What's this? A resources page? ...kinda.
I started replying to a downloads suggestion post on thesims2 and my comment quickly became ridiculously long. So I decided, since I was already being that long winded, I might as well post it here, link it, and save myself a lot of effort.
For those who are concerned about pay/not-pay issues: I use plenty of pay content in my game, but I got it all from the booty. That's also how I know a lot of things are crap. I'm a fountain of knowledge. This is just a quick list...I haven't linked a lot of it yet. Some decent amount of googling can get you all the urls you need...this is just a quick ref, for now.
MUST HAVES:
Critical fixes and important life-savers from MATY. You will need to use your brain a bit and read, but it's not really all that complicated. Browse The Firing Range, and make sure you get everything that's considered important. They even color-coded this shit for you, so simple! Make sure you not only download the Lot Debugger, but you actually place it on every lot.
I like to use Hook's Randomizer when I make a bunch of townies myself. I also use that instead of rolling dice when my teens age up. If you read the thread, it'll tell you how to customize the program, and you can even do things like weight choices. So if you want to, say, allow Grilled Cheese sims into your random aspiration choice, but in smaller proportion than the "normal" ones, you can do that.
Now onto the fun stuff.
Here's my faves page from MTS2. I need to mark down more things, but for now, it's really my handy bookmark list for the stuff I can't build houses without (so I can look up links when I upload houses). There's a few other things in there, but my essential building/buy crap is all right there.
Default replacements -
Skins - Lyran (These are basically "improved" upon Maxis skins. They look nicer and it's a good generic replacement set. They have female nipples, and they are placed a wee bit high, but perky is good.)
Eyes - Kylie Eyes by Bruno
Face Templates - I rotate sets from MTS2. Anything that improves upon Maxis without being nearly identical faces has probably been in my game at some point.
Clothes - While not everything Phaenoh does is to my tastes, she has made replacements for practically everything, so there's probably something in there you'd want to switch out!
Genetics:
Skins - Lyran again (for in between shades, and the freckled skintone I love), Enayla (MTS2), Louis, teru_k (MTS2)
Eyes - Bruno, pinstruck, Nouk, Barcelonista, Enayla
Hair - ...I download hair from everywhere, even though I know better.
Recolors/Fixes -
Renegade Sims - Fixes and recolors sucky paymeshes.
Sims File Vault - A good place to find mesh fixes...and then lots of recolors in general.
InSimenator Forums - They've got a few meshers, but it's also an excellent recolor resource.
Garden of Shadows - For your more unnatural recolor needs...the hair forum is called "Live Fast and Dye Your Hair."
Makeup:
Bruno, Nouk, Helaene
Brows:
Helaene, Barcelonista
Accessories:
Temptress (MTS2) has the best meshed piercings, period.
Clothes:
...oh god, I have no idea. Don't make me think about these things.
I'll do buy/build later.
Hacks:
MATY
InSim
InTeen
TwoJeffs (InTeen) - Autonomous Casual Romance, Triplets & Quads, lots of little fixes of his, go through his forum @ InTeen
New site: Got some bedding, shower curtains, floors, and pjs here: dollhouse.jp.
For those who are concerned about pay/not-pay issues: I use plenty of pay content in my game, but I got it all from the booty. That's also how I know a lot of things are crap. I'm a fountain of knowledge. This is just a quick list...I haven't linked a lot of it yet. Some decent amount of googling can get you all the urls you need...this is just a quick ref, for now.
MUST HAVES:
Critical fixes and important life-savers from MATY. You will need to use your brain a bit and read, but it's not really all that complicated. Browse The Firing Range, and make sure you get everything that's considered important. They even color-coded this shit for you, so simple! Make sure you not only download the Lot Debugger, but you actually place it on every lot.
I like to use Hook's Randomizer when I make a bunch of townies myself. I also use that instead of rolling dice when my teens age up. If you read the thread, it'll tell you how to customize the program, and you can even do things like weight choices. So if you want to, say, allow Grilled Cheese sims into your random aspiration choice, but in smaller proportion than the "normal" ones, you can do that.
Now onto the fun stuff.
Here's my faves page from MTS2. I need to mark down more things, but for now, it's really my handy bookmark list for the stuff I can't build houses without (so I can look up links when I upload houses). There's a few other things in there, but my essential building/buy crap is all right there.
Default replacements -
Skins - Lyran (These are basically "improved" upon Maxis skins. They look nicer and it's a good generic replacement set. They have female nipples, and they are placed a wee bit high, but perky is good.)
Eyes - Kylie Eyes by Bruno
Face Templates - I rotate sets from MTS2. Anything that improves upon Maxis without being nearly identical faces has probably been in my game at some point.
Clothes - While not everything Phaenoh does is to my tastes, she has made replacements for practically everything, so there's probably something in there you'd want to switch out!
Genetics:
Skins - Lyran again (for in between shades, and the freckled skintone I love), Enayla (MTS2), Louis, teru_k (MTS2)
Eyes - Bruno, pinstruck, Nouk, Barcelonista, Enayla
Hair - ...I download hair from everywhere, even though I know better.
- Nouk - At MTS2, NoukieSims, and aspiration sets for Wicked Nouk Family - the best sims 2 hair mesher, hands down
- Hysterical Paroxysm - MTS2/demused sims - I love the realistic male hairstyles she's done
- Rose - She's an evil paysite, but I think she's got the best quality of the evil paysites...it's not saying much, but the latest hairs have been improved texture wise, and I've never seen a head explode through the back of one of her meshes.
- Raon - I have to rebin the hairs, I often download a mesh only after I've found retextures, and I've retextured Raon hair myself, but some of them are cute and I like them. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND RAON POLY COUNTS ARE FUCKING INSANE. If you have any performance issues without Raon hairs in to begin with, you will definitely not be helping things by adding in Raon's crap.
- Peggy - I delete quite a few colors of hers automatically now. I don't download her free hair anymore because I don't want to sign up on her site. I have to check to see whether a mesh explodes on sims heads before I add them in. I often go the "recolor, then mesh" route with her hairs, too. On the plus side, if you see a hair of hers in my game nowadays, it's probably decent enough. Unless it's on a townie, then it's not my fault. :P
- Sizza (MTS2) - Hasn't made that much hair yet, but what I have is good. Thumbs up.
Recolors/Fixes -
Renegade Sims - Fixes and recolors sucky paymeshes.
Sims File Vault - A good place to find mesh fixes...and then lots of recolors in general.
InSimenator Forums - They've got a few meshers, but it's also an excellent recolor resource.
Garden of Shadows - For your more unnatural recolor needs...the hair forum is called "Live Fast and Dye Your Hair."
Makeup:
Bruno, Nouk, Helaene
Brows:
Helaene, Barcelonista
Accessories:
Temptress (MTS2) has the best meshed piercings, period.
Clothes:
...oh god, I have no idea. Don't make me think about these things.
I'll do buy/build later.
Hacks:
MATY
InSim
InTeen
TwoJeffs (InTeen) - Autonomous Casual Romance, Triplets & Quads, lots of little fixes of his, go through his forum @ InTeen
New site: Got some bedding, shower curtains, floors, and pjs here: dollhouse.jp.