I've been busy.
Really busy the past few weeks with regards to my game and simming. First off, I completed Myshuno! and started to think more about my characters and writing, which really pleased me. I’m still not at the stage where I can sit down tonight and start writing the next chapter, but I’m able to think about it and writing a certain character without having a panic attack. This is a massive step forward from where I’ve been most of the past year and a bit.
I’ve also been playing and enjoying it. Really, really enjoying it. I mean enjoying it in a “OMG this game is FUN! Why did no one tell me playing is this much fun? Why have I spent the past few years viewing this game as a chore? It’s a fun game! Look at the sims doing daft things!” type of way. Picspam of my playing will be posted at some point. :D
Because I’ve been playing and enjoying it, I’ve been motivated to get on and work on some cc that I’ve wanted for some time, or I knew would be easy but fiddly or time consuming, or that I’ve not finished yet. Or all four.
First item:
New road and pavement default.
I’ve been unhappy with the default I’ve been using for some time. It was ok for Regalton, which is a village, but the verge doesn’t fit with my ideas for Simdon, Simbridge or Simford, which are large towns or cities, and therefore the pavement should go right to the street. Plus the textures were old and didn’t look quite as good as I would like. I’m so happy with how my default has turned out. It’s an edit I did a little while ago of a Kativip terrain paint (made the scale better, toned down the parts of the pattern that were obvious in the repeat), coupled with various textures from the game Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper for the pavement, curbs, gutters and border to the pavement. I did post pictures of an earlier version over at my tumblr, but this is the version I think I’m going to stick with. I need to take another look at the crossroad because the texture is (purposefully) unsymmetrical and doesn’t line up in the way I think it should. It’s no biggie, it just looks like I may have mirrored the texture on the pavement as well as the curb and border, when I didn’t need to.
Second item:
Four new coat meshes.
When I was playing the other day, a dormie walked by in her winter coat and I bemoaned, for the millionth time, the fact that her bustle had disappeared. So I closed the game, opened simpe, milkshape and bodyshop and got to work. The first coat I basically pulled out the back of cocomama’s wide fur coat mesh to create a bustle, slimmed it a little and added a preg morph. It’s a standalone mesh, not a replacement, but I’ve relinked the recolours I already had to this mesh, not the original. The second coat is the same as the first, but with my Victorian-style boots added as a second group. It looks the same as the first, and was really only made for filming and future purposes. The third came about because I decided to make a coat for Sophia, and wanted it to be mid-length and layered over her day dress. I used the second mesh first of all, but it looked odd having the fur trim as a texture only. So I added a meshed on trim, which delineates the coat and skirt better. I might also slim the skirt down a bit more to add to the effect that the coat is thicker and is on top of the dress. Plus the original Chriko mesh is slimmer than this, not that you would know if the two meshes weren't side by side. The final mesh is cocomama’s belted fur coat, but with the back pulled out to create a bustle again, and a preg morph added. Like the wide coat, it’s a standalone mesh, but I’ve linked the textures I have to it. It looks a bit odd because of the belt, but it works until I feel like working on it more.
Playing around with adding preg morphs gave me the impetus to get on and finish the third item:
New corset mesh!
Ok, you're going to have to bear with me here, because I'm going into Historical Accuracy-Madness mode. Playing a historical game is not the easiest thing in the world, especially if you're like me and want things to be as accurate and authentic as possible. You end up having to compromise, you have no choice, and one of the big areas where you have to compromise is clothing. The vast majority of the dresses in my game, are for the upper middle classes, and rather fancy. The rest are for the very poor: I have very little in the way of everyday dresses for the middle tier of society. It's why I'm having such trouble making a dress for Marielle: she now needs nicer clothes than the last time you saw her, but they also have to be pratical and plain. She has very little money, but she has been able to throw away the rags she was wearing.
The main area I have had to compromise, or rather grit my teeth and bear it, has been ladies underwear. Before I made the above, not one of the items of underwear in my game was anywhere near being accurate. In fact, those new undies still aren't as accurate as I would like, (It needs a better busk and proper hooks along the front, and it should also dip underneath the arms), but they are so much better than everything else in my game. Let me explain.
First of all, all the corset meshes, without petticoats, are on meshes which are too big. I have a lot on Gelydh's bloomer mesh, which is a beautiful mesh, don't get me wrong (in fact I used the drawers off it for this mesh, with Gelydh's permission), but it's designed with modern proportions, not the corseted proportions of the dress meshes in my game. I hated the fact that my ladies in their underclothes actually wouldn't fit under their dresses.
Secondly, every single corset, bar one in my catalogue is an underbust corset. Now, underbust corsets did exist, but one of the main purposes of a corset was to provide support, and so the most popular type of corset was a midline corset.
Thirdly, there is a distinct lack of proper fastenings. I've kept the fastenings at the front on the undies from the original AAS texture because they will do, but as you can see from the pictures, they're not quite right. However, at least they're fastenings of a kind and not lacing like on some of the undies out there. Corsets did not lace at the front. They fastened with special stud and eye hooks. The lacing was at the back, and didn't function as method of fastening the corset.
Which brings me to point four on why none of the undies I had in game were accurate. A complete lack of lacing at the back. Without lacing at the back (I have seen one with a lacing arrangement at the front, but it was unusual and I wonder how effective it was), the corset could not be pulled into shape and it becomes more of a girdle than a Victorian corset.
The final reason why they're not accurate is a lack of stockings. Stockings were normally the first piece of clothing that a lady put on (they had to be with drawers that long), yet none of the underwear I had in game had them.
As you can see, I've fixed most of these points with my new mesh and quick retexture. I'd like to make more, but I'm not that good at retexturing clothing and I have to be in the mood.
Fourth item:
Original
New
Improvements to an AAS mesh.
While I was working on the coats, I remembered that I wanted to adjust the AAS bustle a little bit. It's always struck me as being very boxy and square and looks odd when the sim moves. It may not look all that different, but it looks a lot better in game: not as boxy or awkward when a sim moves.
Fifth item:
New wallpaper for the Legacy Society. I've planned on replacing the original for ages now, but never felt like working on it before the weekend. I also made the two tiles I needed to complete the floor in front of the stairs, due to the od shape.
Sixth item:
Window surround recolours.
I also finally got round to recolouring the surround for these windows to match the new (well, newish. It's been over two years since I changed them) walls on the Legacy Society.
Item seven:
Landscaping.
I've wanted to landscape the LS and VPLs for a little while, but didn't feel like it when I was doing the rebuild, so this rotation, I've actually done it. Plus, it means I've been able to use only seasonal plants, which is good. Of course, I need to replicate this in the dummy hood, but that's doable.
I've kept the LS very minimal becuase I can't really see Bertie (who would have arranged this in story) wanting a huge garden, plus none of them are ever going to be interested in the upkeep of it. Yeah, they'd get a gardener, but I still can't see them being bothered by it.
The VPLs has a better garden I feel. I think it looks pretty in the snow, but should look really lovely in summer.
And that's what I've been doing with my sims over the past couple of weeks. Thanks for sticking with this if you have. Sometimes I feel like rambling about my strange simming ways. :D
I’ve also been playing and enjoying it. Really, really enjoying it. I mean enjoying it in a “OMG this game is FUN! Why did no one tell me playing is this much fun? Why have I spent the past few years viewing this game as a chore? It’s a fun game! Look at the sims doing daft things!” type of way. Picspam of my playing will be posted at some point. :D
Because I’ve been playing and enjoying it, I’ve been motivated to get on and work on some cc that I’ve wanted for some time, or I knew would be easy but fiddly or time consuming, or that I’ve not finished yet. Or all four.
First item:
New road and pavement default.
I’ve been unhappy with the default I’ve been using for some time. It was ok for Regalton, which is a village, but the verge doesn’t fit with my ideas for Simdon, Simbridge or Simford, which are large towns or cities, and therefore the pavement should go right to the street. Plus the textures were old and didn’t look quite as good as I would like. I’m so happy with how my default has turned out. It’s an edit I did a little while ago of a Kativip terrain paint (made the scale better, toned down the parts of the pattern that were obvious in the repeat), coupled with various textures from the game Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper for the pavement, curbs, gutters and border to the pavement. I did post pictures of an earlier version over at my tumblr, but this is the version I think I’m going to stick with. I need to take another look at the crossroad because the texture is (purposefully) unsymmetrical and doesn’t line up in the way I think it should. It’s no biggie, it just looks like I may have mirrored the texture on the pavement as well as the curb and border, when I didn’t need to.
Second item:
Four new coat meshes.
When I was playing the other day, a dormie walked by in her winter coat and I bemoaned, for the millionth time, the fact that her bustle had disappeared. So I closed the game, opened simpe, milkshape and bodyshop and got to work. The first coat I basically pulled out the back of cocomama’s wide fur coat mesh to create a bustle, slimmed it a little and added a preg morph. It’s a standalone mesh, not a replacement, but I’ve relinked the recolours I already had to this mesh, not the original. The second coat is the same as the first, but with my Victorian-style boots added as a second group. It looks the same as the first, and was really only made for filming and future purposes. The third came about because I decided to make a coat for Sophia, and wanted it to be mid-length and layered over her day dress. I used the second mesh first of all, but it looked odd having the fur trim as a texture only. So I added a meshed on trim, which delineates the coat and skirt better. I might also slim the skirt down a bit more to add to the effect that the coat is thicker and is on top of the dress. Plus the original Chriko mesh is slimmer than this, not that you would know if the two meshes weren't side by side. The final mesh is cocomama’s belted fur coat, but with the back pulled out to create a bustle again, and a preg morph added. Like the wide coat, it’s a standalone mesh, but I’ve linked the textures I have to it. It looks a bit odd because of the belt, but it works until I feel like working on it more.
Playing around with adding preg morphs gave me the impetus to get on and finish the third item:
New corset mesh!
Ok, you're going to have to bear with me here, because I'm going into Historical Accuracy-Madness mode. Playing a historical game is not the easiest thing in the world, especially if you're like me and want things to be as accurate and authentic as possible. You end up having to compromise, you have no choice, and one of the big areas where you have to compromise is clothing. The vast majority of the dresses in my game, are for the upper middle classes, and rather fancy. The rest are for the very poor: I have very little in the way of everyday dresses for the middle tier of society. It's why I'm having such trouble making a dress for Marielle: she now needs nicer clothes than the last time you saw her, but they also have to be pratical and plain. She has very little money, but she has been able to throw away the rags she was wearing.
The main area I have had to compromise, or rather grit my teeth and bear it, has been ladies underwear. Before I made the above, not one of the items of underwear in my game was anywhere near being accurate. In fact, those new undies still aren't as accurate as I would like, (It needs a better busk and proper hooks along the front, and it should also dip underneath the arms), but they are so much better than everything else in my game. Let me explain.
First of all, all the corset meshes, without petticoats, are on meshes which are too big. I have a lot on Gelydh's bloomer mesh, which is a beautiful mesh, don't get me wrong (in fact I used the drawers off it for this mesh, with Gelydh's permission), but it's designed with modern proportions, not the corseted proportions of the dress meshes in my game. I hated the fact that my ladies in their underclothes actually wouldn't fit under their dresses.
Secondly, every single corset, bar one in my catalogue is an underbust corset. Now, underbust corsets did exist, but one of the main purposes of a corset was to provide support, and so the most popular type of corset was a midline corset.
Thirdly, there is a distinct lack of proper fastenings. I've kept the fastenings at the front on the undies from the original AAS texture because they will do, but as you can see from the pictures, they're not quite right. However, at least they're fastenings of a kind and not lacing like on some of the undies out there. Corsets did not lace at the front. They fastened with special stud and eye hooks. The lacing was at the back, and didn't function as method of fastening the corset.
Which brings me to point four on why none of the undies I had in game were accurate. A complete lack of lacing at the back. Without lacing at the back (I have seen one with a lacing arrangement at the front, but it was unusual and I wonder how effective it was), the corset could not be pulled into shape and it becomes more of a girdle than a Victorian corset.
The final reason why they're not accurate is a lack of stockings. Stockings were normally the first piece of clothing that a lady put on (they had to be with drawers that long), yet none of the underwear I had in game had them.
As you can see, I've fixed most of these points with my new mesh and quick retexture. I'd like to make more, but I'm not that good at retexturing clothing and I have to be in the mood.
Fourth item:
Original
New
Improvements to an AAS mesh.
While I was working on the coats, I remembered that I wanted to adjust the AAS bustle a little bit. It's always struck me as being very boxy and square and looks odd when the sim moves. It may not look all that different, but it looks a lot better in game: not as boxy or awkward when a sim moves.
Fifth item:
New wallpaper for the Legacy Society. I've planned on replacing the original for ages now, but never felt like working on it before the weekend. I also made the two tiles I needed to complete the floor in front of the stairs, due to the od shape.
Sixth item:
Window surround recolours.
I also finally got round to recolouring the surround for these windows to match the new (well, newish. It's been over two years since I changed them) walls on the Legacy Society.
Item seven:
Landscaping.
I've wanted to landscape the LS and VPLs for a little while, but didn't feel like it when I was doing the rebuild, so this rotation, I've actually done it. Plus, it means I've been able to use only seasonal plants, which is good. Of course, I need to replicate this in the dummy hood, but that's doable.
I've kept the LS very minimal becuase I can't really see Bertie (who would have arranged this in story) wanting a huge garden, plus none of them are ever going to be interested in the upkeep of it. Yeah, they'd get a gardener, but I still can't see them being bothered by it.
The VPLs has a better garden I feel. I think it looks pretty in the snow, but should look really lovely in summer.
And that's what I've been doing with my sims over the past couple of weeks. Thanks for sticking with this if you have. Sometimes I feel like rambling about my strange simming ways. :D