To me, whatever ends up in a screenshot is what's "real" rather than what the sims actually do since my play style is screenshot/storyteller. Here are some things I do to make things realistic:
- Made a trolley so my sims could travel between towns.
- Working on tract housing where a group of similar houses with slightly different coloring and landscaping occupy one section. Willow Creek is especially good for this because they have realistic "blocks" where houses face each other.
- Use clubs to give people "jobs" at venues I've created even though they don't have an actual job. For example, I have a club of office workers. Use money cheats.
- Create venues for everyday errands, like a post office, laundromat, and pharmacy.
- Take photos of family and friends to hang around the house. (I wish we had photo albums.)
- Have certain terms of endearment that only certain sims use. For example, one of my male sims who is a serial monogamist calls all of his girlfriends Doll. My main sim calls his wife Darlin'.
- Use poses to simulate the things they can't actually do (which is a lot of things).
- Create families for main sims at the start of a save so it doesn't seem like everyone is an orphan.
- For weddings, choose a centerpiece that goes on all the tables.
- Download tons of clutter. Download tons of hair.
A "job" at an ice skate rental booth.
Post office.
The office.
.
On EA forum Stories and Legacies board and on QueenOfMyshuno.tumblr.com
Wow, just wow! You guys are very imaginative, much moreso than me.
I do the little stuff, wash hands if working in the garden and going to the bathroom, brush after eating, laundry day, taking kids to the park and watch them playing, family stuff, bowling night, ice cream night at the diner, just ordinary stuff I was always used to while growing up in the 50's and 60's. Riding bikes, fishing, swimming, all great stuff we would do when the weather was warm.
In my house, dog hair sticks to everything but the dog.
I use Private Practice, Organic Hair, SOL, Meaningful Stories, and MCCC Mods as well as a couple of other ones. I use MCCC to increase pregnancy to 9 days instead of 3, so that gives me 1 day for every month, but its also just long enough. I use the gallery to make my towns a lot more lively. I have a wedding dress shop in one so my sims getting married have a place to go to try on dresses and I have a church where they can get married as well. I have play centers for toddlers to visit with their parent(s). I have teen hangout spots like a pizza place and teen club where they can go and hang out. The only house I've built in the game has a pantry complete with CC objects to make it look real, an actual laundry room, a formal living room, formal dining, etc... My sims do daily "chores" and I try to keep them as busy as possible even if that's just meeting a friend for coffee. I use the calendar and plan out events like Weddings, but instead of using the event, I put them on as a holiday so that my sims have anniversary celebrations too. I recently used it to plan the birth of the third generation heir and had everyone in the family present for his birth.
My game isn’t very realistic, but some elements are. I created parents, grandparents, and extended family for my main male Sim. I had his mother run off for a while, so my main Sim’s father moved in with him during that time.
I don’t have my Sims do anything that doesn’t seem in their character. For example, I was dying to use Realm of Magic for a long time, but it didn’t feel organic for any of my Sims to just suddenly visit Glimmerbrook for no reason, so I had to wait. Sims have personalities. They prefer certain clothes, colors, foods, activities, et cetera.
When Sims get weird phone calls from Sims who wouldn’t really do that, I say it is another Sim pretending to be that person.
Try playing a single sim having 2 toddlers and 3 triplets my game has taken another unexpected turn and it’s now giving me another headache. Plus my sim is very poor and is struggling to give her toddlers the basic needs and even more so the triplets plus she is neglecting herself.
Kids Sleepovers: using the GT club options. I make sure to have enough camping beds, start the club gathering with options like playing with toys, eating, watching TV, playing the llama game etc. Then when it is bedtime I change the options to wash and sleep and all the kids get ready and go to bed.
I make sure to only have a sleepover on Fridays or Saturdays so that there is no school the next day and they can have breakfast and play together some more.
Jobs and careers: again, using the GT club options. I have a few community Lots dedicated to job skills that are set up to look like a work place. So, for instance, my sim in the tech career makes a club for sims in the same career and they have their gatherings at the Oasis Springs Office Complex. This building has a number of floors dedicated to different careers. You can lock the doors to only allow your club in a specific room, so I only allow the techies in the office on the 2nd floor. It has computers on desks, a coffee machine, some tech decor etc.
This office block also has a floor for painters, one for those in business, one for chefs and mixologists etc. Down in the hidden basement is a small mouse-infested trashy place where criminals gather, with a workbench, a punching bag and a stolen cash machine 😄
I also have a separate astronaut centre and a few other types where sims can meet their colleagues and also skill up.
Also for careers, I have locked certain jobs behind uni degrees. So sims have to get a diploma to become a doctor, vet, scientist, astronaut, politician, education, engineer or lawyer.
Family: Children can only leave home when they grow up if there are enough family funds. This usually means they have to rent a cheap apartment at first.
Lastly, and only just discovered, I plan to make a bank full of vaults for my rich sims to deposit spare funds and thereby avoid taxes (High bills)... now, I wonder who gave me that idea 😀
I use MCC, the education and activity mods to bring realism to my game. Sometimes, I like to relive my childhood using my Sim kids and their parents.
I love to build so ...
In my main save instead of having single venues using several lots I used the park lot in Willow Creek to build an everything lot. I set it up like a small town midwest main street with a town square. This lot can be changed to any lot type at anytime. It also contains all skill items including a rocketship. If my Sim needs to view 3 paintings at the museum I have my Sim go there and (cheat) go into build mode and switch the lot type. So my Sim views 3 paintings and that part is complete. Then if I want my Sim to visit a nightclub I switch the lot type. I lock doors on various buildings so NPC Sims actually go to the nightclub. It's pretty cool! There are a few issues like vampires and spellcasters teleporting places and getting stuck. I have to right click and delete (cheat) which sort of teleports them to another lot.
I really enjoy taking my Sim family there. It brings back memories from my childhood when my parents would pack all of the kids into the station wagon and go to town. This happened on most Saturdays. My Mom would grocery shopping and my Dad would go to the barbershop (mainly just to gossip). As a child I never understood why he went there because my Mom cut his hair. Anyway, each kid would get 4 quarters and we would rush down to the gas station to get a bottle of soda and a bag of peanuts or whatever the quarters got us. Then later we would all meet back at the car and go to Saturday Evening Mass (I was raised Catholic) and then back home for a late supper. I can sort of do this with my everything lot.
@illustratedhappiness - Thanks so much! Cool, I'd love to see screenshots if your Sims propose at the lighthouse. I'll also be utilizing a lot of your ideas for more realistic gameplay into my Simming. Thanks for creating this thread - such amazing creativity
@QueenofMyshuno I had to Google "tract housing" so I learnt something new today Great ideas and screenshots - your ice skating booth is brilliant! @bshag4lv Culminated the little things equates most of life so I'd say you're very much inline with this style of playing. And you bring up another great point - realism is individual and incorporating what we relate to in the real world is what it's all about @Goth583 A wedding dress shop I'm so gonna do that. Making important days into holidays is such a great idea. But do you delete them after the relevant Sims pass? I'd imagine the calendar getting pretty full after a while! @Rouenpucelle Great implementations. Creating extended families is wonderful - another usage of geneaology capability in CAS @netney52 Think of it as a challenge - if you can do this you can do anything haha. @elanorbreton It's my absolute pleasure! .. So long as I'm not remembered as the Money Laundering Simmer Great idea creating a physical workplace for all those rabbithole careers - is "the Oasis Springs Office Complex" on the Gallery by any chance? @AnnLee87 Wow, that's so creative. I love how you incorporate memories of your childhood into the game - in my opinion it's so fulfilling to play that way @Sha2520032003 I definitely will So happy you enjoy the thread. I'm so excited about seeing so many contribute their amazing ideas.
Also, incase anyone is wondering what I and ElanorBreton are talking about, I'll refer you to my tax evasion banking scheme which I posted in another thread here (general) and here (more details). Oh my, out of context this sentence sounds horrific haha
@illustratedhappiness Yes, once both of the sims pass on I delete the wedding anniversary holiday. Family Reunions are also something I like to do as a holiday too every now and then. I just use the event option to gather them all in one place, or as many as I can get.
@Goth583 Thanks, I'm gonna try it out! Regarding reunions: If I remember correctly, after you've maxed out initial guest invitations, the Sims you invite to the lot ordinarily will get the "guest" tag as well if they're called after the event has started
@stillcelinecara2 These are recipes which unlock as you advance in the Cooking Skill. The pink cake (Strawberry Cake) unlocks at level 4, and the blue cake (Blue Confetti Cake) unlocks at level 6
Comments
@Koteyka I love your ship idea. I'm totally going to do that!
@Duvelina That love/hate mod looks amazing. I'm going to download it. Thanks for the tip.
On EA forum Stories and Legacies board and on QueenOfMyshuno.tumblr.com
- Made a trolley so my sims could travel between towns.
- Working on tract housing where a group of similar houses with slightly different coloring and landscaping occupy one section. Willow Creek is especially good for this because they have realistic "blocks" where houses face each other.
- Use clubs to give people "jobs" at venues I've created even though they don't have an actual job. For example, I have a club of office workers. Use money cheats.
- Create venues for everyday errands, like a post office, laundromat, and pharmacy.
- Take photos of family and friends to hang around the house. (I wish we had photo albums.)
- Have certain terms of endearment that only certain sims use. For example, one of my male sims who is a serial monogamist calls all of his girlfriends Doll. My main sim calls his wife Darlin'.
- Use poses to simulate the things they can't actually do (which is a lot of things).
- Create families for main sims at the start of a save so it doesn't seem like everyone is an orphan.
- For weddings, choose a centerpiece that goes on all the tables.
- Download tons of clutter. Download tons of hair.
A "job" at an ice skate rental booth.
Post office.
The office.
On EA forum Stories and Legacies board and on QueenOfMyshuno.tumblr.com
I do the little stuff, wash hands if working in the garden and going to the bathroom, brush after eating, laundry day, taking kids to the park and watch them playing, family stuff, bowling night, ice cream night at the diner, just ordinary stuff I was always used to while growing up in the 50's and 60's. Riding bikes, fishing, swimming, all great stuff we would do when the weather was warm.
It's Kawaii Stacie's education mod.
I don’t have my Sims do anything that doesn’t seem in their character. For example, I was dying to use Realm of Magic for a long time, but it didn’t feel organic for any of my Sims to just suddenly visit Glimmerbrook for no reason, so I had to wait. Sims have personalities. They prefer certain clothes, colors, foods, activities, et cetera.
When Sims get weird phone calls from Sims who wouldn’t really do that, I say it is another Sim pretending to be that person.
Kids Sleepovers: using the GT club options. I make sure to have enough camping beds, start the club gathering with options like playing with toys, eating, watching TV, playing the llama game etc. Then when it is bedtime I change the options to wash and sleep and all the kids get ready and go to bed.
I make sure to only have a sleepover on Fridays or Saturdays so that there is no school the next day and they can have breakfast and play together some more.
Jobs and careers: again, using the GT club options. I have a few community Lots dedicated to job skills that are set up to look like a work place. So, for instance, my sim in the tech career makes a club for sims in the same career and they have their gatherings at the Oasis Springs Office Complex. This building has a number of floors dedicated to different careers. You can lock the doors to only allow your club in a specific room, so I only allow the techies in the office on the 2nd floor. It has computers on desks, a coffee machine, some tech decor etc.
This office block also has a floor for painters, one for those in business, one for chefs and mixologists etc. Down in the hidden basement is a small mouse-infested trashy place where criminals gather, with a workbench, a punching bag and a stolen cash machine 😄
I also have a separate astronaut centre and a few other types where sims can meet their colleagues and also skill up.
Also for careers, I have locked certain jobs behind uni degrees. So sims have to get a diploma to become a doctor, vet, scientist, astronaut, politician, education, engineer or lawyer.
Family: Children can only leave home when they grow up if there are enough family funds. This usually means they have to rent a cheap apartment at first.
Lastly, and only just discovered, I plan to make a bank full of vaults for my rich sims to deposit spare funds and thereby avoid taxes (High bills)... now, I wonder who gave me that idea 😀
I love to build so ...
In my main save instead of having single venues using several lots I used the park lot in Willow Creek to build an everything lot. I set it up like a small town midwest main street with a town square. This lot can be changed to any lot type at anytime. It also contains all skill items including a rocketship. If my Sim needs to view 3 paintings at the museum I have my Sim go there and (cheat) go into build mode and switch the lot type. So my Sim views 3 paintings and that part is complete. Then if I want my Sim to visit a nightclub I switch the lot type. I lock doors on various buildings so NPC Sims actually go to the nightclub. It's pretty cool! There are a few issues like vampires and spellcasters teleporting places and getting stuck. I have to right click and delete (cheat) which sort of teleports them to another lot.
I really enjoy taking my Sim family there. It brings back memories from my childhood when my parents would pack all of the kids into the station wagon and go to town. This happened on most Saturdays. My Mom would grocery shopping and my Dad would go to the barbershop (mainly just to gossip). As a child I never understood why he went there because my Mom cut his hair. Anyway, each kid would get 4 quarters and we would rush down to the gas station to get a bottle of soda and a bag of peanuts or whatever the quarters got us. Then later we would all meet back at the car and go to Saturday Evening Mass (I was raised Catholic) and then back home for a late supper. I can sort of do this with my everything lot.
@bshag4lv Culminated the little things equates most of life so I'd say you're very much inline with this style of playing. And you bring up another great point - realism is individual and incorporating what we relate to in the real world is what it's all about
@Goth583 A wedding dress shop
@Rouenpucelle Great implementations. Creating extended families is wonderful - another usage of geneaology capability in CAS
@netney52 Think of it as a challenge - if you can do this you can do anything haha.
@elanorbreton It's my absolute pleasure! .. So long as I'm not remembered as the Money Laundering Simmer
@AnnLee87 Wow, that's so creative. I love how you incorporate memories of your childhood into the game - in my opinion it's so fulfilling to play that way
@Sha2520032003 I definitely will
Also, incase anyone is wondering what I and ElanorBreton are talking about, I'll refer you to my tax evasion banking scheme which I posted in another thread here (general) and here (more details). Oh my, out of context this sentence sounds horrific haha
Underneath the spoiler is some pics of my edited office floors, which I changed somewhat from the original, particularly the ground floor.
Next floor down for techies and spies:
Next floor down for painters:
A section of the ground floor, for chefs and mixologists:
And, finally, the basement for the criminals