Member Blogs

Pets is disastrous for creators!

I was very excited to get Pets a few weeks ago! All the cute kitties and doggies and aaaaahhh the supercute rodent thingies...

And then I tried to create new hair with animations. I found out that the animations of hairmeshes made with Pets expansion included, do not work correctly. Oh, fine, not a very big deal.

Then I read up on other creator's problems... hold on it's a not long list... but not a nice list at all...

* hairmeshes
* recolors
* skins
* bodymeshes
* skintones
* floor tiles
* assecoires meshes
Made with the Pets EP installed....

WILL NOT WORK CORRECTLY, OR WORK AT ALL, for people who do not have Pets installed!!

Plus, numerous layering problems and transparency problems have been reported with assecoires, even MAXIS assecoires!

SHAME on EA for bringing out this product without further testing, or even a warning... because we are not only talking about modding here... even the simplest thing as a recolor will not work correctly in earlier versions of the game!

Work in progress: new flowerbed fence

This is one of those small and easy projects that help me get away from more complicated ones when I just need a break! lol! A small flowerbed fence, shaped like baby teeth, lol! I don't really know what to call that shape. Hope to release this soon.

Lots of Previews!

As you can see from the front page, I have finally submitted the Couple's Cottage! Yay! :-D Later this weekend, I will be submitting the Pets Set 1! I have added a few more items to the set, and I think it turned out really well! I hope to this weekend have the Autumn Stuff Mini Pack submitted. I have all the previews for the meshes, mesh recolors, walls, and floors done. I just have to take care of the lots. I think I may just use the ones I created for my site since they are both the exterior and interior. I would also like to note that I will be submitting the mini stuff pack in sets- Mesh Set, Mesh Recolor Set, Wall Set, Floor Set, Lots Set. That's it for this update! Happy simming until next blog! ~simmyfan2852~

OFB Set 4 Preview

Even though I will not be submitting the OFB Set 4 until after the new version of SimPE is released, I do have a preview of the objects that do work in the game. The only objects that I can not get to work are the fences, halfwalls, and modular stairs. But, to hold you over until I can submit this set, here is a preview of it!

***EDIT: Previe image deleted***

Happy simming!

~simmyfan2852~

Woodcroft

Coming up next is Woodcroft, a house built for a houseplan challenge in the forums. Quite fun! I don't normally build from plans so it was something different, too. It's unfurnished - it has a very basic kitchen and bathrooms - but the grounds are landscaped and it has five bedrooms. It's on a 3x4 lot too, so there's plenty of room for all (including pets). The part I'm most proud of, however, is the roof. Just look at it, lol!

You can see the front view on my homepage, here's a view from the side:



The back garden:



And the roof - hurrah!

Three New Stairs Tutorials

I've just written three (yup, three!) new tutorials - all of them on constructing split-level stairs.

I'll publish them next week. The first is called Building Split-level Corner Stairs, and is a simple way to do what used to be called L-shaped Stairs.

The second is Building a Free-standing Stairwell, and the third and longest is Building a Split-level Staircase.

I thought it made reading easier to have them as 3 short tutes rather than 1 v-e-e-e-e-e-ry big one! ;)

Preview pics coming shortly.

New Living Room Meshes

I have been learning to mesh. I am slowly getting better. I started out with "flattening" boxes to make pictures, signs and such. I played around with spheres and cylinders to make vases. Now I am trying to put shapes together to make furniture. I have managed this set of living room furniture. It took a long time to make them acceptable for my level of knowledge. I played around with making the chair the master file and the sofa and loveseat slaves but the texture got too streached for the sofa. Then I tried to make the sofa the master but the stripes where too small for the chair. Eventually, I ended up making separate textures for each. When it came to the table. I used Simaddict99's tutorial on material definition editing to change the glass color without using a texture at all. (A BIG thanks to Simaddict99 for all the great tutorials, without them I don't think I would be as far as I am). So, here is a pic of the set. Any comments/suggestions are always appreciated and used to enhance my creating. Rachel

Hello!

Hello fellow Simmers! Welcome to my new minisite. Sit back, relax, have a cup of joe and have a look around. I can be found online most days as most of my free time is spent creating. If you have questions about my stuff and I am online feel free to PM me. I debated a long time on whether I should upgrade to a minisite or not. I did not want to "offend" anyone, especially FA's and artists that have been awarded their minisite after all their hard work. I decided that I needed to spend my kudos on something and what better than a minisite. So here it is. I will update as often as I can and make blog entries on my current projects so check back often for updates. I always welcome comments/sugestions and even contructive critizism as long as it is not rude or vulgar so leave me a note.

Rachel

Sparkling Eyes

A new Set of sparkling eyes will be soon available. I would be very pleased to get some feedback and sorry again for those terrible ingame screenshots.

American Football Jerseys Superset

I decided to pull together the five sets of American football jerseys I created over the last few months into one big superset so that downloaders will be able to see all the jerseys that are available in one place rather than having to trawl through all my creations to find them. This superset does not contain any new items. This is just a re-grouping of existing items already available at TSR.

Also, for me this draws a line under creating American football jerseys, at least for the time being. I've made nineteen jerseys, fifteen of which were requests, and I feel it's time to move on to new challenges.

Quirky Cottages

At some point, I do hope to get the hang of co-ordinating my blog with details on what's actually being published, lol, ;-) So, I'm a bit late here, but today, Quirky Tudor Cottage is available to download. It's a response to boothebirdy's challenge in the Build A Lot forum to build a starter for a couple and their quadruplets (just imagine - those poor Sims!). It's on a 3x1 lot and includes all the skill-building objects they'll need. Of course, if your Sims don't have four toddlers, they can always sell the cots and buy themselves a shiny new car instead!

Orpheus-Final Chapter Posted!

I have just posted the final chapter of Orpheus in Undieworld. I was somewhat
shocked to discover that I have taken over a thousand photos during the making
of this series.

Although I had an outline plot for the whole story, I had to make changes on
the way when my skill, or the game, could not produce the effects required. The
ending caused me some headaches, especially as there are so many characters in
the story.

I seriously underestimated how long each scene would take. In the beginning I
wondered if I might need to extend from two to three episodes!

Each of the characters have 'back stories' that are occasionally referred to
within the plot. Some characters never appear, Bunny's boyfriend Nigel who gets
turned on by her reading amateur electronics magazine, Tweedy Harris, Orphy's
best man, and Ernest Borgsevenofnine another one of the chaps from 'network
solutions'.

Some of the best moments for me, where when the characters improvised a scene
all by themselves, such as when Dr Vu's shoes caught fire in the exploding
marzipan bunny incident.

The most frustrating times where in working out the linking scenes that make
sense (hopefully) of the plot.

I hope very much that you enjoyed the story, I have learned so much, and
particularly enjoy the comments, guestbook entries and pms that have followed
each episode.

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Best Wishes,

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Kate

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Pesky Pirates...

Pirate Cove will be on the site tomorrow (Friday 3rd). Just a warning not to panic when you first play the lot! The first time you load it, most of the ship will appear to be under water (this actually looks quite cool, I might have to build another one like this!). Your Sims won't mind this at all and will happily wander around as if it were perfectly normal to be amphibious.





The second time you enter the lot, all will be normal and the landscape will have adjusted itself. I believe the problem is caused by my having built the lot on the coast in Bluewater Village where the sea-level is actually above land(!) You can see this from some of the photos of the lot where the backgound is varying shades of blue. So, either sit there and enjoy watching your Sims pootle about underwater or quickly enter the lot from the neighbourhood screen and come out again straight away (you don't even need to save it) before you take your Sims there. Either way, they won't drown - which is odd when you think how many of them meet their doom in a swimming pool...

Lag in uploads

I've had a few computer issues this week, but have it all straight now. I should be able to finally get this mesh set loaded tomorrow. It's ready, I just need the time to do it.

Custom frames

The new Pets Expansion Pack now comes with ability to have your sims paint the custom images of your choice. Of course, we new how to do that before, lol, but it is now officially included as one of the easel options. I thought that having custom frames for these paintings might come in handy. In my soon to be released set there will be 3 frame meshes and several recolors for them. Simply place the finished painting on a wall and then place a frame of your choice over the painting. No cheat code required. The only thing I regret is not been able to include a wall shadow for the frames. The shadow does interfere with the painting at some angles, the painting is set to blend mode for some reason. I can't fix Maxis mistake so I chose not to include the shadow with the frames isntead. On another note, I have updated my Pet Baskets set. They were originally created manually and would revert to a default color on occasion. That is now fixed, please download them again :).

Prom Princesses

Continuing my teen theme, my next set comprises twelve formal gowns for teen girls, ideal for wearing to the Prom - at least, I think they would be; unfortunately we don't have a Prom in Scotland! :-(

I have to confess, I saw the beautiful sims2sisters re-colours of this gorgeous Biene mesh and couldn't wait to have a go at re-colouring it myself. (And before everyone PMs me to ask, as far as I'm aware, at the time of writing, the sims2sisters re-colours of this mesh aren't yet available at TSR, but I expect they will be shortly.)

Biene's alpha cocktail teen mesh consists of a simple mini dress with heels, with an optional alpha overskirt in three layers which get gradually longer towards the back. Biene's own classy dark blue re-colour of this mesh is stunning so make sure you download that too while you're at sim2-fashion.de

In this set, I've mixed-and-matched to create a range of gowns, so hopefully there will be at least one that appeals to everyone. The basic gown is satin, with an intricately beaded bodice and halter neck and is worn with snazzy sparkling silver strappy sandals. There are three different variations (lace overskirt, organza overskirt and no overskirt) each available in four colours (champagne, pink, lilac and black). So there is a spectrum of styles ranging from an ultra-feminine pink satin gown with frothy pink lace overskirts, to a simple but sexy black satin mini dress.



N.B. Due to the semi-transparent nature of the alpha mesh, it's difficult to get good preview shots of these gowns - you really need to see them in the game to fully appreciate them! Also, don't you hate the way the teens slouch in Create-A-Sim? This also doesn't make for great preview shots. These are my excuses and I'm sticking to them! :-)

Thanks to Biene for creating such a beautiful and flexible mesh.

Advent Star

In advent you can see stars like this in almost every window here. It realy lights upp the darkest time of the year. I tried to make this last year but couldn�t get it to work with windows. I am so glad I finally worked it out.

The Nightmare BEFORE Hallowe'en

So, you might have noticed I had a slew of Hallowe'en creations queued up and clipping along at a good pace and then suddenly nothing. That would be because my 'work' (non-gaming) computer suddenly up and died on me last week - eek! :o Your sails lose wind pretty darn quickly when you see that 'primary hard drive failure' message flash up on the screen and then sit there, starring and taunting you from the black void of nothing.

Thankfully all of my Sims 2 creations are saved on a seperate hard drive but I still have a ton of data located on my c: drive that I'm hoping I will eventually be able to pull off by hooking up said drive to another computer but that has yet to happen and until we get the time (and most importantly, the motivation) to try and fix things, I'm afraid I might be a little quiet.

However, I have finally managed to post the last of my jack o'lantern recolours, late though they are and will eventually bundle these up into a superset.

With it now being November, I'm looking forward to Remembrance Day in little over a week's time and will be providing you with a selection of goodies in honour of this very special day. You can expect a unique community/business lot that I had originally planned on releasing for Hallowe'en but then later decided would be a good fit for between Hallowe'en and Rembrance Day. I also plan to finally release some of my own pet creations, namely several of my family's dearly departed pets. And I may also throw in a few retro recolours to round out the remembering aspect of this month.

Stay tuned and wish me luck with the computer.

Release Date November 4th

Victorian Inspired Nursery "Little Princess Collection" is set for release on November 4th. I am busy at work on my next nursery set "Little Boy Blue?" LOL, I have not decided on a name for my next set yet. Although, my next set does feature the color blue, and is for little boys.

Chez Moi Counter-Matching Tables

It always drives me up the wall when I want to put a table in my kitchen and can't find anything that is a decent match for the colour and style of the counters I'm using. Of course, there's an obvious solution to this; make tables that match!

My first set is a pair of tables to match the "Chez Moi French Country Counters" by Maxis. They automatically have access to the same textures as your existing counters. The table top can be coloured separately from the legs, so whatever combination of counter base and counter top you've used, you can match exactly with the table.

This will hopefully just be the first of several such counter-matching tables... and yes, I hope to tackle making matching chairs as well at some point, time allowing.

Cosmosue sets

I just uploaded 2 new sets, I got special permission from cosmosue to create sims2 paintings from her digital paintings.

You can use these paintings in houses, however I do want credit.

You can recolor the frames of the paintings and/or put a another painting on the faerie paintings, but you can NOT recolor the faerie paintings themself, they are not created by me, so I can not give permission to have them altered in any way.

List Update

Decided to update my list of sets. Boy these plaids have been productive! Here is what we have and what is upcoming.

Released:
NK PI Burglar Alarms
NK PI Curtains
NK PI Embrasure WindowsNDoors
NK PI Fan Crown Walls
NK PI Gothic Arch Paints
NK PI Hanging Plants
NK PI Pianos
NK PI Short Kitchen Windows
NK PI Smoke Alarms
NK PI Sofas
NK PI Triangle End Tables
NK PI TVs
NK Plaid Inspired Beds
12 Solander Kitchens

Not Yet Released:
NK PI Arizona Desks
NK PI Bath Rugs
NK PI Bathroom Counters
NK PI Bathroom Windows
NK PI Chess Tables
NK PI College PCs
NK PI Cream Ball Molding Paint Walls
NK PI Dahlen Bookcases
NK PI Dark Grey Crown Walls
NK PI Desk Chairs and Frames
NK PI Dressers
NK PI Gothic Arch 2-tone Walls
NK PI Hand Towels
NK PI Oxford Stripe Walls
NK PI SimGedoehns Towels
NK PI Simple Interior Doors/Frames
NK PI Single Bed Frames
NK PI Stereos
NK PI Super Sinks
NK PI Swim Suits (not sure about these yet)
NK PI Telephones
NK PI Toilet Rugs
NK PI Toilets
NK PI Walls with Rose Shadow Molding
NK Plaid Tile Floors
NK Plaid Tile Walls
NK PI Glass Tile Floors
NK PI Glass Tile Walls
8 Solander Kithcens to go.

As you can see, there will be enough for 20 complete bathrooms and finishing items for your living rooms and bedrooms.

I'm also working on something else, but I'm not sure what it is just yet. Maybe kitchens, maybe bathrooms, maybe both. But I have some attractive walls and floors to start! There are about 9 of those so far in non-plaid colors.

Pets Set 1

I have begun work on the Pets Set 1. The preview I have here was what I was originally planning to be it for the set, but I'm going to be expanding on it a bit more. But, I thought you all would like a nice preview for now :-) Well, that it for now. Happy simming! ~simmyfan2852~

Custom gates updated!

I did some testing and figured out how to update my custom gates to have a lock option and still have them working in previous game versions as well. For those of you who has OFB or Pets, you can download the updated version from this page.

Howdy Howdy!!

I just finished my Think Pink Set. Since its October, I wanted to do something for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I know Im a little slow with it, but just been pretty busy around here lately. Breast cancer awareness is something that is important to me. Its something that has had an impact on my family, so I try to do my part to get awareness out there. I hope ya'll enjoy the shirts, even tho I know they are rather simple. If you would like any more information on breast cancer or would like to help with finding a cure, then you can just go to www.komen.org.

Just as an update.. they didnt get approved. Contrary to what I thought, apparantely even if the files still work in game, you cant change file names, and I didnt save the original files after I checked them in game... sooo I guess Ill just redo them after a while.

Who's posing?

New creations

Today I�ve uploaded "Jolly Living" series 9 and 10. These are the last for this time. I am glad, you like these walls sets and thank you all for nice comments on them. Now I�m working on some wooden floors and walls and I�m going to recolor some items for community lots. Hope you�ll like them.

Secret bookcases and lighting

If you downloaded my Secret Bookcase Doors (if not, WHY not?!!!!), I wanted to repeat a comment I made on these downloads in case you missed it.

Lighting. Doors in The Sims don't light up in the same way objects do. That means that the bookcase door when used indoors, by default, is in permanent dark shadow, unlike its surrounding bookcases. This is a global problem with the way doors are treated in-game and no-one has yet come up with any workaround for the problem.

Therefore, MY workaround is to provide various different lighting shades of door so you can pick the best to match the individual light levels in your rooms. It's not a perfect workaround, but you can at least make perfect matches for movies or story-making shots.

If you find that the lighting levels aren't ideal, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do for you (like make new versions for you to try, or maybe I'll just suspend your body in one of my gibbet cages, for instance).

The misunderstanding about "free recolor pay mesh"

Created on 30, Oct, 2006.

Recently I was complained by downloader everyday for something I had NEVER done -- put free recolor without corresponding meshes.

I have to say this is a misunderstanding.

Since TSR set tons of stuff free, lots of works became free, including those recolors you found in free section but pay mesh, they are controled by the system or by the creators who created them, none of them can be controled by me.

I have reported this problem to the TSR staff, and they are working on it. I'm so sorry about the inconvenience and hope everything goes well soon.

Making Pets!

I really love this EP- I really do. I have 2 pets for download waiting for approval. One I call Mocha and Cream Tabby and a Siberian Husky.

I think I'm going to make more pets because it's just FUN! Whoot!

Victorian Inspired Nursery "Little Princess Collection"

I just finished the last few objects for my Victorian Inspired Nursery set. The first nursery set is for your little princess; my next nursery set (recolors of my new meshes) will be for your little prince. Here is a screenie of my latest decorative object for my "Little Princess Collection." Stay Tuned for more information and the planned publication date for the Victorian Inspired Nursery, "Little Princess Collection."

Scared of the dark...

I decided that I didn't like playing any more, last week. Those of you who already know me already know that I'm no great player of The Sims (after all, it is a game about people, and I don't DO 'people' very well at all). But last week, I WAS playing. I was having great fun - actually PLAYING The Sims! It all started to go horribly wrong when I started to be a bit creative with a couple of the Nightmare Sims creations I'd made for this week's theme. I'd placed my Grey Lady ghost at the window of my haunted house: Knell's End, and I noticed it was as though the ghost was sadly gazing at the Jobling Gibbet (you can just about see it through the window on the right - sorry about the bad image). Isabella Jobling had apparently been able to see the gibbeted body of her hanged husband from her home, and I rather fancied that this ghost could be like Isabella, come back to haunt the window where she suffered such misery... Oh, STOP IT! That's what I said to ME! For I realised that I wasn't liking this thought very much any more. It was nearly 3.00am here and my old house (over 400 years old, which means some of you weren't even born when it was built) was being a bit draughty and there was the odd creak or two from the beams. It got worse as those draughts suddenly seemed like very chilled INEXPLICABLE draughts, and some cracking sound in the wood not being at all like any noise I'd heard here before... And, in 400 years, a lot of people have lived and died here, and then my imagination really was starting to over-react! So, now I'm not playing. There! I shall wait until I grow up a bit (and have the nerve to rescue my family from "Knell's End" without looking too much out of that upstairs window...). Oh, and sorry about all the links. For once, I wasn't hammering you with shameless plugs! No, I just imagined there would be many of you wondering what on earth I was going on about with knells and Joblings and gibbets and grey ladies. Well, now you know. I recommend you don't play with any of these items - not if you're easily spooked like me!

Welcome All To My First Blog Entry!

I am completely

�

delighted

to have been awarded my own minisite on TSR.

Thank you to the TSR team and all my friends on this site for your
encouragement and support.�

As I write this I don't have much content on show, but hopefully you will
soon be able to share my daft stories, bewildering screenshots and questionable
taste in sim-decor.

Autumn Stuff Mini Pack Coming to TSR

I have decided to remove my Autumn Stuff Mini Pack from my site, and I will submit it here to TSR. Right now, I don't know if I will break it down into set by objects, walls, floors, etc. or keep it as one big zip file. If you have any suggestions what I should do, just let me know :-) However, it will be coming very, very soon to this site!

Pirate Cove

As promised, a few more photos of Pirate Cove.

It's many years since The Black Pig ran aground in Pirates' Cove. After the crew absconded with all the gold, the ship was reclaimed by the local authorities. They scrubbed the decks and replaced those nasty black sails with some nice clean white ones. Sims now travel from far and wide to dine under the stars and party on the poop deck. It's a veritable treasure trove of entertainment ;-)

A few more details of the exterior:



And some of the entertainment available on the ship:

My Call

Well, no one commented to let me know their preference, so I'll be releasing the bathroom items by object instead of by room. To my way of thinking, I'm usually looking for a certain object to go with what I'm doing - not so much a room to complete a house. Although, of course, some of the rooms you guys create are so gorgeous that I scoop the whole room up at once!

Skintones etc...

Hi everyone!

Still working on getting those skintones in order. I will be releasing them soon on the site, and I want to make sure they are in perfect order when I do. I've been trying like heck to get rid of a slight seam that is showing on the neck, so if I'm able to get that fixed, I should be ready in no time. I think in the meantime I am going to release a set of victorian style brick walls that I have been hanging onto for what seems like a lifetime. I'm usually so busy with clothes and the like that these kinds of things get left on the back burner. I've been enjoying them a great deal, so I figured some of you might. I also have some pretty rustic wooden floors that I am thinking about releasing a whole set of, and also a collection of medieval walls, floors, ground covers, and even a roof that I'm really proud of. They are very old and weathered looking, and perfect for an old time pub. :) Hope you like them!

OFB Set 4 Submitted!

I just finished submitting the OFB Set 4! Just in case the set preview does not show up on the mini site main page, I have the preview included in this blog! Hopefully tonight I will also be submitting the body mesh set I have been working on. Happy simming ~simmyfan2852~

It's Almost Time!

Hopefully, tonight I will be submitting the OFB 4 Set! I can't wait to get to share it with all of you!

Also, I have finally succesfully made my first body mesh! I hope to finish the set off so I can share it!

Other Current Projects:
-Couple's Cottage- Coming Next week!
-Pets Set 1- Nov 06
-Pets Set 2- Nov 06

That's it for this update!
Happy simming until next time! :-)

~simmyfan2852~

Pirates!

Phew! I've just finished working on a Pirate Ship for the October S2HBAA Competition in the forums. It's taken ages but has been a fun project to do. Here's a preview - more details soon!