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Test Subject
#2951 Old 10th Sep 2017 at 3:53 PM
Hi guys. I have tried this a few times but have always had to take a break for various reasons and then lost track of where i got to. Anyone got any good idea's of how to keep track of everything?
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Lab Assistant
#2952 Old 12th Sep 2017 at 1:42 AM
Lots of notes? I dunno, I've restarted more times than I can remember. :p

Speaking of which, I'm trying to find a chicken mod I had a long time ago and seem to have misplaced, I wonder if any of you lovely people know where I might be able to download it again. It created chickens which could walk around or sleep on roosts, they had food and water troughs, and laid eggs. The eggs could be collected in a basket. I have the chicken coop mod now that has them living in their little house but they aren't very interactive, I miss my old chickens!

Been very busy, nice to see this thread is still going (and going, and going).
Test Subject
#2953 Old 12th Sep 2017 at 10:26 AM
looks pretty interesting
Lab Assistant
#2954 Old 12th Sep 2017 at 2:24 PM
Quote: Originally posted by girlsabc
Hi guys. I have tried this a few times but have always had to take a break for various reasons and then lost track of where i got to. Anyone got any good idea's of how to keep track of everything?


That was my first concern too! But I started an Excel spread to track everything, I'll post a picture too. So basically in the first row I have generation number, so I wouldn't forget when to transition to a new phase. Then the name and the household where they live (I just label them A, B, C and so on). Then age, married or not, class and whatever impirtant information I think I will need (for example "skills" means women who have obtained the needed set skills to marry the future emperor). And in the last row I have the order of unmarried sims. I only do that to avoid some sims growing old before they getting married, because I have way more females than males. But basically you can set it up however you would like
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Lab Assistant
#2955 Old 12th Sep 2017 at 8:35 PM
Quote: Originally posted by girlsabc
Hi guys. I have tried this a few times but have always had to take a break for various reasons and then lost track of where i got to. Anyone got any good idea's of how to keep track of everything?


Yes, absolutely as iireke7 said - spreadsheets. And pictures!

My spreadsheets are similar I must say - however they are organized by household, in the way that I group the sims that live together into one household. I'm a bit of a spreadsheet freak so I have several (one for living sims, one for dead sims, one for Stone & Iron age statistics... etc), and I note down more than what's necessary as well. To get closer to my sims, I tell myself. But honestly it's because I think it's fun

On top of the constant information tracking, I also take pictures of my sims every time they age up. I sort it by main family and branch. It's also fun

Including some pictures as well!
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Lab Assistant
#2956 Old 12th Sep 2017 at 11:57 PM
Quote: Originally posted by oboesapien
Lots of notes? I dunno, I've restarted more times than I can remember. :p

Speaking of which, I'm trying to find a chicken mod I had a long time ago and seem to have misplaced, I wonder if any of you lovely people know where I might be able to download it again. It created chickens which could walk around or sleep on roosts, they had food and water troughs, and laid eggs. The eggs could be collected in a basket. I have the chicken coop mod now that has them living in their little house but they aren't very interactive, I miss my old chickens!

Been very busy, nice to see this thread is still going (and going, and going).


I found them! http://affinitysims.com/files/file/...mated-chickens/
Lab Assistant
#2957 Old 14th Sep 2017 at 1:55 AM
Quote: Originally posted by girlsabc
Hi guys. I have tried this a few times but have always had to take a break for various reasons and then lost track of where i got to. Anyone got any good idea's of how to keep track of everything?


Well... Let's see...
To keep track of my little crazies, I have (way too much stuff):
-1 XMind tree where I note everything important that happens, separated by date and household, alongside any notes for stuff I may need to do later (check a baby's genetics in SimPE, make this sim move in with that one at the end of the season, etc.)
-1 XMind tree for each household, for notes about each sim that wouldn't fit on my excel sheets
-1 XMind family tree with pictures and everyone on it
-1 list of every sim, living or dead, with their birth number, hairstyle, clothing, known technologies, etc. (excel document) I also keep track of who fancies who as well as of every brawl that has occurred (because there will be consequences for that later).
-1 excel document to calculate the health of every sim (according to the Warwickshire challenge)
-1 big excel spreadsheet somewhat similar to what has been described above, separated by household and with every characteristic I might need to know about my sims written down. I've also been learning to properly use excel with that one, so it's full of rules that give points to this or that characteristic, with the end result that my sims' ranking, both individual and by households, is calculated automatically. There are statistics, too, both for the household and for the whole neighborhood. That way I can tell immediately if cleanliness runs in a family or if blond hair is becoming extinct.
-1 power point where I actually write the story of what's happening, with pictures taken in-game.
-Every time a sim grows up, I also go into SimPE to get their portrait (I'm not a big picture taker). However, because those don't always show all details, I also make every sim who grows up change appearance in the mirror, and take three captures of that - face, quarter, and profile. That way I can compare between generations and easily see who inherited grandma's eyes or grandpa's nose.
-And I'm sure I'm forgetting a thing or two...

(Yes, this is a lot: I designed my note-taking with the idea that a stranger should be able to take my files and pick up the game right where I left it. Considering I sometimes go several months without touching my game, I've found it quite efficient and necessary, because this way I don't actually need to memorize anything that I might forget later.)

However, for this iteration of the challenge only, I think I've changed note-taking techniques something like four times (and still have stuff I want to change), so don't expect to get it right at the first try - you need to be able to adapt it as you go.

Pictures of some of my stuff are attached. Most of it is in French, sorry. Ask questions if needed.

(BTW, in my time system, A1S4éJ4 (ven) is short for Année 1, Saison 4 (été), Jour 4 (vendredi) = Year 1, Season 4 (Summer), Day 4 (Friday). I figured that since sims don't follow a normal calendar or age normally anyways, I might as well come up with something easy to follow in-game.)
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Lab Assistant
#2958 Old 14th Sep 2017 at 3:20 AM
@Eldonyx I love the idea of using XMind! I used to use it for some work stuff but I never thought of applying it to Sims! For a while I kept a huge Excel notebook of family trees, each family's technology research, which Sims were currently eligible and which had attraction, etc., but I got to the point of spending as much time in Excel as I did in game and tabbing back and forth was taking forever. This run I'm trying to keep things mostly in-game, using all of the editable text fields and the album maker. I'm running into the problem that I can't access other families' data easily, though, so I'm going to start needing external notes as it gets more complicated. At least I pared down my CC so it doesn't take so long to load back into the game...

I'm loving reading everyone's note-taking strategies! Cheers @girlsabc for getting this conversation started.
Lab Assistant
#2959 Old 14th Sep 2017 at 1:01 PM
Oh wow, I'm amazed by all of your note-taking skills! I wish I had enough patience to do that. I did consider doing a family tree, but I didn't start and now it would be too much work I think :/
Lab Assistant
#2960 Old 14th Sep 2017 at 11:58 PM
@ oboesapien About the time it takes switching tabs, have you thought about playing the game in window-mode? It's a lot faster that way, at least for me, and you can still play nearly full-screen. I think there's a tutorial about how to do that somewhere on this site...

And yes, I'm a bit of an XMind fan. I use it not only for my sims, but also for note-taking and project-managing at school/work and even my non-sim-related story plans. It's a very useful tool.
Test Subject
#2961 Old 15th Sep 2017 at 4:16 AM
I've been doing this challenge for a while no, on and off (I'm on my second attempt, as I know my first attempt will succumb to corruption sooner or later) and I always wondered what you guys did with mix gen babies.
So say a sim from gen 2 has a baby with a sim from gen 3, would you class that baby as gen 3 or 4?
Up until now I didn't class them as either really, because I didn't have to, but now my mixed 2/3 baby is of child bearing age and I wasn't sure how to classify their children either.
Lab Assistant
#2962 Old 15th Sep 2017 at 8:57 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Flickstar
I've been doing this challenge for a while no, on and off (I'm on my second attempt, as I know my first attempt will succumb to corruption sooner or later) and I always wondered what you guys did with mix gen babies.
So say a sim from gen 2 has a baby with a sim from gen 3, would you class that baby as gen 3 or 4?
Up until now I didn't class them as either really, because I didn't have to, but now my mixed 2/3 baby is of child bearing age and I wasn't sure how to classify their children either.


I mark mine the higher number. In your case I'd do gen 4. I don't know if it's correct but it seems more logical for me to skip a generation than to stay in the same generation twice.
Lab Assistant
#2963 Old 15th Sep 2017 at 6:01 PM
First gen 6 babies are born Twins Helen and Hazel.
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Lab Assistant
#2964 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 2:20 AM
@Flickstar I give mixed-gen children the generation number that fits within the family that the child belongs to.
Example: gen2 and gen3 have a child. If the child is counted among the gen2's clan/family (gen3 married into that family or something), then it will be considered as gen3; if the child is counted among the gen3's clan/family, then it will be considered as gen4.
I think it's what makes the most sense in-universe: people would concentrate on the ancestry within their own family, not that of their spouse/lover.

... Unless, of course, said spouse/lover has a more prestigious ancestry than you (i.e. higher social ranking) and you want to capitalize on that fact. Or if being considered of an older/younger generation gives you some kind of perk. In which case the generation number would depend on the balance between the family's interests and the acceptability of the choice in the eyes of the rest of society (i.e. if the family is high-ranked enough to impose its views or not)...

And congratulations @iireke7 ! I'm a bit jealous that you've gotten so far into the challenge (my gen2 aren't even adults yet). Are you still in the Roman era, or have you gotten further?
Lab Assistant
#2965 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 8:30 AM
Thank you Still in Roman. First gen 7 sim has to turn to an adult for the new phase to start. I'm super excuted about it. I have added some of my own rules to this challenge as I think most of you have, and I can't wait to use the ones that I have picked out for the next era. At the moment I have 120 sims and 19 households, so it takes a while. Can't wait for the middle ages to start and everyone who gets sick is gonna die. Evil, I know, but easier for me :D
Lab Assistant
#2966 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 12:17 PM
@Eldonyx, wow! That's really impressive
@iireke7, congratulations on reaching generation 6!

I've just finished the 5th year of the Roman Era. Now that I've started to play 1 year rounds it really takes longer but the overall experience is worth it. I have 4 families living on each lot in apartment-houses, and playing 1 year at a time really makes it feel like the sims on the same lots are growing up together even in different families. Love it!

Another thing I did that was quite an effort but is also turning out good, is to remove family ties between everyone except parents and siblings. This way I'm not restricted by the fact that almost everyone are cousins. It's great! I removed the arranged marriage system and now I let them choose by their own within their social class. They have until 25 for men and 20 for women to find someone, if they haven't, I arrange something appropriate. I got this from an actual Roman law, that if they were unmarried by these ages they had to pay more taxes

I've also implemented a simplified health point system. I roll 1-100 when they are born, and roll +-20 for they birthdays, up to -20 for each birth, and -20 every 5 years for the men as well, which I call a military roll and pretend they lost in battle to defend their town. The winner of fights also loses up to -20, the loser still dies.

Really love my little town a lot, even though there is a lot of death and tragedy. One poor sim has lost her husband and two of her three children in these 5 years, I really feel for her
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Lab Assistant
#2967 Old 16th Sep 2017 at 8:24 PM
@abcbok Wow! You've really done great with the clothing the decorations and everything! I'm too lazy to do that :D
Field Researcher
#2968 Old 17th Sep 2017 at 1:07 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Flickstar
I've been doing this challenge for a while no, on and off (I'm on my second attempt, as I know my first attempt will succumb to corruption sooner or later) and I always wondered what you guys did with mix gen babies.
So say a sim from gen 2 has a baby with a sim from gen 3, would you class that baby as gen 3 or 4?
Up until now I didn't class them as either really, because I didn't have to, but now my mixed 2/3 baby is of child bearing age and I wasn't sure how to classify their children either.


I save a picture of them as the offspring of 2&3, but the challenge doesn't follow that child to determine where the generation ends. It follows the oldest child in the game. My gen 4 baby became an adult wile most of her peers were still at the child stage but it still became gen 4. I just have to watch her children, who will produce gen 5.

Bread edges.... are the new white meat.
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Lab Assistant
#2969 Old 18th Sep 2017 at 9:01 PM
@iireke7, oh, thank you so much! As "a bit" of a history nerd I find it a lot of fun and I'm glad to hear you like it

My fourth generation has arrived! They just turned 3 years old, two pairs of twins. I'll start the Dark Ages once gen 5 becomes adults, so we have quite a bit to go. But still

The town is getting more and more teens now and I'm having a lot of fun with not forcing anything. So far there's a rich plebeian heir who has a crush on a slave girl working on the farm his father owns, a young male slave who's seduced two widows, and a girl who's in a secret relationship with the plebeian man she's working for. The last one could be the beginning of a lot of drama as they're all living under the same roof
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Field Researcher
#2970 Old 19th Sep 2017 at 5:18 PM
After a fairly long summer break, I'm finally back to playing my ToT hood as well and just started playing the first round of my 3rd generation. :D

There have already been quite a few answers as to how everyone keeps track of their sims, so I won't go over spreadsheets again. But I wanted to mention the Sims2DB and the Sim Tracker. They're both tools made to keep track of your sims. I think that the Sim Tracker is generally the better choice, since it's been updated for all EPs. It's also the one I'm currently using. The Sims2DB on the other hand hasn't been updated since OFB came out, but it does have a few features that the Sim Tracker doesn't have. I'm missing fields for the recessive genetics in particular. But I simply keep track of those in my Excel sheets now. And then there are of course special programs and sites that allow you to create family trees. I'm using Tribal Pages.

As for the mixed generations babies, I always count them among the higher generation as well. But I do find Eldonyx's idea (going by the family they grow up in) pretty interesting, too.

Visit My Test of Time Challenge: wordpress & livejournal
Test Subject
#2971 Old 22nd Sep 2017 at 5:47 PM
Wow guys! So many ways to track. I think i will use Excel as thats what im use to. Im currently on Gen 2 where one lady had quads. Wow its hard lol. My next question(s) - anyone any suggestions on where to get more realistic clothing for the sims? Also any ideas on where to get stuff to make it more like they are living on a farm?
Lab Assistant
#2972 Old 23rd Sep 2017 at 12:02 AM
@girlsabc When you say "more realistic clothing", do you mean historically accurate clothes or stuff with "realistic" textures (vs Maxis-match)?

About farms, PlumBobKeep (and more specifically Sun&Moon's Star Factory section) has some very useful stuff for agriculture and farming, such as many plants, cows and pigs and chickens, a hay-making station, bees... The best part is that all of it is actually functional. The rest of the site also hosts several jewels in terms of furniture and deco.
Here on ModTheSims, there is also the Sim Stones set, which has several rocks and some rock-made furniture. It could be useful for these shepherd mountain refuges, or some early Neolithic settlements (or more modern ones set in semi-arid or mountainous regions, for that matter).
Field Researcher
#2973 Old 23rd Sep 2017 at 2:05 AM
@girlsabc And for which era do you need the clothes? Prehistoric or already roman? Or even later?
If you're looking for furniture and deco objects for your farms, you might like the Big Barn Set from Wood for Sims. Some parts are more on the modern side, but a lot of the objects fit in nearly any era.

Visit My Test of Time Challenge: wordpress & livejournal
Lab Assistant
#2974 Old 23rd Sep 2017 at 2:43 PM Last edited by abcbok : 23rd Sep 2017 at 2:56 PM.
Hey @girlsabc! I completely agree with Eldonyx and TheFlyingRaccoon, and would like to add http://historicalsims2.wikia.com/wi...history/Cavemen as well. It has a big amount of different stuff, almost everything you'd need, however there are some links not working anymore.

Love is in the air in my 'hood this last round! So many relationships started, both appropriate and not. Most notably the Broccha heir fell in love with another boy after them being best friends for years, there was a wedding between a widow and widower, and the only patrician started an illegal affair with a rich plebeian wife. There was a few murders as well but I'll focus on the bright side
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Lab Assistant
#2975 Old 23rd Sep 2017 at 4:53 PM
It seems I am really horrible at backing up my Sims data. :D
My ToT hood is back! I don't know what to think. I guess you won't remember me, but I've been playing ToT from about 2011 to 2015 until generations 4-5 (Roman Age). Then, my PC broke and I could not get my old neighborhoods to work on the new one. I could not bring myself to play Stone Age all over again, so I then started a new neighborhood with a different theme.
Now, I had to switch PCs again. And after copying my Sims back-up files onto the new one, guess what? My old, long-lost neihborhoods reappeared. Somehow. Okay, now my more recent hoods are gone, but I have not spent all that much time on them anyway.

I do remember my ToT hood did have some minor corruption issues when I last played. Also, my downloaded custom content seems to suffer a bit when transferred to another PC, so all in all I don't know if my ToT hood will live long. But I am so happy to see those sims again. I've never spent so much time on a single neighborhood.

And now I have to re-read the challenge rules, I guess. ^^ So happy to be back!!
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