I miss birthdays

[mangaroo]

I play a synced neighborhood, which means it matters to me not only that twins continue to transition on the same day until they are elders, but that a completely unrelated stranger born on the same day as the twins also transitions on the same day. As a result, I have a no birthday party policy, and the game forces all age transitions at/after 6pm.

I really miss birthday parties.

Do you keep a synced neighborhood? How do you handle birthdays? Does everyone get a party (or at least a pre-6pm cake)? Does it not matter to you if things fall out of sync by a day or two? Do you use a mod (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=230255)? Do you edit ages after the fact in SimPE?

[milkiemybaby]

I've never heard of a synced neighborhood. Do you manage this manually or automatically? For instance, if twins lived in separate homes and one of them was supposed to grow up, would the other one grow up automatically even if you weren't playing with them?

But as for birthday parties in general, I don't usually throw them. When I did, I'd cheat so more people could come and invite practically everyone the sim knew.

[A.G.Doren]

I've never had a synced neighborhood either so I don't really understand why you can't have bday parties.

I've noticed that as a community we simmers like to impose various rules upon ourselves in regards to our simming for one reason or another, but we have to know when relax,break, change or impose a moratorium on our rules.If you miss bday parties, throw some and then adjust the ages of whomever however and after you've had your fill of throwing parties stop throwing them. The nice thing about the sims is that it is your world and you can do whatever you like so enjoy that.

If you have free-time you get the option to age three townies that your sim knows at the same time they age whether you throw a party or not.

[lauratje86]

I try to keep my 'hood synced, but I do throw parties. I throw the party, let the sim grow up, and then, just after 6pm, I set their age back to "full days to go" using Simblender. That way everyone stays synced, more or less, and I can still through parties if I want to. Not everyone gets birthday parties, because some families/sims don't have them. And sometimes I forget!

[mangaroo]

milkie, the syncing is all manual. Which is to say, I play every house in the neighborhood to keep every lot roughly on the same game day as clocked by Pescado's synctimer. So when twinA and twinB move to separate homes as adults, twinA might age up to elder several game sessions before twinB does, but when I finally get around to playing twinB, both twins will have been played the same number of Sim days.

Y'know, typing that explanation shows me how arbitrary this is...but what can I say? I love it.

A.G.Doren, when your Sim ages up before 6pm (which is required for a successful birthday party), they actually "lose" a day in their life because the game clock subtracts a day at 6pm. So you throw a party mid-afternoon, blow out the candles, have 29 days left as an adult, and then -- at 6pm -- your Sim suddenly has 28 days left as an adult. I opted for no parties/cakes because sometimes I just forget when my Sims are about to transition, especially for the kid-to-teen transition.

lauratje86, thanks! I didn't know that was an option on the Simblender. I think you've just given me birthdays back!

[x0xkitkat]

I don't play in rotation and so don't know if this is helpful or not, but have you seen this mod:

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=230255

Maybe it'll help with what you need?

[lauratje86]

lauratje86, thanks! I didn't know that was an option on the Simblender. I think you've just given me birthdays back!

Yup, I can't remember exactly what it's called, but it's under Aging.... I think it's either right above or right below 3 Days Younger.... & 3 Days Older....

It resets the sims so that they have the full number of days left for that lifestage, so it should solve your problem - I let my sims have a party, grow up (with cake!) before 6pm, then just after 6pm reset them to the maximum number of days in that lifestage. Seems to work! :-)

[A.G.Doren]

Mangaroo- there are so many ways to extend a sim's lifespan if neccessary I never worry about them loosing a day.

Laura- I had never noticed that I will be using it from now on.

[Sunbee]

I do birthdays on the day they would grow up anyway if at all possible. Usually this means that a parent is calling for the birthday party as or before the child steps off the school bus.
Other than that, I do pretty much what Mangaroo does. I do a seasonal rotation, use the lotsynctimer to keep track of who's when, etc. Sometimes I need to bounce back and forth between houses to keep myself happy, like if a toddler is supposed to age up on day 2 of the season, grandma's dying on day 4, and grandma's house is first. I don't mind loosing a day, as long as everyone does, so if I have a toddler who is terrified of parties then she has to age up before six. Everyone goes to college in my hood anyway, so they don't loose an adult day. I don't love playing everyone through college, but I do love my six wants and two locks.
It'd be nice if they'd shipped the hoods synced, though. Some premades start on Monday at 8 am, and some don't.
The really lovely thing about having a synced hood, though, are the relationships the sims build with others their ages. Children grow up together, go to college together, and then, when they have children of their own, their children repeat the process.

[Peni Griffin]

I figure as long as I play one-day rotations everybody'll stay together enough for gummit work even if they aren't all in the same season or on the same day.

I haven't seen anybody here remark on failure to age up on schedule. Before I found out about taking the baby to the birthday cake, I had several worryingly prolonged babyhoods, and just this afternoon I had to age up Nathan Gavigan two hours after his Mary made Elder.

And of the two elder deaths I've seen in game, one was Olive Specter dying as her niece aged to adult, and one was Dora Ottomas dying as her granddaughter aged to teen. Is this sort of thing common as a result of the aging-at-six thing, or were these premades specially programmed, and if elders don't have a set number of days to live how do you tell (without big tracking mods like SimPE, which has "if you get this you'll spend too much time tracking and not enough playing" written all over it) that you need to hold your birthday party early to avoid it?

[aaries16]

I play in rotation. Each household has 5 days to play in the rotation. I usually age sims up whenever they get the "grow up" option, so before the game automatically transitions them at 6. So if they really want a party, they can have it sometime before that automatic transition (the night before - a few hours before). I've written down the ages sim adults need to be to be synced up together (this is due to everyone going to college, so once they're in college they're synced with their peers for life). But when a sim wants to move in a townie, it gets complicated because the townie always comes in like a young, fresh adult when they should actually be a bit older, that's when I use SimPE to correct their age, to either match their spouse or be closer to their "age" (you can't marry your professor and they're the same age as you).

About elders, you can tell they're close to death just by looking at their age meter. If it's filled up, they're likely to die in a few hours (though I've had a few who've tricked me and keep living even though I thought sure it was their day to die). When it comes to elders, I like to have them in their casual clothes (or whatever clothing suits them best) when it comes close to their time. The last thing I want to see is a ghost floating around my cemetary in their underwear, or the worst I've seen - dressed up like french fries.

[A.G.Doren]

Peni Griffin- I think its the 6pm aging thing although it could have been programmed that way perhaps to increase the possibility of the teens aging poorly if they have a fear of a relative dying.

[Selly_2009]

When it comes to elders, I like to have them in their casual clothes (or whatever clothing suits them best) when it comes close to their time. The last thing I want to see is a ghost floating around my cemetary in their underwear, or the worst I've seen - dressed up like french fries.I've never seen that.. no matter what they die in they always seem to only wear their casual clothes (or outerwear if it's winter).

[Nalia]

I play a synced neighborhood, which means it matters to me not only that twins continue to transition on the same day until they are elders, but that a completely unrelated stranger born on the same day as the twins also transitions on the same day. As a result, I have a no birthday party policy, and the game forces all age transitions at/after 6pm.

I really miss birthday parties.

Do you keep a synced neighborhood? How do you handle birthdays? Does everyone get a party (or at least a pre-6pm cake)? Does it not matter to you if things fall out of sync by a day or two? Do you use a mod (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=230255)? Do you edit ages after the fact in SimPE?

I can't be of great help to you since I don't play a fully sync 'hood, as it is not that important to me, but when it comes to birthdays of twins I always throw parties for at least one of them. The parties start long before 6 p.m. and the moment one of the twins has already blown the candles, I buy a second B-cake for the other kid. Certainly one of the twins won't get the "Had a great birthday party" memory, but they will both grow up the same day.

If there is another child in the 'hood born the same day, I throw a party for him/her too by switching households. I take care to have said child stand-by a few hours prior to the age transition so, when I switch to the second household everything is ready but the cake. Sometimes birthdays in my 'hood feel like a spint running. Exhausting. :lol:

[Sunbee]

Peni Griffin, I have Pescado's lotsynctimer. Not only does it track which day each household (that has one) is on, who has upcoming events, but in debug mode with a shift-click you can see how many days left in age and age up any baby needing it. You can also add or subtract a day of life with it, change the day of the week (but be careful!) and so on. Since days left in age, for elders, can change each night at six depending on aspiration status (or at least that's what I've observed), I usually check them daily. If Dora makes it to permaplat fairly quickly, for example (have Peter adopt a kid before the twins are born), then she'll live a long time yet. If she's in the low green or red every evening she won't make it long enough for Samantha to have another baby after the twins. (Yeah, I've done both. I like the former better. Marsha Brunig just fits into the Ottomas family so well.)
Selly, former uni mascots and cheerleaders wear mascot uniforms and secret society members wear secret society uniforms as ghosts. If you want more variety, there's nothing quite like a llama ghost.

[WaterWolf]

My neighbourhood is so much out of sync, i kept my adult sim on a community lot for several days and when she went home she was older than her Mother :P

[Selly_2009]

Selly, former uni mascots and cheerleaders wear mascot uniforms and secret society members wear secret society uniforms as ghosts. If you want more variety, there's nothing quite like a llama ghost.Oh boy, maybe I'm going to to have to go back to one of my other hoods for a bit - I have a dead former mascot on one lot there!
Thanks for the info Sunbee! :)

[jrhk72]

I also use SimBlender for aging. That way I make sure that people who are "supposed" to age that day....do. Also, I can use it to add back the "lost" day if I need to. Ocassionaly I also use it to make independent teens. Since I don't like inteen. Make them independent, knock 'em up....after they have the baby (and build a decent relationship with it) they go back to teen and off to college while Gramma (usually) takes care of the brat! HEAVEN!

[Aserette]

I never knew about this :O That having a b'day party the day they are to grow up.. making them grow up and then at 6pm they have a day subtracted from their life !!! I think i'm gonna still throw parties but maybe wait till around 5:50 sim time ((Using Force 12hour clock in the options part)) and then tell them to use the cake :) Maybe the cinematic/cut screen will be long enough to pass 6pm sim time :) Cause we all know it takes them ages and it can be frustrating to get everyone around the cake... lol

Also, with this 6pm thing, I do know that all sims automatically age at this time if you haven't aged them before this. You can find this out by the pop up message that alerts you they're going to grow up in 1 day at 6pm. :P

[Ghost sdoj]

I keep aging off and age them up with Inge's cake when I'm tired of that age. (or when the toddler's want tree breaks.) I suppose in a way I keep it synched, but I had a kid go to college with his grandfather's older brother because I had forgotten he was there. It didn't bother me.

[Maranatah]

I've started to play in sync after installing Pescado's synctimer and I try to get things even in every hood. Sometimes I buy my sims cakes but usually I just age them up after getting the 1 day notive about their b-day. They don't have parties, because I'm lazy and I don't have much interest on keeping the party score meter under control. B)

[cheshirekat]

I agree that keeping the party meter at a "happy" score really puts a damper on parties for me. Most of my sims are very social, even the shy ones. But It has been ages since I have had a party in my game. My sims have visitors over every day - some are walkby, some they have invited, some are friends that drop by. (I moved all the Sim State playables into Pleasantview and they LOVE to invite themselves over - ALL THE TIME.) So they don't lack social opportunities.

Oddly, my sims don't roll wants to have parties as often as I think they would, considering they never have them. I just roll my eyes and ignore the want whenever I see it come up. Lately, when playing the pre-made sims, I totally ignore their wants until I see them become red. Only then will I look to see which one of their wants can be fulfilled. In the past, I have had parties that completely bombed, so there is no incentive for me to do them. (I was new to the sims, but must have had nearly a dozen bad parties before deciding they weren't worth the trouble.)

So, now my sims grow up with almost no fanfare. Sometimes, the other members of the household are doing other things when a sim grows up. Other times, I may have family and a few invited friends gather around the sim as they grow up, without throwing a party. It just depends on my mood at the time and what is going on with the family of the birthday sim. I haven't seen any negative results from not having parties. But I remember the sims made a big fuss if they had a bad party and got a negative memory.

Heck, I never had birthday parties until I became an adult and threw my own parties. But rl parties are also a lot of work, so I now prefer small, low-key birthdays.

[Babahara]

If you direct your sim to blow the candles at 17:45 or so, they will not age automatically at 18:00. The game recognizes it and waits for them to blow the candles, so you don't lose a day. At least that's how it works in my game.