Not that anyone is going to end up reading this or anything, but whatever.

I've finally been lured into trying out the Uberhood. I'm using the one by meetme2theriver  and am rather excited about this huge-ass project. I've got severe Sims ADHD, and never really seem to stick to one 'hood. I don't think I've ever played a family past generation three or so. So this will probably be abandoned within the month as I lose interest. Or maybe not. Who knows?

Of all the hoods the only one I have played extensively is Pleasantview. I've played around with Riverblossom Hills and Strangetown a bit as well, but that's it as far as Maxis hoods go. I find Maxis-created sims and 'hoods pretty fugly and probably put more time in making over the 'hood, sims and houses than I actually play the game.

So at the moment I'm busy making over 7 or 8 full 'hoods, which is practically an entire project in itself. Some 'hoods only get light cosmetic changes or some house-shuffling, others I get pretty intense with, depending on how much I'm feeling it at the time and whether I like the original hood or not. I'll be recording my progress in this journal, and who knows, I might actually get to play this thing sooner or later.

So, yeah.

Belladonna Cove looked really nice, especially from the houses (I love my simmies living in an actual town/city, rather than in the middle of nowhere - with the exception of Strangetown of course). I couldn't resist shuffling the houses around though, and the 'city' bit looked rather... lacklustre, so I gave it an update as well.

I'm not sure I'll be keeping the apartments, seeing as I find them awkward to play. I'll either build some new ones or move families out to proper houses.

Desiderata Valley has this completely uninspiring hood layout, and the whole 'valley inbetween the mountains on the edge of a lake/sea' thing has been done way too often. I was also sort of missing a semi-tropical (or at least mediterranean) hood. Plenty of temperate climates, a desert (Strangetown) and mountain/pine forest (Riverblossom Hills), but no palm trees!

So as I have no attachment whatsoever to Desiderata Valley as a hood, I decided to fill the lacuna and convert it. I've edited the terrain to make it more lagoon-y, and to put in a small town center in the road layout.

I've been using a different terrain for Riverblossom Hills for ages, so I just HoodReplaced it from the original to the Megahood version. It's got pretty much the same terrain feel, but a different layout which I vastly prefer.

The houses definitely need some work, but I can't keep my attention on it very well, so they'll be rebuilt as I go along. Riverblossom Hills has a Spring/Fall/Winter/Winter climate, as it's up in the mountains, and I appreciate the irony of it being supposed to be a farmer's community. Up in the mountains? They'd better invest in some greenhouses then.

I really love Criquette's neighbourhood items, even though I kinda suck at using them. For Veronaville, they totally made the hood though. I really love how it turned out, and even though the houses are hopelessly unpractically laid-out, they do add that touch of medieval Europe. I'll probably keep them as lot imposters, and eventually build some new ones that are actually useable for my famblies.

I think I'll keep Veronaville Monty/Capp only, as other families just feel out of place here. I'll still import spouses from other hoods though (otherwise there'd be little point to the whole Megahood thing).

I pretty much like Strangetown the way it is. Did some very minor house shuffling and added in a couple of buildings by creators far more talented than me.

The lack of space might have to be adressed at some point, but for now I'm happy with it. Crowded Strangetown would look odd anyway.

Pleasantview is by far my favourite Maxis hood. The characters are quirky, the houses don't completely suck and I know the families and their backstories very well.

I've completely redone the road layout and decorations, only the terrain is still the same. I must confess I love it to bits, especially the slummy area I built pretty much solely because I wanted the Brokes to have somewhere appropriate to live.