Some expansion pack questions

Submitted by Van on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 21:10.

So, I was attempting to organize my purse the other day and I found that despite being a starving college student, I have waaaaaaaay more cash on me than I could ever need right now. How is this possible? I'm really, really cheap. But that's not important. Anyway, I figure that maybe sometime next weekend, I'll head into town and finally buy myself an EP or two, providing they can actually still be found anywhere.

However, before I make any purchases, I do have a few questions, and I figure since a lot of us here play/use the game, this wouldn't be the worst place to start inquiring, even though I suppose this is technically forum-spam.

Anyway...

1) Okay, this may seem like a no-brainer, but I just have to know for sure: when you install a new EP/SP, your old neighborhoods, Sims, and downloads will still be intact, right?

2) Just so I know which ones not to buy, which EPs are the Diet Coke to Gunmod's Menthos? There's no chance in hell I'm going to even think about playing around with the coding. There's no way I could handle that. But I need my Gunmod, dammit!

3) Both InSim and InTeen are long gone from their original hosting sites, and I only have the base game versions of both of them. Is there anywhere that the various versions of these hacks can be downloaded? This is kind of a deal-breaker for me, since I'd be up the creek without a paddle if I were lacking either of those hacks.

4) From a story-telling/world-building point-of-view, which EPs are the most useful, and which are sort of extraneous?

Thanks all

General Discussion

1) Yes. Be sure to back them

Submitted by Ri on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 21:55.

1) Yes. Be sure to back them up just in case, though, otherwise you'll lose them all if you ever uninstall anything.

2) None, so far as I could tell when I was running everything up to M&G with Gunmod's hack.

3) The Insimenator is still provided, if not supported at insimenator.org, and the same goes for the Inteenimater at Simbology.

4) Not personally much of a storyteller, so take this with a grain of salt, but my guess is that Uni can be done without, Apartment Life would only really be useful for ceilings, and that Seasons is nice.

Thanks Ri Fortunately, I

Submitted by Van on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 22:24.

Thanks Ri

Fortunately, I backed up all my stuff a few days ago, and it wouldn't take too long to back it up again anyway. I'm relieved to see that those hacks are still accessible (even though I'm not looking forward to digging through my downloads folder for the old files), and that's good to hear about Gunmod.

Yeah, I was thinking the only reason I'd want Uni is plastic surgery, but I've managed to re-purpose sims well enough without it, and if I get any really freaky looking kids or whatnot, the CAS + Sim PE combo can deal with that. Ceilings would definitely free up the camera angles, and it would be nice to have all the different weather.

Personally, I have Uni, NL

Submitted by PenelopetheFox on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 23:52.

Personally, I have Uni, NL and Seasons installed because those would seem to be the only essential storytelling ones. Uni for the objects and animations, NL I originally had for the social interactions and animations and cars and the like but I don't know how essential it is anymore. Seasons is a must for everything that it does.

If I were running Windows, I would also have AL and FT. If you're going to get any two expansions, you may want to consider AL and Seasons. AL has tons of social interactions and also you will be able to use the Freezer Clock, an object that I WISH I could have for storytelling.

But yeah. Back up your game as always. The EPs technically should not mess with your neighborhood files. Gunmod is fine but you may want to update the expansion lighting files, particularly for Seasons. And if you have anything like insim or inteen installed, uninstall them and redownload them according to what expansion you install last.

It's not forum spam...

Submitted by Lothere on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 05:49.

It's not forum spam... that's why we have a forum specifically called "The Sims"!

Like Ri said. Neighborhoods and downloads will be preserved. But as soon as you install EPs, they touch all your neighborhood and character files, which means that if you decide to go back to the base game, they will no longer be compatible. If you think there is any chance you will want/need to go back to base game only, definitely make a backup of your Neighborhoods folder, zip it up, and keep it forever.
Bon Voyage does wonky things to the lighting. There may be versions of Gunmod's Radiance Lighting that are set up for BV, but there are still flat-out bugs. The most noticeable one for me is that hair & scalp tends to be lit a lot differently from the Sim himself at times. There's also a problem with the nighttime "environment" setting in the lighting file, but you probably would never know that if you don't tweak it.
Don't know the answer to this one. *clutches InSim fearfully*
Here's what I think of the EPs... keep in mind that I use the game ONLY for storytelling, and that I ONLY tell a medieval story. I am sure some of the EPs have really fun or cool stuff that is useless for me.
- Uni - Plastic surgery!!! It's a must-have for me. Also, medieval furnishings, and the Talk - Hang Out animation. (Sims sitting on the floor and talking.)
- Nightlife - I need it because I have literally dozens of "Downtowns" now. Otherwise the main neighborhood would have been full long ago. Also adds some good romantic interaction animations.
- OFB - I installed this recently, and I don't think I have used a single thing it offers yet. It has round roofs, but I have never used one yet.
- Pets - Well, it has pets. Without Pets we would have no Sweetdew / Dantalion dynamic. Otherwise, I don't think it adds anything useful.
- Seasons - The weather is pretty! Malcolm kissing Rua in the rain! Osh running after Kraaia through the deep snow! There are also tons of new animations in this EP, and I use them a lot. But you definitely need to grab a new version of Radiance Lighting if you want to use Seasons.
- Bon Voyage - I love this EP for the tall pine trees and for the oceans. If you aren't into outdoor shots, it's less useful. It does add a few animations, but those alone aren't worth buying the EP over. It also has its lighting bugs. (If you're looking for lightning bugs, I believe Seasons has those. )
- Apartment Life - I haven't made up my mind about this EP yet. Yes, ceilings. But I'd been using buyable ceilings up to this point without any real problems... just the annoyance of plunking down all those tiles one-by-one. Pen makes a good point about the freezer clock, though I haven't gotten into the habit of using it yet. Only that time when I had Maire lying dead in her coffin. Nor have I made much use of the AL animations... though I need to try out the cuddling-in-bed animations to see what I can make of those.
- Free Time - I don't have it, and I don't know that it would add anything I could use for an 11th century setting.
So let's see... if I had to put them in order of most-necessary to least-necessary for my unique needs I would say: Nightlife (for multiple downtowns, unless some other EP lets you have extra residential downtown-like "neighborhoods" as well), Uni (for plastic surgery and medieval furnishings), Seasons (for pretty seasons), Pets (for Sweetdew and Belsar), Bon Voyage (for trees and oceans), Apartment Life (for ceilings, and things I haven't taken advantage of yet), OFB (which I would never pay money for). This is also -- perhaps not coincidentally -- the order in which I acquired them.

Thanks all! Yeah, I was

Submitted by Van on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 07:27.

Thanks all!

Yeah, I was thinking I would definitely get Night Life if I could find it, for a few reasons. I would like the multiple downtowns (even if that would require a ton of rebuilding effort over time), and there are a few animations I've always coveted (that slow-dancing one comes to mind). Also, it has cars! And the ability to see adjoining lots! And turn-ons and turn-offs (which admittedly are useless for story-telling... but it would probably simplify the matchmaking process).

Ahhhh, I thought it was Bon Voyage! Yeah, I'm not really sure what BV would have done for me anyway. The trees are nice, but I don't think I would buy the expansion just for the trees (I don't imagine I need an ocean any time soon). Regardless, Gunmod is a higher priority.

For the second EP (if I can afford it), I'm torn between Uni, Apartment Life, and Seasons. Seasons would be nice because of the weather, but if there are too many bugs, I can definitely live without it. I like that Uni has medieval objects, like those windows I've always wanted, and some of the animations would be useful, but I might be tempted to actually play it And then with AL... well, it would be nice to be able to have several families on one lot while only one is active. My villages are currently large lots with waaaaaaay too many sims living on them--makes photography a drag. Also, the ceilings would be nice, but I'm far too lazy to bother with them if I can't do the whole room in three clicks

But yeah, OFB would be fairly useless, and I can live without Pets for the time being. I have enough trouble writing kids--I'd probably butcher animals. Er... figuratively speaking, of course.

If you're worried about not

Submitted by PenelopetheFox on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 11:35.

If you're worried about not being able to find the expansions, why not just order from Amazon? (Unless of course you're like me and hate to wait.) Shipping's free over $25 methinks.

I used to have OFB installed! Useless for storytelling after the invention of the Sim OMSP. Utterly, utterly useless. However, building your own business is fun. Before I started DBL, I used to spend hours with my backyard antique shops.

And there is something else that NL has that might come in handy- The colored strobe lights. They're useful for special effects and (of course) night club scenes.

Another point for Uni- The "boolprop allow45degreeangleofrotation true" cheat. That cheat helps with posing, decorating and generally saved an entire lot that I built the other day.

Oh, that's true, there are

Submitted by Lothere on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 11:39.

Oh, that's true, there are probably cheats and things that only work if you have certain EPs. But aren't there some that are enabled by multiple EPs so you only need one of the set? Like how you can have subfolders in your Downloads folder as soon as you install any of the EPs, regardless of which it is? Or the raised platform (like a foundation, but for inside) that was introduced in OFB. It was later made available again in Seasons or one of the other EPs, so I got that feature even without installing OFB. Never did get round roofs till I installed OFB though!

Ooooh, that 45 degree angle

Submitted by Van on Mon, 01/04/2010 - 12:07.

Ooooh, that 45 degree angle cheat would be great! Also, the one that hides the thought bubbles (though I discovered a while ago that that can be handled by InSim's wardrobe adjuster) and the plumbbob toggle would be useful. And I would like to get my downloads folder organized, if only to make compressorizing less risky and more efficient.

Ahhh... I really don't want to have to buy anything online. If I had my own income, I might feel differently, but since anything I buy on my credit card is paid for by the Bank of Dad, I really don't think that would be a smart use of it. I'd feel much better about paying with the Christmas and birthday money I got from my grandma, since that money is actually sort of mine.

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