#ts2 lot ideas

[bubuthejedi]

Lalandia in progress 💚

Slowly getting there:) My little city grows and is getting ready for first settlers to move in and open their businesses. Some fully furnished houses and apartments already there. I have one snowy forever hotel so far and several free to visit and chill public places.

Public no npcs/no business ownership lots: library, university, market, dog park, fun town, several restaurants, gentelmen club, women club, gym, cinema, rollerskate park, bowling alley, cemetery, camping, nightclub

Private lots: pet shop, flower shop, gas station with food corner, supermarket, hospital, tattoo parlour, cat caffee, clothing store, spa

Planned public lots: beach with several small shops, disco, teenagers hangout den, internet caffee, wedding venue, meadow (with plumbobkeep plants), laundromat (with functional washing machines and dryers for sims to obsess over:)) and I'll most likely come up with some more😄

Any ideas how to make somehow functional public lot grooming/vet/pet center? I just like my lots to have some functional aspects in them.

Happy simming 🥰✨Peace💛💚💙💜

[snapdragoned]

Slowly easing my way back into building! I’ve got a brand new town that needs community lots, so here’s a converted warehouse art collective, ft. a shockingly functional circle of easels for figure studies. The building next door hosts ceramics & pottery classes!

[andrevasims]

I’ve seen these pre-set camera views on EAxis lots, like the Goth and Capp house have them, etc. but I didn’t know how easy they were to make yourself

But something I just realized that’s imo more useful than moviemaking/storytelling, is that they can be used as shortcuts to navigate a lot

Like playing a dorm, your sim’s doing stuff on the 1st floor and their room’s on the 2nd or 3rd floor on the opposite side of the lot - Instead of going:

Page Up, Page Up, WASD, Zoom In/Out, find their bed, click Sleep on it

You can just set up one of these camera shortcuts aimed at the bed, then all you have to do is hit the assigned # to find it instead of all that other stuff!!!!!

[corvigae]

You know what time it is, gamers? That's right, it's "Oddly specific Nervous Subject headcanons" time again! This time I'm thinking about the idea of Nervous and Ophelia having actually known each other when they were both very young, of Nervous playing with his baby cousin Ophelia and them being close at the time. As an adult, Nervous doesn't really remember much from his early years anymore, but sometimes he swears he can remember a little girl following him around, sticking super close to him like she was afraid to be left alone, and like she was certain he'd keep her safe from whatever she was so scared of. Having been so young, Ophelia doesn't remember this at all, but when she does finally meet her long-lost cousin she can't help but think he seems comfortingly familiar.

[mocuna-sims]

So... I wanted to start the new year by playing a Legacy Challenge (surprise!). And for that, I decided to make a custom hood, so I've been filling this lovely terrain with deco and some maxis houses.

Got a suburbs and an urban area separated by the river, there's also a rural part off-screen.

Next step is building up community lots.

[12raben]

Okay, so I recently thought about this mini tutorial by criquette. It is possible to manipulate the texture around a lot. Could one use this information to have paved surroundings in a city and grass in the outskirts? All in the same neighborhood? Probably. 🤔

[lilleputtu]

Hannah got a half day off to chill because she was kind of losing her mind.

[nervoussubjectappreciator]

Why must my game keep crashing on the only lot I really wanna play on 😭😭😭😭😭😭

[somedaythesun]

TS2 Maxis-Match Lingerie Store Set

Hello, I'm still alive! I had to take a long break from Simming, but I've finally finished this collection and wanted to release it.

Reintroducing Bella's Secret lingerie store set by RetailSims! Now available in sweet pink or spicy black motifs. Featuring more objects than you'll know what to do with :D

There are four Maxis-match sets in this collection: the K&B lingerie set (3 colors), a new bra mesh using the Freetime sewing machine dress textures (6 colors!), the K&B camisole set (3 colors), and the Basegame slip nighties (4 colors).

For the mannequins and the furniture, I wanted to capture that high-gloss look that a lot of lingerie stores use, and I discovered that the perfect in-game texture was…the grand piano?? So all the display objects are repo'd to that object and come in either glossy black or white (or whatever other recolors you may have). The velvet panels are either pink or red and are recolorable.

The shelving unit is actually three distinct pieces: a panty/bra counter with 15(!) slots you can fill, a double row wall display rack (15 slots), and a single row wall display rack for longer hanging items (8 slots). These live in Surfaces > Shelves for §241.

All of the hanging items can be hung on your Sim's wall for decoration, but they are also aligned to perfectly slot into the wall racks. I personally find it relaxing to fill up the display cabinets, and you can mix and match to your heart's content! You'll find all the clothing in General > Dressers for §18.

I also made some objects to sit on the countertops or in the drawers. Everything is repo'd to a parent object to reduce file sizes, so if you're interested in recoloring the lingerie, check the filenames for the PARENT objects and you'll be able to make your own varieties.

Lastly, I recreated RetailSims's shop sign, but this time in Simlish. I did my best to keep the polycount as low as possible, but be warned it's still high poly. It spans 6 tiles and is EXTREMELY shiny. Comes in black or white! Found in Deco > Wall for §800

I highly recommend you get RetailSims's original wallpapers (archive link to the dead site is here). All original idea credit goes to RetailSims, I just fell in love with their set years ago and wanted to refresh it to match the game's original aesthetics.

Download

I may need to disappear offline for another lengthy break, but I'll stick around for a few days after I post this to check for any problems, so let me know if anything isn't working your game. Enjoy!

[elden-hicks]

A note for the fellow strugglers in TS1

Hey, it's Seth! I know how frustrating TS1 can be (considering it's age and being the first game in the franchise), so I am here to introduce a list of personal must have mods and programs, which I always use whenever I re-install the game to make it more user-friendly. The list itself is quite short, actually, since it only consists of my personal gameplay choice mods. So there's no building objects, deco, skins and heads there.

MODS AND CC

This calendar will report the day of the month to your sims and -- and this is amazing -- even introduce a concept of days off. Sims should have about every 6th and 7th day off. - THE ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE. It's in the painting section and costs 15 simoleons. Works a bit wonky with children, but otherwise a very useful mod to have.

Call work/give interview job phone plugins to give your sim a day off. - I use those mostly when sims have to take care of the baby.

A family mod by Gothi_family_4ever. - another must have in my collection, introduces the familial relationships in game! No more inappropriate relationships between relatives. It's a 0 simoleon painting, which you can delete once you've done.

A hacked frigde mod by the same author. - allows your sims to put their food into the refrigirator, call the household members for the meal, and requires the usage of products (like meat and in-game vegetables) in order to cook a dish instead of insta-paying. You kinda have to build a grocery shop for your sims, so they could buy the required products, I prefer to install the stalls into the pre-existing farm shop in Old Town area. P.S DON'T FORGET TO READ THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE INSTALLING BEFORE DRAGGING ANY FILE. As much as I love this mod, I don't, for example, use their cereal add-on.

The Elixir ExpressiBuy Computer. - a computer that allows you to buy any in-game buyable product (like vacation gifts, grocery, tonics, etc etc) in stock. They won't magically appear overnight but would be brought by a special courier npc. It also allows your sim to research logic, creativity, culinary and mechanical skills. I'd also recommend diving further into their site, since they have a lot of cool and unique gameplay content as well!

MagiCo's Bookshelf of Dimensional Storage - the official Maxis item, that was in the 'Get Cool Stuff' section. Allows your sims to keep their magic coins and ingrediends in special bookshelf storage, I mostly use it so the kids could get the ingredients for their spells from the adults. It is in the Magic section, btw

The Magic Mirror - the only outright cheat object that I have in my possesion. This mirror refreshes your sims needs, builds skills, friends, stardom, etc. Saves headaches when you are not in the mood to fullfill your sims' mood, ha-ha.

PROGRAMS

SimEnchancer 3D - basically a program that allows you to change the basic sim's attributes, including their heads and bodytypes. If you are familiar with TS2's SimPE, you'd have the idea how it works. NOTE: if you have to run your TS1 game as an administrator, you'd have to open it up in the same vein as well. And don't forget to backup your UserData files when you are working with it, just in case!

The Sims Creator - the official Maxis program for players to create some basic skins content. The program is only suitable to work with head and skins textures and not the meshes! Likewise, if you have to open the game as an administrator, you'd have to do the same with that program.

NEIGHBORHOODS

This section for the fellow premade enjoyers out there, who mostly played TS2 before and decided to give the local premades a chance as well

Here you can download the original UserData 1 and 2 if you want to reset your neigborhoods as they were if you had already played the neighborhood before and want to start anew. The Sims Wiki also gives you an instruction for how to do so.

And here you can download the additional Maxis families like The Hatfield, The Maximus, The Mashuga, The Snooty, The Jones and that weird agent White House familes. For some reasons, some of them refused to function in my game, so I had to install the empty houses and recreate them by hand, using the SimEnchancer and Wikia to give them appropriate skills and careers.

OTHER

Sims 1 Alternative UI - refreshes your game by a margin. I really recomend this one!

Well, that's basically it! I hope, my list would help you as well!

[bubuthejedi]

Laundromat 💙Posters💙💙💙💙💙💙💚💚🧡💛💗Simlish💛💛💛💛

I come to you with 4 recolours of grilled cheese ( presented on resizable canvas which you totally need, if you don't have it already cuz it's awesomeeeeee...). These are meant for laundromat ( I made one on community lot and needed some deco💛🧡💚)

I hope you like them💚💙💜💛 Download here SFS . All is labelled, clearly described so you can keep what you want and easily throw out what you don't like🥰😘

PS. Also totally check out @jacky93sims laundry set 💛💚💙💙💙💙 Happy simming 💓💓💓💓💓💚💙💛🧡❤ Peace🤎🤎🤎🤎💜💙💚💚🧡🧡💛💚💚

[pforestsims]

Here's a mod that replaces around 70% of base game hood dog noises with very quiet bird sounds.

*There's also an option to disable Pets EP animal sounds, but that will only be useful for people who don't use Pets EP features.

Less Dog Barking Sounds in Neighborhood View

and optional: no Pets EP animal sounds*

Download (SFS)

I used this tool (MTS) to browse TS2 .xa sound files.

More info below the cut:

'Less Barking in hood view' mod package contains 36 dog barking & howling resources that I've found in base game Sound/Misc file. Yes, 36 - and that's not even all (!)

Lot background sounds are a mix of base game sfx and a f*ckload of additional, louder barking that comes with Pets EP.

So without Pets you might also hear some distant, quiet barking, but it's sparse. With Pets EP, it gets louder when you move the camera near the lot borders. It seems certain objects also emit barking sounds, like the trash can and mail box (??). It can even be heard in CAS.

Those sounds really bother me, but I don't like to play with background sfx switched off and was looking for a solution. Unfortunately, there's no perfect one :( - most of the Pets Misc resources seem to use SPX1 sound file format and cannot be opened (or at least I have no idea how to open it). So I couldn't browse and remove only specific files.

2. edited Misc.package is a PETS EP game file with all sounds removed from it. Unlike the mod, this file has custom installation instructions - it goes into your Sims 2 game installation folder /The Sims 2 Pets/TS Data/Res/Sound/

If you replace that file, pets in your game will be silent. Some other sounds related to Pets EP might also be missing.

Base game background sounds like little birds singing, crickets, frogs, owls hooting at night are NOT affected by this mod.

*I've been browsing TS2 sfx resources for a while now, extracted various sounds and replaced some with existing resources ( I haven't managed to replace any with new files tho) - it is probably possible (?) but files need to be in .xa format.

[alltimefail-sims]

IDK about ya'll, but now that we have the jewelry skill that came with so many create-able assets it made me want even more interactive gameplay skills in future packs. I will say it until this game is dead; we can never have too many interactive activities for our sims, and that's where The Sims 4 has always struggled in comparison to its predecessors.

I would love to see skills/activities such as:

Bands. A whole "Making Music" GP would be amazing, one that adds in just more instruments in general, not just "rock band" instruments. There are so many jazz artworks, signs, and statues in this game so I have no idea why we have 0 brass and 0 woodwind instruments. Also, harps!! Harps would be amazing to use with the wedding pack!!! Also no marching band in High School Years? Wild! Fumble after fumble that could still be remedied with a music-themed GP. They could add a jazz band and/or marching band after school activity with this pack and maybe a band career that starts with being a garage band that is compatible with Get Famous... it could be so good!)

Rug Making. This is a super trendy art/craft activity right now and it is super cool to watch. I would love to see this done in the sims, especially if we could make cool funky custom pieces and sell them! With GTW you could literally make your own store just for your rugs like come onnnnnn!

Pottery. Again, the selling possibilities and maybe even a new art studio lot type would be sooooo awesome for our creative sims!!!

Basket Weaving. PAIN because this should have been included in Horse Ranch or even For Rent and I'll die on that hill. It's unlikely it will fit in future packs, but I'm putting it on here nonetheless.

Sewing. Especially for quilts and stuff, how cute would it be to make baby/toddler/child clothes, quilts, etc.!!!

Skateboarding. Oh how I know we'll probably never get this... but I'm holding out hope.

Adding on to skateboarding, just some more group sports and games in general like tennis and pool.

If we get cars - a mechanic skill. They could even just consider this a part of the handiness skill and create an object like from TS2 Freetime when you could buy a junker car from buy mode and fix it up!

Obviously they might not do any of these, but these are just some dream elements that I would personally love to see in game.

Please feel free to share your dream skills/activities/game additions!!!

[alkesims]

Spending TS2's birthday remaking TS1 houses in @philosimy's excellent Old Town neighbourhood! (Seriously, it's beautifully made.) Also still have no idea what I'm doing with Reshade, but tried making a sort of TS1-ish preset that relies a lot on posterize and temperature effects.

[rockethorse]

Calcinidae Bay Lot Tour: the Public Schools

Let's take a closer look at a few of Calcinidae Bay's community lots - its public schooling! This screenshot is actually three lots, with two lots overlapped using the Lot Adjuster. On the left is the high school, on the right is the primary school, and between them is a shared gymnasium and a semi-public oval (sports field).

More pics & CC-free decorating ideas below!

As always, these lots are based on shell challenges. The high school and primary school are actually shells that were made for me by @hugelunatic as stocking stuffers back in 2022 (I didn't forget about them!) The shell from the gym/oval lot is actually the smaller canteen building, with the gymnasium being auxiliary (because it had to be such a specific size/shape), and that shell is a 4T2 adaptation of LilSimsie's "Yeehaw" Shell Challenge that I grabbed off the gallery.

Starting with the high school:

If you peeked at the original shell, you'll see there was a two-storey 1x1 "column "room" in the middle of the lot, which made me think of a bell/clock tower and inspired me to use these shells for schools. Normally when I adapt a TS4 shell challenge to TS2 I choose the placement & orientation on the lot, but because these lots were made natively in TS2 I decided to keep the lot size & distribution as they were. This gave me a lot of additional space around the main building that was perfect for adding extra amenities like a library.

The ground floor of the high school has an administration area, lockers, mixed bathroom, sick bay, staff room, and two general-use classrooms that can each fit six students.

The teacher's lounge/staff room, and a small display/awards case. I needed something to do with that little triangular pocket, and now it's one of my favourite features. :)

Upstairs is two specialised classrooms - a moderate science lab and an arts room. I would have liked at least a home ec classroom as well, but I guess that'll be reserved for the eventual private school.

The canteen (cafeteria) is a separate demountable building with outdoor seating, some of it under a shade cloth. The library is also a separate building with a small computer bay and a group study area.

Moving on to the primary school, a much older and smaller building with some minor remodeling so the two schools look cohesive:

The inspiration for my gameplay/lots is a mish-mash of different cultural influences, but I play my schools like the standard Australian system; kids start in reception (about age 5) and attend primary school all the way through to year 6 or 7, then go to high school from year 6/7 through to year 12. Separate middle schools are much less common, and this matches with how the game itself handles kid vs. teen education.

I design my lots kind of "representationally", to get the best balance between realism and playability. While I enjoy including some details that don't provide actual gameplay, I don't want to build enormous, cumbersome lots just to achieve a 1:1 scale when my Sims will never actually need that much space. Plus, most shell challenges tend to be smaller, which I like. Hence why this school has only two classrooms, one for junior primary and a more structured classroom for upper primary.

There is a small admin area downstairs. Upstairs is the sick bay and a modest teacher's lounge/staff room.

The primary school doesn't have its own library, but it does have a small separate building that we in Australia would call OSHC - Out of School Hours Care. It's a service parents can book to drop their children off before school starts, or arrange for them to attend after school finishes until they can pick them up. They provide snacks and some edu-tainment activities. Lots of kids also attend OSHC over school holidays.

The primary school canteen/cafeteria is also a separate building. Both school canteens use the University cafeteria stove, so with the right mod students will be able to grab food there. In addition to an outdoor eating area and a small playground, there is a little produce patch between the two buildings where students are taught about horticulture.

And finally, the lot that joins the two schools, the shared gymnasium and Calcinidae Oval.

The canteen/cafeteria itself would generally not be open during school hours. Instead, the school and/or local council would operate it for profit or hire it out to a third party when the oval was being used for local sports teams and other events on weekends, holidays, and after school hours. Right now it's set up for just such a soccer match.

The inside of the "tuckshop". There is a bathroom on the bottom floor accessible from the outside of the building, while the top floor has two changing rooms for students or local teams.

The gymnasium also serves as an assembly hall for students of both schools. I think the teachers would either have a collapsible stage at the far end of the court, or just stand up in the commentator's booth to give the announcements. Underneath the commentator's booth is the equipment storage shed where many a teen couple has probably sneaked off to make out.

The back view of the tuckshop and the carpark shows how this lot overlaps with the primary school. The existing primary school is blocked from Sims walking through it by a combination of real fences and this hidden CC-free invisible fence.

And that's it for this tour! I'm pretty happy with how these lots look, how I utilised the shells, and how they all fit together in the neighbourhood. I want to have more lots overlapping and slotting together like this to give Calcinidae Bay a more seamless, open feel, like the hood really is connected.

I'll finish this post with some floorplans - if you read all this you're a champ, I hope it gave you some ideas for your own game, and I'd love to know what you think!

[rurpleplayssims]

So, as I teased yesterday, I've been building a townhouse! It's going to be where my Level 8 (Military Commanders) live, and as it's got three bedrooms, it's the first of the bigger homes the higher ranks can start a family in, as the homes before this were quite a bit smaller.

The idea (as most of my recent ideas) was from watching TeaAddict's Lot Adjuster video, where she showed various ways of using the program. One way, which I was intrigued by, was shrinking a lot, and then she used it to show how you could make a row of cottages. I won't lie, I'm tempted to build some quaint little Althea-approved cottages in CQ, but that will have to wait. (Patience Jess, patience!) Then Tea showed how she'd used hood decor beside a shrunken lot to show a row of apartments, and I liked that idea better, as hood decor is more detailed in lot view than lot imposters, and less taxing on spawning the pink soup.

There are quite a lot of pictures, so they're below the cut.📷

First thing's first, I'll show you the floorplans.

Ground floor -includes private garage, access to main house via small paved garden and entry way. Small personal gym, laundry room (I'm going to try out the Laundry mod) and the main bathroom of the house.

First floor - includes the main living area. Leads into main family/dining room and lounge. There's a study, full kitchen and a little pantry that I like to make in these fancier homes.

Second floor (top floor) - three bedrooms, including a master bedroom with large wardrobe and ensuite bathroom. One room is made into a nursery as this is first home the officers have enough room to start raising children.

Will probably post the Counter Intelligence building pictures next, as I don't think I've posted them yet.

❗Also, I made a post earlier on really cool TS2 building cheat objects. I used them a lot in this build, so I felt it was best to share the links with others. 😇