Moonbase Apollo - "Far-Eastern", ahem... "Far-Earth" Vacation Subhood - Pet & Toddler Friendly! - No CC

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Uploaded: 10th Jul 2020 at 11:24 AM
Updated: 10th Jul 2020 at 1:31 PM
Have your sims ever wanted to stand on the Moon? Have your sims ever wanted to jump on the Moon and experience the weak Lunar gravity?
Now, your sims can do that! The flight may last long, but it will be worth it. We promise!
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Welcome to Moonbase Apollo!
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P.S. Because of the way how the game handles vacation subhoods, I had to choose a vacation theme for this (either Mountain, Tropical, Far-Eastern)... and because the Moon is not a tropical place and there aren't that many mountains on the Moon, I made it a "Far-Eastern" vacation subhood.
You know... since the Moon can be east from the Earth (of course, depending on the current orbit position), why not count it as "Far-Eastern"? Since it's a "Far-Eastern", ahem... "Far-Earth" neighborhood?

Oh, and I made this vacation subhood pet & toddler friendly, so it can be used with Lamare's Pets and toddlers on Vacation mod.
Hurray, your pets and toddlers can experience the weak Lunar gravity, too! Isn't that fun?

Install Instructions
This does NOT go into the Neighborhoods folder like normal neighborhoods, it's a vacation subhood, that's why it goes into the NeighborhoodTemplate folder.
1. Unzip the file and put the one of the folders AMA1 or AMA2 into your C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 Bon Voyage\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate
2. Note: If you have The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, put it here instead: C:\Program Files\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Bon Voyage\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate

If you can't see Moonbase Apollo in the subhood list, download Mootilda's Fix subhood selection mod.

Warning about Vacation Subhoods
By default, only the first Far-Eastern vacation subhood added to a neighborhood will have its sims.
All the other Far-Eastern vacation subhoods will be empty. So if you add Moonbase Apollo first and later Takemizu Village, then you won't have the Takemizu Village sims and vice versa.
They will simply be deleted - and as you know, EA doesn't delete the sims properly - the junk references can be seen in SimPE. In order to solve this issue, please try this method. It's written for custom Downtown subhoods, but it's systematically the same for vacation subhoods.

Note: If you plan to add only one populated Far-Eastern vacation subhood to your 'hood, then you won't need to use this method.
Bear in mind that this issue only occurs on vacation subhoods of the same type. So, it's completely safe to add Mountain and/or Tropical vacation subhoods after adding Moonbase Apollo as a Far-Eastern vacation subhood.

Further information
Moonbase Apollo was created in a TS2 (Base Game) + Nightlife + Pets + Seasons + Bon Voyage only game using Numenor's AnyGameStarter! Apart from these EPs, no CCs are required for this. I only used EA's content. No townies/NPCs (no sims in general) were in the neighborhood folder during development.

Btw, the sky has been made black using the cheat "boolprop useEffects false". I didn't download any sky changing mods (ie skybox) to take the required pictures for this neighborhood! So, Moonbase Apollo is completely CC free indeed!
Actually, you can also temporarily use this cheat once your sims travelled here. Just toggle it back to "true" to make the sky blue again when you leave. Oh, and remember to enter this cheat before you depart home, though. I admit that I used Photoshop to create the neighborhood preview picture; but other than that, all of the uploaded images are straight from the game!

This neighborhood was built on a custom SC4 map, which I made myself for this neighborhood. However, you don't need a camera mod for this neighborhood. You'll see all of the lots with EA's default camera.
Speaking of lots, Moonbase Apollo has 25 lots in total. 5 of which are hotels, 13 community lots and the remaining 7 are residential lots.

Lot Sizes
# of LotsSize
45x5
104x4
83x3
12x2
12x3
12x1
Lot Prices
# of LotsPrice
2Low (§0 - §20,000)
4Medium (§20,001 - §90,000)
11High (§90,001 - §200,000)
8Insane (+ §200,001)
For more information about the lots, have a look here! All of the lots were built within oxygen & pressure protective domes - you know there's no air on the Moon and I had to do that to keep this as realistic as possible. Oh, and this neighborhood even has its OWN custom "Pagoda in the Shadows" lot... which is also in a dome and all! If you visit that lot, you'll notice that the Wise Old Man will be at the top of the pagoda in the dome, impatiently demanding politely asking your sims to serve him tea!

All of the lots were compressed using Mootilda's LotCompressor. Some of the lots were modded using Mootilda's LotAdjuster. It's been checked through Mootilda's HoodChecker and no issues were found.
Credit also goes to Zarathustra for his awesome dome building tutorial! Btw, I'm working on another Sci-Fi themed neighborhood... which also has domes... but somewhat different looking domes, so stay tuned for that!  

If you download the inhabited version, you'll get 8 custom locals and some ghosts in the graveyard lot. If you download the empty version, the game will generate the locals as you play.
So, if you don't want to see template-faced sims wandering around town, I recommend getting the inhabited version. For more information about the sims, have a look here!
I tried to make them Far-Eastern looking, but made them also aliens to combine the neighborhood theme a little...

Oh, and I've also written a guide book for Moonbase Apollo, just like EA did in their vacation subhoods. To read the guide book, load Moonbase Apollo after attaching it to your neighborhood and click on the Storytelling button. It will give you more information about the individual lodgings in Moonbase Apollo!

Btw, I've been working on this for 4 years now? Fun fact that I started building this when I actually should have been studying for my finals and now I'm actually uploading it because my finals got cancelled? Lol.
I actually tried to finish this earlier to upload as an entry for #themespace during Theme Catch-up 2019, but I didn't have the time to... you know, take all the pictures and all for an entire neighborhood! Well... I'm sooo glad I could do that now and that this thing's finally up!  

Additional Credits
Maxon for helpful information and for her tutorial on how to create a custom secret vacation (Pagoda in the Shadows) lot.
Lili975 For more helpful information about custom vacation subhoods, custom secret vacation lot, custom locals, etc.
Numenor for his AnyGameStarter
Mootilda for her custom subhood tutorial, LotAdjuster, LotCompressor and HoodChecker
Nopke for his 10 Sliders and 24 Sliders which have been used while creating the sims in the neighborhood.
Zarathustra for his awesome dome building tutorial!
Lamare for their Pets & Toddlers on vacation mod! While it's not required for the neighborhood to work, Moonbase Apollo is specifically designed to be used together with that mod.
Peni Griffin for her Widespot neighborhood! As you might have noticed, some sims from Widespot have travelled here to take the pictures for the upload.
compressjpeg.com for compressing the size of the required pictures
MTS for being such a great website
EA/Maxis for developing such a great game
Makers of SimPE
And last but not least, a big thank you goes to my playtesters or to anyone who gave me feedback, comments in the CFF forums, including:
Zarathustra, caitawesome, marka93, bloodstained_black_lace, Secret™, Jonipoon, Peni Griffin, Kukamuukaanmuka and Tigercat58
Thank y'all for your time and playtesting and/or for your helpful comments either here on MTS or on Tumblr! Without you, I wouldn't have found the issues you pointed out.
If I forgot anyone, I'm SO SORRY! Please let me know and I'll add you here.

Oh, and if you're having problems, please let me know in a PM or in a comment. I'd be more than happy to help you.
And I'd love to read your sims' adventures in Moonbase Apollo! :lovestruc