#latips

Hi Anon! <3

I'm going to assume you're referring to the portraits I have of my sims here on my tumblr, and not pictures of my gameplay over at my gameplay twitter (there I usually just take random pics as I play, and crop them. None of the technical stuff like with portrait photos)

How I take my sims portraits is pretty simple also, so i'm sorry if you're expecting more. Either way, I hope this is helpful.

Basically, I start off in an empty lot, and then include the following items:

I’m so sorry to press you for more information, but I’m so fascinated by your filming process and I have some additional questions if that’s okay. Specifically around your sets that are just individual rooms, are these just multiple secular room sets on one lot, or do you use a different lot for each set? Like with the River’s house when any family member is coming downstairs, is Tresor or Raign’s room not on that lot? The living room and kitchen? Lol I’m just so fascinated by this if that’s the case, and if so it’s extremely impressive because they look like they all could actually be one complete set. Sorry if this makes zero sense, I’ve just never thought to try this and now I really want to! ☺️ Thanks so much!

Haha no you make total sense!! First of all thank you for watching my series, and don't worry at all about asking questions! I know filming with The Sims 2 can be difficult bc of how often it crashes and its loading time, so any tips I can give to help the game crash less, im happy to share 💖

The sets are actually on different lots entirely! So, when Tresor "comes downstairs", or the characters go from the living room to the kitchen, I load an entirely new lot! I think the only exception I make is with bathrooms because they're so tiny haha, but any time you see the characters going from one room to the other, it's usually a different lot all together. :')

It may sound exhausting to some, having to jump from one lot to another, but over the years (I've been doing this since 2017, at least!) I've managed some tips that help, for those that are interested:

1) I make multiple sims of the same character, so that every sim belongs to every lot! So, if Tresor for example needs to be in her bedroom, the living room and Simons bar within the same episode, I create 3 Tresors (TresorBED, TresorLIVING, TresorBAR), and that way I don't have to move her around.

I should also note that I change neighborhoods every episode (more on that in tip #3), so it might sound like a lot of sims over the episodes but really it's usually just 3 versions of the same character in one neighborhood at a time.

You might find it's easier to just move the sims from one lot to the other, but in my experience moving the sims around (or using the tombstone to extract them) always ends up crashing my game so this is a really good way to avoid it all together!

2) I don't film chronologically, but by sets! This is my #1 tip. I basically gather up all the scenes I have in 1 set and I film them. That way i dont have to go back and forth between lots, instead I just finish off all the scenes I need using a lot and move on to the next! Sometimes a set has so many scenes I end up filming in one set for weeks at a time (usually Simons bar, haha, that S2E1 Christmas episode needed like 3 sets (Simons bar, Simons living room, The Rivers living room), and I spent two months just filming in Simons bar).

The only time I won't recommend this, is when you havent yet found your own style. Then you might risk something like this happening: You're just starting to film, and you have the 1st and last scene in the episode in the same set. So, you film them both. Then you film a couple more scenes after that, and then you reach the final set and by then your filming skills have changed (if you haven't found your style and take months filming an episode - which is completely valid, BTW - this could mean a drastic change). Then, scene #1 (which you filmed at the very beginning) could have a completely different filming style than scene #2 (which you filmed at the very end), and so on. You wouldn't want that.

I had something like that happen to me, where I discovered reshade mid-filming an episode, so the scenes I filmed at the beginning of the episode didnt have it, and then the scenes I filmed at the end did it. It made the epsiode look incosistent, which is something I don't really care about (and neither do my viewers, really), but you might so letting you know as a heads up! Some of these tips do compromise the "professionalism" of the episodes, but it's how i manage to film and pop out episodes with (relative) quickness :').

Thats why for many reasons, including should you want to film by set instead of chronologically, I suggest you find your style before filming an episode or starting a series all together. This can be done through creating small machinimas, filming tests, music videos, etc. Take it from someone who can't even handle sitting through the first 8 episodes of my own series because of how much my style back then. The way it drastically changed from one episode to another irks me so much! 😅

3) And this is my most controversial one, LOL, but I always build sets + new neighborhoods from scratch with every episode. As I mentioned above, I change neighborhoods with every episode because, in my experience, neighborhoods get corrupt with time so starting with a fresh neighborhood every episode helps avoid crashing. Previously, neighborhoods would get so corrupt, they'd stop loading at all mid-filming an episode, so im forced to interrupt my filming streak and build the sets and characters all together which absolutely wrecks any motivation I have to film afterwards. Once, this happened mid-filming a scene and so I had to rebuild, and let me tell you: Theres a difference between sets looking a bit different because I had to rebuild between episodes, and sets looking different within the same scene. At least when you rebuild the set with every new episode, you can blame minor changes on the fact that time passed from one episode to the other.

Also: I make sure to build all the sets I need for the episode before I start filming, because I dont want anything to interrupt my filming once I start it. If Im forced to build when I'm motivated to film, I end up losing that motivation in the time I spend building, if that makes sense. As u probably already know as a machinima maker, we do the work that is usually required of a team (writer, director, editor, and also stylist and set designers), so I like to do things one at a time so I can have a clear understanding of my schedule and timetable. So, I dedicate 2 days to style all the sims, a week or so to build all the sets, usually months to film the episode, then another week to edit and audio edit. I try my best not to have all of those parts overlapping, otherwise it gets too overwhelming.

The reason I rebuild from scratch, as opposed to just extracting the lot and installing it in a new neighborhood is because, again, I prefer a fresh start and have found that lots are less likely to get corrupt if they're "new". A lot of people think im crazy for it LOL, or that it's a colossal waste of time, and maybe it is! But it's the process that works best for me, and I end up filming really fast with much less crashing and hiccups because of it!

Hiii! I am so sorry I am just seeing this, I havent looked at my tumblr notifications in so long! I hope these tips can still help even though they're so late! But thank you so much 💖💖💖 I really appreciate it!

Tip #1. Keep the downloads folder small: For me, I feel like my game lags less the smaller my downloads folder is, so I make to sure to keep at least my gameplay folder small. A great tip ive been using to do this is to go into my game and delete swatches I dont care about. If you use pooklet recolors of hairs especially, you'll find that each hair color (Black, Brown, Blonde, Red, and Grey) usually come with 3+ swatches. So after downloading a bunch of hairstyles, I make sure to go into my game and keep 1 swatch from every hair color. That way, the game goes from 15 swatches of the same hair to just 5! It has helped me sooo much, without forcing me to abandon hairstyles that I like. The same with clothes: when a shirt, for example, would have 5-10 swatches, I make sure to keep just my 3-5 favorites! Does wonders.

Tip #2. Keep the sets simple: With filming, I've found that sets that are heavily packed with CC drop my FPS (which causes lags) way more than sets with simple CC - so i make sure not to go overboard. I know you asked as a lets play player, but just incase any machinima filmers are reading this, here's a trick i do: Instead of building huge sets, I film little boxes that are decorated from the inside and not at all from the outside. Take a high school set, for example. If I want to film in a classroom, I'll just build that classroom instead of a full on school with exteriors and unnecessary rooms that I won't use but would otherwise be found in a school like hallways. And, if I need an exterior shot, I'll just build a seperate lot that I wont mind how big it is because ill just need for that one shot. Its basically like real life shows, where they film exteriors of homes for example, but the actual set is just in one of those warehouses? Hope that makes sense. As for lets players, I would suggest to keep things simple and confined to one floor! Don't go overboard with CC, though I for one LOVE a cluttered house :'( But we gotta do what we gotta do!

Tip #3. Keep the neighborhood simple (or remove it all together): As a lets player I would of course recommend that you keep it simple as opposed to removing it all together, since that would look terrible for gameplay. Of course, its sad because a nicely decorated neighborhood does wonders for that "open world" feel that Sims 2 is missing, but ive found that doing too much CC wise in the neighborhood lags the game terribly. Also, you can turn off your neighbors while keeping the decorations on. I've found this to help immensely, especially in neighborhoods that have a lot of sims living in it. As long as you decorate your neighborhood right (while not going overboard), then you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference - except when it comes to the lagging! I havent played a game with neighbors on since those sims 4t2 deco homes were converted!

For machinima makers I'd go one step forward: If you have scenes that are inside, turn off your decorations all together! Instead decorate around any windows your set might have, and even use one of those mural CC thingies of landscapes should your series be set be in a city. I cant remember the last time I filmed an interior scene with neighbors + decorations on!

Tip #4. Dont overwork your laptop: Make sure you dont have other "demanding" programs open while you try and film. For me, I've found that the game lags a lot more when the laptop is being overworked and getting heated, so closing programs like Sony Vegas (or other video editing programs) and Photoshop (or other photo editing programs) helps a ton! Really, I make sure to film with just the game and FRAPS open

Tip #5. Lower the quality: Push comes to shove and you've found that your computer just isnt handling it? Lower the quality of your game. Nothing drastic of course, nothing that would compromize your quality too much, but some small things like turning off shadows, for example, can come a looong way without making the game look too weird. And, if you do use it, stop using reshade. As a machinima filmer, this is my last resort when everything else I've tried hasn't worked: to stop using reshade and edit post filming. It sucks, but we can make it work :')

Hii!

The laptop I use is pretty outdated, imo! But here are my specs <3. It’s a Samsung laptop, Windows 7, i3 2.50 GHZ, intel(R) HD Graphics 4000, with a 8.00 GB RAM and 500 GB of space divided between drives (C:) and (D:)

Despite some outdated specs, I think it works relatively well! It hardly ever lags, despite huge downloads folders. But, it does take hours to load, lol. figures. My old downloads folder was 50+ GB and would take 2.5 hours to load, while my newly restarted downloads folder is just about 30 GB and takes an 45 mins-hour. My gameplay downloads folder is also around 10 and takes 20 mins.

That’s it for specs! Hope it helps.

If you’re a sims 2 director who’s struggling to film, I shared some tips on how to avoid a lagging game, from a director’s perspective under the cut c:

So I’m rewatching The Rivers for the umpteenth time and I wanted to ask how you do such an amazing job creating a unique voice for all of your characters?

For instance, there’s an obvious distinction between the vocabulary and speech pattern Pamela would utilize in conversation versus Tresor (if you hadn’t guessed, I’m currently watching their amazing scene in episode 15). But there’s also an obvious difference between Raven’s dialogue and Reign’s. So when scripting, how do you make sure each character retains their distinct personality through their speech? I think that’s the hardest thing for me and makes me so dissatisfied with my own process.

You’re amazing and your work is so inspiring, I really hope you know that!

Hellooo! ❤️

First of all, I am so flattered that you like The Rivers (enough to rewatch it too!! Ahh?? I cant even rewatch it😂😂). Thank you! ❤️❤️

The best tip I can give you is to establish every character's background and history (i.e the circumstances they grew up in: from the type of families they had, where they were raised, their financial status, etc). And get diverse with it! Incorporate different ethnicities, races, religions, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc... It'll not only make the process easier, but you'll have 1000x a better cast for it ;)

Take the examples you gave: Raven and Raign. Raign had an amazing childhood and was spoiled by her siblings for the first 18 years of her life (and counting!). With two siblings taking care of her every problem and need, she grew up 1) naiive and 2) struggling to make it on her own in the real world. This is translated in her language (stuttering, apologizing too much, crying at every inconvenience). On the other end of the spectrum, Raven had a tough childhood that started with abandonment. This lead to her being 1) angry (mostly, at life... as she should be) and 2) very defensive (since defending herself is all shes ever known). She also has a serious case of seperation anxiety disorder that translates to jealousy and possessiveness. Another example: Ezra's sense of entitlement comes from being an only child of an overbearing, but wealthy, mother. I think you get what my drift

Really, all you need to do is figure out every character's past and present! Everything else should fall more and more together with every new monologue/dialouge you write. At least, thats what happened with me. And dont get discouraged, pinning a character's voice is hard for just abt anyone. Just, dont jump right into scripting a series before you establish even the most boring details of every character you hope to bring to life.

Hope this helps at all!! Pls feel free to ask followup questions if u need to.

Hii! 

You’re making a lot of sense, and I feel you so much. To me, working with animation boxes is usually a mix between memory and an outdated guide:

For The Foundlings (coming soon), I have a script editor that goes over the script after Im done writing it and helps me if im stuck! But for The Rivers, I work on the script entirely on my own!

Writing a new project is really hard tho. I also find myself stuck whenever I try to put new idea into paper. Heres a helpful guide . I haven't had to use it yet myself, but I know I will eventually cus it seems great:). Hope it helps you!

Hi! I currently can’t make, or more accurately put, upload, a speed vid (WiFi problems), but I’ll share all the bodyshop tips I can think of!

NOTE: These tips are for realistic looking sims, not sims you’d typically use for gameplay (maxis match is superior with game play don’t @ me). So these tips might not be for everyone! What works for me, might not work for someone else, so keep that in mind going in! I hope they help, anyway. <3 Let’s go.

1) Diversify. I try to never make two sims that are of the same race back-to-back. This is may be the most important tip I can think of, because once you venture outside making all of your sims the same race, you’re just forced to go a different direction than the sim you made prior. Also, you’ll have the added benefit of your sims world having a real-life world touch, and your game becomes way less vanilla. That is, if you don’t end up with your sims all looking like same, with just a different shade of skintone slapped on them. This brings me to my second tip,

2) Reference pictures. This one is something I’ve just recently (in the past 2 years or so) started doing myself and it is a GAME CHANGER. What I do is look up, mostly on pinterest, models for reference. I then try and use those references while creating the sims. This really helps because you get to have an accurate representation of the race you’re trying to create, without having to depend on your sole memory. I’m an Arab, but I find myself constantly blanking when it comes to making Arab sims. I literally forget what Arabs look like, LOL, so I always go back to the references! Here is an example of the same sims from 2017 (before I started using reference pictures) vs. 2020.

3) Age. This is also a really important factor that I don’t think many people account for, which is totally fine if you’re creating sims to play! But if you’re creating sims for machinima (which I, 90% of the time, am) then it’s not something you should overlook. You need to show your sims aging. Most people only do that through CC (namely, wrinkles). That sometimes works, but most times it’s just not enough. You’ve got to also use the sliders. Fact is, a sim that’s supposed to be in their 20s, and another sim that’s supposed to be in their 50s, will share the same age in the game (Adult sim), but realistically won’t have the same face. You can show age by giving them thinner faces, a less defined jawline, eyes that are less open, etc... I tend to use reference pictures from tip 2 to help with that. Here are pictures of two of my characters from my series, The Rivers, as an 18 year old and as a 28 year old (all as adult sims). The pictures are from four years ago, back when there weren’t custom sliders omfg i can’t even fathom a world like that anymore, and my sim-making has thankfully evolved since then, but it’s the only example I can think of where I used the same adult sim to represent different age groups!

NOTE: If you’re just making sims for the sake of playing, and you still want to show age progression in adult sims, I highly recommend these great graying hairs by @deedee-sims ​ Always my go-to when I’m playing! 

4) Base. If you’re just starting, or you’re beginning from scratch and don’t know where to start, I’d recommend downloading default face templates - because maxis face templates are horrendous. LOL Or, and only if the creator ALLOWS IT (always read the TOU!!!), use another creator’s sim as a base sim. BUT, if you are going to use someone else’s work (templates or base sim) as your blank canvas, then make sure to make it your own, or else you’re going to end up copying someone else’s style. A lot of people tend to do that subconsciously. You can use references pictures to guide you with that. This tip is only if you’re starting from scratch. If you already have some sims lying around, I recommend to use your own sims as your base sim. That way, you can avoid accidentally copying someone else, and you’ll have your own style of sims that is unique to only you, that I believe every simmer has/should have eventually.

5) Don’t give up! I literally make, like, a minimum of half a dozen sims before I kinda like one of them. And that’s after 10 years of making sims for youtube and sims machinima (not just sims to play!). So, don’t be discouraged if you haven’t yet found your style, or if you’re not happy with the sims you make. Practice makes perfect, you’ll get there eventually. Just venture outside of your comfort zone, try things you haven’t yet tried, and be confident in the work you’ve had so far because you’ll only get better from here!