I don't want to resurrect any old threads with this topic so hopefully I'm doing the right thing.. BEWARE LONG POST

I play in a Mega/Uberhood which has Belladonna Cove as the Mainhood and all the other hoods' shipped with the game as Shopping Districts (these are by Meetme2theriver). It also has all of the Vacation destinations. I haven't added any of the Universities yet though, which is why I'm posting here.

I usually play until the Season changes, except the first round which goes through the entire Fall Season until the first morning of Winter (excluding Riverblossom Hills since they start on the 1st of Winter so I play them until the 1st morning of Fall). But my issue is, I can't find a way to fit University into my rotation because some of the Sims are only 1 day apart (all of my Sims go to University, makes it easier) and I have a hard time moving them in at the right time.. I've tried 1-2 day rotations but with a Mega/Uberhood that takes forever and its too short for me in general. I didn't mind 3-4 days but I prefer the Seasonal rotation, it's easier for me to track.

I tried Squinge's Mega College Pack which was awesome and easier for me but I want the Sims from the University to be included in my Mega/Uberhood and I don't think you can have that Pack work with a University Subhood attached with pre-existing YA Sims.. If you can, please let me know because if its possible to do this then I will be beyond happy!

Anyway, Johnny Smith, Ophelia Nigmos and Tank Grunt are all 4 days from Adulthood which means I'll have to send them in the first round since College is 4 years/days in my game (2 Semesters = 1 year/day) but then there's Tybalt Capp who is 5 days away from Adulthood and would have to be moved on the second day of the round and Mercutio who is 6 days away from Adulthood and would have to be moved on the third day of the round. One time, I somehow had David Ottomas who had 8 days away until Adulthood be in the Senior year when Romeo Monty, who had 9 days left until Adulthood, was in FRESHMAN and that shouldn't be like that because they're only a day apart not 3.. Mistake on my part, yes, but that meant I had to restart from scratch AGAIN.

I never leave lots before the Season changes because I'd get confused. I could adjust their ages with the Temporal Adjuster (inSIM) after they graduate but I'd forget to do that because I have 26 teens (I think) in total in the Mega/Uberhood. Typically, when my graduates have graduated, I don't bother with graduation parties and just send them back home into their parents house, so for me, College lasts 4 years/days (I don't care about the 72 hours thing). I don't want to give up on my Uber/Megahood - its so fun to play but I can never incorporate the University into it in a way that works with my rotation..

Any ideas or advice etc I would greatly appreciate!

Thanks! :lovestruc

I'm sorry that I can't give you advice here OP as I'm dead confused as to how time works in your game. On top of that, I have the standard semester lengths and they're almost too fast!

With regard to incorporating university into rotational play though, I frequently encounter the issue of having teens get 'uni ready' one after the other. I like to play realistically, so this isn't really a problem if you think about the fact that at most universities, there's a new fresher class every year. I rotate through both the university hood and the main hood, and I keep each uni class on track by playing them to the same point (end of first term, end of second term, sophomore etc.). I play each household in the uni hood to whatever point only once, and then go back the main hood and start the rotation there, again playing each household to roughly the same point (I'm not super strict about how long I play on each house, but I keep them all on track by coordinating to certain big events, such as advancing pregnancies to the same point in each household, or celebrating the same birthday for each of the teens and so on.)

I find that the whole hood stays perfectly on the same time frame with this method, but then I also regard time in my game as passing in a circle: when I'm playing family B, I'm finding out what they were up to while I was away playing family A. I think that's why it works so well.

Okay, I'm going to try to explain how time works for my game. So, I technically play 4 days each household because I stop playing when the Season changes and save at 6-7AM. However, when I put the Universities into my hood', the Seasons will be set to Fall-Fall-Fall-Fall for the benefit of skilling faster etc. I don't sync Seasons to University, only the Mainhood.

I could do 4 days in the Mainhood and 2 Years of Uni (Freshman & Sophomore) but I don't know when to send the siblings to College (especially if they're only a few days apart like Juliette Capp & Hermia Capp etc). The main thing I don't want is their ages out of sync - at all. I want their ages to be exactly right, otherwise it will annoy me. I'm not good at maths (curse you, Dyscalculia) so working out how many days to remove from a Sim is a huge challenge for me..

Experimenting is my best option but I've been experimenting the past month, and most of the experiments failed. I just want to play the game now.

I can only really explain how I do it in my own game, since university is confusing and obviously happens outside the regular time scale of the rest of the hood - something like vacations, in a way, or visiting community lots.

I play with a mod that makes each semester only 48 hours to increase challenge (otherwise it's way too easy and everyone gets the Dean's List without even trying!) and also bring it somewhat more in line with the time scale of the rest of the hood. (I also have a 24 hour pregnancy mod and a proportional aging mod that makes every sim day roughly equivalent to 9 months; so a sim is pregnant for one day (9 months), babies age into toddlers after one day (9 months), etc. It's not perfect, but it works for me. )

Here's what I've got in my notes for "University in rotation":


I do very much have my rotations tied to seasons, so seasons are something that no one in my game is allowed to fiddle with to extend or change.

I did this once. I wrote down when a Sim should return home but it wasn't when the rotation ended meaning I had to leave the household to graduate the Sim in University, then return to the Mainhood to continue the household - it threw me off the rest of the Neighborhood. I don't know why it does that to me, it's so frustrating. I used to play without rotation but once I tried it, I never looked back and now I can't even play University without trying to make it sync somehow - LOL.

At times, I want to give up on University all together but I want my Sims to experience it & gain the benefits and want the existing pre-mades from University incorporated into my Mega/Uberhood..

I did have the 48 hour Semester Mod at one point but I figured I don't mind the usual 72 hours since I don't focus on that at all. I think I might get the 24 hour pregnancy Mod though, but I might wait for the current pregnant Sims (Samantha Ottomas, Pascal Curious etc) to give birth first.

I appreciate yours and Terula8 replies - its helping me find new ways I can try my game.

I still would like to know if I can have YA Sims in the University Subhood and YA Sims in the Mainhood (It would be so awesome if I could). Most likely not, but hey, wishful thinking. :p

It really does sound like you have a very different way of handling rotations than I do. I can and usually do only play a given lot for one day before switching to the next. I do keep careful notes on where exactly each lot is in the rotation so I don't get lost.

I play Seasonal rotation with no aging mods or Season mods. By default as you know, every household (excluding Riverblossom Hills) starts on the last day of Summer so I play each household until the first day of Winter but I play until the first day of Fall in Riverblossom Hills since they start on the first of Winter. I think that's 4-5 days each household. It's University that keeps throwing me off because if a Sim goes to University in the middle of the rotation, say for example, they leave on the 3rd day of Fall, I can't work out when they return home. Do I count from that day or do I count from the next day depending on the time they left?

I've been debating using the "Fruit of Life" Mod on here but that's basically cheating and no source of accomplishment for me or my Sims but at this rate, if its the only way to make it work with the way I play my game then I guess that's what I'm going to have to do.

I wish I could just send all of the teens without a care in the world but I can't, LOL.

I count each semester as one day, so college is 8 days long. My college-bound teens head off when they're 18 days old, while those who don't usually get a full-time job (with Inge's school changer and Lamare's job options mod, though if you use InTeen it does it for you). This keeps their ages in sync pretty well.

I don't have InTeen, used it once but too many conflicts.

I think with my way of rotating, College lasts 4 years (Freshman is 1 year, Sophomore another year, Junior another year & Senior final year). I don't do the "18 years old" thing because I can't work out when they're 18, I go by how many days left they have until adulthood and I settled on 4 days but its when my rotation is in the middle and they go to University that I get confused.. I can never work out when they are scheduled to return home and most times I forget completely!

Plus, if Sim 2 is a day older than Sim 1, I always forget to move Sim 1 in or I forget to advance Sim 2. I've tried writing it all down and everything but still, everything seems to go wrong..

Ah, a question which I can answer!
I, too, have Squinge's College hacks, but this time (with Tinsel Town) I chose to go the regular Uni way. Now you have to remember that unless you make sure the kids get to the Uni before they age up to YA, this is not going to work-because once they hit YA, they are assumed to be in college, and they cannot move into the Uni after that. (Don't ask me why..I don't know.) I

Anyhow-what I did was I waited until the day they were supposed to age up (Saturday), and had their parents send their tuition to the school (Monique's computer) and then had each one of them move out to college-before they did the age up routine. (Note this: you cannot play the house they left until they actually arrive at college & have grown up there. Time stands still until then at the family house. It's best if you do this early in the morning.)

I had set up a dorm lot with the sync timer, and when they got there, it was set to the day they would normally arrive-Monday. I helped get them all aged up, assigned dorm rooms, and various other minutia. They didn't do anything more.

Then, after they were 'officially' at college, I headed back to the neighborhood to play the parents' house as normal rotation through the weekend. The kids stayed at Uni doing nothing until the actual day they were supposed to be there, which was Monday. I played the entire neighborhood the same way-each family that had a kid or kids going off went through the same routine. Tuition, move out-set up, return to neighborhood to play the rest of it. (I also use the college adjuster to properly set their semesters).

So on Monday, I started playing the dorms at the start, to get those YA's going to college, and then I played the regular neighborhood as usual. I don't use seasons to mark time, but the Sync timer does not work in Uni-you have to manually set it every single time you play the dorms. Very important to remember this when playing this way-or else you'll lose track of the whole mess. If you have a system of time for the neighborhood, it is easier to play this way-I do one day from sunrise to sunrise, and kept the same system for Uni.

I have several more families that have children to go to college. Because they're the laggards, they will land in Uni more or less on the same time schedule as can be had. Which means a lot of time travel, by them and me.

How can I keep track of this? I keep a lot of notes on the neighborhood, and have the Dorms assigned their place in them-so it is a bit easier to do.

On the subject of ages and when to send teens to university, I've also got this in my notes:


I had a friend in high school who was accelerated one year (and ended up graduating with me, despite being a year younger), so it makes sense to me that not all teens would head to college at the exact same age.

I don't use the Lot Sync Timer, I tried it but ended up confusing myself as usual. I really don't want to change my rotation to one day even though that would be the easiest, only because its so short and I like more time with my families.

I'm double checking to see if I'm reading this right - If I attach the Universities to my Mainhood, I'll still be able to use the College Pack? Currently, I don't have any of the Universities attached to my Mainhood yet so all my teens are still teens. Basically, none of my Mainhood teens will be going to the University Subhood, instead, they'll be doing University from home. The pre-existing YA in the University Subhoods I will play as normal. Will this work or have I completely misread?

I'm really sorry, I'm rubbish at understanding.

You can use both-a college at home and at actual Uni-but you have to make the decision on whether or not to keep the kids at home before they age up. It should work all right, as long as you keep that in mind-'YA's before college or after' because once they grew up to YA they become ineligible to move to Uni.

I have the college pack in the downloads but chose this way to develop the relationships between the second generation better. I think that if they're at home, they don't have as many chances to do so, whereas in college they live with one another in closer quarters. Also, it gives me the ability to let their parents move out to better or smaller houses that they will eventually retire and die in. The houses left empty will be available for the kids when they grow up to adults.

Plus their parents really would like to have their lives back!

Not sure if this will help, but I play University in two 48 hours semesters to equal 4 days, the amount of time I play regular families. After a sim has left University, I leave them in the Family bin, until I play their parents (or whomever they're moving in with) home. When they move in, I subtract the number of days they spent at University from their adult life stage. That way they are the same age as their peers, and not younger. I also number my days in a rotation; for example, currently, I'm on Round 8, day 28. It makes it so much easier to set the age for post-University. For example, Johnny Smith started University on day 16 and dropped out on day 22, that means I need to subtract 6 days from his life when he gets back home. I hope that makes sense.

Okay, so I can keep all my Mainhood/Subhood teens at home studying like they would in University but instead of in the actual University, they're at home. And I can also have the pre-made University Sims as well except they'll be in University hood? If this is true then OMG I am super happy.

If I want a particular teen to go to the University hood, would it work if I send them the day they would otherwise age up but before 6PM? Not likely to happen but just in case it does.

I know my Sims in the hoods' won't meet as much but this is the only way right now that I can see working in my game for me because I'm so awkward.

Thank you so much - I'm still open to how others play and see if it works for me though! :p

That seems so complicated but if it works for you, that's awesome!

I can never work out how many days to subtract etc and the whole waiting thing puts me off, but that's just me and personal preference

Yes-it will work that way. I have done it for about 10 of the little pixels so far in Tinsel Town. They all grew up successfully when they landed at the dorms. Including with the modded out 'gorilla walk' (that I detest but the mod really can't make them stop..)

Just be sure if you do it this way it has to be before 6 pm. That's the important part.

Alright! That's awesome! I'll have to keep a note in bold to remember to send them BEFORE 6PM, or, I could send them to the University hood' with 4 days remaining, move them in and have the sibling or whatever age up to YA at home with also 4 days remaining. Unless that won't work or I confuse myself in the process, lol.

I'm super happy right now. My Sims will be able to meet future siblings and stuff when they're studying at home for University and continue building high relationships with family!

Are YA able to go to places in the Mainhood such as Downtown or just a hangout place? I was thinking of creating a YA Hangout spot for YA only to meet the other students but I don't know if that's even possible..

Also, can you move YA students at home out and into their own home? I don't mind if they can't but it would be cool if they could.

But also, this note-once you send them, make sure they grow up at Uni to YA because you can't play the family they came from until they do. The family remains suspended in time until they grow up. I found that out the hard way. Had to replay the entire thing and that's when I figured out to do it early in the morning instead of later.



I don't know about the ones in Uni. That much I have not explored-but I have had a case where a Uni student came back to the neighborhood of their own accord to visit (I guess they hitchhiked home) their friends and family. The YA's in the hood should be able to do that, though, if you want to have them visit the local hangouts-or make one for them using the Visitor controller that only allows YA's to come in.


The second question, yes, you can. YA students at home can move into their own places in the neighborhood-but you have to make sure they have enough money to do it with..and keep the rotation as you had it.

Hahahaha not the way I play! I've been very interested in the way everyone speeds up Uni, but I play a wants-based style, so they don't study unless they roll the want - and for the right skill point at that! I also have harder grades - term paper required, and they don't write it unless they roll the want. Same with homework: no want, no assignment!

The result is that I end up with a very balanced distribution of grade point averages from academic probation (!) to 3.4s and so for the more studious, and occasionally someone - typically 1 or 2 in the cohort - will actually complete the term paper and get a 4. Tank Grunt got expelled because he didn't roll the want to skill in time, and was literally 3 or so hours short of being able to get it. The system works really really well for me, but I also tend to play every sim in the halls by turning all my dormies into playables. With that many sims, I mostly focus on social interactions, making friends, throwing great parties, who's gonna woohoo for the first time with who, and so on. I try to get them off-lot as often as I can.

Sorry, I didn't mean to derail the thread! I was just wanting to expand a bit on my style of playing Uni - mainly because so many folks play it so fast! I like a long game though (probably because I have so many sims to see to lol).

So when I send a teen that's going to the University Subhood, I have to save & exit the lot after they move out, move the teen into a dorm and have them age to YA before returning back to the Mainhood? This will take time to get used to, I think.

I remember using the Visitor Controller once but every time I clicked it, it caused a bunch of errors in my game resetting everyone in the household. I don't know the conflicts it has with other Mods because when I run HCD it can't find my game's location. Maybe it was because I used it on the household's lot? I don't know.

I hope I manage the rotation alright - lucky I have a backup of my Uber/Megahood so if I go wrong I can just take out the files and replace them and start again without moving all the bin families etc back in..

I also play wants-based, but differently than you do. Sims are allowed to do fun things that build skills so long as they currently need fun, and if a sim wants to "gain a skill point" then of course they can gain whatever skill point they currently need - they do want a skill point, after all, and since they didn't specify, then I get to pick. Also, if they actually want to make the Dean's List, then they're of course allowed to do the things required to fulfill that want (which pretty much just boils down to earning required skill points, because actual studying is unnecessary in most cases). But if they don't have any associated want, why would I make them do an assignment or write a term paper? Doesn't seem logical.

That's actually exactly the way I play Rosawyn. I *don't* make them do the term paper unless they roll the want to do it, so that's why I don't have all my sims on the dean's list with term paper required, you can't make that 4.0 without the term paper - it doesn't make every sim do a term paper lol. That way, the ones who roll wants for skillpoints more often are the more studious sims, and the ones who never do end up on academic probation. Even the most rugged popularity sim will usually roll a want for a point after that - but not always! That's why Tank failed: he did roll the want, but I had my hands full and by the time I got him green enough to do anything it was hours before his final. Ah well. I always felt like uni was not really his thing!

I interpret the want to make the dean's list as being a want to earn a skillpoint or build the class meter -whatever they need, and when it's a general 'earn a skillpoint' then I choose one of the ones they're missing. I think you maybe just misread my post - but no biggie! We've discovered we have something in common, so alls well that ends well.

I think this is the main difference btwn you and me then. I wouldn't put that mod in because term papers are something I hated irl, and I learned quite quickly how to pick classes carefully so I wouldn't ever have to write them. I think I only wrote exactly two the whole time I was in university. And in game, I just don't find it fun to watch sims write term papers. If they actually want to write one, sure, I guess, but other than that, nah.

I'm going to give my idea a go with the whole studying at home and have the option of an actual University experience. I've installed Visitor Controller for my "YA only hang out spot" in Mainhood idea. I'll update you guys how it went. Hopefully it goes to plan!