#my sims 2 neighborhood is waiting for me to get off tumblr

[jeeksy]

funny how the minute i walk away from stardew valley (briefly, Harvey my beloved), tumblr wants to push stardew valley blogs to me (and i cannot resist).

[criquette-was-here]

Long Awaited Replies

Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since my last activity here. Stuff’s just got real last few months and I am now experiencing some heavy RLS which makes the future of the whole Feverfew project quite uncertain. I’m very annoyed by the fact I have to move the release date over and over again, but, fingers crossed, I’ll be able to manage to make it this year. But before I post any updates, I need to answer my inbox!

@landgraabsims​ said:

feverfew is absolutely gorgeous!! is it inspired by any real-life places or towns? i live in england and it reminds me of a few in-the-middle-of-nowhere villages i've visited c:

Thanks @landgraabsims​! Yes, Feverfew is based on British countryside aesthetics without any towns or villages in particular. It has a bit of everything, really. It’s a fantasy place after all. But I do use a lot of real life references for making landmarks for it.

Anonymous said:

any idea of the date of release for feverwood? just redownloaded sims 2 and im in loveee

Hey Anon! I’m glad you like it! I really hope to make it happen this year.

Anonymous said:

i would die (or pay) for zagoskin omg it looks like TS3

Oh, thank you, Anon!

@katzengirl​ said:

Hello Criquette! I don't have a challenge or a question or a request. I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate the things you've shared with us! I hope you're having a good day.

Hello Kristina! That is so sweet, thank you ^___^ I hope you’re doing fine too!

Anonymous said:

Hi there, Criquette. Been having fun with your Rural Charm set and the Better Lighting.  Ran into one small problem with the RC. One of the narrow curves picks up the texture from a road section with a crosswalk, so that looks a bit odd (30degree inner?).  And a question - is there a Better Lighting for the Iron Bracket street lamp with the seasons banner?  Thought the iron bracket would work, but it's not. Anywho, Thank You for ALL the work you put into making our hoods look fantastic!

Hey Anon! Thanks! Depending on the road DR you’re using, there can be some  texture issues here and there since Rural Charm is optimised for road texture without any markings (apart from the broken white line). As for the Iron light post with a banner – no. I’ve only made 2 Maxis’ base game lamp posts.

Anonymous said:

It's amazing how this one game embraces so many different types of players. I'm planning to create my very own nh from scratch, and I'd be a liar not to recognize how your game pics inspired me to the task (not to mention your ever impressive work of hood deco cc throughout these years). For all that, as much as I'm just another anon, thank you, sincerely. But that left me wondering: do you also/still play with the other ts2 game modes or they no longer interest you?

Oh, that is so kind, Anon. Thank you! Yes, I do love to actually play the game. I enjoy building/decorating lots as much as live mode. In fact, I often get carried away during playtest sessions and just keep playing in lot mode and that’s why there are lots like ‘The Tower Inn’ or ‘The Moose & Beaver’ or sims like Tilda Phidbach, WHT-FC28 servo and their field lab.

Anonymous said:

Criquette, do you know something about this project? thesims1master tumblr (the idea is to make the game look like the beta version. I ask, because I liked it so much, but I haven't been able to find the person behind it and I'm very curious to see more or download it, as well as his world, which I've been waiting for since last year lol)

Hey Anon! Oh, I don’t think I know anything about this project, no. But it looks rather interesting!

@forever-evenfall​ said:

Hey Criquette! I just downloaded your Lighting Remedy (because I only just realised I needed to change the txt file and not just download it lol) and when I placed your lighting text in the program files, the lighting itself worked, but the terrain itself was flashing red. Do you know what I did wrong? I literally don’t think I can play without the fix lol. I am using UC and I placed it in the Fun With Pets/SP9/TSData/Res/Lights folder. Should I have put it somewhere else?

Hello Eve! I might be wrong, but isn’t it Mansions & Gardens SP that stands for UC? Anyway, flashing red terrain is really weird consequence for just replacing a txt file. Neighborhood terrain doesn’t have any dynamic light. It has a light map instead which comes with Lighting remedy too. If you only just replace the lighting txt file without putting LR light map into your ‘Downloads’ folder, the only issue you should get would by unsynchronized light directions for hood decos and the terrain itself.

Anonymous said:

I'm having a problem: not all the decorations I put in the neighborhood are showing up in simulation mode, even with the fade off and the long-range vision on. I think there is some code that I need to add to the game files to make all the decorations appear. But I can't find how to do this: c Can you help me?

Hello Anon! Basically, there’s only one type of hood deco that isn’t showing up in lot mode and that is neighborhood effects. All the decals, flowers, fields, all the animated stuff (except for texture animation, e.g. Maxis’ marquee sign) is not showing up in lot mode. There’s nothing we can do about it. Yet. If you think that there’s a proper hood deco that isn’t showing up in lot mode, please PM me with some screenshots and we could try to sort it out.

Anonymous said:

Hello--Anon who asked about additional pieces for the Rural Charm set--I see now, thank you for explaining about the floating intersections.  Is there anything you recommend then, to add on to existing roads? Otherwise, thanks for taking the time to explain.

Hello Anon! Oh, you’re most welcome. There is a tedious way to replace a texture on the existing tile of the real road, to make in into intersection so that it would connect better visually with decorative road pieces. But that takes time. What you have to do is to determine the tile you want to edit using technique described in this tutorial and then you have to change the texture name in the corresponding line. The texture names for the intersections (their index name parts) can be found in any road DR beforehand.

@sunradersimblr​ said:

Hi, I'm just wondering if you've ever done hood deco of a highway rest stop like the type we see in the U.S. along interstates and state highways, just a green space, usually, with toilet facilities and a place for a picnic and parking lot? I need one for a story and thought I'd check with you. Thanks for all the great work you share! 

Hello Sunrader! That would be really nice addition for the highway set, but I haven’t made it. Thought it’s quite possible to make something similar if you use ‘One side exit piece’ from the motorway set and add some picnic tables, umbrellas and benches using street tables & benches set. There’s also many 4t2 deco conversions for toilets and other small size decos that would help to create a decent resting stop.

@nataliepop​ said:

Hi there Criquette! There's a new game called Townscaper which I think you'd like. The architecture has an English aesthetic and you build cities or towns but it all starts on an ocean. It's in early access, so I hope by the time it officially releases they add boats and piers. Look it up on Steam or Youtube. I saw it via someone who usually does Cities Skylines videos. Btw, have you ever played that? Also, apart from sims what else do you enjoy playing? Anyway, hope you are having a good day!

Hey Natpop! Thanks for a lovely game suggestion! I’ve checked it out and it looks really fun. Can’t say I’d play it though XD All my free time (which I don’t have atm) is reserved for simming hood deco making working on Feverfew ^^

Anonymous said:

hey~ i love all of your stuff, you're so talented (๑♡⌓♡๑) i wanted to ask, do you think you'll ever release feverfew's sc4 map? 

Thank you Anon! That’s very kind. I’m not sure if there’s any point in releasing SC4 map I used for Feverfew because it’s completely differs from the way it looks now. The road layout is different, there’s no canal, no islands on the river, hills are different, etc. It has been heavily terraformed and edited during development process. I’d recommend just to wait till the Feverfew neigborhood release.

Anonymous said:

Hi! Do you have any idea of when Feverfew will be released? :) 

Hey Anon! It will be released this year, hopefully!

Anonymous said:

Hello :D Is it possible to get your linden trees as lot objects in build/garden section? I love them and they beautify my neighborhood but could really use an option to select them on lots too :)

Hello Anon! Yes, that’s possible, though I can’t say if I could make it myself. What I can say though, is that there’s a linden trees redux coming soon. It would make linden trees look better and highly optimised so that it would only take 4,5 Mb instead of 60 Mb without any losses in texture quality and resolution. 

[tinkasims]

Hi, I really love Betterfield. It's one of the most beautiful neighborhoods I've ever seen and I love the way you designed it. I especially love these early summer night pics, they're so gorgeous. I'm also very impressed by your graphics. What kind of graphics card or computer setup in general do you have, if I may ask? I'll need to buy a new computer soon and I'd love for my game to look like yours.

Hi dear Anon! :) Thank you very much for your kind words! 💜💜💜 Actually Betterfield is a remake of @ousmeo’s remake of @criquette-was-here​‘s Dullfield. When I first saw that neighborhood it was love at first sight, and I wanted that map to be the base of Betterfield (which already existed). I modified and redecorated it many times, this version of Betterfield is the 2020 version, but there were many before. I have to say there’s still a lot of work with this to finally be complete. Anyway I’m thankful for all of the wonderful neighborhood deco creators!

And about my graphics setup... Well, it’s interesting you asked it, because yesterday I was about to write a post dedicated to this theme, I’m just not sure about some things so there’s a lot of testing still waiting for me, but here (after a lot of useless talking) I answer your question. 😁

So, I have a Lenovo Ideapad 520, with Intel i7 7500U, 8gb RAM, and two graphics card, an NVIDIA GeForce 940MX and an integrated one, Intel HD Graphics 620. Oh and I run the sims 2 from an SSD. That’s it in general, but if you interested I explain how I manage to run the game with such a beautiful graphics these days under the cut.

Warning! It’s going to be messy and huge, and more like a long boring story than a tip, but can be useful for someone. (I’ll write it down properly someday)

------cut should be here but tumblr refuses to put it here, and put it at the top of post instead where I can’t delete, sorry------

When I bought my laptop I was really dissapointed, because I was only able to play the game with the integrated card, and it wasn’t bad but kind of annoying when I knew I have better. If I tried to enter Betterfield with nvidia, the game crashed on the neighborhood loading screen. Uptil some point I was like okay, then I’ll play with integrated card, nevermind........ but of course I’m dealing with those problems like almost everyone in the community the random crashes and purple flashing.

I’ve dedicated half of my life to solve these problems. :D Sims 2 really is an annoying game! I’ve tried every possible solution what can be found over the internet, there were always some little trick what helped, but after some time the troubles came back. The last year was intense. There are a lof of clever people out there finding new ways to get rid of the crashing and flashing issues coming with new and new solutions and I couldn’t be more grateful to them. When I say I‘ve tried everything I’m not kidding. And I was like okay, I’m going to pretend my integrated card doesn’t exist and I will fix NVIDIA. However there are those annoying issues with both of them........

I’m trying to mention everything what helps me these days to run a smooth and beautiful sims 2 with a huge CC folder (67k+ file lot of them really high poly). First the 4gb patch and the Graphics Rules Maker. These two are pretty common.

There’s one solution what seems like to help a lot of people but for me it never worked, the DXVK method. It looks really useful, and time to time I give it a shot, but somehow never works out for me, my game crashes whenever I try to use it. But the tip @episims made is one of the most useful things I’ve ever seen, and the one by @dramallamadingdang as well.

Absolutely useful, but somehow never enough. Maybe because of my huge CC folder, or some broken mod, or my computer specs, or just windows 10 or sims 2....... whoever knows....So I was messing around with nvidia profile inspector according to iCad’s tip, trying to reach beautiful garphics with low ingame settings. It was a complete failure. Maybe my expectations are too high but those looked terrible! I decided to turn everything to the best in nvidia control panel (profile inspector seems too complicated for me), and then checked the game again. It was still ugly as hell with low ingame settings. Then I thought what the heck, and I’ve turned every settings to the best and highest, and went on checking Betterfield.

It was something I’ve never seen before. A completely smooth, lag free, purple flashing free, crash free wonderful game, with beautiful textures, smooth edges. With the highest graphics setting in and out of game! I loaded my biggest lots which are always crashing or flashing, none of them did! That was the time when I first posted about Betterfield.

The next day I was really happy, started my game thinking it’s going to work... well, I was wrong, but not too surprised. It crashed when I loaded Betterfield. I took a deep breath and started to think through what have I done yesterday what helped. And after I’ve tried some method I guess I found the little trick what helps me from that day to reach that “dream state of sims 2” again.

So, I have an almost empty neighborhood which I named “stop crashing b**ch”, that I use for testing and etc... I did the graphics tests I mentioned above there as well. So my first thing when my game loads up is to load that neighborhood and a household in there. In the household I set all of the graphics settings to the lowest (expect smooth edges). Then, I load up Betterfield. I have to mention here Betterfield is really a huge city, with tons of decoration, lots, and households (which could be corrupted as well XD). So, at that point Betterfield loads up just fine, but remember the settings are on the lowest. Then I enter one of my biggest lot, which used to be nothing more than a purple flashing. And in the household I turn the garphics settings to the highest again. And that’s it. Ugly textures are refreshing, becoming high res and beautiful, Sims 2 runs like a dream, and beautiful as a blooming flower! At this point I usually test night mood and turn on and off some lights just to see everything is fine for real. After that I can enter to my other big households, lots, without any crashing or flashing. Once I look around everywhere in 360 degree it’s absolutely lag free. Same goes for the neighborhood itself. Beautiful in day and night. :)

The only reason I haven’t share this little discovery of mine, because there’s one lot (Betterfield High School) which is still causing the purple flashing (even if it’s just a huge unfurnished building...), and sometimes there are some objects here and there randomly flashing... but according to the purple game I had before it feels more like a small bug or something :’)....

Okay, what I got is Sims 2 with highest graphics settings in game and in Nvidia control panel (like 8x edge smoothing and stuff...), working beautifully, the only thing I have to do before playing my HUGE neighborhood with my HUGE and high poly CC folder is to load up an empty neighborhood, enter a family, set the graphics to the lowest, then enter my big city, enter a big lot (or whatever, I’m not sure about this part), and set the graphics to the highest again!

I’m not sure if everyone have read this or if it makes any sense (bc of my crappy english), but I promise after some more testing, if I think it’s actually useful, I’m going to share a proper, understandable tip about this. ^^”

[cornyregans]

Young Love in Veronaville

  DISCLAIMER: Given the title, it should be rather obvious that this essay is about shipping. As someone who has been part of a plethora of fandoms over the years, I know from experience that this topic has a tendency to be a very slippery slope. As such, there are two things I want to make clear before we go any further. First of all, I do not ship all of the ships that are covered in this essay. That being said, I tried my best to be as objective as possible when it comes to analyzing everything despite any biases I may have. Second of all, just because I don’t cover your ship here doesn’t make it any less valid. Most of the things I’m going to look at in this essay are from a narrative perspective rather than an interpretive or personal perspective (with minimal exceptions). With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy!~

Obligatory Disclaimer Word Count: 157 words Essay Word Count: 2,246 words Obligatory Thank You Word Count: 126 words Total Word Count: 2,529 words

  Most of the premade families in The Sims 2 have ties to other households in their home neighborhood. This statement is also true in Veronaville where two-of-the-three premade extended families are involved in a generation-spanning feud, while the other household gets along with practically everyone. Much like in other neighborhoods, the relationships among the sims in Veronaville run the gamut in terms of how they can be classified; as there are acquaintances, enemies, friends, family, and romantic interests.

  While The Sims 2 is essentially a sandbox game where you get to decide how your sims live their lives, the developers have structured the premade neighborhoods so that some of these relationships are easier to achieve than others. This is especially true of the romantic relationships, as it takes much less work and effort to have sims already romantically involved with one another engage in romantic interactions than those who aren’t. When playing Veronaville for the first time, the romantic relationships are mostly set-in-stone among the adults and elders, with most being either married or widowed with no sign of moving on. The teenagers, on the other hand, are different story due to both their youth and the limited pool of interactions they can engage in while playing a mod-free game.

  Out of the seven premade teens in Veronaville, the developers offer the player quite a few prospects for most of them. To keep things organized, I will go through each suggested couple individually, from the most obvious to one that could happen should the player wish to go along with it. In each example, I will go over two things: their relationship in the game, and any parallels these potential couples may have to a work by William Shakespeare.

Romeo Monty & Juliette Capp

  Romeo and Juliette's relationship is at the center of the Veronaville narrative, making them the most obvious choice for each other within this batch of crazy kids. Upon first playing the Capp Manor, you will notice that Juliette already has a crush on Romeo and wants to go steady with him. This want is easy to achieve, as Romeo is practically guaranteed to accept. The Monty Ranch's tutorial involves Romeo inviting Juliette over for a make-out session, and Juliette is also practically guaranteed to accept both his invitation and his advances.

  Given the names of both sims, it should be obvious to anyone that the Shakespeare couple closest to these two would be the titular characters from Romeo & Juliet. These similarities are reflected in not only the neighborhood’s established narrative but also in both of their first and last names. There isn’t much else for me to explain here, as the parallels between both couples are far from subtle.

Puck Summerdream & Hermia Capp

  While Romeo and Juliette are the most obvious pre-established pairing among the Veronaville teens, Puck and Hermia are not too far behind. Upon first playing the Capp Manor, a look at Hermia’s relationship panel will show that she has romantic feelings for both Mercutio Monty and Puck Summerdream, but a closer look shows that she has a higher relationship with Puck than she does Mercutio. Should you choose to follow the tutorial at the Summerdream home and have Puck initiate his first kiss with Hermia (which is something both sims want), they will be caught by a jealous Mercutio, solving any love triangle these three were a part of.

  While both of these sims are based on two characters from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are some differences between how they are portrayed in the game and in the play. Unlike Romeo and Juliette, whose roles are relatively unchanged, there were definitely some alterations that were made in Puck and Hermia’s case. While Hermia’s transition between stage and Sims is largely left intact, Puck’s role in The Sims 2 is more akin to that of Lysander when it comes to him being Hermia’s intended love-interest.

  In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia is caught between two men, her choice (Lysander) and her father’s choice (Demetrius). At the end of the play, however, she ends up with Lysander due to some fairy magic.

Mercutio Monty & Miranda Capp

  If you decide to follow the tutorial at the Summerdream’s house and put Hermia with Puck, you still have another easy choice for Mercutio in the form of Miranda Capp. While Miranda’s feelings for Mercutio are rather one-sided upon first playing Goneril’s family, a few romantic interactions between the two can easily fix that problem due to already having a good rapport with each other.

  Unlike other examples, the Mercutio/Miranda coupling seems to have its roots in two of Shakespeare’s plays. If you look at them with the aforementioned love triangle in mind, then these two serve as a parallel to A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Demetrius and Helena. Mercutio, like Demetrius, starts the game with feelings for Hermia, while Miranda’s feelings for Mercutio are unrequited. However, much like how Demetrius and Helena ultimately ended up together, Mercutio and Miranda could easily become a couple should you have them pursue a romantic relationship.

  Without the love triangle in mind, Mercutio and Miranda’s relationship in TS2 could very well be a nod to The Tempest’s Ferdinand/Miranda coupling. In The Tempest, Miranda is the daughter of Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan; while Ferdinand is the son of Alonso, Prospero's usurper. Despite the tension between their fathers, Ferdinand and Miranda fall for each other over the course of the play and are married by the end. Mercutio and Miranda's situation is somewhat similar, with the former being a Monty and the latter a Capp; however, any marriage between them would have to wait in a mod-free game due to both starting off as teenagers.

Mercutio Monty & Hermia Capp

  As I said before, The Sims 2 is a sandbox game. While you could follow the tutorial at the Summerdream house and put Puck and Hermia together, you could also choose to forgo their first kiss and stick Hermia with Mercutio instead.

  By taking the love triangle involving these two and Puck into account, this coupling seems to mirror Demetrius and Hermia from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. While not as unrequited in this case, the fact that Hermia seems to favor Puck upon first glance seems to place Mercutio into the role of the romantic-false-lead. However, Mercutio could easily become the Lysander and Puck the Demetrius should you choose to pair Hermia off with the former instead.

Romeo Monty & Hermia Capp

  Unlike the other examples on this list, Romeo and Hermia do not have any sort of romantic feelings for one another upon first playing their lots. In fact, the only indication the developers give us regarding these two is that Romeo has a want to flirt with Hermia upon first playing the Monty Ranch.

  If we look at them from a Shakespearean point of view, it’s quite easy to see them as being a parallel of Romeo and Rosaline (Juliet’s cousin and Romeo's never-seen first love). Despite being what is referred to as a “ghost” character, Rosaline is the only female character outside of Juliet that Romeo is shown to have feelings for. This is paralleled in TS2 because Hermia is the only sim outside of Juliette that Romeo has a want to flirt with when first playing his lot.

What about Tybalt?

  Six of the seven playable teens in Veronaville have at least one pre-established romantic interest upon first playing their households. The exception to this rule is Juliette and Hermia's older brother Tybalt. While you are able to break up one of these couples and replace any of the girls with Tybalt (he cannot have a relationship with any of them in normal gameplay since he's related to all three girls by blood); the fact remains that the game itself does not hint that this is something you’re supposed to do.

  That being said, I do not think we should start any sort of debate here regarding any Veronaville resident’s sexuality, as that could be a topic all on its own. However, according to both SimPE, and a (mostly accurate) list I found on Tumblr, Tybalt is pre-programmed as having a slight preference for females. As a result, it’s unlikely that the developers intended for him to be romantically involved with Romeo, Puck, or Mercutio due to both his pre-established gender preference and the zeitgeist of the mid-2000s (mind you, this is coming from a Tycutio shipper). With Tybalt’s default sexuality in mind, let’s take a look at why he doesn't have a romantic partner preprogrammed into the game.

  First of all, Shakespeare’s Tybalt also lacks an obvious romantic interest. Sure, he has some sexual tension with both Mercutio and Romeo, but both instances are left up to interpretation. Much of his banter with Mercutio is laden with sexual innuendos; while the most obvious instance of his tension with Romeo occurs during his final scene before being killed. In addition to Mercutio and Romeo, the Baz Luhrmann film adaptation implies that he is involved in an affair with Lady Capulet (his aunt). That being said, given how the game is programmed, it is impossible for Tybalt Capp to do the same with either Goneril or Regan in a mod-free game (if there even is a mod for that at all).

  Personally, I think part of the reason Tybalt Capp doesn’t have an obvious love interest preprogrammed into the game can be found in his biography. Should you look at Tybalt's biography, you will see that he is “proud” to carry the Capp name. While carrying on his family legacy seems like something Tybalt would be keen on doing given his Capp pride, lineage is shown to be carried down the Capp line through the mother.

  This hypothesis regarding Tybalt’s biography is further supported when we look at the other premade families in Veronaville. Should Tybalt wish to potentially keep his Capp name and possibly pass it down to his offspring, he would probably have to marry a girl from a patrilineal family should the player choose to maintain the status-quo. Unfortunately for Tybalt, Bianca and Beatrice Monty are the only premade female sims in Veronaville to fit that description. While it is definitely possible to match Tybalt up with either of these sims, doing so betrays one of Tybalt’s other pre-established character traits: hating the Montys. In addition, the only non-Monty premade female sims in Veronaville who could serve as an option for Tybalt are Titania and Bottom Summerdream, both of whom are members of another matrilineal family. Should the player pair Tybalt up with either sim and choose to stick to the status quo, he would lose the Capp surname upon marriage, rendering him unable to pass it down to another generation.

  While the developers may not have chosen to give Tybalt a romantic story arc, that doesn’t mean he’s destined to remain single forever. Like I said before, TS2 is a sandbox game, meaning you get to choose how he lives his life regardless of the game’s programming and presented narrative. While Tybalt’s default gender preference shows that he prefers female sims, having him romantically interact with male sims can easily change that (since sexuality runs on a spectrum in TS2 rather than being fixed). As for Tybalt’s anti-Monty views, they can also be disregarded should you put the work into having him (and possibly the partner of your choice) make amends. However, if you decide romance isn’t for Tybalt and instead make him a literal prince of cats, that’s also completely valid. Like with all ships in TS2, there is no right or wrong answer on how to play the game. Ultimately, all ships and interpretations are valid because you, not the developers, are the one who decides how the story plays out.

Final Thoughts

  I will be the first to admit that I do not ship all of the implied pairings listed in this essay. Much like with other essays I have posted, as well as those that are still in progress, I always try to cast aside any biases I may have in order to show as many available options and interpretations as possible. In doing so, I feel like I can at least offer something to those of you whose views on Veronaville differ from my own.

  Naturally, I always refer to outside material in these essays in order to back up the claims. There is often a connection to be found, even if they don't align with my interpretation. I think this is especially true when it comes to the relationships between the premades, as many of them connect to Shakespeare or other relevant sources.

  I wanted to keep things simple for this essay, so I decided to give more of an overview of all the potential couples. While I could have picked apart every little detail, some of these relationships play a large part in Veronaville’s narrative that I believe they may need to be looked at separately from this particular entry. Many of Veronaville’s couples, whether they are mentioned in this essay or not, tend to have multiple layers in terms of both their dynamics and their Maxis-created story arcs. With that in mind, you will definitely see some, or possibly all of these couples covered more at length in the future.

Thank you so much for reading this essay! I hope you enjoyed even though this particular entry is nowhere near as long as my previous two. In fact, I think the entries on the Feud and the Tragedies will probably be the longest ones I’ll post on here; that being said, I do have a multipart project that I’m currently working on right now that I hope to post soon. 

As for next week’s entry, I’m thinking I might make it a two-parter since the essays work better as a unit. If I can get both done in time, I plan to post the first next Saturday and the second next Sunday. Once again, thank you so much for reading, I really hope you enjoyed!

[dramallamadingdang]

Feeling still a bit better today *fingers crossed* Still not near ALL better, but...better. :) So have some replies. :) These are for @jennamaxon, @taylors-simblr, @dunne-ias, @hugelunatic, @twofingerswhiskey, @maksplaygroundsims2, @deedee-sims, @unicornfatty, @rioa, @esotheria-sims, @penig, @thewynd, annnnnnnnd @sparkstark...

jennamaxon replied to your post “A question, before it’s back to bed with me...”

If I were doing it, I'd provide the needed CC as a bundle alongside the neighbourhood files.

The only thing about bundling it is...what if someone doesn’t want all of it? Or what if they already have a lot of it? I mean, from what I understand, once CC is bundled, it’s not an easy process to un-bundle, and the Uni, especially, has a LOT of CC in the form of hood deco.

taylors-simblr replied to your photoset “Just dropping in to sing You Light Up My Life @honeywell-mts. <3...”

Is this your university hood? It’s fantastic!! <3

That it is! And thank you. :) It kind of got out of hand. I didn’t intend for it to be that big, but then I tend to go overboard, so.... I think I’d share it as a main hood, though. Unless people would prefer it as a uni template? Or maybe I’ll do both? Either way it’ll need to be finished with lots. I guess I’ll put out a general ask when the time comes that it’s ready for sharing.

dunne-ias replied to your post “A question, before it’s back to bed with me...”

ooh that'd be a fun thing to play around in! I love decorated hoods, because I'm lazy

Me, too! :D But I’m also picky and something of a perfectionist, which is a sort of bad and self-conflicting combination. *laugh*

hugelunatic replied to your post “A question, before it’s back to bed with me...”

It's just like a full hood. The hood folder and either include necessary cc or link to it.

Yeah, before I came over here to Tumblr, it dawned on me that there are predecorated-but-lotless terrains up for download at MTS. So, I downloaded one of those and, yep, the whole neighborhood folder. I’ll be including the CC, though, mostly because I have no clue where I got most of the stuff I have or who made it, so finding links would be problematic and time-consuming. :)

twofingerswhiskey replied to your photoset “Just dropping in to sing You Light Up My Life @honeywell-mts. <3...”

It all looks so lovely! ��

maksplaygroundsims2 replied to your photoset “Just dropping in to sing You Light Up My Life @honeywell-mts. <3...”

Oh my god, your hood tho. It's beautiful!! :O

Thank you to both of you. <3 I’m having waaaaay too much fun decorating it.

dunne-ias replied to your link “Online English Vocabulary Size Test”

I hope you feel better soon! I got top 5.5% on that quiz, in English. Did a similar one in my actual native language and got top 0.1%, so I'm pretty happy with 5.5% in a foreign language :9

Considering English isn’t your mother tongue, I’d say being in the top 5.5% is pretty damn good! I’d wager you did better than most Americans would. Which is embarrassing, but there it is... If only we had a government that properly funded education instead of trying to fund private “Christian” schools via ridiculous “vouchers” in the name of “freedom of choice.” :P Buuuuuut that’s a rant for another time and place. *sigh*

deedee-sims replied to your link “Online English Vocabulary Size Test”

Get better! (btw you can use tumblr from a mobile browser, I haven't used the app since 2 years or so)

Not on a Kindle, apparently. :( Or at least not on mine. I tried that and it just redirected to the mostly-broken app. It’s got an Amazon-proprietary operating system, so it has its weirdnesses that way. Although maybe if I deleted the mostly-useless app it’d work....Hmmm. 

unicornfatty replied to your photoset “Household #3: Anette McConnell and Saeyoung “Seven” Choi Their house....”

If they have a daughter, consider calling her Summer in my honour, please XD

I’d already planned that, dear. :) Not sure if they’ll ever get married, though, because I’m going to wait for mutual wants in this neighborhood, and if they do I’m not sure which surname they’ll keep. (And hyphenating is just weird, IMO. I mean, what happens when two people with hyphenated last names get married? Do you keep all four names and then the next generation there’s eight names, then sixteen, then....?) *ahem* Anyway, she might not be a “Choi.” :) If she ever exists. :)

rioa replied to your photoset “Household #2: Josie Ahn, Carmine Fortuna, and Sydney Carmichael Their...”

The RNG strikes again O_O It'll be interesting to see how they get along though since I've never had them in the same hood X)

So far? Well, I have played their household for a season now, and I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to say they mostly ignore each other. *laugh* Carmine and Sydney get along like a house on fire, though. Just platonically, because they’re both gay, but...Yeah, they’re buddies. Josie’s just kind of off in her own world, so far.

esotheria-sims replied to your photoset “Household #1: Georgia Eton and Dr. Oliver Little. Their house....”

A doctor who became a witch... so in other words, a Witch Doctor? :D *ba dum tss*

Well, *I* wasn’t going to say it, but....YEAH, EXACTLY! :D (Voodoo, I tell you, vooooooooodoooooooooo. :) )

penig replied to your photo “This is the “big reveal” of the queer hood’s real name. :) Its name is...”

I saw the logo and thought: Fire Island, how old school!

Yeah, that was actually kind of why I liked the name in Esperanto. Because speakers of English and the Romance languages are going to see “fire” in the name, and it’s kind of appropriate since I plopped a volcano on it. OR there’s the connotation of “flaming” gay men. All this even though the word has nothing to do with fire in Esperanto, except maybe in a figurative sense. Pride in being who you are could be seen as a sort of internal fire that can either make you warm and confident and glowing from the inside or burn you up if there’s too much of it, I suppose. So it works all around, I guess.

thewynd replied to your photoset “Household #1: Georgia Eton and Dr. Oliver Little. Their house....”

That is a first! Get abducted and become a witch...very clever!

Yeah, that’s the “alien experiments” mod. They can be turned into supernaturals or another kind of outcome instead of always knocked up. As much as I adore alien babies, I also like the variety the mod brings.

sparkstark replied to your photo “This is the “big reveal” of the queer hood’s real name. :) Its name is...”

That's so cool! What a good name, I've always named all my hoods in Latin and they sound.. old. Might switch them to Esperanto!

It’s a pretty cool language. It sounds familiar, yet it’s different and, yes, it doesn’t sound “old.” It was created to be an international standard language, so it pulls from most of the world’s major languages, making it easier for more people to learn. Duolingo offers a course, and I’ve put it on my list to learn, after I finish the Russian course. And then the Welsh course.

[dramallamadingdang]

Annnnd some replies.

For @penig, @scribblingsim, @taylors-simblr. @freezerbunny-sims, @tamtam-go92, @dunne-ias, @holleyberry, and @scibirg...

penig replied to your post “Every time I think I’m going to get back on track with keeping up with...”

Bonk the guilt on the head. Following someone is not the same as promising to view all the content. Anybody you're particularly interested in, you can go to the individual blog sometime when you're in the mood. You never get to do all the things you want to do and that's life. Don't turn your leisure into work.

Intellectually I know that. Thing is, there are some things I really do want to catch up on, but then when I sit down at the computer, I end up doing something else. Like, going off and looking at Photoshop tutorials or something because an idea strikes me and I want to check out some ways to make it happen. In short, I need more hours in the day and being able to stay awake for them. But don’t we all, I guess? :)

scribblingsim replied to your link “ModTheSims - Orchard Fruits Gussy Up”

Oh, of *course* I'd find out about this after I finally get my game loaded. LOL ah well. A good download for later.

Ain’t that always the way! *laugh* My game was already loaded, too, when I looked at the downloads on MTS, so adding in the mod will have to wait until the next time I exit and reload it. But it’s in the Downloads folder, waiting for that to happen, at least. :)

taylors-simblr replied to your post “Every time I think I’m going to get back on track with keeping up with...”

Same here, I think ooh I’ll catch up and comment on recent story posts, but then I also want to read a book or play a game or maybe I have ironing to catch up on and then I forget and feel guilty and then the dash moves so fast anyway. It is one of the ways that livejournal/dream width is slightly better. The posts don’t get lost forever in the sheer amount of posts even on one persons tumblr

I actually like the journal system better, overall, for lots of different reasons. (Properly threaded conversations is the main one.) But its downside -- at least the last time I used my LJ -- was that it’s a pain to post pics. Gotta do the upload the pics somewhere and then link to the post thing, which is tedious if it’s a lot of pics, rather than just dragging/dropping like you do with Tumblr. Since Sims-posting tends to be pic-heavy, that’s a real bummer. Buuuuuut yeah, it’s nice that it doesn’t move at breakneck speed like Tumblr does. Tumblr’s definitely meant more for the short-attention-span crowd, I think.

And then people post saying their “dash is dead,” and I’m like, “What? HOW??!!” :)

freezerbunny-sims replied to your post “Question!”

Never tried that but it's a great idea. Wasn't there an option for sims with high enthusiasm in a hobby to instruct other sims? Or does that just increase hobby enthusiasm, not skills? On a side note, maybe some skilling objects could be modded to have an option to instruct other sims, like some of the career rewards already have. I don't know how hard it would be though.

Yeah, the instruct thing does only affect enthusiasm. Which is good, too, for my purposes. Because ultimately skills don’t really matter in this neighborhood. No one has a job and most of the skills, except maybe cooking, are most useful for job promotions and whatnot. They don’t actually have too much of an effect on a Sim’s daily life. What would be good is if instructing would increase badge levels. But I think maybe SimWardrobe’s vocational training podium can do that, now that I think about it. I’ll have to track that down...

tamtam-go92 replied to your post “Oh, I didn't know that "send grave to the community lot" thing didn't...”

I didn't know the sent to graveyard doesn't work probably too! And I always sent ma ghosts there ��

Using “Move This Grave” works in the sense that it does move the grave and doesn’t break anything in ways that would cause neighborhood corruption, but if keeping the ghosts’ colors/behaviors is important to you, that’s not the way you want to do it. So far as I know, the interaction hasn’t been fixed so that it preserves the colors/behaviors.

holleyberry replied to your post “Hi iCad. I have a morbid question. How do you deal with graves in your...”

I didn't know that about letting the ghost spawn.

Yeah, the issue is that when a Sim dies, a certain amount of time has to pass before the ghost will spawn. I think the time is randomly determined when the Sim dies, but it seems like it can be anywhere between the night of their death (if they died during the day) up to three or four nights after the Sim’s death. If you move the grave to a community lot before the ghost spawns for the first time...Well, time doesn’t actually pass on unowned community lots because they don’t save, so an “unspawned” grave on a community lot will never reach its designated “spawn time.” 

So, if you want ghosts on community lots, you have to let the ghost spawn for the first time on a residential lot, where time DOES pass. If you don’t want it to be their home lot (so you don’t have to deal with haunting, for instance), then you could use a gravekeeper, go to THEIR residential lot, and have them plunk the grave down there. Then make motives static and put the game on ultraspeed until the ghost spawns. THEN put the “pre-spawned” grave on the community lot. Then the ghost will appear there.

tamtam-go92 replied to your post “Question!”

It's not quite in topic but in my normal gameplay I pretend that teens that don't attend University do an apprenticeship. They have to get a Job and when they go to school I tell it trade school. But since neither exist in your neighborhood I think your Suggestion seems a good Option! As someone who did an apprenticeship I wish there Was something like that in game.

I tend to not like the schooling in the game at all. Probably because I’m not a fan of the “standard” public school system in the US, which is what the game’s school is based on. :) For instance, I violently disagree with the entire concept of “homework” IRL, so I homeschooled my real kids, and in my game, I come up with alternative ways to educate kids/teens that are actual practical (As in, they gain actual skills or badges or whatever) as opposed to just something that sends them off the lot for X hours and all they get is meaningless “grades.” I’ve not done apprenticeship before, but that sort of system makes logical sense for this neighborhood, since it is mostly trades-based, so I’m going to work out some kind of system.

dunne-ias replied to your post “Question!”

I played it once similar to your plan. The teen would move in with the mentor (unless the mentor was their parent) but I would have them stay there, not move them back to their parents's house as I think that made more sense. They were often invited home though for big events and sometimes just dinner. I also made the parents pay the mentor. I think a certain amount of days of apprenticeship would be reasonable, or a certain amount of work done so that skilled workers-

2/2 - would be able to finish their apprenticeship faster. Once they were done they were moved back in with the parents until they had enough money to move out, so the cost of moving out wasn't subtracted from the mentor, but the parent (I had the no20Khandouts.)

With the Sim Transporter, I can move individual Sims into and out of different households at will, without the moving-around affecting anyone's money. (Although there is no money in this neighborhood, so it doesn't really matter. :) ) I use it to run daycares and schools in my game. For this neighborhood...Teens will all leave their birth household on the morning after their teen bday, mostly because space will be at a premium and they’ll need to get out to make room for their younger siblings. :)  They'll move to the communal lot, going into the queue to earn their own house. So I was thinking that when playing the communal lot, any apprentices would just get transported out somewhere for a block of days -- to simulate being "at training" -- and then transported back. Then when I play the mentoring household, I can use the transporter to move their “assigned” apprentice(s) in for their days of actual training and then transport them back when they're done. I think it'll work....

The detail I'm not really clear on is how to run the training. I suppose they can just do all the mentor's work, give them a break. *laugh* But I'd like there to be some interaction between mentor and apprentice as wel. It'd be nice if there was some sort of social interaction to “pass on” skills or badges, sort of like how you can pass along earned business benefits... Maybe I can rig something up with Sophie-David's "opportunity" items (There's a thought...) or maybe SimWardrobe’s vocational trainer or both. Maybe have them do hands-on work one day and then “classroom”-learn from the mentor the next and switch off that way. That might work...

I've got time to think about it, though; it'll be a while before there are any born-in-game teens in this neighborhood! *laugh*

tamtam-go92 replied to your post “This looks crazy. I wonder, how do you take the second baby out of the...”

It's still possible that the fences of the cribs can be put down to put the babies in ��

Now that I think about it, I don’t actually recall if the crib “doors” are animated on those cribs. Of course, that’s how such a thing would work in real life, but I’ve not paid attention to whether or not those cribs are animated in-game....

scibirg replied to your post “This looks crazy. I wonder, how do you take the second baby out of the...”

I once played a medieval game and the Picaso's were living in a tiny hovel and just kept having kids (ACR of course). With the shelf beds from simlogical I was able to cram an amazing number of sims into their one bedroom house!

Oh, yeah. Shelf beds will definitely be used! (That’s why the second bedroom in the houses is three tiles deep. :) ) I’m figuring I can stack three of them per side of the room and then maybe put a floor mattress underneath the “stack,” thus cramming in eight kids. If there’s more than that at a time, tents will be broken out! :)

tamtam-go92 replied to your photo “Attempting to befriend another wolf. This one’s a female because I...”

Won't they bite the sim and turn her into a werewolf?

(This is an old reply. Sorry about that, dear; I missed it when I did the last batch of replies.) 

Anyway, no, only the “Leader of the Pack” -- the wolf with the glowing yellow eyes -- can turn a Sim into a werewolf. The others are just really aggressive big dogs that are rather hard to build relationships with because many interactions are rejected at first and the wolf tends to leave before you can get very far, so you have to wait for the same one to show up again to continue to work on the relationship. I do want someone to befriend/adopt the Leader, though. Mostly because I’ve never had anyone become a werewolf by the “real” in-game method. *laugh*

[dramallamadingdang]

And finally...replies. :)

Sorry if this gets incoherent. :) We went on a hiking day-trip with a group of friends today, and I’m pretty wiped out. Just wanted to get Tumblr communication done before I totally crash because otherwise, I get way behind and never get out of the hole. :)

First of all, I’m very happy that people liked the skies I shared! I did work hard on some of them, and I’m so happy to see them in people’s games. Thank you all for all the “thank yous.” ;) And I look forward to making more, too. I think the rotating ones are going to come out well. :)

And now for more specific replies for @nerianasims, @quill-of-thoth, @kyosmash, @strangetomato, @elfpuddle, @eulaliasims, @lilsisterg, @holleyberry, @littleblondesim, and @penig...

nerianasims replied to your post “kyosmash replied to your post : You can always use the fitness4all mod...”

I 100% get what you're saying, but I feel like the game itself is largely at fault in this one case. It's a mess when it comes to weight. To deal, I look at the "lazy/active" node as "slow/fast metabolism." Unfortunately, the way the game is programmed, the only way to have chubby Sims organically is to have them eat "too much" (which ugh, I gain fat when I don't eat enough.) So I have noeatcrap for that. And because seeing Sims eat spoiled food makes me feel sick.

Yes, it’s true that game mechanics are partly to blame. And really, the “eat too much, get fat” thing IS a reflection of real life. That is actually how it is. Generally, if you eat too many calories for your metabolic and activity level -- barring various medical issues, etc. -- you’ll gain weight. Thing is, that’s true for everyone. Not just for lazy people. True, less active people require fewer calories so if they aren’t careful they are more likely to gain weight than more active people, but if a lazy person is careful and doesn’t eat too much for their lower activity level, they are no more likely to get fat than a marathon runner. (Barring, as I said, various medical conditions like thyroid issues and whatnot.) 

The issue, in my mind, with the mod is that it “targets” only one group of Sims for fatness, to the exclusion of everyone else. And it happens to be a group that, in real life, is stereotypically fat. The vanilla game does not do that. Like I said, I’m probably over-sensitive on the issue because of my own struggles (even though my own struggle is to put and keep weight on, not to lose it), but many people are overly sensitive about something in the game. It’s probably inevitable, since it’s meant to reflect real life. True, it’s “supposed” to be a cartoonish kind of life, but a lot of people don’t play it that way, so...Yeah, people will get bugs up their butts about different things. This is my very own pet butt-bug. ;)

quill-of-thoth replied to your post “kyosmash replied to your post : You can always use the fitness4all mod...”

What I always wish with the pescado mods is that he ever took the time to LIST all of the things that he did in them in his initial release, because we need that info to prevent conflicts... even with other MATY mods. I also wish I could mess with BHAVS, I've been meaning to find something to vastly reduce rolling wants to be cured of supernaturalism / unlink it from aspiration forever...

Yes, I have the same wish. :\ But as I said elsewhere, not documenting is part of his shtick. So, that leaves it up to users who care about what they put in their game to do the documenting. That’s wrong, IMO, but what can you do? *shrug*

Anyway, I could very well be wrong but as I understand it, rolled wants aren’t related to BHAVs and are just governed by “want trees” that link certain wants to certain aspirations and things like that. There are mods out there that alter those trees, but they are sort of like default replacements in that you can only have one replacement file at a time. Perhaps it would be instructive to look at one of those? It usually isn’t for me because I often have not a clue as to what I’m looking at, but maybe you’ll have a better understanding than I would. :) Me, I’d just like to nuke curing wants altogether. In my game, the various “supernaturals” are just genetic conditions and can’t be cured except by aliens, who have superior knowledge of genetic engineering. So, those wants are completely worthless to me and are never fulfilled unless the aliens happen to cure someone when they or a relative has a cure want for them.

kyosmash replied to your post “kyosmash replied to your post : You can always use the fitness4all mod...”

Thank you for the info! I've actually been getting into BHAVs myself so if I get a chance I might be able to take a look, maybe there's just one or two things to get pulled out of there. I wasn't aware of this because I've had it in my game for so long I didn't think about it. Have to agree that Pes' descriptions are a little lackluster sometimes.

Hey, if you come up with anything, I’ll be happy to have it! :) And you’re welcome for the info. IMO, when it comes to Pescado’s mods, the more info that’s shared about what they do and don’t do, the better. :)

strangetomato replied to your post “kyosmash replied to your post : You can always use the fitness4all mod...”

Yeah, I understand they were his personal mods, @lilsisterg. I'm just saying that for my game, those features make the mod unusable. And the more disparate features included in a single mod increases the sense of "his way or the highway". And I will gladly take the highway if some of those features put me off.

That stuff I bolded and italicized up there? That. Totally that. With Pes’s mods, I stay very close to the on-ramp to the highway until I’ve thoroughly tested. :)

And on a totally unrelated note: I am so happy to see JRO on my dash lately! I’m not gonna be able to catch up and comment tonight before I crash, but I just wanted to say that I’ve been thrilled to see you posting. :)

elfpuddle replied to your post “You can always use the fitness4all mod from MATY so your already...”

What food mods do you use instead (if any)?

Very few. Off the top of my head, I think the only food-related thing I have is Mog’s “Simply Leftovers,” so that leftovers can be stored as individual plates rather than as group meals that have to be re-served. Oh wait! I also have one that makes the meals have 8 servings rather than 6. I think that’s all I have that’s food-related...

eulaliasims replied to your post “The bad thing about @nyshabrokeit‘s new townie body diversity mod? Is...”

I kind of want to, too, and I *make* all my townies. Such a cool mod!

I will never, ever, have the patience or desire to make all my own townies because Sim-making is definitely not something I enjoy doing. Plus, I kinda like seeing (and sometimes pointing and laughing at) what the game comes up with. It’s why I townify everything. So, the mod is just what I wanted. :)

lilsisterg replied to your post “You can always use the fitness4all mod from MATY so your already...”

I make all of my townies and I have this mod installed ... Some of the townies are fit and some have gotten fat over time. I believe it works according to their lazy/active personalities. I'm not really sure, but I also have a mod that prevents Sims with high active points from over eating which helps keep them fit. This adds balance because I suspect without it all of my townies would be fat by now.

This one, I’m going to try out, see what happens. I suspect that I will end up with too many fat townies because I enjoy sending Sims out to eat and I currently have a couple player-owned restaurants that get run five days a week when I’m playing the owning household. Non-playable Sims at restaurants get a push to eat whether or not they are hungry and regardless of their personality, and that will contribute to them getting fat with such a mod in place. Whereas I believe (although I could be wrong) that at a community-lot gym, the visiting Sims are still governed by the lazy/active aspect of their personalities as to whether or not they’ll work out. 

In any case, I appreciate that Nysha’s new body diversity mod creates “extreme” townies, in that those who are generated as fit or fat are at the extreme point values for those states, so they will not be too easily altered by what they do (or are forced to do) on community lots. 

holleyberry replied to your post “The bad thing about @nyshabrokeit‘s new townie body diversity mod? Is...”

I was thinking the same thing. I have a "Just for Fun" hood I'm thinking of starting over now too.

I actually AM going to restart my religious isolationist ‘hood, now that I’ve ironed the bugs out of its ruleset, and I got kind of excited about being able to use the mod in a non-testing environment...and then I remembered that that neighborhood will have no townies at all. FOILED! :)

littleblondesim replied to your photo “Since Sharon and Nathen want a large family (She wants four kids, he...”

Is their ideal family sized based on that one algorithm you shared that one time? Vague question is vague. :P

Yeah, it is. Basically, I arbitrarily assigned a range of values for each aspiration that I think made a sort of sense. For instance, the max number of kids for Romance is 2, while the minimum number for a Family Sim is 4. When I need to assign an ideal family size -- which is most often when a born-in-game turns teen, but also for married-ins and for CAS Sims -- I do two random number generations, one for each of their aspirations, and then take the average of the two results as their ideal family size. This way, a Family Sim with a Romance secondary (or vice versa) would have the possible extreme results for each of their aspirations mitigated a bit. 

Nathen is actually Knowledge/Pleasure, but he managed to roll the high extreme (which is 8) for both of his aspirations and so ended up with an IFS of 8, which is usually more like a number a Family Sim would have. :) So, that was interesting. :)

penig replied to your post “After all that hard work at Uni and graduating magna cum laude in a...”

It beats Test Subject, and she'll rise like a rocket.

True. But it’s just disappointing that there is very little career reward for all her hard work. :) The limiting factor was one of the necessary skills for the career; the biology major just didn’t require her to get that many points in that category. (I don’t remember which skill it was off the top of my head. Maybe Logic.)