The Little Island with Rare Grapes in France

[Carl]

I can't even find now who gave me the tip to get the rare grapes in France. There's a little island, and there must be some trick to getting there. It would save me some time if someone knew how to get there. I suspect it's a dungeon because Sims can't swim across rivers. Something I didn't consider before I published. If you can help, thanks.

[PJSim]

I tried to find that too. I thought there must be some underground passage but now I'm thinking there's really only one way: zeneport.

I thought the easiest way to find a passage would be to search the island for a way off instead of searching every possible site for a way on so I made my Sim zeneport there. I couldn't find anything, there are some stairs but they seem to go nowhere.
There's also an island in Egypt where you can buy property. It's completely empty except for a mailbox and trashcan, nowhere to hide stairs or a door. That must be a vacation home for the serious loner.

[Carl]

All right, so I have to modify this to say people are stuck with the special merchant for the rare grapes unless they can zeneport. But since we've learned that it only takes level 5, and you can snag level 3 with a skill book, most Sims should take it up!

[Pam]

I didn't even think of Zeneport!  It will be awhile before my nectar making Sim can do that.  Lucy Ricardo is the Sim I made to do the Bottomless Nectar Cellar Lifetime Wish and she'll be focusing on France most of the time.  A kudo to anyone who knows why it's Lucy Ricardo.   

[wildredchild]

Hey Lucy!!!  I'm home.....  I saw that episode on I Love Lucy where she ends up stomping grapes and is a mess....loved it and used to watch the show all the time with my mom.

[Pam]

*presenting kudo to wildredchild*

[Akila906]

I didn't even think of Zeneport!  It will be awhile before my nectar making Sim can do that.  Lucy Ricardo is the Sim I made to do the Bottomless Nectar Cellar Lifetime Wish and she'll be focusing on France most of the time.  A kudo to anyone who knows why it's Lucy Ricardo.  

Because of the episode where Lucy stomped grapes in Italy...lol.  One of my favorite episodes...besides the Vegameatavitamin and the candy making episodes  Of course the one where she "stalks" William Holden in the restuarant in Hollywood and then later lights her fake nose on fire while trying to disguise herself from him when he's in their hotel room is a riot too...lol  

[Akila906]

I can't even find now who gave me the tip to get the rare grapes in France. There's a little island, and there must be some trick to getting there. It would save me some time if someone knew how to get there. I suspect it's a dungeon because Sims can't swim across rivers. Something I didn't consider before I published. If you can help, thanks.

The real way to get there is thru a dive pool in the bottom of the "Celtic Burial site".

[Pam]

I can't even find now who gave me the tip to get the rare grapes in France. There's a little island, and there must be some trick to getting there. It would save me some time if someone knew how to get there. I suspect it's a dungeon because Sims can't swim across rivers. Something I didn't consider before I published. If you can help, thanks.

The real way to get there is thru a dive pool in the bottom of the "Celtic Burial site".

Welcome to our Forum, Akila!

Wow!  Thanks for the tip about the dive pool.  We'll definitely check that out and add it to the guide!!

[PJSim]

The real way to get there is thru a dive pool in the bottom of the "Celtic Burial site".

Ah, so maybe there's a door that's only visible from the inside. Thanks.

[Pam]

Well, now I can't find Celtic Burial Site.  It's not on any of the maps in the Prima Guide, either.

[PJSim]

Isn't it that first tomb your Sim gets sent to after visiting France, the one with a tiny Stonehenge and some gravestones on top? I think I remember the French Sim calling it that even though it wasn't marked that way on the map and it confused me.

[Pam]

That one is call the Forgotton Burial Mound, or something like that.  I went through it again and got more loot, but didn't see anything about a dive pool.  Maybe I haven't explored it fully.

[Akila906]

That one is call the Forgotton Burial Mound, or something like that.  I went through it again and got more loot, but didn't see anything about a dive pool.  Maybe I haven't explored it fully.

Sorry, the Adventure was called the Celtic something.  The dive pool is at the bottom, which is, I think, 2 levels down.  Next time I go to France, i will go there again and try to remember the way down to it.

[sims96fan]

Someone posted about this on the EA forums:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/129886.page#1588059

If you have the Tears of Horus adventure reward from the special merchant in Egypt, you can see the dig site and relics to the southeast of the little island in France.  You need Pangu's Axe from China to break the big boulders covering a stairwell.  This goes into an elaborate tomb and at the very bottom you will find a green dive well to get to the island in France.  You need two Sims to get through the puzzles here, or you need to have found the pieces for and reconstructed a pushable statue beforehand.  On the little island, there is a room with life fruit plants, money trees, all the rare grape varieties, and even death flowers.  I had my Sims harvest these and that's where they got the produce to plant their own life plants and death flower bushes. 

If you have a vacation home in France, you can also get the teleportation pad lifetime reward and put it in your home.  Then all of your Sims can teleport to the little island directly and use their cell phones to teleport home.

My Sims love France, as I think it has the fewest adventures of the 3 locations, so they finished them and can now go there to focus on their skills and skill challenges (mostly nectar making and writing books).  When they get stressed out they can go for jogs in the countryside and jog home.  They even got extra sets of martial arts training dummies and blocks from China for their French vacation home.

[sims96fan]

I sent my Sims to France again, so here are some pictures.  The little pond circled by trees in the center of the screenshot is where you need to go:



There, you need Pangu's Axe to remove the boulders to uncover the stairs:



This is the first level down the stairs:



This is the second level down the stairs:



Three levels down:



Entering the dive well:



Cavern of treasures on the little island:

[ava]

I know that this might sound like sacrilege or something, but if you don't want to go through all of the tomb trouble or learning to zeneport, you can always do the "testingcheatsenabled true" cheat, and then shift-click the ground on the island and choose "teleport here."

That's probably the easiest way, even though it is totally cheating, haha.

[Carl]

Thanks for the very detailed response as to how to do it without cheating or teleporting "legally". Not looking forward to needing 2 Sims for that, my dude is single at the moment.

[sims96fan]

You could also have your single Sim complete enough of the Egyptian quests to get the fragments to reconstruct a pushable statue.  You just need an extra one.  Though I found for a lot of the big quests, it's easier with 2 Sims just because there's a lot of rubble to clear, doors to inspect, etc. and one Sim easily gets tired and has to return to sleep before finishing a tomb.

Once you are able to get enough ancient coins and visa level 3 somewhere, you can also purchase the Sultan's Tabernacle, which is  the fanciest tent (a palace in a tent).  I originally thought you could only put tents within base camp, but it turns out you can put them outside the entrances to pyramids, etc., so for particularly large tombs I just put the tent outside and have them sleep there, eat some dried food and have a shower in a can in the morning, and they are good to go again!  They also get a big moodlet boost for sleeping like a queen or king in the palace.

It's also faster for them to get to places if you either have a vacation home and teleportation pad (teleport home and then where you want to go each time), a fancy car in your backpack inventory, or at the least the Kenspa scooter from the Egyptian merchant.  A lot of the terrain in Egypt and China is sandy/hilly though, so they end up having to get on and off their vehicles and jog frequently, which is why the tent saves a lot of time in travelling.

[Akila906]

Someone posted about this on the EA forums:

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/129886.page#1588059

If you have the Tears of Horus adventure reward from the special merchant in Egypt, you can see the dig site and relics to the southeast of the little island in France.  You need Pangu's Axe from China to break the big boulders covering a stairwell.  This goes into an elaborate tomb and at the very bottom you will find a green dive well to get to the island in France.  You need two Sims to get through the puzzles here, or you need to have found the pieces for and reconstructed a pushable statue beforehand.  On the little island, there is a room with life fruit plants, money trees, all the rare grape varieties, and even death flowers.  I had my Sims harvest these and that's where they got the produce to plant their own life plants and death flower bushes. 

If you have a vacation home in France, you can also get the teleportation pad lifetime reward and put it in your home.  Then all of your Sims can teleport to the little island directly and use their cell phones to teleport home.

You do NOT need 2 sims to get thru the puzzles there.  I got thru them no problem with one 1 sim.  And you also do NOT need to reconstruct a movable statue either.  There are 2 floor switches that are right next to each other and if you push the green statue up it will sit on both of them, then you put the rest of the statues on the other floor switches.   

You don't need the teleportation pad either.  You can teleport to the island by typing in "testingcheatsenabled true" and shift click on the ground on the island and click on "teleport me here".

[sims96fan]

The teleportation pad is if you want to play without cheating, you can get it as a lifetime reward.

[Pam]

The teleportation pad is if you want to play without cheating, you can get it as a lifetime reward.

Yeah, big difference in gameplay theory.  The teleportation pad is "legal."

[PJSim]

You do NOT need 2 sims to get thru the puzzles there.  I got thru them no problem with one 1 sim.  And you also do NOT need to reconstruct a movable statue either.  There are 2 floor switches that are right next to each other and if you push the green statue up it will sit on both of them, then you put the rest of the statues on the other floor switches.  

Great tip, thanks. I was hoping there was a trick.

I'm off to France next.

[jkelpapi]

If you have the Tears of Horus adventure reward from the special merchant in Egypt, you can see the dig site and relics to the southeast of the little island in France.  You need Pangu's Axe from China to break the big boulders covering a stairwell.  This goes into an elaborate tomb and at the very bottom you will find a green dive well to get to the island in France.  You need two Sims to get through the puzzles here, or you need to have found the pieces for and reconstructed a pushable statue beforehand.  On the little island, there is a room with life fruit plants, money trees, all the rare grape varieties, and even death flowers.  I had my Sims harvest these and that's where they got the produce to plant their own life plants and death flower bushes.  

Hi.  I have a question.  Where can I find Pangu's Axe?

[PJSim]

Hi and welcome.

Pangu's Axe is from China. You don't just find it there, you need to get an adventure in China to get it. I forget what it's called but it starts with a Chinese Sim wanting to smash boulders, then you will get the key to the tomb where you can find it.

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