The Good, the Bad, and the Randomly @Toaded

[J. M. Pescado]

In the base game, none of that did anything.

[Ambular]

In the base game, none of that did anything.

Didn't it?  Huh, I could have sworn it did.  My bad.

[Slymenstra]

My sim's family is on it's 4th generation and I have not seen 1 NPC/Townie randomly fall in love, marry and move into a house with someone.  I have seen names in the paper of sims that got married but they were not people in sim houses and they never showed up in an empty house.  Anyone single in a sim house ends up adopting/cloning but never marrying anyone.  Ugly old random guys in random houses is eewwww.

And for you Bella lovers...Mortimer and Bella do not autonomously fall in love get married and make Cassandra and Alex.  Even their traits are retarded and nothing like the old versions.

On a side note...someone tell me where the money tree is!?  I can't figure it out.

[J. M. Pescado]

Didn't it?  Huh, I could have sworn it did.  My bad.

Don't you read the War Room's myths and apocrypha section?

[Qrusher]

I had the Reloaded version, but it didnt run good at all. Well, i got ok FPS, around 60, but it would jitter a lot.

Here's my specs:
Athon 64 X2 6000+
4GB Ram
Radeon 4870 512mb

Im using Windows 7, but i have to turn off AA or else its unplayable. I thought it would run better, but its very jittery. Im gonna try the Razor release soon.

Also, is there any other way to change your active household without going to Edit Town and then change it there. I thought it was like in TS2 where you could just pick a house and start using them. Cause my Sim's wife and daughter moved out to another house, but i have to go Edit Town to get to use them. Seems like it could of been made easier.

[J. M. Pescado]

AA has always been crap. I never use AA, it turns my nice sharp image into a blurry mass of poo.

[tedw]

What's up with CAS-made sims obtaining methods of transport that they haven't been given by me?  I've moved families into homes and chosen vehicles (or lack thereof), and then later seen those people out and about town with bikes and cars that I didn't actually purchase for them.  I don't think it's related to the problem with story progression mode, because they don't later have those vehicles if I make them my active family.

It's not a dealbreaker, but it's a bit odd.  I would've expected them to walk or get taxis, instead of hijacking cars while I'm not looking!

[VacantBlue]

Is there any particular reason, other than the obvious, why TSR was given the tools to design a custom content tool back in January?

http://www.thesimsresource.com/workshop

Not sure how EA or TSR can continue to deny their relationship after this...

[Inge]

Is there any particular reason, other than the obvious, why TSR was given the tools to design a custom content tool back in January?

http://www.thesimsresource.com/workshop

Not sure how EA or TSR can continue to deny their relationship after this...

Sorry to burst your bubble, but things are done in a particular way that most third party modding tool developers don't necessarily want to spell out.  This means that, for me, reading what they posted means something entirely different from what it does for you.  I know what they mean and it's not what you think.  In fact I would go so far as to say I am about 90% certain they had no special help from EA.

[vagabondher]

I don't understand the logic if they did. Wouldn't aiding and abetting third-party modders put a choke hold on EA's aspiration to make people pay for additional content?

[daisywenham]

I don't understand the logic if they did. Wouldn't aiding and abetting third-party modders put a choke hold on EA's aspiration to make people pay for additional content?

As dim as EA can be at times, I think they're fully aware of the impact that 3rd party custom content has had on the longevity of their product.  Also, if they wanted all additional content to come from them, I would imagine that would entail a lot more man hours and money than if they let the community make its own stuff.  I think the store is more gravy to them rather than an attempt to completely stifle the CC community.

[TrapperJohn]

In the past, at least, they have recognized CC as a good thing, but that may have been while relatively sane Maxis was in charge. I would hope that they just see the store as an additional source of income, because they CAN, rather than trying to stop 3rd party CC as many seem to fear. There will be CC whether EA likes it or not, and unless they like footbullets more than Jona does (and I'm not saying they don't), they most likely won't actively try to stop it.

[tizerist]

Definately something up here...

[TashaYarrr]

I really have to give TSR credit. An impressive number of people seem to read the following sentence and come away with "EA is helping us".

Development of the tool started as soon as we returned from our week at EA in January for the Creator Camp.

It's not bad, I guess, assuming the reader has no ability whatsoever to see through textual bullshit.

I keep checking that link every time someone posts a "Why is EA helping TSR!?" message trying to figure what they're seeing that I'm not. If it's not this sentence, WTF is it? Genuinely curious.

[coltraz]

I really hate the limited, and crappy wall hangings that are available in TS3. I miss my custom paintings and recolours.

It's awfully difficult to make a nice, unique room from house to house. Of course, I'm being impatient - because there's no CC (yet) available. But would it have killed Eaxis to include just a touch more items for decorating and furnishing rooms so that they don't all look the exact same? CAST is wonderful for recolours but, how many times can I stick that stupid picture of sunflowers up on the wall?

Something like this is just impossible. Why did they remove the feature for placing wall hangings higher and lower??

Also, can you no longer make Sims paint custom paintings on the easel?  I keep levelling my painting Sim up, hoping the interaction to paint a custom picture comes up. Of course it never does.

It is totally bewildering to me that EA would finally give us obvious feature additions in The Sims 2 that they overlooked for years, only to release a "new and improved" version which lacks these features all over again.

[daisywenham]

Definately something up here...

I had one to grow some stuff for another playable sim because, according to the opportunity, she knew nothing about gardening.  At the time, she had probably 4 more skill points in gardening than the sim who got the opp. 

And the moving wall hangings vertically thing...that was what AL or M&G?  It was nice but really it's too recent to expect it to have made base TS3.  Look at spiral stair cases.  We didn't get them til Makin Magic for TS1 and it took til AL to get them in TS2.  I get what people are saying about a new game needing to be better than it's predecessor is NOW but that just isn't EA's M.O.

[BastDawn]

I really have to give TSR credit. An impressive number of people seem to read the following sentence and come away with "EA is helping us".

Development of the tool started as soon as we returned from our week at EA in January for the Creator Camp.

It's not bad, I guess, assuming the reader has no ability whatsoever to see through textual bullshit.

I keep checking that link every time someone posts a "Why is EA helping TSR!?" message trying to figure what they're seeing that I'm not. If it's not this sentence, WTF is it? Genuinely curious.

No one at TSR has a reputation for making hacks or complex tools.  They were not involved with development of SimPE, and people go to TSR for meshes and recolors, not hacks.  It's not surprising that some people think they would be incapable of developing a Sim3 tool without a lot of hand holding.

[tizerist]

AL or M&G?

AL

Look at spiral stair cases.  We didn't get them til Makin Magic for TS1 and it took til AL to get them in TS2.

Thats one of the things that gets me the most. In TS2, I had normal stairs (recolourable), spiral stairs, ladders, elevators, and even escalators. What a drop that was 

[J. M. Pescado]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but things are done in a particular way that most third party modding tool developers don't necessarily want to spell out.  This means that, for me, reading what they posted means something entirely different from what it does for you.  I know what they mean and it's not what you think.  In fact I would go so far as to say I am about 90% certain they had no special help from EA.

I concur with the Gray Fatness. If TSR had actually received help from EA, or even HAD HALF A BRAIN and an ounce of foresight, they would have actually made real progress.

As it stands, their practice of discouraging independent thought and enforcing conformity to arbitrary rules is not an environment which cultivates the existence of hackers. Rules are meant to be bent and twisted to your ends, like the paperclips you use to eject stuck CDs.

[Sigmund]

And the moving wall hangings vertically thing...that was what AL or M&G?  It was nice but really it's too recent to expect it to have made base TS3.  Look at spiral stair cases.  We didn't get them til Makin Magic for TS1 and it took til AL to get them in TS2. 

True, but ceilings were included with this game, and those came from the same expansion pack. I agree that EA wants to limit the base game in order to profit from it later, but think they could have easily included the feature in the base game and still had plenty of others to choose from for later EPs. It's just the same attitude that made them develop the store-- "Hey, let's rip our customers off as much as possible!"

[tizerist]

This is the worst bit regarding CAS. You can alter cheek shape and height (green) but you cant go near the bit under the eyes (red) , leaving a protrusion with almost bruise-like qualities. The more you cut back on the jawline (and you have to!!) the more it sticks out.

[daisywenham]

And the moving wall hangings vertically thing...that was what AL or M&G?  It was nice but really it's too recent to expect it to have made base TS3.  Look at spiral stair cases.  We didn't get them til Makin Magic for TS1 and it took til AL to get them in TS2. 

True, but ceilings were included with this game, and those came from the same expansion pack. I agree that EA wants to limit the base game in order to profit from it later, but think they could have easily included the feature in the base game and still had plenty of others to choose from for later EPs. It's just the same attitude that made them develop the store-- "Hey, let's rip our customers off as much as possible!"

Be realistic.  No matter what they chose to include, there would be no shortage of people griping about what they saved for later EPs.

[Zazazu]

Look at the toddler table. It's a clear rip from TS2, and even includes the paper pads toddlers could use to draw on. But, in TS3, it cannot be used for drawing, appears to have no social benefits, and doesn't skill. It's like they decided to rip it, but then got bored recoding it and just slapped a DONE! sticker on it.

[daisywenham]

Look at the toddler table. It's a clear rip from TS2, and even includes the paper pads toddlers could use to draw on. But, in TS3, it cannot be used for drawing, appears to have no social benefits, and doesn't skill. It's like they decided to rip it, but then got bored recoding it and just slapped a DONE! sticker on it.

I agree with that assessment.  If you're going to put something in, do it right.  If it wasn't done by the time the game went gold, then pull it altogether (Warhammer Online pulled 2 whole classes from the game pre-launch because they weren't pleased with them).  What's the justification for having it not build skill?  Since it doesn't, I'll use that tile for something else, thank you very much.   
 

[HomeschooledByTards]

What's the justification for having it not build skill?  Since it doesn't, I'll use that tile for something else, thank you very much.   

It does build a hidden blocks skill, which gives them logic skill once they become a child. My toddler had level three block skill and was promoted to level three logic skill as soon as she started playing chess for the first time.

I do miss the drawing though. Those little toddler drawings were so cute.