#can you tell i like taking pictures of my sims in cas?

[evilgoof]

hope you can tell but uhhh i tweaked chayton a lil bit. i gave him a slightly wider nose and smaller lips, also changed up the eyes he had to a different one (ones that actually make him look alive and not dull af) his tummy is my favorite tbh. it's like... a dad bod ? but fit ? idk how to explain it but ya know, it's nice >:) he def looks different, but he still looks like chayton. just.. hotter.

[frostedshore]

Hi there

If you don't mind sharing, what eyes are you using for your gorgeous sim in your profile picture?

Thank you, have a nice day!

hey anon! i've been taking out all of my contacts cc from my game one by one but i still can't find the eye you're looking for (the name of the cc might be very random). i've been asked about this eye a lot, and i can't lie that this is my favorite eyes ever. so if anyone knows this cc, i'd be thankful if you'd tell me in the comments because this contacts is useful for everyone. this is how the contact looks like in cas. as you can see, the eye color that you can customize is very detailed.

this is how i can make a yellow + green color combo. in my profile picture i combined grey and blue.

[nocturnalazure]

Not-a-tutorial - Camera shots: Part I

Absolutely nobody: ...

Me: I’ll share with you tips and tricks about Sims storytelling and camera shots!

And this is how it all started.

I’m far from being an expert and this probably won’t be new to many people, but I just felt the drive to ramble about camera shots because I think it’s such an interesting topic. (warning: long – see under the cut)

I sometimes have a feeling that we, as simmers, tend to repeat the same angles over and over again when telling a story. And I think that may be because we still adopt a player’s perspective. We may want to show how the Sim is dressed because we spend one hour in CAS dressing them up. Or we want to see the Sim but also the background because we spent hours decorating the scene. Or simply because we like the background and think it deserves to be shown! Zooming up on a Sim’s face is uncomfortable because that’s not how we play the game: we zoom out to see what we are doing. I know, because that’s what I used to do too in the past. Many of my screenshots were taken at hip/knee level.

And at shoulder level when I wanted to “zoom in”.

That was okay, but not necessarily very engaging. The thing is, I started using more and more screenshots in my story, dropping descriptive text entirely and using only dialogues. Soon my story became a graphic novel. Telling a story using mostly visual means implies that 1) I have to shorten the dialogues as much as possible to keep it dynamic, and 2) I have to find visual ways to express what characters are not saying but what I want the reader to understand (note that my Sims are no longer Sims but characters xD). This comes very close to storyboarding and it is what I’m doing now. It is much more planned and requires more work. But it pays! (at least according to me: I rather like my way even if there are many ways I can still improve!) So I'm going to show you a few concrete examples of how I apply to my shots some techniques from photography, comics, mangas and filmmaking.

First, I use wide, establishing shots to show the reader where the action is taking place.

Sometimes to express an idea, like that of a crowded place for example:

What I do A LOT is use a random landscape or zoom in on a detail to indicate the passage of time, like for transitions within the same scene: we find the same characters in the same place but they are leaving, or they are now seated, or they are still in the same building but not in the same room, etc. I often use sky pictures because I like them, sue me. :D

I use full shots when there are several characters in the room and I need to show whom and where they stand in relation to each other.

It is actually quite important for the reader to be able to locate a character in space. It sounds pretty basic, but we as authors tend to forget that the reader is not in our head. The reader needs to be able to follow your story every step of the way, even (particularly!) at the most basic level. The more characters in a scene, the more important this step is. A wider shot is perfect for this.

Or a bird eye view.

This is a standard shot of two characters having a seated convo:

What I I try to do is vary the angles as much as possible in a single conversation. It’s easy to use only an “over-the-shoulder�� perspective but if the conversation is long, using only that kind of shots can give an impression that it drags on and on.

The character that is talking should be to one to which the eye is attracted to. If I used only that kind of shot, the eye would quickly get bored going from one character to the other, and since the conversation here was long, I used different angles to make it more interesting and play with different effects depending on what the characters were saying.

First, I reminded the reader of where the characters are in space:

Then, I got some close-up on small details while the characters are talking. This one shows that they have finished their meal.

I used an overhead shot for variety, but also to suggest that my characters are confronting their points of view, with the table separating them.

When a character is having a long monologue, I like taking my time to show a bit of the décor. It allows to break a long block of text into several more digestible parts and it gives the eye something more relaxing to look at so that it can focus on the text.

Doing a close-up on an interesting detail works too. It can add an emotional impact as readers do not see the character's face and will try to connect what the character is saying to what he does not say.

Same idea here, more experimental. You like it or you don’t. I chose not to show the character’s face while she’s asking a personal question. It fits her and it fits the story.

In general, I like cutting off part of a character’s face to maximize impact.

Another way to show emotions is a close-up. Like here, Anh is shocked so I chose a low angle to emphasize it.

I use close-ups for the reader to better see a character’s emotions. This close, emotions can be read and interpreted right away.

On to Part II!

[wildmelon]

so i posted a long time ago about wanting to share more gameplay posts but finding it much more overwhelming than cas/fashion posts and idk if it was relatable at all but just in case anyone else gets what i mean about in-game pics being tougher, there are four main ways i've gotten back into having fun with gameplay screenshots.

limit your poses. don't take screenshots of a pose you know won't really work for the post you want just because it's in a set and they're already in position. it'll just make it seem more overwhelming when you're choosing screenshots later.

limit your angles. take advantage of saved camera angles, which are very easy to use. trust yourself, you can see which framing looks best after a glance around. you don't need to capture every angle of a pose in case one looks better later. my rule is no more than three angles per pose, i can tell much more quickly looking through screenshots which one will work best vs. when i used to take twelve pics from every direction.

try out fun editing formats and different layouts. if you feel like something is missing from your gameplay pictures, try adding a film overlay or using a simstagram layout. it's cute, immersive, and unique. some ideas/resources: postcard, simstagram post, simstagram profile, simlish instagram, simlish snapchat, iphone camera, polaroids.

choose builds you love and are excited about. might seem obvious, but i'm not a builder and didn't use to "shop" for builds on tumblr. finding adorable and detailed builds makes me more excited to take pics of my sims in their environment. some of my favorite builders are listed here.

[ophernelia]

Hi. Do you have any tips on how to grow your sims platforms? I keep tryig and posting and I hardly get any interactions or followers. Idk what to do. I wish bigger creators would help out smaller ones more by reposting the content so it gets more views. Its so hard starting out

Hey! Yeah, I have a few tips I can share! This is gonna be long so beware!

I keep seeing this sentiment reiterated about larger creators. I get it, but I think everyone's missing one thing in regards to it: you already have access to the same audience they have. Just like you they grew their platform. Maybe it was a stroke of luck from a viral post or something, but they still had to start somewhere. What it takes is getting your content to hit the algorithm. That's all! So even if a larger creator never looks your way, you can still grow and curate an audience without their help. Small accounts are what make up big accounts after all.

You NEED good SEO. I'll talk about TikTok specifically. If you want a boost in visibility then get on Tik Tok. Properly tagging your content is the key to working the algorithm in your favor. I think people believe the more tags the better. No. The more accurately tagged, the better. The hashtags "TS4", "The Sims", and "The Sims 4" are always trending. You should always use those tags. The rest depends on the kind of content you're posting. I'll use my most viral video as an example. My Stormveil Chateau post on Tik Tok got 141.6K views, 22.3K likes. Since it was for a maxis match build I used the following tags: #thesims4 #sims4 #ts4 #simstok #ts4cc #fyp #sim #sims4tok #sims4maxismatch #sims4build #sims4builds #ts4build #ts4gameplay. Most of the tags are related to TS4 and TS4 builds. I wouldn't include anything about CAS, mods, etc. It wouldn't fit the post. Don't flood other tags in hopes of getting more views. It'll just bury your post under a bunch of random content. People have to be able to find your content.

Visually appealing content performs better, period. Y'all give the aesthetic girls hell but they know a thing or two about working the algorithm. I'll give them that! People like things that look nice. Now, that's not to say you need to purge all the color or character from your game. You don't have to follow a certain style trend. Curate your own personal style. Do what you do to the best of your ability. Whatever you post, just make sure it's good quality. Focus on sharpness, clarity, etc. If you wanna curate a particular look then go for it! But most importantly, having clear clean images or videos is the main thing you need. And you don't need a beast of a PC to do it. Sharpen your images and videos before you upload them using Capcut or something. Make sure the lighting is nice. Make sure it's a good resolution for the platform you're posting on. A quick tip: Adding dof to lower quality images makes it look better! See how the left photo looks more clear than the right? A little bit of depth of field helps so the pictures don't fall flat.

Pick a primary social to promote your secondary ones. Usually your primary social may be the one where you have your largest audience. For me, it was Tik Tok. On there I'd promote my Patreon, YouTube, and Tumblr. You just released some cc? Post something about it on Tik Tok, let your audience know they can find it on your Tumblr. Use one to promote the others.

Slow organic growth is STILL growth. Growing your audience is one beast, but maintaining it is a whole other thing. As someone who has gotten shout outs from larger creators, that initial boost ALWAYS dies down. And socials like YouTube will not hesitate to tell you "Hey boo, your shit's failing now. You kinda suck." Been there, felt that. Boosts from other creators and giveaways don't have much longevity. Most times that audience will leave. On occasion you may get a few who stick around, but most won't. That's why it's important to build your audience organically. Yes, it may take longer but they won't just dip out after a few weeks. Things take time to grow. Things take time to curate. Understand you are BUILDING something. It takes time!

And lastly- if you just really want the numbers and it doesn't matter what content you post, then here's what you do: Sell. Still use good SEO, still try to have high quality photos, but give people something to consume. People like to see what they can get. Post some builds, cc, whatever. If you're not a cc creator, then do cc finds, mod reviews, tutorials, build recommendations, lookbooks. People love a good cc haul. They wanna see what they can get. And that's not to say people that make this sort of content don't care about their content. I know they do and it's a lot of work! It still takes time and effort to curate. It's just HOT right now! Especially maxis match content. It ruffles less feathers because a wide array of the Sims community has a vicious vendetta against alpha cc. (Yeah ion know. They will "uncanny valley" and "just play IMVU' you to death. If I say what I think it is.. My people know.) But if you really just want thousands of followers, then there's a way to do it.

With all that said, I know how annoying it is to constantly hear to not focus on numbers but don't. CREATE FOR CREATION'S SAKE. Do it only because you enjoy it. Growth for me has come as a byproduct of me doing whatever the hell I wanted. I make Lykaia because I want to make Lykaia. I love that people love it but it is for me. Not to be an influencer, or to inspire, or to receive praise and accolades. I love everything about the process. Hell, I love the stress that comes with it! I have four scenes to film and I'm still not done editing the ones I have filmed. The episode is supposed to air on MONDAY. I fucking love working down to wire. It's stressful as hell but it feels good! If it's out there, the audience will soon follow. Always. Take your time. Be grateful for where you're at every step of the way. Enjoy the process! And remember that all it takes is one post to take off.

[nectar-cellar]

Hey! With your recent Thornton and Morgana post I was wondering if you take the pictures in cas or somewhere else? Also don’t edit the photos or is it just the reshade? Love how they look!!❤️❤️

hi, thank you!! 💖💖💖

i rarely ever edit my photos, just cropping and sometimes adding text. i uploaded my gshade preset recently so you can try it if you'd like.

i'm taking the pics in my in-game photo studio. i wrote about my lighting setup here: https://www.tumblr.com/nectar-cellar/670834936133091328/can-you-tell-us-how-do-you-make-the-lighting-on

it takes a few steps to set up but i love the results :D this is how i take 99% of all my sim portraits with the plain colored backgrounds.

in the comments you can even download a pre-built version of the studio to save you some time.

[nuclearrayne]

Dear EA/Maxis

We need to talk....

As a builder I don't actually play the game a lot but, recently, I had the opportunity to get more into the game play side of things and I am just gobsmacked at how frustrating of an experience it was.

You need to know these 3 things before we have our chat, 1. I have NO script mods in, as I have been prepping for your next update apocalypse. I do have a default skin, eyes, sliders and my choice of skin details because, well, let's be honest, you lot are terrible at creating acceptable looking body beautifuls. 2. ALL of my drivers are checked daily and updated, if needed. And 3. without getting into specifics, my system is very capable of handling the taxing of your 8 year old game.

I have been a sims player for over 20 years, I have dumped thousands into your franchise. I own every single expansion, game, and stuff pack you have ever released including your most recent money grab "kits" I do not feel that telling you this should garner me a higher standard of propriety because EVERY Sims player should have the ability to enjoy your game without the need to take a Xanax first! I just want you to be aware that my simlish is fluent (with and without alcohol).

Below is a glimpse of the issues I was having, and there were MANY, that I had in the few short hours I played, I have also included some colourful pictures because...well...some people learn differently...

Let me introduce you to Marley, she has been in my game for a long time, mostly to help me take screenshots for thumbnails (she is using the CC listed above, using the CC I normally have in my game and completely nude for reference)

Please fix your clothes so my normally healthy looking sims don't look like they have successfully dropped 20 pounds instantly without the need of some photoshop magic, your clothes should NOT being slimming my sims no matter how slim or heavy they are!

While Marley and I were in CAS we noticed that there is an alarming amount of clothes with texture oddities, mostly pants that made Marley look like she had taken a mahoosive shite, don't get me wrong it's a look, but? There were also several shirts and shoes that need fixing, too, however, I think the pants are the worst. Here are some examples:

When we were done discovering the horrors of CAS, I took Marley in game and moved her into a lovely little build in simlicy's save file (2.0) Here's a peak just in case you're feeling nosey:

After we loaded in, Marley stood on the lawn, while I immediately opened buy mode (be thankful this is a game play observation because I could blow your mind with the issues I have found while building) I bought Marley an easel, a bed, a knitting bag (the first of MANY mistakes I made) and a rocking chair. Going back into live mode I set Marley to apply for a painter job, then "cook" a salad, when she was done the welcome wagon arrived. I told Marley to invite her neighbours in, instead of doing as I had asked Marley sat down in the rocking chair and stared smugly at me until the welcome wagon left. Defense Exhibit A:

After shunning her new neighbours Marley settled in for some knitting relaxation with her new earbuds in. I selected "cottagecore" which was a genre neither of us had heard before and definitely will NOT again as it sounds like the entire "cottagecore" list played all at once with the added background noise that I can only describe as "living in a haunted house with a ghost that just had its nails did" I closed my game out of fear of being possessed by this entity and went immediately to your forums, where I discovered that this is a known bug that has been happening since 2017.

When I loaded back in, I was instantly hit with a phone call from a cat who wanted to know if he or she should go on a date with Eliza Pancakes and of course I said yes because pfffft what could possibly go wrong there, am I right?! Probably not but *shrugs*

After Marley told the cat that we would like to receive an invitation to the wedding and hung up my eyes were instantly drawn to the floor...what...what is THAT?! DUST?! At this point I was starting to get exasperated, and I am pretty sure Marley was, too. So back into buy mode I went to buy a vacuum for a house Marley hadn't even slept in yet. (reported fixed 23/03/2021 Patch PC: 1.72.28.1030, still broken)

I asked Marley if she felt like knitting in the rocking chair, she said she was a bit tired so I reminded her that we needed to recoup the cost of the expensive vacuum I just had to buy. Begrudgingly, Marley sat down and started knitting a panda beanie. Before long she began waving and yelling insisting I let her go to bed, she was exhausted, and truly, so was I. So off Marley trudged. I worried that she would not make it the 15 or so steps to her bed but she did. I sighed. Then, out of the blue and with the drama level of a high school Shakespearean actress, Marley stood up and threw herself on the floor next to her bed where she slept, I presume, like a baby. Ok Marley, you do you, boo! (broken with toddler patch - 2017)

While Marley slept I slipped into build/buy mode to add a pop of colour to her bedroom with a piece of art that had 2 birds on it and attempted a paint change. The art disappeared when I applied the paint, where did it go? Marley did you take the art?! No, of course not, you're still asleep on the floor.....(reported fixed 17/01/2023 Patch PC: 1.94.147.1030, still broken)

Marley got up bright and early the next morning, I asked her to make eggs and toast....she canceled the request repeatedly insisting she needed to search the web on her phone. (reported fixed 30/08/2022 Patch PC: 1.91.186.1030, still broken)

Finally Marley made it to the kitchen and began to cook...and apparently light the stove on fire

......thanks Marley.....I didn't know you were a closet arsonist.

After breakfast I clicked on the knitting bag and asked Marley to finish the beanie she had started the night before, she said she could not, so I clicked on the rocking chair and asked again, she just waved

I repeatedly tried the bag and the chair to get her to knit, she just kept on waving, she is such a friendly sim <3 Ok Marley, please go knit the beanie on the bed

No? Ok Marley, please scoot over and try the other side of the bed, still waving I see....Marley you have to use the loo, so go do that while I cue up knitting one more time before I reload, ok? Marley, you have been in the bathroom for over an hour....

Are you knitting on the loo?! Are you serious Marley?? Let's move you to a more comfortable place. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN'T KNIT IN THE DAMN ROCKING CHAIR?! Ok Marley, my face is red and I am annoyed let me just hit pause for a minute...Marley...why are you still moving...did you just "break the space-time continuum" like they cracked that joke about in the "patch" that was supposed to fix this issue?! (reported fixed 17/01/2023 Patch PC: 1.94.147.1030, still broken)

Alright Marley I am going to pull the knitting bag from your inventory, sell it and then buy you a new one, this one is clearly borked...let me just...wait, why can't I put this bag down, what do you mean I can't put it in the middle of the floor where there is literally nothing else around it...*click click click click* Wait, where'd the bag go?!

Marley let's just forget about knitting for a while, please go turn on the vacuum and then we will work on a painting to calm us both down. Oml, Marley that painting is lovel...why is the vacuum cleaner smoking?! Sh*t Marley, I think the vacuum found the knitting bag....

When Marley got home from work the next day she was clearly upset, after a SINGLE DAY at work she was feeling like she was stuck in a dead end passionless job, I sighed.

I asked her to change her clothes and then go paint, she changed her clothes and then stood on her front lawn for over an hour in game time, made a face at me then finally went to paint (known issue, reported as far back as 08/2020, still broken)

When I attempted to save and close the game out of frustration my save got stuck for 40 minutes before I gave up and restarted my PC.

The point of all this, EA/Maxis is you have chosen money over your players. These "fixes" you say you're doing are clearly not actually fixing anything! Your players are crying out for theirs games to be fixed while you are announcing the release of "growing together" And quite honestly I have found myself disgusted with this whole thing. WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO ADD MODS TO THE GAME TO FIX IT!! To quote a member of this community who I admire greatly "no other ea game is this fucking borked and no other gaming community would accept this but cc and mods more or less served as some sort of bandaid for this broken ass game." -xldkx 31/07/2022 (original post here)

When I am finished posting this I will be going into that horrible buggy af app (I am sensing a theme here) that you have forced us all to switch to, where I will be canceling my pre-order of "growing together" I am done blindly throwing money at you for a game I can not even play in its current state!

FIX YOUR DAMN GAME!!!

[esotheria-sims]

Sims Tag

Got tagged by the fabulous @deedee-sims - thank you! 🤗 Throwing in a random in-game pic because I can.

1. What’s your favourite sims death?

Hum, tough one. I guess being struck by lighting is pretty cool, not that I get to see it that often. Also being hit by a satellite, but I’ve literally never seen it happen in my game unless I cheat.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

Alpha, obviously. Although I prefer to call my style ‘semi-realistic’.

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight?

I used to, but now I’m like, nah. Let those sims have some meat on their bones!

4. Do you use move objects?

All the time, bruh.

5. Favorite mod?

If I only had to pick one, then Gunmod’s radiance lighting. Picked based on the fact that it’s always the first mod I get whenever I have to reinstall.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got?

I think it was Nightlife? But my PC from back then was so weak that I couldn’t get the EP to work at all, save for a couple outfits that were randomly showing up in CAS.

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing?

Been pronouncing it ‘aLive mode’ ever since I started simming. I never even knew there was a debate about it until I saw a post on simblr some years ago.

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

What, just one? D: I have a bunch of faves, and you can probably tell who they are by the fact that they crop up in every new iteration of my game.

9. Have you made a simself?

Never, nor do I plan to! Having a sim version of myself in the game would just feel weird.

10. What sim traits do you give yourself?

I don’t know them all by heart and I’m too lazy to google 'em, so pass. xD

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color?

I wouldn’t say that I necessarily have a favorite, but I noticed a lot of my sims tend to have black hair.

12. Favorite EA hair?

Imma go with hairshortcombed solely based on the fact that I don’t have a burning urge to replace it the second I see it in my game.

13. Favorite life stage?

Adults, duh. And teens. They’re pretty fun too.

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I do a bit of everything, but I definitely lean more towards gameplay, especially since starting my BaCC.

15. Are you a CC creator?

Yep! Got my own cc tag and everything! 🙂

16. Do you have any simblr friends/a sim squad?

I want to think so! ^^

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)

Sims 2 all the way, babey!

18. Do you have any sims merch?

Nah

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Nah

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I think it’s gotten more consistent? I’ve been trying to find a balance between realistic and cartoony cc to maintain that elusive ‘semi-realistic’ look that I’m so fond of, and I like to think that I have a pretty good grasp on it now, after so many years of simming.

21. What’s your Origin ID?

Never had one, lol.

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator?

One favorite cc creator? BRUH. I have a 10GB downloads folder, and you better believe every creator whose cc is in there is my favorite! 🤣

23. How long have you had a simblr?

11 years! Golly, has it really been that long?

24. How do you edit your pictures?

By offering a blood sacrifice on a full moon. Nah, kidding. No blood is spilled during my editing process, though it does feel that way sometimes, considering how effin' long it takes me to iron out all the small kinks that annoy me about my screenshots. I kinda hoped having a dedicated photoshop action would help, but it only speeds up the process so much, unfortunately. :(

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next?

For Sims 2? Dunno man. Maybe a higher-res remake with all existing EPs/SPs and all known issues ironed out. Which is probably never gonna happen, but a girl can dream, right?

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far?

I’m partial to Apartment Life because it introduced witches, one of my favorite supernatural life states!

I’m tagging: @blackswan-sims @eleysims @episims @rudhira @ho3sferatu @analog-mothman @nervosims @frauhupfner @mrs-mquve-cc and @gphoenixsims! But feel free to ignore! ^^

[kairasims]

Hello hello lovelies! I hope everyone is having a good week so far. This post will be kind of long (sort of) as it will contain some updates and whatnot so check below the cut!

First and foremost welcome to my new followers! I’m glad that me and my sims interest you enough that you hit that follow button lol 🤣 I hope I can keep you all interested in my upcoming content and previous content. ☺️

NOW! let’s get down to business. I’d like to first apologize for the lack of posting. Before, I was posting several times a day. During that time, I was out of a job so I had A LOT of free time however, I now have TWO jobs and I’m also a single mom to 2. I just wanted to clarify that for my new peeps. With that being said, my time is VERY limited. The only time I really get to play is on the weekends and usually it’s late night. So my posts will usually be done pretty late but at least you all will have something to look forward to when you wake up! ☺️ Or if you reside in a different time zone, you’ll have something to look forward to during your lunch break, or when you get home etc.

I post mostly pictures of sims I create because I LIVE in CAS 🤣 I was a Barbie lover as a child and had TONS of Barbie stuff and LOVED to play dress up. So being in CAS is like playing Barbie to me (adult style) lol. However, I do posts random shots of my gameplay from time to time.

If you couldn’t tell, I have a story in the works called Forever in San Myshuno. It will be based around 4 women who are best friends who go throughout their early adulthood and of course there will be DRAMA. I was a huge fan of the show Friends and so I was kind of inspired to make a story of that caliber. I really want to execute the first episode of that story really well so I’ve been taking my time and preparing for it hence why it’s taking quite a while for the first post. I have to give you storytellers props because it’s A LOT of work trying to get everything set up like jobs, and placing lots and finding everything that’s needed. But I am REALLY excited to share the first post.

SO with that being said as well, the first episode to Forever in San Myshuno will be out on Saturday, 9/16/23!

SPREAD THE WORD! ITS FINALLY HAPPENING!! 👏🏾👏🏾

Yes! It is FINALLY happening! I will spend the better part of Friday night taking screenshots and editing and everything in between and the first post will be live on Saturday! Again, I post late night since I’m usually busy with my kids during the day so expect that first episode to be out late Saturday night. I’m REALLY excited as I have wanted nothing more than to finally play and get this first episode out! And though I haven’t played with them, I’m growing an attachment to my main OC’s.

I hope you all will enjoy the first episode and know that I am NOT a pro with editing and whatnot and I’m still trying to find my “style” of storytelling so I will be asking for feedback as I want it to be easier for you all to read whether it be on mobile or desktop or any other device.

I will also try and post shots of the characters apartments along with the gallery ID of the creators. I want to try and do that BEFORE the first episode but if not then it will be a bit after the first episode.

As for other gameplay screenshots, I will DEFINITELY be posting some of those as well. I have a couple of challenges that I’ve been playing that I’d like to keep playing such as the Joy of Life Legacy Challenge and the Not So Berry challenge (for the 100th time 🙄🤣). I also do have a YouTube channel and will be working towards getting the right equipment and set up so I can do LP videos for you all and maybe some CAS videos (something I REALLY have been wanting to do for a LONG time). But again, everything is a work in progress.

Ok so this post IS lengthy but I promise that’s all the news I have for now! Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week and I will see you Saturday! Stay tuned and Happy Simming! 🥰

[pixelglam]

hello, this may be a very random question but i'm thinking of starting my own simblr blog and was wondering how you have your mods folder organized? like is it by mods>>buildby>>*creator name*>>collection... and so on. Especially for your wcif, how can you track down which part of a collection an item is from, etc like for harries' & felixandre's cc they usually contains multiple parts in a collection. idk if that makes any sense & isn't confusing lol but i'm so impressed on how your able to track down cc especially for cc found on websites that ts4rebels, etc.

Hello, my answer is below the cut!

So I attached a picture of how my mods folder looks like. I don't have any sub folders in those folders since I've heard that can sometimes prevent the cc/mod from working.

For wcifs:

I currently have 44 pages worth of answered wcifs on my blog so by now I honestly don't have a hard time to find most of my build/buy cc since I remember the collections well.

But the easiest way for me to look for the cc, is just to open my game, load into the lot where the item is and then it will tell you the name. A lot of creators put the collection name and also their creator name in the title which makes it easy to google it and as for the set, if it's not as obvious as if the cc item is a fridge, then I just look at the different collections' preview pictures until I see the item.

And as for cas, I go to edit the sim that's wearing the cc item and click on it, most of the time I can recognize the creators logo but if you can't, then I suggest to save the sim in your library and download the sims 4 tray importer, open it and then you can actually see a full list of all the cc the sim is wearing. I am sure there are some more ways to track down cc but this is what I do!

Lastly paywalled cc:

I don't think I have a lot of paywalled cc in my game. If any, most of it is from bergdorfverse and even then it's only a few bags. If I have to link it then I can always find it in the vault. Firstly I check the exact name of the bag, by looking through my sims 4 mods manager, which shows you the exact pictures and names of items. (I also sometimes use this for other cc if I don't want to open my game) Once I have the name, I search through the bergdorfverse files in the vault until I find the collection.

Finding & Linking cc can oftentimes take a long time, especially if it's paywalled but I hope this helps!

[sim-songs]

hi I was just wondering if you could help me decide if I should get the sims 3 i have the sims 4 so I wanted to try the other sims games so could you please tell me whether or not I should get the sims 3 .tysm you dont have to respond to this but I would appreciate if you would😊

Hey honey! So I might be a bit biased about this, because I haven't played the Sims 4 in years.

It heavily depends on what you would like your gaming experience to be. Are you someone who likes to create sims and spends a lot of time in CAS? Or more a builder that likes to make detailed lots? Or maybe you like to make little stories for your sims' lives and/or take pretty pictures of them. If you're one of the above things I'd say the Sims 4 is a safe bet. Easier to install and maintain, and excellent for building, creating sims and taking atmospheric pictures.

The Sims 3 is the best option if you are someone that enjoys the gameplay process, especially if you'd like your sims to show a bit more personality and randomness. Basically, all of the above mentioned things for TS4 can still be a great part of TS3, but there will be more time and effort required. Building and creating sims is a much more involved process in the Sims 3 that can be greatly rewarding or tedious depending on what you like to spend your time on. For gameplay and world building Sims 3 can't be beat. You can heavily customize your house and surrounding lots to be exactly what you want them to be, and your gameplay can be exactly what you want it to be. What I mean by that is, if you want to micro manage your sims and take care of their needs and make them the perfect family, career sim or whatever, you can totally do that! If you want them to be more independent, take care of their needs themselves and only give a couple commands here and there, you can totally do that too! It's a big part of why the Sims 3 is still a hugely popular game in my opinion, there's a lot of versatility and options for the player.

I hope this helps you choose, as I said, I may be a bit biased but I think it's important to think about what you want your experience to be in game and choose accordingly! 😘

[anamoon63]

Well, I've run out of pictures of Appaloosa Plains and Sunlit Tides, and I'll need a little more time to build the next episodes of Time Traveler and The Cho Brothers, as both require new sets and characters that I want to work on calmly, so, in the meantime, I'll keep posting some random pictures of my sims and gameplay, outtakes and stuff, like these (unedited) pictures I took of Sunset Valley:

I'm also sharing these photos of Lucky Palms, again no filters and no editing:

It turns out that in December I got a new gaming laptop, so I copied my entire Sims 3 game with all my saves and cc there. It wasn't that complicated, just a little hassle at the beginning to get the game to detect the graphics card, because you know, you have to edit the Graphic Cards document and all that. But the game installed easy (thanks Steam) and started working properly right away. :)

Then I started copying all my current game (saves, cc and mods) from my PC to the laptop. That did take longer, maybe around three days or so, but it was worth it, because the game runs beautifully, no lag, no problems, and after almost a month of playing, I haven't had any issues.

So far, I haven't had any problems with Windows 11 either, everything works fine with it, in fact, I like it, it's quite light and pretty. :P

The Sunset Valley and Lucky Palms photos here were taken in my newly installed game. I haven't messed with the Nvidia Settings yet, but I will very soon to see if I can improve them a bit, as I don't use programs like Reshade, or Gshade or anything like that, just my photo editor. For now, this is just with the graphics settings in the game menu, all the options at maximum, still zero lag, neither in game, nor in CAS (the latter thanks in great part to Lazy Duchess' Smooth Patch, I can't thank them enough for this!)

So, the new computer arrived just in time, because my PC hardly keeps running anymore, sometimes it shuts itself off and refuses to turn on again, but now I can send it to the workshop to do the upgrades I've been wanting to do for months, without having to stop playing my game. ❤️😊

Something else I want to share with you this year are my Sims 4 pictures. Yes, I started playing it again last October, after two long years of not touching it, or was it three? 🤔I don't remember, I stopped playing it since before the pandemic, you go figure, thing is I decided to give it another chance, but I'll tell you about that in a later post. Please, brace yourselves cause I have a considerable amount of Sims 4 pictures to share with you, I hope you like them! 😉

(Of course, this doesn't mean I will leave The Sims 3. I will never ever quit The Sims 3! 😍)

P.S. Sorry for the wall of text.

[victorluvsalice]

-->Party time, that's what! Specifically, family reunion time! Now, you may be wondering, "uh, Vic, didn't all of your characters spring from CAS already formed? How can you have a family reunion when none of them have any family?"

Well, in Sims 4 land, close friends totally count as family for the purposes of family reunions! So I had Smiler invite over everybody's closest friends for a 2 PM shindig -- Nalani for themselves; Rory for Alice; Felipe for Victor; and Clement Frost for all three of them! :) The guests started showing up as Victor and Alice changed into their party wear -- and I was very pleased to see Alice change into the cute new belted dress and sweater combo that I'd just picked out for her as a new party outfit!

And I was even MORE pleased to see Felipe show up in a literal clown suit. Like, seriously. That is a clown outfit. Felipe is just missing the hat. XD Felipe, uh, there something you want to tell us, buddy? Maybe a change of career we don't know about?

-->Anyway -- Smiler sent Cecilia on her way and Alice hurried out to feed Toothy (who had the old cake tongue out) as the rest of the guests arrived. Alice greeted Rory with a warm hug; Felipe headed inside to chat with Victor at the kitchen table; and Smiler -- er -- well, they had to fight for Nalani's attention for a bit as she was busy talking to the random visiting Sim on their lawn. XD At least it gives you a good opportunity to see their new party outfit -- I'm sure you all recognize those pants, shoes, and bracelets from The Crypt-O-Club! :) What can I say, they're a really good look on Smiler. The three pairs continued chatting with each other for a while, with Victor taking a brief break to Scruberoo himself --

-->And then -- selfies time! Because the main goal of a family reunion is to take loads of pictures. Gee, I wonder why this particular party type appealed to me... XD Anyway, I made sure to get some good shots of Smiler with Nalani, Alice with Rory, and Victor with Felipe -- these are my favorites of the screenshot versions. XD They all look so intense! Five potential snaps with each friend got us to 15 out of the 20 required pictures -- not too shabby. :) And I already knew what my final five pictures were going to be...

-->But hey -- where the hell was Clement during all of this? I eventually tracked him down sitting in the seance room of all places and had Smiler fly up and chat with him a bit. Victor continued entertaining Felipe while Alice went into the kitchen to start on a nice "family" meal of chicken satimbocca --

AFTER showering in the rain, meaning she start cooking nekkid. *sigh* I wish if you canceled the interaction, they just automatically put their damn clothes back on! At least now I only have to worry about ONE Sim pulling this nonsense...

[strangecowplant]

How do you take such big/HQ in game screenshots?

SRWE, I usually use 7680x4320 resolution and crop out what I don’t need later! I’ve stopped using the HQ mod because its just not worth it in game (the difference is minimal and not worth the trouble and space) I do still use some hq cc though for rendering

What Reshade/Gshade preset(s) do you use?

For CAS I usually default to this but also often use this and this, and for gameplay I change it a LOT but currently I’ve been digging Birdie and Raíces + special shout out to my beloved Moonflower! *note - I use Reshade 5.8.0 with shaders to mimic gshade of which i literally cannot find the tutorial for atm I’ll update this if i ever find it and change options around in presets as i go to make it work for the specific sim/setting

How do you get transparent pictures in game?

Two things, both require reshade! 1: Chromakey shaders 2: Hide UI shaders (for added cleanliness) I recommend using a plain cas background to get the cleanest png ie, one without a floor like this one (the floor chromakey setting is too finicky to work well) as a bonus this means you can use old slider required shoes without needing the slider bc no floor! :-)

What do you use to edit screenshots?

Photoshop 2021 - heres how I do 3D/CA edits *gameplay pics are usually untouched sans sharpening

How to 🏴‍☠️? How to get past paywalls?

DM me if you need any help to safely get the game - do NOT use tarac For paywalls check this post!

Computer specs?

My laptop is old and dying and coughing up blood but for posterity’s sake here she is: MSI Leopard Pro GP62 6QF - GTX 960m, i7 Processor, 16gb RAM

Why did you block me?

Not that you should even ask bc its not your business why someone blocked you to make themselves feel more comfortable in a space, but I’ve seen some pretty condescending ppl online crying about being blocked so; the usual reasons: you’re a shit person (ie terf/racist/homophobe/prolifer/zionist ect), you posted non cc in cc tags a bunch, you’re a perma-paywaller, I just dont vibe with you/you give me red flags/im uncomfortable (and if you’re block evading to read this then thats quite telling!) you have anything to do with disgusting media ie harry potter, I personally don’t have interest in what you post and tumblr is being a piece of shit showing me your blog too often (this is 100% on tumblr) do not ask me or anyone to unblock you, move on

[wildmelon]

can i ask how you do your lookbooks? i've been wanting to do the same thing (obvi going to credit you unless me using this idea makes you uncomfy so i just wont copy the lookbook layout) but i havent been able to figure out your getting all the outfits side by side

hi!! doesn't bother me at all, i am far from the only person who formats lookbooks the ways i do and i was of course also inspired by many other simblrs when i started making them!

i have a couple different things i'm happy to share, though i'm afraid none are very scientific. note that i use photoshop for all my editing and most of this advice assumes basic photo editing knowledge:

now, i almost always take outfit screenshots with a transparent background in gshade. i take pictures of every outfit in different poses. this way, i can simply drag the full body outfit pictures onto my photoshop canvas. i play the sizing by ear every time and crop as needed, if you want a starting place with spacing feel free to save one of my lookbooks as an image to your computer and cover my sims with yours. once all my outfits are in place i just add a solid color background, merge the layers, and edit as usual.

before i used this method, i used to just take screenshots of all my outfits that included my cas background and crop them. most of the time it doesn't have to be neat, just erase the extra space around your sim and place all the pics next to each other. if you add a solid color background the same color as your cas background it looks the same. this way also doesn't require gshade.

as far as spacing, like i said i'm always winging it to make sure the sim always looks the same size. i often will turn down the opacity on one pic and place it on top of another to make sure the face and body are about the same for every pic.

i can't tell from your question if you realize that every outfit is a different pic i merge together, i'm not displaying them all side by side until i put them all on the same photoshop canvas.

i hope this made sense/helps somewhat, if you have no idea what i'm talking about it is very basic photoshop, if i managed to learn it by myself truly anyone can lmao. i watched sims 4 editing tutorials on youtube just to get familiar with the basic terminology, i'm def not the best person to explain that.

[gnattyplayssims]

Tagged by @sushiosims

1. What’s your favorite sims death? I defintely use the classic "old age" death the most.

2. Alpha CC or Maxis Match? I play Maxis Match but I have found a few Alpha clothing pieces that look fine with MM. I don't have a problem with Alpha but it doesn't always mesh well with skin details/hair/eyes etc

3. Do you cheat when your sims gain weight? I play a rather fast lifespan so I'll cheat anything that doesn't make sense with the story I'm telling or the characters I'm playing.

4. Do you use move objects? I have a mod to keep it on all the time so yes!

5. Favorite mod? When there's big updates I will not open my main save until WW, Chingyu's 100+ traits, and most of Lumpinou's mods are updated. CC eyeslashes are also a must.

6. First expansion/game/stuff pack you got? I bought the deluxe edition of the original sims so it already included Living Large and I think House Party but the first one I personally bought was Vacation and then Unleashed. I never got any of the others

7. Do you pronounce “live mode” like aLIVE or LIVing? LIVing

8. Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made? I'd have to pick Nikolas and Anabelle because they are two that I made from scratch rather than having them born into my legacy. Anabelle has fantastic genes!

9. Have you made a simself? Yes! "Keeping Up w/ the Tate's" is my mess around, mod free save and Amberlynn Tate (in my profile pic) is my simself.

10. What sim traits do you give yourself? Family Oriented, Creative, Hot-Headed - Self-Discovered Traits: Romantic and Loyal

11. Which is your favorite EA hair color? I'm not a big fan of the really vibrant red and blond colors but otherwise I don't have a preference

12. Favorite EA hair? Like with colors I have styles I don't really like/use at all but really it comes down to the kind of sim I'm making and what fits them.

13. Favorite life stage? I try to make every stage special in some way but my story usually focuses on my heirs when they are young adults

14. Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay? Mostlly play for storytelling so I enjoy CAS and BB when I have specific story inspiration. But I don't usually create a sim or a build just to upload to the gallery and never touch again.

15. Are you a CC creator? Nope, I'd like to learn the basics but haven't found the motivation

16. Do you have any Simblr friends/a Sim Squad? Newer to Tumblr but I have a small community on Twitter that I love

17. What’s your favorite game? (1, 2, 3, or 4)? Nothing can beat the novelty of Sims 2 but I REALLY love sims 4. There are so many opportunities to make this game amazing even with it's flaws

18. Do you have any sims merch? No

19. Do you have a YouTube for sims? No, I think I'm much better at taking pictures and writing!

20. How has your “sim style” changed throughout your years of playing? It's only changed recently. I more or less played the same way for 20 years. I would always make the same 4 starter couples in each version of the game and see how their genes would intermingle. And I would play rotationally. I had very complex rules for myself and created deep stories for the characters but never shared them. Since discovering the sims community I take more time with my storylines and take my time in CAS/BB and I have fallen even more in love with this game

21. What’s your Origin ID? gnattygan

22. Who’s your favorite CC creator? @simmireen for poses, Lumpinou and @pandasamacc for mods

23. How long have you had a simblr? Just got it this year

24. How do you edit your pictures? I don't really. I just use paint to add moodlets to pics and sometimes add a basic filter if it's a dream or flashback

25. What expansion/game/stuff pack do you want next? Still waiting for fairies to complete my occult collection!

26. What expansion/game/stuff pack is your favorite so far? Growing Together was really a game changer for family gamers and storytellers

Everyone I know on here was already tagged so I'm not gonna tag anyone