THE HORROR: The REAL TS3 Scoop As It Unfolds

[TashaYarrr]

Every time I've ever looked, Break Up is in the Mean tree, even when their relationship is good.  So I'd try there in the future.

Sorry, I was referring to "Ask to break up", meaning Sim A asks Sim B to break up with Sim C, so A and B can be together. Do we mean the same thing?

Re: Laptops. Video chipset is important. It seems it'll run on Intel integrated graphics chispets, but it's no fun at all playing a sluggish game with all the gfx on low. At least, that was my experience on an Intel GMA965. You will have much better luck with an ATI or NVIDIA mobile chipset intended for gaming.

[malianx]

Hi, I'm a long time lurker, here to annoy you ...

I noticed at least one person mention that they were playing Sims 3 on a laptop - so, for those of you who've been using one, I'm curious - is it a super spectacular gaming laptop, or just a really good regular laptop?

Also, thanks to everyone who's taken the time to post pictures.  They rock.

Standard MacBook Unibody(2.0 core duo, 2gb ddr3, nvidia 9400M).

[BlueSoup]

Sorry, I was referring to "Ask to break up", meaning Sim A asks Sim B to break up with Sim C, so A and B can be together. Do we mean the same thing?

Oh, no...I didn't know you meant that.  Sorry

[bubbs]

Here are some pictures from my game.  I'm into causing deaths in my hoods, so I had to test it out.  The fire one pissed me off.  The family is off in the house and yard then the fire started, here they come running.  WTH?  The ones in the house have no reason to react, they are INSIDE.  Plus I can't send them to do anything else until the fire is over....which is when someone (mom) died. 

On a side note, my husband has a test sim.  The guy just got married, but has 3 baby mamas and children in the hood.  He is trying to see if he can get the whole town related. 

[seanachai]

Yeah, I'm curious about laptop quality, too. My plans to buy a new gaming computer before June 2 fell through and I probably won't be able to get until for a few weeks after the game comes out, so I'm planning on cleaning a bunch of shit off of my laptop and trying to install it on there. It has an NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400 w/ 256mb, and the computer as 2GB RAM. And the processor is Core 2 Duo T7200. It has Vista on it, but I have an XP disc I can install on there. The main thing I'm nervous is that I had BSOD issues with TS2, and had to disable shaders or whatever the work around was. Hopefully I don't experience some kind of problem with TS3, too.

[EdenNintyNine]

Interesting fact/bug:

At skill level 10 mech. you can upgrade your fire place to have different colour fires. If you do this (options are red- default- blue and green) and then change the upgrade back to something else, the fire will remain the colour your changed it to. :3

[Sigmund]

Hi, I'm a long time lurker, here to annoy you ...

I noticed at least one person mention that they were playing Sims 3 on a laptop - so, for those of you who've been using one, I'm curious - is it a super spectacular gaming laptop, or just a really good regular laptop?

Also, thanks to everyone who's taken the time to post pictures.  They rock.

Standard MacBook Unibody(2.0 core duo, 2gb ddr3, nvidia 9400M).

Good to know, I just bought one of these.

I noticed at least one person mention that they were playing Sims 3 on a laptop - so, for those of you who've been using one, I'm curious - is it a super spectacular gaming laptop, or just a really good regular laptop?

It depends largely on your graphics card and RAM. If your graphics card is listed as being supported under the system requirements for the game, that's an indication that it should work for you (although, knowing EAxis, it's not a guarantee). The definition of a "really good regular laptop" varies a lot by person.

[MickeyJR]

My card is unsupported and it warned me and set the graphics to default. Yet everything is running fine for me.

[rufio]

My card is unsupported and it warned me and set the graphics to default. Yet everything is running fine for me.

Ditto.  Or at least, when I started the game for the first time it told me that it didn't recognize it, which is strange since it's a generic nvidia card that worked fine with TS2.  It gets slightly slower if I'm following my sim while she's jogging and have moved the camera down to street level so I can watch the scenery go by, but that's it.  Also, I am playing on a laptop with the game installed on an external USB harddrive.

Someone a few pages back mentioned not finding out triats fast enough - there's a reward perk called "Observant" that only costs 5000 points which basically makes it so that you find out about three traits just from introducing yourself.

[Acid_fairy]

I noticed at least one person mention that they were playing Sims 3 on a laptop - so, for those of you who've been using one, I'm curious - is it a super spectacular gaming laptop, or just a really good regular laptop?

I have a Dell XPS M1530.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T6400
3 GB memory
NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400
Vista

It runs the game at high graphics settings very nicely, although the fan does seem to have its work cut out  

[JonaBullets]

Interesting fact/bug:

At skill level 10 mech. you can upgrade your fire place to have different colour fires. If you do this (options are red- default- blue and green) and then change the upgrade back to something else, the fire will remain the colour your changed it to. :3

Also, which im sure all are aware, that once you hit Level 10, you can Tinker with something, and it will upgrade it to one of the options avail, and if it is already upgraded, it doesn't be repleased but the new upgrade, I read that some where, might well have been in the game, but cant remember, @work atm, and wanted to give me 2 cents before we moved on.

WTF: does the effing idiot sim not pay his on bills! I showed him where the mai lbox was, and I showed him how to pay them, when i let my game running for testing to see if it would crash... turns out half my shit was gone from the repo man... IDIOT! (FreeWill on high, you would think that after you showed them what to do... they would autonomously do it??, Wait... its EAxis!)

[MickeyJR]

Yes, that is one of the things I noticed they wouldn't do.  Paybills... That and WooHoo are the things I have found they wouldn't do.

Wish they had added a command in to check family funds and if there was enough and it was deadline time it would autopay.

Though, I have to say my sim running around and turning off lights when I was looking at something is annoying.

[BlueSoup]

Well, I finally found the most elusive gemstone, which turns out to be something called a rainbow gem.  It seems to be worth far less than a pink diamond, but no matter.  Getting that allowed me to get a 5th gem cut type: a heart shape.

Edit: I realize there's got to be more types, but I just haven't sent enough off to be cut yet.

[JonaBullets]

Well, I finally found the most elusive gemstone, which turns out to be something called a rainbow gem.  It seems to be worth far less than a pink diamond, but no matter.  Getting that allowed me to get the 5th and last gem cut type: a heart shape.

Is it a case of having to find all the different ones? I had my sim go on a mission to collect all the rocks and what not... then i had him send off to get cut... and as i was doing this.. after about 10 another "cut" would show up, all from just sending them off. I am yet to see the heart shaped one.

My question: are the cuts more related to finding more rocks etc, or the amount of time you get them cut?

[BlueSoup]

You can only get the heart-shaped cut once you find all the different types of gemstones.  The different type of gem cuts are related to how many you send off to get cut.

[ilikefishfood]

Is TS2 modding over?  My biggest fear is you modders will lose interest in TS2 now, like so many did with TS1 (understandably, mind you), and in time there'll be no more beautiful shinies to add to my game *sigh*

The thing is I got bored with Sims 2 some months ago, that's why I haven't been doing stuff for it lately.  It's not because of Sims 3 coming out.

Yeah, I kinda noticed that, but was trying to convince myself it was my imagination.

Back to TS3.....it is beyond my comprehension that dispite the outcry from the community in the early stages of development, that most players would not be happy if only one playable family could be controlled at a time (while others progressed), they went ahead and did it anyway!  

Then again......maybe I ought not to be surprised *snort*

[JonaBullets]

You can only get the heart-shaped cut once you find all the different types of gemstones.  The different type of gem cuts are related to how many you send off to get cut.

Sweet thats what I had thought. I love how they have added little tid-bits like like to the game.
Eg. My sim is a vivid writer, and loves to write his hopeless love stories, after writing about 25+ books, I noticed the Masterpiece with 5 star rewards, that excites me.. Woo!

[literatebse]

For those without the game who are wondering just how few objects there are, German site Cynamite has a slideshow of (supposedly) all of the furniture from TS3.  And it's....not very much.  At all.

The slideshow is about halfway down the page, under the survey.

http://tinyurl.com/ocbtdb

[Lorelei]

Hi, I'm a long time lurker, here to annoy you ...

I noticed at least one person mention that they were playing Sims 3 on a laptop - so, for those of you who've been using one, I'm curious - is it a super spectacular gaming laptop, or just a really good regular laptop?

My laptop is fairly nice, but is not a "gaming" laptop, and it does occasionally get audio / video jitters while playing TS3 (usually when I'm multitasking or have played for 6+ hours on and off). It is a Sony VAIO. While TS2 didn't have audio/video jitters, it hung / crashed more--and that is saying something, as TS2 RARELY hung / crashed.  TS3 has frozen my laptop twice. No game-crash-to-desktop, no laptop BSOD.

[Crazetex]

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?"

[literatebse]

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?"

I mean, I personally use all of about 20 items, over and over again.  But I suppose there are some who will miss medieval themed furniture and some others.

[BlueSoup]

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!)

My Sims are making ridiculous amounts of money, really.  Selling good produce, seeds, used books, gemstones, fish and then buying partnerships in the local businesses gives them dividends.  Writing novels, painting, playing guitar, the various money-making opportunities...the list goes on and on.  It's insane how much money can be made without their ever having to get a job.

Edit: I find I'm a lot more interested in gameplay now that I'm not worrying so much about what their house looks like.  I have experienced more in TS3 already than I have in TS2.

[NakedNickJonas]

Does anyone know if there are autonomously gay sims in TS3?

[Zazazu]

Servers are not being cooperative at the moment.

Some traits seem to be able to be 'triggered' for an immediate find-out, too, due to certain social actions.  Ask about work, and you might get 'Workaholic', a flirt can reveal if someone's Unflirty, chating about family will get if someone Hates Children (and I assume the opposite, though I haven't ever gotten that), speaking of Art gets if someone Hates Art, telling a joke can get you the Good Sense of Humor / No Sense of Humor thing... I'm sure there's more, but those are the only one's I've seen.  Still, yeah, besides the super easy Questioning way, it does seem a bit difficult to get traits after 'Get to know' is gone; chat takes forever.

Or just get the Observant reward. It's only 5,000. Usually one chat will give a sim three trait discoveries. My sims get the Observant reward, the multitasking one, the one that makes coworker relationships easier. Those are the starters. Then they'll get other rewards based on their personality or LTW.

The fire one pissed me off.  The family is off in the house and yard then the fire started, here they come running.  WTH?  The ones in the house have no reason to react, they are INSIDE.  Plus I can't send them to do anything else until the fire is over....which is when someone (mom) died.

I had an unlucky, pregnant sim start a fire. I sent her ghost parents to put it out, because I'd never meant to resurrect the buggers in the first place. Not only did they succeed in putting out the fire before dying again (if possible), but she and her husband kept running in from outside to scream about it.

[TashaYarrr]

Car. In inventory. Why? I know many of the objects are unrealistic (80 fish, a telescope, or whatever), but a car? Why not have it show up in sim inventory as keys?