Niua Simoa: Updated for Ambitions/Late Night/Gen, now available on the Exchange «12...Next Go

tea_and_blues

Niua Simoa updated for Ambitions/Late Night/Gen, now available on the Exchange

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/walruskeeper/Overview_Simoa.jpg "width=600" "height=450"[/IMG]
fig.1 - Niua Simoa overview.

DESCRIPTION

If you played the basegame version of Niua Simoa, you explored a temperate island, but times have changed. Several years ago a volcano erupted out of the ocean floor near Simoa, dramatically warming the local climate. Plant life on the island has thrived in the increased humidity, allowing bigger palms and brighter flowering bushes. The sudden increase in heat may, in fact, be exactly the event that will attract tourism to the otherwise quiet nation. With more tombs, a richer backstory, lusher vegetation, and the opportunity to escape the island and head overseas, this version is in many ways the definitive one.

Niua Simoa is a volcanic island with a large coral reef around its edges. There are three local volcanoes. Mount Totara is extinct, and the site of an old fortified village. Mount Nikau is active, towering up in the centre of the island. The third volcano is unnamed, but it is out in the ocean, and the resulting steam has caused a permanent heat hase over the island. Sand bars have built up atop the reef, forming islands (motu) around the lagoon. There is great fishing in the shallow lagoon, with a fresh water source flowing down from lava formation hills. Tapuwhai Town, the main township, is small, and there are very few large houses.

This island is a kingdom, a constitutional monarchy, with the family Tapuwhai as heads of state. Henry I is current ruler, although his age is showing, and Henry II is set to take over. There is a Parliament, but its powers are tightly reigned by the royals. Public infrastructure is very poor. However foreign aid and private investment has ensured science, crime and other elements are represented in the economy. A recent investment is the Waka Village subdivision, an attempt to lure wealthy overseas sims. This is a sim-made island in the lagoon with lots that sell at a very hefty premium, although they provide lovely views to make up for the cost.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/walruskeeper/Tapuwhai_T_Map.jpg "width=600" "height=450"[/IMG]
fig.2 - Tapuwhai Town map.

Preview -

Change Log:
- Added Ambitions venues.
- Added Late Night venues.
- Shifted some lots to make the world more fun to play.
- Made Ariifano Karakia never age. :P
- Made the three kuia never age and be vampires.
- Added a LARGE number of new homeless and service Sims.
- Revamped several fale lots so that they were more playable.
- Fixed and play-tested tombs many times over to ensure they work as I intend.
- Improved terrain painting.
- Added lighthouse beam.
- Checked routing.

I've played a few sim weeks in this version and it seems to buzz along nicely. Let me know if anything goes wrong.

KNOWN ISSUES
- Some graphics cards will not display underwater terrain, so you won't see the reefs.
- There is a statue blocking the way to the mailbox on the Tapuwhai lot that I forgot to fix AGAIN!!! If you play this family, make sure you squidge the statue out of the way. Many apologies!

THANKS
The whole MTS community, really. Thanks to HP, Bakafox, JM Pescado, twallan, plasticbox, dolldrms1, I'mSimalicious, tomvanroosmalen, Flabaliki, save_the_whales, Simmiller, NekoCat, Srikandi, rflong7, auntylynds cookniro, Judhudson from simprograms.com, moyrie, and also thanks to any others that I forget. Also thanks to Googalor and ascarrott for guiding me to the appropriate .ini files!

A long time ago, I started working on an island for the Sims 3, and I found a lot of support for the project here. However, part way through the project I migrated to the forums at Mod The Sims. I still pop in here, and I'll be much more regular when the forums are little less slow.

It would be wrong of me not to thank all the members who helped me work on my now complete world, Niua Simoa. I had a lot of help from people in this thread and this thread.

Specifically, thanks to Pary, for your feedback. gngrsnap, for your boundless enthusiasm. Kitkat1745, again for your feedback. valennealv for being from New Zealand. :P Tota for your comments, and your brilliant creating. Architektin for a very heartening comment about the personalities of the sims I've designed for the world.

It's been a long time coming, but Niua Simoa is finally complete, including its own population! I hope people enjoy it. Here are some screenies:

Sejikun

Wow! This looks great! Can't wait to see more screenshots!!!

Clawswp

it looks great, can u resize the pictures to no more than 600 width please cause it makes it hard to read.
I like the maori words used, i am a kiwi myself. It looks lovely i cant wait to see more pictures also.

tea_and_blues

Sorry guys, I would resize, but the edit button is pushed offscreen. Ugh, these forums are so frustrating. I forgot that they only handle very small screencaps! Apologies!

Rflong7

Hi, tea_and_blues

You can double click on a part of your post with the words and it will open it up so you can edit the picture. Give a reason too.

tea_and_blues

Pics fixed now.

chellemh29

I saw your concept worlds thread on MTS. You girl have amazing talent! I have yet to see sculpting anything close to yours! Awesome work!

BSIRegina

This is VERY nicely done! The effort you put into this world definitely shines! Kudos to you for taking the time to build a work of art.

mmmcheezy225

This is simply stunning! I can tell you put a lot of effort into this. :shock:

cccccc

Have you fixed the problem where living on that house near that wooden tomb, the carpool arrives halfway accross town?
That was mi only problemz

DOLLDRMS1

This is one world that I think all that use CAW should take a look at. I think you guys can even better appreciate what has been accomplished than someone like me who hasn't worked with the tool. I read some of the difficulties and know you put your heart and soul into it. My hat's off to you.

Anyway, even though you will probably know, or have an idea, of how things like the underwater coral reefs were done, I'm simply blown away. Pics don't do the world justice. It really needs to be seen in game.

I also downloaded the save file and the sims are absolutely terrific. Wish I had a tenth of tea_and_blues creativity, lol.

diestler

looks beautiful. I love the house at the base of those awesome mountains!! Thank you for sharing your progress!

tea_and_blues

@ccccc - Hehe, there was a reason that house wasn't set as residential.

@DOLLDRMS1 - That's a big compliment! Thank you very much.

Pary

I hadn't realised you had moved to MTS until I saw Niua Simoa there yesterday. I wondered why your thread here was so quiet.

Im terribly sorry I was unable to give you further feedback during testing, but unfortunately at the time I had to revert to the 1.7 Patch, since 1.8 was causing a lot of difficulty on my PC. I did however just patch once more, and this time it appears to be giving me no trouble so far, so I will go and download this and have a look at the finished product. It looks very beautiful from the screenshots !

Mems

This world is remarkable! I love it.

Writin_Reg

I wanted to try this world but saw that it was in 4 parts and that the save folder you include with it has third party skins etc on the people, which was a disappointment to me, as until the creators start using the right tools to make CC, I am nt willing to jump thru hoops to play this game. I'm too used to 20 second save times and and a 90 second load time that you can't get using the improperly tooled third party content.

But that aside you did some wonderful work in creating this world. I loved the pictures. So great job, even though I can't try it.

The multi-part would surely go ascew for me, as I had many bad experiences trying to incorporate multipart world in Sims 2 and almost always messed it up.

But beautiful world.

tea_and_blues

Aaaaaaand here's a majorly updated Niua Simoa. Changes logged on the front page. Enjoy.

Snapdragon

Aaand this is one of those moments where I don't know whether I should be happy or not. I'm still playing the WA version and my epic lifespan family is currently in week 40 or somesuch. Which means a lot because usually my neighbourhoods get FUBAR around week 25/30 at the latest.
I played this world so extensively during that time, with constant switching of families, so that I managed to have several of them fulfill their LTW without neglecting my main family.
And now this! How dare you make Niua Simoa even better!
I don't think that I will porter the whole town into the new version, but I guess both of them will not be able to be played alongside each other?
BTW, I think it's funny that you made the same decision like I did with Ariifano and the Kuia women. They don't age in my game either. And in case you're interested, both Ariifano and Margo fulfilled their LTW, which was a real pain to achieve, and now are happily married to each other

tea_and_blues

Ooh, well done! Margo's LTW is a nightmare to complete! Glad you're enjoying the world, I hope you approve of the changes once you see them. ^_^

Snapdragon

The only question left is, is this again an either or thing like with previous version or can I play the old version alongside the new one?
Because I can't just transfer the old family to the new world, too many ties that would break - especially relatives in Egypt - a cruelly murdered king Henry II and Claudine I Palefau usurping the throne, leaving the oldest Fuanaki daughter with Henry's ******* son in the slums, Felepi Tapuwhai turning gay and currently planning his 5th child with Hohepa Solomon. You see, so many things that would be lost in a way

Edit: illegitimate is what I meant, sorry I forgot that the historically approved expression for illegitimate children of nobles with members of the common classes are allegedly a dirty word now.

tea_and_blues

I've changed the world ID. You should be able to install it alongside the old version. ^_^

Snapdragon

:thumbup:

Rukaya

Just dld your Niua Simoa, I can hardly wait to check it out and play it. thank you for updating this lovely and wacky world. OT... I am planning to start a game in RVB Hills today and am so looking forward to it. I know it is going to be so much fun.

DOLLDRMS1

Woot! I am so happy to see this updated version. Just got it downloaded and rec'd.

In case anyone is wondering, I did check it with Custard and there is no cc attached to the world.

Thanks Tea_and_Blues for the update. I lovez Niua Simoa

betty_me13

Gorgeous! You did a remarkable job!

Pary

Thank you for updating this, it's such a beautiful world, and always my go-to world on RL days when the weather is gloomy and freezing like it is today. Just playing in NS makes me feel much warmer lol.