Since the old thread has multiple broken links and things are different here. I decided to create a 2.0 version of the old thread I created.
I thought I would create this thread as a variant of the “What happened in Your Game Today?” thread.
Serial and non-serial updates are welcome. Any mermadic discoveries in the Sims are more than welcome, including discoveries while using mods. Let's give our MerSims the spotlight here!
This is definitely a challenge. I won't lie. The build I'm developing has 4 basement floors, 7 or 8 homes to develop and things to do at the surface. The lot is also a 50x50 lot. I don't think I could do this if I wasn't spacing it out by 1 hour a day.
I really had to turn to mods for the underwater simulation. The CC from Serinion, SpinningPlumbob, and the T.O.O.L by twisted Mexi have been absolutely critical for these things.
Serinion Castaway and Merfolk CC has been extremely useful, and of course the Spinning Plumbob Sea-cenery Stuff Pack has been critical for having the fish swim around. None of this would be possible without the Expanded Mermaid Mod.
There's also a quality of life mod I use from Peridot Sims that keeps the fish from decaying over time. So, my sims do not get negative moodlets from the fish.
The link is to a Fish Quality Mod that has proven to be super critical to my gameplay. The Sea-cenery Stuff from Spinning Plumbob that allows fish to swim around are subject to the same problems that fish tanks suffer. This mod essentially fixes that.
The screenshot of the Zalrian Pod is very great! 🙂It is creatively great the way you have captured them all together in the photo. It is sweet that Alex is using a dinglehopper for his hair. The room that you have created with underwater items that you can use for your build will be helpful for you. It was a great idea to store them in a saved room that you can always easily use from now on.
The industrial smog just works so well with Mua Pel’Am because it has different stages and appearances.
There are not many worlds that can benefit from an eco footprint but Sulani, in particular, Mua Pel’Am, does because the island has different appearances that align with the changing eco footprint. I think St. Taz and Ohan’Ali town could also benefit from the green eco footprint because of the sun rays and aura. It really does make a noticeable difference.
Yeah, getting those rocks moved and scaling them was a bit tricky. The T.O.O.L by TwistedMexi is normally used with poses, but it works with objects in world too.
Apologies for missing an update, I got really tired by the end of the night and fell asleep before I could share what I did that day. My update for yesterday wasn't super crazy though so not a lot was missed.
Update for 04/29:
For 04/29 I mostly added decorations and etc to a bunch of different rooms. Nothing was super focused.
Alex's Grotto
For Alex's Grotto, I added some extra coral, shelve displays, and crystals.
The Twins' Grotto
Similar to Alex's Grotto, I added crystals the grotto for the twins. This crystal is actually hiding a nightlight.
The other parts of the grotto were just more crystals, seaweed, and coral being added.
I also gave the twins CC toy shells. I figured the merlings wouldn't have the same toys as humans on land and these cc toys can be played with by child merfolk.
The Dining Grotto
The main living grotto set up as a mermadic kitchen, dining room, and living room. While I added corals, seaweed, and decor, I made a more focused effort to develop this grotto.
Arihi's Grotto
I made some progress establishing another grotto for a more focused purpose. This grotto will be Arihi's Study for Sea Sorcery. She is a pretensioner of Light Sea Sorcery and doesn't dabble in the taboo dark arts. Her magic comes with a price, but it is often temporary, especially the spells that allow merfolk to leave the sea.
The other WIP grottos. These grottos haven't been focused for a specific purpose yet.
I also got most of the "Seaweed" doors done for the grotto. I like how it looks and how it separates one grotto from the next.
As for the room with underwater objects, I added more stuff to that room to make things more accessible. The room jumped in value after that. It's worth about 150,000 simoleans. Almost enough for the Mansion Baron aspiration that requires a max of 200,000 simoleons.
Cause of the overflow of extra stuff, I also added some things to the area around the shipwreck.
My progress was much more focused for this update. I figured it will get easier if I just finish one grotto before moving on. However, I did add some things to a couple other grottos.
The Dining Grotto
I decided that I wanted to finish the grotto my Zalrian pod will prepare food in and eat together at. So, most of my progress was focused here. I refined the placement of some items while adding things that were missing. Most of the decor I'm using comes from Island Living, My Wedding Stories, Cats and Dogs, Jungle Adventure, Realm of Magic, and Snowy Escape. A few items sprinkled in come from Cottage Living, Crystal Creations, and Journey to Batuu. Interestingly, the build items from Cats and Dogs actually has a substantial amount of nautical themed items. The CC is all from Spinning Plumbob's Sea-cenery stuff pack and Serinion's Castaway and Mermadic CC.
Alex's Grotto
I started to work on a theme for Alex's Grotto. Alex's character will follow a similar theme to the Little Mermaid. He's a merboy that has an interest in the human world and develops a crush on a human girl he can't be with as he is. Not everything follows the same theme as the little mermaid for his story, but that's generally the theme I have for him.
For his grotto, I decided to start decorating it with more things that might've come from shipwrecks and other things that brought stuff from the human world into the merfolk world.
I'm using more "Organic" and "Natural" items for my merfolk. Hence all the stuff constructed from wood, coral, seaweed, bamboo, and etc. Wood recovered from shipwrecks and stuff that drifts into the sea is still decent building material, even for merfolk. However, most of my merfolk aren't exactly surrounding themselves with "Human" stuff. I wanted Alex's grotto to reflect his interest in the human world.
Arihi's Grotto
I got a bit more added to Arihi's Grotto, the items I was using for the kitchen space of the Dining Grotto, also works well with a study that would be dedicated to the practice of sea sorcery and the brewing of sea witch potions. I found some of the best Lunar charts from Crystal Creations and the relationship between the Moon, Merfolk, Sea Witches, and the Ocean is extremely important. I felt it would make sense to have more charts regarding the state of the moon here. Alex also has a chart to remind him of the Lunar Cycle because he can suffer from Moonspells. When Alex loses control of his power, it's Ice and Water Magic that acts up. For Arihi, it's Water Magic.
The Twins' Grotto
I did add a few things to this grotto that I felt it needed. I added lights to where it was dark and etc. I'm not sure about the family portrait yet.
The Central Grotto
I decided to give another grotto a purpose. One of the larger grottos and in a central spot of the Zalrian Grotto was perfect for a "living room/study". I left some of the space open for dancing. other spots are for skill development and etc. To keep the merfolk theme stronger, I may get rid of the painting easel. Many of the things I got used to using in my land builds are being cut out and I hope this forces me to have my merfolk leave their grotto and see more of the ocean outside since the ocean outside will offer more to do. I'm considering the possibility of still doing something with the wellness skill.
The Shipwreck
I changed some things around the shipwreck to give my merlings something more to do though. A kinda underwater playground outside the shipwreck. I also added a lone whale in the deeper caves below the shipwreck.
I'm currently debating between trying to make the outside look outside or make the Shipwreck stuck inside a larger underwater cave. The thing that makes this build look different with the time of the day has been patched. The appearance still changes; however, the change is less extreme now. The ceiling above is actually blocking out more light. It's extremely subtle, but I could instantly tell things looked darker. The area still changes with the time of day though. I suspect that they are still looking at things to find a solution to the weather indoors. Hard to say how much this little thing made a difference though.
Still, I can definitely tell that things from a month ago do not look the same after the recent update. So, one can hope they are narrowing things down.
The furnishing of each grotto is looking lovely 🙂The coral, crystals and seaweed look great and very nice wall shelving and decor. The design of the kitchen, dining and living grotto is very nice and a great place for them to enjoy preparing and eating meals, as well as using the computer, reading and playing chess.
Finally, I think I finished the set up for my sims in game to begin the gameplay for my story. The builds are taking a lot out of me, so I'm kinda happy I dialed things back with the simlit chapters. If I can share multiple chapters this month, I will, but it's no longer a thing I'm going to stick to firmly. The builds and updates about the builds have already proven to be A LOT.
Anyways, here's the home I created in the open world for my merfolk while they aren't living in their grotto. Everything I placed here has been tested and is functional with minimal bugs. If things glitch with this, it is because what I did here isn't supposed to be a thing. So, I won't be upset about anything odd that happens.
I do not plan on using the T.O.O.L to add much to the open world. I will likely use it for a couple things in the future but certainly not to the same extent as what I did here because it does take a great deal of time to do.
