After weeks of plundering the depths of the Maxis catalog, I bring you an all new Hobbies stealth hood! I love hobbies in Sims 2, but always felt the secret hobby lots were not as interesting as they could be.
What is it?
This is a new stealth hood, a replacement for your Maxis F002. Mavens will invite sims to join and appear on the secret lots when they visit. The hood is automatically attached to any new hood, once you place it in the install folder, and with a little SimPE magic, you can even replace an old hobbies hood that is attached to a hood you are already playing.
Is it really better?
The lots are all CC-free and designed to be more fun than the originals with a lot more to do on each one. They are not perfect, but they are definitely more interesting! My sims love them. The hood is a hidden stealth hood and the lots are hidden hobby lots, but once your sims are in the hood, they can see other lots from theirs instead of just a void around them, just because I think that’s cool.
I don’t want to show too many spoiler pics because I think seeing the lot for the first time is part of the fun of getting into the secret clubs, but just to peak your interest, here are few pics of the original lots versus my new ones.
From the saddest park ever…
to one teeming with life!
From uninspired arts and crafts…
to a place where creatives feel the muse!
From, Seriously?! Musicians hang out here?…
to the finest music school in SimCity!
From, an ugly bunker…
to the headquarters of SimScience!
And there are six more total renovations for your hobbyists to explore!
Is it safe?
Absolutely! These are created in a clean and empty game environment and treated with LotCleaner and with LotCompressor where appropriate. They’ve been tested a number of times, but if you find any routing issues, please let me know so I can fix them. I’ve also tested the function for the mavens and made sure if you replace a hobby hood that is already attached that your sims are not affected. They retain their hobby memberships from the old hood so they can immediately enter the new hood. This hood has no sims in it. The game will generate them as needed.
How do I use it?
For UC (y’all remember all my stuff assumes UC, right?), you drop the unzipped and renamed to F002 folder in
C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection\Free Time\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate
(Find the corresponding path in your game, but, like I said, I use everything in UC.)
You can zip up any other version of F002 that you have and leave it in the folder for later use if you like, but make sure there is only one F002 that the game can read anywhere in the install or saved games. If you’ve disabled your stealth hoods, you’ll need to re-enable this one. Once it is in the right folder, when you create a new hood, or start any hood that does not already have Hobbies attached, my Hobbies will automatically attach as it loads.
How do I replace an old Hobbies hood that is already attached to my main hood?
First, backup… you knew I’d say that, right? Then follow Jawusa’s very clear pictures that show how to make a hidden stealth hood visible so it can be deleted. It is always safe to delete subhoods, because any sims in them just get moved into the main hood and the game has no problem with that. Once the old Hobbies is deleted, put in mine as above and load your hood so that the new Hobbies attaches automatically.
Which do I download?
While making this in a completely empty game environment, I discovered that many of the windows work differently in a clean game than they do if a certain CEP Extra is installed. A discussion and my summary of this bit of SimScience is on MTS. Long story short, if you use the latest CEP and you see my windows are all a garish red, then you have a conflict between my clean game windows and one of two mods: a 2008 OFB window fix in CEP Extras or Fat D’s similar fix from MATY. You can remove the mods as described on MTS and reset any other windows you have that revert to red or you can download my CEP version of F002.
No CC or CEP used in building. Use if you do not use the OFB window fix. No sims. Put into install files, not Downloads.
No CC, but built with CEP installed. No sims. Put into install files, not Downloads.
UPDATE: I had a couple of requests for a version of my Hobbies stealth hood with PlyPlay665’s Instructors with Personality. PlyPlay was happy to share with us, so I’ve added PlyPlay’s mavens to a CEP version.
Sunrader F002 - CEP w/ PlyPlay Mavens (720 downloads )
Contains sims. Use with CEP. Put into install files, not Downloads.
As soon as I get a chance (faster if someone requests it), I’ll make a non-CEP version as well.
How is this done?
I may write a tute if it seems needed, but the basics are covered in some notes I made on my process here. I came up with a new method that is a bit quicker and easier than the old tutorials and I’m happy to answer questions if you have any.
Caveats
There are a few areas and deco items that are only meant for show. Sims are not meant to access them: the security areas in the Lab, the driftwood in the Park, the raised trophy in the Sports lot. In Tinkering, items are intentionally broken, so your sim can repair them. Sims will be able to work on the car and skill from it, but not finish it there.
Suggested Mods
I have used a lot of vending machines on the lots because I think sims being able to cook hotdogs or whatever everywhere they go is silly, but the vending machines are off the chart attractive. If you use another mod to make vending machines less addictive, that one is probably fine. If not, try mine. It makes the sims interested in the machines just if they are close to them and hungry.
Vending Machines Less Addictive
You may be also interested in my mod for No Hobby Enthusiasm Decay that also stops the notifications that go along with decay.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my very patient and thorough testers (Luna, Shannon, Marissa, and Aleksandar). They were amazing, each finding things I did not! If anything is still an issue, please let me know on MTS, tumblr, or on the Sims 2 Official Group on FB.