More Awesome Than You!

'lo all,

Just a quick question today. As I've been deprived of my precious comp for a few months (long story) I'd like to start fresh over with TS2. Complete new install, sparkly clean folders, all that.

Now I'm wondering whether it's a good idea at all just to install a few select EP's (seeing as I don't really use the features of some), or if that will potentially FUBAR my game and it's better just to install the whole lot to be on the safe side.

Any ideas?

Installing select EPs is fine. As a guideline, I would recommend NL, OFB as a minimum, but never JUST NL and things below it, because the NL engine itself is crashware.

Would it be okay to install Base, Uni, NL and Seasons only? Thanks anyway for a lightning-fast response  ;)

That's an acceptable stable config, yes. I recommend OFB as well, however, as installing OFB enables you to create satellite "shopping district" subhoods identical to the regular subhood, and enables the ownership of community lots, which in turn enables Awesomeware to directly manipulate the guest list by category. Pets is not as necessary, as the added elements of Pets are all noncritical.

Okay, thank you. I'll add OFB to the install list.

Why nightlife?  What does it contain that gains the game?
Also, can't nightlife be patched with any stuff pack as an alternative to OFB?

Are the cars and downtown a nightlife only feature, or can you manipulate the game into allowing at least drivable cars? I have all the EP's and no stuff-packs, and I have installed them all on my new shiny. I don't want to do without the car or downtown. I don't go there often, but they are important for me to enjoy playing, especially the vampyres.

You need nightlife for downtown and the vamps, and I'm pretty sure you also need it for the cars.

You don't need NL for cars. There's an official download that gives you a driveway and some cars.

I would recommend installing all of them to be on the safe side.

I have Base, Uni, NL and Seasons only and it works fine.

My experience is that if you don't add Uni, you'll have problems with LTWs.  When I had base + OFB (which I liked a lot by the way as it felt more real to me - no vampires, zombies, resurrection, changes in aspiration), I had 6 missing LTWs.  When I put seasons on top, I had the 6 LTWs, but couldn't achieve them.  There's a thread or two about it in the Podium somewhere.  The awesome never ruled definitively on whether this was "as intended", buggy or whether my game was borked, but I did find other people with the same problem, so I pass it on as something to look out for. 

Actually I would leave out NL if I could, but I think I read somewhere it's got some critical stuff that could bork up your game if you install other later EP's without it.

Fact or fiction?

This is EA we're talking about, so these are all undoubtedly error-prone if you leave any EPs or SPs out.

SPs are leave-out-able because they lack any new codes. All the early EPs add critical core elements to the game and omission appears to result in odd behaviors, though. Uni apparently is required for all the LTWs, NL is needed to have "Downtown", OFB is needed to have subhoods and owned comm lots. Pets and possibly Seasons are more superfluous.

Great, thanks for the tips. I'm getting OFB this Sunday, and I already have Nightlife installed. Uni sounds boring to me, so I'll give that a skip. I'll get Seasons down the line, too, probably, if I am sure that my system specs are adequate. I'll be sure to install the two patches for OFB, and assume everything will be fine!

I've been running Uni/NL/Seasons for ages.  I'm one of those people who likes Uni and sends all the sims there, without fail (though I speed the time spent there up a bit).  With MATY hacks and proper care not to do anything to break the game, I'm running fine.  Though I'm still on the hoods from my first install, and I never had a huge problem running just NL (aside from a MATY wants/fears hack that wouldn't play nice), so I may be an anomaly.

I've been debating OfB for MONTHS, basically just for the roofs.  And maybe the toy bench.  I just don't know if it's worth the resources for the small amount I'd use it.

If I'm right that leaving out Uni, leaves you 6 LTWs short:
a) you'll find it annoying that all the LTWs are career related except for family sims.
b) when you add seasons, you'll have unachievable wants which is worse.
If it all works fine for you, please report back so I stop misleading people....

Leaving out NL gives some unforfillable wants such as "slow dance". Also I guess the whole dating thing is left out(?) which I like to have the option for in my game when a sim doesn't have any other hope of getting out of red aspiration.

Okay, I'll report back on that, then. I can buy Seasons for R50 (South African currency), and another R50 for University, so maybe I'll add all of 'em. OFB is a must though, and I imagine that I'll play at least a month or so with this pack. I'm leaving for Taiwan on the first of February, so I'm not sure how much I'll be playing, but I'll keep your request in mind.

Seasons sounds pretty cool, but I'm iffy about my system's capabilities. Pooh.

WHERE!!!?!?!?

Here. (http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/object_detail.php?asset_id=375&asset_type=object&hideFramework=&languageCode=&hideFramework=&languageCode=)

I have Seasons and no Uni, and I haven't noticed any unfulfillable wants. What wants are you talking about?

For the record, I have Base/NL/OFB/Seasons. I'm thinking about getting Uni, if I can convince myself my computer won't start smoking.

I have Uni, NL, OFB, Seasons and one of those stuff packs, I think it it is Glamour Life. No problems here.

I think that Cwykes meant unachievable LTWs. I did a search for cwykes' previous posts and "LTW" and found this (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,6326.msg250539.html#msg250539). Basically she got the wants that uni added but even if a sim achieved them it didn't permaplat them and they never got the memory for it. The borken wants include "earn 100k" and "max 7 skills".

Ah, yes, now I remember. I've never had max 7 skills fulfilled either. But I had read some L-n-P somewhere that if you "cheated" in any way, max 7 skills wouldn't fulfill--and I 'smart' everybody with the lot debugger, so I thought that might have been why. *shrug* It didn't bother me that they didn't get the memory, I just permaplatted them with inSim.

I have had earn 100K fulfill properly, though. India and her son both fulfilled it, complete with permaplat and memory.

Max All Skills will not fill properly if the last skillpoint is gained by buggy means. Some methods of skillpoint gain don't "count" correctly, so if you gain the skillpoint by one of those methods (click-and-drag, Insim, etc., as well as maybe a few legit Maxis methods), it will not "fire", and you will first have to lose that skillpoint and then regain it.

Maxing a skill should give a visible memory. If they have the memories, then they *should* be able to achieve the LTW.

I have all of the EPs, so I've never had this problem. But, according to the post that I linked Cwykes didn't cheat the last point, and she tried multiple times by making the sim lose the point and then regain it (again without cheating) without attaining a memory or getting permaplat. But since I've never seen this I obviously can't verify any of it.

I've only started playing a bit today after installing BV, (vacation), but I remember having issues gaining permaplat because the points were maxed out. 327,000 something or other. I 'spent' the excess points on various items, usually the elixer, and tried again with success. It seemed, in my game anyway, that if you had reached the maximum number of aspiration points before getting the last skill point, it didn't 'take'.

Point and laugh if I've got my points confused with others. It really HAS been a while.:D

You're confused. Permaplat has nothing to do with what you describe. It is purely the work of the non-Awesome.

Thank you, Pes, I thought I might be off.  (http://209.85.62.26/5685/53/emo/duh.gif)  I should have double checked, since it has been almost a year now since I've played with any continuity.

I will now point and laugh at myself. :D
(http://209.85.62.26/5685/53/emo/POINTNLAUGH.gif)------------> ME (http://209.85.62.26/5685/53/emo/04.gif)

I tested the problem LTWs out when I added seasons to base + OFB.  I know max 7 skills is buggy, so having a problem with that alone would be suspect, but earn 100k, have 20 best friends and have 6 grandchildren were also unachievable.  I think tested the 20 loves and that didn't work either, but I can't swear to that.  I didn't update the linked thread with all the detail because it was necromancy by that point and of limited interest to most people.  I was missing Uni and NL, but best I could tell from other posters it was missing Uni that was the problem

These were the 6 problem LTWs you might have problems with if you don't have Uni.
knowledge - max 7 skills
fortune - earn 100k
romance - have 20 loves at once
romance - woohoo with 20 sims
reputation - have 20 best friends
family - have 6 grandchildren

I'm glad someone else mentioned the unachievable slow dance wants - that always irritated me.  syberspunk had a go at stomping it.