Hello everyone!

Ok, so, inspired by the famous Peni Griffin, I decided I should bring life back to a neighborhood made by EA, only for the console version of Sims 2 Pets, named Whiskerton.

Its a neighborhood designed for players to enjoy the lives of their sims with pets.

Though, I will be needing alot of help from the community, specifically from those who still have their PS2's and their Sims 2 Pets, in terms of actually helping me out write the bio's needed, since some of them are not mentioned on the wiki, and I can't get my PS2 to work, for some reason.

The neighborhood will require the base game and Pets EP. Production is in its very early stages, though here is a picture of how it will look like:



Terrain still needs editing, but for now, what do you guys think (about the idea and the terrain)? Its based on the Ps2/Wii version (Wii, according to the wiki, is the same as the PS2).

From the pic, you can see the waterfall, the lake, Fishbone Island, and there will be a bunch of lots added. The bridge will be removed, as the neighborhood only had those small road bridges, which I will just plop down on the roads.

The characters included will be those in the game itself, Buck Oakley, Kate Hardiman, William Townsend, Mira May, etc...

To be honest, I made the characters before, and I played them, but I didn't create the neighborhood needed, this time, the neighborhood terrain will be present!

P.S. I hope this is not considered as (just) copying other people's work (EA in this case), as it is somewhat my own work too.

Wow, talk about nostalgia! I have TS2 Pets console, albeit for the Gamecube. (I am assuming it is the same as the PS2/Wii version?) It's been a very long time since I've played, though your terrain is definitely looking good! I remember being very fond of one lot in the game, one built on the edge of the cliff, I think where the waterfall is. Do you think you could maybe show some more of that area a little?
This is making me want to blow the dust off my console and play again...

According to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVETETQnM0c It is the same version as the Ps2, which is what I have. I would really appreciate it Legislacerator if could help me with the creation of this hood, specifically with the bio's as mentioned earlier, with a few other stuff.

The lot you're talking about is Lemming Point, Originally an empty lot, which I will be providing of course, close to the waterfall that you can (barely ) see.

I will provide more pictures soon, I'll start up my game tonight.

Oh, excellent! Just let me know which bios you need (or do you need all of them?) and I can start up my game and note some down once I clear off some of the projects on my own plate.

Thank you so much! I just got AGS with Pets EP only (game feels weird without CC).

Ok, so the bios I have are of:

Linda Townsend (aspiration check is needed)
William Townsend (aspiration check is needed)

The rest, I will need both, bios and aspirations:

Buck Oakley
Kate Hardiman
Dan Hardiman
Mira May
Penelope Arnold
Varian Parker
Marsha Worthington
Bob Newbie
Betty Newbie
Dottie Simpson (something about a Llama farm)

Pets:
Presto Parker
Falafel May
The Newbie dog that I forgot his name
Dottie's five cats
Buck's three dogs

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about their facial structures, but I'll try to create them as much close to what I can remember, though pictures of what they look like in CAS would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, if anyone wants to help, I'd happy to have them join us in this project.

And I need help about something: with AGS installed and using only Pets, I'm used to having my neighborhood camera set according to Tom Duhamel's camera mod (I use the mod he created), but now, I can't seem to use the neighborhood the way I can use it in my full game, can anyone help me with that?

You might find this handy.
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_2_Pets_(console)

The Newbie's dog is named Buddy.

Okay, thank you for the list! When I get a chance I will start up my game and get their bios for you - I don't have a capture card/way of taking pics of my TV screen beyond using a camera (which won't exactly give usable results) so I can't really get in-game pictures of them though, unfortunately. Hopefully someone else with the game will be able to get some reference shots for you.

Ah! Yeah! Tried to grip on to that name, but it was fail. Thanks

@Legislacerator, its ok if you can't get the pics, hopefully, as you said, some one else would, but thank you!

Here is a view from the back:





Oh, and since the Newbie's and Dottie Simpson lives in a hilly area, I'll shrink the lake from the side:



To expand the land nearby. I still remember that from Dottie's lot, you can see the canyon stretching far behind, so I'm going to add a few mesa's, just small ones, maybe half a mesa.

I actually recreated the Hardiman's house (the one below the waterfall with those gorgeous views) in TS3, and I used a PS2 emulator to play the game on my PC, seeing as how my PS2 died years ago - it's also more convenient for taking screenshots, so you only need one game open at a time. Installation is fast and easy, I think it was PS2Emu that I used, can't really remember. I'll be following this project, this game was my first taste of TS2 and managed to make me switch over from TS1!

Thanks Qahne for the tip, will try that definitely. Though, if you'd like to join us in this project, I'd be happy. Not sure what you're going to do, but I don't mind.

I might build a few lots or just harvest some data for you if I can find any free time, but I have a lot of work to do this semester so I wouldn't count on it. I'm unsure if you have TS3 or not, but I could package the lot I built and send it to you, perhaps it could serve as a template of some sort? (my OCD when it comes to recreating lots is legendary among my simming friends, so it's about as accurate as it gets).

Thanks Qahne. I'm actually just trying to get the info right now, and some pics so that I could create the sims in CAS. As for school/college work, focus on those first, the lots can wait. I'll build them myself too if needed, as for Sims 3, no I don't have it, just Sims 2.

Ok, so, what really surprised me when I was checking the bios and aspirations, is that most, maybe not all, sims have the Family aspiration! Will have to do more checking and stuff for now.

I'm (still) waiting on a replacement for my laptop from the store - they promised it'd be here last week, so it shouldn't be too long now. I'll try and find some time to install the emulator and dig around in there for you, just PM me which families / lots you need data on! I think I have the Hilary Duff sim they released around the same time, too - I remember her as one of the townies from the game. Speaking of which, do you have any idea on how you're going to recreate the pet park? It was one of my favorite places in-game, but the buildings are a rather odd shape, they seem a bit tough to recreate on the PC...

Yeah, I do have Hilary Duff, but I'm not sure about whether I should include her (as a townie) or not.

As for the park, yes, there will be a park somewhere around the neighborhood that is far from the residential lots. Its going to be a 5x5 lot, since it is a 'Town Square'.

For now, I'm trying to edit the terrain to make it suitable for lots and stuff like that. I just need to make a few more edits and I will be done with it and start ahead creating the families.

Updates!

Here is the semi-final version of the neighborhood's terrain:



A few more adjustments to the terrain, and I should be done. Though, there seems to be an issue with the water, specifically at where the lot Serenity Falls should be:





In the full version, that water was fine, but in the Pets only version of the game, its cut off for some reason. I tried to enter the lot and leave, but it didn't auto-fix itself, so does anyone know what I can do?

Looking good! As for the water issue, I really don't know what to suggest - changing it to a beach lot might help, but you want it to be pets-only so I'm stumped.

I'm liking that terrain! I don't have much (okay, any) experience with making terrains, but maybe you could try raising it up a little higher around the water?

I thought about this, which means I have to use HoodReplace later to replace the terrain, keeping the lots as that are.

Oh, and BTW, according to Penelope's bio (I was using the emulator, but I still need your help guys, cause the emulator is a bit glitchy), she has an older brother, so what's going to happen is, I already created that family, father (Patrick), mother (Pamela), older brother (Pancras, meaning 'all-powerful', and Penelope. I will age the parents to elders and let them die. The brother will be aged to either adult or elder, not sure about this. I will then keep him in the family bin, for everyone to play place hm wherever they want. Penelope will be aged to child>teen>adult. I will then move her into the May household.

Here is pic of them together:



What do you think?

So her brother, should be older than her, if I keep him as an adult, he'll probably be either 15 days or 10 days away from becoming an elder, while Penelope will probably be 27 days away (or even more or less). Should I age her brother to adult but keep him older than Penelope or just age him to elder?

This all means that Penelope will be the only sim in the neighborhood to have an actual family. This, or I'm going to have create parents for all the original sims (which is unnecessary, but what do you think?

Keep him an adult. He'll feel more like a big brother that way.

Since this is a recreation, I say skip any parents who weren't present originally. The only reason to create parents who weren't part of the original storyline would be to liven up the genetics, and you can do that in other ways.

Always go for the simplest option to do what you want, as it makes cleaning up mistakes a great deal easier.

Well, here is the wiki page: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Penelope_Arnold

Her brother is only mentioned in the bio (i.e. does not exist when it comes to gameplay), and since I was afraid that it might considered intellectual property theft, I had to add a few ideas of my own, here and there. So, should I keep the brother? Or should I remove him too? All I was planning to do was make him older than Penelope (the toddler from the pics) and keep him in the family bin. This way, each player gets to place him where ever they want to. Also, I need adults to be present, since you can't create the kids in CAS without adults, unless I delete the parents and age the kids to adults, but keep them as siblings.

Looking good! So I don't think I'll have time to help for a few months yet, BUT I did get my new laptop today so I restored my backup and found the screenshots I took - 48 in total - and uploaded them to my box account for you to peruse. They were enough for me to faithfully rebuild the house and family in TS3, so I think they'll be enough for the Hardiman part of the project : ) Keep up the good work!

https://www.box.com/s/0kpybkpsvqotgidblzjo

UPDATE. I forgot to upload the bios, relationship panels and personalities of the Hardimans, so I added them to the folder.

Hey, everyone!

Surprise! I know it's been a long time, and well over 10 years, since I started this project and left off. Over the years, I've been busy with a lot of things; school, uni, work, etc... and I just couldn't dedicate any time to this project anymore. Until recently that is. I've recently just finished my master's course and I have a bit of free time on my hand.

I recently received a PM from a member asking me about this project and its progress. I completely forgot about it if I'm being honest, as it's been so long, and thought that the neighborhood terrain file I was working was long gone for whatever reason. However, I decided to look around and see if I had anything left of it anywhere. I somehow managed to remember that I had a Mediafire account with some old backups of TS2 and TS3 files. I looked around and found Whiskerton! It was just the SC4 file, but it was a good start! I then went through my external hard drive to try and find any old backups on that and, guess what? I found the neighborhood file I worked on with most of the neighborhood Sims! Moral of the story: Back-up everything you can whenever you can

After compiling everything I found into one folder, I began "refining" the SC4 terrain file, as I wasn't exactly happy with how the neighborhood turned out before, and I'm still not a 100% happy with it, given the graphical/technical limitations of SC4 and TS2 (for PC) combined. I kept testing the SC4 file after making incremental changes here and there until I got something I could work with. Here's the end result:





So after all this time, I finally have an unpopulated version that I can share for people to test out.

Below are some key points to consider:

• The backstory behind this version: This version would not have been possible without the Starter Pack version of the The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection and Sims 2 RPC, so credit goes to osab, LazyDuchess and acottonsock. Big thank you to all three of them and to others involved in making this version possible! Some of you may already know this, and I've mentioned this in my About Me section of my profile here on MTS, but I'd be happy to retell my story with the Sims 2. After I got a new W10 laptop that is capable of handling 3D rendering programs far better than my old one for my uni coursework, and this was back in 2017/2018, I was no longer able to play the Sims 2 due to constant crashing and pink-flashing issues. I tried several suggested fixes but nothing worked. Eventually, I gave up and moved on to the Sims 3. This was extremely detrimental as it meant I could no longer create anything for TS2, but atleast it opened up an opportunity to learn and create stuff for TS3. It was only until this past November that I discovered the Starter Pack version and it worked flawlessly! The game runs smoothly without any graphical/pink-flashing issues. And no crashes! The RPC launcher that comes with it is wonderful with all its features. Which brings me to my second point...
  
• EP/SP compatibility: Since I'm using the RPC launcher (by LazyDuchess), AGS isn't really an option, but the RPC launcher does come with its own EP/SP selection option. So, I decided to go with it and removed all EPs/SPs except for Pets (for obvious reasons). Something I should mention is that, as I was working on building the premade lots from Whiskerton, I noticed that there are items in the PS2 console version that are actually available in others EPs and SPs from the PC version. So, while I could've include additional EPs/SPs to make things as accurate as possible, I decided to just stick with the Pets EP for now to test how the neighborhood works. Which brings me to my third point...
  
• Testers needed! Since I'm not exactly familiar with how the EP selection from the RPC launcher works, I'm looking for people to test this neighborhood out in their games. I've built this neighborhood with an empty/disabled template of the hidden pets sub-hood, however, you may still have the Roseland, Crittur, Kat and Kim families appear in the Family and Occupied Lots bin. This is something that definitely needs testing. I'm not sure if players would be more comfortable if they had them appear or not, since these are the only households that appear with the Pets EP. The neighborhood file uses the ID 'W001' - W for Whiskerton, thanks to the Bulk Rename Utility tool. I could change this if others feel it necessary, but right now, MTS's "Neighborhood Numbers Repository" page doesn't seem to list anything with that ID, so it should be fine.
  
• Residential Lots: At the moment, I've only constructed the residential lots based on game-play footage from YouTube videos and images from The Sims Wiki. As I've mentioned before, certain build and buy objects appear to be taken from other EPs and SPs, such as Nightlife, so those were substituted with the closest alternative from the BG and Pets EP collections. All lots should have appropriate names that match their console counterparts.
  
• CC-Free (Subject to Changes): I intend to keep this neighborhood CC-free. This means having to use different CAS and Build/Buy items in place of items found in other EPs/SPs. However, I might create a version with a few CC items, such as the waterfall neighborhood deco.
  
• Other info: Will keep you all posted on any new updates and additional info based on your feedback.
  
• Project Time-frame: I don't intend to rush through this project. I hope everyone can understand that even with the bit of free-time, and motivation, that I have right now, life can still get in the way. I'm currently also job-hunting, so that will have an impact on how much time I can realistically dedicate to this project. However, I do intend to get it done!

Pending Tasks: I still need to work on what is essentially the only community lot in the entire neighborhood, Town Square. I intend to make sure it hosts all necessities (groceries, clothes, bookstore, etc...) found in the BG, along with a pets store.

For Potential Testers: I've uploaded the neighborhood file below. It's currently unpopulated. Before you test it in your game, back up your neighborhood files, and test it with the HoodChecker. I've already tested it, and the only thing it found was a token under Memories: 'Valid: Neighborhood: [Invisible] Token - Global - BFF Initialized'. I can't think of any other tools at the moment, it's been a while , but feel free to let me know of any I should be aware of.

Expanded Neighborhood Camera:
Also, you will need a camera mod to give you an expanded view of the neighborhood in order to be able to view all lots. You can use one of the following:

• GunMod's Camera Mod 3.1 -- All Game Versions -- : https://modthesims.info/d/97642/gun...e-versions.html
  
• Enhanced Gameplay Cameras: https://modthesims.info/d/312294/en...ay-cameras.html

Last but not least, I just wanted to apologize to anyone I might have disappointed or given any false hope to in the past with this project. I think, at the time, I just didn't completely realise how long it would take to complete neighborhood projects like these, especially since it is a re-creation of a neighborhood from another console platform. Hoping that things will work out this time!

Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas!

P.S. Will add additional screenshots ASAP.

ETA: Additional screenshots added.

I suggest flipping the SC4 terrain. The lower mountain areas are on the left side, when the image you posted has them on the right. I do like the premise it has potential, and hopefulyl i can play as that one beardy guy again, the one i think had a germen Shepard or rottweiler. Something it was like that.
Great to see others expanding the Sims console lore. Keep at it.

A reply to your post is long overdue, @Qahne ! Thank you so much for your efforts and sorry for not checking back in on this thread! I've downloaded the entire file from your link.



Thank you for the feedback, @HarVee ! Really appreciate it!

Are you referring to the area on the right I've circled below in red?



If so, I do agree, now that I'm looking at the image from the console version, that I should probably just lower that into softer plains/fields, because that's where the farmlands are. Not sure what I had in mind...

As for the area highlighted in purple on the left, that's where Paw Valley Road (Townsends) and Rock Ridge lots are located. Paw Valley Road sits at a higher elevation than Rock Ridge, and they're both higher than the rest of the town (except for Lemming Point, which sits atop the cliff at the back).