First overhaul of Sims is disaster and here's why:

[valohim666]

@PugLove888 I mostly meant specifically the Sims 4 versions of the Goths, though yeah I do agree that when it comes to The Sims as a franchise people will have their preferences. Like for me personally I actually prefer the original Sims 4 version because it's become what I'm used to, especially since I haven't played any of the other Sims games in a long time.

It just hit a lot of marks that really bother me. For example just knowing that both MJ and Vincent Price are dead hit me the wrong way, then the fact that my dad had introduced me to both and he died of cancer last year really hit hard. Factor in that I've struggled with depression for most of my life and that certainly didn't help. For the video of the song, I almost don't even want to call it a music video since it's almost like a mini movie. While so many music videos are just a bunch of random nonsense, that one really told a story and was just awesome. I haven't seen the video in ages, yet to this day I can easily picture Michael turning to the camera with those weird beast like eyes at the end.

Maybe I'll have to track down any episodes of that he was in, just to see him of course lol.

I actually liked the concept of Sims 3, I liked the idea of the open world, but I thought the execution was really poor. I found that it needed mods just to run well enough, and even with certain mods it still had issues. The game was meant to have story progression, but the vanilla version didn't even seem to work so you needed mods to make it actually feel alive. The Create A Style is one thing I really wish made a return to Sims 4, because with that you could match almost anything. To be fair I'm probably not remembering Bella properly anyway, I mean as I said it's been a while since I played.

[TeoTeoTe0]

I still stand by this redesign being a big W, at least for Bella Goth. However, looking at her in CAS instantly made me think of a few slight tweaks that would make more sense and be more faithful to her original looks.

All I did here was change her face with minor tweaks so she could look more like her SIms 2 design. I also gave her a green necklace instead and made it a diamond shape since she's the face of the series to many.

While the skin tone she has now is pretty good. It didn't seem warm enough compared to the original Bella Goths so I picked a slightly more accurate tone. You could go even further than the one I chose but this felt like the most natural and fitting one with the makeup she had on. It also feels like a nicer compromise between all the variations her tone has had.

I removed her mouth lines from this Young Adult version since it didn't really fit the age she had listed. Speaking of which, something you will notice that the redesign failed to do is make her age the same as Mortimer. They were both the same age in Sims 3, yet she's now a young adult like any other Sim just starting out. So For the final change, I wanted to actually age her up.

While I think the redesign we saw for Bella is good, if they ever go back and update things to touch up the odder-looking rest of the Goth family, I'd really like the small tweaks I did or similar ones to actually be done to Bella. I believe it captures all of the best of all versions while being pretty accurate to the original designs. Also, that green diamond necklace solidifies her place as the main face of the series so I'd love that above all else, lol.

[PugLove888]

@valohim666 , sorry, I didn't state that as clearly as I could have!🤦‍♀️ I understood you were talking about the first version of the TS4 Goths verses the 2nd  version of the TS4 Goths,  and I should have said "some are going to prefer TS4 Goths 2.0 and others are going to prefer TS4 Goths 1.0. "  And then I confused the matter by talking about TS1 and TS2 Goths, which I only did because the TS4 Goths 2.0 version was to try to fix their skin coloring to look more like the Goths in the previous games. 😅

I'm very sorry for the loss of your father! 😭 I can see how both MJ and Vincent would make you feel sad, even if you still enjoy their work.  My husband lost his mom last year and it has been hard for us. Similar things like songs and food that she liked will make us bittersweet. 
You are right in that Thriller is a mini-movie! It isn't a regular video! (I'm sure Bella and Mortimer would have loved it!). I remembered when it premiered. Yes, those eyes were freaky! 😱  If you have ever seen the movie "13 Going on 30" there is a whole little tribute to Thriller in that movie! 😄
The Brady Bunch episodes that Vincent was in were the ones where they went to Hawaii!  You could recreate it in your game by taking Mortimer in CAS, changing his name to Professor Whitehead (don't remember his first name), ageing him to elder, and then put him in Sulani! 🤣

The concept of TS3 was amazing.😮  Definitely ahead of its time!  But the execution was not so good, as you said. By the time that I needed Mods to make the game run better, I was getting rid of all my Mods (but they were ones that slowed my game down, so I should have just traded which Mods I used.  But I didn't know that certain Mods would make my game run that much better.  I was thinking that more Mods would make it even worse!  I know that is not the case now, but I had such a bad time of it that I don't want to play TS3 now. ). And yes CASt was the best thing about TS3!🥰 I was so disappointed in the open world that was empty of Sims when I got to a destination, that I spent most of my time in CAS and B&B Modes messing with the CASt tool!  But I didn't do myself any favors since I collected soooo many swatches of patterns in multiple color combos for each that it took forever to open CAS or B&B! 😓 Had I known that would happen, I would have been more discriminating with the swatches I saved! So I understand why it wasn't included in TS4.  Part of me was very disappointed, but part of me was very relieved! 😅  As for Story Progression, I love the idea, but I'm too much of a control freak with my Sims! 😂

[PugLove888]

@TeoTeoTe0 , Yes, I do feel that Bella in other versions of the game had a warmer skin tone than the new Bella, so I liked that you tweaked it! 😃 And I liked that they gave her a darker tone with the new Bella, even if it wasn't as warm as we thought it should be! 

I like the Plumbob necklace! Makes sense.😀  Doesn't really go as well with her new dress, but then again, they should have not changed her Everyday dress to being with!  😥

Technically, the Sims 1 Bella is the original!  I do think this updated one they did matches the TS1 Bella in the eyes and more serious demeanor. 👍 (I've always thought TS2 Bella's eyes were too happy and innocent looking! Then again, they might have done that to fit with the lore that she was abducted by Aliens from Pleasantview and put into Strangetown with no real memory of her former life. ) 

In TS3 Mortimer and Bella might have been the same age, but in TS2 they were not! Bella was an Adult and Mortimer was an Elder.  In TS1 they were essentially the same age, since there were only babies, children and Adults, with Elders being denoted with gray hair.  It didn't really matter since nobody aged or died of old age in that game! 😂
However, since Cassandra is a teen and Bella is at the beginning of being a Young Adult, it makes no sense for her to be a YA unless she uses an elixir to keep young!  So I like that you aged her into a regular Adult! 🥰

[RavenLure]

Cass and Liberty Lee....  one is a teen the other is a young adult.

The second picture is mine that I  have down loaded to the gallery.. 

Mortie is less wrinklie. does not wear the same outfit over and over

Bella got a slight hair change but got her red dress back

Cass looks like a teen, kind of as much of one can do in the sims 4

And Alexander got his vest back and looks better when aged up.. 

My gallery is the same as my name here Ravenlure  . I have a CC version but would like to redo that one.

Sorry the first pic is my version of the Goths second pic is of cass and liberty lee

[PugLove888]

@RavenLure , I really like your version of the Goths! 🥰 So glad you gave Bella her dress back and Alexander his sweater vest back!  I will have to look for them in the Galellery and download them.

I'm going to have to make a town and just have them with various versions of the Goth family! 😏😜🥰 I will just have to name them all Goth1, Goth2, Goth3, etc. for the game! 

[kusurusu]

Anyone else seeing old Goths when starting new game? What happened?

[valohim666]

@PugLove888 Losing anyone sucks, but yeah when it's a parent it just seems to hit differently which unfortunately your husband and your family had to deal with. I don't know if it's been the same for you, but with me it's not necessarily things they liked that can be bittersweet. For me it can be pretty much anything I can associate with those that are gone, even if something simple. Like sometimes when I play video games I think of one of my grandmothers because even though she couldn't have cared less about games, when I was a kid she was the one that bought so many of my games and consoles. Just as another example... and this one really sucks... my birthday was 2 days ago and my uncle died of cancer that day so now for the rest of my life I'll probably associate that day with that. It's hard enough that birthdays have been horribly depressing for lord knows how long now, but now on top of that I'll always have that lingering thought of losing my uncle.

I've never seen that movie you mentioned, though that sounds pretty cool for having a Thriller tribute. It makes me think of the end of the Weird Al video for Eat It, which is a Beat It parody, because at the end of that Al turns to the camera and has a similar thing going on with his eyes. I'm sure it might only really apply to those that grew up around that time, but that song and the video are just iconic. That and the video for the Guns N Roses song November Rain are some I will never forget because I loved the songs and saw the videos constantly.

I could recreate that in my game, but I only have the base game and I promised myself years ago that I was no longer going to spend additional money on a game I already spent money on to buy. In fact the last time I ever bought DLC separately was for Breath of the Wild, and the only way I'll buy DLC now is if it's included in some sort of complete edition of a game.

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention them here, I mean EA seems pretty weird about some of their policies, but did you ever try any of the NRaas mods for Sims 3? I never used a lot of mods for that game, but some of those I feel are mandatory. DebugEnabler, ErrorTrap, and Overwatch (and no not the Blizzard game lol) are some I feel are an absolute must for Sims 3. Overwatch is especially a must because it has a lot of options to perform cleanups on things that the game just doesn't do, things that can cause problems like stuck sims and objects for example. Honestly I don't think even those mods make it worth the trouble though, because no matter what you try it's just a poorly optimized game. When it comes to the CASt, if I remember right using that too much in your game could also cause performance issues since it was giving the game even more it had to load. I mean it was bad enough that the game could struggle loading the default stuff, but then give it something different to load... geez.

@TeoTeoTe0 Not sure if you will see this or not, but is there any chance you can share that Bella edit you showed to the Gallery? To me it looks a lot better than what EA did, and it would be nice to add to my game.

[PugLove888]

@valohim666 , 

I'm sorry I didn't realize you only have the base game!  I'm sure you appreciate all the free DLC  then!!!   I got a lot of my packs on sale, but if you have a rule, then I understand! 

I have heard of those Mods for The Sims 3.   But i only heard about them after TS4 came out! 🤦‍♀️😓 I have a bad reaction to the musical cues and other parts of TS3 due to the amount of stress and anger I experienced trying to play that game. So I lost my desire to play TS3.  Maybe one day, but I doubt it. But your explanation of how CASt could effect Gameplay in TS3 might be part of not only my problem, but I would guess a lot of other people's problems with the game as well!  A shame since it was the only thing I really liked about it when it first launched.  And by the time other things I liked made it to the game, my game was having a lot of lag !  I do have TS2, but am afraid to play it because I know it will take hold of me! 😅 

Speaking of rules (since you weren't sure you could mention the Mods you mentioned) we are quite off topic, which we aren't supposed to do. 🤦‍♀️😬 So in order to follow the rules but also not be rude , I can PM you with the off topic parts that I would have answered to your last post, if you wish.  If not, I understand! Just tell me either way.  🙂
It is so easy for a conversation to morph into another topic!  Especially with a game like the Sims that can mimic real life! 😅

[valohim666]

@PugLove888 Yeah I do appreciate it. For example while playing today I noticed several items that I know weren't there before, or at least I thought they weren't and wasn't sure though I'm pretty sure they weren't there lol. Admittedly there are packs I'd like to have, for example the supernatural stuff because I've always been into that sort of thing (which is one reason I love Thriller so much as well), but yeah unless EA somehow releases a complete edition of the game I just won't buy individual content and will stick to the base game. I do have the Kids Room pack on Xbox, though only because it was free with Game Pass not too long ago.

Yeah unfortunately CASt was more problematic than it was worth. I mean at some point in the game, probably pretty frequently actually, you're going to move far enough from your house or any other places where you may have used CASt that it will unload all the textures. That means that whenever you get close enough for it to load them again it's loading more than just the defaults, which in my experience anything other than the defaults took longer to load. So factor in all of the other stuff that the game has to deal with, especially with the open world environment and everything happening in it, then adding even more on top of that will just cause performance issues. I know I personally would be playing Sims 2 if it would run well enough for me, but no matter what I've tried it just doesn't like my computer. If it did run smoothly enough then Sims 4 wouldn't be touched at all, because yeah I'd probably get really obsessed with TS2 again. Plus I got really lucky and was able to claim that Ultimate Collection on Origin, even though when I went to contact someone from EA they were technically supposed to be done giving it out, so I'd have all content for it unlike TS4.

I've certainly seen my share of Sims conversations that went completely off the rails, especially since I used to visit a modding site pretty regularly. There's just so much going on in those games that sometimes all it takes is one little sentence that's unrelated to the primary topic, and things just completely swing in that direction instead. If you'd like to PM me with the off topic parts then feel free, I'm certainly not against it. I do want to warn you that I struggle horribly with social anxiety, which is so bad that it has a tendency to cause me to shy away from checking messages of any kind so if it takes me a while to respond you'll know why.