equinoxts2

[equinoxts2]

Happy Senaversary!

On this day eighteen(!) years ago, Sena Yuleng, ancestor of most of the Nuidya around today, came out of CAS and into a terrible legacy challenge. And wow, it's seen me through a lot of mental health stuff, given me the chance to gain some amazing friends in the TS2 community, and it's still developing its intricate lore to this day.

I feel like I've come full circle with my playstyle now. The original Kulo Sena (called Tanwa Nuidya, "homeland of the Nuidya") was filled with sims who followed their own quirky pasions without much regard to what "made sense" - and I am just starting to get there with my own life, as well as with my gameplay. I've resolved to keep blogging, but not to censor my gameplay because I have a blog. I've never been an Evil Simmer, but I am a worldbuilder, and part of that for me is that things will happen in the story that wouldn't happen here on 21st century Earth.

Anyway, today I want to say thank you to Kulo Sena for being my escapism, and to my friends and followers for listening to me ramble about it. I love all of you and I love all my sims. *raises a mug of tea to the Senaverse*

[equinoxts2]

I'm gonna have a bit of an internet big sister moment and just say this: you are good enough, your content is good enough, and you're not in competition with anyone.

I constantly see people on my dash comparing themselves to other people and getting down on themselves because their computers aren't top of the line, or they don't feel like the screenshots they share are good enough because they don't use Reshade or edit them the way other people do, or that their gameplay isn't worth posting because it's too boring/niche/whatever, and it makes me so sad.

You are ALL good enough, your screenshots are good enough, and your stories and gameplay are good enough. Ideally, you play The Sims games to bring yourself some joy in whatever context that looks like, and that's what matters at the end of the day. We're all here to document and share our unique experiences and game styles, and that uniqueness is what should be focused on. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and I encourage y'all to take a look at why you think your strengths have to be the same as someone else's.

Be yourself, and do what makes YOU happy. There is only one You on this earth, and that person is worth celebrating, strengths and weaknesses and all. Be kind to yourselves, friends.

[equinoxts2]

So far in Kulo Sena...

I forgot to configure the visitor controller on my Aether Beacon lot, and this NPC witch rocked up. Her name, generated by my massive mashup of various fantasy name mods, happens to be Do'Dath Pryor. I was sure I'd heard that name before... and I have, in my last attempt at an uberhood, where the same name was assigned to an NPC landlord. My theory: mother and daughter. I have moved her into the household I was playing at the time, because I rather like her and also the NPC landlord.

This time, the first lot was not the cursed lot. It was actually very chill. This lot, however, the Vedraloga nest (and the second one I built and played) - well, let's just say the next lot was the hexed lot. Tegan, the most junior member of the Vedraloga, was cooking breakfast when she suddenly stopped to have a bathroom break. Fire? Yes. I removed the More Dangerous Fire mod after this incident, because Briar and Sparrow (the two most senior members of the order) did not survive the inferno.

Briar and Sparrow were both love interests of Etan, the Guiding Mind of Kulo Sena, and Etan has not made the best decisions in her relationship choices. The tribe took the fire as a sign that the ancestors have had it with Etan. Shaman Mari relieved her of duty and, consulting with the ancestors and elders, shortlisted fourteen worthy replacements and summoned them to the village Proving Ground, where the next leader would be chosen from among them.

But two of those chosen - Sivu and Miranda, brother and sister - refused to take part in the choosing ceremony, simply walking away. Opinions within the village vary on whether they acted out of honour or cowardice. In the end, their foster father Caleb was chosen as the new Guiding Mind, and the first male Nuidya leader since his great-grandfather, Rommy zan-Ace.

Oh, and there was a burglar, but I forgot to get a screenshot of the attempted robbery.

[equinoxts2]

I'm still here! It's just been a bit of a stressful week for my family due to our house being infested with carpet beetles. We're having to deep clean the whole place and it is not how any of us wanted to spend the week.

On a more simmy note, Kulo Sena is coming along and will be playable on its birthday! It's playable now, actually, just working on one of the subhoods - but oh boy have I had drama already! (And this time, I don't mean the carpet beetles.)

I can't wait to share it with my simblr friends - watch this space! (Quin goes to cobble together an intro post)

[equinoxts2]

Back on Track: 18th Senaversary Edition

It's been setback after setback after more setbacks with the Kulo Sena rebuild, but I have made some major decisions about the style and feel I'm going for in my game! (This coming from a decidophobe, too...) And I actually think I might just be able to get to playing by April 16th - Kulo Sena's eighteenth birthday.

Rambling under the cut, as always.

Clothing & Visuals I have to admit that, after spending weeks hunting for appropriate CC (especially clothes) I've given in and decided to use the Castaway Stories conversions. I've been swerving those because 1) I've been trying to explain for years that Kulo Sena isn't a tropical island and it felt like selling out; 2) the clothes were far too revealing for my squeamish aroace tastes; and 3) it was a solution and I was in a place where I just wanted to complain instead of finding solutions. That happens sometimes.

But I'm going to retcon that Lake Lulla is in a jungle region, has always been one, and its locals are less squeamish about belly buttons than I myself am. Or... was. It may have taken me 33 years, but I'm getting less disgusted by things like that, and also I have tattoo overlays I can use to give the illusion that my sims are more covered up.

Gameplay I'm moving from a "standard" family structure of parents and children toward a system I've termed "nests" - a replacement for the term "household." Basically, on Juvash, females are taller and physically stronger than males (at least in my headcanon, I don't use the height mod) and, while male sims aren't seen as less important or less capable, the idea is that when they leave their mother's nest, they usually seek the protection of another woman. The title of a household matriarch is "nestkeeper," and she is responsible for ensuring that everyone in her household is fulfilled, safe, and not about to get in a pointless fight over who's left their towel on the floor again.

The last day of every starband (rotation) is Moving Day, and it's when anyone can transfer from one nest to another. Transfers do have to be approved by both nestkeepers, but in general, if you're wanting someone to stay in your lot without considering whether they want or need to move on, you've got no business being a nestkeeper anyway.

As for relationships, which have always been a thorn in my aroace side, there are now two kinds of commitment, using Maxis steady and marriage flags, but representing different things to those. The "steady" relationships are actually the more significant ones, and are termed "pathbonding," but the idea is that pathbonding isn't public. Typically, although it's only ever a bond of love, pathmates don't live together, don't throw lavish parties when they make their commitments, and don't even tell anyone else about their relationship going to that level - that would be a betrayal of trust.

The marriage mechanic actually represents entering the protection of a new nest - instead of "marrying" the nestkeeper, though, a new household member is making a commitment to the household itself, and there's no shame in choosing to move on. There might be gossip if the nestkeeper kicks you out, but that won't likely happen that often.

Posting Four words: less screenshots, more rambling. I'm playing to my strength - words - instead of doing what I actually loathe, posing sims and pausing to take pics.

And... there's more stuff in there, but I can't quite pull specifics out of my brain right now. When I remember it, I'll ramble about that, but for now... back to CAS!

[equinoxts2]

What a Way(bird) to Start...

So. Kulo Sena rebuild is coming, but since I'm also working on a servo-to-skeleton default replacement project for @fracturedmoonlight (which I really want to make the best it can be for my awesome friend) it's going slower than I hoped. It probably won't be fully playable in time for its eighteenth birthday (that's April 16th) but I should have a few households in place by then.

Until then, here's the promised-several-weeks-ago update on how the Waybirds did as the first household of my last iteration... (warning: lazy buildophobe's builds are terrible)

Aria, the eldest of the two adopted Waybird youngsters, struck up a friendship with similarly-aged neighbour Zarrin Talent. Zarrin is also adopted, and the two spent several hours after getting back from lore tuition bonding over their respective family troubles.

A few days later, Aria and Zarrin decided to sneak out together. But something went wrong. Hours passed, the suns came up, Aria's motives kept plummeting... but she didn't return.

In a panic, her adopted dad Hawk and uncle Raven forgot about the breakfast breads when they went out to search for her. Her younger brother Blaise, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to the inferno and his missing sister; he was more concerned with enjoying his day off lore tuition in the fresh air.

I got a message about not leaving Blaise home alone for too long while Hawk and Raven were at work, so I decided, stuff my no-NPC rule, he's calling the firefighters. An NPC promptly arrived to put out the flames...

...just as another NPC arrived to spirit Blaise away. Usually I have a no social worker mod - this time I forgot it. Whoops.

Aria did eventually return from wherever she and Zarrin were. However, her needs were so low at that point that she keeled over and died of starvation, literally inches from the toilet.

Hawk tried to plead for her life, but got there too late. Raven, meanwhile, enjoyed a soak in the bathtub while the kora (Senaverse term for reapers) took his niece.

Aria did not go quietly, though - she returned to scare Hawk, who was delighted to see her again.

Raven, who'd become very friendly with Zarrin's mother Zana, invited her to the Healing Gardens aether beacon for a companion journey (that's what dates are called in my game). Her other adopted son, Tango, tagged along for some reason. Surprisingly, they saw Blaise wandering around, too. So two very important messages were sent to the Spirit World...

...one from Raven, petitioning the kora (social workers in my game are also kora, but not the same kind as reapers) to bring Blaise back to the family...

...and one from Hawk, exchanging some of the aspiration points the family had somehow managed to stockpile during all this for Aria's return to life.

Well, I use the term "life" loosely. Aria returned as a vampire, complete with the signature mark of vampirism in the Senaverse: the Hunter's Eye. This third eye on the forehead of a vampire is usually inert and sightless, but glows brightly when the vampire is hungry. As with most supernaturals in my game, I cobbled it together from several other simmers' overlays, and I'm very pleased with the lore. :)

A few days and one external paint job later, Raven was stargazing when the telescope was struck by lightning. I decided to cheat an abduction as a result. I'm still using my edit of BoilingOil's Alien Experiments, and... let's just say... ever since Aria returned, Raven's greatest fear was becoming a vampire.

So guess what happened to him. And then the big dingbat went into aspiration failure in broad daylight.

Zana happened to walk by her beloved's home just as the spirit man was making him cluck like a chicken; Raven didn't notice.

And then, next play session, the lot got corrupted, followed by the whole birding save. More arguments for my theory: the first lot is the cursed lot.

[equinoxts2]

Sorry for vanishing off again, everyone! It was my birthday on Saturday, and the run-up to my birthday is often stressful for me, especially when I'm hoodless (my last iteration borked within four households) and I've also picked up the beginning of a nasty cold bug.

However! I have started work on the newest rebuild of Kulo Sena and the Lake Lulla region, and the first household just came out of CAS. I did have... quite an interesting playthrough with that first household last time, so if you're waiting for Kulo Sena story posts to return, watch this space for a summary of what happened (which may or may not become canon.) Also, a couple of loreposts are being worked on. Rambling awaits. :)

For now, though, I need to go sleep off this cold bug... zzzzz.

Take care and happy simming!

[equinoxts2]

Quick announcement: over the next few days I will be rounding up all the CC and mods I've posted to SimFileShare over the years, and reuploading them to Mega. New download links will be added to the original posts, and I will let my followers and downloaders know when they're available. An index of posts with updated links will also be posted on my simblr.

Another quick announcement: Gameplay pics and stories are coming! I've just been enjoying playing TS2 for the past few days, so the focus has been on play time. :)

[equinoxts2]

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.