How big is too big? Neighbourhood, that is?

[Sita]

I am playing the Maxis Hoods again and they already have a lot of population.
I find I like the complexity of a lot of families on the go at once.
BUT:
Is there a maximum population size above which the game will break? I've had hoods break before and not really known why.
I don't do a lot of dangerous things - like download houses with families, or transfer them in from other hoods. But my Sims WILL keep on having kids 
And is this affected at all by having sub-neighbourhoods or is this an absolute value?

[MaryH]

Here is a reply by Pescado in a thread from MATY that addresses this very problem:

Re: Maximum number of sim/character files?
Reply #5 on: 2007 July 25, 09:54:27
   
"Before NL, number-of-characters was a serious problem that could be reached around 800-1000 entries. Furthermore, critical fixes which resolved the inefficiencies of the code could extend this out more. Post-NL, the iteration-max was increased to about 10x its former size, so it's reasonable to expect that iteration limits which were formerly hit at 800-1000 entries will expand by the same order of magnitude. It is unlikely that sheer "number of characters" alone will blow anything up, but it remains desirable to avoid the accumulation of cruft created by unnecessary spawning of useless characters and garbage tailings created by moving occupied lots, as these leave behind undesirable debris which can still jam your neighborhood's functioning."

If you're curious, the Lot Debugger does do a good job of getting rid of unwanted memories and other such "cruft" as he mentions. It's a free download from MATY.
Also, it is the total number of character files that show up in your neighborhood files, and that includes all subhoods, etc.

[Sita]

Thank you! That sets my mind at rest Now I can import some lovely Sims I downloaded into Riverblossom Hills without feeling guilty 

[Nalia]

For what's it worths, my previous game became corrupted once my characters files exceeded the number of 1,100. Mind you, this number did not count as my own created or downloaded Sims. Most of them had been files created by the game itself, like townies, downtownies, Uni professors, NPCs etc.

If you want more of your own Sims and less EAxis crap, next time try to instal empty templates and Pescado's noregen mods.

[DaSpecial1]

 I too am curious as to the game limits. I 've been thinking about trying that maty mod if there is a nl version.


Does the noregen mod stop townies, downtownies and npc's?  Will the game require replacements?  Most of the default sims (ie., npc's & such) in my game look pretty decent thanks to Enayla, Louis, Warlokk & Bloom , but having a more  controlled hood might be nice .



ETA: I  had those two already but not really sure how townies, downtownies etc, work. I'll  leave them until I get better info.  Some files in the ffs labeled as NL comparible weren'tso I wanted to make sure. Thanks for the input though Nalia.

[Nalia]

Noregen stops regeneration of townies once they are moved out of the townies' pool. The Antiredundancy mod prevents the game from spawning more NPCs than the game really needs, usually one per type for each job. There are more that you might be interested in, just check MATY's boards and go through the various topics there. With a little search one can usually find answers to most of one's questions.

Yes, there is a NL version, here:  http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/index.php?dir=nl%2Fhacks%2F