Update June 2009

Yakov has been in and out of the ER several times and his health is very touch & go, I hope those of you who know him will include him in your prayers.  It's been nerve tacking to say the least, so include us who are taking care of him in your prayers also. Thanks.

Well blast it!

Naturally in the process of updating and correcting my meshes I end up having "old" and "new" versions of things on my system and I am not the brightest of people these days, so YET AGAIN! I have managed to upload the wrong version of an item.

This time it's the BEOS 5000 CPU - the version uploaded is the original "pre-updated" version and won't take the recolours - I am sending a PM to the staff to bump that particular item into the rejected bin so I can change the package file to the new and updated version.

The Tape Reader and Printer are fine, only the CPU is wonky.

It will take a day or so to correct the file, and I apologise for the inconvenience, but all will be set to rights as soon as possible.

And now a word from our sponsors...

I received a PM from a member of TSR asking if she might use some of my objects posted on another site, and this gave the realisation that I hadn't posted everything on TSR that I thought I had.

So let's agree that for all intents and purposes, you may consider every OBJECT I ever made to be TSRAA, but let's be reasonable about this, keep it PG-13, OK? If you find something isn't on TSR, just PM me and I will try to get it uploaded zippy quick. Last year's storms killed the computer that held all of my work, so even I don't have everything.  I have a lot of it, but not all.  I will be posting some of the missing things in the coming week, just bear with me, it will all be done as I am able.

Now, as for the bodybuilder body meshes, the recolours may be posted here, but the meshes themselves are the shared work of Marvine and myself, and until such time as she agrees to post them on TSR, they are not going to be hosted here.  If you contact me via PM, I will arrange to create a child-friendly hosting solution for any of those meshes you wish to recolour, don't just link to my non-TSR blog, which is NOT child-friendly, OK?

Egg on my face...

I have accidentally uploaded a half-finished version of the "Not So Simple Coffee Mug" - a bit of mental califcication going on here as I get my simming legs back under me, I guess. I neglected to update the GUID to the new one.  this is what I get for trying to me smarter than I am, I suppose.

I will be uploading the corrected mesh within a short time, so let's the database isn't crushed under the weight of the site traffic on Monday!

It took longer than expected, but the updated file is finally in the pipe.

The exact problem dealt with the GUID.  In reconstructing the file so it would be base-game compatible, I had neglected to update the ObjectData with the new GUID, so the recolours were sort of lost.

When you download the corrected version of the file, simply copy the new file into your downloads folder and allow the new file to over-write the old file.  When you re-enter any lots on which you have used the "Not So Simple Coffee Mug", you should discover the wooden posing model, simply remove the model in build mode, then place the coffee mug and use the swatch tool to choose the recolour.

All of the recolours are contained in the base object, so you see thirteen (13) recolours and several -- eleven, if memory serves -- fill states.

Why is it ... ?

After spending a few hours thinking about it, it seems to me that many things being made for the Sims are not really all that common.  Sure, I can hear you, people do wear wedding dresses, but if you think about it, they don't wear them very often... I know that there is a certain perverse appeal in the shabby chic, that sort of grunged up forlorn decay that makes for lovely goth storylines, but common work-a-day things seem to be largely over-looked by custom content makers.

My friend Starfire (Firestar here on TSR) was complaining about the lack of some really common everyday items that would be useful for story-tellers.  She has some great ideas, but I don't think I am capable of achiving all of them.  One of the simplest things as a coffee mug with variable volumes of coffee, which resulted in me making the Not So Simple Coffee Mug which I have released this weekend. It is such a simple and useful thing that I have decided to make this permanently free so all story-tellers in the Sims Community can use it.

Several other things she asked for were the makings of a train station platform (I already made the railway tracks for the Arkham set) and morgue items (which strangely enough I know rather a great deal about).  I'd love to make the locomotive and railway wagons she requested, but I have gone down that road before and the poly-counts were just mind-boggling.  Maybe if there was any easy way to port meshes and textures between different games it might be done, but I can't expect the game industry to all agree on a format.

Any way... If you are a story-teller and have a specific need, don't be afraid to say something to me about it here in my blog.  Admittedly I don't read my blog every day, but I don't make content for the game every day either.  So if you say something here, maybe it will get made.  I am not promising it will, but just saying here is far better than in a PM, since I read my PMs even less often than I read my blog

Getting my legs back under me...

I've been trying to focus on enjoying life as much as possible, and as chance would have it I have started making a few things for the game as I play.  I will post some of these here at TSR, I'm sort of retired, so I will post things from time to time with no schedule and no promises.  Some of the things I am making simply aren't suitable for the general audiances of TSR, but what is suitable, I will post here.

While I'm here, a happy belated Valentine's day wish to all of you at TSR.

Affectionately yours,

Yasha

 

A voice from the grave...

That's about how I feel, like something dead revived. I won't bore you with details, but 2008 has been a long rough year for me. I have come to discover that many things that used to annoy me are now counted as less than nothing when held up and measured against the real world. You see things very different after you spend any amount of time staring at your pulse on a heart monitor wondering if these will be your last moments on Earth. All the crap sort of peels away and you see what really matters. I finally realised that the Internet is the paramount venue for drama creation and propagation and that there is no way to fight it without being dragged on to the stage as a principal player. Something I candidly never wanted and am more than a little disgusted I didn't realise it until far too late. So I have started listening to my cat. She gives great advice, as cats often do. She sees the world in a very clear and concise way, it's all about her, which is only right, since she is the centre of the universe as far as she knows. Maybe I will make more things for The Sims 2, maybe I won't. But for the first time in many years I finally remember why I did all this in the first place. I did it to have fun. That's what I aim to do with the time I have: Have fun. Something I haven't been able to do for longer than I care to remember. So consider me retired from the thespian craft; my interests lie elsewhere, as they always did. Drama, like worry, benefits no one, achieves nothing, and is a paramount waste of everyone's time.

One step forward, two steps back

Short and to the point, I suffered a big set-back with my health in May, but I am finally getting the better of it. Because my health has to come first, I won't be able to spread myself around like I formerly have. I am down-sizing my role in the greater Sims community and from here forward concentrating my energies only on TSR - which is deliciously drama light, content heavy.

The Sims 2 is nearing the end of its production and release arc, but I won't let that dissuade me from riding it until the wheels fall off. I have plenty of ideas and plans, the sticky part is realising them. Look for new content for both The Sims (original) and The Sims 2 from me in the coming weeks.

I may very possibly become more productive than ever thanks to being sick... go figure

Thank you to all the many fans and friends who have expressed concern and kept me in their prayers. Godless heathen that I am, I figure I am precisely the sort that needs prayer most.

Especial thanks to Thomas and the other great folks here in the TSR Family for allowing me this time away to mend. I am more grateful than you can know. *giant hug*

Finally some good news

After a beginning of 2008 I might wish on a person I hate, I was told great news by the doctor on Wednesday. My various blood tests came back with almost every thing in the places they need to be. My triglycerides are a little high and my HDL cholesterol is a little low, but for the most part everything else is "spot on".

The "ugly toe" is healing nicely, only a dark spot under the nail shows any evidence it was every mangled.

Also this week, we had the roof properly repaired and the washer and dryer replaced so I can have clean underwear on a regular basis again! WOOT!

I still do not have a system that will play The Sims 2, but I have finally agreed to let someone help me with this, so I should be creating again soon WOOHOO!

So after a horrible start, 2008 is pulling up out of the nose-dive! Alleluia!

2008 hates me...

ANOTHER BIG WINTER STORM IS HEADING MY WAY... YAY :P We have only barely recovered from the nasty storm that had us without electricty, phone, and Internet for several days, damaged the roof and chimney, flooded the basement to well over 70 cm with filthy water, and fried my Simming system... now, the local evening news broadcast informed us to steel ourselves for another beating by "Ol' Man Winter". Even before we had all the repairs completed, on two different occasions this week we had freezing rain and snow begin at sunset and turn the streets here into a death trap just as people were leaving work for home. We had friends and co-workers camping out here, sleeping on the sofa, chairs, the floor. I am a fairly hardy guy when it comes to Winter hardships, having grown up in Sankt Petersburg, but you know... when I came to the USA and started university, no one informed me that the weather here would present me with both Russian Winters and Tropical Storms in the same month. I would have thought that this would require extensive travel, but here in the USA it's all at your doorstep without ever you asking ... *grumble* I am trying to be gracious, really, but someone needs to break Ol' Man Winter's legs or something.