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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 19th Jun 2016 at 9:52 PM
Default Castle Kit -- How precisely to use?
I know the trick to using it is turning moveobjects on (had to look up a video for that. Poor design, EA, that we have to use cheats just to use the set.) But...I don't really understand precisely what we're supposed to do here. Are we legitimately making the walls out of columns? Wouldn't that cause IMMENSE lag, or something of the sort, simply because of the massive amount of items? Would the game even recognize that it's "indoors?" My current castle is a hybrid of standard walls and parts of the set, with the outer castle wall being made out of the column-wall-things, but there's no real wall-cover that matches with the columns.
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Field Researcher
#2 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 8:51 AM
Some time ago i used the castle kit to build a keep: when i watched the keep from a distant lot i saw lots of column instead of wall... really poor design.
Scholar
#4 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 11:02 AM
You can built some wonderful castles using ordinary build methods, although there are some things you can't do like having curved walls and circular towers. When I came across the castle kit I thought it was just what I needed. But it turned out to be difficult to work with, and very limited as to what you can build. But the fact that, as Baiaana says, it just looks like a bunch of columns from a distance, clinched it for me. What was the point of that? It still irks me that I wasted all those Store points on it.

Legend is history as we would like it to be. We pick through the dusts of time for what is worth keeping and, here and there, we occasionally find treasure.

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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 12:11 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Why is there a castle kit? I'm sure it is quite easy to build a castle with the traditional method.

Yeah, for people who have World Adventures, maybe. I've noticed that most fantasy/medieval lots on modthesims require WA to work, which I don't have and quite frankly, don't want. After installing ambitions I noticed a downgrade in performance with the game, so I don't want to risk any further reduction in quality, even though the other EPs do interest me.

Quote:
You can built some wonderful castles using ordinary build methods, although there are some things you can't do like having curved walls and circular towers. When I came across the castle kit I thought it was just what I needed. But it turned out to be difficult to work with, and very limited as to what you can build.

Same. I don't understand why they would make it so that you have to use cheats to even get them to sit side-by-side seamlessly. That just makes no sense! And why did they not release a wall texture to go with this set? That would have been better than having to use columns.

Quote:
Some time ago i used the castle kit to build a keep: when i watched the keep from a distant lot i saw lots of column instead of wall... really poor design.

Never noticed this, but I can see it happening. I pretty much only use the "wall" columns for my property-surrounding wall, and just used normal build mode walls for the building itself. The circular tower pieces did get used as ornaments for each corner, and I did use the wall top decorations, but I have to admit, for the amount of pieces I don't use, it probably wasn't worth the money. (That being said, I bought this using the free points I got for registering the game, so I actually didn't waste real money, exactly.)

The file I used this set in seems to have that awful thing where the game pauses/lags occasionally yet animations still play. Not sure if it's actually related to the items from this set, or if I need to use nraas to completely reset everything. I've already tried resetsim * and then the nraas variant of it, but it hasn't fixed the lag.
Inventor
#7 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 6:29 PM
Quote: Originally posted by BlueLeafeon
The file I used this set in seems to have that awful thing where the game pauses/lags occasionally yet animations still play. Not sure if it's actually related to the items from this set, or if I need to use nraas to completely reset everything. I've already tried resetsim * and then the nraas variant of it, but it hasn't fixed the lag.


It's not related to those items at all. The lag you're experiencing is related to stereos being left on around town or stuck Sims. You can fix this by resetting the WHOLE city with Nraas MasterController. You'll find the interaction when you click on the Town Hall tag, Nraas -> MasterController -> Town -> Reset everything
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#8 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 7:35 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Let me put your worries to rest. WA does not have any performance reduction. It is one of the best EPs out there and in my opinion a must have. Ambition is well known for decreasing the performance of the game, it is one of the EPs I consider "heavy" along with generation, seasons, showtimes (I heard, I don't have this EP), etc... I think what made Ambitions decrease performance is the rework of the whole sims job system (to include various functions as house calls, off lot performance etc...) and the inclusion of professions. WA simply lets you travel to vacation worlds, so it doesn't affect the base coding much.

Is Island Paradise heavy on the game?

I'm guessing Into the Future is heavy too due to having to do things in the present in order to change the future.

Although to be honest, the only things I want from both packs are specific items, not the gameplay themselves, haha. Lantanas are my favorite flowers, and I'd like some futuristic furniture.

Thanks for the info, though!

Quote:
t's not related to those items at all. The lag you're experiencing is related to stereos being left on around town or stuck Sims. You can fix this by resetting the WHOLE city with Nraas MasterController. You'll find the interaction when you click on the Town Hall tag, Nraas -> MasterController -> Town -> Reset everything

I dunno what causes it, but I don't think it's specifically stereos because this started happening shortly after I started playing. Either way, I've been thinking of going ahead and doing that but worry that it'll break my cheated castle has kept me from doing so thus far. I'll give it a shot next time I boot the game, though.
Inventor
#9 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 8:47 PM Last edited by Naus Allien : 20th Jun 2016 at 9:24 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by BlueLeafeon
Is Island Paradise heavy on the game?

I'm guessing Into the Future is heavy too due to having to do things in the present in order to change the future.

Although to be honest, the only things I want from both packs are specific items, not the gameplay themselves, haha. Lantanas are my favorite flowers, and I'd like some futuristic furniture.


Island Paradise is quite heavy on the game, especially if you play in Isla Paraiso. You need to get the fixes or the lag will be unbearable. As for the rest, no so much. The fact that Townies/NPCs can use taxi boats could be a problem, but nothing Nraas Go Here / Traffic can't fix (if you disable the use of taxi boats).

Into the Future doesn't seem to be that heavy, but I'm not sure.
If you just want gameplay items I guess you could try to find basegame compatible conversions (hopefully they'll be PERFECT conversions, including animations and gameplay). I've seen base game compatible conversions in places like My Sims 3 Blog, but I don't recall seeing Into the Future.
Honestly, once the novelty wears off, Into the Future is quite a boring expansion.

This is in my opion the order of relevance of each EP:
1- Generations: This is a must. It expands pretty much every life stage and adds COUNTLESS (literally they're really hard to count) features that you'll use everyday no matter your gameplay style.
2- Seasons: Another must if your PC can handle it. It adds so many activities to do, especially outside your lot and it also makes gameplay more interesting with weather and holidays.
3- Late Night: Another must. Night clubs are a must for your young adult Sims. You probably want to get the mod More Sims Club if you get this expansion, so your clubs have more than 2 or 3 people.
4- Pets: I consider Pet an amazing addition. I'm quite a pets' person so for me a family is not complete without a pet.
5- Island Paradise: Probably one of the most complete EPs, even though some of its content is not as important. Not only you can own houseboats and move them around but you can also own and manage a resort, so it's a little bit like TS2 OFB. There are many new activities to do at the beach as well.
6- University: A well-done EP with many new activities to do and place to visit (bowling alley, coffee house, comic book store, hangouts) as well as a couple of interesting skills (street art, networking). Even if you don't want to play with your Sims at a university, you can still enjoy many features.
7- Ambitions: It adds new skills and active (non-robbit hole) professions such as Firefighter and Interior Designer. Other features such as laundry are not as relevant because other expansions add them as well.
8- Showtime: It's not as great is could've been but still it adds many new objects you probably loved from previous games, such as pool tables and the mechanic bull.

World Adventures, Supernatural and Into the Future are way more niche and you should only get them if you like their themes (tomb raiding, fantasy and sci-fi).
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#11 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 9:57 PM
@Naus Allien
When I bought sims, the specific version I bought was Sims+Pets, so it even has pets loading screens. "Reticulating tail splines..." XD

Other than that, I got the amibitions expansion for the new skills and ability to actually have my job BE my skill. But after seeing how ambitions kind of...reduced game quality a bit, I decided to not get any others. I'm mostly fine with what I have now. Mostly, what I want are only bits and pieces from the EP's. (Piano playing, Lantanas, futuristic stuff to make my house look scifi, etc.)

Quote:
Into the Future doesn't seem to be that heavy, but I'm not sure.
If you just want gameplay items I guess you could try to find basegame compatible conversions (hopefully they'll be PERFECT conversions, including animations and gameplay). I've seen base game compatible conversions in places like My Sims 3 Blog, but I don't recall seeing Into the Future.

I googled it and found some conversions, but the download on the file-sharing site no longer exists. I guess I'll keep looking.

Quote:
Haha, I can't believe you are asking me about IP, I was going to say something about it in the previous post but decided not to b/c I didn't want to get too technical with it. IP should "not" be heavy on the game, except it is broken. I tend to be more specific, heavy meaning it generally slows down the game b/c of added element. IP slows down and lag the game b/c it is broken. The world IP is virtually unplayable b/c of routing lags etc... that cannot be fix as far as I know (even with all the mods and ellacharm's fixed routing). But what really makes it a glitch of an expansion is that it introduces water taxi and this will hit all your worlds that have any form of water. Sims would take the water taxi instead of routing around and using the open roads. Water taxis end up getting stuck in loops, stuck in general routing, etc... If you have pets, you'll see wild horses riding water taxis... it is a nightmare. However, I heard that NRAAS GoHere mod can disable water travel and perhaps that will fix the lag issue.

Ew. Definitely not worth it for a new life state and Lantanas. lol

EDIT: Okay, that's weird. I really could have sworn there was a rainbow lantana download on modthesims, and that it was marked IP only. I don't see it now. Am I remembering wrong?

...Man this topic got seriously off topic. Oh well, I'm enjoying it anyway. I'm learning quite a bit. lol
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#13 Old 20th Jun 2016 at 10:50 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Rainbow Lantanas

Oh.... so these are called lantanas. LOL! I use them all the time, I had no idea what they were called or which EP they came from. Wow, to get a whole EP just for flowers... that's some dedication. I really want the golf tee from Showtime, but I just .... can't see myself getting that EP with all the things about it that annoys me just so I can have a golf tee.

I looked down those 3 pages several times and never saw them somehow.

Nah, I'm not THAT dedicated. They don't look as beautiful as they do IRL. (Google "Sunrise lantana" sometime. They're gorgeous.) Now, if I can find a base-game compatible conversion of them... lol
Scholar
#14 Old 21st Jun 2016 at 1:30 PM
Even in real life, lantanas have their downside--the smell! Just growing under a yellow plum tree they managed to infuse the plums with their smell and ruin an otherwise perfect batch of jam.
Field Researcher
#15 Old 21st Jun 2016 at 4:20 PM
Quote: Originally posted by BlueLeafeon
Now, if I can find a base-game compatible conversion of them... lol


The closest you could probably get would be the hydrangea recolors, which wouldn't have the variations on the petal colors. As for sci-fi, the furniture in the High End Loft stuff pack can get pretty close (more of "what 1950's movies thought the future would look like) depending on what materials you put everything in. For Supernatural and it's performance issues, it isn't bad... until the full moon. Having the game force all of the town's werewolves to go in to their "wolf" form at sundown, spawning every ghost in town, spawning zombies, giving out random lunacy moodlets, and swapping it to the "full moon lighting" can take their toll (but there's mods for at least all but the first two). It has some nice, old fashioned furniture though- and the option to throw potions of angry bees at people.

Back on topic, there's should be a way to check if the wall pieces count as legit walls or just columns. Make a test family of two sims not in a romance. On their lot make a room out of the set's wall pieces and a normal room with a door nearby. Put a shower in the room made with the castle kit and tell one of the sims to take a shower. If they shoo the other sim in to the regular room, then the set pieces don't actually make real rooms (although since you don't have Seasons, with the exception of privacy, a room being counted as indoors or outdoor doesn't matter that much).
Scholar
#16 Old 21st Jun 2016 at 4:48 PM
With Supernatural, since I have no interest in werewolves (I got the expansion for the bees and mushrooms, honestly), I locked the moon phase at waxing gibbous.
Alchemist
#17 Old 21st Jun 2016 at 5:08 PM
What is castle kit?

Just call me Nikel
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#18 Old 21st Jun 2016 at 6:27 PM
Quote: Originally posted by lucy kemnitzer
Even in real life, lantanas have their downside--the smell! Just growing under a yellow plum tree they managed to infuse the plums with their smell and ruin an otherwise perfect batch of jam.

I have never noticed them smelling...except when I'm in a car with them. lol

Quote:
Back on topic, there's should be a way to check if the wall pieces count as legit walls or just columns. Make a test family of two sims not in a romance. On their lot make a room out of the set's wall pieces and a normal room with a door nearby. Put a shower in the room made with the castle kit and tell one of the sims to take a shower. If they shoo the other sim in to the regular room, then the set pieces don't actually make real rooms (although since you don't have Seasons, with the exception of privacy, a room being counted as indoors or outdoor doesn't matter that much).

That's a decent test. I don't have seasons, but if it doesn't count as indoors, I guess that means my sims can enjoy the "outdoors" moodlet 24/7. lol.

Quote: Originally posted by nikel23
What is castle kit?

http://cawtool.wikia.com/wiki/The_Complete_Castle_Kit
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