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Top Secret Researcher
#26 Old 19th Feb 2016 at 9:40 PM
Love it! Is the kitchen functional that way?
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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#27 Old 19th Feb 2016 at 10:26 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Gcgb53191
Love it! Is the kitchen functional that way?

It's not actually a kitchen as such, it's the AL food stand made customizable by Knightguy82. As far as I know it should work fine, but I haven't actually tested it yet! :-)
Undead Molten Llama
#28 Old 21st Feb 2016 at 3:01 PM
Quote: Originally posted by lorinsv60
Good topic! I'm planning to send one of my Knowledge Sims to Three Lakes along with her adopted child and think focusing on some bug collecting would be cool.


Wait...Why would you send them to Three Lakes to bug-hunt? We have no good bugs up here in the mountains. It's too cold and (in the case of where I live in Colorado, at about 8000ft/2400m above sea level) too dry to have good bugs. We don't even have roaches or fleas up here because the climate is too harsh for them. (Although we do have ticks, unfortunately.) No, if you want good bugs, go to the tropics. Or to dry-but-hot places, like southern Arizona or sub-Saharan Africa. If I were to send a Sim on vacation specifically to bug-hunt or to bird-watch, I'd send them to Twikii.

Not that any of this matters for game purposes, of course, given that you can collect the same bugs anywhere any time of year. But if you're looking for some "realism," then...Well, no. Three Lakes wouldn't be a good bug-hunting spot. Nor would it be a good spot for a botanical garden, unless it's inside a climate-controlled dome. (Sorry, @lauratje86.) Although I suppose there ARE different kind of mountains. But generally, if they're big (like the Rockies, the Alps, and the Himalayas), they're dry and cold for a good part of the year and have little-to-no growing season. (Our last frost is Jun 14 and it generally starts snowing in September here. Sometimes in August. On top of that, we get little water, basically whatever we get in snow because it doesn't rain much. So a botanical garden wouldn't work very well, I'm afraid.) I get the association of mountains = nature because that IS true...but it's nature of a different type.

All that said, I always have vague notions of redoing Three Lakes into something that looks more like a Rocky Mountain resort town (which is where I live; Telluride, specifically). Stick it on a desert terrain instead but fill it with pines and scrub, build an Old West style main street, redress the locals as hippies/cowboys/ski bums (or, in the summer, as music/film festival-goes), build decadent vacation homes (which around here are owned mostly by either obnoxious Texans or even more obnoxious celebrities), etc. Unfortunately, activities are difficult. Most of the attractions here are of the seasonal outdoor activities type -- snowboarding/skiing (downhill and cross-country), hiking, jeeping, white-water rafting, rock-climbing, ice-climbing, mountain biking, fly-fishing, hunting/trapping (that's a big one), etc. etc. -- and in the game could really only be simulated, if you can even call it that, with custom tours, if such things are possible. (Except the fishing, of course. And the hunting/trapping; there's a mod for that, which is pretty cool, although it's spear hunting meant for more primitive times rather than modern rifle/bow-hunting...but at least it's something. .) My town's original purpose, in Old West times, was mining, so that could be "touristed-up," but, again, not in any really functional way unless someone comes up with a mod to, say, pan for gold. I suppose you could just make a big field that Sims could use to dig for treasure. And we ARE very pet-oriented (dog-oriented, specifically) here...but since you can't take pets on vacation, you couldn't even make a cool dog park. :\ In general, I think Maxis missed the boat with the "mountain" location by not even making a skiing "tour."

So um...Yeah, I didn't offer any ideas, did I? Maybe I'm just too stuck in the reality of where I live to imagine a mountain location as anything other than where I live or the other resort-y/vacation-y mountain locations I've experienced (like the New England mountains, the Alps, the Smokies, even the Poconos...if you want to call those "mountains." ), none of which feature people walking around looking like lumberjacks. Perhaps that's a Pacific Northwest thing, where lots of commercial logging is/was done? But not that I've seen. Not that I've been up there a lot. Anyway...Um, yeah! My lame $0.02, you now has it.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#29 Old 22nd Feb 2016 at 5:38 PM
Quote: Originally posted by iCad
Nor would it be a good spot for a botanical garden, unless it's inside a climate-controlled dome. (Sorry, @lauratje86.)

I already reached this conclusion by myself! :-D My botanical garden will now be situated in Takemizu Village (because Spring/Spring/Autumn/Autum will look pretty and because Japan is kind of well known for its trees and stuff in RL). Three Lakes will have a "winter sports" lot (ice skating on a pond and a snowy slide hill) and, probably, a year-round Christmas shop (inspired by this one and one that I visited years ago.) :-) I want to dress one of the mountain locals as Santa and use the Visitor Controller to ban him from other lots, so that he can only be found at the Christmas shop (and only sometimes). Sims can have their pictures taken with him and stuff.

I also came across a 1t2 conversion of the "Marky Sharky" costume, which will be perfect for one of my tropical locals to wear when they hang around the aquarium! :-)
Alchemist
#30 Old 23rd Feb 2016 at 5:20 AM
I'm looking forward to seeing what you did with your aquarium.
Forum Resident
#31 Old 23rd Feb 2016 at 6:31 AM
Quote: Originally posted by iCad
Wait...Why would you send them to Three Lakes to bug-hunt? We have no good bugs up here in the mountains. It's too cold and (in the case of where I live in Colorado, at about 8000ft/2400m above sea level) too dry to have good bugs. We don't even have roaches or fleas up here because the climate is too harsh for them. (Although we do have ticks, unfortunately.) No, if you want good bugs, go to the tropics. Or to dry-but-hot places, like southern Arizona or sub-Saharan Africa. If I were to send a Sim on vacation specifically to bug-hunt or to bird-watch, I'd send them to Twikii.

Not that any of this matters for game purposes, of course, given that you can collect the same bugs anywhere any time of year. But if you're looking for some "realism," then...Well, no. Three Lakes wouldn't be a good bug-hunting spot.

I live in Reno right next to the Sierra Nevada range, and between here and the 45-minute drive to Lake Tahoe (6200 feet), what we consider "mountains" is anywhere between 5500 and 11000 feet in elevation, with much of it being on the lower end of that range. Yosemite, about 4 hours from here, and the redwoods throughout California are even lower in elevation. Not saying the mountains here have bugs suitable for collecting, but I was thinking more along the lines of being close to nature, and bugs are a part of that. Besides, I doubt Twikkii's bugs are any better than what my Sims can find at Three Lakes (elevation unknown).

Build a City Challenge on LiveJournal: Mesa Vista: my BaCC for fun
Mesa Vista Running list of chapters
Instructor
#32 Old 23rd Feb 2016 at 2:37 PM
I suggest looking at the country-of-inspiration's guide i.e. for Takemizu village, use a japan guide, like: http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2025.html , currently they have a poll going on about the things travelers are interested in (for me, it would be the food), but I don't know how to customize vacation destination restaurants to that.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#33 Old 23rd Feb 2016 at 9:07 PM
Quote: Originally posted by omglo
I'm looking forward to seeing what you did with your aquarium.

It's pretty much finished now, I think. Once I can post in the Shops & Businesses thread without double posting I'll put some pictures up. It's not exactly how I originally imagined it, but I'm pleased with it :-) Though I haven't actually played it yet, so I guess that I may change my mind! I like the way it looks, at least! :-)
Instructor
#34 Old 25th Feb 2016 at 1:11 PM
If you want a to try to do a custom mountain destination, you can use other real life inspiration like Machu Picchu,
not sure if it snows there though.
https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...2b2&oe=576C44FD
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#35 Old 25th Feb 2016 at 8:37 PM
@lauratje86 Post them on my buisness thread. I really want to see this aquarium. Also if you upload it I will grab it since I've always fancied having an aquarium for my hood nut never got around to finding the cc and making it.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#36 Old 6th Mar 2016 at 9:51 PM Last edited by gazania : 8th Mar 2016 at 6:30 AM.
OK ... here's a quick question for custom vacation hood creators. And this is out of curiosity.

--When creating a custom vacation hood, do you create all-new buildings, repurpose old lots in your bin, or use others' downloads?

I've been busy for the last two weeks on Olde Forsythe Towne, my test vacation hood. Much of it features colonial-ish stuff. I do admit, I've been nabbing a whole lot of stuff off Plumbbob Keep since quite honestly, there are very few earlier Colonial-ish community lots out there, and I figure that basket-weaving in Medieval times can't be THAT different from basket-weaving in Colonial times. So far, I've created a working-farm B&B (where I'll test PBK's chickens and geese, if possible ... it may not be), my vineyard/hotel (I've tested the vineyard implements and grapevines at PBK in another vacation hood, and I know that Sims can grow, pick and sell grapes, though I don't think they can use them, and I don't know about the stomping part yet). I've created two large fairground lots in the more commercial part of the hood (since most historical-recreation sites DO have commercial areas!),

I've created a tavern, a shop where I HOPE my Sims can weave baskets and make pottery, if they have a mind to it (C'mon, PBK ... fingers crossed), a Guard House where they can throw axes (though to be frank, I doubt that ANY colonial recreation town in real life would let anyone do that, but this is a fantasy!). I created an old-time house where Sims can also look at chickens and ducks (I hope ... once again, I'll have to test that), and watch a TV movie in the tiny Visitors Center on the grounds. I've created another tiny Visitors Center near the entrance of the hood. And my next project will be a small apothecary/herbal remedy shop where Sims can try their hand at making candles. (Once again, I have to test that. This one was on Affinity Sims.) Perhaps even attempt an incantation or two. In my fantasy world, witches and warlocks might have been eyed with a bit of nervousness, but they were not harmed.

I've been studying Dutch Colonial and saltbox houses for hours (still trying to keep in the earlier years of the 18th century), and perhaps an early-Georgian house will be next. I'm dreaming of saltboxes in my sleep. I've also looked at French Colonial and Creole cottage houses, though those came around later on. It's getting bad when I can go past local houses and cite the influence or influences on many of them. People are wondering about me.

I remembered to mark off Bigfoot's possible hangout and will do a rough campground in the lot next to it. Also, a public beach. I don't want to spend THAT much time with each and every lot! And the campground is a good place to put that tree segment thing.

But I do find myself repurposing a few lots I created some time ago. Even in my tiny test terrain, it's taking a long while to get it looking vacation-ready! And I do admit to downloading a church lot off the Sims Community Project site and revamping it to match my Colonial-esque theme. The creator did a really nice job on the base structure, and I doubt I could have improved on it. And I even stuck in the 1x1 BV cabins on this site. They're cute, and great for Sims on a budget.

Do you custom vacation lot creators do each and every lot anew? Or am I being a lazy bum now? I feel like I'm cheating a little! And lauratje86's aquarium is looking tempting to me as well. That would be really nice near my beach ....

(EDITED again. The pirate ship is a lot of fun in another hood. I put it in another test hood ... not the hood where I'm designing the custom vacation lot. I'm not THAT confident. But when I asked in the Random Questions section about whether it's safe to use the Maxis pirate ship in a Three-Lakes-type hood, I didn't get a response, which leads me to believe that honestly, not many know whether it's safe or not. Luckily, I didn't play the other test hood I used for the pirate ship for some time, so it's a simple replacement with an older file and ta-dah. Like it never happened. I hope. I'll run all played hoods through Hood Checker, just to make sure. If I recall, there are some deco pirate ships. But I believe life will go on without them.)

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Instructor
#37 Old 7th Mar 2016 at 3:40 AM
Quote: Originally posted by gazania
OK ... here's a quick question for custom vacation hood creators. And this is out of curiosity.

--When creating a custom vacation hood, do you create all-new buildings, repurpose old lots in your bin, or use others' downloads?



I take inspiration from others' downloads (...sometimes DIRECT inspiration, down to the details) but because I prefer to play without CC, I work with what I already have: from scratch, or Maxis made (and made over). At least it's making me a better builder!

On that note....I've got my work cut out for me if I'm ever going to build those custom vacation hoods I've been fantasizing about (winter wonderland mountain, sleazy neon city, alien colony, and monastery retreat).
Mad Poster
#38 Old 7th Mar 2016 at 3:58 AM
Sleazy neon city? I'd love to see pictures of that vacation hood. The others are really interesting as well.

Keep this up, and we'll be able to compile a really long list of different vacation attractions and destinations, just like community lot businesses!

Thanks to ALL free-site creators, admins and mods.

RIP Sunni ... truly a ray of light.
Alchemist
#39 Old 7th Mar 2016 at 4:42 AM
If I ever got the motivation, I'd remake Three Lakes over in the style of Windenburg from Sims 4, which is supposed to be a city with European influences. There are pubs and cafes, a lot that has castle ruins and another with a hedge maze.
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