I am slowly returning from about an 8 month hiatus. I was feeling overwhelmed and download burnout I suppose. I am wondering if there is a simplified post or document that would be something like a starter pack of things to do to start from a fresh install of the UC. I realize that there is a mega ton of info on lots of topics out there, but pulling it all together and remembering all the small stuff is tough when starting over.

I am looking to be able to play both premades and be able to create a custom empty hood at some point. Not sure if this is possible on one game setup. Essential mods to prevent game corruption. Mods to play a self sustaining hood with sim owned business and some simpler ideas to work the game Npc's and finance system into the game. I realize The Sims 2 is a very complex and finicky game so there is NO EASY one way fix for everything. I am mainly looking for people's ideas and thoughts, and depending on what becomes of this post, maybe this could be a go to spot for those starting from scratch . Thanks and I hope this post will not upset anyone, because this is not my intention.

Well obviously you'll want the essential mods here if you don't have them already: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=532696

Since you want to play the Maxis neighborhoods, you should also download the cleaned versions here: https://meetme2theriver.livejournal.com/63030.html

For a self-sustaining hood, I'd consider no20khandout essential, as you'll want to minimize the amount of money that magically appear. Maybe look into the Challenges section for various Build a City challenges, those might give you ideas.

Once you start up the game 1 time just make a copy of the Sims 2 folder in My Docs and keep it safe and anytime you want to reset to the beginning again you can just copy and paste this folder back in after you have moved your playing folder out.

You can wait till you have the mods in before making a copy of it so it will be the same the next time you want to do a reset.

If you want the tutorial to run in each hood, Pleasantview, Strangetown and Veronaville you will need the original hoods that came with the game.

As Ovenhole said these are good to play long term https://meetme2theriver.livejournal.com/63030.html but they do not have the tutorial that comes with the original hoods.

Hoods are quite easy to move around/be edited/created, you just need to keep track their ID numbers. Basically, each hood has assigned a 4 letter "name" and everytime you create one, it will continue the numeration. In a vanilla game, you will have a total of 6 hoods (Pleasantview, Strangetown, Veronaville, Riverblossom Hills, Desiderata Valley and Belladonna Cove) - the first 3 are respectively named "N001", "N002" and "N003" and any other player made hood will follow this system, meaning that a new hood in a fresh install will be named "N004".
The following ones have completely new numbers/letters to avoid conflict with any custom hood you might have created before installing an EP that add one of the "extra" hoods. For this reason, if you ever decide to create a custom hood, I'd suggest you to rename it asap - you can either do it manually or using a software (I've always used "Bulk Rename Utiliy", which is great and free). You can rename the hood using any alphanumerical character, as long as it's 4 letters short - I usually use some letters from the name I gave.
On a similar note, you might want to keep more than one "The Sims 2" folder in your documents. For me it's useful to keep one for when I want to create something BodyShop, which it would be quite slow to load in may main game folder, due to the huge amount of CC. You just need to rename the one you don't want to use in something else - the game won't read it unless it's called "The Simsâ„¢ 2 Ultimate Collection". Some simmers use this system to have themed CC hoods - you could have a medieval one, a futuristic one, a victorian one and switch from one to another according to what you'd like to play.

My first tip is to download clean/fixed templates since, no matter what, the EAxis ones are corrupted in some aspetcs. You can find more info here or here
Also, it might be a good idea to get rid of some "extra" families and Sim that are automatically added to the game: http://modthesims.info/d/520751/cle...-templates.html

There are a number of critical fixes and mods that improve the game stability and also the playability, you can read more here: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=532696

Also, if the game runs on a newer machine, you might probabily double check also the Graphic Rules Maker and the 4GB Patch.

On the "appearance side" there are a lot of mods which make the game look so much better, including lighting mods , water overhaul and skylines: http://lesyasun.tumblr.com/post/175...to-make-my-game

Also, if you intend to use custom items, don't forget to download the CEP, the Clean Installer and the Download Organiser - the first two are essentials for managing/see CC, while the latter is a nice software that help reorganising your downloads. You can organise your Download folder in subfolders, some other simmers have shared an empty structure that you can use instead of creating it from scratch: http://allisas.tumblr.com/post/3241...mething-we-were.

Ok, I think that's all :O I didn't realise I wrote so much, I think I'm gonna share it on my Tumblr as well I have probably forgot something else, but I'm sure the others will be able to add what's missing!

The last lighting mod I used was this one http://modthesims.info/d/290746/gun...-4-4-29-09.html.
Is the one referenced above the better choice ?

I wouldn't say that's better, but imho Gun's one is too dark sometimes; plus, DP's is much closer to the original maxis and I prefer it to take pictures. It all depends on your personal taste anyway.

If you're feeling overwhelmed with knowing what to download, I'd really suggest you just play vanilla or with very little cc for a bit. That's how I figure out what I want in my game, and what I can't play without and what I need. I played vanilla, and thought 'I wonder if there's a way to... ' and then a quick google search yielded the mod or cc in question.

It can be overwhelming. When I restart, I usually go right to my must-haves first - BuggyBooz, Michelle recolours, Clothing, Hair, Eye and Skin defaults etc. etc., things that I absolutely cannot start up my hoods without. Then I branch out and go for interesting mods that I've seen.

Despite corruption fears, I don't actually know of any mods you need in order to start playing on UC. It comes fully patched - and yes, there's some borkage, but nothing that can't be fixed later when you've played for a bit and worked out what you want. It's the best way to start without giving yourself a headache imho. If you're worried about playing completely vanilla and getting attached to your hood and not wanting to start over, start with the premades. They can be restarted without really losing anything once you know what you want. And yes, it's completely possible to build a custom hood on a single iteration of the game - it's designed for that purpose I think the tricky part is really just working out what you want and not being afraid to build, delete, pause and start again to get what you want.

Thank you. I agree with what your saying about playing vanilla for somethings, but there are some things I had before that have been improved upon and some new things that are better options than we use to have and I am trying to sort that out. I was not sure what the major difference between Gundmods and dreadpirates was. There are many things I plan on leaving vanilla for some time.

@CoffeenSimming Some of us use Spooky Muffins lighting mod. I use there's with tweaks by Dicreasy. Gun's is too dark for me and I don't know this other one mentioned. However, I don't know if you want to think on that just yet unless you hate the look of the game vanilla. If you do then move it up the list of priorities. I played for years without one, but yes I really do prefer it.

I suggest that you add in the essential mods, load and play whatever takes your fancy and jot down what you want to change. Get a general feel for the game first.
What hits you first as needing to be changed? (For me it's the Maxis eyes, I have to default them right away, for you it might be something else.)
What sim behaviour really annoys you? (Things like sims waking up at 3am to rain and walking miles to place down a coffee cup make the top of my list.) So look/ask for mods to fix those.
Look to CC for more variety. Clothes, hair, recolours. I would put lighting and water mods in this area.
Mods that add gameplay I would look to last.