Very Busy

I'm sure everyones probably noticed the lack of updates at Asbhy Falls lately.

This is because I have a couple (*ahem* more like 4) of uni assignments due in the next week, which unfortunately takes up a lot of time :(

Dont worry, I will be updating soon (probably next week) but at the moment uni is first, gotta get these done!

xo

Fink

Kinda Tragic

There was a fire at the Xyphaleen Orphanage.

It was awful. 2 of the kids died, Isla and Isaleia. I'm especially upset about Isaleia, she had only just grown into a teen, and was just so cute. But, as sad as itis, in a way it's ok. There were 5 Tate children, and now there are only 3... which is kinda a good thing for when they grow up! Having that many households added that quickly could be trouble.

With the kids that are left, there is:

Ike Tate: The only one to stay with his parents. He's trying to get into private school and college.

William Tate: Now the oldest, he is going to be a fireman and open the fire station in Asbhy Falls(maybe?... sounds good for now :) )

Isaiah Tate: I'm thinking about the idea of letting him run the orphanage after Katy. He's a nice caring boy, he's a knowledge sim, and out of all the kids he seems the most suited to it. But we'll see, he might meet a nice girl and get married instead!

And speaking of meeting nice girls, it seems William has met the love of his life! A girl called Allyn, she's one of those holiday townies, so I dont know what she was doing in Ashby Falls for them to meet! They hit it off straight away and she'll be staying at the orphanage as a house guest for a few days now!

There is also a surprise coming for the Xyphaleen Orphanage! But you'll have to wait and see what that is :)

The Next Generation

The Tate children are growing up so fast!

Its great to see the next generation of Asbhy Falls taking shape, and they're such little cuties :) (yes I am biased I know). I looooove Ike, the social worker did a good job leaving him behind, he is the perfect heir to the Tate household, and little Isaleia over in the Xyphaleen Orphanage turned out really cute too. Poor Isaiah seemed to get the ugly end of the stick but he's still pretty cute :) in a kinda nerdy way.

I decided that the children in the orphanage arent allowed to get cool new clothes, and are just to stay in what theyare given (although they can swap into anthing already in the orphanage wardrobe). The orphans are also not allowed jobs.

Another change I recently made was that items are not simply allowed to be deleted using the buy catalog. Everything must be kept (on the lot or stored in inventory) or sold in a yard sale. This will be added to "Laws and Declarations" over at the site it anyone wants more detail.

And yes, I know I'm cruel... but life is cruel, especially if you are an orphan.

Aging Problem Solved!

Well I am SOOOOOOO glad I've worked this one out!

It turns out my sims werent aging because of inteen, and thankfully, I didnt have to get rid of it! Putting the biological clock out fixes the problem completely and lets my sims age normally... Awesome hey? :) And the best part it I didnt have to delete any of my precious CC or uninstall the game! Woo!

Male Hairs

I've been looking for good male hairs for a while now... and scrolling through hundreds of pages of strange stuff to get to one good recolor... only to find I cant get the mesh anywhere is VERY annoying.

SAU is down, I used to have their hairs but I have anew laptop and lost all my old downloads. So I'm currently on the hunt. I've got a few from peggy, raonsims and mts2, but I need MORE!

Is it... too much???

I've been looking at all my Ashby Falls related sites and updating them and what-not, and all of a sudden I thought... Is this too much? .... is what I've created too overwhelming?

Like, really, there is

The main Ashby Falls site, with all the pages on that
The Residential and Houshold Database
The Building Society
The Clubs Sites
Behind the Falls

* and, I just started the resident blogs.

.... It all kinda makes sense to me because I'm the one that created it, and I use all these extra sites mainly to keep track of everything, or so as not to clog up the main site (which was one of the reasons for the recent overhaul).

But the question is, to anyone actually following my sites, is it all a little bit confusing? Or just too much? Or does it actually make sense to people like it does to me?

Major Overhaulness and Stuff!

If you have visited Ashby Falls lately you will have noticed there has been a few changes. All good... I hope.

I have rearanged a lot of the pages, just to make it easier for people to find the same kind of information in the same place (eg, the laws, calendar, statistics). Everything is still there, its justbeen moved.

So, I'll give a short run down of some of the changes.

The Board of Greater Ashby
The "governing body" of the Falls. This is where you will now find the Laws and Declarations, Statistical Database, Calendar, Resident and Household Database (link) and the Building Society (link).

Places of Interest
As previously stated at the Falls, this has been taken over by a tour company. But there is more than just tours here. Links to the club pages, to other sites of Ashby Falls (like the res and house database and building society) and links to other towns.

There is also tours of different properties available. At the moment there is only 1, the orphanage, and its not very good, I will be updating this further in the near future.

I think thats about it. Everything else is still the same, and none of the things that have moved have really changed, except the statistical database, where I got rid of all the graphs. It was a pain having to constantly update them.

The other major thing is that the layout has changed... I felt Ashby Falls needed to be a little brighter now that it is rebuilding.

So any questions? Comments?

Feel free to say what you think.

A Lack of Updates

Apologies for the lack of updates lately over at Ashby Falls. I've been going on a downloading spree :)

Updates will return,today!

Side Projects

I've started a little side project. It has nothing to do with Ashby Falls so if you're just here for that, stop reading now.

It's a new neighbourhood, Amberton. It's kinda a cross between a medieval peasant/ live off the land hood. There's no electricity, or grocery stores, or anything like that. It's quite a challenge so far, and I'm enjoying a change of scenery. I've never had a themed hood before so it's kinda fun.

Don't worry, Asbhy Falls isn't going anywhere... yet :)

Fink

Building Blitz

Here at Ashby Falls we move from one blitz to another lol!

I've decided to expand my creativity (or lack of) and build some community lots for Ashby Falls, and houses and stuff... I've made a "Building Society" where the buildings can be downloaded, so if anyone wants my poorly built lots grab them before I change my mind! Comments would be helpful!

http://buildingashby.blogspot.com/

Thanks

Fink

Community Blitz!

I've gone on a downloading spree for Ashby Falls.

As you can probably tell, my "create" skills, when it comes to building, are rather limited. I've decided to use some (ok a lot of) downloaded lots in Ashby Falls. They are all from Mod the Sims 2 if you are interested in them.

A few of the new lots:

A town ice skating rink.

This amazing soccer stadium.

Mackie's Pub, an old favorite.

The Mines of Moria, for Viper Valley (holiday destination).

There are many, many more...

They will all be added to the statistical database on Ashby Falls once I'm done putting them all in.

Little Bit of a Bug

Something is stopping my sims aging.... its REALLY buggingme, they get to the end of their lifestage, and then just go back a few days instead of aging to the next stage... also I cant force them to grow up, and when I use the sim modder, they grow but dont get any aspiration.... weird...

I took out all the CC and it was still happening, any ideas?

Upcoming Events

This is a new section where I will mention upcoming plans I hav for Ashby Falls...

Ok so not a whole lot of it is planned, as far as the story goes, it plans itself, this is more, like town plans.

So, in the works we have:

Medical Clinic/Hospital - I think I like the idea of a hospital more, sounds more authoritive. It will be residential with a doctor to run it... maybe a nurse as well as Ashby Falls grows.

Fire Station - This will also be residential. I have a fire fighter career, so that should work well. Perhaps 1 - 2 firemen to start with, and a dog of course :)

Schools - Probably just one at first, K - 12

More Clubs - Single Parents Club, Artists Club, when theres more families a New Parents Club, Orphaned Kids Society, Oldies Club, Gamblers Annonomous, and lots more... this all relies on having more residents in the town though.

University - There are 2 uni hoods, but there is nothing there at the moment.

What have you got planned for your hood in the near future?

Shiny and New or Same Old, Same Old?

I've been sitting on the fence for a while about the sims 3, and I honestly cant decide what I want to do.

I have to admit, I am quite excited about it. The more I see the more I want it. Some of the new details are just amazing! And I kinda like the way the new graphics look, and the built in creating tools sound great. But I'm, not ready to move on from the sims 2 yet, I'm just not.

I've had the sims 2 since the day it was released, I have all expansion packs (yep, from the day they were released too :) ), and I really love the game. I've worked hard to build Ashby Falls over the years, and finally have it a way that I really enjoy playing and writing about. .... So honestly, I dont want to leave it behind for the sims 3.

The main thing thats bugging me about it at the moment is that it comes packaged with a hood. I've never played the maxis hoods (and it fact deleted them in favour of the megahood). I have always made my own hoods. I dont think I could deal with all the maxis townies and buildings... and even the playables. I want my own.

Truth be told, I will buy the game. But I dont know yet if I will be moving on past the sims 2.

What are your thoughts on the sims 3?

Will you move on and start a FSBS sims 3 hood?

A Death in the Falls

Ashby Falls is mourning the unexpected death of our founder, Caden Tate.

Caden was killed after the christmas tree caught fire. No matter how many times I told her to call the fire brigade, she wouldnt, and eventually it lead to her death. She was the only sim home at the time, apart from the maid (who she had just finished woohooing). The fire continued until Ike got home from school and managed to call the fire brigade.

Caden will be sorely missed, she was very rebellious, very independant, a horrible mother, and definately a unique sim.

RIP Caden Tate

WHAT???

Seriously, Caden Tate is one bolt short of a complete machine...

"Hi there Mr Maid!"

"What the hell are you doin?"

"Oh well better keep cleaning."

"Nice of you to help."

"Time to freeze."

The worst part.... somewhere in between running through freezing water, mopping up snow, and nearly freezing to death, they managed to KISS.....

Damn it.

New Photo of the Day

I've decided to add a new element to the home page, taken from a few other sites who use the same idea. It's a great way to show whats happening in the town right now, and there are just soooo many funny and random things that happen it will help me remember to put them up (and hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I do).

We're gonna start with a picture of something thats just happened in the Tate household... sooo random, I just sat there like, she did what??? talk about stupid... its like, minus 100 outside...

Seriously, I think the Tate's are missing a few brain cells, they're awful parents, and now this???

Necessery Things

Hello and welcome to Ashby Falls, Behind the Falls!

In this post we will run through some of the basic workings of Asbhy Falls, so, lets get started!

HISTORY
Ashby Falls is a new neighbourhood, set 5 years after a world wide disaster caused by a grilled cheese sandwich storm. Society was all but wiped out, and Ashby Falls has been declared a "safe area" for sims to start their lives again. Basically, I did the big no no and just hit DeleteAllCharacters and then started again. I recommend not doing this, everywhere says it will stuff up your game, but hey, I haven't never had a problem with it (except for blank thought bubbles every now and then, which I think is pretty funny anyway... and is probably just a bug with the actual game not coz I killed everyone).

CALENDAR
The Ashby Calendar consists of 4 seasons, Raine (spring) Sakai (summer) Auleem (autumn) and Shaya (winter). Each lasts 20 sim days, and every 5 sims days is known as a new year. So each season has 4 years. The 4 seasons combine create a "Rotation". The calendar is repeated once it reaches the end.

GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES?
Grilled cheese sandwiches are ILLEGAL!!!!! Any sim who makes one get a $1000 fine and a years imprisonment.

AGING
Aging is turned off. Sims all age one day on the first day of each year (4 times a season). So a sim will age 16 years in a rotation. Sims are not given a party to age up a day early, they must have a party and age on the last day of their life stage.

THE HOOD
The City of Greater Ashby, as it is known, consists of the main hood, Ashby Falls, 2 downtown districts (Kai Mountain, The Northern Plain), 2 shopping districts (Pine Lake, Xyphaleen), 2 universities (Tate University, Ashby Academy), and 3 holiday destinations, one of each kind.

HOW IT STARTED
I made one sim, a founder, who you may know.
I built Caden Tate a small house in Asbhy Falls and played her for a whole rotation before time began. In that time, she met her husband, Parker Tate, and they had a child, Isla. All this is considered before time though, so for the purposes of the story, they arrived as a family on the D01 Ra R1 (D01 Raine, the first rotation, or as it is written in the Ashby Time, D01 The First Raine).

There were no community lots to start with. I was going to use taxes and fines to pay for community lots to be built, but it took way too long, so I decided just to make community lots as I saw fit.

RESIDENTS
New residents are only permitted to move into Asbhy Falls on the 1st day of each rotation. Townies are known as refugees or immigrants (or even just townies) and are housed in the "Government Quarters", they are allowed to interact, marry and move in at any time, as they are sims who are already "approved" for residency.

HOW SIMS ARE MADE
Well, when a Mommy sim and a Daddy sim love each other very much... lol, not.
In CAS, a sim is made using the first sim that comes up (I have custom face templates that get rid of those fugly Maxis ones). I change the sex if I need to, change the hair color, eye color, adjust the face if I want to. But yeh, its pretty random. I pick their clothes too.... I mean come on, sims have NOOOOO fashion sense of their own.

Their star sign, starting letter of their name, aspiration, turnons/offs are all determined by Random Events. I cant remember where I got it but its AMAZING. I've adjusted mine to no end, but if anyone wants it, to use or change or whatever, you can find it at http://www.mediafire.com/?4yz5yizgmoi

RANDOM EVENTS
As above, I use random events in the making of simmies. Its also used when they age into teens to choose their aspiration, turn ons/offs, and when babies are born to determine the starting letter of their name (coz they would all have the same old names otherwise). It adds a lot of variety, except with the Tate Children. Isla obviosly roled an I, William a W... then the triplets rolled another I... which was REALLY annoying, having to come up with another 3 names starting with I!

I have plans in the future to use the "random event" section of random events, which includes a whole heap of things (I'm not going through them, download it and see for yourself). There arent enough people in Asbhy Falls at the moment to use it, if I rolled total destruction 3 times the town would be gone already. So, for the moment, that section is not used. The "build what" section is also not used, as that is for the "randon event" section when it rolls build a community lot.

The "How many sims" and "Age" sections were put in there to use in the future when families start moving to Ashby Falls. It determines how many sims are in the family and their ages (obviously). Relationships can be determined how I want.... to the extent that the game allows.

ACR
Oh, ACR, how I love you so... ACR is the basis for all romantic interactions in Ashby Falls. Sims chose their own partners, their own children, if they want an affair, etc. Its all up to them.

INTEEN
I have inteen. Thats pretty much all I'm going to say on it... I have it, it it gets used (by ACR) it get used, if not, then if not... whatever.

MAKING SIMS PAY
I use the money order, which I think was on MTS2... there is also a checkbook I used to have but I just use the money order now coz they were pretty much the same thing. Taxes, fines and etc are all sent to a sim (who isnt actually part of the neighbourhood) known as the Governors Account (Governor Fink, AKA ME!). No sims ever interact with this sim, and she is not played, just there to recieve cash. Taxes and everyday expenses (you can find a list under Laws and Declarations at Ashby Falls), are paid on the first day of each year. Fines are paid when they happen. If sims dont have moeny, they just have to sell something or dig for treasure to get it, payments can never be late. Currently only residential properties pay taxes and expenses, the orphanage and police station dont pay because they are services provided by the Government, which is what the taxes are going towards.

ASPIRATION REWARDS
These are used at they are recieved. Everything esle MUST be full before a secondary aspiration can be chosen. The secondary aspiration is chosen by random events. If the sim rolls the same aspiration as their first one, they must have Grilled Cheese for their second... which could be hard in a town where Grilled Cheese is a crime.

AS DAYS GO BY
Currently, each household is only played one day at a time, 12midnight to 12midnight. This works well at the moment, because there are only 3 households, but it could easily get more complicated as more households arrive. I use midnight to midnight because then it is easy to see (if I go into a lot) what day that lot is on, if they are all at 12midnight on tuesday, all is good. Households have a number in the discription on the neighbourhood screen which tells me what order they are played in.

SAVING THE EARTH
Yeh, even sims should do that. I try to have solar panels on every property, and most sims have gardens.

MORE
This will be updated constantly as I remember everything I've forgotten on how it works. Please excuse my awful spelling, I'll try and fix it as I notice it.

Thanks for reading, thanks for being a part of my world,

Fink