What's Happening in Your TS3 Legacy? Chat

[Ani-Mei]

I just delete them from my Sims 3 folder, they fix things and really that's all I care about. But yet Windows records them so I have no idea what that's about.

[Echoweaver]

If you zip them up and submit the zipped file to the NRaas forum (there's a link for file submissions, though you have to create an account), the gurus there will read them and tell you what's causing them to be thrown. If all those errors are a warning that you have to move, then there's some underlying cause that's not being fixed.

At any rate, YMMV of course.

[Echoweaver]

I actually wrote a thing!! It was the last post for Gen 2 in the Wonderlands!

Here! http://sims3wonderland.illation.net/201 ... st-hurrah/

[somebodysangel]

Does anyone else find that their game lags a lot when they are multiple generations into a legacy/challenge? I'm currently playing through gen 6; a new save file/world was created at the beginning of this generation, and the game is already very laggy. If I play a different save file without the generations of history, the game runs fine. Have tried cleaning up the save, and running with minimal CC/mods, but it doesn't seem to help much. I would prefer not to move multiple times in each generation, but things are getting pretty seriously laggy. Last night, it took a child 3 sim hours to get food from the fridge and eat it!

[Bokavoy]

I haven't made it 6 generations into a family before, but I have noticed that I get more lag the more time I have played a family. I know that this isn't very convenient (as you lose the family tree along with other stuff.) But you can try saving the family to the bin and moving them into a new world, I don't know if you have tried this but it might work.

[Echoweaver]

I've never played six generations into any game without moving.

I didn't lose my family tree, though. I have the NRaas suite, and I used NRaas Porter to move my extended family. I don't know if that matters.

[Echoweaver]

I wrote a post for Victoria. Damn time. Maybe there will be more.

[Emily Whalers]

After dealing with a cold, some long days at work, and a touch of Sims burnout, I managed to post chapter 5.1! It looks like this generation will run until at least 5.10, and possibly further depending on who wins the heir poll I plan on doing. I spent a bunch of time sorting out screenshots today, but I hit a wall and I'm not sure how I want to divide things up at a certain part of the generation. Basically, there's an event I want to be entirely covered in one chapter, but the chapter before it is super long, and I'm not sure if I should just have a very long chapter, or go back and split up my chapters again. Gah!

...but posting-wise, I'm officially halfway through the legacy! Woo!

[Gryffindork]

Congrats on the progress, everyone!

Emily, I can definitely sympathize with your chapter-dividing dilemma. I think my chapters are long to begin with by most people's standards (110-120 screens each) but some are extra long because I stubbornly decided ALL those things HAD to be in THAT chapter OR ELSE. Lately I'm surprised at how many pictures I can cut out once I'm in the process of writing, if I can't think of anything funny enough to justify having it there, or if it contradicts a story arc I'm trying to concoct. That, and you can always compensate for an overload of pictures by keeping your captions short and sweet... but in my experience (unless readers are lying to me) people aren't that bothered by the occasional monstrous chapter anyway.

The Langurds are crowning a new heir in four short hours, so I'm pretty excited! I'm considering a move to a new World, the only issue being their resort investment hasn't quite paid off and we can't exactly bring it with us. Either way they're getting a new house (sorry, Lira) because I have a major building itch.

In the meantime, I'm putting together another chapter of the round-robin legacy, which I'm hoping to post tomorrow. There's a cafe in my town that does quiet writing hours on Monday mornings, which has so far been pretty good for my updating schedule.

[Echoweaver]

Gaaah. I am so far behind on the Scatterdays. Sam's heir poll made me catch up on the Langurds. Gotta get rolling.

Also, just posted some Simantics silliness. Onward and upward.

[Emily Whalers]

Sam: Ugh, chapter splitting. I like to keep my chapters around 65-90 screenshots (in-game, plus screenshots of pop-ups or wishes if they are particularly silly or relevant). The massive chapter in question is about 115 screenshots, but I can't find a natural splitting point. I may go back and split up a couple of chapters differently, and add about 10-15 to a few to make this one more manageable. It's a bit of a way off though (this one is chapter 5.8/5.9) so I'm going to try not to stress too much about it. I had a very long, 100+ screenshot chapter once, but that was Griselda and Angelo's wedding, and all the Scatterdays were being silly, and I couldn't cut anything out. I'd much rather have my chapters be in the 65-90 range, but that's just my personal preference.

Echo: Haha, I am so far behind on EVERYTHING, including the Samples. I still have about 8-9 chapters to post before my Gen. 6 heir poll, so you have plenty of time! The Scatterdays aren't going anywhere, so read at your own pace.

I might actually do some legacy reading catch-up tonight, or possibly work on Chapter 5.2. It just depends on what I'm in the mood for.

[Echoweaver]

Re chapter splitting: I usually look for narrative breaks between posts. (E.g. Oh, hey, a party just ended. Probably should end the post here.) Sometimes I shuffle around distinct threads that don't share characters so that they flow better. I include a stupid number of pictures in each post draft, in part because I TAKE a stupid number of pictures, and I want to decide later which shot of essentially the same event best suits the story when I write it. I also take a stupid number of pictures of dialogue animations so that I have a selection of gestures to illustrate however the dialogue turns out. Did I mention I take a stupid number of pictures?

I usually go through my pictures in big lumps, consuming hours of time, at which point I group them into 5-8 post drafts at a time, plus a couple of Simantics posts, which is where I stuff the bloopers that are just too absurd to put into a story. When I write, I then make those judgment calls and cut out 1/2- 2/3 of the pictures. Sometimes I shuffle stuff between the post drafts when it's clear that this clump of pictures doesn't make a post.

And now you know a whole lot about my process. I'm sure you're riveted.

I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed by all the Must Read Sims blogs that I'm 10+ posts behind on. But I'm plodding ahead. Good to know I have some leeway to get to the Scatterdays. Do NOT want to miss and heir poll.

[Emily Whalers]

That's exactly how I like to split up my chapters, Echo. Most of my chapters start or end with a major event (birth, death, birthday, etc.) but the chapter I'm having trouble splitting up has a birthday, a graduation, and another birthday immediately after each other. I may just suck it up and post a 115 screenshot long chapter...or I might not. Who knows?

I managed to catch up with the Dysfunkshinul Legacy tonight (sorry for all the comment spam, Sam!) and...it's weird to actually be caught up with a legacy for once! I'll catch up with the Samples next, then Livy's Gordons. I know how overwhelming it can be to catch up with reading legacies, which is why I try not to put too much pressure on people to read the Scatterdays. Obviously I like it when people read my stuff, but don't feel obligated! I know that life gets in the way of reading, or sometimes you just want to read and not comment. Read and comment at your leisure! I won't finish posting this generation for another month or two anyway, so there's load of time to prepare for an heir poll.

[Echoweaver]

Well, I suppose you could split it into two chapters. That'd be two of ~57 pictures. Or you could just go 115 straight through. We'd read it .

I'm working on catching up with two legacies. Then the Scatterdays should get their turn. I'll get around to it .

[somebodysangel]

I'm with the majority regarding splitting chapters; I try for approx 80, but if it's 100 or so, that's okay. You could always make a cliffhanger chapter if something major happens that could have a couple of outcomes.

Echo, regarding the moving, I have moved the Rourkes multiple times, but the game seems to get slower regardless. It might be my own fault for moving to Bridgeport, which is notoriously slow, maybe I'll move for gen 7 and see if that helps.

[Echoweaver]

Echo, regarding the moving, I have moved the Rourkes multiple times, but the game seems to get slower regardless. It might be my own fault for moving to Bridgeport, which is notoriously slow, maybe I'll move for gen 7 and see if that helps.

Oh, that's what you said, and I missed it. Sorry.

My legacy game is slower than the other two games I play, but I also play with more mods and CC, so I can never be sure.

[Voguishstorm]

I just recently started my save and had to restart it shortly after so maybe I just haven't played long enough yet for a slow game, but so far so good since the fresh start with the Moonwisps. I'm thinking of making a guide or something as to all the things to do to keep your game running smoothly. Not that that shields my family from being complete idiots. o.O Cole is having a busy time caring for two children and a third on the way...Barely has time for his LTW of becoming a chess legend. Speaking of which, how does the game even decide who wins the match?

[ZaleISBI]

Ha ha ha you guys are all so organized. Working on pics, keeping it reasonable... chapter splitting... I basically play until there's a birthday. Or a birth. If there's a birthday or a birth early on, I play until there's another birthday or birth. And I never edit my pics... but I'm going to have to start doing so. They really look so much better...

I also need to play The Zales... It's just The Sims 4 is SO much easier/fluid/faster/less terrible... I open the Zales and it's like I cross my fingers and hold my breath... no whammies! But I am having fun with Life Guard Natalie.

[Echoweaver]

Haha. If I edited my pics, I would never post anything.

[Echoweaver]

What the !@@#$!

I'm trying to catch up on my blog reading, but all of a sudden my comments aren't posting. The one blogger I checked with on this found a half-dozen of my, "WTF? What isn't this showing up?" comments in her spam can.

This is really ticking me off. I remember vividly my discovery that dozens of comments on MY blog got dropped into the oubliette when I was on Blogspot. I switched to WordPress to get a more reliable platform. What gives?