#2: tutorial

[lithuea]

cheesecake

[remxedmoon]

i got it!

(og panels below!!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIFFRIN!!! <- i say, scheduling this to post at midnight september 2nd. it’s his birthday somewhere!! and also loops birthday but look i had a deadline here. don’t ask why This of all things is their birthday art. i make normal choices!!!

also. somehow this entire thing only took 4 and a half hours??? insanity. i literally started this Today. thats how it Gets Me i suppose. anyways!!!! here’s the og panels!! no colored version this time, i didn’t think it’d fit the scene. also i didn’t want to render 3 colored panels.

[dovewingkinnie]

programmed my oc into a game for the aesthetic

[your-local-granny]

baby's first time animating!! have a trucy <3

[parisoonic]

'So, there's been something I've been meaning to tell you...' Some progress pics under the cut for fun.

Blockout / Shapework and a Little Rendering / Lighting Solidfication to Bring it Closer to Original Sketch / Details and Grade

[latmosims]

Decrease the strength of terrain paint application (in TS2)

If you are like me, you almost certainly never play around with terrain paint. It's not that I don't like to, but the application always felt too strong for me to do anything that doesn't look extreme with it.

So, the other day I was going around looking at the game's directory, and stumbled across these two values in the "Terrain.ini" file:

This file is located in: LATEST EP/TSData/Sys *The exact location depends on where you installed the game, which edition you are currently using and which is the latest EP you got installed.

This might just be common knowledge, but I personally never saw anything related to it, so I'm sharing in case it interests others.

It's fairly self-explanatory: if you change the "PaintBrushStrength" value to something between 0 and 1 (I imagine higher values are accepted but probably useless), the strength of the paint application decreases accordingly.

I've personally put the value at 0.1 – but you might find that too slow of an application. I also feel like this increases how much money is spent to paint the terrain, since weaker application = holding the mouse button longer = more money spent.

I tried to play around with the "PaintBrushApplicationInterval", increasing it to like 6000 (= 1min), but noticed no difference, so I left the default value as is.

Important note: Remember to backup the file! Alternatively, you can add a comment to any change you've made that reminds you what the default value was (I haven't changed anything else).

[teaaddictyt]

This is a big one.

[sims2forever]

How to play TS2 with Longer Days (50% Slower Time) without going crazy

I don't think I've ever mentioned it here, but I like to play TS2 in a slow mode, to enjoy more time with my sims. This means time runs 50% slower (heavily inspired by @anibats).

But anyone who has tried playing with time at 50% slower knows there are 3 main problems: (1) time control clock in every lot, (2) need decay and (3) relatioship decay. So how do you get around this?

1. Time 50% slower

For me, the first issue is making the day slower. I'm too lazy to place a time control clock in every single household. That's why I use CJH_TimeController, the global version of the mod, that you can download here.

2. Need decay

Now that your day is 50% slower, your Sims' needs decay at the normal rate—meaning, effectively 50% faster. To prevent that, I use Lazy Duchess Motive Decay mod. You set a divider for the hood (mine is 17), and that's it! You can delete the flamingo (mod setup) and never worry about it again. Obs: this link contains the relativity mod. It would solve all our problems, but personally it never worked for me, with it the pregnancies didn't progress.

3. Relantionship decay

In an unmodded game, a Sim's relationship with another Sim drops by 2 points every afternoon. However, with longer days, the relationship drops much more—up to 12 points. Here are two alternatives:

a. For me, the solution is a mod where relationship decay only happens once a week, dropping 12 points all at once. This mod is LessRelDecay, which makes relationships decay only on Fridays.

b. Other alternative is Monique's Relationship (STR) Decay Hack. With this mod, decay is based on STR points and skips some days depending on the relationship strength. However, the total decay will still be 12 points instead of the intended 2.

Other useful mods:

Slower fitness decay

Slower fitness gain

Slower Skill and Badge Gain

Slower LTA Gain

Mods that would be very useful, but that I don't know if exists:

Slower/harder hobby enthusiasm gain (I'm aware of the mod by Tunaisafish, but I don’t notice a difference in-game)

If anyone has any more tips, please, let me know <3

[budgieflitter]

AAAND WE'RE DONE! 💖

thank you all so much for participating!! i'm sorry i couldn't do all of your suggestions (obviously), but i hope you still can find your faves here :)

(and if you really really want me to draw your faves you can commission me *twirls hair*)

it was super fun!

[l-1-z-a]

🏡 Guide: Unlocking Hidden Catalog Content in The Sims 2

If you've ever wanted to unlock those elusive hidden items in The Sims 2, there's now a comprehensive guide that might be exactly what you need. The tutorial, "Unlocking Hidden Catalog Content," walks you through accessing hidden floor and wall patterns, terrain paints and fences.

The author, building on past community contributions, has crafted a structured and user-friendly guide to simplify the process. With step-by-step instructions on modifying key files, such as adjusting the "notInCatalog" and "deprecated" parameters, it’s designed for both Windows and Mac/Linux users, making it accessible for all. Plus, there are extra tips on leveraging unique wall and pattern properties to get creative with your builds.

If you're ready to expand your in-game options, check out the full tutorial for a deeper dive into what *The Sims 2* catalog really has to offer!

[pforestsims]

So it turns out it's quite easy to change Sim's voice in SimPe.

I had this household where all adult female Sims sounded the same and I had to do something about it xD. I've recorded a few TS2 voice types for future reference so I might as well share. Samples below the cut.

Here are examples & values for four adult female and four adult male voices.

It's NOT possible to change voice type gender or age group by editing Voice Type value

AF1 0xFD34, AF2 0xDE83, AF3 0x354A, AF4 0x3949

AM1 0xEF85, AM2 0xDCF8, AM3 0x0D95, AM4 0xE918

These samples are from phone call conversations. Second and the last male voice is by the same voice actor but it has different 'dialogs'. AM 0xE918 seems more assertive (?).

*To be honest I'm not sure if it's a different voice type or does it depend on personality? I need to look into that. TS2 only had four voice actors /for adult voices?/ but that doesn't mean there are only four voice types, right? 🤔/

*This is about The Sims 2

[sims2istheonlysims]

Because you can't save progress on them, I feel like someone should write timeloop horror for Tutorial Joe and Tutorial Jane.

[afroplumbarb]

TS2 Legacy Collection CEP Extra Tutorial

Hi guys! I just wanted to make this quick tutorial on this since it's the first time a lot of players will be doing this.

Step 1: Download CEP Extra Manual installation from ModTheSims linked here (Read all instructions included if you get confused)

Step 2: Extract the Zip to a folder

Step 3: Open the folder and place the package _EnableColorOptionsMMAT into the Sims3D folder located here: Program Files > EA Games>The Sims 2 Legacy>Base>TSData>Res>Sims3D

Step 4: Place the package _EnableColorOptionsGMND into your Downloads folder located here: Documents>EA Games>The Sims 2 Legacy>Downloads **Note: You will likely have to create this folder yourself which is easy. Simply right click inside The Sims 2 Legacy folder and create a new folder named "Downloads" and place that file right inside.**

Step 5: Open the 'Extras' folder inside the Zip

Step 6: Open the folder 'MyDocuments' and place the entire zCEP-EXTRA folder inside your Sims 2 Legacy document folder located here: Documents>EA Games>The Sims 2 Legacy

Step 7: Open the folder 'ProgramFiles' and place the entire zCEP-EXTRA folder inside your Catalog folder located here: Program Files > EA Games>The Sims 2 Legacy>Base>TSData>Res>Catalog

And thats it! You should be good to go now. You can check if it's working by the start up message. If you have that setting turned off you can also check to see if it's working by going into one of the households and using the design tool on objects that were previously not recolorable or expanded objects. I believe you can also check to see if it's working by checking the skin tone range in CAS but don't quote me on that lol. Anyway I hope this helped someone 💜

EDIT: Quick reminder for those that are extremely new to the game that you need to start the game at least once first The Sims 2 Legacy folder to appear in your documents folder or you could simply create it yourself, add your folders, and then start the game after and it’ll populate around your newly added CEP and Downloads folder.

[nouveaumoon]

💧✨based off of this illustration by @passionpeachy!✨💧

video compression muted the colors, so here are a few stills under the cut

tiny bonus: happy pride!

[nosferatusim]

SimPe tutorial: How to fix the height setting of CC chandeliers (The Sims 2)

A few years ago, @hugelunatic released a fix for the chandelier added to the game with M&G. Originally, the light cast by the chandelier illuminated the floor level above the lamps, not below them. That mod, however, does not affect custom 2-story lights, which need to be adjusted individually. This is a quick, easy tutorial to do just that.

1. Open the mesh .package file in SimPe;

2. Select "Resource Node (CRES)" in the Resource Tree menu and open the item shown under Resource List;

3. Make sure "Plugin View" is enabled (bottom menu of SimPe);

4. In the "Content" tab, open the "Blocklist" drop-down menu and select the line "cLightRefNode";

5. Select the tab "cTransformNode";

6. In the panel displayed, on the first column (named "Translation"), change the value of "Z" to a number that matches the height of the lamp mesh you're editing.

NOTE: For 2-story lights that sit on the same height as Maxis' chandelier, the value that I used was 1,521330 (taken from HugeLunatic's mod). For CC lights of a different height, you might want to try different values, according to your personal preference.

7. Click "Commit" and save.

_______________________________

For my own game, I edited two custom lights using the same height value ("Z") that HugeLunatic did for the M&G chandelier (1,521330) . I'm not sharing them here because both creators are still active, but I'm tagging them in case they wish to update their files. They are:

@lordcrumps' "Slightly Off Track Lighting", from his 4t2 Industrial Loft Kit; and

@limonaire's conversion of Industrisim's 2-story industrial chandelier.

Not needed, but RECOMMENDED: HugeLunatic's fix of Maxis' chandelier.

[tired-demonspawn]

chapter 13! wow, hope you guys handled that 48 hour period well! :D

hope nothing too crazy happens which might be hinted at in that silly lil picture i drew!

full clean sketch that i saved cuz i thought the whole pose looked really cool, but the crop was more dramatic, so i cropped it, whatever. it's under the cut is my point