I figured that out. There is a lock at the top of the hairstyle list you can click on.
Now I’m trying to figure out how to do the opportunities offered and also how to add more than one family to a town.
Sims 2 patches are still on the Sims 2 site under “help” as far as I know, to answer Angie.
About Sims 3- I didn’t like it at first. It takes some getting used to- once I turned on edge scrolling it was better getting around. The graphics of the sims are not as good as I thought- but I love to see the bushes blowing and the water looks awesome. Can you see fish in the water in this one?
I still haven’t played a whole lot, and I am still trying to figure this out- my husband & I & kids usually each have our own neighborhood. If you start a new game- do you start with the neighborhood like it was at the beginning- kind of like there are as many copies of that neighborhood as there are saved games? That way I could also turn on the story progression but still be able to start over if people I hadn’t played got old & died.
Love that they have the old families again like that.
I just downloaded the new free neighborhood today- haven’t tried it yet.
Jan- I think you can add the new family and play different ones in the same game by going into “Edit neighborhood”
Yeah, I saw that you can go into edit neighborhood. I went into it last it last night, but didn’t explore too much yet. I’m not sure how you could add families although you could play other ones that way.
I turned off the stories thing and turned on scrolling after reading the Sims3 forums. I didn’t want my single male Sim to suddenly have a baby on his doorstep, etc.
LOL about the baby.
Sims 4 will be out by the time we have this one figured out… 
The thing I am not excited about is that one has to start at square one again…so little to choose from. Customizing is cool…but you can’t customize furniture colours and such…sigh
I think the prices for stuff in the store are a little steep. Most items are around $0.75 or more…an expansion with almost 100 items was only $20 before…it is MUCH more to buy the items individually!
Don’t forget to get the Toyota Prius though…it is a free download in the store!
Question- I ran that system requirement test on my laptop to see if it would run Sims 3- it got a pass. The thing is that I have Sims 2 and I have never been able to play it on this computer.
Does anyone play on a laptop? Is Sims 3 supposed to be easier to load on a computer?
Yes you can change furniture colors. I even changed the pattern on all the bathroom fixtures. :teehee: You mean there isn’t a lot to choose from yet? You can try the exchange at sims3.com for more, too.
Don’t forget to get the Toyota Prius though…it is a free download in the store!
Oh I didn’t know that! Thanks! I probably won’t buy much from the store anyway. I tend to get the free stuff if I want it.
I’m using a desktop, but a lot of people are using laptops. Go to the website I linked to earlier (sims3.com) and read the forums. I really think they should up the minimum requirements for the game. It runs great on my computer, but I made sure I had the most ram and best video card I could get at the time.
Thanks…I totally just found the tool that allows you to fool with furnature! Very cool…
I am going to write to EA though…and say that the store items are way expensive…they should at the very least bundle stuff! And seeing as they now are not paying for packaging for all that stuff…they really should make it cheap!
There has been complaints in the Sim forum about it, too.
While it does take some getting used to, Sims3 is MUCH MORE FUN than Sims2. For the first day, I wasn’t really impressed because there IS a pretty big learning curve. However, I’ll outline some points I’ve come across.
Pros:
Motion blur
Focal blur
Better shiny and reflective surfaces
Bubbles.
Realistic water
Fish swimming under and jumping out of said water
Heave sleepers sleep in one position at night, light sleepers toss and turn
Your moods, personality, and job performance can have a great affect on what happens while your sim is at work
More realistic gardening
You can find seeds around town
You can find plants to harvest around town
You can find uncut gems, raw metal ores, and space rocks around town that you can sell
You can follow your sims as they go jogging
Moodlets
Sims won’t woohoo when they’re sleeping (go figure)
Momma sim can go to the hospital when she starts going into labor, which leads to a happier birth
Your mood/health during your pregnancy helps to determine the kind of traits your child will have
Books have to be BOUGHT if you want to learn or be entertained (or you can go to the library)
Food needs specific ingredients, many of which you can grow or fish yourself
All furniture, clothing, accessories, wallpaper, and flooring has customizable coloring and textures
Every sim has a cell phone, and if it rings and you choose to answer it, they immediately drop what they’re doing without the rest of their queue disappearing
Opportunities are fun little goals to work toward
Special events around town (such as eating conests or concerts)
There are two kinds of grids, building and interior. Building is the normal blocks, interior is two mini blocks for every building block. Sims walk on interior paths, so they can walk around a chair pushed against the wall.
Cons:
No pets other than fish
No university (that I know of)
You can’t start your own business (that I know of)
No seasons!!
As you can see, I can’t find all that many flaws in the game, but the flaws are pretty major (for me).
ETA: I also want to note that the stuff available in the EA store… quite frankly, it’s all about business. It’s an awesome way for EA to make money, because they know that plenty of people will pay for the stuff. I’m waiting for thesimsresource.com to get on the mod squad and push out the quality items that they’re known for over there. And that stuff is a heck of a lot cheaper than EAs (in many cases, free!)
Cons:
No pets other than fish
No university (that I know of)
You can’t start your own business (that I know of)
No seasons!!
To be fair none of these were available in the original Sims games either were they? You had to get an expansion. These are minor for me and I can live w/o them till they get ready to create them.
Another few things that I love in addition to the list above -
*There are more ways to gain skill points and more skills to learn
*I love that you can “tinker” with things and gain points for handiness, plus it can upgrade your appliances! (who wouldn’t love a self cleaning oven, toilet or tub!)
*The Sims automatically put there clothing on to go outdoors
*They can walk next door to the park to play chess or walk to a neighbors house and ring the bell!
*Once they are in town they can walk around and go places, the theater, resaurants, grocery store, bookstore, etc.
*They can get jobs by actually going to the hospital, science center, etc.
*They can read a book and suddenly have the seeds and knowledge to grow something for food or profit!
That’s all I can think of at the moment, but I’m sure I’ll think of more…
No, those weren’t in the original sims either… but neither was the ability to play music for tips, garden, or fish. But hey, they’re trying to milk this for as much as they can, so I guess it makes sense that they’d save stuff for expansions 
<3 Sims3 
I am all for them making money…but they are way over priced…20 or 30 cents per item is fine, but 75 cents to $1 no way…if you figure you could get an entire expansion pack for $20, buying the individual items in the same amount, would run you about $70. That is way too much, and lets face it…they are not even packaged.
Yeah…I do like the new sims for the most part…like it seems that Sims stay in their own beds…and ppl don’t linger around your house ages after you wanted them to go home, or there isn’t even goals of how many friends you need before moving up in your profession…which is so nice!
I do miss the little life animations you would get when they had a major life event, like first kiss, or first Woohoo or marriage…and there by I miss the memories option…
EA will still have a chance to listen to everyones quarry and patch…so I am not too worried…the forums are riddled with ppl talking about whats good and whats bad…
Interesting we all have different likes and dislikes. I was just thrilled to find that I can play with as many people on my lot as I want w/o the computer slowing to a crawl.
As far as expansion stuff I think if they put it all in one game there would be a lot of people who’s computers couldn’t handle it. With expansion packs you can buy them if you want, but still enjoy the game w/o them.
A few more fun things I discovered…
When the alarm goes off for one Sim the other one doesn’t wake up and they can sleep through the alarm on weekends!
I like that as you read books more things open up for you like gardening, recipes, etc.
re: alarm clock
The other sim won’t sleep through it if they’re a light sleeper!
Oh! Good to know! So far I haven’t chosen that or heavy sleeper as a trait.
For the hell of it, I made sim versions of my hubby and I. I’m a light sleeper, hubby’s a VERY heavy sleeper. It’s fun to see how they interact lol
I want to make a sim for me, but the right hair isn’t available…sigh