Could you use Inge's prison mod and make a Santa sim and the elves inmates in North Pole Prison, with visiting hours?  I'm not sure, not having used the hack, but it sounds like it could be one way to have a Christmas lot without having the themed sims wandering around the 'hood.

This is the only good thing about the split, in my opinion.  I load Bodyshop with a 4GB cc folder full of everything that ever caught my fancy, but the game itself with only the cc needed for the resulting packaged sims.  It means scanning for duplicates rather often, but that's a decent trade-off for keeping the Downloads folder sm... well, not as big as it could be.

Adult baby:
Original     
Female   
Recolors

Toddler bear:
Here
Recolors

Playable Infant dolls (not in picture):
Here

I'd have to guess at the technical details concerning why opening each EP after installation is recommended, but read it enough to figure it should probably go on the list.  If nothing else, you find out if something didn't install correctly before moving on to newer disks.  Multiple No-CDs made it on for that reason, and for AnyGameStarter.  There are other ways to do it, absolutely.  Since janeyw probably has to go through the Securom removal steps anyway if she wants to be rid of it, she could just do it at the end of the process and use the one No-CD.

Do these count? 



I have to do this again and get some better pictures... but this time the bear gets a few of Rebecah's playable baby dolls for maximum creepiness.

Shortly after these images were taken, ChildRon died via Running with Scissors.  It was beary traumatic.

I can't think of any reason you couldn't just pop in your backup neighborhood and run with it, so long as you make sure custom content in the old neighborhood makes it back into Downloads before you play it.  New townies would still have the better faces and names, and new neighborhoods would be nice and clean.

It's smart to think about it ahead of time because it's easy to forget something that is a pain to change later.  Here's my list from last time, with just the basics to get a nice, clean game.

PREP:

• Do the steps for removing Securom because last time you just didn't know better
• Download the latest-version no-CDs at Game Copy World (offhand, I think Securom was just an issue for BV+ and the Deluxes, but grab whatever is available, especially if you will be using AnyGameStarter later)
• Download the empty or cleaned templates here
• Download the patches from EA
• Get the Director's Cut, especially antiredundancy, notownieregen, and nostrayrespawn, and take out what doesn't suit you
• Get some good face template replacements and default replacements for skin, eyes, etc. so randomly generated townies will have a chance for a better life
• Get a name replacement generator (check MTS2) to get a better variety of townie names
• Keep a backup folder for all that stuff for future use

Installing:

• Install one disk according to release order
• Replace exe with no-CD BEFORE OPENING THE GAME!!1!eleventy!
• Open game, but DO NOT ENTER NEIGHBORHOOD (no townie generation yet)
• Close game
• Install next, rinse, and repeat until all disks are installed

Before playing:

• Replace neighborhood templates with clean/empty ones according to the instructions here
• Pull unnecessary files out of Program Files (see this thread)
• Add hacks, face templates, and default replacements to Downloads folder
• Install CEP and Scriptorium (from MTS2)
• Using other custom content, season to taste
• Take a nap because now you're too tired to play the game

Yes, these aren't so playable as the ones without the trees in the way, and I just made them trickier.     The viewpoints trick is cool, though - the market in particular becomes much more playable when all the main camera viewpoints are automated.  I ran across that trick this month (wish I could recall where), and WOW does it make a difference.  Is it something everyone knew about but me?  (You click Ctrl-# to set viewpoints per lot, with # being 4-9, and then those numbers bring you back to that camera angle/floor level later.) 

I just installed almost all of the lots in their own neighborhood, and it's so diverse you'd never believe the houses started as clones.  I'll be moving people in tomorrow to check things out. 

Whoops!  It's fixed, and also here.

I have three lots for this month, all with different EP requirements, but all with those dratted trees.  I'll just post a quick look at the first two, and then show my favorite.

This is the base game version, with two bedrooms and a nursery, and a treehouse outside.  It's pretty basic; I just wanted the challenge of trying one without EPs.  I'm over it now.     [Full info]



10 Oak Overlook requires all EPs and M&G, and I have Christmas Party Pack installed.  This home was purchased and renovated by a family with small children.  They replaced the Tower of Hobbies ladders with stairs for safety, and converted the upper level into a large playroom.  There is plenty of room for fishing, too!  [Full info]



And now, on to the main attraction!

Ten Oaks Market - $29,536
DOWNLOAD
Zoned: Community
Created with: NL, Uni, OFB, Seasons
Custom Content: None
Some pictures taken with: danicast's recolor of chris997's Weather (not included)

Navigation: Viewpoints assigned!  Press 4-9 on your keyboard and your camera will automatically move to various preset playing angles.  If you'd like to see this illustrated in .avi format,  click here to view the movie (if that works), or right-click to save to your computer (~6MB).

Ten Oaks Market is both the most changed lot and the one that best keeps the spirit of the original.  As when making the Overlook, I was determined to move those trees one way or another, so they all went either up or down, and a river went right under the main building.  Moving the house to build under it was fun, and meant the house could keep its original look.  It is, as one might suspect, a community lot, though a few pictures were taken before the zoning committee met.







The store comes pre-stocked with goods.  The fish display is a little lean, but I expect most people will use SimWardrobe's Fish Packing Station.  Out on the back deck, try FREE SAMPLEZ! 



There are plenty of fishing spots available.



It's a romantic setting...



A mini-deck lets the crew keep an eye on the weather.



There are bathrooms in the main building....



...and for the fishing crew.  This would be a good place for fish packing stations, too.



Y'all come back, now!

"Lila" seems to have made an appearance in this shot.  The expression on Color Coordinated's face is pretty funny.

That's right.  Now do like Zazazu said and before someone squishes you.

Just wait until they start texting instead.

*popup*  "thks 4 daet u r kool"  */popup*

Drat, they were still there when I linked, unless I was seeing cached images.  As one would expect from GOS, the selections are darker and more dramatic than the original, though there are a couple of blue skies, too. 

Can't wait to have a pregnant sim skip to the hospital - or those invisible bikes would work nicely.

There are yummy recolors at GOS.

Ah, streets lined with puddles.   Yay.

I'm wondering what sorts of epidemics will inadvertently come with the seamless neighborhood.  I left a lot running overnight once and returned to find the whole hood sick with trashroachian flu.  With everyone's aging on, that's your apocolypse challenge right there.  Or there might be non-lethal epidemics - walking out of the house one day to find that every Sim in the neighborhood has learned an often-inappropriate gesture or song, like the "hang loose" alien brainwashing just set in.

One of my hoods has a core of two big families with all but a few townified.  The sibling/child relationships are still there in the family tree, and while the relationship levels plummeted on townification, it was easy to get them back up.  I even townified a married couple with a pregnant woman, the idea being that she's always pregnant (if I move her into a house to play her, I'll have to get her a bunch of kids before she finally has this one).  The couple had something go odd in the family chart and weren't listed properly until I Blender'd them, but it seems to be working.  I am not sure I have checked sufficiently, though.

As usual, my game may (almost certainly is) riding the edge of ginormous asplosions, but it's generally more fun that way. 

Not everyone can be born a lolcat.   

That bed is currently causing errors on my lots - not immediately, but once it hits someone's queue (conflict search pending).  If you haven't played it successfully in another lot, it might be worth checking to see if the bed is the problem. 

24 and complaining... sheesh.  Kiddo, we could still get you into the babby roaster.   

To be fair, 20010 would be a bit of a wait.

Faizah, I like the way your house keeps the atmosphere of the original in a way that actually works.  It would definitely work as a vacation home.

Hey, how did you get an advance copy of Sims 3?

I love the manly six-pack floor, but be careful if the room gets cold... someone might trip.

That house has potential.  Keep the patio, probably?

Jelenedra, the galleries are the worst.  Isn't there one that's all catwalks and a grocery store or some such?  Weird and useless.  I like big family-owned galleries, with portraits of generations in addition to the buyable art.