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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 10:13 AM
Default How do you keep track of your sims??
So I have tried SimPE and Sim database, sim database looked amazing but try as I might I couldn't get the information to load automatically.

I keep notes on paper but then always transfer them into a written 'update' that I do in word - but I would like a better format where I can put pictures in easier with captions.
I also use a big excel sheet. I have one sheet for name, aspiration, life state etc
one for family members, offspring, one for names of current and future children, one for gene pool breakdown and one which is a family tree.

I am wondering what other people use, what do you keep track of in your game? Everything or nothing? Do you go back and see if grandson sim had the same traits and interests as grandpa sim? Or did they have the same nose and chin?

I feel like I need some guidance and would love to know what you guys use and how you manage it!! I am currently playing pleasantview and have all the main families running at equal ageing and time

Thank you!!!
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 11:09 AM
I use SimTracker. I did try entering info during game sessions but I'd often forget and it felt like it was getting in the way of actually playing so now I tend to open SimPE every so often and copy down all the information of the last family I played.
Test Subject
#3 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 12:22 PM
Maddie5588 - what a fantastic question. I'm running a legacy family at the moment, and am getting completely lost in the detail at the moment. I was updating a word document, but it was proving way too difficult. And I keep thinking of things I should keep track of - which is difficult to retcon! I'm going to keep a beady eye on this thread to see if anyone else has any bright ideas.
Instructor
#4 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 1:01 PM
In my custom 'hood, I just have a little notepad file with details of all my playables in it that I open whenever I'm playing and keep updated. It works fine for me now, but then again I only have 23 playable sims at the moment, so I can imagine it becoming a bit hectic once the second generation start getting married and having kids.

Call me Abi if you want, it's easier to type than my username!
Mad Poster
#5 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 1:23 PM
I don't. I update the family story album at the end of each session, review the last update and the current HUD information for each sim when I open the house to play it, and play.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Scholar
#6 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 1:30 PM
I just use a notebook lol. I have a list of houses in order of rotation that I play & whenever something interesting happens or they meet someone new I write it down. I do take a lot of pictures but mostly as portraits or cute family moments
Instructor
#7 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 2:38 PM
I use a notebook to keep track of things like how many days I play in each house or how many (if any) children a certain sim will have. I also keep a PowerPoint with slides for each sim that list their aspiration, hobby, career, etc. On those slides I also include pictures of each sim from child to elder (if the sim is a townie that has married in, I just include pictures from their adult and elder stages). Finally, I keep a family tree on a free site online so that I can keep track of family ties. I also like being able to see more tiers in a family tree than the in-game one shows.

I do all this because as a Creative Writing student, I would love to take my Legacy family's story and expand it to create a story with real-life people someday. Also with 120+ sims and counting, I feel I need some way to keep track of them all so that I don't go crazy!

"Somtimes the stars align." ~Dean Lowry, ABC's Pan Am. ♥ ⚓ ♥
Scholar
#8 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 3:10 PM
Although I have the Sim Tracker program, I tend to use Excel spreadsheets; I'm comfortable enough with formulae to set them up so that a change in one cell gets reflected in all others that are relevant. It's a total godsend for any Neighbourhood challenge (e.g Build-A-City) where keeping running tallies is essential.

However, while playing I'll have a notebook and pen handy to jot down anything required for either that session or future ones (sim graduation dates, roll results for aspirations etc).

For family trees, I've got MyHeritage to keep track of relationships, especially the more complicated ones, but if I ever want to make my own, there's always Paint Shop Pro!

No need to use my full name, "Selly" will do just fine.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 3:31 PM
For characteristics: I use a sim's bio and it can get updated. I also use the family bio in neighborhood view.

As for rotations, I use an excel sheet, a column for the households' names and another to "tick" those I'm done playing with. There two sections, one for the base neighborhood, and for the college subhood.
Forum Resident
#10 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 3:36 PM
I don't use anything in particular, I just sort of play which ever family is most interesting to me at the moment. (I'm wondering if I should write down who marries who or something eventually, but I can't be arsed with that right at this minute...)

While I'm playing it's easy enough to sort out what sims want what, and what order I want to give it to them in, and anytime something happens that I don't like, I just exit the game without saving. I know that's pretty precarious, but I make sure I save after particularly good things like the birth of a baby, first kiss, or -ahem- woohoo happen. Saving only after major events means I can pretty much go back to the beginning of whatever it was that was good, and play it over again until I get the outcomes I'm looking for. It's usually not that hard, although I did have one large family's youngest kids get taken away by the social worker THREE times before I was sufficiently able to get their grades up to snuff. Which reminds me- I need to revisit them...
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 3:39 PM
I use Excel sheets, too.
On the main sheet is a line for each sim. I write down basic information like life stage, gender preference, aspiration, hobby etc.
So for example if a romance sim has the wish to woohoo with a certain number of sims i can quickly check if there are even enough sims in the neighborhood to fulfill the wish.
Then I have other sheets for things like city funds.

I keep the sheets open while playing so i can make changes if something happens (a sim ages up, someone has a new relationship...)

I also use a mod for longer seasons. In my game each season lasts one week, which makes it easier for me to keep my neighborhood in sync since I play one week in every household.
Site Helper
#12 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 4:01 PM
I use my mind. If I can't remember, then I might check things using SimPE.
Test Subject
#13 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 6:19 PM
I take in-game photos and write captions for their family albums. And sometimes I update neighborhood album. Works well
Oh, and writing sim-bios.
Field Researcher
#14 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 7:18 PM
I take lots and lots of pictures (although sometimes I forget to turn my photo program on and find the pics were never taken) then use the pics to type up the story on my blog or tumblr. Whenever someone gets a job or promotion or anything else I think is important I try to get a pic of it. I don't use all the photos, but it helps me remember what happened to whom.
Link Ninja
#15 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 7:28 PM
The excel way works for me, just a master list, with various supporting tabs for college, occupations, death details, etc.
The master list is separated first/last name and married name columns - If they are married I put in a 'married name' last name under that category so when I sort the list I can easily know who is married and who is single (because the blank spaces for married name pile together). I have a small column for each life stage that I mark with an x on their current stage and x's on what stages they have been through while in game.

For example if I make Jo Bob Simmerson as a new adult sim, I would put an x in the adult life stage column and if and when he turns elder I would mark an 'x' in the next life stage but not in any previous life stages. That way I can tell who was born in-game when I sort by an 'infant' life stage since they have had x's in each life stage since birth

I also use color codes, for each first name I highlight blue for male, pink for female. In the family columns for siblings, parents, and grandparents half-family, and step-family get different colors than normal.

As for keeping up with stuff I just go through about after every game an update if anyone got married, had kids, died, or grew to the next stage.

Uh oh! My social bar is low - that's why I posted today.

Mad Poster
#16 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 7:32 PM
I use loose pages of paper to keep track of rotation order, Sim ages, when Sims work (so I don't get snotty messages about the Sim being at work when I want to call them), and where the college students are in the college rotation. I can remember dominant and recessive genes now, but I may need to write that down later. It works for the most part, but my cats tend to lay on it when I'm playing (the universal law of felines coming into play).
Forum Resident
#17 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 8:00 PM
I have a medium-sized spiral notebook to jot down quick facts, but for my Build A City Challenge, I made a pretty elaborate spreadsheet (still a work in process) that pulls the detailed family info to a score/status page.
Instructor
#18 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 8:50 PM
I take tons of pictures and caption them. I've just started using Sim Tracker as well, but it keeps throwing errors at me (but still working), so it's kind of a hassle.
Field Researcher
#19 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 9:04 PM
All of this information is easy to keep track of, including pictures, in the Sim Tracker (Shameless Plug). The New version will be even better. I am still working on getting it to load information directly from the game files. I know it can be done, I am just not sure how, yet.

It's your life, live it your way!
Want to see what else I make, go to www.rlm-soft.com and check it out.
Find out what's happening with Sim Tracker
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#20 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 9:51 PM
I can keep track of most of my families by mental recall, but if it's a story I actually want to do something with, I'll make notes in a basic word processor document, and drag/drop the requisite in-game photos between the text. I use an ancient Win95 version of Microsoft Works, but I'm pretty sure any word processing program has that function. Tis fast and easy, and works really well for me as a quick 'Captain's Simming Log".

I have to check out 'Sim Tracker' now. I am intrigued.

"Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get, but if you work really hard, and you're kind, amazing things will happen. I'm telling you, amazing things will happen" --Conan O'Brien
Lab Assistant
#21 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 10:10 PM
I don't do to much with pictures right now, because no matter what I do they always turn out bad, so I'm still working on those. But for information, I make a lot of excel sheets that I print out to keep track of things by household. they are a work in progress still, and since I'm currently playing a Test of Time Challenge, I'm hoping to have them perfect by the time I reach "The Modern Age". My sheets track all normal stats like Gender, lifestage, Aspiration, ect. Along with their "Motivation", Favorite color, three life traits, and two design traits.

Just take each day 24 minutes at a time... Unless you hit pause, then you could be there for hours!

Sims 2 Pinterest Profile: https://www.pinterest.com/tullulabell1894/
In the process of moving all Sims 2 pins from my personal Pinterest
Mad Poster
#22 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 10:56 PM
That's for sure, Reba! I'm loving the Beta test for the Sim Tracker 2-it's (if anything can be) even better than the original version!

I also use the Sims2 DB as another program. I need these programs because my mind ain't what it used to be, so I need some help remembering things-plus, the Sims2 DB has the option of finding suitable mates based on basic gender.
Theorist
#23 Old 18th Jun 2013 at 11:16 PM
To remember Sims past and see how they play out in future generations, I write stories and post them for me (and other people) to read whenever they feel like. For keeping track of where I am in a rotation, I use a whiteboard (built into my desk), a dry erase marker, and tally marks. For everything else, I only bother if I'm going to be rebuilding imminently. If I am, I have a Word document that I print out a bunch of copies of and then fill in by hand. Anything more complicated is too much like work.

esmeiolanthe's Live Journal and Tumblr
Most recent story update: Fuchs That! on 2/21/15
Undead Molten Llama
#24 Old 19th Jun 2013 at 2:47 AM
Quote: Originally posted by RebaLynnTS
All of this information is easy to keep track of, including pictures, in the Sim Tracker (Shameless Plug). The New version will be even better. I am still working on getting it to load information directly from the game files. I know it can be done, I am just not sure how, yet.


Now that I have a machine with Windows 7 (My main Simming machine, at home, still runs XP and I like it that way and plan on keeping it that way), I downloaded the Sim Tracker to give it a whirl...but unfortunately, my machine with Windows 7 is a netbook with a teensy 10" screen and a 1024x600 screen res. The Sim Tracker's interface is too big and for some reason won't scroll sideways. So, I can't really use it.

So, I'm still doing good old spreadsheets. The basic sheet I use is here: http://redmond-flats.weebly.com/tra...readsheets.html, which I built for my version of the Build-A-City Challenge, but I modify it for each 'hood, depending on what I do with that hood. Plus, all of the BACC-specific stuff gets removed if it's not a BACC neighborhood. I guess I'm kind of a statistics nerd when it comes to Simming, so the main tab has various stats. The version I'm using for the current 'hood I'm playing even has a tab full of charts and graphs. I guess I'm weird in that I hardly ever take pictures of my Sims, at least not for documenting purposes, but I get really into the statistics of a neighborhood. Like, I can know at a glance the percentage of a 'hood's playable population that's married or unemployed or of a given aspiration or lifestage or who are gay or straight or alien or whatever. The current iteration of the stats tab is WAAAAAAAY bigger than it is on that template I made way back when.

That said, I also once tried to use some free genealogy software I found online to track family relationships and make family trees and stuff, but I ran up against the not-liking-to-take-pictures thing. I need to find a simpler one that just tracks using text, not pictures...

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Theorist
#25 Old 19th Jun 2013 at 2:54 AM
Oh, right. I do the family tree thing too, so I can remember how my sims are related. I personally use TribalPages, which is text-only, but which doesn't allow for same-sex relationships. It does, however, have a feature that will tell me how two different people are related. When you inbreed... er, I mean, when you control the population as much as I do, then it's a helpful tool.

esmeiolanthe's Live Journal and Tumblr
Most recent story update: Fuchs That! on 2/21/15
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