For pity's sake - EMPTY IT!

Yes, I know. I KNOW ALREADY!

I will empty my PM In-box shortly. I promise!

Sorry!

Don't forget the simple tutorial...

The Alpine Windows are out! I'll now leave a suitable pause in case you wanted to applaude or anything......

Now, PLEASE NOTE that you need to use a special building technique (otherwise known as 'cheat') to place them directly under roof gables as pictured on the set preview picture.

And the reason why I'm mentioning this here (as well as littering the window set with various mentions) is that the accompanying tutorial felt a little bit shy this morning and chose to remain invisible to the masses, and so some downloaders might be thinking those windows automatically place beneath a gable when they need a bit of a helping hand (as we now know: (otherwise known as 'cheat'). The 'cheat' is actually very easy, but if you've never dared use a building cheat before, then this tutorial shows you exactly what you need to do.

The tutorial IS most simple, and I thank Illiana for both mentioning the method AND allowing me to write the tutorial so you can know about it too. And if you like mountain abodes, Swiss homes, log cabins and such, then you're going to adore Illiana's finished home - soon to be uploaded here at TSR. What's so incredible (to me, at least) is that Illiana's home is pretty much all Maxis content - except for the occasional window or two! ;-) Maxis content (how on EARTH do people manage that with such good results???)

However, DO NOTE that you need the Nightlife or later expansion pack for this building cheat; the cheat doesn't exist in the base game, nor in University. If you have any later expansion pack though, then you're in luck! All is not lost if you don't have any expansion packs though, because the windows themselves work in any version of the game and you can do lots of different things with them - you just won't be able to place them
under roof gables.

Finding things to do...

When I start swapping featured content around my minisite page, it's usually a sign of something else gone wrong: either a distinct lack of creating ideas, or lack of a creating PC! This time it's the latter. My PC has disappeared for a little upgrading holiday (it's innards are being transferred to a new case approximately the size of my 'Terbaine Towers' high-rise block of flats so that the searing-hot graphics card can stop being so asphyxiated by all the stupid wires entwined around it (and for anyone thinking of buying a PC where the power supply sits at the BOTTOM of the case, be warned)!

So, now that I cannot play The Sims, create for The Sims or do anything else Sim-related (I can't even download anything on this donkey of a PC I'm using now because there is no writable media drive - bah). I'm hanging on in miserable desperation to TSR to at least feel close to Sim things. And yes, you may well think this is very sad. So do I, and there we all are.

But I DO have new things coming your way soon (March). The swings (mentioned in my last novella) have been fully tested with a perfect result (and yes, the Maxis swings are still in the game too), so they're queued up for release, but I also have, by request, four new ceiling tiles for our very own Judi (JSF Designs) to match some very lovely wallpapers she's made.

And a brand new set of Alpine Windows - made for Illiana who needs some suitably triangular windows for her spectaular mountain lodge so I decided to give those a shot. The whole set will allow triangles of any size, with even and odd-numbered window widths possible - totally versatile in a range of colours (and with matching doors and rectangular windows too).

There will also be a very short and easy tutorial for those of you wondering how windows have been placed directly under that gabled roof! Illiana already knew how to do this, but in the hope that I am not the ONLY person in the world who didn't know how, this beginner's tutorial will show you how. Note that the technique doesn't work in the base game only though, so if you can, grab an expansion pack if you want to use windows directly under roofs!

New Swings: And why there aren't many about...

Sometimes, I get an idea that I really haven't thought out at all. One of those "I'll just do this" moments where the 'just' ends up being anything BUT 'just'! If I kept a diary, the entries for the last week would go something like this...

[Mon am]: Woke up with a bright idea - a new swing for industrial lots! Something with weights, hooks etc, something that looked as though a baddie Sim had MADE it into a swing when it wasn't meant to be.

[Mon pm]: Made a mesh for the weighing hoist swing. Now time to make a clone of the Maxis swing (fellow artists are now scratching their heads and wondering why I work backwards - should have cloned the mesh first, blah blah - I know)

[Tues am]: Realised that I was now going to have to split my mesh into a million different pieces for the various subsets. Okay, fine, but what are all those 'null' meshes? Ignore for now and press on.

[Tues pm]: Load up my game and look for Mr Gieke in my neighbourhood. He never does anything worthwhile, so maybe he'd like a new swing. Firstly, the swing had the most hideous texture problem (still using the Maxis textures despite me adding my own) and although Mr Gieke gleefully rushed to the swing, he stopped short of it and froze - literally! As did my game! Something seriously wrong here. :-(

[Weds am]: Dissecting the package, I see that the cloned BHAVs are a veritable mess, referencing the GUIDs of the original Maxis swing. Spent a horrible, HORRIBLE morning going through each and every one laboriously looking for and correcting GUID references. But I spotted and fixed the texture problem, so my temper softened by a minute degree. I realised I'd embarked upon a most foolish venture and I really SHOULD just stick to decorative items in future...

[Weds pm]: The swing works, fully animated, all pieces connecting when adding extra swings too ! Mr Gieke loves it (though would rather be playing chess). BUT, the texture is STILL all wrong and horrible (looks like a yellow, red and blue chequered court jester!). This impacts on MY colouring as I turn from red anger to purple rage. And an even worse problem has materialised: the swings replace the Maxis swings!!! Spent the next ten minutes moaning and wailing at the world in general about this life crisis, then more productlively rechecked all my GUIDs (MsBarrows will tell you how often I can forget those!) but there is no problem at all.

I did some forum hunting and virtually wept when I discovered this is an age-old problem with cloned swings that most people, including some notable creator-gurus, have not yet been able to solve. All but one of the few custom swings out there all carry the same warning: will replace the Maxis swings. But one didn't - just one, so it HAD to be possible. Back to my package again. Got nowhere. Gloom blankets the house (or my corner of it at any rate).

[Thurs am]: Write a weeping, wailing, plea to fellow artists with knowledge of BHAVs and GUIDs. Whilst waiting for miraculous help to descend from the skies, I start the whole project over again with different clone settings and, this time, the textures on the second swing are finally right (phew), but had this cured the problem with overwriting the Maxis swings? In short, no. Even the dogs are creeping off into hidden corners now as an air of thunder descends.

[Thurs pm]: Determination strikes! I start the whole project over AGAIN by cloning the bonus Seasons swing instead - a good idea from Simaddict99. Alas, Maxis has changed the swing set-up for their new swing and I realised that I was going to have to remake all my meshes and animations - aargh!!! Oh well, but after a fraught day of that, I realise this third swing is even worse than the last (which at least worked)! My latest attempt is a real mess and will have to go.

[Thurs eve]: No-one's able to throw any light on the problem; miraculous help from the skies is rather silent on the subject. I return to the second swing and try some good suggestions from AnoeskaB who has looked at the package for me, but the stupid, hateful, horrible, really-making-me-screaming-MAD swing STILL replaces the Maxis swing!!! No-one has any other ideas. There's nothing left to do. After a week of creator-hell, I discard my attempts, vowing NEVER to touch swings again. I load up my game to ensure everything is restored back to normal and that my Maxis swings have returned...

No Cyclonesue swings, but no Maxis swings either!

Instead, I seem to have Targa's tree swing (Targa does mention that this tree replaces the default swings - it's just that I never knew I even had any custom swings)! Was it THIS swing all along that was replacing the Maxis set and not mine??? I removed Targa's swing, recovered my last-working swing from the recycle bin - and lo and behold, not only does the swing work perfectly, the Maxis swings are intact too!!!!!!

And so I've done it. I'd probably done it on Tuesday if truth be known - grrr). That will teach me for not emptying my downloads folder when I test stuff (well, I expect it won't, but there we all are). I'm putting the swing through some testing with expert testers. All being well, this will be out in a couple of weeks to be downloaded by all three of us who like peculiar items!

...but I'm still wondering whether my vow of NEVER AGAIN still remains regarding swings after this!

Oldest Mistake In History? (Another urinal!)

I'm sorry that my blog seems to be so toilet-and-urinal obsessed lately! There are no therapists who specialise in such obsessions where I live, so you'll just have to put up with another toilet-discussion...

Yes, another urinal tale - a tale of an old mistake, a tale of something that 3571 people (out of 3572) did not spot - and why should you? You don't spend your lives planting urinals on Sim walls, do you? (if you do, do YOU know of any good therapists I could call?)

Back in January 2005 (oh-so-long-ago), my Urban Renewal urinal came to be. Unfortunately, it usurped the GUID of the Maxis community urinal. That's because I thought I was making a recolour, and quite forgot I had to clone the entire package so that we could have the urinal in our residential catalogs too.

Three years later, thanks to MsBarrows, I have uploaded a repaired urinal (and set it to be free so you can acquire it if you no longer have a subscription).

Link to the download page:
   Urban Renewal Urinal (updated)

If the Chamber Pot is missing....

If you've downloaded my Victorian Bathroom set today, you might find that the Chamberpot is missing. This is because the set file is broken and there's no-one around to fix it until Sunday - grrrr.

However, you can download the chamber pot on its own. Download it from this link:

http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/objects/furnishing/plumbing/toilets/647643/

Improved Flat Roof Trims (fences)...

I've been contacting anyone I know has downloaded my flat Roof Trims but there are still some 400+ of you out there who I can't find, so I hope this finds YOU instead!

If you've used the flat roof trims already, you might have noticed that, if you join up a diagonal and straight piece, the corner ends of both pieces jut out in an unsightly way. I couldn't find a way of fixing this previously. However, I've since found that, if I make the diagonal a wider piece than the straight piece, this makes the corner edges meet up properly - just about (it's improved, anyway).

And if you are one of the good folks I PM'd earlier, and you redownloaded the trims immediately, you might still not have the most up to date trims (the servers were a bit slow in keeping up with me). If you DO have the most up to date versions, you'll find that diagonals and straights intersect with barely any join showing at all.



Flat Roof Trims (fences)

As usual, my sincerest for YET ANOTHER botch job!

Typical!

I just noticed my last screenshot (yesterday's entry below). A fairly modern room in muted greens, beautifully polished floor, clean wood furniture. All so lovely...

And then we look through the window on the left and what do we see? An abandoned factory shell on the horizon! How typical is that?! Urban Renewal creeps in everywhere!

Screenshots with easy ceilings

After battling with a photograph of a flat-roofed building where views into the windows exposed blue sky upstairs (where there was supposed to be a flat roof), I remembered the glass double-sided ceiling tiles I'd made. I expect you don't remember those so here's a link: LOOK AT THESE TILES NOW. In theory, the same approach should work for solid tiles too, and if it does, lo and behold, no more toplessness! Ceilings at last! BUT (there's always a 'but' in my blog posts) there are a few problems. (1) modified floor tiles don't reflect light, so lamps and windows have no effect on them, making them no good for ordinary indoor floors, and (2) lighting can be a bit of a fiddle: build on top of the ceiling, and it goes dark; don't build on top, and it can be VERY light!

Still, I've picked the best of my experiments and made them into a set. The set is aimed primarily at people who take screenshots of their own creations, movie-makers and story tellers. They're not going to be so good for general play (except for flat-roofed buildings, bridges and outdoor balcomies where they're perfect).

The Magic Urinal

Don't I just have the VERY BEST blog entry titles?!

I'm making a red set of the aforementioned Victorian Bathroom which you have already seen (HAVEN'T YOU!) and I've run into a wee problem (pun entirely intended and not at all funny)...

The urinal 'clean state' recolour works just fine, but the dirty state doesn't. So, whenever my nice pink urinal becomes dirty, it turns back to dirty blue.

I find this rather interesting. Anyone of my vintage (that's 21 plus a few) might remember from childhood these magic painting books where, if you wet the page (with water!), the picture would magically 'paint' in colour. Therefore, a urinal suddenly switching from clean pink to dirty blue after use seems just fine by me. One could even describe it as a rather creative innovation!

I expect no-one else will agree though, so should the pink version of this urinal arrive in your downloads folder at any point, please just sigh about the unfortunate dirty blue state and ignore. Better still, hire a maid!