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Thank you so much! 💛 While I don’t have any sales planned at the moment, I’d love to invite you to join my newsletter so you’ll be the first to know if a sale happens in the future. You can join here: go.yellowllamaco.com/llamaletters

I totally get the price feels big upfront, but the value it adds to your gameplay over time is huge! Priceless, really. 😉

Welcome to the club - Sims Prep-aholics Anonymous 😂

Thank you so much for your comment 💛 I hope you get your car soon, it sounds like it'll make a huge impact! The SimGuardian will be here whenever the time is right, and it means a lot that it's already on your wish list. Good news though - you won't have to wait to get the SimGuardian to get your screenshots in order. I'll be sharing a video soon on how to create your own digital photo album in Notion, 100% for free. 😊

Thank you so much! 💛 It means a lot to hear that! Documenting my Sims' lives has become such a special part of my gameplay. It’s amazing to know it inspires other legacy players too. Hope you have lots of fun documenting your own legacy lore. 😊

Thank you for your comment. I completely understand where you're coming from. While I would love for every Simmer to use the system, I understand the SimGuardian is not something everyone can (or wants to) invest in. I unfortunately cannot base my price on accessibility alone as that wouldn’t be fair to my work & the value the SimGuardian offers. When you invest in the SimGuardian you’re not just paying for the time I spent building every block and connection (9+ months 😅). You’re also investing in the years it took me to gain the level of knowledge needed to be able to design such a complex system (while keeping it user-friendly). I'm also saving you a lot of time building your own. A thorough companion guide and free updates are also included. The SimGuardian is a pretty comprehensive system that goes deep in helping you preserve the stories you create in your life sim games. For dedicated Simmers who want to immerse themselves into their gameplay and keep track of their creative progress, it's a valuable tool. That said, I totally get that not everyone is ready to make that investment, which is why I offer purchase parity for my digital products, making them more accessible based on where you live. There are also more moderately priced products I offer, as well as free templates from other creators if you're looking for something simpler to get started. Thanks again for your feedback and for checking out SimGuardian! 😊

Thank you! 💛

Thank you! Both the SimGuardian and Sim Chronicles are great solutions to document your lore. If you plan on getting the SimGuardian (💛) I don't think you'll still need the Sim Chronicles. The SimGuardian covers everything the Sim Chronicles can do plus a lot more. And thanks to Notion's connected databases, information is truly connected. You can link pages in the Sim Chronicles, though these links aren't bidirectional. It's also easier to change properties in the SimGuardian for all records on the fly or make changes to page layouts. Via templates its super quick to then apply any page layout changes across the system without overwriting information already added to your records. The Sim Chronicles has the upper hand if you want to work 100% locally (Notion doesn't have an offline mode) or if you want to use custom fonts (Notion has only three fonts). It's also great if you prefer the familiar Wiki-style setup. If you're using a tablet with a pen, OneNote's handwriting mode is also nifty. I hope that helps. 😊

@@yellowllamaco Thank you so much for the reply and the in-depth breakdown of what both do! It was super helpful! The offline thing does sound really nice, but I much prefer the layout of Notion :3 Excited for SimGuardian!

I know what you mean. In my first sneak peek I shared how relationships are tracked in the SimGuardian, which initially included relationship dynamics displayed within the view - before I realized they would then show in all views. Might be a bit awkward seeing 'Crush' under a character's picture even if they don't have that dynamic with everyone. 😅 So I created a seperate section dedicated to relationship dynamics instead. In the case of the direct lineage view here, it just so happens that the Sims that married into the family weren't part of a legacy themselves and had no assigned legacy roles. If they did, their roles would've shown in the view as well. It's a good point that legacies can merge through marriage. I've updated the 'Married The Founder/Heir' label to 'Married The Founder/Heir Of [Spouse's Legacy]' and added the character's legacy to display in the view. That way, if the Sim that married into the legacy has their own legacy role from a previous legacy, you have more context and it's clear that the role relates to the other legacy. At this point the SimGuardian is finished (lots more improvements made since making these sneak peeks), though I'll still continue to make tweaks and changes based on Simmer's feedback after its release. There are so many different ways to play the game and stories to tell. I'll to keep improving on the SimGuardian to cater to as many Simmers as possible. 😊

@@yellowllamaco Thanks for the reply. I've been in your shoes so many times (re: "crush" example) - getting excited I've figured out a way to track something to then realize labels are showing up in ways that don't make sense and before you know, the whole thing is convoluted and messed up 😂 Adding more context to the label is actually a good way to go about it! Congrats on being close to release - I know exactly how much effort goes into a Notion like this 😂

Untangling a mess of convoluted databases is like a rite of passage when making your own Notion system. A roller coaster of ups and downs until things finally start to come together. 😂 Thanks! I can't wait for Simmers to get their hands on it and experience how great Notion can be for keeping track of our Sims. I hope you have lots of fun continuining to expand on your own Notion. 😊

Haha yeah, I was so stoked when I saw the new roadmap. Such beautiful cards. 😍 That's a great question! There are a few pre-filled databases in the system that cover DLC, worlds and static attributes (such as traits and cause of death) for The Sims 2, The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. This information can then be selected from a drop-down menu on other pages of the SimGuardian, for example when selecting a trait for your Sim. I'll make free updates to these databases as new content is added to The Sims 4. However, since the SimGuardian is a Notion template that you copy into your own workspace, updates won’t automatically apply to your version. You would need to add these details manually to your databases. Each game has its own dashboard with linked views to the DLC, worlds and attributes databases, making it easy to make the updates all in one place. This also allows you to add any custom worlds or attributes you may have from mods. Certain character information is available via select properties, such as their life state or gender. If we ever get a new life state, you could simply add it as an additional select option via the Characters database. Achievements are collected in their own database as well, though they are handled a bit differently from attributes. Since each achievement can have information specific to the character or business it's associated with (such as notes, current level, rank, rating, grade, etc.), they are manually added for each character (or business) individually. For example, each character's record page has a linked view to the Achievements database, from which you can manually add your character's accomplishments for the following categories: skills, careers, life goal, levels (for example celebrity status, visa level or restaurant rating), education, hobbies and interests (the latter two are for The Sims 2). I hope that helps. 😊

Oh my gosh, thank you so much! 💛 Detailed and nerdy is exactly what I was going for, so I'm so grateful for the huge compliment!

Once I found out how to use formulas there was no holding back. 😂I'm so glad you took the time to check out the SimGuardian and are even considering buying it! 💛 Once the system is ready, I'll be sharing an exclusive offer for those subscribed to my Notion priority list. You're welcome to sign up if you're interested. 😊 go.yellowllamaco.com/notiontemplatewaitlist

Thank you so much! I'm glad you like it. 💛 Absolutely, the SimGuardian is set up to save your Sims 2, Sims 3 and Sims 4 characters, lore, etc. right out the box. The Sims 3 is the GOAT so I had to make sure she was represented. 😍

@yellowllamaco this is a great tool you have put together. really looking forward to the release. i can't imagine how much time and effort went into this!! also happy belated birthday:)

@@luvrbae Thank you! I didn't quite make the deadline to have it done by my birthday but at least I was able to playtest it. 😅

I know right! Thank you 💛 Fingers crossed the algorithm picks it up soon so more Simmers find it. 🤞🏾 I'm glad you did. 😊

@@yellowllamaco I've been working on doing an archive for my save file in Obsidian, but this takes it to a whole new level! Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

What a coincidence! I just now started tinkering with Obsidian and really like how cut and dry it is. It's wonderfully simple with literally zero learning curve. For me it's missing the visual aspect to keep track of my Sims on its own, but one could use it in tandem with other tools to make it work. If you simply want to keep track of stories and don't care much about being able to add a gazillion screenshots on the fly, it's a great choice. 😊

Thank you! 💛

Thank you so much! 💛

Oh no, sorry to hear your save was corrupted! 😔 I guess the upside is that it's always exciting to start a new save. And I wholeheartedly agree that we need the SimGuardian NOW. 😂 I want it so bad too. Just a few more weeks and I'll finally be able to share the finished product. ✨ If you haven't yet, join my priority list and you'll be one of the first to get it. Link is in my bio. 😊

@@yellowllamaco ive join already and yeah it was a 4 year save and even the back up were corrupted D: but you are right starting a new legacy is always a good time!

@@footiegirl Yay! I'm glad you're already on the list. Thank you for joining. 💛 I hope you'll never lose a save again. 🙏🏾

That's awesome! So glad you're excited about the SImGuardian and giving Notion a go! The new traits and game mechanics from Lovestruck are already included in the current version and I'll be updating the SimGuardian when we have more updates. 😊 When you purchase the SimGuardian, you'll be able to make a copy of the latest version. Any updates I make to the SimGuardian afterwards won't reflect in your own copy, which isn't connected to the original version. However it's easy to add new content to the attributes database in the SimGuardian, where all of the traits, etc. are saved. It works kinda like how you would add a new row in an Excel sheet. I totally get that it might still be intimidating to make changes within an app you're not familiar with, so I'll include detailed instructions on how to do this in the product guide. I'll also be available if you have any questions. 💪🏾 If a new concept is introduced that will need a more fundamental change to the system, I'll share how to recreate that change in your own copy. I imagine as time goes by I'll be making more improvements and additions to the system anyway (compulsive maker 😅), so I'll share how to replicate them if you want those changes too. You'll also have the option to make a new copy of the latest version of the SimGuardian if you prefer (for example if you haven't added much content to your first copy yet and don't mind migrating that existing data to the new copy).

I'm so glad you like the setup! I want to make it easy for you to add and re-use any challenge you like. 😊 I truly appreciate your suggestions. You'll see a brief mention about Sim collections in an upcoming sneak peek. 😉

Thank you! 💛 You and me both. 😊 Can't wait to finish the SimGuardian and finally release it! I'm getting closer every day. 🙌🏾

Lumpinou has some mods that let you take notes and make check lists directly inside the game. It's also possible to extract genealogy data via the MCCC mod. It would be super cool to do that (if not already possible via a mod or feature I don't know yet). I'd consider myself a pro when it comes to organizing mods but I unfortunately have no idea how to make them or how they really work. 😅

@@ribbon-kitten7577 Thank you for the suggestion! 💛 I'll look into it. 😊

Thank you for your comment. 💛 I'm so glad you're excited. I'm a big legacy player myself so keeping track of our dear legacies is a must-have feature I had to include. 😊 I share these sneak peeks a week earlier with Simmers on my priority list. If you're interested you are very welcome to sign up here: go.yellowllamaco.com/notiontemplatewaitlist

Thanks! I used a template from Canva to make this one. I want to put more effort in the one for the royal legacy I'm playing. So cool that you're working on one as well! Designing your family's coat of arms can really help define your legacy's identity. 😊

Thank you for your comment! 💛 I hadn't thought of adding collections to the SimGuardian, thanks for the idea! There is already a way to track goals. I can see if I can find a way to add to track collections as well, which are kinda like mini-goals in themselves. 😊

@@yellowllamaco oh tracking goals is perfect! I usually pick a pack or mod and explore that, so this will be perfect

I swear Bella only goes for my female Sims

Gotta seize the moment. 😁

I'm so glad you like the planner! I'll be making more videos about the planner soon so you can have another look inside. :)

👶🏾🤌🏾

Thank you! I'm so glad the second edition is finally here. ☺️

Whenever a Sim ages up, a new one is born or someone marries into the family I update the tree. I'm terrible at aging my Sims up so it takes a while for me to make updates. Depends on how fast things progress in your game how often you'll update your tree(s). :)

@@yellowllamaco Do yo have a trick to do it automatically or do you do it by hand?

@@weni6521 There's no way to update a tree automatically unfortunately since apps cannot connect to the game. It doesn't take too long to update the family tree manually though since it's usually just one or two changes at a time.

Yeah it's really simple, I just thought maybe there is another way. Thank you for you help, and the video is really helpful. Thank you!!

Do you mean how to add twins? Or generally how to add multiple children to the parents? Another Simmer posted a similar issue - they mentioned that the siblings weren't always showing up in the tree. My theory is there may be a disconnect in the relationships you set up. To confirm if the relationships are being created as you want, you can double check under "Relationships" in the right hand panel of the Sim currently selected. All successfully created siblings, parents, spouses, etc are listed there. In the right hand panel you also see a list of all Sims in the current My Family Tree file. If you created any "unrelated" Sims by accident (instead of them being related as intented), they'll be listed there. You can select them, go to "Create relationship" and then "Connect to existing person". From there you can select what type of relationship they should have with the Sims of your choice. The app also has a great support doc which explains more about how it works: chronoplexsoftware.com/myfamilytree/help/index.htm I hope that helps! 😊

I meant that there is a add association multiple birth...but it doesn't seem to do anything. I sent a support ticket in, we'll see what happens I guess.

@@hookedbycrafting5348 I don't think I've stumbled upon that feature yet. I'm sure their support team will be able to help you out. Good luck :)

Do you mean how to add the birth dates for your Sims? You can add either add the in-game birth date as a text field in the date field or the 'real life' date for when the Sim was born on the day you played. The My Family Tree app has a great guide that describes how to use the different features, including dates: chronoplexsoftware.com/myfamilytree/help/dates.htm Hope that helps! :)

That's fantastic! I hope this episode gives you some legitimate excuses to play The Sims to inspire your writing. 😁

Oh no! I tried the import again today with a different file (don't have my original export anymore) and indeed it imported the 'detail' of each fact as a note. I opened the .ged file export in Wordpad to see what was happening and found that next to each 'detail' item is the line '2 NOTE'. I assume the My Family Tree app then reads and associates these items as a note in the tree. I don't recall making any changes to my .ged file export before importing that family's data back then though. I did fiddle around with the ged file to try and get the facts to match up correctly when I realized they were skewed by one row but have no idea anymore how exactly (and I wasn't successful 😅). I played around with the file I exported today and replaced '2 NOTE' with '1 FACT' and '1 EVEN' with an empty space (because otherwise the 'Type' was turned into an event). This kinda worked, cause now the type and details are listed as facts but I got a message about unsupported lines on import. So not quite the best solution. Not sure if changing the encoding type upon import helps though I didn't seem to find one that made a difference. I'm sure there must be some way to manipulate the file so it works although I unfortunately don't have a full understanding of how gedcom files are written. You can play around with the file and see if that helps. If I figure out how to make it work in the meantime I'll let you know. 🤞🏾

@@yellowllamaco Yeah, It seems as though the way Master Controller exports the ged files was changed in an update, or an update to My Family Tree changed the way it interoperates the NOTE lines, I found the same as you opening the files in Virtual Studio Code. The way It's exported from Master Controller is like this 1 EVEN 2 TYPE Skill 2 NOTE Collecting (0) And if I edit a sim and add it to detail, and then export it as a ged file from my family tree, it is exported like this 1 EVEN Collecting (0) 2 TYPE Skill 2 NOTE Collecting (0) So as far as I can tell, there's no easy way to fix this with a simple find and replace, because you'd have to add what's after each NOTE to the end of each EVEN line in the ged code. It is possible My family tree has a way to copy data from one field to another, but playing around with it, I haven't found any solutions.

Oh, I must've gotten the two mixed up. Thanks for confirming it was the case in The Sims 2. Makes me want to fire the game up again. It was so much fun. 😂

Oh yes, the joy of reminiscing on old memories. 💕 Thank you for listening to the podcast. 💛

I think Simlit is super creative and a great way to leverage the game for storytelling. It's also a fun way to dip into creative writing for beginners. I'd say Simlit is more approachable than machinima since you don't need to learn how to film in the game or how to use film editing software. I can imagine writing comes more natural to most as well. There's a bit more freedom in Simlit than machinima as well, since you can choose to use screenshots sparingly and write most of the story. The possibilities are then endless since you can include anything you can imagine in your descriptions and dialogue. If you're creating a photo story or comic, it can be trickier to get the Sims to pose just right or find the right props to tell your story, but still possible. For example, StassiJ creates fully fledged comics with her screenshots to tell her Rose Chronicles story (instagram.com/therosechronicles__/). And then you can get super creative with photo editing, which can be fun as well. I particularly like Simlit for telling gameplay-driven stories as well. You can embellish on what you experience in the game and even add dialogue. The story of Alive and Kev is a great example of some 10/10 Simlit: aliceandkev.wordpress.com/. I think it's fun to both read and create Simlit. What do you think? Have you ever created any Simlit? 😊

The amount/type of gedcom data you can export from the game (and in turn import into the My Family Tree app) depends on the mod you're using. In my example I exported my gedcom data from a Sims 3 save file with the Nraas Master Controller mod. This mod exports virtually all meta data for every single Sim in my Sims 3 world, which is why things like skills, addresses, zodiac sign, alma mater, etc. were included. When using the MCC Deaderpool mod for The Sims 4, you can similarly export the gedcom data but only for a single family from the game and with a limited amount of meta data. This is a limitation of the mod. Hopefully the mod is developed to include more data in the gedcom file but at least the gedcom file includes the family connections already set up. 😊 I hope that helps! 😊

Thank you so much for getting the planner and for your kind words! 💛 I'm happy to hear you're enjoying the planner and it's keeping your townies organized. 😊

Thank you for your comment. 💛 It's probably easiest to use the real life date and time the event happened for the timeline. For example, if the Sim was born in the Sims session you played today, then you could use today's date. If multiple events happen in one gaming session, you can also note the time it happened. Ages won't be correctly reflected but it would be tough to get that right anyway. It was a while ago when I tried using 'pretend real dates' to try and reflect time in the game but I recall was too much micro-managing for my taste. If I had stuck with it, I think I would've chosen the ISO calendar which lets you choose the week in which something happened. I would use the in game week for that value and the in-game year for the year. So if it were day 1 in the game, I would choose Day 1, Week W01 and Year 0001. With this system the age also doesn't reflect correctly so I'd simply hide the age from the family tree view, which I do anyway. If you are following a decades or history challenge then it's easier to use real dates. I hope this helps! 😊

That's a great question! To get screenshots from my Windows PC to my iPad I use iCloud as the middle man. You can install 'iCloud for Windows' on your PC for free. Once iCloud is installed, you'll find iCloud Photos in the left hand sidebar whenever you open the File Explorer window on your PC. From there you can simply copy any images (sticker PNGs, Sims screenshots, etc.) you'd like to use directly into iCloud Photos. Once you've added the images, they will take a couple of seconds to sync to the cloud. Then you can easily access them via the photos feature in Goodnotes. 😊 By the way, happy for you that you're getting an iPad! And so glad you'll be using it with my planner. 💛 I've had my iPad since 2017 and it's probably one of my top 5 favorite things. ✨

@@yellowllamaco Thank you so much for your reply. I really appreciate it ^_^ Your advice and explanation will come in handy within time. I am so happy when I have a new ipad again. I've had the very first Ipad Air, which I used for a solid 8 to 9 years! It turned so old though that it wouldn't get any updates anymore. Lasted a couple of years without an Ipad but I'm finally able to start saving up again. I've already been planning some things for it, like using your planner on it and more. I'm already so excited ^_^ It's definitely a 'must-have' in my eyes when you want to be creative without always having to go behind your laptop/desktop <3

Of course, I'm happy to help. The tip is also included in the online guide you'll have access to when you purchase the planner, so you'll always be able to reference back to that. And of course I'll always just be a message away if you need anything. 😊 100% agree! An iPad opens up an amazing world of creative possibilities. 😍

Aw, thank you so much! Your feedback really means a lot. 💛 I really do love this game to bits. I hope you enjoy the planner as much as I did making it. 😊

100%, we're Simmers for life and need a tree that will last just as long. The app has been around for 14 years and there's no sign of the company going away. 🤞🏾 Even so, since it's a desktop app so long as you have the .exe file you can use it, even if the company does shut down. Kinda like how The Sims 2 is no longer supported by EA/Maxis but we can still play it. 💛 And since the My Family Tree app saves your data in the universal GEDCOM file format, you can easily move to another genealogy app in the future if something cooler comes along. 😊 Have fun building your tree! 🌳

@@yellowllamaco thanks for saying that! I definitely feel better. I’ve been playing with this family tree for several hours now. I love it. I need to be asleep!! I did the export you talked about and found lore in my game I didn’t know was there. This is really cool 😂😂. I also didn’t realize I was up to 9 generations already. The family tree in game is horrible

Haha yeah, the in-game family tree is definitely lacking. So glad you can now see the full scope of your family tree. 9 generations is solid and it's amazing that you even discovered some lore. That really is cool! Hope you sleep well when you do. Now with the peace of mind that your Sims generations are safe and sound. 😊