How do you use your neighborhoods?

QueenofMyshuno · January 2019

For those of you who do something different with your neighborhoods, how do you use them?

For example, in my next save, I'm planning on deleting all premade lots and sims. I'm going to make Willow Creek entirely residential, and the larger lots that the mansions are currently on will be farmland with smaller homes on them and more space for farming. I'll make Newcrest and Magnolia Promenade extensions of my neighborhood with commercial lots only. I dislike how sims from different towns always just show up all over the place, so this will make the neighborhood seem more logical, and it will also give me plenty of space. I'll leave the other neighborhoods empty, but I'll still use Granite Falls as a vacation destination. The only downside is that nobody can ever move away from their hometown, LOL.

Does anyone else currently do anything like this or have plans to do something different with your neighborhoods?

RedDestiny92 · January 2019

I imagine it's just one large area or country I guess and as the icons are right next to one another I imagine there is a large unmarked property line and that's why sims can go anywhere they want they just have to be willing to walk there.

vancanuckfan86 · January 2019

I've done different things with different saves...but one thing I always seem to do is make Magnolia Promenade a restaurant boardwalk.

belpita · January 2019

I like making Magnolia Promenade into a residential area. There's already a skating rink and playground there, plus a food stand, so it's quite cosy in that sense.

taydev · January 2019

Magnolia Promenade is all retail and restaurants. Forgotten Hollow is all residential. All other non vacation worlds are a mix of residential and community lots.

Teslachick2 · January 2019

Willow Creek and Oasis Springs are fully residential, each with a central park.

Newcrest is mostly commercial, with one residential neighbourhood close to the park with the monkey bars. Magnolia is the food district, with one high end restaurant, a burger shack, an ice cream parlour, and a seafood restaurant.

Windernburg is a mix, with the wharf area a commercial district, the island is residential and the countryside is filled with homes for the wealthiest, loner sims and a country club/spa on the 64x64 lot.

Brindelton is also a mix, one fully residential neighborhood and a commercial district.

Forgotten Hollow is well...forgotten.

San Myshuno is mostly the same. I'm still slowly renovating the apartments and adding some different commercial lots to the non apartment buildings.

Del Sol is too small to do anything sensible, but I left the celebrity homes intact and the two lounges, though I changed the gym and museum to a nightclub and retail.

GrumpyGlowfish · January 2019

Willow Creek: Mostly residential, as it's the world with the most families in my game. The only public lots there are Magnolia Park and the four in the lower area of the map, though I have edited and exchanged some of them.

Oasis Springs: Mostly public. This wasn't done deliberately, it just happens to have the most public lots that don't look out of place in a desert world, such as an astronomy museum / science lab combo, a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, an archaeology museum, and a bar inspired by the Selvadoradian "Cantina".

Newcrest: The place for everything that doesn't fit in anywhere else.

Magnolia Promenade: A school campus, basically. I'm still working on it, so far the world only has a swimming pool, but when it's done, there will be a gym, a cafeteria, and a library, all specifically targeted at children and teenagers to spend their free time there as well as do school work.

Windenburg: The old town is where the mayor lives, and I've edited the library to look more like a town hall. The modern neighbourhood mostly consists of futuristic homes for my aliens and high-tech-loving sims.

San Myshuno: Modern single sims or couples, small families at best. Also used as a more down-to-earth extension of Del Sol Valley since Get Famous.

Forgotten Hollow: Vampires (duh!) and witches. I have a graveyard there as a public lot, a disco called The Catacombs as my vampire club's hangout, and three families consisting of mostly supernatural sims. It is currently the only world in my game completely filled with lots and households that I actually use.

Brindleton Bay: Animals and nature. I've left it mostly as it was, with the whole pets theme going on, but also added a shop for herbal remedies and a huge garden under a glass dome, both downloaded from the gallery.

Del Sol Valley: None of my played households actually live there yet, though my aspiring actress will move to Mirage Park once she comes of age. Other than that, I use it exclusively as the go-to place for sims who want to be seen.

Simmerville · January 2019

I play all my worlds frequently, but don't have a plan of separating their use etc. Instead I see each world as a district with some standard community functions. Each hood has an elected contact, and the most voted contact is a member of the regional council. In the long run all districts will have some form of a community center, but of course I need to make up most of this.

I like each district to have both residential and commercial lots. Magnolia Promenade is the only exception, where all 4 lots are commercial. If I could build apartments I might have built a multi-household building there, though, but not a stand alone home.

AbraKadabra · January 2019

I plan to slowly rebuild each world, each in a different style. Willow Creek in Victorian and Georgian style, Oasis Springs in Mediterranean, Newcrest and Del Sol Valley probably in modern and Windenburg mostly in Tudor, except for that modern neighbourhood. I won't change the style of Brindleton Bay.
I also plan to organize each world so that there is even number of residential and community lots.
All the existing townies will get a make over, and I plan to add a lot of pop culture inspired households.

ldmarko · January 2019

I mostly leave them as they are, except that I turn Magnolia Promenade into a residential neighborhood. I'm a terrible builder, so I place the lots that come with packs into blank spaces as well as vacation rental lots & a few copies of some of the premade lots for additional housing. Townies all get evicted but not deleted. The homes get remodeled over time to suit the households' needs & personalities. I add a few pack items to the community lots, e.g. the big parks all get toddler tunnels added to them, but other than that I don't change them much. Right now I've started a new rotational save with one family per world. The founders & heirs will live out their entire lives in that world (unless they marry another heir), but the offspring will move to different worlds & raise their families there.

MasonGamer · January 2019

AbraKadabra wrote: »

I plan to slowly rebuild each world, each in a different style. Willow Creek in Victorian and Georgian style, Oasis Springs in Mediterranean, Newcrest and Del Sol Valley probably in modern and Windenburg mostly in Tudor, except for that modern neighbourhood. I won't change the style of Brindleton Bay.
I also plan to organize each world so that there is even number of residential and community lots.
All the existing townies will get a make over, and I plan to add a lot of pop culture inspired households.

I've scrapped everything Pre•made, Sims and Lots, alike.
I did something Similar, Most of by Builds are now in the Second Empire, Neoclassic Style.
I'm trying to do Modern and Mediterranean for Oasis Springs and De Sol Valley but I'm horrible at it.
I built a Castle, in Windenburg, and a few Chateaux, and large Cottages. Eventually I'm going to build a whole Kingdom in Windenburg.
I built a City Hall In one of my worlds, a Cathedral modeled after West Minister Abbey, I've built the St Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, for Willow Creek, but I might put it in Newcrest. At some Point I need to get to the Police Station and Rebuild it as an Armory, planning on redoing the Science Labs as a Power Plant. Not sure on the Hospital yet.
At the time it was the "House of Blues," but I know call it the "House of Jazz"

Also working on creating all of my characters

Huiiie_07 · January 2019

I neither delete premade households, nor houses and move my own sims in either empty houses or build them myself if I have the nerves to do so

I always use Newcrest for public lots. In my main save, there's not a single residential lot in Newcrest, but like 3 restaurants with different themes. However, I'm planning on filling the other empty lots in Newcrest with residential houses I build myself (but I really need to have the patience to do it and I mostly just want to play the game).

To be honest, I also kinda dislike sims from other worlds just showing up everywhere, especially when Windenburg sims show up in Oasis Springs because these two places just seem a big ocean apart from each other. I imagine some of the worlds to be next to each other, Willow Creek, Magnolia Promenade, San Myshuno and Newcrest being roughly at the same place, as well as Oasis Springs being a suburb of Del Sol Valley.

taydev · January 2019

@Huiiie_07 I agree 100% with your last sentiment. I wish there was an option to keep non local sims away because most of the time it just doesn't suit and is immersion breaking for me.

KirbySkywalker · January 2019

I made community garden lots a while back with 3 of every plant. The purpose was to be able to have multiple households work on and benefit from the leveled up plants. But seasons ruined that by making it so plants only bloom if you are on the lot at exactly 5 AM. I wish they would revert that.

I also tried placing retail lots in neighborhoods, but the sims who live in that neighborhood hardly ever show up. So there was no difference compared to having it in a designated retail zone.

Even the sidewalks in my neighborhood seem to be populated by random sims rather than sims who live nearby.

I guess my my observations with sims 4 are that any random sim will appear anywhere. There is no point to zoning certain neighborhoods. Your most famous/richest sims are just as likely to walk through your poor farm land as the ones you want to be your farmers (and vice/versa). You are more likely to see sims from across the world walking down your street than any of your neighbors.

elanorbreton · January 2019

My Newcrest and Willow Creek are fully residential, except for a park in Willow Creek. Forgotten Hollow is all residential except for a cemetery.

Windenburg is my main community centre. The right hand side of the map where the town areas are has no residential places any more. Magnolia Promenade is all community.

The other worlds are a mix, but I have tried to relate the community Lots to the type of town it is. So, for instance, Del Sol Valley community Lots are all 'job' places where sims can go to 'work' and improve skills, or clubs to meet celebs. Brindleton Bay has some 'sea' themed Lots, Oasis Springs has desert-style restaurants and clubs.

Neenz · January 2019

I’ve just finished redesigning Willow Creek, which is an upmarket middle class neighbourhood. Next will be Newcrest, which I need to do for a new gameplay that I’m planning. I’m not sure yet about Oasis Springs because I want it to have a sort of military style installation to do with space travel. It’s probably going to take a few months but very enjoyable 😁

Stina1701A · January 2019

I really like reading what other people have done in their game and how some of you organise your hoods into a specific functions.

For me, I usually play in only one saved game, the one I have been playing since getting the game, but I haven't really systematically or a comprehensive changes with any specific theme in mind except maybe Oasis Spring where I prefer meditarranian looks. I really just add what I need as my story progresses and I don't really reserve any one hood for one thing. Although, when I will get the newest expansion I will probably use that world exclusively for those Sims that prefer the spotlight.

As for the original build, yes I use the original houses/flats (apartments) in game where they are both unchanged and changed as needed. I have also replaced some with either my build or from the Gallery. I am also extremly fond of shared housing and apartment building so I have a few of those from the Gallery; edited and changed by me as needed.

The hoods that have gotten the most overhaul so far, is Oasis, Newcrest and Magnolia Promenade and one street in Willow Creek, the Foundry Cove which is actually my favorite street. The park in Willow Creek got a serious overhaul last december where I added a lot of things I found it lack and I used almost all the packs.

In Oasis Spring, I have replaced almost all residential houses with hacienda-mediterranian looking houses that fits with the ones in the street where the Caliente family lives, with exceptions of course. The roomies household and the Zest lot has remained almost the same and I put an modern dark looking house in Calientes' street and moved in one of my criminal boss families. I also have there two restaurants; one themed as Spagetti Western (where the museum was) and the other is actually an Icecream Parlour (a former residential lot), both downloaded from the Gallery. I also replaced the gym with a big bowling alley.

Newcrest is almost ALL community lots except for the area that is at the top of the Newcrest maps. That is Newcrest's residential area. Magnolia Promenade has one apartment building (I am so very fond of apartment buildings), a movie theatre (café), a graveyard (generic lot) and a shopping mall (retail). I have also put down restaurants of various types in all hoods except Windenburg, Brindleton and Forgotten Hollow.

I have also created community lots that I find are needed for my stories. Like I replaced San Myshuno's gym with the major's office that doubles as an art gallery/museum (I designated that building as an art gallery). I also created in that building, a very beautiful (imho) wedding venue. I wanted a major office because in my rotation I have the Fengs and Mr. Feng is going up the political ladder all the way into office so I found it fitting to put one there. Newcrest has a community center and a park which has an underground lair of sorts for teenagers. I am going to designate two teenage clubs to that lot which is currently a park but I am going to change its designation to a nightclub or a karioke bar as noone goes underground, even when a JD is playing. I want a sort of 'secret' lair where teenagers can hang out without the 'rents getting on their case. I think some very great stories could sprout from a place like that.

I am also going to put a nightclub in San Myshuno, replacing either of the kareoke bars and do some reshuffling of the community lots in Windenburg. I am also going to use the Fyres family out into Willow Creek and use their lot as a retirement home. I am keeping the original house, just going to add an infirmary and add a few things to the garden, like a gazebo and a nursery.

But really, in this saved game, my changes just go on whereever is needed at the time. I want both Brindleton and Forgotten Hollow to remain untouched for now. I don't have the newest expansion pack so I don't have access to the new hood from that one.

Mariefoxprice83 · January 2019

I usually add a few things but keep the towns roughly the same. I'm hoping to start a new save with everything built from scratch though, which means changing things up quite a bit.

WallSims4ever · January 2019

That's actually a nice idea, never thought about that. I basically keep the worlds as they are, and fill Newcrest with community lots from the packs, like Spas, restaurants and bowling alleys.

Angelini55 · January 2019

Interesting to hear what everyone else does with their worlds.

I agree that it would be great to have the option to control how often sims show up in different worlds. I like to think Windenburg is a different country. I've divided the neighbourhoods into rough approximations of Germany and Italy and I often send my young sims on a 'gap year' there before they start families. It breaks the immersion when their parents show up in the pub.

In my current save, I use Newcrest as a commercial district for shops, cafes and other community lots. Magnolia Prom has upmarket bars and restaurants. Oasis Springs is the badlands. It's full of misfits and the occasional mad scientist working on top secret alien contact projects. There's a dodgy roadhouse diner and a rough bar. Willow Creek is for rich folk and retirees. It's the home of my elders club community centre where my beloved oldies play cards and drink tea. San Myshuno belongs to the young artsy crowd and hipsters. Brindleton Bay is a pastoral area for farmers and gardeners.

Shanabananas · January 2019

I wiped the pre made townies so I can have a save with mostly the sims that I've created or downloaded from the gallery. The game always generates random sims to do jobs like maids and bartenders and stuff so I just go into manage households every now and then to clean up their outfits and hair to make them look decent. I made and downloaded real life celebs of different fame levels that I admire to put in my game to make it more realistic. I treat San Myshuno as if its the major city and the other worlds are the suburban areas of San Myshuno. Kind of like Los Angeles, Calabasas, Beverly Hills, ect.

ThePinkBookGirl · January 2019

Depending on the save, I like to treat them as separate towns. So my Sims move between them. Currently I have a new Decades Challenge save that starts in the 1890s, so it is set up as:

Willow Creek an old established town.

Oasis Springs a mining town (park has been transformed into a mine).

San Myshuno is a well established sea port city, with lots of trade and people of all nationalities who have moved there.

Newcrest is a factory town, with lots of industrial buildings.

Magnolia Promenade will be a similar place like Willow Creek.

Brindelton Bay is a fishing town, so established and will be growing.

Del Sol Valley is built up as fairly new, but currently a fishing town.

I will change and develop each town as ‘time’ passes in the challenge.

luxsylvan · January 2019

You all are giving me so many ideas! I never thought to change the neighborhoods--not sure why. I created a save where I deleted everything but was just going to make them all residential (because I'm lazy, and hardly use commercial lots, but they could be fun...).

I think I'll pick and choose from what some of you have done. I've also never been too magnolia promenade...even though I've had GTW for a year...that's how little my Sims travel. 😅 My old computer couldn't handle it. Thanks for the ideas!!

divanthesimmer · January 2019

I put community lots on the open spaces in Willow Creek, Oasis Springs, Windenburg and Forgotten Hollow. I made some houses for the empty lots in Del Sol Valley. I left San Myshuno as is and just added a few things to all the lots (which I also do for every town) and I made Newcrest mostly a commercial town, with the exception of one neighbourhood. Magnolia Promenade is a fully commercial town, with a restaurant next to the kids' play area.

QueenofMyshuno · January 2019

Your ideas are so inspiring! Thank you to everyone who has posted so far!

Angelini55 wrote: »

Willow Creek is for rich folk and retirees. It's the home of my elders club community centre where my beloved oldies play cards and drink tea.

OMG I love it when people are kind to their elder sims and actually play them. This is such a great idea. I might do a tea and cards club in my game, too.

ThePinkBookGirl wrote: »

Currently I have a new Decades Challenge save that starts in the 1890s...I will change and develop each town as ‘time’ passes in the challenge.

That is such a super cool idea! Would love to see screenshots of that as time progresses. Do you have a blog by any chance?

AceOfKnaves · January 2019

The option to control how often sims show up is a neat idea - if we can control the weather, I don't see why not, lol.

I have a tendency to go on a makeover spree rather than start from scratch, especially on the sims themselves. I suppose half of it's due to less patience for building and most of my saves being story oriented. WC is divided into middle class and upper class/retirement homes, every home there was passed down and built by 'hand'. Oasis is for those who fall rock bottom, stuck watching how the other half lives, an alien invasion, a loner mad scientist that no one cares for, and two feuding families. Which ultimately leads to them never leaving when they probably should. It's basically an excuse to sort of recreate my first love - Strangetown. BB is usually a place where my kids of a Legacy save go, I think the atmosphere is great and really brings back memories as I grew up near a place similar. I dunno, I just have this fondness for lighthouses and don't want to ruin anything. FH is going to be a renegade vampire community, with technology driven residents from Newcrest hunting them by night.

San Myshuno is kind of 'meh'. I rarely do much there except upgrade the apartments for story pics, ha. Magnolia promenade is rebuilt with my sims' family business down the line once I get bored with careers. Flower arranging and baking are my favorites, a bit more challenging than clothing. Del Sol Valley I'm not sure about, gonna try to pick GF up some time this month. Maybe leave it untouched and actually play a written story for a change.

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How do you use your neighborhoods?

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