If you're banning macros because it makes it "too easy," then you should additionally ban both the pause button (apart from the pauses the game forces on you) and queue cancellation. Fat fingers select the wrong thing? Too bad. Don't want them to autonomously tell a joke or apologize? Better queue something else up quick to override it, 'cause you can't cancel it out.

Poor Twooflower: you missed the flat version that I uploaded on the first page!


All right, I am not terribly pleased with my entry, but it's done, so I might as well share it. I might do another version later in the month, if I can stand the thought of working with this monstrosity again.

Roux to Nowhere

Price: 109,668 (will drop to 63,756 with use of Magic Wand)
Bedrooms: 1
Baths: 2
EPs/SPs: All
Edges of lot flattened using LotAdjuster
The packaged lot is not clean, so use Clean Installer to uncheck the two hacks and K&B pre-order, if you already have it.

My version would be best suited for a single sim, a childless couple, or an elderly couple. A nursery and extra beds/baths could be added though, by sacrificing the porch/lawn. Adding a third level would probably require some reworking of the main floor. The exterior style is a sort of contemporary pueblo; interior style is modern.




In terms of construction, I didn't expand the interior space very much beyond attaching a garage and expanding the basement. I lowered the foundation to standard height.






My way of dealing with the original entry way was to move the front door to the left side, extend the foundation/basement and use the narrow hall for lockable stairs leading down to the basement. Then I put a fireplace where the front door used to be and balanced it out for the feature "waterfire" wall. The living area is open plan, with The One Desk located near the front door. Kitchen is lockable. Instead of a dining room there is a bar area. I blatantly stole an idea from Annan and Jim and put a small skylight over the bar area, purely for appearance since it didn't change the lighting...




The basement contains the bedroom, a second bathroom, and a skilling area. Should be vampire-friendly, especially since it connects directly to the garage.




Garage and rear porch have plenty of room for Awesomeware or peripheral skilling items. Porch contains grill and bar seating (so sims do not take their food outside to eat, though it also functions as overflow meal seating). Also outdoors is a fenced and gated area for the trashcan and kickables. Some light landscaping provided: all flowers and bushes should be able to be cared for without routing issues. Added an axe-throwing station, just for the heck of it.




Lightly playtested. Sims can go up and down the staircase between the garage and basement, though it looks like they walk through a wall at the top. BUY in the basement bathroom will work, thanks to being enclosed in 4 proper walls, but note that sims that get the "urge" while at ground level outdoors seem to get routed to the basement instead of the main floor bath. Just be aware of that, and make sure you configure it so visitors are rejected. Also, the best viewing angle seems to be from the back right corner:




I've also done an unfurnished version this time around. It goes for 48,097 (35,054 with use of Magic Wand). In that version there is no landscaping and the driveway extension was removed. No furnishings except for the main floor bath and the kitchen with a cheaper fridge and less counter space. Lighting provided. Basement is open plan, and still connected to the garage. Wall textures were replaced with one of the two-tone Beachy Keen paints.

Download furnished version
Download unfurnished version

You'll need to live with the default hobby lots, at least for your 'hoods to be updated for the new EP, and preferably until you have taken a sim to visit each lot. Check out leaths's post in Zazazu's Peasantry thread on editing hobby lots.

Using a clean template, a hobby maven will only spawn when a sim gets to a certain level of hobby enthusiasm. I feel like I heard about a "no enthusiasm at all" hack somewhere, which might prevent them spawning indefinitely. But my search skills are failing me. Has anyone else heard about it, or is that just my imagination again?

I do hope they're marrying other sims, and not each other. 

Oh, that has bugged me for AGES; I've never been able to use that mirror over any surfaces because of it. Thank you for fixing it!

Thanks for clarifying. My current LS stuff is in Downloads, so I think I'll try loading the build bundle in the Category Bin, and then go through my occupied & community lots to replace walls & floors with Argon's version. If that doesn't work, I'll just re-do it. Sometimes it's good to do a forced redecorating. EDIT: for anyone else in the same boat, this method worked fine.


My main reason for weeding through was to keep my size of loading MBs down, so to speak, with the added benefit of a slightly smaller catalog. However, in comparison it's only about 10MBs difference, which is a drop in the bucket. So if my catalog feels too huge again, I'll try putting together a hider. Thanks for the tip!

EDIT: I just wanted to repeat Lord Darcy's praise of Argon's work over previously available versions of the LS stuff. I have gone through a number of lots replacing the old versions of the walls & floors with Argon's, and the proof is in the pudding. Old version on the left, Argon's on the right. (Click pics to see the details, and sorry for my messy arrows!)



Awesome job, Argon!

If your latest EP/SP was anything released since H&M, and if you're playing with the game disk, then the most likely culprit is SecuRom. Check out the SecuRom thread stickied in the Podium for instructions on how to remove it.

Argon, this is awesome work. I really can't wait for it to be finalized. 

One stupid question: I already have this stuff in my game from previous downloads, and I've used it extensively in my neighborhood. Will this file just take the place of my previous LS stuff, or am I going to have to refurnish/decorate?

And a less stupid query. Some of the walls and floors were really bizarre/didn't fit in with my tastes (some of those patterned carpets come to mind). I remember using Clean Installer to disable stuff I didn't like, and then simply deleting the .OFF files. I don't mind redoing the work, but CI will disable the whole thing, and I am guessing that deleting in-game will delete the entire bundled file. Will I have to use SimPE to remove items I don't want? If so, any suggestions for going about it? (I already opened it in SimPE just to see, and the sheer length of the list was a little overwhelming.)

And they even turn into gnomes if a playful sim autonomously plays with them. Lazy Eaxis.

   

Here! The only change I made after using the LotAdjuster was using the 'flatten lot' tool to ensure proper flatness was achieved, which I forgot to undo before I packaged it up. Zipped with 7-zip.

(PS - I just spent some time working with it. The original long skinny entryway, which is made with *non-deletable external walls,* is a bitch to work around. )

Now THAT is a horse of a different color... excellent, Yecats!

I was wondering about a duplicate GUID. Would that cause a crash?

Indiasong, it's still not clear from your post whether you're downloading the "Ikea required" or the "standalone" version. You should be downloading the "Ikea required" version, which is the link just below the Ikea picture in LD's thread.

Couldn't you just use jfade's Wardrobe Wrangler at DJS Sims? It has a tab for binning accessories.

Fellow redhead here... my father has brown hair/blue eyes, my mother has blond hair/green eyes. They had three redheaded children with blue eyes. Not as unexpected as your family genetics, but unusual in that all of us got red hair. We all had similar hair color as children, but one brother has faded to a bright strawberry blond, the other brother to a dirty blond with a reddish tinge. My hair has darkened some with age, so it's not as fiery as it once was, but it's still definitively red.

My mother's sister has red hair, and she married a man with very dark brown hair (Eaxis would call it black). They had three children: two have blond hair, one has brown. We always joked that we should just swap the kids in the two families.

I also find Uni a lot more enjoyable if I use it for fun shenanigans. I've got a Pleasure sim using up her time and scholarship money getting blind dates from the gypsy. And a Romance sim is spending a semester only at Uni community lots (except for the occasional save), cruisin' for conquests.

There is one hack I can recommend: Dizzy's random-goto-class, at The Laden Swallow. Sims will only autonomously go to class if they're in the mood to go. This really helps to keep their GPA down: my Romance sim only has a 3.1, I think.

Another thing would be to not have any fall seasons in your Uni hoods. In fall, the term paper alone is enough for them to pass the semester, I think.

Well, you get points for breaking your game in an original manner. But if you're getting a SimPE error, perhaps you should ask for assistance at that forum?

On what kind of seating is it crashing? Dining chairs? Armchairs? Sofas? Loungers? Booths?

I just thought of something. You could try putting Inge's teleporter cat on a vacation community lot, take one family to the lot, and then summon the other vacationing family using the teleporter. It's a manual workaround, and it means they won't run into each other randomly, but in the absence of Awesomeware it might do the trick.

(Note: I have not tried this myself, so I can't guarantee that it will work, but I can't think of a reason it wouldn't.)

I've also seen both of those happening since FT, although some sims still roll the old way. I'm not sure why. It might be because once they get hobby enthusiasm in anything, they start rolling lots of hobby-related wants, which tend to crowd out other, more important wants.

Alas, Pescado has said that hobby-related wants can't be stomped with wfsanity because they lack a check tree (or something like that... I don't really speak Awesome).

Oh, yeah! But the Goth lot is on a road that has two intersections nearby, I think. So it should still be doable.

Even the ones not maxed in cooking will do this though, for other meals. However, I like your thinking about the lazy ones.

Sorry I was wrong, edespino! I usually just take one family and play it straight through until it's time for them to go home, so I've never had more than one playable family on vacation.

And that really sucks that they can't meet up with each other without the fitting of square pegs into round holes. Stupid Eaxis.

*Clicks baaaa button

I also use the Shakely set a lot, and am so happy to have more clutter decorating options now!

And baaaa to Havelock for requesting it.