I've made mention elsewhere, but I've been spending a bit of time with the Strangetown families, playing them and giving them minor makeovers at the very least. I don't have nearly all of them, but I do have a few to share here.

Circe and Loki Beaker; I changed out hairstyles on them, fixed Circe's glasses and make-up, and gave them new clothes.

...and I was wondering where the hell Nervous picked up that cheat maneuver from when he was playing with my CAS girl Venus XD

Nervous Subject: new hair, a bit of facial hair, and a good day at work. This was the day he was promoted to Police Chief. Next day he topped the law enforcement career track (he has yet to go to work though or I'd have him as Captain Hero )


Jenny and Pollination Tech#9 Smith: It's hard to see because of course they wanted to have an outdoor pillowfight in the middle of the damned night, but I aged them both down a tad with InSim and then made them over. I need to try and get PT looking toward the camera; all I really changed after aging him down was his hairstyle. Jenny got new hair and softer make-up.


Johnny Smith: ah, the last really good make-over pic I have from my last session (Jill refused to stand still long enough for me to get her so I gave up!). This is after he aged to YA and moved off to La Fiesta Tech.

And yes, he did indeed age up into that outfit. I had planned to send him shopping after his transition but there was no need! And it looks damn good with his new hairstyle so bonus!

...and crap. I was looking because I was POSITIVE I'd caught it with the camera, but somewhere along the way from the Beakers to moving in with Venus I gave in and let Nervous get an MP3 player. He is HILARIOUS when he pulls it out. Always autonomous, too. Last time he did it was last night while Venus was skill building and Athena was asleep in her crib. Venus looked over with this utter I married a lunatic expression on her face before grinning and going back to reading. I interpret that as but he's still sweet and I love him... even if he can't headbang to save his life :toothy10:

Ha! I'm home and can post what pics I have now (I fail at pics unless I'm doing a story of some sort... but I'm starting to fall in love with the Beaker and Subject families so they'll probably be getting equal attention when I'm playing Strangetown!)

Okay, first is Nervous with my CAS sim, Venus. Both are pre-makeovers (I still don't have a shot of V post-makeover... maybe tonight after dinner and some playtime....)

Again, I think Nervous is rather good-looking for a Maxis sim. Please note the tons o freckles Venus is sporting. Yeah. Those are a bitch to live with for those who aren't afflicted with "sunny spots" as my dermatologist called them once. Bitch.

And the entire Beaker family before Nervous moved out, post-makeovers. I personally think Circe has gorgeous eyes and made an effort to get her glasses that wouldn't hide them (she looked odd without them, though, so I kept her in a pair):


And one more of Nervous, a bit closer. Yep, Mister Law Enforcement <3


...okay, I lied. Last pic is the happy couple after their wedding but before Athena was born. It was cute, damn it.

I just started playing in my Strangetown neighbourhood again after a bit of, ah, housekeeping (I removed two of the CAS families I had as they were failed attempts at a legacy and were cluttering up the 'hood) with a new CAS named Venus de Milo. (I was in a weird mood, okay?) As per usual the Strangetown welcome wagon included Nervous (also arriving to welcome her to the neighbourhood were Pascal Curious and Jenny Smith; Vidcund Curious came over to shove her since she was spying through the telescope for fun and logic points before the group arrived) and first action was a prank.

Yeah. Way to build people skills. But Venus apparently thought this was GREAT because the relationship progressed to positive. Long story short, they worked to best friends AND crush on the same visit O.o NO clue.

So, rather than change him on the lot, I saved after he left and moved from the de Milo lot to the Beaker lot. And went a bit nuts with makeovers (it was hilarious to me - Nervous did that 'guy I'm so cool' nod to his; Loki and Circe BOTH did that 'woohoo I'm so freakin' hawt now rawr!' thing. Pics will appear at some point when I'm not at work) AND decided Nervous needed a job in... hell, law enforcement. He's doing pretty good at it, too, tons of promotions already.

Then I saved there and headed back to the de Milo lot, where Venus invited Nervous over for a visit. That turned into a date. That lead to them falling in love and BOTH rolling the Get Engaged want. Currently in my game Venus and Nervous have an infant daughter named Athena who I'm hoping will turn out well; I know people make fun of Nervous' appearance but I think he looks damn hot, and Venus isn't a sparkling beauty herself as she's a retroformatted self-Sim (replaced her hair colour, removed glasses and gave her extra freckles; I think she's a cutie but most people would probably dis her nose... the only thing I DIDN'T change from my self-Sim) but we'll see. Meanwhile at the Beakers, Loki and Circe rolled the want to Have a Baby so I let them get on with that, and they currently have an infant son named Seth.

/babblemode

EDIT BECAUSE I'M STUPID: By the by, they didn't really have much chemistry when they were initially on the lot, but after I played the Beaker lot a bit and went back... two bolts. Probably helped by the fact that they dig each other's hair and Venus is a knowledge sim; all my family/knowledge couples spark like mad.

Awesome! Thanks so much. I just downloaded SimPE to my flashdrive (uh, kinda at work so not near the computer I game with) and I'll see about loading it up tonight. Thank you thank you!

I'm not sure what you mean. I have Deluxe and I just tend to install custom content via my Downloads folder.

Okay, got a couple of little things that I could use an assist with....

1. Is there any way to change the name of a lot? What I mean is, I moved one of my college boys into a new lot then I moved his fiance in with him. I had hoped that when they married (the second guy is the one who proposed the marriage) that the lot would show them as Family X, but they show as Family Y (first guy's family name). I'd like to change it so they and the kids, who show in their panels as Family Member X, will show as said family in the startup screen.

2. I see lots of people use the wedding arch with replacement wedding garb or formal wear. I would like to do that with my sims as the Maxis defaults for wedding bug the hell out of me. How do I do that?

3. How hard is SimPE to work with? I've had people suggest I get it (I already have InSim and love it!!) but I'm leery about new programs for the most part. Any advice would be great!

Thanks in advance, and sorry for babbling forever!