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#51 Old 14th Sep 2016 at 7:24 PM
I'm starting a long term hood project to keep me occupied over the winter. So I have a binder that's going to keep track of everything with 23 tabs so far. The first tab or two i'll dedicate to the neighborhood itself to note events that effect the entire hood story wise, town history as it grows and a listing of town lots. Each family as it comes about will get their own tab and so far I have for sure 8 planned surnames that will be integral to the town. The others will probably be reserved for townies with interesting surnames that I will add as secondary level families.

The first page(s) of each family tab is going to be reserved for keeping track of family tree issues
Each sim is going to get a page that acts as a long term bio. So i'll have the basics like
-Sim Model: (if it's a downloaded sim this will be where credit goes to the creator in case of wcif's about the sim)
-Skintone: (the actual name of the skin because that way i can keep track of it's progression genetically)
-Eye color: (name and whether it's dom/rec once again for genetic progression)
-Zodiac: (the name of the sign and the points for each group neat/outgoing/active/playful/nice)
-One true Hobby
-Aspiration/Secondary
-LTw's: (but only if I think it'll go with who the character is otherwise it'll be ignored)
-Turn ons/offs
-Sexuality
-Cause of death

The rest of it will be a chronicle of their history
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Lab Assistant
#52 Old 14th Sep 2016 at 11:27 PM
Quote: Originally posted by MattieOReilly
So, I will be the first to admit I *may* be a teeny bit ocd about keeping records of my neighbourhood, I also play with a large number of "rules" that aren't modded into my game and therefore also need tracking. I used to have a multi sheet workbook/spreadsheet, but it was becoming cumbersome and difficult to input and track data across the seven or so sheets.

So I have a custom database instead. Screenshots under the spoiler tag because holy banana's, there's a lot of them.


Holy freak crap that database is a thing of beauty! ♥❤ *swoon*

Edit: seriously I thought I'd seen everything after all these years of simming, but dang, that takes the cake. Blood type? Whoa.

~Livestreams and Livesimming served up with a soupçon of silly and a whole lot of story.~

http://www.youtube.com/TheJessaChannel

Field Researcher
#53 Old 14th Sep 2016 at 11:53 PM
Quote: Originally posted by TheJessaChannel
Holy freak crap that database is a thing of beauty! ♥❤ *swoon*

Edit: seriously I thought I'd seen everything after all these years of simming, but dang, that takes the cake. Blood type? Whoa.


Yeah, I know it seems a little over the top, but my hood/gameplay is very story driven and I write extensively about it. Believe it or not, there have been times when blood type mattered . For one, my vampires are drawn to victims sims with the same blood type.
Mad Poster
#54 Old 15th Sep 2016 at 2:41 AM
Might I ask how one finds out the blood type of a pixel?

From what I've read, vampires aren't too choosy about blood types-only that the blood be red and lots of it.

Receptacle Refugee & Resident Polar Bear
"Get out of my way, young'un, I'm a ninja!"
Grave Matters: The funeral podium is available here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/e6tj...albits.zip/file
My other downloads are here: https://app.mediafire.com/myfiles
Inventor
#55 Old 15th Sep 2016 at 3:11 AM
I've saved a few notepad files over time regarding my custom Sims' bios. My latest was about the current jobs they each have and what their work schedule is like. That way, I can call whoever is available if I don't remember, and I won't receive those arrogant messages from a household member that they're not home.
Field Researcher
#56 Old 15th Sep 2016 at 3:16 AM Last edited by MattieOReilly : 15th Sep 2016 at 3:28 AM.
Founder sims and townies have blood groups randomised to start with, born in game sims have their blood type determined by the blood type(s) of their parents ,along with any other genetics of note (witchiness, glasses, a bunch of other stuff)

My vampires can and will "feed" from sims of any blood type, but will prefer sims of their same blood type if available. Also, having the same blood type means increased odds of a successful transforming bite.
Instructor
#57 Old 15th Sep 2016 at 3:20 AM
I guess mine isn't that complex.. I have a notebook where I split the sections for each neighborhood.

I keep a log for each household

-the members names and life stages. Also if anyone is pregnant.

-notes (so I remember what I was planning on doing before exiting)

-location= do they live in the main hood, University, are they on vacation?

-financial status = household income, are they enrolled in section 8, welfare checks or receiving child support? Do they currently have a mortage?

-And finally the date they were last played.

I don't keep track of genetics, my game is already complex enough to me seems to hard to keep track of lol.

I write my family trees in another notebook. My game is still pretty fresh so there aren't really any second generations yet but I have it prepared for when i do.

Peace, Harmony & Balance... Libra is Love..
Field Researcher
#58 Old 15th Sep 2016 at 10:07 AM
I have a number of spreadsheets.

One keeps track of how many living relatives each living sim. Well, I say 'keep track' but I have to enter in all the changes whenever someone is born or dies. Now that I'm up to 5th Generation native-born, that can get tricky, so I've written a program (in JustBasic, I am not a natural born programmer) to do all that for me. It occasionally throws up errors but these invariably turn out to be data errors (I gave a new-born the wrong ID number for a parent or something).

The relative tracker is updated every six years (one Sim-Day = one year). Another spreadsheet also records relative headcount, but by generation rather chronological arrival. This tells me that the later generations do indeed have a higher headcount of relatives than earlier ones.

Keeping track of relatives is important (to me, anyway) because my long-term aim is to create a fully inter-related neighbourhood. And my progress on that front is recorded by four more spreadsheets:

The first records the changes in population and total relative headcount for each demographic event (a birth, a death, or an arrival). The second does the same, only it tracks changes in the total number of root ancestors for currently living sims. Each of these also has a number of fields calculating various values derived from the raw data - average relative headcount, overall inter-relatedness (now up to 42%, yay!), degree of common ancestry, and additional values for certain subpopulations. I can see, for example, that as of 2222, the Seveners (descendants of original household based on characters from the BBC space opera Blake's 7 add up to 56 sims, and account for 58.33% of the total population of 96.

The other two spreadsheets record the same information a the two above, but by year rather than event. A year might have one demographic event, or several or none.

For events in play, I have a hardback A4 notebook. One page, divided into three columns, for each two-day rotation. In that I jot down anything I deem relevant - births, deaths and arrivals of course, plus promotions, birthdays, notes on any snapshots I've taken, address changes, prospective pairings and burglaries - I suspect most people here can decipher the likes of "JE arr RC New Manor", not that that will ever happen now that Jessica's been made playable and become a respectable mother of twin girls.

Every 30 years I draw up a new two-page spread for the current population, with space for newcomers, listing Citizen ID number, Date of Birth, Elixir Tolerance and additional adult life expectancy (nearly all sims get at least six draughts of Elixir), the year in which they're due to turn elder, and their current Elixir consumption.

On top of all that, I have a local website on my hard drive with a page for each sim listing various personal details such as date of birth, where born, residences, romantic partners (that can be quite long for some sims...), children, grandchildren, posthumous descendants, career history, any other achievements like maximising all skills or getting 50 dream dates, and of course date of death. The intention is or was to write a biography for each and every sim but that seems to have gone by the wayside.

There is also a page for each house - when built, who's lived there and for how long, who was born there, who died there, and in some cases when it got bulldozed. The biography pages and house pages are intensely hyperlinked, though mainly for ease of editing.

Each rotation also gets a page of its own, with snapshots of birthdays, deaths, house moves and anything else of interest. Mainly birthdays, to be honest. And I might also record outfit/hair makeovers as sartorial fashion changes. There isn't much in the way of drama in Zentralia. Shame it's not a real place and I can't go and live there.
Top Secret Researcher
#59 Old 15th Sep 2016 at 5:02 PM
I have gotten rid of the Household Information Spreadsheet as to make it easier on myself to see what I want to see while playing I have made a spreadsheet for each individual household. I can only play one household at a time anyway. I have also added columns:
# of Elixir Drinks-(each person gets 1 full elixir max, it'll be shown in drinks taken/drinks allowed, it might differ from sim to sim)
Religion (+Day)-as I have always wanted to implement some sort of religion into my game but it was too difficult to keep track of without spreadsheets, but they won't be "real world" religions, they will be Sim-versions, the +Day will indicate what day of the week that Sim can go to a lot pertaining to their religion as each family's schedule will be different (they can go more but if a Sim has a particular religion they'll want to go at least once a week if possible, though this is not a law)
Family Day- Will indicate a day that family, if applicable, will have "family day" where they hang out, play games, whatever
Motivation (+Max career level)- I have a job stoppinator thing I can put in their inventory to prevent them from being promoted
Supernatural- Aliens not included, I figure I can keep track of their alien %, which will matter for some things, in their bios. But if they are a vampire, witch, plantsim etc. it will be noted here
Household Description

What the new spreadsheets look like for each household, obviously as I do a rotation the blank stuff will be filled out, and in parenthesis on the spreadsheet name will tell where that household is located (Strangetown, Downtown, Widespot, Aridia, LGU, LFT)


I also still have a Sim Spreadsheet for all the Sims but with less columns, just so I can see at a quick glance how many playables I have and if i'm looking for a potential mate for a Sim, I can see if I have any eligible and possibly compatible playables first quickly, and can then look up said Sim in their household spreadsheet if I want more information, supernatural column is also there unshown


I still have the Pets Spreadsheet, and dead Sims and dead Pets Spreadsheets.
Sooo much information and sooo many spreadsheets, obviously I will be making more as I get more households, always changing stuff. But this way is so much more organized for me

My Simblr
He/They
Lab Assistant
#60 Old 16th Sep 2016 at 10:40 PM
@MattieOReilly - What program did you use to make that database? How did you learn to use it? Do you use it for work or school or something? How long did it take you to make the database? And how old is your hood that you are tracking?

Inquiring minds want to know. :-)

~Livestreams and Livesimming served up with a soupçon of silly and a whole lot of story.~

http://www.youtube.com/TheJessaChannel

Top Secret Researcher
#61 Old 16th Sep 2016 at 11:15 PM
I think i've gone nuts with spreadsheet power. I have added 3 columns
Beauty Mark (I have cc beauty marks, and they will be genetic determined by a dice roll)
Braces/Acne/Ears- None of these will be genetic but will be a random die roll. Braces as a teenager, Acne as a teen and possibly older for a bit (I have cc acne, it's not bad), and the Ears thing only applies to certain skintones, as I have this accessory which is big pointy ears that goes with certain fantasy skintones. The Ears part will be a random roll with a small chance to miss getting the Ears, so they'd just have normal ears.
Alien%/Pride- If they are alien what %, and kind will have to be noted too as fantasy skins get added to the mix, and the pride is if they wear something that I deem only for aliens (they do not need the skintone it just has to be in the blood a certain %) like galaxy blush, constellation blush, a heart mark on their face, dots...

I'm also going to randomly roll for when they get freckles if they get just a light dusting, a medium amount or heavy freckles, rather than choosing myself, and it will be noted in the Freckles column by L (light) M (medium) and H (Heavy)

I have gone mad with the power these spreadsheets have given me! :D

My Simblr
He/They
Field Researcher
#62 Old 17th Sep 2016 at 12:59 AM
Quote: Originally posted by TheJessaChannel
@MattieOReilly - What program did you use to make that database? How did you learn to use it? Do you use it for work or school or something? How long did it take you to make the database? And how old is your hood that you are tracking?

Inquiring minds want to know. :-)


ok, I'll take these one by one.

I used Filemaker Pro 14, it's an expensive programme but we had it because my significant other uses it for work. I learned to use it through a combination of trial and error, google and bugging the SO when I couldn't figure something out. The relationships between the database tables are entirely his baby, that part was tricky to set up right.

It's been a work in progress for about two years, but mostly because I was getting to grips with things and made major changes, or started over. That version there is version 1.6.1 and took maybe three or four months of solid work, but it has literally thousands of fields and hundreds of calculations across more than a dozen tables. A simpler one probably would not take as long. If you are proficient with spreadsheets and using functions rather than just maths and formulae, you will be able to figure out Filemaker pretty easily.

The hood I am tracking is old, and huge, I've been playing this hood pretty much since Sim2 was released, the entire database covers a 171 year span (1906-2077, eight sim days per year) and currently has around 160-ish residential lots and 546 living playable sims.
Mad Poster
#63 Old 17th Sep 2016 at 1:07 AM
I was curious what that was. It didn't look much like Access to me.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Field Researcher
#64 Old 17th Sep 2016 at 2:09 AM
I tried with Access, but I honestly found Filemaker a lot easier to use and understand.
Top Secret Researcher
#65 Old 17th Sep 2016 at 12:53 PM
Never done a spreadsheet - always just made a written note of what I was up to or anything I needed reminding of. I did try Trello, mentioned above, but it didn't gel with me. I did like the idea of pictures though, so I've just made a file of pictures of the Sim families that don't get blogged about, with notes.
Lab Assistant
#66 Old 9th Nov 2016 at 11:47 PM
This thread is so reassuring! My hubby looks at me like I've gone nuts when he sees me fiddling with my spreadsheets.

I'm actually playing a neighborhood that was an attempt at the BAC challenge but ended up being a Frankenstein challenge where I mostly make things up as I go. I've taken a number of elements from other BACC excel sheets I've found and (in combination with this amazing thing) I keep track of nearly every detail of a sim's life.

Completed Round 1 Sheets:


I have basic knowledge of SimPE, so I know how to generate the Rufio of my Hood so that I can pull info on the townie population, which I then use to determine their taxes too. Everything is allocated into different expense categories on the Round 2 sheet so that I can build/pay for new buildings and services so I can have my sims work locally. Currently, I'm looking for new scholarship ideas, Sim IDs and Credit cards to keep in pocket as I do plan to introduce a credit system and require drivers to have a valid license, travelers to have passports, birth certificates, and insurance certificates.

Despite appearing tedious and time consuming, it's also educational. I'm getting a better understanding of how the economy works, balancing budgets, how tricky politics can be, and honing my skill with Excel in terms of all the nifty tricks I can do with data.
Instructor
#67 Old 15th Nov 2016 at 5:26 PM
For my rotation of Uberhood, I use tables in a word document, Instead of using spreadsheets. It's more easier for me, since I don't keep track of every detail of my Sims, cause I'm lazy.
Screenshots
Mad Poster
#68 Old 18th Dec 2019 at 7:53 PM
Really old thread, but I'm bumping it.

My Excel spreadsheet has started to get a little unwieldy, so I'm supplanting it with an Access database. I'm still working on form design, but after a few mishaps I got Neigbourhoods & Households looking the way I like:



I haven't gotten the Households & Playable Sims form set up yet, but I do have a query for quick lookup (note that I still have to fill out everyone's net worth):


I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Theorist
#69 Old 18th Dec 2019 at 9:40 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Bulbizarre
Really old thread, but I'm bumping it.

My Excel spreadsheet has started to get a little unwieldy, so I'm supplanting it with an Access database. I'm still working on form design, but after a few mishaps I got Neigbourhoods & Households looking the way I like:



I haven't gotten the Households & Playable Sims form set up yet, but I do have a query for quick lookup (note that I still have to fill out everyone's net worth):



Share share? .. Please yes?
Mad Poster
#70 Old 18th Dec 2019 at 9:44 PM
Give me a minute to clean out all my data and I'll upload it.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#71 Old 18th Dec 2019 at 10:03 PM
Here we go. Made in Access 2010:

http://www.simfileshare.net/download/1505783/

That said, please note that I'm essentially an Access noob. So it's not very elegant (and I'm probably unintentionally using all sorts of bad practices).

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#72 Old 18th Dec 2019 at 10:17 PM
I would use an actual database program, but I don't know of one that will allow me to make demographic charts, which was the main reason I created my spreadsheet:

Screenshots
Theorist
#73 Old 18th Dec 2019 at 10:17 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Bulbizarre
Here we go. Made in Access 2010:

http://www.simfileshare.net/download/1505783/

That said, please note that I'm essentially an Access noob. So it's not very elegant (and I'm probably unintentionally using all sorts of bad practices).


So I have some questions but might be easier to do it ..err live? Do you have Discord? or FB messanger? that you wouldn't mind chattin w/ me. Just thought that way might be easier and we wouldn't clutter up this thread w/ our convo since ya said your inbox is perpetually full :D

If you'd rather not that's ok ... I'll ask here.

Quote: Originally posted by kestrellyn
I would use an actual database program, but I don't know of one that will allow me to make demographic charts, which was the main reason I created my spreadsheet:


I'm almost postive Access does charts 'n graphs. However it's been YEARS since I've done anything with it and just lookin back at it with Bulbizarre's 2010 Access is makin my head spin... lol
Mad Poster
#74 Old 18th Dec 2019 at 10:20 PM
I'll PM you my Discord

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Mad Poster
#75 Old 19th Dec 2019 at 5:42 AM
Latest addition: Making a button on the Neighbourhoods & Households form to jump directly to that record in the Households & Playable Sims form.



Unfortunately the latter form still needs a bit of work.


I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
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