sim_man123 / Blog

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

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've been around, I know! My old computer started randomly shutting down at the most inopportune time, and I had to buy a new one. Trying to save money, I decided to buy a new-but-refurbished computer. After about a day it got to the point where all I got were "Windows has failed to boot" messages. Most unhelpful. Now, 3 computers later, I finally have one that works quite well.

I just finished installing all my programs - one of which is the new 2.5 Beta  release of Blender3D. After some poking around, it appears that most functionality has been restored - most importantly, the "Bake" feature that was missing (or extremely well hidden!) from the initial 2.5 Alpha release.

And thus, I have begun dissecting the new Blender UI and have started writing a tutorial on baking in Blender 2.5. I'd guess I have roughly half of it written, and should be finished with the rest of it in the next few hours. When I will get around to publishing it, however, is another story...

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Jun 5, 2010 | 5 comments

Hi everyone!

I've decided to go ahead and make my ceiling beams in multiple preset sizes to avoid the lighting problems that are present in-game. I'm going to keep the 1x1 (someone may have a use for it, a small hallway or something) but I've also made 1x3 and 1x4 sizes. Based on my building habits, I've picked out six sizes that I would find most useful. I plan on having total:

• 1x1
  
• 1x3
  
• 1x4
  
• 1x5
  
• 1x7
  
• 1x10

However, I would love to know what you all think would be good sizes too. I don't want to make a beam in every size because I feel like that might be overkill.

There is some versatility, though, if you place a celing light right where two beams meet - they can be placed in succession and they will not have any shading issues.

Please, again, feel free to leave any comments you have about what sizes I should make them - after all, I am making them for you all as well, not just me!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted May 26, 2010 | 2 comments

Hi everyone! Sorry for the lack of general activity lately; I've just started college and it's been keeping my incredibly busy! Anyways, that's not why I'm here. I'm working on a new project, Ceiling Beams, and have run into a slight problem. As of now, for maximum versatility, each beam comes in 1x1 segments. When placed next to each other, they connect and textures run along the length of the beam seamlessly. However, each segment of beam reacts to lighting different. One segment, while close to a light, will be fairly bright. The next will be darker, the next yet even dark, etc. Well, it SOUNDS like it's normal, but unfortunately, it's horrible in the game. Each beam is shades apart, they don't subtly blend together.

Where there isn't light, one segment will look almost black. The next one will be a lightish brown, and then next to a light, it will be very bright brown. Rather than scrap the project, I figured I'd ask the downloaders what they would prefer:

Option 1: Keep them as is! As long as they are there, the shading difference isn't that big of a deal. This will give a lot of flexibility in terms of how big you can make your rooms and where they will fit.

Option 2: I can make them into preset sizes (1x3, 1x5, 1x7 etc). While these would render better, there would be less flexibility in terms of room size and how they will fit into your lots.

I'm not going to make this into a "real" poll, but rather, you can feel free to leave your opinions or ideas on what I should in a comment here.

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Apr 5, 2010 | 1 comments

Just a small update for a set that I've been slowly working on for the past few weeks - the Tilton Dining Room. So far I only have the table, chairs, and a table plant done.

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Mar 21, 2010 | 0 comments

Hi everyone!

Just a quick note to you all about support. There seems to be some people who are taking .sims3packs and converting back to .packages - I, personally, do not really care what format you want to install your CC in. I understand that some people prefer .package for the ease of drag-and-drop installation and such, but please note that .package is NOT a generally supported format for TS3. Converting .sims3pack to .package may break/corrupt the file! If you convert files, or you've downloaded them from somewhere else as .package, please don't tell me they are broken or ask me to fix them - because I can't. If you download and install them as .sims3pack, then the content should install into your game and work just fine.

Sims3pack files integrate themselves into the game, versus .package files which are basically plug-n-play. Using .sims3pack provides a smooth transition when updating, installing patches, SP/EPs, etc, and is your safest bet to ensure that the content continues to work after the game updates are done, versus .package files which should be removed when updating the game and then put back afterwords - with no guarantee that they will continue to work. Obviously, it's up to you which method you choose, but please keep in mind I will not help with broken CC for TS3 that was converted to .package - we were given the .sims3pack format for a reason!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Feb 16, 2010 | 1 comments

Hi everyone,

Update with my newest set that I'm working on; Hillside Bedroom. A simple, modern bedroom. Not a lot of color in the set itself, which makes for more possibilities when decorating as it will match almost anything. The white parts are not recolorable (the wood and metal hardware is, though) however there is a black variation for each item as well.

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Feb 4, 2010 | 1 comments

Hi everyone!

New set on the way, made by request for tug© - Flower Planters. The items in the set have no real connection or correlation, they are just random plants that I find or that are shown to me that I like. I have 3 done so far, with a few more on the way!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Jan 19, 2010 | 0 comments

Hi everyone,

I've seen that there are a lot of reports on my Simple Ponytail about it looking weird and having patches in the game. As you can see in the preview picture, I don't have any trouble with it in my game. With that said, that means that I'm relying on you guys that are actually having the problem to tell me what's wrong. I've contacted several of you all that left comments saying that it wasn't showing up properly asking if you could provide some details about your game setup and PC configuration, and asking if you could provide a picture of how it looks in your game - and I am now just waiting for replies. Until I have some information on what is actually wrong, I'm afraid that I do not know what I should be looking to fix!

If you are reading this and have had problems with this hair in your game, please PM me so I can work with you to try to get this fixed!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Jan 13, 2010 | 0 comments

Hi everyone! I've started work on my second Sims 3 hair mesh, and I really like the way it's coming out so far!  It's just a simple ponytail with bangs, nothing too extravagent this time. I do have it in game and working, but it has a few glitches and some mesh oddities that I need to fix. I'll come back and show some pictures of it actually in game once I get it somewhat decent looking!

Author: sim_man123 | Posted Jan 10, 2010 | 3 comments

What a better way to start off a bright, fresh, new year than with an old, busty, worn-down set! My first set of the year (I think) varies out side of my normal style a bit, is a garden (go figure!) thats been slightly...neglected.  Full of weeds, and slightly overgrown, it's the perfect garden to adorn that one creepy, abandoned house that every neighborhood seems to have.