That is a base game fridge, the econocool refrigerator - cost 600. Look at the small pic above the recolors in Jo's link.

@SneakyWingPhoenix - Your images do not meet the guidelines, they are much too small.

As I'm building my lot, I realized that BV has disappeared.

How do I make them bigger in appriopate size?

I'm planning on entering the contest when I return from holiday (if there are any spaces left!).

You need to use an image taking programme such as Fraps. Jo has linked to the screenshot guidelines in her first post. Also your house is overpriced and you have far too many images. I suggest you go and reread the contest rules in the first post I realise that entering a contest for the first time is hard but once you get the hang of it you will love it!

@SneakyWingPhoenix - if you have UC and/or Windows 10, Fraps may not work; no screenshot programs work for me. I take mine by having the game in windowed mode and then press Alt + ScreenPrint. It is the only way I can take screenshots, so may be it will help somebody else.

UC, Windows 10, Fraps works fine for me in any game, including TS2 I only can play in fullscreen though, TS2 won’t run in windowed mode with my GeForce, it only would with the integrated card.

Never thought off it that way. Thx, I'll try it today.

@SneakyWingPhoenix don’t you want to fix graphics too? Your hood doesn’t look properly. Oh and your lot costs much more than 25k.

I had that happen once with H&M... and got it in my head to 'fix' it by starting an AGS with H&M in it. It worked. When I next went into my full game, H&M was back.
I don't know if that'll work for you and BV - but it might be worth a shot! Good luck!

I might be done before I even started. I FINALLY got the price below the 25,000 Simoleons (I used a test hood in my good game, since I kind of like this house, and want to keep it, and I'm comfy with my good game), packaged the lot and went to generate a vanilla game. Even with my using only game content, apparently, I have some CC I can't easily get rid of ... probably defaults that piggybacked on a downloaded lot. It's nothing I downloaded directly. I've generated vanilla games so, so many times testing bad downloads that I can't even count. I renamed the good folder and waited for the new game to finish loading.

Only ... it won't finish. It just hangs there. It should NOT take a half-hour for a game with no downloads or lots to generate! It takes ten minutes for my game to load with 4 GB of CC, hundreds of packaged lots, custom music, etc. The last time, I couldn't even cancel it in Task Manager. It's listed as not responding. We're not talking about a custom hood. That WILL take some time. I'm talking about getting the first loading screen to finish. I tried this three times already. I don't have UC. (I know a couple of people with UC had this problem.) Supposedly, if you read the help section at EA, it really should take only about 15 minutes, which is my usual experience.

I'd rather not pull out my good folder in case I do need to do a 50/50. Many times, you can avoid doing this by deleting the newest CC. Pulling out your game folder changes your download dates. At least it does for me.

No error messages. I get the M&G screen, and nothing else. If I can't get a vanilla game to generate, I may have to sit this contest out. I'd rather not move my lot package to the machine that I know beyond the shadow of a doubt is not Hug-Bugged, since the game I usually use is Hug-Bugged, and even with No Sim Loaded, I want to make 100% sure the game on the second machine is never hug-bugged. So as I see it, I may be stuck. I had problems with AGS, so that's not an option, either.

I never saw this before. I'm not quite sure what to do about it. :/ I did a CC Clean, and right now, am backing up my good game, in case something REALLY screws up. I'll try one more time starting without my AV and without the Internet (just in case something is trying to update at the same time I'm loading the game), take a long bath before I come back and see if I can't get this. Not being able to generate a vanilla game concerns me in general. But that is a matter for the Help section, where I'll probably go if I can't get this thing to work. In the meantime, all the slots will probably be filled. But I did try, anyway.

I do believe hardware plays a role! I have a GeForce too, but never had problems before I bought a new monitor. Since then it is just impossible to take a screenshot any other way than described above - I just get pics of my desktop icons Yet mine is not a difficult method, after all, so maybe somebody can use it.

Wow, there are some really disparate buildings made from the same footprint! :lovestruc

It always amazes me what people come up with in this game, things I would never have thought of! Going to love watching this contest.

I hope all these lots are going to be uploaded, I want to build a new subhood

Photofukkit does - I discovered that when I entered the calendar contest.

Imgur . Imgur is pure. Free to sign up. show your nice BIG pics.

So the Walter family has just moved into my actual hood - thank you, Jo

As for the pictures upload - as Jo says, just go to advanced and upload the screenshots. It is much easier and completely acceptable.

OK ... using CC Cleaner and disabling the AV for ten minutes seems to have worked, so perhaps it was a pesty AV update or a computer in good need of a file cleaning, or both. I'm waiting for a random test hood to load, giving it the really imaginative name of "Contest Hood." (It's a game template I never saw before, so I'm curious to see what it looks like.)

I'm waiting for all the stuff to load for the hood, will plop my package in there, try loading lot only, and hope the lot doesn't blow up the game.

it's not a wow-worthy lot, but at this point, it's the principle of the thing. I just want to get it up here. I spent too much time trying to get this to 25,000 Simoleons or less!

My next obstacle is FRAPS. For some reason, it's decided to go on strike. One of the alternatives suggested here ... forgot the name ... didn't work at all from the get-go. But as I understand it, I can use MTS' resources as well.

@Voeille Yes I know about lighting mods although I don't actually have one. If it's in your install files or in some way impossible to be rid of then yes leave it in place. Mention it on all rounds in case it changes how your pictures look.

@enebya Welcome to the contest. You do not have an overview shot. That means an overview of the entire lot so that the judges can see the layout of the garden. You will be judged on how outside looks as well as inside.

@*_Drew~ Does a hail work on your name? You might want to try FastStone Resizer, it can do all your Fraps shot in one go. Also make sure to upload directly to the site not photobucket as it can shrink your photos.

@gummilutt Welcome to the contest You are exactly right on the photos (I might make that more clear in the rules) Impressive on the dot price tag too! Part of having restrictions is to make things a little more difficult but it also gives everyone the exact same playing field and helps the judges see what you all come up with.

@Justpetro Welcome to the contest Is your overhead clipping off some plants? Can you make sure to go right to the edge, thanks.

@CatherineTCJD I would love you as a judge, welcome aboard.

@pannisim yes it's the base game fridge. The link to the default data base is so you have a picture of what it looks like.

@HugeLunatic Oh no! I hope you can get it sorted.

@gazania Your issue sound concerning as well. Sounds like it was just a hiccup? If Fraps won't work (mine went on strike a few weeks ago) you may need to reinstall it. You could try the Print Screen button on your key board.

@Pideli Thank you for your interest. I'm sorry that it's going to be a no. While you don't need any uploads to MTS to judge, it would have to be passable as an upload. I would suggest you enter as a contestant.

Thanks for all interest in my contest everyone. I will add a few things to the rules to make things clearer and add names to the table. The first round usually takes some sorting out but once everyone knows what they are doing picture and rule wise it should be fun.

@SneakyWingPhoenix I am going to do you up a separate post right after this one.

I have a question. Can we change out the foundation type? Same exact layout, just go from brick to the wood slate or pole ones (sorry, don't know the actual names for them).

@calibrat Jo answered this previously. Short answer: No, you cannot swap out foundation types.

See post 33 and 34 for details.

Ninja'd by Charmful. Jo answered that question in post 34 on page 2. Answer is no. No changes whatsoever to foundation.

Might as well post something useful! About the rest of the contest Jo, do we pick which family we want to use for each round? If so, will we get to know the funds for each round in advance, or are there multiple options on that too? Just wondering since some of the families will require a lot more funds

Ahh, thanks I thought I'd read all the posts, but obviously I missed some :D

@SneakyWingPhoenix

I need you to read over the the rules.

The application round is a starter house with a total budget of $25,000.

Once you have that house done and pictures that measure no smaller than 800 by 600 then post your entry. You need to use a screenshot program like Fraps or the Print Screen button. Your pictures are at 1,255.13 KB, 800KB is the limit per picture. Once you have your screenshots you need to change them to jpg or png. FastStone photo resizer is the easiest since you can do all of them in one go. Also if you can remove the interface covering the actual house. Simply click on TAB to remove the interface and in there you can move around with your key pad. To get out of camera mode just hit TAB again.

If you have any problems or questions feel free to post them.

@CaliBrat Sorry, the foundation cannot be changed.

Gummi, as each round is announced you get to see the foundation for that round then you pick your family. So its a judgmental call as to what foundation suits what family. However I have not made this too hard, most of the families will do fine on any foundation.