#non video tutorial

[nostalgicsoftwarezone]

How to Upgrade Graphics in Windows 95 & 98 on VirtualBox with BearWindows

Anyone using Windows 95 and Windows 98 on VirtualBox is bound to have, at some point, been stuck with a pitiful screen resolution of 640 x 480 and 16 colours, which is not only super ugly, especially with the programs and backgrounds you'll want to use with the OS, but you'll find that the performance is down the drain.

There are two well-known ways of upgrading the graphics in Windows 95 & 98 - SciTech and BearWindows. This tutorial will cover the BearWindows method. This will give you 24/32-bit colour and larger screen resolutions. However, you may be unable to get any widescreen resolutions.

First, you will want to download the BearWindows drivers. Here's the webpage regarding the project. And here's the download link you should use. Now, you can either put these files in an *.iso file that you can insert into your VM, or you can open the virtual hard drive and place the files in there. I chose the former (and I'm glad I did because I'm now using it in multiple VMs!).

With the files now available to the VM, take a snapshot. TAKE A SNAPSHOT OF THE VM IN CASE SOMETHING GOES WRONG! Then go to Display Settings, click Advanced, go to Adapter and click Change. As you go through the wizard, select the second option (Display a list of all the drivers in a specific location...), and then select Have Disk. Now, in the file browser, go to where the display driver upgrade is. The display driver you want will be located in 032mb, 064mb or 128mb. The numbers represent how much video memory each version of the driver will be able to handle, so you're probably best off choosing the one in the 128mb folder.

In the Select Device prompt, select "Show all hardware", then select VBE Miniport - Standard PCI Graphics Adapter. The other options may not work at all. Just keep going through the rest of the wizard and return to Settings in Display Properties***. You should be able to change the colours to 32 bit and increase the display resolution without restarting. If that isn't possible, first try changing the screen resolution and colour depth on their own (screen resolution first works best for me). If it still says you have to restart, you will have to go through the entire wizard again, trying different device options until you can change the screen resolution or colour depth without restarting.

Also, while you're at it, make sure your monitor is set to the Plug and Play one. The process is similar to changing the graphics driver, but you don't have to browse for the driver:

In fact, you might want to do this BEFORE upgrading your display driver, especially on Windows 95.

And that's how to upgrade your graphics on Windows 98 and possibly even Windows 95. But that's not all for this tutorial. There's still some important information to get through:

***Mostly THIS error for Windows 95 users:

If you get this error, you will have to click Close and restart the VM, as this error prevents you from even opening the Display Settings. If you get an error upon restarting about the display settings, you will have to click Cancel when the Display Settings appears to prevent this error from happening twice in a row.

You are probably going to get this error after you've installed the display driver and left the Advanced Settings in order to set the screen resolution and colour depth. If upon restarting your computer, however, the colours look different than before (due to 256 colours), that's a good sign and you just have to change the screen resolution and colour depth without restarting the VM.

[emeraldblonde]

I tried to mod something and the good news is, it didn't crash the game. 🥳 The bad news is, not what I was looking for lmao.

Like, don't get me wrong. I've seen way worse (the stuff of nightmares) on a modding channel I've been teaching myself this stuff lately, so. It's not like I completely fucked this thing up or anything like that.

It's just... I still gotta ask though.

What went wrong here?

[grumpy-bat-central]

So if you fired up a video game and humans in it looked like this

would you think that's fine?

If you were told that this is a human being in a neutral standing pose?

No?

Then why the fuck is it totally okay for video game quadrupeds to look like this?

I am so tired of animals in games being made by people who've never seen an animal in their lives

(I used the FFXV behemoth here as an example because it exemplifies the issues I see most often. Yes, you could argue it's a bad example because it's a fantasy animal, but a quadruped literally could not stand, much less walk/run/hunt with this anatomy, so I say it illustrates my point well.)

Reblog with your favorite fucked up game animal! Bonus if, like Behemoth here, it's Just A Dude On All Fours!

[deanpinterester]

clickbait diy videos makes me want to commit murder actually

[calltainn]

I've got it into my head that I want to make a kilt for myself for non-formal wear. They are warm but breathable, are easy to move in (length and weight dependent), look cool, have fun/confusing gender vibes, etc.

So I've been looking for a half-decent tutorial on how to make one and so far it's tough going. Not least because every tutorial starts with a load of guff about how important it is to choose a tartan that fits your heritage. Or even that you are only permitted to wear a particular tartan if that's the case.

Listen. "Clan tartans" are nonsense. Just choose one you like the look of. Tartan patterns as they are today do not have deep roots; they were made up as a marketing tactic in the 1800s.

[linklethehistorian]

Okay but as someone who deeply enjoys reading but also prefers videos for a lot of tutorial stuff — please understand that not all of this has anything to do with “being lazy” or “not knowing how to read” or “being ruined/spoiled by having access to video”, and that you are in fact being ableist if you think that it’s okay to act superior over this stuff.

Some of us can read and comprehend the words just fine, but often need a visual aid to actually understand the stuff that happens in between and during the steps, in addition to the written steps themselves. Some of us simply have brains that comprehend instructions better when shown them visually. It has nothing to do with not being able to read, and everything to do with the way some people’s brained were wired to process information when we were born.

It’s okay to tell people what your preference is, but you don’t have to make it about what generation you are, or put down other people who have a different need than you. Having preferences does not make you morally or intellectually superior, in either direction.

In Prince's funky name, amen.

[cool-wilson-david]

CourseReelAI-Max Premium by Abhi Dwivedi Review

CourseReelAI-Max Premium by Abhi Dwivedi – Maximize Your Course Creation Efficiency with AI: A Seamless Way to Build, Market, and Sell Courses Faster. CourseReelAI-Max Premium by Abhi Dwivedi. Course creation has traditionally been a time-consuming process, often requiring weeks of planning and development. But what if you could streamline the entire process with the help of advanced AI…

[thunderlina]

In the wake of the TikTok ban and revival as a mouthpiece for fascist propaganda, as well as the downfall of Twitter and Facebook/Facebook-owned platforms to the same evils, I think now is a better time than ever to say LEARN HTML!!! FREE YOURSELVES FROM THE SHACKLES OF MAJOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND EMBRACE THE INDIE WEB!!!

You can host a website on Neocities for free as long as it's under 1GB (which is a LOT more than it sounds like let me tell you) but if that's not enough you can get 50GB of space (and a variety of other perks) for only $5 a month.

And if you can't/don't want to pay for the extra space, sites like File Garden and Catbox let you host files for free that you can easily link into NeoCities pages (I do this to host videos on mine!) (It also lets you share files NeoCities wouldn't let you upload for free anyways, this is how I upload the .zip files for my 3DS themes on my site.)

Don't know how to write HTML/CSS? No problem. W3schools is an invaluable resource with free lessons on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and a whole slew of other programming languages, both for web development and otherwise.

Want a more traditional social media experience? SpaceHey is a platform that mimics the experience of 2000s MySpace

Struggling to find independent web pages that cater to your interests via major search engines? I've got you covered. Marginalia and Wiby are search engines that specifically prioritize non-commercial content. Marginalia also has filters that let you search for more specific categories of website, like wikis, blogs, academia, forums, and vintage sites.

Maybe you wanna log off the modern internet landscape altogether and step back into the pre-social media web altogether, well, Protoweb lets you do just that. It's a proxy service for older browsers (or really just any browser that supports HTTP, but that's mostly old browsers now anyways) that lets you visit restored snapshots of vintage websites.

Protoweb has a lot of Geocities content archived, but if you're interested in that you can find even more old Geocities sites over on the Geocities Gallery

And really this is just general tip-of-the-iceberg stuff. If you dig a little deeper you can find loads more interesting stuff out there. The internet doesn't have to be a miserable place full of nothing but doomposting and targeted ads. The first step to making it less miserable is for YOU, yes YOU, to quit spending all your time on it looking at the handful of miserable websites big tech wants you to spend all your time on.

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than dead bodies

Spent the morning playing an indie game called Supraland that I got somehow ages ago, maybe from a bundle or something, and it's a pretty decent puzzle-platformer game, but for some reason it also has combat in it? And the combat is really bad, you just spam attack as fast as possible and the enemies take like 10 hits to kill, it's a pain. And then they gave me a combo attack that does 100 damage in a big AoE and it kills every basic enemy in one blast, and it's basically free to use, so now the combat is just. nothing. Lesson of the day: Don't put combat in a game if you don't want to make good combat.

[infoshakil260]

I fell into the automatic renewal trap again

"Have you been automatically renewed?" Now, users may be bound to the automatic renewal function unknowingly when they unintentionally subscribe or choose password-free payment. So, what kind of experience does the automatic renewal function bring to users? How well designed is this feature? Users have different opinions 

This is already my third "automatically renewed" fee this month. When I first received the deduction notice, I didn't know why I was being charged. After some operations, I realized that it was because the monthly subscription membership of the video app I had subscribed to expired, and the platform automatically renewed it. I have purchased memberships on 3 video apps. Because it is found that monthly membership subscription is cheaper than single-month purchase. For example, for a certain video app, single-month subscription is 25 yuan/month, and continuous monthly subscription is 19 yuan/month.

In order to save money, most people HE Tuber generally choose to open a monthly membership service package.

However, many users thought they could save some money through continuous monthly subscription, but unexpectedly fell into the trap of automatic renewal.

Many apps also set up first-month discounts to attract consumers to choose continuous monthly subscriptions. For example, if a new customer of a music app chooses continuous monthly subscription, the first-month membership fee is only 3 yuan, and the second month and subsequent months are 15 yuan, but if you choose a single-month subscription, it will cost 18 yuan.

"As long as you choose continuous monthly subscription, after the membership expires this month, the platform will automatically deduct the fee without any prompt. What's even more outrageous is that the deduction bill does not indicate which platform deducted the fee." A netizen suggested.

What do you think of the design of the forced bundle renewal function? For this reason, friends from Tiantianwen started a heated discussion. Let’s take a look at what the friends said~

Part of the content of the article comes from @yifan｜Design mind-reading @Xu and @Eayon @Nemo point @wangwangwangwangwangwangzi@crocodile ate 55 rabbits @global question @呵呲嘚@不正@Accompany and others’ wonderful answers .

1. How cool is this function of forced bundle renewal?

People's Daily Online commented that "automatic renewal" will not remind users, and the single deduction amount is not large, which is not easy for consumers to notice, and the water flows smoothly.

Such quietly "sticky charging" does not necessarily provide services to users. Even if users "wake up from a dream" one day, they will most likely only suffer "dumb losses".

From the perspective of App operators, "automatic renewal" has been "agreed" by users. Whether they didn't pay attention or forgot to turn it off, it seems to be the "user's responsibility". Many apps have very good intentions, and this blame is too "slip".

So, how does it induce users to operate?

"Automatic renewal" is often set carelessly. Users may not pay attention to this small line of fine print in the agreement, or they may not be able to proceed to the next step without checking the box. Users are confused and led by the merchant.

In the second month of the contract period, since the amount is usually small and difficult for users to notice, the merchant will charge quietly, adding up to a small sum. By the time users notice, merchants have already made a lot of money.

Many friends say they don’t like the automatic renewal function and will turn off this option before the system automatically renews. This option seems to force you to make a choice.

Some friends said: "I checked Alipay and WeChat before and found that I had silently opened more than a dozen automatic monthly renewal memberships... Looking back at the time, I opened automatic renewal just for convenience and cheapness, and mentioned "You can cancel at any time, for example, WeChat reading costs 30 per month, and automatic renewal costs 19 per month. In comparison, it must be activated! "

Only later did I discover that there was profit and loss in the dark.

What you earn: Enterprises and users who really need it.

Loss-making: A big mistake that was needed temporarily but was later not needed but forgot to cancel.

This wave of "secret warehouse" operations by merchants is really amazing. Let the users unknowingly turn on the automatic renewal of more than a dozen software, and when the time is up, the users will be "emptied" unknowingly.

Some friends found that when it comes to how to choose "activate membership", the order of options is very particular. Most apps prioritize consecutive monthly, quarterly, and annual subscriptions at preferential prices, while members that do not require automatic renewal are placed at the end, and you need to carefully swipe the phone screen to find them.

2. It’s fun to bind for a while, then renew the crematorium

1. Reasons why users do not cancel automatic renewal

1) Forgot to cancel automatic renewal

We did not notice the automatic renewal setting in the software when subscribing to the service, or forgot to cancel the automatic renewal option after subscribing, resulting in a successful deduction for the next month's renewal.

Some friends complained: "Many times I sign up for membership 'passionately', just to watch a drama right away or because I have an urgent need for time. I often forget to turn off automatic renewal afterwards, resulting in continued deductions."

When there are other more attractive things to take away our attention, "cancel automatic renewal" will naturally be forgotten.

2) The steps to unsubscribe are cumbersome

In addition, “Another reason is that it is difficult to close and cancel the payment setting, and the closed entrance is not easy to find.”

Some limited-free functions will be used as bait in the APP. If you accidentally agree to use them, you will enter the fast payment channel. The platform will stipulate a limited time period, and if it is not canceled after the time, it will be deemed as automatic renewal. Turning off automatic cancellation requires a special period of time to find it. Some users give up when they can't find it for a while.

When product designers make any design, they should put users first, put themselves in the shoes of users, and understand the psychological changes of users. Only in this way can the products designed be loved by users, otherwise they will only lose their reputation.

2. Users’ trust in merchants decreases

Users may behave as follows when facing these situations:

1) Feeling confused and anxious

Users may feel confused and anxious when they realize they forgot to cancel automatic renewal or cannot find the cancellation portal. They may worry that they will be inadvertently charged, or feel that their rights and interests have been violated.

2) Find help and solutions

Users may actively seek help, such as consulting product documentation, contacting customer service, or asking questions on forums to learn how to cancel automatic renewal or find the cancellation entrance. They may want a quick resolution to avoid further distress and loss.

3) Have negative emotions about the product or service

If users have difficulty canceling auto-renewal or have a bad experience, they may develop negative feelings about the product or service. This can lead to them having less trust in the brand or company and even considering switching to a competitor.

"From an interaction point of view, any kind of "automatic" that can help users ease operations is the value that designers pursue. But some hidden factors, changes in user psychology, trust, dependence, these sensitive points are In the whole process, due to the lack of channels for speaking out or being too profit-oriented, they are often artificially ignored. Designers should make objective judgments on the user's intentions and should not adopt aggressive approaches." Some netizens suggested.

3. If you sign the contract, I will wait for the payment.

From the perspective of merchants or enterprises, renewing contracts for different users can bring the following gains:

1. Stable income stream

Renewal means that the user is willing to continue using the product or service and continue to pay. This provides businesses with a steady stream of revenue, helping with financial stability and business growth.

2. Improved user stickiness and loyalty

Through successful renewals, companies can enhance users' stickiness and loyalty to their products or services. Users are willing to continue using and paying fees, indicating that they are highly satisfied with the product or service and are willing to establish a long-term cooperative relationship with the enterprise.

3. Reduce user churn rate

Renewal can help companies reduce user churn rates. In a highly competitive market environment, retaining existing users is more cost-effective than attracting new users. By providing quality products and services and building good relationships with users, companies can increase user retention and reduce churn.

4. Data analysis and product improvement

Through the user data collected during the renewal process, companies can conduct in-depth data analysis to understand user needs and behavior patterns, so as to improve and optimize products. This helps companies continuously improve product quality and user experience, meet user needs, and further increase renewal rates.

A friend said: "From the perspective of the company's business purpose, it is very good and brings revenue to the company. If your product provides a good user experience and solves problems, users will still activate it again even if they are unbundled; From a product perspective, it provides users with memberships and does not require users to manually renew, which provides convenience. Users will also enhance their interaction with the product by opening memberships, and at the same time complete the business purpose, which is a good IDEA."

The emergence of forced automatic renewal is mainly based on the economic interests of merchants, because automatic renewal can ensure that they continue to receive income after the user's subscription expires, and reduce the possibility of user churn. For merchants, forced automatic renewal has indeed bro

[applepixls]

season 10 really is the social season.

tango in a stream from a week-ish ago joked that this is the season of non-redstoners learning redstone but i think it goes deeper than that

first of all, everyones putting in effort to interact with others and not burn out and balance their episodes with building and work and just having fun with friends

then, theres all the skill sharing.

tango asked bdubs to critique his starter house build, pearl's doing the hermit tours and asking for critiques and things they'd add, bdubs and impulse are working on the cyberpunk city together, stress and iskall are building murder mystery lane together. a lot of redstoners are developing their building skills and styles

then there's armour stands, of course cleos messing with them as always but now joel is as well and she's not holding back with praise for his work and he isn't holding back any admiration for hers either. impulse did the little king kong because the scaling update to the armour stand mod has everyone inspired to play and learn and mumbos asked cleo to teach him about it as well (sidebar: cleo does really well teaching? like i know they used to be a teacher but the clips from mumbos video just convince me they were a good teacher. they give him tips and tricks and suggestions and hints without telling him what to do or how to do it. shes also just like... teaching creativity? almost? along with the skill of giving the armour stands life, shes giving tips on how to imagine and realize a scene etc.)

and ofc, last but certainly not least, more people are building games and using redstone in general!! pearl built a game and showed it off to everyone, cleos doing the same with guess the hermit and xisumas more than happy to help trouble shoot and problem solve to make everything work. and its not just games! grians actually building farms (even if from tutorials, in the past he mostly just goes to the shopping district) and pearl and skizz are both learning and doing the research and designing their own farms?!

im sure i've missed a bunch but i'm just so impressed with the hermits and im happy everyone's having fun with friends this season

[sevgilimsatoru]

Error 410: (Self Aware!AU, Caleb Edition) Part 2

Part: 1 Part: 3 Part:4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 A/N Summary: A self aware!AU with Caleb and NonMC! reader. Tags: Caleb x reader, Caleb x NonMC! reader, Caleb x fem!reader, Stressedout!reader. Hypersexual!reader Trigger warnings: Masturbation, Mentions of slight sexual themes? Disgust in response to said sexual themes? Word Count: 1k

Inspired by: @ittybittyfanblog A/N: Hi, first of all, thanks for all the support. I really appreciate each and everyone of you. The only thing that I want to keep constant with my reader or Non!Mc is that she is hypersexual. Hypersexuality: It is referred to as compulsive sexual behavior or sex addiction, It's an intense focus on sexual fantasies, urges or behaviors that can't be controlled.  I wanted my reader to be hypersexual because I feel like this is still a hush topic even in safe spaces for people who are suffering from mental illness. Hypersexuality is often a trauma response from the brain of kids who were groomed, S/Aed or just got the unfiltered internet access at a young age and saw things that they shouldn't. If you don't feel comfortable with reading it, it's alright. You can just scroll past that part and I will make sure it's not too long or too frequent but it will be present. Hope you enjoy!!

"The best way to keep a prisoner from escaping is to make sure he never knows he's in prison" "-Fyodor Dostoevsky"

Silence, finally. Sweet, calm silence. You never knew how much you appreciate silence until the screeching loudness of your alarm blared throughout the room.

God.., when did you even set an alarm? You were sure you had made to turn off all your alarms a few days ago. Ugh.. You slowly opened your eyes. Wanting to stop that annoying noise and sleep a little more.

But the dryness in your mouth was probably a good reminder to wake up and drink some water. You really didn't need the hassle of going to a doctor because of dehydration. Your hand reaching out to pick up your phone and shutting the damn alarm off. The noise you let out when you finally got off the bed was between a whine and a groan. Rubbing your eyes, you walked inside the kitchen. Pouring yourself a glass of water. You took a sip- the cold liquid flowing in your mouth and down your parched throat. Quickly finishing the glass of water, pouring yourself one more. The liquid dripped down your chin with how quickly you were drinking it. Like a man dying of thirst in the middle of a desert. You panted slightly, pulling a glass away from your lips, wiping your mouth with the back of your hand. Wow, that felt so much better.. Your mom would taunt you to death if she saw you like this. Maybe you should start taking care of yourself.. But first, you should make some breakfast- now that you thought about it.., did you have dinner last night? Opening your fridge, you were greeted with a sad sight, there was almost nothing inside except a few slices of bread, two eggs and a few vegetables along with a little more than half a carton of milk.

That was more than enough for you to feed yourself today- maybe you should ask your parents for money, stock up the fridge. Yeah, maybe.. they had insisted to pay for your expenses even after it had been a struggle to convince them that you could live on your own. Taking out the eggs and vegetables, you placed them on the kitchen counter. Running the tap water to wash the vegetables. "I can make an omelet, it'll be quick an easy," You thought, letting out a small hum. It did get lonely living alone.. Closing the tap of water, you walked over to your room, picking up your phone and unlocking it. "Omelet.. omelet.. hmm" You muttered, scrolling through your phone, opening youtube. One of the first few videos you saw was an omelet tutorial. Wow. Isn't that awfully convenient? Oh well, doesn't matter. It didn't take long for you to make the omelet, it was actually pretty good. Much better than any omelet you've made before. You still had to shower, clean up your apartment, clean the dishes, do the laundry. That was a lot of work but well, you can do all that.. slowly.

Time passed and before you knew it, it was afternoon. With a sigh, you laid down in your bed. All that work was unsurprisingly exhausting. But you had actually gotten things done, isn't that great? You deserved a pat on the back.

You scrolled through your phone- tumblr, reddit, youtube.. but there was nothing new, nothing interesting. You felt bored.., you felt empty. One of your hands slipping in between your thighs, tapping against the fabric of your sweatpants. The urge had been there all day to just.. feel good. You really didn't feel like doing it.., you had just showered, changed your clothes, done laundry. But it would feel so good..

You shouldn't..

It would feel amazing though. And that rush of dopamine would feel so great. But.. It'll be quick.. just once? You'll stop after one orgasm. Yeah, just once. Sure.. just once- it always started with just once. You couldn't help the disgust blooming in your stomach as you shoved your stained sheets and sweatpants in the washing machine.

This was gross and so were you. The high felt good.., it felt so so good. But when it was over- the feeling of nausea and disgust was enough to make you feel repulsive.

Getting yourself off wasn't a bad thing.. once, twice even three times a day wasn't bad but fuck, when you started you couldn't just stop. What the hell was wrong with you? What sort of guy would ever like a girl like you? ..Why did that even matter, who cares what sort of guy would like you. You were really loosing your mind, it was just a matter of time before you cracked, you were sure.

You sniffled, blinking away the tears that were starting to form. No. You were not going to cry over this. You wanted to do something else, anything else to stop this train of thought. Picking up your phone, you opened Love and Deepspace.

Running back to him, just like a dog. You always did run back to him for comfort ever since you first saw Caleb after installing this game. Replaying the few and far scenes he had when he first appeared in the game. Who cares what sort of guy would like you? Caleb would.. he'd like you- no matter how you were, right? He'd adore you like he adored the MC right? Yeah, like it mattered how a fictional character made of pixels in a otome game thought of you. As if it mattered more than how actual people did. You really were insane. But does that matter, if he loves you? When the game finally loaded up, Caleb looked different. Worried.. That frown on his face which you found so adorable, his eyebrows scrunched together as he stared at you. As if he cared..

"Why are you looking at me like that, Caleb?" You said, talking to yourself in your empty room, not being able to help the smile that graced your face when you saw him. But it wasn't as bright as usual.., rather tired. "I worry about you, you know..?" Caleb said with a sigh, looking at you with a hand on his hips. His words felt like he was replying back to you. Was that a new line? You didn't see anything about a new update.. How strange but you really had no complaints. Caleb walked closer to the screen, reaching his hand out like every other time when he patted the MC's head. And like a fool, you almost leaned your head forward. Like you could actually feel his touch, his warmth. Oh, the things you'd do for him to be real..

You smiled at his concern, your eyes glued to the screen, running over his worried face. "I'll be fine, pretty boy" You muttered, as if he could hear you.

I'll be fine.., as long as you are with me. Tag list: @beewilko @browneyedgirl22 @aneertawrites @etsuniiru @demon-master-zero @angstylittleb1tch @mcdepressed290 @ittybittyfanblog @winwinwrites @alifyairl @huhleighna @calebsbeanpeeler @bookworrm1999

[oc-ology]

How to OC post without being an artist (or spending money)!

As much as I yelled about OC-posting, some people said that they struggled to know what exactly they should be posting. Obviously the answer is whatever you feel like but if you’re already aimless, that answer isn’t very helpful. Additionally, not everyone knows how to draw (which I think is an obvious method of OC-posting) so I wanted to give some ideas for what people could post for their OC! This will be split up into different sections.

Creating visual representations of your OC

Disclaimer: I will not suggest nor support the usage of generative AI. OCs are about creating something yourself, not allowing a computer to do it for you.

Outside of commissioning someone else for art, it can be disappointing and frustrating to not have any visual representation for your character. An easy way to get a representation of your character is to use Picrew, Meiker and other similar sites. There’s a large number of art styles, types of fashion, species, that can all be used to make your OC and that amount only grows by the day. Many of these websites can be accessed on PC and mobile and take very little processing power.

However, this can be limiting at times since you might not find exactly what you’re looking for, especially if your OC has a unique combination of features. For something with more customisation, you can use video games with character creation to make a version of your character. I personally would recommend games like The Sims or Skyrim as both have very active modding communities. This way, if a certain type of clothing or facial feature isn’t present in the base game then you can often find someone who has created a mod that adds it in instead. This does require you to have access to a computer that can run not only the game but the mods as well.

Another option would be using a program like Vroid Studio to make your character from a base model. This has both a mobile and PC version, although I will primarily be speaking from a PC perspective. The mobile app, while able to create a character from scratch, is a lot more limited than the PC version. The great thing about Vroid is that there’s a lot of user-made content that you can often get for free through websites like Booth, as well as many tutorials for beginners to follow along with. Again, this requires a computer that is able to run it. I would recommend against using Vroid on a laptop as it will likely be too intensive for it.

My final suggestion for character visuals is to take a character from anime or cartoons and simply edit them. This was actually how I first got into making original characters! You can recolour their hair or outfits with an editing program (with some free examples being FireAlpaca, Krita or GIMP) and even edit different images together to create something more unique. Please only do this with characters from existing media and avoid using fanart for this.

Other OC visuals

Other than just what your OC looks like, there are other ways to visually put together your OC. Moodboards are the most obvious example of this, but you can also edit other things such as putting together outfits for them or finding pictures of items they would keep in their bag.

If you have multiple OCs, you can create fake text conversations between them using a number of websites. These can be as silly or as serious as you like!

Finally, you can always build them a pinterest board. I am a massive pinterest enjoyer and not only can you use pins that others have posted to pinterest, you can add your own from off the site. 

Writing

Beyond writing out your characters’ story, there are numerous other things you can write. Keeping in line with what you’ve already written, you can re-write scenes from alternative perspectives. These can add context to what is seen in the main story, as well as flesh out background or side characters and their relationship to your other OCs.

Another fun thing to write is non-canon scenes. Write a beach episode! Write about a character getting sick and someone else having to take care of them! There are countless ways to draw your OCs interacting with their world or other characters that wouldn’t necessarily ever fit into the “main” story.

Next is genre changes. If you had to categorise the genre of your OCs’ current story, what would it be? Now image what if the genre was something completely different? Romance to mystery… Slice of life to horror… Part of the challenge is figuring out what story beats remain the same and what gets changed, including character dynamics! And of course… Alternate Universes. There are too many types of AUs to list but some of my favourites are superpowers, mafia, zombies, time loops and time-travel-fix-its. These are similar to genre-changes but often include a number of AU specific tropes. If you’re struggling to figure out the staples of a certain AU or what kind of AUs exist, there’s a really good page about alternate universes on Fanlore.org!

Other ideas

These are ideas that didn’t quite fit into the other categories.

First is music playlists! There are two types of these. The first is a playlist of songs that describe a character and their story while the second is a playlist of songs that the character would listen to. Some people like to combine the two as well! There are no rules to this, simply have fun listening to music and picking out songs that remind you of your OCs.

Second is incorrect quotes. I remember these used to be beloved by fandom and now they can be beloved by you and your OCs! The concept of incorrect quotes is that well-known and funny quotes from pop culture (such as memes or movies) get written out and your characters are assigned a line of dialogue. While there’s a website that’ll generate these incorrect quotes for you, I personally find more fun in coming across quotes organically while scrolling social media and realising that they fit my OCs almost perfectly.

Finally, ask games. These typically take the form of lists of questions or prompts with emojis or numbers next to them. People can send in the relevant emoji or number and you then answer the corresponding prompt. There used to be a kind of “ask game etiquette” where if you reblogged an ask game from someone, you sent an ask from the list to them as well. This way, it allows the game to continue circulating and you can spread the joy of OC-posting with others! It can also lead you to making friends within the community.

And that’s it for my post! If you have other suggestions for kinds of OC-posting then I would love to see them!

[prokopetz]

Boring: Video game sequel establishes that the secret "true ending" with lots of fiddly unlocking criteria is what canonically happened.

Also boring: Video game sequel establishes that the unlockable secret ending is a counterfactual "what if" scenario and the standard ending is what canonically happened.

Not boring: Video game sequel establishes that the non-standard game over you receive if you somehow manage to die during the tutorial is what canonically happened.

[anachrosims]

STICKY POST: ULTIMATE(ISH) GUIDE(S) TO SIMS 4 CC-MAKING; OR, A COMPREHENSIVE COMPENDIUM OF TUTORIALS, INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS, & FELLOW COMPILATIONS OF A LIKEWISE NATURE

In which I list a fuckton of tutorials, guides, and lists of such, each written, curated, and crafted by people far more talented than I.

More will be added as I find them.

---

@teanmoon's CC Guides - Includes tutorials on cloning, uv_1, weights, bump and specular maps, bi-color hair, and a Blender Cheat Sheet. High poly 'creators' have little excuse to churn out high poly, non-optimized garbage when they can lean on bump maps. (I know those can only do so much for more complex meshes, but for objects, texture maps can do SO much heavy-lifting).

@vintagesimstress's CC Guides - Includes tutorials on using Blender to create objects and clothing, especially for people who are just getting started.

@eliavah's uv-1 adjustment tutorial. Haven't tried this myself yet, but after glancing through it, it's something I will surely want to keep bookmarked.

@simlaughlove's CC Tutorials List - Includes many tutorials handily laid out by category on everything from object texturing to CAS morphs.

@thefoxburyinstitute's Nav Page - This blog is nonstop Sims 4 resources for e v e r y t h i n g. READ THIS POST FIRST as a guide on how to actually... nav.

@simsresourcehub's Tags List - What it says on the tin.

Transferring Weights in Blender 3.3.1 - Over at Sims4Studio forums.

@trillyke's List of Tutorials - Good ones!

@sims4tutorials - *GRAND GESTURES*

@katverse's Huge List of Tutorials - Tutorials on eeeverything.

@thatsimslady's Massive List of Tutorials - 31 pages????? Damn.

@kouukie's Sims 4 CAS with Marvelous Designer Tutorial - YouTube video!

@rusticottage's Gifmaking Tutorial - I love Sims gifs tbh.

@cowplant-pizza' Boes' Editing Masterlist - Includes stuff for Reshade, PSDs, PS Actions, and how to use them.

@melonsloth's Deco Sim Tutorial - Using SimRipper

@depthofpixels's Deco Sim Tutorial - Using SimRipper

@azuhrasims' Guide to Posing Sims - Includes how to pose sims, and handy workarounds! Super great for beginners and longtime users.

@radioactivedotcom's Guide to Posing - Includes additional posing resources. NOT for beginners.

@madameriasims4's Add a Flame to Your Basegame Candle - Great for mood lighting and historical gameplay!

@syboubou's Making a Lamp Start to Finish - a video tutorial

MORE BELOW:

Adding Lit DST to Fireplace

New image ref for default overrides

Make an RGB Spec for Objects

Bake a shadow onto your object in Blender

Linking all bedding to a single frame

Cutouts for Doors/Windows/Archways

Making objects see-through/glass

Making lamps light correctly

Give an object transparency (add an alpha)

Make a candle w/ multiple flames

Change LOD viewing distance

[celestial-sphere-press]

what kind/style of endbands do you usually do? they look so good 👀

hi!! sorry for taking a while to answer, I wanted to make sure I could give you my best answer.

I usually do what's called a "double core" endband. I use double core endbands over the "bead on front" method because bead on front style is not great for uneven distributions of color, irregular patterns, or using more than three colors. Functionally it works by having your extra threads wrapped up inside the thread that is showing, forming the smaller secondary core. Ultimately you are doing figure 8s around the main core & then your secondary core of thread. This keeps things pretty neat & tidy. The tutorial I first used was this one by DAS Bookbinding, though I don't think his endband tutorials are his best ones. Another binder I've spoken with endbands about a lot is maleeka, who recently did an endband tutorial herself.

maybe I should do one... but it takes a lot for me to get enough motivation to make videos. I'll take this opportunity to write up some tips I've shared when people ask instead:

1. Endband core material is the MOST IMPORTANT component. You need a core that is stiff but flexible - it should NOT be floppy because it wiggles everywhere under the tension of the thread, but still needs to flex with the opening & closing of the book. You want something that doesn't compress, to reduce tension shifts in thread creating a lumpy endband. Have a smooth core is less critical but helps to avoid snagging threads & allows you some leeway on sliding threads around for adjustments. My personal choice is smooth leather jewelers cord (link is just an example, I get mine from a local craft store).

2. Thread size. All your threads need to be the same size; it will be visible if you are using two different sizes, and mess with your front core. Additionally, I know lots of people will use larger twists of multiple strands of embroidery thread, which can work, but is more likely to compress & alter its size in unexpected ways. A single strand is preferable. If you want something thicker you can find some thread weights that are heavier twists intended to be used in a single strand, not pulled apart. I prefer smaller sizes because it works better for the gradient designs I like.

3. Silk thread is your friend (if you can spend the money on it). It reduces fuzz (no fuzz like you get with cotton/DMC embroidery thread), it's usually easier to manage, has a more compact twist, and a higher shine. I use Japanese silk hand sewing thread in size #9 (9号). There's multiple brands (Tire, Daruma, KNK/kanagawa, etc). Here's a wholesale listing (minimum 20,000¥ for international). A non-Japanese brand is Guterman silk (German brand). Both the Japanese & German threads come in a heavier weight (Japanese is #16, Guterman is buttonhole).

4. Thread tension is the most important part of the actual technique. You need to ensure the threads currently wrapped in the secondary core keep tension when you are working the thread around them.

5. Working on a curve. This is only really relevant if you're doing an endband on a rounded book, but the circumference of the curve means there's more real estate on the outside vs inside of the curve. Sometimes this can cause bunching on the secondary core. My own solution to this is that sometimes I wrap the primary core but drop a wrap here or there around the secondary core (only between two wraps of the same color I'm dropping). I uh... don't know of anyone currently recommending this besides myself so I can't point to any pro endorsement for this method, it's just what works for me. Forgive my terrible writing:

6. Pattern management. I... don't really plan much how my patterns sit on the spine, which is not very helpful. HOWEVER you can do some pattern management on the fly, if you really want your pattern to end at a certain place. Thread can be packed more or less densely on the core, resulting in some pattern compression; you could also strategically drop wraps in less noticeable locations. An unintended example: I was replicating the pattern on this endband (left) when I realize I wasn't packing the thread as densely as I had the first time around (right), which resulted in the overall pattern taking up more space. You can do this on purpose, if you need to.

this was way more than you asked but it gave me a chance to put all this in one spot. Best of luck in vanquishing the dreaded EndWyrms.