In memory of Ozzucay

Dr. Mary Elizabeth Patt, PhD
Ozzucay to her friends in the Sims Community

The Latin orator Marcus Tullius Cicero crafted a phrase that says all I could ever hope: Amicitiae nostrae memoriam spero sempiternam fore - I hope that the memory of our friendship will be everlasting. Mary is a living memory to me even in death. I shall ever recall her wry but genuine humour, her sensitivity, her generosity, her patience, and her candour; but these individual traits are facets of a more complex creature whom I had in the past year just began to know.

I regret only that I did not know her better so that my memory of her would be more richly embellished with those treasures that endure. Mary was always sincere and honest with me, she spoke her thoughts clearly and freely which itself is a treasure beyond price. I shall miss her always, and though my shock and the sharpness of this present pain may subside, the ache of a missing friend who has gone on before me will never cease.

The greatest memorial I can give to so beautiful a soul is to remember it and treasure those memories, it is a tribute that goes beyond any monument of stone or words. I enjoin you that knew her to never let her memory fade in your hearts, for so long as we remember her, she remains a living force in this world doing goodness. I pray you all have peace of heart soon and know you all that your aches though undeminished are shared and shouldered.

Struggling with clothing categories

With SimPE up on blocks while the transmission is being worked on, I thought I might take a moment to explain the way artists might manually use SimPE to change the clothing category to outerwear for some of their items while we wait. SimPE will try to scare you with a warning, but ignore that for the moment; but whatever you do, DO NOT Hack Your Neighbourhood or Sims!! When you open the package file with SimPE - locate and click the Property Set on the small left top panel, then the file will appear in the long skinny right top panel, click that also. then the items will display. the edit box is to the right at the bottom, you will see a number like 0x00000027 just change the number to 0x00001027 and click the commit button. it's as easy as that. You need to think in terms of hexadecimal ennumeration to get this right. See this Wikipedia article for an explanation of hexadecimal ennumeration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal Used by clothing & accessories & hair category (dtUInterger) = 0x00000007 casual/everyday category (dtUInterger) = 0x00000008 swim-wear category (dtUInterger) = 0x00000010 pyjamas/lingerie category (dtUInterger) = 0x00000020 formal category (dtUInterger) = 0x00000040 underwear category (dtUInterger) = 0x00000100 maternity category (dtUInterger) = 0x00000200 activewear/athletic category (dtUInterger) = 0x00001000 winter-wear There are obviously other values that might be added here, but I don't believe they are important to this exercise. If you wish to make a multi-function item like a hair or ear-rings or clothing you add the numbers, here is an example: + 0x00000007 casual/everyday + 0x00000008 swim-wear + 0x00000010 pyjamas/lingerie + 0x00000020 formal + 0x00000040 underwear + 0x00000100 maternity + 0x00000200 activewear/athletic + 0x00001000 winter-wear + 0x0000137F all clothing states You can use the Windows Calculator in Scientific mode to use "Hex" values.

Sims 4 or 5 or 6

Back on 2 Nov 2006, Electronic Arts announced that it was beginning work on The Sims 3 (working title) for release in 2009 (according to EA CFO Warren Jenson), not a bad legacy for a game Will Wright had a devil of a time convincing EA to make in the first place. As each generation of CPUs and VPUs becomes more sophisticated, and the interest in The Sims franchise continues, I wonder what lays ahead. Pixel shading and improved fast-render engines may well make the next generation of Sims games look more real than ever before, but, really, what good is visual quality if the game play is limp? It really would turn the game into little more than a cheap rendering software, and though there may be some that want that, it would certainly lose out on the gamer-market. There has been a certain degree of limpness in playing The Sims 2 that wasn't there in The Sims. It seems to me, that the more I add to the downloads folder, the less there is in the game. EA released skin packs for The Sims that have no parallel in The Sims 2: Command & Conquer Renegade Skins Packs. Though largely unlovely as packaged, they certainly were a great benefit to all us skinners who wanted to make motorcycle gangs from the 27th Century. And really, there was a devilish playfulness in the development team that wasn't afraid to try different things that isn't quite present in the current run-up of the game. Plastic milk shipping carton furniture is a stock item of university campuses all over the USA, yet not a single item in the University EP along these lines. Ramen noodles are a staple of the university student diet, yet these are conspicuous by their absence from the game. Even the beer-can sculpture was more real than the bizarre "2007" glasses and chicken hats. Many of the features of The Sims Hot Date EP were a lot of fun, the dance cage and the stage lights were IMHO a lot more entertaining than the bizarre and contrived "Smustle". I don't mind goofy behaviour in my sims, I still love the original game for the animations in Superstar EP and Makin' Magic EP, but this "Smustle" thing >_< There are lots of legitimate reasons for us to want the ability to make new animations. New dances, new poses, new interactions. Sure, there will be those who use them to more nefarious ends, but that is the nature of all communities that grow around any game. Doom 3 was the only game I ever knew where duct tape was the first mod, we all know what the first one was for every other game. If EA really wants to make this a game about user customisation (as it keeps claiming), they need to start operating with more transparency toward the modding community. If we wanted to just make movies we'd probably buy The Movies, if all we wanted was a house-building software we'd probably buy some 3D Home Designer software; but we didn't want those things, we want a game we can take hold of and shape into exactly the world we want. So how about it EA? How about you start coming up off the secrets so we can blow the roof off this game? How about we get back to the good old days of you taking a gamble on silly idea that aren't stale, but are genuinely clever... even a repeat of an old joke is better than a lame new one!

The shape of Sims to come...

I have been working on and off in the gaming industry for more than a decade, and I have to say that largely most of the games that have come along since the 3D-revolution aren't particularly better than their non-3D counterparts and predecessors. It seems game-makers spend so much time and money making the 3D fast-render software in the games they end up being overly frugal on the play part, which leaves me asking the question why do it at all?

I look at the way other games have turned more and more to massive multi-player online time wasters and live in constant dread of the day another inane attempt to make the Sims will happen. The Sims Life Stories is by accident an incredible tool for custom content creators, it loads in 10 seconds and almost every base-game compatible object I have tried works. So as a test bed it is marvellous, but an online version of this generation of Sims would be silliness and R&D cash waste on a scale that would damage the viability of the Sims franchise, let's hope they don't do it.

In the mean time, I will be making an effort to make as much of MY creations SLS compatible, let's hope all creators make the effort with at least a few of their things. It will make TSR a bit more inclusive, and that is what the Sims needs more of.

Thoughts on Collaboration

Lately I have been asked by a few people if I would do some things for The Elder Scrolls, and I seriously thought about it, but that would mean a venture into Maya or 3D Studio Max, neither of which do I have, nor can I afford. So I had to decline the privilege of being notorious in yet another gaming community. Although as a previous blog entry stated, fame comes with a cost. I suppose anyone who is determined can achieve wonders in a 3D meshing programme. I have to look no further than the pages of TSR to see the sort of industrious application of that sort of determination. We all have out individual skills, and I suppose we never see the true merit of our own work. I equally suppose, it takes someone asking us to do something in another game to open our eyes a little. I generally think fame = big head, and it is refreshing to see so many pleasantly natured creators at TSR. Lord knows I have stood on the receiving end of some warm fuzziness here, I wish I could say as much for all sites related to The Sims & The Sims 2. Competition is good, they say. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. Competition doesn't lead to collaboration, and that is truly what The Sims 2 needs, more collaboration. I saw a lot of that in the good old days of The Sims (original), I'd like to see that sort of group effort in the community that has developed for The Sims 2. Yeah, sure, we had some stinkers and flies in the ointment back in the day, but we were more enthusiastic about discovering and making. I remember something one of university professors said once about Internet societies, they always devolve into an anarchy of emotional over-abundance driven by that most base of human appetites: to be superior to one's fellows in some manner. Sort of bleak, but the fact TSR endures is a testament to good management that keeps the drama beat down and keeps the focus on the game. TSR engenders a spirit of collaboration, many of the artists are amazingly friendly, and there is a deep desire to make things that others want but can't make themselves. It is a sort of a break from the antagonisms and competitions of the salon-society mind-set. It makes TSR a most welcome and happy place away from the drama.

Seasons & Me

I hate to admit I was wrong about anything, maybe that is just part of being male, I don't know. But the more I tinker about with Seasons, the more I grow to like it. So maybe just maybe I will say I was wrong to be so full of dread and doom-crying; although I didn't do much doom-crying about Seasons... I was after all waging my one-man war to have the designers of the Pets EP tried for crimes agains the Simmers of the world. Surely Pets EP is as dastardly and vile a trick as George Lucas played on the world with JarJar Binks. I have to say I am really far more please with Seasons than many of the other expansion packs, and as soon as the initial furor dies down and we are all again nicely tucked into our games, I see great potential for many new items. I would LOVE to work with cyclonesue on a urban winter theme with things like snowy building ledges with huddled pigeons and sidewalks/pavements with a narrow path shovelled clear in the snow :) My currently shelved project, a railway yard with locomotives and wagons (cars for you Yanks), is still shiny in my eyes, but this is waiting for the Seasons help demand cycle to die off a bit before I can have the time to finish it. I'd love to rip the entire Railroad Tycoon 3 line-up of locomotives and wagons LOL but since they use a vastly different polygon count than would be suitable for The Sims 2, it is going to be done the old-fashioned way and Lordy me! That takes time! LOL

The Joys of Being Free Tech Support

The past few days since installing The Sims 2 Seasons EP, then un-installing Seasons and then installing The Sims 2 Pets EP & The Sims 2 Seasons EP, then un-installing both and installing The Sims 2 Pets EP, The Sims 2 Holiday 2006 Stuff, & The Sims 2 Seasons EP, as well as The Sims(TM) Life Stories; answering about 500 help-request PMs & emails, and answering about 150 threads on 4 forums, writing FAQs and tutorials on using Photoshop & MilkShape 3D, and holding my house-mate's hand as she goes along the first stages of making custom content... I wonder if I will ever get to play the games I have installed. LOL The unwritten clause of that contract all custom content creators forget signing is the one that causes all this woeful consumption of time; that delicately worded clause that says you will render technical support to people using or wanting to use your creations. I don't know how EA could have made installing custom content any easier, but I sure wish they gave end-users far better instruction in that worthless little booklet that ships with our installation media. I never lose sight of the fact that once upon a time I didn't know all the things I know now; I can't really remember the details of that former time, but I know it had to exist, because I wasn't born a simmer. This game has a steep learning curve and as much as we all like to bat our eyes and act like it is easy, the easy part is dropping the goodies in the Downloads folder. The truth is for a thing with no moving parts, The Sims 2 is a grotesquely complex thing... it is a miracle it works at all. I am not saying we should stop making custom content, but I think the last person who should be rendering free tech support for The Sims 2 and The Sims(TM) Life Stories should be us modders and custom content creators, we are on the other side of that knowledge gap, sometimes so far on the other side we can't even believe that some people need instructions on the most rudimentary things. We have dozens of help FAQs and fora where the middle range can get help, but the true novice is completely in the dark even on how to locate and usually lacks the experience that is needed to understand our explanations that are based on assumed knowledge. *sigh* There are days when all I want to do is just make some beefed up Sims and have them play house for me, but with something like 6000 files and over a quarter million downloads spread across more than a dozen sites, it looks like I will be one of the last to do what all the fans of my work get to do ... no good deed goes unpunished

The Sims 2 Season Expansion Pack & My Reconciliation With The Game

I guess everyone has strong feelings about certain things, I am certainly prone to my share of rants and raves. The Pets EP really was a tragic moment in game history as far as I am concerned, equal to the mistake made releasing the infamous Unleashed EP. BUT, Seasons EP has actually gone a far way to redeem The Sims 2 for me, and The Sims(tm) Life Stories has presented me with a much needed tool for testing my creations. EA got something right in both these recent releases. I understand that EA recently rehired the same CEO (John Riccitiello, see pic) that made the original The Sims the success it was. Let's hope this heralds a new chapter in the quality of the expansion packs and a decrease of bugs, incompatibility issues, and other craziness for all the custom content makers and users of the various Sim games. I am willing to give the new (old) guy a chance and will back off my grousing for a while.

The Sims(tm) Life Stories & The Sims 2

I have been reviewing the compatabilities of custom content and mods for The Sims 2 in The Sims(tm) Life Stories, and I have to say I am more than moderately impressed. The potential for custom content creators to have a fast-loading, light-weight test-bed for their creations by using The Sims(tm) Life Stories is singularly appealing. I hope to have the opportunity to make plenty of cross-game content available on TSR :) The Sims(tm) Life Stories so far proves to be far better a tool than I had hoped. And my testing to date shows that most camera mods work in the game (if images do not appear my Photobucket bandwidth has been used up for the month, so come back next month to see them): Using a camera mod Using custom sims and genetics/clothing seems to work well. You will need to download the registration incentives from the The Sims(tm) Life Stories and install them to start the process, but then it is a matter of enabling custom content just like one does in Nightlife Expansion Pack and later: Enable Custom Content: Custom Sims in The Sims(tm) Life Stories Sim-Bin: You need to use Sims2Pack Clean Installer to add the Sims if they are in Sims2Pack files, but otherwise it is just like adding content to The Sims 2. Because of the unexpected similarities of the two game, I see it as a most admirably versatile tool for custom content creators. I won't speak regarding the playability, since I have hardly any time to actually play games since I am so often under the bonnet poking and proding the engine. LOL