To do list (updated Nov 4 2005 02:09)

[baratron]

1. Eat something.
2. Ignore panic disorder sufficiently for me to be able to leave the house.
3. Go to the bank. Pay in money. (Yes, I know it's already 6pm. The bank *should* be open until 8 today.)
4. Buy The Sims 2 Nightlife. Laugh evilly.
5. Go home. Hide Nightlife somewhere I won't be able to find it again.
6. Boot up Kaleidagraph on the old laptop. Try to remember how it works. Plot 10 graphs. Print them out. Put them in my bag.
7. Take a complete backup of my Sims 2 folder.
8. Go into every single playable house in all 3 inhabited Neighbourhoods and ensure that a) all sims are at home, b) all NPCs are off the lot, c) no one is using the remote controlled car, cellphone, or handheld.
9. Remove the Hacks folder to desktop.
10. Find Nightlife disc from its hiding place. Pray. Install Nightlife. Go into a few random houses and check they look ok.
11. Download Nightlife patch. Pray some more. Install Nightlife patch.
12. Boot up game. Discover whether the patch has eaten it. Uninstall patch again if necessary, and repeat steps 10-12 until result is satisfactory. Restore saved games from backups if needed.
13. Go through entire Hacks directory comparing it to the lists on More Awesome Than You. Copy all Nightlife-compatible hacks back to the Sims 2 folder. Download new Nightlife-compatible hacks of the ones that aren't.
14. Throw a fit that the Romance Mod isn't updated yet. Remember not to play any polyamorous sims until it is.
15. Double-check that I've trashed all the non-NL compatible hacks.
16. Triple-check that I have installed only NL compatible ones.
17. Pray some more, and boot up the game. Check it works.
18. If it fails to work, remove entire Hacks directory again. Copy them back a few at a time, testing the game at each stage. Swear a bit.
19. If necessary, restore entire game from backups, and start again. Cry.
20. Try to remember to have dinner at some point.

"Strangely" enough, the bits of this I am dreading most are stages 6 and 12.

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Update: 00:07 - I am Teh Kaleidagraph Master!!
Actually, I'm really damn impressed. I forgot how good Kgraph is. Might have to check out the mailing list emails they've been sending me forever and find out how much the newest version costs.

Now to backup TS2, and start praying ;) Exasperatingly, More Awesome Than You is b0rken right now. I hope it unb0rks soon.

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Update: 02:09 - ARGH!
Currently on step 8. I realised that not only do I have 3 inhabited Neighbourhoods, but I also have 2 Universities! AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!! I've spent almost 2 hours, and I've only "sorted" 8 houses.

The thing is, I could merrily just install the new EP over the top of what's there. But if I do that, I'll have stuck NPCs, broken portals, people never coming home from work, and people dying because they're stuck somewhere uncontrollable. I know Maxis by now! *mumble mumble too many iterations error mumble*

Comments

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

There's a polyamory mod for Sims 2? Oooh.

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Polyamory is built into Sims 2! Romance sims get wants like "Have 2 lovers at once", "Woohoo with 3 sims" and "Have 3 lovers at once". One of my Romance sims has a Lifetime Want of 20 simultaneous lovers :)

The problem is that the way the game is set up, if you have two Romance sims in an open relationship, whenever one of them has another lover round, they'll slap each other silly. The Romance Mod removes that. Specifically, jealousy is replaced by a new algorithm which says:

1. Romance sims never freak out at their partners.
2. It no longer counts as cheating if you are not in a committed love relationship (engaged or married).
3. Sims only get jealous if their Nice + Outgoing + Playful stats < 15
4. Sexual orientation actually matters.

It also fixes certain actions that Maxis for some unknown reason marked as romantic, like cuddling on the sofa. (I almost died when I found "Had an affair" in the memory one of my cute monogamous gay sims!)

So yeah, it's pretty much essential for some of my families.

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Nifty keen!
20 lovers at once... that's one of those goals that's why they put Elixir of Life in the game.

[aca.livejournal.com]

It's reading lists like that which gives me the fear of ever coming into contact with the sims. I mean, how will I pay the morgage if I can't drag myself away to go to the office?

[baratron.livejournal.com]

A lot depends on whether you already have an addictive personality. I have a history of addiction in my family (which is one of the reasons I don't touch alcohol or caffeine), and I'm doing well to "merely" be addicted to video games. Psychdocs regard me as having a sufficiently addictive personality that I am someone who can't normally get benzodiazapines.

If you just play the game, it's perfectly controllable. The problem arises if you're a compulsive house-builder or storyteller - the latter is particularly bad, because I can just be playing and get an idea for a story, which I then have to set up & act out, and use 101 cheat codes to achieve, and download a special hacked object to let me do something, and a new skin for one particular sim so they can look right...

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Also, there is currently a debate raging about whether people develop obsessive-compulsive disorder as a result of playing The Sims, or whether it's people with OCD who gravitate towards it :)