I started to sim out a few scenes...and got annoyed VERY quickly, so scratch that. Check out my text only version here: tinyurl.com/lphnoj

I set up a Dreamwidth account a while back for a special story I'm working on. I've actually found some motivation to Sim it out. I have the first family moved into a house (downloaded the house off MTS because I'm LAZY!) and will take a few shots and post it hopefully very soon.

It's a story I'm hoping to possibly publish one day, so I'm not primarily focusing on the Sims aspect. As a result, I don't know exactly how detailed I'm going to get into screenshots. Hell, I may get completely annoyed and just put the story up by itself in a text-only format. Either way, I'm very keen on feedback for it, as I want to polish it for future submittal to an agent/publisher.

You can find me on Dreamwidth under the same username as here. You don't need an account to read, but you can use your LJ login to set up a friends page there to keep up with it if you want. I also still have one invite code if you're interested in setting up your own account there.

I has 2 invite codes. You want one? You can has! Just reply here...first come first serve!

I feel dumb. I've been playing a lot of Fallout 3 on my PC and, as any Fallout 3 PC player knows, the game is notorious for crashing constantly. One possible fix I ran across on some random forums involved changing the page file to 0 MB, which I did. Now that I think about it, it is possible I made this change after my first Sims 3 foray. The first time I played Sims 3, it worked fine, and after that it was a few days before I played again, which is when the crashing started.

For those that don't know, according to what I've learned just now, the page file is hard drive space that substitutes for some of your RAM. What this means for gamers is that Vista runs off page files in the background, while your game gets to use the actual RAM in your computer. Since I had it set to 0 (which didn't fix my Fallout 3 problem anyway), I reenabled page filing and am reinstalling Sims 3 now. I think this will finally get it working, because Vista + Sims 3 at default settings = more than my 2 gigs of memory...

Keeping my fingers crossed and will update on whether it works!

ETA: IT WORKS! YAY! I'm gonna post this on the Sims 3 LJ forums now!

I "borrowed" a torrented copy to see if it would be worth actually spending the money on. I played the Reloaded version (a beta version) the day it finished downloading and actually enjoyed it! I've since updated it to the current patched official version and I keep crashing to desktop with no error message within a minute of actually entering a household, sometimes during the loading screen, sometimes during the opening video.

Now, due to real life circumstances, I won't be able to purchase a legit copy for a while now, unless my husband out of the kindness of his heart picks up a copy for me with his paycheck. I've taken some sick time (we don't get paid for sick time at my job) and was called off a lot last week. But I just have to know. Anyone think the crash-to-desktop problem is inherent strictly in the version of the game I have, and installing it from a legal disk will fix it? Or do you think I'll continue to have the same problems, in which case I guess my decision as to which game to focus on is made for me?

Of course, if anyone has a solution to the crash to desktop, I'd be glad to hear it. I've updated my drivers, my computer is more than ready to handle the game, and I'm looking forward to actually being able to play it.

I've been active on LJ, commenting and participating in discussions, but I didn't realize it had been 2 1/2 months since I posted anything myself. I promise to remedy that. I have a couple of projects I've been working on, and I'm gonna try to pick up where I left off on the saga. I recently decided to reinstall my game completely, including deleting all downloads, so I've gotten my d/l folder built up again and I'll have to fudge some things to get the game where it's supposed to be in that story...or else start over.

What do you think I should do with it?

I know I need to update my story. I've recently gotten back into World of Warcraft and have FINALLY gotten a character to Outlands! Give me a chance to get bored with it and I'll have an update for you...it's already mostly played out, I just have to get to the end of the season and then write it up.

Ever have one of those days where you have SO MUCH you want to do, that you can't decide on WHAT to do? I have several books I need to read: finish the current Lovecraft compilation I'm reading, the copy of Necronomicon I just bought, Odd Thomas, and *sigh* Twilight (my MIL insists I read it, so I shall subject myself to at least a few pages before passing judgment). I also have a random story starter idea stuck in my head that I need to get out, and about three other stories to work on, plus I need to get my next Call of Cthulhu session ready to play.

I'm in the middle of my work week though, so my time is limited. I usually read/write/gameplan while I'm working, during those times where I'm stuck in line behind dumb truckers that can't understand directions given in simple English and have to ask six times what they're supposed to do, and then still manage to mess up somehow. So...I should do all this when I'm off...well, that cuts into my WoW/Sims time! Quite the dilemma!

On another completely random note...if you happen to like Lovecraft and quasi-punk music, track down a band called Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. OMG they're awesome! They have a Myspace with tracks to listen to, and they have a downloadable song on Rock Band (part of the Penny Arcade track pack). If you like them, then buy their stuff so they'll make more! I listened to them through a friend, who pirated has their first two albums. I fell absolutely in love and just recently have begun to haunt their Ebay store, purchasing the two albums I haven't heard, and plan to purchase the other two copies I illegally own borrowed from said friend. Then I plan to go nuts with the T-shirts and merch available. :D

Pointless venting ahead.

I've been playing Warhammer Online as my MMO of choice since it was released a couple of months ago. My husband grew weary of it being released before it was finished; said he didn't want to pay to beta test the game. I'm okay with the game still being rough around the edges.

Husband goes back to WoW and is now 72. He sends me a Scroll of Resurrection, good for old players to return for 10 days. I've been trying to set it up so I can play throughout 2 "weekends" (weekend for me is Sunday through Tuesday). I didn't get around to it last night but before he went to bed I said I planned on snarfing his patches over the network so I don't have to spend eons updating.

I turn on his computer and it's password protected. That's fine; I set both our machines up that way because of my mother-in-law's seedy internet activities causing our phone bill to get crammed with third-party charges we didn't sign up for. Since her computer died last month, she has gone into our room when we were both gone to check her email; hubby finds her junk in the history files on his computer and I am LIVID. So I type in the password...and it's wrong. He's changed it. Plus I can't decipher his hint question; STILL can't decipher it now that he's told me what it was. I had to wake him up and ask him. He mumbles and says he'll get to it later. I remind him I wanted to play tonight and he said, "Oh, I forgot about that, it's blahblahblah."

I finally get in and...can't find the patch to 3.0.1!! He installed Wrath of the Lich King from CD, so there's no patch. *sigh* I search for an HOUR for the disc...wake him up again...and the disc is in the drawer I've been hunting through several times! Somehow buried at the bottom of the drawer when I was searching near the top because he's only recently reinstalled. I'm either PMSing or pregnant (eek no!) because I was freakin' crying over this. Not because I was like OMG I HAVE TO PLAY NAO but because I'm so aggravated with not being able to find what I need in this mess. I'm a little junky, and he's a little junky, and that makes our room VERY junky. I've been very stressed lately and prone to snap or burst into tears over the smallest things. How hard can it be to keep our one little area of the house in some semblance of order, at least vaguely organized? And oh GOD is he a pack rat...the stupid drawer, as well as every shelf in the room, is full of little toys and junk he's had since he was a kid because he can't bear to throw anything away. I'm about to say, "OK, we're getting boxes. Anything that you don't feel the need to look at and/or fondle on a daily basis goes in them. The boxes get stashed in another room. They'll still be there for you, they'll just be out of my sight and out of the way for the important stuff." And I'm not gonna be the kind of wife to throw his stuff into the boxes and leave all my stuff on display; I plan to abide by it as well, even though I'm the one that moved here so I left a lot behind already. Ask my sister or my mom; this isn't like me, but two people's treasured junk memories from the past 20 odd years is just too much for one room. I NEED ORGANIZATION!!!

I need to get this off my chest with someone, I guess, since I can't ever show my face there again.

( Got too long, click here to read more! )

I'm revisiting my SimCity saga. It's basically going to be a megahood type story now using current Maxis characters, as the original ideas I had for it were WAY too much work for a part-time gig.  :P aledstrange is currently doing her Remix tale, in which she redid some of the original story photos that come shipped with the families. Since I'm making over everybody, I wanted to do the same thing with the made over Sims (and I did have that idea separately; I'm not trying to copy her or anything).

I normally use the in-game camera for my storytelling, but have become dissatisfied with the quality of the pics, even at the highest settings. I've decided to use Fraps to take full screenshots this time, and edit each picture down to a reasonable size. I'm willing to do minor Photoshopping (well, GIMPing) to enhance pics, but I'm not planning on greenscreening or anything fancy. I like to take shots of the Sims in their own environment.

My question for anyone viewing this that is familiar with the screenshot/photoshop methods, is got any tips for an inexperienced photo editor? Like, to preserve quality, should I make the shots from further away so I can basically just crop to the scene I need, or should I get up close and crop out the junk in the queue, then shrink the pic down to a more manageable size? Also, any ideas on quality-enhancing in GIMP/Photoshop?

I kind of had an idea while I was at work, but I dunno how well it would go over. The only real requirement for the challenge is you need to be part of some sort of Sims 2 storyteller community or forum (LJ, message board, Myspace, whatever). It's kind of inspired by the "Choose Your Own Adventure" books. You start off a story, post the first part, then ask your friends to give you ideas of where the story should head. Then pick randomly (use dice or draw out of a hat) which suggestion you'll go with. Post that next part, lather, rinse, repeat until it just gets too bizarre to go on, or you get an ending.

Good idea or not?

I've never done any contests or anything else of the sort before, and I'm always amazed to see what everyone else does with them, so here's me giving it a shot! Fits right in with my Megahood project, formerly SimCity Saga, so here goes!

( Read more... )

Stole this from simfinite. I do this all the time on Myspace (all it's good for nowadays) and hope no one's annoyed by it...

01) Are you currently in a serious relationship?
02) What was your dream growing up?
03) What talent do you wish you had?
04) If I bought you a drink what would it be?
05) Favorite vegetable?
06) What was the last book you read?
07) What zodiac sign are you?
08) Any tattoos and/or piercings? Explain where.
09) Worst habit?
10) If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride?
11) What is your favorite sport?
12) Do you have a pessimistic or optimistic attitude?
13) What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me?
14) Worst thing to ever happen to you?
15) Tell me one weird fact about you.
16) Do you have any pets?
17) What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly?
18) What was your first impression of me?
19) Do you think clowns are cute or scary?
20) If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be?
21) Would you be my crime partner or my conscience?
22) What color eyes do you have?
23) Ever been arrested?
24) Bottle or can soda?
25) If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it?
27) What's your favorite place to hang out at?
28) Do you believe in ghosts?
29) Favorite thing to do in your spare time?
30) Do you swear a lot?
31) Biggest pet peeve?
32) In one word, how would you describe yourself?
33) Do you believe/appreciate romance?
34) Favourite and least favourite food?
35) Do you believe in God?
36) Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you?

Yes, I bought it. Sadly, I can't enjoy it until SimPE is updated. I do intend to make my extra-special megahood one of these days, and to do that I'll need the new SimPE for Apartment Life whenever it is released so I can merge the final hood and clone the necessary sims.

I'm seriously considering applying for their QA so I can start using it early...