Follower Series: Flit

I've always found interesting new blogs by looking through the lists of followers and commenters, not only on my own site, but the sites of others. I thought that I would do a monthly profile of the followers of Apple Valley so that others can see some of the other great blogs that are out there. I only chose the sim related blogs of followers (no personal or non-sim blogs) and of course there are many followers that do not have a personal blog.

This month, I'm profiling

Flit

Character Studies

Decided to try some character studies.

I will try to add lots of details and a concise backstory for each simmie.

Below is a poll to see if some of these simmies are interesting enough to get a little more background info on. There is an other option, so feel free to chose that if you want to know more about a simmie not listed below since listing all the simmies in my hood would create such a long poll!

Who would you like to know more about?

Follower Series: Blackcat

I've always found interesting new blogs by looking through the lists of followers and commenters, not only on my own site, but the sites of others. I thought that I would do a monthly profile of the followers and commenters of Apple Valley so that others can see some of the other great blogs that are out there. I only chose the sim related blogs of followers or commenter (no personal or non-sim blogs) and of course there are many followers and commenters that do not have a personal blog.

This month, I'm profiling

Blackcat

Then and Now, Some of My Simmie Couples

I was going through some older photos and decided to share some of my simmies. This is just the couples for now, so enjoy the walk down memory lane.


Jorge (Herendez) and Jolie Dawson during university, they thought that each other was hot


Now 19 simyears of marriage, five children and four different careers later


Jadhira and Johan (Dawson) Shazad enjoying a meal at his parents' house shortly after her arrival from Simborough


Now 18 simyears of marriage, three kids and two careers later


Sazo (Kent) and Sandy Warwick on their first date, they fell in love fast and hard


Now, after 20 simyears of marriage, 2 daughters and lots of simoleans richer.


Rebecca and Julio (Herendez) Wilsonoff as "just friends" playing video games as teens


Now 15 simyears of marriage, three children and much drama later


Nicole and Lyndon Humphrey shortly after their return from living in Sokitumi (another simmer's hood)


Now 32 simyears, three adopted/foster children later



Fiona and Jesse (Carr) Kent's first date and she is being introduced to his adopted son, Bill Carr


They look very well for 13 simyears of marriage, five children and two grandchildren (or more, knowing Bill) later


Ginger and Grex (Mendenhall) Grey on thier first chaperoned date (Ginger's twin sister, Marilyn is watching in the background)


15 simyears of marriage, two affairs, six children and countless special "showers" for Ginger later

Follower Series: Nonikk63

I've always found interesting new blogs by looking through the lists of followers and commenters, not only on my own site, but the sites of others. I thought that I would do a monthly profile of the followers of Apple Valley so that others can see some of the other great blogs that are out there. I only chose the sim related blogs of followers (no personal or non-sim blogs) and of course there are many followers that do not have a personal blog.

This month, I'm profiling

Nonikk63

Culling Downloads, Part 2

Thanks to a combination of Delphy's Download Organizer, DJ's Compressorizer and grunt work my downloads folder is a nice slim 2.01GB. I am not done culling downloads, there are still a few more files that I need to delete, mostly duplicates and things that I need to view in-game before deleting.

Now I'm on a mission for faster load times. In spite of culling my downloads, my load time has crept back up to almost 15 minutes. It may not seem like a lot, but when you only have an hour to play, you want every minute to count. Also, 15 minutes seems so long now since I've installed TS3 and can start playing within 5 minutes. Then again, I don't have any downloads for TS3 besides some store items :P

Follower Series: Sari

I've always found interesting new blogs by looking through the lists of followers and commenters, not only on my own site, but the sites of others. I thought that I would do a monthly profile of the followers and commenters of Apple Valley so that others can see some of the other great blogs that are out there. I only chose the sim related blogs of followers or commenter (no personal or non-sim blogs) and of course there are many followers and commenters that do not have a personal blog.

This month, I'm profiling

Sari

Kent Decor Scheme: Final Product, Part 3

Decided to do a post detailing step by step my process for decorating my sims homes.


Meet Jesse and Fiona Kent, readers of my story blog are familiar with these two. Their house burned down-aka, I broke it ^_^ and after rebuilding a new house, they now need to decorate it. We're going to start with the living room.

Follower Series: Shana

I've always found interesting new blogs by looking through the lists of followers and commenters, not only on my own site, but the sites of others. I thought that I would do a monthly profile of the followers and commenters of Apple Valley so that others can see some of the other great blogs that are out there. I only chose the sim related blogs of followers and commenters (no personal or non-sim blogs) and of course there are many followers and commenters that do not have a personal blog.

This month, I'm profiling

Shana

ROS Simyear 2010-2011

This is the ROS round of death. Ugh, three of the five ROS deal with death, so expect a very sad time in Apple Valley.

Kent Decor Scheme: Part 2-Shopping

Decided to do a post detailing step by step my process for decorating my sims homes.

Meet Jesse and Fiona Kent, readers of my story blog are familiar with these two. Their house burned down-aka, I broke it ^_^ and after rebuilding a new house, they now need to decorate it. We're going to start with the living room.

I already chose the colors and patterns, but now I need to do some shopping. I personally perfer Maxis meshes, so the first stop is PiggiSims to see if there is anything that I like.

Follower Series: Danielle

I've always found interesting new blogs by looking through the lists of followers and commenters, not only on my own site, but the sites of others. I thought that I would do a monthly profile of the followers of Apple Valley so that others can see some of the other great blogs that are out there. I only chose the sim related blogs of followers (no personal or non-sim blogs) and of course there are many followers that do not have a personal blog.

This month, I'm profiling

Danielle

Kent Decor Scheme: Design Inspiration, Part 1

Decided to do a post detailing step by step my process for decorating my sims homes.

Meet Jesse and Fiona Kent, readers of my story blog are familiar with these two. Their house burned down-aka, I broke it ^_^ and after rebuilding a new house, they now need to decorate it. We're going to start with the living room.

Follower Series: Rachel

I've always found interesting new blogs by looking through the lists of followers and commenters, not only on my own site, but the sites of others. I thought that I would do a monthly profile of the followers of Apple Valley so that others can see some of the other great blogs that are out there. I only chose the sim related blogs of followers (no personal or non-sim blogs) and of course there are many followers that do not have a personal blog.

This month, I'm profiling

Rachel

Education in Apple Valley, Part 3.5

What and Why

A while back, I decided to do a series on how education in Apple Valley works, especially with the forthcoming changes. I explored education from elementary school to obtaining an advanced degree as I wanted to move away from excessive skilling in my game and focus more on character development. The changes served two purposes, one, it allowed me to hone in on each sim's individual personality and preferences, two, it prevented excessive success. Right now, most sims are able to obtain a level 7 job without any trouble aside from making friends. This left very little room for variety in the game and most sims were financially well off. To ensure that I stayed focused on this, I decided to try and do away with most toddler skills-instead focusing on teaching them how to walk, talk, etc.

FSBS-Lingo
The primary ways of educating the sims in all levels of education are skills, hobbies and interests. I often refer to skills as scores on "skill exams" (the number of skill points they have in a certain skill) or "core skill evaluation"-CSE (the number of total skills they have). Hobbies and interests will also be referred to in a similar manner. Now that the background is out of the way, let's move on.

Vocational School

Today, we're discussing obtaining a vocational degree. In the original series, I didn't include a vocational school as I planned on sending my sims to a fellow simmer to utilize her technical school. However her game died :( and my simmies have a need for vocational education.

I wanted there to be some variety in education levels of the sims. Either you went to college or you didn't, according to MAXIS. Even if you didn't go to college, you could be a doctor...um, how about no.

Some sims do not attend university, graduate from university, or simply obtain an associate's degree in thier life. Now, some sims are content with that and their goal isn't to be a surgeon, so being a nurse or EMT is great for them. Other sims want to excel in their careers a bit more.

Any resident of Apple Valley may undertake vocational training course with WilTech at any time. Tuition varies according to the certificate. Bronze certificates are $1,000 in tuition, silver certificates are $2,000 in tuition and gold certificates are $3,000 in tuition. There are no entrance exams for WilTech and classes are available in both online, via Monique's computer, options and lecture options. Students must participate in some hand-on training, so 100% of the certificate program can not be online.

Students are able to chose one of seven vocational certificates:

• Cosmetology
• Flower Arranging
• Robotics
• Sales
• Toy Making
• Pottery
• Sewing

In summary,

Vocational Certificates
-bronze, silver or gold levels in each vocational area

Follower Series: Carla

I've always found interesting new blogs by looking through the lists of followers and commenters, not only on my own site, but the sites of others. I thought that I would do a monthly profile of the followers and commenters of Apple Valley so that others can see some of the other great blogs that are out there. I only chose the sim related blogs of followers or commenter (no personal or non-sim blogs) and of course there are many followers and commenters that do not have a personal blog.

This month, I'm profiling

Carla

Simmish Life Insurance

This was inspired thanks to the unfairness of my ROS. It gave me three death ROS and this made me wonder about life insurance. Sims get life insurance payouts if they die from old age, but that's not how it is in real life. So since apparently the sim government gives elderly sims life insurance but not adult sims.

"Rounds" and ROS Simyear 2008-2009

For those who have been following Apple Valley for a while, you may realize that time moves so slowly :) It's killing me as well watching other bloggers zip through their generations while mine seem stuck. To make time move a bit faster, but not too much faster, which was the whole reason of blogging in this new style, I'm switching to 2-year rounds, but non-rounds :P

Education in Apple Valley, Part 4.5

What and Why
A while back, I decided to do a series on how education in Apple Valley works, especially with the forthcoming changes. I explored education from elementary school to obtaining an advanced degree as I wanted to move away from excessive skilling in my game and focus more on character development. The changes served two purposes, one, it allowed me to hone in on each sim's individual personality and preferences, two, it prevented excessive success. Right now, most sims are able to obtain a level 7 job without any trouble aside from making friends. This left very little room for variety in the game and most sims were financially well off. To ensure that I stayed focused on this, I decided to try and do away with most toddler skills-instead focusing on teaching them how to walk, talk, etc.

FSBS-Lingo
The primary ways of educating the sims in all levels of education are skills, hobbies and interests. I often refer to skills as scores on "skill exams" (the number of skill points they have in a certain skill) or "core skill evaluation"-CSE (the number of total skills they have). Hobbies and interests will also be referred to in a similar manner. Now that the background is out of the way, let's move on.

Master's Degree
Today, we're discussing obtaining a master's degree. In the original series, I didn't include a master's degree as I didn't want to have too many levels to keep up with. However looking at Heredon Cove's notes and the careers, I noticed that some careers needed more than a bachelor's, but significantly less than an advanced degree (modeled after a PhD).

I wanted there to be some variety in education levels of the sims. Either you went to college or you didn't, according to MAXIS. Even if you didn't go to college, you could be a doctor...um, how about no.

Some sims do not attend university, graduate from university, or simply obtain an associate's degree in thier life.  Now, some sims are content with that and their goal isn't to be a surgeon, so being a nurse or EMT is great for them. Other sims want to excel in their careers a bit more.

Any resident of Apple Valley with a bachelors degree may undertake master's correspondence course with Pierce University at any time. Tuition is $10,000 for the entire degree program and students must have at least a score of 20 on their entrance exam (Score on Core Skills Evaluation + #simyears work experience).

To complete their degree, students must graduate with at least a score of 27 on their CSE. Assuming the lowest possible CSE score of 20 from graduation from university, the student will be required to earn 7 skill points throughout their coursework.

Students are able to chose one of seven master degrees. A student's degree choice determines which skill, interest, and hobby they will focus on maxing.

•Master's Degree in Fine Arts: creativity/Culture, Entertainment, Fashion/Arts & Craft, Film & Literature, Music & Dance

•Master's Degree in Culinary Arts: cooking/Food/ Cuisine

•Master's Degree in Business Administration: charisma/Money, Work /Film & Literature

•Master's Degree in Technology: mechanical/Weather/Tinkering, Science

•Master's Degree in Applied Science: logic/Animals, Environment, Paranormal / Science, Nature

•Master's Degree in General Studies: cleaning/School, Sci-Fi, Toys, Travel / Cuisine, Fitness, Games

•Master's Degree in Public Service: body/Crime, Health, Politics, Sports /Fitness, Sports

In level one, students must score a 8 on their skill exam correlated to their major and a 27 on their CSE (ie, a student focused on the Advanced Degree in Culinary Arts must have at least 8 cooking skills and at least 27 skill points total).

In level two, students focus on refining their studies. Students must earn at least a 8 on their CIE in their focused skill. Using the example above, our Culinary Arts student must have 8 interest points in food. If multiple interests are listed, students chose one interest to focus on. Students will use magazines and sharing interest conversations to earn interests.

In level three, students continue to focus on refining their studies. Students must earn at least a 4 on their CHE in their focused skill. Using the example above, our Culinary Arts student must have 4 points in cuisine hobby. If multiple hobbies are listed, students chose one hobby to focus on. Students will use any means available to develop their hobby.

In level four, students focus on perfecting their studies and finishing their thesis. Students will use the computer to write a novel, this novel is their thesis. Upon completing of thier thesis , students graduate with a Master's Degree and a dandy little diploma to hang on their walls. Their options have now opened to the purple sections on the career table.

In summary,

Master's Degree
-27+ CSE graduation
-degree focus skills via computer
-CSE score of 8 in focused skill
-CIE score of 8 in focused interest
-CHE score of 4 in focused hobby
-thesis

Favorite Apple Valley Sims

Over at N99, the focus for the month of March is on favorite sims. I've been sharing some of my personal favorites from Apple Valley, but then wondered, which sims/families are your favorite from Apple Valley and why?

So post a comment here telling why they are your favorite. Feel free to post as often as you like!

Also, if other bloggers do the same, feel free to put your link in your comment as well so others can go and check our your blog. I can't wait since I have my own personal favorites from some of my favorite blogs.

Calculators for All

Decided to put my calculators in a stand alone excel file for a few reasons:

• This allows simmers who don't have massive spreadsheets to enter in the necessary data for the desired information.
• This allows for easy intergration into simmers' databases.
• To share calculators that I no longer use, but others might find useful.

What is included in the calculator worksheet?

Magnetic Non-Couples 2011

Valentine's Day is over, and I promised a surprise for you guys. Here are my top 10 magnetic non-couples in Apple Valley. I ranked them by attraction score instead of overall score.

These are the couples that could be, but are not.

10. S'Ahmisa Warwick and Benjamin Endeavour, 103

They are friends and they did kiss a little in university. Now Benjamin is non-exclusively seeing S'Ahmisa's best friend, Ming, and S'Ahmisa is exclusively seeing Benjamin's roommate, Rashid. They are far too busy wrapped up in their current loves to think about each other, though S'Ahmisa does occasionally dream of the tall basketball player.

Magnetic Couples 2011

Just in time for Valentine's Day! Here are my top 10 magnetic couples in Apple Valley. I only did 10 since I have only 18 couples and that included former couples as well. I ranked them by attraction score instead of overall score. There have been some new additions to the ranking and some changes as well. This year, the surprise was that the couples had the same ranking when I looked at their total scores-aka, how stable are they-so I'm including both here. I have a little surprise for the second part :)

The first number is the attraction score and the second number is the total score

10. Brandon and Ilila Peterson, 73/178

The newest couple to immigrate to Apple Valley. They met while he was in basic training, she was the daughter of his drill sergeant which also meant that she was off-limits, not to mention the fact that she was still a senior in high school. After her college graduation they bumped into each other at a different military base in the commissary's produce aisle. She walked away with more than a bag of apples that day.

Welcome ModtheSimmers

Lately I've been getting a lot of traffic from MTS and I just wanted to say a hearty welcome to everyone. Feel free to browse the archives, ask questions and visit my other blogs as well.

Welcome and Enjoy Your Stay!

Culling Downloads

I've been on a mission to cut down on custom content as much as possible. Why?

1. I happen to like maxis style items.
2. I need my load times to be quick so I can get more play into my busy schedule.
3. I tend to declutter in RL as well, so of course it's going to happen to my game as well.

So how am I cutting down on custom content?

1. Download ban for two-three months during the process. I can still download, but the downloads may not enter the game.
2. Mercilessly delete duplicate recolors, I don't need 7 shades of white.
3. Mercilessly delete poorly made recolors, I tend not to use it anyway, so why let it take up space.
4. Mercilessly delete recolors that I don't use frequently.
5. If I like a texture, but don't want to use the custom mesh, then I will move the texture to a maxis mesh. This is mostly for paintings and rugs and the occasional seating item.

I do have a plan for deleting object items.

• I'm deleting duplicates of recolors, poorly made recolors and recolors that I don't use frequently item by item. Yes, that means going through the catalog and shifting through each and every item and deleting recolors.
• This obviously can quickly becoming tedious, boring and overwhelming, so I of course broke it down into smaller tasks.
• For the initial pass I will go through the following subcategories within six months: Comfort, Surfaces, Decorative, Plumbing, Appliances, Electronics, Lighting, Hobbies, Miscellaneous, Community Lot-Only.
• For maintance, I will go through the catergories once a month just to make sure I am not shifting through a ton of unnecessary custom content.

My plan for deleting body shop items is very much the same.

• I'm deleting duplicates of recolors, poorly made recolors and recolors that I don't use frequently item by item. Yes, that means going through the catalog and shifting through each and every item and deleting recolors.
• For hairs, I will only allow two shades of the same color family for each mesh. Ie, a nouk curly mesh can only have two red recolors,
• This obviously can quickly becoming tedious, boring and overwhelming, so I of course broke it down into smaller tasks.
• For the initial pass I will go through the following subcategories within six months: Hair, Adult Clothing, Elder Clothing, Children Clothing, Teen Clothing, Toddler Clothing
• For maintance, I will go through the catergories once a month just to make sure I am not shifting through a ton of unnecessary custom content.

Wish me luck!

Design Preferences

I've been trying to expand a bit when it comes to decorating my sims houses. Design preferences have come and gone and have come back again to Apple Valley. Originally based on Simmerville's system, it has been modified for Apple Valley residents.

I now use a combination of my sims' favorite color and their two design styles randomly (or not randomly) chosen from ten options.

The design styles that I use in my hood are: Coastal, Contemporary, Cottage, Country, Eclectic, Exotic, Modern, Rustic, Traditional and Vintage.

Each design style has a few different key words to help me visualize a sim's preference.