The Festivals are boring

"maggiemae8135;c-17948735" wrote:
I agree that the festival is very disappointing. The local fairs in early fall where I live are filled with activities and food trucks of every kind. I love exploring the buildings where a variety of items are displayed with their ribbons, plants of all kings, flower arrangements, handcrafted items including knitted and cross-stitch, and so many more. And of course many different animals and demonstrations like shearing of wool.Bands play and you can watch them or just enjoy the music as you browse the fair. I don't expect all of that in Sims but having picnic tables, food stalls, horseshoes and something for kids to do while waiting would be nice. I haven't had my sims enter anything as yet, waiting til have children in scouts to enter things (or make a 4H type club). I love the Sims 3 festivals and in Sims 3 my families always attend and participate in everything! That was fun! Is there a way to add anything to the festival area, a cheat maybe? I know it isn't an actual lot. Would be nice to be able to at least put in a few items to give people more to do.

You could try to use TwistedMexi's TOOL mod to place a few objects around a world. I have used it in a limited way in a few worlds and it works great. You have to be careful, though, to place any objects only in spots where nothing is likely to spawn, (so in Cottage Living nowhere on the Festival Green in the centre of town). I have used to TOOL mod successfully in various neighbourhoods to place extra easels where I wanted to capture particular views, extra garbage cans, a barbecue near some picnic tables where there was nothing to eat (!), extra benches, a portable bar, a couple of toilet bushes where there was nothing nearby when my sim would go foraging and get quite desperate, a chess table, and a couple of kids' playground objects that wouldn't fit on my small lots.

My usual rule is to observe a likely spot for awhile during normal gameplay to make sure nothing spawns there (like the Seasons food stall or the ice rink), and if it is clear, I will put down whatever I need there. I've been very happy with the results of putting down the jungle gym and swings -- it does really create a mini playground and attracts the local kids and townie NPC kids to come and play, allowing my sim's kids to meet and play naturally with other children fairly often. Ditto the chess table: unplayed sims actually autonomously sit down, play chess and chat with each other. I might try the Observatory at some point (it's just so darn big to place on a tiny lot) if I can find the right spot.

As for Cottage Living, the TOOL mod could work great for some things. Iron Seagull actually already did a tutorial on how to use the mod to place the rabbit and bird tree stumps in Brindleton Bay and other neighborhoods to improve realism and make them more lifelike. I should explain that so far I have been playing in Finchwick and have only used the fair from my sim's home base, which means I can't access the pub and makes the fair even less lively with no music or food sources. So I definitely thought the mod could help me there.

In Finchwick, I've used the TOOL mod so far to place an easel in town, a guitar near the edge of the Festival green (to my delight, a random sim autonomously picked it up and started using it during a festival, adding some much needed music), a few extra benches and garbage cans etc.

But I can't really think of how to use it to improve the festivals, since I am constrained by not being able to place anything where the fair takes place. There is already a barbecue and picnic tables next to the space, so that means there's nowhere to place a food source that is handy. The guitar I placed near the extreme edge of the fair green, on the pavement's edge, and a few nearby sims seemed to notice it being played by an NPC. However, it was pretty far away from the main action of the crop and pie displays and so most of the sims (who were as usual gathered in a clump talking in front of the displays) didn't notice it. Maybe I need to move the guitar closer to the main action. Anyway, if there is a solution to making the fair a bit more more lively while not playing the pub, I am sure TOOL mod will be part of it.