Lot Events

Version 2 is now available!
http://zerbu.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/lot-events-version-v2.html

Make your world more active and exciting with the new Lot Events mod, currently in development. Lot Events makes use of the "Event Lot Marker" included in the University Life patch to allow for changing lots.

Download Lot Events 1.4

To set the mod up, go into build/buy mode on the lot you want to add an event to, go into BuyDebug and find the object "EventLotMarker DO NOT TRANSLATE" and place it onto the lot. It works just like the Seasonal Lot Marker, where you can allow for different versions of a lot.

After you've done that, click the lot in Live Mode, then select "Zerbu" then "Lot Events" then you'll be given options for when you want the event to occur, what conditions are required to unlock it, what message will be displayed, etc...

Important

• You must have an EventLotMarker on the lot, otherwise nothing will happen.
• The features that involve selecting specific Sims (relationship unlock requirements and push to lot settings) are not very suitable for generational gameplay and best used with aging off, or at least with a mod that uses TS2-style aging or disables aging for specific Sims.
• To enable an event, you must set the percent chance of it occurring. Set this to 100% if you want the event to always occur. The default is 0%, which means there is no event.
• The conditions for event 1 will be checked first, so if the conditions of two events clash with each other, event 1 will be chosen (note: the "Chance" conditions still applies, so if event 1 fails that, event 2 will be selected, or if event 2 fails it as well, no event will be selected).
• "Orientation Layout" is for event 1, "Layout Two" is for event 2. "Orientation Layout" is just a name since the EventLotMarker was only intended for use with them meet and greet (before I changed that with this mod :P) so you can ignore it and pretend it says "Layout One".

Change Log

• 1.4
• Added code for crossover with Ultimate Careers.
• Added option to automatically reset the countdown of an event to 0, in order to end it early.
• 1.3
• NEW FEATURE: Events can now be set to auto-trigger when a Seasons holiday starts. All other requirements will be ignored, including chance. The length of the event is still the same as the chosen length.
• The default length is now 12 instead of 2. This change will not be automatically reflected onto lots in existing save games where the settings have already been instantiated, you'll need to change it manually.
• 1.2.2 - An event no longer requires event started text to trigger - this was a mistake.
• 1.2.1 - Potential fix for an issue where the lot layout will not update if you specify a HUGE amount of manual Sims to push to the lot.
• 1.2
• The dialog for entering the text for an event will no longer show raw strings.
• "Erase Text" has been fixed to point to the correct interaction.
• NEW: The notification for an event will now show the icon for the lot type instead of the lightbulb.
• 1.1.2 - I had accidentally set the 1.1.1 update to only work with one event, oops!
• 1.1.1 - The "Relationship" requirement will now require you to get to the chosen relationship level with all chosen Sims, as was originally intended.
• 1.1.0 - Added "Erase Text" option to get rid of event start/end text if you decide you don't want it anymore.

Translations

The STBL strings are available for anyone who wants to translate the mod into other languages. If you want the translation to be included in the download, post your translations (of everything between the and tags) in the comments, and it might get added as an official translation. http://zerbu.blogspot.co.uk/p/lot-events-stbl-strings_2.html

Lot Events Announcement

Make your world more active and exciting with the new Lot Events mod, currently in development. Lot Events makes use of the "Event Lot Marker" included in the University Life patch to allow for changing lots.

• Have special events held at your lots - set up an event lot marker and choose a time, day of the week and season for the event to trigger, as well as a percent chance that the event will trigger.
• Get back the experience of The Sims 2 FreeTime by creating an empty lot and having it populate with objects based on the skill levels of Sims in the active household.
• Make technology advance over time by creating an event that triggers a certain number of weeks into the game.
• Create your own exclusive club that is only populated with objects if a Sim in the active household is able to befriend a set group of Sims (note: best with aging disabled).
• Set up your events to spawn a chosen number of random Sims, or even choose specific Sims to spawn to the lot.

Ultimate Careers (V4)

Due to the impending release of The Sims 4, this mod will likely not be updated past this point.


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The end of career rabbitholes is here! With Ultimate Careers, instead of going into a rabbithole to work, Sims will spend the work day at a community lot, doing work-related interactions - or slacking off. The mod scans the Sim's interaction queue, and increases performance depending on which interactions are being used.

Download Ultimate Careers 4.3.3

• Compatible Objects
• Tuning Packages (for changing difficulty and other settings)

A detailed tutorial on how to set up the mod is available over at NRaas Wiki: http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Zerbu%27s+Ultimate+Careers+Mod

• However, please note the following mistake: the correct way to assign Sims to a lot is using "Add Career or School" - "Assign Manual Sims" is for assigning individual Sims to a lot different from their usual one, and is intended for storytelling purposes.

Translations

• Brazilian Portuguese translation by Arthur360.
• Spanish translation by Marco CP

Compatible Objects

A list of objects compatible with each career is available here: http://zerbu.blogspot.co.uk/p/ultimate-careers-v3.html

Bugs

If you encounter any bugs, please report them.

You can report a bug in the comments. Please also state what other mods are using, and what career(s) you're trying to enable.

Please read below before reporting, as your bug may already be explained.

Technical Restrictions

Some features are restricted due to technical reasons.

• Sims will not be recognized by the game as "at work". Instead, they will be given a fake "unpaid day off" about two hours before the work day starts.
• The carpool will not function on open careers because it's attached directly to the EA default "go to work" interaction, which takes Sims to the rabbithole.
• I had to use a cheap workaround to handle inviting Sims currently at work to lots. The Sim may accept the invitation, but you will then be given a notification that the Sim can't make it, after you've invited them. This was the only way around the issue.
• The "Go to Work" button in the UI will no longer function.

Expansion Pack Requirements

Although the mod should work with only the base game, you may need expansion packs (especially University Life, which has the most objects used by the mod) to get the full experience.

Compatibility with Other Mods

• Ultimate Careers has been tested with NRaas StoryProgression and seems to work correctly. Please note that you'll probably get a lot more co-workers than usual if you use NRaas StoryProgression. There does seem to be a rare glitch where Sims will be pushed to leave the career lot, but they'll immediately be pushed back and their autonomy won't be effected afterwards, so it's a non-severe issue.
• Cherry92's Cancel Time Off mod should work, as long as you don't use it to cancel the fake day off the mod assigns Sims before they go to work (I see no reason why you'd WANT to do this in the first place unless you were deliberately trying to see what happens).
• Ultimate Careers version 2 replaces the "Work from Home" interaction with a custom version that is disabled during work hours, and will conflict with other mods that edit the interaction.
• If used with NRaas Dresser, Sims may end up randomly switching out of their career outfits. Inactive Sims will switch back, but the constant changes may be annoying. There doesn't seem to be any way to fix this.

Opportunities

Opportunities are not included in the mod, due to the complicated amount of code needed to properly mark them as achieved.

Lifetime Rewards

The mod is compatible with the work-related lifetime rewards.

• Office Hero - Gives Sims a +20 moodlet, which also increases all social skills, while at work.
• Vacationer - If a Sim has this lifetime reward, their career performance will not decrease when they're not on the career lot.
• Entrepreneurial Mindset - Performance increase from work interactions will be higher than usual.
• MultiTasker - Performance increase from work interactions will be higher than usual, though not as much as Entrepreneurial Mindset (there are, however, core features of the lifetime reward that aren't related to the mod).
• Professional Slacker - Performance will not decrease when not using work interactions. However, it will still decrease when off the lot.

Traveling

Previously, if a Sim travelled during a work day, the work day will automatically end. Since version 4, the method for ending work days has changed so that it will automatically end whenever it's not the valid work hours (as opposed to ending at an exact time) so it should be safe to travel even while the work day is still going. I wouldn't recommend doing that, but it's up to you.

Career Outfits

By default, inactive Sims will automatically switch into career outfits, but it will be optional for active Sims. This can be changed in the tuning file.

Time Off

Time off work - both paid and unpaid - will function normally. However, if you want unpaid time off, you must request it before the work day activates two hours before the work hours begin. Holidays from Seasons will also function correctly.

Help Spread the Word

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Social Rush

Want your groups and dates in The Sims 3 to be more exciting? Social Rush upgrades the system for handling groups and dates in The Sims 3 with a new level-based mini-game where you are required to build relationships and keep all the other Sims in a certain mood.

When you meet all the requirements, the group or date will go up a rank, and will be faced with even tougher requirements. Also, all positive moodlets (with the exception of a few "first time" only moodlets) from inactive Sims will be removed each time a new level is reached, making it harder. Similar to the ranking system in The Sims 2, there is a time limit, which will be increased each time you go up a level (by one hour if there is only one Sim other than the leader, or two if there is more than one Sim). If you get to level 5 or above, it will be marked as a good group/date, otherwise it will be a neutral one.

NOTE: On level 1, Sims can still leave the group or date through motive failure or some other reason. Once you reach level 2, Sims will not leave the group until time runs out, you ask them to, or they have to leave for work.

Additionally, the mod comes with a new feature called Household Rush. Similar to the university rush in The Sims 2, one of your Sims will be required to reach a certain relationship with all Sims in a household (note: Child or below Sims are excluded) and if successful, will receive an offer to join the household which will result in the leader's household being moved to the other household's lot, and all the members of the other household will become roommates. And yes - this works in the university world.

You can check the requirements at any time during a Rush challenge by clicking on the terrain then selecting "Rush Challenge Requirements".

Download Social Rush 1.1.2

Please remember that this is the first version of the mod, so take caution when using and be sure to back up your saves. If you spot any bugs, please report them as soon as you can.

Change Log

• 1.1.2
• Fixed a bug where the notification would display "Casual Rush" when playing a Date Rush challenge where both Sims were in the active household.
• 1.1.1
• The amount of lifetime happiness gained from completing the challenge has increased.
• 1.1.0
• Household Rush groups can no longer end for reasons other than the timer running out, or a member needing to go to work.
• A Household Rush challenge will no longer be immediately cancelled if it contains a member with the "Loner" trait and more than four Sims.
• 1.0.2 - Fixed bug where the list of targets for Casual/Date Rush challenges was defined as null, instead of list, causing the game to write an error log if you save and quit before the first rush challenge of the saved game occurs. If you have a current saved game that was saved after the mod was installed, but no Casual or Date Rush challenges have started yet, please either start one first then save, or uninstall the mod then save, before upgrading to the fixed 1.0.2 version, as it will break the mod in saved games that are already effected.
• 1.0.1 - Fixed bug causing there to be two alarms, which causes the challenge timer to go down at twice the speed, and causes performance issues similar to those caused by the Tree of Prosperity "Sims in Slow Motion" bug.

Translations

The STBL strings are available for anyone who wants to translate the mod into other languages. If you want the translation to be included in the download, post your translations (of everything between the and tags) in the comments, and it might get added as an official translation. http://zerbu.blogspot.co.uk/p/social-rush-stbl-strings.html

Social Rush Mod (Replacement of Household Rush)

I've made some huge changes to the plans for the Household Rush mod, and it has expanded and renamed to Social Rush. The mod creates a challenge known as the "Rush Challenge" with several different types.

Casual Rush

The goal of this Rush challenge is basically to entertain a group of Sims. There are two main goals, which are to keep their mood up at a certain value (which can be done by performing interactions that will give them positive moodlets) and to get to a certain level with them. Moodlets for inactive Sims will be automatically reset, so you can't get them into a good mood before the Rush challenge starts. A Sim's traits play a part in how good a mood they need to be in, and how much relationship you need to gain with them. You will be given two hours to complete the goal. Once you complete them, you will be given extra time and the new set of goals will be harder.

Date Rush

This is the same as Casual Rush, except it can only have one Sim, and goals will be based on romantic activities.

Household Rush

The one I originally created this mod for. Like Casual and Date Rush, you will be required to keep the Sims in a good mood and get to a certain relationship with them. When you complete the goals, you will receive an offer to join the household. If you accept, you will be moved into the household's lot and all the other household members will become roommates. If you reject, the challenge will end.

First Impression Rush

This Rush challenge starts when you meet a new Sim. The goal is to get to a certain relationship point within 30 sim-minutes. Depending on how successful you are, you may get an automatic relationship boost, or relationship decrease with the Sim.

Household Rush Announcement

In The Sims 2 University, when attempting to join a Greek house, Sims from that household will then come over to your home lot and the game will initiate what some call the rush mini-game. In order to be accepted, you will need to build your relationship with all the members within five hours, otherwise you will be rejected.

Household Rush is a brand new mod in the making that brings this functionality into The Sims 3. It's designed mainly for university, but works for joining households in the home world too. It can be used to join a fraternity/sorority houses as well as normal households.

The mod does basically the same thing that's included as a feature in The Sims 2. When you successfully complete the challenge, you will be moved into the household's lot and all the household members will become roommates.

Due to limitations of the system, the entire playable household will be moved, though only one Sim has to complete the challenge.

How To Install The Sims 2 Expansions on Windows 8 - No Additional Computer Required

Users trying to install The Sims 2 on Windows 8 will often get the dreaded "TS2UPD.exe has stopped working" error during the update process when trying to install expansion packs. If you search Google, you will get information on how to bypass it, but there's a catch - it requires a second computer - and if you didn't have one, you wouldn't be able to install. Well, you're now in luck, because here's a tutorial on how to install them [i]without[/i] a secondary computer.

You will need Microsoft Visual Studio, which you can get from here - http://www.visualstudio.com/en-US/products/visual-studio-with-msdn-overview-vs

If you already know what Visual Studio is, there's a high chance you just cringed there. Don't worry, I assure you that this method doesn't require you to jump through hoops and manually alter the game code, the program just needs to be installed.

Now, try to install the expansion. When you get the "TS2UPD.exe has stopped working error", wait a few seconds for options to appear. Once the options appear, click "Debug". On the next dialog, click "No, Cancel Debugging".

The installation will then skip past the error then install correctly.

The Sims 3 Building - Vanach Amusement Park - Part 1: Reception

The Sims 3: Roaring Heights Review

Welcome to a city where bold shapes, rich colors, and lavish looks rule the skyline! The residents of Roaring Heights are living in the fast lane in this booming place filled with striking skyscrapers and bustling beaches. Whether you’re content to hang out on the piers, work your way to the top, or host glamorous parties at home, there’s a place for every lifestyle. With endless opportunities at your front door, which new life will you choose in Roaring Heights?

Appearance: 10/10

Roaring Heights has a spectacular look that is eye-pleasing in every area. It uses great textures, which blend together very well - even the dirt texture is applied in an appropriate way that only makes the world look better rather than worse. I really like how the city area looks from close up, and the beach looks like a good mixture of being a place where bustling activity takes place, and a relaxation spot.

Lots: 20/10

Can you believe this is not a rabbithole?

The area where the world really shines is in the pre-made lots. I can honestly say that the lots in Roaring Heights are some of the best I've ever seen in The Sims 3. They have an extensive amount of detail put into them, are amazing places to send your Sims, and a huge inspiration for builders. My personal favourite is the Luminous Bar venue, shown in the screenshot above. I thought it was a rabbithole at first, and was actually surprised when I clicked it and found it was a real lot!

Huge congratulations to the gurus who created the lots, you are amazing!

CAS Content: 6/10

I'm not a huge fan of the CAS content, it's just not my style. However, if you're a fan of 20s-style content, you might be interested in the CAS content.

Build/Buy Content: 10/10

Roaring Heights comes with great new build and buy content. My favourite objects are the curved windows, which are the closest we've ever got to curved walls! I also really like the fancy new wall and floor content - all the more variety to choose from.

Premium Content: 9/10

The Fixer-upper car is a great choice of premium content. Not only does it provide the much-missed car interactions, but the radio feature makes going to community lots more fun. I've checked, and yes, it can hold more than two Sims, though you'll only be able to see two of them.

NOTE: If you can't be bothered to wait the length of a Sim day to fix up the car, you can use NRaas Debuger to fix it up quicker. To do so, click the car, select "NRaas" then "DebugEnabler" then "DEBUG_MakeNearlyFinished", and then it will only take a couple of sim-minutes to complete it.

The reason I don't give this a full 10/10 is because I believe there should be a cheat or something to get it fixed up quicker. Although I quite like the challenge of fixing it up, I might sometimes want it pre-fixed, for example when giving one to Sims I don't plan on playing. The mod works, but mods shouldn't be required to add features that should have been included in the first place.

Overall: 10/10

No matter what your play style, Roaring Heights is a world I highly recommend! It fits in well with almost every expansion pack. Even if you're not a huge fan of the 20s content, it's easy to convert into a more modern world 

without having to renovate every lot.

If you're interested, you can get Roaring Heights from the store - http://store.thesims3.com/roaringheights.html?categoryId=12642

The Gold edition contains SimPoints which can be used to buy The Boardwalk venue, which I'll probably do a separate review on.

Tuning Modifications

This post is for minor tuning modifications:

• NEW Slower Fixer-Upper Car Energy Decay - Slows down Energy decay when fixing the fixer-upper car.
• NEW Faster Fixer-Upper Car - Increases the speed of the fixer-upper car.
• Fun Changes - With this mod, the Fun need now decays all the way to the bottom instead of stopping in the middle, and doesn't regenerate when not performing interactions that increase Fun.
• No Plan Outfit - The .rar file contains two mods: One to remove the "Plan Outfit" interaction from the dresser, and one to remove the "Makeover Self" interaction from the styling station. With these mods, your only option will be to buy clothes from the Into The Future clothes pedestals.
• Expensive University - Increases the price of university to 10x the original. Don't worry, the effect of grants has also been multiplied to fit with the new price system.
• Dangerous Lightning - With this mod, lightning is much more frequent, much more likely to hit the active lot, and more likely to target Sims.
• Gardening Hygiene Decay Modifier - Slows down the speed hygiene decreases when watering, weeding or harvesting plants.
• Wish Mods (CHOOSE ONLY ONE!)
• Updated Science Wishes - Links the lifetime wish to get to level 9 in the Science career with wishes related to the Science and Logic skills, and removes connection to the Gardening and Fishing skills.
• Science Wishes (Old Version) - Links the lifetime wish to get to level 9 in the Science career with wishes related to improving the Science skill.
• Career Mods (CHOOSE ONLY ONE!)
• Updated Science Career Modifications - Modifies the Science career to use the Science skill instead of Gardening, the Logic skill instead of Fishing, and modifies the Science skill to increase at the same rate as normal skills. WARNING: This will conflict with other mods that edit Careers.xml or Skills.xml
• Science Career Modifications (Old Version) - Modifies the Science career to use the Science skill instead of Gardening, and modifies the Science skill to increase at the same rate as normal skills. WARNING: This will conflict with other mods that edit Careers.xml or Skills.xml
• No Time Portal Forced Camera Move - Disables automatic movement of the camera when the Into The Future time portal appears on the lot.
• No Mascot Forced Camera Move - Disables automatic movement of the camera when the University Life mascot comes to the lot.

If any of these mods don't work properly, it's possible it may be conflicting with another mod you have installed.

Ultimate Careers (V3)

Version 4 is now available!
http://zerbu.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/ultimate-careers-v4.html

Download Ultimate Careers (Version 3.5.0) (Outdated)

• Compatible Objects
• Tuning Packages (for changing difficulty and other settings)

Translations

Full Translation:

• Polish - translated by Bloody from www.thesimstimes.cba.pl
• Spanish - translated by Marco CP (has all strings except the new ones related to allowing work on any lot)

Ultimate Careers (V2)

Version 3 is now available!
http://zerbu.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/ultimate-careers-v3.html

Version 2 is outdated and no longer available, please use version 3 instead.

Ultimate Careers

Version 1 of Ultimate Careers has been taken down because it is too unstable, but the good news is that version 2 is now available!
http://zerbu.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/ultimate-careers-v2.html

Biography Popup Notifications

When your Sim meets another Sim, a popup notification will be displayed showing their biography. You can also view it by clicking on the Sim and clicking "Biography", or quickly edit it using "Biography: Change" or "Biography: Add".

Warnings

• In some store worlds since Sunlit Tides, you may just get the same world-related message over and over again when meeting Sims. This is not a glitch, those are the actual biographies that are assigned to Sims in store worlds.

Bugs

No known bugs, if you spot any, please notify me either on the comments for this page or on my Twitter.

Download

Download Biography Popup Notifications

No More Mascot or Time Portal Forced Camera Movement

These two mods disable the forced camera movement that occurs when the mascot visits your lot (University Life) or the time portal appears (Into The Future).

Bugs

No known bugs, if you spot any, please notify me either on the comments for this page or on my Twitter.

Download

Download Mascot Automatic Camera Disabler
Download Time Portal Automatic Camera Disabler

Notes

This mod allows you to store text "notes" from in the game. When clicking on a random area of the terrain, you get the option to view or change notes. This is useful for writing memos for yourself or noting down challenge rules.

To-Do

• Have notes be synchronized across all worlds (currently notes are per-world).
• Can the viewing dialog be made to scroll?

Bugs

No known bugs, if you spot any, please notify me either on the comments for this page or on my Twitter.

Download

Download Notes

More Buyable Lot Types

By default, the real estate restricts what lot types you are allowed to purchase. This mod changes that and makes more lot types available.

• "Visitors Allowed", Salons and Fire Stations can now be purchased. The base price and prices require to upgrade are the same as the "Hangout" type.
• Small Parks can now be purchased and are worth half as much as Big Parks. Junkyards can be purchased too and have the same values.
• Tombs and Diving Lots can be purchased, but they don't automatically bring in money.

If there's anything you think should be included but I missed, please say so.

Download

Download More Buyable Lot Types

Lifetime Powers and Curses

This mod gives you powers and curses you can use on yourself or other Sims using lifetime happiness points.

Drain Need
Causes the selected need to be reduced to nothing. If hunger is selected, it will reduce the need to nearly nothing, because reducing it to nothing will cause the Sim to die of starvation. There is a 25% chance this will backfire and effect the user instead of the target.

Auto Fulfillment
Automatically maxes out the selected need. There is a 25% chance this will backfire and reduce the need instead of maxing it out.

Donate Happiness
In exchange for 5,000 of the user's lifetime happiness points, the target will be given 2,500. This can be used on any Sim but is especially useful for giving the next generation a head start. There is a 35% chance this will backfire and remove 5,000 of the target's lifetime happiness points, so a lot of this is based on luck.

Scan Needs
Displays a notification showing another Sim's needs so you know what needs to be fulfilled. Useful if an NPC Sim is in a bad mood and you want to know why. This power will always work, it cannot fail.

 

To-Do

• Make the chance of backfiring be based on traits (thanks to SimtasticWorld for this suggestion).

Bugs

No known bugs, if you spot any, please notify me either on the comments for this page or on my Twitter.

Download

Download Lifetime Powers and Curses - Version 1