's Blog

An Intersting Experiment

I was just reading the forums here at TSR and notice an interesting experiment someone was doing. The person has a child and her parent homeless, their homelot is just a field with a couple benches.

I think this would be an interesting story to try and recreate. You can find the original idea for all this at.

http://aliceandkev.wordpress.com/

Sims 2 -bring it on!

I am going to be installing Sims 2 on this new machine plus all expansion packs, which is great as this weekend I can start making more Sims 2 goodies. (Hey I should be painting, but that can wait a little longer-I mean my kitchen is not going anywhere! )

Great news for Sims3 lot uploaders who use custom textures!

With the help of beta testers here (thank-you to all involved), availability of empty games with and without Riverview installed and other entities, I've been testing custom patterns in uploaded lots.  Each lot was built and processed for sharing in the normal way (clicked the 'share' button for the lot in Edit Town, then collect the Sims3Pack from the Export folder).

The results are fantastic news!

1. EA-modified patterns package and install perfectly (of course)
   
2. Custom (made-from-scratch) patterns package and install too - provided they're Sims3Pack-installed patterns*
   
3. Custom patterns installed with a lot add themselves to the downloader's Create-A-Style tool, making them fully reusable
   
4. As an additional bonus, the EA-made paving slab that came with Riverview neighbourhood packages and installs in a non-Riverview game too!

* Note: we have ONLY tested patterns made as Sims3Pack files with the TSR Workshop.  We have tried a non-Sims3Pack file (a .package file) pattern made with another tool and the .package file did not install with the lot.  Therefore, these results can only apply to Workshop-made Sims3Packs for now.

Over 2000 visotors on my page/ First Upload

Hi guys

I just uploaded my first lot just waiting on approval. to be continued

I just had 2002 visitors on my page Thank you.

Ciao Mike

Sims 3 Screenshots

Hi guys,

I'm very busy to figur out the Sims 3. So I can upload my creations again and share them with you.

I just uploaded 5 or 6 new screenshots ,ther's 1 lot that I'll upload soon. As soon as I figur out how.

So enjoy the Screenshot's and soon my creations.

Ciao Mike

exams...

in a few days my final exams will start... I'm so nervous!

So I won't be able to create or upload anything and after this time... I'll have to visit partys! The last weeks I've been a nice girl learining every weekend and now I need to do things I like.
I wish you all a nice time, but please don't forgett me ;)

Things I've Learned About Sims 3

I have to say that in coming from Sims 2, I had a lot of expectations about things that didn't really play out quite that way.  If you're a Sims 2 player moving to Sims 3, you've got to look at it with new eyes, so to speak, because there are things that are just different but might easily missed when working from Sims 2 expectations.  Here's some of the stuff I discovered so far!

Muffins Are Meat

What's that you say?  Toddlers make meat muffins in their tiny play ovens?  They sure do.  This makes me look at my neice's Easy-Bake oven with something of an eye askew.  I mean, meat muffins from a toy oven?  Gack!  Nevertheless, if your vegetarian toddler eats a muffin from these things, they'll get sick and vomit.  Chalk one up for "weird Dev decisions".

Toddlers ...

So the first thing that got me was that Children and Toddlers can't interact anymore.  Not at all  The Child can't get the Toddler a bottle from the fridge, can't play with their toys with them, can't make faces at them, tickle them, chat with them.  It's almost like they live in separate but parallel realities.  It was really nice in Sims 2 when you had a lonely Child who could then talk to the toddler, but no, that's not possible anymore.

I was also a little baffled by the learning that Toddlers do.  They seem to get benefits from, say, the pegbox or the xylophone, but those don't show up anywhere.  Parents can read to them, too, and the game will eventually say they've "learned all they can" from a book, but again, no sign of what they learned anywhere.  This does eventually show up, though -- if a teen who gained some xylophone education picks up a guitar later their guitar skill will start at at least one, and maybe up to three.  So far I've figured out that xylophone does guitar skill, and that the pegbox does logic skill.  There are various kiddy art books they can be read which gains them painting skill.  

While toddlers can play with the block table, it doesn't seem to do them any good, however Children gain mechanical skill with it.  I've yet to find a way to get an early head start on Charisma, which I always liked to do for my Sims while they were kids and it was still fun.

Classes

I had a hard time figuring out where to send my Sims for their various classes.  They like to learn in them and, hey, it's quick.  But It took me forever to figure out that Sims learn to write at the Corporate HQ (the Sims devs obviously haven't been reading the same corporate correspondence I have).  I made myself a list of places to get classes:

• Corporate HQ: Writing class
• Sports Stadium: Athletic class
• Any restaurant: Cooking class
• Military Base: Handiness class
• Research Facility/Science Center: Logic class
• Theatre: Guitar class
• City Hall: Charisma class
• Grocery: Fishing class
• Community School: Painting class

Mom's Diet Influences Baby's Gender

That was a weird one -- and I'd never have guessed but I read it in the forums and it's always worked for me so far (though they say it's not 100%).  Eating apples makes the gender tend toward male and eating watermelons trends it toward female.  Apparently at least three servings should be consumed by mom during the pregnancy.  It's also good to know that these can be eaten as parts of other food (cobbler, pancakes, &c.), or just raw from mom's inventory.

Move That Mailbox and Style That Trashcan

Holy cow the lot mailbox and trashcan are finally movable with the hand tool -- and styleable with the recolor tool! It's so nice to be able to put them out of sight, or make them into less of an eyesore altogether!

Rubber Ducky, Your'e the One!

And they make bathtime lots of fun, too!  Your Sims can buy bubblebath and rubber duckies at the local grocery.  Once home, just move them onto the edge of the bathtub.  The ducky makes your Sim happier with their baths, and the bubbles enable the "take bubblebath" option on the tub.  Mmmm, scrubbing bubbles!

Can you publish the top 20?

Congratulations to the 6 building competition winners. Vanity and sheer morbid curiosity compels me to simply ask the TSR staff if they could reveal the top 20 list that they mentioned. Think of it as an "honorable mention" catagory.

My Lots

Well I hate it when someone decides to change the rules mid stream. TSR changed the upload rules. 9 of my lots that they had approved in the last 3 weeks have been sumarily rejected cause they now don't want to use the default pictures that the game exports with the lot. Pretty much I have to go back in do ingame screenshots and turn around and get them reapproved.

This will be extremely difficult to do as it seems my fix for my overheating problems has failed as my CPU topped 116 degrees Celsius last night after playing Ghostbuster the Video Game. Which is at least 50 degrees over the recommended temps for this processor.

I may try to runs Sims 3 and see if it continues to overheat. If it does then this round of overheatiing is not the fault of the program. If so then I am likely going to have to take it in and get it checked out. Again if that is the case I will not be able to get the lots that I need to get screenshots reapproved or build new ones.

Edit: Well its not just Ghostbusters as my CPU temps go up running Sims 3 also. So far I have had them top at least 80. Right now my idle temp is around 70 though and that is a tad high still as recommended for this processor is still 5 degree below that.

Anyways I managing to get my screenshots. I take the screenshots for a specific lot, minimize. Get them ready via photoshop, if they need it and then upload. While the game of course is minimize my temps go back to the 70 degrees for idling. Given time my lots should be back up and ready for download as early as this weekend depending on when TSR gets around to reapproving. Which they should do anyways since they were approved to begin with, before the rule change.

Problem with the submission of TS3 items

Hi!

For two weeks, I tried to upload my TS3 creations on TSR but there is a problem with the submission area. When I try to upload a sim, for example, a blank page appears and my sim is not present in the file storage. I tried to contact the members on the forum guidelines but no one answered.

So, I am forced to submit my creations in other sites. This is not a good thing for me.