More Awesome Than You!

I play this game almost 3 years, and it's the first time that I discoverred that the sims have color preference, which add to the environment rate - amazing!

I played at the Pleasants, and when I replaced the bedroom to green - no matter how many 10-rated objects I put, when Daniel enterred the room, the environment rate was decreased.

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/environment.jpg)

Now I went to his room, and replaced the green style to red style - when he enterred, the environment rate increased far over the full. And in the green-style room I have many more 10-rated objects; here I have only 1 statue, and few pictures.

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/redenvironment.jpg)

That answers the surprise I always have, when I enter a humble furnished room, but the sim there showed full scale of the environment rate.

Bottom line: color preference boosts the environment rate.

Maybe this is the addition of the lighting score (i.e. how bright the colors are). Stupid Maxis kludges together lighting *with* overall neatness, thus creating the situation where neat sims cannot reasonably know when to clean a room.

I am a bit skeptical about this. Is there even a way for Sims to "see" color?

Gali, I love pictures from your game. Just as gaudy and busy as can be. Even their computer is not spared.

Dear god - I'm surprised the environment score didn't go into negative values! I guess this proves sims have no sense of taste or style.

They must have unbelieveably high utility bills with all of those lights you like to use  :o

Not that much - 2,500$.  But I have to change my strategy now. I thought that I don't get high rate environment, because the sims wanted more decorations and furniture, and lights. With this new knowledge, I can save a lot of taxes, and spare a lot of redecorating work (very tiresome, when the house is so full of objects).  I am neataholic, and environmentaholic...:).

So, you pick what Sims think looks good, instead of what actually looks good? Because to me, that layout and design scheme has me reaching for the
(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/crapola/eyeclorox.jpg).

I mean, I know "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", but I don't see how there's any response to those pictures other than this.

Lol, Venusy, I *promise*  you, that I either don't think, that the design I made is beautiful.

In real life I like big spaces, with a lot of room to "breath". In my living room - 5x5 sq. mr - I have only two sofas, TV, very small library, my computer, stereo, and a coffee table. I like to dance, and each week I invite my friends to a "pseudo-party".   I get *suffocated*, when I see small rooms, full with furniture.

But *in the game*, I try to reach full rate of environment - and because all the time I failed, using the same furniture I use in RL -  I added more and more objects, thinking that the game is programmed this way.

That's why I am so surprised to discover my wrong assumption. Sorry, if some of you think that it's my taste of the right design. The opposite is true.

Sorry Gali, I have to ask - what is a pseudo-party? The party you have when you're not having a party? I'm not mocking you, I am just amused by the turn of phrase.

ONLY $2,500?!?! I'm lucky if any of mine go over $600 - even at Greek houses it is never over $700. Average is around $250.

Your results are flawed, Gali: Notice in the first shot, your sim is standing next to the side of the hot tub, but in the second, he is standing in front of the edge closest to the camera. Environment changes due to position, so your scores may be different purely because of that.

Well, I invite them to play bridge (group contest), and they come willingly. But as I like to dance, I finish the contest soon, and suggest them to dance, to refresh ourselves from the card game. It's not a party, but I make it as one. It's a secret...:).

No!!! I wish you were right, but it isn't.

I married George Mc(something) to Lilith, and now both of them are sleeping in the green-styled room, *loaded* with decorations. When they enter the room, I see the <<< sign on the environment scale, but I see the >>> sign when Daniel enters the red-styled room.

Now I have to change the green-styled room to a red-styled one.

And they don't twig to this, week after week?  ::)  ;D

There's more lights in the red room than in the green room.  This may be part of the difference.

I thought the utility bills were based on the value of high priced articles on the lot? Not actually the power being used.

Lol, we have a Bridge club with 240-250 members. I invite only 6 of them, but not week after another. I am the secretary of the club, and I know all the members. So, the first 6 will play at my home after long time, and meanwhile they forget that I "manipulated" them.
Besides, some of the members said that they like the Bridge/Dance evening, and ask to be invited again. They are happy, and we are happy...:).

I thought they were based on type of light, appliance, electronic, etc., as well as how many of each. While what you suggest would fall into MEAxian logic...it makes me wonder how much it costs to run a sofa  ???

Perhaps someone knows this, because I am very curious now.

I remember asking once before, when I first started playing sims 2, I used to turn off lights and stuff to try to save power.  ::) It was somewhere on this very site, deep in the mists of time, that I was pointed and laughed at for turning my sims' lights, TV etc off.

I was told something like it was calculated on a percentage of the lot value? Can't remember now...

Bills are purely based on lot value, making them closer to property taxes than utility bills. Otherwise you'd be able to avoid them much like I do. I'm not billed for lights on or off, either. Radioactives don't decay more slowly merely because you turned the lights off. :P

There are too many variables for me to believe this "red/green" theory. First of all, as it has been pointed out, the number of lights is different. Second, the floor tiles could be different prices. Don't different tiles give off different enviroment scores? The only reliable way to test this is to make one room, and change the floor to another color of the same price while the sim is standing in the room.

Well, I just want to know how your Pleasants got so rich!?  Did you motherlode them up the wazoo, or is Daniel involved in some illegal activities?

I've got some absurdly expensive vases I keep on my lots in order to get the bills up to a sensible level.

Gali is an infamous and notorious cheater.

Of course! My Mother[lode] works overtime...:).

Kutto, I use only *one lot*, which is a packaged lot, and has the same attributes at the beginning.

After the simulator begins to cause disasters from different kinds (as leaking shower, etc), I redecorate the whole lot again, choosing different color-styles. So, the number of the lamps in each room is the same at the all lots.

From the Pleasants, I passed to the Dreamers, where I redecorated the bedrooms to blue-style.

After the experience with Daniel - who didn't like blue either, I wasn't sure what is the influence of the blue-style to the Dreamers. So, I moved Darren to stand in the blue-styled bedroom - and the environment rate was full scale.

Means, different sim characters like different colors, and if you succeed to guess the right one, you can save a lot of taxes.

I remember playing in some dorm, in which I redecorated the students bedroom with very few humble objects, and I got there full environment scale.

As I need more proofs, I'll try to run some dorm again, to see the results. Pictures will be included.

I don't believe this. I think you're looking at the effects of other variables.

If you want to test the effect of color on environment score, decorate a room and observe the scores at various positions in the room. Then, without changing any of the furniture or decorations, use the design tool to change the colors. If you change the floors or walls, make sure the new ones are as similar as possible to the originals (especial with regards price). Then check the room as close to the original positions as you can. I doubt you'll be able to see a difference.

That's actually the expensive computer that comes from Life Stories -- you can find links to it here: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=7314.0

I'm not sure about color but I know that sims prefer some floors and walls over others - I am guessing based on cost(?)  I have also noticed that if you rebuild many times an "upgraded" room's score will go way down until you randomly tear down a few squares of wall and rebuild it back exactly the same.  I read that here somewhere awhile back and sure enough it works everytime although I have had to figure out which part of the wall.

For example, if I remember correctly Malcolm in BW has 2 bathrooms on the bottom floor, one decorated to the extreme and it's score is lousy until you do this and then it jumps right up there without changing anything.  Although in that case I think if you sell his decorations they cost an insane amount (the towel holder thingys) like 999 or something and I am not sure what is up with that.

Actually I've been wondering about environment scores as well. I just restarted Pleasantview when I installed Seasons and at the Broke household, every time any one of them goes into the bathroom, their environment score goes all the way down. I have no idea why. There isn't anything broken or dirty, they have the cheap toilet, pedestal sink and shower/tub combo, overhead light and one privacy window, which is pretty much standard on most of my lots (excluding wealthy sims). Theirs is the only one though that sends sims into the red though and I can't figure out what the problem is.
It's extremely annoying.

Here is the ultimate proof:

I enterred the Ofeefe house, and orderred her to move to the bedroom (the original one). This was the environment rate:

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/ofeefebedroom.jpg)

I changed the floors/walls (on purpose, 2$ price), added 4 hanging cheap lamps and turned them on, added a library (cheap one - 110$), a desk (cheap one) with a computer and a chair, and added a cheap rug.

The environment scale didn't move up at all!

Now I replaced the bed with red one, cheaper than the first yellow bed.

Look at the environment scale:

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/ofeefenewbed.jpg)

Full and over!

The second room has been completely redecorated. You didn't just change the bed. You put expensive floors down, added a rug, added lights, got an expensive desk and a nice bookcase.

The environment in the bath depends on: 1) the amount of light; 2) the add of small bathroom rugs - the oval ones to the sink and toilet, the roundl ones under the shower, and the rectangle ones at  both sides of the tub.

Always keep the lights on in the bathrooms. My baths don't have windows at all (it's more comfortable to build bedroom, next bathroom, and next kitchen. I put only 2 lights in each bathroom, and order the sim to turn the light on.
The environment rate is at it's full scale.

Neriana, I have many downloaded objects, which are cheap, and many floor/walls which cost 1-2$, specially for starters. The ones I used are the downloaded ones, on purpose.

The desk costs 140$ (downloaded), and the lamps are cheap too.

But it didn't help to change the environment rate at all. It changed ONLY after I replaced the original bed with cheaper one, but with red color.

Gali, your ability to do a controlled experiment that yields meaningful results is somewhat lacking.

Try this gali. In the same room in the last picture, take a look at the environment score, then use just the decorator tool to change the colors of things. Do not let your sim move. Maybe turn freewill off. Keep the lights and decorations the same objects, just change the color. Nothing else. Do not add lights. Nothing. No object changes. Your sim's position to the lights and objects do not change. Then look at the environment score again. Then I will believe you.

These links may come in handy for Gali.  ;D

http://www.vischeck.com/ (http://www.vischeck.com/)

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8833/coloreye.html (http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8833/coloreye.html)

Sara, the lights are most important factor for increasing the environment. You have to understand, that I added tons of redundant objects, while I could do it with only few ones.

But here is my final test: the bathroom.

Here is the picture of the original bathroom:

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/ofeefebath.jpg)

I didn't change floors/walls there, only added 2 lamps and turned them on.
The result was this:

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/ofeelightsonly.jpg)

Now I added the small rugs only - and look at the change:

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/bathrugs.jpg)

Believe me, I am not trying to make some "wise manipulation" - I am too *amateur*  in computer matters. I see what I see.

Haha, thanks but no thanks on that computer.

ETA: Nevermind. Eh, yahoo group.

That is exactly why the difference in the ammount of lights could throw your "study" off. In other words, do not post a room with less lights and compare it to a room with more lights saying that it was the color of the sheets boosting the environment score.
And rugs add to the score as well, don't ADD anything! Try her in the bathroom and only change the color of the toilets. Not the floors, the cost of the floor will affect things.

Gali, I think you missed the point. We're not telling you to change the amount of lights in the room. We just want you to change the wallpaper and floors. Nothing else. That is called a controlled experiment.

And, Ideally, the room should be EMPTY and STAY EMPTY for each 'change'...

So build a small room, Put in NO objects save a single light fixture.  Then put a sim in it.

Change ONLY the floor and wallpapers  and see if the sims environment score changes.

Ideally, this should be done with floors and wallpapers that have the same exact costs, but different colorways in order to correctly discern whether or not sims have a 'color preference'.

No! Not the floors! They do affect the environment, the cost does! Leave the floors, only use decorating mode to change the sheets, that shows "color preference".

You changed the floors and didn't tell us how much the second floors cost. You added lamps and a bookcase where there had been no lamps or bookcase before. The desk I can't say, but I know that bed comes with an environment score of 6, as I have it in my game. It's from Life Stories, and costs $3800. Even if you found a cheaper one somewhere, I bet they didn't change the environment score, just the price.

OK, Sara, here is the special test you wanted:

This is the original room:

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/originalroom.jpg)

I didn't touch anything, just replaced the bed with the SAME BED, but in red color - this is the result:

(http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c230/gali123/changebed.jpg)

Of course it's not enough, because I have to add lights too, and a desk with a computer. But you see the >>> sign of the environment scale.

Is it enough?

Did you "replace" the bed, or recolor it with the design tool?

Bonus points if you know why I asked.


Edit: and what else did you do in the 22 minutes between pictures other than fulfill at least one want?

*edit, waiting to see if gali can answer Hitch's question"

Don't replace the bed. Just use the design tool to change the bedding.

I agree with sara_dippity and neriana. If you're trying to test how colour affects the sims, then you need to change ONLY the colour of certain things. Higher-cost items, especially decorative ones, bring up environment scores. By introducing more objects and higher-priced objects, you are influencing the scores. In order to properly test colour, you must only change the colour of the objects that are already in the room, and NOT introduce new objects into the room.

I propose that the filled want was buying an expensive bookcase, which was put in the room long enough to raise the environment score, and removed while the bar was still filling (though the answer to the bed question would mitigate my proposal).

Hey, thanks for catching the time, Hitch! It looks like in those few min the sim walked from the bathroom to the bedroom, which would make the environment bar display arrows for a second or two. The room score still looks the same, as far as how much the bar has filled.
gali, April Fool's day already passed....

Lol - ladies and gentlemen, you are too tough on me! *I don't know how to recolor*. I only know how to replace the bed, that's all.

I really am sorry that I openned this thread - just wanted to share some observations; didn't realize that the opposition and the demands will be so tough.

I didn't try to fool anyone. Sorry if you think so.

But I do think, that some hostile personal attitude leads some replies. No matter what I say, there are always some members that feel the duty to write  some hostile remarks.
 

Mah, so much for logic. I would much rather have it based on actual usage. Oh well. I would also like owned lots to have bills.  Pfft.

Back on topic:  I will entertain this color scheme-thing, and perform my own experiment. (Actually I have some redecorating to do at one lot, and I feel like humoring The Mutilator) :P

Holy shit! I didn't even notice that at first because of the OW MY EYES factor! Ha!

gali, they mean recoloring by using the swatch tool in buy mode. The one that is under (?) the eyedropper.

The reason Hitch asked about replacing the bed is that a new object will have a better effect on the environment than an older, but otherwise identical, object. Using the decorating tool is how poor sims change their bedding without buying a new bed. :)

I don't think there's blatant hostility here. At least not anymore than usual. I think it's a communication problem, as usual.

It's amazing how we can sometimes miss little things that seem obvious to others. In case you still don't know how to recolor an item without selling and replacing it, This is how you do it:

(http://www.randomletters.com/images/designtool.jpg)

Any hostility is not personal. It's merely hostility to blatant illogic.

Aye.

De ja vu?

I recall there being a rumor regarding color preferences in Sims1, also. never could figure that one out. My mind is old and creakity but I seriously seem to remember reading an official statement somewhere about if you chose a particular objectand your sim didn't like it to try a different color of the same object. Or something.

I never really followed up on that but... if it was true I don't see why they wouldn't have done the same for TS2. Not that I really care if my sims like what color their bed is or not. I don't seem to have much environment score trouble and where I do I let them suffer with it.

I wonder if that was one of those things they wanted to include, but didn't? I am not doubting you, I just know a lot of stuff flies around like that. I certainly remember that being an official rumor on TS1 BBS.

Well, after extensive testing I have come to the conclusion that color schemes have no affect whatsoever, period. Test sim results as follows:

TK-432 sat patiently on the sofa, power idling while redecoration took place. A very good servo, indeed.

Here we have the original setup - primarily blacks and reds:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/House/Image1.jpg)

Now we change to a blue theme, no environment change.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/House/Image2.jpg)

Maybe white will make a difference? Nah. I even changed the walls and floors - both the same cost as the originals.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/House/Image3.jpg)

I thought that perhaps, being a servo, TK-432 was less sensitive. Also, sheets have been mentioned a lot. So, I decided to test the sheet theory with the most sensitive of sims - the vampire. Johann is our faithful test subject for the sheet theory. We start with the standard black, and Star Wars bedding:
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/House/Image5.jpg)

So I change the colors to light wood with lighter bedding. No change.
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/House/Image6.jpg)

Alas, I give in and buy a new bed - exact same model/bedding and...voila! Environment finally goes up. Imagine that. :P
(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/House/Image7.jpg)

So you see, Gali, not *all* of us redecorate by purchasing new furniture - and that is the REAL difference in your environment score. Sorry to disappoint you :)

To add to Nec's conclusion, here is a test I did with the Ramaswami (sp?) family.

First test: Blue house, everything Maxis objects:

(http://users.techline.com/speterso/img/test1.jpg)

Second test: Changed only the color of the objects using the recolor tool. No change!

(http://users.techline.com/speterso/img/test2.jpg)

Third test: Changed wallpaper to a different kind of color, but the same price. No change as well!

(http://users.techline.com/speterso/img/test3.jpg)

Sorry Gali. Nice try, though.

Okay, roffling at the vampire with Star Wars sheets.

Thanks, scientists.

All the experiments done here are not the same as mine.

1) I bought NEW objects, choosing some color-style (for instance, blue), and reached *full environment scale*.

2) After 6 sim days I replaced all the objects I bought with new ones, this time another color-style (for instance, yellow).

As I expected, I should get full environment scale too, because I already reached it. But here was the surprise: when the sim enterred the room, *I lost environment points*, although I changed only the color style, but bought the same, but NEW objects, of different color.

3) Now I replaced immediately the new yellow-styled objects with new blue-styled objects - and I got again the full environment scale.


So, the experiment should be this:

1) *Reach full environment scale*,   choosing any color-style design, using NEW objects.

2) Replace the styled objects with different color-styled objects, and test the sim's reaction when he enters the room. You already had full environment scale - *if now you lose environment points*, the sim doesn't like the chosen color-style.

That's what I am talking about.

When Daniel Pleasant had the red-styled bedroom - when he enterred the room, I got full environment scale.
When I replaced the objects with green-styled ones - I lost environment points.
When I replaced (immediately) the green-styled objects with red-styled ones - I got again the full environment scale.

Perform THIS experiment, and see the results.

 

What was he doing when he entered the room each time? In some of those images, you've got sims just standing there but in one she's sitting down reading. A sims gains environment if he/she finds something of use/interest/fun in a room. (For example, even if they hate the bathroom, their environment score will go up when they take a bath or potty :p)

(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/necrobabe/chairhit.gif)

GALI!!!
/me headdesks

I told him to relax on bed, or play the guitar, or read a book. The standing sim picture was made on purpose, to show only the loss of the environment points.

-I DID use new objects. In fact, it is obvious as hell that the house I showed was made just for this experiment alone.
-It doesn't matter at all if "full environmental scale" is reached. The only issue that matters is that the scale goes up or down in ANY sort of amount. That is the basis of your theory, don't you remember?


-I used the redesign tool, which is pretty much the same thing, since the items I used were NEW. Deleting and rebuying them will basically just do the same thing.
-I moved the Sim in and out of the house. No change, Gali. Besides, wouldn't the change be instant if Sims could "see" color?

Look Gali, there is NO proof of this. I am sure that if there was some sort of "color" code, it would've been found YEARS AGO. But there isn't.

I will be goddamned.

I can't believe the money I've wasted.

What Nec said.

Haha Buddha.  Don't worry about it.  I didn't know about the design tool for the longest time, because the first time I tried it didn't do anything apparent, so I never touched it until much later.


Anyway, here is my contribution to the debate.  For color to have an effect the game would have to KNOW what the color is.  The game can't tell if an object is blue, pink or green with polka dots.  That's only a texture, an actual picture,  that's part of the object.  I'm not a programmer but it seems to me that writing a routine that identify colors would be pretty complex, unnecessarily so.  Maybe not even feasible.

Take the turn-ons for example.  You can express a preference for red, black, brown, blond or white hair.  But how does the game know what hair color a sim has?  It's a variable that's part of the character.  You can see it in SimPE.  A sims is tagged as having black, brown, blond or white hair. (or custom).  Again how does the game know the hair color of the sim?  The game knows because there is a variable that's part of the sims package that indicates if the hair is black (00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000), (00000002) brown, or (0000003)
blond...etc.  It's all very simple and straightforward.  Sims X has black hair because his character file points to a hair that has the variable "family"=00000001-0000-0000-0000-000000000000. You can open the sim file, or the hair file and manipulate these numbers if you want.

But there are no such variables that says bed xyz is red, or blue, or whatever. Only us humans can see that. So the sims cannot have a color preference because for all intent and purposes a sim is colorblind. (Except for hair color.)

Objects files have attributes represented by numbers. The rooms environment score is determined by two values (numbers) inside the objects.  One is the niceness multiplier and the other the price. The niceness multiplier is use in combination with the object's price to determine the object's environment score.  There color is irrelevant, because as far as the game understand, there is no such thing.

I am not sure if I lost you with all this mumbo-jumbo, but be assured that the game is COLOR-BLIND.  Color cannot have any effect whatever on the environment score.
Sims are as likely to have color preferences as they are to preferring "beautiful" sims over "ugly sims".  It very literally does not compute

Gali, that's NOT exactly what you did.   You changed lighting, you added a statue and paintings, you changed what some of the objects were, you had Daniel standing in different places in the room, you changed the floor (and we have no idea if the floors are the same value in the catalog, or if one of them was old and had devalued).

Your example proves that if you change lighting, add statues/paintings, use different furniture objects, change floor coverings, and move the sim (even a few steps away) then the environment score changes.  We already know this.  Your experiment does NOT prove that the colour makes a difference.

Get rid of the variables that affect your results.  Otherwise we will all continue to say "it's because you changed (whatever) not because you changed the colour".  Then you'll see that you can't prove your theory, because as Angelyne has pointed out, it's just not possible.

What these experiments all prove is that Maxis screwed up Environment completely. It's totally useless and should be discarded at the first available opportunity.

Wait! Maxis isn't perfect? Get outta here!  ;D

I agree. In fact, I completely ignore it altogether. I've pretty much "conditioned" my mind to ignore that need. My Sims get decorations based on what I like. If they don't "like" it, tough.

I make some of my families pretty tacky, like the country kitchen crap I remember from the 80's. And other houses are very modern, and others are kind of ghetto and eclectic.

Exactly. If they aren't going to die from it, they can suck it up.

I've noticed that my Sims tend to have horrible taste anyway. If they actually like something, I get concerned.

Sometimes, for whatever reason, it depends on whether a room is attached to another room, or not. For instance, if you have a full wall with an actual door or arch separating the dining-room from the kitchen (this is just an example), rather than combining the areas, this will affect the environment score. Sometimes the score is better when the rooms are separated by a door or arch; other times the score improves when the two rooms are combined into one. I haven't yet figured out what, exactly, determines the improved environment score when either separating or attaching different rooms. Sometimes an expensive refrigerator in the kitchen will improve the environment score of the dining area once the rooms are combined - other times, the environment scores plummet for both rooms when they are combined into one (yet the scores improve drastically as soon as you physically separate the rooms with a full wall containing a door/arch). There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to this. *scratches head*

I only mention this, because I tend to like open floorplans, but sometimes the sims just hate having their living, dining, and kitchen areas combined into one. Other times, the sims hate having these areas sectioned off, and the environment scores only improve once you've removed the walls and combined the areas into one. It's very puzzling.

ETA: It probably depends on the relative expense of the items. If you have cheap stuff in all of the rooms, then each room by itself will not have a good environment score, but when combined, the sheer number of items in the now-combined area raises the overall score. This is just a guess.

NVA, are you taking into account room size?  In TS1 the sims preferred big rooms, the bigger the better.  In TS2 they prefer smaller rooms.

But in TS1 rooms had to be huge if you wanted to fit more than 2 item in them, lol! I much prefer the sizing and placement of objects in TS2.

Hmmm, now that I think about it, the ginormous rooms *are* the ones that my sims seem to hate the most. They don't mind a cosy eat-in kitchen, but seem to hate a huge diningroom attached to a large-ish kitchen. Blimey, you learn something new every day!

Tamha, I agree with you about the better sizing and placement in TS2 compared to the original game. It's much more realistic.

FWIW, from gamefaqs.com:

"Environment: A surprisingly unpredictable motive that is based on the area
that the sim is in at any given time, not just the room as a whole. Although
difficult, it is possible to get perfect environment, all you need are
expensive wall coverings and tiles, lots of light and for the room not to be
a hive of scum and villainy filled with puddles, dirty dishes or other signs
of filth. Usually, the most forgotten factor is light, sometimes, you have to
double up lights or make sure that they are on during the day time if your
house is lacking windows. Environment is rated on several different factors
that have maximums and are generalized, so stuffing your room full of
expensive art can only do so much to counter the smell of rotten meat and bad
interior design.

Outside, environment is a whole different ball game, but typically, the best
ways to boost it are trees. Trees don't require maintenance while an
overgrown shrub or rotten patch of flowers can damage environment more than
help it. Environment is probably the least important factor in the game, but
it is the only one that once you have established well, you can count on to
be consistent, so getting the favorite room in your house perfect can be a
lot of fun and help to make your sims happy and content while in it. In
university, you'll be decorating your dorm room and building a legacy worthy
Greek House, so keeping environment in mind is always the right idea."

Ugh. To Gali: please study the Scientific Method. You know that thing they pounded into your head every year in school? It needs another pounding.

As for environment scores, I find that as long as the floor and wall coverings are at least 2$ per block each and I have a couple "decent" (read: more than $100 in cost) items and 2-3 windows, it's a solid green. I honestly almost never bother with lights. They just aren't necessary and they interfere with my viewing. For bathrooms, the cheapest shower, cheapest toilet, and 1 light makes them do the happy-home dance.

But then, I hate huge homes, huge rooms, and huge lots. My old laptop couldn't handle them when I started playing and even though my desktop can run with everything maxed and huge lots with more than the Maxis limits of sims, I still prefer them small. My Legacy lot is a 4x4 with 8 sims, 3 dogs, and a home ticket business and I regret not going smaller.

I also hate large rooms because it slows the game down. I hate empty rooms and add a lot of clutter, which slows it down even more. So I just go for a small lot and keep it as simple and small as possible. Nobody gets stuck because I'm a micromanager.

As for separating rooms, I think it might have to do with the number of rooms. In sims 1, the game kept track of number of rooms and bathrooms. And all sims wanted them large and aplenty. Maybe it's the same?

And it doesn't get dark on you at night or too dark/shadowy (even during the day) to take good pics? I don't put lights in for my sims, I put them in for me and turn them to always on too. I usually use those bitty microceiling ones that don't get in the way so much. But then I like lots of light in my real house too, so I suppose it's just that 'it's too dark to read' thing kicking in.

Hehe, the microlight is usually my rule-breaker light in the bathroom. As for too dark-shadowy for pictures...nope. The game will still light the room when a sim comes into it, just not at the same level. There are more shadows at night, but I think that's realistic. Regardless, it's not the same being in a room with no lights at night and outside with no lights.

Gali didn't go to school in the States, so it's possible she missed that. Or maybe she was just busy thinking about makeup and complicated hairdos.

Ugh. To Zazazu: please change first your diapers, and then talk to me, zeroed noob, you just stink!

Ass - mitten: I know you hate me; it's OK - I hate you too! So Kish my Tuches! You ass hole!


 

Eh, I was just kidding. It was a reference to the way you do up your Sims.

And I don't hate you. I ignore the people I hate. But thanks for sharing how you feel, and I admire your spunk.

As usual, gali is the undisputed queen of weird insults.

Yeah, I don't think I've ever been called an "ass hole." It seems more specific somehow.

Shouldn't that be "Kish mir en tuches?"


just sayin'...  ::)

Anyone else been confused lately as to whether they have accidentally wandered into Retardoland instead of the Podium?  There must be a leak somewhere. :P

Never heard "zeroed noob" either, myself. The diapers comment is especially hilarious since my one friend always teases that I'm going through menopause (late twenties here). I'll have to let her know that.

Anyways, I thought the Scientific Method was a universal, not USA-centric? Logic most certainly is a universal, and Gali's experiments are lacking. Sorry kiddo, you had a good idea, but even if there was any way for the game to read the color codes of objects/customs you missed the most important part of proving your point: CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT.

I'd tell you not to take things so personally, but your insults make me giggle.

*looks at relative post count... notices both users' ages are listed as "N/A"... wonders where terms like "kiddo" are coming from  :o ::)*

:P I'm 28, I neglected to fill that out. Kiddo is actually a teasing term of endearment for me. I use it regardless of relative age.

It's little outbursts like this that make it so hard for you to get people to believe your "I'm really so nice and polite" arguments.

Gali, you've certainly come a long way from the smiley deluge.  ::)