Rainy Gloomy Saturday

It was absolutely POURING earlier -- I think we're in for another round of flooded rivers, unfortunately. Makes me glad me and mine live up on a hill! But yeah, it was definitely a day for staying inside and lazing around, activities which I succeeded at admirably today. Mostly because I woke up late and took a while to get going. ^^; But I did hit almost everything on the old to-do list --

Tumblr: As previously stated, I had a late start this morning, so I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked – but I did get the main text of my two Chill Valicer Save house upgrade posts cleaned up (just had to combine the two write-ups I did on Dreamwidth at the end of the year and edit them for clarity and readability) over on Victor Luvs Alice, so that’s good. Just gotta do image alt text and tags tomorrow! I also got a message from Newt, my next tumblr friend to have a birthday, about what he would like – he admitted that he was still Saw-focused when it comes to fandom stuff, but that he’d be happy with anything Valicey I wrote. Which naturally, has got me thinking about Victor and Alice reacting to watching Saw. XD Though I think it would actually have to be Valicer by necessity, since the only reason I can think of for them to watch it would be due to it being one of Thirteen’s picks for a Halloween Movie Night that they were invited to along with Smiler. . .we’ll see how it goes when I do the actual fic!

As for Valice Multiverse – well, nothing happening over there, so yeah. *shrug* What can you do. Guess it made it easier for me tonight to keep up with the social thing.

Sims 4: Worked some more on my Arts Center Factory renovation in my building save today, as promised – specifically, I was thinking earlier about what I wanted to do with the old bathroom near the front of the building on the second floor, next to the space that I’d turned into an employee canteen, and had a sudden brainwave of turning it into a little kitchen for said canteen! So that’s what I did. :) Here’s how that went down –

A) After taking some time to move a bunch of old screenshots out of the Screenshots folder into my Sims 4 Screenshots Archive folder (a process that took quite a while as, well, there’s a fucking ton of screenshots in there), make back-ups of my saves and Tray folders, get my Mod folder out of the way for the time being, and install the latest patch, I fired up the game and headed to my building save! First order of business was to flip the orientation of the canteen around, so that the bar would be by the actual kitchen area at the front instead of at the back like I’d originally planned it. This of course meant I had to move all the tables too, so they were all actually accessible –

But as I did so, I encountered a problem. Mainly, I wanted to leave a sort of “aisle” in front of the double doors into the room so Sims would have plenty of space to move around and take their seats and such, but I was having some real trouble first getting the door properly centered on the wall, and then making sure the tables weren’t getting in the way of the door without ALSO smooshing them up against the backs of the barstools. No matter what, the configuration didn’t look quite right –

And then I thought “why don’t I just rotate the tables so they’re going parallel to the back wall instead of perpendicular?” That is, so they were lying lengthways instead of longways? So that’s what I did, and not only did that work (allowing me to create my central aisles for Sims to move around in), I was even able to fit in more tables that way! So now I have six tables instead of just four, each with six seats at them. :) Place now looks like it can fit a whole factory’s worth of Sims in there for lunch!

B) With that sorted and the bar appropriately placed, I then knocked out a couple of wall segments from the wall separating the former bathroom from the canteen, took the opportunity to put the RIGHT Werewolves factory window in the spot that was previously blocked by that wall (yay, the front facade looks right again), then started planning my kitchen! After a little bit of fiddling (and an annoying little reminder that even the tallest kitchen cabinets will vanish from sight if you put them against a wall that ends up disappearing in “wall cutaway” mode – I wanted a pantry cupboard, damn it), I ended up putting the fridge (the Cottage Living icebox model), one counter (Realm Of Magic fancy Victorian-esque ones) and the stove (a wood-burning model – I needed old-timey stuff because this is supposed to be an old-timey sort of factory) against the short side wall, facing into the room, then lined some more counters up under the windows on the front wall, before moving the industrial sinks that were already in there to the end of the row of counters for plate-washing purposes. I also put some island counters in the corner by the gap entrance to fill in that space, only to decide that I wanted them in the middle of the room instead, back-to-back to form a central worktable of sorts. Since I believe a lot of old-timey kitchens had that sort of thing, and I wanted counter space both that Sims could use and I could decorate.

C) Speaking of which – with the basic placement of the kitchen sorted, it was time to get decorating! :) I plopped a stand mixer on the central kitchen island, facing the fridge and stove (before you say anything, I looked it up, and the earliest versions of these WERE invented in the late Victorian era, so it’s cool :p), then began looking through the various clutter objects and wall decorations and such for stuff I wanted. Horse Ranch provided me with some utensil holders and a wall-mounted rack of pots and pans I could use, while Home Chef Hustle gave me some plate drying racks to put above the sinks, plus some stackable plates to pile on the end-counter near the sink (I added the plate and bowl stack you get with Snowy Escape to that later as well). I ALSO found a small nectar cask from Horse Ranch that I really wanted to use somewhere, but it didn’t really fit in the kitchen (without taking up way more space than it should), and sticking a counter in the corner of the canteen behind the bar for it to sit on just looked weird –

And then I searched “nectar” in the catalog and found some BIG nectar barrels that I could stash in the corner. Which had slots on top where I could put the small cask I’d found! :D Delighted, I stuck a couple of the big barrels in the corner, put a cask on each, then recolored both slightly so I could imply different drinks were stored in both. And finished the whole tableau off with a decorative wooden barrel from Cottage Living. XD I also stuck some Cats & Dogs decorative juice displays in repurposed half-barrels up on the wall behind the bar for backdrop purposes. :) Made the whole thing feel a little more right, you know?

Anyway – with that sorted, I finished up the kitchen, sticking a decorative old-timey nectar press from Horse Ranch in the corner by the gap entrance, along with a decorative milk pail and some aprons on pegs; putting a rotating spice rack, salt-and-pepper shakers, and a pot of peppers by the oven; sticking the magnetic strip knives and utensils up above the first “prep” counter and the oven respectively (okay, that’s probably cheating the aesthetics a bit, but they came in more old-timey swatches and magnets did EXIST in Victorian times); and sticking a giant fork and spoon above the fridge just for fun. Oh, and made sure there was a range hood for the stove (the Cottage Living country-style one, natch) and a fire alarm on the wall nearby (because aesthetics don’t mean nothing if one of your Sims burns your lot down). And the synthetic food stains rug in front of the oven to represent how messy it probably gets in there. XD I’m pretty happy with how it came out! Probably want to fiddle with it more later, but it’s a good start. :)

D) With the kitchen sorted (and having stuck an old rusty ceiling fan on the first floor while looking at ceiling decorations because, oh yeah, those came with Werewolves too, should probably have at least one in the main lobby), I turned my attention to other matters – namely, figuring out the bathrooms on this level. I’d already decided the two little “offices” on the back wall were going to become the new bathrooms (and removed all the windows looking in appropriately), but while I was putting in the toilets and getting the exterior windows sorted (nothing like the tiny lightbox windows to light your bathrooms!), I realized that I could actually fit two toilets per room. Hell, I could fit three if I didn’t mind the high cistern on the Vampires toilet I was using blocking the window (which I did, so, two). I started playing around with high half-walls to make little separate stalls for each toilet, but I didn’t really like the look and thought it would be too cramped, so deleted them all and just left them as they were for now. Dunno if I’m gonna divide up those rooms into two stalls per bathroom, or keep them single-toilet bathrooms, or. . . Have to fiddle around with that more going forwards! Mostly because I have to have room for a sink or two in there, so they can’t be TOO small. (Oh, and I did some experiments with trying out different sinks in the tiny cubicles downstairs on the woodworking floor – turns out the Vampires sink that I was using but suspected was too fancy is the ONLY sink that fits in that tiny space, so, well, guess I’m keeping it there! XD Good to know, at least.)

E) And the session ended with me deciding to plop the robotics station and the fabrication machine in the boss’s office for the time being (he’s the boss, he can have the most technologically-advanced and aesthetics-inappropriate stuff :P), and then ATTEMPTING to take a dive through the *DEBUG* catalog via cheats to see about getting some fake fencing to go with the fake locked gate around the back of the build – only to get overwhelmed by the sheer amount of STUFF the “showhiddenobjects” and “showliveeditobjects” cheats reveal. O.O I think that if I want to start using debug stuff more regularly, I’m going to have to get TwistedMexi’s BetterBuildBuy mod that automatically reveals it and allows you to, you know, SEARCH through all of this stuff (as most of it doesn’t have proper names or tags in the regular game). We’ll figure out what I want to do with the bits of debug fencing already on the lot later!

So yeah – not too shabby for about an hour and a half in the game! I really did want to add some actual kitchen stuff to the build, so I’m glad to have found a spot for it. :) Next time, we’ll see if I can sort out the second-floor bathroom situation! I’m sure I can make it work somehow. . .

Writing: Got the “Nontraditional Soulmates” prompt of the OT3 Week prompts I’m doing for Valicer edited today – just cleaning up the scene where Alice goes to meet Victor properly after running into him in the market and accidentally activating their soulmate bond. . .only to discover that he lives with Nanny’s new bartender, Smiler Alton, and that Smiler is apparently her other soulmate. As you might imagine, she finds this very confusing. XD Once again, took me a minute to get into the groove starting the fic, but it went pretty smoothly from there. :) We’ll pick up with these again on Monday, with – oh yeah, it was the hypnokinky “knight, princess, dragon” one, wasn’t it? Well then. . . XD

YouTube: Well, I managed to clear out my Watch Later this evening, but unfortunately I didn’t have enough time to catch up on my Subs, meaning that I’m still a day behind on GrayStillPlays. *grumble* I’ll have to see what I can do tomorrow. . .here’s what I did get through –

A) Started with “ALL 27 CRYSTAL POWERS in The Sims 4 Crystal Creations” by onlyabidoang! As you might guess from the title, this was Abi going through all the various crystal powers that you can experience when you charge up jewelry or gemstones in the new pack (plus a brief overview of how charging works and a few other features of the pack, like make a seed gemstone to grow the crystal tree). Some of the effects are really simple – find a few simoleons while doing stuff around the house; get boosts to learning certain skills; fill up your energy need faster; have more success with romantic interactions; etc. And some – well. Hematite makes it so your Sim will revive after ANY death that isn’t old age as long as it’s charged; Jet allows you to always successfully plead with the Grim Reaper and burn all the charge to summon him whenever; Plumbite slowly fills all a Sim’s needs and makes them and everyone around them happy; and Moonstone causes vampires’ Thirst need to decay slower; werewolves’ Fury meter to fill slower and rampages to end sooner; and greatly reduces the chance of failing casting spells and making potions for spellcasters. Oh, and one crystal makes Sims easier to convince to do stuff or give you money, so THAT one is best given as a gift. XD Basically, there’s a range of effects from “almost nothing” to “extremely overpowered,” so you can be as cheaty as you want. XD Abi himself was kinda underwhelmed by some of the simpler effects, but I like that not all of them are super-duper powerful – sometimes, all you want is a skill boost. And I like the various looks of the jewelry – and the fact that you can wear multiple pieces at once. Might come in handy if you want to layer some effects. . .

B) Then it was onto a short one from Petey Plays It – “How To Get And Best Use The Crystal Tree | The Sims 4 Crystal Creations!” Yes, we just learned about the crystals, so it was time to learn about how to get the special tree that grows them in the new pack! Basically, you have to level your Gemology skill up to Level 3 to obtain the seed cut for gemstones, then plant it and tend it while waiting seven days for it to grow to maturity. It then will produce five crystals per day for you to harvest (year-round if you have Seasons, so don’t worry about keeping it in a greenhouse). Lower-quality trees produce mostly common crystals, while higher-quality trees produce more uncommon and rare crystals, so it’s a good idea to evolve it by any means possible. *nods* Short, quick, and to the point – AND the comments let me know that spellcasters can indeed abuse Copypasto on the tree. XD Seriously, that spell is SO overpowered. . .

C) With the Sims videos done, it was time to move onto the week’s OXBoxtra lists –

I. “7 ‘Live Service’ Games that Died Extremely Fast, RIP: Part 2” – Luke and Ellen talking about those “live service” games (think your battle royales, your hero shooters, your zombie survival games, your weird rhythm-game-based RPGs on your phone) that didn’t last particularly long. From Rumbleverse failing to attract players with its wrestling-themed battle royale mechanics (which were harder to get into than your standard shooter), to The Day Before promising the moon in zombie survival horror games – only to shut down just a few days in Early Access after multiple delays resulted in an awful, empty, unfun game, to Love Live! School Idol Festival 2 MIRACLE LIVE! (the previously-mentioned rhythm-game-based RPG on your phone) announcing both a global release date AND a global shutdown date ON THE SAME POST (mostly because the game wasn’t actually making the studio money, so they were going to close it out after twelve weeks to work on more profitable shit), these games just couldn’t compete in the already-saturated live service market. Makes me glad I’ve always been a “single player ignoring microtransactions” person when it comes to games!

II. “7 Iconic Original Games That Were Nearly Boring Sequels” – Mike, Andy, and Jane talking about those games that started life as sequels to other games before spinning off in their own direction! Or, in a couple of cases, were going to be licensed games (making them “sequels” to other media) before the decision was made to make them original IPs. This attempt at making Resident Evil 4 is completely tonally off from the main series and contains vastly different gameplay? Make it an original game leaning more into fantasy and stylish combat and call it Devil May Cry! The creators of Goldeneye 007 were outbid by EA to make a sequel based on the next James Bond movie? Change the game to a sci-fi spy shooter starring a woman and call it Perfect Dark! Nintendo wants to make a game based off the Popeye cartoons but can’t secure the rights? Change the characters to a handyman, an ape, and the handyman’s girlfriend and call it Donkey Kong. Meaning MARIO wouldn’t exist if Nintendo had gotten the rights to Popeye. The world is a weird place sometimes.

D) And finally, it was into the Subs for GrayStillPlays and “i became a student that should be in prison,” aka Gray plays Get Expelled! This is one of those stupid phone games cobbled together from like three different Unity asset packs, where you play as a kid who, when told he is going to become a doctor by his mother, decides to get himself expelled from school so he can focus on basketball. Getting expelled involves being rude to the teachers (raising your hand for no reason, backtalking them in class, cracking stupid jokes), pranking them (either in small ways, like making them sit on rubber chickens, or in lethal ways, like attaching a rocket to their chair – you can guess which version Gray preferred), and picking all the wrong answers to exam questions (like calling the study of classifying living things “racism” XD). Gray had a lot of fun both with actually playing the game (he was absolutely shocked at how much this kid gets away with before he gets expelled) and joking about how janky it was (pointing out the stupid AI voices and dialogue, and how the female students are like twice the size of the male students because they’re from a completely different asset pack). And by the end of the video, he had NOT gotten expelled yet (though he’d gotten a couple of warnings), so there’s the possibility we’ll come back to it in the future. . .

Not too shabby, I guess -- just wish I had gotten around to some stuff sooner! But on the other hand, I really did need the sleep last night, so. . . Anyway, to-dos tomorrow include finishing up the house upgrade drafts on Victor Luvs Alice; playing some Fallout 4 and doing more Glowing Sea prep; updating the FO4 Playthrough Progression appropriately; seeing if I can catch up with Gray and keep up with Jon; and getting in a workout. All achievable goals I hope -- though getting to bed a little earlier tonight will probably help! So let's try and do that. :p Night all!