's Blog

Building on a Budget!

I have just submitted my fourth lot, Vista Del Mar.  This is the largest home I’ve built, and as in real life, it was a challenge to keep it within “budget”. 

In real life, you are limited by the amount of money available for construction.  You must make trade-offs between what you really want and what you can afford.  Do you really need that fifth bedroom?  Can you live without the pool house and gym?  And, you must spend your decorating dollar wisely, splurging only on those furnishings that will have the greatest impact on your design. 

The same is true in building Sims 3 houses for TSR, except that instead of money, you are budgeting file size.  You must stay within TSR’s 50MB upload limit.  Unless you are planning to submit your lot unfurnished, you have to limit the size of your home to what you can afford to furnish, so the choices you must make are very much like those you make in real life.  Do you really want to spend your precious MBs building the pool house or on decorating your home? 

To stay within your 50MB budget, you must limit your MB “spending” to the choices that will best achieve the overall look you want.  In choosing furnishings, you need to consider that custom content takes up much more file space than EA’s in-game items and that the MB “cost” of similar custom objects (two beds, for example) may vary widely.  Also, subsequent copies of an object cost less than the first copy so using multiple copies of the same object can actually be more cost effective than individual copies of different objects.  (Obviously, I haven’t tested this on every item but it generally seems to work that way). And, finally, the size of the file is not necessarily based on the size of the object.  Often, files for relatively small, highly detailed objects that offer many variations, such as pictures and rugs, may actually be larger than files for much bigger objects, such as beds and sofas (thanks to AnoeskaB for this particular insight).   

Monitoring your lot’s file size and the impact of your various construction and decorating choices is not as easy as it sounds.  However, the last thing you want to do is to wait until you finish your perfect house to discover that you are way, way over budget (like 90MB!!).  So, periodically during the building and furnishing process, you will have to check your lot’s file size.  The only way I’ve found to do this is to export (i.e., share) the lot and then go to your export folder and check the size of the file.  How often you need to do this depends on what you’re building and how close you are to the 50MB limit.  You also need to know the size of the files for custom content objects to decide which is the best “investment”.   Again, the only way I know to do this is to download the objects and then go to your download folder and check each object’s file size.  You can assume that any EA in-game item has a smaller file size than a similar custom content item, but, as far as I know, the only way to determine its actual file size is to check the overall lot export file size, first without, then with the item.

 While time-consuming, this process wouldn’t be such a bother if it weren’t for EA’s temperamental programming, which “stops responding” at the drop of a hat.  It thoroughly dislikes it when you move back and forth between windows, i.e. the game and your export or download folders in Windows Explorer.  Too many trips and it’s likely to just quit on you.  Of course, you could check file size via the game launcher.  The Upload tab will list the file size for exported lots and the Download tab will show the file size for the custom content you’ve downloaded.  But, I’ve found that switching between the active game and the game launcher takes longer and is more likely to end in disaster than moving between the game and Windows Explorer (at least it does on my computer).  Whichever way you do it, take it from someone who has learned the hard way—save, save, save, and save again!

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  I am sure this is nothing new to the experienced builders out there but I hope it helps another novice like me.   Maybe staying within budget will become more intuitive with experience.  I hope so.  But, if anyone out there knows an easier way to build large, fully furnished houses within the 50MB budget, I would love to hear from you!

New Story Commin' up...

While waiting for Message in a Bottle: Chapter 9's approval, I re-submit a story titled: My Borrowed Heart.

I already submitted it before when I was waiting for Message in a Bottle: Chapter 4.

Though, it was rejected because of some screenshot. I decided to not to submit it again, but as I am waiting for my first story's chapter approval, I re-did my new story. I hope it would not get rejected, again. haha!

This new story has a huge part on Message in a Bottle.

Expect some similarities of some details on both stories, because they are connected. :D

I do hope before I could take a 1-week leave, the next chapters will be out soon.

Chapters would delay because I need to go home to my hometown.

This weekend, I'm going to my friend's house because we are having our triple birthday celebration and Grand Eyeball for our game's guild. It's pretty exciting but I will be out for a while.

Not to mention, my friends that I'm going to are the ones who just hate me going back home. They would try a sneak attack to hold me up for few more days. haha. :D

If only I could carry my whole PC set, but the travel's pretty faaaar~

I hope you would understand the future delays.

Happy Simming~

-Juzu

Hello you!

So yea I think my game's normal again, though the quality of the screenshots seem to be different and I lost some clothes.. So yea...... (I've no idea what my game settings were *sigh*)

The Finale of Sudden End, is still with screenshots before my game rampage.
I'm starting from scratch with "Dear You" So you'll see another introduction soon.
I decided to keep it simple now, insteed of confusing people. Hehe :3!
Well, that's it for now! Have a beautiful day! Byebye.

Bleck Work.....

I don't wanna download stuff for making custom content! Grrrrrrrrrr....

First World Problems

My Mac is silently weeping because TSR hates it.....

Finally, the story will be approved. :3

I AM SUCH A DUMB DUMB PERSON. The staff have sent me three emails where they say why do they reject it and I haven't even seen that!

Stupid Maria, argh. T^T

So now, I've edited it and removed the sentence that was not appropriate, and hopefully it'll be approved. ♥
I just wanted to apologize here, and thank Audrey May for understanding THAT I'M DUMB! DUH! >.<
Thank you TSR staff for everything. ♥

Until next blog post, see ya! :3

Holy bananas..

I'm not sad at all anymore that I lost some CC, because, wow.. I love my new simmies @___@!
Wait.. I always say that I love them.. Hahaha xD Anyways. currently looking for the perfect lots,

and then I'll be writing a short introduction of Dear You. Yup I'm really starting from scratch!
Sorry for the long wait for any of my chapters! Sudden End's Finale is taking a long time to get approved xD

Have a beautiful day!

Fixie bikes: choose one for you!

Fixed gear bikes are useful for various purposes. These bikes can surely offer you great safety. Some time before these bikes where used by mailman and newspaper delivery people. But then now with the extra exercise factor there are many city dwellers too who are choosing the same. Apart from that these bikes are in high demand from young crowd and beginners. There are many reasons but the exercising aspect has always been the major reason.

If you are also a beginner and do not know how to ride the bike and also do not wish to fall off a cliff then choosing these fixies would be a great idea. In order to ride this bike then you will be required to paddle it for moving forth and apply break in order to stop. Fixie bike is being used by the many professionals these days and it is not only used for kids. It is not suitable for a hilly region and a mountain terrain and thus you should not ride it in such areas. In case you ride in such areas then the possibility of falling from the bike is high.

One other benefit or a positive aspect why lot of people still use these fixed gear bikes is because you can reach your destination well in time. With this bikes speed and pedaling can be manipulated very easily. Here in many cases you will have to see that when you are riding these bikes you be careful. This is because as this bike does not have any brakes at times stopping it would become difficult. Before you start using it on roads it would be good if you try it out in open space and get a proper hang of it. It is just then that you will be comfortable riding it in public or then where ever there is a lot of traffic.

When you want to buy fixie for sale you will come across many providers of it. Before buying just make sure that you do your research well. This refers that you find the right information on it and check out what you search for at the time of purchasing it. With this you will be able to get great functionality after buying it. Remember not to take decisions in haste while buying the fixies. At the time you know how to ride it well riding fixed gear bikes would be a great fun. With this you will be able to reach the destination you want on time although there is more traffic on the road. Just pedal a little fast stop where necessary and you will be at your destination safely.

To know more read this post.

Trouble!

Argh no! I've wanted to upload the tattoos for you, but somehow it won't let me upload the zip-file, neither directly from my computer nor from the file storage on TSR Dx I am very unhappy about it since I really want to share my tattoos with you!

Anyone who might know why I can't upload it?

Twiddling thumbs...

As for today, I'm planning on releasing some special story but I'm too caught up with making Message in a Bottle.

Message in a Bottle was originally a finished novel of mine, because I converted it to Sim story, I cutted some parts there because it will take so much chapter to get to the main and exciting parts.

I am still making that book's cover and planning of printing the book after I've finished making the Sim version of it because, I wanted to put Erin and Jasper's Sim versions inside of it. ^^

I also have a long line for next stories after the End of Message in a Bottle.

There is also a series commin' up.

I'm excited for Message in a Bottle: Chapter 9~! It was my favorite part and I hope you'll like it.

But if you didn't, that's okay because I did all my best to make that chapter and I have no regrets! xD

I feel so contented after I finished making that chapter.

The next chapters will be on fast-paced, because I wanted to start the romance slow... making the readers get to know about the character first. I wanted to make them... alive. Not just a mere characters of a story. but I wanted a world where every character inside the book has their own lives and stories.

I wanted to create a life at least in my dream world. ^^

It's my first time releasing my story publicity. I am writing for years and I don't have that many friends who are interested in books as much as I do. I'm glad to know other people with the same hobby as mine and even though most of you are at another edge of the world as I am, it gives me happiness to know that my story are appreciated by strangers like you. And those strangers became my friend. (I think I'm going too emotional or heart-talking, whatsoever.haha!)

Nah, it's just me who just finished writing a heart-warming manuscript. xD

Happy simming!

-Juzu