Symone Sun

Pinterest inspiration for a living room. I'm going to start little design challenges so I can get better at interior (and eventually exterior) design.

Challenge #1 wasn't the best, but it's definitely a good start!

Bark & Ruff — Community Lot

Finally built up a lot I placed a while ago. I definitely could have done better with furnishings and maybe made the building smaller, but it still turned out okay IMO! Since I didn't do a voiceover for this one, I will probably just upload the Rosehill house build sans voice, too. It's easier that way!

Astoria Hills — Hood Deco and Apartment Complex

I was working on an apartment layout I drafted and decided to add a hood deco complex next to it to make the area next to the cafes feel a bit more “lived in”.

The apartment I actually built came along pretty decently. It’s 4 units so two of the 1bd layout and two of the 2bd layout. Not really happy with the exterior and interior color schemes so I may eventually change it. Also, not quite happy with the front yard layout — might have to axe the pool. The 2bd layout is not exactly true to the design I created in Photoshop — couldn’t quite get the proportions right but it still turned out decenty.

As for the hood deco I placed next door, that was fun! I wanted something to take up a bit of blank space on the map without actually having to build it from scratch. I really love this map, but I will say one caveat is that it’s very hilly and the terrain can make it hard to build or place things in corners. And there are a lot of slopes (towards the waterfront). But this still turned out great in my opinion! I placed another bus stop towards the back of the cafe because I want this hood to seem transit friendly. (And now that I think about it, maybe this will be an excuse to use “walk to lot” more often for my households.)

I have a problem where I’ll start building lots or hood and then never finish them, but I don’t think that will be an issue with Astoria since I’m in school. I’ll need something to help me recharge after all this homework. Speaking of which...time to get started on my English and Math assignments.

I also started a YouTube channel after seeing @anibats’ channel earlier today! I’m not good at remember to turn my game bar/screen recorded on, but when I do I will probably upload my speed builds there.

Astoria Hils — Hood Deco

The neighorborhood is coming further along! A lot of the deco (like the trees, quay, train station) was already placed on this premade map but I’ve been adding my own touch. Like the “private school” (big brown buildings) near the edge of the water, the bus depot and various stations around town, some condos and brownstones, the cafe, and such.

Project Simbiotic — Apartment Complex

(Click the photos to enlarge) I’ve come up with plans for another, yet unnamed complex! The four inspo photos are the most relevant to these units, but if you’d like to see where the rest inspiration came from, take a look at the Pinterest board I made. 

There will be double entrance, so the bland Apartment Life Unique Seperators are not the main door. The foyer will lead into the kitchen which extends almost the whole width of the apartment. Up top is the guest bathroom, a hallway wall, and a small laundry room. I placed the living room in the middle of the units so there can be a window peeking into the kitchen. The master bedroom will be behind that, and in the 2-bedroom version the guest room extends beyond that.

No balcony — I want to preserve the neighborhood views as much as possible. I’ll eventually plan out the clubhouse/leasing office area. There will definitely be a community pool but I’m not sure about a gym. Hopefully this lot will be done within two or three days if not later today. College assignments and work are calling! I also finally installed OMSPs and Shiftable Everything, so this should be fun!

Mercy Village Homes — Apartments

Genie’s Cafe — Community Lot

Yesterday I created the first community lot in Astoria Hills! Say hello to Genie’s Cafe, a cute little eatery nestled right next to the pier. I used a bunch of CC — so much in fact that I probably can’t list them all (without going through the tedious process of checking each item). I’ve also gotta learn how to package community lots with CC so I can upload them in the future. Still don’t know how.

Astoria Hills — Hood Deco

Earlier today I started work on my new neighborhood’s deco. I made a small plaza with some items that came with the game as well as cc. I have TS2UC, so I don’t know if the carousel and some of the fencing comes with the base game or another ep. Anyway, here’s a list of the pictured items:

I made a little me :3 This is the first resident of Astoria Hills. The hood still needs a bunch of work, but I thought I’d make a simself so I could take pictures.

I had an experience today where an Origin client update completely wrecked my Sims 2 game (or so I thought), and I don’t want this happening to anyone else. And before you ask, an EA rep walked me through clearing the cache on my computer. That didn’t work.

The Issue I Had

I updated Origin because it was touted as “mandatory” (cue eyeroll that gives me a migraine). When I went to open TS2UC after the update...The game wouldn’t open! Running the program as an administrator didn’t work, compatibility mode did nothing. I would click on TS2UC and instead of launching it would open the Sims 2 copy in my Game Library. Clicking ‘Play Game’ would make the Origin window disappear for a second or two (as if the game was about to load) only for nothing to happen. The game was not launching in the computer Task Manager either.

After much of the day trying to figure things out (with the “help” of EA/Origin Games support representatives), warning fellow Simmers on Reddit, and thinking my game was wrecked, I have a solution.

Backup Your Game Files Before All Origin Updates*

Backup your Sims 2 Ultimate Collection Folder (or specific folders like Downloads, Lot Catalog, Neighborhoods, and SC4Terrains). 

Place the copy somewhere else in your computer that is not the Documents > EA Games folder. 

For more information on backing up files, read about it via ModtheSims.

*The Sims 2 is a “legacy game” (read: old, geriatric, and unsupported), so support is not really available outside of the Simmer community, and Origin is not accounting for the game whatsoever when new client updates are published. Because of this, you need to back up all your game before allowing updates. Even if you have no had this happen to you and you believe it never will, backup your files anyway. If you have your Origin client set to auto-update, I recommend turning that feature off so you have time to backup TS2. In fact, putting Origin in Offline Mode may be in your best interest (read more under the Misc. section).

Please only follow this solution if clearing your Origin cache didn’t work, or you are not comfortable messing with program data and such.

The Solution

After backing up the files you want saved, uninstall the Origin client from your computer. It is not necessary to uninstall Sims 2. You can leave that alone. (In fact, don’t touch TS2 in your Uninstall Program manager unless this tutorial doesn’t work!)

Reinstall Origin. 

After logging back in, go to your Game Library, and right-click on the TS2UC thumbnail. 

Click ‘Repair Game’. Let it repair. 

Launch TS2 and let it load.

Check if your game was switched back to the default settings (no custom content, no saved games, no custom neighborhoods, etc.). 

If you find anything like this changed, that is where the backed up files come in handy! Close your game.

Go to the Documents > EA Games folder. Delete any and all files within. Place your backed up game files in that same folder. Launch. Voila!

Or are you like me and you already updated the game before you found this tutorial and backed up your files, so you “lost” everything?

Fear not!

Check your Documents > EA Games folder. Are there two files (one saying ‘The Sims 2′, the other saying ‘The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection’)? 

Delete the folder that doesn’t have your Downloads folder (or it is not filled with your finds), has no custom neighborhood(s) in the Neighborhood folder, and/or no custom neighborhood(s) in the SC4Terrains folder. This will most likely be the most recently created folder, usually with only a few folders/files inside (instead of 16-20 total items), and/or it may be entitled simply ‘The Sims 2′.

After deleting the appropriate folder, please make sure it is named  The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection exactly, or TS2 will create another file (more than likely named The Sims 2 only).

Misc.

You may notice that the resolution has switched to the default. You will have to re-edit the Graphics Rule information, including using the Graphics Rule Maker program from Sims Network.

For those of you who only use Origin to play Sims 2, it would be better to avoid all Origin updates by using Offline Mode. Read this thread on ModtheSims for more info.