Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Clothing Downloads

Clothing Downloads for the Sims

    Finds for Storytelling

MTS2:

Bloody, Ragged and Silky Dress versions: isilra

    Haute Couture

MTS2:

As Seen On…Christina Milan, by gilysse
As Seen On…Emilie de Ravin, by gilysse

    Converted Clothing

MTS2:

Teen Outfits converted to Adult/ Young Adult Male: cloudlessnights

Jammies for Elder and Teen Males: Phaenoh

A New Approach

So, I think I may take a new approach to this whole thing.  My plan is to create a character, a male Harrington, who exists in perhaps the 1800’s.  Then plop him down in a totally empty neighborhood and begin building the town, bit by bit.  The ultimate goal, of course, would be for him to own the bulk of the town as it is constructed and pass this on to his children.  Hmmm…

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.

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.

Jordi’s MATY tutorial: Clean Custom Neighborhoods

Must-Have Mods and Game Effects:

Numenor/ MaryLou at MTS2 (a few buy mode must have’s here too):
  – Sleep and Nap on Community Lots *G
  – No Zzzzz’s at sleep *G
  – Shop at Home Coat Hook 
  – Any Wear Coat Hook
  – Cash register trainer *G
  – No Visual Effects for Stereos* G
  – No Stars @ head when slapped *G
  – Smarter Lights *G
  – All Placement Open/ Close Signs *G
  – Maxis Lost and Found: Carousel, Waterfall and River Effects, Studio Lamps
  – No Visual Effects when Playing Guitar *G
  – The CEP (a MUST for all games!)
  - Counter-Friendly Appliances *G
  - Lots of Lots: Mini Lots for Residential and Commercial Lots

Paladin’s Place (aka SimWardrobe):
 - Hack Conflict Detection
 - Dancing Don’t Make You Stinky
 - Throw Massive Parties
- No Random Bursting into Flames
 - Fish Packing Station
 - Employee Fishing
 - Produce Packing Station
 - Employee Gardening
 - Automatic Bill Payer
 - Checkbook
 - Fashion Show Controller
 - Dance Cage
 - Customer Limit Adjuster

Jordi’s version of Inge’s Teleporter Shrub

Dave Luv (aka ChristianLuv) at Simsky:
  – See Them 2: Sims 2 Censor Remover
  – Better TV mod: Improves TV habits
  – NPC Tweak Tool, NPC Set and Sims 2 Clothing Rack at the Sims 2 Graveyard

Squinge:
  – Pregnant Sims Wear Anything
  – Hula Hack: For creating story-telling poses

GunMod’s Camera Mod at MTS2

Monique MTS2:
 - Automatic Payment Mod
 - Auto Do Homework Mod
 - Hacked Computer

Simslice (booty):
  – Party Treats
  – Bluff or Buff Strip Poker
  – Six Pack of Beer
  – Harley Fixer-Uppers
  – Beer Keg
  – Costume Trunk
  – Guest Generator

Pescado at MATY:
  – Customer Selector
  – No Playable Shoppers
  – Anti-Redundancy
  – Business Runs You

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
*G:  Denotes a Global Hack or Global Mod, which will effect all lots in all neighborhoods.  Care should be taken that this item is not uploaded with lots.

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.

No, my computer did not crash, although I’m sure that’s coming soon.  I went and bought Sim City 4 for the sole purpose of making custom neighborhoods for the Sims (The game actually looks pretty good, though — I may even attempt playing it!).  The Enchanted Neighborhood is lovely, but still altogether too big for Harrington Heights.  So, I’m off on another Sim-related hobby — figuring out how to create my own terrains.

Yesterday, I also finished creating the Harrington family:

snapshot_54a39430_d4a39431

Gah, I’m so excited! It’s been a while since I’ve been excited about this game.

Olivia Harrington is moved into her hippy apartment complex by the sea, and I’ve added some more neighborhood decor:

snapshot_0000000a_b4a40ac3

The lovely apartment complex comes from Jonesi at MTS2.

Ahhhh, A New Sim Blog

I’m so excited for this.  I’ve always wanted to created an entire sim town from scratch with a blank template, but nothing seemed right…til now!  I hate the Maxis neighborhood layouts…so spacy, so boring.  Recently, I was inspired by this lovely lady’s sim world to have another go at it. I’ve also discovered Gunman’s Camera Mod, which allows one to *gasp* see the entire neighborhood.

The neighborhood I’ve decided (finally!) to use is the Enchanted Cove neighborhood by enchantedwolf at MTS2. It’s a great hood, and with the camera mod, I can finally use it! The town is, of course, Harrington Heights, a concept I came up with AGES ago, as you can see from my EA Games sim page.

Here’s a preview of the Heights part of Harrington Heights, at least so far:
snapshot_0000000a_14a211d8

And the town’s matriarch, Lady Wilhelmina Moreland Harrington:
snapshot_f4a20b6a_54a20b7a