More Awesome Than You!

I want to create a medieval hood using my own custom made map and no townies (of any kind ever if possible). I have all the expansions and no stuff packs. I doubt I'll need sub-hoods.

I read various posts about using cleaned hoods, etc, but got a little confused at which method would work best for me. Would Jordi's Clean Custom Neighborhood Tutorial  be the best approach? Also, can I play the hood without any townies or do I still have to create some (even if they are custom) for the hood to function properly?

As I recall, that thread has a whole bunch of information, but yes, it's a good place to start. You will need clean templates in order to avoid getting pre-made townies, NPCs and bin families in your neighbourhood.


Depends on what you mean by "townies". Townies as in simply unplayable sims (Benjamin Long, Ivy Copur & Company) you do not need at all, and with notownierespawn, you won't get any, either. Avoid building apartments (if you have AL) if you don't want any apartment townies.

What's commonly refered to as "NPCs" or "Service NPCs" is a bit different. These are the unplayables which perform a specific function, such as cashiers, firemen, maids, paper 12s, etc. Some of these you can easily avoid by having the antiredundancy hack in and then simply not doing the action required for them to be spawned. Don't ever hire a maid/gardener/call the social services/whatever, and none will be spawned. Don't place cash registers, bars, etc on community lots. If you want some of these, though, there are ways to modify their clothing so they fit your medieval theme.

Some NPCs WILL spawn on their own, but even most of those can be avoided. Use twojeffs' visitor controller to avoid the matchmaker and the Garden Club, and I think also the Charlatan. The paperkid can be avoided by getting some buyable newspapers and putting three in a hidden location on every lot, but one might still spawn from the hobby magazine popups. I don't think there's any way to avoid the mailcarrier, unless the visitor controller can ban those too. Also, if your sims engage in hobbies, the hobby leader sims will spawn at some point.

Also, nostrayrespawn for, well, no strays.

Good luck.

Thanks Tarlia for your quick and informed response. I figured I'd have to "fix" a few NPCs to fit the theme, but that is good to know that I do not need general townies and can avoid some npcs altogether. Fingers crossed I can follow the tutorial to get rid of those maxis freaks! lol

If you already know this, I apologise for being redundant, but you may wish to look at Simlogical (http://drealm.info/simlogical/) for alternative schools. Nothing screws up a medieval hood quite like a school bus.

The whole school thing sounds fun initially but it can get really tedious especially when you consider how much play time it requires. An alternative would be to send the kids walking to school (and likewise the adults to work) and there are carpool replacements (bus included) on MTS2.

One thing I recommend, which isn't a big deal but pickers-of-nits like me get annoyed by it, is to avoid apartments so that you don't have to re-clothe the landlord/lady. Also if you have default replacement roads, the street won't match the default replacements in-lot in-game and since they're outside of apartments, you can't edit them, so it looks bad. They're both cosmetic but then again most period players care about those sort of things.

One of my Sims2 mods (the school changer along with the Flexi school type file) does provide an option for the kids to go to "flexi school" which is basiclly no school at all - leaving you free to educate at home or not educate at all.

I use the flexi school option along with the homework desk (pencil only version) and love it. It's perfect not just for medieval settings, but for any rural or alternative neighbourhood. *cough* teen parents *cough*

(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/kittenkiller.jpg)

Yes, I know. My pants are so tight they show a full camel toe and I can't actually sit down. I crash so often I named the hood Sholokhov, in honour of the author I've been reading as I wait for it to reload. (I needed something long and engrossing.) But I am unrepentant. It's only a testerhood, and when it works, it's so much fun.  :D

I love Inge's school mods and use the flexi school one with the homework place-mat for my home-schooled families.  If you still want something like a school bus to come, Hexameter (http://www.modthesims.info/member.php?u=75890) on MTS has made historical replacement vehicles.  Also, All About Style (http://www.all-about-style.com/themes_npc.html) for NPC outfits.  They're not medieval based, but anything is better than modern, I guess.  You probably already know about these since All About Style is one of the best resources for historical clothing.  I wanted to throw the idea out just in case.

A Midsimmer Night's Dream (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=99584) and The Dark Project (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=232462) on MTS are also good for medieval clothing and objects. ;)