Victorian Bay: Observations

I've been on a neighborhood download kick.  One of the better neighborhoods I've come across has been Victorian Bay by ruthless_kk.

If you like ruthless_kk's Victorian-style houses (which I love to pieces), then you'll like this town.  It holds the same attention to detail and engaging charm that you find in her lots.

TL;DR - This town is Eye Candy.  *pink sparkles*

My only complaint is that the town is really quite small.  It's difficult for my Sims to find many friends (or prospective mates) -- particularly since the game's basic Story Progression driver only moves one person at a time into some of those huge lovely houses.  To balance the town out, I recommend making large premade families and sticking them in various of the houses, but that still leaves the problem of "Where can grown Sim children move so that they can start their own families?  Nowhere!  Ack!"

I'd like to see ruthless_kk update her town for Pets and would recommend that she include something like a large boarding house (apartments) to generate more townies.

I like having a small town, since everything is a lot easier for my Sims (and myself) to find and reach, but the limited housing and subsequent limited population keep this town from being truly excellent.

Should ruthless_kk expand this town or create a slightly larger one, I will be delighted.  In the meantime, I'm going to grab Twallan's Story Progression Mod and go (back) to town.  :)

Unicorns: Finding & Befriending

I don't have all the unicorn data, but here's what I've read and experienced.

You have a hidden "Wildlife" skill that can get up to level 6.  Your easiest way to level this is (I'm guessing) finding the Wild Horses and hanging out with them.  Make them your friends.

After petting maybe 3 deer and befriending 2 wild horses on my Sim, I ran into a unicorn.  He appeared in a shower of rainbow sparkles in the middle of the wild horse herd at around midnight (they seem to congregate at public fishing spots, i.e. Appaloosa County Water Treatment), and when I went into Map View, a big old rainbow cloud hovered over that lot while showering (you guessed it) sparkles.  So, when a unicorn appears, apparently it's really easy to spot on your map.

See?  Easy!

My wildlife skill was apparently high enough that he's willing to hang out with me (I've read that it needs to be at 6, but I don't know how high mine is/was).  Once you're Best Friends, you'll get an "Invite Unicorn to Join Household" option.  :)

"Be my unicorn?"

"Sure!"

Named him Shadow Dancer.

Only complaint is that I wish you could tell the gender of wild/stray animals before you adopt them.

Appaloosa Plains Special Seed Locations

• Cinnamon Crest Falls
• Small Brownish Clearing -- (identifiable by huge rock & hollow tree stump with eyes inside) -- NE of "Adventure Landing" if Water = South
• At back of the Equestrian Regional Training Grounds -- (on the assumption that the road enters at the front)
• The walking path that cuts through the mountains from the crossroads to end at the water tower behind the Appaloosa County Water Treatment lot.

Since I just got the xpac, I'll add to this list and make photo maps later. Right now, I'm focusing on playing and not seed locations.

Hidden Springs Special Seed Locations

These are not necessarily all of the spots you can find Special Seeds in Hidden Springs. They are, however, the places I have found Special Seeds.

The Fountain of Youth is NOT automatically in Hidden Springs. You need to edit a lot (community or residential, your call), purchase it for $495,000, and place it.

Sort by Room -> Outdoor -> Lawn Ornaments
Sort by Function -> Decor -> Sculpture

Origin Beta: Code Cannot Be Redeemed Here, #2 (Solution)

On 9/18/11 I found support.ea.com, which has a live chat with a queue that you can get into.  Unlike the live chat (aka "Busy Signal") on the origin help site.

Support Links > Contact Us:
Filled out the form, used subheaders Account/Registration > Product Registration.

Then it gives you a choice between a phone call and live chat.  I picked the live chat.

Took about 5 minutes to get through a 20+ person queue.  The customer service person asked about my issue, I said "Can't download legally purchased games, tried on Origin and activate.ea.com several times."  Was asked for the game names, the digital rights codes (find them in your confirmation email from when you bought the games), and the email used.

That particular session ended when I was upgraded to level 2 and never got a level 2 specialist (I waited 2 hours only to have it cancel on me, saying there were no specialists available and to try again later).

Tonight, I got another person and we resolved the issue.  The problem?  I'd bought the games under a different email account than the one I used for my Origin login.  So I had to create a new Origin login using the email I'd bought the games under and there they were, waiting for me to download them.

There is currently no way to combine Origin accounts, but maybe they'll do that sometime later, eh?

Origin Beta: Code Cannot Be Redeemed Here, #1 (Problem)

I just reformatted my computer to make my Sims run smoother.

But when I put my (rather old) digital download codes in the Origin "Redeem Code" box, it gives me "cannot be redeemed" and links me to my account page on TheSims3.com, which has nothing to do with downloading anything (except overpriced chairs).

When I go to activate.ea.com, which has worked for some, it gives me a "code is already in use."

Well, duh.  I own it.  I use it.  (Allegedly, this is a problem that happens when you register your game on TheSims3.com?  But there's no way to unregister them, of course.  That would be way too convenient for the customers!)

The help desks are abysmally unhelpful pits of "Everything will be fine, buy our games!"

And, of course, the last screw you on this big pile of getting shafted is that "Live Chat" for the customer service center is busy (probably helping others who can't download their games) and there's no, like, line to wait in.  I just have to stalk the page until someone becomes available.

I'm going to have to freaking pirate games I bought legally if I ever want to play them again.

*crankycrankycranky*

[Edit:] Found an actual help topic targeted to this problem -- it does not, however, offer any new information.  I'm still getting "this code is in use" messages.
http://support.ea.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5515/kw/The+Sims+3+World+Adventures

Twinbrook Special Seed Locations

These are not necessarily all of the spots you can find Special Seeds in Twinbrook.  They are, however, the places I have found Special Seeds.

Not including Sunset Valley or Riverview because others have already done those.

Pets Yay

We're getting pets!  Yay!  This is the one I've wanted the most since the basegame.  ^_^

Confirmed animals:

♦ Cats
♦ Dogs
♦ Horses
♦ Lizards
♦ Turtles
♦ Birds
♦ Snakes

From what I'm reading, Seasons and Magic are the next most-wanted expansions (I'm dying for Magic, personally, though I wanted Pets more).  And from the way the expansions have been coming out, it will work like this: Big expansion, Small expansion, Big, Small, Big, Small, Big.  So, after pets, we'll get another small expansion like Ambitions or Generations and then another big one.  What that will be?  Who knows!

Carter Siblings

Mark & Mary-Lynette

Minimal Custom Content

Like the Redfern Siblings, these are characters from LJ Smith's Daughters of Darkness.

(As usual, please note that I use Lady Frontbum's default skins and Cutthroatdollie's default eyes, so these Sims will look different in your game.)

Redfern Siblings (Vampire Household)

Back Row: Ash, Kestrel, Rowan
Front Row: Jade

Minimal Custom Content

This is a group of characters from LJ Smith's Daughters of Darkness.  I will update the file when the pets xpac comes out to include Jade's cat, Tiggy.  And if the xpac has goats, I'll add their Great Aunt's goat.  ^_^  Hee.

(As usual, please note that I use Lady Frontbum's default skins and Cutthroatdollie's default eyes, so these Sims will look different in your game.)

Flaherty Household

Top Row: Margaret, Ruby, Robert
Front Row: Tiffany

NO CUSTOM CONTENT!

Erickson Household

Top Row: Desiree, Ronnie, Andre, Lisa, Jared, Chantelle
Front Row: Devon, Latisha

NO CUSTOM CONTENT!

10x10 House Model A-02

Street View

NO CUSTOM CONTENT!

10x10 House Model A-01

Front View

NO CUSTOM CONTENT!

Sims Medieval: Facepalm Endgame

Once you finish the first stage (Basic Mode), you have to start over in a new game for a different achievement.

No new maps, no new buildings, no new townies, no taking any of your old game into a new one.  You can either replay the game from scratch or just fiddle around in Free Play on your old kingdom -- just free play, because you can't do quests or get kingdom points anymore once you "win."  So you can't do big things like annex people because you need kingdom quest points for that and there's no way to get them.  So winning the game = losing.

/facepalm

I might replay it once and go for different quests.  See how many kingdom quest points I can rack up and try to annex everybody.  My queen is going to be obsessed with pastel pink, since I had a human male king last time who wore red.

But I doubt I'll "finish" the next stage.  Might just see what I can do and then uninstall the game.

I have to say, when I "won" and got the quest to pick a hero to start a new kingdom, I really thought I'd be following that hero and getting a new territory with slightly larger houses for everybody that are decorated differently so that I don't have to remodel them all again.

That would have been worth continuing.

Sims Medieval: Complete Cheats Listing

Here you are, cheater-McCheatyPants!

Edit: After finishing the game, I've chosen to play a second game with cheats.

Sims Medieval: Gameplay Tips

Cooking
Kingdom Aspects
Legendary Traits & Their Quests

Sims Medieval: Confusing Quests

It's pretty fun.  For me, at least.  It's the Sims but with storylines you have to follow (i.e. quests) and actual goals to fulfill and levels to hit.  You can even take your time if you want and hang out with friends or make Simoles with your profession.  Oh, and your Sims worship you as their god.  It's awesome.  You, the player, are The Watcher, to whom they created 2 whole religions.

Yet there are a few badly designed quests, which I will list here and add to over time:

Cheat Your Way Through Gardening

Do you want a master gardener in your town?  I, for one, like to have reasonably nice public gardens and you need a solid gardener for that.

No, not just solid.  A gardener who can grow eggs, cheese, burgers, and steak.  Perhaps even an Omni Plant?

Using AwesomeMod, you can get a very skilled gardener in a snap.

Famous People: Monroe, Presley, King, Einstein

I made these Sims to kill and put in my neighborhood graveyard because I LOVE graveyards and I LOVE ghosts floating around in them.

You can download the .sim files from me but you need certain (free) Custom Content to make the Sims look right.  Also, please note that I use Lady Frontbum's default skins and Cutthroatdollie's default eyes.

Put the .sim file in Documents -> Electronic Arts -> The Sims 3 -> SavedSims.

If I have any incorrect info here, please let me know.

The Most Fun Part of Sims

Is depicted in this graph.

I'm building a neighborhood to populate with people I know in real life.  I have a few enemies in the neighborhood.  Three of those are dead and will be in my graveyard: I killed them by drowning, thirst (vampire death), and meteor (which I see as God's vengeance; which is true because I am the God of my Sims town).  I would have given the vampire the Mummy's Curse, but that's not how vampires die.

I also have people I like in my graveyard, of course.  I gave my granny the nicest headstone and put her with MLK Jr and Marilyn Monroe and Elvis and Einstein.

I made two of my friends into vampires because one really likes to cosplay creepy dark anime characters and she says her boyfriend is a vampire IRL.

Other creepy things include my brother skinny dipping in the public hot tub with our granny; a friend dating another friend's mother and then aunt (I had to go in and manually fix that); found something wrong with my and my husband's oven so that our Sims had half-prepared food everywhere and were starving to death; I made the showers at my local gym unreachable so I saw quite a few people on their way home trailing stench; and lastly, I gave no one vehicles so everyone in my town ended up walking or running to their destinations (unless they had a work carpool).

That's the news from Lake Simbegone for today.  Where the women are athletic, the men are eye candy, and all the children aren't being taken away by social services.

Ghosts Leaving Graveyard

I thought this was a glitch when I first noticed it.  My ghosts are getting in cars and riding off when they pop up in the graveyard at night.

I found a forum post about it, where others say that it's a function of Ambitions that goes with the Ghost Hunter profession: "Ghosts and spirits are wandering out of their graveyard and the catacombs."

It's not my favorite change, but I'm glad it's not a glitch.

Grave Types: How to Give Your Sim Its Dream Gravestone

Small Grave: Less than 75,000 lifetime happiness points.
Medium Grave: 75,000-150,000 lifetime happiness points.
Large Grave: 150,000+ lifetime happiness points.

Cheat Your Way Into Happiness

• Go to the Main Menu.
• [Ctrl]+[Shift]+[C]
• "testingcheatsenabled true"
• [Enter]
• Enter your saved game.
• Go to the Lifetime Happiness tab on your Sim.
• Hold [Ctrl] and click on the panel around the happiness points number.

The key is that you must enable the cheat code in the Main Menu before you enter a saved game.