So, I'm currently "between 'hoods" and am trying to decide what kind of 'hood I want to play next. Some, but not all, of the set-ups I am considering are historical and I would love to read about other simmers' experiences of (setting up and) playing historical 'hoods.

So, pros, cons, any other thoughts, suggestions or comments about your experiences of historical 'hoods (generic or pertaining to a specific time period) would be appreciated! :-)

Since when I'd been more involved in playing the game (as opposed to just creating extravagantly detailed lots for it) I had a megahood centered around Pleasantview and its Downtown, I didn't have a dedicated historical 'hood, but my supernatural subneighborhood of Darkwood Hollow was very much set in a similar way to what people usually characterize as a "Victorian" setting. Since it was magical, I could get away with having it linked to a modern-day realistic (or at least more realistic) neighborhood, just pretending it had a Brigadoon-like magical separation between it and the real world. It gave me the chance to play around not only with the historical aesthetics of the location, but also different societal norms, like familial dynasties and inheritance squabbles that would just have felt out of place in the realistic part of the neighborhood...

I have a medieval game that I play from time to time. It takes a lot of stuff to run it as close to that age as possible-and you have to kind of ignore or explain away certain things like the pixels wanting to watch tv and go to work via the carpool. There's lot of default clothing available, along with careers and other necessities, so they don't suffer from privation too much.
But when you make it that accurate it's not that hard to get into-once you accept the limitations of the game and adapt to them. The pixels themselves don't change that much, nor do their actions or habits. They're still capable of being totally stupid and being proud of it.

The only con that I can see is, you do need to spend time getting enough CC, although I do the same for my modern game. I also suggest strongly that you don't make it a hood in your regular game but make another sims 2 folder for it. The con there is you need to rename folders to get the one that you want to load up, to load up. I have about the same amount of CC in my modern sims 2 folder as I do my medieval folder, possibly a little less since I find that I can get away with slightly less clothes and hairs.

My sugetsions:
1)Make a new folder not a hood inside your modern game.
2)Use lots of defaults for objects. The more you use the more you want; because if some little thing isn't defaulted amongst a sea of defaults it will bug you no end.- or it certainly does me. It's worth it though, it helps the aesthetic and the immersion.

This is a con? *confused* :-D

What I do is to make folders for Medieval/Victorian/whatever objects, same with mods etc., and move these folders in and out of the Download folder depending on what game I feel like playing that day. I have of course Modern objects, Modern mods, and Neutral objects as well. So I move 3 Medieval themed folders in and take my 3 Modern folders out if I want to play my Medieval hood, and vice versa if I want to play my modern hood.

I know, I wasn't sure if that was a con or a pro!

I would suggest that moving items is not as good because occasionally something can corrupt when moving and it's also slower than simply renaming. I can rename my sims 2 folder in a few seconds.

Just like we humans have been doing for the last few thousand years! It just shows how wonderfully realistic the life simulation in The Sins 2 is!

CC hunting is definitely a con when your internet is too weak to render a few small pictures!

I vaguely remember you mentioning the Test of Time challenge; they have some interesting remarks there about playing historical hoods, though you've probably read through the entire thread by now.

I think that most of the cons are CC-related as the others mentioned. If you're in it for the long haul, you'll have to find all the defaults and whatnot, and for those just starting out, it's a bit of an undertaking that might be affected by how some content are no longer in their original sites (or are even completely unavailable) and new content isn't as frequently made. That'd also entail a separate folder and if you're fond of themed hoods, that might use up quite some storage space.

I'll admit that I sometimes have difficulty deciding which files go into which folder. I have a medieval-fantasy folder and exclusively human hoods folder; it helps with performance issues to keep those separate, but yeah, if you have several folders at once and a few of them share common files anyway... Like joandsarah77, I generally just rename the folders to avoid moving the files around; I had some mishaps before and would prefer to avoid repeating the same mistakes. If I anticipate not being able to play a certain hood for a long time, however, then I don't mind zipping it up and placing it into an external drive until I feel like using it again.

I'm not much of a builder, so building can take longer for me, especially since modern "boxes" often look out of place in most other settings. Having buildings fit the general look of the hood helps with immersion, but YMMV on what and how much you require. I have an invisible road terrain replacement that's great from lot view, and then hilarity ensues when you can't remember the hood layout and want to plop down a lot you can't figure out where to place.

One thing I've noticed that is a lack of variety in CC that fits my aesthetic. I generally focus on gameplay, have several "rules" for certain hoods/settings, and don't closely follow real-life settings, but it'd be nice to have more Asian-themed content (such as clothes for commoners or unisex apparel) for example. As much as I'd like it to be more accurate, it's a bit difficult to create an Avatar-based hood...

For that reason, suspension of disbelief is required when you lack certain CC, as FranH said. I don't think I've seen any rice paddy hood deco or actual rice crops (correct me if I'm wrong), and I imagine it'd be an undertaking to create a food default replacement set if you can't find one that fits the setting. I'm still trying to work on that last bit, but yeah, I'd usually rather play than create so they'll have to deal with CC meals.

You may have to spend some time either searching for or, if unavailable, creating townie name replacement sets to fit the setting; or if not, replace the townies' names as they spawn. I bounce between making my own and just changing names as I go depending on how much free time I have. I don't know if other simmers restrict certain genetics and monitor them for accuracy, but I imagine that they'd have to create their own townies and NPCs (if they use them) to do so. A somewhat funny concern I had was trying to replicate mononymity in-game. How I deal with it varies; most of the time, I just add a profession, location, or character-related moniker at the end. I guess that's similar to how some surnames first started though. It's a good thing that family trees are reliable for tracking purposes, because sometimes I forget that Gautselin the Valiant was descended from founder Aristomache the Wise.

You have to work within the game limitations, of course. I mentioned in another thread that I dislike how toddlers keep rolling wants for their parents almost to the exclusion of other household members who've raised them since birth, especially if they've technically never even met their parents. It makes it a bit difficult to play with certain societies with shared childcare instead of nuclear families. That's a problem not exclusive to ancient settings of course and has been noted by other simmers, but it's a bigger pet peeve for me in historic hoods for some reason. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Maintaining aspiration levels may or may not be a problem depending on how you handle it. I'm sorry, Pleasure sims, but electronic gadgets did not exist in the Stone Age, and Fortune sims, were there any helicopters back when a buffalo-drawn cart was the norm? Sure, you can train them to fulfill other wants, but I often find it funny anyway.

One of the aspects I find most interesting is making up alternative reasons for in-game events within a historical setting - someone in the ToT challenge thread mentioned playing off social workers as women taking other tribes' children or even bears. I don't play aliens myself, but for my "historic" hoods (since they're not strongly tied to any real settings), I added non-telescope telescopes and BoilingOil's alien experiments then conjure up various non-alien story possibilities for any abductees. Stone age sim comes home with a different personality after staring at a rock belonging to another tribe? He must've had some life altering experience when he accidentally stumbled upon their settlement.

Another thing I also noted was that it's much easier to play and set up themed hoods in TS2. Despite my remarks on the variety of CC, it does have quite a selection and the fact that TS2 allows you to build and play entire neighborhoods from scratch and control majority of its aspects is probably its greatest advantage. You can even use custom music in-game to add to the immersion, though it does use up RAM, so it'd be best to be selective about them. Many thanks to the person at PBK who extracted the TSM music so that I could use it in my medieval-fantasy hoods.

I'm not sure how it works for anyone else, but while setting up can be tedious (and/or frustrating depending on what you want), I also think it's fun; I'm the type who likes creating rulesets and in-game systems, and if I set it up to my preferences, gameplay flows smoothly afterwards. It makes all the work worth it if you enjoy historical and themed hoods; I tend to veer towards games with a similar aesthetic, so being able to do the same with TS2 is a huge draw for me.

To keep my medieval game intact (thus not prone to corruption or losing valuable objects) I created a separate folder for it, and have named it "Sims 2 Medieval' and when I want to play it, just rename it to "Sims 2" and voila, my game is instantly medieval.

This is probably the safest way to keep running it, because like many other people I have literally tons of CC and I can't be arsed to find it when I need it (usually when I'm right in the middle of a game) so this keeps everything neat, tidy and together. Thankfully I have a computer that can have this set up too.

There's also one more advantage to playing medieval-the CC for it is fairly fixed-there aren't that many creators or sites that do medieval CC (PBK being the most famous one) and thus I don't have to load it up with 'newer' stuff all the time. The CC stays intact and constant.

But you know what? When I load it up to play, it loads far, far faster (even with all the historically themed stuff) than my regular game, which has far more stuff in it. There's something of a lesson in there somewhere, but I'm ignoring it..

The lesson is to make new folders for every type of game you want, medieval, modern, space, fantasy...

from my understanding, historical playing works best with certain mods/hacks and within separate games.
AnyGameStarter could be an alternative to renaming the Sims2 folder.

me; I have not attempted historical playing. not sure if I will attempt it.

I play only one hood and that is medieval. The cons that come with playing a historical hood can also be seen as pros. There is some work in setting up the hood but some of it is also part of the fun. Looking for CC is mostly part of the fun for me. Playing with empty templates is highly recommended but I did that also when I played modern hoods. I would recommend starting with a challenge like the MCC challenge. The MCC challenge gives frames for your game play and let the hood slowly grow (and is fun). Playing strictly historical correct is probably extremely difficult. I prefer a somewhat early medieval style but there are a lot of anachronistic and fantasy elements in my game with a lot of inspiration from Game of thrones, LOTR, Skyrim and Witcher. Allowing for some historical inaccuracies makes it easier and probably more fun to play a historical hood.
Mortia has a very good guide for setting up a medieval game https://mortia.livejournal.com/11823.html.

The main problem I have with historical games is that only a small number of historical settings ever get custom content made for them. If I want to play MesoAmerica, or medieval China, or the height of Zimbabwe, I'll have to improvise wildly or learn to make my own. And the problem of "only adult and teen females get good content made for them" is greatly exacerbated if you're trying to keep a historical theme.

It's also consistently true that the only default on the database for a particular outfit which fits even the broad parameters of Retropleasantspot is the most likely one to have a broken link.

And you'll have to do a lot more stuff manually than in a late 20th-early 21st century game, because the way behaviors were coded and icons were chosen assumed a modern set of rules.

But hey - you love setting up neighborhoods, and establishing rulesets, so historical games should be part of your normal repertoire. That "prehistoric Widespot" you set up was gorgeous.

Thank you all for your replies! The CC required for whatever historical 'hood I could end up setting up/playing is indeed both a pro and a con, in a way, as I very much enjoy looking for appropriate CC for my various ideas for 'hoods, but it's rare that I ever complete a CC folder and move on to the next stage of setting up a 'hood, because collecting all of the (lovely, beautiful, fabulous) CC takes so long!

I would definitely opt for a historical/fantasy 'hood, I reckon - for one thing, aliens have to stay as they're a key part of Widespot, and I also like the idea of including witches and possibly servos and dragons if I played a Medieval/Victorian 'hood. I know that I would never be able to be properly historically accurate, so I'd rather just kind of go with an obvious fantasy element so that it doesn't annoy me that it's not historically accurate.

I am currently toying with four different ideas - a Medieval Pleasantview/Widespot, a Victorian Pleasantview/Widespot, a prehistoric Widespot or a Roman invasion of Britain 'hood with CAS-made sims (though I think I have a lot more thinking to do for that one, so I expect that I'll leave it for a few more years! :-D). Seeing Peni's mention of the prehistoric Widespot I set up waaaaaay back has definitely boosted the chances of me opting for that possibility for a 'hood! :-D I play a bit differently now, in various respects, and I would definitely set a prehistoric Widespot up very differently now than I did back then. And there are so many great newer mods and bits of CC to make 'hoods look pretty around nowadays, too. It would be interesting to see how it turned out....

**ETA** Reading some of my old documents and looking at old pictures from my initial attempt at a prehistoric Widespot I have been pleasantly surprised by how good some of my ideas were! :-D Feeling quite nostalgic now and seriously considering a Prehistoric Widespot v 2.0!

I don't have a historical hood myself but I have tried to set one up before, and I've run into pretty much the same problems mentioned above--hunting for cc and the long set up time.

The latter is probably the most difficult for me. It can get exhausting, trying to set up a hood just so, and then trying to curate a cc list for it. I've been trying to set up an integrated hood for a while--it's not strictly historical but it's supposed to be a tad retro (It's hard to describe what I'm going for but think Amish/modern rural farm). I did a test hood a while back and liked what I was going for so I wanted to set up a complete hood from scratch with its own cc folder to reduce load times. But it's been a slog for me--lots of times I just give up and go back to my regular hoods out of frustration--because again, the long set up wasn't what I was expecting and there are times I just want to sit down and play.

So if you go for it (and I think you should, and I think it'll be fun in the end) I would keep that in mind. Sim neighborhoods, much like Rome, are not going to be built in a day--so plan to set up your hood in between your regular play sessions. Spend some time working on the new hood but keep the old ones handy for when you just want to play.

And part of working on the hood is testing out all the cc you find for it. This is my biggest problem and what always sets me back, causing me to get fustrated and load a different folder. Oh, how to explain this? It might be more difficult for me because my hood is a bit more on the modern side, but it has been exhausting trying to go through my current download folder, trying to decide what I want to keep (mods, clothes, etc.). Of course, I haven't stopped downloading new things, either, so then trying to sort and look at new things on top of that gets complicated. (Or maybe I'm just making it complicated? Idk. )

In any case, I'm a simmer that needs to look at and try out the cc before I give it my stamp of approval and file it away. But loading up the game just to preview content is so boooooring. There's nothing I hate more than spending a whole day "playing" but not really getting a chance to play, you know? So if you're are a little like this and also feel the need to preview things, fair warning. Maybe others will have practical advise on how to deal with this?

Otherwise, after my own experiences and reading about other's experiences, I can only say to plan, plan, plan and backup, backup, backup. I guess this goes for pretty much all types of hood creation, but it is helpful if you try to sit down and plan all the preloading stuff first--are you going to use empty templates and create your own townies, will you use a name replacement mod, are you going to create your own terrain, which subhoods are you going to add, will you want any premades, etc. Without going into too much detail about those things, it's always best when you hammer those details out before you get too far along in the neighborhood development.

Then think about the rules/story for your hood because that'll help you decide what direction to go in for cc.

Next think about what you need to set up the hood and how many sims you're starting with. I always recommend to start small--if only because households multiply as the hood goes along. I'm always amazed at the huge rotation lists some simmers have going. Only you will know how many sims is too many, but there is something to be said about actually getting started and not getting too bogged down on the details. I've read other simmers' stories about their long journeys to set up a hood (some have taken years!) or how they keep restarting a hood because they "messed up" and well, let's just say I worry for them and that they're not having any fun.

So my last piece of advice is to set a goal and a "bare minimum" list. Make a plan (and try to stick to it) for how long you want to take to set up the hood. Be realistic. To help with that, create a list of the bare minimum things you need to start to play--the cc, the houses, the comm lots, etc. For example, it would it be nice if you set up a ten tier class system, but do you really need all ten to start playing? And does each class really need 3+ options for clothing? Etc. Things like that. Depending on the time period, it could get super easy to spend loads of time setting up intricate systems or downloading a ton of cc that you don't end up using.

I truly believe that this is an area where TS2 shined and excelled over TS3. The developers gave players just enough to get started--a handful of households, a couple of community lots, and some open ended scenarios. Some personality, but not too detailed and thought out that it feels like your sims are getting lost in a sea and that you can't make any changes. (Will never forget the disappointment I felt upon opening Sunset Valley for the first time and realizing that the neighborhood was full and complete and that there wasn't a single space for me to add my own lot.)

Because, while I don't know how everyone plays, I think it's safe to say that TS2 is a game where you add as you go along. You download new cc, you build new things, you introduce new sims. You could build lots of stuff for the new hood, then sit down to play and find you don't really like what you built at all. (Just happened to me after testing an apartment I built for the Apartment Mania contest! ) Or you could decide that a lot needs a redo, just cuz. Or that you don't really like this one family and don't want to play them anymore. Etc. Etc. Etc. So don't get too bogged down in the details and don't be afraid to say 'I'll do that/add that later.'

I am more of the develope as I go type. I don't need a huge setup to start playing, just the basics which I add to.

I kind of wish I was more like that, but I'm just not! I like everything to be set up exactly the way I want it before I start playing a new 'hood. No wonder it's so rare for me to actually start a new 'hood!

Yes, I got that recently but haven't played my medieval game -all this talk is making me want to play it again. My plan is to get all my families in my modern game on spring, have the elder birthdays before switching my folders around.

I am way too impatient for that. if I had to set it all up perfectly first I would probably just give up.

Maybe try for a really small perfect set up and build on from that?

But if it's really small it won't be perfect!

Honestly, I think I'm a lost cause :-D Perhaps I will eventually get my perfect prehistoric Widespot set up. It's only 7 households, but I want to make all of the "natural" lots before I start playing as well as setting up the lots where each tribe actually lives. To start with I need to edit the SC4 terrain file that I intend to use. Then when that's done I can check my "natural resources" downloads folder, download any additional things that I want to add to it, and then place and set up all of the lots. I reckon there will only be around 100 of them to do!

Well, for those who are hunting for all the appropriate CC to run a medieval game, it is a painstaking process that can take a few years. Just recently I had a problem with a default road overlay, and Honeywell was kind enough to edit that particular overlay to make it work in my hood (as well as other people's), and that was just this year.

But once you get the desired results, keep all that CC safe and sound. It's a real pita to find it all when most of it's over 5 years old-and some sites aren't available anymore.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Food_(Skyrim) List of foods and ingredients.

Simmers can be so lovely when it comes to helping with CC stuff. I've had a few things that people have made for me over the years when I couldn't find what I was looking for (or in response to a direct request on Tumblr, as some creators there are OK with requests) and it's so fabulous to get something which is perfect, exactly what I wanted :-)

I keep back-ups of all of my CC folders, including the partial/incomplete ones, just in case. There is still sometimes stuff that I just can't find when I want it, though :-(

**ETA** Oh, and Jo, given where you live compared to where I live it always worries me when we're online at the same time! I should really go to bed, it's 2:37am here! :-D

I was wondering! It's 2pm down here. :D

I've been considering my options when it comes to starting historical 'hoods, and I think that a downside for me is that I would need a very large 'hood to be able to play the social/class system in a way that would satisfy me, if I played a medieval or Victorian 'hood. I would like to be able to play with royalty (the Goths), nobility and gentry, but in order to allow for sufficient marriage possibilities between families, throughout the generations, I would have to start with a lot of nobility and gentry households. As each titled household would then need poorer households to "support" it (as tenants on the titled household's land, as well as in terms of domestic service etc) I would need tons of poorer households as well, which would make for a very large neighbourhood which a) I would find very challenging to set up and b) I would find very slow to play!

I'm not really sure how to get around this problem, whilst continuing to play in a way that would satisfy me, as I'm not a fan of townies and never have any in my 'hoods. Does anyone have any ideas?

I solve the marriage issue by making a partner for sims who need one but can't find anyone suitable. I simply say they came from the next Kingdom. Royals are a point in case, they can only marry other royals or nobility. If there is a sim there who they could marry then that's who they get because arranged marriages were a big thing.
I allow peasants and merchants to intermarry but status will go by the male, so they keep his class. Peasants can also go up to merchants if they can make 10K.
My hood isn't that big but merchants certainly take pride of place with all the business. I don't play a huge lot of royals or nobles because I tend to find them boring.