Thoughts on remaking parts of Sims 2 in Sims 3
So ive been remaking bits and pieces of Sims 2 and its spinoff Stories games inside Sims 3 for some time now, as a lot of people have done. I believe my initial inspiration was the bits and pieces of the families from Sims 1 and the first three neighbourhoods from 2 that kept popping up in the worlds of 3, usually younger versions of premade families (We got everyone but the Oldies from Pleasantview, and the Grunts, Smiths, Loners and most of Singles from Strangetown were missing, pretty much all of Veronaville was accounted for)
Barnacle Bay and Riverview of note, had the only sims from AFTER Sims 2, Don Lothario and the Caliente sisters, with Don being explained by timetravel. Barnacle Bay being in the same timeline as Sims 2, gave me an idea on how to change the University so it didn't inexplicably have the same students as Sunset Valley 50 years ago, all the same age. I was playing Sims 2 at the time, going through its university as the premades, getting them all out into the main neighbourhoods so that the exclusive careers actually had some use, and I got to thinking, what would it be like to play these same sims, in the same dorm, in Sims 3, with its different mechanics and open world? So I started revamping Barnacle Bay's university, tearing down the homes from 50 years ago, taking down the dorms, and started making the same sims I had played in 2, in the next game in the series.
Its not as easy as I thought it was in my head; Sims 3 has very different looking faces, a lot of the iconic details of sims I could not reproduce, and often clothing has no similar match, resulting in some conversions I wasn't too happy with, but could still hopefully be identified as 'hey, its that one guy from Sims 2 Uni!' Then you have the traits and favourite colours and foods and music, and how to take Sims 2's aspiration and personality points, and try to fill in blanks as best you can. Lifetime Wants from 2 are terribly designed and often nonsensical, so those arent always something to follow either; far too many good sims in Sims 2, have Criminal Mastermind set for example, clashing with their entire character. Vincent Moore from Sims Life Stories is a great example, no way would he ever be the type to want a life of crime. Interests are generally a non-factor, especially since you have little to no control over them, and don't assign them at creation. All too often you had a premade cook who was all about food in thier bios and family descriptions, but had no Interest in it :p So I only ever look to those if I have no clue how to fill out trait slots. For university, I handled the extra social trait slot the same way that Sims 2 does with its extra want slot; only those premades that started with the extra slot, get the extra trait by default, like Jane Stacks.
Lot building has been very fun, the more realistic and darker graphics of Sims 3 have lead to some of my favourite lots from 2 to come to life in new ways, but im constantly frustrated by obvious buildmode items that EA left out; there are so many weird one-off windows for example, not a single good size two-wide window, everything has to be GIANT and spanning the entire wall or some cultural oddity with a specialised use. Ive had to overuse Bahaus(?) windows quite a lot, even though they often dont 'fit', but theres no other option! There are also some things that cannot be replicated, like certain staircases, as Sims 3 requires one extra open tile above, and things like clothing stores and grocery stores will require a bit of reimagining. I havent actually gotten to community lots yet aside from the Secret Society lots, which I converted into Lounges with exclusive areas for celebrities, but i'll likely tackle one of the two Strangetown lots soon, probably the pool (Which brings me to mention...that Sims 3 does not have any cactuses, at all D:)
I wish I could use Create-A-World, I can likely recreate the entirety of the Sims 2 neighbourhoods with enough effort and drive, but without a recreated world to populate with them, will feel odd personally, to put things in existing worlds. I remade every single thing in the Sims 2 Tutorial World already, and every playable sim from Wanmami Island, and dont see myself stopping anytime soon. I plan to at least bring the Stories sims to 3, as so few Sims players have experienced those families, and EA is unlikely to ever reference them (I dont think they even acknowledge the extra 3 neighbourhoods from 2, come to think of it, its always the original 3 from 2 + the Sims 1 neighbourhood)
Anyone else recreated people or lots from Sims 2, or even 1? Interested in hearing from other points of view, given that im an insane completionist with it and go so far as to recreate each outfit each sim had, and even keeping design flaws intact in some cases :p
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/312791235486285824/584019390387978262/Screenshot-109.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/312791235486285824/584018973797122048/Screenshot-107.jpg
Two homes from Strangetown that ive built in Sims 3 in Lucky Palms, both with some necessary changes and a couple of adaptions. For example, the house with the basement, now has a REAL basement that can be expanded, and I needed to use some building cheats to accomplish that. The Curious family house has a little extra area on the roof that is visible in the screenshot, which was neccessary due to weather; otherwise every time it rained the house would flood :D (I even went out of my way to make the tile maze keep the same tile elevations the Sims 2 version does)
Barnacle Bay and Riverview of note, had the only sims from AFTER Sims 2, Don Lothario and the Caliente sisters, with Don being explained by timetravel. Barnacle Bay being in the same timeline as Sims 2, gave me an idea on how to change the University so it didn't inexplicably have the same students as Sunset Valley 50 years ago, all the same age. I was playing Sims 2 at the time, going through its university as the premades, getting them all out into the main neighbourhoods so that the exclusive careers actually had some use, and I got to thinking, what would it be like to play these same sims, in the same dorm, in Sims 3, with its different mechanics and open world? So I started revamping Barnacle Bay's university, tearing down the homes from 50 years ago, taking down the dorms, and started making the same sims I had played in 2, in the next game in the series.
Its not as easy as I thought it was in my head; Sims 3 has very different looking faces, a lot of the iconic details of sims I could not reproduce, and often clothing has no similar match, resulting in some conversions I wasn't too happy with, but could still hopefully be identified as 'hey, its that one guy from Sims 2 Uni!' Then you have the traits and favourite colours and foods and music, and how to take Sims 2's aspiration and personality points, and try to fill in blanks as best you can. Lifetime Wants from 2 are terribly designed and often nonsensical, so those arent always something to follow either; far too many good sims in Sims 2, have Criminal Mastermind set for example, clashing with their entire character. Vincent Moore from Sims Life Stories is a great example, no way would he ever be the type to want a life of crime. Interests are generally a non-factor, especially since you have little to no control over them, and don't assign them at creation. All too often you had a premade cook who was all about food in thier bios and family descriptions, but had no Interest in it :p So I only ever look to those if I have no clue how to fill out trait slots. For university, I handled the extra social trait slot the same way that Sims 2 does with its extra want slot; only those premades that started with the extra slot, get the extra trait by default, like Jane Stacks.
Lot building has been very fun, the more realistic and darker graphics of Sims 3 have lead to some of my favourite lots from 2 to come to life in new ways, but im constantly frustrated by obvious buildmode items that EA left out; there are so many weird one-off windows for example, not a single good size two-wide window, everything has to be GIANT and spanning the entire wall or some cultural oddity with a specialised use. Ive had to overuse Bahaus(?) windows quite a lot, even though they often dont 'fit', but theres no other option! There are also some things that cannot be replicated, like certain staircases, as Sims 3 requires one extra open tile above, and things like clothing stores and grocery stores will require a bit of reimagining. I havent actually gotten to community lots yet aside from the Secret Society lots, which I converted into Lounges with exclusive areas for celebrities, but i'll likely tackle one of the two Strangetown lots soon, probably the pool (Which brings me to mention...that Sims 3 does not have any cactuses, at all D:)
I wish I could use Create-A-World, I can likely recreate the entirety of the Sims 2 neighbourhoods with enough effort and drive, but without a recreated world to populate with them, will feel odd personally, to put things in existing worlds. I remade every single thing in the Sims 2 Tutorial World already, and every playable sim from Wanmami Island, and dont see myself stopping anytime soon. I plan to at least bring the Stories sims to 3, as so few Sims players have experienced those families, and EA is unlikely to ever reference them (I dont think they even acknowledge the extra 3 neighbourhoods from 2, come to think of it, its always the original 3 from 2 + the Sims 1 neighbourhood)
Anyone else recreated people or lots from Sims 2, or even 1? Interested in hearing from other points of view, given that im an insane completionist with it and go so far as to recreate each outfit each sim had, and even keeping design flaws intact in some cases :p
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/312791235486285824/584019390387978262/Screenshot-109.jpg
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/312791235486285824/584018973797122048/Screenshot-107.jpg
Two homes from Strangetown that ive built in Sims 3 in Lucky Palms, both with some necessary changes and a couple of adaptions. For example, the house with the basement, now has a REAL basement that can be expanded, and I needed to use some building cheats to accomplish that. The Curious family house has a little extra area on the roof that is visible in the screenshot, which was neccessary due to weather; otherwise every time it rained the house would flood :D (I even went out of my way to make the tile maze keep the same tile elevations the Sims 2 version does)
