Master Controller -> Sim -> Intermediate (iirc) -> Gender Preference. Make Female positive and Male 0 or negative.

Alternatively, do what I do and have NRass Story Progression allow for male/male preggxors for AI, but that also requires Master Controller to pollinate and a paternity mod for proper clothes/meshes. A whole new definition of "gaybie!"

I guess you're more interested in the chick's genetics, though. Well, "genetics," as far as TS3 actually has them.

I drink a lot of water, and I pee a lot, maybe once every hour and a half or so?

Continued thanks are in order. All of this information is terrific and useful! Thanks for the link to the "Populating CAW Worlds" wiki especially, JEthel.

A guess a mini-update could be made:

-Looks like I'll do bios for everybody! It's a great place to hide easter eggs/clues, at least
-There will definitely not be Anderson Cooper
-I've thrown out the first two worlds I made in CAW. I'm worried about distant terrain - it's pretty, but the suggestions here had caused me to experiment with small worlds. This doesn't leave a huge amount of space for rolling hills miles around while still having decent non-camera routing! What are people's thoughts on having limited distant terrain with a consolidated area like the 'hood posted by Zazazu above? (Or am I missing something?)
-Between my own views, the views posted here and how I got pissy at Bridgeport last night trying to move some guys to a new cheap lot, the world will most definitely have a focus on cheap to average cost homes for residential areas
-Should every community lot with an interior have a bathroom? Should there be outhouses on some distant lots?

Some screenshots of a tiny laundromat - the Cleanette Laundry Facility ("the Whabam! power of Cleanesque in a small-town format") - I made that will be in this world, most likely with some adjustment, less BLUE and actual exterior decoration:




I made it quickly for myself because I could barely fit the Twinbrook one in Bridgeport and its non-existent free space ("we're going to let you place lots down like in The Sims 2! Too bad there's no room in the worlds, especially not the new ones") and because I really needed a public chessboard; I couldn't find one in all of Bridgeport.

Any complaints about my need to practice building can be responded to with "yes I know, that's why I'm practicing before actually crafting this world."

EDIT: I've been doing a lot of reading, and it looks like in order to create the kind of lived-in, pre-made soap opera world I'm planning on I should share this as a save file as opposed to a world file. While the mods that allow Edit-in-World to manipulate Sims are fairly powerful, I'm interested in something even deeper - possibly even letting the game play out for a while. Is this an absolutely horrible idea? Are there any technical issues I should worry about/that mean I should avoid sharing as a save completely? Does this cause you to scoff at me?

Thank you all for being so informative. I'll definitely keep all of this in mind.

I never realized that small 'hoods could be so... large. I guess I've been under the influence of massive-yet-tiny maps like Twinbrook for too long.

The lack of many cheap starter homes in the default 'hoods bothers me, too. Considering this would require LN, it would make sense to have some duplexes or whatever that are cheap but still look fairly nice, although not too many since editing your own lawn is pleasant.

Now I am nostalgic for The Sims 2, even though I could never go back after playing TS3. Thanks.

myskaal: Thanks, I'll take a peek. I really should play with CAW more.

That was mostly a joke. Real-world people have no place in The Sims 3. Adds to the uncanny valley in a way, even more than oily skins and greasy hairs.

That is a very good point, Zazazu. While not meant to be thematic in a pirate/ninja/space alien way, this is meant to be a cohesive 'hood. I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks for the mod information.

Kyna: I fully intend on adding spawners/clever little fishing holes/foreign gardens/etc.! As for the population thing, I understand where you're coming from. I'm not sure this 'hood would be for you, then, although you could always obliterate part of the downtown.

Baybourough looks like an ideal TS2 'hood layout, which is probably a good thing as well for TS3. Places like Twinbrook annoy me because all of the space is taken up - I had to tear apart a huge cliff to put down the new studio.

It's not meant to be a community project, I was just saying that I'd probably be sniping some custom lots from other people that I like. 90+% of the work is meant to be done by me!

And differing opinions is good. I like the honesty and intelligence here.

Back when I played The Sims 2, I always started off a new session by making a new town from scratch, building outwards from a single residential lot as I needed groceries, people to marry, places to date, etc. I really enjoyed the neighborhood creation aspect, and the open world of The Sims 3 makes that possibility even more attractive. Unfortunately, until now I've never felt that TS3 was up to snuff with its hood customization; between Late Night, Awesomemod and twallan/NRaas Industries I think it's finally possible for me to feel comfortable making a 'hood from the ground up that runs the way I want it to run.

I've tried a few other custom worlds, like Neverglade and Oakwood City, but they're unpopulated and feel very "we made a world! It's here! Laud us for our boring layouts and copious trees!" Some of the more adventurous worlds like Coconut Island are interesting but a little too out-there for me. I dunno, I guess I'm just really picky.

Basically what I'm saying is that I want to make a world that's big and bustling and takes full advantage of what The Sims 3 currently has to offer. I've failed to make worlds in the past; it's a big commitment and the tools were never very good. I'd like your input on what would make a world sexy and appealing to you while still being fairly suburban/downtown-ish.

Here're my current thoughts:
-I'd either use a cleaned-out Riverview or Sunset Valley as a base, unless somebody could point me to a large, fairly simple completely empty world with a lot of roads for development on. I want this to be the typical "green and grassy" mix of suburbia and city; Bridgeport meets Sunset Valley
-I'd be using items from all three expansion packs and High-End Loft Life. Fast Lane can go burn in a ditch for the purposes of forcing people to own it. Not having the Bayside pack or the fauxhawk from the store would make me a very sad person, but such is life
-There would be no CC for fairly obvious reasons, and the only mods used when creating the 'hood (for the purposes of manipulation and being made to run with) are Awesomemod, The StoryProgression and The MasterController. I really need input on this; I at least need MC (I believe) to apply skill points/adjust sexuality/etc. - if I do this, I'd separately upload an SP setup file and a list of my AM settings that coincide with my views for the 'hood
-It would be populated! Every job would have at least four workers, with more general jobs (Business, Education) having additional employees. There would be a proper celebrity Mayor, a seedy underbelly of thugs, etc. I'd also make one or two sims in each profession after some testing to see if the computer AI actually plays them believably enough
-While nothing ridiculously complex, there would be families spread out around town, affairs going on, people falling in love, co-worker rivals, etc.; essentially, the town would have stories to tell should you wish to get involved
-Stuff like ceilings and cribs would be added for pretties/Awesomemod

A few notes/warnings:
-There would most definitely be homosexuality. Not rampant pink-thong boykissers everywhere or anything, but a realistic chunk of the population would be gay. I suppose I shouldn't need to work about this in this day and age, but...
-Easter eggs would be everywhere, references to pop culture and not-pop culture would abound, Anderson Cooper<3 would likely make some sort of appearance
-I am likely going to need help with lots - I want a lot of originality and some variety (multiple laundromats, for example) and I'm willing/want to build some myself. I'm also probably going to ask people like jesslla if I can use their nifty lots (even though none of you know who I am). I will definitely need to petition other people/places for mansions to be included (Mod the Sims?)
-This project could die off at any time, but with lots of support I would hopefully be motivated to follow through completely. If this picks up steam, I'm likely going to ask people to do two things: advertise on other sites (although if the site seems decent I'll probably join myself) and test the 'hood to check for odd architectural errors, misspellings, and other unfortunate events

Random questions:
-Would you expect bios for each and every character? If I do them, they'd be for everybody, but if nobody's going to check them then there's no way I'm doing them. I don't mind if would would like them, though (and they would most certainly be done for lots/households)
-How easy/possible is it to have designated playable sims be pianists/mixologists/etc.? Are they only NPCs? Obviously I still have research to do before starting this project; I haven't had Late Night for very long
-How many vampires should there be? Are you interested in the town starting with a mummy or simbot or two? How about green-skinned people?
-Exactly how anti-pudding are you/is the community in general? I've been out of it for a while and although I personally don't care about pudding I'd like the town to be used!

I guess the most important question is this: would you actually download and play in a world that isn't necessarily inventive, but instead thought-out and hopefully charming/intriguing? The goal is to set the stage for your sitcom or drama, whether you act it out, record it or just watch your sims die horribly. There would be stuff to find and funny/disturbing things going on, but the issue with the open world and the world growing all at once is that eventually people are going to die off and the stories are going to end without you ever knowing.

Ditto ciane. I use most of the NRaas mods, including story progression and supercomputer, and they play perfectly nicely with AM.

As of now, I have twenty families total made/planned. I'll be adding more afterwards to balance out the male/female and age ratios, but for now it should be set for racial and sexual diversity as well as minor dramas starting to come to mind. Yes, there will be married homosexuals - so sorry, I did it for the children.

Before I start going crazy with houses, however, I'm planning out the actual setup of the community lots. What lots I currently have are pretty sparse but I'm using blackcat's great topic on community lots to make them all work properly. There are going to be new locations for rare items like the omni plant and deathfish as soon as I rediscover that post I read a little while ago on replacing them (hooray for search!). Expect some cool new lots beyond boring parks and galleries - there will be public gardens, island libraries...

On the subject of new community lots, I'm using Sunset Valley as a base (I was going to do Riverview but like beaches). The actual layout of the valley will be radically different, however. No longer will everything be conveniently located right in the center of town! Visit the bistro in the rich communities or the bookstore by the beach. I've always felt like it was pretty boring to pack everybody into one small area and have no sims visiting anywhere else... let's hope the attraction of rabbit holes helps spread folks out. =D

Is your computer Catholic?

I'd like to suggest the Indiestone story progression mod in conjunction with Awesomemod. Awesomemod makes the game better, the Indiestone mod makes the game more inherently interesting.

You're not too late. I've been thinking about themes but haven't physically started yet - I will tonight after I finish an essay. As I work I'll post updates to hopefully entice people into downloading the finished product.

Slowness about posting stuff is fine. I just wanted to see how many people here are into legacies. Once the neighborhood is situated here I'll post it around other sims forums (ones big on massive amounts of screenshots) if the response is positive.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll do bios and filler families - I didn't ask because I had an aversion to them, but I didn't want to do all that work if nobody cared about them.

Some of you may remember that in the first days of TS3 I created some save files of a Sunset Valley that featured an amazing lack of sims and houses that weren't created by me. Now that we have more debugging and sim editing tools I'm willing to create a more in-depth 'hood for download, most likely in a renovated Riverview.

Before I begin, however, I have some questions:

-Would you play in a town that had a base town's geography but a unique set of sims and goofy lots?
-Would you care if sims had biographies or didn't?
-Would you care if there were only ~10 families in the 'hood to start? Would you rather that there were ~10 specifically tailored households with nifty stories and then a handful of filler characters for random mutilation and reproduction?
-Would you think that references to Heart of Darkness and/or Apocalypse Now were amusing?
-Would you actively search for easter eggs and interesting drama/relationships?
-Would anybody be willing to document legacies or adventures in the new town as post-release advertising, potentially showing off some of the easter eggs and funny drama?

Because of issues with my webspace host before, my save files were only up for a short period of time. I found this unfortunate because I had lots of silly little easter eggs (and some creepy ones, too). Things are solid again now so I'm willing to start fresh and make a new 'hood... if there's interest in this community.

I have no idea, bakerhands. My game has never crashed.

See mixreality's post. I will, however, be working on making an awesome neighborhood as soon as the create-a-neighborhood tool is released.

I'm glad that you're enjoying it, dstucki!

Go read Heart of Darkness, burythebeloved. Alternatively, watch the surfing in Apocalypse Now.

I would like to note that my woman problem (see previous post) was partially caused by me: do NOT leave a Family-Oriented sim with a Fertility Treatment alone... ever. See image for details:



Another amusing image: NEAT SIM BREAKS THE TOILET; HULK EMERGES

One of my incentives to create my own 'hood was that Sunset Valley had about 9,000 women in it and most of them were lesbians. That's all well and good, except that I could not find a single unattached man for the girl I was playing.

Edit Town --> Bulldozer --> Evict household --> Delete household from clipboard.

I find that, after building everything from starter huts to small mansions, that create-a-style plus the objects included are more than enough to create what I want. Seriously, CAST is one of the best aspects of the game. You just click... and drag... and you have a matching bedroom set!

The only objects I miss are the money-making OfB/FreeTime ones (but I didn't expect them and don't really care since you can search the galaxy for $5,800, potentially--way more than TS2!) and the eggchair/lipcouch. I am sure that the first expansion will add them since both Livin' Large and University added the requisite redonk items.

...did I just type "redonk?"