More Houseboating Fun

The houseboat trip around the island of Matkooskee continues! For this session of gameplay, I tried another of Burnt Waffles’ lighting mods — Fresh Cut Day 2.5 with St. Clair water. I think this one might be a keeper. I wasn’t sure about the auroras — there’s only a 25% chance of them, but that’s more often than I wanted them (they’re beautiful but just don’t fit in with my coastal New England-y theme), so I asked Burnt Waffles if she would mind making a version with no auroras, and she very kindly obliged! So now I’m using the Fresh Cut Day 2.5 with St. Clair water and NO chance of auroras. *happy dance*

But I’m getting ahead of myself! Back to the auroras days and the Mortinez boys (and Betsy) on their little trip…

Last we left them, they had just visited the lighthouse on the southern side of the island and spent their second night on the houseboat. As the sun rose the next day, Lucas got his first skill point in fishing!

More Houseboating Fun

Shortly thereafter, he got his first point again. Wait, what? I checked his Skills, and he had NO points in fishing, even though I had received notification that he had gotten the first point…twice. Hrmm! Curious! Just one of the weird glitches I’ve been experiencing since the patch and IP. I have minimal mods in — even with Twallan’s I have it pared down to just MC, SP, Decensor, Register, Overwatch, and Error Trap, so I’m not sure what’s going on.

Since Elvis is pretty handy with a screwdriver, I had him upgrade his boat to have a foghorn. It made a nice foghorn noise. That was about it. :-D

More Houseboating Fun

At the time I thought you couldn’t have more than one upgrade on the boat helm, so I didn’t bother with the speed upgrade, which was unfortunate, because maaaan, these houseboats are SLOW! Good grief. It took them something like five Sim hours to go what would probably be half a mile in the real world.

But that’s OK…this was a leisurely trip. And it allowed me to play with areas of Matkooskee that I hadn’t played with much.

Their next stop was Easter Beach, one of the few lots of Johnnywr’s that I left intact. I noticed that if I directed Elvis and Lucas to go ashore, they pulled Elvis’s rowboat out of his backpack, but if I included Betsy the dog, as I did when they came back to the boat, they all went by water taxi. D’oh! So I guess that means no pets in the rowboats! Also, it’s hilarious how water taxis will pop up to take your Sims about 50 feet away. Bleh!

More Houseboating Fun

Betsy was so happy to be able to run around! She and Lucas played fetch.

More Houseboating Fun

I love how Sims will fake the dog out sometimes. Lucas, you meanie.

More Houseboating Fun

How could you be so cruel to this sweet face?

More Houseboating Fun

Elvis grilled some hamburgers for dinner and then started sunbathing autonomously, but he was practically in the trees, so I made him move a bit closer to the shore and sunbathe again. Silly Sims, trying to tan in the shade! (Although that’s what I do — if I don’t stay in the shade and lather on the sunscreen, I burn up like a vampire. Heh.)

More Houseboating Fun

Hmm, Elvis looks like he might be reading about the dangers of sunbathing…

More Houseboating Fun

(He got a nice tan, though.)

I directed Lucas to play in the ocean, but his fun meter was already full from playing fetch with Betsy, so it didn’t last long enough for me to get a good picture!

More Houseboating Fun

Back on the boat for a good night’s sleep…Betsy looks at the aurora and wonders what the fram is happening.

More Houseboating Fun

Continued on page 2…

15 thoughts on “More Houseboating Fun

  1. First things first: Where (oh where oh where) can I get the llama mod? I’m starting to wish I was in the Sims world just so I could bash Llama Head with a baseball bat (dear EA, llamas are NOT funny or cute [unless they’re spitting at people, now that’s funny]) This update was brilliant, the pictures looked wonderful, and I want to live in the lighthouse (suffering the Coffee Crazies, waiting for Ma to get back from the supermarket, ran out of coffee yesterday morning)!! And I didn’t know you could make the houseboats go zoomier! Oh, boy, there’s my Ma, no more coffee deprivation, Wheee!

    • Hi Scally! Glad you got your coffee! LOL. The mod I downloaded was the “No Mascot Intro Situation” mod by bluegenjutsu at Naughty Sims Asylum. You have to register to be able to access the thread and download the mod, but it’s worth it, as they have a TON of useful mods there!

      • Ta, muchly, off to check it out now :-) Sorry for the other post, my brain was short-circuiting ;-) Also, I now have Supernatural and Light Night thanks to a friend who doesn’t want them anymore, so those are getting transferred onto Porky, and hopefully they’ll work!

  2. The pics are awesome !!! My favourite is the first pic of the second page : when we see the two lighthouses ! And Betsy… so cute ! I love the expressions of the pet in Sims 3, always cute and sometimes funny ! One last thing to do : make disapear this Evil Llama boy who screw you this beautiful trip !

    • Thanks so much, Corblas! :) I love the expressions of pets in Sims 3 as well — they did a great job on them! LOL at the Evil Llama Boy! That’s a good phrase for him! (Although I think this llama mascot was a female, actually! Hehe)

  3. As usual your photos are beautiful! Uncle Elvis seems like the perfect uncle and they look like they had so much fun! You’re right though he might want to look into suncream :D

  4. What a wonderful story! Uncle Elvis has got to be the loveliest sim there is <3 <3 He is so cute with Lucas and my went all mushy-mushy when he tucked him in at the end of the story, and Betsy was lying there in bed too *tearyeyes*

    And wow, Jen, your pictures are just absolutely stunning *sigh* Matkooskee is so gorgeous and you always capture this wonderful feeling/atmosphere in your pictures!

    Loved this and uuuuuuuuuuuuuuurgh I must get Island Paradise now!!!!

    • Aww, thank you so much, Sara-love! You always leave such sweet comments! *hugs* I do love Matkooskee and am surprised I’m not tired of it yet! *lol* Johnnywr did a wonderful job on this world!

  5. AWWW!!! More houseboating! *happy dance*
    A new pier! The railing from Barnacle Bay is indeed perfect for piers! Aww… it’s so pretty! And that sweet Betsy’s face! OMG, Elvis and Lucas outside the Pearlie’s Market! And what a view! *sigh*
    Oh, how do you do it that your pictures are so stunning, so breathtaking???

    • *blush* Gee, thank you, Kate! :) I think the lighting mod I’m using really adds that special something extra to these pics!

  6. Aw what an awesome trip with plenty of gorgeous pictures to remember it by <3<3

    Hehe Uncle Elvis makes me want a boat that makes a foghorn noise too. Where I live we have a lot of 'péniches' and the tradition is that for big events, like Midnight countdown on New Year, they all go berserk with the boat/fog/thingie-horn. *sigh* Home sweet home!

    Squeeee Betsy makes the most adorable puppy face <3<3. Lol and everytime I see her I keep calling her Betsy Boop (- Boop Boop Dee Doo – ) *rolleyes-snort*
    Gosh I think I would be a meanie like Lucas just to see her make that super sweet face when she realizes he didn't throw the stick <3

    "Back on the boat for a good night’s sleep…Betsy looks at the aurora and wonders what the fram is happening."
    Lol !! First time she saw an aurora on a picture, my niece Loulou (6) said it was an Alien Cloud Invasion and her cousin Biby (10) exclaimed: Is E.T baaaaack ?!!!!
    No need to tell you how much they were disappointed by the 'real' explanation…. They still find auroras very pretty though :D

    Lol the "You're being watched feeling ! "

    Aw that last pic on page two is so …well picture perfect <3<3. The pier looks so very lovely, and wow what a Moon!!

    Oh I used the same rope fence in the island I'm building (love them) and for the stairs I build them on a not too sharp slope, delete the railing and use the rope fence along the stairs. It works pretty well. *nod-nod*

    Wow Betsy can jump ! She is so adorable <3.
    Oh *wave* SimMiniMe/Tasha ! What cute clothes she has…I just want the same in RL (of course I can totally fit in them ;P )…..and if she could let the cookies, that adorable Lucas will without a doubt give her, in one of the pockets…. ^^ *Yum*

    LOL Uncle Elvis going WOooOT WOooOt! and then crying over his tomatoes (okay that might be mean to laugh about that last one…..but LOL)

    Oh yeaaah ByeBye Llama! I used to love the mascots in the Sims2 but there they are just MMmp%#@*nmpmkm ( and remaining polite ;P! )

    Oooh new houseboat, guys, family, map……So much goooooodies …….Me and my cookies will stay tuned!!

    • Tedhi!!! You wrote a novella! *faint* So much fun to read! :-D Ooh, I bet it is fun on New Year’s Eve with all of that crazy foghorn noise! *lol* And how cool, I learned about péniches from Manu on our forum — they look so lovely!

      LOL at your nieces’ reactions to seeing an aurora! Great tip about the BB fence, to use that instead of a stair railing along a slope! Brilliant! *clap*

      Thanks for your comments, my dear! *hugs*