Testing the waters: What do you want in a 'hood?
Crazetex:
Back when I played The Sims 2, I always started off a new session by making a new town from scratch, building outwards from a single residential lot as I needed groceries, people to marry, places to date, etc. I really enjoyed the neighborhood creation aspect, and the open world of The Sims 3 makes that possibility even more attractive. Unfortunately, until now I've never felt that TS3 was up to snuff with its hood customization; between Late Night, Awesomemod and twallan/NRaas Industries I think it's finally possible for me to feel comfortable making a 'hood from the ground up that runs the way I want it to run.
I've tried a few other custom worlds, like Neverglade and Oakwood City, but they're unpopulated and feel very "we made a world! It's here! Laud us for our boring layouts and copious trees!" Some of the more adventurous worlds like Coconut Island are interesting but a little too out-there for me. I dunno, I guess I'm just really picky.
Basically what I'm saying is that I want to make a world that's big and bustling and takes full advantage of what The Sims 3 currently has to offer. I've failed to make worlds in the past; it's a big commitment and the tools were never very good. I'd like your input on what would make a world sexy and appealing to you while still being fairly suburban/downtown-ish.
Here're my current thoughts:
-I'd either use a cleaned-out Riverview or Sunset Valley as a base, unless somebody could point me to a large, fairly simple completely empty world with a lot of roads for development on. I want this to be the typical "green and grassy" mix of suburbia and city; Bridgeport meets Sunset Valley
-I'd be using items from all three expansion packs and High-End Loft Life. Fast Lane can go burn in a ditch for the purposes of forcing people to own it. Not having the Bayside pack or the fauxhawk from the store would make me a very sad person, but such is life
-There would be no CC for fairly obvious reasons, and the only mods used when creating the 'hood (for the purposes of manipulation and being made to run with) are Awesomemod, The StoryProgression and The MasterController. I really need input on this; I at least need MC (I believe) to apply skill points/adjust sexuality/etc. - if I do this, I'd separately upload an SP setup file and a list of my AM settings that coincide with my views for the 'hood
-It would be populated! Every job would have at least four workers, with more general jobs (Business, Education) having additional employees. There would be a proper celebrity Mayor, a seedy underbelly of thugs, etc. I'd also make one or two sims in each profession after some testing to see if the computer AI actually plays them believably enough
-While nothing ridiculously complex, there would be families spread out around town, affairs going on, people falling in love, co-worker rivals, etc.; essentially, the town would have stories to tell should you wish to get involved
-Stuff like ceilings and cribs would be added for pretties/Awesomemod
A few notes/warnings:
-There would most definitely be homosexuality. Not rampant pink-thong boykissers everywhere or anything, but a realistic chunk of the population would be gay. I suppose I shouldn't need to work about this in this day and age, but...
-Easter eggs would be everywhere, references to pop culture and not-pop culture would abound, Anderson Cooper<3 would likely make some sort of appearance
-I am likely going to need help with lots - I want a lot of originality and some variety (multiple laundromats, for example) and I'm willing/want to build some myself. I'm also probably going to ask people like jesslla if I can use their nifty lots (even though none of you know who I am). I will definitely need to petition other people/places for mansions to be included (Mod the Sims?)
-This project could die off at any time, but with lots of support I would hopefully be motivated to follow through completely. If this picks up steam, I'm likely going to ask people to do two things: advertise on other sites (although if the site seems decent I'll probably join myself) and test the 'hood to check for odd architectural errors, misspellings, and other unfortunate events
Random questions:
-Would you expect bios for each and every character? If I do them, they'd be for everybody, but if nobody's going to check them then there's no way I'm doing them. I don't mind if would would like them, though (and they would most certainly be done for lots/households)
-How easy/possible is it to have designated playable sims be pianists/mixologists/etc.? Are they only NPCs? Obviously I still have research to do before starting this project; I haven't had Late Night for very long
-How many vampires should there be? Are you interested in the town starting with a mummy or simbot or two? How about green-skinned people?
-Exactly how anti-pudding are you/is the community in general? I've been out of it for a while and although I personally don't care about pudding I'd like the town to be used!
I guess the most important question is this: would you actually download and play in a world that isn't necessarily inventive, but instead thought-out and hopefully charming/intriguing? The goal is to set the stage for your sitcom or drama, whether you act it out, record it or just watch your sims die horribly. There would be stuff to find and funny/disturbing things going on, but the issue with the open world and the world growing all at once is that eventually people are going to die off and the stories are going to end without you ever knowing.
Sarafina:
I think this is better suited for mod the sims. It honestly sounds like you want a lot of help with this and that's not really the style here. Not to mention everyone is going to have a different opinion, so all those questions at the end won't do you much good.
But if you want to do it, then go for it. I'm just not sure that we are the type of place for this big community project.
Crazetex:
It's not meant to be a community project, I was just saying that I'd probably be sniping some custom lots from other people that I like. 90+% of the work is meant to be done by me!
And differing opinions is good. I like the honesty and intelligence here.
Kyna:
Personally, I'd probably nuke all the characters you put in since I like to populate my hoods myself, so I can't give you any suggestions on that aspect. I realise this is the core of your idea, but like you, I'm picky. I'd rather play characters and families I created instead of someone else's.
I have an older, slower computer, and hoods with large populations are incredibly slow. Keeping the number of unhoused sims down (i.e. how many bars and how many non-playable apartment doors would the neighbourhood have?) would be important from my point of view.
I'm not a fan of the EA terrains. I like flat neighbourhoods, or at least neighbourhoods with flat lots. To show you what I mean, currently I'm playing with myskaal's Bayborough neighbourhood. It's pre-Ambitions, but there are plenty of routable spaces near roads where lots can be added for Ambitions & Late Night.
I do like hoods with plenty of cribified housing in a range of prices (a decent amount of starter homes, most of the houses mid-range, and a couple of mansions). I also like having empty lots in a range of sizes that I can build on or that I can use to plop down some of the lots I built for my own use. Additionally, I like to have routable space near roads where lots can be added as required by future EPs.
The mod issue wouldn't bother me, as I use AM and Twallan's MC. I don't see why using them to construct the hood would affect the completed hood, since AM can be uninstalled using the uninstall command, and Twallan's mods can be deactivated simply by removing the downloads.
Adding in spawners for some of the new gems, plants, and fish would be nice. I have a community garden I built that has all the WA plants added. I use this lot in all of my neighbourhoods. I haven't bothered to upload it anywhere as it's nothing flash, and most players could easily build a better version of it.
J. M. Pescado:
AwesomeMod has no effect on a hood in construction, because data pertaining to AwesomeMod doesn't actually appear until you start using either AwesomeStory or Supreme Commander. Otherwise your game is basically stock.
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