#Strangetown Here We Come

[strangetomato]

Ancient History

"You know, Tank, we came up here and I didn't once think you were going to Cain and Abel me when we got to the top."

"Oh please… you're obviously the Cain."

"What?! You're the one who tried to kill me for real!"

"Yeah, but he was the disappointment. The bad kid. That's you."

"I think the murdering is the important part of the story."

"Heh. Maybe."

"We can both be him. It's not a pissing contest."

"Yeah I guess."

"Anyway, I'm so exhausted from climbing all those stairs, I would never have it in me to push you over."

"Comforting."

"Tank, I would never."

"I know."

"This is where you're supposed to say--"

"Ripp."

"What?"

"That's all ancient history."

.

[all-cheesed-out]

Fun fact: Explaining the fact that all these characters I'm invested in and looking at fanart of are characters in the Sims in insane. One time someone at my school saw me looking at fanart of Ripp Grunt and asked who he was. I, rather than going through the ordeal of explaining that the Sims has lore, said he's from an old internet series called "Strangetown, Here We Come".

Technically, this was the truth.

[theflirtmeister]

9 Fandom Peeps to Get to Know Better

tagged by @jaggededges123 thank u so much bestie! :D

3 Ships You Like: lets go niche: hoffrigg, eighthcest + adam/lawrence/alison

First Ship Ever: okay this is even more fucking NICHE but tank/frances from strangetown here we come

Last Song You Heard: golden days by panic (i know its cringe but i had a craving today)

Favorite Childhood Book: nelly the monster sitter

Currently Reading: currently relistening to gtn + htn!

Currently Watching: great british menu, my beloved

Currently Consuming: water

Currently Craving: prawn cocktail crisps, becky got me into them

I tag: @historygeek12 @guentzel @afoxnamedmulder @ereb1d @whatifwekissedinthesawbathroom

[malababatoja]

"Strangeview is a pleasant stopover town, but it also keeps its secrets. Why do people mysteriously dissapear here? Do aliens live among townspeople? Could it be just a coincidence? Stay for a bit and find out yourself."

We're FINNALY back with the final version of the Strangeview - new playable neighborhood based on @budgieflitter crazy idea to mix Pleasantview and Strangeview into one. UPDATE 9 (26.02.25 9p.m. CET): -some small fixes (moved things so You can get to the telescopes at Broke-Dreamers; Darren dont think that he cheats on Darleen when in love; lowered Darren career level and skills to be consistent with the family description) -changed Broke-Dreamers description a little, because it confused a lot of people UPDATE 8 (18.02.25 10a.m. CET): -ADDED THE SUBURB VERSIONS!! -fixed Goth attic UPDATE 7 (14.02.25 2p.m. CET): -fixed Lucy Burb lifetime want -added interesting recessive genes for Jennifer, Lucy, Angela and Lilith

UPDATE 6 (13.02.25 9p.m. CET): Im very sorry, but it turned out that bc of one mistake - Bella in missingBella version was really a townie. I know this is a huge f-up. I fixed it, and You can redownload the n-hood. If You want to hide Your Bella without redownloading nhood You can go with April Black instructions in her video at the really end section called "Summary". But REMEMBER to first delete Bella from "Bendett" (Townies) family. Without it IT WONT work out.

UPDATE 5 (13.02.25 2p.m. CET): -fixed relation between Dustin and Beau so they fully recognize each other as family -fixed relations between Dirk ---> Dustin, Beau so they fully don't recognize each other as family -restored graves on Goth flat and Cemetery --> its clearly aesthetic thing tho, You can restore them if You want using "Urnstone Spawner" from modthesims

UPDATE 4 (12.05.25 8p.m. CET): It turned out, that suspiciously Brandi was not pregnant... I updated the files. Now You can: -redownload the neighborhood -go to Insimenator --> Reproductive ---> Have baby with neighbor ---> Skip Broke. You can also skip (hehe) to the second or third trimester if You want. Hope that helps, and really sory for incovenience : (

UPDATE 3 (12.02.25 11a.m. CET): Fixed wrong townie genetics - originally made by EA - e.g Kaylynn Langerak have black hair, but in DNA she has blond hair. If IT IS a problem for You now You can: - redownload the neighborhood - change DNA Yourself (that's the 15min of work, in SimPe) here's a list of all townies with wrong DNA https://thesims2.livejournal.com/5126949.html You can also play the neighborhood as You were - just keep in mind that their children may have suprising hair color!

UPDATE 2 (11.02.25 9p.m. CET): Huge thanks to @grottydotty for checking out the neighborhood and letting us know about some oversights. We fixed a lot of "aesthetic" oversights, mostly in sims memories.

UPDATE 1 (11.02.25 3p.m. CET): -fixed family ties so PT7 is NOT a sibling of Nestor Caliente (lmao) -added family flag for Alexander and Cassandra so they're recognized FULLY a family if You don't want to redownload whole hood, just "set (them) as siblings" in InSim, and it could be fine -Fixed description of neighborhood in both versions -Added missing neighborhood storytelling in "missingBella" version

The neighborhood comes in two versions:

V1 With Bella as a townie as in Clean Pleasantview

V2 With missing Bella as in OG Pleasantview (based on April Black video, debunking how it's actually done, that Bella is missing)

The neighborhood is for UC or LC; it is a maxis match neighborhood, except few recommended mods/CC below.

The townies and sims have slightly updated looks to match the Strangetown vibe.

Almost every lot was build by @peanuttysims and I think he did an AMAZING job. He've got such a talent!!!

Every house is a combination of both family houses of OG sims.

The Neighborhood comes with a few new lots, every one of them is done in Strangetown vibe. There is crappy "Gas Station"; Trailer Park as a apartment lot; Club/Restaurant in the old factory; a Strangeview Cemetery with a few graves of the deceased; a Pleasantview park made into Strangetown climate.

RECOMMENDED MODS & CUSTOM CONTENT: # Sims 2 Store content (Many sims have the hair and/or clothing) https://archive.org/details/tumblr_fae6a4b9e8cb9aa38c5f84f4e596d474_5fa9111e_540

# A mod "Watch TV from all chairs"

https://modthesims.info/d/462269/watch-tv-from-all-chairs.html

There could be problems with sims not-sitting while watching TV. This mod fixes it.

# Mirrored spiral stairs from AL

https://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/AnoeskaB/downloads/details/category/sims2-sets-objects/title/mmf-spiral-stairs-apartment-life/id/842450/

Just a mirrored version of Apartment Life spiral stairs, they're used in some of the houses.

# Conversion of female "MessyBob" to use also for men

https://modthesims.info/d/636003/vq-yam-em-messybob-ftm-conversion.html

# CREATURE FIXES by Pescado!!! http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=1482.0 For Lilith and future sims with alien eyes so the eyes work properly.

# There MAY be problem with Lilith having a normal eyes, while she should have ALIEN eyes. EVEN with Pescado mod. Sometimes game bugs out like this when an alien is a teenager. For better immersion You can download Alien Contacts and give them to the bugged teenager from the makeup/accesories category. https://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/details/category/sims2-body-makeup/title/alien-contacts/id/128166/

# Mod for sims with mannequin skin could have BABIES. Kaylynn have mannequin skin, so her babies also could have it, but without this mod the game WILL CRASH when she gives birth to the baby. With this mod she can actually give birth to the baby with mannequin skin <3 https://modthesims.info/d/292423 # For the suburb version remember about "allowMultipleSuburbs" from Mootilda so You can choose more than one from nice list!! https://modthesims.info/d/420924/fix-subhood-selection.html

Once more I want to thank @peanuttysims for amazing collab, and also @sepomitiva , @dina-caliente and Flatera for testing the neighborhood before the release <3

Main hood versions:

DOWNLOAD V1 with Bella as a townie

DOWNLOAD V2 with OG missing Bella Suburb versions: DOWNLOAD V1 with Bella as townie DOWNLOAD V2 with OG missing Bella

Have a great time, xoxo

[mage-sims]

Welcome to Pleasantown !

People move to Pleasantown hoping to find peace and tranquility... and not knowing about the nice mess they just got themselves into. Rivalries, tension and strange events are a common sight in this town... is it true that aliens live among us? Did people really go missing? Can anything be done to get the neighborhood feeling good again, or will the drama drive all the inhabitants away?

This was inspired by a post by @budgieflitter and I thought the idea was super cool. I added some townies, gave the lots a refresh, and here we are. Our favorite Sims from Strangetown, in an alternate timeline where they live in the Pleasantview setting and their lives took an entirely different direction. The only big difference between Budgie's Pleasantown and mine is that Ajay is deceased in this hood ; I tried to make the rest as faithful to their post as possible.

 INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS : • For the main hood, copy the PLST folder to your [Your Name] / Documents / EA GAMES / The Sims 2 / Neighborhoods folder. • For the subhood, copy the SPST folder to your C: / Program Files (x86) / EA GAMES / The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection / Best of Business / EP3 / TSData / Res / NeighborhoodTemplate folder. You will have to add it to your primary neighborhood as a business district.

The hood has seven playable families, all the townies from Maxis Strangetown and the NPCs from the DS game. I rebuilt the Pink Flamingo with some pics I found as a reference, and it is owned by none other than Hoot Howell ! Yup, he's there.

The hood also comes with a French version, for those whose game is in that language (j'ai pensé �� vous les mecs, j'ai même fait l'effort de faire des jeux de mots pourris avec les noms des ex-maris d'Olivia Chimère, ce que la VF originale n'avait pas fait).

DOWNLOAD LINKS : MAIN HOOD : http://www.simfileshare.net/download/5269802/ SUBHOOD : http://www.simfileshare.net/download/5270110/ MTS :

[k-hippie]

K-MODS : UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE

Now that we ( at last ) finished our global x11 update, time was coming to get a closer look, especially on the oldest files ...

There's a joke to be made with updating after EAxis mess. Maybe something like ... Si(m)siphus ... Really, once we start working on an update, it seems like *everything* needs an update and we'll never get to the bottom of it. Or ... worst ( or better ) we get an insight on something we couldn't figure out and now we just want to test a theory or two, just in case it'll crack the code ... aaand we'll be good to make an overhaul of something else. Anyway ! Here we are :)

BRINDLETON BAY We are half pleased with the results here but those files needed to be updated ... Indeed ! The Cats & Dogs town is back into the fold with updated texture. We even removed the red pavement for more consistency. We aren't quite happy with the final result of this town and we'll probably come back later for finishing touch here & there but it'll do for the moment.

Please enjoy the return of Brindleton Bay among the family of the k-mods files :D

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

SELVADORADA ( JUNGLE ADVENTURES ) It was long overdue indeed but working on Selvadorada is like working on San Myshuno, it is clearly not EAxis best hours ...

Anyway, we completely reworked both nature and urban files, finished the ruins, added the files we hadn't done ...

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

STRANGERVILLE

We always have a soft spot for Strangerville, surely because it reminds us the Sims 2 Strangetown which was was so fun and irreverent !

You already have the k-505 nature we updated not long ago. Now, we remade the k-505 urban and put work into finishing touches, making sure we've covered everything that needed to be k-hippied :D

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

K-505 : BASEGAME NATURE FILES UPDATE Which should actually be : What-A-Surprise-We-At-Last-Found-Files Somehow, we tackled the San Myshuno Pit Of Darkness Problem. Yes, you read that right, with one single file, two little adjustment and a lot of hair pulling ( "What do you mean EA stretch that file like peanut butter on a toast ?" ) Okay, with less sardonic comment, the k-505 base game mod actually got a new update that's even better. You know those rocks with grass on them ? Yeah, we cleared that. It's now better looking. No more funky hairy rock. And of course, as you may know if you read the previous post, we finally found the files guilty of the black/question mark deep down in San Myshuno ! So, do not hesitate to update all your files ;)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

K-101 : MAJOR UPDATE Technical lingo : we updated the specular files because it was bugging us to no end. Old wooden floor, cool. Old wooden floors that shined so much it looked new ? Not under our watch, no sir ! In addition, it solves a glossy problem for Mac users with an intel based computer. Damned ! we are so good ... :D All floors have seen their specular double-checked and done ... and by the way, all Jungle Adventures floors were added, all of them. Of course, if you notice something we may forgot, just tell us :)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - K-303 : SKIES & MOONS UPDATE As the title says : those are moon & night sky replacements. It is re-organized ( we redid the folders to do not mix moons and skies ) All you have to do is to place these files into you mods folder and tada ! a brighter and bigger moon for your Sims :)

Voila, that's all for this week :) Hope it will be ok for you and your fun ! Next in queue, Britechester and Del Sol Valley …

All the k-mods : https://tech-hippie.com/k-mods/

k-303 Multifix stuff : https://tech-hippie.com/k-303/

if you think it good enough: ko-fi // paypal

:)

[evignonita]

Strangetown (Las Rarezas) if the inhabitants were Latin Americans Hispanic

Latin Americans is crossed out because I initially included Brazil here, but decided this post would be for Hispanic Heritage Month. Spain is not included for the same reason LOL. I included Brazil anyway but it will be in italics. I know that Brazil is not a Hispanic country, I'm just lazy to change it

EDIT: I DID NOT INCLUDE AJAY, I FORGOT ABOUT HIM LMFAAOOOO now yes sorry Ajay

OKAY here we go

The Curious Brothers and Jenny Smith: Argentine-Bolivians, they would specifically come from the province of Salta lmfoej, I only maintain this because I saw an illustration of a guy similar to Pascal drinking mate. Kitty would be Argentine and Glarn would be Bolivian 🧉

Johnny and Jill Smith: Argentinian, yas queen

Pol. Smith: Pol was not born on earth, but during his years of adaptation on earth he lived in Mexico, that is why he would say that he is Mexican, only that he was born in Veracruz JEODHEOEKR

(*) The Muenda family (Olive and Ophelia's family): I like to think that they are of Brazilian origin or from some Lusitano speaking country. Olive and Willow come from Porto Alegre, but Ophelia was born in São Paulo

Ichabod Specter: Puerto Rican, Afro-Latino king ❤️‍🩹 he comes from San Juan... He loves mofongo

Nervous Subject: Chilean-Brazilian, was born in Arica, Chile, while Olive was fleeing justice... accused of murder AH... 😔

Circe Beaker: Circe would be from Bolivia, specifically from the department of Beni... Although she would hate caporales omg she's so fake booooo, love her anyway

Loki and Erin Beaker: Swedish-Uruguayan, their parents are Swedish but they were born in Río Negro. Loki and Pascal hate each other 😝 /j

The Grunts: Chileans, Buzz was born in Santiago and that's why I hate him... His children were born in Calama... Tank reminds me of my cousin 🧠

Kristen Loste: Costa Rican, IDK WHYY She just gives me the vibe that she was born in some small town on the outskirts of San José (too specific idc)

Lola and Chloe Singles: Bolivians, they were born in Bolivia when Glarn still lived in his native country and as a good Hispanic father he abandoned them. Glabe is Paraguayan 🫶

Ajay Loner: Since I forgot to include Ajay, he would be Paraguayan because he would be like his country, he doesn't exist (BROMA, LOS AMO MUCHO PARAGUAYOS USTEDES Y NOSOTROS NOS ENTENDEMOS BIEN PQ NINGUNO DE NOSOTROS HABLA BIEN ESPAÑOL OK 🇨🇱🤝🇵🇾)

[jacethegaymer]

Helllo everyone Jayce here!

I’m hosting an art collab for The Sims 2 20th anniversary!

However it’s different as I’ll need 1 artist to participate. (There’s 10 but now there’s 1 left)

THERE IS ONE MORE SPOT LEFT! CLAIM IT WHEN YOU CAN

Info:

It’s ONLY premades from Pleasantview, Strangetown, and Veronaville. We are only heavily focusing on them.

I will allow Kaylynn Lanerak and the thief from Pleasantview if you want to draw them.

You can choose 2 sims to draw.

In total it’ll be 20 sims.

So far here’s what’s taken:

Lilith Pleasant, Jill Smith, Alexander, and Cassandra Goth.

If you are joining, let me know and I’ll send the discord server for you to submit the art work and learn more info on the collab.

Due date is September 14th, 2024! The date of the sims 2 was born!

Anyways, comment below if you are joining or DM me so I can give the server link.

Reblogs are appreciated!

Reminder: it’s a first come first serve bases! The spots are filling up quick!

[tia-amorosa]

Episode 8: Last Day for Two (Part 1)

The next morning, breakfast was accompanied by one of the family's older ghosts, Victor Grusel. At least more or less. “And you're sure you'll find your mother, my dearest?“/”I'm not sure, but I'll try everything…“/”We used to have many scientists, but no one who dared to venture into such spheres. I wish you every success“/”Thank you, great-grandfather”…

After breakfast, Cassandra went upstairs to change her clothes. “Oh, you've made yourself pretty, Cassandra. But surely not for the desert? I don't want to know how hot it is there"/ ”No, I want to go straight to Don's, he's off again today. I'll definitely pick something else for Strangetown"/ ” mhm. Then make the most of today"/.

“Thanks, I will. And try to get out a bit too“/” well, I wanted to get some new oil paints anyway,…"/,,See, that's a good reason to stretch your legs outside. I'll be back here tomorrow morning"/ ‘Oh… I see. See you tomorrow then’. Cassandra deliberately wanted to spend the last few hours together with Don. Due to work, there was always little time to really spend the day together. Today was going to be different.

A little later. Don opened the door with a big grin. “Hey, wow, you look great“/”hn-hn, and you too, actually, as always grin. Can I come in?“/”Yes, sure. Have you had breakfast yet?“/”Yes, not even an hour ago”. He took both her hands and looked into her eyes. Then he kissed her and slowly pulled her into the house.

He closed the door once they were inside and go on with it. He kissed her passionately, which she was only too happy to accept. He pressed her tightly against him again and kissed her neck, then returned to her lips. “oh, D-Don, don't make me so weak“/,,you just taste so good, Cassy, hhh, there's nothing I'd rather do right now than taste everything of you”.

“I'm sorry, Don, you know I want nothing more than you right now. But I can't…” Her voice trembled a little. “What was the old witch thinking? I'm allowed to kiss you, but not sleep with you?“/”It's about the act itself, Don…And…we'll probably have to wait a little longer now, I have to go away for a few days“/”what? where?“/”Strangetown, a few colleagues asked me to come there because of my mother”.

“You have to go to another city because of your mom?"/ ”It's about all the equipment that's supposed to help me find her. Don. Everything is already different between us anyway… I understand that you're sleeping with other women just because you… can't wait until I'm ready for you. But I love you…”. Don paused for a moment. Then he looked at her and realized how important the whole thing was to her now. “And you love your mother. So take care of that first, okay?"/ ‘And you're not angry…?’…

“No…why should I be mad? Because I'm horny as my neighbor's dog and my fiancée is under a curse and I'm not allowed to sleep with her? It's damn unfair, yes. If I didn't want you, I would have broken up with you long ago, wouldn't I? Besides… I feel partly responsible for your mother being gone. I shouldn't have called her here so late, then maybe she wouldn't have disappeared"/ ‘Oh Don’…

“We are a strange couple. I let you sleep with other women just because I'm not free and only a wedding can redeem me“/”what do you actually do when you get this craving for another body?“/”I… I do what anyone else do in this situation“/”mmh. O.k…. When do you have to leave?“/”Tomorrow”.

“And how long will it take?“/”That depends on whether and how quickly mom can be found“/. “And the boys are Experts?“/”Yes, quite good ones and Polli too“/”who is she?“/”thihi, no “she”, Pollination is an alien who has been living there for many years.“/”uh, a real alien?“/”mhm, do you want to come and see it, hn?“/”no, I'm needed here, you know that. If I was on vacation, I'd say sure!. But I'm irreplaceable at the moment”.

“And do you have accommodation there?"/ ”The boys have a guest room in their house, I can sleep there. Pascal has a son"/ ‘and they're all married or what?’/ ‘No, not as far as I know. hey, is this going to be an interrogation? don't worry, I have to be abstinent anyway, huh?’/ ”Hehe. If I sleep with other women, you can flirt with other men too.” She rolled her eyes. “Oh please, I don't think I'll get around to it there"/ ,,hnhn. And now?” he asked her with a slightly challenging look.

“Well, I don't have to go to the institute today and you don't have to go to the clinic. Either we make ourselves comfortable here with a few movies, or we avoid any atmosphere that could lead to… Sexual desire and get me into trouble. We could go swimming instead“/”you in a swimsuit, or worse, bikini…hmm“/”hmm…let's just go out, shall we?” He smiled, kissed her again. “Alright, I'll take you wherever you want”.

@greenplumbboblover , @solorisims , @plumbobgothica 🙂

Note: Unfortunately, I can't say which poses I used back then. I really don't remember. Sometimes I get really annoyed that I don't make a note of which poses I used at a given time. It's often difficult or even impossible to find them again.😥👀

My story posts are also welcome to be shared.😊🙂

[strangetomato]

I'm Tank, the oldest of the family. I was molded into my father's image from birth, to the point that I have no identity of my own and have no idea who I really am. Am I angry? Yeah, sometimes, but it's fine. I just push it all inside until it eventually explodes out in a violent rage. I used to, anyway. I'm working on it.

Also, don't believe anything Ripp tells you about me.

I'm Ripp, the middle child, and boy am I ever. I’m the fuck up who Buzz would have been happy to send back, and yeah he said as much. I still hear him inside my head, as like my internal monologue of self hatred. And yeah, I'm in a lot of therapy now. But I'm not here to depress you. I'm also hot. Obviously. 

Did Tank say anything about me? It's all lies, if he did.

I'm Buck, the baby. My father barely noticed me most of the time. But seeing how things went with Tank and Ripp, I'm okay with that. 

I'm actually the most sensible of the three of us. You can ask them, and I'm sure they'll agree. I can't tell you how many times I've had to mediate between them and try to keep them from killing each other. It's exhausting. I wouldn't trade them for anything, though. They are always there for me when I need them.

[mrs-gilscarbo]

Fun fact: a big part of the reason why I started a decades challenge, aside from needing a new creative outlet and also being super inspired by @pixelnrd, was to get people coming to my page so that they would see the link for my save file. But regardless, I've always had so much trouble getting people to see it and download it. But somehow, in the past maybe 24 hours I've gotten 15 downloads. Which maybe isn't much but it is, like, a 100% increase over the past 4 years.

After putting so much blood, sweat and tears into this save file I have no other way to describe this but that I feel like a ghost who can finally rest peacefully and enjoy the afterlife (playing the Sims without having this looming in the back of my mind).

Anyway, it just feels really good to have people enjoying something that I poured so much love and passion into, and I want to thank everyone here who does or has enjoyed any of my creative work. It means so much to me <3

And, of course, here is the link for version 2. We have even more updates yet to come and I think I will finally start working on the Strangetown families and their stories, but I hope you all enjoy for now!

[dreamxsimx]

My Strangetown Theory <3 (Part I )

Hi ^^, i asked myself a lot of about Sims 2 Strangetown consoles and pc timeline for the past few years whether they related or not and here's the thing , i think some are supposed to be a continuation ( with a few modified scenarios , like someone having a dream of something that really happened but with exagerated details ) and some have some pieces of the main story but are on a completly parallele sims world.

Strangetown Windows : Of course it's where's placed the main and debut story of Strangetown, Bella is supposed to be placed there but is still unfound, the Olive Specter is still alive and as messy as she can be while her niece is in her late teens and about to be a young adult , the rest if you're ts2 player yk lol

2. Strangetown PSP : I think this when things starts to get a lil spicy because i think the story happens between at least a year or two or a few years after the main pc story, i think it's a form of story progression of it, Olive Specter finally died ( i mean not like it's a victory or anything lol ) , Ophelia choosed to stay in her place and take care of the cemetary and her church (which is where the issue is Olive never owned a church in the pc version however these to me are still related) Bella was finally found (by your character) and is waiting to get back home , The Beaker's kidnapped an other person for their experiment, Nervous accidentally died , Grunt brothers got out of high school , Smith children grew up and more...

The Difference between the pc and psp version is the windows version of Strangetown is less extravagent than it's console version, since the it's maybe based on making families and not mainly finding clues in the existent families story , so i think a lot of element like special lots that you can find on psp are also placed in the "real" Strangetown but are located on the other side of Strangetown that you do not see in the pc game.

Which is one of my many theories the strangetown we have in our pc game is in reality way bigger than we think but the other locations are placed in the console versions of Strangetown, some elements like Olive's Church and the Beaker's new house to me aren't part of the real story, i think the Beaker's are still on their main houses but since psp engine is very restricted they had to recreate a whole new houses and Olive's church is just a bonus element they added to make the story more interesting (to me).

I think that psp version is also like a expanded view of the pc version when it comes to hidden families like the Dante-Calonzo family, Rossum and Blanco-Florica family.

And also since i believe they're related even tho some details doesn't add up, psp version is the fate of Nervous Subject, i think Nervous Subject was or maybe not supposed to die anyway and the psp version shows us his ending and that's prob why you don't see him in other small ports because i think he is also dead in these versions as well.

Sorry in advance if this might seem like a non-sense theory lmao , but if you get it or not thx for trying lmao <3

(Part II) soon ^^

[pleasantviewrainfall111]

Did I go absolutely overboard here? Yes. This was meant to be a tiny little thing where Harley asks her not-quite-boyfriend to hook Hannah and the man of her dreams up but it somehow turned into...this. Oh well! Have some Harley backstory - the only bit you're likely to get, lol - while I prepare the next part. (Which will most likely be much less dialogue and more silent story telling because typesetting is driving me up a wall, haha.) (Previous/Next)

Transkript:

Harley: …so, can you please help me out here? Just once?

Yuki: But she said she didn’t-

Harley: I know what she said, but she probably thought I’d rock up to you at school and tell him to go on a date with her so she can stop creeping on him. Hannah doesn’t know that you and I are…

Yuki: Fucking?

Harley: *chokes on air and starts coughing*

Yuki: Holy shit, are you okay?

Harley: *still coughing* Yeah, I’m fine, I’m okay, I just didn’t expect… you to put it like that.

Yuki: No? How am I supposed to put it, then? I’m always open for suggestions.

Harley: No, yeah, fucking is fine, it’s-

Ms. Smith: Harley, honey!? Are you alright, that was quite the cough?

Yuki: Shit.

Harley: Shit, yeah! Yeah, auntie, I’m fine! I drank some water and it went down the wrong pipe, I’m alright!

Ms. Smith: Ouff, yeah, I can hear that. Your voice sounds rough, honey. Want me to rub your back for a minute? maybe that’ll help?

Harley: No! I’m fine, I’m changing, please don’t come in!

Ms. Smith: Alright, alright, I won’t! Do you need something from the Konbini then, I still need to get cat food for Shishamo and Saba.

Harley: Nope, I’m good, thank you!

Yuki and Harley wait for a moment, until her aunts’ steps turn silent.

Harley: Holy fuck, that was close.

Yuki: It’d be much easier if we told her I’m here.

Harley: Sure, that’s a sound plan. Will you help me back my bags straight after? Because she’ll ship me straight back to my parents’ place if she knew.

Yuki: And would that be so bad? You’re close to them, aren’t you?

Harley: Well, duh. My parents are great. Strangetown, though? Not so much.

Yuki: Why, what’s wrong with it?

Harley: It’s literally called Strangetown, Yuki.

Yuki: Could be worse, if that is all that’s wrong with it.

Harley: It’s…*sighs* It’s this shitty town in the middle of the desert of buttfuck nowhere. And no one stays, unless they’re super weird.

Yuki: I’ve never been to a desert. What’s it like…?

Harley: Hot. Dry. Dusty. Desolate.

Yuki: Ah, so that’s where your attitude comes from.

Harley: Hardy-Har-Har. Very funny.

Yuki: Here to entertain. So, you don’t want to go back because you don’t like the desert?

Harley: I…no. I mean, yes, but also no. I don’t want to go back because…I guess I don’t like living with my parents.

Yuki: I thought your parents are great?

Harley: They are. I love my parents, I do, but I don’t like living with them. Does that make sense?

Yuki: I don’t know, tell me more.

Harley: It’s just…my dad and gran live in this tiny arse single wide where I barely have space to breathe and my mum runs the hotel, which means I may have a lot of space but it never really feels like…like a home.

Yuki: That I can understand. My home doesn’t feel like one either. But my parents aren’t great either.

Harley: No? Why not?

Yuki: That’s a really long story, Buta.

Harley waits for more, but nothing follows.

Harley: No, come on. You can’t make me spill my heart and then not retaliate, that’s against the code of heart to hearts, man.

Yuki: It’s not my fault you’re easy to spill.

Harley: Are you kidding? Not even Hannah knows most of what I just told you.

Yuki: Maybe she should learn to stare less and listen more, then.

Harley: She doesn’t stare.

Yuki: She stares all the time. Gédéon and Trevor may not notice, but I do.

Harley: Shut up, seriously. Hannah is great. A little obsessed with Gédéon but great nonetheless. Which actually brings me back…

Yuki: *sighs* Fine, I’ll help.

[sandysmith-starsblog]

Dear diary,

It's nice to meet you. I'm Sandy. Sandy Smith. No, that's not my real name, don't be mean now.

I think you're wondering why you're not pen and paper, but you already know, don't you? I can encrypt my computer, but I can't encrypt paper, now can I?

Plus, if strangers online find you, it won't be a HUGE deal. But if someone close were to find you...

Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Okay, so my name is Sandy. I come from not so far away, but not exactly Earth. I landed in a place called Strangetown. There, a good friend told me to go to Pleasantview, so this is where I live. Me and my cat Goofy.

Here we are. You can't really see him, huh? I need to get a better picture of him. He's the best kitty in the world. A small furry genius. He even has a job, can you believe that??

Anyway, me and Goofy live in Pleasantview. I just got a job as a Record Store Clerk. I hope someday this place will sell my music. Isn't that all that matters in life? The love of your cat, good music and fun and... Oh, of course, friends!

This is me and my friend Brandi. We're blowing bubbles. Stars know she needs a distraction. Poor girl has it rough. I wonder if I can help her somehow, without offending. I'm still getting a hang of correct and courteous human interactions...

Like the other night, I went out, right? Well, I thought it would be funny to zap someone. On my planet, we find it hilarious. For some of us, it's how you say hello.

See? I was having fun, but he wasn't. Poked me after and called me names. Made me cry. So I went for a drink. There was an old lady at the counter and I thought to myself: "Oh, goodie, A FRIEND!". NOOOOOOOPE.

She continued to tell me off over and over again...

Oh, I gotta go. Brandi is coming over for a girl's night. Talk to you later.

Love,

Sandy

[soooliviane]

My theory about Bella Goth's disappearance

Oh hell no, I can't see my wife while my eyes are closed…

Recently, I thought about numerous theories about why Bella Goth disappeared of Strangetown, and I actually have my own, let me tell ya.

First, i found 2 pretty famous theories:

- Bella Goth was abducted by aliens, under the order of the Caliente sisters and Don Lothario, was released in Strangetown, ran away to Lunar Lakes (Sims 3), had a girl there and died of old age.

- @alexplayssimsnstuff's post, here's the link

According to me, there are truths and wrongs in both theories. Let me start to explain.

About Morty and Bella

APS said that things were not going well between Mortimer and Bella because she was unfaithful (romance asp), because they can't belong together if we try to get Bella back, and because he quickly started to date Dina Caliente. Another thing, in the PSP game, Bella tells us that she married Morty only for his money and she stayed for free television (i don't know how to traduce that, in french we say "câble gratuit", she can watch premium channels on TV, for free).

I don't think so.

First, if she was unfaithful, Morty would have memories about it. If they were separated, Cassandra would remember this. I think Bella's romance aspiration should be interpreted as she is not interested in seduction but she loves her husband (look, she refused Don Lothario !)

About the whole "fighting" thing between them, I could have an explanation. I was inspired by the Deathly Hallows in HP, and particularly by the resurrection stone. The story says that when the sorcerer used the stone to bring back his loved one, she was there but distant, cold, because even if she was materially there, she wasn't belonging to the living ones' world. I think this could be the same for Bella. She is there, but her relationship with Morty is not anymore, and she can't rebound because she is not totally alive. The tombstone of L&D isn't a conventional way to resurrect sims. As you could read, I mean that Bella is dead.

Rare picture of Bella enjoying her "câble gratuit".

What about the "I married Morty for money and TV" thing ? Well, I can't believe that it's true. Remember that they were really friends since they were kiddos, they had so much in common like being paranormal lovers or their Hot Topic vibes. Let's look at the context of the revelation, she is horrified, she wants desperately to leave the city. She is even ready to give you a whole house for a few bucks ! Guys, she's not in her right mind, and I think we all would be like this if we were abducted by aliens, released in an unknown place where there are ghosts, monsters, zombies, a neighbour who kills her husband without being bothered and this freaking cop who eats trashy donuts.

So what about Nina, Dina and Don ?

Ding dong, here come the taxes !

The story of Dina and Nina calling their alien mates to get rid of Bella so Dina can seduce Morty and take all his money is extremely known by Sims 2 players. Buuut, there's something wrong in this theory. Yes, Dina and Nina are 25% aliens since their dad is born from an alien abduction. But the dad is actually more human than alien, and since he never met aliens again, how the girls are supposed to contact aliens ? Moreover, why would aliens keep contact with like ALL OF THEIR HYBRID BABIES ? Of course Dina is a fortune asp girlie but I don't think she could plot a way to get rid of Bella. Nah, I think it's just a matter of life in which Dina saw a good opportunity to earn more money (I don't think also that she killed Michael Bachelor, even if she cheated on him with Don, she was in love with him). My theory about that is that she was stucked with a lot of debts, and right after she heard about Bella's disappearance (according to me, this would not take long, even if Bella's brother is dead, she still is the only relative alive for the Goth family), she moved in Pleasantview, like a nasty parasite attracted by the smell of fresh flesh… 😈

POV : You're Don Lothario and you kinda miss your maid's work

What about Donnie, uh ? Well, let's take a look at his situation. Don work in medecine career as an intern (pray for every poor girl this gross man was "treating"…), so he makes almost 600§ a day. He is NOT poor at all. And since he doesn't aspire to money but romance, why would he marry a rich girl just for the money and make more difficult for himself to hook up around ? Being engaged to Cassie is literally a bad memory !! So why did he proposed ? Well, you can see that dear Donnie and Cassie haven't ever "played doctors", surely because Cassie wants to wait for after marriage, and Don is bitchy enough to marry Sandra, or just engage, just to put her in his hunting table.

Soo, what i'm tryna say is that Dina and Don (yep, because Nina has nothing to gain from this so i don't think she's involved), at the beginning, didn't have any intention of hurting Bella. But, now that they are into their own plans, Bella reappearing would be catastrophic for them. Not only because she would return to her place in her household and in Morty's heart, but also because she could ruin Don's relationship with Cassie with these few words : "He tried to F me first". In conclusion, if Bella returned to Pleasantview, Donnie and Dina would seriously have to get rid of her immediately.

If the guilty isn't Morty, Don or Dina, who abducted Bella ??

Easy question, I'll give an answer very quickly : Aliens

Aah, the sweet taste of deception, but wait, the tea is boiling.

But let's take things as they are. Bella was fascinated by paranormal since her childhood. And fun fact, with Sims 3 Generation, if we try to ask her to go to prom with her, she can refuse, saying that aliens may abduct her.

Bella is a very gorgeous, smart and charismatic woman, it's totally understandable that aliens would want to abduct her and mix their genes with her perfect ones. If I was an alien I would totally want to abduct her (yep, she was one of my first lesbian character crush, who else ??). So, that night Bella disappeared, she was just looking at the stars with Don's telescope and *BAMF* alien abduction, babe ✨

If she was simply abducted by aliens, why she can't go back? Why she is in Strangetown? Why the hell did you say that she's dead ?

Well, you know that there are actually two Bella Goth. One from Pleasantview that is missing. AND one in Strangetown, as a townie, and quite different than the first one.

Indeed, this one has no memories, a different face AND a mess around her name.

If in the original version and a lot of traductions, Pleasantview Bella and Strangetown Bella both share the same name, there are 3 versions where her identity is changed.

- In French, where Pleasantview Bella Goth is "Sonia Gothik", Strangetown Bella Goth is named "Kathy Lalouche" (French version of Kitty Curious, the mother of Pascal, Vidcund and Lazlo). Same thing in Thaï.

- In simplified Chinese, they kept Pleasantview Bella's first name for Strangetown Bella's but changed her last name for the Curious equivalent. Lot of simmers say that it's a mistake made by traducers. But with the same Curious family? And when we are checking ST Bella's datas, we can see that she recognises Vidcund as her sibling, and Jill and John Smith (Jenny Curious/Smith's kids) as her nephews. Vidcund and Jenny also consider her as a sibling. So now you can understand that this name thing is not a random fact. And this plus physical differences, we can conclude that these women are not the same.

What happened to Bella?

Since we can meet real Bella in Strangetown on PSP, we can assume that she ACTUALLY WAS in Strangetown. But what we forgot is that she is alone, no Curious family around her, and more important : she wants to leave the town.

I think that's the last time we have news about her.

Yep, in Sims 3 Ambitions' time travel machine, we can learn that Bella Goth became an alien queen in the future. But sorry not sorry, that's not our Bella. Why would she become a queen of people that traumatized her?

We also learn in Sims 3 world Lunar Lakes that she died there of old age. But it doesn't make sense for two reasons:

- I think that Lunar Lakes is like a very far future. Yep, she could have drank youth serum AGAIN, but where would she find this in freaking Strangetown desert, far from her scientist husband ?

- Why THE HELL would she travel to the FREAKING MOON, when she could just go back to her family and live a kind of normal life far from paranormal and alien things. Little reminder, Strangetown is on Earth, since as a player, we can go into and out of this city, Bella could totally take a bus, or ask tourists to transport her back to "civilization".

SO, FINALLY, HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED TO BELLA AFTER HER ABDUCTION.

Two Bella were released in Strangetown. One is our Bella. She immediately left the Curious' spaceship area, found an abandoned house where to live and lived on the money she had in her pockets (I refuse to assume that a rich lady like her doesn't go out of her house without cash or credit card, idk) and maybe work. But quickly, she found out about Strangetown's weird things and ran away. She met our character at Mambo Loa's Market, sold us her house for all of our money and left, using the money to buy a ticket bus or just ask gently to kind tourists. After a loooong journey, she finally came back to Pleasantview, all happy with the idea of seeing her husband and her children back aaand met Dina and Don, who got rid of her immediately. That's how she died. And since she died in secret, Grim Reaper can't resurrect her, and when we try to invoke her by Tombstone of L&D, she acts so weirdly. Here is the tragic end of Bella Goth.

And what about "Bella Curious" ? Well, she is a clone of Bella Goth, made by aliens and released in Curious' house/spaceship area. Because they are kinda friends with aliens. They "raised" her and treated her like family, in a alien lover's environment.

But why would aliens do that ?

There is this theory that I love very much from Gonz, I'm sharing his Tik Tok down this paragraph. But it basically says that Sims games take place at different periods of time, on a same timeline (Sims 4 doesn't count, EA ruined everything 🤢), and this timeline lands on a tragic end : a doomed future, where aliens have invaded Earth.

But with this theory on mind, don't you wonder how they took power on Earth?

And don't you wonder how "Bella Goth" became Queen of Aliens ?

What if "Bella Curious" had a task on earth, being a kind of a spy for aliens. And since she is beautiful, charismatic and very intelligent, people would just bend the knee in front of her (Actually I, would bend the knee for her…) She filled her mission successfully, and since alien people owe this extraordinary human clone everything, they made her their queen. And, why not, took her to the Moon where she could live her old days peacefully and die of old age.

[theplumbobguide]

The Rules of Rotations

"rules are good! rules ~control~ the fun!" - monica geller

You've been on the sims forums, or watching sims videos for a long time. Maybe you've heard of this already, maybe you're already implementing rotational gameplay in your own sims game (sims 2 or otherwise). Just in case you haven't, though, or in case you're interested on how I play - or are just overall looking for ideas - here is a brief description and then a set of rules I follow: Rotational Gameplay Description: Easily and more concisely described, rotational gameplay is when you play various families in some type of order with a specific amount of days. Fun fact: all of the sims 2 'hoods are actually meant to be played in a rotation. This is notably present because of the scripted events that all the families have when you load in. Interestingly, though, while I've heard a lot of people say that you need to specifically play in the Prima Guide order - you don't. I've seen simmers play the scripted events “out of order" and they work just fine. However, depending on which order you play it in you may lose some of the scripted events. For example, if you start with the Goth Family in Pleasantview you will get the scripted events and all can go well... or not... depending on what you do/how you want to play it, but you completely lose Don Lotharios scripted events. If you play with the Caliente sisters first, you won't have Mortimer (and maybe Alexander) in the Goth mansion when you load in to do Cassandra's wedding and need to invite them to attend. There's a lot of little things like that with the scripted events, so while you don't need to play in the Prima Guide order, it is pretty useful if you want to enjoy some of the originally intended drama. Rotational Gameplay Rules: I have a lot of rules and need to break down said rules into sections, so buckle your seatbelts kids, we're in for a long ride. (why am I like this?)

'Hood Rotation Rules: 'Hoods are the starter area of all sim families. This is where you first load up (provided you haven't downloaded a subhood and are loading into that first, obviously). Whether you've loaded into an original pre-made hood, a custom hood, or are creating your own, all of these rules could apply. Rule #1. "How long are we going to stay here, mom?" Well, that depends. This little portion of the rules varies amongst simmers. My typical style is maxis' season length (5 days, baby). For me, this not only allows the most amount of days to progress my sims and their stories but also allows me to get the most enjoyment out of my game. Not to mention, it's very easy to pass over my sims and I know where I'm at just by the seasons. Yes, you can also make an excel sheet, but for those of us peasants without a dual monitor (me), going back and forth is a pain and it just makes it a chore. Following the seasons is a tad difficult when you play like me in a desert 'hood and have fixed the seasons so that you don't get winters, and instead have 2 back to back summers. I either do check my spreadsheet, or really simply go into my families in order and find which sim family is in an earlier season than the rest. Which leads me to...

Rule #2. Where do we start? Where do we end? Now that you know what rotational gameplay is, and you also know how long you want to play for, here comes the main and probably most important question. Who do you play with first? As I mentioned above, when playing with the premade original Sims 2 'hoods, we do have a Prima Guide to guide (hehe) us on whom we might play first. In the three original 'hoods the standard is: - Pleasantview: Don Lothario - Strangetown: Curious Brothers - Veronavillie: The Capps But what if you have your own 'hood? For me, that leads into a whole other upcoming blog post, but without stealing from my future self: Your first family (yep, that big of a no-brainer). Choose or make your own family, either from the bin or create a sim, and make them your first sim family in your rotational gameplay. I play without using too many of my precious brain cells and essentially play in the order of who moved into the hood, first to last. However, there is, of course, a loophole in this rule (of course there is): Sims who moved out of a household get played after their original household. Let me give you an example to really make it clear: Nina Caliente wants to move out as soon as Dina and Mortimer get married (fair, I wouldn't want to third wheel my sister's marriage either). In my rotational rules Nina's household would now be played after Dina. Changing the rotation from: Lothario, Goth, Caliente, Broke... it would be Lothario, Goth, Caliente-Goth, Caliente, Broke... This specific rule works the whole way around for me. If your sims teen moves off to University, when they come back they are played after their original family (unless they move back in with the parents).

Rule #3. Pay day, tax day, and the great beyond. Now there are A LOT of ways to do this, and there are a lot of simmers who have made various tax systems and mods to implement this. So before I get into anything, here is a list of some of my favourite tax systems: - Pleasantsims Tax System classic - PhDSimmer Tax System - Delijume-Sims Tax System - Sims 2 Idea's Tax Calculator - Monquie's Automatic Payment Mod This isn't even an extensive list. There are SO many tax systems that you can follow or pull from that at this point it almost feels redundant to make one of my own. So I'm not. I use the Pleasantsims Tax System, but I've also been known to sometimes try other things out (hence the above list). Find what you like, do a google search if none of these tickle you, or create your own. Because I do follow a modless version, I also need to have a system on *when* I do my taxes, and what happens to my poor dear old sims who "forgot" to do their taxes on time (it happens). - Every 2nd day of all seasons is tax day. Yes, even if it's the weekend. It makes more sense to me this way because I cannot load in on day one and just go straight to taxes. - On day 3, if you haven't paid your taxes yet (silly goose), you now owe 5% of the unpaid tax + 1% of the unpaid tax every day that you're late. Yes, that means that if you owed $100 in tax and forgot you now owe $160 on day 3, $170 on day 4 and so on. - If you’ve missed 2 rounds of taxes you are now charged with ~tax evasion~ 200% of your overall taxes are now owed and you get to go to jail for a full sim season (how fun!). Going back to the example of owing $100 in taxes: by day 5 you owe $180, by day 1 of the new season you owe $190, the new tax season asks, let’s say another $100 (for simplicity purposes) and the red flags are up. If by the next tax day you haven’t paid you now owe $380+$760=$1,140 and a whole sim season in jail (yikes). I enjoy adding a jail so that I can enjoy some realism and a little bit of fun, while teaching my sims that there are consequences to their actions. Not to mention, there is a lot of drama that can happen because your sim is in jail. I won’t go in too deeply here, because that is for another blog post. All in all, this is an easy way to make sure that sims don’t get too rich and add the possibility of some great storytelling. Imagine sending your Business Tycoon sim to jail because they were evading taxes? I wonder what would happen with their gold digger wife… (cue evil laughter)

 Rule #4. To go on vacation, or not to go on vacation, that is the question. I love going on vacations with my sim families. You know what I don’t like, though? I don’t like the fact that time freezes while on vacation (what is even the point of vacation days if that happens anyway?). So with the use of this incredibly useful mod I no longer have to deal with that insanity. - Simwardrobe's Season and Weather Controller : download here This handy-dandy little mod is INTEGRAL for the way I play because all my sims need to be on the same seasons for the rotations to work properly. Not only does this allow me to change the season for moved-in sims to be on the right timeline, but in this case of use, it allows me to choose how many days have passed in-game. Let’s say that you left on day 2 of spring and are “gone” on vacation for 3 days, this means that you’re back home on your last day of rotation (day 5). The in-game mechanics just make it later in the day, but realistically you were gone for a lot longer than just a couple hours. With the use of Simwardrobe’s mod, I can just set the day in the season to day 5. (While writing this I cannot remember if for the life of me if this will automatically age your sims the 3 days they’re missing, but if not, you can use this mod: SimBlender) *This is also an incredibly useful mod for storytelling amongst other things. There is not a family in my game that does not own this thing. I use it to change aspirations, hobbies, age, etc. I don’t think I could create a lot of the stories I do without it. Now, this of course does not subtract your vacation days or anything like that, but it’s all good. Use those vacation days when they’re elders or if they’re actually sick. Regardless, you no longer have to play your sim for an extra 3+ days because you sent them on vacation. Now, vacationing is part of your rotation! Also, worry not! If you decide to go on a longer vacation than 3 days and it bleeds into the next season, both of those mods have your back and you can calculate where they are supposed to be when you arrive home. Then you can just move on with the rotations and come back to them where they are.

Rule #5. “Well, we're here... now what?” “Party.” Okay, you've got your families, you're staying for the season, taxes are being calculated, you start to play and... what? This is where my rules get a little more niched than some of the other rules you may or may not find all over the sims corner of the internet. To be infinitely clear, while I am writing this I don't believe I was the first to implement ALL these rules and I don't think I am the first to even make them up. Because I play a full rotation with seasons, I like to add a little je-ne-sais-quoi. I actually do know what (yes, I speak French), I play with Holidays. Holidays are truly what make the seasons go-round, and offer you the option to have more parties and get-togethers and not get stuck in the mundane day-to-day simulation that is your sims life (...or yours?). What are the Holidays I play with? - Spring Day 2: Love Day - Summer Day 2: Will Wright Day - Autumn Day 4: Halloween - Winter Day 3: Winterfest - Winter Day 4: New Years Now, I will be real with you, I don't *always* do *every* holiday with all my families. Not only would that get repetitive but also intensely boring. Also, not all sims celebrate all the things. Instead, I like to have certain families do certain parties. For example, I have a family where one of the sims is the mayor of the town and in my mind he hosts THE Winterfest bash. That's the one you desperately want to be invited to. They go BIG. I have another family who's friends with most people in the town, and they love to throw a great BBQ party on Will Wright Day. On the other hand, I love to make my sims go out for Love Day because unless my sims roll the want for a date... I sometimes forget to send them on one (wups). This is a great way to ensure some fun and a little bit of stability in your rotational gameplay. You might forget to do it one season, you might be like me and decide which sims host or celebrate what. You may even want to add more events! Either way, implementing your own holiday system is always a good time if you ask me. Plus, as per the last blog post, what a fun way to maybe cause chaos. Oh no... you took your side piece out for valentines and not your spouse... big yikes.. Alright, it’s time for our next set of rules etc guys. Welcome to…

University Rotation Rules: Rule #1. “What else am I supposed to do? Stay here and learn?” - E.L ‘Road Trip’ Yes. You’ve arrived at university. It’s time to learn… hopefully. Now, what if you have multiple sims going to university, and you don’t want to play with too many sims in one place? Easy, you place them in different housing and you play with them, say it with me, ~rotationally~! 

Exciting, right? You may be wondering how to play rotationally in university in a fun, yet unified way, that makes it more fun. I like to play with each family per-term. That means I complete term 1 of Freshman year, move onto the next family and so on until I am back to the first family and officially on term 2 for the whole gang. The reason I do this is two fold: 1. You have an ample amount of time per-term to achieve your sim wants, maybe do well in school, and create some drama.  2. This creates an official rotation for when they move into town.

I write it this way because some of you are like me, and when creating a new ‘hood you start off with your first ever created sim in University. Maybe you even create multiple families, or decide to play with some of the friends your sim made. Or you’re on the second generation and you have multiple sims going to university at the same time.

If you have multiple sims from a generation moving in, but they are not the same age in your mind, maybe you play with the ageing system of 1 day = 1 year (which makes sense) you may want your sims to stay in that ageing order. (This is where things get complicated, but I’m going to fully break it down for you, so continue reading on.)

If a sim is meant to move to University a year after another sim, you move them in once said original sim has completed Freshman year. (easy, right?). When they move into the ‘hood once completed university, you play them with -1 day in the season. This means you use that handy mod I linked above, and when you move the latter sim in you set the season to day 2 right away (tax day! lucky them).

Hopefully that makes sense to you, because here comes the part that may or may not throw you off a bit: The Sims 2 University is split into 4 “years” which can look like 4 days - unless you play per-term like I do which could instead look like 8 days… but that is an awkward and long amount of time for your sims to be away. So I meet myself in the middle. In my sims world sims are gone for university for 1 full rotation (5 sim days). Yes, *technically* the way I play, all sims are gone to university for 4 days, which would mean that they should come back 4 days after they left, but that is a lot of things to remember and I cannot. So instead of breaking my head whenever I send a sim off to university, I finish up whatever days are left in the household and finish their rotation before moving on. From there, my sims are gone for 1 full rotation. That means if my sim leaves home in Spring, they’re gone for the Summer and back for Autumn. It seems like a while, and I can imagine for really strict age-based players that can seem very wrong, but for my brain it’s the easiest way. Not to mention, I often use the elixir of life and/or age sims down or up via the Simblender (what can I say, I love making the game work for me).

Of course, make the game work for you, and if you like doing the maths and work on an age-based gameplay style: just do the 4 day university rotation rules. I suggest if you do this, though, you have a really detailed spreadsheet. If you’re like me, though, 1 rotation is plenty and you need not to worry about all that. 

Rule #2. Loans & Lies told to you. I know a lot of simmers who like to use loans and make university actually cost you money. I, however, believe in a world where higher education (like a bachelors degree) should be free. I’m not going to lie to you, this little section is stale because I don’t have a system in place for paying for books/classes etc. I like to imagine that your “bills” are what you owe to the school for living on campus (which, it is so…). I also do not tax my University sims. Here’s why: I play with the No-20k-Handout mod, and the money my Sims make in university is the money they have to start their life with. It can be hard sometimes… especially considering the fact that Sims that graduate with a 4.0 make a maximum of $9,600. This doesn’t include your bills, clothes or furniture you buy or anything else for that matter. Most of my university sims end up in very unfurnished apartments. Luckily for my sims that have quite established families, I also have: Monique’s Hacked Computer and I will send them a bit of money once they’ve finished university to get them started. One of my sims parents sent her $35k as soon as she finished university.

Rule #3. ‘tis the season to drink a lot of juice I don’t play with the same rules regarding holidays when in University. The chances of your final exam and Winterfest happening at the same time is just too much for me to handle. It’s okay, though, because it birthed some new fun rules for me to share with you. While my sims don’t celebrate anything while in university, it tends to be because I enjoy feeling like everything is unified. How? Whatever seasonal rotation they’re on is the season they’re stuck in throughout their time in university. Yep, that is 8 full days of Summer or any other season for that matter. I will say, when the rotation falls in Autumn it’s pretty awesome because they experience faster skill gain during that season. But man, my romance or secondary romance sims THRIVE when it’s Spring because of the extra smooth romance interactions during that season. Now, some of you may love it, some of you may hate it. So here are some other ways you can have fun with it: - Everlasting Autumn: for those of you who like a smoother ride with skill gain during your university gameplay. I do, however, want to mention that sims with gold and above aspirations really do thrive with the wonderful Thinking Cap that you can purchase with your aspiration points. Knowledge sims with the Eureka! Aspiration trait, the Thinking Cap, and Autumn season gain skills like it’s nobody's business and it’s awesome, but also can be a little boring because of just how easy it can be. - Using either our wonderful weather mod via Simwardrobe (linked above) you can adjust how long a season is and make it last for each individual “year” is a valid option. Or you can use the in-game mechanics of choosing the seasons in the neighbourhood setting (which can be different from sub-hood to sub-hood). Doing it the latter way, I would make every season 1 season until Freshman year is over, then change it when sims go into their Sophomore year. Because I play like they’re gone for a season, I like to play with an everlasting season based on when I’ve sent them. To me, this makes it feel more complete. Like I really did play them during their summer season and not like they skipped one altogether. Of course, though, to completely discount my first paragraph - you could always play with one of the Holidays (or all of them, I won’t judge you) during your university gameplay. For example, keeping in the tone of you sent your sim to university for the summer: Sophomore year would be when I would consider doing a Will Wright Day party. The Greek house is going to love that idea. 

Rule #4. Bring him to the Greek-house I have a pretty heavy handed rule for greek-houses specifically made for the ‘hoods that I have created myself. No one can join a greek house until they are a third generation university sim from parents and grandparents who were in the secret society (ouf).

Yep, I think that far ahead. While greek houses in the sims can be created by anyone, I like to add this rule because they can be a bit of a pain and I like to create a greek house that is picky about who gets to join. I also get a little cheat-y at this point, but I’m ahead of myself.  Here’s the breakdown: - Gen 1 sim(s) need to be inducted in the secret society. That means they *need* to meet and befriend 3 secret society members. - Gen 2, all the same. Make friends with the sims wearing the black blazer. - Gen 3. You are a third generation sim and therefore an immediate secret society member. How do you do it?: in the neighbourhood view type in “boolprop testingcheatsenabled true”. Go into your 3rd Gen family and shift click your sim. From there, an option menu will come up, find and click on “Add to Secret Society” and tada, you’re in. I suggest, if you’re alone in the university or the only sim who gets this option, befriending some of the members and then creating your greek house. From there, add your secret society friends to the house.

It can be interesting and a little complicated when let’s say that you have 2nd Gen siblings that go to university and one gets in and the other does not, because that means the children from the sim that was a member gets to have a greek house (if they want it), and the children from the sim that was not a member has to work on being friends with secret society members if they want to get into the greek house. My fun little loophole works like this: if you’re cousins with a greek house member, you just have to be friends with them and the other members of the greek house to be invited in. At that point you have a family member vouching for you, and the rest of the greek house has agreed that you have enough status to get in, despite the fact that your parent wasn’t a member. This, of course, only matters if said sims even want to be a part of a greek house.

Regardless, the rule is: both a grandparent and parent need to be secret society members to get you to be an immediate member, and only an immediate member can start a greek house. To join, you must become a secret society member by befriending everyone from the greek house (which you pretty much need to do anyway to apply, so really I’m helping you get in right away). Finally, let’s say this next sim is Gen 4: Gen 1 was a SS member, Gen 2 was a SS member, Gen 3 wanted to join a greek house and therefore created one by being an immediate member, and Gen 4 is an immediate SS member and placed in the greek house asap. *to keep the greek house going, keep a placeholder sim in the greek house. At this point, it should be easy because there are probably sims going to university at different times. (Remember to send off sims in different years to keep the space, for example, your sibling may be 4 days younger, and therefore start university during the older siblings Senior year!) If we are going with the cousin scenario, their children can join the greek house right away and become immediate SS members (again, only if they want to) because their parent was in the greek house and therefore would give them the opportunity to join based on family status.

I also want to make a point and say that while my sims who aren’t SS members do sometimes end up successful sims, I like to think that being a SS member gives you a leg-up after university (networking with nepo babies who?). Which makes me almost ensure in my gameplay that the sims who are SS members and/or greek house participants lead quite successful and lavish lifestyles. This means kids are sent to private school (which costs money, thank you Monique's hacked computer) and live the life I imagine all those kids from ‘Gilmore Girls’ Life and Death Brigade got to.

** last little note: when I play with the premade hoods a lot of this section pretty much flies out the door. As there are pe-made universities that go with those hoods there are also pre-made greek houses who are not SS members. You can go ahead and change that and keep these rules if that gives you joy, or you can be like me and throw it all away. In the Pleasantview-Sim State University land I like to add sims where they want to as they want to. My Angela Pleasant wanted to be a greek house member and so she joined the sorority with only the in-game mechanic rules around that. The Sims is, as always, your game. Play it how it feels best for you.

Wow, okay. That was a lot of information to leave you here with. So, feel free to comment if you have any questions, I’d be happy to clear things up in the comment section and edit this post if something felt unclear. I hope you all enjoyed this post and at least found a little something in here to help you with your gameplay. Take care, and I will be back with another post sometime soon. meaghanplumbob xox