I usually just mute the game music.  Its way annoying.. the sim talk and sound effect and background noise dont really bother me... but the music isnt really adding anything to the game. Plus i usually watch tv while i play, or follow a show by listening to it, otherwise i get bored. And you cant really pay attention to your shows when the cheesy music is blaring.

Ive decided to start a kinda 'help' thread here regarding to FT...
I cant find any real info about how to do any of the 'special' interactions...

First off... the genie. How are we supposed to get the lamp? I know the cheat way...and i have materialized a lamp...(not that interesting), but how is it actually supposed to happen? Ive read that you need to max out some hobbies and aspirations for it to appear, and there is always a chance of you getting it randomly.  HAs anyone actually had the genie lamp appear the way it should have?

2nd) The badge skilling... what are the new badges brought in with FT? some kind of sewing badge that im still trying to get the bronze of, even after the 6th consecutive day of sewing oven mits... ? what else is there to get...? and what are the things you can actually make?

thats it for now... bu im sure there are more questions and similar unanswered and un-google-result-giving stuff people want to know...so feel free to post here? Or give some advice if you are in the know!

Well if everyone is going to continue aging and expanding families etc without you telling them to, i hope they add the OPTION to turn that off.. I cant imagine that that would be a good idea? I mean... i can play a certain family for a few days if they are interesting enough... and then move on to another... i wouldn't want everyone to age and kids to grow up etc while Im not in control of it.  

Also... Im with what someone else said... if i wanted to play the neighbourhood at the same time Id just be playing simcity.  This Sims/Simcity hybrid cant be a good thing.  
The main reason why people create sims is for individuality... so if they start to take away from that it kinda loses the plot a bit.

BUT

1) I know its early days, and things and info about Ts3 is subject to change at any time, so Im not too concerned about those things yet.  There are still a lot of stuff that they need to add and remove and 'tinker' on...

2) Actually... if they do decide to make it an uncontrolled mass of AI activity with us losing control of the rest of the 'hood while working on one specific sim - Ill just stick to TS2... I dont NEED to get Ts3..

3) Maybe Ill even be thankful to EA for driving the game further out of my mind. Ts2 does get boring after a few days of playing... so imagine 2 years from the last EP/SP of Ts2... You wont be playing anymore...i think.  We'll all be moved on and it'll be another novelty game in the drawer.  And everyone can finally resume control on their own lives again, not live vicariously through some computer created effigy of yourself.

Thats true - never thought about it! That IS creepy....:oogle:

I like freetime...its an interesting piece of fluff...
Im not totally against it... i didnt hold much hope for it at first, but its better than i thought.

i just get a little annoyed with some of the behaviors -like the people that keep phoning you...? Im also one of those that just dont care enough whether sims become members of hobby clubs..

but its something nice to follow up on when you get bored playing.. just fill up some hobby bars.  

IMO though badge skilling takes to long... I had a sim sitting and sewing for 2 days straight, and he still can only make those oven mits.  so i gave up on that.  

i like the new way of writing novels, and that you can actually read them afterwards, and the fact that there are movies on tv now.  

but with both: they could have made it custom content compatible... im sure that wouldnt have killed EA. Now i have to replace all my nice bookshelves and tvs with EA made ones to get the new options... damn.  

Id also have liked the DIY cars to look a bit better after its done...and maybe had an option of a dad and kid working on the engine together or something?
ah well...i guess i am just nitpicking..
but like i said.  its a nice add to have.

I try to keep the lots medium sized...and the houses small-ish.  I also build my own houses.  

Smaller houses (floorplan) work better for me.. the main rooms like kitchen, living room and bathroom are usually downstairs and bedrooms upstairs.  with en suite bathrooms in them.  the guests arent supposed to go upstairs anyway unless you call them up there to the bedrooms for specific reasons.

...also i try and keep the nursery downstairs if there is one...otherwise just close to the kitchen so sims dont waste time strolling to get bottles and stuff.

so yeah... smaller is better..and runs faster.  2 levels max

Hi everyone...
Im quite happy with how this outfit came out... so im sharing it. Hope everyone else likes it too...

Im not the best texture-er, and alpha-out-er... but still
Ive been looking for a Kaileena outfit since i played Warrior Within (PoP), but none of the ones i found online really did it for me..

So I bring you this  My vain 'I can do better' version (even if its not, lol)
The outfit comes packaged with a quickly put-together Kaileena sim too.

In the pictures she has "bon voyage" hair, but for this download i changed it to the black "layered" hair of the original game.
Also adding a pic of another sim that tried the outfit on... just to show how it looks on an "enhanced" non-barbie skin.

I will upload another version of this to the adult site... while i was testing this i realized that she wasn't wearing any underwear... and with a dress that has a few slips up 'to there' and sims not really minding flashing the world, i added underwear for her

So this is a the all ages version
If you prefer this dress...but with a more xxx flavour to it (think fantasy lingerie), do download it at insimadult.  It wont override this one. For clarity THIS dress is "KaileenaA" in the catalogue.


You can find the original mesh/dress that i butchered here:
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=158402
but the mesh is included in this download

adult version:
http://www.insimadult.org/showthread.php?p=460419#post460419

Hope you enjoy! x
leave a comment

Well the site has gone live...
The pics on the site is nothing new from what we've seen already if you've been following all maniac's links...

Its like the sims 2.  But the sims look depressed. lol.  just what the world needs.
So dont worry if you can't get on because of server overloads...you're not missing anything special.

Im with the above two... but i think ill get it eventually out of curiosity, not really 'want' or 'need'.  Wanna play a people simulation game? Get Sims 2. We've been there, seen that, and got all the EPs and t-shirts...
by the look of TS3, its not a gigantic leap away from TS2, like TS2 was from TS1.  So you wont really benefit all that much more from getting it.

Ill be cool with it to wait this one out.
Plus we all know about EA's fondness for false advertising and bait-and-switch tactics ...like they did with all the TS2 stuff.

Best to wait and see what's really in the game, as opposed to what  they say is.

Thanks for the info... but...
Has anyone else had any problems with this latest SimPe? I dont want to blame it for something that might not be it's fault...
My neighbourhood Ive been working on for about 2 weeks now just disappeared from the startup screen rigt after i loaded it in SimPe, and changed a last name of one sim.

I just found that a bit weird? I didnt do anything else to the game or to the 'hood externally to kill it...? I did back it up... but I dont think that'll make a difference, since the N001 folder is still there, with all its files still intact.  (My 'hood is N001, i deleted the EA made ones early on.) It just wont show up.

Well Im not saying it IS SimPe, but just be cautious of this if you plan to use it.

No opinions on Freetime yet, but Id probably also say go for that one.  BV was a disappointment, i knew i wouldn't like it that much, the best part of it is just getting beaches and nice trees. Thats about it.
Plus if you have Seasons you might lose some realism when it starts snowing on the beach.. its ...odd.

anyways...Pets... the most hated EP.  Actually i dont have huge issues with it, never had any bugs that i can recall now.  I liked most of the furniture and the animal behaviors. The bug of getting swamped with pet needs and wants was taken care of when i installed seasons.  And as for annoying strays and wolves etc etc I have a hack that keeps all non-resident animals away from home and community lots.  I Also use clean 'hoods, and a no-stray respawn hack to curb the game's enthusiasm when it comes to creating stray animals.

So yeah... Pets: OK (with my game anyways), BV: Boring, FT: no comment

Lol...what a funny story -
But...you're right... that Picaso sim does look a little too much like the other character... I wonder why EA would just recycle a sim like that, instead of just making a new one?
I don't care either way...since i never use the pre-made families anyway.

You wont get a clear answer to that question, since no one really knows how much time it will take.  Depends on the creator's available time, his moods, his goodwill and his wife ()
So yeah... vague.

Ill get it yeah
Although I doubt if I'd like it
Just to complete my EPs.  Not in a hurry though.

Well Ill be waiting a while for this... its available in the shops now here too, but im waiting for the new alanis morissette album to be released first so i can order them together and save money on courier costs lol

I took a look at Sleepycat's link (http://calalily.sublimesims.net/freetime.html)
above, as well as some random research on other sites, and i was a little disappointed to say the least. okay - granted ive not played the game, but just seeing the pics and stuff... one word: "mediocre".  
I MEAN FOR HEAVENS SAKE! A CLOWN OUTFIT?? Why on this GREEN EARTH would anyone EVER want a fug thing like that clogging up your catalogues? Okay... so now that ive got that out of my system... The clothes are nothing special at all either.  99% will probably have to be banished like we had to with the OFB horrors. Hidden by a wonderful little hack at MTS2. Seriously... bad stuff.

...and i HOPE that the objects aren't as unusable as it seems.  For the pics I see EA still assume we like itty-bitty-little-pic-ey's on the walls... you know those... the unusable clutter in your buy mode? the wall hangings smaller than a sim's head, and still should be considered 'decor'?
Whatever. seriously.

Im just a little interested in the gameplay aspect. the 'more things to do' part  of it.  

Ill see how i feel after getting it.  Of course Im still getting it... its the last EP after all...and i got all the rest already.