#:// FILE : LOADING . . . CLOSED STARTER .

[partyven0m]

I've said this before but I'll say it again, I LOVE YOUR KRIS FICS!!!!! So I was thinking about you doing something similar to the fic where the reader has a fat crush on Kris, but KRIS who has a fat crush on the reader, they would be a fucking loser and something like that, but yk like in their way

'We used to whisper, now we just talk'

In which... you and kris used to be close friends as children, but as you gained popularity, the two of you became strangers. Yet even after believing you've forgotten all about them, Kris still can't let you go. (notes at the end !! ;B )

Detention wasn’t new to Kris.

Not that they got it often, really. They just had a habit of being nearby when Susie decided to do something objectively stupid.

This time it had been naming the two of them “dih” and “ass” when playing Kahoot as a class.

Susie bailed 5 minutes into detention. Said she had to “pee” and never came back. Kris didn’t bother covering for her.

Alphys paced back and forth at the front of the classroom, fiddling with her hands like she’d just committed a crime.

“I-It’s not that I want to do this.” she mumbled, voice shaking more than usual. “It’s just– Undyne said I need to, um, ‘lay down the law’ a little more? Something about backbone? Discipline? But I don’t–this is too much, I think–I mean, you’re not even the one who– this is probably unfair–"

Kris stared blankly ahead, chin resting in their hand. They blinked once, slowly.

“Okay.” Alphys said eventually, caving. “You can go. Or not. It’s up to you. Or– no pressure. You can leave, though. Please.”

She shuffled out of the classroom in a hurry, nearly dropping her clipboard on the way out. The door clicked shut behind her.

Kris didn’t move. Didn’t have to.

They leaned back in their chair, slowly digging around in their pocket until they pulled out their 3DS. It was covered in scratches and spots where the paint had chipped, adorned with half rubbed off and faded stickers.

They booted up Pokémon. It loaded with a happy little jingle that echoed in the quiet classroom.

Their save file was right where they left it, just outside a Pokécenter. They scrolled through their party out of habit.

Their starter blinked up at them.

Same name as always.

Yours.

They stared at it for a second. Not too long but just long enough.

They had named their first ever partner pokémon after you when they were 9. It wasn’t even supposed to be a big thing. You were just... their best friend back then. The person they cared about the most. 

And now? Years later?

It had became a tradition.

Kris let out a tiny breath through their nose and slumped forward, resting their forehead against the desk. Their thumb moved slowly over the controls. Half-playing. Half-thinking.

It was raining outside.

They didn’t really notice until the thunder started.

Then they glanced toward the window. Watched the water fall down the glass in slow, squiggly lines. Everything outside was gray and dripping, and kind of pretty in a way that made you want to fall asleep.

They wondered what you were doing right now.

Still at club, probably. You were the president of something. A few somethings, maybe. You always had people around you, laughing, talking, helping with things. You had that kind of face. Easy to go to. Easy to like.

Kris stared at the screen without really looking at it.

You probably didn’t even remember what day you two stopped hanging out. Probably didn’t notice the last time you two spoke. They wouldn’t blame you. It was just one of those things that happened slowly, like bangs getting too long or gold stars peeling off the wall.

But still.

Sometimes they caught themselves looking for you in crowded halls. Sometimes they noticed the way your laugh sounded even when you were two rooms over. Sometimes they– okay, they always– named their Pokémon after you.

Just because.

The screen blinked. Their starter fainted again.

. . .

After an hour or so of mindlessly grinding in their Pokémon world, they yawned, closing the 3DS and sitting up, rubbing the back of their neck.

The thunder rumbled closer now. The rain was coming down even harder than before.

They figured they’d head out. Not home. Just… out.

So they stood up.

legs feeling weird from sitting too long. They stretched a little, then shoved their hands in their hoodie pocket and walked out of the classroom.

The halls were completely empty now. A lot of the lights had already been turned off. The whole building felt still and slow.

They pushed the front doors open.

The rain was deafening. It hit the pavement in fast, loud drops. Big puddles had already started to form near the sidewalk.

Kris stood there for a second, holding the door open, watching.

Then they stepped outside, just far enough to sit on the front steps. The awning shielding them from the rain. The air smelled like wet concrete and grass.

They sat down, pulled their hood up, and rested their arms on their knees.

After a moment, they reached into their hoodie and pulled out their 3DS.

They stared at it in their hands. Thought about opening it. Didn’t really want to. But there was nothing else to do.

So their thumb slowly glided over the on button, just before-

“…Kris?”

They froze before slowly turning towards the voice.

It was you.

You had just stepped outside, holding a folder against your chest, like you were keeping warm. Your backpack hung off one shoulder and you looked surprised to see them.

You stepped under the awning, letting the door swing shut behind you.

“What are you still doing here?”

Kris blinked up at you silently. They didn’t say anything right away.

Their hand tightened a little around the 3DS. Their face felt warm.

“…Just waiting out the rain.” they said finally. Tried to make it sound casual.

You nodded. “Makes sense. It’s coming down pretty hard.”

You stepped closer, dropping your bag on the ground with a soft thud. Then sat next to them on the steps, a little space between you.

Kris glanced sideways. Then immediately looked forward again.

You rested the folder on your lap and sighed. “I heard Susie got you in trouble again?”

“…Yeah.”

You snorted.

Kris felt their ears get hot.

You leaned back on your hands, staring out at the road. “Is it like Ms. Alphys to give out detention? She seems too shy…”

Kris shook their head a little as they looked away. “Didn’t last long.”

“Figured. Your class seems fun to be in.” You muttered happily under your breath.

There was a pause. Not awkward. Just quiet.

Rain hit the pavement in a steady rhythm. Street totally empty.

You didn’t say anything else for a moment. You just sat there. Calm. Like this was nothing strange. Like it was totally normal to be sitting next to each other again after all this time.

Kris didn’t move. Didn’t trust themselves to.

Their heart was beating faster than it should have been.

They kept their head down, hiding behind their bangs a little.

They weren’t sure why you were talking to them. Or why you sat down. But they weren’t going to move.

Kris had liked you for a long time. Maybe longer than they even realized. When you were kids, you were close, basically best friends. You’d run around the playground together, sharing secrets and silly games. Kris thought you were the brightest, most wonderful person they’d ever known.

But as you grew up, things changed. You became more popular, always surrounded by new friends, laughing easily with people Kris didn’t know. It wasn’t that you forgot Kris completely. It was just... you slipped out of reach. Like trying to hold onto light.

No matter how much time passed, Kris couldn’t let go of their feelings. They told themselves it was just a phase, or that maybe you had already forgotten them. But deep down, their heart held onto you. It was like a quiet hope that kept flickering.

As they got a little older Kris would snap whenever their mom or brother asked them how you were doing. Not because they didn’t care. It was the opposite. It hurt too much to talk about you. So they’d get quiet or change the subject. After a while, they both knew to stop asking. 

They didn’t know how to move on, and honestly, they weren’t sure they wanted to.

You leaned back a little, stretching your legs out in front of you.

“You ever get the feeling the day’s been way longer than it should be?” you asked.

Kris glanced over. You weren’t looking at them, just watching the rain hit the pavement.

They nodded. “Yeah.”

They didn't get that feeling at all. In fact they had no clue what you were talking about, but they knew that they liked your voice and it sounded like something you'd say. So they nodded anyway.

You smiled faintly. “Feels like it should be tomorrow already."

Then there was another pause.

A quiet one. Not awkward. Just quiet.

You hugged the folder closer to your chest.

“…It’s kinda weird seeing you here.” you said. “Not bad weird. Just, I don’t know. We don’t really talk anymore, huh?”

Kris froze for half a second.

They kept their eyes forward, toward the sidewalk, pretending that sentence didn’t land exactly where it hurt.

“…Yeah.” they said quietly.

You tilted your head a little, thoughtful. “We used to hang out all the time.”

Kris swallowed. “Then we just stopped.”

They said it before they could think. And as soon as the words were out, they wished they hadn’t.

You were quiet for a second and they found themselves hoping you hadn't heard them over the rain.

“Yeah.” you said. “We did.”

You didn’t sound sad. Just honest.

Kris felt their hands curl tighter in their sleeves. Their heart was beating fast. They didn’t know why they felt embarrassed, it wasn’t like you’d said anything mean. But something about the way you remembered it made everything worse. Or better. They couldn’t tell.

Your voice was a little softer now.

“I still think about that sometimes.” you said.

Kris went still.

You weren’t even looking at them. Just out toward the rain. Like you were talking to the air more than anything.

“When we used to hang out,” you added. “after school. Before stuff got… busy, I guess.”

Your tone was light. Easy. Like it wasn’t a big deal.

But Kris’s chest tightened anyway. They kept their eyes on the ground. 

You shifted a little beside them.

“There was that one day,” you said, “where we got in trouble for splashing water at each other outside. You remember that? You had that weird plastic dinosaur in your pocket and it got soaked.”

Kris blinked.

Their voice came out low. Barely there.

“…You remember that?”

You turned toward them now. Not dramatic. Not intense. Just surprised they even had to ask.

“Yeah?” you said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Kris didn’t answer right away.

They looked down again. 

They thought about that stupid plastic dinosaur. It had been orange. It smelled weird after it dried. They’d kept it in their drawer for years, even after the paint chipped off.

They thought they were the only one who remembered that day.

They thought you’d forgotten everything.

“…I dunno.” Kris mumbled.

Their voice felt small. Embarrassing. But they didn’t take it back.

You didn’t laugh at them. You just smiled a little, like you understood.

There was a quiet moment after that.

Just the sound of the rain.

“You were kind of my first real friend, you know.”

That made Kris turn to look at you.

You weren’t trying to be sentimental. You said it like it was just a fact.

“I didn’t really talk to people much before that,” you went on. “but then you just kinda… let me follow you around. Even when I was being annoying.”

Kris shook their head. “You weren’t.”

You looked at them again. You were still smiling, but there was something shy behind it now. Like saying this out loud felt a little strange for you, too.

“You made stuff feel easy back then,” you said. “I think that’s what made me want to talk to more people.”

Kris didn’t know what to say.

Their throat felt tight. Their heart felt like it was sitting right at the base of their tongue.

They hadn’t even realized they were gripping the edge of their hoodie until they forced their hands to relax.

You looked away again, back toward the rain.

“I guess I just never said thanks.” you said.

Kris stared at you.

You weren’t even looking at them. Just watching the rain, like you hadn’t said anything weird. Like that wasn’t the nicest thing anyone had ever said to them.

They looked down again, fiddling with the drawstring of their hoodie.

You remembered.

They didn’t know why that made their face feel so hot. Or their chest kind of floaty. It was just… a lot. In a weird, sweet way.

They’d thought about those afternoons a million times. You and them, stomping through puddles, getting scolded by teachers. Laughing so hard it made their stomach hurt. You used to talk so much back then. About everything.

They always figured you forgot. Or grew out of it.

But you didn’t.

You were sitting right here, saying you missed it. That it mattered. That they mattered.

Kris pressed their sleeve to their mouth for a second. Just so they didn’t have to figure out what their face was doing.

Their heart felt like it was trying to walk in shoes too big.

You nudged your foot gently against theirs.

“I didn’t mean to make it weird.” you said. “I just think about that stuff sometimes. That’s all.”

Kris shook their head quickly.

“It’s not weird.” they said. Too fast. “I–It’s not.”

You smiled again. Just a little. Not looking at them.

Kris stared down at your foot next to theirs. It wasn’t even touching. Just close.

They kind of couldn’t believe any of this was real.

“We should talk more.” you said.

Kris’s heart stuttered.

They looked down so fast it was almost embarrassing.Their bangs fell in front of their eyes, and they didn’t bother brushing them away.

“…Okay.” they said, barely above a whisper.

You didn’t laugh. Didn’t act like it was weird. You just smiled, soft and normal, like this was the most casual thing in the world.

“Cool,” you said. “we’ll start now, then.”

Kris could barely breathe.

They curled their hands tighter into the sleeves of their hoodie, trying to act normal, but they could feel their face burning. It wasn’t fair, how easy it was for you to say stuff like that. How you could sit next to them, say we should talk more, and smile like it was that simple. Like it didn’t just completely ruin them.

They’d spent so long convincing themselves you were out of reach.

And now you were right here.

Talking to them like you wanted to be close again.

They couldn’t even think straight.

“…What do we talk about?” they asked, too quiet. Their voice was shaky, and they hated that you might’ve heard it.

You didn’t say anything for a second.

Then you turned to them, eyes soft. “You pick.”

Kris froze.

That was the worst possible answer.

You pick?They could talk about a hundred things. What you liked, who your friends were now, your favorite colors. They could ask if you still ate your cereal dry or if you still doodled on your math homework like you used to.

They could ask if you ever thought about them.

Like they thought about you.

But none of those things were safe.

So instead they mumbled, “I’m… still bad at Pokémon.”

You laughed again.

You leaned back a little, grinning. “Good.” you said. “That’s how it should be. I’d be worried if you were suddenly, like, good.”

Kris pressed their sleeve to their mouth again, like they could hide the smile trying to creep up.

You sat back again, arms stretched behind you on the step, legs kicked out in front. Like you weren’t in any rush at all.

“…Y’know,” you said after a minute, “you’re kinda different from how I remember.”

Kris blinked. Their whole body tensed.

You didn’t sound judgmental or weird about it. Just thoughtful. Casual.

Kris shifted in their seat. “Different how?”

You hummed, thinking.

“Dunno.” you said. “You’re still quiet. But I guess I thought you’d be, like… meaner now.”

Kris stared.

“…Mean?”

You laughed. “I don’t know! You’ve got that whole scary hallway stare thing going on.”

Kris’s ears went red. “That’s just my face…”

“Yeah.” you grinned. “I figured that out today.”

Kris let out a tiny sound that might’ve been a laugh. 

You turned your head slightly, your voice softer now.

“I’m glad you’re still you, though.”

Kris stared at you for a second too long.

Then their mouth moved before their brain caught up.

“You’re different too.” they said.

You blinked. “Me?”

“Yeah. I mean–” Kris looked down fast. Their thumb rubbed at a loose thread on their sleeve. “Not in a bad way. Just. You seem more…”

They trailed off, trying to find the right word. It was hard to explain what they meant without sounding stupid.

“…Content.” they said finally. “You seem… okay. With everything. With school. People. Life.”

You tilted your head a little, curious, but didn’t say anything.

Kris swallowed. “It’s not like you weren’t before, I just– back then you didn’t talk to anyone but me, really. And now you’re–”

They stopped again. Their ears were burning.

You were still just watching them. Patient.

Kris hesitated.

They wanted to say they were happy for you. That it was cool seeing you like this. That you deserved it.

“…Sometimes I feel like I was there first.”

You blinked.

Kris still wasn’t looking at you. Just down at the wet concrete.

“I knew you before everyone else.” they mumbled. “When it was just us. And now you’re–”

Everyone’s.

They didn’t say that part. But they didn’t have to.

The words sat between you both, quiet and strange. Kris felt like shrinking into their hoodie and disappearing.

But they meant it.

They’d been proud of you. Always.

But deep down, it stung. How easily other people got to be close to you now. How they got your laughs and your inside jokes and your after-school stories.

When Kris had been the one there first. The one who remembered every little thing.

The one who never stopped thinking about you.

Yet as soon as they said it, they regretted it. Their whole chest clenched up.

Too honest. Too weird. Too much.

They bit the inside of their cheek and looked away, heart thudding like a drum in their ears.

You blinked. For a second, you didn’t say anything.

Then, quietly, “…I didn’t know you felt that way.”

Kris didn’t respond. Just stared hard at the step below them.

They hadn’t meant to say that. Not really. Not like that. They weren’t even sure what they did mean, just that it had been sitting in their chest for years.

A slow, quiet ache with no name.

There were too many things they remembered about you.

The way you used to swing your legs under your desk in elementary school. The way your laugh cracked a little when you were caught off guard. The way you used to look back at them during class like you were waiting for them to make some dumb face to keep you from falling asleep.

Every time you smiled at someone else now, Kris felt like it should’ve been them.

They knew it wasn’t fair. They knew it was stupid.

But still, some part of them, childish and stubborn, kept whining, I knew you first.

You shifted beside them.

“I always kind of thought you didn’t want to talk to me anymore.” you said, your voice quiet. Thoughtful. A little uncertain.

Kris shook their head fast. “That’s not it.”

You looked at them then. Not teasing. Not amused. Just surprised. Like you were trying to see something you hadn’t let yourself see before.

“Yeah, I guess I really had no reason to think that… We should’ve talked sooner.” you said.

...

“Sorry.” you added, voice softer now.

That made Kris glance at you.

You weren’t looking at them anymore, your eyes were down, hands curled in your lap, like you weren’t sure if you’d said too much too.

And Kris… God, they wanted something so simple.

They wanted to rewind everything. Back to when things were easy. Back to muddy shoes and shared gummy bears and rainy days where you grabbed their wrist before they could even respond.

They wanted to hand you their umbrella. Walk you home. Carry your backpack for no reason. Tell you they liked your smile and mean it so hard their whole chest hurt.

They wanted you to know that no matter how much time had passed, they’d never really let go.

Not even a little.

Even now, they caught themselves daydreaming about things that didn’t make sense, like you resting your head on their shoulder during a bus ride, or pulling them into a photo on your phone and saving it as your lock screen. Stuff that made them cringe, but felt good anyway.

Stuff they wanted more than they could say.

They glanced back down at their lap. Tried to stay still. Tried not to mess it up more.

Maybe you didn’t feel the same way. Maybe you never did.

But you were here now.

And that had to mean something. Right?

“I’m really glad I ran into you today.”

Kris didn’t know what to do with that. Their hands twisted in their sleeves. Their eyes dropped to their lap again.

“…Yeah.” they said. “Me too.”

You smiled at the sidewalk. Said nothing for a moment.

Then you sat forward a little and quickly shoved your folder into your backpack.

“…Hey.” you said, half-smiling, like you were thinking something dumb. “Wanna run?”

Kris blinked. “What?”

You looked over at them, grinning before quickly standing up and adjusting the strap of your backpack. “Home. Wanna book it?”

“It’s still pouring.”

“I know.”

Kris stared up at you. “You’ll get drenched.”

You shrugged. “So will you.”

There was a beat.

 “Okay, yeah. Dumb idea.” 

You said with a small laugh as you plopped back down onto the step.

Kris didn’t say anything. They couldn’t. Their chest felt too tight.

“It’s childish.” you added, a lot softer now.

And something about the way you said it, like you missed it, even just for a second, made their stomach twist.

They caught it in your voice. That small drop. That flicker of something like disappointment.

It hit them all at once. You wanted to go. You wanted to run. You wanted them to say yes.

And if they sat here and let that pass, if they had to watch your face fall even a little, they were going to lose their mind.

So before they could even think about what they were doing, Kris reached out and grabbed your hand.

You turned fast, startled, but Kris was already standing, already tugging you down the steps.

“Wait–”

Your voice barely registered.

Because when you looked up at them, Kris wasn’t even looking back. Their head was turned slightly away, their brows furrowed, their face bright red, like just holding your hand was already too much.

But they didn’t let go.

They pulled you down into the rain.

And you laughed, breathless. “Are you serious–?!”

Water splashed around your ankles. Rain slipped down your sleeves and soaked through your top in seconds. The sky was still gray but the clouds had started to open up, letting rays of light through.

You kept running.

Kris kept holding on.

And if you noticed how tightly they were gripping your hand, how determined their face was, like they couldn’t bear the idea of letting you down, you didn’t say anything.

You just squeezed back.

.  .  .

“Well that was a dumb fucking idea.”

Kris nodded. 

You two took cover under a bus stop as the rain got heavier and your legs tired. Soaked, cold, and worn out bodies shivering, looking out into the street with blank faces. 

“I’ll call someone to pick us up.” 

“My socks are wet…”

. . .

EDIT: GUYS. I just reread the ask and honestly i feel so bad AURBHHH BEAHHHH like i think i rlly did lose the plot… they were barely a loser 😞😞 ill take this as my sign to not take too much time writing something bc ugh I literally forgot the entire plot I’m so sad

a/n!! hihihihihi tysm for requestinggg 1!!1!111 not TOOO happy with this honestly! rereading it, it feels all over the place and thats most likely bc i took day long breaks from working on it so idk it just felt like i was writing it in sections and they dont quite connect right ykwim??? but i hope u like it regardless!

thought making u guys imagine what kinda pokemon kris saw u as would be fun!! sorry again for the kinda of sudden ending, i honestly just rlly like writing them i think. like open endings to me r so fun IDKIDK!!!!

again THANKS SMMM for the request!!!1!1 rlly hope u like ittt lmk!!!!

(title is a paraphrased lyric from Caraphernelia by pierce the veil WHO I SAW 3 DAYS AGO AHH BEST CONCERT EVERRRR ok bye love u)

[simmanity]

How do you make UI recolors? I wanted to make my own but I don't know how to get started.

How to make your own UI recolours for The Sims 3

note:

this guide is for the Windows PC, Steam Version of The Sims 3, because that is what i have

dino_rex's thread:

this thread is what got me started

you can download the starter packs on the attached files of this post

i don't use this starter pack anymore because it's limited and didn't include what i wanted to change

i would recommend that you use the other options below...

start small first:

i wrote a similar post on creating custom loading screens here, so this post will be VERY similar to that!

please start with that tutorial first to get familiarized with the whole editing process, then move on...

now, to do it yourself:

first, navigate to where your TS3 game is installed:

Steam -- Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\The Sims 3\

DVD 34 bit-- Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\

DVD 64 bit-- Program Files (x86)\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\

Origin 34 bit -- Program Files\Origin Games\The Sims 3\

Origin 64 bit-- Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 3\

// idk the path for non-Windows installations //

NOT THIS -- Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3

navigate to:

\GameData\Shared\Packages\

and the packages you are looking for are:

FullBuild0.package

DeltaBuild0.package

for BOTH packages, do this:

Open in S3PE

Resource

Select all

Export

To file...

Choose a folder to export to (An example: have a primary YourProjectName folder, with 2 folders within it: Originals and Edited. Within Originals is 2 folders: FullBuild and DeltaBuild)

Export the files to the appropriate folder

now that you've exported the Originals, time to make your edits:

Navigate to YourProjectName folder

COPY the original file that you want to edit (from the Originals folder)

Place it in the Edited folder

Edit these files with your preferred image editor

Open S3PE and have your File Explorer up

Select the images you've edited in your File Explorer (Ctrl+A to select all)

Drag to S3PE

Popup window: Import

Wait until it's complete

Hit X to close S3PE

Save? Yes.

Choose a name for your package

Save

Copy this package to your Mods folder

Start your game. Changes should appear.

Repeat until you are satisfied with your changes

my version

my 3 UI recolour projects (Sakura, Wisteria, Celeste) are based on this starter template repository on GitHub. don't use this template because it is stylized / customized for MY OWN three projects, and may NOT be what you want. however, you can copy the folder structure and look up what files to change for your own project (as inspiration).

i highly recommend that you use GitHub to BACKUP and TRACK your changes (or another version control software)

happy editing!

[essential-randomness]

A New $upporter Perk Appears

tl;dr: $upporters (Patreon, self-host) can now vote on a special project to work on during my streams

January 29th will mark the first edition of the "$upporters-choice $tream"! I'll send out the final poll on Thursday, but first, a public, non-binding interest check! Note that all I’m promising is project progress, and the projects might take a few streams to complete.

Here's the projects you (and $upporters) can choose from:

Let’s Build a Guestbook Starter!: Missing guestbooks? Well, here’s your chance to help the “guestbook renaissance”. The final product of these streams will be a GitHub repository anyone can use (or copy) to build their own guestbook using Astro.

AO3 Downloader Obsidian Plugin: Wish you could download AO3 fics in markdown + frontmatter and add them to your Obsidian vault? This is the project for you! The first step of this project will be to extend AO3.js to support downloading the content of fics, which will unlock other projects! A website starter might be in the cards too…

Load Alt Text from File Astro Plugin: If you’re using Astro, you might find that adding long alt text to images makes your markdown hard to read. Luckily, someone (read: me), wrote code to fix that. In this stream, we’ll package my plugin to load alt text from a file, and put it up on NPM for everyone to install! If time permits, we might make some progress on the next step too: creating a plugin for any website that shows visitors any extra information you wish about your images (alt text, author, source etc.).

“RobinBoob Remake” Progress: As you might know, we’ve been making progress on rebuilding RobinBoob so we can add more cool, highly-requested functionality to it. Unfortunately, we aren’t done yet! This is your chance to “buy” extra time on this project, and get the new RobinBoob to the masses quicker!

Reblog this and let me know why you chose this option in the tags 👇 was it a close choice?

If you want to vote on the real, binding survey, become a $upporter before Thursday! (Patreon, self-host)

[anons-has-hlvrai-aus]

HLVRAI B-Side rapid fire, let’s go! Some of this is similar information to an older post and some of it is new.

Character Information

The Player (Wicker) and Barney Benrey

Benrey’s player is a Twitch Streamer named Johnwicklover1994, but he informally goes by “Wicker” by his chat and people that collaborate with him. Wicker found out about a special Collector’s Edition of Half-Life after another Twitch streamer played through the OG Half-Life through this special edition.

Playing this Collector’s Edition of Half-Life suddenly blew up as a popular trend after the original stream. While Wicker is not much of a trend follower, he DOES enjoy games with janky NPC behaviors, and the AI seemed to fit the bill just fine.

All the Player Characters in the Collection are AI like their companions, but their existences as such is part of a much larger series of glitches that resulted in the collection never being released. The PC’s personalities are partially molded by the actions of their Player…Benrey is seemingly okay with this because Wicker is a very friendly player.

Upon finding out he can say pretty much anything and completely influence the game, Wicker started making it his goal to become best friends with ALL of the AI, even if it means tricking the game into thinking that soldier he found was a former best friend.

Wicker has never actually SEEN the original HLVR streams, he just knew the names of the character and put those names in when he was setting up the game. He wanted to see if the game would let him change Barney’s name, and it did. He was able to justify this change in-universe to Benrey being a jokester that frequently changes his name to see if any of the high-ups will notice.

For all intents and purposes, Benrey and Wicker are the same person when Wicker is in-character.

Background information (Under the cut)

B-Side takes place in a universe where HALF-LIFE VR is part of a Collector’s Edition of the OG game and all its original expansions that started development after Valve’s contributions to VR technology in 2013. The VR was intended to be an optional feature so that even players that didn’t have it could still enjoy the original games.

The AI was an additional feature created to bring more life to all players since some players wouldn’t be playing on VR anyways. The scope of the AI was never supposed to go as far as it did, but somehow the developers implemented self-learning technology.

The AI implementation ended up creating issues that could not be solved due to how the AI was learning, and the code was eventually rendered unusable as the game would frequently crash due to the AI attempting to pull resources from other games in the same way that GMod does for Source games.

The Collector’s Edition was supposed to utilize a custom engine that bridged Goldsource and Source engine.

The files for the Collector’s Edition were backed up and eventually leaked by an unknown individual. This individual would also encourage for an unofficial release of the collection, but in closed conversations would provide the condition that they were allowed to oversee development as an uncredited person. While it took a while for a group to accept the project due to this controversial condition, it was eventually accepted. The individual’s singular contribution was a line of code that seemed to prevent any form of hardware or software crash while the game was running, even with exploits that crashed the original games.

One of the game’s features included with the AI was smooth level transitioning that prevented any of the pausing or freezes associated with loading a new map.

Each game in the collection comes with a set of customizable companion AI that the player can pick and choose to have accompanying them when one starts a new game.

For OG Half-Life, the possible starters include one of each of the basic scientists and a security guard, however the data for the AI also includes the G-Man and a “rival” in the form of a randomly assigned soldier; also included is a “custom companion” slot whose default is a random image of a dog.

One of the custom backgrounds for AI is “alien imposter” and it is an understandably popular choice after a certain multiplayer game released. This background was meant to be locked out from player use in the final release as it was a background made specifically for the G-Man’s AI, but the devs of the unofficial release thought it was too funny to NOT keep accessible.

You are not supposed to be able to have the Rival and the G-Man as companion AI. Wicker’s game being fucked up is the only reason he was able to do that, but a similar achievement can be done by modifying the code.

The reason Wicker’s game is so weird is because he did some shoddy coding in an attempt to get the HUD from Blue Shift into the OG Half Life. For some reason, it is not possible to modify the colors themselves, so the next best thing he was able to do was fuck around with the files and trick the game into running the OG game’s maps in Blue Shift, allowing him to play Half Life as Barney.

There are explicit warnings in the READ ME file to not run any of the campaigns outside their original game due to the AI companion listings not all being compatible. Some games have more slots for AI companions than others, and the devs wanted to get a patch in that would pull the companion AI slots from one BIG pool instead multiple smaller pools on a by-game basis since the result of, say, running Half-Life through Blue Shift while requesting Blue-Shift exclusive AI might result in incredibly buggy companions.

[castlevowed]

the big bad punisher. that was her next mission. eliminating the target who took out military government officials as well as other important corrupt powers in charge. the man of the hour, who had stirred up a plethora of trouble for the agency. her job wasn’t to ask any questions, it was to follow orders. this one having been crystal clear. upon studying his case file, olive orbs honed in on facial features, which sent a rush of something uncomfortably familiar up her spine. confusion crawled into the deepest darkest crevice of mind, remaining there for just a brief moment longer before finally dissipating. maria knew what she had to do, there was no room for error.

his whereabouts had been leaked, an important name’s home [always leaving those details out, privacy purposes.] bullet proof vest is worn underneath professional attire, hand ghosting over loaded glock resting in holster. it had to be quick, clean, no room for fuckups. after all, that was the main reason they sent her. the skilled agent who never missed. their one hit wonder. a brainwashed ruthless machine they’d created from scraps of anguish, no remaining purpose, and utter rage. husband, dead. daughter and son, dead. will to live, dead. a lethal combination that so efficiently worked in their favor. precise steps are taken as she approaches the home, gliding up steps into the open abyss of his merciless revenge. the irony of it all was cruel. sending the dead wife to finish their botched job. quiet, stealthy steps managed to sneak up behind him, but not too close. gun already drawn and pointed directly towards target’s head. “weapons down and turn around slowly, hands behind your head.” she demanded in an icy, unfamiliar tone. the victim was bound to a chair, but still breathing. so far so good.

starter for: @contritioned.

[hvneymelons]

Closed Starter: @safaksoy at BHU

Leandro was wrapping in his office nearing the end of the day when he glanced up to find Safiye smiling at him at the door. “Well hello there, Stranger.” he called out with an equally matching smile, “Where have you been hiding?” Lea continued to gather his belongings around the room, only to notice a pile of unfinished papers he had yet to file and blew out a sigh. He thought he was all done for the day, but unfortunately God had other plans for him today. So much for catching Miss Izulu on his way to get Diego, but perhaps another day.  He shifted focus from his luggage to the pile of papers, assessing them for a while before he began. “What brings you around my neck of the woods this evening?” he asked, moving towards the side table where he alphabetically organized all his paperwork. This load would take him about a good thirty minutes to sort through before he could even attempt to file them. If he didn’t find filing to be rather relaxing he might have actually been upset about the situation, but he’d prefer to get it all done now and have a clean office Monday morning.

[daman19942]

Get to know you: Sims Style

Thank you to @executables-sims for the tag! Took me a few days, but this was fun to fill out.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

Easy, death by Cowplant! It's so iconic and peak Sims-ridiculousness. That it made its way into future games is no surprise. Plus, I don't have a ton of accidental death in my game, and the Cowplant keeps me on my toes.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Maxis Match as much as possible. I love TS2's aesthetic, even is some of it appears dated. My game certainly looks better in 2023 than it did in 2004, but it is still recognizably TS2

Do you cheat your sims weight?

No, I let it happen organically. Especially because I use Simler90's Slower Fitness Increase and Nopke's Fitness Decay, both of which really make you work for it. They are essential to my gameplay, but mean more of my sims have a high body skill than is probably normal. They are doing their best!

Do you move objects?

Of course. Why it isn't enabled in my UserStartup file is a question I ask myself daily.

Favorite Mod?

I have more than 500 mods so I don't know how I can pick. I could just say NUMENOR in all-caps to say everything he's done. But I'll go with a recent favorite, Nyami's Actual Alcohol Mod, because it adds chaos to gameplay and chaos is good.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

Living. We are in Live Mode, folks!

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

In an older prompt, I answered with Daniel Monona, but since then it's definitely been Duke Patricio. I've made him 3 times (in my OG 2000's game, where he married Nina Caliente, in a Base Game Starter hood, and again in my 2020's game). He and Zeeshan are my favorite couple and I'm sad they are so close to old age because I've had so much fun playing them (but I've also been giving them way too many extra days with Elixir of Life or Life Fruit).

Ari is #2, but I haven't played him for a bit because I'm stuck on what to do with him as a Vampire...

Have you made a simself?

Nope, only one of my old TS2 Exchange avatar, which was intentionally not what I look like.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

Never really thought about this, but maybe black?

Favorite EA hair?

Two male hairs, Rocker and Shortmop. Those two haircuts were iconic in my 2000's saves. Jeanette is my favorite CC hair.

Favorite life stage?

Teens. It's where my sims start to develop their personalities, and I begin to think about what I want them to do. They also haven't fully grown into their facial features yet, so you can get all sorts of good and bad surprises. Plus, they can cause lots of of trouble.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I still consider myself a builder, even though I play my game much more frequently these days. But I think 400+ uploaded lots in my time playing this game allows me to hold onto that label.

Are you a CC creator?

I guess so! Learning how to mesh and use Milkshape in the last year has radically changed how I see myself in the TS2 community, and has stolen so many days from me (the trial and error of making, and the trial and error of uploading), but its been a very fun skill to develop.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I love my mutuals but I don't interact with other accounts too often. I don't post on a Sims discord or anything. Maybe I should?!

Do you have any sims merch?

I do not.

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

No and I would definitely not have time to produce one!

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

Loaded question time! For one, my game is much more LGBTQ+ than when I shared neighborhood save files with my siblings growing up. Now that it's my game, exploring different relationships with my sims is one of my favorite parts of play.

I've also become much more Maxis Match as I get older. The 2000's were a wild west for CC creation, and my old saves are bursting at the seams with painted-on clothes and the mid-decade emo aesthetic that I have absolutely no interest in playing in 2023.

Lastly, my build style used to be modern and CFE heavy, but now I prefer traditional (modern works better in TS3) and makeovers.

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

I'll take a historical approach to answering this, because there are many active creators whose work I love, but I also try to preserve the legacies of the original TS2 pioneers. Here are 5:

Numenor - The Modfather. His mods did more to expand this game than just about anyone in the heyday of TS2. If you are reading this, you know who Numenor is. Need I say more? Windkeeper - Probably the best Maxis Match CC of the old era. Her stuff holds up remarkably well. en7en - aka "That Pagoda Guy." Yeah, he's the CFE genius who made the Eiffel Tower and disappeared way too soon. A huge inspiration on my old build style. Ehaught58 - one of the great builders across many different Sims eras. I need to upload some of his old TS2 lots. I wish I could still access his Exchange page because it was a treasure trove. His lots were often huge and unfriendly to old machines but would be fine now. A very recognizable build style (dark woods, earth tones). Daihtnaoz7 - If he did nothing but discover CFE he'd still be a legend. But he also wrote the single bridge, double bridge, and atrium tutorials, demonstrating how to best take advantage of this new cheat. A literal gamechanger. I paid tribute to him here.

Honorable mentions: Cyclonesue (TSR), Hatshepsut (TSR), Tiko (TSR), PiaNouka (Exchange), GoddessByline (Exchange), Wintermuteai1, Minideidad (Exchange), Cireking213 (Exchange, still around as CK213 for TS3 and TS4).

How long have you had Simblr?

I think I made this in Spring 2020. Right as COVID was shutting everything down, I found myself playing TS2 a lot more and eventually discovered Simblr. The old, big sites are either shells of their former selves (MTS), or don't allow TS2 content anymore (TSR), so I figured if I wanted to be active in the TS2 community nearly 20 after the game came out, I had to be on Tumblr.

How do you edit your pictures?

I have a Photoshop action that crops, brightens, and sharpens, and somehow pictures still take me way too long.

What expansion/gamepack is your favorite?

Answering for the first 3 games (as I haven't played TS4)

TS1 - Makin Magic! A perfect final EP for the first game. Though Unleashed was probably my very first EP. TS2 - University (I'm in the minority here, but it's so much fun when you have big dorms or chaotic houses). Seasons is #2 TS3 - Late Night. Bridgeport is gorgeous and the new lot styles were fun and I wish they could be ported in TS2.

Tagging: @katatty @lilakartoffelbrei and @bayoubashsims if you haven't gone yet!

#Tag meme

[fmprojectwsc]

Progress / Issue? - Adding DLSS frame interpolation to my game.

Whilst playing my game, I found that my framerate would drastically decrease which effects the speed the game is running at. Most of my code is based off the "Now" node, which uses system time instead of game time, however code that required tick would fall short and make the code out of sync. This is still currently a issue, however is significantly improved by this feature.

Using the DLSS 3.0 plugin for unreal engine 5.3, I managed to enable DLSS for my game, which provided a near 2x increase in fps. The game still runs below the 60fps threshold, however once the game has been built then this shouldn't be a problem.

To install these features, I had to take advantage of the backup I made... multiple times. I was close to giving up with this feature until a idea came to me on how to fix this, which ended up with me having it within my game. For starters, Nvidia provides a project that showcases what DLSS can do. I first opened that project and right clicked the "content" folder and migrated to my current project. You would think that this is the only thing that I was required to do, however you would be mistaken. The project loaded up completely fine through the unreal engine project, however once trying to compile and launch via my IDE (rider), it either made all the code that linked with unreal engine turn red or didn't compile at all. I came to the discovery that it was because I was importing the camera sequences, which caused the compiler to mess up. To fix this, I deleted the project and grabbed my backup and migrated all the files that did not include the sequence. Once doing this, I found that my IDE would load up normally with minimal issues. I then started the compile and was welcomed to another issue... The engine found multiple versions of the plugin, so I had to delete all the references to that plugin from everywhere apart from the current project. Since doing this, I have encountered no problems and are currently experiencing some great performance increases.

A problem that was occurring when testing this out was when using this on my own project, I found that when using frame interpolation it was duplicating the frames rather than figuring out what the next frame should/could be. I was able to avoid this issue by not using it... However it would of been nice to be able to use it...

[ofglories]

❛  you're the most insufferable person i have ever met.  ❜ [ albert to rhys! ]

|| Random Dialogue starters ; accepting!!

"I'll take that to be a compliment, my dear detective."

Rhys flashed a smile, shoving the bags of groceries into Albert's hands before the detective could argue further. And then he promptly shoved the other man into his apartment without any hesitation. The lounge singer was going to ensure the detective prince had a proper rest for his forced days off, and without needing to go to that overrated glorified hotel either.

Instead he was making sure Albert stayed in the very nice apartment Rhys had all-but gifted the man.

Even if it was still technically his.

Albert's poor work partner had been very careful in asking Rhys for help in ensuring the man actually rested. And this was the best location for just that. Completely secure in all respects, now fully loaded with the groceries he'd just bought, and, most importantly, far away from any files that the detective had taken home. A proper vacation in all respects.

"I'm sure you know how to handle feeding yourself and you do know where the bath and laundry are in here now. So the things you don't know!" Hands on his hips, Rhys grinned, leaning in close to the other man for a moment. "Across from my bedroom, which I have locked, is a spare room I personally readied for you. Nothing fancy so it matches your tastes but it's still an exceptionally comfortable room. As for clothing, your partner gave me a few bags of clothes they gathered for you from stores. and those are already put away."

The other detective deserved a raise for all they did for the detective prince's sake, in Rhys' opinion.

"You can easily connect to my personal internet for this apartment and I assure you it's secure in every respect. And there's books and movies too. So! Time for you to rest, my dear detective."

[killthegene-blog]

“𝙄 𝙊𝙁𝙏𝙀𝙉 𝙁𝙀𝙀𝙇 𝘼𝙎 𝙏𝙃𝙊𝙐𝙂𝙃   . . .    with   my   music  ,     I   am   speaking   as   a   mediator   between    Symphonia   ,     our   god  ,     and   the   rest   of   the   world  .   ”

:// FILE :  LOADING .  .  .  STARTER CALL  .  /     @elevatedhumanity.

[theirmercy-a]

         * it’s late, kiddo          * ya should be sleepin’

      there’s no need to mention he’s the one staying away from sleep for almost an entire week without a break; no need to remember the nightmares keeping him awake for all that time. he can deal with that. he’s been dealing with that for a long time now--but the kid needs to rest. they’re young.

@sparedthem

[thatelfnerd]

Pouchie The Cat Alpha 0.4.5 ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY UPDATE!

February 21st marks one year since I first created the project file for Pouchie The Cat, the video game! It's been quite an interesting journey that I started, and it's not over yet! To the people who've been supporting me, especially my close friends, I thank you for your encouragement, your suggestions, and your overall wish to see me succeed with this project. I love you all!

With all that being said, let's look at the update. As the alpha number implies, we're still not at the halfway point (Alpha 0.5 would mark the halfway point), meaning there's still work to be done in World 2. But just because there's work to be done doesn't mean you can't at least peek at what's in the works. This new update of Pouchie The Cat includes the introduction of a new world, with new mobs, some cutscenes, and more!

What's new for Alpha 0.4.5:

SAVE AND LOAD: The game now has a save and load feature where you should be able to save the game and load it from now on. No idea if the feature works for the browser version, so if it's not working, feel free to mention it in your review of the game

OPENING CUTSCENE AND IN-BETWEEN GAME DIALOG: Pouchie now has some cutscenes with and some dialog with a new character. This character, Sasha The Rabbit will provide some context as to Pouchie's mission and motivation to clear the levels and explore the world. Not necessary to enjoy the game, and you can speed through the dialog if you just want to play the levels.

HINT BOXES: Hint boxes have been added to some of the early levels for new players who are unfamiliar with 2D platformer mechanics. More may be added in the future.

NPCS: NPCs have been added for cutscenes and dialog scenes. Annie The Cat, and Sasha the Bunny. Also name-drop of a future foe, Grump The Pug.

WORLD 2: World 2 is officially available for players to explore, up to Level 4! World 2 takes place underground, making it easy for Pouchie to bump his head on cave ceilings, so watch out when jumping!

WORLD MENUS: There is now a World Menu for saving the game, as well as allowing you to go back and forth between World 1 and 2, but only if you've unlocked.

NEW MOBS: Added three new mobs with unique gameplay mechanics. Babas are bats that are drawn to you if you enter their bubble, but they'll stop chasing you if you run far enough away. Crys-Tortles are a creature with a hard shell that spiky crystals have grown onto. They can't be damaged, but they can fall off cliffs. Fun-Guy are sentient mushrooms that'll release spores upon death. These spores will not disappear, so be careful when setting one off!

Bugfixes:

Fixed issue where Boomer would constantly damage Pouchie, even after death, resulting in a looped death animation.

Fixed issue where the player's max health and starter lives didn't reset after turning off no-hit and one-life gamemodes.

Known issues:

There was feedback in the previous builds that gameplay was "too floaty" and "too robotic." I don't know if any of my changes have resolved this issue, but we'll see.

If Pouchie jumps into two spore patches at once, he loses two hearts instead of losing the one.

That's all the updates I have brought for the time being. In a way, it's a lot of things done, but there's a much more impressive battle ahead that I'll be working on for Alpha 0.5. Both figuratively AND literally, as the battle I face is designing and coding the boss battle for World 2. I already have a general idea of how I plan to make that boss look and function. No idea when I'll get it done, but I'll be sure to work out all the kinks before officially releasing that update. Another plan in the works, that'll probably be more on the easy side, would be to create sprites of Pouchie's overarching foe, and the head honcho of all the issues of his journey: Grump the Pug. Grump will be given some animations, and possibly even dialog to establish him as a villain.

These, and more are being thought out during this time. If you wish to keep up to date when the next big update is out, or wish to keep up with when I go live on Twitch, or just ask me some questions, feel free to join the discord! I'm thinking of some future plans to interact with people if there's a good enough community to talk to: https://discord.gg/Cxfzm55RgP

In the meantime, if you wish to know what you can do to help with production of the game, and have some money to burn, I'd appreciate some donations on my Linktree and StreamElements. It helps to have some spare change when you're working more or less solo on a game project.

Something else that I would greatly appreciate is if everyone with a newgrounds account could give a fair review of the game there, as it' more likely to be pushed to others if it receives enough initial attention.

That's all for now, and I don't have any date to give for the next update, as I genuinely don't know when I'll have everything I want for it done, and I would rather not give a date and then not deliver. But for now, feel free to play the game and give me your thoughts!

Until next time!

[a-shrieking-cloud-of-bats]

Some basic info for people just getting started with DF with the steam version; I’m not super far into it yet so no commentary on the new UI, but if they did it right it should be much easier to parse!

Important to actually enjoying your first game of dwarf fortress

- don’t forget the anvil; your embark starts with one, don’t take it out and if you do put it back in because it’s required for everything that has anything to do with metal.

- Embark in an area with soil so you’ll have an easier time starting a farm. Making a farm on stone is a whole process of wetting the rock, usually with water sourced from a river, installing floodgates, etc and while it’s not super difficult, I’d imagine it can be a little rough if you’re struggling with the basics.

- Embark in an area without an aquifer. They’re all over but they are a royal pain to get through and offer comparatively little benefit if tamed. There’s a way to mod them out (on the not steam version anyway; I don’t know why steam would be any different as I saw it loading RAWs when I started but a disclaimer as I haven’t actually fussed with the files yet so I Dunno Man.)

- A drawbridge is a way to completely lock out the outside world in most cases. It’s worth installing one on your main entrance once you get your feet under you, even if they’re sort’ve finnicky. Close it if trouble rears its ugly head and you will (probably) be safe, and with any luck the trouble will walk off on its own time.

Meta Talk Nonsense, feel free to ignore these but if you’re looking for a bit more additional guidance then here you go; though I stress that the game is more about the journey then anything so completely removing any sort of personal element from the game is a great way to ruin it.

- if you’re bringing gear and a military dwarf on your initial embark, bronze is a good pick; it’s roughly equivalent to iron military wise (slightly worse, I think?) and it’s half the price. Iron might be fine, but it’ll take most if not all of your embark points, so if you want to bring anything extra (like animals!) then bronze is probably the way to go. The benefit from iron is significant, but not significant enough to warrant not being prepared for fort development.

- combat actually uses some skills not in the combat tab; notably teacher. Teacher will improve the rate dwarves learn skills from their militia captain. I’ll usually bring a 5 fighter/dodger 5 teacher with me as my starter militia dwarf, just so military dwarves can get some basic education.

- A good general use weapon class is war hammers. They tend to bash through armor reasonably well and have a larger chance to break bones, causing debilitating pain to the other guy, which can essentially be thought of as a win.

- If you’re bringing livestock make sure they can graze, and make sure they’re assigned to a pasture, as they can and will starve to death following dwarves around underground where there’s nothing for them to eat.

- Traps are a great supplement to a military. Dwarves will not set them off on accident (unless they pass out on them), and a boulder to the head can do a surprising amount of damage even to an armored target.

So You Embarked On An Area Without Soil: you’ll need to dig into the side of a nearby river or pond and drain the water through the area where you want your crops. Your farm will have to be underground or at least below surface level as a result. You also need to dig out an area for the water to drain into, (because most dwarves cannot swim and as a result are terrified of walking through even shin high water) and install a floodgate and hook up a lever to the floodgate Before Breaching The Side Of The River Or Pond so you can turn off the water flow when it’s passed over the stone. You don’t need to dump a load of water onto it, you just want there to be a mud layer on the stone, which should happen after pretty much any water passes over it. After that you can make a farm on it.

If you ask me this is worth trying to do even if you have a soil farm just so you know how to do it; it’s a good exercise in how basic mechanisms and water flow works, and it’s hard to mess up so bad it ruins your fort once you have some lower levels dug out.

[wonwooridul]

I always wanted to make a giffing + colouring tutorial.

So, Welcome to my long and somewhat helpful guide that no one asked for <3

For starters, i use VaporSynth (links for installation compiled by @soonhoonsol <hi bestie3 which has a guide ). Photoshop 2021 version for making the gif and colouring it . Install PS from this site. it’s free and cracked ver ;)

STEP 1 : the video for giffing

i don’t need .ts files cause my gifs can be made with normal .mp4 file which i either download from a 4k downloader or screen record on my laptop (windows key + alt + R), which is actually pretty convenient since it allows you to record even 4K resolution videos with perfect quality. the only downside it that, it take a lot more space than a normal downloaded video. but you can always delete the videos after you’re done giffing.

STEP 2: using VS to make & sharpen your gif

(i will be giffing and colouring Dongmyeong from ONEWE since their mv's are very monotonous but not fully black and white. We need to have some colours present in the video/gif so that we have some colours to manipulate in the first place.)

After you decide what part you want to gif, note down the timestamps. After installing and setting up VS, you’ll have a .bat file on which you have to drag your .ts or .mp4 file which will open a timestamp window which looks like this :

And will open a resizing tab in your default search engine after you press enter after entering the timestamp and gif duration. Use settings: qtgmc 60p cause it saves it at a better quality and has 60 frames per second so it’s smoother and small gif size.

Simultaneously, a vapousynth script will open. Remove whatever there is from line #17 to #26. paste what you copied from the resizer on line #17. Enter your sharpening settings on line #24 and your denoise settings on line #22. After entering your numbers, remove the # before cache size command so it doesn’t hang your laptop. Mine does when I don’t do that. Save that setting, file > save script. Then you won’t have to remove it everytime you make a gif. Your final script before encoding should look like this (refer to the script in the 3rd photo of the collage):

after that, follow these steps:

i personally like to use PNG SEQUENCE for my gifs cause one, it’s compatible; two, the quality of the gif turns out good. For me, normal gif output is pretty dithered which i don’t like.

you can close the script after you see green bar in encode window that says '100%. video has finished encoding'

STEP 3: accessing your output png frames / gif

after you close all the vs .html windows, you’ll find your gif/png fames under your VaporSynth folder that you have extracted under VapourSynth64Portable(200722)> gifs>output. i have separate folder where i cut and paste these frames so that they’re easily accessible later.

imp!!!(this may only be my problem): either rename or change the location of the output PNGs before you start with a new one. if not, they will get replaced with the new one since vs automatic name system is 'output00001' for each new batch of encode. Same goes if you decide to encode to gif cause it will be saved as 'output' and be replaced by new one.

after you're done with accessing your output PNGs, close all the windows and repeat the same for a new set of PNGs for another gif.

STEP 4: loading your frames into Photoshop

if you have made an output gif, then you can just open it. File > Open and select all from where you saved it and it’ll load in frames.

after you’ve opened your PS, make sure your Timeline mode is on (window > timeline) then go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack. click Browse and it’ll open your file manager; select where you’ve pasted your output frames. select them all and press enter, let them load and press okay.

After PS is done loading your frames, it’ll look something like this. After that click create frame animation. It’s show only one frame so you have to click this ≡ symbol on the top right of the timeline. Then click Create Frames from layers and it’ll make all frames. Then click ≡ again and click “reverse frames” because ps loads frames in reverse so you have to un-reverse it.

then click bottom left Switch to Video Timeline.

Then select all your layers from the side panel and convert it into a smart object so that you can sharpen it and add other filters.

STEP 5: Colouring. Turning dull/monotone gifs into natural colour (not total b&w gifs)

again, we need to have some colour in the gif that we can manipulate. this tutorial won’t be helpful for b&w gifs.

without colouring you can see some faint reds and blues there.

Here’s the colouring tutorial !

A TIP : If you want to dull out a certain colour, use the opposite colour of it. For example of red you can use green/cyan. For blue you can use orange.

A TIP: If you want to add more colour to the skin, you can use gradient map (taught by @scoupsy <33) esp for pale skin. here is her awesome tutorial !

A TIP: direct output gif from vs will be faster than a png sequence created gif. png sequence loads in 0.02 sec delay between each frame but that you can change by selecting all frames in timeline and right clicking them and change it to “no delay”

idk why there are bigass pixels on the monotonous gifs on mobile, ignore that pls

i read tags on my cc game and saw many of you wondered how i coloured this, so:

adjustments layers used for this:

Brightness / Contrast

Vibrance / Saturation

Colour Balance

Photo Filter (Sepia)

Selective Colour 1 (red, blue, magenta, white, neutrals, blacks)

Selective Colour 2 ( red, yellow, green)

Curves

i hope this tutorial was little helpful ! for any problem, you can always reach out to me <3 i tried my best with all the things i know about giffing.

[hogwartsfirebolt]

timebomb

for @drarrymicrofic prompt "better than fighting" (did I intend for this to be 2.3k no i did not)

The day Harry slept with Malfoy for the first time, was also the day he bruised his knuckles punching his boss in the nose.

The impossible chain of events that led to that stupid, ridiculous, unthinkable conclusion — sleeping with Malfoy, of course, not punching his boss — started two weeks earlier, when Robards slammed a shiny red folder on his desk and said, Sixteen werewolves disappeared yesterday. Find them.

Sixteen werewolves, three families. Including children.

Everyone knew Harry went crazy when children were involved.

In under two days, he found clues that seemed to suggest a high member of the Wizengamot was responsible and launched himself into an apprehension mission without filing for the permit, because he was sure every second that passed, more werewolves were getting kidnapped. He ended up escorting a furious Member Breckenridge to a holding cell.

Robards failed to see his logic, however. It turned out Breckenridge was working with the department in an attempt to catch the actual criminal, and Harry got reprimanded for skipping procedure.

But Harry, tired as hell of having information kept from him for the nth time in his life because, well, Dumbledore, exploded.

He didn’t even feel sorry as he yelled at Robards in front of the entire department for sending him blind into a case that could’ve compromised the wellbeing of so many creatures, including children, and how could he, when Harry could very well have saved them if only he’d known, and — that was about the time he walked up to Robard’s desk and punched him right in the nose.

So, that was the first impossible event in the series of impossible events.

The second was as follows: Harry was put on desk duty for at least six months, Potter, you should thank Merlin I’m not firing you.

This, in Harry’s opinion, should definitely be considered an impossible event. He hadn’t been on desk duty for five years, and had thought himself free of the burden, forever. He’d been wrong.

The consequences to his confinement became rapidly evident, however. For starters, every single person sharing the wide room that served as the headquarters to the Auror force filed a complaint before the clock had struck six that very evening. The Aurors were a notoriously conflictive sort, hardly ever agreed on anything, so the fact that they were all together in their fear was the third impossible event. To be fair, it was terrifying. Harry’s absolute lack of respect for authority coupled with his inability to sit still for even a second made every one of his coworkers fear for their life now they knew they’d be subjected to the rage of the caged tiger for at least six months.

So, all of Harry’s coworkers filed said complaint — all of them, including the incidental employees from other departments that had to pass through Auror quarters for one reason or the other — and stayed within a 10 feet radius of his desk at all times as he fumed so hard he half thought steam would come out of his ears.

The fifth impossible thing was that the only one person who stepped into the office and didn’t immediately run to Robards to make sure they weren’t hallucinating Harry aggressively punching holes through his stationery at the desk he hadn’t occupied in five years, was Draco Malfoy.

Malfoy showed up in the vibrant blue robes that marked his position as a member of the Department of Invoices, Correspondence and Credit, or, as Harry liked to call them, glorified mailmen, and leaned over his desk with a snooty smirk, not appearing surprised to see him.

He’d never been afraid of him, after all.

“If it isn’t the man who made Robards walk into his afternoon meeting with a bloody nose,” he said, apparently fucking oblivious to the very obvious signals Harry’s body was sending him to shut the hell up — the tense fists, the clenched teeth, the jumping muscles of his jaw. Malfoy didn’t see any of it. He continued, “well, what could we have expected, really, you’ve always been rather ... ah, ill-mannered,” and continued, “member Breckenridge had an interesting story at lunch earlier,” and continued, “escapes me how Robards was surprised by your acting on your first impulse, after all …”

And then Harry shut him up. He stood up abruptly, slammed his palms on the desk and leaned into Malfoy’s space, lip curled. He knew, logically, that he was being unreasonable. He also knew he kind of wanted to snarl.

Malfoy blinked, startled.

“What the fuck do you want?” Harry asked. Malfoy kept blinking at him. “Were you here for a reason, or did you come here looking for a fight? Because I will fight you, Malfoy, I -“

“Circe, you’ve got mail,” interrupted Malfoy, waving a neat stack of letters before setting them down by Harry’s hole puncher. “You ought to be kept on a leash, I swear to Merlin.”

Harry was seething by then, however, and decided snarling didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.

And somehow, after he had delivered a comeback and Malfoy kept pestering him anyway, he found his fingers clenching around the front of Malfoy’s robes, pulling him towards the archive room, through a small door, and apparating him to his house in London. Malfoy’s house. Harry wasn’t very sure how he knew the address well enough to end up there, but he did and he had. This was the sixth impossible thing.

Malfoy spluttered, raged, but his hands pulled Harry close and into the house and it happened.

Harry slept with him. This was the stupid, ridiculous, unthinkable conclusion.

Thinking back on it, he was inclined to say that he’d been out of his mind, but the truth was, he’d had plenty of time to back off, and he hadn’t.

Even more ridiculous, even more unthinkable, was the fact that it … did something to him. After they’d had a go at it in Malfoy’s couch, Harry’s anger had — not disappeared, exactly, but it had been taken over by something bigger, stronger. A raging hunger he’d not experienced in … possibly ever.

And by then he’d been so, so angry for so many years, that he was hesitant to let go of the new feeling. He’d slipped his thumb into Malfoy’s mouth, and they’d had another go at it on his living room floor, and then another in the kitchen, and another in the bedroom, right before passing out, worn out and not angry, for the first time in longer than he’d care to admit.

He felt ashamed of it in the morning, as he was forced to vanish the evidence of their coupling from his chest and thighs, as he apparated home and scrubbed himself down in the shower, as he went to work and kept his head down, sure everyone would take a look at him and know he’d gone and done the unthinkable.

But even the shame was different from the everlasting anger he’d carried.

As he sat at the dreaded desk and curled his lip at the stupid, prying coworkers who stared at him, he found he couldn’t muster up the rage to continue punching holes through all his case reports, and proceeded to be so incredibly embarrassed that his face blushed bright red and he had to pretend to choke on his tea and cough violently so nobody would suspect a thing.

Around the sixth time he did the entire tea-choke-cough thing to fight yet another memory of the night before, the door to the headquarters slammed open and in walked Draco Malfoy, with a swagger to his step and a grin so bright that Harry’s hatred for him was turned up to eleven and intensified past stratospheric levels. Inexplicably, he wanted to run.

“Potter,” Malfoy said, white teeth flashing. Harry thought of a panther, then scowled because no way was intimidating a word he was willing to associate with the little shit standing in front of him, and willed himself to think of a stupid, raging, harmless house cat. Much more fitting. He made a mewling sound similar to theirs, anyway, when he – “Missed me?”

“Why are you talking to me?” Harry asked, digging inside himself for the anger, for something to hurl at Malfoy and run away, escape his maddening smirk, but he came up short.

Malfoy’s grin widened.

“Oh, you know, the usual.” He said, and it indeed was the usual — oblivious as usual, infuriating as usual, then leaned right into Harry’s space, crowding him against his chair and hitting him with his disgusting, revolting, nauseating, fresh minty breath. Then, he showed him a thin envelope. “Your mail.”

Harry snatched it from him. “Good. Now piss off.”

“As you wish. See you later.”

“Not if I can help it.”

He could still hear Malfoy’s laugh, even after he’d left and closed the door, could still feel the disgusting, revolting, nauseating minty breath inside his nostrils, and if he wasn’t careful he could still feel the shape of Malfoy’s mouth around his —

He most definitely was not seeing him later.

Harry told himself this all day. Not seeing him later, he told himself as he stood in front of Robards after he’d summoned him for a ‘meeting’ that was really just a load of bullshit on protocol and procedures and useless things Harry did not give a damn about. Not seeing him later, he told himself as he bought a salad at the café two streets down the ministry and smiled back at the lovely waitress. Not seeing him later, he told himself as he sat at his desk and found himself capable of punching holes after all, but not exactly out of anger.

Not seeing him later, he told himself after his shift was over and he left headquarters.

Not seeing him later, he told himself, as he apparated straight into Malfoy’s living room.

And there he was.

For a second he looked surprised, vulnerable, a flash in his eyes as he took Harry in that spoke of uncertainty. Then, he looked as thought he’d been expecting him.

“You couldn’t help it, then?” He asked, stepping forward and not making any sense whatsoever.

“What are you talking about?” Harry said. It came out low, and not at all the way he’d intended.

“You said you wouldn’t see me if you could help it.” There was triumph somewhere in that sentence, or an attempt at it. There was also a tremble right in the middle, a fracture.

A red, pulsating curl of – of something rose inside Harry’s belly, and he grabbed onto it with desperation, thinking it was there, the anger, safety. But as he took it, owned it and stepped forward to punch Malfoy in the nose as he’d done Robards the day before, he found himself pushing him up against the wall instead, and bringing his face very close to his.

Malfoy’s eyes were a ring of silver overtaken by the wide abyss of his pupils. Awful, disgusting, they made Harry think of ugly murky waters and nasty storm clouds and made him want to retch.

He slid a hand into wispy, blonde, awful, disgusting, revolting hair and pulled him into a rough kiss that was all teeth.

They had a go at it on the living room floor, then another two in the bedroom, before collapsing from exhaustion.

When their wand alarms went off at the same time in the morning, Harry opened his eyes to see Malfoy between his legs. No time for shame.

Afterwards, they padded downstairs, Malfoy two steps ahead of him, wearing nothing. Harry couldn’t look at him, couldn’t look away.

It was different in the morning light.

Malfoy was different, his naked body as he made them sandwiches was different, his eyes resembled something other than murky waters and his hair brushing against his forehead, against the constellations of freckles on his cheekbones was different, and his bare feet, light and silent on the hardwood floors were different, and the curve of his arms and the planes of his chest were different, and his cock hanging between his legs looked different, and Harry — Harry also felt different.

There was the usual racing of his heart, but no trace of anger, the usual heat in his chest and stomach, but not a sign of rage, the usual need to put his hands on the other person, but no want for violence.

He felt his fingers tremble as he poured water into an empty cup.

“Mayo?” Malfoy asked, low, sleepy.

Harry swallowed. “Yeah.”

Malfoy hummed, and Harry stared as he spread mayo onto his bread. At the work of his long, bony fingers. He tried to think they were disgusting, and couldn’t.

“Here,” Malfoy said, handing him the plate when he was done. Harry took it, put it aside.

They had another go at it in the kitchen.

“Isn’t it better?” Malfoy asked, breathless, pushing back against him, hands planted on the counter.

“Better?” Harry said, grunted into his shoulder, into the beauty mark he was getting acquainted with.

“Than … than anger – oh god, please.” He dropped his head back against Harry’s chest, panted, moved faster. “Than fighting.”

Then, he shifted and Harry stopped thinking for a while.

Later, leaning against the wall of the shower as he watched Malfoy wash his hair, he thought about it.

Better than anger.

Better than fighting.

Was it?

He brought a hand up, brushed his fingers against Malfoy’s chest, traced the lines leading down to his hips. Thought about fighting him, arguing. Thought about something else.

They had another go at it under the stream of water, as it turned cold against their feverish skin.

Stupid, unthinkable, ridiculous, perfect, just right conclusion. Harry supposed it was better than fighting.

[bishopsbelova]

It’s Office edition time! 

For starters, have we EVER seen Amanda Rollins look this happy and this in love in her ten seasons on the show? I think not. I mean sure she’s been happy before - but those times were with her kids and Sonny but never like this. This is Amanda Rollins in love.

She’s over here just hanging out with her boyfriend in his office just because. And she asks him for a break and she’s so shy about it because she feels like he’ll say no.

And he even hits her with a “are you serious?” look for just a second. 

 But then she fucking giggles and looks at him like this???

And then he laughs and slaps the file in his hand closed; because one look from Amanda like that and he’s a goner and she knows it. He’s no longer getting any work done and he knows it.  Amanda Rollins has him wrapped around her finger. 

And then Carisi hits her with a “let me take you to dinner” because he wants to spend quality time with her and treat her right and she’s so shocked about because it’s the night before his big grand jury (and well, because she’s never had such a wonderful man before) 

And also, we all know homegirl’s idea of a break was just to utilize that couch behind him; but he’s ready and willing to take her for dinner. And okay, sure they’ve had dinner together (and lunch and breakfast/coffee) a million times before, and probably loads of junk food in the middle of the night while on a stakeout; but this hits different because they’re together now. 

The way she look at him? The way she doesn’t take her eyes off him, even when she stands up?  They’re so fucking love and I can’t. It’s such an amazing thing to be able to see Amanda Rollins this fucking happy after every thing she’s been there. 

Like she’s come SO FAR from little baby Amanda who didn’t believe it when Liv said there were still good guys out there.