I spent the morning getting some of my Pleasantview families set up and wrote their starting stories. Sorry if this is too long. Between insomnia and being stuck in my house all the time with not a lot of work to do, I have way too much time on my hands these days. (I still haven't decided what to do with Dirk and Lilith.)
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Pleasant-Broke:
“Angela, that was a beautiful wedding. Dustin looked so handsome.”
“Yes, it was, Mom. Good thing you planned all the details.”
“I know. And your new home is so lovely. I’m so happy I could help with the mortgage.”
Angela eyed the suitcase in Mary-Sue’s hand. “Are you going on a trip?”
“No, dear. I didn’t want to mention this at the wedding, but I’ve had to put your grandparents in a retirement home. They need more care than I can give them. And it was lonely rattling around in that big old Bluewater Village house by myself.” Mary-Sue and Angela’s father, Daniel, had been divorced for years, ever since she had caught him cheating with the maid. “I happen to know this house has a big extra bedroom.”
“What are you saying, Mom?” Angela asked warily.
“I’m saying that I’m going to come live with you and Dustin! Aren’t you pleased?” Just then Dustin came out of the kitchen. Mary-Sue eyed him up and down, then winked. “Hi, handsome.”

Burb-Goth:
Lucy Burb answered the doorbell. Her eyes widened. “Mother, you’re here. And you’re…”
Jennifer breezed into the foyer. “Hello, darling. This dump isn’t where you’re living now, is it? I thought you were going to marry into that Goth money.”
“Alexander is still at university, Mother.”
“Then I’m sure you’ll be moving somewhere more suitable as soon as he graduates.”
Lucy decided now was not the time to tell her mother that Alexander had given up his inheritance. He wanted to make it on his own. “What are you doing here?”
“Darling, prepare yourself for a shock. Your father and I have separated. We just want different things from life. It’s too difficult.”
“Then whose baby?” Lucy gestured at her mother’s swollen stomach.
“Oh, it’s your father’s, of course. I guess this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. But listen, I saw this fantastic opportunity for a job in the newspaper. It’s an adventurer job, which means I would have to be traveling a lot, and I can’t really look after a baby if I’m doing that. So the baby can stay here while I’m gone, and you can look after it.”
“What about dad?”
Jennifer waved her hand impatiently. “Oh, your father is ‘finding himself.’ He’s in no condition. Plus, he has no money. I got pretty much everything in the divorce settlement. But you have Alexander and plenty of money.”
“Alexander and I were planning to have our own kids.”
“Then one more won’t hurt. And this is your little brother or sister. Of course you want to take care of it.” She patted Lucy’s cheek. “Now show me my room. I need a place to rest while I’m waiting for the baby to come.”
Lucy followed her mother, speechless. She had no idea how Alexander was going to react to this. And where was her father? She didn’t think he’d just give up his own child. This story about finding himself sounded suspicious, but she hadn’t talked to him in months, and she didn’t even think she had a current phone number for him.
Shortly after baby Jessica was born, Jennifer followed up that job opportunity and was immediately sent overseas. Lucy wondered if she would ever see her again.

Goth-Dreamer:
If there was one sorrow intruding on Darren and Cassandra’s happily married life, it was that they could not get pregnant and grow their family. Cassandra wanted a child so badly that one day she proposed to Darren that they adopt. “Adopt?” Darren asked. “Doesn’t that take a long time? What if you get pregnant in the meantime?” “Then we’ll just make room for more,” Cassandra laughed. So they went to the adoption agency, and after many months of interviews and screenings (during which time Cassandra did not get pregnant), they were told that a newborn infant had just come available. “Her mother was a maid and couldn’t support her,” the adoption agent told them. “Apparently, the father abandoned them.” She peered at the computer screen. “But there is an issue. She has an older brother, a toddler, and we don’t like to split up siblings.” Darren looked at Cassandra. “What do you think?” She smiled. “We’ll just make room for more.” And that was how Darren and Cassandra Goth-Dreamer came to adopt Kaden and Ashlyn Langerak, the half-siblings of Lilith and Angela Pleasant, of which the Pleasant family were entirely unaware.

Ottomas:
Sharla returned to tragedy in Pleasantview. Her mother, Samantha, had been killed in a car accident. Sharla had wanted to get her own little place, live on her own at last, but her dad was completely hopeless at taking care of himself or little Tommy. They needed her, so she moved back home, but this time, she would get the big bedroom. And then there was a soft knock at the door. It was David. “I thought you were living downtown and playing with that band,” Sharla said. David’s eyes got big. “Those guys were no good, Sharla. We never had any gigs. They did bubbles all the time. And I think they were selling some stuff they were growing in this hydroponic thing…” Sharla cut him off. “Come in. You can share with Tommy until you find a job.” And that’s how her dream of a peaceful post-university life in her own place became the reality of her back in the chaotic family home taking care of three guys, two of whom were certainly hopeless. But maybe little Tommy could be taken in hand, raised up right. Hmm, now she had a project.
In her free time between interviewing at law firms for a new job, Sharla wandered the streets of Pleasantview, enjoying the peace and quiet. One afternoon, she wandered past a trailer park near the business district and saw an older woman out collecting the mail. They got to chatting, and the woman invited her in for lunch. Her name was Brandi, and Sharla met her son, Bobby. She realized then that this was her friend Dustin’s mom, and when Sharla talked to her at the table, she felt an unexpected tingle. But surely she couldn’t possibly feel the same way? Then Brandi told a joke and touched her arm, and there was a definite spark between them. Sharla recognized it, but she also clamped right down on it. She couldn’t possibly get involved with her friend’s mother, a single mother with a hostess job and no money. Sharla had plans, and this just didn’t fit. She closed the gate on her heart and locked it tight. She wasn’t ready to let anyone in there just yet.

I ended up testing some new content installed in my game and also added a water pump to a starter home I built.

The Irish family had just been accepted to the Noble subhood of Elders Creek. Ken wasn't working yet, but Kellie was busy ghostwriting a novel for him, so he was holding out for the just the right job. Somehow, Kellie had neglected to mention she was a genie. Oopsie. The Kingdom's Magical Council found out. Nobles can't be imprisoned or executed (they are even immune to the purge), so the family was stripped of their title and sent to Burlow's Home, a serf slum.

Ken is not happy with Kellie. This ruins the life they had planned for their little girl.

Sim Sample, heavily pregnant from his alien encounter, was in the hot tub with Nervous Subject and Scot the repairman. Then something happened!


Sim ran into the bathroom, desperate for a pee, but promptly went into labour.


So cute cutscene!


Baby Tempest (aren't I original with names) is born, photobombed by Nervous:


Nervous and Scot aren't at all phased by witnessing a traumatic near-death lightning strike and subsequent alien birth, but they are horrified that Sim has taken his clothes off to have a shower.


Sim is more upset that he peed himself (funny, he isn't usually bothered by things like that, but electricity does strange things to the brain). Thankfully his dad arrives home to take care of the baby.


Does anyone know how to get urine out of scorched PVC?

John Burb and his new girlfriend Tiffany Sampson had their twin boys today. John is howevery already having an affair with Kaylynn Langerak, his neighbour. Would love him to make her pregnant too, a male family Sim can be so easy to keep in platinum that way :-D And moreover: the first time I played Pleasantview, Kaylynn's illegitimate child with John was cool, he was almost a copy of his biological father :-D (and her husband didn't have a clue).

Played Lilith and Dirk Dreamer, nothing shocking there. Lilith got promoted and demoted a few times, their son grew up to become a toddler. Maybe the most shocking thing is that Lilith now invites her father Daniel now and then to come over and meet his grandson :-D

Broke household:
It didn't take long for Brandi to break through Sharla's defenses: one really good birthday party (during which Dustin, Beau, and David all learned about the relationship and while maybe a bit confused, were generally accepting), one dream date, and one woohoo, and they were engaged. Bobby Broke grew up to be a freaking adorable romance sim--he should have no trouble whatsoever, even though I currently have no playable teens in my neighborhood.

Goth-Dreamer household:
Darren and Cassandra maybe bit off a bit more than they could chew with adopting infant and toddler siblings--or at least, Cassandra did. Darren has already raised a child and was a bit more chill, just autonomously loving on them and making sure they were clean and fed. Eventually, Cassandra had to be told to hire a nanny, eat something, and relax, in that order. Both kids grew up with bright red hair, so surely someone will make the connection between them and the Pleasant family eventually. (I used to scatter toddler toys around the house, but I learned this while playing the Beakers: put down a rug and arrange all the toddler toys around it; it is cute to watch them sit on the rug and play "together".)

Another update from this morning playing the Goth-Burb household:
Alexander returned home from college to discover that Lucy was caring for her baby sister, Jessica. It took a little while, but eventually he adjusted to this and started caring for Jessica himself. Lucy almost immediately got pregnant herself. She told Alexander she wanted to wait to have a big dream wedding with all their friends there, but Alexander was pressuring her to get married in a quickie civil ceremony before the baby came. They had a big fight about it and fell out of love. Baby Oliver was born, but Lucy was sleeping on the couch and Alexander was furious with her, so he decided to move out, and he went back to the Goth Manor to live with his father. Lucy got busy and tracked down her father, John. They had a long conversation on the phone, and she found out that he had actually had a mental breakdown and been institutionalized--that’s why Jennifer left him--and he didn’t even know about his other daughter. Lucy invited him to stay while he recuperated and to help take care of the kids. They quickly fixed up the extra room for John, and he moved in.

This development really took me by surprise, although I should have seen it coming since Lucy had been unhappy with Alexander's unromantic proposal and their compatibility as a couple had come into question.

These parents have




a beautiful daughter like this was born




but how ugly she got when she grew up

I played a couple of years of Beau Broke in university. Sophomore year he wanted to live off campus, so he took the extra bedroom in Allegra and Castor's rental house. He and Castor became best friends, so Castor got him into the fraternity without all that pledging nonsense. Then Beau started fooling around with Allegra behind Castor's back. She couldn't seem to make up her mind: she'd woohoo with one boy while the other boy was at class. The boys were either being willfully ignorant or just weren't jealous of each other. Finally, Allegra decided she wanted to get engaged to Beau, so she told Castor she wanted to be just friends. Castor was like, "Eh, okay," and went on about his business. But Beau never had any thoughts at all about marriage, so Allegra kept her want to herself. Castor got struck by lightning (with no want to!), didn't go to his final due to his bad mood, and got put on probation. He started flirting with Allegra again, and though they didn't actually get back together, she was receptive. Since Beau was not moving toward commitment, she unlocked her want and it rolled away, with her just wanting to focus on her studies. Allegra graduated and still hadn't told me what she wanted, so she cleaned up the rental house and moved to Bluewater Village. Castor and Beau moved into the fraternity. Castor is half a sophomore now and Beau is a senior.

ETA I wish Allegra would meet Alexander Goth because she looks like she just would fit in Goth Manor, but I'm not going to force that to happen just to fulfill my aesthetic desires. Although then I could possibly re-enact one of my favorite Edward Gorey works, "The Curious Sofa."

It's chaos in the McBains' nursery. Jenny has gone to work. Gerry and Glenda have gone to school. Bill is trying to cope with the twins on his own. He's tired, hungry, dirty, and needing some fun in his life. He's not coping. He's just given Peni Jo her bottle, but she desperately needs her potty, and she desperately needs some sleep. Peregrine is well slept, but he needs the potty and he needs fed. It's no use. Bill knows when he's beaten. He's about to do something that's never been done in my game before; he's about to pick up the 'phone and hire a nanny.

Is it a wise decision?

Do the kids have toys to occupy them? If yes, have Billy put Peni Jo to bed and give Peregrine a bottle. He shouldn't worry about getting either to the potty. Sometimes, you have to let a thing or two slide to get back on track. Peni Jo should (hopefully) sleep through a dirty diaper and Peregrine will likely play with toys or otherwise occupy himself until he dirties his. In those precious few moments, Billy needs to grab a snack (and a shower if it bothers him enough that he's constantly complaining about it). It will take him much less time to change Peregrine's diaper, especially if he just lets it land on the floor, than try to potty train. Then he can be off for a quick nap until Peni Jo wakes up. Peregrine will be perfectly fine with toys to play with. At worst, he'll watch the sleeping Billy. (I suggest the nap before the shower, if he can stand himself enough to sleep.) When Peni Jo wakes up, he can change her diaper quickly and go right back to napping if he needs more energy. Once Billy has gained a little ground on his own needs, I highly suggest he work to get both toddlers on the same schedule, even if it means putting one in their crib when they're only half tired. They just need to be tired enough to fall asleep at the same time as the other one.

A few rotations ago, little Leonardo died by satellite. He was just a child.
Now his ghost pops up. Because daddy and mommy removed his bed, and that's just annoying.
And right afterwards strange things start to happen.

Rod Humble brings a computer - which should never happen as I have the no-humble mod, but also because it's not the scenario in which he would bring a computer. In the middle of the night. To a house which has been inhabited by the same family forever. Oh, what a strange thing to happen, right?
As he leaves, I notice a toddler passing by. A toddler? Passing by? And at night? Weird, weird, weird. And looking at it more closely, it seems to be the New Year Toddler NPC. Oh. Now I'm freaking out.
The toddler leaves, and of course another NPC arrives, WTF is the witch doctor catching fireflies in the family garden? And he won't leave!

At first I thought I should quit go back to the latest backup of this hood. Or maybe a previous one, because it might be because I've been trying mods and removing them again? And then I thought "Oh, what the hell, let's let this one explode in a big fireball."
So I removed the witch doctor with moveobjects on, and I hit "save". And I'll see how it goes.

I'm definetely not so worried of corruption as I used to...

Now that is creepy @Amura !

This is a known bug in Sims 2. When child visitors are on your lot after (I think) 6pm, a member of that child's family will arrive to collect them and take them home. Ghosts are members of the "Default" family, so NPCs in the "Default" family (Grim Reaper, Pollination Technician, etc.) will arrive to attempt to take the child ghost home with them.

You can either move the child's grave to a community lot where it won't cause potentially dangerous problems, or you can use Cyjon's Spawn Tweaks to prevent the ghost from haunting at all.
http://www.cyjon.net/node/188

I think that Simler90's "Better Ghosts" may also fix this bug, but he doesn't mention it in his mod description. I seem to remember that Better Ghosts conflicted with Cyjon's mod in this area, but I can't check right now to be certain.
https://modthesims.info/d/626308/up...ter-ghosts.html
EDIT: There's a conflict, but I can't tell whether or not it addresses this issue. Safest to either move the child ghost to a community lot or suppress it from spawning.

@Simsample -Great pictures!I would use columns and a roof of some kind over both the outdoor pools and any hottubs placed outside to prevent lightening from striking sims in a pool or hottub because I once had that happen years ago with my installing Nightlife more than 10 years ago and it caused a few NPCs to get killed and the gravestones appeared on that lot after the sims died.My sims take bathes or showers out in the front of their lot even with sims passing by and nobody ever freaks over a nakkid sim taking a bath on their own lot because I have a no nakkid sim reastion Mod.

I was building my townhouse lot and got doors placed upstairs and got the toilets on the main floor common washroom.

It took me a while to get Dirk and Lilith going in their postcollege life because I didn't realize that the Community Time mod would add up all the community-lot time spent in university, so the first time they went out, they were gone for days. I just told myself it was an after-college trip while I watched their empty house speed by. Then I had to make sure everyone else got caught up. Dustin and Angela took separate trips, but that gave Mary-Sue an opportunity to flirt with Dustin a little and build up their relationship. Now that I know I'll just do the after-college trip first thing from now on.

Pleasant-Dreamer
Dirk could tell that Angela didn’t want to get tied down. She’d taken a job as an Ambassador’s Intern and was constantly traveling. How had he never realized how different they were? Their woohoo life was great, but she never wanted to talk about anything serious. He envied the devotion Dustin and Angela had to each other. He thought about Angela a lot, actually, and what he might have missed out on. Still, he was letting go of the idea of marriage for now. Maybe things would change as they got older, but if Lilith was determined to live fancy free, focusing only on having fun, then Dirk would do the same.

Broke-Ottomas
Sharla and Brandi got married and had a roof raiser of a wedding. They both want to adopt, and since the Ottomas twins are in my adoption pool, that’s who they will get. Not sure where they will put them; they need a bigger house but would have to take on a lot of debt for that, or they can make do until Bobby goes to college. First, Sharla needs to get a job, and she still hasn’t found one that suits her. Bobby is already an adept romancer, and he got his first kiss and first woohoo from the first girl he brought home from school, a cute blonde townie. He seems to be jealous of Sharla--he’s always vying with her for Brandi’s attention--and she doesn’t like him much either, even though she tried to bond--perhaps he reminds her of her father.

Goth-Dreamer
Cassandra got it together, and their adopted kids both grew up to be healthy, well-adjusted children. She finally got pregnant herself, but there is room in the house and their hearts for another child. Darren got a job as a game designer and bought a minivan for the growing family. They had Dirk, Lilith, and Mary-Sue over for dinner, but no one paid much attention to the kids’ red hair, and Lilith and Mary-Sue actually got along. Kaden has been thinking about family a lot; I think he will try to find his parents once he becomes a teen. The adoption agency will open their records to a child seeking their biological parents.

More news from Elders Creek. The Wilson family were blessed with quads before they discovered their nobility status and had to move the cursed noble neighborhoods. Tiffany loves her babies and wants a house full of them. Sebastian, not so much. He tends to try to send a lot of time at work to stay away from the crying.

As the children began to grow, Tiffany was worried she wouldn't be able to have any more. Sebastian tried to argue they REALLY didn't need any more children. But, Tiffany threatened to withhold affection unless he hired a handmaid. They had to go the public handmaid route because they didn't have enough cash for a private, guaranteed-birth option. The handmaid trio, Martha, Eye, and handmaid moved in.

Tiffany quit withholding affection. Now, she's pregnant, but the handmaid isn't. :3

@simsample
I know, I know! It is creepy indeed.
It really amuses me that I no longer freak out as I used to. I might be finally growing up, isn't that amusing?


Oh, that's really really helpful information.
His family is saving up to buy a cemetery (all my families do) but if this would save them trouble I guess it's just time they get a loan. It would be the easiest fix in the world!

@RoxEllen1965 Now that makes sense- thanks for the info!
@Amura  Haha, I'm old but juvenile inside, I still think it's funny when a sim farts.
@TadOlsen Good advice, and I know AndrewGloria would implore me to protect my simmies, but I like the element of danger, especially when it comes to Sim Sample, my most abused sim. I'm mostly nice to the others (by comparison, at least!) I quite like the naked reactions, make me laugh! If it makes me laugh, I don't mod it out.

I was playing a house with a single mom and her three kids, a teen, a child, and a toddler. Mom works 8-5, but there's a butler to watch the toddler. The teen goes to college at the start of the day, the mom goes to work, and the child goes to school, and the butler arrives and putters around cleaning things and occasionally attempting baby care. Then there is a thunderstorm, and something catches on fire, but the storm ends before the rain can put it out. But I don't have any controllable sims, so I just have to watch it burn - there are no fire alarms outside, because normally it doesn't make sense to call the fire department for tree fires. The butler doesn't react to the fire at all, he just goes around trying to clean up the piles of soot it leaves behind, which naturally causes him to catch on fire and die. I was sure that the social worker was going to come for the unattended toddler, but for some reason this didn't happen. A couple hours later, the mom gets back from work and the kid gets back from school and I am able to call the fire department. I keep the sims inside while the firemen extinguish the fire. The toddler slept through the whole thing. The cats lost a lot of motives mothing the fire, but they recover in record time. The only casualties were the butler, a tree, and two career rewards. I have no idea if I get a new butler tomorrow - I tried to hire another one on the phone but the option didn't show up, which indicates that maybe I will get a new butler without doing anything, however, I hired a nanny just in case.

That is so dramatic kestrellyn- I had similar happen, but instead of a butler I had a cleanbot, which caught on fire whilst sucking up the ashes and promptly malfunctioned, and then zoomed all over the lot spreading fire and coughing up piles of dirt. It culminated in the death of a sim, the death of a firefighter, several burning townies leaving the lot at speed and eventually, the fire engine catching fire (by virtue of the malfunctioning cleanbot joining the burning house to the road with a trail of flammable dirt piles). I couldn't call more fire engines because the game thought I already had one, so I had to exit without saving... I felt sorry for the sims, they had two little kids and not much money. I was kind that day!

@sturlington - Are you using Crammyboy's Community Time mod? If so, Chris Hatch made an updated version that ignores community lots in University and Bon Voyage vacation neighborhoods. You won't have to worry about all that community lot time adding up in University anymore.
https://simfileshare.net/download/1191177/

So, I continued with my Pleasantview by picking up where I left off with the Goth Family.

Don's surprisingly a good father, as he autonomously plays with his kids and even cooks on his own. I have to make Cassandra do these things, as when she's left to her own devices, she just paints, plays chess, or juggles cups. And she actually wanted these kids...

I also discovered something odd at the start of this play session, too. On Tuesday night (in-game time), I heard a ghost whine outside and with the Goth graveyard having as many graves as it does, I was curious to see who it was. I was surprised to see the ghost of Jan Tellerman...I don't know how that had happened... Nobody reacted to the death in the household and I didn't see her die! Judging by her colour, she must have died of fright, which I guess makes sense, but wow...that caught me off-guard. Poor Jan

Dina keeps coming to kick the bin over, not caring about the children in the house who would get the flu if I don't notice the bin in time. She even steals the newspaper.

Cassamdra and Kaylynn somehow become friends, which is awkward for Don.

Their eldest daughter, Garnet, got an A+ in school and aged to a teen towards the end of the session. She really looks like her mother. The twins, Isabelle and Maribella, aged to children after having successfully learned their toddler skills. I still have yet to decorate their room.

I still have Sunday left to play and then I'm onto the second house of the rotation; the bin kicker herself, Dina Goth.

Thanks, I will try that. It took me a long time to get this mod to work at all, so I'm not sure if I previously tried this version and had issues with it or if I just never found it. Anyway, I'll give it another go and see if it works better! I appreciate the tip.

@Simsample -I also found the nakkid reactions funny though I had to Mod it out for my histoical games like my BACC because that reaction wasn't very funny when my sims had no choice other than bathing or taking showers outside on their lot as they had no house built yet.It's also applicable to my Apocalypse challenge taking place with sims settling in a colony in the new world in the 16th century when that nakkid reaction would be totally out of place as they'd have no reactions to bathing in the open back then.I also put fire alalrms outside for when grilling accidents happen and use a hacked alarm that covers the entire lot for both fires and burglaries.My sims visit community lots and get no hights breaking out as all npc sims are banned by the lot visitor comtroller and no npc neighbors generated in apartments means my townie neighbors are playable townies I moved in as background charectors who get played though with no special plans.I also stopped using any apartment zoned lots other than ones I've built myself from scratch even the ones I built over ten years ago.

The last day in the Lothario household was uneventful; they just went about their day as normal, fulfilling their motives.

In the Goth Family, Alexander got two scholarships; one for good grades and the other for a high logical skill. He then proceeded to go to college as he rolled the want to go. His younger sister, Victoria, was in bed when he left, but at least Dina said goodbye. The entire household was actually quite close; everyone was best friends with each other.

Dina rolled the want to get a job in the Architecture career and has since been looking through the paper everyday to find it. She isn't having much luck at the moment, and is even nearing aspiration failure and worrying constantly. She is still trying her best to raise Victoria.

Speaking of Victoria, she aged to a teen the evening Alexander left. I gave her the Pleasure aspiration, as she has that carefree personality. Due to this, she wanted to go on dates. So far, she has been on three; all three being random townies. The first two were romance sims who she was attracted to, but she didn't get on with them. The last one was a Pleasure sim, Marcel Raymond. He's a Downtownie, known as Loren Teens on the wiki.

Originally, he spawned with the name BJ -something-, but I changed it to the same name he has in Crystal Lake. I do that to every 'Teens' Downtownie, as I'm used to the names they have in that 'hood.

They actually hit it off! Unlike the other dates, they kept rolling wants for each other and had a 'Good' date without romantic interactions.

The next day, Victoria asked him on a second date and they went to the Londoste. They had a Dream Date, so I'm going to go with him as her love interest. He wasn't even bothered by the fact that she turned up to the date in her pyjamas.

Next in the rotation is the Caliente household, which consists of Nina who is pregnant with Daniel Pleasant's baby.