hokadk47 - Tumblr blog

[hokadk47]

Reblogged so I can find it

[Guide] Using Magpie to upscale TS2/3: no more tiny UI!

After finally getting the older Sims games set up for modern resolutions, you may be shocked to find the UI is super tiny! The older games’ UIs are designed around lower resolutions, and don’t scale for high DPI like in TS4. If you try to use Windows DPI scaling to fix it, it can make the game blurry.

Luckily, there’s an easy solution! Magpie is an open-source window scaling app for programs and games, which lets you upscale from a lower resolution without losing too much quality. It comes with well renowned scalers, such as Lanczos and FSR. Upscaling from a lower resolution solves the small UI issue and can even improve performance.

Here’s how to use it:

Set the game to run in windowed mode. For Sims 2, you can do that through Sims2RPCSettings, or by adding “-w” to your shortcut target if you don’t have RPC. For Sims 3, you can use the in-game options.

Once running in windowed mode, set the game to run in a resolution lower than your native screen resolution, such as 1080p if you have a 1440p or 4k screen, or 720p if you have a 1080p screen.

Install and open Magpie. Once it's running, press Windows+Shift+A while clicked inside of the game window. If everything worked, it should upscale to borderless and fill the screen!

You can configure your scaling settings through the sidebar in the Magpie app if you want to try out the different filter options.

Download Magpie here: Github

[hokadk47]

New Start - New Beginning.

Good Day to all of you! Hope you're well.

This is my second attempt to move this blog to another place and I hope that this time it will be successful. The reason is that I don’t like the new Tumblr with all its “stuff-trouble-things.” My dashboard looks like a dump of things that are not interesting to me, and the reason is not that the blogs I follow are not interesting to me. The reason is precisely that Tumblr has become unusable. (it's actually piece of sh****t now)

Plus, I associate the platform itself more with stress (of which there is too much in my life) than with something good, so I decided to start a new blog from scratch. I will not move old posts or entries there, they will remain here.

Well, in any case, even if this attempt is unsuccessful, you can find me on discord. And links to download for new sets still be there.

Wish me luck and stay safe!

Link to new blog:

[hokadk47]

SkyBox/Horizons/Skylines Database for The Sims 2

I‘ve received many questions about where to find various SkyBoxes and Horizons as seen in my gameplay screenshots so I thought I’d put together a list of custom content links that you can easily go through to pick and choose what best suits your game. Although they are all beautiful, I’ve put a star next to my most frequently used boxes. 

Important: Please don’t forget to download SkyFix 2.1 by Simnopke AND Effects (FX) Default Replacement Cube by Lowedeus before downloading these into your game. Be sure to place skyboxes at the lowest part of any corner of map with the arrow pointing towards the corner. 

HOOD-BASED SKYLINES/HORIZONS

Six Terrain Matching Horizons by dramallamadingdang  ★

6 360 Degree Seasons-Ready Skylines by GreatCheeseCakePersona  ★

City & Rural Skylines by GreatCheeseCakePersona

Mountain Skyline by GreatCheeseCakePersona

Neighborhood Horizons by Criquette uploaded by WitheredWillies

HOOD-BASED SKYBOXES

Great Sky of Totalitarianism by Lowedeus  ★

Lowedeus Moving Clouds But Slower by plumbobbled 

The Great Sky Project Part. 1 by dramallamadingdang  ★

The Great Sky Project Part. 2 by dramallamadingdang  ★

GOS’s Spooky Dip by dramallamadingdang

Animated Wispy Clouds by dramallamadingdang

High Cirrus Clouds by dramallamadingdang

GCCP’s Green Mountain Skyline (Edited) by dramallamadingdang

Water & Sky by Psychosim

Water & Sky Recolours by nimi4

Water & Sky Recolours (Marlin Studio) by nimi4

SkyOmg by ja-viera  ★

SkyOmg Recolours by phinae 

SkyOmg Recolours by  Keoni-chan  ★

SkyOmg Recolours by poppet-sims  ★

SkyOmg Recolours by simmiscellany  ★

Off-world Set/Pack by GrilledCheese-Aspiration  ★

Space Skies: Cygnus X, Barred Spiral Galaxy, Omega Centauri by Psychosim

Space Skies: Two Starry Hubble Images by silviansims  

Space Skies, the familiar: Earth and Van Gogh by Psychosim

Space Skies: Nebula galore by Psychosim “Space Sky. Space Sky! SPACE SKY!“ by Psychosim

Rotating Skybox (lowedeus) fixed & reuploaded for Skyfix 2.1 by loonyjelly

Horizonless Skies by dramallamadingdang 

Skies Part 2 by poppet-sims

LOT-BASED SKYBOXES

Great Sky of Totalitarianism by Lowedeus  

Aurora Sky Recolors (GST recolour) by freezerbunny-sims

Skyboxes by Slig

Weather Atmosphere by Chris997

Colors In The Sky by DaniCast

Maelstrom Skies by just_jaspe

10 Skybox Recolors by kristyail

4 Recolors for The Sky Pt II by kristyail

19 Recolors for The Lot by kristyail

MISC (More to be added)

Invisible Sun, Moon and Star Defaults by Lowedeus

—————————————

If you know of any skyboxes other than what is listed, please send me a message or reply below so I can add it. I take zero credit for any of this custom content. Thank you to The Sims Community for supporting my work here on Tumblr and a BIG THANK YOU to the custom content creators for making this list possible. ***** If you are a creator and wish to have your link removed, please reply below or send me a message *****

[hokadk47]

2-Step Foundation DIY Starter Pack ~ 10 Larger Maxis-Matching Lot Sizes ~

Just like my original set, 2-Step Foundation DIY Starter Pack ~ 7 Lot Sizes To Build On, Already Grid-Adjusted, but for the larger Maxis sized lots.

Have you ever wanted to build your own house with a cute little 2-Step Foundation, but didn't want to use the Grid-Adjuster? Well... now you can! No CFE or Grid-Adjusting necessary.

This DIY Starter Pack includes the 10 larger Maxis-Matching lot sizes - for you to build-your-own house on. If you want the smaller lots, please click the link above to go get them.

These Lot sizes are: 2X4, 3X4, 4X4, 5X4, 3X5, 4X5, 5X5, 5X2, 5X3, 4X3

Read more »

DOWNLOAD @ SFS

Cross-posted to MTS.

All the lots are included in the one download, but each lot is a separate installable sims2pack file. Install them as you would normally install a downloaded lot. They will be found in your LotBin when you are ready to build.

Have fun building! 🦚

Thank you to @cityof2morrow for the 'completer' idea!

[hokadk47]

[hokadk47]

[hokadk47]

Playing around with natural colors......

[hokadk47]

,,so I can find it again

Functional Bar Table for The Sims 2

I am really proud of this one! 😊 I have created a small mod that allows counter-height tables in The Sims 2. You don't need tall dining chairs. Any bar stool will tuck under a bar table, and all animations will be correct!

The download includes:

Orbital High Dining - Surface > Tables - $285

Not Quite Orbital Sitting - Comfort > Misc - $100

Bar Stools at Bar Tables mod

LordCrumps’ shadow file, in case you don’t have it already

The mod is required for the bar table to be useable. The bar stool requires Nightlife.

Download: SFS | MediaFire

More pics and info including how to create your own under the cut!

No clipping when putting plates on the table.

Sims rest hands on the table when not eating.

The BHAV babble starts here, so you can stop reading if you're not interested!

Creating a Bar Table

To create the bar table, I edited the initialisation BHAV of a regular dining table. I added two lines: the first changes the table's category to 12 which is counter island. The second sets the counter type attribute to 3. Previous counter types only went up to 2, so this new number is used to identify a bar table.

The bar table is still a dining table for semi-global purposes, but the counter animations will be used when serving food.

I also edited the CRES to bring the slots higher, of course.

To create a 1x1 bar table, you can just clone my table. If you want to make a differently sized table, extract my 'Init - Bar Table' BHAV and import it to your new table in place of the existing Init BHAV, and adjust the slot height in the CRES.

Please feel free to use my bar table as a basis for your own creations, and to include the mod with any bar tables you make.

What the Mod Does

The mod makes changes to two semi-global BHAVs.

Chair - Check for Island: Added lines 15-17. If a bar stool is facing toward any side of a bar table (object in category 12 with counter type attribute 3), it will tuck under. This doesn't affect any other counter type. For example, bar stools will not tuck under the wrong side of an island.

Set to Next - Good Dining Chair: Added lines 8-11. If a bar stool is facing toward a bar table (table with counter type attribute 3), that stool will be considered a valid space to serve or eat food. Bar stools next to normal tables will not be served to, and dining chairs next to bar tables will not be served to either.

I've tested multiple times (Sarah and Colleen have eaten far too many sandwiches) but please let me know if you find any issues!

[hokadk47]

[hokadk47]

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[hokadk47]

Christmas decoration has begun...

[hokadk47]

It's my 9 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

[hokadk47]

Beautiful Sims4 goodies

Something new is coming

We're adding new items to our new HOLIDAY COLLECTION 😍. Check it out now here: www.simterieur.com

[hokadk47]

[hokadk47]

Preparing for Fall

[hokadk47]

How I got my Sims 2 game working on my new Windows 11 laptop, step by step.

OKAY. Gadies and Lentlemen.

I have seen plenty of these around, but I wanted to share my process!

So I bought an MSI creator laptop. The specs are as follows:

CPU: 13th gen Intel i7-13700H

RAM: 16 GB DDR5

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 laptop GPU

Step One: Fresh install. I used the EA App to install the UC version on my new laptop.

Step Two: Download and install RPC launcher. This will automatically apply the 4gb patch. Run as administrator, but not in any kind of compatibility which renders the 4gb patch useless.

Step Three: Download and install Graphics Rule Maker. I used all of the recommended settings, aside from texture memory which I set at 2048 mb for reasons that will become clear later.

Step Four: Memory allocation fix (empty standby list). Explanation here.

Step Five: Setting virtual memory. I used instructions from this post at MTS - My virtual memory paging file is now minimum of 25000 and maximum of 30000. You'll need to adjust to your system's own specs.

Step Six: In game settings. Shadows Off. Neighbours Off. Lighting Medium. RPC Settings. Apply 4GB patch. Automatically Clean Cache. Lot Imposters Optimized. Sim/Object Shadows Classic. I also have lot view ocean reflections ticked.

If your game works like this with no flashing and crashing, awesome. Mine did not. I firstly tried several different texture memory sizes, but they had 0 impact.

I believe the next step is only for NVIDIA cards, but may be wrong.

Step Seven: DXVK. The most recent version from, here. There are plenty of instructions on how to install out there. But make sure you install the 32bit version. I have these two following lines in my DXVK.conf file (and do make sure it is saved as a conf file, NOT a txt or similar).

d3d9.maxAvailableMemory=2048

d3d9.presentInterval=0

The first line corresponds to the texture memory mentioned earlier. DXVK installs won't recognise more than that and having it higher can cause crashes apparently. The second line... No idea what it does but it was mentioned in several guides and reddit posts.

I don't know if the newer versions of DXVK allow fullscreen mode as the older ones did not, but I play in borderless mode anyway which works.

I also delete my thumbnails folder every so often.

I hope this helps someone, this silly old game can be cantankerous but I was determined to get it running again!

[hokadk47]

Hi how are you doing ? Please do you think you can let us download your modern lot it's soooo beautiful i'd love to install it in my sims GamePlay.. i downloaded your sets but i style it badly but with your lot it looks amazing 🙏🏼💜

Hi there. I am sorry, but I don’t have it anymore. I have already restyled it with some other stuff. Normally I use the same lots over and over again.