A Call for Help - Maps!

[Carl]

Edit: I need help. Original post below.
Those of you who've done a lot of collecting know the dilemma I have here. If I spent 50 hours doing this I may never find every Pink Diamond spawn point in the game, per map. Palladium is easy. Gems have a lot more random variation. What I need to ask of the community is to please use this thread to post images in an X-marks the spot fashion. I don't care how you do it. Save one of the maps below to your computer, put a dot or something accurate in the spot where you've found a pink diamond, and post it back in this thread. That way the image you made is live and we won't have people wasting their time with duplicates. I'd like to get 5 total pink diamond spawn points (if they exist) per town. This may not be possible depending on how many the developers put in the game. As far as I know something of this scale has not been done before. We want to be excellent but not only in collecting so I can't spend 10 hours per town figuring this out!

I spent about 2 hours in Twinbrook today with full cheats enabled just running around picking things up and found only 1 pink diamond spawn point. There ARE more. We just have to find them. Together we can make this a really good feature for players for the next 5-10 years, even. So I'll say please be precise if you want to contribute a location and be absolutely positive a pink diamond was found there. Zoom in the image really well and put a nice fat dot centered on your find. You can generally use Microsoft Paint to do this.

This post may change in the future. This is the only feasible way to really make great maps. I would also like to share with you all that the Prima guide has been not very helpful to me thus far in tracking down these locations. Of the four palladium I've found, only 1 is marked on the Prima guide.

I am going to go ahead and push forward with the SimBot page and try to publish it, sans maps with a promise that they will be delivered. I'm not relying on any one specific person here to make this idea come alive, but I could really use the help of anyone willing to contribute. Thank you.

To those taking a deeper look or contributing:
There are problems in a few places on each map. I'm honestly not going to correct them. What I've done took a lot of time, and I don't feel my perfectionist trait kicking in on this one. You'll notice some places where things overlap or double and I've made a mistake there. One I'm not gonna fix, sorry. When you zoom it's apparent where I've made a mistake. Use your judgment when contributing a spot -- there's an area in Twinbrook where I double an area in the southwestern sector. This isn't a huge problem if we're careful about where the dots are placed. It's generally pretty clear where the images overlap and don't connect just right.

An Inevitable Dissolution
When we are done here some day, I will dissolve this thread and replace it with one much like the original to have a nice spot to host the full maps on the forum and thank everyone who contributed. I'll also mention you by name or forum nick (your preference) on the guide itself. Once I compile all the data provided to me I don't want to have the guide and forum competing. I simply wouldn't want anyone misled to come here and look at all the various images with an X as opposed to our final version which will be all-inclusive.

Original Post (How this project started)
Today I started a SimBot article and realized I had nothing really good to point people to where to find the Pink Diamond, Palladium, and Special Seeds. So, I found a way to stitch together many images from the game to create a map. I showed my prototype to Pam and set about improving it, then went and made the other two towns. These haven't been incorporated at all yet, it took a lot of time just to do this stage. I'll label a few for where to get the ingredients for a SimBot and proceed with Ambitions coverage. But, in the future I'll make plenty of improvements to the maps in the various collecting articles. These are just my templates. They offer a fairly unique view of the three towns, given the incredible scale. I thought some of you might like to see them.

Legend as of now (only Twinbrook has points of interest):
Blue = High Metal
Gold = High Gem
Pink = Pink Diamond

A legend will be worked into the images' bottom right corner once I figure out how many things I definitely want to include.

Sunset Valley: View Full Size



Riverview: View Full Size



Twinbrook: View Full Size



A member has provided me with two pink diamond spawn points in Twinbrook. When looking for leads on the net, I read of these two but couldn't yet confirm them. I read in that same place that there were only two. So, with some more high gem spawn points the map will be quite enough to help folks get a Simbot without cheating there. I'm still behind using the miner as a go-to. At least there are only two spots to check, then a Sim could go back to mining and checking the consignment shop off and on.

[Pam]

These maps are going to bring large quantities of awesomeness to the Guide! 

[Swede1992]

It looks actually really cool!

Good work!

[Twinmum]

Nice. I like the idea of just one image instead of a few smaller ones. With smaller maps, it's sometimes a bit confusing getting your bearings as to where something is.

Norma

[lianne]

It's always frustrated me that I couldn't see the whole map at once, as I could never really picture where things were in relation to each other on opposite sides of the map. Yet another problem solved by Carl and Pam's guide

[pallyndrome]

Those maps look very cool. I found Twinbrook confusing, and that map helps. Nice work

[Archer0]

Very, very nice work Carl.  Wow!  That's going to be soooo nice.

[wildredchild]

Incredible Carl!  Those maps are amazing and I will be printing them out and putting them on the wall here in my office for reference. 

[LivvieLove]

That is amazing! I'm so glad I can now see all of Twinbrook, I always got lost when finding my way around there! (Thankfully my Sims have that button when they are out for them to return home on their own.

[TommyT]

This is pretty impressive, it'll make for a wonderful collectibles map.

[Carl]

Thanks for the compliments. I thought it'd be appreciated to see what the towns would look like were a sky high view possible. One problem I'm foreseeing is that any icons I put on such a map won't be able to be viewed with any level of precision, so I'll probably have to tweak the 'full size' down a bit, so that it won't be so burdensome to scroll around it. It'll then be expected to look at them full size. Hopefully I can get a good 600-wide shot that will look good on the page for a quick reference though.

My first plan is to set up all three with dots that indicate where to find the most valuable items in each area. It'll at the same time be a major help to collectors and to those just trying to make a SimBot. I'll then go back and add icons for common finds. I'm starting this project tonight

Honestly, I think that setting them up to cover every major type of find, insects, gems or metals, and having that all on one map makes sense. Often you're not looking for just a gem, but would pick up anything valuable along the way. So one map for each area sounds like a good idea.

[lil_crazy]

Cool! This place just keeps improving everyday.

[Carl]

Yes, we are always improving but things only get perfected with you guys' help. I updated the first post. If you've been on this topic before please have a read of what I envision. That's the only way we'll have maps to everything.

[Twinmum]

I like the idea of all the valuables on one map. Once you have the home towns done, will you move on to do the travel destinations too? - I was quite pleased with myself yesterday, I discovered a spot where opals spawn in France. Of course it was not in the collector game where I actually want a number of them, but I will certainly remember it when I go back to that game lol.

Anyway, great work Carl

Norma

[Carl]

Thanks, it seems like a good idea. Covering World Adventures is definitely on the table but takes an aside to the others. Everyone has vanilla. Everyone legal has access to Riverview, and Ambitions players have the others plus Twinbrook. So, I guess I'm saying it's a supply and demand situation, and coverage of this magnitude for the travel spots will have to come after the main towns, but will inevitably come!

[Pam]

I like the idea of all the valuables on one map. Once you have the home towns done, will you move on to do the travel destinations too? - I was quite pleased with myself yesterday, I discovered a spot where opals spawn in France. Of course it was not in the collector game where I actually want a number of them, but I will certainly remember it when I go back to that game lol.

Anyway, great work Carl

Norma

So, Norma...  where exactly is that opal spot? 

[Twinmum]

You know the house with the grapes growing on the terraces around the house (at the end of the road if you turn left when you come out of the base camp)  well it is up behind there.

Norma

[Twinmum]

OK, so what exactly do you want locations for in Twinbrook Carl? I know you want pink diamonds (haven't found any yet)  but what about other gems and such. So far I've found a rainbow gem, luminorious gem, palladium.

Norma

[Carl]

If you want to mark those 3 spots (color code them) I will end up using it, I'll just save it on my desktop for when I do the 2nd round of updates. This is actually sort of tough for me so I'm going to control how I release the images. For now I'll work with putting pink diamonds on the map but I can actually accept anything. It will get used. Most of the areas spawning mid-to-high value gems will end up under one colored icon. I'll want to know of that kind of spawn point.

I don't want to really change the first post right now, to really encourage that, for a reason. It's flat easier on me the way I'm going about this. But if you have three really good spots ready for me I'd love to know about them. I just don't want to have people on the active task of searching for them just yet because there are going to be more of them (as opposed to just palladium and pink diamond points). To keep things controlled it's good to just seek the pink diamonds right now. I suspect any spawn place that can do luminorious gems might be able to do pink diamonds as well.

For the most part I'll have no trouble finding palladium spawn points. As I go about the 'hood going to gems and metals, sometimes I'll get one. They're just that much more common. Plutonium is not really so ambiguous. 1 pink diamond to 0 plutonium in Twinbrook.

[Archer0]

I don't care how you do it. Save one of the maps below to your computer, put a dot or something accurate in the spot where you've found a pink diamond, and post it back in this thread.

These pics are half a meg or more.  Last time I attached a pic to a post, it said the size limit was about 125k.  Is that that a limit for newbies or for everyone?

[Pam]

These pics are half a meg or more.  Last time I attached a pic to a post, it said the size limit was about 125k.  Is that that a limit for newbies or for everyone?

Photobucket might be a better option for you.  Click here for instructions.  If that doesn't work, let me know and I'll give you my email address and you can send it there.

[Carl]

That is a good idea..you can email them directly to carl@carlsguides.com and I'll try to keep a live update on the main images, showing where we've found things.

[Twinmum]

If you want to mark those 3 spots (color code them) I will end up using it, I'll just save it on my desktop for when I do the 2nd round of updates. This is actually sort of tough for me so I'm going to control how I release the images. For now I'll work with putting pink diamonds on the map but I can actually accept anything. It will get used. Most of the areas spawning mid-to-high value gems will end up under one colored icon. I'll want to know of that kind of spawn point.

I'll just keep a track of them on an image on my computer, but won't add them to this thread unless I actually find pink diamonds. That way, if you want them at a later date, I can show you.

Haven't found any spawn spots for plutonium in Twinbrook, but I have learned to make it with transfiguration.

Norma

[Joria]

I know you want to put WA maps on later, but I'm in China right now and would be happy to send you photos of things I find.  Map shots.  You can then use them as you need them when you want to and have the time.  I'm in major collector mode right now so won't be a problem if it would help.

[Carl]

Thanks, that would be pretty helpful for down the road

Edit: Also, the first post has been updated to show what I currently have for Twinbrook, which I think is now complete as far as pink diamonds go. The others are better documented on the net so I'll have more places to go for leads, but I will still need to confirm them to bother placing them on the map. Happly accepting any submissions on high gems in twinbrook and pink diamonds in any. It might not be too bad to get special seed spots. I think I can make a little seed icon to place on the map to designate that.

[Joria]

You all know the spot in France for all those butterflies, right?

[Pam]

You all know the spot in France for all those butterflies, right?

Are you asking where the butterflies are or just checking to see if Carl knows without actually telling him where they are?

[Joria]

No, I know where they are and visit there every time I go to France for a few quick, easy simoleons made by selling off the purples and pashas.  I just didn't want to post it if everyone was already aware of the spot and wasn't sure if it was ok to post it.  I'll tell you now and if it's not ok, just edit it out. 

On the map head northwest to a wooded area. Look carefully for a little oval, very tiny and hard to see on the map so look carefully.  It's a frog pond and a great place to catch the froggies but also has tons of butterflies and beetles.  The good ones show up randomly and aren't always in the same spot, but visiting it three or four times in a vacation should get you every butterfly needed except the glowy.  I've noticed the butterflies and beetles don't always show up unless you have the Collector thing and it takes awhile standing around with the game off pause for them to spawn and show up.  Using the frog pond as your center, carefully spiral out from that point and you should get all the butterflies you need.  So far I've gotten even the Rainbow Butterfly there but it does not show up every time.  However, that western, (left), side of the map is pretty good for finding them. 

Glowy Butterflies can be found across the river.  Cross the bridge and head left.  They are in the general vicinity of the bend in the road and do not show up every time you go there.  The best time to catch them is at night as they glow in the dark.

One thing I've noticed about this spot is there are often glowing dots from the Collector shown but no insect anywhere around.  However, there is a breakable bunch of rocks near the frog pond and I'm thinking the "invisible" insects are probably underground.  I haven't gone there with Pangu's Axe yet so no way of telling.

[wildredchild]

Glowy Butterflies can be found across the river.  Cross the bridge and head left.  They are in the general vicinity of the bend in the road and do not show up every time you go there.  The best time to catch them is at night as they glow in the dark.

One thing I've noticed about this spot is there are often glowing dots from the Collector shown but no insect anywhere around.  However, there is a breakable bunch of rocks near the frog pond and I'm thinking the "invisible" insects are probably underground.  I haven't gone there with Pangu's Axe yet so no way of telling.

Glowy Butterflies also show up on the little island in the middle of the river.

As for the ones that do not show up at the frog pond, yes they are underground indeed.  Break those 3 rocks and you get lots of plunder, including the rare grapes, cut stones, butterflies galore.

[Carl]

Thanks for this. I have fireman yet to write, and a couple more updates, then my attention will shift focus to this project, I'll complete the towns then start the maps to travel destinations.

[Joria]

Thanks to Crazy 8's, I've been butterfly obsessed.  The thing that annoys me is not having insects show up UNLESS you have the collector thing.  If you know where to go, you MIGHT get some of them.  Obvious place in SV is the simhenge place.  Got my first rainbow there, all the way to the rear.  Here's a clue.  If there are a lot of stones and other butterflies, chances are you will not see a rainbow.  If there are only a few other butterflies, you might catch a rainbow OR you might get a Light Beetle in the same place.

I just checked France again today with a different sim, no collector, and very few butterflies anywhere, including the places where I know they spawn.  Annoying, but proved my point.

Now, about that island.  Errrhmm, how exactly do you get there?  I'm thinking it's a secret tunnel in the house opposite it or a tunnel from the frog pond spot.  Just a guess but rabid readers would like to know.  (Can you tell Rita Skeeter was one of my favorite HP characters?)

[Pam]

We have a nice juicy thread about that little island in France.  Click here to visit The Little Island with Rare Grapes in France.

[Saltypaws]

I am going ask a stupid question.  When I have seen someone post a picture and they have marked it with a circle or a line or arrow, how do you do that?  I know a spawn point for a pink diamond, but I don't know how to mark it before I post it.

[Joria]

We have a nice juicy thread about that little island in France.  Click here to visit The Little Island with Rare Grapes in France.

Juicy indeed!  Off to get Pangu's Axe, although I don't need it now I have the Collector thingie.   

I'm with Saltypaws.  How do you put marks on pictures?  I've found a few things but haven't posted the picture because I can't mark it.

Oh, and about that frog pond.  If you have a klepto you can actually steal some of the items hidden underground by clicking near the rocks and selecting swipe something.  That was kind of fun since I had to other way to access it at the time.

[Carl]

I am going ask a stupid question.  When I have seen someone post a picture and they have marked it with a circle or a line or arrow, how do you do that?  I know a spawn point for a pink diamond, but I don't know how to mark it before I post it.

Save a copy of the big map and open it with paint or some other image editor, put a nice dot where it goes, and email it to me. Emailing the big map offers the best precision since you can put the dot exactly at the spawn point so we don't cause confusion for people.

carl@carlsguides.com

[Pam]

Just to clarify, when Carl says to use "paint," what he means is Microsoft Paint, which is a program that is available on any Windows PC.  It has tools that let you draw on images.  It's pretty fun if you haven't played with it before.

[Carl]

Thanks for that Pam. I'm glad this is starting to gather interest. I look forward to it. I think we'll have the best maps out there.

[Saltypaws]

Oh, ok.  I know how to do that, now just to find that gem again.  Thanks.  Actually, I should have known that, I use to use that all of the time.

[Frey]

I don't have any maps, but my experience tells me that Twinsbrook's beach park is a great place for finding both palladium and pink diamonds with the miner. I mean this little community lot beside the lake... in spanish it's called something like "beach park". Sorry I can't help with anything else for now, but that's what I could find out before my game failed. I found like 3 or 4 of them there. It might have been just a coincidence, but I just thought it might be of help.

[Caitie]

Will you also be including locations to find special seeds on these maps?  Personally, I almost always play a Green Thumb Sim, so I'm much more interested in where to find the best seeds than where to find the best metals or butterflies.  Of course, that's just how I play the game.  Along those lines, I found a great spawn point for special and rare seeds in Twinbrook -- around the upper right corner of the cemetery.  Special seeds spawn there almost daily!

[Carl]

Yes the only seed types I'd want to include are special, since everything else can be store-bought.

[Alex_O]

Thanks Pam, removed due to being in the wrong place     

[Pam]

Welcome to our Forum, Alex_O!

This thread is specifically for helping Carl with actual maps.  We have a thread about pink diamonds in Twinbrook.  That would be a better place to share your information. 

[Caitie]

Yes the only seed types I'd want to include are special, since everything else can be store-bought.

Alright, I'll download your maps and start marking!

[Snowyluc]

H

[Pam]

What did you mean to type, Snowyluc?

[Snowyluc]

What did you mean to type, Snowyluc?

Oh god Pam, sorry!

Wrote out a whole message! Must've selected all of it by mistake and pressed "H" for some reason. One of the downsides of Macs.  

Uh, my original message consisted of two things:
1. If you're looking for areas for the Pink Diamond, you should visit Mausoleums. I notice that The Chinese Mausoleums are the most frequent to have Pink Diamonds, I did a few tests and I found that a majority of 2/5 Sims find pink diamonds whilst exploring the catacombs of China.
Also, I found palladium seems to have the majority of finds in Egyptian Tombs, the medium amount in France, and the lesser in China.
2. There seems to be somebody in my account, and my details are confidential, so there's no way that anybody can get in. So if you see odd messages from me, they might not actual be from me.
And as always, Any Work for the sight?
I hope I haven't made a grudge against you guys because of my lying about the Great Explorer
Because I really am sorry about that.
Holidays are a dead bore.
Moved to Chiang Mai, and my mum's boss is going crazy, packing on work for my mum.
School's next week, but it can't come soon enough.
Again, hope I haven't set up a grudge.    
Thanks.
Snowyluc
 

[Pam]

No worries about that, Snowyluc.  And no hard feelings.  We're well covered at the moment with the writers we have on staff.  It won't be until Late Night comes out that we'll be cranking out lots of articles.  And considering how fast Ambitions was covered, I don't foresee any difficulties for the staff with Late Night.  We've grown quite a bit since you were here last and we've got a staff of moderators and writers. 

[Snowyluc]

No worries about that, Snowyluc.  And no hard feelings.  We're well covered at the moment with the writers we have on staff.  It won't be until Late Night comes out that we'll be cranking out lots of articles.  And considering how fast Ambitions was covered, I don't foresee any difficulties for the staff with Late Night.  We've grown quite a bit since you were here last and we've got a staff of moderators and writers.  

Oh thats great! Yeah, I noticed an increase in members  , I think everybody new will definitely help.
Oh yes, and Pam, you say Night Life hasn't come out? It has here in Thailand, when does it come out in your circles?
I know I'm only 11, but I've got a load of cash because I just sold my old computer.
If anything, I can buy a copy and send it via mail, if my mum lets me.
I know nobody would actually be able to start anything, but you or Carl could at least give a list of LTWs, or an overview.
It's not that expensive, and it's not a pirated version.
The only thing that won't work is you can't download mods and objects directly from the menu that opens up, where you hit the play button. But you can download mods from the website, and they work, so........
It's up to you.
But I've got a $100 up my alley, and enough to buy myself and one of you a copy of Night Life.
Please reply.
Thanks,

Snowyluc

[Pam]

Oh thats great! Yeah, I noticed an increase in members  , I think everybody new will definitely help.
Oh yes, and Pam, you say Night Life hasn't come out? It has here in Thailand, when does it come out in your circles?
I know I'm only 11, but I've got a load of cash because I just sold my old computer.
If anything, I can buy a copy and send it via mail, if my mum lets me.
I know nobody would actualy be able to start anything, but you or Carl could at least give a list of LTWs, or an overview.
It's not that expensive, and it's not a pirated version.
The only thing that won't work is you can't download mods and objects directly from the menu that opens up, where you hit the play button. But you can download mods from the website, and they work, so........
It's up to you.
But I've got a $100 up my alley, and enough to buy myself and one of you a copy of Night Life.
Please reply.
Thanks,

Snowyluc

That's a very generous offer, Snowyluc, and I truly appreciate it.  But, and I know Carl would agree with me, it would be quite inappropriate for you to purchase a copy of Late Night for either of us.  Our release date in the U.S. is October 26 and we'll just have to make the best of that.

Best regards,

Pam Marsden
Forum Manager/Administrator

cc:  Carl     

[Metropolis Man]

Snowyluc, Pam will of course offer her two cents when she logs on next time, but given I'm one of the more prolific Guide writers, just let me say that, as a general rule, Guide articles are assigned to staff only. They get first dibs. Part of being a staff member (not for all staff) is writing for the Guide. Now, that said, Late Night might be so enormous in new content that Carl, Pam and I could decide it would be best to seek non-staff help to get the new Guide articles out in a timely manner. So, what we'll do is once the expansion is released and in everyone's hot little hands, the three of us will delegate and prioritize what's to be done and when. Sound good?  

[Pam]

@Snowyluc:  As Metro said, we'll take care of assignments when the game is released and staff will have dibs on the articles.  And there's no need to keep bringing up what happened in the past.  I know you feel bad about it, but there's no hard feelings and we don't need to keep bringing it up on the Forum.

Additionally, this has gotten off topic.  Carl's call for maps isn't the place to list the new features in Late Night.  We already have a thread for that and I believe the new stuff has already been covered.

[Carl]

I've got a couple of email submissions and will try to update the maps on the first post when I get the chance. Just letting you all know I haven't forgotten about this, but am just very busy having started my Semester.

[grumpykitteh]

I found a Pink Diamond in Sunset Valley at the big group of rocks and trees just west of the Military Base. I don't know if this has already been submitted, I hope it helps. Love your website Carl!   

[Pam]

Welcome to the Forum, grumpykitteh!  Thanks for that shot.  Carl's still working on this project and I'm sure it will be helpful.