Replies: 11 (Who?), Viewed: 3666 times.
Quick Reply
Search this Thread
HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 11th Sep 2024 at 5:26 PM Last edited by HarVee : 15th Sep 2024 at 9:32 AM.
Default Plot of Land Rebirth [Feedback Wanted & Testers Wanted]
So, let's try this again, eh? Plot of Land, this time with a DL link to a playable beta. this neighborhood is made using empty and clean templates, so it's free from Maxis bloat. An all EP/SP game setup is required to play.

WELCOME TO PLOT OF LAND
Plot of Land started as a simple testing neighborhood almost 2 years ago. When I originally shared a couple of images of it, @simsample suggested I share it. Well, at the time it was barely playable, but as time went on, I expanded upon it. Adding many families, a (still WIP) storyline, and many more lots. I am happy to present to you what I've been working on and I hope you get some enjoyment from it.

STORYLINE:
When Lucien Babybat the 2nd inherited over 100,000 acres of land from his extremely rich and now-deceased parents, he decided to sell the land to former SimValley president and local real estate mogul Malcolm Landgraab. No one knows quite why Lucien the 2nd did this, Lucien II has claimed to his son, Lucien the 3rd, that it was "Because I love you", but what kind of parent sells that much land without considering the others that would be affected? Certainly, there is more to this tale than what meets the eye...

SUMMARY OF CONCEPT:
The idea of Plot of Land takes inspiration from real world politics and from the very town I live in IRL, of course, names have been changed and a lot of creative liberties taken so it's not a carbon copy of anything in particular but rather has molded into a unique town of its own. Plot of Land makes parodies on several things that currently are hot topics. Immigration, Global Warming, etc. but it does so in a way that's fun, quirky, and fits in with the drama of The Sims 2.

Many families and townies in this neighborhood are a continuation of the storyline told in the PlayStation 2 version of "The Sims Bustin' Out". I've always liked the greedy landlord concept and wanted to expand on it further. You don't need to have played Bustin' out to enjoy this neighborhood, however.

CUSTOM CONTENT:
YOU MUST DOWNLOAD THESE FOR PLOT OF LAND TO FUNCTION CORRECTLY
Well, this might not be ideal for many but it's the best way I can do it, because this neighborhood uses a lot of CC I've decided to simply combine all CC I've used and will be using in any future neighborhoods I share (3 planned insofar) into what I call a "Compendium". This is done for ease-of-use and for streamlining things. It is a 876.9MB 7zip file that when extracted should be around 2.93GB.

The "Compendium" includes everything from walls and floors to buy objects as well as a couple default replacers. I strongly recommend you run this independently from your other custom content by moving your existing Custom Content into a backup directory and then putting my compendium into your Sims 2 Downloads folder.

I want to thank all the authors of the CC used for sharing them originally with the community. Without you Plot of Land wouldn't have been possible. there are a lot of authors that it might not be easy to credit each one. Just know that your work is not being infringed upon by this upload as I am not claiming any of it as my own with exception for a couple object recolors and walls/floors I made.

DOWNLOAD:
Custom Content Compendium
Criquette's Better Nightlife mod

Neighborhood (1.5 Beta 'hotfix')
Screenshots
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Advertisement
HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#2 Old 11th Sep 2024 at 5:30 PM Last edited by HarVee : 11th Sep 2024 at 6:52 PM.
SEE THE SIGHTS!









And more below!
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#3 Old 13th Sep 2024 at 1:13 AM Last edited by HarVee : 13th Sep 2024 at 9:19 PM.
Posting because this neighborhood, while playable, it isn't complete yet. I'm sharing a basic roadmap of what I am doing/plan on doing in future builds. These things are as follows;


*Introduce a subplot involving a ploy to prevent Malcolm Landgraab from getting reelected as SimValley president by using necrophilia (zombies):

This involves a death of Chevy Mackenson, and his sister, Ivory Mackenson, joining a group of necrophiliacs in hopes of resurrecting her dead brother. It also involves the introduction of new townies and a new family by the surname of Cowl. They will live in what is currently called "The Smith Trailer" lot.

*Introduce a subplot involving a mad scientist and global warming:

The plan is to age up Chett Hart into an adult and have him move into the lot "Container Haus" and become a mad scientist and unlock the weather machine reward. His story will be fleshed out to include a marriage and a child as well.

*Introduce a subplot involving "Hipsters" and homeless Sims:

I will be building a couple homeless "camps" with playable Sims and two new "Hipster" families into the neighborhood. Both will tie into Gerald Mackenson's "conservative views" story arch.

*Optimize the neighborhood:

I've been noticing a lot of "Pink Soup" happening in my game because of the high-quality lot imposters and large amount of neighborhood deco placed. I will be reducing the lot imposters to Maxis default resolutions as well as removing redundant neighborhood objects. This should reduce the likelihood of Pink Soup from happening in this 'hood.

*More relationships in the neighborhood:

The general idea is to get every Sim, both playable and townie, known at least in one way or another... eventually.

*Expand the "Coot's Chapel" graveyard:

Add more deceased Sims into the neighborhood to help with the above zombie story arch.

*Improvements to lot routing, bug fixing, etc.

Anyway, beta 2 planned in the upcoming weeks.
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

simsample
Be like the 22nd elephant with heated value in space, bark!
retired moderator
#4 Old 14th Sep 2024 at 3:31 PM
Hey @HarVee I managed to test this a bit and take some sims to community lots, and I have to say I really love it! Very cool aesthetic and really imaginative lots.

I made a few notes about things I noticed, would you like me to post them here or should I PM you? All just little things which you probably have already noticed or changed, as I know you are still working hard on it!
HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#5 Old 14th Sep 2024 at 8:28 PM
Quote: Originally posted by simsample
Hey @HarVee I managed to test this a bit and take some sims to community lots, and I have to say I really love it! Very cool aesthetic and really imaginative lots.

I made a few notes about things I noticed, would you like me to post them here or should I PM you? All just little things which you probably have already noticed or changed, as I know you are still working hard on it!

Post them here. makes it easier to keep track of things when it's all in one thread!


Side note: Noticed some duplicate files in the CC Compendium. I'll be removing the duplicate files and some other redundant CC that kind of slipped through the cracks. So, an update to that will be coming too with beta 2.
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

simsample
Be like the 22nd elephant with heated value in space, bark!
retired moderator
#6 Old 14th Sep 2024 at 10:34 PM
Okay then!



That's all I noticed for now, as I mentioned before I absolutely love this!

I also bumped into Sim Sample and Haywud!
HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#7 Old 14th Sep 2024 at 11:42 PM
Thanks for your reply @simsample ! I'm glad you like the neighborhood so far. Many of these things I have been addressing slowly such as the bios and lifetime wants being inconsistent, though some of the things brought to my attention by you I actually had no idea were even a problem, so I thank you for bringing them to my attention. The duplicate move memories are caused by me moving the families into the 'test' lot by the farm, and using that lot to adjust family funds, skills, job, etc. then moving them into the lot they are intended to be living at. I'll try to see if I clean up the memories using SimPe.

About the blank thumbnails for Rio and Patty, I've noticed this too, it is likely because I use the thumbnailhack.asi by LazyDuchess to prevent the game from regenerating redundant thumbnails. I'll remove it and see if I can get the thumbnails to regenerate.

Bookcase for the Babybat Mini Manor lot should be up in the attic. The idea was to have a private study up there. The lack of tables was an oversight admittedly. I'll put some out on the patio or backyard.

The dining area for the elderly Maple family I've already fixed. The Sloppy Seconds front door and clothes rack/jewelry I fixed as well, I also removed two walls on the Babybat Mini Manor lot by the staircase to improve routing.

I'm not quite sure why the Sims reset, I'll have to look through my hacks and try to find the cause of the problem. This might take awhile to fix, but it definitely is of high priority.
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#8 Old 15th Sep 2024 at 9:21 AM Last edited by HarVee : 15th Sep 2024 at 9:33 AM.
UPDATE RELEASED - Beta 1.5 'hotfix'

I'm releasing this update to address some of the issues found and brought to my attention by @simsample

The changelog is as follows:



...And I'm sure there's a couple other things I did too that I might've forgot. Hopefully the neighborhood is in better shape now! Note the sim reset thing still might happen.
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Sokisims
Inventor
#9 Old 15th Sep 2024 at 10:08 PM Last edited by Sokisims : 16th Sep 2024 at 1:10 AM.
I'm downloading to see, but I can't test anything because I'm busy fixing mine xD But know that I support you!!

Edit: I didn't see Cass, didn't I send it to you? XDD The houses look very nice, and the story of the sale of the land seems very interesting to me. ^^
HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#10 Old 16th Sep 2024 at 4:52 AM Last edited by HarVee : 16th Sep 2024 at 7:03 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by Sokisims
I'm downloading to see, but I can't test anything because I'm busy fixing mine xD But know that I support you!!

Edit: I didn't see Cass, didn't I send it to you? XDD The houses look very nice, and the story of the sale of the land seems very interesting to me. ^^

You did... I think... idk I have gone through many revisions and backups of this 'hood over the last few years, sometimes I forget to add things or things get lost in the matrix.

edit: @Sokisims if you still have the files for Cass send them to me again via PM. I'll add them to beta 2, promise.

edit 2: I am working on trying to slim down the CC requirements for this 'hood. It does seem to me a bit unreasonable to ask people to download such a large "compendium". I've also been experimenting with merging CC files. So, in beta 2 the updated compendium may have some more merged CC packages. Currently right now it's mostly just walls/floors.
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#11 Old 19th Sep 2024 at 2:07 PM
A theme... song


Plot of Land now a short theme song. Not sure if I'm going to include it in beta 2 (which isn't that far away!) or if I'll just leave it here as an optional.

(yes... I am going 'all out' with this neighborhood. I don't think I've seen anyone do a custom neighborhood theme song before though.)
Attached files:
File Type: 7z  PlotofLandTheme.7z (2.07 MB, 1 downloads)
Description: Extract and listen.
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

HarVee
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#12 Old Yesterday at 10:59 AM Last edited by HarVee : Today at 2:27 AM.
Posting to say that Beta 2 is complete. I'll be uploading it this Friday or Saturday. I've got a couple other projects for other stuff that need completing before I can focus my attention on this 'hood some more. but I would like to say that the CC compendium has been drastically reworked. Over 1.5GB of redundant and unused objects were removed, bringing the size down to a more reasonable 1.59GB (down from 2.93GB). Also, the folder structure has been reorganized and I've introduced a new story subplot for the neighborhood. One that is rather interesting and probably not done before in a 'hood:

Malcolm Landgraab's presidential administration has put a trade embargo on all objects not manufactured within SimNation and as such cannot be imported into SimValley. So, through the use of hiders, many Maxis objects/walls/floors/fences/etc. have been hidden from the catalogue. (They still exist in the game files and will still show up on lots that use them, don't panic!) This was one of Malcolm's least favorable policies among the population of SimValley and has stirred up rivalries between those that support him and those that don't. Alabaster Cowl has been gaining some leverage over Malcolm because of this policy and has rallied more supporters to his "Zombie" cause.

Edit: The "Landgraab Embargo" Maxis hider(s) will be included as an optional extra. I understand that hiding maxis content may not be ideal for everyone.
Because the earth is standing still, and the truth becomes a lie
A choice profound is bittersweet, no one hears Cassandra Goth cry

Back to top