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Mad Poster
#226 Old 21st Aug 2023 at 11:21 AM
I don't know if this is helpful, but I just came across this nostalgic reels series about German high school in the 2000s.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/3197876967178650

It's on instagram too, @markus.wolsiffer

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
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Inventor
Original Poster
#227 Old 17th Sep 2023 at 6:32 PM
Haas
I got around to upload screenshots of the interior of the Haas household: https://imgur.com/a/WZvKZnX
Recap of my build before: https://imgur.com/a/yUADlyW
Bio of this household: https://imgur.com/iP78ohl

Nicole has a high interest for Culture, Paranormal and Travel but has no sense of Fashion. So she expresses her wealth through expensive classical paintings and travel souvenirs and some esotheric elements. She dresses as old-fashioned as Miss Crumblebottom. Jennifer is sloppy and serious who is interested in Science and Paranormal, so I cluttered her room with science posters. She might enjoy medieval-like sports like shooting arrows or axe throwing because she is slightly Active.
What wall paint colors would be suited for the girls rooms? I assume it's easier to paint rooms in custom colors if the household owns their house instead of renting.
Any other decoration suggestions for Maaike's and Michelle's rooms?
I imagine Nicole having a university degree due to her Fortune aspiration. Her three teenage daughters all attend Gymnasium. With this given, would each daughter have their own TV and/or computer?

I haven't visited the game often these last weeks due to the nice weather, so the progress of my project is slowed down at this moment.
Mad Poster
#228 Old 18th Sep 2023 at 5:25 PM
Painting walls is possible and very common when renting Renters have a lot of rights in Germany. You can't normally change fixtures like baths, toilets etc but light fittings, kitchens, shelves, wall colours etc are all fair game.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Inventor
Original Poster
#229 Old 18th Sep 2023 at 6:55 PM
@simsfreq Thanks for your reply Can you recall what wall colors were common for 2000s teenage rooms?
Mad Poster
#230 Old 18th Sep 2023 at 9:42 PM
No, I don't know, sorry. I've only been living in Germany since 2013.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Lab Assistant
#231 Old 24th Sep 2023 at 8:38 PM
Hood design

Street View
Of couse, they did not cover all streets, but often you can see at least some parts of the houses even when the camera was in another street. I do not think that you will get pictures from all sides of a house with Google Street View, even if that house is in one of the main streets.
I just checked Apple Maps and they really have pictures of all the smaller streets as well. They even covered a street of a building development area in my home village that did not have houses next to it back at the time when the images were taken. There, you could get pictures from all the sides of a house as long as there are enough streets around it.

Tante-Emma-Laden
Why are the owners supposed to have culinary as hobby? A Tante-Emma-Laden does not sell self-made products, they sell regular supermarket products - just with a smaller assortment, often a bit higher prices and in walking distance.

Selling harvestables
Sounds like a Hofladen on one of your farm lots (or directly next to it if you want to have it on a separate lot) might be a good option for that. I would not go for food stands on a village square because that would imply some kind of market and villages never had market rights. However, you could use the food stand idea for Windenburg/Dichterfeld. Maybe the food stand is even owned by the same family that operates the Hofladen.

Physiotherapist
My home village never had a physiotherapist office. I just did some counting on Google Maps and the Kreisstadt close to my home village has about ten physiotherapist offices (some of them just with the owner as the only person working there, some with quite a few employees). Most smaller towns also have one or two p. offices and a few of the bigger villages have one p. office. Thus, it would not be completely unrealistic, if Veronaville has one, but it would be much more probable if it was located in Windenburg/Dichterfeld (as I assume that you just want to have one or two p. offices in your game, not ten or more).


Sim character design

Medieval
I do not think that paranormal is fitting. Dragons and the like are a topic for fairytales, not for people who are interested in the middle ages.
Apart from culture, you might choose food because at many middleage-inspired events historical food is served and people drink mead and other drinks from drinking horns, fashion because the real fans have special outfits for such events, usually even handmade by themselves which requires a lot of passion and practice. There might be more interests that might be suited for some fans, but not all: Environment and/or weather maybe for somebody who grows plants (herbs and vegetables that are a bit out of fashion today, materials for ropes and other products), sports for somebody who likes sword fights or other physical activities, crime for somebody who is part of a vigilante group, maybe also animals because of the meat-heavy food, the use of leather for the outfits and the few people who own horses and involve them in their hobby.

Adventures
Did I mention enough options in my previous hobby or do you need more ideas?
Tobacco, alcohol and weed for Romeo sounds fitting to me. I would not go for harder drugs.
For alcohol, you might also want to look for CC that looks like Alcopops. They were really popular (for all genders) around the time of your Veronaville. As the sales numbers were so high and they were seen as dangerous, a high tax was introduced in 2004. Nevertheless, the sales numbers reached an all-time high in 2005, but since then, the numbers have decreased significantly.

Music
Listening to one band does not make you a fan of a whole genre - but maybe we simply define things differently.
Many pre-teens that I knew did not really have a set music taste yet at that age. They would listen to lots of different genres, but it feels wrong to call them a fan of these genres because they still were trying to figure out what they really like.
I only remember one girl who was into trance and techno and her appearance was completely unremarkable and unpretentious. She spent some of her free time volunteering and became a teacher. Thus, the music preference did not have a really big effect on her life.
You might be right about the wrong age group. In the 90s, it was a big thing, including the Loveparade. Millennials were too young for most of this.


Baumann

Marilena
Marilena was never a common name in Germany. Between 2005 and 2021, the name was given to only 390 children. The most common alternative would be Marlene. That name was given to about 22 600 children in the same period and it is on place 55 of the most frequent given names for the 00 years (although I have to admit that it sounds I would think of an older person when I hear that name - probably one of the names that became popular again due to "Emilismus"). Marlena and Marleen/Marlen also are similar names that are more frequent than Marilena, but less common than Marlene - just in case you want to check whether any of these names also is common in the successor states of Yugoslavia.

Daniela
You do not have to rename Daniela, but you might have to adjust the spelling a bit. According to https://forebears.io/ the most common spelling in former Yugoslavia is Danijela. Danjela also has more hits than Daniela.
Btw: I think that you should decide on one successor state (ethnic origin, not necessarily place of birth) because of the different name preferences and spellings/transcriptions.


Münch

Names
EA names? That would explain it. I never understood their preference for extremely oldfashioned names like Adelheid, Mechthild, Gretchen - to name just a few Sims 2 examples.

Bedroom
The mom's bedroom sounds like the best option to me, too. However, you should have a plan in mind for when he is too old for that. As the siblings have rather big age differences, sharing a room would be difficult and with such a big house it also would be difficult to explain.

Husband
Mila should be able to get some benefits like Kindergeld and Unterhaltsvorschuss nevertheless. That money, however, will not be sufficient to cover all the living costs and the upkeep of the house. Therefore, I hope that Mila has some savings and she might have to resume working once her youngest child attends daycare.


Objects
That is a difficult question because in Germany there are even limitations regarding trash on your own lot. Anything that could potentially harm the environment is forbidden and anything that could lead to pest infestation as well. Bio fuel, fridge and stove should not be options. The car might work if all hazardous substances have been removed (and it might be easier to reason why you keep a broken car than a broken fridge/stove). The bathtub, dresser and the stove and fridge doors should be fine. For the trash piles, I would need pictures of each option as e.g. the car tire would be problematic. The dumpsters are not hazardous, but I wonder if they really would stand around on an abandoned lot. I do not think that a silo has a dumpster even if it is not abandoned. The garbage collection would take place close to the main farm buildings and not for each silo, subsidiary building etc. separately. Moreover, waste bins usually belong to the municipal organization that takes care of the garbage collection. Thus, when there is no more garbage collection at a certain lot, the waste bin has to be returned or the lot owner has to pay for a replacement (and as there is a lot, it is always possible to get the money by impounding). The dumpster is also significantly bigger than the biggest type of waste bin that is emptied as part of the regular waste collection. The biggest type has 1100 l (e.g. https://www.transoplastshop.de/medi...On_600x600.jpg). Bigger dumpsters seem to be really rare. It is possible to buy them online, but there is no information on by whom and how they are emptied which should make them unattractive for the majority of people and companies. Therefore, I consider the dumpsters to be something that most likely would not be on an abandoned lot.



Haas

Wall colors: simsfreq is right that tenants may paint walls in whatever color they like. Thus, even black would be possible as long as the rental contract is not cancelled. If the contract is cancelled, the tenant has to ensure that the walls have colors that do not complicate the search for a new tenant. Thus, black walls would have to be painted in a more neutral color before moving out. Cream, pastel etc. colors, however, would be acceptable even upon moving out.
In practice, however, most people are quite boring in that respect. The vast majority of my friends had white walls in their rooms and cream was about the most exotic color that I ever saw.
Bedrooms: Is there a special reason why two teenagers have exactly the same furniture and the third has completely different furniture? Maike definitely should have more furniture in her room. She has significantly less storage than her sisters. Her room is also very empty compared with the other two rooms. The bookshelf in the white bedroom does not really match the rest of the furniture. The color is slightly off and it is also unusual that it is taller than the dressers.

TV/computer: I think that she would be against TVs as they might be a distraction for her children. Computers, however, were useful for school so that I could imagine that each child has one of its own. Depending on how strict the mother is, the computers maybe would not be in the bedrooms so that she has more control about how much time the girls spend in front of the computers.

Other house comments: At least one part of railing next to the stairs is missing. The bathtub on the groundfloor looks really unusual for a German bathroom. Bathtubs usually are not freestanding. Thus, it would look more typical if you at least choose one that has a rectangular box around it. The bigger bathroom also lacks curtains. The colors of the double bed and the nightstands does not really match. The food picture would fit better into kitchen, dining room or living room. Maybe you can swap it with another picture? The wall tiles in the kitchen also should be behind the espresso machine and the sink as well. The big picture in the dining area should be placed a bit lower imho. Chairs and tables also do not really match. The cabinet is too empty. The cage for small pets looks not very pet friendly and I am not sure whether it would be allowed. The coffee table in the living area is very small and far away from the couches. I would replace it with a bigger table. The Schrankwand looks really nice. The CD stand should be placed closer to the stereo and the stereo should be placed somewhere where it can be reached more easily. Maybe place it where the telephone currently is. The furniture in the laundry room should be on the opposing wall so that the washing machine can be connected to the same water tubes as the bathroom appliances (and both rooms and the basement kitchen ideally should be beneath one of the ground floor bathrooms or the kitchen). The cabinet in the basement living room looks rather expensive. Therefore, I would place it on one of the upper floors as cellars often have a higher humidity. Maybe put it in the hallway of the upper floor because that is empty IIRC. You could place the extra TV where the cabinet used to be. The couch and the wall deco in the office also looks like it should not be in the basement. If you find some matching items, you also could replace some of the shelves with file cabinets with doors. If not, you should place more deco items in the shelves. Drying rack and ironing board should not be placed in the heater room.



Accidental finds

You might want to look up Frankfurter Schrank (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankfurter_Schrank). Those closets were built since about 1650 and were representative pieces of furniture and therefore placed in hallways and other rooms where guests could see them. If you find such CC, it might be a good choice for Consort's house.

Here is a link to a website that collects things that were popular in the past: https://www.erinnerstdudich.de/
I guess the category for the 90s might be the most interesting one for you and might help you to get some decoration ideas.
Inventor
Original Poster
#232 Old 1st Oct 2023 at 10:46 AM
Storytelling
If I would let Viola Monty exist in my game, could her absence be explained by her having a exchange year abroad during Oberschule, or attending a Berufsschule/University far away? She could be either Mercutio's twin sister or 1 year older than him.

Regarding adventures, I was mostly curious about what "adventerous things" teenagers usually can do on a regular weekend with limited bus transport. On either Saturday or Sunday, the sports members have their competition game. During hangouts with friends, I assume they meet at each other's place, most likely in the evening during or after dinner. Indoors, they spend their evenings together by watching movies and/or playing games (video or board). If they wanna drink and smoke on a regular Saturday night, they would hang out outside in the forest (if it's good weather) or in an abandoned Lot. Was (underage) alcohol usage restricted to the weekends, or was it common amongst teens to drink a glass of beer during dinner together with easy-going parents? (I assume the alcohol usage is above average in villages). What were typical outdoor activities if the teen hangs out at their friend's place in a different village but with lack of shops?

Baumann
I want to give her a name that sounds the most similar to Mallory (or the Dutch Maartje). Marina, Malina, Martina and Magdalena are common in both Germany + parts of Yugoslavia, and noted in the top 250 amongst 90s kids. Marlene/a isn't a common Slavic name, though. Do you find "Martina" common enough? I saw the name is the most prevalent in Central/Central-Southeast, from Germany to Croatia.

General Build/Buy
Can you recall what non-plain wall colors were common in boys bedrooms? Would a shade of teal like this be too uncommon?
Which deco clutter are most likely uncommon?

Haas
EG: That wooden tub is a special bathtub for dogs only, hence the odd shape. I yet have to make my own wood retextures of those 4t2 dining chairs because I'm going to use them very often. The cage is a modded womrat object with a mouse/rat instead, but I can try to WCIF larger womrat cages. Parents bedroom: the objects are from different creators, but I tried to match them better using my own retextures. This is my current workaround because I cannot find beds with matching integrated bedside tables except AdeLana's Bravo set , although I assume that bedroom set rather has 70s/80s aesthetic than 90s. Is that correct?

DG, girls rooms: I haven't gotten around to decorate Maaike's room because I wanted to decide first what kind of furniture aesthetic I would give her, but I guess I can place similar furniture in her room as Jennifer's. Since the sloped walls area of the room cannot be functional due to routing issues, I want to put deco items only over there just like in Jennifer's room. Since Michelle is younger, I assumed she upgraded her furniture in a later year than her sisters, but I can recolor it in the same medium wood as everyone else. Her bookcase is from a different CC set than the armoire wardrobe, hence the odd height difference. The wardrobe colors are my own white retextures, but I'm not sure if I have also made recolors for the bookcase. But I can swap the bookshelf for a shorter one and manually add it with books and knickknacks, and change the existing objects into medium wood.

UG: In the reference , the iron board is also placed in the heating room, but I guess I better leave that for a sloppy household instead. What kind of sofa and wall deco would suit better in the basement office instead?

NieDo build
https://imgur.com/a/DbvnlCE
I've gotten around to make a new EFH lot based on this real estate ad. Its a pre-war FWH but without visible beams. I want to locate it in the hilly outskirts of Windenburg, i.e. Windslar area on the west. The house has three extra rooms in addition to two bedrooms. Given the old date of construction, is this architecture also suited? Which Windenburg household would most likely live in such a house: Schulz (multi-gen), Jahn (multi-gen), or LeChien (dog-friendly large backyard)?
Lab Assistant
#233 Old 22nd Oct 2023 at 9:26 PM
Storytelling

Viola Monty
A year abroad would work. A few people from my school did this. As the usual age for graduating from Gymnasium is 19 years, university probably is not an option as she might be too young for that. There also is a long period without lessons at the end of each semester and many students spend at least a part of that time with their family and friends from school. Berufsschule is also not an option imho: Many Azubis attend Berufssschulen close to their home. Boarding schools as Berufsschulen only are offered when there is no Berufsschule available close to the home of the Azubi. Most Ausbildungen also consist of a practical part in a company and minors (you can start an Ausbildung at the age of 15) usually apply for companies close to their home as moving out would be complicated. Thus, even if they attend a boarding school as Berufsschule, they only would be there for a certain amount of time per year and spend the rest of the time at home for the practical part. And even if somebody happens to do an Ausbildung without practical part and in a boarding Berufsschule, they still would be at home during school vacation which add up to twelve or thirteen weeks per year, i.e. one fourth of the time.

Adventures
Going to the forest to smoke is something that I only remember for a few 10-12 year olds and that definitely was not in the evening or at night. This usually was when they smoked for the first (few) time(s). Those who became regular smokers also smoked at school and at home (usually somewhere outside, of course) because they were addicted. Until September 2007, smoking also was legal from the age of 16 and it was less frowned upon than today (although most parents strongly disapproved nevertheless).
As already mentioned in a previous posting, in my village, there was a vaulted cellar on the vicarage lot that was a common meeting point for a group of teenage boys who drank alcohol, smoked and listened to music there. I am quite sure that some neighbors knew about it, but as long as there was no noise nuisance, they did not care too much.
Drinking beer and wine also is legal from the age of 16. Alcopops also used to be legal from the age of 16, but that was changed somewhen around or shortly after the time of your Veronaville. It also was quite easy to buy alcohol in supermarkets (= in a nearby town) at a younger age because there were hardly any age controls back then. Drinking alcohol was not restricted to weekends although, of course, it was more common on weekends. There also were plenty of occasions to drink on other days. Wine festivals often lasted four to five days including a holiday and a bridge holiday (which was a regular school day for pupils unless it was during school holidays). One of the most popular bars for younger people also had a happy hour for the whole evening on Wednesdays. And with a not so average music taste, Thursday was a common day for going to clubs (to university cities/towns 30-60 minutes away). All this is perfectly legal from the age of 16 on as long as you only stay until midnight or even longer if you have a written permission from your parents (real or fake) and if there is an adult in the group who "watches" you.
For going out, it did not matter that much whether your parents were strict or easy-going as long as you did not wake them up when returning home. Easy-going parents were more relevant for parties at home (like birthday parties) when you wanted to serve beer and wine at 15 years and younger or harder alcohol at 17 years and younger.
I do not know any teenager who regularly had beer for dinner with their parents. I guess the main reason for this is that it was not really common for the parents to have beer along with dinner. That is more something that I would associate with the grandparent's generation and after hard, physical work. There were some exceptions, of course, like a barbecue or village fairs where some people even had beer along with lunch, but also there, it was mainly the older people who did this and through the years, the range of non-alcoholic drinks became better so that the fewer people chose beer. People also were quite aware that drinking alcohol very regularly (like along with dinner) could lead to an addiction rather easily and therefore probably wanted to avoid drinking on an (almost) daily basis. Of course, my impression is biased by my social bubble.


Baumann

There might be some regional bias, but I would consider Martina and Magdalena as common German names. Marina and Malina imho are far less common in Germany. Other similar names that are more common than Marina and Malina are Melina and Milena. Melina is of Greek origin, but not perceived as a foreign name in Germany. Milena is of Slavic origin. I did not check whether these two names were common in Yugoslavia, however.
With Marlene/-a, the problem probably is that it is a combination of two names: Maria and Magdalena. Some countries have such combinations quite often (e.g. Spain), but it might not be common everywhere. Btw: Did you also consider Maria/Marie as name? Both names are evergreens in Germany - not at the top of the rankings around the time of Mallory's birth, but much more common than all the mentioned alternatives.


General Build

As mentioned in my last posting, all the children's and teen's bedrooms that I saw had boring white or cream wall colors.


General Buy

How much of the CC do you want to keep?

First picture:
1, 3 and 6: could be deleted.
2: might work for a senior with an old-fashioned house and kitchen. For everybody else, electric kettles are far more common.
4 and 5: Black is common for coated pots and pans, but those pots and pans usually have rather thick walls. Lids for coated pots and pans usually are made of glass. Here is an example for comparison: https://i.otto.de/i/otto/d379aac6-9...&w=551&sm=clamp - It is up to you to decide whether your CC is close enough to that.
7: This is not the typical shape, but if it is made of glazed ceramics it might work for sims who would prepare a Rumtopf or something else themselves. If it is made of metal, I would remove it.
8: Milk cans like this are not in use anymore for their original purpose. If you have an old farm house with subsidiary buildings, you could use it for some dusty corner with old stuff. You also could use it for sims who like gardening as decoration filled with plants/flowers.
9: The handles remind me of something that I saw sometime, but cannot really remember what it is. Maybe something related to an electrical preserver. I would rather remove it.
10, 11 and 12: Those casseroles look like ones that you would use to serve food on a special ocasion (after preparing it in something else). The rest of the year, they would be hidden in some kind of cupboard. Therefore, I am not sure whether you should keep them. (If you want to see some examples for casseroles that are used in everyday life, google for pictures for "Bräter").
13: Copper pans and pots are popular in gastronomy, not in private homes. The pot does not look very shiny on the picture so that I am not sure whether it is supposed to be a copper pot. If not, I would remove it.

Second picture:
The typical shape of a "Tortenhaube" is like this in Germany: https://schoenerdaheim.de/media/ima..._03_600x600.jpg
For "Tortenplatte mit Fuß", you can find similar search results to 5, but imho, they usually are not as high. (Example: https://cdn2.ikarus.de/media/01/91/...036000_01_3.jpg)
I did find a few search results similar to 2, 3 and 4, but I have not seen anything like this in real life so far although it was really common to bake many cakes and tartes for all kinds of events.
If you want to keep something, 5 would be my first choice, 2 the second choice (although that type of lid is rather uncommon).

Third picture:
I would keep 1, 2, 3 and 6.


Haas

Bravo bedroom set: I think that it is mainly the fabrics that cause a certain look. If you leave away the pillows, bed covers and the chair, there are many items that I would not associate with aa specific period of time. I think that the light wood and the dark wood recolors could also work for a more modern bedroom. I would try to place more closets and maybe reduce the amount of open shelves. I am also not sure whether I like the shelf above the bed as I always would fear that it falls down one day.

Girls' rooms: Color trends for furniture do not change as quickly as for clothing. Thus, if a color was popular in one year, you still will find some items and sets in that color in the following year even if another color is more popular by then. Although I did not mean that all girls have to have the same color. It also would have been possible to buy different colors in the same year. It just seemed strange that two siblings have pretty much identical rooms while the third sibling has a completely different room.

Heating room: Just as a background information: Heating rooms usually do not have windows. Thus, drying clothes there might cause mold (and I think that there already is mold in the left corner of the picture). That is why most people would try to avoid drying clothes there and if you dry them somewhere else, then you also would place the ironing board somewhere else to avoid carrying around the clothes more often than necessary. Also have a look at the right corner of the room. There seems to be the basis of the chimney and slightly above floor level there is a dark rectangle. This is an opening of the chimney and when the chimney is cleaned, the ashes are taken out there. Of course, nowadays this is not as dirty anymore as in the past, but I still would not want to have any fresh clothes or the fabric of the ironing board in that room when the ashes are removed.

Office: An office in the basement imho is a place where you only go because you have to go there, not a place where you go because you want to spend time there. Therefore, I would not place a sofa there at all. Maybe you could place a few chairs there instead that are back-ups for when the household has more guests than usual and they need a few additional seats upstairs. Maybe the household still has some older chairs. If not, folding chairs or stackable chairs are common, usually without upholstery or made from a synthetic fabric so that humidity is not a problem. I also would not have wall deco in the basement.


New EFH

Just for the record: This link (and one more) has a 18+ warning. It is not a problem, as I just have to click on a button to confirm that I am old enough without signing up. In my opinion, there is no reason for that warning.

Some thoughts that I had when looking at the pictures:
The grey on the outside of the house is much too dark.
The pantry shelves do not look realistic. There are much too few items on the shelves. You should use OMSPs to place more items. The shelves themselves also look unrealistic because it would take a lot of time to attach each shelf to the walls and they also could only carry a relatively low weight. A heavy loading shelf like in the storage room would be more realistic.
In the storage room, you also should use OMSPs.
The bottles and the crates do not match. The crates have to be a bit higher than the bottles so that the crates can be stacked. The three most common types of crates are the ones for twelve water bottles (https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...IM2gk&usqp=CAU), twelve soft drink bottles (https://www.delbrouck.de/wp-content...03/Cocacola.jpg - not stackable with the water crates because they have slightly different measurements) and for twenty beer bottles (https://www.neue-verpackung.de/file...-Kauezle_3d.jpg - the breweries also use them for 0.5 l soft drinks and water). People either stack the crates or they have special shelves for them (e.g. https://www.net-rack-shop.de/WebRoo...etRackShop.jpg).
Heater room: There should be a full wall separating the heater room from the oil tanks and in the room with oil tanks there should be no other items. The tanks also look rather small. I do not think that they can hold enough oil for one year.
Bathroom: A shelf on wheels is a quite uncommon choice for a private bathroom imho.
Eckbank: The Eckbank and table do not match very well as there is no gap inbetween for the legs.
OG bathroom: The closet does not look like one that was made for a bathroom. Not every piece of furniture is made for high humidity.
The layout of the house is unusual imho as people have to go through the kitchen first to go into the living room.

What do you mean by whether the architecture is suited?

My first impression when looking at the layout was that the house consists of two full apartments for a three-generational family. It looks like the living room on the ground floor used to be two separate rooms (probably bedroom and living room) in the past, but at some point this bedroom was not needed anymore. The ground floor would be the apartment for the grandparent(s) and the upper floor the apartment for the children and grandchildren.
Therefore, I would choose a multi-generational family as inhabitants. The dining room on the ground floor can be converted into a bedroom for the grandparents as there is another dining room in the winter garden (that most likely was added at a later point in time). If the top floor was usable, I would have suggested moving in the Schulz family as Viktor then could have the top floor with a bedroom and living room for himself (and maybe a tiny additional bathroom), but as it is not usable, the Jahn family is a better choice because the two teenagers could share a room, if necessary. Maybe you can decorate one of the attic rooms as an additional room for them (maybe as man cave for gaming), even if it just is decorative and not usable.
I really would keep the two kitchens, dining rooms and living rooms. That way, the family members are not forced to interact with each other all the time. Instead, they can choose when they want to interact.
Inventor
Original Poster
#234 Old 23rd Oct 2023 at 4:53 PM
Storytelling
During which school grades is going abroad common? Is it only a thing in Gymnasium and Oberschule?
Can you share with me an example of a vicarage?

Baumann
Since Martina is probably common in Germany indeed and sounds the most similar to Maartje, I lean towards giving her that name. But do you know if binational families were more likely to give their children German names, or rather the name more common in country of origin?

Build/Buy
I want to clean up my object CCs as much as I can, so I don't mind removing many objects if they aren't relevant enough.

NieDo multigen EFH
Can you share with me examples of common heaters and oil tanks?
I couldn't find any better bathroom shelf racks like these, but i will keep it in mind if I look for new CCs.
I want to add post-war Lots in the Windslar area to picture a development area, so I wondered how I can mix and match pre and post-war Lots in there.

KiHei bricked EFH Lot
My sreenshots: https://imgur.com/a/ZxryXKr
Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0jLfUxurko
It's built in 1985 and has approx 109 m2 living space. I want to locate it at the area between Olde Platz and the Lykke harbour. The extra room in the living area is separated by beams, so I assume it was a former enclosed room.
Would this lot be suited for the Rosa household with two kids and their Persian cat? If not, what kind of household would more likely live in this house regarding jobs, social class and hobbys?
Lab Assistant
#235 Old 13th Nov 2023 at 9:34 PM
Storytelling

Year abroad
From what I know, it is only a thing in Gymnasium and even there it is not too common (about 1-2 of 100 students at my school). Pupils of Realschule and Hauptschule would be too young as they graduate at 16 and 15 years, respectively, and they cannot skip the last grade due to exams. Thus, they would have to be 14 or 13 years, respectively, to go abroad in the second last grade and which is quite young. Fachoberschule is part of the "Zweiter Bildungsweg" which means that pupils there might already have a not so straight CV and often prefer to gratuade without further delays. There also are alternatives for going abroad after school or during/after professional training (work and travel, Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr, studying abroad, Wanderschaft https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journeyman_years)
The pupils usually either went abroad in grade 10 or in grade 11. In my state, it was common that those who went abroad in grade 10 repeated that grade in Germany because passing grade 10 automatically gives you Mittlere Reife in most states and because in grade 10 there is quite a lot of new stuff to learn that you need in higher grades. Those who went abroad in grade 11 did not necessarily repeat the grade in Germany because that grade is not tied to obtaining Mittlere Reife and because less of the stuff that you will learn in that grade will be needed for the last two years of school. English-speaking countries are by far the most popular destinations for a year abroad, but I also know a person who spent a year in Finland for example.

Vicarage
The Wikipedia article contains a few pictures: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfarrhaus
The Google picture search also has some nice and probably better suited results when you search for "Pfarrhaus".
In general, it is a house with the same or a similar style as the rest of the village/town. In villages, it usually is an older building rather close to the church and the village center (in cities and towns there might be several ones and they might be newer and not necessarily in the town/city center). The building usually is a bit bigger and slightly more elaborate than the other buildings from the same period. In the past, it used to be the residence of the parish priest (and maybe also of his housekeeper - I am not sure whether they would have been allowed to live in the same house), nowadays they often are not used for that purpose anymore, but as function rooms for parish events and meetings and often for a small rent also for other organizations, clubs and individual people (club celebrations, rehearsal room, polling station, funeral meals etc).


Baumann

That really depends on the family. I know some families that managed to find names that exist in both cultures/languages. Other families chose a common German name or a name common in the non-German culture. It also does not really matter what family name the child has: I know combinations of German given names with non-German family names, non-German given names with German family names, but also people with German given and family names who do not look like the average German at all and people with non-German given and family names who look completely average German. As I do not know how common it is in the Netherlands: Quite a few people in Germany (I think about half of the people) have two or more given names. Of course, only one of those names is used in daily life and the other one just on more formal purposes, but it is common that people with a binational background have the first given name from one culture and the second given name from the other culture if they have more than one given name.


Build/Buy

Then you should remove most of/all the items where I was not entirely sure.


NieDo multigen EFH

This is an example for older Öltanks: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...-K7gNw&usqp=CAU
As you can see, the walls of the room have a special color up to a certaain level so that in case one of the tanks leaks, the oil remains in this room and does not drain away in the ground and walls.
This seems to be a newer one: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...VNEwWQ&usqp=CAU
It has some half walls directly around it which is quite common.
This is also a newer model: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...VtN93U&usqp=CAU
Again you can see that a part of the wall looks different. This type of tank sometimes also is used outside of houses when there is no cellar. Often, they are at least partly beneath the ground and covered with earth on top.
Rooms with Öltanks usually are next to one of the outer walls of the house and there is some connection on the outside of the house so that the Öltanks can be refilled from outside.

These are examples for older Ölzentralheizungen:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...oVu9mA&usqp=CAU
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...uFqFhQ&usqp=CAU
Orange and blue were common colors, but there also were some with other colors.
These are examples for newer ones:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...-IkdZ4&usqp=CAU
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...qQCPyw&usqp=CAU
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...5liT0c&usqp=CAU
The vast majority of pictures that I saw and also according to my personal experience shows that most of the heater rooms do not have daylight. The heater room usually is directly next to the oil storage room and as that one needs to be next to an outer wall, the heater room often does not have any connection to an outer wall. You can see one exception in one of the Öltank pictures above as the tanks there appear to be in a bigger room so that the heater is in the same room. I also assume that the Öltank with the half walls is in the same room as the heater.
I assume that you will have a mix of both options in your neighborhood as it would be unlikely to have that many houses with identical setups. For the houses where you have a separate oil storage room, you might want to search for "Revisionstür" pictures as those are half-height doors that are placed about one meter above ground. Maybe some window CC could have the right look. You also could try whether it is possible to somehow have a half wall within a door frame as this also is a solution. Regardless of whether there are one or two rooms, it always has to be a fireproof door.

If you scroll down a bit, you can find a table that shows how much oil is needed depending on the year of construction (left column) of a house. The middle column shows the liters per square meter, the right column shows the liters per 150 square meters of living space. You can use that information to calculate how many tanks you will need for the house (usually you should be able to store at least the amount of oil that you will need for one year as the oil trucks also charge travel costs for each delivery).

Pre- and post-war lots
Of course, it depends a bit on the decades, but you can mix rather freely. It is always possible to explain newer houses with destruction during the war. Most of these houses would have been rebuilt during the first ten to twenty years after the war, often with materials gathered from the destroyed buildings. Some houses also were replaced during the 70s, either still due to the war or as a modernization. During this period, there were lots of "Bausünden" (architectural eyesores) with styles that do not match the surroundings at all. During the following decades, there was less replacement of houses in already built-up neighborhoods and there also were more restrictions on the appearance of the new buildings so that they had to match the existing buildings better. During the 80s and 90s, people often could not even choose between red and brown roof tiles. In recent years, those regulations have been loosened a bit so that people have a bit more freedom of choice again (e.g. now even a blue roof is acceptable where red was forbidden 35 years ago). In villages, this has led to a few more individual houses (although mostly in building development areas, hardly in the village center) because new lots are often sold directly to the new owners and the owners then may build a house themselves or hire a company to do so. In towns and cities, new houses often look more uniform than ever because the lots often are sold to construction companies which then build dozens of (almost) identical new houses there before selling the lots again to the future inhabitants.


KiHei bricked EFH Lot

Extra space: As the original garage is symmetrical, I would add one tile on the right side even if that means that the garage ingame is a bit too big. You also can add another tile with earth next to the driveway as it probably partly belongs to the lot (I did not watch the whole video). The other two tiles, I would add to the way on the other side of the lot .
Staircase: Would it be functional if you found a mirrored version?
Bathroom: I assume that it only is that empty because the house is up for sale. Your sims need some cabinets to store towels, drugs, sanitary products etc.
Bedroom: Why do you consider replacing the bed? You definitely lack nightstands, however. The wall closets look really nice. If possible, you could use doors with mirrors for the two middle doors. I am not sure whether the big separate dresser is a good choice. A half-height dresser, dressing table or something like that might work better.
Rosa family: With those jobs, they should have an above-average income while the house has below-average living space (average is about 140 m²). I also think that they would prefer a house that has at least three bedrooms so that each child may have it's own bedroom. Even more bedrooms are imaginable as they probably have regular visitors (family and friends) from Italy as you imagine them as expats.
"Handwerklich begabt?" and "viel Potential" are euphemistic ways to describe that the house requires lots of renovation and repairs. If you want to include that aspect in your game, a craftsperson with average or slightly below average income with spouse and maybe one older child or one or two younger children might be a good choice as inhabitants.
Inventor
Original Poster
#236 Old 14th Nov 2023 at 2:44 PM Last edited by Softlism : 14th Nov 2023 at 2:54 PM.
Storytelling
Given names: It's also common in my country to have multiple given names. I have it myself too, although I've never been baptized.

Supernatural life states: To add some Sims quirks in my headcanon, I want to turn certain Sims into occults. For Witches, I was thinking Knowledge Sims with high interest for Paranormal (the type will depend on Niceness level). (I assume that Knowledge Sims are more likely to roll out occult wants) Those who like toys and sci-fi may buy a Servo. Knowledge Sims with moderate to high interest in Paranormal rolling Werewolf wants may become werewolves. What kind of Sim personalities would be most likely Plantsims or want to stay living as Vampires if being bitten?

Aside of small jobs at neighbors (like mowing lawn), what are other common ways for U16 Fortune Sims to make some money, in particular online?

Build/buy
https://imgur.com/a/21tdUro : Which kitchen/china cabinet deco & laundry deco are common enough to worth keeping?

The bed from the small bricked house is a 3t2 conversion, but it doesn't have integrated endtables and I'm not sure if the included 3t2 endtable is common in German interior. That's why I was thinking to replace it with the Bravo one since that's the only CC bed I found with integrated endtables.

What kind of bathroom vents are common if the room doesn't have windows?

Can you share with me some pictures of common cabinets suited for bathroom? Then I can check which cabinets I can add to my Bathroom staples collection file.

Which backsplash overlays are worth keeping for kitchens, bathrooms and cellars? I can also use this template to make my own backsplash recolors for oil tanks as well once I know which wall textures I want to use.

Choosing lots for Sim households
What house size range would be suited for each of these households?
* Dreher-Meier (also undecided about house construction year and district)
* LeTourneau-Namgung
* Baumann
* Gerstner
* Wolf-Classen
* Capricciosa
* Fyres
* LeChien (including lot size due to having a large backyard)
* Antonio Monty's household
* Kent Capp
Lab Assistant
#237 Old 10th Dec 2023 at 10:05 PM
Storytelling

Supernaturals: I also could imagine some sims with popularity and fortune aspirations being interested in becoming witches as a certain reputation and new ways of making money would go along with it. For servos, fortune sims also might be interested in having one as they could see it as a butler without salary and as a way of showing their wealth to other sims. For plantsims, I can imagine knowledge sims (of course), but maybe also family sims who would like to have children, but are not interested in a relationshipor who cannot have children with their partner (same sex relationships, female seniors etc). It might also work for some pleasure and romance sims as plantsims do not need to sleep which would mean more time for having fun and affairs. For vampires, I can imagine knowledge sims (of course), some popularity (because of the reputation) and fortune sims (to have an eternity to earn money). Family also might work if you have a sim who might be suited as patriarch/matriarch to start a whole vampire clan/dynasty with their offspring.

Small jobs: There were pretty much no online jobs for minors back then (and also hardly any online jobs for adults either). Flea markets still were rather common back then for private sellers. There also were (and still are) second-hand shops where you can sell old clothing and receive a bit of money for it.
Just for the record: The relevant age limit is 15, not 16. At the age of 15, you already may start an Ausbildung and work up to 40 hours a week. Of course, there are some restrictions regarding max. working hours per day, working at night, on weekends etc., but you cannot compare those restrictions to those for children/teenagers up to (including) the age of 14.
Nevertheless, the percentage of pupils who regularly earned money after school was quite low. Most ones that I can remember at least lived in small towns so that they could walk to their workplace. I worked as a tutor for other pupils, but they either had to come to my parents' house or we met in the library of our school if we had a free period at the same time. Going somewhere (or rather having my parents driving me there) simply would have been unprofitable as the tutoring lessons were only about 1-2 hours per session. Another problem is that it is not too attractive to earn too much money because then you might have to pay for a health insurance of your own while usually children are included in their parents' health insurance without causing additional costs. (This applies for the about 90 % of the population who are in the compulsory health insurance system. The about 10 % with a private health insurance already pay separate fees for each child so that this might not be a negative factor for them. Most members of the private health insurance system are state officials, people in very well-paid jobs and self-employed people and company owners regardless of whether they earn a lot money.)
It was (and still is) common that children and teenager receive pocket money, money gifts from e.g. the grandparents for birthdays and christmas and money gifts were also common for first communion and confirmation. (In villages, it is common that even families that hardly know you send a card with 5 DM/euros (or more) in it and when their children have the same event, your parents will also send them a card with money. The amounts are small, but as so many people do this, you might receive several hundred or even more than a thousand DM/euros this way.
Parents also usually buy all the stuff that a child/teen really needs (clothing, food, hygiene products, school stuff, often also costs for hobbies). Earning your own money therefore only got more important when you started having more expenses, like going on vacation without your parents, obtaining a driving licence and car (although it is common that parents at least contribute to these expenses) and when you started thinking about university and tried to save some money for moving out, maybe also planned to be a semester abroad. At that age, more interesting and better paying jobs were possible (like waiting tables as a regular job or shift work in a factory for a few weeks during vacation).



Build/buy

Deco:
1st picture: Delete 1, 3, 6 and 13. Keep 7-11, 14 and 15. Unsure about 2, 4, 5 and 12.
10 and 11 might be a bit too golden for many households, but I am sure that they would be fitting for some households nevertheless.
12-15: The transparency is not really a problem, imho. Glass is fitting for all of them. It's the white plastic rings that look unusual (and also a bit cheap). For 15, I would just use glass, for 12 and 14, ceramic might be a good recolor. You also could try wooden recolors and for 14 even a silver metal color.
2nd picture: The most common laundry baskets are made of plastic and easier to carry than the ones in your picture. Here are two examples:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...x3Hn60&usqp=CAU
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...RhjU2U&usqp=CAU
I am not sure whether rattan already was common, but wicker definitely was common. However, I would only place them in bedrooms (if you place laundry baskets there at all). The plastic laundry baskets linked above are common in bathroom and many households only have laundry baskets in the bathroom.
Due to the size, I would suggest keeping 2, 4 and 7 (if you can remove the shirt that is lying on top). 13 might be an option as wastepaper basket for households with special taste. Thus, I would remove 1, 3, 5 and 6. 10 looks rather like a basket that people might use for clean clothes, e.g. before or after ironing them.
8: We did not use trays so that I cannot tell you how common they were in households, but I definitely remember that shape from a film from the 70s. 9 does not look very typical, but maybe it could be fitting nevertheless with the right clutter to go along with it.
11 and 12: I would keep them and like in the first picture, you could make additional recolors. For 12 the whole selection with glass, ceramic, wood and metal. For 11 glass and metal would be typical. 11 also is a far less common shape than 12.

Endtable: That shape definitely is not the most common one, but e.g. IKEA has several with similar shape. Thus, if that is the only reason, I do not think that you have to replace it. You just should reuse the set in fewer houses than you reuse other sets.

Vents: Something like this: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...fy71CM&usqp=CAU
Although they are not always visible. Sometimes, they e.g. are covered by or integrated in the lamp.

Bathroom cabinets: Google for Badezimmer and Schrank to see many examples. Cabinets often are high and slim. Wooden colors are quite common and sometimes there are gaps in the material to facilitate air interchange. Bathroom and kitchen cabinets in general are more robust (changes in temperature and humidity and load-bearing capacity) than furniture for other rooms and therefore often also more expensive. Therefore, I would not reuse the cabinets in other rooms.

Backsplash overlays: In bathrooms (and those cellar rooms where you have tiles), walls and floor usually are completely covered with tiles. Thus, I only would use them in kitchens.
Theoretically, you could keep all the overlays as you might find a kitchen with matching colors for all of them. In general, light colors, squared tiles, smaller tiles and tiles without patterns and decorative strips are more common.
Here is a list of suggestions, but please also have a look at your kitchens when makin the final decisions:
Big-BG-whiteblue (as long as the decorative strip can be removed/covered with wall cabinets), Herringbone-BG-cream, Micro-BG-aqua, Morrocan-BG-cream, Big-Colora1, Small-Colora2 or 4 (depending on which decorative strip can be hidden better), Floor-BG1 and 2, Floor-diamond1 and 2 (maybe for 70s kitchens), Floor-diamond3, Floor-KB1, Floor-NL3 to 6, Floor-terra1, FloorwStone-diamond1, FloorwStone-UNI, Small-FT-grey, Big-KB-Mblue, Big-KB-Rbeige1, Big-KB-Rblue1, Big-KB-Rmint1, Mini-KB-Baqua, -Bblack, -Bcream, -brown and -mint, Small-KB-brown1 and 2, LS: the first 10 ones and 12, 15 and 16, Moroccan-MG-blue, Small-PETS: all except for pink, Micro-UNI-white1 and 2, Misc_UNI-diam


Households

Do you also have backstories for the households? It might make a big difference whether they inherited a house from their parents/great-parents or whether they have to finance the house completely by themselves. For the district, it also makes a difference whether they grew up in the area or whether and when they moved to the region.

Dreher-Meier: Karla as state official is quite credit-worthy. The incomes, however, are not necessarily above average. Therefore, I would imagine an EFH that is slightly above average in size (150-160 m²). I could imagine Windslar or Crumbling Isle as districts. If the house is in the coutryside, they could have a big lot. In the development area, all the lots would have more or less the same size. In the villa area, they would have one of the smallest lots.

LeTourneau-Namgung: Their careers are not exceptionally good paid. Therefore, I would choose a house with slightly below average size (about 120 m²). Some subsidies for building a house are higher and/or easier to obtain for smaller houses and I can imagine that fortune sims would want to get as many subsidies as possible. The house still would be big enough for a family of four (when the oldest son was younger and still lived with them).

Baumann: Just for the record: The MFH itself may be bigger, just the apartment size is relevant for the rent. If the two girls shared a room before Katarina moved out, an apartment with three rooms and about 70-75 m² would be a common size. If they did not share a bedroom, you would need 80-85 m². However, I do not really know how rents in rural areas were back around 2005 and whether the bigger apartment would have been affordable with one below-average income fulltime job and a mini job.

Gerstner: I imagine that the rooms in their apartment would be a bit smaller than the ones in the Baumann apartment. The rent in a FWH also should be a bit lower than in a more modern house. The apartment could either have three rooms (60-70 m²) if you want to stress the "middle" in "lower middle class" or two rooms (55-65 m²) if you want to stress the "lower" in "lower middle class". If you go for the two-room option, I would turn both rooms in bedrooms (with book shelves, TV etc.) and maybe have a slightly bigger kitchen as Wohnküche. It also would be possible that the mother's room is a mix of living room and bedrooms, but that works best with younger children that sleep longer than the parents and I also imagine that Anne as romance sim wants to have as much privacy as possible.

Wolf-Classen: Financially, they should be better off than the Baumann and Gerstner families, but rents in the town center also are more expensive. That is why I would suggest a similar size and the same number of rooms as for the Baumann family.
(Just to improve your German skills a bit: It is called Gymnasiast.)

Capricciosa: Their finances are slightly better than those of the Baumann, but rents in the town center also are more expensive, even if they are older. Therefore, I would go for a similar size and also three rooms.

Fyres: I would choose an apartment with four rooms for them as I assume that the two girls do not have a very close relationship due to their age difference and due to being "only" step sisters who only know each other for a limited period of time. As their income is below average, I would try to find an apartment with rather small rooms for them (max. 80-85 m², smaller if possible). Maybe the post-war area or an apartment in a village might be an option for them as the houses there already are a bit older and it is not the town center so that the rent would be a bit lower.

LeChien: As mentioned for one of the previous families, lot sizes in development areas usually are very similar and nowadays smaller than in the past. Therefore, an EFH in a village might work best for the big garden. In more remote parts of a village, there exist lot sizes of more than 1000 m². For such a location, you might even go up to the maximum lot sizes ingame. Although 3x5 or 4x5 (with the narrow side facing the street) would be the more common shape. In a town, such a lot size might only work in an old villa district, but they do not have the financial background for that. Regarding living size, I would see them on a similar or slightly lower level than the Dreher-Meier family with 130-160 m².

Antonio Monty: I really have a problem making suggestions for them (and the Monty clan as a whole). The culinary career is rather badly paid in Germany (for employees just 26 000 euros gross income per year). Restaurant owners in average earn more than employees, but even they earn a bit less than the average and they have higher costs because they have to pay the social security payments completely by themselves (for employees, one half is paid by the employer). Therefore, it is not possible that Patrizio and Isabella earned enough money to buy or build the Monty Ranch. And if Antonio is employed as chef in one of the family restaurants with the average salary, he with his current family situation would have a net income of a bit less than 20 000 euros per year, equal to about 1650 euros per month. That would be low enough to qualify for financial support by the state. (The average gross salary and the calculated net salary are numbers from 2023. The actual numbers for 2005 were different. Nevertheless, I thought that the numbers might help you to estimate the purchasing power as prices in the Netherlands are not too different from those in Germany). If you decide to have that as a background, the family might be entitled to live in social housing at a far below average rent. (There are CC items that can be placed in an apartment to lower the rent.) A household of three people would be allowed to live in an apartment with 70-80 m², a household of four people (when Hero still was alive) in an apartment with 80-95 m². Therefore, an apartmentsize around 80 m² would be good so that they do not have to fear having to move out.
As Hero's death was very recent, you might also want to create a backstory for her. Has she been a stay-at-home mum or did she work and if yes what kind of job did she have? Did she have savings, a heritage, other sources of money?

Kent Capp: What kind of job will he have? I think you once mentioned that he could work in science (the logical choice with his skills)?! The average apartment size for singles is about 68 m². (The value is a biased by old widows living in owned EFHs or in the same apartment for many decades = with low rent. For younger people, the average is lower than that.) With a science-related job, Kent would have above average income. Therefore, I would let him have an apartment with about average size or a bit bigger (60-80 m²).
Inventor
Original Poster
#238 Old 11th Dec 2023 at 11:18 PM Last edited by Softlism : 9th Jan 2024 at 11:23 AM.
Build/buy
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the build/buy stuff. I will check it out once I'm back home.
Was terrace roofing already common in the 90s/00s? (example: https://www.gutta.com/wp-content/up...nce-536x357.jpg)

Lot build
I've started building a FWH apartment: https://imgur.com/a/64O4Mnp
My questions are noted in the captions, but I wonder mostly how to modify the apartment if I choose to keep the Lot flat instead of sloped.

Households & NPCs
I haven't created back stories for the Veronaville Townie recreation households, but I have to check which Elder NPCs/Townies I can relate to them based on their face templates.

Baumann-Tomic (https://imgur.com/Q0FR8MJ): I imagine the Baumann family are Windenburg natives. Nikolas has a (widowed) mother and a (widowed) aunt. His mother Gertrud has knowledge × fortune aspiration and an elegant sense of fashion. She's part of the Garden Club committee. Nikolas has a nice brother named Frank who also has a Romance Aspiration, although he is still single (I want to makeover this NPC: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Ocean_Pederson). I haven't made up a back story for Gertrud and her relationship with Nikolas, but she is this NPC I'm going to give a makeover and modify the family relations: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Tiffany_Zarubin .
Given this info, how likely would Nikolas and his family live in a multigen house with his mother? Because I think Frank would rather live on his own due to his active romance life. If Nikolas is unlikely to live with his mother, what kind of property would suit them as alternative to an apartment? An EFH smaller than 120 m2? (I wonder if this small EFH from 1985 would suit them instead)

LeTourneau-Namgung (https://imgur.com/3JnYmWf): What careers would be suited for Joseph and Da-Rae? (sorry if I asked it earlier and forgot your reply)

What were common age gaps between two siblings born in the 50s - 60s? I wonder if it was approx 4 years or shorter.

For a German setting, what appereance would be a good default replacement for the matchmaker NPC? Or was that racial stereotype actually a thing in Germany?

Storytellling
If Romeo, Juliette and Tybalt would share the same OTH, which is Music & Dance, how would the dynamics be like between them if they're at the same time in the hobby club? Would Juliette be overly protected by Tybalt during their activities? And when could she grab chances to hang out with Romeo in the hobby club?
How common was it for teens to be a part of both a sports club and a different hobby club? If it's too uncommon or too expensive for lower middle class households, then I give Romeo Sports as OTH instead.
Mad Poster
#239 Old 12th Dec 2023 at 7:15 PM
I have been to Germany once, many years ago, and cannot remember a lot, to be honest.

Watching your project with interest, though!
Lab Assistant
#240 Old 8th Jan 2024 at 9:49 PM
Happy new year!


Regarding jobs for teenagers from your previous posting

If you have a teenager that is actively involved in church, they could be a head altar server. There were always two ones in my home village and each village nearby. At least one of them had to be in church for each church service (2-3 times per week for 1-1.5 hours).


Build/buy

You might have to find out first whether terraces themselves were as common in Germany than in other countries. I think that they were less common, but I could not find data about it. What definitely was (and is) common: Lauben, Pergolas, Markisen and extended regular roofs of houses and garden houses.
Special roofing like in your link did exist, but was not that common in my environment. The one that I remember best is above a paved space next to a basement entry and the paved space is used rather like a garden shed and wood storage and not like a terrace. I guess that this kind of roofing is not that comfortable on sunny days because it does not provide any sun protection.
For raather new houses (or ones with recent renovations), you also could search for Sonnensegel. They got more and more popular during recent years, but I am not sure how common they already were at the time of your Veronaville.


Lot build

Bar: A bar in such a small place definitely would struggle more than a restaurant. There often is a Stammtisch in a restaurant where some of the older men of a village/town meet, have a few drinks and talk to each other. These people would not be customers of a bar. And older teenagers and young adults usually do not go to the same type of bar where middle-aged and older adults are which means that the remaning amount of potential customers would have to be halved.
Just for the record: I thought that Windenburg is supposed to be a small town and not a village like Veronaville. Am I wrong?
A small town could have two restaurants and if one is an Italian restaurant and one a German restaurant that could work. The restaurant in your pictures offers take-away food at the windows on the left side of the ground floor. That could generate some extra income. "Rathausstüble" indicates that the restaurant is located close to the city hall, usually at a central square (market square?) of the town. This means that there are rather many walk-bys who might be interested in take-away food and it might also be a popular option for lunch breaks of the employees of the surrounding businesses. If you do not want to have another restaurant, a second café still would be a better option than a bar. To attract more customers, it could be a combination of bakery and café, pastry shop and café or café and bistro. All those options would be popular options for lunchtime. The Italian restaurant could have some delivery service in addition to the restaurant income.

Nightclub: I know that you did not ask any questions related to this, but I do not think that it is realistic to have a nightclub in a town center. It causes noise at nighttime and the owner would be involved in lawsuits with people living nearby more or less permanently. I know a bar that was in a town center around the time of your Veronaville and even the bar owner faced a lot of problems due to the noise. They had to lower the background music volume to a barely noticable level at 10 p.m. and they had to have all the windows and the door closed because even the conversations of the guests were considered as too loud. The bar was closed and reopened several times and the owners also changed quite regularly. Something like this only works well in bigger towns or cities where you have several similar businesses close to each other.

Rear view: If you decide to leave the lot flat, I would move the entrance to the ground floor and have the stairs inside the building. Having full-height stairs outside would be rather unattractive for possible tennants and the roof above the parking also would not work with stairs that high. According to the layout, the back of the ground floor is not used anyway so that you could place the staircase there easily without changing the layout too much.

EG reference: The bottom left area is the Imbiss part of the restaurant with windows (Schiebefenster) on two or three sides. The entrance on the side of the building is just an entrance to the side rooms of the restaurant and to the stairs leading to additional rooms of the restaurant. You cannot use it as staircase for the apartment residents as they always would have to walk through storage rooms of the restaurant and the restaurant owner definitely would not accept that (neither the food control administration).

Staircase leading to the upper floors: I think that spiral stairs are not allowed in this case for safety reasons. It is difficult to impossible to carry a person on a stretcher on this stairs. Maybe you can find stairs closer to the shape of the original stairs?

OG2: Just for the record: Not all yellow markings are for walls, some also are for doors.
The yellow and red colors apparently represent changes compared with a previous layout. Yellow means that a wall was removed. It looks like they also used it for newly added doors and windows. Red means that a wall was added. I guess that the layout was originally made for a construction permit.

OG3: Usually, a Loggia is somehow open to the outside. Therefore, they should have chosen another, more fitting term. I think that I also would call that room a Wintergarten.


Households & NPCs

You included a bracket in three of the links so that they did not work, when I clicked on them. Removing the bracket from the address bar helped.

Baumann-Tomic
As long as the housing situation does not give the impression of Nikolas still living in his child's room, it should be fine that they live in the same house. As his mother and aunt are supposed to live with him, I would imagine that the house was the house in which they grew up and never moved out. Therefore, I would choose a house from the 50s or earlier.

LeTourneau-Namgung: There always has been a certain level of immigration and emigration close to borders. There might have been more immigration during Napoleon's reign due to soldiers being left behind when they were injured or desertation. However, I am not sure whether Joseph's family name still would be spelled this way after such a long time of being in Germany. Joseph also is a rather unusual name for a person of his age. The name was much more common one or more generations before.
You already had some jobs in mind for them, but the information was on Imgur and apparently you edited out that information. According to my answers, you had a social services job in mind for Joseph and another, also rather low paying job for his wive. (Would it be possible to keep the old, outdated information at the bottom of each Imgur page instead of deleting it? Might be helpful.)
Joseph's interests made me think of a travel agency (covering travel and culture - if he owns the business also money), but I already suggested that before and it might have been a suggestion for another sim. If the suggestion was not for another sim/family: Da-Rae also could work in the travel agency if it is a family business. She even might have worked for some hours per week while the children still were younger. Alternatively, she also could be a meteorologist due to her weather interest and due to the fact that Korean's immigrating to Germany usually are highly qualified (although the number of Korean immigrants still was really low at the time when Da-Rae must have immigrated).
Age gaps: At that time, contraceptives were not really available yet. Therefore, it was quite common that children were born about one year apart from each other. That only changed during 1965 and the following years when the pill was introduced in Germany (Pillenknick).
Matchmaker: No, that stereotype was not really a thing in Germany. The crystal ball is something that would be more fitting for a fortune teller at a funfair, but even those usually wear rather dark and often single-colored costumes (black, burgundy, dark blue, dark violet etc). For matchmaking, I only can think of Partnervermittlungsagenturen and there people would wear at least business casual or a more formal look.


Storytelling

There is no RL equivalent of a hobby club where all people with interest in that hobby would go. If you want to dance, you most likely would go to a dancing school. Maybe, your local sports club or carnival club also has a dancing group. For learning how to play music, you can attend a Volkshochschulkurs. Other options for music lessons often are 1:1 and therefore only provide limited possibilities of having contact with other learners. Once you know how to play an instrument, you simply can play by yourself or with some friends without the need of paying for it anymore. If Romeo and Juliette started dancing school or VHS music lessons at the same time, they would be on a similar level and therefore most likely in the same group (as long as they chose the same type of dancing or the same instrument). If someone (like Tybalt) wants to join at a later point, this person has to have the right level of skills to end up in the same group. Otherwise, they would be assigned to another group with higher or lower level.
It was not uncommon to have more than one hobby membership. Membership of a sports club often is not that expensive and up to a certain age, children do not have to pay a fee as long as at least one of their parents is a club member. For instruments, the most common offer is a course for half a year or a year and then you have to sign up for another course on a higher level. For dancing, it is really common to take part in a dance course (also e.g. for a year), but only very few people attend a dance school for more than that. Schools often also offer some extracurricular activities, mainly sports, but also theater and music and they usually do not charge fees for this.
Inventor
Original Poster
#241 Old 10th Jan 2024 at 5:05 PM
You too happy new year!

Windenburg
No, you are correct. It's rather a small town than a village (population between 1k - 5k). In that case, I go for two restaurants, of which one Italian (run by Montys) and the other German cuisine. I was thinking that the German restaurant can also function as a Stammtisch and use Visitor Controller to only let in Adult and Elder Sims.

In the original TS4 Windenburg, one of the nightclubs is located outside of the old town center and this district only consists of community lots: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Lykke_Centre . If I remodel Lykke as a Szeneviertel like you suggested before, would this be a logical place for a small nightclub or dancing bar? I can put it further away from the residential lots.

Build/buy
I recall that spiral stairs were the only options to make apartments functional, but I read on the Sims wiki spiral stairs were mainly alternatives for the split-stairs cheat: https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Game_g...partment#Stairs . Does anyone know if Inge's stairs would work for apartments?

I haven't been active with building last month, so I don't have any build progress pics to share. Currently I spend most of my Sim-related time on creating and organizing Bodyshop CCs.

Freetime hobbies
Any suggestions how I can make the secret hobby lots more realistic if my Sims roll hobby-lot related Wants? (e.g. cooking contest)

Households/designing new Sims
Do you know a good alternative French or German surname that sounds similar to LeTourneau? I understood from googling that this French surname is more common in Canada than in France itself. The translations on the Sims Wiki aren't inspiring either and the Dutch version of this surname is just made up.

Assuming the lifespan was slightly shorter in the 2000s than now, how common was it for elder people born in the 1910s - 1930s being widowed between 60s - 00s if their kids were just born in the 50s? (e.g. losing their partner by premature diseases)

If an elder Female Sim has an elegant fashion taste, in what haircolor would she most likely dye her grays? Or would she rather leave it naturally gray?
Mad Poster
#242 Old 10th Jan 2024 at 8:12 PM
And I have a contribution to make!

LeTourneau, I believe, means "Bird catcher," - I looked it up.

In my opinion, the German surname will be Kloben?

It may refer to a medieval bird catcher ad I believe it is a German surname. (I may not have been to Germany, but I took German as a subject when in high school for 5 years. An uncle of mine also married a German woman, and my German aunt loved to chat to me in her language.
Inventor
Original Poster
#243 Old 13th Jan 2024 at 4:48 PM
@justpetro thank you for your suggestion, but Kloben does not exist as surname according to this surname database map . According to Google Translate, "Vogelfänger" is German for bird catcher.
Lab Assistant
#244 Old 11th Feb 2024 at 3:31 PM
Windenburg

I am not sure whether I really would ban all minors from the German restaurant. In my environment, it was quite common that adults and elders celebrate big birthdays by inviting the family (10-20 people) to such a restaurant (plus cakes, tartes and coffee at home). This of course also included minors.

Small towns do not have a Szeneviertel. You need more than a bar and a club to achieve that, but a small town does not have enough potential customers for that. Moreover, going there was a rather mundane thing because you also would meet all the other people from this town and a few more towns and villages nearby there (at least the ones interested in going to bars and clubs). The more special outings usually were to the next city, preferably one with a university.
I also think that it would be very difficult to get a permit to operate a club close to residential builings in such a location. Build-up areas in Germany have an assigned area type (e.g. Wohngebiet = residential area, Mischgebiet = mixed area, Gewerbegebiet = commercial area) and those area types have specific requirements e.g. regarding noise levels and how much additional traffic they will cause. As far as I know, clubs only are allowed in Kerngebieten (central areas, usually equal to the Innenstadt, really common in big cities) and Gewerbegebiete (commercial areas, very limited housing options, usually only for company owners, on-duty staff and the like). In Mischgebieten, entertainment businesses (including less noisy businesses like cinemas, bowling alleys etc.) also may be allowed and the percentage of residential buildings may be higher, but noise levels at night have to be below 55 db outside which means that even a conversation of club guests outside of the club already could be too loud. In the small towns and villages with clubs that I know, the clubs usually are in a Gewerbegebiet without any residential buildings nearby. These areas never were popular living areas.


Build/buy

I thought, spiral stairs were only needed within the apartments, but not in the common area of an apartment building.


Freetime hobbies

Not really. I never heard of any cooking contests in the administrative district (Landkreis) where I grew up. As mentioned in a previous posting about the music & dance hobby, for some aspects of the hobby, it would be more realistic to have Volkshochschulkurse, meet privately with friends with the same hobby, attend a dancing school etc. For a few things, there might be a club (limited to club members, with fees), but as there might not be enough interested people in a rural area, it also might be limited to recurring (e.g. yearly) events for certain aspects of a hobby instead of being available all the time like the hobby lots.


Households/designing new Sims

LeTourneau: I just had a look at all the family names starting with "L" or "T" that exist at least 1000 times in Germany (= the ~ 3400 most common family names) and I could not find a really convincing option.
For the whole name including the "Le", there are a few names, that start with "Lö", but none of those has a "t" or "d" sound afterwards: Löffler, Löw, Löwe, Löwen, Löhr, Lösch and Löser
The options with a "t" or "d" sound are: Lederer, Luther, Lüders, Leistner, Lutter and Leder
If I consider the "Le" a prefix and ignore it, there are a few names that sound a bit closer to the original name, but still far from similar: Thoma, Thome, Thom, Thum, Thormann, Thon, Tonn
Kloben is one type of object that can be used for catching birds, but it is a specific way of catching birds and it only refers to the object, not the person using it. As neither this word nor any similar version occurs in the list that I used, I also searched for Kloben in the phone book. There is no direct hit for Kloben. For Klobe, I got one hit for a married couple. For Klobuch, I got 18 hits, but that name has a Bohemian origin and most likely originates from the Slavic word "klobuk".
If you want to keep the meaning of the name and have a name that is not completely uncommon, you could go for Vogler. That is a shorter term for a person who catches birds professionally. That name exists about 4200 times in Germany.
Forum Resident
#245 Old 11th Feb 2024 at 11:48 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Softlism
According to Google Translate, "Vogelfänger" is German for bird catcher.


That's been the case since at least the 18th century. Mozart, The Magic Flute, Papgeno's introduction and "I Am" song: "Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja".
Inventor
Original Poster
#246 Old 14th Feb 2024 at 5:51 PM
Windenburg hood planning
If we go for the scenario that Windenburg is a small town, and thus omit the Szeneviertel concept, how would the Lykke harbour rather look like regarding architecture and type of Community Lots? In my version of Windenburg, I imagine the town is located at a lake. In the original TS4 Windenburg setup, Lykke is a modernized Gewerbegebiet with a public pool, a gym, a playground, a café, and a nightclub. But I wonder if the public pool and gym could be merged into one (OFB) building for a small-town setup.

Would the Crumbling Isle be a more suited living area for Regan and Cornwall Capp if they don't have interest in starting a family, or rather in or near the old town centre (Menggebiet)? I want to convert the Crumbling Isle into a pennisula with a bridge and actual roads.

I eventually want to build a Beach Lot with a small food stand and a toilet shed. Would that recreational area most likely be placed in the Windslar district (Wohngebiet with old houses/farms + post-war development area), or rather in the commercial Lykke harbor?

Apartments
I asked the stairs issue on a Discord server, and they said that normal stairs are also fine within an apartment unit. The only kinds of stairs that could cause trouble in apartments are those split-level stairs made with modular stairs.

I've updated the BaWü apartment FWH and modified the ground floor: https://imgur.com/a/64O4Mnp

Here's another apartment I've made, named Bahnhofstraße 12 for now. The questions are in my captions: https://imgur.com/a/sd8McoZ

Build/Buy
Can you help me selecting which object meshes are worth keeping in my game theme? https://imgur.com/a/xSJo4Gl
For the Summerdreams, I mainly use Lethe's elven sets and Maxis Art Nouveau add-ons.

Freetime hobbies
In that case, I was thinking to let the Sims send to Hobby lots only for special events. I could copy-paste the same club house for multiple hobby Lots to imagine they utilize the same building. For the rest, I guess I have to ignore their hobby-lot related Wants like cooking contests unless I want to set up a special event in my script.

Sims character design
Based on the Sim's personality score, what kind of Sims won't mince their words? And what kind of Sim personalities would rather be diplomatic with expressing their opinions?

For each gender (M or F) and age (T, A, E), what kind of outfits do you imagine for Sims with low fashion interest (0 - 3 points), moderate/basic interest (4 - 6) and high interest (7 - 10)?
For unfashionable EF, for example, I was thinking of a frumpy version of Mrs Crumplebottom with out-of-shape blouses/sweaters/jackets in dull colors. But how would basic EF and fasionable EF dress like?
I imagine that unfashionable AM-EM still wear high-waisted trousers with tucked-in dress shirts and outdated facial hair such as a "pronstache".
AM with moderate fashion interest wear rib-knit sweaters/zipper jackets in neutral colors and straight jeans with Puma sneakers.
I think that Sims with higher Fashion interest are more likely to wear more bright colorful clothes with matching accessoires (like matching the belt color with the color of the top), and/or wear more jewelry and makeup, depending on their outgoingness.

*spoiler because of possible trigger warning*
e3 d3 Ne2 Nd2 Nb3 Ng3
retired moderator
#247 Old 14th Feb 2024 at 6:52 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Justpetro
LeTourneau, I believe, means "Bird catcher," - I looked it up.


I'm excited because I may know this one!

LeTourneau comes from LeTourneur which translates as 'The Turner' (one who turns wood/ metal on a lathe).
https://www.houseofnames.com/letourneau-family-crest

L'Étourneau could mean starling, and many of the ancestry websites have this as a source of the name:
https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=letourneau

In the Sims games, the name comes from Tim LeTourneau (Maxis/EA producer) and he writes it as 'LeTourneau' and not L'Étourneau.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-letourneau-798b271

So I suppose you should look for the German equivalent of the English name 'Turner'? Otherwise, the equivalent of the English name 'Starling'.
Inventor
Original Poster
#248 Old 16th Feb 2024 at 6:14 PM Last edited by Softlism : 16th Feb 2024 at 7:10 PM.
@simsample

Starling is "die Stare" in German, but "Stare" isn't a German surname. But the Wiki page for Turner (surname) actually gives German examples!. Drechsler is most common in NRW and Sachsen, but not really mainstream. Dressler is a less common spelling, but Dreyer is the most common in the northwestern half. Dreher , on the other hand, is more common in the southwest.

EDIT: I'm settled on Drescher as replacement for LeTourneau because it's the most common spelling of the Dre*er variant in the Bergische Land (NRW), which is my reference for now.
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