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  • DizziestSimsDizziestSims Posts: 788 Member
    Hi All!

    I've moving my daily posts to this one discussion thread.
    So please bookmark it and leave comments.

    I also streamlined the website so that it's easier to navigate the storyline.
    You can check it all out at RobinsonFamTS4.com.

    Thanks for reading my stories and continue to enjoy!

    The Duke of Willow Creek

    The-Duke-Album-Cover-11-16-14-1-Robinson-Family-The-Sims-4-copy-480x360.png


    LeSean just released his sophomore album today.
    Titled it The Duke of Willow Creek.
    It's all jazz guitar standards with a blues or two thrown in there.

    Click here to listen to or download it for free!
    From the creator of Robinson Family, Dizziest Sims is a reboot of the storytelling series with all new family and friends! dizziestsims.com #DizziestSims
  • BilmonaghanBilmonaghan Posts: 1,552 Member
    edited November 2014
    ...if you don't know anything about tab mode...
    @Akrama: I think I've been looking for that all month! That's the camera control mode that let's you get good low-angle shots and stuff? I've been wondering if that functionality was back! Yer a gawd-send (I think. I haven't check yet)! Thanks!

    Post edited by Bilmonaghan on
    Le Dynastie d’Angers: 83 – WWAD?
    Annette Thayer butts heads with the late Eric Lewis on her first day as steward.
    ldd083banner.png
  • KingCobblerKingCobbler Posts: 176 Member
    Story Title: The Washington Legacy
    Author Name: KingCobbler
    Story URL: simschallenges.com/washington-legacy-sims-4-legacy/
    Brief Description: The life, times, and intermittent hilarity of the Washington family.
    Story Avatar: simschallenges.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/09-10-14_10-10-PM.png

    Is this right? And . . . Can I join? I love discussions like this! :D
  • hirondelle09hirondelle09 Posts: 175 Member
    edited November 2014
    Story Title: The Tanzanite Legacy- A Disney Princess Legacy Challenge
    Author Name: Hirondelle09
    Story URL: http://hirondelle09.wordpress.com/disney-legacy-challenge/
    Brief Description: "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them"
    Story Avatar: 10-14-14_1-49c2a0am-e1416353958332.jpg


    Here's my legacy :) I would love to share it with more people, thanks for reading! Gonna go check out you guys' stories now-there are so many!

    disneylegacy.jpg?w=764&h=261
  • AkramAAkramA Posts: 2,717 Member
    ...if you don't know anything about tab mode...
    @Akrama: I think I've been looking for that all month! That's the camera control mode that let's you get good low-angle shots and stuff? I've been wondering if that functionality was back! Yer a gawd-send (I think. I haven't check yet)! Thanks!

    Yes they're back! Well TheSimSupply my favorite youtube simmer just posted some trick! Well, the tab mode thingy just in the first couple of minutes
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNVB0_OWKCw

    So for the conclusion:
    "Tab" key for Camera mode
    WASD to move around!
    Mouse wheel to look around
    Scroll wheel and +/- (also "Z" and "X" key) to zoom in/out
    "Q" to rise, "E" for decend
    And Tab again to escape
    Is this right? And . . . Can I join? I love discussions like this! :D
    Feel free to join! Been reading your story, btw! Good stuff!

    I also write non sims stuff on Wattpad
  • hirondelle09hirondelle09 Posts: 175 Member
    thank you guys for the extremely helpful advice!<br />
    I got some shots that I'm really happy with for my new legacy. I find it's so hard to stay interested in the same legacy for a really long time. I'm in my second generation of the legacy I have posted in the forums but I'm already starting a new legacy, hahaha x_x I'm hopeless! What do you guys do to keep yourself interested in the same legacy? Or is that not a problem for you?

    I haven't actually come across that problem before, but maybe because I'm so new to the game? Anyway, I usually play multiple families and save files so I don't get too bored. Or I'd switch it up between building and playing! I find that I'll get bored or put off quickly if I force myself to play so I tend to let myself play only when I feel like it instead of doing it for the sake of updating my blog/story. Also, I read a lot of stories and watch LPs on youtube so I get a ton of inspiration from fellow simmers and it helps a lot :) I'm not sure if that helped, but yeah, just my pov!
    disneylegacy.jpg?w=764&h=261
  • DeeWrayngedDeeWraynged Posts: 102 Member
    How do you guys get the quoting to work? I'm hopelessly lost at how things working on this forum :/ I don't even really know how to make points to be able to post images -sighs- (I need 50 points right? I'm only at 14 right now)

    Anyway thank you all for the highly interesting and useful advice.

    @hirondelle: I just started reading other Simmers' blogs myself and it has helped a lot! I don't know if I'll ever get into watching legacies on youtube. I saw that they can get pretty long and one of the things I liked about blogs is that I can read them as fast as I want to, and also they move along at a pretty good pace. But maybe I'll check one or two out just to see how they are.

    @AkramA: Thanks for the advice. I don't have an English keyboard so the ` key might not work for me. But the tab mode seems really interesting. I discovered it accidentally in-game the other day when I pressed the tab key and took a screenshot by accident, but I had no idea how to move around or anything hahaha. I'll have to look more deeply into this function :)

    @aroseinbloom: I get really attached to my Sims at the beginning, but then when they have children I find myself just wanting to rush through my current heir's generation so that I can start on their children's legacy! I think I need to learn to be more patient and appreciate each generation for who they are and be less urgent about completing their storylines and such.

    @CathyTea: I just started reading your Goofy Love Legacy. I know what you mean about loving your sims because it really shows in your writing and in your storylines. It's really incredible how you manage to focus on every major sim in your generation and bring them to life. I have difficulty just playing with more than 2 sims, not to mention being able to juggle their storylines and aspirations haha. But it's nice to know that I have so much to learn. This kind of challenge makes me really eager to tackle my legacies and stick with them!

    Also I think that it cheers me up to read that you guys play more than one game at a time. I don't know why but in my mind it's always been I have this legacy and no other game, legacy or otherwise. I guess maybe that kind of pressure kind of killed it for me. Now, I have three different games started: my current differences in the family tree legacy, a random/pinstar legacy, and a third the three little sims challenge I saw in the forums. It's much less stressful knowing that playing another game doesn't necessarily mean I'm abdonning the other. I don't know why in the S3 I never let myself play more than one game at a time, but I think it's a big factor to what killed legacies for me. Next step: learning to love my sims and bring them to life! :p

    Thanks for all the wonderful advice!
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    @DeeWraynged - With the quoting, once you've commented enough (not sure if it's 25 or 50 times currently) then you'll be able to quote and post links. At that point, "Quote will show up at the bottom for you. Just click that and in your "Leave a Comment," you'll find the quoted portion which you can even trim down, if you want. (You'll see the code, so just leave the quote code and trim the quoted text as you wish.)

    I haven't tried tab mode yet! I'm excited to give it a shot! And sort of scared, too. I remember getting all mixed up with it back in TS2!

    Thanks for your kind comments about the Goofy Love Legacy. I've spent a lot of time reading and enjoying Candi's Uglacy and Prettacy and ephemeraltoast's Ugothlacy (all with TS2), and I've been inspired by the way they give their Sims lots of autonomy and play within their Sims' personalities (The Reading List page at my blog links to these, for those who want to glance back at the classics). That's the approach I aim for my play and storytelling. Sometimes, I get Sims that I just don't relate to or understand--I always think of life when that happens, and all the people I know that I don't really understand! And this gives me curiousity about them and empathy for them.

    How neat that you're trying Three Little Sims--I'm eager to start a Three Little Sims game. (I'm waiting until I complete the "Mooch Off Your Sims" Challenge or winter break comes--whichever comes first!) Will you be writing a story with it?

    I loved doing the Wonder Child Challenge (rules on Pinstar's site). It was so fun to concentrate all the development on just one Sim, and it really has given me great experience for bringing up the legacy kids!

    Looking forward to hearing more about your game play and storytelling!
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • DeeWrayngedDeeWraynged Posts: 102 Member
    @CathyTea Thanks for the info about the quoting. I'm so used to BBcoding from other forums, here whenever I press the 'quote' button (that is visible for me) I just get a whole bunch of '>'. Hahahaha, oh well, I'm sure I'll learn my way around eventually.

    I'll take a look at those legacies, thanks for the recommendations! It'll be fun to look back at the TS2. I've already forgotten how that was, although I didn't play it as much as the TS3.
    One thing that I really miss from the TS3 that I hope they'll integrate into the TS4 later are the toddlers!! I was just thinking about it because I started reading your Wonder Child Challenge and I couldn't help but feel it would have added so much to the challenge to have to potty train your child and teach them to talk & walk. I really do miss that.

    Also, I loved in your Goody Love Legacy how you mentioned letting your Sim chose who they're attracted to and wait until they're ready to engage romance/have children, etc. I think because romance in TS4 isn't as overt as in the TS3 (not being able to scope, not being able to choose turn ons/offs [or was that in TS2? I'm getting them all mixed up now!] and all that stuff), I didn't think about giving them that much autonomy. Would you mind if I copied that aspect in some of my later generations?

    I don't think I'll be writing a story for the Three Little Sims challenge I'm doing right now. It's my 'relaxing' project since I'm currently taking pictures for two legacies. I'm still really new at all this documenting/storytelling so I don't want to spread myself too thin either. But it's a really fun and funny challenge so far :p

    I do have a legacy up on my blog so far. I don't know if you'd be interested or if you have the time, but if you ever have some free time on your hands I'd be really grateful if you could take a peek at my current legacy and maybe give me a few tips & pointers on what I could tighten up/expand on/just do in general to make the storytelling more engaging! rosedifferenceslegacy.blogspot.ca/
    (the beginning is quite dry because it was my first attempt ever, but I think I delve more into the storyline with the second generation and in chapters I've written but not posted I even start inserting dialogue. This is really just a big experimental legacy to try and find my style, which is why it'll shift around a lot, I think).
  • KingCobblerKingCobbler Posts: 176 Member
    @AkramA Thank you for that! I have plans to dive into the Fletcher Legacy the second I come up for air. :D
  • AkramAAkramA Posts: 2,717 Member
    @AkramA Thank you for that! I have plans to dive into the Fletcher Legacy the second I come up for air. :D

    Well thank you, you don't have to, but still thanks.
    I also write non sims stuff on Wattpad
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    @DeeWraynged - I really enjoy your legacy! I love the red heads. Your Sims are very interesting - lots of personality! And it's always fun to see how Sims (and Simmers) handle the challenges at the different stages of legacy living! I love your writing style. I like your literary references (first title chapter, for example), and I love the commentary style of writing. I always enjoy hearing how Simmers are feeling as they play, no matter what the feelings are! I also think that the dialogue in the later chapters is effective. For me, it's interesting when the writing style of legacy stories shifts--I like shifting view points (yours and the Sims), I like some exposition and commentary and reflection, I like some immersion and scene. I like both the global and limited narrative style, and combining the two makes the story really interesting to me.

    The only tip I have is to put the walls up for photos. (I'm always forgetting to do this and needing to retake the photos!) When I'm looking at photos, I love the way it looks when the walls are up, for then it seems more real to me and I feel like I'm part of the scene.

    You're already letting your Sims express their own personalities and identities--that's the biggest key for me!

    You asked about using my approach to Sim romance--absolutely try it if you want! I find it kind of challenging, for I need to watch how my Sims interact with the others. I like to wait for them to roll the want to interact with the others (or marry or kiss or woo-hoo with them), and so far, that hasn't happened much! But I can usually tell from their faces how they feel about the other, when I have Sims near their romantic interest, I give them lots of autonomy so they can flirt on free will if they want. I spend a lot of time reading though and conversation bubbles, too!

    I actually don't miss toddlers. I thought I would, for I loved them TS3. But so much work! Plus, I really love the weird bubble-bursting-out-of-the-bassinet animation!

    Good idea not to write a story for Three Little Sims! It's always so refreshing to have a non-story game to be able to relax with!

    I'm looking forward to reading more of the Thorny Legacy! It will be fun to see how these redheads develop!
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • BilmonaghanBilmonaghan Posts: 1,552 Member
    @Akrama: That is it! Ba haha ha! Ah haha ha! Thank you thank you thank you!

    And it only took me. like, seven minutes to remember how to navigate around in camera mode!

    "Tab" It's so dang simple it evaded me!

    I'll have to test-drive that "`" tip next. About wore the "P" off my "P" key! lol
    Le Dynastie d’Angers: 83 – WWAD?
    Annette Thayer butts heads with the late Eric Lewis on her first day as steward.
    ldd083banner.png
  • AkramAAkramA Posts: 2,717 Member
    @Bilmonaghan, good for you, tab menu is really helpful.

    Gosh I love this thread so much! It's like "general the sims 4 discussion" category but more. peaceful!

    Well, I have a general question, do you use game mods for your story? and if you do what mod is it?

    For me I use:
    Autonomus Repair
    No Autonomous mourning
    Emotional overcharge
    and No Censor/smaller censor,
    I also write non sims stuff on Wattpad
  • BilmonaghanBilmonaghan Posts: 1,552 Member
    edited November 2014
    AkramA wrote: »
    @Bilmonaghan, good for you, tab menu is really helpful.
    Well, the amount of time I spend "paused" just increased exponentially, and I have to fight the urge to make every shot so tightly framed it gives you claustrophobia just looking at it, but thanks again for helping me re-find that tool. It's the one thing I still missed from TS2 (besides pool tables and bubble blowers) and it was here all along!
    AkramA wrote: »
    Gosh I love this thread so much! It's like "general the sims 4 discussion" category but more. peaceful!
    Ba haha ha! I was thinking the same thing. enkeli63 started a nice little support group in here. (too bad she has a demanding RL job or she'd be able to be here more!) I go over onto the General Discussions forum every once in a while, but I usually ended up dismayed over, and embarrassed for, and angry about all the vitriolic, petulant mewling and ill-considered nastiness, the pettiness and smug short-sightedness, the intellectual torpor ... See? I'm getting ticked off now and I'm just thinking about it!
    AkramA wrote: »
    Well, I have a general question, do you use game mods for your story? and if you do what mod is it?

    For me I use:
    Autonomus Repair
    No Autonomous mourning
    Emotional overcharge
    and No Censor/smaller censor,
    Just a no censor mod. It's not a prurient thing (OK, maybe a little. lol!); I just find that big block of blur aesthetically distasteful and kinda insulting somehow.

    That was the only mod I used in The Sims 2, too. I'm kinda defensive of my Saved Games so I don't want to create problems in my game that I can't reasonably expect EA/Maxis to patch. I'm kinda leery of CC for the same reason. I played the same Saved Game all the way through TS2 and I expect to be able to do the same thing here. If I were to complain about TS3, it would be that EA/Maxis tried too hard to please everydangbody and ended up making a game so overstuffed with functionality and unique texture/color combinations and brick-a-brac that it was doomed to crash-to-desktop every 20 minutes and render your saved game unplayable every two or three months. I liked TS3. A lot. I just didn't love it like I did TS2.


    Le Dynastie d’Angers: 83 – WWAD?
    Annette Thayer butts heads with the late Eric Lewis on her first day as steward.
    ldd083banner.png
  • DeeWrayngedDeeWraynged Posts: 102 Member
    edited November 2014
    @CathyTea: Thank you so much for having read my legacy and given me such thorough feedback, I really appreciate it!
    It's reassuring to hear that my Sims aren't falling flat on their face. I was afraid I was being too distant with them. I am getting more attached to CeeCee though (unfortunately, Generation 1 ended too soon for me to grow to love Candice as much :( ) and I'm glad that can be read in the story :)

    As for the tip about the walls - I'd read that in another blog and I always forget to think about it when I'm taking pictures. Thanks for the reminder, I'll try and be more diligent in the future. It's true that now that I look at the pictures where I did raise the walls, they look a lot more intimate than the ones where the wals aren't up!

    I'll give the autonomous romance a shot in my pinstar/random legacy. For the challenge I'm currently doing, I think the rules on the spouse are too limiting to let my heirs be totally autonomous. I would just get too impatient hahaha.

    It's true that toddlers would be a lot of addition work, especially considering that school and work are a lot more challenging now. But, still ... I felt like it brought the parents closer when they had to teach those toddlers some essential life skills (or made them more distant if they didn't!)

    Thanks :) I have big plans for CeeCee that I'm anxious to get to. My problem is that I always want to rush the storyline hahaha. Gosh darn Sims for having such long lives (and I have an age-reducing mod too ... that's how impatient I am hahaha!)

    Will you be posting up your Three Little Sims challenge when you get around to it? It would be a lot of fun to read :p One Simmer in the challenge forum posted some screenshots of her attempt at the challenge and it just cracked me up!
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    @DeeWraynged - Oh, yes, I'll definitely be telling the story of the Three Little Sims when I do it. In fact, I've decided already to have rotating narrators--each of the three Sims will take turns being the first-person narrator. It will be fun to present the story from each of their points of view!

    On your current legacy, where did you get the rules that you're following? The seem really interesting and very challenging!

    I'm really looking forward to reading your next chapters!
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • DeeWrayngedDeeWraynged Posts: 102 Member
    @CathyTea: Oh, I can't wait to read your TLS challenge! I bet it'll be as much fun to write it as it will be for others to read it haha.
    I was only about 30-sim minutes in my game when one Sim caught on fire in another Sim's "house", trying to cook scramble eggs. Thankfully he didn't die, but he did ruin the stove and the counter. After the fiasco was over I ordered the third Sim to cook ... and he headed into the house with the ruined stove and counter to prepare his meal! Hahaha, what illogical thinking :pensive:

    I got the rules over at mod the sims: modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=535355
    It only has rules/objectives for up to 6 generations though (there is a 7th but it's not as detailed as the others). I haven't decided yet whether I'll stop at those 6 generations or if I'll try and make up my own challenges to try and make it the traditional 10 generations.

    Thanks, that means a lot! I should have a chapter up today as I'm about to play now ... I have so much planned for CeeCee, but she has so little time left, it's quite stressful, but exciting at the same time, hehe ^^
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    edited November 2014
    @DeeWraynged - Wow! Your TLS seems so exciting! Fire! My plan is to skill everyone up in logic on that first day when we can control everyone, and then to keep them skilling in logic throughout the game so, with luck, they won't make foolish choices!

    I just checked out those rules- what a challenge! It would be hard for me since I always like my Sims to be friends with everybody in the family! Also serial romance... that one is tough for me! I really like how it lays out a plot with a specific direction, though. Really great storytelling potential!
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • DeeWrayngedDeeWraynged Posts: 102 Member
    @CathyTea: I know hahaha. It's funny because I've never had a sim light anything on fire in any other game I've played so far and then two minutes into this one ... catastrophe struck haha!
    What a good idea, though, to skill them up in logic! I didn't even think of that, I just decided to focus on cooking like the creator of the challenge suggested in the first post. Look where that got me, though, hahaha.

    Yes, actually, all of these challenges are really hard for me! I have such loner sims, lmao. In TS3 my Sims could go days without leaving the house, they were always writers or painters or something solitary like that. So actually even getting my Sims to go out and collect items/find plants (for the first Gen) etc was out of my comfort zone. I love it though, it's really opening up the game for me and pushing my limits. I've never done Serial Romance either because of all the effort it takes to make friends, initiate romances and all that ... but now that I've been getting used to playing ways I never have before, I'm really looking forward to it!
  • hirondelle09hirondelle09 Posts: 175 Member
    AkramA wrote: »
    @Bilmonaghan, good for you, tab menu is really helpful.

    Gosh I love this thread so much! It's like "general the sims 4 discussion" category but more. peaceful!

    Well, I have a general question, do you use game mods for your story? and if you do what mod is it?

    For me I use:
    Autonomus Repair
    No Autonomous mourning
    Emotional overcharge
    and No Censor/smaller censor,

    Omg I know right hahah. I tend to stay away from the general discussion thread because of the drama :/

    Anyway, for mods I use:
    -Build and Buy mode unlocker (Unlocks carreer/event rewards. I love having more options when in build mode)
    -Buyable Mailboxes
    -No Highlight (the white highlight always gets in the way of my pictures)
    -Teen careers for all
    -Shrimrod Improved Lighting
    -Inteen (So I can have Teen+YA romances)
    -NoGenealogicide (It supposedly fixes the bug where the game 'purges' and deletes townies/ghosts)
    disneylegacy.jpg?w=764&h=261
  • hirondelle09hirondelle09 Posts: 175 Member
    Omg something went wrong with my Disney Legacy save file, but thankfully I rolled back to an older save file and it's okay now. Phew. I was in such a state of panic, I would have cried if my Legacy Family was gone :( I get too attached every time. Anyway, how often do you guys back up your save files?
    disneylegacy.jpg?w=764&h=261
  • CathyTeaCathyTea Posts: 23,088 Member
    @hirondelle09 - so glad you got your Disney family back! I try every generation (once all kids are born and before elders start demising) to save the family to the gallery, just in case the game blows up and I have to start over from a new game!

    I do a "save as" every time I save (both a save and save as, so I have two saved versions), and I try to save after every half hour or so, and after every super important event (like finally meeting that someone special or a completing an aspiration or reaching career pinnacle).

    I haven't yet copied my save files to an external hard drive--that's probably a great idea! I like a little bit of risk in my life, though... so I usually skip that step and live mildly dangerously!
    Cathy Tea's SimLit Anthology

    Do you also play The Elder Scrolls Online? You can find me there as CathyTea, too!
  • aroseinbloomaroseinbloom Posts: 3,456 Member
    I don't use any mods when I play. I'm always afraid they'll crash my game.

    @hirondelle09 as far as saving, I try to do it after any major event happens. Usually those are my cue to save the game. I also frequently leave my main family to check in on other families, so I save when I do that.
  • DeeWrayngedDeeWraynged Posts: 102 Member
    @AkramA said:
    I play with a lot of mods because I find that they make the gaming experience so much richer. I took out some of the way more "cheaty" mods for my current legacies (no school goals, no relationships needed for work, and 1-day pregnancies) but other than that I have:
    - Work/Study Hard is 2.5x more effective ('work/study hard' does basically nothing without the mod which I find pointless)
    - Coffee gives more energy (it wasn't worth the wait for the sim to brew and drink it for the effects it had originally)
    - Simocide (so I can kill Sims on demand haha. Haven't used it yet)
    - Slower time (so it doesn't take 1 hour for the sim to pee hahah)
    - Improved Death Reactions
    - Traumatic Divorce for Children (can't wait to test this one, hehehe)
    - Teen Careers for all
    - Sleep All night (I think this is one of my favorite Mods so far)
    - Ages Until 70 (modifies Sim aging)
    - inteen (for teen & adult romance, also allows teenage pregnancy although I haven't given it a shot yet).

    Other than that I have less cheaty mods such as clutter anywhere, move objects on, change outfit on inactive sims, fewer elders, less musical chairs, no fade, fewer stalkbys, superspeed, fogity menu enabler (so I can see Sim menu when they're a work/school)...I think that's it lol

    @hirondelle: Omg that must have been terrifying! My game has crashed a couple of times and but I only lost an hour or so of gameplay at the most!
    I don't backup my save files at all ... maybe I should ... o_o
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