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Alchemist
Original Poster
#1 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 5:02 PM
Default What's your current playstyle/simming time like?
So, it's been 18 years since some of us first got into this game. What sort of Sims 2 related things are you doing these days? Legacy play? Challenges? Or are you spending your time organizing your downloads, or making things for the game? Are you taking a break, but hanging out here because you still love the game?

I haven't actually played the game just to play in a long time. I'm currently trying to get better at texturing/meshing; there's something I want to make for the current GOS theme, and it'd be fun to make it from scratch. Hopefully it'll be finished in time.
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 5:43 PM Last edited by simmer22 : 20th Sep 2022 at 10:41 PM.
Taking pictures (occasionally), making CC (also occasionally), and trying to get back into storytelling pictures (after computer issues, etc.), although that project is going very slow - still have a lot to do on the setup. Might say I'm on a part-time break with the odd trip ingame to test CC (and take some pictures while I'm at it, just for old times' sake.

Other than that I hang around on the forums pretty much every day, and download way more than I'll ever put into my game.
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#3 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 6:03 PM
I have been playing the same main neighbourhood for many years, and I decided I wanted a change. So I've recently started a new neighbourhood, very different from my old one. I am also in the midst of building several neighbourhoods, which I like to do from time to time to upload.
Instructor
#4 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 6:38 PM
I've had computer problems and not been able to play at all for a while and with my latest computer it's still a trial period to see if it can handle the game, so I try to do stuff I can do without getting too involved or too attached. I have a custom neighbourhood, a small island community, with Pleasantview attached as a subhood and Academie LeTour as university, and I have been playing it that, with the occasional break for creating cc and hunting and sorting up cc for future neighbourhoods that I will set up if I see the computer is stable. The main household in the island neighbourhood has been a bit chaotic and I felt a bit overwhelmed by them, so yesterday I also started a neighbourhood where I'll just let things happen. I plopped in the Picasos and Julien Cooke (the only bin sims I had) in a household together and built them an ugly mushroom house. They get to test out new recolours of things as well, because why not.
Link Ninja
#5 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 8:37 PM
At 15 years on the same custom hood I am STILL playing. I play s l o w l y. (I got a new computer and now this save is on it's 4th machine) Honestly, five generations is the most I'm at since I started it in 2007 but I enjoy really diving deep into these sim characters and pulling out stories. The progress is there, but incremental if you have ever looked my neighborhood thread or past posts here or anywhere else I post about sims 2. I have taken time in phases to write, take pics, build, tweak, create, and learn more about this game. Currently I'm in the midst of three stories as I play a new urban commune in one of my downtowns. I have so many plans it seems like there's not enough time to do it all. My downloads are in perpetual need for organization.

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

Forum Resident
#6 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 8:56 PM
I play with the extended family that has sprung from Nina Caliente and a sim I made in 2008. My playstyle is mainly the same since then; fairly laid-back, trying to get to know the individual sims and see what stories arise from there. Nowadays I play in Strangetown though, with recreated versions of everyone who was alive when I switched from Pleasantview plus the ones born in Strangetown. My playstyle used to be rotational-ish, whereas nowadays I play in actual two day rotations, and include premades and their offspring in my rotations (ones I don't turn into townies, that is) although my clan is still my main focus. I use relatively few mods, mostly fixing annoyances of mine, and keep a "curated" collection of cc which I regularly declutter.

I recently also started casually playing Veronaville in one day rotations with only its premades and no subhoods attached.

Lately I've become more interested in The Sims 2 as a phenomenon again. I've been enjoying the videos and online discussions about technical stuff and lore as well as the corruption experiments I've seen on youtube.

Besides The Sims 2 I've read up on and tried some of the spinoffs I haven't tried before, like The Urbz for Gameboy Advance, The Sims Mobile, Castaway for DS and The Sims Medieval for PC, and I play the latter one fairly regularly. (That, and looked at other people's playthroughs and videos on spin off games to the point of mild but annoying obsession. I just feel the need to know what they're all about for whatever reason.)

I am Error.
Forum Resident
#7 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 10:05 PM
I didn't play the game for a decade due to the constant crashes it has in my old computer and in my current one. So for a long time as you @omglo, I didn't had access to the live mode, I shared my recolours freely, I wasn't the best, and I only created sims and interior design. I shared pictures of my album on forums and on simblr.

Now my game is fixed for good, and everything works like a charm, I simply play it with aging off ,and when I am inspired I decorate the interiors of the houses. I kept the best of the premades family due to the good drama/history they got in the game. The sims 2 has the best premade stories ever writen by the gurus, so the most interesting premades ever made.

But I do not recolour at all now, last time it was for a Secret Santa in simblr a couple of years ago now.

When I feel bored with a household, I change and play other families, even if I am a simself player.

I speak French only. If my statements are harsh, rude for you, that's not intentional. I just think Different due to my Language and my Culture.
But truly, I am open-minded than you think of.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#8 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 11:10 PM
Quote: Originally posted by omglo
So, it's been 18 years since some of us first got into this game. What sort of Sims 2 related things are you doing these days? Legacy play? Challenges? Or are you spending your time organizing your downloads, or making things for the game? Are you taking a break, but hanging out here because you still love the game?

I haven't actually played the game just to play in a long time. I'm currently trying to get better at texturing/meshing; there's something I want to make for the current GOS theme, and it'd be fun to make it from scratch. Hopefully it'll be finished in time.


I play my custom hoods as integrated rotations.
I have a Sims 2 folder for modern beach hood, medieval hood and pioneer American hoods.

I play my Uber hood still by the same rotation but less integrated and more 'Maxis' in that most have some kind of rabbit hole job.

I have a building hood where I yeah build.

I have a CC making hood where I check my recolours or whatever it is I am creating.

I spend time organizing downloads constantly or trouble shooting something constantly.

On an average day I will do a little creating or sorting, then later leave my main game to load while I clean up my house. Then I play my main game off and on during the day and evening in between working. Some days/nights I go to a livestream, some nights I read instead. I also love watching Youtube, I don't watch any TV. Most days I play 1-2 rotations of some families (4 sims days to a rotation) Some days differ but basically I load my game every day, play a bit and leave it paused numerous times. I am semi retired but I may be looking after my dad soon so I expect my game may be paused more often.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Field Researcher
#9 Old 20th Sep 2022 at 11:20 PM
I started my first (well done) custom neighborhood almost two years ago, and I'm still playing it today. I've taken breaks to do other non-sims related stuff, and sometimes when I've burned out, I've started other neighborhoods, but they always end up the same way: deleted because I miss my other one too much. I love the progress I've made with my custom neighborhood and I'm really attached to all my sims living in there. I'm playing rotationally and generationally, currently getting my first Gen 4 babies.

Before playing this neighborhood, I had never been into organizing my game and keeping track of my sims this much, but I LOVE organizing things and I have so many things dedicated to this neighborhood. Let me show you some of them please:

I love taking screenshots of everything that happens with my families. I'd never done this before and I kinda wish I had photos of my old neighborhoods so I could look back at them.


I've been into extracting all of my sims' portraits in SimPE so that I can look at the progress of what they've looked like throughout their life, and I love this so much.


I have SO many spreadsheets that help me keep my families organized. This is what my spreadsheet looks like (for keeping track of the households):


And I'm so obsessed with taking photos of all the sims who belong to the same generation together. I love groups photos so much. This is my complete Second Generation plus the orphans that arrived to the town during that time, with some of their partners (townies I created and NPCs they decided to fall in love with).



Yeah, that's what I've been up to, and I think I'll be doing this for a very long time!
Screenshots
Scholar
#10 Old 21st Sep 2022 at 12:52 AM
I've been watching some Let's Plays, mainly Ani Bats recently, and finding inspiration there. I recently restarted my megahood (Pleasantview, Strangetown, Veronaville, and Downtown) because I didn't like the way some things were working out and I wanted to try playing more "realistically." Which for me means still playing to wants, but also playing to character and having long-term goals based on lifetime wants and family histories. This playstyle also means fewer random deaths and bed-hopping (although there are still some of both). This has resulted in me playing much more slowly through my rotations, but so far the neighborhood developments have been very satisfying, and I've been enjoying the stories that have been unfolding much more. I've also been making my towns look more realistic mainly by adding community lots that I downloaded, so that my Sims in different careers actually have a hospital or a courthouse or a school where they go work. I'm not up for doing full-on integrated play yet, but I like the look of my towns now, and each neighborhood has its own distinct reason for being--Veronaville is the agricultural area, and Strangetown is where the military base is located, and so on. It's been a lot of fun and I've been spending a lot of time playing lately, but I am a bit worried that the old Mac I play on is going to bite the big one and I won't have a computer that can run the Sims 2 anymore.
Forum Resident
#11 Old 21st Sep 2022 at 2:52 AM
back in 200something I used to make sims 2 slideshow stories in TSR so I build lots and make sims according to what I need. Then I got into building contests here in MTS (I only finished 1 contest cos real life loves to interrupt), met wonderful, creative people who inspired me to build more.

when I was still in school and had 0 adult responsibilities, I was able to play on live mode a lot.
nowadays, I just test my lots for routing and functionality. I get really happy when my build gets 0 foot-stomping especially when the lot is a 14-sim dorm or a teeny tiny community lot

I definitely want to play in live mode again and see how my silly lil sims fare. But first, I want to build them something beautiful - uni, vacation, downtown, and shopping hoods included ofcourse <3
Mad Poster
#12 Old 21st Sep 2022 at 3:27 AM
Current simming time? Sadly I've got none. Having computer overheating issues, mainly with the GPU and PSU so in a nut shell my computer tends to turn itself off after about an hour of usage. It means all the stuff I have planned to release or just make out of fun are put on hold.

I'd really like to get back into the series but damn old girl won't cooperate. I'm going to be blowing out the dust here soon, if that doesn't help then there goes 400 USD for a GPU replacement and new PSU...

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

Mad Poster
#13 Old 23rd Sep 2022 at 7:52 PM
I've been planning on starting my Pleasantview game up so I can at least spend some time playing live with an early American colony from the 17th century and have a simple game to play with no sims working a regular job as they won't be for a while.
Mad Poster
#14 Old 23rd Sep 2022 at 10:05 PM
Me? I've been playing for nearly ten years now. Like Charmful, I play slowly -- very slowly in my case. My main game is still the Veronaville that I started at the end of November 2012. I've got better at playing, but I don't think my playstyle has changed significantly. Early on I found a playstyle that suited me, and I've stuck with it. I enjoy the way I play, and most of the time my Sims enjoy it too, so why would I change? I play with Aging almost permanently off, and I play carefully and protectively. So much so, that no Sim in any of my 'hoods has ever died. Procreation is not a big thing in my game. In all the time I've been playing Veronaville only two Sims have been born here, and they were the result of a single pregnancy -- they are the twins Peni Jo and Peregrine McBain, and they are now at Primary (Elementary) School. (I must add that one Sim in the suburb of Monopolis is currently pregnant, and a CAS family just moved into Poet Place this week where the wife wants to have a second child -- a baby sister for her teenage daughter.) I play a lot of romantic interaction, much of it gay. I don't have male pregnancy and I don't have same-sex pregnancy, so while there's quite a lot of woohoo, most of it doesn't produce babies. I also play teens a lot, and I don't have (or want) a teen pregnancy mod. (I did however -- in another hood -- let a teenage boy father a baby with a woman living in the same commune as himself.) A few teens have woohoo (as happens in real life), but many -- perhaps most -- are content not to go beyond making out. (Sims 2 making out is pretty explicit, and a lot further than I've ever gone!!) There's a lot of socialising in my game, by no means all of it a prelude to romance. I encourage even my shyest Sims to have friends, because I think friendship is important. Even my Romance Sims value their platonic friends.

I know my playstyle is esoteric and wouldn't be for everyone, but my Sims have given me enormous pleasure over the last decade. And in the circumstances I feel the least I can do is look after them, so they can live long and happy lives too.

I've sometimes said I live my life vicariously through my Sims, and it's not much of an exaggeration. Many of my Sims will go to more nightclubs in a night than I've been to in my entire life. And my Sims, especially my Romance Sims, will do things with each other that I would never dare to do, but I share in their enjoyment when I see them doing it. And I, who have never had a romantic relationship or a successful date in my life, just love playing Sims on dates -- especially dream dates. And, of course, that includes gay dream dates. There is something about helping two Sims through a date till they reach a state of ecstatic bliss in each other's company that never fails to do it for me. Some of their mutual joy always rubs off on me, and I feel happy too. Just thinking about it brings tears of joy to my eyes.

If I ever reach a time and a state when I am bored watching two Sims enjoying a dream date together, then I think it will be time for me to call it a day, and prepare for my final meeting with the Grim Reaper.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Mad Poster
#15 Old 23rd Sep 2022 at 11:35 PM
I'm playing Arundel on and off as my urges wax and wane.
It's sometimes tedious to me to go through households with toddlers in them.
It's not that I've lost interest, I just need a break-besides I've got my beading habit back, so that's keeping me busy.

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
Field Researcher
#16 Old 24th Sep 2022 at 5:06 PM
Rotational gameplay! I have a legacy going, but even that's branched out to rotations after the founder had four kids.

All's fair in love, war, and video games! ~LyokoGirl5000
Mad Poster
#17 Old 25th Sep 2022 at 12:46 AM
@LyokoGirl5000 -I also use rotations in my games to manage story progression and it's also how I was playing TS3 where I switched active families a lot to get through the town's story progression in that version as I found the built-in one in TS3 was a bugfest.
Forum Resident
#18 Old 25th Sep 2022 at 3:19 PM
I have very little time to sit down and actually play the game. Between work and real life and making music for my other hobby which is synth music. I prioritize those over sims 2 and will play sims 2 when I have time from work and the rest. My motto is work comes first, play comes after so I earn my play time.
Test Subject
#19 Old 26th Sep 2022 at 1:31 PM
I have been playing The Sims 3 for the past 15 years or so and I recently started a Sims 2 game with the intention of using the same playstyle that I've used for Sims 3. That is: Starting some kind of challenge, usually a legacy, play intensely for a week or so, but grow bored around generation 2 or 3 and then abandon the game for a while. I've never had any interest at all in any premade sims.

But then I tried playing with the premade families in Veronaville and now I'm deep into a rotational gameplay. Very much into the drama and storytelling of it all.
I'm starting to realize that I need to look into those anti-corruption mods and learning what you can and can't do if you want to keep your game healthy. I expected to be bored with the game long before any of those things would be relevant, but no boredom so far.
Mad Poster
#20 Old 26th Sep 2022 at 11:33 PM
@Melancolie -You're not alone in playing one of the towns shipped with the game because I tried playing the EA Pleasantview when I first installed the game in a disk install on my older Windows XP laptop and it corrupted almost right away on me while I was learning about the game well over ten years ago.I recently wanted to try Pleasantview again so I selected the terrain and started setting up a town site on that map.I'm starting my Pleasantview game with it in it's original form as Pleasant Valley way back in the spring of 1600 as an Early American colonial settlememt.My first couple would be the Jankowskys who are ancestors to the Goth family from 420 years ago and the nest is the Pleasant family whch would be a young couple who are the first ancestors of the modern generation to arrive in the early 17th century only a year or two after the Jankowskys.I've got my game so loaded with Mods I no longer have many of the game issues that used to kill my early towns off on my older computer.I've got UC on my current computer which is my ten year old WIndows 7 laptop and it still runs like an almost new computer.
Mad Poster
#21 Old 27th Sep 2022 at 4:02 AM
Right now I'm trying to finish something I'm writing (about my sim story, so it's sim related), but the editor in me is being very nitpicky, and also wants to add/change stuff all the time, so every time I think I've got something finished, I get halfway down a page, think "this looks fine, sense some hope, then stumble upon a half-decent paragraph, think "this could be a bit better", and half an hour later (or more), that paragraph is at least 3 times longer, and I'm nowhere close to getting the rest done. The whole thing is about 55-ish pages (some deletable stuff going on in the middle), but yeah... Long. The longer it is, the harder it is to edit.

This has been going on for the past few months. Every time I open that document I think "this is the day I'll finish the editing" - but alas, nope.

So my most current simming style is writing about my sims (and downloading a lot - that I do all the time).
Mad Poster
#22 Old 27th Sep 2022 at 4:22 AM
You're not editing, dear - you're revising. And that takes as long as it takes. Chill about it. You don't have a deadline.

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.)
Test Subject
#23 Old 2nd Oct 2022 at 1:36 PM
@TadOlson I love that kind of immersion and lore-heavy storytelling!
Mad Poster
#24 Old 2nd Oct 2022 at 9:04 PM
@Melancolie -I've been preparing to start on my own Pleasantview playing it from the initial founding as the colonial settlement know as Pleasant Valley back in the early 17th century where I play with the ancestors of the Pleasantview families as my own renditions starting with one branch of the Goth family ancestors which would be Eli and Ami Jankowsky who were the Russian branch.Andi and Carol Pleasant were the first ancestors of the Pleasant family in Pleasantview.The Picaso coulle are one of the braches f the Caliente ancestors and I've got ancestors for each of the Pleasantview families as I play though it's 420 year history.
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