#and I already did ts4 ones in the last game

[amuhav]

💌 Post 4 pictures from Pinterest that describe your OC. Send this to 3 other simmers to keep the chain going!

[ R I O // board ]

[simmerianne93]

[Simmerianne93]Action_poses_08_V1

Hello guys!!! How are you today??

I'm back with my normal Patreon posts.

I was supposed to publish this last thursday, but I had a power outage at home all day and I couldn't, and I was too busy on weekend to post anything.

This month I didn't do a "coming soon" post 'cause the poses I'm bringing to you are poses that you have already seeing in my previous "coming soon"posts (I ended up a little oversaturated from simblreen so I need a little break from doing new poses until december. I hope you understand it). I have left a posepack from September (HORSE 01) and two from October (ACTION 08 and FANTASY 18) so my plan is to bring you those posepacks (Although I'm still struggling with the horse poses).

Today's posepack is one of the post I have left pending from October (I guess I wanted to cover more than I could) and that I didn't want to stop bringing to you 'cause I really wanted to do these poses and I spent a lot of time working on them to finish them. Why? Because they are action poses, and action poses always require a little more of work, since I have to pay attention to the strength of the caracters's movements, the movement itself, the trajectory and that everything looks good and without glitches. Furthermore, since there are poses with a wolf involved, it gives even more work, since the wolf rig has had problems since it came out and has to be worked on more than usual.

As I just said, these poses were quite complicated to do and yet I am not entirely satisfied (I feel that I could have done more or something better to convey what I wanted, but I simply did not find a way to do it, to bring you a real fight between a wolf and a vampire, maybe I missed more poses? maybe different positions? I don't know, but for now this is it...) despite that, I hope you like them and can use them to tell your wonderful fantasy stories.

As with all my werewolf packs, this posepack has 2 versions, this first version (V1) works with Natalia Auditore's werewolf costume, and the other version (V2, that you can download here) works with the werewolf rig from the werewolf game pack. Use the version you like the most, all the poses are the same.

Here is the posepack descripcion:

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What is on it?

12 Duo poses  (Made with 2 human rigs) + 3 All in one.

What do you need?

Andrew's poses player 

Teleport any sim by Scumbumbo or Mccc by deaderpool.

Natalia Auditore's werewolf costume

Instructions on the original post.

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TOU

Do not claim my creations as your own.

Do not re-upload or modify my creations.

Do not make money of my creations.

Do not include my creations in Mods folders to download.

Please follow my Term Of Use.

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Download it now here — [EARLY ACCESS UNTIL December 12th, 2023]

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If you want to support me:  Patreon | Ko-fi

For more poses: Pinterest |  Wix

My socials: Twitter | Instagram | BlueSky

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I really hope you like them and I will say on advance: Thank you so much for use them.

@ts4-poses

[riverianepondsims]

Hey, hey, guess what I stumbled upon, or what I've managed to figure out: Boroughsburg has payphones!, and they've been there since the beginning, duh! Any clue on how to make them work? I've tried to get them functional with your mod's script, but it seems like they need more than that, but I'm clueless, honestly haha!

Hey there Josh, Apologies for it being a while since you originally sent this...I've been caught up in a flurry of work for the last long while. This turned out to be a novel 📝, so I'll hide it under here:

So the payphones in Boroughsburg are likely deco items, so they are there for visual appeal but do not have a function! The ones that I posted were the same, they were originally deco items. What I did to make them work was even more simple than a mod, but honestly so tedious! Wall phones already exist in TS3 (can you believe my surprise that they don't have those in TS4??), so I cloned a wall phone to start. Then I imported the mesh for the payphone I wanted to overwrite the old one, as well as the textures. The next thing to do for items like this is to add geostates. These seem to be at least somewhat unique to TS3 and sims game creation-spaces in general, so it was hard to learn how to do this or what in the world a geostate is. They're present in a lot of TS3 objects, starting from the base game. For example, the bookcase getting more or less full based on how many books are in it, food plates getting slowly more empty until they are completely clean when the sim is done eating, pizza slices disappearing, drink glasses becoming empty when the sim is done (some of these are geostates, some are effects), the phone handset disappearing from the phone when the sim "picks it up" etc...there are so many more but these are just some examples. How these work, at least from a CC creating standpoint, is modification of the mesh in TSR Workshop. When you set the geostates, you are telling the game to remove certain polygons/parts of the mesh when needed. So the entire mesh is there, but parts of it disappear and reappear when told to. So the handset on the payphone when not in use stays, but when a sim interacts, that piece of the mesh disappears. The handset sims actually use is another default object called from somewhere else, like the mop sims use to clean puddles that they carry around in their pocket everywhere XD Setting geostates is a painful clicking activity. You need to de-select each individual triangle that you want to disappear for a geostate. Some objects have more than one (like bookshelves). With certain meshes, it is enough to drive one up a wall. Simple enough but definitely one of the most annoying CC creation tasks! This is also something important to keep in mind that with objects that have geostates, they will be invisible in-game if you don't make sure to set up their geostates. Even if you don't plan to make them dynamic (eg, a bookcase that never gets empty or full, just stays the same no matter how many or little books are added), they need to have all faces selected for their geostates or else they will be invisible in-game. This is luckily easy, there's a shortcut to select all at once (the exact shortcut fails me, but I'm pretty sure TSRW tells you when you're in the editor). This was a long winded half-rant about geostates but I hope this (and maybe this tutorial here) helps give you an idea of how these work @joshttewloves!

📝

[boringbones]

Hello! First I want to thank you for all the MODs you made! Especially BETA Skins! It was amazing! Then I want to mention this (if you don't mind), I realized that in TS4 between the foundation of the house and the wall there is a bulge in detail so that the wall and foundation do not fit directly together like in TS3. Wonder if it's possible for that to be possible for TS3 too?, I really hope it is. And thank you for reading this, you don't have to if you don't. Thanks! Have a wonderful day! ♥️

Hello!! Thanks! I'm very happy that you liked it! Hmmmm I think I know what you're talking about, the adornment, don't I? Well, I don't know if there's something like that for Ts3, but there are several different ways to make it happen! The advantage of 3 over 4 (and this also applies to 2) is its flexibility with Constrainfloorelevation false! So there are several ways to adorn the lot without necessarily having a resource to do so. For example:

In these first two cases, I removed the foundation from the front of the house, kept the floor and added two different fences at the bottom to decorate it.

In the example below I did the same, but with half a wall

And here in the last one I used an ornament that is located in roof decorations and just adorned the base of the foundation

In other words, there are several ways to make something as good as what The Sims 4 offers, you need to look at the resources, accept your "limitations" and start trying different things. Play with the pieces, try to shape them, don't accept the traditional way of building, create your own shape. There are as endless possibilities to create in ts2 and 3 as in any other game in the franchise, if you are creative, of course.

By the way, thanks for asking about this, I don't think I'd ever thought about laying foundations this way before this comment. I already used this method to create personalized fences, now my constructions should gain an extra level of depth, thanks to your question!

Have a great Sunday and thanks for stopping by!!

[nikatyler]

Zeph 1.0

can't believe that yesterday i was like eh i'm not sure about that armor, it looks so good on them

(x)

oooh a pretty evil lady!

(x)

same girl, same, about everything that has ever happened to me

(x)

it's been 84 years (more like 16 hours) but i'm finally opening bg3 again ✨

i think i'll do some more goblin camp shenanigans today if possible 👀

ohhh right. essentially i've already murdered like half the goblin camp so now the other half of the camp is trying to murder me, huh?

Me: "ah yes I'm far enough" *the explosion hits Zeph and Zeph dies* *reloads* "ah yes now I'm definitely far enough" *the explosion hits Zeph again and Zeph dies again*

"yeah we've got this" *the entire party dies*

Fucking gnolls man

yeah it's been a long bloody day

HELLO SAY THAT AGAIN

hUH

jesus christ this man is h🫣rny

Okay so I'll go watch a baking show with my mum in a bit and then we're going back and doing da thing 😏

Sorry for not giving updates if you were looking forward to them, anyway a little thing I love is how everyone sleeps on their back. I do that and apparently that's weird to everyone around me? 😂🤨

I will literally be in my bed like 🧍‍��️

(x)

newest development in my bg3-rotten brain

did i mention this game is doing things to me because it is doing things to me

(x)

Anywayyyy you know what time it is 😌

I may have just spent an hour organizing everyone's inventories and figuring out who gets what armor and all but we're good to go now I think

Explosive shrooms, yay 🤩

(x)

I'm 💀💀💀 I need to go to bed lmao

Okay so basically what happened um. I don't know how but it did. So I wanted to help Astarion. But I clicked the wrong thing. And I pushed him off the boat. And he died.

I RELOADED BUT HOW DID I EVEN DO THAT 😭😭

If there's one thing about me it's that I'll accidentally murder my favourite vampires

(x)

I love Zeph so much they're so prettyyyyyy

Kinda wanna make a modern day version of them in ts4 and have them interact with my other characters. They'd fit right in

(x)

hole hehe. hole

(x)

my bi ass is having a bit of a dilemma rn

(x)

gay gay gay they're in love your honor

HELL YEAH KISS

(x)

Raw footage of me during my latest combat

I was actually so stressed dude 😭 thankfully we made it through but ahhhhh

Does anyone else apologize to the characters when they get hurt? Like sorry lil guy in my computer I'm sorry I'm putting you through this I promise you'll make it out I PROMISE ah fuck you're getting hit again oh no sorry sorry ahhhh

So uh. The adamantine forge fight huh. 🙂

(x)

Granted it doesn't count ts4 correctly rn probably because I haven't updated yet but…yeah 😅😅

(also I have way more hours on ts4 actually, this is just since Jan 2023, I played through Origin/EA app before and then switched to Steam for reasons)

(x)

my fucking thoughts exactly, i hate this battle 😭😭 on a real note i relate to him so much when he's whining DUDE WE LIVE

i should've known he wouldn't take that as a good thing lmaoooooo dude creases when you smile is the biggest compliment smh

FREN!!!

(x)

oops

(x)

I'm sorry what

(x)

pwettyyyyy

(x)

I'm sensing that I may have messed up real bad in Last Light Inn yesterday...ooops

I should've reloaded to see if things could turn out differently but I've done a lot afterwards, idk if I wanna go back now 😂 No spoilers pls, that's something for me to figure out in my next playthrough

"ooops" people DIED 💀 people i had previously saved died 💀

(x)

You're never gonna believe who I murdered again

(x)

I'm fucking crying I need you to resurrect him you moron stop shaming Zeph for having a sex life Update we are so back lads

(x)

Funny how fast I went from "I think Zeph is mostly good, they just want to get rid of the parasite and help people along the way" to "actually fuck it darling you're so right some power would be nice"

(x)

Crying laughing sending this to my sibling who's in art school. On point

(x)

"eh we'll be fine i don't need bonuses" *rolls 1*

(x)

daddy Ketheric omg💀💀

(x)

uh anyway

(x)

this is the best they are the best 🥹

(x)

Don't be upset, I will reload, just don't be upset with me pleaseeee 😭

The "please a videogame vampire at all costs" disease is real I'm afraid

(x)

Uh oh it's almost 3am, tomorrow will be an eepy day, well it's worth it

(x)

I'm so close to having a funny number of hours played 🤭

(x)

Killed the workout, now let's kill this guy that I struggled with for half an hour. Almost killed my whole party in the process so I quit and decided to kill my legs instead 😂

(x)

[meirimerens]

Hey Meiri, how's the horse(s) in your ts4? Recently I played it again after latest update and decided to adopt an old mare. He's scared easily and rather difficult to approach, but at least my sim can ride him down the hill. Also watching him playing with ball is so cute!

i haven't played for a lil bit because my laptop has been having processor fan failures (likely because i fed it too much cc. SAD!) which i'm too lazy to bring it to the vet for o7 o7 o7 o7 also i've had stuff to do and i knowww that if i boot up a game i'm not letting it o for a week so not very #productive anyways HAPPY TO HEAR BACK FROM YOUR CREATURES.... i love watching them play with the ball it's so funny and cutes. not exactly how real horses do it most of the time but i see it i can fuck wit it. on my end last time i played my ranch hands sims was able to go on a trail ride with her mare (her and the mare. in that order specifically) up in the Galloping Gulch neighborhood thingie

(i haven't saved the pics from my laptop to this computer so i don't have those) they slept in the sleeping bags (well. the human sim did) & got home um Starving because i hadn't. packed the food i thought i did oopsie. also i'm tryna raise the quarter horses (this one v) to be a barrel racing champion so we've been pushing that

haven't done any competitions yet we're still training him. hopeful i can one day get back to my beautiful horses.

you get to see the same Misty image i already posted because i love it so much

[mosneakers]

Hello love!

Was Coraleye planned from the beginning, or was she kind of just born into your game and stole your heart? and was Tycho always the plan for her or did your game decide that fate? 🤍

hey bby ♥ I love this question thank you!!

I'd have to say a little bit of both! I knew for generation 4, I really wanted a female heir, since the previous heirs have all been males. So far, it's been a tradition that the youngest of the kids turn out to be the heir, and I wanted to stick to that with her. So I knew she'd be the youngest daughter. Years ago, I was on a color-naming website thing? looking for color names that fit the Dollow color scheme, and very quickly came up with the names Brick, Charm, and Sunglow (which I removed the 'w') then the last was Coral, which was alright. I already had a way different name picked for her at the time (Anastasia!) but on my list of sims names I had the alternate spelling "Coralie" written down, and she had heterochromia + a coral eye, so I had kind of a 'what if' moment and BOOM, CORALEYE! ✨ This was possibly years in advance, I tend to think pretty far ahead. Just like I know who Coraleye will end up with, how many kids she'll have, and what their names will be already 😉😂 Her brothers were all born in sims 3 but she was the only one to start her life in ts4 with very rough beginnings 😄 (limited cc and dog shit graphics!) Her personality, most of her storylines, and overall ability to shine and take over my simblr, well she did all that on her own 😅

AS FOR TYCHO OMG... No, none of that was planned lol!! As someone who has played the sims since the first generation (ts1!) I tend to remake a lot of the classic families. The Curious brothers and Strangetown were my absolute FAVORITES from ts2 and since I'm a chaotic mess, a lot of my creations tend to inhabit the same saves. Tycho naturally met Seymour Darling when they joined the same conspiracy theory club in Strangerville. Then Tycho went to college at the same time Glo did, I thought they'd be cute besties since they're both nerds so I let them be roommates (I even left the possibility to fliration open! 👀) and they quickly became a tight-knit group of friends. After Coraleye was introduced, that boy didn't stand a chance, and those two threw a wrench in the entire plans of the legacy!

Don't worry though, we've rerouted, and we're back on track 🚂😆

[olomaya]

I just wanted to say that I'm obsessed with your mods! They're all so complex and each one is like an expansion pack! TS4 could nevuh!

I don't know if you take requests but do you have any interest in doing a sports mod? I would love to see someone bring the skiing and snowboarding from SE in the game. I feel like you could do something really cool with it.

Lol @ TS4 shade! But thank you (even though you're just gassing me up because you want something)!

I take requests in that if you ask me something that I already planned to do then you can consider it me taking your request. 😅

But real talk, I actually did look into this sometime last year because I agree it would be very cool (pun not intended but I'm glad it's there). There are 101 animations in Snowy Escape for snowboarding and skiing. Not to mention the actual code, the objects needed, etc. So it's a no for me.

HOWEVER, I do have an early wip to convert the Kingball game from Sims Medieval and turn it into tennis for TS3. It's still early though but I'll post some updates once I get around to testing.

[webbymom]

So, on the way to the bookstore...

Just popping on totally randomly and after many years to say a couple of things sims-related. Well, really to rant a bit, about a couple of things sims-related... ;)

I just spent over $100 CAD on a couple-or-so kits, and the two newest TS4 EP's - High School Years (since I'd passed on that earlier, and, of course, Growing Together). I was very excited for the new worlds, the new gameplay, and getting some more clutter in my game. FINALLY. After a couple of years of not really having much interest left in TS4, I was excited to get the whole, intense, deep, family mojo going - baby, infant, toddler, child, teen with high school, young adult with Uni, young adult with job/marriage/kids, start all over again...

I'm sorry to say that I was disappointed. Not really by the kits, they are what they are, but by the EP's. I played through HS Years while awaiting the arrival of GT, and it was OK, I guess. To be honest, I was hoping to explore more with a new "legacy" type of family once GT came out. But I suffered from MANY crashes once I'd finally downloaded it.

To be fair, I struggled with the game crashing due to mods - but I didn't put them in until they'd been updated. I spent four days starting over and over, testing and testing, with mods that were supposedly updated, but obviously something was wrong... I literally started FOUR FAMILIES in that time, ended up chucking all mods out the window (ooooh, the pain of build/buy without cheats!), and starting again.

It went OK - but I was so DONE by then. Sad, really.

None of THAT was EA's fault. Not at all. But here's the thing I noticed whilst starting over and over and over...

San Sequoia is barren. Empty. Lifeless. Like, you can't even search for frogs or fish there. There are no collectibles that I am aware of in the world AT ALL. (correct me if I'm wrong...)

Apart from collectibles, there also aren't that many people around to befriend/romance/marry - like, they're all adults or older and already paired up, for the most part. I don't know how I'd start a single, YA sim out and find someone to make a life with! I really don't - I tried! I had to move them to Willow Creek!

Literally, I gave up and moved my last sim from my last attempt to Potter's Splay in Willow Creek. Frick San Sequoia, I said. I can always visit the rec center just as easily by a loading screen from Willow Creek as I can from down the frickin' road!

My sim met Zoe Patel - she was serving drinks at the local bar. He romanced her REAL FAST LIKE and they got married within 24 hours and very quickly had a baby. Which then turned into my FOURTH infant in this fiasco. And we are on the way AGAIN to making some milestones.

(Poor little gal still hasn't gotten to the high chair yet, as did 2 of my other infants in this journey... )

Life was better - Zoe could trot around her neighbourhood, even while pregnant, and gather flowers and mushrooms and dug up stuffz to make a bit of side cash while hubby was off at work... And I realized that the RICHNESS of those two original neighbourhoods were never really matched in later EP's - except for Windenburg, they did a pretty good job on that one. Again, still early on.

I've heard that they are all worried about computers and how more worlds means more resources used and how they have to keep all those stats down for those who play on lower-end machines.

Well, folks, here's the thing. I've PAID for a higher-end machine. I know not everyone can, I get that. But I have one. And, for once in the last two years, I was looking forward to a pack that I now feel was hyped up beyond what it would do or give me, which was dumbed down, specs-wise, so that everyone under the sun could play the game. In the end, this long-time simmer feels shorted. I wanted to like the world. I wanted to play in it long-term. But you can't even get a decent-sized lot to build on, let alone one that faces the sun for the right times of day so you can bloody well see what the frick you're building or living in! The life has been sucked right out of it, which is sad, being as all the screenshots were so pretty. But why have an entire wharf when you don't even have a fishing spot on it? Why have parks and "empty areas" when there are no collectibles to find? No secret portals to other places to discover? Oh, and the "secrets" of San Sequoia are just folks telling you about their gender preference or how to be OK with some bad news you got???

Seriously. I can't even.

Know what I did? I opened up The Sims 3. And guess what?

So. Much. Better.

I'll write a new post about that later, since this one is long enough. ;)

[aspl1tl1fe]

Setting Up Audre 5.1

Today we return to PI Strip, a renamed public community lot located at 10 Pleasant Boulevard in @one-plumbob​’s world Pleasant Island, which is called Audre in my save. 

Last week, I shared images of the entrance and first floor of Audre’s African Art Gallery, and today we venture up the spiral stairs to view the two room second floor, where the art is showcased.

So a little story about the stairs before going up. 

Those are a custom item I got somewhere off the net, while desperately seeking build variety. I’ve never used them before because the style is rather limited. They look very 80s Barbie doll wedding, and don’t at all fit the modern style of this gallery. Still, I really wanted to use this, and plopped them down before I did anything else in this shop, before, in fact, I even knew what the place would be.

As I was renovating I thought, maybe the owner of the gallery recently purchased or rented the space, and it hasn’t really had much attention since the building was originally built. Maybe the owner of the gallery is just starting out or relocating to the town and can’t yet afford full renovation. Even better, the gallery is publicly funded and most of the funds go to just keeping the place open.

Whatever I go with, I’m keeping the stairs because I’m stubborn, lol.

Anywho, on the second floor I used some half walls (which might also be custom) to make a little stairwell, through which you can already see the pictures hung up on the walls. 

As a quick aside, AAAG specializes in photos and paintings. Unless I decide to use sculpting in this game to actually sculpt, which I highly doubt, what’s sold here probably wont change. 

If you take another look at the picture of the exterior, the second floor has a bunch of windows which limit wall space, and could cause damage to the featured paintings. To remedy this, I placed two and three tile walls, one tile in front of, or partway in front of, the windows, and then I tried to block the spaces off using plants. I’m hoping this will prevent sims from trying to route around the walls instead of using the open more navigable space.

I know we all know how TS3 is (and TS4 definitely has this game beat in that regard). If it’s hard to get there every sim in town wants to be there. Still, I am hopping they walk up, not do the toe tap and complain because I’ve got a mod to prevent that, see they can’t get there, and go around.

I may find that this was the biggest mistake ever, as I’ve also placed one tile walls in the next room to hang more art.  

I’m pretty sure I mentioned in last weeks post, that I didn’t have room for a lot of seating in the sales room (yup that’s what I’m calling it now), so I’ve placed two couches around the stairwell, along with a little coffee table. That way I can make and place coffee up here, and make it look like the gallery owner is chatting up potential artists or sponsors.

From the entrance way to the second room, you can see the one tile walls I mentioned before. There’s a bit more space in this room, as it’s the space above the in progress housewares store. I’m hoping that means this won’t become the portal to lag hell, but I won’t really know until I can get multiple sims in here at once.

I guess that if all else fails, I can at least place invisible fences where the walls are blocking the windows, and maybe do the one tiles if that still doesn’t help.

I should say, I have downloaded lots of black art (I also tend to download Indigenous and or non-black POC art that doesn’t give me racist fetish vibes), and “the lighting is dark enough that this person in this image could be black” (lol) art. All custom, of course, as diverse representation is scant in the game.

Because I have so much, I was able to fill out my gallery with a number of different images in different sizes and styles, and use a lot of cc I’ve yet to be able to incorporate into my residential homes.

I forgot to note, (or... if I’m repeating myself, forgive me), that the gallery is dark despite the lights, and it clearly being day outside, because I have a mod that fixes auto light mode so that the lights are only on in rooms where sims are, and not on during the day in rooms with windows.

All those walls make for wonderful places to hang up pictures, but they make it even darker inside unless I manually cut on the lights, and I forgot to when I took these.

Well that’s it for this shop.

So next week I’ll share game shots of the last lot I completely renovated in this world. I am working on the housewares store, but I haven’t been able to go into my game as often as usual, as I’m putting a lot of work into battling agoraphobia and finding my own place. It’s slow, and tiring (because also autistic burn out) but I’ve been making a lot of progress.

[missnight0wl]

Story time!

I’ve asked you a while ago whether you’d be interested in hearing about my probably first serious HPHM theory (and how it kind of resulted in my love for Jacob and Rakepick), and well… here’s that story! I’ll just warn you that it’s gonna be quite different from my usual posts, and it’s rather a “my personal story with HPHM” post than a theory post. But I hope you can still enjoy it!

I’m a person who grew up with Harry Potter, and while I read the books many many times in my life, I was always rather disappointed in the movies. Therefore, once the last book was published, I honestly wasn’t really following the news about HP. That means that I had no idea that Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is gonna be released or that it’s even a thing. In fact, I learnt about it from a YouTube video some time after the premiere.

Also, here’s a fun side story: that particular video was from a girl who usually makes The Sims 4 content. I watch her channel from time to time, but I admit I prefer her boyfriend’s channel much more, and so I watch him regularly. Still, she appears in my recommendations occasionally. And truth be told, I’m pretty sure that’s why I saw her video that day. In other words, it’s quite possible that I got into HPHM not because of my love for HP... but for TS4 😅

Back to the main story though!

The game didn’t appear super impressive, judging by her video. However, I was going through a weird period then of just testing a bunch of different mobile games, so I was like:

I started playing like a week or two after the release, thinking that I’d quit after a month or two (she said, over three years later…). This is pretty relevant here because it means that I really wasn’t invested at first, like… at all.

This was also the time when I discovered WillBits, who started making playthroughs back in the beta version of the game. I basically was watching him while simultaneously playing myself, so I knew the story a bit ahead of time. Anyway, as I said, I was very casual about it. I got a bit more interested in Y3, but still not too much. But then… Y4 began. And, oh boy...

Remember that one moment in Y4Ch1?

Now that I look back at it, it’s pretty obvious that Rakepick was talking about Jacob. But at the time… it really didn’t occur to me. Like, at all. I dunno, maybe it’s because I still wasn’t so much into analysing this story, or maybe I watched it first on YouTube where WillBits glossed over it, and so did I… Either way, the point is that no connection between Jacob and Rakepick was created in my mind. And it’s gonna be quite important later.

Anyway, time was passing by, and I believe it was somewhere like… halfway through Y4 maybe? I was reading that one thread on Reddit about R and whatnot, and I remember one user mentioning Rakepick’s apprentice you can learn about in Y4Ch3. Y’know, in this scene:

(...)

The thing is that I didn’t choose this option myself in my first playthrough, so it was totally new information for me. And at this moment, I was like:

This was the moment when something clicked in my head. I won’t tell you about my exact thought process, but I basically came up with this theory that Rakepick’s ex-apprentice is R. Mind you, this was the point in the story when we were led to believe that R is a single person. And of course it couldn’t be Jacob because… how? Our brother is good. He was worried about Hogwarts being doomed and all. You know, it’s actually funny how much faith I had in Jacob, considering that we didn’t even know about Duncan yet and that R fucking blackmailed Jacob into all of that. And Jacob Ellis wasn’t even a character back then! Yet for some reason, I was already like: “No! Jacob is not evil!”.

Also, to be fair, I don’t think that Jacob being evil would be a bad plot twist in general. I just don’t believe it could really work in the story how it was presented at the time and especially how it went later. But back to the theory…

I’m not gonna lie, I was super hyped about the whole idea, and I thought it worked really well. I had the whole backstory that Rakepick and her Apprentice were searching for the Cursed Vaults together, but they had some kind of a fight that ruined their partnership and their friendship. And so, the Apprentice became that mysterious R figure who wants to get the treasure for themselves, so they obviously want to stop both Rakepick and MC. At the same time, they’re kind of jealous of MC because they might take their place in a way as Rakepick’s next apprentice. Moreover, it totally explained why Rakepick was always so openly shady and she even provoked MC not to trust her – because she didn’t want to repeat the mistake she made with the Apprentice. So yeah, it all makes sense, right?

And honestly, I was attached to this theory for a very long time. I believe that even when it started being clearer in Y5 that R might be a group and not a single person, I still thought I’m onto something with the Apprentice. Again, I still did not even consider that it might be Jacob. In fact, I had some ideas for the stories about Jacob meeting Rakepick after the Cursed Vaults, with Helena introducing them to each other. 

But then, Y5Ch15 happened, and we found the notebook where Jacob revealed that he worked with Rakepick…

And let me tell you, never before and never after was I as excited about HPHM as during that couple of chapters (until like Y5Ch19). And now that I go back to it, I think a big reason behind it is that I genuinely wasn’t expecting this revelation. And I wasn’t expecting this because I was so fixated on that first “serious” theory of mine. So, you see how it had a pretty big impact in the end.

After that, it kind of escalated on its own. I was just so stoked and thoughts were rushing through my head.

Wait, why Rakepick doesn’t want to admit she saved our life? It puts her in a good light! Just admit it, use it to your advantage! Why she hides she knew Jacob? JUST ADMIT YOU SAVED HIS LIFE! YOU CAN USE IT AGAINST MC! Wait… if it could be beneficial for her, but she still refuses to admit it… does it mean someone asked her to keep it a secret? But why?! And was it Jacob? OMG, does it mean she cares about him? If she didn’t care about him, she’d use this information! Right? Is she trying to protect him?!

And you know what’s the best? Well, two things, actually.

First of all, there is that wonderful art made by my friend at the beginning of Y5, which you should totally check out HERE. I absolutely love this headcanon because of how clever and touching it is. I also believe it could be a thing with more people who were closer with Jacob (so not only McGonagall but also Flitwick, Hagrid, or Madam Rosmerta). However, some time after I discovered this art, we had this moment in the game (Y5Ch10):

And I remember being like: “Haha, wouldn’t it be funny if Rakepick made the same mistake as McGonagall? Haha! It’s almost a shame it’s impossible because Rakepick didn’t know Jacob”. But then, we found Jacob’s notebook, and I was like: “Wait… DID SHE REALLY CONFUSED MC WITH JACOB?!”. Funnily enough, the same bug occurred once again later (Y5Ch21):

To make it even better, both situations could’ve indeed made Rakepick think of Jacob. We know he used to visit Knockturn Alley, and that they worked together on the Portrait Vault specifically.

As for the second thing: remember that one part from Jacob’s notebook?

And remember how I said that Jacob Ellis was barely a character back in Y4? Well, truth be told, I had a problem with what to do with my Jacob for quite some time. And I believe I mentioned it somewhere on my blog forever ago, but I was actually seriously considering killing Jacob off: either through suicide or in the Battle of Hogwarts. I just… didn’t really see him finding his place in a normal life after everything he’s potentially been through. So, what was I supposed to do with him, right?

But then came Rakepick. And I started seeing how similar they are in their life experience. How she could be proof for Jacob that R might mess with your life, but you can still survive it and live. How she would probably be the only person being able to fully understand him after all of that... And honestly, Rakepick is quite literally the only reason Jacob Ellis is alive. Because when I saw it, I was like: “Yeah, I want to work with that!”.

And that’s how my love for these two keeps me still with this game! 😅 Also, it’s pretty funny how some elements of that first theory are kind of still noticeable in my view of the story – like Rakepick purposefully being super shady and not letting MC get too close to her emotionally.

Anyway, thank you for getting this far! 💖 I hope you enjoyed my silly story, and I didn’t bore you to death!

[cyazurai]

Do you have any advice for starting a YouTube channel? I’ve wanted to for so so long, but I don’t even know where to begin. Not to mention my obliviousness about editing…

Hmmm, any advice I might have..

The first thing I did was search a bunch of videos similar to the ones I wanted to create (specifically Not So Berry and legacy-style TS4 Let's Plays). I watched through several, thinking about what they did, how they recorded their game, spoke to their audience, what I liked vs. what I didn't, and thought about what I could do similarly without being the same (research, I guess you could call it).

After that, I made sure I had the equipment. My own equipment isn't that great, it's just stuff I already had - an older Logitech headset with headphones and an attached mic to record my voice, and GeForce Experience (which came with my computer) to record my gameplay. But I also looked into other ways to record, and one of the recording studios I found that many Let's Players use is OBS Studio. It was a little more confusing for me than GeForce was, so it really depends on finding the recording program that works the best for you. Experimenting and looking up/watching videos on YouTube where Let's Players talk about their setup helps. I don't have a camera other than the camera built-in to my laptop and I don't have a good backdrop, so I won't be doing any face-cam for a while, so I don't know much about how to do that, unfortunately.

As for editing, I had no idea what I was doing when I got started. I did the same thing with editing programs that I did with recording programs: I looked up what programs other YouTube Let's Players used to edit their videos. I found a few, but the two I narrowed it down to were ShotCut and Wondershare Filmora X. They're both really good, but Filmora was much, much more user-friendly. It was surprisingly easy to figure out what I was doing on it, and it had cool graphics and music and everything just built right into the program. The bad part is that it's free, but when you try to export a video, you have to either pay money for it or accept a huge watermark across the entire video. (Or, you can do like me, and pirate it. I still have the link for my pirated version, just in case you decide you like Filmora and want to use it! Just let me know if you want the link. ❤) All of the effects, including the intro, graphics, and text, were all just things I found in the different categories on Filmora, so it provides a lot of really fun editing things.

Now, the last piece of advice I have is to practice and have fun with it. I can't tell you how many videos I actually recorded randomly before I posted anything! I ended up deleting all of those videos, but they were invaluable to me for building my courage and ability to record videos that I wanted to upload. I record when I can find time and want to, and don't force myself when I don't feel like it. That's a big thing, just letting it happen naturally. Forcing it just makes you feel like it isn't any good, and you won't want to share it. 😊

I hope this long-winded response answered your question at least a little bit! Honestly, I'm still really new so I'm still learning the ropes, but that's just what I've learned from researching for about a month and then actually being a YouTuber for a week. 💖

If there's anything else you want to ask, or you want me to clarify something I talked about here, please feel free to send me another ask!

[gb-patch]

Ask Answers: January 5th, 2021

How exactly can we get the option to gift cove a bracelet at the start of step 3? I really only get that option with having a ponytail-black shirt-black pants-no accessories cove but i dont know the specific requirements for the option to show up

Cove’s gotta wear a bracelet in Step 2. If he doesn’t it means him liking bracelets isn’t a very long-standing trait and so the MC wouldn’t think to get him one as a gift.

I am very sorry if this was asked before but I have noticed "Our Life: Beginnings and Always" and "Our Like: Now and Forever." Did I miss something? Is "N&F" going to be a sequel or DLC? Are we going to see a geriatric Cove? (haha) Thank you in advance for the reply. ^_^ 

Our Life: Now & Forever is a new game in the franchise, but it’s not a sequel. It’ll have a new cast, new story, and new setting. It will still have all the best features of the original game and be about creating your own character/growing up from childhood!

Is there a specific reason why Cove gets so flustered and has to jump out if bed and walk it off when they share a bed in step 3? It seems a bit over the top for something they've already done twice! Once with the late night visit when Cove finds out his mom is coming and once in the RV.

Is just because they are older and the implications are different, even though the crush was already there in the RV/latenight visit scenes? Or did I miss something that made Cove more reluctant or more apprehensive towards sharing a bed/touching?

Sharing a bed with the person he likes/love is different for him at eighteen than it is at thirteen. Some things get easier when you grow up, like he’s more comfortable sharing food, but some things get harder/more complicated to him. Sharing a bed is one of those for Cove. It feels a lot more intimate and meaningful as time goes on, rather than less of a big deal.

Hello! First, I wanted to thank you and congratulate you for this amazing game. I enjoyed every single second! In a year full of stress, this was a little cozy light. Do you have any plans to make it available for other languages? Thank you again 💕 

Thank you! I’m afraid the game is still in pretty active development so we can’t consider translating the script in it’s semi-incomplete form. And we’re not a big enough company that we can promise translations will definitely come when the game is done, unfortunately. We can see what things are like when all the words are truly set, though.

Did Cove's name come from that Cove restaurant on Holden beach? Whenever I search up his name I always get those results haha 

No, haha. His first name was based on his character and the game’s theme, his last name is a reference to something of a personal joke.

Will the NSFW DLC have CGs too?

Yep!

So, to start off, I need to thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart, for creating Cove Holden. I want every single one of my MCs to be able to get engaged and married to that precious angel, so I was wondering how transitioning into step 4 using save files will work? Will I be able to load up a save file saved right before the end credits after step 3, or will I need to load one from before the transition section after step 3? I’m sorry if this has already been answered somewhere, but if it has, I haven’t been able to find it. Thank you!!!!!! 

Thank you very much c:. You’ll be able to load any save file, unless it was taken as the credits were actually rolling, and the Step 4 epilogue will simply start going once you’ve played through whatever was left of the main game and seen the credits. There are rare cases where a save file breaks between updates, but generally continuing where you left off should work for people.

Hi! I absolutely adore our life, and I was wondering is there a way to have Shiloh remember the MC and Lizzie in step 3?

I’m glad you like it! Sadly, no matter what you do Shiloh will act the same in that scene.

Hi! I'm the Australian that asked about ever including an Aussie VA, do you have any future plans for Our Life 2 or any other games to include an Aussie character and VA? 

Right now we don’t have any guaranteed future Aussie roles. But we don’t have fully developed character lists for our upcoming games yet, so that may still change.

Will OL2 also follow the tradition of "Blonde Adult That We Cannot Date"? 👀

Haha, maybe. There isn’t one right now, however we still have a lot of side characters to plan.

Hey, are the houses in the game furnished based on items in the Sims 4? I’ve noticed some similarities, but I’m not sure if it’s just a coincidence. (If it is, that’d make me building it in TS4 MUCH easier...)

For me, I use real world pictures as references as well as text notes. I loved Sims 2 when I was young but haven’t gotten into a new Sims game since. I don’t believe the artist checks Sims 4 when creating their work, though it’s not impossible. Maybe they do.

is it possible to still get your name in the voiced dlc [I'm not sure how you would do it, is it from patreon ??] or is it too late ?? 

Currently there’s no way to get your name voiced. But we are looking into opening up a method for that one more time later this year. You can keep an eye out for that!

Will we be able to ask Derek out to the dance if we get his DLC? Not a Derek fan but I'm planning to surprise my friend with this 

Yeah. Taking Derek to the dance is part of his DLC.

Hi! I have a question I've been curious about, if you're comfortable with answering! If Cove and the MC remain just friends into Step 4/MC dates one of the other guys, will Cove canonically be in a relationship with/interested in somebody else at that point or shortly after? Thank you!

He won’t. There’s not really anyone in his school, and certainly not the neighborhood he grows up in, that he’d be into other than the MC. As a pretty newly independent adult he hasn’t had enough time to truly find a special someone in Step 4. It takes a while for him to make that kind of move, haha. It’s totally fine to headcanon that sometime after Step 4 he finds love with someone else, but it won’t happen in-game.

i just wanted to share this cute little playlist that i made about cove! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5wM7GNiJh5eRqhvLBperfQ?si=4FocdBsNTpeF053yOwaLSA

Cool! Thanks for sharing it with us.

No, no, no create longer ask answers please. 😌

The ask answers are not too long. If anything I'm greedy and wish they were longer... I'm already subbed to your guys patreon and I still can't get enough 👀 I'm in love with you guys 

Will you post more of those long form ask posts? I love them 🥰

Haha, thank you for these messages. I’m glad you’re enjoying the content.

——————————————————————

Thank you very much for all the questions! Also, if you prefer to just see the main posts without all the asks/reblogs, feel free to follow our side account instead: GB Patch Updates Blog

[quinndominion]

It's been so long that I didn't realise I'd used the wrong Cassidy & Ollie when I staged the top pic last week. Oops. But right faces, wrong faces, that's how they (mostly) all look in my game. The bottom pic approximates their TS4 origins for recognisability.

But this here, this is why I must be crazy. Erroll's and Thorne's were already done - they don't change much between the two shots. That ensemble of Thorne's (his default party outfit) is the main reason he made his way into the story...even though he wound up not actually wearing that.

I told myself I'd just use stuff I had to easy-peasy the pic. Sophia's outfit, yes. Ollie's, yes...but not his hat. Bjorn's tee, yes...but not for his bodyshape. Cassidy's jacket, I thought, but couldn't find in files or online so had to reverse convert from the teen version. And also convert her hair while I was at it. And Babs' shorts weren't quite short enough. And then there's Lacey. Lacey, Lacey. Google tells me someone did that hair, but also couldn't find it, so another quick conversion there. But her dress! It's one of those skinned onto the skeleton deals - a nightmare to make look good, and far too much work for a picture, especially one not for the story. But I got a notion and taught myself a new trick and voila. She's also wearing base game jewelry so I, uh, did those too. All in a night's work simming, eh? Ah yes, and the way they're staged represent the different permutations of their canon relationships.

The maxis 4t2 stuff I might upload eventually, but I actually hate taking cc preview pics, lmao!!

Bios and TS4 headshots from The Sims Wiki.

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Thorne_Bailey

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Babs_L%27Amour

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Bjorn_Tu%27Rock

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Lacey_Stiles

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Erroll_Dowd

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Cassidy_Purdue

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Ollie_Purdue

https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Sophia_Jordan

Babs L'Amour the only one not made by me. Can find her by @mikexx2 here.

Aaand that's all I've got for the time being. We'll see if this little foray kickstarted my rusty sim gears into motion. Ciao for now!

[murfeelee]

Simblr Asks Pt1 - TS3

I saw these questions here, and I’m in a procrastinating mood. [EDIT] Joke’s on me, I already answered these questions a few months ago and forgot all about it, JFC.

1. how big is your mods folder? I have to update my mods folder--I haven’t simmed in so frikkin long. U_U

2. how would you describe your style? Derivative. Vanilla pudding-esque. Sporadic.

3. what is your favorite challenge? I don’t do challenges.

4. do you make cc? if so, what kind? I prefer to do Decor CC, since it’s easy. When I have time, I try dabbling in functional items, but I still have a long way to go, and there’s a steep learning curve to figuring out how to do more than decorative clutter. A for CAS CC, I effing hate it, it’s so dang hard.

5. what type of cc do you hoard?  I used to only DL fanciful CC, but it’s slim pickings in these streets, so now I grab almost everything, and hope I can make it work.

6. what default eyes and skin do you use? I don’t use default skins, just the You Are Real mod. As for eyes, I use Moonskin’s.

7. how many urls have you had, and what are the meanings behind them? Only ever had one, my first name, cuz I’m creative like that.

8. who is your favorite gameplay blog? I can’t pick one.

9. who is your favorite storytelling blog? Omfg, I can’t.

10. who is your favorite cc creator? Luna! There! Leave me alooooone~!!

11. how do you edit your photos? I up the Brightness and Contrast, cuz lighting is a hot mess in The Sims, but I’m too scared to use Reshade on my busted PC.

12. what is the last screenshot you took? Top secret information, sorry.

13. what do you do when you are unmotivated? Not sim. It’s a hobby, not a job. I only play when I’m motivated to do so--the second I feel forced to play a game, that’s a problem--the whole point of games is for them to be fun.

14. who is your current favorite sim? Chile, I haven’t been able to play The Sims in months; I don’t even know which gameplay I’m gonna do once Winter Break starts. I want to continue playing with WangXian in my Untamed Gameplay, but I really need to return to Adoribull in my Dragon Age gameplay, too. And I’ve been lowkey missing Malec from my Shadowhunters gameplay. BAH!

15. who is your current favorite sim that is not by you? @solori​​’s Vidarr. Total DILF.

16. recreate someone else’s sim in your style. I did a Picrew tag like that here. [EDIT] Here’s where I realized I’d wasted an hour of my life answering a questionnaire I already frikkin did.

17. do you talk about sims with people in real life? Rarely. I knew a few TS3 & Sims City simmers IRL, but there are way too many johnny-come-lately TS4 simmers out there who think EA’s the second effing coming of Maxis when it ain’t. I can’t with them.

18. how many of the packs do you own? Very few for TS1, all of TS2 & TS3′s, and more than I expected for TS4.

19. how many posts do you have on your blog currently? THOUSANDS, jfc.

20. how many drafts do you have on your blog currently? HUNDREDS, it’s effing shameful, send help.

21. how many posts are in your queue currently? That’s a secret.

22. have you ever moved blogs? Never. I was trying to backup my stuff on Wordpress, but now that I'm back in school it’s just too much work I don’t have time for.

23. are you in any sims related discord servers? No, though I’m pretty sure there’s CC discords out there I’m probably seriously missing out on. I wouldn’t even know where to start.

24. what are your thoughts on the most recent pack? (paranormal) For a Stuff Pack, I thought it was cool! Though Bonehilda needs a effing facelift, jfc, why does her skull even look like that?

25. how many hours have you played sims?  I don’t even know. I got TS3 at launch, and play it almost religiously. Then in 2017 I got a new pc and had to migrate to Origin in order to reinstall all my stuff, and EA started tryna keep track of my play time, so I started playing only in Offline Mode. MYOFB, EA.

26. if you play gameplay, do you play with mods? All day every day.

27. what’s the farthest you’ve gotten in a challenge? I don’t do challenges; I cheat too much.

______________________________________________

Thanks for reading (again)!

[simsexpo]

is it just me...

...or have the furniture styles in TS4 become a bit stale? With the exception of the bigger expansion packs, I feel like a lot of game/stuff packs automatically default to a boho or midcentury modern aesthetic when it comes to build/buy objects. Sometimes a bit of 'soulless and/or overwrought modern' thrown in for... spice. The following packs come to mind:

Tiny Living

City Living

Eco Lifestyle

Laundry Day

Movie Hangout Stuff

Dream Home Decorator

Nifty Knitting

Bowling Night

Fitness Stuff

Cool Kitchen Stuff

Backyard Stuff

That's kind of a lot.

Certain packs are much better at introducing unique styles. For instance, Get Together, Island Living, and Snowy Escape excel in this regard, as does Vampires. One of my personal favorites is Vintage Glamour Stuff -- I thought the furniture in this pack was pretty inspired and I still use it all the time. The Courtyard Oasis "Kit" -- sigh -- was also a bit reassuring, even though it seems redundant in the face of not one, not two, but three preceding packs focused on gardens, patios, and backyards.

I think this monotony (which I don't particularly remember being an issue with TS2 or TS3) is because the devs opt for basing entire packs around trivial hobbies or concepts. How the hell are you supposed to create themed furniture for a pack centered around... knitting? Sure, you could do boho, but you already did that when you made a pack focused on... doing, uh, laundry. Wait, I mean -- watching movies.

See the problem?

I could talk endlessly about how certain packs could have been combined in order to prevent this problem -- there's zero reason why Movie Hangout Stuff, Fitness Stuff, Bowling Night, Nifty Knitting, and Backyard Stuff couldn't have been one Hobbies pack -- but we all already know this.

What the devs need to realize, however, is that releasing silly packs for what seems like 'just the hell of it' (while secretly in hopes that giant cupcake-making contraptions distract us from the series' bigger issues) makes each pack just a bit less special than the last. This is a very unsustainable trajectory, and the consequences have long been apparent with the community's disillusionment with nearly every pack that gets released.

So, in summation, when you buy whatever pack comes next -- probably centered around some mundane outdoor activity -- that MCM dining set, boho armchair, or needlessly-complicated modern endtable isn't just a sign of another failed, uninspired pack. It's the sign of an increasingly-uninspired series.

I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on this. How do you guys feel about the furniture (or even clothes) in TS4 lately?