MsBarrows Blog The Sims Resource Blogs2008-10-07T02:26:36Zhttp://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/blogMsBarrowshttp://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/blog http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=8744 2008-10-07T02:26:36Z Today I posted the final entry in my Soup Legacy. After three-plus years of playing them and writing about them, it's time to (finally) move on. Though I'll be easing myself into it - I'll be writing a few short stories to tie up some loose ends of the non-heir sim storylines. And I'll be starting work on building my new play 'hood. I'm getting ambitious with it - I want to build a complete (though small!) city and associated ruralized areas for my sims to live in, and then use it as a setting for a Legacy as well as several challenges and site stories. We'll see how far I get before I decide I've bit off more then I can chew! This also means I'll finally get back into heavy-duty creating after my more-or-less hiatus of the last few months, since for some of the things I have planned to build, I'll need to build some build-mode and furnishing sets first.

Today I posted the final entry in my Soup Legacy. After three-plus years of playing them and writing about them, it's time to (finally) move on. Though I'll be easing myself into it - I'll be writing a few short stories to tie up some loose ends of the non-heir sim storylines. And I'll be starting work on building my new play 'hood. I'm getting ambitious with it - I want to build a complete (though small!) city and associated ruralized areas for my sims to live in, and then use it as a setting for a Legacy as well as several challenges and site stories. We'll see how far I get before I decide I've bit off more then I can chew! This also means I'll finally get back into heavy-duty creating after my more-or-less hiatus of the last few months, since for some of the things I have planned to build, I'll need to build some build-mode and furnishing sets first.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=8509 2008-09-08T03:46:23Z Easy answer: I'm gearing up to rebuild my play/storytelling 'hood from scratch (the Soup Legacy being in its final days). A big chunk of it will be a rather run down inner city sort of area, and I want a larger variety of nasty, dilapidated textures for that. Plus, cyclonesue likes the crumbling set :D Expect to see a whole pile of old, worn, ugly build mode items, new meshes, and recolours of existing meshes as a result of this project! I'll likely publish some of the lots as well, depending on a) my mood and b) how much CC they require.

Easy answer: I'm gearing up to rebuild my play/storytelling 'hood from scratch (the Soup Legacy being in its final days). A big chunk of it will be a rather run down inner city sort of area, and I want a larger variety of nasty, dilapidated textures for that. Plus, cyclonesue likes the crumbling set :D Expect to see a whole pile of old, worn, ugly build mode items, new meshes, and recolours of existing meshes as a result of this project! I'll likely publish some of the lots as well, depending on a) my mood and b) how much CC they require.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=8414 2008-08-26T22:32:50Z Today is the third year since I started my <a href="http://forums.thesimsresource.com/showthread.php?t=312309">Soup Legacy</a>, a 26-generation long alphabetized story about a family of sims. I'd hoped to wrap it up by today with the birth of the Z-gen heir, but real life and some distractions from TS2 things has said otherwise! Still, it's a pretty special day for me - when I first started the Soups, I didn't think I'd stick with writing the story more then a few weeks at most, and here it is three years later and I'm still at it. I like to think my writing has improved at least a little in all the time spent writing some 2 million or so words worth of text about the Soups :)

Today is the third year since I started my Soup Legacy, a 26-generation long alphabetized story about a family of sims. I'd hoped to wrap it up by today with the birth of the Z-gen heir, but real life and some distractions from TS2 things has said otherwise! Still, it's a pretty special day for me - when I first started the Soups, I didn't think I'd stick with writing the story more then a few weeks at most, and here it is three years later and I'm still at it. I like to think my writing has improved at least a little in all the time spent writing some 2 million or so words worth of text about the Soups :)

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=8326 2008-08-16T02:49:55Z Just caught up in trying to finish off my Soup Legacy in time for it's third anniversay later this month, and being distracted by my other addiction, Everquest. Never fear, there will be more objects, I've got a couple of things I've started work on but progress is currently at a crawl.

Just caught up in trying to finish off my Soup Legacy in time for it's third anniversay later this month, and being distracted by my other addiction, Everquest. Never fear, there will be more objects, I've got a couple of things I've started work on but progress is currently at a crawl.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=7758 2008-06-08T20:36:30Z I had a request a while back to make versions of the two cribs and change table from Free Time that would use the original crib's bedding for their bedding and ruffle textures. It's taken me a while to get around to it, but finally they're done, and due out on Monday. Unfortunately I neglected to note down who made the request, so I can't tell you who to blame... errr, thank... for this particular set of objects. <center><img src="http://isc.thesimsresource.com/images/misc/blogImages_7249.jpg" width="200" height="275" /></center> The one oddity with this set is that, since it uses the standing padding from the Kinder Kontainer to texture the hanging ruffles, the texture on those parts is basically upside down. Sorry, there was no easy fix for that short of completely rebuilding the ruffles (and thereby tripling the poly counts of them) so that I could map it differently. And I'm not that much of a perfectionist! I also recently went rooting through some old work of mine from a while back - from 2004, pre-TS2 - to see if any of the odds and ends I'd been meshing back then was worth trying to salvage as a TS2 mesh. And promptly stumbled over this fence I'd made to use in an Unreal level: <center><img src="http://isc.thesimsresource.com/images/misc/blogImages_7247.jpg" width="320" height="240" /></center> I had to completely rebuild the vines from scratch for it to work well in the Sims, but the resulting set of fences will be out this coming Wednesday. They co-ordinated reasonably well with the "Perfectly Square" gate that came with the base game; an entirely serendipitous result that I didn't plan for, but noticed once I was trying them out in-game. <center><img src="http://isc.thesimsresource.com/images/misc/blogImages_7248.jpg" width="400" height="300" /></center>

I had a request a while back to make versions of the two cribs and change table from Free Time that would use the original crib's bedding for their bedding and ruffle textures. It's taken me a while to get around to it, but finally they're done, and due out on Monday. Unfortunately I neglected to note down who made the request, so I can't tell you who to blame... errr, thank... for this particular set of objects. The one oddity with this set is that, since it uses the standing padding from the Kinder Kontainer to texture the hanging ruffles, the texture on those parts is basically upside down. Sorry, there was no easy fix for that short of completely rebuilding the ruffles (and thereby tripling the poly counts of them) so that I could map it differently. And I'm not that much of a perfectionist! I also recently went rooting through some old work of mine from a while back - from 2004, pre-TS2 - to see if any of the odds and ends I'd been meshing back then was worth trying to salvage as a TS2 mesh. And promptly stumbled over this fence I'd made to use in an Unreal level: I had to completely rebuild the vines from scratch for it to work well in the Sims, but the resulting set of fences will be out this coming Wednesday. They co-ordinated reasonably well with the "Perfectly Square" gate that came with the base game; an entirely serendipitous result that I didn't plan for, but noticed once I was trying them out in-game.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=7706 2008-06-03T22:31:00Z Thanks to Hweia for pointing out a slight problem with my Matrix archways. They were making the original "Mauretania" door that I'd cloned them from have a couple of flashing-blue recolours. The culprit was some material overrides in my "Straight" and "Straight No Transom" packages that I'd somehow missed removing. The two files have now been fixed and reposted. <center><img src="http://isc.thesimsresource.com/images/misc/blogImages_7212.jpg" width="300" height="375" /></center> Direct links to the dastardly duo <a href="http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/objects/buildmode/doors/719533/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/objects/buildmode/doors/719539/">here</a>.

Thanks to Hweia for pointing out a slight problem with my Matrix archways. They were making the original "Mauretania" door that I'd cloned them from have a couple of flashing-blue recolours. The culprit was some material overrides in my "Straight" and "Straight No Transom" packages that I'd somehow missed removing. The two files have now been fixed and reposted. Direct links to the dastardly duo here and here.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=7627 2008-05-25T22:22:26Z A conversation in chat on Saturday reminded me about something I've long meant to make. If you have the Pets EP, toddlers will eat out of pet food bowls. This can be useful trivia if you find yourself with more toddlers on hand then your sim family can easily handle! Especially in combination with Atavera's toddler blanket, which allows them to put themselves to bed as well. Of course, seeing a toddler playing with and eating pet kibble can be a little disturbing. So... I've remeshed a pet dish and created a cereal bowl instead! <center><img src="http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n296/MsBarrows/Misc/cereal_bowl_clip.jpg" width="400" height="230" /></center> It's only toddler-usable, so you won't have to worry about the household pets gobbling up the food meant for the kiddies, and it's filled with cereal instead of kibble. It will, unfortunately, still look like kibble when the toddlers play with or eat it... there doesn't appear to be any way of editing the special effects, at least not that I could find.

A conversation in chat on Saturday reminded me about something I've long meant to make. If you have the Pets EP, toddlers will eat out of pet food bowls. This can be useful trivia if you find yourself with more toddlers on hand then your sim family can easily handle! Especially in combination with Atavera's toddler blanket, which allows them to put themselves to bed as well. Of course, seeing a toddler playing with and eating pet kibble can be a little disturbing. So... I've remeshed a pet dish and created a cereal bowl instead! It's only toddler-usable, so you won't have to worry about the household pets gobbling up the food meant for the kiddies, and it's filled with cereal instead of kibble. It will, unfortunately, still look like kibble when the toddlers play with or eat it... there doesn't appear to be any way of editing the special effects, at least not that I could find.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=7593 2008-05-21T22:22:01Z Inspired by my Victorian Porch Railing set, I've made my first-ever set of windows and doors. These are based on the mesh of the 'Symmetrical Poly-Molecular Matrix Window' from the base game, with changes, and use its textures. The stained glass textures are recolours of the standard height straight mesh in the set, and are shared by all the other meshes. The first set of doors and windows is due out tomorrow, and contains only single-tile meshes. It has three sizes of windows in both open and closed positions, as well as glass doors, solid doors, and archways both with and without transoms. <center><img src="http://isc.thesimsresource.com/images/misc/blogImages_7103.jpg" /></center> I'm currently working on a second set of meshes that will consist of 2-tile doors and windows. I also have plans to make more recolours of the porch railing and matching fence, and some additional matching items in co-ordinating styles.

Inspired by my Victorian Porch Railing set, I've made my first-ever set of windows and doors. These are based on the mesh of the 'Symmetrical Poly-Molecular Matrix Window' from the base game, with changes, and use its textures. The stained glass textures are recolours of the standard height straight mesh in the set, and are shared by all the other meshes. The first set of doors and windows is due out tomorrow, and contains only single-tile meshes. It has three sizes of windows in both open and closed positions, as well as glass doors, solid doors, and archways both with and without transoms. I'm currently working on a second set of meshes that will consist of 2-tile doors and windows. I also have plans to make more recolours of the porch railing and matching fence, and some additional matching items in co-ordinating styles.

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=7505 2008-05-13T20:51:42Z Okay, getting bored of that poll now too! And the results are *drum roll*: <strong>What would you like to see more of?</strong> Random sets of furniture, I suppose. 46.99% (125) Fill in holes in existing furniture sets. 46.62% (124) Clutter! Because sims' homes are never messy enough. 40.98% (109) Furniture for less priviledged sims. 33.46% (89) More recolors for older stuff. 19.17% (51) Even more meshes using the photo frame textures. 13.16% (35) OMG! Like, more eyes! 9.02% (24) Tiling textures! Ugly ones! Yay! 9.02% (24) <strong>What kind of Maxis-match stuff would you most like to see...?</strong> Surprise me :) 56.39% (150) More completer sets for couchs and armchairs. 40.98% (109) Double beds to match singles, and vice versa. 33.08% (88) Counter-matching tables and chairs, and lots of them! 31.58% (84) Anything bedding-match! 26.32% (70) <strong>Which of the following would you be more intrigued by...</strong> Windows and doors 48.12% (128) Fences and gates 28.57% (76) Clothing recolours 21.05% (56) Hrmm... now what could I make that's surprising? More surprising then oddities like the OFB "Sir Bricks-A-Lot" fencing, for example! I wonder if I'll ever regret putting that down as an option...

Okay, getting bored of that poll now too! And the results are *drum roll*: What would you like to see more of? Random sets of furniture, I suppose. 46.99% (125) Fill in holes in existing furniture sets. 46.62% (124) Clutter! Because sims' homes are never messy enough. 40.98% (109) Furniture for less priviledged sims. 33.46% (89) More recolors for older stuff. 19.17% (51) Even more meshes using the photo frame textures. 13.16% (35) OMG! Like, more eyes! 9.02% (24) Tiling textures! Ugly ones! Yay! 9.02% (24) What kind of Maxis-match stuff would you most like to see...? Surprise me :) 56.39% (150) More completer sets for couchs and armchairs. 40.98% (109) Double beds to match singles, and vice versa. 33.08% (88) Counter-matching tables and chairs, and lots of them! 31.58% (84) Anything bedding-match! 26.32% (70) Which of the following would you be more intrigued by... Windows and doors 48.12% (128) Fences and gates 28.57% (76) Clothing recolours 21.05% (56) Hrmm... now what could I make that's surprising? More surprising then oddities like the OFB "Sir Bricks-A-Lot" fencing, for example! I wonder if I'll ever regret putting that down as an option...

http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/MsBarrows/comments/?blogID=7383 2008-05-02T23:20:36Z Ever wonder what building and playing cheats I like so much that I have them aliased in a userStartup.cheat file? Well, I was talking about that with someone else today, and decided to post mine. Here is what they are; to use them, put them in a text file named "userStartup.cheat" in your My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Config directory. boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true boolprop allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation true boolprop ControlsPets on boolprop PetActionCancel true sethighestallowedlevel 8 alias bob "plumbbobtoggle" "Toggle the plumbbob" alias cfeon "boolprop constrainFloorElevation true" "Turn on floor constraints" alias cfeoff "boolprop constrainFloorElevation false" "Turn off floor constraints" alias epson "boolprop ShowCatalogEPFlags true" "Display what EP items came with" alias epsoff "boolprop ShowCatalogEPFlags false" "Stop displaying what EP items came with" alias loton "boolprop ShowLotPackageFilename true" "Turn on display of filenames for lots" alias lotoff "boolprop ShowLotPackageFilename false" "Turn off display of filenames for lots" alias moveon "moveobjects on" "Move all objects" alias moveoff "moveobjects off" "Stop moving all objects" alias petfree "boolprop PetsFreeWill true" "Turns on free will for pets" alias petstay "boolprop PetsFreeWill false" "Turns off free will for pets" alias showon "showheadlines on" "Turn on thought bubbles and pop-ups" alias showoff "showheadlines off" "Turn off thought bubbles and pop-ups" alias snapon "boolprop snapObjectsToGrid true" "Resume aligning objects to grid" alias snapoff "boolprop snapObjectsToGrid false" "Stop aligning objects to grid" alias teston "boolprop testingCheatsEnabled true" "Debug mode on" alias testoff "boolprop testingCheatsEnabled false" "Debug mode off" alias toolson "boolprop dormSpecificToolsDisabled false" "Enables Buy/Build tools at dorms and community lots" alias toolsoff "boolprop dormSpecificToolsDisabled true" "Disables Buy/Build tools at dorms and community lots"

Ever wonder what building and playing cheats I like so much that I have them aliased in a userStartup.cheat file? Well, I was talking about that with someone else today, and decided to post mine. Here is what they are; to use them, put them in a text file named "userStartup.cheat" in your My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Config directory. boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true boolprop allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation true boolprop ControlsPets on boolprop PetActionCancel true sethighestallowedlevel 8 alias bob "plumbbobtoggle" "Toggle the plumbbob" alias cfeon "boolprop constrainFloorElevation true" "Turn on floor constraints" alias cfeoff "boolprop constrainFloorElevation false" "Turn off floor constraints" alias epson "boolprop ShowCatalogEPFlags true" "Display what EP items came with" alias epsoff "boolprop ShowCatalogEPFlags false" "Stop displaying what EP items came with" alias loton "boolprop ShowLotPackageFilename true" "Turn on display of filenames for lots" alias lotoff "boolprop ShowLotPackageFilename false" "Turn off display of filenames for lots" alias moveon "moveobjects on" "Move all objects" alias moveoff "moveobjects off" "Stop moving all objects" alias petfree "boolprop PetsFreeWill true" "Turns on free will for pets" alias petstay "boolprop PetsFreeWill false" "Turns off free will for pets" alias showon "showheadlines on" "Turn on thought bubbles and pop-ups" alias showoff "showheadlines off" "Turn off thought bubbles and pop-ups" alias snapon "boolprop snapObjectsToGrid true" "Resume aligning objects to grid" alias snapoff "boolprop snapObjectsToGrid false" "Stop aligning objects to grid" alias teston "boolprop testingCheatsEnabled true" "Debug mode on" alias testoff "boolprop testingCheatsEnabled false" "Debug mode off" alias toolson "boolprop dormSpecificToolsDisabled false" "Enables Buy/Build tools at dorms and community lots" alias toolsoff "boolprop dormSpecificToolsDisabled true" "Disables Buy/Build tools at dorms and community lots"