richmondsims

[richmondsims]

So, I know I said I was going to start posting again, and I know that hasn't happened. A lot of other things have happened, though.

For the last five years I've been living in a townhouse apartment that I love. It has a little garden that I've developed, lots of storage, and more space than you'd usually get for the rent I'm paying. Its also very close to the beach. It's perfect for me.

A little while ago I got a letter from my landlord to say he was selling. I need to move out. This is one of the things I've dreaded the most might happen. I seriously looked at buying it myself, but that's a no-go. So, I've been house-hunting, which isn't easy when your household includes two cats and a small bird aviary.

The good news is I've now found a place - another townhouse, its a little smaller, it has way less storage, but it also has a private garden (big on my list of priorities) and its closer to the city which is a plus. The landlord didn't seem fazed by my small zoo. He lives in the same block of houses himself.

The bad news is that I have to seriously declutter and downsize, and I take over the place in mid-January. I also have to take cuttings from as much of my garden as I can, and to transplant my roses into pots in high summer hopefully without killing them. And in the middle I've got the holidays and a trip to visit family that was planned well before all this happened.

So I'm in panic mode and there's not going to be a lot of writing or posting going on between now and the end of next month. Just wanted to put this out there because my game and my story are in no way abandoned, I just wish moving houses was as easy as it is in the game!

[richmondsims]

Georgia is also in her third year of college, studying health sciences. Next year, she'll graduate and move on to med school. She's always wanted to be a doctor and help people but now its getting closer, she'd finding the whole ideal more than a little frightening.

Part of the problem is that she's still very shy - so much so that she only had her first real romantic relationship in the past year. 

She and Derrick are still dating off and on, but it's not really the great romance she was hoping for. If she were completely honest, she'd have to admit that she often has more fun just exploring the city alone.

That doesn't mean she doesn't want a relationship, though - she'd love to have someone in her life who cared for her the way Thomas and Garrett care for Melissa and Hope.

She's drawn to dating apps and the chance to chat with someone online and get to know them before they actually meet, but she just isn't sure how to get started.

She's also a bit frightened of the idea of Garrett moving out with Hope. It'll be the first time in her whole life that she hasn't lived with her twin. Hope has been her friend since high school, too. And on top of that, she knows Thomas is trying to talk Melissa into moving out too, so there's a chance that her other best friend will also move on.

Part of her wants to just give up the whole idea of college and med school and dating and everything, and just go back to working in Kyle's book shop and spending her spare time reading and knitting like she used to. 

Would Kyle take her back? Would she be able to board with him and Willow again? No, his nephew's family were living there now. Maybe she could live with one of her older siblings and look after their house and kids. Unmarried sisters used to do that a couple of hundred years ago. It could still work, couldn't it?

[richmondsims]

Like Melissa, Garrett and Hope are in their third year of college. 

Garrett is majoring in sports which is ok for now, but his real interest is in martial arts. There's a lack of martial arts teachers around here, but when he does find one he's sure all this general training will be useful.

Hope is studying communications and wants to be a journalist, ideally something high profile like a TV news show.

The pair have been together since high school and their relationship is still strong. As Thomas mentioned earlier, they're currently looking for an apartment together. They'll both miss living with their dorm-mates but they know that they'll still spend time together here at college every day, just like they do now.

---

Garrett is Garret Newson from the TS2 Newson family. We'll catch up on his twin sister Georgia in the next post.

[richmondsims]

Time had flown by for Thomas, too. Last year, he graduated with a degree in health sciences, and now he was in medical school. 

His biggest wish now was to get out of the dorm. He'd been there four years and he was ready for a bit more space and independence. Hope and Garrett were actively hunting for an apartment for themselves. They could probably all find a place together.

Melissa, unfortunately, didn't agree.

"I like it here," she said. "It's close to everything and its comfortable. In an apartment we'd have to do our own cooking and everything."

"You already do most of the cooking because you want to," Thomas pointed out.

"Well, the cleaning, then..."

"Half the time the housekeeper doesn't turn up so we do it anyway. At least in an apartment we'd know where we were with it."

"It's cheaper here."

"Not by much, especially if we shared a place. We could find something with Hope and Garrett..."

"So move into a different place with the same people we live with here?"

"Well, yes, but - 

"Sorry, but I just don't see any advantage to that."

He'd let it go, or at least, he let Melissa think he had. They would talk about it again later. There were advantages - Thomas could see them. He just had to find a way to make Melissa realise it, too.

---

To join the medical career my sims have to finish two degrees - Physical Education then Science. I figured this was the best way to replicate the length of time it takes to become a doctor irl.

[richmondsims]

This is something that always annoys me - sometimes its really hard to tell which game the CC is for, especially if the pictures have a lot of filters on them. And not everyone tags their CC with the game version.

I've heard people say that if its not labelled, you should just assume its for TS4 since that's the 'current' game. But there are still big creator communities for TS3 and even TS2. And sometimes people from those communities don't label the game version either.

Please, use the banners, use tags, anything, just make it clear which version of the game you are creating for.

Have you ever spotted a pretty cc to download only to know afterwards that it's for another game? In a downloader's POV yeah, it sucks. But as creators, we can avoid such confusion if we label it with the correct game. So here's some banners you can use as supplement image to help downloaders confirm they're getting the cc for the right game. These are actually inspired by these banner images made by @2fingerswhiskey, but put game logos instead for easier identification.

Here's alternate Mediafire links if tumblr somehow degrades image quality:

TS2 banner | TS3 banner | TS4 banner

And a happy boop-filled simblreen to everyone! 👻😼🐾

[richmondsims]

Thomas Beare

Age: YA, born Nov 2009 Traits: Handy/Family Orientated/Good/Coward/Friendly/Athletic LTW: World Renowned Surgeon Education: Public High School. University: Richmond City Tech - Physical Education major, graduated. Currently in medical school (Science and Medicine major) Romantic: Girlfriend Melissa Green Family: Parents Cherry Vijayakar and Kevin Beare; Siblings Autumn, Alana, David; Half-siblings Isaac, Shannon and Graham Beare, Gabriel Vijayakar Significant Friends: Garrett Newson TS2: Asp: Knowledge LTW: Become Chief of Staff

[richmondsims]

Updating some bios...

Melissa Green

Age: YA, born Nov 2009 Traits: Night Owl/Unflirty/Rebellious/Family Orientated/Natural Cook LTW: Farm to Table* Education: Public (ex-private) High School. University: Richmond City Tech - Arts Major Romantic: Boyfriend Thomas Beare Family: Mother Sharla Ruben; biological father David Cadey; legal father Cory Green; Half-siblings Samantha Green, Shane Ruben, Corinne, Noah and Emily Green, and David's children. Significant Friends: Georgia Newson, Hope Kauffmann TS2: Asp: Family LTW: Marry Off Two Children Predestined hobby: Cuisine

*Melissa's LTW from this mod

[richmondsims]

When the time was right and Melissa finally felt ready, Thomas was still patient and gentle.

It wasn't the kind of earth-shattering awesomeness that you read about in books. But it definately wasn't bad, either. More than anything, Melissa was just relieved that Joshua hadn't ruined her quite as much as she thought he had.

Her relationship with Thomas wasn't the only one that had changed over the past few years. Melissa now had...well... an amicable relationship with her mother.

They were never going to be really close. There were things they were never going to talk about, or even acknowledge - but even the superficial relationship they had now was more than either would have thought was possible a few years ago. 

It wouldn't be possible now, had she not had a conversation with Thomas, had Cory not told her his suspicions about Sharla's part in Joshua's arrest. She'd carried all that around for a while, then on impulse, she'd gone to Sharla's apartment with some kind of excuse about an extra Christmas gift for Shane.

It was an awkward start, but it was enough. Some months later, Sharla had returned the visit by turning up unexpectedly at the dorm the week Melissa moved in. She brought with her an expensive coffee machine.

"I can get coffee at the cafe," Melissa pointed out. "And when that's closed, there's a kitchenette just across the hall."

"This is much better coffee," Sharla said. "It comes with a subscription for the coffee capsules. The details are in the box, and some samples. You can pick the ones you like. It might not seem useful now but believe me, there will be times when you appreciate not having to go to the cafe or the kitchen."

So Melissa accepted the machine as a kind of peace offering. It made sense to be on at least speaking terms with her mother, anyway, if she wanted to spend more time with Shane. It had been one thing for Sharla to drop her brother off at Rose and Cory's house, but now Melissa lived in the city too, just a short ride away on the subway. 

Sometimes she would go to the apartment, other times they'd meet at the park. One thing she learned from watching Sharla and Shane was that Sharla really couldn't relate to kids.

Probably, some people were simply never meant to have children - and yet Sharla had ended up with three of them anyway. She'd let Sam's father raise her and she'd failed spectacularly with Melissa, but with Shane she seemed to be at least trying. Melissa had to give her credit for that.

A few months later, she was an attendant at Sharla's wedding.

----

A conversation with Thomas

Cory's suspicions  - also a bit of Melissa's backstory, for anyone who doesn't know it.

Yeah, Sharla remarried... we'll catch up with her (and with her husband, who has already put in a memorable appearance on my blog back in TS2 days) in a future post.

[richmondsims]

The Sims 3 Teen Style Stuff

The Sims 2 Teen Style Stuff converted to The Sims 3! This pack includes 43 items, 7 wallpapers, 4 floors and a collection file with a custom icon. This pack is base game compatible, please let me know if you're having any issues with it.

How to download:

There are 2 versions, please download only one!

Teen Style Stuff-Merged: Merged version.

Teen Style Stuff-Unmerged: Unmerged version, mix and match to your liking.

Download links:

[SFS] | [MTS]

Credits: EA / Maxis for the original meshes and textures. Special thanks: TS3CreatorCave discord server for all the help and tips and @virtual-hugs for testing the wardrobes and vanity table for me ❤ @xto3conversionsfinds @pis3update Polycount and CASTable channels under the cut.

Polycount: Surfer Racka H 1024 / M 716 Anthony Roc Board Hanger H 1119 / M 807 The It Poster H 216 / M 56 Pear ShinyStation XTR H 974 / M 775 Curves Music Manager H 1118 / M 782 EDUKATE Shelf H 1216 / M 910 Pompadour Dresser H 1161 / M 1021 Roll On H 1480 / M 1110 The Television Television H 1430 / M 1132 Light Waves Ceilling Lamp H 1566 / M 1096 Dirty Clothes Pile H 2 Swervy Curvy Desk H 1226 / M 1140 Curves and Swerves End Table H 411 / M 367 Simple Single H 2256 / M 1578 Simple Double H 3054 / M 2110 Fluffy Rocker H 1098 / M 768 Higher Education H 1340 / M 966 Nova Table Lamp H 692 / M 558 Wall Flare Lamp H 518 / M 414 Lumosity Candle Holder H 601 / M 417 Seat of High-Backed Terror H 1412 / M 1059 Four Star Ceilling Lamp H 1532 / M 1232 Tall and Terrible Armoire H 2766 / M 2274 Mirror on the Wall H 884 / M 621 Patchwork Desk H 1460 / M 1460 Patchwork End Table H 1276 / M 892 Side by Side H 4492 / M 3270 Coture Clothing Chest H 3320 / M 2438 Ahead of the Table H 1610 / M 1126 The Better Bookshelf H 1302 / M 946 Cork It Over Memory Board H 144 / M 100 Princess Collection Coat Rack H 1520 / M 1103 Fine Finish Desk H 2264 / M 1848 You're So Vanity H 2073 / M 1451 Subtle Touch End Table H 1392 / M 974 Fit for Royalty H 2904 / M 2134 Fit for Royalty V2 H 2112 / M 1492 You're So Vanity Chair H 664 / M 464 Stay Out! Poster H 10 Hollywood Print H 48 Bullseye Throw Rug H 20 TuneJammy Blammer Boombox H 1450 / M 1014 Create a Collage Poster Set H 4

[richmondsims]

Sim Routine Planner - Release

This took me a lot longer than I expected, but I've finally completed the routine planner mod! Now you can have your sims go to bed at a certain time, plan a workout routine and more! Info and download in the link below 😊

Download (ModTheSims)

Image Previews

[richmondsims]

Time was flying by. Melissa couldn't believe that she was already partway through her third year of college.

It seemed like only a few months ago that she was still in her last year of high school, coming into the city to visit Thomas at the dorm on weekends.

It was almost like the times when they were both in high school and had each told their parents that they were at the other's house, so that they could spend the evening in the city together.

He was still her best friend...

...and so much more now.

If Melissa was to be honest, they'd been more for a long time. She'd been afraid and she'd kept him at arms length for too long. She needn't have worried, though. Thomas understood. He never pressured her.

Sometimes she missed the last train back to Richmond, but there was always someone from the dorm conveniently sleeping somewhere else that night, and they conveniently never minded someone staying over in their room, and Thomas would conveniently have the key.

She had her own room here now. They almost lived together, and still Thomas had never been anything but patient with her.

----

Ok, another post about Melissa - but she really has had more going on for her in the past couple of sim-years than most of the others in my story. We will catch up with the others in her college dorm shortly.

I don't usually post things here before I post them on my blog, but I haven't got the blog post finished yet, and its been so long since I did a story post, I wanted to get something out into the world before this weekend was over!

[richmondsims]

Yeah, I've been AWOL...

R/l stuff happened. Simming didn't happen. I disappeared from here for a while.

I'm back now and looking forward to playing and updating again. I'm going to start by reposting the parts of the college update I was working on, finishing with the final part that never made it here the first time around. Then I'll take it from thare.

Posting might be a bit hit-and-miss for a while - I've used up my buffer of completed posts, and this isn't the only thing I've let slide in the past few weeks and am now catching up on. But hopefully I'll be back in a regular routine before long.

I also have a pile of CC to update or new CC to download, which is awesome to realise given the age of TS3 now. I love how the community around these games keep them alive and fresh.

See you soon!

[richmondsims]

Georgia is also in her third year of college, studying health sciences. Next year, she'll graduate and move on to med school. She's always wanted to be a doctor and help people but now its getting closer, she'd finding the whole ideal more than a little frightening.

Part of the problem is that she's still very shy - so much so that she only had her first real romantic relationship in the past year. 

She and Derrick are still dating off and on, but it's not really the great romance she was hoping for. If she were completely honest, she'd have to admit that she often has more fun just exploring the city alone.

That doesn't mean she doesn't want a relationship, though - she'd love to have someone in her life who cared for her the way Thomas and Garrett care for Melissa and Hope.

She's drawn to dating apps and the chance to chat with someone online and get to know them before they actually meet, but she just isn't sure how to get started.

She's also a bit frightened of the idea of Garrett moving out with Hope. It'll be the first time in her whole life that she hasn't lived with her twin. Hope has been her friend since high school, too. And on top of that, she knows Thomas is trying to talk Melissa into moving out too, so there's a chance that her other best friend will also move on.

Part of her wants to just give up the whole idea of college and med school and dating and everything, and just go back to working in Kyle's book shop and spending her spare time reading and knitting like she used to. 

Would Kyle take her back? Would she be able to board with him and Willow again? No, his nephew's family were living there now. Maybe she could live with one of her older siblings and look after their house and kids. Unmarried sisters used to do that a couple of hundred years ago. It could still work, couldn't it?

[richmondsims]

Like Melissa, Garrett and Hope are in their third year of college. 

Garrett is majoring in sports which is ok for now, but his real interest is in martial arts. There's a lack of martial arts teachers around here, but when he does find one he's sure all this general training will be useful.

Hope is studying communications and wants to be a journalist, ideally something high profile like a TV news show.

The pair have been together since high school and their relationship is still strong. As Thomas mentioned earlier, they're currently looking for an apartment together. They'll both miss living with their dorm-mates but they know that they'll still spend time together here at college every day, just like they do now.

---

Garrett is Garret Newson from the TS2 Newson family. We'll catch up on his twin sister Georgia in the next post.

[richmondsims]

Time had flown by for Thomas, too. Last year, he graduated with a degree in health sciences, and now he was in medical school. 

His biggest wish now was to get out of the dorm. He'd been there four years and he was ready for a bit more space and independence. Hope and Garrett were actively hunting for an apartment for themselves. They could probably all find a place together.

Melissa, unfortunately, didn't agree.

"I like it here," she said. "It's close to everything and its comfortable. In an apartment we'd have to do our own cooking and everything."

"You already do most of the cooking because you want to," Thomas pointed out.

"Well, the cleaning, then..."

"Half the time the housekeeper doesn't turn up so we do it anyway. At least in an apartment we'd know where we were with it."

"It's cheaper here."

"Not by much, especially if we shared a place. We could find something with Hope and Garrett..."

"So move into a different place with the same people we live with here?"

"Well, yes, but - 

"Sorry, but I just don't see any advantage to that."

He'd let it go, or at least, he let Melissa think he had. They would talk about it again later. There were advantages - Thomas could see them. He just had to find a way to make Melissa realise it, too.

---

To join the medical career my sims have to finish two degrees - Physical Education then Science. I figured this was the best way to replicate the length of time it takes to become a doctor irl.

[richmondsims]

When the time was right and Melissa finally felt ready, Thomas was still patient and gentle.

It wasn't the kind of earth-shattering awesomeness that you read about in books. But it definately wasn't bad, either. More than anything, Melissa was just relieved that Joshua hadn't ruined her quite as much as she thought he had.

Her relationship with Thomas wasn't the only one that had changed over the past few years. Melissa now had...well... an amicable relationship with her mother.

They were never going to be really close. There were things they were never going to talk about, or even acknowledge - but even the superficial relationship they had now was more than either would have thought was possible a few years ago. 

It wouldn't be possible now, had she not had a conversation with Thomas, had Cory not told her his suspicions about Sharla's part in Joshua's arrest. She'd carried all that around for a while, then on impulse, she'd gone to Sharla's apartment with some kind of excuse about an extra Christmas gift for Shane.

It was an awkward start, but it was enough. Some months later, Sharla had returned the visit by turning up unexpectedly at the dorm the week Melissa moved in. She brought with her an expensive coffee machine.

"I can get coffee at the cafe," Melissa pointed out. "And when that's closed, there's a kitchenette just across the hall."

"This is much better coffee," Sharla said. "It comes with a subscription for the coffee capsules. The details are in the box, and some samples. You can pick the ones you like. It might not seem useful now but believe me, there will be times when you appreciate not having to go to the cafe or the kitchen."

So Melissa accepted the machine as a kind of peace offering. It made sense to be on at least speaking terms with her mother, anyway, if she wanted to spend more time with Shane. It had been one thing for Sharla to drop her brother off at Rose and Cory's house, but now Melissa lived in the city too, just a short ride away on the subway. 

Sometimes she would go to the apartment, other times they'd meet at the park. One thing she learned from watching Sharla and Shane was that Sharla really couldn't relate to kids.

Probably, some people were simply never meant to have children - and yet Sharla had ended up with three of them anyway. She'd let Sam's father raise her and she'd failed spectacularly with Melissa, but with Shane she seemed to be at least trying. Melissa had to give her credit for that.

A few months later, she was an attendant at Sharla's wedding.

----

A conversation with Thomas

Cory's suspicions  - also a bit of Melissa's backstory, for anyone who doesn't know it.

Yeah, Sharla remarried... we'll catch up with her (and with her husband, who has already put in a memorable appearance on my blog back in TS2 days) in a future post.

[richmondsims]

Time was flying by. Melissa couldn't believe that she was already partway through her third year of college.

It seemed like only a few months ago that she was still in her last year of high school, coming into the city to visit Thomas at the dorm on weekends.

It was almost like the times when they were both in high school and had each told their parents that they were at the other's house, so that they could spend the evening in the city together.

He was still her best friend...

...and so much more now.

If Melissa was to be honest, they'd been more for a long time. She'd been afraid and she'd kept him at arms length for too long. She needn't have worried, though. Thomas understood. He never pressured her.

Sometimes she missed the last train back to Richmond, but there was always someone from the dorm conveniently sleeping somewhere else that night, and they conveniently never minded someone staying over in their room, and Thomas would conveniently have the key.

She had her own room here now. They almost lived together, and still Thomas had never been anything but patient with her.

----

Ok, another post about Melissa - but she really has had more going on for her in the past couple of sim-years than most of the others in my story. We will catch up with the others in her college dorm shortly.

I don't usually post things here before I post them on my blog, but I haven't got the blog post finished yet, and its been so long since I did a story post, I wanted to get something out into the world before this weekend was over!