As long as it's clear they actually read the thing (Sims or otherwise), any feedback works for me.
I think this is one of the biggest reasons why the comments mean so much to me, even if they are very short. When there aren't any comments, it feels like no one is actually reading it, and I start to wonder if I'm wasting my time actually bothering to post. So even very short "I like it" comments help keep me going.
I read this discussion above a few days ago and, as usual, it's taken me a long time to decide what I wanted to say. I hope you all don't mind my commenting late.
I, like other writers have said, especially love the detailed comments on my chapters, because they give me insight into how my readers are experiencing the story. Some of the comments I have gotten so far have actually helped me figure out where I want to go with the future of the story. I love that interaction between the reader and the audience aspect of Simlit. When I'm reading other writers' stories, I always also read the comments and the writers' responses because that conversation about the story is part of the experience that I enjoy.
But I completely understand that it can be hard to write longer comments. And I can see why it could feel intimidating. Not just for those who speak other languages than English as their primary language, but for anyone who doesn't have time, or just doesn't react as quickly, or feels like they don't have a lot to say. I tend to leave pretty short comments myself on the stories I am reading because, even though I love the stories, it just takes me a while to process everything. So I get it.
Comments of any length are always appreciated. But this discussion has made me understand better why some readers don't comment, and that's okay.
@GlacierSnow I can relate so well to everything you write, not least that comments can impact or change the development of a story....., so you don't have to regret thinking about it for a little longer
I was wondering if any of you would like to share your favorite simlit tips today! I'm sure that we've all picked up some little shortcuts that streamline the process for us while writing and taking screenshots for our stories, and I'd love to know if there's anything I'm missing out on that could be making this whole thing a little easier.
If I could start with a few of my faves - probably a lot of them obvious, but they've helped a lot when trying to get those perfect screenshots.
I'll always have headlineeffects off, bb.moveobjects, testingcheats true & cas.fulleditmode switched on
I hit the Tab key to enter screenshot mode when taking pics - I only recently discovered that I can pause and un-pause time in this mode by hitting the `~ and 1 keys. Very cool
sims.remove_all_buffs to neutralise my sims moods and prevent them from smiling when they shouldn't be - those darned sims are always feeling too happy for my liking *shakes fist*
sims.add_buff is also great for making sims feel a certain way quickly - my most used is sims.add_buff Buff_ReadSadLow to make my sims (Evie - always poor Evie) pout at the right times. I also just found out you can make sims feel ill & throw up with this cheat!
I have free will and ageing off
I place chairs at awkward angles to tables so sims will stop sitting down to talk to each other when I need them to stand
I control the weather with cheats too (there's a theme here - I'm a huge cheater) weather.start_weather_event weather_sunny_warm is one I know off by heart from the heatwave chapters I did.
seasons.set_season 0-3 so that I don't have to wait for the seasons to pass organically
The Teleport Any Sim object is my best friend for getting everyone where they need to go - i use it to summon random townies to my location if I need some crowds
I use deco sims for big crowds and it's been a game changer
Anything I might be missing? Or anything at all you'd like to share? I know a lot of you prefer to let the game do its own thing, but even so, I'd love to know what tips you have (if any!)
What a lot of cool tips you have
I know and use several of them.
I always use headline effects off and I remember to raise buildings to full height in the background and discard all images with the annoying white lines that a marked object or sim is outlined with.
I use two mods I can't do without.
I can't live without mccc after I learned to set the settings so that any kind of story progression is deselected. This of course also applies to the story progression that is now part of the game....and not least wants and fear, which is a nightmare for every writer
I use mccc to replace most of the cheats, such as changing the season, weather, and clothes on the sims. These always seem to have a tendency to change clothes to the most obscure outfits when they appear in a scene.
The other mod is MizoreYukii's No Fade On Everything, which prevents trees and the like from washing out.
I actually didn't know the sims.add_buff codes. I would like to take a closer look at them. They sound like something I've often missed. Do you have a link to where I can find them?
Most of my SimLit and screenshot tips / mods I use are in my screenshot guide and SimLit guide. One of my recent gamechangers I can't share on the forum because of the nature of the mod itself (it has a built-in pose player that means your Sims won't snap out of the poses in buildbuy) but it's mentioned in the Mods section of the Screenshot Guide if interested. but I'll share some useful mods that I use and other bits.
First off, whilst in Tab Mode, you can hold CTRL and 5,6,7,8 or 9 to 'save' the camera position (good for lookbooks especially if you like making those!). Then whilst in Tab mode, pressing 5,6,7,8 or 9 will move the camera back to the position saved to it.
Helpful mods (Download at your own discretion and clearly read installation instructions:
- DayBreak and Underworlds put your worlds in permanent daylight or sunlight, good for spending a long time shooting day/night scenes. I also used it for Nebelstadt in Divided since the fog was meant to be so thick hardly any sunlight crepy through.
- Storytelling Kit allows you to change weather and seasons, Emotion buffs, put HeadlineEffects on without having to type in all the cheats
- Since some people aren't aware of this, HeadlineEffects also gets rid of the plumbob and the floaty group crystal thing, which is great for screenshots
- NoGlo and NoBlu are amazing and get rid of that ugly blue filter, as well as the odd glow around Sims that sometimes happens.
- Milk Thistle is another lighting mod I use which overall just looks nicer.
I can't think of any writing tips at present. Writing brain is currently empty X_X
@hellohannah2 Those are all excellent tips, many of which it took me a long time to figure out or find out about. I even have an old simlit story I eventually scrapped because the screenshots were so bad, since I didn't know about most of those features, cheats, and mods at that time.
On item number 10: I've never used deco sims before, though I've heard others mention them. Do you have favorite sites you've gotten them from, or do you make your own? I feel like I have some ideas for my story that would be hard to pull off without using something like that, but I've searched around and not come up with much online. For the main use I have in mind, I'm looking for seated people in formal attire.
@MonaSolstraale Thanks for mentioning that mod to prevent object fading! I'm going to go look for that. I've found it so frustrating to deal with the autofade "feature" when I'm taking screenshots.
My tips (mostly mods)
Bakie's "invisible fence" mod is awesome for forcing sims to stay in one part of the room while they're talking. You can use it to block access to the chairs, or just make a pen around the sims so they have to stay where they are while they converse. I love it.
Posed sims, and objects around them, can be moved without breaking pose if you use TwistedMexi's TOOL mod to do the moving. This has been super helpful for me when a sim is already posed but not quite exactly positioned how I want them to be. Or if an object needs to be moved while the sim is posed.
I use UI Cheats Extension mod to quickly make a sim sad or tense by simply dragging the "social" or "fun" bars down into the orange zone. I use this a lot to get Ion's adorable confused-sad expressions and Reuben's grumpy annoyed expressions during conversations.
As long as it's clear they actually read the thing (Sims or otherwise), any feedback works for me.
@GlacierSnow@rednenemon The thing for me is that I have some visitors who don't read my posts/chapters. They give me awesomes, likes, and sometimes even comments without reading. I appreciate them and I accept that some people don't and will never care about my written text (and I do not want them to feel unwanted or as if I don't want them to view my posts because I really~~ like that people enjoy my images), but I also want to change so that more people are inspired to read. It can be frustrating when low effort stuff gets a better reception, but I think that's just how it is and will continue to be. Bottom line is that if people just want to look at my images, that's fine with me.
Sorry for the double post, but @hellohannah2 it's a great idea to share tips. Thanks for yours.
Since I am gameplay-based, none of my tips will include cheats, but I still have a few.
For nice screenshots, ReShade/GShade and a photo editing program are great helps. I use ReShade, Lightroom, and Photoshop. It's overkill, but it helps so much. I do not recommend Lightroom or Photoshop, but they are amazing with subject lighting.
Experiment with the lights in game.
It's probably best to take more screenshots than you'll think you'll need. It's also nice to have shots that frame or set the scene. Additionally, backgrounds with stuff in them (unless emptiness/minimalism is what you're trying to get across), especially stuff related to your Sims, is good to include.
I often combine UI screenshots with non-UI screenshots because sometimes I want to capture the speech and thought bubbles. Generally, I will make sure I can crop out all UI except the bubbles. Other times, I'll take two screenshots and combine a UI-one with a non-UI version so that only the bubbles show. For those who are gameplay-based, it's sometimes worth it to include bits of UI here and there.
I let my Sims be Sims. I direct them, but I also let them do whatever at times because it makes for fun moments and storylines.
For proofreading, consider pasting or drafting your work in an application that has text-to-speech support.
@MonaSolstraale Yes! The building one is so important, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine when I see screenshots where the walls are down, and I hate it when I see that I've accidentally done it - it makes me want to go back into the game and re-do the shot.
Oh wow I didn't know that mods could do that! I'm such a novice with mods, and I really don't know what's worth getting, but this one and several others that have just ben recommended sound awesome! And to think I've been relying on cheats this whole time!
The Buff cheats are super - here's a link to a list of them https://snootysims.com/wiki/sims-4/sims-4-mood-cheats-2022/ Not listed here are the symptom versions, which you need Get To Work in order for it to work, but here they are.
sims.add_buff CoughSneeze_severe
sims.add_buff Dizzy_severe
sims.add_buff Fever_severe
sims.add_buff Giggly_severe
sims.add_buff Headache_severe
sims.add_buff Itchy_severe
sims.add_buff Nausea_severe
sims.add_buff SeeingThings_severe
sims.add_buff SteamyEars_severe
@SnowBnuuy Woah I didn't know about that trick for Tab mode - that's awesome and I can't wait to try it out next time I'm in the game. Thanks so much for the mod recs too, particularly that day/night one. Only yesterday I was cursing the game when the sun came up before I was finished shooting nighttime scenes - this is such a help.
@GlacierSnow Whaaat the invisible fence mod is a thing? That's so useful! I thought i was being clever by blocking access to seats, but this is so much better. Thank you so much for recommending this - equally that TwistedMexi mod sounds really useful - it does honestly drive me crazy when sims keep snapping out of their pose when i enter build mode.
@haneul thank you for these I also use photoshop to edit, but I agree that I wouldn't recommend it. I think we mentioned this previously in another thread (or possibly this one?) It's prohibitively expensive, but because I work in creative arts I get a free version from my employer. You might say photoshop + ReShade is overkill, but I have to say that your screenshots are some of the nicest I've seen, so it's all definitely working for you! I keep meaning to look into reshades but it's very overwhelming to me, I tend to rely on editing in post.
I also support proofreading - I don't use software (although perhaps now I will) but I can't count the amount of times I've caught huge errors from doing a simple read of my work before posting it. Great tips! Thank you
@hellohannah2 Oh, that chair tip is so good. The most annoying photoshoot thing in TS4 is the fact that the Sims cannot stay standing if there's a vacant chair anywhere near them.
@SnowBnuuy That position-saving trick sounds super useful too!
Excellent tips all around. I use a lot of those as well. TS4 is a bit more unfamiliar to me, since I've played TS2 and TS3 more. A lot of the tricks I have for them are similar to the ones for TS4, like using the cheats to move Sims into better positions and teleportings Sims and moving the Sims to your controlled family quickly if needed and stuff.
For TS3, the MasterController -mod is super useful. It's kinda like the MCCC for TS4, but addresses the TS3-specific things more. The PosePlayer -mod and its add-ons are also excellent.
I use GIMP 2 to edit my screenshots, usually just to touch up the lighting levels and resizing the pics, but sometimes I also do some tweaking and special effects.
Post edited by RipuAncestor on
My Sims stories: The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE) The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE) Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
All I can do is say thank you to everyone who has shared their tips. I really wish I had something to contribute but I cannot think of a single thing to add that hasn't been mentioned. I have learned a lot and I look forward to experimenting with quite a few of them.😁 I can't believe the number of add ons, hacks, and cheats that exist.🤯
I can't tell much about tricks of this kind for making better pictures because it's not what I'm good at (and I don't even have so much fun when trying to make my pictures perfect, which defies the purpose of playing for me). With my current legacy I'm not even paying too much attention to the headline effects because I wanted to play the game for a while and focus on what the gameplay had to offer before exploring that side.
Anyway, I'm here to really thank @hellohannah2 , as the link you posted about deco sims really could come in handy at some point...
For those who didn't know, I currently have a lot of ideas about a possible next story set in Hogwarts, and your link also reblogged a few deco-sims for Hogwarts students in uniform (here and here). One of my worries was exactly that my scenes of that hypothetical story could be too empty, but this changes the situation quite a bit...
Test pictures, all the sims showed are deco-sims from the previous links
I can already see a super-crowded Hogwarts coming to life now...
You can follow the Legacy Miller from my blog and the forum thread, *Chapter 8.18 posted on the 23th of April 2024*
Here's the link for the invisible fence by Bakie. https://modthesims.info/d/666113/invisible-fence-2-0.html Make sure to read the instructions on how to use it. Note that in build mode it's located in the "gate" category rather than the "fence" category.
@HermioneSims The floating candles in that last screenshot look awesome! Well done. I'm very intrigued to see what your new story is like if you are planning to share it. I love your current story a lot, so I'm looking forward to whatever you do next too.
More things that I've found helpful to manage my game:
Mods and CC. In particular (and I'm echoing MonaSolstraale), MCCC is a must-have for me. It has population controls, weather controls, allows Sims to be summoned to a location easily, etc. It also gives players significant control over townie outfits.
I used it to help me with my testing of a high school build for my Sims. With MCCC it's easy to create a uniform and then copy/paste it onto other Sims.
To deal with the Sims' population limits, decosims are great as others have mentioned. But I generally redesign the space so that it doesn't feel so empty. My high school classrooms will only have six seats because by default the game sends about 6 sims to each class.
I try different looks with screenshots as well because I rarely know what kind of vibe I want them to give off while I'm playing.
The building one is so important, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine when I see screenshots where the walls are down, and I hate it when I see that I've accidentally done it - it makes me want to go back into the game and re-do the shot.
@hellohannah2 I agree with this. I tend to delete screenshots where I have the walls cutaway. The mistake I make the most frequently now is taking a screenshot with an object highlighted and outlined with a white border. Most of the time, I just let that go. My screenshots often have mistakes tbh, but they aren't that distracting and they can be funny.
I love ReShade. I was afraid to use it for a while because I thought it might cause lag, but my game is fine and ReShade makes a world of difference. LR/PS has gotten much better with its AI and object selection in the past year or so, but it's still much easier for me to adjust camera aperture and things in the game than trying to fake it in LR/PS. I use Lightroom a lot more than Photoshop because it's fast. I can copy/paste edits from one screenshot to the next extremely easily and adjust colors, highlights/contrast, noise, etc. there. I generally only use Photoshop for shenanigans or getting rid of UI. I use it to fix clipping (on the rare occasions when I care about it), fix mistakes, erase objects, and sort out my Sims and their expressions.
I’m surprised to hear that you don’t use ReShade because when I was reading Lucky Girl I convinced myself that you did. Normally, I would 100% recommend it, but it may not make any difference for you. It’s also a bit awkward to install and use, but it’s not difficult, so it may be worth a try.
You might say photoshop + ReShade is overkill, but I have to say that your screenshots are some of the nicest I've seen, so it's all definitely working for you! I keep meaning to look into reshades but it's very overwhelming to me, I tend to rely on editing in post.
A lot of what I use has been mentioned already (make use of lights, reShade, tab mode etc) but here are a couple more:
• I like to use MCCC to slow down time in my game. It helps when you want to shoot a scene during a sunrise or sunset for example, but it can also help a lot in game-driven stories so you have time to take all of your screenshots or even to make more things happen in game during a party or social event. To be honest, I always play with time slowed down, it's not just a story thing. I like when my sims can take their time and I always find events/work days too short without it.
• I'm also using MCCC's flag function on my Sims because I usually mix my story characters with some of my actual gameplay sims, so in order to avoid having my story sims age or do crazy things while I'm playing rotationally with the others, I make sure that all of them are flagged with... pretty much everything under the sun: "Freeze appearance", "Immortal", "No aging", "Freeze motives", "Freeze physique", "Freeze skills", "Never Cull" you name it. That makes it so that, in game, they're basically special NPCs that can't die or do anything I don't want them to.
• In order to influence my sims' moods I use the testingcheats shift+clic function that displays a menu where you can determine which mood to put your sim in (for emotions, it spawns a +40 buff that says "you cheated to get this moodlet!"). Choosing "Fine" will remove all buffs, I guess it's the equivalent of the "remove all buffs" cheat but without anything to type in.
• In stories, I use Andrew's poseplayer a lot. Specifically the "Pose by name" option. I know you can have a bunch of custom pose packs, but I don't have any installed, I prefer using the "Pose by name" function because it allows you to make use of absolutely any animation that's already contained within the game. Need a sim to trip and fall down on command? Done. Need someone to yell without relationship penalties? There. Need a sim to play a specific animation linked to a specific object without the object or the position change? Just say the word. Andrew's website has a .txt file you can download where all the animation names are listed. When I need a sim to play a seated, sad animation for example, I'll look for "sad" and test a bunch of names that end with "_seated". After doing it a lot, I've started to be familiar with a bunch of names, which helps for the most commonly used ones.
• The Sim Teleporter is the best invention known to Simkind (it was mentioned before, but it needs repeating )
I don’t do a whole lot. Again it’s probably because my stories are mostly game-driven. I don’t use any photo-editing software.
Almost the first thing I did when I started the Mastersons reboot was send them to the Magic Realm and use MCCC to flag the Sages as immortal. With the original version, I’d played to the point where both Simeon and L had died - I forget what happened with Morgyn - and it was rather jarring to see the new game-generated Sages!
I do have Teleport Any Sim and Pose Player, but I don’t use them a whole amount haha. Again probably because it’s game-driven. I have another idea in my head which would be much more plot-driven if I ever carried it out, so it’d be interesting to see how I’d use TAS and PP.
I think my main take away from this conversation is that I really did not know as much about the game as I thought I did. I'm such a novice, and I suppose I've only been playing the sims 4 since August of 2022 so that's to be expected, but all of you are wizards and I am in awe of you. I'm so very glad I asked this question as it seems like its not only helped me but also loads of other people! I'll be spending the evening trying out all these mods and cool tricks and then asking myself how on earth I never figured it all out sooner
@haneul I'll take it as a compliment that you thought I already used reshade! In fact I just batch edit all of my screenshots in photoshop. For part 1 of my story I wanted everything super sunny and bright, and for the second half it needs to be duller and more subdued, so that's why I do that. I wonder if it's possible to switch out reshades (or whatever they're called), to achieve a different effect depending on the mood you want, but I expect I'll find out about all of that once I really dig into it and get it going.
Keep going with the hints if anyone else has them - and equally, if anyone has any writing tips they're burning to share, go ahead and post them too. I know we're all going for vastly different things with our respective stories, but it's always really cool to read about people's process nonetheless. Maybe any personal rules you have to keep yourself on track, things you absolutely will never include in your stories, or ways you have of planning everything out.
@Velvet_Lilies Your really helpful hints aside, your signature image is awesome. I see you've just started a new story over on your tumblr - I'll be checking it out for sure
@hellohannah2 You can easily switch between ReShade presets whenever you need to for a different mood < 3 I would suggest GShade over ReShade. In my experience it’s less stressful on my PC, and if you prefer downloading others’ presets it’s got more compatibility with ReShade presets as well as far as I’m aware. IIRC most ReShade presets can be converted to GShade ones and you don’t need to worry so much about all the different versions of ReShade people make presets for. I do my editing mainly using GShade and SAI, and GIMP if I need any extra effects.
@Velvet_Lilies I use "pose by name" a lot as well. I love being able to use whatever animation I want without being tied to the gameplay action that triggers it. I also make single frame poses from the game animations when I want things timed in just the right way.
if anyone has any writing tips they're burning to share, go ahead and post them too. I know we're all going for vastly different things with our respective stories, but it's always really cool to read about people's process nonetheless.
Sort of related to both the poses and my way of writing... Since my story is done sort of comic-book style, the screenshots are a huge part of how the story is told. I usually plan out a scene in a vague way first. I know approximately what's going to happen story-wise but don't have it all figured out yet. Then I go through a few cycles of: 1) Live gameplay to get as many screenshots as I can with the sims' spontaneous expressions and actions, 2) second draft of more detailed writing to nail down how I really want the scene to go, including most of the dialogue, 3) Another live gameplay pass, looking for specific moments to capture that fit my dialogue or "stage instructions", and using "pose by name" animations to fill in what the sims don't do naturally, 4) making single frame pose clips from existing game animations to set up actions that are hard to time perfectly (usually when multiple sims are involved), 5) making modified poses from animation clips to change part of how the action looks, and then finally 6) custom making my own poses from scratch for actions I want that just aren't in the game. Final version of the scene is a combination of many or all of the above usually.
@SnowBnuuy For some reason I always assumed Gshade was the exact same thing as ReShade if Gshade is less heavy I should definitely try it out. I've experimented with ReShade in the past but don't actually use it for my stories, I like using Photoshop better, which is now making me think of another tip!
• For photoshop users: you can turn any basic filters you use to color correct your pictures into what's called an Action. (should be under the windows/actions menu, there are some presets but you can record your own, that's what I do). That way, it makes it easier to reuse that exact same filter on all of your screenshots to make them all match.
I don't know if Gimp or Krita or other editing softwares have actions too but they might! Maybe under another name.
For example, in my story I usually color correct my screenshots to get rid of the green-ish tint and make them lean more towards magenta. I also like having black bands, like on TV, I think it adds something interesting to the composition without cropping the image. These two things are now actions that I saved after doing it the first time, that way my black bands always look the same and the color filter doesn't change too much from one pic to another, except when I want it to.
@GlacierSnow I didn't know it was even possible! To freeze a game animation to a specific frame. May I ask how you do this? I spend a LOT of in-game time just sitting there, pausing and un-pausing, trying to get all of my sims in an interesting position at the exact same time especially when I have several sims playing different animations in a single scene it would be a life saver to be able to temporarily freeze them in place!
@hellohannah2 Thank you so much! I like making funny posters for stories and trying to capture the essence of it in a single image. This one got a little crazy but it matches the story so why not! I'm just getting back into Simlit, and one of the reasons I've joined this forum is to find more stories to read so I'll definitely check out yours as well!
I was wondering if any of you would like to share your favorite simlit tips today! I'm sure that we've all picked up some little shortcuts that streamline the process for us while writing and taking screenshots for our stories, and I'd love to know if there's anything I'm missing out on that could be making this whole thing a little easier.
1. Like you I tend to have headline effects off when I'm taking a screen grab. Not all the time, especially with close ups where you don't see the plumbob or name above the character. During gameplay I switch headline effects back on so that I can catch the name of the background sim the characters are interacting with.
2. Taking a screen grab. I press Tab to get a clean, full size image. I try to use the classical Hollywood system for framing shots. Wide to mid to close up in a scene, shot/reverse shot during dialogue, crossing the line and the 180 degree rule and all that. I need the free camera mode to set up the shot I want.
3. High and low angle using Q and E. Screen grabbing the characters from above can create an effect of making them seem small compared with their surroundings; thus making them seem inconsequential or weaker. It can also create more depth in the shot. Screen grabbing them from a lower angle makes them appear more powerful or suggest intrigue or mystery.
4. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in. It warps the edges of the screen to create an extreme wide angle shot with an extended depth of field...great for psychedelic effects, drunken or stoned POVs or just make the picture look off kilter.
5. Dialogue is your friend. You can make scenes faster paced with snappy dialogue and reveal character details quickly without stopping for exposition.
6. Cheating with other games...There are times when I want to depict certain scenes that the Sims 4 can't handle, even with mods so I cheat and use another game. So far I've used The Movies, Kerbal Space Program and Forza 5.
7. The only way I've found to make the process of screen grabbing quicker is experience and knowing what I want well enough.
Comments
I think this is one of the biggest reasons why the comments mean so much to me, even if they are very short. When there aren't any comments, it feels like no one is actually reading it, and I start to wonder if I'm wasting my time actually bothering to post. So even very short "I like it" comments help keep me going.
I read this discussion above a few days ago and, as usual, it's taken me a long time to decide what I wanted to say. I hope you all don't mind my commenting late.
I, like other writers have said, especially love the detailed comments on my chapters, because they give me insight into how my readers are experiencing the story. Some of the comments I have gotten so far have actually helped me figure out where I want to go with the future of the story. I love that interaction between the reader and the audience aspect of Simlit. When I'm reading other writers' stories, I always also read the comments and the writers' responses because that conversation about the story is part of the experience that I enjoy.
But I completely understand that it can be hard to write longer comments. And I can see why it could feel intimidating. Not just for those who speak other languages than English as their primary language, but for anyone who doesn't have time, or just doesn't react as quickly, or feels like they don't have a lot to say. I tend to leave pretty short comments myself on the stories I am reading because, even though I love the stories, it just takes me a while to process everything. So I get it.
Comments of any length are always appreciated. But this discussion has made me understand better why some readers don't comment, and that's okay.
I was wondering if any of you would like to share your favorite simlit tips today! I'm sure that we've all picked up some little shortcuts that streamline the process for us while writing and taking screenshots for our stories, and I'd love to know if there's anything I'm missing out on that could be making this whole thing a little easier.
If I could start with a few of my faves - probably a lot of them obvious, but they've helped a lot when trying to get those perfect screenshots.
Anything I might be missing? Or anything at all you'd like to share? I know a lot of you prefer to let the game do its own thing, but even so, I'd love to know what tips you have (if any!)
What a lot of cool tips you have
I know and use several of them.
I always use headline effects off and I remember to raise buildings to full height in the background and discard all images with the annoying white lines that a marked object or sim is outlined with.
I use two mods I can't do without.
I can't live without mccc after I learned to set the settings so that any kind of story progression is deselected. This of course also applies to the story progression that is now part of the game....and not least wants and fear, which is a nightmare for every writer
I use mccc to replace most of the cheats, such as changing the season, weather, and clothes on the sims. These always seem to have a tendency to change clothes to the most obscure outfits when they appear in a scene.
The other mod is MizoreYukii's No Fade On Everything, which prevents trees and the like from washing out.
I actually didn't know the sims.add_buff codes. I would like to take a closer look at them. They sound like something I've often missed. Do you have a link to where I can find them?
First off, whilst in Tab Mode, you can hold CTRL and 5,6,7,8 or 9 to 'save' the camera position (good for lookbooks especially if you like making those!). Then whilst in Tab mode, pressing 5,6,7,8 or 9 will move the camera back to the position saved to it.
Helpful mods (Download at your own discretion and clearly read installation instructions:
- Storytelling Kit allows you to change weather and seasons, Emotion buffs, put HeadlineEffects on without having to type in all the cheats
- Since some people aren't aware of this, HeadlineEffects also gets rid of the plumbob and the floaty group crystal thing, which is great for screenshots
- NoGlo and NoBlu are amazing and get rid of that ugly blue filter, as well as the odd glow around Sims that sometimes happens.
- Milk Thistle is another lighting mod I use which overall just looks nicer.
I can't think of any writing tips at present. Writing brain is currently empty X_X
On item number 10: I've never used deco sims before, though I've heard others mention them. Do you have favorite sites you've gotten them from, or do you make your own? I feel like I have some ideas for my story that would be hard to pull off without using something like that, but I've searched around and not come up with much online. For the main use I have in mind, I'm looking for seated people in formal attire.
@MonaSolstraale Thanks for mentioning that mod to prevent object fading! I'm going to go look for that. I've found it so frustrating to deal with the autofade "feature" when I'm taking screenshots.
My tips (mostly mods)
Bakie's "invisible fence" mod is awesome for forcing sims to stay in one part of the room while they're talking. You can use it to block access to the chairs, or just make a pen around the sims so they have to stay where they are while they converse. I love it.
Posed sims, and objects around them, can be moved without breaking pose if you use TwistedMexi's TOOL mod to do the moving. This has been super helpful for me when a sim is already posed but not quite exactly positioned how I want them to be. Or if an object needs to be moved while the sim is posed.
I use UI Cheats Extension mod to quickly make a sim sad or tense by simply dragging the "social" or "fun" bars down into the orange zone. I use this a lot to get Ion's adorable confused-sad expressions and Reuben's grumpy annoyed expressions during conversations.
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Edit - Fixed misspelling of Bakie's name.
@GlacierSnow @rednenemon The thing for me is that I have some visitors who don't read my posts/chapters. They give me awesomes, likes, and sometimes even comments without reading. I appreciate them and I accept that some people don't and will never care about my written text (and I do not want them to feel unwanted or as if I don't want them to view my posts because I really~~ like that people enjoy my images), but I also want to change so that more people are inspired to read. It can be frustrating when low effort stuff gets a better reception, but I think that's just how it is and will continue to be. Bottom line is that if people just want to look at my images, that's fine with me.
Since I am gameplay-based, none of my tips will include cheats, but I still have a few.
Oh wow I didn't know that mods could do that! I'm such a novice with mods, and I really don't know what's worth getting, but this one and several others that have just ben recommended sound awesome! And to think I've been relying on cheats this whole time!
The Buff cheats are super - here's a link to a list of them https://snootysims.com/wiki/sims-4/sims-4-mood-cheats-2022/ Not listed here are the symptom versions, which you need Get To Work in order for it to work, but here they are.
sims.add_buff CoughSneeze_severe
sims.add_buff Dizzy_severe
sims.add_buff Fever_severe
sims.add_buff Giggly_severe
sims.add_buff Headache_severe
sims.add_buff Itchy_severe
sims.add_buff Nausea_severe
sims.add_buff SeeingThings_severe
sims.add_buff SteamyEars_severe
@SnowBnuuy Woah I didn't know about that trick for Tab mode - that's awesome and I can't wait to try it out next time I'm in the game. Thanks so much for the mod recs too, particularly that day/night one. Only yesterday I was cursing the game when the sun came up before I was finished shooting nighttime scenes - this is such a help.
@GlacierSnow Whaaat the invisible fence mod is a thing? That's so useful! I thought i was being clever by blocking access to seats, but this is so much better. Thank you so much for recommending this - equally that TwistedMexi mod sounds really useful - it does honestly drive me crazy when sims keep snapping out of their pose when i enter build mode.
I get DecoSims from this really great tumblr blog that keeps a list of all new poses and deco sims - very useful because it's all categorized: https://ts4-poses.tumblr.com/masterlist Here's the deco sims link: https://ts4-poses.tumblr.com/tagged/deco sims
@haneul thank you for these
I also support proofreading - I don't use software (although perhaps now I will) but I can't count the amount of times I've caught huge errors from doing a simple read of my work before posting it. Great tips! Thank you
@SnowBnuuy That position-saving trick sounds super useful too!
Excellent tips all around. I use a lot of those as well. TS4 is a bit more unfamiliar to me, since I've played TS2 and TS3 more. A lot of the tricks I have for them are similar to the ones for TS4, like using the cheats to move Sims into better positions and teleportings Sims and moving the Sims to your controlled family quickly if needed and stuff.
For TS3, the MasterController -mod is super useful. It's kinda like the MCCC for TS4, but addresses the TS3-specific things more. The PosePlayer -mod and its add-ons are also excellent.
I use GIMP 2 to edit my screenshots, usually just to touch up the lighting levels and resizing the pics, but sometimes I also do some tweaking and special effects.
The Fey of Life - fairytales in life are few and far between (Forum thread HERE)
The Chrysanthemum Tango - a story about life, death, magic, and how to be a good landlady (Forum thread HERE)
Forget-Me-Not - some things just refuse to stay buried; an Ambrosia Challenge story (Forum thread HERE)
Anyway, I'm here to really thank @hellohannah2 , as the link you posted about deco sims really could come in handy at some point...
For those who didn't know, I currently have a lot of ideas about a possible next story set in Hogwarts, and your link also reblogged a few deco-sims for Hogwarts students in uniform (here and here). One of my worries was exactly that my scenes of that hypothetical story could be too empty, but this changes the situation quite a bit...
I can already see a super-crowded Hogwarts coming to life now...
Here's the link for the invisible fence by Bakie. https://modthesims.info/d/666113/invisible-fence-2-0.html Make sure to read the instructions on how to use it. Note that in build mode it's located in the "gate" category rather than the "fence" category.
Mods and CC. In particular (and I'm echoing MonaSolstraale), MCCC is a must-have for me. It has population controls, weather controls, allows Sims to be summoned to a location easily, etc. It also gives players significant control over townie outfits.
I used it to help me with my testing of a high school build for my Sims. With MCCC it's easy to create a uniform and then copy/paste it onto other Sims.
To deal with the Sims' population limits, decosims are great as others have mentioned. But I generally redesign the space so that it doesn't feel so empty. My high school classrooms will only have six seats because by default the game sends about 6 sims to each class.
I try different looks with screenshots as well because I rarely know what kind of vibe I want them to give off while I'm playing.
@hellohannah2 I agree with this. I tend to delete screenshots where I have the walls cutaway. The mistake I make the most frequently now is taking a screenshot with an object highlighted and outlined with a white border. Most of the time, I just let that go. My screenshots often have mistakes tbh, but they aren't that distracting and they can be funny.
I love ReShade. I was afraid to use it for a while because I thought it might cause lag, but my game is fine and ReShade makes a world of difference. LR/PS has gotten much better with its AI and object selection in the past year or so, but it's still much easier for me to adjust camera aperture and things in the game than trying to fake it in LR/PS. I use Lightroom a lot more than Photoshop because it's fast. I can copy/paste edits from one screenshot to the next extremely easily and adjust colors, highlights/contrast, noise, etc. there. I generally only use Photoshop for shenanigans or getting rid of UI. I use it to fix clipping (on the rare occasions when I care about it), fix mistakes, erase objects, and sort out my Sims and their expressions.
I’m surprised to hear that you don’t use ReShade because when I was reading Lucky Girl I convinced myself that you did.
That’s very kind. Thank you!
A lot of what I use has been mentioned already (make use of lights, reShade, tab mode etc) but here are a couple more:
• I like to use MCCC to slow down time in my game. It helps when you want to shoot a scene during a sunrise or sunset for example, but it can also help a lot in game-driven stories so you have time to take all of your screenshots or even to make more things happen in game during a party or social event. To be honest, I always play with time slowed down, it's not just a story thing. I like when my sims can take their time and I always find events/work days too short without it.
• I'm also using MCCC's flag function on my Sims because I usually mix my story characters with some of my actual gameplay sims, so in order to avoid having my story sims age or do crazy things while I'm playing rotationally with the others, I make sure that all of them are flagged with... pretty much everything under the sun: "Freeze appearance", "Immortal", "No aging", "Freeze motives", "Freeze physique", "Freeze skills", "Never Cull" you name it. That makes it so that, in game, they're basically special NPCs that can't die or do anything I don't want them to.
• In order to influence my sims' moods I use the testingcheats shift+clic function that displays a menu where you can determine which mood to put your sim in (for emotions, it spawns a +40 buff that says "you cheated to get this moodlet!"). Choosing "Fine" will remove all buffs, I guess it's the equivalent of the "remove all buffs" cheat but without anything to type in.
• In stories, I use Andrew's poseplayer a lot. Specifically the "Pose by name" option. I know you can have a bunch of custom pose packs, but I don't have any installed, I prefer using the "Pose by name" function because it allows you to make use of absolutely any animation that's already contained within the game. Need a sim to trip and fall down on command? Done. Need someone to yell without relationship penalties? There. Need a sim to play a specific animation linked to a specific object without the object or the position change? Just say the word. Andrew's website has a .txt file you can download where all the animation names are listed. When I need a sim to play a seated, sad animation for example, I'll look for "sad" and test a bunch of names that end with "_seated". After doing it a lot, I've started to be familiar with a bunch of names, which helps for the most commonly used ones.
• The Sim Teleporter is the best invention known to Simkind (it was mentioned before, but it needs repeating
too much left in the drafts I was supposed to get to last year
pls send energy
or make AI that can match my pictures to my text
anyway point being don't do simmingal mistake of hoarding your stories in the attic until they get dusty
its a bad idea
🏡 Gallery 📖 Stories 🌍 World Project 🥔 MOD/CC Free
Almost the first thing I did when I started the Mastersons reboot was send them to the Magic Realm and use MCCC to flag the Sages as immortal. With the original version, I’d played to the point where both Simeon and L had died - I forget what happened with Morgyn - and it was rather jarring to see the new game-generated Sages!
I do have Teleport Any Sim and Pose Player, but I don’t use them a whole amount haha. Again probably because it’s game-driven. I have another idea in my head which would be much more plot-driven if I ever carried it out, so it’d be interesting to see how I’d use TAS and PP.
@haneul I'll take it as a compliment that you thought I already used reshade! In fact I just batch edit all of my screenshots in photoshop. For part 1 of my story I wanted everything super sunny and bright, and for the second half it needs to be duller and more subdued, so that's why I do that. I wonder if it's possible to switch out reshades (or whatever they're called), to achieve a different effect depending on the mood you want, but I expect I'll find out about all of that once I really dig into it and get it going.
Keep going with the hints if anyone else has them - and equally, if anyone has any writing tips they're burning to share, go ahead and post them too. I know we're all going for vastly different things with our respective stories, but it's always really cool to read about people's process nonetheless. Maybe any personal rules you have to keep yourself on track, things you absolutely will never include in your stories, or ways you have of planning everything out.
I love it when this thread is alive and kicking!
It's also yet another thing I wrote a guide on...
@hellohannah2
Sort of related to both the poses and my way of writing... Since my story is done sort of comic-book style, the screenshots are a huge part of how the story is told. I usually plan out a scene in a vague way first. I know approximately what's going to happen story-wise but don't have it all figured out yet. Then I go through a few cycles of: 1) Live gameplay to get as many screenshots as I can with the sims' spontaneous expressions and actions, 2) second draft of more detailed writing to nail down how I really want the scene to go, including most of the dialogue, 3) Another live gameplay pass, looking for specific moments to capture that fit my dialogue or "stage instructions", and using "pose by name" animations to fill in what the sims don't do naturally, 4) making single frame pose clips from existing game animations to set up actions that are hard to time perfectly (usually when multiple sims are involved), 5) making modified poses from animation clips to change part of how the action looks, and then finally 6) custom making my own poses from scratch for actions I want that just aren't in the game. Final version of the scene is a combination of many or all of the above usually.
• For photoshop users: you can turn any basic filters you use to color correct your pictures into what's called an Action. (should be under the windows/actions menu, there are some presets but you can record your own, that's what I do). That way, it makes it easier to reuse that exact same filter on all of your screenshots to make them all match.
I don't know if Gimp or Krita or other editing softwares have actions too but they might! Maybe under another name.
For example, in my story I usually color correct my screenshots to get rid of the green-ish tint and make them lean more towards magenta. I also like having black bands, like on TV, I think it adds something interesting to the composition without cropping the image. These two things are now actions that I saved after doing it the first time, that way my black bands always look the same and the color filter doesn't change too much from one pic to another, except when I want it to.
@GlacierSnow I didn't know it was even possible! To freeze a game animation to a specific frame. May I ask how you do this? I spend a LOT of in-game time just sitting there, pausing and un-pausing, trying to get all of my sims in an interesting position at the exact same time especially when I have several sims playing different animations in a single scene
@hellohannah2 Thank you so much! I like making funny posters for stories and trying to capture the essence of it in a single image. This one got a little crazy but it matches the story so why not! I'm just getting back into Simlit, and one of the reasons I've joined this forum is to find more stories to read so I'll definitely check out yours as well!
1. Like you I tend to have headline effects off when I'm taking a screen grab. Not all the time, especially with close ups where you don't see the plumbob or name above the character. During gameplay I switch headline effects back on so that I can catch the name of the background sim the characters are interacting with.
2. Taking a screen grab. I press Tab to get a clean, full size image. I try to use the classical Hollywood system for framing shots. Wide to mid to close up in a scene, shot/reverse shot during dialogue, crossing the line and the 180 degree rule and all that. I need the free camera mode to set up the shot I want.
3. High and low angle using Q and E. Screen grabbing the characters from above can create an effect of making them seem small compared with their surroundings; thus making them seem inconsequential or weaker. It can also create more depth in the shot. Screen grabbing them from a lower angle makes them appear more powerful or suggest intrigue or mystery.
4. Use the mouse wheel to zoom in. It warps the edges of the screen to create an extreme wide angle shot with an extended depth of field...great for psychedelic effects, drunken or stoned POVs or just make the picture look off kilter.
5. Dialogue is your friend. You can make scenes faster paced with snappy dialogue and reveal character details quickly without stopping for exposition.
6. Cheating with other games...There are times when I want to depict certain scenes that the Sims 4 can't handle, even with mods so I cheat and use another game. So far I've used The Movies, Kerbal Space Program and Forza 5.
7. The only way I've found to make the process of screen grabbing quicker is experience and knowing what I want well enough.
Read Sim 66 here:https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/978195/sim-66/p1
https://kelloggjkellogg.blogspot.com/2020/10/sim-66-prologue.html