More Awesome Than You!

TS3/TSM: The Pudding => Pudding Factory => Topic started by: The_Goddess on 2010 January 29, 06:35:25



Title: Fargo Updated
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 January 29, 06:35:25
I guess now would be a good time to introduce myself.  Hello, everyone.  I've come out of lurking to share with you my work in progress on a little world I call Springville Fargo.  I've been sharing my fiancé's account for some time now, but if I'm going to make Springville Fargo available for download, having my own account would be nice.  Thoughts and opinions are welcome.
http://twitpic.com/108zx9



Edit/Update:  I have updated Fargo to include new career lots from Ambitions.  There is now a Junkyard/Consignment Shop, Laundromat, Styling Salon, Hangout/Tattoo Parlor and a Firehouse.  I have added a thin land bridge to provide access to the Island.  I have fixed a few floating objects and roads that grew grass from certain angles.  Because Ambitions gave us the ability to add and remove world objects, I added the Space Shuttle back to Fargo.  My Astronaut sim is quite pleased, but if you prefer not to have it, you are welcome to delete it.  I added 2 new neighborhoods to make up for the military housing that I removed.  I've also added a couple of cute parks.  There are now 109 residential lots and 40 community lots.

I'd like to offer special thanks and recognition to all the builders that created the lovely houses in my neighborhood, but I don't know who many of them are.  MATY's own Tangie created one of them; see if you can find it.  Plasticbox created many of the small houses I put in town.  Hatshepsut created many of my suburban houses.  In all cases, if there was something written in the details box, I left it there so there might be a signature of the artists on some of the houses.  If you know the names of any of the other creators, feel free to list their names and give them credit here.  I did not build any of the residential homes but I did alter many of them in tiny ways, either to touch up terrain paint or replace custom content with game objects.

If you are already playing the old Fargo, don't forget to package up your families; you will have to uninstall the old in order to install the new.

Here is where you can get your hands on it…
http://www.mediafire.com/fargo


Though I tried not to use CC in the world, I have been informed that 44 items are in fact attached to the world.  These items include: a few windows and doors, a baby pram, gardening decorations, graveyard decorations and some patterns.  I'm sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Moryrie on 2010 January 29, 07:23:55
It looks nice overall... but some more info would be helpful... like what world size, how many lots, how many things are built on it, other views, lot size ranges ect.

I'm also not quite sure what to say about the mountains. Something seems a bit off about them.. but then again, CAW is kindof weird to use, so that might not be intentional.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 January 29, 07:49:43
I used the medium island with a max height of 200.  There are about 87 residential lots and 38 community lots.  The sizes of the residential lots in the main part of town are 20X20 - 20X30.  The average size for the lots in the suburbs are 30X30 - 30X40.  The farms range from 40X40 - 64X64.  The homes in the mountains are random sizes.  The lots on the tiny island off the shore (which you will need to zenaport to get to) are about 15X15.  All of the rabbit holes have been used, and there are three markets in the country that use WA cash registers: a grocery store, bookstore, and relics shop.  (Warning! The game chooses a random unemployed Sim to man these markets, so it is a good idea to load your neighborhood with a few shopkeeper candidates—then have one Sim visit each of the markets to activate the selection prior to loading your beloved Sims.)

More photos now on TwitPic

http://twitpic.com/10a2a7
http://twitpic.com/10a2bg
http://twitpic.com/10a2c9


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: spaceface on 2010 January 29, 10:27:13
The farming area is supercute! I would love to play this once you have completed it.

I agree that your mountains are a bit weird; unless this is set on an alien planet with different gravity you wouldn't get such pointy peaks. The space shuttle looks totally out of place on such a dinky little island, if you want to have the rabbit hole I suggest you bury it and design a much smaller building that will blend in better. The town hall, stadium, office building etc should have some sort of paving around them to look realistic, you could soften this to match the overall feel by putting in formal flowerbeds and/or benches.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 January 29, 10:55:47
I haven't had much of a chance to put details in the lots themselves yet, I really just set the rabbit holes down to give me an idea of placement.  I wasn't sure if I should upload it blank (all empty lots) or fill it.  I don't plan on custom building the residential lots, as I have downloaded so many adorable homes from various sites.  So many in fact, that I can't remember where I got most of them.  I wouldn't know who to give credit to.  My thought was that I would work on giving the rabbit hole lots a finished look, and let whoever downloads the town, fill it with homes they love.  I thought I would just post photos of how I fill it with the homes I had acquired.  I could upload a completed version as well, but I wouldn't know where to begin with cataloging all of the custom content.  Sim worlds become so personal to the person controlling them.  The mountains are rather pointy.  They look cool up close.  Detail gets lost from a distance.  For the most part it is completed as of now.  I have all of the spawners and the basic shell of the rabbit hole lots all in place.  I have one of the markets finished, though it is an adaptation from someone else's farm lot.  I was just getting ready to give it a test run to see how she plays


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Lion on 2010 January 29, 13:36:24
You may want to give this world a different name. Springville is the very first custom world uploaded at MTS and a lot of people remember that name. And without saying too much, you may not want to be associated with that.

I also love the farming area, and like generally the variations in the terrain.

I totally understand your problem about using lots from various places. I'm just like you, having horded so many nice lots and just wanting to plop them down in a custom world. For me personally, finished lots are the least concern and I couldn't use most of the worlds out there as it is any way even after bulldozing them (sub-neighborhood setup, lot sizes, deco, etc.). So a world with reasonable build-up of terrain forming, terrain painting, forestation, road network, spawners, etc., and uploaded with CAW files is what I'm looking for.

For example, for your world, I'd like to flatten down the biggest mountainous area and develop that into another sub-hood with MOAR lots, change the road texture, get rid of the space shuttle and some other decos, and most importantly change the lot sizes to fit my needs.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: brownlustgirl on 2010 January 29, 14:23:34
The pics so far are impressive, so yes, I would love to try this world out.  I see lots by the shores, wonder if they are more expensive and do they have the "beautiful vista" buff? All the worlds I have downloaded have the expensive areas, but no BV buff.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: alaira on 2010 January 29, 14:36:34
The space shuttle looks totally out of place on such a dinky little island, if you want to have the rabbit hole I suggest you bury it and design a much smaller building that will blend in better.

Or use those nifty rabbit hole signs from modthesims2.  In my custom neighborhood I'm currently playing, I've rebuilt and themed all my rabbitholes(ie, the military has a barracks, shower area, and gym in addition to the main office(where the actual rabbithole is located).  I think it helps immersion, and if you're going to make a custom world, why not go all the way?

As for what kinds of lots to include pre-built, I would build a few residential lots, but leave the majority blank for people to populate on their own.  It's nice to have the option to just toss a family in a house if you're too lazy to build your own, but at the same time you need lots of space to put down your own favorite lots, or build your own.  I would definitely build all community lots, though.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: AloeOwl on 2010 January 29, 14:39:34
It's actually not that bad. It seems like an interesting neighborhood. The only thing I'm not too fond of are the mountain peeks. I would have liked it better if it were smoother. Anyone agree?


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2010 January 29, 14:49:22
The pics so far are impressive, so yes, I would love to try this world out.  I see lots by the shores, wonder if they are more expensive and do they have the "beautiful vista" buff? All the worlds I have downloaded have the expensive areas, but no BV buff.
The Vista buff is independent of the expensitivity of a lot. Lot prices are scaled based on the size of the lot, and an additional surcharge can be added during create-a-crap, but this value is independent of Vistaness.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Zazazu on 2010 January 29, 16:41:21
The BV buff has to be set in CAW in the lot properties. I chose not to in my 'hoods because, really, is it that important? I've only had one non-grumpy sim go negative, after her dad died and her mom made a pass at her husband.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: BastDawn on 2010 January 29, 18:29:46
A picture of a pudding is not a pudding, however nice it may look.  Provide a download link, or tomorrow I will move this to the Horror section.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2010 January 29, 19:05:41
Nah, let's just move it now. It's not ready to be a pudding anyway, so even if released now, it would be spoiled pudding.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 January 29, 21:41:51
Ok to capsulate, There are 3 changes that seem to be a general consensus.  First, the steep mountains, I can soften them a bit prier to upload.  Not too much though, steep mountains take up far less real estate than realistic ‘Earth' mountains.  Second is the Shuttle bay.  That's an easy one, as it is simply a world object that I can remove without effecting anything at all.  I will remove it and put an empty lot in its place.  Last but not least is a desire to have a few livable homes.  I can add a few to the lots with no visa.  Yes, I did include visa points to many of the lots in this world.  They range from 10 points to 75 points (My favorite lot).  I will let that remain a surprise to the player; hint, they tend to be lots with a view.  I also added vista points to most of the community lots.  I understand that there is a mod that can be used to re-add vista points to a lot that has been bulldozed and that there is a cheat code to make your lot free, so I'm not too concerned with the affordability of my lots.  However, for the most part I did not add price to very many of the lots.  They are priced according to how the game prices them.  As for making the community lots customized with the "nifty rabbit hole signs from modthesims2"; that would make the world usable only to those that have downloaded them.  If you like the ‘lay of the land' and want to customize the lots for your own theme, I will not be heartbroken if you change any of these lots for your own themes.

Thank you to everyone who has given me input.  It is nice to have potential flaws pointed out. 
These changes shouldn't take too long.  I hope to have the ‘community lots filled only' version of this world ready by Monday.  Any other suggestions before I begin the changes? 


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: brownlustgirl on 2010 January 29, 21:51:04
Thank you for making some BV lots. I like them, makes me feel that my sims have gone up in their world.  ::)


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: ShortyBoo on 2010 January 29, 22:03:58
It looks great, and I could definitely see myself playing this hood. I do agree with Lion about renaming the town, though. People could confuse this with the one from MTS. Actually, when I first saw this thread, I thought it was about the Springville neighborhood at MTS.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: russellcraiger on 2010 January 30, 00:32:52
Some of those mountain peaks have to go-it looks unnatural.  I speak from experience having lived 5 years in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  Maybe you could get rid of about half those peaks and round the remaining ones off.  I do really like your world and am looking forward to it's release.  It has a nice small town feel to it.  I especially like the farming area and the semicircular road by the town hall.  I also like the fact that you didn't overdo the trees and that you've used a lot of 20x30 lots.  I agree with changing the name-doesn't look quite like a Springville.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Dragon Slave on 2010 January 30, 04:32:24
Some of those mountain peaks have to go-it looks unnatural.  I speak from experience having lived 5 years in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.  Maybe you could get rid of about half those peaks and round the remaining ones off.

Yeah, but remember -  the Appalachians are ancient.  Many other mountain ranges aren't so low and rounded.  I'm not sure what The_Goddess was going for, but the mountains in her world remind me somewhat of these (http://www.terragalleria.com/images/mountain/alps3509.jpeg).  I do agree that some of the sharper peaks could go, but I still like how it looks even with them there.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: russellcraiger on 2010 January 30, 16:32:51
That's true, but the overall flatter terrain of the rest of this world with such sharp peaks is too much of a contrast.  It is still looking great, and I stand in awe of anyone who has the patience to create a world.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: kiki on 2010 January 30, 21:55:53
They might not suit what you are used to, but anyone that has been to the middle-east of Russia can tell you things can go from flat to jagged peaks in miles.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: hussy on 2010 January 30, 23:26:35
I like what I see so far and will definitely download it with or without jagged hills.


Title: Re: Springville, now named Fargo
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 10, 06:16:02
It took a bit longer than I thought it would, to get all the bugs out; my world is now ready for habitation. I removed the shuttle bay, as requested, and added a few more lots in its place.  I also softened the steep mountains just a bit. Also note that the name has been changed to Fargo.

Here are just a few tips for those of you who download it: I used the graveyard from Sunset Valley, thinking that the ghosts would come with it.  After all, it worked when I wanted two graveyards in Riverview. For whatever reason, the data for habituated tombstones does not transfer over to the CAW tool.  No Ghosts! If you want ghosts, do one of the following.

Option 1: Open Sunset Valley and package up the graveyard. Then bulldoze the graveyard in Fargo and place your newly packaged graveyard there. Then you can alter the yard to match the town, as I did, or however your heart desires.

Option 2: Start killing off Sims like mad. Have a loved one of the dead Sim pick up the tombstones and place them in the graveyard.
 
Also, perfect plants do not transfer over to CAW, so all the hard work I put into planting them at the Sim Farmers Market has not transferred. If you want perfect veggies there, you will need to plant them yourself.

One last bit of strangeness I noticed: For whatever reason (probably user error) the sprinklers I set down in the children's park retained that strange glow that surrounds them in buy/build mode.  It goes away if you go into buy/build and just pick them up and set them back down. I could not even begin to guess why this happens.
 
Here is where you can get your hands on it…
http://www.mediafire.com/fargo


More photos too
http://twitpic.com/12cq5s

http://twitpic.com/12cqmz


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: kittyuk on 2010 February 10, 11:13:18
I downloaded it
I'm playing it
I love it :-*


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: riggs on 2010 February 11, 06:10:14
Nice job!

Additional previews with links to larger versions below:

(http://stephenriggs.com/Fargo/UrbanLots-Preview.jpg)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jqhmz3md3nn (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jqhmz3md3nn)

(http://stephenriggs.com/Fargo/RuralLots-Preview.jpg)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?klconxenngk (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?klconxenngk)

(http://stephenriggs.com/Fargo/Beach-Preview.jpg)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yyjoom0zwmy (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yyjoom0zwmy)

(http://stephenriggs.com/Fargo/CountryCurves-Preview.jpg)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mknjyzwd2dg (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mknjyzwd2dg)

(http://stephenriggs.com/Fargo/Courtyard-Preview.jpg)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ozzmmzqmmcz (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ozzmmzqmmcz)

(http://stephenriggs.com/Fargo/NightSky-Preview.jpg)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?omyzznmn2nn (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?omyzznmn2nn)

(http://stephenriggs.com/Fargo/RoomToGrow-Preview.jpg)
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zzt2yig32zz (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zzt2yig32zz)


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: cwurts on 2010 February 11, 18:14:03
I enjoy your use of different-levelled plains.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 11, 19:25:50
Nice job!

Additional previews with links to larger versions below:

Thanks Sweetie, your photo embedding skills rock.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: brownlustgirl on 2010 February 12, 03:51:22
Took a look at the town and absolutely love it. Nice having a large town and different styles of living all in the same world. Fabulous.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 12, 04:20:42
I hid some ‘Easter eggs' all over town.   ;)  They won't spawn until you go on at least one world adventure.  Happy hunting.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: brownlustgirl on 2010 February 12, 05:56:39
I've seen a few of the easter eggs. I haven't had WA long, still learning about adventures.

I am confused about the little island that has no connection to the mainland. I don't see any roads or bridges to get the sims that live there back and forth.  Guessing that you will need teleportation or dive wells to get home and work? If so, that is funny.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 12, 06:08:44

I am confused about the little island that has no connection to the mainland. I don't see any roads or bridges to get the sims that live there back and forth.  Guessing that you will need teleportation or dive wells to get home and work? If so, that is funny.

Yes, you need to teleport to get there.  I like to think of that as my little retirement community.  The Sims I plan on putting there don't have jobs.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: kittyuk on 2010 February 12, 09:33:52
Would love to see any homemade houses and community lots for the world =c)


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 12, 14:40:22
Making homes really is not my thing.  All of the homes I'm using, I downloaded elsewhere.  I made the book store, the liquor store, the gym, and the art gallery.  I made all the lots with the rabbit holes on them, but really they are mostly done for you.  

The homes I used for the 20X20 lots were mostly made by plasticbox on MTS.  I have no idea who did the rest of the homes I'm using.  I got them from all over.  The only reason I remember plasticbox is because he specializes in small lots.  I made slight modifications to them in order to bring driveways up to the curb, but for the most part the homes this person does are great little starter homes that do not need anything more than a Sim to love them.  

Photos of some of the homes I used…
http://twitpic.com/12s8xb
http://twitpic.com/12s93f


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Dutchysim on 2010 February 12, 15:32:19
Well, this is going to be my first post here on this forum and probaly my last, hehe.
My english is not that good and really I don't want to be flamed everytime I put something stupid on this forum  ;D
But I just wanted to tell you I love your world.
The only problem I find in this world was the road tearing by the fire breathing dragon.
Thanks for this beautiful world!


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 12, 22:53:20
The only problem I find in this world was the road tearing by the fire breathing dragon.
Thanks for this beautiful world!

I wasn't overly thrilled about putting a sidewalk there either, but it was needed for routing.  While I was testing the world I noticed that the Sims I sent over there to gather rocks, would not come home when told to.  They became disoriented and could not figure out the rout, so they would drop the command.  The sidewalk shows them the way and they run on home, when told. 


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Dutchysim on 2010 February 12, 23:14:50
Well, thats reason enough for me :)
I tried to make my own world, but I didn't even came close too your world!


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Tangie on 2010 February 12, 23:39:03
Making homes really is not my thing.  All of the homes I'm using, I downloaded elsewhere.  I made the book store, the liquor store, the gym, and the art gallery.  I made all the lots with the rabbit holes on them, but really they are mostly done for you.  

The homes I used for the 20X20 lots were mostly made by plasticbox on MTS.  I have no idea who did the rest of the homes I'm using.  I got them from all over.  The only reason I remember plasticbox is because he specializes in small lots.  I made slight modifications to them in order to bring driveways up to the curb, but for the most part the homes this person does are great little starter homes that do not need anything more than a Sim to love them.  

Photos of some of the homes I used…
http://twitpic.com/12s8xb
http://twitpic.com/12s93f


Just wanted to say I really like your world also. I've spent the past two evenings downloading and installing lots, mostly from plasticbox at MTS but I also found some small lots by Blackorchid, Brighten11, and Cloudburst. Plus I used some Victorian starter homes from Ruthless KK and a few others from here and there. Now all I have to do is to add some cribs and I'll be ready to play. Nice work!


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 13, 17:16:17
I just noticed and fixed a small mistake in Fargo.  There were a few intersections that were not properly clicked in place.  I have had no trouble with my Sims coming and going through them, so it is not a problem to concern yourself with if you are already playing and enjoying the game.  It seems to be more of a cosmetic issue.  If you would like to download the fixed version, it is available now at the same link.  I did not rename the fixed version, so make sure you delete the old one before installing the update into your game.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2010 February 13, 17:18:09
Sidewalk intersections don't matter, because Sims only regard sidewalks as a suggestion, anyway, but road intersections that don't click together may "derail" your cars. Possibly. They may be smart enough to jump the tracks, who knows? I wouldn't count on it, though.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 13, 17:30:35
They did manage to jump over them.  The un-clicked intersection in question was the only option for getting to town from the country.  They had no choice but to drive over the bad intersection.  I'm thinking that might not be the case if there were alternative routes to choose from.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: gingersnaps on 2010 February 14, 17:51:58
I'm really sorry to be a bother, but I can't seem to get your beautiful world to work. This would be the first world I've downloaded and installed, other than the two by EA.
I have the base game, and the patch up to 1.8 (the new patches say there is an error and refuse to install from EA). I have been transferring all other CC (hair, free store items etc.) items to .dbc format, which has been working pretty well so far for by passing the launcher (s3pe and the multi installer). But some how I can't get this thing to work. It shows up as an option in my game, and loads for bit when I try to start playing with it - then the game crashes. I have moved the .world file to C:/....Game Data/Shared/Non Packaged/ Worlds   with riverview but it isn't working there either.
Sorry again to be annoying - I've scanned every form I can think of, and google just keep spitting World Adventures at me - which I don't have.

Yes, I did just click on the file after getting it out of the .rar file - and went through the launcher to load it. If I need to convert it also to .dbc, just point me in the direction of how to do it.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 14, 19:26:30
I'm not sure how to help you, other than to tell you how I installed it.  I manually put the file in [C:\Users\'My Name'\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Downloads]; then I go to the downloads section of the launcher.  I bypass the launcher for *.package files, but in my experience, worlds don't convert elegantly, so it's easier just to install them from the launcher. (I think the .world file only appears after a world has been installed through the launcher.) I know that the patches have been borking people's installers, but I'm not sure what the workaround would be for installing worlds.  Then click install.  This method works fine for me.  If you need an alternative method, hopefully someone else will post also. 


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2010 February 14, 19:35:26
They did manage to jump over them.  The un-clicked intersection in question was the only option for getting to town from the country.  They had no choice but to drive over the bad intersection.  I'm thinking that might not be the case if there were alternative routes to choose from.
How did they jump them? Just drive straight over in their cars, or did they have to stop the car, pop it into their inventory, and walk over that gap on foot? Because if snapped road connectivity is merely a suggestion, interesting things could be done with that.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 14, 19:43:32
How did they jump them? Just drive straight over in their cars, or did they have to stop the car, pop it into their inventory, and walk over that gap on foot? Because if snapped road connectivity is merely a suggestion, interesting things could be done with that.

They just drove over it.  There was no actual gap; no grass showing.  The intersection and the road were overlapping, just not clicked in place.  The crosswalks don't appear when this happens, so one might conclude that a walking Sim could not cross the road there, but the Sims in vehicles drove right on over. 


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2010 February 14, 20:28:11
The crosswalks are superfluous to sims crossing the street, too. Sims can cross anywhere. If it is not strictly necessary to snap the road pieces together, I wonder what interesting things can be made this way.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: missaaliyah on 2010 February 14, 22:35:41
it looks really good, lots of work to do when in game, but the neighbourhood layout is great.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Sarafina on 2010 February 15, 19:44:47
I love the new world, but I am having some performance issues.  Up until now, I've never had any problem running the game on all high settings, but I noticed that this world runs a little jaggedly and choppy.  It's not horrible, I can still play, but it's just not smooth like before.  I also had some weirdness placing lots, they didn't show completely in any mode other than playing the house directly (Buildings themselves, trees and plants showed).  So anytime I was playing another house, or walking around town past it, or in edit town mode, they weren't showing.  Again, still playable but odd behavior.

Anyone else having this?


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 16, 01:37:44
It's not my world causing this—it's the game.  I put a bit more detail into my world than your standard world.  My lots are closer together; this means that when you have your settings set high, you had better have a ‘rocking' graphics card to handle the extra detail. I recently had to remove my Radeon 5750, and I see a significant change in how lots and objects on them render as a result.  I'm sorry I really was not thinking about how other people's computers would handle such a detailed and compact world.  You might try placing lots that do not have a whole lot of yard clutter and other details.  Also, try leaving some lots empty as opposed to having houses on every lot.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: jmtmom on 2010 February 16, 15:41:38
I really like this world, the different plateaus are great. It's by far the best world I've tried out.

Some of the lots are oddly shaped however and I can't quite fit what I want to on them. I'm wondering if you could upload the CAW files so I can put in lots the size I need. Stupid EA, should have made lot resizing and deleting part of the game, but of course they didn't.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Tingeling on 2010 February 16, 15:48:10
I second that request. The town is nicely decorated, but since I tend to keep a variety of lots in my sims towns that are too big or too small for Springville, it would be nice to be able to customize it further. Great job, either way.

Edit: I have experienced some issues after installing and playing Fargo/Springville and I wonder if it could be the result of bad routing in the neighbourhood itself. I read over at MTS (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=390115) that some people were having lag issues and their experience amounted to the fact that some sims simultaneously tried to route through the world and since the paths have been chopped off at certain points the game starts to lag heavily.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 February 17, 01:09:34
I have experienced some issues after installing and playing Fargo/Springville and I wonder if it could be the result of bad routing in the neighbourhood itself. I read over at MTS (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=390115) that some people were having lag issues and their experience amounted to the fact that some sims simultaneously tried to route through the world and since the paths have been chopped off at certain points the game starts to lag heavily.

I'm not noticing any lag in my game.  I'm running my game with a minimal amount of custom content.  Routing should not be an issue as I've put in more roads than other worlds, and there are a number of alternate routes to get to most places.  I would be more inclined to blame the fact that this world is rather large compared to what EA put out.  There are more lots and they are closer together than Sunset Valley and Riverview. 

This is the first world I created.  I'm sure that as I discover better ways of doing things, future worlds will run more smoothly.  I've already pinpointed a few things I will do differently in the future.  Until then this world suites my needs and wants, better than EA's worlds. 

In the first version of Fargo I uploaded, (Read comments further up this thread) there were about 5 intersections I did not click together properly.  I immediately fixed and re-uploaded the world.  If you are experiencing routing problems with the first version, I recommend getting the updated version.  Also try bulldozing any lots you put on the island, as there are no roads to or from it. 


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: spaceface on 2010 February 17, 08:04:51
I had some huge lags the first time I played, but after that not. I did not put down too many houses, maybe 10, and I only put one sim in the town and let the game do the rest. So I assume that lags were caused by AM running story mode and inserting sims into the town. I am playing the first version of Fargo and there are no problems with routing, other than where the path disappears at one or 2 points.
 


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2010 February 17, 08:06:23
Since towns start out empty, the initial lag tends to be the basic NPCs spawning.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Tingeling on 2010 February 17, 10:57:00
I really like Fargo, so it is reassuring to hear it may be other issues creating the lag. I wonder though how long the NPC spawning is supposed to occur? I have played the first Fargo copy for almost a whole generation now. Admittedly, I like to put down many houses in my worlds, so that might be the cause of the choppiness. I hope not, though.

@The_Goddess: Have you given any thought as to whether or not you will be putting up the CAW files for Fargo on the site? Not to be a nag or anything, but I truly enjoy this world and it would be nice to be able to edit it to my own particular preferences.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: blackcat on 2010 February 17, 16:33:17
@The_Goddess: Have you given any thought as to whether or not you will be putting up the CAW files for Fargo on the site? Not to be a nag or anything, but I truly enjoy this world and it would be nice to be able to edit it to my own particular preferences.
Yes, I would like CAW files too, since I really like the urban area, but would like to paint it with asphalt for more city look. This town has everything I needed and wanted. Really, really like it!


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: blackcat on 2010 March 12, 22:09:51
Sorry, for double post, but it's been a while since last one.
I have no idea why, but sims from non-controllable families go to community lots almost always on foot, no matter the distance. There are some that do use cars or bicycles, but there are lots of sims who try to hike across a hood. If I switch to that family, cancel the action and then immediately tell sim to go to that same location he uses taxi or car. This happens only in this hood in multiple different saves. I also believe that this behavior causes non stop freezes when I try to play in this hood, which makes it impossible. Since I populated the first save I've been constantly testing, trying different setups and starting all over to figure out the reason, and this seems to be it. Have no idea what may be causing this.
Does anybody else has the same problem with this hood or maybe there is a newer version available?


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 March 12, 23:58:20
I only have the one version.  I did have to fix a few roads and reposted the updated version just 3 days after the first unveiling.  Other than that I'm playing the same hood.  I have notice a lot of pedestrians.  Personally I like it.  All of my households own one or two cars and a bike or two as well.  I see a lot of cars on the road and bikes two.  I believe the game limits the amount of cars on the road at any given time.  If you have lots of people that might account for it seeming excessive to you.  It seems as if my Sims are more active in this town then in any other town I've played.  I love how they all seem to gather at the center of town in and near the center park.

I also found it little funny how some Sims cut through other Sims yards to get to the market, but I had seen similar behavior in Riverview, when I played that hood.  I really did not use all that many sidewalks as I think they look funny without a road next to them.  Now I know you can have invisible sidewalks.  That would have allowed me to choose where their short cuts would be.  It also means that the amount of pedestrians seems higher because they are all along the road and not on back trails.

As for the freezes, I really don't get very many of them.  Occasionally I'll get a slight pause, I zoom in or out and it starts right up again.  I guess there could be routing issues, but I've never seen a stuck Sim, and I know better than to use Supreme Commander in my hood.  I put spawners on the island.  If you have Sims living on the Island and they decide to come in to town, you will have a serious routing issue.  I decided the island was a bad idea and bulldozed the homes I had there.  My next world will be a bit different.  I don't think I will make that one available, because I have plans for it to be even bigger.  That means that people who are not playing on a rocking gamming rig might have serious lag problems.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: blackcat on 2010 March 13, 08:48:50
Thank you for reply.
I have the updated version with fixed roads. I have maximum the same amount of people as in Sunset Valley(about 80 total, with service). No houses on island.
I get freezes all the time, the frequency depends on how many neighbors are there. If there is only one(active) family in hood, then there are no freezes at all. As hood gets more populated the freezes get more frequent. When I had almost the same amount of people as in Sunset Valley, freezes were happening every 5-10 sim minutes and were going on for about 10-30 sec real time, which made it completely unplayable. So I decided to check what they were doing and found many sims going across the hood on foot. Since at night freezes stop(sims sleeping) I concluded that that was the issue.
I really like this hood and I already spend a lot of time on it placing houses so it would be a shame not to be able to use it now.
I have other populated custom hoods as well but no freezes there.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 March 13, 17:42:37
Do you still have a usable community lot on the island?  It might be a good idea to double check to make sure all island lots are bulldozed and just to be on the safe side, change the community lots there to residential.  If you have Sims wanting to get over there it might be a problem.  Perhaps I should give some thought to revamping some of Fargo's issues and re-uploading it.  It should have a bridge to the Island and it needs more sidewalks.  I have gone through the routing map with a fine tooth comb, and can find no places where a sim cannot route to something, other than the island.  I was very careful about that as it annoyed me to no end in China to see stones my Sim could not reach.  As annoying as it was, I loved the Island in France, but if the Island is what is causing these woos It needs a bridge.  

If I rework it; it will mean your Sims will lose all social interactions with non-household Sims when they move to the new town.

Edit/add...  Also, after uploading the last time; I put the shuttle bay and airport back in for my game.  I won't take it out again if I re-upload, but I will put more lots else ware to compensate.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: blackcat on 2010 March 13, 19:35:17
Changed all lots on island to residential and looks like it helped. Gonna do more testing to be sure. Thank you for help!

Yep, definitely works now. I also removed some of the community lots I added just to b sure and it runs smoothly now. Thank you.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Dutchysim on 2010 March 14, 08:31:53
This is still my favorite world.
I would love to see a road to the little Island.
Because of the lag, I don't use it now  :'(


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: SlickCee on 2010 March 20, 14:01:21
There is something wrong with the download link, it says that the file is unavailable.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: dDefinder on 2010 March 23, 01:13:18
The download works but the game crashes when it loads up the world.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 March 23, 01:39:55
I'll look into it, but you might want to wait a few weeks anyway.  I'm revising it to make the small tropical island off the coast playable.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: brownlustgirl on 2010 March 24, 04:37:41
That will be nice, cause I would love to set up that area with some nice beach homes. Will wait and see.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: GlamGirl on 2010 March 25, 13:52:39
Just wanted to let you know that I downloaded this world a few weeks back and am enjoying it immensely.  Great job and thank you!  :-*


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Noenmity on 2010 March 30, 05:26:15
I too have been playing this world for a few days and am really liking it. Actually more than any new world so far. I'm checking this thread to see if perhaps you had any plans to revise this world in any way and apparently you do. I found some small flaws and possible pathing issues. If your interested, i'll make a check list and post it here and you can check it if you want. Thanks for your world and your time.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 March 30, 18:36:03
I too have been playing this world for a few days and am really liking it. Actually more than any new world so far. I'm checking this thread to see if perhaps you had any plans to revise this world in any way and apparently you do. I found some small flaws and possible pathing issues. If your interested, i'll make a check list and post it here and you can check it if you want. Thanks for your world and your time.

Yes, I just returned from honeymoon, I'll be working on the world now.  Input is welcome.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Noenmity on 2010 April 02, 16:57:10
Sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your honeymoon lol! Congratulations and best wishes on getting married!

Now on to business. I've downloaded about 30 new worlds in the past week or so but I keep going back to Fargo. I like it but there are issues. For instance many of the new houses I put in the world sink into the lots. And when I delete some of those, the lots are left with jagged impressions. There are also many tears in the land and sidewalks and streets sinking into the ground as well. There was even a manhole floating in midair near where the corralled lots are.

Also, on the highest plateau there is a large lot and a small lot and thought to mention the small lot has the best view in game and thought to suggest making the small one a larger one, but not sure the difficulty or possibility involved in doing that.

Anyway, its a great world and most worth improving in my estimation of it. And i'm not the only one who thinks so. If you read the posts all over the create a world section of the sims 3 forum, people keep mentioning how they really like this world and also keep going back to it. That about sums it up for now.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 April 02, 18:09:00
Yes, the lot by the waterfall does that ; as do the others that dip slightly into the ocean.  This is caused by placing a flat lot on a lot that has its own custom edges.   It is on the list of fixes.  The only way to prevent the sinking is to build your own home there or set a lot down that was built there. 
I saw only one road problem, on the corner of the road that the red school is on.  Where else have you seen this? 
The man hole I have not seen, but am now hunting for it; LOL.
Thank you for the input.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: Noenmity on 2010 April 05, 12:17:06
Goddess, not sure if you found the floating manhole yet, but I found it again and its not near the gated lots. but rather near the high school in the farming zone.


Title: Re: Springville
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 April 05, 17:55:46
Goddess, not sure if you found the floating manhole yet, but I found it again and its not near the gated lots. but rather near the high school in the farming zone.

Yes I have and it has been properly reacquainted with gravity.   I had to scratch my head over that one, as you had said "near where the corralled lots are."  I had come to the conclusion that you fancy ranches and had been using the country side to put creepy cow cut-out corrals in.  



*shudders*  Those creepy cow cut-outs always remind me of the movie ‘Motel Hell'. 


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 August 04, 21:01:18
I have updated Fargo to include new career lots from Ambitions.  There is now a Junkyard/Consignment Shop, Laundromat, Styling Salon, Hangout/Tattoo Parlor and a Firehouse.  I have added a thin land bridge to provide access to the Island.  I have fixed a few floating objects and roads that grew grass from certain angles.  Because Ambitions gave us the ability to add and remove world objects, I added the Space Shuttle back to Fargo.  My Astronaut sim is quite pleased, but if you prefer not to have it, you are welcome to delete it.  I added 2 new neighborhoods to make up for the military housing that I removed.  I've also added a couple of cute parks.  There are now 109 residential lots and 40 community lots.

I'd like to offer special thanks and recognition to all the builders that created the lovely houses in my neighborhood, but I don't know who many of them are.  MATY's own Tangie created one of them; see if you can find it.  Plasticbox created many of the small houses I put in town.  Hatshepsut created many of my suburban houses.  In all cases, if there was something written in the details box, I left it there so there might be a signature of the artists on some of the houses.  If you know the names of any of the other creators, feel free to list their names and give them credit here.  I did not build any of the residential homes but I did alter many of them in tiny ways, either to touch up terrain paint or replace custom content with game objects.

If you are already playing the old Fargo, don't forget to package up your families; you will have to uninstall the old in order to install the new.

Here is where you can get your hands on it…
http://www.mediafire.com/fargo


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: SickLaxBro on 2010 August 04, 22:43:17
Love it, but there are a few issues.

Some of the rabbit holes don't seem to show up for me:

- The School
- The Spa
- The Military Base

EDIT: The school and the spa show up in the little lot icon, but don't show up on the actual lot.

Before you ask, I have all EP's/SP's and Riverview. I replaced them myself in 'Edit Town', so it's not too big a problem.

Now, what I like:

- Varied. Has a nice urban area, mountain area, and farm area, and they all fit in real nice.
- Detailed. It's clear a lot of effort has been put in into creating this.
- The hidden dragon cave. Blends into the mountain real nice and naturally.
- Big. Lots of places to build on, but has a decent amount of pre-made lots as well.

What I don't like:

- Cherry trees. A few spread out look nice, but I feel like there's too many in a small area in the downtown area.
- Mountains on the small island. The peaks on them are too jagged and they seem unnatural.

Overall, I really like this world. The cons are just minor things that slightly annoy me. Typically, with custom worlds, they feel awkward to me. This one is the exception. I really enjoy it, and look forward to playing with it.


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 August 05, 00:56:11
Most of the cherry trees are on lots that can easily be deleted without hurting my feelings in the least.  I used them on all the lots for a bit of continuity.  Choose what you love and feel free to replace them.


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: dolldrms on 2010 August 05, 04:36:48
I had heard good things about this world but had not yet tried it.  I decided to download your updated version.  You may want to add in your first post that Fargo downloads with 44 custom content items from TSR.  There were windows, doors, a baby pram, patterns, garden bags, mirror...well you get the drift I'm sure.  This custom content cannot be deleted without also deleting the world.  One can try to delete the cc from the launcher but end up with an error saying it can't be done because of dependents.  I opted to delete everything since there was so much I had absolutely no interest in having in game.  It would have been nice to know in advance that the world contained cc and what it was.


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: Cocomama on 2010 August 05, 04:53:43
Could you please upload a version of this updated Fargo without the custom content?
I have the same problem as dolldrms, and when I checked the file in Custard, some of the CC also showed up as corrupt.



Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 August 05, 05:38:30
I had heard good things about this world but had not yet tried it.  I decided to download your updated version.  You may want to add in your first post that Fargo downloads with 44 custom content items from TSR.  There were windows, doors, a baby pram, patterns, garden bags, mirror...well you get the drift I'm sure.  This custom content cannot be deleted without also deleting the world.  One can try to delete the cc from the launcher but end up with an error saying it can't be done because of dependents.  I opted to delete everything since there was so much I had absolutely no interest in having in game.  It would have been nice to know in advance that the world contained cc and what it was.

I tried really hard not to include CC in the world at all; I even went house to house removing stuff.  44 items?  Not too bad; they must have been attached to the homes I downloaded.  I really was not aware that they would attach themselves to the world.  I thought there would just be a few blank spots where the items were.  Thank you for letting me know.  Did the old dilapidated tombstones in the back of the grave yard come through?

Could you please upload a version of this updated Fargo without the custom content?
I have the same problem as dolldrms, and when I checked the file in Custard, some of the CC also showed up as corrupt.
Easier said than done.  I suspect that if CC is showing up corrupt that it is a few patterns.  I noticed a few rugs in the world didn't look right.  I didn't build the houses in the world and to look at them I have no idea what came with them as CC and what came with the game, it is not as though they glow or anything.  
I will consider your request but this world is done.  I have already started a larger world.  


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: dolldrms on 2010 August 05, 06:02:20
There were grave markers among the cc.  Since I never got as far as playing the world, I can't say for sure if all you meant to come did, or, not.


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 August 05, 06:11:37
There were grave markers among the cc.  Since I never got as far as playing the world, I can't say for sure if all you meant to come did, or, not.

I didn't really mean for any of it to come through.  I had forgotten about the back of the graveyard and the garden bags at the market, until you mentioned it.  I also went through the neighborhood house by house removing what I knew was CC.  It is really hard to know what came with the game and what didn't, without tags.  I think 44 items is pretty small in comparison to what some of the more stylized worlds probably come with.  


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: dolldrms on 2010 August 05, 08:22:52
I realize you probably didn't mean for the cc to attach.  I do have to differ with you on the quantity of cc items with Fargo being considered a small amount.  I have downloaded about 30 worlds and have kept 23 of them so far.  Of the worlds I have downloaded only 4 had cc with them.  One world had 1 chair, the second world had the half wall by Flabiliki.  The 3rd world had 2 build items and then Fargo with 44 items.


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: Tangie on 2010 August 05, 22:25:41
The Goddess, in case you don't read the forums, and I'm guessing you don't, they are very paranoid about CC on the official BB. So there aren't very many worlds there that do come with CC as most creators are very careful to please as many people as possible.  :D

I usually don't care one way or another, most of the time. At least not until I downloaded some sims from the BB and all the sudden I had toddlers with long adult legs wearing boots in my neighborhood. It was very traumatic there for awhile, LOL. I do find it ironic that most of the worlds there have little CC in them but almost all of the sims I downloaded from there had a boatload of the stuff, and some of it was particularly nasty. Maybe that's why they're paranoid about the worlds! Personally I wouldn't play this game if it weren't for CC.

I was just about to install your world - didn't get to it last night, unfortunately. But when I had the issue with custom clothing borking my babies, I found an app by Delphy that helped to parse out all that CC. Now if I could only remember what it was... <goes off to look>


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: Motoki on 2010 August 05, 22:33:08
I found an app by Delphy that helped to parse out all that CC. Now if I could only remember what it was... <goes off to look>

CUSTARD (http://linna.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=390235).  ;)

In theory, it should enable people to just yank out all the CC stuff, re-save and then let them game sub in other stuff for it (which sometimes ends up quite odd mind you).

That works for lots. Not sure about worlds though.

In general I don't install sims3packs with custom content. I usually yank them out with this tool and then go and get those package files separately on my own so I know what's in them, what they are called and how to get rid of them if I want.


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: Tangie on 2010 August 05, 22:37:39
Hey, thanks Motoki, you just saved me some time! I've never used it on lots, I only used it on the sims that I downloaded and I could see all the CC that way; I didn't try deleting the content and installing them, though. I ended up deleting the sims because several of them included that dreaded, posessed doll.  ;)


Edited to add: I used custard to "unpack" the Fargo simspack and deleted all the items labeled "currupted", but they had no thumbnail so I have no idea what they were. Then I installed Fargo through the Launcher. According to the Dashboard I ran afterwards, I have no corrupted content in my game so I guess that got rid of it. The rest of the CC were mostly build items or patterns so I left them in; the strange thing is that I looked at many of the custom lots last evening and saw none of the new CC on them, at least not so far. Maybe I've just missed it, but you would think that if it were included in the download of the lot, that it would be present on the lot it came with.  ???

All I did was add a few more lots and take a look around - I haven't started a game yet. But I wanted to tell you, Goddess, that I really like the new layout of Fargo, and appreciate all the work you did to add some houses. I know how much time that takes!

Does anyone know: if I wanted to upload a lot (or world, for that matter) that might have CC on it and wanted to get rid of it, and I click on the 'run without custom content' box before I packaged it up, would that eliminate all the CC from downloading with the simpack? If no one has tried this yet, I will perform some experiments.



Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 August 06, 22:06:10
the strange thing is that I looked at many of the custom lots last evening and saw none of the new CC on them, at least not so far. Maybe I've just missed it, but you would think that if it were included in the download of the lot, that it would be present on the lot it came with.  ???


I guess the best place to look for the custom content would be the very back of the graveyard, by the pond.  There is a dilapidated, smaller, graveyard with custom tomb stones.  The other is inside the farmers market.  There are bags of fertilizer and packages of seeds ‘for sale' there. 


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: Madame Mim on 2010 August 08, 03:50:42
Though I tried not to use CC in the world, I have been informed that 44 items are in fact attached to the world.  These items include: a few windows and doors, a baby pram, gardening decorations, graveyard decorations and some patterns.  I'm sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.

The easiest way to get all the CC out is to use Delphy's dashboard. Dump everything from the Sims3pack into a subfolder of whereever you're keeping your CC and run the dashboard. It will identify which of the files is the world file.

Oh, and Goddess - your CC included with the world includes 4 corrupt TXC's and a number of files that conflict with each other - you might want to run the dashboard on your whole CC folder. I think you've got problems.


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: The_Goddess on 2010 August 08, 16:18:44
Yes, I am on that and tracking down the offender as we speak.  The part that ticks me off the most is that the problem occurred between when I uploaded my test version, and when I uploaded the final product.  Had it occurred before testing I would have seen the problem while testing. 


Title: Re: Fargo Updated
Post by: justerin on 2010 August 17, 01:26:01
Just wanted to say this is one of the best worlds I've played... unfortunately my computer doesn't have the power to run it once it starts getting populated.  Oh well, amazing work and if I upgrade my hardware it'll be first on my list.  Kudos.