New Medina Part 2: Vacation Hood Terrains

Several things have made me curious with The Sims 2. Namely, where does the Road To Nowhere in Strangetown lead to? What lies over the bridge in Pleasantview? Where does the canal go to in Veronaville? I can't answer those questions in those hoods, but I can answer the questions in my own hoods.

Using Sim City 4, I created a region in which all of the hood terrains I play exist- a region where, yes- I know where that road leads. It has evolved over several years, as opposed to being something I created all at once. I first made a small island which I liked in a different region, and I played that so much that I imported it into another region, to improve the setting. Anyway, what I ended up with is New Medina- which is a group of islands in a nice blue sea. Many of the land masses are connected by bridges; the more distant parts are accessible only by boat or plane. You'll have to use your imagination for that bit!

Due to the size of the files, I've split it into two parts- Main Hoods and Vacation Hoods, based on what I think each terrain is most suited to. This part contains the Vacation Hoods.

Of course, you can use each terrain for whatever you like- main hood, business hood, University, Downtown or Vacation hood. And you need only the basegame- you can play any of these in any game. Because I really dislike the way that The Sims 2 deals with the 'forestation' of SC4 terrains, I've made these completely bare- no trees at all. This is because- especially if you have the later EPs- it is much easier to download a neighbourhood camera mod and add your own trees than it is to try to delete thousands of inappropriately placed mountain conifers from your island resort. The one I recommend for that is here.

The terrains are grouped according to what I think they are most suitable for. They are-

Eastern Hoods: Isle Of Dolphins and Momiji.
Isle of Dolphins is a tranquil place in a calm ocean. Lots of flat areas for your Eastern vacation destinations.
Momiji is a peninsula with a little lake. Lots of reflections here.



Island Hoods: Isla Corazón, Flamingo Island, Port Solant, Solanta North and Solanta.
Isla Corazón is a heart shaped island with a place for beach lots.
Flamingo Island has beaches, a lake and a bridge. I don't know where the flamingos are!
Port Solant has a bridge and flat areas for large lots. It's an island, you'd have to build the port though!
Solanta North has a central mini-mountain and lots of flat areas for large lots.
Solanta has two roads for beach lots, and an 'avenue' which I could picture being lined with expensive hotels and casinos. Also, there is a volcano lurking in the corner.



Mountain Hoods: Salmon Peaks, Morin Heights and Morin South.
Salmon Peaks is quite high above sea level; I suggest lots of trees for decoration!
Morin Heights is my favourite Mountain resort; craggy mountains and long straight roads. Place some clouds around the peaks!
Morin South is a lower terrain with a large lake. Nice reflections if you place lots of trees!



You can see how the terrains fit together if you look at the region image.


You could use these individually, or in combinations. I am currently playing Momiji as an Eastern destination, with Solanta for beaches and Morin Heights for mountain. I have Momiji in lush, Solanta in Desert and Morin Heights in dirt. You get some good terrain colour variations with the altitude!


Installation:
Just download the terrains you like and extract the files to Documents\ EA Games\ The Sims 2\ SC4 Terrains. They will show up in game when you choose to add a neighbourhood or subhood.
Get part 1: Main Hood Terrains to complete the region.

If you have Sim City 4 and would like to download the whole terrain, click here to download. Just extract to Documents/ Sim City 4/ Regions.

Additional Credits:
Thanks to Maxis and Will Wright, for making the games in the first place.