Ambassador Challenge

I haven't been blogging lately, mostly due to the fact that I'm still working on the new project, and this blog has a habit of cursing each project I start, lol! Plus, I think blogs are more fun to read if there's a coherent theme...which I am lacking at the moment. I'm all over the place, really.

I do however have a new-ish challenge based of previously explored ideas! :) The link to the Ambassador Challenge can be found here.

Delay.

*headdesk*

So if you guys have already seen some of my other comments, my game started crashing which lead to the loss of my Amatus save files. I had to take out all of my CC and store content, and I'm slowly adding them back in.

• The Bad News: AMATUS is being delayed indefinitely. I don't feel that it's fair to post one chapter of something if I'm not completely sure I can finish it, and it wasn't that important of a project. It was more like a "side story" to go along with the in-game project. 

• The Good News: All of the characters in AMATUS are in my SavedSims folder, completely CC-free. That means, all I have to do is go into CAS, replace a few hair and costume pieces, and then ship them to Bridgeport. I will, however, have to re-build their homes.

It really upsets me each time I have to make a post like this.

Anyway, I hope you all have a happy (and safe!) Halloween! 

Sincerely,

Cheezy

AMATUS!!

I have some exciting news!

A short story called AMATUS (latin: beloved) will be published on this blog October 31st, aka Halloween. It was originally meant to be a part of the in-game project I've previously referred to, but the mood of the story clashes with the mood and environment of the project. Sooo, it gets its own short series!

I wanted to wait to announce the series, since I wasn't sure if it would work, but it seems to be going well so far and hopefully it will continue to. I've written some chapters in advance so I can focus on school. The chapters will be released once every week for multiple parts, and once every two weeks for complete chapters.

Story Overview:
Name: AMATUS
Setting: Bridgeport (outskirts)
Narration: Third-person
Genre: Thriller
Naming Theme: Latin, Mystic
Rating: Teen/PG-13 (language, unsettling scenes, some sexuality and possible non-frontal nudity)

And now, a completely unrelated (yet adorable) teaser for the story:

Can't wait to hear your feedback. :)

My Impression of Pets So Far...(and other stuff!)

By my mother's generosity, she gave me her copy of S3Pets yesterday when my pre-ordered copy had yet to show. So far, I absolutely love Pets! Not really shocking, since I'm pretty easily impressed (hey, a trait!) and I was a major fan of S2Pets, but I am seriously in love with this game. Now my favorite EP is tied between LN, GEN, and Pets.

Since I somehow got my game to work perfectly without flaw for the first time ever, I'm going to walk you guys through the steps I took before/during install. It'll be very brief, and I know the regular commenters know how to backup the game and all that jazz, but I still wanted to review so any lurkers who don't know how to do this will learn. Feel free to skip down. :) Oh, and I'm not fantastic at troubleshooting, so if you see a term or something that's inaccurate, let me know and I'll fix it:

1. Locate the Sims 3 file (User<My Documents<Electronic Arts<The Sims 3)
2. Right click on file
3. Select "cut"
4. Locate/create file labeled "backup" (or another name, so you know what it is)
5. Paste Sims 3 file
6. Load game (BEFORE install. This way, the game can create a new Sims 3 file)
7. Adjust the settings (graphics, display, etc.) to your liking
8. Create a new game (even if only a placeholder. I didn't save my new game, but I don't think it made a difference)
9. Exit game
10. Install Pets. Before installing, make sure to read the link in #11. If you will die without your CC furniture (not that I could blame you), hold off on installing.
11. After installing Pets, do NOT re-insert your third-party custom content, with the probable exception of  CAS stuff. More information on this here. 
12. Save frequently and have fun! This is more of a suggestion, but I've noticed that if I simply do all my saves by "Save As" (i.e. Appaloosa Plains 1, Appaloosa Plains 2, Appaloosa Plains 3) it takes less time to save and my game runs faster. :) 

So, now that the "instruction guide" is out of the way, I will give all of my thoughts on Pets. The ~*SQUEEEE*~, the grrrrr >:-(, and the "eh." Just to shake things up (and because I've already shown I'm in favor of Pets), I'm going to start with the "grrrrr >:-(" first.

Sims 3 Pets grrrrr >:-( s

• NO custom content, which I had ironically grew more comfortable downloading over time, and had accumulated enough of it to permeate my in-game project. "Oh, it'll be fine," I said to myself. "I can make sure the game works, and then slowly work my CC back in! It's not as if EA HAD THE DECENCY TO LET US ALL KNOW THAT OUR CC WILL STOP WORKING." If needed, I could always just start a new one, but grrrrr >:-( !!! I'm having my bitter EA gamer moment.
• No Twallan. I know that will be corrected soon, but...grrrrr >:-( !! Actually, this would warrant more of a :'(, but I don't have that category.
• No _ani mods. grrrrr >:-( !!!
• No mods of any sort. GRRRRR >:-(
• No in-game project. I'll have to start a new one, probably (or wait for a user-made patch to correct the EA patch that messed up the game for third party CC users). I know it's not EA's job to accommodate to us, but grrrrr >:-(
• Some of the new hairstyle and clothing options just make me want to *headdesk* and grrrrr >:-( !!!

Sims 3 Pets "eh."s

• The world is nicely done, but it's a bit hard to navigate at first. Eh.
• I haven't found any parks yet, other than dog/cat/horse parks. What about a park for normal sims? Eh.
• They also don't have a "Can't stand animals" trait. I love animals, but some of my sims may not. Eh.
• So far, I've been trying to adopt/buy a foal and it appears that I can't. Eh.
• They have a dive bar, a stylist salon, a fire department...basically everything that came with AMB and LN. And yet, they don't have the acting rabbit hole. Why, EA? Why? Bridgeport can't possibly be the film and acting base for everything, can it? Is this your passive aggressive way of admitting you made the rabbit hole too large? Eh.
• The horses have weird and awkward portraits. Eh.
• Horses are weird. Well, they are weird in the sense that they require a crazy amount of space, or they can't do anything. I have completely cleared a section of the yard and she still can't play with her horsey ball. Hopefully it's a glitch. Eh...and :'(
• Speaking of glitches, sometimes my puppy will play with his chew toy, and sometimes he won't. Btw, please tell me you gave cats a cool moodlet for the catnip toy and it just hasn't shown up due to a glitch. Please. If you want to fix this glitch *HINT HINT*, here's a video of cats on catnip (literally). So...eh.

Sims 3 Pets ~*SQUEEEE*~s

• The world (and the rabbit holes that come with it) look great! The homes are becoming increasingly more realistic. My favorite is the Riffin home. Not sure why, but it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. The runner up would be the Single-ton home, just for how modern it looks and feels without sacrificing that Midwestern feel. ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• It's not an entirely lush world! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• The horses are adorable! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• I thoroughly enjoy playing as a horse so much, that I've somewhat abandoned my real sims for the horse! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• Puppies and kittens are adorable, and even cuter when they goof around! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!
• Did I mention horses are awesome? ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• Falcons and pygmy tortoises! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• Skintone diversity! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• Community lots I actually want to visit! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• Horse ghosts are at first creepy, but then become adorable. ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• The dive bar (which I turned into a sports bar) looks awesome. ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• It runs smoothly and doesn't crash! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• EA SP hasn't done too much damage so far! ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!
• I don't know if this was on purpose or not, but the cashiers, mixologist, and paparazzis all had appropriate attire and names for the environment of Appaloosa Plains. ~*SQUEEEE*~ !!!

And since I don't really plan on making a mini-series about the expansion, I didn't take too many photos. However, the ones that I did take are pretty darn adorable if I do say so myself! ;)

This is Cassidy Wells. She's a flirty animal lover looking for a man to settle down with...and give her 5 simspawns. Here she is wooing a ~mysterious man~ at the Watering Hole Saloon.

Get...

Me...

...OFF!!!

Aaand a dead foal. Here are my reactions in a series of emoticons: 0_0  :O  :(  >:(  :/  :|  :)  :') 

In case that needed breaking down:

0_0 - WHAT THE $@#@#$ IS THAT SCARY THING?!?!
:O - Is that...is that a dead horse??
:( - Even worse...it's a dead foal.
>:( - WHY THE #$@$@# IS IT RED?? WHY DO I HAVE THE OPTION TO BOTTLE FEED IT? WHO STARVED A BABY HORSE?!?! *gets shotgun ready*
:/ - I refuse to find this unfortunate "accident" adorable. It's animal cruelty.
:| - Still not amused.
:) - Aww, it's kind of cute when the live horse nuzzles the dead one.
:') - SQUEEE! Can I resurrect it?

And now for the "other stuff"...

-My cold is getting better! :) Soon I'll be able to return to the academic world. Joy of joys.

-I don't really like to do "advertising" on my blogs, but this project is awesome! I always enjoy Simmerville's projects, and this time, she's doing a project called SimBasic, which is essentially putting eight sims on an unoccupied island and creating a small town out of it. It's incredibly fascinating, and it makes me want to try it myself! :) You can find the first post here.

So, do you guys have Pets yet? Do you plan on getting it soon, or are you going to wait for a "patch" to fix the EA patch?

Happy simming,

Cheezy :)

*merrily goes back to life as a horse*

Colds Suck

Yeah, that's my theme for today. *obnoxiously sniffles and coughs*

For the past few months, I've been working on an in-game project, and thinking a little bit more about how I want to move things along on Six Degrees. So, yeah. Pretty cool beans. :)

I've also been reading stories, but not commenting because schoolwork is eating my time. Sigh.

In-game project may or may not be published on a blog in November, and I'm not sure when a new SD chapter will be up. Hopefully soon.

Love you guys!

Steal Your Heart Commentary

Just a quick note on Bonnie's sudden weight loss: it was on purpose, lol. I plan on having her slowly gain the weight back. I believe that some people are stress eaters, and other people are stress starvers. Bonnie would fall into the latter category. When faced with a tremendous amount of physical or mental stress, she loses all desire to eat. Thus, the waif look. Oh, and only four more chapters until the season finale! :D Thank God for labor day and brilliantly timed inspiration, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to type this up.

Cameo, Cameo, where art thou cameo?

I don't know what made me decide to put Thame in story, but I just felt that Clyde needed a little side story of his own, to introduce his traits to the story a little. What does it have to do with the main story? Nothing, lol, but this way I can do a Dillard update and a Six Degrees update at the same time!
*just a reminder: Clyde is one of Bonnie's younger brothers*

I think they make a rather good couple, do you? :)

Oh, and you might be wondering why she looks different. Well, I gave three Dillards a makeover, because I felt that their "pronounced" facial features, coupled with their pale skin, set off way too many alarms. I didn't want to change the skin, so I tweaked the facial features instead. I tried to keep the spirit of each sim intact, and I did pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

...although Angie and Beau now somewhat resemble Ella Cartez and Dave Navarro. Oh, and my game decided to crash while saving, so the new new Dillards may look slightly different than the Dillards in the picture. Sigh.

Angie Dillard

Thame Dillard

Beau Dillard and his Navarro-ness

And that's all I have for today, folks! I'd say more about the chapter, but I think it pretty much speaks for itself.

'Till next time,
Cheezy :)

Definitely here, but not here

My first day of the school year started yesterday, and already I feel overwhelmed by real life duties. As usual, I completely overestimated how well I'd be able to juggle all of this plus school. I'll be checking in frequently and reading all of your stories, but once again, Six Degrees will be put on the back burner. I wouldn't call this a hiatus, but more of a warning that the updates will return to its sporadic state.

In reference to SV Times (btw- I loved the fishing update!), I'm not sure if I'll be able to post on it as often as I would have liked to when I offered to sign on. I will try to write at least two SV Times articles this year though, because they seem like fun writing exercises. Maybe I can somehow convince myself that it counts as English homework. :)

Meanwhile, I'll probably update this blog with random stuff as usual. I'm currently messing around with building stuff, and maybe creating a Sunset Valley 2.0. I've already remodeled most of Sunset Valley in-game, so I figured there wouldn't be any harm in experimenting with SV Lite in CAW. It's a major project and I'm not completely sure about it, so I'm not going to devote a lot of time to it.

I hate making blog posts without pictures, so...here are some pictures!

Talk to you guys soon,
Cheezy :)