Switching neighbourhood, and then back again?

[john]

Hi,

This is my first post, so first of all: great guide, great forum. I guess you already know this, but the two combined provide the premier resource on the Sims 3 available.

Now, to my actual problem. I've got an immortal "über-sim" in the process of maxing all skills and, well, maxing everything. He's been around for a while, and has an oversized mansion that's quickly closing on the 1 million value mark. In anticipation of Late Night, I began thinking about how things would turn out if I switched neighbourhoods - and later wanted to switch back.

I assume the actual process will be quite simple: save the household to the library, start a new game and move in the saved family, play a while, save the household again, reload the original game, remove old version of the household and move in the "updated" household.

First question then: is the above how it will work?

More questions:
- Will all friendships (from both neighbourhoods) be lost? For example, my sim has a simbot "son" that I had to move out because the "A simbot!" action kept popping up. Will the relationship be retained, or will the father and son see each other as strangers?
- More out of curiosity than practical concern, what will the effect on things that appreciate value be? (Paintings, sculptures, nectar, etc.) Will they still appreciate value, or will they work like normal furniture items? Does the answer change if I keep them with me in the family inventory compared to if I leave them in the house in the original neighbourhood?
- Will plants still be "tagged" to me? I'm not sure how it works, but I assume that the rewards for Gardening challenges only kick in if the sim with the reward is the one who plants the plant.

I'm sure there are a ton of issues with moving-out-and-back-again that I haven't thought of, but these will do to begin with. ;-)

Also, I guess one "solution" to some of my concerns would be to move the house with the family, but I really like to idea of having a family mansion out in the countryside and a penthouse in the bustling city.

Thank you in advance

/JJ

[Metropolis Man]

@john, welcome to the forum. Thanks for joining us.

The step by step moving to a new neighborhood instructions are found in the Moving to Another Neighborhood Guide Article. I'm unsure on most of your other specific questions. I've only done that action myself a couple of times and it was a long time ago. I know wishes are wiped when you move, but that's about all I'm clear on. Oh, and I know that skill levels and skill challenges will retain too. Someone else will chime in with more info for you.

[Naga]

I've been chewing myself with those same questions and even a few more...

My "Immortal uber-sim" is the one you see in my signature. He has literally done everything. All careers, all skills, all skill challenges, all lifetime rewards, lifetime wish completed, I never cheated for money in that game and still he has 13 million simoleons.

What makes me unsure about moving him to bridgeport (which is my target, since it's like three times bigger) is the collectable-item issue. In his house there are tons of collectables inside treasure chests, the fridge is full of stuff (over 200 of each fruit, and around 100-250 of vampire fishes, death fishes, and the other most important ones). Not to mention the adventure log; Would it still be complete after moving?

I'll go read that link Metro posted. Maybe some of my doubts will be cleared.

[Metropolis Man]

@Naga, there's two different options when you move to a new neighborhood. It sounds like you would clearly want the option where you save the entire family and lot to the Library. That way all of your goodies can be plopped down on a new lot in Bridgeport.

[john]

@Metro: Thanks.

@Naga: Good points. Didn't even think about the collectibles and adventure log.

I've checked out the linked article and it seems like the actual process of switching neighbourhoods is pretty straightforward. My main concern is that I don't know which parts of my sim's life will be carried over and which will be left behind.

It should be easy enough to test these things but I was hoping someone had already been through a similar experience. I'll give it some more time (Late Night isn't released in Sweden 'til the 28th anyway) and see if anyone else has any input, and if no one does, I'll backup my game and do a test move to and from Riverview or Twinbrook.

[Naga]

Ok, after reading that guide and testing it myself just now, I got some updates.

The items inside the fridges, treasure chests, etc. got disordered, but I believe they are all there. The plants are all there, too. Adventure log still complete. Basically, everything is there.

The "issues" I got (quoting them because they are rather insignificant) were the vehicles losing prefference, meaning I have to make them preffered again. All the relationships with the other neighboorhood were lost, including any kind of relatives that didn't move in together (I loved that, because it made my Family Tree work again. And reset). Losing those relationships also resetted the Charisma skill challenges, but they are very easy to reacquire.

One last thing is the sun positioning. Accidently, I just realized I had made my house in the best way considering the sun cycle. Not that it matters much game-wise, but having the plants in your garden (My loved money trees, which are over 30) bathed in sunlight during most of the daytime makes them look better. The pool looks better in the sun too, but that doesn't matter because it's getting replaced by a hot tub tomorrow.

I'll check if I find out anything else different. Elsewise, I approve neighboorhood-moving very much!

Also... what other questions do you have, John? What did you mean by "parts of the life"?

::EDIT::

More than ever I want to get rid of that stylist portfolio. When you move, all your moodlets are gone, and even thought most of them are easy to get back, we can't get that Stylin' moodlet unless you get to the top of the stylist career again, which would make you have TWO portfolios. TWO! Not only the Sim loses the moodlet, he keeps his old portfolio. Kill me.

[john]

Ah, excellent. Thanks a lot, Naga.

What did I mean by "parts of the life"? Well, with your input, I think we've got most of them covered:

- We already knew skills would remain intact. A bit of a bummer to redo the charisma skill challenges, but as you say, it's pretty much automatic.
- Relationships reset. Not too significant for a sim that outlives everyone he meets anyway.
- Collectibles remain. Good news.
- Garden still there. Good, good.
- Adventure log intact. Also very good news. Would hate to have to redo/recollect all adventures/collections.

On the top of my head, the only remaining worry is created items (paintings, sculptures, nectar etc.). I'm a bit concerned about the (admittedly remote) possibility that "creator tags" (lacking a better name) will disappear. I.e. when you hover the mouse over a painting in your inventory, it tells you who created it, it's base value, and what value it has appreciated to. It's not a big deal if it's lost, and I really so no reason why it should disappear, but it'd be nice to keep those values steadily rising.

If you have it easily accessible, I would be very grateful if you could just check to see that your paintings still list the correct creator, and that your nectar still ages like it should.

Again, thanks for checking, Naga.

[Metropolis Man]

On the top of my head, the only remaining worry is created items (paintings, sculptures, nectar etc.). I'm a bit concerned about the (admittedly remote) possibility that "creator tags" (lacking a better name) will disappear. I.e. when you hover the mouse over a painting in your inventory, it tells you who created it, it's base value, and what value it has appreciated to. It's not a big deal if it's lost, and I really so no reason why it should disappear, but it'd be nice to keep those values steadily rising.

Yeah, that's a good point. When you move to a new neighborhood you're starting a brand new file and your Sim will begin at Week 1, Day 1 (Sunday 8 AM). I would think paintings and sculptures would just keep accruing as they had in the previous neighborhood starting with the very first day.

Hmmm...now this whole moving topic has got me curious. What about a writer who has, say, 3 royalty payments left from a book? If you'd move right at that point I'm guessing that info would be wiped and you'd lose out on that money that was due because the game clock resets. I don't know.

[Saltypaws]

Only thing I might add, even though everything is still in tact and I still had all my collectibles, only problem, all my tiberium skulls and everything that was worth a ton of money, was almost worthless.  A 250,000 soul peace skull, was worth barely 5000 and all my spire cut soul pieces and and spire cut anything was the same way.  When I saw the prices on these items that I had worked so hard far, almost made me sick.  Almost 2 million dollars worth of stuff down to maybe 50,000 worth and yes, all family ties are broken.  Oh well, they can get the items back, it was just a shock to see the cost change so much.

[Naga]

In my last saved game, my sim had just written a book, so I could check the royalties thing. For the appreciation, I guess I could check the nectar prices and assume the painting would be the same.  Sadly I didn't check my gem values, and yes I'll be very upset if they change.