CRASH! ... cont'd

I've been dying to get under way with my new family, the Harts, but my game has had other plans.

Originally I settled the Harts in a big mansion in Los Aniegos. I'd opted for pre-built house in one of my favourite worlds to reduce the time it would take me to set-up before playing, but sadly my game was riddled with lagging and crashing every time I tried to play.

I tried everything, from DEP to clean re-install... Nothing seemed to fix the problem. Now I'm pretty sure it was an issue with the house, because I'd experience the same problems in that house with different families. But on the flip-side, I could play any other house in the same world and not have the lagging and crashing problems. So I've chalked this up to another case of the little EA gremlins having fun times at my expense.

I've decided to try again in another favourite world - St Claire. I'm hastily knocking up a mansion based on photos I found online, and hope to have it finished and furnished today or tomorrow so I can settle in and get to know the Harts all weekend.

CRASH!

Argh. The curse of every Sims player... My game keeps crashing! :(

I can use Build/Buy mode and CAS seemingly perfectly for hours and hours on end, but as soon as I get in to Live Mode, the game becomes unresponsive. First everything freezes, except for animations (like spinning PlumbBobs and sleeping Z's); though eventually they stop as well. Soon after that I get the dreaded message box that my game has closed unexpectedly :'(

Hopefully I can figure out a fix before Seasons is released (four more days!)

As I've only been able to build/buy, I've been very particular about making the Hart's home perfect. You can see the progress in this thread over at LivingSims. There's so many great people on the forum, and I'm getting great pointers on how to improve :)

Where the Hart is...

Meet the Hart family!

How I spend my simming time...

Is this really cheating?

I hate having a household of aimless people with no life skills or successes under their belts. It really irks me that my CAS sims are supposedly middle-aged with children (or grandchildren), but no life experience, careers or skills. This is why I usually "cheat" to create a bit of background - and LIFE - for CAS sims. It adds realism to the game, and makes my sims much more like real little people than pixel pixies.

Of course, I don't think it's necessary to do this for children, and I really enjoy the aspect of shaping an adult from a young age, and all the personality and character building aspects that come with this.

But even though it makes my game so much richer - and a more accurate simulation - I can't help but feel guilty every time I do it...

Is this really cheating?

Similarly Assimilated...

This blog is based around my long-running involvement (obsession?) with the Sims franchise. I have been a player of The Sims since the year 2000, and immersed myself in every version of the game - from the original release to the 2009 edition, The Sims 3.

I have relished the opportunity to live out full "lives" as a man, woman, mother, father, doctor, artist, criminal, hero, millionaire and pauper. The notion that I can create the life of my dreams - or my nightmares - is incredibly intoxicating. Whenever my mind wanders, I find myself imagining who I will create next time I boot up The Sims 3, where they will live, who they will know and what sort of life they will lead. I am a Sims Addict, and this blog will be about the live I live through my sims.

This enthusiastic appreciation for all things Sims has spanned nearly half my life, and I've spent hours upon hours of my time, and sunk thousands and thousands of dollars and  into feeding my addiction - computer upgrades, paysites (hello TSR!!), and expansion pack after stuff pack after expansion pack...

I plan to use this blog as incentive and motivation to experience the full life-span of a second-generation sim - something I can't believe I haven't done yet (I always seem to get side-lined by build/buy modes and CAS). Who knows, once I've experienced the fill life of a B-i-G (that's Born in Game) sim I might even attempt a legacy challenge. Maybe.