Using the gpsign, which basically allows you to tell sims what to plant in that room/greenhouse/whatever. It's cheap and easy to separate the areas into different 'rooms' using the fence divider. I don't use the thing from SimWardrobe, so I've no idea if this method would work for that.

If I have multiple crops like that, I find the floor divider that came with Pets is enough to separate them, and it's cheap, only $5 per square. Any fence that can be stepped over would also work.

Sadly, no. If the children and toddlers get taken by the social worker, I suupose you could adopt them, but otherwise... Nope. You can move them in, but they don't count.

I'm still a day out from Spore, but I can upload Creature Creator critters. 28 and counting, here. Username attributed should be Faizah.

A 'couple' of favourites:

(Aslorn, Bazoo, Blibble)

(Bortog, Skonawary, Talmon)

(Talopda, Taonak, Terec)

Though be warned, Terec was designed to be a killer - which is why I wondered if you could bring a created one into the game to play - and even friendly herbivore Taonak has a hidden spitter weapon.

Very easily: When clicking on an NPC witch, don't choose the Teach me the Path of Darkness/Way of Light option. Witchery is always a conscious decision, sims can't 'accidentally' become one.

I kind of like it on S1, and it might look good on the alien skin (my current good-witch-in-training) but I would far prefer a witch texture that looks good on all skins. I really don't like the thought of making certain skintones only be evil/neutral witches, but, man, I could not stand that on one of my sims.

The only default skin replacement in my game so far has been for the vampire overlay (seriously, blue?) but these witchery overlays are a good candidate for replacement. I may have to learn how to do it myself! (I want something subtle, not some Enayla skin as replacement, but not nothing at all.)

I had Kimberly max evilness right away, because I made her a witch first and I impatiently clicked the evil witch multiple times. I thought at first that it had dropped from her queue. Yeah. I did it the right way with her sister, and it took some time for her to get to the pinnacle of goodness. Another one got her magic from the evil witch, trained neutral to the point of gaining a familiar because I wanted to see what the neutral familiar looked like (it was grey) then trained good, and has maxed out witchcraft, but is still only 'nice'.

Also, randomly, I thought I could live with the good witch sparkly skin (as I'd only played with the Pleasant Cordial witches thus far) until I saw this:

(Putting the blurriness aside - yes, this is with high sim and texture detail, this computer is just crap.) Bleurgh.

I have various baby names books, something I've sort of been collecting for various reasons... (Still regret not buying one I saw in a second hand store that had the enigmatic message written inside the cover: "I'm leaving you." Man, we talked about what the circumstances surrounding that could have been for ages.) Mainly reasons to do with naming things.

I've already mentioned my tendency to name a CAS sim beginning with A, and his/her spawn get B names, etc, etc. There was a time when every other male CAS sim was Andrew or Anthony, until I hit on the idea of consulting my name books. Then, again, I would have been in trouble without them for the C-generation of my FT family, 16 sims so far, and only one of the B generation is an elder yet. (Admittedly, elder Boronia had 12 of those kids herself. Her brothers are probably done having kids already, at 2 each.)

On one occasion I even used wikipedia to find names. I had one C-named alien kid with a name I later decided was blah, so I browsed various sciency pages, and renamed him Corona. His younger sibling got Chrysopoeia the same way. (Though now I'm questioning the wisdom of that, as I can't quite remember whether Chrysopoeia is male or female...)

Okay, I have another question. When you play, does it start out as a cellular thingummy, or something? Can you evolve into one you've already created in the editor without re-making the whole creature all over again in the game?

Okay, I've done another. It's big, it's ugly, it's ... big and ugly.

I rezoned this as an apartment, then noticed a bunch of things I had to change. Rar. I kept banging away at it, and made several changes since the taking of these photos. (Except the 2nd floor image, I had to retake that as one of my 'errors' was removing an original wall... again. But I took the photo before changing to an apartment, so the apartment doors don't show. Bah.)

I have this as a regular lot also, if anyone wants that. As before, all EPs, FFS and GLS. No CC.

Front:

Changes since photo: Cosmetic. Half wall with fence on top (via foundation-related trickery) instead of current fence. Current fence remains to fill the gap between half wall and lot boundary.

Rear:

Changes since photo: See Front, First floor.

First floor: Common area. Pool room, gym, spa, chess tables, bookcase.

Changes since photo: Doors added to back patio.

Second floor: Apartments 1 & 2, first level. Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, lounge area.

Changes since photo: Changed placeholder doors to apartment doors.

Third floor: Apartments 1 & 2, second level. Nursery, bathroom, kids bedroom, open area.


Fourth floor: Apartment 3, bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen, lounge, nursery.

Changes since photo: Bathrooms furnished. (The small rooms up the back with the black/white walls.) Kitchen walled off. Phone changed to cooler looking black phone. End bedrooms no longer bedrooms, but can be made so by the placing of a bed.

Roof: Common area, musical instruments. (See Front/Rear photos)

Download. Rent ranges from $2,323 to $2,556.

And ... that's it. I'm done. This lot was a monster to tackle on my craptastic computer. But that's my own fault, for making it so huge.

There's a house with a turret along the bus route into town, I've passed it so many times. It's not pink or three stories either. Heh. Always wanted to live in a big old house like that. (The not-pink real one, not the pink one I made.)

I've always had trouble with those roof shapes, the turrets and the domes, they come out way too wide at the base. That turret is actually just a 1x1 square, with floor underneath to make sure it's weatherproof. I'll be honest, when I'm just building for my own use (which was always, until these House of Fail threads) I'll often bung an auto-roof on there and call it good enough.

I do try to keep the original roofing features if possible, the big roof with the window is almost the same as the lot's original roof there, just a floor higher and a bit shorter around the back. (When I realised I'd made the third floor short around the back I put in the second floor roof to fill the gap.) I weather-proofed the Pleasant Cordial house in the new hood, but I took off the roof to do it, and now I can't make it look like it did before. Rar.

Hmm. Good point about the stairs, and that bathroom certainly doesn't need to be that large. Or have a door into the bedroom, come to think of it. I'll fix that. (And the chair placement.)

So, this is what I did:


The bathroom was made smaller, and a plant was put in the empty corner of the enlarged stairwell. Both only have doors onto the hall now.


The armchair was moved to beside the sofa.

Get it here.

@SortofBoring: I love what you did with the little TV nook there, took me forever to figure out what to do with that corner.

-----

I have all EPs, up to and including AL, but only FF and GL SPs on this computer. The exterior is mostly from OFB, the kitchen counters are from Seasons, the beds are from BV, the nursery is from FT, and the spiral staircases are from AL.

I went with a fantasy kind of exterior, and more of a neutral/country feel inside. I left the yard as is, as I'm not really into landscaping. I would've put a huge-arse greenhouse and a very square pond out there, and no-one wants that.

The lot is moderately awesomespec, and has been wanded. It costs $55,402, furnished, with 3+ Bedrooms, 3 bathrooms. The top floor is intentionally unfurnished, as a place for career rewards/witchery items, but can also be used for additional bedrooms.

Front:


Rear:




First Floor: Kitchen, Lounge, Skilling area, The One Desk, One Bathroom.

Note: It's possible to change the dining counters to a table, but walls must be put where the counters are removed, or the kitchen becomes unsafe. Burglar alarm by the door, smoke alarm by the stove, and phone on The One Desk.

Second Floor: Three Bedrooms, Twin Nursery, Two Bathrooms

I almost deleted the formerly exterior wall leading from the nursery to the crib pods. And by 'almost' I mean did, until I noticed and corrected my error.

Third Floor: Unfurnished. Potential bedrooms/additional skilling/witchery area.


The download. No CC included or necessary, though if you already have BUY, sleep clock, baby controller, and/or The Cheat, they should appear in the lot. I did use clean installer to make sure nothing tagged along for the ride, but it can't hurt to double-check the file after download.

EDIT: New download link. A couple of changes based on feedback, pictures are in a post further down.

I have a question to ask before I torrent, rather than waste time and bandwidth for something I may not be able to use.

The computer with the graphics card doesn't have a net connection yet, what form does the torrent arrive in? For example, is it multiple .rars, that I can fit on my 512MB MP3 player - in multiple trips - or am I screwed? (ie, is it just one file?)

Also, does the torrented Spore, once installed, need a net connection? (I hope not!)

Roaches are mentioned in the 'storm' spell's description, the one that those evil witches just love to cast. Apparently these bugs are a 'feature'.

Ugh. Wish I'd known about that, I hated FT's music so much. Some of the notes were very jarring, at just the wrong pitch, especially considering my 'sound system' is a pair of headphones at top volume, left on the desk. I love AL's music, but only time will tell if I really like it, or just think I do because of what came before.

I probably should list what I love/hate about this EP, to get back on topic.

I like...
...the ceilings. But, I groan also, as I have recently been taking a whole bunch of photos in FT, to the point where I don't ever want to go through that again. The sky, the sky, must hide the sky! Aaargh.
...apartment neighbours, easy friends. Plus, I caught one actually sleeping, in bed, in her own apartment!
...the enormously overpowered thrones at level 9 witchery. Feels every bit the cheat that it is, but, keeps the sims happy. Good in large house-holds. (Because I'd rather not play a poky little apartment, actually.) I should try sitting evil on good's chair and vice versa though, may be good for a laugh.

I could live without...
...the butler, the landlord's garden/tidy/repair routine if it kept him/her from spitting out 'Nothing to do, bye!' messages every day.
...the bazillion hairs with different coloured clips/scrunchies. If scrunchie colour was that important, surely there could be another way of doing it, perhaps an accessory?
...the bookcase 'doors'. Cute idea, but only really useful to block something from autonomous use. Even then, there's probably stomping and whining and "I can't get that!"
...neutral spells (summon familiar, teleport) pulling the bar to neutral. I think the spell book 'neutral' option should still do that, but not the spells. They're the only ones I can see myself using. Inflammo is fun the first time, but, after that, not so much. (Note to self, must see if Inflammo appears on another Sim's 'Cast Spell...' menu.)
...NPCs being immune to spells. (Though I can live with this one, too.) The gypsy was just standing there polishing her ball, she was obviously not too busy to act like a chicken.

I hate...
...not being able to BUILD in apartments, or buy for outside. I've only recently gotten into building, and it's annoying to have that taken away now. I could understand 'no structural changes', but since when has a fence or a floor divider or a telescope been 'structural'?
...the floor dividers counting as walls, cutting off what's beyond them from the rest of the apartment. Bleh.
...the run-together "poems" in the spell book. This would have made the 'could live without' list, if it didn't bug me that one spell is actually formatted correctly. If they can make one work, why not the others? Just makes the rest more annoying. Grr.

Magivestigium (Teleport) does affect the alignment ratios the same as any other neutral spell - my completely-evil witch read as slightly less evil on the book after casting it. As far as I can tell, it doesn't need any reagents.

I pretty much just play, I've hardly ever done anything that needed records. Lately, I've been planning things a little more, like, "Boronia will have endless pregnancies." or "Potato-face Brae will spawn with Count Pointy-nose once he graduates college." Even then, I'll only 'keep track' as long as it interests me. I made no note of potato-face Brae's 'plan', and was lucky to remember it when he finally graduated.

Although, I suppose I am keeping track of the generations. I started with a single CAS Sim, Aden Elin. Between him and his wife, they had Baras, Brae and Boronia. Baras had Corona and Chrysopoeia, Brae had Cabbage and Another-C-Name, and I don't have Boronia's list handy, but they all also started with C. (And, by the 10th name -- 14th if you count Baras' and Brae's kids -- I was running low. The final pair got Cadman and Caldwell.)

Boronia's lot did get photos taken, for each birth and age transition, as well as a text file indicating birth order, with names and genders of her children. And that's about the extent of it. I'll probably only play them through uni, ship them off to the holding pen another lot when they graduate, to be friend and romance fodder for future playables. I haven't even decided yet whether to keep up with the spawn photos now that the spawners are elders. I may well continue, if for no other reason than completeness.

Boronia is an elder with 12 kids from 8 pregnancies, potato-face Brae has a pointy-nosed little girl whose name I forget, missions accomplished. Moving on.

I use elder grandparents as an alternative to the nanny. Retire, if they're employed (though I'm thinking I might just have them quit in future, I have one retired elder couple gaining $1k/day between them) and pretty much power idle and babysit for the rest of their lives.

All I can see of mine is the crowded upstairs 'bedroom' level. It's the same size, I didn't move the walls, I just changed them. The third story is new, but built on top of the others. (It overhangs the second slightly, but not the first.)

Alright, here it is: http://www.4shared.com/file/57203210/995f5955/July-FaizahsHaven.html

I have all EPs, most SPs (all but Teen Style and Ikea) and the exclusive EA Store items. The lot value is between 80 and 90 k, but this can be lowered by waving the magic wand. (I forgot.)

I had a whim to build, so I thought I'd take a stab at this. I haven't uploaded this yet because, honestly, I'm not quite sure how, or where. But, if it's a requirement, I can figure something out.

First (Ground) Floor:

The major thing I did to this was changing the exterior walls around the pool to greenhouse walls. That may disqualify this entry. I also forgot to put in the One Desk, but it could easily be installed in the front corner of the pool room, by the kitchen.

Second Floor:

I changed the huge bedroom to a more general lounge-type area, with room for some skilling items in the front half. The bathroom has become two, and the hall is large enough for the various nursery items. The cots are in the master bedroom, soundproofed from each other and the rest of the room.

Third Floor:

Ample bedrooms for a mid-sized family. Two basic little bathrooms.

Front:


Rear:


EDIT: I've since uploaded it, here: http://www.4shared.com/file/57203210/995f5955/July-FaizahsHaven.html

I have all EPs, most SPs (all but Teen Style and Ikea) and the exclusive EA Store items. The lot value is between 80 and 90 k, but this can be lowered by waving the magic wand. (I forgot.)

I like the possibility of abductions not always resulting in pregnancies, though I've yet to experience it. I had to stop using the telescope since FT, because I'm being overrun by aliens, and I love the alien sims.

I had one sim abducted, impregnated, and then abducted three more times before the birth. I think it's become too easy, it needs to be rarer (but not as rare as it was in the pre-FT days) or have less chance of pregnancy. Perhaps even both. Though, I am all for equal opportunity alien pregnancy.

You just need one no-CD exe, to replace the one you use to run the game. In this case, Free Time.

I've never placed much stock in high school level genetics. I was told that left-handedness was a recessive gene. My brother and I have two left-handed parents. We are both right-handed.

I know all too well the dominance of hair colour in the Sims (black/brown over blonde/red) but I must admit, I've only a vague idea of how the eyes go. I never really notice eye colour, unless the skin/eye pairing is only half alien. Eyes are just too small to care about, I don't play with it zoomed in close enough to tell the difference beyond alien/not-alien.

I set everyone bi and use the crystal ball to meet their five 'desperate' matches. Romance sims get to remain bi, and everyone else gets set to prefer the gender of their best match, typically set at or shortly after the marriage to said match. Exceptions can be made where needed, to make things more interesting, and not everyone gets a partner. I have one single Sim who is turned on by servos, but the only servo in the hood is the one he initialised. (Which I've set in SimPe as his 'son'.) He has several two bolt matches, but none that interest me enough to pursue. He's had two alien spawn, and he's on track to age to elder next session. He's had a good life.

I have another single Sim, born in game, and randomly selected to be a romance sim. One of the grand vampires came up as a match for him while he was at uni, and I just couldn't resist. I affectionately refer to this romance sim as 'Potato face' as his head resembles a sack of them, and the vampire in question has such a different face, though alike in its extremeness: he has a very pointy nose. But I didn't want to marry the vamp in, so the romance sim has remained unattached, spawning with the vampire almost immediately on returning to the family home. (And, just because, I made him a plant sim, so he's had a plant-baby as well.) I'm thinking I'll leave it at that for him, another happily single sim.

My play style seems to be constantly evolving, my born in game sims have been in play long enough to have children of their own, which is new for me. But, as to the question, I typically use TwoJeffs' crystal ball for matches. It can be set to ignore playables/NPCs/Townies and so on, as well as age groups, so you get just what you're looking for, if you want to set them up with, say, a playable adult.