The Landgraabs - Update 31.01.2020

We have not left the lot where the previous Sim-week was spent - it's still the Landgraab Mansion. If you remember, the last week here ended with the young Landgraabs, Lance and Lilo, moving back into their childhood home along with their partners, upon invitation of Castanea Landgraab, widow of the late Malcolm Landgraab, Lance and Lilo's father.

Here are the links to their previous weeks:  
Lance and Gesine 
Lilo and Prezioso


There is now an age difference for the twins because Lance was played earlier this year due to Gesine's surname beginning with G.

The upstairs rooms will need rearranging to suit the two couples and Castanea. This is what it has been like until now, from left to right: The master bedroom with en-suite bathroom; a generous landing, and the large nursery, where Lilo and Lance used to sleep as kids and teenagers.

Here is what I have done with it:

Castanea's former bedroom (the master bedroom) has been made much smaller (lower left corner), and a new, modern bathroom has been added to it.
Part of the landing has been added to the former master bedroom to make room for a double bed for Lilo and Prezioso; the old bathroom has not been touched.
The former nursery is now Lance and Gesine's bedroom.

Prezioso lost his PP status and is now unemployed, although we left him as Prestidigitator. (This has happened for the second time! When he moved in with Lilo, he also was unemployed, even though he already had been a Broadway Star when I had played him before the move.)
Now he wants to become Hall of Famer. Whatever makes you happy, Prezioso!

Do you remember Gesine's fruitless job search? She has been wanting to become a Space Pirate ever since her teenage years, and finally on her first Monday here at the Landgraab Mansion, she lands a job in the Adventurer Career. She will start this afternoon as Relic Liberator.

Lilo has been building her friendship with townie Caryl Lee, who will hopefully move to New Max permanently, as her surname is that of an original playable (Emily Lee, a playable student, who in my game died ages ago).

Lance is so happy for his wife to finally be able to make a start on her lifetime want!

Here she is, looking forward to her first day on the job!

Caryl is still here when Prezioso and Lance sit down for some grilled cheese. "He's half Alien, you know," Prezioso needlessly informs their guest.

Later, he has a swim in the mansion's indoor pool, to increase his body skill in view of his plans of becoming Hall of Famer.

The first day at the newly busy Landgraab house was rather eventful, and fun to play.

Tuesday is eventful in its own way - the house (or maybe the Sims living in it?) appears to be very buggy and "jumpy". Let me illustrate this with Castanea: Time and time again she has been meaning to use the toilet, or eat something - and every time, she "jumped" back to just standing next to the table or outside the bathroom.
It takes me AGES to have everyone satisfy their needs, and the only positive thing that happens on this day is that Prezioso finds a job in the Athletic career. By the way, apart from him suddenly being unemployed and not in PP again, his age bar is back to the first day as an adult.
Also, nobody can say good-bye to Caryl Lee, and all of a sudden, she has a male voice!
Something is seriously wrong with this place - not with my entire game, I hope.

Wednesday is a slightly better day at the Landgraab Mansion, after I have deleted the "Accessory.cache" and "Groups.cache" files in my game data, something I usually only do after finishing one week before moving to the next household.

Lilo is on Permanent Platinum and not controlled by me other than the occasional phone call or to tip one of the Landgraabs' employees. For her, the day starts by playing with emtpy espresso cups...

...followed by a game of "juggle the tumblers" at the house bar.

Gesine notices Gabriella Newson walking by and quickly greets her.

Prezioso begins his new career as a Starter. I wonder how many more times I will enter the game to find him unemployed again, and not on PP!
Also, I have noticed that the number of his wants/fears slots changes; there should always be five, since he has been to uni, but sometimes he only has four.

Gabriella joins Lance and Castanea for delicious omelettes, prepared and served by the butler. She obviously wants to be friends with the family.

Gesine returns from work with a promotion to Warhead Disarmer (here still in her outfit as Dread Pirate).

It is Thursday, and Lilo has asked her friend Caryl Lee over again. It would be nice if their friendship was high enough by the end of the week to have Caryl move to New Max for good, wouldn't it!
The two ladies enjoy the shade on the front patio on this hot summer day.
"Sometimes I feel like two persons in one," Caryl confesses, "a man and a woman."
Well, she looks female but has suddenly acquired a male voice earlier this week! Also, the number of interactions possible with her has become limited; only "entertain", "influence to", "talk", "flirt" and one other which I can't remember right now.
What is wrong with this place?

Things get serious when Prezioso is unable to eat anything. He puts a plate of omelettes on the table alright, but then can neither sit down nor take the plate to sit somewhere else or eat standing up instead.
I resort to a drastic measure: using the move-objects-cheat, I delete Prezioso. I know he will be back next time I start the game, and hopefully in better condition.
Also, just to make sure, I remove the dining table and chairs and replace them with new ones. Other household members have no trouble sitting and eating there.

Gesine comes home with a promotion to Hostage Liberator. After she had to wait so long to begin her career, she is now advancing really fast, to make up for all that lost time during her previous weeks after uni.

When her husband returns from work hours later, he has reached his lifetime want and is now on Permanent Platinum, 10 days before Elderhood. Gesine rewards the new Celebrity Chef with a romantic hug.

Friday morning begins with Castanea having a leftover omelette for breakfast - at the new dining table, which is the exact same model as the old one, as well as the chairs.

And of course, Prezioso is back after I "sold" him yesterday. He patiently waits by the mail box until I send him to the indoor pool to work on his body skill for his job. Meanwhile, Castanea has finished her breakfast and does the same (she has the same lifetime want, after all) - can you see the splashing in the pool?

As the other household members wake up, the butler serves pancakes. Untypically, he has not cleared the table of Castanea's empty breakfast plate first.

It is Promotion Day for the Landgraabs!
First, Prezioso comes home as an All Star. He now needs two more body skill points and sets to work on the punching bag on the balcony immediately.

Then, Castanea returns with a promotion to Coach. It has taken her an entire week from her previous promotion to this one. Now she has to brush up on her charisma.

Last but not least, Gesine - still in her Warheard Disarmer outfit - is now an International Sim of Mystery.

At 6:00 pm, Castanea interrupts practising charisma in front of her bathroom mirror to transition into an elderly lady. She smiles at her white-haired reflection - maybe she will be smiling a little more from now on?

Saturday is a Good Day for the Landgraabs.
Lance has a leisurely session of Financial Consulting at the computer. Now that I do not control him anymore (apart from the usual stuff such as greeting passing New Maximilianians), it is interesting to see how he chooses to spend his free time.

His sister Lilo becomes best friends with Caryl Lee. That means she'll be invited over tomorrow, and asked to move in!

Castanea is as happy as she looks here: At the age of 54, she has become Hall of Famer - one more Sim in this house to be on Permanent Platinum. Well done, Castie!

Prezioso has not been idle, either, and returns from work as MVP.

After he has had a shower and changed into his everyday clothes, he greets Calvin Cho.

Then he invites his twin brother Pablo (with his back to the camera) and sister Paola over. Of course, Paola brings along Garrett Newson, the man she loves and lives with.

And finally, Gesine has achieved her lifetime want: She is now a Space Pirate, 7 days before elderhood. Congratulations, Gesine!

By the time it is Sunday morning, Prezioso's siblings are still here. Paola shares breakfast with her brother and wants to know all about his athletic career.

Uh-oh... one more sign that something is not right with this lot! At least I hope it is only the lot and not my entire game. The bed is quickly replaced.

Lilo invites Caryl Lee over, and she arrives just as Pauline Broke walks by and is greeted by Castanea, still in her pink PJs.

Gesine and Lance do an impressive choreography in the living room! :-)
Much to my dismay, Caryl Lee is still "bugged" - she still has a male voice, and no Sim can have more than five interactions with her: talk, entertain, flirt, influence to and one more that I can't remember right now. It is impossible for Lilo to ask Caryl to move in.
At least a few other Sims have met her during their visits here, so I hope she will appear again - maybe "fixed".

What's going on here? Castanea is having a sponge bath in one of the two downstairs toilets, in spite of there being three fully equipped and accessible bathrooms in the house, plus a shower in the indoor pool area.

Prezioso has been promoted once more; he is now Superstar. By the way, today he has not four, not five, but SIX slots for wants and fears...!

This is how the week with the Landgraab ends. It is a relief being able to move to a different household, hopefully a bug-free one. Maybe I will have to give up the Landgraab mansion.
In spite of all this, it was fun playing the week with the two couples and Castanea. Everyone did really well in their careers, and now Prezioso is the only one not yet on PP.

I suspect Prezioso suffers from "corrupt character file" syndrome, and in its wake, affects the entire lot (flashing blue bed, jumpy activity queues, etc.). Hopefully, I will be able to repair him (and maybe Caryl Lee) via SimPe. Watch this space!

Castanea Landgraab - Week 8

For the previous week with Castanea, click here.

The Landgraab mansion is probably a house everyone who has ever played this game is familiar with, even though in my game, the building has seen some modification inside and out.
There is an annex with an indoor swimming pool and hot tub there now, and what used to be the large upstairs office was long ago turned in to a beautiful room for the twins Malcolm Landgraab had as a souvenir from a visit aboard the Alien space ship.

Malcolm was a single parent right until his twins went to college. He married Castanea Capp, another one of Tybalt Capp's plantchildren, relatively late.
Then he died, leaving behind Castanea as the young widow all alone in the big house.

She is still 12 days or so from Elderhood and working hard towards reaching her lifetime want of becoming Hall of Famer.
Friendships do not come naturally to Castanea, and contact with her late husband's children is rather loose.
Will she do anything about it this week?

When she returns from work on this Monday, Cataldo Capp, a young relative of hers, walks by and is greeted.

He is soon followed by Harry Hart, son of Hailey Hart and grandson of the late Matthew Hart.
The two teenage boys get along very well.

Castanea's closest friend is her butler, and so it is not surprising that he joins his employer and her guests at the dinner table.

The only noteworthy event on Tuesday is a visit by Castanea's "step son" Lance Landgraab and his wife, Gesine (nee Gavigan). Castanea also wanted to invite Lilo over, but she does not know her well enough, and Lilo declined the invitation with the excuse of making a baked alaska.

Over dinner, Lance reminisces about his time at university and graduation. By the time the young Landgraabs go home, Lance and Castanea are friends - and much to my dismay, I discover that they have 3 bolts for each other and do NOT count as relatives.

Regardless, I have Castanea invite Lance and Gesine over again on Wednesday.
They watch a football match on TV together and obviously have a lot of fun.

Later, behind Gesine's back, Castanea congratulates her step son for being so attractive.
So far, nothing untoward has been going on between the two of them, and Lance is very much in love with his wife, but I wonder if it will be a good idea after all to move the younger Landgraabs back into their childhood home.

By the way, here are pictures of Lilo and Lance as teenagers and children, as well as a wedding photo of Malcolm and Castanea - just a little reminder of this family's past.

I find it strange that Castanea's butler never prepares any meals, and since I want to send her to a community lot anyway, I have her drive downtown to a groceries store. (From other households with butlers I remember that I used to be annoyed to the constant serving of food, no matter whether it was wanted or not.)

She meets and greets a few other New Maximilianians, such as Deirdre Dreamer and Mercutio Monty-Ottomas, as well as a number of townies.

Apart from buying groceries, Castanea has also splashed out on some jewellery. She is a wealthy widow and can buy whatever she wants, really.

And sure enough, on Friday morning the butler makes breakfast, moments after his employer has taken herself a plate of leftovers from the fridge!

The day passes by with Castanea at work. She comes back with a promotion to Assistant Coach and now needs three mechanical skill points.

Similar to Friday, Saturday goes by largely with Castanea at work. When she is home, she rings Lance and Gesine again, but Lance is at work and so Gesine comes over on her own. At the same time as she arrives at the Landgraab mansion, Helen Gavigan (who is she to Gesine? Younger sister? Cousin? Niece? I'm afraid I can't remember without looking it up!) walks by and is of course asked to join the ladies.

But then Sunday! Unlike some of the other days during Castanea's week, today is going to be really important. The morning starts with a relaxed session at the computer.

Then, Castanea pays all her employees; it is the gardener's day, and of course her butler and cleaner receive their weekly salary, too.

Then she asks Lance and Gesine over again - this time, to stay! Much to her delight, Lance instantly accepts her invitation to move back into his childhood home, and of course his wife does not need to think twice about the move, either.

Before he even goes to have a look at his old nursery and make plans for remodeling it to suit the needs of a married couple, he asks his sister Lilo and her husband to join them at the Landgraab mansion, and Lilo is there in a flash.
Now the house is full of Landgraabs again! I am sure the late Malcolm would have been happy.

Interestingly, Gesine knows a townie eligible for permanent residence in New Max: Caryl Lee.

With the young Landgraabs only just arrived, we are going to spend another week at this house; after all, they deserve to have "their" week, too.
The upstairs floor will need a makeover to suit two couples and a (for now) single lady, but that won't happen until next "week".

This was fun - and I was so pleased to bring Castanea's friendship with Lance to a high enough level for her to ask him to move in! The rest was easy-peasy.
Now I really hope that the three-bolt-attraction between Lance and his step-mother Castanea won't cause any problems!

The Kim Family: Week 4

This small but neat house is home to the Kims.

Justin Kim was a boy with black hair when the game begun; he and his parents lived in a house that was built like a space ship, and Maxis wrote into their biography that the Kims had once been the stars of Science Fiction TV show. 
While Justin was at uni, his parents perished in a fire. When he graduated, he decided not to move back into his childhood home - too many painful memories there. Instead, he bought this house, where after a while he was joined by a long-lost relative of his, a townie with the surname Kim. His uncle died eventually, and Justin was on his own once more, until he met and married Cherry, one of Tybalt Capp's former plant children. He changed his hair colour to blonde to better match his wife's turn-ons. Justin is on permanent platinum (he became Hall of Famer some time ago), while Cherry is still working on her lifetime want of becoming Professional Party Guest.
   

On this Monday morning, she harvests another batch of flowers from her hydrophonic garden on the back porch.

Justin feeds the fish and then tosses a coin at the shrine, as has become his daily habit years ago.

Don't be mislead by Cherry's sourly expression. She loves her husband dearly and can't help her face - it is in her genes (remember Tybalt Capp's constantly turned-down mouth and frown?).

Justin is rarely controlled by me, and here he has decided on his own accord to prepare stuffed turkey for the couple's dinner. What's the reason for this celebratory meal?

It is Justin's birthday! At 6:00 pm, he interrupts the dinner-making and turns into an Elder. The outfit will have to go, I think.

Unfortunately, his mind must have been elsewhere, because he sets the stove on fire.

There is no fire alarm in the house, and so the unavoidable happens... first Cherry (still 6 days from Elderhood) and then Justin perish in the flames.

Well, that was an unexpectedly short visit with the Kims, wasn't it!
It's been quite a while since any of my Sims died that way.
Another family name has died out in New Max, unless a townie or other NPC will be generated with the surname Kim.

And we're off already to the next household on the alphabetical list.

2019 in New Maximiliania

2019 is over, done and dusted - and has been so for 6 days now.

It has taken me until today to get round to my annual head count for New Maximiliania. 

There are currently 107 playable Sims in the 'hood - 3 more than last year.
The Roths are still lost.

Many of those Sims who originally were teenagers, young adults or adults at the start of the game have gone to the Great Community Lot in the sky. Since the foundation of New Max, 222 have died altogether, with 97 births.

A handful of former townies have become proper residents, by virtue of their surnames being "playable" surnames, such as Love and Smith. I am constantly on the lookout for more.

Best chances for long-term survival have the Capps and the Newsons; there are many of them, with many children. We will see what this year will bring! 

I still want to play the TS4 and TS2 families alternatively, following an integrated alphabetical list of surnames. But for some reason, Origin does not allow me to update TS4. I have tried and tried, to no avail - can't figure out why it tells me that I will have to "allow a download" but then never actually prompts me to allow it.
As a last resort, I guess I could de-install and re-install TS4, but maybe someone here has an idea as to what could work.
Also, I still welcome suggestions for the Roths - their character files are in the correct game data folder, but that's all.

So, if I can not solve the TS4 problem anytime soon, I shall simply keep playing TS2 the way I have done for the past year.

Happy Simming in 2020 to all of you!