Happy Legaversary to Me!
Apr. 23rd, 2012 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dicreasy2Five years ago today, a naïve young lady started a challenge that she thought would take a year, two tops, by plonking a sim called Gabe Legacy on a lot in a subhood of Pleasantview.
Five years on and I’m only halfway through. It’s turned out to be a much more involved undertaking than I ever thought it would be. The amount of research and work I have put into my legacy and story is pretty staggering when I think about it, and I’m nowhere near done yet. Have I considered giving up because of the workload? Truthfully, yes. When I’ve been down, when I’ve felt like I’m drowning under everything I’m doing and still have to do, then yes, I have considered giving up, deleting the hood and uninstalling the game. But I haven’t. I’ve always managed to think of something that I enjoy about how I play and what I write, and that in turn has made my stubbornness make itself known and so I’ve carried on. I do still enjoy playing Regalton, and I’m getting excited about the upcoming plot explosion and can’t wait to share it with you all. I did some plotting the other day, and I’ve got rough outlines for chapters 25 – 29. They’re going to be shorter (hopefully) than the recent chapters I’ve done, and the whole lot will cover only about a year of my characters’ lives. There’ll still be more of this plot after these chapters (the consequences are going to be wide reaching), but I’m hoping having so many chapters covering a short space of time will give be chance to play ahead and get to know the main players of generation 6.
Of course, that is still off in the future. Not only do I need to decide what I’m doing with chapter 24.4, but there’s the small matter of the rebuild to finish first. The rebuild is the reason why I’ve not got a proper legaversary gift together this year. I had to decide what I’d rather do, come up with a project and then spend a couple of weeks making it, or making progress towards having a working and accurate neighbourhood and getting the next chapter out. The neighbourhood won.
I’m making really good progress with the rebuild.
As you can see, I’m adding the holiday locals at the moment. These have slowed me slightly, since I’m finding I’m having to make a few more bits of clothing for them, or having to quit and enable some of the clothing I have for other categories. I hate having clothing in the wrong category, but I’m having to grit my teeth and put up with it, so that my Takemizu villagers can wear their kimonos and hakamas as outerwear. I’m also adding the townies to Regalton 3.0, and then going and adding the same section to Dummy Regalton 3.0, so when I get to the end of the dormies, both hoods are done, and I don’t have to start again.
Have some exclusive sneak peeks at the new hood:
Regalton.
Regalton itself doesn’t look too different. The only thing I think when I look at this is “bloody trees.” There are so many things I want for my game, and more trees is definitely on the list, including more neighbourhood deco trees. The main problem with the trees already in game, is the lack of trees that are native or naturalised to the south-east of England. I tend to use silver birches, weeping willows and some of the cc trees I have, with a decent shape or which are native a lot. I even use the bay tree, because the shape is similar to a coppiced yew tree, but I’d love cherry trees, elms, beeches, limes, sycamores, hornbeams, horse chestnuts and most of all, decent looking oak trees in the neighbourhood. When Regalton generated, all of the neighbourhood trees were pines. Pines aren’t naturally found in south-east England. I’ve removed a lot and added deciduous trees, but I need to change more I think.
Simdon.
As you can see, I’ve used my new neighbourhood deco here a lot. I also rescaled the existing deco to make those houses more consistent with my buildings. It’s good to have houses that are slightly different heights, but not to the extent they were. Simdon residential is the only subhood that I class as finished, although Simdon Community is getting there. I have to build one more park, and that’s it for my planned lots there.
Simford.
Simford is very empty at the moment. I have a long list of buildings I want to put in this, and I have some cottages I want to add to Simingfordbury too. (Simmingfordbury is right at the bottom of this picture. The bigger house is going to be Lauren's). The big house on the far right of the picture is actually Sartor Hall. Technically in the story, it's on the outskirts of the village of Effingham in Simbridgeshire, but I'm not planning on adding another subhood just yet, so it's in an out of the way location in Simford.
Simmouth.
I actually want to do a lot more work on this before it's next seen in the story. I want to put in more buildings and also give some of the existing ones a bit of a face lift. I've got a really neat book from Shire publishing which is full of early photogrpahs of various British seaside resorts, so I want to use that for inspiration.
Takemizu
This is exactly the same as it was in the old hood.
Highlands.
It's looking more than a bit empty at the moment, but at least I can use pine trees here. I have plans for several lots, but I'm not sure I'll start on them until I decide to send the family to the Highlands for a holiday.
So that's it. That's what the new neighbourhood is looking like at the moment. I'm thinking of doing a post showing off my townies once they're all in, and I'll also show off SimDi's new makeover then too.
But to finish, I do want to give something more to you all, as a token of my thanks and appreciation for all the support, encouragement and friendship you've given me over the past five years. So, what I'm going to do, is something I've not done before and open this entry up to questions. Is there something you really want to know about my sims or characters? Perhaps you want to know how old Eddie is, or what's Sarah Jane's favourite colour. Do you want to know more about Sophia's relationship with her father? You can ask anything, but be aware that I'm not going to spoil my upcoming plot here. Anything that does look like it'll be too spoilery, I won't answer, and anything that I'm not comfortable sharing with everyone, I might send you a pm about. But ask away!
Five years on and I’m only halfway through. It’s turned out to be a much more involved undertaking than I ever thought it would be. The amount of research and work I have put into my legacy and story is pretty staggering when I think about it, and I’m nowhere near done yet. Have I considered giving up because of the workload? Truthfully, yes. When I’ve been down, when I’ve felt like I’m drowning under everything I’m doing and still have to do, then yes, I have considered giving up, deleting the hood and uninstalling the game. But I haven’t. I’ve always managed to think of something that I enjoy about how I play and what I write, and that in turn has made my stubbornness make itself known and so I’ve carried on. I do still enjoy playing Regalton, and I’m getting excited about the upcoming plot explosion and can’t wait to share it with you all. I did some plotting the other day, and I’ve got rough outlines for chapters 25 – 29. They’re going to be shorter (hopefully) than the recent chapters I’ve done, and the whole lot will cover only about a year of my characters’ lives. There’ll still be more of this plot after these chapters (the consequences are going to be wide reaching), but I’m hoping having so many chapters covering a short space of time will give be chance to play ahead and get to know the main players of generation 6.
Of course, that is still off in the future. Not only do I need to decide what I’m doing with chapter 24.4, but there’s the small matter of the rebuild to finish first. The rebuild is the reason why I’ve not got a proper legaversary gift together this year. I had to decide what I’d rather do, come up with a project and then spend a couple of weeks making it, or making progress towards having a working and accurate neighbourhood and getting the next chapter out. The neighbourhood won.
I’m making really good progress with the rebuild.
- Finish the rotation:
- Finish playing the halls.
- Play the Legacy Society.
- Back up N004.
- Put down the stay put shrub in the VPLs.
- Move out the girls of the VPLs.
- Package up the lot.
- Install the lot as a clean lot in a rubbish hood and make sure I can get into it.
- Repeat for the LS.
- If I can’t get into either lot, then I need to install an earlier version and paint new portraits.
- Add the VPLs and LS to N002 and N003.
- Back up N002 and N003.
- Make a list of stats and skills for the main sims.
- Add my simself to N002.
- Add the new townies a section at a time.
- Random Townies (19)
- Downtownies: (19)
- Holiday locals:
- Simmouth: (10)
- Takemizu: (10)
- Highlands (10)
- Tourists: (16)
- AL townies:
- Bohemians (slummy): (10)
- Techies (clean steampunk): (5)
- Gearheads (dirty steampunk) (5)
- Socialites (posh) (5)
- Jock (sporty) (5)
- Dormies: (25)
Check what hacks I need in to make the BV tourists and locals function properly. I know I also need to make sure I have the hack in that allows for fewer tourists than the game is expecting.- Generate and change the clothing on the NPCs.
- Once all townies are in back up N002.
- Repeat for N003.
- Add my sims to N002.
- Fix stats, skills, relationships etc.
- Paint any new portraits.
- Take pictures to use in making cc portraits.
- Make cc portraits.
- Fix ages and get the seasons to where they need to be to start the next rotation.
- Back up N002.
- Throw big party because it will be DONE!!!!!!
As you can see, I’m adding the holiday locals at the moment. These have slowed me slightly, since I’m finding I’m having to make a few more bits of clothing for them, or having to quit and enable some of the clothing I have for other categories. I hate having clothing in the wrong category, but I’m having to grit my teeth and put up with it, so that my Takemizu villagers can wear their kimonos and hakamas as outerwear. I’m also adding the townies to Regalton 3.0, and then going and adding the same section to Dummy Regalton 3.0, so when I get to the end of the dormies, both hoods are done, and I don’t have to start again.
Have some exclusive sneak peeks at the new hood:
Regalton.
Regalton itself doesn’t look too different. The only thing I think when I look at this is “bloody trees.” There are so many things I want for my game, and more trees is definitely on the list, including more neighbourhood deco trees. The main problem with the trees already in game, is the lack of trees that are native or naturalised to the south-east of England. I tend to use silver birches, weeping willows and some of the cc trees I have, with a decent shape or which are native a lot. I even use the bay tree, because the shape is similar to a coppiced yew tree, but I’d love cherry trees, elms, beeches, limes, sycamores, hornbeams, horse chestnuts and most of all, decent looking oak trees in the neighbourhood. When Regalton generated, all of the neighbourhood trees were pines. Pines aren’t naturally found in south-east England. I’ve removed a lot and added deciduous trees, but I need to change more I think.
Simdon.
As you can see, I’ve used my new neighbourhood deco here a lot. I also rescaled the existing deco to make those houses more consistent with my buildings. It’s good to have houses that are slightly different heights, but not to the extent they were. Simdon residential is the only subhood that I class as finished, although Simdon Community is getting there. I have to build one more park, and that’s it for my planned lots there.
Simford.
Simford is very empty at the moment. I have a long list of buildings I want to put in this, and I have some cottages I want to add to Simingfordbury too. (Simmingfordbury is right at the bottom of this picture. The bigger house is going to be Lauren's). The big house on the far right of the picture is actually Sartor Hall. Technically in the story, it's on the outskirts of the village of Effingham in Simbridgeshire, but I'm not planning on adding another subhood just yet, so it's in an out of the way location in Simford.
Simmouth.
I actually want to do a lot more work on this before it's next seen in the story. I want to put in more buildings and also give some of the existing ones a bit of a face lift. I've got a really neat book from Shire publishing which is full of early photogrpahs of various British seaside resorts, so I want to use that for inspiration.
Takemizu
This is exactly the same as it was in the old hood.
Highlands.
It's looking more than a bit empty at the moment, but at least I can use pine trees here. I have plans for several lots, but I'm not sure I'll start on them until I decide to send the family to the Highlands for a holiday.
So that's it. That's what the new neighbourhood is looking like at the moment. I'm thinking of doing a post showing off my townies once they're all in, and I'll also show off SimDi's new makeover then too.
But to finish, I do want to give something more to you all, as a token of my thanks and appreciation for all the support, encouragement and friendship you've given me over the past five years. So, what I'm going to do, is something I've not done before and open this entry up to questions. Is there something you really want to know about my sims or characters? Perhaps you want to know how old Eddie is, or what's Sarah Jane's favourite colour. Do you want to know more about Sophia's relationship with her father? You can ask anything, but be aware that I'm not going to spoil my upcoming plot here. Anything that does look like it'll be too spoilery, I won't answer, and anything that I'm not comfortable sharing with everyone, I might send you a pm about. But ask away!
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-23 09:43 pm (UTC)Hrm, questions. *thinks* Is Marielle still around? I know her major plots have passed, but will she make it over to the new hood or will Bertie and Stuart only have one parent?
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 06:27 pm (UTC)Yes, Marielle is still around and she will be making the journey to the new neighbourhood. It actually won't be too long before you see her again.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-23 11:34 pm (UTC)Okay, seriously serious questions. If you can answer this without spoiling your plot, please do, but after this current plot is over, do you see Henry's grandchildren being concerned in the story? Not my kids necessarily, but John and Alfred's? And if that's too plotty, okay, what is Maggie's favorite color so I can get her something nice for her birthday? ;)
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 06:39 pm (UTC)I can answer that without spoiling too much actually. I never rule anything out. After all, I really thought that I'd seen the last of Prof. Marielle Hutchins when the original Regalton went to pot, and look how that turned out. But at the moment, I'm envisioning the two story lines I have in mind for John and Alfie as being the last major plots with Henry's line.
As for Maggie's favourite colour, it's indigo.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 12:33 am (UTC)Questions...I have so many that I know are considered spoilery. How about...Anne and her family. Are any of her kids going vamp, and if not, how will she cope with watching her children die?
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 06:46 pm (UTC)This is a question that's pretty hard to answer, because I keep going back and forth on it. It is going to devastate Anne to have to watch her children and grandchildren die, and because of that, I do want to vamp at least one. But at the same time, the more I've gotten to know their characters, the more I've come to realise that none of her children would want to live as she and Mathias do. In fact, they want the very opposite and to have a normal life. Florence's and Julia's children might feel differently, I don't know.
So the answer at the moment, is that I don't know, and it is going to kill Anne (or make her want to die) if they do age and die.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 03:01 am (UTC)I can't think of any questions I want to ask off the top of my head, but I will consider it and get back to you. :)
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 06:52 pm (UTC)Let me know if you come up with anything and I'll do my best to answer. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 07:34 am (UTC)My question would be... What are Mickey's top likes and dislikes? They can be anything in general. (food, color, etc.)
no subject
Date: 2012-04-24 07:15 pm (UTC)Ok, top three likes and dislikes for Mickey.
Likes:
Spending time with his friends, especially if they are planning some jape or other.
Roast goose. The meal at Christmas is his favourite of the year, and he was most disappointed the year Alexandra decided to try a turkey instead.
Noise and hustle and bustle. It's one reason why he loves living in Simdon.
Dislikes:
His sister Sarah Jane.
He really doesn't like roast beef very much, which is a bit of a problem since it's his father's favourite and they have it a lot.
Being bored. And he gets bored quite quickly, since he has a pretty short attention span.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-25 05:15 am (UTC)Um Questions...
Well I imagine you know what I want to ask about. ~_^
no subject
Date: 2012-04-25 07:23 pm (UTC)Hehehe. Poke me next time you're on AIM. I have stuff to share.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-25 05:36 pm (UTC)Hmm... Questions... Okay, here's one: have we seen the last of Joe, or is there still more in store for him?
no subject
Date: 2012-04-25 07:24 pm (UTC)No, you haven't seen the last of Joe. I have more I want to do with him, so look out for that. :D
no subject
Date: 2012-05-15 10:43 pm (UTC)