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Banned
#76 Old 8th Feb 2011 at 3:04 PM
I just made one of my adult Sims start over as a YA, and I had a blast putting her through to graduation. She didn't get to join the secret society like I wanted, but I did manage to scrape together enough cash during the freshman stage to send her off on an end-of-term holiday to Takemizu Village for three days. She only had about three grand, but it was enough to put her up in a reasonably nice hotel, go shopping and sightseeing, visit the secret lot, etc. After that she had her hands full with assignments, term papers, skilling, earning money and finding her soulmate. (She ended up romancing a cute dormie, but it took a bottle of love potion to get there.) At graduation, she had nearly 15 grand worth of stuff in her inventory to take back to the main hood and sell off.


Just goes to show Uni can be fun and challenging, if you know how to make it so without hacks.
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Scholar
#77 Old 8th Feb 2011 at 4:00 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
I don't know anything about the programming or mechanics, but my Lifelong Happiness sims freak out over Bad Stuff a lot less than those who haven't studied it. If the mechanic is that the mood decay is delayed, that probably means that they're in a better mood most of the time and so they feel disappointments less. So that would be any type of disappointment.

I can only tell you how it worked in my game. A sample of two is too small to generalize from, but since I like University so much I send everybody, it's all I've got.


I had a popularity sim that rolled the want to go to Uni twice for the entire time she was a teen. She had zero interest in school, her parents were knowledge sims and I'd have them talk to her about school, I even sent her to visit her brothers in college at no time did any of this prompt a want to go to university. She transitions to adult and throws a "didn't go to university hissy" and I'm like are you serious. Makes no sense...
Test Subject
#78 Old 3rd Jun 2011 at 3:53 AM
I'm thinking about buying University.... But hearing some of this makes me wonder... Should I or Should I not buy it?
Site Helper
#79 Old 3rd Jun 2011 at 4:55 AM
Squinge has a great mod which removes the "uneducated" memory problem. It's part of his mega-college pack, but you can use the mod on its own. Here's the Apartment Life version:
http://www.insimenator.org/index.php/topic,96190.0.html

These are the two mods that I use:
Quote: Originally posted by Squinge
No Memory Uneducated is a mod to prevent Sims from getting the negative “Never Went To College” memories when they age to adults without going to college as well as the uneducated memories. Not sure what the wording is for that memory. But nevertheless, Sims won’t get negative memories from not going to college.

No Want Satisfy Uneducated is a mod to prevent Sims from fulfilling their “Be Uneducated” fears of not going to college and grow up into adults. This also keeps Sims from going into crying and depression fits.
#80 Old 3rd Jun 2011 at 5:01 AM
I have the college adjuster (from simbology I believe). And i play it very goal oriented since i've discovered rolling die. So for example this is how it goes.

Even= Yes Odd=No

Does teen attend college Y/N
Do they graduate Y/N
If no how many semesters attended 1-6
Do they change aspiration Junior year if they get that far Y/N
Aspiration 1-6 ( i omit grilled cheese as an aspiration completely and you can order them however u please)
Do they get secondary aspiration Y/N
Do they find their partner in college Y/N

With that spontaneity Uni becomes alot more interesting instead of the "everyone has to attend and graduate" mantra. SO once they fill the required skills I usually let them go to class/whatever if they have yet to take interest in someone (who once adding to family via sim blender i also roll for them) If they have found someone and added them then both of them skill, then their semester grade is filled to A+(because I think meeting the skills is adequate enough) and i set the final exam two hours from that time. Because each sim will roll differently it doesn't feel monotonous and it actually gets them through college faster. I went through nearly 10 sims in 2 hours this way. But obviously it might be problematic for rotation style.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#81 Old 3rd Jun 2011 at 1:13 PM
Sim State still lies at the heart of my neighborhood, three one-day rotations between the Downtown and Drama Acres rotations. The only hard part is keeping the Greek Houses fed - if I don't pay attention and go too long without pledging someone new, I find myself with too many graduating sims and a house that's about to empty out. As a result, I'm using the community lots less to keep them hanging on a little longer. I can see a point down the line where the neighborhood will be self-generating and I can have more than the current four households (two Greeks, Alma Mater for core sims, and Romantic Resources) going at once again, but for a little while I'll have to keep my eye on townies and dormies to pledge.

I think the key things people are doing to make University boring are a) playing too few sims at a time through it; the opportunities for playable interactions and the generation of new storylines is lost if you're just skilling one or two people along with your eyes on their grade-point average and b) thinking of it as an interruption or preparation for the adult stage instead of as a stage unto itself. Themes and storylines and relationships established in University continue to be played out in the adult phases, and connections you'd have to struggle to make in the other stages happen naturally and conveniently at University.

My only real problem with it is that it gets me invested in all of my sims and then, once they graduate, it can take forever to get back to each one. But that encourages me to have them visit eachother during stages when I could easily mire each household down in child rearing and career advancement.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Forum Resident
#82 Old 3rd Jun 2011 at 1:47 PM
I like that they have lots of time to skill up and get more money when they get a job. And I think when you take your sim to University, it unlocks new careers for that sim, am I right? Or are the new careers always unlocked, like the Show Biz career for example?

I do get bored though because it's basically the same thing everyday. And when I try finding romance or friends, their always walking away, and everyone walks soooo slow!
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#83 Old 3rd Jun 2011 at 2:00 PM
That dormies walking away (folks in apartments do the same thing, btw) is one reason it's good to have lots of playables at University. Dormies and apartment neighbors are annoying because they have the attention spans of gnats - even in the middle of a date they're likely to wander off back to their rooms. So I mostly ignore them unless I have a romance sim looking to add notches to his/her belt. Dormies are low-maintenance because they don't show up on non-University lots unless they're already furious with you and come to kick over your trash can; so you're not continually pissing them off by dating somebody else when they come into the restaurant.

Adult sims are "basically the same thing every day," too, if you play them that way.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Lab Assistant
#84 Old 3rd Jun 2011 at 2:52 PM
I don't have University...but I really want it! It looks amazingly fun!
Mad Poster
#85 Old 4th Jun 2011 at 6:29 PM Last edited by M.M.A.A. : 5th Jun 2011 at 12:31 AM.
Uni is great for stories actually, it even gives more options in the future ( adding new careers), also it helps to expand the life of my sims

from my hood i get all teenagers born at the "same" time to be in one household, but before that i wait until they are 3 days from becoming adults to make more realistic
Instructor
#86 Old 4th Jun 2011 at 7:42 PM
I started this thread as a Uni hater and I couldn't play it without cheats. Going to class is even more boring than going to work because there are no chance cards.

One of my problems, was that the EA lots were too big for my computer. Students were scarce and always on the other side of the lot from where ever my sim was. They felt empty and dull. I also tended to stay in the dorm or home or Greek house rather than go to community lots - and this just didn't feel like playing a university.

So, I can't recommend Mootilda's Brainania enough. The community lots are all mini-lots; 8 sims feels like a lively crowd. They're very nicely decorated, feel "collegiate," and take advantage of community skilling. (Uni allows community skilling without cheats.) I have actually taken out the mods that shorten uni term length, because the play feels so much faster and nicely different than the main hood. I've also taken out the community skilling hack for the main hood, just because I love skilling at that Brainania lots so much.

But, even if I still hated playing the colleges, I would keep it for just for the bands. My main hoods all have at least one park with band shell for impromptu concerts.
Lab Assistant
#87 Old 5th Jun 2011 at 2:03 AM
After almost a week playing TS3 Generations, I came back to Uni because that's one element I miss. Hopefully this will re-surface in a future EP.

What I do to make it less boring is to get the A+ early in the semester. (3 Sim Hours for the Term Paper, 2-3 skill points, about 5 assignments, going to 3 classes for 2-3 hours each, and the final exam). I use the other time to develop relationships (friends and future spouses). I had a whole dorm of students, in my last round of gameplay, in the Secret Society before the one Sim I created was a Junior. That same dorm was HILARIOUS to play because I had to deal with about 6 Grouchy (5 or less points) Students always fighting. 3 of those 6 were in a gay male love triangle and I wanted one of them out of it. I had students fighting every 5 minutes.
Forum Resident
#88 Old 5th Jun 2011 at 12:41 PM
Well, sometimes when I am in the mood, or it's a sim or a bunch of Sims I really like I can play University from start to end, with or without cheats (Without maxmotives I usually have one Sim and that's a legacy heir), but then having to send other Sims to Uni kinda gets boring as well so I just speed it up. So I guess it also depends on my mood and whatnot.
Field Researcher
#89 Old 29th May 2012 at 9:44 PM
I like this ep my sim dosent have a anoying toddler and a house to take care off,uni is fun to me my sim have a time to have fun after homwork and meets her future spouse maybe last time it was castor nova and life there have a lot of suprises like steaking sims and fights,my favourite thing is when i first played and my sim met almeric davis and they had lovely moments like holding hands in middle of their dorm and they had rooms next to each other it was really cute like romantic movies u should totally give it a try.
ps:sorry for taking long mins of ur lives
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#90 Old 29th May 2012 at 10:15 PM
All my legacy kids and spare kids go to uni, although I may change that when I get more spares. I tend to wait until I have a batch and play them together. Doesn't matter what aspiration or wants they have, all go. It's only once they are there I change things up. As soon as they arrive I only play to their rolled wants and I try not to look at the class performance meter very much. So if Sim A doesn't roll wants to write term papers or skill but only wants to party then that's what sim A gets. So far no one has flunked out, but that's probably because they go with a fair few skills. I do make them go to class or exams regardless. I started doing this when I realized 1) Uni is really boring when all you do is focus on getting perfect grades and 2) Why should sims who are popularity or romance be bothered so much with grades? It's more fun to have some on the edge of failing out because they would rather party or romance. It makes playing Uni a lot more unpredictable.

Recently I put in the hacks so that young adults could do uni in the main hood. Took a bit of fiddling because at first no other dormies showed up at the main hood dorm and I clicked the wrong thing and she graduated first term. Once I got it all sorted it worked really well, although I think instead of a dorm I will just let them do uni from home. I like having different educational choices.

I also have in Phaenoa's career/uni hack so sims go to uni for careers that really do need uni-such as medicine. Dr without degrees was just
#91 Old 30th May 2012 at 7:12 AM
No, not boring at all. In fact this is the most fun TS2 EP I've ever played. You can do anything to fill your sims' life into fun and memorable moments without worrying babies/kids, spouse, long hours jobs. First when I installed Uni for the first time, I felt Uni was very boring phase, like most simmers here complaining about Uni. My sims used to live in dorms studying only to get top GPA (4.0) never skipped classes, always doing assignments, group research, building skills, fulfilled GPA meter then repeat again for the next semester, only to get degree to get better salary on future jobs.

If you had boredness issues with Uni, try making interesting storyline.
I got many interesting ideas from movies and drama serials about college/student life. American Pie, Jersey Shore, Accepted, Bring It On, The O.C., Gossip Girl, John Tucker Must Die for references.
In my story,
*Frat Brothers house consists of three boys, they are seemingly typical rich hipster students. Party all the time like no tomorrow. Stanley Denvert is the best Romance player in Swan Lake University. No girls know that he’s a player, every girls know him as a sweet, romantic, dreamy type guy. He’s involved serious relationship with Ryanne Herglewich, member in Sorority sisters. In the same time he plays hide-and-woohoo with Alex Galde and other girls he know, just for fun. Marico Reevey, come from rich family, he owns the Frat brothers’ facilities and car. He’s a jerk that likes to bash other students’ style, interest, and ideas that don’t match with him. He’s smart, funny, and interesting royal friend that makes the friendship stay strong together, but very lazy to study. He likes to spend his money to buy the most expensive furniture and drum kit to show off. Stephen Galde, he’s the good-looking and best-styled guy in Frat brothers, many girls smitten at him, Stephen friendzone all of them. His frat brothers think he’s gay, but he’s not. Actually Stephen has a mind of his own, not interest to spend his life in Uni to do random stupid things. He makes best friend with Evrard Rochenoire, a mysterious journalist nerd guy, to discuss conspiracy theory and tell how douchebags his Frat brothers friends are. He forced to live in Frat Brothers because his sister, Alex Galde and undercover as best buddy with rich hipsters Marico and Stanley. Living as a hidden “hypocrite” is kind of interesting to him.
*Sorority Sisters house consists of three girls, rich-popular-hipster students. Ryanne Herglewich is the most known femme fatale in Swan Lake University. She wears the latest trend, she have lots of students contacts, knows how to “manipulate” guys’ thinking to like her back. Alex Galde, is in the same position as Ryanne, the significant difference is Alex is much smarter than Ryanne. She hits 4.0 GPA point at the same time she’s partying, hang out, woohoo, shopping. Alex and Ryanne are best friends in appearance, actually they hate each other. Ryanne knows Alex has “something” with Stanley; she tries to do anything to bring Alex down. Alex knows Ryanne is in fact very stupid and clueless (very low GPA), she doesn’t care what Ryanne do to her. Alex uses her charm and ingenuity to attract guys, making the guys think Alex is far better than Ryanne. Rita Verawati is a nice girl, she’s invited by Alex and Ryanne to Sorority Sisters. Rita can get along with Alex and Ryanne, they can help her to introduce popular trends and boyfriend to her. In the end, Rita felt that Alex and Ryanne take advantage of her money and brain.
*The Alternative househould consists Ichiko Masamuri and Brodd Leto. They against the idea the rudeness of popular students toward average students. They’re best friend practice band together, become popular after build an “alternative” community of punks, goths, emos, hippies, nerds, and any “outsider” students that rejected or not belong to any groups. The popular students (hipsters, cheerleaders, llama & cow mascots) seem to hate this community, try all possible ways to disrupt the community going.
* The Blossom dorm consists of hippies Jen Leto and Greg Hammerfield as the main characters. The most shy and conservative students. Jen and Greg like each other on the first sight when they transferred into dorm in freshmen semester, very shy, awkward, and not really brave to meet up and chat to each other. They struggle to become painter, pottery maker, and work in cafeteria to get money to pay dorm and college tuition.
I use cheat boolprop testingcheatsenabled true > shift click on NPC students to become controllable sim. Randomize study time when the students do assignments, go to class or skip the class, the results are randomize GPA. Only smarter sims I give GPA over than 3.5 and 4.0 if he/she is genius. You can cross-over with other EPs like Apartment Life to build reputation in community lots and Open For Business to make students can make own business instead part time jobs. Still felt boring? Don’t force yourself to play students phase if you feel it is wasting time to make students get graduated. Use Counterfeit College Diploma mod to your Adult sims without playing students phase in university.
Test Subject
#92 Old 30th May 2012 at 7:34 AM
I play young adults in pretty much the exact same way I play adults, so I don't really get bored. If you do find university boring, I recommend downloading ACR. I've only just put in my game, but I absolutely love it! Big households + ACR = fun university playing!
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