Forum Discussion

New Spectator

5 years ago

Share what you do for realistic gameplay!

So, I know there was an old thread of this topic, but I can’t find it. Even if I did, I don’t want to necro it. So I made a new one for us to share and discuss what we do for realistic gameplay! I put some pictures under spoilers, but pictures are by no means necessary.

Baby showers:
I bake the pink and the blue cake, make a party event, and call guests to meal. They will then take a piece of cake corresponding to the gender that they think the baby will have! At the end of the event you can look at which cake they have been eating the most out of, and that decides the gender bet. This way, you can also see what gender the individual sims are hoping for and that can be a precursor for further gameplay :blush:

Spoiler

Photo of a finished cake bet up on the wall
https://i.imgur.com/U2MAQ5F.png
Baby shower underway in an earlier generation. Here you can see another thing I do in generation gameplay - photos from older generations are greyed out to make them look older.
https://i.imgur.com/kjfVU5H.png

Photo of a finished cake bet up on the wallhttps://i.imgur.com/U2MAQ5F.pngBaby shower underway in an earlier generation. Here you can see another thing I do in generation gameplay - photos from older generations are greyed out to make them look older.https://i.imgur.com/kjfVU5H.png

Birthdays:
Birthdays are a big ordeal haha. So, I age Sims up in the morning with birthday cake in their room and the whole family in there (I want a mod where holiday songs are available regardless of whether its a holiday or not so that they can wake them up with a birthday song), and then the family members gives them presents.
Then later for their birthday party they get gifts that are relevant for their age. And I also have a chance to CAS them up so they look like they should for their party.
I create a birthday party in the morning as a goaled event since this is where the cake is actually being used to age up, which is the main goal. I later make an ungoaled event and invite either family, friends, or both depending on what most fitting. There they open presents again which are supposed to be from the guests :blush:. They use the midday to bake cakes for the party, decorate the house (using the decoration box from Seasons) and such.

I once had a kiddo birthday party at a retro diner and that was so much fun. Just the kiddos friends, the mother and a friends mother as guardians. I made a childrens corner and decorated it with birthday decor fitting with the restaurant colors and "brand".

Spoiler

Here her birthday was luckily on a random holiday so they could sing her a birthday song!
https://i.imgur.com/i2VRN3y.jpg
Happy toddler. At a birthday party event the presents piles from seasons automatically turns into birthday presents.
https://i.imgur.com/GFkySUD.jpg
Celebrating at the restaurant (build not by me, I just added the kiddo-area)
https://i.imgur.com/OHorKIw.png

Here her birthday was luckily on a random holiday so they could sing her a birthday song! https://i.imgur.com/i2VRN3y.jpgHappy toddler. At a birthday party event the presents piles from seasons automatically turns into birthday presents.https://i.imgur.com/GFkySUD.jpgCelebrating at the restaurant (build not by me, I just added the kiddo-area)https://i.imgur.com/OHorKIw.png

Homework:
I make good, nerdy etc. sims do homework themselves, but for children with "bad" traits (like lazy, mean spirited etc.), a parent will have to instruct them to do homework or else they won’t do it. Parents sometimes also help them to ensure they finish it. In general children with "bad" traits require more active parenting, but "good" traited children are more independent in my gameplay.

Change of clothes:
I try to always have sims change clothes at an actual dresser instead of clicking on them. (But if they are showing up somewhere with the wrong outfit, I cheat it with MCC :sweat_smile:)

New Years:
Halloween is not a thing I’ve grown up with, but for New Years as a child I always got dressed up with my friends, went to neighbours and caroled for treats. This is called "nyttårsbukk" (directly translated: New Year buck). In the Sims I implement this by making the children wear costumes at new years, and enabling the "trick or treating" tradition so children show up at the door! I also enable the fireworks tradition, it’s so fun to finally have a usage for the fireworks from City Living :blush: The sparklers also come in handy.

Spoiler

Fireworks lighting up an otherwise grey sky
https://i.imgur.com/cDEbYyh.png
Happy New Year!
https://i.imgur.com/xY8kGwE.png
Fun with a sparkler
https://i.imgur.com/s31dBki.png

Fireworks lighting up an otherwise grey skyhttps://i.imgur.com/cDEbYyh.pngHappy New Year!https://i.imgur.com/xY8kGwE.pngFun with a sparklerhttps://i.imgur.com/s31dBki.png

Weddings:
I place a DJ booth at the wedding venue and hire a DJ after the ceremony for the reception. Also, it's great to add just a random sim to the family during weddings to act as a wedding photographer - I like to dress them up so they look professional.

Had to put these pictures up, I love weddings aaaaarh

Spoiler

Now that's a wedding shot :heart:
https://i.imgur.com/DhRetxx.png
Swoon :love:
https://i.imgur.com/1YY4z3L.png
Honeymooning!
https://i.imgur.com/d2JzKEy.png
Wedding photos on the wall
https://i.imgur.com/gEb0ouL.png

Now that's a wedding shot :heart: https://i.imgur.com/DhRetxx.pngSwoon :love: https://i.imgur.com/1YY4z3L.pngHoneymooning!https://i.imgur.com/d2JzKEy.pngWedding photos on the wallhttps://i.imgur.com/gEb0ouL.png

I love doing things like this as it makes my gameplay so immersive.
So, please share - what do you do for realistic gameplay - large or small? :smiley:

funny

The_Real_Koteyk
5 years ago
Awesome ideas! I've got a lot of realism going on in my game :) Here are some of my favourite things to do:

I downloaded a 3-week season length mod so now my sims have all of the months. One week equals one month.
My sims age up only once a year on the very exact day they were born. Takes quite a long time to get there but sometimes I skip through some weeks if nothing interesting is going on in the story!
Every week I add a crack, scratch, hole or mold (from vampires GP) to the house. My sims can either cover it up with something like photos or a dresser, either spend some money to redo the walls.
If my sims live in a town, they only live in that town. To travel between towns they have to get plane tickets and spend a few hours getting to their destination!
My sims have to pay for taking the bus or the taxi every time they go somewhere outside of their neighbourhood. if they own a car they have to spent 150 simoleons per week for gas.
Every 12 days my sim's hair grows. They can either choose to keep it that way, either go to a barber to cut it (which also costs money).
Every 12 days I change my sim's everyday outfits, every year I completely redo their wardrobe.
downloaded a lot of wrinkles cc and when my sims turn into an adult I gradually start adding them more and more till they become elders.
My sims only cook from ingredients they have.
My sims brush their teeth every day.
My sims have to pay for medical insurance (350 simoleons regular, 450 for high-quality and 250 for low-quality) every week. They also can choose to pay for car insurance (100 per week) if they want to. If not... there are slight chances of accidents happening.
My sims have the option to enroll their kids into a private school which cost 70k simoleons. That's a lot of money, but the kids skills increase much quicker ;)

Those are just the basics but there's so much more! :)
illustratedbliss
New Spectator
5 years ago
Thank you to everyone for sharing! I keep notes for gameplay ideas and with this thread it has gotten a lot bigger, I'm so thrilled :smiley: I know this is so useful for many of us.

"Koteyka;c-17514966" wrote:

I downloaded a 3-week season length mod so now my sims have all of the months. One week equals one month.

@Koteyka The 3-week season mod is the one from LittleMsSam right? Does it usually break with patches/new packs? I really want to do this, but it's such a hassle to rearrange all the holidays. I fear that everytime something new comes out I'd have to wait for that mod to get updated before I can play, and I don't have that kind of patience haha.
GalacticGal
Seasoned Ace
5 years ago
I use mods. Slice of Life, Meaningful Stories, MCCC, Road to Fame, Showtime, 3-week seasons, Private Practice, so that my uni-grad has a more realistic road to becoming a physician. He's currently a Chief Resident. (Yes, some people do become nurses first and then switch to MED School to become doctors, but you don't go up that ladder and suddenly you're a General Practitioner.) :open_mouth: I have my Sims do laundry, and I even have them check pockets beforehand. Woe to the person in RL who fails to do such and they have a child or children. I once did the wash only to discover (in taking the clothing out of the DRYER) that somebody had a crayon in their pocket. What a mess. With Private Practice I can use a trait that costs nothing, to either make my Sim prone to high or low blood pressure. I chose low for my Rock Star just to see what happens. Then I did an Internet search and so far, since his 'condition' has progressed, it's spot on. This mod will also select a personality trait for your Sim, or you have the ability to select one yourself. This personality will alter how your Sim behaves. I like that.

I discovered that I could throw a House Party and make it a Bridal Shower by simply placing tables with a stack of gifts on them. I also threw a Rehearsal Dinner using the same House Party Function, also non-goal. Usually my Sims have to woohoo to have a baby. As opposed to using MCCC to start a pregnancy. My Sims went through uni in three Sim weeks taking three classes apiece. This was five Sims, four siblings and a romantic-interest, that lived in the same dorm and that was a handful, but we (I included myself, because it was hard work) made it and they all managed to graduate with honors. (Pats Self on back.)

Basically, that's the extend of my realistic style.
The_Real_Koteyk
5 years ago
@illustratedhappiness yep, it's LittleMsSams and as far as I'm aware it can only break if the calendar gets an update since it's tied to it :) Haven't broke for me even once!

@eddycocaine I'm desperately trying to make my explanation to make sense but I think I'm failing :sweat_smile:
The first step was to figure out how far apart would all of sims worlds be by tying them to existing cities (for example I imagine San Myshuno to be New York, Brindlenton Bay to be New England, etc). Then I googled how many miles are those real life cities apart, created a route, checked out the standard amount of miles a plane flies per hour. Starting from the farthest, Windenburg, and ending with Sulani. Then I created an airport with a very horrible imitation of a plane, basically a rectangle box with windows and couches. Now whenever my sims have to visit a different town, they have to buy rather expensive tickets and spend at the airport as many hours as required to get to their destination.
Hope that made sense, sorry lol :D
vatoresim
5 years ago
@Koteyka Wow, that is so in-depth, I kinda love it. Do you also have sims stay in “hotels” when they travel like that?
The_Real_Koteyk
5 years ago
@eddycocaine oh yes, I've created hotels but I have yet to use them because my sims are such hermits and barely travel anywhere! It's almost funny at this point, I've created this huge system and I've only used it three-four times throughout the entire time I've been playing with this save (nearly a year now).
Forgot to mention, I also have cruise ships (downloaded a few amazing one's from the gallery and added the Quake Zone trait to imitate wave rocking) that work the same way except they take longer to get to their destination and there's more fun things to do on them :)
NationalPokedex
5 years ago
@Koteyka So did you edit every world to have an airport to create the illusion of connecting them? Do the flights only go to the destination worlds? If they go to the residential worlds, did you edit the worlds to have tourist destinations?
The_Real_Koteyk
5 years ago
@NationalPokedex yep, each world has it's own slightly edited airport which I temporarily place only when I need it! :) And no, not just destination worlds, flights go to every world. If I need to, I add hotels, tourist streets, stuff like that. For example, I sent my sims on a cruise to Oasis Springs where they lived in a fancy hotel, went to Disneyland and spent a ton of money on souvenirs and restaurants! Very fun stuff :smiley:
They mostly only leave the world they live in (Sulani) if they have to move or visit friends now. They're broke so not much tourism going around, lol.
NationalPokedex
5 years ago
Sounds pretty cool! How do you simulate the idea of a cruise? Also what kind of prices are flights and hotel stays? @Koteyka
disketti
5 years ago
> @Koteyka said:
> Awesome ideas! I've got a lot of realism going on in my game :) Here are some of my favourite things to do:
> * I downloaded a 3-week season length mod so now my sims have all of the months. One week equals one month.
> * My sims age up only once a year on the very exact day they were born. Takes quite a long time to get there but sometimes I skip through some weeks if nothing interesting is going on in the story!
> * Every week I add a crack, scratch, hole or mold (from vampires GP) to the house. My sims can either cover it up with something like photos or a dresser, either spend some money to redo the walls.
> * If my sims live in a town, they only live in that town. To travel between towns they have to get plane tickets and spend a few hours getting to their destination!
> * My sims have to pay for taking the bus or the taxi every time they go somewhere outside of their neighbourhood. if they own a car they have to spent 150 simoleons per week for gas.
> * Every 12 days my sim's hair grows. They can either choose to keep it that way, either go to a barber to cut it (which also costs money).
> * Every 12 days I change my sim's everyday outfits, every year I completely redo their wardrobe.
> * downloaded a lot of wrinkles cc and when my sims turn into an adult I gradually start adding them more and more till they become elders.
> * My sims only cook from ingredients they have.
> * My sims brush their teeth every day.
> * My sims have to pay for medical insurance (350 simoleons regular, 450 for high-quality and 250 for low-quality) every week. They also can choose to pay for car insurance (100 per week) if they want to. If not... there are slight chances of accidents happening.
> * My sims have the option to enroll their kids into a private school which cost 70k simoleons. That's a lot of money, but the kids skills increase much quicker ;)
>
>
> Those are just the basics but there's so much more! :)

Great ideas thank you!