Sims 3 Mobility Pack - Coming Soon

I know I said I'd work on some accessories for the laundry set but I really need a break from laundry for a week or so! But don't worry I am putting all your ideas on a list and I will be doing them very soon!

But for now, my next set will be a Mobility Pack for The Sims 3, and here's a sneak peek at the first object for it (currently a work in progress) - a wheelchair! Click for a bigger view.

The chair has 3 recolourable palettes so your Sims can choose their own fabric, metal, and plastic colours and patterns to suit their personality. It's cloned from a dining chair, so although your Sims can't wheel themselves around or be pushed around, you can get them to sit in the chair for screenshots or stories. Keep an eye on my blog to find out what else will be included in my mobility pack!

Note: I may make more styles of wheelchair in the future, but for the first mobility pack your Sims will have to manage with the standard hospital issue. At least the hospital lets them customise their chair :D

Laundry Room Finished!

Well as you may have noticed, I finally finished my laundry room! It's set to release tomorrow, Thursday November 5th. I'm not done with it yet though, and I've started to work on a whole load of extra laundry room accessories, such as a plastic laundry basket, piles of folded clothes, messy heaps of clothes, drying racks, and more. If you have any requests or suggestions for the laundry room accessories set please let me know, but for now, enjoy the laundry room!

Pattern rescued from the bin

Sometimes I make patterns that I don't like, and I bin them. There, I said it. I am a binner.

Today I was sorting through my TSR file storage, and I found a pattern that I no longer had the files for on my PC. It is a binned pattern. I downloaded it and played with it, trying to work out what was wrong with it. It wrapped perfectly, looked great on cushions, and the palettes were reversible meaning you can get a whole range of different colour effects on it. I admit it, it is beyond me why I ever binned this pattern.

So I have rescued this pattern from the deep, dark, murky depths of the bin, cleaned it off a bit, and now I present it to you. Hope you like it!

Download here from Sunday 1st November

Why I've Been So Quiet

(Short answer: computer issues, back in a week or so I hope!)

First and foremost I want to thank everyone who's ever downloaded anything I've made here at TSR, it's a huge boost to see my download numbers go above 1 million!

Secondly, I want to apologise for being so quiet (it's unusual, I know!) and not:

a) uploading any new parts to my story; or

b) uploading any new creations.

Unfortunately I've been having rotten computer trouble. I can launch my Sims 3 game for long enough to see if something I've made is working correctly, but not long enough to get any decent screenshots. My little laptop can't handle it and it just overheats. Obviously playing for long enough to get screenshots for my story is just out of the question, even though I've got about 3 parts ahead of where I am now actually written.

Add to this that objects in the Workshop are in beta, and my laundry room set is being held back by a little bug right now. I have, however, created the meshes and textures for several items in the set, and I'm continuing to work on them. As soon as I have a computer that will play TS3 without overheating so I can test adequately and take screenshots I hope I'll be able to release something.

And that computer is, in theory on its way. It's very theoretical right now because according to my order status it's not been built yet, and the parts haven't even been picked. But hopefully in about a week or so I will receive a new high end gaming computer. I'll keep you posted :)

Sims 3 Laundry Room

Hi folks! Here's the first screenshot of my current project - a laundry room for Sims 3, as requested by 50102. So far I've got a half-made washing machine! This needs a lot of work still, but I hope you might just like it anyway :P

Of course, the washing machine is recolourable so you can have a beautiful paisley washing machine if you so wish!

Also on my to-do list for this set:

• Tumble dryer
• Laundry basket
• Bottles & boxes of laundry detergent, bleach, etc.
• Ironing board (probably both a folded and a standing one)
• Clothes horse

There are a few more items on the list, but as I'd like to get the first version of this set out quite quickly, I'll save some of those for later "add-on" sets.

Have a good week!

Sims 3 Objects in the new TSR Workshop

Hi folks! I've been testing a closed beta of the new TSR Workshop, and all you object creators are going to love it!

First off, it is possible to clone video game consoles! They work differently to in TS2, and I won't be able to change the controllers (not yet anyway)... but on the other hand, the controllers don't sit on the floor next to the console so this will be less of a big deal than it would have been in TS2.

So what I plan to do is to make new console meshes, inspired by all your favourite real life video game systems, and some decorative controllers which you can place wherever you like. The Sims will still pull the default controller out of nowhere, but let's just pretend that's an incredible "one for all" video game controller for now :D

Pictures of my very first Sims 3 console will be posted on my blog soon... but now for something completely different! I thought I'd test the new object capabilities of the Workshop with the simplest thing I could think of - a dining chair. The latest in game picture is shown to the right, though there's still a bit of tweaking to do to the shading I'm now quite happy with the proportions of the chair. The cushion recolours separately from the wooden part, so you can choose your own cushion fabric and wood grain (or any other materials of course) for the chair.

Plus great news for those of you who were concerned about file sizes (I'm referring to this thread in the forum) - the whole dining chair .Sims3Pack file is 2.10MB, including the new mesh, new multiplier, and new mask file. Hopefully even more complicated files won't be too large :)

Twitter

Do you Tweet? I've had a Twitter account for a while but more for following other people than for tweeting myself... but now I've started actually tweeting, and you're more than welcome to look me up* - my name on there is BlackGarden. You can expect to find out about all my upcoming downloads, things I'm working on, or just what Xbox game has annoyed me recently.

*I'm not linking because people swear ALL over Twitter :-P

Memory problems?

I've just completed and uploaded the first batch of a new series of patterns. Each batch of patterns will be inspired by one of the traits in the Sims 3 game. I've started at the beginning of the alphabet with "absent-minded" - the patterns uploaded include "post-it" style notes stuck to a textured wall, forget-me-nots, and elephants (who never forget), plus some more plain patterns to match the themed ones. Hope you all enjoy these patterns, let me know what you think of them!

Lot builders take note - I've set some of the more plain patterns as TSRAA because I thought they might be particularly useful for use in your lots! Any of my patterns which say TSRAA: yes on the pattern page can be freely used in lots you upload to TSR.

"Absent-minded"

Sonisphere Festival

I am going to be away for the next 5 days doing some serious rocking out at Knebworth House. So I won't be able to respond to comments, questions, PMs, or generally anything, until Monday evening. If you're heading to Sonisphere yourself, have a great time, and maybe I'll see you there! (Spooookyyy!)

Bye for now folks! :D

5km sponsored run - 38 minutes

Ok so it's not a fast time! But I did complete my 5k Race For Life event, and I did keep running the whole way, and that's a pretty big achievement for me. When I started training for this a few months ago I was unfit, really out of shape, and I could barely run for a few minutes at a time.

(I'm still £20 short on sponsorship, contact me privately if you're interested in sponsoring my run in aid of Cancer Research UK - it's an official page for the Race For Life event and it's powered by Justgiving, so you can be sure your donation is handled securely.)

So now that that's over and done with, I'll be heading back home on Wednesday, so I should be able to create more patterns when I get home than I have been doing while I've been here at my parents' house.

Have a great week everyone!