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.

Deeper MAXIS Hobbies, Part 2

As I have been playing for quite some time with my personality and trait system, I decided to update you on the changes I made in game. As always, feel free to borrow/steal/use them in your game and tweak them to suit you. Ask any questions, concerns or comments as well.

Deeper MAXIS Hobbies, Reduex


Based on a sim's one true hobby, I decided that they would have a corresponding skill strength. This means that they will learn that chosen skill faster (mostly through the Thinking Cap from the aspiration rewards and skill bonuses from SimBlender). Some hobbies will also have a boost in talent badges, meaning that they will start with a bronze badge (of thier chosing if multiple badges are available) even without studying.

Assigning Money Management Styles Based on Simology

I've been wondering how to add a bit more dimension to my sims, especially when it comes to debt and spending habits. Thankfully I came across an article about money management styles and I wondered if I could apply that to my sims.

Basically each money management style is seperated by traits, actually thier serious score and thier money interest score, so there's nothing new for me to randomly roll, I just look at my simmies' stats. Also, the nature of their money management style is pretty fluid as well. Here's a brief overview of the money management styles.