Saturday, March 20, 2010

Custom Virtual Reality Game: Fantasy RPG

This time I replaced the fantasy game. I don't like the original, which is very western-RPG oriented. Stuff like Oblivion and Dragon Age, talking about Kings and Peasants and cliches. So I changed it into a more JRPG oriented game. While the dialogue options and texts don't explicitly make mention of anything from the games, they are all based on situations in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy X-2. ( If you're curious, the pictures, in order, reference the plethora of sidequests in FFX-2, the Job system of FFX-2, Blitzball from FFX, and Macalania Forest from FFX.) There's an extra comma in one of the screens, but that's an error from testing. It is not there in the download. :P


I also tried to make sure that your sim isn't locked into any specific character type (swordsman, white mage, black mage, etc). The game doesn't imply them to specifically be oriented towards any of them- the original game made it clear they were an all-around Oblivion-style character.

Because this is just altered text, your sim will still get scared moodlets when bad things happen and excited ones when good things happen. It does not conflict with the Action game replacement. :D


Have fun. :D

Custom Virtual Reality Game: Crime Sim

I have replaced every single text and interaction for the VR machine's "Action" game. By default, you are playing a cop game. I have changed it into a GTA-style free-for-all crime game! Now your sim can run missions for The Boss, protect the crime syndicate, take on rival gangs, and escape the cops!



Excuse any text deformation, that's because the game is in windowed mode and I can't take shots of specific areas in full screen.

Each and every TNS text was redone(though a lot are variations on the cop game texts), and this is for both genders (so they will say "his" or "her" depending on gender). There are also 5 interaction boxes like the one shown above that will pop up. One fit both the cop game and the crime game, so I left it alone. :p

Because this is just altered text, your sim will still get scared moodlets when bad things happen and excited ones when good things happen.

Tested and functioning. Just replaces text, so don't worry about it conflicting with anything- it will only conflict with something which also changes this text. :D It does not conflict with the Fantasy game replacement.

Have fun!

Friday, March 19, 2010

How To: Functional Exposed Basement

The kind of basement we've always wanted. One that you can put windows on, one that doesn't need a wall to hide a slope, one that is still a foundation and allows the house to be raised.


I didn't add instructions to the video as I have absolutely no software to do such a thing, so try to pause it as you follow along. I will probably make a video tomorrow with, mayyyyybe, a voice over and real-time building, instead of "redo" like I did here. As of right now I'm just excited about it and wanted to show off ASAP. I'm gonna feel like an idiot if this is already known information. :P

It really isn't that hard. What you are doing is placing floating floor tiles over a basement poking out of the ground.

The video starts at step 6, the first 5 are very simple. Just build a basement on raised land until you get one that is exposed enough for whatever window you are using. I have a bit of an issue with outside stairs, as you will see, this is because my foundation is a bit awkward and so the stairs couldn't reach the ground properly.

(The Video name and description may not be updated yet, sorry)



What you will be doing: Building a basement on raised land, flattening the land around it so that it looks like a foundation, and adding floor tiles so that you can build a house on top.

1. Raise the land a few clicks.
2. Put a basement
3. Using Constrainfloorelevation False, flatten the land.
4. Go to the basement and, using moveobjects on, place privacy windows
5. Check. Are they visible from the outside? You're good. No? Try again. delete the basement, raise the land some more.
6. Once it's good, build your basement and flatten the land again.
7. Put a foundation next to the exposed wall of your basement.
8. The foundation must be shorter than the basement wall. If it is, place a small bump of land to raise the foundation to match the basement wall.
9. Once the foundation is at the right height, matched perfectly with the basement wall, build it around the perimeter of the basement.
10. Use the tiles around the edge of the foundation to place floor OVER your basement
11. There will be gaps in the center that can't be tiled. Place a foundation piece in those, and add more floor. Delete the foundation, and add floor where it was(since there's floor around where it was, you can now place floor there)
12. Repeat until the entire thing has floor.
13. Build walls on the floor
14. Remove floor for stairs
15. Place stairs

Edit: You can NOT make one at the exact height as a foundation. This sucks, but it's unavoidable. If it is foundation height, the stairs refuse to go through to the basement, and instead will just stop at the ground. If it's more than foundation height, they are FORCED to be longer than "one tile", and will go straight through to the basement. :\ This is why the foundation has to be raised up before placing tiles, and why the basement wall has to stick out one click higher than a foundation. If anybody finds a workaround for that, it'd be great.
 Ask for help if you need to. :D

Simple Interaction Renames (Updated)

STBL Editor is pretty cool. So for my preferences, I'm renaming some interactions. Want them? Here's the ones I did so far.

Updated: Added "TurnOffFire"


-Preferred Vehicle. Normally, the game says "[Name]'s Preferred [Car]". Now, it will just say "[Name]'s [Car]".


-Cuddle On Bed. Normally the interations are "Invite to Cuddle On Bed" and "Cuddle On Bed". Now, they are "Invite to Snuggle" and "Snuggle".


-Custom Music. Normally, the custom music station is called just that. Now, it says "CD Player" (Based on the assumption that the rest of the stations are actual radio stations, making Custom Music make more sense).


-Turn Off Fire. Normally, for some stupid reason, your sim "turns off" the fireplaces. I don't like that. I like to think they're real fire, not gas fire. So now, the interaction is "Put Out Fire".

Preferred Vehicle
Cuddle On Bed
Custom Music
Turn Off Fire

English only. Made with Stubble STBL editor, and will conflict anything else that changes these interaction names(though the interactions themselves are likely fine.)

I don't claim these are anything amazing, they're just simple preference tweaks to make things more realistic and less redundant. They're all less than 1kb in size, so it'll take more time to click them than to download them, and they won't waste space.

Simple Universal TV Channel Names

I know there are lots of these lately, but...I don't like the in-game names (like Action World or Kidz Zone), and I don't like the idea of making the channels real names...and I didn't want to just make some up, as that would appeal to probably nobody.
 

So here you go, all the channels made to reflect their genre. Nice and simple and recognizable. I like it a lot more.

Made using Stubble STBL Editor, will conflict with anything that changes the TV xml, most likely. It's english only, and will replace the names with these english names regardless of what language your game is.

Is this a major breakthrough? I've made a house with an exposed, functioning, basement.


With a proper stairway from "foundation" to basement, and windows on the edge(they are visible from in the basement, too)

I'll probably make a proper tutorial later, but here's what I did:

1. Raise the land a few clicks
2. Put a basement to test
3. Using Constrainfloorelevation False, flatten the land around the basement
4. Go to the basement and, using moveobjects on, place privacy windows
5. Check. Are they visible? You're good. No? Try again. delete the basement, raise the land some more.
6. Once it's good, build your basement and flatten the land around it.
7. Put a foundation next to the exposed wall of your basement.
8. Is the foundation height the same as the exposed wall? If so, you're good. If it's too low, build it on a tiny raised piece of land to get it to match.
9. Once the foundation is at the right height, build it around the perimeter of the basement.
10. Use the invisible tiles around the edge of the foundation to place floor OVER your basement
11. There will be gaps in the center that can't be tiled. Place a foundation piece in those, and add more floor. Delete the foundation, and add floor where it was(since there's floor around where it was, you can now place floor there)
12. REpeat until the entire thing has floor.
13. Build walls on the floor
14. Remove floor for stairs
15. Place stairs

Tada!

An extremely simplified explanation is that a bunch of floating floor tiles with deleted foundations(and therefore no support, just plainf loating) are floating over an exposed basement, made to stick out using CFE. It's surprisingly simple.

I don't believe I've seen anyone do something like this yet. As far as I know people still think it's impossible.

A lot in China has stairs going direct from floor tiles to a basement, through the ground. I do not know for sure, but I think a similar method may have been used there.

I'm currently uploading a video of me pressing "redo" to show off the steps. I can't post on MTS anymore, but if someone feels like it, a topic about this in the building forum might be nice. I'd like to know if this has been done before and whether or not I'm special and badass for figuring out a way to do it. :p

SimNation Autos

Where the heck do all our sims even buy those cars they own? They're not...exactly...brands that we're used to. So they must be SimNation made. But that still doesn't explain where we buy them from! I doubt our sims go to the mall and walk out with a car.

So for a bit more added realism...here is SimNation Autos!


Forgive me for any inaccuracies, but I've been in two of these places (one in GTA: Vice City, one for real), and I tried to gather all their common traits:

-Cars in windows
-Lots of windows
-A car portrayed on a pedestal
-Open ceiling with a second floor for fancy cars


Inside has a few cars displayed, as well as a bunch of Kenspas! There's a couch for people to wait for the dealer.


The dealer has his own non-threatening office. Though maybe it is threatening. He's got his fancy car and his car's awards all lined up behind him, he's gonna be pissed that you're only there for a Sloppy Jalopy.


Kenspas!


The car on display in the front window.


The cars upstairs, and a seating area for talking with a dealer. The dealer logo is in here, too, as well as against the wall outside.


The cheap and smaller cars...


The expensive family cars...


And the fancy expensive sportscar! The rest of the expensive cars are inside, displayed upstairs.


I think I got the feeling of an overzealous car dealership down pretty well. And it only requires 3 custom content objects! (Granted, one is a set of 44 windows...but they're good windows.)

Lot size is 30x40

Requirements:
-These Windows
-These Roof Colors (for the dome on top)
-These community lot cars
-World Adventures

This lot is not functional. It does not *do* anything. It's simply there because I think it's a cool idea and it adds yet another extra bit of decorative realism to the neighborhood. I personally built it on the lot where the Diner was.

Enjoy :D

Thursday, March 18, 2010

The Pizza Boy Next Door (Updated)

Just a sim I whipped up to play. I forgot that the game can be PLAYED. Irony being that in making a sim to play, I also made a sim to upload. :| He looks a tad bit "default", but who cares? He's cute.


The Pizza Boy Next Door is hot. He's a young adult, he's a bit of a snob, but he's friendly. Word is he's a great kisser, too.


He really wants to be rich and stylish. He rides around on a vespa!


But...it's only because he's starting out as a pizza boy.


Luckily his other clothes are a lot more stylish.

Only required content is the unlocked and fully CASTable Pizza outfit.  Which I have uploaded here! :D


UPDATED:

And these sliders, which are awesome and let you do so much more with your sims. Here. Thanks to LadyFrontBum for the Link and Ahmad for making the sliders. :D


Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Unexplained Phenomena with Walls

Does anyone have ANY idea what causes this?


That wall. The rectangle shape in the front. The walls on the corner are the SAME wall. Same with the shape in the back. Note that the right one is bright, the left one is dark. No matter what the surroundings are, it seems that the edge brick walls are darker than their normal non-edged counterparts when facing this direction. On any other direction, they look fine. This applies to EVERY lot- this same exact direction.

This is baffling me.

Opened Up Rabbit Hole Replacements Seem to be a Hit

So here's a preview of the next one, the police station. :D


Forgive my terminology- by "Booking area" and "Booking Room" I'm referring to a room where people brought in sit around and wait to be sent on their way or put in a cell or whatever. They seem to be something only bigger cities have, they're seen a lot on some police shows. They'll call people up to a counter and give them a fine or something, detemining if they're going to be held at the station or whatever.

There are no cliche jail fences/doors as far as I know, so I opted for the more modern "door and a concrete room" kind of thing.

Anyway, I tried to keep the outside similar to the existing rabbit hole(as usual). There are actually 4 floors- but one is halved, so that there can be short rooves with a usable, routable floor on top, to keep it looking as close to the rabbit hole as possible. On the roof, at least. :p

Abandoned Factory (Warehouse Rabbit Hole Replacement)

Yet another rabbit hole, opened for decorative purposes! This time, it's the Outstanding Citizens Warehouse. I turned it into a factory.


The door is a garage door, seemed a lot more...mechanical.


Inside is a building best viewed in 3 stories. First floor: Production. Second floor: Maintenance. Third floor: Foreman's office.


The production line is display cases, painted ot look like a conveyor belt system. Things come from the big room, go through a little one, and pop out the end. Along the edges are stools and boxes- two boxes for "rejects" and a final, large box for things to be placed in for shipping out. You can put what you want on these belts to give the illusion of abandoned production. :D


The actual rabbit hole is off in the corner.


The foreman's office is a really cool aspect, I think, but there's no real purpose to it. It has a bookshelf and a desk.


Thanks to the wonderful invisible WA lights, the lights on the cieling appear to shine down three whole stories, lighting up the catwalks and, to a lesser extent, the floor below. The lights are invisible when in live mode.


And finally, the roof(accessible by way of outside stairs) features some pipes for no reason other than pipes being a factory thing. They're the upper posts of the modern fireplace- so they may or may not exist in the exported lot. Not sure.

Works properly and everything. :D Is intended to go in the same place as the original in Sunset Valley.


Requirements:
-World Adventures
-Half Walls
-These rabbit holes

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Sunnyside Suites Apartments

This is my least favorite upload. I don't like it.

 Since I discovered when building the Sharma Day Spa that tomb markers + windowed rooms = black windows, I figure that's a pretty awesome way of making an apartment look realistic: Keeping you from seeing inside the rooms that aren't yours.

So this is the Sunnyside Suites Apartments. It's an apartment building with 7 suites, that get larger the higher up you go- but 6 of them are completely hidden to your eye. YOUR suite...is on the top floor.

I'm not 100% satisfied with the outer look of this lot, but I dunno what to do with it. The inside, however, I adore.

Somewhat regal on the outside, this apartment is intended for the richer of the city. Those used to the big city and loft-style apartments.


The inside is similarly regal, with fancy carved paneling and mini chandeliers.


Just inside is a small party room that residents can use at will, usually used as a hang out around lunch time.


But since these apartments aren't YOURS...you cannot see into them. (Rest assured, however, that they are walled.) The smaller apartments are not decorated in any way, but if you want, you could easily open them up and decorate them to have a few sims living here at once, in their own rooms. The doors are locked by default, though.


But up the stairs at the end of the final staircase is a door, leading to some stairs, leading to...


Your suite!



Small and stylish, and totally yours. Rise high above the town!

And at night, the deck and pool are things of beauty, thanks to some fancy lighting tricks using invisible WA lights, to keep lighting looking natural as it spreads up walls and into the pool.


This lot is 30x40, and will cost your sim about 200k to move into.
Requirements:
-World Adventures
-The furniture in the Suite is from High End Loft Stuff. You don't NEED it, but you will if you want it to look the same.

Enjoy. :D


Update: I just noticed I somehow forgot a stove. Or a single sink. I think I was distracted by the pretty counters and the buffet table, and somehow it slipped my mind. Whatever, there's a BUFFET TABLE! Live it up! Screw cooking!