The Sims 2 Bon Voyage - Frequently Asked Questions

[The Star Hermit]

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage- Frequently Asked Questions

If you want to know what The Sims 2 Bon Voyage is all about, or perhaps you need a helping hand installing or playing the game, hopefully you'll find something here to get you started.

Contents

• What is The Sims 2 Bon Voyage?
• What are the Minimum Requirements?
• Is there a patch for The Sims 2 Bon Voyage?
• How can I prepare my PC for installation?
• What happens if I already have Custom Content installed?
  
  
• How does time work on the vacation lots?
• Why can't I save on a hotel or camp site? - Setting a 'Home Base'
• What effects does the Collection Rack have?
• How do seasons work in Bon Voyage?
• Which terrains are the best for placing beach lots?
  
  
• How do I fulfil all the mementos?
• How do I create a hotel?
• What are the cheats for The Sims 2 Bon Voyage?

Note: Some of the information in this FAQ comes from the EA websites and their technical knowledge database. This FAQ is intended to support the PC Sims 2 expansion pack called The Sims 2 Bon Voyage. For more information on other Sims 2 expansion packs and titles available, see thesims2.co.uk homepage.

[The Star Hermit]

What is The Sims 2 Bon Voyage?

(Click images to enlarge)

The 6th expansion pack for The Sims 2 sees the return of holidays/vacations for our sims, have your sims take a break from the hustle of everyday life, take them away for up to 7 days at a time. Shipping with the game will be three separate locations for sims to travel to and explore, these include camping on mountain tops, exploring the culture of the far east, or relaxing on a lush tropical island. Just have your sims pick up the telephone or boot up the computer to access the new holiday planner, choose your sims travelling companions, their price range and when they want to go. Once you are away and have chosen your location, your sims can choose to stay in a hotel and make use of room servce, or if they are financially successful they can even buy a permanent holiday home in their favourite location.

Going on holiday doesn't have to be about whiling away the hours in the sun, your sims can increase their travel ranking and collect mementos while they are away. Have your sims visit local attractions such as the shrine, build sandcastles on the beach or collect shells, chow down with the locals and learn their ways, or maybe just hunt for treasure; if your sims are lucky they could find maps to secret locations.

Your sims can meets various new characters such as the Tour Guide, Bigfoot or the wise old hermit; learn new skills and dances from them and increase their standing with the locals. Have your sims relax with a massage, take part in axe throwing or log contests, or just take time out to browse the gift shops for jewlery for their friends. If your sims prefer the beach life then have them spread out on their beach towels, cool off with a swim in the sea, then have them explore the pirate ship, who knows what they may find inside.

New objects include the camping tent and camp fire, massage tables and the collection rack among others. New styles/themes are unlocked in build mode by visiting the locations. New gameplay additions include a new game launcher when you start up The Sims 2, sims can walk between community lots, weddings can now be held on community lots, and sims can now take their own photographs with a digital camera.

The Sims 2 Bon Voyage is due for release in the UK on 7th Septenber 2007.

For more information about The Sims 2 Bon Voyage, have a read through of:

GameSpy - The Sims 2: Bon Voyage Announced for PC (26th July 2007)
IGN Preview (6th August 2007)

Also see:

Some Inside Scoop - MaxoidDrea (9th August 2007)
Bon Voyage chat transcript (16th August 2007)
Bon Voyage Blog
Bon Voyage answers from the Maxoids (Updated 20 August 2007)
Bon Voyage Producer Walkthrough - (30th August 2007)

and Bon Voyage preview reports at these fansites:*

Sims Resource fanday article
Simfantastic2 fanday article
Edenstyle fanday article
Sims2community fanday article
Sims 2 UK fanday article

and the latest Sims 2 Bon Voyage Videos.

*Note: As this is the official UK Sims forums, I've only included the English language fansite reports; however you can see the full list here.

[The Star Hermit]

What are the Minimum Requirements?

As The Sims 2 Bon Voayge is an expansion pack, you must have The Sims 2 installed first. The minimum specifications for The Sims 2 Bon Voyage are listed below:

General Hardware Requirements

• 1.3 GHz processor (2.0 for Vista)
• 512 MB RAM (1GB for Vista)
• Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 Operating System
• 8x or faster CD/DVD drive
• At least 1.5 GB of additional hard drive space (5.0 GB total is required if installing both The Sims 2 and The Sims 2 Bon Voyage Expansion Pack at the same time)
• DirextX 9.0 compatible Sound Card
• DirectX 9.0c
• A T&L-capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM

Note: See Windows Vista FAQ if using that operating system.

Supported Video Cards

• ATI Radeon 8500 or better (9600 or greater required for Vista)
• NVIDIA(R) Quadro(TM) series - Quadro, Quadro2, Quadro4
• NVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS or better (GeForce 6200 or greater required for Vista)

Non T&L Capable Cards/Chips

If you have a non T&L capable card or integrated chip in your computer, you will need at least a 2.4 GHz processor; you may use the cards listed below:

• S3 GammaChrome
  • S18 Pro
  • S18 Ultra
• Intel Extreme Graphics 82865, 82915 and above

Note: If you are using a non T&L card you may find some of the display options are disabled. Video card chipsets in laptop systems may work with this expansion, however they are not officially supported by EA.

[The Star Hermit]

How can I prepare my PC for installation?

Backing Up

The first step to take would be to back up your current game files in case of problems during installation of The Sims 2 Bon Voyage. To do this, follow the steps listed below:

1. Find the following location on your hard drive: My Documents\EA Games.
2. Right-click on the folder called The Sims 2 and choose the 'copy' option.
3. Close the window.
4. Right-click on your desktop and choose the 'paste' option. This puts a copy of your current The Sims 2 folder on your desktop.
5. Move the copy of your The Sims 2 folder to any location you wish for safe keeping. This could be another folder in My Documents or better still, how about compressing it into a .zip file and put it onto CD/DVD or a flash stick for extra safety.

Graphics Card Drivers

When running The Sims 2 and other games that use the latest version of DirectX, you may need to update the drivers for your video card, especially if you haven't done so in quite a while and as a preventative measure. You can update your graphics drivers for free by downloading them from the website of your graphics card manufacturer. The latest versions for the two most common sets of cards (depending on your operating system) are:

• ATI Radeon Series: Catalyst 7.9 - Released 10th September 2007*
• Nvidia GeForce Series: Version: 162.18 - Released 5th July 2007*

For more information about about checking your card and current drivers, see The Troubleshooting Guide Graphic Cards section.

*Note: Versions correct at time of posting.

Hard Drive Housekeeping & Temp Files

Before installing any new program, it advisable to clean up and organize your hard drive. Sometimes a hard drive can become cluttered with a number of temporary files, or files that are out of order on the hard disk due to uninstalling and reinstalling. It can also suffer losses in integrity that can cause errors. Cleaning up your hard drive will help increase the performance of your game and help prevent problems while installing The Sims 2 Bon Voyage.

For more information on performing these procedures, see The Troubleshooting Guide Hard Drive Housekeeping section.

In addition to using the Disk Cleanup utility to empty temp files as part of your Hard Drive clean up, you can also clean up any temp files/folders manually that the utility has left behind. For more information see The Troubleshooting Guide Temp Files section.

Background Tasks

Almost certainly there are a variety of programs running on your computer, eating up resources, even if you don't know they are there. These tasks can cause conflicts when installing new software and it is advisable to shut them down when you come to install The Sims 2 Bon Voyage. This will include shutting down your anti-virus program (if you have one) as such programs can sometimes cause install conflicts if left running in the background, even on higher end systems.

For more information, see The Troubleshooting Guide Background Tasks section.

[The Star Hermit]

What happens if I already have Custom Content installed?

As with previous expansions there is a possibility that any custom content you have in your Downloads folder may interfere with the installation of The Sims 2 Bon Voyage, or otherwise be incompatible with the expansion. These problem files may not necessarily be limited to hacked objects but could also include new meshes or even some recolours. Many players find that they have no problem keeping their downloads in place during installation, but to be sure that you are not one of the few that do, it is advisable to completely remove your Downloads folder before you install The sims 2 Bon Voyage.

Removing Custom Content/Downloads

To remove your custom content from your game:

1. Find the following location on your hard drive: My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2.*
2. Left click on the folder called 'Downloads' and drag it completely to your desktop.
3. Now install The Sims 2 Bon Voyage.

*Note: For Vista users the default location is C:\users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents

Although it is possible to disable individual files with the Content Manager Tool, or even all your downloads during start up if you have the Nightlife or later expansions, the files will still be in the Downloads folder and there still remains a possibility that they could interfere with the installation process, therefore removing the Downloads folder first is probably the best way to be 100% sure that they cannot interfere.

Returning Custom Content/Downloads After Installation

Once The Sims 2 Bon Voyage is installed, I'd recommend that you start it up before you return your Downloads folder, just to be sure that everything went ok during install. If your game seems alright you can shut it down again ready to return your downloads. To return your downloads:

1. Find the following location on your hard drive: My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 and keep the window open.*
2. Find your Downloads folder on your desktop.
3. Left click on your Downloads folder and drag it into your My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2 folder.
4. Restart The Sims 2.

*Note: For Vista users the default location is C:\users\YOUR USERNAME\Documents

If your game won't start up now, problems occur when loading a neighbourhood, problems occur when loading a lot or you have loaded a lot and have noticed problems with it that were not there before installing The Sims 2 Bon Voyage, you may have something in your Downloads folder that is now incompatible with the The Sims 2 Bon Voyage expansion.

The first step to try is to using Content Manager Tool to disable or delete the more obvious target files as they will appear in red, then restart the game again and check if the problem has been resolved, if it has then you will need to reactivate each of the disabled files one by one, restarting the game in between until you find the problem file and remove it. If disabling the more obvious targets didn't solve the problem then you will need to disable all the files and repeat the procedure until you find the problem files, which may take quite a while if you have lots of them.

If you prefer or if you have trouble running the Content Manager Tool, you can search for the problem files manually. The first step is to shut down your game and remove your Downloads folder again (see Custom Content/Downloads section above). After this create yourself a new Downloads folder and start returning your files one by one. If you know the names of the hacks or new mesh files then you could start with these as they are more likely to be the problem, restarting the game again to check if the problem has been resolved.

It's probably unlikely that you will have to perform this time consuming procedure as most files are probably already compatible with The Sims 2 Bon Voyage, but if you are unlucky enough to experience this then it may be the only way of finding the problem files.

[The Star Hermit]

How does time work on the vacation lots?

There is a slight change to the way that time works when your sims visit a vacation destination. The change affects the passage of time when your sims are visiting community lots while on vacation.

Unlike visiting community lots in your base neighbourhoods where your sims arrive back home at the same time as they left, when on vacation time continues to run on their 'home base' lots where your sims are staying, while the sims are away on community lots. For example, if you take a party of sims to a community lot and leave at 9am, they spend five hours away taking their time to 2pm, when they arrive back at the 'home base' lot you will find that the time is also 2pm.

There are several points to be aware of, if you have sims staying at a hotel and they are away on community lots as the time passes 12pm (noon), when they arrive back at the hotel you are told that they are being charged for another day. This is because the charging times for hotels are always from noon until noon the next day.

Sims which are left behind on the 'home base' lot while your sims are away (including NPCs, local townies, NPC holiday makers and any sims belonging to your own party that you have left behind) will not see time continue, even though the time for the lot continues to run. For example, if you decide to leave behind one of your vacationing sims on his own eating breakfast at 9am while you take other sims to a community lot, when they return later the time will have moved on but your sim will still be eating breakfast.

No time passes for any sims back in your base neighbourhood.

[The Star Hermit]

Why can't I save on a hotel or camp site? - Setting a 'Home Base'

In your main neighbourhoods you would save by returning to your home residential lot, or by saving while on a business lot (if you have the Open For Business pack installed); in the vacation destinations the game first needs to know where the temporary home lot is going to be, you do this by setting a 'home base'. Until you set a 'home base' you will be unable to access the save function.

To set an owned lot as 'home base'

If your sims own their own holiday home in that neighbourhood and you want them to stay there, just move them straight into the lot, this sets this lot as the 'home base' automatically and enables the save function. You can now save and have your sims visit any of the other lots.

To set a campground as 'home base'

If your sims will be staying at a camping ground, just arriving at the lot is not sufficient to set the lot as 'home base' and you are still unable to save. This is because you have the option to change your mind and take them elsewhere instead.

In order to save on this lot you must first have one of your playable sims click on any of the available tents and use the 'Check In' interaction. Once you have done this it sets the lot as 'home base' and the save function is enabled.

To set a hotel as 'home base'

If your sims will be staying at a hotel, just arriving at the lot is not sufficient to set the lot as 'home base' and you are still unable to save. This is because you have the option to change your mind and take them elsewhere instead.

In order to save save on this lot you must first have one of your playable sims reserve one or more suites by clicking on the suite door and using the 'Reserve Suite' interaction, you must then have one of your playable sims check in to the hotel by clicking on the front desk and choosing the 'Check In' interaction. Once you have done this it sets the lot as 'home base' and the save function is enabled.

Once you have set the 'home base' for your sims you can then save and take them to any other lots in the vacation neighbourhood, including other hotels and camp sites, however you must always return to the 'home base' to save.

Should your sims check out of their hotel or camp site at any point, the save function disables again until you either check back in, go to another lot and check in, arrive at an owned holiday lot or return home to the base neighbourhood.

Sims staying in their owned holiday homes cannot set a different 'home base' during their current vacation, to change their 'home base' to a different lot they must first travel back home and book and pay for another vacation.

[The Star Hermit]

What effects does the Collection Rack have?

If you buy and place the ShowMeOff Rack of Glory collection rack, as well being able to hold 5 small decorative items which can be viewed for fun, your sims will also receive special benefits if you add particular vacation souvenir items instead. The souvenirs needed and the associated benefits are listed below.

• Five Far East souvenirs - Sims gain faster skill building
• Five Mountain Souvenirs - Non romantic socials increased
• Five Island Souvenirs - Romantic socials increased
• Five Seashells - Sims gain slower bladder decay
• Five Voodoo Dolls - Sims nearby think they are being attacked by bees.

The Mountain, Island and Far East souvenirs do not necessarily have to be five of the same item, they just need to be from the same destination. You do not necessarily need five of the same Seashells, they can be from any beach lot, including non vacation beach lots.

The ShowMeOff Rack of Glory collection rack can be found listed in Surfaces/Shelves under the function sort, or under Living Room/Surfaces if using the room sort. It can also be found listed in Shopping/Surfaces under the community lot sort.

[The Star Hermit]

How do seasons work in Bon Voyage?

If you have The Sims 2 Seasons expansion installed, the seasons, weather systems and seasonal affects are continued whilst your sims are visiting vacation destinations. For more detailed information on seasons and how they work, see The Sims 2 Seasons - Frequently Asked Questions.

The default seasons for the three pre-made maxis vacation destinations are as follows:

Three Lakes

• Season 1 - Autumn
• Season 2 - Autumn
• Season 3 - Winter
• Season 4 - Winter

Twikkii Island

• Season 1 - Summer
• Season 2 - Summer
• Season 3 - Summer
• Season 4 - Summer

Takemizu Village

• Season 1 - Spring
• Season 2 - Spring
• Season 3 - Autumn
• Season 4 - Autumn

You can change these to any combination you prefer in the usual way, by using the season changer control in the vacation neighbourhood screen.

Which particular season your sims will experience when they arrive at their vacation destination, depends not only on how you have set the seasons via the vacation neighbourhood season changer, but also which seasonal quadrant of their cycle they are currently in.

For example, I set my main neighbourhood seasons as follows:

Season 1 - Spring
Season 2 - Summer
Season 3 - Autumn
Season 4 - Winter

My sim and his family are ready for a holiday and are currently in the second season quadrant (click to enlarge):

If I leave the default seasons as they are and take my sims to Three Lakes, they will arrive during during the Autumn as that is what the Three Lakes Season 2 is set as. If I take my sims to Twikkii Island, they will arrive during the Summer as that is what the Twikkii Island Season 2 is set as. If I take my sims to Takemizu Village, they will arrive during Spring as that is what the Takemizu Village Season 2 is set as.

Since all the seasonal affects still apply, it's worthwhile planning ahead what you intend your sims to do while on Vacation. For example, if I want to take my sims above to Takemizu Village to make as many far east friends as possible, it would be worthwhile to go to the Takemizu Village neighbourhood screen first and use the season changer control to switch the Season 2 (and season 3 if they were going for more than the current 5 days they have left in their current season quadrant) to Summer, since the summer season accelerates the building of non family friendships. If I then take my sims to Takemizu Village, they would arrive in Summer instead.

Note: Autumn accelerates skill building, however the only place in a vacation neighbourhood that your sims can build the traditional 7 skills, are whilst they are on a residential vacation home if they own one.

[The Star Hermit]

Which terrains are the best for placing beach lots?

If you enjoy creating your own neighbourhoods but are not sure which of the terrains available provide the best opportunity for placing the most beach lots, the listing below should help you.

Creating Neighbourhoods

If you have not created your own neighbourhood before and want to try it, go to the neighbourhood screen and click the 'Main Menu' button to bring up the main neighbourhood chooser screen, scroll right until you see the large blue 'Create Custom Neighbourhood' button, click this button to bring up a list of default terrains available. If you click on a terrain you can see a thumbnail image of it to the right, make your selection and click the blue triangle 'Load Template' button, enter a name, description and terrain type, finally click the 'Tick' button to create your new neighbourhood.

You are not limited to just creating your own main neighbourhoods, the same technique can be used to create your own University, Downtown, Business and Vacation districts, assuming you had the relevant expansions installed. Beach lots can be placed in any neighbourhood type, for example you could create your own University college town on an island, using only beach lots. Lucky Students!

Placing Beach Lots

There are several important considerations when placing beach lots:

• One side must be placed against the road
• One side must be placed in water
• No more than half of the lot can be in water

As when placing normal lots, the game will try to raise or lower a bit of land for you when placing the lot, if there's not enough land to build on though you will have to find another location.

The best terrains to use for beach lots, based on my experimentations are listed below. I have excluded any terrains that don't have any water, I've also excluded terrains that have water but can't place beach lots as they don't quite meet the criteria above. I have included terrains that can hold at least one beach lot.

Please note that this is not a precise assessment based on an exact number of lots, it's a general average because it depends on how wide the lots are that you choose, it also depends on the spacing between lots.

Poor Terrains

These terrains can all hold at least one beach lot each, some one or two more, however they are pretty limited.

• Arbordale
• Driftwood
• Isla Segundo*
• Oasis Valley
• Three Lakes

*this is a tricky terrain to use as you have to go right to the edge and rotate the neighbourhood to just the right direction, however there are several locations you can place 3x5 size lots.

Good Terrains

Depending on size and spacing of lots, these terrains have a pretty reasonable amount of places to put beach lots.

• Bluewater
• Twikkii Island

Excellent

Depending on size and spacing of lots, these terrains are the best locations for placing larger numbers of beach lots.

• Crescent Island
• Moon Islands

Of the two, I'd say Crescent Island is the best choice, all of the road/coast locations shown below are usable (click to enlarge):

Of course, this only takes account of the default terrains provided with the game and expansions, you may be able to download custom terrains which meet the criteria, or if you have a copy of Sim City 4 you could create your own instead. See Creating Custom Neighborhoods for The Sims 2 Using SimCity 4 on the exchange.

[The Star Hermit]

How do I fulfil all the mementos?

• Key: Unfilled Cryptic Name - Completed Name - Notes
  
  
• A singing pirate - Learned a sea chanty - Learnt from pirate ghost on The Swashbuckling Shipwrecker object. Choose the Plunder Captain's cabin interaction until the pirate appears, raise your relationship with him to seven to get the learn interaction. One already placed on South End Beach on Twikkii Island.
• Be guided to all the local sights - Went on all the tours - Three in each destination, nine tours in all to achieve this memento.
• Become a frequent traveller - Have five good vacations.
• Check out local sights - Went on a tour.
• Dace with the fire loving locals - Learned to fire dance - Fire dancer appears wherever there is a Scorchin' Matt's mat object. Some already placed on Twikkii Island community lots.
• Discover a vacation secret - Discovered a secret lot.
• Enjoy a hearty mountain meal - Ate flapjacks - Served from Flippin' Fred's Flapjack Shack. Some already placed on various Three Lakes community lots.
• Enjoy a meal delivered right to your room - Ordered room service - Use room phone or cellphone/mobile.
• Enjoy a warm cup of tea - Drank tea - Served from the Tea Time Table. Can be placed on any lot, some already placed on Takemizu Village community lots.
• Enjoy your trip - Had a good vacation.
• Escape to an island paradise - Went on an island vacation - Can be your own custom vacation neighbourhood as long as it is based on the island template.
• Explore the wilderness - Went on a mountain vacation - Can be your own custom vacation neighbourhood as long as it is based on the mountain template.
• Fence and navigate at the beach - Played on the pirate ship - Played on The Swashbuckling Shipwrecker object. One already placed on South End Beach on Twikkii Island.
• Find a lead to hidden secrets - Found a secret map - Can be given as reward when returning from a tour, can also be dug up using the 'Dig for Treasure' interaction when clicking the ground.
• Find an island secret - Got a voodoo doll - Given by the Witch Doctor on his secret lot on Twikkii Island, if you complete his challenge.
• Find the buried treasure - Dug up a treasure chest - Use the 'Dig for Treasure' interaction when clicking the ground. Can be used on any lot.
• Follow a guide to five new sights - Went on five tours - Three available in each of the three vacation destination types.
• Get an album to share with your friends - Ordered a photo album - Use the 'Order Photos' interaction on a computer, album available once your sim has taken at least two snapshots.
• Hang loose with the locals - Learned to hang loose - Learnt from the locals on an island vacation destination. They will initially greet you with this so be sure not to cancel greet interactions too soon, after your sim has been greeted once with this the 'Gesture...Hang Loose' interaction becomes available. You can now direct your sim to use the interaction on other sims until he/she becomes proficient at it. Note that it's the receiving of the gesture which improves a sims ability, not the giving.
• Hit that target - Get a bulls-eye ate axe throwing - Use the Axe-olutely Throwing Station, some already placed on Three Lakes destination. Success is based on the mechanical skill.
• Immerse yourself in tradition and culture - Went on a Far East vacation - Can be your own custom vacation neighbourhood as long as it is based on a far east template.
• Join in ancient exercise - Learned Tai Chi - Performed by the local inhabitants of Far East destinations, click on locals currently performing it and choose the 'Join' interaction. Until your sims learn it completely, they cannot initiate it themselves. Based on the body skill, sims with higher skill will learn it quicker.
• Landscape the Zen way - Raked a Zen garden - Use the Sand Waves Zen garden, choose the 'Groom' interaction. Can be placed on any lot, some already placed on Takemizu Village lots.
• Learn a Far Eastern tale - Learned the dragon legend - Given by the Hermit on his secret lot on Takemizu Village, if you complete his challenge.
• Learn the ancient massage of the Far East - Learned acupressure massage - Choose the 'Buy Massage' interaction on the Soft 'n' Tender Massage Table. Can only learn this massage when the table is placed on lots in Far East destinations, some already placed on Takemizu Village lots.
• Learn the local ways - Learned all of the local gestures - One in each of the destination types, three to learn.
• Learn to dance like the mountain men - Learned to slap dance - Performed by the local inhabitants of mountain destinations, click on locals currently performing it and choose the 'Join' interaction. Until your sims learn it completely, they cannot initiate it themselves. Based on the hidden dancing skill, sims with higher skill will learn it quicker.
• Learn to spread relaxation with heat - Learned Hot Stone massage - Choose the 'Buy Massage' interaction on the Soft 'n' Tender Massage Table. Can only learn this massage when the table is placed on lots in Island destinations, some already placed on Twikkii Isalnd lots.
• Learn to work out tension the mountain way - Learned Deep Tissue massage - Choose the 'Buy Massage' interaction on the Soft 'n' Tender Massage Table. Can only learn this massage when the table is placed on lots in Mountain destinations, some already placed on Three Lakes lots.
• Make a furry friend - Befriended Bigfoot - Found on his secret lot in Three Lakes.
• Make a wish - Wished at the lucky shrine - Use the 'Toss Coin' interaction on the Spiritual Shrine of Odd Blessings, can backfire if used more than once per hour. One already placed on Lucky Shrine Park in Takemizu Village.
• Pay homage to an ancient civilization - Made an offering at the monkey ruins - Use the 'Make Offering' interaction on the Temple of Jumbok IV object. Can already be found on Twikkii Island lots such as Ancient Ruins of Numchuck.
• Pound your chest like a true mountaineer - Learned to chest pound - Learnt from the locals on a mountain vacation destination. They will initially greet you with this so be sure not to cancel greet interactions too soon, after your sim has been greeted once with this the 'Gesture...Chest Pound' interaction becomes available. You can now direct your sim to use the interaction on other sims until he/she becomes proficient at it. Note that it's the receiving of the gesture which improves a sims ability, not the giving.
• Shake that grass skirt on the beach - Learned to hula dance - Performed by the local inhabitants of Island destinations, click on locals currently performing it and choose the 'Join' interaction. Until your sims learn it completely, they cannot initiate it themselves. Based on the hidden dancing skill, sims with higher skill will learn it quicker.
• Sleep under the stars - Slept in a tent - Sleep in the Action Traveler's Action Tent. Can be placed on any lot, can already be found on Axe Wood Campgrounds in Three Lakes.
• Stay on the log and win - Won at log rolling - Use the Deluxe Log Rolling Pit by Burly's Birling, ask another sim to join you to beat them. Based on the body skill, sims with higher skill will win. Can be placed on any lot but can already be found on Three Lakes lots.
• Take a bow - Learned to bow - Learnt from the locals on a Far East vacation destination. They will initially greet you with this so be sure not to cancel greet interactions too soon, after your sim has been greeted once with this the 'Gesture...Bow' interaction becomes available. You can now direct your sim to use the interaction on other sims until he/she becomes proficient at it. Note that it's the receiving of the gesture which improves a sims ability, not the giving.
• Third time's the charm - Had three good vacations.
• Travel like a Ninja - Learned to teleport - Can only be taught by the Ninja, he can be found randomly on Far East destination community lots. Click on him and use the 'Learn to Teleport' interaction, answer his random question correctly.
• Tree rings tell an interesting tale - Examined the tree ring display - Examine the Big Ol' Glory Tree Ring decorative object. Can be placed on any lot but already found on some Three Lakes community lots.
• Try a fishy eastern delicacy - Ate chirashi - Served from Nutritious Noodles Food Stand. Some already placed on various Takemizu Village community lots.
• Try a fruity island treat - Ate pineapple surprise - Served from Taste of the Tropics Food Stand. Some already placed on various Twikkii Island community lots.
• Uncover all the vacation secrets - Discovered all of the secret lots - Three to find, one each on all three pre-made vacation destinations.
• Use those tiles and win - Won at mahjong - Play another sim on the Four Blessing Mahjong Table, can be placed on any lot but already found on some Takemizu Village lots. (Note: I'm not entirely sure if 'Playing For Fun' will satisfy the memento, or if it has to be 'Play For Money').
• What can you find in the sand? - Found a beach treasure - Use the 'Comb Beach for Seashells' interaction on any beach lot. Finding anything should achieve this memento.

[The Star Hermit]

How do I create a hotel?

It's actually not that different to creating residential or community lots, however just building the hotel and placing the front desk does not make it a hotel and it won't function as one. To make it function correctly you must be sure the lot contains several crucial items, most importantly you will need to use a cheat to rezone the entire lot as a hotel. Since rezoning the lot as a hotel will disable some of the normal build/buy mode functions, it's best to leave that step until last.

Important Notes

Your hotel must include one each of the following if it is to function correctly:

• Hotel desk - ConciergoSum Desk by Welcome Home Furniture.
• Hotel room door - Solidity Door.

Also note the following:

• Hotel doors must always face outwards. (The smaller room sign must be facing out, the larger map image faces in).
• Hotel rooms should not have more than one hotel door leading into them.
• Hotel rooms that share a bathroom will not lock properly. (If you don't want to give them one each, consider a separate communal toilet or shower elsewhere on the lot instead).

The price your sims pay for a hotel room depends on:

• Number of tiles within the room. (i.e. the room size).
• Value of all the objects in the room.

Therefore it pays to take these into account when you design your hotel and it's price range.

Building your first hotel

Okay let's build a small functioning hotel to demonstrate. (Click images to enlarge).

I've placed a small 3x2 community lot in my neighbourhood, I've called it Small Cabin Hotel. I've created a single ensuite hotel room as part of the lot, I've also placed a Flipin' Fred's Flapjack Shack, an Axe-olutely Throwing Station, a simple seller souvenir rack among sundry other objects.

Here's what our small hotel looks like so far:

Now we add the Solidity Hotel Door in the right place so the game knows it's meant to be a hotel room. Note the sign on the outside of the door:

Now we add the ConciergoSum Desk:

Now one last step before we can call it a hotel, we must use a cheat to rezone the lot. Open the cheat box by holding down the Shift + Ctrl + C keys, into the cheat box type:

changeLotZoning hotel

Now save and exit the lot for the cheat to take effect. If you now re-enter the lot and go into the build mode, you should see that some of the tools have become disabled. This confirms the cheat has activated and your lot should now be zoned as a hotel:

All we need now is a willing volunteer...and right on cue comes Gordon to check in for us and try out our hotel:

Good job Flipin' Fred is always around to feed the locals:

The bed is quite comfy too. Hmm, should have placed the 'Do not disturb' sign I think:

There you go, that's all there is to it.

If you find you need to access all the build mode tools on any hotel zoned lot, all you need to do is rezone it back to a community lot. Use the cheat:

changeLotZoning community

to re-enable all the build/buy mode functions. Don't forget to rezone it as a hotel again when you are finished.

Non Vacation Neighbourhoods

Yes, you can place or build any of your hotel lots in a non vacation neighbourhood, all of the normal hotel functions are present with one notable exception. Hotels in non vacation neighbourhoods don't have the ability to save while your sims are on them, even if you have checked in. Unfortunately you will still have to send sims back to their home lot before you can save.