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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 15th Jun 2021 at 10:52 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Hood Choosers
What is the difference between the Shopping District (OFB) hood chooser and the Downtown (Nightlife) hood chooser-1) Do the hoods offer different functionalities in the game and 2) can Sims still travel to the different hoods.

Also, 3) how would you install/convert an existing downloadable hood into a subhood to use in either of these hood choosers?

TIA
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Alchemist
#2 Old 15th Jun 2021 at 12:48 PM
Not sure about the third question (sometimes creators post subhood versions of their hood, though, so I would double check the download), but I think I can answer the first two.

It sounds really basic, but the difference is right there in the name. The Shopping District is a Shopping District and Downtown is a Downtown. This means that the Shopping District will generate a different set of townies--Bluewater townies, usually. Downtown generates downtownies, as well as the grand vampires, slobs (this girl and this guy), Mr. Big, the Diva, and the Tricou descendants. Townies might not have the same names as the ones I linked to, but, unless you changed your templates, they'll probably have the same faces. Downtownies also tend to be some of the richest townies in the game, generally having more money and stuff in their inventory than other townie groups. Mr. Big and the Diva, of course, move in with about 70K and stuff in their inventory, but even the vampires usually have about 50K when you move them in--at least in my experience. The slobs, however, are always broke.

Anyway, townies usually stick to their subhood--meaning you'll see downtownies when you go downtown and bluewater townies when you visit your shopping district. Maybe also if you run a community lot business. Vampires also don't roam outside of Downtown without mods. Mods can also change the chances of who shows up when and on what lots. Otherwise, other than the townies, the neighborhoods are much the same. Everything you can do in a Shopping District, you can do Downtown, and vice versa. There's no limits on where you can put OFB businesses, for example. And you can have sims live in a Shopping District, or Downtown.

BUT the rule of thumb is that you should only really have one Downtown--I believe subsequently added Downtowns are empty of sims. But you can have as many shopping districts as you like.

If you do want to have multiple Downtowns, follow the How to Add Multiple Inhabited Downtown Subhoods to a Neighborhood Tutorial by Jawusa. Shopping Districts, on the other hand, don't require a special process. Oh, and if you haven't already installed it, you might need Fix subhood selection by Mootilda to make sure you can select new subhoods that you install.

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

XPTL Mod Archive | Change a Mod's Mesh into a CC Object | Increasing the Game Difficulty | Editing ACR 4 Your Age Mod
Bored? Read an unfinished legacy or sim story. | aka Kelyns | she/her
Theorist
#3 Old 15th Jun 2021 at 3:12 PM
If you like modding your game and making it slightly more difficult money-wise, I suggest you also take a look at this mod by simler90 which makes the bills more expensive if you live downtown. But other than that, I think Phantomknight summed this up pretty nicely - the only difference between the two is that:
1) each generates their own special set of townies (sims that appear as walkbys and on community lots),
2) downtowns are broken by the means of adding more than one occupied downtown to a single neighborhood, unless you follow a tutorial on how to fix that.

Also, I'm not sure if it's really downtown-exclusive or just a coincidence, but when my Sims are asked out on dates and outings by others, the inviting party always invites downtown, and not to a shopping district or any other (sub-)neighborhood ("Hey, I found some cool places to hang out at Downtown!")
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 16th Jun 2021 at 1:34 AM
Is it possible to have an existing downloaded hood converted to a subhood.

I have a cluster of hoods at the moment which I would like to put in the game as a sub hood -either Nightlife or OFB. They show up as main hoods but would like them as subhoods

TIA
Field Researcher
#6 Old 16th Jun 2021 at 2:11 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Coconut Sugar
Is it possible to have an existing downloaded hood converted to a subhood.

I have a cluster of hoods at the moment which I would like to put in the game as a sub hood -either Nightlife or OFB. They show up as main hoods but would like them as subhoods

TIA

Yes, but they should not have any universities, downtowns, shopping districts, vacation spots or stealth hoods attached to them.
Alchemist
#7 Old 16th Jun 2021 at 2:12 AM
@Coconut Sugar there's a link for that in the tutorial Hugelunatic linked: How to Change the Neighborhood Type.

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

XPTL Mod Archive | Change a Mod's Mesh into a CC Object | Increasing the Game Difficulty | Editing ACR 4 Your Age Mod
Bored? Read an unfinished legacy or sim story. | aka Kelyns | she/her
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