I love setting up themed games but I struggle to maintain interest after I've set it up.
That is a concern of mine.
I do enjoy creating things and figuring out how to make things work.
but after that, you get bored with it.
I'm still working out the game play.
Going up the magic levels seem pretty easy, and that could be a good thing.
Once my students reach their goals for the season, I could switch up and play some of the background students and just have them visit Hogwarts and work on their magic.
I am avoiding spell books because they make advancement really easy.
But Dumdbledore will have a complete library. I may use the spell books for all these other sims that I actually won't be playing through Hogwarts and get them some spell and potions abilities quickly. They can sleep at Hogwarts in the houses they belong too because there are extra beds available. It should be fun focusing on one or two sims to change up the pace. And I can play out some stories and be less focused on the other goals.
I think that might keep me interested if I have all these open possibilities and the primary game play isn't a grind.
The grindy element is almost always what puts me off me with large scale saves because it takes a long time to get everything set up and then you have a lot of households to handle once it's done. It happens when I play Harry Potter saves or Game of Thrones saves and even when I made a Vicar of Dibley save right after getting Cottage Living (all those Horton children to account for!) In my current Henford save with all magic families, I started with 7 households but a few of them started to bore me so I recently cut it down to 4 and left the others to their own devices. I'll probably cut it down to 3 or even 2 households later on.
The setting, all the characters, and everything, it's all very impressive! Some times ago I tried to make something similar too, but in TS4 I found that too hard to have all sims in the classrooms or in the great all sitting for long enough, or to keep students from other houses in their respective common rooms (in particular when loading the lot...) In the past I tried that with TS2, making an apartments lot in which each common room was an apartment, and it was so much easier...
But maybe I should try again, because this seems very funny to play!
You can follow the Legacy Miller from my blog and the forum thread, *Chapter 8.16 posted on the 14th of April 2024*
The setting, all the characters, and everything, it's all very impressive!
Some times ago I tried to make something similar too, but in TS4 I found that too hard to have all sims in the classrooms or in the great all sitting for long enough, or to keep students from other houses in their respective common rooms (in particular when loading the lot...)
In the past I tried that with TS2, making an apartments lot in which each common room was an apartment, and it was so much easier...
But maybe I should try again, because this seems very funny to play!
This!
I am currently working through this problem, trying to find the most enjoyable approach.
This is why I haven't posted yet--this issue, plus constant lot fixes as I find more things the lot needs as I play.
And then there are the game play blockers that are keeping me from the fun moments.
There are things the school needs that I can't get because of Seasons and plants, and/or they are not available for purchase.
So you have to cheat and get them from debug. It kind of takes the fun out it because I am wasting time looking for things that I can't get and then I fall back to prep work.
I have three approaches for the main issue--class setting and teaching.
1) The teacher is external to Hogwarts and is visiting to teach the class. Bad Idea. You have no control of the students, and you have no control over doors and other lot features.
Students are all over the place. You can start off in the class room and one student will go off to do their homework outside the class room and then everyone is everywhere. I can't lock them all in the classroom.
And if you tell them to do their homework, they will squat at his feet.
2)Dumbledore Immersion:
Dumbledore is headmaster and is managing professors by inviting them up in their groups.
The Professor is organized in a Student Classroom group. I could just have the student call up the group, but I like having Dumbledore call in the teacher before the students arrive. When the students arrive, the teacher is already there and I can have them all go into the classroom and lock the door. Which isn't the case here, because Madame Hooch wandered in to clean up a cup. Dumbledore also had the Support Staff in and they were going around doing their Club tasks.
It works fairly well. The downside is you don't have control of Snape, but he automatically begins helping students with their homework.
And you do have to lock the doors even though the students were pretty manageable with the the Do Homework Together social. Sybil decided to park herself at a student desk, which caused a student to go to a desk outside the classroom and another student went with them. When a student finishes their homework, they go off and find anyone else, most likely outside the classroom.
3)Professor Immersion
The Professor is serving as acting-headmaster while Dumbledore is "away". (Doing a home lot swap with the Professor of choice.) You have access to everything--the students, the teacher, and the school. You just lose Dumbledore immersion.
But it does make sense that he may be off doing Hogwart's business.
I have yet to try it fully with Snape because he is currently building his set of spells and potions. The Snape-sim came as a Master level spellcaster, but his spell book was empty of Spells and potions. And I had him trying to gather 1 sample of all the ingredients so he could Copypasto them. So more prep work and less fun play.
I will probably alternate between approaches two and three whenever it feels right.
Another issue is this default school-work/ magic skill progression/ and taking care of needs.
Not that much fun because teens are not fun in the first place. They spend a big chunk of time at school and then come home with depleted needs, foul emotions, homework to do, and usually a skill to build to better their grades.
And then I want them to do magic?
So I will be using vacations days to fully focus on magic. I will consider Summer to be their vacation where I will go off and do other things. Most likely transfer students to their families and transfer the professors to Hogwarts. I can then choose to focus on the professors and build relationships and skill for them, or simply focus on other households.
I have yet to use vacation days because I wanted their school grades at B-A level first.
They will be doing it soon. It is Saturday for them and I would like to send them off to the Magic Realm to see if they can buy better wands and get some brooms. And then I would like to have them go into town and enjoy the pub and buy some drinks that look like Butterbeer.
They will take Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to focus only on Magic.
I hope to make all their goals for the Fall season and spend the rest try to find what other fun things I can do with this instead of prep-work.
Don't get me wrong, the prep-work was fun, but now you just want to get in and have fun from the antics of your sims, not how great it all looks and the possible fun potential.
I am currently going through all the latest shots I took while playing (a lot).
Some funny and interesting things did happen despite this round being more frustrating than fun. The frustration because I feel like I am almost done with the major issues and set up and can finally go for a nice trial run, but can't yet get to it.
I will post when I can, but it should be later this evening. Perhaps 8 hours or more from the time of this post.
Good Morning!
I heard a howl, or was it a shriek, outside the castle walls and investigated it.
It was the Grim Reaper.
If Dementors ever had a king, it would be Grim.
Fortunately he is not here for any of the students.
He's here for this poor old fox.
I've seen this before and I imagine others have too because these old foxes are probably set to die at the start of a game in Henford.
Oh no, it had a mate?
Aww...
What a dark way to start off, I know.
But as Dumbledore says, "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times,"
"...if one only remembers to turn on the light."
Mornings can be stunning here.
Students are up, getting ready for school.
Michelle had time to exercise off her morning rage.
I was curious about the view she had from her treadmill.
Sweet.
It's not long before they are out the door, sporting new clothes.
I believe I will save these brightly colored jackets and make them their spring uniforms.
It was around around this time that I got an odd social exchange popup between Marielle Bloom and Professor Snape.
Wondering what sparked it, I locked in on them to investigate.
"A heartfelt sentiment I am sure, Miss Bloom."
She had "Closer from Happy Memories" and "Friendly Advice" sentiments."
I find the sentiments suspect.
"Ten points... from Gryffindor."
And so does Snape.
The strange thing is, I have never seen a teen actually prank a toilet.
I only find the evidence. Marielle and Gryffindor will get the blame for that one however. I am tracking things like that in the Miscellaneous category for house points.
Support Staff
This day's activities were about bringing in the Support Staff for Hogwarts, as well as letting Professor Snape teach a class.
I had Argus Filch bring Mrs. Norris.
I had hoped for her to her live at Hogwarts, until I found out pets take up a sim slot in The Sims 4. I have Cat's and Dogs, but have not touched it other that looking at it the day it launched.
Irma Pince is the Hogwarts Librarian.
She has Bookworm and Neat traits.
I hope with the addition of club commands, I will see her cleaning up books left out at Hogwarts.
I have Rolanda Hooch just to have her around.
She's the Quiddich coach and referee, and flying broom instructor.
I was doing the photograph and key tactic again.
I took liberties with her hairstyle. I did not like it in the movie.
Apparently Rita Skeeter wrote a mean article making fun of her hair, so she had her hair magically retextured.
I should have a good use for Filch in the summer season. He can move in and upgrade all the appliances.
I would also like to invite him over just before students are in bed and just have him wander around repair and cleaning.
However, during school terms, I want to see if I can have fun by having students sneak out of their common rooms to grab useful potions, or satisfy any whims. They will probably need teleportation magic to avoid him, since sims have psychic abilities when it comes to the location of other sims.
Those tasks completed, Dumbledore brought in Professor Snape.
This went better than I thought it would, despite not having control of Professor Snape.
I quickly learned that I should lock the door to prevent interruptions and having students wander off.
I often have autonomy off in these situations, but I don't know if I had it off in this case. The staff sims were going about their activities.
It would be great if they keep going despite autonomy.
This was great, but I do wish I could have Snape make mean and mischief socials at opportune moments.
Side note, I love his potions class that I put in. I will probably put in a fireplace later, but I am pleased with the layout.
I was so busy with Severus Snape and the students that I did not see what the Support Staff had done.
I only noticed Madame Hooch coming in to collect a coffee cup and Filch talking to plants in the greenhouse.
It was a very good play session.
Fail
The next day day, I took control of the Professor's household and discoverd that Snape and Minerva did not know any spells or potions.
They had Master Level status, but could not cast a spell, nor brew a potion.
So I sent them to Hogwarts to take advantage of all it offered.
They jumped right in worked on their potions and spells.
Professor Trelawney settle into her Divination class room and began practicing her Medium skill.
It turns out she had already mastered it.
So I had her meditate and work on her Wellness skill instead.
[Note to self: Add a teapot or two, if there is room.]
It should be fun to send her students on a field trip, in the Spring, to one of Henford-on-Bagley's ancient sites and lead a meditation group there.
I don't know what put it in my head to have them practice potions and spells. I don't have time for it.
The best thing would be for them to learn it from the spells and potions books.
It was really annoying to have them pick up a book in the west side of the lot and walk all the way to the east side just read it in a bedroom when they could take a seat in Dumbledore's office.
They had only learned a few spells and potions each when the students began to arrive.
I was curious to see if Snape could lead a class without me controlling the students.
It was a total failure.
It was like trying to heard cats.
I would ask them to do their homework and they would kneel at his feet and begin their homework.
This was clearly not working, so I switched from the professor's household back to Hogwarts.
Taking Control
Picking up where I left off, I switched control to Hogwarts and began to bring the students back to potions class.
I really wanted to get their homework in. Some students were still at C average.
But I discovered that was because they had not reached their skill point goal.
Making it worse, those students that needed the skill point were angry, tense, or sad about what happened at school this day, or simply because their fun levels were very low.
So I went about the student roundup to set things right.
Professor Trelawney decided to sit in on the class.
Thereby taking up a students seat and backing them up.
Monique decided to do her homework in her common room and Michelle followed her to do the same.
Snape decided he wanted to do the dishes.
Michelle needed a skill point to advance in class.
She almost had another point for ther video game skill, so I had her play BlickBlock.
Nanami had the same situation, but she hates video games.
I forced it since she was almost there.
Homework done, emotions in check, skilled points earned, I had Dumbledore put up a curfew board.
The students will get out to see more of Heford on Saturday. but they can't stay out past 11 o'clock.
I went back to making McGonagall and Snape the powerful witch and wizard they are suppose to be.
Sybil continued her meditation.
There was a lot of back and fourth, getting books and returning books.
Sybil had an option for an emotional surge and decided to share it with Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall.
Snape seems to be thinking, "Now that's just silly."
They finally had enough useful potions and spells to end the night and go home.
Hadgrid was given a job as a Gardener.
I am letting him keep it for now, but the uniform. I couldn't let him wear that.
Better.
Acting Headmaster Snape
Snape needs to take over so he can whip his potions class into shape.
I want full allotment of potions on those shelves.
Now he has the power to improve the few potions he has and duplicate them.
But first, their is a more pressing issue.
The students need ingredients to make potions.
The garden is hardly delivering anything at all.
All he needs is the missing ingredients they don't have and he can copypasto more.
I love having a gate to the Magic Realm here.
he check the gardens, but there was nothing useful there.
He needed a wand, as well as ingredients.
Not much to be found here either.
He has ingredients to make potions they don't have yet, but needs more.
Why is it so hard to find Parsley?
It's time for desperate measures.
"How long does it take to get parsley?"
[Grumble]
It's clear that getting a school of magic up and running and self-sufficient is a long term process.
This is when I noticed the kitchens. This is where the house elves prepares all Hogwarts food. It's good for immersion and story telling, but I have no use for it. No one cooks at Hogwarts. The food just appears, so the buffet tables serve alright here, despite the cost. But then I got the idea to store a library of ingredients here.
To get this school operating, we have to raid buy/debug.
So now we have a source.
Better yet, the students can start building up a good supply when they learn the copypasto spell.
The frustrating part is the fish are not usable.
They can't be placed in the inventory, or the refrigerator. If there is a special version that is usable in debug mode, let me know. Otherwise my sims are going to have become fishermen.
Finally!
Something to work with.
Potions Master
Most of the students know a spell, but they all must learn their first potion soon.
The weekend is coming and it's going to be a working weekend followed by three full days of making magic.
[Boom!]
(Sorry about the UI, forgot to toggle it off.)
"Oh, Professor, what did you do?"
This is a bit frightening.
Snape is down.
Monique is down.
Marielle is down.
Worst Snape ever!
"?"
"Well, just wait until Draco Malfoy's father hears about this."
"Professor?"
"Uhhg... We're okay."
"It's not dangerous, just overpowering. See to Miss Brown, will you?"
"How do you feel, Miss Bloom?"
"I feel fine!"
"Good, why don't you go to your room and get some sleep."
Cheerful girl.
"Should have been a Hufflepuff."
I guess part of the challenge is to also make a legendary Snape.
At least the Potions classroom is looking legendary now.
Changes and Additions
A lot has been added since page one.
The Original Hogwarts did not come with a potions rooms, but there seems to be a perfect location for it, so just added a room.
It's nice to know I have the kitchens to do something with in the future I am already thinking about stealing a space to make an office and bedroom for Filch.
I have some minor tweaks to the ground floor.
I made my greenhouse wider to get more of the round pots in.
An observatory has been added next to it. And I added the wishing well to one of the courtyards.
I turned a study into a bedroom, for the Headmaster or a visiting professor serving as headmaster.
On the second floor, I added another bedroom to one of the towers.
I also fixed an issue with the Gryffindor common room staircase that would trap sims.
On the third floor, I added Sybil Trelawney's Divination classroom.
Divination Classroom
The tables shown are no longer there. i went back to Paranormal's stuff tables because the game play is in the table, not the crystal ball.
Sybil's Bedroom
Visiting Professor's Bedroom
This was a very nice study, but I needed a sleeping space for Dumbledore or his substitute.
They are all progressing well with the magical skills! I admit having laughed a bit when reading that the professors didn't know any spell or potion, it makes sense game-wise but it was a bit out of character XD The potion failure instead looked quite scary, did someone get cursed from that? To have many students prepare potions other than the Plentiful Needs one also sounds challenging, finding ingredients for everyone doesn't seem easy...
You can follow the Legacy Miller from my blog and the forum thread, *Chapter 8.16 posted on the 14th of April 2024*
They are all progressing well with the magical skills! I admit having laughed a bit when reading that the professors didn't know any spell or potion, it makes sense game-wise but it was a bit out of character XD The potion failure instead looked quite scary, did someone get cursed from that?
To have many students prepare potions other than the Plentiful Needs one also sounds challenging, finding ingredients for everyone doesn't seem easy...
I am glad I am doing a trial run, as I am learning a lot of things and play-testing the school to weed out issues.
There needs to be a formation phase when you start up the school.
When I begin this for real and I have all the characters and assets sourced, I will begin Hogwarts with professors and staff only and play them for four seasons. I will make sure everyone has the proper skills and abilities and make sure there are enough ingredients to get the school operating and avoid progress blockers. Then I will bring in the students.
HoB is perfect for a Harry Potter world of magic... I love all the changes you've made thus far! Oh man, this is sooooo tempting to do the same thing in my supernatural save file. But do I dare go down that rabbit hole too? *sigh*
I swear the developers must have planned out a Hogwarts map first for Cottage Living and then layered Henford-on-Bagley on top of it.
A perfect place for Hogwarts is there. A perfect place for Hagrid's Hut is there. Finchwick looks like a perfect location for Hogsmead and the The Gnome Inn has already been renamed The Three Broomsticks in my game. There is a lot that I would love to place the Weasley's home.
I should probably place smaller updates from now on.
These are time consuming when I could be playing.
Hagrid's Hut along with Fang are now in my game.
Hagrids Hut - HP Project /By DoctorSimCraft /Sims 4 Gallery
I only changed wall and roof textures and added Cottage Living Content.
I left the rest alone. The interior is well done. The satellite dish is just a nod to how integrated technology is in The Sims.
I have yet to play off the grid, but I might give it a whirl when I play Hagrid.
I might just have students visit and they can play with Fang and interacti with the Llama and chickens, perhaps helpf tend his garden.
It's Saturday and my students are getting in some make up time for their magic abilities, but only until 1:00 and then they are off to the Magic Realm to do some shopping, and then to Finchwick to gather at the Three Broomsticks.
I have been alternating between spells and potions, but I need to start getting in some Divination (Medium Skill)
Sybil Trelawney will switch places with Snape the following week and the change in focus should happen then.
I track the student progress in the curriculum so I can no where everyone is.
Students falling behind get extra attention by the professors. Cedric Dortz is being instructed by Snape.
Ignore his Raven familiar, I ran out of the dragon one for Slytherin.
Once they finish their Fall, Winter, and Spring terms, their education is considered complete, but they are still kept around as another group takes over, for the sake of immersion. In my trial Harry, Hermione, and Ron and the others are the other group waiting in the wings. The second phase of my trial will be with them.
This is a brilliant idea, thanks for sharing your progress. I love HP and would like to try something like this. The common rooms look particularly great - I would of course spend most of my time in the Slytherin one!
I am into more regular play now and I have three Slytherins.
I do enjoy their room more than Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.
Thanks for the links to the gallery builds and characters, I've already downloaded Hogwarts and Hagrid's Hut. Your pictures are helpful to get a good look at each build because the gallery pictures are always so notoriously awful, it's difficult to truly see if a build is good enough to try out (especially really large builds).
Oh, and by the way...
If you're looking for more Harry Potter-ish custom content, there's a great cc stuff pack (maxis match) made by MLys called "Pufferhead Stuff". Lots of stuff in the pack (CAS, furniture, decor, functional activity items, wallpapers) and everything is great quality. I use many of the items from that pack on a regular basis.
My Gallery ID: AncientMuse2
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." ~ Mark Twain
Wow, this is so cool. It's so cool to see what you can do with the game if you put in the effort! Also thanks for the links/credits. I am tempted to do an HP save too. It looks like so much fun through your screenshots!
I agree on the Pufferhead Stuff cc pack, there are several nice cc in there! I also tried to use the brittpinkiesims's Harry Potter mod packs, there are several interesting stuff in there such as traits for the four Hogwarts houses, custom pictures for clubs or a working sorting hat, or lots of decorative objects copied from the movies. It was very nice, but I suspect that some of the included files could be broken now because I never managed to use the sorting hat and I was getting some "last exception errors" while having it in my game. It sort of make sense, I didn't manage to find any recent update to those cc packs, but it's also a pity because it seemed to be very well done...
You can follow the Legacy Miller from my blog and the forum thread, *Chapter 8.16 posted on the 14th of April 2024*
My first game in HoB is going on right now and I gotta say, I didn't think Harry Potter when I started playing in it...I thought "This place needs hobbit holes". But seeing what you've done @CK213 I can totally see HP there now. This is some amazing stuff.
Not strictly HP related-mods but if you are not against CC objects in general you might be interested:
1) "Magic" broom which is actually item based on the Hoverbots from Discover University and combines the functionality of the Cleaning, Repair and Gardening bots. - HERE on MTS
2) Brooms which actually allow flying around also in groups and for children as well - HERE at Patreon (free)
I am going to post small installments now,
since I am getting into straight game play now and less experimenting.
It's Saturday and time to give my sims a break from studies.
They all have Spellcraft and Sorcery aspiration, so visiting the Magic Realm ticks off one of those goals.
Perhaps they can pick up some useful items.
I did not bother with the garden since there is probably nothing there yet.
They will just focus on the magic shops today.
They might try the HQ next term when they are more into dueling.
Max needs a wand.
Only common ones were available.
Brooms will be rewards for a certain level of magic.
A package came in the mail with some useful stuff. I plan to give them out as progress rewards for the first students to have progress in all three classes. There wasn't much here, just more of what they already have.
There was no reason to waste more time in the Magic Realm, so I had them come back to Henford to the inn formerly known as The Gnome Inn. It's now the Three Broomsticks.
And it really is a nice substitute for the one in the movie.
I had started calling in the House Clubs to fill the place up with Hogwarts students.
I noticed they started casting spells and removed it from the Club Activities list.
I believe this is the only TS4 drink that looks similar to Butterbeer. It's named something like Whatabir.
I started having everyone eat and drink because I was getting tired of waiting for the other students to show up.
I then noticed Ron across the street at the festival that was going on.
That's a problem because it will attract sims away from the Inn.
I had everyone sit together and the command brought Ron and Hermione to the door.
Annoying, I knew this was going to underwhelm it all.
They managed to get Harry inside.
But that festival is too strong a call. Who can resist dancing?
I had no desire to have them all go to the festival, so I just let the few I had here enjoy their stay.
I heard more spellcasting going on.
Apparently removing it from the list did not stop it.
I was trying to cancel this spell, but she got it off anyway.
And then she had her Katie Bell moment.
I really thought she was going to die.
She survived, but she had a curse put on her.
That's it.
Go home.
It's close to curfew anyway.
The next time I try this, I will have them get there at 3:00 instead of 6:00.
And I will make sure there is no festive going on. This was underwhelming, but should be better.
My future posts are more fun. A kind of: "Yes! This is why I am doing this!" kind of moments.
@CK213 As our household are Harry Potter fans, we've had lots of fun following your progress!
I think there is a festival in Henford-on-Bagley every Saturday afternoon, so unless you choose a different day for your students to visit the village, you're going to encounter that distraction every time. I'm not sure if there's a way to disable them or not.
I suppose you could also have them go to the village in the morning, as long as you're out by 3:00. I think that's what time the festivals begin.
@CK213 As our household are Harry Potter fans, we've had lots of fun following your progress!
I think there is a festival in Henford-on-Bagley every Saturday afternoon, so unless you choose a different day for your students to visit the village, you're going to encounter that distraction every time. I'm not sure if there's a way to disable them or not.
I suppose you could also have them go to the village in the morning, as long as you're out by 3:00. I think that's what time the festivals begin.
Thanks.
I probably should plan the outing for Friday, after class.
After getting back from the Three Broomsticks, the students had a couple of hours before bed.
I decided to set their likes for hobbies. The often come back from class with low fun meters. This is a good way to feed that need.
I liked giving her the guitar, but sitting it down in the crowed commons room can block paths.
I was surprised that the Hufflepuff common room didn't have an easel.
I put one in for Monique.
I wasn't sure what to give the Slytherins at the time. One has video games and the other two sing.
I wish playing chess was an option. They have a chess board.
Cedric was into programming before he came to Hogwarts, so he's just carrying on.
Earbuds!
A very simple solution. Just tune in their favorite music and make dancing a like.
They will be in the fun zone in no time.
I noticed the plants have grown.
Not much produce yet, but it's nice to see.
The trees look silly in those little pots, so I choose not to see the pots.
Lots of rain in Henford.
I sat watching the rain and then it stopped and the stars suddenly came out.
It's funny how small the moon can be and then be huge just before it sets.
I find myself looking at the environment a lot more since putting in Hogwarts.
Marielle Bloom
It is the next morning and Professor Snape is going over the more advanced spells.
Necrocall and Dedeathify might be necessary with this batch of students.
He stayed in his room most of the morning while the students went about their spells, positions, and divination.
He took a break and picked up the mail.
A shipment of useful items came and they will be awarded to the students that have shown the most progress.
While out of his room, a thought occurred to him that he should check the potions class.
Not again.
There is a story here.
One that comes to my mind is that Marielle, in order to impress Professor Snape, tried to successfully repeat the potion that knocked them out the other night. But Snape isn't thinking about that right now.
"Miss Bloom, what on Earth possessed you to attempt a potion that proved difficult even for me?"
"Well obviously, Professor, if I can do the really hard ones, then all the others will become really easy."
"Right?"
"..."
"I'm kidding. Why don't you step me through it."
"Perhaps I should.
I am not sure how many more poundings to the floor that head of yours can take."
So he began.
Stepping through the process in exacting detail.
"Perfect! Bottle a sample up, Miss Bloom."
"And now your class shall be a breeze, Professor Snape."
"My class is never "a breeze", and seeing as I have given you a personal tutorial, I will be holding you to a higher standard."
"You are looking at your top student, professor."
It is 3:00 and studies and practices are over.
Yes. Dumbledore decided to drop by on his own.
He looks really tired, or bored.
The Ministry of Magic being difficult again?
Wow!
That's a first. He sat at the professor's table.
Marielle takes it upon herself to sit next to Dumbledore at the Professor's table.
Marielle is the little sister of one of my favorite sims and quickly becoming another favorite sim.
"Hiya, Dumsy!"
We will leave them to brighten Dumbledore's day.
And I am going to get back to playing my sims.
This is the most immersed I've been in quite a while.
I am trying something new, and it proved to be a fun mini-game the first time.
Cedric is doing incredible at programming that typewriter I must say!
How many teachers say this midway through the term? I wonder...
"Necrocall and Dedeathify might be necessary with this batch of students."
and I am loving Marielle too! Maybe the most fun part of this save will be the unexpected things that are brought to you by Sims 4 and not just Harry Potter lore...
Cedric is doing incredible at programming that typewriter I must say!
How many teachers say this midway through the term? I wonder...
"Necrocall and Dedeathify might be necessary with this batch of students."
and I am loving Marielle too! Maybe the most fun part of this save will be the unexpected things that are brought to you by Sims 4 and not just Harry Potter lore...
My own sims could rip lore apart.
Ron and Harry fight over Marielle and become the worst of enemies.
Hermionie decides she would rather be alone with her seven cats.
Nah I will probably stick close to the story, but if something feels really interesting and fun, who knows where it could go.
I do want Hogwarts to feel like an event.I play through my world of sims until I have a bunch of the sims that are at that age and the focus becomes Hogwarts until they graduate.
@CK123 Your creativity amazes me! I love the story, the characters and awesome Hogwart's castle! The way you decorated it is beautiful and makes me want to play HP too! I may have to plan this for sometime in the future when I have more time to play. I am really enjoying your story and look forward the whatever comes next!
It is time for another experiment.
A painful one because it requires me to give up another student. I thought I would have eight when I first began this, but now I am down to six.
Argus Filch
Albus Dumbledore and Argus Filch are having a conversation behind closed doors, involving student discipline and more control of household staff. He wants to lead it, basically.
"Hey Max, I'm sorry to hear the news.
Nanami is hoping you will pass leadership of the club to one of use before Draco Malfoy finds out."
"What? What news? And what does it have to do with the club?"
"You haven't heard? Marielle told Monique, and then Monique told me, that you have been expelled."
"What? How is this possible?"
"You have no idea?"
"No."
No he does not have a clue, because a fickle Sim god decided he has to go, in order for Argus Filch to move in.
I started making an office and bedroom for Filch by using up some of that Elf kitchen space.
So what does Argus Filch bring me?
Well, there is still no room for Mrs. Norris, but he can invite her and let her roam Hogwarts.
"Who's a pretty cat?"
"You're a pretty cat."
But his main purpose is upgrading all of Hogwarts appliances, repairing them, taking care of the gardening, and keeping the castle clean.
Plus he also adds a sort of mini-game.
I intend for him to keep night hours. He sleeps from the afternoon until night.
And then he goes about his job while they sleep. I really don't want the students interacting with him much.
He will have Irma Pince as the other member of his house staff club.
I have yet to see her put up any books however, but I am usually busy with other sims.
"I am a librarian, not a Gardner."
I gave Filch all the skills he needs, except writing.
I am using writing to keep him busy when the students are active.
"This is ridiculous."
Stealth Like Metal Gear Solid
Now this is where the mini-game comes in.
Monique is autonomously out of bed about three in the morning, for whatever reason. I did not wake her up.
But I will assume there is a reason. I believe that reason can be found in her whims, even if I have to dig for it.
She simply has to do it without being seen.
Otherwise she'll get detention and house points deducted from Hufflepuff, plus getting derisive comments from housemates, depending on the relationship. Well, Cedric Diggery. He's the only other Hufflepuff in the game right now.
And if she is going to risk all that, the reward has to be good.
Uh oh, Professor Snape is also up and about.
Walls up!
The rule is he has to be able to see her.
She's behind that door, so she is fine as long as she doesn't open it now.
She can't see him, so I am not going to stop her either.
Oop! There he is.
Turn around, get back to your room!
She wants to earn a painting skill point. It's worth 100 reward points.
So what does she want?
She needs to steal a potion of Plentiful Needs so she can stay up all night and still be fresh for classes this morning.
Another annoyance for Snape.
These students leave their things anywhere they please.
She can wait in her common room until he leaves.
Alright, all clear.
Got it!
And smart girl, taking it back to the common room instead of drinking it here.
Home free!
I wish I had a Sneak Here command.
Now to earn those reward points and earn a few coin for her painting.
She may even use the money for a wish at the wishing well.
Ugh!
That must have been a bad batch.
Now all of her needs are in the yellow. She can't take classes like this.
Well there is nothing for it.
She's going to need another potion. Hopefully it won't curse her.
Filch is out in the greenhouse, so he's no problem.
Madame Pince is making her rounds.
She won't be any trouble unless she comes down into the basement.
Got it!
Go!
Filch is really hungry now, so I am sending him to the dining hall.
I should have sent him to the basement kitchen, but I doubt he would have caught Monique.
Home free, again.
Now for the prize.
Marielle is out of bed, still in the common room, but it's too late for her to be going after anything.
Two cups of tea?
"Ah!"
"So worth it!"
That was fun.
At the end of the Fall term they will spend the Reward Points they have accumulated for Rewards Traits .
It might be worth losing a student.
Fall Term Progress
They are currently further ahead than what the spreadsheet shows.
Maybe they will finish early and I can use the rest of the term to play other characters and have them visit Hogwarts.
Comments
The grindy element is almost always what puts me off me with large scale saves because it takes a long time to get everything set up and then you have a lot of households to handle once it's done. It happens when I play Harry Potter saves or Game of Thrones saves and even when I made a Vicar of Dibley save right after getting Cottage Living (all those Horton children to account for!) In my current Henford save with all magic families, I started with 7 households but a few of them started to bore me so I recently cut it down to 4 and left the others to their own devices. I'll probably cut it down to 3 or even 2 households later on.
Some times ago I tried to make something similar too, but in TS4 I found that too hard to have all sims in the classrooms or in the great all sitting for long enough, or to keep students from other houses in their respective common rooms (in particular when loading the lot...)
In the past I tried that with TS2, making an apartments lot in which each common room was an apartment, and it was so much easier...
But maybe I should try again, because this seems very funny to play!
I am currently working through this problem, trying to find the most enjoyable approach.
This is why I haven't posted yet--this issue, plus constant lot fixes as I find more things the lot needs as I play.
And then there are the game play blockers that are keeping me from the fun moments.
There are things the school needs that I can't get because of Seasons and plants, and/or they are not available for purchase.
So you have to cheat and get them from debug. It kind of takes the fun out it because I am wasting time looking for things that I can't get and then I fall back to prep work.
I have three approaches for the main issue--class setting and teaching.
1) The teacher is external to Hogwarts and is visiting to teach the class.
Bad Idea. You have no control of the students, and you have no control over doors and other lot features.
Students are all over the place. You can start off in the class room and one student will go off to do their homework outside the class room and then everyone is everywhere. I can't lock them all in the classroom.
And if you tell them to do their homework, they will squat at his feet.
2) Dumbledore Immersion:
Dumbledore is headmaster and is managing professors by inviting them up in their groups.
The Professor is organized in a Student Classroom group. I could just have the student call up the group, but I like having Dumbledore call in the teacher before the students arrive. When the students arrive, the teacher is already there and I can have them all go into the classroom and lock the door. Which isn't the case here, because Madame Hooch wandered in to clean up a cup. Dumbledore also had the Support Staff in and they were going around doing their Club tasks.
It works fairly well. The downside is you don't have control of Snape, but he automatically begins helping students with their homework.
And you do have to lock the doors even though the students were pretty manageable with the the Do Homework Together social. Sybil decided to park herself at a student desk, which caused a student to go to a desk outside the classroom and another student went with them. When a student finishes their homework, they go off and find anyone else, most likely outside the classroom.
3) Professor Immersion
The Professor is serving as acting-headmaster while Dumbledore is "away". (Doing a home lot swap with the Professor of choice.) You have access to everything--the students, the teacher, and the school. You just lose Dumbledore immersion.
But it does make sense that he may be off doing Hogwart's business.
I have yet to try it fully with Snape because he is currently building his set of spells and potions. The Snape-sim came as a Master level spellcaster, but his spell book was empty of Spells and potions. And I had him trying to gather 1 sample of all the ingredients so he could Copypasto them. So more prep work and less fun play.
I will probably alternate between approaches two and three whenever it feels right.
Another issue is this default school-work/ magic skill progression/ and taking care of needs.
Not that much fun because teens are not fun in the first place. They spend a big chunk of time at school and then come home with depleted needs, foul emotions, homework to do, and usually a skill to build to better their grades.
And then I want them to do magic?
So I will be using vacations days to fully focus on magic. I will consider Summer to be their vacation where I will go off and do other things. Most likely transfer students to their families and transfer the professors to Hogwarts. I can then choose to focus on the professors and build relationships and skill for them, or simply focus on other households.
I have yet to use vacation days because I wanted their school grades at B-A level first.
They will be doing it soon. It is Saturday for them and I would like to send them off to the Magic Realm to see if they can buy better wands and get some brooms. And then I would like to have them go into town and enjoy the pub and buy some drinks that look like Butterbeer.
They will take Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to focus only on Magic.
I hope to make all their goals for the Fall season and spend the rest try to find what other fun things I can do with this instead of prep-work.
Don't get me wrong, the prep-work was fun, but now you just want to get in and have fun from the antics of your sims, not how great it all looks and the possible fun potential.
I am currently going through all the latest shots I took while playing (a lot).
Some funny and interesting things did happen despite this round being more frustrating than fun. The frustration because I feel like I am almost done with the major issues and set up and can finally go for a nice trial run, but can't yet get to it.
I will post when I can, but it should be later this evening. Perhaps 8 hours or more from the time of this post.
I have no creative energy right now, it was so nice to see your world that you have built. Hope you are having a great time.
Good Morning!
I heard a howl, or was it a shriek, outside the castle walls and investigated it.
It was the Grim Reaper.
If Dementors ever had a king, it would be Grim.
Fortunately he is not here for any of the students.
He's here for this poor old fox.
I've seen this before and I imagine others have too because these old foxes are probably set to die at the start of a game in Henford.
Oh no, it had a mate?
Aww...
What a dark way to start off, I know.
But as Dumbledore says, "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times,"
"...if one only remembers to turn on the light."
Mornings can be stunning here.
Students are up, getting ready for school.
Michelle had time to exercise off her morning rage.
I was curious about the view she had from her treadmill.
Sweet.
It's not long before they are out the door, sporting new clothes.
I believe I will save these brightly colored jackets and make them their spring uniforms.
It was around around this time that I got an odd social exchange popup between Marielle Bloom and Professor Snape.
Wondering what sparked it, I locked in on them to investigate.
"A heartfelt sentiment I am sure, Miss Bloom."
She had "Closer from Happy Memories" and "Friendly Advice" sentiments."
I find the sentiments suspect.
"Ten points... from Gryffindor."
And so does Snape.
The strange thing is, I have never seen a teen actually prank a toilet.
I only find the evidence. Marielle and Gryffindor will get the blame for that one however. I am tracking things like that in the Miscellaneous category for house points.
Support Staff
This day's activities were about bringing in the Support Staff for Hogwarts, as well as letting Professor Snape teach a class.
I had Argus Filch bring Mrs. Norris.
I had hoped for her to her live at Hogwarts, until I found out pets take up a sim slot in The Sims 4. I have Cat's and Dogs, but have not touched it other that looking at it the day it launched.
Irma Pince is the Hogwarts Librarian.
She has Bookworm and Neat traits.
I hope with the addition of club commands, I will see her cleaning up books left out at Hogwarts.
I have Rolanda Hooch just to have her around.
She's the Quiddich coach and referee, and flying broom instructor.
I was doing the photograph and key tactic again.
I took liberties with her hairstyle. I did not like it in the movie.
Apparently Rita Skeeter wrote a mean article making fun of her hair, so she had her hair magically retextured.
I should have a good use for Filch in the summer season. He can move in and upgrade all the appliances.
I would also like to invite him over just before students are in bed and just have him wander around repair and cleaning.
However, during school terms, I want to see if I can have fun by having students sneak out of their common rooms to grab useful potions, or satisfy any whims. They will probably need teleportation magic to avoid him, since sims have psychic abilities when it comes to the location of other sims.
Those tasks completed, Dumbledore brought in Professor Snape.
This went better than I thought it would, despite not having control of Professor Snape.
I quickly learned that I should lock the door to prevent interruptions and having students wander off.
I often have autonomy off in these situations, but I don't know if I had it off in this case. The staff sims were going about their activities.
It would be great if they keep going despite autonomy.
This was great, but I do wish I could have Snape make mean and mischief socials at opportune moments.
Side note, I love his potions class that I put in. I will probably put in a fireplace later, but I am pleased with the layout.
I was so busy with Severus Snape and the students that I did not see what the Support Staff had done.
I only noticed Madame Hooch coming in to collect a coffee cup and Filch talking to plants in the greenhouse.
It was a very good play session.
Fail
The next day day, I took control of the Professor's household and discoverd that Snape and Minerva did not know any spells or potions.
They had Master Level status, but could not cast a spell, nor brew a potion.
So I sent them to Hogwarts to take advantage of all it offered.
They jumped right in worked on their potions and spells.
Professor Trelawney settle into her Divination class room and began practicing her Medium skill.
It turns out she had already mastered it.
So I had her meditate and work on her Wellness skill instead.
[Note to self: Add a teapot or two, if there is room.]
It should be fun to send her students on a field trip, in the Spring, to one of Henford-on-Bagley's ancient sites and lead a meditation group there.
I don't know what put it in my head to have them practice potions and spells. I don't have time for it.
The best thing would be for them to learn it from the spells and potions books.
It was really annoying to have them pick up a book in the west side of the lot and walk all the way to the east side just read it in a bedroom when they could take a seat in Dumbledore's office.
They had only learned a few spells and potions each when the students began to arrive.
I was curious to see if Snape could lead a class without me controlling the students.
It was a total failure.
It was like trying to heard cats.
I would ask them to do their homework and they would kneel at his feet and begin their homework.
This was clearly not working, so I switched from the professor's household back to Hogwarts.
And I am only halfway there.
End Part One~
Picking up where I left off, I switched control to Hogwarts and began to bring the students back to potions class.
I really wanted to get their homework in. Some students were still at C average.
But I discovered that was because they had not reached their skill point goal.
Making it worse, those students that needed the skill point were angry, tense, or sad about what happened at school this day, or simply because their fun levels were very low.
So I went about the student roundup to set things right.
Professor Trelawney decided to sit in on the class.
Thereby taking up a students seat and backing them up.
Monique decided to do her homework in her common room and Michelle followed her to do the same.
Snape decided he wanted to do the dishes.
Michelle needed a skill point to advance in class.
She almost had another point for ther video game skill, so I had her play BlickBlock.
Nanami had the same situation, but she hates video games.
I forced it since she was almost there.
Homework done, emotions in check, skilled points earned, I had Dumbledore put up a curfew board.
The students will get out to see more of Heford on Saturday. but they can't stay out past 11 o'clock.
I went back to making McGonagall and Snape the powerful witch and wizard they are suppose to be.
Sybil continued her meditation.
There was a lot of back and fourth, getting books and returning books.
Sybil had an option for an emotional surge and decided to share it with Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall.
Snape seems to be thinking, "Now that's just silly."
They finally had enough useful potions and spells to end the night and go home.
Hadgrid was given a job as a Gardener.
I am letting him keep it for now, but the uniform. I couldn't let him wear that.
Better.
Acting Headmaster Snape
Snape needs to take over so he can whip his potions class into shape.
I want full allotment of potions on those shelves.
Now he has the power to improve the few potions he has and duplicate them.
But first, their is a more pressing issue.
The students need ingredients to make potions.
The garden is hardly delivering anything at all.
All he needs is the missing ingredients they don't have and he can copypasto more.
I love having a gate to the Magic Realm here.
he check the gardens, but there was nothing useful there.
He needed a wand, as well as ingredients.
Not much to be found here either.
He has ingredients to make potions they don't have yet, but needs more.
Why is it so hard to find Parsley?
It's time for desperate measures.
"How long does it take to get parsley?"
[Grumble]
It's clear that getting a school of magic up and running and self-sufficient is a long term process.
This is when I noticed the kitchens. This is where the house elves prepares all Hogwarts food. It's good for immersion and story telling, but I have no use for it. No one cooks at Hogwarts. The food just appears, so the buffet tables serve alright here, despite the cost. But then I got the idea to store a library of ingredients here.
To get this school operating, we have to raid buy/debug.
So now we have a source.
Better yet, the students can start building up a good supply when they learn the copypasto spell.
The frustrating part is the fish are not usable.
They can't be placed in the inventory, or the refrigerator. If there is a special version that is usable in debug mode, let me know. Otherwise my sims are going to have become fishermen.
Finally!
Something to work with.
Potions Master
Most of the students know a spell, but they all must learn their first potion soon.
The weekend is coming and it's going to be a working weekend followed by three full days of making magic.
[Boom!]
(Sorry about the UI, forgot to toggle it off.)
"Oh, Professor, what did you do?"
This is a bit frightening.
Snape is down.
Monique is down.
Marielle is down.
Worst Snape ever!
"?"
"Well, just wait until Draco Malfoy's father hears about this."
"Professor?"
"Uhhg... We're okay."
"It's not dangerous, just overpowering. See to Miss Brown, will you?"
"How do you feel, Miss Bloom?"
"I feel fine!"
"Good, why don't you go to your room and get some sleep."
Cheerful girl.
"Should have been a Hufflepuff."
I guess part of the challenge is to also make a legendary Snape.
At least the Potions classroom is looking legendary now.
Changes and Additions
A lot has been added since page one.
The Original Hogwarts did not come with a potions rooms, but there seems to be a perfect location for it, so just added a room.
It's nice to know I have the kitchens to do something with in the future I am already thinking about stealing a space to make an office and bedroom for Filch.
I have some minor tweaks to the ground floor.
I made my greenhouse wider to get more of the round pots in.
An observatory has been added next to it. And I added the wishing well to one of the courtyards.
I turned a study into a bedroom, for the Headmaster or a visiting professor serving as headmaster.
On the second floor, I added another bedroom to one of the towers.
I also fixed an issue with the Gryffindor common room staircase that would trap sims.
On the third floor, I added Sybil Trelawney's Divination classroom.
Divination Classroom
The tables shown are no longer there. i went back to Paranormal's stuff tables because the game play is in the table, not the crystal ball.
Sybil's Bedroom
Visiting Professor's Bedroom
This was a very nice study, but I needed a sleeping space for Dumbledore or his substitute.
Potions Classroom
Comedy or tragedy?
How about both?
To have many students prepare potions other than the Plentiful Needs one also sounds challenging, finding ingredients for everyone doesn't seem easy...
I am glad I am doing a trial run, as I am learning a lot of things and play-testing the school to weed out issues.
There needs to be a formation phase when you start up the school.
When I begin this for real and I have all the characters and assets sourced, I will begin Hogwarts with professors and staff only and play them for four seasons. I will make sure everyone has the proper skills and abilities and make sure there are enough ingredients to get the school operating and avoid progress blockers. Then I will bring in the students.
A perfect place for Hogwarts is there. A perfect place for Hagrid's Hut is there. Finchwick looks like a perfect location for Hogsmead and the The Gnome Inn has already been renamed The Three Broomsticks in my game. There is a lot that I would love to place the Weasley's home.
I should probably place smaller updates from now on.
These are time consuming when I could be playing.
Hagrid's Hut along with Fang are now in my game.
Hagrids Hut - HP Project /By DoctorSimCraft /Sims 4 Gallery
I only changed wall and roof textures and added Cottage Living Content.
I left the rest alone. The interior is well done. The satellite dish is just a nod to how integrated technology is in The Sims.
I have yet to play off the grid, but I might give it a whirl when I play Hagrid.
I might just have students visit and they can play with Fang and interacti with the Llama and chickens, perhaps helpf tend his garden.
It's Saturday and my students are getting in some make up time for their magic abilities, but only until 1:00 and then they are off to the Magic Realm to do some shopping, and then to Finchwick to gather at the Three Broomsticks.
I have been alternating between spells and potions, but I need to start getting in some Divination (Medium Skill)
Sybil Trelawney will switch places with Snape the following week and the change in focus should happen then.
I track the student progress in the curriculum so I can no where everyone is.
Students falling behind get extra attention by the professors. Cedric Dortz is being instructed by Snape.
Ignore his Raven familiar, I ran out of the dragon one for Slytherin.
Once they finish their Fall, Winter, and Spring terms, their education is considered complete, but they are still kept around as another group takes over, for the sake of immersion. In my trial Harry, Hermione, and Ron and the others are the other group waiting in the wings. The second phase of my trial will be with them.
I am into more regular play now and I have three Slytherins.
I do enjoy their room more than Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.
Oh, and by the way...
If you're looking for more Harry Potter-ish custom content, there's a great cc stuff pack (maxis match) made by MLys called "Pufferhead Stuff". Lots of stuff in the pack (CAS, furniture, decor, functional activity items, wallpapers) and everything is great quality. I use many of the items from that pack on a regular basis.
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect." ~ Mark Twain
Also thanks for the links/credits. I am tempted to do an HP save too. It looks like so much fun through your screenshots!
Also posting on my blog.
I also tried to use the brittpinkiesims's Harry Potter mod packs, there are several interesting stuff in there such as traits for the four Hogwarts houses, custom pictures for clubs or a working sorting hat, or lots of decorative objects copied from the movies. It was very nice, but I suspect that some of the included files could be broken now because I never managed to use the sorting hat and I was getting some "last exception errors" while having it in my game. It sort of make sense, I didn't manage to find any recent update to those cc packs, but it's also a pity because it seemed to be very well done...
The Winters family Tree --- My Mods
1) "Magic" broom which is actually item based on the Hoverbots from Discover University and combines the functionality of the Cleaning, Repair and Gardening bots. - HERE on MTS
2) Brooms which actually allow flying around also in groups and for children as well - HERE at Patreon (free)
since I am getting into straight game play now and less experimenting.
It's Saturday and time to give my sims a break from studies.
They all have Spellcraft and Sorcery aspiration, so visiting the Magic Realm ticks off one of those goals.
Perhaps they can pick up some useful items.
I did not bother with the garden since there is probably nothing there yet.
They will just focus on the magic shops today.
They might try the HQ next term when they are more into dueling.
Max needs a wand.
Only common ones were available.
Brooms will be rewards for a certain level of magic.
A package came in the mail with some useful stuff. I plan to give them out as progress rewards for the first students to have progress in all three classes. There wasn't much here, just more of what they already have.
There was no reason to waste more time in the Magic Realm, so I had them come back to Henford to the inn formerly known as The Gnome Inn. It's now the Three Broomsticks.
And it really is a nice substitute for the one in the movie.
I had started calling in the House Clubs to fill the place up with Hogwarts students.
I noticed they started casting spells and removed it from the Club Activities list.
I believe this is the only TS4 drink that looks similar to Butterbeer. It's named something like Whatabir.
I started having everyone eat and drink because I was getting tired of waiting for the other students to show up.
I then noticed Ron across the street at the festival that was going on.
That's a problem because it will attract sims away from the Inn.
I had everyone sit together and the command brought Ron and Hermione to the door.
Annoying, I knew this was going to underwhelm it all.
They managed to get Harry inside.
But that festival is too strong a call. Who can resist dancing?
I had no desire to have them all go to the festival, so I just let the few I had here enjoy their stay.
I heard more spellcasting going on.
Apparently removing it from the list did not stop it.
I was trying to cancel this spell, but she got it off anyway.
And then she had her Katie Bell moment.
I really thought she was going to die.
She survived, but she had a curse put on her.
That's it.
Go home.
It's close to curfew anyway.
The next time I try this, I will have them get there at 3:00 instead of 6:00.
And I will make sure there is no festive going on. This was underwhelming, but should be better.
My future posts are more fun. A kind of: "Yes! This is why I am doing this!" kind of moments.
I think there is a festival in Henford-on-Bagley every Saturday afternoon, so unless you choose a different day for your students to visit the village, you're going to encounter that distraction every time. I'm not sure if there's a way to disable them or not.
I suppose you could also have them go to the village in the morning, as long as you're out by 3:00. I think that's what time the festivals begin.
Exie hay, cavero, mabza meeah vendarzo.
Yevsas mairzeemo!
Thanks.
I probably should plan the outing for Friday, after class.
I decided to set their likes for hobbies. The often come back from class with low fun meters. This is a good way to feed that need.
I liked giving her the guitar, but sitting it down in the crowed commons room can block paths.
I was surprised that the Hufflepuff common room didn't have an easel.
I put one in for Monique.
I wasn't sure what to give the Slytherins at the time. One has video games and the other two sing.
I wish playing chess was an option. They have a chess board.
Cedric was into programming before he came to Hogwarts, so he's just carrying on.
Earbuds!
A very simple solution. Just tune in their favorite music and make dancing a like.
They will be in the fun zone in no time.
I noticed the plants have grown.
Not much produce yet, but it's nice to see.
The trees look silly in those little pots, so I choose not to see the pots.
Lots of rain in Henford.
I sat watching the rain and then it stopped and the stars suddenly came out.
It's funny how small the moon can be and then be huge just before it sets.
I find myself looking at the environment a lot more since putting in Hogwarts.
Marielle Bloom
It is the next morning and Professor Snape is going over the more advanced spells.
Necrocall and Dedeathify might be necessary with this batch of students.
He stayed in his room most of the morning while the students went about their spells, positions, and divination.
He took a break and picked up the mail.
A shipment of useful items came and they will be awarded to the students that have shown the most progress.
While out of his room, a thought occurred to him that he should check the potions class.
Not again.
There is a story here.
One that comes to my mind is that Marielle, in order to impress Professor Snape, tried to successfully repeat the potion that knocked them out the other night. But Snape isn't thinking about that right now.
"Miss Bloom, what on Earth possessed you to attempt a potion that proved difficult even for me?"
"Well obviously, Professor, if I can do the really hard ones, then all the others will become really easy."
"Right?"
"..."
"I'm kidding. Why don't you step me through it."
"Perhaps I should.
I am not sure how many more poundings to the floor that head of yours can take."
So he began.
Stepping through the process in exacting detail.
"Perfect! Bottle a sample up, Miss Bloom."
"And now your class shall be a breeze, Professor Snape."
"My class is never "a breeze", and seeing as I have given you a personal tutorial, I will be holding you to a higher standard."
"You are looking at your top student, professor."
It is 3:00 and studies and practices are over.
Yes. Dumbledore decided to drop by on his own.
He looks really tired, or bored.
The Ministry of Magic being difficult again?
Wow!
That's a first. He sat at the professor's table.
Marielle takes it upon herself to sit next to Dumbledore at the Professor's table.
Marielle is the little sister of one of my favorite sims and quickly becoming another favorite sim.
"Hiya, Dumsy!"
We will leave them to brighten Dumbledore's day.
And I am going to get back to playing my sims.
This is the most immersed I've been in quite a while.
I am trying something new, and it proved to be a fun mini-game the first time.
How many teachers say this midway through the term? I wonder...
"Necrocall and Dedeathify might be necessary with this batch of students."
and I am loving Marielle too! Maybe the most fun part of this save will be the unexpected things that are brought to you by Sims 4 and not just Harry Potter lore...
My own sims could rip lore apart.
Ron and Harry fight over Marielle and become the worst of enemies.
Hermionie decides she would rather be alone with her seven cats.
Nah I will probably stick close to the story, but if something feels really interesting and fun, who knows where it could go.
I do want Hogwarts to feel like an event.I play through my world of sims until I have a bunch of the sims that are at that age and the focus becomes Hogwarts until they graduate.
A painful one because it requires me to give up another student. I thought I would have eight when I first began this, but now I am down to six.
Argus Filch
Albus Dumbledore and Argus Filch are having a conversation behind closed doors, involving student discipline and more control of household staff. He wants to lead it, basically.
"Hey Max, I'm sorry to hear the news.
Nanami is hoping you will pass leadership of the club to one of use before Draco Malfoy finds out."
"What? What news? And what does it have to do with the club?"
"You haven't heard? Marielle told Monique, and then Monique told me, that you have been expelled."
"What? How is this possible?"
"You have no idea?"
"No."
No he does not have a clue, because a fickle Sim god decided he has to go, in order for Argus Filch to move in.
I started making an office and bedroom for Filch by using up some of that Elf kitchen space.
So what does Argus Filch bring me?
Well, there is still no room for Mrs. Norris, but he can invite her and let her roam Hogwarts.
"Who's a pretty cat?"
"You're a pretty cat."
But his main purpose is upgrading all of Hogwarts appliances, repairing them, taking care of the gardening, and keeping the castle clean.
Plus he also adds a sort of mini-game.
I intend for him to keep night hours. He sleeps from the afternoon until night.
And then he goes about his job while they sleep. I really don't want the students interacting with him much.
He will have Irma Pince as the other member of his house staff club.
I have yet to see her put up any books however, but I am usually busy with other sims.
"I am a librarian, not a Gardner."
I gave Filch all the skills he needs, except writing.
I am using writing to keep him busy when the students are active.
"This is ridiculous."
Stealth Like Metal Gear Solid
Now this is where the mini-game comes in.
Monique is autonomously out of bed about three in the morning, for whatever reason. I did not wake her up.
But I will assume there is a reason. I believe that reason can be found in her whims, even if I have to dig for it.
She simply has to do it without being seen.
Otherwise she'll get detention and house points deducted from Hufflepuff, plus getting derisive comments from housemates, depending on the relationship. Well, Cedric Diggery. He's the only other Hufflepuff in the game right now.
And if she is going to risk all that, the reward has to be good.
Uh oh, Professor Snape is also up and about.
Walls up!
The rule is he has to be able to see her.
She's behind that door, so she is fine as long as she doesn't open it now.
She can't see him, so I am not going to stop her either.
Oop! There he is.
Turn around, get back to your room!
She wants to earn a painting skill point. It's worth 100 reward points.
So what does she want?
She needs to steal a potion of Plentiful Needs so she can stay up all night and still be fresh for classes this morning.
Another annoyance for Snape.
These students leave their things anywhere they please.
She can wait in her common room until he leaves.
Alright, all clear.
Got it!
And smart girl, taking it back to the common room instead of drinking it here.
Home free!
I wish I had a Sneak Here command.
Now to earn those reward points and earn a few coin for her painting.
She may even use the money for a wish at the wishing well.
Ugh!
That must have been a bad batch.
Now all of her needs are in the yellow. She can't take classes like this.
Well there is nothing for it.
She's going to need another potion. Hopefully it won't curse her.
Filch is out in the greenhouse, so he's no problem.
Madame Pince is making her rounds.
She won't be any trouble unless she comes down into the basement.
Got it!
Go!
Filch is really hungry now, so I am sending him to the dining hall.
I should have sent him to the basement kitchen, but I doubt he would have caught Monique.
Home free, again.
Now for the prize.
Marielle is out of bed, still in the common room, but it's too late for her to be going after anything.
Two cups of tea?
"Ah!"
"So worth it!"
That was fun.
At the end of the Fall term they will spend the Reward Points they have accumulated for Rewards Traits .
It might be worth losing a student.
Fall Term Progress
They are currently further ahead than what the spreadsheet shows.
Maybe they will finish early and I can use the rest of the term to play other characters and have them visit Hogwarts.
The pictures of scenery outside Hogwarts is truly spectacular...very nice choice of worlds.
I loved Monique's adventure! I am in awe on how you manage so many sims in a group when I can't seem to control 4 of them in a club, lol.
I will definitely be on the lookout for the next update, great job CK!