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Overlook Bay - Official Thread (Sep 10, 2010 - RELEASED!)

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Welcome to Overlook Bay! This is a large map world created for The Sims 3, using the World Creator tool that was released on the official Sims 3 website.

Overlook Bay is a beautiful town set between the mountains and the beaches and will offer much diversity in scenery. From the tropical beach areas, the city-like downtown, farming community, suburbia and winding roads up treacherous mountains. The town got it's name from it's most spectacular place... The Overlook! Located at one of the highest peaks of the mountains, The Overlook offers a stunning view of the city below, all across the river and the beaches. At sunset the view is spoken of in all corners of the world.

A huge Thank You goes out to all the people who have helped build lots for this world. It couldn't have been done without you!


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OVERLOOK BAY - Version 1.0
A world by LeeMortis


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DOWNLOAD HERE!
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REQUIREMENTS:

- The Sims 3 (Duh!)
- Riverview Neighborhood (Free Download, official Sims 3 Web)
- World Adventures

* It is recommended you get all free store items from The Sims 3 Store as well. Many of those are being used in lots, and if you don't have them installed, you may find some odd replacement objects in their place.

** NOTE: A good computer is likely needed to be able to enjoy playing in Overlook Bay. This is a very large and detailed world, and testing has shown that lower end computers will have a hard time running the town, and the town will crash your game due to memory shortage. Saving games can cause the dreaded Error Code 12 problems as well. Using Large Address Aware is recommended!


LIST OF CONTENTS:

Overlook Bay Sims3Pack (Install File)
Overlook Bay - STANDARD (Save Game Folder)
Overlook Bay - STORY (Save Game Folder)
LeeMortis Patterns (Folder)
Lot List (Document)
Overlook Title (Image)
Overlook Bay ReadMe (This document)


INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS:

NOTE: If you have previously had the "Overlook Bay - BUILD TEMPLATE" installed to your game, you need to uninstall that one before you attempt to install the finished version of the town.

- Unzip the contents of this file anywhere on your hard drive... maybe the desktop.
- Install the Overlook Bay sims3pack (double click, then make sure you install it through the launcher)
- Close down Sims 3
- Place the save game folders in "My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Saves"*
- Start The Sims 3

To start a game in Overlook Bay it is recommended you make a COPY of the Save Game version you wish to start from. This way you still have the original available if you want to start a new game in Overlook Bay later on.

If you choose to "Start New Game" and select Overlook Bay, you will get the town completely empty from lots or Sims. This is good for those who just like to build, or want to fill up the town with their own lots. Note, however, that certain spawners in Overlook Bay are only available on lots, and will not be available in the empty hood. (i.e. Death Fish only available at the Graveyard lot)

* File path may differ depending on OS...

Note: It is recommended that you install the patterns found in Lee Mortis Patterns folder, as many of those are used in certain lots and Sims in Story Mode.

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IMPORTANT!!!

Due to problems with Create-A-World that wouldn't let me finish the town in the editor, I have opted to provide you with a set of different save games from which to start your Overlook Bay games. Note that it is HIGHLY recommended you copy a chosen Save Game variant instead of selecting "Start New Game" in the Sims menu - because the hood you get that way would be incomplete and would lack many important things (too many to list here)


STRANGE LOOKING (WHITE) LOTS?

There were problems caused by CC in the original BETA test of this town, so the version I submit to you here is completely free of any kind of 3rd party creations. This means that some houses may show up with the default White "Misc" texture, where custom patterns were used. To replace the lots with nicer looking ones, you can look up the lot list included in this file to find the original download of the house.


THE SAVE GAMES:

Overlook Bay - STANDARD: This file will give you a complete town. All lots present, all spawners and such. No Sims here though, so this is designed for those who want to fill up the town with their own created or collected Sims.

Overlook Bay - STORY: This is the recommended version. The complete town, including many interesting families to prevent Maxis randomly generated Sims from invading the town. All families with stories and jobs. All careers (up to WA) are sure to have enough employees for you to get a boss where ever you get a job. And... I hope they are fun Sims for you to interact with. (All Sims in story save created by me, LeeMortis)

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CREDITS:

Thanks to everyone who has helped build lots for this world. I couldn't have done this town without you!

startspring, happyjme, sookielee, Valana, nkuhlwind, kattenij, merrynutlump, ruthless_kk, babygirl1114, CaseyMarkam, gldkelly, audge2041, ehaught58, moridean, pistons27275, chris2chris, drowssap, ellywig, jay6754, Rflong7, sim718984, SimCrazed32, Spike3187

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And, please share your experiences in Overlook Bay in the above thread on the forums. I'd be very interested to hear what people find and what happens to their Sims in my town... that is part of what makes all this hard work worth while.

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PREVIEW PICTURES:

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Comments

  • LeeMortisLeeMortis Posts: 557 Member
    edited September 2010
    OVERLOOK BAY "EXCHANGE"

    Here you can find some alternate lot downloads to place in Overlook Bay! If you have built something that fits the town and want to have it displayed in this section, post about it in this thread and I'll try to keep this section updated every now and then...

    ___________________________________________

    MOUNTAIN AREAS:
    Beautiful Mountain Home (40x40) | By babygirl1114

    TRAILER PARK AREA:
    Trailer (Empty) (14x20) | By LeeMortis
    Affordable Family Home (14x20) | By MJSIMMER
    Simply Tasteful Mobile (14x20) | By MJSIMMER

    SUBURBAN STREET:
    Nothing here yet...

    FARM AREA:
    Nothing here yet...

    RIVERSIDE AREA:
    Nothing here yet...

    DOWNTOWN AREA:
    Internet Café (32x20) | By SarahC91
    K.C Furnishings (32x20) | By CaseyMarkam

    BEVERLY CROSSING LUXURY HOMES:
    Nothing here yet...

    FLORIDA STYLE AREA:
    Nothing here yet...

    BEACH AREAS:
    33 Palm Street (30x30) | By kattenij
    Modern Beach House (40x40) | By babygirl1114
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • LeeMortisLeeMortis Posts: 557 Member
    edited September 2010
    NOTES FROM THE CREATOR:

    Hi.

    Just wanted to say a couple of words as I finally release this town to the public. It's been a long and exhausting journey, but I've had a lot of fun creating the town.

    But, as you can see in the info above, it has become apparent that this town requires a lot of resources from your computer, and it is only recommended for higher end computers.

    Even I have had to give up trying to play it, which makes me very sad and downhearted. I really love the town, and I had really been excited to get my long term Sims Game started in the Overlook Bay Trailer Park. However, because of constant crashing due to memory outage, and Error Code 12 issues (despite using Large Address Aware) I have been forced to realize I will not be playing my own town until I can afford a new computer. I'm running a lower end computer myself, just barely exceeding the minimum requirements for The Sims 3.

    I am interested to know your experiences on higher end computers - so please let me know how this town runs on your games.

    Computer I'm using has the following specs (so you'll need BETTER than this):

    Pentium 4, 3.4Ghz Dual Core
    2GB RAM
    NVidia GForce 6600


    Also - due to me not being able to play my own town. I can't guarantee that I'll keep the exchange updated regularily, or even check back in here on a regular basis. Right now I'm even contemplating whether or not I want to play the Sims at all anymore. I just can't get into the default towns, or any others that I've tried (possibly because I've been so focused on playing Overlook Bay).

    I won't go AWOL on you guys like I did last time around. But, there may be times when I don't show up around here as frequently.

    Right now, I need to figure out what to do, and what to play... or if I need to build a NEW town (much smaller).

    Any feedback appreciated!

    Have fun in Overlook Bay!
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • ChristyJChristyJ Posts: 14 New Member
    edited September 2010
    I'm doing my Happy dance!!!!
  • babygirl1114babygirl1114 Posts: 30
    edited September 2010
    YEEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!! Now I can FINALLY play!!!!!!!! I'll be busy all day now so I'll give some feedback if I ever decide to close The Sims :P
  • YahtzamiYahtzami Posts: 6,301 Member
    edited September 2010
    In spite of upgrading my Graphics card to the Nvidia 9500 GT and having plenty of memory, I am always scared that I have one of those "Low End Computers" that you speak of...LOL I may have to give this one a try anyway. It is too gorgeous NOT to try! Worst case scenario, it will be too much for my comp and I will not be able to play it like you...but at least I will have SEEN it. It will be like a once in a lifetime vacation to somewhere beautiful. I may never get to go back, but at least I can say I was there! LOL
  • SummerSong86SummerSong86 Posts: 2,090 Member
    edited September 2010
    The pictures look so beautiful and congratulations on a happy ending to the long saga of the creation of this incredible world, Lee.

    I just recovered my game from some sort of corruption and that's been a mini saga of a few days for me, Lol. I wish I could run Overlook Bay but based on how my computer struggled through Red County --and this is AFTER updating my graphics card to Radeon 260 GTX and to Windows 7 and adding more system memory to a Quad Core computer and buying a faster better Seagate Hard drive...I still can only run very spare large worlds or detailed worlds but only if they are medium sized. Twinbrook was my most stable experience ever, to give you an example. Apparently there is something left on my system that remains to be tweaked. :roll: I did not know about Large Address Aware and will have to look into that. If I can ever identify and eradicate the bottleneck in my setup, I look foward to trying this world. I'm sure there will be plenty of people who can play this world. Red County has loads of very satisfied players, after all.

    I do think you should not give up on Sims3 and after a much needed break try doing a new world. There may be more things to learn to make a world require less resources. I believe Sim Realtor learned how to do that but I can't recall how she said she did that. Something to do with how she uses layers I think. Anyway it would be a shame to let everything you already know about terraforming and creating spectacular views just atrophy and go to waste.
  • MrCrumplebottom1MrCrumplebottom1 Posts: 1,843 Member
    edited September 2010
    So this is the first world that has both the Save File and the World File in one. Very convenient. I am going to do this for my worlds too from now on. Thanks for the idea! :D

    So I went the game straight away and started playing. I Chose the Jr Household first, I cant remember their names. I love the fact they have family ties too! Also, the download was incredibly fast! I got all the files within a few seconds!

    Strangely enough, first community lot I went to with the teenager was the Cemetery! I love it! I cant wait to kill my Sims and re-place the Remains tombstones! From what I have seen, every Sim has a story, every family has a story. This is amazing!

    I then took a Hike through the mountains. Pausing the game to see the gaps in the hills to see the views. All I can say is woah! When I finally got the the over look, It was breathtaking -

    This is were I show you my weirdness.

    - I wished I was my Sim, just to see and look down at the WHOLE town from that height, Almost made me feel important and in the clouds watching over my new world.

    I wasn't expecting much, because I don't have WA installed, and I thought Ill try it anyway... but it worked!! :D:lol: - Hopefully Im not missing much? :shock:

    I can't wait to go an explore the rest of the families. My plans for when Late Night comes out, will be to add Sky-scrappers and all their new lots, it will look perfect!!

    This world has a lot of room for expansion, a lot of room to have fun!

    Fortuantly, I have a very good computer, So im running the world without any problems. At normal speed. You need to get yourself a better computer (Or alternatively update and replace your computer now, which will work out cheaper). You have impressed me, not many worlds do that! The fact that I am thinking about this world and Late Night, and me changing the down-town area for this shows me that this world is a keeper, that this world will fit ALL my needs.

    Basically, if you cannot be bothered to read that, this world is amazing! And worthy enough for ANYONE to update their computers to play.

    :D

    Well done!!
  • babygirl1114babygirl1114 Posts: 30
    edited September 2010
    :(:(:( it crashed right after i put n my family and triede tosave :'( my cmputer is decent too :'(
  • ClawswpClawswp Posts: 470 New Member
    edited September 2010
    Congrats! It must be such a big relief to have it finally done after so much work. Overlook Bay looks really amazing. I have not played it but want to try cause it looks so great and so much work you put into it.
    My pc is 2.66 quad core, 4gb RAM, GEfore 9500 but it struggled with FortSim! I will try Overlook and let you know how it goes.
    What is this memory thing people use to stop big maps crashing?
  • drowssapdrowssap Posts: 2,007 Member
    edited September 2010
    OH DEAR :shock: !!! its been released!
    i must download right away and explore, iv sent my essay off :( though not in a very good state, iv done all my other bits of work :D now i have a free weekend with nothing on at all

    cant wait to see the finished version :shock:
  • redsilkSimredsilkSim Posts: 162 Member
    edited September 2010
    Im having lots of fun playing this world.. at first my game was crashing but after i got the large address aware it doesnt crash anymore and im able to save without getting the code 12.. you did a aweasome job making this world Lee..thanks so much for sharing it with us!! :)
  • DOLLDRMS1DOLLDRMS1 Posts: 2,955 Member
    edited September 2010
    Clawswp wrote:
    Congrats! It must be such a big relief to have it finally done after so much work. Overlook Bay looks really amazing. I have not played it but want to try cause it looks so great and so much work you put into it.
    My pc is 2.66 quad core, 4gb RAM, GEfore 9500 but it struggled with FortSim! I will try Overlook and let you know how it goes.
    What is this memory thing people use to stop big maps crashing?

    Clawsswp, here is a link to the one available on MTS: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=410418

    I haven't installed it myself but I've only encountered one error code 12 the entire time I've had TS3 installed. Now we'll see how Overlook Bay goes as I'm getting ready to play it now. Looks amazing and I've gone with the story save as I loved the previews shown in this thread.
  • chris2chrischris2chris Posts: 1,909 New Member
    edited September 2010
    YAY!!!! :mrgreen: this is amazing!
  • N3mb3rN3mb3r Posts: 2,432
    edited September 2010
    Amazing work :D
  • drake_mccartydrake_mccarty Posts: 6,114 Member
    edited September 2010
    If what I read is correct, you say that if you just play the world you install it will be completely empty? Well that would be the main cause of your crashing right there. If the homes and buildings aren't connected with the actual neighborhood, than your computer is going to have to load everything off of the save game file, which normally is only meant for families, not entire neighborhoods. Especially one as highly detailed as this one. For me that is what I believe the problem was when it crashed on me. It just gave up on loading the entire neighborhood from a separate file. If that's not the case, and the homes are already included in the neighborhood, than ignore all of this. But from what I've read, it didn't seem like they were.
  • LeeMortisLeeMortis Posts: 557 Member
    edited September 2010
    drake_mccarty:
    You are correct in that the houses and Sims are only available through the Save Game - but that is certainly not what is causing the game to be slow. Whether added in the town file or in the Save Game, the game treats the lots the same. When the game first came out, the first thing I did was to replace every single lot in Sunset Valley in an attempt to make the town "mine".

    But, if you thought that what I meant was that the lots themselves had been added with the Edit Town feature of the game itself - then no. All lots are definitely added in CAW - except they have not been built on.


    EVERYONE:

    Hi, guys!

    So happy to see that a bunch of you are having fun playing in Overlook Bay. It gives me hope knowing that higher end computers + Force LAA seems to be working. That means I may be able to play this town myself some day :mrgreen:

    I'll be around - but not as frequently as I've been lately. I've got another massive project waiting to be finished (one that I've been working on for well over a year... not Sims related), so I'm going to focus mainly on that while I figure out what I want to do with my Simming experience.

    But, keep reporting your findings and your stories. I'd sure be interested in hearing about what you do in town!
  • DarkMirageDarkMirage Posts: 5,998 Member
    edited September 2010
    Great job Lee! You can tell you put a lot of time and effort into this world.
  • PrettigirlyPrettigirly Posts: 5
    edited September 2010
    I'm sorry, I am really new to downloading the worlds. What steps do I take after downloading it to my computer? :roll: I'm so lost. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
  • zorba2357zorba2357 Posts: 6,103 Member
    edited September 2010
    I just recovered my game from some sort of corruption and that's been a mini saga of a few days for me, Lol.

    Any chance this happened right after installing the latest patch (and/or fast lane?) , because I've just gone through the exact same thing.
  • zorba2357zorba2357 Posts: 6,103 Member
    edited September 2010
    Just want to add that this world looks Awesome! I'm Tempted to download it. But I'm a little afraid after reading the comments about needing a super-computer. And I'm also concerned about the extra save file of lots and families.

    Personally I'm happy with a world that has minimal Stuff, and no families is fine with me. However, looking at some of the pictures of the Lots in this world is what really attracted me , I would be disappointed if it didn't have those lots.

    I consider my computer mid-range, I have an NVidia GE 8600 (a bit old) intel quad core Q6600, 2 GB RAM.

    I think I'll read over this thread more carefully and ponder it some more while I drool over this world.
  • startspringstartspring Posts: 639 Member
    edited September 2010
    I'm just about to install it. Good job Lee and everyone else that helped building this lovely world *hugs*
  • ClawswpClawswp Posts: 470 New Member
    edited September 2010
    hi i installed it and it looks awesome. i only played for a little bit, i picked a sim with the little suburb houses all similar styles. I got the sim to run up to the overlook lookout, is really lovely the sim walking through that path and wonderful views. I didnt have tme to explore much but what i saw was really lovely.
    I think it mightve of been a small bit slow for me but i cant really tell cause didnt play it enough and sometimes my PC is tempermental. But it didnt crash or anything. I need to get some time to play for a bit thu. I wonder if some of the trees come out if it would make it more playable for slower machines? Do they make much difference? its only a thought cause i noticed a lot of trees. And its not bigger than some other maps that are out.
    Mind due my pc didnt like FortSim at all and i couldnt play that.

    Anyways it looks really good and is lovely. I hope you get to play it yourself soon!
  • MallyMaeMallyMae Posts: 60
    edited September 2010
    I'm sorry, I am really new to downloading the worlds. What steps do I take after downloading it to my computer? :roll: I'm so lost. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    I hope someone answers this question because I am lost too! I have downloaded winzip, and made folders. Then I downloaded Overlook Bay and put it in the folder. The directions I've seen online say when I start my game, it should be tere but it's not!!! wah... help.... anyone??? thanks =o)
  • LeeMortisLeeMortis Posts: 557 Member
    edited September 2010
    MallyMae wrote:
    I'm sorry, I am really new to downloading the worlds. What steps do I take after downloading it to my computer? :roll: I'm so lost. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

    I hope someone answers this question because I am lost too! I have downloaded winzip, and made folders. Then I downloaded Overlook Bay and put it in the folder. The directions I've seen online say when I start my game, it should be tere but it's not!!! wah... help.... anyone??? thanks =o)

    Hi. Hope you guys get to install the world and enjoy playing it. The install instructions can be found in the OP in this thread, but I believe you may need additional help in extracting the .rar files.

    WinRar can be found here.

    MallyMae - you need to download WinRar - WinZip only extracts .zip-files, while the download is a .rar. Once WinRar is installed on your computer, you just need to double click on my Overlook Bay - RELEASE file and extract the contents somewhere on you computer and then follow the instructions either from the included ReadMe or from the OP in this thread.


    Clawswp:
    Glad you liked what you saw. Do let me know how it continues to play for you.

    I believe the sheer number of trees is a contributing factor, of course, but hardly the problem itself. I find when I start the town with no lots built on, that it flies on my computer. After having built on about half of the empty lots, is when things started running slowly for me - and when the Error Code 12 and random crashes started occurring. So, I'm fairly certain it's all about the accumulation of resources - be it neighborhood objects, plants & trees or lots.


    EVERYONE:

    Keep giving me feedback on this world. It would really help me, and it does inspire me. I still haven't been playing any Sims since I released this world, and I'm still working on my other project... but I can feel that those little computer people are calling on me to direct their lives ;)
  • happyjmehappyjme Posts: 1,741 Member
    edited September 2010
    hey lee! I actually just found this thread now. Im happy that so many simmers can enjoy OB. It is a very fantastic and special world.

    Im in your boat though and it wont last more then 15 min on my computer before it crashes and I have 2GB computer with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+ with Nvidia Gforce 9800.

    Someday I hope we can both play because I enjoyed building all those lots for it, and your a great builder too. Maybe in the mean time before you jump into creating another world, you could just build lots for us fellow simmers to enjoy in our games :)

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