The Sims 3

[Jeivar]

I've never played any of the Sims games aside from briefly trying Sims 2 out on occasional on my sister's computer. I've been thinking of getting a chillout game to play around in between gun mayhem and stabbing sprees. Steam has Sims 3, and I won't buy Sims 4 as I refuse to use Origin after Mass Effect 3 inexplicably stopped working. Is there any reason to NOT go with Sims 3 rather than seek out a copy of 2?

I don't really know enough about these games to ask any intelligent questions about the differences. I just like the idea of Eric Draven, Adolf Hitler and the Joker living on the same street and messing with their lives. I'm also kind of interested in goofing around with urban fantasy in the supernatural DLC's.

So. Opinions?

[t209]

Well, if you are not into persistent world change and open world, Sims 3 might not be for you.
I am actually serious, I actually hated Sims 3 at first since I can't adjust the newly created families to my other families.

[Avilan the Grey]

I've never played any of the Sims games aside from briefly trying Sims 2 out on occasional on my sister's computer. I've been thinking of getting a chillout game to play around in between gun mayhem and stabbing sprees. Steam has Sims 3, and I won't buy Sims 4 as I refuse to use Origin after Mass Effect 3 inexplicably stopped working. Is there any reason to NOT go with Sims 3 rather than seek out a copy of 2?

I don't really know enough about these games to ask any intelligent questions about the differences. I just like the idea of Eric Draven, Adolf Hitler and the Joker living on the same street and messing with their lives. I'm also kind of interested in goofing around with urban fantasy in the supernatural DLC's.

So. Opinions?

Sims 3 is the first game where sims not played with age. Also, it's "open world" (well open neighbourhood) and that means they not only age, but run around doing stuff without you.

This in turn means that if you don't want other sims to age up and die without you, you might have a problem. And the open world concept is seriously taxing on older machines.

...Edit: Also, there are apparently Llama Ninjas in this thread.

[Grif]

I've never played any of the Sims games aside from briefly trying Sims 2 out on occasional on my sister's computer. I've been thinking of getting a chillout game to play around in between gun mayhem and stabbing sprees. Steam has Sims 3, and I won't buy Sims 4 as I refuse to use Origin after Mass Effect 3 inexplicably stopped working. Is there any reason to NOT go with Sims 3 rather than seek out a copy of 2?

I don't really know enough about these games to ask any intelligent questions about the differences. I just like the idea of Eric Draven, Adolf Hitler and the Joker living on the same street and messing with their lives. I'm also kind of interested in goofing around with urban fantasy in the supernatural DLC's.

So. Opinions?

If I were you, I'd try looking for Sims 2 first. I find it the most charming and intuitive of all the Sims games (haven't play 4) I played. 3 just feels like it lacks something.

Be wary, Sims 3 is quite heavy on the computer, and it's entirely possible you may not be able to run it at an acceptable frame rate if that's your thing.

[JadedDM]

Two other big differences in Sims 2 and 3, aside from the open neighborhood bit, are traits and moodlets.

In the Sims 2, your sims' personalities is determined by 5 sliders. They are Neat/Messy, Nice/Mean, Playful/Serious, Outgoing/Shy, and Active/Lazy. So if you turn the Active/Lazy slider down toward Lazy, your sim will not enjoy exercise and prefer sitting on the couch, watching TV. And so on.

In Sims 3, you get traits instead. Each adult sim gets 5 traits (2 at birth, another at childhood, another at adolescence and the fifth when you become a young adult). There are a mess of them, but they include things like Genius, Slob, Friendly, Mean Spirited, Insane, Handy, Loner, Heavy Sleeper, Light Sleeper, Family Oriented, Computer Whiz, Bookworm, Couch Potato and so on. This allows you to build more complicated sims, in my opinion, as the combination of traits strongly affects their behaviors and their desires.

Sims 3 also has moodlets, which are like buffs and debuffs that affect your mood. If something good happens, you might get a positive moodlet which boosts your mood. Like eating a good meal, falling in love, getting a promotion and so forth. There are also negative moodlets like the death of a loved one, getting sick, being cheated on, etc. Moodlets can last minutes, days or even weeks, depending on their severity.

[Sajiri]

I prefer sims 3, but mainly because my favourite expansions happen to be the ones that dont exist in 2 and I prefer the open world.

Between the two games, they have a lot of similar expansions, but some are unique, and some are just different. Personally Im not interested in sims without the expansions, and I stuck with 2 until 3 had a few of them out because it was boring before that. I will say though, whether you get expansions or not, with 3 there are a few mods that players pretty much feel are required for it.

NRAAS Overwatch is one, as it cleans up a lot of things in the game that would cause lag (like sims getting stuck in places in the world, abandoned cars, turning off radios and stuff in npc homes, etc). Also if you can find some kind of framerate limiter for it. I used to have one but when I reinstalled sims I couldnt find a download for it anymore. The reason being is that sims 3 doesnt limit its fps at all so it just tears your graphics card up even if its a newer one. If you install mods or store content, you often have to clean up your folders or merge files as well to improve lag...gets pretty annoying but there's a lot you can do to improve the performance of the game.

[Jeivar]

Well I went and bought Sims 3 and I can see how people get absorbed in this. But I was a bit disappointed in the hair options. I couldn't find the hair and beard to make a crazy hobo, or a ponytail to create Lara Croft. Also, can I really not create different households in the same game? I wanted to have, say, Max Payne, the Red Skull and Abraham Lincoln milling about the same town.

[JadedDM]

Also, can I really not create different households in the same game? I wanted to have, say, Max Payne, the Red Skull and Abraham Lincoln milling about the same town.

Sure you can. Go to Options, then pick Edit Town, and then select Create Sims. Make whatever families you want, then select them and place them in your neighborhood. Even better, the game keeps a record of any families you create, so if you ever decide to delete your neighborhood or acquire a new one, you still have copies of those families so you don't have to recreate them again.

As for the hair, yeah, EA locked out a lot of the hairstyles so they could sell them as piecemeal DLC. But ponytails should come with the vanilla game. When you are choosing a woman's hairstyle, note there are some tabs at the top. One says "Hairstyles" and one says "Hairstyles with Accessories." Choose the latter for ponytails, among other things.

[Sajiri]

Well I went and bought Sims 3 and I can see how people get absorbed in this. But I was a bit disappointed in the hair options. I couldn't find the hair and beard to make a crazy hobo, or a ponytail to create Lara Croft. Also, can I really not create different households in the same game? I wanted to have, say, Max Payne, the Red Skull and Abraham Lincoln milling about the same town.

That is where mods come in :p I think the EA hairstyles are pretty horrible, there are some nicer looking ones in the store and I've bought a few, and each expansion added new ones. Beards Im not sure about since I rarely pay attention to male sims, though the few times I've tried to make a bearded sim I havent been overly fond of any of the styles.

[Jeivar]

Sure you can. Go to Options, then pick Edit Town, and then select Create Sims. Make whatever families you want, then select them and place them in your neighborhood. Even better, the game keeps a record of any families you create, so if you ever decide to delete your neighborhood or acquire a new one, you still have copies of those families so you don't have to recreate them again.

As for the hair, yeah, EA locked out a lot of the hairstyles so they could sell them as piecemeal DLC. But ponytails should come with the vanilla game. When you are choosing a woman's hairstyle, note there are some tabs at the top. One says "Hairstyles" and one says "Hairstyles with Accessories." Choose the latter for ponytails, among other things.

Ah, thanks. Now my Carmilla Karnstein is living across the street from Lara Croft, and next door to the Incredible Hulk and Max Payne (they're room mates).

EDIT: Say, ah burglar entered my house in the night, stole my toilet and ran off. I called the police as she was leaving and a cop arrived, but then my character inexplicably ran away and somehow got into a conversation with a stranger. The cop left, and I never got my, uh, toilet back. Is there some defence from burglars?

[JadedDM]

Well, if your Sim is a cop or has the Brave trait, you can attack robbers yourself.

But the easier option is to just buy a burglar alarm. Put it near your front door. As soon as a burglar enters your place, it goes off. They stand there, paralyzed, until the cops show up.

[Avilan the Grey]

That is where mods come in :p I think the EA hairstyles are pretty horrible, there are some nicer looking ones in the store and I've bought a few, and each expansion added new ones. Beards Im not sure about since I rarely pay attention to male sims, though the few times I've tried to make a bearded sim I havent been overly fond of any of the styles.

Well compared to the fan made hairstyles the in game ones are marvellous.
BUt then 99% of all fan made "beautifucation" stuff is horrible blowup doll stuff.

[Sajiri]

Well compared to the fan made hairstyles the in game ones are marvellous.
BUt then 99% of all fan made "beautifucation" stuff is horrible blowup doll stuff.

Many of them are bad yeah, they look really plastic and shiny, I prefer the stuff thats made in the style of the EA stuff just tends to be a bit more detailed, just hard to find it sometimes

[t209]

Here's one I miss from Sims 2, Town editor or at least using empty maps with previous town templates to plop down lots.
Imagining me, my brother, Nova (Sam Alexander), Pewdiepie, Atomic Betty, and Drax in neighborhood.

[Jeivar]

Say, are the characters I created and plomped down in the town just inactive unless I'm playing them? I've seen Maxy Payne, Hulk and Lara Croft milling about town but after several days they are still unemployed. Now I did see Max and Hulk using the park swing set (which was freaking funny), but I haven't seen them do anything else.

Can I switch between characters?

[Sajiri]

Say, are the characters I created and plomped down in the town just inactive unless I'm playing them? I've seen Maxy Payne, Hulk and Lara Croft milling about town but after several days they are still unemployed. Now I did see Max and Hulk using the park swing set (which was freaking funny), but I haven't seen them do anything else.

Can I switch between characters?

You can switch (I think its through edit town).

They aren't inactive, but EA story progression (which handles all the unplayed sims) is kinda bad. I forget how it works exactly, likely just fills each job with x amount of people whoever's available. If you made new sims for the town, there may already be enough town sims working in all the current jobs, so the game hasnt decided to assign them to anything because it isnt required. You can switch to them and get them jobs yourself then switch back, I dont know how far it will progress them though

[t209]

You can switch (I think its through edit town).

They aren't inactive, but EA story progression (which handles all the unplayed sims) is kinda bad. I forget how it works exactly, likely just fills each job with x amount of people whoever's available. If you made new sims for the town, there may already be enough town sims working in all the current jobs, so the game hasnt decided to assign them to anything because it isnt required. You can switch to them and get them jobs yourself then switch back, I dont know how far it will progress them though
Well,
- They're still at same rank if you left them.
- in the pirated version, some of them had babies despite being single and :smallyuk:siblings, even the same sex ones.
- Don't add vampires, they will infest the neighborhood.
edit: Due to difficulty in making Rainbowdash, I am choosing Lightning Dust (http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Lightning_Dust) for my sim. So here's my story (with headcanon)
- Sam Alexander I chose was from that terrible Ultimate Spiderman show. In my headcanon, he's a child of previous Nova who crash landed on Earth and fell in love with a hispanic woman. Here's my idea for Nova's origin A) Left her with alien baby. B) Dad gave his life but the mom conceived his child before the battle. C) Dad ended up being a shell-shocked janitor.
http://i.imgur.com/VybrzY6.jpg?1
- Lightning Dust was both like rainbowdash but a bit more arrogant. That and her hair was easy to make than Rainbowdash.
http://i.imgur.com/axvAUrV.jpg?1
Both of them have Athelitic, Brave, Snob, Daredevil, but LD has Ambitious while SA has Hotheaded.

[JadedDM]

Say, are the characters I created and plomped down in the town just inactive unless I'm playing them? I've seen Maxy Payne, Hulk and Lara Croft milling about town but after several days they are still unemployed. Now I did see Max and Hulk using the park swing set (which was freaking funny), but I haven't seen them do anything else.

Can I switch between characters?

Yeah, EA's story progression doesn't work very well. There's a mod you can download for free that fixes it, and it really helped.

You can switch between households, but keep in mind that doing so erases their wishes.

[Jeivar]

Yeah, EA's story progression doesn't work very well. There's a mod you can download for free that fixes it, and it really helped.

You can switch between households, but keep in mind that doing so erases their wishes.

Just the regular wishes or the lifetime wish as well?

[t209]

Just the regular wishes or the lifetime wish as well?
regular wishes.

[Jeivar]

Okay, I have a real problem now: My sim's girlfriend has disappeared. She shows up when called, and my sim may react to her and there are hearts floating in the air where her head should be, but there isn't anyone there, nor anything I can click on.

Will I need to restart my game, or what?

[JadedDM]

Try this.

Pause the game, then hit CTRL+Shift+C to open up a chat box.

Type in the following: ResetSim [Name]

Use her full name (first and last). Then hit enter.

This should hopefully teleport her back to her home and fix the problem.

[Sajiri]

If that doesnt work, I know that taking them into create-a-sim fixes that, or at least that sounds like what happened when my pets went invisible and resetsim didn't fix them.

I'm not sure if it's possible to do that in base game, Im pretty sure there was a patch some time ago that made it so you could take them into it with the console, otherwise you might need to switch to playing the girlfriend then take her to a mirror or wardrobe/drawers. That should have the same effect.

[Jeivar]

Try this.

Pause the game, then hit CTRL+Shift+C to open up a chat box.

Type in the following: ResetSim [Name]

Use her full name (first and last). Then hit enter.

This should hopefully teleport her back to her home and fix the problem.

That didn't work...


If that doesnt work, I know that taking them into create-a-sim fixes that, or at least that sounds like what happened when my pets went invisible and resetsim didn't fix them.

I'm not sure if it's possible to do that in base game, Im pretty sure there was a patch some time ago that made it so you could take them into it with the console, otherwise you might need to switch to playing the girlfriend then take her to a mirror or wardrobe/drawers. That should have the same effect.

... but that did. Thanks. I'm glad I didn't have to restart the whole thing.

[Jeivar]

Hey, am I missing something about making money in Sims 3? I'm reaching the top of the musical career and I'm making over 200 dollars an hour, but I only play concerts three days a week, four hours at a time, and at this rate it will take me an eternity to afford any of the nicer houses in town. My sim's girlfriend has the "rich" stat. Will marriage lead to a shared income?

[Squark]

Hey, am I missing something about making money in Sims 3? I'm reaching the top of the musical career and I'm making over 200 dollars an hour, but I only play concerts three days a week, four hours at a time, and at this rate it will take me an eternity to afford any of the nicer houses in town. My sim's girlfriend has the "rich" stat. Will marriage lead to a shared income?

Rich indicates a sim lives in a household valued above a certain amount. Some Sims with high paid jobs, like the Altos or Landgraabs in Sunset Valley, are rich and have a sizable income. Some just live on a nice house and have a decent amount of money, like Agnes Crumplebottom. However, some households are only rich because they have 4-5 adults contributing to the income, like "The Roomies" household.

If nothing else, marrying a sim, or even just inviting them to live with you (which marrying always does), will give you two sims to control, both of whom can hold jobs as adult. Also, if you need to supplement a sim's income, there are a couple of methods. Most skills, with the exception of cooking, charisma, and logic, offer some way of making money- Since you're in the music career, you probably have a decent guitar skill, and playing for tips can rack up a couple hundred dollars in a few hours in a populated area like the park or movie theater exit. Painting, writing, fishing, and gardening are some of the big money makers, although if you know where to find them, just collecting rare rocks, bugs, and the like can rack up quite the amount of money.

There's also a highly lucrative if random event that can occur if you own the right expansions (World Adventures, Pets, and Supernatural)

1. Send your pet dog out to look for treasure
2. Dog finds uncut tiberium (Here's the randomness. Higher hunting skill increases the odds, but you could potentially fail to see one in an entire playthrough even with a pack of 6 dogs all of whom were master hunters)
3. Cut Tiberium with the gemstone cutter from Supernatural
4. Place Tiberium shard and gem dust piles somewhere out in the open, preferably inside the house to minimize the risk of them being stolen by random sims visiting.
5. Wait a week or so
6. The shard and each pile of gem dust will eventually grow into huge shards, each worth about 40,000 simoleons. Sell them, and build your dream house. Or invest in local businesses. Or spend it all on a ridiculously expensive statue.

[mythmonster2]

Yeah, it's a bit ironic, but some of the higher end jobs might end up paying no more than the ones before them. They have a higher (sometimes much higher) hourly wage, but work for much less hours. Take the Business career: At the highest level, you get $316 an hour, but you only work for 3 hours at a time, on three days of the week.

[Sajiri]

Its always good to supplement your income through use of skills- when I play I actually never join a rabbithole career (self employed is a different matter) and like my sims to make a living through various skills like painting, diving for collectables/sealife, breeding and raising horses to sell the offspring, playing for tips is often fun

[Jeivar]

Rich indicates a sim lives in a household valued above a certain amount. Some Sims with high paid jobs, like the Altos or Landgraabs in Sunset Valley, are rich and have a sizable income. Some just live on a nice house and have a decent amount of money, like Agnes Crumplebottom. However, some households are only rich because they have 4-5 adults contributing to the income, like "The Roomies" household.


Well, so much for marrying into wealth. :smallsmile:

The girlfriend is Zelda Mae, for the record.

[Avilan the Grey]

IF you have the right expansion, any self employed job is the best. Author for example.

[Jeivar]

IF you have the right expansion, any self employed job is the best. Author for example.

I'm trying out the base game before buying any expansions. Though I'll probably buy Supernatural to get the vampires. Just for cheesy fun.

[Winter_Wolf]

I'm trying out the base game before buying any expansions. Though I'll probably buy Supernatural to get the vampires. Just for cheesy fun.

You get vampires with Late Night expansion. I don't think they're included with Supernatural. I may be way off base, it's been a very long time, but that's how I remember it.

[Sajiri]

You get vampires with Late Night expansion. I don't think they're included with Supernatural. I may be way off base, it's been a very long time, but that's how I remember it.

You can get them in both expansions, but I think supernatural adjusted or expanded them in some way..unless that was the supernatural patch everyone got. I do know you can get vampires from either expansion though

[Squark]

Late Night's Vampires are more the high class urban ones, while Supernatural's are more classic style. Features-wise, Supernatural has more for them (A lifetime wish and reward, as well as sunscreen potions), although you will miss not being able to grow bloodfruit if you're going for a vegetarian vampire, since then you're stuck with the snacks from the fridge for your blood-supply with just supernatural.

I'd go with supernatural over Late Night, personally. Moonlight falls is less resource-intensive than Late Night's city, so the game will run smoother for longer, and the celebrity system can be a real pain in the butt.

[Winter_Wolf]

I'd go with supernatural over Late Night, personally. Moonlight falls is less resource-intensive than Late Night's city, so the game will run smoother for longer, and the celebrity system can be a real pain in the butt.

I would, too. But then again werewolves. Even if every other thing was equal it would still be the winner in my book. But then again, again, 99% of my time was spent playing "architect" in build mode so it was all really just a moot point. Until that 1% when patch 1.67 meant that even if I wanted to play, I couldn't because everything would CTD in less than two minutes. Without mods. Just as well though, since trying to play Sims 3 without mods was about as much fun as—well I won't write it because the first comparison that came to mind is probably highly offensive and it's not clearing out to make way for a better comparison. Guess the coffee isn't working yet. :smallsigh: