#mari.blog

[mariaurore]

(OOC) Hello o/ I am back with another build and it comes with a side of learning process 😅. I feel It's good to learn new things. Keeps us moving forward, keeps our minds active, y'know?

So, I showed my Free Company in FFXIV this household-couple named "Pancake" in my world because our FC is named "Blueberry Waffles" and we have ranks named everything from "Waffle" to "Crepe" to "French Toast", etc. We also get members who like to name their characters after foods.

One member suggested I buy this very specific pagoda behind the residence of the Pancake household and name it "The Waffle House" in honor of the FC. Well, I unfortunately had to let them know that's not possible as that's not a plot for sale in the game. This was also after I had already created my own restaurant for Mari. So adjusting my plans for her restaurant to reflect the vibe of "Blueberry Waffles" was already long gone.

But it did inspire the idea of putting together the Cafe I wanted + Blueberry Waffles. That was something I could do 👍🏻

Only thing is... I guess I didn't fully do my research? I knew I wouldn't be able to own a Cafe- but I thought I'd be able to set a menu. I was completely wrong about that 🤷🏻‍♀️

This is where that learning process bit comes in.

You can change menus of restaurants even if you do not own it. But not cafes.

Infact I fully encourage this- for my builds at least. When I eventually post up Celeste and any future restaurant builds, I want people to sift through the menu and alter it in any way they desire. And the primary reason for this is because I have the S&S Cookbook Mod.

This is purely speculation but If you download my Restaurant, you'll likely be uploading my menu with it and I have the modded recipes in my menu. They're going to fall off, i.e. disappear (if you do not have the same recipes). What you'll be left with is a very empty menu. Get where I'm going with this? You'll want to add more options to it again by customizing the menu so it's no longer bare.

You can do this by going into Build mode of the restaurant:

Click on the cogwheel as shown in the screenshot. You can also change staff attire from here.

When I was researching how to change the Cafe menu, I was so baffled when people brought up this cogwheel in build mode because I couldn't find it. This would be why:

It's not there. That's how you know you cannot edit a menu.

In addition, at first I thought I could plant down a ThriftTea Bubble Counter with the Espresso Bar. Nope, can't do that.

I could "tend it" at least, I guess? We get these cool things, and ideally they could be used in a cool ways, but then EA limits us. I don't get it. Why can't I have a typical Cafe? 😾

I could have left it in, because there are mods out there that bring in sims who will work behind interactable objects like this if they are placed on the plot. But not everyone has those mods, let alone even knows about them. (This is the mod I'm talking about: https://www.curseforge.com/sims4/mods/auto-employees-custom-lot-trait)

I'm not sure that mod is for me, but to each their own.

So, what kind of drinks can we order here?

I have no idea why the prices are slashed. It's possibly because of my mod though, ngl 😅

This being my first time in a cafe, I didn't know what to expect and ordered a Macchiato. I wanted to see the cafe operate as usual. But what does Mari do?

She picks up a croissant. Eats that one and picks up another one 🤦🏻‍♀️

It didn't seem like there was much rhyme or reason to what was going on. The barista just kept creating things and everyone inside just kept grabbing things off the counter at random 🤷🏻‍♀️. Is this normal? 🤔

After some more internet digging and being unable to find another way to make that Bubble Tea Counter work, I decided to just add another Espresso Bar and delete all the Boba Tea related things I had on the walls.

Yeah... little did I know that would also not work 🫠. Only 1 Barista seems to spawn in at a Cafe - no other staff or employees. Again, you would need that mod if you want more "Staff" or "Employees" or people with skills that can use interactable objects like that to spawn on the plot.

But the option to "tend" is there- if you're looking to raise your barista skills. I have no idea if the other barista will yell at you though if you try 😅 and it doesn't cost anything.

I noticed the Barista whom was tending the shop, was bouncing between both of them. So... maybe it's not so bad having both in there? Aesthetically, for modders, should the player want to "tend it" and for this reason.

If nothing else, whoever places it can always delete the extra one 🤷🏻‍♀️

It gets a little busy in here.

This build was made on a 20x15 plot. I did that intentionally so that it can be placed anywhere. I also uploaded it that way.

Tags are #Teku #TekuTiger #Mari #Cafe #SmallCafe

I later moved it to where I wanted it in my world, in San Sequoia, on a larger plot.

I know I say that I try to use the least amount of DLCs, but this time I didn't do that 😅. It was so hard trying to get my FC's vibes with the furniture in this game with what I had available. I still feel like I didn't fully capture it. To restrict that even further would be impossible.

Bathroom on the top floor, couple angles of the first floor, and a close up of the patio in the front.

After I placed it, I just added several trees and a couple of benches, and called it a night. Someday I'll get into landscaping, but it's not in the foreseeable future 🙃

[mariaurore]

(OOC) Hello everyone~ o/

This post is going to make blog post #99. Crazy right?

I haven't really been tagging any of my posts up until this point. I think maybe a few with my "mari.blog" and that's about it.

From this point forwards- I think I might tag my last post of the day with "Sims 4", "Sims 4 Gameplay", and "Last post of the Day", something among those lines. I don't want to tag every single post because I post several a day and that will get incredibly spammy in the category. It's not necessary.

I'll also tag my build posts however I see fit. Haven't figured that one out yet. "Teku" and "Mari" might be in there though as they are tags I usually use in my builds.

Just some updates and thoughts I've got circling in my brain atm. Might not be any posts tomorrow morning because today has been a nonstop research + one movie day for me 🫠. No gaming = no screenies to post 🙃.

But I will see ya soon! o/

[mariaurore]

(OOC) This probably doesn't need to be said, but I've yet to say anything on this matter- so I'll just throw it out there:

I'll post my normal morning sim posts for the day and after today, for the next couple of days, I'll be on a bit of a Hiatus.

My main game FFXIV just released patch 6.55 and I intend to run my main character (whom resembles Hitsu) and main-alt character (Mari Aurore, believe it or not) through the MSQ. After that you can bet I'll be back 😄

This side blog was, and still is, intended to be my comfort game for when I want something really fun and relaxing to do. I don't ever want it to become something I have to do.

So it may become sporadic at times. Especially when warmer weather hits and my resin hobby/shop starts up again.

[mariaurore]

Sims 4 - Age Brackets

(OOC)

I was looking up Sims 4 Age Brackets on Google/Reddit (because I don't want Mari and Hitsu to be Young Adults with a Teen - that'd be weird for all the wrong reasons). What I found was inconclusive results. But for the most part, this:

Child: 5-12

Teens: 13-17

Young Adults: 18-29

Adults: 30-59

Elders: 60+

I've also seen things say Adults can be 35-49, which honestly seems more accurate based on the appearance of my sims when I go into CAS. But I say that based on my appearance irl, as I look like, 15-20 years younger than my age (I've been told by everyone I meet). And my sim's husband, is also based off of someone who looks very young (He's 120-130 in the anime, believe it or not. People have done the math; it's out there in Twitter and Reddit threads 🫠).

So, for My Sims gameplay, I'm thinking I'll go with:

Child: 5-12

Teens: 13-17

Young Adults: 18-34

Adults: 35-61

Elders: 62+

Senior age in the US is 62, it's also 62 in France. It's 65 in Japan. I don't know what it is in other countries. Maybe EA chose 60+ to be safe across the board and they know something I do not because I'm not researching every country.

It's not like I can change the game coding or anything, this is entirely for my "story" and "peace of mind".

But, I think this is a better age list for me- because Mari & Hitsu do naturally look younger. And these results were an alternative found from Google so it's not like I'm inventing an entirely new obscure age list (which would still be okay to some degree I think).

[mariaurore]

(OOC) I unlocked this blog yesterday evening and I think I'll continue to make posts similar to how I've been making them so far. Maybe some posts, not as "simple" as before. I think I got a good theme going 😄

Suppose that means I should start tagging blog posts as well 🤔

I still have ambitions to create Mari her restaurant. Also changed her hairstyle last night, so look for that! Among other things 😏

This will make post 40, woo~ 🎉