Well, Maxis Veronaville came with 30 townies, and Downtown with about 50 Downtownies. I have Tarlia's version of Bluewater. It didn't have all the Maxis Bluewater townies but had about 18 of them. So that means I had about 98 Maxis townies -- just short of a hundred. However quite a few of those have become playables over the years. A quick check in SimPE says that I've made 18 Downtownies and Veronaville townies into playables. I think all my Bluewater townies are still townies. So that leaves about 80 Maxis townies in our Veronaville. So where did all the rest come from? One was generated by the townie tree: a female teen called Sienna McGonagall. (She shares her surname with the [in]famous Scottish poet William McGonagall, and also with a character in Harry Potter.) All the rest -- over a hundred -- I made in CAS. I generally start off with a Sim generated by the randomizer, but then usually tweak them to make sure they're unique. As I'm sure you've noticed, I then generally dress them in sexy clothes, since that's what most modern Veronavillians wear. (It's a centre of the avant garde fashion business, developed recently out of centuries of textiles trade and manufacture.) It's also worth mentioning that some seven or eight of my CAS townies have gone on to become playable. This includes Carla Cameron and her teenage son Dean Cameron. Carla recently married Bianca Monty to become Carla Monty.

I can understand why you'd think that! I think I likely spend 75 to 80% of my Simming time playing teens, while leaving the adults to do what they're best at -- earning the money that my teens need to buy the things they want! In general I think I just find teens more fun to play! Never having got married, have kids, or even been in a proper relationship, I suspect in many ways I still think like a teen. And I do spend an inordinate amount of time playing (and posting about) a certain computer video game! Now that my mother is no longer here to order me to bed, I'm often playing long after midnight. So I apologise for my lack of maturity -- even Andrew thinks that I'm immature!

I am officially offended on behalf of your sim adults lol!

Ever had your game crash, and when you're re-playing the lost progress, something completely unexpected happens of the story takes a sudden turn? Which is something that would've never happened if the game hadn't crashed...

I just got the evil idea to make life even harder for my sims! Now in order for uneducated and inexperienced sims to get a job, they must first find my "Job seeker" career (represents landing job interviews). Then they must go to at least 3 job interviews (represented by the work days in that career), and after that they'll have 1/3 chance to get a job each day. The job seeker career itself pays $0 per day. (Is that even possible? Haven't made the career yet.)

While they're seeking jobs actively (meaning they have the Job seeker career or are looking for it every day), they get welfare from the state. $115 per day per sim from the president. I was looking for ways to make my president family actually spend the tax money that they receive each week from each family, rather than never doing anything with it other than paying bills. More ideas are welcome!

At first I thought you were being really mean, but then I remembered that I played the Newsons (six mouths to feed) for ten real years with the §125 a day from Gavin's teen medical job as their only income! Gavin and Ginger would have thought §115 per Sim per day absolute luxury. Gavin is about the only teenage boy in all our Veronaville who doesn't own a pair of shorts -- because he can't afford to buy them. Moreover Gavin only works five days a week, so he only gets paid for five days a week. Do yours get welfare every day? (i.e. 7 days a week?)

Yes. I believe is also possible to have negative incomes.

I also have 10x higher bills and bills come every day except Sunday. And taxes to the state every Sunday (except for those on welfare). So it's not that luxurious!
No, they'll get welfare 5 days a week. I've yet to try it out in game, I just got the idea. But I'm thinking welfare will be on a case by case basis, if its still too hard to cover basic necessities, they'll get a bit more. Or less if they're suddenly able to have a fun life we can't have that


Hmm, I don't know about that, I tried making such a career a few years ago and it glitched if I tried setting a negative salary. Recently I edited some careers to have higher salary and if I crossed the 16-bit integer ($32,767) for weekly salary, it would glitch out so that their pension (which is calculated based on the weekly salary), would become negative. But that didn't mean it would actually deduct from the family funds each day, you would just get the popups but nothing would happen. The game won't actually let you have a negative pension. Same goes for salary I think. It was a long time ago I tried with that career so I can't say for sure but I know it's the case for pensions at least so I think the same goes for salary.

You'd think that the Newsons would be eligible for some sort of government payout for the children, seeing as they have no adults in the house and are subsisting on a part time job with low wages. Mind you, the toddlers should have grown up and started going to school within ten years lol.



I know that the Freelancer career at least has 0 income, so 0 is possible.

This can either be one of my best ideas ever or a terrible, terrible mistake.

There is a modified version of the "welfare table" at GOS that pays out only a fraction of what it was normally doing. So that instead of getting $200 every day, you only get $10.
that's more in line with the actual welfare schemes in some countries/cities/towns.

Welfare table?

I accidentally screwed something up in SimPE the other day and didn't notice for 2 days, so I had to restore a back-up I'd made before editing. I didn't want to go straight back into finishing the uni rotation I had just finished so I started building. 2 days later and I've gone down a rabbit hole adding roads in LotAdjustor to corner lots, rebuilt a local market to better match the style of that area of Downtown, and built half of a downtown police station. I haven't touched my sims yet :D

It's called "Social welfare" and it consists of a table when placed has a teen worker generated. Those who wish to apply for benefits stand in front of the worker and the end result will be a daily amount of money given to the household.

The recipient cannot have a job-however, they can own a business..

Mootilda zipped up the package here for all to download: https://modthesims.info/showthread....484#post3891484


I had to look for it because I thought that it was at GOS but it was never originally there to begin with. I was mistaken but only because PenelopeT did part of the modification, and she's a member at GOS.

However, HL did the actual last modification as to amounts and that's in the same discussion:

This is where HL's mod of it is located: https://modthesims.info/t/600684

I just finished my "job seeker" career. I think it turned out pretty well, it even has 10 different levels, several chance cards and an icon. It rather accurately portrays what it's like to be unemployed in Sweden. Could this mod be something other people would be interested in? I'd need to translate it to English and that could be difficult... Do I compare it with the American or British unemployment system in that case? Hmm.
Spoiler:

It kinda worked, but it also kinda didn't? I have a working version where I was able to use GridAdjuster to lower everything such that the second floor is at the same level as the pier, and so I have a fully functioning floor all the way from land to the water. This was what I wanted since this is going to be a nightclub with an open air section above the water. The problem is that I can't get the pond water around the foundation, I can place pool tiles there and it sort of works but I'm not entirely convinced. Also, the sea gets very wonky in places where there wasn't supposed to be sea, beach lots are very finicky.

EDIT: It turns out this was actually a great idea and not a terrible mistake. I made some changes and getting the sunken basement to follow the terrain actually works even better than what I had intended with the pond water! It looks pretty stupid now but this was a great achievement for me, now I can build normally. I was so happy I tried making a platinum plumbbob with flooring lol.

I think this is the longest motivation slump I've had for creating... I was really excited finishing my Hogwarts lot and so happy when it got featured, but then none of my other WIPs have been grabbing me for months now, and I haven't really had as much inspiration for new projects either, so I've probably only spent a dozen hours or so in like the last four months with the game even on

It becomes doubly frustrating because I honestly like creating things for other people to use (like, it's way more fun for me to see what other people do with my creations or even just to see that people like them than it would be for me to actually play them), and I'm just increasingly aware of the dwindling audience for creations for a 20 year old game. That hurts my motivation too, and of course the longer I take, the fewer people are still around to enjoy stuff, so the less motivation I have, and so on.

(Sorry for the depressing negative post lol)

If it serves as any motivation, I'm always excited to see what you come up with next! Tara deBateau is living in your Schinasi Mansion currently, and the attic is being rented by her friend Filipa Vasconcellos, who has been putting her mathematics degree to uses of dubious legality...

And your university lots, as old as they might be, are what first motivated me to make my own full custom university, even though the architectural style is completely different. That is going to take a very long time, but I'm slowly chipping away at it.

Oh, and also: even though I have no use (yet) for your arena, I downloaded it to better understand how to make an amphitheatre. I would really like to properly build one for my university buildings but it's so hard I've been delaying it indefinitely lol. One day... And I really want to give cyberpunk a try for the techie district of Belladonna Cove, your cyberpunk lab will serve as a major inspiration for that.

Play your own creations anyway. Have some fun with them. Actually play some sims. Shake things up a bit. It looks like you're stuck in a rut at the moment. When was the last time you actually played the game seriously?

(...bold and italics added by me - because my soul agrees completely!)

At least you are featured... people know who you are.
I keep doing really cool, technically challenging (to me, anyway) builds, and no one pays any attention. (Well, not no one... I have a few who follow my builds.) Every-time I upload something phenomenal that doesn't even get a 'pick', I have to put myself back together again - and remind myself I'm not doing this for the glory. I do this because I honestly enjoy building. And I do. But a little glory, now and again, would be nice! ...Just sayin', MTS Staff-peoples.

It is sad to see something beloved fade away.
I do think the community has several years of life left though. I think hope TS2 will maintain a fan base for another 20 years.
Maybe you just need a break for a while? Go do something else - I like to do complete play-throughs of the Dragon Ages, when I need a break from TS2. Maybe doing something like that would help you too?

@Zarathustra - take a break and enjoy it Building is hard work, especially lots as intricate as yours. You are allowed some leave.

@CatherineTCJD - Hang on there, you don't have a picked lot? That is hard to believe! Somebody not paying proper attention? Trust me, you are more famous than you think, and your lots seem to be immensely popular.

I am also on a break. I am taking a long one Even though I am not remotely in the same class as either Cat or Zar, I am proud of my work too. Paternoster and Clarens took a LOT out of me. Which is human?

As for Sims 2 not having the number of fans it once had - true. I am, however, quite happy to see new creators and new builders who build very nice lots!

The last "pick" I had was in Feb, 2018. It is on page 22, if you start scrolling through all my lots.
I have built several exceedingly great lots since then (IMHO) and many other fine creators have been featured since then. (Which, of course, is great! But not me.)
I have to think it's personal somehow... either that, or my lots are just crap and I'm delusional?
...and, it's not "fame" I'm after - it's recognition. Recognition of a job well done. Which yes, several individuals have told/shown me over the years - but it has never come from MTS.

Hoods are indeed hard work to put together! I'm about to release mine, and I'm dreaming of a new DragonAge PT, instead.
BUT, the thing is, I really enjoy building too... *sigh*

Back to the subject of "breaks" - breaks are needed for our sanity. That has been proven!
So, enjoy yours @Justpetro and I can't wait to see what you come up with after it.
I seem to remember talk of a contest in the works?

Just because your stuff wasn't 'picked' doesn't mean that it wasn't a job well done. I've only ever had two uploads 'picked' and I'd hope that the rest of my stuff isn't crap. XD

How many downloads do you have? That tells you if people like your stuff.

Remember: being popular is not the same as being loved.

Now, my contribution to the random discussion-yesterday after I posted a question about why an entire lot would go missing, I found I was missing the entire game!

The Sims 2 (modern game) folder was gone! OMG! I was panicked, truly panicked and desperately looking for it. I searched for it all over my computer-even the trash bin (dreaded thought). Thalia, TT, Duma Key-all gone by-by!

With mounting panic, I wondered how the hell could the entire folder disappear? What was I going to do? I have back ups, but where to start?

I almost had a mind meld over it until I looked in one place that was still there: my "medieval" game folder.

There it was. Sitting in the middle of that folder.

I was relieved but also embarrassed. How did that happen? One flick of the mouse and there it went!

Lesson learned. Control that mouse! Don't push the mouse hovering over the folder.

I think the picks have to be done individually by the mods, and it looks like there have only been a couple of picked Sims 2 things this year. Even fewer for Sims 3 and 4. So I would guess it's a moderator availability thing. If you look at the staff list you will see that there is one moderator and eight trainee mods; I'm not sure whether the trainee mods have permissions to do picks. Everything the trainees do is likely checked by senior mods, and none of them are particularly active on the forums (most of the queue moderating is done via communication with other staff on Discord). So I'm guessing that none of them have the time or opportunity to choose picks.


Oh my goodness, I'm glad you found it! Make a safe backup, quickly!

Everything is very useful for these types of situations.