Holy Heart Attack

So, as most of you (if not all), know, I am a big MTS person. I spend a lot of time in there. Occasionally, I pop into the Sims 3 Discussion forums just to see what's new. I'll hand it to those guys over there; they usually know what they're talking about. The leaks about Supernatural turned out to be true, even if EA waited months before "officially" announcing it.

So, when the Seasons leaks started happening from members who have been pretty right about these types of things, I started to get excited. Of course, we don't know all the details: when, exactly how good, etc, etc. Then, on August 2nd, EA officially announced the Sims 3 Seasons with a release date of November 13, 2012, just two months after the release of Supernatural. Even better, they released it with a trailer. If you haven't seen it, check it out! It is amazing and almost makes me want to cry tears of joy.

It seems to be everything I could have hoped for in an expansion pack regarding weather: gradual seasonal change, ability to work with all released worlds, including custom ones, options to control and set the length of order of the seasons, and OMFG umbrellas and the return of slow dancing. Speaking of, slow dancing was showcased in the first producer chat and there were dips and spins involved; yay! The festivals look super cute, the seasonal lot marker that allows for lots to change with the seasons (which will help immensely with storytelling), the holidays, new party types, and even aliens. Heaven is in heaven.

Is it November yet?

Daybreak Cottage

Welcome to Daybreak Cottage

This quaint, beach cottage is decorated in cool, soothing colors and is perfect for newlyweds, empty nesters, or even young roommates. Situated right on the beach in Starlight Shores, the calming sound of the ocean and the smell of the salt breeze is sure to relax you as soon as you walk in the door.

The home features an open plan living area with living, dining, and kitchen moving seamlessly from one to the other. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, though one bedroom is currently in use as a studio for a writer and artist. The master suite opens onto a small, private deck overlooking the ocean and is perfect for sipping tea and reading a book as you watch the sun set.

 Lot Details:

• Lot Size - 20x30
• Furnished - §67,238
• Unfurnished - §29,114

 Daybreak Cottage Download

Mediafire

Custom Content Included:

 Tammy_Trauma's Lattice Pattern

Tammy_Trauma's Dark Blue Roof with White Trim

Custom Content Required, Not Included:

Granthes' OMSP
Davey DaVinci's Mini TVs
Cmomoney's Shelf Clutter Pack
QBuilderz's Match Things! Painting Set
Huge Lunatic's Bamboo Garden Edger
Ewelina20's Abstract Paintings
Menaceman44's Larger Recolorable Tissue Box
Around the Sims 3 Artist's Workshop
Around the Sims 3 Decor for Kitchen and Bathroom
Around the Sims 3 Box of Artwork
Around the Sims 3 Office Chair 
Shakeshaft's Richmond Cozy Corner
My Sim-Style's Vintage Paintings
Aikea Guinea's Indoor Plants

Astra Sims' Large Palm
Djehmli's Scattered Shells Pattern

Store Contemporary Comfort Bedroom (480 points)
-ONLY bed, end table, dresser, reed basket 

Store Buccaneer's Bounty (850 points) 
-ONLY anchor, clamtastic, and captain's wheel 
Store Warbling Wind Chimes (250 points)
Store Grandmother's Cooktop (100 points)
Store Comfy Couch with Slipcover (100 points)
Store Woodland Counter and Island (75 points each)
Store Woven Wicker Trunk (25 points)
Store Murano Retro and Ripe Fruit Bowl (25 points)

Store Kitchen Cage Hutch (25 points)

Store Big Cheese Coat Rack (25 points)
Store Exotic Pineapple Lamp (25 points)
Store Banquett Fan (free) 
- get from in-game store 


Sit back, relax, and let the stress melt away!

Piece of Heaven

Good news is, the job is going well. Granted, it is certainly not something I want to do with the rest of my life. Probably not even something I want to continue when James and I move to wherever we will be going next. However, it works to keep me busy and enables me to save money for many things: a new computer (yay for shiny new stuffz), my husband's arsenal, a babymoon, and, maybe even an actual baby.

Bad news is, the job keeps me from simming as much as I used to. I am more motivated to work on it when I have time but I have less time so I don't get as much done as I have in my head. The Kidds have pretty much all but been abandoned and I am not really interested in continuing them. Not that I was that far along anyway. I am only in Generation 4 of the Avendales. I would love to attempt a random legacy AND I had an idea for a non-legacy more soap-opera-y type of story. More on that later, maybe. Plus, I haven't uploaded anything in forever! I have some override mods that I feel are useful, but small, sitting in my mods folder that I use, that I just haven't cared enough to prepare an upload post. Should probably do that at some point.

I'd love to work on a lot or 3. Or upload my split level from Aberstrathe. That house may just be my pride and joy because of the detail in it. I had been saving it for the world download but that's never gonna happen. I'm not even being optimistic about it anymore.

It also appears that a lot of people would like me to host another story contest. I'm interested. Just need to find the time and come up with a template that is different than last time. And find judges, of course. That might be the hard part!

Maybe I will start working on the lot and the overrides soon. Then see where I am in the Avendales and contemplate if I can handle 2 stories at the same time.

Lazily Passing the Days

Okay, well not really. I just started a new job on Friday so, hopefully, it will keep me busy. But lately sims just seem to bore me. I am completely out of inspiration for everything. I sit in front of my computer and stare and stare wondering if I should build or play. So I open up my legacy and play and then got annoyed with the toddlers and quit. So I open up my saved CAW world and stare at it, trying to figure out what lot to work on, and close it without making any changes. I then think of either starting a brand new CAW world or attempting a Random Legacy. So I open a new CAW world and stare at the vast expanse of green and close without any changes. Having nowhere to start is rather daunting. Then, I think I realize that I don't want to start a new legacy, random or not, in a crappy town. So I A) need to finish Aberstrathe, B) need to make a new one, or C) find one that I can be happy with. A and C are the more likely choices but, to be completely honest, I am a picky bitch. So, for now, I shall sit and wait for some of you in #create and just chat about randoms and hope something will inspire me.

Mindless staring commenced.

Riverview Butt Kicking!

Okay, honestly, it's more like heaven butt kicking. The score is heaven - 0, Riverview - 1. Or 10. Well, lots. Honestly, it seems every time I open CAW there is something else to discourage me from continuing. First it was lagging, then it was me having lots of interiors to do, then it was realizing that I had made some lots too small and needing to redesign entire acres of land. Finally, after numerous crashes, borked saves, and redoing the same "gently smooth" action at least 20 times, I finally got things going again.
Or so I thought. Ugh...it's so frustrating. I look at it and think "Oh, I don't have that much to go" and then I start making lists in my head.

• Spawners
• Terrain
• Bushes/plants
• Interiors on at least half of the built buildings
• At least 14 complete builds to go
• 3-4 tombs to plan out, build/decorate, then booby trap

And the list just keeps going on. I've had really no testers so I have no idea what I might even be missing or have screwed up somewhere and need to fix later. And this is all BEFORE I start worrying about a population to go with it. And creating custom rabbit holes to release separately for those who like to use the insides for stories.

Will I ever get it finished?

I did finish some adorable houses that I really love a lot, rearranged some of the suburb 'historic' downtown area, and added a butterfly pavilion. I had planned on going with a similar landscape of outside of the pavilion but Kayla showed me some lovely pictures of New Zealand so now the pavilion is more tropical. 

That last is the butterfly pavilion. Am trying to think about to add a small, man made waterfall inside and, until I can figure it out, I've taken a break from it. But I think I have a pretty start. They are kinda crappy pictures but taking pictures in edit mode is harder than live mode and, I'm building so no sims at the moment.

Mummy, I No See You

So, Jessica Ivy and I were exploring tombs today. I am in the process of making my first one and figured I would play some to see how things were set up, traps laid out, etc. I discovered a weird glitch. As a mummy would pop out of its sarcophagus, my sim would get stuck in an ever-lasting loop doing whatever animation she was currently doing. First time, I just reset my sim, teleported her back and went on my merry way. Second time, I was rather amused and let it play through a bit to see what would happen. Below is the product of that experience:

Mr. Calvinotep Larimoropolese (yes, that's his name) wanders out his tomb, ready to attack Jessica Ivy. 

 "What, no reaction? Okay, what about when I do....this!!!"

 "Hrrm, nothing."
"Maybe if I ignore it, it'll go away," she's thinking.

 "What about....now!"

"Eureka, I've got it."

"Some mild groping appears to be in order. And...nothing, what are you, an abomination of nature? This ALWAYS works."

"Ah, well, one more time for good measure."

"Whenever you're ready princess. Just you wait."

Pets Patch = Epic Fail

Okay, okay. So I didn't actually download the patch myself. Some well respected modders in the community have been downloaded it and have noticed some extreme bad stuff. Slots no longer work on CC. According to the modders who are in the process of testing this right now: "it actually affects everything that contains slot resources in the package - which will be almost every object ever but only noticeable on ones where the slots are used for interactions".

From what they are seeing, EA changed how slots work so their content will be seamlessly updated. But any custom content that (as mentioned above) contains the slot resources in the package, the slots will not update to this new version. It will have to be hand fixed by each creator. It doesn't seem like there should be a problem for anyone that does not use third party content. 

I AM one of those people who uses third party content, and love it, and am extremely disappointed that such a thing has occurred. I have a good number of CC cribs, tables, beds, etc and am not interested in losing them, just so I can play the game. Therefore, even though my Pets was preordered and is available for pickup tomorrow morning, I doubt it will be installed and patched until there is either a fix or my favorite creators get a chance to update their items. 

Creators out there, I feel for you! I hope that you don't get too discouraged and will fix your lovely items for us. Not that I blame you if you choose to do otherwise. This is a sad, sad day for the modding community, especially given that there was no warning, notice, anything from EA to even hint that this could be a problem. Epic fail EA, epic fail. 


So, the Avendales may have to wait even longer for me to get back to them.