New to Sims 3...

[Cast_Supremacist]

Hey Folks!,

Finally have a proper laptop instead of a netbook, capable of running Sims 3! :beer:

I suppose you could say I'm relatively new to the Sims, the last game I played was Sims 2 on the PS2..

I bought the base game, Ambitions and Late Night, they're in the post (and apparently, you can't post on the official forums until you register your game, even if you have an origin account already) and I have a few questions. (I've read the FAQ, but I apologise to anyone here if my answers are maddenigly obvious)

I've downloaded some lovely Sims here, and the cc needed to make them look all nice and shiny, (no problems with installing mods, a dab hand at it from Spore ;) ) and I was wondering about multiple custom Sims in a town. Is there a way to play as one Sim, and populate the town with NPC CC Sims that I choose? In other words, I want to have some interesting Sims as neighbours, but I'm not sure if I have to play as them to get the ones I want in the town. I've heard about the Simbin, but I wasn't sure if it was like 'pollinated content' from Spore and just takes a random selection of your assets when loading a town. (I'm not sure if a world is like story mode in Sims 2 where you can't edit the town, or more like freeplay)

Secondly, if I download a Sim from another creator, can I tweak them in the CAS (specifially traits) without having to get the 'Midlife Crisis' reward?

Is it possible to move NPC's from one town to another? I've been reading up and there are some NPC's in Riverview that I'd like in Bridgeport.

Lastly, I fancy being an Inventor the first time. I know junkyards are introduced in Ambitions, can I put one, or is there one, in Bridgeport, which is where I plan on starting!

Thanks in advance for your patience!

[Belzader]

Having the game on Orgin and be able to use the official forum is two diffrent things, so yes you need to register your game/s there to be able to post.

Yes, you can populate a town with own made sims, just make them and in edit town just put them where you want and game will control them.

The gamebin is where all your stuff is saved when clicking on save to bin, which then answer the question about having sims/lots from other towns/worlds, since that is persitent trough all and no the game don't use that when starting a new town/world, though it can use already made sims when loading service npc sims

To being able to edit traits on already made sims you'll need to have testingcheats on to being able to edit, or have a mod that will let you edit them, like Nraas MasterController.

Not sure if there is a junkyard in Bridgeport, i think you need to place one your self, there is a lot is in the gamebin you can place.

From own experinece i have to warn you though about using d/l'ed sims, sadly many have badly made stuff which will corrupt things for you, like i have babies/toddlers using adult stuff since the creator of the clothes didn't make sure it was set for the proper age group.

[eskie227]

First, while in Edit Town, you can place as many sims/sim families as you want to from your sim bin into vacant housing and only need to play with whatever sim you choose. Those "non-active" sims you placed will go about on their own with the following limitation. If you stay with EA's Story Progression, those sims really won't do much. They might get jobs, be seen out and about, but will not do great at learning any useful skills, and will be slow at developing relationships. You can certainly interact with the attractive, custom sims through your active sim, but the "inactives" will still not advance as your active sim will.

You can replace the EA story progression system with 2 that are out there. One comes from Pescado and is part of his Awesomemod core mod. It is very proactive at assuring your inactive sims actually DO something. However, it is a core mod, and it is processor intensive. The second is Twallan's Story Progression. It is a script mod, not a core mod, and can be extensively customized across all areas of "simlife". It too has a drawback, it is more processor intensive than the stock EA progression.

I keep mentioning processing overhead because you're running on a laptop. I'm sure it's a great laptop, but laptops, no matter how great, are restricted in their processing/graphics performance just because of the use of energy efficient CPUs, and even the discrete mobile GPU solutions out there are toned down from what a desktop can deliver (power consumption and heat dissipation are things you just have to balance off in a laptop in a manner desktops don't have to face. You can try either Awesomemod or Twallan's SP and see which one you like best for gameplay, and game performance.

One other point to make is that if you use either Awesome or Twallan's Master Controller (highly recommended, as in you REALLY should have it to play) you can kill off the town population, place as many sim families as you want, and allow Twallan or Pescado's mods can repopulate using your sim bin as genetic material to repopulate the rest of the town.

Your second question is easy. Yes, you can edit them any way you want to in CAS. Be aware, however, if you edit the face of a custom sim, you should have all the custom sliders, and slider multiplier, installed that the original creator used. Otherwise if you start to change features (not talking about traits, you can do whatever you want to with those, or clothing, for that matter) the facial structure will "snap back", or distort, from the appearance the creator intended.

If you save a family from any town to the sim bin, you can place them in any new game/world you wish.

Finally, most EA towns since Ambitions come with a junkyard, which BP does. You can also always place a generic junkyard wherever you wish using the one EA provides in the community lot bin.

Have fun!