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Household 1a: Waybird

Introducing the first played household in Kettlehaven: the Waybirds!

Up here, we have Hawk (wearing glasses) and Raven (grey tunic) - two dragonspark brothers from Morgan Island. Hawk is a researcher whose current project is investigating the mystical properties of Lake Lulla's water; Raven is assisting with his brother's work, mostly because he doesn't know anyone around here that well yet, but he tends to be more interested in sharing companion journeys with various beloveds.

There is also a younger pair of siblings here: Hawk's adoptive children Aria (teen girl with plaits) and Blaise (child boy with brown hair and glasses). They are the biological children of Hawk's former research assistant, who died in a lab accident when they were very young, and the Waybird brothers have been raising them since. Aria is a more outgoing, playful type who resents being uprooted from her friends on Morgan Island, while Blaise is a quieter, more artistic child who tends to keep to himself.

Their adventures begin soon... and let me just say, I am developing a superstition around my early play sessions in a new iteration: "The first lot is the cursed lot." Will the Waybirds be the exception, or will misfortune befall them at the first opportunity?

[equinoxts2]

This Valentine's Day, I've been sharing the love with my sims and their world. I'd like to share the latest part of that worldbuilding project with my simblr friends (who I also appreciate deeply.)

Welcome to Kettlehaven, home to the first seven households I've made. This is where the Pollen household now resides, as well as several completely new sims, and some crossovers from roleplays, premades and forays into TS3.

Kettlehaven is the site of the only walled community within the Lake Lulla region: the Healing Gardens, established as a place for those who need help with their journeys of recovery. The Gardens' resident healers, Qusul and Equinox Pollen (yes, my simself) have built on the knowledge of legendary Nuidya herbalist Serendipity Herendez zan-Carmela, brewing a variety of remedies for grief, stress, and occasionally the after-effects of possession. This is totally where the village's name comes from. Not line of sight in the kitchen, not at all.

I've spent a few days tinkering with the hood deco, and again, I'm very pleased with the atmosphere I've managed to create. Tomorrow, I might be posting intros to the other six families - watch this space!

[equinoxts2]

Sorry for going quiet, everyone! I just didn't feel motivated to build, or to make sims, again after a squillion setbacks. But the simming itch is returning... so here's my latest bit of hood deco!

This is the Court of Belyala, a place that sits on the border between Juvash and the Spirit World. It's inhabited by the patron ancestors of the Nuidya tribe, fourteen in total and counting - those whose lives were marked by some significant achievement(s), causing them to enter the Ascended Phase instead of passing to the afterlife or another incarnation.

Since the Nuidya (and Juvash in general) lack a major warrior culture, I wanted to make Belyala a peaceful, beautiful place, as befits the lives of the Ascended who reside there. I am so proud of what I've done with this - and I've only shown you the part of this terrain I decorated tonight. :)

[equinoxts2]

What baffles me is why some simmers have to go round critiquing others' gameplay and ideas. I live by the motto, "Play and let play," even if I don't like what someone is doing with their game, it's their game and none of my business. Playing rotationally is a valid gameplay style, but so is playing who I want, when I want, without fretting over keeping ages in sync.

I have not turned comments off. I have turned comments from non-followers off. Why? Because I don't need negativity. This? This is some pretty major negativity. This is trying to shame a fellow simmer for having an idea that no one else has thought of yet.

Here's the thing, pal. You could have sent me an ask, requesting that I clarify things you don't understand. You didn't have to go behind my back with your rudeness. Grow up.

I am making this post, and making an example of this simmer, for one purpose: to make it clear that I will not put up with anyone who feels the need to judge or criticise anyone else's playstyle. If you don't like or get what someone does with their sandbox game, just move along. No need to be a troll.

Senaverse Rotations Go Out of Sync

Happy (slightly belated) New Year to all my simblr friends! I've been focusing on my solo RPG over the holidays, since I refuse to build over Christmas, but I'm ready to get back to working on Kulo Sena now!

As part of my attempt to be more true to my own playstyle, I've managed to zap a lot of the stuff I'm not using, but keep including, from my Downloads folder (3t2 traits, and complex Sun&Moon crafting chains, looking at you) so my load times will hopefully be less like sload times. I'm also examining elements of my gameplay that I'm dissatisfied with. One of those aspects is the rotation system, which I've been very strict about keeping in sync since before Kulo Sena was a thing - even though my naturally chaotic, cluttered mind can't handle schedules! It's much too full of roleplaying and worldbuilding stuff to remember anything as trivial as when I have to go to the dentist. (I know where things are, mum. They're in one of those piles on the floor over there.)

So, how can I change my timekeeping style to better suit my preferences? Well... (Quin Standard Ramble incoming!)

As I already mentioned in previous posts, I've been replacing text strings to make certain game terms make more sense to me. I've decided that, instead of having a rotation system, Kulo Sena's story will flow more like... well, a story, which is where my strengths have always been. I am just naturally a rambly narrator.

The replacement term will be arc, and I plan to focus each arc on whatever grabs my attention most in the moment, rather than on whoever happens to be next on the list. I'm going to stop fussing about keeping ages and seasons exactly matched between households, letting there be a few days' variation, and letting some households where nothing much is going on sit out of a few play sessions. As a storyteller first and foremost, nothing's more frustrating than having to break off from an exciting storyline and go play a bunch of nobodies because a week is up!

I'll be tagging my posts by arc name and scene number, rather than by household or rotation or even by sim names. I also plan to make a habit of taking notes at the end of every play session, recapping major events for my scatterbrained self to review later. Another thing I get frustrated with myself for: I can barely remember what happened last rotation when I'm playing, never mind last iteration or anything! (The same applies to what I have for breakfast, and I only ever have one thing for breakfast... ahem. Resident Simblr Scatterbrain signing out now.)

Rotations are out of my game, as of 2025. Arcs are in.

[equinoxts2]

Kulo Sena story updates will begin rolling out on Monday! I've got enough pics from my first household's round to post... but I do have to leave the house tomorrow, because reasons involving concert tickets, so Monday it is. :)

[equinoxts2]

OK, so I've reinstalled, set the entire Program Files TS2 folders to read-only, and I still get the problem in a blank new hood, with or without mods.

There is still a little ray of hope for my game's stability though! I remembered a post I made a few years back about a similar issue, where the NPC genie had become a townie. In that post, I mentioned that leaving at least one stealth hood enabled is what prevented me from getting this bug. It can be a blank/emptied template, or not, I just have to leave one stealth hood there. It worked this time, too!

No idea what could be causing it, and I'm not willing to risk my precious TS2 install investigating, but for now, this is a fix and I'll take it. :)

Welp, here comes another setback.

I thought I was going to get some quality play time in last night - and then Mrs. Crumplebottom walked past my sims' home lot as a townie and now I have to reinstall.

Grr.

[equinoxts2]

Welp, here comes another setback.

I thought I was going to get some quality play time in last night - and then Mrs. Crumplebottom walked past my sims' home lot as a townie and now I have to reinstall.

Grr.

[equinoxts2]

Return to Kulo Sena: Household 1 - Pollen

Guess who's finally PLAYING after many, many setbacks? Last week I passed the halfway mark with my >40 households to make, but... then I decided that it was too much of a slog to do them all at once. I opted to start over and do them in stages instead... and a challenge was born! (Sort of.)

The basic idea: I'll be starting with just four of those families, with the aim of "unlocking" all of them by guiding the first batch of playables to fulfilment. As time progresses and more sims find success and fulfilment (by completing LTWs, maxing careers, skills or hobbies, anything that they would have as a personal goal really...) I will unlock a new household for each achievement. I'll also add three more at the end of each rotation.

But where are they in the meantime? Well. Remember that Starband of Fate I've mentioned a few times? Here's my idea: a favourite TS3 household of mine, consisting of a simself and two aliens in a polyamorous relationship, has offered to protect the sims of Lake Lulla by sending them into a kind of stasis. In this state, they're effectively frozen in time and don't age, but they are all sharing in a peaceful and uplifting dream of sorts. One side-effect to this process: coming out of it often makes waking life seem more dreary in comparison. So the simself household settled in the region as one of the founding four, and are responsible for aiding the others in overcoming that low and finding happiness.

And, if you read all that rambling... ready to meet them?

From left to right, the top row features: Axane Pollen, an outgoing, bubbly researcher; Qusul Pollen, a nurturing and affectionate healer; and the simself Equinox Pollen, who is... simselfy.

And this little furbaby here is Lanie, the Pollens' beloved family pet.

House tour (though bear in mind, it's a starter house and unfinished) and the beginning of these sims' adventures will be coming soon!

[equinoxts2]

Tutorial for making "Open with..." work on Linux with Windows programs (and installing Sims/Lots via CleanInstaller that way)

sorry for the convoluted title, but I didn't know how else to name this.

Anyway, you know how on Windows you can simply double click on .Sims2Pack files and CleanInstaller will automatically open them? Same with .package files and SimPE.

This doesn't work on Linux out-of-the-box, because both SimPE and CleanInstaller are Windows programs. However, there is a way to make it work just like that.

I will be writing this tutorial for CleanInstaller, but you can do the same with SimPE. You'll then be able to install lots and sims by simply double clicking those install files, just like how you'd do it on windows.

What we need to do is to create a .desktop file for our program, which will make it available in the list of programs when selecting "Open with...".

Go to /home/[PC name] Then hit ctrl+h to show hidden folders. From there, go to .local/share/applications.

Inside that folder, create a new file and name it CleanInstaller.desktop

Open your new file with a text editor like KWrite or Kate.

In the file, write the following:

[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=CleanInstaller Icon=[add a path to the .ico file you want to use, this is optional] Exec=WINEPREFIX="/home/[insert PC name]/Games/the-sims-2/" "/home/[insert PC name]/.local/share/lutris/runners/wine/wine-ge-8-26-x86_64/bin/wine" "[insert path to CleanInstaller.exe]" %U Categories=Game

If for whatever reason your runner for the Sims 2 is different (meaning it is NOT wine-ge-8-26-x86_64), then change it in the text above! It needs to be the same runner as the game is using.

Save your file.

To test, go download a sim or house, right click the file, select "open with..." and see if CleanInstaller is in the list.

Tip for people who use KDE plasma: Right click on a .sims2pack file, select "Properties". In the new window, click on "Change..." or "Add..." next to "Open With". Another window will open. At the bottom under "Applications preference Order", click on "+Add..." and select CleanInstaller. Apply the change and now you can simply double-click .sims2pack files to open them in CleanInstaller automatically.

[equinoxts2]

Back to rambling about the Senaverse...

Hey everyone, so sorry for vanishing these last couple of weeks! It's been one setback after another with trying to get Kulo Sena back up and running (also, I've started taking dance lessons, and it's the most regular exercise I've done in years, so that's burning up a fair amount of my energy.)

It is in the building/sim making phase now, and I've come up with an explanation for why my landscaping and hood decorating isn't going to be stunningly beautiful at the start (I plan to work on it as I go along.) The reason for it is, after the Starband of Fate, the land needs time to regenerate. Yeah. Let's go with that.

As for gameplay, I'm going to have fourteen households per subhood, and three subhoods (plus one extra subhood with five households.) It's becoming something of a mini uberhood, but it's my own fault for keeping adding sims and not having the heart to cut any.

For story purposes, a lot of people arrived on the shores of Lake Lulla after the Starband of Fate, mostly seeking a new start in a Senaverse reborn in love. Each established household has taken one of them in as an acquisition - that's a temporary servant status, living with and working for a family in exchange for food, lodging and support - while these newcomers find their feet. In future, this kind of fostering will also be part of the build-up to the rites of adulthood.

Finally, the three villages of Kulo Sena, Credence and Lucidity Springs have agreed to join forces in a similar way to the Elephant Sea Alliance (that's the Senaverse version of the premades to you) under the collective name Turi Safil Nuidya - the Sheltering Unity of Free People. Although I mentioned in an earlier lorepost that the title for a village leader was "crestbearer," that term has since been replaced with "Guiding Mind."

And that's all the rambling for now. CAS is sloading, so I'll (literally) waltz off to practise my box turns. :)

[equinoxts2]

Senaverse Lorepost (sort of): Back to the Drawing Board

So, I got half of the KS cast made, built the bare bones of one lot, started playing... and I am very very very dissatisfied. Not just because I'm a lazy-yet-perfectionist buildophobe. Also because the way it looks is a bit too dreary and samey, even after switching out the bear tunics for medieval-esque outfits. Which I'm still not thrilled with.

I'm just sat here now, thinking that this kind of laziness on my part - refusing to re-cut my downloads when I could play with the one I have now, even though I'm bored of it - has done in more iterations of KS than corruption has ever come close to. The answer: brand new download cut, one that uses the content I love most, paying no mind to what "makes sense" by earth-history standards that I'm not trying to emulate anyway.

It's my sim world. I want to have lots more natural and unnatural hair colours, with mostly long hair on all genders. I want to use the quirky, patterny modern clothing that's been hiding in my download hoard for years, along with rustic-but-colourful cabin-style dwellings that are a riot of colour and mismatched decor on the inside. I want to avoid plastic and electronics, though magical equivalents are fine, and I can always headcanon that what looks like a lightbulb on a cute lamp is actually a crystal. I also want to retain the tribal-fantasy aspects of Nuidya life, having more facepaints than conventional makeup, and have lots of untamed nature all about, and gods and ancestors wandering around (though I am rethinking the nature of the five pantheons in canon) and aether beacons at the heart of every village.

So I'm going to. Deal with it. 😉

[equinoxts2]

Senaverse Rotations Go Out of Sync

Happy (slightly belated) New Year to all my simblr friends! I've been focusing on my solo RPG over the holidays, since I refuse to build over Christmas, but I'm ready to get back to working on Kulo Sena now!

As part of my attempt to be more true to my own playstyle, I've managed to zap a lot of the stuff I'm not using, but keep including, from my Downloads folder (3t2 traits, and complex Sun&Moon crafting chains, looking at you) so my load times will hopefully be less like sload times. I'm also examining elements of my gameplay that I'm dissatisfied with. One of those aspects is the rotation system, which I've been very strict about keeping in sync since before Kulo Sena was a thing - even though my naturally chaotic, cluttered mind can't handle schedules! It's much too full of roleplaying and worldbuilding stuff to remember anything as trivial as when I have to go to the dentist. (I know where things are, mum. They're in one of those piles on the floor over there.)

So, how can I change my timekeeping style to better suit my preferences? Well... (Quin Standard Ramble incoming!)

As I already mentioned in previous posts, I've been replacing text strings to make certain game terms make more sense to me. I've decided that, instead of having a rotation system, Kulo Sena's story will flow more like... well, a story, which is where my strengths have always been. I am just naturally a rambly narrator.

The replacement term will be arc, and I plan to focus each arc on whatever grabs my attention most in the moment, rather than on whoever happens to be next on the list. I'm going to stop fussing about keeping ages and seasons exactly matched between households, letting there be a few days' variation, and letting some households where nothing much is going on sit out of a few play sessions. As a storyteller first and foremost, nothing's more frustrating than having to break off from an exciting storyline and go play a bunch of nobodies because a week is up!

I'll be tagging my posts by arc name and scene number, rather than by household or rotation or even by sim names. I also plan to make a habit of taking notes at the end of every play session, recapping major events for my scatterbrained self to review later. Another thing I get frustrated with myself for: I can barely remember what happened last rotation when I'm playing, never mind last iteration or anything! (The same applies to what I have for breakfast, and I only ever have one thing for breakfast... ahem. Resident Simblr Scatterbrain signing out now.)

Rotations are out of my game, as of 2025. Arcs are in.

[equinoxts2]

A bit of TS2 Holiday Love

OK, guess the Sims community Holiday Love Meme is not going ahead this year (@strangetomato and family, I am sending you love and festive good wishes - if you want or need to move on from Simming, you will be missed, but I totally respect your decision) so I'll say this publicly.

Thank you so much to everyone who follows not just my very niche li'l simblr, but all of you who keep the Sims 2 community going strong. Everyone who posts their CC and gameplay, everyone who likes and comments on those posts, everyone who simply prefers to lurk. It warms my heart to see that TS2 is still a living, vibrant, creative community, that constantly grows more amazing with the achievements of its modders and players, who are still discovering new and exciting ways to adapt it. The support and kindness that every TS2 simmer I know shows is truly inspiring, and I can think of no other gaming community I'd rather be a part of. Some of my absolute best friends have been simmers past and present, and I am thankful to have known and interacted with them all.

Simblr friends, I hope that, whatever the holiday season means to you, it brings you joy and fulfilment that will last through the new year - and that this old, wonderful game and its dedicated players will comfort and support you through many more years. I know it has done exactly that for me.

Thank you, all of you.

With love and gratitude for every moment of the last seventeen and two-thirds years I've been part of this community, From Quin

[equinoxts2]

Senaverse Lorepost: Redefining That ACR Business

As I'm sure my longtime followers know, I've struggled with the romantic aspects of Sims 2 social interactions for the longest time. Over the past couple of months, I've been replacing text strings like there's no tomorrow, changing terminology to better suit my squeamish aroace mindset, and now I feel like it almost makes sense to me... the moment of truth will be when I play, but here's a lorepost about how it's viewed in the Senaverse.

On Juvash, these kinds of interactions are more ritualised and carry a deeper meaning - even the "casual" ACR socials. (ACR now stands for Autonomous Companionship Rituals in my game.) Instead of thinking of it as "romance," the people of Juvash would be more likely to use "courtship" to describe it, or other, similar terms.

Terms that have been replaced by my edits:

Kiss = Share Breath

Flirt = Compliment

Marriage = Pathbonding

Spouse = Pathmate

Engagement = Harvest Bond (long story)

Steady = Allied

Woohoo = Sensory Union or Rite of Seclusion (terms used interchangeably)

Public Woohoo = Aetherbond

Make Out = Share Spirits

Date = Companion Journey

Crush = Affection

Love = Devotion

I'm sure there are others that I've missed off this list. I'm still trying to figure out what to rename the Romance aspiration itself as. Either way, I'm very tired, still have a lot of sims to make, and CAS is sloading as I type, so I'm going to sign off here :)

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Sorry for going quiet this past week! I've had rather a lot of setbacks and facepalm moments in my attempt to set up Kulo Sena again. However, I'm not letting it get me down - and I'm also working on that Senaverse RPG campaign I was asked about a while ago!

The idea: the solo RPG will be posted as a series of interludes in the KS story (or the other way round, depending on which I feel more like doing at any given time) and will follow the younger generations (between Emerging and Blossoming phases) as they find themselves somewhere very unlike the Kulo Sena they know. This also means I don't have to make them as sims in KS proper. Less setup? Sounds good to me!

As for rulesets, I'll be using Mythic Game Master Emulator 2nd Edition and The Adventure Crafter, both published by Word Mill Games, to craft the stories and answer my questions; Victoriana 3rd Edition by Cubicle 7 (with heavily modified magic rules to fit the Senaverse lore) will be my system for character crafting and other dice-rolling situations. It's less of a combat-focused system than some others I found, and also the first RPG I tried playing with my mum. The mechanics will not feature in the actual posts - just the story itself - though I may add a few footnotes about awesome dice rolls and what I was expecting to happen.

I'm character crafting right now, trying to decide which of my young Nuidya the story will focus on. Really looking forward to sharing it with my simblr friends - and also having a Kulo Sena spinoff where the mechanics of the game don't limit the possibilities!

[equinoxts2]

Three households in one to introduce, all linked to Etan: her cousin Kira, her adopted children Lydia and Demetrius, and her two pathmates London and Abraxius. Intros to each sim below the cut.

Kira (black hair, red tunic, in the middle of the back row) is Etan's younger cousin, the only living child of former headwoman Abina - who is now a member of the Court of Belyala, the Nuidya ancestor pantheon. Unlike her mother, Kira has been an entitled diva so far, expecting her mi-Avira blood to let her get away with slacking off; however, now that her daughter has been named as Etan's heir, she's beginning to see the potential in this parenthood thing. Only took her thirteen starbands.

Tamivadila (black hair, wolf ears, blue tunic) is one of Kira's voidling alpha twins. Despite their strong magical heritage, Kira herself showed very little interest in being there for them. Tami responded by becoming loud, assertive and stubborn, but she is also something of a philosopher, and is working with Etan to build a fairer system for all Nuidya, not just mi-Aviras.

Rarovokis (black hair, wolf ears, green tunic) is Tami's twin brother, and shares her high intelligence. Unlike her, he is quiet and tries to stay out of the spotlight; he is very close to Tami, though, and she's always backed him up. As a son of the line of Avira, he knows he'll probably never have children of his own (can you be de-spiritbound?) but he still longs to start a more loving family than he had.

Abraxius (grey hair, brown tunic) is one of Etan's two pathmates, and out of the two, he's the bigger schemer. An archmage of the Pink tradition, he has no qualms about using his magic to get his way. Many Nuidya still don't trust him, since his arrival in Kulo Sena was marked by an attempt at cursing the burial grounds - luckily for him, Etan is a sucker for flattery.

London (blond hair, yellow tunic) is Etan's other pathmate, and has been with her significantly longer. He's a former boxer, unusually strong for a male of Juvash. He did once get kicked out for starting a drunken brawl with Etan herself, but they made up later... another reason why Etan is stepping down.

Lydia (red hair, red tunic) is one of a pair of twins adopted by Etan and London in the coastal city where they once lived. She's the elder of the two, and there's been some debate over whether she counts as "a descendant of the line of Avira" for succession purposes. Lydia herself isn't interested in leading the tribe regardless, preferring to just get on with her art projects.

Demetrius (red hair, brown tunic) is Lydia's brother. At one point, he was named as Etan's heir, but refused to accept the position - which his pathmate Tetali has mixed feelings about. He is also an artistic type, and enjoys crafting things.

Miak (black hair, black tunic) is Lydia's son with her pathmate Keru. He vanished into the Spirit World for a while as a child, returning days later at the age of nineteen starbands. He claims he can't remember what happened while he was away, but he has noticed that he gets a lot more admirers now than he expected - so he's more than willing o play up the spirit mystique to get attention.

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OK, household two! If you remember me saying something about "familiar faces" in a previous post from ages ago - here are two of them: Lazlo Curious and Erin Beaker, who are the two elders in the back.

In my game, when I was testing my mod cut and new genetics system in Strangetown not too long ago (and this is why I decided NOT to use Triplets & Quads in the end) Pascal's voidling baby turned out to be quads: the four black-haired sims in the grey gowns. From left to right, they are Kite, Alice, Varris and Tallia. The two blond guys are Vidcund's twins, Aaron and Hastain.

Both Pascal and Vidcund died in childbirth (another mod I then decided I was going to stick to my original plan of not using) and I wanted to take that storyline and run with it, writing it into the family's backstory as a lab accident. Lazlo - along with his pathmate Erin and close family friend Nicodemus Muenda - had to step up to raise the six kids.

Thirty-seven starbands (three full seasonal years) later, they're here in the Lake Lulla region. No, I haven't figured out why yet, and the voidlings haven't developed individual backstories/traits at the moment. I will be letting that develop through play. Either way, the younger generation are working as acquisitions, as indicated by the grey outfits; elders who arrived after the Starband of Fate have been granted honorary citizenship, so Erin and Lazlo get brighter outfits.

They're not the only premades who've found homes in my game, and there will also be a number of sims from other people's games appearing in later posts. For now, though, I'm sick of CAS and it's bedtime, so night night. :)