I've already said it once - Melani's a Super Sim! And here's more proof!

See... SUPER SIM!! =p

Although I wasn't really playing them last night (clearing out emails), I was paying attention to the aftermath that was Adrian's decision to end the marriage. My heart went out to Emily who, at random intervals, burst into tears. Then there was the tears and kicked puppy expression that came every time she passed Adrian, which might be the reason split couples don't stay living under the same roof - too much pain. That all tugged at the heart strings a bit.

I was watching Adrian who didn't even seem to care. As a female who's been dumped before from my fair share of heartless men, this kinda bugged me. I find it amusing just how 'real' my Sims can seem. I mean, it is a life simulation game, so it's not surprising I guess, but they've done such a good job with certain aspects, I have to find myself reigning in the man hating vengeance or I might just buy a pool to drown them in.

Adrian actually reminded me of someone with how he was acting, so that probably didn't help. And just when I thought he was a heartless robot, he showed me a sign that perhaps he might be hurting just a little bit too. When everyone else had gone to sleep, he came into Emily's room to check on Susie, and this is what I saw:

Earlier this week I posted about Adrian's wish to Oh noes! Break up?! The hard part for me was the decision to follow my Sims wishes and break up, or to follow my own wishes and keep them together. In the end, I decided to ...

I was reading a thread over on the Sims3.com forums the other day, where members were commenting on toddlers and if they are or are not too easy. The post was kicked off by a member, who played with the 90 day life span and found that within 3 days, their toddlers were potty trained, talking and walking. I WISH real life could be so easy!

Apparently in Sims 2 it was never so easy. I say apparently because I never played the Sims 2 long enough to find out. Where as now, as I have mentioned a couple of times already, I'm find myself completely and utterly hooked with #3, and I put that all down to gameplay. Easier gameplay? I wouldn't say that. Less frustrating would be a good description. Not making me want to use my keyboard to break my monitor would be another.

I personally liked DarkAmaranth1966's reply the best...

I play epic as well but don't force age my sims. Toddlers can learn form the toys and, when they are older can start as high as level 3 on skills because of it. Having them learn all they can also seems to make it easier for them to get good grades and, makes for well behaved children.

Let them play, read to them, take them on outings. Geeze, our own toddlers are toddlers well beyond potty training and all, let sims live thier lives for crying out loud.

With a Dr's salary, Melani's been able to hire a housekeeper every now and then. Yay! However, I refuse to pay $125 every day when there's just not enough cleaning to justify it. Payment should be based on cleaning done, not just a daily flat fee. But, that's how Sims work apparently, which is fine, I just don't have to play by their rules.

Instead, I tend to let my house get a bit unkempt, and then hire a cleaner for a single day, let them do their thing, and then cancel the service. Once a week tends to be enough. That let's them pick up all the rotting newspapers and do things like scrub the benches. Beds I don't really care if they're made, although it would be nice to see them change the sheets once in a while. /shudder

My shower is self cleaning after my handiness ability to upgrade it came into play - it was the first thing I did, and boy do I wish I could transfer that skill into real life! My oven also got the same upgrade because really, who wants to clean that appliance after a couple of days of toasted cheese sandwiches and goopy carbonara?

Outside of that though, there's not a lot that needs to be cleaned. The maids don't vacuum the carpets, nor do they mop the floors. And I know the ability to mop the floors is there from all the times my pre-upgraded shower busted, or my toilet leaked (ew!). I don't see them scrubbing the sink, washing the windows, dusting, washing clothes (given I never change, that one doesn't surprise me) or doing the multitude of other tasks we do in real life.

So what do they clean in order to sleep at night taking $125 of my hard earned simoleons? This...

Notice the bored look in her eyes? That's her thinking "god is this day over already? This house has nothing to do, why am I hear? Life is so pointless right now..." No seriously, you don't get all that from her facial expression?

This is what I'm paying $125 a day for them to do? Clean their... teeth? And I don't know many maids that travel with their toothbrush... so whooo's toothbrush might she be using there?!

Maids. Useless unless you're playing a male sim...

This is the moodlet you get when you electrocute yourself! Fun huh? Melani copped it tonight when her laptop broke and, thinking she had enough skill to fix it, found out she didn't. Unfortunately, I don't always like to give up immediately and tested it a further 3 times.














Part of the reason for testing it the extra times was to get a good screenshot to show you all hehe. See, it all happens fairly quickly, which meant I needed to be even faster on hitting the 'c' button for a screenshot. Thankfully she didn't die, and I figured after 3 good shocks, I wasn't going to test the limits any longer. I also decided that she wasn't going to be able to fix it herself, and called in a professional.

She did lose all her clothes and sport a new hairstyle for a while, but after a shower and a change to calm down, she was as good as new. I found it interesting that while showing as a slightly more crispy sim, the blur pixels weren't showing...

Last picture provided just to prove she's all ok :)

A week ago I wrote a post that You need to be able to designate beds... because my Sims were sleeping all over the place. Well I found out, beds to get designated sort of.

As I posted, Melani's Grandma moved in the other day, and with her brought some money. That, coupled with Melani's new career as a Dr, the family funds have been doing ok. I decided to use some of that to purchase a better bed for Melani as she's not getting as much time to sleep so needs to use that time as best as possible.

Grandma was a bit tired while Melani was at work and I thought I might let her sleep in the new bed to get a bit of rest. That's when I noticed the options...

Notice the bottom one? Sleep in Melani's bed? Looks like the game does recognise whose bed is whose after a while. I'm not sure if it's because grandma moved in later, or it happens when Sims sleep in the same bed regularly enough.

Either way... cool!

Eating specific prepared meals no longer has an impact on an unborn baby's gender.

Melani is a master tinkerer. That is, she's raised her handiness skill up to level 7 now. Yet another mark against the 'super sim' theory I have. Anyway, tonight she got sent a shower from another townie, as apparently, she is the only Sim in town that can upgrade. Sweet.

The upgrade went smoothly, however getting the shower back to it's original owner proved confusing. To save anyone else the frustration of figuring it out, I documented it for you. So professional aren't I?

1. Return the now upgraded shower to your Family Inventory
2. Open up your map viewer and look for the icon indicating the showers owner - they can be anywhere
3. Track them down, or catch them at home, and you will have the interaction option to return the shower.

I've always tried to let my Sims tell me as much of the story as I do dictate it. Yes it's just a game, but they live game versions of real lives, so they seem a lot more real to me. Because of this, I let their wishes tell me what they want, and generally, try to fulfill as many as possible. But, what do you do when a Sims wish conflicts with the basic story plan you had in mind?

I had The Waters Family (nut jobs that I let run free reign mostly) loaded tonight while I did a little bit of work. I logged in to Adrian (father), Emily (mother) and newest addition (baby Susie) coming home from the Hospital. After they got home, I purchased a second crib, made sure they all ate something and everyone promptly fell fast asleep.

All happy families...

The very next morning however, things changed. Somewhere between purchasing the new bed (I got sick of the bad nights sleep moodlet) and sending Adrian out to do some gardening, this wish popped up:

I can't get over just how much I'm enjoying The Sims 3. And not just the building and creating, which ironcally, I've actually done less than, and tend to skip right over it which is a complete opposite of previous Sims games. But the actual playing of the Sims I am enjoying, and really, for the first time. Ever!

I originally got into the Sims a little backwards - I played The Sims Online before I played the normal Sims games. I've always been an online game fan. Hubby introduced me to it back in the days of EQ, and during one of my breaks from it, I found TSO. After enjoying that, but wanting to move on, I gave the offline version a go.

I never played for long though. A week or two of building houses, seeing just how many motherloads you could do before the game broke, and building the best first portions of a house you could find. See, I would start off the with a grand design and a story plot to match. I would motherload myself into oblivious using the background story that:

• they'd won the lottery and decided to move to a new town at the same time
• the single female sim had just divorced her horrible husband and taken all the cash
• they had some big settlement...
• they found a bag of cash...
• it was inheritance from a family member...
• etc, etc, etc.

So, less than a week after joining the medical career path, with no actual medical training, Melani got a promotion. She is now a Trauma Surgeon, which is level 6. I can't help at laugh that it took less than a week to make the same level as her last job, especially given the no experience and no training side of it. Still, the wage is nice ($113 an hour) and I gotta love her new uniform...

Melani's a super sim. Seriously. She rose through the Police ranks to make career level 6, all while popping out two kids to a dead beat loser. She managed to safe enough money to move out of the caravan and into a proper 2 bedroom (now 3 bedroom) house. Then she was poached due to her leet skills into the medical career line. Now, her cooking skills are getting noted!!

Is there anything she can not do?

For those who saw my Twitter question - Bloatyheaditis or Catoongastitis, here is the reason for it:

On her FIRST day at work, she was presented with that interesting dilemma. What you would chose? For those that chose Bloatyheaditis, congratulations! You're patient is cured. For those who thought they were being a bit silly and suffering from nothing more than Catoongastitis, well, the family is over that way and you can go explain their recent loss.

:)

How cool is this?! You can get poached in the Sims!

That's so cool in my opinion. And actually caused me to get pretty stuck on the choice. On one hand, the Medical Career is kinda cool, yet on the other, Melani's wish was to join the Police Force. When I think about having 5 kids, and the expenses that brings, being a Dr could really come in handy, yet, is it believable that a single mum, who's never even looked at Medicine (or so I thought) could be a Resident?

I even had to bounce this choice onto hubby as I couldn't decide. I wanted to take the Medical career, but was really stuck on the whole "is it really believable". Then I mentally slapped myself, remembered it's just a game and given how many other things aren't quite like real life, accepted the job change. Money also played a big part in the choice heh.

I did have a mini panic attack because when you do this, you quit your current job, walk outside, have a little cry and then... nothing. For a few scary minutes nothing but unemployed showed in my career tab. Eek! Thankfully, it was just taking those few scary minutes to update and showed the new career path starting Monday. At least I quit on a Friday I guess... =p

Melani was very excited by this change she could barely contain herself - she sat on a bark bench and started reading a book. Oi! I mean, c'mon, that's a HUGE life change, and you're going to READ?! I don't think so.

Unfortunately, Melani also shares my memory loss condition and after I kicked her butt off the park bench and stomped on her book, she called... Hal.
























You can see what's happening right? The congratulatory hug, the longing "I've missed you" look and Melani falling for Hal's tricks all over again. When will this girl learn?

I find it amusing how easily it is to rise through the career ranks - especially for a single mum who's probably had just as much time off work being pregnant as she has days actually working. Unless I'm playing a particular career choice (like I want to make a Master Chef sim), I always go for the career path that the Sims wish for. I like my Sims to tell me a story and have their own lives just as much as I make them do stuff. Melani's wish was to join the Police force, which I accepted.

Of course, I never had any plans for her to be a single mother - I had every intention of seeing her marry a lovely guy before having kids. But, real life doesn't always (if ever?) turn out the way you plan, so my Sim's lives aren't any different. I like that things don't go according to plan, and that I let them dictate their lives as much as me. I've said it before on here (I'm dating...myself?) that I believe Sims have hidden personality traits and mesh better with some Sims than others, so I try to pay attention to the wishes involving other Sims as my Sims know who they want to be friends with and who they don't.

Of course, because of that, Melani's ended up with two kids to the lying sack of wasted space Hal! But, that's life, right?

So, anyway, when I accepted the Police career path, my thoughts were how cool it would be to have a Cop mum out doing the 'hard' job while hubby stayed home and looked after the kids. After all, Melani's life time wish is to have 5 children and see them make at least their teenage years. It doesn't say anything about being the actual 'raiser' of said children, she can take the cool job. And really, with 5 kids, someone is going to have to be able to keep them all in line, what better person that a female cop? I've heard from many a people that the female cops are the worst.

I rose through the ranks of the Police force fairly quickly, surprisingly so given my time at home with big fat bellies and screaming newborns. I was even more surprised to see on my first day back at work after having Ricky, I got a promotion!

Now I get that your work performance meter doesn't drop for maternity leave, but really, a promotion on my FIRST day back at work? Still, I can't complain I guess, I do have shorter hours, for more money, and the bonus of a laptop. Sweet!

Later that same week back at work, I had a "first" happen. I got my first career path choice...

I knew it had to happen (making the choice) eventually, as I've seen wishes relating to them. In fact, I think Melani had one of said wishes.... hrm, I'll have to check that. I decided to take the Forensic Analyst line, it just sounds cooler.

After playing the nutso Waters family, I realised one thing... well, a few things, but one thing in particular - having an Elder around comes in very handy! With Melani being a single mum, and no plans for changing that any time soon, it can be hard work with two kids - especially a baby and a toddler. And let's face it, the babysitters may be slightly better than TS2 nannies, but not by any long shot.

So, I decided that Melani's grandma would come and move in. I can have a live in babysitter for one, someone to help with the housework for another, and, since she is creative, I plan on raising her painting to help contribute to the family funds.

Which by the way, reminds me - how annoying is that Elders can have absolutely NO skills?! How in the hell did they survive this long with no skills? I seriously think we should get a certain amount of skill points depending on the age of the Sim we make. Say, 5 points for every age bracket? Ignoring toddlers, that gives us teens, young and normal adult and then elder. So I should have 20 skill points to spend. That's not hugely unlikely given the life span of our Sims.

Things like that make me wonder did EA just choose not to do it? Or did they not think of it? So many obvious stuff to me is not in game it's frustrating.

Anyway, back to Melani. Her grandma (Audrey) has come to stay. And with her, brought some extra $$$$ into the house - yipee!! First thing I had to do was tack on a room for her, nothing special:

Of course, the majority of the money went into the new kitchen. I didn't actually plan it that way, initially only going to replace the fridge, it kinda grew from there. I do like it though...


Of course, by the time I was finished the remodelling, it was time for bed. So I'll have to wait until tonight to see how grandma works out...

I have another website (World of Warcraft related) that I am doing a little spring cleaning on. There's lots of very, very old posts out there that don't really have much to do with the forum and were only stored there because I didn't know where else to put them. Since having officially retired from WoW as of last week, it's high time I did some clearing out.

There's lots of old guild related posts - my farewell posts from leaving a few guilds, poignant PM's to guild leaders and other drama filled, misspelled, poorly written due to anger type stuff. Great reading down memory lane.

I discovered 6 or so Sims 2 related posts in amongst there as well. I remember doing a few downloads, which, if my memory serves me correctly, I made available on Mod The Sims.

I also made a few buildings available, one of which was Union St Apartments. This was for the University expansion, and while everyone was making big blocks of housing, I decided to do something a little different and make individual town houses that uni students could live in. It was a big hit as it was the first of it's kind (*toots horn*) and I must say, I was very proud of myself.

Oh yes, and this was also my phase when I figured out how to do funky borders on my images.

I simply can't delete the old post and not keep some memory of it. So, I bring you... my old post, Union St Apartments!!

**********

A little space to call your own but with all the social comforts of shared accommodation.

This idea actually came from when I was playing The Sims Online - I wanted to offer people a place to call their own, but not want the hassle of keeping the lot open. I figured that Uni student's might want the same thing, their own space but with the comfort and social aspects of communal living. This dorm consists of six (6) individual apartments, with each apartment consisting off a kitchenette and a small living area downstairs, an ensuit and bedroom area upstairs. (See pictures below for further detail...)

Lot Details:

- This is a 5 x 5 lot, so it is large.
- Requires University Expansion Pack (obviously)
- When you first load the lot, you will need to lay the road over the footpath, when I package the lot up, the game removes them. (use the moveobjects) For that, you will need the Guttering path made by myself : http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=85531
- You will also need the Tree Log Stepping Stones for the path's leading to each apartment : http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=86115
- When other student's come and claim their apartments, you will loose the visual of each apartment's furniture. This makes it look like they're all empty except yours, but personally it didn't bother me - more just an FYI.

On to the Pictures:

Lets start with the entrance :

Although you can't drive down the road, it does give the illusion that these are all separate on their own blocks. The communal building is on your right, with the apartments down the left and along the back.

Moving on, we take a look at the apartments. I decided to make each apartment identical to make it easier to pick on, just depends on where you want to live on the block I guess. Each apartment has a small front yard consisting of a front fence, garden with lighting and the path. The apartments down the back also have a single drive way each, so if you want to own a car, I suggest those:

When you come inside the front door, you are in the main living area. Here you have been provided with a couch, basic TV and some side tables. There are times when you don't always want to be around other people, and if you are a Knowledge or Creative Sim, sometimes it's nice to close yourself up. There is quiet a bit of room left for those wanting to add any more furniture, and of course, as with real life apartments, the walls are bare for your decorating pleasure.

Also on the bottom floor, each Sim is provided with a Kitchenette. Sometimes it's a bit much to go all the way to the communal building to just grab a sandwich, so here you can quickly whip something up and get back to studying. On the back wall near the tables there is a sliding door which leads into your own little backyard. Will come in handy if you want to paint outside, stargaze or have some happy bubbles - beware though, with only picket fences, other Sims can see...

Moving upstairs, each Sim has a large bedroom which is already outfitted with a comfy queen size bed, two bedside tables and an ensuit. I don't know about you, but I find communal showering to be a little bit funky sometimes, especially if it's been a while since I hit the Gym. Here you will find all the privacy you need with your own shower, toilet and wash basin.

So now you know what your next apartment looks like, let's head on over to the communal building to see what it can offer.

Right off the bat when you entire, you will probably find most people hovering around the Pool Tables, of which there are two. Near the pool tables are comfy lips (couches) to sit on, and some dart boards.

Hungry Sims will probably also notice the kitchen! I used the Shinytime Cooktop which I am *pretty sure* is the one that brings the cafeteria lady. If not, well there's always the sprinklers just in case =p

Moving upstairs, you enter the old fashioned study hall. With it's wooden floor, wood paneled walls, wooden desks, bookshelves and chess tables, it wouldn't be complete without the dark green seating.

Modernising the study hall though is the massive wall mounted LCD TV which houses the latest movies every Friday and Saturday night.

If you've built up a sweat writing that final exam, or are too engrossed in the movie marathon to head home and 'tinkle', make use of the communal toilets - male and female separate, we're not that cozy.

So there you go, what are you waiting for? Time to grab your own little piece of paradise, your first step into owning your own house, your... Apartment!

Oh yeah, the mandatory layout pictures:

Bottom floor of communal building -

And... the top floor -

Bottom floor of the apartments, showing the lounge area and kitchenette -

And.. the top floor, showing the bedroom and ensuit -

The Fine Print :
- Please do not upload this lot to any other sites - especially pay sites and the exchange.
- If this inspires you to create similar (and most likely better) apartments, please link this one?

Thankyou all for taking the time to view this! Feedback and comments always welcome!

So, I created The Waters Family (the insane asylum) because I have been very, very busy working on a project. Because I have been working so hard - and I'm happy to say almost done working on it - I've not really been having a chance to play with my Sims. So I had the idea to create a family that I wasn't going to touch in any way and let them play out in the background to entertain me. Sort of like a screen saver to stare at when your brain needs a break.

But... they were BORING! So bloody boring. Yes they can look after themselves to a certain extent - grandpa really did push the boundaries of hygiene however - but other than that, they never did anything. They stuck around the house and did nothing. So I was forced to start nudging them along... with my foot. Autonomy is great when you need to pee in real life, you're Sims won't die. But outside of that, they don't do anything on their own, they have no story to tell you.

Problem is, I am approaching the end of my project, I'm almost at the finish line. And because I've had to intervene with The Waters, I've grown somewhat attached. I had never planned to really keep this family, and had certainly no plans to continue playing them after my busy period was over. But... I kinda like them. The insane ways of eating out of the garbage bin and talking to the fridge have won me over.

And now... there's kids involved. Everything's harder when theirs kids involved!

Arg, I don't know what to do. I have too many families and so not enough time. Although Max has some proving to do because the life of a Rockstar might be glamorous for him, but it's not really ringing my bells at the moment. He's more a Saturday night Sim - for when I want to party and see how many female Sims I can bed down. =p

So what do I do? Do I keep the Waters and slot them into my playing time somehow? Or do I bite the bullet and kill them all off? I can't just stop playing them and leave them there... I need to embrace or cut all ties.

Am I the only one with FIVE active families out there?! Maybe it's me that's insane...

Time for round 2! And this time, it's a girl!!


I'm really struggling with just how boring the family is when they are left to their own devices, and one child is clearly too easy when you have an elder member home all day alongside Emily who's got time off work. Because I have life span set to epic (900 and something days), the babies are staying babies for a looooong time, so I'm considering bumping Thomas up to a toddler with the new arrival, but haven't decided yet.

I did remember to read pregnancy books however, so got to choose one trait. Next time though, I don't think I will. I like having no real control over the traits of my children. Especially in a family where every member is what ever the game decided randomly with no changes made - which is why Adrian's PJ's look like a Tux...?

I decided though, in keeping with the 'nutso' family tradition, that no child where I have an influence will remain normal. I've been given athleticism? No problem. But let's make it interesting shall we?


That's right, let's take a highly athletic sim and make them hate the outdoors! That'll be fun.