Em's Random Sim Pics and Projects

Late to the party again. First off.....LOVE the docks and the ruins. Gorgeous! Did you do the docks with the Maxis deck tool? They look really good!

I've never seen a really convincing non-beach beach lot before...yours is awesome!

I don't know of any way to make non-beach lots into beach lots. Think you're gonna have to move your simmies to beach lots. Jen and I have actually offered quite a few here at Sugah's.

I'm not sure what style of beach lots you're looking for, but this creator at MTS2 has several series of beach lots. They're furnished with Maxis stuff, but they're nicely landscaped and are generally playable.

Also, Inge has a beach portal that -- in theory -- can be used to create a beach lot from a normal lot. I've just never figured out how to do it.

It's not that I'm looking for beach lots exactly. I want to make my existing lots beach lots somehow. What I need is very specific for the story I'm writing, so downloaded lots probably won't do. I do like the beach lots here and at MTS2. I'll have to remember to download a few of those for regular residences. Thanks for the help.

twerplina, I've been playing around with Inge's beach portal and it makes the beach lot actions appear on a regular lot. That part I can get to work, but no waves. The description doesn't say much, but the comments and picture lead me to believe that the waves are supposed to be generated by the beach portal, but no matter what I try, I can't get them to work. I guess I'll just have to use separate lots when I need screenshots that are actually on the water.

Toni, the docks are the Maxis deck tool. I started off trying an object I had downloaded, but it wasn't long enough and I thought of the deck. It was definitely easier and better. The ruins I may end up redoing since I noticed Bon Voyage has some really neat objects that were kind of what I was wanting originally. I'll have to play around with it and see what's best. Thanks for the compliments!

SimEm wrote:

I guess I'll just have to use separate lots when I need screenshots that are actually on the water.

I have a beach lot inhabited by a reclusive sim, that I use for my screenshots that require a beach. I change the landscaping so it looks like different places. For all intents and purposes, it's a movie set.

I've done the same with a large residential lot, in which I quickly decorate rooms for single screenies.

I've also got a school that's on a residential lot inhabited by a nun. I teleport in my students and make them selectable, both for the purposes of game play (to build relationships and move the story along quickly) and for storytelling. It's so much easier that having to send simmies off to community lots to take pictures.

SimEm wrote:

I noticed Bon Voyage has some really neat objects that were kind of what I was wanting originally

Oh yes! Those BV ruins are the best! I'm glad you're having fun with it.

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It's so much easier that having to send simmies off to community lots to take pictures.

That's for sure! Staging pictures on community lots is nearly impossible. Whenever I tried, I'd have something happen like this . . .



I moved Octavia onto my faux beach lot for that very reason, to be a placeholder. I do that with a lot of my residential lots that are meant to look like community lots. I used to have one lot that had a hotel room, a diner, a fancy restaurant, an abandoned warehouse type building, and a lawyer's office all on one lot. It was definitely like a movie set, with a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Congrats on getting Bon Voyage, Em!
I'm looking forward to seeing Will the surfer dude hangin' ten!
Aloha, baby!

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I've never seen a really convincing non-beach beach lot before...yours is awesome!

I needed to thank you specifically for this comment, Toni. That is a major compliment coming from a girl who lives on an island for a girl who's only been to the ocean 3 times in her entire life.

Here you go, Sugah. I didn't manage to get one of him standing on the board, since my little helper was on my lap taking over my game at the time.

That is SO COOL, Em! I've been wanting to download that little mod, but wasn't sure how well it worked.
They really do stand up on the board and surf? It looks pretty realistic???

Thank you for sharing your surfer dude with us.
When I get my beach hood set up, Will is going to be one of the first ones living there!

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When I get my beach hood set up, Will is going to be one of the first ones living there!

I came up with a compromise to my problem. I played around with the modifyNeighborhoodTerrain cheat and managed to fit a real beach lot next to my lot with the huts, so I can pretend like the beach that they visit is part of the same island as the one with the huts. It should work fine for what I need for my screenshots.

I moved Will's older brother, Gus, onto my other beach lot. Gus is the more sensitive, nature-loving type, while Will is the more sporty, fun-loving type.





Here's a picture of him standing on the surfboard.



Wipeout!

Well I see someone is enjoying their new EP! And isn't that surfing mod awesome! As I was saying in Jayce's thread just now, I really want to add it but my game is so mod-laden already that I'm worried about upsetting the delicate balance.

Though the response from users has been remarkably positive. Haven't heard of any game implosions. My issue is whether or not it would conflict with anything else I have in my game. Mods that tweak game coding, can sometimes conflict if they use the same coding and functions and other complex stuff I don't understand. I think I'm going to test it in a virgin (custom content free) game, and gradually add all my mods and see if the game breaks. Seeing your and Jayce's piccies is just making me salivate for it all the more!

Toni wrote:

Well I see someone is enjoying their new EP! And isn't that surfing mod awesome!

I am currently downloading a bunch of beach houses from this site and MTS2, some of our SP fabulous models and all kinds of yummy beachy stuff, including that way cool surfing mod.
Am FINALLY getting around to setting up my all beach hood. Can't wait!!!

Love the pics of Gus surfing and wiping out, Em. Great beach lot!
Thank you for sharing.



PS Last night I spent some time downloading Sims & beach abodes for my new seaside hood.
I want to have your surfer dude, Will, in my game, but can not find the link to him anywhere. Can you point me to his download, please?
Also, do you still have Sapphira available? The older links (pre-SP being hacked) no longer work.

I found Will. He was a gift at Basic. I have no idea what happened to Sapphira. I logged into my mediafire account (I'm actually surprised I logged in correctly on the first try. It's been a really long time since I've used it.) and I didn't see her there. It seems like I was using something else before mediafire, but if you didn't log in every so many days, your account would be disabled. I can't even remember what it was called now. Sometime when I have my external drive hooked up, I'll look for her. I know she's got to be somewhere in my back ups.

Awesome! Thanks, Em!
I am downloading Will as I type for my new beach hood!!!



Let me see if I can find Sapphira.
I might have a copy of her burned to cd from right after Sugah's Place was hacked.
If I find her, I will send you a copy, too, if you'd like to upload her here!!!

I still need to find Sapphira's pictures. Can't seem to find them on my external drive with my older files. I may have to redownload her and take new ones, since my Sapphira isn't exactly the same as the one I shared. I know I changed her clothing and hair at least (maybe her face and makeup too.)

I need to update this thread more often. I don't play much just for the sake of playing these days. I have visited the sims in the Founders challenge I was trying to develop awhile back, but I haven't played them very much lately. My originals have died from old age. But their grandchildren are growing up!

I've been doing most of my actual playing of the game in my Royal Kingdom which I've been sharing in my challenge thread. Otherwise I've been spending my game time in my storytelling hoods.

Speaking of Sapphira, my Sapphira has been busy being wooed by many suitors (whenever I allow autonomy while filming.)







She takes such lovely pictures. I thought this one was especially neat.



Poor girl is getting bored with all of the attention.



Her lover, the ruler, doesn't seem bothered by it. (He's one of the male maids from the game made over, and I think his gender preference is really for men. Shhh.) This is what he was up to when autonomy was off.



That was neighborhood 2, my Royal Kingdom is neighborhood 1. In neighborhood 3, my Arrendale Heights neighborhood. I'm setting up school scenes.



Also in N003, I'm up to Episode 6 of my new story I'm working on, The Rafters. I caught my girls in interesting poses when they were walking down the hallway and I was about to pose them together like this. I don't think I'll actually use this shot in the story, but I'm tempted too. I'm not sure what the blonde girl, Angie, was fretting about. As a character, she's got lots of reason to fret. As a sim, I'm not sure.

Awesome shots Em! I love the school corridor, with all the girls in uniform. I suddenly imagined them breaking into song and dance like a scene from Fame (or should I say Glee? Am I dating myself by referencing Fame? )

Sapphira is really breathtaking. Also looks like she is the one doing the wooing in some of those shots! I'm just sayin!' Great dress too!

The Rafters looks interesting. I'm guessing you started yet another hood because you don't already have your hands full.

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I suddenly imagined them breaking into song and dance like a scene from Fame (or should I say Glee? Am I dating myself by referencing Fame? laughin)

There's a thought, Arrendale Heights, the high school musical!

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Sapphira is really breathtaking. Also looks like she is the one doing the wooing in some of those shots! I'm just sayin!' Great dress too!

She is in at least one of those pics, but mostly the guys were lining up in front of her. Thanks!

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I'm guessing you started yet another hood because you don't already have your hands full. Rolling Eyes

I know, right! It's not really a new hood. It's actually the same hood as Arrendale Heights (though I did make a subhood, a downtown for most of their scenes.) I started putting these characters in my game awhile ago (there are a few pics of a couple of them back on pages 4 and 8 of this thread.) and I've gradually been taking the pics for their story. I know these characters and their stories so well that it's a lot easier for me sometimes than Arrendale Heights, in which some parts I'm still trying to figure out as I go.

I forgot I wanted to share these last time too. I realized I never finished taking my family shots for my characters page.

Lawrence and children. (Here's how I use stretchskeleton the right way, unlike my botched job that I shared in the freaky occurrences thread. )



And Natalie, Simon, and Reese. (I really like how theirs turned out)

What's been going on in my game these days? I've been trying my hand at Elle's baby boom challenge. Awhile back Chase saw me playing and took over my game. His decorating tastes are rather eclectic, so I had to help him make his own houses and families. My challenge neighborhood now has lots of sims named "Mom" and "Dad" and once he learned about pets, cats called "cat" or "kitty" and dogs called "dog."

Here's a sample. I let him chose what rooms to make and how to furnish and decorate them and I'd follow his directions.



In his first family he wanted to be the dad. (He chose romance as his aspiration. ) The mom's name is Mom, the kids were Big Halloween, Little Halloween, Ella, and Bumblebee.



He made 4 or 5 little families. We never got around to really playing any of them.

I've been trying to catch up on my storytelling hoods. I let my teens go on freewill when I stopped by the school set to snap a few quick pics and they kind of went overboard with the flirting and making out. I think they would have been in trouble if the adults were supervising the way they should have been.

Vince flirts with Natalie.



Jeremy refuses to be outdone.



Maura's not going to stand by and watch Jeremy flirt with Natalie.



Maybe they're starting to pair up?



I guess Maura doesn't approve of her brother and Natalie.



Oh, teens left to their own devices for a few sim minutes.

In another neighborhood, in another time, something totally different. I'm preparing my men for a battle.



Yikes! Careful with that sword! (That's got to hurt!)



I guess you could say I have a pretty diverse game . . .

You got a lot of interesting things going on here Em! I keep saying I need to get caught up on this board...just so much stuff to catch up on and not to mention getting back into my own game. lol

Woah! I'm a bit behind in here & in your Royal Challenge thread, Em. I apologize.

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I may have to redownload her and take new ones, since my Sapphira isn't exactly the same as the one I shared. I know I changed her clothing and hair at least (maybe her face and makeup too.)

I believe I have the original in my desktop game still.
Though, I might've changed her hair & I know I put a different ensemble on her.
Is this Sapphira (minus her original hair/clothing)?



And with her siblings...
(You may recall they are triplets.)

E wrote:

She takes such lovely pictures. I thought this one was especially neat.

T wrote:

Sapphira is really breathtaking.

I agree completely. She is a beauty. I have always loved your Sapphira.

Natalie is very lovely, too, btw.

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(He's one of the male maids from the game made over, and I think his gender preference is really for men. Shhh.)

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There's a thought, Arrendale Heights, the high school musical!

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In his first family he wanted to be the dad. (He chose romance as his aspiration. ) The mom's name is Mom, the kids were Big Halloween, Little Halloween, Ella, and Bumblebee.

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I'm up to Episode 6 of my new story I'm working on, The Rafters

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YAY!!!
Looking forward to it, Em!

Lady T wrote:

I love the school corridor, with all the girls in uniform.

Waaaaay cool! Looks great!

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I've been trying my hand at Elle's baby boom challenge.

Me, too! Looking forward to seeing the next chapter in yours, Em!
I've added a few new segments HERE.

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Yikes! Careful with that sword! (That's got to hurt!)

OUCH! No kidding!!!

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I guess you could say I have a pretty diverse game . . .

VERRRRRY!

I enjoyed catching up in your game antics thread, Em.
Thank you for sharing!

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I keep saying I need to get caught up on this board...just so much stuff
to catch up on and not to mention getting back into my own game. lol

I know what you mean. I'm the same way. I usually keep up on reading everyone's posts pretty well, but commenting not so much, I'm ashamed to say.

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Is this Sapphira (minus her original hair/clothing)?

Probably. Either Sapphira or Simone. I forget which was which. It's been so long now, I forget where I was in getting her download restored.

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Natalie is very lovely, too, btw.

Thanks! I'm pretty fond of her myself. She's a sim I made in CAS by breeding two of my sims, then I tweaked her in bodyshop a bit. The boys in my game all seem to like her.

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YAY!!!
Looking forward to it, Em!

Well, unfortunately, The Rafters isn't going very well at the moment. I wrote episode 1, (I'm not sure if episode's the right word, the "episodes" are fairly short. Installment, maybe) but I'm not happy with it. It turned out kind of cutesy and sappy and boring. I'm afraid it wouldn't grab anyone's interest enough to keep them reading (except for maybe the ending. It does end with a bang!) I think I might end up adding a little to the beginning, starting at a slightly later point and then flashing back. Hopefully that would help. Otherwise I'm going to have to change the whole first episode to something better, something to get people interested in the characters or the plot more. I'm not sure what that would be though. Right now, I'm just leaving it for awhile.

I've been playing out the rest of Chapter I of Penelope's Journey though, so hopefully I will finish that much at least. I do have to go back, because I realized I was missing a lot of characters at the end. Most I either wrote out of this version or changed to someone else. One I introduced, but did nothing with afterward and I need him at the end, so I need to go back and slip him in, so it all makes sense.

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Me, too! Looking forward to seeing the next chapter in yours, Em!
I've added a few new segments HERE.

I got caught up and commented! I need to catch up on mine. I haven't played them in awhile. Last time I tried I had to exit without saving because the dad died from food poisoning, because I hadn't removed my realistic sickness mod (I so need to get rid of that thing.) and my kids accidentally got bad memories from a fire. It totally wasn't anyone's fault that lightening stuck a tree when one of my teens came home from their after school job. It was all I could do to keep everyone inside, instead of splashing in puddles, so they wouldn't get struck themselves! I do need to catch up my thread though.

Thanks for commenting!

I've been doing all kinds of miscellaneous game play lately. I haven't been able to settle on one thing to finish. Just now I was in game testing out some outfits and Chase caught me and took over. We made a family with a dog and a cat that both had to have babies. Then he fell asleep, poor little guys has a cold and we were up a lot in the night and he was up early saying "Mommy come look at the sunrise." "Ugh . . . yeah, I see it." Later my dad had to tell on me that my bedroom window doesn't face East.

Anyway, for one of my stories, I want to make one outfit look different ways, be changed for different situations, but still look like it's the same clothing, So this is what I've come up with so far for the girls. Unfortunately the shoes and the pant bottoms don't match very well, but hopefully I can keep them out of the shot as much as possible, if I can't come up with an alternative. I still need to come up with something different for the guys' outfit shown on the left. I'll probably pretend they have a T-shirt on under the sweatshirt and make an outfit that looks like they've taken the sweatshirt off. I'm trying to think of some other options though. I kind of want the characters to start out with the same outfit, but not end up all dressed alike.

hehe Kids are great! As long as they are someone else's! lol Like my nephews! Spoil them rotten and then hand them back to my brother or his wife when they get whinny! lol

Looks like what you need is a alpha mesh outfit...one that would allow you to create a outfit with the jacket blacked out so it was off, and pants legs that could be shortened...After I finish up this current idea, I could take a look at working on an idea of this for you if you want.

*edit*

Is this a Teen outfit? Looks like one to me...want to be sure.

Actually, he hasn't been very whiny at all considering how sick he is. He's been unusually quiet. Feeling too poorly to put up much of a fight, I guess.

I was just looking for other meshes that I already had that were similar and pasting the textures on, but an alpha editable mesh would be really cool.

I can see I didn't copy the shoe texture right on my long pants without a jacket. (I think I got in a hurry and forgot to check it.) If the rolled up pants on had a mesh with sneakers or even barefoot, it would be better. I have no justification for her wearing high heeled shoes. I need to remember to look at those types of details.

Yes, they are teen outfits.

kk, I'll see what I can do...Doesn't seem like it would be a difficult item to do.

Your beach is gorgeous with all the trees and rocks - very nicely decorated.

Sapphira, Natalie, and Reese are some of your prettiest sims ever, Em. I've always loved their faces. I can totally see why men are practically climbing over each other to win Sapphira's affections. I don't blame her for being bored. Being the object that so many men desire must be tiring, indeed.

Em wrote:

My challenge neighborhood now has lots of sims named "Mom" and "Dad" and once he learned about pets, cats called "cat" or "kitty" and dogs called "dog."