_______________________________________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ oo,o, ,o, ,o,, , ,,, ooooo,, ooo oooo,,o oo,,oo ,ooo, oo,, ,oo oooooooooo oooooooo ,oooo,,,,,,,oo,,oo, oooooooooooooo oooooooo oo, ooo,,o o,, , ,oooooooooooooo, ,oooooo ooo, oooooo ,oo ooooooooooo ,o, ,o,,oo ooo ooooooooo, ,oooooo ooo, oo, , ,ooo,o, oooooooo, ,oooooo oooo ooo, ooooooooo, ooooooooo ,oooooo ooooo ooooo ooooooooo, oooooooooo ,oooooo oooooo oooooo, oooooo, ,oooooooo,, ,oooooo ,oooooo ooooooo ooooo, oooooooo,o, ,oooooo oooooooo oooooooo ooooo, T H E ,oooooooo,o ,oooooo oooooooo, ooooooooo oooooo, ,oooooooooo, ,oooooo ,ooooooooo,oooooooooo ,oooooo, ,oooooooo,o ,oooooo ooooooooo,,oooooooooo, oooooo, ,ooooooooo, ,oooooo ,oooooooooooooooooooooo ooooo,o, ooooooooo ,oooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooo, ooooooo ooooooooo ,oooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooo, ooooooo ooooooooo ,oooooo ,oooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooo oooooooooo, ,oooooo oooooooo oooooooo ooooooo,ooooooooooo, ,oooooooooooo, ,oooooo ooooooo, ,oooooo oooooooo oooooooo, oooooooooooooooo, ,oooooo ooooooo oooooo ,ooooooo oooo ooooooooooooo oooooo, ooooo ooooooo ,ooooooo, ,oooooo ooo, ooooooo ooooooo oooooo, T H E S I M S & L I V I N ' L A R G E & H O U S E P A R T Y & H O T D A T E & V A C A T I O N & U N L E A S H E D _______________________________________________________________________________ ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ The Sims (PC, Mac) & The Sims: Livin' Large (PC, Mac) & The Sims: House Party (PC) The Sims: Hot Date (PC) The Sims: Vacation (PC) The Sims: Unleashed (PC) The Complete Guide January 22, 2005 Version 8.11 Written by: Dan Simpson Email: dsimpson.faqs@gmail.com Subject: Sims v 8.11 Email Policy: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Emails without the proper subject MAY BE DELETED! Do NOT email me asking for a Serial Number. If you see any mistakes, or have anything that you want to add please email me! I will, of course, give you full credit for your addition, and be eternally grateful to you. Before emailing me with a question, be sure to check out the Frequently Asked Questions section. Notes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The most recent version of this FAQ can be found at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/ http://www.cheatcc.com/ http://www.gamewinners.com/ Den nyeste norske versjonen kan finnes pċ: http://www.danielthesim.cjb.net La versione Italiana della mia FAQ si trova a http://www.nonsologiochi.it/ If you wish to translate this FAQ into another language, just email me telling me about it, and where it will be located (the URL). You still have to give me credit for writing the FAQ, though. In case you cared, The Sims has broken the SimCity 3000 sales record for the first month of sales. SimCity 3000 went on to be the best grossing game of 1999 (it didn't sell the most copies, RollerCoaster Tycoon did that, SC3K simply pulled in more dollars due to a higher cost-per-sale average), so we can safely assume that The Sims will be one of the top games of 2000! It already sold 1 Million copies! If you haven't bought it yet, what are you waiting for? The Sims is now the best-sellingest PC game of all time. There are now FOUR Expansion Packs out now for the Sims! Check out section 1.2 Information on the Expansion, Livin' Large for an introduction to the Expansion Pack as well as section 1.3 Information on the Second Expansion, House Party. 1.4 covers Hot Date and 1.5 covers Vacation. Unleashed is the FIFTH expansion, but I don't have it yet, so no comment. Be sure to check http://www.thesims.com/ every Thursday for a game update! Updates so far (can be downloaded, also included with Livin Large): http://thesims.ea.com/us/getcool/index.html Cuckoo Clock Moose Head Decoration 5 New Skins 5 New Houses Wall Lights Slot Machine Guinea Pig (Pet) Note: With the Guinea Pig, if you fail to keep its cage clean, your Sim may catch a disease from it! New Plants New "Physical" Skins "Elwood" Skin MTV Skins Topiaries (Hedge Animals and such) Flowerbeds Jukebox (actually at http://www.rankit.com/sims/simsoffer2.html) The White House Two New Trashcans Glowing Flamingo Art Studio, a tool to create custom Wall Hangings Upgrades not included with Livin' Large Jack O' Lantern Turkey Dinner Cookies Telecom Upgrade (Sims can call each other to say "hi") Vacation Island Beach Blanket Hungry Hungry Hamster Game Promotional Balloon Fence Holiday Mistletoe Triple Bull Dartboard Pepsi Machine (North America only) House Party Potty Pack Nouveau Nites Party Lights Queen Vivanco Roses 'Ukulele Lady Lamp AND A complete Game upgrade to The Sims version 1.1 (not needed if you have Livin' Large) A patch to Livin' Large http://thesims.ea.com//us/getcool/gamepatch/LLpatchindex.html A patch to Hot Date http://thesims.ea.com/us/getcool/gamepatch/HDpatchindex.html This FAQ looks best in Courier New at about 9 points. This Document is Copyright 2000-2005 by Dan Simpson The Sims is Copyright 2000-2002 by Electronic Arts I am not affiliated with Maxis, Electronic Arts, or anyone who had anything to do with the creation of this game. This FAQ may be posted on any site so long as NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling me that you are posting it. You may not charge for, or in any way profit from this FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ___________________ What's New in 8.11: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Changed my email address and some small format changes. For a complete Version History, check out the Final Words Section at the end of the FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i.) What is The Sims? 1.) Getting Acquainted 1.1) Understanding Your Sims 1.1.1) What a Sim Wants/Needs 1.1.2) Why A Sim Does What He Does 1.2) Information on the Expansion, Livin' Large 1.2.1) Multiple Neighborhoods 1.2.2) Cockroaches 1.2.3) The Grim Reaper 1.2.4) Genie in a Bottle 1.2.5) The Chemistry Set 1.2.6) The "Love" Bed 1.2.7) Beejaphone Guitar 1.2.8) Woodworking Table (or the Work-at-Home career) 1.2.9) Madame Blahbatfry Crystal Ball 1.2.10) Servo 1.2.11) Horrowitz "Star Track" Backyard Telescope 1.2.12) The Tragic Clown 1.2.13) Voodoo Doll 1.3) Information on the Second Expansion, House Party 1.4) Information on the Third Expansion, Hot Date 1.4.1) New Social Interaction Options 1.4.2) Controlled Sim Interactions 1.4.3) Interests and Inventory 1.4.4) Downtown 1.5) Information on the Fourth Expansion, Vacation (forthcoming) 1.6) Information on the Fifth Expansion, Unleashed 2.) Creating a Family a.) Creating a Sim b.) Of Neatness and Maids 2.1) The Bachelor Sim 2.1.1) The Bachelor Gets Married 2.2) The Full House (8 Sims) 3.) Building a House 3.1) Building a Better House 3.2) Who Needs Walls? 3.3) Housebuilding, Especially on a Budget 4.) Furnishing a House a.) Lighting and Lamps b.) Decorations 4.1) Cooking (or, a Meal fit for a Sim!) 4.1.1) Food Strategies 4.2) Room Rating 4.3) Alternative to Alarm Clocks 4.4) Who Needs a Trashcan? 4.5) Sims' Interaction With Objects 4.6) Moving Trash Yourself 4.7) The "Cluster" Method 4.8) "Quick Use" of Items (the Buy/Use/Return method) 5.) Of Friends and Lovers a.) Socializing b.) Marriage and Moving In 5.1) Befriending Mean Sims 5.2) Carrying on Multiple Romances 5.2.1 The "Love Shack" 5.3) Maintaining Relationships the Easy Way 5.4) Sending your Sim Out of the House! 5.5) Creating Friends the Old Fashioned Way 5.6) How to Befriend SimKids 5.7) Sim Personalities and Compatibilities 5.8) Getting the Desired Interaction 6.) Working (and Not) a.) Quitting b.) Job Events 6.1) The Jobs Chart (a.k.a. the Career Paths) 6.1.1) Livin' Large Careers 6.1.2) Unleashed Career Opportunities 6.1.3) Alternate Job Chart 6.2) Abusing the Carpool 6.2.1) Early Morning Social Call (while Abusing the Carpool no less!) 6.3) Quitting for Fun and Profit 6.3.1) Job Hopping Analysis 6.4) Job "Shifts" 7.) Running an Efficient Household 7.1) Working the Pause 8.) Expanding the House 8.1) Building that Second Story 8.1.1) The "Flying" Second Story 8.1.2) The Balcony 9.) Babies and Children 9.0.1) Baby Tips 9.0.2) Baby Personality Matrix 9.1) Children and School 9.2) What Kids Do 10.) Everything Else in the Neighborhood 10.1) Death and Ghosts 10.2) Did you Know? 11.) Cheats & Tricks 11.1) Deleting Trash (and Bills too!) 11.2) Paying only Every Other Bill 11.3) The Newbie Trick 11.4) Washing Dishes Faster 11.5) Deleting your Characters, and resetting their Mood 11.6) How to Max out all the Personality Stats 11.7) Starting a Sim with random Job Stats 11.8) Speeding up your Sim 11.9) Better Personalities through Chemistry (Livin' Large) 11.10) Sell the Rocket Explosion 12.) Customizing Your Game 12.1) Changing the Radio Station Music 12.2) Skins 12.2.1) The "Nude" Patch 12.3) Setting up Multiple Neighborhoods 12.4) Download Surprises 12.5) Playing Without the Sims CD 12.6) Creating your own Objects 12.7) Custom Interface Graphics 13.) Known Bugs 14.) Getting the Most from "The Sims" 15.) Wish List Frequently Asked Questions Livin' Large Frequently Asked Questions Final Words... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- i. What is The Sims? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sims, simply put, is the People Simulator from the creator of SimCity. So, what is a People Simulator? Well, you get to run the lives of everyone in a neighborhood (not all at once, of course). Taking on one "family" at a time, you try to guide them to success in life, love, and the workplace. Left to their own devices, the Sims tend to simply tread water (i.e. they live without a goal), and that is where you come in. I like to think of the player as the Sims' ambition, their goals in life, if you will. You are that little voice in their head that tells them to study Mechanics, or to take a shower, in order to get that promotion. Without you, their ambition, the Sims will tend to lounge around, fulfilling only their most immediate desire, without any eye on the future. Sim (noun) : A simulated person in a Maxis game. Ex: The Sim went to SimCity to buy a bagel. Updates to The Sims: There are several new downloads available at the Official Site (www.thesims.com of course!). These aren't any great Patches, but are some neat new objects and skins. Maxis promises that every Thursday that they will have some cool new thing on the site, and therefore every Thursday is called SimDay. So far they have had 9 downloads: a Slot Machine, a Cuckoo Clock, a Moose Head, 5 Warrior Skins, 5 Houses, New Plants, Wall Lights, new Physical Skins, "Elwood" Skin, MTV Skins, Topiaries, Flowerbeds, a Guinea Pig, the White House, Two New Trashcans, a Glowing Flamingo, a tool to create custom Wall Hangings, Turkey Dinner, Jack O'Lantern and a Jukebox. Mini-Review: This is the first time a review of mine will be found in my FAQ. I just felt that I needed to express my opinions on the game in a more editorialized fashion than the normal FAQ sections allow. I have been looking forward to The Sims since I heard about it back in November. I couldn't quite put my finger on why this game sounded good to me, but I was certainly intrigued. Controlling people's lives? Sounded (strangely) like fun. After having played it non-stop since I bought the game, I can sum up my experience in one sentence: One of the most strangely addicting and compelling games I have ever played. I haven't played a game this much since Rollercoaster Tycoon, and that was back in April '99. That's almost a year. I have stayed up many a night until 1 or 2 am, and only going to sleep then so that I could get up the next day and play some MORE Sims! In The Sims you take control of a family of Sims and try to guide them through life. Along the way you develop friendships, work your way up the career ladder at work, and try to keep your Sims fed and happy. You can sit back and watch the Sims interact with each other, or you can take a more active hand and FORCE them to do your bidding. You can even shut off their Free Will. Personal interactions between the Sims is often the most amusing part of the game. Watch as someone will shoo another Sim out of the bathroom so he can take a leak. Or as a Sim attempts to give another Sim a back rub, but is pushed away. Then there are always the Sims who like each other... a lot, and start getting passionate. I also really enjoy the differences between the Sims. One may be very neat, and like to clean up messes, and another may be extremely mean, and prone to get into fights. Very interesting variety. All in all I really enjoyed this game, and give it a 9.5. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Getting Acquainted ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the crazy world of The Sims. I'm assuming that you have gone through the first Tutorial, and if not, then you probably should. It teaches you all of the basics of the Sims and their needs. Once you have finished with that little tutorial, save it and go back to the Neighborhood. Note: There is a neat little trick that one can do with the Tutorial, check out section 11.3 The Newbie Trick for details. Note: There is only one neighborhood! Therefore there is also only one Save Slot. Of course, there are lots of houses in the neighborhood, so do you really need more than one save slot? The first thing you should know, is that you control the entire neighborhood. Not at the same time, but one house at a time. When you aren't directly controlling a house, NOTHING HAPPENS THERE. It's like they are in stasis. They can be called over to your current house (assuming you've met them), but they won't actually do anything. They'll be exactly as you left them when you go back to them. So, if you play one house, then switch to another, then switch back to the first, it will be as if nothing has happened. If house 1 was eating breakfast, they'll still be doing that when you get back. Note: There is ONE exception to the "nothing happens while you're away" rule. And that is Relationships. If you have the Sims in your current house flirt with the Sims from the other house and their relationship improves, then that will carry over. Another thing to know at the Neighborhood level is that the people you put in the neighborhood are the only ones you can be friends with. That is, there are no "random Sims" wandering about. Since your Sims require the friendships of lots of other Sims (some careers require that you have lots of friends)that means that you will have to work on the Neighborhood as a whole, rather than single-mindedly working one house. (more on this in section 5. Of Friends and Lovers) Free Will: A quick little note here on Free Will. You CAN turn free will off if you'd like to take full control of the Sims. With only one or two Sims under your command this is an easy thing to do. However, once you get up to 5 to 8 Sims, then it can get very difficult to control all of their separate actions at once. Free Will is useful to some extent--the Sims will do things that are quite beneficial to themselves, such as cleaning up the house, or talking to the neighbor. Although you should know that the Sims aren't very efficient in what they choose to do. Suppose that you need to improve both Hygiene and Comfort. The best choice (if you have the Time) is a bath. Well maybe the Sim wants a shower. Or what if the Sim takes the bath just as the carpool pulls up. Therefore you can't totally give over to free will. But neither should you destroy it and control their every move. Sims WILL ignore your commands if what you're telling them to do seems contrary to what they need most. A starving man won't go play basketball (or at least, is far less likely to!). Well on we go! Click on the Create a Family button to get things going. (You could, of course, play the Goths, or the Newbies, but you will need to create a new family to start filling in the Neighborhood) The following subsections deals with the Sims themselves, and why they do the things that they do. Note: Throughout this FAQ I often refer to Sims as "he" or "him". This is a fairly arbitrary choice of gender, basically because I myself am male. This is not because all Sims are male, I just refer to them that way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1 Understanding Your Sims ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Even if you don't have Freewill turned on (and you don't HAVE to, check the Game Options) you should understand a few things about your Sims. What they like, why they like it, etc. For example, why does a Sim choose what they do on their own? Why do they stop doing it when they do? In the first subsection we'll talk about the 8 motives (or as I prefer to call them, Needs) and their effect on your Sim, then in the next subsection we'll talk about the reasons behind your Sim's actions, and how to better control them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1.1 What a Sim Wants/Needs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Each Sim has 8 Needs that constantly need to be met. And at most you can satisfy 2 or 3 needs at a time. Note: The Hot Tub CAN satisfy up to 4 needs at a time, depending on whether there's more than one person in the Hot Tub. Also, Sims will stay in the Hot Tub until all 4 of those needs are filled. (these Needs are Hygiene, Comfort, Fun, and if someone else is in with them, Social) Also realize that the needs are weighted differently. That is, Hunger counts for more than Room does, although both count when computing mood. So, your Sim will try to satisfy Needs based on the most serious Need first, which may not be the Need that needs the most work done on it. The Needs: (in no particular order) Hunger -- fairly self-explanatory. Satisfying hunger can be done mostly at the fridge. In a pinch you can also call the Pizza delivery guy (under Services on your phone), but that isn't nearly so satisfying as a good home cooked meal. The following factors go into how satisfying, and therefore how much of the Hunger Need is filled, a meal is: - The Type of Fridge you have, the better the more satisfying the meal. - The Type of Preparation surface used. A food processor here is best, followed by a bare counter, then by using the surface on a dishwasher/garbage compactor. So don't count on the surface of the dishwasher, as it makes less appealing meals. - The type of cooking implement used, again the better the equipment, then the better the meal will be. - And the skill of the cook comes into play here. The more cooking skill points your Sim has, the better the meal. If you have the best in all 4 of the above categories, then you can and should let your hunger rating drop lower than you would if you didn't. Otherwise you are wasting all those nutritional points by eating a great meal when you only needed a good one. For more information check out section 4.1 Cooking (or a Meal fit for a Sim). Room -- How appealing the room you are in is. This is covered in depth in section 4.2 The Room Rating. Social -- Sims are social creatures, and need companionship. Some Sims (the High Outgoing Sims) need Social more than others. (i.e. their Social rating will drop faster than the less outgoing Sims) The "High Level" interactions, kissing, hugging, etc., have a better effect on this than merely talking. The best way to keep Social satisfied is to socialize at least once a day. Work your way up on other Sims relationship charts, dance with them, tell jokes, etc. Do that and you should be just fine. Bladder - Just use the toilet before this one hits Pure Red (empty) or you might pee on the floor. Not only that, but having this little "accident" cuts into their other Needs too, such as Hygiene. Your sims will need to "use the facilities" after drinking coffee or eating a meal. Note: Non-neat Sims won't flush automatically after using the toilet, so you will have to make sure that they do it, or the toilet could clog up. Energy -- Two ways to get Energy up, sleep, and Coffee. Sleep is the better solution, and the better the bed (or couch in the case of naps) the more Energy you get back in less time. If you fail to get to sleep or drink some coffee before your Sims' Energy bar hits Pure Red, then he will collapse on the floor and sleep there. THIS IS NOT GOOD! Your Sim will wake up with NO Comfort, and far less Energy than if he had slept in a bed. So before Energy gets too low, send the Sim to bed! Note: Espresso is better than Coffee, but takes longer to drink. Usually I prefer Coffee, as you can drink it several times in a row quite quickly. Comfort - A gauge on how your Sim is FEELING. Low comfort is similar to how you would feel Sore after exercising. Comfort is a Need that you should never bother with on its own. You can always increase Comfort while doing something else, for example, while eating your Sim sits on a chair, or while watching TV he sits on a couch. Note: The Best Toilet also increases Comfort. Also the main reason to get the top of the line Tub (not the hot tub) is because it helps Comfort as well as Hygiene. Hygiene - How clean your Sim feels. This naturally decays throughout the day, but is also decreased by using the toilet without washing your hands, or accidentally peeing your pants. Fun -- And lastly there is Fun. A bored Sim is an unhappy Sim. Keep your Sim entertained by having him read the Paper, a Book, or Watch TV, Dance to the radio, etc. There are some activities that help out 2 or more of the Needs. Some of these are: Sitting in the Hot Tub (Hygiene, Comfort, Fun, Social), the Hygeia-Matic Toilet (Comfort, Bladder), Eating while Sitting with Others (Social, Hunger, Comfort), Dancing with a Guest (Fun, Social), Joking with a Guest (Fun, Social), etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1.2 Why A Sim Does What He Does ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Why do some Sims like to watch TV and others like to read a book? Why does one Sim like cartoons and another the horror channel? Why does your Sim STOP doing a certain activity even though he still hasn't filled that Need? And why do they keep doing an inefficient activity when there are better objects to fill that need around? Let's find out! Here's where we get into the PERSONALITY of your Sims. (We won't actually be CREATING our Sims for the moment, we're just looking at them first so you can know what you're dealing with) Just like people, every Sim has his own personality. One Sim may be a happy little go-getter, while another is a slob who can't shut up. Obviously then, not all Sims are going to like doing the same things. The Personality Types: Neat, Messy -- Neat Sims are like little Maids, they clean up not only after themselves, but others too. They also wash their hands after using the Toilet, and after eating with their hands. They do the dishes, they take out the trash, and are generally nice to have around. Messy Sims are the opposite. They don't wash their hands, they don't do dishes. They also tend to leave puddles when using the shower. 0-2 Slob: So I occasionally leave a pizza box or two lying around, and I don't mind the flies buzzing all over. Why clean up when everybody else is willing to do it? 3-7 Occasional Cleaner: When it comes to cleaning up, I have a few basic rules. I flush when I'm done, throw away my own junk, and take out the trash now and then. 8-10 Neat Freak: I'm known to wash a dish as soon as I've finished eating. The trashcan's barely full before it's taken out. The paper is recycled as soon as I've finished reading. And the house is always spotless whenever I'm about. Outgoing, Shy - Outgoing Sims crave conversation with other Sims. As discussed in the last section, their Social Need will drop like a rock if they don't have some friends over to chat with. They're more likely to have the Higher Level social interactions pop up, and react better when someone does one on them (for example, they are less likely to push a hug away). Shy Sims still need Social, but on a smaller scale. 0-2 Shy: Being self-conscious and introspective, I don't have a great need to be social. It's hard for me to meet new people and make friends. 3-7 Member of the Crowd: I'm a little reserved, and it takes me a while to warm up to new people. You won't see me in the middle of huge crowds at parties, but I won't be sitting quietly in a corner either. 8-10 People Person: I am an extrovert. I love to talk to everyone. I crave social interactions. Basically, I'm a social animal. Active, Lazy -- The Active Sim wants to go out and play some Hoops, or do something other than sit around watching TV. They Dance, they Swim, and enjoy moving around. Lazy Sims are your couch potatoes. Their Comfort score will drop faster than for active Sims (to reflect their overwhelming desire to sit). Lazy Sims also have troubles getting out of bed. 0-2 Lazy: Is there anything worse than getting out of bed in the morning? Who needs ambition--a warm couch and a good TV show is all anyone needs. 3-7 Laid Back: Though not always on the go, I am somewhat motivated. Though I tend to linger a little too long in a nice cozy chair, I won't be caught sitting there all day either. 8-10 Energetic: Some say I'm a live wire. Some say I have ants in my pants. Either way, it just means that I'm always on the go and anxious to get there. Playful, Serious -- Playful Sims like to play around with other Sims (i.e. jokes) or with games (Pool, Computer, Pinball). Serious Sims are your bookworms. They also like Newspapers. 0-2 Serious: Sims who spend their time joking around just irritate me. Don't they understand that their frivolous folly is meaningless? So much more fun can be gained by reading a good book. 3-7 Amused: I laugh at good jokes, dance if there are other people on the floor, and like to play games. Generally, I like having fun, but I don't go overboard. 8-10 Life of the Party: When I'm not telling jokes, I'm laughing at them. I've never seen a game I didn't want to play. That's why everyone knows the party is always at my house. Nice, Grouchy -- This mostly effects how well your Sim will interact with others. Remember the old saying "Doesn't play well with others", well that's the Grouchy Sim. I refer to them as the Mean Sim as they like to insult, tease, taunt, and brag. 0-2 Mean: Everything makes me mad, especially when someone says I have a temper. If everything wasn't always broken, or other Sims weren't always bothering me, I probably wouldn't have to blow my stack so often. 3-7 Easy-going: While some Sims can get on my nerves a little, overall I'm pretty good-natured. 8-10 Compassionate: I like giving hugs and compliments. I love making friends with everyone. If everyone were more like me, the neighborhood would be a nicer place. Following your Sims' personality type will make them happy, but may make others unhappy. (i.e. the Mean Sim insulting people) So try to work within the boundaries of personality, but don't let it run their lives. Best Fun Objects Based on Personality: Playful -- Aquarium, Computer, Doll house, Guinea Pig, Piano, Pinball, Pool Table, Train Set, TV (Cartoons), VR Glasses -- INTERACTIVE Objects Serious -- Newspaper, Book, Chess Table, Looking at Paintings Active -- Basketball, TV (Action), Pool, Radio Lazy -- TV (Any Channel!), Computer Outgoing - Hot Tub, TV (Romance) Mean -- TV (Horror) Note: Train Set, Toybox and Playground are for kids only, but playful Sims seem to enjoy them more. (broadstrong) For a more thorough look at Sims and their interactions with various Objects check out section 4.5. Tip: Holding the mouse pointer over a CONTROLLED Sim speeds his movement. Holding it over an UNCONTROLLED Sim slows him down. (broadstrong) Check out section 11.8 for more information on this. Now let's actually create that Sim Family! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2) Information on the Expansion, Livin' Large ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a cursory explanation about the Expansion Pack for The Sims, Livin' Large. This section summarizes everything in the Expansion Pack, and then lists where you can find more information on each subject. For example, the new careers are listed in section 6.1.1. First and foremost, Livin' Large is an Expansion Pack for The Sims. It is NOT, I repeated, NOT something that you can download for free. You must go to a store and purchase it. Try Walmart. Or Target. Or Babbage's/Software Etc. The suggested retail price of Livin' Large is $29.95. Dozens of new situations and objects: Alien abductions Roach infestations A chemistry set Genie in a lantern Fortune telling crystal ball Exploding garden gnome Holiday decorations Five new career paths featuring 50 new jobs: Musician: subway musician, piano tuner, wedding singer, lounge singer and more Sloth: golf caddy, convenience store cashier, lifeguard and more Paranormal: Tarot card reader, UFO investigator and more Journalism: game reviewer, weatherman, TV show host and more Game industry: beta tester, game designer, programmer and more New architecture and decor: Castle: Build the perfect creepy setting for the neighborhood mad scientist Vegas: Outmoded but not cheap aesthetic, such as clashing colors and odd decor Retro: A revival of the 50s-60s "mod" craze, upscale and chic, with graceful curves and a minimum of ornamentation The next information here came from Computer Gaming World, courtesy of Joseph Peitler. (Computer Gaming World issue 192, July 2000, in the read.me section, there is an article about the Sims Expansion Pack, titled THE SIMS: LIVIN' LARGE. Here are some items that MIGHT appear in the game coming out in the Fall.) New objects that have deeper repercussions: - An antique lamp that inhabits a genie (but be careful, wishes can backfire when you get stuck with an incompetent mystical being) - A new workbench to make gnomes (but a low mechanical skill will result in lawn ornamentation that basically functions as a proximity mine) - A crystal ball (to predict a Sim's future) - A voodoo doll (to torment other Sims) New characters: - Space aliens (that can abducts Sims) - A Tragic Clown (who shows up and performs disastrous tricks and never leaves) - The Grim Reaper (who you can bargain with for the life of your perished Sim) Sean from Maxis mentioned the Grim Reaper in the recent chat: The current design of the grim reaper is that he shows up occasionally when people die. If you make the right bargain with him, or win a little game, you can come back from the dead...but with..uh, some... uh, drawbacks of course. There was recently a chat with the designers, and Wendy Zupack summarized some of the major points: - In the Pack, there will be a vibrating bed where the naughty Sims will be able to 'Play With' each other. This, of course, produces babies. Also, it decreases energy and other needs severely, while increasing social (duh). - There will be about 125 new objects added, including objects now available as downloads from TheSims.com - There will be many more objects to increase Skills, such as an electric guitar for Creativity and telescope for Logic (Beware, the telescope brings on aliens!). - There will be more 'sets' of furniture, such as a dining table that might go with counters and chairs. - Wallpaper, flooring and furniture will have increased compatibility. - There will be vacations for all the working Sims. - The chemistry set and getting abducted by aliens both alter Sim personality, either temporarily or permanantly. - There will be triple the number of doors and windows (there are stained glass windows, boomerang-shaped windows, etc.) - It has been released! Check out the next few sections for more information. [ and it will cost $29.95 USD ] - New Items List: = Egg-shaped chair = Velvet Sofasauras Funk sofa = Wood burning stove (perfect for those log cabins!) = Coat of Arms (for the medieval people out there) = Stainless steel table set = Guinea pig painting = Tiki lamps = Head in a jar on pedestal = Ceremic elephant end table = Vibrating bed = Black velvet painting = Electric Guitar = New piano = Instruments of torture (not working implements of torture) = Suit of Armor (the most expensive decorative item at §15,000 each) = Throw Rugs (extra decoration) To cure guinea pig disease, buy the "Forgotten Guinea Pig" painting and hang it up. Your sim should be cured within a day. (JediPika88) The party balloons has a chance of attracting 1 neighbor every 30 minutes. Once all the balloons are popped or you have five neighbors, no more come. It does not work late at night. (JediPika88) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.1 Multiple Neighborhoods (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the most common fan Utilities is the Neighborhood Manager that allows a user to create more than one Neighborhood. Now with the Expansion, Livin' Large, everyone can create up to 5 unique Neighborhoods. When the game first loads up you will be at the original Neighborhood Screen. In the top left corner is a number with a LEFT and RIGHT arrow by it. If you click the right arrow it will take you to Neighborhood 2, left to 5, etc. These new neighborhoods exist completely separate from one another. That is, you can't have Sims from one neighborhood visit another. And of the new neighborhoods, only the 2nd neighborhood starts with houses and Sims already in it. The others are completely blank. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.2 Cockroaches (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the more annoying additions in Livin' Large (well, they can't all be happy fun new gadgets) are the cockroaches. They appear in a little swarm, and need to be Sprayed. Roaches usually appear when there has been a mess for awhile -- even an unmade bed counts as a "mess". To prevent them from appearing, then, you must keep everything clean. Cockroaches will kill the Room rating. Also Roaches can walk through walls, go under any object, and generally make a nuisance of themselves. Getting rid of Roaches requires having a Sim click on the Roach, then select the Spray option. There are a number of quirks with this action, however. One: the Spray command MUST be the ONLY thing in your Sim's action Queue. So you can't set them to Spray after they do something else, Spraying must be the ONLY thing that they are set to do. Two: if the Roaches move after you click them, then the Spray option vanishes, and you must re-click the roaches. Three: If you start Spraying roaches, and there are more than one swarm of roaches around your property -- even if they are outside your house -- your Sim will seek and destroy EVERY roach group that he can find. Maids will sometimes clean out the Roaches for you, but not all the time. In fact, since installing Hot Date, she never bothered with Roaches again. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.3 The Grim Reaper (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Before Livin' Large, when a Sim died, he was dead. Nothing could be done about it (short of simply not Saving the game). Your Sim was gone. Not anymore! Now when your Sim dies, Death will come for him in the form of the Grim Reaper that we all know and love. When Death comes, anyone else in the family may go up to Death and [Plead] with him to not take the dearly departed away. At this point, Death can do three things: 1. Ignore your Plea, and take your dead Sim anyway. You still get their remains as a Tombstone or Urn, though. 2. Play you in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors and you win. The Sim is brought back to life, and Death goes on his merry way. 3. Play Rock-Paper-Scissors and you LOSE. He might take pity (or not) and bring the Sim back. But as a zombie. Hey, it's better than nothing! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.4 Genie in a Bottle (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the new Miscellaneous Objects in the game is a plain brass lamp. Anyone who has seen "Aladdin" (or any other cartoon dealing with Genies) will immediately recognize this as a Magic Lamp. To get to the genie, select the lamp and [Clean]. It also has a very minor effect on Fun when [Viewed]. The genie can be used ONCE PER DAY. (every night at 12:01 a.m., he can be used again) Note: Before ever using the genie, I'd be sure to have a Fire Alarm in each room of your house. You can check out why under "Bad" for FIRE and LEISURE. The genie will make you choose between two things, and then he will "act." Each choice that he gives you has both a GOOD and a BAD effect. For example, choosing Money (from Love or Money) can give you either BILLS or a POT OF GOLD. Here are the choices: Love - Good - Summons forth a neighbor, who will immediately fall in love with your Sim - Bad - Ruins a relationship that you have -- or -- Money - Good - Gives you a Pot of Gold worth between §1141-2918 (well that's what I've gotten) - Bad - Gives you three bright red, nearly-due bills Friends - Good - Teleports someone there, and now they like you MORE - Bad - Teleports a friend there, and they're now angry at you (my person went down to -75 on the relationship-meter) -- or -- Family - Good - Anyone living with your Sim has their relationship with your Sim improved - Bad - Creates a "family crisis" where another family member will like you less (usually it just subtracts about 20 points from their relationship, so if it was 100 it might now be 80) Fire - Good - Improves your Sim's Comfort and Social Needs - Bad - Starts an actual fire in your Sim's house -- or -- Water - Good - Summons a fountain (for your Sim to play in, no doubt) - Bad - Floods the house (about 8-12 "water" spots on the floor) Work - Good - Gives a +1 to 3 different Skills (Logic, Body, Mechanical, etc.) - Bad - Deletes some of your Sim's Skills (for example, a Sim with 4 Cooking skills will have only 2 after this) -- or -- Leisure - Good - Gives your Sim the Big Screen TV or another Leisure Item - Bad - Sets one of your "leisure" items on fire (I've had everything from the "love bed" to the good toilet burn up) Earth - Good - Summons forth three indoor plants - Bad - Summons five dead plants, which can't be deleted, though your Sim can throw them away (an interesting side-note is that if the "move_objects" cheat is activated, these plants can be deleted in furnish mode for full price!) -- or -- Air - Good - Summons forth about a dozen pink flamingoes on the lawn - Bad - Plagues your house with lots of cockroaches The chance of getting a BAD effect to a GOOD effect SEEMS to be about 3 to 2. (so on average, every 3 bad events will be followed by 2 good effects) This naturally makes using the Genie a VERY risky proposal! Here are the choices that I would choose to minimize your risk: Fire or Water: Water (if the Fire burns something large, such as a bed, you won't get the fire extinguished before it destroys the item!) Love or Money: Money (early in the game this makes a great deal of sense, a pot of gold can net you almost §3000, and your 3 bills will add up to considerably less) Love (late in the game this makes more sense, you probably have a lot of friends and a lot of money, therefore you won't need more money) Earth or Air: Earth (the plants sell for more than the flamingoes, PLUS it's easier to clean up dead plants than it is to get rid of cockroaches) Work or Leisure: I have never had Work do anything beyond zap my skills, so I have to say Leisure, despite the Fire risk. Hopefully it will be something small and easy to put out. Friends or Family: Family (this one has almost no risk at all! Losing about 20 points with someone you LIVE WITH is all too easy to fix, and occasionally it will actually improve your relationships!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.5 The Chemistry Set (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the best new items in the expansion is the wonderful Chemistry Set. (Called the Concoctonator) Its primary purpose is to improve your Sim's Logic (it isn't fun). However, once you [Make a Potion], you can then [Drink Potion], and depending on the COLOR of the potion you get a variety of neat side effects: Blue Potion - The most common type of potion. This will completely fulfill THREE of your Sim's Needs randomly. One time this potion will fill up Energy, Hunger and Fun, while another time it will fill in Social, Bladder and Hygiene. Dark Green - Creates an Evil Clone of your Sim. By "Evil Clone" it means that this Sim is your exact duplicate. This means that this Clone may not actually be evil. If your Sim is a jerk (low Nice), then this Clone may be a really nice guy. You can't get rid of a Clone, but eventually they just fade away. Evil clones will ruin your Sim's relationships with other Sims. Yellow - Permanent Reverse Personality. Yep, your Sim will have their entire personality flip-flopped. If you had 3 Nice, you will now have 7. If you had 10 Neat, you will now have none. There is a really cool trick involving this potion, see "Tip" below. Purple - Turn your Sim into a monster. Monsters just don't listen to you! I had one that painted a picture (he didn't gain Creativity, but I sold the picture for §166, and this was at a mere 3 Creativity!). Monsters also tend to wake up sleeping Sims if in the same room. Monsters don't lose Need points. If they were halfway hungry when they became a monster, that's where they'll be later. Worse of all, monsters also have a tendency to break most things they use! Plus they seem to want to use (break) everything in the house! This effect eventually wears off. Light Green - Ruins all of your Sim's Needs except Room, such that they'll all have a mere sliver of green. If this one happens to you, you have to very quickly work on EVERY Need your Sim has all at once. I would do it in this order: Energy (a quickie coffee to keep them up long enough to eat) Hunger (get them food, STAT! If possible, eat with a family member, but you don't have time to call anyone) Bathroom (actually let them pee their pants, this only worsens Hygiene, but it was nearly empty anyway) Energy (get them to sleep) Hunger (when they wake up they need to eat again, and if you can, get some friends to eat with you) Bathroom (in the toilet this time) Hygiene (shower or bath) Fun & Comfort (have them watch TV with a family member or friend) Social (have them Hug anyone they meet) And that should be that. It took me about 16 hours to resuscitate a Sim this way. Orange - Turns your Sim invisible. Therefore other Sims can't interact with that Sim. However, your invisible Sim CAN interact with the other Sims. This potion has the shortest effect of all of them. Red - Causes your Sim to fall in love with someone in the neighborhood. White - Cures your Sim of sickness. 10:1 odds that this will appear when your Sim is sick (JediPika88). And, of course, the Chemistry Set can always explode in your face! Tip: Once the potion is created, there are two ways to get rid of it. First you can just drink it. This isn't always desirable, if say, the potion is a bad one. Second, you can sell the Chemistry Set and buy a new one. This will lose you some money as your chemistry set will have depreciated. Well there is a neat little cheating way to get around this. Activate the "move_objects on" cheat. (Press CTRL-SHIFT-C, then type "move_objects on" without the quotes) Now before you drink the potion, SAVE THE GAME. Then drink the potion. The bad effect hits you. Go into FURNISH mode (F2), click on your Sim, and press DEL. Go back to LIVE mode (F1), and click on your Sim's portrait to bring her back. Since the Sim is brought back from the last save, she'll be exactly as she was before drinking the potion. This does NOT work very well for the MONSTER effect, as if you delete the Monster, your Sim will never return! This tip also works well for the Genie effects, such as when he blasts away your skills. Tip: The Chemistry Set is one of the most fun objects in Livin' Large, and there is one fun thing to try with it. Create a Sim and give her NO PERSONALITY AT ALL. Then use the Chemistry Set until you get a YELLOW, or Personality Reversal Potion. Drink it and you will have the ULTIMATE PERSONALITY. Sweet. Takes a while but it works! Rob Sevening has another idea to remove unwanted Potions: Another easy way (without cheating) to get rid of an unwanted potion is to invite one of your Sim's friends over to your house. Make sure there is no food for the friend to eat because the first thing friends look for when they come over is something to eat. Anyway, once the friend arrives have your Sim greet them and do nothing else. The friend will walk directly to the potion set and drink the potion regardless of what type it is. This has worked for me every time I wanted to purge a potion. If it is the nasty green potion, the friend will leave immediately! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.6) The "Love" Bed (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is a big cheesy red bed with a giant red heart. This bed allows your Sims to finally do "it". Have one Sim get in the bed (under the [Vibrate] command). They'll strip and get in the bed. Then have another Sim (one who is in Love with the other Sim, naturally) go to the bed and do the [Play in Bed] command. They will then proceed with gettin' it on. It is both Fun and a Social activity. (naturally!) On the downside, it pulls down every other Need you have quite dramatically. The [vibrate] feature costs §20. There is also the [Relax] feature which improves a Sim's Comfort like no other. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.7) Beejaphone Guitar (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The new Guitar is both fun and it improves your Creativity at the same time. Plus as a group activity, two people can share in the fun. Sometimes, however, the second person (the "watcher") will Jeer the person playing. This is usually caused by the first person being a horrible guitar player. The better the Creativity level, the better the chance that anyone [Watching] will "rock out". Even with people listening to your Sim-guitar work, this isn't a Social object. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.8) Woodworking Table (or the Work-at-Home career) (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The KraftMatic Woodworking Table doesn't COST money, it MAKES money. (You still have to buy it, but it will soon be rakin' in the dough for you!) Used to increase Mechanical Skill while creating yard Gnomes. There is a slight chance that the police will fine you §500 (saying that kids can smell the fumes miles away). In any event, once a Gnome is completed it can be sold, (only through the Furnish F2 function) and the more Gnomes you make, the more money you get per Gnome. The rate at which Gnomes are produced is a little slow at first, but as you progress and your Mechanical Skill gets higher they take less and less time. Also the later Gnomes sell for more money. So, your first Gnome will sell for a measely §1, while your last Gnome will sell for §100. About every 3 to 4 Gnomes, the price rises by §1, and at every Mechanical Skill Increase the price rises by about §10. Lawn Gnomes do NOT appreciate in value like artwork (not the stuff you paint, but the stuff you buy). So if it would sell for §2 when you made it, it will still sell at that rate in 100 SimDays. The value of your gnome is equal to your initial mechanical skill times your updated mechanical skill (if it went up, otherwise they're the same). So, if you make a Gnome at Mechanical 1, it will sell for §1. If, however, your skill goes up to 2, but started at 1, then it will sell for §2. (with thanks to Amy Lam) The max price per Gnome is §100, which you will get when your Mechanical Skill gets maxed out. Once that happens you are making a Gnome every 20 minutes (from the time the Block of Wood is put on the table, to the time that the Gnome is put on the ground). Therefore you can make 3 Gnomes an hour, for §300/hr. If you were to have your Sim work at the table for 8 hours you could make §2400 a day. Of course, the table is very stressful for your Sim, and their Needs will drop while working at it. Gnomes are decorations and improve the Room rating slightly. Note: Gnomes are more interactive in Hot Date. Your Sim can pick them up, and give them as a gift. "Just what I always wanted..." If a Gnome is kicked, it might explode! I had a Sim turned into a Monster. First thing he did was kick a Gnome, which exploded knocking him on his butt. The ONLY way to get a Sim to kick a Gnome is through Free Will. You can't force them to kick a Gnome. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.9) Madame Blahbatfry Crystal Ball (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Madame's Crystal Ball is the other method to improve your Sim's personality. What it does is it gives you a riddle. You must have your Sim do what the riddle says, and you will have a permanent Stat increase. (such as Playful +1) If it says to "seek pleasure", have some fun and become more playful. To gain your stat increase, simply do what you are told, and it will happen naturally. No more work required. (some info below from JediPika88) "be more clean" (have a clean house) - +1 Neat point (have a dirty house) - -1 Neat point "just enjoying yourself" or "fun not frown" (have fun) - +1 Playful point (no fun) - -1 Playful point "be nice" (improve a relationship by 20) - +1 Nice point (don't be nice) - -1 Nice point "befriend the neighborhood" (10 hours with other Sims in your house) - +1 Outgoing "active" (have a low comfort score) - +1 Active And of course, sometimes it has no effect. (Possibly because you didn't fail to meet its objectives, but didn't succeed either) It takes 24 hours from the time you first look into the Crystal, to when it adjusts your Personality. Note: If you "Delete" your Sim (see Cheats & Tricks below) it will also reset your Crystal Ball objective. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.10) Servo (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The most expensive item in the game -- §15,000 -- is the robotic butler, Servo. He can do just about anything, cook, clean, repair. In order to function, his Pod must have one empty square in front of AND behind it. Then simply [Turn On] and he'll patrol your house looking for things to do. Once he runs out of tasks, he returns to his Pod. Servo puts on different "hats" depending on the job he is about to perform. He wears a brown cap if he wants to repair something, a little maid's cap to clean and a Chef's Hat when he prepares a meal. If you see him wandering around in the Brown Hat (for repairing) then you can assume that he WANTS to repair something, he just can reach it. Find what it is (it's probably a burnt out Wall Light), and clear the obstacle out of Servo's way so that he can fix it. To get Servo to COOK for you, simply click on his Pod again once he is already out and about, and select [Serve Food]. Be warned, Servo is NOT a good cook, and his meals are only slightly more satisfying than a mere SNACK. Note: Servo's meals may be unsatisfying to your Sims, but they are FREE and you can have him toss out LOTS of meals quickly. These meals are the equivalent of a Pizza slice. Servo MUST be [Turned On] EVERY TIME you want him to work. One of the promotionals Maxis made prior to the release of Livin' Large intimated that Servo might "rebel" against his human oppressors. I have not confirmed whether this exists or not. So in the end, is Servo worth it? No, not really. Even if you have the money, a Maid and a Gardener are better bargains. A maid will cost you usually only §10 a day, and a gardener is only §10 every 3 days. (we'll assume that you repair your own items) At these rates, it would take 1127 days of owning and operating Servo before he becomes cost efficient vs. the human help. Even if we doubled the Maid and Gardener rates (to §20 a day, and §20 every three days respectively) it would still take over 563 days before Servo is worth the money. Plus he has the annoying drawback that you must activate him EVERY time you want him to do something. In that time, you could probably do the very thing you were turning him on to do! If Servo automatically sensed a mess, or something to repair, went out and cleaned it all on his own, then he would be worth it. Rob Sevening has this to say about Servo: I've noticed that when my family has friends over and my robot is finished with his chores he will sometimes approach one of the visitors and interact with them. Sometimes he will entertain them (juggling act) or sometimes he will dance with them. He has never done it to any member of my family only to visiting friends. Another thing was he only interacted with the exact same friend every time she was over. It was though he grew some 'attraction' to that particular Sim. Servo may attempt to interact with a Sim if his social score is low. (JediPika88) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.11) Horrowitz "Star Track" Backyard Telescope (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Increases a Sim's Logic Skill with only a slight chance of getting abducted by Aliens. Getting abducted by Aliens will mess up your Sim's personality. This hasn't happened to me yet, so I can't say anything more specific about it. Rob Sevening had his Sim's adbucted: I don't use the telescope anymore because it seems every single time I've had my Sims use the dang thing they get abducted. No aliens are ever seen, but they get 'beamed' up in purple beams of light. My family members then 'grieve' at the spot they were abducted. They cry for a few minutes then continue on with their business. The longest I've ever been gone was about 12 hours. The Sim then reappears in a random spot (usually near the abduction point) with a picture of an alien in their conversation box. Each time their personality was apparently randomized (no pattern found) never to return to normal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.12) The Tragic Clown (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Tragic Clown will only appear in houses that have his portrait hanging on their walls. Then the occupants must be sad, look at his portrait and he will appear and attempt to cheer you up. Too bad that he is so depressed himself, else he might actually be ABLE to cheer you up. As it stands, he manages to make matters worse! Hot Date & Vacation Note: The Clown can show up Downtown and in the vacation areas. He does much the same stuff there, but arrives without your having purchased the clown portrait. He does a variety of tricks (all of which fail miserably), but mostly just wanders around your house crying, coughing, sneezing, and just generally getting everyone down. There are bunches of interaction options with the Clown, but the only one that seems to make my Sims happy were [Insults]. There's nothing YOU can do to get rid of him, he simply has to leave on his own. Tip: Having trouble getting the clown to appear? Try this. Make potions with the chemistry set and try to get the light green (The one that makes you tragically unhappy yourself), then look at the clown's portrait. This guarantees nothing, but the clown loves a good tragedy! JediPika88 has this to say about Clowns: The tragic clown appears when the family's average motive drops below -20. Do not try to trap him, if he cannot get somewhere he makes a hole, goes in and pops up somewhere else. To get rid of him, get the family's motives up to 25. He will then leave. Or you can put his painting above a fireplace, remove smoke alarms, then light it. When the painting catches on fire, so will the clown. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2.13) Voodoo Doll (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Used to beat up someone from afar. Can't see that it has much point, other than pure annoyance. It can only be used on someone currently in the house, and cannot be used on children. I can't see much of a purpose to this item, except for sadistic pleasure. If the voodoo doll victim is in the same room as the one using it, they will attempt to slap the user. (JediPika88) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 Information on the Second Expansion, House Party ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I wasn't terribly satisfied with House Party, as an expansion. I just felt that it didn't add enough to the Sims to justify the cost. Ah, well. What's New: 3 New Neighborhoods (6-8) Many new objects New Characters (The Caterer, the Mime, the Raver, Drew Carey, "Entertainer") Parties - which are started by clicking the phone and selecting "Throw Party" A few things to know: 1) Good parties are expensive. First you need to buy just about every party object in the game (which requires a large house to start with), then you need to hire a caterer to feed the group. The quality of the party can be measured by who shows up, if you get the Mime, your party stinks, if you get Drew Carey, you probably have a good party. 2) The "Entertainer" (or, Stripper, if you want to be accurate) that pops out of the big cake will flirt with members of the party who are around. This can create a LOT of havoc in their lives! I saw one female "entertainer" kiss about 4 different men before leaving, each one had their girlfriend in the room at the same time. Result was a lot of jealousy (and one completely ruined romance). 3) Mimes steal things. 4) Party crashers break things. If you want additional information on House Party, I would suggest checking out James Paterson's FAQ on House Party. This can also be found at http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/30989.html Molly B. found an easter egg in House Party: 1. Buy "Jungle Jumble Import Display," and hang it somewhere. 2. Tell your sim to *view* it. (NOTE: The sim must be in a GREAT mood for it to work. 3. A picture of the Maxis staff, stangely dressed up will appear. Next to it will be a narrorative, with a written out french accent, which is supposed to be parody of a generic nature documentary. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4 Information on the Fourth Expansion, Hot Date ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New: ----------- From the Sims: Hot Date Readme: New Downtown Area --------------- Each Neighborhood can have its’ own downtown. Just pick up the phone and call a cab. When you get downtown, visit one of the lots that Maxis has made for you. If you want to get creative with all of the new objects, hit the downtown button from the neighborhood screen and build your own downtown lot. When building your lot, it is best to place 3 tiles worth of sidewalk next to the street. We recommend that you limit the number of animated objects you place on your lot. The more you have, the slower the performance will be. New Non-Player Characters --------------- There are two sets of NPC's that are in Hot Date. There are the "worker-bees", like the chef, waitress and store clerks and there are the "dateable" NPC's. These "dateables" are Sims you can meet downtown and strike up a relationship with. New Catalog Sorts --------------- Each catalog sort now has a subsort in order to better organize the objects that are available. If you double click on the buy mode icon, you will notice that at home you have both a room and a functional sort. In downtown buy mode you have a Place and a functional sort. If you choose to place skill objects downtown, your Sim will not gain skill. Skills are only gained in your Sim's house. If you have previously downloaded objects from www.thesims.com, you will need to go to the website and download the updated versions so that they function correctly with Hot Date. New Web Features --------------- There is now a new exchange available to you on www.thesims.com. The Downtown Exchange is where you can post your new downtown lots that you have worked so hard on. You also have the opportunity to download lots that other Sim fans have created. Neighborhoods ------------------------- The Sims Livin' Large and The Sims House Party support multiple neighborhoods. The Sims Hot Date allows you to have a different downtown area with each one of these neighborhoods. You can select new neighborhoods by using the arrow buttons in the upper left portion of the neighborhood screen. There are five neighborhoods to start with, the first of which is reserved for the existing neighborhood players have created. Neighborhoods 2,3,4 and 5 are not created by House Party. This is to allow for Livin' Large to install its neighborhoods in these spaces. Neighborhoods 6, 7, and 8 have been created for your House Party houses. It is possible for users to have even more neighborhoods in The Sims House Party. Here's how: - Make a copy the TemplateUserData folder. Place it in the same directory as the other UserData folders. - Rename this copy to UserDataXX, where XX is an unused number (check the existing UserData folder numbers) up to 99. We do not recommend you use neighborhoods 2-5 until after you have installed Livin' Large. See the "House Party and Livin' Large" section for more details. - You can do this before you run the game, or while you are alt-tabbed away from the game. Either way, the game should pick up the fact that you added a new neighborhood. Here's an example: - You're running the game, and you decide you want to add a new neighborhood to hold some imported houses you just found on www.thesims.com. - You alt-tab to the windows desktop, find the installation folder for The Sims House Party, and make a copy of TemplateUserData. Rename this folder to UserData23. - Alt-tab back to the game. As you scroll through the different neighborhoods, "23" will show up. This refers to your new UserData23 directory. ***WARNING*** Do NOT rename the original UserData folder either while the game in running or when the game is not in use. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4.1 New Social Interaction Options (Hot Date) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are now far more things to worry about when your Sims interact. First, you might not be able to control the reactions of each Sim in a conversation. I'm not just referring to Sims who already lived together that you FORCED to like each other, but also to Sims in the neighborhood. Just switching from one household to the next to get 2 Sims to like each other, propose and move in. Now some Sims are NPCs. That is, you don't get to control them. You can meet NPCs at the new downtown area. Note: These NPC's have the last name "Townie." They make a good way for you to gain more Family Friends without having to simply fill up a neighborhood with "filler" families. The "Friendship Meter" used in previous versions is now replaced by a "short term Friendship Meter." It works very similarly to the old meter. Positive reactions to your Sim increase the meter, when it hits a certain number (about 60) you make a new Family Friend. Note: Remember that the meter represents YOUR SIM'S feelings, not the total relationship. It won't tell you how the other person feels about you, and THAT is critical in determing whether they become a Family Friend. The new "long term Friendship Meter" doesn't decrease nearly as often as the short term (which decreases in value daily). It, as its name implies, offers you a view on the long term relationship between your Sims. Downtown ... while downtown you can only control ONE SIM. I imagine this is what The Sims Online will be like. You can either "go it alone" with your one Sim, or you can call/invite another Sim to go with you. This is like a date, I suppose. While on your date, any time you do a "group" activity, your date will follow you. That is, if you go to the restaurant and order food, your date will automatically follow. Play pool, dance, etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4.2 Controlled Sim Interactions (Hot Date) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hot Date also allows you to control just how far you want your Sims to go with an action. For example, if you want to Hug another Sim, but don't want that Sim to get the "wrong idea" you could do a quick "Friendly Hug." Or, maybe you want to become good friends/lovers you would go for the "Intimate Hug," where they embrace for several seconds. It's all up to you, now. Tip: Remember to do actions that the other Sim enjoys the most. This is (as before) based on that Sim's personality. For example, "Active" Sims enjoy doing active things, such as Lively Dancing. If a Sim consistently rebuffs your attempts at TYPES of actions, then you know something about their personality, and what types of actions to use on them. For instance, if a Sim always boos your jokes/puppets/other playful things, you know they have a low Playful rating. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4.3 Interests and Inventory (Hot Date) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interests: ---------- The major changes to the Sim interface are the addition of an "Interests" button and an "Inventory" button. Interests are literally what interests your Sim. Ex. Dating/Sports/Money. Note: To get your Sims to talk about Interests, click the Sim > Talk > About Interests. If you are Downtown, you can actually ask the Sims there what their interests are. Ask > What are you Into? The major reason to ask a Sim what she is into, is if you can't just check it yourself, for she is a Townie. (see Downtown below) Each Sim has a rating in each Interest grouping. A Sim with a maxed out Interest in Sports gets along well with other Sims who like Sports. Conversely a Sim with NO interest in Sports gets along with other Sims who hate sports. And just as you might suspect, the Sim that loves sports does not get along so well with the Sim that hates sports. In other words, a LACK OF INTEREST in a subject is itself a common interest among Sims. If you want to customize your Sims interests, go buy a Magazine from downtown and read it. Each magazine contains 3 interests. Studying an interest in the magazine will improve one Interest and drop another. Interests Magazine Cost Raises Drops ------------------------------------------- The Avarix §6 Money Outdoors Politics Sports Technology Excercise Livin Large §5 Music The 60s Parties Technology The 60s Weather MAXISMUM §7 Travel The 60s Outdoors Politics Excercise Food WhooNoo!!! §6 Romance Style Hollywood Food Style Technology Victor's Digest §3 Food Hollywood Sports Outdoors Weather Outdoors Inventory: ---------- Objects that your Sim is carrying. Typically this space is used to show you what gifts you are carrying. (Gifts are bought downtown, or in the case of Lawn Gnomes, built by your Sim) These gifts are then given to other Sims to improve their friendship. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4.4 Downtown (Hot Date) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The default downtown comes with all but one of the lots full. Each lot typically has a bunch of objects and things to do in it. Typically every Need is accounted for in these Lots (except Energy, i.e. there are no beds around). So, as long as your Sim has lots of Energy, you can head off to Downtown. The best lot of the bunch is probably the old converted Farm, which is now a pricey restaurant and nightclub. It offers the best entertainment value, dancing, which is free. Note: To go downtown, use your phone and call a cab. (§50) Note: Everything Downtown costs MONEY and usually a lot more than normal. Meals at restaurants are considerably more than the §20 you pay at home. Tip: Easily the most useful thing to do is to Auto-Center (Right-Click) on your Sim to keep from losing her. You can also right-click your Date's portrait (in your Relationship bar) to auto-center on him/her. Wouldn't want to lose track of your Date... or yourself for that matter. Tip: While in a restaurant, if you get the guitar player at your table, tip him §20 to get a more ROMANTIC mood. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.5 Information on the Fourth Expansion, Vacation ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ... Forthcoming ... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6 Information on the Fifth Expansion, Unleashed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's New: ----------- From the readme: New Family Members - your PETS! ------------------------------- The Sims Unleashed offers many new pets to add to your Sims’ families. Dogs and Cats are adoptable, and become family members! Birds, Turtles, Iguanas, and Fish can be purchased and brought into your Sims’ homes from the local pet store. Don’t forget to buy them cages. New Neighborhood --------------------- The Sims can now see their much larger Old Town, thanks to the expanded view and zoning opportunities of the new neighborhood in The Sims Unleashed! The original neighborhoods from the Sims are still there, and all your families are accessible - you can find them in the upper right section of the new neighborhood screen. You now have 41 lots to play with in each neighborhood! In this new neighborhood, you can choose whether you'd like any lot to be a community lot for all your Sim families to share, or a residential lot for your Sims to live on. You can do this by clicking on the "Evict or Rezone" button at the top of the neighborhood screen. Community lots offer a different set of objects and opportunities from the residential lots you're used to in The Sims. You can use our community lots to have all your Sims socialize, adopt pets, pick up gardening supplies or the fruits of other Sims' labor at a farmer's market, shop, play, eat, or even enter your dog or cat in a pet judging contest! You can also build your own community lots to delight or destroy the moods of your Sims. The possibilities are endless! Should your Sims want to visit any of the community lots in your neighborhood, have them call a cab, so the Old Town Shuttle can pick them up and take them wherever you'd like them to go. New Lot Filters ---------------------- There are now new lot filters for your neighborhoods. The new filter buttons in the Neighborhood Transit Screens sort the neighborhood lots by Lodging, Food, Gardening, Shopping, Dogs and Cats, Small Caged Animals or Recreation services. This makes it easy to choose which lot you want to go to at any given time. NOTE: If you have Vacation or Hot Date installed, then your Unleashed installation will bring a Lot Filter toolbar to your Downtown and Vacation Island screens as well. However, if you installed Unleashed AFTER Vacation and/or Hot Date, you will need to save your Downtown and/or Vacation Island lots for the Lot Filter toolbar to take effect. New Phone Book ------------------------- Gotten too popular for your own good? The Sims Unleashed has come to your rescue with a brand new phone book system. Your phone pie menus now say “Call Neighbor…” and when you select this interaction, a phone book appears listing all the names of your friends’ families on the left, and the individual family members on the right. New Gardening ------------------------- Finally, your Sims can now grow their own food! A new garden plot object lets Sims grow a variety of vegetables at home, using seeds purchased at a local market in Old Town. Proper care of the garden yields a crop that can be picked and stored in a pantry—a new entry into the Sims’ food chain. For the first time ever, hard-working Sim families can now live off their own land, or make a living by selling their homegrown vegetables at the market! New Non-Player Characters ------------------------- The Sims Unleashed has a wealth of characters to liven up the lives of all your Sims – including your pets! Food and Entertainment: Be it saxophone or hand organ, coffee or pastries – community lots are the perfect place for a stroll in the park with family and pets in tow. The Maintenance Crew: Even in Old Town there are messes made and cleanup is needed. Animal Control: If your new litter of pups or kittens isn’t well tended to, count on someone from Animal Control to show up and remove them from the home. You can also call upon these friendly folks to get rid of skunks or raccoons who may visit your Sims from time to time. Palm Reader: You can have your pets or palms “read,” and if you ask her, the palm reader will tell you about all the other services offered by the palm readers of Old Town. Head Gardener: This helpful gent is a great source of advice for a Sim who has an avid or passing interest in their garden. You can also buy a great Plant Tonic from him, as well as vegetables, and he’s happy to buy any of the vegetables you’ve harvested and brought with you to sell in Old Town. Pet Judges: See the Head Pet Judge to enter your pet in the contest, have your pet judged at a pet pedestal, and win fabulous prizes to take home with you! The Pet Judges all evaluate your pet’s skills in a contest, so training can pay off in the long run. Pet Trainer: The Pet Trainer is available for hire anywhere there is an Adoption Center pet display. Sims can ask him questions about pets and training, and also hire him to train their pets for them. Four-Legged Visitors: Rabbits, raccoons, mice, gophers, and even skunks may pay a visit to Sims unexpectedly. New Careers ----------- 5 new career tracks are coming to the classifieds in your Sims' neighborhood! Your Sims can now choose to earn their living in Fashion, Culinary, Circus, Education, or Animal Care, with new carpools and 10 levels in each career track. Editor's Note: These are covered more fully in the Jobs section. Fashion Department Store Clerk Skills: Charisma, Creativity, Body Education Playground Monitor Skills: Logic, Charisma, Creativity Animal Care Dog Walker Skills: Charisma, Body, Logic Culinary Dishwasher Skills: Cooking, Mechanical, Creativity Circus Popcorn Vendor Skills: Body, Charisma, Creativity ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Creating a Family ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ah, your first family (besides the Newbies). Unless you created a family earlier that failed, and now you want to find out what you did wrong. Either way, we're going to create a Sim Family! Nothing fancy, mind you, just something to get started with. We're going to create two Sims for this family. Two is, in my opinion, the best number to start with. It isn't so hard to control as, say, eight, and is infinitely better than just having one as having an extra person gives you a great advantage over having just the one. What we're essentially going to do is to divide the tasks that our two family members are going to have. One person is going to get a job, and the other is going to take care of the house, cook, clean, and be the primary socialite You really don't need to employ both people at this stage of the game. This strategy really helps in the mornings when one person has to get ready for work (shower, toilet, etc.) the other cooks breakfast. When the worker goes off to work, the other one stays home, cleans up, and meets the neighbors who will all drop by (not all at once). Then later in the game, this Sim will call up those neighbors and try to make them into Family Friends. Also your stay at home Sim can answer the phone (which may be a Reward or another beneficial Event), pay the bills, etc. a. Creating a Sim So now we need to create some Sims! Two, in fact. The stats that you can give them effect what the Sims want to do, not what you will make them do. So a low Neatness isn't all that bad if you are going to be forcing them to clean up anyway. Of course, if you are a more passive Sims player, (you don't plan on telling them EVERY LITTLE THING that they should do), then SOMEONE should have a high Neatness. Plus it's nice when the Sims will automatically clean the table after eating. Try to keep your Sims distinctive and different. The stay at home Sim needs to be outgoing, nice, and playful, while the worker Sim needs to be active and outgoing. Beyond that keep the stats somewhat average. Note: If you keep a stat blank (that is, empty), then that person will be the opposite of that stat. So if he or she has no Nice, then that person will be mean, and prone to piss others off. That makes getting friends difficult! Another thing that stats effect is what type of recreation they most enjoy. Inactive people love the TV, while more active would like Dancing or other more interactive entertainment. Note: You don't need to use up all of the Stats points while creating a Sim, in fact, you could use NO stats points at all and make a surly, messy, lazy, mean, introverted Sim! b. Of Neatness and Maids One alternative to Neat Sims is to hire a Maid. This way you can avoid using ANY neat points to spend them elsewhere, and still have a wonderfully clean house. At most the Maid will cost you §70 a day, which isn't all that expensive. Plus the Maid is quite attractive! If you DO hire a Maid, then you don't really NEED a stay at home Sim (although I'd still recommend it for the Socializing aspect). Note: There are more consequences of having a Messy Sim than one would think. When the messy Sim gets out of the shower, he ALWAYS leaves a little "puddle". Also, he NEVER flushes the toilet. Warning: If you fail to pay for a Maid, or a Gardener, they will "Blacklist" you, that is, they will refuse to come back and work for you. This isn't a permanent problem, they "forget" about it after 5 days, but it can be annoying. Can't wait that long? You could just move out and back in. For now we don't want anymore than these two adult Sims. Once your family is finished, you cannot add new members by simply creating them... The only way to get new Sims is to Marry them, ask them to Move In (between Same Sex couples, either as friends or lovers), or to have a baby. Now let's build them a house. (or if you'd rather not build your own house, there are several already in the neighborhood) (The following 2 sub sections are alternative ideas to having 2 Sims, the first having to do with having just one Sim, and the second to having an Arkload of Sims, 8!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 The Bachelor Sim ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- When I say "Bachelor" I mean any Sim who is living alone, not just male Sims. I have said that your first Family of Sims should probably be 2 Sims, well here are a few different ideas on how to play. The first being the Bachelor. The tricky thing about the Bachelor is that you have no one to help you. There is no stay at home Sim. So your Bachelor must get a job, and while he (or she, but for the purposes of this section, the Bachelor is a he) is at work, you can't socialize (you can even watch as all your neighbors drop by, and leave, because there's no one to greet them), nor can you clean up or have a meal ready when he gets home. So the real problem here is TIME. You simply never seem to have enough to Socialize, Work, and Improve your Skills. So here are a couple ideas to having a good Bachelor: 1. Pick a job with decent hours. By this I mean stay away from the career tracks that demand a lot of your time. I should suggest the Military career track as it has good starting pay and fairly steady hours. Also the Military requires the LEAST amount of Family Friends, and doesn't require ANY until Level 5. Note: The best way to pick and choose your Career is to use a computer. If you can't really afford a computer, buy it before you buy the rest of your things, use it quickly to get a good job, then sell it before it has been 24 hours. If you sell before that, you get all your money back! Tip: The absolute best hours come from the Science track, with a final hours from 10am-2pm. 2. Hire a maid. This way your Bachelor can live like a slob, and not care. This frees him up to hit the exercise machine, or call a date. The maid costs §10 an hour, and has a working hours of 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, for a maximum of §70 a day. However, if she runs out of things to clean she leaves then. 3. Build a smaller house, and use the extra money to buy a better bed, fridge, etc. Since you will have less time to do things (having no one to help you) you will need the better things to be more efficient! 4. Go to work every other day (depending on how much money you need). In the first few levels of your job, you will probably want to go everyday because you need the money. But at the higher levels, you need TIME more than anything, so skip a day. As long as you don't skip two days in a row, you will be fine. Use that day to improve your skills, make some friends, etc. You won't get paid or promoted, but it won't hurt your chances of getting promoted either. Of course, the challenge of trying to go to work every day and keep relationships up is kinda fun. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1.1 The Bachelor Gets Married ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Bachelor Sim can't stay a hermit forever, he eventually will fall in love, and want someone to move in or marry him. However, there is a better way than simply having him marry someone. Here's the idea. Your Bachelor Sim works fairly far up the career ladder, possibly to the top without getting married. He's putting career before relationships, only socializing to Gain Friends or Maintain Friendships for work. Once he is at or near the top of the ladder, he will be rich, and very likely talented as well. He'll have a great paying job, and lots of skills. Why not then, get your BACHELOR HIMSELF to move out? Here's what I mean. Say you're starting up a new family. Wouldn't it be nice if you had someone who had a nice high paying job? Well that's precisely what you should do! Marry the bachelor from the OTHER SIM. That way he will move out of his house, bring all his assets with him, PLUS he will keep his great job. This is a great way to help out Beginning Sim Families. If his net worth was §28k, then that family will gain that much when he is married into the family. Sweet deal! Note: Once you've moved your Bachelor out in this fashion, his old house will remain EXACTLY AS HE LEFT IT! Which might make it an ideal house to have another Bachelor move into, as it would be cheaper (due to Item Value Degradation) than buying it all new. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2 The Full House (8 Sims) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starting your first game with 8 Sims would be a little crazy. Just keeping up with ONE Sim's needs is hard enough, much less 8 Sims who all need the same things. Plus the most difficult thing about starting out with an 8 Sim Family is simply getting them all into a furnished house using only the 20k that you start with. I would normally just advise you to start with a small family, then build up from there, adding members by marriage or child birth. However, there is a good way to start out with 8 members. Don't build any special house, except having a longer bedroom. Stick in at least 4 beds in here. If you have any children, place as many 2 person beds as you have children. The bedroom will resemble a military barracks, but there's nothing to be done about that yet. Make sure there are at least 3 different Fun things for the Sims to do, or they will all fight over their limited Fun items. A radio, bookcase, and a TV should be enough. Now get all but one adult Sim jobs. Tip: Before fully furnishing your house buy the cheap computer and use that to get your Sims jobs. This will give you the choice of 3 different jobs for each Sim. Then once they all have jobs, sell the computer. If you sell it within 24 hours of buying it, you will get a full refund. With everyone working, you should get quite a lot of money, especially if any of them get promoted. Tip: If you start to get overwhelmed with these Sims, use the PAUSE feature then decide what your Sims should do, then UNPAUSE. Remember I did advise starting with only 2 Sims, a much more manageable number. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Building a House ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our objective with building the house is to create a livable area and have enough money left over to actually put THINGS in the house. Here's our objectives: We need a good sized house (not large), with three rooms (living room/kitchen/dining room, bathroom, and one bedroom). The Sims don't require their own private bedrooms, and will do quite fine in a "communal" bedroom. (where everyone sleeps in the same room) We're going to start the house a minimum of 2 or 3 squares away from the nearby sidewalk. Now we create the Living Room/Kitchen. A good size for this is a smallish rectangle, about 11 x 6 squares. Build the entrance door near the mailbox and trashcan. Now off to the side of the house build a 4 x 4 room to be your bathroom. You don't need any larger at the moment. ------------ | | Key: | | | Bedroom | e - Door -- - wall | | Tr - Trash == - sidewalk | | ----------------e------------- Note: Two horizontal characters | | | is one "square" of SimLand. | e Bath | So -- is one 1 x 1. | Kitchen | room | | | | Note: To build a "square", hold | Living |-------- down the shift button while | Room | building a wall outwards. -----------e---------- ======================= Tr As you can see, this is a very small type of house, but is perfectly suited for two people. This is a "basic" house, and as your family grows you will need to add to it. Notice that there isn't a wall between the kitchen and the living room. This is quite intentional to aid in the parties that you will be throwing here! The open space allows people to move about more freely, and to prevent people from running into each other. Also note that this leaves space to the left of the Bedroom which is ideal for building another room, be it a new bedroom, or an entertaining room, or even just an outdoor pavilion. Once the basic floor plan is done, we need to apply wallpaper to the outside of the house, and to each room individually. The last few wallpapers in the list are specifically for the outside, and aluminum siding is cheap (§7). Note: To apply a wallpaper to every available surface, hold down the SHIFT key, then click. If you're doing this to the outside, it won't affect the inside, and if you are wallpapering the interior of a room, then it will only wallpaper that room. For the kitchen I would use the Deep Jade or the Tuscany Tin (§6). The living room you can do separate from the Kitchen if you want, although you can't use the SHIFT function if you do, as they aren't really separate rooms. In the bathroom I would go with a "Too Turquoise" (§6). Now we need to add flooring (can't have your Sims living on bare grass). Both the kitchen and the bathroom have their own matching floor sets (if you chose Tuscany, the best flooring would be the Il Perrinni Italliante tile (§20)). In the bedroom I would go with the simply Blue Carpet, it's cheap, and effective. Windows: Each room needs quite a number of windows to keep the room bright and happy. This effects one of the Sims' eight needs, that of Room. So place windows around each room until it is as bright as it can be. Don't forget this! Also, when you start furnishing a house, you need to place Lamps for when it gets dark. Which window you pick is entirely up to your individual preference! Note: Don't bother with a second story yet, as you don't need it, and you probably can't afford it! See the section on Expanding the House below for more information on Second Stories. Tip: A backdoor is a very useful thing to have, as it allows your Sims another way in or out (if the main entrance is blocked), and can provide for a nice patio outside as well. Try putting in a flamingo in the backyard, just for fun. Also the neighbors seem to like it. Alternate Floor plan 1: ------------ | | Key: | | | Bedroom | e - Door -- - wall | |-------- Tr - Trash == - sidewalk | e | ----------------e----- Bath | Note: Two horizontal characters | | room | is one "square" of SimLand. | e | So -- is one 1 x 1. | Kitchen | | | |-------- This alternate version moves the | Living | bathroom up 2 squares and builds a | Room | door into the bedroom. -----------e---------- ======================= Tr Alternate Floor plan 2: ---------- / \ Key: | | | Bedroom | e - Door -- - wall | |-------- Tr - Trash == - sidewalk | e | ----------------e----- Bath | Note: Two horizontal characters | | room | is one "square" of SimLand. | e | So -- is one 1 x 1. | Kitchen | | | |-------- This alternate version cuts the | Living | square corners to be diagonal. This \ Room / helps Room rating, and looks more ----------e--------- attractive. ======================= Tr Now that we have a house, we need to buy things for the house! But first some ideas on Better Houses (i.e. Richer). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1 Building a Better House ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Not to be confused with Section 7. Expanding the House, this section deals with building a house with more money to start with. After all, sometimes it's easier to start over than to keep adding onto a current house. --------------e--------------- / e e \ Key: | Bedroom ---e--- Bedroom | | One / \ Two ----------- e - Door -- - wall | e Bath e | | Tr - Trash == - sidewalk | | Room | | Pool | -----e-----| |-----e-----| Hall | Note: Two horizontal characters | \___e___/ | | is one "square" of SimLand | e Hottub | So -- is one 1 x 1. | Kitchen Living | | | Room |\ / Notice just how much larger | | ---e---- this house is than the previous \ / models. Also, it makes the ------e-------------e--------- attempt to "round out" every + + room to improve Room Rating. + + + + This is a very large and ================================ spacious house, but designed to Tr keep most everything "close by" Notice particularly the amount of doors that lead into the house. Why two bedrooms? When you have a baby, place the baby, plus one caregiver to spend the night in their own bedroom. Then when the baby wakes up and needs attention, only one of your Sims will have to be awakened by it. Plus this allows you to do separate Socializing (you know, kissing other people than your wife). Alternate 1: The Second Story Key: e - Door -- - Wall Floor One: SS - Stairs + - Path Pool and Hot Tub Outside Tr - Trash /------e--------------e-------------e----\ This house keeps the first floor | SS | Bath | very spartan and uses half the | SS e Room | space for an outdoor pool and | Kitchen SS Living | | spa area. The Stairs lead up to | SS Room |\ / a Second Story, which will | SS | -------- contain 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, \ / as well as an extra room, for ------e-------------e--------- fun. + + + + + + ================================ Tr Floor Two: /----------------------------------------\ You could always leave the | | SS | | | "Extra" room wall-less and have | e SS e e Extra | it be a balcony. | Bedroom | | Bedroom | | | ---e---- |\ / | e bath e | -------- \ | room | / ------e-------------e--------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2 Who Needs Walls? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thinking about this logically (and we Sims players are nothing if not logical) there is only one thing Sims need privacy for, and that's going to the bathroom. They don't seem disturbed when they sleep in a room with other people (though they do seem to mind being put into the same bed with a stranger). So, if all you need walls for is a bathroom, then why not simply save on money, and ONLY build walls around the bathroom? Walls are expensive! Save your money for something really cool, like that Hot Tub! Note: Well this strategy seems really cool on the surface, but there is a bit of a downside. No one can sleep in the same room as an active TV or radio. Which means that everyone will have to sleep at the same time. In other words, if Sim Bob is on the nightshift and Sim Betty is on the dayshift, they'll overlap, and one will want to sleep while the other wants to watch TV. Other than that it works great. Note: This strategy works best with a Bachelor Sim, for reasons stated in the previous NOTE. A more extreme version of this is to build ONLY the 2x1 bathroom, and have no house at all. This really saves on money as walls aren't cheap, but has some odd drawbacks, such as your Sim refusing to get out of the shower if even another Sim wanders by the lot, or your Sim getting stuck in the bathroom because another Sim wants to use it. However, it makes a great starting Bachelor house (although it looks very Hillbilly), if you intend to have this Bachelor get married into another household later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.3 Housebuilding, Especially on a Budget (from Seeker) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Build Mode items, unlike Buy Mode items, depreciate as soon as you leave Build Mode and only that once. With this in mind, it is very wise to have a Sim who can lose money (usually just for this purpose, a shill) build homes, then be evicted and then populated with the Sims you wish to have in that house. This will amount to a savings of approximately one-third versus the pre-depreciation value, more if you are not a very careful house designer and have to delete and recreate walls, windows, or other items. That house that would cost your regular Sims about $16,000 to build now can be yours for just under $10,000. I don't believe this works with items such as staircases and fireplaces, but it will with walls, windows, doors, wallpapering, floors, and (most likely) pools. Be sure that you don't outfit the house with Buy Mode items and then evict the shill, because you will kick yourself when you have to do it all over again. Feel free to add as much flora as you wish from the Build Mode as well, it has no effect on the property value other than raising your Yard score. In fact, any item that can only be disposed of does not raise the cost. So go ahead and add as many trees, shrubs, flowers, and topiaries as you like with your shill. Always make generous uses of corners, it not only increases your room scores, it also saves money on building the house ($70 for a corner as opposed to $140). For a little extra added effect, on interior corners do a diamond pattern instead of a straight intersection. It costs the same and boosts room score. It looks very good where four rooms meet. All of this can be at the cost of space however. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Furnishing a House ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We're going to build things based on the Sims' Needs, with the most pressing needs first. We'll start with Hunger (the only Need that your Sims can Die of) and furnish the Kitchen. Kitchen Objects you Need: Refrigerator (§600 for the Llamark) Cooking Appliance (§400 for the Dialectic Free Standing Range, stove) Empty Counter Dish Cleaning Apparatus (either a Sink or the Fuzzy Logic Dishwasher, §650) Fire Alarm (§50) Food Processor (§220) Trashcan (or if you can afford it, a Trash Compactor) Here's what I did. At the left end of the Kitchen is a 6x long wall. At the top I put a Dialectic Range, then a Fridge, then a Counter (if you did the Jade walls and floors, then do the Jade counter top, otherwise just keep it cheap!), then a counter with a Sink, and another blank counter. This leaves one square left in the bottom corner, but we'll use that later when we have more money. (By moving the Counter with the Sink to the corner, and filling that hole with a Dishwasher) Finally on the empty counter place the Food Processor. Note: When someone cooks a full meal it will go like this, they will take the food out of the Fridge, and stick it into the food processor (or onto a counter if you don't have one, but the food processor adds more Food value to the meal), then from there onto the stove, and from the stove to the counter where it is finished. Tip: Be vigilant with who makes the meals! Every Sim when they get hungry will go to the fridge to get a snack or to make a quick meal. But you should let only the person with the most Cooking skill cook, and then have them SERVE the meal. This creates 8 portions for only §20 which is very cost effective. Plus the higher cooking skill reduces the chance of Fire and increases the Food Value. Now 2 squares away from that stuff place a Card Table (§95). Around it place 4 Chairs (the cheapest chair works fine, §80). Make sure the chairs face the table. Tip: One good way to place the chairs is to put all the chairs in the corners, like this: Ch (not to scale) Ch ..... ..... ..... Ch Ch What this does, is keeps the other corners not touched by the chairs completely free for your Sims to put things on like the mail, and for YOU to put things like Lava Lamps (§80) on. The Sims will be eating closer together, but they don't seem to mind. This table is a 2x2 table, so how does this work with the longer Parisian table? Ch (also not to scale) Ch ..... Ch ..... ..... Ch ..... Ch Ch This table is longer, and can hold more chairs. I recommend the above pattern with the Parisian, as you fit more people, but keep the same amount of Places for Sims to Drop things (like Gifts from other Sims) or for you to put things (like radios). Onto the Bathroom. Bathroom Objects you Need: Toilet (§300 for the Hygeia-O-Matic) Major Hygiene Item (§640 for the SpaceMiser Shower) Bathroom Sink (§400 for the Andersonville sink) The placement of these objects isn't so tough, just put them in the corners, making sure that they face the right direction. If you have the money, I would suggest also putting a Medicine Cabinet in above the Sink. However, the Medicine Cabinet isn't as useful as a plain mirror placed in the living room. (Mirrors are used to improve the Charisma Skill) This is because other Sims like to use the bathroom, and you don't want to hold them up while you make a speech to a mirror. We want the shower right now because it is cheaper, and more time efficient. Plus we're saving up for that REALLY good bathtub! (The Hydrothera) Once you get the money, you definitely want that good tub! However, you will still want that shower. Nothing beats the quick shower, plus your Sim won't always need a full bath. Pressing onward to the Bedroom. Bedroom Objects you will Need: 1 Bed for each Person (in this case 2, Spartan Bed, §300 each) You won't spend too much time in the Bedroom, so you don't need too much more than that. Don't worry about the Room rating much either, so don't worry about lighting or decorations. One thing that you might want in the bedroom is an End Table with an Alarm Clock on it. Note: Alarm Clocks do need to be set by your Sims before they can be effective. The alarm goes off 2 hours before your Sim has to be to work. If you want more time than that to get ready, you can always manually waken your Sim. Although, if you get a Sim up before he or she is fully rested (full energy bar) they will stomp about a bit trying to wake up. Tip: The first beds that you can get aren't very efficient at getting your Sims their Energy. So as soon as humanly possible get that really expensive (and worth it!) bed. And finally the Living Room. Living Room Objects you will Need: 1 Couch (Contempto is §150) Television (Monochrome is §85, Trottco 27" is §500) Bookcase (§250 for the Cheap Pine) Desk/Table (Mesquite Desk/Table is §80) Radio (Down Wid Dat Boom Box is §100) Phone (could also put this in the Bedroom, although it wakes them up!) Security Alarm Have the Television placed by one of the walls, and have the couch face the Television about 2 squares away, and put the Bookcase next to the TV by the wall, so that your Sims can read and sit on the couch. Now on another wall place the table and place the Radio on it. Place the Phone on the wall behind the radio, and the Security Alarm anywhere on the wall. Tip: Placing the TV 2 squares away from the couch is more important than it might at first seem. Why is that? Well suppose a Guest Sim decides to watch TV, but there's no more room on the couch, they'll stand right in front of your Sim on the couch. But now your Sim wants to go to the bathroom, but now there's a Sim in the way! You'll have to wait for that Sim to move on his own before your Sim can get anywhere. (or you could just use the move_objects cheat, see the Cheats section below) Note: All appliances, computers, etc., can break down and need to be repaired. You can either repair them yourself (and maybe get electrocuted and killed) or call the Repairman who charges you §50 per hour. Until you get your Mechanical skills up (via reading) you should probably just call the experts. Note: An alternative to placing the Security Alarm in the living room is to put it outside. Then the Thief doesn't even have to enter the house to trip the alarm. There's more on burglars in the Section Everything Else in the Neighborhood. a. Lighting and Lamps Now that we've adequately furnished the house (I say adequate, because once you get money, you'll want to replace your shoddy items with better ones, like your little monochrome TV for a HUGE Plasma TV), you will want to start filling your house with Lamps. I would place 1 lamp in the bathroom, and 1 in the Bedroom, and a lot in the Living Room/Kitchen. Keep the lamps spaced out to keep the lighting in the room even. (Say, 3 to 4 squares apart) Check out the Sims website (http://www.thesims.com) to download the new Wall Lamps, which are placed on the walls rather than on the floor, in the same way that the Fire Alarm attaches to the wall. Note: Lights can burn out, and need to have their bulbs replaced. BEWARE! Your Sims can get electrocuted by doing this! There isn't a good chance of it (maybe 1 in 5), but you may want to call a repairman. b. Decorations The other way to pump up the Room value is to put decorations into a room. And the easiest of the decorations to place, are the Paintings. Since these go on the wall, they don't take up any space, and unlike plants, they don't require water. Most decorations also have a Fun value, which happens whenever someone looks at it. For example, you can have your Sim check out a painting. Also the better objects (such as the Plasma TV) also have a positive effect on the Room. Use Decorations to get the Room rating up, not only for your Sims, but to help the Mood of visiting Sims. That helps you make friends! You know the old saying, a happy Sim is a friendly Sim. More on the Room rating in that section below (Room Rating). I know your house seems rather Spartan (you even have the Spartan beds, no doubt!), but this is just the starter equipment. As you go along, UPGRADE! Replace that fridge as soon as you can, as well as the Range. These will help alleviate your Sims' hunger rating better. Also replace those Spartan beds with better ones. If you get your 2 Sims to like each other enough, you can get a 2 person bed, and get them into it. I would also definitely get rid of that couch the first chance you get, and also get rid of the cheap lights in favor of the top of the line lights. Generally you spend a good deal of the game replacing your old junk with the better stuff. Let's make some friends... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1 Cooking (or, a Meal fit for a Sim!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But first, let's look a little deeper into the realm of Cooking for Sims. As I have said a number of times, we want the Stay at Home Sim to be our Cook, and therefore they should spend a good deal of time Studying Cooking. Whenever they have a spare moment, they should grab that book and study until they get all the way up to 10 Cooking Points. This helps in two ways: One, they are far less likely to burn down the house (unless using the Grill), and they prepare more satisfying meals. Beyond simply helping the Cook become a better Chef, you can also improve your equipment, and how you prepare the meals. Let's start with the equipment. The first step in cooking is the Refrigerator, and, no surprise here, the better the Fridge, the more satisfying the meals (the more it satisfies the Hunger Need, that is). The next piece of equipment is the Preparation part, which can be either just a countertop, or the Food Processor. The Food Processor is about twice as good as a mere countertop, and is faster to boot, so getting one of those is quite valuable. Then comes the cooking implement, from Microwave (the worst) to the Gas Range (the best). Finally you have to set the meal down on an empty counter top to serve the meal. (only necessary if you ARE doing a SERVE, if you are merely HAVING dinner this is skipped) Note: To keep things moving efficiently, you should arrange the kitchen appliances in order of use, so place the Fridge, then next to it have the Food Processor on a Counter, then the Cooking Range, and finally a blank counter. Why? Saves time, and every second counts! Note: If a step along the meal preparation chain is broken (say you have no preparation surface, or your range is broken, etc.) then you will get a different (and less satisfying) meal. If you don't have a prep surface or food processor you end out with a Can (or cans) of Beans. If you prepare it, but have no way to cook it, then you get a salad. These results ALSO occur if you have the item, but can't get to it. So if another Sim is in between your Cook and the Stove, you could end out with Salad. Next is how you prepare the meals. There are 4 basic options at every meal: Snack, Quick Meal, Have Meal, and Serve Meal. I would heartily recommend doing ONLY "Serve Meal"s and having them cooked ONLY by your best Chef. Then the meals will be very effective at removing hunger. This requires that you constantly check your other Sims when they get hungry as they will want to have Snacks or Quick Meals. It's much more cost efficient to have just the Big Meals (Serve Dinner, Serve Breakfast, etc.) Other Options: If you have no way of preparing your own meals, you can always call for pizza (§40). It also takes some time for the pizza to arrive, and it isn't very satisfying. Also you can use a Grill to grill up some food. This isn't so satisfying and can cause a fire (if something is too close to the grill). Both these options do make for some good socializing, however. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.1 Food Strategies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section is from Mark Hissett When you prepare a meal (fit for 6) the plate will remain fresh for about 8 hours. However you can prolong this. When you take plate of food off the main dish, it will last 8 hours in itself. So if the main dish is 6 hours old and you take a plate off. That one plate will not get flies above it for approximately 14 hours. So, one thing you might want to try is to make a meal (that is not going to get all eaten of course) and after 6 or 7 hours. Take a plate off one at a time. Do not eat them. Just cancel the action after they have taken the plate. They will probably put it on the floor. Now that food will last another 8 hours. When your sims get home from a hard days work, and your homemaker sim needs a bit of rest. You can control the sims to take that food and eat it. Also, guests do not eat food that has already been dished out. Well aside from that, 6 plates takes up a lot of room. And so does chocolate and brownies. In the build or buy mode you can move plates of food (the main dish as well). If you hover the food over the fridge, it will allow you to "put the food in the fridge." When you move the fridge any food inside will remain inside. I am not sure if there is a limit to how many dishes you can put in or not. Guests can take food that they have brought or take off the main plate, but again, they will not eat food already dished out. A couple downsides to this are, snacks and meals cannot be made from that fridge. The fridge also does not give anymore time for the food to go rotton. Another thing I am unsure of is when flies begin swarming the plate, if room value goes down. To get food out of the stocked up fridge, you will need to hover the cursor over the middle of the fridge, so that the fridge does not light up, this will give you the option to take plate or clean up. Pizza cannot go in the fridge. I am not sure if the little vases of flowers can or not either. Tip: If you are busy busy in the morning getting sims off to school and ready for work. Make breakfast (though it will be called dinner, unless made after 12:00 AM) around 10 or 11 the night before. The food will last then from 6 to 7. A prompt sim should be up by at least 6. And the food is ready for them to enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2 Room Rating ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Room Rating is influenced by quite a number of things, but we'll boil it down to the essentials. One, is how well lit the room is. This is influenced (in the day) by windows, and in the night by Lamps. Two, is what is in the room that improves it, such as decorations. Three, is what is in the room that degrades it, such as garbage and messes. And four, the size of the room, the larger the better. In the early part of the game you probably can't afford the mighty Torchosterone lamp (the best lamp in the game, as it improves Room rating two ways, by being a Lamp, and by being a Decoration), but as soon as you get some steady cash flow, start replacing your old lamps with the good ones. Tip: In the beginning of the game, only buy a few lamps. It will be dark, and your room rating won't be so great, but you will save money (all objects degrade in value over time) so that you can buy the better lights later. Also the good lamps tend to need less bulb replacements. All the good objects also have a Room rating attached to them. Things like the Plasma TV, the good couches, etc. Therefore, once you have all the neat gadgets in your living room, do you really need some art deco piece? The Outside Room rating is probably the most important, at least as far as your Job goes. It's probably already well lit, and large, so the only two things that you can do to improve it are to keep it clean, and add some decoration. A fountain and some flamingoes would go well out there. Plus you could put a fireplace out there if you really wanted to. Note: Keep in mind that if you let something go to Pot (such as a flower dying, or fish dying, a computer breaking, etc.) then it will pull down the Room Rating just like trash. After all, if you can't use the object as it was meant to be used, it's not much more than trash! Tip: The Fireplace has the best Room Rating (when lit anyway) of anything. HOWEVER, it can cause things (such as objects, or Sims) to catch on fire, and should be placed well away from anything! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.3 Alternative to Alarm Clocks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As anyone who has had to wake up to an alarm clock might say, it isn't the most pleasant feeling. Yet the alarm clock is the only way to get your Sims up in time for work. Or is it? Sims tend to sleep until their Energy Bar is full, then they also tend to keep on sleeping until an alarm clock goes off, or you wake them up. So you could just wake them up as soon as you notice their Energy bar full green (or at any set time that you want, although Sims take longer to get up if they aren't fully rested), but I prefer this little trick. If the Sim is sleeping, but is fully rested, he will tend to keep on sleeping until he has a reason to get up. Simply add something to his Queue (such as using the Toilet) and once his Energy bar fills up, he will wake up and start working on his queue. This way your Sim gets to be fully rested. This is a little more dynamic than simply waking your Sim with an alarm clock 2 hours before the Carpool arrives. Mark Hissett has this to add: A well rested sim will sleep to 6:00 AM. That means, if a sims energy bar is green at 4 or 5 AM, they will not automatically wake up until 6. If you tell them to do something while they are asleep, they will automatically do it, as soon as their energy bar is full, which may be earlier than you intended. A not so well rested sim will wake up anytime after 6, as soon as their energy bar is full, or if you wake them up, or if the alarm goes off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.4 Who Needs a Trashcan? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are 3 forms of waste management in The Sims: 1. Your outside trashcan. This is part of the Lot when you buy it, and you can neither move it, nor sell it. This trashcan is here to stay. 2. A standard trashcan. This holds trash, and can be put anywhere you want. When it fills up with trash (it doesn't take long!) it will take down the Room Rating until someone takes out the trash. 3. And finally there is the Trash Compactor, which not only can it hold more Garbage (because it compacts the garbage), but when it gets full, it does not take down the room rating, because the garbage is self- contained. However, you can probably get away with NOT HAVING A HOUSE TRASHCAN at all. You can never get rid of the First type of trashcan, so why should you buy any more trashcans? Here's what I'm talking about. There are only THREE MAIN types of trash (there are more than 2 types, but you won't come across the others often), Snacks, Newspapers, and Gifts. Consider for a moment that the place most likely to need a trashcan is the Kitchen area, which is notably near the exterior trash anyway (well it should be, it is in my designs). Therefore the walk outside to the trash isn't much longer than that to go outside. The important thing here is that we SKIP A STEP. If you don't have an interior trashcan, you NEVER HAVE TO TAKE OUT THE TRASH. For a different, i.e. "cheating", tactic on this, see section 11.1 Deleting Trash (and Bills too!). TheReaper86 has a slight different take on this: About the "who needs a trash can" thing: instead of buying a small Trash Can only to take THAT trash to the outside one...OR simply taking it to the outside trash, you can just use the CTRL+SHIFT+C cheat and use the "move_objects on" code and move the outside trash into the kitchen -- the only place you ever need one anyways. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.5 Sims Interactions with Objects ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may wonder why a Sim will go painting for fun when he doesn't need the Creativity, and he Needs more Fun than he can get out of painting. Part of the reason is that when Sims choose what they are going to do, they pick their most pressing need (Hunger being the greatest Need, then the rest based on how Red they are), and checking the room for the best objects. Once they have an idea of the best objects in the area, they'll randomly pick one and go to it. So it isn't entirely a random process, it's just not an entirely educated process either. After all, Sims do get bored of watching TV, they need more than just one source of Fun. So, if your Sim needs some Fun, he'll take stock of the area, find all the available sources of Fun, and pick one. They usually limit their choices to the better objects, so the more better objects you have, the better chance that they will pick at least one good object instead of going to something less than preferable. Note: This Randomness doesn't seem to apply to Guest Sims (Sims who you have invited over), they always seem to know what they want and use the best available method to get it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.6 Moving Trash Yourself ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You, the player, can pick up any object while in build mode, including dirty dishes, trash, bills, and other things. What does this mean to you? Read on! Red Phoenix sent me this: "While in Build mode, you can move any object that's currently not in use. You can get this ability to do lots of micro-management. For instance, before you can afford a maid, you can help your Sims with clean up. Gather all of the dishes and stack them next to the sink. Or gather trash and place it next to a trash can. If you're really cheap and lazy, you can create a garbage pit at the side of your house where you can throw your trash." If you do create a garbage pit, make it in a small enclosed space that has no doors. You will be able to move things in and out, but no one, thankfully, will be able to go in there. Also, you could just DELETE the garbage (see section 11.1 Deleting Trash and Bills too! This trick DOESN'T work with Livin' Large installed) instead. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.7 The "Cluster" Method ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, what is the "Cluster" Method? My latest attempt at efficiency! Here's the idea: Keep a cluster of objects around the mailbox/trashcan. That's the jist of it, anyway. Here's a more detailed explanation. Build your house about 3 squares away from the sidewalk, with your door being close to the mailbox/trashcan. Pave a little walkway from your door to the sidewalk. Now on one side of the walkway, place a cheap desk, facing the walkway. When you get the mail, your Sim will place the Bills on this desk, instead of walking who knows how far. On the other side of the table place a standard phone. On the opposite side of the walkway place an Easel, a Mirror, and a chess set with a chair (or two). Now when you call another Sim over to your house, you have a few things that you can do while waiting for them to actually arrive! So, call someone, then start working on your Charisma (using the Mirror), or play some Chess, or whatnot. Tip: If a Guest Sim arrives with an Object, such as candies, flowers, or whatnot, cancel AFTER they have given it to you, and your Sim looks for a place to put it (if you don't, it will possibly end up on your desk, candies likely end out in your kitchen), and your Sim will drop it there. However, it's very close to your garbage can for easy disposal. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.8 "Quick Use" of Items (the Buy/Use/Return method) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some items in the game (Hot Tubs come to mind) are very expensive, and are used for one very specific thing. Why not simply Buy it > Use it > Sell it back. If done quickly enough, you can return the item for full price! Tip: Only return cheap items if they haven't depreciated in value. Expensive items you may want to keep if they've depreciated, but that depends on how often you use it. I'd still return the Hot Tub. I typically use this strategy with "Bachelor" Sims (Sims who live alone). Since I don't want their net worth to drop, I return items that they don't use often. Why keep the net worth high? So, when my Bachelor moves in/gets married somewhere else, he'll take all his money with him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Of Friends and Lovers ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Sims are going to need some friends in The Sims. Not only to keep your Sims from going insane (Social being one of their 8 Needs), but also to advance in certain job fields you will need a certain number of friends. (for example, on the political career track, to become a Senator you need 14 friends, and mayor requires 17!) Note: Your Sim does not personally need to be a friend with someone, as long as SOMEONE in your family is friends with them, that is enough. In other words you only need family friends, not personal friends. When you first move into your house, various people from the neighborhood will come by and chat with you. Make sure to greet them! They might not come back if you don't. Once that new Sim is greeted then that person is "known" and at any time, you can call them on the phone to get them to come over. (unless they are working at that exact moment, but you can call them before or after work) Note: Yeah it sounds stupid but, the Sim you are calling also needs to have a phone for this to work. I mention this because you might want to create a large 8 person family, stick them on a vacant lot, and befriend them. If you want to do that, at least build one wall with a phone attached to it! Once greeted, this neighbor Sim will start working to fulfill his or her needs, just as your current Sims do. If there is food out, and they're hungry they'll eat it (but they can't fix themselves any food, not even a snack). If they have to go to the bathroom, they'll go (but they can't shower, or take a bath). Mostly, however, what they want to do, is to socialize! a. Socializing When you first start socializing with someone, keep it simple. Just talk. As your relationship gets better (10+ or so... depends on the Sim), start complimenting them, and telling jokes. Avoid doing anything else for awhile. Also, if they try to do something too intimate to you, and your "rating" (click on the Relationship button to see the number rating of how much you like them. By the way, they also have a number for you, and they may not be the same number... You might love them, and they might not care for you!) is not very high, you may want to cancel their action. So if you see "Be Hugged" by someone you just met, you may want to click it to get rid of it. Note: Negative reactions to social interactions (eg. crying after being slapped) will increase the social Need, but decrease relationships. Seems that bad interaction may be better than no interaction at all. (Winston Jen) As you get to know someone (40+) you want to start dancing, and hugging. Dancing is not considered sexual, and doing it is not coming on to them. And as you get even higher (70+) you may want to start flirting, and maybe even kissing! This all depends on where you want this relationship to go. Although you can be in love with EVERYONE in the neighborhood (except children), you probably won't want to. It makes parties awkward if you are in love with everyone there. Someone might want to kiss you, and if you are in love with everyone in the room... Tip: If you hear the "bad" music (meaning usually that something is going wrong, it sounds like a bad trumpet) and you just flirted with someone (or kissed, hugged, or danced with them), then you probably just flirted with someone's significant other! Check your "queue" to see if someone is going to slap you, and if so, click it to stop them. (Pause the game, if that helps) So how do you come onto someone else's significant other? Go into an empty room (if none are available, go outside), and Call Over that Sim that you like. Then flirt away! By the way, it doesn't matter if you hug them (or kiss them...) or if they hug you, their significant other will still get mad. Although maybe not at you... Tip: (from Nick Yowler) There's another exception to the rule about calling a Sim over to your house and nothing happens during their timeline. If you can get them to join you in a game of chess (for example), and you get them to play long enough, then their logic points will eventually go up. This also carries over to their house. So I suppose if you wanted you could call them over and enhance their skills without wasting time back at their place. b. Marriage and Moving In When you get someone higher up on the Relationship-O-Meter, you will get the option to ask them to marry (propose) or move in with you. Whether they say yes is based on their mood, and their opinion of your Sim. Getting someone to marry/move in with you is simply a two stepped process. First you must get them to love you. This is built up gradually. Start out with a friendship, then gradually work up to love. (Getting them in love with you is not necessary for Move Ins) Once you believe that they love you enough, now you have to work on their Mood. Sims will only marry you if all their needs are being met, and are therefore happy enough to marry. As such, you will want to feed him or her, entertain them, and generally keep them comfortable and happy. Propose, and they're in! When a Guest Sim (anyone you call over) comes to your house, their Needs are usually in an atrocious state. They are hungry, bored, and need to talk a LOT. This counter will reset every time you invite the Sim over, so if you fail to get them to marry your Sim in one sitting, you will have to start all over the next day. Note: If your Sim is turned down, the other Sim will give a reason, such as "We don't talk enough." (which means, that their Social Need needs work) They give what they think is the thing that would help their mood out the most, saying "We don't talk enough" tells you that you need to work on Social a lot, but that might not be the only thing that they need, merely it is the most pressing Need. Note: Moving In is only between Same Sex couples, whether they are lovers, or just roommates. Whenever someone is brought into the family through marriage or moving in, they not only bring any children they have with them, but if they are the only member of their family, they will sell their old house, and bring that money plus the cash they had on hand to their new family. Warning: When someone joins the family, they can no longer be considered a family friend! Although they remain a close personal friend (and possibly a lover) they are no longer counted in the Family Friend count. (Although they ARE counted as such in the Neighborhood, if you hold the mouse over their house) Note: So, you had someone marry you, and they were the last in their family, and so sold the house. Well the house is still in the neighborhood, and furthermore, it is in EXACTLY the same condition as it was when the person left it! So if someone new moves into it, they might find dirty dishes! All relationships wither over time, and as such, you need to constantly keep on socializing with your family friends to make sure that they STAY family friends! Tip: When working to maintain a relationship, you needn't work as hard at it as when you were building the relationship. So call the Sim over, talk a bit, maybe give a hug or two, then once the Rating is back up, tell them to go home. Then move onto the next Sim... Social Activities: Talking -- usually the most successful for simply improving the rating. This one also happens, to a lesser degree, when two Sims are doing the same thing, such as both watching TV or eating dinner. Compliment -- depending on how much they like you, and what type of person they are, the Sim you compliment will likely be impressed by this. They might, however, take it the wrong way. (best if done over 10) Entertain -- adults juggle dice; kids play with yoyo. Increases Fun and Social. Best for 30+ or so, but not quite good if the other party is not so playful (3-4 bars or less), especially around 30 or so. (from broadstrong) Tickle -- an activity that increases Fun and Social, but only best for good friends (75 or more) and the other party should be quite playful. (from broadstrong) Give Gift -- gives a nicely wrapped present. Will only appear when relationship reaches 40 or so. Seems like the other party will ALWAYS accept. (from broadstrong) EvilDave2 points out that: Sims that you have relationships with will NOT always accept gifts. In fact, in this relationship with my lady sim and Bella Goth, Bella ALWAYS took the gift and crushed it underfoot! Talk about paying someone to hate you! It affects relationships about -10 to -20 points. Also, this is strange since my sim's personality was compatible with Bella's. Joke -- depending on how playful the Sim is, and how much they like you, this will help your relationship. Best if used over 10. Also increases both of your Fun ratings Hug -- a better social activity, best between good friends, and lovers. Can make the other Sim's lover(s) jealous, though. Back Rub -- increases the Sim's comfort level, and helps socialization. Also will increase jealousy. Dance -- increases Fun rating, and makes others jealous. Best if used only between good friends (40+ or so). Note: There are two ways of dancing with someone. One is to click on the Sim and select Dance, and the other is to wait for someone to dance by the Radio, and then click on the radio and click Join. The second one will help Fun, but won't help Social (but they're less likely to turn it down!). Flirt -- for when you want the relationship to go further. Use this on friends to make them lovers. Best if used over 80. And you guessed it, makes other Sims jealous! Kiss -- the ultimate sign of affection! Also the most likely to get someone slapped, if either of the kissing Sims is already attached. Others: Brag, Tease, and Fight Joseph Peitler sent me this: I discovered another speaking action that a sim can use. When a sim starts flirting with sim mate 1 and is seen by sim mate 2 (that's when you hear the trumpet sounds of the "Woody Woodpecker" theme), that sim can over and "apologize" to sim mate 2 after the damage is done. It doesn't eliminate all the negative relationship points, but it does get rid of sim mate 2's negative reactions, such as slap, shove, and fight. broadstrong sent me this: More Social Interactions - Joining Interactions This comes in one of three types - Watch TV (TV only), Listen (piano only) or Join (everything else that allows Social Activity, except playground and guinea pig). Click on the Sim the active Sim wants to join with, then choose this action. Note that for the piano, if the listener doesn't like the music, the relationship points drop! [Ed. Note: The more Creatively Skilled your Sim is, the better he will play the piano, and the more likely the other Sim will enjoy their playing.] Note: So, can Sims get into homosexual relations? Yes, but only if you make them. They won't seek it out on their own. But it's just as easy to get 2 same sex people together as two of the opposite sex together. One final thing here. What do you do when you want someone to Move OUT? Well you could kill them (there ARE ways...), but if you're less bloodthirsty than that, here's what you can try. Load up another household somewhere, with another family that you aren't too likely to play often, and who has room for one more. Call up the person that you are trying to get rid of (or if they just moved into the neighborhood, wait for him or her to come around). Then socialize the Sim until you can get them to move in with you. Now they've left your first Sim family and joined a new one. Note: Sims may also pack up and leave if they get into a fight. At which point they disappear forever. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1 Befriending Mean Sims ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just a quick note on how you should go about making friends with a mean Sim. The mean Sim tends to like to Taunt, Brag, and Insult the other Sims. This makes them happy (and gives THEM a better opinion of YOUR Sim, but makes YOUR Sim hate them). But it won't ever get them any friends, which is where you come in. In any social situation with a mean Sim, just keep an eye on your Sim's Queue to check for "Be teased", "Be insulted", etc. Whenever any of these pop up, just cancel them. Tip: Keep social interactions with Mean Sims simple (just Talking) until they start to like you. Once they like you, they are far less likely to be mean to you. So after your Sim is done talking, PAUSE, talk again, then UNPAUSE. Allow no other interaction to take place. Tip: Another way to avoid mean actions is to enter Group Interaction. Have the Mean Sim eat dinner with your Sim, or watch TV. This grows their relationship slower, but safer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2 Carrying on Multiple Romances ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your Sim(s) can fall in love with anyone and everyone. Sims are rather easy about who they fall in love with, all they have to have is a pulse. However, things start to get really sticky when one Sim is having relations with multiple other Sims. You know what I mean, Jealousy. When a Sim sees her boyfriend kissing someone else, she tends to react badly. She might slap someone, or stalk off, or even get into a fight. You could completely lose someone's friendship this way. They might even leave the game if provoked enough (via fighting that is). Yet the "romantic" actions are very common at the high levels of a relationship. You can't very well go without hugging a friend, can you? In fact, as you get closer to 100 in relationship points, you start losing the basic things, such as Talking, Telling Jokes, and Compliment. Which means, that the only way to maintain good relations, is to Hug, Kiss, and Flirt. But how to avoid that thorn of jealousy? - First off, never EVER do your socializing outside where everyone can see you. This does not include areas that are hidden behind a fence. Sims can tend to wander the neighborhood, and what if the husband of the girl you are kissing wanders by? - Second, if you are having many people over, and you THINK that 2 of them may already be romantically "linked", then go into an unoccupied room, and do a CALL OVER to get the right Sim in that room. Bedrooms work great for this. Once the Sim is alone with you... well... - Third, try to avoid falling in love with 2 people who are already in love. These love triangles are just begging for trouble. Even if you aren't caught in the act, you might catch THEM in the act which is just as bad. With just a little careful planning, your Sim can pretty much have it all! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2.1 The "Love Shack" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- My favorite new strategy, build yourself a "Love Shack" and make the entire neighborhood fall in love with you. This is very similar to the Second strategy outlined above, but works a little better. This is a quick 2-part strategy: 1.) Build yourself a small "guest house" out of the way. Paint it, give it lighting, etc., but no USEABLE objects. Nothing that would attract a Sim with Free Will to enter on her own. 2.) Call multiple people over to your house. If you know several already have a relationship, or you have a romantic linking with multiple Sims, keep the initial actions romance-neutral. Once the basic needs of the Sims are dealt with (Food, mostly), go out to your Shack, and call one of the Sims over. Have Fun. Get that Sim out of your Shack, call the next one over. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.3 Maintaining Relationships the Easy Way ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Every relationship your Sims have will naturally degrade by 2 points every day. That means that no matter how in love with you they may be, they'll eventually fall out of it if you don't call them up for a visit. Therefore before too long, they won't even be your Family Friend any more (although you will get a phone call reminding you to socialize with them before that happens). So, obviously your Sim has to keep working on his current friends to keep them as friends. Now, you COULD just wait for that phone call to invite them over, then wine, dine, dance, and kiss them; or you could call them over when they are at about 70 relationship points. Once the Sim is over, talk to them once, compliment them once, then hug them until they hit 100, and then Ask them to Leave. Once they're gone, find the next lowest relationship, and call that Sim over. You can probably work on 3 Sims a night, and 1 in the morning (call after 6:00 am, see 6.2.1 Early Morning Social Call). Note: Maintaining a 70+ relationship is a lot easier than starting from 0 and working your way up. Therefore you need take less time doing it. And as such, I like to Ask them To Leave. Why? So you can cleanly work on the next Sim. You could just leave the first Sim alone, but this works better without interference (see the last section). Note: In Hot Date, I found that other Sims didn't like being repeatedly Hugged over and over. I had to mix up the social interactions quite a bit more than usual. Hug / Entertain (if Playful) / Kiss (if possible) / Hug / Compliment / etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.4 Sending your Sim Out of the House! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So, you can't actually go to another Sim's house while playing as one Sim. But there is another way, you can simply go back to the Neighborhood screen (save first), and then play one of your neighbors, and have THEM call your first Sim. Red Phoenix sent me this: "You don't have to wait for your friends to come to you. You can go to them. Go to your neighborhood selector and choose another house. Then call up the Sim you are working on and invite him or her over. Then, bombard the Sim with social options. This works great with large families. The Sim you've invited can interact with three or four other Sims and boost his relationship rating. An extra bonus to this technique is that it doesn't cost the Sim and time or energy. When you go back to the original Sim's house, no time will have passed." Note: You are NOT in control of your original Sim, you now control a different family. That means that you might not be able to even get your first Sim to come over, and lord knows he might not get along with these Sims. Hote Date and Vacation allow your Sim to get out of the house and head Downtown and on Vacation. While there, you control ONLY the Sim that called for the Cab/Vacation. If you invited someone with you, you do get an indicator icon above his/her head (Blue represents a Happy Sim, other colors are bad). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.5 Creating Friends the Old Fashioned Way ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some jobs require a LOT of friends. In fact, if you are playing your first family of Sims, your neighborhood will be rather sparse, and you will need to start new Families just so your first one has a few people to talk with. Red Phoenix sent me this: "If your Sim is in dire need of new friends, create a large family of new Sims and move them onto a lot. You don't have to worry about completely outfitting a new house, or building any house at all. Just give them a phone. Without a phone, you can't call the new Sims and invite them over." What this amounts to is creating a Family specifically to be used by a Sim who you like more. Fun! Tip: When "Creating My Own Friends," I like to set their Personality such that they are easy to befriend. Lots of Nice, Playful and Outgoing. No points in Neat (that's what Maids are for). Playful Sims are easy to Tickle, which is my favorite Sim-interaction once Hot Date is installed. It is quick to pull off, and builds both short and long term good will. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.6 How to Befriend SimKids ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've ever tried befriending a Sim Kid, you may have noticed that as the night gets going, their parent will come and collect the kid. This cuts the time short that you could use to befriend the kid. (you could just avoid this altogether by not HAVING any kids in the neighborhood, but where's the fun in that?) Red Phoenix sent me this: "Having good relationships with neighborhood kids can be tough for the working adult due to narrow window of social time between school hours and the eight o'clock curfew. But there's a way around this. If a kid is visiting and the kid's parent comes over to collect the kid, ignore the parent. Don't answer the door and keep the kid occupied. Eventually, the parent will go away and you keep the kid well past midnight." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.7 Sim Personalities and Compatibilities ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section comes to us courtesy of Mike Fenton. Sims are described by a "zodiac" label that gives you an idea of their SimFate. Here's how they are numbered (in the tables below): 1 "Aries" 2 "Taurus" 3 "Gemini" 4 "Cancer" 5 "Leo" 6 "Virgo" 7 "Libra" 8 "Scorpio" 9 "Sagittarius" 10 "Capricorn" 11 "Aquarius" 12 "Pisces" Compatibility ------------- Compatibility is a measure of how well Sims can socially interact. Generally speaking, Sims that share similar traits tend to get along, as long as they avoid competitive behaviors. Sims that have the exact same personality have similar interests, but mutually-exclusive activities can cause problems. Sims who share too many activities can crowd each other or become obstacles to each other. Sims that have exactly opposite personalities rarely share interests, so their chances for interactions are minimal. Sims that are the most compatible tend to have the best ability to adapt to give-and-take roles in their interactions. For example, one tends to prefer starting a conversation or leading a dance or telling a joke, and the other prefers to be lead. Sims compatibility chart (++ most compatible, -- least compatible) ------------------------ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ----------------------------------------------------------- 1 ++ ++ -- -- 2 ++ -- -- ++ 3 -- ++ -- ++ ----------------------------------------------------------- 4 -- ++ -- ++ 5 -- ++ ++ -- 6 -- -- ++ ++ ----------------------------------------------------------- 7 ++ ++ -- -- 8 ++ -- -- ++ 9 -- -- ++ ++ ----------------------------------------------------------- 10 ++ -- -- ++ 11 -- -- ++ ++ 12 -- ++ -- ++ ----------------------------------------------------------- Mutual compatibility or lack of compatibility is convenient in that it gives you an idea of how difficult a relationship is to maintain between the Sims. An Aries-Taurus relationship is easy, but a Taurus-Virgo relationship is a bit of a challenge. Oppositely compatible is odd in that it gives you an ideal match one way that really stinks the other way. For example, Aries is most compatible with Gemini, but Gemini is least compatible with Aries. Mutually compatible: Aries-Taurus, Gemini-Pisces, Scorpio-Pisces, Capricorn-Aquarius. Mutually least compatible: Aries-Cancer, Taurus-Virgo, Gemini-Capricorn, Leo-Capricorn, Libra-Scorpio, Scorpio-Aquarius. Oppositely compatible: Aries-Gemini, Cancer-Taurus, Virgo-Aquarius. Default personality scores -------------------------- There are over 8,800 combinations of scores that total 25 points. These are the scores that appear if you just click the name of the sign. Neat Outgoing Active Playful Nice ------------------------------------------ 1 5 8 6 3 3 2 5 5 3 8 4 3 4 7 8 3 3 ------------------------------------------ 4 6 3 6 4 6 5 4 10 4 4 3 6 9 2 6 3 5 ------------------------------------------ 7 2 8 2 6 7 8 6 5 8 3 3 9 2 3 9 7 4 ------------------------------------------ 10 7 4 1 8 5 11 4 4 4 7 6 12 5 3 7 3 7 ------------------------------------------ Sorted in order of social relevance (Outgoing, Playful): Neat Outgoing Active Playful Nice ------------------------------------------ 5 4 10 4 4 3 7 2 8 2 6 7 1 5 8 6 3 3 ------------------------------------------ 3 4 7 8 3 3 2 5 5 3 8 4 8 6 5 8 3 3 ------------------------------------------ 10 7 4 1 8 5 11 4 4 4 7 6 9 2 3 9 7 4 ------------------------------------------ 4 6 3 6 4 6 12 5 3 7 3 7 6 9 2 6 3 5 ------------------------------------------ Personalities high on this list are the most rewarding but the most demanding. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.8 Getting the Desired Interaction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most of the time, your Sims will just want to Talk, even though that isn't the best thing in terms of getting a better relationship going. In fact, most the time you want your Sims doing things such as Hug, Joke, or Kiss to get a good relationship in the quickest amount of time. But often (especially when you first meet someone) you won't get the same choice two times in a row. For example, you talk to someone, then joke, but then the only option you get is to Talk again. Well, Jon Mars has a little trick about this: "One of the tactics that I have employed to increase the efficiency of my Sims' interaction with other Sims has been to simply queue up a bunch of behaviours then delete the alternate behaviours so that they will only actually complete the ones I want them to. Example: Queue Talk, Joke, Talk, Joke, Talk, Joke... then go and cancel all the Talks... the end result is that my sim will just Joke all the time (or whatever behaviour I desire them to do). Generally I just do this on the fly, but pausing the game may be easier for others to implement. If done properly you can raise a relationship from 0-100 in half the time." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Working (and Not) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One Sim per household should definitely stay home. Any others should then try to find a job. To keep things interesting, I try to get each Sim on a different career track. So one Sim may be on the Law Enforcement track, while another takes the business track. Note: The starting pay of each career track has nothing to do with the final pay. The starting pay for the business track is low, but the final pay is high (§1200). Politics starts out relatively well, but ends out somewhat low (§750). A full list on these pays can be found in the next section 6.1 Career Tracks below. I have already discussed the importance of why you leave someone home (to socialize with the neighbors, of course!), another good reason is that when you first start out, you really don't need the money that badly. As long as all your needs are met, your expenses will be low. You have a §40 per day bill on food (assuming you do a "serve breakfast" and "serve dinner") and likely around §200 to §300 in bills every 3 days. Most jobs start out around §200 a day, and you should be able to get quickly promoted to around §300 or so before the bills come. So money won't be crucial. Depending on the job you take, you'll need to increase your "stats". Things such as Creativity, Body, Logic, etc. are needed to advance past the most entry level jobs. And some jobs don't require some stats, researchers don't need to develop their body, and so forth. To find out how much stat increases you need to get the next promotion, click on the Jobs button. The first few skill points are relatively easy to get, a short time studying will get you your first cooking point, for example. But the later stat points may take a LOT longer. SimSkills: Your Sim has 6 Skills that may need improving to get a job. These are: Cooking -- Study Cooking at a bookshelf to improve. Useful to prevent kitchen catastrophes, and many jobs require at least 1 point for the higher levels. Mechanical -- Study Mechanical on a bookshelf to improve. Useful in that now your own Sims can repair broken items rather than that expensive repairman. Most useful in the military and scientist career tracks. Logic -- Play Chess on a chess set, you can do this alone or with others to also improve your social skills. Logic doesn't help you out around the house, however. Used in the scientist career track, although most career tracks require a little bit of logic. With Livin' Large I prefer to get my Logic through the Chemistry Set, after making the potion, you can drink your reward. Charisma -- Practice a Speech in front of any available mirror. No practical use around the house. Used in the Entertainment and Political career tracks mostly, but again, most career paths need some Charisma. Body -- Work out on that exercise machine to improve. You can also try swimming, but this never worked for me. Used in the military and law enforcement tracks, but most require at least one point here. Also you can Swim in the pool for Body, but it takes 4x as long in the pool as on the Machine. Creativity -- Play the Piano or Paint a Picture (which can then be sold, starting out at a mere §5, but eventually going up to §166, also at that point your Sim will actually LOSE Fun by painting!) to become more creative. Note: When the Carpool arrives, your Sim will automatically add the "Go to Work" item to his or her queue of things to do. However, in many cases, this Sim will not cancel what they are currently doing (at least until they "finish" doing it), so you may need to cancel that thing for them so they get to work on time. You have until an hour after the Carpool shows up to get inside the car to get to work on time. There are 3 things need to get a promotion at work. One, is to make sure you have all the right stats at the right levels; two, is to make sure that you have enough family friends; and lastly you have to be in a good Mood to get a promotion. Happy Sims are productive Sims. Again, everything you'll need to know about this can be found in the Jobs button. It also has a description of how well you are working (bad, average, good, excellent) which is based on your Sims' mood. Below that will be how many Family Friends you need (if it isn't there, then you have already met that requirement!), and to the right are all the stats. Note: You can sometimes miss one day of work, but missing two in a row is a guaranteed firing. You can miss alternating days of work, but you will miss out on a lot of money that way. Also, the night shift tends to be more strict about missing shifts, and may fire you on the first missed shift. Tip: If you need a lot of friends for a promotion (the politics career track especially), then create an 8 person family, and wait for your Stay at home Sim to come over to socialize. Get each of the 8 to talk to this Sim at least once, then go back to your original Sims. Now you have a lot of people that you can call up! a. Quitting So, that new career as a Scientist just isn't working out. Or maybe, you just want to try out something else. Well there are several ways to quit your job. As we saw in the above note, you can just stop showing up to work. They'll get the hint. Or you can just check the paper and take the job from there (it will warn you that doing so will get rid of your first job). Warning: If two Sims are sharing a carpool, and one of them gets a new job at a different time, then that carpool won't show up for EITHER person! I would also assume that if you did your job very poorly, or got caught doing something really bad at work (see "Job Events" below), you may also get fired. How you quit depends on your goal from it. If you just want to stay at home and be lazy, then by all means, just skip work. If you really are tired of your career path (maybe you'd rather be an actor), then just take that waiter job. Note: Whenever taking a different job, you always start out at the lowest rung on the ladder. So don't just quit to see what the other jobs are like. That's very inefficient. Although, if your Skills are high enough, jumping to a new career may be quite profitable! (see Section 6.3 Quitting for Fun and Profit) b. Job Events Every once in awhile, a major event will happen to your Sim at his or her job. These events are quite random as to when they happen, and they only happen once. These are usually just little things like, "Taking a Bribe" or "Scandal". They will often give you a choice, which amounts to doing the right or wrong thing, and if you do the wrong thing you can get caught. Some other job events are less good vs. evil, such as the actor in the remake. In any event, these Events have 2 outcomes, a good one (whatever it was succeeded perfectly) and the bad one (it failed miserably), and depending on the severity of the choice, you get rewarded or punished. Some punishments are rather severe (your family leaves you) or just annoying (a fine, or loss of stats). But the rewards may be worth the risks... There is another type of random job event, and that is the Job Swap, where you are fired from your Level 10 job and given a Level 6 (or so) Job in another Career. Mark H. Dove sent me this about it: Here it is. I reached the top of the career ladder with my guy, he became a General, and I was very satisfied about that result, then, once all of a sudden one day when he came back from work I got a message about a random event that was about something like: "Military downsizing: You've been fired due to excess personnel in the base, but because of your high ranking postion and your knowing of military strategies you easily find a job as a Swat Team Leader". So my military career (level 10) automatically changed (and I had no way to choose if to accept it or not) to the Law Enforcement Career (Level 6). It also happened to me other times from Level 10 Business Tycoon to Level 6 Politcian, from Level 10 Law Enforcment to Level 6 Entertainment. But remember it does happen JUST if you reached the top of the career ladder. This may actually end out good in the end, as some careers have much better final pay, which you can see in the Job Chart in the next section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1 The Jobs Chart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: When I say "To Get Promoted" that is what you must work on to get to the next job level. So in Politics at the Intern Level it says that you need "+2 Charisma", that is you need that much of that stat to get to the next level, Lobbyist. Career Hours Wage To Get Promoted Politics: Campaign Worker 9:00 am - 6:00 pm §220 -- Intern 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §300 +2 Charisma Lobbyist 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §360 +1 Charisma +1 Logic 2 Family Friend Campaign Manager 9:00 am - 6:00 pm §430 +1 Charisma +1 Body 4 Family Friend City Council Mem. 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §485 +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 6 Family Friend State Assembly 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §540 +1 Body +2 Logic +1 Creativity 9 Family Friend Congressperson 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §600 +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic +1 Creativity 11 Family Friend Judge 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §650 +1 Charisma +1 Body +2 Logic +1 Creativity 14 Family Friend Senator 9:00 am - 6:00 pm §700 +3 Charisma +1 Logic +1 Creativity 17 Family Friend Mayor 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §750 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 0 Charisma -- 9 Body -- 5 Logic -- 7 Creativity -- 5 Entertainment: Waitress 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §100 -- Extra 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §150 +2 Charisma Bit Player 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §200 +2 Body 2 Family Friends Stunt Double 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §275 +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 4 Family Friends B-Movie Star 10:00 am - 5:00 pm §375 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 6 Family Friends Supporting Player 10:00 am - 6:00 pm §500 +2 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 8 Family Friends TV Star 10:00 am - 6:00 pm §650 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 10 Family Friend Feature Star 5:00 pm - 1:00 am §900 +1 Charisma +1 Body +3 Creativity 12 Family Friend Broadway Star 10:00 am - 5:00 pm §1100 +2 Charisma +1 Body +3 Creativity 14 Family Friend Superstar 10:00 am - 3:00 pm §1400 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 2 Charisma -- 10 Body -- 8 Logic -- 0 Creativity -- 10 Law Enforcement: Security Guard 12:00 am - 6:00 am §240 -- Cadet 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §320 +2 Body Patrol Officer 5:00 pm - 1:00 am §380 +2 Mechanical 1 Family Friend Desk Sergeant 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §440 +1 Mechanical +2 Body 2 Family Friends Vice Squad 10:00 pm - 4:00 am §490 +1 Cooking +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic 4 Family Friends Detective 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §540 +1 Charisma +2 Logic 6 Family Friends Lieutenant 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §590 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body +2 Logic 8 Family Friends SWAT Team Leader 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §625 +1 Charisma +1 Body +2 Logic +2 Creativity 10 Family Friend Police Chief 9:00 am - 5:00 pm §650 +2 Charisma +3 Logic +2 Creativity 12 Family Friend Captain Hero 10:00 am - 4:00 pm §700 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 1 Mechanical -- 4 Charisma -- 6 Body -- 7 Logic -- 10 Creativity -- 5 Business: Mail Room 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §120 -- Executive Asst. 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §180 +2 Mechanical Field Sales Rep. 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §250 +2 Charisma 1 Family Friend Junior Executive 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §320 +2 Logic 3 Family Friends Executive 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §400 +1 Charisma +1 Logic +2 Creativity 6 Family Friends Senior Manager 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §520 +1 Charisma +2 Body +1 Logic 8 Family Friends Vice President 9:00 am - 5:00 pm §660 +1 Charisma +2 Logic +1 Creativity 10 Family Friend President 9:00 am - 5:00 pm §800 +1 Charisma +1 Logic +2 Creativity 12 Family Friend CEO 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §950 +2 Charisma +2 Logic +1 Creativity 14 Family Friend Business Tycoon 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §1200 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 2 Charisma -- 8 Body -- 2 Logic -- 9 Creativity -- 6 Life of Crime: Pickpocket 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §140 -- Bagman 11:00 pm - 7:00 am §200 +2 Body Bookie 12:00 pm - 7:00 pm §275 +1 Charisma +1 Creativity 2 Family Friends Con Artist 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §350 +2 Mechanical +1 Charisma 3 Family Friends Getaway Driver 5:00 pm - 1:00 am §425 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic 4 Family Friends Bank Robber 3:00 pm - 11:00 pm §530 +1 Cooking +2 Body +1 Logic +1 Creativity 6 Family Friends Cat Burglar 9:00 pm - 3:00 am §640 +2 Mechanical +1 Logic +2 Creativity 8 Family Friends Counterfeiter 9:00 pm - 3:00 am §760 +3 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 10 Family Friend Smuggler 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §900 +1 Cooking +2 Charisma +1 Logic +2 Creativity 12 Family Friend Criminal 6:00 pm - 12:00 am §1100 -- Mastermind Final Stats: Cooking -- 2 Mechanical -- 5 Charisma -- 7 Body -- 6 Logic -- 4 Creativity -- 8 Medicine: Medical Technician 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §200 -- Paramedic 11:00 pm - 5:00 am §275 +2 Mechanical Nurse 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §340 +2 Body 2 Family Friends Intern 9:00 am - 6:00 pm §410 +1 Mechanical +2 Logic 3 Family Friends Resident 9:00 pm - 4:00 am §480 +1 Charisma +1 Body +2 Logic 4 Family Friends GP 10:00 am - 6:00 pm §550 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 5 Family Friends Specialist 10:00 pm - 4:00 am §625 +1 Charisma +1 Body +2 Logic +1 Creativity 7 Family Friends Surgeon 10:00 pm - 4:00 am §700 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body +2 Logic +1 Creativity 9 Family Friends Medical Researcher 9:00 pm - 4:00 am §775 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic +1 Creativity 11 Family Friend Chief of Hospital 9:00 pm - 4:00 am §850 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 6 Charisma -- 6 Body -- 7 Logic -- 9 Creativity -- 4 Military: Recruit 6:00 am - 12:00 pm §250 -- Elite Forces 7:00 am - 1:00 pm §325 +2 Body Drill Instructor 8:00 am - 2:00 pm §350 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma Junior Officer 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §450 +1 Cooking +2 Body Counter-Intell. 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §500 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Logic 1 Family Friend Flight Officer 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §550 +1 Mechanical +1 Body +2 Logic 3 Family Friends Senior Officer 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §580 +3 Mechanical +1 Charisma +2 Logic 5 Family Friends Commander 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §600 +3 Mechanical +3 Body +1 Logic 6 Family Friends Astronaut 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §625 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +2 Body +3 Logic 8 Family Friends General 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §650 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 1 Mechanical -- 10 Charisma -- 7 Body -- 10 Logic -- 9 Creativity -- 0 Pro Athlete: Team Mascot 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm §110 -- Minor Leaguer 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §170 +2 Body Rookie 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §230 +3 Body 1 Family Friend Starter 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §300 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body 3 Family Friends All-Star 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §385 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body 5 Family Friends MVP 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §510 +1 Cooking +1 Charisma +1 Body 7 Family Friends Superstar 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §680 +1 Cooking +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 9 Family Friends Assistant Coach 9:00 am - 2:00 pm §850 +1 Cooking +2 Charisma +1 Body +1 Creativity 11 Family Friend Coach 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §1000 +1 Cooking +3 Charisma +1 Creativity 13 Family Friend Hall of Famer 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §1300 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 4 Mechanical -- 2 Charisma -- 9 Body -- 10 Logic -- 0 Creativity -- 3 Science: Test Subject 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §155 -- Lab Assistant 11:00 pm - 5:00 am §230 +2 Logic Field Researcher 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §320 +1 Charisma +1 Logic 1 Family Friend Science Teacher 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §375 +1 Charisma +1 Logic +1 Creativity 3 Family Friends Project Leader 9:00 am - 5:00 pm §450 +2 Mechanical +2 Creativity 4 Family Friends Inventor 10:00 am - 7:00 pm §540 +2 Mechanical +2 Logic +1 Creativity 5 Family Friends Scholar 10:00 am - 3:00 pm §640 +1 Cooking +2 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Logic 7 Family Friends Top Secret 10:00 am - 3:00 pm §740 +1 Mechanical Researcher +2 Logic +3 Creativity 8 Family Friends Theorist 10:00 am - 2:00 pm §870 +1 Cooking +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Logic +3 Creativity 10 Family Friend Mad Scientist 10:00 am - 2:00 pm §1000 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 2 Mechanical -- 8 Charisma -- 5 Body -- 0 Logic -- 10 Creativity -- 10 Xtreme: Daredevil 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §175 -- Bungee Jump Inst. 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §250 +2 Body 1 Family Friend Whitewater Guide 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §325 +1 Mechanical +2 Body 2 Family Friends Xtreme Circuit 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §400 +1 Cooking Pro +1 Mechanical +1 Logic 3 Family Friends Bush Pilot 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §475 +2 Mechanical +2 Body 4 Family Friends Mountain Climber 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §550 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +3 Creativity 5 Family Friends Photo-Journalist 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §650 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body +2 Logic +1 Creativity 7 Family Friends Treasure Hunter 10:00 am - 5:00 pm §725 +2 Charisma +2 Logic +3 Creativity 9 Family Friends Grand Prix Driver 10:00 am - 4:00 pm §825 +1 Cooking +3 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic +2 Creativity 11 Family Friend International Spy 11:00 am - 5:00 pm §925 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 2 Mechanical -- 6 Charisma -- 8 Body -- 8 Logic -- 6 Creativity -- 9 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1.1 Livin' Large Careers (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This list isn't finished yet. As it stands, only the Paranormal career is filled in. All the others are started, but it will take some time to complete this chart. When it is completed, I will also add the appropriate information to the next section (Alternate Job Charts) as well. Hacker Career: Beta Tester 9:00 am - 5:00 pm §120 -- Support Tech 8:00 am - 4:00 pm §150 +2 Mechanical Web Master 6:00 pm - 2:00 am §200 +1 Mechanical +2 Logic Hacker 12:00 am - 9:00 am §240 +1 Mechanical +2 Logic 2 Friends Security 10:00 am - 7:00 pm §400 +4 Creativity Consultant 3 Friends Game Designer 2:00 pm - 11:00 pm §610 +2 Charisma +1 Logic +2 Creativity 5 Friends Internet 10:00 am - 8:00 pm §800 +2 Charisma Entrepreneur +2 Logic +1 Creativity 6 Friends Software CEO 10:00 am - 7:00 pm §1100 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Logic +2 Creativity 8 Friends Venture 11:00 am - 8:00 pm §1300 +2 Mechanical Capitalist +2 Charisma +2 Logic +1 Creativity 8 Friends Information 11:00 am - 8:00 pm §1550 -- Overlord Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 7 Charisma -- 8 Body -- 0 Logic -- 10 Creativity -- 10 Paranormal Career: Psychic Friend 6:00 pm - 12:00 am §100 -- Conspiracy 11:00 pm - 5:00 am §130 +1 Charisma Theorist +2 Creativity Tarot Card Reader 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm §200 +1 Charisma +2 Logic 1 Friend Hypnotist 10:00 am - 4:00 pm §300 +1 Logic 3 Friends Medium 8:00 pm - 2:00 am §375 +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic 5 Friends Douser 6:00 am - 3:00 pm §480 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Logic +1 Creativity 6 Friends Police Psychic 6:00 pm - 2:00 am §600 +1 Charisma +2 Logic +1 Creativity 10 Friends UFO Investigator 11:00 pm - 6:00 am §810 +2 Charisma +1 Creativity 13 Friends Exorcist 10:00 am - 3:00 pm §1000 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Body +2 Logic +2 Creativity 17 Friends Cult Leader 10:00 am - 4:00 pm §1200 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 2 Charisma -- 10 Body -- 2 Logic -- 9 Creativity -- 7 Musician: Subway Musician 3:00 pm - 8:00 pm § 90 -- Piano Tuner 9:00 am - 4:00 pm §120 +2 Creativity Wedding Singer 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §190 +3 Creativity 2 Friends Lounge Singer 8:00 pm - 4:00 am §250 +2 Mechanical +1 Creativity High School Band 7:00 pm - 2:00 am §320 +3 Mechanical Teacher +1 Creativity 5 Friends Roadie 11:00 am - 8:00 pm §400 +4 Body +1 Creativity 8 Friends Backup Musician 12:00 pm - 9:00 pm §550 +2 Charisma +1 Body +2 Creativity 9 Friends Studio Musician 11:00 am - 6:00 pm §700 +5 Charisma +2 Body 12 Friends Rock Star 5:00 pm - 2:00 am §1100 +3 Charisma +1 Body +4 Logic 15 Friends Celebrity 10:00 am - 3:00 pm §1400 -- Activist Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 5 Charisma -- 10 Body -- 8 Logic -- 4 Creativity -- 10 Journalism: Typesetter 4:00 am - 12:00 pm §120 -- Game Reviewer 11:00 am - 6:00 pm §200 +2 Creativity 1 Friend Tabloid Writer 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §230 +2 Charisma 2 Friends Papparazzi 5:00 pm - 1:00 am §340 +2 Logic +2 Creativity 2 Friends Newspaper 3:00 am - 10:00 am §420 +1 Charisma Reporter +1 Body +1 Logic +1 Creativity 4 Friends Meteorologist 5:00 am - 1:00 pm §510 +3 Charisma +1 Body 6 Friends TV Reporter 12:00 pm - 8:00 pm §660 +2 Charisma +1 Logic 9 Friends Investigative 10:00 am - 5:00 pm §850 +1 Charisma Reporter +3 Body +1 Logic +1 Creativity 11 Friends National News 11:00 am - 8:00 pm §975 +1 Charisma Anchor +3 Logic +2 Creativity 14 Friends Talk Show Host 11:00 am - 5:00 pm §1200 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 0 Charisma -- 10 Body -- 5 Logic -- 8 Creativity -- 8 Slacker: Golf Caddy 5:00 am - 10:00 am § 90 -- Convenience 10:00 pm - 3:00 am §110 +2 Body Store Clerk 1 Friend Life Guard 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §150 +2 Charisma 2 Friends Record Store 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm §180 +2 Charisma Clerk 4 Friends Party D.J. 11:00 pm - 4:00 am §220 +3 Mechanical 6 Friends Projectionist 6:00 pm - 1:00 am §280 +2 Mechanical 7 Friends Video Editor 12:00 pm - 6:00 pm §350 +3 Charisma +1 Body 10 Friends Freelance 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm §400 +1 Charisma Photographer +3 Body 12 Friends Personal Tour 2:00 pm - 7:00 pm §450 +2 Charisma Guide +3 Body 15 Friends Professional 10:00 pm - 2:00 am §600 -- Party Guest Final Stats: Cooking -- 0 Mechanical -- 5 Charisma -- 10 Body -- 9 Logic -- 0 Creativity -- 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1.2 Unleashed Career Opportunities ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Education Career: Playground 7:00 am - 1:00 pm §120 -- Monitor Substitute 7:00 am - 1:00 pm §180 +1 Cooking Teacher +1 Creativity 1 friend Kindergarten 7:00 am - 1:00 pm §190 +1 Charisma Teacher +1 Logic 2 friends Junior High 8:00 am - 3:00 pm §210 +1 Charisma Teacher +2 Logic +1 Creativity 2 Friends High School 8:00 am - 3:00 pm §290 +1 Charisma Teacher +2 Logic +1 Creativity 3 Friends Principal 8:00 am - 3:00 pm §310 +1 Charisma +1 Logic +2 Creativity 4 Friends Assistant 9:00 am - 6:00 pm §490 +2 Charisma Professor +2 Logic +2 Creativity 5 Friends Tenured 9:00 am - 5:00 pm §600 +1 Logic Professor +2 Creativity 7 Friends College Dean 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §700 +1 Logic +1 Creativity 9 Friends Minister of 10:00 am - 5:00 pm §900 -- Education Final Stats: Cooking -- 1 Mechanical -- 0 Charisma -- 6 Body -- 0 Logic -- 10 Creativity -- 10 Animal Care Career: Dog Walker 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm §100 -- Pet Groomer 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §160 +1 Cooking +2 Charisma 1 Friend Sheep Custodian 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §185 +1 Mechanical +1 Body +1 Creativity 1 Friend Aquarium 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm §250 +1 Cooking Technician +1 Charisma 2 Friends Zoo Keeper 6:00 am - 12:00 pm §345 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic 2 Friends Dolphin Trainer 11:00 am - 4:00 pm §435 +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic +1 Creativity 4 Friends Animal Acting 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §560 +1 Cooking Coach +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +2 Body +1 Logic +1 Creativity 4 Friends Alligator 11:00 pm - 6:00 am §700 +1 Cooking Relocator +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +2 Logic +1 Creativity 5 Friends Veterinarian 8:00 am - 3:00 pm §780 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic +1 Creativity 8 Friends Animal Magician 6:00 pm - 12:00 am §1050 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 4 Mechanical -- 5 Charisma -- 9 Body -- 6 Logic -- 6 Creativity -- 5 Culinary Career: Dishwasher 6:00 am - 12:00 pm § 90 -- Drive Thru Order 5:00 am - 10:00 am §120 +2 Cooking Taker Fast Food Shift 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §130 +1 Cooking Manager +2 Mechanical 1 Friend Sous Chef 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §180 +3 Cooking +2 Charisma +2 Creativity 3 Friends Head Chef 7:00 pm - 2:00 am §220 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Creativity 3 Friends Restaurant Critic 3:00 pm - 11:00 pm §335 +2 Cooking +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Creativity 5 Friends Cook Book Author 3:00 pm - 11:00 pm §580 +2 Charisma +1 Creativity 6 Friends Restaurateur 9:00 am - 2:00 pm §690 +2 Cooking +1 Charisma 9 Friends Celebrity Chef 3:00 pm - 11:00 pm §760 +1 Mechanical +2 Charisma +1 Creativity 11 Friends Candy Bar Magnate 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm §930 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 10 Mechanical -- 5 Charisma -- 10 Body -- 0 Logic -- 0 Creativity -- 6 Fashion Career: Department Store 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §130 -- Clerk Tailor 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §190 +1 Charisma +1 Creativity 1 Friend Makeup Artist 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §210 +1 Cooking +1 Charisma +1 Body 1 Friend Painters Model 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm §235 +1 Mechanical +1 Creativity 2 Friends Fashion 11:00 am - 4:00 am §450 +2 Charisma Photographer +2 Body +2 Creativity 3 Friends Tradeshow Model 5:00 pm - 1:00 am §600 +2 Charisma +2 Body +1 Creativity 4 Friends Runway Model 1:00 pm - 10:00 pm §650 +2 Charisma +2 Body +1 Creativity 5 Friends Supermodel 11:00 am - 4:00 pm §875 +2 Charisma +2 Body +1 Creativity 6 Friends Fashion Columnist 5:00 pm - 12:00 am §1050 +1 Body +1 Creativity 7 Friends Fashion Designer 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm §1350 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 1 Mechanical -- 1 Charisma -- 10 Body -- 10 Logic -- 0 Creativity -- 8 Circus Career: Popcorn Vendor 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm § 90 -- Ticket Taker 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm §130 +1 Mechanical +1 Charisma +1 Body Midway Carnie 3:00 pm - 12:00 am §140 +1 Body +1 Creativity 1 Friend Sideshow Barker 3:00 pm - 10:00 pm §180 +1 Charisma +2 Body 4 Friends Clown 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm §200 +2 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic 5 Friends Human Cannonball 9:00 am - 3:00 pm §240 +1 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic +3 Creativity 6 Friends Acrobat 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm §500 +1 Charisma +2 Mechanical +1 Body +1 Creativity 6 Friends Trapeze Artist 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm §610 +1 Cooking +2 Charisma +1 Body +1 Logic 7 Friends Lion Tamer 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm §775 +1 Charisma +2 Logic +1 Creativity 8 Friends Ringmaster 5:00 pm - 11:00 pm §815 -- Final Stats: Cooking -- 1 Mechanical -- 3 Charisma -- 9 Body -- 8 Logic -- 5 Creativity -- 6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.1.3 Alternate Job Charts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I realize that the above chart isn't the most user friendly of charts (although it looks fine to me) and I realize that it does have an annoying flaw in it. So here are some Different Styles of charts that contain roughly the same information. Most of these charts compare all the jobs, rather than show you all the information for a particular career path. (since that information can be found in the previous section) The Money Chart Comparison: (allows you to simply compare Pay of each job at each level, Sorted by Final Pay) a * indicates that this is a Livin' Large career a + indicates that this is an Unleashed career Career Level Career | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ *Hacker | §120 §150 §200 §240 §400 §610 §800 §1100 §1300 §1550 Entertainer | §100 §150 §200 §275 §375 §500 §650 §900 §1100 §1400 *Musician | §90 §120 §190 §250 §320 §400 §550 §700 §1000 §1400 +Fashion | §130 §190 §210 §235 §450 §600 §650 §875 §1050 §1350 Athlete | §110 §170 §230 §300 §385 §510 §680 §850 §1000 §1300 Business | §120 §180 §250 §320 §400 §520 §660 §800 §950 §1200 *Journalist | §120 §200 §230 §340 §420 §510 §660 §850 §975 §1200 *Paranormal | §100 §130 §200 §300 §375 §480 §600 §810 §1000 §1200 Crime | §140 §200 §275 §350 §425 §530 §640 §760 §900 §1100 +Animal Care| §100 §160 §185 §250 §345 §435 §560 §700 §780 §1050 Science | §155 §230 §320 §375 §450 §540 §640 §740 §870 §1000 +Culinary | §90 §120 §130 §180 §220 §335 §580 §690 §760 §930 XTreme | §175 §250 §325 §400 §475 §550 §650 §725 §825 §925 +Education | §120 §180 §190 §210 §290 §310 §490 §600 §700 §900 Medicine | §200 §275 §340 §410 §480 §550 §640 §700 §775 §850 +Circus | §90 §130 §140 §180 §200 §240 §500 §610 §775 §815 Politics | §220 §300 §360 §430 §485 §540 §600 §650 §700 §750 Law Enf. | §240 §320 §380 §440 §490 §540 §590 §625 §650 §700 Military | §250 §325 §350 §450 §500 §550 §580 §600 §625 §650 *Slacker | §90 §120 §150 §180 §220 §280 §350 §400 §450 §600 Hours Worked Per Day Chart Comparison: (shows the number of hours that your Sim will work at each level per day, sorted from lowest final to highest) Career Level Career | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- Science | 6 6 6 7 8 9 5 5 4 4 *Slacker | 7 5 6 5 5 7 6 5 5 4 Entertainer | 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 7 5 *Musician | 5 7 6 8 7 9 9 7 9 5 +Animal Care| 2 6 6 5 6 5 6 7 7 6 *Paranormal | 6 6 6 6 6 9 8 7 5 6 Athlete | 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 5 6 6 *Journalist | 8 7 6 8 7 8 8 7 9 6 Business | 6 7 7 7 7 7 8 8 7 6 Crime | 6 8 7 6 8 8 6 6 6 6 XTreme | 6 6 6 7 6 6 6 7 6 6 Politics | 9 6 6 9 6 7 6 6 9 6 Law Enf. | 6 6 8 6 6 6 6 6 8 6 +Circus | 7 3 9 7 7 6 7 7 7 6 Military | 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 +Culinary | 6 5 6 6 6 8 8 5 8 7 Medicine | 6 6 6 9 7 8 6 6 7 7 +Fashion | 6 6 6 3 5 8 9 5 7 7 +Education | 6 6 6 7 7 7 9 8 6 7 *Hacker | 8 8 8 9 9 9 10 9 9 9 Hourly Wage: (this is for the 10th level only! Sorted from best hourly wage to the lowest hourly wage) Career | Final Wage Final Hours Final Hourly Wage ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- Entertainer | §1400 5 §280 / hr. *Musician | §1400 5 §280 / hr. Science | §1000 4 §250 / hr. Athlete | §1300 6 §217 / hr. *Paranormal | §1200 6 §200 / hr. Business | §1200 6 §200 / hr. *Journalist | §1200 6 §200 / hr. +Fashion | §1350 7 §193 / hr. Crime | §1100 6 §183 / hr. +Animal Care| §1050 6 §175 / hr. *Hacker | §1550 9 §172 / hr. XTreme | §925 6 §154 / hr. *Slacker | §600 4 §150 / hr. +Circus | §815 6 §136 / hr. +Culinary | §930 7 §133 / hr. +Education | §900 7 §129 / hr. Politics | §750 6 §125 / hr. Medicine | §850 7 §121 / hr. Law Enf. | §700 6 §117 / hr. Military | §650 6 §108 / hr. Note: This is just another way of deciding which job ends out being the best. You can see that Science and Entertainer are incredibly good, Science being only 4 hours a day (from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm) and Entertainer bringing in the most total money. Final Stats: (this is for the 10th level only! Sorted from the Career that requires the least stats, to the one with the most) Career | Cook Mech Char Body Logic Create Friend Totals ------------|------------------------------------------------------------- +Education | 1 0 6 0 10 10 9 = 36 +Fashion | 1 1 10 10 0 8 7 = 37 *Slacker | 0 5 10 9 0 0 15 = 39 +Circus | 1 3 9 8 5 6 8 = 40 Athlete | 4 2 9 10 0 3 13 = 41 Business | 0 2 8 2 9 6 14 = 41 +Culinary | 10 5 10 0 0 6 11 = 42 *Hacker | 0 7 8 0 10 10 8 = 43 Politics | 0 0 9 5 7 5 17 = 43 +Animal Care| 4 5 9 6 6 5 8 = 43 Medicine | 0 6 6 7 9 4 11 = 43 Crime | 2 5 7 6 4 8 12 = 44 Entertainer | 0 2 10 8 0 10 14 = 44 Law Enf. | 1 4 6 7 10 5 12 = 45 Military | 1 10 7 10 9 0 8 = 45 Science | 2 8 5 0 10 10 10 = 45 *Journalist | 0 0 10 5 8 8 14 = 45 *Paranormal | 0 2 10 2 9 7 17 = 49 XTreme | 2 6 8 8 6 9 11 = 50 *Musician | 0 5 10 8 4 10 15 = 52 Note: The lower the total here, the better, as that means that it takes less time to get to the 10th level in that Career. Marcel VanDalfsen has a few charts of his own: When I was looking through the alternate job charts (sec 6.1.2), specifically at the final skills chart, I realized another way of sorting the data. -> the amount of time to build those skills. This does not depend linearly on the skill levels! (eg. it is quicker to build four skills to lvl 3, than to build two skills to lvl 5). The amount of time it takes to build any particular skill is: T = 0.5*(n)*(n+1) [with T in sim-hours] that is: skill time skill time skill time 0 0 4 10 8 36 1 1 5 15 9 45 2 3 6 21 10 55 3 6 7 28 These numbers of course don't take into account trait/skill accelerators (eg. outgoing -> charisma) So, if the level 10 careers are then sorted by this category (excluding friends category of course) in order of # of sims-hours to build those skills: Politics : 103 Business : 108 Crime : 113 *Slacker : 115 Athlete : 119 +Circus : 124 Medicine : 125 +Animal Care : 127 Law Enf. : 130 +Education : 132 *Paranormal : 134 *Journalist : 142 +Culinary : 146 +Fashion : 148 Entertain. : 149 Xtreme : 162 Science : 164 *Musician : 171 *Hacker : 174 Military : 184 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.2 Abusing the Carpool ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have an alarm, it will go off 2 hours before the Carpool is going to arrives to pick you up. The carpool itself arrives an hour before your shift at work is actually set to begin. This is a fact that we can abuse! You don't need to get into the carpool until it is just about ready to leave. In fact, if you are even on your way just before your shift begins, the carpool will wait for you! So, if you get into the carpool the second it arrives, you are essentially losing ONE WHOLE HOUR of time that you could be spending doing something constructive, like eating, or playing chess to get that last logic point for that promotion. In other words, don't leave for work until the last possible moment! This gives you essentially 3 hours between when the alarm gets you up, and when you get to work. It also makes my earlier idea of not using an alarm clock a little more realistic. Even if you get up a little late, you'll still have time to use the toilet, shower, and probably eat as well. Then spend the rest of the time fulfilling other needs (such as Fun and Comfort by watching TV) or by building Skills. Or do both and play Chess. GamemaniaX sent me this: "EXPANDED CARPOOL ABUSE (BUG?!) I think this bug is similar to the carpool bug written in your faqs. I got 2 sims. SimA got an 9:00 AM carpool and SimB got an 10:00 AM carpool. I was busy working on SimA with his hunger and bath. When I finished all that, I realized that SimA is already late for work (10:03)! The funny thing is, the car still didn't move a bit! Probably the 10:00 AM carpool is "stacking" into the 9:00 AM carpool. Stragely enough, I put SimA into the car. It works! Yet the car still isn't moving. I began working on SimB and put her into the car to work. And, finally the car take both Sims to work! This is excellent considering that SimA now got an extra 1 hour to fiddle with before going to work! "The side effects I noticed from this bug is that it effects your Sims work performace. Even though I got level 4 mood, the game still stated that I only got an average performace for my work. Probably because the game thought that the Sims didn't go to work since he already missed the carpool. Also, I didn't got promoted even I have fulfilled all necessary requirements for promotion. HOWEVER, this can be neutralized if you take your "late" Sims to work ON TIME the next following day." broadstrong had this to add: Note: When the "stacking of carpools" occurs, the carpool for the later time (10AM) will not come, maybe because the earlier (9AM) carpool had not left! So the player MUST direct the Sims (in the later carpool) to work. However, for this stacking to work, at least one person for the earlier carpool must get in before the time is up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.2.1 Early Morning Social Call (while Abusing the Carpool no less!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some of the other Sims have jobs, just like your current Sims do. You probably know what these jobs are, as you probably gave them to these other Sims. Well, during the day they are probably at work, so if you were to call them, you would get the Machine telling you that they are at work. The usual solution to this problem is to simply call them after they get off work. But another idea is to call them as soon as you get up. The brilliance of this idea is even more evident when playing as a bachelor. Your Sim gets up in the morning, goes to work, then has a little bit of time to socialize, gain skills, and keep up with his own needs. Well, what we CAN do is to help him out by starting socializing in the morning. He gets up, calls someone, then continues getting ready. He Greets the guest Sim, then Serves Breakfast. While they are both eating, then both socialize. After eating your Sim could watch TV with the other Sim, or maybe they could just talk. Since we have about 3 hours to work with (due to the last strategy, Abuse the Carpool), your Sim have plenty of time to improve his relationships! broadstrong had this idea: My Sim has a 8 AM carpool. On one day, the family invited a guest (whom I know has a 9 AM carpool) over. Well he was at the doorstep before 9 AM. Now the funny thing -- The time was already 9.03AM, but the 8 AM carpool is still there! Probably it "noticed" the guest with the 9 AM carpool and "decided" to wait for him to get in. With this trick, my Sim has one more hour to catch the carpool! This is another reason to invite guests over early in the morning. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.3 Quitting for Fun and Profit ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a neat little idea to try if you are sick of your job. Assuming that you have fairly high skills, your Sim would find it pretty easy to jump up a new career ladder, right? And at each promotion level your Sim is given a Promotion Bonus which is equal to 2x the time of the salary that they are being promoted to. That is key. So say, your Sim, Bob, is a Superstar in the Entertainment track. There is no hope for him to ever get promoted since he is at the Apex of his career. Well why not start over? Since Bob already has a lot of stats from getting this high in the first place, he will JUMP rather quickly up several other career ladders! Ideally if you could get him back into Entertainment, he would rise very quickly. And at every single promotion you get your Promotion Bonus. And if you chose a new Career wisely (similar stats), you could get promoted EVERY DAY. Quite the bonus! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.3.1 Job Hopping Analysis ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This entire section is from Andrew Harms. After reading the bit in your FAQ about "job hopping", I decided to find out exactly how much you benefit from it. (as well as some other misc. stats) I created a spreadsheet and got data for going from lvl 1-8 and 1-10, as well as allowing you to specify how often you get promoted. How often you can get promoted turns out to be the most important factor. In the Military track, if you get promoted every day, you more than triple your earnings if you go all the way to lvl 10. ( for a daily avg of 1952.00 ) If you only get promoted every other day, the benefits are significantly less. The most realistic timeframe is probably 2 promotions every 3 days. Given the 2/3 promotion rate: Military benefits the most (not quite double), and Entertainment actually loses 80 per day. (for lvl 10) For the most part, the higher the lvl 10 pay is, the less you gain. These charts show the number of friends required for lvl 8 and 10 of each career, the average daily pay for lvl 8 and 10, and the benefit recived for restarting the career as opposed to just staying at lvl 8 or lvl 10. The second column in the daily average shows how much you earn per friend that you must maintain. 1 day avg pay ( 3(sum of lvl 1-Y pay) + ((sum of lvl 1-Y pay)/Y)(((days for promotion)-1)*Y) = ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Y*(days for promotion) promoted 1 out of 2 days Career # friends 1 day avg 8 1 day avg 10 Benefit lvl 8 lvl 10 pay /friend pay /friend lvl 8 lvl 10 Entertainer 10 14 787.50 78.75 1130.00 80.71 -112.50 -270.00 Athlete 9 13 808.75 89.86 1107.00 85.15 -41.25 -193.00 Business 10 14 812.50 81.25 1080.00 77.14 12.50 -120.00 Crime 8 12 830.00 103.75 1064.00 88.67 70.00 -36.00 Science 7 10 862.50 123.21 1064.00 106.40 122.50 64.00 Xtreme 7 11 887.50 126.79 1060.00 96.36 162.50 135.00 Medicine 7 11 898.75 128.39 1044.00 94.91 198.75 194.00 Politics 11 17 896.25 81.48 1007.00 59.24 246.25 257.00 Law Enf. 8 12 906.25 113.28 995.00 82.92 281.25 295.00 Military 0 8 901.25 901.25 976.00 122.00 301.25 326.00 promoted 2 out of 3 days Career # friends 1 day avg 8 1 day avg 10 Benefit lvl 8 lvl 10 pay /friend pay /friend lvl 8 lvl 10 Entertainer 10 14 918.75 91.88 1318.33 94.17 18.75 -81.67 Athlete 9 13 943.54 104.84 1291.50 99.35 93.54 -8.50 Business 10 14 947.92 94.79 1260.00 90.00 147.92 60.00 Crime 8 12 968.33 121.04 1241.33 103.44 208.33 141.33 Science 7 10 1006.25 143.75 1241.33 124.13 266.25 241.33 Xtreme 7 11 1035.42 147.92 1236.67 112.42 310.42 311.67 Medicine 7 11 1048.54 149.79 1218.00 110.73 348.54 368.00 Politics 11 17 1045.63 95.06 1174.83 69.11 395.63 424.83 Law Enf. 8 12 1057.29 132.16 1160.83 96.74 432.29 460.83 Military 0 8 1051.46 1051.46 1138.67 142.33 451.46 488.67 Some other stuff: here's a chart of how much you earn per friend you have to maintain. lvl 10 pay pay/friend Entertainer 1,400 100.00 Athlete 1,300 100.00 Science 1,000 100.00 Crime 1,100 91.67 Business 1,200 85.71 Xtreme 925 84.09 Military 650 81.25 Medicine 850 77.27 Law Enf. 700 58.33 Politics 750 44.12 Unrelated stuff: I've noticed that people with high Active stats walk faster than those that are less Active. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.4 Job "Shifts" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section is from RD Saunders and Joseph Peitler (Livin' Large jobs) I found that after reaching the top position of each career choice you are able to be transfered to a new career (most of the time to a 5,6,7 ranked job). I found it is possible to go in circles and end up in the same job again with all the bonuses and going therough all the careers. I made this to show the circle or careers. It shows the starting job and career and why your sims changes (the reason or excuse given) and the new job and career of your sim. - Medicine Chief of Hospital -> (your advanced medical knowledge) -> Inventor, Science - Science Mad Scientist -> (you drink a magic potion) -> Criminal Mastermind, Crime - Crime Criminal Mastermind -> (want to become a clean businessman) -> Executive, Business - Business Business Tycoon -> (your burnt out at the top) -> All Star, Athlete - Athlete Hall of Famer -> (you've finished with your career) -> Mountain Climber, XTreme - XTreme International Spy -> (your intelligence) -> Counter-Intelligence, Military - Military General -> (military downsising) -> SWAT Team Leader, Law Enforcement - Law Enf. Captain Hero -> (you start to captain hero TV show) -> TV star, Entertainer - Entertainer Superstar -> (want to do something with your fame) -> Congressperson, Politics - Politics Mayor -> (a scandal forces you to resign) -> Intern, Medicene - Musician Celebrity Activist -> Getting in touch with your inner self -> Medium, Paranormal - Hacker Information Overload-> Your infomation is inaccurate -> Newspaper Reporter, Journalism - Journalism Talk show host -> Need to "stop and smell the Roses" -> Freelance Photographer, Slacker - Paranormal Cult Leader -> Want a jobs with less exposure. -> Jr. Executive, Business ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Running an Efficient Household ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The most difficult aspect of the Sims is managing all your Sim's time. Since each Sim has only 24 hours in the day, 8 major needs, promotions, socializing, and whatnot, you have to be fairly efficient in how you do things. It should be noted that the Sims themselves are not especially efficient in how they decide to do things. A Sim who has a nearly Red bladder Need, may sit down to read a book, when his Fun need is still mostly Green. Generally you want to fulfill your Sims' needs on a Need basis. Whichever they need most, you have them do first. There are, of course, many exceptions. For example, you should use the toilet after eating, not before. You should shower after using the toilet. Anyway, since I advised you to create two Sims, I'll do a rundown of how their first few mornings should go: I'll call the two Sims, Worker, and Homer. When you first appear at your house, you'll already have a Newspaper, and another one will be coming along at 9:00 AM. Have Worker look for a job, and if you want to, take it. If it is still before 8:00 AM, the car pool will be picking Worker up at that time (assuming you didn't take a night job). Send Worker off to work. Now Homer will be home alone. Have him Study up on Cooking so that he can fix a feast when Worker comes home. One or two points here is all you need (although you should keep at this until you have all the points!). Now your neighbors are going to start dropping by. Cancel the Cooking Lessons, and go out to greet them. Once greeted, the neighbor becomes a Guest in your house, and will eat food if you have already prepared it, watch your TV (if it's already on), etc. This neighbor should be very chatty, so just let your Sims talk for a bit. At this point, it is more important to greet new Sims, than to work up relationships with Sims already there, so if someone new comes to the door, go greet them. Note: If you have two or more Sims around when other Sims come to the door, make sure that ALL of your Sims have talked to the new Sim at least once. This is most important if you ever take control of the other Sims' house, and need to get him some friends. In the early days of your neighborhood, there won't be that many people for you to socialize with, so you will have to start new families soon. Worker comes home, and watches TV to get his fun rating up. While he is doing that, Homer Serves Dinner (always do Serve Dinner! It costs only 2x as much as "Have Dinner" and feeds 6!), and then the two sit around the table eating and chatting. Also any guests in the house will eat with you, and Socialize as well. Note: Although they are talking here, their relationships only improve by a mere point or two. After dinner, Worker goes to improve some Stat to help get promoted, while Homer talks to the Guest Sims. Before going to sleep, both Sims go to the bathroom. The next morning, Homer gets up at 5:00 AM to Serve Breakfast. Worker stays in bed until his Energy rating is all the way back up, and as soon as it is he jumps out of bed, and goes to take a shower, eat breakfast, and maybe watch some TV before the Carpool arrives. Note: The 5:00 AM breakfast gives your stay at home Sim plenty of time to prepare the breakfast so that it is ready for the other Sim(s) when they get up. Since the first Sim isn't going to work, he doesn't need to worry about lack of energy. What I did usually is let the game run on fast mode (speed level 3) until 5 AM, then I paused it (press either 'p' or the key left of the 1 button), clicked on the Sleep icon to cancel it (top left corner), and click on the Fridge and Serve Breakfast. I wake up most Sims like this. Pause, then order them to do something, then unpause for them to do it. Of course, if you simply give a sleeping Sim something to do, then they'll wake up automatically and do it (as soon as they feel "rested" of course). Once Worker is at work, Homer takes a shower, goes to the bathroom, and fulfills his needs. Once that's done he picks up that Cooking book and works on that for awhile, hoping that some new neighbors might drop by. If they don't, he picks up the phone and calls the Sim who is close to becoming a Family Friend. That Sim comes over (or blows you off with an excuse), the two chat for a bit, and the Guest Sim smelling food, goes over and eats some breakfast. Homer joins him. Note: Since Homer got up early, he might need a nap. Usually I would wait for my working Sims to get home before sending my Stay At Home to sleep, then I would get that Sim up in time to fix dinner and Socialize some more with the neighbors. They continue socializing until you get a new Family Friend. At this point, keep going until the relationship is at 100. At some point here, Homer is going to need to clean up the table, and get rid of what remains of the breakfast (it has undoubtedly spoiled by now). Worker comes home and studies some more for a promotion. Homer takes a small nap, and gets up to make dinner. The two Sims (three if you still have a guest) eat and talk. After dinner everyone watches TV and talks. Finally everyone goes to sleep. That was just a sample of how to run things efficiently. It featured a staggered approach to getting ready in the mornings, one Sim got up at 5, the other a little later. The first Sim made breakfast, while the other did some things in the bathroom. This is also how you do things when you get more Sims (although you will probably need to build a second bathroom). Remember, you aren't just fulfilling Needs, you're also advancing these Sims in their lives. Work on Stats for promotion, have them practice speeches in front of the bathroom mirror, or play chess to work on their logic. (chess is also Fun) Bear in mind that Sims will work on their Stats forever if you let them, so keep an eye on their Needs, and cut short their Statbuilding if they need to go to the bathroom or something. Also keep in mind that you CAN hire Maids, Gardeners, and even call for a Pizza if you want to. These services cost you a little (Maids are §10 an hour), but they can help out if you are getting overwhelmed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7.1 Working the Pause ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part of running an efficient household is to know when to pause the game. If you were to watch me playing The Sims, you would see that I pause the game a lot. And unless you're playing just one Sim, you are going to need to pause quite a bit. Here are the basics of when to pause and how often to pause your game. - Pause Whenever you need to decide what your Sims are going to do. This is fairly simple. While you are thinking of what your Sims should be doing, you should pause the game. Once paused, you can look around at all their various stats, moods, and whatnot, and decide what would be the best thing for them to do right then. Ex. Your Sim comes home from work, you pause it to think of what he should do first. Note: Don't just give your Sim ONE thing to do, give him several. He will then simply go from one activity to another. For example, have him use the toilet, then take a shower, then serve dinner. - Pause in Social Interactions There are two really good times to do this. The first is when you are just starting out with another Sim to avoid them doing something that your Sim won't like (such as them trying to Hug you, and your Sim rejecting them, that will drop your relationship, so you need to cancel it). So, I will simply pause after they finish what they are doing, then have them do something SAFE (such as talk). The other time this comes in handy is when you are carrying on an affair, you will want to pause to make sure they don't kiss you while the wife is around. This all has to do with TIME EFFICIENCY. Since your Sims never seem to have enough hours in the day to do everything they need to do, those precious moments they lose while you are deciding what they should do are costly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Expanding the House ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well your Sims are doing quite well, you have gotten some promotions, you have a bit of money now, and you want to spruce up your house. Who can blame you? The first thing you should probably do is to replace your Not-Top-Of-The-Line kitchen appliances with better ones. Get rid of the cheap Fridge and Range for more expensive versions. These help satisfy your Sims hunger better. Generally you will want to replace your cheap crap with expensive stuff. Don't go overboard and spend all your money at once (you might have to pay bills, or something). If you succeed in getting someone to Move In or Marry you, then you have to find a place for them to sleep, which may mean expanding the entire house (or could just mean replacing a Spartan Bed with a Two Person Bed). But as the game goes on, you definitely need to expand the house. Here's the house as I designed it earlier: ------------ | | Key: | | | Bedroom | e - Door -- - wall | | Tr - Trash == - sidewalk | | ----------------e------------- Note: Two horizontal characters | | | is one "square" of SimLand. | e Bath | So -- is one 1 x 1. | Kitchen | room | | | | Note: To build a "square", hold | Living |-------- the shift while building a | Room | wall outwards. -----------e---------- ======================= Tr And here are a couple improvement Ideas: Idea 1: Mega Bedroom ---------------------- | | Key: | | | Bedroom | e - Door -- - wall | | Tr - Trash == - sidewalk | | ----------------e------------- Note: Two horizontal characters | | | is one "square" of SimLand. | e Bath | So -- is one 1 x 1. | Kitchen | room | | | | Note: To build a "square", hold | Living |-------- the shift while building a | Room | wall outwards. -----------e---------- ======================= Tr Idea 2: Mega Bedroom, Move Bathroom, Add Den ---------------------- | Bedroom | Key: | --------- | | | Bath | | e - Door -- - wall | e room e | Tr - Trash == - sidewalk | | | | ---e------e-----e------------- Note: Two horizontal characters | | | is one "square" of SimLand. | e Den | So -- is one 1 x 1. | Kitchen | | | | | Note: The Den would have a Desk for | Living |-------- a computer, as well as | Room | a Piano, etc. -----------e---------- ======================= Tr And, of course, you could always build some stairs and add a second level. Remember on the second level that people can't go up there until there is a floor. And you can only build walls out one square past the walls on the first story. Whatever else you stick on the second story, I would definitely place a bathroom. Also as I previously mentioned, a great deal of expanding your house is to replace your old furniture and objects with bigger shinier models. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.1 Building that Second Story ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There isn't all that much to building a second story. As long as you can fit those stairs in your house somewhere, you can build the second story. Once the stairs are built, switch to the Second Story view. Notice how there is nothing here, but the area directly above the walled area is marked. That is where you can build. The buildable area extends out one square from the first story's wall, in case you want to build out a little. You will probably just want to build your walls directly above the first story's walls. Make sure to wallpaper the outside and inside. Decide what you are going to do with this story, and build interior walls appropriately. Tip: I would recommend building a bathroom upstairs, at least. This way, anyone up there won't have to come down to use the facilities, and it gives you another bathroom in case the first gets "busy". Note: If you want to build out a balcony that isn't directly above an already walled area, there are two ways to do it. The first is the standard Balcony idea (see 8.1.2) and the second is the "Flying" Balcony Idea. (see 8.1.1) To finish the second story, make sure to build a flooring. Without a floor no one can go up there! Note: For walls, fences and barricades (on the second storey) above the staircase, these can only be built from the third square (counting from the staircase landing on the second storey) onwards. (broadstrong) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.1.1 The "Flying" Second Story ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Based on a strategy from http://thesims.xtremesims.com/ (David Phillips) There is a way around the "Pillar Limitation" as discussed in the previous section. Here is what we're going to do. Say you want to build out a true balcony, one that doesn't have any first story rooms below it. The only way (until now) to do this was to build a Pillar under every square that you wanted to build on. First, do what you would normally do to build a balcony. That is, place a pillar everywhere you want to build on. Then build the second story room, floor, walls, whatever. Just make sure that it is finished. Now go back to the first story, and DELETE all the pillars. You will now have a True Balcony! If you want, you can leave a pillar or two for aesthetic reasons. You can even do this without having a First Story, so that you have nothing but stairs down there, then a fully "flying" second story. It's great! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8.1.2 The Balcony ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following correction comes from Christopher Scatliff: When building a balcony, you don't need to put pillars under *every* square. Every pillar supports a 3x3 area, but these buildable floor squares don't appear until there is a floor square next to them. Therefore, your pillar pattern can be every 3rd square: XXXXXXXXX XOXXOXXOX XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX XOXXOXXOX XXXXXXXXX (O = pillar, X = empty) As you can see. those six pillars will support a balcony of area 6x9! But that floor area won't become apparent until you actually put the balcony floor in place. Of course, you could just use the "flying balcony" strategy, too... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9. Babies and Children ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can start any family with children, but you can't start them with a baby. There are only two ways to get a baby, lots of kissing of the passionate sort, or Adoption. I'll deal with adoption first. The way adoption works is that they will call you and ask if you want a baby. This can happen to either gay couples or singles (as they can't produce children on their own). You are given the choice of taking or rejecting it. Note: Adoption can also happen to opposite sex couples (man-woman), but isn't so common. (from Keri) As for the natural method, simply have a guy kiss a girl a lot (or visa versa, it doesn't matter who kisses whom) and the option will come up "Would you like to have a baby?" No, you don't get to see them have sex. The baby just appears, magically. The sex and personality are set at birth, you have no control over that. You do get to name the baby, though. Now that you have the baby, you have to take care of her for 3 days. 72 hours exactly from the moment you got her. Tip: The best time to get a baby would probably be in the morning, as when the baby becomes a Child, they have perfect Energy, and you don't want perfect energy late at night. Not with school the next morning! Tip: Children are a TAX CREDIT, which is a deduction in Bill Payments. How much? About 10% off of Bills per child. So if your bills were §310 before having a kid, after it will be about §279. (assuming you haven't bought anything, nor had anything stolen/sold/broken, and that depreciation was small/nonexistent) Naturally the most you can get off is 70% (you can only get 7 kids, you NEED at least one adult). A baby is a huge responsibility. But you didn't need me to tell you that. You have only 3 things you can do with the baby, Feed, Play and Sing (to sleep). The baby will be resting quite comfortably when suddenly "WAH!" The baby will cry out. Anyone sleeping in the area will be awakened (I'd recommend sleeping ONE and only ONE person with the baby, and rotating who gets to do it, so no one Sim loses too much Energy). Then you have to figure out what the baby wants (impossible). Usually I would just do each option once from Feed to Play to Sing. If that didn't put the baby to sleep, I'd feed again and Sing again. That almost always works. If it does, the baby will go back to sleep... only to wake up in a few hours bawling. Note: If you fail to take proper care of the baby, she will be taken away by the Social Workers. Shame on you! As you can see, having someone home at all times is CRUCIAL here, not just recommended. This is another place where it really helps to have left someone home all along. But if you didn't, just have different people miss work different days to care for the child. Sorry, there is no "day care" or "baby sitter" for you to call. What I did, is I used my stay at home Sim to care for the child until the first person got off work, then Sim 1 would go to sleep and Sim 2 would take over tending over the baby. Make sure you have something constructive to do while the child sleeps, so maybe you should move the Chess set to the room that has the baby (or something like that). After 3 full days, the baby goes *poof* and becomes a Child. Children can sleep with any adult in the household, if you can't afford to buy her own bed. Children have only one responsibility, and that is School. They have to go everyday at 9 AM and come back everyday at 3 PM. Furthermore they have to study to keep their grades up (you can study at any bookcase or computer). Note: One side effect of good grades is that Grandparents can give money for good grades. At the A+ level, I got §100. At this point you probably should buy a Toybox for the child so she can play with the toys. And as you can guess, they like to watch Cartoons on TV as well. Finally children can also Play with other children, where they will just start running amok. And no, children never grow up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.0.1 Baby Tips ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This tip comes from Joseph Peitler: When the female sings and plays with the baby, her fun bar goes up. It has no effect whatsoever when the male does it. This tip comes from Mark Hissett: Have a baby when a few guests are over (just kiss a lot). The guests will be able to play with the baby then. I find it easier that way, because my sims are happy, and the guests are happy (usually). After a day or so, it's much harder to get company over (me speaking that is), because your sims aren't feeling so well rested, and the baby is only not crying if its asleep. So it won't interact much with neighbors. However, as said above, the little simkid will get a better chance at outgoing points if neighbors are over at the time of birth. And they all come in and clap too. These tips come from broadstrong: If a couple (man and woman) is eager to have a baby, can try this: the Houseworking Sim call someone at 3 something (preferably 3 to 3.30 pm) to invite someone over (make sure he agrees, or it may not work). The Working Sim comes back from work at around 3 or 4 pm. When you know that the invited guest is approaching (about 4.15 to 4.30 pm by then), the couple go for a passionate kiss (prior to this, can also have Hug, Back Rub if player wants)! If lucky enough, either there will be a phone call asking for adoption, or one of them will ask for a baby. Click "Yes" and the baby, crib and all, will appear! This worked for me 70% of the time and ALL the babies in my neighbourhood come through this fashion, really! Wonder if it is because that 4 something timeframe is a "magic" time for babies to appear, or because visitors appear (get a baby to appear so there is more difficulty in entertaining BOTH baby and visitor). I wonder if this will work for other timing, though. Note: In your FAQ, it was stated that adoption is less common in man-woman couples. I beg to differ. For my neighbourhood, I get more phone calls for adoption than someone asking for a baby. Want to know if the baby is asleep? Here's a way: Once the Sim starts putting the baby back, place the mouse cursor on the crib, and click once (can also see the type of cursor). If further options (the Sim's face with actions surrounding him) come up, this means the baby is awake! Be prepared to tend to it further. If nothing comes up, the baby is asleep, leaving his (or her) family members alone for 6 hours. Be warned, though. I have seen babies crying BEFORE the 6 hours is up! Apart from the fun of seeing the Sim playing with the baby, "Play" is actually useless. The baby is awake throughout and the motives will drop fast. Feed-Feed-Sing is a sure and fast way to care for the baby and let it sleep. Of course, with sufficient time (and Mood!), one can try all sorts of combinations and play with the baby as wanted. Editor's Note: Actually the "Play" option does make a difference in how your baby's personality will turn out. As of right now, I don't have any stats on this, but I may get some in the future. broadstrong sent in an update: An update to my "70% sure way of getting a baby":- Seems like this trick won't work if the couple is kissing in any room other than the first room from the front door (ie. living room). I wonder if this still works if the first room is not a living room. Where will the baby (crib and all) appear? For babies born by birth, they will appear just beside the spot where the couple does the kissing. For adopted babies, they will appear in the room where the phone call is being picked up. How to determine if the next baby is a boy or girl? Seems like this rule prevails --- if there are more boys than girls, then the baby is a girl; otherwise there will be a baby boy. (Conclusion: The SimNation prefer boys.) (P.S. It would be fun if there can be twins or even triplets.) It was earlier reported from Joseph Peitler, that you could not move the Crib once it had been placed. This was incorrect, you can move the Crib in either furnish or build modes (F2 or F3). One thing to do with the Crib, to help make sure that you baby isn't taken away by the County Social Workers, is to move the Crib into whatever room your Sim happens to be in at the time. (modified from a tip by Jordan Edmonson) Note: Also, Joseph Peitler wrote that you can't move the baby crib. This is not true. It's the same as if you're trying to move a bed: if someone's sleeping in it, you can't move it. Also, if someone has the bed in their queue bar and you try moving it, you can't. The same goes with the baby crib. If the baby cradle is not in anyone's queue bar, you can move the cradle by going to buy or build mode and clicking on it. (from Keri) Important: Have a Sim at home at ALL TIMES! This doesn't mean that you have to have an unemployed Sim stay home, just make sure that at least one Sim is home. If one comes home, the other one is now free to go to work. What you might want to try is to have (if you have 2 Sims) them go to work every other day, one day the first stays home, then the next, the other stays home. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.0.2 Baby Personality Matrix ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following research comes from Lynelle Foulk: I think I have figured out how the baby personality points are determined. I've experimented with 18 Sims babies. (Whew! What a lot of sleepless Sims' nights!) I did this because my first Sims babies didn't have personalities that seemed to relate to their parents. I wondered why. Plus, I wondered why the children that the babies turned into rarely had exactly 25 points. A few had less. Most had more than 25 points. I didn't know why kids should have more than the 25 allowed for the parents. Then suddenly, my babies-turned-to-kids' personalities started looking more like their parents in the numbers. It took me a long time to figure out that the program's algorithm for determining the baby's points must have changed when LL was added. Luckily, my family albums told me when the babies were born, and I had written down the date that I'd registered LL, so I knew when it was installed. I could easily see the dividing line between pre-LL babies and post-LL babies. I experimented with Sims who had the reversed personality efffect and who then ended up with 10 points for every trait. Their kids ended up with identical personality points -- all 10's. I tried a couple with 0 in every trait. (Those mean and nasty folks!) I would have expected a 0 in every trait, yet the kid had a 5 for Playful. The baby had not been played with. Then it dawned on me that kids were said to be playful in the manual -- because that's mostly what kids do is to play. And this meant that the program wasn't going to produce a kid with a Playful score of less than 5. Note: You can have a kid with less than 5 Playful, but this is possible only with a User-created kid, who was never a baby. This is the way I think the algorithm works. There seem to be only 3 possibilities for scores for each of the traits. Either the baby will match the Mom, or it will match the Dad, or it will be a truncated average of the two. So, for example, if Mom has a Neatness score of 3, and Dad has an 8, then Baby can have only 3 possible results: 3, 8, or 5 (the truncated average of 3 and 8). The baby cannot have any other scores inbetween, like a 4, 6, or 7. This seemed strange until I started thinking how easy it would be to write the program with only the three possibilities. (Select a random number between 1 and 3, with the 3rd being the "average".) It would only have taken a few more code lines to make the "in-between" scores possible, I believe. But there was no reason to do so. This was variation enough. This is the way that all the traits seem to be done, except for Playful. And there, a 5 is added to the three possible numbers. If that results in being greater than 10, then it just becomes a 10. And this explains why each baby has a different total of points. Imagine the extra work for the computer to keep trying the random possibilities until they added up to 25. In some cases, it might have been impossible. So, it was easier to allow the kids as many points as were necessary. My baby with the least points 21 is seemingly not too different from the one with 37 -- just some little subtle differences. I think the balance is what counts, not the total number of points. I had kept records of 17 babies, and this had proven true in every case. I did an experimental baby, trying to be sure that the parents were quite different, and seeing if there were any "inbetween" scores, and it didn't happen on this 18th kid. Here's how my experimental 18th kid went: ( I don't think I can do a chart in e-mail, so will just put the points on a line.) Mom: 3, 7, 5, 2, 8 Dad: 8, 2, 5, 3, 1 Baby... could have had: Neat 3, 8 or 5 --- This time it was a 5. (Average) Outgoing: 7, 2, or 4 -- This time it was a 4. (Average) Active: 5, 5, or 5 -- And it was a 5! (A no-brainer for the computer!) Playful: 2 (+5 extra), 3 (+5 extra), or 2 (+5 extra). It was a 7 (either like Mom or average). Nice: 8, 1, or 4. Turned out to be a 4. (Average) Looking over my other Sims baby records, sometimes the baby took after only one parent, but most times it was a combination of one trait like Dad, one like Mom, one average, etc. I think that part had to be entirely random. I think that all of these points are determined at the moment of birth. That I say because I raised the same baby twice. I saved the program immediately after naming the baby -- as fast as I could hit Enter for the name, and hit Pause for the action. I went through the three days and then checked the resulting child's personality points, recorded them, and then Quit without saving. I started back up where I'd saved the program and raised the same kid again. The results were identical in personality points, but not in head/skin. I came to the conclusion that this meant that it was all "nature" and not "nurture" that determined the points. Playing with the baby didn't affect the results. It's nice for the emotional effect upon the game player to watch the parent and siblings and friends playing with the baby, but it doesn't change those baby points, according to what I could determine. Also, it isn't exactly 72 hours for the baby to turn into a child. It's close to 72 hours, but can vary at least as much as half an hour. I found that the crying pattern of babies seemed different, even when I used the same pattern of "Feed, sing, feed, sing" with them. Apparently, the skills points assigned to the kids is just totally random. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.1 Children and School ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kids have to go to school everyday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Skipping a day will drop their Grade one whole letter (say from A to B, or from B+ to C+). If the child Sim (or SimKid if you will) goes to school everyday in a good mood, their grades will naturally increase. The other way to increase the child's grades is to have them Study. They can study either on a computer or with a book, it makes no difference. After a period of time, they will increase their grades. This period of studying is small for the low grades, and large for the high grades. It's therefore easier to improve from a D to a C than it is from a B to an A. Note: As I noted earlier, you can randomly get §100 gifts from grandparents with an A+. Also with an A+ you don't have the option to study anymore. What would be the point? So what happens if you don't have good grades? Your Sim gets shipped off to a military school! Plus your family has to pay §1000 for tuition (but thankfully you only pay this once, and they never ever bother you again). Tip: Therefore to get rid of any troublesome child (i.e. a lazy one), just let his or her grades slip to an F, and away they go! Apieper sent me this: Regarding the section of kids and getting good grades... I always get $100 for good grades too. I don't think it goes higher, and I'm pretty sure it only happens at the A+ level. And a friend of mine pointed out that studying is optional. Attending school for one day raises your grade by three points (from B- to A-, or from F to D+) and studying raises it one point. So if you go to school every day you don't need to study. I think it's important to add that children are far more likely to cause a mess in the shower or tub than adults. (Ed. Note: Although "Messy" adult Sims will make messes as well) broadstrong sent me this: Apieper's kid tip has an error. Attending school for one day (in a good mood) raises only one grade point (B- to B, B+ to A- etc), so studying at home do helps in grade increase, though it is quite time consuming. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9.2 What Kids Do ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kids are a lot like the Adult Sims, except for the fact that they don't have jobs, and therefore don't need Skill Points. They also never need to gain Friends as it doesn't help them any. (although a parent could use them as an extra agent of socialization) So, once a Kid gets up to an A+ and has satisfied all of her needs, what IS she going to do? Since you aren't trying to get them up the Career Ladder, and getting them good grades is absurdly easy, I would just leave kids alone, and let their free will take them where it will. Tip: Two kids together will almost always start running around Playing together. So if there are other kids in the neighborhood, call them over. Or you could always have a second kid. The following tips come from broadstrong: It is much better to have kids later on than to create them in the Family Screen. Kids (and adults too) created this way can use only 25 bars maximum for personality. Kids born through adoption or birth have more bars available (easily 30+ bars), so it is possible for these kids to have 8+ for two or even three of their personality bars. Too bad they can't grow into adults. Note: I don't think kids will get their personality from parents. For my game, the Jones family (one of those available as Maxis download) are outgoing but very inactive, yet their child (by birth) is an introvert, but quite active. "Play" is just about the best social interaction for kids; it increases Fun and Social motives TO THE MAXIMUM; kids CONTINUE to play even when both motives are full; ANY kid would accept to play, even serious kids; play sufficiently long and relationship will really go up. They do need a large enough amount of space to play, which can exclude some rooms. Joseph Peitler sent me this: Simkids are not a waste of space. They can make a lot of friends for your sim family while adult sims are busy doing other things, such as cooking, working on their skills, or sleeping after work. One thing I noticed is that alarm clocks doesn't go off for the sleeping simkid. Is this a glitch or has this happen to anyone else? Also, since simkid don't "love", they can't go to the bathroom with another sim without being "shooed off" or shooing them off. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10. Everything Else in the Neighborhood ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your house can be burglarized. During the night, the game will slow down to the slow game speed, and a PIP will show the burglar coming your way. If you have alarms, the second he enters the house, the police will be called. But if he's clever, he'll just grab one thing and run, and may get away with it. So if you see a burglar, here's something to try: - Wake up your Sim. - If possible, call the police BEFORE the burglar enters the house to get the police here sooner. - Now here's the fun part, since the burglar runs on the same pathfinding algorithm as the rest of the Sims, you can "bump into" him, and he'll stop cold. So if he's trying to go out the door, and you are in the doorway, he'll have to stop and wait for you to move! Note: Anything stolen by the thief can't be returned to you, but you do get partial reimbursement from the Insurance Company. Plus if he is captured you also get a §1000 reward! Tip: Place burglar alarms on the OUTSIDE of your house, the burglar will be caught before he has a chance to steal anything! Joseph Peitler has this to add about Burlgers: The more sims you have in your family house, the less chance your house would likely be burglarize. One house had 8 sims and after 100 days, their house was broken into only once. While the houses that had 1 to 3 sims got broken into 3-4 times in less than 70 days. broadstrong sent these tips: Tip: Burglars come when everyone present in the house is sleeping, so they come at night. But I had one instance where the burglar came in the MORNING! (It should be noted that that time, the father was away to work, the kids had left for school and the mother was still sleeping) Tip: Burglars TEND TO plunder the less well-to-do households, perhaps thinking that they could not afford the burglar alarm. My Valentino (available as Maxis download) house never got burglarized so far (about 20 days passed by) even though there are only Rudy and Julia inside. Sims who don't know their way around the kitchen, not only cut themselves or burn themselves a lot while making a meal, may also cause a Fire to break out. Once the fire has started, your alarm (if you have one) will go off. If you don't have an alarm, call the Fire Dept. You can try to extinguish the fire yourself, but ... you can die from the flames! The character § can be typed by pressing and holding ALT, then on the number pad pressing 0167. This is the character for "Simoleon" the monetary unit of the Sims. If you want to see something bizarre, check out the Money bag on the CD case, and on the instruction manual. You will see the symbol § on both, but on the CD case, for some reason, it is backward! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.1 Death and Ghosts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Death can come to the Sims in a couple ways. One, they can starve to death. This one is fairly easy to avoid, as when the Hunger bar gets low, it doesn't deplete as fast, and even when it gets to completely red, your Sim won't die. Give it a few days, and they will, however, so get them some food. The other way for them to die is in a fire that they are either trying to extinguish, or merely got caught in. Another way for them to die is to have them Drown in your Swimming Pool. This occurs when they run out of energy in the Pool. This can only happen if you remove the ladder out of the pool while they are swimming, otherwise they'll just get out before they drown. When they die, the Sims leave a Tombstone (you can readily see these by playing the Goth household), and furthermore, they will HAUNT the living! So don't let the Sims die. Another way to kill a Sim would be to stick a fence (or a wall) around him, and wait. I did this once, and it was rather depressing to watch as the Sim first went Insane, then died of hunger. Note: Ghost Sims (or SimGhosts if you will) usually do their haunting at 11 pm. It is random as to whether they will do it or not, but if you have enough graves (see the Goth house) it will probably happen every night! Note: Where the Sim dies determines their "marker". If they die outside, they leave a Tombstone, inside an Urn. The living members of your household then have to "mourn" the marker for 24 hours. That is, of course, after they have finished what they were already doing (so they will watch TV until satisfied, then go mourn). After that you can mourn at your leisure. Death is one of the few ways to get rid of a Sim for Good. So, if you have just plain too many Sims in your family, or you married a Bum or something... Well you get the idea. Although this is HIGHLY amoral! (good thing morality isn't a Need!) Tip: One way to fortune is to marry a bachelor, take all their money, then "bump them off". Two good ways to kill them, wall them up somewhere and let nature take its course, or remove the ladder in a pool. Bloodthirsty, but effective. Maybe you should even name your murderous little Sim the "Black Widow" or something. Well you've had your fun with the Ghost spooking your Sims, and now you want rid of that Ghost. Well you can just sell their Tombstone/Urn for §5, or destroy the house and they'll never pester you again. Or if you like the ghost, but don't like the hauntings, you can just move your bedrooms to the second story since Ghosts can't climb stairs (probably since they'd go right THROUGH the stairs!). Joseph Peitler had this to add: Dead Sim Walking It takes a lot longer to kill a sim by isolate and starve him off then it is to drown him. On a full stomach, it takes 4-5 days for the hunger gauge to reach zero and red and another 1-2 days for him to die from. It is even longer if it is a visiting sim, although I don't know you can actually kill a visiting sim that way (you can drown them). Drowning is quicker, by it doesn't show any devatating effects like screaming or gurgling sounds the way a starving sim before he dies. The most disturbing death of a sim is from a flu by a GPV (Guinea Pig Virus), because even with energy and hunger gauge at halfway, the sim could die when you least expect it. It doesn't matter where a sim dies, if you move he's "death marker" outside, it becomes a tombstone. Move it in a house, it's a urn. But suppose you want the urn outdoor? Place the urn on any desk/table/counter (no end table), then move the table out of the house. Joseph Peitler has this to add: The ghosts come out after every two days, after 11:00 PM (mostly 12AM-1AM) and go back around 6AM or sooner. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10.2 Did you Know? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After 100 days of your Sim living in their house (to check how long they have lived there, click on their money, and in the corner it will say "Days since Move In"), you get the option of getting little messages about the people who made this game. I have included only the first one here (there are a lot of them!), the rest you'll have to see for yourself! Will Wright -- Game Designer Will first thought of "The Sims" shortly after the original SimCity. It took this long for technology to catch up with Will's vision. In the Maxis offices we have a mock-up design for the original idea of The Sims. Though the technology is far more advanced, the actual game does not vary much from this prototype. Will makes wicked Excel sheets, and likes to zip around the Maxis offices on a bright red electric scooter. Fun Fact: Will purchased a couple of real pink flamingo lawn ornaments for the team so we could properly model both the complex 3D shape of the birds and the physics and emotional algorithims needed for kicking them. Joseph Peitler sent in a list of the other "Did you Know" people: 1. Will Wright 2. Rana Ryan 3. Jeff Charvat 4. Charles London 5. James (Jamie) Doornbos 6. Patrick Buechner 7. Chris Trottier 8. Luc Barthelet 9. Patrick J. Barrett 10. Eric "Bo Bo" Bowman 11. Don Hopkins 12. Trevor Perrin 13. Alex Zvenigorodsky 14. Robi Kauker 15. Eric "Chin" Chin 16. Eric "Irk" Hedman 17. Jami Becker 18. Michael "Mike" Lawson 19. Melissa Bachman 20. Timle Tourneau 21. Sean Baity 22. Paul Wilkinson 23. Roxy Wolosenko 24. Claire Curtain 25. Bob King 26. The Sims testing team-guided by Jami, Gabe, and Etienne 27. Jim Mackraz ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11. Cheats & Tricks ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following Cheats come from http://www.gamewinners.com/ To bring up the Console to enter the Cheats into, press CTRL-SHIFT-C. Warning: Try to avoid using the move_objects cheat to delete things like mailboxes and carpools. If you delete a Mailbox, sure you can't get bills, but it screws up the game (in mine Guest Sims could arrive, but couldn't be greeted!!). Also if you delete the carpool, you can't go to work. Ever. Also, if you delete a Sim, they will revert to the state they were in when you last saved it. So if you got a lot of Skills, then delete your Sim, they'll lose all that. I have an idea about how you could get your Mailbox/Carpool back if you deleted them: Import a new house from somewhere (usually http://www.thesims.com/) and install that into the game. That should work. Or you could just uninstall the game then reinstall. I've divided the cheats into two categories, those that I KNOW work, and those that probably don't. Cheats that work: - 1000 Simoleons (unpatched game version) klapaucius - 1000 Simoleons (patched game version & Livin' Large) rosebud - Create moat or streams water_tool - Display personality and interests interests - Move any object move_objects Cheats that probably don't work: - Add new family history stat to the current family hist_add - Appends the route destination list to AllRoutes.txt every time a route is found write_destlist - Architecture tools automatically set the level as needed auto_level - Automatically import and load indicated FAM file import - Automatically load indicated house, no questions asked house - Check and fix required lot objects prepare_lot - Completely flush app to VM file when running Windows NT flush - Crash game crash - Create shrunk_text_#.bmp files shrink_text - Create-a-character mode edit_char - Draw all animation frames disabled draw_all_frames off - Draw all animation frames enabled draw_all_frames on - Draw colored dots at each person's origin draw_origins - Dump entire memory to core_dump_[date:time].txt core_dump - Dump selected person's most recent list of scored interactions to a file dump_happy - Dump selected person's motive contribution curve to a file dump_mc - Enable debug flag to show outcome choice dialogs for social interactions debug_social - End sim logging sim_log end - Execute "file.cht" file as a list of cheats cht - Floorable grid disabled draw_floorable off - Floorable grid enabled draw_floorable on - Force an assert for testing assert - Log animations in the event log window log_animations - Map editor disabled map_edit off - Map editor enabled map_edit on - No tutorial object generation when tutorial house is loaded tutorial off - Prevent web browser crashes browser_failsafe - Preview animations disabled preview_anims off - Preview animations enabled preview_anims on - Programmer stats tile_info - Quit game quit - Read in behavior tuning constants from Tuning.txt #import - Rebuilds entire control panel/UCP from scratch rebuild_cp - Refresh the BMP_ resources for all people whose IFF files are writable refresh_faces - Rematch dependent textures and regenerate bitmaps for all user characters refresh_textures - Restore tutorial restore_tut - Rotate camera rotation <0-3> - Routing debug balloons disabled route_balloons off - Routing debug balloons enabled route_balloons on - Run series of random operations on unhoused families fam_test - Save currently loaded house save - Save family history file history - Say "plugh" plugh - Say "porntipsguzzardo" porntipsguzzardo - Say "xyzzy" xyzzy - Selected person's path displayed draw_routes on - Selected person's path hidden draw_routes off - Set event logging mask log_mask - Set free thinking level autonomy <1-100> - Set game speed sim_speed <-1000-1000> - Set grass change value edit_grass : Set grass growth grow_grass <0-150>, 150 is brown grass - Set lot size lot_size - Set maximum milliseconds to allow simulator sim_limit - Set time of day (unpatched game version) set_hour <1-24> - Set z offset for thought bubbles bubble_tweak - Sets the neighborhood directory to the path - Sets up the borders of the lot with non-editable flag. Requires rotation lot_border
- Sets whether menu items appear for in use objects allow_inuse - Show memory view window in debug builds of the game memview - Start sim logging sim_log begin - Swap the two house files and updates families swap_houses - Ticks disabled sweep off - Ticks enabled sweep on - Tile information displayed tile_info on - Tile information hidden tile_info off - Toggle allowing visitors to be controlled using the keyboard visitor_control - Toggle assets report report_assets - Toggle automatic object reset feature auto_reset - Toggle calls to PeekMessage within sim loop sim_peek - Toggle camera mode cam_mode - Toggle display of unavailable interactions in person control menus all_menus - Toggle music music - Toggle object compression in save file obj_comp - Toggle quaternion transformations quats - Toggle sound log window sound_log - Toggle sounds sound - Toggle web page creation html - Total reload of people skeletons, animations, suits and skins reload_people - Trigger sound event soundevent - Write out an RTE file every time a route is found write_routes - Write out behavior tuning constants to Tuning.txt #export This was sent in by Nancy Beck: I (actually, my son) found 2 quicker ways to make money with the cheat. One is when you are typing all the !;!;! add a wrong symbol at the end and just hold the enter key. It will come up saying no such cheat, but will still add the money. Just back space over the wrong symbol at the end and enter to get rid of the window. Another way is to type klapaucius; ; and just hold the enter key...it too will add all the money. This was sent in by Mandy Falco: Another way to get a bunch of money - after typing the "klapaucius" cheat, *do the "!;!;!;!;!;!;!" except fill up the command line until it starts clicking at you (it should end on an "!".) Now copy what you typed and hit enter. you should get around 130,000 simoleons. Since you copied it now you just keep pasting in your new code and before you know it you will have one simoleon short of 10 million. :) This comes from broadstrong: Water Tool Cheat: The water tool cheat works only in build mode. To remove the water created with this, use Ctrl-click (just as other objects in Build mode). Clicking any Build mode button disables the water tool. ____________ Easter Eggs: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ There is only one easter egg that I know of. Insert the game CD and let the autoplay screen come up. Once it's up, click the Maxis logo in the lower left of the window to open up a picture of Will Wright with Sims crawling all over him. (from Mikey Griffiths) ___________________ Trainers & Editors: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ There is currently only one trainer that I know about, a Money trainer, which can be found here: http://thesims.xtremesimz.com/cheat-description.shtml There is also an Editor for the game, which can change your Sim's Stats, such as their Mechanical Skills, or whatnot: http://people.atl.mediaone.net/jharry/simedsetup.zip Here's another one: http://simed.gameeditors.com/ And another Character Editor here: http://www.geocities.com/tsedit/ And no, I haven't tested any of them, and therefore know very little about them. _______ Tricks: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ The old "Marry them for their Money" trick: One way to get a bunch of money is to get the last person of a household to marry into your family. Then they bring over all the money they had, plus the money they got from selling their house. So, what you should do is to simply create a Sim, put him in a cheap house (a Wall with a Phone will be sufficient!) and then wait for your Family of Sims to come by. Once he has met them, switch back to that Family and begin the process to get him (or her) married into the family. You can do this as often as you want, until your family is up to 8 members. The old "Use it then return it" trick: If you buy something, and decide that you don't really want it, then as long as you get rid of it (in Furnish mode, click on it then press DEL) the same day as you bought it, you'll get the full money back. Great for getting rid of those impulse buys. Also useful if you want to buy a computer for the purposes of Job Hunting, but don't need a computer just yet. The old "Use it while it's being repossessed" trick: If you manage to use an object at the same time as it is being repossessed, you will get money for that object, as if you had sold it. It sure beats just LOSING the item! The old "Job Switching" Trick: Many career paths use similar skills. For example, both law enforcement, and military require much the same thing (Crime as well). So if you want to suddenly... switch careers you will be able to jump up another career ladder quite easily! And at each promotion you will be given a Bonus... You can see where I'm going with this. So switching careers MAY be quite beneficial! The following tricks come to us from Kyrre Aalerud: 1: A little trick to get rid of garbage: Throw the garbage-can away! This actually works! If the garbage-can is new, then you will get §30 for it, and a new one costs the same! 2: Also, I couldn't find anything about getting rid of children... I only know of this way: have them do lousy at school, or not go at all. This will send them to military school and out of your hair. Killing everyone in the neighborhood (for Sadists, I suppose) by Dan Vernon: If you are a real sadist, and you want to kill off an entire Sim neighbourhood, read this. For maximum effect, have a family of 8. Buy a brand new lot, and build a house with a 3-4 tile gap all the way around it. Build a swimming pool all around (use klapaucius if the money's getting short) and put a diving boardgoing in (from pavement to pool) and a ladder coming out (pool to front door). Get all your family inside and wait for the neighbours to arrive... They'll dive in and come inside, socialize with your Sims and then when they want to go home, attempt to leave. This is where it gets fun! The neighbours will swim around until they've run out of energy, and then, they will DROWN! Repeat until entire neighbourhood dies (try all this after making a large neighbourhood that went wrong). Then put all but one (an adult) of the house Sims into the pool and sell the ladder! Watch them all drown and then, using the move_objects cheat, move all the tombstones into the lonely Sims bedroom. Then make a space for him to get out (to go to work) and wait for 11 pm! There are sometimes several ghosts (it's very odd when they try to swim underneath furniture!) in the night and they howl and wake up Sims (which is the downside of this really....). Empty Trash Can Trick, from Broadstrong: When the trash can is full, empty it, then cancel the action. There will be a pile of mess around the Sim. Click on the pile and select "Clean Up". The Sim throws the trash back nito the trash can, but the trash can IS NOT FULL! (or you could just try the Trick in the next section) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.1 Deleting Trash (and Bills too!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Following Trick comes from Shyguy982: I always find it hard to juggle keeping my Sims happy, socializing, and cleaning. Well, I solved the cleaning agenda, which made it a whole lot easier for me to concentrate on the other aspects of the game. While in purchase mode, you can pick up dishes. On the bottom of the screen it says they can't be sold or deleted. Which is false. In order to dispose of these nuisances in a timely fashion, simply pick it up, place it over another object such as a plant or couch. Somewhere it cannot be placed onto. Then simply hit the escape key while it's hovering over the object. Bingo! Gone for good. It makes cleaning your house a snap, and it gives you extra time to do whatever needs be. Also, this trick works on bills too! Yes, you can hover them over other objects, and hit escape, thus deleting your bills in the process. And don't worry, they don't come back to haunt you. I've played for several months without having paid a bill, and never had a thing repossessed! I hope you can pass along this info. It's a terribly sneaky cheat, but it makes things a whole lot easier. And please give credit, it you decide to post it on your FAQ. Thank you, and if ya can give me an email, and let me know if they worked as well for you as they have for me. Thanks. Editor's Note: This Cheat does NOT work once Livin' Large is installed! If you try to delete something with LL installed, the Bill will simply reset to where you picked it up from. There is still the 'move_objects on' method of deleting bills, however. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.2 Paying only Every Other Bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I found the following cheat at http://strategyshrine.gamereactor.net/ Paying the Bills Simply keep a bill, unpaid, until the mail carrier delivers the next set. When your flag is up (your mailbox being full of-- what else, more bills), pay the first one (i.e., bring it out to the mailbox.) When you do this, the newer bills disappear. Using this cheat, you will only have to pay every other bill, instead of every one. (sent in by Jesper Thiesen) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.3 The Newbie Trick ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, we all remember the Newbies, those crazy cats from the Tutorial. But there is a really neat little trick that one can do with them, if one pays attention. Here's the crux of the trick: While the tutorial is going, the Newbies Needs drop very very slowly. In other words, you can safely ignore most everything and have them do whatever you please. This works ONLY SO LONG AS THE TUTORIAL is running, and stops once the tutorial does. So as soon as Betty Newbie pops in, do no more of the tutorial. But what will one do with these Newbies? Build their skills! And since their Needs don't fall (well, not exactly, check the following NOTE), you can build skills at the Ultra Speed to get them up to perfect skills. Note: Although Needs don't drop on their own, they will drop if you start exercising, or while at work. However, this drop is considerably smaller than what one would experience by just normally standing around the house, and can be eliminated quickly by a quick nap, sleeping in a bed, or by Coffee/Espresso. Using this trick, one can quickly get some Super Newbies! Mandy Falco sent me this: "When you are cheating the Newbie mode to max out all your skills be aware that it takes about 24 sim hours for your sims to regain all their energy back." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.4 Washing Dishes Faster ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh sure, you COULD just delete the dishes (see the above trick), but suppose you don't want to, there is a way to just do the dishes a little faster. Mandy Falco sent me this: "Washing dishes faster - as soon as your sim starts washing dishes tell him to quit or make him do something else and the dishes disappear." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.5 Deleting your Characters, and resetting their Mood ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may have noticed that any time you move your Sims into a new house, their Mood is set at a default level, which has most Needs at full green, except for a couple (such as Fun) which are only down a little. What use is this? Well, first off, any time you move your Sims into a new house, their Mood resets to the default level. So if you feel like getting full energy without the work, just move them into a new house. But there is an easier way. Before doing this, save your game (see the warning below) Use the move_objects cheat, and go into the Furnish mode. Now select your Sim, and press delete. Your Sim will be pulled out of the game. Now go back to Live mode, and click on your Sim's portrait to bring her back. Warning: Your Sim will essentially be loaded out of your last save game, so all her stats will be what they were when you last saved it, so before you delete your Sim, SAVE THE GAME!! Now you have your stats back, and no time has passed! If you don't gain any stats since you saved last, don't bother saving, it won't help you any. Note: Relationships are not effected by this trick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.6 How to Max out all the Personality Stats ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section is from http://geocities.com/simdiscussion/index.html How to create max stats and skills: To max out skills, you need to do 2 things first, backup your Neighborhood file and get a Hex Editor (I used Cygnus which I downloaded from softseek.com). Now go into the Characters folder and there should be files names userXXXXX (on a side note you can rearrange which families and houses certain sims are in by altering these files, thus you can instantly move a sim from one family to another), open a userXXXXX file in notepad and scroll to the bottom, the name of the sim should be there somewhere, make note of which sim is associated with which userXXXXX. Now open up your Neighborhood file in the Hex Editor, use the find feature to locate userXXXXX (whichever you want to alter) in the file, once you find it select it and everything for a few lines after, making sure the selection starts right before the 'u' in userXXXXX. Now cut this section out and paste it into a new blank file, if you notice it counts of by tens on the left: 00000000 00000010 00000020 ect. Thus on row 2 (00000010) the sets of two characters are numbered 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F. Ok you need to alter pairs of these to E8 03, and the pairs are NEAT: 16 17 OUTGOING: 18 19 ACTIVE: 1C 1D PLAYFULL: 1E 1F NICE: 20 21, and for skills COOKING: 26 27 MECHANICAL: 28 29 CHARISMA: 2A 2B BODY: 30 31 LOGIC: 34 35 CREATIVITY: 36 37. After you are finished altering the file insert it back into the neighborhood file exactly where you took it out. Save the file and that's about it. There is an Editor that will do this for you, check out the Cheats section above. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.7 Starting a Sim with random Job Stats ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's an odd trick to try. (modified from http://go.to/simuniverse/) Create a new family at the neighborhood level. Now create a SimKid, choose his stats, but don't bother with the skin, and click "Done" on the Kid. Now click the Edit button for the Kid, and change him from a Kid to an Adult. You can change the skin all you want, but I think that you can't change the stats. Now when you play this family, you have to click this Sim's portrait to make him appear, and once he does, he will already have several Stats filled in randomly. Mine had about 8 Charisma, 2 Cooking, etc. A neat little trick to try! Note: This Sim will also be considered to have a "job", but this job gives you no money, so you probably will not want to keep it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.8 Speeding up your Sim ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section is pretty much from broadstrong. Here's how to Speed up/Slow Down a Sim: Holding the mouse pointer over a CONTROLLED Sim speeds his movement. Holding it over an UNCONTROLLED Sim slows him down. And here are some strategies that utilize this trick: a) Speed up the Sim to save time. This is especially crucial for long-distance walking, getting to work on time, skills training (body for example) or non-active Sims who seem to walk slower. b) Slow down the Sim, not to waste time, but to help the other Sim get a desired interaction (social or itemwise), avoid "jealousy" (and the awful trumpet sound) and hence lowered Relationship scores, and more importantly (for me), to avoid collisions of the Sims or blockage of doorways. c) Slow down the burglar so that he is captured before stealing anything! Yes, I have tried it and it works (I must admit it is very cheap though)! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.9 Better Personality through Chemistry (Livin' Large ONLY) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is also discussed in a TIP in the Chemistry Set section above. The Chemistry Set has 8 distinct potions that can be created on it. Some help you, some turn you into monsters, and the YELLOW one flips your Sim's personality. This leads to one of the spiffiest new tricks in Livin' Large. 1.) Create a Sim, but give her NO PERSONALITY AT ALL. That's right, not one point spent on anything. No nice, no neat, nothing! 2.) Move this Sim into a vacant lot/house, and buy a Chemistry Set. Now have her [Make Potion] until she comes up with a Yellow potion. This could take a LONG time. My Sim got 8 Logic points before making a Yellow potion. 3.) Drink the Yellow potion, and your Sim will go from having NO PERSONALITY, to have the ULTIMATE PERSONALITY. That's right, full 10's in every category! Sweet! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.10 Sell the Rocket Explosion ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Alex Pinkney: My friend Ben discovered a way to make huge amounts of money, taking next to no time, and having fun at the same time. Buy the fireworks, and launch a rocket. Wait until you can see the rocket coming downwards. Go into buy mode and you can sell the rocket/explosion for §2300!!! This method is guilt free because you don't even need to use the move_objects cheat! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12. Customizing Your Game ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Within these next couple of subsections are the various ways that you can customize The Sims, including the Nude Patch. (heh) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.1 Changing the Radio Station Music ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Changing the Radio Station Music: (from http://www.thesims.com/) In case you were wondering, you CAN have the Sims listen to YOUR music, rather than the default music. Go to: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\Music\Stations And you will see 4 folders: Rock, Country, Latin, and Classica (not Classical, just Classica). Now place any MP3 or shortcut to an MP3 in these folders and that song will play when they play the radio! And, no you can't add new stations. You can, however, add as many songs as you want to each station. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.2 Skins ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can download Skins for your Sims (think different outfits and heads) at almost any of the Websites listed below in the Final Words... section. If you are interested in creating your own Skins, I would suggest this link: http://www.simzonline.com/features/19990602/ Located at http://www.simzonline.com/ this feature is a comprehensive look at how you can create your own skins. I would also recommend downloading several other programs from http://www.thesims.com/, such as FaceLift and SimShow. FaceLift: http://www.thesims.com/us/getcool/faces/index.html SimShow: http://www.thesims.com/us/getcool/skins/index.html There are other programs at the official site, which you may be interested in. broadstrong sent me this: Besides the obvious skins in the game, these things are skins too, namely:- (a) Blanket and milk bottle for the baby (b) Costume for the toydoll (toydoll from the toybox) (c) Paint for the toycar (toycar also from toybox) (d) Wrapping Paper for the gift (under "Give Gift" option) However, by default, all these are green. Coasters (http://members.xoom.com/CoastersSims/) and SIMply Dariene (http://members.xoom.com/baschdar1/simdex.html) (two very good fan sites I recommend) have the customized skins for all these stuff. (Latest: Coasters got more new stuff) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.2.1 The "Nude" Patch ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well somebody finally got around to getting around the pixellated censoring that occurs whenever your Sim does something "naughty" (such as going to the bathroom). It should be noted that this isn't anything great as Maxis never really intended for the Sims to be seen in the buff, and therefore they didn't put any detail into it. You can find the patch at any of these sites: http://superturbo.com/sims/ http://www.game-revolution.com/download/sims_nude.htm http://www.adultgamereviews.com/sims_adult_patch.zip All the instructions that you will need are in the ZIP file on that site. What you do when you get it is to unzip it, and place the files in your SKINS directory, which is probably something like: C:\Program Files\Maxis\The Sims\UserData\Skins Note: This does NOT work for children, and furthermore, it is not anything that would be considered "pornographic." In other words, you don't really get to "see" anything. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.3 Setting up Multiple Neighborhoods ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I vaguely covered this in the FAQ for a few versions, and decided it needed its own section. There are actually two ways to do this. One is the Do-It-Yourself method, and the other is the Download-A-Program method. The first method is really simple. This is best done BEFORE you have done any work on your neighborhood! In your Game Directory (which is probably c:\program files\maxis\thesims\) is a directory called UserData. Right Click on this, and select COPY. Now go back out to the Maxis directory, and do a CTRL-V to paste (or click the Edit menu and choose Paste, also you can place this directory anywhere). You now have a copy of your neighborhood. Now rename the folder to UserData2 and move it back to TheSims directory. Now to switch between neighborhoods, simply rename UserData to UserData1 and UserData2 to UserData. The second method is to download this program: (Neighborhood Watch) http://www.simzonline.com/files/tools/neighborhoodwatch.zip and run it! This file is from http://www.simzonline.com/ a great site for your Simming needs. This method is NOT recommended for use if you have any of the Expansion Packs. See the section above for Hot Date (or the Sims: Hot Date readme file) for information on setting up more neighborhoods. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.4 Download Surprises (thanks to Joseph Peitler) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is the list of all the current downloads: (http://www.thesims.com/) Cuckoo Clock Moose Head Decoration 5 New Skins 5 New Houses Wall Lights Slot Machine Guinea Pig (Pet) New Plants New "Physical" Skins "Elwood" Skin MTV Skins (which includes "Elwood") Topiaries (Hedge Animals and such) Flowerbeds Jukebox The White House Two New Trashcans Glowing Flamingo Wall Light AND A complete Game upgrade to The Sims version 1.1! What you may not know is that some of these downloads are not all that they appear to be, some have Trojan Horses in them. No, not computer viruses that could kill your computer, but rather they have other game effects that you may not be aware of. Here is a list of all the hidden effects that I know of: (some info here is from broadstrong) Slot Machine -- carries a mini-patch on it that fixes some bugs. If you want to keep all of the cheats intact (such as the set_hour cheat) then install this instead. It isn't as complete, but should help. Also, has a hidden money cheat (or money spinner, maybe). Play it when fun is low; there is a greater chance to win! Great especially when the bid is 100 Simoleons. Guinea Pig -- The worst one of all, this one carries with it the PLAGUE. Literally, this Guinea Pig comes complete with a Virus. There are two things that can make a Sim sick. One is when you don't keep the cage clean and when the Sim plays with it and gets bitten. Keeping the cage is easy, especially if you have a maid, because she can clean it for you. If your Sim gets bitten once when the cage is clean, it will have no effect. However, if he gets bitten more than once, even when the cage is clean, the Sims will get sick. The more bites the Sim gets, the sooner he gets sick, the longer the sickness remains and the more chances your Sim will die. After bitten, the Sim might get sick around 1 or 2 days. However, if he comes accross a sick Sim and catches it, he will get sick in less of a day. Especially if he got bitten before then. In order to avoid all this don't buy the guina pig, unless you are really tired of your Sims. If you wish to buy it, here are a few warnings: keep the cage clean and don't play with it so much. The more you play with it, the more chances of getting bitten. If the Sim does get sick, isolate him in room immediately, so he won't walk around. (from Joseph Peitler) One thing about the guinea pig -- the best (or maybe only) time to play with it is when it is awake, otherwise it will bite the Sim (but of course, which animal or human likes to be awakened rudely?). (from broadstrong) Moose Head -- This one isn't so bad. The antlers on the moose head will "droop" depending on the total "family mood" of the house. So if everyone is feeling bad, the anters will droop quite a bit. Cuckoo Clock -- it "cuckoos" at 12am, 6am, 12pm and 6 pm, waking up adults, and only adults, in the room. Since it sounds at 6am, it can be used as an alarm clock (but I never tried it because I never used the alarm clock). Party Balloons -- No doubt they will attract all your neighbours and start a party, but as time goes, the balloons will burst, leaving a pile of mess that brings the Room rating straight down, and gives work for someone (maid or Sim) to do. But I see from somewhere that the mess can be sold! Not confirmed though. Topiary/Coped Flowers -- The topiaries and coped flowers have a flower bed, which may act as a pathblock. Sims bumping into it will stop short and pause before moving on (just like Sims bumping into other Sims). This is time-wasting and energy zapping. (broadstrong) Turkey Dinner -- Sims from all over the neighborhood flock to your house to partake of the feast. Yet often, they ignore the turkey and won't eat it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.5 Playing Without the Sims CD ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are likely several very good reasons why you might want the Sims game CD to be out. Maybe you don't like swapping in CD's all the time, or maybe you are on a computer that doesn't have a CD-ROM (such as a laptop where you have to swap devices in and out). I'm not here to judge! Anyway, here's a site that offers a new Sims.exe for those of you who don't want to have your game CD in all the time: http://sgn.simgames.net/thesims/addons/ (link dead, no other links found) Warning: If you use this "altered" EXE file, you will likely end out unable to install Livin' Large properly. When you get Livin' Large you will then have to uninstall the game, then reinstall it before you can put in the Add-On. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.6 Creating your own Objects ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Everyone wants to be able to create their own objects, maybe a new couch, or a new fridge. An ultimate TV perhaps, that has more than 3 channels. Well, there are a couple of Editors that allow just that. Warning: These editors can cause havoc with your game! There have been reports where objects created with these editors cause the game to crash, burn and other nasty things. That said, enjoy! The first Editor is Blueprint by Bil Simser: http://www.simbabes.com/blueprint/ And the second Editor is SimTransmogrifier by Don Hopkins: http://www.simzonline.com/thesims/files/tools/simtransmogrifier.exe Maxis has also released a tool to create custom wall paintings (in case you don't like that sad clown) called the Art Studio: http://www.simzonline.com/thesims/files/tools/artstudio.exe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 12.7 Custom Interface Graphics ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.stas.net/frankensim/sanctum/extras.html This is the only site I know of that has new Interface Graphics for The Sims and Livin' Large. Not only does it have replacement graphics (to get rid of that Blue interface), but it also has instructions on making your own interfaces. Also there are new start up screens for Livin' Large. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13. Known Bugs ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Apieper sent me these: Repairmen can't walk up or down hills to repair things, only to repossess things. So if your entire house is elevated below or above the sidewalk (I know one lot starts out like this, lot 2 I believe), and you call a repairman, they will just stand in place for 8 hours, bill you, and leave. If a sim "Sam" is watching TV on a couch, and another sim "Stanley " tries to interact with them, then Stanley will simply stand in front of Sam waiting for Sam to stop watching TV. However, Sam will be blocked from standing up, because Stanley is standing in front of them. Even if you cancel Stanley's "interact with Sam" action, Stanley won't be able to move. They will be stuck doing nothing for a few hours - possibly missing work, or urinating on themselves. Similarly, if a Sim, "Escher" is painting and another sim "Dopey" is standing behind him trying to interact with him, Dopey will block Escher again. However, this time Escher will be able to stop painting, and he will occupy the same square as Dopey, so that neither of them can move under any condition. The only way to resolve this situation is to evict everyone in the home. Not done yet! If you have guests, and they are swimming in your pool, you can't ask them to leave, or even to stop swimming. They will swim and swim and swim, sometimes until they just climb out of the pool and collapse in front of the pool ladder. If there are any sims in the swimming pool when the pool ladder is blocked, they will all die. If you have an angled wall on top of a carpet, you can't remove the carpet without removing the wall. Oh! And a HUGE glitch. If you delete any picture in a scrapbook, then the caption for the picture is automatically overwritten. So overall, the sims isn't a very glitchy game as long as you avoid having houses with any hills, couches, chairs, paint sets, and don't use your photo album. _______________ The "Twins Bug" ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Catty Burton sent me this: I've got something really weird to tell you, and hopefully we will be able to solve this problem I have. I decided to have a baby, after having one already. When the baby changes into a Sim kid, there are TWO of them! Weird, but it gets stranger. One is a real person, that you can control and make do things. But the other, acts like a guest and you can't make him do anything or interact with him (nothing happens when I click on him). The twins can even interact with each other, and the Friendships signs come up (though the other twin isn't in the relationship bar). This has happened almost every time I give birth to a baby (because I start back from a saved game), is this a glitch? I'm going to experiment with this, see what happens when the controlled sim is sent to military school or dies. I'll give you a report on that. And this kid, he's a Cancer, but when he was born, he has nothing on his personality. I mean nothing, no blue slots, and he is the worst of every category. Isn't there some way you can use those 25 personality points? Knowla sent me this: Catty Burton was published on your faq (thanks for all the info by the way) saying that she experienced having twins every time the sims had babies. I had that problem too, it's always with the little wizard kids for my game. Anyway all I had to do was evict the family from the house and when I moved them back in, the two kids were re-loaded and became "as one" again. Be careful though, because sometimes when you move the family out, and you move back in the game automatically sells all your furniture and you have to do that over again. moonshine sent me this: I also play The Sims and happen to have downloaded your Walkthrough. It was the greatest! I wrote to you regarding one of the known bugs you featured in the walkthrough, the one sent by Catty Burton. The same thing happened with me: I was playing the Snooty Patooty family (downloaded from http://www.thesims.com) and as I was painstakingly taking care of the baby, the weirdest thing happened. A boy appeared on my front lawn, just before the baby cradle turned into a boy, who happened to look exactly like the one who appeared by the front lawn. The boy from the lawn behaved like a guest, only I couldn't ask him to leave. I was able to control the other Simkid though. Like Catty's case, the kid had no personality stats (nice, playful, etc.). Since I read about it in your walkthough, I decided to conduct an experiment of my own. I walled-off the "guest Simkid" but I let the other one live on. The game became annoying since the walled-off kid constantly tried to play and talk with its twin. I had to cancel all his attempts since I was trying to get rid of him. Then, I quit the game and restarted it again. The weirdest thing happened! The walled-off Simkid and its twin somehow traded roles - the walled-off Simkid was the one who could be controlled while the other Simkid acted like a visitor. I decided to go out of the game again (always saved it before quitting) and reload the game. This time, both traded roles AND moods. The free Sim now had the all-red mood. I decided then to kill off both of the Simkids...I made the free Simkid (this time he no longer behaved like a guest) swim and removed the ladders afterwards. When he drowned, the walled-off kid was still there! I decided, for the last time, to save the game, exit it, then come back once more. At that point, the walled-off Simkid had also disappeared. And moonshine also sent this: I downloaded a house from http://www.mallofthesims.com (from Seth Nickerson's Olympian Architecture) -- it's a house for lot 3 (greek estate). I was able to create a family and moved them in. While I was playing my new family, some neighbors came by but since the house was a bit too big, it took forever for my stay-home sim to get to the door and greet the visiting Sim. Before I was able to do so, they have already left. At 3PM, the working Sim and the kids came back from work and school and I was startled that the carpool and school bus kept on honking their horns (like how they are in the morning while waiting for the sims to catch their rides). I paused my game and saw two of those sims who earlier visited the house stuck at the edge of the lot. Eventually Jeff Pleasant moved to let the carpool and school bus pass. I tried to greet the sims but for some unexplanable reason, I couldn't. There came a point that the help screen flashed the message Jeff Pleasant is hungry...is going home...but he just wouldn't go away. Then out of nowhere, Montgomery Goth appears and my sim was able to talk to him. When I asked him to leave, he said goodbye but wasn't able to go home. || ________________ || / \ || /_ _\ || | | || |______________| ||XX (they got stuck here!) ===================================================== If you know anything about this (solution and stuff), please tell me about it. I also heard that a friend of mine encountered the same problem (in her game, 7 sims got stuck in the same place!) but I'm not sure if this also happened in lot 3. broadstrong had this to say about that: How far was the house from the roadside pavement? If the house is VERY NEAR (two squares or less, with pillars, fences etc in between), visitors can get stuck even at the doorway or at pavements. Maximus house (Maxis download) is one very fine example. That's why it is better to leave three or four squares apart, and don't place too many things at the frontside (basically, don't create a front porch unless you have enough space for one). broadstrong had more to say about the Twins Bug: About the twin bug, I also encountered it! It happened in the Hatfield house (another Maxis download). That time, the crib was in the kids' bedroom, and Jeff Pleasant, an invited guest, was nearing the doorstep. At 5 pm, after Billy Hatfield had fed the baby and put her back into the crib (but I know the baby was not asleep), a SimGirl appeared in the room! I could not recall if I saw twins, or whether I paused the game before the "other twin" can appear, but I checked that that SimGirl had NO BLUE BARS for personality (on seeing that, I felt somewhat chilly)! I reloaded the house (without saving), and this time the crib was in the living room, no guest was invited, and by the time Billy fed the baby, it was not yet 5 pm and he gets to sing to the baby. After singing, the baby-to-kid animation went on as usual, and now the family has a normal kid (except that she has no outgoing bars, but the bars were well distributed in the other four personalities). As said, there were three differences between these two cases:- (1) The crib was in the living room the second time but it was in the kids' bedroom (not the first room) initially. (2) There were no guests, as opposed to Jeff Pleasant visiting. (3) The baby was still awake when the "twin" appeared, but seems to be well tended the secong time round. I don't know if these differences matter in the appearing of the "twin", but it can't be mere coincidence, can it? It also seems that playing with the baby too often can lead to this, because "Play" leaves a lag time of an hour or so before the baby cries (if it is effective). Joseph Peitler sent me this: Here are three glitches I recently saw: This one is similar to the ones Aaron Pieper described, but not as bad. Sim"Jim" was working out, while the visit sim "Tim" was walking towards him, to speak to him. I cancelled Jim workout order, but not before Tim was standing over him, blocking the workbench exit. You know the character finishes his workout, his arms drops and he says "WHEW!" Well, Jim was doing that 5 times before Tim moved away to a distance. He was a visitor, so I couldn't control him at that time. 2. One of the floor lamps burned out, so I made my character call the repairman. He came over, touch the lamp and got electrocuted. Thanks for the patch, he didn't die (there is a joke in there, somewhere). He finish it and went on as usual. It was funny seeing him light up like a Christmas tree, though. Eric Chapman had this to add: "Hey, I was reading your FAQ and saw the note about the repairman being electrocuted and not dying after the patch. Well, it happened to me BEFORE I patched. And yes, he died. The photobook entry says "NPC Repairman has been electrocuted" and now whenever I call for a repairman, his ghost shows up! This is a GOOD thing! Why? Cause he can still fix things just like before, but because he's a ghost, he can walk through walls, people, whatever to get to the broken item. He just shows up, makes a quick bee-line to the broken item, fixes it, and makes another straight line through the walls and furniture back out. This saves money too, if you have alot of repairs to do in a crowded house, as less time is spent wandering around trying to get from point to point." 3. I have 8 sims in a household. One works at night. Four starts work at 8, the last three at 9. When 8 o'clock carpool arrived, the four got to work with no problems and the work pictures showed up on their face photos. When the 9 o'clock carpool arrived, the first one went at 9:30, the second one at 9:45. I had trouble getting the third one out of the swimming pool (It seems that I had to click on the "get out" order before the "go to work" order, because she kept swimming and swimming, ignoring the "go to work" order). By the time she went towards the car, it was 10:10, the car went off. When that happened, ALL OF THE SIX PEOPLE WHO WENT TO WORK MAGICALLY APPEARED IN THE READING ROOM OF THE HOUSE WITH THEIR WORK PICTURES GONE. This is not the first time it happened. It seems that whenever any one sim misses work, the other sims who work the same or close to it job time, who is already at work appears back home. This also happens to my other 2 sims in a different house (in the bathroom, this time), but not as much as the 8. I got the version 1.1 patch when this happened. The bad news is those 6 sims won't get paid, even though they went to work. If this happens again, I'll see if I can make them miss work the next day to see if they get fired. See if I can make them miss work twice and not get fired using this glitch. An update to the glitch about 8 sims going to work and suddenly appearing back in the house. This mostly happens when a sim is already in his work clothes and misses his car pool. The car will stay there until around 10 minutes after the departure hour (even a bit longer if the sim is already on the street and on command to "go to work"). Also, If the sim get delayed or "bumped" into standing still, delaying him from going to the car, the car will leave. If he still has the command, he will go to the street where the car was and then disappears. Then, he will reappear back in the house in his regular clothes, If he was wearing work clothes at that time. This also happens if you sent your sims to work, then save within a "sim" hour and went into another house, where they ask one of the working sims to move in or purpose and he said yes. When you go back to the working sims' house, you would find that all the working sims appear in a room except for that one sim that moved out. Mark Hissett sent me these: Some possible bugs (I think). After a fire this one girl I had, she cleaned some dirty dishes with flies. Next thing I know, she has flies circling around her. Her hygiene bar is about 75% green, and they still don't come off after a shower. I don't believe they ever did leave her. In the buy or build modes, you can move dishes and such. If you take the brownies someone has brought over (I am not sure if it works for all food items) and place it under the fridge, it will actually go into the fridge, when you move the fridge, the food moves with it. One problem this causes, is that you can't make meals or anything. You can eat the food, as well as take it out. It is quite the problem when 3 or 4 dishes are under there and they have to wash them. One thing I am unsure of is if the food goes rotten. I don't recall any flies in the fridge, but they dishes were not in there long anyway. It would be cool if the food lasted that way. I will have to see if it works for meals, so they last longer than 6 or 8 hours. Headless Sims This happened to me once, and apparantly happened so someone else as well (Ashley Baker). What happened is I had Betty Newbie move in with another one of my families, which already had someone with that head. Nothing happened until I saved it, left, and came back later. Then her portrait at the bottom of the screen was just black. No more picture of her, just a black square. This happened to Ashley as well, but with the Pleasants: "I have got the 'plesant' family (comes with the game), in a house. I don't know why, but the 'man' (forgot his name) of the family has no head, when you choose the family member, nor when you chose what house in the neighborhood screen. I have not deleted anything from the skins folder. His head appears to be normal, when 'playing' the game (when you can see all of the body, in the main 'bit' of the game). Weird!" Pathfinding Follies from broadstrong: Sims will take routes with the least doors, so between a short-cut through the house and a long way around the house (for example from backyard to frontyard), the Sim will choose the latter! Also Sims rather prefer to walk on pathways than bare grassland. Sims would rather walk in an L-shape manner than to walk diagonally (but the diagonal route is shorter!). Both actions can really waste a lot of time and energy. As an illustration, Maximus house has a layout something like this (only partially shown):- ------------ | | | | R | | O | | A | -d----------- D | SSSS | D ROOM | ------------------------- Legend: D- main door (facing road) d- door (not facing road), SSSS- stairs --- & | are walls Note: Pavement all around the house Q: If a visitor rings the bell at main door and a Maximus had gone down the stairs, will he go to the main door directly through the room to greet the visitor? A: NO! (Surprised?) The Maximus will go out from the other door (door d), and WALK ALONG THE HOUSE (up-left-down in this case) to reach at main door and greet visitor then (Visitor could have left by then). I think it's because the Sim would rather walk on the pavement than on the indoor floor. Sims only care about the "best possible" path without caring if other Sims are in the way. So to be safe, leave TWO squares (three for really paranoid players) free around any object, structure (whatever thing) for walking, and for objects that don't have social interaction, place them by the wall. Only objects having social interaction (playhouse, pool table etc.) needs to be placed in free space. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 14. Getting the Most from The Sims ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This section is devoted to getting more gameplay out of The Sims, an excellent game, but one that people can get bored of after awhile. Why? Because there's no way to win, and only so many things to do. But with a few of these ideas, you'll be able to play this excellent game forever. 1. Don't cheat! Cheating takes out the challenge from the game, which can drastically decrease the amount of long term enjoyment that you will get from The Sims. 2. Do the complete opposite of what you normally do. If you created a male Sim, create a female. If you did a Bachelor, do 3 or 4 Sims to start with. Be creative in how you build your house. Make it a giant Octagon with doors everywhere, or a triangle with no doors at all. If you created an Outgoing Neat Sim, create an Active Nice Sim. Or maybe you could try making the Old Coot Sim, who has NO STATS WHATSOEVER! How's that for a challenge? Just TRY to have him make a few friends! The possiblities are endless, play around with it a little! Don't just play to succeed, play for the fun of it. 3. Watch someone else play. Let your little sister try her hand at a the game. Not only will you be watching virtual people, but you'll be watching someone else watching virtual people! How existential is that? Then have your Sims interact with your Sisters seems and see how they get along. 4. Don't play to succeed. Fail. Watch your Sims run around without your supervision, see how far they get. Keep them unemployed and watch the bills pile up. Let the Repo man come. Let your Sim die if you want, just don't enjoy it or anything, that would be sadistic. 5. Don't cheat! Cheating is great when you just want to mess around, but when you use it in order to buy the best of everything, you get tired of the game quicker. If you have to actually work to get those things, you'll value it more than if you just cheated to get it. And if you are going to cheat, don't give yourself too much money, or you'll take out most of the fun of the game. I'm serious! A lot of this game involves working for money, and if you don't need money for anything, you've just rendered a lot of the game pointless. So don't cheat, if you do, you'll feel cheap in the morning. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 15. Wish List ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here are just some ideas for what should/must be included in any further expansion or sequel for The Sims. If you have your own Wishes, just email them in. 1. Ability to take your Sims out of their house. This could be to go to a store (perhaps you actually have to go pick out your furniture?), to another Sim's house, or to work. In any case, these would add a lot of new depth to the game. And potentially unbalance the game and make it less fun, but hey, I'm not a game designer, I'm sure they could work around that. DONE. Hot Date and Vacation allow your Sim to head to Downtown and on Vacation respectively. 2. More Careers, and which Job you have carries over into your Sim's daily life. Yeah, we need more jobs. How about the Computer Nerd career track? Start out as a lowly data entry geek, and work up to some sort of Bill Gates figure. Furthermore, your job should affect your Sim's life in more ways than just their hours, and pay. For example, if you have a Law Enforcement Sim, and your house is getting burglarized, your Cop Sim could arrest the criminal. Or you had a criminal Sim, and a Cop Sim living together, they wouldn't get along so well. You get the idea. 3. More things to do with houses. Third stories, basements, secret tunnels (to the batcave!), whatever. Or maybe even "alternative" houses, such as Oriental Style, Ancient Style, Caves, Huts, and whatnot. 4. Ditch the carpool, get your Sim their own car! Think of how this game would be expanded if you could build your own garage, and put in it, your very own car! You'd have to make payments on the car for a certain amount of time, and then the car would be yours. (Or it could be bought outright like furniture) Then when you went to work, you'd just take out the family car, and drive off to work under your own power. 5. More types of social interactions. How about two Sims being able to talk while on the couch, not watching TV or anything, just sitting and talking. Or maybe making out on the couch. Or how about large conversations? Three or four people having an animated discussion on politics (not in a hot tub, just them talking). DONE. As of Hot Date, if you put two Sims on a couch (watching TV or just sitting) and they'll talk. You can even have them Cuddle if you want. 6. Aging! Yes, babies grow up to be kids, but why not kids to adults? Or adults into old people? Think of the logistics of having to take care of a feeble old man! As things stand now, there just isn't enough for kids to do, and getting them to become adults, would help things out immeasurably. Maybe they should go to college for awhile, then when they come back, they're all grown up. (like on TV where a character leaves for awhile) 7. Treat clothes as separate objects. This would require you to have a utility room (or hire a laundry service). Old clothes would lie scattered on the floor like garbage and neat Sims would groan and pick up dirty clothes and put them into the hamper. Sims would need to "change" clothes to keep their hygiene level good just like actual people. They would need to pick up dirty clothes to keep their room scores high (add this to the list of chores for the maid). An ambitious programmer at Maxis might treat the "skins" as separate from the mesh objects for clothing objects. Now, there's a wish! (from Mike Fenton) 8. Pets! (not just fish and guinea pigs) Pets would be a nice addition, I think. Not just dogs and cats, but other things as well, such as turtles, snakes and lizards. Imagine then if one Sim's pet snake got out and bit another Sim. Why that Sim would never forgive him! (thanks to James Wardle) Pets are being added with the expansion, the Sims: Unleashed. 9. Dynamic Sim Personalities Right now your Sim's personalities are set at the beginning and don't change during the game. Well what if that Sim's experiences in SimLife could radically change their personality? Suppose one Sim has an experience so traumatic that she no longer is so nice? Imagine if an Outgoing Sim gets beaten a lot, then they might lose some outgoingness as they lose trust in other Sims. Or if a mean Sim has an act of kindness done to him that makes him a little less cranky. 10. COMPUTERS Can someone please convice Maxis to make more use of the computers? Why not CHAT through computers! Whoa! That should be more hell efficient than calling them over! Better yet, make the computers have multimedia option! Combine TV and Hi-Fi to make an excellent computer. AND why not make the computers a fun filled group activity (on-line multiplaying option!), provided that the Sims have you want to play with got a modem. How about advancing mechanical skills trhough computers? Business Sims (or other computer related jobs) must fiddle around with computers before they can be promoted. (from GamemaniaX) broadstrong sent me these wishes: What I hope for:- (i) Stats to tie up with everyday life, such as:- (a) High Body can render more immunity to the Guinea Pig Virus. (b) High Charisma makes social interactions more successful. (c) High Logic renders the Sim better "AI", will make better decisions under Free Will. (d) High Body + High Creativity allows the Sim to do things like jump over couches or go under tables, thus avoiding being trapped in crowded places. (e) High Mechanical + High Creativity renders the Sim to be a "handyman", able to perform tasks like adding a flipping board to turn a rectangular desk to a square table, or changing the upholstery to increase the comfort of chairs and couches (how's that to program in a game?!) (ii) More interactions with NPC (Repairman, Maid, etc) More options possible for these characters, such as getting a tip or two from the Repairman (maybe increasing Mechanical stat!). (iii)Weather Changes How can everyday be a fine, sunny day? Maybe at daytime, it could be so cloudy that the rooms are less well-lit (decreasing Room), or the day could be so rainy that the barbecue is cancelled. or so windy that the cinders from the fireplace spread further than normal. Well, things like that. Maybe under Build mode there can be an extra item -- canopies (the retractable type even). (iv) Transportation System SimCity 3000 has trains, subways and bus network; why can't The Sims have these? Why must there be "the very own car", when you need to buy the car, maintain it and build a garage just for it? Taking the public transport system would be much cheaper, though like the carpool you cannot be late also. (v) Twins (or even triplets or quadruplets) In the real world, there are twins, so in the Sims, why can't twins (identical or fraternal) appear? Tending to one baby is tough enough; try taking care of two (or more)! That would be a challenge! Or perhaps there can be special objects for babies only (such as cots, baby toys, milk bottle etc.). (P.S. I hope somebody from Coasters has seen this FAQ and design new skins for the baby crib. The green colour...sucks somewhat.) =============================================================================== Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) =============================================================================== If you have a question that wasn't answered by one of the Frequently Asked Questions above, please feel free to email me: dsimpson.faqs@gmail.com Q: Is The Sims going to be released on the Mac? A: Yes, it already was. Q: Is there any way to skip the intro, where the Sims logo is on a blue screen and the phrases are scrolling by at the bottom? A: Nope! This is The Sims equivalent of the "Now Loading..." screen, and therefore cannot be skipped! "So just what is the program doing when 'Reticulating Splines,' 'Inserting Chaos Generator,' and 'Balancing Domestic Coefficients' flash across the bottom of your screen? Absolutely nothing, actually. 'They're inventions of (Creator) Will Wright's imagination,' says a Maxis spokesman. Speaking of the SIMS, expect Maxis to release an expansion pack this fall..." (from INCITE PC # 7, June 2000, thanks to Joseph Peitler) Q: Is there any way to alter a Sim's biography after once you're out of the Family Creation screen, or am I stuck with what I wrote initially? A: Yes there is! From Page 40, Paragraph 1 of the Game Manual: "...If you click and hold on a character, the character's bio which you composed in the Create a Sim window [or Maxis did] appears. If you think the bio needs a little refreshing, just Control-Click on the character in question, and get that bio in an editable dialogue box for your red-pen pleasure." (Thanks to Andrew Tate for pointing this out to me!) Q: Can I switch a Sim's skin after I've created them, or will my Sim just wear the same exact clothes for the rest if his digital little life? A: Your Sim can change their clothes by buying a Dresser/Armoir. Once you have the Dresser, then select it, and do a "Change Clothes". There is one downside to this, your Sim will simply change to the NEXT Body Skin (there is no way to change the Head Skin). So if you want to change to something specific, you may be at it for awhile. And if you change your mind, and want to go back to the first skin, well... that will take even longer! Q: The Sim I called asked me to come over to their place, is there a way for me to do that? A: No. What the Sim you called really meant was "I don't want to see you right now." And they were just being diplomatic about it. Anything they say that doesn't result in them coming over is a refusal. Q: If I create two Sims in my first home, are they automatically considered married? A: No. The "family" is just a grouping of people in one house. They don't have any "relationship" until the game starts. Whether they become good friends, or lovers, or get into a fight, is up to them (and to you). Secondly, even should they become lovers, they can't get Married. Why? They already live together! Marriage is just a way to get a GuySim and GirlSim to move in together. Q: You mention in your guide that I shouldn't bother making friends for SimKids, since they don't need them to advance in their job field or anything. Does it work the other way around; can my adult Sim befriend a SimKid to help with that promotion that he wants? A: Although Kids don't need Family Friends for any particular reason (as long as their Social is high, who needs friends!), they can be counted for other people's Family Friends counter. So if SimBob befriends SimKid1, he still gets +1 Family Friend. Q: How long does it take for a SimBaby to grow into a SimKid? A: 3 full days. So exactly 72 hours after the baby arrives, he/she will *poof* into a child. Q: So, a SimBaby grows up to be a SimKid. Does a SimKid grow up to be a SimAdult? What about a SimAdult growing up to be a SimOldPerson? A: Doesn't happen. The only Sims who grow up are Babies who become children. Your Kids will never grow up and provide you with an income, nor will your adults need to be placed in a nursing home. Q: Can you take custody of a kid from a neighbor the same way you ask a neighbor to move in/propose? A: You can't take the kid directly, but there is a way to get a kid. Suppose that SimBob is courting a Sim who lives alone with a kid. He asks her to marry him, then she arrives with not just herself, but brings the kid along as well. Q: I know that a sim must ask a visiting sim with any kids to Move in/Propose in order to adopt the sim kid. But suppose the kids DON'T have any Sim adults? Can a simkid ask any adults to move in if he has no parents? A: No, they can not. They do not have the option to move in/propose with other kids or adults, nor can adults ask a visiting kid to move in with them. In other words, no adults can adopt any older sim kid in the neighborhood. This could be bad if all the sim parents die, leaving the kids to fend for themselves. This means they'll spend the rest of their "lives" eating pizza and potato chips and getting money only from "grandpa" and selling their artwork. Q: Sometimes when a sim walks into a room, any lights in there automatically turn on and when he leaves they turn off. Yet, in other rooms, he had to manually turn the lights on. Why is that? A: If the room has no windows, and it is still daylight, the lights won't come on automatically, which is very annoying if you have a room in the center of your house. Also Lava Lamps don't turn on automatically. I suppose everything else is a bug, or possibly even a Sim Equipment Failure (similar to a light breaking, not a bug). Q: When I ask someone to marry me, they always say no. What can I do to get them to FINALLY say yes? A: Well beyond being stubbornly persistent (and why not?), you have to realize that the Sim you are wooing has Needs just as any other Sim, even though you can't see their Need meters. Why is this important? Because a Sim must be in a good mood to accept Marriage (or Moving In), and Mood is based on the 8 Needs. So make sure your SimLover has eaten, had some fun, talked to your other Sims, and is comfortable before popping the question. Beyond that just keep asking them until they say yes! Q: This marriage isn't working out. My SimWife gets jealous when I kiss all the other girls. Can I get divorced? A: No, there is no divorce! If you simply want to "play the field", then just make sure to have your Sim do all of his romancing in another room than any of his other love interests. But if you want that Sim OUT, then there are ways... You can have that person Die (see the Q below for more info on that), or you could get that Sim to get married to someone else. Simply start up another home, and romance that Sim until you can get them to marry you. They move out of the first house, and in with the new Sim. Q: The "Propose"/"Move In" option never seems to come up, what can I do to encourage it? A: The only reason that those options will never come up is if the two Sims already live in the same house, i.e. if they started out in the same "family", then they can't get married. Why? Marriage is only an "event", it merely serves the purpose of getting a new Sim into the house. After that, there's no special purpose to marriage, and the two married Sims will act just like two Sims in Love who already lived together. Mark Hissett has this to add: There are a few ways to encourage [the propose option]. First of all you must be good friends with the person, or good lovers. And your sim must be in a good mood as well. If they are hungry or need some social, then the pie thing won't include the propose/move in. Q: My Sim keeps making "ouches" while preparing Dinner. Can they be wounded permanently from this? A: Not from the actual preparing of the meals, but they can die if a fire breaks out while cooking the food. To prevent such occurrences, have your Sim read some Books on Cooking. Also build a Fire Alarm nearby. It can't prevent Fires, but it will call the Fire Department for you. Q: I'm trying to get rid of this Table of mine, but the game keeps saying that it is "in use", which it clearly is not, nor is there anything on top of it! How can I get rid of it? A: First off, this is a bug, and as such, it may be prevented (I haven't tested this) by downloading the patch off of the official site. If you already have this problem, you may have to have your Sims move out to get rid of the table. You don't have to bulldoze the house, if you don't want to. Another thing to try would be to use the move_objects cheat, and then delete the table. I haven't tested this as this bug hasn't happened to me. (see the Cheats section for more info) To use the move_objects cheat, press CTRL-SHIFT-C, enter in "move_objects on" (without the quotes) into the little command line, then go to Furnish mode, click on the table, and DELete it as normal. This strategy should be used for any object that mysteriously stays "in use" even though it isn't. Q: My Sim put a bag of chips down, and now I can't get rid of the chips! I can't eat them, I can't throw them away, what should I do? A: As in the last problem, you can either move out and back in, or try the move_objects cheat. (see the Cheats section for more info) Also install either the Slot Machine or the Patch from the Official site, these will allow you to clean the mess up. Q: Some neighbors seem to be "stuck" on my property. I can’t talk to them or anything. What do I do? A: First, try going into Buy mode and moving things out of their way - they might be trapped behind objects. If they are outside, make sure they are not blocked by plants or hedges. Neighbors who are already outside and trying to leave won’t cut through the house to get home, so you’ll have to manually make sure they can reach the sidewalk from where they are. If they are inside, in a room with an outside door, make sure they can reach it. Just like when they’re outside, they won’t change rooms in order to get around an obstacle. If they have a clear path and still won’t move, you’ll have to do something more drastic: 1) Hit Control-Shift-C to bring up the cheat window. 2) Type "move_objects on" 3) Go to Buy mode. Select the neighbor and hit delete. Don’t worry, they’re not dead. Think of it as throwing them off your property. 4) Hit Control-Shift-C to bring up the cheat window. 5) Type "move_objects off”. -- from http://www.thesims.com/ Q: My Sim keeps getting strange phone calls, including one that implies that (s)he is going to die soon! Is this just the developers playing with my mind, or am I about to have an ex-Sim? A: Wouldn't that be weird? But luckily it isn't going to happen. The only ways that your Sim can die are through YOUR own negligence. In fact most the incoming phone calls are completely meaningless. So, if they aren't telling you something important, such as a Friend about to lose interest in you, your Sim getting fired if they skip work again, or your Sim gaining an inheritance, you can safely ignore the call. Q: My Sim is Sick! What should I do? Can he die? A. First quarantine the sick Sim to prevent contagion. Next make sure that your Sim is well rested. Don't go to work or school while sick, just stay home and rest. When up, go drink some coffee, but don't do anything strenuous. And YES YOU CAN DIE! So take sickness seriously. Q: I want to expand my house, how do you remove walls? A: In the Build Mode press and hold CTRL, then click and drag the mouse across the wall that you wish to remove. Q: I saw on The Sims website that somebody had a garage with a car inside it. How did they get a car? A: You can fake it, but you can't really get a car. Here's what they did. First they built whatever structure that they would use to house the cars, using the standard house builder. Then, they activated the move_objects cheat (by pressing CTRL-SHIFT-C, then typing in move_objects on), wait for the carpool to show up, then go into the Furnish mode (F2), and pick up and move the car into the garage. It won't stay there, it will drive off eventually, but it will at least look like you have a car in the garage for a bit. You can actually download cars as normal objects from this website: http://simsplus.homesims.com/ Although you still can't drive them. Q: I want to move my Sims into a new home, will they keep all of their money? A: Yes. Also their previous house will be sold along with everything in it (at current market value, e.g. all objects depreciate with time and use). This value is called the "Net Worth". You can see all the families' Net Worth at the Neighborhood screen. This basically is the amount of money they would have if they moved out of their house. Q: I ran out of money, and couldn't pay the Maid/Gardener, and now they refuse to come back even though I have the money now. What do I do? A: You've been blacklisted, my friend, and there's only one way out of it, and that is to move out of your house. So go to the neighborhood screen, Evict your Sims (the bulldozer icon) and have them move back in. Or you could use this as your chance to move into a larger house, but I suspect you wouldn't be able to afford it (if you couldn't afford a Maid!). Note: Blacklisting ends after 5 days and the Maids/Gardeners will then work for you again. Q: Ok, everyday the Repairman shows up, does absolutely nothing useful, and just won't leave! I tell him to go away, but he just returns again later! What do I do? A: This usually happens when the Repairman is called, and he finds a burnt out Wall Light. However, if this wall light is being partially blocked, by a table, or a chair or something in front of it, the Repairman can't fix it! But, he'll really want to fix it, so he keeps hanging around hoping that you'll move the table/chair/obstacle so that he can do his job. Q: All my Sims only have 20,000 to start with, so how do I get them into the nice big shiny homes? A: Evict your Sims when they get rich enough to get a new house (use the bulldozer Icon in the Neighborhood screen, then click on the appropriate house to evict. It also asks if you want to bulldoze that house, that's up to you) then go back to the Select/Create a Family screen and select the Sims that you just evicted. Now you can move them into any house that they can afford. Make sure that they still have enough money to furnish the house, as most houses on the block come empty. Q: If Sim1 married Sim2 and moved into 2's house, what will happen to Sim1's photos? A: Sim1's photos will disappear when he moves in with sim2's house and change his last name to his. Q: I don't like my neighborhood, is there a way to reset it to how it was before I mucked it up? A: Uninstall and reinstall the game. Then you might want to make a copy of the UserData folder (found in TheSims directory, c:\program files\maxis\thesims\userdata). Then if you ever want to play a different neighborhood, or just play with a blank neighborhood, simply move the copied folder back. Q: There is a marking on the lower right corner of one of my character's face photo. A red plus with a circle around it. I got it when both of my characters reached the final job levels. What does it mean? A: I've seen this come up two different times (neither of which were the one that you describe). The first is when you Right Click on the portrait, it will then Zoom in on the Sim, and put in the Red "Crosshairs." Then if the Sim wanders off, then the game will keep that Sim on the screen. The other time I've seen this is when you use the move_objects cheat to delete a Sim, they're portrait will have the Crosshairs on it, click on the portrait and the Sim reappears. Q: Is there a Demo? A: No. Q: Is this game worth getting? A: Yes. Q: How do we kill our Sim? A: Well that is rather morbid of you, but there are several ways to "off" a Sim. You can have them fight a fire, they might catch on fire themselves and die a horrible death. Or you could starve them to death. And finally you can also have them get electrocuted by having them try to fix an appliance (or even changing a light bulb) without any mechanical know how. I think a Sim has a 1 in 5 chance of dying per light bulb with no mechanical skill points. Q: What happens to Dead Sims? A: Their remains will "remain" with you forever! You can place the remains inside your house (as an Urn) or outside (as a tombstone). Either way, that dead Sim will every once in awhile roam around HAUNTING THE LIVING AS A GHOST! Spooky! It's a random chance as to whether that Dead Sim will haunt each night at 11:00 pm. If you have Livin' Large installed, when a Sim dies, your other Sims get a chance to win back the life of the departed Sim. They must beat Death in a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, if they win, the dead Sim returns to life. Q: What happens to the rest of the Departed Sims' Family? A: They have to mourn (if they know about the death, that is) for the poor Sim for awhile, then they can mourn at any time by going up to the remains. Beyond that, they aren't much affected by it. Q: Can you kill off the maid, repairman and the gardener? If you lure them into a room or pool and remove the way out, will they die the same as a regular sim? A: I've tried, but the Maid just managed to appear outside of my trap. Several times. I would build a wall around her, but as soon as I went back to LIVE mode, she just ... popped out of it. Joseph Peitler has this to add: "One of the floor lamps burned out, so I made my character call the repairman. He came over, touch the lamp and got electrocuted. Thanks to the patch, he didn't die (there is a joke in there, somewhere). He finished it and went on as usual. It was funny seeing him light up like a Christmas tree, though." Q: My Sims' Mood is fine until they get outside, then it plummets (due to the Room rating)... what's wrong? A: When this first happened to me, it was because I hadn't bothered to recycle the newspapers that had been arriving everyday (they stop being delivered after 6 days of you not picking them up). Once a new paper arrives, then the old one turns to trash, and trash has a horrible effect on Room. Also you may want to decorate the outside. Place some flowers, flamingoes, hedges, and whatnot. If you place flowers, be sure to water them, or those will take the Sims' Room rating down. Q: My Sim is going to work everyday, has all the requirements for a promotion, but doesn't ever seem to get it. What's wrong? A: Once all the requirements are met, all you need is mood! If your Sim goes to work a surly grouch, he won't get promoted, but a happy fun loving Sim always gets the good jobs. Q: Can my Sim get demoted for being in a Bad Mood? What about if he loses some family friends, or a stat is dropped? A: Yes, Sims can get demoted for being in a bad mood. One could suppose that being in a bad mood caused their work to suffer, and that got them demoted. And no, you don't get demoted if you lose some family friends, or you have a stat dropped. Q: My Sim got fired, can I get another good high paying job? A: Nope! Have to start out at the bottom of the ladder again. That's why you should avoid getting fired. Going back up the ladder is easiest if you choose a career path that needs the Skills that you already have from working on your previous job. So if you have lots of Body, try for a Military, Law Enforcement, or X-Treme career tracks. Same for the rest of the Skills, try to keep to what would be easiest to get promoted. Q: I am having no luck at making friends with this one Sim. What am I doing wrong? A: Some Sims just clash (click on the Personality Button, then on their Astrological Sign to see which Sims they are least compatible with), or maybe that Sim (or your Sim) isn't very nice. It's very hard to like a mean Sim. Hard, but not impossible. With these Sims you have to carefully monitor their interactions. If that Sim is about to taunt you, then cancel that action (although you can't cancel their action directly you can cancel it on the receiving end by clicking on the "Be Taunted" icon that will appear in your Queue), and try simply talking to the Sim. With time, their relationship will improve, and you will be able to be less vigilant, as friends tend to clash less often. Q: While looking at my house on the neighborhood screen, it says that I have 13 friends, yet when I get into the house, it says I only have 11! What gives? A: At the neighborhood level, it counts every friend that your family has, including friends INSIDE YOUR OWN FAMILY. So if your Sims are friends with each other, they will be counted at the neighborhood level. But since these relationships don't help with the Family Friend count, they aren't counted at the House level. So, at the House level, only friends OUTSIDE OF THE FAMILY are counted. broadstrong has a differing viewpoint: I observed that when I FIRST enter the neighbourhood (after the blue loading screen with all the scrolling words below), the number of family friends include both "friends" (50+ relationship) and "warm" (20 to 49 relationship). But when I enter the house, relationships below 50 won't be considered (well, accordingly they are not friends with the Sim anyway), so the count decreases. However, on returning to the neighbourhood screen, the family count is now correctly updated, so if the family has 11 friends, this time it WILL show 11, nothing else. Q: My Sim seems to sleep forever! Nothing I have done will get him up! What do I do? A: Sims like to stay in bed, if they have no way to get out of bed. That is, if you have some object by the side of the bed that prevents the Sim from getting out of bed, they'll just stay in there forever. Of course, it would be nice if they would tell you something... broadstrong notes that with the Sims v1.1 patch installed, when this happens, you see a "Can't get up" animation. Q: My Sim has been in the Bath for an awful long time. How can I get him/her out? A: This one happened to my sister (and it's similar to the above Sleeping problem). She had a Sim in a brand new Tub that was built in the corner of the bathroom with a Shower right next to it. The Sim was able to get in, but due to the Shower being right there, the Sim could not get out. When something like this happens, look around to see what is blocking your Sim, and move it! Q: Do we ever get to see the Sims naked? Having Sex? What about any Naked Skins? A: No, no and no. Although at the proper angle, you CAN see the Sims naked in the shower. (you'll have to figure out the angle yourself, though!) The most the Sims ever do in love is to passionately kiss. If they "make a baby" then nothing happens between the Sims and the baby "magically appears". Note: You CAN patch your game to get rid of the Pixel Censor when your Sim does something naughty. See section 12.2.1 for the details. Note: Also, Sims CAN have sex if you have the Livin' Large expansion pack installed. Buy the Love Bed and turn it to Vibrate. Then have the second Sim go up and "Play in Bed." Q: In the opening movie I can see a Sim coming out naked (albeit censored) from the Hot Tub, but my Sims always wear a Swimsuit... Why? A: The first Sim into the Hot Tub must be a VERY Outgoing Sim to get in Buck Nekkid. Once one Sim goes in naked, then it seems that you just can't stop every other Sim from going in naked as well. Crazy! Also you probably should know that a lot of things in the Opening Video were changed in the Final Game. If you watch closely you can see different Serving Plates, Plasma TV's and more. Q: I set the Sims to speak English, but I can't understand a word that they are saying. A: Sims speak in gibberish called Sim (or SimSpeak if you prefer). The only way that it resembles English (or any other language that it lets you "set") is in the rhythm or cadence. Q: Can I change the radio station's names? What about the music? A: See the above section "Everything else in the Neighborhood" for information on changing the music. However, you cannot change the radio station's names. So whatever you change the music to will still be listed under "Country" "Latin" "Rock" or "Classical". Q: Do you have any cheats? What about any trainers or editors? A: Cheats can be found in the above section "Cheats & Tricks". As for editors and trainers, there has been one, but I think that it has vanished. Q: OK, I deleted my mailbox/carpool, and now I want them back, how can I do that? A: Thus we see the perils of using the move_objects cheat! I have an idea about how you could get your Mailbox/Carpool back if you deleted them: Import a new house from somewhere (usually http://www.thesims.com/) and install that into the game. That should work. Or you could just uninstall the game then reinstall. There are two places on the site that have houses to download, "Get Cool Stuff" and "The Sims Exchange". Before you go there, check to see which Lot Number you need, then make sure to download the correct house. Your best bet, by the way, is the Sims Exchange. Q: I downloaded a house from The Sims Official Site, and unzipped it, but now what do I do? A: Houses download as an EXE, which I have assumed that you have run, after which it says something like "It has been installed", then run your game, and at the neighborhood screen it will give you the option to have this new house (and family) replace the one currently there. So the previous house will vanish, along with everyone in it, to be replaced by the new house and family. (all houses come with families) Warning: Before downloading any house/Exchange family off of the Official Site, make SURE that the lot that you are replacing has nothing that you want to keep! The displaced family will simply be back at the Family Selection list, but they'll have lost their home. Q: The cheat 'klapaucius' no longer works! Did upgrading the game do this? A: Yes. The new patch changes the money cheat from klapaucius to rosebud. Why they did this is beyond me. Q: Can I win The Sims? A: Nope. You can't lose either, although if you kill off all your Sims that could be considered losing. This game is all about the playing, nothing more, nothing less. Q: I can't find my serial number, can I have yours? A: No. If your game didn't COME with a serial number, you could try contacting Maxis through their website: http://www.thesims.com/ Q: No, really, I lost my case, can I have your serial number? A: NO!! All emails to this effect are IGNORED and DELETED. Q: OK, I don't have a serial number, and therefore can't download off of the Official Sims Site, so how can I get all those neat downloads? Will you send them to me? A: First, no, I won't send any of the updates to you. Second, you can find most of the Sim's Downloads at any of the web pages listed in the Online Resources down in the Final Words section. Try either http://www.simzonline.com/ or http://go.to/simuniverse/ but almost any of the sites will do. Q: I want to put this FAQ on my webpage, can I? A: Sure. Just don't change ANYTHING without prior email approval by me, and try to keep it reasonably up to date. I update this FAQ a lot, adding new Frequently Asked Questions, strategies, and correcting any mistakes found. It really doesn't help me to have people seeing old versions of the FAQ and sending me emailed questions that have already been answered. Q: I emailed you, and you didn't answer! What's up with that? A: There are usually 3 reasons why I don't reply: 1. Your question is already answered in the FAQ somewhere. This gets tricky if the question has been answered in a new version but you were looking at an older version. So be sure to always check GameFAQs for the latest version before emailing in a question. 2. Your question is covered in the manual. I really don't want to rewrite the manual in this FAQ, and to that end I won't include much information found therein in here. Which means that I won't answer questions found in the manual. 3. I lost your email. This happens either when I put the email aside for the moment, and forget about it, or when I attempt to reply, but get a Returned Email Failure. The second happens quite often with AOL addresses, they won't accept Web Based emails (to avoid SPAM) and so I couldn't answer you if I tried. This is a setting in the options somewhere, and if you could please tell me where to send a reply that won't get returned. 4. Your email didn't contain the proper SUBJECT line. If you want a Sims related response, your subject should read "The Sims." I never read emails that have no subjects at all. Those are the USUAL reasons why I don't reply, others include that I was too tired at the time I got it, and forgot about it, or that I didn't know an answer, and ignored it. Those are rare. If you didn't get a reply, and feel that you deserve one, just email me again. Q: I have some bizarre and obscure technical problem.... A: I have no idea how to fix technical problems, such as the game not running or the game crashing. Try looking at Maxis' Official Sims Website: http://www.thesims.com/ If you have a question that wasn't answered by one of the Frequently Asked Questions above, please feel free to email me: dsimpson.faqs@gmail.com =============================================================================== Livin' Large Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) =============================================================================== Just because Livin' Large isn't out yet, doesn't mean I haven't been asked questions about it! Q: I installed Livin' Large, but it looks like the same ol' Sims. Where are all of the new objects? A: What happened is that your installation was interrupted, which means that Livin' Large never fully installed. Here is what the official website (http://www.thesims.ea.com/) has to say about it: Some users report installing the Sims Livin' Large, but get no multiple neighborhoods, no new walls, no new floors, and the only objects they get are the downloads that were included in Livin' Large. Some users also report seeing the new Livin' Large objects in Buy mode, but not in Live mode. This generally occurs when a user has installed an unauthorized 3rd-party patch or other modification to the game's executable code. The Sims Livin' Large only installs properly on legitimate, unaltered versions of The Sims executable. Objects, skins, walls, floors and such have no effect on this; it is only patches to the game's executable code which cause this problem. We have also had reports of this occurring when no changes have been made to the executable, but we have not yet isolated the cause of the problem in these cases. You must uninstall and reinstall The Sims, then reinstall The Sims Livin' Large. If this does not correct the problem, download the Livin' Large install fixer. After installing The Sims Livin' Large, run the install fixer. This is NOT a game patch, and should NOT be used if your game is functioning properly. It simply completes the installation process in cases where a technical problem has prevented proper installation. http://thesims.ea.com/us/downloads/LLInstallFix.exe Q: What is Livin' Large? A: Livin' Large is the upcoming Expansion Pack for The Sims. It will have new careers, objects, and other bizarre things. Check out the Livin' Large section near the beginning of this Guide for more information. Q: Will Livin' Large be like Sim City 3000 Unlimited and be a complete game? A: No, it will require that you already have The Sims installed on your computer. Then when you run The Sims, it will probably require that you have the Livin' Large CD in, rather than the original CD. Q: How much does Livin' Large cost, and where can I get it? A: The MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) is $29.95. The original Sims had an MSRP of $49.95. You can find Livin' Large at any retailer that carries software: Electronics Boutique (http://www.ebworld.com/) Software Etc., Babbages (http://www.gamestop.com/) Walmart Target Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/) ...etc... Also, starting in mid-September (2002) you can get the Sims: Deluxe edition, which is both the original game and the first expansion, Livin' Large. ($39.95) Q: My Sim died, and I'm trying to Plead with Death, but it isn't working. What do I do? A: You have to have someone who ISN'T DEAD plead with Death. Then they can play the eternal game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. If you win, your Sim comes back to life, if you lose you may come back as a zombie. Or maybe Death will ignore you and take him to Hades anyway. =============================================================================== Final Words... =============================================================================== _________________ Online Resources: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ http://www.ea.com/ -- the publisher's site http://www.thesims.com/ -- the Official Sims Site This one is probably the one you will want to go to the most often. They have downloads to add to your game (new items such as the Slot Machine), etc. http://www.simzonline.com/ -- One of the best Fan Sites http://sims.xtremesimz.com/ -- The Sims Resource Center http://www.projectsims.com/ -- Project Sims http://www.synchroplay.com/mallofthesims/ -- Mall of the Sims http://www.simeden.com/ -- SimEden http://www.sim-heaven.com/ -- Sim Heaven http://go.to/simuniverse/ -- Sim Universe http://www.7deadlysims.com/ -- A bizarre little site that has different skins and things based on the 7 Deadly Sins. http://www.crosswinds.net/~simsonline/ -- Sims Online (not to be confused with the above Simz Online) http://simsdiary.gameaddicts.net/ -- The Diary of a Sim http://coasters.nozone.net/ -- Coaster's Sims Page http://thesims.xtremesimz.com/ -- Appears to be offline now http://www.gamefaqs.com/ -- the best FAQs site on the net! http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/game/25322.html -- GameFAQs section on The Sims http://www.cheatcc.com/ -- a great place for all your cheating needs http://www.ebworld.com/ebx/ads/PROMOS/download/sims/default.asp EBWorld made some neat skins that can be found at the above site. ASCII Art created using the ASCII Art Maker by LTS (freeware) You can possibly (doubtfully) find it at http://www.download.com/ This FAQ was written entirely using the GWD Text Editor: (shareware) http://www.gwdsoft.com/ _________________________ Shameless Self Promotion: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ I have also written FAQs for: NES: Disney Adventures in the Magic Kingdom Final Fantasy -- Magic FAQ The Legend of Zelda SNES: Aerobiz Aerobiz Supersonic Utopia: Creation of a Nation Genesis: StarFlight PSX: Thousand Arms -- Walkthrough -- Forging/Dating FAQ PS2: Madden NFL 2001 XBOX: Star Wars: KotOR2: The Sith Lords -- FAQ/Walkthrough -- Influence Guide PC: AD&D Rules FAQ 3rd Edition D&D Rules FAQ Baldur's Gate & Tales of the Sword Coast -- FAQ/Walkthrough NPC List Creature List Baldur's Gate II & Throne of Bhaal -- FAQ/Walkthrough -- Items List -- Class FAQ -- Creature List Civilization III (incomplete) Colonization -- the Single Colony Strategy Guide -- the Cheat Guide Drakan: Order of the Flame Dungeon Hack Icewind Dale & Heart of Winter -- FAQ/Walkthrough Items List Kresselack's Tomb Map (JPG) Burial Isle Map (JPG) Shattered Hand Map (JPG) Icewind Dale II -- Items List Master of Magic (revision) Messiah Pharaoh (currently being edited by Red Phoenix) Planescape: Torment -- FAQ/Walkthrough Items Listing Rollercoaster Tycoon Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Ultima 4: Quest of the Avatar Ultima 7: The Black Gate Ultima 7 Part 2: Serpent Isle Ultima Underworld -- Keyboard Commands Ultima Underworld II -- Keyboard Commands -- Spell List All of my FAQs can be found at: http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/2203.html ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Email: dsimpson.faqs@gmail.com Subject: the Sims Email Policy: If you are going to email me about this game, please put The Sims as the subject. Or Sims. Also please realize that I am not hiding cheats or any other information, i.e. everything I know about The Sims is in this guide. Emails without the proper subject MAY BE DELETED! _______________ Special Thanks: (I don't post email addresses, except by special request) ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Joseph Peitler for contributing more than his share of tips (thanks!) Lynelle Foulk for the baby personality research Shyguy982 for his Trick in "Cheats & Tricks" Kyrre Aalerud for the 3 tricks also in "Cheats & Tricks" Christopher Scatliff for the Balcony correction Alan Waumsley for noticing that some Sims just don't get up Nancy Beck for a new cheat J.T. Kauffman for his great Questions Andrew Tate for a correction in the FAQ (about Sim's Bios) Apieper for some minor corrections here and there and for the Known Bugs Jesper Thiesen for the Every Other Bill thing Red Phoenix for a great many tips, tricks, and/or strategies Locutus for the Spellchecking Mandy Falco for her wonderful tips Catty Burton for her multiple baby bug Mark H. Dove for sending me the note on Forced Job Switching Mikey Griffiths for the Easter Egg (see the Cheats section) Dan Vernon for his method on killing everyone in the neighborhood (a bizarre thing to thank!) Adam McSweeney for pointing out one very bad mistake of mine Lim Yu Kee for telling me about Maids and Gardeners not returning Andrea Della Malva for the table question Joseph Peitler for the Baby Tips, FAQs, and Bugs (etc., etc., etc.!) Jordan Edmonson for his correction Keri for a couple of notes having to do with children RD Saunders for the Job "Shifts" Leviathan for pointing out that I had left section 14 off of the Contents Mike Fenton for section 5.7 Sim Personalities and Compatibilities Mark Hissett for a bunch of stuff (known bugs, and such) Knowla for a way to correct a bug Derek Hansen for his personality information James Wardle for a few Wishes in the Wish List Eric Chapman for more information on killing repairmen (see Known Bugs) Andrew Harms for section 6.3.1 and everything in it Jon Mars for the trick about getting the desired social interaction GamemaniaX for the expanded abuse the carpool Seeker for the Housebuilding on a Budget stuff broadstrong for lots of information (mostly on kids) moonshine for the evil twin bug addition Rob Sevening for several Livin' Large tips JediPika88 for lots of Livin' Large tips and information TheReaper86 for a trashcan strategy EvilDave2 TJ Tillman for the Unleashed job charts Amy Lam for a Gnome pricing update Anyone who has emailed me with something nice to say CJayC for posting this FAQ and informing me (via his website) that The Sims was out! Will Wright for making this bizarrely fun game Maxis and EA for publishing this uniquely addictive game ________________ Version History: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Preliminary Version 0.9 (2-11-00, 47k) Original Version 1.0 (2-12-00, 63k) Added the section Babies and Children Finished all the other sections Added a Trainer Other Small Changes Changes in Version 1.1 (2-19-00, 64k) Renamed the Cheats section to "Cheats & Tricks" Changes in Version 1.5 (2-20-00, 74k) Rewrote a lot of the information for clarity Added lots of new information as well Changes in Version 1.6 (2-21-00, 82k) Added a neat new trick from Kyrre Aalerud Added the Frequently Asked Questions Section Changes in Version 1.7 (2-25-00, 86k) Added several new Frequently Asked Questions Started work on the Career Ladder Chart Added a new Online Resource, and fixed another Added 2 new Tricks to Cheats and Tricks Other minute changes Changes in Version 2.0 (2-26-00, 126k) Spun out a new Section 6.1 and put the Career Tracks in there Finished all the Career Tracks Added 2 new Sections, 4.1 and 4.2, Cooking and Room Rating Spun out another section 10.1 Death and Ghosts from section 10 Spun out the section 9.1 Children and School Added another Alternate Floor Plan Added another Frequently Asked Question (having to do with Hot Tubs) Other Small Changes Changes in Version 2.1 (2-27-00, 127k) Created a new section 2.1 The Bachelor Sim Changes in Version 2.2 (2-28-00, 132k) Added to the Bachelor Sim Section Added the section 4.3 Alternative to Alarm Clocks Also added the section 6.2 Abusing the Carpool And also added the section 6.2.1 Early Morning Social Call Other Small Changes Changes in Version 2.3 (2-29-00, 146k) Spun out the section 11.1 Deleting Trash (and Bills too!) from the Cheats & Tricks Section Added the section 2.2 The Full House (8 Sims) Renamed 6.1 to The Jobs Chart Added the section 5.1 Befriending Mean Sims Changed the Frequently Asked Questions Format Added a couple new Frequently Asked Questions as well Spun out the Changing the Radio Station Music section Other Small Changes Changes in Version 2.4 (3-1-00, 153k) Added the section 5.2 Carrying on Multiple Romances Added the Section 5.3 Maintaining Relationships the Easy Way Spell Checked the entire document (thanks to Red Phoenix who pointed out that I needed to do this) Added the section 9.2 What Kids Do Added the section 2.1.1 The Bachelor Gets Married Other Small Changes Changes in Version 2.5 (3-2-00, 164k) Added a new Online Resource (Mall of the Sims) Added a new Frequently Asked Question Added the Section 3.1 Building a Better House Added the Section 4.4 Who Needs a Trashcan? Added the Section 8.1 Building that Second Story Also added the Section 8.1.1 The "Flying" Second Story Other Small Changes Changes in Version 2.51 (3-3-00, 165k) Created section 8.1.2 (thanks to Christopher Scatliff for the info) Other Small Changes Changes in Version 2.52 (3-5-00, 166k) Added a new Frequently Asked Question Other Small Changes Changes in Version 2.53 (3-8-00, 167k) Added 2 new Frequently Asked Questions Other Small Changes Changes in Version 3.0 (3-9-00, 200k) Added the Section "Customizing Your Game" And in that section I moved the "Changing the Radio Music" Section And created 2 new sections "Skins" and "Multiple Neighborhoods" Created the section "Alternate Job Chart" Created the section "Understanding Your Sims" and its subsections: "What a Sim Wants/Needs" and "Why A Sim Does What He Does" Oh, I also created section 12.2.1 The "Nude" Patch (heh) Other Small Changes Changes in Version 3.01 (3-10-00, 201k) Some Small Changes Changes in Version 3.02 (3-11-00, 202k) Some more Small Changes Changes in Version 3.03 (3-13-00, 203k) Added a new cheat from Nancy Beck There is now a new Translation! Check the Notes at the top of the FAQ Some Small Changes Changes in Version 3.1 (3-18-00, 210k) Added the new section 7.1 Working the Pause Added a few new Frequently Asked Questions Did some Spellchecking! Some Small Changes Changes in Version 3.12 (3-20-00, 214k) Added the section 6.3 Quitting for Fun and Profit Realized that I had left out the Final Stats for the Medicine Career Path (this is now fixed!) Cut some things out from the "Misc Facts" Added a new "Alternate Job Chart" to the section of the same name Some Small Changes Changes in Version 3.14 (3-21-00, 221k) Added a bunch of new Frequently Asked Questions (courtesy of J.T. Kauffman) Some Small Changes Changes in Version 3.15 (3-24-00, 222k) Lots of small changes all around! Changes in Version 3.16 (3-25-00, 223k) Some small changes Changes in Version 3.17 (3-27-00, 224k) One small change Changes in Version 3.18 (3-28-00, 224k) One more small change Changes in Version 3.19 (3-29-00, 225k) Added the section 11.2 Paying only Every Other Bill Changes in Version 4.0 (3-30-00, 240k) Added the Section 13 Known Bugs (thanks to Apieper!) Added a new Frequently Asked Question Added the Section 5.4 Sending your Sim out of the House Added the Section 5.5 Creating Friends the Old Fashioned Way Added the Section 11.3 The Newbie Trick Added the Section 3.2 Who Needs Walls? Added the Section 5.6 How to Befriend SimKids Added the Section 4.6 Moving Trash Yourself Small Changes (Always!) Changes in Version 4.01 (3-31-00, 241k) One small change (The new SimDay was an upgrade to the game!) Changes in Version 4.02 (4-1-00, 242k) Apparantly klapaucius no longer works with the game update (see above), but a new code, rosebud, works in its place. So I added a Frequently Asked Question about this as well as updated the Cheats listing. Changes in Version 4.03 (4-3-00, 245k) Some spelling corrections, thanks to Locutus Some new tips, thanks to Mandy Falco (added 11.4 Washing Dishes Faster) Added a new Known Bug from Catty Burton Changes in Version 4.04 (4-4-00, 248k) Added one thing from Mark H. Dove about Fored Job Switching (Section 6) Added a new Frequently Asked Question Changes in Version 4.05 (4-5-00, 252k) Re-did the Cheats section with a LOT of new cheats! Small Changes Changes in Version 4.1 (4-6-00, 257k) Added Section 4.7 The "Cluster" Method Added a tip to Section 9, about Children being a Tax Credit Added an Easter Egg from Mikey Griffiths Small Changes Changes in Version 4.11 (4-10-00, 258k) Added a new "trick" to section 11 Fixed one glaringly bad mistake Changes in Version 4.2 (4-13-00, 267k) Added three new Frequently Asked Question (about Maids not returning, and Objects that won't go away, and Chips that stay on your floor) Added the new section 14. Getting the Most from The Sims Added the new section 11.5 Deleting your Characters and Resetting their Mood Added the new SimDay "event", new MTV Skins Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.25 (4-14-00, 272k) Added a couple of new Frequently Asked Question (about Repairmen not leaving, and Neighbors not leaving) Added the new section 10.2 Did you Know?, which is about the makers of the game, Will Wright et al. Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.26 (4-15-00, 274k) Added some Facts from Joseph Peitler in the new section 9.0.1 Baby Tips Added a new Frequently Asked Question (about how Friends are counted at the neighborhood level vs. the house level) Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.27 (4-16-00, 275k) Changed one mistake (thanks to Jordan Edmonson) Added a couple notes from Keri Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.28 (4-18-00, 277k) Updated the Maid Blacklisting thing (thanks again to Lim Yu Kee) Added an idea to get the Mailbox/Carpool back (see the FAQ section) if you deleted it with the move_objects cheat Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.3 (4-20-00, 281k) Created section 11.6 How to Max out all the Personality Stats Created the section 11.7 Starting a Sim with random Job Stats Added the new SimDay "event", topiaries Added a couple of new websites, SimUniverse (http://go.to/simuniverse/) and 7 Deadly Sims (http://www.7deadlysims.com/) Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.4 (4-24-00, 286k) Created section 6.4 Job "Shifts" (a job shift is when you get kicked out of your level 10 job somewhere, and placed into a lower level job in another career, Thanks to RD Saunders for this!) Fixed a mistake in the Contents Added a new Frequently Asked Question (about downloading houses) Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.5 (4-25-00, 300k) Created Section 5.7 Sim Personalities and Compatibilities (thanks to Mike Fenton) Added a couple new Frequently Asked Questions (thanks to Joseph Peitler) Added some new "Known Bugs" (in the section of the same name, thanks again to Joseph Peitler) Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.51 (4-26-00, 304k) Added several new Frequently Asked Questions Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.52 (4-27-00, 306k) It's Thursday, SimDay, so added the new Maxis Object, Flowerbeds Added a couple new Frequently Asked Questions Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.6 (4-28-00, 320k) Received a way to correct a bug (the "accidental twins" thing) from Knowla Updated a Frequently Asked Question from Mark Hissett Added a couple of new Known Bugs from Mark Hissett Created section 4.1.1 Food Strategies (thanks again to Mark Hissett) Put Derek Hansen's personality scores into section 1.1.2 Created section 15. Wish List Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.61 (5-2-00, 321k) Added a brand new Frequently Asked Question Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.62 (5-3-00, 321k) Some Small Changes Changes in Version 4.63 (5-4-00, 322k) Added the latest SimDay event, the Jukebox and the White House Added a new Wish to the Wish List from Mike Fenton Snipped a few things out of the Notes above that seemed a bit redundant Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.64 (5-6-00, 323k) Some Small Changes Changes in Version 4.7 (5-11-00, 336k) Added the latest SimDay event, the new Trashcans Added several new Wishes (thanks to James Wardle) Added to a Frequently Asked Question (thanks to Joseph Peitler) Added section 12.4 Download Surprises (also thanks to Joseph Peitler) Added a couple of new Online Resources (web links) Added some information on killing repairmen (see Known Bugs, thanks to Eric Chapman) Created section 6.3.1 Job Hopping Analysis (thanks to Andrew Harms) Some Small Changes Changes in Version 4.71 (5-12-00, 339k) Created section ii. Information on the Upcoming Add-On, Livin' Large Some Small Changes Changes in Version 4.72 (5-16-00, 343k) Created section 5.8) Getting the Desired Interaction (thanks to Jon Mars) Added an expanded Abuse the Carpool thing (section 6.2) thanks to GamemaniaX Some Small Changes Changes in Version 4.73 (5-22-00, 345k) Created section 3.3) Housebuilding, especially on a Budget thanks to Seeker Some Small Changes Changes in Version 4.74 (5-23-00, 348k) Added several Editors to the Cheats section Added information from broadstrong Added a couple new tips from Joseph Peitler Some Small Changes Changes in Version 4.75 (5-24-00, 349k) Created Section 12.5 Playing Without the Sims CD Changes in Version 4.76 (5-28-00, 350k) Added some more information from Joseph Peitler, in Known Bugs and Death and Ghosts Changes in Version 4.77 (6-1-00, 350k) Added the latest SimDay Event, the Glowing Flamingo Changed the email policy (see above) Changes in Version 4.78 (6-4-00, 353k) Added a bug note from moonshine (about Evil Twins) Added yet more information from Joseph Peitler (a couple new FAQ's, etc.) Added more information about the upcoming Add-On, Livin' Large (see section ii.) Other Small Changes Changes in Version 4.79 (6-6-00, 354k) Moved something out of Known Bugs and into the FAQ Found at (via Joseph Peitler) that the Slot Machine was listed twice in the "Download Surprises" section, this is now fixed Changes in Version 4.80 (6-7-00, 354k) Added the Italian version of the FAQ (see the Notes above) Changes in Version 4.9 (6-8-00, 357k) Created section 11.8) Speeding up your Sim (thanks to broadstrong) Added a lot of little additions all over the FAQ from broadstrong Some other small changes Changes in Version 4.91 (6-13-00, 363k) Added a lot of new information from broadstrong Some other small changes Changes in Version 4.92 (6-15-00, 365k) Added some new information on the Add-On, Livin' Large in section ii. Some other small changes Changes in Version 4.93 (6-20-00, 368k) Added a bug from moonshine Added more information on the upcoming Expansion Pack, Livin' Large (courtesy of Wendy Zupack) Changes in Version 4.94 (6-23-00, 372k) Added new Bug info from broadstrong Version 4.95 August 15, 2000 376k It's been almost two months since the last update and Livin' Large is fast approaching! Started using the new version history form, which as you can see is much cleaner to look at. Also updated the Shameless Self Promotion to reflect what I've been up to lately. Created section 12.6 to deal with the slew of new Object Editors: Blueprint, SimTransmogrifier, and Maxis' Art Studio, a new tool for creating custom Wall Hangings. And started up the Livin' Large Frequently Asked Questions section. Not much there right now, but it will grow when it comes out. Version 5.0 September 13, 2000 405k Livin' Large is now out (The Sims Expansion Pack, at a store near you), so I went through and updated where appropriate. Created section 1.2 to deal with most of the Livin' Large updates, such as the Genie, Death, Cockroaches and the like. Added section 6.1.2 to deal with the new Livin' Large career paths. Also added section 11.9 Better Personality through Chemistry, one of my favorite new tricks. Version 5.01 September 13, 2000 408k Added new jobs to the Livin' Large career section. Updated the Genie listing. Some other small things. Added new Livin' Large Frequently Asked Questions (which can be found in the section after the regular Frequently Asked Questions). Version 5.1 September 15, 2000 416k Finished filling in all the Livin' Large jobs. Version 5.2 September 16, 2000 418k Added some new Livin' Large tips from Rob Sevening. Version 5.21 September 20, 2000 419k Added section 12.7 Custom Interface Graphics Version 5.3 October 3, 2000 421k Added some information from JediPika88. Added a spiffy little alternative to outside trashcans from TheReaper86. Version 5.31 October 18, 2000 421k Tiny update. Version 5.4 November 30, 2000 418k Just updated the SimDay event items. (Turkey Dinner, Jack O'Lantern) Version 5.5 December 6, 2000 396k Added some new Career Shifts from Joseph Peitler. Cleaned up the Frequently Asked Question so that it takes up less space. Also removed redundant/useless questions and updated other questions to include Livin' Large information. Version 5.6 December 9, 2000 396k Found the solution to the "Livin' Large objects not appearing" problem, which has been added to the Livin' Large Frequently Asked Questions. Version 5.7 December 10, 2000 382k Finished cleaning up the FAQ, so it is now quite a bit smaller. Also removed the Misc Facts thingie at the bottom of the FAQ as ... well I never really liked it. Version 5.8 January 18, 2001 383k Added Marcel VanDalfsen's spiffy job charts to the section of the same name. Version 5.9 January 22, 2001 384k After much ado, added some information about gifts from EvilDave2. Version 6.0 April 28, 2001 393k Updated the guide to include the new House Party additions. Added a socialization note from Winston Jen. Added the Baby Personality Matrix section (which determines how Baby personalities are determined) which is from Lynelle Foulk. Version 6.1 May 16, 2001 394k Created section 9.3 Let the Kids GROW UP which links to a program that brings your SimKids to adulthood. Version 7.0 September 25, 2002 412k Updated the guide somewhat to reflect what's been going on in the world of Sims. Added sections for the last 2 expansion packs (Hot Date and Vacation) and tried to get everything reasonably up to date. Created a new section (5.2.1) on creating a "Love Shack" that deals with multiple Sim-romances. Version 8.0 October 6, 2002 420k Added information for the latest expansion pack, Unleashed. Version 8.01 February 3, 2003 420k Some small updates. Version 8.1 June 22, 2003 436k Finally got the Unleashed Job track filled in, with complete thanks to TJ Tillman. Version 8.11 January 22, 2005 436k Changed my email address and some small format changes. ________ Stinger: ŻŻŻŻŻŻŻŻ Reticulating Splines: According to Webster's, to reticulate is: to divide, mark, or construct so as to form a network. And a spline is: a function that is defined on an interval, is used to approximate a given function, and is composed of pieces of simple functions defined on subintervals and joined at their endpoints with a suitable degree of smoothness. Therefore, reticulating splines would be: Constructing network based functions that are defined by divisible intervals while approximating said network and composing it of pieces of simple functions defined on subintervals and joined at their endpoints with a suitable degree of smoothness. -- Will Wright (from http://www.simzonline.com/) _______________________________________________________________________________ This Document is Copyright 2000-2005 by Dan Simpson The Sims is Copyright 2000-2002 by Electronic Arts I am not affiliated with Maxis, Electronic Arts, or anyone who had anything to do with the creation of this game. This FAQ may be posted on any site so long as NOTHING IS CHANGED and you EMAIL ME telling me that you are posting it. You may not charge for, or in any way profit from this FAQ.