Download 220 Carter. (876K rar file). More information about 220 Carter, with screenshots.

• Start with a fresh neighborhood! The Zombie mod is incredibly fast-moving, and the zombies will take over with insane speed. (I had a household of eight adults and teens go from all-Sim to all-Zombie in 36 Sim hours.) Any neighborhood with active zombies is going to be overrun pretty fast, so you probably don't want to use an existing one. You may even want to remove this hack before playing any other neighborhoods.

• Prepare the world. For effciency's sake, build a single community shopping mall with a few stores: grocery, diner, clothing store, maybe a small gym. If you want your Sims to have a weapon later in the challenge, you must stock one store with them now. I recommend Paladin's weaponry, available at SimWardrobe. (NOTE: I may put together a downloadable mini-mall for this.)

• Create your cast, each in a separate household. Play them for a while according to the game rules-- school, work, etc. I find that this is the most challenging if I honestly like all my Sims, personally. No more than two families (married couple, parent/s with kid/s, etc). At least three of your Sims should be single adults (or teens, if you feel like using hacks to change their ages). For that matter, if you want to hack the ages, you could play an all-teen house.

Don't allow them to exceed two body points; they can max out any or everything else. Fact! A zombie gains one body point for every fight won. Zombies in this game are very, very dangerous. That's my justification for why your group of potential survivors shouldn't have more than two body points: zombies don't feel pain, they don't get tired, and they're all about appetite, so they're physically "superior" to Sims. The more Sims fight, the stronger they get-- also like the zombies-- as long as they actually win.

• Build your set. Get a nice, big lot, as large as you can comfortably run. A mansion, a hospital, a school, a community lot built or hacked to be a residential lot-- something like that. It doesn't need to be hugely elaborate or well-decorated, but you do need a fair amount of room. You'll see why in a moment. (I kind of like Esse Ti Sims Royale for lots-- big, lots of space, easy to move around in. This hospital might also be an interesting option.)

You can also download two pre-made lots: Valley View Mini-Mall and 220 Carter Street, provided above.

• Do not include a fire alarm in this set! It's a zombie apocalypse-- public services are no longer in effect. Use MATY's Authorized Personnel Only hack to keep out all visitors, or all NPCs, for extra realism.

• Create Sim Zero. This will be the point of origin for the infection. Can be teen or older only. Children and toddlers are immune from zombification. Play as usual. Again, do not exceed two body points. Use the Insimenator or the Resurrector to change Zero to zombie-state.

• Begin infection. Direct him/her to attack only Townies, and any other Sims who are NOT your main cast. Zombify at least twelve Sims.

Then....

• Move your cast into your set. The zombie apocalyse has begun-- your eight Sims are hiding out here, hoping to wait out the disaster until the authorities arrive to rescue everyone, or until they figure out what to do next. Play them for one Sim week. Do not allow them to greet anyone or welcome them into the house. Let them interact as normally as possible. This will be the best time to try and get motives at 100%. During this week, you may also make basic alterations to the house-- however, you can only work with what's there; no buying new items, no building new walls. You may delete exterior doors and windows, but you may not put them back.

Variant suggested by WizardofAus:

Sale of the Apocalypse: Before you move your Sims into one house, but after you've infected a critical mass of non-cast Sims, you can play that funfilled game, Sale of the Apocalypse! Send your Sims out to the community lot to buy up supplies that they think they'll need in order to save themselves while they hole up in their new lodgings. (This also might serve as a good way to get rid of any 'extra' Sims that you don't plan on moving into the cast house...)

• After this week has elapsed, as soon as a zombie turns up on the lot, the game really begins.

• Whichever Sim is the most miserable (motive-wise, aspiration-wise, or ideally, both) is the one who mistakes the zombie outside for a fellow survivor, and rushes outside to greet him/her. This Sim cannot run away; his/her survival depends on being able to out-fight the zombie. If this Sim wins, allow the zombie into the house anyway, since the challenge actually depends on all Sims but one ending up zombified.

Once one member of the family has been attacked and zombified, someone else can get rid of the visitor by saying "good bye".

• Keep your survivors alive and non-zombies as long as possible. This is going to be a lot harder than you think, since being in a room with a zombie will almost guarantee an attack. If you would rather get right to that final two weeks, you can always let all the Sims except your chosen Final Sim operate on free will. To select a Final Sim ahead of time at random, use a dice roller.

• Your final survivor is your last non-zombified Sim, of course. To win this challenge, you must keep this survivor non-zombified, and alive, for two Sim weeks after everyone else has been zombified.

• The bigger the lot, the greater the likelihood your Sim will survive, since there will be more room to maneuver (translation: run like hell). Fire escapes installed would be a very, very good move.

• LOCKDOWN: In accordance with traditional zombie behavior, it is presumed they can break down locked or barricaded doors. You can lock yourself into a room, but should a zombie attempt access, you must presume that they succeed in forcing the door. (They don't wear out, they don't feel pain, and they have nothing better to do but break in.) Delete the door and replace it with an arch. A door or archway can be barricaded by furniture-- however, the same rules apply; and in this case, whatever you used as a barricade (must be a piece of furniture larger than 1 tile) is destroyed, and should be deleted. (Modified from a suggestion by WizardofAus-- thanks!)

BLACKOUT: Zombies are attracted to signs of life such as noise and light. If a light is on for more than one Sim hour, direct all lot zombies to that room. If any noise-generating object (radio, TV, cellphone, games, etc) are on, direct all lot zombies to that room immediately. General Sim talking is fine; but if a Sim throws a tantrum-- you guessed it!-- direct all lot zombies to that room. If a phone rings, same thing-- this may actually be a useful diversion. (NOTE: This can be made much easier if you want to use Inge's General Assembly Point object. It will call everyone to the room where the GAP is at. You may, if you use this, go to Buy/Build to move one of these from room to room as needed.)

WEAPONRY: Your Sim may purchase a weapon if, and only if, you've already "stocked" one in the community lot. You have to pay for it, of course, (money cheat is okay to use) since there's no way to "loot" a store. You may also buy other things, or try and grab a meal or a shower, but bear in mind that zombies will turn up very, very quickly. Your Sim may only visit the community lot if he/she is at least 75% on energy and hunger! Venturing out into a possibly zombie-infested area otherwise would be suicide, equalling automatic challenge loss.

• GROCERIES: Can't get any kind of food delivered. For the sake of gameplay, however, you can use a hacked fridge to refill it automatically. This is meant to simulate two weeks' worth of food-- even if by the end they're reduced to eating cold soup and tuna out of a can.

WORK/SCHOOL: Nobody works or goes to school. It isn't safe, obviously. They'll probably take aspiration hits, but this is all about survival.

FREE WILL: You cannot control a Sim after zombification. It is very, very unwise to allow a Sim to remain in a room with a zombie, no matter their relationship or how friendly they were. Zombies _will_ eat Sims' brains-- it makes them very, very happy.

CORNERED: Small rooms, such as bathrooms, are dead ends-- literally. Unless it's a public restroom, you won't be able to run past the zombie without getting grabbed. But if a zombie walks in while your Sim is engaged in doing something, you must consider your Sim cornered-- command the zombie to Fight > Eat Brains, and take your chances. If a zombie walks in while your Sim is just standing there, you can still try to run like hell.

COMBAT: Optional rule. If you want to take the battle to the enemy, you can engage a zombie in combat. Use the dice roller to pick a target at random. Win twice, and you can use the Motive Monitor to set the zombie's motives to zero: insta-death! Congratulations! Of course, if you lose....

ASPIRATION: If a Sim is in aspiration failure when a zombie enters the room before the doctor has arrived to "cure" them, you must consider your Sim cornered-- when they come out of failure, command the zombie to Fight > Eat Brains, and take your chances. If the zombie arrives as they're being cured, when they come out of failure, you can make the Sim run.

HUNGER: It's probably not a great idea to let your Sim hang out in the kitchen to prepare and eat a meal, so we'll cut you a break. Have your your Sim scurry down to the kitchen, grab something, drop it on the floor, and run off again. When they're in a room with no zombies, you can boost their hunger motive by 75% during the first week, and by 50% the second.

ENERGY: Oooooh. Yikes. Good luck with this one. However, you get a break on this, too. If you can get your Sim into an empty room that remains empty for one Sim hour, you may count this as a power nap, and boost the energy motive 50-75%. If a zombie shows, wake your Sim and run like hell.

HYGIENE/BLADDER: If you want to risk it, go on and try a shower or bath, or using the toilet; but it might be wiser to be stinky, and, well, pee on yourself-- see the CORNERED rule, above. Your Sim can also use a trash can as a toilet-- that is, they can empty out whatever's inside; and you can boost their bladder motive to 100%.

FUN/SOCIAL/COMFORT: You're on your own, my friend. Nobody said an apocalypse was supposed to be something fun to live through.

ENVIRONMENT: Probably going to get ugly pretty fast. Clean if you can, but if a zombie enters a room in the middle of a cleaning (that is, while the blue skill bar is above your Sim's head), command the zombie to Fight > Eat Brains, and take your chances. Before or after, your Sim can run.

If you keep your final Sim alive for two weeks, you have won!

Sort of, anyway.

Using the Motive Adjustor, kill off all the zombie Sims-- this represents The Authorities coming to the rescue with really big guns. Each time, ensure your Final Sim is there, in order to generate a death memory.

Now you can play your Sim as usual... with all the trauma and sadness that go along with the terrible events they've survived. This is when playing a teen group might be especially challenging.

The end.

Set up a tiny apartment for your Sim in your community lot. Send your Final Sim there, and let him/her kill off every zombie that shows up according to the combat rule above. For an extra challenge, disallow the use of weapons!

Short form: Zombie Control and Motive Restoration rules.

Direct all zombies to a room where:

- A light is on for more than one Sim hour;

- A noise-generating object (radio, TV, cellphone, games, etc) is turned on;

- A Sim throws a tantrum.

When this happens, any locked or barricaded doors are presumed to have been bashed down; they can no longer be locked. Any furniture used as a barricade is presumed to have been destroyed (delete in Buy/Build).

Hunger: Have your your Sim scurry down to the kitchen, grab something from the fridge, drop it on the floor, and run off again. When they're in a room with no zombies, you can boost their hunger motive by 75% during the first week, and by 50% the second. This is meant to represent scavenging, fleeing, and eating.

Energy: If you can get your Sim into an empty room that remains empty for one Sim hour, you may count this as a power nap, and boost the energy motive 50-75%. If a zombie shows, wake your Sim and run like hell.

Bladder: Your Sim can also use a trash can as a toilet-- that is, they can empty out whatever's inside; and you can boost their bladder motive to 100%.