So. Played some more for a few hours. I've warmed up to the game somewhat, since I managed to get an evil sim and a good sim in love and later married. (Wasn't that difficult, but it took me a bit to figure it out.) Lack of wedding arch is so lame, lack of wedding-dress-like clothes is saddening...

Also, I figured out that after flirting for awhile, you CAN get the other sim in the mood... both the 'kiss' and 'confess attraction' showed up after some flirting. I assumed that once there, they would stay there; but no. I repeated other romantic interactions, spammed them actually, then the other sim got bored and both 'kiss' and 'confess attraction' disappeared. In other words, I ruined the moment. I had to sit them in the couch and do other stuff so they would show up again. Everything was smooth sailing from then.

Also, I don't like it the whole 'building outline loads first, then it gets filled with detail'. Once I fooled around with the settings, it became more acceptable; currently, I set it up as make everything non-detailed except the current lot and the sims, just so I could avoid the eyesore. It could be that my graphic card is made of fail, though. Meh.

I also like the houses. In fact, I want to recreate them on Sims 2.

Long story short: This game annoys me.

I spent an hour or so fooling around the options panel, because it set me up on low, and it looked pretty awful. Then I got to a happy medium and figured that, no, there's just no way to make their little caveman faces look good. The TS2 sims look way more realistic in their cartoony way, because these new sims tried to cross the uncanny valley and failed. HARD. Let their little digital skeletons serve as a warning to others.

Do I always have click 'new game' for each family? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but if I'm doing to right, this isn't what I expected at all. I've only loaded two families -one created, one pre-installed- but they seem to be living in parallel universes. Family one doesn't show anywhere in family two's neighborhood, and likewise in reverse. Are they LITERALLY two games? And each family represents a 'new game'? God, I hope I'm wrong about this. I really expected the old 'one neighborhood, many families approach', because how else are they going to interact?

Also: CAS sucks. Textures are nice, but there's no way around the caveman features. Clothes aren't all that either. Caveman issues aside, I like how the sims stand while idling. Looks realistic.

As for gameplay, the traits are great, I'll give you that. Somebody already mentioned there seems to be a strategy/tactic vibe going on, and that's exactly right. On my Wii, I have 'My life as a king' from Wiiware, and this reminded me a lot about it. In MLAK, I send my little people on errands, never see the inside of their houses, and all of the quests happen off-screen, so I have to read a report to know what because of them. It was a fun game, but it had a short shelf-life. After completing the game, there was nothing else to do.

I foresee the same thing happening to Sims 3. Yeah, it's shiny now, but the potential for boredom is greater than TS2. I'll have fun with TS3, but I'll come back crawling to TS2 eventually.

Evil charismatic lucky romantic family sim FTW, though. She wants to be an empress of evil someday. The gods have smiled upon her, and I expect great things from her evil brood.

(I miss the alien abuctions already, though.)

The Seedgames link is a lifesaver for me after waiting for two days. It consolidated the 30% I had already downloaded; it should be done overnight.

Awesomesauce! One of the comments at the arr site mentions that 'it runs even better than ts2' in his 4 year-old-machine. I'm going to take his word on that, cuz I really don't want to get a new video card.

Let's talk about rig set up for a moment: if a computer runs TS2 with all Expansions, can it run TS3? If not, is the game worth a new video card? How graphically intense is the game? Does it run pretty smooth or is it the type of game that kinda stretches and groans upon loading?

In short, is it superior to TS2 or just TS2 with a boob and paint job?

Question for Zazazu: Are the sims naturally chubby, or did you make her that way? Can you change their weight to begin with?

I'm a bad consumer. I bought the Linksys WRT54G on a whim because it was on sale at Office Max. It's wired to one computer, and wireless for my laptop, another computer and my Wii. Works like a charm, but I encrypted it with WPA, so the DS doesn't connect. I could change it, but I never saw the need. Sorry, DS.

Only Maxis bookcases. It's probably tight pants, will check later. Don't know what I did to cause it, but knowing my luck, the fault probably lies squarely in my shoulders.

You're right, my mistake. I wasn't clear, though: I click on my sim, surf to the "skillinator..." menu, out pops bunch of options (study... cleaning, parenting, ect). Old actions like logic, clean, ect work fine, its the new ones like 'couple counseling' and their ilk the ones that don't work at all.

Closely related question: my Batbox skillinator shows the new physiology/parenting/ect interaction, but they don't work. It used to, now it doesn't. Other skills work fine. Help?

I'd love it if you could show us that Bender trick!

I second the torrent idea. And if I'm not mistaken, the serial number is usually in the back. Is the computer a Dell/Gateway/bought from a store or home-made?

What if she acquires a new version of XP, buys a new hard drive, gets the local Best Buy to reinstall everything on the new one, then purifies the old drive with cleansing fire?

Personally, I'd just chuck the whole thing and buy a new computer. Replacing the hard drive seems cheaper, but is it going over board?

"Buy"? What is this "buy" you speak of? Screw that and pirate it. Spore has a three-limit activation, so one game and two computers means one activation left. Plus, game retails for +$50; gameplay ain't that great and doesn't justify the investment. Also, Suckurom will bend over and rape your DVD player.

Yep, it must be a really old version, since I really thought I got rid of it eons ago. But thanks everyone!

Well. Don't I feel stupid. Turns out I did have TJ's Abductions-Higher Odds. I thought I nuked it months ago, since I like to force my abductions. Took it out and now the telescopes work normally. Jolrei said that it works for her, so... ahdunno. Tight pants? Position of the moon and the stars? Shitty luck? Anyway, thanks for the help. Oughtta teach me to clean up my downloads more often...

Oh, no abduction hacks, but a hell of a lot of hacks for everything else. (Merola's max-all aspirations, in case you're wondering). I use the DC hacks, TJs and very few others, but ironically, nothing that ever had to do with telescopes.

If binary search is the consensus, then binary search it is. Naturally, I'd like to hear more opinions before I try to do that. Um, and a simple explication as to how to perform a binary search, now that I think about it...

I have no abduction hacks whatsoever, but I did try the cheap telescope yesterday during daylight and saw no jumping. I will try to get that debug report as soon as possible, though.

Aha, error log attached. This was at night, with the expensive telescope. Also, my game is patched with the second patch, which supposedly has the first patch integrated, with the proper arrged exe. (No unholy hybrid.)

Simple, really: all my telescopes seem to make my sims 'jump'. The first two times of the loop, I get a note telling me I found a new planet and they give me 500 bucks. After getting the note twice (thus 1,000 easy money), no more cash, but the jumping continues. Happens in all lots, as far as I can tell, mostly with the expensive telescope, but the cheap one too.

Everything else is peachy, but the telescope is an annoyance, minor as it is. I suspect it has something to do with FT, which I do not own. All I have is Uni, Nightlife, Seasons, BV, Ap; stuff packs are Glamour Life, K&B and Celebration.

In short, WFT?

Does this patch include the first patch, or do I have to have both? Are they actually useful, or should I just not care?

Don't know Latin, but as a native Spanish-speaker, that '-lo' ending (expello, apello, ect) is still used in Spanish and you don't need to stick the 'I' pronoun ('Yo') to know that I am the one doing the expelling... if that makes any sense...

I recently had a birthday party for a female sim and I teleported in all her friends and family -uncles, nephews, mom and dad's old college friends, the Big Love cult down the street- all of them my playables. Not a single townie. Next thing I know, birthday girl gets a good boost on her reputation. This occurred at her home, not a community lot. Make of that what you will.

Out of morbid curiosity, can we marry mail carriers and/or other NPCs? I understand that the taxi/bus drivers are a big nono.

I have 393 files in the Characters folder for Belladonna. No Downtown/Uni/whatevers added. From my part, I created two CAS sims that got married and had twin daughters. The other CAS sim is currently single and living in another apartment.

Am I hosed yet? Should I just stop playing while this is sorted out?

(Thank god I haven't played my main hood yet...)

Edit: What's the character limit, anyway? And what's the best way to engage in a murder spree to get rid of unwanted townies?

My AL loaded pretty fast, but with no Petz nor FT... at first. It feels like she's returning to her grumpy old ways, though.