#BUT!!!! if you click on the same link ON PC

[dearcharms]

i was making my masterlist in the req blog and halfway through linking the stuff i was like, huh i wonder why i hated making masterlists in my past req blogs it's not even that hard? just copy paste link and you're good to go lol past me was so dramatic

then i tested the links on both mobile and pc and.... 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ AH.... I REMEMBER NOW..... this is such a pain in the ass LOL

[lifehacksthatwork]

Just a bunch of Useful websites - Updated for 2023

Removed/checked all links to make sure everything is working (03/03/23). Hope they help!

Sejda - Free online PDF editor.

Supercook - Have ingredients but no idea what to make? Put them in here and it'll give you recipe ideas.

Still Tasty - Trying the above but unsure about whether that sauce in the fridge is still edible? Check here first.

Archive.ph - Paywall bypass. Like 12ft below but appears to work far better and across more sites in my testing. I'd recommend trying this one first as I had more success with it.

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

Where Is This - Want to know where a picture was taken, this site can help.

TOS/DR - Terms of service, didn't read. Gives you a summary of terms of service plus gives each site a privacy rating.

OneLook - Reverse dictionary for when you know the description of the word but can't for the life of you remember the actual word.

My Abandonware - Brilliant site for free, legal games. Has games from 1978 up to present day across pc and console. You'll be surprised by some of the games on there, some absolute gems.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

PatchMyPC - Alternative to ninite with over 300 app options to keep upto date. Free for home users.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

I Have No TV - A collection of documentaries for you to while away the time. Completely free.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Just Beam It - Peer to peer file transfer. Drop the file in on one end, click create link and send to whoever. Leave your pc on that page while they download. Because of how it works there are no file limits. It's genuinely amazing. Best file transfer system I have ever used.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

For even more useful sites, there is an expanded list that can be found here.

[adelarsims]

downloading a bunch of files from sfs folder a bit more comfortably (on PC)

you know this feeling when you see a sfs folder with many separate files and no full set archive, so you just sigh, click on a file, download it, go back, repeat with the next one, go back, try to recall which one you already downloaded and which you didn't... so i've come up with a little workaround that'll make it faster and a bit more comfortable! it's pretty 101, but my friend found my explanation useful, so maybe someone else needs it too.

there's this thing about SFS, that if you open the same page again in a certain period of time, i think it's a day or maybe a few hours, it won't open the page again, but instead it'll just automatically download its file. that's exactly the thing we'll be utilizing here. when you left click on a link with pressed ctrl, this link will be open in another (inactive) tab. so to "automatically" download files from this folder, just hold ctlr and click on each file you need twice.

on the first click, it'll open the inactive tab with it, on the second click, it'll just straight up download the file without you having to go away from the page you're on. when you're done downloading everything you need, just close all tabs it opened. not ideal, yes, but much faster and less annoying than having to manually open each page and click on the button. happy simming!

[anim-ttrpgs]

@thewelllitweenie

These are two very related asks so I’m going to answer them both in the same post.

Okay so first of all, it’s pretty unlikely that a Eureka party will be all in the same room together for the entire duration of the mystery/adventure, so there is plenty of opportunity for investigators to do things behind each others’ backs!

Next, yes, there is a special procedure for when a monster needs to go off and eat people without the rest of the party watching, and this is often handled in a secret solo session, though it doesn’t have to be.

That doesn’t mean that all monster stuff has to be handled in a private solo session. If a monster has a chance to quickly scarf someone down mid-session and can reasonably do so without anyone noticing (which a witch in particular is extremely capable of), they can do that too.

I’m going to write a simplified summary of an Example of Play that isn’t currently in the rulebook that’ll give you an idea of how a monster might use a power without alerting all other players to the fact that they’re a monster.

This actually comes directly from real gameplay, a playtest in which a vampire went the entire 6-month campaign without ever being identified by any other players or PCs.

Yvette (vampire) and Eunica (does not know that Yvette is a vampire, neither does her player) are in the town hall, and need to get into the office of a missing person to investigate the disappearance, but the office door is locked.

Yvette lies to Eunica, saying she can pick locks, and that she just needs Eunica to go to the end of the hall and stand watch in case anyone is coming.

Eunica agrees and starts walking to the end of the hall.

Then, Yvette’s player sends a secret text to the Game Master, saying something like “Yvette turns into smoke and flies under the door, then rematerializes and opens it from the inside.”

The Game Master sends a text back to confirm.

Yvette’s player fakes making a roll for the lockpicking, then says that Eunica hears a click and when she looks back, Yvette has opened the door and is motioning her inside.

Normally, rematerializing as smoke and then back to a human would have caused Yvette to make 2 Composure checks at a +3 Modifier each. Failure on these checks would not have caused her to fail the action, but would’ve cost her some of her Composure. However, there’s also a rule that so long as at least one other player at the table is unaware of the monster being a monster, those Composure checks can be skipped entirely. This not only makes it easier to hide your monster from the other players because you’re not making as many mysterious dice rolls, but also serves as a nice little bonus in reward for keeping the secret as long as you can.

By the way, if you want yourself, a friend, or an OC to appear as an encounter when monsters go on hunts, please check out the post linked below! We have empty slots on the tables that we’re trying to fill!

[focusontheheart]

Below are the instructions on how to download, unpack, and run the game files for Focus on the Heart! The game will be available free for download from itch.io via the link our release post on May 24, 2024 at 8am EST!

EDIT: We are now live on itch.io! Please see our release post for more details! 🥰

A big thank you to @foibles-fables and @nerd-artist for putting these instructions together!

---

Instructions for PC:

Download the game files from itch.io. Select the .zip folder in your Downloads menu and select "Extract All".

Choose a file location and select "Extract". The files will be extracted to your chosen location.

When the extraction is complete, open the new folder location you created. You'll need to click through to the second sub-folder to see the files.

Double-click the game application to begin!

NOTE: You may receive a warning from Windows pictured above. To bypass it, click "More Info" and the "Run Anyway". You will only need to do this once per download!

From the file folder, you can also right-click the game application to create a taskbar or desktop shortcut.

Happy playing!

---

Instructions for MAC:

Download the game files from itch.io and extract all files from the .zip folder.

Drag the extracted .apk file to your Applications folder.

Double-click the file. A macOS warning will populate. Click cancel.

Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security.

Scroll until you find the warning for Focus on the Heart. Click "Open Anyway".

In your Applications folder, double-click the .apk file again. The same macOS warning will populate. This time, however, you will be able to select "Open" and run the game!

Happy playing!

[miscretis]

Discord Mod!Ronin x Discord Kitten!Reader (G.n) [PART 1 OF A CRACK FIC TAKEN SERIOUSLY]

CG art by: munstxr

WRITER'S NOTE

This used to be satire but I quickly took it quite seriously which was hilarious. Yes I still find this quite funny to write.

CW:

- Cringe

- Possibly dull writing (I'm still new and I'm tired)

- Coarse Language

❣️

“So, what would'ja do now? Taste the feeling of metallic death by my crowbar? Or ya gonna kiss me? Or are you gonna kill me? I got a knife right here! ” He lets out a dark chuckle as he closes up the gap between the both of you, pinning you to the wall. Now, how did you two end up in the dark alleyways of the Purgatory? Or rather, how did you even end up in this situation?

It all started with a text, a passcode and a link.

ERROR!UNKNOWN: don't be so obvious smh. You're Gonna Get Caught.

ERROR!UNKNOWN sent you a file.exe

ERROR!UNKNOWN: ReceivedKey: k!llrch8t_b00t.mango

here Ya go there's your Key Whenever you're Ready.

What the fuck? What is this?

All you were trying to do was to collect research for your dark romance serial killer novel and now you're being sent a strange link? (Especially after tweeting a question about killing experience with a crowbar.)

It seemed like a link to a Walmart version of discord but on the darkweb. You were wary at first, thinking about how your IP could've been doxxed if you ever clicked on the link. However you felt pressured to click on it when a notification sounded from your PC.

ERROR!UNKNOWN: are You gonna Join? you're no Fun at all.

Whoever this person was, he seemed like he wanted to mess around. Well, fine, you'll give him entertainment then.

You then clicked on the link.

You were led to a shady site with a blank for keying in the passcode. You remember the person giving you the passcode but it was long and complicated so you couldn't really memorise it properly.

Uh….maybe I'll just try keying in ‘password’?

ERROR! Wrong passcode. 2 more tries and your IP address will be revealed.

Well, shit.

You continued to rack your brain around for any possible passwords for this situation. You tried different passwords until a message showed up…

ERROR! Wrong password! Your IP address will be revealed in 3 seconds!

…

Just kidding, come on inside.

You entered a chatroom named “The Slaughterhouse.” with the exact same interface as discord. The channels, layout and everything.

<goreboy> welcome the Newly Christened @user

<hitmeuppp> AAA omg omg!! welcome to helllllll

<LUCA_IS_SO_COOL> WELCOME WELCOME HIIIIIII

<felicite> Nice to meet you!

<Angelic> Hi there! Glad to have another one with us ❤️

<goreboy> make Sure to take a Peek at #rules

there is Barely Anything but You Never Know

…

It's a serial killer chatroom. This has to be satire…right?

Oh god

You checked the rules.

<goreboy> Be a serial killer. first rule of Fight Club. Whatever i don't really give a shit lmfao. Oh and be nice don't be racist or transphobic or weird else angel will snipe u :\

<Angelic> it's not a threat it's a promise

Maybe this is just an intense roleplaying server

This must be it. These people are weirdos, not serial killers.

…

Maybe I’ll just play along…for now..

A day or two went by and they were still into the intense roleplay. It was weird in all honesty. Being in a server full of probably edgy teenagers talking about killing people seems to be the last time on your checklist of things to do. Least to say, it was fun and entertaining to watch. Watching them say the cringiest of things, it sure really gave you a good laugh. However soon after, you were getting bored and tired of watching by the sidelines for weeks despite the roleplay being a perfect source of research for your novel.

But a roleplay is just a roleplay…isn't it?

So, you decided to mess around to cure your boredom. Just a little more fun wouldn't hurt.

You lean back against your chair, pondering what you should do. Suddenly your thoughts drifted off to discord memes that your friends have been sending to you, then it clicked.

A discord kitten

You're not sure if you should do it, being a discord kitten is dangerous work and surely isn't a smart thing to do, especially in a server probably full of serial killers…

But yet again, they're just edgy teenagers that were very niche in intense roleplay, it would be fun to mess with them…but do you?

…

Fine, I'll play it this way then.

First of all, you need to find your discord mod to your discord kitten and you immediately chose the top dog, the alpha of the server, goreboy. Ronin…isn't it?

Oh god, I can't believe that I'm losing my dignity for this.

But what route could this open? A dangerous and gloomy path, or a sweet flowery romance?

At this point, you don't really care about that anymore. You just wanted to tell a good story.

[userpeggycarter]

TOPAZ AI TUTORIAL

i was asked to do a tutorial for Topaz AI (a software that enhances screencaps), so here it is! :)

[tutorial under the cut]

i’m going to gif a 720p YouTube video from 12 years ago as an example. it’s the bottom of the barrel when it comes to image quality, but in the end, you won’t believe it was once so shitty. here’s the gif, without any editing:

THE APPLICATION

Topaz AI is a paid software for image enhancement. you can download it for free, but your images will have watermarks. here's a random link that has nothing to do with this tutorial.

you can use Topaz AI as a Photoshop plugin or use the software separately. i will explain both methods in this tutorial.

USING SEPARATELY

it’s the way i do it because it’s more computer-friendly, the plugin can take a toll on your PC, especially when you’re dealing with a lot of screencaps. 

you first take screencaps as you normally would (if you don’t, here’s a tutorial on how to do it). open Topaz AI and select all the images. wait a while for the software to do its thing.

on the left, there is your screencap untouched. on the right, is your edited version. if you click the edited screencap and hold, Topaz will show you the original, that way you can compare the versions even better than just looking at them side by side.

Topaz AI will automatically recognize faces, if any, and enhance them. this can be toggled off, by disabling the “recovering faces” option in the right panel. it’s always on for me, though. you can tweak this feature by clicking on its name, the same thing for the others.

Topaz AI will also automatically upscale your screencaps if they’re too small (less than 4k). it will upscale them to achieve said 4k (in this gif’s case, the original 1280x720 screencaps became 4621x2599). i suggest that you let the app upscale those images, giving you more gif size flexibility. you can change into whatever size you want if you want something less heavy to store. don’t worry though, even these “4k screencaps” are very light megabytes-wise, so you won’t need a supercomputer. it might take a while to render all your screencaps, though, if you’re on a lower-end computer. (the folder with the edited screencaps ended up being 1GB, but that’s because it contains 123 screencaps, which is a lot of screencaps for 4k giffing).

two options won’t be automatically selected, Remove Noise and Sharpening, you will need to enable them to use them. rarely i don’t use Remove Noise, as is the best tool to remove pixelization. the Sharpening option depends on the gif, sometimes your gif will end up too over-sharpened (because of Topaz’s sharpening and later your own). that said, i used the Sharpening option on this gif.

next, select all images by clicking the “select all” button. you will notice that one of the screencaps’s thumbnails (in my case, the first one) will have small icons the others don’t have. this is the screencap you enhanced. you will need to click the dots menu, select “apply”, and then click “apply current settings to selected images”. this way, every screencap will have the same settings. if you don’t do this step, you will end up with one edited screencap and the rest will remain untouched!

all things done, click “save X images”. in the next panel, you can select where to save your new screencaps and how you want to name them. i always choose to add a topaz- prefix so i know what files i’m dealing with while giffing.

just a note: if your way of uploading screencaps to Photoshop is through image sequence, you will need to change the names of your new screencaps so PS can perceive that as a sequence (screencap1, screencap2, etc). you can do that by selecting all the screencaps in your folder, then selecting to rename just one of them and the rest will receive numbers at the end, from first to last. you don’t need to rename them one by one.

here’s the first gif again, without any editing:

without Topaz enhancement but with sharpening:

without sharpening, only the Topaz enhancement:

with Topaz enhancement and sharpening:

her skin is so smooth that it is a bit unrealistic. i could have edited that while tweaking the “Recovering Faces” option and/or the “Remove Noise” option, but i prefer to add noise (filter > noise > add noise) when necessary. this way, i don’t risk not enhancing the quality of the screencaps enough.

i added +3 of noise, making the gif look more natural. it’s a subtle difference, but i thought it necessary one in this case. you can continue to edit your gif as your heart desires.

VOILA! 🥳

AS A PHOTOSHOP PLUGIN

if you have Topaz AI installed on your computer, Photoshop will recognize it. you will find it in filter > Topaz Labs > Topaz AI. while in timeline mode, select the filter. the same Topaz AI window will pop up and you can tweak things the same way you do when you use the software separately. by using the plugin, you don’t need to upload your edited screencaps or use screencaps at all, a video clip (turned into a Smart Layer, that is) will suffice. the downside is that for every little thing you do, Topaz AI will recalculate stuff, so you practically can’t do anything without facing a waiting screen. a solution for that is to edit your gif in shitty quality as you would edit an HD one and at the very end, you enable Topaz AI. or just separately edit the screencaps following the first method.

this is it! it's a very simple software to use. the only downside is that it can take a while to render all screencaps, even with a stronger computer, but nothing too ridiculous.

any questions, feel free to contact me! :)

[gruviaweek]

Here are the official Gruvia Week 2024 prompts! Sorry for the delay. Due to this, please don’t be discouraged if your pieces are late. Truthfully, I wasn’t going to do Gruvia Week this year if not for some wonderful and dedicated fans that encouraged me to keep the tradition going and helped to organize it. It has been over a decade, it would be sad to see it go! 11 years, 12 editions later, here we are.

Just like in previous years these prompts are not complicated, but they are broad and meant to make you think. Be creative. Interpret them however you see fit. If you don’t know what a word means, look it up. Specific and basic prompts would result in different versions/entries of the same thing. That’s why Gruvia Week is so successful every year; imagination. Prompts for this event are always different every year. No repeats! See: Previous Gruvia Week editions

Those who are new to the week, unfamiliar, or would like to simply rehash, please click here to learn how to participate. Also be sure to follow the rules and guidelines. Feel free to ask questions, however please check this blog’s previous posts before submitting them. It’s possible your question could have already been answered.

Reminder: All pieces must be new. Old works will not be reblogged/included in the week. Be sure to specify the day/prompt used in your post. If you don’t have a tumblr, you can still participate. Post your work on any social media platform for that target audience. Participate anywhere; the more the merrier! However, if you’d like your work to be posted/featured here as well, be sure to submit it to this blog. Or submit the link to it (if posted on another platform such as twitter, instagram, wattpad, ao3, etc).

Reminders:

Tag your work with #gruvia week (with the space) within the first five tags.

Avoid using links in your post, as there is a chance it will not show up in the tags. Try using only five tags and no links if your post does not appear. If you must use a link, make sure it shows in the tags.

If your work contains an image or gif, make sure it’s within tumblr’s photo dimensions and size limits. Sometimes big images cause posts to not appear in tags.

It is YOUR responsibility to make sure your post shows up in the mobile and/or pc tags, so be sure to check if it does.

Gruvia Week will be held from April 1st - April 7th as always. Get ready and get creative!

Art by @goodnightlover. And big thank you to all that helped organize this year: @gruviasama @kimwannabewatermage @stopbeingrude. ♡

[mothman-etd]

Hey, I know you are somewhat techie, cause I follow Joy and you! I am curious if you could help explain something for the unenlightened.

I am very curious what a "bot" is, like I know it is a fake account, but where do they come from? Why do they exist? Do they serve a purpose? Is there some force (group, person, sever?) behind them?

I have been on Tumblr for years, and recently have been SLAMMED with bot follows and just am so curious why now...?

TLDR - Please explain the origin, history and role of bots?

WHAT ARE BOTS?

"Bots" is short for robots, and in this context is a computer program that works as an agent for another system or simulates a human being/human action.

Example, I can write a bot that could search for frog pictures on the internet, log into my tumblr, and post one of those pictures for me. Now that I have my fancy bot I can have posts of frog pictures always going up on my tumblr feed without any interaction on my part.

A porn bot is an extension of malicious bots, these are robots that were designed to perform an action that will ultimately generate money for the person who wrote them. Usually illegal activity and to the detriment of innocent victims the bots interact with.

The porn bots I have seen on tumblr specifically attempt to get me to click on a link that probably has a payload that would install some malware on my computer. What can someone do with a hacked computer? Well a whole bunch of stuff.

(I got this image from Krebs on Security, https://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/10/the-scrap-value-of-a-hacked-pc-revisited/, who is a journalist who likes to report on cyber security news)

What a hacker can do with your compromised PC is quite a bit so I am not going to go much further then that in this post, but just know all those items in the above image can be leveraged to steal money.

WHY DOES TUMBLR HAVE SO MANY PORN BOTS?

Honestly the recent influx of these on Tumblr probably relates to the situation happening at Twitter. Tumblr's reputation is on the rise for the first time in awhile, it is having very positive user growth and online attention. This in turn attracts the attention of thieves and gangs looking to make money off the crowd. In much the same way pick-pockets work crowded train stops, scammers need to operate where other humans are congregating.

This is a VERY brief run down on Tumblr's porn bots, but this is a huge topic that people dedicate their whole career to understanding.

So hopefully this answered your general question, let me know if you have another question or want me to get more specific about something.

[exactlymaximumgarden]

225 w/schlatt 🙏

this one turned out kinda depressing 😛 mb chat (reader is a youtuber in this!)

225. cry baby - the neighbourhood (link to req info here)

schlatt knows he'd fall in love with you, and that's not what he wants to do. not in the least bit.

it has nothing to do with you in the slightest. in fact, he'd do anything to call you his. the way your eyes light up whenever you talk about your interests, the way your laugh sounds like a sweet melody, the way your smile causes your whole face to appear as if it's glowing. what he wouldn't give to have that all to himself.

the two of you have met before. at cons, at parties, at youtuber get-togethers and the like. he remembers meeting you through ted. you're all in with that la crowd. he remembers the way you two chatted, your warmth and your gentle energy instantly putting his typically introverted self at ease. at ease yet simultaneously electrified.

he's spent too many sleepless nights sitting at his pc since then, binging your videos. even the ones he's already seen a million times. he sees no difference from the way you act online compared to the way you held yourself the night you met. you're so authentic, so kind, so real, and it kills him.

he reminisces on his own content and the facade he's put up for the camera. for years, it's been this way. and as he thinks, he comes to the realization that maybe he talks too much. he yells too much. he complains too much. the two of you are just so different in that way.

yeah, the guy in his videos is merely a persona, but still. a big portion of his audience can't differentiate between the character and the person behind it. who's to say you're not the same?

schlatt knows he tries too hard adjusting how he looks, how he feels, or what he's saying when it comes to this persona of his. but even if there was time to change it, the damage has already been done. this is the image he's carved out for himself, where anyone could find him and draw their own assumptions about him with a singular click.

he can never think about it for too long. he can taste it, his heart breaking whenever he does. you're you. he's him. and even though that pestering, anxious feeling that always eats away at him temporarily lifts whenever he watches a video of yours, finally allowing him to breathe as he dreams of a life with you, there's always a synonymous ache in his chest along with it. there's always the underlying paranoia that he isn't enough, he won't ever be enough. not for the likes of you.

schlatt knows he'll fall in love with you. come to think of it, he probably definitely already has. it's his own fault, but this is where he's at now. maybe there's a chance, maybe there isn't. he doesn't know.

and knowing him, that's how it'll stay.

[many-bees]

How to play every Team Silent game

Saw a post showing people how to install and play the original Silent Hill 2 so I thought I should probably make this because the other games are just as great.

Silent Hill

This is the only Team Silent game that requires an emulator. The one I recommend is DuckStation. It's fairly easy to use but it does require playstation BIOS files which can be found here. The ROM for the game can be pretty easily found through google but I've found that CDRomance is a very reliable source. If that goes down then another will inevitably pop up.

It should be noted that in addition to being the only one you have to emulate Silent Hill is also the one without an alternate control scheme, meaning that you have to use tank controls. Thankfully, unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill is very forgiving when it comes to combat so it's very easy to get used to.

Silent Hill 2

You've probably already seen that other post so I'll make this short. It's abandonware so you can download it on this site devoted to sharing abandonware. Be sure to download the full-rip version since using the disc files is a pain in the ass. After downloading that you can download the Enhanced Edition and put it in the folder you just downloaded and unzipped. Then just double click the installer and it'll do everything else for you.

Silent Hill 3

Basically the same as Silent Hill 2 except you don't need a mod for it. Here's the download link. Like 2 I recommend getting the full rip version. There's a mod called PC Fix by Steam006 which adds some options like restoring removed audio and higher screen reolutions but whenever I've had it installed the game wouldn't start so ymmv.

Silent Hill 4

This one's just available legally. It's from GOG who patch all their old games to keep them updated for modern systems, including games from as far back as 1979, so you don't need to worry about mods or compatibility issues or anything. Also everything they sell is totally DRM free. If you wanted it for free though you probably wouldn't have to look for it very hard.

[pinkgy]

What in Hell is Bad ? Erolabs IPA download ( IOS )

(A kind of helpful guide)

Note: This is based on my experience, I did this with a Macbook and an IPhone, if I’m not mistaken the process varies somewhat depending on the device.

Important Note: You need a pc or a laptop to download the Erolabs version of WHB through the IPA option. The app won’t download on the pc, it will be downloaded in your phone.

When you enter the WHB official site and enter the download page, you will find the IPA option, for this you have to click on download the IPA file.

After you do this, you scroll down and you will se a page that says “Steps”

(The steps are very clear and there’s even a video that shows that you should do, but some things can be a bit confusing, that’s why I’m doing this guide)

On the “steps” page you will have a link to download an app called “Sideloadly” if you have a Mac device, ignore the first step that says that you have your download ITunes. iTunes is discontinued and even if you download it, it won’t work unless you have a very old Mac device (the last iTunes version is from 2016 I believe, Mac devices from that year and bellow might allow ITunes to work, I don’t know if it’s required tho)

Sideloadly is a safe app ! So you have no need to worry about viruses and stuff.

Once you download Sideloadly, something like this should appear.

You have to enter your Apple ID (your mail direction that is linked to your Apple ID) where they indicate you, and you have to connect your phone to the pc through the charger.

Then, on this icon right here:

You have to drag the IPA file that you downloaded at the beginning, and the icon of WHB should appear there.

And then you click Start.

Once you click start, Sideloadly will download the game file, and once the download is finished, they will ask for your Apple ID password, you type it down (again, Sideloadly is a safe app) and press enter.

After a few seconds the game should appear on your phone, and once it’s fully downloaded you can disconnect your phone from your pc.

Once you open the game, they will ask you to allow the “Developer Mode”

You can find this option entering the settings of your phone, open the Privacy and Security page and scroll all the way down, and there should be the “Developer Mode” option.

To turn on the Developer Mode, your phone will tell you that you have to restart your device to put it to work, and once your device is restarted, you should have What in Hell is Bad Erolabs version !

As far as i know, the process is still the same if you have a pc that is not Mac. Unfortunately i’m not sure if you need to download ITunes for this, you don’t with a Mac, but you probably do if you’re not using one. The steps guide tells you to not download the Microsoft version of ITunes tho, but again, I’m not sure how this works.

Also, the common questions and their answers are available in the q&a page, which is at the bottom of the IOS download site.

If I’m not mistaken, this Apple ID login only works for 7 days, after that you have to log in again, which I think is not that troublesome.

I hope this little guide could be of help for you ! Any doubts you can always DM me or ask through the notes, I’ll do my best to try to help !

Hope you have an amazing day !! ♡♡♡

[redhandedstag]

001 , DURDENISM . . . fight club themed character template !! relatively minimal, durdenism offers 5 different sections and 6 pages. while not quite mobile friendly, the doc should be easily accessible to any PC users! if you're using, please keep the credit linked in the first section, it helps out a lot. also, consider a like and/or reblog! it goes a long way to get stuff around. HOW TO USE , to use the template, you'll want to select the 'file' button. from there, you'll find a button that says 'make a copy'. you'll be able to title your version, -- then you can fill it out :) !! , character images can be replaced! you can just select the image, and then hit 'replace image'. i suggest cutting out your image's background and making sure the images are a similar size to replicate the style here. , all text images are created in drawings. if you want to change the text, just double click and you'll be right able to. i don't suggest changing the text size too much though, same with the width. try to keep it consistent if you can! , photos in the 'connections' section are also created in drawings. they can be replaced by double clicking the picture, then once you're in drawings you can select the photo, select 'replace image,' and set it to the one you'd like instead! , i recommend avoiding moving many things if you want to use the doc mostly as-is and keeping the backstory to about 5 paragraphs! that way nothing can move or shift around in ways that aren't pleasant. , lines are done in drawings. i recommend that you don't stretch them as that will change their appearances -- instead, you can just drag them around to where you'd like them. they can be a little bit finicky though, so beware! . . . if you have any questions or issues that arise, please let me know! it's my first template like this so it might not be perfect first try. that being said, have fun!

[shinki26]

The Sims 2 Disc Installation and fix guide for Windows 10/11 PCs

I’ve been seeing around the internet people demonizing the discs and saying they are “bad” “old” “unsupported” “buggy” “ancient” and a bunch of other bad words and also outright refusing to give support to disc users.

I’m writing this guide to hopefully instruct people on how to properly install, fix and run their disc based The Sims 2 game and also educate you on why the discs are not as bad as everyone makes them to be.

Just a warning: I’m a Windows 10 user, I don’t know if exactly everything is going to be 100% accurate to Windows 11, but the game SHOULD work the same on it.

First things first, some clarifications about common misconceptions of both the Ultimate Collection and TS2 disc games I’ve been seeing being tossed around:

1. The Ultimate Collection has compatibility patches for modern hardware: 

This one is actually kinda true? The UC did have some patches made to it compared to a fully patched disc game but no one has been able to tell what exactly it did.

A fully patched, fixed and correctly installed disc game should work the same as the Ultimate Collection, with no difference in compatibility or game performance.

2. SecuROM doesn’t work on modern OSes so you can’t run the game off the discs: 

Totally untrue. People who says SecuROM doesn’t work on Windows 10/11 haven’t actually tried running a game that uses it at all. It 100% works even on Windows 11. What doesn’t work on modern OSes is SafeDisc, which all packs released before Bon Voyage used. So if you install BV and any pack released after it, the game IS going to run normally as it’s using SecuROM instead.

3. But SecuROM makes the game lag: 

True, for some machines it does happen. But as I will explain in the guide, you can uninstall SecuROM with the official removal tool and just use NoCD executables to have it not install itself again.

4. The discs requires Flash and it’s been deprecated:

No, the discs DO NOT require Flash. The only thing that uses it in the setup is a pop up that used to ask you if you wanted to register your game. Since of course you can’t register it anymore, you can just close it and it WILL NOT affect anything.

That out of the way, let’s get to the guide!

What you are going to need:

-All original TS2 patches released by EA back in the day: They’re all hosted HERE on ModTheSims. 

Please, be aware that there may be multiple variatons of a patch. You need to pick the right one for your game. If you have The Sims 2 Base Game DVD version, you will have to download the second option where it says “DVD Patch Notes”, for example. For Pets and Seasons the “DD” patches mean Digital Download, so if you have them on either CD or DVD them both are going to use the “Disk Patch” If you seem to be not able to download them, right click the download link and choose “Save Link As”.

If you have The Sims 2 Deluxe / Double Deluxe / Holiday Edition / Other compilations you’re not going to need the Base Game patch as those versions are already updated!! You also don’t need the Nightlife patch if you have Deluxe or Double Deluxe!! The same thing applies for the Collections: You don’t need to patch their EPs!!

-Grumpy Loader: Get it HERE on ModTheSims.

-If you have Bon Voyage and/or packs released after it... SecuROM Removal Tool: Get it HERE.

-If you have Mansion & Garden Stuff... Sims2RPC: Get it HERE on ModTheSims by @lazyduchess! If you DO NOT have this pack, you’re going to need to source a NoCD executable of the game based on your latest installed pack.

-If you DO NOT Have Mansion & Garden Stuff... 4GB Patch: Get it HERE.

-Graphics Rules Maker: Get it HERE.

Having downloaded everything, you can start inserting your Base Game disc one! Or your Base Game DVD!

Installing the Base Game:

There’s no mystery in this part, install your game normally as you would back in 2004 following the instructions of the setup.

Three of the biggest problems I’ve seen people have when installing the Base Game is:

1. I get a red pop up saying “This app has been blocked for your protection”

This happens usually on Double Deluxe games and later EPs such as Bon Voyage, FreeTime and Apartment Life.

There’s two ways you can circumvent this. First one is the one that I personally prefer:

-Open the Task Manager -On the top left, click “File” -Click “Run new task” -Click “Browse...” -Now go to your disc drive in your PC and open it, select Autorun.exe -The target box should be pointing to “D:\Autorun.exe”. The “D” letter changes depending on what letter your disc drive is set to in your PC -Check the “Create this task with administrative privileges” box -Now click OK.

The setup is going to run normally now. When you are installing EPs that show you this error, you can do the same thing to every one.

The other way is just to change your PC’s date to somewhere before 2020. This is going to work too, I can’t explain to you why though! Something about licenses expiring!

2. I get a Flash pop up when I try to install!

As I explained earlier, you can just close it and the installation will continue normally.

3. The setup just hangs at a specific percentage and won’t progress anymore!

This is mosty probably the setup asking you to swap discs! DVD users do not have this problem. What happens sometimes is that the setup GUI is supposed to make a pop up window appear in front of the GUI asking you to swap to disc 2, but on modern OSes it doesn’t appear sometimes. Actually, it does. It just is in the background, if you minimize every open window on your machine you’re going to see the little pop up! Just swap to disc 2 and press “Ok” on the pop up and it should resume installing. The same thing can happen when having to switch to Discs 3 and 4.

After installing the Base Game:

Yay, you did it! See how the discs aren’t the devil??

So, after installing the base game you are going to need to patch it.

Open GrumpyLoader, on the top left select “Load...” and on the window that opens, choose the Base Game patch’s executable you’ve downloaded and open it. It’s going to automatically patch your game, if you are on the 4 CD version of the game you may have to swap discs. Sometimes GrumpyLoader throws errors when updating, especially when it ends. But you can just ignore it.

After patching, your Base Game is FULLY installed and properly patched, congratulations!!!

But if you didn’t already try, you will see that you can’t run the game as it doesn’t open. That’s because the Base Game uses SafeDisc that doesn’t work on modern OSes as I said earlier.

Installing Expansion and Stuff Packs:

It’s the same process of installing the Base Game. Follow the setup instructions. After installing each one, PATCH them with GrumpyLoader. For example: you just installed University! Do NOT immediately install another pack right after.  Follow the same GrumpyLoader patching process you did on the Base Game but choose the University patch instead. Do the same thing to ALL EPs and Family Fun Stuff.

Also, there has been some info online about installing packs out of release order can mess up your game.

I personally don’t think it’s true as I never had any problems but I prefer to be better safe than sorry.

If you want to, Install them in this order:

-University (or University Life Collection) -Nightlife (skip if you have The Sims 2 Deluxe/Double Deluxe) -Christmas Party Pack (I don’t recommend if you have Happy Holiday Stuff or The Sims 2 Holiday Edition)  -Open For Business (or Best of Business Collection) -Family Fun Stuff (or Fun with Pets Collection) -Glamour Life Stuff -Pets (skip if you have Fun with Pets Collection) -Happy Holiday Stuff (skip if you have The Sims 2 Holiday Edition) -Seasons -Celebration Stuff (skip if you have The Sims 2 Double Deluxe) -H&M Stuff (skip if you have Best of Business Collection) -Bon Voyage -Teen Style Stuff (skip if you have University Life Collection) -FreeTime -Kitchen & Bath Interior Design Stuff (skip if you have Best of Business Collection) -IKEA Home Stuff (skip if you have University Life Collection) -Apartment Life -Mansion & Garden Stuff (skip if you have Fun with Pets Collection)

If you’ve installed all packs, great! You can even launch your game from SP9′s (Mansion & Garden Stuff) disc and executable as it uses SecuROM which WORKS on modern OSes.

Getting your game to work properly:

Your game is fully installed, patched and even running if you have Bon Voyage and later released packs!

But you probably noticed very heavy lag, crashing, bad graphics and things not running as they should. That’s because, just like the Ultimate Collection, the game is a PITA to get running properly on Modern OSes! If you have Bon Voyage and/or later released packs: I HIGHLY recommend you to uninstall SecuROM from your machine. This is going to help greatly with game performance. Use the SecuROM Removal Tool I’ve linked earlier and remove it from your PC. Do NOT open the game again as it’s going to install itself again if you do so.

If you have Mansion & Garden Stuff: After uninstalling SecuROM, you’re going to need to install Lazy Duchess’ Sims2RPC Launcher I’ve linked earlier. Follow their instructions on the download page and be sure to apply the 4gb patch in the launcher as it’s going to GREALTY help with the crashing.

Or... if you DO NOT have Mansion & Garden Stuff: Get an appropriate NoCD executable for the pack you are using to launch your game and apply the 4GB patch to it. Open the 4GB patch executable and use it on your game’s exe.

After doing all that, all that remains is fixing your game performance, resolution and graphics!

Install Graphics Rules Maker and open it. Firstly, you’re going to have to add your Graphics card to the game’s database. To do that, go the “Device Info” tab and add it there.

Back to the “Settings” tab, be sure your game is set to “The Sims 2″ and is properly recognizing where your game is installed, if for some reason it isn’t, click “Browse...” and point it to your latest installed pack’s folder. For example: “C:\Program Files (x86)\EA Games\The Sims 2 Mansion & Garden Stuff”.

-Force Texture Memory: Use the auto-detect button and it should automatically calculate the best value for your graphics card.

Check “Disable texture memory estimate adjustment” and “Enable driver’s memory manager” boxes. If you have an AMD Radeon HD 7000 series, also check the “Fix AMD Radeon HD 7000 series recognition”. If you have Intel integrated graphics, check the last two boxes. Now you can set your resolution! Choose your default (which one the game is going to start with) and maximum resolution your game is going to support.

After doing all that, you can click “Save Files...”

And... Done! You got your disc-based The Sims 2 game fully working, properly patched and fixed!!!

Any Feedback on how to improve this guide is very welcome!

Happy Simming, y’all!!! :)

[sovonight]

hey! been an enjoyer of your art for a while now (been offline Tumblr for a sec) and noticed you do BG art!

I low-key wanna get into BG but I don't know where to start or even what to expect. Do you have any tips for anyone wanting to get into the og BG games? (I don't wanna play BG3 rn I wanna start with the OG games)

sure! i wrote up a quick rundown here of the series + dlc + the enhanced editions. as for tips:

play the tutorial! don't skip this, bg's gameplay is not as self-explanatory as it is for modern games. xan also shows up here to teach you how to cast spells, so it's just nice to bother him

play on pc, not on an app (if for whatever reason you were considering the app version). not only is it really annoying playing on the app with a touchscreen, but you can't install any significant mods either, and it's a pain to even access the files in the first place

holding tab highlights all the interactable objects on the screen, like loot on the ground & chests you can open. there's also a magnifying glass button that does the same thing (in the ee version only, i believe)

in the main gameplay screen, hovering over icons brings up a quick tooltip that tells you what the icon is, but for full info on item/spell descriptions you'll have to click into the character's inventory/spellbook/etc and right click on them there

i regularly look things up on the wiki, because one of the things you'll probably be wondering once you enter combat is "how do i get rid of this negative status effect?!" status effects show up as tiny icons on the character portraits, and you'll have to click into the character page to see the actual name of the status effect, at which point you can drop it into the wiki search bar and find out how to get rid of it

another reason to keep the wiki open is to find out your enemies' weaknesses, so that when your companions are like "my weapon/spell has no effect!" you can change tactics

keep an eye on the log (that text box at the bottom of the screen)! i know, it fills up with a lot of information during combat, but you should keep an eye on how much damage you're doing, especially if you find out you're doing no damage at all

i regularly play with a walkthrough (bg1, bg1, bg2) because i hate backtracking and never want to miss a thing (you don't have to use the walkthroughs i linked, they're just what i have on hand). they are filled with spoilers, so i'd recommend trying your first playthrough without a walkthrough, but if you get stuck they're helpful for telling you what you need to do to get back on track with the main quest. bg doesn't have quest markers or individual quest trackers or anything, just one journal that every single quest update gets piled into (wow, just like real life!) so it's definitely possible to lose track of where you are if you're too deep in side quests or if you stop playing for a week

[darkdiamondsims]

Here's the next part of the CC Counters for Multiple functioning appliances!! As I promised I have continued on with the more Fake counters that allow for placing appliances anywhere. You can read more about this set Here! 

This time, it's all the counters from the Expansion Sets.

The next and last set will include all the counters from Stuff packs to Kits.

Details:

Each counter will require the pack it came from! 

A copy of each regular and island counter.

All the same colors to ensure the perfect flow between base game objects and CC.

13 counters in total.

More will be added later! Keep a look out for them!

Download instructions:

Click on the link below and download the CC to your Mods folder. The Mods folder is found under: This PC/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Mods

If the folder doesn’t already exist, you can make one.

Also make sure Enable Custom Content and Mods is enabled in your Game Options, under Other.

Disclaimer / Terms of Use:

Do not reupload to another website.

All rights reserved

I will inform you of any changes and redownloads that may be needed.

Do not edit my original mesh.

Do not make recolours of my original meshes

Do not convert my original meshes for use in previous versions of The Sims or any other game.

Do not claim as your own.

As always, Enjoy!! 

~ Diamond