Well I've finished 2 runs of this challenge, the first with a Bachelor the 2nd with a Bachelorette (who was booted in the 1st challenge).

The first one was really interesting and funny how the ending couple couldn't keep their hands off each other. Both couples from the challenge are still together and going strong (much unlike the real Bachelor/Bachelorettes, lol).

In the 1st challenge the female (Family) won the Bachelor's (Knowledge) heart by following him everywhere! She was too funny to watch. He had a thing going with a Fortune and a Popularity sim but she didn't give up. Everywhere he went, to eat, play chess, swim, she followed. She would tell him jokes and they would go at it back and forth for hours. I thought she wouldn't win because since neither had any charisma points, sometimes their jokes would end up giving them negative scores, but their "overnight" date put her over. I had the Bachelor go on an overnight date with each of the remaining three Bachelorettes (Fortune, Popularity, Family). They all were best friends and had crushes on the Bachelor and he with them (I think in love too but don't remember). What put the Family sim over was that on the overnight date, they whoo'd autonomously. Well, needles to say they're very happy now and are currently in my version of the Idiot challenge where the former Bachelor is the "idiot".    They have 3 children a girl and 2 twin boys (surprised when playing the idiot challenge and you only need one spare heir  )

In the 2nd challenge I used one of the females (Family) who I thought would do well but lost the Bachelor by constantly arguing with him. She didn't change and upon meeting her potentials started arguing with them too. I don't know what her problem is but she is really moody. She is even on the "nice" side so I don't get it. Well, upon meeting her potentials, she clashed with a few of them right off and some didn't find her attractive. I found it funny how most of the younger looking guys were not that interested in her but the older ones were more so. She looks sort of older like mid thirties-forties. After a while where she was in the negative with a few of the guys, one of them was making his move and they were friends pretty quickly. He is a Fortune sim. In the final two it was done to a Family sim and a Fortune sim. The family sim almost had it but she fell in love with the Fortune guy on the overnight. They are now happily married and have 2 children a boy and a girl.

Interestingly, the runner up family sim has come over (autonomously) ringing the doorbell. (I made all the former challenge players townies). He was still friends with both of them. Once he called for her and while talking to him on the phone she lost her crush. (I've never seen that happen over the phone) I guessed he "suggested" something she didn't like. Not to long after that he came over and tried to charm/suggest to her and she let him have it, lol. A few days later while he was passing the house she went over to him and started arguing with him. I guess she was still pissed about his suggestion. He argued back and lost his crush. Her husband was standing their watching the whole thing and when they got back into the house he autonomously jumped into her arms (first time he's ever done that). I guess he was happy that she picked him in the end and when she had the opportunity to cheat she didn't, lol.

I tell you, since starting a new hood, Challengeville - where everything is a challenge, my sims have gotten a lot more interesting. 

So these templates are complete to use fully in the game now? If not all, which ones?
thanks

I started a new hood (no subhoods) and deleted all characters. I created townies (all females) played them for a bit then added them to the townie pool (with shrub). All their memories were erased and they were given the generic townie memories. Ok, so far.
I then created all men townies, played them for a bit and added them to the townie pool. None of the men met any of the females before I added them to the townie pool.

Now when I play my playable sims houses, who I have yet to send to a community lot, and the townies pass by sometimes they will wave at each other etc. Ok, that's normal, but what caught my attention was when some of the men and female townies began flirting with each other autonomously, charming, etc. on my sims front lawns, and it was being accepted. I selected them to check their relationship scores and some of them are at friend status with each other and a few have developed crushes. They have no memories of meeting each other, etc.
How can these townies be getting jumps in their relationship scores when I haven't even been to a community lot where they would be allowed to mingle with each other? Does the game automatically create townie relationships or is there a secret place that the townies go to that I don't know about?

The only hacks I have in regards to relationships are the romancemod and norandomflirts. I did have 2Jeff's casual romance (the old one) but I took that out before creating this hood.

Hello..

What does the the neighborhoodmanager.package do and is it safe to delete/regenerate?
I deleted it because I took out a hack and I wanted to "clean" my neighborhood since it seems the results of the hack was still there. Anyway, when I loaded the game the "you added a new expansion pack" message came up and the neighborhoodmanger.package was regenerated. None of my sims were reset or anything like when you really install a new expansion.
So my question is, did I inadvertently screw something up?

oh okay that would be useful.  thanks

Umm..why would you need to make objects invisible from the window? 

This is what I was looking for...
http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=73306&c=1

(just in case someone else wants a tutorial)

Does anyone know of a tutorial for building a basement apartment, a basment with stairs leading to it from the outside like a separate entrance?

thanks

okay, got it. thanks

Is this still supported? I don't see it in the Director's cut or Hack Directory.

What about the other way around?
You have townie employees performing sales interactions on those that visit your store (including playable sims). Does it prevent the sales-person townies from becoming friends with your playables that way also?

Thanks Rohina,  . I didn't think I was allowed to buy stuff.
I'm enjoying your stories by the way. Good stuff 

I know back-to-back post but just wanted to share how the challenge is going. I altered things to mimic the show as much as possible. I wish I could post a story but I'm not good at it.

I have 1 bachelor (knowledge) and 12 bachelorettes, so that means it will last of 12 days. I altered the "dates" somewhat so that it will stretch.
It is pretty interesting so far and cool how things actually begin to take on a life of their own like the real Bachelor/Bachelorette shows (yes I watch them  ).
It's funny to watch them talk about him and dream about him. lol.

Some of these girls don't have a clue while others are moving in and strategizing.
On day 1, I had the girls move in and "meet" the bachelor. I had them do a check sim out so they could establish a gender pref.; they all liked what they saw.
One of them immediately began to argue with him, way to go to meet a man right? Needless to say she was the first booted. lol
I thought she was going to be the house troublemaker as she went around teasing, poking and arguing with everyone. However, she was "neat" and she went around making everyone's bed and cleaning the bathrooms and stuff. I would have loved to see her stick around longer. She left with a neg. score.
About 3 of the girls upon meeting the bachelor started to tell him a joke, now they know how to catch a man! lol.
Some of the girls made friends with each other, while others have stared to "fight" (there is going to be one soon). One of the romance sims was in the shower and a knowledge sim came in to wash her hands. That did it. They've been poking at each other ever since and now are furious with each other. Fight, fight...lol

As it relates to relationships with the bachelor, I had a 1st rose "ceremony" the 1st night where I had him scope the room. He chose a family sim, 3 bolts, one of them that told him a joke. She was also the last girl he met, so that was interesting. I gave them a 1-1 date (no direction) in a room but did not lock the door. The above mentioned romance sim interrupted the date and started to dance with the bachelor, she wasn't wasting anytime, however, it didn't go to well and he started dancing with his date. She didn't leave the room though and stayed there the whole time. lol
On day two I had my bachelor go on a group date with the 5 sims with the lowest scores. He had a bolt for one of them (a family sim) but she started to argue with him and now he has a neg. score with her. What's wrong with these girls?
She's probably going to be the next to go. To bad b/c I liked her and thought she would go far. Another one on this group date (a fortune sim) who stared with a low score sat with him as they ate for about 2 sim minutes and now she has the highest score in the house, although she refused him for a game of rock-paper-scissors later on. I like her too but thought she was going b/c she keeps to herself and is really quiet. I guess you do have to watch for the quiet ones after-all, she snuck up there.
He autonomously tried to charm one of the knowledge sims (mentioned above) but she refused him.   

The family and knowledge girls seem to be blowing it. I think a fortune or romance sim is going to win the bachelor's heart. go figure? 

It's only day 2, so a lot of time still left to go. 

I'm trying this challenge for the first time. Actually it is my 1st challenge ever (yeah, me!)
I'm not awesome enough to try email or Ethiopian (yet)

Instead of starting out with 7 single sims, I started out with 12, and now I'm running into a problem. I was going to play without fulfilling any wants, however, since the singles are in the house longer then what the challenge calls for, they (particularly the Fortune sims) are starting to go into aspiration failure, and it is only day 2. I know the rules say you can fulfill 1 want per day as long has it's not a "romantic/flirt" one. So how do I do this for my Fortune singles? One just wants to buy stuff and earn money, the other wants to buy stuff, ask on a date and slow dance. How can I fulfill these wants and still stay within the rules of the challenge?

thanks

Oh, duh, ZZ. I was wondering what neatness had to do with going broke. lol

Well I know it definitely had nothing to do with the Broke family, as this is a custom hood.
I'll have to check her neatness level. What's funny is that she shares a house with a roommate and her daughter and they only have about $5k, so she is already nearly broke. I guess she fears losing the little she does have. 

Don't know. 
Most people that are reporting problems is because they either installed the 1st patch or have FFS installed.
People that didn't install the 1st patch don't seem to be having this problem.
I was able to install with no problems as I only have OFB unpatched.

It appears that having installed the 1st patch is what is causing this problem with the 'globalcatbin.bundle.package' file, for some.

I have only OFB and didn't install the first patch and didn't have any problems installing this new one.
The only hacks I removed were the ones that were made obsolete by the patch and the ones that modders said may not be compatible.
I've played and haven't had any problems so far, except the one posted above which is just another Maxian "bug".
It seems from the BBS and other boards that alot of people are having problems if they have OFB & FFS and/or they patched OFB before.
See link Ivy posted above.

I just had a pleasure sim roll a fear of going broke. I've never seen this before, is this new with OFB/patch2?
It happened when she went to a lot with a ticket machine. I guess she feared staying there to long paying by the hour and thus
going broke, lol.

It looks like the fix with the date ticket machine makes it so that your date doesn't pay at all, even after the date is over they remain on the lot free of charge.
I had a sim take a date to a lot with a ticket machine and the date browsed. I waited for a while to see what would happen. The date's buy bar remained pretty low for a while but when my sim bought a ticket his buy bar "popped" but he did not take a ticket. I stayed on the lot for a bit with the date then I ended it. The date ended fine but he continued to stay on the lot without being charged.

am I the only one that see's the hidden words? lol,
was that on purpose, ZephyrZodiac?   

Since it is a good idea to take out all hacks, what happens to your sims that are employeed using custom careers, if you start the game with those downloads removed? I have the ones from djsims.

I see they still didn't fix the podium obession on restaurants.

Haha..that's classic!  
...the "stuff" pack even broke the bag of poo.    

ohhh...thanks all...I am the wiser now