[TS2] My heart's in the Highlands, My heart is not here...

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Hello there. This is the thread I will use to post some updates about my hood I am currently working on. The content here will be both OC and OOC. Feel free to comment if you'd like. You can just post in this topic, as I will be putting all the posts up here anyways.

Once again I've decided to share the story of my neighbourhood. Luckily enough, I am starting from scratch, so I will have the opportunity to reflect on its story from the very beginning, and you, any frequent readers or random passers-by, will be able to see how everything started and developed.

Recently I've been experiencing some serious problems with my game. It would crash all the time, so my first two families became unplayable. I was forced to reinstall my game, do everything all over again and start getting custom content that I so desperately need to achieve the look I picture in my mind.

While I am still in the process of piecing everything together, testing my game and playing around with my dummy hood, I've decided to put the neighbourhood up. So here we go, meet Highland Springs in its pure and untouched beauty. The only thing here is the terrain replacements I use.

I made the map myself. It took me countless attempts to actually reach the look I would find acceptable, let alone perfect. I wanted Highland Springs to have mountains in the background, a waterfall, a viaduct, a nice bridge and a castle hill. I have not placed any of those things yet, but the actual terrain was made to have all those things. I've already tested it, and I can say that I am starting to like what I see.


To cut a long story short, in this hood I want to combine everything I actually like, make a working yet simple economy and other systems, witness a lot of wonderful stories going on.

I wanted to show you my hood as it is now. I haven't even fixed those bumps I got, I haven't placed any decorations or lots. The skyline looks empty and soulless, but let's hope that soon this hood will be thriving.

Looking forward to reading more about your neighborhood.

Thank you @LilSister. And welcome to the forum, I see you online often. I am glad that you've finally decided to post!

I'm just starting to set up a new game for myself, one that I plan to play for a long time, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how you do this for your game.

@Cher64 Thank you! Are you planning on sharing as well?

I would love to share, though I'll feel all kinds of inferior! It will probably also take me a long time to get things set up.

@Cher64 Yeah I know what you mean. It took me a while as well, but sharing is fun

How many attempts does it take to create a hood that works fine and that you enjoy playing? For me, it is still a question to answer. I needed to start over because some of my mods borked my sims. Well, I could have continued, but I did not wish to play any of those families.

The thing is, never start trying to play and develop before actually preparing everything. I made a couple of families that had teenagers in them, but I never created a university hood. Those became unplayable because they were about to age and I did not want them to become adults without going to uni.

My game became repetitive and I was lacking any inspiration to build or to play. I just had to start over. Now I am organising my downloads folder, testing some things and building lots so I can play them later.

This does not change anything for this topic. The good news is that I never posted anything that required continuation, so I can just start clean once again.

I will take it slow and try and show you more of my families this time. I will also try and make those university and other hood maps so I can do more. This will take some time.

I think the longest I've played hood was for 3 generations. Then I found that particular hood and its style (it came with lots) too restrictive and I got bored. Then Windows stopped supporting XP and I had to put together a new computer that would run Windows 7 and it seemed a good time to start over. Around that time, I discovered a lot of default replacements and mods I hadn't known about, and went crazy setting up a new, huge hood. I never even played all the many Sims I put in it before I sidetracked myself with an offspring project. Now I've discovered the benefits to having a somewhat smaller hood and using subhoods for different regions and styles.

So, this time I'm trying to be more careful and put more thought into what I'm doing overall. As a result, I tend to paralyze myself by over-researching and over-thinking everything.

Wow! Thank you for your reply, @Cher64. I am completely the same. I'd be excited to see your hood(s)!

What styles do you use?

I like so many styles and want to play them all. The big hood I set up and quickly abandoned had a Mediterranean region, a South American region, a mountain region, a tropical region, a Gypsy camp (which I loved!), some Florida-type coastal homes, and a farming region. I'm looking at still having those, but using subhoods so there will be more opportunity to decorate and expand as I play.

So, I guess I should start a thread about what I'm doing, except all I've done at this point is choose the hood terrains. I do have a few pictures of the old hood I could share there.

Will you still be using the Highland Springs hood you created? If I understand correctly, you think it was CC that made your game unplayable, so hopefully the hood terrain is still OK.

@Cher64 Yes, it will still be the same hood. Just not the old sims.

I'd be happy to read about your hood(s). If you want to share with us, create a topic here. Let me know if you have any questions.

I love the diversity you have. Gypsy camp is great

I've been playing my current neighborhood Redwood Cove for over 3 years. The fourth generation are aging into teens and some are ready for college; and those not going to college will be adults very soon. I began my neighborhood with 3 Sims, a dog and no community lots or townies. Now my neighborhood is thriving with 1 subhood, and a college and I just decided to add a vacation hood. I love OFB and there are 20 owned lots in my game in addition to all of the other community lots I've added. I make my townies that I've added over time. I really love my neighborhood.

@LilSister I'd love to see some screenshots. You can create a new topic here and tell us about your neighbourhood

I haven't been very active recently, but I am slowly getting back into playing TS2. I decided to go the other way and actually build some community lot so I can create workplaces for my sims. Some of these buildings are still unfinished, some of them are being decorated and furnished, but you get the idea.

Firstly, I need a big supermarket so my sims can buy groceries. In my mind, local producers sell their goods to the supermarket. I had to alter some files so it's easier to organise the business (I enabled some hidden files). There's still a lot of work to do, but the general outline is ready. Here's my Highlander supermarket, built in Tudor style (kind of).


The place is really big and it will sell a lot of ready-made food, groceries and some household items. It also has a Starbucks.

Another important addition to my hood is building a bank. The bank is functional, sims can open accounts, ask for loans and get investment certificates and precious metals.


I've also started building a post office. As usual, everything is functional: sims can send parcels, postcards, etc. They can also use computers and fax here.


How could my town function without a Town Hall? I am not sure if Highland Springs is going to have a mayor, but there will be some kind of administration there and sims will be able to visit them in the Hall. There's also a function suite for various celebrations, job centre and a canteen.


I am also planning on having a justice system in my hood, so I also created a courtroom. It is a very small building with a glass dome and a basement.


All those buildings are in the 'old town' and I tried to make them different, yet complementing one another. I'll keep working on them and I am also planning on showing you the interiors.

Happy simming!

I look forward to seeing the interiors of your buildings. They're very nice and do go together while each having its own style.

Are you still working on setting up your terrain and all that, or are you concentrating on community lots because you need a break from that?

I'd start a thread on mine, but I'm still working on default replacements. I want that done before I get into an actual game and start decorating the terrains, so I have nothing to show right now.

I'm not sure I could tackle an actual working economy and making my own townies and having all positions staffed by my own creations, but I'm fascinated by those who do.  

@LilSister, I'm hoping you'll start a thread and post pictures.

@Cher64 Thanks for the comment. My terrain is ready, so I am just building stuff in my dummy hood now. I do try to make everything custom, so it takes a long time to set everything up, but it's very rewarding. I hope to see your stuff soon

Your buildings look great. The Russian restaurant looks amazing I love it, it looks so cozy
And the video at the beginning with the song, love it!

Thank you so much @princessbliss

I love the cabin -- it looks so homey and warm. Do you get ideas for your lots from somewhere specific, like floor plans, or do you dream them up yourself?

Thank you @Cher64. Usually, I just build them myself, but I have a couple of houses that I built using a reference picture. I haven't used floor plans yet.