I'm so sorry for your loss Missdoh.  My mom recently had to put down her 10 year old cat (who we got when I was in high school) for similar reasons.  He lived a very happy life up (albeit he always had health problems) up until the very end.   I hope you can take comfort in the fact that you gave Doudoune the best life she could have possibly had.

I have an 11 year old cat myself and although she doesn't have any major health problems yet, I'm not holding out hope that she'll live for more than another few years.  The hardest part of being the caretaker for a pet with a typically short lifespan is knowing you only have a limited amount of time with them before you have to say good-bye.

People can't dictate where others link.  (It SO cracked me up that the official Olympics site forbade you linking to it unless you had their written permission.)  The ONLY reason they should honor such a request, if it ever existed, would be out of respect, and they CLEARLY don't respect him.

Any site owner can EASILY redirect outside links to a different page, whichever one they want, if that was ever his goal.  He wouldn't need anyone on VS to modify their linking behavior.

I have no idea why I can script in various programming languages just fine, but I can't figure out the simplest SIM program...

So I downloaded the developmental release.  The hair toner plugin isn't there, I can't figure out where to find it, and by this thread on TSR, it seems that hair toner has been dropped.

I'm just a flipping idiot, right?  Do I need to use skin toner to categorize my hair, or is the hair toner plugin available somewhere?

ETA: I think I give up.  The tutorials don't go over how to categorize hair with the skin manager.  I load some files, but have no way of knowing what COLOR it is (unless the filename gives a clue)....  It seems like skin manager then auto categorizes hair, all on its own SOMEHOW because after loading some files, if I go to skin manager, they've assigned themselves to a category.  It seems like it all conflicts though because filenames indicating "blond" are assigning themselves to "black". 

Thanks anyway, stick.   

I've learned I should just stop asking questions that have specific answers because 8 times out of 10, I figure out the answer before anyone can respond.  For some reason, I just can't stop asking these questions though.

That's where I'm at.  I only started downloading content when NL came out and now I don't know how I'll ever live without custom content!

I do have my downloads organized by type (recolors, objects, meshes, clothes, etc, etc) so I might just try deleting a folder at a time and slowly redownloading items I like using SaraMK's method of putting each package in its own descriptive folder with a screenshot.  Then again, I'm not sure I can take the time as I usually download a couple hunred items every time I go on a downloading spree.

Edited to Add (x2): Asked a stupid question and after Googling around for a while, I found the answer myself.  To anyone who might be as stupid as me, datgen can be downloaded here

lalala...

Sara,  do you categorize clothing into collections that you can then pull up in the game?  How do you do this?  I haven't used the game's "collection" mode at all for objects, but I didn't even know it was available for clothing.

Or are you rather talking about grouping them in collections in your download folder?

I have about a gig's worth of downloads right now, but a lot of that is junk.  I have NO IDEA how to sort through it all as the preview image option in the clean installer doesn't really give me a good idea of what the package is.  Every once in a while I'll go through the in-game catalog mode or Body Shop to sift through objects, clothes, hair, etc and delete ones I'm not interested in anymore.  Does this actually remove the file from the downloads folder, or am I just wasting my time deleting packages this way?

For those super-organized, how EXACTLY do you manage everything?

Sim Day 5.  Sim Days are regardless of individual families the way I play.


While I think it could probably be technically POSSIBLE to do this, I think it would prove to be far too much hassle for those who don't keep track of their sim days like I do.


I don't play with aging off, ever.

I think another use of "Sim Days" could be the number of days playing a specific HOUSEHOLD, regardless of the rest of the neighborhood.  In this case, "Sim Days" could progress while aging is off.  It wouldn't really be tied to any other household in the neighborhood though.

I have no idea if it will help, but I'll explain how I use Sim Days.  Sim Day 1 is the first day I play the neighborhood.  Therefore, the adults I started with in CAS were born on negative Sim Day twenty-something (I can't recall off the top of my head how many "days" sims live before reaching adult.  Somewhere between 26-28 I believe). [other side note, I call a negative Sim Day "BS" for "Before Sims".  ].  Everything in the neighborhood is run based on that.  So if someone is born on Sim Day 15, it's the 15th Sim Day I've been playing the neighborhood.

I can imagine Sim Days would be pretty tricky since people use different frames of reference for "Sim Day 1"

Well, I was trying to keep my post brief, so I didn't detail the whole application and screening process ordeal.  His credit check came back okay, but his kindergarden teacher didn't like him very much.  Getting his bloodwork done without his knowledge was surprisingly easier than I thought it'd be.

Woo!  I moved to Kennesaw from MD when I was 14.  Moved to Vinings (I hated it - too snobby and overpriced) and now I'm in Duluth, which I *love*. 

When my husband moved here, he moved to Marietta. 

I like the Woodstock area a lot, but as both my husband and I work just inside the perimeter, there's no way on Earth we could live there.

The problem with Geocities is that it seems to have a ridiculously low bandwidth cap, which is fine and dandy for those with text only pages, but isn't very useful in trying to distribute files.

Here are two suggestions:

1) Open a gmail account and use it to send out the emails.  I send LOTs of MB of files a day this way and have never gotten a warning.

2) Open a gmail account, send the file from that gmail account, TO that gmail account.  Give out the login/pw to that gmail account to anyone you want to have the file.  gmail has something like 2 gigs of storage now (it grows by the second) and you can send attachments up to 10 MB in size.

I completely agree that people need to be very careful about forming relationships with people they meet online, but I don't think meeting people online in and of itself is any different than meeting people at, say,  a bar.  The important thing is to take it OFFLINE as soon as possible. 

I met my husband online when I was 19.  We traveled in the same online communities and formed a friendship.  The moment our feelings for one another turned romantic, we started chatting on the phone.  At the time he lived in Ft. Worth and I in Atlanta, over 800 miles apart.  Two months after we started chatting on the phone, he flew out here to see me and the trip went wonderfully.  Six months after that, he uprooted from his home town and moved to an apartment outside of Atlanta to be with me and start a "real" relationship.  You know, one where we could actually go out to the movies and dinner and TOUCH one another.

Two and a half years later we were married and we're about to celebrate our third wedding anniversary this November.

I hate telling people how we met because they always look at me like I'm crazy and don't I know that he's probably not who he says he is and is just WAITING for the right time to murder me or break my heart?  (People have said this to me!  Recently, in fact!)   I'm no fortune reader, so who knows if we'll be together forever.  I do sure as hell know that if we ever divorce, it will have nothing to do with having met him online. 

I'm not fanatical about it, but I also hate to waste food.  There's nothing worse than serving food when only two sims are hungry.

I also let sims eat off the others' plate.  I usually only do so when one sim gets full and I tell her to stop.  I'll try to find another sim who isn't very hungry, but could use being topped off and if they're not doing anything, they get to eat the leftovers.

I seem to be one of the few who don't really mind how long it takes for sims to eat meals now (I definitely see a difference, but it hasn't caused any problems with my sims) so I try to wait for everyone to get halfway hungry or for a couple of sims to get VERY hungry.

I hate to drag this thread even further off topic, but I will anyway.  Regarding weight loss, exercise helps as far as the extra skin goes.  (this is my experience, not a scientific opinion)  I believe this is one of the reasons why it's so important to exercise when you're trying to lose weight.  The skin is very elastic, so if it's being treated right, it should eventually adjust to your new body. 

In a case of extreme weight loss (over 100lbs) I don't know how possible it is to exercise the skin back into an appropriate form though.

I've lost 50 lbs since April (still have another 50 to go though. Sigh) and thank the heavens, I haven't noticed any extra skin hanging around yet.  It's a huge fear of mine.

I want to be skinny, but not THAT kind of skinny.

I saw that part as more of a record of their relationship.  Not necessarily that they ARE married to that person, but that at one point in time they WERE married to that person.  For example,  you can enter a partner with the "Go Steady" relationship.  If that sim grows up and marries someone else, the new partner would be entered with the "Married" relationship, but the "go steady" relationship would still be there as a record of that sim's past relationships.

ETA: Actually, I think I'm talking about something completely different, so disregard if necessary.  I was speaking about the mid section where you enter the sim's partners, not the section at the top to denote their Marital Status

Ooooh.  There's an idea.  Perhaps if a child makes his parent/elder furious, the parent would then have the option to punish/ground the child and they're unable to go to any community lot for a certain amount of time and the parent gets certain influences for free (cleaning, serving meals, gardening and the like) similar to how it works with greek house pledges.

Well, the reason it didn't work before when we had two computers was because if I needed more RAM for example, he INSISTED on getting more/better RAM, even if he didn't need it!  There are specific upgrades I need to do the work I do and every time I needed an upgrade, he HAD to have an upgrade to the same or a better part.  It was bleeding us dry (about $200/month on computer upgrades.  Now we spend maybe $400 / YEAR)

I hope it's not going to be the same story when we get another new computer.  Since I'll likely only use the TV computer for the Sims and surfing the web, it's only going to need to be upgraded when a part goes out or an EP boosts the requirements.

I work weekdays from around 10am - 7pm.  I usually get up around 6:30 and have all my morning stuff taken care of and the sims loading by 7:30.  I don't need to leave for work until 9:20, so I get to play about an hour and a half taking a break around 8:30 to blow dry my hair and actually get ready for work.

As mentioned in another thread, my husband seems to feel he will implode if I'm on the computer and he's awake and at home (he is REALLY not good at entertaining himself).  Therefore, when he's home I rarely get a chance to play.  I used to loathe the fact that he sleeps in on the weekends, but now I just play while he's sleeping and all is well!  I get maybe an hour and a half in each weekend morning as well.  If I'm lucky, he'll go out with his friends or take a nap so I can play some more.

Hopefully we won't have to share a computer for too much longer.  Earlier in our relationship and in the beginning of our marriage we had two separate computers.  Although I'm still trying to figure out the math, I think keeping two computers upgraded with the latest technology is three times as expensive as keeping one computer upgraded.  This is because when one part goes on Computer A, Computer B must receive a similar new part even if it doesn't need it.  We got tired of constantly upgrading both computers, so we combined all the best parts into one (and incidentally started upgrading far less often!)

My employers have a nice employee purchase program for computer equipment (basically a 2 year interest free loan) and my iBook is just about paid off.  We have no room for a second computer now so we're likely going to user our 52" HDTV as a monitor and get a wireless keyboard and mouse.  Hubby's still figuring out the logistics of it all, but let me tell you, I can't WAIT to play Sims on a huge screen.

I have a balance, although I don't know how healthy it is.  I NEVER feel like I have enough time for TS2.  When I'm at work, I spend my breaks and lunch reading through forums such as this.  I get about an hour to an hour and a half in the mornings before I leave for work.  That is the only time my husband "allows" me access to our one computer.  For some reason, he absolutely cannot stand being at home while I'm on the computer and he isn't unless he's sleeping.  I've noticed myself askng him if he'd like to take a nap several times on the weekends, just so I can play with my Sims.

I think it's all best for me since I usually get bored if I try to play for more than two hours at a time.

I've just recently started keeping records for my sims in a notebook, but I still don't list everything I'd LIKE to.  I think I'm going to create a page template with all the information I want to keep for each of my Sims and make a PDF with that page template repeated multiple times, then upload it to Cafe Press and order a notebook of it so it's all nicely bound, like a workbook.

I'm actually sort of surprised no one's put together a Sims workbook in cafe press or the like to sell considering how easily it could be done and how many Simmers obsessively keep records.

Do you have a copy of their house in the houses bin?  If so, maybe try moving them out, replacing the lot and then moving them back in?  That's fixed problems I've had before, although unrelated.

Incidentally, I love this 'new' feature of the houses bin.  I package up houses after every major remodel, use the clean installer to remove the sims and then put the houses into the bin for just these sorts of occassions.  Depending on how extensive the remodel, I may or may not keep the previous version of the house.

This lovely utility is going to make me go out and buy ink for my printer and a three hole punch, I can see it now!

I personally think two different date type fields would be ideal - one for real-life date tracking and one as a flexible text field for sim day tracking.  I don't know how many people would use two different fields though, so that might just clutter things up.  I could just pick a random year in the recent past (1980 maybe) and use real-life dates for sim days.

I fiddled around with the reports a bit and they're great.  I would LOVE it though if the picture we've entered on the sim's tab showed up next to their name in the Household report.  It looks to me like you can print individual tabs (which I assume would include the picture) but the tabs need to be set up to print as Landscape (which is why I can't see the picture attached) and I don't see any place to set up printing as landscape as Page Setup is greyed out.

I love it!

I have the same issue earlier reported where information isn't retained for spouses.  I've tried creating everyone separately and then linking, but for some families, this won't ever solve the problem.

I'd also prefer an alternative to "Date" (although I don't want that done away with - I can find uses for it).  I keep track of what Sim Day it is and only use the real date to keep track of when I last played a house.  I'd much rather be able to enter that Cassandra Sands was born on Sim Day 13 and her sister born on Sim Day 15,  even if they're born on the same real-life date.

(I know I could do this through notes, but it would be nice to eventually have the ability to pull a report of all Sims born between Sim Days X and Y, etc.)

I've had some problems with one of my sims being unable to clean up the dishes as well (NL + patch).  I know she didn't have the ability to clean up for several days.  I'm not sure if she's able to now - I'm so used to having her family members clean up after her that I keep forgetting to check!  This happened almost immediately after she aged to elder.

Okay - hopefully some good news...

Hubby finally turned into an elder and I threw an anniversary party.  To my great surprise, it filled the wife's LTW!  So it appears this may be glitchy, but not necessarily broken.

Before, when the husband was an adult, I was using the wife's cell phone to try to throw an anniversary party.  Wasn't working.

This time I had the husband throw the party, but instead of using his cell phone, he used the regular phone.

If I had the patience, I'd test this more.