The New Beginning of Strangetown Plus (now with accurate ancestors and genetic infant faces!) - 2024 Edition

Hello everyone! Remember our Beginning Hoods Series we made a few years ago? Well, we're glad to be back with new and refreshed versions of our beginning hoods, but now with accurate ancestors... as well as bonus ancestors from TS3... hence Strangetown Plus!
We're also glad to welcome the talented carrit into our group! :D

Today, we present you the new Beginning of Strangetown Plus! (The new beginning hoods with genetic infant faces of the other EA neighborhoods are still in the works, but will come soon, we promise!)


Ever wondered how Strangetown would have turned out if you were able to play the Strangetown ancestors from the start? Well, now is your chance, bring them up to current Strangetown or take them in a whole new direction!

What are Beginning Hoods?
In case you see these beginning hoods for the first time and are wondering what they are all about, basically these are past versions of EA's premade neighborhoods, right at the very beginning, which is why they start off without any lots, but have exactly the same original terrain (including trees, neighborhood decorations, etc.) of EA's premade neighborhoods! Furthermore, all of the ancestor sims of the premade sims start off as newly weds, sitting in the family bin and waiting for you to move them in somewhere!

The Challenge:
We made these for a challenge, where the goal is to play as the ancestors of the premade sims of EA's neighborhoods (i.e. as Pollination Tech#9 Smith's alien grandmother Birth Queen), let them have jobs, children, grandchildren, (possible affairs?), etc. until you reach the present state of EA's neighborhood as we all know and love, except for the part that everyone's genetically correct now and may end up looking completely different... or not? Well, that's up to you! (See the prompts for you to do in the household descriptions to guide you through the challenge)

Again, the beginning hoods start off with no lots! It's part of the challenge to re-build the whole neighborhood from scratch... kinda like in a BACC fashion. (Though, you may also download the empty neighborhood templates to get the original lots and/or download renovated versions of EA's lots, of course.)

About Development and Updates:
Back in the day when we first made these hoods, the only available ancestors sims were the ones from Sims Wiki, made by Celesta92059. While they did an amazing job at trying to recreate the ancestor sims as close as possible and their tutorial on how to restore a deleted sim's character data has definitely helped us a lot in the process, the ancestor sims weren't quite as accurate as carrit's improved recreations, using the thumbnail comparison method, further elaborated by them here. Furthermore, we've also fixed some oversights relating SimDNA (i.e. wrong natural hair colors and/or eye color of the ancestors etc.) compared to the original beginning hood series. All sims should have their original looks, as well as SimDNA now!

But hold on, that's not the only change we made. We've also added genetic infant faces to all sims in this neighborhood! Credit goes to the amazing Meowingcookie for kick-starting the concept of genetic infant faces and ivycopur for their Clean Pleasantview Plus, which inspired us to do the same for the beginning hoods, as well as for their helpful guide on how to update all the sims in a neighborhood to have genetic infant faces.

Now, you can finally quit to neighborhood without saving, reload the family and keep cycling this as you like, until you got THE perfect offspring, just so you can get the Strangetown descendants as close as possible to the originals... or just accept the first outcome and let the game decide on how far close the descendants should get to the originals. XD

Lastly, we've also expanded the storyline by also including the relatives of the ancestors based on their Sims 3 counterparts. In this case, we've added Notzo Curious's parents Marshall Curious and Cherish Curious, as well as Zo Curious's parents Rich Whelohff and Rosy Whelohff from Twinbrook. Steward Curious was interpreted as Marshall Curious's twin brother, since they look almost.. if not all identical to each other! We've also included Olive Specter's victims as townies/service NPCs, so it's all up to you if you want to follow the original storyline and have them all murdered... OR let them live a peaceful life in the alternative universe.

Alright, enough talk, let's get to the technical details

Install Instructions:
- Main Hood: Unzip the file and place NBST into your Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2 (Ultimate Collection)/Neighborhoods as usual.

- Subhood: Unzip the file and place BBST into your Program Files/EA Games/The Sims 2 Open For Business/TSData/Res/NeighborhoodTemplate
Note: If you have Sims 2 Ultimate Collection, it's Program Files/Origin Games/The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection/Best of Business/EP3/TSData/Res/NeighborhoodTemplate

Further Info:
- 54 sims in 27 households (read their bios for the challenges for you to do to get this neighborhood to the present Strangetown!)
- No lots! (you can decide whether you want the main hood version and build the lots from scratch or the subhood version to later add to a neighborhood of your choice, just to deliver the sims into your neighborhood and later delete the subhood.)
- 4 townies/ 6 NPCs included (but the game will generate more as you play, we therefore recommend getting Maxis Infant Face Templates if you haven't already, so that any newly generated sims in your neighborhood also have genetic infant face.)
- No CC/camera mod needed (we used the original Strangetown map with all the decorations, just without the lots for this neighborhood)

List of Households & Goals:
Click on the name to see how the sims look like. The generation the sims belong to is given in bracets, i.e. Canute Beaker (2) means Canute Beaker is from the second generation (Gen 2).

• The Smith/Curious Family:
  
  • Queen: (maternal grandma of PT9 Smith)
    - Birth Queen (Adult/Female/Fortune)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 1):
    - Birth Queen (1m) and Colony Drone 2121 (1) and have a daughter named Birth Queen (2).
    - Birth Queen (1m) dies as an adult.
    (See Drone 2121 for the next goals).
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Drone 2121: (maternal grandpa of PT9 Smith)
    - Colony Drone 2121 (Adult/Male/Popularity)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 1):
    - Colony Drone 2121 (1) and Birth Queen (1m) have a daughter named Birth Queen (2).
    - Colony Drone 2121 (1) dies as an adult.
    (Gen 2):
    - Birth Queen (2) and Colony Drone 65535 (2) have a son named Pollination Technician 9 (3).
    - Birth Queen (2) dies as an adult.
    (See Drone 1000101 for the next goals).
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Queen: (paternal grandma of PT9 Smith)
    - Birth Queen (Adult/Female/Fortune)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 1):
    - Colony Drone 2121 (1) and Birth Queen (1m) have a daughter named Birth Queen (2).
    - Colony Drone 2121 (1) dies as an adult.
    (Gen 2):
    - Birth Queen (2) and Colony Drone 65535 (2) have a son named Pollination Technician 9 (3).
    - Birth Queen (2) dies as an adult.
    (See Drone 1000101 for the next goals).
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Drone 1000101: (paternal grandpa of PT9 Smith)
    - Colony Drone 1000101 (Adult/Male/Fortune)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 1):
    - Colony Drone 1000101 (1) and Birth Queen (1p) have a son named Colony Drone 65535 (2).
    (Gen 2):
    - Colony Drone 65535 (2) and Birth Queen (2) have a son named Pollination Technician 9 (3).
    - Colony Drone 65535 (2) dies as an adult.
    (Gen 3):
    - Pollination Technician 9 (3) abducts Glarn Curious (3) and they have twin girls Lola (4) and Chloe Curious (4).
    - Pollination Technician 9 (3) retires as a senior pollinator, settles down on Earth and adopts the name "Pollination Tech#9 Smith".
    (Gen 4):
    - Pollination Tech#9 Smith (3) marries Jenny Curious (4).
    - Pollination Tech#9 (3) and Jenny Smith (4) have a son named Johnny (5) and a daughter named Jill (5).
    - Pollination Tech#9 (3); Pascal (4), Vidcund (4) and Lazlo (4) are enemies with General Buzz Grunt (4).
    - Pascal (4) and Vidcund (4) are also enemies with Loki Beaker (4).
    (Gen 5):
    - Johnny Smith (5) dates Ophelia Nigmos (5).
    - Jill Smith (5) is best friends with Buck Grunt (5).
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Curious: ( From Twinbrook - Sims 3)
    - Marshall Curious (Adult/Male/Knowledge)
    - Cherish Curious (Adult/Female/Family)
    - Steward Curious (Adult/Male/Fortune)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 1):
    - Marshall (1) and Cherish Curious (1) have a daughter named Bunny (2) and a son named Notzo (2).
    - Steward Curious (1) dies by satellite as an adult (cloest to his death by meteor in TS3)
    (Gen 2):
    - Notzo Curious (2) marries Zo Whelohff (2).
    - Notzo (2) and Zo Curious (2) have a son named Glarn (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Glarn Curious (3) marries Glabe (3).
    - Glarn (3) gets abducted by Pollination Technician 9 (3) and has twin girls Lola (4) and Chloe (4).
    - Glarn (3) and Glabe (3) get divorced and he moves out.
    - Glarn Curious (3) marries Kitty Hogleg (3).
    - Glarn (3) and Kitty Curious (3) have a daughter named Jenny (4) and three sons named Pascal (4), Vidcund (4) and Lazlo (4).
    (Gen 4):
    - Vidcund (4) dates Circe Salamis (4) but breaks up shortly after.
    - Jenny (4) marries Pollination Tech#9 Smith (3). (See Smith for next goals)
    - Pascal (4) gets abducted by aliens and has a son named Tycho (5).
    -- The End --
    *Optional:
    - Bunny Balani (2) has descendant named Sinjin (4).
    
    
    
  • Whelohff: ( From Twinbrook - Sims 3)
    - Rich Whelohff (Adult/Male/Fortune)
    - Rosy Whelohff (Adult/Female/Family)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 1):
    - Rich (1) and Rosy Whelohff (1) have a daughter named Zo (2).
    (Gen 2):
    - Zo Whelohff (2) gets married to Notzo Curious (2).
    (See Curious for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Curious: (continued)
    - Glabe Curious (Adult/Female/Popularity)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 3):
    - Glabe Curious (3) gets married to Glarn Curious (3).
    - Glarn Curious (3) gets abducted by Pollination Technician 9 (3) and has twin girls Lola (4) and Chloe (4).
    - Glarn (3) and Glabe Curious (3) get divorced and he leaves her and his twin girls Lola (4) and Chloe Curious (4) behind.
    - Glabe Curious (3) adopts and raises her step-daughters Lola (4) and Chloe Curious (4).
    - Glabe Curious (3) dies as an adult in Olive's Garden.
    (Gen 4):
    - Lola (4) and Chloe Curious (4) join Erin Beaker (4) and Kristen Loste (4) in the "Singles" household as roommates.
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Hogleg:
    - Hamm Hogleg (Adult/Male/Family)
    - Annie Hogleg (Adult/Female/Fortune)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Hamm (2) and Annie Hogleg (2) have a daughter named Kitty (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Kitty Hogleg (3) gets married to Glarn Curious (3).
    (See Curious for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
• The Beaker Family:
  
  • Beaker:
    - Canute Beaker (Adult/Male/Family)
    - Gertrude Beaker (Adult/Female/Fortune)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Canute (2) and Gertrude Beaker (2) have a son named Bjorn (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Bjorn Beaker (3) marries Gundrun Halfdanarson (3).
    - Bjorn (3) and Gundrun Beaker (3) have a son named Loki (4) and a daughter named Erin (4).
    (Gen 4):
    - Loki Beaker (4) marries Circe Salamis (4).
    - Loki Beaker (4) is enemies with General Buzz Grunt (4); Pascal (4) and Vidcund Curious (4).
    - Erin Beaker (4) joins Lola (4) and Chloe Curious (4) and Kristen Loste (4) in the "Singles" household as roommates.
    - Nervous Subject (4) joins Beaker household as roommate.
    -- The End --
    *Optional: Loki (4) and Circe Beaker (4) have twins Atom (5) and Ceres (5).
    
    
    
  • Halfdanarson:
    - Leif Halfdanarson (Adult/Male/Fortune)
    - Ingibjorg Halfdanarson (Adult/Female/Romance)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Leif (2) and Ingibjorg Halfdanarson (2) have a daughter named Gundrun (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Gundrun Halfdanarson (3) gets married to Bjorn Beaker (3).
    (See Beaker for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Salamis:
    - Andros Salamis (Adult/Male/Romance)
    - Eurydice Salamis (Adult/Female/Fortune)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Andros (2) and Eurydice Salamis (2) have a son named Xanthos (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Xanthos Salamis (3) marries Grainne McGork (3).
    - Xanthos (3) and Grainne Salamis (3) have a daughter named Circe Salamis (4).
    (Gen 4):
    - Circe Salamis (4) dates Vidcund Curious (4) but breaks up shortly after.
    - Circe Salamis (4) gets married to Loki Beaker (4).
    (See Beaker for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • McGork:
    - Gwrtheyrn McGork (Adult/Male/Fortune)
    - Moira McGork (Adult/Female/Romance)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Gwrtheyrn (2) and Moira McGork (2) have a daughter named Grainne (3).
    - Grainne McGork (3) gets married to Xanthos Salamis (3).
    (See Salamis for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
• The Grunt Family:
  
  • Grunt:
    - General Rock Grunt (Adult/Male/Popularity)
    - Wanda Grunt (Adult/Female/Knowledge)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - General Rock (2) and Wanda Grunt (2) have a son named General Chip (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - General Chip Grunt (3) marries Missy Melons (3).
    - General Chip (3) and Missy Grunt (3) have a son named General Buzz (4).
    (Gen 4):
    - General Buzz (4) marries Lyla Vandermorgan (4).
    - General Buzz (4) and Lyla Grunt (4) have three sons named Tank (5), Ripp (5) and Buck (5).
    - General Buzz (4) and Lyla Grunt (4) get divorced and Lyla dies shortly after by electrocution in Olive's Garden.
    - General Buzz (4) is enemies with Pollination Tech#9 Smith (3); Pascal (4), Vidcund (4) and Lazlo Curious (4); Loki Beaker (4) and Olive Specter (3).
    (Gen 5):
    - Buck Grunt (5) is best friends with Jill Smith (5).
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Steel:
    - Mike Steel (Adult/Male/Family)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Mike Steel (2) has a romantic affair with Mary Melons (2).
    - Mike Steel (2) and Mary Melons (2) have a daughter named Missy (3).
    (See Melons for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Melons:
    - Mary Melons (Adult/Female/Popularity)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Mary Melons (2) has a romantic affair with Mike Steel (2).
    - Mary Melons (2) and Mike Steel (2) have a daughter named Missy (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Missy Melons (3) gets married to General Chip Grunt (3).
    (See Grunt for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Vandermorgan:
    - A.P. Vandermorgan (Adult/Male/Family)
    - Jacqueline Vandermorgan (Adult/Female/Family)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 3):
    - A.P. (3) and Jacqueline Vandermorgan (3) have a daughter named Lyla (4).
    (Gen 4):
    - Lyla Vandermorgan (4) gets married to General Buzz Grunt (4).
    (See Grunt for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
• The Loste Family:
  
  • Loste:
    - Goshem Loste (Adult/Male/Family)
    - Vera Loste (Adult/Female/Knowledge)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Goshem (2) and Vera Loste (2) have a son named Arty (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Arty Loste (3) marries Daisy Simnitch (3).
    - Arty (3) and Daisy Loste (3) have a daughter named Kristen (4).
    (Gen 4):
    - Kristen Loste (4) joins Lola (4) and Chloe Curious (4) and Erin Beaker (4) in the "Singles" household as roommates.
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Simnitch:
    - Leonard Simnitch (Adult/Male/Fortune)
    - Petunia Simnitch (Adult/Female/Romance)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Leonard (2) and Petunia Simnitch (2) have a daughter named Daisy (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Daisy Simnitch (3) marries Arty Loste (3).
    (See Loste for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
• The Loner Family:
  
  • Loner:
    - Kavi Loner (Adult/Male/Popularity)
    - Jeevika Loner (Adult/Female/Knowledge)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Kavi (2) and Jeevika Loner (2) have a son named Vikram (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Vikram Loner (3) marries Madhuri Frehndly (3).
    - Vikram (3) and Madhuri Loner (3) have a son named Ajay (4).
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Frehndly:
    - Bhu Frehndly (Adult/Male/Fortune)
    - Milony Frehndly (Adult/Female/Knowledge)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Bhu (2) and Milony Frehndly (2) have a daughter named Madhuri (3).
    (Gen 3):
    - Madhuri Frehndly (3) gets married to Vikram Loner (3).
    (See Loner for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
• The Specter/Nigmos Family:
  
  • Muenda:
    - Peponi Muenda (Adult/Male/Family)
    - Lerato Muenda (Adult/Female/Family)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 2):
    - Peponi (2) and Lerato Muenda (2) have two daughters named Olive (3) and Willow (4).
    - Danielle Greaves (2), a pizza delivery woman, mysteriously dies by starvation in Olive's Garden.
    (Gen 3):
    - Olive Muenda (3) gets left at the altar by Earl E. DeMise (3).
    (See DeMise for the next goals)
    - Seth Zaidi (2), a repairman, mysteriously dies by starvation in Olive's Garden.
    - Patrick Jones (3), a townie, mysteriously dies by electrocution in Olive's Garden.
    (Gen 4):
    - Willow Muenda (4) gets married to Creon Nigmos (4).
    (See Nigmos for the next goals).
    - Melissa Sims (4), a townie, mysteriously dies by starvation in Olive's Garden.
    - Peponi (2) and Lerato Muenda (2) die by fire as adults in Olive's Garden.
    - Jessica Ebadi (4), a maid, mysteriously dies by starvation in Olive's Garden.
    - Benjamin Cho (4), an exterminator, mysteriously dies by starvation in Olive's Garden.
    - Olive Muenda (3) gets married to Rigger Mortis (3).
    (See Mortis for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Nigmos:
    - Zog Nigmos (Adult/Male/Fortune)
    - Hecate Nigmos (Adult/Female/Family)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 3):
    - Zog (3) and Hecate Nigmos (3) have a son named Creon (4).
    (Gen 4):
    - Creon Nigmos (4) marries Willow Muenda (4).
    - Creon (4) and Willow Nigmos (4) have a daughter named Ophelia (5).
    - Creon (4) and Willow Nigmos (4) mysteriously die by drowning in Olive's Garden.
    (See Specter for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • DeMise:
    - Earl E. DeMise (Adult/Male/Family)
    - Tim Lee DeMise (Adult/Male/Family)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 3):
    - Earl E. DeMise (3) leaves Olive Muenda (3) at the altar and mysteriously dies by electrocution in Olive's Garden shortly after, along with his brother Tim Lee DeMise (3).
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Mortis:
    - Rigger Mortis (Elder/Male/Knowledge)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 3):
    - Rigger Mortis (3) reaches the top of any career, gets a big bonus and becomes rich.
    (Gen 4):
    - Rigger Mortis (3) marries Olive Muenda (3) and mysteriously dies by fire in Olive's Garden shortly after.
    - Vicky Sims (4), a townie, mysteriously dies by starvation in Olive's Garden.
    - Lyla Grunt (4) mysteriously dies by electrocution in Olive's Garden.
    - Olive Mortis (3) is enemies with General Buzz Grunt (4).
    - Olive Mortis (3) gets married to Hugh Thanasia (4).
    (See Thanasia for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Thanasia:
    - Hugh Thanasia (Adult/Male/Romance)
    - Lou Thanasia (Adult/Male/Family)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 4):
    - Hugh Thanasia (4) marries Olive Mortis (3) and mysteriously dies by fire in Olive's Garden shortly after, along with his brother Lou Thanasia (4).
    - Olive Thanasia (3) has a romantic affair with Grim Reaper and has a son named Nervous Subject (4).
    - Knut Futa (4), a deliveryman, mysteriously dies by drowning in Olive's Garden.
    - Luc Smith (4), a townie, mysteriously dies by drowning in Olive's Garden.
    - Brenda Zaidi (4), a mail carrier, mysteriously dies by drowning in Olive's Garden.
    - Olive Thanasia (3) gets married to Ichabod Specter (3).
    (See Specter for the next goals)
    -- The End --
    
    
    
  • Specter:
    - Ichabod Specter (Elder/Male/Family)
    
    Challenges:
    
    
    (Gen 3):
    - Ichabod Specter (3) reaches the top of any career, gets a big bonus and becomes rich.
    (Gen 4):
    - Ichabod Specter (3) marries Olive Thanasia (3) and dies of Old Age in Olive's Garden shortly after.
    - Nervous Subject (4) is taken away by the social worker, grows up to an adult in orphanage with no parents and eventually joins the Beaker household as a roommate.
    - Creon (4) and Willow Nigmos (4) mysteriously die by drowning in Olive's Garden.
    (Gen 5):
    - Ophelia Nigmos (5) moves in with her aunt Olive Specter (3) after her parents' death.
    - Ophelia Nigmos (5) dates Johnny Smith (5).
    -- The End --
    *Optional: Olive Specter (3) has descendants named Noela Specter and Planchette Specter.
    
    
    
• Townies and Service NPCs:
  
  • Townies:
    - Luc Smith (Teen/Male/Popularity)
    - Melissa Sims (Teen/Female/Fortune)
    - Patrick Jones (Adult/Male/Romance)
    - Vicky Sims (Adult/Female/Knowledge)
    
    
  • Service NPCs:
    - Benjamin Cho (Exterminator NPC) (Adult/Male/Family)
    - Brenda Zaidi (Mail Carrier NPC) (Adult/Female/Knowledge)
    - Danielle Greaves (Pizza Delivery NPC) (Adult/Female/Knowledge)
    - Jessica Ebadi (Maid NPC) (Adult/Female/Knowledge)
    - Knut Futa (Deliveryman NPC) (Adult/Male/Romance)
    - Seth Zaidi (Repairman NPC) (Elder/Male/Popularity)
    

How to Play:
The family descriptions indicate in which generation the sims are, as well as what you're supposed to do with them. Of course, it's up to you if you want to take the challenge to bring the ancestors to the present OR if you want to completely drift into the alternative universe, especially with the new Sims 3 characters

Once you've finished a prompt, just delete that line in the family description and go on with the next prompts. The sims are fresh from CAS, i.e. have not been initialized yet, so don't worry about sims from future generations showing up as walk-bys on community lots, as they won't if you don't move them in and just leave them in the family bin.

Additional Credits:
- Numenor for his AnyGameStarter
- Mootilda for her tutorial How to Create a Custom Subhood Template, as well as for Hood Replace
- marka93 for his original Beginning of Strangetown
- carrit for the Improved Strangetown Ancestral Sims
- Meowingcookie for Maxis Infant Face Templates
- ivycopur for their helpful guide on how to add genetic infant faces
- MTS for being such a great website
- EA/Maxis for developing such a great game
- The makers of SimPE