More Awesome Than You!

I'm currently running a copy of the Sims 2 with University, Nightlife, Open for Business, and Seasons. I'm pretty happy with what these expansions add, but I don't have a lot of knowledge about the later ones (or Pets). My computer isn't the greatest (2800+ Athlon, 1GB of RAM, GeForce 4 4200 TI) and it's not in the best of shape, so I'm wondering what you guys think is worth the extra load.

I don't much about what the stuff packs add, and while I love extraneous content that I'll probably use once and then never again, I'm not sure if any particular one is worth it overall, any advice there? I'm hoping the question isn't too general, I've looked up what more or less any of the packs or EPs add, but I'm really wondering what you guys feel is the biggest value out of what I'm not running.

I'm a bit leery of running anything that just adds more lots, my performance with lots of sims on any given lot is pretty spotty, and while my load times aren't horrendous, playing something that's really just a minor variation of Nightlife's dates doesn't seem worth the hassle. Again though, I'm not sure of the specifics, so any insight into core gameplay added that makes the bother worth it would be appreciated.

Pets is basically superfluous unless you actually plan to give your sims pets or make them werewolves.
BV is basically ignorable unless you plan to actually send your sims on vacations.
FT, makes some noteworthy core changes to the game in terms of core options, but...
AL: Probably includes all the global core options that FT did?
MGS: Build mode toys, if you're into that...

And remember, Pirate Cat doesn't pay for his downloads: Say no to SecuROM!

Thanks. I usually avoid the fantasy stuff, I probably spend more time creating houses than playing the game. So werewolves are a pass, and while pets themselves don't seem too bad, eh, passable I guess. BV's a pass too, if it's just themed dates.

I'm looking between FT and AL, and might just get both. AL's apartments are pretty much a pass for me, but wikipedia's lists do seem to add some fun stuff. Kinda hard to tell where they cross though, but I'll just eat the extra load time and try both I guess.

As far as the stuff packs, I'm curious if any of them add anything that would help with say, modern architecture. I'm a big fan of works like Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture (I use the MTS2 Fallingwater windows (http://linna.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=247067) like crazy).

AL without FT does not have secondary aspirations or LTA points or whatever special benefits from primary aspirations you get.  I've been thinking I should maybe get FT (or arrr it, at any rate) for those features, but I am undecided.

Off the top of my head, no. I live about a block from one of Frank Lloyd Wright's creations, and about four blocks from another. Nothing I can think of really looks right. AL has some good windows that work well for mimicking a lot of the townhomes here in Chicago, but they aren't the right dimensions for FLW.

BV's only other major draw than vacations (which you should bore of early) is beach lots. I love having public beaches and homes on the beach. Not sure if they carried that feature over in future EP.

Anything worthwhile about any of the stuff packs, or are they all just a CDs worth of garbage clothing and product placement?

Beaches are tempting, but gwarg, a whole expansion's a lot of overhead. Probably pass, although good to know when I finally ditch the ailing machine I use now. Hoping on financial aid for this coming semester to solve that!

My advice is either buy cheap or don't buy at all.

To be honest though the only reasons I buy them (at ridiculously cheap) are that I'm a collector by nature & I participate in the house of fail comps.

While nothing is as free as arr'ing, if you are uncomfortable with that, Amazon did just drop Apartment Life down to $14.99.

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/cats/piratecat.jpg)
SecuROM is bad, m'kay?

I meant financial aid for buying a new computer. Won't be spending those funds on Sims 2 expansions, I assure you. My computer's about at the end of the line. Had a wireless adapter start overheating constantly, causing BSODs. I now use a 50ft ethernet cable to direct connect to the router.

In addition, all three of the 80gb harddrives I'm using seem to have gotten some form of damage, although I'm not clear whether the BSODs from the adapter exacerbated the problem or it was just inadequate cooling. I've got a case fan, and I run with the case open and one of those swirly desk fans blowing into it (in non-swirly mode...) but either way, they're definitely damaged in some fashion.

Definitely not adverse to arring, AL is currently ready for installation, but I'm waiting for FT to finish so I can install them in order. =)

Not so much unable or unwilling as completely useless at installing arred proggies that aren't pretty much point & click. That & the p2p proggies give me the willies. Am willing to provide blanks/replacement costs to anyone willing to ship me anything I don't have, however, I am the queen of bargain hunting & have recently purchased most for less than the price you quoted me. Plus I enjoy haggling. The listed price is rarely the price I pay for anything.

*Edited to fix typos with brief interlude to beat the shit out of the lappy for being such a dick about this spelling & punctuation shit.

I'm sure there's some versions of Bittorrent that don't require much work at all to get going. The sites you get the torrents from are usually the iffier parts. But on the whole it's not as creepy as KaZaa, etc., used to be.

I do enjoy having a physical copy of stuff. And companies are finally sticking with DVDs as a content medium, so no more of "swap to disc 5" crap. Between Baldur's Gate (first one's five discs, second's four), The Sims 2 (four if I recall, but I have the DVD version), and WoW (think it varies when you got it, but my copy is five, plus expansions...) I've had more than enough of that...

uTorrent is pretty much plug-n-play. I get my crap from The Pirate Bay. Check comments for complaints of viruses. Make sure the seeder/leecher ratio is decent, then download. Use antivirus to scan the files when downloaded (never been hit since 2003, downloading Spin Spin Sugar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzu1RUgFzE8) with some defunct spyware accelerator). Unzip. Mount .iso with Daemon Tools. Install. Throw in crack. Profit.

At the moment I own all EPs and no SPs, but am running only certain ones on my laptop.  When I get a new desktop in the relatively near future, I am thinking seriously of either being like Pirate Cat (a thing I never thought I'd do), or just running no EPs after SNS.  Unless it's true what I've heard, that the new re-releases of the older EPs, and even some copies of SNS, also have SecuROM.  In which case I have only one choice.  (Meow!)

Once I have the game working well on a new desktop, I'll probably wipe the hard drive of my laptop and reinstall the system, something I should really have been doing as part of regular computer maintenance until now anyway.  At least that'll get rid of SecuROM, if I have it (which I am not sure).

As for the original question, the bare minimum EP configuration I need is UNI + at least one EP after OFB.  I played base+UNI+FT for a long time, and base+UNI+AL for a long time after that.  I need UNI because I perform plastic surgery on almost every Maxis Sim, and the famous non-awesome mod which provides this, uses a UNI career reward.

Eventually I added NL back in, only because I missed certain items, hairstyles, and clothing.  I do not run vampires at all, nor often play dates or outings.  I put BV back in for the sauna and a few other items, and also so my Sims can dig in the backyard to find rocks and other things, and thus get a bit of extra cash if they're broke.  (I sense a failcat coming for that confession.)  Finally I added SNS back because I missed the greenhouses, the ambient light changes, and -- well, the seasons.  Which brings me up to my current configuration of base+UNI+NL+SNS+BV+AL.

I liked the secondary aspiration idea of FT, and the fact that I could get cars without having NL installed, but other than that it grew old.  I found Pets so buggy that I used it only briefly.  And OFB had some neat stuff in it, but somehow I just don't miss it all that much.

Sometimes an EP will have even one item that is so full of win that I consider that EP almost essential.  That would be true for me with AL's garbage chute.  A bottomless garbage can that never needs emptying, what's not to like?

As for the SPs, I got two of them for almost nothing with Best Buy coupons once -- KBS and TSS I think.  With TSS I got a bunch more slutty clothes for teen girls and adult women, as well as some ridiculous ones for their male counterparts, and a neat refrigerator and stove with KBS (both of which, as we all know, are broken by later EPs).  Not enough to justify the extra load times.  But then again, that's just my tastes on the matter.

EDIT:
I stand corrected by the master of such fixes himself.  :)  But I'll still do without either SP, and as for fridges and stoves, I like the FT ones better anyway.

K&B fridges should be all right provided that you applied FT patch or have AL/M&G. And K&B stove was never broken.

I figure once I get a nice new laptop I'll just install the whole lot. If I get a new computer I'm going to just go for broke.

The game's definitely dropped a bit of performance since installing Free Time and Apartment Life. I've only fiddled around with making a community lot for a new community, so all I've seen is whatever items they've added mixed in.

I did see that nice new trash chute. Hurrah for bottomless pits.

Fiddling around with things a bit, I notice I now apparently have talent trees. Unfortunately I can't go tank spec... New interactions from somewhere, those are nice. Reputation I'm not sure about, seems kinda like another social element that only has a minor effect on things. Is magic any fun? I normally avoid the fantasy stuff, but if it's interesting, would be a good place to start I guess.

Yeah, that's great, if you have a DVD drive... (I do now, as of this July, but I didn't when I was still buying EPs.)


It's okay... The teleport spell is nice, I suppose. I was playing about the other day, and decided to get a Servo into magic. He has the hat and everything, it's kind of cute. He's infallibly good, but he doesn't get the yellow pox that the Sims get, which I think is awesome. I hate that pox. (I haven't checked if there's an evil witch 'skin' for servos yet.)

'That pox':
(http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p282/Lady_Faizah/Sims/S4_GoodWitch.jpg)

Ew... Not sure what I think about that...

Cursory look through MTS2 shows this mod (http://linna.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=299163). Would that make it bearable? It shows an aura but unless it's a system hog probably not too bad I guess.

As for DVDs, they're like 12 years old as a format now. They can certainly fill them to capacity by now. My brother had a 360 game, 4 dual layer discs. That's about 35gb. And the Vanguard beta (some MMO I never played) was something like 25gb from a screenshot I saw. So we'll be swapping them like CDs soon enough.

Pets gives your retired elders something to do - they can raise and train puppies and kittens.  Also with Pets, children can develop charisma skill by talking to caged birds, it's the only charisma-building activity (that I know of) which is available to them.

BV gives you the Mahjong Table which satisfies both fun and social needs.  If you hate TVs as much as I do, you'll have a mahjong table in every household.

Well, there's also the poker table.

Simsbaby did a "No Witch Overlay" hack.  http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,12878.0.html

With that, and a little bit of "Fix Flashing Blue" on the lot debugger, my Good and Evil witches now look like this.

(http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/8710/10292008173548km3.th.jpg) (http://img525.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10292008173548km3.jpg)

I don't want no overlay. I found a replacement for the evil overlay that I can live with, it's only the good one that bugs me. And even the good one is almost tolerable, on S1. I just can't stand that it makes S4 sims look like they have an extreme case of radioactive chicken pox.

Is that from BV as well? Don't believe I've seen it.

I think the poker table comes with Uni or NL.  Children cannot use it, but they can use the mahjong table.

Faizah, mine is two separate files. Just install the one for the good witch.

Children can use the teleprompter podium too, I believe, for charisma.

I can definitely live without pets. I ban strays and stuff, and I just got a werewolf for my supernatural experimenting hood (werewolfs, plantsims, zombies, servos, vampires, witches). I haven't played with the vacation lots, but I do like the extra career paths they bring. I get tired of having to choose between doctor, mayor, scientist, slacker, and athlete all the time. I like having the wide array of careers.

My essentials would be:
University, Nightlife, OFB, FT/AL

I can live without seasons or bon voyage and definitely Pets.

Kids can play with the podiums, but I don't think they get charisma from them while doing so. They do get charisma from the business reward (the putting green) though.

Kids certainly can gain charisma from the podiums. I have been using macro>charisma to get those last couple of points, and they get them just fine as children, with a podium in the house. (The current family has the base game politics podium, though the I-forget-what-EP legal career also has a podium as the reward.)

Kids have a 'Play' option, but they also have the same 'Practice speech' option as older Sims.

Going back to the point about kids & charisma & Pets: the caged parrot is the only buyable object that children can use to train charisma.  Yes, they can use the career rewards for education, business, law, or politics to train it, but those aren't buyable objects.

Interesting -- I've never had a kid gain charisma on the podium, only the putting green.  I'll have to check that out now...

Kinda a lot of overhead just for that though. Plus you can't really avoid animals like you can say, an extra lot like Bon Voyage.

IMHO, I'd not recommend Pets, as it doesn't add much to the core, and the Sims have enough to do without adding pets to the situation.  Because I installed FT, AL and Seasons on the same day, I pulled out my Seasons manual to check what new features it added.  Features include the giving of gifts (great for transferring rewards and such to other sims), an option to have different hair styles for different outfits (ie, low poly hair for everyday, ponytail for sleep and swim, high poly hair for formal occasions), you can put leftover food into the fridge (great for small families, and kids can feed themselves omelets in the morning without ma or pa waking up), new careers (lawyer career rewards you with another podium that pays 5$ every minute, but the "cha-ching" is irritating and the flying 5s lag my lappy), and a juicer to make smoothies with your crops (you get to garden).  New objects are limited though, but who cares with all the CC available.

On a side note, as far as I know, if a child can use a reward, they can build the skill.  I've maxed out children's charisma with the podium before they even become teens.

So, as stated in a previous post, I don't think Pets or BV are worth it.  As for SPs, don't bother or don't pay for them.

Normally I don't endorse "arr-ing", but after EA screwed us with Spore by treating the innocent like pirates while cracks have no DRM, feck those asses, don't give them any more money.  Too bad I'll miss out on Sims3, unless I arr, which I won't.  ;-)

Hope this helped.

Yeah, I'm leery about three. The leap to two from one is solid, but fairly obvious concepts like dates still require an entire expansion instead of being a core feature? Vacations, pets, weather, dates, and probably college'll all have their own separate expansions all over again. Oh boy, I love spending $40 for a feature I've already played with in a Sims game!

I wasn't recommending Pets, merely clarifying the earlier point made about the caged bird.  I've never used the caged bird in my game.  I only keep Pets installed because I like some of the objects.  Or was it some of the walls & floors?  Can't quite remember now.

Personally I install EPs based on three things.  Point 2 applies to SPs too.
1. Does it add new careers (ignoring pet careers)?
2. Does it add items I would consider using in my game (whether objects, walls, floors, hair or clothing)?  Some EP/SPs are better than others at this.
3. Does it add new features that I would use in my game that are not available in a later EP.  For example: The ninja teleport (especially the way it works with macrotastics) and beach lots are the two main reasons I keep BV in my game.  BV also introduced "walk to lot" and new turn-ons & turn-offs, however I believe those features are also included in a later EP.

I enjoyed having the caged bird for a while, but I hardly ever buy it for my sims anymore. A lot of times they'll get the Want to buy the cage, but they never Want the actual bird. Fine with me, really. I like that it's a charisma-builder that can be used autonomously. I *don't* like that anyone and everyone who comes over will zoom straight for the cage to let the damned bird out (not to mention that before cagedpetfixes, those birds were starving to death left and right).

Yeah, walk to lot and new turnons/turnoffs were present in my game with AL and FT but not BV installed. I tossed BV into the mix anyway, I don't see any major core additions (vacations I'm guessing are mostly just expanded dates, right?), but I like beach lots. I'm a pretty big Japanophile too, so kimonos are nice. Hairwise I tend to avoid the Maxis stuff, most just can't compare to CC with the textures they use, even if the shapes are ok.

That brings the setup to every EP but Pets, which seems to be pretty universally considered unnecessary. At least I confirmed most of the stuff packs weren't worth it (that said, I did get the Holiday Stuff pack, kimonos again.)

It'd be nice if the expansions built off each other a bit more. I can understand the issue of requiring a daisy chain of EPs to enjoy something, but something like Outerwear is added in one expansion, and not a single EP after that bothers with the whole clothes category.

I have all EPs except for Bon Voyage, because sims going on vacations doesn't interest me one bit, although I'm somewhat curious about beach lots.

Of the later EPs that I do have, Pets is one whose features I use the least, my sims rarely have pets nowadays.

I like Seasons, Freetime and Apartment Life quite a bit. The different seasons and gardening are features I enjoy playing, hobbies are a central part of my sims' lives now, and so far playing apartments has been fun.

Of the stuff packs, I liked the clothing in Teen and H&M packs, the furniture options in Ikea, and to some degree in K&B, but the new features (particularly the quarter tile placement) in M&G have made it the best stuff pack of them all.

I wouldn't go without Pets. Wolves, I could do without. A hack like wolfwatchers, or TJ's visitor controller to ban them by lot can work. That's what I do...ban them by lot. But pets themselves add flavor. I like seeing Luke Marderosian walk by with Mips, and being able to invite them both in so that Mips the cat can play with Allegra the dog. I only have two pets plus one wolf in my 'hood, but they add flavor.

Of course, I'm a completionist as far as EP go. The only one I truly don't use the features of is Nightlife. I almost never have a Downtown, I don't use vamps, and I rarely do the date thing.

I believe that I only ever have the option to play on the podium if I am using just a child. If they have someone teach them, however, they can learn charisma on the podium with the adult or teen.

I wouldn't recommend Pets either, but I do like the floor divider 'fences', I use those quite a bit. I think they came with Pets?

I really think the one EP I couldn't live without is also the one I was least impressed with prior to getting it: Open For Business. Sure, community lot businesses might be pricy for the beginning entrepreneur, but even Brandi Broke can run a home business at a profit. It's even possible to deliberately run a business at a loss, if a family has too much money. (Each EP adds a new money-making thing, after all.)

OFB compliments the later EP's by making any sort of business possible.

You can use OFB to sell the craftables from FT, the produce and fish from Seasons, animals from Pets, and even use the ticket machine for your Uni house parties.

Thanks Faizah.  THAT'S the reason I keep Pets installed.

/me must be getting senile to have forgotten that.

Somebody on MTS2 was crazy kind enough to go through the Maxis defaults and reclassify all the clothing and hats that needed it.  In the process, he/she moved a lot of stuff into Outerwear.

My own personal assessment, with reasons:

Uni - adds kicky bag and Hang Out, which are fairly good for friend building, musical instruments, and the Resurrect-o-nomitron, all of which might be available w/o the EP. Adds the YA age stage, assuming you want more time for meeting LTWs. Also added LTWs, I think, but that's almost certainly available with other EPs. Otherwise, useless. Benefits are minor.

Nightlife - adds drivable cars, and as far as I know, EA's been pretty strict about not giving you these with other EPs. Not sure if you can build restaurants on non-hotel lots without NL. Also not sure if dating is available at all w/o it. Dating is definitely a must-have, as boring as it is, because of the exploitability. Free mood and energy boost at the end of the date, and possibly free gifts and an unearned Cleaning, even if your date has lower Cleaning skill than your sim? Sign me up!

OFB - robots, if you want them. A wider range of commercial lots, even if you don't want to build businesses yourself. Create a dummy sim and Motherlode him, have him buy commercial lots, and build all sorts of shops. Plus, it's supposed to be the most stable of the early expansion packs.

Pets - unless you like pets, doesn't add much to the game. Animals are an easy way to get a social boost, though. The floor dividers are useful, but before I installed Pets, I was able to do the same thing with the railroad ties.

Seasons - the most visually interesting EP, and the season bonuses are great for exploitation. Also adds some challenge, since now you actually have to consider building at least a roof, if not walls.

Bon Voyage - adds ninja teleport and tai chi, which I find more useful that just about any other skill. The viral nature of tai chi gave me a good idea for an OFB business: a dojo, which has been pretty successful. Tai chi builds energy, so it's an easy way to extend a trip to a commercial lot. Still, you can probably skip BV. Even though I find my Bigfoot mayor pretty amusing. Bonuses from having a good trip just don't last long enough or have big enough an effect to matter.

Freetime - adds some variety to sim behaviors, but nothing really important. I do find the superpowers useful, though.

Apartment Life - haven't explored AL much, yet. Mayor Bigfoot is now a warlock, and his robot friend wants to be one, too, so this may wind up breaking my game. Can't tell you whether Al is worth it yet, even for magic, but my guess is that actual apartments, with neighbors hanging out in common areas, will make the game a little more interesting. Like the teen next-door neighbor who stayed up all night swinging his little brother around by the arms.

Mansion & Garden - don't have this yet, don't know much about it, don't know if I'll get it. Only have a few of the stuff packs, too. Can't really recommend any of them.

Summary: NL and OFB are definite must-haves. Seasons adds lots of variety and gaming options, so it's also a good choice. Everything else is up to whim.

I had a fun competition with my sister to see who could have a teenage Sim make the most money before going off to university/aging up to adulthood. I won by a landslide - Bon Voyage's digging got me quite a few treasure chests, plus a ticket booth at 30$ an hour meant that I didn't need to perform any sales interactions on them to get them to come in and spend MONEYS. Pinball machines are powerful. Basically, everyone stood on the lawn doing viral tai-chi from this one freestylin' grandma.

Of course, I now know that you can get someone to pay 800 simoleons an hour with a well-executed dazzling. Unfortunately, she does now, too, so it's very interesting to do such challenges now.

Personally, I'm loving AL with Pescadoian fixes because of how interesting it is to run lots with NOTHING inside the apartments. Everything's in the common area. It's like an asylum, and it's great fun, not to mention CHEAP! An utterly empty 1x2 apartment is quite inexpensive, you may find.

The only stuff pack that I haven't arrquired yet is Glamour Life stuff and that's only because every single file I've found on TPB has been labelled as having a bloody virus. Is it worth getting or should I just not bother to keep looking fpor a clean one?

BV also made it possible to age up your townies when one of your playables has a birthday.  As far as I know, this feature was not carried forward to later EPs.

I bought it and feel my $20 would have been better spent on rhum and cigarettes.


FT allows you to age up three townies per Sim, but never had a chance to figure out how to do it.  Probably helps to have non-adult townie friends at the birthday party, which I never did.

Oh, you are right.  That feature did come with FT.  My bad.

You don't have to have a birthday party to age up townies.  A window will pop up as your sim is age-transitioning, asking who is growing up along with your sim.  All the townies who are in the same age group as your sim, and who your sim has actually met, should be listed in the pop-up.  (Though I have also seen YAs in the list when adults age-transition, but I figured they were close enough in age to qualify as the same age group.  Meh.)

Yeah, I seem to recall it being an FT feature, but I never saw it in action until after I installed AL. I've been aging up some of those annoying children that call their friends long after they've grown up, gone to college, got married, and had children of their own. Like Chloe Gozanga. Turns out one teen Romance sim has a triple bolt attraction to teen Chloe, so that's working out fine so far. Although there was a temporary borkage on their first date where Appreciate > Backrub didn't work quite right: the teen would turn in a random direction as Chloe turned her back to him, and he would reach towards her actual location and "rub" her back no matter where she was actually located. Which amazed me, because I didn't think the arms were animated separately from the body and thus the sims were capable of more varied actions than we actually see.

It was my favourite SP until IKEA and M&G came out. (The quartertile cheat alone made M&G my favourite SP ever.) I use GLS objects quite a lot. PJs and coats are nice too. Certainly not worth to pay for, but worth enough to acquire. There is still one available on MiniNova. No mention of virus in comments.

Heh. 800/hour?

At the times that I would run a backyard venue for the sole purpose of  gaining the money to b uy a community lot, I'd routinely charge $9,999/hr for admission to a bubble blower and a few snapdragons.

And the Reporter will pay any amount to enter a venue, and can sometimes be coaxed into showing up in the fearly days of the business.  The highest I ever charged on a business designed solely as reporter bait was $300,000/hr, but the reporter will pay  $999,999/hr, no questions asked if you let her.

Though prior to the Bon Voyage Patch, you could run a backyard massage parlor, and "Selll Massage To..." townies at $999,999 each with no sales badges required.

Venues can make insane money. Lately, though, I've been setting them to ridiculously cheap and/or ceasing to charge customers when the owner leaves.  Mostly the latter.  It takes too much time  to get a  date or casual group that contains non-resident Sims into the venue otherwise.

SHIT, SON

HOW DID YOU DO THIS

And how did you determine who was the reporter when they came? Is there a distinguishing characteristic, or did you somehow view their tokens? Or can one simply make them temporarily selectable and see an action in their queue that is indicative of a reporter visit? Perhaps the reporter NPC is reused? (In which case, I think I shall put mine in a slightly more descriptive outfit.)

Although reporters don't have a special uniform, they're fairly easy to spot. Look for the customer who constantly takes notes.

If you have antiredundancy, I believe that only one reporter is used for all businesses.

Do they take notes before having paid at the ticket booth? Wait, that's stupid, it's always the same reporter! Dwahh. Thank you for the infos! Now to make my Gootentaugen-and-Hot-Tubs lounge a reality. Bwahahah.

I never gave mininova a thought. Much appreciated, arrquiring now.

I get the dialog inconsistently, and with different sims listed. Often there are townie sims the aging sim doesn't even know listed. I've only used it to age up the children to teen. My current 'hood has a high enough number of kids now that they always have several choices of relatives and neighbors to invite over after school.

No party needed. Just "Grow Up".

While nothing is as free as arr'ing, if you are uncomfortable with that, Amazon did just drop Apartment Life down to $14.99.
[/quote]

Not so much unable or unwilling as completely useless at installing arred proggies that aren't pretty much point & click. That & the p2p proggies give me the willies. Am willing to provide blanks/replacement costs to anyone willing to ship me anything I don't have, however, I am the queen of bargain hunting & have recently purchased most for less than the price you quoted me. Plus I enjoy haggling. The listed price is rarely the price I pay for anything.

*Edited to fix typos with brief interlude to beat the shit out of the lappy for being such a dick about this spelling & punctuation shit.
[/quote]

I still have a 'never removed from the shipping box' copy of Seasons gathering mucho dust in a corner...I imagine most peeps have arr'd said EP, since I have no takers. It's FREE people!  :D
Well, if you live on Mt Kilimanjaro, maybe a small shipping fee.. ::)

"Beverly, I want to talk to you about one of your recent evaluations, 'Joe's Backyard.'"
"Awful place. Just a park bench, nothing else. Wrote a scathing review, and the place closed its doors shortly afterwards. What's the problem?"
"The problem is the million-simolean admittance fee you charged on the expense account..."

Now, admittedly, I haven't done it recently, so I don't know if it's still the case, but one of the things I'd noticed  (And that a number of people complained about )  was that the Reporter would often be, if not /the first/ one of the first few Sims to visit a newly-opened business.

So it was just a matte of starting a home business, slapping down a Ticket Machine, setting it to  charge hundreds of thousands of simoleans, and ignoring it until the Reporter showed up, and paid the money.

No Loyalty is lost for failing to dazzle a Sim past the ticket machine. I suppose I could have made the effort to keep the  reporter on the lot more than an hour. Never seemed necessary, so I'd just get the huge amount of money, let the  Reporter wander around the empty backyard for a awhile,  wave cheerily at her when she gave a bad review, and shut down the business.

Since I didn;t have No redundancy in when I installed OFB,  my neighborhood contains  three reporters, but I've played enough businesses to recognize them all on sight by now. (Dolphin's Business Adjuster Hack can be set to throw up a dialog when a  reporter appears, or you can just set the Dress code of the lot to something other than  Everyday with Pescado's  Customer Selector, as Reporters seem to ignore lot dress codes)

I'm looking into fixing that, actually.

Ahahah, I lol'd. I just tried that out, and the look on the reporter's face when they gave the bad review just about fit that description perfectly! The reporter's name was Bev, too.

"Well, how was I supposed to review it without getting in?"
"It was just a pinball machine and eight pots of flowers!"
"Hey, the pinball machine shot fire and spat out money, okay?"
"Did you keep the money?"
"No, the owner did."

I wasn't really interested in all the expansion packs, but I got them because of some of the things they added that I really wanted.

UNI: New careers/aspiration rewards, extra want slots, which can be gained using the batbox.  I don't care about Greek houses or secret societies, but I just had a sim abducted into a secret society for the first time recently.  Ok one time, but - meh.  I send all my sims to UNI so they can meet other sims they might not normally meet for potential mates.  I also set up dorms with tj's buyable career rewards (when it still worked) so they can further their skill levels.  (On a new UNI I just added, I snarfed career rewards from a cow mascot and a professor after making them selectable and then unlocking all their career rewards.  Grab what I want, then send them on their merry way!) 

I send all my teens to UNI the day before their birthday to adult stage.  I used to send them earlier, but if a sim wants to max out all their skills as a LTW, they can spend more time at home finishing what they can there, then the extra time at UNI makes it easier for them to accomplish.  Most of them have their 7 skills maxed out by the time they graduate.  (I don't usually try to get them maxed out while they're a teen, but a few have!)  Then they can spend their time on other pusuits while an adult, like hobbies or crafting, from the other EPs.

NL:  Cars and inventory, which I think was carried over into another EP.  I didn't care about dates or the new places they could go.  It gave me the ability to move sims into a larger house/lot and keep their stuff.  The cars provided a means to send them to work/take kids to school on the day they moved (always starts out a new lot on Monday).

OFB:  Don't care about running a business, but it added elevators, which I really wanted.  Also added crafting benches which give my sims another way to gain income - you can sell items right from the bench at a profit, if the item wasn't screwed up.  Otherwise, I would have passed this one up.

Pets:  Meh.  It added some new build mode options, otherwise, pretty useless unless you like having your sims have a pet.  The bird and charisma building it gives to a family who doesn't have a golf putter or podium is about the only reason I keep it in.

Seasons:  Also some nice new build stuff, like the stage and greenhouse, which I sometimes use for a porch!  About the only thing I like about the actual change of seasons is the boost they give to various things - like friendships in summer and skilling in fall.  Also nice to be able to put leftovers in the fridge.  Really tired of the rain storms and lightning strikes, which happen way too often, but the weather machine can fix that.

BV: I passed on this one, and only just got it.  I have a neighborhood I had set up a year or so ago of pirates and island girls and I saw that this had the pirate ship, beaches, and a few other things that would make this hood more like I wanted.  I had already made my own hut bamboo & thatch walls, but it also added some new roofs that I like for some of my other hoods.  Also adds the pagoda roof styles and some nice kimonos.  And I may yet use the pyramid stuff on a pyramid house I started clear back in the early days of the game, but never finished beacuse I didn't have everything I wanted to make it realistic.  Will have that egyptian theme hood yet!

FT:  I wanted crafts.  Also like the ability to go to a different neighborhood from the lot without having to got to the neighborhood screen first.  Also added new careers, which I haven't fully explored yet.  I got FT just about the time we were looking for, bought, and moved into a house, so I didn't have the free time to play it!

AL:  Makin' Magic was my favorite EP from TS1.  Also wanted apartments to move my graduated sims into instead of back to the parent's house, since those families have way more simoleans than they could ever spend.  Also wanted spiral staircases.

M&G:  Don't have, may get just because they have ceiling fans!  Otherwise, I haven't seen a lot that this offers that interests me.

Stuff packs:  I only got FFS for the stuff for my pirate hood.  It has some good decorations, like crossed oars and a globe.  Also has some cute stuff, like pjs and beds, for kids.  Glamour life has a couple of things (mainly dresses) I can use for my eventual Egyptian theme hood.  It also has some cool pjs for adults and some nice furnishings.  These are the only two SPs I considered worthwhile for my purposes.  What you want to do determines if or which of the SPs are worth the memory usage.

So it depends on what things you really feel necessary, or just plain LIKE, that an EP/SP has to offer that will make it worth keeping and taking up memory space.  I bought a computer 3 years ago that I figured would be the ideal game machine, mainly for TS2, but also for some other games I play.  I was at that "unusable" stage on the computer I had prior to this one, so I know what you're going through.

I also have a hood I started just for monsters, like vampire and werewolf.  Haven't had either yet, and I got each EP as it came out, except for BV.

Also on the fence about TS3.  Dosn't look like it's going to offer a whole lot, but the ability to change sims bodies into more realistic builds and to be able to customize walls, furniture, etc. by color/pattern within the game might make it worth looking at.  Still undecided as to whether I think it's worth it, though.  I have a lot invested in this game, and I figure I'll keep playing it for a long time!

• Children can have maxed skills before becoming teenagers, making Uni skilling totally unnecessary
• Stages came with Open for Business
• Going onto the computer and getting the Lawyer/Politics career then quitting unlocks the reward
• Parrots build charisma at the same rate as the mirror does
• Apartment life has elevators as well

Other than that, though, it's accurate.

Couldn't remember which one had the stages - thanks!

I only allow one career and its associated reward per adult/household.  Because of that, my sim children aren't usually maxed out in skills unless they're a third or more generation in a house.  And I don't always use the teacher/link skilling method, because I just don't think to use it.  And I kind of like playing the UNI part, for some sadistic reason.

Actually, I think JM's list of skill gaining rates lists the mirror at a higher skill gain than the parrot - mirror 200 and bird 150.  The only advantage to having a bird is that they talk to it autonomously once it has been taught to talk.

The list is by no means complete, I'm sure, this was just why I got them and why I keep them in my game.

I have all the expansions and stuff packs. Im not really sure what I would consider the most worthwhile ones. I mainly stick with all the expansions and stuff packs as I like how the clothing, hair and objects fit the overall environment, which I for the most don't find CC doing. I also find that when downloading CC, I get a "more, more MORE" sickness so I try to keep with what I already have.

H&M Stuff is my favourite when it comes to clothing, however, it focuses mainly on female clothing. I really like Family Fun Stuff because of the beds and the pjs. Glamour life also has a nice set of furniture. Celebration stuff was the one I disliked the most, I rarely marry my sims under the arch so they never really wear formal clothes. Teen Stuff was fun, while Family Fun focused more on the kids, Teen Stuff has some nice items (and clothes) for your teen sims. IKEA was a HUGE disapointment for me, coming from Sweden and basically grown up with Billy bookcases and the like... I find all the items really ugly in the game. K&B made me drool - I really wanted those new stoves and fridges and I love the modern look. Haven't had M&G for long but so far, the only object I really like is the huge staircase which I will probably never use. There's also the Holiday stuff which I find quite worthless - unless you have Seasons and get Santa to drop by with some gifts every winter.

I rarely send my sims to Uni, because if I send one, they all want to go. And when they go, they want to almost max their skills - which I leave my sims to do when they're elders. I like NL - nice objects and clothes - even if I don't do the dating and the vampirestuff. OFB adds a new aspect to the game imo. It seems to me that it goes very well with Freetime. Kind of cute.. having stores where your sims have created everything themselves. Pets is as said by others only good if you really want pets for your sims. For the most part I find the pets annoying. Seasons added a nice touch - season activities and now actually those stuff from the holiday stuff pack came in use... BV doesn't change the game much but it does come with some nice objects, and it can be fun to have your sims go on vacation.

I haven't played BV and Freetime as much as I'd like, and I just got AL today.

I think in order to say which expansion packs are the most worthwhile, you need to ask worthwhile from which perspective. As I stated, I like the Maxis stuff. I'm not buidling much so I can't say which EP and SP are most worthline if you want more buildstuff. M&G I suppose is quite nice for that but most EP/SP add floors and walls not so many buidling options, none other than has already been mentioned that I know of at least.

Came to think of that AL has those spiral staircases.. but I found them somewhere else and had them before AL =]

Probably these stairs (http://modthesims2.com/download.php?t=249237). The AL ones don't have a matching set that go the other way, Marvine's do, and have a whole lot more colors.

Not sure I care for vacations. I like getting new interactions, but how you get them is a pain in the ass. Tons of loading since every spot is pretty much good only for one thing. I'm not sure I've actually seen any locals, everyone I've met seems like a tourist in a kimono. I saw a ninja once but he promptly vanished. I did get the dragon tale out of the old man at least. Other than that, the vacation has pretty much been horrible. Arrived at night, next two days it rains. And pretty much any thing you can get bees out of, (tossing a coin, chance cards from tours) has caused my sims to be chased by bees.

They do enjoy tossing bees at your vacationing sims, don't they?

I've found that before sending a sim on vacation it's a good idea to head over to their intended destination yourself and edit the lots. Much like Magic Town or Studio Town in The Sims was originally set up to address only one or two points of interest per lot, each community lot in BV seems geared towards only one or two activities. To that end I've gone in and fleshed out most of the comm lots so that my sims can hit a few more highlights on each and hopefully avoid the lot-hopping that really slows things down.

For instance, in Takemizu I've added massage and mah jong tables to the Lucky Shrine Park (along with an espresso stand), as well placed a jewelry display in the little store so sims can buy local jewelry there along with a souvenir. I've also added mah jong & espresso to the Hot Springs lot and replaced one of those springs with the giant ninja statue; that way the ninja will appear in a predictable spot and not be hindered by the uneven terrain back behind the rear fence where he used to arrive. Hotels are given a tea room (as well as the rooms receiving a makeover) and some improved recreation facilities. The tiny "tea gazebo" lot gets a massage table in place of one of the bathrooms, and the lovely bamboo fountain is replaced by a wishing shrine.

As you observed, the ninja will hightail it very quickly after arriving, so it helps to know where on a lot he's going to appear. One of the reasons having the giant ninja statue on the Hot Springs lot helps is that I can send a sim running to that spot as soon as she arrives on the lot so that she's ready and waiting, and the second he starts to poof in, I pause the game and select 'Learn Teleport' immediately. Even then he's sometimes too quick; if the sim gets caught up in the ZOMGNinjaPoof!!1!one! animation, he'll probably slip away again. Still, I know where he's going to turn up again next time and don't need to chase him all over town just hoping to catch a glimpse of him. I may need to chase him a few times in order to get the question right, but at least I'll know the spots where he's likely to be.

Bees and things that made my sims itch. And all the chance cards that increased skills tended to target ones I already had maxed. I eventually gave up on learning anything there, both my characters could teleport via magic already, so it was somewhat redundant, and I suspect something is just wrong about the installation, I never once saw a local, unless they happen to resemble white people in kimonos and offer no different options than a tourist would. I did learn the Dragon Tale at least.

Outside of that though, there's some clear issues with my game. All the secret hobby lots from Free Time appear to have had their lots replaced with random asian vacation lots from Bon Voyage. I went to the secret gaming lot, and it looked suspiciously like a game free pagoda. When I went on vacation in game, I confirmed that it was EXACTLY like the secret lot from there, meaning something overwrote something it shouldn't have.

But with the next semester starting mid next month, I'm hoping to more or less replace this machine with a decent laptop, so it's too much of a hassle to fix it when I'll be able to start fresh without all the hardware issues. I opted to just try and give myself the interactions in SimPE in the meanwhile.

That's what locals are, yes. They're just like regular sims, except they start out knowing the local dances and perks.

BFBVFS!

I'll work a bit more interacting with those guys then when I reinstall the whole deal on another computer.

As for the lots, yeah, they're pretty borked. The Free Time special hobby lots are worthless entirely, as they're just vacation-townie free versions of the Asian vacation spots (some townies are there, but I didn't notice anything special about them, and the pagoda location is pretty damn worthless without the old man there...).

Additionally, no witches ever seem to spawn at the two magic locations. The evil warlock would show up at community lots, but I'm not sure a good witch or warlock ever spawned until I forced the game to. Either way, the magic lots are worthless as other than the evil warlock castle's serving NPCs, they're both completely empty.

No idea what went wrong during installation, but given the hassle it takes to remove and reinstall stuff, I'm just playing with the notion that this neighborhood is a loss, and I can just use it to test hacks and content out for a game on a more stable computer.