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Instructor
Original Poster
#1 Old 27th Nov 2022 at 2:16 PM
Default Vacation lot tips, pet peeves, favourites, etc?
I've started building a custom Far East vacation location for one of my neighbourhoods. I've more or less finished building a custom mountain vacation hood (my sims in Unnamed Area are already using it) and my goal is to build all three types of vacation hoods. But I started downloading and looking at custom Far East lots and remade Maxis ones and that left me feeling undecided and slightly overwhelmed! I think I need to make up a plan for what I want of the lots (activities and functions) before I even start making style choices. But if any of you would tell me of your pet peeves for vacation hood lots or tell me your favourite vacation hood lot and why that lot is so good, or just give a general tip of something that's worked for you or never worked well at all for you, that would be very useful to me and thanks in advance!
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 28th Nov 2022 at 12:26 AM
I found that I prefer to make everything my own and use my own custom designs though I will sometimes fit in another build later on.I found premade campgrounds made no provisions for weather changing or for storms which could be disasterous and for eating other than food stands which get expensive.
Instructor
Original Poster
#3 Old 28th Nov 2022 at 2:30 PM
I can agree that is a bit of a nuisance! A tree fire from a thunderstorm on Three Lakes had me worried once - my sims had no mobile phones and there was no smoke alarm. I took placement of trees into account when I build the campground I'm using in my mountainhood because of this. Food situation us harder. I don't want them to have food stands, actually, because they are so ugly and take up so much space - but then again, I need some way for the sims without cooking points to feed themselves if I don't let them use the grills. In the end, I put down the usual food stand and grills in my own campground too, but I agree that's not the best solution.
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retired moderator
#4 Old 28th Nov 2022 at 2:48 PM
For far east holiday destination, I always used to make a spa there for guests to visit. I would have a hot spring outdoors maybe, and massage tables, juice bar, saunas, and a space for doing yoga/ meditation. Perhaps an indoor pool and hot tub? Vending machines wouldn't look out of place there.
Instructor
Original Poster
#5 Old 28th Nov 2022 at 11:06 PM
Thanks, simsample, I downloaded a spa lot that I might use, but now I will add a pool and some vending machines .
Mad Poster
#6 Old 29th Nov 2022 at 10:40 AM
I am following this thread. I also feel overwhelmed by the holiday destinations. Would you believe despite having UC since it was released, I have still never taken a sim on vacation?? My reason is that I am at an impassé - I don't want a maxis hood on my custom hoods, but I also don't really know how a sim vacation works, so I can't really create one from scratch either. Maybe I should just try.

Weirdly I don't remember having this issue for Uni, and I was definitely still in the "custom is king!" mindset back when I got that.

My other worry is that adding subhoods seems to add a huge amount of extra sims to a neighbourhood - I understand vacation subhoods add locals and tourists? I don't know how this works and I would like to understand it before I do.

Maybe I should just fire up my old megahood (or start a new one...) and take a few Maxis sims on vacation.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
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retired moderator
#7 Old 29th Nov 2022 at 11:47 AM
@simsfreq Yes I'd definitely make a test hood and play a holiday vacation to see how they work. You really need some locals (they appear in native attire when you visit the community lots), touritst (they appear on the community lots but also at the hotel where you stay),and secret vacation lots (you can find maps to get to these by digging or by doing the tour excursions). When I made my holiday destinations, I made all of the locals and tourists myself, but you can just spawn them through the townie gun if you like.
Instructor
Original Poster
#8 Old 29th Nov 2022 at 6:10 PM
@Simsfreq, I can really relate to that! I played without vacation hoods for so long, it was almost unknown territory for me when I started thinking of making my own custom vacation hoods. But I have this silly dream of one day making a very, very customised "Sim-Scandinavian" vacation hood, so I thought I might as well try and make my own MM vacation hoods first, so here I am . I'm not very clever at all with these things but I managed to make the testhood and the first "real" mountan hood use only tourists and locals I made with the townie gun, so it will probably be a piece of cake to you! I accidentally discovered how much I need the townies when I tested this, by the way. I forgot I was supposed to acutally make the locals and tourists, sent my testsim on vacation and it felt almost spooky, like she was walking around in a ghost town.
Link Ninja
#9 Old 29th Nov 2022 at 7:36 PM Last edited by Charmful : 29th Nov 2022 at 7:50 PM.
Default Vacations!!!
Vacations!? One of my favorite subjects! *proceeds to spend two hours writing and finding links*

First off, paladin's mod for improved housekeeping is a MUST if you intend to use hotels. Those sims are buggy as heck!

I did complete remodels of my existing vacation lots in each subhood because I was bored with them after so many vacations. I'm one of those types of players that has to feel engaged with the setting to want to play the sims in it. I think the overhauls were very worth it as I love taking them on vacations every time now, and there's so much to do that it can take several trips to do it all!

My big annoyance was TVs in the same rooms as the beds in lodgings because sims would always wake up while others in their parties would watch tv, so when I remodeled I made sure to put walls and archways in to separate the beds from the TVs. Though, there is a mod that makes it so sims can sleep through TV noises.

I like to put bookcases or mini easels (cc) around for sims to brush up on skills they may need for promotions since time doesn't progress and they have free time, they can opt to do that.

I tend to put a coffee station with cappuccino machines in lobbies for guests to get their energy up because they would come back from their day exhausted at like 5 pm.

Adding the buy/build/inventory on vacation and hotel lots mod into my game helped in the sense that I can grab the room service food and stick it into their inventories so it doesn't go bad and saves money from having to re-buy more food.

Adding swimmable lakes and camps to every hood was fun, I even made 7 new lots in Three Lakes to simulate a 'backwoods' hiking trail where I wouldn't let them visit the regular community lots and they would have to fish and grill their way through each camping spot, and each camping spot offered something a little different to focus on with as many mementos as possible to gain without going to community lots. Another use for that mod I previously mentioned is I can stick tents in the sims' inventory and pull them out on those trails like they are setting up camp.

For Takemizu, I added the Great Bamboo Forest which has these little camping huts with floor mattresses, surrounding a swimmable lake. Using the sleep on community lot mod and a modded bush that sunrader was kind to make for me, that allows sims to 'check-in' like with regular tents but with no tents present, the sims were able to sleep in the open-air huts.

For Twikkii, I made a beach camp , great for college uni kids or families looking to save money. Add in the surf mod and they can have a lot of fun right there on the lot! The swimmable lot in Twikkii is this very lush, hidden jungle area swimming hole with tons of waterfalls.

I heard there is a scuba mod , I'm considering that one for some added Twikkii excursions.

Another aspect for vacationing I added was wedding destinations/marriage spots. For Twikkii, there's a new romance resort with a wedding pier on the ocean, for Takemizu there's a ceremonial lake with beautiful pagodas and an island in the middle where they can get wed. For Three Lakes, I have a 'rentable' rustic, romantic log cabin with a wedding grove they can get hitched and then just stay. in the cabin for the rest of their honeymoon for privacy.

I set up 'rentable' vacation properties through a business and Kestrellyn's property transfer mod. There are two rentable properties in each vacation subhood and it's kind of fun because the sims that come into the business and pick the 'memento' I assigned the vacation property is a dynamic way of seeing what sims to send on vacations. So if a sim comes in and buys the axe memento, the owner transfers the vacation property for the log cabin to that sim there, and then after I take the sim on vacation I teleport in the owner, the sim transfers the vacation home deed back and then with a give money mod, pays the fee. I used the brilliant tiny starter homes created by mystAngel to turn into these properties.

Let's see, oh! I also like adding small kitchenettes into hotel suites so sims can make their own food and not rely on room service. Or adding communal kitchens like in a bed n' breakfast. I also like adding bunk beds for more places to sleep in small places - for example, an actual bunk house or maybe a separate room for kids on vacation.

If anyone doesn't have time or inspiration to do any big remodels, plumbtales has renovated all the Vacation hood lots, and they look amazing! I even took inspiration from her Twikkii Boardwalk remodel to make a boutique hotel on the boardwalk amongst the shops and dining!

Here's some links to see some of these vacation things:
Video Tour of Takemizu Community Lots - Link
Video Tour of Takemizu Lodgings - Link
Video Tour of Twikkii Lodgings - Link
Three Lakes Backwoods Trails picture album - Link
Video Remodel of Three Lakes Cabins - Link
Video Tour of Takemizu Ceremonial Lake Wedding Spot - Link
Hunter's Bedrock Inn remodel picture album - Link

In conclusion, I think vacations are a super fun function with a lot of potentials but can become stale after a while with no changes. My tips are to think of the types of sim vacationing and add lots and lodgings that cater to them - singles looking for romance, couples on a romantic getaway, families looking to bond and relax, a girl's trip or bro-cation.

Another last thought and tip, when you make custom or remodeled vacation spots, think of building materials (floors and walls) and plant life specific to that region and only use them in those regions so there's a sense of coherency and unique landscaping. For example, the blue hydrangeas I've made more exclusive to Takemizu and removed from my main hoods and downtowns/shopping subhoods.


Edit because of course I never stop forgetting and then remembering my ideas for vacations:

1. I made a new tradition in Takemizu for honeymooners to visit the Cherry Blossom way (basically a big garden) to get their pots of honey (cc/mod )
2. After a sim got mugged by the 'Yellow Rose Clan' in Takemizu on a bad chance card I made a gambling den and hibachi community lot off the beaten path that is a business front to this gang and has a bunch of yellow roses out front.
3. My own lore for Takemizu is that rooms w/o plants are bad luck so there are a lot of interior plants.

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Instructor
Original Poster
#10 Old 29th Nov 2022 at 9:26 PM
Charmful, you're an everflowing fountain of vacation wisdom ! Thank you so much. *Sits up straight and takes notes*

I love your hiking trail and your flower lore for Takemizu - this is the kind of thing I actually like about building my own hoods, creating stories around what I decide to build.

Oh, and I had your beach camp on my last Twikkii Island and it worked really well and was a great addition.
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retired moderator
#11 Old 29th Nov 2022 at 9:59 PM
Wow, thanks for that detail, @Charmful! Very helpful. :lovestruc
Link Ninja
#12 Old 30th Nov 2022 at 5:13 PM
@AnMal - Thanks and most definitely! The flexibility of worldbuilding can be daunting but rewarding and injecting all your own ideals and details is fun not only for you as a player but a fun way to play your sims within it! I'm glad you liked my beach camp! I thought that the sleep under the stars memento shouldn't just be regulated to Three Lakes, camping is valid in tropical and temperate climates too!

@simsample - You are welcome! Can you tell I really like vacations? :P

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Mad Poster
#13 Old 30th Nov 2022 at 5:56 PM
I love playing vacations.
I actually enjoy the maxi hoods - I may have removed a TV or two from the rooms somewhere, when the guests were not looking.

I really like aelflead's vacation hoods, though!
Mad Poster
#14 Old 1st Dec 2022 at 10:51 AM
I completely agree that the locals and tourists make sense to have in the game - I am just confused about whether they get ported back to the main hood, how their names are generated etc. Those are the kinds of things I would like to know before I try!

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Instructor
Original Poster
#15 Old 1st Dec 2022 at 11:02 AM
I know their names are generated the same way all other townie and NPC names are generated. Maxis naming engine or your naming mod if you have one - so if you want local sounding names you'll have to change them manually. I don't know what "ported back to the main hood " means, but the locals and tourists are like the other groups of NPC:s or townie groups from EP:s - they live in their own stealth hood and if you delete the subhood they don't get deleted with it, they stay attached to your main hood. They can show up as walkbys in the mainhood or on community lots their, they can be brought home as friends from work or school, so to keep them apart from the main hood population you have to use mods.
Sorry if all this was already known to you, I suspect it is, but there may be others reading the thread looking for info.
Mad Poster
#16 Old 1st Dec 2022 at 4:11 PM
Locals and tourists are like downtownies: they should not show up in the main hood or shopping hood on their own. Tourist teens and children are prone to come home from school without a mod to block them, though.

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.)
Instructor
Original Poster
#17 Old 1st Dec 2022 at 6:02 PM
Oh dear. Are they not supposed to show up in the main hood as walkbys? Drat, now I'll have to go through my mods to see how this happens. I'm pretty sure it happened in all the three installs I've gone through since I came back to playing with all EP:s, but I have probably used much the same mods too. Thanks for pointing that out, PeniGriffin!
Mad Poster
#18 Old 2nd Dec 2022 at 8:14 AM
Quote: Originally posted by AnMal
Oh dear. Are they not supposed to show up in the main hood as walkbys? Drat, now I'll have to go through my mods to see how this happens. I'm pretty sure it happened in all the three installs I've gone through since I came back to playing with all EP:s, but I have probably used much the same mods too. Thanks for pointing that out, PeniGriffin!


I won't worry about that. If you use a notownieregen mod, they are bound to show up on community lots because the game finds them when townies are needed elsewhere.
Instructor
Original Poster
#19 Old 2nd Dec 2022 at 10:55 AM Last edited by AnMal : 2nd Dec 2022 at 12:27 PM.
Thanks, Justpetro! That probably explains it.

Have playtested my first version of a Far East vacation hood and I have found some lots I really loved, many of them older downloads from here on MTS. I wanted the Far East location to not have that theme park feel, so I'm giving it an Old Town (with mch the same building style as Takemizu Village) and a new Town (with some more modern looking and often more Japanese looking lots. There are some lots I really liked and want to recommend:

Japanese style tourist spot - not a lot to do, but a really beautifully built lot. Here is where I'm keeping the Lucky Shrine now, the remade Lucky Shrine Park (from Plumbtales, I think) gets to be the Mah Jong Park instead because I want the lots somewhat focused. There's no way to feed yourself on the lot as it comes, so I'm adding picnic baskets and soem benches and tables in a corner of the lot.


Public Bath - by the same creator as the first building. The creator also built so many other lovely looking lots that I am trying out, and they are all more or less in the same style. This lot worked so well as a spa/wellness center with both relaxing activities (the hot spring, sauna and massage tables) and more active things to do (a gym and a karaoke machine). There's a TV for keeping the fun up but that's not really needed, so I replaced it with a dedicated autonomous work out TV. Lastly, there are food stalls, which I normally don't like at all, but these are so naturally built into the environment that I didn't even notice them at first. If I sound a bit in love with this lot it's because I am, and I'm looking forward to trying this creator's accommodation lots!

Public Bath House - another more modern looking building in a Japanese style. This is part of a series of buildings based on the Katamari game that many of my friends used to play way back when. They are planned out to be ownable buildings, so most of the stock in the store won't be buyable on vacation which is a shame. But I still loved taking my test sims here and have them browse the postcards (I put in a rack of Mog's postcards), souvenirs and clothing racks because it felt just like many of the stores I've been to on vacation - you find them on your way from a cheap hostel to the beach or town center and they always have souvenirs and a rather random selection of other stuff. I haven't got round to trying the other buildings of this series, but I think the karaoke building looks very promising!

Those lots, a budget hotel, and a nightclub that I haven't got round to trying are in the New Town. The Old Town has some nice stuff too:

Yuans Meditation Center - I love that this lot is small and feels so relaxed. I had to cull the plants a bit and I took away the Lucky Shrine and added a small waterfall instead, but it's definitely going to be the place I go to when my sims want to rake a zen garden! A downside was the terrain, I had to flatten some of the tiles here and there to make everything accessible, but I think the serene feel and overall beauty of this lot was worth that sacrifice.

Palace of the Undying Emperor
- This lot is newer and easier to find if you're out looking for vacation lots, but I couldn't not mention it. It's so darn beautiful! And there is lots to look at, including the coffins and grave goods in the basement . No problems with the restaurant evenn if it was on two floors and very busy. I took away the Lucky Shrine and added an invisible wedding mat and Murano's stone arch instead, so it's now my Far East wedding lot. One of the restaurant tables was sacrificed in favour of a table with wedding cake and I might close that section off and put it behind a pay door. Downsides: Such a huge lot it easily makes sims really tired. I'm going to put in some snapdragons here and there. There were so many plants that my computer groaned too - not a problem if you have a good enough machine, perhaps, but there are many sms running around there too and I can easily see this being a huge strain on the computer. I culled the plants quite heavily and it still looks lovely!



Edit: sorry if you tried to read this post and couldn't - no idea why all the links are a mess, am trying to fix it!
Mad Poster
#20 Old 3rd Dec 2022 at 7:17 AM
Aha, yes, I don't want them to show up as walkbys/come home from school, and it sounds like it means I could never delete that subhood, so I need to be careful.

I wasn't sure how that worked, because logically, they should stay in the vacation hood, but later EPs and logic doesn't seem to go together that well, always.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Instructor
Original Poster
#21 Old 3rd Dec 2022 at 10:29 AM
No, Simsfreq, you can delete that subhood - the characters will be in your main hood and there are no bad consequences. And yes, logically they should stay in the vacation hood and yes, later EP:s and logic don't always go together. Or indeed base game and logic .
Mad Poster
#23 Old 3rd Dec 2022 at 10:58 PM
Oh I know that it's safe to delete the subhood, but that will dump all of the locals and tourists into my townie pool, won't it? Or will they stay as locals and tourists, just trapped in some kind of ether never to be seen unless I add another vacation hood?

That makes me think of another question. If you add two different vacation destinations, do they get separate locals, or do they share the same ones? It would make sense for the tourists to be shared, but not so much the locals.

If you have a golf course, you could also use the Business career reward, the Execuputter.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Mad Poster
#24 Old 3rd Dec 2022 at 11:18 PM
The locals are dressed thematically, so you need new ones for each vacation type. Once added, all sims are in the hood for hood, but they should only pop up randomly in the hoods they belong to.

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.)
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