So I've finally buckled up and encouraged myself to publish this neighbourhood I had sitting on a shelf!

SULLEN HOLLOW

EDIT: Now there's a version 0.2! I've cleaned all the lots and added details, and updated the cleaned version. The changelog is at the end of this post.



Sullen Hollow is a little and old northern village, nested between the mountains and the Deep Lake. Don't let its quaintness fool you, though; this is quite an interesting place!



The nhood comes with a total of 87 character files: 15 moved-in playables, 6 sims in the family bin, 2 townies (the Katsaris siblings), and 1 NPC: Jake Wheeler, the newspaper boy (who's also involved in the plot), as you can see. The remaining 63 sims are ancestors, of which every playable has and should all be complete and safely resurrectable. Some of them also have personal bios. There should be no more NPCs or/and Townies.

There are 26 lots in the nhood: 4 commercial, 6 occupied, 15* (I missed one) unoccupied and 1 vacant ─plus the special hobby and magic lots.



The neighbourhood (version 0.2), wheighs now 87'9 MB (seems like photos take up a lot of space!), and you need all Expansion Packs up to and including Mansion & Garden stuff pack ─or the Complete Collection. I tried, however, to keep a base game ambiance, so you shouldn't worry about Stuff Packs. All sims and lots should be completely clean and have been minimally played. The ID of the nhood is SLHW.

I consider this 'hood "mostly finished"; I've playtested a little and it works pretty well on my game (only the Casato lot bugged out, for some reason); however, feel free to suggest ANYTHING, from technical aspects to storyline ones ─firstly, I need a better way to take photos, as you see!! This is my very first upload, so I'm testing the waters!!! If people get interested and is up to the standards, I would glady send it for download on the main site

As you can see if you peeked on the story, this all sounds familiar; let me know what you think of my idea. And just... enjoy it, if you find enjoyable!!

You can download the nhood and the terrain from Drive on the following links:

Nhood download (v. 0.2)

Terrain download

For the nhood, simply plop the folder on your EA Games/TheSims 2/Neighbourhoods folder of My Documents. For the terrain, put all the contents of my folder on SC4Terrains.

New: It is recommended, but not in any way enforced, to download Alex's "No More Sims Memories Clear" in order for the Townies and NPC to keep their memories.

Thanks!!!

It looks very nice, I'm downloading it ^^

Edit:The landscaping and houses look amazing and I love the Golden and Killjoy family. I really like the bottom part of the map, maybe I would add a special lot in that area or some beach. But overall it looks amazing and I haven't even played it.

Maybe I would work on some good photos for each family album.

Oooh thanks a lot @Sokisims!! In my playthrough, tha Killjoys are the family I had the most fun with❤️ they're such a mess!!

Thanks for your feedback, I really was insecure about the houses. I would really want to make complete family albums taking photos on a backup version of the nhood, but I'm not sure about how to accomplish that.

I was thinking of making more lots on the, well, sullen area of the map. I also want to elaborate more the story, but just a little bit in order to make it ambigous.

Again, thanks a lot!!

when the story is finished, if you need a hand to translate it in Italian for foreign players like me to play it, I am willing to help you!

In my opinion, the best thing is to take screenshots with a program or windows and then take random photos in the game and with a photo edition program copy each screenshot into each snapshot and thumbnail file. This way you can choose each photo better. The quality is also better.

Thanks for all your feedback!!

@sokisims, I experimented and what you said helped a lot!!! Btw, I'm really honored by you taking an interest on my nhood given the quality of the ones you've made here!!

@DinaMarBoobs, thanks for your help! I'm actually Spanish, so I can give you the text in the languaje you're more comfortable with for translation and make different versions of Sullen Hollow!!

I spent some time yesterday thinking about the story and I have it all clear now. I may write a couple of lines on the texts I already have, but I intend to tell it all through the photo albums, with higher quality screenshots. If I learn how to use it, I may also make some custom scripted events (flavor text) for each family.

As of now, I've updated the first post with photos of each built lot and more information on each family of the nhood. Thanks again for your interest!

I entered this lot and had super dug hug, you should download the mod to avoid it and enter each lot to eliminate it just in case. My game already removed it.

edit: all lots have it

Awww how embarassing. My game is sadly very bloated from years of downloads (and some older ones, I believe).

I'll use Chris Hatch's Lot Cleaner and upload a clean version. I'm working on a better version of the nhood anyways.

Thanks a lot, @Sokisims! By the way, which mod do you use in order to know if a lot is infected?

SuperDuperHugTest If I'm not mistaken, this mod detects it and eliminates it once you enter each lot.

By the way, @ed95 the above SuperDuperHugTest can be found on post #3 of this thread.

Also, I wanted to say that this a nice neighborhood. Once you get rid of the bad things like Super Duper hug, I've no problem testing it for you. I may even help with the stories a little bit and maybe even make you a custom theme song. Because I do honestly like what I see. From the pictures, there's a very nice charm to this neighborhood I can tell, and it'd be a shame if it wasn't expanded upon. Keep at it! :D

Aww thanks a lot for your help, @Sokisims and @HarVee!! I've also been keeping tabs on your nhood, HarVee, and I want to test it and Sokisim's as soon as I find the time. I really love the story of Bustin' Out, too!

I heard your theme song too! Lemme say, it's very good!! I love all the detail you're putting on your creations!

Sokisims neighborhood(s) are great, and they're mostly complete and ready to play. For mine, I'd wait until I get Beta 2 out later this week. There's a lot of changes and improvements/fixes coming with beta 2, as well as a drastically reduced CC requirements (over 1.5GB gone).

Hi again!!

As said on the first post, I've cleaned every lot of the awful Super Duper Hug and made improvements to the Photo Albums. The nhood should be now completely clean and safe, plus a bit more profound too!!

Next step is learning how to make custom story prompts to add flavour to the nhood. If I come around that, I'll upload it here and start looking for publishing it on the main page, given the great reception from you. I'm also itching to hear you impressions or suggestions, @HarVee!!

This is really great to know, I do look forward to giving this a try! I'll give it a download later today and get back to you with my impressions and suggestions within the upcoming week.

Whenever you can!!! Thanks!!!

Do you still need testers? I just found this today and it looks like a lot of fun for those just coming back to TS2, and wanting to play Pleasantview while at the same time being bored with Pleasantview. I have a lot of mods, so not sure how useful my testing would be... but I can give impressions at least?

Hi, @litlegothcat13!! Of course you can! Please feel free to write down eny of the thoughts you have while playing!

Alright, so I don't have time to play tonight, but I was very excited, so I checked out all the lots in the hood. Here's my thoughts so far:
- The buildings in general in this hood are AMAZING. Simple, but beautiful, and very easy to customize as well! A+
- Love that you kept the hidden shack, and the idea with the 'bathroom' is a major improvement on the original. On the same vein, that 300k+ house is one of the most expensive lots I've ever seen... and I love it, because it feels like a goal to achieve, similar to the big mansion in the original sims.
- LOVE that the condos all fit a double bed. No, seriously, thank you for that. Would replace the ones in Pleasantview with these ones in a heart beat.
- As for community lots, they are all very lovely, and again, easy to add stuff from the later packs, such as pet collars, perfume and jewellery, photo booths, etc. The pool and library is a major improvement in the original. I felt that the groceries were a bit random though, so I deleted those and added a Job Seeking board and a social security table to the room, pic added. Again, appreciate how easy it is to customise these builds thanks to all the extra space.
- Same for the shopping mall; I can't live without restaurants, and it was very easy to decrease the size of the female bathrooms, delete the grills, and turn that room into a small restaurant. Pic added.
- The park was so lovely, I almost felt guilty adding a small skating ring to the top right corner, but again, appreciate that the space is there to add something for those with later EPs. A soccer goal or a basketball court would have also fit just fine, and you can add some toddler toys to the sandbox. LOVE the gazebo in the middle, perfect for taking photos of first kisses and engagements.
- The only thing I would change even for people with just the base game would be the clothing store; it felt a bit odd, to have all those chairs with just a bar inside? So I moved some chairs, and added a coffee station, since there was no other place to get coffee, pic added. I can't remember if coffee came with university or not though, so perhaps it can't be added...
- On that last note, I got the feeling that you wanted this hood to be base game compatible? If not, disregard, but if so, I'm pretty sure the counters in the trailers came from University, and the sun lamp I saw in some places, but definitely in the 300k+ mansion, came from seasons. Pics taken.
- To finish off this first impression, and this is going to sound random, but I love this road placement on the map I took a screen of. No reason, it just makes me giggle, and small x1 lots do fit, so I might either add some very small apartments or houses for my poorest sims when mood arises.
That's it before I start to play and test things out for real. For first impressions, I am extremely pleased with I've seen so far. I hope the scripting goes well, because this is a hood that deserves to be up on the main site so more people see it.

More feedback: Played one household today, and... let's just say you got me. I was all full of myself, thinking I could see the story you wanted to script, enjoying all the little changes (including one I usually make myself, so thanks for sparing me the work!), and then... I was floored. And confused cause I didn't even know how that could happen, and then I slapped myself for not looking sooner...

Obviously I don't want to spoil it for anyone else, but I'm sure OP will know what I'm talking about, and... well played. To make it worse nothing happened the first day either, which should almost be impossible due to my mods, so it only doubled my shock.

I went to the park and the mall so far too, which is dangerous given all the drama that can happen with the other sims, haha... but good news, no super duper hug bug yet!

It's been fun so far. I enjoyed how their house managed to mirror their 'old one' a bit, despite being in a completely different setting. One touch I really appreciated, and not sure if this applies to these sims only because they're important, but I have a 'control this sim' mod, which I use to make townies and NPCs selectable in hoods like these to see if they have a bio or some important memories/relationships, and was very pleasantly surprised to see that these two did! More, please! Even if it's something generic, it feels really special when a creator goes that far. This mod also allows you to select ghosts btw, and there's a mod now that lets you read a sim's bio on urns, so I'd really like to see these little touches added everywhere.

One small thing I noticed, pic added and censored as to not give further spoilers: There's a small error in this sim's bio. Either delete the 'and' after 'disappointments', or add something after it, such as 'heart break/tears/screaming/etc', and either way it would then work.

I'll play another house tomorrow... putting off the Earthly's so far, cause given what I saw on community lots... I ain't gonna be pleased with Wes, me thinks. But I am looking forward to spend more time with Walker, because I really enjoyed the date he had at the park.

Hey @litlegothcat13!!! Wow, that's such an overview!!! First of all, I'm glad you liked the nhood. I didn't think too much of it, but seeing the reception, I will post it eventually on the main page! Thanks a lot!!!

So let's see... you're not the only one who's told me the buildings are good, which baffles me. I don't think I'm that good of a builder tee hee, but it's nice people find them so good. To be fair, the designs are mostly from Maxis; I just tweaked the exteriors to make them fit with the New England/Northwest Passage theme. And, of course, tweaked the interior floorplans, since Maxis made some... questionable... decisions. As you said, I like to have space just in case I want to build more on the lot, so those are generally more spacious. Also love that you like the mansion, I'm not as good as Maxis building big homes ─but I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do with the exterior. Pleasantview is so balanced in the sense that you have everything you would ever need for nhood, much like Sunset Valley in TS3 ─so, as in the original, I tried Sullen Hollow to have all lots giving good variety on things to do and to improve upon.

That's funny you like the road that goes down till the coastline; for some reason, Simcity 4 didn't like me doing that and made those strange bumps. Since those kind of roads tend to be bumpy in real life, I just left it like that. It gives more personality to the nhood tee hee. As @Sokisims suggested, that zone and the one that goes to the bridge are meant for you to put lots, and I might build some more lots for it; it is made so you can even put a beach lot (although Sullen Hollow is meant to be pretty chilly!), but I preferred to make first a "Maxis-base-game-match" version.

On that last note, the nhood is meant to have the feel of base game, but it's not to be compatible with it ─I can't do it on my version of the game, sadly. So I can put some things from EP (those that you pointed out, though, are oversights, and I can't believe I made them!!!). You're right a cafeteria makes more sense for the clothing store lot; I may change that, although cafeterias come from University and Nightlife. On that same note, the random refrigerator in the pool lot is a reference to the original from Pleasantview ─my conclusion is that they wanted to simulate a vending machine!!! Of course, all that space is meant for you to edit it, or not. I found the lot very entertaining nonetheless, since it's a good way for playable sims to start mingling.

Now, to the story! Tee hee, I wasn't sure things (I mean, the sims¡ intended reactions) worked that much, as they didn't for me (although I have ACR, which is VERY dangerous in this nhood). But yeah, I think I managed to make an even messier mess than the one from Pleasantview tee hee. You just started with my favourite family in fact, which makes sense ─I tended to start with the Pleasants the first time I was playing TS2. They (the Pleasants), are kinda charismatic, aren't they? I had a lot of fun building up their (my version) lore and backstory, and also their house. And well, the incredible mess they're in; even if the player doesn't do anything, the game will, and you're bound to quickly run into very interesting and fun scenes. At least, on my experience; playtesting, Charles got promoted, but immediately got demoted and became depressed. That sim from you photo started bugging them, and they got poorer getting rid of her. And her brother really got pisssed too tee hee.

Yeah, the townies (the only ones shipped with the nhood are the Katsaris siblings), have bios and memories; they keep those ones if you have the "No More Sims Memories Clear" mod, although you can play the nhood without it. I also love when even background characters get some backstory (and yes, that was a typo; I will correct it, thanks!!!), and wanted to make them part of the story. With that mod you mentioned, I recommend you take a look at the Perkys' grandparents bios, and Benjamin's; you might like them. The paperboy also has some important relationships, but not much else since he's a teen. I might make more townies, since you and @Sokisims gave me some ideas; what would you think of that? The story is already pretty messy, some more messiness would be welcome!!!

On that note, I recommend you take a peek on the family albums; you can get some more background information with them, and I had a lot of fun taking the photos!! The family you started with is the messier; I recommend you move in the Youngs, which are also very fun to play, I least on my experience. Although their big lot and house may be a slog to play, you cant try next he Golden, who are set up to give a party, and that could also become somewhat messy. I specially like how Dylan is set up; I'm sure his mother doesn't like his relationship! You're right, on the other hand, that Walker and his girlfriend are very cute; I may give them some more to do. You can interpret Wes in many ways, and most of them are not really good; you can take a peek on his late wife's bio too, which may give you more insight.

The Köld twins and Joe Casato, however, are more fun to see on the background than to directly play them, I believe (although Joe and Eugene hit it off pretty quickly on my first playthrough, which I wasn't expecting!). I have a pretty peculiar story for the twins set up, however; again, you can interpret them in many ways. You may want to leave the Perky house for last, since you can play with the relationships around them with the other households, and then go there for the mess. Having Ivy move into the nhood is optional ─I found her really interesting to play, although she's the most isolated (in a lot of ways) sim of the nhood.

And finally, also, please, give any recommendation you see fit; I want to improve further Sullen Hollow. The Perky's and Killjoy's are not too bad in terms of storyline, but the other families could use some improvements; I have to make the custom welcome messages, though ─which will give a little more insight on them.

@ed95 Really good to hear that my feedback was appreciated and to get such a thoughtful reply. I had forgotten to check the albums, so thanks for the reminder; given what I saw for the two families I've played so far, I like what I see. I didn't realize that the paperboy was premade instead of my game generating him, so I will take a look at him the next time I play. On that note, I play with ACR too, so what I saw in community lots was partly due to it, I think... but given what I'm seeing of Wes so far, it might have just been him acting out all on his own too.

It's a yes on more townies from me; even if they're not directly related to the story, to have a couple of them as just work/school friends would do a lot to make the hood feel more complete, and spare players that use notownieregen like me from having to generate their own townies. Though I know some people hate the bloat on character files too, so in the end, it's up to you to decide if it's worth the extra work on not.

About your lots, I am a far more terrible builder, but I am fairly okay at taking an existing 'shell' of a house and playing with the layout to suit my needs. For that, your builds are excellent, as they not only look amazing from the outside, but the inside is very spacious and easy to add more rooms, should they be needed. I also like how the landscaping is done, since I truly suck at that; they're beautiful, but also 'simple' enough to not trigger the wrath of pink soup. I absolutely might package some of the lots to clone, so I can have even more houses when the need arises. If you're planning to make a non BG version, a beach lot would truly be welcome.

Now for my next slew of reporting; I took a break for the holidays, and came back today. I played with Kold's, because I hadn't seen your comment yet, and because I have an aging mod that makes elders die in about a week, so I'd like to leave the Youngs for last anyway. Because I felt like I needed to know some of the sims they Kolds are involved with a bit more, I just had a relaxing time with them, made Cindy advance in her career while Carly got fit as she pleased (and did manage a promotion too). I was really happy to see that all the ancestor's graves were around. Sadly, Benjamin did not visit me this time, so I couldn't check him out more. I also liked seeing all the friends they had, including the past Cindy had with Peggy. Other than being annoyed at the ghosts targeting the wrong sim, it was a pleasant house to return to. I saw no errors with them at all, but will do another do-over in a second rotation.

During that session they began to lose friendship with the families in the Sim bin, so I decided to move those in and get them a phone before I move to my next rotation (Casato), and took a quick look around them while I was at it. From here, I did notice some issues. The first is a minor one; Izzy should have a memory of falling in love with a certain sim, but instead, that memory defaults to 'mystery sim' (or, since I have a mod, 'my first love'), instead of the sim the prior and afterwards memories are about. Again, minor (also, interesting little addition to her past with her husband there).

Now for a much bigger one: Rose Young only has two relationships in her panel, her husband and Cindy Kold. Which does not make sense, since she remembers teaching her daughter to go potty, and meeting her son in law, plus, her husband has all the expected family relationships in his panel. Not only that, but while I was playing the Killjoys, the teens got some achievements that should show up in family member's memories, and in Woody's case, they do. In Rose's case, they don't, and she remembers nothing between moving out and moving into the new place I got them. I then quickly checked the Killjoys, and Peggy not only knows her, but is even close to Rose as Rose's bio says they are supposed to. However, neither the twins nor Charles know her, but they know Woody. Some pics are attached.

And yes, I moved the Youngs into the big expensive house, thanks to them taking out a loan for it. Because of the aforementioned aging mod, they'll die before having to get their stuff repossesed, and since they won't leave the house to anyone, I'll just think of it as getting taken away by the bank. I did this not only to have the chance to test out the house, but because it seemed like the kind of thing they would do, given their bios.

(Interesting 'connection' between the Youngs the Perky's there too, btw.)

On one last note, the Pleasants are my favourite too, so I am very excited to play the twin's boyfriends before I decide what to do with them next; while the Killjoys managed to have a surprisingly good time while I played them (they were way luckier than Carly Kold when it came to 'ahem', avoiding 'something'), Peggy got pregnant... with their situation, and my death by childbirth/fairy changelings mods, we'll see how that goes.

Wow, you're being so helpful, @litlegothcat13!! Yeah, those things are definitely not intended; looking at SimPe, Rose has not 'Know' flags set for her family, which is the motive that she doesn't get any relationship nor memories from Eve and Peggy. About Izzy, I'm not sure what happened; I'll take a look. I'll see if I'm able to correct that these days. Thanks a lot!!!

And yeah, the landscaping is sparse in the lots in order to avoid pink soup; I haven't seen that happen in my game, but big lots can become laggy. Plus, as I said, Maxis tended to make rooms and specially corridors too small; I prefer the contrary, very spacious buildings, except when they're meant to be narrow.

You're very right some people wolud prefer some custom townies; I have a couple ideas of what to do, so I will make a set of townies too for the next version of the 'hood. I like a lot what you did with the Youngs; that's a thing they would do allright tee hee. I like 'hoods that make you feel like they have history, y'know? That's why I made sure every sim is somehow related to at least one from another household, and that they all have friends outside their home.

Btw, I don't know if you're using default replacements or have made over the sims themselves, but I like a lot how they look in your game!!!