Community info

EDIT: Ai ai - the new Community section is up!

Hello! I'm out of town enjoying my Summer vacation part 2. It's raining most days, so I have been working on expanding my Residents Registry for TS4, and yay, it's getting cool!

All life events of my residents have been indexed in a way that makes it easy to display latest events regardless of sims and districts. So, there is now a web section for each of the 5 Council departments. There you can find the latest births, marriages, deaths, movings, police cases, job promotions and much more! In other words, a NEWS section!

It's of course a nifty tool for me organizing my Region 12, too. A lot more detailed than I was planning, actually.

This new section is not fully uploaded yet, but will be available on the Residents Registry in a couple days. On this blog you can access the Rehistry from top of front page, but there are also links in most recent articles.

Region 12 NEWS - Election Y220 Special

Every 5th year there is a huge Election in my Region 12. First the 18 Hood Contacts are found, then each district (=world) decides which 2 Hood Contacts shall be Nominees for the district's Councilor, and finally those 5 Councilors have a last round of votes to rank the new Council and decide the Mayor for the new 5 years period.

This video is 18 minutes. Host Chad P. Mox takes you through the Election Day with the typical voting charts, street reporters and artists in studio. And - I did not know the final result until it was recorded.



This is an extra long edtion. Normally these TV news videos are less than 5 minutes and are posted on end of each sim year (= RL monthly).

The Duke and Duchess de Cavalier

In my Region 12 there are several high society Houses that I never told anyone about previously. There's no King and Queen, but a Duke and Duchess in a castle is not bad, either!

Up there on old Hound's Head rises the Chateau Cavalier.

(Y220) House of Duke de Cavalier is currently the most prominent family of my entire game. They reside the large Chateau Cavalier located on the height previously called Hound's Head, Brindleton Bay's largest lot with a great view to the lighthouse. In addition they own two smaller lots (Dachshund's Creek and Hindquarter Hideaway). They have a Butler as well as a live-in Cook, occasionally also a live-in Governess.

Over the years they developed the most spectacular castle garden terraces and those few days when the garden is open to public visitors, it attracts garden enthusiasts and tourists from far and near. The bone shaped castle spans 2 full floors and has the rare 4-split tower. I will post more about both castle and garden later!

Region 12 NEWS - Year 219

Just completed year 219, and I'm celebrating by starting a new series regional TV-news that will air after each year as a summary. It's not meant to be technically perfect, and might be of greater interest to myself. Still, you might find some inspiration and might even recognize a face or two if you watched any of my earlier series.

These clips will normally be max 5 minutes long, and they will contain standard rubrics like News, Finance, Showbiz, Job listings, and of course various family notes. The first two hosts to tie it all together are Chad P. Mox and Antoinette Morck.

Here's the first edition:

Election Y220 - Hood Contact Candidates Announcement

In my Region 12 a huge election takes place every 5th year on Election Day (1st day of Spring). It's quite nerdy, I know, but it helps me building the community aspects which I love. The Y220 election is coming up shortly, and I'm super excited to find out who will be on the council for the next period. Will any of the current 5 councilors be replaced? I have no idea!

This is a rather complex event, starting one year earlier with the candidates signing up, and ending with Hood Contacts as well as 5 Councilors elected for the next 5 years period. For the current round, I'll post a few updates on the progress here on the blog, in case you want to try something similar in your game!

For rules and background, please see the article in the blog's brand new HOW I PLAY section.

Right now on last day of Winter, Election Day is only 1 simday away, and it's time to reveal the list of the 38 (!) Candidates! 18 of them will become Hood Contacts, and 2 of those will be Nominees for each district's Councilor, and get an office in my Council House. I don't know for sure who they will be - I'm so excited! Because I know who are running, it would be possible to calculate their approximate scores already, but factors might change overnight and the exact scores will not be set until noon on Election Day. So I have not really calculated anything - it will all be live on the local TV station!

Stay tuned for the Election Day TV-special (will air on my Youtube channel early August):
1 PM - 18 Hood Contacts to be announced
4 PM - 10 Nominees to be announced
7 PM - 5 Councilors (= Region 12 Council) to be announced
10 PM - Mayor to be announced

As Sims Go By - Episode 6 - The Fifth Owner (Season 1 closing)

Finally - the last episode of season 1 is now available on my Youtube channel!

It is called "The fifth owner", and although introducing private schools to my game is the Council's main focus, Siobhan has a different agenda these days. But, there is also lots of other stuff going on, threads to be spun in season 2, and even a surprise pregnancy!

I'd also like to hear which are your favorite character(s). In a short while I will write the entire season 2 (need to do it all in one go to stay in control of the mane story threads), and I have not yet decided whether some characters will leave the story and others will be more highlighted. What a pity if the only favorite character is removed! So, let me know who or what you want to stay in season 2, okay? :)

You know you are a sim when...

Just a few funny pictures from my screenshot folder.

You know you are a Sim when...

... your poop is half your own size.

The horror of creating a new family

Oh my, have I got blood on my hands!

Whenever I create a new family, I normally also create their ancestors. A young adult sim's parents and probably also a couple siblings. I do this in order to give the new arrival some background story, get a more or less random DNA passed down from parents to the sim I will keep. I also use an additional DNA string that I must handle manually, I want to get it all right. Temporarily bringing the entire family into the game also allows me to create a couple family portraits for the new household's photo wall.

But after those photos are framed on the wall for future generations to admire, those extra household members will no longer be needed. So, like the picture above suggests, it's slaughtering time! Ugh...

Jungle Adventure - Part 4 of 4 - The Celebrities

In this miniseries for the blog, you get reports from 4 sims with a different agenda in Selvadorada. First out was the Archaeologist (Fred Clump) followed by the Tour Guide (Brenda Kammin), and the typical Tourists (Adrian family). Here's the final chapter with the Celebrities, the Bailey/Moon family :)

- My fans might believe that a superstar like myself travels a lot to visit exciting destinations and sights all over SimNation. But no, truth is that my little family hardly get a chance to get anywhere unless they can come with me to a concert or celebrity gig. So, we gladly accepted to visit Selvadorada together for this publicity feature. Not because we got it all covered, because we could of course have paid this journey and more - with ease.

Well, we got ready. My wife Octavia and I had never visited the jungle before.

Video delay

My plan was to air episode 6 of my As Sims Go By video series in June. I worked very hard on reaching this, while my RL vacation rapidly got closer. I even delayed my departure with one day with hopes of completing this 6th episode which will also close the fiirst season.

But no. Sometimes RL vacations must have priority. Only 80% done with the episode I had to throw in the towel and leave my home. So, this episode will be released in July instead. No big deal, although I'd much prefer to start planning the 2nd season when returning back home.

Good thing is that I enjoy making this series so much that I'm pretty sure there will be a 2nd season starting in September.

On the picture you see one of the main characters, Fanny Silverbone, suddenly taking a big jump! I didn't see her this enthusiastic before, and as this jumping happened on free will, it was pure luck that I captured the right second. Her life certainly takes a big swing in episode 6, but there's also a lot more going on!

Patch goodies and detailed economy

[TS4] It's been busy days! I did not get the brand new Island Living expansion pack yet. Because my computer seems to allow max one more addition, I might actually skip this one in hope of a future farming pack. Or - I might add IL if we ever get hotels. Anyway, farming goes better with my existing game play than a tropical island, and my sims just recently got access to Selvadorada, anyway. I'm still exploring the Jungle Adventure and Spa Day game packs.

Any way, the latest patch did add a few temptations that I only partly checked out. The picture shows a testsim testing the new lounge chair. It comes in many colors, and best of all - it is portable. With this in the personal inventory your sim can relax anywhere, also outside community lots.

The Sims International Film Festival - Voting closing July 1st

Hello! Are you into Machinima? Or do you like watching films in general, perhaps even films featuring sims in particular?

The well established The Sims International Film Festival (SIFF) is currently running its 18th season, and you are welcome to watch all submitted entries, and also to vote on films and film posters and trailers. Films are split in numerous categories, and there should definitely be something good in there no matter what you like!