Download - Maple Valley Neighborhood

Update: Oct/Nov 2011 Maple Valley has been fixed according to Mootilda's HoodChecker program.
For your own benefit you are advised to back up your game before adding this neighborhood.

Main installation instructions
Maple Valley requires the base TS2 game and the University Expansion Pack installed on your computer in order to play.
When you click to download, you will get a Rar file. You will have to unpack that using WinRar or Extract Now, it will then open up and give you a folder called New_Maple Valley. Inside of that folder you will find the MV02 folder, as well as the following installation instructions, along with some other information.
I have used Mootilda's Lot Compressor to make the filesize for this neighborhood much smaller, this will not affect you as the player! More information can be found by clicking the named link to the right.

1. To install Maple Valley, place the MV02 folder in your My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Neighborhoods folder.
2. Start up your game, Maple Valley should now appear in the neighborhood selection menu along with the usual EA/Maxis 'hoods and/or your other custom neighborhoods.

Usually custom neighborhoods will appear at the end of your menu screen, and after the EA/Maxis neighborhoods, where this one tends to show up earlier, between the newer EP 'hoods (Belladonna, Desiderata, Riverblossom) and Pleasantview.
Maple Valley contains no CC. A copy of the neighborhood has been tested to make sure all edits appear as planned, and to check on and play out certain circumstances that I thought needed looking at. There are a couple of small issues, details of those are included in the Rar, along with the MV02 folder.

Download Fixed_Maple Valley

Other Information
Maple Valley has been made in a newly created clean game, using empty templates from MATY and Numenor's AnyGameStarter in an empty base game/University set up.
Maple Valley now has a custom folder name/number, MV02.
To edit the sims, skills, jobs and their job levels, I used The Sim Manipulator, and to edit everything else, I used SimPE.
I've used Pescado's noregen hacks, and others I felt I needed from his 'Director's Cut' to halt annoying behaviour for the times I needed to unpause the game.
For sims looking as if they should have career rewards, and for items on the new community lots, I used Sophie-David's buyable Aspiration & Career Rewards (all links can be found in the links list to the right).
All Maple Valley sims, families and townies were cloned using the original EA/Maxis face templates, for any new townie sims or NPC's I've used Spookymuffin's Face Templates.

My main reason for remaking Maple Valley

In the original version there were quite a few broken character files, there were also some duplicate characters. Eventually these things would have led to differing levels of neighborhood corruption for anyone playing Maple Valley...or as MATY would call it, BFBVFS.

Mootilda at MTS has made a list of playable neighborhoods, which can be found on her Journal, seeing Maple Valley on that list, and having recently finished updating all of my other neighborhoods with Mootilda's help, I felt fixing it was something that I could do, and so should!

As part of the original group of contributors to this neighborhood, I know the background, I know most of the intended twists and turns in the storylines, and it was important to me to get this right! I have no idea whether anyone out there wants this, but if you do and you are reading this, I hope you will enjoy playing Maple Valley!

Thanks

The main thanks must go to Zythe for the idea of making this neighborhood and for putting it all together in the first place. To the TSR forum members of 2005, for their enthusiasm and encouragement during and after the project, especially JRon who contributed add-on lots, and to TSR Moderators AudreyMay for all of her help, and Moza who went on to host Maple Valley for a very long time.

In the order they joined the project, the creators of Maple Valley were: Zythe, MeLfaith, babajayne, HazyFlowers, miss_rachel, Mistwind, Kail210 and cpowell8203.
I am lechapeau.

Credits and thanks for all I've used to recreate Maple Valley
Numenor for AnyGameStarter
SimPE and the SimPE team
Pescado at MATY
The Sim Manipulator
Spookymuffin for the Replacement Face Templates
Sophie-David for Buyable Reward Objects
Mootilda, for all of her hacks, tutorials and very useful programs. Her help before with my other subhoods, and for making the list that spurred me on to do this!
Huge thanks to all, and all links are in the list to the right!