I realised I didn't have a seperate post yet for Pleasantview's most recent incarnation, so have some more neighbourhood picspam. :)

Bit of a Public Service Announcement before we get to the goodies :) I am probably going on a hiatus from today onwards. I've got exams to concentrate on, after those the boyfriend is coming over to stay here for a while as he looks for jobs. I've managed to snag myself some vacationwork which regretably will see me getting up at 6am and coming home around 6pm, and depending on whether I pass this year or not (and this is by no means certain yet, as I've had a crappy schoolyear) I might have to start preparing for my move to the UK. Lots of stuff going on, in other words!
Note that I did say *probably*. I might find time for some Sims blogging, I might not. At any rate, the crazy update schedule I've had for the past month will most likely be a thing of the past. I'll be around - I just have no idea how much, as it all depends on outside factors that I just don't know yet.

Anyways, on with the motley. I've prepared a little parting gift for you all: my Megahood terrains all packaged up and ready to use.

( Downloads and Info Behind the Cut. )

Ever since the first time I made over Desiderata Valley (which was for my first Megahood), I've been playing it as a tropical hood. Desiderata Valley originally 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 missing a semi-tropical  hood. Plenty of temperate climates, a desert (Strangetown) and mountain/pine forest (Riverblossom Hills), but no palm trees!

One extra thing I did for Desiderata Valley was go into all the houses and give them the same off-white stucco job and red roofing.The effect is more Tuscan than tropical, but I like it anyway :)



( Oooh, it's a tropical loveland... )

I've never done a makeover of Bluewater Village before. In my previous Megahood, I deleted the whole hood immediately and distributed the Sims over the other hoods. I don't think I have ever played it either, gone through the houses or anything like that. As such, I've never attached an 'identity' to it the way I have to the other EAxis hoods, so it was quite interesting to try and give it one.
I've always seen Bluewater Village as being situated somewhere between Pleasantview and Belladonna Cove. I suppose it could be a fishermen's village that has grown into a trade outpost. Eventually, I'd like to give it more 'marine' elements, maybe a marine biology research institute and some fish shops, stuff like that.



( That salty air... )

I changed very little in Riverblossom Hills. Deco-wise, it's one of my favourite Maxis hoods, and it's clear one of the developers put a lot of work in it. It's got a lot of detail and character already, so I just tried to add to that a bit.
Taking neighborhood pictures for Riverblossom Hills is a nightmare, by the way. Because of the surrounding mountains the camera constantly flips out and jumps to a ridiculously zoomed-out position. Ugh.



( Just smell that mountain air... )

Exams are coming up, so I don't have time to properly play the BaCC right now. I'm doing these MMO's in between work as relaxation, as I find it a great way to de-stress. (I'm not doing all these hood makeovers from scratch, by the way. I've got the templates for them saved, so I've got a starting point on which I can build further. In some cases I change them around a lot, in others, not so much.)
Megahood Strangetown is pretty much the same as in Strangely Pleasant, with a few tweaks. The reddish sky is what really makes this hood for me, though. It might be a goofy little town, but it's also full of aliens, mad scientists and secret military operations. Now it looks appropriately vaguely threatening. I really like that :)



( These people are strange, when you're a stranger... )

More Megahood Makeover! Veronaville is such a small community - only three families. I'm never really sure what to do with it in the Megahood, as it feels odd having other families migrate to it.
It's definitely a gorgeous rural hood pre-makeover, and I always try to preserve that feeling when re-arranging and redecorating this hood.



( All the world's a stage... )