So, a little story to tell: Last week I had the week off from my summer job (I mentioned my seasonal job in my post about the Kovax family), so I figured I would get working on my SimVille project again, given the fact that I had so little time to play the game for about an entire month.[1]

Well, get this: time flies. I came home on Saturday. Sunday I had church. Monday I had to go downtown for some business. Tuesday and Wednesday I worked on my custom content catalog. I only started to write this on Thursday. Now it's Sunday and I'm finishing this up quickly before I have to go. Man, time sure does fly by...

...and Thursday was a big loss of time as well. I installed the Windows 10 Creators Update onto my laptop, which sucked up 90+ minutes of my day. To my dismay, The Sims 2 wouldn't boot up after the update was finished (This happened with the Anniversary Update as well), but I wasn't keen on rolling back the update, so I tried to uninstall the game... which didn't work because the uninstallers wouldn't even start up. So I had to manually uninstall the whole darn game.[2] Then I had to reinstall the entire game, which actually went by smoothly; only problem was that it took a lot of time. Install the patches (installing the University patch is a nightmare that needs GrumpyLoader and Tylenol to get through... thank goodness I have Double Deluxe and BG/NL which are already patched), restore my user data and my custom content from backup, configure my graphics rules settings to get the game's graphics to behave on my laptop, small tweaks here and there, and then testing (with fingers crossed!) the game to see if it worked. It worked, thankfully... but I was spent.

Anyways, enough blathering. Hopefully the SimVille project can continue with...

The Haider Family





Recently SimVille has been flooded with a wave of immigrants from poor backgrounds. While they're not exactly slums, the apartments they live in are small and overcrowded, and the family sizes are often huge, with lots of children placing great burden on the parents, who find it difficult to earn a living while simultaneously caring for them. The Haiders happen to be one of those families, and while they're not necessarily starving, they don't have much to hope for.



Poverty is a theme I have been exploring in The Sims recently, and the Haiders were the first family I created under this theme. I may create some more Sims with this theme someday, which should change SimVille from being thought of as a relatively middle-class-to-wealthy town to one inhabited by poor, large, and financially unstable families. SimVille is going through a change–will the existing residents be able to bounce back, or will they flee the town to escape the influx?







Conclusion

The Haiders are a family that's locked into a cycle of work, work, and more work, with no sense of progression. Allan and Alisha don't make much during the day, Alex has difficulty finding a job, and the landlord takes most of their earnings in the form of rent every week. Whatever's left over is spent on groceries and any other expenses they may incur during the week. By the looks of it, the Haider kids are probably going to be stuck doing what their parents did once they grow up. And their kids. And the kids of their kids. It's that or a life of crime, and with no way out, the latter seems almost appealing to the one desperate for freedom. It doesn't have to be this way, but as long as the stigma and the budget cuts and the flawed philosophy is there, no permanent change will ever happen.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more!

The Sims Wiki Fanon pages

• Haider family
• Allan Haider
• Alisha Haider
• Alex Haider
• Robby Haider
• Crystal Haider
• Paddy Haider
• The Grey Lofts

Notes
1. Okay, it was usually because I was too tired. I work as a summer day camp counsellor, and I'm surrounded by children for most of the day. While I'm fine with kids, they sure do tire me out by the end of the day.
2. I followed http://simswiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Uninstall and https://webcache.googleusercontent....n&ct=clnk&gl=ca to do this. It involves deleting all of the game's files and folders manually, as well as deleting the registry keys manually (which was brutal as I could not make a mistake!).
3. The boys in the Day family do that already... as do some overcrowded prisons.
4. Most people call it "breakdancing", but "b-boying" and "breaking" are the terms preferred by pioneers and practitioners.
5. Click here if you don't know about Amar's "paintography" yet.

I loved reading about the Haider Family. Great Pictures. I hope that the Haiders can manage. How about sending the Teen off to University?

Good idea. While I certainly don't mind having free tuition in real life (Hey, I'm a university student: why would I say no to free education?!), I set up my game to have a sort of class division, which I referenced in my post about the Haiders. I feel like making university an expensive solution to pay for would be better suited for storytelling in my neighbourhood, since families like the Haiders have low hopes because of the fact that opportunities are either too expensive or just out of their reach. A university education would most definitely be the former, but Alex's grades are pretty crap, so the latter would also apply (in real life, at least). A Sim who has low hopes, no opportunities, and very little money will probably be stuck working for the rest of their lives.

oh all of my sims have -A or higher by the time they are old enough to go, since I have a Mod that pushes them to do their homework every night, it helps a lot. Also I make them have some skills, so they all have some scholarships and I make everyone do well in Uni while they are there. I work on them a lot and at the University I don't have a Mod to make them do their homework, I just make them do it myself.

My summer job is now over, and so is my summer break. Now it's back to school, and things are as busy as ever. But at least I'm home, and it's easier for me to do these things when I'm at home.

So, without further ado, let us get back to updating this thread with:

The Walker Family





The Walker clan was initially a young, happy family consisting of Mitchell, his wife, and their son Mike. Initially, Mitchell was a stay-at-home writer, writing novels mostly in the adventure and spiritual genres, although he had his successful ventures writing comedic pieces as well. After Mitchell's wife died, however, Mitchell realized that he couldn't get a steady income writing novels and that he needed a day job. That day job was a job at Landgraab County's Times, the largest morning newspaper in Landgraab County (And also the one with "the most boringest name", as Dan Newbie remarks). The paper's offices are located not too far from SimVille, so the Walkers moved there.



And so, their story continues...







Conclusion

It's not easy being a single parent, that's for sure. Mitchell misses the good 'ol days of the past, but alas, mourning his loss isn't going to help him now. Mitchell has bounced back reasonably well after his wife's passing, but he needs to pay more attention to Mike if he wants to understand why his grades are curving downward. As for Mike, he has to learn to keep a tighter lid on his mischief, but I'm sure he'll grow out of it eventually. After all, mischief seems almost licit when you're an adult.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more!

The Sims Wiki Fanon pages

• Walker family
• Mitchell Walker
• Mike Walker
• Council Flats

Notes
1. According to Roald Dahl's The Hitchhiker: "The trouble is, I'm a writer, and most writers are terribly nosy."
2. In fact, he's the only child Sim I made in this neighbourhood that does not have any siblings.
3. Also for fire safety. I mean, those "Do not use elevator during fire" signs aren't joking when they say, "Do not use elevator during fire".

What a great exposition on the Walkers! I like how you showed Mitch at his office job in your pictures and his struggle with writer's block and how he goes about dealing with it. It's a shame Mike's grades are going down. Maybe Mitch can meet a new love online? I did in real life lol! I do hope if it comes to that you show us his date with the lucky online person

I like the Walkers, it has a good story line. Good pictures. I never seem to do any pics of my sims preparing food, I just forget. I also think that Mitch could meet a new love online and I met mine in real life too.

A few years ago, when I was picking up on The Sims 2 and really enjoying the game (And having far more time to play it), I had a rather strange obsession with sports enthusiasts, known informally in North America as "jocks". Picture a bunch of dudes and dudettes all being masters of basketball, soccer, wrestling, cycling, and what have you, and being able to keep the gears turning for hours on end. I wasn't actually so big on doing those things myself (I'm more of a casual fitness guy, not so much into sports), so creating such characters in The Sims seemed like a great way to vent out my desires to work out into a video game while enjoying the comfort of my rolling chair at home. Thus, I created a family quite appropriately titled the "Jocks".[1]

My old, naïve self wasn't big on storylines, so like many other families created at the time, they seemed more like objects than actual characters with a story behind them to me. As time went on, however, and as I became more and more mature, I started coming up with stories based on the Sims' personalities and current situations, which you now get to read and enjoy in this forum thread (And in the fanon pages I'm writing on The Sims Wiki, which you should check out). And the Jocks family was one of those families that finally received some depth, something under the surface. No longer will I create icebergs that have nothing below the waterline!

The Jocks Family





Yes, I would never have thought about my sports-and-fitness-obsessed family being sown the seeds of a Don Lothario story, but I was sick of playing with figureheads where nothing special or problematic happened, so I decided to add some spice to my game, and when creating SimVille and recreating many of the Sims that had lived in neighbourhoods past, it felt great to be able to give this family something more than just appearances.

Anyways, the story goes: Harold and Lisa are passionate about sports, fitness, and other physically demanding activities, and feel privileged that they were able to bring two young'uns into the world. They immediately started training them up physically, hoping that one day they would take up sports and fitness later in life. While Jason, the younger son, is more than happy to join the school basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and wrestling teams simultaneously (With mom and dad cheering and hollering from the bleachers, of course), Toby isn't on par with the idea. For Toby, hooking up with the hot chicks in town is what really tickles his fancy. His parents do not approve of his lust-loving aspiration, especially when Toby's far more interested in soaking up in a hot tub than being out on the court or in the gym.



The Jocks are one of my oldest families, and they've always had the same theme: highly active parents with highly active kids. While they lived in a sizably comfortable detached lot with swimming pools, basketball courts, soccer fields, and even a military obstacle course in previous neighbourhoods, they now live in an apartment... which actually isn't so bad. They are now really truly urban Sims, and now that I have gotten rid of the suburban vibe, I seem to view them with a more favourable gaze.







Conclusion

If you get past the whole spiel about stereotypes, you'll see that the Jocks are like any other family, with their own set of problems. Harold and Lisa look favourably upon their youngest son, while they seem very much disconnected with Toby. Are they concerned with such a frosty relationship, or have they pretty much just given up on Toby and let him loose? As for Jason, he seems like the "perfect" child, but he has his own flaws as well: his constant pursuit to please his parents and to do well in sports and fitness leaves him little time for other pursuits. The whole family is messy and their apartment–especially their bathroom–is always dirty. There may be worse families out there, yes, but the Jocks have some serious cleaning up to do, not just in terms of the filthy shower-tub and toilet, but also with their relationships with each other.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more!

The Sims Wiki Fanon pages

• Jocks family
• Harold Jocks
• Lisa Jocks
• Toby Jocks
• Jason Jocks
• Teleprompter Apartments

Notes
1. This has nothing to do with the fanon, but in my eleventh grade history class we played a fun game that stretched the course of a week or two where we played the citizens of France during the French Revolution, and we were allowed to pick our character's names. In the past, someone named their character "Jacques Strap", and the joke went over my teacher's head... until she had to call on his name. Since then there were a couple more Jacques Straps and their reincarnations. Just a funny memory that came up while I was writing this.
2. Wanna build your own custom apartment from the ground up? See this page.
3. The green edges around the round pool edges seem to be caused by my Intel graphics card on my laptop. I know about all the "stories" about Intel not playing nice with The Sims 2, but this is pretty much the only issue I've seen with these graphics cards and the game so far. I'm still not exactly sure what causes this bug; it didn't occur on my old XP computer which had an AMD Radeon card, and I used the Graphics Rules Maker to get the game to recognize my newer hardware. Though it annoys me, at least the rest of the game is playable, so I just try not to use rounded edges in pools anymore.
4. The Apartments and Shopping, on the same Lot! mod is needed for things like stores and restaurants in the communal areas of apartments to be functional.
5. Summer evenings are my favourite time to go jogging. It's also nice sitting out on my porch with my laptop, but the mosquitoes can get pretty vicious if you're just sitting there.

@k6ka

I really like your Robot Painting thing. I love to have my Sims paint custom images and now I can have them do paintings of Sims with Still Life, I will try it soon.

I mentioned the SimVille Corner Stop in my post about Serge Barb, and while most people probably got a good idea of what the lot does (It's a very small lot!), I think I'll go into some more depth about this dinky little lot, which shouldn't take too long to cover.





At the intersection between SimVille Street and Mohawk Crescent sits the SimVille Corner Stop, a small store that once marked the edge of SimVille. Those who entered and exited the town were greeted by its presence, offering chips, sodas, and a bathroom break before or after long car rides. SimVille has since expanded beyond the New Guinea Bridge, although the store's legacy still lives on. Its proximity to several apartment buildings has also made it more of a place where the locals would hang out. It's pretty much a gas station... sans the gas.



Exterior

An architect once gave the store the "Ugliest Building in SimVille" award, and he wasn't being nice. SimVille Corner Stop makes any elaborate home designer want to go hari kari with its "Spartan but effective" design, with many likening the storefront windows to be a "cheap, pathetic, ad hoc way of trying to make the place look nice." A tourist once called it the "glass box prison", while others have said that it made convenience stores look like a "place where ne'er-do-wells hang out."







Pretty design was never on the builder's mind, however, for the store was built to stock all the necessary things of life, conveniently located under one roof. It is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and was mostly intended for visitors and the odd passerby. However, it has recently been more of a place for the locals, and as such, there is a seating area with an espresso bar on the Mohawk Crescent side of the lot.









There's a bus stop just west of the lot. A fair number of visitors take the bus to SimVille from Numenor Region Station, a good 4 km east of SimVille, so the corner stop happily provides the necessities for those Sims before they take off and explore the rest of SimVille. The fact that it's open 24/7 is a nice bonus for the bus drivers too, who can slip in and pick up a coffee at 3am.



Interior

There is nothing fancy about the interior of the store; just two rooms in the "Spartan but effective" design scheme.



If you walk in from the Mohawk Crescent side, you'll be greeted with a few freezers selling frozen groceries, some clothing racks, a changing booth, and a pay phone. There isn't any "fresh produce" to be found here, so you'll want a proper grocery store for that. However, if you live off frozen pizzas and TV dinners, SimVille Corner Stop has you covered.



There are two arcade machines on the other side. The travelling family has something to keep the kids amused with while the parents buy some much needed supplies.



Turn around and you'll find two vending machines and an overhead TV. The TV's supposed to be tuned into the 24/7 news channel all the time, but townies frequently watch movies on it. Annoying. Since that was not the TV's intended purpose, however, there are no chairs or sofas, so if you wanna watch a two hour movie, you'll spend all two hours on your two feet. Your fault!



Next to the TV is the counter with the cash register. Pet collars, video games, and cologne are sold here.





There's even a pinball machine.



Across from the counters is a newspaper rack and a magazine stand.



A little further down is the photo booth and cell phone kiosk.



The public bathrooms are nothing spectacular, but if you desperately need to go, you'll take anything.



All your basic shopping needs under one roof, how nice!

Conclusion

There's not much to this humble little lot, which was the whole point of the corner stop. There's nothing particularly fancy about it, only that it stocks the necessary essentials for most Sims to get by on, available around the clock. Those who demand an extravagant shopping experience should probably turn their attention to the much-nicer shops just down SimVille Street and avoid the corner stop like the plague. However, for the majority of Sims that just need some basic supplies, for the exhausted tourist or bus driver looking for a bag of chips and a toilet to use, or for the odd Sim that does their shopping at a quarter past three in the morning, SimVille Corner Stop has all they need, with only some of the extras.

The Sims Wiki Fanon pages

• SimVille Corner Stop

@k6ka
I like the little SimVille Corner Stop store. It makes a very good Convience Store like a Circle K or a 7-11, etc.

Where did you get the vending machines? I think they are very nice.

The vending machines came with Apartment Life.

What is it with men in this town?! They're either big slobs, really lazy, distastefully lustful, or all of the above! But here we are about to tell the tale of a man who is neither of the three...

Wait. Hrm. Okay, nevermind. We will cover those Sims another time. For now, here's (yet) another Sim who is not particularly fond of work, and more about treating life as if it were one big coffee shop.

The Patzer Family





The Patzer family consists of only one Sim, and though he shares his name with that darned Cody Day, the two have some differences. For one, Cody Patzer has no children, and he's extra careful not to fall into the pit Cody Day found himself in. Cody Patzer also fancies sitting in a coffee shop with his laptop, gorging on free WiFi and greeting any friends that come in, but he's not that into dating or anything. Cody Day, on the other hand, is more of a one-night stand guy. Cody Patzer grew up in the suburbs, and he eventually grew to hate life up there; he moved to a town where everything was close by and within walking distance or a short bus ride away. Cody Day spent his entire life in the city, but he thinks the suburbs might not be a bad place to live (It would, however, make things much harder for his five illegitimate sons).

Anyways, without further ado, let's jump right into...







Conclusion

Cody Patzer's life seems rather dull, and in a sense it is. He doesn't think too much about the future, and is more focused on his pleasures in the present. He hasn't saved much money up over the years, and definitely has no intentions on investing it into charity or anything of the like. While there are certainly lazier Sims in this town—Cory Firebaum, to shame name one example—Cody definitely needs to learn that an unproductive life of laziness and comfort is hardly ever worth living. He'll be quick to realize this once he's on his deathbed wishing he did more in his life.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more!

The Sims Wiki Fanon pages

• Patzer family
• Cody Patzer
• The Crossroads Apartments

Notes
1. The Simlish version of Spotify.

I like the way you're exploring different levels of affluence and poverty. The families have interesting back stories and the kids are adorable.

I started out playing all perfect families, and have a tendency to slip back into that. They all studied, worked hard on their skills, went to Uni and got straight As. In the offspring challenge I'm playing, I still do quite a lot of that, although ACR has thrown a wrench in some of my plans. In the long-term hood I want to put together, I want to have all kinds of Sims and I plan to use some of your ideas about less well off Sims.

I enjoyed reading about Cody Patzer.

Of course Serge Bob has to show up at Speedy’s.

Aw man Serge, why'd ya have to go an be a jerk and ruin a good night out!? Rude! Cody seems to be living an easy-going life. I like single sim households, taking them out with their friends or them going solo out to the gym or park. Not worrying about the hassle of keeping a family entertained and focus on just one. Nice update!

Well done Angela for sorting Serge out!

Poor Cody, sad that he had his night out ruined. I think he could find happiness though- he has an interest in the Paranormal and entertainment, so he could find someone who shares those interests and forge a closer relationship. He's already on his way to his LTW at level 3 in his career.

Now that I have a little more time, I went back to read more carefully about the families.


This is so true. An unbalanced focus on anything brings a form of poverty.

I love the Walkers and their story. There's so much that could happen with Mitchell and Mike, so much that could go right or wrong depending on (mostly) Mitchell's decisions.

That's a great picture of Harold Jocks through the soccer net. Poor Toby, His parents are really expecting him to be something he isn't. I wonder if his parents will come to understand that he's really a typical (if there really is such a thing) teenager, full of hormones and trying to discover what he really wants in life. Hopefully, he will outgrow the shallowness of his current thinking and aspire to something a bit deeper as he grows older. His brother runs the risk of never knowing what it is he really wants, and living an active but strangely unfulfilling life.

I like the Corner Stop, and will probably steal the idea at some point.

Serge! He deserves to get his behind kicked by Angela.

I'm currently working on another post about another family, which I hope to have ready in the next few days (Hopefully!). I apologize for the lack of updates to this thread as I've been busy with school, and in fact still have exams ahead of me as I write this. However, with final exams comes a little break period from classes to allow for studying, and "studying" I have been doing... ahem.

For now, though, I'll fill you in on something I mentioned in my post about the Newbies: "Every Saturday, the Newbies hold a party at their house and invite random neighbours to mix and mingle with each other." Well, when I loaded the Newbie family house for the first time in weeks I was pleasantly surprised to see that I had saved the game at 2am Saturday morning, so it was time to prepare for the weekly Newbie house party! Of course, because having lots of Sims over results in lag-a-mania, I invited just two families over (My game has it capped at 11 guests) to join in and get to know each other. The weekly Newbie house party has traditionally been a time for other Sims in the neighbourhood to be able to meet and greet one another, so I've typically always made every guest selectable using cheats and making sure they knew every other guest at the party before it ended. And of course, don't forget my arsenal of hacked objects that can extend the party timer and the 'setHour' cheat to roll the clock back! Except this time I found that... boring. Normally I'm a control freak and want my Sims to obey my every bidding, and when I'm trying to do something, then that is important. But after getting all the guests to greet each other, I decided to let loose and let the Sims have a real party, for once: I turned free will on and deselected all of the guests!

...Honestly, parties became fun for me again! It's a real party now that I'm not keeping my Sims on a chain anymore and just letting them mess up the place! Sure, I was giving commands here and there, but letting Sims do their own thing is something a good Sim photographer* should do, since that's when the most interesting photo opportunities occur.

Anyways, here's what happened one fine Saturday morning at the Newbie's lofty loft:



----

Hope you enjoyed! Stay tuned for the next post!

*Speaking of photography, that's a hobby I'm starting to pick up in the real world. I invite you to take a look at my "amateur smartphone photography" accounts on Instagram and Flickr! No special training, no commitment, no real objective; just shooting for fun!

@k6ka
I'm a control freak when it comes to my Sims as well and I do tend to have them obey my every bidding, one reason I don’t play with ACR is that I want to control their actions most of the time. So I understand your playing style. I am glad that you decided to let loose and let the Sims have a real party, for once, as that is how I do my parties and I do a lot of them.

It can get crazy if you try to have that many Sims selectable wow. You did say that you undid some of that yes?

Great update and I loved your pictures of the Party.

Wow you have more Servos than I do. Of course all of mine look like Human Sims though.

I have been very busy this past month with midterms and assignments and stuff. I once again find myself approaching the same situation I had in April where final exams suddenly leave me lots of time. I know I should be using that time to study, but I've left this thread dormant for a bit too long, longer than my liking. As such, I have decided to take some time to resurrect this thread with:

The Franco Family





It's never easy being an immigrant, and the Francos are no exception. Rising costs of living, rampant gentrification, stereotypical attitudes towards the poor, and a drastic reduction in opportunities for both young and old alike have led many families in SimNation's lower class to head west, looking for better opportunities. SimVille, located near the southwest corner of SimNation, was generally insulated from this influx by the various towns and cities further east. But west is best, and so determined families have pressed on, sacrificing whatever money and possessions they've had looking for somewhere to call home. Unfortunately, while opportunities were plentiful, the sharp class division that has plagued SimNation society and culture has resulted in many of them being hastily closed as the middle and upper class feared losing their job opportunities and their "clean" neighbourhoods from all these "impoverished dirtbags", as a politician once put it (Unsurprisingly, he was unpopular with the lower class). Will SimVille play kindly with these newcomers, or will it chew and spit them out of existence?







Conclusion

Before the Francos point fingers at their father, they should all remember that Israel has made tremendous progress over the last few years, and while he may slip up occasionally and come home with several beers in his system, he definitely is not the same alcoholic that he was ten years ago. Juan is understandably shaken from his experiences with authority, but he needs to remember that things are different in SimVille: Landgraab County cops aren't exactly world-class, but they boast one of the lowest corruption rates in the country. And as a whole, the Francos should take some lessons from the nearby Haiders and the Day brothers, who place great importance on family and staying together. The Franco family needs to strengthen its meager bonds with its own members if it wants to be able to make it through. The goal should not be getting rich, but about finding something that even the Newbies–the wealthiest family in SimVille–cannot find.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more!

The Sims Wiki Fanon pages

• Franco family
• Israel Franco
• Stephanie Franco
• Juan Franco
• Celeste Franco
• Sandra Franco
• The Grey Lofts

Notes
1. See this video.

It looks like everyone had a great time at the party!

I hope Israel Franco finds a job soon, and doesn't relapse. And I hope Juan can stay on the straight and narrow; the cops will probably be watching him all the time, I'm sure, just waiting for him to make a mistake.

I hope Israel Franco and Stephanie Franco finds a job soon, and Israel doesn't relapse.

Great Pictures and I love the detailed background on the Franco Family.

I thought it would be a good time to have another outtakes post. If you haven't seen the first one, click here.















Notes
1. The vampire Serge is fighting is called "Count Nery Wood" in the neighbourhood; however, this name is randomized, and may differ in each neighbourhood. The Sim's internal name, referenced in the game files, is Count Cooper Baena.

I really enjoy your outtakes. Robby actually looks like he's enjoying hanging out in the corridor, maybe daydreaming. Paddy, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be having much fun. Maybe he's worried about being caught.

I much prefer Count Nery Wood to the Maxis name!