#we also have the game night mod installed

[waywardvagabonds]

Laughed so hard I cried playing Project Zomboid with my brother tonight. We’re playing with the B700 bus/RV Interior mod and the Real Music mod with the lore-friendly music pack and after we hot-wired a bus and turned it into a camper we were ready to leave March Ridge for a pond south of Rosewood. And me being me trying to make the funniest possible scenario for the journey, I got in the bus and immediately rolled the windows down, popped the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive” into the cassette player, and blasted it so my brother could hear it from the truck he was driving.

[pudding-parade]

A Distant Glacier by MySimRealty

Are you looking for a world to play a colder-climate scenario in? This might be a good one. It's an old world, from 2010, so from before the Seasons EP, but the terrain painting and roads and whatnot are such that about 1/3 of the playable part of the world is always snow-covered, and there's also frost in the terrain painting of the green parts.

MySimRealty is one of my favorite world creators, and if you are familiar with this creator's other, newer worlds, you'll definitely recognize the rudiments of her style in this world. That said, this world isn't available on her site. I'm not sure why. I think it's a pretty cool (no pun intended) little world, so I can't see how she'd be unhappy with it. I thought maybe it might have some major, unresolved playability issues, but I had NRaas Story Progression create and move in 12 families and let the world run for five simdays to see if there'd be any issues, and there were none. Not a single one, not even a single stuck sim. The only issue I noticed during that time was some oddly-parked food trucks. They'd park across the streets, so that they look like they'd be blocking traffic going both ways, though of course taxis drive right through them. That aside, everything ran smoothly, and my sim and others had no problems using anything on the community lots.

So, I can't figure out why this world isn't out there anymore. In fact, I'm not even sure where I got it. If I had to guess, it's probably on one of the Russian re-upload sites, but I'm not feeling like looking through them to find it, which is why the title of the post isn't a link this time. Instead, I just reuploaded a .world file here or here, so if you want it, get it at one of those links. If you download it, the file goes in your install files under GameData - Shared - NonPackaged - Worlds.

The world only requires Ambitions and Riverview. There's no Store content aside from Riverview items and no CC. It's 1024x1024, but the playable area is only about half of that. It has all of the base game rabbitholes and all basegame and Ambitions lot types. (The firehouse is EA; the others are original.) It has all of the spawners that existed as of Ambitions, except the WA fish ones.

The world has about 80 lots total, split pretty evenly between community and residential. There are 18 empty lots. One of the community lots is built but empty inside, so it's ready to become whatever. Maybe a bar or club or arcade, or it might be good to use as shops if you use a merchant mod. All of the built residential lots are fully-furnished and ready to go. A few of them are duplicates, but they are all original builds, and the majority of them have at least two bedrooms. Two of the residential lots are "apartments," but since the world pre-dates Late Night, they don't function like Late Night apartments. I imagine you could make them do so it if you add the necessary markers.

There is a thread on the official forums from August of 2010 about testing this world here. Some of the issues mentioned in that thread -- particularly trees which have branches that intrude into houses and that can't be removed -- still exist, but they aren't really a problem in terms of playing.

More info and pictures behind the cut!

Here we have map view and Edit Town view of the entire playable area of the world. As you can see, it's split into three sections. There's the "glacier" in the middle, which is permanently snow-covered, and there are the two green areas. The one on the left has most of the rabbitholes. Residential lots are scattered throughout all three areas.

Here are some of the residential lots in various parts of the world:

Most of the houses have exteriors that are a combination of wood and stone in natural colors, which is appropriate for a colder climate. Personally, although they're pretty to look at, I'd get rid of the ever-blooming flowers and flowering shrubs and switch out most of the really green deciduous trees for more conifers, or maybe some birches/aspens, on the residential lots as well as throughout the world. That would make it look more authentically like a colder/taiga biome. But maybe that's just me.

Now for some community lots:

This is a little laundromat. The salon and the consignment shop look a lot like it, with the same roof and the same brick exterior. Also, the laundromat, salon, and consignment shop are all about the same size.

This is the larger of the two gyms in the world. I'm not sure why the world has two gyms, but there's this one, which is in the part of the world that has most of the rabbitholes, and then there's a smaller one just outside the stadium rabbithole in the other green section of the world. I guess the smaller one is convenient for those in the sports career, so maybe that's why there are two gyms.

This is the library that, for some reason, has a really tall roof. I'd lower that sucker by quite a bit. :) Then, on the left side of the pic is a small art gallery.

This is a little chapel. Inside it has some chairs, a stereo, and a fridge. Up front is a table that I guess is supposed to be an altar. It doesn't have a wedding arch. (Did the game not have wedding arches prior to Generations? I can't remember off the top of my head.) You could add an arch and maybe the podium from University Life to make it more church-y, but there isn't a whole lot of room inside or outside, so I don't think you could make it into a proper "wedding venue."

The junkyard and the graveyard.

This is my testing sim using the public pool. I'm thinking that I'd get rid of this lot (as well as the private pools that some of the houses have) because...Well, cold climate. LOL There is an indoor pool at the large gym which can serve the community's swimming needs. I suppose you could pretend that these are hot spring pools, but, as a person who lives in a cold climate, I can say that outdoor non-hot-spring pools aren't really a thing because you can only use them for maybe a few weeks out of the year. :)

This is the grocery rabbithole, which has a community garden on the same lot, which is an interesting idea.

The world also has several parks/playgrounds, a beach, a few fishing spots, and the EA fire station from Ambitions.

And I think that's all I have to say. We'll finish out with some random pics. :)

[elaho]

Sebastian’s Immersive Wedding mod is now officially launched and ready to play! 

Explore 2 new wedding-based events with Sebastian, including unique wedding décor options, as well as an intimate (optional) pre-wedding event (**CW**) with Sebastian the night before your wedding ceremony. 

(**CONTENT WARNING**) This mod contains references to neglect/abuse, parental abandonment, depression, toxic family dynamics, trauma, substance abuse, and coarse language. User discretion is advised. See Mod Description on Nexus for more details. 

This mod is based off of my previous wedding outfits mod for Sebastian, Sebastian Dutch-Romanian/Dutch-Vietnamese Wedding Outfits (which as of v1.0.0 is optional). However, the décor is available regardless of whether you have the mod installed or what outfit Sebastian is configured to wear to the ceremony. 

More about this mod:

Sebastian is an INTP who is reserved, morose, and blunt, but also incredibly pensive, thoughtful, and – despite his best efforts to hide it- sensitive and caring. In the beginning, Sebastian comes across as your typical Emo/goth boy who enjoys darkness, isolation, and cryptic communication. But, as we spend more time with Sebastian throughout the game, we see that his ‘loner’ lifestyle isn’t necessarily something he chose for himself – but rather, it was a self-preservation tactic he adopted to survive his family’s toxic dynamic. Throughout your friendship, we see Sebastian reveal more about his family, his life, and past childhood experiences. Once you’re married to him, we do get to see Sebastian slightly more affectionate with the farmer in his dialogue; however, we don’t get to see how Sebastian’s relationship with the farmer influenced any significant (positive) change in his life or see him open up to the farmer in a meaningfully emotional or vulnerable way.

And because we don’t get to see that transformation in-game, unfortunately, the relationship Sebastian has with the farmer often comes across as a co-dependent partnership rather than a healthy, mutually beneficial one. With this mod, I wanted to delve deeper into Sebastian’s character and explore his journey of self-discovery and personal growth throughout his relationship with the farmer (regardless of whether you decided to marry him or not). Though this mod does go into some dark territory, I believe Sebastian’s story is something a lot of people can relate to and have experienced to some degree in their lives [myself included]. There is no magic fix for the complex family problems many of us were born into, and it can be discouraging when (well-meaning) friends or acquaintances insist that there is. It can often feel like we’re alone in our suffering or that no one can understand what we’re going through.

But we’re not alone. And we don’t have to go through our healing journey alone, either.

We may not get to choose our parents or our childhoods, but we can choose how we respond to them. When we do, start taking control of our own lives, find empowerment and responsibility in our own choices, and develop the support network that we need, so that we can create the kind of life we want and deserve for ourselves. It's never an easy journey, but it is a worthwhile one. 

And for Sebastian, facing his painful childhood and upbringing, including the absence of his biological father, is a hard but necessary step in creating the kind of life he wants for himself – one with the farmer by his side, forever.

Enjoy playing! <3 -Elaho 

[superstupendoussims]

100 baby tricks and tips for a more fun and easy gameplay!

turn off aging :After you make your mama for the challenge and place her where you want to live turn aging off! ( don't worry we will turn it back on later ) once aging is off collect enough satisfation points to buy the beugiling trait as it will help you when flirting with donors.

(optional) keep aging off while you gather a bunch of money for you sims family to live comfy and have everything they need i.e a nice house, all the stuff inside the house. a good time for making money fast is using the selling on plopsy game feature (if you have that pack) go to the consignment store in cooperdale and create outfits to sell, set the prices for each out fit starting at $100,000 or more. then just keep relisting them till they sell and make you a ton of money… here is one of lilsimsie's videos that shows how to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZWUDguCYQw&list=PLR2BL6OmNjXb4x3zo7kAQ2PkObs70OkwJ&index=35

if you dont want to use the 2. way of making money then turn aging back on and i would reccommend gardening as it makes a ton of money quickly.

make sure your house has an area for just toddlers in it, make this room kid of big as they will need room to skill build. to help toddlers gain their skills as quick as possible (level 3 in all areas) use the following items, the toddler slide for movement, the blocks for thinking, the play tent or allow your toddlers to make messes for imagination, the blarffy for communication and obviously a potty for potty skill. DO NOT USE THE WABBIT TABLETS THEY ARE SLOW AND TAKE FOREVER FOR TODDLERS TO GET THEIR SKILLS. 5.kids and teens: create a group for the kids and teens in your household (remember to remove them once they move out of the house to make room for future kids in the group) this group will be for doing their homework togeather so that they actually do it. create the homework group, and make the only activity doing homework, call meetings for the kids whenever you need to have them do their schoolwork.

finding partners for your mama sim: if you have lovestruck use the blind date option it will send you sims who are already interested in you, once on the date use that beugile social interation you bought earlier (it is important to do this action first so the rest of the romantic interactions dont get rejected) then just proceed with romantic socials until first kiss pops up and your set to make another baby! 7.if you don't have lovestruck i suggest making another group for just mom and potential donors, have mom be the group leader, add donor sims into the empty spot and for group actvities choose things like kissing, romantic socials, woohoo etc. call the meetings when you need a new donor. 8.recommended mods for easier game play: mcc command center/mc woohoo and UI cheats

if you have mcc installed, when it is time for the kids to age up, instead of doing birthday cakes, a much quicker method is by clicking on the birthday sim > mcc command > sim commands> set age> click on desired age group

making food: since there will be a lot of sims eating i reccommend buy your household the banquet table. once placed select "serve all" and place the food that appears on the table into a fridge. also buy the bakery display case fridge for any toddlers to grab food from so that your older sims do not have to feed them they can just grab food whenever needed.

if you have crystal creatations pack, get some plumbob off the gallery or find it on your own, and craft a gem from it, charge it and place it in the toddler and infant areas to keep them happy all day and night so they can sleep/eat and cry less and just skill grind! HAVE FUN!

extras: download mystery costume donors off the gallery, or make your own! give each of your kids their own indiviuality in cas ! take pictures of your kids before they are moved out of the house to hang up and look back at or pictures of the baby donors! use the birth certificate mod or realistic birth mod for more realism in the game. use the reverse aging potion to turn back the clock on your baby mama if you want to use her for the whole challenge.

[gametastic-photography]

Gold Panning Mod, by Shtivi on Nexus mods

You can find the mod here

Installation is quite easy and can be done by reading the description on the mod page.

Shall we get onto the mod?

You will get several pan blips all over your map after installing. These are where you will be setting up your gold panning camp.

Of course less will be available to you if you are playing as Arthur rather than John as you have restricted zones (I have yet to try these if they still work with Rampage Trainer [disable invisible sniper] and [disable wanted], [law ignores] This mod works without Rampage trainer

The set up is easy and simple with a press of a button, just go to the location you prefer and set up camp by pressing the prompt button on the bottom right corner (this will change weather you are using a controller or not)

This is your camp, it is the same from what I noticed in any location

Let's now start prospecting!

You will have to find the bucket, this can change depending on camp location, which can be quite annoying for some including me.

Pick up your bucket by approaching a empty bucket and pressing the prompt [Pick up] again, the prompt button can vary with controllers and in-game prompts

go to the river around ankle to knee deep and wait for the prompt to become white than fill the bucket, an animation will play and your bucket will be filled. Than its time to fill your station!

go over to your shifting box and press the prompt to [pour] like the image shows below

Now its time to put down the bucket. Do the same action from earlier and this place put it down wherever you please. I like to put it somewhere easy to access, near the river, wherever you prefer, I just recommend not to place it on an object as this can cause clipping and cause you possibly to unable to use it once more. An animation will play.

its time to start shifting and finding some loot!

Now go over to your sifting box (square shaped table contraption) and click on the prompt

Same as before. this will slowly fill with no interaction or will go faster and your character will move faster. (I say they are doing a little dance)

You will find more valuables depending on the location

the valuables include (Least expensive to most) these have a high chance at ending up in your inventory but there is a slim chance they will just disappear into thin air, this is likely a bug.

Rock(Nothing gets discarded)

Silver Tooth

Gold Tooth

Gold Nugget

Example; you will find more valuables at (what I found to be) Aurora Basin and I found little to none at O'Creaghs Run.

Gold panning also is possible at night due to them including a handy little lantern, it isnt so bright but this game's nights aren't as dark as the true west would be, likely for ease of gameplay.

Thank you for joining my rundown of this mod! I hope to create more in the future, likely with Rampage Trainer or other mods I enjoy. But only the future will tell.

[greyias]

A few years ago, @confettininjabean bought me a copy of Sunless Seas as a Christmas present, but I'm a weenie when it comes to roughlikes and my OCs dying, so it took me until last week to start playing it. I figured I'd give it fifteen minutes and maybe my first captain death before I moved on to another game... and I'm on my fourth captain now

Since Sunless Seas is a Fallen London spinoff, I was somewhat familiar with the world already, but it had been long enough since I'd last played there was a lot of surprises/relearning, mostly just me getting jumpscared by the Lovecraftian atmosphere (a lot of which is the casual amount of cannibalism present). Sometime during the second captain's run I was like "fuck this, this is too stressful" and installed a mod that mitigated the frankly ridiculous micromanaging of food and fuel.

And none of this will make much sense to anyone who hasn't played this game, but still, let me present to you, my legacy of Steampunky captains, who have been furiously passing charts to each other right before their deaths mostly so I don't have to reopen the gd map every single time, as they have captured my attention this past week or so:

Captain #1 - Renley:

I think I subconsciously named him after "Renfield" in Dracula. In retrospect, this was probably a mistake. Renley was an excommunicated priest who's daddy was a zeecaptain who mysteriously died on the dark waters, and he went to zee to try and find his papa's bones. He started an affair with his surgeon at the first opportunity, and I never did find out why he got kicked out of the priesthood as he descended to cannibalism and ran out of food a few miles from shore. He died as forgotten as his daddy's bones, except for his apparent pen pal...

Captain #2 - Farris:

Bisexual disaster with a heart of gold. Grew up a street urchin, but apparently got too tall and was cast out from her crew, so she bought a ship with what she got from her last big score, determined to make enough as a zeecaptain to retire rich and comfortable. She insists everyone call her "my lady", not because she's actual nobility but more because one day she's sure she will be.

I fully expected her to go the Renley route and die very quickly, but she surprised me by like... making good decisions?? She somehow just barely survived to the end of my first night of playing, making several successful runs into the zee without me cheating. She accepted a deal for more food and fuel from a very shady individual before I logged off for the evening, but it wouldn't be enough for us to continue on. As I had grown a little fond of her scrappy ways, I installed the first mod so we didn't have to worry about her going full Renley. SHE THRIVED.

She opened up so much of the map, also struck up an affair with the surgeon on her ship (look, it gets lonely and scary on the zee), but then... actually fell in love with a sweetheart back in London on one of her return trips. A dapper, fancy fellow who gave her a locket, and just so happened to keep meeting her at the docks whenever she arrived back home. Slowly she started to accumulate enough funds that she was able to purchase a townhome--

--and then she accidentally sailed off the north side of the map, nearly died of terror at the North Pole, which somehow summoned evil Santa Clause to her residence who made her go zip all around the unterzee delivering, uh, something evil Santa Clause considered to be presents (I guess), which culminated in her using her blood to create a little child made of snow, which apparently evil Santa Clause immediately abandoned so Farris decides this is her kid now, because growing up a little street urchin she knows the feeling of abandonment, names him Boreas, and takes him back to London. But uh. He's made of snow. So he starts to melt.

And this damn game is so unforgiving, it gives you conflicting pieces of information, so by the time I realized I needed to sail south to a relatively close port to London (instead of all the way across the gd map like it led me to believe), this poor kid was melting in earnest, and Farris goes to talk to a devil, who's like "you can stop this child from melting and dying if you have xyz items". And I had xy items, but I had unknowingly sold off "z" component to free up room in my cargo hold. And "z" component is not a readily abundant resource, so I look this up on Google at some point, as the kid is like "LOOK MA, I'm getting shorter! :D" and leaving puddles across the deck. And there's supposed to be an island around here somewhere where I can just go get the two quantities of this resource I need to stop my icy boy from melting. Except the map is randomized, and nowhere I go can I find this gd island. Farris basically spends like 3-4 months of time in-game just sailing the open zees, her terror rising as she desperately tries to find some way to save this kid. And there's some point where I know there's not enough time to make it, and yet she can't give up...

...and eventually, somewhere in the south zee, while she's still trying to find this stupid island, she gets summoned to Boreas's side to hold his hand as he finishes melting away. And at this point, Farris is pretty done, and just sort of numbly goes about her business, ferrying around the zees. I think she returns to port one last time and seriously looks around her townhouse, considers retiring, but writes a will just in case, sees her dapper chap again, before setting off one last run. And she's sailing down the southern portion of the map, looking around one last time for that goddamn island because it's personal now, when the ship is set upon by what amounts to a swarm of super bats that have 400 health to her ship's 30 health. She desperately tries getting away, but in the end, the bat's sink her ship, and poor Farris, who paused her quest for wealth on a doomed mission to save a dying child, sinks to the bottom of the zee. And never sees her dapper chap again.

Captain #3 - Vestry:

A certifiable dumbass. No, seriously.

I'm a little numb at this point, and still mourning Farris, who I got way too attached to. Vestry is a natural philosopher who came to the the Neath, because she was just too edgy for the surface world. Her ambition was to become the London's greatest explorer, and so sailed literally everywhere without any consideration for anything. At this point I broke down and was like "fuck it", installed a second mod so I could have money and not scrape by constantly. Caused a few international incidents, created a few spy networks. She was constantly pushing her engines, which meant they kept exploding at the worst opportunity, and at one point had to limp across the entire map with a single crew member at a snail's pace. Somehow this did not scare off anyone she paid to fill back out the ranks of her crew. She did manage to open up a large portion of the map, and then saw the absolute most southern point of the world with foreboding menacing statues trying to warn her away and was like "ALL POWER TO THE ENGINES" and sailed off the map. Everything exploded and she died as she lived -- a dumbass to the end.

Captain #4 - Valeria:

Started off like Vestry with the same past and ambition, but quickly decided "you know what? Nah, I've got this map almost opened up, I'm going to settle a colony in this tiny patch of sunlight instead". She is still slowly growing her army, ferrying sailors across the sea by the dozens. I am terrified she's going to get her ship sunk by monsters and make me start over again, but she's managed to hold her own so far. If the game actually ends after she achieves her ambition and retires, she might be my last captain, because I don't think I have it in me again to open up this map after how long it's taken to get it this complete. Also, Valeria finally found that stupid goddamn island that tripped Farris up, so if evil Santa Clause rears his head again, we'll be able to save her baby boy this time around.

Anyway, all of this to say, Farris is somehow still living in my head rent-free, despite dying nearly a week ago. Since there are no actual character portraits in Sunless Sea, I decided to honor her by creating an approximation of what she could have looked like in a 3D program I'm trying to learn, posed and rendered her out, and then with a little photoshoppery and paintover in CSP have immortalized her in pixels:

RIP Farris - bestest urchin baby

You really, really tried, and almost made a good decision, but your greed for "one last run" got you in the end. One day, someone will kill those fucking bats for you.

[iniheritt]

JoJos playing minecraft headcanons (I hope you enjoy it!!)

Jonathan- tried playing with a keyboard but his fingers are too big so he uses a controller. Refuses to kill the iron golems in villages and loves trading with villagers, even though he wishes they had dialogue. Killed a pig because he was on the verge of starvation and then decided to stock up on bread and potatoes right after because he felt so bad. Cannot figure out redstone for the life of him; can only work a lever and button. He prefers sleeping through the night because he doesn't want to deal with the zombies but can somehow deal with the skeletons and creepers. Jonathan likes to play on easy mode to explore and find pottery sherds to make at least a few pots to decorate his house. Has yet to get into the nether or enter the end. Has not started a raid and does not plan on ever doing so. 

Joseph- plays with the keyboard and has almost broken it multiple times due to how hard he accidentally presses on the keys. Can only do simple redstone and even then, he somehow messes it up to the point it works out in the end (he doesn’t know how he did it but pretends he knew what he was doing like always) Likes trading with the villagers and has made a mini villager trading hall so he doesn’t have to run to catch any villagers or worry about them dying in a raid. Yes, he had died a few times because he was not prepared for them. Would like to try mods but he can’t figure out how to install them properly. Once he went into a server and figured out how to get a multiple diamond glitch but got banned once the other players found out how he had so many diamonds without ever being in a cave. He’s still mad about it. Once died in a wooden mansion and got so mad he didn’t place down a bed in it to save his progress, he quit and almost deleted the game.

Jotaro- didn’t care about the game and only knew the basics until he heard about the aquatic update. Looked up everything that would be included in the update and tried to play it on the keyboard so he could figure out how the game works. Prefers the controller over the keyboard. Knows how to do some redstone but barely makes anything using it. He had accidentally made a fishing pole while crafting; immediately went to find the nearest ocean or river to use it. Gets disappointed when the fish he pulls out are dead and looks up how to keep them alive. Uses the last few iron ingots he had to make a bucket and capture a fish. Makes a temporary pond until he makes a huge aquarium that connects to the ocean so the fish are all free to swim along with the other sea creatures. Has named at least one of each sea creature with the name tags. Once played for almost 6 hours straight due to being super focused on building something and didn’t realize it until he looked over at the clock. 

Josuke- uses the controller instead of the keyboard. Only plays on multiplayer or different servers but has a few testing worlds so he won’t mess up as much (like his father, he does mess up quite a lot, even after perfecting whatever he’s working on in his testing worlds, but it always works out in the end) he loathes the skeletons to the point where he was searching for a mod on reddit and other sites at 2am to get rid of the skeletons in the game. Knows alot about redstone and has many redstone builds in his testing worlds. Has killed almost every turtle he sees in the game by pure accident and feels guilty everytime, even with his fear of them. He is the player to go afk and have dinner while he leaves one of his farms to fill up his chests. He almost died to a skeleton doing this but managed to save himself; that was the night he went hunting for a mod to get rid of the skeletons. Has named his pet cat and dog after his best friends; has also named every spider after another person (I’m sure we all know who we’re talking about) He has a custom skin and surprisingly, people like his skin. Starts raids so he can get totems, but has not realized he can turn it into a farm to make it easier; no one has told him yet.

Giorno- likes using a controller but can play on the keyboard as well. Made a huge animal farm for every animal he could get. Loves using the bonemeal to gather more flowers and make it look nice around his house. Can do some complex redstone but likes keeping it simple. He owns a server and had banned a player for using a multi diamond glitch; he probably would have allowed them to keep using it in private as long as he got a few out of it, but he and a few others had caught him using it when they went to surprise him with a bunch of food when they heard they didn’t have much food. Died a few times because he forgets he’s not in creative mode. Makes a ton of cookies and shares them with everyone once a week because he always makes too much. Has no weapon preference. Can never find a village without someone’s help. 

Jolyne- started playing once she found out about the nether and the end. Prefers the end because it’s easy for her to kill the ender dragon. Loves getting gold for her golden apples since she has amazing luck when it comes to finding resources. Once made a nether portal before getting iron armor and hasn’t been able to do it since. Really good at using the bow. Loves playing multiplayer with her friends and being stupid late at night until early morning. Watches playthroughs of the game during dinner at home (she’s so me haha) and uses any tips from said playthrough into her own worlds. The one to go to if it involves the ocean monuments; she has a strategy that she uses almost every time she needs to enter one. Really good at complex redstone and uses it for her hidden base in a server she has with her friends. Loves making the cookies and cakes since she always liked how they look; sometimes has to go grab a snack to feel immersed within the game.

[azures-bazar]

Tutorial - Pose and Animations for greater pictures

Hello everyone and welcome to another tutorial !

Today, I’ll explain you a few basic tricks for you to create some good screenshots by using Rampagne Trainer’s Scenario and Animation sections as well as Object Spawner ! I kinda taught myself to use them, allow me to share the little I know with you !

For this tutorial, allow me to create a very sweet scenario : some Kierthur (don’t blame me, I ship Kieran with both Arthur and my OC lmao).

Our boys are having some good time somewhere near Strawberry ! ❤️ - Final results (no Photoshop) by the end of the tutorial

Prequisites

Rampage Trainer by RampageDev

ScripthookRDR2 by Alexander Blade

Red Dead Redemption 2 Animation List by fegma

Installation

Just like a said in the Your Own Character in Story Mode Tutorial, place your unzipped Rampage folder in the game root file :

ex: C:/Azuresbazar/Programs/Rockstar Games/Red Dead Redemption 2

I recommend you to create a mod folder on your desktop, giving you a possibility to check which mods you have and how to delete them if you want, for example, to play Read Dead Online (you can be banned if you use mods on RDO).

Location Selection

The very first obvious task you will give yourself will be to select a desired location for your screenshots. If you're planning to add some objects on the ground, my advice is to select an area where there little to no grass at all.

STEP 1 - Create your setup by using Object Spawner

First of, I recommend you to stop in-game time. Open Rampage Trainer by using the keyboard key and select World, then select Time. Click on Stop Time, so you won't have to build your setup by night. You may also check the Weather section, you will be able to choose your favourite weather type. For the setup, however, I recommend you to keep a rather "sunny" weather.

In order to create your setup, head back to the main menu and click on Spawner. Then, click on Objects. This section will allow you to get all objects located in the Rampage's database.

When setting your setup, I recommend you to use the Creator Cam feature. It might look tricky to use at first sight, but using this camera will allow you to position your objects more precisely... and to basically see what you're doing. Without it, your objects will end up out of sight, which is obviously not something you want !

STEP 2 - Positioning tricks

Unless you want something to float above the ground, going by the positioning section is nearly mandatory.

Here are some details which might help you when positioning objects (and peds) :

Precision will increase/decrease how much your objects will move when you will position them.

X axis and Y axis will adjust the place where your want your object to be on an horizontal axis.

Z axis will allow you to move your object up or down.

Pitch and Roll will adjust your object’s position depending on where you placed them (rolling it a little when you’re on a slope, for example).  

Yaw will turn your object around (max 360°).

Texture will, just like it's called, change your object's texture depending of your choice, some objects might not have another colour.

Dynamic Entity is a feature which somewhat activates gravity if some of your spawned object is floating in the air.

I haven’t quite used the rest of these tools yet. If you know them, feel free to tell me more about it !

As you can see, as of today, I haven’t found a way to hide vegetation under a spawned object. If you have any idea, please let me know !

Now that we created or little setup, it’s time to have fun with peds and poses !

Adding Characters

STEP 3 - Spawn your desired ped

For this set of pictures, I decided I would be using a Chapter 3/4 version of Kieran along with a generic version of Arthur. In order to spawn the two of them, head over to Spawner, then to Peds, and then go to Search Peds.

Kieran Duffy’s ped model : CS_KIERAN, variation 7

Arthur Morgan’s ped model : PLAYER_ZERO, initial variation

Note that Arthur will spawn without a beard. If you want to edit this, you will need to head over to his ped wardrobe. A few beard options will be available, including player John's beards.

Another advice of mine is to freeze the peds you are about to spawn. It will block them from fleeing and move too much during a scenario or an animation. To do such, head over to Spawner Settings and select Spawn Frozen. You may also select Spawn Interactable if you want your peds to respond to you whenever you will want to interact with them.

I decided to allow Arthur to interact with Kieran and himself lmao

STEP 4 - Position your peds

You have two options to position your peds.

Option 1 – Use the creator cam feature :

I’m not very familiar with his one for now. Huge thanks to @adalidposts who made me discover it ! You just need to drag and drop your ped model wherever you want them to be. When you see this little green cross, it means that you can select your ped and move it where you want. The biggest advantage of this positioning trick is that your character wont stop his scenario/animation whenever you will move them.

As of today, I don’t know how to use this feature yet ! I’ll work on it !

Option 2 – Use the positioning feature :

(took me a while to realise but the two horses decided to despawn……….)

This is the feature I’ve been using so far. The menu is almost the same as the one you had for the objects, you just don’t have access to features like Pitch and Roll. This way has its ups and downs, the biggest coin it has it that your character leaves their loop as soon as you use the X, Y or Z axis.

However, as what I have noticed, not all scenarios will be available depending on your character. For example, Arthur won't be able to sit down and sketch when you’ll select the right scenario, or won’t play female-typed scenarios. You won’t be able to play animal scenarios either.

For this tutorial, I’ll use the positioning feature as I’m more familiar to it !

STEP 5 : Make your characters move

Option 1 : Scenarios

We will first start by using a scenario. All of them can be found in the Scenario section when you select your ped ! When you play a scenario with your character, some related objects will spawn. Want to smoke ? A cigarette, a cigar or a pipe will spawn you’re your character’s hand. Want to read something ? Either a journal, a notebook or an actual book will spawn ! Want a drink ? Just pick an option, a bottle or a glass will spawn too !

For this example, I’ll select two scenarios for Arthur and Kieran after positioning them, and this is the result I looked for (almost).

Kieran scenario : WORLD_HUMAN_SLEEP_GROUND_PILLOW

Arthur scenario : WORLD_CAMP_FIRE_LAY_GROUND_SIDE

Kieran scenario : WORLD_HUMAN_SLEEP_GROUND_ARM

Arthur scenario : WORLD_CAMP_FIRE_LAY_GROUND_SIDE + “Thank You” Upper-Body Loop Emote

Option 2 : Animations

Animations are... a very big thing, let’s be honest. It took me a while to realise how they worked, and I have still many things to learn since I have barely tried ten or eleven dictionaries so far.

Animations work exactly like scenarios. However, props won’t spawn when your character will get into one. The main advantage is that you’re actually free to use whatever animation you want, scenarios which were locked for your character can be unlocked by selecting the right animation. You want Arthur to act like Abigail with Charles ? Feel free to pick up an animation and use it as you wish !

A full list of animations can be found of GitHub with the like I provided above. Don’t worry if you feel lost or something, I was really scared when I first glanced at them ! I advise you to copy them into an xml file and keep them around you might want to use some of them someday.

Rampage provides you a set of animations. In order to access them, go to animation dictionaries and click on reload list. All animations pre-registered in Rampage will be found there, feel free to try them ! Don’t worry if your animation dictionaries list doesn’t look like mine, I already added a few animations inside !

How to play an animation :

Animations can come across as being quite tricky to use. Here is what you will find if you select one of the animations already provided in Rampage.

If you want to use a custom animation from your XML file, head to Play Custom. You will be met with two fields to fill. Select your animation as such :

Set the Anim Flags to 1 so your characters will enter a loop and won’t stop playing the animation you set for them.

Here is our final result by using the frozen couple animation, with the upper body loop of the “thank you” emote (I wanted to make them smile !)

There are plenty animations out there to use ! I still haven’t figured how you can make two peds perform an animation together at the same time (like a dancing animation, I actually look for the right moment and manually click on play to trigger it). Feel free to tell me if you found another way !

Now that you finished preparing your setup and made your peds pose correctly, you might want to change time to get a better lightning. Head back to Rampage’s main menu and select World, then select Time. You will be able to play with the game's clock and get a better lightening. My favourite is either Sunset or Sunrise.

Final Results (without Photoshop, I was being lazy)

NOTA BENE :

Some animations and scenarios can be very glitchy, since many characters were not designed to perform some of them.

If you use the positioning feature of rampage instead of creator cam, your character will stop playing your scenario.

If you want to play Jack's animations/scenarios (some of them are cute), your hat will literally fly above your head.

Some object will get some texture issues depending on your location, or might vanish somewhere depending on your positioning details.

You can add custom animation to Rampage by going inside your Rampage files : Rampage/Lists/PedAnimList.txt

Here's a short list of some cool animations I found so far (mostly couples) :

Hug animation (used in the three last shots) :

script_re@kidnap_victim

thank_you_a_plr thank_you_b_plr thank_you_b_victim thank_you_a_victim

________

Another hug animation :

script_re@proposal@accept

action_male action_female

________

Bed hug animation

cnv_camp@rcbch@slp@bcabi_slp_cnv2

action_abigail action_john

________

Sean and Karen on knees animation (return party)

cnv_camp@rchso@mus@ccunsnkns_sng1

karen_action sean_action karen_intro_base sean_intro_base karen_intro sean_intro

________

Arthur and Karen dance loop (can be used for Mary-Beth)

cnv_camp@rchso@cnv@ccdtc33@player_karen

karen_dance_loop arthur_dance_loop

****

Making this tutorial was tacky since I'm still not really skilled with animations. If you have any questions or corrections to provide, feel free to tell me ! ❤️

[imomisoplays]

Monster Brownie

Looks like we’ve got ourselves a mystery, tombler!

I got busy and didn’t have time to do more Simblreen food before Halloween ends, so some late spooky posts would have to do. Back with Stella Ito in her Chestnut Ridge ranch, today the family of four celebrates Halloween morning before the kids go to school. And what’s more suitable for a family dressed up in the Mystery Inc. members attire than to have some monster brownies for breakfast? 🐕

The monster brownie cc recipe is made by @littlbowbub (click here to download the recipe). You would also need Grannies Cookbook installed in your mods folder for the recipe to show up in your game. Now, let’s do what we do best, Scoob eat.

Does this very specific purple ensemble with a peculiar shade of light green scarf give you any hint of semblance of who Stella might be cosplaying as today? 👩‍🦰💜

To make homemade-style brownie, prepare some eggs, all-purpose flour, powdered sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, chocolate chips, neutral oil (or unsalted butter), and vanilla extract.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients in two separate bowls. Then, combine them by sprinkling the dry ingredients over the wet one. Fold until combined. The batter consistency will be thick.

Stella's youngest, Soleil, decided to grace us his presence as he started playing computer games in the kitchen. Remember when I said “The next time we see him, he would already age up to a teenager”? Well, sometimes I lie.

Pour the batter into a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in a 325F (or 160C) oven for 40 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out with a few crumbs attached. The beauty of video game is those brownies came out perfectly decorated right out of the oven – But hey, I’m not complaining!

The whole’s gang is here! From left to right: Stella as Daphne Blake, Leia as Velma Dinkley, Kylo as Fred Jones, and little Sol as Shaggy Rogers. The family doesn’t own a dog, which I will proudly use as a golden opportunity to say: Scooby Doobie Doo, where are you? 🐕

They did some photoshoot before Leia and Sol went to school. This hallway is probably my favorite area in the house. Poses downloaded from here.

Detail of their costumes. I’m aware of special pack dedicated for Scooby Doo costumes Mystery Inc. Pack by Brianite Sims, as seen on Daphne’s dress and Fred’s sweater and pants. For Velma and Shaggy, I mix-and-matched miscellaneous CCs. Especially in love with Velma’s – technically, Leia’s – ghost earrings, which came from the Rougarou set by @simstrouble.

Ending this post with one more Scooby Doo quote: Say, Scooby, kind of a spooky night, huh? ‘Til next time, dag dag!

P.S. Detailed cooking process is taken from this article.

Imomiso’s note: This post is originally posted on the now deleted blog.

[elvenbeard]

Then and now - shippy edition! 💜

Enabled and inspired by @pinkyjulien @humberg @arcandoria @breezypunk @kharonion and everyone else who's done something similar XD My little VP and modding journey featuring Vince and Kerry over the last few months!

So, I figure, most of you can relate to my disappointment when I realized at the end of my first playthrough that there's so little interaction possible with the main NPCs outside of their respective questlines. The text messages your LI sends you are adorable, yes. Being able to sleep in their bed and then waking up next to them? A+ game design, 100/100, every game with romances needs this. But where is my option to hug, kiss, spend time with Kerry? Rude!!

Still though, I was undeterred to create some shots for my new favourite blorbos with my vanilla game (I had never heard of AMM then (or at least was too chickenshit still to install it)).

2023/Feb/06

Behold, my first attempts at creating something shippy (and I do still like these a lot) - title: Kerry meets Nibbles.

The idea behind this is probably kinda self-explainatory XD I had these as desktop background for so long, it feels so nostalgic to look back at them now. I think I have some slightly edited versions somewhere but cannot find them for the life of me, but there's no big difference really, just some slight colour/contrast editing.

I was always a bit bummed out by the fact that Kerry's default outfit for idling at the villa is the one with sunglasses on (while over the progression of his questline he wears it less and less as he gets to know V better, as if he is letting his guard down). But oh well! Also yes, that was and still is my favourite photomode pose for V really, because it is very versatile:

But that's... really it when it comes to opportunities for shippy moments outside of the quests.

2023/Feb/09

I was yearning for more!! As you can see, these are only 3 days apart. I had done some research and learned about the "[NPC] Interactions Enhanced" mods that I highly recommend for the options to kiss and hug your LIs alone :3 And! More shippy shot opportunities, because Kerry will finally be somewhere else in his huge-ass villa besides the sofa or the bed, and take off those beloathed sunglasses:

Hhhh.... I can't tell you how happy I was about this shot. I remember yelling to my friends on Discord about it half in tears (none of them really knowing much about the game yet apart from my occasional screaming about all the angst and plot twists). I think I described it as "Vince finally feeling some actual, real happiness, daring to imagine a future", just content and relaxed, having a late night talk with Kerry. I still like it a lot, and because of the mod enabling me to take this pic I still low-key wanna look into quest-modding some day and see if I can make something in a "romance-enhanced" direction. The "Kerry calls V and wants help with cleaning up the villa" quest we all deserve xD

2023/Feb/12

Another couple of days later, and with one toe dipped into modding now, I finally installed AMM (I think, since this was around Valentine's Day, this must've been when I saw a tutorial by @pinkyjulien on how to pose your blorbos for kissing poses with AMM, and my mind was blown XD). My first attempt to even get anything accomplished was kinda frustrating though (because I wanted to do too much too quickly). In a couple of the other "then and now" posts I saw earlier that the more common approach for getting into AMM used to be "swap your characters with NPCs around the city" and I was like.... "oh, yeah, that would've made things a lot easier" 🤡 Nope, I went right in with spawning them in and trying to squish them together with poses that somewhat matched XD

The following were my first AMM-posed screenshots that worked how I wanted them to, and aösdhfdsaf I am somewhat self-conscious about them still. What is a "look at" feature? What are expressions?

I never shared these publically before but hhhhh... this is it, this is the moment where the brainrot started. They're at Dark Matter, talking about V's childhood in Charter Hill, musing about how it's insane how they both occupied almost the same spaces for such long periods of their lives and only never ran into each other due to their age difference. I'm actually still (slooooowly) working on a little comic with this scene/story as topic, cause it is so essential and important to me (based on a random spontaneous decision I made about V's past before even knowing the Dark Matter existed... right across from V's childhood home asdöasdhfjds. Setting the whole "we were destined for each other" trope I have going on with them so much in stone ;A;). This is one of the shoots I'd also really like to redo with my current VP skills... maybe when I've finished my hand-holding poses, cause yeah... hand holding ;__;

Speaking of which:

2023/Jul/13

Five months later, still stupidly in love with each other, still regularly back at the Dark Matter because the place is so gorgeous and important to them. Kerry's getting some more outfits slowly but surely (even with sunglasses!), I have a much better understanding of AMM and the VP possibilities in general now. These two unlocked completely new ways of creative expression for me that I wouldn't even have dreamed of possessing or wanting to follow. VP has become such an amazing creative outlet, for creating all those little scenes I wish I existed in the base game, or which I'd love for them to have in their future.

Am I crying about fictional pixel men too much? Maybe. But over a short period of time they've become so important to me, and I got to meet so many cool and inspiring people in this community after not really feeling part of or even drawn to creating for a fandom for a long time anymore. Can't wait to update this post some time in the future to see where my and their journey will lead to!

I feel like my progress is kinda slow, and I wish I had more time to dedicate to them and all my creative endeavours, cause they'd deserve it for all the joy they bring me xD But alas... Fingers crossed for more spare time and better time management in my future! Thanks for reading this far and coming to my blorbo talk 💜

[satellite-sims]

Get to Know Me ⭐ Sims Edition

thanks @descendantdragfi @auroraeternal @pixelatedpretties for tagging me! 💘

What's your favourite Sims death?

Usually i don’t kill my sims but if it’s needed...hehe. I choose “fast” death by pool, but my favorite is death by jelly bean. Like, this is so funny to me to die because of jelly beans? This is so resonating with me because i love candies so much i could die lol. And i also love the ghost it’s purple, haha.

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Alpha for sure!

Do you cheat your sims weight?

Only once when i played with Tatyana at the Isla Paradiso. She used to swim a lot and her chubby shapes have constantly dissappeared and i always had to get back her normal chubby weight, hehe.

Do you use move objects?

Yes! But i try not to use it that much when i play casual gameplay. Sims might not like my way of placing the objects 🙄

Favourite Mod?

Master Controller! I can’t imagine how i lived without this mod earlier. And the story progression mod is must have tho.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

Hmm, i can’t really remember, it must be Late Night. Back then, i was soooo amazed by the Bridgeport and vampires in game. This EP completely changed my view of the game. I still love the aesthetics of this one.

Do you pronounce live mode or aLIVE or LiVing?

I don’t actually speak english, but i think this should sound like aLIVE.

Whos your favourite sim that you've made?

Are you serious? I have like 30+ sims and you force me to choose only one? That’s cruel. I’m torn apart between Tatyana and Francine. Okay, Francine. She is one of my sims that have really detailed story and biography.

Have you made a simself?

Yup! It’s Marzia.

Which is your favourite EA hair colour?

I don’t usually use them, but i like how the default red looks like.

Favourite EA hair?

Of course Deb’s hairstyle. I really love this hair since i first saw it installed in my game and still amazed of how it styled. And i love how the roots look like. A true EA’s masterpiece.

Favourite life stage?

Adult

Are you a builder or are you in it for gameplay?

I don’t know how to build, lol. Only decorate (still not very good tho) sometimes i love to gameplay but still i’m more like editor and CAS person.

Are you a CC creator?

More like CC converter. Well, this still counts, i think. I would love to create something by myself and i already have some thoughts about what it can be, but currently have no time for it :(

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I have a lot of friends only because of simblr community!

@myopicshen is my one and only best friend! We have seen each other last year and hope to see again this summer! She is not into sims community anymore but we still communicate. I show her my edits and screenshots, tell something about my OC and etc. I’m trying to get her back to the sims but she didn’t want to 😭😔 I loved her sims and edits sooo much.

@agnelid is my hair maniac (as do I) hehe 💇‍♀️

@falturilturaltura is my lesbian bae 💃🏽

@die-ginsekatze is my german aesthetic queen 🖤

Do you have any sims merch?

Does printed portraits of my own sims counts? @myopicshen gifted me them for birthday <3

How has your ''Sims Style'' changed throughout your years of playing?

There was a long road, huh. This picture is not so accurate bc it’s old but my style was always volatile. I love to do something noir styled (or close to that) at the same time i can’t refuse to do something colorful and experimental.

Whats your Origin ID?

I’m using my friend’s account lol and only for ts4 (which is rare) so i wouldn’t share.

Who's your favourite CC creator?

@rollo-rolls @smallsimmer @sourlemonsimblr @nemiga-sims-archive

@pleaseputnamehere @agnelid @billsims-cc @plbsims3

How long have you had simblr?

Since February 2016. It’s turned 8 this year!

How do you edit your pictures?

Since i had graphic tablet my possibilites have become bigger! I love to draw shadows, highlights and hair strands to make the portrait more realistic. I also use liquify tool to smooth edges. And of course color correction. Reshade is good, but not really accurate for me. At the end of the editing i put some filters from Alien Skin Exposure and the final touches: portrait blur and noise.

What expansion/ stuff pack is your favourite?

Uhm, university? I’m torn apart between Supernatural and University. These are both my endless vibing favorites. They are like completely two other worlds!

Tagging: @avirein @you-will-never-find-me-anymore @agnelid @rollo-rolls @sagasimsworld @cas-sims @jolifleurbleu @papermint-airplane @simimpala @pleaseputnamehere @niscomo @obscurus-noctem @joosiiims @nectar-cellar @camisulsul @simplybecauseiam​ <3

[pudding-parade]

Get to know you - Sims Style

@rstarsims3 tagged me for this a while back, and I'm finally posting my answers, which took me a while to compile because 1) Blabbity blab blab blab, as usual, and 2) Still needing lots of rest and stuff, so no sitting at a computer for hours on end.

But here we go! I'mma put my blabby answers and my tag list behind Ye Olde Cut.

What’s your favorite Sims death? What an odd question, especially to lead off… Well, I guess if I had to pick one, it'd be the one from TS2 where cloudwatching occasionally brings a satellite down on the cloudwatcher's head. But generally, mine die of old age, if they manage to get that far. I play with long, but realistically proportional, life stages, mostly because I'm almost always playing "experimental" saves where I'm "road testing" rulesets and such, so I need a lot of time to work out kinks and test ideas and stuff.)

Alpha CC or Maxis Match? I land on a combination of more-realistic (but not ultra-realistic) stuff for CAS, but for everything else, like with furniture and deco and stuff, I tend to prefer CC stuff that visually fits in with the EA stuff in terms of style and textures and whatnot, so that the CC doesn't stick out like a sore thumb when combined with EA stuff. In fact, my "go-to" CC for build/buy is stuff that adds on to EA stuff, like more doors/windows that match an EA door/window.

Do you cheat your sims weight? What, to make the fat ones skinny? The skinny ones fat? The skinny ones buff? No. I don't see why I would. It's easy enough to make a sim gain or lose weight without cheating, which I'm assuming means just using the sliders.

Do you move objects? Is there anyone who doesn't? That's a serious question. Is there any one who doesn't? I want to know.

Favorite Mod? I'm leaving aside the NRaas mods because I don't see them as mods so much as things that are just essential to make the game playable in the often-weird ways that I play. There are others that I also consider just essential for when I'm playing in certain styles, especially for more primitive settings. But for ones that are optional and just pure fun, I'd nominate all of @thesweetsimmer111's baby- and toddler-related ones.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack? I know for TS2 it was Seasons. For TS3…For a long time, I had just the base game, which I got when it came out, but didn't play beyond trying it out and then going back to TS2. Then, years later, I got a new computer and decided to give TS3 another try, but I couldn't find the CD or DVD or whatever it was, so I bought a combo pack with the base game, Late Night, and the High End Loft or whatever it is stuff pack, so I guess it would be Late Night. Other than that, I bought all the other TS3 EPs in one go when EA had them on sale for 50% off via Origin, which that combo pack forced me to install. (But which I am now free of again. 🏴‍☠️)

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing? As aLIVE. Because that is when the game is live. Games do not live, but they can be live. See, this is one reason why English sucks.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? Here's a thing about me: I don't really get attached to the pixel people. For me, they're just tools. I'm guessing it's because I'm not a storyteller when it comes to Sims, so I don't see sims as characters. Sure, sometimes I find one endearing for one reason or another. Usually, they have traits that make them assholes, and I like to watch them create chaos and ruin wherever they go. One of the founders of the Random Legacy that I will get back to one of these days is one of those. But I find I like other people's sims more than mine, though that's more of a testament to those simmers' story-telling skills than anything else.

Have you made a simself? Only by accident. A few times I've just been randomly moving sliders around and somehow I ended up with something that looked like me at some stage in my life. It stayed that way for a minute or three, before I yelled OH GOD NO! and quickly slidered the horror away.

But to be honest? I find the entire concept kind of creepy, at least in terms of putting a self-sim in the game and playing them as a character. That would just feel weird to me. That said, I suppose it might have been something that would have appealed to me if I had played when I was a kid, but the game didn't exist when I was a kid. Computers didn't exist when I was a kid, at least not in a form that regular people could own and that could fit on a desk. I was in my 40s when I started playing the game. My daughter played TS2 when she was a kid, and she had a self-sim inserted into the stories she would play, so…yeah. Maybe it's a younger-person thing. Or maybe I'm just weird. Yeah, it's probably that second option.

Which is your favorite EA hair color? Probably the black, but even with that I have to add some highlights to it because otherwise the hair just looks like a creature from the void eating the sim's head.

Favorite EA hair? None of them. They all need to DIAF.

Favorite life stage? I don't have one. I have a least-favorite, babies, because they're basically just objects, but once they're actually sims, I enjoy playing sims of all ages equally.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? I originally bought TS2 just to build in it, and for a couple of years, that was all I did. I only started actually playing the game later. Now, I enjoy both building and actually playing the game, depending on my mood. Usually, I'll have a binge of building, but I eventually come to a point where I'd rather do anything other than build. Then I play the game. Then, eventually, the urge to build comes back. So it's a back-and-forth.

Are you a CC creator? I made lots of stuff for TS2, mostly object retextures/recolors. I've made a few minor things for TS3, and I retexture hairs and add preg morphs to clothing for my own use, but I wouldn't consider myself a CC creator for TS3. In fact, I'm actively resisting learning how to make stuff for TS3 because I really don't want to go down that rabbithole again.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad? Friends in the sense of "people I enjoy talking to and sharing ideas with and sometimes arguing with here on Tumblr?" Sure. Are those the same as friendships that develop face-to-face in the real world? Nope. But, sometimes I like talking to my Simblr friends a lot more than talking to my real-life friends, so make of that what you will. Y'all are less draining sometimes. LOL

Do you have any sims merch? No official merch, but my brother-in-law is into making pottery, and several years ago he made me a big stoneware mug with a plumbbob on it. Which is ironic because when I play the game I turn off the plumbbobs because I hate them. LOL But I love the mug. It's heavy enough that neither cats nor wagging dog tails nor giant snakes (though he could do it if he focused all four of his brain cells on the task) can knock it off of tables, but not so heavy that I can't comfortably lift it. I use it for eating soup and the occasional mug cake, and also for drinking the awful herbal tea my husband makes me drink, though since the recent surgery, I don't have to drink that anymore! *dances* So now it will just be my soup or cake mug. Or one for tea that I actually want to drink.

Do you have a YouTube for sims? I don't have a YouTube for anything. Well, OK, I have a YouTube account for watching other people's stuff and making playlists of things I want to watch, but I don't post videos on it, and I don't really watch video game-related stuff on YouTube, either.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing? It hasn't, really. I've pretty much always just come up with wacky scenarios to play and see how they go. In fact, for me, coming up with the scenario and figuring out how to make it work in the game and then inventing a ruleset to govern it is sometimes more fun than actually playing the scenario. LOL

And my Sims all look like the game made them because…the game makes all of them. I just poke the random button until it produces something that doesn't look too much like a freak of nature, then I hit up a couple sliders to remove or tone down any remaining freakishness. (Though I confess that I will spend an inordinate amount of time sculpting the titties of those who have them. Why? I have no idea, other than I just like me a nice pair of titties. Too bad there aren't any sliders for male titties…) Then I just slap on a different hair, maybe change the eye color, and slather on some makeup and facial/body hair and shit until they don't look too stupid, and then off I go. From there, they're all born in the game, and I just leave them as-is, mostly because I can't be bothered. "I can't be bothered" is pretty much my philosophy of life.

Who’s your favorite CC creator? I hate this kind of question. I feel like all they do is disappoint and discourage people if they're never picked. I refuse to do that over something so trivial. So, my favorite CC creator is you, the person reading this. Yes, you. Even if you don't make CC. It doesn't matter. You're the best.

How long have you had Simblr? I started my TS2 one in 2013. (I can remember that only because I know that I started it the same year I met my husband. LOL ) I started this one….2 years ago? 3? Something like that.

How do you edit your pictures? Other than basic cropping and resizing and maybe adjusting brightness/contrast a bit if the pic is too dark or whatever, I generally don't. I don't even use Reshade all the time anymore, only in certain situations, though I do have an NVIDIA profile for the game that adds ambient occlusion and better antialiasing and shit like that. Sometimes, though, I'll decide to photoshop scenery pics, and then I just kind of stab at it with various tools and filters and layer blends and shit until I like I how it looks. There's no actual process involved. I'm random like that.

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite? I gotta go with World Adventures. Bits of it are a bit, shall we say, culturally problematic, but man, I never get tired of doing those stupid, stupid tombs. LOL Plus, I love that NRaas Traveler allows you to "travel" to any world, and I don't think that mod works without WA, so…. Yeah. WA.

Tagging: I have no idea who's done this, so I'll just tag a few random people, off the top of my head. Feel free to do or ignore, as you choose. No pressure from me! So...@nectar-cellar, @happy-lemon, @erasabledinosaur, @esotheria-sims, @lilleputtu, @littlefrenchsims, @anamoon63, @lazysunjade, annnnnnnnd @papermint-airplane.

[unofficial-sean]

Every time my dad visits, I struggle to understand him. I struggle to assess our common understandings. I struggle to interact with him in a meaningful way.

I used to be a car person. I used to dream up the cars I'd own and what mods I would have on them. I'd try them out in Forza, and this is what drove me to get my GED and become a mechanic. I was obsessed. This worked well with my dad because I'd reckon most white guys are car people, too, to some degree. I was enriched with tools for gifts and our time spent talking was almost always about cars and motorcycles.

But that was before. Now, I'm focused on a deeply personal mission to make my community's HVAC system as efficient as possible; arrived at by personally seeking knowledge over years and years, and also running breathlessly into the world of cars and being knocked on my ass by the intolerance of the people in that world.

I got swept up in the mystical world of radios, which paired well with my dad, as well, who got his technician license shortly after I did, because wireless communication appealed to his sense of independence.

Instead of running face-first into hyper-masculinity, I ran into a door too small to squeeze into. Being a radio technician was not to be.

So, I moved onto biology. Also something my dad is interested in. He likes trees and has plenty of urban wildlife stories. But he is over 50, and a few months ago, I taught him that trees actually consume oxygen at night as part of cellular respiration; it was news to him. Biology wasn't to be, either; I was overwhelmed by the workload placed on my by college and I burnt out.

So here I am, now. I've tried on many costumes. I've learned a little in a lot of places. I've sought out a role for myself to fill. I lost interest in cars and motorcycles. I'm always fascinated by life, but I can't focus on it anymore. Radios are always cool, but there's no one to talk to; or any reason to. I'm terrified of diving.

So I have HVAC, now. It's the current costume I'm wearing. I have a moral mission informed by my experiences roasting in the summer and by my ever-increasing knowledge of the climate crisis. It's all I can do. In my free time, I care for my frogs, I play single-player video games, I prepare for D&D with my club. I dream a lot, too. I don't have any partners, in part because I don't know where to meet my people, and in part because I've lost interest in others, but if I did. . . I just know my family would be weird about it at best.

I don't know how to fit either of my parents into my life, if I'm honest. There's no place for them. There's nothing they can do to enrich it. When I'm around them, I feel tense. I don't want to say the wrong thing. I don't want to hear how far apart we are.

My dad took my brother and I to a car museum. I loathe cars, now. I drive one, sure. But I don't care for them. I learned that there's a completely different way of living, and I desire it dearly; why would there be any ounce of love left for them? But I go anyways, because on some level, I have to. The museum stinks of oily rags. It is a familiar smell, but one that now gives me a headache. I do a circuit, then head outside to breathe in the somewhat-fresh air. I say somewhat because the museum is next to I-5, and the tire noise erases anything sweeter that may have once been in its place.

I walk around the side to look at the building's massive outdoor units; two big, 6-comrpessor, 460v AC + boiler units. I am amazed that the compressors have a locked-rotor amp rating of 125. Can you imagine? I spied a mini-split system, too. A Mitsubishi. It uses R-410A and has a base refrigerant weight of 6oz. For every additional 25 feet of line, though, you must add 0.6 oz of refrigerant to it. There is a spot on the label for the installer to record the total weight of refrigerant in the system after install. It is left blank. Poor practice. Anyone servicing it, now, must estimate it by measuring the lines, if they can access them.

I'm supposed to be spending time with my dad, but instead I'm outside, alone. I don't wanna look at old cars who spewed lead into the atmosphere and probably killed their drivers just as often as they killed bystanders. I don't want to see the machines that my world was built around.

The museum has a section on fossil fuels and climate change. I half-expected to see some denial or distortion of history. No doubt there was some, but it's the solution to these issues that annoyed me the most. In essence, the plaques and exhibits said "let's make use of biofuels, hybrids, and electric cars to minimize emissions; and lets use renewable energy sources to reduce the carbon footprint of automobile manufacturing." fucking what. You wanna keep making cars? Unbelievable.

There was not a single mention of reducing car-dependency or electrified rail. My headache got worse. What did I expect? Car people are going to find a way to keep cars in their place.

What does this have to do with my dad? In a way, he's a barometer for sentiments on certain things. He still thinks I'm interested in internal combustion engines. I hate them. I hate their noises and their fumes. I know precisely how they work, and I could fix a broken one, but I despise what they represent and I just wish they would go away. I wish they weren't the topic of conversation anymore.

I'm tired of grave stakes and the horrors of the world. I want to feel hope again. I want to meet people who share my goals. I want to talk about a thriving future. But fuck, it is hard to do in Tacoma. I want to put a heat hump in every home. I want my tools to be part of a tool-sharing program. I want enough resources to contribute to mutual aid. I want electrified public transit so I can get rid of my car. I want bike infrastructure so I can use the damn thing to get around. I want empty parking lots torn up and replaced with green spaces.

I want to be part of it all and I want to talk with the people who already are. And instead I have my family and everyone else in this city. I'm too afraid to speak, lest I risk showing that I don't know enough. Too afraid to tell my dad I'm not interested in these things anymore because then we will have NOTHING. That will be very sad.

I'm tired. I put together a playlist of things to give me hope because I am trudging through a depression, again. Putting them on in the background while I click through Baldur's Gate 3 again because I can't sleep, but I don't have the brain power to write out my next session or do something bold and creative. I'm soulsapped.

Tomorrow will be the last time my niece celebrates her birthday in this state. She, her brother, and my sister are all moving to Illinois. We'll be at our grandparent's place. It is being referred to as the "last time we'll all be together." Grandpa's health is failing. He's about to be in hospice, if he isn't already. On one hand, I should be there just for the sake of it. I know I'd want as many people around if i was dying. Grandpa's always been cooler than his wife. She's the true reason I don't want to go. I don't like being around her.

I don't like all the "God Bless America" shit in her home. What is there to be proud of? I'm getting off track.

There's no point in raising my voice. I must be a neutral vessel everywhere I go. This is the only place I can ever express myself. Outside, I weight my guilt against my desire to push them all away. It is those days where I am compelled to spend time with family where I feel the most trapped.

[n1ghtcrwler]

The story so far:

Carol and I were excited to play Baldur's Gate 3, and decided to play it together, so we bought two copies. We livestreamed the first bit of the game as part of our Couple's Game Night show, in a multiplayer game hosted on her computer. The next day, due to scheduling, we each started a single-player campaign as well on our respective computers. Everything is fine.

I had started getting into mods due to The Sims 4, and expanded into using mods on Fallout 4, so I happened to be on Nexus shortly after installing Baldur's Gate 3 and noticed there were already over a thousand mods for the game, which blew me away. I didn't know about the early release, so I thought the community had somehow busted out 1.6k mods for the game in the span of just a few days and was deeply curious about what kind of mods they could possibly be, so I started looking through the list. End result: one dozen mods and a mod manager downloaded and running. Nothing major, just stuff that gets me new dice or access to camp clothes at a shop, one thing that makes feats available more often, that sort of thing. Most of them just make the game more closely aligned with the 5e books. One set of mods stands out; a mod that makes WASD move the character instead of the camera, because the "move the camera and then click somewhere" mode of moving around drives me nuts, as well as a camera fix required for that and the special mod loader needed to run both. These are installed directly in the game's bin folder instead of through the mod manager. There is an Improved UI override in the mod manager that does not turn off when I turn off other mods. Everything is working fine.

Carol and I load a second multiplayer game hosted on my computer, which involves turning my mods off because she doesn't mod, except the WASD set and the Improved UI because I can't directly turn them off and they don't affect anything that matters for multiplayer anyway. Besides, after talking about it, Carol decides to install the WASD set on her computer as well. The idea was to avoid playing the streamed campaign off stream, but we didn't want to not be able to play together when we weren't streaming. So a second multiplayer campaign was the best solution. The next day, I also join another multiplayer campaign being hosted by a couple guys in my Discord server. Everything is working fine.

My Dwarf druid/cleric reaches level 5. I go to level her up and the game crashes out. No message, no hesitation; click the level up icon, and I'm back on the desktop with the Larian crash reporter opening. I start experimenting with the mods, removing them one at a time and trying again, to see which one is causing it. Nothing fixes the problem. That same day, Carol and I decide to jump into our non-streamed multiplayer game, so I turn off all my mods in the mod manager just like before. But we can't connect. When she tries to join my lobby, she gets a message that "GustavDev" is different between our computers and therefore preventing her from joining. We try switching to the streamed one hosted on her computer; it won't let me connect, but doesn't give an error message. Carol tells Steam to validate her installed files and walks me through how to do the same thing. Finish that process, but still can't connect. We don't know which computer is the problem.

Carol reaches level 5 on her game and is able to level up her character just fine, so we now have ample reason to believe the problem is my install. She explains that "GustavDev" is a core game file, and has me uninstall and reinstall the game. This does not fix my leveling problem, so I start testing mods again. This does not work. I switch to my Shadar-kai (yes, a modded race) bard playthrough, which is at a lower level, so I can at least enjoy the game a little bit until we sort this out. But this is a temporary solution, as I know I'm going to be constantly frustrated with the game and unable to finish it if I never figure out how to get past level 4.

Last night, we tried to join a party with a different pair of guys from our Discord server. Carol gets in just fine, my attempts fail. I have my mods off, so I start poking around some more, and fully uninstall the Improved UI override. Now the game still won't let me join the lobby, but does at least give me the "GustavDev" error message. I validate files again and Steam reinstalls one. Still can't join. I go into the game's bin folder and manually delete every file added or altered by the WASD mod set. The game crashes without opening; presumably, one of the files I deleted was necessary. So I validate files again, hoping that will notice the missing file and reinstall it. It doesn't find any errors. I try to load the game again, and it crashes without opening. So I uninstalled and started a new install and went to bed.

This morning, with a new install, I verify my mods are off and my Improved UI and WASD set are uninstalled, start up the game, and load the multiplayer campaign I'm hosting. Carol is still in bed while our daughter is getting ready for school, so I hop on her computer and see if she can connect to my now-open lobby. She can't, it gives the same "GustavDev" error message. This tells me things are still not going to work on my computer. So I exited the game and uninstalled it again. Then I went through and deleted the mod manager itself, the game folder, and the Larian games folder that contains all the save files and all the mod files. I purge every scrap of Baldur's Gate 3 and the mod manager I can find off my computer, then restart my computer, THEN tell Steam to install the game anew.

The install is at 40%. Carol tells me that if that doesn't work, the next step would be a refresh of my entire Windows system. I'm debating whether or not this game is worth that level of effort. Stay tuned for updates.

[duckapus]

It's the middle of the night at Glitch Productions, and all is dark and quiet as all the staff have long since gone home.

That is, until the monitor of one very special computer suddenly turns on on its own, and a certain supervillain eggplant peeks from off-screen out into the real world before hopping out onto the desktop (of the computer, not the actual desk it's sitting on).

"All clear, perfect."

"And why are we here again?"

"Just a sec, gotta find it first." As he says this, Garyboy hops around the screen, looking around all the icons for one in particular.

"Well, I say we, but I really mean you, seeing as despite our alliance I am STILL TRAPPED IN THIS SUN-SCORCHED NIGHTMARE!!!"

True enough, the great virus Ozymandias is not actually present. Instead, Garyboy has managed to finagle the camera, microphone, and speaker in his suit to allow his new boss to see what he sees, hear what he hears, and speak to him, even with the entire internet between them (though in certain high-traffic areas the connection can get a bit spotty).

"Well, yeah. If I let you out now, you'll just do exactly what got you caught the first two times!"

"...Fair enough. I suppose this is meant to be my first lesson in these "strategy" and "subtlety" concepts you mentioned?"

"Exactly. Ah, here we go!" He opens a folder, revealing two other folders inside, "Alright, within these folders are the files needed to run the two candidates for the next SMG universe. Now, if you were here, what would you do?"

"Destroy them utterly, of course. Along with everything else in this place."

"Right. Now, I don't want to do that. While destroying two entire universes would be satisfying in the short term, there would be too much evidence tying it back to me and I'd be hunted to the ends of the multiverse and deleted with extreme prejudice."

"There is logic in that, I suppose. So what will you do then?"

"I'm glad you asked!" He extends his prehensile Super Suction Ears to manipulate the window's controls, explaining his actions as he goes, "First, I create an empty folder with the same name as one of the existing folders. Normally you can't do that, but I'm using a bit of my venom to trick the system. Not enough to cause real damage, but that also means it's a small enough amount to not be traced. Then, I put the original folder inside the other game's folder, and use the same trick as with the names to fudge the memory values. And now that I'm done, I close the window so it's like I was never here."

"...That's it? What did that even accomplish?"

"Well, nothing right now, but when it's time to install the SMG Mod it'll be an absolute disaster!"

"How so?"

Garyboy leaves the desktop to return to the portal he'd used to get here, speaking as he goes, "With how I've set things up, one of two things will happen. Either they'll try to install the Mod in the empty folder and the SMGs will fade away into nothing without an Avatar to anchor them, or they'll try to install it on the other folder and...well, I don't know what'll happen. No one knows what happens if you try to add one set of SMGs to two games at once. No Admin is stupid enough to try. But I bet it won't be anything good."

"Fascinating. Perhaps there is something to this whole "subtlety" thing."

[photog-crafty]

It would be easy to dismiss the Sanctus as a gimmick bike, only worth driving around Halloween. It was a mistake I made myself. It shares a lot of parts with the Avarus, so I thought it was just an Avarus with a skull and some spooky mods made as a quick cashgrab. But, it turned out that the Sanctus was a motorcycle unlike any other, with unholy amounts of torque that allowed it to drift across town and dared you to fully open the throttle. Not to mention it sounded utterly badass, and with some practice it could climb two-story walls like something out of a horror movie. This bike wasn't silent, but it was definitely a killer.

In a similar vein, this Ruffian evokes imagery of the Headless Horseman. The Ruffian's different headlights were classified as extras, and with the use of a very simple glitch, it was possible to obtain one with none at all. Driving it at night was very interesting.

Is "Apocalypse Deathbike" a band name? It should be. This bike was born out of the pursuit of speed. The Gargoyle was famous for a glitch that propelled it to very high speeds when popping a wheelie with specific wheels installed, and this quality persisted when it was upgraded into the Apocalypse or Nightmare variants of the Deathbike. Then, low grip tires were glitched on to it for even more speed, and coupled with its built-in jump, this bike became truly worthy of the War Boys.

The fact that there were two Sanchez models in GTA made it a no-brainer to have one with standard tires and one with low grips. Surprisingly, it was much more controllable than I expected, but it lost a lot of its stunt potential.

This Manchez Scout was a last-minute addition to the collection during the initial low grip tire rush. Trying to paint up this one was even more difficult, and the end result was very lacking all around. The extra speed was noticeable, but it couldn't hold a candle to other, faster motorcycles, and it handled like a drunk squirrel. This is a bike I wouldn't hesitate to sell if push came to shove.

The BF400 was an example of low grip tires done well. Its already high speed got a nice kick, and the handling was just loose enough to be fun. With a color-matched livery to make it look sharp, this was a bike I took out quite a bit when I wanted to ride on the wild side.

The Sovereign was a rare vehicle in more ways than one. It was only available during the Independence Day week, and it was pretty darn slow, so seeing one in the wild was an uncommon occurrence. In addition, one of its quirks was that it wasn't able to be painted because of the American flag livery. This one here had that overridden with a midnight purple paint job that turned the livery into a subtle detail, visible if you looked very closely.

While its performance was completely unremarkable in every way, the Diabolus Custom had so many customizations and looked so cool that I rode it all the time nonetheless. I gave it a vivid purple-chrome secondary color and carefully masked it off to make the bike look like it had a glowing, futuristic power core. It was fitting that the Diabolus Custom also had an unusually powerful headlight, making it quite useful as a portable spotlight when people needed illumination for a scene.

Also known as the $2,500,000 Bati, the Shinobi was a welcome addition to the game's bike roster that was also an example of rampant in-game inflation. Sure, it had some cool mods, and we hadn't gotten a new sports bike in years, but it drove almost exactly the same as a bike from the game's launch in 2013 that was equally competitive and could be had for less than one percent of the Shinobi's price tag. Move over, Lynx.

Installing low grip tires on a Shotaro resulted in one of the most amazing bikes of my GTA career. The Shotaro was so naturally grippy that the loss in handling was almost imperceptible if you weren't specifically trying to throw it out, and the added speed covered the Shotaro's one weakness, making it even more exhilarating and turning it into a trick machine. Even after the nerf to low grips, I still had tons of fun with this one.