I haven't mentioned InZoi since August, and that might have been the last time I played it. It's honestly a bit painful to leave the game behind because some important things still haven't been addressed or improved, like autonomy; pathing, and behavior logic.
I'm currently playing The Sims 2, and it amazes me how smart the AI feels in comparison. I really do wish to see improvements for the Zois this year.
I'm thinking of going back to InZoi at some point and finding a new playstyle that might be enough to keep me engaged.
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Today I was just trying to recreate Leon Kennedy. 🥺❤️
I made a loading screen that I'd want to see every time I open the game, since I always felt the original one looked pretty empty and depressing.
You can download the image from my Mega account!
Just copy and paste it into UIGraphics > Logos.
After my complete collection stopped working, I took a long break. I felt burnt out after realizing the legacy version doesn't load lots from older version of the game. I put the game aside and went back to The Sims 2 until I felt inspired again.
Rebuilding Old Town and Downtown took nearly a month, and the result is completely different from what I did a year ago.
Here's the full process!
How custom townies changed the way I play The Sims
As my new neighborhood is 80% done, I've been working on more than 20 custom townies, each with a unique backstory. I just realized how much we miss by ignoring this aspect of the game.
It's fun to create townies, but I don't think we recognize their potential to add depth to our neighborhood. Playable Sims is where most of us focus our efforts. We choose their drive, being picky about their future partner, and doing the same thing for generations. I've found that this kind of play can become predictable over time. Instead of allowing situations to develop naturally, we end up creating drama and making it happen in order to keep things interesting.
As I write the backstory for my 24th townie, I can already see how their motivations and personal struggles could inevitably cause conflict or difficulty for a random playable Sim who develops an interest in them, without me having to come up with a story after their marriage.
Stories of self-doubt, trauma, hesitancy, hidden secret, past crimes, or just aimlessly wandering through life. Maybe my Sim will be drawn to one of these townies, and their story will gradually come together to form something more complicated. Their offspring will carry on the story, influenced by their own ideas and aspiration. In order to help the stories feel more realistic, I created a detailed table to track my Sims personality, backstory, thoughts, and personal struggles. It makes the neighborhood feel like a living place rather than dolls I'm controlling. I highly recommend trying this if you want your game to feel more interesting to come back to.
Here are some of my favorite stories:
The height mod by Lazy Duchess and Grow mod by KittyCarey inspired me to test a wider range of heights.
I wanted my Sims to feel realistic and believable, but without pushing the tallest ones into anything exaggerated. I reached a set of numbers that creates a clear difference between Sims, and even teens get a noticeable variation.
If you want to try the values I'm using, remember to back up your original Height.cfg in case you want to return to your previous numbers. Change only the numbers.
For the past month or so, I've been working on building my custom Sims 2 neighborhood, Garenton. I had planned a big tour video to showcase it and the process of populating it. It was going to be my first time turning on my mic, reading through a script, and hoping it might help me get a little recognition as a small creator.
As I started recording, I realized that narrating everything felt exhausting and unnatural. Maybe it was the script, or maybe it's just the way I organize my thoughts; I've always found speaking aloud difficult, even when practicing streaming. I just wish I could flow without getting stuck.
Perhaps I jumped in too soon, since I've never done anything like this before. Maybe I should try something smaller, or something completely different.
Creating is still something I want to do, and I hope to enjoy the process along the way. 💙
The tempting prizes of the Postcards from Cahaya event convinced me to check out the Cahaya DLC.
Since the June update, I had been thinking of putting the game aside at least until December, when the developers will likely add family content and multitasking.
But I decided to join the event and take a quick look at the interactions until mid-afternoon, when I planned to take a picture of the Zois on the beach.
The most significant improvement I noticed was in the idle animations and the clearer mood expressions; the detail I had been most curious about. I'm really glad the devs focused on that.
While preparing my Zois to raise their relationship, I noticed one change that seems related to the romance system.
It appears that two Zois with certain traits (or random attraction (?)) will always reject each other, regardless of mood. Their romance menu always shows three options; to find similarities and try to get closer, but the outcomes are always negative.
I tried this in two saves with two Zois who should have been compatible, yet they had the same romance menu. Whether the compatibility system is bugged or not, it seems that certain Zois will have the normal romance menu options.
From this, I've concluded that if you see three options in the menu, it probably means the couple isn't attracted to each other. My main models for the photo shoot weren't compatible, so instead of starting a new save, I swapped their identities presets with their roommates using cheats (the roommates were attracted to each other). This alone made me realize that creating couples in Create a Zoi isn't ideal; it's better to find their mate during gameplay.
Unfortunately, other aspects - like autonomous interactions, walking around, and serving meals still need attention. Zois fight randomly with no context, their walking animations are clunky when colliding with objects, and serving meals only uses a single animation. It's clear the devs still have work to do here.
It was nice to see new faces, a new world, and new mechanics. But the little details, the ones that really keep us engaged aren't quite there yet. Everything is visually realistic but when it comes to action, it's not fully polished.
It feels like the game is aiming for a realistic life simulation, but the Zois don't always deliver on that goal. Conversations play out with both Zois using the same animation at once, which looks off with no animation variety or 'pause and listen' before responding. Interactions are also quite short compared to the length of the in-game day. Some expected touches, like a change-clothes animation, laundry routines, or more consistent logic behind interaction urges, are still missing.
It feels great to see thoughts and plans come to fruition!
For a long time, I've wanted to create a custom neighborhood that's different from the suburbs and offers a glimpse of what life in West Texas might be like.
I originally planned to build the whole town before sharing it, but since I’ve started working on my next neighborhood, I decided to share Summervane unpopulated but decorated, so people can make it their own.
You can download Summervane on my Mod The Sims page.
Hello there - I am looking to have an artist/painter career path for the careers in sims 1 but I don’t have a great knowledge of using career creator 3 program. Any chance you can help? Thanks!
Hi, I don't know if the program works with the legacy version, because the program automatically search for the original maxis folder. Are you using the complete collection?
It's been a while since I wrote a new challenge. This challenge is more of an alternative playstyle for how we usually play.
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Inspired by The Truman Show.
Concept:
You are the director of a reality show: The Simulation Show. One Sim - the protagonist, lives a life they believe is real. But in reality, the whole world is fake, everyone around them is an actor, and every home is a set.
Your job is to keep this illusion going all the way until they die. The only way to keep the show alive is through their child, your next star.
General Rules:
You may not directly control the protagonist.
You can only control the protagonist to:
Find a job
Host a party or event
Call other Sims
You may freely control all other Sims.
No money cheats or skill cheats are allowed.
The protagonist must improve their home through gameplay - not by moving into another household home.
Creating the Protagonist:
Create one Sim to be the Protagonist.
They may be teen or adult, male or female.
They may live with parents, or with siblings (optional).
Their starting home must be poor. Different living situations lead to different outcomes and consequences.
House & Consequences:
Poor Household (Starting Point)
Must live in a small, simple home.
Only one bed is allowed (One sim must sleep on couch or share a bed).
After building the house and furnishing; starting funds: §2,000.
Jobs: The protagonist and the family members cannot be in high-tier jobs, only low-paying, entry-level careers.
No car ownership until earned through gameplay.
All progress must come through skills, promotions, or relationships.
Modest House (Through Progression)
The Protagonist may now pursue a high-paying job.
Family members may only hold mid-tier or freelance jobs.
The home can be decorated and expanded.
Expensive House (Through Progression)
The Protagonist must:
Hold a top-tier job, or
Marry into wealth (a rich Sim)
They must:
Maintain a close friendship with at least one Sim.
Goals:
Keep the protagonist alive until death by old age or accident.
Ensure they have at least one child to continue the show.
When the protagonist dies, their eldest child becomes the new protagonist, and the next “season” begins.
Points:
You earn points based on the protagonist's life, and how well you maintain the simulation from behind the scenes.
Milestone Points
Protagonist dies of old age | +10
Each skill maxed by the protagonist | +5
Each skill gained by the protagonist | +1
Each promotion the protagonist earns | +1
Hosting a successful party (score: Good+) | +1
Having a child | +10
Child reaches Teen stage | +2
Eldest child becomes next protagonist | +5
Housing & Lifestyle Points
Household moves from Poor to Modest | +3
Household moves from Modest to Rich | +4
First expensive item purchased (TV, PC, Piano, etc.) | +1
Car purchased through gameplay | +5
Household becomes visibly wealthy | +2
Each friendship the Protagonist maintain | +10
Penalties
Money cheat used | -5
Protagonist becomes unemployed | -2
Protagonist dies by accident | -10
Protagonist ran away/disappeared | -10
Child has been taken away | -5
Scoring
When the protagonist dies, total your score.
0-15 - Low Rating (The network canceled the show.)
16-30 - Local Hit (People tuned in, but something felt off.)
31-50 - Classic (The show was the talk of the year.)
51-70 - Award-Winning Series (It had drama and heartbreak. The ratings soared.)
71+ - Simulation Manifested (The world was fake, but the story was real. Top tier.)
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I saved all my rules on Google docs here.
Have fun playing!
A Way to Create Different-Looking Sims Without Body Shop
I grew tired of seeing the same-looking Sims in my game and all over the web, especially when browsing for face templates and skins. After testing various face templates and experimenting in CAS, I realized that the best way to break away from the typical "Sims look" is to start with a base that resembles a believable ethnic face.
For this method, I'm using Penny Lane default replacement faces, which I find to be diverse and a bit realistic with a nice mix of features.
Here is the method I've found that works:
Step 1 - Choosing your sim's ethnicity (Sim Bin)
Maxis premade Sims are underrated. They have authentic features that reflect different ethnic groups. Using one as the base for your new Sim gives you a head start with a face that already feels a bit more believable.
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Step 2 - Changing facial features
In this step, we'll edit the face feature by feature. The goal here is to make each change without planning the full face in advance, it's like we're guessing what comes next based on what we've already done. It helps you avoid making Sims that all end up looking the same.
Starting with the eyebrows. I generate a random number between 1 and 16 and pick the corresponding brow preset. Since I'm going for a Caucasian female in this example, I adjust the brows to suit that direction, then try to imagine what her eyes might look like and move on to them.
Same with the eyes, nose, lips, chin - I leave the cheeks for last, since they tend to blend everything together.
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Step 3 - Finalizing the Look
Once the face feels right, I pick a skin that complements the Sim's features and fits the overall ethnicity I had in mind. I then randomize their eye and hair colors and finish up the rest based on my personal taste.
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I tried this method using the same base face, and here are the results: I ended up with two Sims who look different, even though I only used two different skins.
Having a variety of eyebrow shapes and facial details is even better, but the right skin tone and texture alone can completely change how a Sim comes across.
Personally, I like using Whysim's skins. They have a nice balance without being too cartoony or too realistic.
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Thank you for reading. I hope it gave you some inspiration!
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