#Mind Mapper

[felidae-sims]

Resources for Creating: My Go-To things.

Update: I’ll be updating the list on this page from now on, since Tumblr can’t handle so many hyper-links in one post, on Dreamwidth - right here, so I won't have to update it multiple times. Please note: I keep updating this list, and updates aren't showing up on reblogs. Please check the original post for the most up to date list.

Sooo this is going to be a long comprehensive list. I got back to this game after a long time and with a different computer, with a dedicated graphics card, hurray! It made me want to return to making things, so while gathering back all the necessary stuff, I've complied this list. It might be is updated as I go along, but these are the main things I use. Maby one day i'll even finish something. So here are my go-to resources & tutorials; I'm posting it here for safekeeping, and hopefully others will find it helpful. Everything that's listed is here free. So many wonderful things for free under the cut.

Programs – General:

Creating: Blender. Blender Addons: 3D Print Toolbox – comes with blender, enable it from within the program. Originally for 3d printing. Good for fixing flipped normals, and some quick general repairs. Source Tools And source tools wiki – for exporting as SMD!!!! (SimPe: to enable bump maps for the mesh on import). GMDC Addon for Blender 4.0+ by Nopke.

GIMP. GIMP Addons: G'MIC-Qt. Resynthesizer. Nvidia dds?. Doesn’t it come with Gimp?

Other: Nvidia Texture Tools Exporter (iirc it works with all graphic cards that are compatible, doesn’t require Nvidia). For making Normal / Bump / Cube Maps. For high quality compression.

NormalMaps - Online, For making all types of maps, has good setting menus. A very cool tool.

Converting: Umodel, for Unreal Engine (Static meshes: export as gtlf.2. Animated meshes: export as psk. Requires Add-on). AssetStudio, for Unity. AC Viewer, self implied (+ USD Addon for blender). QuickBMS* and support forum, for basically everything else. (don't forget the required scrips, down the same page). *I haven’t tested it fully yet, but it was recommended here. A tutorial for it is listed further down. Works like a charm.

UV Mapping: UV Mapper, Classic (free) and the most recent Demo (for visualization).

Programs – Sims:

Never Mind the Bollox, Here's Osab and MAGIkarp to the rescue!

Latest version of SimPe, works with a non-default installation path. Chris Hatch's updates.

Home Crafter installation, Post by Huge Lunatic at Sims2Artists.

Repository Wizard, by Pick'N'Mix Mods. A game changer.

DBPF Compare, by Pick'N'Mix Mods.

Object Relocator, also by Pick'N'Mix Mods.

SMD Tools, by Lazy Duchess.

The Compressorizer, by JFade – Lazy Duchess's edit.

Bulk Rename Utility, to change file names in well, bulk. As explained by io here.

Lot Adjustor, by Mootilda at MTS.

Tutorials:

Override the game's graphic settings via Nvidia, as explained by iCad. The settings to Nvidia Profile Inspector she linked to at MTS have been deleted for some reason, here they are via WebArchive.

Meshing in Blender:

Mesh Optimization Info (and links), by Crisps&Kerosene.

Additional - Reducing Polycount:

Tutorial, by Flaming-Chickens (another username on other sites perhaps?)

Edge – Un-subdivide, a quick one by CG Link.

Transfer high poly details to low poly object in Blender, by 3Dnot2D.

Shrinkwrap Modifier - Blender Tutorial for Beginners - Basics, by in2vert.

Placeholder for this Addon that I want to try but haven't found, something for AR that was on facebook's defunct AR.

Scaling tips, by Blender Secrets.

How to fix inverted/ flipped normals, by ipaintsmallthings.

Converting: How to Extract 3D Models, Textures, Music from Unreal Engine Games, by iwanMods.

Extract 2D/3D/SFX Unity Assets fast & easy from your Unity Game, by iwanMods as well.

How to use QuickBMS, by darkhorse.

Guide to Converting 3t2 and 4t2 Part 01 and Part 02, by Chiaroscuro/tenlittlepandas.

Converting TS4 Windows and Doors, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Using Different Material Maps as Shading/Details for Base Texture, in Gimp or Blender, by Pineapple Forest & Crisps&Kerosene: https://www.tumblr.com/crispsandkerosene/764893644571525120/great-info-thats-the-reason-some-conversions?source=share

Texture Editing in GIMP:

Using Gimp Add-ons: G'MicQT. Resynthesizer. Both by Davies Media Design. This guy's channel for Gimp in general – here's a good one to begin with. And another one about layer masks.

Making a texture Tile Seamless: 1. My favorite - How to Make Seamless Textures for Cinema 4D - 3 Levels of Photoshop Wizardry using iPhone Photos, by School of Motion.

2. Simple Trick for More Realistic Texture Patterns in GIMP, by Davies Media Design – Quick and simple, using the Resynthesizer plugin. Good for patterns.

Making walls in SimPe out of a square texture, with minimal quality loss. To be written.

SimPe: Cloneable Objects: A List of Good Objects for Cloning, by IgnorantBliss at MTS.

Huge Lunatic's Tutorials, Her website.

Object Creation for Absolute Beginners, by Moune.

Sims 2 start to finish Object Creation Tutorial, by JWoods, Numenor, Lethe_s & IgnorantBliss.

The Material Definition (TXMT) Guide, by PixelHate – very comprehensive. Part 5 is about Bump/ Normal maps.

Null (Texture-less) Groups, by Skell. For bodyshop, for Objects see an elaboration by Midge the Tree below.

Crisps&Kerosene discovered how to add specular maps to objects! It's incredible there are still new things to discover in this ancient game.

More on Specular Maps, by Pineapple Forest.

Making new flooring & walls with SimPE, by Charisa. Includes adding Bump/Normal maps. She added a file to clone from in the comments below. It works for normal maps as well. Here's cool discovery in the game files.

Expanding footprint: a mini tutorial, by Deedee.

How to add correct drop shadows to objects, by Yuxi, via Wayback Machine.

Making Objects Viewable in Neighborhood View, by iCad.

Making Objects Visible In Build/Buy Mode, Invisible In Live Mode, by Midge the Tree.

Making Seasons-Friendly Trees, by Echo.

Io/ Serabiet's resources list, mainly for Bodyshop but not just.

Pineapple Forest's Tutorials, useful tips for efficiency and optimization.

MTS modding forum in General.

The Sims 2 Tutorials, on Tumblr. A database, is more updated.

Sims2Artists tutorials section.

LeeFish modding forum.

Garden of Shadows, Tree of Knowledge section.

Troubleshooting: What to do if you get a System.OutOfMemoryException Error, SimPe Forum, via WayBack Machine. Thank you @fanseelamb for the find.

How to read object error logs: I just want to know what causes it!!, by Episims.

Common TS2 errors, by Midge the Tree.

General game fuckery: How to Stop Sims 2 Crashing (Memory Allocation Fix and 4GB Patch Repair), by Jessa.

Graphics card problems, LeeFish forum.

Graphics help - DIY, by Kiri. How to fix faulty Texture Memory allocation, and the problems that stem from it. Tumblr can't handle anymore hyper links so here it is: https://celebkiriedhel.tumblr.com/post/189431721483/graphics-help-diy

General: Switching between save folders without renaming them, by Nopke.

Resources:

3D Models Online*: Various furniture designers' websites: Porada, Zanotta, Muuto, Hay, Poltrona Frau, many luxury furniture designer basically.

3D Warehouse, belongs to Sketchfab (get the Collada files).

Scan the World.

Wikimedia Commons. And more.

*(NOT OPTIMIZED).

Textures: Architextures.

Fabrics & Wallpapers: Natural Stones: Wall Plasters:

iCad's Woods. Shastakiss's Cluedo Metals, Yeti Metals, Pirate Woods. Goat's Woods.

Textures from other games: Dishonored, Thieve and much more, by Saricoya at GoS. Dreamfell by io.

Resource sharing threads at Garden of Shadows.

SimPe - General: CEP Extras list, HugeLunatic at Sims2Artists.

TXMT settings for different materials, by Hafiseazale.

Extended SimStandardMaterial Shader for the Sims 2 + Optionally Brighter Sims, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Custom CubeMaps, by Crisps&Kerosene.

Shiny TXMT Settings & Cube Maps Packs, by Pineapple Forest.

Build/ Buy: Templates for Recoloring Maxis items; MTS Templates sction, Hafiseazale (+cc), ZeroDark.

Template for Seasonal Trees, Gwenke at Sims2Artists.

Making Roof Recolors, Tutorial & template by Numenor, great template by iCad.

Pack for making food clutter usable, by DeeDee.

CAS: Default Makeup Packages - BYO Packages, by Huge Lunatic.

Body shape, Io/Serabiet on Tumblr.

Skin template, Io/Serabiet on Tumblr.

Hair texture, iCad.

Color Actions, Pooklet on Tumblr.

That's it for now.

Edit: forgot about CEP extras. Added more links. Edit 02: Added Troubleshooting section under tutorials.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

As housing affordability and skyrocketing rent prices remain top of mind for many renters, a map reveals that there are millions of empty bedrooms throughout Ontario — a figure some say is high enough to relieve the province's housing crisis.  According to the Canadian Census Mapper, the number of empty bedrooms throughout Ontario has only increased over the past several years, with the current number sitting at roughly five million.  The map, which uses 2021 census data, assumes an idealized view that couples share a bedroom and single folks sleep in separate rooms. It was created as a complement to the map of overcrowded dwellings to help identify underused housing throughout the province.  Based on the map of overcrowded dwellings, it's clear that there are households with more than one person per bedroom, not counting couples. [...]

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @newsfromstolenland, @vague-humanoid

[patricia-taxxon]

idk if ur still playing celeste but I think u do make some rlly good points abt sj.

First off I absolutely agree abt the maps in general being less memorable, but I would say that sj in general is more polished (sometimes to the point of it being sanded down into nothing), and generally doesnt have bad levels like sc had bad levels.

That being said, I found that the gm lobby in general is phenomenal, as it's the place in which mappers did not have to water down their creativity. Do u intend on playing red/cracked maps? I find a lot of them have rlly cool ideas that are executed well.

I do find it rlly annoying that sj has become *the* celeste mod ppl rec when it rlly is just a good mod with a big scope. There's also half a million nitpicks w sj's design but I will not get into them as asks have a character limit :'3

Also I am rlly sorry abt clord we are generally rlly nice ppl but trans woman on the internet moment.

Yeah, I could tell that it was getting a lot better at high expert & gm. I have a sneaky theory that difficulty at that level is kind of a design blunder no matter what, so you're forced to lean into it and make it interesting on purpose. going through the expert lobby in ascending difficulty was like watching a flower bloom, every green expert map just instantly left my mind as soon as I completed it but many of the reds were super weird or at least memorably jank & i found two of my favorite maps of the bunch in that range, fortress fall and summit down-side. upward trend seemed to be continuing for gm, i loved loved loved flipside cliffside.

everyone wanted me to play shattersong but i left such a bad impression on that community that its mapper said she'd disregard anything good i said about it, like i dunno how to engage with this space in a way that doesn't make me feel like shit. some of that old desire to grind is starting to come back though, who knows.

[urmommysfavkisserrr]

Act One Intro.

Characters and locations that will be important to remember throughout this part of series. I know it all looks confusing right now, I'm still working out some kinks, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

People:

Soraya Draythorne

- The girl who shouldn't exist. Dream Weaver. Necromancer. Twenty-Four.

Paige Bueckers

- The one in the wrong place at the right time. Unknown. Twenty-Three.

Nika Muhl

-The girl stuck in her own mind. Banshee. Ex-Pro Basketball player. Twenty-Four.

Lira Azer

- The brains. Symbology expert/Celestial Mapper. Phoenix. Twenty.

Eldrin Azer

- The boy who was good. Rune Carver. Phoenix. Twenty-Two.

Darius Grimholt

- The one born wrong. Forbidden Map Keeper. Werewolf. Twenty-Two.

Ruin

- The beast reborn. Nightflame Guardian. Panther. Too old.

°•°•☆°•°•°•☆•°•°•°☆•°•°

Places:

Ironvale

- Ironvale stands still in time, lost and trapped in centuries of battles between monsters and magic. Shadows, mist, and death haunts the town like it was always meant to be there. The town is home to Ironvale Academy, the longest-running academy for all species alike.

Brasshaven

- Brasshaven is a vast city, where golden plains meet a massive, cascading waterfall that feeds into underground rivers. Known as the "City of Echoes," its people live in harmony with the land, using its natural waterways and secret caverns to thrive. Ancient carvings cover the canyon walls, telling the stories of a forgotten civilization that once ruled here.

Ashmoor

- Once a great city, but now in ruins after a devastating war. Rebels and outcasts make their home in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Pyroclade

- Rising from the ashen cliffs, Pyroclade is a city of blackened steel and crimson banners, a stronghold carved into the bones of a fallen empire. The streets are slick with blood, the echoes of battle never truly fading. Every building is reinforced, every alley a place where knives linger. The towering spires of Pyroclade cut into the sky like jagged fangs, casting shadows that devour the light.

[thebluewizardlives]

The Well

Summary: Morinë meets a new friend and Elrond an old one.

Chapter 05: Study

Ch: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08

It was a quiet, dewy morning; more mist than air filling his lungs as he crossed the familiar knoll. The light of the rising sun pleasantly diffused, casting a soft glow on everything not obscured by the thick fog in the distance. Though his countenance remained neutral, his pace held purpose, sage cloak flowing behind him as he strode. Running an unexpectedly nervous hand through his hair, Elrond sighed. Arriving at the gate, he stopped under the small stone archway holding his hands rather firmly behind his back, expectantly peering into the fog beyond the threshold. Though he could keenly feel the time passing, it was not long before a familiar silhouette began to emerge in the distance.

 Morinë trekked the scenic path through the forest to the gate; one she had become familiar with the past few weeks since meeting with Elrond, better acquainting herself with the Elves and their kingdom. She already met quite a few in her summation, but he assured that who she would meet today was of particular interest to her research. Admittedly, there was a cautious excitement as to who it could be, but Morinë didn’t bother to hazard a guess. Her mind was elsewhere, wrapping her hands firmly around a still-warm mug, attempting to ground herself. While reviewing some notes that morning, she found herself running a thumb across the image of a tree she rendered; the canopy of leaves almost as clear in her mind as the lines of Elrond’s profile gazing up at it. Taking longer strides, she hoped her haste and bustle would spare the hem of her freshly laundered robes from mud, both eager and anxious to reach her destination. A figure came into focus, raising a hand to wave at her as she approached.

“Good morning, Morinë,” He spoke easily with a slight bow, a pleasant smile upon his face.

“Good morning to you as well, Elrond,” she replied mirroring his gesture, catching his gaze with hers.

A beat of silence passed between them, Morinë now grateful to have her hands occupied, mindlessly sipping her tea, breaking the rather pointed eye contact. Elrond’s brow furrowed slightly as he registered the mug for the first time. Though larger than a teacup, it seemed too small to maintain the amount of heat wafting off it, his gaze ignoring the way her lips met the rim of the vessel. It was a deep blue, the fluted ridges around it uniform, dusted in an almost copper color with a proportionate handle. He wondered who had made it.

“Shall we?” Elrond offered, turning so she could pass through the gate.

“Let’s.” Morinë answered a touch quicker than she would have preferred but brushed past the feeling and him as she entered. They walked alongside each other for a time before reaching the grand collection of interconnected, ornate buildings she had come to know as the palace. Traversing the winding hallways, their footsteps the only sound, he interrupted the silence.

“Morinë,”

“Yes?”

“About whom you are to meet today…would you mind if I provided some context beforehand?”

“Why do you ask as though it would be foolish to say no?”

A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth for a moment as he glanced at her from the corner of his eye, “His name is Gelindhil, the Atlas Master; one of the most skilled mappers in the whole of Middle Earth. As he is responsible for surveying the land and its inhabitants, I believe you both will have a significant overlap in your research. Collaborating with him may be of great help you in gathering the necessary information to bolster your findings, whatever they may be.”

“…That sounds perfect, though I cannot help but feel as though there is more you wish to add,” she commented, sipping from her cup as she waited for him to continue.

“Your wariness is nearly unmatched.”

“I prefer intuition, astuteness—but that is beside the point. What else would you like to tell me about this Gelindhil?”

She could see him mulling over his next words and wondered how much time he spent in a day to picking the correct ones. “Though his skill is without question, he has been known to have a rather playful nature.”

“Playful? I must beg you to elaborate.”

“It is not in an untoward or negative way, rather he is more, shall we say, eccentric; I simply do not wish for you to be offput by his manner. Gelindhil is kind at heart but can be rather unabashed in his speech.”

“Ah, so he speaks a bit more freely than you?”

“Than most.”

“That is quite alright.” She assured, a small smile on her face, “I enjoy plain speech; you needn’t be concerned.”

Whatever comment Elrond had in response, he kept to himself, simply nodding as they continued their walk. Morinë sipped from her still-steaming mug, the movement catching his eye.

“There is one more thing I must ask of you,” He began, slowing to a near-stop. Peering up at him, her subsequent breaths became shallower, noticing how narrow the hallway was beginning to feel. “How on Middle Earth is your cup still that warm?”

Morinë was confused for a moment before remembering which mug she had been drinking from, letting out a small chuckle, “Oh, this—it was a gift from Coirëamár. It is made from her, so it retains heat as though it were still being warmed in her very hearth.” She explained as he listened with fascination,” Today I have a Niphredil tea. It helps in relaxing the mind.”

“Of course, the fragrance is as lovely as ever.” His tone was wistful, remembering how the flowers bloomed in his ancestor’s gardens long ago.

“That is half the reason why I grow them.” She smirked and Elrond found he quite enjoyed seeing it, now distracted by the fullness of her lips, “Would you care to have some?” she offered innocently, catching him off guard.

“I—I couldn’t,” he managed to get out, his eyes widening like a caught deer while collecting the rest of his response. “I would not want to impose or be improper.”

In moments Morinë realized her bumble. Though her work had been solitary, in her travels she had spent much time with the people of Middle Earth, but decorum between nobility had often escaped her concern. To drink after another among friends was a sign of camaraderie, though judging by his reaction, it meant something quite different to the High Elves of Lindon. Now fairly embarrassed, she quickly responded, “Oh yes, of course— my apologies, I did not mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“There is no need to apologize, I—,” Elrond replied, chastising himself as he searched in vain for the correct words. Usually quick-witted, he was unsure of what he wished to say. He did, however, know he wished to become closer, and her response sounded like distance. “It is quite alright,” he finished lamely, turning away to roll his eyes at himself.

“I see,” she simply said, holding the mug closer to her middle with both hands as though it would shield her from the awkwardness now brewing between them.

They continued their walk for a short time in silence, arriving at a door a measure larger than the others. Stepping forward to knock at the entrance, Elrond stopped to face her; the words caught in his throat clear on his face. Before he was able to speak, a voice came from behind the door.

“Please, come in. I have awaited your arrival all morning.”

Glancing between her and the door for a moment, he reluctantly turned to open it, entering the room with Morinë a respectable distance behind him. She noted the space was much larger than one would assume from the outside. Decorated but orderly, the only wall not lined with tomes and scrolls stood awash with sunlight from the towering windows. Illuminated by the morning rays stood an elf she presumed to be Gelindhil, leaning over a grand draft table, leafing through a collection of maps. He was taller, his long, white hair pin-straight and neat. The handsome features of his face were framed by dark brows and lashes, providing an intriguing contrast. Standing upright, he smoothed the embroidered fabric of his gray overcoat, beckoning them in.

“Elrond, welcome!” he greeted warmly. His smile was wide as Elrond stepped forward into the room to shake his hand.” So lovely to see yo—oh my, and who are you?”

Morinë had stepped from behind Elrond just past the threshold of the room though she now felt at its center. “Greetings, Sir Gelindhil, I am Morinë.”

Gelindhil smoothly moved past Elrond and towards her, releasing his friend’s hand without a second thought to grasp hers. “A fitting name for a such a vision. You are the Earth Smith, I presume?” he flattered and by the slight roll of Elrond’s eyes she knew this was the beginning of the eccentricity he was referring to.

“That is what some call me, but my friends call me Morinë.”

“Then Morinë it is,” he purred, lightly kissing her hand, ushering her further into his study. “I must confess milady, in none of the tales of your artistry had I heard mention of your own fairness. They were remiss indeed not to speak of it.”

“Oh, thank you. Though I must say I’m rather glad the work speaks for itself. I should like to think one wouldn’t be inclined to share Elven knowledge simply because one was fair.” She replied lightly, sipping her tea.

A flash of surprise followed by a wry smile spread across Gelindhil’s face “Oh, I like her.” He said turning to Elrond who felt himself an unwitting, but obstinate audience to their banter in this moment. Shifting his gaze back to Morinë, he continued,” Let us cut to the meat of it then, milady. How would you like to review the records from my latest expedition to the East?”

“I would like that very much,” she replied, returning his smile sincerely, placing her satchel on one of the chairs to retrieve her journal and quill from it.

“I also have some records dating back to the First Age that may be of interest to you. Middle Earth has had many faces through the ages, very little of it remaining wholly untouched,” he explained, searching one of the scroll-lined walls. Standing next to her, Gelindhil spread another map across the table, expounding upon its contents for a time before remembering Elrond was there. “Alas, I seemed to have gotten carried away again. I am sure you have much to attend to so I will take no offense if you must leave us, Elrond. Morinë and I may very well take hours.” He commented.

“No, thank you,” he began with a measured smile,” Remaining close to this work is my present priority; High King’s wishes.” He had made himself comfortable at a desk across from the draft table, already dipping his quill in the inkwell to write as he began his own tasks.

“Ah, as he wishes then.”

As it would turn out, Gelindhil’s estimation was accurate, with him and Morinë spending the better part of three hours pouring over the various records and research he had collected during his time as Atlas Master. While Elrond was grateful for the time to focus, it felt as though it had been given in vain, his thoughts and eyes beginning to wander. Small brass placards lined the walls beneath each of the scrolls, save for a dozen or so in a row. His expression fell slightly, a far but knowing look in his eyes. The sigh that followed was quiet though it came from deep in his core. Those scrolls did not need placards, as no Elf could forget the time they recorded, Elrond especially. During that time, two kinslayings came to pass, he and his brother finding themselves in the care of the very Elves responsible. They travelled long and far, both captives and wards until the lot of them could no longer distinguish the two. He mindlessly rubbed his hands where long-healed scars used to live; it felt both ages and moments ago.

Morinë’s chuckle shook him from his reverie, noticing how her hand no longer shot to her side as she laughed. Instead, a fissure righted by golden thread adorning her waist drew his focus, her breaths causing it to catch the light as she stood across the room. Matching perfectly with the other embellishments of her cobalt robe, he couldn’t help but wonder which were embellishments and which ledgers of injury; such was part of her charm. Resilience seemed to come easily, the smile on her face earnest and unguarded as though she had not cheated death a month earlier.

Morinë was listening intently to another of Gelindhil’s tales, when she felt eyes on her. Glancing over she saw Elrond sitting with a hand to his face, in a posture of deep thought. While he was looking at her, it did not seem he noticed the perception had become mutual. Following his line of sight, she saw the tear that had been repaired on her robe after their encounter with the spiders. Though puzzled for a moment, he seemed to return from wherever his mind had taken him, meeting her gaze. Giving him a quizzical look, she raised a brow. Flashing a reassuring smile before returning to his work, Head in the clouds again, she supposed, brushing it off. Returning the gesture, she peered at him once more, relieved that their earlier gaffe seemed forgotten. On the other hand, Gelindhil believed he would not soon forget what he learned that day as he observed them.

Tags: @valar-did-me-wrong, @orehuna

[thydungeongal]

Greetings. I'm gonna be running my first ever dungeon crawl for some friends near the beginning of next year using the OSE basic rules, and I was wondering if you had any tips/resources for people starting out with running those types of games!

So, this is actually something I have seriously neglected while running my own games because I have usually had rather small groups of two to four players, but I think utilizing party roles can make the experience of running an old-school dungeon crawling type of game so much easier on you as a GM! I don't think there is a canonical list of player roles, but Caller and Mapper are common ones. The Caller is the one who relays party objectives to the DM, the Mapper is the one who maintains the party's maps. There are more roles that can be divided out to the players, and while this PDF is written with 5e players in mind it is universally applicable:

Necrotic Gnome has a time-tracking sheet on their website, which makes keeping track of time in a dungeon very easy! Simply mark a check for each turn of exploration and the tracker will tell you when to call for wandering monster checks, when torches need to be relit, when the characters must rest, etc.

But yeah, I think you should ask your players to volunteer to take over some of the above duties to help you out! It'll make the experience of running the game much more fun for you :) I hope you have a great time with it!

[maximumzombiecreator]

I have a question about mapping the dungeon - all the games I've been a part of that weren't theatre of the mind had the GM prepare and draw the maps, both for encounters and dungeon exploration, typically on a whiteboard or dry erase mat. What are the pros and cons on having players map out the dungeon instead? How is this handled for OSR dungeon crawling typically? I can foresee miscommunication and distraction leading to incorrect maps - how much should the GM intervene in these cases? Does player mapping slow down the game?

Typically, OSR games will have someone assigned to be the mapper, both literally, in terms of drawing the players' copy of the map and within the fiction, having their character (or a hireling) doing the mapping. In most systems, the rate of movement through the dungeon includes mapping as part of what the party is doing (hence why if you look at the actual pace of movement it's really slow.) This means that in situations like fleeing from enemies, the characters are not able to map and the GM won't give them things like measurements, just a vague sense of what they see. Similarly, it's often something that a character does while exploring a room. Someone will investigate the interesting thing, someone will keep watch, someone will be mapping the room.

Now, if you're running on a grid, then I think it's pretty much essential for the GM to draw the maps when they're needed for combat. There's no sense adding a game of telephone into the mix every time you're setting up for a fight. In this case, I think you can either just accept that the party gets some free detail when they get into a fight, or you can go all the way and just have the GM provide the map that the characters draw.

For the most part, the decision whether to do manual mapping depends on if it's a type of gameplay that you care about. Because it is gameplay. Classic D&D dungeon maps often contained elements designed to confuse and frustrate mappers. Dwarves have the ability to detect slopes in passageways specifically because dungeons would contain features like that so that the party could switch levels without knowing that they had. In that sense, incorrect maps are a desirable outcome.

Typically, a GM will only want to intervene if something has gone unfairly wrong. If the map of a room or section is so wildly incorrect that the in-world character couldn't reasonably have arrived at it, it needs to be corrected. But for small mistakes (or just tricky dungeon design) your mapper could potentially end up sitting, staring at their map, trying to puzzle out what's gone wrong so that they can find their way back to the surface. Certified map sicko (affectionate) Dyson Logos has even made Mapper's Challenge dungeons that really put this skillset to the test.

And this can lead to some really great moments! Good mapping can be a way for the party to find secret doors and rooms, with their mapping leaving conspicuous gaps for them to look into. Likewise I've had players figure out based on their mapping that a wall was thin, and opt to mine through it in order to circumvent a difficult fight. In classic dungeons, partial maps were also often part of loot. This might include treasure maps, as well. A fragmentary map that shows a secret treasure will have the mapper scrambling to figure out how it fits into the map they have so far.

It does slow down the game, but all gameplay slows down the game, right? That said, I think it's a form of gameplay that works best if there are players who are going to engage with it enthusiastically. If the party is going to be in the position of forcing someone to be the mapper, it may be better just to work collaboratively with the players to keep an accurate map of what they should have been able to map so far. But if the players are into that gritty kind of playstyle, where the characters might be sitting in a dank hole, looking at their scribbles, trying to figure out how to make their way home? It's great, it's honestly fantastic.

[carionto]

So uhh... we found something really, REALLY strange

As the tectonic activity continues to shift ever more chaotically across the globe, randomly elevating or crumbling parts of mountains, opening up fissures and expanding fault lines, not to mention all the volcanic eruptions, to say it is important to monitor the inner workings of Earth would be a criminal understatement.

On the remains of what used to be Hawaii, now a singular landmass, lies a monitoring station closest to the epicenter of the Fusion Detonation Event, some 400km away. Seismographer and tectonics expert Joannie du'Preeste was finalizing this months deep level mapping of the area of detonation and directly below to give the algorithm-driven disaster prediction model at least an above 50% accuracy rate for this month.

Typical readings, increase in magma outflow, collapses of internal caverns, formation of new ones, and irregular shifts from the various efforts to stymie and direct the disastrous plate movements. Now that Humanity and Earth were properly back in dimensional space instead of in-between, some additional hectic activity in the form of directional nuclear detonation had been performed for the upcoming plan of "plug the hole with a large piece of another planet or moon".

They've selected Sycorax by the way, just waiting for it to get further away from Uranus in its irregular orbit, hook it up to several Dreadnoughts and haul it over to Earth and gently plop it in the hole. It is about the right size and nobody will miss it if it doesn't work.

Anyway, as she pondered the likely inevitable yet another calamitous event we'll be willingly conducting, the mapper finished its work.

At first, more of the same chaos as usual, but something at the back of her mind said to glance closer at the density readings from the deepest level measurements. With not much else to do today before the work day ends, she highlighted the appropriate levels, and as she started to remove clutter data, a shape began to emerge.

A tendril.

While scans and maps often show things that our minds interpret as something already familiar to us, once you look at each individual part, you see that it is just a coincidence. The brain wants to see what it knows to make sense of the unknown, life would be too complicated and overstimulating otherwise.

No mistake, however. As she removed more of the clutter and focused in on the object, there was no mistaking its resemblance to a biological structure. Hints of veins, pores, hairs, scales, needles, eyes... seemingly everything you could find on the surface layer of a creature was there, or parts of it anyway. Composition-wise it was more of the same silicates and such compounds found within the mantle. But... denser, more concentrated, almost deliberately shaped.

She quickly loaded up older data and after a bit of filtering and comparing, sure enough, the same tendril-like structure is there, just a little closer to the regular density levels of the surrounding. Even years old data provided similar results, though you could only find the shape if you already knew it was there.

Loading up the oldest records she had access to from around 300 years ago revealed the same, just even less distinguishable from the surrounding materials.

The scans don't go deep enough to show what the tendril leads to, if anything, but what is it? How did it get there? Why is something clearly biological in structure within the mantle layer? And if it does continue, how far? Does the core of the planet itself house some impossible creature? If so... what does that mean? For Earth? For Humanity? For the Universe? This is way above Joannie's pay grade and expertise, way past her regular waking hours as well at this point, and way too big to know how or if to reveal any information to the public. Some higher ups can have a headache instead.

Maybe the Coalition aliens know something similar.

Maybe this is all a big load of nothing and she just imagined it all.

Yeah.

That'd be nice.

Wouldn't it be nice if Cthulu wasn't potentially real?

[goatskickin]

hi, i've been learning how to make hair retextures and clothing recolors and your tutorials and tips have been super helpful! i was wondering if you could explain how you retexture clay hair? i'd want to add more realistic looking textures to some clay afro hairstyles but i don't know how to do it and i haven't find a tutorial for it

Hi anon, that's great! Making CC is really fun. 😊 I think so, anyway. So, I do have a tutorial about how to retexture clay hair, but instead of just providing you with that link, let's talk a little bit more about what you're interested in: adding more realistic looking textures to clay afro hairstyles. You're in luck - that's a thing I like to do sometimes too! Clay hairs often lend their shape very well to locs, braids, puffs, knots etc.

So this hair, @miniculesim's 4t2 conversion of okuree's Clementine. I have done before but didn't change the texture at the time. But I could! Let's try it.

This is the mesh and texture we will be working with.

Sometimes I like to view a mesh in UV Mapper so I can get way up in the mesh. Like way up in there.

I'd like to use my fave TS4 texture on this mesh.

This is the original texture for Clementine.

Where I have circled in red is where I am going to paste one long rectangle section of the TS4 Dread texture I prefer.

See? That's not so bad.

One big difference between retexturing alpha hairs and retexturing clay hairs is how the texture looks when the hair5 connects to the head.

See these starred red areas? We will come back to this. Because I don't like how that looks, and I can do better.

So, this is Clementine, with all of the locs texture that I'd like to have on it. It has the original scalp texture, however. It is okay, but not the vision I had in mind.

What I am going to do is put my afro texture underneath the locs.

I use Photoshop which allows me to have many many layers in an image.

My layers would be like:

1)Locs 2) Afro texture 3) the original texture.

It looks a little better. Not quite done yet, though.

When it comes to clay hair, I'm always on the side of 'if you can't beat em, join em!'.

Clay hair meshes have their textures painted to match their UV maps exactly. So, retexturing is tricky. I don't mind leaving in a little of the original texture, because why put it to waste when it's useful, you know?

I need to adjust the hairline texture though. That's not quite right.

What I have here is the 1) original texture around the hairline, then the 2) TS4 dread texture I added, and then 3) my afro texture layered both underneath and on top.

This works, I think! I like it.

And then in a black recolor of course, very important that that looks good on any afro/protective style.

I hope that this is helpful! Please feel free to DM me if you have questions. :)

[ehj3]

CLUB CRANIUM

Not as motley as the cantina in Star Wars, nor as monocultural as a stereotypical British pub, this jazz club mocks the mind mappers of the early 20th century. First with the band of frogs. Paradoxically, these musical amphibians are both instinctual and improvisational, they are Freud’s “Id” or the existentialists’ “Being-in-itself” Across the dance floor are reptiles, they are, again…

[docholligay]

Souvenir

I like people, I think it would be fair to say. Not even in the way you might describe a social butterfly, or someone who is necessarily good with people,* but in the way that someone loves art. I like listening people, I like watching them, I love hearing about what strangers do with their lives, I love eavesdropping on the little bits of people’s lives that they share into the open air and I learn things, constantly, from this**.  

It’s a bit of an odd trait, I guess, and maybe could even be considered nosy, to look at strangers like this, to chat up the gal on the train to Ely***and find out that she was a translator, she’d worked translating a sailing manual, and isn’t that such an interesting thing for people to do? She offered the opening door, and I walked right through it. I will all the time. Every person I meet gets added to a bank in my mind to draw from, for writing, for experiences, for simply lying awake at 3 am and mulling over in my mind****. 

In an actually fairly rare bit of lacking self-reflection, I had no idea that I constantly did this--it is not a calculated act--until Dani pointed it out to me on this trip, that I often make these little connections with strangers for no reason, and that it possibly makes me a good traveler. I had never thought of this. I suppose it’s true, though, that even when I’m somewhere my grasp of the language is, shall we say, tenuous, I have a very open sort of nature that allows me to find those little points of meeting. A conversation with an employee in Cologne, trying to buy tights, and we both ended up laughing, between my bad German and her slightly better English, and many hand motions, we got it handled! It was a very positive and lovely interaction, and though I knew my German wasn’t up to it, *I* was. That’s a mindset thing. 

I like being this way, I think. Not only do I have these small moments, but I also, to creep out anyone who’s ever hung out with me, sort of memorize my friends. When I’m with them, I catch myself looking so carefully at the way their hair moves, the way they phrase things, how they walk and the exact curve of their jaw. How will I call this person up in my mind, later? I have trouble paying attention to things sometimes because I can’t stop paying attention to things. I am a good mental mapper for this reason, and I mentally map people, as well. I keep them, in a way I’m not sure other people do.*****

I do catch myself wondering if they know they have lives, still, in my head? Does Sylvie from British Airways know I think about her smile from the jumpseat? Does Ian the cabdriver know I still turn over his voice in my head? Will the girl across from me on the train know how she lifted my spirits along with hers as she loved someone? Does anyone ever know the thosuand tiny gifts I receive every day of my life, simply by the decoration they bring to my world? In the novel of my life, the background has so much texture, because of all the wonder of each and every person, even the ones I don’t like, bring to it. I am so grateful for all of them. 

I like people. I hope they continue bringing their gifts to me and little weirdos like me. 

*I think we can all agree that sometimes I am very Not That, and that ‘smoothing things over’ is not necessarily a gift I am given (nor do I cultivate it, let’s assign blame where blame is due here) and I can be brusque and impolitic and annoyingly self-assured in any given situation where I have no fucking clue what I’m doing. 

**Just today I learned that sledding is called sledging in the UK, or at the very least in the North, if this gal’s accent is anything to go by and I’m not sucking at broad identification. I know this because she was talking about having enough snow to do it with someone she clearly loves and misses very much, from the way her face lit up as she was talking to them on the phone, and the way she leaned in toward the table as she made plans to meet up for dinner. I teared up a little bit. I love the moments we see people in connection and joy, some of my favorite little experiences in the world. I still think about the day one of my friends got married and she was walking around like a little piece of popcorn in hot oil, and there was nothing ODD or MAGICAL or WHATEVER about that, except that it was the exact kind of human magic I love, where something or someone gives you such joy that you can’t help but show it. ANYWAY. 

***See: Transit for a full explanation of how we all on the train ended up being, if not friends, foxhole comrades. 

****Upon reading this back, it sounds very negative or like I’m suffering, but I have slept in ‘shifts’ since I was a small child, and lying awake thinking for an hour or two around 3 am doesn’t bother me at all. It gives me a lot of time to imagine Haruka in situations and whatnot. 

*****Poetic as this sounds when I make it sound poetic using the power of making myself sound good writing, it might be fairly argued that my brain would be better served to spend a little less storage space on how often my friend wears a particular sweater and a little more on, oh, remembering a box I’ve been meaning to ship for MOTHERFUCKER I JUST REMEMBERED I HAVE A PRESENT I FORGOT TO GIVE DANI AND BEL IT’S IN MY FUCKING BACKPACK RIGHT NOW (see??? What I mean???) 

[3dspecbio]

Scalepiercer: Real time lighting in pixel art

I wanted to share some sprite normal mapping that we're implementing for our game! One reason I prefer 3D artworks is the dynamism of lighting that can be easily achieved with a renderer, something you couldn't historically do in 2D art with ease.

But lots of modern 2D engines adopted the 3D concept of 'normals' and now we can do stuff like this!

In Scalepiercer, we are using normal maps for characters and weapons/explosions. Our characters will react to light in real time similar to games like CRYPTARK and Airships: Conquer the Skies!

So how do normals work? What if you wanted to do this for your own game? Well there's many ways to normal map sprites! but here's how we did it:

We went into Blender and created a 'shape-sheet' like this by positioning 3D objects and taking a screenshot of their normals as viewed from above. The funky colours are because we are actually encoding *directions* for how individual pixels are "rotated" in 3D space! That's a normal map!

A TLDR of the directions are as follows:

A color value of 128 means "middle/no angle", with 0 and 255 being 90* facing one way or the other.

Red is the East/West facing angle

Green is the North/South facing angle

Blue is "tangent"/facing-camera and is always 255 (which is why our 'normal map color' is this specific 128,128,255 blue for a flat surface).

Knowing this information, we paint over our cargo container by sampling the 'directions' from or normal map sheet to create something like:

Keep in mind different game engines may have different direction encoding, if your sprite lighting looks backwards try inverting the red or green channels!

This is human-readable data too if you keep in mind that the presence or lack of a color means a direction! After some time you may be able to read (and even possibly paint) your own normals without constant reference.

P.S: I didn't know where to fit this but a note on automatic normal mappers: There's great tools like Laighter and Modlab which let you instantly create normal maps from sprites! These tools are very powerful and often make it very easy to do these effects, the reason we avoid them here is because they rely on the *brightness* of a sprite instead of intentionally knowing the *direction* of one. We found that the generated results often don't "understand" the 3D forms of a sprite as well a human who can think abstractly. If you want to mess with these techniques with little effort, or your art style is compatible with how these programs 'read' files, I'd recommend trying it! It's fun!

[goose-exclamation-point]

random opinion post about celeste difficulty namings

i have come to a realization that this is MY blog so i can write about whatever i want. insert an evil and mischievous grin

In Modding communities, finding a working system to classify the difficulty of mods is something pretty important, and the celeste community sticks to a handful of names for substantial difficulty stepping stones, being Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Grandmaster. These five were established by the 2020 Spring Collab, and since then have become the norm. However, as the community ages (holy fuck, its been three years since spring collab??) players naturally get better and mappers naturally feel comfortable making harder stuff. I am now going to discuss why I do not like the names for 99% of the harder stuff :)

obligatory note is that these are all opinions and all in good fun im not gonna explode if someone calls a celeste map astral or anything its just something which lightly ticked me off so hey thats why i write about it

One point which I'll often come back to is the usage cases of the first five difficulties. Beginner, Expert, and Grandmaster are all titles, you can call yourself a Beginner at Celeste mods, in the same way a pro chess player could call themselves a chess Grandmaster. These are subtle, but in my eyes help establish and ground the difficulty names, in my eyes if you told someone "I'm a celeste expert!" versus "I'm a celeste grandmaster!" they could probably understand grandmaster as being better, due to it's usage in other mediums. As for Intermediate and Advanced, these are words just defining skill levels. The important part though is that these have a precedent of being used and having meaning, look up advanced or intermediate on YouTube, and you'll find a lot of educational videos on things like "Advanced English Learning Practice" or "25 phrases every Intermediate English speaker must know", so on. Now for the specific GM+1 Names I don't like: Celestial, Astral, and/or Stellar: These ones I see a lot, and they feel like very weird cases. All of these are... Not skill titles! But instead words used to describe space????? When I hear "Astral Celeste Maps", the first thing that would come to mind (especially if this was my first time hearing the term) was maps relating to or themed after space, but nope! they're instead used for really really hard celeste maps. These are somewhat titles (calling yourself an astral just makes me think of a sci-fi movie), but their titles aren't for skill levels in any way, Looking up "Celestial Difficulty" on YouTube won't net you any other communities or the like which use these as difficulty markers. Maybe one community here or there use them but I doubt they are nearly as prominent as "Grandmaster" for example. Virtuoso: This one's better, although I'm still not a fan. Virtuoso is defined as someone who excels in the technique of an art, in particular a form being in the sciences or arts, also typically used in musical cases. This is a good start, and writing this has made me like the term slightly more knowing its definition, but it still falls under an arbitrary line in my eyes. What defines Virtuoso as being harder then Grandmaster? From Beginner up to Expert, I feel like the definitions of the words naturally place them in that order of difficulty. Grandmaster can be seen as arbitrary yes, but it's already been established so in my opinion there isn't all too much you can do. If you wanna hold a campaign to remove all usage of the term 'grandmaster' from celeste modding so there are more natural stepping stones from beyond that then be my guest. To get to the point, theres nothing in the definition of Virtuoso which places it as harder then Grandmaster. once again my opinion but comparing a status from international competition in a game (Grandmaster) to a word defining skill in an art (Virtuoso) feel arbitrary in my eyes. virtuoso is also goofy in my eyes so i just dont like it because of that ultimately though writing this has made me realize im fine with virtuoso but oh well. also if you knew what the word virtuoso meant without having to look it up i do not believe you are real sorry </3

yeah thats it thats the post i just kinda wanted to 'rant' about Celestial Astral and Virtuoso theyre goofy lets just stick to "Super Grandmaster" thnx, id be interested in reading someone's thoughts on the term virtuoso but otherwise goodbye have a nice night

[patricia-taxxon]

heya! i just rewatched your sc2020 video…again… and then found out you're on tumblr and, of course, immediately went to look if you've posted anything about sj aswell and found that post from *checks notes* 1.5 months ago - so, i guess what im here to ask is, would you mind elaborating on that?

im unfamiliar with marble blast (im so sorry i do not have the brainpower to watch your essay on that...yet) so the comparison you make is not particularly useful to me :v

also for context, i did contribute to sj, specifically playtesting and programming, so i do have Opinions™ (that im gonna keep to myself due to lack of anon ask (not a bad thing! i understand why you have it off)) and i wonder if those happen to bleed through to the player experience or if your gripes with it are something different entirely.

well, firstly, i have developed such a deep seated hatred of the celeste community that i haven't opened the game in months and i've considered just deleting my spring collab video multiple times, I'm not finishing any more of my maps because I don't want to make anything for these people. so i didn't actually finish SJ, I did everything up to & including the easy half of the grandmaster lobby though, and my take is that even with the few miracles I found within the map list, it would not have inspired a video essay on the level of the spring collab one if I'd played it first. it's just not as interesting, and not as rewarding to study. it represents a horrible misattribution of priorities that permeates the entire community.

in that video, i confidently say that spring collab is ALWAYS interesting, because modding culture is interesting even if it's interesting for being a little bad or revealing something about the author's proclivities. strawberry jam represents a near unanimous drive to remove authorship and make levels that are impartially agreeable, to make Celeste 2. it's only interesting when the mapper does something interesting on purpose, like Paint, Pointless Machines, Undergrowth, Summit Down-Side or Flipside Cliffside. a path of least resistance emerged in the time between SC2020 and Strawberry Jam, and experiencing it in this quantity made me forget what I liked about this game or this modding scene in the first place. the volume of creative gimmicks and varied aesthetics is huge, but each one starts to feel identical after being ground through this particular jank-averse process. I still have strong opinions about every map in SC2020, even the ones that might seem unremarkable, I can only barely begin to quantify the entire fucking C tier of my SJ tierlist. it's diverse on the surface but the substance is homogenous, especially intermediate through expert.

also in my SC2020 video, I talked about a certain tension that arrives once you get to the expert lobby, where the mappers had to create uncommercial levels of difficulty that rubbed against a similar apparent drive to make the player feel like they're actually doing the challenge & not just watching it. strawberry jam arrives at this conflict far earlier, the INTERMEDIATE maps and onwards are the ones that seem to pull between making interesting challenges while also having the player be an agent in those challenges. they want the intermediate levels to feel hard, look cool, and the solution is to just make them ridiculously constrained so the only way is the ~satisfying~ way. that's why I won't make a video about strawberry jam, because many segments in my spring collab video already serve as criticism for strawberry jam. it made the same mistakes again, but worse, and with far less of the things that made me love spring collab in spite of its flaws.

here's my tierlist, if there are any questions i'll try and qualify any of these takes with what i can remember from playing it. however, for reasons stated previously I won't be playing more so this is probably gonna be it.

[wadbot]

slottr2.wad: SLOTTER II (Demo) MAP09: Rip and Tear (3368, 540, 136) Author: Arsinikk and others Date: 2023-04-23 Description: SLOTTER II is a Vanilla Doom (complevel 2) demo for the upcoming megawad Hell Revealations, the spiritual successor to Hell Revealed I + II. This beta demo only includes 14 maps (maps 1-12 + 30 + 32) and is supposed to highlight how the full megawad will play like. While this mapset targets Vanilla Doom (no VPOs, etc), we highly suggest playing in a port that increases the sprite limit, as many of the maps exceed the limit, just like its Hell Revealed precursors. All maps were designed with pistol start in mind, though continuous play is perfectly fine. P.S. This WAD uses UMAPINFO to use particular skies for maps that will be in Episode 2 and 3 of the final megawad. P.P.S. This WAD is a beta, therefore some of the maps may not make it into the final megawad. List of beta mappers: Arsinikk, SilverMiner, Synami, Andrea Rovenski, Blue Phoenix, Rivi the Warlock, tonytheparrot, SuperPecanMan, finnks13, and NinjaDelphox.

[madamelaydebug]

✨🔥 AWAKE, O Sleeper 🔥✨

Thank you, God.

Thank you, Ancestors.

Thank you, Source.

Thank you, Angels.

And thank you, ME — for answering the call to AWAKE.

This isn’t about religion.

This is about remembrance.

This is about shaking off the sleep the world tried to wrap us in…

…and standing in full power.

Because when you are truly AWAKE,

you don’t move like the world tells you to.

You move like your soul remembers.

You move like your bloodline prayed for this moment.

You move like your light matters.

📖 “AWAKE, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”

➤ Ephesians 5:14

📖 “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”

➤ 1 Thessalonians 5:6

📖 “Stay AWAKE and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

➤ Matthew 26:41

✨ I am no longer waiting for the world to catch up.

✨ I am no longer hiding the glow.

✨ I am no longer sleeping on myself.

🗣️ And let’s be clear: Spirit won’t let this rest because this is bigger than a post.

They didn’t fear “woke” because it was annoying — they feared it because it was ancestrally encoded.

Because if we ever truly remembered who we were?

If we fully AWOKE?

Systems would fall.

Narratives would crumble.

Truth would roar.

That’s why it wasn’t Trump who came for it.

It was Elon — the tech titan, the mind-mapper, the one trying to digitize divinity.

He saw the light codes hidden in the language and tried to pervert the culture of remembrance before it could catch fire.

But baby — it’s already burning.

And the ones it’s meant for?

Already feeling the heat.

I am AWAKE.

And in this AWAKEning, others will rise too.

The light is contagious.

The calling is collective.

The remembering is sacred.

💛🕯️🌍

#AWAKE

#SacredRemembrance

#AncestralAssignment

#DNAActivated

#SpiritualDownload

#AwakenedTruths

#HeartChakraGlowing

#DivinelyRooted

#CosmicCocoa

#NoMoreSleeping

👑 “This was written in spirit and sealed in love. Take what resonates, and rise.”