Harrington Park, with Download

So, my adventures in playtesting the first Harrington Park lot led to a massive experiment in Maxian FAIL.  I repeatedly tried to play the lot, but the big fountain kept causing the sims to get a jump bug when they entered the lot.  Ug.  So, back to the drawing board.  I ended up just building my own fountain, which, in the end, I like better.  I also added a chess board and a grill to keep the visiting sims happy.

I present to you now, the new and improved Harrington Park:

NOTE: Any sims pictured are not included with the lot. They are just from my play test pics.

Neighborhood view

The complete CC list.

Harrington Park is a 3×3 Community Lot.  I have UNI, NL, OFB, Pets, Seasons, BV, FT and AL.  I also have the Glamour Life stuff pack, but I don’t think it will affect the download if you don’t have it.

Download HERE.

NOTE:  The Metro Window set does not package the master mesh properly, so if you don’t have it, you can get it here at MTS2.  Also, the custom coffee menu does not show up on the CC list for some reason.  If it doesn’t show up, you can download it here.  It goes on the Two Dogs and an Olive Maxis mesh.

Harrington Park

The town is really coming along.  I’ve laid a few lots down where I know certain things will go, and added some hood deco.  Wilhelmina’s Estate lot is done (that’s an old dl of mine from MTS2), but still needs to be furnished.  Harrington Park, right across the street from Wilhelmina’s is done now too.  As soon as I play-test it, I’ll post that one for dl as well.  Until then, here’s some early pics:

The coffee shop

Inside the coffee shop, custom menu with image pilfered from Google

Inside the coffee shop

The view from the entrance

The gazebo

The kid’s playground

Arial view

The Harrington Heights Hood Terrain

Here it is, my hood terrain is done!  I had to scrap several old versions because they were just too big.  I want to keep this town small and playable with a friendlier load time than my legacy game!

Harrington Heights is a small island town with several functional beach lots, and I think it would be good for either a main hood, or a small vacation getaway.  There are .png images included for the different terrain types, so the game will generate preview pics and not the ugly white and green screen.  You can always change the pics in your own game if you like.

If you want to download it, do so here. Extract the files directly into your Sims2/ SC4Terrains folder.

Building the Town, III

Today I finished:

A set of photography for the Safari Prints store

The Safari Prints sign

The custom neighborhood for Harrington Heights

Building the Town, II

Today I finished:

Sims:

Beverly Eberly, Roland’s wife, Henrietta’s best friend and elite social climber

*Veronica and Veruca Eberly, Roland and Beverly’s twin girls, will be created in-game

Tamara M. Basson, photojournalist from South Africa who now owns Safari Prints

Summer Raine, free spirit townie who will own a vegan bakery

Eva Rivers, Olivia’s best friend and a fashion model, lives in Harrington Condo’s

Dr. Orai Tsang, Mai Lyn’s husband and the town’s renowned doctor

Petunia Pendragon, one of the residents of Harrington Condominiums

Things I need to build:

R – Thomas Harrington Estate, 3×3

R – Eberly Estate, 3×3

R – Garcia Residence

R – Tsang Estate

R  - Summer Raine’s Vegan Cafe (Bakery)

C – Vichy:  Upscale Restaurant where Roland is head chef, owned by Wilhelmina

C – City Hall:  Owned by Mayor

R – Mayor’s Mansion, where the Mayor lives, of course

C – Harrington Park:  Upscale park for the residents of the Heights, coffee bar included, owned by Wilhelmina

R – Gym; will look like a community lot, but buff owner will live on-site, use ticket machine to pay

R – Photo/ Artist Studio, Safari Prints, owned by Tamara M. Basson

C / R- Temple; for spiritual worship, weddings, etc.

C – Cemetary, owned by temple leader

R – Harrington condominiums, rent paid to Wilhelmina Harrington

Sims to Make:

Anne —-, live-in maid for Wilhelmina Harrington

The Diamonte’s, savage social climbers

The Garcia’s, Grandma Ana, Maria, Stephen and children, Stephen is on a quest for Mayor

Building the town

So far I have:

CAS Sims:

Wilhelmina Harrington, matriarch of the clan

Thomas Harrington, Wilhelmina’s son

Henrietta Harrington, Thomas’s wife

Olivia Harrington, Wilhelmina’s estranged daughter

Roland Eberly, head chef of Vichy, married to Beverly Eberly

*Porche Harrington, daughter of Thomas and Henrietta, will be created in-game

*Thomas Harrington III, son of Thomas and Henrietta, will be created in-game

Lots:

R – Wilhelmina Harrington Estate, built and placed, needs to be furnished (5×3)

Another Round

I’m at it again, my old obsession with building a hood from scratch renewed.  Sadly, Jade Elliot is no longer taking part in the Sims community – I do so miss that Isle of Thyme!  Oh well, I will have to find some new inspirations.

The ultimate tutorial…

This whole process began with a visit to the Isle of Thyme, which is an amazing creation by Jade. I was at first awestruck, then overwhelmed, then totally inspired to create a custom neighborhood of my own. Since the Harringtons, and the concept of Harrington Heights, has been with me since I first got the Sims 2, I knew this had to be it.   So, on with my journey!

Where does one begin with an undertaking like this?

The Isle of Thyme tutorial, of course.

NOTE, 02/14/10:  Isle of Thyme is no more.  Here are updated links to the Isle of Thyme tutorials.

It is the ultimate tutorial for creating your own Sims 2 neighborhood. I’ve been plodding my way through the process, bit by fabulous bit, and I’m having a great time. So far I have a new custom-made neighborhood (linkage later), a list of must-have hacks and mods (most of which are installed in my freshly cleaned out download folder), and the beginnings of a list of commercial lots.

Creating a Custom Neighborhood…more tutorials!

Jordi’s MATY tutorial: Clean Custom Neighborhoods

The Journey continues…with tutorials!

I’m discovering there are not so many tutorials for creating my own custom neighborhoods as I might like.  Here’s what I’ve got so far:

EA Sims site article:  The most basic info.

Articles at TSR:
Cerulean Talon:  Make your own Neighborhood (for now) and Updating Neighborhood Screenshot (for later).  These tutrials have lots of pictures and are very easy to follow.

Wolfsim:

Articles at MTS2 (thank you for the links Jade!):
Creating Custom Neighborhoods by travellersside:  Very helpful tutorial, and a great place to start.

Patul’s Quick Guide to Creating Neighborhoods: Way more technical than travellers, but still useful.

More Neighborhood Tricks by Patul:  Again, Patul is quite technical, but if you can follow along this is a good tutorial on how to use a real life map to create a sims 2 neighborhood.