Author Archives: Silver Arrows

Two Cheeks of the Same Backside

A little game of spot the difference.

EA T$R
Expects you to hand over your money for buggy content and useless/ugly meshes Expects you to hand over your money for buggy content and useless/ugly/broken meshes
Puts profit above the opinions and feelings of its paying customers Puts profit above the opinions and feelings of its paying customers
Likes to screw up your PC Likes to screw up your game
Illegally installs malware on your computer Illegally charges money for custom content
Censors and/or bans anyone who complains about the aforementioned Censors and/or bans anyone who complains about the aforementioned
Well, at least if you're unhappy with the product you can sell it on second-hand Errr....

Still Why No Mention of Aikea and Gelydh..?

Something strikes me as strange here. It’s been some time since Aikea Guinea and Gelydh retired from FA status, yet their names have not been added to T$R’s retired artists page (thesimsresource.com/artists/retired/). Two more recent departures (so recent that, at the time of writing, their content still hasn’t been free released) Confide and Tantra, are already listed on the retired artists page. So I wonder why Aikea and Gelydh aren’t? Weird. T$R’s choice, or Aikea and Gelydh’s?

Why You Don’t Own the Mesh File

By someone who actually knows what she is talking about... A message from Nouk in response to copyright claims by RoseSims2.net (spellings corrected by me, because I am such a pedant)

1. Whatever you import into Milkshape, has the skeleton information from the Sims 2, which give the mesh it's animation. Even if you delete the meshfile, the skeleton (bones) remain, otherwise the hair wouldn't work in the game.

Rose did not create the game animations nor the skeleton and bone information, EA/Maxis did.

2. After that, the mesh gets exported into the .gmdc format. Also, EA/Maxis made coding, not Rose.

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My Very Own Jasmine Moment

You remember the scene in chapter 2 of Raindrops and Tears?

going1

And just to cheer up Leah (even though she did plagiarise my wedding proposal scene from chapter one! 😛 ) here is my own real-life Jasmine moment, kindly re-enacted by the lovely Jasmine herself and a coffee table she bought just for the purpose :mrgreen:

going2
Going... going...

going3
... gone!

I can't remember what my exact words were, but it was probably something along the lines of "Blank, blank, blank!". And I've a lovely green and purple bruise on my shin, too. Marvellous.

Cast in Shadow, by Michelle Sagara

cast in shadow - michelle sagara

Cast in Shadow is a fantasy story, set in a world populated by various races of beings and full of magic.

The story follows Kaylin Neya, a young orphaned woman who ran away from the fiefs and joined the city's law enforcement, the Hawks. She has strange markings on her arms and thighs, markings which match those found on children ritually killed in the city. She is then called upon to help track down the killers of these children.

And that's pretty much all I understood of it. I don't know why, but I found it hard to relate to the characters, any of them. I felt strangely left in the dark throughout most of this book. Even in the final battle scenes, I felt as if I was watching it from a distance.

The problem is, Sagara expends so much effort on creating "sophisticated" and emotive prose at the expense of clarity. Instead, you're just a casual observer, someone the author doesn't really want to let in to her secrets, and the book suffers greatly for it. You never really feel as if you are part of the action, you never feel Kaylin's emotions with her. You don't feel her fear, her pain, you're not made to care about what happens to her. As Sagara herself says, "It's the same, after all."

Cherry Pie (Sims 1)

Ayyy!! I managed to finally get a 5 star Sim! This is Cherry Pie, #1 pop singer 😀

Karaoke stage
Nice big fanbase
I took loadsa pics of her performing the music videos, but they didn't save!!

Dancing Tiddler
Dance, Kitty, dance!

Cherry's awards
Posing with her trophy cabinet — 2 awards so far

Betty the Yeti
Betty the Yeti!
I didn't know how to feed the cat on holiday, it almost starved to death, so I had to send Cherry back home after less than a day 🙁

Tiddler
Meow!

Relaxing at home
Relaxing at home

More SecuROM Links

I haven't ranted in ages. So now is the time for my sounding off!

My PC was once infected with SecuROM and we were no longer able to even backup our files (yeah, just back up our files, pictures, documents, suchlike) onto CD because SecuROM decided that anyone who wants to burn a CD is automatically a pirate and a crim. Stoopid load of rubbish EA.

Awesome quote from muridae @ MATY:

As I understand it, you only get the uaservice7.exe service installed if you're running Bon Voyage under a limited (non-Adminstrator) account. SecuROM needs that service to give it administrator-like privilege in an account that shouldn't have that, which to me is one of the more worrying low-level activities it gets up to on your computer.

Okay, rant over. Here are a few links for those who want to rant, or who might need a lil more convincing as to why SecuROM is NOT good for your PC. In fact, it is not even good for the publishers who stick this s___ on their customers' PCs, and it's about time they realised it.

So... Tada!

Why No Mention of Aikea and Gelydh..?

... the torrents will stay up until T$R free-releases their work, but isn't it strange, they've both decided to call it a day at the same time...

Aikea Guinea's farewell
Gelydh's farewell

Sorry about the blurry pics, this danged theme is so frickin' narrow. Now could they... could they really be one and the same person?! :mrgreen: Or perhaps they're going to set up a free site together elsewhere... One can only hope...

Edit: It seems they are! From PMBD:

Fixed meshes from Aikea and Geyldh - hosting at their request while they get all of their content on their new site. Find these items under TSR/z-retiredartists/aikea/fixed_meshes_from_aikea and TSR/z-retiredartists/geyldh/fixed_meshes_from_geyldh.

Nice though, more departures from TSR — I bet Thoma$$ is weeping into his hanky. I've already removed two torrents, Juttaponath and Cloisonne, because they have both gone free! Gelydh and Aikea will make two more.

Super Happy Sims 1 Fun

Meh, I finally did it. I installed TS1 and I'm not even joking, it took a whole hour just to install. Anyway, gameplay was kinda confusing at the beginning, because I'm used to TS2 gameplay, but I've got the hang of it now (kinda). The thing is because I installed all 7 EPs, before even playing the base game, there was so much to learn in one go. So right now I've decided to ignore most of the stuff and concentrate on just the Unleashed pack and the Superstar pack (which is the one I was mostly interested in anyway).

Two things that are annoying: the rotate/zoom! Argh! You can't even zoom in that much and the rotate thing is so annoying I don't even bother unless I really need it. The other thing, making friends seems so much harder than in TS2. Or is it just my imagination? So far my poor little Simmie has only made one friend.

Anyway, here are a few piccies. This is the only sim I've played so far, Catherine Star. She currently has a fame rating of 3. Tee hee hee.

Snooty woot
Just like real life, Avril hasn't time for the little people

The Sims 1 Oxygen Bar
Relaxing at the Oxygen Bar.

Catherines Doggy
Catherine and her dog, Billy.

Performing
Catherine performing and gaining some star credentials.

Obsessed Fan
The Obsessed Fan. Please just leave me alone!

The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

by Alexander McCall Smith

The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency

"You see," said Mma Ramotswe, casting a glance at the attentive attorney, "there are some people in this country, some men, who think that women are soft and can be twisted this way and that. Well I'm not. I can tell you, if you are interested, that I killed a cobra, a big one, on my way here this afternoon."

"Oh?" said Jameson Mopotswane. "What did you do?"

"I cut it in two," said Mma Ramotswe. "Two pieces."

Precious Ramotswe is Botswana's first ever lady private detective, and owner of The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency. Armed with a sharp and inquisitive mind, her friend Mr J. L. B. Matekoni, and a good dose of humour, Mma Ramotswe is called upon to unravel various mysteries — disappearing husbands, rebellious daughters and stolen cars.

Until one day she is contacted by the father of a missing child, a young boy feared to have been taken for witchcraft, and things start to get a little more serious.

This book is a real gem, and the characters and settings are very much different from others in crime fiction, making this a very refreshing read. The author's observational humour adds to the enjoyment, as does Mma Ramotswe's fiery, no-nonsense attitude. I highly recommend this and I'm very much looking forward to the rest of the series.