strangetomato | Apartment Life

Apartment Life - The Brokes

I managed to get AL to work for me, but it involved uninstalling the game and starting over (I was getting some crazy graphics error, so I reformatted everything again - a bit extreme maybe, but it worked). Right now I'm just running AL and the basegame and that works, so I might add everything back in now and see how that goes. I think the problem is basically that this game is beyond the capabilities of my PC. I don't have the 2.4 GHz CPU that they reccommend for Vista, so I'm not sure what effect that has on the game and the computer. *crosses fingers*

Anyway, the point of this post was not to talk about technical things (and how I'm probably toasting my PC), but to show you something that I've been enjoying about this EP: the trailer park apartment complex. It's so perfect for the Brokes. I moved them out of their original trailer and into this apartment (which I added across the street from their original place). I figured that they'd move into an even cheaper place after Skip died. It would make sense.

Here they are, moving in. The landlord looks an awful lot like Dustin. Could he be his real father? Brandi will probably end up finding comfort in him as a replacement Skip, either way (even though they did fight-argue within their first five minutes of talking).

I love this so much. I was worried for a moment that teens wouldn't be able to use the playground (the adults can't), but they can. I'm so relieved. If I know anything about teens, it's that they love hanging out at the playground (I sure did). I wish they had an animation for just hanging out on the equipment, though. I would love to see a bunch of teens just hanging out there, smoking.

See the llama rider things? I was so PUMPED when I saw those. :D I get a little more excited with every llama detail they add.

Dustin helps Beau on to have a ride. (Toddlers can only interact with this item in the playground, and they need help - makes sense.)

The cuteness, it burns.

(Way to leave him unattended, Dustin. He fell off, by the way. o_O)

I also added this Pleasantview condo complex. It fits right in with that side of town.

I love all the new interactions too. If all goes well, I'll probably post about them later.

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This ep might pull me into playing again! It looks awesome in so many ways. Good call on moving the Brokes, that does make sense.

That does look cute! I agree, the trailer apartments make more sense for the Brokes, especially since their house was always more "house" than "trailer" to me. I think I shall explore some new apartments today! (Hope you're feeling better.)

It's great. It really completes the whole experience for me (I just hope I can run all the EPs at once *crosses fingers* - otherwise I'll have to pick and choose... and restart Strangetown).

If anything, this EP overwhelms me with options.

The old Broke "trailer" was never really quite right, but the new trailers has wheels and everything. :)

Thanks. I do feel slightly better, but it's a lingering annoyance. Thankfully, there's no work today. I'd love to actually DO something for Labour Day weekend (I was supposed to go to a wedding, but I was too sick), but the time to rest is much needed.

I totally agree. They needed an actual trailer park. It's perfect. I might do a little flashback one-shot with Beau and Lucy to play around with it some more.

Yeah, it was more like a double-wide, or prefab house. I've always wondered why they didn't do actual trailers.

I hope you don't have to pick and choose. :( *crosses fingers too*

My Aunt and Uncle live in a house like the one the Brokes started out in and we do call it a trailer, but that's just because it was technically wheeled in there. It's basically just a prefab house, though, like you said.

I actually wouldn't mind starting Strangetown over all that much. It would be annoying, but I could get it back to where it was, more or less, without too much trouble (and I could ditch some of the "problems", like extras Ripps I added before I just used InSIM to age the characters down).

Deciding what to leave out would be tough, though. Bon Voyage would be the first on the chopping block, since it's very slow to play vacation lots (though, I do love those locations, and I'd miss the hammock, etc.). I'm pretty sure I could live without Pets too, even though it's fun to have them too. I more or less NEED the other EPs for characters or locations.

That's so cute, with Dustin and Beau! :) I'm eager to try out AL too... but we're waiting for two things: 1. hack updates and 2. Our new computer! It's got a 2.4 GHz Quad core, 4GB RAM and Vista 64-bits. Should be good. *excited*

I love that condo thing, is it a premade building or did you make it yourself?

:D :D I love how teens can use the playground equipment! I know I was just at a playground the other day. That's so cool!

This looks like a lot of fun!

I love that Beau fell off when Dustin walked away. :D

Yeah, they're cuties. :D

I'm a little lost without the hacks, I admit, but I'm going to just deal for now. I expect the MATY stuff will get updated pretty soon. I already have the critical fixes. I'm pretty out of it with the story lately, so I think I can wait on the SimPE and InSIM. In fact, not having them at all will help to make me more interested in doing the story, because I'm contrary like that.

I'm drooling over a new computer right now that has a 2.5 GHz Quad core, 8GB RAM (!!!), and comes with a NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT graphics card. It's expensive as all hell (of course), but I could probably swing it. It's not like I spend money on much else. Still, it's a bit much, so I'm determined to wait for a sale. It would be nice to have something like that when Sims 3 comes out. Boxing Day sales sounds like a good bet, and it could be the best Christmas gift ever.

The condo is premade. Very Pleasantview. (It even has Pleasant in the title of it.)

What about upgrading your computer? Is that an option?

The graphics card and amount of RAM are supposedly okay. It's the CPU that's lacking (but only because I run Vista). Can I even upgrade that?

Yeah, I spent a lot of time in playgrounds as a teen, just hanging out. Or sometimes we'd play spotlight. It was fun. A hell of a lot better than the other things we'd get up to. ;)

So far it seems like a great EP. *nods*

I didn't get a pic of it, but I'll try to see if it happens again. Luckily, I don't think he landed on his head.

(Man, that reminds me of an unfortunate day with my cousin's kid when she was a toddler. She launched herself off the couch, headfirst into the floor. On my watch. Eeeep. It's all part of the rich tapestry of why people think I'm bad with babies. As if the uncomfortable/bored look on my face wasn't enough. :P)

Edited 2008-09-01 16:17 (UTC)

I love seeing new EP spam. It's like a big infomercial!

The new interactions look really cute (but I wanted to see Beau falling off the toy--why do you deny me the joy of children nearly hurting themselves?)

OK, I have to admit it right now. When I saw the pic of Dustin helping Beau (where he's standing behind Beau and cupping his head) I thought "oh, that'd be a great blow job animation". SHAME ON ME, I know, but I thought it. (NOT with children, mind you, adults, consenting adults. . .jeez, what is wrong with me?)

You could replace it with a faster one. :/

Sounds like it wouldn't be too difficult.

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~joyoung/cpu/page1.shtml

There's a ton of info on upgrading a cpu, I just did a quick search.

Hahahaha, teens using playground equipment is great. It's something I'd see sim teenagers do, I mean they play with FRIDGES. (My first sim to do that was Ripp Grunt...I remember thinking he was an adult when I played them for the first time..not sure why. /random thought)

I hope the game will run fine with all EPs, I have Vista, too and my processor hasn't been "good" since FreeTime, though I haven't had any problems(no lag, I still have pretty good graphics and fish..)

You make me want to get this EP so bad. I'm getting all nervous for those "EP Review" updates, because I'm sure if I see one, I'd run all the way to Circuit City and buy AL. XD

/drive by commenting.

I thought "oh, that'd be a great blow job animation".

I laughed SO hard. Thank you. :]

Hmmm, that makes it sounds so easy. Is it something I could actually replace on my own, I wonder? I did replace the hard drive recently, so I think I could probably do it if I had a diagram to follow.

Thanks for that info. :) It was very helpful.

Well, I'm glad to deliver some content that's useful to you.

I'll try to get a shot of the fall. It was cute. I wasn't quick enough the first time to grab a shot.

Always with the blow jobs. *snort* I'm not surprised. (And I agree. You could really get that to work if you combined it with the right kneeling animation.)

I saw Ripp doing that when I reinstalled this time. :D It's because he starts the game with his aspiration meter slightly in the red (which makes sense). The fridge swing is considered a teen immaturity behaviour, which they do when aspiration is low.

(On the same note, I think Ripp's low aspiration is also meant to encourage the player to call up Ophelia and launch that love triangle. It's so suggested by the game.)

I've been getting some lag with the last few EPs. The graphics are not a problem... it's just the processing speed, I think.

I feel the same way about preview posts like that. I'm glad to actually have the new EP when it comes out for once. It helped to cheer me up (well, not all the tech. problems, but they seem to be "resolved" for now. *crosses fingers again*

I don't know why THAT act (of all those available) has become my holy grail, but it is. (that and getting two sims comfortably in a public bathroom stall).

But I digress. . .

It's a good act, that's why. What's not to like?

For the bathroom stall, have you considered having two sims get into a photo booth (there's a moment where one is just in front of the other, and I plan to use it one day), and then use moveobjects to move the booth and replace it with the toilet stall?

It could work.

That trailer park is PERFECT for the Brokes! Don't you just love the little wheels on the "trailers"?? Those made me laugh so hard when I first saw them. I know they're only decorative but still... it's the details that make it worthwhile, lol!

I haven't seen the toddlers play on the llamas yet. It looks so cute! Bad Dustin for letting little Beau fall! For shame! (Although I would have loved to see it, lol!)

I'm glad you were able to get it running, but hopefully it won't be at the cost of your other EP's. I agree there is some sort of a feeling of freedom in restarting a neighborhood though.

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Apartment Life - The Brokes

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