#brightmaple

[kayleigh-83]

Cats and dogs in TS2 <3

[kayleigh-83]

Incoming!

[kayleigh-83]

A Maxis Match Lighting Mod Tweak!

As requested by @jellymeduza I'm sharing my tweak of @dreadpirate's fabulous Maxis Match lighting mod. This makes the unlit rooms during dawn and dusk a bit brighter (closer to how they appear at nighttime) and tweaks the colour-cast a bit too. The photos above are all four time of day states including with my tweaks - but nothing about day or night was actually changed from the original MM lighting mod.

Below are all the before and after pictures for dawn/dusk next to each other - before is the MM lighting mod "out of the box" and after is with my tweaks.

How to install:

Download the Maxis Match lighting mod exactly as per dreadpirates instructions. (don't worry about the part on enabling or disabling dawn and dusk states, that will be included in my edit)

Replace your lighting.txt file with mine included in this download - this will be in your base game install folders, for the UC the file path is "Double Deluxe/Base/TSData/Res/Lights" and you'll be overwriting the lighting.txt file in there with mine.

Enjoy! :)

Download (SFS) | Download (MF)

Edited to add: If you downloaded the Maxis Match lighting mod after March 2, 2025 these fixes are not required - @/veronavillequiltingbee has incorporated them into the main lighting mod files.

[kayleigh-83]

By popular demand (I saw two people asking) I thought I would throw together a quick guide to using the road editor tool in the newest version of SimPE! You'll see that this is a very easy tool to use, and best of all, goof-proof. If you do mess up (you probably will) it's very, very easy to correct.

Very, very, very important to make a backup of your hood before you ever do any tinkering in SimPE! I also recommend practicing on a test hood you don't actively play in to get a feel for it before you do anything to your main hoods.

We're starting with a vanilla Strangetown. I would recommend going in your game and taking a nice overhead screenshot of the hood like this first to look at for reference of where everything is situated the way that you're used to looking at it.

2. Open SimPE, go to Tools> Neighbourhood> Neighbourhood Browser and open the hood you're wanting to work on. If you're not so familiar with SimPE, opening your hood can take some time. Touch nothing until it's loaded!

3. Once it's all loaded, from the Resource Tree list pick Neighbourhood Terrain Geometry (NHTG). Then you'll see one file populate the Resource List - click that. Make sure on the bottom that you have Plugin View tab selected.

4. Now you should see this map of your hood pop up! There are different things you can toggle, I like to check the Show Lots box when I'm editing the roads. Then click the Road Editor button on the right.

5. To be able to see better, I've pulled this Plugin View window up a bit - it may rearrange the Resource List and Resource Tree windows a bit to accommodate. You can also press the Zoom 2x button to see closer, and then you'll have to use the scroll bars to move around the map and the road editor tool.

6. The road editing tools here will be placed down in the same orientation as the map. So the two parallel roads running through Strangetown from this perspective are the vertical straight road pieces (top row, second from left).

When you select a road tool, above it will indicate which tool you have selected.

Also - I recommend having Handle Stop Signs ticked.

7. Once you have the correct type of road selected for the spot you're working on, simply click on the map - it lays it down one tile at a time. If you miss a spot like shown here, just fill it in.

8. If you want to create an intersection, first delete the section of road where the intersection will go.

9. Then choose the type of junction for the intersection you're making, and add that piece in. You'll see a red circle appear (unsure if this is because it's an intersection or because you have handle stop signs selected, but I recommend you do have that selected either way).

10. Once you're done making all your changes, click Close Editor.

11. This is the part where you save your changes! First click Commit in the top right of the editor. Then, File> Save!

12. Load your game to check! Looks pretty good with all those new roads!

13. However, we have indeed made some mistakes! Which were absolutely for illustrative purposes and not truly an accident.

14. Never fear! Simply reload the hood in SimPE - I've deleted the spot where the T-junction should go and added one in, and deleted where the road just ended abruptly and added a proper end piece.

I have not experimented with what happens if you try to build a road through hood deco - if you have, please let us know in the comments how that went!

I also have barely touched the terrain editing tools, so that's outside the scope of this tutorial.

I hope this helped!

[kayleigh-83]

This is @midgethetree's awesome functional yoga mat, with a few tweaks to make it friendlier for use on an OFB business lot. It's more attractive now, and Sims of any body skill level can use it, not just 3+ points.

This would absolutely not have come together without the helpful guidance of @gummilutt, @hugelunatic, and @heathensimmer helping me and suggesting what to try since I am very much not a modder! But once again, desperately stubborn when it comes to making things work in my own game.

This is just an edit of the mesh, replace Midge's version with mine, but get the recolours from her original post.

Enjoy :)

Download (SFS) | Download (MF)

[kayleigh-83]

Hobbies and sub-hobbies

I've been working on implementing a sub-hobby system in my game recently and really enjoying it! I took a look at the different activities available for different hobbies and came up with my list, which I thought I'd share here.

I do have some mods that change the hobby enthusiasm of some objects, or add new ones - I'll link where applicable.

I don't assign these based on any system, just vibes. I usually stick with whatever hobby the game assigns, but I do sometimes change them if it really feels like it doesn't fit to me. The sub-hobbies are intended to be a main focus, but Sims can and will still try other aspects of their overall hobby, and other hobbies altogether sometimes too!

The list is a work in progress but I'm basically happy with it now.

Edit: I found a version of the punching bag that gives fitness enthusiasm instead of sports, and that activity makes more sense to me as a fitness thing, so I moved that sub-hobby over.

Edit 2: Combined a couple gaming subhobbies into "Social Games" and added MyShuno to that category.

Edit 3: Combined sewing and knitting into Fibre Arts under Arts & Crafts hobbies.

Edit 4: Added candlemaking to the Arts & Crafts category.

Cuisine

Cooking

Baking

Wine & Cocktails

Foodie (restaurants, delivery)

Films & Literature

Reading

Writing (helpful but not necessary to also have this mod)

Movies

Tinkering

Restoring & Repairing (restorable car, general repairs, plus drafting blueprints thanks to a mod)

Woodworking (here and here)

Tinker Toys (RC cars, model trains, toy workbench)

Sports

Soccer

Basketball

Sports Fan (watching sports)

Golf (Execuputter reward object made buyable)

Baseball

Football

Music & Dance

Dancing

Ballet

Piano/Keyboard

Synthesizer

Violin

Singing

Guitar

Bass

Drums

Fitness

Swimming

Lifting & Cardio

Yoga

Boxing (with modded hanging bag from here - unlocked buyable punching bag still gives sports hobby, but it seems more like a fitness thing to me as a solo activity)

Arts & Crafts

Painting

Pottery

Photography (hugely aided by the buyable antique camera and Epi and PF's camera overhaul mod)

Fibre Arts (sewing, knitting with Eisbaer's edit of TonyVeis' 4t2 mod)

Candlemaking

Science

Stargazing/Aliens

Biotech (buyable Biotech station and microscopes with science enthusiasm added)

Robotics (this mod makes robotics science related which makes far more sense to me)

Games

Video Games (console, handheld, computer, arcade games)

Board Games (chess, Don't Wake the Llama, mahjong)

Social Games (darts, poker, pool, bowling, MyShuno)

Nature

Entomology (hunting bugs, catching fireflies and butterflies)

Animals (small pets like womrats, birds, koi fish, bird watching)

Gardening (harvestable crops, orchard trees - I play with perfect plants mod so they don't have to maintain flowers and shrubs)

Outdoorsy (fishing, hiking, camping, cloud watching)

Flower Arranging (this mod changes the enthusiasm on the flower bench to nature)

[kayleigh-83]

I realised one of the reasons I haven't made great use of the Nooks & Niches stuff is because it wasn't available in many of my favourite and most used textures! One of which is this gorgeous 4t2 brick texture. I have other custom walls I want to add to nooks & niches that I haven't seen done before, but this was as far as I got.

You'll need of course, Buggybooz Nooks & Niches set - I downloaded it from @cityof2morrow to put it in the architecture category and get the handy collection file so everything is nice and tidy.

For the matching wall texture you'll want to grab that from @lordcrumps - the wall is from EP06 Get Famous; LC_HomemadeBrick is the file you want!

Comes in all 5 original colours, just took screenshots of two of them.

Enjoy!

Download (SFS) | Download (MF)

[kayleigh-83]

Following up to my last download post, I've added some more of my favourite 4t2 brick and stone wall textures to Buggybooz Nooks & Niches! Refer to that post for links to master mesh and all other N&N meshes, and to @lordcrumps easy peasy 4t2 walls collection. All my files are clearly named for the walls they match. Most of these have multiple swatches although I've only shown one of each type, except one which is solitary.

I wanted to get out these 4t2 ones first, but I do also have some non 4t2 brick textures by themalle on my list to do next, should be pretty soon for part three!

(textures included here are At One With Stone, Country Fieldstone, Industry Matters, Long Large Bricks, Rustic Riverstone, and Small Long Bricks)

I hope you enjoy!

Download (SFS) | Download (MF)

[kayleigh-83]

Snowy nights, suburbs and city.

[kayleigh-83]

Welcome to Maple Mills, Brightmaple's new premiere shopping district!

When I created Brightmaple many many moons ago, I designated roughly half the map to residential zoning and the other half for commercial lots. Since all my households own a business, and the town's population has grown over time, I'm starting to run out of room for both! I'd been thinking about adding a shopping district and gradually migrating most of the commercial lots over there for a long time, and today was finally that day - this is Maple Mills!

I had four owned businesses that are currently not owned which got moved here (BRIGHTHAUS, The Snack Shack, The Scorecard and Action Arcade), plus a few community lots that I thought would fit well here instead (Stardust Roller Rink, Larry F. Llama's Fun Palace, Ocean Tower Eatery).

I can't move the owned businesses that are currently owned, but whenever someone sells a lot to retire, I'll move it over before someone else buys it. I still plan to keep a smaller commercial core in Brightmaple, plus many other community lots are still there (parks and playgrounds, the pool, sports field, community gardens etc) but this should free up more space for residential lots there which I really did need.

I've only filled out a small section of the map I used so far, plus added some trees, but I'm very happy with how it's looking so far!

[kayleigh-83]

Saguaro Springs check in!

Been working a lot on the hood deco, and worked a little on the spa lot today too. Still has a long way to go, and a lot of the hood deco buildings you see are just plopped down so I remember to use them, but they will be moved later. But it's slowly coming together!

For those who don't know - this is a custom vacation destination I'm working on, kind of Palm Springs inspired! You can see past work on this subhood in the Saguaro Springs tag.

[kayleigh-83]

Was in a build mode mood today, and quite happy with how this house turned out that I made for the lot bin!

I was feeling inspired and confident to tackle the CFE cheat a little after watching @sissysims wonderful new video of building tips. Finally, not scared of attached garages! I always say I'm more of a decorator than a builder, but I want to get a little more bold with CFE and lot adjuster to get the results I want.

I did also use one of @catherinetcjd's excellent 2-click foundation lots, as a nice shortcut. It created the unexpected slope on the driveway you can kind of see, but I like that accidental detail a lot! (I did fix the driveway clipping through the sidewalk later too). At some point I may give this lot a CC free makeover so I have a version to share, but I was burnt out by the time I got to the end of the build, so not today!

One day this will also probably end up a speed build on my channel - I frequently build empty lots for my bin and film it, then film the part two of decorating often months or years down the road when someone finally moves into it!

[kayleigh-83]

Winter lately in Brightmaple!

[kayleigh-83]

New Youtube video!

Built a little Vegas inspired wedding chapel for my Sims!

[kayleigh-83]

I've finished another lot for Saguaro Springs! This is the Pink Sands Spa. Was inspired by a real hotel spa I saw a picture of on Pinterest, the rest flowed (in fits and starts) from there.

But one more lot ticked off the list! I guess a quite austere, minimally decorated lot is easier to finish up lol.

[kayleigh-83]

Eric's little house! I downloaded it from Lillidew on MTS and altered the floorplan a little bit!