Cyclonesue / Blog

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Jan 27, 2010 | 9 comments

... and I'm STILL laughing.  Laughing lots.

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Jan 27, 2010 | 0 comments

I've now made two oil cans (circa 1970s - yes, that's how long they've been lying about): a dented, fallen one, and a simple stand-up can.  Despite appearances, both are fully recolourable (only the labels are fixed).  As an example, the far left cans (one lying down and the green 7Z standing can are both the same, but i removed the green and rusted up the metal of the fallen can.

The pleasure I got out of denting one of those cans was immeasurable!  Sweet revenge for finding that my original prototype had a back-to-front label on the flip side of the can (now fixed of course; I'm not THAT lazy).

I apologise for the logos.  For once, I didn't risk getting my butt sued by using real oil company brands (though heck, if I owned an oil company, I'd be well pleased to see people keeping my company junk for 40 years +)...

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Jan 25, 2010 | 8 comments

If you're going to let your garden become completely overgrown, you won't need one of these, but don't throw it away!  lLt it rot and rust in a corner.  Eventually, it will take root and no-one will ever be able to shift it.

Yup, this old mower is my latest instalment for TSR's upcoming garden theme (still needs a bit of texture work, but you get the idea).  It's rather a shame (for TSR) that I got wind of this new theme, for I'm sure they were doing their very best to keep it secret (from me).  After all, they're probably thinking of an oncoming Spring, of beautiful lawns and pretty flowers...

But now I've found out about it, I'm just going to ruin it completely with a pile of junk!

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Jan 24, 2010 | 5 comments

The Never-Ending Windows are going to be a tad delayed due to a Workshop problem that has stopped windows working correctly, but at least that gives more time for people to respond to the poll about whether to include diagonal versions.  Right now, it's an even contest and it looks highly likely that I'll make a separate set of the diagonals once Workshop is repaired.  Thanks for your input on this.

With windows on the back-burner, I have turned my attention to junk (again).  I've had lots of requests for my usual junk: tyres, supermarket trolleys, petrol pumps, rooftop junk and posters have all been levelled at me, and they will all be done in good time.  I've also received requests for NICE things (like round walls).  These will also be done but we won't talk about that NOW because this is Junk Time!

Here's a sneak preview of the Garden Junk set.  There's still much for me to do yet but some tyres and an old water pump are already complete.  All will work in both clean and grungy colours, so any of you who like to keep your game NICE (do seek therapy for that) won't be disappointed.  EDIT: supermarket trolley now complete too!

Meanwhile, a surprise fix in a new beta Workshop has meant that my long-delayed Broken Toilets set can now be prepped for publication!!!   I've made toilet paper litter for the floor, and Sims need to be able to walk over this without it impeding their way.  After trying a raft of options like ceiling objects and even a child's toy, it soon became clear that the only decorative object that could be walked on and which didn't mind being indoors or out (and could be placed on counter-tops too) were the 'clutter magazines'.  But these could not be used until now.  My nasty bit of litter is now made and finally in my game, which is great news for a burgeoning "Factory" bathroom set!

Before I release the set, I'm adding a couple of pretty little decorative items like this hand dryer.  Naturally, it doesn't DO anything; nothing I make does anything so you're likely very used to that by now.  The colour variation pictured is the grubby version (quite tame by my standards)!  A nice, shiny version is also included, though quite why you'd want a CLEAN version is beyond me!

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Jan 22, 2010 | 3 comments

You didn't think I'd make Never-ending Arches and completely forget about the bigger sibling: Never-ending Windows, did you?!

They're already made.  Six window designs!  The trouble is: each window design requires THREE meshes (a left, a right and the joining middle piece).  In Sims 2, the left/right was a single reversible mesh, but Sims 3 glass reflection is more advanced and reversing a window changes the direction of reflection too (which then shows an ugly join), therefore we now need separate left and right panes so you can keep all the glass facing the same way.

You don't need to be a maths guru to realise that 6 windows of 3 meshes each = 18 meshes!  However, these windows will not work on diagonals because a diagonal wall is wider, and so these would need to be separate set for diagonals too, balooning the set to a massive 36 meshes!!!

As a result, I've added a poll to my home page.  Do you want the diagonals too, or is that too much for your catalogue?  It's going to be a bit of a snappy poll because the set is ready for release, but I can't make up my mind about whether to throw in some diagonals.  Let me know what you think. 

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Jan 20, 2010 | 5 comments

I've already uploaded a set of grunge-stained wallpapers for those of you who own World Adventures and have no patience for creating your own (and to those of you who don't, I'm really sorry - but there is nothing in the base game that will support this type of paper yet).  The set will be a freebie and I made it because I know people who have zero patience with the Create A Style tool (and I happen to live with one of them!) and these will just add themselves to your game, premade, as a complete set of stained brick papers.  Hope you have fun with them!

But what is the point of nasty walls when they're surrounded by an English country garden?!  Quite.  So I have been busy compiling two sets of grungetastic terrain paints!  The first set will be the Cement Garden set - full of industrial-strength grit and grunge, and the second set will be the Derelict Garden for dead grass, overgrown cobble and cracked dry earth.  A few old favourites (of mine - you might have hated them) have stepped over from my Sims 2 collections (stained cement, littered rubble, black asphalt and some grass with mud patches) but the majority of the paints are brand new...

And in making them, I belatedly discovered the entire point of the square brush!  See my paving slabs with the weed in between?  Incredibly simple to do: plonk down a yard full of base-game weed, then take the smallest square brush, move the slider right to the end of 'hard edge' and dab cement slabs down.  The square brush on 'hard edge' setting still doesn't reach quite to the very edge of the tile, and this makes it easily possible to leave unpainted (ie weed gaps) between the slabs.  How cool is that?! 

But you probably already knew all this.  In fact, your first-ever Sims 3 house probably used this very technique.  Indeed, you probably did it all the way through Sims 2 as well, and so did your 3-year-old nephew, pet cat etc etc.  All I can say to that is that I was probably busy making cranes or something...

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Jan 6, 2010 | 4 comments

Double-treble-quadruple DRAT!

EA has changed something in the game.  Holes in the wall (or any type of frameless or invisible window) are NO LONGER POSSIBLE!  I say 'no longer' because I made a very early attempt at these windows (probably back in August) and they worked back then and I nearly used one of them in my spooky Halloween graveyard.  But now, they don't.  I've made a couple of 'frameless' windows this week (including a totally invisible window to double-check that I wasn't going insane or anything), as well as testing an older window that used to work just fine (pictured left).  The result is that the bottom and top strips of walls remain visible...

I'm gutted about this, and I know some of you will be too (this has been my most-requested Sims 3 conversion to date).  I will keep one of the windws in my game so I can check whether this is remedied by EA after subsequent patches (I know patches are not favourite topic-of-the-month at the moment.  Maybe one day EA will fix it, but right now, one of my favourite window styles is not going to make it into the game.

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Jan 2, 2010 | 8 comments

Happy New Year to you!  There, that's that boring old formality done with.  Now for the real purpose of a calendar date merely switching from one number to the next: the ridiculous excuse to make RESOLUTIONS!

But of course you haven't bothered with that.  Most resolutions (like dieting, giving up smoking, and resolving not to dredge up forum threads that are at least eight years old) are all completely phoney and you'll give up within two seconds of the last line of "Auld Lang Syne" (btw: can we PLEASE have a new dratted end-of-year song next year?!).  However, resolutions are what I'm good at (when selecting for other people, that is) and so allow me...

RESOLUTION NO 1: DOORS
Do not mention the word DOOR to me ever again during the remainder of this year.  In particular, do not come waving that grey modern door at me asking for clones.  Just don't - okay?

RESOLUTION NO 2: WINDOWS
You will learn to love inside-out windows.  They are unusual and uniquely authentic to the creator.

RESOLUTION NO 3: CONVERSIONS
It is no secret that there were some creators who were shockingly lazy and inept at Sims 2 creation.  It is therefore cruel and borderline harrassment to badger these witless creators with requests to convert their Sims 2 work to Sims 3 as it merely serves to remind them (and the rest of the world) of their ineptitude and make them a laughing-stock of the entire Sims community.  I would hate to be one of those unfortunate creators who took two months to convert some simple Gothic windows, for example.... 

RESOLUTION NO 4: HIDDEN TALENT
Resolve to understand talent like you have never understood it before.  To judge a creation by how it looks in the game or how useful it might be is such a gauche way to judge, these days.  If you find yourself looking at a questionable object that not only doesn't look very good, but also has little if any value or purpose (especially if it came from MY pages) assume that there is special hidden talent in the object's inception: some finesse, some miraculous touch to bring you an unseen level of quality that isn't cheaply obvious like those other so-called 'wonderful creations' you might hear about....

RESOLUTION NO 5: JUST LAUGH
If any creation (such as one from any of my pages) should send your game up in smoke, then it is etiquette to laugh about it.  The proper way to laugh is a light, tinkly laughter that is gentle on the ears.  You may voice appropriate words too like: "I never did mind about the little things..."  (such as Crash To Desktop and "Unable to start process..." messages).  Sims wearing their heads back to front, returning from holiday to greet themselves sat on the sofa in triplicate or a Sim suddenly married to their toddler are hardly shocking events in the world of EA at the moment, so a mere loss of everything is nothing really.  Just laugh - tinklingly.

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Dec 31, 2009 | 1 comments

I've added a new factory set: doors! 

The set comprises 10 doors of various styles.  Some are clearly industrial, but others will work in any kind of building (the door on the right is one example).  Anyway, I hope I've made a good range to increase your building choices.

I hate making doors.  Double doors especially are utterly horrible to make. The ironwork lattice door and I became arch enemies this last few days as it persisted in shooting bolts of white triangles shooting across my screen whenever it was open. Transpired I'd tried to be a bit too clever with the non-existent glass and confused the game to bits.  All is now well and good in ironwork lattice land.

The set is released next Friday: 8th January.

Finally, wishing you a wonderfully happy new year!!!

Author: Cyclonesue | Posted Dec 27, 2009 | 3 comments

I'm back into urbania and am having a blast!

I've made some factory windows already, and today I uploaded a decorative trim set that will transform the factory windows into a variety of different designs to extend the variations even further.

But with windows taken care of, I know we need some doors!  EA have given us a broad range of doors and those modern grey doors with the glass will colour nicely to fit a grunge theme, but they're not quite industrial strength.  So, I decided to put the sliding door to some good use and made a lattice ironwork sliding door.

I'll be adding more doors to the set - likely along the lines of some industrial doors I made for Sims 2 (grubby heavy-duty doors with metal footplates, a fire escape door etc).

PS: the wallpapers EA have given us in World Adventures are simply the best!  Perfect, realistic grunge.  They just made Sims 3 900% better for me with these!