Meadow Lawns - a new 'hood to play with - OFB required

[cwykes]

Who'd like a whole new neighbourhood to play with?  Meadow Lawns took a long time to build, so I hope there's something in there for everyone.  There are over 20 businesses and a similar number of families each with a story album plus some small community lots.  I think it's going to be fun to add Seasons to this hood - especially for the elders.  Let me know how you get on

I set out to make another Bluewater alternative for OFB and kept adding to the story until it got far too big to be a an add-on.    Check out the neigbourhood story http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/story_detail.php?asset_id=170707  The old part of Meadow Lawns is a sleepy village with a lot of elders, but the advent of an army base fuelled a property boom and attracted some younger newcomers and a would-be entrepreneur and his family who have created a lot of local employment.

The hood can be downloaded here www.moreawesomethanyou.com/cwykes/  just follow the link to Meadow Lawns.
There are pics on the webpage and I'm planning on adding more.  Let me know what else you'd like to see. 
The download is 100MB in RAR, so it's too big if you're on dial up!  OFB is required and you also need either Nightlife or the mustang and driveway download.  I used Numenor's mustang and I also used a lot of the maxis downloads like football pennants, christmas decorations, race car stuff etc.  Not having those isn't a biggie - items will just disappear from lots.

[Emma]

Cwykes, this is awesome I am going to d/l when I have more time and play! Yayness!

[vcline]

Cwykes, you are amazing!     I had lots of fun with the aliens in Sedona, and with your Green, Foster and army families (all in my apocalypse neighborhood).  I'm in the middle of playing with the Riverblossom pre-mades, but it's awfully tempting to just add another neighborhood.  Especially with new businesses and houses, which I never make for myself.

[cwykes]

I have to confess, you'll find the greens, the army and the foster home in Meadow Lawns as well vcline.  Those squaddies get all over the place in Meadow Lawns.
Thank you both for your kind comments 

[Meek_Monkey]

Love the pre made hoods are u doing any more I love them.

[cwykes]

Glad you like it.    This one took me so long, I'm going to think hard before I start another one.  I have a couple of ideas though.  I'd like to make another add-on as a Bluewater alternative - either on green or concrete terrain.  I'd also like to make some Belgian looking houses, but that's a lot of building!  For now I'm  playing the seasons which I've held off installing until I finished Meadow Lawns.

TSR has a whole thread about pre-made hoods.  You've probably seen Beacon Falls, but you might want to keep an eye on it.  Their site is down so I can't link, but it's a whole section of the forum called Neighbourhood Stories.

[Charlotte]

Oh cool!  I wanted to message you about this (I can't, since I'm banned from TSR ) for the links that had been removed.  I helped out when they made Morewood over there but no longer play it.  I've been thinking of making my own alternative to Bluewater but just thinking about it drove me insane - it looks really awesome!!  Can't wait to try it out

[cwykes]

Hi Charlotte - guess you found it then despite TSR not letting me link to it directly.   If you have a moment it would be nice if you dropped back here and let me know how you like it.    Suggestions welcome on what to do differently next time.

About making another OFB sub-hood - we need to check the method still works now as we are several EPs and several versions of SimPE further on.  I'm planning on doing that sometime, but I just want to play seasons for a bit before I start creating again.

[vcline]

I installed Meadow Lawns last night and visited a couple of families.  I love it!  You really put a lot of work into this.  And I like the back stories on the families.  My only problem is that I can't find the army base.  I assume it's at the edge where it's hard to get at.  I used to have the mod that let you see the whole map at once, but I seem to have lost it.

[cwykes]

Yes - that problem came up for someone at TSR.  I didn't mean to make the base that secret though it would have been sneaky.   
I use Gunmods camera mod http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=97642&highlight=gunmod
The other simmer got into one of the camp houses and used the clickable neighbours option to get to the base.

[mildlydisguised]

Fantastic work cwykes

It is the perfect hood for seasons too, all those vacant community lots are great for fishing and gardening businesses.  Great back story too!

[vcline]

Yes, there's certainly a lot of opportunities for fishing in the families.  The Green boys are well on their way to gold.

[Charlotte]

I see, I was wondering why I couldn't find the old people - I had a feeling I might need a camera mod because I've hidden families in the same neighborhood before.  *goes back to game*

EDIT: Ok, sorry, I'm a complete doofus.  I thought Meadow Lawns was the business district - I was completely confused and NO WONDER why I couldn't find the "old people" in Sedona   This works out better though

[cwykes]

Meadow Lawns was going to be another sub-hood, but it got way to big, so I left it as a neighbourhood.  That's probably where the confustion came from.  Mind you Sedona does have a few elderly alien tourists as townies.  They have time to travel the universe after all and they are dressed in all sorts of holiday gear they picked up along the way.   

[Charlotte]

I was playing that Staines family (woman with 3 kids and her brothers) and she started autonomously flirting with one of her brothers (I can't remember which one out of the two dark haired guys) and that's when I realized that she doesn't recognize them as family yet they are shown as siblings in the family tree

And also, you did a great job with the 'hood!  Seriously!  Did you have any help?  It's so well done and really professional with the neighborhood story and personal info - I love reading those things!  I'm a little bit scared of going in and really playing; it's so well done I feel like I'm going to ruin all your hard work (even though I have a back up)

[vcline]

I have to confess that I couldn't play some of the poorer families, like the Schmits (?), without Inge's $1000 mortgage bush.  When there are babies/toddlers that need a nanny and only one adult and maybe a teen with a job, there's just not enough money coming in early on for them to exist.  Plus I usually have them quit their minimum wage jobs at one of Jack's many businesses and get a better paying job.  Once the teens have progressed and acquired some skills, I'm going to add a university, probably using the Alpine dorms, e.g. http://www.pc-sims.com/smb/showthread.php?t=8508, from PC-Sims.  This site also has lots of army stuff at http://www.pc-sims.com/smb/forumdisplay.php?f=97&page=2&order=desc.

[Charlotte]

I had to use one of Inge's bushes for the Green family:

At first I started playing that old lady with the glasses that lives in the army base (she ended up marrying Elijah Caretaker so I could "knock two birds off with one stone" - he's dead now).  I thought it would be a good idea to move that pregnant lady (Green) in with her so she'd have a comfortable pregnancy, but I went to play her house for a bit, checked out the family tree and noticed that she had another 6 kids in another house.  I went to investigate, found her kids living by themselves with only $23 while she was somewhere else pregnant and her useless husband was still in the army.

That family really put the Broke family to shame: it was a waste of time trying to sell off furniture because the price had already depreciated.  The aging had been switched off on that lot as well, but things got easier when Cheryl became an adult.  Their grandmother moved in and moved the next two eldest children out with her while the youngest kids stayed with Cheryl - that toddler Jonny is a teen now, and Cheryl has been getting friendly with Cash, the guy from the army.  The kids who moved in with the grandmother are adults now and helping their grandmother pay off the mortgage (I have no20k handout and used Inge's 10k shrub to bring the price of the house down).

I still have to go back and get the mother to have the baby - that's one woman that's going to have it stitched up after the baby is born.

I was also playing the Schmidt family (is that the one with the single father and all those kids?) - I'm a bit burnt out from playing poor families with lots of kids

[Zazazu]

Cwykes, just wanted to tell you that this is a gorgeous project you have here. Such a different idea, having the three islands and a strong elder contingent. I really shouldn't add another 'hood to my play schedule (my poor alphabet family's sitting in limbo) but I can't help it! Gimme!

[Madame Mim]

I had to use one of Inge's bushes for the Green family:

That family really put the Broke family to shame: it was a waste of time trying to sell off furniture because the price had already depreciated.  The aging had been switched off on that lot as well, but things got easier when Cheryl became an adult.  Their grandmother moved in and moved the next two eldest children out with her while the youngest kids stayed with Cheryl - that toddler Jonny is a teen now, and Cheryl has been getting friendly with Cash, the guy from the army.  The kids who moved in with the grandmother are adults now and helping their grandmother pay off the mortgage (I have no20k handout and used Inge's 10k shrub to bring the price of the house down).

Is that what was wrong with them? Thanks. I never use that cheat and so didn't even think of it.

I am loving having a new Neighbourhood to play - it's even side-tracked me from the development of my own next Neighbourhood - but there's something else about the Green family that I need help with. Belinda's face. How do I get that muck off of her? I've tried using a mirror, and I even took her out for a makeover (which she seemed to enjoy) but I can't get her face back to 'normal'. I'm assuming a failled make-over did that to her, but I've never bothered with makeovers before and don't know how to fix them.

[behold_the_muse]

You can get rid of the face crap with a mirror: pick anything in 'full-face makeup' and then remove it. Did that make sense? You can't remove it but you can replace it, then remove the replacement.

It's nice to have a new custom hood with a storyline so different from what I usually play. Thank you for putting so much effort into this!

[Madame Mim]

Thankyou, yes, I understood and it worked.

[Zazazu]

I had to use one of Inge's bushes for the Green family:

That family really put the Broke family to shame: it was a waste of time trying to sell off furniture because the price had already depreciated.  The aging had been switched off on that lot as well, but things got easier when Cheryl became an adult.  Their grandmother moved in and moved the next two eldest children out with her while the youngest kids stayed with Cheryl - that toddler Jonny is a teen now, and Cheryl has been getting friendly with Cash, the guy from the army.  The kids who moved in with the grandmother are adults now and helping their grandmother pay off the mortgage (I have no20k handout and used Inge's 10k shrub to bring the price of the house down).

Is that what was wrong with them? Thanks. I never use that cheat and so didn't even think of it.

I am loving having a new Neighbourhood to play - it's even side-tracked me from the development of my own next Neighbourhood - but there's something else about the Green family that I need help with. Belinda's face. How do I get that muck off of her? I've tried using a mirror, and I even took her out for a makeover (which she seemed to enjoy) but I can't get her face back to 'normal'. I'm assuming a failled make-over did that to her, but I've never bothered with makeovers before and don't know how to fix them.

Yeah, I pop over there every once in awhile. I've gotten so used to the 2-day rotation in Monopoly that playing one sim/family straight in Urban Paradise seems strange! I started with the Green gramma first. She sold all her furniture out on the lawn  and then I moved on. Checked on the Green kids and knew that there was no way they were surviving as it was. The house just isn't built for all those kids! So Gramma moved in straight away, and her money let me rebuild the house and put a little better furniture in it. Not that much, so they still aren't living in luxury. The three eldest kids share a bedroom, as do the three youngest, and Gramma has a tiny room off to the side. The living room is super small, but what can you do?

I really like that most every lot in the "poorer" section of the 'hood has a pond out back. The Green kids spend a lot of time fishing, and hopefully will start selling fish from the front yard since Cheryl doesn't pull in enough to cover the bills and Gramma's busy taking care of the littler ones. I'm quite upset with Belinda for prioritizing making more babies and abandoning the ones she has, so I suspect she'll be finding herself in a ladderless pool as soon as she pops out the one she has at the moment.

One question though: what's with the energizers? The Green kids had four on their lot.

[Charlotte]

Those ponds were a life saver!
When I went to play that Green family, Cheryl wanted to go steady or fall in love so I got her with that spiky haired rich guy to boost her aspiration so for the rest of the night it was cleaning up the house, teaching the toddler his skills - energizer - then fishing.  I only realized that aging had been switched after the third day because when I first sorted out the house I prepared myself for how hard the house was going to play when those babies became toddlers.  I had to move some of the kids out because there was just no more room for beds - pre seasons, I would've just let them sleep under the stars

Another hard house to play is the Liveseys (if you keep them all in the same house) - talk about fight for the toilet.  It got easier when the parents died - they became instantly rich!

I really shouldn't be taking on another 'hood as well - my custom hood, Riverblossom and Pleasantview are still there and I didn't really intend on liking this hood so much.  That baby that Belinda was pregnant with is now married to Zoe Chandler from the orphanage.  It's amusing because his siblings, which were babies in the other household are still kids   Their father can stay in the army forever - no more woohoo for him!  And Belinda is the manager at Eve Jackmans outdoor salon.  And Cheryl got married to the single father of those other kids - the Schmidt family???  His eldest daughter Helge(??) is in a unwed relationship and living with that Goosem guy and is pregnant.  One of those kids is butt ugly.  The toddlers from the Staines family got shipped to the Foster Household.  One interesting tidbit there - I put in an elevator because the stairs weren't working for them and they ended up breaking, I got Helen to fix it and she died from electrocution!!  I don't normally have accidental deaths!  Now that Monty granddaughter is in there looking after the toddlers (now kids).  I've got it set up so that any of the Richer family's in the hood, or the Army base can 'donate' money to the orphanage.

Sorry, I've babbled on too much

[cwykes]

Oh Wow!  I love hearing what you guys are doing with Meadow Lawns.   Sorry about aging being turned off on the Green lot - I've no idea how that happened.    I can't see how to fix it in SimPE, but it's on my to do list.  I looked at the relationships in the Staines household - they are all family according to SimPe, but not siblings, so they shouldn't be getting flirt wants.  I'll have to check it out in game I think.

The Green's have a long sad history. It was too big to put in the neighbourhood, but it's on my simpage. Unless you've already dunked her in a ladderless pool, here's chapter 1 which might make you a bit more sympathetic to her  http://thesims2.ea.com/exchange/story_detail.php?asset_id=63465&asset_type=story&user_id=1159607 
Alternatively, if you have the SShack in your game, you can send Cheryl to work and all the kids end up in the adoption pool.
Belinda loves her husband and kids - she just went to visit Phil for the weekend, got pregnant and couldn't get home again.  You could imagine she had health problems if you like.  Same with Phil, he's not at home because the army needed him to run the base.  He was a good dad when he was there and he left Belinda the energisers to help her cope with the kids while he was away.

So what's happening to the Jackman business empire if all their employees have got proper jobs?

[Zazazu]

I decided not to off her. She's had another set of twins, who I'll be moving in with the rest of the family as soon as the third youngest leaves the nursery. Then I'm planning on putting Belinda in with the army base, jealousy off and autonomy to five. Popping out random soldier's kids should be more punishment.