#armorica tips

[armoricaroyalty]

Film Grammar for Simmers

What is film grammar?

"Film grammar" refers the unstated "rules" of editing used in movies and TV. Different types of shots have different associations and are used by editors to convey different types of information to the audience. Many of these principles were first described in the early 20th century by Soviet directors, but they're used consistently across genre, medium, and even language: Bollywood musicals, English period dramas, Korean horror movies, and American action blockbusters all use many of the same techniques.

Because these rules are so universal, virtually everyone has some internalized understanding of them. Even if they can’t name the different types of shots or explain how editors use images to construct meaning, the average person can tell when the “rules” are being broken. If you’ve ever thought a movie or episode of TV was confusing without being able to say why, there’s a good chance that there was something off with the editing.

Learning and applying the basics of film grammar can give your story a slicker and more-polished feel, without having to download shaders or spend hours in photoshop. It also has the bonus of enhancing readability by allowing your audience to use their knowledge of film and TV to understand what's happening in your story. You can use it to call attention to significant plot details and avoid introducing confusion through unclear visual language.

Best of all, it doesn't cost a dime.

The basics: types of shots

Shots are the basic building block of film. In Sims storytelling, a single shot is analogous to a single screenshot. In film, different types of shots are distinguished by the position of the camera relative to the subject. There are three big categories of shots, with some variation: long shots (LS), medium shots (MS), and close-ups (CU). This diagram, created by Daniel Chandler and hosted on visual-memory.co.uk illustrates the difference:

Source: The 'Grammar' of Television and Film, Daniel Chandler, visual-memory.co.uk. Link.

In film, scenes typically progress through the different types of shots in sequence: long shot, medium shot, close-up. When a new scene begins and the characters arrive in a new location, we typically begin with a wide establishing shot of the building’s exterior to show the audience where the scene will be taking place. Next comes a long shot of an interior space, which tells the where the characters are positioned relative to one another. The next shot is a medium shot of the characters conversing, and then finally, a close-up as the conversation reaches its emotional or informational climax. Insert shots are used judiciously throughout to establish themes or offer visual exposition.

Here's another visual guide to the different types of shots, illustrated with stills from Disney animated films.

This guide is almost 2,000 words long! To save your dash, I've put the meat of it under the cut.

Long shot and extreme long shots

A long shot (sometimes also called a wide shot) is one where the entire subject (usually a building, person, or group of people) is visible within the frame. The camera is positioned far away from the subject, prioritizing the details of the background over the details of the subject.

One of the most common uses of long shots and extreme long shots are establishing shots. An establishing shot is the first shot in a scene, and it sets the tone for the scene and is intended to give the viewer the information they’ll need to follow the scene: where a scene is taking place, who is in the scene, and where they are positioned in relation to one another. Without an establishing shot, a scene can feel ungrounded or “floaty.” Readers will have a harder time understanding what’s happening in the scene because on some level, they’ll be trying to puzzle out the answers to the who and where questions, distracting them from the most important questions: what is happening and why?

(I actually like to start my scenes with two establishing shots: an environmental shot focusing on the scenery, and then a second shot that establishes the characters and their position within the space.)

Long shots and extreme long shots have other uses, as well. Because the subject is small relative to their surroundings, they have an impersonal effect which can be used for comedy or tragedy.

In Fargo (1996) uses an extreme long shot to visually illustrate the main character’s sense of defeat after failing to secure funding for a business deal.The shot begins with a car in an empty parking lot, and then we see the protagonist make his way up from the bottom of the frame. He is alone in the shot, he is small, and the camera is positioned above him, looking down from a god-like perspective. All of these factors work together to convey his emotional state: he’s small, he’s alone, and in this moment, we are literally looking down on him. This shot effectively conveys how powerless he feels without any dialogue or even showing his face.

The same impersonal effect can also be used for comic purposes. If a character says something stupid or fails to impress other characters, cutting directly from a close-up to a long shot has a visual effect akin to chirping crickets. In this instance, a long shot serves as a visual “wait, what?” and invites the audience to laugh at the character rather than with them.

Medium Shots

Medium shots are “neutral” in filmmaking. Long shots and close-ups convey special meaning in their choice to focus on either the subject or the background, but a medium shot is balanced, giving equal focus to the character and their surroundings. In a medium shot, the character takes up 50% of the frame. They’re typically depicted from the waist-up and the audience can see both their face and hands, allowing the audience to see the character's facial expression and read their body-language, both important for interpreting meaning.

In most movies and TV shows, medium shots are the bread and butter of dialogue-heavy scenes, with close-ups, long shots, and inserts used for punctuation and emphasis. If you’re closely following the conventions of filmmaking, most of your dialogue scenes will be medium shots following the convention of shot-reverse shot:

To keep long conversations from feeling too visually monotonous, consider staging the scene as a walk-and-talk. Having two characters move through a space can add a lot of dynamism and visual interest to a scene that might otherwise feel boring or stiff.

Close Ups

Close-ups are close shots of a character’s face. The camera is positioned relatively near to the subject, showing just their head and shoulders. In a close-up, we don’t see any details of the background or the expressions of other characters.

In film, close-ups are used for emphasis. If a character is experiencing a strong emotion or delivering an important line of dialogue, a close-up underscores the importance of the moment by inviting the audience to focus only on the character and their emotion.

Close-ups don’t necessarily need to focus on the speaker. If the important thing about a line of dialogue is another character’s reaction to it, a close-up of the reaction is more effective than a close-up of the delivery.

One of the most iconic shots in Parasite (2019) is of the protagonist driving his employer around while she sits in the backseat, speaking on the phone. Even though she’s the one speaking, the details of her conversation matter less than the protagonist’s reaction to it. While she chatters obliviously in the background, we focus on the protagonist’s disgruntled, resentful response to her thoughtless words and behavior.

In my opinion, Simblr really overuses close-ups in dialogue. A lot of conversation scenes are framed entirely in close-ups, which has the same effect of highlighting an entire page in a textbook. The reader can’t actually tell what information is important, because the visuals are screaming that everything is important. Overusing close-ups also cuts the viewer off from the character’s body language and prevents them from learning anything about the character via their surroundings.

For example, a scene set in someone’s bedroom is a great opportunity for some subtle characterization—is it tidy or messy? what kind of decor have they chosen? do they have a gaming computer, a guitar, an overflowing bookshelf?—but if the author chooses to use only close-ups, we lose out on a chance to get to know the character via indirect means.

Inserts

An insert shot is when a shot of something other than a character’s face is inserted into a scene. Often, inserts are close-ups of a character’s hands or an object in the background. Insert shots can also be used to show us what a character is looking at or focusing on.

In rom-com The Prince & Me (2004) (see? I don’t just watch crime dramas…) the male lead is in an important meeting. We see him pick up a pen, look down at the papers in front of him, and apparently begin taking notes, but then we cut to an insert shot of his information packet. He’s doodling pictures of sports cars and is entirely disengaged from the conversation. Every other shot in the scene is an establishing shot or a medium shot or a close-up of someone speaking, but this insert gives us insight into the lead’s state of mind: he doesn’t want to be there and he isn’t paying attention.

Insert shots are, in my opinion, also used ineffectively on Simblr. A good insert gives us extra insight into what a character is thinking or focusing on, but a poorly-used insert feels…unfocused. A good insert might focus on pill bottles on a character’s desk to suggest a chemical dependency, on a family picture to suggest duty and loyalty, on a clock to suggest a time constraint, on a pile of dirty laundry or unanswered letters to suggest a character is struggling to keep up with their responsibilities. An ineffective insert shot might focus on the flowers in the background because they’re pretty, on a character’s hands because it seems artsy, on the place settings on a dining table because you spent forever placing each one individually and you’ll be damned if they don’t make it into the scene. These things might be lovely and they might break up a monotonous conversation and they might represent a lot of time and effort, but if they don’t contribute any meaning to a scene, consider cutting or repurposing them.

I want to emphasize: insert shots aren’t bad, but they should be carefully chosen to ensure they’re enhancing the meaning of the scene. Haphazard insert shots are distracting and can interfere with your reader’s ability to understand what is happening and why.

Putting it all together

One of the most basic principles of film theory is the Kuleshov effect, the idea that meaning in film comes from the interaction of two shots in sequence, and not from any single shot by itself. In the prototypical example, cutting from a close-up of a person’s neutral expression to a bowl of soup, children playing, or soldiers in a field suggests hunger, worry, or fear, respectively.

The Kuleshov effect is the essence of visual storytelling in a medium like Simblr. You can elevate your storytelling by thinking not only about each individual shot, but about the way they’ll interact and flow into one another.

Mastering the basics of film grammar is a great (free!) way to take your storytelling to the next level. To learn more, you can find tons of guides and explainers about film grammar for free online, and your local library doubtless has books that explain the same principles and offers additional analysis.

Happy simming!

[armoricaroyalty]

It looks like mellindi's domain lapsed, so her blog is inaccessible and the link above doesn't lead anywhere anymore.

Here is an archived link to Mellindi's Beginner's Guide to Reshade.

Thank you to the Internet Archive for saving a copy of this resource!

Beginner’s Guide to Reshade A Reshade 4.7.0 Tutorial

Hey! So I’m working on this new series on my blog called the Storyteller’s Series. It’ll be things like tutorials and resources all geared towards those who write or want to write sim stories or post gameplay photos. Content will cover things like installing/using Reshade, scene set ups for photos, editing resources and whatever else I can think of.

I often see others get asks from simmers who want to post their gameplay/stories but are too afraid because they don’t know where to start. I’m hoping this little series can help them and anyone else who needs it.

In this guide, we’ll go over installing Reshade, Reshade presets, MultiLUT, setting toggle keys and the most common shaders used in most presets.

Read Beginner’s Guide to Reshade on my blog

@maxismatchccworld @simblrcollective

[niall-noigiallach]

The Breton Migration

My French Genetics writing got me thinking more about Brittany, and how many academics still believe that the Bretons came from SE Wales fleeing from the Anglo-Saxon invasion. This is due to erroneous medieval assumptions and not historical fact. Our sources on the centuries between the retreat of Rome and the High Middle Ages are very scant, often relying on earlier, possibly faulty accounts instead of direct folk memory, so misconceptions can propagate easily. There is much that we simply can't know. Nonetheless, we have enough to dispel myths and piece together a true story.

The area in question is Armorica, now called Brittany, which is now politically controlled by France. Since the advent of the Celts in Europe, this peninsula has been populated by Armorican Gauls. In the time of Caesar these tribes included the Osimii, the Venetii, and the Curiosolites. We can assume that after the Roman conquest, they lived as typical, if rural, Roman subjects. We can assume they sent their druids to meet in Gaul and Britain with other druids of the area. A Byzantine writer Procopius tells us in the 6th century, that the people of Armorica had the task of ferrying the souls of the dead to Britain. The story goes:

The people of Armorica heard a knock on the door at night, and a low voice calling them. They went to the coast and found boats there weighed down with the souls of the dead, so that the gunwales barely stayed above the water. Leaving from Baie de Depassés at the tip of Armorica, the men would row the boats across the channel to Britain, at which point a voice would call each soul by name, and each soul would disappear when called.

Thus went the druid religion of the Gaulish Armoricans.

But the Empire didn't last forever, and Armorica, being on the far west of the continent, was either thrown around by the political machinations of the Gaulish courts, or so isolated that they weren't even concerned. By 409 the Armoricans, as Zosimus tell us in his "New History",

Encouraged by the example of the insular Britons, had thrown off the Roman yoke. This British-Gallic secession occurred in the time of the Emperor Constantine.

The next year, 410 AD, is when the official retreat of Rome came, and Emperor Honorius told the cities of Britain to "look after themselves." Rome was too weak to hold onto either Britain or, it would seem, Armorica.

We've established the lack of Roman control of Armorica, now we must discover where the new people, the Britons or Bretons, came from.

The common narrative is that the Bretons came from central Britain, fleeing from the encroaching Anglo-Saxons; they are essentially Welsh. This idea comes from Gildas (as well as some others, such as Nennius and Eginhard), who said that, 1) the Bretons fled their island from the Anglo-Saxon invaders, and 2) the leaders and generals of the Bretons came from SE Wales. Both of these are misleading. Gildas' account has the Bretons coming from around the above area, and fleeing over the sea through Wales. However, linguists have shown that the Breton language is closest to Cornish, and that many sentence structures common in Breton and Cornish only appear in poetical Welsh. We can see, therefore, that the Bretons could not have come from Central Britain or Southeast Wales, because their language would be closest to Welsh. They instead must have come from Devon starting around 410 AD. What do we make of Gildas' accounts then?

Gildas only states that the aristocrats and military leaders of the Bretons came from Wales, presumably because they had such experience fighting Saxons, that they would be useful against Saxons in Gaul. At the retreat of the Roman Empire from Britain, the island was set upon on all sides by barbarian raids, from the Scots (Irish), Picts, and Saxons. Each was ferocious as the other, enough to be called a "barbarian conspiracy" by Ammianus Marcellinus. I've gone through the extent of the Irish raids before, and how they settled much of West Britain, and especially in the case of the Bretons, the south coast of the Severn Sea. It is impossible for the Anglo-Saxons to force out the Bretons beginning in the early 400s AD, because by 500 AD their expansion was halted at the Seige of Mons Badonius. And in 429, St Germanus wrote that Britain was under the control of Britons. We've already seen Procopius's story of the Bretons sailing to Britain from Armorica, and there is ample evidence of cross-sea interchange of people and ideas between Armorica and the Dumnonian Peninsula.

So let's discover the proper story.

In the early 400s, Saxon raiders left their lands in Germania and sailed to the east and south coasts of Britain, as well as to the North of France, as raiders. Because of this new pressure from the east, Roman infrastructure had reorganized itself to accommodate the threat, with all major power centers shifting eastwards. This happened internally in Armorica as well, with all military strongholds now facing the eastern border as well as the coast. A Roman military document, the Notitia Dignitatum, shows that the military command of Northern Gaul was totally removed from the interior and placed around the east and the coast to prevent Saxon landings at all costs. Few measures were taken to protect the west, which allowed the small-scale migration of Celtic Bretons to slip through.

Roman cities such as Nantes, Vannes, and Rennes retained their Gallic language, Roman customs, and Roman affiliation, while the western lands of Armorica slowly filled with this new population which was closely tied to the British Celts. The name Armorica ("by the sea") fades out of use, and the first reference we have to "Brittany" is in a letter written by Sidonius Apollinaris. The people may have called themselves "Lidwiccias", and their land "Lledau" or "Letavia". A Breton tradition tells us that there was, for a time, a double kingdom existing on both sides of the English Channel, ruled by a single King Riwal of Gwent. He came from Eastern Wales and "ruled as 'dux Brittonum' on both sides of the sea until his death."

We have a number of saints' Lives (a biography of the saint) dating from the 9th century, while our earliest Welsh Lives come from the 11th. This, and the constant communication with Britain, indicates a generally high intellectual life in Brittany at the time. So it seems that the Dumnonii people of southwest Britain were not settling Brittany out of flight from invaders, but it was a political expansion encouraged by Irish raids into the Severn Sea. The Bretons expanded willingly into this newly unoccupied stretch of Armorica. As for the formation of a real Breton kingdom, our earliest sources refer to this peninsula called "Prettonaland" as a duchy or a realm, not a kingdom. Frankish sources especially emphasize the dependence of Prettonaland on the Frankish King Childebert.

And while the Franks were expanding their power over post-Roman Gaul under Clovis, the Armorican cities of Nantes, Rennes, etc. recognized the Franks as the rightful rulers of Armorica. The Bretons disagreed. The Franks saw themselves as heirs of Rome, and denied Breton freedom.

The Bretons nominally accepted the title of "Count" in the Frankish court, but this never hindered Breton independence struggles. As the Breton pushed eastward, the city of Vannes was transformed into the city of Bro Waroch ("Territory of Waroch"). Waroch was a lively figure in the accounts of Gregory of Tours, and a major rival of the Franks. In 587 he invaded Nantes, and in 588 he invaded Rennes and Nantes again. In 590 a powerful Frankish army tried to take Vannes, but it was destroyed by Waroch's son Canao. The struggle between Bro Waroch and Frankia lasted for centuries, with the Frankish armies being repeatedly wiped out by the Bretons, but the Bretons unable to hold onto what they had gained. Later, Louis the Pious appointed a native Breton named Nominoë as Count of Brittany, and the same Count then convinced King Charles the Bald to give Brittany independence. The Charles was occupied elsewhere with Viking invasions. With a later successor of Nominoë, named Salomon, Brittany paid tribute and homage to Charles the Bald once again, but within a few years, they had rebelled once more. However, after this failed rebellion, Brittany would enter the feudal world of medieval France. Not peacefully, not willingly, but the destiny of Brittany was forever tied to France. Here is what Arthur III of Brittany said about it in 1458:

I have always served Charles and his kingdom; I am constable, and as such I am bound to comply with the King's orders, but not as Duke of Brittany. I am not a peer of France, since my duchy has never been a part of the kingdom, and it is not a dismemberment of it; and, in order not to compromise the independence of my subjects, I will not appear in Montargis or elsewhere.

Fin

[uriello-bello]

"A historical chronological depiction from an imaginary Italy: a guess the reference game". 100th Anniversary

Unknown: Pdor Mythos Unknown: Appears the superheroes gene "Vip" 10'000 A.C: In the Mediterranean basin lives a society of amazoness 89 A.C: Marcus Aemilius Scaurus is born 71 A.C: Spartacus leads a slaves rebellion 55 A.C: Tros of Samothrace takes the parts of the Breton resistance against the Roman conquest of Britain 50 A.C: Julius Augustus Caesar's complete conquest of Gaul finds resistance against a village in Armorica 11 March 44 A.C: Julius Augustus Caesar is murdered 80: Barbarian Ardarico's conquest of Rome miserably fails; Flavian Amphitheatre is inaugurated and Timo becomes a gladiator 128: Architect Lucius Quintus Modestus repeatedly travels through time until the 21st century and visits the modern Japan 536: Martinus Paduei, a mysterious genius ahead of his time, leaves his mark in history as inventor, business owner, strategist and politician 569: King Alboin befriends and welcomes a sly and smart peasant to his court in Verona 726: Girolama Pellacani is raped by the Longobards 1050: Brancaleone of Norcia is born 1076: The saint hermit of Bismantova is sent to Aquileia in search of allies at the behest of Pope Gregory VII, but is hindered by the devil 1080: Brancaleone of Norcia takes part at the first crusade 1141: Baudolino is born 1150: Various supernatural events take place at the castle of Otranto 1249: The company of Selva Bella participates at the mission to free Enzo of Sardinia 1271: Marco Polo begins his travel toward the Orient 1280: Marco Polo reaches the court of Kublai Khan and tell him about the 55 cities 1295: Marco Polo returns to Venice Early XIV Century: To win the maritime war against Venice, the Genoese captain Luigi Gottardi builds the underground canal of Meloria 1300: Poet Dante Alighieri visits the afterlife in a week 1327: William of Baskerville is involved in a murder case sets in a benedictine abbey 15 April 1452: Leonardo da Vinci is born 1478: Takes places the quests of the "Company of the Gallows" 1506: Arte Spalletti becomes an artist 1534: Two english brothers find a passage for a subterranean world where the time flows more slowly and is populated by a society of pygmies 1537: During the battle of Turin a french soldier mysteriously survives to several deadly wounds 1570: To save her lover, war-prisoner at Famagosta in Cyprus, the duchess of Eboli wears an armor and under the alias of Captain Storm fights several battle against the Ottoman Empire 1595: The suicide of two lovers leads peace in a longtime feud between two Veronese families 1630: The black plague continues its killspread, Spanish local lord Don Rodrigo is found dead 1643: Nobleman Roberto de la Grive is presumed lost after a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean 1650s: Alchemist Girolamo Fumagalli develops the basic technique of thanatography 1660s: Viscount Medardo of Terralba returns changed and maimed in a strange and impossible way from the Ottoman wars in Bohemia 1686: After losing his brothers during the Franco-Spanish war at the hand of Duke Wan Guld, the Lord of Ventimiglia Emilio of Roccabruna promises to avenge them and becomes the notorious Black Corsair 1711: A group of alchemists evoke a demon to gain eternal life 1713: Sir Frances Varney commits suicide by throwing himself into Mt. Vesuvius 7 January 1730: In Siena is approved the Notice of Violante of Bavaria 1741: Antonio Salvatore "Totò" Sapore invents pizza to bring peace between French and Neapolitan armies 1750s: Armando "The Scorpion" Catalano seeks the Templar treasure 1762: Reverend Yorick, friend of Tristram Shandy, visits France and Italy for a health issue 1764: Father Schedoni is involved in a conspiracy 1767: Cosimo Piovasco of Rondò, future baron of Ombrosa, climbs up a tree and will live his entire life on the trees 18 October 1775: Carlo Altovivi is born 1790: Scandal of the fallen noble family Mazzini 1798: Nobleman and soldier Fabrizio del Dongo is born 25 March 1799: Jacopo Ortis dies 1801: Vampire Giovanni Nosferatu is born 1812: Soldier Lazzaro Scacerni is one of the survivors of the retreat from Moscow and, after returning in Italy, becomes a wealthy miller 1825: History professor Mercurio Loi disappears 1826: Dr. Weiss solves the Fritzheim case 1829: A frenchman discovers the Spada family's treasure located in Montecristo Isle 1850: Count Isidor Ottavio Baldassarre Fosco reaches England to plan a political conspiracy 1855: Princess Teresa Uzeda of Francalanza dies 1860: The wooden puppet Pinocchio becomes a real children 1863: Three persons, claiming to be part of a scientific expedition, are spotted been ejected from Mt. Stromboli 1864: Countess Marina Vittoria Crusnelli of Malombra gets possessed 1870: Enrico Bottini is born; Edwin Drood mysteriously disappears leaving a secret still unsolved 1874: As social experiment some prisoners are released in a deserted island to create a self-managed isolated colony; Arsène Lupin is born 1878: Rosso Malpelo dies 1885: A frenchman from Tarascon survive to a fall during an attempt to reach the peak of Mt. Blanc 1887: Professor Sandrelli develops a substance that cancels gravity 1888: Full of remorse, baron Carlo Coriolano of Santafusca admits of being a killer 1889: Masked hero "Hidden Face" and Ugo Pastore take part at the Treaty of Wuchale; Escorted by english explorer Adam Wild, Count Narciso Molfetta explores Africa 7 December 1891: Vito Andolini is born 1893: Marco Pagot is born 1895: Architect Emilio Varelli starts the construction of the Three Mothers' manors September 1897: Giannino "Gian Burrasca" Stoppani is born 1898: The suppression of Milan riots are sabotaged by Tommaso Reiner 1899: Vadim Vadimovich N. Storov is born 29 May 1899: Giuseppe "Peppone" Bottazzi is born 30 May 1899: Don Camillo Tarocci is born Early 1900s: Paolo Zeder hypothesizes the "K-Zone" theory; Actress Maria Sarti gains notoriety under the stage name Ninì Tirabusciò 1910: Architect Emilio Varelli finishes the construction of the Three Mothers' manors; Aldovino reaches the moon to marry the princess Yala; Count Emilio Ponticelli partecipes at the Daily Post air race 1911: Famous composer Gustav von Aschenbach dies during a holiday in Venice WWI: Flying ace Marco Pagot turns into an anthropomorphic pig and assumes the identity of the bounty hunter Porco Rosso; Aviator Luciano Serra, aviator Matteo Campini, Private Lazzaro Scacerni and Private Italino take part at the conflict; Baron Cesare Stromboli helps the Triple Entente; Private Piero dies 1915: Air piratess Filibus terrorizes southern Italy performing several thefts 15 October 1915: Emilio Largo is born 1919: A man dressed in red and constantly speaking in rhyme becomes one of the richest italian 1920: Famous film director Guido Anselmi is born; Pugilist Furio Almirante emigrates in America 1927: Dr. Artemio Zacchia founds a medicine and natural science academy and starts his studies on immortality March 1927: Detective Francesco "Ciccio" Ingravallo solves the Via Merulana mystery June 1929: Fascist militia suppression at Fontamara 1930: Dominetta Vitali is born; Scientist Pier Cloruro de' Lambicchi creates a substance that gives life to the images 1933: Gastone Uliani investigates the faun's case 17 July 1934: Ugo Fantozzi is born 1935: Italy's invasion of Ethiopia is obstacled by local spy Bara 1936: Lawyer Gino Motta is locked up in an asylum after claiming that in the sea near Levanto lives a colony of mermaids 29 September 1936: Lolito B. Lassica is born 1938: Benzino Napaloni signs an alliance with Adenoid Hynkel; The launch of hierarch Gaetano Maria Barbagli's expedition for Mars takes place; Primo Cossi chooses to undergoes at the EPRA experiment; Dr. Emilio Lizardo and Professor Tohichi Hikita build the oscillation overthruster, Lizardo trying to enter into the 8th dimension becomes insane; American archeologist Martin Padway travels through time until 535 1939: Count Zero becomes a fascist agent; Film director Salvatore Di Vita is born 10 May 1939: Hierarch Gaetano Maria Barbagli and his troop land on Mars WWII: Captain Alberto Bertorelli, Captain Antonio Corelli, Major Oscar Pilli, Sergeant Nicola Lo Russo, Lieutenant Gino Rossati, Marmittone and Galeazzo Musolesi take part at the conflict; Partisian Johnny loses his life; Partisan Natalino "Capellone" Tartufato saves the life of the english spy Charles Harrison, Private Antonio is considered as straggler in Russia 1940s: Marcella Valmarin becomes a famous actress under the stage name of Alba Doris 25 December 1942: Photographer Valentina Rosselli is born 1943: The Finzi-Continis family is exterminated in a German Nazi lager, along with other jews 1944: In a hidden palace in the Republic of Salò, tortures takes place by hand of four wealthy personality of the republic 1945: End of World War II in Europe and the prison camps are freed, Giosuè Orefice is among the survivors 3 March 1945: Nicola "Nico" Giraldi is born 6 July 1945: Roberto "Rocky" Balboa is born 1950s: Bianca Castafiore is recognized as one of the best soprano in the world; Amelia Bonetti and Pippo Botticella become two renowned tip-tap dancers 6 September 1950: Salvo Montalbano is born 1952: In a laboratory comes to life a creature made of rubber 1953: Michele Apicella is born; During a diplomatic visit in Italy a princess escapes through the streets of Rome 1955: Criminal and con artist Mr. Ripley lands in Italy 1956: Painter Buono Legnani commits suicide 1957: Exorcist Don Zauker lands in Livorno 19 September 1958: Renato "René" Ferretti is born 1959: Topo Gigio debuts and becomes a television star; Detective Nero Wolfe moves to Rome after some "problems" with FBI 1960: Authoress Enrica Valldolit wins the Nobel Prize in Literature 1961: A british spy agent kills the terrorist Emilio Largo; A cemetery man has a close encounter with the Death 15 August 1962: A young university student loses his life in a car accident caused by an overtaking 1963: Medic Duca Lamberti loses his license and is imprisoned for practicing euthanasia; Calimero is born; "The Alphabet Killer" is caught 1966: Criminal Mastermind "The Fox" evades from prison 4 October 1967: Deboroh La Roccia is born 1968: Diabolik is presumed dead; Primo Cossi wakes up from hibernation and becomes a hitman related to the events of the Years of Lead 1969: A british criminal gang robs the FIAT industry 1970s: A criminal uses the sewer of a metropolis as hiding place and house; At Milan a group of bounty hunters form the C.T Association 1971: Fumagalli's thanatography is used to solve the four flies' mystery; Alberto Valle becomes the new Avio Motor CEO 1972: Somewhere in northern Italy, inside the Military Area 36, Professor Endriadi and his research team build the first AI February 1973: Four men commits suicide through planteration in a villa near Paris 1 June 1973: A terroristic attack blows up the Madonnina statue atop Milan Cathedral 1974: Andrea Straniero is born; Approved the healthcare reform "C.M.G"; Camilla Cagliostri is born 1975: After months of shipwreck on a deserted island in the Mediterranean sea, the wife of the industrial Lanzetti and a sailor are saved; The corpses of the Crespi d'Adda cemetery are resurrected; At Rome, German psychic medium Helga Ulmann is brutally killed 1976: For having inflicts severe damages to the organized criminality all over Italy in just few years, mysterious killers murder the police commissioner Betti 1977: Virginia Ducci survives at a murder attempt thanks to her clairvoyance 1978: Science fiction writer Della Spigola is abducted by the martians of Phobos; Discovered a breed of talking dog with a particular white fur with red spots; Famous chef Fausto Zoppi is killed by drowning; It ends the Filippo Carducci's kidnapping case; Riccardo Finzi begins his career as P.I 1979: 1980s: The ministry of the Great Hunt is founded; 1980: "Caterina" an American brand of robotic housekeeper goes on sale; Neapolitan camorra boss "The Marseillaise" and his gang are killed after a showdown; Rocky Giraldi is born, so named in honour of the famous boxer 12 August 1980: The Matchstick Man is spotted near the Abruzzi countryside 3 October 1980: Leonardo Zuliani is born 1981: The criminal known as "The Human Beast" loses his life in a gunfight 1982: The "K-Zone" theory is confirmed and Paolo Zeder is resurrected as zombie 1983: For the first time, alive people witness the "Palio di Siena of the dead contrade"; It is archived the case of the serial killer known as "The Killer Dwarf"; Naples F.C pays three billion for the acquisition of Brazilian footballer Paulo Roberto Cotequinho, he'll lead the Naples to the victory of its first championship four years later. 1984: Two men inadvertently travel through time back the 1492 August 1988: The first issue of "Bloody Eye" is published 1989: During a conference in Rome, experts try to discover the truth behind the Edwin Drood mystery; Deboroh La Roccia becomes Rat-Man 20 March 1989: Commissioner Corrado Cattani is killed in a mafia ambush 1990: FIFA World Cup scandal, the Italy team hires two pornstars to win; Salvo Montalbano becomes a police commissioner 1991: 1992: Sicilian gangster Johnny Stecchino uselessly resort to a person exchange to avoid death; During the annual Milan Film Festival, mystery fiction writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher resolves a murder case; During the quadrennial pallastrada world competition the St. Catherine prophecy comes true burning up the entire state of Gladonia November 1992: Daria Marchesi is jailed for the Baldacci murder, thus Marino Strano becomes Bloody Eye's head writer 1994: "The Florence Monster" is finally arrested; A feud between two families ends with the use of a low-potential atomic warhead; After various vicissitudes experienced in India, Marco Donati is exposed at the Aquarium Berlin as "The boy with the gills" 1995: Marco Buratti aka "The Alligator" starts a new career as P.I. 1996: After his death Ugo Fantozzi returns to life until 1998 1997: Police agent Napoleone di Carlo abandons his profession and moves in Switzerland 1999: Ugo Fantozzi is cloned; "The Fish in Love" becomes an international bestseller 2000s: Jimi Dini works at the development of his videogame "Nirvana"; Dr. Bartolomeo Zacchia continues his father's studies 2001: A romanian vampire is sighted in Rome April 2001: Giorno Giovanna becomes the Gangstar of the mafia association "Passione" 2005: Police agent Rocky Giraldi enters in service 2006: Rise of nationalism in Italy brings to the birth of Captain Padania July 2006: Activist Leonardo Zuliani disappears 2007: Mater Lacrimarum is killed 2009: During a spiritual séance, Gualtiero Marchesi conjures the Emily Ann Faulkner's spirit 2013: Long Wei becomes a local hero for the chinese communities in Italy; Celestine VI becomes the new pope 2014: An amateur gang of smart drugs dealers is arrested; Michele Silenzi gains superpowers 2015: Low-grade criminal Enzo Ceccotti gets superpowers and becomes the superhero Jeeg Robot; Arsène Lupin's grandson is spotted in Italy 2016: Benzino Napaloni is cloned; Intellectual Mario Bambea survives at his suicide attempt, contemporaneously begins the rise of popularity of the comedian Fabrizio "Bizio" Capoccetti 2017: In Calabria a farmer befriends a rare specimen of unicorn 11 September 2077: An asteroid falls in northeast Italy sweeping away Padoa, Vicenza and Verona while Venice is half submerged

|Cities&Places| The Seven Cities  Meloria Canal  Gualdana Pine Forest  Nepente Isle  Stranalandia Island Desolation Isle  Pescespada Island  Malapunta  Clerville  Porcionia  Bacteria Kindaor  Gladonia  Tristalia  The Land of Toys  Gerolstein  Lotto Valentino  Bassavilla  Lancimago  Vigata  Montelusa  Loquasto  The 55 Invisible Cities  Pratofungo  Ombrosa  Pineta Sagunto  Pista Prima  Frittole  Sevalio  Brigantes  Sompazzo  Monzurlo  Salsiccia  Acqua Traverse  Buffalora  Roccaverdina  Nofi  Norbio  Solara  Scasazza  Ponteratto Idrasca  Giancaldo  Pieve Lunga  San Michele  Borgo Tre Case Borgo Dieci Case  Accendura 

|Fiction in Fiction| Urban X (Pope) Astrubal I (Pope) Pius XIII (Pope) Celestine VI (Pope) Luke I (Pope) Libero I (Pope) Teomondo Scròfalo (Painter) Dùdron (Painter) Amos Pelicorti (Sculptor) Jep Gambardella (Writer) Cornelio Bizzarro (Writer) Leo Cordio (Writer) Ulisse Isolani (Writer) Ubaldo Terzani (Writer) Vincenzo de Fabritiis (Writer) Thomas Prostata (Writer) Giovanni Pontano (Writer) Giuseppe Marchi (Writer) Morgan Perdinka (Writer) Antonio Casella (Writer) Enrico Puzzo (Writer) Arturo Vannino (Writer) Edoardo Lasagnetta (Writer) Ugo Redy (Writer) Carlo Sperato (Poet) Giancarlo Santini (Film Director) Lippini Bros (Film Directors) Gambalesta (Actor) Enzo Melchiorri (Actor) Franco Melis (Actor) Saverio Crispo (Actor) Marco Salviati (Actor) Sofia Barlow (Actress) Giorgio Fini (Tenor) Carlo "Vitalis" Balzani (Tenor) Tony Corallo (Singer) Pat Rubino (Singer) Luca Pappacena (Singer) Quartetto Basileus (Band) Martino Piccione (Guitarist) Mariottide (Songwriter) DJ Vomito (Rapper) Bud "Bomber" Graziano (Boxer) Franco Fibbri (Soccer Player) Antonio Pisapia (Soccer  Player) Gli occhi del cuore ("The Eyes of the Heart") (Tv Series) Medical Dimension (Tv Series) La Bomba ("The Bomb") (Tv Series) Redenzione ("Redemption") (Movie) Paura d'odiare ("Fear to Hate") (Movie) L'usuraio licantropo ("The Werewolf Usurer") (Movie) Thor e le regine nude ("Thor and the Naked Queens") (Movie) Il vortice equestre ("The Equestrian Vortex") (Movie) La regina del pianeta nero ("The Queen of the Black Planet") (Movie) La palude del caimano ("The Caiman Marsh") (Movie) La vendetta del cobra ("Cobra's Revenge")  (Movie) I ragazzi del Bronx  ("The Bronx Boys") (Movie) Il caimano ("The Caiman") (Movie) Cataratte ("Cataracts") (Movie) Mocassini assassini ("Assassin Moccasins") (Movie) Maciste contro Freud (Maciste Versus Freud") (Movie) La mamma di Freud ("Freud's Mom") (Movie) Natale con la casta ("Christmas with the Caste") (Movie) La Febbra ("The Fever") (Movie) La polizia s'incazza (Movie) Sinite Parvulos (Movie) Margas (Movie) Il terrore di Parigi ("The Terror of Paris") (Play) Space Queen Vega (Videogame) Amedeo's Revenge (Videogame) Il codice indecifrabile ("The Indecipherable Code") (Novel) L'albicocco al curaro ("Apricot with Curare") (Novel) La paura del giorno ("Fear of the Day") (Novel) L'apparato umano ("The Human Apparatus") (Novel) Evoluzione digitale ("Digital Evolution") (Novel) Cortocircuito ("Short Circuit") (Novel) Folgore su Policastro ("Thunderbolt over Policastro") (Novel) La ninfa e il cadetto ("The Ninphe and the Cadet") (Novel) Il pesce innamorato ("The Fish in Love") (Children's Book) Bloody Mario (Comic Strip) Bloody Eye (Comic Book) Megaditta (Company) Nosferatù (Company) Finmor (Company) Centovetrine (Company) Auto Avio Motor (Company) SOFRAM (Company) Tekne (Company) Wondercomics (Company) Tondello Spa (Company) Digitex (Company) Sbav (Company) Famburgher House (Company) Trattoria Aldini (Company) Smack-O-Mat Corporation (Company) Partito Regressista (Politic) Partito Socialista Unificando (Politic) Italia in Marcia (Politic) Grande Destra (Politic) Longobarda (Football Club) Borgorosso (Football Club) Marchigiana (Football Club) Olimpia (Football Club) Eat it! (Product) Fido Uomo (Product) Io Cane (Product) Pandoro Sauli (Product) Cacao Meravigliao (Product) Cioccolato Spagnoli (Product) Marmellata Puffin (Product) Acqua pulita (Product) Coralba (Product) Sarchiapone (Animal) Colombre (Animal) Jaguar Shark (Animal) Tropelio (Animal)

[armoricaroyalty]

PSA: If you are sharing CC via google drive, your full name may be visible

If you share your CC or sims via Google drive, do so on a secondary account without your legal name attached.

You do NOT want every internet rando to know your wallet name. You do not NOT want every internet rando to be able to google you and find: your place of work, the place you live, the names of your friends and family. Most people will not do anything malicious with this information, even if they realize they have access to it, but there are people out there who may use this information to harm you.

I'm not talking about someone finding your home address and showing up with a camera (although that has happened recently). I'm talking about people googling your name, figuring out where you work, and yelp-bombing to try to get you fired. I'm talking about people contacting your school, your parents, your landlord.

Protect your privacy. Do not leave the door open for weirdos to try to wreck your life over fandom drama. Do not use professional or real name accounts for fandom stuff.

[armoricaroyalty]

Written guide for people who don't want to waste six minutes sitting through a video tutorial that doesn't even tell you where to find the file you're modifying:

Locate the VideoCamera file. On PC, this is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\res and on Mac this is in The Sims 4.app > Contents > Resources > res (source: Simp 4 Sims)

Save a backup copy of the unaltered VideoCamera file.

Modify the values for MaxMoveSpeed and MaxVericalMoveSpeed. The default value for these is 200.0, in the video, she suggests changing them both to 10.0.

If desired, also change the Deceleration value to 0.0 to prevent camera "float." (default value is 0.02).

Save and close the VideoCamera file.

To revert the changes, either modify the file again to restore the default numbers or drag the unmodified backup back into the Bin/res folder.

OMG Y'ALL!!!!

So I usually never have this problem because, up until a few weeks ago, all my mains were living in either one or two level homes. Well, now that one is in a 4th floor apartment and his parents having a master bedroom on the 3rd floor of a townhome, I've been dealing with super speed camera again.

What is super speed camera? Its where, when you're in tab mode and the camera speed gets faster the higher up you go or the further out you go. Its hard to explain, and y'all may have already figured this out by now, but I haven't...

UNTIL NOW!

Shout out to this person who, with just showing how to change a few numbers, saved me a horrible horrible headache.

Might be useful to you.

[armoricaroyalty]

how i (try to) make my text readable

so as a lifelong glasses wearer north of 25, i cannot see shit! I love the look of text on screenshots, but also i have spent a nonzero amount of time squinting at pale text on a busy background and thought "i cannot fucking read that."

there are lots of ways to do this. my method is not perfect. I am constantly tweaking things to try and make the text more readable. if you have suggestions about making the text more readable, please share!

Step One: Open the screenshot in your photo editor

I start with a screenshot and a script. I use Gimp, a free and open-source photo editor, and I pretty much only use it to put captions on my screenshots, so please do not ask me how to actually edit pictures, I do not know. also, please do not ask me how to do this in any photo editor, i prefer to use this one because it is free, ad-free one that I can own legally and download safely.

open-source software RULES, btw.

Step One: Add a text layer with your dialogue

I use the text tool to add the dialogue to the image, copying and pasting from my script. This is not legible. My eyes hurt. I cannot read that, so I can't tell if I've made any typos.

Step Two: Add a black background to the text.

In, Gimp: Right click text layer > "Alpha to Selection." In the top menu, Selection > Grow > 3 pixels. Top menu: Layer > New Layer. (I name the new layer "Text BG ##") Use the bucket tool to fill the selection on the new later.

There's probably a shortcut to doing this in other photo editors (hell, might be a shortcut in Gimp.)

Step Three: Blur the background

In Gimp: Top Menu > Effect > Blur > Gaussian Blur. This may be a step backward in terms of readability, but I like how it looks. Let's try a few other things to help the reader, shall we?

Step Four: Drop Shadow

In Gimp: Top Menu > Light & Shadow > Drop Shadow. Makes the text stand out a bit more. Still not particularly readable, especially the blue on blue on the left side of the image.

Step Five: Gradient layer

Create a new layer underneath the Text BG, and then add a transparent gradient over the entire image.

This is step is slightly more involved, so I'll just link you to a guide instead of explaining myself: "How to create a gradient transparency in GIMP."

Step Six: Further Tweaks

I still wasn't satisfied with the readability of the text. I duplicated the gradient layer to create a darker background underneath the text. I also repeated the drop shadow step on the Text BG layer. You could also make the text larger or bolder, change font colors, grow the selection by 4 or 5 pixels instead of 3, or skip the blurring step. I change my method frequently to try to get the best look for each individual image, and I don't always do a perfect job.

This is an area where I constantly innovate. I want people to be able to actually read my text, so I try not to let myself be satisfied with "good enough." When I take screenshots, I try to do it with an eye for compositions that give me a nice, blank space on the bottom for text, ex.

[armoricaroyalty]

beautiful and horny

I recently reread one of my favorite essays, Everyone is Beautiful and No One is Horny, and posted a bit about it here. The difference between "beautiful" and "horny" (between "hot" and "sexy," as my bestie @nexility-sims puts it) is kind of difficult to explain in the abstract. So instead of just complaining, I thought it might be useful for me to try to explain how I've tried to depict sex and desire in my story.

Suggestion One: use close-ups to demonstrate desire

First off: I think the key to making something sexy isn't to show someone or something that is visually beautiful. Sexiness isn't about aesthetics, it's about desire. It's very easy to show the audience a beautiful person, harder to make clear that they are desirable. Desire isn't about seeing a beautiful person, it's about looking at them and noticing things about them, specific things. Desire often carries a little bit of objectification with it, and that's okay -- the problem is when someone is wholly objectified, made into a passive thing, a receptacle for desire rather than a person who is themselves desirable.

In this scene, I have two close-ups that emphasize Vivi's backless dress (and Julián's touch). She's wearing that backless dress the whole time, but we don't really notice it until the camera calls specific attention to it by moving in close. The zoom-in on the second shot intensifies what is already present in the first shot, creating a sense of escalation -- it's the same thing, twice in a row, but there is a sense that tension is building. Please also note that Julián is bare-handed, but all the Armoricans are all wearing gloves.

So, to show that someone is desirable, you need to show what the other character is noticing about them. This is happily pretty easy in a visual medium! The entire point of a close-up is to show the audience what they're meant to be noticing: the listening device hidden in the potted plant, the smudged handwriting in a suspect's passport, the curve of the love interest's spine in her backless dress. An effective close-up helps the reader see the character as their love interest does, helps them understand why that character is sexy.

(This doesn't need to be entirely physical! Skill and expertise are desireable traits...a close-up of a chef's hands as they lovingly prepare a meal for their beloved can express desire, as could a shot of an athlete clearing the bar in the high jump.)

Suggestion Two: sex is a thing you do with your mouth and hands

As a wise man once said in an interview about one of my favorite video games, "the thing about desire is that it’s stronger when it’s not totally satisfied."

A wide shot where you can see someone's entire naked body is like 50% sexy. A close-up where you can see part of their naked body is like 75% sexy. A close-up of someone's hands as they tug at the plunging neckline of their evening dress is all the way sexy.

Anything that makes your imagination go into overdrive to fill in the details is automatically going to be sexier than something where you see everything.

(see also: William Ware Theiss, one of the costume designers for Star Trek, who said, "the sexiness of an outfit is directly proportional to the perceived possibility that a vital piece of it might fall off.")

I make use of this a lot.

In this scene, there's a lot of chest on display, but when Vivi makes a pass at Julián, we're looking at their hands and not their bodies. This is another escalation, her touching him instead of the other way around. We're seeing her take the lead, which is sexy!!!

In this scene, we get mouths and hands in a single shot. In a wide shot, this moment of him feeding her ice cream might read as cute, but removed from context and zoomed in to just the mouth and hands, it becomes sensual.

Suggestion Three: Linger in the moment, let us see the reaction

A lot of the idioms related to sex and desire suggest a loss of control. Arousal is "getting hot and bothered," having sex is "giving in" to desire. It's not enough just to show something sexy, we also need to see the effect it's having on our characters. Don't be afraid to show your characters getting flustered, stammering, getting caught up in the moment. I think that people are sometimes a little embarrassed about including sex and want to show only the bare minimum. They want it to be sexy, but they also want it to be over and done with. These two desires are almost always at odds with one another -- if you want something to be sexy, don't be afraid to linger in the moment. Show the action, but more importantly, show the reaction.

In this scene, we don't need to see any naked bodies (or where exactly Emily's put her hands). It's enough to see Freddy getting progressively more worked up as they make out.

It's especially sexy to show a person who is ordinarily very controlled coming undone.

It's not hard to understand why this was my best-performing post of 2023. Leonor and Andre, both very buttoned-up and in-control people, can't keep their hands off of one another. The facade slips for both of them, they need one another more than they need to discuss whatever important thing they were supposed to be discussing.

Suggestion Four: If you aren't fully comfortable showing sex, you don't have to

Not a ton to say here, but I think it's an important point to end on. If you feel weird and awkward writing sex, downloading sexy poses, and taking sexy screenshots, you don't have to include those things in your story!

Sex positivity doesn't mean everyone's fucking all of the time, it means everyone is expressing the amount of sexuality they are comfortable with. I exclusively wrote erotica/smut for nearly a decade, I am very comfortable including sex in my story. But if that's not you, that's okay! You don't need to include anything you don't want to.

A Random Observation That Didn't Fit Anywhere Else

If you have a scene that features naked or nearly-naked characters that aren't meant to be sexy, you can do the opposite of these things to avoid sexualizing them. Show them in wide shots, don't zoom in close to emphasize any one part of their body, focus on things other than physical reaction -- I've got this whole scene with Leonor in a swimsuit but it's not really sexy in the context. We're not leering at her body, she just happens to be wearing a swimsuit because they're at the beach. Even the physical touch and intimacy in that scene isn't particularly sexy, the emphasis there is on the emotions.

[armoricaroyalty]

a lot of people say they struggle to dress their male sims, so I threw together a quick visual guide to show how I conceive of men's style.

imo, the two primary axis in menswear are formality and flashiness.

does a character wear tailored suits, watches, and leather loafers? or is he a basketball-shorts-and-sneakers kind of a guy? is he comfortable standing out from the crowd, or does he prefer to dress plainly and go unnoticed?

if you have a solid grasp on your character's personality, it should be pretty easy to figure out where they fall along each axis. that gives you a really solid starting point for making fashion choices in CAS. layer on a favorite color, a few favorite accessories, and a signature item (band t-shirts? colorful ties? sneakers?) and you'll be a long ways toward giving your male sims a distinct visual identity.

the crucial thing is making sure that none of your characters land in exactly the same place on the grid. maybe your protagonists are two preteen boys who are complete fashion disasters who wear sarcastic gamer t-shirts and hoodies every single day. tragic. but if you put one of them in basketball shorts and flip flops and the other in jeans and chunky tennis shoes, their wardrobes will still look and feel distinct to your readers.

I've kept these categories intentionally broad and neutral of specific styles or trends on purpose -- this isn't meant to be a definitive guide to men's style or make any rulings about how formal certain items are. it's meant to give menswear rookies a way to start categorizing men's clothing and make better, more characterful decisions about how to dress their sims.

hope that helps!

[armoricaroyalty]

SO much this!

A bit of personal backstory: from about 2009-2015 or so, I was in a fandom that was incredibly hostile to queer content. The most popular fics and pairings were M/F, and while there was a sizeable minority who read and enjoyed M/M content, virtually no one wanted to read or create F/F content. There was a small and very vocal minority within the fandom who focused on stuff about queer women, and it became extremely politicized through the actions of one or two bad actors.

The going line in the larger fandom was that it was problematic to write about women or suggest that anyone ought to care about the female characters in the source material, because they were "badly written" and it was misogynistic to try to invest in them. Anyone who wrote or cared about women in the fandom was doing so performatively in order to look down on and pass judgment on the M/M and M/F writers. People unironically wrote essays about how caring about women was comparable to "eating your veggies" i.e., "healthy" but boring and joyless, not anything anyone did out of passion. And you couldn't write anything dark or twisty or have any conflict in your stories. All the F/F content had to be squeaky clean, even the smut.

I finally burned out on that fandom and didn't write much for years. The next fandom I joined (Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast about critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interactions between good friends--) had a lot of great women characters with super compelling dynamics that were dark and edgy and miles away from the "safe" stuff that was common in my last fandom. I started writing again, and wrote stuff that matched the source material in tone, and I was terrified. I was convinced that the toxic status quo in my last fandom was the standard of all fandoms, everywhere, and I was fully prepared to be torn apart. But I decided I was just going to write and share what I wanted, damn the consequences.

Instead, I found a big audience (relative to the size of the teeny tiny fandom, lol) who LOVED that shit. I became friends with many of these people, and we're still extremely close to this day, 6 or 7 years later. I grew so much as a creative by being active in that fandom and it really only happened because I decided not to worry so much about what other people might think or say about what I was posting.

I've tried to carry that forward into all of my creative works going forward. I haven't always lived up to that standard, but the longer I've worked on this story, the more confident I've become in my own work and the less I've worried about other people.

"Posting for yourself" is a muscle that is built over time, and it's scary when you start. But it is so, so, so worth it. The relationships you build and the creative skills you develop when you are committed to working in an authentic, unafraid mode are like nothing else.

Create for yourself, not the critic in your head.

Free yourself

I spent the last two days watching live and virtual sessions from Adobe MAX, Adobe’s annual creativity conference. One session I watched was about social media algorithms. The speaker urged the audience to not define themselves by the algorithm because it is flawed and gave 5 things you can do to protect your mind/your peace/your sanity/etc. when the algorithm makes you think your content sucks. Tumblr works a little different than most other social media sites, and I’m not sure there’s even an algorithm at work here on this broken site. But people experience the same stress/obsession with likes, reblogs, and followers. There were two quotes in her talk that were really powerful, and I thought I’d share them with you. Hope they help.

When you create content based on the fear of losing followers, you lose yourself.

We shouldn’t be doing anything out of fear, but when you hear people say things like “create/post for yourself,” this is what it’s really about. It has nothing to do with not caring if people follow you or like your posts because, frankly, we ALL want people to follow us and like/reblog our stuff. It’s about being your authentic self regardless of what others think. Like, let’s say you’re writing a story, and you need to kill off the reader’s favorite character, but you don’t do it and change the story because you’re afraid people will unfollow you or whatever. This is the beginning of you losing yourself. That decision will lead to other similar decisions, and sooner or later you have this crazy story you don’t even enjoy writing anymore because it’s not yours or anywhere close to what you intended. Be true to you.

Seek respect, not attention. It lasts longer.

I want to put that on a t-shirt! We all want someone to pay attention to us. It’s why we’re all here, right? But don’t run yourself ragged, copying what everyone else is doing and trying everything in the book to amass thousands of followers, especially if you don’t enjoy it. Post what you love, and do it unapologetically. Don’t try to be anyone else. You’ll feel better that way.

Free yourselves from demands and unrealistic expectations you place on yourself. Play your game. Have fun. Post something cute. Rinse and repeat.

Take care!

[armoricaroyalty]

some dialogue tips

Okay, I expanded a bit on my thoughts from earlier and wrote...like 800 words? Here’s a collection of largely-unrelated thoughts about writing dialogue. I’m not an expert wordsmith by any means, but I’ve been doing simblr stories for about 2.5 years and writing creatively for much longer, so I hope some of this is helpful!

Read your dialogue out loud. In my opinion, the most important quality in dialogue is flow. Does the back-and-forth feel natural? Is the conversation stilted, or does it feel like something people might actually say? When you’re reading words on paper, it can be difficult to identify the rough patches. Your eyes are a different instrument than your ears and your brain processes speech and written text in different ways. If you’re stuck, read your dialogue out loud. The clunky phrases will jump out and be much easier to correct than if you left it on the page.

Different people talk differently. Dialogue is a tremendous vehicle for characterization, and I feel like I don’t see people discuss that point very often! What a character chooses to say and how they say it can tell us a lot about who a character is, where they come from, and what they value. You don’t need to strain yourself to come up with a completely unique voice for every single character, but if you remove dialogue tags and can’t tell whether a given line belongs to the 19-year-old stoner or their 65-year-old grandparent, you’ve missed an opportunity to imbue your characters with a lot of flavor and personality. Consider your characters’ personalities and ask yourself whether they’d use slang and profanity, whether they ramble or get straight to the point, whether they use complicated professional jargon or simpler and more accessible language, whether they hold back in conversation or say everything that pops into their head…

Most utterances are pretty short. In real life, it’s very rude to monologue or dominate a conversation without giving the other person a chance to reply. If one “line” of dialogue is more than one or two sentences long, the character will probably come across as if they’re delivering a monologue, not having a conversation. Break up longer lines of dialogue and include a bit of back-and-forth to keep the conversation flowing.

If a character is talking for a long time, spread the dialogue up across multiple screenshots. This is a personal preference thing, but if I’ve got a character who is talking for an extended period of time, I like to break the dialogue up across multiple screenshots. A screenshot with 4 lines of text is visually cluttered and makes it seem like the character is saying the whole thing in one breath. The same four lines of text distributed across 2-3 screenshots is visually neater and has a greater sense of pacing and rhythm.

Real speech is unpolished… There’s a joke among journalists that you can make anyone seem stupid by quoting them verbatim. In ordinary conversation, people often pause for thought, use filler words, and talk over one another. In my writing, I make heavy use of ellipses and em-dashes to try to give a sense of how the character is speaking, in addition to what they’re saying (perhaps I overuse them…) If you’re trying to represent ordinary conversations between ordinary people, including those kinds of verbal errors can bring a lot of life to your dialogue.

…but don’t strive for realism (strive for verisimilitude instead). Actual, real-life conversations are almost unlistenable (said the guy currently listening to a podcast). In real life, people often repeat themselves, interrupt one another, say the same things over and over, go on tangents, and say the same things multiple times in a redundant fashion. If you include too many of those kinds of markers in your written dialogue, your story can quickly become unreadable, even if it reflects a “realistic” manner of speech. In general, your dialogue doesn’t need to be realistic, it needs to feel real. (Verisimilitude basically means a sense of truthfulness [as opposed to realism] in fiction.)

People rarely address each other by name... This might be a unique-to-me issue, but when I reread my old writing, something that jumps out to me is how often I have characters use one another’s names in casual conversation. In real life, people very rarely use titles and names except in greetings and introductions. In general, if you have characters heavily using names mid-conversation, you should go back and eliminate a few.

...with some exceptions! In formal and workplace settings, using someone’s name or title is a verbal marker of respect. Characters in settings with formal hierarchies (militarizes, royal families) will be likelier to use titles and honorifics. Using a person’s name can also be a way to emphasize your point or express sincerity. You might also need to incorporate an occasional name or title in a heavy-handed way in order to deliver exposition or remind readers of the relationship between two characters. For example, I’ve got an upcoming scene where I have a character address their cousin as ‘Cousin’ in a very stilted way. I hate that it’s clunky, but I decided it was necessary because I thought readers would need the reminder that those two characters are related.

Conversations should build to something. In a back-and-forth, each new line of dialogue should move the conversation forward. Imagine this back-and-forth:    A: How are you doing?    B: Terrible! my car broke down.    A: It broke down? But you just took it to the shop!    B: I know, the mechanic lied to me about the repairs! The last line in that conversation has nothing to do with the first line in that conversation. If B had responded to A’s greeting by saying “the mechanic lied to me!” they’d seem slightly unhinged -- it’s an abrupt change of topic, but just two additional lines give it context and make it flow. When you’re writing these kinds of exchanges, you want to make sure that one character’s line makes sense as a response. If A had said “It’s good to see you!” instead of “How are you doing?” B’s reply would feel jarring, and you’d need to find a different way for them to introduce the subject of the broken-down car into the conversation.

I love to write guides. I should do that more, lmao.

[armoricaroyalty]

the 90-9-1 rule, or A Partial Answer to the Eternal Question of 'Why Don't My Posts Get More Notes?'

In the small amount of time I’ve been on Al Gore’s internet, I have acquired a small amount of wisdom, which I now share with you: 90% of people don’t engage.

This theory of internet engagement has been floating around online since at least 2006, and as such, it goes by a lot of different names: participation inequality, the 1% rule, the 90-9-1 principle. Whatever name you encounter it under, the principle is the same: on any given website, most of the content is generated by only 1% of the user base.

This theory divides internet users into three camps:

Heavy Contributors are people who use the website every day and generate the vast majority of its content. In earlier eras of the internet, these were people posting in forums, maintaining their own geocity or angelfire pages, and setting up webrings to link related content and form communities of like-minded people. In the current age, the category of ‘heavy contributors’ includes influencers and content creators on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, but it also includes the people who remember to like, subscribe, and smash that bell icon. On websites like Tumblr, a heavy contributor is more likely to be a person who likes and reblogs without generating original content or adding commentary to others’ posts. But heavy contributors are also the big-time posters, the ones making gifsets, fic, viral shitposts, and other kinds of content. For these people, the internet is a social, creative place, and they go online to socialize and create. They generate the vast majority of the content everyone consumes and enjoys. And according to the 90-9-1 principle, these users represent only 1% of the people who use the internet.

Intermittent Contributors are people who use the website frequently and occasionally post. In modern times, this might be someone who mostly engages through likes and the occasional reblog. In fan communities and on websites like AO3, they might be an avid consumer of content, reading every fic with their OTP, but that passion doesn’t usually motivate them to leave comments, write fic of their own, or share recommendations. The intermittent contributors might be just as active as the heavy contributors, but their online presence is smaller. They make less of a splash than their noisier counterparts in the 1%. According to the theory, these users represent 9% of the people who use the internet.

Infrequent Contributors (lurkers) are everyone else. Because they don’t generate much (or any) content, it’s difficult to track their presence and behavior. Some sign on every day and read everything that’s posted without ever adding to the conversation. They might check Tumblr on their phones during breaks at work and never think about it otherwise. They might have an account they use once every three months when they remember it exists. They might never create an account, and just browse the front pages of sites like Reddit. According to the theory, these users represent 90% of the people who use the internet.

To people in the 1%, the behavior of the lurkers and intermittent contributors feels absolutely outlandish. Why bother signing on if you’re not going to make anything or contribute to the conversation? Why follow an account if you’re never going to like or reblog? Human beings have a tendency to see their behavior as “normal” and assume everyone else is doing the same, and that tendency toward generalization can be really blinding for people who exist in tiny, exceptional categories like the 1% of ‘active’ users.

The assumption that everyone uses the internet like they do can often make the people in the 1% feel very, very lonely, especially the creatives. You work for hours on a story or an illustration, hit ‘post,’ and get only a few comments and likes. You’ve got followers, you’ve got an audience, why is your work being met with crickets? If you’re posting in the hopes that other people will engage with your content, it can be very disheartening to create something and be met with silence by the vast majority of your followers.

The truth is that 90% of your followers just won’t engage. That doesn’t mean they’re not reading your stuff. That doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy your stories. That doesn’t mean they’re not looking forward to your next update or they’re not turning your story over in their heads while they wait for the bus. It just means that they’re not engaging with it in a way that is visible to you.

Think about it. You might be very active on one platform and quiet on another. You have read many books in your life, but how many letters have you written to authors? When you see a movie in theaters, is your first instinct to get online and tweet at the actors and directors? When you watch YouTube videos and TikToks, do you feel the urge to make your own, or do you just think “cool video!” and move on with your life?

I’ve been afflicted with Chats-Too-Much since birth, so I am inordinately active on talky platforms like Tumblr and Discord. But on YouTube, I’m an internet ghost. I have a few creators whose videos I watch avidly (and often multiple times). I follow them, I have the bell dinged, I even support a few on patreon. But I don’t comment on videos and rarely ever like them because that’s just not how I engage on that platform.

The 90-9-1 rule isn’t an absolute. Actual studies have found that the real percentages of different types of users varies from site-to-site. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, online participation required a much greater degree of expertise and technical know-how. In the modern era, with the almost-universal implementation of like buttons, voting systems, and internal bookmarking features like AO3’s, more users fall into that middle category of intermittent contributors. Social media completely changed the way we use the internet to communicate, and the social distancing and isolation of the pandemic further reshaped our ways of engagement. I’m not even going to get into the subject of engagement as currency and the monetization of everything, because those are a) immensely depressing to me and b) outside of the scope of this essay, but the idea that anyone can become a celebrity online has also radically altered the way we exist on the internet.

This essay is only meant to say: on hobby sites and in fandom spaces, try to divorce your self-worth and desire to create from the amount of engagement your content gets. Each and every one of us loves to see the numbers go up, but the numbers can’t be why you’re engaging in social spaces and sharing your work. It’s not easy, but if your only drive to create is to get attention, you will never be satisfied. You’ll get 50 followers and wish you had 100. You’ll get 1,000 followers and wish you had 10,000. You’ll always be chasing more, and you’ll never be able to enjoy the followers you do have and the engagement you do get -- you’ll always be stuck staring at your analytics page, resenting the silent 90% for not doing more to boost your content and validate your worth in the eyes of the immortal algorithm.

It’s not easy to decouple your desire to create from your desire for attention. But it’s ultimately necessary for the good of your mental wellbeing and the good of your art. Enjoy your hobbies and enjoy your posting. If neither are bringing you any joy, ask yourself why and be willing to accept that you might need to let go of something or else shift your mode of engagement. You might even be happier as a lurker, creating only for yourself.

[armoricaroyalty]

PSA: don't use angle brackets </> in the text of your posts

I've been having a lot of weird issues with links within my story posts, and I finally found the culprit: I was using arrow brackets as directional indicators on my links.

The text of my links to previous posts were <<previous and the text of my links to the next post were next>>. The way I was using the angle brackets seemed to confuse Tumblr's rich text post editor about what parts of my post were HTML and which parts were text, which was breaking my posts.

If you want to use directional arrows on your links, use unicode arrows to avoid bugs.

This is so obvious in retrospect, but I was struggling with these problems for literal years. Don't be like me.

[armoricaroyalty]

ok this will be very quick and is written with the assumption that you already understand how reshade/gshade work and the proper order for shaders!

Overall, you want to build a preset in the reverse order that the shaders apply

first: experiment with the shaders that affect the color, contrast, and saturation. Vibrance, colorfulness, tint, multiLUT, etc. (most of the color effects in my personal preset are done with the filmic pass shader). Play around in the settings for each shader you apply until you're happy with the overall effect. Keep in mind that shaders like MXAO and Bloom will also also affect the saturation, but a good baseline for your personal preset is finding an overall look that you like. These shaders use the least amount of processing power and are generally safe to keep on during gameplay, so you can pile on as many as you like. In your finished preset, these shaders will be at the bottom of the load order.

second: one you're satisfied with the colors, duplicate your preset. Keep one as a back-up, and start layering on shaders that affect lighting like DPX and fake HDR. Once again, play around in the settings for each shader until you're satisfied. These shaders are slightly more intensive, so don't go overboard here. Less is often more. In your finished preset, these shaders will be in the middle of the load order.

third: duplicate your preset again. One is a backup, the second is where you'll start experimenting with shaders that offer general graphic improvements. In my personal shaders, I use gaussian blur shaders and then a sharpen shader on top of it to smooth things without losing fine details. This is where you'll apply SMAA and debanding effects. Once again, these shaders can be a little harder on your machine, so you don't want to add a zillion. In your finished preset, these shaders will be toward the top of your load order! (please note that SMAA should go immediately below your DOF shader in the final preset!)

fourth: duplicate the preset! In the new copy, experiment with bloom and ambient lighting. Apply them one at a time and test different settings. One thing that I think leads to a really nice effect is contrasting the tint of your bloom with whatever your color settings were in step one. In my preset, my color shaders desaturate things a bit and add a cool tint, so I add a warm-toned bloom on top of that and the effect is 👌I'd recommend adding some keybindings to all of these shaders so you can easily toggle them for gameplay.

fifth: duplicate the preset again. In the new copy, start playing around with different DOF shaders (if desired). I've noticed that most players don't really touch the defaults on DOF shaders, but I'd really strongly urge you to play around with the different sliders to see what kind of effect they have on the focal distance of your preset and the final look of your game. You're almost certainly going to want to do a mouse-driven DOF, but I recommend playing around with different values for the near and far curves. My current mouse-driven DOF settings make things a bit finicky, but it gives me a nice wide in-focus band that lets me achieve a bunch of different effects just by moving the focal point a little. You'll also want to add a keybinding to your DOF shader so you can toggle it easily. In your final preset, your DOF shader should appear second in the load order, just beneath your MXAO.

sixth: duplicate the preset, and then start playing around with MXAO to add shadows and depth to your preset. once again, you're going to want to add a keybinding to this shader so it can be toggled for gameplay. In your final preset, MXAO should be on the top of your load order.

Other general advice: don't try to build your preset from scratch in one sitting. I would strongly recommend playing and taking screenshots with your preset in each state of development so you can test it in different worlds and lighting conditions and make sure you like the look of it.

Make frequent backups/duplicates, and iterate away! I started making my own reshade preset in late 2021/early 2022, and I'm still making tweaks and changes to it!

I'd recommend @pictureamoebae and @mellindi's reshade/gshade advice and guidance, which is SUPER helpful and written specifically for The Sims!

Do you or any of the lovely Foxbury Institute have tips for creating a gshade preset from scratch? I have favorites but I’d love to create one specifically for gameplay and another one for screenshots. Thank you!

it's not too difficult. you mostly just hit the plus sign at the top, create a preset, then start ticking on/off shaders as you see fit. it's a bit time consuming so it's why most people start with a base and adjust from there.

this vid is for ffiv, but it's mostly the same principle

[armoricaroyalty]

A couple ways to improve Sims 4 performance (in order of ascending complexity/cost)

When you run your game, close all other applications. The more you're asking your computer to do at once, the slower it'll run. When you're playing the Sims, close your discord, your web browser, music players, and any other applications you're running.

Delete unused files and empty your computer's trash. If your computer's hard drive is full or nearly full, your computer will run more slowly. You should regularly empty the trash on your computer and delete old and unused files. If you need to store a lot of files (especially big files like pictures and video), move them off your computer's hard drive and onto a small, portable drive or cloud storage before deleting them off your computer.

Clean out your computer's fans. Computers generate heat as they run, which is why your computer has built-in fans. They're intended to cool your computer as it runs, but dust accumulates inside over time, decreasing the fan's effectiveness. For around $10, you can buy canned air to blow the dust out of your fans, increasing their cooling capacity.

Invest in a laptop cooling pad. To help keep your laptop from overheating, you can get an external fan system. Laptop cooling pads cost between $15 and $40, and plug into your laptop via a USB port. Extra external fans support your laptop's built-in cooling systems and help keep your laptop from overheating. If I forget to turn on my fans before opening the game, I have a ton of lag even without running Gshade/reshade. When I turn the fans on, my game is running more smoothly within minutes, with significant reductions in lag and fewer dropped frames.

Upgrade your computer's RAM. If you're comfortable taking your laptop apart (it sounds intimidating, but for most PCs it's actually pretty quick and easy! they're designed to be taken apart and put back together), you can easily swap out your computer's default RAM stick for one with a greater capacity. My computer comes with 4 GB of built-in RAM plus 8 GB of removable RAM for a total of 12 GB. For $35 plus 20 minutes of work, I was able to swap out the 8 GB RAM stick for a 16 GB RAM stick, bringing my total to 20 GB. My game runs a lot more smoothly now! To check if this is possible for your device, go into your device settings and check to see if your computer is at its maximum RAM capacity. If not, google "[your exact device model] compatible RAM" and order a compatible RAM stick. If you've never taken a laptop apart before (and hell, even if you have) I'd recommend finding and watching a video tutorial to show you exactly how to take your computer apart and what to look for (google "[your exact device model] RAM upgrade tutorial."

[armoricaroyalty]

I'm working on a couple collabs that will involve my characters spending time in other people's stories. To help my collab partners, I've been making 1-2 page reference guides with space for the kind of information that I like to know when I'm writing a character -- their motivations, close relationships, what kind of first impression they make, that sort of stuff.

This sheet isn't intended to be the most complete/comprehensive character page on the planet. Instead, it's meant to be a tool to help other authors to absorb enough information about what motivates your character and how they behave so they can write about them without a ton of oversight. I included links to a completed example, in case that's helpful.

I figured it might be useful for other people, so here it is! Feel free to modify as needed for your own use.