sim_man123 / Blog

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Dec 10, 2011 | 1 comments

Hi everyone!

Yes, I know that I still haven't published the pet stuff from my last post - not to worry, though! It's still in the pipeline, I'm hoping to have it finished this weekend and published by the beginning of next week. In addition to that, I now present my Christmas set for this year.

Christmas Trees! Except with a bit of a twist, this year. Instead of making a completely pre-made tree, I have created it as a "build a tree" kit. Each component of the tree is individual, so users can place only what they want on the tree. Currently, in addition to a plain, bare tree, the components consist of: Round bulb ornaments, snowflake ornaments, pinecones, rainbow lights, white lights, cool lights (shades of blue and green), warm lights (shades of red, yellow, and orange), garland, vertical garland, and the star tree-topper. You can use them all if you wish, or you could simply cover your tree in pinecones if that is what you prefer! I also might make some bows for the tree, pending how much time I have.

(The middle tree in this picture has "everything" on it. The left is a "cool" tree with pinecones, cool lights, snowflakes, and vertical garland, and the right tree is a "warm" tree with warm lights, and bulb ornaments. Click image to enlarge.)

I have gone to EXTREMELY great lengths to make this entire set a visually pleasing as possible. As a result, if everything is taken from the catalog and placed directly on the tree as-is (without rotating it, or holding alt, etc) then you will find that nothing "overlaps" or cuts through any of the other parts.

The garland was wrapped around the tree one little section a time, for hours, to ensure that it goes over/under/around the tree branches and not through them. Each item was individually placed so that there should be no tree branches sticking through anything. The items have also been arranged in a way that allows them all to be on the tree at once without any overlap or items clipping through other items.

Also, if you have anything in your game that you think would be a neat tree topper, by all means, use it! There is a slot at the top of the tree that star snaps into, but you can put any small deco item up there instead!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Nov 27, 2011 | 2 comments

Hi everyone! Just a small update to show that I've converted my Cardboard Pet Box from TS2 over to TS3. This is the "small" version, I will also attempt to enlarge it to the "large" size pet bed as well. Both the Cardboard and the Cloth (Newspaper) are recolorable, and there is a "clean" variation for those who aren't quite as evil!

Click image to enlarge.

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Oct 28, 2011 | 1 comments

Hi all,

Because you can never have too many things that glow, I present to you a glowing Jack-O-Lantern! As seen here, it comes with 3 default variations, and of course the pumpkin and the stem are both recolorable. Once again, though, the glow is NOT recolorable. This time I'm not terribly bothered by it, because, well, Jack-O-Lanterns don't usually come in glowing colors! I'll probably make it in a smaller size, but there won't be a thousand versions like with my Evil Halloween Trees set. It's considerably harder to carve out different faces and still keep the pumpkin "round," so I don't know yet if I want to make them with different faces or not.

This Jack-O-Lantern is, of course, part of a larger set: The Pumpkin Patch. So far, it contains the Jack-O-Lantern, three sizes of a regular pumpkin, and two versions of a pumpkin vine (one with pumpkins, and one without).  I have a few more things planned for this set: either a hay bale that is a table to place pumpkins on, or a tree stump that is a table (maybe both!) , posibly a scarecrow of some kind, and old lantern, maybe a pitch fork... we'll have to see what else I can think of!

Kris

Click to enlarge. Images will open in a new window.

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Oct 24, 2011 | 2 comments

Just a quick update on my current Halloween set! I ended up making four different versions, and each one comes in five colors for a total of 20 trees! That may or may not be a lot to you, but you can always choose not to install any of the ones that you don't like! Also, just to clarify: these are only deco. They do not actually do anything in game. (Imagine if they were like the magic gnomes and were randomly appearing and disappearing all over the lot!) You could have your cat scratch them, if you want. Although they might scratch back! Just kidding! Cats won't have the urge to scratch this any more than any other object, and will still prefer a scratching post if one is avalible.

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Oct 23, 2011 | 2 comments

Hi everyone!

Just a quick preview of a set that I just started for Halloween! A set that I am calling, for now, "Evil Halloween Trees" (How original! I know...)

Notice anything unusual about it? I'll give you a hint: the glow! It's the result of a material called "Full Bright" (for any other creators who might be interested) that makes things "glow". I've never seen this effect used in any Custom Content before, so I am incredibly excited at the possibility that this may be the first time! (Apologies to any creators who might have already made use of this technique, I just haven't seen it!)

There is one downside to the shiny, pretty, fancy looking effect, though, in that the glow color is NOT recolorable. Gasp! Horror! I know. I hate when things are not recolorable! The tree bark is recolorable, but everything that is orange can not be changed from within the game. To counter this tragedy, I'm thinking about maybe making multiple versions of each tree, with a different color. I'm thinking Orange, Red, and Purple. No guarantees, though! I may end up with more, or fewer colors.

I'm also highly considering taking this effect to some regular Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins, so stay tuned!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Oct 22, 2011 | 7 comments

Hi all,

As you may or may not know by now, the Pets expansion pack - and it's accompanying patch(es) break the majority of Custom Content. The amazing TSR team has worked and came up with a generic "fix all" program - however, so far, we have discovered two things that it does not fix: bathtubs and beds. These have to manually fixed/updated/remade. I have several beds, and I just wanted to let you all know that I am working to get them fixed as we speak! I am hoping to have them all updated and ready for re-download tomorrow sometime. I'll post an update here when they are all ready, as well as on each individual bed/set. Check back soon!

Kris

• UPDATE - Oct 22, 2011

     All of my TS3 beds have been updated and the new, working files have been uploaded and published. Each file now has the "PetsUpdate" identifier in the file name, so you should be able to tell if you have downloaded the new one or not. I tested them in my game and had no problems. (Base Game, Generations, and Pets) If you run across any problems, errors, or glitches, please let me know! Happy Simming!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Oct 4, 2011 | 2 comments

Hello everyone!

I know that I have been rather inactive for past couple of months, and I apologize. School has been keeping me fairly occupied! I HAVE been working on something though! ... just working incredibly slow on it. Created as per request of Degera, I present a set of some shrubby/bushy type plants:

(Click image to view full-size.)

Currently, I do not have more individual types of plants planned for this set, however I may still do another couple of variations in size/shape for the plants that I already have.

Here is another picture, showing some recolors. Everything in this set is fully recolorable.

(Click image to view full-size.)

Author: sim_man123 | Posted May 8, 2011 | 1 comments

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update to tell you about my new poll that I've posted. It's just a couple of questions about color and style that, in the furutre, will help point me in the right direction as to what kind of things you all like to download. Right now I generally base everything on my own musings, or that of what is suggested to me. Hopefully the results of this poll can get me more geared towards creating what you like! So, please, if you haven't already, go answer it!

If your ideal choice isn't listen for a question, feel free to either let me know via PM, or in a comment on this post!

Also note, the results of this poll aren't going to be conclusive for the rest of time. If the favored color is red, that does not mean that everything I create from now is going to be red. Everything will utilmately be based off of my discretion - but I will definately still keep in mind the preferences that you've told me!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Apr 2, 2011 | 2 comments

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a new set of planters that I wanted to show you all! There are only a couple versions as of now - Star Flower (my brilliantly unoriginal name for the pointy pink one), Philodendron, and a "Tropical" Philodendron that has flowers. As of writing this I am half-way done with meshing a Tulip version as well.  You'll also notice the plain bucket of dirt, too - it will be joined by a dirtless bucket, and a knocked over bucket with spilled dirt - as suggested by MsBarrows for screenshots and story telling purposes.  Bucket, flowers, and foliage are all recolorable on all versions - the dirt is not. (Although it might be on the "spilled dirt" version, for things like a bucket of spilled rocks, paint, concrete, etc)

Click image to enlarge.

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Dec 17, 2010 | 1 comments

Hi everyone :)

I know it's been a while - 'tis the curse of school :( At any rate, though, I'm on winter holidays for the next weeks so I'm getting back to creating for a while. At the moment I'm working on a new bedroom (pictured below) and I may or may not work on some Christmas themed items, depending how long I work on this current set for and if I have time afterwards.