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Lab Assistant
#26 Old 19th Nov 2014 at 5:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Felicia1066
My biggest problem with large families is creating a house for them that has a sensible floor plan, with room for all the beds required AND enough stuff for the sims to do, without being so big that I can't find the baby someone took out of the crib and put down somewhere else when I wasn't looking...


When that happens, I found clicking on the crib and telling whoever to put [baby's name] in it. And if no crib...just click on frig and tell to feed baby - they'll go get baby from wherever they managed to hide it. Those silly sims
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Undead Molten Llama
#27 Old 19th Nov 2014 at 6:14 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Felicia1066
My biggest problem with large families is creating a house for them that has a sensible floor plan, with room for all the beds required AND enough stuff for the sims to do, without being so big that I can't find the baby someone took out of the crib and put down somewhere else when I wasn't looking...


Heh. With my truly huge households -- which are generally communes, if I'm not making a commune that's an entire subneighborhood -- there is no single house. There's a "common house" which has living/recreation/kitchen/dining facilities, there's a bath-house, and there are several bunkhouses. But that's probably not the kind of family that you're talking about.

As for me, with regular families when they go big, I cram them in. I've played 12-member families in a tiny 3-bedroom Plasticbox starter house on a 2x1 lot. Granted, I have Inteen so the teens get moved out on their own as independent teens after 7 days, so that helps to free up room for the younger members of the household as they age up. Other than that, the secret is bunk beds or, even better, Inge's shelf beds, which can be stacked up to the ceiling. And also 1-tile cribs and changing tables for the babies/toddlers. I pack 'em in like sardines. They're Sims. They don't care if they share a tiny bedroom with three other kids. I actually prefer to do this rather than have them in a large house where it's hard to keep track of a lot of Sims, especially if it's a multi-story house so you have to keep flipping between floors. Packing 'em does cause traffic jams/routing issues, though. But I confess that I will happily use moveobjects to alleviate them. I'd rather that than driving myself nuts trying to keep track of many Sims across many square feet of real estate.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Alchemist
#28 Old 19th Nov 2014 at 6:39 PM
And I think it's tough playing with 2 toddlers
Test Subject
#29 Old 19th Nov 2014 at 9:07 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Charity
Doesn't that many sims give you monster lag?


The lag isn't too bad. It's bearable. I've had much worse lag with just a regular sized family on TS3 with all the pattern and open world garbage.
Anyway, other than my prison I always play with free will off since I'm a control freak when it comes to my precious sims! I'm always afraid they'll do something stupid and get themselves killed.
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#30 Old 19th Nov 2014 at 11:09 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Spectacles
I'm always afraid they'll do something stupid and get themselves killed.
But that's the best bit! When your sims do something ridiculous and completely destroy all your neatly laid out plans for them, the new plan you cobble together in desperation invariably turns out to be more fun.

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Mad Poster
#31 Old 19th Nov 2014 at 11:46 PM
And they hardly ever get themselves killed. When that happens, it's usually something stupid I told them to do.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Inventor
#32 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 5:43 PM
@shuttlegrannyjo
Your story, that surely involves Seasons does make me want to have Seasons even more.
I already leaned towards considering getting that ep, but in my country (online) stores don't seem to have it anymore.

Too bad gardening isn't autonomous. I tried to find a sims 2 mod for that I could offer here, but all I got was for Sims 3.

I played a few big families in the past. Although they were hectic, to me in a good way, I found it was doable, especially with teenagers in the house.
They will pitch in wherever necessary. But for now I prefer to play four people households in my new hood.
Lab Assistant
#33 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 6:40 PM
@ mirjampenning
Aww...ty for trying to find one
It's easy enough just to tell them to garden and trim the fruit trees and they continue doing it until it's done or their needs run low.
I hope you eventually get to acquire Seasons...I really love that EP. Tho, unlike most, I really dislike the weather part of it - well, actually, just the thermometer part on my little sims coz my kids were always being taken by the welfare chick due to "overheating" (just coz one of them showered too long! lmao!!) But I've recently downloaded a "No Welfare Worker" hack, so got my fingers crossed that it'll play well in my game and do what I need.
Other than that, I think it's probably one of my favorite EPs. I love being able to not have to send my sims to work and have them manage to raise their crops and kids the way my Grandma (she was one of 15 kids) and Grandpa (one of 17 kids) were raised. <3
Mad Poster
#34 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 6:51 PM
Quote: Originally posted by shuttlegrannyjo
I really love that EP. Tho, unlike most, I really dislike the weather part of it - well, actually, just the thermometer part on my little sims coz my kids were always being taken by the welfare chick due to "overheating" (just coz one of them showered too long! lmao!!) But I've recently downloaded a "No Welfare Worker" hack, so got my fingers crossed that it'll play well in my game and do what I need.


So i guess you might not need No Social Worker For Hot Or Cold, from Paladin's Place.
But still, if you want to take a look, maybe you already know about the site, look under sims2, then under Fix..then Seasons..or any other EP you'd like fixes for.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Lab Assistant
#35 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 7:07 PM Last edited by shuttlegrannyjo : 20th Nov 2014 at 7:24 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Rosebine
So i guess you might not need No Social Worker For Hot Or Cold, from Paladin's Place.
But still, if you want to take a look, maybe you already know about the site, look under sims2, then under Fix..then Seasons..or any other EP you'd like fixes for.


Ahh...ty!
I'll check that one out coz, if my kids are being neglected, I want there to be a chance of them being taken away...but definitely not because they showered too long or built a snowman, played tag, etc! :lovestruc

YEAHNESS!! TY! I have bookmarked that page and downloaded the one you mentioned...sounds like exactly what I need for the way I play! :lovestruc :lovestruc

Also snagged a couple of the ones that knock the, minor but irritating, "habits" that simmies do (Uh...I called you over coz I want you NOW...not when you decide to come! lol)
Inventor
#36 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 8:04 PM
Quote: Originally posted by shuttlegrannyjo
Tho, unlike most, I really dislike the weather part of it - well, actually, just the thermometer part on my little sims

That was the one thing that put me off about Seasons at first. Watching all those simmies all the time to prevend them from overheating or freezing.
Or a beloved sim die before his or her time. Most of my sims only die of old age.
Now I figure, mods could help me out in this area. Had I realised that before, then I could've had Seasons before it disappeared from the Netherlands. :P
I could try through the German Amazon site, but the send costs might get rather high. Still pondering if it's worth it to go that route.

Back to big families.
I might do one again in the future, but then one with one of the sims of my second generation. The founder families won't get any more children unless they choose to try for it themselves.
Lab Assistant
#37 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 8:49 PM
Quote: Originally posted by mirjampenning
That was the one thing that put me off about Seasons at first. Watching all those simmies all the time to prevend them from overheating or freezing.
Or a beloved sim die before his or her time. Most of my sims only die of old age.
Now I figure, mods could help me out in this area. Had I realised that before, then I could've had Seasons before it disappeared from the Netherlands. :P
I could try through the German Amazon site, but the send costs might get rather high. Still pondering if it's worth it to go that route.

Back to big families.
I might do one again in the future, but then one with one of the sims of my second generation. The founder families won't get any more children unless they choose to try for it themselves.


I have the UC version of it now but, before that, I had everything except the last 3 things they made (K&B, Ikea and M&G). I could find them really cheap at one of the dept. stores, but never could afford to get them.
So I was extremely happy when I was able to get the UC for free, tho I'm not always certain what mods will play well with it...just have to do trial and error when it comes to that. What works well with others who have certain ones in their UC game doesn't always play well with mine. I imagine it's due to the fact that I still use XP lol

I do play some small families, tho I have to continually smack my hand so's I don't always make them "try for a baby" or "summon aliens" (I REALLY love my alien babies lol), but I always end up playing the longest with my large families...they just really appeal to me :lovestruc

I like the ACR but it's not in my game, atm. I also like teen pregnancy hacks but, again, it's not in my game just yet (I prefer Chris Hatch's teen one, but need to see if it's been updated for, or will play well with, the UC version).
Mad Poster
#38 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 9:54 PM
I see people talk about training sims a lot, but I can't see how this would make any difference - code is code is code. They act in whichever way they are coded whether you have directed them to some sensible way in the past or not. Likewise I don't understand when people talk about "punishing" their sims - I'm guessing it's just a joke but it seems very illogical to me. They're not AI, they're just... simulations. Literally :P

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Mad Poster
#39 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 10:21 PM
No, they are coded to be trainable. All freewill actions are random; but they are not all equally likely in the same circumstances. It's a matter of the probabilities changing - the more often a sim does something, the more likely she is to do it again; the more often a want is filled, the more likely it is to be rolled again. This is how distinct personalities emerge, and why some people get annoying things like "all Fortune sims roll only wants to buy stuff" while others are all "Fortune sims love being providers and giving presents and are devoted to their families."

The want trees are structured to magnify this effect, so that you get sims who roll wants that for all the world look like foresight and planning ahead - rolling wants to buy exactly the items they need to use to get the skill points they need for promotion, then rolling exactly the skill wants they need for promotion, then rolling the wants to go to work and get that promotion. If a sim - even a Romance sim - has only ever been allowed to perform romantic interactions with one partner, most of her wants that can have an individual attached, will have that individual attached. Experienced daters can also freewill a sequence of actions easily recognizable as "seducing" a new interest, if they have been allowed so much as a single flirt.

This is why a glitch that deletes the SWAF (Sim Wants and Fears) history is so devastating for those of us who play to character - it's deletes all the training, and they'll start rolling wants as if they just stepped out of CAS, and it feels as if their personality has been wiped.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#40 Old 20th Nov 2014 at 10:51 PM
Thank you Rosebine for mentioning Paladin's place! I didn't know about that site and it has so many useful things!

Thank you to everyone for replying too

I'm thinking i'll make the Ottomas's have a large family...i'm playing Riverblossom Hills with them in it. They have the 3 that were already born plus twins but now with that mod they could have more...mwahaha.

Nowhere near the allowed 30 Sims but maybe I could handle 12-15 Sims.

My Simblr
He/They
Mad Poster
#41 Old 21st Nov 2014 at 12:23 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
No, they are coded to be trainable. All freewill actions are random; but they are not all equally likely in the same circumstances. It's a matter of the probabilities changing - the more often a sim does something, the more likely she is to do it again.


Exactly. And this is why you'll probably see me write stuff like : Sims learns....
I never felt the need for reservable beds for instance. I never needed that, and was even wondering at some point, why this had been created?
I was just logically directing my sim to A bed that i had chosen for him/her. Or cancel the autonomous "sleep" action, if I saw the sim was heading to the "wrong" bed. It never takes long, maybe 2 times?..most often after the first time, all my sims heads for their own bed.
Talking about this, yesterday after moving a teen sim back to his parent's (I'll skip the storyline, if you don't mind) I waited until he was mighty tired..just to see what bed he'd be choosing. His parent's or his own.
He went straight to his, even though it was a IKEA one with less comfort/energy. I love to think that i did a pretty good job decorating his bedroom for him, knowing he was coming...I was very pleased. This sim was a Townie all his life! woah.
Another family i just created a few days ago. Toddler aged to child..never slept in a real bed before. He is tired. He's got 3 choices. His parent's bed which is double and comfy, his big sister's bed, or the new bed i bought him?
Ahah! For Théo, it got harder. lol
He first heads to his sister's bedroom (twin bed also)....I canceled the interaction, but didn't give further command. Théo waits, stands..and wonder.
He starts heading for papa & mama's bed...I cancel, no further command.
Of course, he got to his own bed at that point! But i never had to "tell" him after that. he knew what was his. Who needs a mod?


Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
This is why a glitch that deletes the SWAF (Sim Wants and Fears) history is so devastating for those of us who play to character - it's deletes all the training, and they'll start rolling wants as if they just stepped out of CAS, and it feels as if their personality has been wiped.


Peni, I'd like to know more about that glitch? if there is one I'd rather never have, it is that one. I never heard of it...
Is there a chance to delete the SWAF ourselves using a mod/hacks too?..like a user directed mistake...because if so, I'd like to know what to avoid also.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Scholar
#42 Old 21st Nov 2014 at 3:56 AM
Rosebine, I seem to have more stubborn sims than you! I have some that just will not accept the bed I have assigned them. I don't have assignable beds yet because I keep forgetting to get it. Meanwhile I have some sims who will nap on the couch rather than in the bed I direct them to.
Mad Poster
#43 Old 21st Nov 2014 at 4:21 AM
I wish I knew more about it, too! I've had it a couple of times in Drama Acres - when I refer to "my aspiration glitch," this is what I'm talking about. The symptom is that University graduates lose their six wants/two locks, LTWs change randomly, and the want trees revert to those you'd expect of a new sim. It occurs apparently randomly, spreads throughout the neighborhood for a rotation or two, and then suddenly settles down. Mootilda thought the SWAF getting wiped was the most likely single source for those things happening in unison.

There was a way to delete SWAFs on purpose, because she suggested it as an extreme treatment for certain kinds of glitching, but I don't remember what it was, and it did require an editing tool like SimPE.

(Now I miss Mootilda all over again; she could explain it much better.)

When it occurs, the solution is to restore from a backup or to rebuild the wants panels and LTWs with the batbox and then train them to act like themselves, which doesn't normally take very long because I know my sims so well. This is one reason I'm so sure of the training mechanism - I consciously use it, for predictable results.

Obviously, the more hacks you have to interfere with the original coding of wants and behavior, the more likely you are to have disrupted the training mechanism. Since I have very few behavior mods, and had none at all for the first year I played, the effect has been obvious in my game. To someone with ACR + Inteen + hacked hobby wants, the effect might be more subtle, or in some cases be overridden entirely. This is one reason I urge people to master the game before they start installing mods. You need to understand the mechanics of the game, and know which things are the code's fault and which are a result of your not taking the limitations and possibilities of the coding into account when making play decisions.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Inventor
#44 Old 21st Nov 2014 at 7:31 PM Last edited by mirjampenning : 21st Nov 2014 at 9:10 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by simsfreq
I see people talk about training sims a lot, but I can't see how this would make any difference - code is code is code.

I was one of the people talking about training sims and I really believe it works.
Yes, coding is coding, but coding can be perfectly used to gain a certain pattern in behaviour. It's not coding that only can provide one scenario, like in other games.
I guess you could say this is sandbox coding, which is perfect for training purposes.
Given, certain sims are harder to train than others. For example. My sim Zita Lopez. She despices cleaning. It doesn't matter how many times I directed her to clean something and she always did with the longest face and grumpy comments, but doing it automatically, forget it.
For me it doesn't mean sims are not trainable. To me it means Zita makes clear to me cleaning is not in her nature. Not even when mess does bother her greatly.
On the other hand she is clean with herself. Going in the shower automatically way before it is really necessary.
She maybe would have done that far less if I hadn't trained her to do that.
And here we are talking about a stubborn sim.
I have other sims who were far more susceptable to be trained.
I even think that Zita's husband Arko would have cleaned a lot less if I hadn't trained him and if his wife would clean more. Now he seems to feel the need to do her part as well.

I think you can look at it real clinicly and consider it just coding. Or you look at it with a different eye and see more in it and ways to manipulate the coding.

Quote: Originally posted by shuttlegrannyjo
I have the UC version of it now

You mean the full package on Origin?
I made sure I got it in time too, but I don't use it.
Because at first I didn't know if you installed both, none of the versions would work anymore.
So I had to do a complete reïnstall and chose my discs to do it with.
And with my discs I miss seasons and apartment life and a few SP's.

Quote: Originally posted by shuttlegrannyjo
I do play some small families, tho I have to continually smack my hand so's I don't always make them "try for a baby" or "summon aliens" (I REALLY love my alien babies lol), but I always end up playing the longest with my large families...they just really appeal to me :lovestruc

At the moment with my new fresh hood I haven't used 'try for baby' at all. And none of my sims, running on ACR, have tried themselves.
For starters, they aren't family sims, plus they already have children. Each family has two CAS-kids. A mix of both their parents, but they weren't born in-game. Unlike you, I make sure there are no alien babies in my hood. They do not fit.
Every family always gets played equal time in a rotating manner. Even when I have favorite families.

Quote: Originally posted by shuttlegrannyjo
I like the ACR but it's not in my game, atm. I also like teen pregnancy hacks but, again, it's not in my game just yet (I prefer Chris Hatch's teen one, but need to see if it's been updated for, or will play well with, the UC version).

I love ACR and for me it's a must-have in my game. I have been thinking about a mod to make possible a teen can get pregnant, but I do not want Inteen. I have other mods with a lot of options that also would be on inteen and I don't want clashings if I can prevend it or 'doubles'. I'm not sure which one to choose then and I'm in no hurry.
Mad Poster
#45 Old 21st Nov 2014 at 8:36 PM
9 sims, but then I like to send teens to uni. I can't so how playing with free will off can be fun! So what if Mr Sim does not take a bath right now, he's still enjoying throwing hoops! And if I can wait to eat until after the movie, surely so can the Sim? Eventually they will go and do what they have/need to do. Imo Sims get smarter when studying, and will cope better with stuff; and will become more interesting and entertaining
Test Subject
#46 Old 24th Nov 2014 at 2:03 AM
I'm playing the challenge Heir Apparent, so usually the big houses are the main family ones, where the grandparents and brothers who didn't marry into another family stay in. Still, they usually are big because of the kids, so I just keep an eye on the newborns and especially the toddlers and go around checking on the others sometimes!
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#47 Old 14th Jul 2021 at 11:33 PM
Is it ok to Necro my own thread? lol It's interesting to see how my playing has changed over the years. I can actually *gasp* use free will now! I mean I still direct my sims a lot but it's not like I used to. I don't think i've really used that mod much though, I might've had 9 sims at one point. I have ideas to test it out though with more, and i'm not scared! Wonder how big i'll go, hmm...

My Simblr
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Lab Assistant
#48 Old 15th Jul 2021 at 4:19 PM
Since I often play with maxmotives and motivedecay off, It is not really an issue. They have free will to do whatever they want if I'm not controlling them.
Top Secret Researcher
Original Poster
#49 Old 15th Jul 2021 at 11:41 PM
I actually think i'm going to make a hippie commune with a lot of sims. It should be fun :D

My Simblr
He/They
Mad Poster
#50 Old 16th Jul 2021 at 12:02 AM
I have a large family in TT: Dave Walton has 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. it's mayhem and their mother is just praying for the day they all grow up to children so she can get a job and out of the house!
For housing I used a lot from here used as a group home and adapted it. All children have adequate toys, potties, and food sources.

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
My other downloads are here: https://app.mediafire.com/myfiles
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