Sims newbie questions

[empow14]

Hi there!

So I'm all new to the Sims (and to this board! , never played Sims1 or 2 either, but then 2 weeks ago my Mum bought me the base game and the Pets expansion pack when I was sick and I'm really excited about the game!

But I still don't understand some things I guess. I made my first Sims lady, Emma (like me) and after I played her for a while I wanted to make a nice man for her and made him move to the same town. I tried really hard to get the two to meet, but it didn't work, and I think I now realize why: As far as I understand, every time you create a new Sim in the main menu, a whole new town that happen to look exactly like the others gets created.  Am I right?
Cause if I am, I really don't know what to do now. I then gave up and let Emma fall in love with Jared Frio, and he made her a baby. Now the baby is a full-grown young adult and has his first relationship and I kind of want the young couple to move out, but when I tried the option, I had to choose which family I want to be my active household.. so does that mean when I choose the couple I can't play Emma any more? I really like her, she's my first Sim after all

I understand that the other Sims in the town live on their own (cause I have "story progression" enabled), so will Emma do stuff on her own when I leave her? I kind of don't want her to get up to nonsense without me... So my question really is: is there a way to play both? And if yes, will the other household still do as they please?

And then my last question is: Are there any traits or preferences that Sims have without the player knowing? I try to play along my Sim's wishes, and I originally wanted Emma's son to have a relationship with a girl from his school, but then he met Dallas Reyna and started having wishes like "Go on a date with Dallas" and "Kiss Dallas for the first time", and of course I granted him this wish. The two seem pretty happy now, but I wonder if this was just a coincidence or if Sims can be straight/gay?

Now sorry for the long post, I hope someone can clarify things for me!

Emma

[Esther1981]

First, welcome to the forums!

The question about creating a new town everytime you create a sim, no. The only way to create a new game and a new town is by choosing start new game at the main menu.

Yes, you have to choose one household to play, but if you want to switch back and forth, you can go into edit town and switch active household. This will make all wishes, opportunities and the things in the fridge reset though but that's the only way to play more than one family. If you choose her son, Emma will go about her own way, she could get or quit her job, get engaged, married, have a baby or any of these things as long as you have story progression on.

It does seem some sims have a preference of one sex over the other, but you can choose for them, or let them do it. When free will is on high, they get into all sorts of mischief!

Hopefully this clears some things up for you, if not let me know and I'll try to clarify better.

[doxxielover]

When You make a sim that sime is the one you can control. You can not make a new sime latre on. As you did, you can marry in another sim. You may change their hair through a mirror by and clothes through a dresser by click on the mirror/ dressor. You cant however completely change the facial features and what not. From the very beging you can create a man and wife and have them already married or become married at the start of yourgame. That is the only time you can though. Also you cannot control two households at the same time. You could hower ever move in the young couples spouse and have all four in the same house. 8 is the maximum number of people you can control at one time and I belive you can have 2 additional pets = 10. But if you have less than 8 people you can have more pets EX : 7,3  6,4  5,5 ext. But total people count never goes over 8. Do you know what I mean? I believe although I have never done it that you can move out a family. Play one family for awhile andd them through edit town go back to playing the other. I am not quite sure on that. Emma and Jared will be ok in another house. Story pregression wil progress there lives and such. Kissing different genders does not rely on trait and you can kiss any gender no matter what gender your sim is.

[Niana]

Just to add to that... you can always merge another sim you created later, into an existing household -- I know it's too late for that now, but you could've created your husband sim, and back up in Edit Town, you can click on his one-person household and add it to the one you were previously playing.

[empow14]

Wow, thank you very much for the replies !!

Esther1981, how would I go into edit town?  And would it be possible to disable story progression just for one household? Though I don't think I really want this...

doxxielover, thanks! I imagine 8 Sims plus 2 pets a whole lot of work..

Niana, that's an interesting idea.. would this new person then have a relationship with the existing Sims in the household or would they just be sort of room mates? And again, how do I find this edit town menu..?

Also, a rather personal question: do you do this with your game? I mean, switching between active households?

[Niana]

Edit town can be found under the ... menu on the left bottom side when you're playing the game. I'm not sure about the story progression because I don't remove it, but hopefully someone else can answer it!

Someone you add to the household would be a stranger/acquaintance, but you can control him/her just like your other Sims (roommates is an actual new function added with university life where the game itself moves in people for you once you choose the option to , and those roommates you can't control). But if you're controlling them both at that point, you can easily build the relationship up to wherever you choose

I personally play the challenges and dynasties off this forum, where edit town is not allowed, but I imagine lots of other people do switch between active households to play. If you're willing to use cheats, you can also "add to household" to add people to do specific things (try for baby, enroll in a particular career), then kick them back out to story progression till the next time you feel the need to mess with their lives. Lots of options in this game, depending on what exactly you want to accomplish

[doxxielover]

Answer : I never really have but theres no problem doing it. I usually keep the sims in the household ( and this sounds horrible but wait for an older sim to die so I can have a younger sim have a baby or something) . I think Its not bad to switch households and it is more realistic. Kids move out and such in real life so why wouldnt you do it in sim life . 

Also to get to edit town while in the game click the button with 3 dots in the bottom left corner from there you can go to edit town.

Hope you have a wonderful time simming. And welcome to the Forum. Its great and I hope you stick around! I started out asking questions just like you. Before you know it you will be invested in answering questions and reading other sim stories and such. Look around on the forum. And after you have played sims awhile I recommend trying out the immortal Dynasty challege. Go to the Challenges thread to read about it. Its awesome. I have started one of my own. Also for more information the same people who lead this forum ( Pam, Carl, and Metro) have a guide to sims 3. Visit it by clicking the second tab at the top of the forum! You can fnd lots of information on skilling, careers, and much more! Have a great day !

I know I got off topic sorry

[saltpastillen]

The Edit Town button can be found here.



Once you click it you'll get this prompt. Either save or just continue works fine.



Story progression is either on for the whole world or off for the whole world, there is not picking and choosing.

Like Niana said, if you add a sim to the household using edit town he/she won't have any relationship with the rest of your family - but that is easily remedied.

I know some people switch between households and play that way, you will lose any promised wishes if you do. There are some non-official modifications to the game that deal with this. I think there might be a mod at nraas with the purpose of making it possible to play multiple families. Check out the Game Modifications board for more info. Any questions about mods should be asked there.

[Esther1981]

You're welcome! You already got the answers to everything, so I'll answer yours. No, I rarely switch active families. If there is someone I want to marry, or do anything with, I use edit town to merge them into my family, and than I decide if I want to keep them, or just do whatever I had in mind than merge them out. The biggest reason I don't change families is because they lose their wishes, opportunities and everything in their fridge. That's why I love the merge option. If you want to know where that is, after you go into edit town, click on a household and there are several buttons. Evict, split up and merge. Choose merge, than click your household.

[Pam]

Welcome to our Forum, empow14.

In addition to all the others have said, here is a link to Carl's Guide where you will find an abundance of information about learning the game.  The page I linked to is an introductory for new players.  From there, you can browse and find almost anything you need.  If you can't find something there, be sure to ask here on the Forum. 

[empow14]

Awesome! I already checked out a few sites from Carl's Guide, and I'm constantly amazed by how many components come together to make this game so fun and full of possibilities.
I definitely have to try the merge option, thanks! Right now, I feel comfortable losing my Sim's wishes and the stuff in the fridge (actually, I think  it's a good way to stock it ), so I tried switching between active households, it works just fine. I tried it with a different family, though, cause my two youngsters have adopted a child meanwhile and I decided that Emma would be a great help in raising it. So I have four Sims now in my biggest household, which is just whooooaaa

Anyways, thanks again for all your kind replies

[Joria]

I'll add one other thing, you don't have to kick your young adults out.  If you make a small extra house on your lot, or just enlarge the existing house, or move the entire family to a larger house, you'll still have your original Emma and her kids and kids-in-law, and can play them all.  It's basically what we do in a dynasty or legacy challenge.  Just remember, no more than a total of adult Sims.

[Niana]

This thread may help with learning to manage a larger family

[empow14]

Thank you both!!
I never would have come up with the idea of two houses on one lot, but actually it's an excellent idea! I'l start rebuilding as soon as I play next time! I could, like, make them share the garden and the patio.. let's hope I have gathered enough simoleons over time!

And Niana, thanks for the link.. it really may prove helpful when I decide to have more kids, which I probably will I think having two houses on the lot will also help in the management of larger families.

[Gingerkid]

Welcome to the club empow14.

I'm relatively new too. Like you I never played sims 1 or 2 and now I'm a sims addicted lol

I play my main household of 8 sims. And I have started new games and made new sims and new families of sims then bought them into my main game. I then dip into the other houses, cod I'm nosey like that. I like to check on other members of my family that have grown & moved out & started families of their own. I also like to decorate their houses & make sure they have everything they need, no one likes leaving the baby on the floor to sleep which they often do if no crib in the house.

I've built a sort of apartment block, so I can have a few under one roof but they live separately & I built an old people's home with the same basis really. I think one of the expansion discs allowed me to specify certain sims for certain doors which helps with this type of household.


Good luck with it all & happy Sim'ing

You've found the right place though. This site is great for finding info