No Thanks to Blogger - Sessions Update

I have not had this much trouble getting an update posted. Ever. Well not at least in recent memory. I guess that is what happens when you don't update very regularly.

Beth and I have had this one in the books for awhile but it just didn't feel right. The characters we wanted to use changed, the direction we wanted to go changed, my neighborhood kept blowing up. It has been frustrating and consuming all our energy but we finally managed to put together an interesting (IMHO) update to Sessions. This piece will have offshoots so it needed to be right.

Read the update here -> Half Light

So close and yet so far...

...from an update that is.

OK. Let me see if I can figure out what the hell I did now. Finally got a house that won't crash for Cooper and his family when I install it, the gorgeous beach house that Beth created. And then this happens preceded by a transparent Mr. Humble who shows up whether you want him to or not. Shortly after...crash! Game goes down. Thinking back all I can remember doing is disabling trash cans and mailboxes with Clean Installer. Would that cause this? I don't know. At this point I am tempted to let all my characters live in the bin. I know I deleted some other duplicate files...to say I am extremely frustrated and reaching the end of my patience (which I don't have a lot of in the first place) is an understatement.

Is it just me...

Intuition - The act or faculty of knowing or sensing without the use of rational processes; immediate cognition.

I know in my gut when something is wrong. I know what that something is without being told. More often than not, I shove it aside. Does this happen to you? I know that it does to me and by now you would think I would recognize it. Yes, the force is strong in this one, young Padawan.

Blah blah blah.

I'm going to start carrying signs, paddles in my car with messages.

1. You're a Dick! - for the idiot who drives like a bat out of hell in the wrong lane and then cuts everyone off to move over.

2. You wish! - for the same idiot who thought you were not driving fast enough at 70 and blows by, cutting you off and flipping the bird as he/she does so.

3. Hang up and drive! - for the moron driving 40 on the freeway and talking on the phone. Or putting on their mascara. Or shaving.

4. to be continued...

Your Last Words:

"Tell them I said something."

What Will Your Famous Last Words Be?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

Flashing Blue Saplings

Every so often I get objects that flash blue in the neighborhood view but when I enter the lot they are fine. Ryan McDermott's lot was the one that usually did this and it was always a tree. The strange thing now is that it not only flashes blue in the neighborhood view but also when I enter the lot.

Even more unusual is that now, when I go into Buy mode, the tree looks normal. It looks normal in the catalog regardless of what color I choose. Then I go back to live mode and it is blue again.

This tree is a recolor of a Maxis tree so I am not sure what the heck just happened with it. The images below depict the issue. Top one is Buy/Build mode and the lower one is Live mode. Please excuse the poor quality shots, they were taken with the in-game camera.

So. Any thoughts? Cure for the Blue Flash?

Biting the Bullet - Maybe

Taking shortcuts to save time and effort is not always the best course of action. I think in my desire to "fix" the many issues I am having with my game I have made things worse. I have tweaked everything with every tool at my disposal, simPE, Clean Installer, etc. and I think I have caused more problems than solved them. Honestly I think I might be better off reinstalling, something I really really wanted to avoid but may not be able to at this point.

I am definitely not the first person to moan about their downloads folder. It isn't the size of the folder so much as it is the individual files. I've jacked it back up to almost 9 gigs and with over 42,000 files that is too much. I have a ridiculous amount of recolors of mailboxes, trash cans, and whatnot which has gotten me to the point that packaging lots just compounds it. There are files I don't even recognize but they keep showing up. Ever see those recolors with the _0002, _0003 and on and on at the end? WTF??? It is nearly impossible to know what to delete and what to keep.

How did I end up making such a mess? I can't even organize them anymore since I have NO IDEA what I have. I suppose I can afford to lose "stuff" in the process. It isn't like I know what each of those over 42,000 files are. I don't know what will break as a result but I know I can't go on like this. I can't even move my people back into their homes anymore. Things are missing. Lots are crashing or lagging. My university NB was the only NB that ran smoothly and now it is a mess.

And don't even get me started on the clothing that got ruined because of sexy feet. I want to redo them on a proper mesh. Yeah right, like when??? And with so little spare time to try and fix it, shortcuts were my friend...or not apparently. I don't even want to try and reinstall things because it just makes it worse. I cannot start over. That isn't even an option. And there is no easy and safe way to cull downloads. Talk about a catch-22...and yet I continue to download crap...

Forgive my moping. I'm just very frustrated and needed to vent. Let me return you to your regular programming.
END RANT

Secret Squirrel Business

Although I am sure you all know about this by now, I wanted to give some thanks to Kitty for fulfilling a long-desired request for me. I doubt many of you aside from Beth know how much I have been wanting a guitar poses box but I never thought it would happen. Thanks to a helpful hint from Goodbye_sun I made a request for this special pose box and my wish was granted. Thank you to mchick101 for not only granting this request but also having her boyfriend mesh some new guitars for the pose box which she adapted for the game and recolored. I sent her some examples of poses and she came through with a high quality grouping of poses, I believe 15 in all!

This box is definitely for the advanced user. You must use shiftable shelves, OMSPs, object rotator and have lots of patience. Trust me, the results are worth it. If any of you follow Wyatt's Story you will have seen a hint of what is to come in the first two shots. She has also written a tutorial that is very clear and easy to follow. You can find her pose box here: Kitty's Guitar Posebox

Kitty you have my undying gratitude for this and I know there are plenty of other storytellers out there that will appreciate your hard work on this. Thank you again SO MUCH! Please take some time to thank Kitty and while you are on her site, check out her other fantastic pose boxes and her stories!

You can see a couple more examples under the cut!

Celebrating Mothers Everywhere

Drove down to Santa Cruz again this year. Rain and vehicle passed each other like two ships so we had some wind and cold but the sky was clear and there was sun so all in all not a bad day. Failed to walk the long block to the beach to take some pictures which I was hoping to do. It was too cold and I was too tired. So you will have to settle for food.

The boys cooked up a storm once again. Lamb on a rotisserie, smoked tri-tips, grilled veggies, finger food, and yummy pies. I am stuffed and exhausted. Tried to get some good pictures but for the mostpart they didn't turn out well.



Hoping those of you who are mothers had a wonderful day and for those of you who are not, I hope you gave your moms some love wherever they may be. Leaving you with a shot from my phone on the drive home. Sorry about the bugs on the windshield.

Lightning in a Bottle

Obviously Jimmy is jumping for joy...happy to be home no doubt. You have to go check out the latest Passages update. Wonderful writing, pure Jimmy.

Link is here: Passages 19

Shining the Light

You don't know what a relief it is to have finally posted an update. I was so tempted to shut down Wyatt's blog but I found inspiration awhile back and ran with it. Not a small feat considering my neighborhood is really messed up right now.

The piece is called Away From the Sun. Song in the playlist is by 3 Doors Down.