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Mods/CC Creators Appreciation Thread
egwarhammer
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High time somebody kicked this off.
I think modders and cc creators are wonderful.
Game mods, CAS, Build/Buy... all of you who create/recolor/etc any of that, I'm talking about here.
All of them put a lot of work into helping customize this game, so you can play your game, your way.
Usually for free, and if something (CC) isn't, I'd advise you to check with @Bananas_45 FIRST before buying, because she may know of free alternatives. Probably better options, too, if you ask me. (Her WCIF thread is epic!)
Here's the thing. It BOTHERS me to see players jumping on creators whose items need updated, following a patch. Please don't do that, it is NOT their fault.
EA breaks things. A LOT of things, sometimes. Fallout takes time to dig out from under... and creators could do that MUCH BETTER if their pages weren't blowing up with fixitNAO! posts. Sometimes angry ones.
If this is not your first Sims experience... you should know the score on this front. (It isn't exactly News.) EA's QA/QC has never been exactly stellar. Things happen. Always have, and so far, continues. It is what it is.
I knew what I was getting into, pretty much, and I bought in anyway. (And wouldn't have missed it, but that's more people-related than game-related, honestly.)
If this IS your first Sims experience, I apologize for the current state of vanilla gameplay. You really are not experiencing the series at its best. (IMO that was Sims2... which I also modded.)
Mods and CC can go a long way toward making your game better, but they do come with a price, upkeep. For creators AND PLAYERS.
Anytime there's a patch from EA, it stands a chance of torching things written for the prior configuration. That's just the way it is.
USUALLY it's mods that take the biggest hit, but there HAVE been times (we just had this with Dine Out) that cc created beforehand has been destroyed by something they have done. It happened with GT, too, and with GTW, I think? I know there have been at least 3 times everything has had to be redone.
It's on the PLAYER to make sure your content is compatible with the current game engine. For example, a lot of files dated before June 2 2016 are *not* now working properly. The best way to check is to go back where you downloaded it, and see if anything new has been posted.
Keep records, organize your files. It will make the process much easier... and at some point, you *will* be updating something, if you add mods or cc to your game.
One of the most brilliant modders I know (Not Deaderpool) gave it up for a while, because "EA started breaking things faster than I could fix."
Think about that. How many have we lost to that overwhelm? I'm sure those of us who have been here for a while can name more than a few.
I have more, but I'm going to save it for another post.
Meanwhile...
For those hardy enough to stick with, or start new with, creating content for this game...
Illegitimi non carborundum
I think modders and cc creators are wonderful.
Game mods, CAS, Build/Buy... all of you who create/recolor/etc any of that, I'm talking about here.
All of them put a lot of work into helping customize this game, so you can play your game, your way.
Usually for free, and if something (CC) isn't, I'd advise you to check with @Bananas_45 FIRST before buying, because she may know of free alternatives. Probably better options, too, if you ask me. (Her WCIF thread is epic!)
Here's the thing. It BOTHERS me to see players jumping on creators whose items need updated, following a patch. Please don't do that, it is NOT their fault.
EA breaks things. A LOT of things, sometimes. Fallout takes time to dig out from under... and creators could do that MUCH BETTER if their pages weren't blowing up with fixitNAO! posts. Sometimes angry ones.
If this is not your first Sims experience... you should know the score on this front. (It isn't exactly News.) EA's QA/QC has never been exactly stellar. Things happen. Always have, and so far, continues. It is what it is.
I knew what I was getting into, pretty much, and I bought in anyway. (And wouldn't have missed it, but that's more people-related than game-related, honestly.)
If this IS your first Sims experience, I apologize for the current state of vanilla gameplay. You really are not experiencing the series at its best. (IMO that was Sims2... which I also modded.)
Mods and CC can go a long way toward making your game better, but they do come with a price, upkeep. For creators AND PLAYERS.
Anytime there's a patch from EA, it stands a chance of torching things written for the prior configuration. That's just the way it is.
USUALLY it's mods that take the biggest hit, but there HAVE been times (we just had this with Dine Out) that cc created beforehand has been destroyed by something they have done. It happened with GT, too, and with GTW, I think? I know there have been at least 3 times everything has had to be redone.
It's on the PLAYER to make sure your content is compatible with the current game engine. For example, a lot of files dated before June 2 2016 are *not* now working properly. The best way to check is to go back where you downloaded it, and see if anything new has been posted.
Keep records, organize your files. It will make the process much easier... and at some point, you *will* be updating something, if you add mods or cc to your game.
One of the most brilliant modders I know (Not Deaderpool) gave it up for a while, because "EA started breaking things faster than I could fix."
Think about that. How many have we lost to that overwhelm? I'm sure those of us who have been here for a while can name more than a few.
I have more, but I'm going to save it for another post.
Meanwhile...
For those hardy enough to stick with, or start new with, creating content for this game...
Illegitimi non carborundum
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14
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Pets in TS3 broke some hair.
*coughs* At any rate, I've been playing since TS1 (and even beta tested Sims Online, oy). I love that this series is highly moddable AND customizeable with CC. I love that you can play with or without mods or CC (though I've found it better with mods and CC). I love that EA has made it 'easy' (relatively speaking) for creators to create.
So here's to all the modders who dive into 'code' and to all the CC creators who sometimes go out of their way to learn new programs so they can create content.
P.S. I apologize if anything is horribly misspelled. I'm on some medication that is making me quite loopy. Ha ha.
It's a beautiful thing not to lose the work, just because the person found other ways to spend their time.
If you've taken on updating some other gone-but-not-forgotten modders creations... again, Thank You Very Much.
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Why? Because it IS hard to keep up with EA's changes. Especially with them cranking out patches at the current rate.
I don't code (I can't imagine...), but several of my friends do. I'm enough of a nerd that I've browsed through some .package files with S4S, to see how they look... but I really don't know how what I was looking at, works. Not my area. <shrug> (Looks a little scary...)
I can't speak for CC creators, because I'm not that involved with it. If anybody wants to post more about being involved with that aspect of creation, please do.
But I *know* Modders have dropped like flies, along the way, as the game has "evolved" <ahem> into its current state. So MANY changes.
And all creators know, or should realize (for the new ones), that EVERY TIME EA patches the game, they're going to need to at LEAST check all of their files for compatibility issues.
Sometimes we get lucky, and fixes are minimal and easy.
And then there are things like The Great Tuning File Crash of March 2015 (GTW launch.) It was EPIC, and not in a good way.
It's EA's game, it's their code. They can do whatever they want to it. But every time they've made any BIG changes, we have lost talented people who (I guess) decided they couldn't keep up any more. I wish it wasn't that way. I MISS some of those people, and not just because of their creations.
Here's my point. They've got enough going on, just maintaining their content and creating new things.
PLEASE, don't make things harder on these people, by giving them grief.
Bug reports are fine, please do post those to the relevant page/thread. Just... be nice about it.
It isn't hard to "slant" a message. "Hey, this brown hair suddenly looks blue in my game! Could you check into it?" IMO is a much nicer and more useful thing to say than "Hey, your stuff broke my game! Don't you know what you're doing?"
They DO know what they're doing. They just don't know what EA has done that's new, sometimes, because they've never been real forthcoming with new change info. LOTS of things they've changed have never seen the light of day in the Patch "notes."
(Trying to put together a Jigsaw puzzle without a picture, that's what it seems like to me.)
Patience is a virtue. So is common sense. And intelligence.
Don't scare off the talent we have left. Have some sense.
If you believe you can do it better... post your stuff somewhere. We'd love to see it.
If you can't do it better... keep in mind that if WE don't treat these people right, we may ALL end up trying to play this game vanilla.
I know some people do that... but personally, I would REALLY rather NOT.
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But still those who prefer to play vanilla, that's great! (One of the game's enduring points is how everyone can play how they like it.. ) -- remember to be courteous to those of us who like the added dimension brought about especially by the comprehensive mods.. MC Command being the first one that pops into mind but there be others, too.
Of course I'd like to "play vanilla" , as in having a game come out already equipped with the nice little bells and whistles the mod-writers add for us, but such, I think, shall not be the case with this game.
And...there is always room for improvement in any art form.
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My problem is I love making things so much I rarely actually PLAY for any great length of time for long stretches while I'm making and perfecting objects, meaning I don't always see the flaws that have developed due to updates. I do test all my objects in game for at least a sim week in each household but I do miss things occasionally.
Thank you for speaking up for creators, I am willing to bet there are hundreds of them like me that are still wondering if they got everything this time around and are mortified to find they didn't.
I really think "mortified" is a little harsh,
Mini-story I want to share... I get most of my mods from MTS. When GTW came along and forums everywhere blew up with "broken!" posts, I was sitting here watching MTS.
Y'know what the First redone Mod that popped up for me was? Plasticbox's Strawberry Cake. I've never been SO glad to see such a "decorative" mod (not a gamebreaker if strawberries aren't an ingredient, I mean...), in all of my time playing this game.
It gave me HOPE that it would be the first of many. And, it was. Back in the saddle again.
They're going to knock you down. Nature of the beast. The trick is in getting back up, with style. I wasn't kidding when I said creators are hardy souls. You ARE appreciated, even when we players come across like spoiled brats.
If we didn't enjoy your work, we wouldn't get as upset... some of us could just need to learn to express that a little more diplomatically.
I should have made this thread back then, March 2015. I'm a little slow.
Thanks for the post!
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Oh yeah, there's nothing you can do when a patch breaks something except to figure out a fix but it's NOT your fault. I'm just going to point out again how, when Pets for TS3 came out, it broke a lot of CC hair. How could anybody anticipate THAT? LOL. Or the fact it would snow and rain in your house in TS2 when you had a roof on the house you uploaded ... that wasn't really a roof?
One thing that I noticed and I think is awesome, the folks who create the tools for modding and CC are quick to update for the patches. One of them had a batch fix up within a couple days to repair the CC lights that were broken during a recent patch. Those guys also deserve a big high five.
Some of us really do appreciate the work that goes into all you guys do. I haven't even figured out how to recolor something yet.
I don't play Vanilla but I play strictly base. Nothing they issued by way of additional paid content has rung my bell yet.
I doubt it will come out, but weather and/or seasonal themes (beyond some decorations and reindeer sweaters, which were nice but not what I'm driving at) ---- would get my interest.
So while I'm delighted with mods like MC Center making the game far more enjoyable for me, I'm in the market for decent CC-- as in hairstyles other than the "Stock/Official EA-Sanctioned Sim Hair" issued with the base.
For reasons I haven't gotten into trying to figure out, we can customize Sim body shapes and facial attributes in CAS but there is no slider to tweak hair length, straight-or-curl, etc.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/15045824/#Comment_15045824
I don't do Mac. But it's still some great news!
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Guilty.
Just not in my skill set, I'm a words person. My 14yo could probably make paint.net beg for mercy.
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WHERE??
Links posted here are fine. If you want to show off what you've got going on... That would be fun to see.
Not a bajillion individual posts please, but yeah, page/member links to where your stuff is would be sweet.
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Any others I post should go to this link since it's pulling a certain tag on Tumblr. http://elisabettasims.tumblr.com/tagged/my-cc
Nice job. Pretty shirt. LOVED the description.
You might be interested in @midnightpearl 's page, she's wendy35pearly at MTS. Recoloring she said was a hidden talent she found.
That's actually the comment that made me check it out... I may yet *have* a hidden talent, however, I can say without a doubt, it is NOT recoloring.
And creating (Blender etc) scares the daylights out of me. Haha!
One of these days maybe I'll try tuning something (doubtful, but maybe). No rush, I have plenty to keep me entertained.
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Using CC is a fun way to enhance the look of your Sims and their Homes.
When you are gathering your Mods and CC be sure to thank the creators, when possible. At Mod the Sims there is a button that says "Say Thanks"; you don't even have to leave a note. (I know some of us are shy that way!) Tumblr is awesome for this, hit up that little heart! I know you may be thinking that the download itself is enough acknowledgement. But, seeing those little notifications pop up on Tumblr can turn your day around! Also, keep the favorite heart in mind when you are browsing the gallery! Not only is it nice but, it saves that item so that you can look at it again without downloading.
Also, don't be afraid to re-name a file so that if something does happen, you can quickly find the source for repairs. Most creators are pretty diligent about putting their name on their CC, so correcting the few that don't is an easy way to organize. Changing the name on a file is harmless and won't do any damage to the CC inside. You can also rename files to help with game lag. If you take out all the extraneous symbols (ones that aren't letters or numbers) this helps the game read the files faster.
Using subfolders is another nifty way to keep track of your CC! You can go as many as five deep and make as many on each level as you like.
Thanks! I haven't touched Blender. I'm able to do some simple color edits. Eventually I may venture into mesh editing but I wouldn't count on it, LOL. I also use Photoshop which has made it a bit easier. I have an action I took from one set up by another simmer who did recolor to make it simpler.
Recoloring is the easy part. The previews are harder. Ha ha ha. I have several things done now, but have to do previews. I'll do that a little at a time in between my legacy plays.
(maybe I shouldn't do this, but... when has that ever stopped me?)
@Forest_Ninja I've rarely (like never) seen you at a loss for words....
What's up?
PM is fine, if you'd rather.
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I'm just cleaning up... Thanks for expressing concern.
I have another picture for you, and a long ramble is incoming. Take a look at these numbers.
I'm not good at playing with numbers, but one you don't see mentioned here is, there have been 26 versions uploaded of MC. And 27 (2.13.0) is coming soon.
Over 800,000 downloads.
Let's pretend (for a minute) that the same people have had MC from the start, and have stuck with it for all 26 downloads. IF that were true, that would mean over 30,000 people could be using this mod right now. (Divide # of downloads by # of updates.)
I know it isn't a "real" number, just a pretty sloppy estimate. Barring having any REAL way to find out how many players are actively using MC, I have to settle for a ballpark. You could even cut THAT number in half, and it would *still* be an impressive number of users.
I'm slanting this a little toward MC because if I'm not here I'm there, but it really applies to all modders and creators. And even forum helpers... all of us trying to make this game better for those of you needing a hand in some area, whether it's with mods, cc, game issues... etc.
This is where I get on my (nerd) soapbox.
For anything you download, you REALLY need to read its Description Page (MTS) or instructions. I don't know much about many other sites (any volunteers?), but I know MTS layout pretty well. So these comments are coming from my experience there.
@Bananas_45 is right, please thank/favorite/etc the things you find that you like. That IS appreciated. Sometimes that's the best motivation a creator can get, knowing others are loving their efforts.
Here's MY beef, both as a thread "owner" and as a helper in MC comments. People don't seem to read.
How many SEPARATE threads on cc lights and broken nannies and so on were there? A lot... no wonder rosemow's post count is astronomical.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen, and said, "that's posted about here (link)". I am NOT saying (about MC) read the whole thread... there are over 12,000 comments in MC's.
Little much. I haven't read all of it, either... yet.
But it *would* be nice not to see so many people asking a question to which a reply has JUST been posted. I'm talking about "on the same page"... I mean a post or two before the new question.
The comments area search bar can be your friend. If you have something specific you're looking for, it DOES help... I found exactly what I was looking for to answer someone else's question within about 4 post results.
Download/install instructions are also VERY important. Most things you're going to copy and paste the .package or .ts4script files into your /Mods folder (somewhere). Some things ARE different so READ the directions.
Do not extract ts4script files. Copy them to /Mods. You're not supposed to see .py or .py* files (used to be more common with zipped script files). This still happens.
...
You know what, I could go on and on and be all sunshine and flowers among the geekery bits. But I'm running out of time.
Here's the thing. ALL modders/creators are just people. They have lives. They deserve respect for their talent. They don't deserve abuse. And they don't have unlimited amounts of time for everything.
Please don't burn them out by repeating the same questions over and over again without at least TRYING to search for an answer first. Comments and Description pages are wonderful resources at MTS... but only if you read them.
I'm just asking for a little more proactivity. Reading is useful. I know you know how...
Let's make things as easy as possible on our modders and creators, so they can focus more on cranking out new stuff.
And updates, always with the updates... huge job. I can't imagine.
I get overwhelmed, and I'm just a Cheerleader, for ONE mod, that I don't write code for.
(Don't shoot the messenger. I just had to get it off my chest.)
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