Moving on to february where the first chapter has been posted. The chapter starts in the Kråke-Karlsen household that was introduced last time, but again, I had to switch households because the calendar said it was Kleopatras birthday, so.. here is the chapter link.
I remember after I first posted this update (here) that it felt a little dark, even though it's about a birthday party.. Well, there is a story there, one that can't be seen from the family photos...
@texansky Great updates! Eric and Tracy are very cute together. BTW, that blue house in Chapter 33 is really cute!
It's been ages since I played a firefighter!
Congrats on the release of Alryne Valley!
@MamaSimTee I hope your gardening is doing fine. There's a holiday where I live next Thursday!
@emorrill I love that house in Maplewood Falls!
And Aizen's workout... Oh my... *hot*
Malai is a gorgeous pregnant.
@GraceyManor I love your photos of Hunter's concerts!
@Nikkei_Simmer Great to see updates from you! Good luck with your drives.
--- x --- x ---
Just a few updates from Martin and Fred.
Martin is working on his second novel: "Sunset Boulevard". I'm trying to name his books after films from the past. I read about this film because of Norma Davidson and I've just bought it. XD I'm pretty curious about it.
Fred met Thomas LaFontaine at the club and he tried to flirt with him. It wouldn't work at all. Thomas started getting upset whenever Fred used a romantic interaction. I've never seen a sim so admant to refuse romantic interactions but they became best friends.
Thomas has a daughter, Elizabeth, and I believe he used to be married with Charlotte. He's currently dating his boss Theophraseus Souze.
I've just realized that Martin was thinking about France when he finished fixing the car. He took a trip to France and managed to use it. I wish I had taken a better picture.
In this chapter the house that Ingrid wants to move into to get out of her parents home is well under construction..
Kathrine and Jonathan appear to have plans for something.. maybe to fill the void their oldest daughter moving out will create..
Then we are introduced to Jonathan and Sofies parents, Asgeir and Lucie, and learn something about their past, from when Jonathan and Sofie were younger..
Trigger warning... references to domestic violence....
Bus route 1, Sunset Valley.
Bus route 2, Lake Onebega (University Town).
Bus route 3, Sprottenham.
Bus route 4, Bewickton.
..and this makes me think that I should probably soon introduce the fifth bus route to the town of Pamtere, and that will be a completely new.. yet old storyline, as it will take everything way back to April 1952... before any of the current sims, young or old, was born...
*edit to add the names of the elders playing chess...
>Be the Grim Reaper.
>Finish reaping another Sim's soul.
>You want to take a break before going back to the never ending backlog of sims dying.
>Use this family's laptop.
>Break their laptop because your bony fingers smashed the keyboard.
>Refuse to elaborate.
>Leaves.
Moral of the story: Don't let the Grim Reaper use your laptops.
The day had finally arrived for Hunter to embark on his journey at the Firefighting Academy. He stood at the front door, dressed in his uniform, with a mixture of excitement and nervousness swirling within him. Stephanie approached him, holding their child in her arms, and their eyes met, filled with a bittersweet emotion.
Stephanie spoke first, her voice filled with a mix of pride and sadness. "Hunter, it's finally here. Your dream of becoming a firefighter is coming true."
Hunter nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yes, it is. I'm grateful for your unwavering support, Stephanie. I know it won't be easy, but I'm ready to give it my all."
Stephanie smiled, her eyes brimming with tears. "I believe in you, Hunter. You have the courage, strength, and dedication to succeed. Our child and I will be here cheering you on every step of the way."
Hunter's grip tightened on his duffel bag as he looked into Stephanie's eyes. "Thank you, Stephanie. Your faith in me means the world. I promise to work hard and make you both proud."
Hunter kissed Stephanie's forehead and looked down at their child, their future shining in his eyes. "I love you both more than words can express. I'll be back before you know it."
With a final embrace, Hunter turned towards the door, his resolve firm. Stephanie and their child watched as he stepped out into the world, ready to face the challenges that lay ahead. It was a bittersweet moment, knowing that they would miss him dearly, but also filled with pride and hope for the bright future that awaited them all.
6 months later...
After six months of rigorous training and hard work, Hunter finally graduated from the Fire Academy and earned his certification as a firefighter. Exhausted but elated, he returned home to the familiar warmth of his family. As he entered the house, he found Stephanie in the kitchen, gently feeding their baby. A wide smile spread across Hunter's face as he approached them.
"Stephanie, I'm home!" Hunter exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement.
Stephanie turned, her eyes lighting up with joy as she saw him. "Hunter! Welcome back! We missed you so much," she replied, setting aside the baby's feeding bottle.
Hunter beamed with pride, his gaze shifting to their little one. "Thank you, Stephanie. I did it for us, for our future. I'm so grateful to be back home with my family."
Stephanie reached out to gently stroke their child's cheek. "And we're grateful to have you back, safe and sound. Our hero," she said, a hint of admiration in her voice.
Hunter chuckled, feeling a surge of gratitude. "I'm just doing my part, Stephanie. Now, let me hold our little hero. I've missed this little one's laughter."
Stephanie passed their baby into Hunter's waiting arms, and he cradled their child with tenderness and awe. As they stood together in the kitchen, the air filled with love and the promise of a bright future. Hunter knew that with his family by his side, he was ready to face any challenge that came his way.
I was out most of the past two days, so I only have three pictures for my next post of the Brad McKnight Nothing is Free Challenge. Chapter 42 will be delayed until Monday.
Here is more blog spam from me as I just posted the February chapters for the remaining three towns. Yeah, I do of course think it's a little much with 3-4 new chapters pr. day, but I'm doing it like this, because I want to get this done ASAP to get to where I'm really supposed to be..
..and at the same time, now that I started sharing this here, I feel as though I have committed myself to doing this, so I can't just.. skip a beat or say nothing. I'm trapped in this now. :P
So...
Lake Onebega: Chapter 2.2 - Full Moon Love I
Life goes on for the students.. but this month there was a full moon that seemed to have some effect on the them.
Liz Tarry started developing feelings for her room mate Daniel Vaughn, and at the same time, Jonathan Dirk started to show some interest in Inge in his own strange way by just.. standing next to her towards the end of her class..
..with Inge doing her best to ignore him, because she's taken.
..and Oliver Freddy could've sworn he heard wolves howling in the distance, which made him a little anxious to go outside. He wasn't sure if what he heard was real or not, but as he was used to hearing things that wasn't real, he concluded that it was just another effect from the condition that runs in his family and braved it outside anyway..
Bewickton: Chapter 3.2 - A new addition to the Chitrakaar family
Sofia is still boring everyone with her constant bragging about her swimming pool... Indeed she is giving off the first impression of being a very shallow and materialistic character, and that's what I thought too in the beginining. Also, she is still only a romantic interest of Palash here, and I didn't have to much faith in him getting together with her, so so far she was dismissed as just that, a superficial braggart.. but later it would be seen that there is, of course, more to her than that, and she actually has a personality.. one that comes with opinions that may even be controversial and unpopular to some, but that's who she is.. no apologies made...
...anyway, from one thing to another....
Udisha was just about to put Ole Christian to bed, when her water broke two weeks early and she had to rush to the hospital.. as this is an old update and I hadn't yet built the hospital here (to come later..) the following scenes were skipped and we were left hanging outside, but next time (if or when...) we might join whoever goes there inside.....just because.... That should be.. interesting...
So.. Udisha and her husband Dudleif left the hospital with their latest addition to the family. A little baby girl they called Madhunisha, meaning “pleasant night” since she was, well, born at night. Weighing in at 3105 grams, she was a little lighter than the average, and she was born with the traits clumsy and easily impressed, both inherited from her father.
Sprottenham: Chapter 5.2 - Frozen greenhouse?
The title of this chapter is Frozen Greenhouse, because Solvej had some issues with her newly built greenhouse during winter.. it totally failed to keep the cold out, but really it's all about the babies.. it really is... The picture shows Leya playing the blues for her newest one Orinder as she wants him to be just as musical and artistic as she is... better start when they're young...
Agathi the aspiring crime/horror writer was busy at home caring for her offspring too. This is her holding her daughter Iselin.
..and Solvej decided to take her big belly and go for a walk to the park downtown.
Gaute paid a visit to Baturney and Agathis house where he served as a babysitter for all the kids in the house, maybe even including Baturney who was busy playing with the kids toys, even though he is a fully grown man...
@texansky I've got your world installed and added some houses from those you provided plus the one @Sandraelle built and is on the Exchange.
Then I added some sims from my library. I'm not sure how many, but I had to add extra houses to give them one each.
I added some extra venues that I like to have in my games. I noticed you already added a few of them - the Showtime venues and some from Supernatural and the pet shop. I wasn't sure if Central Park was the Festival lot or not. My game doesn't add extra lots because I turned that off with a mod. So I bulldozed it and replaced it with the Festival lot version and got an error regarding a seasonal marker so I suspect it is the Festival lot version in your world by default.
I added my personalised versions of The Stones Throw Greenhouse and Al Fresco Market as well as one of my roller coaster builds. The Sweet Treats Roller Coaster that uses items from Katy Perry Sweet Treats stuff pack.
Is the Wimborne Empirical Center the Science Facility? The lot type is Fishing Spot. When my sim clicks on it there is none of the expected menu options for a science facility? I'm thinking of maybe adding another lot and placing a science facility to see what happens regarding those menu options.
I noticed there is a big round rocky spot on a beach and wondered what you have planned for that spot.
I'll play a bit and see what happens and post a few pictures later. At the moment it is getting dark on day 1. I'll wait for daylight to take the screenshots.
Thank you for the world. I like what I see. It's flat and had plenty of room for sims to be placed. I usually start a fresh game in a world I'm going to want to send my sims to in my stories. I add all of the venues and things I need so they don't lose their career progress when arriving in a new world that doesn't have their workplace in it. Once I've got it all set up I will copy the .nhd file into the game I want to use it in after installing the world into that Sims 3 folder. I can't use this version to do that though because I've got way too many sims living in it now. I usually only add a single sim to the world so there is someone in it. Can't save the game otherwise. I have also added a Base Camp so sims can easily arrive in the world while travelling. I was pleased to see the portal from Into the Future went onto a community lot instead of one of the home lots.
I also added a big build of mine so I could add a household I haven't played for ages. I discovered I'd accidentally added the version of the build that I'd set up to test the Sims State mod. I don't have that mod in the game right now and don't plan to add it so I got a string of errors when I placed it. Another reason to not u se this nhd file in a future game.
I'll just play for a bit and get some screen shots to post here and get onto making my next Perfect Genetics Video. Yesterday I was still a bit fuzzy in the head after two surgeries in a week but today I'm feeling somewhat sharper so I should cope with getting to work on that video.
@texansky - still no pics but I have solved the problem with the science facility.
First, I was going to bulldoze your building and place a science facility from the Community Lots. Then I had a look and saw you've gone to a lot of trouble with building it and decorating it yourself. So I decided to find the science facility from Lunar Lakes and place it on the lot as all of the community buildings for that world are really small. I searched for ages but couldn't find that science facility. So I launched Lunar Lakes and found it. Sad to say it's HUGE. So I shut down Lunar Lakes and relaunched the game with your world. I had a little think and decided the best option would be to get the science facility from the Base Game as you have used other Base Game lots.
I found the Base Game facility and checked its size against the size of the build you had made. Then I dug two basement levels. I think one would have worked just as well. Then I had to turn on MoveObjects and I placed the Base Game Science Facility in the basement. I had to move one of the flower pots from the front of your build and placed a staicase down into the basement. I haven't tested it yet but The sims should walk down those steps to go to work and you can still have other sims visiting the building you made and use the equipment in it.
It's a bit dark in the world at the moment, but if you can see this the lot now has the Science Facility icon.
Here is the mysterious round patch on the beach. I'm intrigued and wondering what it's for.
EDIT: looks like the icons don't appear in my screenshots.
I tried loading a few new screenshots to Postimg but they were forbidden. I'll have another go later on.
I had another go at loading my screenshots. I got three up.
This first shot shows where I placed the staircase down to the science facility building I buried in the basement.
This shows the basement. I think only a single basement level would have worked. The building in the basement won't show through to the surface.
And this is the lot as it is now. I had to show it in build mode as it was too dark in live mode.
When sims go there to work they will walk down the steps and vanish into the building in the basement.
I've done this before with resorts and placing the resort rabbit holes in the basement.
Another option would be to get the rabbit hole rugs. I have them somewhere but I like this solution better. It works for me and I get to keep the build you used and it's available for sims to visit and work if they want to.
Ingrid's new house is getting close to a finish and will soon be ready for her to move into. Jonathan and Kathrine keeps buying more kids toys... and then they pay a visit to Jonathans parents in the house where he grew up with his sister Sofie..
You might think that everyone would be lucky in this house, with how big it looks. Kids playground and backyard swimming pool... For sure, Asgeir and Lucie made a lot of money from their careers and there was no shortage of material goods... but..
..even though nowadays Asgeir and Lucie again live under the same roof, they still live pretty separate lives and hardly talk to each other...
Ingrid wonders about grandma and grandpas peculiar living arrangement and asks grandma about it.. "Why do you have your own apartment in grandpas house? Why aren't you living together?", but Lucie ignores her granddaughters questions and appears to focus intensely on the video game instead...
Lake Onebega: Chapter 2.3 - Romance...?
Liz Tarry is still deep in being enamoured with Daniel Vaughn, making her act more absent minded then usual.
Inge is still on her mission to make friends, with only mild to moderate (or non-existant..) success at best..
..before playing a wicked game of Sim City on the computer bombarding cities with meteors, tornadoes and pool ladder shattering earthquakes.. well, don't hate the game.. right?
Sprottenham: Chapter 6.1 - Crime doesn't pay?
In this update we learn that Baturney goes to bed with his socks on... and even worse, it's those disgusting finger socks.. ew.. how dare you!!? >:(
Agathi struggles to keep her house clean, doing her best to balance her job and taking care of the children, and her husband who contributes absolutely nothing in the house..
..and then Robert and his wife Sandra has gone hard on spending money this month for some reason..
Definately not suspicious at all..
Solvej and Patrik, along with Rune moved to a new house, "The Frumpenheimer" on Southfield Road 15. Still preferring the rural living, though.
@Karritz
I'm glad to hear that your surgeries went well and you are on the mend.
Thanks for taking the time to load my world and make it your own. Did you have enough lots to add your choice of venues?
I did provide a handful of extra community lots for that purpose. I tried to include the strangely odd-sized lots in the world (ie: the Bistro, Flying V's Coffeehouse, Mick's Master Karaoke), and checked the lot sizes of the venues and other community lots I didn't include to be sure there were appropriate lot sizes available for them. I figured that any others that I didn't include could be placed on a slightly larger lot.
In regards to the Park, it probably was the festival lot. I honestly don't remember as I am playing it without most of the community lots placed and only have Central Park (not the festival lot) right now in my game.
Yes, the Wimborne Empirical Centre is the science facility. Because there is fishing available behind the building, the type shows as a fishing spot even though it is technically a science facility.
I put a Jinx - Raven Shadow rabbit hole door inside the lobby for the science facility. That may be why it didn't show up correctly on the map for you. I should have mentioned that. It makes sense now that you would need to have Jinx's rabbit hole doors installed for that to work. This was my first time doing a custom build, so using the rabbit holes was new to me. I have stairs on either side of the building so it is possible to access the upstairs without using the elevators, which are behind the rabbit hole door.
I didn't realize you could place the entire building in the basement of a custom build. I'll have to experiment with that. I like what you did with the stairs to preserve the building. I would have thought the rabbit hole building would stick out of the ground, but I see that it doesn't. I know with Move Objects On you have to make sure things are still functional as sometimes they aren't lined up right to work correctly.
Behind the lobby desk, there should be double doors that lead to the elevators. If not, you can just copy the external doors and place them inside. The thought was that those working there would go inside and "take the elevator" upstairs to work. I found out that I actually have to click on those doors to get the menu options when I am on the lot. With the science facility in the basement, are you able to get the menu options for the science facility by clicking on the outside of my building?
* Edited to add: I may "steal" your staircase idea and add a second staircase on the other side to match. Or would that cause confusion with going to work? This would eliminate the issue of having custom mods in my world. *
In regards to the rocky spot on the beach:
Spoiler alert!
The round rocky spot on the beach is actually where a meteor had struck long ago. There are spawners for space rocks and other things.
There is a similar spot at the far end of the shore to the south for the same reason.
@Karritz
I put a Jinx - Raven Shadow rabbit hole door inside the lobby for the science facility. That may be why it didn't show up correctly on the map for you. I should have mentioned that. It makes sense now that you would need to have Jinx's rabbit hole doors installed for that to work. This was my first time doing a custom build, so using the rabbit holes was new to me. I have stairs on either side of the building so it is possible to access the upstairs without using the elevators, which are behind the rabbit hole door.
I didn't realize you could place the entire building in the basement of a custom build. I'll have to experiment with that. I like what you did with the stairs to preserve the building. I would have thought the rabbit hole building would stick out of the ground, but I see that it doesn't. I know with Move Objects On you have to make sure things are still functional as sometimes they aren't lined up right to work correctly.
I know many people don't like custom content, but, in my experience, those custom rabbit hole doors put much less strain on the game than buried rabbitholes. Even though you don't see the buried rabbitholes, the game seems to notice them, and my memory use spikes. OK, on a more powerful computer than mine, it may not be an issue, but for me, it is. I always remove buried rabbitholes and the basements they come with from custom worlds that use them and replace them with rugs or doors.
As an aside, the Sunset Valley lot with the Science Center is also a fishing spot, if you look at the lot type. That's basically the original Sims3 setup. I reused the lot for the town I'm currently playing in, with my own building replacing the rabbithole, and of course with those rabbithole doors.
Edit: I already posted a version of this a couple of times, but I always make small edits to adapt the lot to the situation. Here is its current state as seen from the back.
Man y'all, I am so far behind on commenting it's not even cool. Work and real life has been keeping me pretty busy lately... BUT I have been reading all your lovely posts during my downtimes and giving out Awesomes!
There are a few things that I wanted to say:
@GraceyManor I'm really enjoying your story. And I am continually impressed with your writing. I'm getting the feeling that something bad might happen to Hunter (now that he's a Firefighter) and I hope it's not too bad if you know what I mean? I'm looking forward to more.
@Silverofdreams30 I wish you could see the ocean where you live. But yeah there's something about the mountains that you definitely can't beat. I miss the mountains...
Glad to hear you're working on the end of your story. I always like seeing Matthew in the tub or shirtless.
@Brandontaylor Ok, Brandon's clone is very handsome!
Enjoyed your posts.
Hope work isn't stressing you out too much with it being Summer now and all. It was unusually busy at our story today for a Monday. 🤷🏻♀️
@thuggishsplicer Your posts are so etertaining and your wit just cracks me up!
I like the woohoo scene in the fixer-upper car too. (Titanic anyone? )
And Aizen's workout... Oh my... *hot*
^Hee hee, glad you enjoyed that. He is super hot! I can't get enough of him right now. 🤤
Thanks for the sweet comments. 💜
@Turjan *Waves* Nice to see you pop in again for a little bit.
I'm supposed to do a baby gender reveal post. I'll get to it as soon as I can my friends. Promise.
Until then, keep calm and sim on! 👍🏻 I love how active the thread has gotten lately and it's been a joy to read all your posts.
@texansky I haven't thoroughly investigated the world yet. I was having problems focusing and was worried about not getting my next video done so once I had the science facility apparently working, I saved and quit and started work on my video.
As for the science facility, I had none of the usual science facility menus before I added the 'special science facility building' (from my community lots) to the basement. After I made the basement and added the special building I had all of the expected science facility menus and the lot showed the science facility icon. I haven't sent a sim there yet. But I did click on the lot, above ground, and saw the menus were now all available.
I have a powerful computer so adding the building in the basement didn't do anything to the way the game runs. However, basements do have a hit to how the game runs. So maybe having a single level basement might work better than the double basement that I added. I have to be very careful about adding basements in my games where I have vastly overstuffed households as they do give me problems eventually. That's why my Perfect Genetics Challenge household has a single level basement, and it is quite small.
I would prefer to have the special building in the basement than having to add the rugs or doors to my game. I have too many mods already. Previously, before Sims 4 was released, I had a totally un-modded game and wouldn't have downloaded a world that required me to add any mods. I did think of going looking for the rugs before I added the special building but decided against it. I did get them years ago but haven't used them and have no idea where to look for them. I did go on a hunt for them again a few years ago and found they were no longer available to download, but that might have changed since then.
It's up to you how you want to make your world available.
I don't think adding another staircase would confuse the sims. They will go where they want to go.
I do have a mod to enable extra doors to the school buildings to get the students into the building before it's too late. Having too many children in a household can result in some not making it into the school building in time and they just hang around outside and skip school. With the mod to enable extra doors, they quickly organise themselves into groups to use the available doors efficiently. That may be due to the way the mod works though. A bit of play testing would soon reveal if there is an issue or not.
I'll have another look at the world now. I have other new mods in that Sims 3 folder and I haven't tested them yet. I have discovered that they don't seem to crash the game so that's a bonus.
EDIT: I had plenty of houses from the ones you provided. I only added two of my own. One of mine was a house I really like and never remember to put into my games. I made it to fit onto a tiny lot in Twin Towns world. And the other was a large lot that I added because I wanted to add a household that had a few animals in it including a horse. I am thinking of adding another of my builds but haven't done it yet. It's another 64x64 lot that I almost never add to a game. I call it my old Battle Castle and it's the build I originally made my household including the horse to test. So I have no idea why I added them to the other lot that gave me a heap of errors due to it having been converted to use the Sim State mod which I don't currently have in my mods folder and don't plan to add to the folder.
The old Castle
The castle has a basement garden, kitchen and dungeons so it might cause some extra work for the computer. It is on the exchange because I built it long before I added any mods to my game. So it has no mods or CC in it.
@texansky I'm in the game now and remembered I wanted a 40x40 lot on a corner to place my Al Fresco market and finally found one. I wanted some 30x30 lots not on corners and don't think I came across one of those. Otherwise all is good so far.
@emorrill Thanks, good to see you, too. I hope you enjoy being busy . Looking forward to seeing the baby of your story couple (for some reason, in my mind, I put them into NYC ). Anyway, didn't you mention you didn't know the Reaper calls you on the landline whenever someone your sim knows dies? Which made me think you never played generationally. I often had longer lifespans, which somehow synchronized generations. There were weeks where the landline was quiet, and then comes "culling season", where the landline rings several times a day, often in the middle of the night. Sometimes, I even just deleted the phone, because it just got too much.
I just tried to get through more generations than usual by using short lifespans. It isn't for me. You never get to know the sims properly, the landline rings every day, and the savefile bloats even more quickly from all those sims racing through their lives and deaths. Let's see how long that lasts, but it isn't good for posting here.
Births are much more pleasant. Looking forward to seeing where your story goes.
@Karritz I was thinking of your computer when I wrote my last post. I can't really run families with more than 12 members, and "run" is a generous word in that case. I like to keep it at seven or below. I think my processor is the bottleneck in my computer, and for some reason, that means more stuff ends up in RAM. Buried rabbitholes cause stutters when I point the camera at them in my case.
The science center functions are provided by the door of the rabbithole, which is why you can use rugs or custom doors with the same function. I loaded up a completely fresh Sunset Valley (I didn't even choose a sim yet) and went to "Edit Town", and you can see that the lot is a fishing spot:
Good luck with your video!
@texansky I sent my sim to the Science Facility to attend Logic Class.
There was a problem. She dropped the instruction.
I made her walk down the steps. She just stood there when I told her to go to class.
I did a few things. No change.
I made the basement bigger. She walked around the side of the building and went to class. I had placed it in back to front with no room at the sides. What I thought was the front door was just decor. Once she could actually get to the front door she walked through it and went to class.
So it looks like it'll work provided sims can actually get to the front door.
Comments
Love is Love - Chapter 40 has been published to The Legacy Report.
Sunset Valley:
Chapter 10.3 - February 2022 - Kleopatras birthday party
Kleopatra anxious to blow out the candles, with her cousin (and neighbour) Lise-Veronica already celebrating.
I remember after I first posted this update (here) that it felt a little dark, even though it's about a birthday party.. Well, there is a story there, one that can't be seen from the family photos...
Sub blogs: #01 Sunset Valley. #02: Lake Onebega #03: Sprottenham #04: Bewickton
@Shadow_Assassin Your sims are very unique.
Continue reading:
It's been ages since I played a firefighter!
Congrats on the release of Alryne Valley!
@MamaSimTee I hope your gardening is doing fine. There's a holiday where I live next Thursday!
@emorrill I love that house in Maplewood Falls!
And Aizen's workout... Oh my... *hot*
Malai is a gorgeous pregnant.
@GraceyManor I love your photos of Hunter's concerts!
@Nikkei_Simmer Great to see updates from you! Good luck with your drives.
--- x --- x ---
Just a few updates from Martin and Fred.
Martin is working on his second novel: "Sunset Boulevard". I'm trying to name his books after films from the past. I read about this film because of Norma Davidson and I've just bought it. XD I'm pretty curious about it.
Fred met Thomas LaFontaine at the club and he tried to flirt with him. It wouldn't work at all. Thomas started getting upset whenever Fred used a romantic interaction. I've never seen a sim so admant to refuse romantic interactions but they became best friends.
Thomas has a daughter, Elizabeth, and I believe he used to be married with Charlotte. He's currently dating his boss Theophraseus Souze.
I've just realized that Martin was thinking about France when he finished fixing the car. He took a trip to France and managed to use it. I wish I had taken a better picture.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Generation Four - Chapter 41 has been published to The Legacy Report.
Chapter 10.4 - February 2022 part II: Future plans and past tense..
In this chapter the house that Ingrid wants to move into to get out of her parents home is well under construction..
Kathrine and Jonathan appear to have plans for something.. maybe to fill the void their oldest daughter moving out will create..
Then we are introduced to Jonathan and Sofies parents, Asgeir and Lucie, and learn something about their past, from when Jonathan and Sofie were younger..
Trigger warning... references to domestic violence....
Bus route 1, Sunset Valley.
Bus route 2, Lake Onebega (University Town).
Bus route 3, Sprottenham.
Bus route 4, Bewickton.
..and this makes me think that I should probably soon introduce the fifth bus route to the town of Pamtere, and that will be a completely new.. yet old storyline, as it will take everything way back to April 1952... before any of the current sims, young or old, was born...
*edit to add the names of the elders playing chess...
Sub blogs: #01 Sunset Valley. #02: Lake Onebega #03: Sprottenham #04: Bewickton
>Finish reaping another Sim's soul.
>You want to take a break before going back to the never ending backlog of sims dying.
>Use this family's laptop.
>Break their laptop because your bony fingers smashed the keyboard.
>Refuse to elaborate.
>Leaves.
Moral of the story: Don't let the Grim Reaper use your laptops.
The day had finally arrived for Hunter to embark on his journey at the Firefighting Academy. He stood at the front door, dressed in his uniform, with a mixture of excitement and nervousness swirling within him. Stephanie approached him, holding their child in her arms, and their eyes met, filled with a bittersweet emotion.
Stephanie spoke first, her voice filled with a mix of pride and sadness. "Hunter, it's finally here. Your dream of becoming a firefighter is coming true."
Hunter nodded, taking a deep breath. "Yes, it is. I'm grateful for your unwavering support, Stephanie. I know it won't be easy, but I'm ready to give it my all."
Stephanie smiled, her eyes brimming with tears. "I believe in you, Hunter. You have the courage, strength, and dedication to succeed. Our child and I will be here cheering you on every step of the way."
Hunter's grip tightened on his duffel bag as he looked into Stephanie's eyes. "Thank you, Stephanie. Your faith in me means the world. I promise to work hard and make you both proud."
Hunter kissed Stephanie's forehead and looked down at their child, their future shining in his eyes. "I love you both more than words can express. I'll be back before you know it."
With a final embrace, Hunter turned towards the door, his resolve firm. Stephanie and their child watched as he stepped out into the world, ready to face the challenges that lay ahead. It was a bittersweet moment, knowing that they would miss him dearly, but also filled with pride and hope for the bright future that awaited them all.
6 months later...
After six months of rigorous training and hard work, Hunter finally graduated from the Fire Academy and earned his certification as a firefighter. Exhausted but elated, he returned home to the familiar warmth of his family. As he entered the house, he found Stephanie in the kitchen, gently feeding their baby. A wide smile spread across Hunter's face as he approached them.
"Stephanie, I'm home!" Hunter exclaimed, his voice filled with excitement.
Stephanie turned, her eyes lighting up with joy as she saw him. "Hunter! Welcome back! We missed you so much," she replied, setting aside the baby's feeding bottle.
Hunter beamed with pride, his gaze shifting to their little one. "Thank you, Stephanie. I did it for us, for our future. I'm so grateful to be back home with my family."
Stephanie reached out to gently stroke their child's cheek. "And we're grateful to have you back, safe and sound. Our hero," she said, a hint of admiration in her voice.
Hunter chuckled, feeling a surge of gratitude. "I'm just doing my part, Stephanie. Now, let me hold our little hero. I've missed this little one's laughter."
Stephanie passed their baby into Hunter's waiting arms, and he cradled their child with tenderness and awe. As they stood together in the kitchen, the air filled with love and the promise of a bright future. Hunter knew that with his family by his side, he was ready to face any challenge that came his way.
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
I was out most of the past two days, so I only have three pictures for my next post of the Brad McKnight Nothing is Free Challenge. Chapter 42 will be delayed until Monday.
..and at the same time, now that I started sharing this here, I feel as though I have committed myself to doing this, so I can't just.. skip a beat or say nothing. I'm trapped in this now. :P
So...
Lake Onebega:
Chapter 2.2 - Full Moon Love I
Life goes on for the students.. but this month there was a full moon that seemed to have some effect on the them.
Liz Tarry started developing feelings for her room mate Daniel Vaughn, and at the same time, Jonathan Dirk started to show some interest in Inge in his own strange way by just.. standing next to her towards the end of her class..
..with Inge doing her best to ignore him, because she's taken.
..and Oliver Freddy could've sworn he heard wolves howling in the distance, which made him a little anxious to go outside. He wasn't sure if what he heard was real or not, but as he was used to hearing things that wasn't real, he concluded that it was just another effect from the condition that runs in his family and braved it outside anyway..
Bewickton:
Chapter 3.2 - A new addition to the Chitrakaar family
Sofia is still boring everyone with her constant bragging about her swimming pool... Indeed she is giving off the first impression of being a very shallow and materialistic character, and that's what I thought too in the beginining. Also, she is still only a romantic interest of Palash here, and I didn't have to much faith in him getting together with her, so so far she was dismissed as just that, a superficial braggart.. but later it would be seen that there is, of course, more to her than that, and she actually has a personality.. one that comes with opinions that may even be controversial and unpopular to some, but that's who she is.. no apologies made...
...anyway, from one thing to another....
Udisha was just about to put Ole Christian to bed, when her water broke two weeks early and she had to rush to the hospital.. as this is an old update and I hadn't yet built the hospital here (to come later..) the following scenes were skipped and we were left hanging outside, but next time (if or when...) we might join whoever goes there inside.....just because....
So.. Udisha and her husband Dudleif left the hospital with their latest addition to the family. A little baby girl they called Madhunisha, meaning “pleasant night” since she was, well, born at night. Weighing in at 3105 grams, she was a little lighter than the average, and she was born with the traits clumsy and easily impressed, both inherited from her father.
Sprottenham:
Chapter 5.2 - Frozen greenhouse?
The title of this chapter is Frozen Greenhouse, because Solvej had some issues with her newly built greenhouse during winter.. it totally failed to keep the cold out, but really it's all about the babies.. it really is... The picture shows Leya playing the blues for her newest one Orinder as she wants him to be just as musical and artistic as she is... better start when they're young...
Agathi the aspiring crime/horror writer was busy at home caring for her offspring too. This is her holding her daughter Iselin.
..and Solvej decided to take her big belly and go for a walk to the park downtown.
Gaute paid a visit to Baturney and Agathis house where he served as a babysitter for all the kids in the house, maybe even including Baturney who was busy playing with the kids toys, even though he is a fully grown man...
Sub blogs: #01 Sunset Valley. #02: Lake Onebega #03: Sprottenham #04: Bewickton
In Memory of Patti Friendly-McKnight - Chapter 42 has been published to The Legacy Report.
Then I added some sims from my library. I'm not sure how many, but I had to add extra houses to give them one each.
I added some extra venues that I like to have in my games. I noticed you already added a few of them - the Showtime venues and some from Supernatural and the pet shop. I wasn't sure if Central Park was the Festival lot or not. My game doesn't add extra lots because I turned that off with a mod. So I bulldozed it and replaced it with the Festival lot version and got an error regarding a seasonal marker so I suspect it is the Festival lot version in your world by default.
I added my personalised versions of The Stones Throw Greenhouse and Al Fresco Market as well as one of my roller coaster builds. The Sweet Treats Roller Coaster that uses items from Katy Perry Sweet Treats stuff pack.
Is the Wimborne Empirical Center the Science Facility? The lot type is Fishing Spot. When my sim clicks on it there is none of the expected menu options for a science facility? I'm thinking of maybe adding another lot and placing a science facility to see what happens regarding those menu options.
I noticed there is a big round rocky spot on a beach and wondered what you have planned for that spot.
I'll play a bit and see what happens and post a few pictures later. At the moment it is getting dark on day 1. I'll wait for daylight to take the screenshots.
Thank you for the world. I like what I see. It's flat and had plenty of room for sims to be placed. I usually start a fresh game in a world I'm going to want to send my sims to in my stories. I add all of the venues and things I need so they don't lose their career progress when arriving in a new world that doesn't have their workplace in it. Once I've got it all set up I will copy the .nhd file into the game I want to use it in after installing the world into that Sims 3 folder. I can't use this version to do that though because I've got way too many sims living in it now. I usually only add a single sim to the world so there is someone in it. Can't save the game otherwise. I have also added a Base Camp so sims can easily arrive in the world while travelling. I was pleased to see the portal from Into the Future went onto a community lot instead of one of the home lots.
I also added a big build of mine so I could add a household I haven't played for ages. I discovered I'd accidentally added the version of the build that I'd set up to test the Sims State mod. I don't have that mod in the game right now and don't plan to add it so I got a string of errors when I placed it. Another reason to not u se this nhd file in a future game.
I'll just play for a bit and get some screen shots to post here and get onto making my next Perfect Genetics Video. Yesterday I was still a bit fuzzy in the head after two surgeries in a week but today I'm feeling somewhat sharper so I should cope with getting to work on that video.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
First, I was going to bulldoze your building and place a science facility from the Community Lots. Then I had a look and saw you've gone to a lot of trouble with building it and decorating it yourself. So I decided to find the science facility from Lunar Lakes and place it on the lot as all of the community buildings for that world are really small. I searched for ages but couldn't find that science facility. So I launched Lunar Lakes and found it. Sad to say it's HUGE. So I shut down Lunar Lakes and relaunched the game with your world. I had a little think and decided the best option would be to get the science facility from the Base Game as you have used other Base Game lots.
I found the Base Game facility and checked its size against the size of the build you had made. Then I dug two basement levels. I think one would have worked just as well. Then I had to turn on MoveObjects and I placed the Base Game Science Facility in the basement. I had to move one of the flower pots from the front of your build and placed a staicase down into the basement. I haven't tested it yet but The sims should walk down those steps to go to work and you can still have other sims visiting the building you made and use the equipment in it.
It's a bit dark in the world at the moment, but if you can see this the lot now has the Science Facility icon.
Here is the mysterious round patch on the beach. I'm intrigued and wondering what it's for.
EDIT: looks like the icons don't appear in my screenshots.
I tried loading a few new screenshots to Postimg but they were forbidden. I'll have another go later on.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
This first shot shows where I placed the staircase down to the science facility building I buried in the basement.
This shows the basement. I think only a single basement level would have worked. The building in the basement won't show through to the surface.
And this is the lot as it is now. I had to show it in build mode as it was too dark in live mode.
When sims go there to work they will walk down the steps and vanish into the building in the basement.
I've done this before with resorts and placing the resort rabbit holes in the basement.
Another option would be to get the rabbit hole rugs. I have them somewhere but I like this solution better. It works for me and I get to keep the build you used and it's available for sims to visit and work if they want to.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
Where on the timeline? March 2022 (Spring season).
Sunset Valley
Chapter 11.1 - Jonathan and Sofies parents, part I - The words unspoken.
Ingrid's new house is getting close to a finish and will soon be ready for her to move into. Jonathan and Kathrine keeps buying more kids toys... and then they pay a visit to Jonathans parents in the house where he grew up with his sister Sofie..
You might think that everyone would be lucky in this house, with how big it looks. Kids playground and backyard swimming pool... For sure, Asgeir and Lucie made a lot of money from their careers and there was no shortage of material goods... but..
..even though nowadays Asgeir and Lucie again live under the same roof, they still live pretty separate lives and hardly talk to each other...
Ingrid wonders about grandma and grandpas peculiar living arrangement and asks grandma about it.. "Why do you have your own apartment in grandpas house? Why aren't you living together?", but Lucie ignores her granddaughters questions and appears to focus intensely on the video game instead...
Lake Onebega:
Chapter 2.3 - Romance...?
Liz Tarry is still deep in being enamoured with Daniel Vaughn, making her act more absent minded then usual.
Inge is still on her mission to make friends, with only mild to moderate (or non-existant..) success at best..
..before playing a wicked game of Sim City on the computer bombarding cities with meteors, tornadoes and pool ladder shattering earthquakes.. well, don't hate the game.. right?
Sprottenham:
Chapter 6.1 - Crime doesn't pay?
In this update we learn that Baturney goes to bed with his socks on... and even worse, it's those disgusting finger socks.. ew.. how dare you!!? >:(
Agathi struggles to keep her house clean, doing her best to balance her job and taking care of the children, and her husband who contributes absolutely nothing in the house..
..and then Robert and his wife Sandra has gone hard on spending money this month for some reason..
Definately not suspicious at all..
Solvej and Patrik, along with Rune moved to a new house, "The Frumpenheimer" on Southfield Road 15. Still preferring the rural living, though.
Bewickton:
Chapter 4.1 - March 2022 - Lets make paintings and songs about babies and fish...
Kajsa Tangstad from "The Bushweeds" gives birth to a baby boy called Nikolai right outside her home. I have yet to figure out who the father is..
Everything is as usual in Udishas home.
Laranya does a guest lecture for an art class at the local university college.
Bhavan gets promoted at his job and is now an Assistant Fire Chief. Only one step to go to fulfill his lifetime wish.
Palash and Sofia has gone behind my back to get engaged, something I didn't see coming.. I still don't know who proposed to who...
Sub blogs: #01 Sunset Valley. #02: Lake Onebega #03: Sprottenham #04: Bewickton
I'm glad to hear that your surgeries went well and you are on the mend.
Thanks for taking the time to load my world and make it your own. Did you have enough lots to add your choice of venues?
I did provide a handful of extra community lots for that purpose. I tried to include the strangely odd-sized lots in the world (ie: the Bistro, Flying V's Coffeehouse, Mick's Master Karaoke), and checked the lot sizes of the venues and other community lots I didn't include to be sure there were appropriate lot sizes available for them. I figured that any others that I didn't include could be placed on a slightly larger lot.
In regards to the Park, it probably was the festival lot. I honestly don't remember as I am playing it without most of the community lots placed and only have Central Park (not the festival lot) right now in my game.
Yes, the Wimborne Empirical Centre is the science facility. Because there is fishing available behind the building, the type shows as a fishing spot even though it is technically a science facility.
I put a Jinx - Raven Shadow rabbit hole door inside the lobby for the science facility. That may be why it didn't show up correctly on the map for you. I should have mentioned that. It makes sense now that you would need to have Jinx's rabbit hole doors installed for that to work. This was my first time doing a custom build, so using the rabbit holes was new to me. I have stairs on either side of the building so it is possible to access the upstairs without using the elevators, which are behind the rabbit hole door.
I didn't realize you could place the entire building in the basement of a custom build. I'll have to experiment with that. I like what you did with the stairs to preserve the building. I would have thought the rabbit hole building would stick out of the ground, but I see that it doesn't. I know with Move Objects On you have to make sure things are still functional as sometimes they aren't lined up right to work correctly.
Behind the lobby desk, there should be double doors that lead to the elevators. If not, you can just copy the external doors and place them inside. The thought was that those working there would go inside and "take the elevator" upstairs to work. I found out that I actually have to click on those doors to get the menu options when I am on the lot. With the science facility in the basement, are you able to get the menu options for the science facility by clicking on the outside of my building?
* Edited to add: I may "steal" your staircase idea and add a second staircase on the other side to match. Or would that cause confusion with going to work? This would eliminate the issue of having custom mods in my world. *
In regards to the rocky spot on the beach:
Spoiler alert!
There is a similar spot at the far end of the shore to the south for the same reason.
Have you found the abandoned mine yet?
Just a Little More Time - Chapter 43 has been published to The Legacy Report.
As an aside, the Sunset Valley lot with the Science Center is also a fishing spot, if you look at the lot type. That's basically the original Sims3 setup. I reused the lot for the town I'm currently playing in, with my own building replacing the rabbithole, and of course with those rabbithole doors.
Edit: I already posted a version of this a couple of times, but I always make small edits to adapt the lot to the situation. Here is its current state as seen from the back.
There are a few things that I wanted to say:
@GraceyManor I'm really enjoying your story. And I am continually impressed with your writing.
@Silverofdreams30 I wish you could see the ocean where you live.
Glad to hear you're working on the end of your story.
@Nikkei_Simmer Hey! You're back!
@Brandontaylor Ok, Brandon's clone is very handsome!
Enjoyed your posts.
Hope work isn't stressing you out too much with it being Summer now and all. It was unusually busy at our story today for a Monday. 🤷🏻♀️
@thuggishsplicer Your posts are so etertaining and your wit just cracks me up!
I like the woohoo scene in the fixer-upper car too.
Thanks for the sweet comments. 💜
@Turjan *Waves* Nice to see you pop in again for a little bit.
I'm supposed to do a baby gender reveal post. I'll get to it as soon as I can my friends. Promise.
Until then, keep calm and sim on! 👍🏻 I love how active the thread has gotten lately and it's been a joy to read all your posts.
As for the science facility, I had none of the usual science facility menus before I added the 'special science facility building' (from my community lots) to the basement. After I made the basement and added the special building I had all of the expected science facility menus and the lot showed the science facility icon. I haven't sent a sim there yet. But I did click on the lot, above ground, and saw the menus were now all available.
I have a powerful computer so adding the building in the basement didn't do anything to the way the game runs. However, basements do have a hit to how the game runs. So maybe having a single level basement might work better than the double basement that I added. I have to be very careful about adding basements in my games where I have vastly overstuffed households as they do give me problems eventually. That's why my Perfect Genetics Challenge household has a single level basement, and it is quite small.
I would prefer to have the special building in the basement than having to add the rugs or doors to my game. I have too many mods already. Previously, before Sims 4 was released, I had a totally un-modded game and wouldn't have downloaded a world that required me to add any mods. I did think of going looking for the rugs before I added the special building but decided against it. I did get them years ago but haven't used them and have no idea where to look for them. I did go on a hunt for them again a few years ago and found they were no longer available to download, but that might have changed since then.
It's up to you how you want to make your world available.
I don't think adding another staircase would confuse the sims. They will go where they want to go.
I do have a mod to enable extra doors to the school buildings to get the students into the building before it's too late. Having too many children in a household can result in some not making it into the school building in time and they just hang around outside and skip school. With the mod to enable extra doors, they quickly organise themselves into groups to use the available doors efficiently. That may be due to the way the mod works though. A bit of play testing would soon reveal if there is an issue or not.
I'll have another look at the world now. I have other new mods in that Sims 3 folder and I haven't tested them yet. I have discovered that they don't seem to crash the game so that's a bonus.
EDIT: I had plenty of houses from the ones you provided. I only added two of my own. One of mine was a house I really like and never remember to put into my games. I made it to fit onto a tiny lot in Twin Towns world. And the other was a large lot that I added because I wanted to add a household that had a few animals in it including a horse. I am thinking of adding another of my builds but haven't done it yet. It's another 64x64 lot that I almost never add to a game. I call it my old Battle Castle and it's the build I originally made my household including the horse to test. So I have no idea why I added them to the other lot that gave me a heap of errors due to it having been converted to use the Sim State mod which I don't currently have in my mods folder and don't plan to add to the folder.
The old Castle
The castle has a basement garden, kitchen and dungeons so it might cause some extra work for the computer. It is on the exchange because I built it long before I added any mods to my game. So it has no mods or CC in it.
https://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=7653727
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
And now my interest is piqued at what you are hoping doesn't happen. XD
https://graceymanorsims3.tumblr.com/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
I just tried to get through more generations than usual by using short lifespans. It isn't for me. You never get to know the sims properly, the landline rings every day, and the savefile bloats even more quickly from all those sims racing through their lives and deaths. Let's see how long that lasts, but it isn't good for posting here.
Births are much more pleasant. Looking forward to seeing where your story goes.
@Karritz I was thinking of your computer when I wrote my last post. I can't really run families with more than 12 members, and "run" is a generous word in that case. I like to keep it at seven or below. I think my processor is the bottleneck in my computer, and for some reason, that means more stuff ends up in RAM. Buried rabbitholes cause stutters when I point the camera at them in my case.
The science center functions are provided by the door of the rabbithole, which is why you can use rugs or custom doors with the same function. I loaded up a completely fresh Sunset Valley (I didn't even choose a sim yet) and went to "Edit Town", and you can see that the lot is a fishing spot:
Good luck with your video!
There was a problem. She dropped the instruction.
I made her walk down the steps. She just stood there when I told her to go to class.
I did a few things. No change.
I made the basement bigger. She walked around the side of the building and went to class. I had placed it in back to front with no room at the sides. What I thought was the front door was just decor. Once she could actually get to the front door she walked through it and went to class.
So it looks like it'll work provided sims can actually get to the front door.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg