More Awesome Than You!

Thought it would be useful to have a thread to discuss the things you actually *like* about BV.

One thing I discovered today - you can delete subhoods now.  Not just delete them if there's another of the same type - you can delete them completely without having to replace them.

Added a downtown and now decided you don't want it?  Just delete it *poof* gone!  I'm liking this bit!  ;D

I like...the uh...box.

I'm really liking the new objects and building..umm stuff.  I think for a change they did a really good job with those things this EP, and b/c I love to build and decorate things, it benefits me more than adding a bunch more interactions and things of that nature.

I really love the little animation that goes along with the legend of the dragon story... it's just different in a good way.

The beach lots/swim-able oceans were probably almost worth the entire price of the EP for me...I seriously like them that much.  I was always improvising this before trying to make it look that way, b/c one of my favorite most played 'hoods is a lot of water front properties that I wanted to look beachy... not necessarily tropical or anything.

My favourite thing so far is the grand piano! I've been wanting a new piano since the game first came out. The original one is ridiculously themed and didn't look right in anybody's house (who lives in a Saloon from a Western film?) When I saw it in the catalogue I practically danced for joy! (what can I say - I have no life)

Other good things include the new turn ons/offs because I always thought there should be more of them; the new walk between lots feature because it seems more realistic, especially for students on campus; the holiday memories that you can aquire because I like having a new goal to aim for; and actually all the new holiday activities, they're a nice break from the usual routine of my sims lives.

Overall I think this might become my favourite expansion pack after Seasons once all the little problems are ironed out.

I just discovered the axe-throwing thing -- I like that.  Too bad the sims can't throw them at other sims, though.  (JMP? :) )

The new build mode stuff is pretty good.  Lots of new paintings and sculptures, too, that look pretty decent.

And finally -- more trees and plants!

Going on vacation seems like it would be something you would want to do more than once, unlike University.

I don't get the Asian theme though.. what with the Chinese New Year theme in the Holidays pack as well. Is the Sims supposed to be really popular in Asia or what? Seems a bit weird. Travel to the mountains, the tropics, and ASIA.  ???

-I like the traveler memory things, for some reason.  Perhaps it's because it's a different goal to go after other than spawning hellions and working up the corporate ladder.
-I also LOVE that we can make beach lots.
-I like the new turn ons, but I wish they came with the reverse option so that people can be turned off by lack of skills.-
-My romance sims like the idea of having a lover at every 'port'
-I liked the pirate sea chantey for about five minutes before I wanted my sims to shut up
-I like that my sims can now walk to the next-door lot instead of taking a taxi.

overall, I've no major complaints except that I seem to be too stupid to figure out why my computer won't let me keep a custom neighbourhood.

Beach lots are a definitely plus in my book. I'm probably going to make a whole custom Uni hood that's nothing but beaches.  ;D

You should see the Notovny Interpretation (http://www.notovny.com/misc/legendofdragon.txt) of the story from the images.

I am fascinated with Asian culture and I've always wanted to visit, so I really like that they put an Asian themed destination. The first thing that I did after installing the game was to take my sims on a Far East vacation and explore every corner of every lot. I loved the dragon story, I love the ninja, I love the Asian food options, I love the pagoda roofs, I love the kimonos. And the new deco stuff is going to get a LOT of use in my sim's houses back in the base hood. Even learning to bow was neat! After a 3 day trip I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of that location, I'll definitely be sending my sims back.

The mountain one looks the least interesting to me, but I'm sure I'll like it once I try it out. I also really like the vacation memories thing. I even like the stupid souvenirs. New turn ons and turn offs have been a long time coming, and I'm thrilled to finally get them!

Notovny's interpretation is hysterical.

I had a sim meditate at the Zen garden in one of the asian parks, and he kept disappearing and appearing.  He was there with his wife, and when I went looking for him, all I saw was his plumbob.  After a minute or so, he faded into view.  It was rather cool.

I like the hotels, they're very hotel like.  I like the sandcastles and the pirate ship.  I haven't had a chance to see any other locations yet, but the Travellers had an excellent 6 day vacation and did pretty much everything except learn to hula, because NO ONE was hula dancing on any lot we went on.

But overall, I had a complete blast with it.

And with Nailati's face templates in place before firing it up, I had lots of pretty townies to look at.

* Love the beach lots, really. Yeah, they override curviness in your terrain and straighten the shore, but that can be masked with some good breakwaters. I have one lot right now that I'm playing where the twin boys come home from school and immediately run to the beach to make a sandcastle and swim. Plus, I've ticket-biz'ed it so townies come to hang out.

*I like hidden things, so the secret lots on the vacation isles are nice, plus I'm trying to collect all the diggables/buyables to see what kind of special effects that shelving case is supposed to give dependant on what you put there.

*Camping is great.

*Lots more people for my simmies to meet (I like a flood of possible partners to pick the best from, which is why I'm always switching face template sets and generating townies).

*The vacation memory goals are really cute and will probably amuse me through a couple sims. Even though I'm having issues with getting the dance ones to stick for some reason...

*Yay for prints! I used to do paintings for sim pics and add a custom frame, but having true photos looks better for most purposes. And I don't seem to be having the warping issue I always had with photos taken with the artist reward object.

*I do like the accessories, even if I think they are flat-looking. Let's face it, the whole game is a bit flat-looking (well, sim-wise). I'm working on doing some default replacements, but I can't find the simple stud piercings in the object packages.

As for the piano...of course it's great to have a grand. But I do like the original. The original is what I grew up playing, and has nothing to do with a saloon! The majority of people own uprights, not grands. They're cheaper and take up less room.

So far i gotta say i like it, i like the extra stuff their simple but a big improvement.  The beach lots, new turn ons (took them long enough) and especially the little goal panel for vacations are all very nice, and let's not forget the WALK to place function.  The witch doctor house lot was cool how you needed to help him repair everything to get a gift, shame they don't have more goal type things like that in the game.  Overall i gotta say i'm quite happy with it.  I was a bit annoyed though that my vampire sims couldn't lay down on the beach to soak up some moon rays like normal sims can do with the sun.

I was quite amused today to discover that sims can WooHoo in a hammock.  It's a rather amusing animation.
They can WooHoo in the sauna, too, but the animation isn't nearly as funny.

I didn't know this until one of my slut romance sims rolled up the wants.

I keep discovering little things that leave me most impressed.  It bugged me that the seasons careers LTWs were "reach top of XXX career".  BV has changed them - you now see things like "become space pirate", so the seasons careers have been brought into line with the others.  I'm liking it! :)

I love the new public toilet recolours, all the vacation lots, hotels and secret destinations. I thoroughly enjoyed tracking down the dances and greetings (my Traveller family has them all!) and I'm now working on spreading them throughout all the vacation areas, university and the home neighbourhoods  ;D  So far it's been a case of waiting for my Traveller family to initiate it so all anyone has really learned is the Hula so far hehe.  I'm going to rebalance the scales later today when I play that family, I may take them downtown and infect the townies with the new cultures. 

I love that sims can now autonomously Smustle!  It's something I've always wanted actually and now my dormies all have a good reason to be stinky all the time, they love to Hula too which is fine by me. 

The new Teleport skill is very useful (and cool looking too), I want a lot of my sims to learn it so that means a lot of trips to Takemizu (sp?). 

I love the building blocks for the ruins, some really cool lots (and stories) could be made out of those, though I'm not good at either.

New Turn-ons/Turn-offs are not something to be sniffed at, and these are actually decent enough to break up the monotony.

Digging for treasure/Combing for seashells is fun, and can be done on dorm lots too.

Overall I'm having a very good time playing BV, even when my sims are not on holiday.  I hated the original version, (found it boring) but Bon Voyage is lots of fun.

Hmm. That may not be a good thing, since it may break the LS LTWs, which relied on the non-specificity of the stringset for function.

I have to admit that I love this EP - except for some annoyances JMP has already taken care of (tai chi obsession and the like). I'm especially fond of Twikki island, I think it's beautifully done (I like the ruins, I stayed on one of those lots forever - it was already dark and it rained, the atmosphere was perfect). I also like the new actions (if they don't become obsessive, of course), not to mention the PIRATE SHIP ;D

I don't dislike it because it's an upright. I also grew up playing an upright and of course that's what most people have and is the most realistic to have in the game. I'd actually prefer to use an upright because I do like my sims houses to look realistic. What I don't like about it is the weird carving/decoration on the front of the piano and the strange unvarnished wood it seems to be made from, that's what reminds me of a saloon from a Western and makes it look out of place. All the pianos I've ever seen in people's houses are flat and plain at the front and made from shiny varnished wood and I think that looks much more elegant.

Love it. The trees are freaking awesome! If I could fuck an EP, this would be the one.

ROFL!

I like all the new stuff, especially the new trees in lot and neighbourhood view. The new bed set and furniture is nice too. Slightly disappointed with the new clothing though, makes me glad I got the H&M pack. Luuurve the beach lots! The new neighbourhood terrains are great too, I love the Three Lakes and Takemizu Village ones. Perfect for little hoods.

Yes, the trees are gorgeous!  They're going to be of much use in my custom base neighborhood which is kind of a woodsy suburban lake town :) 

I love the walking too!  Hmmm, I wonder if you can walk in the regular neighborhoods?  I haven't really played anyone not on vacation since I got it.

And I love the beach lots.  I would love them even more if they came in some smaller sizes.  Anyone know yet if we can build out over the water?  I guess I should go try it and find out ;) 

Definitely one of the better EPs.

Yay!!  Finally a positive thread...I was getting tired of reading all of bitchin' and moanin' when I check MATY earlier.

The vacation EP was the only one that I consistently played with the original Sims, so I love the BVEP...love that you can order room service, love that they can swim in the ocean, love that they can plan a vacation with friends...and the new stuff is really  nice...love the bed with the curtainy things on the posts...

...AND have not had any issues with the EP so far...

I am oddly amused by this statement.  You exhibit such disturbed passion! 

Does anybody know if the pirate ship will fit on the largest residential lot?  I was amazed to see how big it is.  Anybody know its exact dimensions?

Its dimensions are 26x9, but it requires a beach (unless you place it with move objects, of course).

Every time I play a beach lot I'm astonished at how beautiful it is.  With the new neighborhood objects for the water, you can make a secluded cove that feels realistic.  The objects for the ruins are cool, as is the Pirate Ship and all the decorative objects.  The fact that you can make a game out of collecting the vacation icons, or you can just play the way you normally would, is refreshing.  I love all of the vacation destinations, for different reasons.  I think Takemizu Village is my favorite- for the Legend and the learning to teleport (I could live without the reactions other sims have when someone teleports).  They definitely managed to infuse each destination with its own energy and vibe (even beyond the gestures and dances).  Even with the small annoyances, this is a very satisfying EP.

And for those of us on the other side, it neatly captures the feel of journeying to a squalid third-world country: Everything is shitty and infested with bugs.

Yes, the walking works in the regular hoods.  In fact, it's faster than even driving their own car, and has a more reliable method of picking who gets to go. Perfect for a family-owned business where only some of the family members work at it.

Cars now seem to only be for travelling cross-neighborhood to downtown, or for going to work, yes. The drawback being that you have to tell everyone to run to the portal (and hope you picked the right portal), or else they will TAKE FOREVER to get there.

Well, I haven't tried it yet, but it looks like you can walk across sub-hoods in the main neighborhoods, so silly as it seems the sims can even walk to downtown I believe.

I like the walk to lot feature too, for once I might keep a few of the Maxis lot which did not had enough place to put a driveway on it. 

The new turnon/off but I am wondering if the new sims coming with the ep or that are created by the game are actually using them, I have yet to see a Maxis sim created with a pleasure aspiration, are there any with BV now?  The traveller family did not use any of the new turnons/off  but I know it could just have been a bad default spin, unless they always come with the same turn ons/off.  In all, it is nice to have a bigger variety.

Big foot is kind of fun.

Having 3 new ways for sims to woohoo.  Tent one is perticularly cute.

Having a bigger variety of roof style and colors.

The new furniture in general are nice too.

I regenerated the base 'hoods to play with while waiting for hacks to be updated, and Bella Goth (Strangetown version) now is turned on by men who can clean, I believe.

I know lots of people got sick of Tai Chi already, but it's a really really quick way of maxing their body skill.

I like that spreading of the pirate song, the greetings, dances and so on.

Stuff like this makes me wish to understand more about modding, to make custom legends and animations.

I don't like how much things spread; I would prefer them to be completely unspreadable, actually, so that to learn them a Sim would have to actually go on the right vacation and perform the correct actions. But I do like the idea behind them, and would love to be able to make a completely custom vacation destination with new greetings and everything.

I enjoy the new interactions. I now can have a shrine on my "cult" lot. I adore the tea set. Being able to swim in the ocean, tan so on is a blast. Hula for everyone!

I did not expect this one to be a hit with me, I only got it for the extra turn on/offs. I am presently surprised.

Same here.  Before this EP I downloaded SO MUCH Asian themed stuff, so clearly I have no issue with having more.  And now that I can actually build places that look Asian...with the new roofs and stuff...w/o having to learn any fancy building techniques...woohoo even better b/c I am lazy like that.


Maybe it sounds a bit corny *giggle* but I agree.  The first time I set up a pretty beach lot I was like oooooooo look at the pretties!  Can honestly say that is the first time this game has spawned such a reaction from me.

I started playing last night, and so far I am impressed. The game installed and loaded with no problems or issues whatsoever, and I bypassed the launcher. I decided to send one of my original Strangetown families plus one guest to an island holiday, and as they have mega$$ I had them buy a beach house. The first thing that I liked was when they grabbed their suitcases to leave for the trip. Then, when they arrived at the beach house, I was thrilled at the details and prettiness. I sent them all to play on the beach first thing.

The guest is not controllable so he goes everywhere in his pyjamas, which is amusing. Also, one of my family members is a servo, I was a bit worried that servos were not going to be able to go on vacation as they cannot go to Uni (even using Christialov's hack).

Build and buy mode are enabled at their house, which came sparsely furnished. I was very pleased that inventories are accessible at the vacation house too.

There is a lot of extra gameplay added. I have read about the various things to do but not exactly how to do them, so that is going to be fun finding out.

Chance cards while on tours also make things very interesting. I got a disastrous chance card on my very first tour.

The trees, plants, and decorative objects are going to add a lot to building options. It was strange playing with no hacks or CC but I am going to put the compatible stuff in tonight.

Does anything happen to the Servos when they try to swim in the sea?

Knowing EAxis, more than likely not   ::)

Well, nothing we haven't seen before, anyway.  They react just like servos who've jumped in the pool -- power drained all the way, but the servo itself is not completely shorted out.  Which is too bad, I'd kind of like to see servos commit suicide that way :)

So they don't run amok trying to electrocute people then?  *sniff* :'(

The "funny shrine" reminds me of  the party gooddies of SimSlice, as do the bees that swarm randomly after the tours.

@neriana
I made a custom vacation destination called O.R.B.I.T. (inspired by PARANOIA tm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_(role-playing_game)), that is a space station. My alien offspring and the robots go there.

Next project is Transilvania, a gothic theme, making vacations comfortable for vampires.

I like BV and thanks to the great modders around here my game is still running...

I'll give EAxis an A+ for the new option of "go someplace" when your Sims decides to drive to a destination.  The driver gets to pick who comes along or stays home.

No more cats or dogs going to dinner with the family.  Yipee!

Ah! So they used the same dialog as the 'Walk to...' menu?  Cool -- guess Ste's ownablecarpoolfix is officially obsolete now. :)

Yes, while they oobered up quite a few things, I have to admit that I damn near fell out of my chair at the site of THE GRAND PIANO!

Of course, I had a sim get stuck at it while playing yesterday, but there's A GRAND PIANO in the game at long last.

And the trees! So many new trees! Another welcome addition.

As usual they didn't match the new stairs with new railings (apparently no one at Maxis ever looks at real homes/buildings?), but at least we have another stair option...

And it's nice to have a few more options of things that Simmies can 'buy' - even if the jewelry is horked at the moment.

And must agree with ziggydoodle re the 'go someplace' menu - at last!

I was playing with 'hood deco last night, trying to mask the evening that the game does to the coast when beach lots are added. You can add quite a few of the new deco objects into the actual lots, now. When playing the lot, if your camera isn't too close they still show up. I added a peninsula with trees and a couple of rocks to the beach lot I'm playing, and with the deco starfish I have (CC) and a few beach chairs/umbrellas, my ticket-beach looks fantastic. I even lay a hottub partially intersecting one of the 'hood deco rocks and it still works.

However, hottub + 74 degree temp (sim style) equals lots of visitors with heat stroke, even with Pescado's temp fixes. Had one croak on me and had to close down the beach for the day.

Sweet!  Now I won't have to bother updating that borked thing anymore. :D


Ste

I'm curious which terrain you'll use. I was looking through my terrains and there are really only a couple that offer good beach locations. Isla Segundo is actually disappointing for how little beach front property it offers. Or are you going to be making your own terrains, Dizzy? If so... share? :)


Forgive me for being dumb, but I couldn't find the public toilet recolors. I can see them on the public lots, but I couldn't figure out how to change the colors. The design tool wouldn't work on it, which was most frustrating.

As for the ep itself...

I'm really happy with the beach lots and a lot of the new building options. They make me a very happy simmer. Overall, I'm pretty pleased with this pack. I don't know how often I'll actually use the vacations, but it's still a very cool option. Beyond that, there are lots of smaller additions from this pack that I will be using all the time. :)

I love this EP--they did a great job.  One of the things that I like is the fact that Sims can stay over at each other's houses.  I like the fact that you can invite extended family on vacation.  Hope that you can invite children without their parents--for the sim males that like to spread their genes around(generously I might add)..

Orikes, theres some really nice beach terrains at -> http://www.simsanne.com/Forum/filebase.php?cat=12&sid=c19a3c3542ad24cd48c62d1eb02b6440
I'm using Insel-19 for my new neighborhood (Despair) and it's great!  ;D

I have some pictures up at -> http://www.the-isz.com/theisz/index.php?s=&showtopic=518&view=findpost&p=6232


CEP needs to be updated, it blocks the new stall recolors so you have to choose between CEP or the new maxis stuff (not sure if anything else is blocked by CEP but I removed it until it gets updated)


I haven't had a chance to play any sims in BV yet, been to busy setting up my new hood but so far, I'm loving the new beach lots and the new building options/stuff and the new turn ons/offs (finally reached the point of running sims through CAS so I'll be able to actually play soon)

Here's a beach 'hood terrain I made. Best used with GunMod's camera hack at MTS2, but the inner lake and beaches should still be visible without (the image below is cropped to eliminate a lot of water...this is the zoom I keep it at).
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z301/kariminger/terrain.jpg)
Obviously it comes without the tiny bit of deco and the lot shown. No preview image, 'cause I make custom ones based on the 'hood name and haven't decided what to permanently name this one. It's currently called Donutville Queen's Cove. 

The majority of the inner lake-bordering roads can fit beach lots. Nearly the entire east coast can, approximately half the southern coast can, and nearly the entire north coast can. The western coast has a low mountainous range. There's a few spots that are optimal for the 1x1, 1x2, 1xwhatev lots by Marylou at MTS2. Alternatively, you can place trees and such in them.

Terrain at MTS2 (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=253268).

Thanks for the links, Zazazu and Sleepycat. I will be definitely making use of a couple of those terrains. I like what you've done with your neighborhood so far too, Sleepycat. It looks pretty nifty. :) If I weren't almost halfway through my legacy, I'd consider switching neighborhoods for it to get some beach terrain. I may consider adding a ocean based shopping district since I haven't had one added as of yet, but we shall see.

And thanks for the info on CEP. That makes me feel less feebleminded. I was going crazy because I knew those stalls were different colors, but couldn't figure out how to get them. The odd thing too was that my stall recolors from Piggisims weren't working either.

your welcome Orikes  :)  and thank you  :D  (I just added a few more pictures to that thread of mine. I managed to finally get some sims moved in)

You could consider doing terrain surgery on your hood after SimPE gets updated. (I'm assuming simpe needs updating to be able to do terrain surgery but it may not)

The Seasons version won't open 'hoods in a game that has BV. It errors into oblivion. So no, no terrain surgery---unless you're one of those with the forethought to get in on the QA group.

I've never mucked around with the terrain surgery tool. Do you have to remove all existing lots before doing it (send the families to the sim bin, then move the empty houses to the lot bin), or will it just relocate the lots to the nearest road? There are some features to the neighborhood terrain I have that I like, but in addition to their being no ocean front property, it's just too big.

Obviously, this would have to wait until SimPE comes out anyway, but still. My interest is piqued now. :)

Back to the sorta topic -- the more I play BV, the more I like the new travel system.  It works very well for walking, taxis and ownable cars.  They got this part right!

I love the food stands and just discovered that the stools are a seperate part of the object and can be replaced.   I had fun with CAS in debug mode making a fake bigfoot and the sauna towels are available in underwear section.  I was also suprised to see that vacation houses can be sold in a real estate business.  I figured they would be like regular houses.  My favorite thing to do is dig for treasure, I have made a couple of sims do that all day.  I can finally build a proper Spa location although I wish they would have made a couple of the Sims 1 spa objects.  My sims have also taken tons of pictures with their cameras.  Im really happy about that addition and the pose menu.  Its cool that they can also order a framed picture or an album.

you'll want to read JM's tutorial --> http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,151.0.html 
that thread answers a lot of questions.

in short - you can leave the houses & sims in place, do the terrain surgery, move the houses so they are back on roads, then if the terrain is a bit warped in the spots where the houses were, re-do the terrain surgery to fix it. 

I prefer smaller terrains. The one I'm using has plenty of room and I spread most of the houses out. If I need more room I can either move the houses closer together so more will fit or just add on a custom subhood.


/on topic

From what I have seen in BV so far, I love it... even though I haven't seen much at all *laughs*  but I was pleased to discover that unlike weather, you can see the waves/spray through windows!  I'm going to end up redesigning some of my sims houses so they can have large windows facing the beach  :D

I've already placed some of those food stands on some of my community lots. I've made a public beach (for those poor saps that can't live right on the beach) community lot and a campground community lot that once I can take a sim there to see if it plays well, I'll re-zone it to a hotel...provided it does play well, otherwise I will re-do it.

I actually like Bon Voyage though I'm not a vacation fan myself - I never go on vacation.

But there are some really nice things in BV, stuff that made me laugh and THAT I like.
Also, the asian (kind of chinese/japanese) theme is a very nice thing to play with. Though the constant Tai Chi stuff is annoying.
I could have lived without the tropical theme - as said not a vacation/beach fan - the mountain one is nice, too.

Over all BV has less impact on every day life of the Sims than the other eps, the benefits being temporal and such - not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing...

I need the Community Time project updated for BV so vacations actually take time - only question is, how being away from work for seven days would be handled.

thats not the only one.. since there is no aging, having vacations count will desync the age, unless u age at arrival like was the case with the mod, but what will u do if u left 7 days and theres a birthday or a pregnancy...?

Trudy - that's 'you' not 'u' for a start. Start typing in complete sentences if you want to stay here and not get poked with pointy sticks. I mean capital letters and full stops, in case you don't understand.

Better do it fast, I see a bunch of people heading this way with their pointy sticks now. There's also the Grammar Police to watch out for, they're way tougher than me.

Don´t worry, I don´t mind pointy sticks. But I´m sorry if its hard to understand what I write. My english isn´t the best and i tend to mix up letters anyway. Also english has so short sentences. It´s hart to get used to ;-)

Ah, the delights of opening an 11 years old's book to see the sentence '"but u sed it woz alright mum." said jane.' causing you get out a very large red pen and scrawl '"But you said it was all right, Mum," said Jane.' You then proceed to spend the next few minutes with your head in your hands wondering why on earth you wasted an entire year attempting to teach these children decent spelling and grammar.

Back on the topic, I like the fact that time doesn't pass on vacations. The problem with the Community Time thing would be when you sent only part of your sim household on a holiday. Since you can't play the home lot whilst some of the sims are on holiday those sims would arrive back much older than the sims they had left behind. The seven days away from work shouldn't be too much of a problem though, simlogical has that object which shuts down college for a few days, surely it wouldn't be too difficult to have something to shut down work for a few days? (So it would be as if your sim was on leave from work.) I'm speaking here as someone who knows nothing about making hacks or mods so it's probably a lot more difficult than I imagine!

I'm also looking forward to making some beach lots in my main hood as soon as the new Sim PE comes out. I haven't been able to access the Sim PE site for two days though, is anyone else having this problem?

Thank you, Sleepycat! That will make life very easy when the new SimPE comes out. :)

Back on topic, I found another little thing that I like. When you use the 'pose' feature to get your sims to pose, they're not static like they are in Squinge's Hula & More. They  will actually track the camera as you move it around, or look at new people who enter the room. I was very pleasantly surprised at this when I was trying to get a couple of specific pictures today.

Digging for treasure is great.  If you have some useless Sims hanging around, you can make loads of money with the dig for stuff macro, as my sister discovered last night after invading the Bright household at Sim State University.  She sped her Sim through college with the collegeadjuster while the three Eaxis Sims there (with motive decay off) dug for stuff day and night.  It's kind of a nuisance to have to sell off a bazillion rocks and such, but you get a lot of the more valuable items, too.  She got at least a dozen treasure chests.  She ended up with 240,000 Simoleons by graduation.  :D

You can cancel the "walk to lot" action and have them run to the portal after you've established which one it is. The "walk to lot" icon will regenerate in the queue and they'll leave.

Hehe, this reminds me of the good old zombie movies from the 40s - you were lucky that they didn't turn against your sim in the end ;D

You don't need New SimPE to perform terrain surgery, just disable all the sim-related plugins so that SimPE will not attempt to read sim-files, as well as the lot-descriptor plugins. If a plugin errors on a specific datatype, simply disable it.

I would have to say that Twikki Island and the beaches are my favorite.  The beaches just look and sound really great.  I use to live on the beach and the noises in the game bring back good memories. XD  The beach with the pirate ship on it is really top rate...like something you would see in real life.  The Dragon Legend is really beautiful as well.  Oh and the Unsavory Charlaton is my favorite NPC to date.  I like his regular outfit the best and all the interactions he does and the way he sounds. XD I just cancel out the "Greet" interaction when I see it on my sim and then sit back and enjoy watching him con other sims. XD Overall I think Maxis did really well with this EP.  The only things I would have liked to have seen would be surfing and skiing, but everything they did give us is really great.  I am actually surpirsed at how much I like the EP and how much I enjoy taking my sims on vacation, since I didn't really think I would enjoy it all that much.

Dream

Zazazu, thanks for the Donut terrain. I used it to add an extra Downtown neighbourhood and my sims are now moving to beach houses in droves. The children get home from school and head straight for the beach.

I had a bunch of plant sims that I didn't know what to do with (as I made my first ever plant sim grow 4 plantbabies in quick succession, just because I could, then I got bored with them...) they live on a beach lot now in a state of bliss.

Building community lots is now a lot more fun. I built a community beach with a camp site (and shipwreck), so my poor sims who cannot afford a vacation can spend as long as they like there. I love it that they can sleep in the tents. Also, the first sim baby conceived in a tent has been born and named Lilo.

I really like on BV this:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/Havelock/nsnapshot_b3f9a526_13f9a465.jpg)

Picture taken on Beachlot in my updated Bluewater Village Hood.

That's lovely Havelock.

The redheadet Lady and the Wolf are my sims the other are nonplayables gathered by the Wolf and the Lady to watch the Waves. Had it first autonomous happen with two Dogs. It was so Awwww. They gain Fun and Social by do this.

I was going to ask how you got a dog on vacation, but I guess you brought the vacation to the dog. :)  I have a custom shopping district in my test hood (Strangetown) that's desert, but I'm going to take a page out of your book and make a public beach like that when I go back to my main hood (Pleasantview with the original Bluewater Village).

Mine is kind of the opposite. My main 'hood is Queen's Cove (the Donut terrain), with now three occupied lots as the twins have grown up and Logan is on his own in a slightly Asian-styled beach house, and Ninja Bigfoot is off living in the woods by the mountains. No community lots there due to the setup rules of the neighborhood. All community lots are downtown, on the mainland (most of the downtown terrain is water, and then just a straight coast with the land going off the edge). The hoodies only go to the mainland for necessities, no fun (theoretically it's too far of a trip). But the mainlanders come in droves to visit the public beach at Sean's (he's gotten married to a frequent beach goer, Laura, and mom and her new hubby moved into the renovated basement and have a nice little apartment down there), and now the convenience store at Logan's. Next new house I'm going to try to set up a bed & breakfast...then I can start parcelling out land for community lots and moving townies into their own households bit by bit.

I like the gradual growth of a community...just usually don't have the patience to sit it through. It's just slow because...well. Despite the fact that Lilly (the mom) had just over $100,000 at one point, she's down to maybe $20,000 after buying a vacation home, furnishing the apartment, and giving Logan money to buy his house. Sean is a jobless wonder and spends his days teaching the beachgoers Tai Chi. While the beach is at level 7 and technically $25 is considered the cheap price, it seems weird to charge them more than $10...especially since there's that risk factor with having a hottub out in the open during the summer. I've lost two townies to heat stroke.

It is a Comm Lot in Bluewater Village. Behind this lot (across the street) is the Big Toy Store with the Knights on it. I have only modyfied the Terrain in Sim City 4.

Ah, so it won't work with an unmodified Bluewater?

It works not good with the unmodified Bluewater. The Beach is not  made for such Lots. Its possible but not easy and after your Lots waterline the beach is bottomless. I would not recommend it. A side note dont use prebuild Beachlots they corrupt the hood terrain.

Here is the hood.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/Havelock/Hood.jpg)

And here is the beach by Daylight.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v257/Havelock/Beach.jpg

You could see i have straightened the Waterline and made the Beach less deep.

Ah -- care to share your modified Bluewater terrain? :)

You could have it.  :D
But the Beach is not that straight as visible in the Picture and the Beachline is not flat.
I have made an empty Hood straightened the Beachline with small normal Lots (Lots should not be bigger as the green part of the Beach) and Bulldozed them. 
Made a Hoodsurgery on my normal Bluewater after that.
Be carefull if you try this. I recommend this only on a fresh created Bluewater without lots in it.

get it here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/24472588/a4e13747/City_-_New_City.html

Thanks!  My bluewater has been going for a while, but heck -- I'll just backup everything and if I fubar it, I can restore it. :)

I am loving the fact that the Reggae station has THE first family of Reggae actually doing the songs... That was a slick move on EA/Maxis Part! I giggled at the simlish version of Damien Marley's "Welcome to Jamrock"

I just wish they would fix it to where you can have your favorite sim stations play all the time even in hood and cas screens

Beach lots are a wonderful thinng and I love how the sims sit by the water, makes for great pics :)

I wont call this my favorite [ NOTHING beats seasons for me, even though I still cannot see the damn fish in ponds and tanks] but this one didn't suck as much as pets did

I don't know if this suggestion will help but this is what I did.

I cannot stand ANY of the Maxis music and so turned it ALL off in the little music manager panel in options except the music in the radio stations tabs - I figured if they turned on salsa they should hear salsa.  OTOH, I never buy them stereo systems so I never hear it anyway.  I then put in some music I actually like (from another game AAMOF) in the Build folder (inside the Music folder in My Documents) - this music gets played everywhere: build, buy, neighbourhood, CAS.

I finally had a chance to have a sim learn how to teleport from the Ninja, and I have to say I really like the new teleport animation.  I also like how other sims react when someone teleports away while they're looking, or teleports into their midst.

Only one of my sims has learnt to teleport so far, those Ninjas are very elusive and teleport away when someone so much as looks at them. I love their outfits.

I was chasing that bleeping Ninja from lot to lot! I had one Sim in the family who hadn't happened upon him by accident, and he refused to cooperate and say her answer was right.  He always appears in the same spot on the lots though. So I'd have the Sim arrive and run over to the spot, and just wait for him to appear.  Except on the one lot, I don't remember which now, he'd appear INSIDE a decorative fence that couldn't be stepped over, so I had to use the cheat to make an opening in the fence. :-P Stupid Eaxis.

The best part is that once they know how, Macrotastics uses it instead of the 'run to' action.  So they need to hit the bathroom?  Poof -- disappear and reappear in or just outside the bathroom.  Time to go to bed?  Poof -- appear right next to it.  :)

Really? WOW! ;D I didn't know that, none of my stupid sims have learned to teleport yet because they can't catch the stupid ninja!

I've had zero success with the ninja while on vacation, so I cheated.  :D  Before the Insimenator was updated for BV, I found I was able to summon the ninja at home with twojeffs' Find A Mate Crystal Ball.  He showed up for every Sim I tried it with, so I just kept summoning him and trying to answer his question until I got it right.  I love their reactions to someone teleporting.

The ninja turned up a lot for me. Lilly got teleportation on the first try. Logan tried four times before I gave up. What I like best about this EP is the beauty potential:

Best wedding shot. (Lilly and second husband)
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z301/kariminger/snapshot_13ef2fa2_d3f5dc93.jpg)

Kennedy making out with his girlfriend in the hot tub on the public beach.
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z301/kariminger/snapshot_13ef2fa2_b3fc7458.jpg)

Lilly catches a fishy on vacation.
(http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z301/kariminger/snapshot_13ef2fa2_93ef38b6.jpg)

My experience with the Ninja is that he is incredibly easy to find and learn the teleportation from.  I'm wondering if it's one of those things or a possible hack conflict making him harder to find for some people.  I did notice that once all eligible people to learn teleportation had learnt, that he stopped appearing.  I'm not sure whether teens can learn.

Agreed Zazazu - it looks lovely.

Hm.  Manual-navigation, perhaps?  Do you use this in your game, maxon?

Hook

Yes, teens can learn to teleport too.

I found him on every community lot (non-hotel ones) He just appears in odd spots- like on the sidewalk across the street from where you arrive, or the back corner of the lot.  I think people just aren't knowing where to look for him. If you don't get to him right away, he teleports away. I'd usually just wait for the lags in the game to start looking, before I knew the spot where he'd appear on each lot. The Ninja is the lag after the Tour Guide.  :D  Then pause it while you search the lot for him or at least his flash.

I don't have BV, as I've sworn not to buy any more EPs- I'm just here to point out that you can delete subhoods even without BV. At any rate, I had no problem deleting Bluewater Village...

ATM I'm playing completely vanilla - well, no, not quite true from yesterday.  I've put the empty templates back in and have the no respawn hacks in but that's all.  I don't think I've ever used manual navigation.

The appearance of the ninja is sadorandom. Once he appears, if you can catch him, there's an ~50/50 shot of getting the right "answer", which means you are wrong 90% of the time. Manual navigation has no effect on this.