Slightly Tired Saturday
Jul. 27th, 2024 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crossover_chickBecause, well, turns out I was affected by that KinitoPet video Gray made more than I thought -- though I might have been okay if I hadn't followed it up last night with a binge on some horror stuff on TV Tropes while listening to at-least-vaguely-creepy music from that "Blades In The Dark-style music" playlist that I've been binging on. *wince* Pretty much screwed myself over there! I am listening to calmer, less-spooky music and actively avoiding the Tropes tonight to improve my chances of getting a better night's sleep. (Though, fortunately, I wasn't up ALL night freaking out about things, like has happened a few times in the past -- I just had a hard time getting to sleep despite stubbornly lying there, then woke up a couple of times during the night.)
Despite being a bit tired today, though, I got pretty much everything I wanted to get done, done --
Cleaning & Laundry: Actually had a really good day with this – mostly because my Mom got a new ostrich-feather duster recently, which I decided to try out while doing my dusting today because apparently it’s good for stuff like figurines. And damn, it was nice to be able to dust my various toys on their shelves without worrying I was going to knock them over like I so often do with the Swiffer-brand duster! So that speeded up the dusting just enough that I was able to get all my cleaning done right before lunch! :D Laundry of course took longer (though at least I didn’t have to wait for any of Mom’s loads to be done – hers was ready to come out of the dryer when I put my first load in the washer), but I got it all sorted by 5 PM. Done for another couple of weeks, yay~
Tumblr: Got a few things done over here, happily –
Victor Luvs Alice – Managed to keep up with my dash and reblog Moose’s latest McFly July offering (Marty and Jennifer’s first meeting in her verse – which was in detention after Jennifer ended up there for back-talking Strickland after he gave her a tardy bus for showing up on a late bus; Marty told her that it was a right of passage, and she found the crack in his voice adorable XD) – and while I didn’t get anything drafted, I DID get a bunch of pictures from when I updated the Chill Valicer Save farmhouse with a new bigger kitchen and a bigger séance room and a nicer barn basement sorted, so I can put those into a post or two tomorrow for Wednesday’s update. *nods* So that’s all good!
Valice Multiverse – Got an ask that I ended up sticking in the queue, of a Kindred pretending to “promote” a restaurant, O’Tolley’s, by saying they went there to put themselves off the food they can no longer eat; Malkavian!Alice laughed and said it probably wasn’t as bad as Surfside Diner, citing the fact that you can pretend to be the health inspector and Doris will give you money not to say anything about the rats. XD
Sims 4: Had a decently productive time doing a little building and renovating today in old Sims 4 – after I’d taken a moment to remove my Mods folder (and get rid of that “add all the different venue types for Simmers to build with” mod from Zerbu that I no longer wanted), back up my saves and tray folders, and patch the game, of course. But I got into my new “Wiped Windenburg” building save a little after 3 PM, and spent roughly an hour and a half fiddling around with the following –
A) First things first, I spent some time making “Wiped Windenburg” live up to its name by wiping pretty much every pre-made lot in that world (and turning all non-residential lots into “generic” lots so the game didn’t yell at me about not having necessary items). Meaning, currently, the only lots that actually have something on them are –
I. The Tiny Fandom Lot on the Crumbling Isle, where the Von Winderburg Estate, former home of the Villareal family, was (of course)
II. The Ministry of Joy Nightclub in the Lykke Centre, where the old pool lot was (also of course)
III. The Nightmarket Squarish Cafe in the Lykke Centre, where the Hare & Hedgehog cafe was (a holdover from my previous building save – I want to revamp it for this world, including moving it to a different neighborhood and changing the lot type)
IV. The Confession Nightclub in Olde Platz, where South Square Coffee was (still like it there)
V. The Red Rocket National Park in Olde Platz, where Waterlock Redoubt, former home of the Behr family, was (I like the placement and am still amused by it being a National Park of all things XD)
VI. The Community Conservatory Community Space and all its variants in Windslar, where the uninhabited “Rustic Residence” used to be (I INTENDED to move it to the Crumbling Isle, but then was like “do I have to bulldoze each lot individually?” and decided to save that question for another day. But I did make sure to save the “Marketplace” variant to my Library, since I didn’t have that one yet!)
VII. The Hill Valley Courthouse Park in Windslar, where Coorinberg Cottage, former home of the Munch family, was (I honestly want to move this one to Olde Platz, near Confession – the problem is it’s a 40x30 lot and the biggest lot size in that neighborhood is 30x20, I think, so – hmm)
VIII. And the Von Haunt Chalet Gardens in Windslar, the Ancient Ruins in Olde Platz, and the Island Bluffs on the Crumbling Isle (all of which are “canon” lots I like and want to keep, though I reserve the right to renovate them at some point)
Okay, yeah, that sounds like I didn’t bulldoze anything at all, I know – but you have to understand that there are twenty-seven freaking lots in Windenburg. So I DID actually wipe a fair few lots, I promise! XD So yeah – now I’ve got a nice, relatively-clean slate to work with going forward. Handy.
B) With THAT all sorted, it was over to the Ministry of Joy Nightclub to keep working on that in its new “on the waterfront” location and make it the best nightclub it could be! Starting by changing up the “worship” room on the side – much as I liked the idea of having a room where Sims just sat around and stared at a statue in “worship” of the eldritch being it represented, I figured in practice it would be better to have something for Sims to actually DO in that room. So I got rid of the twisty statue that was in the middle (it didn’t have the right shade of yellow in it anyway) and instead decided to dedicate the room to bubble-blowing! Because I wanted some bubble blowers on the lot, and that seemed like the best place to stick ‘em. We can pretend the blowers dispense Giggler Gas or something. XD Anyway, the room now has a pair of bubble blowers in it – one yellow, the other black-and-white – with those cool “fractal” black-and-yellow living chairs I found in a previous building session. I also redid the floor in a darker (but still lightly veined) base-game marble (I ended up liking it better than the marble I had there previously); recolored the bases of the cool twisty geometric statues I had in the corners purple (because purple is also a Smiler color) and highlighted them with a glowing yellow Spa Day light-up floor tile under each (I REALLY wanted to use them in the room to go with the glowing stripes on the walls, and that felt like the best way to do it without going overboard); and ended up putting a couple of meditation poofs in the “black-with-rainbow-pie-slices” color swatch against the far wall, between the two statues there, near the end of the session (because I wanted to include those too and I liked that color swatch best). So I guess now this is like the “chill-out” room or something. For opening your mind, man…
C) After fixing up the former “worship” room, much of my time was spent working on getting the upstairs rooms and two surrounding balconies into a better state. How did that go? Pretty good, honestly –
I. I finished wallpapering both the “arcade” room and the “karaoke” room with the standard black-and-yellow stripes I’ve been using for most of the rest of the build, and gave them the same black shale flooring that I used downstairs. As for the balconies, I tried out a couple of different floor types in black, but felt like they were all too dark – or, in the case of a black-and-white diamond-pattern tile, too busy. Fortunately, near the end of the session, I thought to try and look for “purple” floors instead, and found a nice grayish-with-some-purplish highlights swatch of the shale tile I’d been using in most of the rest of the build and decided I liked the look of that for the various “outdoor” sections. So I ended up using it for both the balconies and the roof! :) I also adjusted the placement of the doors out onto the balconies from the “arcade” and “karaoke” rooms so that the black doors always lined up with a yellow wallpaper stripe. Just thought it looked better that way!
II. In the “arcade” room, I properly fenced off the stairwell (using the matching glowing Get Famous fence, since obviously I have the yellow glowing stairs and banister, why would I not); moved the big old arcade machine so it was better centered against the back wall; added a yellow Get Together games table with matching yellow chairs in one corner; and put a (black swatch) foosball game near the stairs and the opposite corner. I was tempted to get the virtual reality gaming mat instead, but I thought foosball would be more fun and encourage Sims to play together. :) (And I guess there’s still room for the gaming mat if I decide I have to have it!)
III. In the “karaoke” room, I added a quartet of Moschino Stuff couches (as I liked the yellow-and-black pattern on them the best) against each wall, facing the actual karaoke machine so people would have somewhere to sit and watch the performances. I don’t feel like this room is quite done yet, but I’m not sure what else to add to it. Other than maybe a drinks tray? *shrug* Feels like the Sims would get their booze downstairs, though…
IV. Out on the front balcony, I adjusted the placement of the two “spiral” loungers overlooking the front of the build slightly so they wouldn’t get in the way of the doors – tempted to add a cooler or juice keg out there, but again, not sure that’s quite right
V. And on the back/side balcony, I added some colorful benches around the back of the “arcade” room and the side of the “karaoke” room so people would have places to sit up there; put some yellow and black plastic loungers over by the hot tub (which is above the “chill out room”); and moved the busking area into the corner of the side area by said loungers. ...Though I’m still not sure which way it should face so performers won’t have their backs to any listeners/potential tippers. *facepalm* I gotta figure that out.
D) And, as a few little extra touches, I put some more yellow pipes on the front of the upstairs level (to match the pipes all over the front of the downstairs level), and added some special effects machines over the dance floor on the main floor of the club, since I thought it would be cool to be able to add special effects while everyone was dancing. :D
Not too shabby, I feel! This nightclub is really coming together. :) Hopefully soon I’ll be able to share it on the Gallery with you guys...and THEN do the version with all my CC in it so I can REALLY spice it up. XD (I know one of my Crypt O’Club fan Simblrween sets has spiral doors, at the very least...)
Writing: Got another chunk done on “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of” Chapter 3, with Victor discovering that, oh, right, he doesn’t have his wallet – and thus cannot bribe one Sergeant Tannen to not bring his friends to jail. Leading to Tannen declaring that they’re going to take Victor in with Alice and Smiler –
And to Alice, desperate not to get arrested and get shipped back to Rutledge, showing she’s Not To Be Trifled With and utterly DESTROYING the other six members of Tannen’s little squad. Like, she just WRECKED THEIR SHIT. It was awesome. :D Though it does rather mean that she, Smiler, and Victor had better start running… we’ll pick up with this and what I feel is the best chase scene I’ve ever written next week!
YouTube: Well, I only expected to watch one video today – but then something popped up in my Recommendeds that I had to check out –
A) Specifically – “Fallout: London - Mind The Gap” by Jon of Many A True Nerd! Because the “Fallout: London” mega-mod (seriously, this is honestly just an ENTIRELY NEW GAME borrowing FO4’s engine and some of the base mechanics, it’s INCREDIBLE) has come out, and Jon – who is of course British himself – was all over checking out a Fallout game that is set in a location that he actually personally knows. So he started the game up and – after watching the really awesome intro – created Lady Aria, a woman born in a test tube being tended to by two scientists voiced by two classic Doctors (Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker, specifically), sporting a bedraggled haircut, a “cursed clown” scar on her face, S3 P4 E4 C2 I3 A6 L6 for her SPECIAL stats, and “Acrobat” (for better movement speed but less carry capacity) and “Gifted” (+1 to all those SPECIAL stats, but gains 15% less XP) for her traits (yes, this game has traits! Because they looked at Fallout 4 and said “cool, but we need more 3 and New Vegas in this bitch”). She was then going to be subjected to “conditioning” of some kind, as per the command of a mysterious Ms. Smythe –
But then a gang called the Vagabonds broke in looking for supplies, shot the scientists tending her (because the mod creators could only hire Classic Doctors for one recording session, we presume), and broke her tube, allowing her to escape! A fun adventure that involved such things like –
I. Beating up a bunch of radshrews (more experimental subjects with a venomous bite – it got so bad that Jon was reduced to drinking skimmed milk to keep his health up after a few encounters)
II. Finding the English equivalent of the Pip-Boy being created in an “Angel” lab (Jon calls it the “Brit-Boy,” and it’s apparently a classic original Fallout boxy pad thing instead of the kind you can strap to your wrist – this feels less convenient than the American one, but okay)
III. Having some more encounters with the mysterious Ms. Smythe, who didn’t seem that fussed about Aria’s escape and even unlocked the doors once she got out of the main labs to give her a fair chance (she also gave her the Official Protagonist Nickname for this game, the Wayfarer...and according to the comments, it appears Smythe changes gender to match whichever one you pick for your protagonist, so THAT’S interesting. One person in the comments was already suggesting Aria’s Mysterious Backstory was going to be “clone of Ms. Smythe”)
IV. Escaping what was revealed to be The Shard (a notable London skyscraper, in this universe some sort of fancy-person living space with an e-mail about keeping out the peasants on one of the local terminals) into the London Underground
V. Finally getting a weapon to fend off all those radshrews in the form of some long-dead commuter’s walking stick (she also stole his bowler hat to boot, because fashion)
VI. Picking up tickets to navigate through the various turnstiles in the Underground (because for some reason in the post-Apocalypse you can’t just jump the turnstile)
VII. Heading out into the wider world of London on an overground Underground train (apparently many of the trains on the Underground are not, in fact, underground – new fact for you), getting to the awesome title screen – and then having to go back in time to a previous save because the game has a nasty habit of crashing during/immediately after that moment
VIII. Finding a train map of the local lines and stations while trying to find a new way to escape (which BADLY confused Jon as apparently a lot of the lines he’s familiar with don’t go to the same places in this world and he was like “I am scared and don’t like this XD)
IX. Discovering that the only other way to go in this particular Underground station leads to a VERY long drop with a note saying “Do It” (Jon was like “no, don’t think so”)
X. Managing to actually get through leaving on the train by reloading the cell the train was in before getting on it – only to suffer an actual train crash and end up rather badly injured (doing 10% less damage with her beloved walking stick)
XI. And finally locating the Vagabonds, the gang that caused all the trouble and getting directed to the Thamespeople (who Jon thought were ghouls, based on the leader’s description, but whose quest has someone with a FISH head, hmmm) to learn more about her origins and get doctored up
Whew! Lot going on – and I only expect things to get even more chaotic. :D This is already absolutely fascinating and I’m looking forward to seeing Jon play more – which I will get to every Saturday going forward, because we’re doing Double Fallout Weekends on MATN now! :D I will have to find ways to appropriately clear my schedule!
B) And then, after THAT pleasant surprise, it was over to GrayStillPlays for the Saturday GTA V video of the day – “Ever time I crash my car gets wider!” Yes, it was time for Gray to take on another one of Alex’s Torture Boards, with the caveat that every time he crashed in a vehicle (and didn’t get full-on ejected from the seat, since that seemed to confuse the script), that vehicle would be deleted from existence, and he’d have to respawn and try again in a wider vehicle – until he hit the widest one, then the script would loop and start providing vehicles from a second set of options. The stuff on offer included legit motorcycles and super cars; meme vehicles like the forklift and that weird vehicle with the giant stamper thing on the front; to modded cars like the ultra-thin dump truck, a wide motorcycle, a fifty-percent-off Wastelander (MY BOY! D:), and the ultra-wide Lambo. And what were the challenges these stupidly thin and stupidly-wide vehicles had to conquer?
I. Violent Minecraft Gaps – a series of four jumps across Minecraft terrain, each guarded by a different Minecraft weapon – a picking pickaxe; a twirling stone axe; a twirling (at a different speed) metal sword; and a lighting-spewing diamond wand-thingy. Not PARTICULARLY difficult if you had the speed, but you REALLY had to get the timing right – Gray wrecked a few runs smashing into that axe blade!
II. IQ Bowling – A large floating arena full of bowling pins and orange bowling balls flying all over the place, with a large pink bowling ball in a cage above the entire thing. Gray had to drive onto the field of play and under the pink ball so it would come out of its cage and follow him, then use it to knock down all of the pins on the board – a process made a little tougher by the fact that a handful of pins were attached to the red corner pieces, meaning when he knocked THOSE over, the floor went away underneath them in a very violent and glitchy fashion, and he suddenly had less room to work with. Once all the pins were down, he then had to put the pink ball into another red cage that froze it in place, and that triggered the teleporter to the next challenge to appear! Again, not too hard, but you needed a car with good handling – and one that wasn’t going to hit everything by sheer virtue of being too wide, either.
III. Reginald Wall Ride Plus A Teaspoon of Weebmills For That Tangy Aftertaste In Your Mouth – A wall ride that was made up of giant Reginald Statues (with a little roll in between), where Gray had to wall-ride on his beloved pet chicken’s beak, avoiding the Weebmills and their horrible katana blades as they tried to knock him off (complete with one weebmill at the end that teleported back and forth). Not the worst wall ride Gray’s ever done, but certainly not the BEST. Definitely needed a Proper Car for this one!
So, how did it go? Well, Gray ended up going through the entirety of Set One of the vehicles on offer without getting through the bowling challenge – hell, most of them couldn’t even get through the gaps (though, hilariously, our beloved failson the Sherp managed it, and was actually doing decently in the bowling before it got clocked). He ended up finally getting to the wall ride with a nice yellow sports car from Set Two – and when he JUST missed the ending circle with it, redid said wall ride with a fancy spoilered super car. Though, obviously the best parts were him dealing with the meme and modded cars – like, trying to drive the ultra-wide Lambo proved to be an absolute impossibility for the poor guy. XD You’re lucky Alex didn’t force you to keep driving the widest cars once you hit the end of the set! That would have been PURE torture. :p
Not bad, not bad at all -- and look at me, getting an extra video from Jon per week. :D Though I'd better SERIOUSLY start working on my tendency to over-recap these videos now, since his videos almost always tend to be on the longer side... Anyway, time for me to consider heading to bed, hopefully with less of my brain trying to spook me. Goals for tomorrow include getting my Wednesday "hey look how I updated the Chill Valicer Save farmhouse" post(s) drafted on Victor Luvs Alice; playing Fallout 4 and getting the settlers at Sunshine Tidings sorted with some new guns and maybe some new infrastructure, along with figuring out what I need to update the Tesla Rifle; updating the FO4 Playthrough Progression accordingly; keeping up with GrayStillPlays and Jon's regular Sunday offerings; and getting in a workout with the next GSP compilation on the list. Hopefully all achievable goals -- though we ARE also watching Ghosbusters: Frozen Empire tomorrow, so I will have to account for that in my calculations. Hmmm. *shrug* We'll see what happens! Night all!
Despite being a bit tired today, though, I got pretty much everything I wanted to get done, done --
Cleaning & Laundry: Actually had a really good day with this – mostly because my Mom got a new ostrich-feather duster recently, which I decided to try out while doing my dusting today because apparently it’s good for stuff like figurines. And damn, it was nice to be able to dust my various toys on their shelves without worrying I was going to knock them over like I so often do with the Swiffer-brand duster! So that speeded up the dusting just enough that I was able to get all my cleaning done right before lunch! :D Laundry of course took longer (though at least I didn’t have to wait for any of Mom’s loads to be done – hers was ready to come out of the dryer when I put my first load in the washer), but I got it all sorted by 5 PM. Done for another couple of weeks, yay~
Tumblr: Got a few things done over here, happily –
Victor Luvs Alice – Managed to keep up with my dash and reblog Moose’s latest McFly July offering (Marty and Jennifer’s first meeting in her verse – which was in detention after Jennifer ended up there for back-talking Strickland after he gave her a tardy bus for showing up on a late bus; Marty told her that it was a right of passage, and she found the crack in his voice adorable XD) – and while I didn’t get anything drafted, I DID get a bunch of pictures from when I updated the Chill Valicer Save farmhouse with a new bigger kitchen and a bigger séance room and a nicer barn basement sorted, so I can put those into a post or two tomorrow for Wednesday’s update. *nods* So that’s all good!
Valice Multiverse – Got an ask that I ended up sticking in the queue, of a Kindred pretending to “promote” a restaurant, O’Tolley’s, by saying they went there to put themselves off the food they can no longer eat; Malkavian!Alice laughed and said it probably wasn’t as bad as Surfside Diner, citing the fact that you can pretend to be the health inspector and Doris will give you money not to say anything about the rats. XD
Sims 4: Had a decently productive time doing a little building and renovating today in old Sims 4 – after I’d taken a moment to remove my Mods folder (and get rid of that “add all the different venue types for Simmers to build with” mod from Zerbu that I no longer wanted), back up my saves and tray folders, and patch the game, of course. But I got into my new “Wiped Windenburg” building save a little after 3 PM, and spent roughly an hour and a half fiddling around with the following –
A) First things first, I spent some time making “Wiped Windenburg” live up to its name by wiping pretty much every pre-made lot in that world (and turning all non-residential lots into “generic” lots so the game didn’t yell at me about not having necessary items). Meaning, currently, the only lots that actually have something on them are –
I. The Tiny Fandom Lot on the Crumbling Isle, where the Von Winderburg Estate, former home of the Villareal family, was (of course)
II. The Ministry of Joy Nightclub in the Lykke Centre, where the old pool lot was (also of course)
III. The Nightmarket Squarish Cafe in the Lykke Centre, where the Hare & Hedgehog cafe was (a holdover from my previous building save – I want to revamp it for this world, including moving it to a different neighborhood and changing the lot type)
IV. The Confession Nightclub in Olde Platz, where South Square Coffee was (still like it there)
V. The Red Rocket National Park in Olde Platz, where Waterlock Redoubt, former home of the Behr family, was (I like the placement and am still amused by it being a National Park of all things XD)
VI. The Community Conservatory Community Space and all its variants in Windslar, where the uninhabited “Rustic Residence” used to be (I INTENDED to move it to the Crumbling Isle, but then was like “do I have to bulldoze each lot individually?” and decided to save that question for another day. But I did make sure to save the “Marketplace” variant to my Library, since I didn’t have that one yet!)
VII. The Hill Valley Courthouse Park in Windslar, where Coorinberg Cottage, former home of the Munch family, was (I honestly want to move this one to Olde Platz, near Confession – the problem is it’s a 40x30 lot and the biggest lot size in that neighborhood is 30x20, I think, so – hmm)
VIII. And the Von Haunt Chalet Gardens in Windslar, the Ancient Ruins in Olde Platz, and the Island Bluffs on the Crumbling Isle (all of which are “canon” lots I like and want to keep, though I reserve the right to renovate them at some point)
Okay, yeah, that sounds like I didn’t bulldoze anything at all, I know – but you have to understand that there are twenty-seven freaking lots in Windenburg. So I DID actually wipe a fair few lots, I promise! XD So yeah – now I’ve got a nice, relatively-clean slate to work with going forward. Handy.
B) With THAT all sorted, it was over to the Ministry of Joy Nightclub to keep working on that in its new “on the waterfront” location and make it the best nightclub it could be! Starting by changing up the “worship” room on the side – much as I liked the idea of having a room where Sims just sat around and stared at a statue in “worship” of the eldritch being it represented, I figured in practice it would be better to have something for Sims to actually DO in that room. So I got rid of the twisty statue that was in the middle (it didn’t have the right shade of yellow in it anyway) and instead decided to dedicate the room to bubble-blowing! Because I wanted some bubble blowers on the lot, and that seemed like the best place to stick ‘em. We can pretend the blowers dispense Giggler Gas or something. XD Anyway, the room now has a pair of bubble blowers in it – one yellow, the other black-and-white – with those cool “fractal” black-and-yellow living chairs I found in a previous building session. I also redid the floor in a darker (but still lightly veined) base-game marble (I ended up liking it better than the marble I had there previously); recolored the bases of the cool twisty geometric statues I had in the corners purple (because purple is also a Smiler color) and highlighted them with a glowing yellow Spa Day light-up floor tile under each (I REALLY wanted to use them in the room to go with the glowing stripes on the walls, and that felt like the best way to do it without going overboard); and ended up putting a couple of meditation poofs in the “black-with-rainbow-pie-slices” color swatch against the far wall, between the two statues there, near the end of the session (because I wanted to include those too and I liked that color swatch best). So I guess now this is like the “chill-out” room or something. For opening your mind, man…
C) After fixing up the former “worship” room, much of my time was spent working on getting the upstairs rooms and two surrounding balconies into a better state. How did that go? Pretty good, honestly –
I. I finished wallpapering both the “arcade” room and the “karaoke” room with the standard black-and-yellow stripes I’ve been using for most of the rest of the build, and gave them the same black shale flooring that I used downstairs. As for the balconies, I tried out a couple of different floor types in black, but felt like they were all too dark – or, in the case of a black-and-white diamond-pattern tile, too busy. Fortunately, near the end of the session, I thought to try and look for “purple” floors instead, and found a nice grayish-with-some-purplish highlights swatch of the shale tile I’d been using in most of the rest of the build and decided I liked the look of that for the various “outdoor” sections. So I ended up using it for both the balconies and the roof! :) I also adjusted the placement of the doors out onto the balconies from the “arcade” and “karaoke” rooms so that the black doors always lined up with a yellow wallpaper stripe. Just thought it looked better that way!
II. In the “arcade” room, I properly fenced off the stairwell (using the matching glowing Get Famous fence, since obviously I have the yellow glowing stairs and banister, why would I not); moved the big old arcade machine so it was better centered against the back wall; added a yellow Get Together games table with matching yellow chairs in one corner; and put a (black swatch) foosball game near the stairs and the opposite corner. I was tempted to get the virtual reality gaming mat instead, but I thought foosball would be more fun and encourage Sims to play together. :) (And I guess there’s still room for the gaming mat if I decide I have to have it!)
III. In the “karaoke” room, I added a quartet of Moschino Stuff couches (as I liked the yellow-and-black pattern on them the best) against each wall, facing the actual karaoke machine so people would have somewhere to sit and watch the performances. I don’t feel like this room is quite done yet, but I’m not sure what else to add to it. Other than maybe a drinks tray? *shrug* Feels like the Sims would get their booze downstairs, though…
IV. Out on the front balcony, I adjusted the placement of the two “spiral” loungers overlooking the front of the build slightly so they wouldn’t get in the way of the doors – tempted to add a cooler or juice keg out there, but again, not sure that’s quite right
V. And on the back/side balcony, I added some colorful benches around the back of the “arcade” room and the side of the “karaoke” room so people would have places to sit up there; put some yellow and black plastic loungers over by the hot tub (which is above the “chill out room”); and moved the busking area into the corner of the side area by said loungers. ...Though I’m still not sure which way it should face so performers won’t have their backs to any listeners/potential tippers. *facepalm* I gotta figure that out.
D) And, as a few little extra touches, I put some more yellow pipes on the front of the upstairs level (to match the pipes all over the front of the downstairs level), and added some special effects machines over the dance floor on the main floor of the club, since I thought it would be cool to be able to add special effects while everyone was dancing. :D
Not too shabby, I feel! This nightclub is really coming together. :) Hopefully soon I’ll be able to share it on the Gallery with you guys...and THEN do the version with all my CC in it so I can REALLY spice it up. XD (I know one of my Crypt O’Club fan Simblrween sets has spiral doors, at the very least...)
Writing: Got another chunk done on “Start At The Beginning...Sort Of” Chapter 3, with Victor discovering that, oh, right, he doesn’t have his wallet – and thus cannot bribe one Sergeant Tannen to not bring his friends to jail. Leading to Tannen declaring that they’re going to take Victor in with Alice and Smiler –
And to Alice, desperate not to get arrested and get shipped back to Rutledge, showing she’s Not To Be Trifled With and utterly DESTROYING the other six members of Tannen’s little squad. Like, she just WRECKED THEIR SHIT. It was awesome. :D Though it does rather mean that she, Smiler, and Victor had better start running… we’ll pick up with this and what I feel is the best chase scene I’ve ever written next week!
YouTube: Well, I only expected to watch one video today – but then something popped up in my Recommendeds that I had to check out –
A) Specifically – “Fallout: London - Mind The Gap” by Jon of Many A True Nerd! Because the “Fallout: London” mega-mod (seriously, this is honestly just an ENTIRELY NEW GAME borrowing FO4’s engine and some of the base mechanics, it’s INCREDIBLE) has come out, and Jon – who is of course British himself – was all over checking out a Fallout game that is set in a location that he actually personally knows. So he started the game up and – after watching the really awesome intro – created Lady Aria, a woman born in a test tube being tended to by two scientists voiced by two classic Doctors (Sylvester McCoy and Colin Baker, specifically), sporting a bedraggled haircut, a “cursed clown” scar on her face, S3 P4 E4 C2 I3 A6 L6 for her SPECIAL stats, and “Acrobat” (for better movement speed but less carry capacity) and “Gifted” (+1 to all those SPECIAL stats, but gains 15% less XP) for her traits (yes, this game has traits! Because they looked at Fallout 4 and said “cool, but we need more 3 and New Vegas in this bitch”). She was then going to be subjected to “conditioning” of some kind, as per the command of a mysterious Ms. Smythe –
But then a gang called the Vagabonds broke in looking for supplies, shot the scientists tending her (because the mod creators could only hire Classic Doctors for one recording session, we presume), and broke her tube, allowing her to escape! A fun adventure that involved such things like –
I. Beating up a bunch of radshrews (more experimental subjects with a venomous bite – it got so bad that Jon was reduced to drinking skimmed milk to keep his health up after a few encounters)
II. Finding the English equivalent of the Pip-Boy being created in an “Angel” lab (Jon calls it the “Brit-Boy,” and it’s apparently a classic original Fallout boxy pad thing instead of the kind you can strap to your wrist – this feels less convenient than the American one, but okay)
III. Having some more encounters with the mysterious Ms. Smythe, who didn’t seem that fussed about Aria’s escape and even unlocked the doors once she got out of the main labs to give her a fair chance (she also gave her the Official Protagonist Nickname for this game, the Wayfarer...and according to the comments, it appears Smythe changes gender to match whichever one you pick for your protagonist, so THAT’S interesting. One person in the comments was already suggesting Aria’s Mysterious Backstory was going to be “clone of Ms. Smythe”)
IV. Escaping what was revealed to be The Shard (a notable London skyscraper, in this universe some sort of fancy-person living space with an e-mail about keeping out the peasants on one of the local terminals) into the London Underground
V. Finally getting a weapon to fend off all those radshrews in the form of some long-dead commuter’s walking stick (she also stole his bowler hat to boot, because fashion)
VI. Picking up tickets to navigate through the various turnstiles in the Underground (because for some reason in the post-Apocalypse you can’t just jump the turnstile)
VII. Heading out into the wider world of London on an overground Underground train (apparently many of the trains on the Underground are not, in fact, underground – new fact for you), getting to the awesome title screen – and then having to go back in time to a previous save because the game has a nasty habit of crashing during/immediately after that moment
VIII. Finding a train map of the local lines and stations while trying to find a new way to escape (which BADLY confused Jon as apparently a lot of the lines he’s familiar with don’t go to the same places in this world and he was like “I am scared and don’t like this XD)
IX. Discovering that the only other way to go in this particular Underground station leads to a VERY long drop with a note saying “Do It” (Jon was like “no, don’t think so”)
X. Managing to actually get through leaving on the train by reloading the cell the train was in before getting on it – only to suffer an actual train crash and end up rather badly injured (doing 10% less damage with her beloved walking stick)
XI. And finally locating the Vagabonds, the gang that caused all the trouble and getting directed to the Thamespeople (who Jon thought were ghouls, based on the leader’s description, but whose quest has someone with a FISH head, hmmm) to learn more about her origins and get doctored up
Whew! Lot going on – and I only expect things to get even more chaotic. :D This is already absolutely fascinating and I’m looking forward to seeing Jon play more – which I will get to every Saturday going forward, because we’re doing Double Fallout Weekends on MATN now! :D I will have to find ways to appropriately clear my schedule!
B) And then, after THAT pleasant surprise, it was over to GrayStillPlays for the Saturday GTA V video of the day – “Ever time I crash my car gets wider!” Yes, it was time for Gray to take on another one of Alex’s Torture Boards, with the caveat that every time he crashed in a vehicle (and didn’t get full-on ejected from the seat, since that seemed to confuse the script), that vehicle would be deleted from existence, and he’d have to respawn and try again in a wider vehicle – until he hit the widest one, then the script would loop and start providing vehicles from a second set of options. The stuff on offer included legit motorcycles and super cars; meme vehicles like the forklift and that weird vehicle with the giant stamper thing on the front; to modded cars like the ultra-thin dump truck, a wide motorcycle, a fifty-percent-off Wastelander (MY BOY! D:), and the ultra-wide Lambo. And what were the challenges these stupidly thin and stupidly-wide vehicles had to conquer?
I. Violent Minecraft Gaps – a series of four jumps across Minecraft terrain, each guarded by a different Minecraft weapon – a picking pickaxe; a twirling stone axe; a twirling (at a different speed) metal sword; and a lighting-spewing diamond wand-thingy. Not PARTICULARLY difficult if you had the speed, but you REALLY had to get the timing right – Gray wrecked a few runs smashing into that axe blade!
II. IQ Bowling – A large floating arena full of bowling pins and orange bowling balls flying all over the place, with a large pink bowling ball in a cage above the entire thing. Gray had to drive onto the field of play and under the pink ball so it would come out of its cage and follow him, then use it to knock down all of the pins on the board – a process made a little tougher by the fact that a handful of pins were attached to the red corner pieces, meaning when he knocked THOSE over, the floor went away underneath them in a very violent and glitchy fashion, and he suddenly had less room to work with. Once all the pins were down, he then had to put the pink ball into another red cage that froze it in place, and that triggered the teleporter to the next challenge to appear! Again, not too hard, but you needed a car with good handling – and one that wasn’t going to hit everything by sheer virtue of being too wide, either.
III. Reginald Wall Ride Plus A Teaspoon of Weebmills For That Tangy Aftertaste In Your Mouth – A wall ride that was made up of giant Reginald Statues (with a little roll in between), where Gray had to wall-ride on his beloved pet chicken’s beak, avoiding the Weebmills and their horrible katana blades as they tried to knock him off (complete with one weebmill at the end that teleported back and forth). Not the worst wall ride Gray’s ever done, but certainly not the BEST. Definitely needed a Proper Car for this one!
So, how did it go? Well, Gray ended up going through the entirety of Set One of the vehicles on offer without getting through the bowling challenge – hell, most of them couldn’t even get through the gaps (though, hilariously, our beloved failson the Sherp managed it, and was actually doing decently in the bowling before it got clocked). He ended up finally getting to the wall ride with a nice yellow sports car from Set Two – and when he JUST missed the ending circle with it, redid said wall ride with a fancy spoilered super car. Though, obviously the best parts were him dealing with the meme and modded cars – like, trying to drive the ultra-wide Lambo proved to be an absolute impossibility for the poor guy. XD You’re lucky Alex didn’t force you to keep driving the widest cars once you hit the end of the set! That would have been PURE torture. :p
Not bad, not bad at all -- and look at me, getting an extra video from Jon per week. :D Though I'd better SERIOUSLY start working on my tendency to over-recap these videos now, since his videos almost always tend to be on the longer side... Anyway, time for me to consider heading to bed, hopefully with less of my brain trying to spook me. Goals for tomorrow include getting my Wednesday "hey look how I updated the Chill Valicer Save farmhouse" post(s) drafted on Victor Luvs Alice; playing Fallout 4 and getting the settlers at Sunshine Tidings sorted with some new guns and maybe some new infrastructure, along with figuring out what I need to update the Tesla Rifle; updating the FO4 Playthrough Progression accordingly; keeping up with GrayStillPlays and Jon's regular Sunday offerings; and getting in a workout with the next GSP compilation on the list. Hopefully all achievable goals -- though we ARE also watching Ghosbusters: Frozen Empire tomorrow, so I will have to account for that in my calculations. Hmmm. *shrug* We'll see what happens! Night all!
