Life Stories Welcome Package?

[Scratch]

well.... of course... can't play a sims game without them....

but i'm just moving all of it out now and see if that makes a diff.... It didn't seem to matter with Riley... and the userstartup.cheat is almost the same as TS2... i guess i might take that out too

edit:    well i guess it was something in the downloads folder....

* Scratch stomps and stomps and yells "crap crap crap" 

I need that stuff....   

What am i going to do without ACR??  This game is going to get boring real fast...  Thanks for the help   

[SaraMK]

ACR is probably what did it. It probably let you zoom straight past the relationship cue that the game was using to determine when to bring up the next pop-up.

[Scratch]

Well... it's going to annoy me to have to move the downloads folder whenever i need to play the stories... maybe i'll get them over with quick so i can get the rewards...

gotta have ACR... just gotta...

* Scratch stomps and yells "crap crap crap" again

[jrd]

You can reset the LS stories by removing the Neighborhood folder from My Docs and restarting the game (or by copying it over from the install base).
No in-game option to do this found thus far.

By the way, I now want a hack for normal TS2 that always enables the first kiss between two Sims if they have not kissed before. This seems to be how EAMaxis intended it to be, based on LS.

Have I mentioned yet how much I like (most parts of) LS?

[KatEnigma]

You can reset the LS stories by removing the Neighborhood folder from My Docs and restarting the game (or by copying it over from the install base).
No in-game option to do this found thus far.

By the way, I now want a hack for normal TS2 that always enables the first kiss between two Sims if they have not kissed before. This seems to be how EAMaxis intended it to be, based on LS.

Have I mentioned yet how much I like (most parts of) LS?

:-) Me too. After playing it for a few days, I wouldn't quite say that it's Sims2 2.0 anymore, but it sure would be nice if a lot of these features would have been included in TS2. Maybe they'll add them to Seasons since they've changed the game engine so much anyway? *hope*hope* (okay, I'm not holding my breath, but it would be nice)

[SaraMK]

By the way, I now want a hack for normal TS2 that always enables the first kiss between two Sims if they have not kissed before. This seems to be how EAMaxis intended it to be, based on LS.

I want a hack like that too. Squinge has a hack that permanently enables First Kiss as an option, so I use that, but it's kind of annoying to have it be there all the time.

[J. M. Pescado]

So I have now acquired it and it has immediately proceeded to A: Piss me off, and B: Become unplayable, in under 5 minutes of playing.

So my goal apparently is to Hit On what's his face. Problem: this option does not exist. Following the suggestion to increase relationship doesn't help, as no matter what I do, it seems to be locked so it cannot rise beyond 61, and naturally, even when maxed out, the option still not does not exist. It is now unprogressable. yay.

[SaraMK]

So my goal apparently is to Hit On what's his face. Problem: this option does not exist. Following the suggestion to increase relationship doesn't help, as no matter what I do, it seems to be locked so it cannot rise beyond 61, and naturally, even when maxed out, the option still not does not exist. It is now unprogressable. yay.

I'm not surprised it pisses you off. 

You don't need STR to go over 61. What you need is for LTR to go over 21. Once you have 61/22, Hit On appears. And it does take a long time to get to 22. You start with 15 (I think), and the two have no interests in common so you can forget Chat as an option. I chatted myself into something like -20 LTR before I realized there was anything wrong with my approach.

[jrd]

The one goal that confused me was the child birth. Riley was pregnant and then got the goal to throw a baby-house-warmer-shower party. I waited, and waited, and waited for the baby to be born--not realizing until much later the pregnancy was not progressing in real time,  but based on the goals. Once I threw a party everything progressed normally.

LS forces you to forget some of the rules of TS2 playing at points.

[jrd]

Back to the original topic a bit -- does anyone have the registration incentives available somewhere? I don't feel like creating another website account just to get them.

[jrd]

SaraMK - did you find the hack compatibility by trial and error, or is there a trick?

[KatEnigma]

Back to the original topic a bit -- does anyone have the registration incentives available somewhere? I don't feel like creating another website account just to get them.

PM me your email address, and I'll send them. As I said wayyyy back, the karaoke machine makes them too large to attach in a post.

[Simsbaby]

If anyone wants to give it a shot, I pulled the texture from the Riley's hot tub and made a package for Sims 2. I know it isn't exact, but at least it works. It shows up under the floor hot tub.

[SaraMK]

The one goal that confused me was the child birth. Riley was pregnant and then got the goal to throw a baby-house-warmer-shower party. I waited, and waited, and waited for the baby to be born--not realizing until much later the pregnancy was not progressing in real time,  but based on the goals. Once I threw a party everything progressed normally.

LS forces you to forget some of the rules of TS2 playing at points.

Oh yeah. The party. It took me THREE TRIES to get that damn party to reach Good Time status. I can't recall the last time I ever had a party that wasn't a Roof Raiser in TS2, unless the point was to have a lousy one on purpose. And like you, I wasted about a day before realizing she wouldn't give birth. Ther is a trick to it. The game is vicious, actually. Mickey has a want to be friends with Sharon. He also has a relationship high enough to make her an excellent candidate for the party. Trouble is, their relationship is LOCKED. Inviting her is useless, because neither of them can get any relationship points off her (Riley's maxed).

Like I said earlier, some of those goals are a bit... not noob-friendly. If we, as seasoned TS2 players, have trouble with simple things like relationship building, I don't really see this as being "easier" for noobs. But you're right that some parts of the game just go against what we know from TS2. There are several things like that. Although honestly, the Swingset of Love is still the one that bugged me most. You wouldn't believe the acrobatics I went through trying to figure out how to get them both on the swings at the same time when townies were boggarting at least one seat and Mickey kept wondering off to mess with the coffee bar. And after all that...   

There's also things missing from the game, and that tends to slow you down because you don't realize you can take advantage of the "easier" gameplay. For example, it was a while before I realized that there are no ill effects from using aspiration rewards regardless of your actual aspiration level, and that Riley will not get slapped for using the telescope during the day. I'm thinking that a noob would have an advantage because a noob would not have any thoughts about doing these things being potentially dangerous to the sim.

The tips section on the official site is actually helpful for some of the goals.

SaraMK - did you find the hack compatibility by trial and error, or is there a trick?

Trial and error. I mostly chose ones that I would immediately see working (or not working).

[SaraMK]

Sorry, double post, but the previous one was kind of long.

Do you know if anyone, anywhere, has started converting the walls and floors? It's a lot of work that I don't feel like doing if someone else has it covered.

EDIT: Someone PM'd me that they're working on it. 

[Scratch]

Is there some special outfit Vincent is supposed to buy for Sacha....     

She tried on a dozen outfits and nothing happened... I finally sent Vincent home because all his motives were bottoming out... and almost everything was full except hygiene when he got to the mall...

[cabelle]

Last night I noticed a link on a BBS post to this Life Stories guide- http://guides.gamepressure.com/thesimslifestories/guide.asp?ID=2205 Glancing at the different chapters it does look like it could be helpful. I don't know for sure since I don't have the game. Hopefully there's something in there to help you Scratch.

[KatEnigma]

Is there some special outfit Vincent is supposed to buy for Sacha....     

She tried on a dozen outfits and nothing happened... I finally sent Vincent home because all his motives were bottoming out... and almost everything was full except hygiene when he got to the mall...

Are you sure that you're standing close enough to her? You have to keep him from wandering off and trying to do something. She'll try on outfits and a box will pop up asking what you think of them. After the 3rd one, she takes them and Vincent gets charged.

[Scratch]

hahahahaha....     He did what any guy would do when going to the mall with a woman.... He wandered around and waited for her to finish.... I learned a long time ago not to be around when they want an opinion...

That's what i do....   

Thanks for the tip Katenigma... oh.. and should it be a Maxis outfit or is CC ok? I'm going to try both and see what happens anyways...

Thanks for the link Cabelle... i looked around for some tips but the ones at the official site weren't much help.. couldn't find anything anywhere else

[KatEnigma]

hahahahaha....     He did what any guy would do when going to the mall with a woman.... He wandered around and waited for her to finish.... I learned a long time ago not to be around when they want an opinion...

That's what i do....   

Thanks for the tip Katenigma... oh.. and should it be a Maxis outfit or is CC ok? I'm going to try both and see what happens anyways...

Thanks for the link Cabelle... i looked around for some tips but the ones at the official site weren't much help.. couldn't find anything anywhere else

LOL I didn't do anything to control it at all- she picked the outfits on her own, I just made sure he stood there and answered her. 

[Scratch]

LOL I didn't do anything to control it at all- she picked the outfits on her own, I just made sure he stood there and answered her. 

I finally got it to work that way... another hack got in the way i think... i took out all the CC clothing and any hacks that might have something to do with a community lot.. not sure which one got in the way this time...

This is definately a learning experience... especially for us control freaks... and like SaraMK kind of said... a little knowledge is a dangerous thing

[SaraMK]

I found that hacks get in the way of completing the stories even if they don't actually break or conflict with the way the story should work. A lot of Sims 2 annoyances are not in the game, so many of the hacks are not strictly necessary anyway.

[jfade]

Hacks found to be NOT COMPATIBLE
djsautorecyclingnewspaper (DJS) - error/reset loop when paperboy comes

Hmmm, interesting. To be honest though, I have no intention of putting any effort into making anything of mine "compatible" with this life stories thing. I'm already going to have to update garbage for Seasons, so I'm not going to bog myself down with more stuff.

Plus, I don't have life stories, nor any intention on buying it, so I'd have no way to test it. Though it sounds like most hacks aren't going to be needed anyhow, so I'll just leave it alone and put a note on my site that I don't expect anything to work with life stories and leave it at that.

[KatEnigma]

I think the reason I didn't have any problems with the stories is that I didn't add in any hacks until I was done with both of them. It only took maybe 10 hours total to get through them both. I did put in make-up and clothes halfway through Vincent's story, but that was it. It wasn't too bad at all, since it was only for 2 days. And Sara's right, there's not really much that needs hacked in LS. The only thing I'm using right now is the clothing tool, just because I hate leaving the lot just to buy clothes and it takes too darn long once you're there with all the back and forth. Oh, and I'm using the testing cheat again- that's the one thing I REALLY missed during the stories, I'd almost forgotten how hard it is to get everything done in a day and keep their needs fulfilled. LOL But then I remembered the aspiration reward, and took care of it that way. Not as convenient as just sliding up the needs, but it worked.

[SaraMK]

Hmmm, interesting. To be honest though, I have no intention of putting any effort into making anything of mine "compatible" with this life stories thing. I'm already going to have to update garbage for Seasons, so I'm not going to bog myself down with more stuff.

I don't think anyone will be expecting creators to update stuff for LS. You guys already have to update for each EP, and that's more than enough annoyance.