If you use NRaas Traveler you can customize a fresh instance of university in a new game and just copy that nhd file into new saves to use your customized version. That's what I do. As long as I don't bulldoze and replace any academic buildings or the student union then it works fine.
@TreyNutz - Sorry, I didn't see this earlier. Quoting doesn't work like the name dropping.
I wouldn't really need Traveler, would I, to copy the NHD file to another game? I could start fresh with a new town and make the sim I want to sent to uni in CAS and then save and then exit. Then I could copy that NHD file over. I assume the package file that goes with it is not needed?
If you use NRaas Traveler you can customize a fresh instance of university in a new game and just copy that nhd file into new saves to use your customized version. That's what I do. As long as I don't bulldoze and replace any academic buildings or the student union then it works fine.
@TreyNutz - Sorry, I didn't see this earlier. Quoting doesn't work like the name dropping.
I wouldn't really need Traveler, would I, to copy the NHD file to another game? I could start fresh with a new town and make the sim I want to sent to uni in CAS and then save and then exit. Then I could copy that NHD file over. I assume the package file that goes with it is not needed?
@ciane , yeah, it's too bad they don't notify you when you are quoted anymore.
Anyways, as far as I understand, when you first travel to a world Traveler will look in your save folder and use an existing nhd file if one is present. I thought normally (i.e. unmodded) the game would not do that, but would overwrite any existing nhd file with a new instance (for first time travel to that world). In both cases, obviously, subsequent travel uses the existing copy.
I got the idea from one section of the Traveler FAQ here. I didn't know whether it would work for the University town, but eventually I was able to get it to work (see my Note below).
I've never done it without having Traveler installed. And no, I don't copy over the package file that goes with the town; that's not needed.
If you try this without Traveler and the game actually uses your customized version (from a different save) instead of a brand new version, please let me know! I'm really interested if that would work.
Note: when I bulldozed and replaced the Academic buildings or the Student Union I later had issues with my sims attending class. They would get reset and then no one could attend class. There was also an issue with NRaas SP at the time (IIRC) where SP would allow a professor to ask himself or herself for extra credit, which would cause resets like that. The SP issue has since been fixed. Out of an abundance of caution I no longer touch those rabbit holes or bulldoze and replace those lots. I've edited the landscaping on those lots though, and put double doors in all of the first floor rooms in the Student Union. Small changes like that haven't caused me any issues.
I've also made customized versions of China and France. Both of those have tombs with a section too narrow for my sims to pass. I've corrected those in my customized version. Simply copying those tombs to the bin and replacing them via Edit Town broke some adventures. I was hoping that customizing in one save and copying over the nhd to new saves would avoid that. I don't recall testing whether I was successful though.
@TreyNutz - I'll definitely post my observations. I'm not playing where I can test this right now, but I will. I had a uni with an altered dorm with better showers and beds (and only two stories instead of three). I'll try copying that NHD file into another save and see what happens.
I have altered one lot with a single rental before and the picture of the old rental shows before loading mine, so I quit altering that lot. It plays fine, but the memory of the old one being there just seems to make me think that too much altering might not be good.
I really want to alter the university hall with wide arches for doorways inside. Someone said the added another door for an extra exit or maybe made the back door actually work as an exit. That would be awesome if that worked.
There's a marker on the Student Union by the front door for the University meet and greet day. It works like the Seasons festival marker. Just Ctrl+Shift click to change the different states. You can see it if you have buydebug on. You'll need to toggle the meet and greet objects on to move some of them to make way for widening the doors/arches.
Before creating my customized nhd file, I had a long game with many trips to university. In that save I heavily customized the social group hang outs, and the gym. I totally rebuild the upper two floors of the gym, adding the many climbing walls. To the social group lots I added a LN bar so food was available, and added a photo booth. I added a little bubble blower room behind the snack bar in the Java Hut too.
Anyways, to add those lots to my customized nhd, I copied them from that save to the bin, went to my customized university world, bulldozed those lots, and placed my customized ones. Replacing all those lots worked fine - no issues in my subsequent games. I only had issues bulldozing and replacing rabbit holes and the Student Union. Oh, and I had issues bulldozing and replacing the dorms and fraternity/sorority houses with versions I had changed in other games. Those are technically community lots but with sims on them. You can only do that with CAW. So don't bulldoze those. You can edit them in Edit Town though. I also was unable to add an empty dorm to the world. I don't know why.
I don't know if I fully stated out what I did. So here it is in a nutshell:
Create a new game and save immediately (didn't play a sim).
Go directly into edit town and then click on the button to go to the University world.
Customize.
Return to edit town of the homeworld.
Save.
Quit the game.
Copy over the nhd file to my current game and enroll with Traveler installed.
I don't know if it was clear that I am using an unplayed pristine University world of an unplayed world to customize and copy to my various games.
How about some pics?
You are right about the back door to the Student Union. If I pick them up I cannot put them back, there is some object in the way. Maybe that's why sims never use those doors? You can also see in this picture the double wide arches I used in the 2 rooms opposite the lecture hall, as well as the 2 arches I added to the lecture hall itself. Sims only use on of the lecture hall arches though. I should probably get rid of one of those.
Just now I thought to try changing the Student Union back doors to look like the front doors, moving them inwards by one square. I don't know if that will help. They snapped into place at least. I guess it depends on whether the back door of the Student Union shell functions.
I reorganized the Library interior, making more room for the business major class activity, adding more couches, and adjusting the floor tile as necessary.
I tried to alleviate some of the congestion at the back entrance of the science building. I don't know how successful I was. I recall widening those fences at the door, adding a gap at the fence corner, and moving the trees a little.
Something similar to the art building. Removed some trees near the door and moved the sculpture farther away so sims viewing it wouldn't get in the way of sims entering and exiting the building. Not sure how much that actually helps though. All I can say is that I tried.
I didn't touch the rabbit hole itself. Here's the java hut with the "secret" back bubble room. It's a bit tight.
and the new gym. I had just bought the climbing wall when I made these changes. Inactives were hogging them so I added quite a few. Plus there are some martial arts equipment as well as plenty of exercise benches and treadmills for my typically overstuffed households.
For the dorms I did 3 major edits. One was to add space on the 2nd floor for skill/craft stations, and a fence so I could lock the area to dormies.
I added all-in-ones to the bathrooms and a tub for the occasional bubble bath. The downside is that dormies now spend all day in their sleepwear (well, until they leave the lot). I now use Consort's Dress Code sign to force sims entering the bathrooms to change into everyday.
I tried to redo the kitchen to minimize routing issues. I put in a food synthesizer and regular fridge to make this version general purpose and then I decide on a game by game basis which one I'll use.
I've done all 3 dorms that way. I've also added the snack bar to each dining room. I added fireplaces to De Anda Hall and got rid of the parking lots at the dorms as well.
I also added an elixir consignment shop to the town, and a robot fish spawner in Champion Lake, widened the basement stair case in the sorority house, and removed an arch in front of the fraternity basement staircase.
I spent a lot of time with this version. I tend to send sims to university often so it was worth it to me.
Wow, @TreyNutz - thank you for that. I add that same space on the second floor to my dorms too, but I make it another bedroom.
On the back door exit at the student union, it looks like the fencing might be an object that is in the way, but I'll try the inverted doorway if I need too. So, adding another archway doesn't help, but a bigger archway does.
The seasons festival type approach makes sense to me. I'll played with those.
Thanks for telling me it was a brand new world save. So as long as I have the dorm saved in the library, I can start a new world launch and go directly to uni and play around. Then I'll save that NHD file in any world I'm playing so the uni experience will be the same for all. Yay!
I tend to make my lots all on one floor if I can so I can see everything. I don't mind bedrooms and baths on another floor as that makes sense. So, my student union might end up quite different. We'll see. I won't mess with the classroom much, but the buffet table might disappear.
Nice work! I should probably get rid of that buffet table too. I've only used it once, paid to put food on it, and watch no sims take anything. In my last game I took 24 sims to university with 16 or so in the Fine Arts major. Dawned on my early Tuesday morning that there weren't enough seats at the Lecture Hall. That was the only time I removed the buffet table. I managed to fit in enough tables and chairs to seat everyone plus the usual inactives. Oddly though no inactives showed.
I wouldn't say I don't like it, but I don't particularly care for it. It's nice to have, but I could live without University. I feel the same way about Sims 2's University expansion.
I like university, it feels like your sims are finally growing up and getting out on their for the first time as young adults. I do wish there were different hang out spots and that your sim can have a job and go to univeristy at the same time though. Protesting is fun but i wish they put more realistic protests in the game and less silly ones but other than that..I like it, I even have university save going on right now with the sim in my avi.
What I HATE is when I go into town -since I hate waiting on the mascot- the camera zips back to the house. Also, I'm trying -notice I said "try"- to play in a challenge with only 5 Sims stranded on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. How "stranded are you if someone can reach you to give you a welcome package from the university? I really hate the mascot and there's no way to stop it from coming to your home. I wish there was an option that would switch him off.
I think other than the annoying mascot, it's a good EP.
It worked @TreyNutz! I renamed the sims 3 folder and loaded up a new game and went directly to uni. I altered the union building to give it wide arches and I didn't need to mess with the meet and greet stuff at all. The banners might appear to partially block the doorway during the meet and greet, but it's not bad and doesn't seem to matter as I put in the triple arch that comes with the base game (and the banners fell to either side of the doorway).
I couldn't, however, get the sim to use that back door in the union building, either coming or going. Clicking on the door from the inside only gave me an NRaas option. Clicking on the door on the outside is the same as clicking on the building. The sim will use the front door. From inside I clicked the space right outside the back door and used "Go here." The sim went out the front door to run all the way around the building. Sad! (I simply had added one wall on either side of the current doors and then pulled the section of the wall with the doors one tile.)
Anyway, I redid the Malan Hall dorm, deleting the third floor, and I redid Frome's Cabin (a cheap rental close by) to delete the whole building and redo it without foundation. I then returned to game and saved. Then I quit and went into the save folder and copied the NHD file for uni into another save folder in another folder version of Sims 3. I renamed the folders and loaded up that saved game I copied the NHD file into.
No problems what so ever. The sim look classes, got extra funds, went to the meet and greet, increased skills on the tech machine. So... even without traveler installed, it is an easy copy and paste of the NHD file from one save to another. I did make sure to clear the *cache.package files from the old save first.
@ciane , that's interesting about the student union. I was wondering if the shell prohibited that back door. It's probably the same with the Library building too. Also, it's interesting to know that using the nhd file without traveler worked. I didn't know that was possible.
I did move some of the meet and greet banners around at the Student Union. Seems to play just fine though. I didn't delete any of those objects those (although that's probably possible).
Anyways, it's good to hear that you were able to customize the University world.
I've also done something similar to China and France. I've edited 2 of the tombs to fix routing issues. And one ownable home in China was badly done, i.e. there was no door to the bathroom or kitchen. Otherwise I liked the house, so I fixed it and now use a customized China.
The only thing I don't enjoy is the repetitiveness of it all, along with keeping up with studies. Apart from that, I really like the expansion and I enjoy every other feature.
I love University Life, but the problem is....well, I'm not the first person to say this, but....Social Groups. EVEN IF YOU DON'T GO TO UNIVERSITY, Social Groups are still happening and you can still join them. It's hard. I just want my Young Adult in the Professional Sport Career to have a better chance at promotions! THEY ARE NOT A JOCK!
1. You can't disable social groups. So, from now on, any time your sim plays a video game or computer game, he/she instantly starts becoming a nerd. Anytime you add an herb to spice up a meal, you're a rebel. Anytime you decide to light a fire and enjoy fun time in the backyard, you're a jock. EDIT: In fact, all of the coolest new objects increase jock status. And, much like Late Night's wonky celebrity system, anytime you talk to someone of a high rank in a particular group, you instantly gain some status in that group. This, of course, means constant notifications on screen when your sim starts losing status in a group, then gaining it back.
2. Longer load times. Once the load into University caused the whole game to crash and shut down. But, it hasn't happened again since.
3. The Social Networking skill is not really interesting.
4. Sometimes there are issues after college when trying to call University townies over to visit, and then having them return home to University. It's also weird how time freezes there, so you can have your sim's son go to college and woohoo with the same girl the dad sim woohooed with. And then again with the 3rd generation.
I agree with 908billy. The biggest thing I don't like about it is the town itself. It's dull, and everything looks worn down and not maintained. Maybe that's supposed to give the place character. But no university I've ever visited, or the town, has ever looked like that. So I've gone through and updated absolutely everything that I can - and planted more trees and sprayed on green grass wherever I've been able. To me, it's still bland, but at least it's all upgraded and clean.
i never really liked University for TS3, at least way less than i did for TS2, for various reasons, but i just never bothered much with it, i played most of its options once & that's enough for me, so usually when i send a sim to university i just get done with it asap & let the sim go home
but currently i have a severe problem with it
i don't know what caused it, but it happened first after i had installed packs i didn't purchase before, RH, Seasons, Showtime
the reason for my disliking it is that the sim i am currently playing is at times not able to attend classes, it doesn't happen every time but she misses approximately half of the classes because of that
at least so far she could attent the exams but she's ready with only half of it, i really hope she can finish her education
i won't be participating in the forums & the gallery anymore - thanks EA
I like the EP overall but found several things severely annoying. I agree with all of 908Billy's points.
My technology students didn't get their cap and gown after graduating. This was a glitch repeated across several saves in several different towns.
It annoys me to no end that once townie students graduate they just wander around in cap and gown. Again, this repeated across several saves in several towns. I had hoped that once students graduated, they would move out and be replaced. I wanted the system to be more 'organic' you know what I mean. I once sent my sim to a class where there were nothing but sims wearing graduation attire.
I've also sent my sim to lecture classes without professors.
The overcrowding thing. I tried to put the Supernatural llama transport to ease congestion but that didn't help.
While I'm in this thread ... I seem to have accidentally deleted a mailbox on one of my dorm lots. I've looked all through buydebug miscellaneous trying to find another one to replace it but can't seem to locate one anywhere. Any thoughts?
Comments
@TreyNutz - Sorry, I didn't see this earlier. Quoting doesn't work like the name dropping.
I wouldn't really need Traveler, would I, to copy the NHD file to another game? I could start fresh with a new town and make the sim I want to sent to uni in CAS and then save and then exit. Then I could copy that NHD file over. I assume the package file that goes with it is not needed?
Store Install
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@ciane , yeah, it's too bad they don't notify you when you are quoted anymore.
Anyways, as far as I understand, when you first travel to a world Traveler will look in your save folder and use an existing nhd file if one is present. I thought normally (i.e. unmodded) the game would not do that, but would overwrite any existing nhd file with a new instance (for first time travel to that world). In both cases, obviously, subsequent travel uses the existing copy.
I got the idea from one section of the Traveler FAQ here. I didn't know whether it would work for the University town, but eventually I was able to get it to work (see my Note below).
I've never done it without having Traveler installed. And no, I don't copy over the package file that goes with the town; that's not needed.
If you try this without Traveler and the game actually uses your customized version (from a different save) instead of a brand new version, please let me know! I'm really interested if that would work.
Note: when I bulldozed and replaced the Academic buildings or the Student Union I later had issues with my sims attending class. They would get reset and then no one could attend class. There was also an issue with NRaas SP at the time (IIRC) where SP would allow a professor to ask himself or herself for extra credit, which would cause resets like that. The SP issue has since been fixed. Out of an abundance of caution I no longer touch those rabbit holes or bulldoze and replace those lots. I've edited the landscaping on those lots though, and put double doors in all of the first floor rooms in the Student Union. Small changes like that haven't caused me any issues.
I've also made customized versions of China and France. Both of those have tombs with a section too narrow for my sims to pass. I've corrected those in my customized version. Simply copying those tombs to the bin and replacing them via Edit Town broke some adventures. I was hoping that customizing in one save and copying over the nhd to new saves would avoid that. I don't recall testing whether I was successful though.
I have altered one lot with a single rental before and the picture of the old rental shows before loading mine, so I quit altering that lot. It plays fine, but the memory of the old one being there just seems to make me think that too much altering might not be good.
I really want to alter the university hall with wide arches for doorways inside. Someone said the added another door for an extra exit or maybe made the back door actually work as an exit. That would be awesome if that worked.
Store Install
Unlocked Stencils
random legacy
Before creating my customized nhd file, I had a long game with many trips to university. In that save I heavily customized the social group hang outs, and the gym. I totally rebuild the upper two floors of the gym, adding the many climbing walls. To the social group lots I added a LN bar so food was available, and added a photo booth. I added a little bubble blower room behind the snack bar in the Java Hut too.
Anyways, to add those lots to my customized nhd, I copied them from that save to the bin, went to my customized university world, bulldozed those lots, and placed my customized ones. Replacing all those lots worked fine - no issues in my subsequent games. I only had issues bulldozing and replacing rabbit holes and the Student Union. Oh, and I had issues bulldozing and replacing the dorms and fraternity/sorority houses with versions I had changed in other games. Those are technically community lots but with sims on them. You can only do that with CAW. So don't bulldoze those. You can edit them in Edit Town though. I also was unable to add an empty dorm to the world. I don't know why.
I don't know if I fully stated out what I did. So here it is in a nutshell:
I don't know if it was clear that I am using an unplayed pristine University world of an unplayed world to customize and copy to my various games.
How about some pics?
You are right about the back door to the Student Union. If I pick them up I cannot put them back, there is some object in the way. Maybe that's why sims never use those doors? You can also see in this picture the double wide arches I used in the 2 rooms opposite the lecture hall, as well as the 2 arches I added to the lecture hall itself. Sims only use on of the lecture hall arches though. I should probably get rid of one of those.
Just now I thought to try changing the Student Union back doors to look like the front doors, moving them inwards by one square. I don't know if that will help. They snapped into place at least. I guess it depends on whether the back door of the Student Union shell functions.
I reorganized the Library interior, making more room for the business major class activity, adding more couches, and adjusting the floor tile as necessary.
I tried to alleviate some of the congestion at the back entrance of the science building. I don't know how successful I was. I recall widening those fences at the door, adding a gap at the fence corner, and moving the trees a little.
Something similar to the art building. Removed some trees near the door and moved the sculpture farther away so sims viewing it wouldn't get in the way of sims entering and exiting the building. Not sure how much that actually helps though. All I can say is that I tried.
I didn't touch the rabbit hole itself. Here's the java hut with the "secret" back bubble room. It's a bit tight.
and the new gym. I had just bought the climbing wall when I made these changes. Inactives were hogging them so I added quite a few. Plus there are some martial arts equipment as well as plenty of exercise benches and treadmills for my typically overstuffed households.
For the dorms I did 3 major edits. One was to add space on the 2nd floor for skill/craft stations, and a fence so I could lock the area to dormies.
I added all-in-ones to the bathrooms and a tub for the occasional bubble bath. The downside is that dormies now spend all day in their sleepwear (well, until they leave the lot). I now use Consort's Dress Code sign to force sims entering the bathrooms to change into everyday.
I tried to redo the kitchen to minimize routing issues. I put in a food synthesizer and regular fridge to make this version general purpose and then I decide on a game by game basis which one I'll use.
I've done all 3 dorms that way. I've also added the snack bar to each dining room. I added fireplaces to De Anda Hall and got rid of the parking lots at the dorms as well.
I also added an elixir consignment shop to the town, and a robot fish spawner in Champion Lake, widened the basement stair case in the sorority house, and removed an arch in front of the fraternity basement staircase.
I spent a lot of time with this version. I tend to send sims to university often so it was worth it to me.
On the back door exit at the student union, it looks like the fencing might be an object that is in the way, but I'll try the inverted doorway if I need too. So, adding another archway doesn't help, but a bigger archway does.
The seasons festival type approach makes sense to me. I'll played with those.
Thanks for telling me it was a brand new world save. So as long as I have the dorm saved in the library, I can start a new world launch and go directly to uni and play around. Then I'll save that NHD file in any world I'm playing so the uni experience will be the same for all. Yay!
I tend to make my lots all on one floor if I can so I can see everything. I don't mind bedrooms and baths on another floor as that makes sense. So, my student union might end up quite different. We'll see. I won't mess with the classroom much, but the buffet table might disappear.
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Unlocked Stencils
random legacy
I think other than the annoying mascot, it's a good EP.
I couldn't, however, get the sim to use that back door in the union building, either coming or going. Clicking on the door from the inside only gave me an NRaas option. Clicking on the door on the outside is the same as clicking on the building. The sim will use the front door. From inside I clicked the space right outside the back door and used "Go here." The sim went out the front door to run all the way around the building. Sad!
Anyway, I redid the Malan Hall dorm, deleting the third floor, and I redid Frome's Cabin (a cheap rental close by) to delete the whole building and redo it without foundation. I then returned to game and saved. Then I quit and went into the save folder and copied the NHD file for uni into another save folder in another folder version of Sims 3. I renamed the folders and loaded up that saved game I copied the NHD file into.
No problems what so ever. The sim look classes, got extra funds, went to the meet and greet, increased skills on the tech machine. So... even without traveler installed, it is an easy copy and paste of the NHD file from one save to another. I did make sure to clear the *cache.package files from the old save first.
Thanks so much for mentioned that.
Store Install
Unlocked Stencils
random legacy
I did move some of the meet and greet banners around at the Student Union. Seems to play just fine though. I didn't delete any of those objects those (although that's probably possible).
Anyways, it's good to hear that you were able to customize the University world.
I've also done something similar to China and France. I've edited 2 of the tombs to fix routing issues. And one ownable home in China was badly done, i.e. there was no door to the bathroom or kitchen. Otherwise I liked the house, so I fixed it and now use a customized China.
1. You can't disable social groups. So, from now on, any time your sim plays a video game or computer game, he/she instantly starts becoming a nerd. Anytime you add an herb to spice up a meal, you're a rebel. Anytime you decide to light a fire and enjoy fun time in the backyard, you're a jock. EDIT: In fact, all of the coolest new objects increase jock status. And, much like Late Night's wonky celebrity system, anytime you talk to someone of a high rank in a particular group, you instantly gain some status in that group. This, of course, means constant notifications on screen when your sim starts losing status in a group, then gaining it back.
2. Longer load times. Once the load into University caused the whole game to crash and shut down. But, it hasn't happened again since.
3. The Social Networking skill is not really interesting.
4. Sometimes there are issues after college when trying to call University townies over to visit, and then having them return home to University. It's also weird how time freezes there, so you can have your sim's son go to college and woohoo with the same girl the dad sim woohooed with. And then again with the 3rd generation.
but currently i have a severe problem with it
i don't know what caused it, but it happened first after i had installed packs i didn't purchase before, RH, Seasons, Showtime
the reason for my disliking it is that the sim i am currently playing is at times not able to attend classes, it doesn't happen every time but she misses approximately half of the classes because of that
at least so far she could attent the exams but she's ready with only half of it, i really hope she can finish her education
I actually have more fun with Sims Uni than I had when I was a college student, myself. LOL