Member Blogs

Loading for vacation resorts!

I have been playing Bon Voyage and really like it! Now I'm planning for some holiday resorts. I have several exotic themes in my mind. For a starter, I have just uploaded some cool African wallpapers that I made. I've also made tropical and Japanese walls, but some of them are quite plain and simple. They will just come with the lots.
In a few days I'll be off to Spain for a conference. Hopefully I will get some inspiration from staying at a holiday resort myself!

Squares - free lot for one week only :-)

I've put my lots back on free rotation: this week it's Squares, one of my most popular lots. It's free for a week from Friday the 26th October. Grab it quick :-))))

Halloween Tricks

A bit of this and that for Halloween. Halloween Tricks set coming October 28 and includes mailbox spiders with spooky interactions, glowing eyes that can be placed anywhere (cheat code might be needed), and vampire windows - duplicates of some Maxis windows modified so they do not let the daylight in. Note, the windows will not protect vampires during daytime, they simply help to make vampire dwellings darker.

Important! Willow hair mesh!

TeXaSrOsE has pointed out an animation problem with my Willow hair mesh. The problem affected the adult mesh (young adults through elders). If you have downloaded this mesh and want it to show up correctly for all ages, please redownload the mesh file here:

http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/meshes/hair/591198/

Many thanks to TeXaSrOsE for drawing my attention to this!

Halloween Poem by Welshwitch

Eye of Newt & Wing of Bat
For this Samhain you'll need more than that!
Goblins Ears and a kittens mew
Will add some magic to my brew.

So watch out all you little brats
This Hallows Eve 'Da Witch is Back!!'
Soon my Magic I will weave,
And no stone unturned will I leave.

So come out, come out where ever you are,
For my magic will travel near and far,
Once again you'll hear my call
'Trick or Treat' there's one for all.

Just Dropping a Line

I'm just dropping a line to say thank you to all those who download my creations. I so enjoy seeing you have fun with them! I haven't been submitting as much lately as real life has kept me a bit busy, but I'm still doing what I can. Hopefully I can keep up enough that you will still have plenty of choices. I'm having lots of fun creating and hope you're having fun too! Take care!

Wallpaper

I branched out a bit. I've started to make some wallpaper sets, mostly for lounge and dining areas but there is a set of girlie pink and purple that would work in bedrooms. Here's a sneak at one of the wallpapers from the Paisley Perfection set.

Recolors

Gosh, it seems like it's been AGES since I've uploaded anything here! i do apologize to my fan(s) - I admit I've been extremely busy (4 kids, 3 dogs, 2 jobs, 1 husband, and going to school full time), and slightly lazy. That, and I'm not overly thrilled about the new upload system here at TSR. Creating is so much fun! Submitting it sucks dirt. I mean REALLY. I mean, if I'm going to forgo my study time, it shouldn't be so painful!

On my lazy (but no less creative) days, I've been submitting to my sister site, Simaholics R Us: www.simaholicsrus.com . You'll see things there that I don't have uploaded here. Ricci2882 is the site owner, and she makes it really easy (and fun!) to be in a creative frenzy! She's also an awesome creator/recolorer/lot builder in her own right. I've really enjoyed working with her.

Where do I get my inspiration? From everywhere. I may get a request for a kitchen, and then all of a sudden, I'll see (or create) a texture that absolutely SCREAMS kitchen, and I'll whip one up. My most successful recolor to date is the Star Child nursery. I whipped that texture up in just a few minutes, just because it came to me in a dream (or something). My worst recolor, the butterscotch, i did because I liked the color and the texture. Apparently I was the only one :) so you see, anything is possible in Simland!

Ok, that, and I am the proud owner of a narcoleptic pekingese and a schizophrenic chug (pug/chihuahua mix). Am I making light of those two very serious illnesses? Absolutely not. Cecelia (the peke) falls asleep in her dinner bowl almost constantly. The kids have even held her upside down to see if she still snores (she does).Pebbles (the chug) hears voices. Or at least, she tells us she does. I'm thinking it's probably because she is about 900 in doggy years. poor thing. How does this help me to create? Inspiration, absolute total pure inspiration. The Blue flowers set is a take on Cecelia's (we call her sis) favorite blanket. Daisies are Pebbles' favorite flower. to eat. you see what i mean?

Ok, I'm supposed to be at work now (I love Krystal's what can I say), so I guess I'd better get lost for now. and I have class tonite. Creative Problem solving. hmm...maybe i can figure out why Ricci2882 isn't an FA yet......

Hello!

I finally took the plunge and spent a few of my kudos to promote S2HBAA a little further. If you're new here and don't know what it is go to the Build a lot forum and check out the S2HBAA membership thread. The banner was created by my dear friend Hatshepsut! Thanks you Hats!

Upcoming Sets

I have two new sets available to download in the next few days. The first is my Blue Modern Bedroom set which is available to download from 25th October. Following that on the 26th October is my Traditional Rugs Set. Preview pictures for both are below.

BLACK STATUE FIVE!

...

I got you, didn't I...?

LOL...

anyways, again, I would like to say that the fifth part is taking too long because I really have to focus on my schoolwork... (and the game I used for the story is on another computer and I only create from my laptop)... but still.. i do INTEND to finish the story.

that's all.

Happy Simming!

~~Alyosha~~

Multi-Use Photo Frames

For a while now I've been wanting to make a set of picture frames based on the photo booth picture from Nightlife; you know, the one that you can place on either a wall or on a counter, table, end table, or coffee table... Well, with much cursing and swearing and sweat, I've managed to bludgeon the files into submission and produce a beginning set of photo frames. I got really ambitious with it, and have been making frames that can be placed at different heights on the wall, so they can be combined to make interesting layouts. I'm also ambitious in that I went nuts with the repository technique (well, of course I did!) and set it up so all of the frames get their frame textures from the square medium-height frame (the same size and placement as the original photo booth picture I started from). All square pictures get their photo image from the medium-height square, all panoramic from the medium-height panoramic, and so forth and so on. This first set of frames is just the start of what should be a sizable collection by the time I'm finished; it will include more height placements for the portrait and landscape photos (currently only available at medium height in this set), and some additional sizes and layouts of frames. And recolours. Lots and lots of recolours! For one thing, I've been threatening my brother for ages with the idea of me taking off with a big chunk of his art photos (he's a devoted amateur photographer) and using them for something in the sims... I figure this is as good a time as any to actually do so!

I'm Back, Well Almost!

I've got a couple of new sets I've recolored that I need to upload here soon. I'm sorry I haven't made anything in awhile, but I've just been enjoying playing the game too much. I finally decided I wanted some new recolors to play with so I got busy and made a couple of new sets! I hope to upload them here soon for everyone else to enjoy.

Another Year Older

October 23rd is my birthday! I�ve celebrated many, many birthdays over the years and I usually enjoy the greetings, gifts and special attention. OMG! This has been the weirdest birthday! My entire neighborhood lost electrical power for several hours today. I tell you it is well worth the money to invest in a battery backup for your computer! My battery backup software automatically put my computer in hibernation mode and no data was lost.

No computer! No way to work at home! No CAR! I have an electric garage door opener, and my car was parked in the garage. So, I had to manually lift a heavy, solid wood garage door to retrieve my car.

Later in the afternoon when power was restored to my neighborhood I accidentally jammed my finger in the pantry door. Fortunately, the only damage to my finger was a splinter stuck under the finger nail. Ouch! Did I mention I also burned dinner!

Although it has not been the best birthday I am thankful for all the family and friends who wished me a Happy Birthday! I do have plans to celebrate this weekend, so I think I will write this day off as a trial run for my upcoming birthday celebration!

P.S. I know this is a shameless bid for sympathy and birthday greetings. But, IT IS MY BIRTHDAY!

The End is Near

I'm regretfully announcing the Fisher Legacy has come to an end.

A few things have come up recently, and I will be leaving this computer behind along with all my game files, downloads, etc. I won't have much time to continue updating once moved. I'll still be in the forums and hopefully building houses and whatnot for you guys, but my stories will suffer greatly. I'm hoping that once moved, I can start anew. I'm sorry that I can't continue as I truly liked this Legacy...

If you'd like to reach me or anything of the sort...I'm still around, you can PM me or sign my Guestbook...or reach me in my thread in the Welcome Wagon of the TSR Forums...I'm all over the place. I'll see you guys around, and I'm sorry for the abrupt ending.

The Xilo Floorcollection

Un believeble but true! I never made a whole floorset for Sims2 since it came out, hahaha! Well, I tought I had to change that. So, I started to create Xilo, wich is a woodset. I made it in 3 colors, a light, middle and dark version. I made it so that you can mix the 3 colors with eachother. Again, I tried to fit them smootly so you can make large floors without noticing any differences in it. I hope you like them! :D

...and NEW POLL

As you have probably already seen, there's a new poll which will be open during November. This time it is addressed specifically to non-subscribers and it's meant as a Christmas gift for you: I'd like you to choose the sets that will be free during December. The choice that gets most votes will be set free the next month.

I've already made a selection of the most popular stuff I've released, but if you'd like to have something else free, you only need to write it here. Just remember that I cannot set free the stuff that's too new (for example the Sintesi Study or the Winding Staircase). Anyway, I'll take your choices in consideration for the future schedule. If, for example, most of you choose the Sintesi Bedroom, I'll do my best to set free the Living room and the Study too in the coming months (with the same recolours, of course).

As for subscribers, you who can have my stuff at any time, I'll do my best to offer you something new and special for XMas too. As usual, I take your suggestions in due consideration.

FREEBIES for November...

The free stuff for the next month is as follows:

From October, 26 to November, 23 the free sets will be:
A Christmas Touch
Olive Green Bedroom

From October, 23 to November, 30 the free set will be:
NH Ancient Buildings - Set 1

The first two sets, in particular, have a Christmas feeling and I think they're right in the mood of this period. I've chosen the last one to fill the last week of November, but if you like Egyptians, you'll be soon very happy... can't say anything more.

Early Spring

It was in the Early Spring this year I made this set. It�s a bit special to me because it was the first time I draw a new texture with my tablet. I made every set with a murial of 3 walls and a neutral wall to combine with. You can also mix every mural with all the other neutral walls of this collection. The neutral walls can smoothly be placed next and above eachother without noticing any difference. This whole collection contains 5 sets, so the first set comes with 4 other recolors...Have fun! :D

Sleepy Hollow: Stonebow Manor

Now you won't believe this .... but this is a 'nice' house! No torn or ragged wallcoverings, no splintered flooring ... just a dark, elegant decor throughout the house, . . . really! What has come over me ... I just don't know, but I think my ponytail is too tight, lol! It's still a little spooky and flows with the rest of the Sleepy Hollow series. 'Tis expensive ... at $66,000+ .... but I am sure one of your well-to-do Sims can afford it. And do take time to admire the beautiful 'Lord van den Brick's' windows by Olemantiker! I did a simple recolor of them for this house and I think they really add something to the overall design. He has such wonderful things to choose from over at Insimenator.net. The house is completely furnished except for the secondary bedrooms ... I used all Maxis items, but I am sure you have better things to furnish the house. Here are some pix for you!!!!

I injured my arm a few weeks ago and have had to rest it

Good news is it's improving and I should have some more stuff coming out soon :-) If you've left me a comment or gb message recently - THANK YOU!! I can't reply to them all but I really appreciate them.

Poll results

Here are the results from the previous poll:

------

N=100

Question: When you browse for starter homes, you usually prefer:
Furnished lots; - 25%
Unfurnished lots; - 24%
It doesn't matter, as long as they look good to me. - 47%

Question: What style would you like to see me build in the future?
Traditional - 31%
Rustic - 19%
Modern - 38%
Fantasy - 15%
Any style sounds good! - 22%

Question: How many bedrooms do you usually want in a starter home?
1 - 12%
2 - 58%
3 - 31%
4 - 4%
Any number sounds fine - 8%

------

I need to thank everyone that answered this poll. It made me realise that there is indeed a tendency to choose modern lots with 2 bedrooms, no matter if they're furnished or not. I guess I should have known this already, but it was great to see your replies! Happy simming everyone!

Soon I promise!

Ugh, so the lipsticks are taking a little longer than planned. For some reason I just can't be satisfied with them. I'm always changing something. But not matter what they, will be uploaded sometime this week.

I also have a new mesh planned for a few new sets of jewelry. The first set will be similar to the mesh I uploaded recently. The second set will be completely different but that's all I'm saying for now... ;)

Ciao!

Pink Heart Bedroom Preview

I spent all of last week working on this one, took a bit longer than I'd planning as the whole set has brand new meshes made by me. Preview picture is below, available to download from the 23rd October.

Cutters Pass

coming Soon! The first Addition to Cutters Pass is finally here Little Nook Cabin. I have built this as a lodge for my resort, although you can of course use it as a normal family home. Small but homely it's a great launch pad for a holiday in the mountains. Surround it with trees in the neighborhood for a more authentic look :) I hope you enjoy it, more to come from Cutters Pass very soon

Changing Things Up a Bit

This Tuesday (10/23), I have a job interview. If all goes well, I'll be working withing a couple of weeks. This means that I'll have less time for Simming, but that doesn't mean I want to retire my FA status just yet. So, instead of releasing two mesh sets a month (which is always my intention, even if things don't always go that way), I'll be releasing only one a month. However, to keep from being banished into total obscurity, I'll be releasing the mesh sets on week, then two weeks later the recolors will follow (with the SuperSet). If Thomas doesn't give me full approval on this, I may have to go to releasing the recolors one at a time throughout the month. I, personally, don't like to do things this way. There are several reasons as to way, and I won't go into that right now.

So starting now, I just finished uploading the Pablo Bedroom. I'll have it set to release this Wednesday, the 23rd. I think this time I'll set the recolors to release on the 1st of November, but after that it's likely to only be two releases a month from me.

L. B. D.

I think it was Coco Chanel who once said that every woman should own a little black dress (I've looked everywhere for the quote but can't find it!). Well, now your Sim ladies can own not one but six little black dresses!



This set comprises six glamorous black cocktail dresses in a range of styles, accessorised with stylish jewellery, designer heels, seamed stockings and sexy red nails. Some of the dresses borrow from my previous creations. Four of the dresses use Maxis meshes (two from the base game, two from Nightlife), one mesh was created by Peggy and is available free from PeggySims2 and one mesh is by Chriko, available from 2-f0r-u.de (meshes -> fashion -> female adult -> page 8). All the dresses are available for adult and young adult females and are categorised under formal wear.

Texture Challenge

Yes, the texture challenge has nabbed me again. A lot of new textures have been provided since I last did one and I always say I will go back to this TC or that TC and now the list just keeps piling up it is time to actually go and DO something. Which better to play than the latest textures�TC63 by Detimgi? The teal fabric originally caught my eye and I wanted to do a bathroom this time�which led me to Simtomatic�s Sanita bath. TC can be addicting and a lot of TC�ers can vouch for this. =) So now all the projects swimming in my head are clamoring to be done ASAP. LOL! This means, unfortunately, that no writing is getting done. There�s an update coming up for So You Want soon though. As for the Legacy � either I push back the return of the Hunters or I go back to sporadic updates. We�ll see. It�s been on hiatus long enough probably no one cares by now anyway. LOL. Well all talk and nothing to show doesn�t seem like much fun so here�s a preview of some items from the TC63 Aqua Sanita. And yes, I know it isn�t really teal. A Sanita in the teal texture is now a maybe project. The Aqua Sanita can probably be finished by next week and be submitted in time for a month-end publish date so watch out for it.

"SET-imizing" stuff

I am currently releasing sets every other day. These sets contain my previos lots that I felt is fitting for a set. So far, the sets that will be coming out can be seen at the UPCOMING section of my minisite (the right side). Take a look if you like.

Happy Simming!

~~Alyosha~~

Playground Slide

I haven�t been uppdating here lately, here is a pic of my latest uppload. A playground slide I started to make over a year ago. It was hard to get it to work but finally I made it. It is still not perfekt but at least it workes!

Time for a Break..... *EDIT*

Hey Everyone,

I know i said in my previous Blog Entry that it was time for me to have a break.... but i didn't realise how much i would miss creating. It's only been a couple of days. Unfortnately though i am still having computer trouble so i'm going to give it another day or so and then reinstall. Hopefully with any luck things will go as i want them to.

Well it's just a short one from me today. Keep your fingers crossed for me that all goes well with my reinstall.

Louise

New Bon Voyage Bug

Well, here I sit after spending 28 hours cumulative this week digging through my Downloads folder trying to figure out why my newly re-installed game had taken fits.

I have been experiencing all manner of problems with my game in the past few weeks, and I finally discovered what the problem is.

Body Shop is including a whole copy of the Sims06.package from the base game with Sims packaged in Sims2Packs with some version of Body Shop. (most likely the Bon Voyage version)

I checked random Sims on the Exchange, TSR, MTS2, and InSIM. It appears to be a wide-spread post Bon Voyage bug. *oh joy! more evidence they did inadequate testing of this EP before they shipped it to market*

You will need to use Sims2Pack Clean Installer to locate the "no category" files with junk-code name (e.g., b18484e15a91c5a039d61f635d15d7c3.package), the file size will be about 6.8 MB, double check the file in SimPE, and you will easily see that this is indeed the Sims06.package.

Delphy's Download Organiser -- an otherwise useful tool -- was of no benefit in this.

I just deleted 41 copies of Sims05.package from my Downloads folder! The presence of 41 un-needed copies of the Sims06.package did NOT help my game play better! *way to go EA/Maxis*

I also ended up deleting over 300 redundant copies of meshes *a joy of the post-Pets Body Shop* (which was made more problematic by the junk-code renaming and JFade's compression thing changing the checksum number) - this is insane and wasteful! The presence of 328 un-needed copies of the meshes I already had installed did NOT help my game play better! *way to go EA/Maxis*

SO after 28 cumulative hours of crawling through 1000s of files, my game is sane again.

Frankly, after my experiences with Bon Voyage EP, I can emphatically say, it is worse than the Pets EP, and I wouldn't slap a leper's dog with the Pets EP.

After the madman calmed he thought to write:

at the moment, the bug seems to be limited to Sims packaged with the version of Body Shop that is installed by Bon Voyage EP; the file it includes (id est, Sims05.package) is one of the base game's root file for Maxis meshes that everyone already has installed (otherwise the game won't work). But as you will read below, it may spread like a virus to non-BV versions of the game fairly quickly.

The problem is one that Sim-makers need to be aware of, and a problem downloaders of Sims need to guard against. For instance, when I went to the Exchange, all of the Sims I downloaded were labelled as requiring only the basic game or those EPs which I have installed (I do not have Bon Voyage or Pets EPs installed and did not re-install any of the stuff packs on this latest re-install) - but upon close inspection of the files the Sims2Packs that contained the duplicate Sims05.package were all made with Bon Voyage EP's Body Shop and carry the Bon Voyage EP version stamp. This may be purely coincidental at this point and not a reliable point upon which to formulate a rule.

The chief hazard is that this file is almost always renamed in the Sims2Pack to some bizarre name of letters and numbers, and is not easily differentiated from a mesh that has already passed through Body Shop's renaming process. The bizarre number-and-letters name is not a way to identify the file. I had three files named b18484e15a91c5a039d61f635d15d7c3:

b18484e15a91c5a039d61f635d15d7c3.package <-- Sims06.package renamed
b18484e15a91c5a039d61f635d15d7c3_0001.package <-- a recolour of Kavar's Edge hair
b18484e15a91c5a039d61f635d15d7c3_0002.package <-- a custom object recolour

The file was renamed 41 unique names in my Downloads folder and was of different sizes and MD5 checksum numbers -- I can only assume that the various game patches and JFade's The Compressorizer! account for the different sizes and checksums.

I located 1000s of Sims in Sims2Pack files on the Exchange, MTS2, TSR, InSIM, and other sites that all have this file inside the Sims2Pack. In one instance, I found a Sims2Pack with a file size over 18 MB with 3 copies of the file in it, but otherwise was made entirely with Maxis content. The bug operates like a virus, a Trojan in fact, spreading the infection to subsequent installations of the game and raising the risk that any Sims2Pack'ed Sim you create subsequently may include the redundant file.

I think this risk may be limited to persons with Pets EP, Seasons, EP, and Bon Voyage EP, because these versions of the game install a Body Shop that includes meshes, and the Sims06.package file constitutes a portion of Maxis meshes. I checked Sims2Packs I created with my Seasons EP Body Shop and the file had propagated into the Sims2Pack from my downloads folder.

So if this bug isn't fixed with great urgency, then very soon this issue will proliferate like a virus across the entire on-line Sims community resulting in potential problems for all Simmers who enjoy downloading and sharing pre-made Sims.

Baying at the Moon

It's pretty obvious that the bug doesn't strike all Sims exported by Body Shop with the Bon Voyage EP installed. I have found that Sims with custom body meshes seem to not carry this duplicate of the Sims05.package. So that is helpful in perhaps narrowing the problem down to use of a specific Maxis mesh or set of Maxis meshes that cause the issue.

It will take more minds than mine working on this to see if a pattern can be discerned.

Further Mumblings of a Madman

Several people have asked me to put this all in layman's terms - there isn't a layman's terms version on this one, I had to visually inspect every file that Sims2Pack Clean Installer didn't give a category/type in SimPE to properly identify all the redundant files. This was not a fast process with more than 6 gigabytes of downloads.

I don't know how to make the process any less complex or less technical when the tools we would normally use to diagnose duplicates appear to be unable to differentiate between the multiple copies of the files.

In the case of the Sims06.package it is a file roughly 6.6-6.8 MB in size, and if you open the file with SimPE it will contain several 100 CRES (Resource Node) files.

I have contacted EA and was told to "install the patch" for Bon Voyage, even though I do not have Bon Voyage installed and went to considerable lengths to explain that fact in my communication. I have to say, this is typical of every interaction I have ever had with EA on a bug or technical issue since they released The Sims 2. I probably won't make many friends saying it, but I don't think they even read my bug reports nor do I believe they even read the bug reports from their own QA testers. If my complaint is ever passed along to an software engineer, I fear any action from EA it will come too late.

1 Million

Wow!! My total downloads hit 1.000.000 and it is still increasing!! Thanks to everyone who downloaded my creations!! Hugs, Simal ^_^