#they even converted the animations and everything from the Sims 4

[casinthemachine]

NO FUCKING WAY?????

@lamare-sims you sneak! this is so cool, thank you for uploading this to MTS. I'm immediately checking this out rn!

[lordcrumps]

The Sims 2 For Rent - CC EXPANSION PACK

Sul Sul!

~ More photos under the under the cut ~

Last week the Sims 4 got a new pack, this week Sims 2 players get that same pack! In a collaboration with @platinumaspiration and @tvickiesims and a HUGE assist from @episims, we bring you "The Sims 2 For Rent CC Expansion Pack!"

This is a large set, and advisable that it does not get merged even further than it already is! - I ran into some issues when trying to do this!

When you explore this pack, please take a look at the marble ring rug, it has some surprisingly cute rug swatches! I put a swatch in it to remove the marbles themselves, so you have a cute small rug! - I only mention this as I was going to bin the rug off once uploaded, but then I found it had some lovely swatches!

FUNCTIONALITY

So most of the items will function as they should and intended as. Its just not just deco items.

There is two collection files included, separated into build buy! Please note that fences and stairs and spandrels cant be but into a collection!

The squatty toilet that took me over 12 hours to make, yeah they squat, animation can be a bit bouncy but such is life. This toilet also can be flushed, get dirty and is cleanable!

Outdoor plants are seasonal!

Counters are animated with insides built, there is no drawer on the counter, I did not want to change the shape of the unit, and saw EA did the same - ignore the fact they grab something from a non existent drawer

Wardrobes have interiors elements, and have working doors!

Each Kettle have two versions, choose only one, one for the colour traits mod / one 'normal'. They function as Tea makers! Huazzah!

Spandrels in build mode are classified as fences. I made a variant with fence / no fence.

Several of the larger deco pieces such as the Arch Gate, or umbrella are actually lights!

Radiators act like radiators!

The Aircon Unit is completely functional, doesn't lower bills, but it does lower sims temperatures!

"Water Heaters" act like solar panels, they get money off your bills!

The Electrical Fuse box has 2 versions, I kept them both in, one wall deco and one functions as a burglar alarm - I wanted more alarms.

Most Sofas / Chairs have morphs!

Slots added to the Vanity and Bathroom Cabinet!

FENCES / SPANDRELS / STAIRS OH MY!

I have included swatch images of each of the spandrels, fences and stairs and labelled them to match, this is so that you can go in and take out any of the swatches you do not want. This is because there are lot of new fences and the menu can feel cluttered with them in for some people.

DOWNLOAD

ALT - SFS

~ Credits / Thanks / List of items not converted under the cut ~

MORE PHOTOS

CREDITS

Mini fridge is cloned from Targa over at MTS - so now it works just like a regular fridge barring a few animations (get baby bottle and juggle)

Kettles were cloned from @pforestsims's kettle, link here.

@jacky93sims for the base of the squat toilet! Epi for the code edits!

THANKS

@tvickiesims, @platinumaspiration thank you soo much for helping with the objects, really couldn't do it myself!! Your amazing, awesome, and some of the best creators out there! Thank you again!

@episims - YOU ARE DA BOMB! Thank you for all your help in getting those toilets working with me, and everything else you do when you answer my little annoying questions! Appreciated like you wouldn't believe!

LIST OF ITEMS NOT CONVERTED - @sims4t2bb

Due to the sizing / functionality of these objects, they will not be included in this pack!

All Yer Fixins Untenable Food Stand

Mali's Moonlight Market Craft Stall

Vegan Vittles Night Market

Late Night Snack Dessert Stall

Rice to Meet You Night Market

The Unrestroom

Fisherman's Slats Window - Tall

The Secret Maze Window - Very Tall

The Secret Maze Window - Super Duper Tall

Stained Glass Tomarani Shutters - Tall

Stained Glass Tomarani Shutters - Tall and Open Wide

The Save Us From Ruin Tallest Cinched Wall Curtain

The How Many Times Do We Need To Tell You It's Not Silk Taller Wall Curtain

The We Are Going To Jail< Tallest Wall Curtain So You Know the Truth Curtain

[jinxxsims]

Because... why not?

So as I go through my old sim stuff and debate whether or not I'm going to start all over from scratch... I discovered there were some things in my own creations folders that I never shared (similar to the simbishy set I shared the other day). I'm not entirely sure why I didn't share them, but it was probably just because I made them for a specific reason within my game and didn't think any one else would be interested.

In hindsight, that seems silly. If no one downloads them, oh well, but if even one person out there is interested in having them, then it's better to share, so this is me doing that.

So full disclosure, this all came right out of my game before my old computer blew up, so all my recolors are merged because that's part of how I kept my downloads. I don't have individual recolors to offer because of that, but all the recolors that were made by the creators (at least at the time) are in the merged files.

I also don't know if anyone has converted these since I went MIA, so if someone else has already shared their conversions of these things, apologies! With that said, on to the downloads!

These are a couple of ceiling lights that are not at all ceiling lights from a set by Severinka @ TSR. I don't remember if I made these before I learned how to make lights actually light up or if it was impossible or if I just wanted them as sculptures, but these are nonfunctioning and can be found in the deco category.

Download Severinka's (Non-Functioning) Ceiling Lamps

These are conversions of the cakes from the (absolutely amazing!) @soloriya's Laila Desserts set. These are deco only and can be found in deco > miscellaneous. All recolors are included in the merged files.

Download Soloriya's Laila Cakes

These are conversions from @soloriya's Himari sets 1 & 2. They're just deco, but extremely cute deco. All recolors are included in the merged files.

Download Soloriya's Himari Deco

Once again, credit goes to @soloriya. These meshes are from her Noah Bedroom set. There are no recolors, but everything is functional. The animations for the dressers (both tall and short) are off, but changing that was and is beyond my skillset.

Download Soloriya's Noah Bedroom

And last but not least, I have 30 recolors of the edited N65 Festive tablecloth. The (unmerged) meshes (master and slave) are included with thanks, but my recolors are merged into a single file. Here is a preview of the thirty recolors:

Download the N65 Festive Tablecloth Recolors

I created the above patterns myself, but if anyone else would like to have them either to make recolors for the tablecloth that aren't merged or for any other projects, I also uploaded a zip of just the patterns. Please note that they will appear upside down because that's the way they have to be to be right side up for the tablecloth, but you can rotate them as you like.

Download the Tablecloth Resources

Hopefully there's someone out there that will find some of this useful. With all that said, I've been out of this game for a hot minute now and have no idea what's all been converted or not in my lengthy absence. If anyone out there wants to point me towards certain sets to convert or has requests from the games themselves (I have all current sims 4 eps, game packs, stuff packs, and kits), feel free to send me a request via ask. If you'd like me to convert something from a sims 4 creator, please make sure they allow conversions in their policies first.

Happy Friday!

[tvickiesims]

Hi Vickie - I wanted to say thanks so much for bringing life into TS2, you along the other tumblr simmers really have sparked so much joy into this game again! Now I had a question/idea - the goats and sheep skins for the large dog... I know nothing about modding this game - would it be possible to use the small dog to create the chicken? Could the entire back half be invisible and the front of the rig be used for the chicken? Just a thought! Thanks again for everything you do for the community!

Hi Charlie! Thank you soooo much for your kind words! 🤗

Ah, good question! Short answer - unfortunately no.

Long answer for those who are interested:

So just taking chicken model from the Sims 4 and making it a custom collar is very possible. But the problem here is animations as they won't align at all.

I'll try to explain it to you in a simple way using simple terms, but I have very VERY limited knowledge of CAS stuff and therefore skeleton.

You've probably heard creators complain over and over again about bones and skeleton and how everything is bad and looks wrong and how they are sick and tired of it 😆 That's because skeleton is a base used by the game to animate objects. And joints are points for animation. So you take parts of the mesh and assign them to specific bones so that when your object animates, it looks smooth and natural, without holes, gaps, things sticking out etc. But there's no universal instruction on how do to it, it's very object specific and has to be done manually to get best results. It's very tedious and time-consuming. Shout out to @deedee-sims who took care of the skeleton for all of our animals converions ❤️

This is how a large dog's skeleton looks like (blue dots):

In order for animations to look as good as possible, the object basically needs to look as close as possible to a dog (only in our case, because our base is a large dog. Small dog's skeleton is the same but smaller). A chicken has only two legs, no ears or tail but has wings while the dog doesn't. And the skeleton can't be modified (like made smaller/bigger or have it's parts moved). So even if it's technically possible to assign only bones that looks similar or the same to both, the animation will look horrible. Imagine how its head will move 😬😆

It is possible to make a new skeleton, but only for new objects and it is an extremely difficult task involving a lot of editing, including fiddling with SimPe to make the game recognize it.

The only other creatures that might be possible to convert from Sims 4 as collars are foxes and horses. But horses will look like dwarfs, kinda like our llamas already do 😂

So I hope it explains why there are not many animated animals out there and why not all of them may be converted as collars.

[crispsandkerosene]

Mesh Optimization Info

(I am posting this by itself at the request of the tutorial database gang. This post contains information and links about optimizing 3d models, retopology, and texture baking.)

-

What I was taught in my video game art dregree is that for modern GPUs, handling a lot of geometry isn’t a big deal. However, it’s still best to optimize your models for ease of use. A model with a reasonable poly count and good topology is easier to skin (assign bone weights to) and will deform better during animations. It’s less to load for the game engine or 3d modeling software. More on good topology here.

(Modern game characters usually have very high polycounts because of detailed outfits and hair (including brows, beards and eyelashes) and the desire for curved surfaces to look smooth. These models are not plopped directly into the game from Marvelous Designer or ZBrush. Nathan Drake’s face geometry may be heavy, but it’s intentful. See the circular ‘flow’ around the eyes and mouth.)

Something that is costlier on the GPU is complex shaders, such as alpha blending of overlapping elements as seen with hair and foliage. (Here is a screenshot from Unreal Engine showing the rendering cost of foliage vs the rest of a scene.) This means that in certain cases, using more polygons to avoid their overlap is the better alternative. Here is an example I drew.

Texture size is alsosomething to keep in mind with tS2. The game isn’t great with texture memory: just look at how quickly you’ll get pink flashing in a forested neighborhood. The standard I was taught is that texture resolution should roughly correspond to the space the object will take up on the screen. The UV map should take up as much of the texture space as possible. Since tS4 uses one big texture for all of a sim’s component meshes, it’s better to rescale their UVs and crop their textures when converting.

-

Now onto some actionable advice :p

I’d highly recommend using Blender rather than Milkshape, at least when dealing with big meshes. It’s got a learning curve, but the software is very powerful and the internet is full of tutorials. Here are the plugins to use for GMDC meshes in Blender 2.8+, and Blender 2.79.

The first step to making an extremely high poly mesh game-ready is retopology: creating a version of the model with simpler geometry.

- It can be done using tools, such as Blender’s Poly Build Tool. This is quick, but good results are not guaranteed for every mesh.

- My preference is to do it by hand. This video by FlippedNormals explains in detail how to do manual retopology in Blender.

- I’ve also seen multiple tutorials from Sims 4 creators, but I can’t vouch for whether they are good or accessible: mauvemorn, SM&Kleos, jwofles.

- If the original mesh already has good topology (eg. it looks like a grid and not a bunch of uneven little ‘flowers’), you should be able to simplify it by simply deleting rendundant edge loops.

The second step is texture baking: translating shape and shading details from the high poly model into the texture(s) used by the low(er) poly model. In a modern game, most of this information would be ‘baked’ into a normal map. Since the Sims 2 is old, its capacity to render those is pretty basic. Most everything has to go into the baseline diffuse texture.

- This great tutorial by Lyralei explains how to create and bake texture details in Blender into the ‘multiplier’ texture of a tS3 outfit. (I highly recommend creating a multiplier style base to all textures, even when you’re not working from a high poly model.)

- The add-on TexTools (old website with more info) has powerful baking tools which greatly simplify the process. Its ‘Paint Base’ preset does a decent job at producing multipliers.

- I personally do my texture baking and creation in Substance Painter, which sadly is paid. I use Luis Armstrong’s smart material as a base for most my textures. The set up is shown in case you want to recreate it yourself - which should be doable in any software as long as you can bake the relevant texture maps. I can share more about my process if there’s interest.

(Texture baking is also very useful in ‘adapting’ the multiple texture maps of modern PBR rendering into a diffuse that will look good in the Sims 2. For example, here is the original diffuse of this object, and here is my final texture.)

[murfeelee]

Weekend! Replies!

Man, what a week! My mood was already low, thanks to the Post+ crapfest, like omg Tumblr’s really tryna get people sued. But the cherry on top was the braincells I wasted watching the EA Play 2021 event, like I give a crap about Dead Space 4--WHERE TF IS DRAGON AGE 4, EA/BIOWARE!? Who do I kill?

________________________________________________

REPLIES

simsmono replied to your post “C2077 Clouds INSP Set”

Thank you for these!!

cavernsofdarkness replied to your post “C2077 Clouds INSP Set”

Thank you for feeding my cyberpunk obsession one piece of cc at a time 🖤

You’re both very welcome! I’ll be so glad to be done converting from C2077; this is one of the hardest games I’ve ever converted from, ISTG.

simsdestroyer replied to your post “Check In Tag”

Lol!!!!!  Hilarious!!!

cavernsofdarkness replied to your post “Check In Tag”

I died at "and I still get people showing up on my front lawn" 🤣

I’m gonna be a freaking menace when I get old; I can tell.

solori replied to your post “Check In Tag”

omg yessss!!! I DO WANT ts1-ts2 remake! that's literally my sims-dream 😍😍😍

IKR!? That would be the coolest thing ever--TS2 has aged extraordinarily well, considering it’s a 20+ year old game. All it needs is modern meshes/textures and graphics, and updated pop culture references--the gameplay is arguably better than TS3; its neighborhoods are pretty great; the lore is iconic, and the TS2 community is still thriving to this day. A TS1/TS2 remake would be the best thing for The Sims franchise, rather than making TS5. The Resident Evil 2 remake was outstanding. Unfortunately, Final Fantasy 7′s remake wasn’t all it was hyped up to be, and they took it in what many feel is the WRONG direction. So simmers would have to hope EAxis wouldn’t eff up and like, remove any of TS2′s features; just add to what’s already there (TS3′s CASt & Story Progression, TS4′s build mode, Freeplay’s venues, etc).

pixelatedlawnflamingos replied to your post “TS4 to TS3 Strangerville CAS Miniset”

Thank you!!!!

catbrokensims3 reblogged your post “TS4 to TS3 Strangerville CAS Miniset”

Thank youuuuuu!! ❤💙💜

You’re very welcome! 🛸👽🖖

solori replied to your post “CQL/MDZS INSP - Gusu Arc Pt2c: The Gift  CAPTIONS...”

cuuute :D

Thank you! 🐰

Sheep

nornities replied to your post “Farm Sweet Farm - Part 3 Nagron’s back in...”

Haha, the amount of sheep on my dash has exploded! That’s awesome :)

The second I saw those sheep I dropped everything I was doing. Freaking astounding work, creating a new animal completely from scratch. EFF EA, seriously! @greenplumbboblover​​ is THE G.O.A.T.! 🐐

poisonfireleafs replied to your post “Farm Sweet Farm - Part 3 🐑🐐  Nagron’s back in...”

Such a beautiful farm. It reminds me of the farms in my country

Thank you! I’m pretending Aurora Skies is in Germany, but it really screams the Netherlands, Denmark, Scandinavia, LOL.

technicallyswagpizza replied to your post “Farm Sweet Farm - Part 3 Nagron’s back in...”

I need a goat horse in my life so badly

Same! Mules and tigons and zebroids are cool or whatever, but it’s high time natural selection created some satyrs and centaurs and fauns already; it’s getting boring.

solori replied to your post “Farm Sweet Farm - Part 3 🐑🐐 Nagron’s back in...”

now we have your bunnies and sheeps. who need ts4 farm?? :D

PREACH! Greenplumboblover singlehandedly proved that simmers can create whatever the heck we want, given the know-how. I can’t wait to see what else the community comes up with (I want peacocks, just saying 🦚). It just goes to show that EA is lazy AF--ONE PERSON created a farm animal from scratch in their free time, for free, and I bet it didn’t take GPL 6 whole years to make them, the way it took EA 6 years to convert the chickens and cows from TS3 to TS4 for $40. 🙄 #EAYouSuck

Dragons

solori replied to your post “Baby Dragons as Pet Birds - WIP Last year I...”

awesome!! :D

kosmokhaos replied to your post “Baby Dragons as Pet Birds - WIP Last year I...”

Ooooh that's so cool

doka-chan replied to your post “Baby Dragons as Pet Birds - WIP Last year I...”

What a nice idea ! :D

Thank you all! I hope I can figure out how to fix them!

rainyunknownllama replied to your post “Baby Dragons as Pet Birds - WIP Last year I...”

Maybe try making custom made bird cages to fit their bodies? Maybe that solve the size issue? Cool idea regardless tho.

This is actually a neat solution, thank you! Using even the regular log-perch would definitely look better, agreed. My main concern is the clipping when sims interact with the dragons though. They’re huge when sims hold them, and constantly clip right through their heads.

Granted, even my bunny rabbits clip through heads when sims snuggle them, but it’s not 100% of the time (more like 75%, pfft).

But my dragons are downright unplayable at the size they are, which makes no sense, cuz I didn’t resize the meshes at all! They snap back to their regular size in-between every animation, and I have no clue why, cuz all I did was swap the meshes/textures--this makes no frikkin sense. 😩

bbcopperdaisy replied to your post “Baby Dragons as Pet Birds - WIP Last year I...”

GASP! Oh NO you didn't!!! :D (Oh YES you did!!!) I want so badly to put my baby dragons somewhere other than the floor. (But yeah, those morphing bodies sure look freaky.)

I wish I didn’t! 😅 The eldritch horror is real, I tell you. (－‸ლ)

_________________________________________________

Happy simming!

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims 4 Paranormal Stuff: Developer Blog (Part 1)

SimGuruConnor has released part 1 of the Sims 4 Paranormal Developer Blog series.

Hello Simmers! Welcome to a small 2-part Dev Blog about our newest Stuff Pack, Paranormal Stuff! This pack has been an absolute blast to work on, and I’m excited to share what this pack is all about!

I’ll try not to reveal too many spoilers for the pack either, so I’ll keep things somewhat brief. Our topics for today are the new Scared Mood and the Haunted House Lot Type, plus an interview with our Audio Artist too!

Get Scared

Sims can now relish in the mortal dread of the Scared Mood! The Scared Mood affects Sims in a variety of ways, with my personal favorite, the new Scream Incoherently interaction, where a Scared Sim runs up to another Sim to scream their lungs out. This can result in the other Sim calming down the Scared Sim, or resulting in both Sims becoming Scared. This can create a Scared Mood wildfire if you’re not careful!

Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's okay!

Sims afflicted with the Scared Mood also have trouble communicating with others, the urge to panic-run everywhere, and are slightly more prone to accidents. If no other Sims are around to help calm down a Scared Sim, they might just have to Hide Under The Covers for a while.

But if being Scared just isn’t your Sims style, consider purchasing the new Brave Trait. This Satisfaction Reward Store Trait will rapidly reduce the incoming fear a Sim feels and help Sims regain their composure faster. While no Sim is totally fearless, this trait should help mitigate some of those creepy feelings.

The Scared Mood and the Brave Reward Trait are all base game features coming with the Paranormal Stuff patch on January 21st. Tons of previous Uncomfortable Buffs are now becoming Scared Buffs, such as the “Startled By Ghost” Buff or the “Thalassophobia” Buff from Island Living.

While being Scared might not be a common occurrence in your everyday Sims life, living in a Haunted House is a whole different story…

Happy Haunts

Introducing the Haunted House Lot Type!

The Duplantier Dwelling, created by Doctor Ashley! This “canon” Haunted House will be available in the gallery!

They’re like regular houses, only haunted! Although unassuming during the day, at night, these places get super weird. Your Sims may notice things like flickering lights, pipes rattling, or even creepy dolls staring at them in the corner. All are totally normal occurrences in a Haunted House, but it may take some time for your Sims to adjust to their new surroundings.

Sims living in a Haunted House will also be introduced to floating apparitions known as Specters. They’re cute little critters, but their motives aren’t entirely clear. You can try talking to them, or even offer them presents in hopes of establishing a good rapport. If they like you, they’ll drop special loot for you and your family. If they don’t like you, well, you’ve been warned.

o o o (> ‘ u ‘ )>

Learning to get along with your new ghostly inhabitants is crucial in a Haunted House. Things like botching seances, neglecting Specters, or letting accursed objects invade your house will have a negative impact on its spiritual serenity. There is a delicate art to co-existing with the entities of the house, and thankfully you’ll have an expert on the matter to assist you!

Meet Guidry

Claude René Duplantier Guidry was a seasoned Paranormal Investigator in his previous life, but now he exists to help anyone brave enough to live in a Haunted House! You’ll probably run into him eventually living in a Haunted House, but don’t worry, he’s a nice ghost!

Guidry will gladly offer his wisdom to those who seek it. If you’re confused, alarmed, or slightly uncomfortable by your new haunted surroundings, give Guidry a holler and he might be able to help. He can also offer valuable objects to help your Sims, too; all you need is to reach out!

Still got it.

All Guidry wants in return is to crash at your place for the time being. Sounds like a fair deal, right? But if you’d prefer to fly it solo, you can always disable his nightly visits—he won’t be too upset, maybe.

As mentioned before, Guidry was a Paranormal Investigator before his untimely demise. If he sees potential in you, he can certify you with a Paranormal Investigation License, granting access to the Paranormal Investigation Freelancer Gigs. Only those who are qualified enough can join the ranks of Paranormal Investigators, but more on that next time!

Be Brave!

Living in a Haunted House adds a layer of risk and reward for your Sims, and each successful night yields Reward Store Satisfaction Points for everyone in the Household. Specters can also drop treasure that can also be collected, consumed, or sold to an Oddity Collector. So although your Sims might go through a bit of peril, they’ll thankfully be compensated.

One of my favorite pieces of haunted treasure is the new Sacred Candle. Not only do they look cool, but they also help protect Sims from paranormal influences. Place them around your house to make sure Sims are properly shielded!

A properly protected Sim.

Things like Sacred Candles and performing ceremonies at the Séance Table are integral to keeping your Sims happy in a Haunted House. Without using these paranormal tools, the entities of the house might get a little bossy.

And while it might be in your Sims’ best interest to keep the spirits of the house in check, watching things go horribly wrong in a Haunted House can be just as fun too. So whatever works for you!

Like Tiny Homes, this Lot Type can be toggled on or off at any time. So whether you’re a casual thrillseeker who wants to spend a couple of nights in a Haunted House, or a seasoned Paranormal Expert who wants to take on a new challenge, this Lot Type should offer something for you!

Crosspack Stuff!

Pets get to share the fun too! They especially love the accursed objects that show up!

I think they’re gonna get along great.

As mentioned before, a ton of old Buffs from multiple packs are now being converted to the Scared Mood. I think 70 something Moodlets were converted? Honestly, I lost count. Anything that seemed more appropriate for the Scared Mood was transferred over.

Oh, and you might remember an old Lot Trait from City Living called Haunted. For clarity’s sake, it needed a name change, so now it’s the Spooky Lot Trait. It also benefits from being combined with the new Haunted House Lot Type and will have an increased chance of spawning Ghosts at night. So use both for maximum haunted-ness!

Audibly Frightened

Last but not least, I’d love to turn it over to our Audio Artist for this pack, Briana Billups! She did a killer job bringing Haunted Houses to life! Trust me!

Conor: Can you tell us what an Audio Artist does on The Sims 4?

Briana: Big, broad picture: an audio artist decides what everything in The Sims 4 sounds like. We record, create, and edit sounds to the art and animation of the game. Little, very detailed picture: creating the actual sounds is usually one of the smaller aspects of our job. We are meeting with other departments, like design, animation, and VFX, to understand the overall vision of new game features and how we can fit in sonically. We are meeting with each other to make sure all our new content still keeps the very fun and quirky vibe of the Sims. We come up with new tools and implementation where necessary.

Conor: What sort of things go into the creative process for creating audio?

Briana: Every audio artist/sound designer has their own creative process, but I like to make a “sonic mood board” of sorts. I typically like to have a good idea of what I want something to sound like in my head before I record or edit it, so it’s nice to have sound effects or music to refer to that represents my original inspiration or ideas. When I was in college, I would make Spotify playlists for whatever I was working on. I would listen to them once a day, adding and editing as necessary, so when I actually got to work, I was in the right headspace. Now I’m usually less formal about this sort of stuff, but for this pack, I would refer back to things like Vincent Price’s demonic laugh from Thriller or Casper the Friendly Ghost Cartoons and the looping soundtrack from the queue of a horror ride at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk (Ghost Blasters)

Conor: What were you most excited to work on for this pack?

Briana: Definitely all the haunted house sounds! Good sound design is the crux of so many horror movies and video games, so even if we were keeping things more “Casper” and less “Poltergeist,” I still wanted to give a good scare here and there. I actually scared myself one day while playtesting another feature in the game!

Conor: If you had to choose, what is your favorite audio clip you’ve ever added to The Sims 4?

Briana: I would say my favorite SFX were the sports arena loops in EP08: Discover University. When you visit the arena for the soccer/esports match or graduation, you can actually listen to the whole game or ceremony. It was great to craft a whole story from start to finish using just sound. I also snuck in a lot of developer names when writing the scripts for our voice actors.

Thanks, Briana!

More To Come!

That about covers this first foray into the Paranormal Stuff Pack! This pack has been a ton of fun to work on, and watching my Sims flee in terror has been more enjoyable than I’d like to admit.

Next blog, we’ll focus on the Séance Table and developing your Medium skill, as well as the new active freelance career Paranormal Investigator.

Big thanks to the Stuff Pack team for helping this pack come to life, and thank you, Doctor Ashley, for building our featured Haunted House!

Until next time, SimGuruConor

[maxismatchccworld]

Welcome back to our latest - and last! - Deep Dive into the gameplay of The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting Stuff Pack. I’ve really enjoyed sharing the designs and development of this pack with you, and I hope to continue doing these sorts of posts in the future. It’s been a super cool experience, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these! In today’s post I’ll talk about the feature that is core to everything in this pack, Knitting! Once again, I have to remind you that we’re still in active development on the pack and so some things may change between now and the final game. Now, let’s talk about some nifty knits!

READ IT I PROMISE YOU GONNA LIKE IT!

In order to start knitting, you’ll need to purchase a Yarn Basket from the Build/Buy catalog. You probably remember voting on these baskets a while back. This was the winning design, presented to you now in all its colorful glory! Don’t like color? That’s okay, because we included a solid black and white variant.

We have one more knitting basket coming too! Remember this one?

The basket acts as the crafting catalyst(neat term, huh?) similar to the Easel or Woodworking Bench in The Sims 4 base game. But unlike those examples, the Yarn Basket is meant to live in a Sim’s inventory so that they can take their knitting anywhere they want to go. Knitting itself is relatively straightforward: click on the Yarn Basket in your inventory, OR, with the basket in your inventory, click on the chair you want to sit in while knitting (perhaps a rocking chair?) and select the Knit interaction. Your projects are saved to your Sim, so you can pause your progress at any time and resume later, and even juggle multiple projects at once. Starting a project costs a small amount of Simoleons for the cost of yarn, but nothing too outrageous.

(Children can knit too!) As a Sim levels up their knitting skill they’ll have access to new patterns. They’ll start with knitting socks and beanies, but as they grow more skilled they can tackle more challenging projects like sweaters and toys for kids. But if you only want to specialize in one thing - perhaps knitted mailbox cozies? - that's fine too! Just keep knitting anything and everything, and you’ll be level 10 before you know it. Speaking of knitting skill, sometimes your skill is reflected in your knitted work, or rather your lack of skill. Knitting projects can fail, and when they fail they can get weird. But it’s all subjective, and maybe you’ll end up accidentally knitting the cutest derpy companion, or the perfectly itchy sweater. No mistakes, only happy accidents!

(Just own it.) One of the niftiest parts of the knitting skill is unlocking the ability to Teach to Knit, where Sims sit down together and have a knitting pow-wow. We wanted this to feel special, so we got a really sweet animation for it (Thanks Haeju!). Now that you can infect other Sims with the knitting bug, no yarn ball will be safe!

(The knitting needles aren’t finished on the Teach To Knit interaction yet, but trust me it's SUPER CUTE.) So, what can you do with all these knitting projects? Lots of stuff! Not only can knitted objects be listed on Plopsy, but you can also Donate them to charity. If you want to surprise a loved one, try Gifting a knitted object too. If you want to destroy all traces of your knitted failures, you can Frog the object and start again! If it's a particularly nice Sweater that you made, consider Adding it to Wardrobe to make it available in Create-A-Sim to all family members.

(Everyone appreciates a nice gift!) We want Sims to be able to knit something for their whole family. Not only will Sims be able to knit Toddler Onesies, but Baby Onesies as well. So put your little grubworm in a handmade knitted outfit. I’m sure they’d thank us if they could! (And if they didn’t like it I’m sure they’d be polite about it.)

(Here’s a sneak peek at some of the concept art for new clothing for the littlest of Sims!) It also felt like a good idea to add an Aspiration to tie this passion for knitting all together. So if you want to master the fuzzy art of knitting, consider signing your Sim up for the Lord(or Lady) of the Knits Aspiration. With yarn running through your veins, there will be no knitting mountain too hard to conquer! Master the Aspiration and you’ll be rewarded with the Sacred Knitting Knowledge trait. What does it do? Lots of stuff! What does it unlock? Something special! Am I being vague? I am! Come on guys, I can’t share all the secrets quite yet.

As I’ve mentioned previously, we’re trying to get as much cross-pack functionality for knitting as we can. Cats can play with Yarn Baskets and Yarn Balls, there will be new Club rules for Knitting, new class electives at University, and knitting counts for Emotional Control, just to name a few. I’m hoping Knitting feels nice and snug alongside our other gameplay systems. Now let's have a chat with our lead Object Modeler, Beth Mohler! Conor: Can you tell us a little bit about what an Object Modeler does on The Sims 4? Beth: As an object modeler I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make objects work in The Sims 4. This is actually a very involved process, and somewhat different from the wonderful work our environment team does. We work with designers, concept artists, engineers, animators, vfx artists (basically everyone!) to make sure that Sims can use an object properly in an animation, or that all of our objects will work with each other. Once we understand the design for a new object, we will create a rig, a block model (a very generic version of the object used to help us make more of the same object in the future), and a footprint (tells us where the object can go and how Sims move around it). Once those are tested by animators and other disciplines we can model the final version, create UVs, and add textures. We also hook up and test everything in the game to make sure it all looks good. There is a lot to think about when it comes to making objects because we know players can find so many interesting ways to place and use them in game. That makes it a very fun challenge to make them work with everything else we’ve built before. Conor: What feature are you most excited to work on in Nifty Knitting Stuff? Beth: I’d say I am most excited to work on the rocking chairs! I love that we are bringing them to the game and can’t wait to see them in some cozy living rooms or on porches. Conor: What are some of the challenges you are facing working on this pack? Beth: One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that the knitting itself looks good and is fun to watch! This is a challenge given that it needs to work for everything you can create. Figuring this out takes a lot of iteration between modeling, animation, engineering, design, and art direction so that we come to a conclusion that will work the best given our time and technical constraints. Another interesting “challenge” is the fact that I crochet as a hobby myself! When you are knowledgeable about something (yarn!) in real life, working on it in the game it can sometimes be hard to separate the things you know and may expect in reality from what is possible or best within a video game. I have to make sure to keep a balance and to conceptualize how we can best convert the knitting experience into The Sims 4. As someone who also generally enjoys interior design and architecture, this is actually one of my favorite challenges and one of the things I love about working on objects in The Sims 4. Conor: What is your favorite feature you have ever worked on in The Sims 4? Beth: I think it has to be a tie between the mini fridge or the robotics table in Discover University. That pack was the first time I got to really take an entire feature from start to finish. I’ve been with Maxis for a while, but I’m relatively new to The Sims 4. Both of these objects had some complex features we wanted that required a lot of iteration. I learned a ton about the technical aspects of our game during the process as well. I’ve also worked on a few very cool things between then and now, but those can’t be shared yet ; ) As a fan of The Sims since the very beginning I am so happy to be able to share a little about what I do on a daily basis on The Sims 4 with you! I haven’t been on The Sims 4 for quite as long overall, but some of you may also recognize me from my time on Sims Mobile where I shared some of our workflows on Twitter for making a juice bar. Thanks! Conor: You shared a screenshot of the In-Progress Rocking Chair in our Rocking Chair Deep Dive. Can you share an updated screenshot now that the Rocking Chair is further along? Beth: I would love to! I hope everyone has been enjoying seeing the progress on this object so far! Here it is a little further along. This program allows us to set the rules for the object materials, footprint size and rig it should use, as well as all the color variants and swatch colors you see in the catalog.

Thanks Beth! By the way, Beth is on Twitter @SimGuruBeth, so be sure to Follow her! And thanks to all of you Simmers for following this pack’s development, this has been a really fun project in a very crazy time. A big thank you to my Stuff Pack teammates, and especially SimGuruSarah who edited my inane ramblings and wrangled the miscellaneous bits for these posts. While this concludes my design Deep Dives, we still have more forum posts with development insights on the way! Keep checking the Community Stuff Pack forum and we’ll have more fun stuff to show off in the weeks to come. Until next time, SimGuruConor

Source: The Sims Forum

[fotiathymos]

■ -  Bedroom/house/living quarters headcanon for GaloLio when they get together after the events of the movie? 🥺

■ -  Bedroom/house/living quarters headcanon

This got long and idk how to properly make a read more on mobile so uh.. suffer with it.

I always just imagine it being a small city apartment that was Galo's. Cheap one bedroom in an apartment building with not the best maintenance kept up. Elevators broken all the time and the place is on the 8th floor. Lio hates that the most since it causes him to be stuck in the apartment sometimes when his legs are acting up after losing and regaining his limbs.

Galo's place use to be just where they kept their stuff and slept sometimes, as they usually were at work and sleeping in the fire truck alot too. And yeah, most their life they bought models and figures they built and anime merch and other collectables but it all would collect dust and not be displayed much. The only thing Galo took care of was their memorial display for their parents. The rest of the apartment was dusty and a mess from lack of use.

After Lio started coming by, Galo cleaned up. And once Lio moved in.. he encouraged Galo to actually 'live' in the space. One day Lio and Galo took out and displayed neatly all the little knick knacks that Galo collected together. The day was mostly spent with Galo talking about each item and how they were built or what media it's from to Lio. Eventually Galo bought items for Lio, like dragon figures.

Slowly the apartment was very lived in as Lio even gained stuff of his own to put in it.

Lio started a fire escape garden, much to Galo's protests of it being a fire hazard. (Lio's justification for it was him living with the world's number one firefighter, so he's safe and Galo couldn't deny that.) Lio set up his own work desk in the living room. Galo set up weights and gym equipment in the living room to spend more time at home with Lio.

The kitchen is a mess to an outsider but to Galo, everything is where it makes the most sense to them. Things are everywhere and some cabinet doors are missing cause Galo needed the easy access and the door was in their way. The fridge is usually stuffed full with (mostly) non expired food. Recipes taped to the outside of the fridge along with magnet letters that spell out inappropriate words or silly messages to eachother. Their coffee pot is used daily and kinda gross. Paperwork from Lio's work would always be somewhere it shouldn't be. Galo's fire fighter suit and boots were by the front door for quick access, just in case he was called in immediately from home. Beside that would be Lio's cane that'd be forget everytime he left the house.

Their living room had a good three months where the couch was converted into a pillow and blanket fort and they slept and watched movies and ate all inside the fort.

Their bed is never made and Lio's clothes would always be on the floor and annoying Galo. Galo's side of the dresser was actually very neat and had little dividers. Lio's clothes were hung up if it was frilly or nice, otherwise he'd have a chair with clothes thrown on it, clean or not. Lio lined one wall of the bedroom with pet insects and plants. Galo has a billion posters and photos and string lights above the bed. They'd have a mirror covered in stickers and polaroid pictures and some make up smudges.

... Imma stop now cause it's getting long and you prob get the jist. I've built their apartment in the Sims 4 a bunch of times I should take pics again and show em off hehe.

[girlsguidetopowertools]

30 days - 30 ideas

i have so many ideas of little things to include in animal crossing games (new horizons and the future), so i wrote one a day on twitter counting down to new horizons’ release, and i thought i’d compile them all here for easy reading now that the list is complete and new horizons is only hours away. (note that some of these were posted before the direct/other information was released, so they may be a little outdated, but what can you do.) let’s go!

day 30: observatory. (i said little but this is the biggest one.) i want the observatory back. but more: imagine if we could learn about real world stars, planets, and constellations like we do bugs, fish, etc. in the museum. & visiting opposite hemisphere towns would teach more!

day 29: combining villager personalities & essences/natures (pocket camp) to create more varied villagers and dialogue. also species' traits. a peppy, natural bunny (dotty) would be very different from a peppy, cute squirrel (peanut).

day 28: be able to combine certain fish or bugs into one container in your house, so you can have a personal mini aquarium or habitat. also, please let us change the type of container (and give fish more space in theirs so it's not so depressing).

day 27: let us refurbish (almost) all items. i'm willing to give a pass on event/gracie items because they're supposed to be special, but otherwise. i hate having a piece that fits the theme but doesn't match and you can't refurbish. (this includes rugs, flooring, wallpaper.)

day 26: different wrapping papers for presents. the wrapping paper in pocket camp is so cute, much cuter than the yellow sacks we get to buy in new leaf. i'd send so many wrapped presents to my neighbors!

day 25: let us build big pwps/amenities that we and the villagers can interact with. bonus if they're seasonal: an ice skating rink in winter, swimming pool in summer, ferris wheel in the spring... riding a ferris wheel with cherry blossoms blowing? sign me up.

day 24: (another big one) a way to change gender, and a nonbinary gender option. in new leaf, i had a lot of friends stop playing entirely because their avatar no longer matched them after coming out as trans, but they didn't want to delete their whole town, so they felt stuck.

day 23: let villagers catch fish and bugs instead of just perpetually trying with no reward. while it's cute to watch them stalk bugs in the bug off, never seeing them catch any makes me feel sad for them!

day 22: choose held items in dream towns (dream towns better still be a thing). a small detail, but most of my characters carry wands or balloons but can't in dream towns. and when your dream is set on a rainy day, you always default to a red umbrella no matter what.

day 21: sound configuration options. (apparently you can change the volume of kk slider songs playing but i wrote this before that, okay?) not just those, but being able to turn up/down/off hourly music, ambient noises, effects, etc. i'd love to turn up the sound of the ocean!

day 20: SUNFLOWERS. well, new flowers in general, but specifically sunflowers! they're my favorite, and we need tall flowers in the game. plus everyone went wild over the sunflower event in pocket camp.

day 19: more things to do with villagers together. not just going to each other's houses, but inviting to the roost, bug hunting, apple picking, etc. would be SO cute! and that *we* can invite *them*, not just wait for a random ping.

day 18: combine “traditional” events and holidays with wild world events for a fuller calendar. i LOVE the unique wild world events, but taking out toy day, halloween, etc. was also a mistake. the wild world events would fill in those months where major holidays don't happen.

day 17: multiplayer islands to live on with friends. now, nintendo is FAR behind the times with multiplayer, so i don't expect this if ever, but i want it. i want to make a town with my online friends, like a minecraft server. please.

day 16: side jobs. no obligation to do them at a given time or at all, but something extra and fun. working at the roost is a great example, and i'd love to see more: villager home designer, shopkeeper, restaurant chef... these would especially be great later in the game.

day 15: diagonal furniture. please. i like putting things kitty corner and some items, like the basket chair, just don't look right without that.

day 14: let villagers write random posts on the bulletin board again! it was one of my favorite things about wild world.

day 13: more interactive items, for both players and villagers. we've seen villagers reading books and eating ice cream, which is great, but it bothered me that they couldn't play on the jungle gym pwp and stuff!

day 12: let us layer small, tabletop items. PLEASE. clutter looks so much better and realistic when layering is an option, like in the sims.

day 11: remove restrictions on where we can plant palm trees and cedar trees. it never even made sense that cedar trees could only be planted on the top half of the town, but nothing we've seen so far hints at this changing.

day 10: customizable community buildings. one of my favorite parts of happy home designer was designing our own shops, hotel, concert hall, etc. they really made my main street feel unique, especially compared to new leaf's main street where everything's the same (minus unlocks).

day 9: let villagers swim! i want to have cute beach days with my villagers but not if they're stuck on the land.

day 8: ceiling items. please don't take away our ceiling items. we saw a pinata that could potentially be, but that's it (even the hanging plant was converted to a wall item). and, while they were a great addition in HHD, there were very few ceiling items. i'd love a LOT more!

day 7: minigames! at the very least, bring desert island escape back, but i'd love to see much more. a mix of amiibo festival minigames and the one in nintendoland would be great, as well as some new ones. especially if they're multiplayer to play with friends!

day 6: create-a-villager! i don't expect them to be villagers actually in the game, but it could be neat as a little side thing. when hacking new leaf was big, there were a ton of cute and creative fan-made villagers just made with retextures, and i'd love to see more.

day 5: nocturnal villagers and activities. i LOVE nighttime, it's so relaxing, but you also run out of things to do (or, pocket space, if you like nighttime fishing like me). at least residential services will let you sell your fish 24 hours a day, but i'd like a bit more to do.

day 4: something to replace streetpass/the HHA showcase. i loved seeing people's houses, and being able to order from them in new leaf was a nice bonus. i'd love something similar with our friends list, a mix between that and what we had in city folk.

day 3: deeper lore on special NPCs. we have a lot on the able sisters and the nooks, even some on brewster and blathers, but i want to know more about the others! what's pascal's story? we know nothing about him, he just... pops up randomly.

day 2: more weather events/phenomena. red moons, eclipses, blizzards, hail, MOONBOWS... there are so many neat weather things in the world!

day 1 (WE MADE IT!): biome DLC. i've been asking for different terrains/biomes since before happy home designer, where we got to choose those. even though new horizons is set on an island, it's still a standard biome with four equal seasons. i'd LOVE dlc that allows us to make a snowy mountainside home, or a home like the PNW where it mostly rains and snow is uncommon. or a tropical town with sunshine and palm trees abound. bonus if the DLC means we can have more than one town per console. please, i need it.

[memento-sims]

Hello, would you convert sims 4 items to sims 2 for commissions? I would like a few if you wouldn’t mind and would happily pay to help. Thank you.

Sorry, I meant custom objects from other creators that allow it

Hello! Thanks for your interest! Well, if the original creator is okay with it I don’t see why not? I would need to talk with them first tho. I understand why some creators may be against it even if I release everything for free after.

But please keep in mind that objects are not my strongest suit hahaha. I can do simple things like deco stuff, chairs, tables, lights (or even animated clocks lol). For more complicated stuff I would be willing to learn and give it a try but I don’t think it’s fair to charge money for something that may not turn out that good, you know?

[benjaming1205]

Not So Berry Mobile Edition

Have you done the Not So Berry Challenge in The Sims 4? Do you want more? Are you broke and only play The Sims Mobile? Well I hope your up to take up the originally by @lilsimsie . A challenge converted from The Sims 4 to The Sims Mobile!

Introducing The Not So Berry Challenge Mobile Edition! A ten generation legacy with a focus on bright colours and new experience.

1. All heir must be female.

2. Each heir must represent the colour and a theme of the generation (i.e. hair, makeup, clothing), but brightly colored skin is not necessary (these aren’t actually berry Sims, that’s the joke). Of course, this is optional but a big portion of the fun.

3. One room has to be dedicated to the heir and need to be decorated based on their colour and theme. (a bedroom is the most practical)

4. Each of the heir’s name has to be almost similar to the colour that they are representing (i.e. the colour is rose, therefore the name can be Rosie) and the last name can only be Berry.

5. Each time you start a new heir, it has to be fresh out of the box. Your heir can’t be a townie or a child and they can’t get the Good Upbringing Trait.

6. The colors of the spouses don’t matter as they aren’t part of the challenge. Unless otherwise stated you can do whatever you please with them.

7. Every generation is supposed to complete all tasks that they’re given of the heir unless explicitly stated otherwise.

8. You need most of the traits. The trait level doesn’t matter. You’ll get to choose two traits but the other two are fixed.

9. If you play this challenge and want to share it with us, go ahead and post with #NotSoBerryMobile so we can see!

Generation One: Mint (Intelligence Boho)

You’re a odd scientist. One day you wish d to open an art gallery but not only that but also to release your own single but your mother forbids you from pursuing your dream as it will not last. For now you just love sharing your creation with other so even, you even decided to have a one night special to showcase your work.

Traits: Musical, Creative

Career/Hobby: Lab Science

Task:

• Complete the Lab Science Career Story

• Complete Art Aficionados TWICE

• Complete Soundtrack of Soul Story TWICE

• Make the heir of the generation to host a studio party ONCE

Generation Two: Rose (Legal Seducer)

You work at a very justifying place, the Civic Centre but you love to head out of town and meet every guy you know. Then bringing back home to have a hot and steamy time. The room is never clean and filled with cameras and studio lights? That’s sounds fishy. While seducing other people around town you came across a friend that you never seen for quite some time. You realise that friend was into you and seduce the person back at home only realising that you were pregnant with the person’s baby.

Traits: Alluring, Evil

Career: Law

Hobby: Internet Icon

Tasks:

• Complete the Hand-Knit Justice Story

• Complete the Authentically Iconic Story

• Complete the Tainted Love Story TWICE

• Complete the Secret Crush Story TWICE

• Complete A Missed Connection Story ONCE

• MAKE at least one child with the person from A Secret Crush Story

Generation Three: Yellow (The Astronaut’s Baby Factory)

Growing up you never had a close relationship with anyone since you have a disease called Babytouchositis (Baby-touch-o-site-tis) which is when you touch anyone you would instantly get pregnant. You were quarantined this whole time and spent the majority of your time alone in your room obsessing over space. You just really love space. You’ll do whatever it takes to get to Sixam no matter the cost even if you had to meet people and get pregnant.

Traits: Ambitious, Athletic

Career: Rocket Science

Tasks:

• Complete the Rocket Science Story

• Reach Chapter 3 with 7 other Sims

• MAKE at least 7 babies with different “daddies”

• Name the baby after the colours of the rainbow and dress them up according to the colour they’re given

Generation Four: Sliver (The Dazzling Introvert)

You are a very trendy person and your always up in your taste. But in your free time you like to relax and meditate. The kids (from the prev generation) is worried about you all by yourself. They want to reunite you with one of your high school friends. After the work the kids have done you have been reunited with your friend. You and your friend had a great time together and was wondering if they could be more then friends. You then adopt two kids and make them as your own

Traits: Stylist (If you don’t have it choose Creative), Active

Career: Fashion Designer OR Hair Stylist

Hobby: Yoga

Tasks

• Complete the Trending Now Story OR ASOS Fashion Forecast Story OR A Cut Above Story

• Complete the Yay for Vinyavas! Story

• Complete the Better Late then Never Story until Chapter 5 SEVEN TIMES (possible with the 7 kids from the prev generation)

• Complete More then Friends with Benefits Story ONCE

Generation Five: Chocolate (E-Girl Writer)

You are very sad person and you friends with some sad people too. You are extremely close to them. Your friend soon have a significant other and you need to find one before your friends start to tease you. You got a job to become a barista and shockingly enough your co-worker asked you out. Your co-worker is the total opposite of you but you let him into your life hoping to change yourself. He/She don’t want to change you and feel just right for him/her. Soon you two begin to settle down and started a family and making sure you’re always there for your kids making sure they will not become sad like you did. You soon begin to document your amazingly-sad life with your husband/wife, your kids and the support of your friends

Traits: Artisan, Mean

Career: Barista

Hobby: Writing

Tasks

• Complete The Way of Latte Story

• Complete the Tales from the Script Story

• Complete the Misery Loves Company THREE times

• Complete The Fixer-Upper Story with your co-worker (unless it’s an elder, if so, you’re free to choose any TOWNIES)

• Get married to your co-worker

• Have TWO babies with your co-worker

• Get both kids’ Good Upbringing Trait to a THREE star

Generation Six: Orange (Perfect Everything)

Just because of your mom (from the previous generation) your life is tied with a ribbon. Just like your typical American family. A loving significant other, two amazing kids, an excellent job and you friends who always comes over to spill some tea. But you heart sank knowing that your husband has been cheating on you with one of your friends and your friends are spilling tea about you! But you ignore those facts and made sure you kids become kind and caring people.

Traits: Good, Competitive

Career: Business

• The heir can be a FEMALE child from the previous generation

• Complete the Like Nobody’s Business Story

• Complete the Frenemies Story THREE times

• Complete the Soulmates Story ONCE

• Get married to your significant other

• Have TWO babies with your significant other

• Make your significant other cheat on you

• Get both kids’ Good Upbringing Trait to a THREE star

Generation Seven: Pink (Life of the Party)

You were a mega party-goer in your younger days, attending hundreds of parties hosted by your friends and family. And now, you're doing it again, except with more fun and more... steaming hot. You have always wanted to become the most amazing host of a party, which made you The party-giver in multiple events in your house. But you needed more space, more fun and more crazy and music, and the key to that: A DJ. But something was missing... You needed a partner in this music industry to help host the ultimate party. And when you found the right person for the job, you go on the journey for hosting the party everyone will remember...

Traits: Party Animal, Outgoing

Career: DJ

• Complete the Remixology Story

• Attend Level 10 Parties SIX times in a row

• Make the heir of this generation host a Concert Party TWICE

• Complete the More then Friends with Benefits Story ONCE

• Get married to your significant other

Generation Eight: Green (Life Saver)

Your hands work like magic! Anything you touch will save the person physically, mentally and spiritually. Your works creates a big buzz both good and bad. Mostly bad, you will soon begin to have a lot of rivals coming to your door step. Could you handle the pressure?

Traits: Generous, Attuned

Career: Medical OR Surgeon OR Wellness Guru

• Complete the Something in the Water OR The Mystery Cure OR The Mysterious Benefactor Story

• Complete BFF Forever Story THREE times

• Complete the Old Rivals Story FOUR time

Generation Nine: Gold (Danger in the Building)

You are hot-headed person. Your temper can go at out of any building you’re in. If things don’t go your way expect everyone to evacuate the building IMMEDIATELY! Everyone is afraid of you, including your own significant other. At the end, you guys didn’t ended up getting married. You guys also avoided doing anything physical together that you decide to adopt a boy instead. But whenever your angry you cool down by plucking the strings on a guitar. You temper didn’t just appear out of nowhere. When you were young, you’ve always wanted to be a boy but society didn’t agree that’s why you adopted a boy. So that you can feel it through him.

Traits: Evil, Competitive

Hobby: Guitar

• Complete the Six-String Fling Story

• Complete the Tainted Love Story ONCE with a Male Sim

• Complete the Arch-Nemesis Story FOUR time

• Adopt a boy with the Male Sim

• Get the kid’s Good Upbringing Trait to TWO stars

Generation Ten: Blue (High Taste, Secret Life)

You are the Toast of the Town! A luxurious house (in this case a room), friend who never back stabbed you, and may other find taste.... in food. You also been seeing someone. The person seems cute. But even with your exquisite life you also been working at the cafe. For your friends may wonder why you are a barista when you own such a majestic house (room) but one of them spotted you going down an elevator in very suspicious clothings. It’s best to keep this secret away, especially from your crush’s baby

Traits: Foodie, Sly

Career: Secret Agent

Hobby: Cooking

• Complete the Top Secret Story

• Complete the Now We’re Cooking Story

• Complete any friendship story THREE times

• Complete the Secret Crush Story ONCE

• Have a baby with your secret crush

• Make the heir of the generation host a Foodie Party ONCE

More optional generations will be coming soon! I’m open to feedback. I’d like to thank you for my friend, Owen for helping out writing some of the generation’s story. I would like to thank everyone’s support too! Without it, I don’t think I wouldn’t be able to make it without you! Hope to see your Not So Berry!

[i-growl-growl-growl]

Hii, I wanted to ask you something, I read that you study in Japan and my friend asked me a while ago to go with her to Japan to study there because I wanted to study abroad cuz Europe is boring lol and so she asked me and I really don't know about it, could you maybe list some bad and goid things from your experience there ? That'd be helpful I think thanks for your time bubs❤

You should definitely take the chance to study abroad here, or where ever you have the ability to go, if you ever get the chance.

I would just like to start off by saying that many people come here excited to explore Japan but often leave disappointed because they had expectations that were far too high to ever be met. If you’re going to come to Japan be open minded about how it’s not going to fit every stereotype and every rumor that you’ve been led to believe about it. A lot of people come here believing that all of Japan is this futurist wonderland, like in all of those sci-fi movies, and although it does have its advanced technological aspects it isn’t the entirety of Japan that is like that, in fact it’s mostly just the major touristic spots that are typically that way. A lot of people also come here thinking the exact opposite, that it’ll be like stepping into a land that has been preserved by history: they’ll see samurai, sumo wrestlers, and geishas walking around in their kimonos everywhere, that is also not the case.

Now, I can tell you that this is going to be pretty lengthy so strap yourselves in and prepare for “a long ass ride.”

From my experiences ((and overall just random information that I think would be benefitial for you to know)), lets start with the BAD/shocking ones:

  1.       I don’t know what the bicycling situation is like in Europe but, here in Japan, bicyclists will use the sidewalks alongside normal pedestrians. The sidewalks are already pretty small, and considering how crowded it can get, things can get a bit scary when you find yourself having to play chicken with a bicyclist on the sidewalk. Always have one ear clear of any headphones or earphones so that you can hear the bicyclists approaching you from a distance so that you can prepare yourself to move out of the way. Japanese bicyclists will tend to not move out of the way for you so, if you find yourself in the position of playing chicken with them and you think you’ll have the chance at winning…. you won’t! They will ram your ass into the concrete OR stop dead in the tracks right in front of you and wait for you to step to the side for them. (I have a personal story that goes with this situation that explains why I have such an undying H.A.T.R.E.D for bicyclists here in Japan but it’d take centuries for me to write so I’ll leave it out.)

2.           Bring a small bar or bottle of soap that only you will use and carry it with you in your personal purse or bag because many of the public Japanese bathroom DO NOT have soap, if they do then it’s usually a single bar of soap that everyone who has been in the restroom has used.

3. & 4.     This isn’t an experience that I had because I did research before coming here but make sure that you bring a laptop that will work in Japan and make sure that you have a phone that is unlocked . There are many laptops that WILL NOT work once you try to convert them to work with the Japanese…… (I forgot what it’s called)….. computer systems……..     Luckily my laptop is an ASUS which works wonderfully in Japan. Unfortunately, I don’t know what other laptops work in Japan after being brought from other countries so I can’t help you much in that aspect. If your laptop isn’t compatible to work in Japan then you’ll have to buy one in Japan (which could be a hassle because you’ll have to convert it to function in a language that you do understand etc. etc.) As for the phone, unless you have worldwide coverage, you’ll need to order a SIM to put in your phone so that it’ll work while you’re here. Many international students weren’t aware of both of these things and found out that their phone was locked so they couldn’t remove the original sim and put the Japanese one in so they had to buy new phones in Japan (which is a pain in the ass) or they had to buy a new laptop. When ordering a SIM, if that’s the route you’re going to take, you have the choice of Data only or Voice and Data. Prices will vary depending on the provider you’re going through, how long you intend to use their SIM, and how much data + voice calling you want to have each month. I’d personally recommend that you go through SakuraMobile (the provider I’m using).

5.       It is rude to eat or drink while you are walking around or sitting in public. On a hot summer or fall day, this will REALLY SUCK because you’ll want nothing more than to take a few swigs of your water, or whatever beverage you have, to cool you down. There will also be days where you want to rip open one of your snacks and eat it at the park or as you’re walking or waiting for the train or bus but you can’t, because it’s rude.

6.      Blowing your nose in public is EXTREMELY rude. DO NOT  blow your nose in public, EVER! If you find yourself to be in a pickle because you have allergies or have a runny nose you better run to a convenience store and buy yourself a good pack of surgical masks to put on over your face. It is considered a kind and considerate thing to do, especially if you are sick because no one wants to catch or spread germs.

7.      make sure you know where you can use you credit card to pull out cash because Japan is a cash based country. It is RARE  to find a place that will take credit cards, especially foreign credit cards. AGAIN, this could be where convenience stores are of convenience to you: convenience stores will often have an atm within them that accepts credit cards from various countries and you can use these to get cash so long as you pay an exchange fee for the transaction. Be aware that, if these atms do accept your card, you know how much you can withdraw within a 24 or 48 hour period because it’d suck for you to spend all the money you have while thinking you can just withdraw more once you run out only to find out that you’ve maxed out how much money you can take out within the specified 24-48 hour period.

8.        CROWDS!!!!!!!!!! If you hate crowds you’ll hate Japan. Even if you don’t hate crowds you’ll simultaneously learn to hate crowds but learn to live with them at the same time during your stay in Japan. If you think Japan is crowded based off of what you’ve seen in animes, movies or tv shows or based off of horror rumors that you’ve heard from friends, family, or online and you wonder if it can really be that crowded… yes it is. IT’S WORSE ACTUALLY!!!! The rumors about being crammed against each other, packed in the trains or buses like a can of sardines is NO FUCKING JOKE!!!! If you’re a person who needs their personal space… good luck finding it in Japan, most specifically when on public transit. Tokyo, by far, is the ABSOLUTE WORST when it comes to crowds.        ((just some personal advise, try and avoid Tokyo unless you’re going there just for a few days or a week. the crowds suck, it smells bad, the people aren’t as friendly as those in Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Nara, everything is expensive, and the public transportation is an absolute bitch to get around!))

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Now, on to the GOOD experiences:

1. & 2.        food is CHEAP and food is FRESH!!!! You will find that the convenience stores have pre-made foods that cost anywhere from $1 USD to $6. These include pasta dishes, salads, soups, miscellaneous snacks, sweets, drinks… you name it!!  If you look at the packages you’ll often find that NONE of the dishes are older than the exact day that you’re at the store OR, a good way to tell if they are older than 24 hours is you’ll see a red stamp on them that says 20% or 20cents… which means that you get 20cents to 20% off of that dish due to how “old” the dish is. In the entire 8 months that I’ve been here, I have never seen a pre-made convenience store dish that was still on the rack that’s 2+ days old.

3.           Convenience stores ARE ACTUALLY CONVENIENT! Not only do they have a variety of fresh food and the usual chips and other junk food to choose from but they also have microwaves that you can use for a small added charge to your total if you wish to have a dish heated up for you on the spot! They will also provide you with a choice of chopsticks, a fork, or a spoon as well as a damp hand towel to clean your hands off with once you’ve finished your meal.

4.        people are polite. When you enter a store or restaurant you will hear the word “irasshaimase“ (E-la-shy-mas-Ay) which means “welcome” and they will also bow to you. people will also apologize when approaching you or after bumping into you by saying either “sumimasen” (sue-me-mas-en) “excuseme/I’m sorry” or  “gomennasai“ (go-men-na-sa-E) “I’m sorry” depending on the nature and severity of the situation. Japanese people will also greet you with “ohayou gozaimasu“, or sometimes just “ohayou” (Ohio/ go-za-E-mas)) “good morning”, “konnichiwa“ (ko-n- knee-chee-wa) “good afternoon”, or “konbanwa"- “good afternoon.” They are also extremely helpful and will do their best to help you if you approach them and ask them a question, do keep in mind that many Japanese don’t speak must English or any other language so they may have trouble explaining it so they’ll try and settle for repeating it in Japanese over and over again until they think that you understand.

5.        Public transportation is convenient and cheap. Despite the crowds, public transportation is EXTREMELY convenient in Japan. There are different buses, trains and taxis that can get you ANYWHERE in Japan. It may be difficult to learn to navigate from the different railways when using trains but once you have it under control, it’s easy to get wherever you want to go. At the train stations there is a system where you go to buy the train tickets but, you have the option of buying a special card for $20 that you can recharge,I highly recommend that you get the card because it will become your best friend! All you’ll have to do it hold it up to a scanner each time you enter or leave a station and it will automatically deduct the cost for the ride rather than having to constantly pull out cash, insert it into the systems and tell them where your going, then insert the tickets into the gates each time you go somewhere. In Osaka the card is called “Icoca.”

6.     The food is DELICIOUS!! (and have I mentioned it’s cheap?) Please please please be open minded about trying new foods. No matter where you’re traveling, be open to trying some of the native dishes, especially in Japan. I know it can seem a bit terrifying but believe me, if you just tell yourself “fuck it” and grab those weird, unknown dishes/snacks or order something random from the menu- you WILL NOT regret it 99.9% of the time ((this is actually how I’ve come to find out what my favorite Japanese dishes are))

7.      You will have many chances to travel around the country. Take those chances and enjoy yourself! Japan is such a beautiful place with its historical and futuristic clashing culture and locations. The less chances you take, the more opportunities that you’ll find out that you’ve lost for making great memories, making more friends, seeing beautiful places, etc. Travel travel travel! Each city, each prefecture is drastically different from the last, so explore as much as you can as often as you can and don’t be afraid to try new things, don’t be afraid to push yourself out of your comfort zone.   

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More general information:

1.     cars won’t come to a complete stop for you as you are crossing the street, they will keep inching forward until you have passed them so that they won’t miss their light. It’s frightening to experience because there are times when you think that they’re going to run you over if you don’t cross the street fast enough but, believe me, they won’t run you over… they may intimidate you but they won’t harm you ever.

2.        It may be a bit hard to make Japanese friends. You may be thinking that you’ll come to Japan, make lots of friends, and speak Japanese a lot but it’s more than likely the opposite. You may make Japanese friends but they’ll want to practice their English with you so don’t get uptight about not having the chance to speak Japanese to them often. One great way to make it easier for you to make friends with Japanese people is to apply for speaking-partner programs through your school and/or apply to live in the dorms with local Japanese students ((this is how I’ve made 99% of my Japanese friends)). Once you’ve managed to make some Japanese friends, make them a deal that you’ll help them speak English (or your native language, or both) in return for getting to practice Japanese with them.

3.      You will become the minority here, no matter what part of Japan you end up going to. As a foreigner you will be stared at often and some people, especially the elders, will try to avoid you. Don’t be surprised if you find people staring at you and do not find it surprising if no one wants to sit next to you on the bus or trains, no matter how crowded it may get, because they may be intimidated by you as the “Gaijin” (guy-jin) “foreigner” that you are.

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There are many more experiences and much more general info I could give you but I feel like this post is too long as it is so I’ll leave it to you to look up.

I’d recommend that you learn some Japanese before you come to Japan. It may not be necessary but it would certainly be beneficial to you and your friend. There is a wonderful youtube channel and website that you can learn some Japanese from: JapanesePod101

There are many youtube channels that you can look up that can give you insight on what to expect and prepare. Rachel & Jun’s Adventures + Rachel and Jun (they have two channels), Sharmander, Ask Japanese, Abroad in Japan,  & Asian Boss to name a few.

[hazu-against-bull-blog]

I am here to address a big masterpost so excuse me if this is extremely long. The post is here but please don't harass anyone involved.

-Stolen Art/Assests/Designs 1. Yes, I agree that this was a bad thing to do, he should have just got a stock image or even got one of his volunteers to draw it for him. If I were him I would have just apologized and either a, took the video down or b, edited the video to get rid of the image.

2. By looking at the images for the Gym MMD stage, they are in fact the same. (Although they linked an edit and not the original poster?) The poster (saler1 on DA) said that the files came from "The Basketball Anime" and before that someone else commented "Am I allowed to use rip games? Like is there a legal issue?" and the poster responded "You're allowed to use this stuff." The poster said they exported it from 3dcg, which means that this MMD model is not their original model. I tried looking for the original model but I couldn’t find it, if anyone else can, please tell me! ***EDIT after typing all of that, I saw a comment from saler1; the conversation goes as follows: Deactivated User: “I THINK U DO EVERYTHING OF YANDERE SIM” saler1 “NO I DON”T!!!! I HATE YANDERE SIM!!!” DU “Yan dev is taking ur models XD” saler1 “No he is not...I’ve answered this a million times already. I got the stage through a paid for mod that is easy to convert to mmd or .x format. He is not stealing anything from anyone and is using a free model and put it in his free game.” DU “dont reply that” saler1 “It’s true! He said it himself that it is just a placeholder because the people making the 3d backgrounds suck and are very slow.” So in short: this whole “stolen assets” point is false. 3. I can assume that what happened in the above #2 is somewhat the same here. They said that they converted it using a mod.  4 and 5 are the same as #3 6. I honestly don’t know what this is referring to. A drawing that looks like the character “Nemesis” that was posted 1/14/2017. If the OP was trying to say that YanDev copied this image for Nemesis, that wouldn’t be possible since Nemesis was implemented in the December 16th 2016 build of the game. 7. Not crediting artists is bad, yes, I agree he should have done so and not used their art after they left. But tbh those models would not have suited the game. 8. Although I see the similarities in the pattern, he could have had a volunteer do that and they just happened to make a similar pattern. I am not saying he couldn’t have stole the pattern, just giving a reason why it couldn’t have been.  9. Yes, they are similar but it could have been suggested by a volunteer or the like, or perhaps even send in by the original person who drew the image. Either way, according to the comments of the post, the creator of the drawing, Lucfu on DA, seemed to be fine that they are similar. There was nothing to be mad about here.  10. Oh no!! Dev used a similar design of a cute bear that pays homage to another cute bear!! They aren’t even the same image, everyone needs to calm down. 11. Finally, something to be mad about. Stealing art for shadow images in a video is probably not the best thing to do, even if others do it before you. Read #1 for more input on this topic. 12. Link is broken. 13. Yes, it was probably a bad thing to put it in your game to show them, but still, it is no longer in the game so this should probably not be a big concern anymore.

Points that actually are worth asking Dev about: #1, #7, #8, #11 (4/13) Ok so bullet one, “Stolen Art/Assets/Designs” was pretty long. I might have to separate each bullet point into a new post so it doesn’t spread across your entire dash.

[murfeelee]

TS4 Werewolves - Rant Alert

I got this one comment that sent me off on a whole tangent, so I decided to reply to it separately.

slade-the-neko replied to your photoset “The Wolves:This world is slowing down How can I fight it? How can I?...”

Dang Murf, that's very impressive! Really makes me wish Sims 4 had werewolves. I'll definitely try porting the Skyrim model to TS4 if they ever add them.                    

Y’all know TS4 is my trigger -- wtF is EA even doing over there? That Tiny Living Stuff Pack was a JOKE, like....seriously? o_O For as much money as they’re swindling y’all for TS4, EA’s Sims team is creatively BANKRUPT. ZERO innovation, intuition or inspiration.

EA just takes popular concepts/crazes like the Tiny House Movement, Baby Yoda, and Harry Potter, and waters it down to the barest of minimums: tiny homes with huge AF Murphy beds instead of bunk beds or convertible futons/sofa-beds; a decorative Baby Yoda you can’t even interact with; no school of magic sims can go to (and no magic for kids YET). I’m so tired of them!

People keep comparing RoM to TS1′s Makin Magic, and I keep going WHERE? I said in my initial trailer reaction for RoM that it made zero frikkin sense for the RoM magic land to have that perma-nighttime full moon, without even bothering to have werewolves in the so-called realm of magic.

RoM would’ve been the PERFECT chance to add werewolves. What better way to have a magical pack than to also introduce werewolves as the local denizens of Glimmerbrook’s forests. Missed opportunity, EA. (－‸ლ) 

They could’ve added a werewolf household living in the woods, that your sim either befriends or gets bitten by, so your sim goes to the Magical Realm to either find a cure for lycanthropy (for the werewolves or for THEMSELVES if they’re bitten and are gonna turn in a couple days), or wolfsbane poisoning if one of the wolves is made sick by the brand new harvestable Wolfsbane *cough cough!* (Wolfsbane comes in the Vampires GP, but they could‘ve totally made more types of Wild Wolfsbane, Yellow Aconite, Purple Monkshood, etc.).

Either one would give your sim a REAL impetus and incentive to go learn magic and talk to the RoM residents and mess with potions & alchermy. Which is another reason I said (I’ve BEEN saying) I wanted HEDGE WITCHES, who could do HERBOLOGY. U_U

The RoM Game Pack NEEDED to be its own Expansion -- it wasn’t a realm at all; it was a Diagon Alley ripoff and everybody knew it. HELLO, EA! Part of worldbuilding is creating a EFFING STORY that gives your game a FRIKKIN PURPOSE. EA didn’t go the distance at all; they did the mere basics of adding magic to TS4, with a lot of style but not much substance. But ironically they did the same with the mermaids, which did get their own EP, and everyone agrees that TS4′s Island Living was worse than TS3′s Island Paradise, so wtf. (－‸ლ) 

But I doubt werewolves would get their own Game Pack like the Vampires & Spellcasters -- EA would do Faeries/Elves before wolves, I suspect, cuz faeries are in a sense easier. Wings, mushrooms & flowers, glittery magic, LOTR-esque art nouveau inspired furniture, etc -- everyone knows the standard faery.

But if TS4 werewolves got a pack all to themselves it would force EA to effing give a crap about lycan culture & lore, and the complexities of things like pack dynamics (alphas, betas, omegas, etc), moon cycles, transformations, lupine physiology & locomotion; diet & hunting (adding new flora & fauna), etc.

While heavy in gameplay expansion, with werewolf-specific abilities, interactions & animations, what other stuff could you stuff into a werewolf stuff pack? Y'all saw how in TS3 the Supernatural EP didn’t give wolves a single bloody thing other than their CAS stuff -- for build/buy mode wolves got ZILCH. We didn’t get busted furniture or shattered windows or blood splatters or more fur patterns -- NOTHING. Everything in build/buy mode was for witches & faeries--all wolves could do was tear the crap up with their claws.

And even their CAS stuff was lackluster - no hairy skins, makeup or tails, but we got body hair & face sliders, claws, fangs, etc.

I like TS1's werewolf design from Makin Magic the most, since their heads/skins looked like wolves.

TS2′s was the biggest downgrade in terms of the LOOK of werewolves, in that it was just a skin.

If EA does do wolves for TS4, I’d hope they make it so the werewolves look like effing WOLVES. At least let them turn into animals, like the ones in TS2 PETS. (WHY TF was TS2 the only time Sims had ACTUAL magical pets!? >_< TS3 has dogs! TS4 has dogs! DO IT ALREADY.)

Considering the cartoony PG13 angle EA insists on keeping TS4, I don’t imagine they’d EVER make wolves look like @camkitty2​’s amazing werewolf mod at MTS:

And certainly not the scary Skyrim werewolves that I converted.

Or even the ones from EA’s other property, Dragon Age (which are effing ugly, IMO).

(The ugly anthropomorphic bipedal version, btw, not the more wolf-like version.)

TBH, If TS4 did werewolves at all I BET YOU MONOPOLY MONEY the template EA’d use would be a lot like Bigby Wolf’s design from the Wolf Among Us video game:

Bigby goes through 4 phases, from man to gradually being an actual wolf in his 4th phase/Final Form. His 3rd phase has a face that not really wolf-like so much as Jekyll/Hyde; beastly enough that you pretty much know Oh that’s a werewolf they’re doing, without it actually looking like any animal.

It’s big and scary with muscles & claws & hair, but cartoony enough that it’s not drastically different from a regular sim. EA’s wack enough to pull something like that, rather than going the extra mile to give us the kind of Skyrim-esque werewolves many simmers want.

Or the full-shift magical WOLF that I personally want.

Don’t get me wrong; Bigby has a great design for Wolf Among Us, made by AA developers Telltale (who do The Walking Dead video games). But Electronic fArts is a AAA developer, with billion dollar budgets, massive teams & bookoo resources. But by god EA’s the laziest AAA company around; just the kind of twats to do AA level work with AAA finances, as we’ve seen in TS4 and TS3.

Bigby’s 2nd phase is basically what TS3 did for werewolves, with the scrunched up brow/nose, pointed ears, hairier face, etc.

This kind of werewolf design is fine, but it leaves A LOT to be desired, especially if it’s the only form you see in certain werewolf franchises. It reminds me too much of how Teen Wolf makes werewolves -- basically as hairier vampires from Buffy (which makes sense). But come on EA, go the distance; go FULL WOLF SHIFT or go home.

In Eastern Europe werewolves ARE vampires/witches -- they’re connected to nature magic, druids & wicca, neopaganism, etc: magic runes & symbols, stones & metals, scyring, bonfire festivals (having Celtic holidays would be so cool!), enchanted woods & nemetons & ley lines, the effect of moonlight on water #TuckEverlasting style, shamanistic sacred animal totemic power and such. Tap into that tribalistic Slavic, Norse & Celtic lore on werewolves, EA, you effing COWards!

In TS1′s Makin Magic and TS3′s Supernatural, witches and werewolves came in the same pack, and had gameplay elements tied to each other -- in TS1 it’s the Beauty & the Beast charm that magical sims can use, and in TS3 werewolves can be used as witches’ assistants to Gather harvestables/collectables used in alchemy potions. So for TS4, having werewolves in RoM would’ve made SO MUCH sense. Hell, they could’ve fit into the Vampire GP, too -- why was wolfsbane even IN that pack? o_O

So if TS4 adds werewolves, I hope they add something NEW to the lifestate, and do more research into other portrayals & iterations of werewolves.

Everyone knows about Norse Berserkers (were-bears), but less attention is given to the Wolves of Odin, the Ulfhednar/Ulfhedinn (werewolves). A lot of Nordic neopagans are into them nowadays.

A werewolf GP would make it so EA would have to flesh out werewolves -- if they live in the woods, give them woodland build/buy mode CC. Let them live OFF THE GRID as technophobic naturists, cuz electronics like tvs, PCs & radios hurt their sensitive eyes & ears. They could be more modern, sure, but it would be so much cooler to have sims who only use well water and hot springs and compost toilets and woodfire ovens.

Bring back hobbies/skills like bone/woodcarving, gem cutting, basket weaving & looms, soap/candle-making, pottery, horticulture, tree-cutting/tree-hugging, animal husbandry (could you imagine werewolf shepherds? XD), sparring, (arm) wrestling, boxing, hunting, bird watching and more. Basically: fullblown medieval-rustic hunting lodge aesthetics: animal pelts, antlers, mounted taxidermy, COME ON, EA, stop being boring!

[thesims4blogger]

The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting: Knitting Deep Dive

SimGuruConnor has released a forum post providing details on The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting!

Welcome back to our latest – and last! – Deep Dive into the gameplay of The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting Stuff Pack. I’ve really enjoyed sharing the designs and development of this pack with you, and I hope to continue doing these sorts of posts in the future. It’s been a super cool experience, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these!

In today’s post I’ll talk about the feature that is core to everything in this pack, Knitting! Once again, I have to remind you that we’re still in active development on the pack and so some things may change between now and the final game.

Now, let’s talk about some nifty knits!

In order to start knitting, you’ll need to purchase a Yarn Basket from the Build/Buy catalog. You probably remember voting on these baskets a while back. This was the winning design, presented to you now in all its colorful glory! Don’t like color? That’s okay, because we included a solid black and white variant.

We have one more knitting basket coming too! Remember this one?

The basket acts as the crafting catalyst(neat term, huh?) similar to the Easel or Woodworking Bench in The Sims 4 base game. But unlike those examples, the Yarn Basket is meant to live in a Sim’s inventory so that they can take their knitting anywhere they want to go. Knitting itself is relatively straightforward: click on the Yarn Basket in your inventory, OR, with the basket in your inventory, click on the chair you want to sit in while knitting (perhaps a rocking chair?) and select the Knit interaction.

Your projects are saved to your Sim, so you can pause your progress at any time and resume later, and even juggle multiple projects at once. Starting a project costs a small amount of Simoleons for the cost of yarn, but nothing too outrageous.

(Children can knit too!)

As a Sim levels up their knitting skill they’ll have access to new patterns. They’ll start with knitting socks and beanies, but as they grow more skilled they can tackle more challenging projects like sweaters and toys for kids. But if you only want to specialize in one thing – perhaps knitted mailbox cozies? – that’s fine too! Just keep knitting anything and everything, and you’ll be level 10 before you know it.

Speaking of knitting skill, sometimes your skill is reflected in your knitted work, or rather your lack of skill. Knitting projects can fail, and when they fail they can get weird. But it’s all subjective, and maybe you’ll end up accidentally knitting the cutest derpy companion, or the perfectly itchy sweater. No mistakes, only happy accidents!

(Just own it.)

One of the niftiest parts of the knitting skill is unlocking the ability to Teach to Knit, where Sims sit down together and have a knitting pow-wow. We wanted this to feel special, so we got a really sweet animation for it (Thanks Haeju!). Now that you can infect other Sims with the knitting bug, no yarn ball will be safe!

(The knitting needles aren’t finished on the Teach To Knit interaction yet, but trust me it’s SUPER CUTE.)

So, what can you do with all these knitting projects? Lots of stuff!

Not only can knitted objects be listed on Plopsy, but you can also Donate them to charity. If you want to surprise a loved one, try Gifting a knitted object too. If you want to destroy all traces of your knitted failures, you can Frog the object and start again! If it’s a particularly nice Sweater that you made, consider Adding it to Wardrobe to make it available in Create-A-Sim to all family members.

(Everyone appreciates a nice gift!)

We want Sims to be able to knit something for their whole family. Not only will Sims be able to knit Toddler Onesies, but Baby Onesies as well. So put your little grubworm in a handmade knitted outfit. I’m sure they’d thank us if they could! (And if they didn’t like it I’m sure they’d be polite about it.)

(Here’s a sneak peek at some of the concept art for new clothing for the littlest of Sims!)

It also felt like a good idea to add an Aspiration to tie this passion for knitting all together. So if you want to master the fuzzy art of knitting, consider signing your Sim up for the Lord(or Lady) of the Knits Aspiration. With yarn running through your veins, there will be no knitting mountain too hard to conquer! Master the Aspiration and you’ll be rewarded with the Sacred Knitting Knowledge trait. What does it do? Lots of stuff! What does it unlock? Something special! Am I being vague? I am! Come on guys, I can’t share all the secrets quite yet.

As I’ve mentioned previously, we’re trying to get as much cross-pack functionality for knitting as we can. Cats can play with Yarn Baskets and Yarn Balls, there will be new Club rules for Knitting, new class electives at University, and knitting counts for Emotional Control, just to name a few. I’m hoping Knitting feels nice and snug alongside our other gameplay systems.

Now let’s have a chat with our lead Object Modeler, Beth Mohler!

Conor: Can you tell us a little bit about what an Object Modeler does on The Sims 4?

Beth: As an object modeler I spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to make objects work in The Sims 4. This is actually a very involved process, and somewhat different from the wonderful work our environment team does. We work with designers, concept artists, engineers, animators, vfx artists (basically everyone!) to make sure that Sims can use an object properly in an animation, or that all of our objects will work with each other. Once we understand the design for a new object, we will create a rig, a block model (a very generic version of the object used to help us make more of the same object in the future), and a footprint (tells us where the object can go and how Sims move around it). Once those are tested by animators and other disciplines we can model the final version, create UVs, and add textures. We also hook up and test everything in the game to make sure it all looks good. There is a lot to think about when it comes to making objects because we know players can find so many interesting ways to place and use them in game. That makes it a very fun challenge to make them work with everything else we’ve built before.

Conor: What feature are you most excited to work on in Nifty Knitting Stuff?

Beth: I’d say I am most excited to work on the rocking chairs! I love that we are bringing them to the game and can’t wait to see them in some cozy living rooms or on porches.

Conor: What are some of the challenges you are facing working on this pack?

Beth: One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that the knitting itself looks good and is fun to watch! This is a challenge given that it needs to work for everything you can create. Figuring this out takes a lot of iteration between modeling, animation, engineering, design, and art direction so that we come to a conclusion that will work the best given our time and technical constraints.

Another interesting “challenge” is the fact that I crochet as a hobby myself! When you are knowledgeable about something (yarn!) in real life, working on it in the game it can sometimes be hard to separate the things you know and may expect in reality from what is possible or best within a video game. I have to make sure to keep a balance and to conceptualize how we can best convert the knitting experience into The Sims 4. As someone who also generally enjoys interior design and architecture, this is actually one of my favorite challenges and one of the things I love about working on objects in The Sims 4.

Conor: What is your favorite feature you have ever worked on in The Sims 4?

Beth: I think it has to be a tie between the mini fridge or the robotics table in Discover University. That pack was the first time I got to really take an entire feature from start to finish. I’ve been with Maxis for a while, but I’m relatively new to The Sims 4. Both of these objects had some complex features we wanted that required a lot of iteration. I learned a ton about the technical aspects of our game during the process as well. I’ve also worked on a few very cool things between then and now, but those can’t be shared yet ; )

As a fan of The Sims since the very beginning I am so happy to be able to share a little about what I do on a daily basis on The Sims 4 with you! I haven’t been on The Sims 4 for quite as long overall, but some of you may also recognize me from my time on Sims Mobile where I shared some of our workflows on Twitter for making a juice bar. Thanks!

Conor: You shared a screenshot of the In-Progress Rocking Chair in our Rocking Chair Deep Dive. Can you share an updated screenshot now that the Rocking Chair is further along?

Beth: I would love to! I hope everyone has been enjoying seeing the progress on this object so far! Here it is a little further along. This program allows us to set the rules for the object materials, footprint size and rig it should use, as well as all the color variants and swatch colors you see in the catalog.

Thanks Beth! By the way, Beth is on Twitter @SimGuruBeth, so be sure to Follow her! And thanks to all of you Simmers for following this pack’s development, this has been a really fun project in a very crazy time. A big thank you to my Stuff Pack teammates, and especially SimGuruSarah who edited my inane ramblings and wrangled the miscellaneous bits for these posts.

While this concludes my design Deep Dives, we still have more forum posts with development insights on the way! Keep checking the Community Stuff Pack forum and we’ll have more fun stuff to show off in the weeks to come.

Until next time, SimGuruConor