SHOOT ME!

JUST SHOOT ME!  Put me out of my misery & get it over with!

My SIM life is OVER!  I had this STUPID idea (it's STUPID in hindsight) to copy my files, pull out all my games, then reinstall them......well that was the idea anyway; I copied my folders AOK, & I pulled out most of my games without any problems, but then a couple games didn't want to uninstall, then 1 thing led to another and.....

NOW: I have lost ALL MY Sims, I've lost ALL my downloads some of which no-longer exist on the net and a couple items were TRULY "1 of a kind" items that were made as special prezzies to ME from friends who USED TO make TS2 content but have now moved on to TS3.  So now instead of being able to upload lots again which was a good 90% of my doing all this in the 1st place, or at least being able to create walls/floors for people which was fun, OR even being able to just play for my own enjoyment......I'm sitting here with a stack of games that I can't get loaded back in......and now I'm quite literally DEPRESSED!  Yeah that's right.....the sun is shining outside & it's even fairly warm......but about all I can do is TRY to not cry.  WHY OH WHY?!?!?!?  Why did I think uploading my stupid lots would be worth any of this?  Why didn't I just go on making lots for ME?  I WAS still having fun at least.  I am soooo UPSET at this point.....I'm not even sure how I'll feel about the game.  EVERYTHING IS LOST!!!  Nobody HERE made showers that had invisable backsplashes.....the ONLY place I knew of that HAD is now GONE.....& wouldn't ya know it......I HAD their "back-less showers".  I've lost MY Sims including some generation challenges where you have to see how many generations you can get 1 family through.....I had gone from Z to Y, X (that wasn't easy to come up with names for....but I had a baby naming book) W & had gotten them to the V names......UHG!

IF I could do it all over again.......I'd have just stopped @ the point that I still had the use of my Sims...... I thought maybe I could make a few people happy with being able to upload lots again.....now the ONLY 1 miserable is ME. :(  SOMEBODY PLEASE SHOOT ME!!!

Biting the bullet

OK so I'm 1 of those players who went ahead & got EVERY EP & SP that EA made for TS2.  For quite some time now Mr. Humble (he came with Free Time) instead of "skin" over his face it's WHITE with what looks like a binary code.....also the guy who checks Sims in at the front desk in hotels has the same binary code.....this really RUINS pics of MY Sims signing in ya know?  And Mr. Humble's face is just annoying the snot out of me.  Soooo since I've got THAT issue + somehow I accidentally deleted or over-wrote a MAXIS light....& then I accedentally deleted a MAXIS wall while in Home-Crafter.....WUPSIE.....but I may as well just do a COMPLETE uninstall/reinstall.  THIS is going to take......a WHILE.  To give you an idea of how long; when I got all my TS2 games in their cases on my lap the top of the stack was to my chin......and I even put the stack on the floor & put my foot next to it so I'd have a "standing refference" or at least as close as you're going to get from ME. ;) 

So I backed up ALL IMPORTANT folders; I've got some CC that is from sites that are no longer up & running A.K.A. gone forever except on mine & anyone else who still has this stuff, I've got some Sims that oddly enough.....I'm rather "attached to".

I so miss uploading lots.  I still build mind you.....but only for ME.  I uploaded my last lot & then shortly thereafter (so nobody needs to worry that anything will happen to THEIR game by downloading any of my lots) I must have deleted that MAXIS light OR I downloaded something that overwrote it.....so I did not continue to upload LOTS OR PETS so as to avoid doing anything to anyone's game......but I miss uploading lots.  And I miss the "challenge" of making MAXIS "look good".

Sooo here goes nothing.........

{If anyone else needs to do this.....remember to back-up your downloads, neighborhoods (this saves your Sims) & if you're partial to any lots or Sims you've created then you'll want to back up your "Packaged Lots" & "Packaged Sims" folders & put them somewhere ELSE that they won't be effected.  THEN when you've re-installed ALL your CD's you move your saved folders into the newly created EA folder & have them over-write & your game will be as it was before.)}

DASHBOARD oh how I miss thee!

Dashboard oh dashboard how I miss thee, how I wish TSR had kept thee on board! 

Your features can't all be so easily found any more....

Without you it makes findining recent comments on our submissions quite the chore.

And bookmarks....it was another way for us lower level artists to know that we SHOULD KEEP SUBMITTING our work more.

Amongst the things I miss most from before it is YOU oh beloved DASHBOARD that I ADORED!

Ode to the now missing (unless I've missed something) "dashboard".  It was a nice quick & easy way of finding/seeing if any new comments had been left on any pix/sumissions/stories/blogs which sometimes have been OLDER submissions (I've had pix, stories, lots, walls, & pets that all had NEW comments well after 1yr mark).  And as a non FA/SA aside from the #s of downloads we get over-all (which for TS2 is NOT what it used to be not even a year ago.) to let us know if people like what we've submitted, seeing that a new person had bookmarked me not only let me know that I was doing at least a 1/2 decent job on my quality & style of work. I love creating but it does take quite a bit longer to make things submitable vs. just play-able for MYSELF.....so that was one of those things that let me know......"OK so just MAYBE I SHOULD keep on submitting, since people do seem to like my work I'll go ahead & keep on packaging up my wals & making collages.".  I submit instead of just going in & decorating more of MY lots or moving on to the next project.....AND playing less & creating more.  As long as even a handful of people do continue to download my work I'll continue to submit.....but I DO miss that extra little incentive.

To TSR staff: this was not meant to make waves or irrotate, but as a "playful" way of pleading & groveling to get a few of the old features that were available from dashboard BACK. ;)

I TIHNK I've found

I have a few families that have a regular baby or 2 & then a green 1 cuz dear old dad spent 1 too many hrs on the telescope.  Soooo this means I have use for nurseries that are BOY, GIRL, UNISEX, oh yes AND ALIEN!  Found a nice strip that has star, moon, planet & I can't remember what the 4th thing was.....BUT the colors are blue, pink, yellow AND green.  The green is a bright yet TASTEFUL shade of green.....I don't like the neon green MAXIS came up with for Alien babies.  SO....I'm thinking as soon as I'm done with the SeashellMelody I'll get to work on this OTHER set.  BUT I'm not sure what to call it.  I'm not going to go as over-board on colors this time.....maybe just stick with 4 colors & a couple choices of each?  I also have a thing for "jack & jill" bathrooms where a single bathroom is connected to a boy's room AND a girl's room & I think that this next nursery wall set will be GREAT for this.  I create things that I think I'd like to see more of & hopefully others like them too.

Alien babies

I've been thinking that my alien babies are grossly overlooked when it comes to decor.  My alien babies/toddlers & kids all end up with the same walls over & over......sooooo......been looking for some "pro-alien" sets.  I don't know HOW to make recolors of THINGS.....just walls & the occasional floor.....so if anyone who DOES feels so inclined to make some cute alien theme pictures or something I would be downloading for sure, in the mean time I'll just see what I can come up with in the way of some wall/floor sets that have green like them or some cute space stuff. ;)

1/4 of a MILLION!

I would just like to say THANK YOU!!!  Thank you to all the people who have downloaded any of my lots, pets, or walls & floors!  A 1/4 of a million downloads deseres 250,000 thank-you's!  Thank you for downloading!  Thank you to those who left comments or hit the "<3 " = "thank the artist"!!!  Thanks to those of you who subscribe to TSR & have downloaded some of my work THANK YOU.....it's thanks YOU that I've earned any of the free subscription bonuses......which= enough kudos for 1 free 24hr subscription to TSR (when SUBSCRIBERS download an artist's work the artist earns incentive points....incentive points add up to more kudos). :D

I "play-test" EVERYTHING before submitting, & I ONLY submit those places, critters, or items that I had fun with & enjoyed in my own game.

I have just been making things that tickled MY fancy & uploaded in the hopes others would also enjoy them. 

I'm always up for any "wish lists" with the items that I am able to make of course.  I haven't figured out the recoloring thing....YET, but when I DO....LOOK OUT.....I've had recolor ideas ratteling around in my head for YEARS! :D  Trouble is I'm unfortunatly at times quite the slow learner. :(  All I can say about that is "TBI's (Traumatic Brain Injury) SUCK!".  It's thanks to Lisa (lisa9999) making a SPECIAL tutorial where she broke down the process of making walls into BABY steps (people have made great tutorials they just didn't CLICK for me) so that I COULD understand what to do.  But now that I've "got it" I've not only GOT IT, I LOVE WALLMAKING!  So I hope people continue to enjoy downloading. :)

When is a set TOO BIG?

I got carried away with myself on this "Seashell Melody set" & ended up making not just a set but a MEGA-SET & when I counted the files all out it came out to a grand total of 162 files.

160 walls & 2 floors

It started with ONE texture & A matching tile, from there came 2 sizes of said texture & 10 colors of paint, then in game I started thinking how nice it would be to have the tiles line up with the bathroom fixtures since this is how we would most likely tile our bathrooms in REAL LIFE, because I like to use the SFE cheat I NEED walls that are a flat (yet NICE) color to blend.......and before I knew it I had made a gazilion walls.  I have the files & have seen them IN MY GAME & I think these may be the best ones I have done yet.....they flow wonderfully & the wallpaper is absolutely seamless. I almost didn't get the paint wall with nothing but paint......HomeCrafter wasn't reading 2 of the 10 colors.....but I got it working so for each color will have 14 walls.

The GOOD news about this is that builders should be thrilled to have so many choices AND the pattern will be nice for ANY bathroom and/or bedroom; the tiles will line up nicely with any bathroom fixture, and since there are nicer walls included with wallpaper/wood paneling combo will make for nice bedroom.....and there are plain paints so anyone who likes using the CFE cheat will be able to use THIS set.

The BAD news: We are having a doozy of a storm & I'm already feel it & had to take some pain pills.......sooooo......the making of the collages is going to HAVE TO wait.......I'm just way too LOOPY from the stupid pain meds.  Between the rain & the meds I'm not sure that I CAN get them ready for uploading (cuz I have to make quite a few collages) by/during this weekend.  BUT since the ONLY thing left to do inorder to share/upload IS making the collages I WILL be able to get them share-able (ready to hand over to TSR) by the early part of the week on Monday or Tuesday (USA time).....SO LONG AS the rain has cleared (otherwise I'll still be in too much pain and/or drugged).

BIG hurdle

Talk about hitting a HUGE roadblock! 

I was making the walls for "Seashell Melody" & all was going quite well.....I had (just not the collage portion) made & packaged up ALL of the walls with MOSTLY wallpaper, ALL the wallpaper + tile, ALL of the walls using Coral paint including the tiles & wallpaper combos, ALL of the walls using Sand paint including the tiles & wallpaper combos.....just fine, then came the color Sea All but ONE wall went into HomeCrafter & packaged up AOK (ALL the paint/wallpaper combos, all the tile/paint combos, and all but ONE of the paint ONLY walls) so 13 of 14 Sea walls went OK. 

I've tried shutting down & restarting Home-Crafter, I've tried re-resizing + resaving the image used IN Home-Crafter (which by the way when I veiw the image through the folder.....it LOOKS just fine) but HOME-CRAFTER is showing it as a BLACK wall instead of MY pretty "Sea" blue wall. :(

I'm not exactly what one would call "a wall making newb" here so I'm not sure why this is happening.

NOW the question is; #1 just keep making the walls & exclude PAINT4 of each color?  #2 make all others & JUST the "Sea" will need to have a notation of "missing ONE wall" (doesn't seem like the BEST alternative to me)? #3 hold off til someone can help me figure out what's going on so that ALL of the walls can be published?

Seashell Melody

Seashell Melody: 132 coordinating walls & floors with a pretty seashell theme.

OK so I'm done with the 1st step of making these walls & floors.

This set has 10 colors; Coral, Sand, Sea, SeaSnailBrown, SeaStoneGray, ShallowBlue, Shell, Starfish, WetSand, WoodenHull (all colors are named after something SEA-ish). Several painted walls for accents, several with wallpaper/paint combo, & coordinating tile.

There are several tiles each named for the hieght of the tiles; ("SeashellMelody HB75 ShallowBlue TILEpotty", "SeashellMelody HB75 ShallowBlue TILEsink", "SeashellMelody HB75 ShallowBlue TILEtub", "SeashellMelody HB75 ShallowBlue TILEtrim", "SeashellMelody HB75 TILE FULL" .  2 floors; "SeashellMelody HB75 TILE floor1", "SeashellMelody HB75 TILE floor2" (same tile just in 2 different sizes).  For each wall that isn't FULL tile it will have 1 of 10 paint colors OR 1 of 2 wallpapers.

I have not decided how I'll be packaging up these 132 walls & floors......hard to show them ALL off in one pic/package.......but on the other hand people may rather ONE BIG SET rather than a bunch of smaller sets.....dunno yet.  Feed back while I'm still in the creating PROCESS?

Where I'm at........

I haven't "given up" making the (Quilts by Aunt Alonna SeasonsCollection HB75); I've gotten SPRING & SUMMER published, & still need to finish AUTUMN & WINTER.  I have however gotten a bit tired of writting over & over again "My Aunt Alonna makes the most beautiful quilts to give as gifts & to cheer people up.  Since I am NOT that good at sewing, I made some beautiful walls inspired by some of the quilts my Aunt Alonna has made & the $2 price tag should cheer your Sims up.  Happy SIM-ing from hiedibear75 (TSRAA).".....wow if ONLY copy & paste would work in HomeCrafter OR with packaging the wall files up it would make their creating a lot faster.  Although on 1 hand all that extra "bio" on the wall does take a lot of extra time.....BUT....on the other hand it gives it a more.....I dunno.....PERSONAL touch?

So since I figured it was high time a got some more tile walls made I started messing around looking for "the right texture".  Well I found a WONDERFUL tile blend to use + an fantastic seashell pattern.  So instead of "SIMPLE tile set" like I was thinking......oh no!  SUPER INTRICATE TILE SET!

Seashell Melody: Along with the full tile wall it will have a wide variety of tile/paint/wallpaper + even paneling!  the paint will come in choice of colors possibly 10 but I'll decide for SURE when I see each color used in a bathroom.

I have NEVER uploaded a lot, pet, or wall/floor without 1st playing with it in my own game!  If I can't stand to see it used in a room (too loud, color/pattern doesn't blend properly, etc.) than why bother to upload it?

While working on this Seashell Melody set I was just looking to see that the fully tiled wall looked AOK IN GAME aswell......so I'm decorating this bathroom & what do ya know....yet ANOTHER "light bulb" goes off (I'm starting to have mixed feelings about these light-bulbs) in my head...."It'd be nice to have the tile meet the top of the counters & the top of the toilet & the top of the tub......so now I've got a # of different tile/wallpaper-tile/paint walls. 

I know there are not nearly as many people downloading for TS2 as there USED TO BE.....but I'm still having fun creating for & playing with TS2, so I'm not so worried about "how many" download this set.....I just hope that maybe a few who do might be nice enough to leave a thanks or upload a screenshot of them IN use. 

OK enough rambeling for 1 evening......I need to go sleep of the latest dose of pain meds.  Hopefully waking up "bright eyed & bush tailed" to make WALLS! :D