I have a few questions that searching has not produced great answers to, but I suspect players know all to well. I have trouble fulfilling a few wishes and still don't understand how to do some things: -Wish to 'Call [Sim Name]'. I select it, use the phone and try to call, but [Sim Name] is not in the list, nor are they in the relationship screen. How do you call them? It is sometimes a [Sim Name] I am unfamiliar with. -Play Hopscotch with [Sim Name]. I don't know how to play hopscotch. Though I did eventually see it in the buy category, I could place one on my lot, but I don't really want to. Maybe there is some place to go already? -Have a Great Date. Mostly, when I get the random call and select yes, all I know to do is stand where they meet, in the rain, or snow, and discuss whatever. If I try walking inside, they might go home or something. Unless the date occurred on a lot with an ice pond or some other feature that allows [Do action] with sim... -Have a pillow fight. I can do this one at my home lot no problem. But when I'm In the Future, or at the University, I do not know how to do that. -Perform Stimulus Response test on [sim name]. After gaining enough science and/or nerd points, I see that option often enough, but sometimes it's not there. I don't understand why it would or would not be available. There are a few other conversation wishes that are similarly missing occasionally. -Have a Great Party. I succeeded once, but I do not understand what makes a Great Party, or one that ends and the wish is left in the queue -Learn recipe for [food]. My Chef has learned how to cook a bunch of different things, I have no idea how he learned any of them. -Host a [Type] Party. I had 4 sims all want to host a party of some sort or another. Only 1 got the credit for it, how could I have gotten the other 3 as well? -Equip an umbrella. All the NPC sims have one, my sims get soaked if it's raining and we are outside. -Buy [Object]. I have trouble finding anything in particular and always have to Google the object to find the right category. -Handle large household. I'm at 8 sims and 2 pets now. I know there is no longer room for another. I read that there is an Edit Town button (I've seen it but never pressed it), but I do not know how to make room for another sim, should the family decide to grow again. -Building. Why won't these stairs connect? I know you can have 5 stories tall, and some basement levels down, but I have not figured out the nuances. I managed to add a second floor with a single spiral staircase. It's not exactly pretty but very functional, except for the log jam at the only staircase.
Also, what are good things to spend the intro SimPoints on? I could get the world with the fountain of youth in it, That seems worth it, but I feel I could be missing out on something else, like the skeleton maid.
@Kuvuplan - I don't mean to be off-putting or discouraging in the slightest, but wow that's a lot of questions. You might get better results here if you try to limit each post to a much smaller number, like three or so, maybe starting with the ones that are the most important to you at the moment. Then when you get enough satisfactory answers, start up again with a few more.
A lot of basic gameplay functions are very well described, some with illustrations, on Carl's site. You may find his guides helpful as an ongoing resource. http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com
(note that his site covers TS4 also, so make sure to stay on the TS3 side of things to avoid confusion)
Many players also find the Sims Wiki very helpful. This one is arranged by topic, not by iteration of the game, so often you do have to scroll through the TS1 and TS2 discussions within each page to get to the TS3 parts. http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_Wiki
I'll just grab a few of your questions randomly and answer them here, though.
-- You have to have a friendly relationship with another sim in order to call them up for a chat. Complete strangers won't be reachable or interested in talking to your sim. Would you want to have a nice long chat with someone you've never heard of if they called you randomly?
-- You can enter Build/Buy on community lots through Edit Town and place Hopscotch Courts wherever you like if you aren't finding any on your own in town. Parks and playgrounds would be the usual choices.
-- Sims learn cooking recipes in various ways. Some are granted when their cooking skill goes up a level. Others are best learned by going to the bookstore, buying, and reading the recipe books appropriate for your sim's skill level. That's actual recipe books, not the skills gaining books. But the higher your sim's cooking skill is, the more recipes they will be able to learn from the recipe books. Sims can also learn random recipes by watching the Cooking Channel on TV and chatting about cooking with a very high skilled chef (I think the other sim has to be Level 10).
-- Umbrellas can be purchased through Buy Mode. A sim has to have one in their personal inventory in order to be able to use it.
-- The only way a household can have Greater Than Eight sims is by using mods. If not using mods, your family cannot grow beyond that until someone moves out or dies. That means no babies (pregnancies would be impossible to form) and no one else can move in.
-- Only the host, the one who arranged for a party by sending the invites, gets credit for having thrown it.
-- The "Skeleton Maid" is Bonehilda. She comes with the Supernatural Expansion Pack, not from the EA Store and is not purchasable with store points. If you have Supernatural, you can get her for your sims from Buy Mode; she is an object in there like the other household items are.
Also, what are good things to spend the intro SimPoints on? I could get the world with the fountain of youth in it, That seems worth it, but I feel I could be missing out on something else, like the skeleton maid.
To call a sim, you must have met them in-game and introduced yourself to them. As such, wishes like "call X sim" can be difficult to accomplish if you haven't met that sim yet.
Fear not the fae, for they are harmless. Anger not the fae, beware their wraith. Harm not the fae, fear the Faerie Knight.
whoa I don't think I've ever played a game from the 80's , sadly all my gaming consoles are broken now, I just wish there are more remakes of old games, or even a remastered TS3 with all expansions and obviously at a cheaper price ;D . I really like your picture btw, it looks like an alien zombie witch plant thingy.
Nope, that's Aaraness Sunrise, my faerie sim flying towards her first home.
Fear not the fae, for they are harmless. Anger not the fae, beware their wraith. Harm not the fae, fear the Faerie Knight.
@Kuvuplan My sims get a wish to call/text a sim I've never heard of and then I realize it's the University Mascot. Try hovering over them to see if the name matches.
If you need to move out some sims to make room for more there is always the option to kick them out. Just look under the Real Estate & Travel options on their phone and choose "Move". It should ask you if you want to choose their house or kick them out. If I don't care where they end up, I just normally kick them out. If I do care I use the Edit Town option. It's pretty self-explanatory, but if you're having issues with it you can always cancel it and try again.
I recommend the Read Once mod. That prevents sims from reading the same book a bajillion times autonomously. But it by default doesn't work with the Multitab 6000. On the other hand, the Multitab readonce mod works with Read Once, as well as opens up the rest of the skills for tabcast learning.
Fear not the fae, for they are harmless. Anger not the fae, beware their wraith. Harm not the fae, fear the Faerie Knight.
Thanks a bunch! I've read a lot of the wiki and carl's sims guide. When I do look up info, one or both of those show up. But they never answered this question: Is there a way to cancel a cancel? When they automatically choose an action, sometimes I want that to finish, then queue up some other actions, but that puts a red X over the action. Even if I'm on pause. Is there a way to undo an accidental cancel?
Thanks a bunch!
I've read a lot of the wiki and carl's sims guide. When I do look up info, one or both of those show up. But they never answered this question:
Is there a way to cancel a cancel?
When they automatically choose an action, sometimes I want that to finish, then queue up some other actions, but that puts a red X over the action. Even if I'm on pause. Is there a way to undo an accidental cancel?
There is no way to undo that, no. It's very annoying even for those of us with heavily modded games. Of course, the proper answer is don't make any mistakes with the mouse clicks in the first place (easier said than done). In the case of the action queue yielding whatever they were doing to our commands, the only solution is to wait impatiently until they are finished before issuing a command.
@Kuvuplan -I would just cancel that by cancelling all actions and start setting the actions up again.I cancelled using the toilet once when it clogged and had to reline the sim's actions up.I told them to unclog the toilet and after that got them to use it and take a shower.
If the accidentally canceled action was initiated by a different sim and the active one is the recipient of the action (Listen to Story, Answer Question, Be Flirted With, etc.), then there isn't always a practical way to get the action queue back to where it was before.
Thank you igazor, lisasc360, Faerie197, KATENESS, elanorbreton, ZeeGee, and TadOlson.
I had the assumption, that every time they had a wish they wanted to do, it was possible, perhaps even a quick and easy one to do if it is a small one, like 150 points. When walking around new sims, "Meet a new Sim" or "Meet a Vampire", or "Meet a Werewolf" occasionally show up, and if I look close enough I usually find a werewolf or a vampire nearby. But a few of them have been difficult and I elaborated them in the first post. Sounds like my assumption was incorrect, and some of those wishes are not really the next step, but a lot of steps before completion. Some might even be impossible, such as wish to Pillow fight specific Sim while at the university.
Periodically my sim's phone will ring and it will say '[Sim Name] wants to go out on a date with [Your Sim Name], would you like to go?". And [Sim Name] was one that had no relationship, never met them before (Game probably just added them to the population). Which tells me that town folk can call you through a phone book or something, but you cannot call them.
Sim Points, after figuring out how to register my Steam Codes on the website, I got some intro points, but don't know what to spend them on. I've seen the deals, but most of them look like they are just new skins for things I already have access too. I'm wondering which things in the store add features or functionality that I don't already have. I've seen a few items mentioned in different locations, and did not recall them correctly as Bonehilda was in the EP, rather than Sim Points. (Multitab 6000 looks good, I'll have to see if I can budget it in)
Read Once mod also looks handy. My Bookworm sim is very often "Rereading ..." something.
Another question: Is there an end game? I think the answer is no, you just play generations or however long you want until it slows down too much or you start a new game. But I do wonder, is it possible to play long enough to be "In the Future"? I did notice that they labeled the time as "Present" and "Future" and were very vague on how many generations were between them. I suspect the answer is "no". It would be cool though, to play long enough to see your first sim pop into your lot through the time portal, and you can go through it to see your first house. Unless you purchased the Ageless potion, then maybe your first sim just meets them-self.
The Dream Manager is far from perfect. Yes, some of the wishes sims draw are based on what they are doing right now or have done recently and are reasonable. Some of them will be very difficult relative to the small number of LTR points they offer, such as the wish to send a text to or pillow fight a newborn baby (you can fulfill this one, you just have to hold onto to it for a very long time until the baby is much older). And a few will be impossible or make no sense whatsoever.
The date calls and attraction gifts in the mail are practically random. EA added these in for us even though no one wanted or asked for them at the time Seasons came out. There are mods available to suppress them, many of us find them really annoying especially since they don't really mean anything. Actively being played sims cannot initiate those kinds of calls or send random attraction gifts.
There is no middle or end game. Sims games can go on forever. And there is, sorry to say, no real connection between the present and the ITF future. Your descendants may share some of your sims' genetics, but that's really about it. There are no family tree or number of generations types of connections between them.
I had a date call last night that was particularly odd, but in the end very useful. I have 8 sims in my household, but I mostly care about 3, and 2 children. (Names are not important here) I had Sim 2 and Sim 3 at the university. Sim 2 was running low on the social bar, and got a Date Call just after going to bed. I answered the phone and it was Sim 1 who wanted a Date with Sim 2. Sim 1 was still at home, not the university (also Married and with the kids and should not be making these calls but that is beside the point). I wondered what would happen so I accepted. Sim 2 then disappeared, I paused, clicked on their icon which moved the view to their current location. They were just outside the front door with a full social bar, and even energy was boosted a bit. Took maybe 30 minutes of sim time to get up, answer call, and go back to bed for a jump in a couple bars.
I would call "Mid Game" that time where you have a career on track to bring in enough money to pay for all the base needs with some to spare for savings/investments. Or maybe the point where you complete the lifetime wish. Early game is all about getting everything you need to keep all 6 bars up, and pay bills before the repo men take everything away.
I guess if you played a single sim, you could say finishing the LTW would be end game...but if you have MC mod you can pick a new LTW. You could say death is end game....but you can play the sim as a ghost or just swap active households. You could max out all skills, reach level 10 in all jobs and complete all Life Time Rewards and say that is end game...but you usually have the next generation waiting in the wings. Nope. No end game here.
As many of you have heard me say so often here, I started my first game back in late 2011 and that's still the same ongoing game I am playing today. No one told me back then that you were supposed to start over every once in a while, so I never have and still never do.
But even when playing multiple generations, I think I get the concept of middle and end game. It's how we see our households as having evolved. If Generation 3, for example, did really well for themselves then their children and grandchildren will start out pretty much all set with everything they need already as they are growing up. When they get to be adults, possibly in households of their own, they may not need to go through all of the struggles that newly created sims in a new game might and the player could miss some of the challenges that are more typically presented along the way.
My solution to all of that while staying within the same ongoing game is to have at least one child (usually grown) "run away from home" and start their own household with next to nothing to work with and no help from the rest of the family. They may still have a headstart over their peers by having had a childhood fostering more advanced development than a brand new sim might, but many of the challenges will still be there for them. And, for those of us who leverage mods to play rotationally, we can still play newly created sims who are starting with almost nothing and without all the early development advantages to get that feeling of progression again, but still all within the same ongoing game.
About a week and a half until the 1500 simpoint prize give-a-way for anyone who is new or does not own the store! The link to the contest is in the first post.
I'm new to the forums at least! I played the Sims 3 years ago when it first came out and then went back to playing the Sims 2 for a while. Now I'm loving Sims 3 and all the upgrades from the previous game. I think at first I just hadn't been big on changing, but now that I'm more used to the Sims 3 I think it's way better.
Post edited by polrbear on
I play Sims 2, Sims 3, Sims 4, and The Urbz: Sims in the City on gamecube and ds. Main Game: Sims 3
Comments
Yep...Zaxxon for Apple IIe.
Played it on a friend's Coleco-Vision too.
Always "River McIrish" ...and maybe some Bebe Hart. ~innocent expression~
I have trouble fulfilling a few wishes and still don't understand how to do some things:
-Wish to 'Call [Sim Name]'. I select it, use the phone and try to call, but [Sim Name] is not in the list, nor are they in the relationship screen. How do you call them? It is sometimes a [Sim Name] I am unfamiliar with.
-Play Hopscotch with [Sim Name]. I don't know how to play hopscotch. Though I did eventually see it in the buy category, I could place one on my lot, but I don't really want to. Maybe there is some place to go already?
-Have a Great Date. Mostly, when I get the random call and select yes, all I know to do is stand where they meet, in the rain, or snow, and discuss whatever. If I try walking inside, they might go home or something. Unless the date occurred on a lot with an ice pond or some other feature that allows [Do action] with sim...
-Have a pillow fight. I can do this one at my home lot no problem. But when I'm In the Future, or at the University, I do not know how to do that.
-Perform Stimulus Response test on [sim name]. After gaining enough science and/or nerd points, I see that option often enough, but sometimes it's not there. I don't understand why it would or would not be available. There are a few other conversation wishes that are similarly missing occasionally.
-Have a Great Party. I succeeded once, but I do not understand what makes a Great Party, or one that ends and the wish is left in the queue
-Learn recipe for [food]. My Chef has learned how to cook a bunch of different things, I have no idea how he learned any of them.
-Host a [Type] Party. I had 4 sims all want to host a party of some sort or another. Only 1 got the credit for it, how could I have gotten the other 3 as well?
-Equip an umbrella. All the NPC sims have one, my sims get soaked if it's raining and we are outside.
-Buy [Object]. I have trouble finding anything in particular and always have to Google the object to find the right category.
-Handle large household. I'm at 8 sims and 2 pets now. I know there is no longer room for another. I read that there is an Edit Town button (I've seen it but never pressed it), but I do not know how to make room for another sim, should the family decide to grow again.
-Building. Why won't these stairs connect? I know you can have 5 stories tall, and some basement levels down, but I have not figured out the nuances. I managed to add a second floor with a single spiral staircase. It's not exactly pretty but very functional, except for the log jam at the only staircase.
Thanks!
A lot of basic gameplay functions are very well described, some with illustrations, on Carl's site. You may find his guides helpful as an ongoing resource.
http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com
(note that his site covers TS4 also, so make sure to stay on the TS3 side of things to avoid confusion)
Many players also find the Sims Wiki very helpful. This one is arranged by topic, not by iteration of the game, so often you do have to scroll through the TS1 and TS2 discussions within each page to get to the TS3 parts.
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_Wiki
I'll just grab a few of your questions randomly and answer them here, though.
-- You have to have a friendly relationship with another sim in order to call them up for a chat. Complete strangers won't be reachable or interested in talking to your sim. Would you want to have a nice long chat with someone you've never heard of if they called you randomly?
-- You can enter Build/Buy on community lots through Edit Town and place Hopscotch Courts wherever you like if you aren't finding any on your own in town. Parks and playgrounds would be the usual choices.
-- Sims learn cooking recipes in various ways. Some are granted when their cooking skill goes up a level. Others are best learned by going to the bookstore, buying, and reading the recipe books appropriate for your sim's skill level. That's actual recipe books, not the skills gaining books. But the higher your sim's cooking skill is, the more recipes they will be able to learn from the recipe books. Sims can also learn random recipes by watching the Cooking Channel on TV and chatting about cooking with a very high skilled chef (I think the other sim has to be Level 10).
-- Umbrellas can be purchased through Buy Mode. A sim has to have one in their personal inventory in order to be able to use it.
-- The only way a household can have Greater Than Eight sims is by using mods. If not using mods, your family cannot grow beyond that until someone moves out or dies. That means no babies (pregnancies would be impossible to form) and no one else can move in.
-- Only the host, the one who arranged for a party by sending the invites, gets credit for having thrown it.
-- The "Skeleton Maid" is Bonehilda. She comes with the Supernatural Expansion Pack, not from the EA Store and is not purchasable with store points. If you have Supernatural, you can get her for your sims from Buy Mode; she is an object in there like the other household items are.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
@Kuvuplan, hello and welcome to the forums...
You're invited to check out the Daily Deals page located over in The Sims 3 Store section to see what deals are coming up on the Daily Deals for the day...
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/866448/daily-deal-dd-rotation-and-sales-help-continuation-of-september-list/p215
Bonehilda who is the skeleton maid comes with the Supernatural EP...
http://store.thesims3.com/myWishlist.html?persona=lisasc360
My stories on this site:
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/991317/my-sims-stories/p1?new=1
Nope, that's Aaraness Sunrise, my faerie sim flying towards her first home.
If you need to move out some sims to make room for more there is always the option to kick them out. Just look under the Real Estate & Travel options on their phone and choose "Move". It should ask you if you want to choose their house or kick them out. If I don't care where they end up, I just normally kick them out. If I do care I use the Edit Town option. It's pretty self-explanatory, but if you're having issues with it you can always cancel it and try again.
I totally recommend the Multitab 6000 from the Store. It's soooo useful, I make sure almost all my sims have one.
http://store.thesims3.com/productDetail.html?productId=OFB-SIM3:50554&categoryId=13062&scategoryId=13177
I've read a lot of the wiki and carl's sims guide. When I do look up info, one or both of those show up. But they never answered this question:
Is there a way to cancel a cancel?
When they automatically choose an action, sometimes I want that to finish, then queue up some other actions, but that puts a red X over the action. Even if I'm on pause. Is there a way to undo an accidental cancel?
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
* waves @Kuvuplan * Welcome to one of the friendliest sections on the boards!
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
I had the assumption, that every time they had a wish they wanted to do, it was possible, perhaps even a quick and easy one to do if it is a small one, like 150 points. When walking around new sims, "Meet a new Sim" or "Meet a Vampire", or "Meet a Werewolf" occasionally show up, and if I look close enough I usually find a werewolf or a vampire nearby. But a few of them have been difficult and I elaborated them in the first post. Sounds like my assumption was incorrect, and some of those wishes are not really the next step, but a lot of steps before completion. Some might even be impossible, such as wish to Pillow fight specific Sim while at the university.
Periodically my sim's phone will ring and it will say '[Sim Name] wants to go out on a date with [Your Sim Name], would you like to go?". And [Sim Name] was one that had no relationship, never met them before (Game probably just added them to the population). Which tells me that town folk can call you through a phone book or something, but you cannot call them.
Sim Points, after figuring out how to register my Steam Codes on the website, I got some intro points, but don't know what to spend them on. I've seen the deals, but most of them look like they are just new skins for things I already have access too. I'm wondering which things in the store add features or functionality that I don't already have. I've seen a few items mentioned in different locations, and did not recall them correctly as Bonehilda was in the EP, rather than Sim Points. (Multitab 6000 looks good, I'll have to see if I can budget it in)
Read Once mod also looks handy. My Bookworm sim is very often "Rereading ..." something.
Another question: Is there an end game? I think the answer is no, you just play generations or however long you want until it slows down too much or you start a new game.
But I do wonder, is it possible to play long enough to be "In the Future"? I did notice that they labeled the time as "Present" and "Future" and were very vague on how many generations were between them. I suspect the answer is "no". It would be cool though, to play long enough to see your first sim pop into your lot through the time portal, and you can go through it to see your first house. Unless you purchased the Ageless potion, then maybe your first sim just meets them-self.
The date calls and attraction gifts in the mail are practically random. EA added these in for us even though no one wanted or asked for them at the time Seasons came out. There are mods available to suppress them, many of us find them really annoying especially since they don't really mean anything. Actively being played sims cannot initiate those kinds of calls or send random attraction gifts.
There is no middle or end game. Sims games can go on forever. And there is, sorry to say, no real connection between the present and the ITF future. Your descendants may share some of your sims' genetics, but that's really about it. There are no family tree or number of generations types of connections between them.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net
I would call "Mid Game" that time where you have a career on track to bring in enough money to pay for all the base needs with some to spare for savings/investments. Or maybe the point where you complete the lifetime wish. Early game is all about getting everything you need to keep all 6 bars up, and pay bills before the repo men take everything away.
What makes TS3 the best game ever.
But even when playing multiple generations, I think I get the concept of middle and end game. It's how we see our households as having evolved. If Generation 3, for example, did really well for themselves then their children and grandchildren will start out pretty much all set with everything they need already as they are growing up. When they get to be adults, possibly in households of their own, they may not need to go through all of the struggles that newly created sims in a new game might and the player could miss some of the challenges that are more typically presented along the way.
My solution to all of that while staying within the same ongoing game is to have at least one child (usually grown) "run away from home" and start their own household with next to nothing to work with and no help from the rest of the family. They may still have a headstart over their peers by having had a childhood fostering more advanced development than a brand new sim might, but many of the challenges will still be there for them. And, for those of us who leverage mods to play rotationally, we can still play newly created sims who are starting with almost nothing and without all the early development advantages to get that feeling of progression again, but still all within the same ongoing game.
NRaas has moved!
Our new site is at http://nraas.net