, is all. :)

taylors-simblr replied to your post “I are sad. My brother and his husband went back home to hell Indiana...”

Same with me except I need to catch up on over a years worth of stuff, tumblr just moved too quick. If you're not on it daily it's hopeless to try and see everything

Yeah, it does move fast. Made for short attention spans, like I said. :) I actually wouldn’t feel bad about it if I was gone for a long period of time, though, like “maternity leave.” I mean, no one could be expected to catch up with a year or more of posts. :) But I just tend to have a few days or a week here and there where I just don’t have the time (or, sometimes, the will) to really keep up like I’d generally like. And sometimes I just scroll through looking to see if the stories I keep up with have updated and don’t even leave any “likes” otherwise. That really makes me feel bad, but sometimes all I have time for is a quick scroll-through looking for certain user names. :( Bad iCad! No biscuit! :)

fuzzyspork replied to your photoset “Sandy made a lot of devastated noises, but… I’m kinda not buying it....”

The sims lack of a mourning period is sometimes annoying. :P Maybe she needs to fill that giant hole left behind in her heart when Goops passed and she thinks there's only one way to do that?

Maybe. Although it’s not like she really had time to fall in love with anyone else, anyway, given that she died like two days after Goopy did. :) Of course, she didn’t “know” that was going to happen. :)

But yeah, mourning in the game is weird. Especially because it’s limited to only the Sims who were in the same household as the deceased. When Goopy and Sandy croaked, the only kid left in the house was Simon. The other two kids didn’t do any mourning, of course. Toddlers get that fear of relatives dying, so they’ll sometimes take a mood hit, but only sometimes and if they, say, learn to walk, that’ll instantly get rid of that bad mood. And even Simon wouldn’t have been in his birth household if I played him how I usually do, kicking kids out when they reach “Inteen 18,” either to college or out on their own. He was only there because he was “destined” for the firefighter career, which only has an adult track, so it didn’t make much sense to kick him out until he was an actual adult rather than an Inteen one.

Anyway, yeah, this is one thing I’d change about the game, if I could. One should mourn one’s parent’s death (assuming that you have a good relationship with them), even if you no longer live with that parent. It’s just weird, otherwise.