My constant crashing seems to be solved, but I saw pink soup for only the second time ever. The first time was the double wedding of the Munny twins all the way back in Drama Acres, and that was clearly a case of demanding too much of my machine by having too many sims on the lot. This time it was a single sim visiting a smallish community lot. I guess I need the graphic rules as well as the 4g patch, even though I'm on Windows 7. Sigh.

@Peni Griffin -It was what I needed to do to fix the simple terrain graphics bug in my game and my towns are looking a whole lot better for my edits of the SGR file to deactivate simple terrain.
I wasn't able to make it into my game at all last night after our power went out just as I was about to get something to eat and put my eating plans on hold for hours.I was also late getting to bed once it was back on because I needed to eat that delayed meal first.

Jonas an Cheyanne Wellington just got done having their grandsons stay with them over the summer and what a fun (and exhausting) time it was! They had a picnic, went fishing, swam in the swimming hole, helped their grandmother start a garden, spent time together, it really boosted their family relationships! Since I have the summer-vacation mod, none of them had to go to school either and since Cheyanne just retired from her job as police chief she had all the time to supervise them

I did try getting into my game with the results of a few minor edits to the community lot and homestead in my Pleasantview game before installing default NPC vehicles.I'm still getting new CC and a few necessary Mods installed before going live.

Holly Copur returned from living her teen years on the streets, and she got two scholarships, so was able to afford to go to college. Hopefully, she'll start turning her life around there. Meanwhile, her sister Ivy got fired from the newspaper and is thinking about what to do next. She went to the courthouse and talked to Mayor Amin Sims for a while about possibly getting into politics.

Who will take over the newspaper now? The likeliest candidate is John Burb. He's been freelancing for them for years, writing mostly food and garden articles. David is older now, and Lucy is at college, so John should have the time to take on a full-time project like the Pleasantview News.

The only person in all of Pleasantview who doesn't know that Dina and Don are having an affair is Cassandra. She gave birth to their second child, a girl. Mortimer has just passed away at the age of 70. Will Dina be content to continue to keep the affair secret, or will she became careless now that she's secured the Goth inheritance for herself and her twins?

Kaylynn also had Don's child, a boy. Don came over to visit, and Kaylynn firmly rejected all his advances. Now that she has a job on the police force and the child she's always wanted, she seems determined to leave her past behind and make a new life for herself.

Christy Carr has retired as police chief and was interviewing for a replacement. She ended up hiring Marisa Bendett as the new chief of police. Marisa and Sandy Bruty had moved Downtown a little while ago because I found running the farm too tedious and decided Pleasantview didn't really need an agricultural district. Apparently, while she was there, Marisa got her degree and broke up with Sandy, as she has returned alone and determined to make some changes at the police HQ. I think people will find her sterner and tougher on crime than Christy was.

I got into my game and found a new CC object installed and it's a perfect fit for my Pleasantview game.I also noticed my UI changed while loading my game up.

The long running financial problems of the Teen Townie Hostel in downtown Veronaville are finally at an end. After resident teen Donald Dent asked his little sister Amy to move in. . .

Wow, where did she get all that money?

I really don't know. She was a townie child.

I made her and her brother in CAS a couple of years ago. I played them for a few hours in the changing hut near the bridge over the canal, and one of their visitors there was Ginger Newson. Donald was the first boy that Ginger really related too. I think his obvious affection for his little sister was one of the things that attracted her to him. She sees him as a fellow spirit with the same dedication to his sibling as she has to hers. (I like to think they may get together one day.) All the other teenage boys I've introduced to her as possible romantic interest, she has dismissed as shallow and immature.

Anyway, when I turned Donald and Amy into townies (as was always my intention) I kept their relationship. I find having a few of the townies related to each other makes the game more interesting. The Tricou teens in Downtown are my inspiration. When a room became vacant in the Teen Townie Hostel, Donald became the obvious choice to fill it. He took the twin-bedded room on the top floor, which became vacant when Lexie Kauker married Tybalt Capp. As soon as he moved in, he set about encouraging Amy to join him.

But the amount of money Amy brought with her was a surprise for everyone, including me. Maybe she's a professional darts player. Every time that Donald has invited her to the hostel, she's always made a bee-line for the dart board. And even now, she only paused for a minute to accept Donald's invitation to move in before she started throwing darts again. Anyway, her money is very welcome. There's a lot that they'd like to do to improve the hostel, and now it's possible.

I wanted Unnamed Area's last wedding for this season over and done with. Suzette Cooke and her fiancé Noël Twolancet got married under a glitchy wedding arch, with the bride wearing the latest of Mattea Picaso's bespoke outfits. But before this could take place, it was time to let their uni-born son Nouvie (Nouvelet, but I feel sorry for him for naming him that and always thinkk of him as Nouvie)age up to teen. The poor boy had already been cheated down three times with the sim blender because of how university time works. He randomised family aspiration and gay and only rolled wants related to dating and romance. Unnamed Area doesn't have any townie teens, so I made some of the tourist teens into townies instead and two of them showed up at the roller rink when Nouvie went there to get his mobile phone. He hung out with Dagny and Hamish for a while and had two bolts with Hamish, that turned to three halfway through their first date that evening. Easiest first kiss-want I've ever fulfilled for a sim! And Hamish is now more or less part of the family, he and Nouvie stalk eachother on every community lot and Hamish plays chess with Nouvie's dad while Nouvie does his homework.
Back to the wedding, though: I loved the look of the wedding arch I used (it's a 4to2 one, forget what it's called), but it didn't allow them to wear their assigned formal outfits, so I stupidly thought I'd fix it in SimPe. Ha! They kept jumping out of their wedding animation and I had to cheat in an invisible base game arch under it before it worked. Julien Cooke kept looking suspiciously at the wedding cake as if to say: "Really?! A cake I haven't baked? Can that really be allright to eat?" and the party was gatecrashed by Noël's arch enemy who kicked over the trash can - but otherwise it was all fine and a roof raiser. I hadn't allowed them to book a honeymoon until the same morning because I wanted to make sure Suzette wasn't pregnant. Sneaky as she is, she managed to get pregnant just before the party ended and the airport shuttle showed up! I was gonna let them have some low budget fun at the camp ground, now I took them to the Hotel Countess of Himla instead, which ate up a large part of their budget, but at least Suzette was okay while they were there. They had the usual mountain fun (no bigfoot, no one in Unnamed Area has found a map to Hidden Burrow as yet) and got home refreshed and ready for the new baby's arrival. It was a boy that they named Gustave, now that they are older and wiser and can think of a normal name.

I played half a round in Unnamed Area's latest playable household too. Aftab Nyssens, a townie who grabbed my attention when he insisted on getting the last set of cute shapewear at Matte's fashion house, got to move in and start running the pool and spa. It's early days yet, but he has a winning personality and gets stars just by hanging out with his customers in the hot tub. I have plans for him and his business, so it was encouraging to see him get the business to level three in one session and making enough money to expand the pool a bit as well. Among the visitors who stayed longest and dropped most loyalty stars were Aisha the Zombie Maid and one fo the evil warlocks. They were lured into a water balloon fight by Aftab and kept it up for nearly a whole sim night!

Oh the drama!

Ivy Copur was caught flirting with Alvin Futa in the church basement just before her wedding to Darren Dreamer. Alvin wasn't invited to the wedding but showed up anyway. Darren subsequently left Ivy at the altar. Since Dirk and Lilith had just had twins, they all decided to buy back the remodeled Dreamer house and Darren can help with the grandkids. Dirk is furious at Ivy too. Then Alvin visited Ivy just to let her know that he had no plans to leave Angela for her, especially since he and Angela just had a baby themselves. Ivy did get elected to the Pleasantview City Council, so at least she hasn't completely messed up her life.

Jennifer Burb and Brandon Lillard have been having an affair for a little while, which is pretty unethical since he is the judge and she is the district attorney. They finally got caught, by Brandon's wife Marylena. As pastor of the Church of Pleasantview, Marylena does not want to go through the scandal of a divorce, but she made it widely known what Jennifer had been up to, and of course John found out. He doesn't care about scandal and divorced her. He didn't take long to move on, as he just went on a dream date and fell in love with Brandi Broke.

Mortimer passed, and Dina held a funeral for him at the Goth house, during which she was cool as a cucumber, flirting a little with Don upstairs where no one could see but otherwise playing the part of grieving widow. Alexander wasn't fooled as he had seen Don and Dina out at the Pleasantview Hotel recently and was furious at Don again. They got in a fistfight in front of the buffet. Cassandra remains blissfully unaware of what's really going on in her own family.

The riches that Amy Dent took with her to the Teen Townie Hostel seems to have been a one-off. When Mallory Mace moved out of the Hostel, and joined her boyfriend Keith Cormier in Monopolis (where they are both resident representatives of Jones & Moltke Ltd.) she brought with her a fortune of one Simoleon!

I think Andrew, as MD of Jones & Moltke, will have to wire her some money.

I didn't notice whether or not the Simoleon came out of the Hostel's funds!

I had a bad night, so I'm glad Unnamed Area kept me well distracted with its plot twists!

First, Julienne Cooke's housemate Nerys auto-greeted a walkby and ACR:ed her way into his affections, then ended up pregnant and with a want to get engaged to the baby's father - all in the course of an afternoon. They were on a date and he rolled the same want, so they are now engaged.
They held an engagement party in the evening and the most annoying cow mascot ever crashed the party. I tried to keep her busy with household chores and college research, but she escaped me. Half desperate I told Julienne to invite her out on the lawn to stargaze, and in my head I went: "Stupid eejit cow, serves you right if you get hit by a satellite!" but I didn't even expect her to actually sit down and stargaze and since I've only had two deaths by satellite ever, I was genuinely shocked when she sat down, turned her snout upwards, and got hit by a huge thing from space. And I felt most horribly guilty too!

Unnamed Area has only had this death so far, and I had to think of a suitable cemetery. I usually spend a lot of time trying to make "forest cemeteries", my favourite type of cemetery here in Sweden. All the graves, urns and the spots to spread ashes are blending in seamlessly with nature and the overall look is so peaceful. However, this is Unnamed Area, where I just let things go, and I had no intention on spending hours on trying (and failing, which I always do because I'm so bad at building and landscaping!) to make things pretty - so now Unnamed Area has West Unnamed Longbarrow instead, see pictures! It's loosely based on a real neolithic longbarrow, but it's a modern take on it and it looks hilariously like a dungeon from one of those rpg:s that were so popular around the mid nineties . And I love it! I've made sure to save a clean copy, because I find odd looking longbarrows are my thing.



They had no sooner held their memorial outing for the cow mascot when it was time for the next death. The pets or pet bowls or both were glitching and I was so busy trying to keep them from being taken away that I didn't notice poor pregnant Nerys starving herself, not until it was too late. Julienne ran to plead but lost. This was too many deaths for my taste, so I decided it was now Julienne's main purpose in life to have Nerys resurrected. She put her studies on hold for a while and stalked Secret Society members and when she got in she enlisted her fiancé's help in raising the money to resurrect her perfectly. They succeeded and I played an extra day in their round to see Nerys' son Trystan being born.

My new run of a Build A City Challenge is on two community lots added now, so I am working on adding new households for when the next rotation begins. I made this little family, with mom and dad made in body shop with the randomized chemtale method. And the kid they produced in-game CAS.

Kennedy Cox became an elder and was forced into retirement. Don Lothario is now Pleasantview's town doctor. I don't know how he keeps getting promotions despite not having the skills for them--oh, wait. Maybe I do know how he does it. Anyway, he has taken over Pleasantview's clinic and Kennedy has been forced to the sidelines.

Komei Tellerman has retired from the grocery business and turned it over to his son, Orlando. Komei is now going to concentrate on his new baby son and also whipping his wife Nina's business, the gym, into shape. For his part, Orlando doesn't seem thrilled to be running the town grocery store and would maybe like to do something else with his life. But he has two kids and a third on the way, so what choice does he have?

Added from today's gameplay:

Darren finally told Cassandra how he feels about her. Then Cassandra saw some flowers for Don from Dina on the porch. Then Darren, Mary-Sue, Alexander, Dirk, and Lilith (although I don't think Lilith really knew why she was there) took Cassandra out as a kind of intervention to tell her how much better off she'd be without Don. Cassandra went home, told Don she was in love with Darren and that she knew about him and Dina, and kicked him out on his ear. Having nowhere else to go, Don moved in with Dina, so he's really just traded in one rich Goth woman for another. Both Don and Cassandra got positive memories of the break-up.

I got inspired to play the Broke family in Pleasantview. Dustin wanted desperately to get into Private School. So, I (and Brandi) tried their best. But it didn't work. So, now he stayed in the Criminal Career. No upward mobility for him. Brandi took the first well-paying job, the Military Career. Every time she checked, nothing in the Culinary Career. So, she's working her way up the ranks. It's hard on her, she doesn't seem to like working out. She kept being afraid and wanting to have another child, but I figured, between the money problems, the constantly breaking plumbing, the aspiration losses, it's not worth the hassle. I put Beau into the Lawer career, so eventually, he will be the family lawyer who can bail out his older brother, the career criminal. I'm not sure yet about Brandi's last child, Toby. He seems spoiled and Dustin and Beau don't like him much.
I like playing with Story Progression. Coming from playing Sims 3 most of the time, it makes much more sense to me.

Over at Garden of Shadows they're having a Good Genes challenge again. I'm not a GoS member, but I still wait for that event every year and when it comes around, I drop what's going on in my game, download one of their founder sims and start a Good Genes challenge of my own. I thought this challenge would work well in Unnamed Area, where I don't try to hard with things, so Culbart Kissalot from GoS moved into Unnamed Area yesterday, under the name of Serge Innsmouth. He did very well for himself, charming Brittany Upsnott into marrying him, getting some promotions in his chosen career (he wants to be The Law) and starting Unnamed Areas much awaited pet store. Today, his and Brittany's first child Tarquin was born, much to Brittany's relief since she's had a rough pregnancy. Baby days were uneventful and then it was time for Tarquin to age up to toddler. Serge went to work the moment he'd had his slice of the cake, leaving Brittany with their son but she immediately hired a nanny and spent her day at the pet store, selling some stuff but mostly hanging out with customers in the hot tub. She did roll some wants to play with Tarquin and snuggle him when she got home, so she's not an entirely distant parent. The last thing that happened was Serge coming back from work with yet another promotion and putting his firstborn to bed so he and Brittany could try for baby again, by the ruling of ACR. After this session they will be put in the ordinary rotation and played like any other household, because I don't like the Good Genes challenge to be just about seeing how the descendants turn out, I always prefer getting to know my sims and seeing who they are. Serge and Brittany have so far been an amusing couple to play - they're both on the grouchy side and they both enjoy pulling pranks on others, so that's how their romance is working out - with just as much joy buzzing and water ballooning as serenading and hand kissing.

In Arundel, Sarah Potter, now a teen, has picked out her future spouse-Nicholas Trottier. She did so by going to bed with him twice (while her father was not home, of course) and it looks like it's going to stick. Once Nicholas gets done with college, they'll get married.
Nicholas's mother is a lawyer aiming for the top spot-Sarah's father was the Lord Mayor of Arundel. The happy couple will have no lack of funds during the betrothal and marriage.
Amber Moseley, wife of Jordan Moseley (one of the doctors for the town) has developed a blind hatred for Tazama Davison, which she is compelled to act on. She went to the potions shop and quietly bought some deadly nightshade, which she will give him if he ever shows up at her house or anywhere she is. Amber realizes what she wants to do is a crime, but she cannot stand being humiliated and degraded by such a rude, boorish man.
She does not care really if she gets caught, because she thinks that Tazama is a nuisance and social leper. He does not have a job, and depends on the town to support him and his family. Amber believes that nobody but his wife would ever miss him-he's obnoxious and rude to everyone he meets.

Playing this Pleasantview in a new way--moving all the townies into families and having everyone play a role in the town's economy--I've discovered some new things.

The first is that Amin Sims is the best mayor. He's outgoing and gregarious and makes friends with everyone. Everywhere he goes, he just naturally starts glad-handing. He's very popular and scandal cannot touch him. I doubt he'll ever retire. I also love that he is married to Jan, the world's worst hair stylist, whose salon is a total failure.

Second is that businesses can actually be fun to play! I've never had a lot of luck with them when I've tried them before, but I think the key that I've discovered is keeping them small and simple. Nina's gym and Dina's clothing store both do well, as does the grocery store. Dina hired Brandi Broke to work for her, and Brandi makes a great employee! She got a silver sales badge autonomously and also does well on the cash register, and she never seems to get tired or grumpy. All this time, I think I've been missing out on Brandi's ideal career.

Most of the playables who started out as teens and kids have transitioned to adults, and it's fun to see what careers they choose. Holly Copur chose to go into seminary and is now assisting Marylena Lillard, so she'll take over the church when Marylena retires. I guess those years she spent on the street as a teen made her want to dedicate her life to service to others. I think she's perfect for it.

I hope it's okay if I jump into this thread without an update of my own just to say: @Sturlington, I like your (AniBats-inspired?) Pleasantview setup and really enjoy reading about the former townies. It would be so much fun to see some pics, would you share?

Why thank you, I'm really enjoying playing it. Yes, I was inspired by watching AniBats' videos and seeing how much she has integrated the townies into her Pleasantview and formed them into their own families--I just had to try it!

I don't normally take/upload screenshots as being something of a perfectionist, I find it too time-consuming and I'd rather just play. But vacation is coming up, so if I feel so inspired, I will try to take some of my favorite families and share them in the pics threads on here.

I made it into my Pleasantview game today and something big just happened when I entered the town today.It looks like Eli and Ami Jankowshy were able to get themselves to shore in the morning and made their way to the homestead lot where they can begin with their new lives.They have to get started on the garden soon.

I started a new round, so I thought I'd update on what some of my lower-income Sims are doing. My rotations last one day (two days in university) and start with the low-income/rental area and move up to the high-income area, ending with university.

Dustin Broke reached a deal with Gordon King to cook his books in exchange for cash under the table. The Brokes could really use the money because they can never seem to get ahead, but let's hope Dustin does not get caught! He and Meadow have a young daughter named Destiny, and Meadow just got pregnant again. Meadow doesn't work, although she'd like to get a job once the children are older.

A while back, Goopy GilsCarbo had quit his job as a nurse and gone to work as a bookie for Gordon after he and Gordon became friends. This did not sit well with his partner, Melissa Fancey, who finally got fed up with Goopy being gone all night and random women sometimes coming by the house. She threw Goopy out. So Goopy now lives in half of the very small duplex; the other half is rented by Ricky Sims, who is the music and arts teacher at the school. His first night there, Goopy booty-called Jill Smith (of the Garden Club), and after he went to sleep, Ricky immediately went to work hitting on Jill and ignoring his own girl, so I guess that's how things are going to go there. Goopy has just become an elder, but you don't retire from the Criminal career--it retires you.

Next door in the apartments, Sophie Carr told her fiance Peter Sims about her recent affair with her former boss, Kennedy Cox, so Peter broke off their engagement. It was a little awkward for Sophie to keep living there, so she moved back into her parents' house (Joe and Christy, now retired). Jimmy Phoenix, the new fire captain, is living in the apartments as well and has managed to set his kitchen on fire twice and himself once--I suspect he may not have been the best choice for the job.

Finally, Chandler Tellerman has recently graduated and is renting Brandi's old trailer, now remodeled. Chandler really wanted to run a business of his own. His older brother, Orlando, has already taken over the family grocery. Chandler heard that Dina was getting tired of the clothing store, and since he has a high interest in fashion, he arranged for a meeting with her. He brought his dad, Komei, along, who agreed to cosign Chandler's loan, so Chandler and Dina reached a deal, and Dina sold him the store. (Dina had been getting bored with it, and she knew her best employee, Brandi, would be retiring soon.) Chandler went out to buy new clothes himself to celebrate and then hit the bars, where he ran into Sophie and was very happy to learn she was back in the dating pool.

Eli and Ami Jankowsky managed to get to shore from the wooden sailing ship though the sea was still a bit rough in the landing craft and found their way to the homestead lot where they would be living soon as they start building up the new colony in Pleasant Valley.The first few hours were spent getting settled in and having something to eat before they played some chess and later practiced speaches at the charisma podiums to earn back some cash.That went on for at least a few hours until later in the afternoon when they stopped to tend to basic needs before going to sleep.They'll be heading out soon to vist the service center lot to check it out for building.

Good luck to Dustin Broke with his shady deals and to the Jankowskys in their settling of Pleasant Valley !

My simming time over the past few days has been so chopped up I can't really remember what went on, but here's what happened before I turned off the game for tonight:

Unnamed Area got a new inhabitant from CAS, Rena Gladioulus. She is taking charge of Yondergreen Park, a former community lot. The reason I turned it residential is that I've really wanted to give Jared Starchild and Eiluned TreSellock a hippie wedding and weddings on community lots are no fun. So, now I have a brand new plantsim with the romance aspiration who lives in the park and gets paid to arrange outings and weddings or other parties, and her cat Stryker gets fed treats and made a fuss of by visiting sims and seems to live the good life already.

After that, it was finally time for the actual wedding. It took place in front of the standing stone by the pond, the bride and groom wore flowers in their hair and some guests watched while others smustled to karaoke versions of "San Fransisco", "Love is all around" and "Happy together". There were water balloon fights and pillow fights, the hostess got introduced to some single sims she might be interested in and Julien Cooke poked his slice of wedding cake suspicioucly. He didn't bake it, so is it really worth eating? I enjoyed this wedding to the fullest!

The newlywed Starchilds (Starchildren?) went on a budget honeymoon in the camp ground in Himla Hills and though they don't know it, they met the countess of Himla herself and asked her to take pictures of them. They met bigfoot too and there things went rather wrong. They both got along fine with him and rolled a want to move him in, but Some Idiot (she takes control over my game now and then) didn't pay close enough attention to pie menus and must have let Eiluned ask him to visit her home instead. And then let Jared do the same thing when the dialogue box of Bigfoot moving in didn't appear. And now they have both had an affair with Bigfoot and got caught cheating by the other! I had no idea the "ask" interactions were even working for Bigfoot? No other low key romance interactions work.This was the last day of their honeymoon, so back to Unnamed Area they came, furious with eachother and with locked baby and woohoo in bed wants. They got the vacation benefit of "Forgiving" though, so they were soon back up to good relationship again and there was a lullaby before I left them.

Now I'm going to have to investigate the neighbourhood a bit closer to see if something has gone really wrong!