Nico Alvino for BRASSAI, 2024
almost home

JVL
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"

Kiana Khansmith
trying on a metaphor

pixel skylines
Mike Driver
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me

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izzy's playlists!
occasionally subtle

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YOU ARE THE REASON

祝日 / Permanent Vacation
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2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
Sade Olutola
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Stranger Things
Peter Solarz

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@controlandvanity
Nico Alvino for BRASSAI, 2024
Colt Studio Presents #17 1993
An irl friend suggested I make a door piece to go with the M&G mansard roof set. Showing him how to into CC creation motivated me to actually do it :P
Though it works as a regular door, it can be found in the Architecture submenu. It is slaved and uses Maxis textures.
-> Download at Simfileshare
photo by emil dietrich for andron journal
🏙 Downtown
Tutorial: Multi-Lot Harbours
I promised this tutorial a while ago and just started making my harbour for my current hood. I figured I may as well kill two birds with one stone, so here it is! This technique is completely modular, allowing you to create harbours of any length. As you can see, I've already done one of the lots, just to show you how they fit together. You will find yourself saving and exiting quite a lot with this method!
Requirements
LotAdjuster
A neighbourhood with accessible shoreline
Possibly some understanding of the 'boolprop constrainfloorelevation false' cheat
Important: I do not use beach lots for this method. I find this method gives me more control.
Step 1: Place Your Lot
Start with a lot that is 20 tiles deep. This gives enough room to create a stone harbour wall and dock area. This is preference, but I find any bigger looks dumb.
The lot should be 10 tiles wider than the harbour segment you ultimately want. For example, if you want a final harbour segment that is 40 tiles wide, start with a 50 tile wide lot. That is what I've done here.
Bring the water as close to the lot edge as possible. If necessary, use the cheat 'modifyNeighborhoodTerrain on'
The terrain should slope down naturally towards the water.
Step 2: Mark the Tiles to Remove
Measure 5 tiles in from each end of the lot.
These tiles will be removed later with LotAdjuster.
For a centre segment, mark 5 tiles on both ends.
For a left-end segment, mark 6 tiles on the left side.
For a right-end segment, mark 6 tiles on the right side.
Step 3: Build the Stone Harbour
Create a foundation within the remaining space. This can be as big as you want.
The foundation walls should extend flush (but not connect along the length) to any edge that will connect seamlessly to another lot.
I use Numenor's custom foundation walls, but you can achieve the same effect using standard walls with the cheat 'constrainFloorElevation false'. Just flatten the walls after placing them.
Cover the foundation with floor tiles of your choice, filling in that gap.
Important: Do not place walls along any edge that will connect to another harbour segment.
Step 4: Add the End Cap
At the opposite end of the harbour wall, add a small "cap" section. It will not stretch out as far as you want, but that's okay. Again, make it as big as you want.
This creates a natural transition point where stairs can lead down to the wooden docks.
Step 5: Build the Dock
Lay out the wooden dock below the stone harbour. Mine was a full story (16 steps) lower than the stone.
As before, don't place foundations flush against the lot edge. Use floor tiles to create the seamless connection instead. You will know it's correct if there's no stilt on the 6th tile from the edge.
Again, at this stage, don't worry if the dock isn't the exact width you want.
Save and exit the game.
Step 6: Extend the Lot
Open LotAdjuster and add 20 tiles to the back of the lot.
Do not change any other settings.
Step 7: Finish the Waterfront
Load the game, and then the lot again.
You now have what is effectively a custom beach lot. I usually add terrain paint to match my shoreline, otherwise the extended area remains grassy.
You can now adjust the dock to its final width. In my example, I created a dock that was 5 tiles wide.
Step 8: Plan the Dock and Bay Pattern
Decide how many docks and bays you want. Bays should be big enough to fit ships.
The harbour should always end on half a bay, so that adjoining lots complete the bay when placed together.
Do this before shrinking the lot. Once the lot has been reduced, you won't be able to place floor tiles on the very edge.
For my example:
Dock width: 5 tiles
Bay width: 10 tiles
This creates the pattern: 5 (half bay) - 5 (dock) - 10 (bay) - 5 (dock) - 5 (half bay)
I also made them 15 tiles long. You can do literally whatever size you want.
Save and exit once the layout is complete.
Step 9: Trim the Lot
Open LotAdjuster again and remove 5 tiles from both the left and right sides.
This is the step where you're most likely to run into problems. I certainly did while creating this tutorial!
If LotAdjuster throws an error, reload the lot and make sure there are no walls, fences, or foundations crossing the line where the new lot boundary will be.
When you reload the lot:
End pieces should have one side flush with the lot edge.
Centre pieces should be flush on both sides.
These flush edges allow the harbour sections to connect seamlessly.
Step 10: Repeat
Repeat the process for as many harbour segments as you need. If they don't line up, you can't just pick up the lot and move it. You have to use LotAdjuster to either move it left or right. I had to do so in this very tutorial.
The good thing is, you can use the original dock as a visual guide for widths! Also, make sure the wooden dock is on the same elevation across both lots.
For this example, I created a left and right segment and mirrored them, but you can continue adding centre sections indefinitely. I tend to add stairs in the very middle if I do that. You need a flight of stairs to get down to the harbour.
Finishing Touches
Once your harbour is assembled, decorate it however you like.
I usually place lots like warehouses, taverns, fishmongers, market stalls, or more on the stone harbour, and use neighbourhood deco ships (or this refurbished version of the Bon Voyage ship) in the bays. I also decorate the docks with crates, barrels, dead fish, etc. For some extra fun, add invisible fishing spots to the end of the docks!
The result is a fully modular harbour that can be expanded to fit any waterfront.
I hope this tutorial helps! If anything is unclear, feel free to ask.
LIGHTING MOD ULTIMATE COLLECTION v1.1.0
Sims 2 Beta Lighting mod fans, rejoice! I added in some changes from @boringbones's Beta Lighting Mod (which is a set of tweaks to Radiance Lighting Mod especially in some of the light definitions)
Also made Vanilla Plus and Maxis Match lighting a bit closer to their standalone versions now that I've figured out the light mix issue in the configuration.
There are also some scripts especially aimed at modders.
DOWNLOAD HERE
Vehicle Maintenance 2.0
@teaaddictyt and I are back again with another (HUGE) update that changes basically everything. It is recommended to delete vehicle maintenance 1.2 and start from scratch here since here have been lots of fixes, changes, and additions.
Fixes / Updates / Improvements:
Some files have been renamed for better organization (Me)
Fixed motor oil's category, the "Function - Init" wasn't setting it properly (Tea)
Fixed & Updated Code for Maintenance Checks and Decay. Added new checks and organized (Me)
Fixed animation strings for the fuel pump, bhavs were calling on the wrong animations (Me)
Fixed a coding mistake in the "add fuel from jerry can" interaction, this is working now (Me)
Updated all objects "keep buying" when holding shift in buy mode (Tea)
Updated the parking block object footprint and reduced to one OBJD (Tea)
Recategorized Dee's parking meter to driveway category to match with parking block (Tea)
Updated deviance interactions (Steal battery, Slash Tire, Siphon Fuel) available to any sim who meets criteria: Sims in criminal career or with evil trait, now uses "Easy Inventory Check", added availability for sims with <= 2 nice personality points, removed limitation on family members being deviant on family car and replaced with relationship checks (Tea & I)
Updated the quality of oil depend on sim's mechanical skill during an at home oil change (Tea)
Added motive changes for Deviant interactions, depending on niceness personality points and/or traits (Tea)
Added maintenance interactions edited to check 1) is it a community lot? 2) is it a business lot? 3) is it a service station? 4) am I staff / family / employee? (Tea)
Added motives gain & loss for vehicle maintenance will differ slightly if sim has "Vehicle Enthusiast" trait or not (Tea)
Merged Interactions into one and removed unnecessary/bugged code, saving space and instance numbers (Me)
New BCONS! Maintenance is now tunable, as well as all maintenance objects in their individual files (Me)
New motor oil mesh and texture (Me)
New animation for the "Add fuel from jerry can" interaction (Me)
New animation for the "Change Oil" Interaction (Me)
Updated Fuel Pumps, Each pump had been split in half to allow access on both sides (meaning a double-sided pump is now two tiled) (Me)
Updated Tires, you now have 4 separate tires to deal with (Me)
Updated CAPS to check if the driveway is empty before linking to it, fixing problems with new updates (Me)
Updated "Check Fuel Gauge" interaction. Sims no longer need to be sitting in the car to check the fuel level (Me)
Updated Tire meshes and textures (Extracted from DeeDee's Tire Pile) Two versions, one with a rim and one without, all three of these objects can exist in your downloads folder simultaneously (Me)
Updated Car Wash mesh, slightly moved over to accommodate additions (Me)
Maintenance interactions are now available if the object is on the lot or in sims inventory (Tea & I)
New custom semiglobal dialog strings. This will help avoid conflict with other mods, as well as having nicer, neater code (Tea & I)
The "Go To Casino" addon/interaction has been removed since I stumbled upon These
Additions:
Edited all driveways with a new routing slot, this should make working on engine look more realistic (Tea)
Storage Tire Rack. Store Tires @ Home / OFB Tire Rack. Sims can now buy/sell tires on business lots (Tea & I)
Added new code parking blocks and parking meters to spawn in and out cars every so often (random intervals) to simulate cars arriving and leaving the lot. This means all parking meters and parking blocks will now try to find an empty, unused driveway to "link to" Intervals are shorter on a "servo" lot, longer on any other lot (uses Mog's original code). These spawned in cars have a new limited tree table with maintenance & deviant options only, along with having a 50% chance of having an alarm installed (Tea)
Added & edited a new modded object: Engine Hoist by Oce / Blue Heaven Sims. This object can spawn in cars needing maintenance so a sim can work on the car and be paid for a service. They are paid $50 x their mechanical skill (Tea)
Added New Feature - Engine. Driving a vehicle with low oil and/or fuel will decrease the condition of the vehicles engine, which can lead to engine failure (Me)
Added new modded objects: Fuel Maintenance Hole, Fuel Maintenance System. The Maintenance Hole will restock nearby fuel pumps. When empty, owners and employees unlock the interaction "Order Fuel Delivery" on the Fuel Maintenance System. I did it this way, so each pump doesn't have to be restocked individually. It's also more realistic in my experience from working at a gas station. Fuel price is based on the BCON in the main vehicle maintenance file, the "set price" interaction will go off of that and do maths :) (Me)
New Compatibility Patches (Tea & I)
Vehicle Maintenance & Taxi's Charge Money
Burglars And Alarms & Visit Other Sims
Taxi's Charge Money & Visit Other Sims
Institution Sign & Visit Other Sims
Added Fuel/Car Wash Simulations (With Traits). Sims from the neighborhood who own a car and have a driver's license will now arrive under conditions (spawn in if their schedule is cleared, with weather checks and Traits: Hydrophobic, Loves The Rain, Loves The Cold, Night Owl) at gas stations to get a random amount of fuel or wash their vehicle, which is paid to the business, but not actually taken from the sim. Passengers can spawn in if their schedule is cleared and they meet various criteria: spouses, children, friends, along with weather checks and traits (Hydrophobic, loves the rain, loves the cold, night owl, loner, social butterfly, family oriented). Basically, we made actual functional gas stations/car washes. Yes, you read that correctly! :)))) (You can ban sims with visitor blocker) When recoloring a vehicle after a sim takes ownership, you can click the "Update Vehicle Token" which will update the token to be the correct color for when they spawn in (Tea & I)
Known Issues:
during fuel/car wash simulations, some vehicles will not let sims snap to slots. to combat this, they just disappear and leave until I can figure out a better solution (slots will be the death us)
Almost every vehicle has a different length, so animations for getting to the hood can be goofy, or spot on! like i said, the slots will take us out. some pics for comparison (i stole these from Tea lol):
The OFB tire rack gives back the business a small percentage of the tires price, instead of a larger amount and I don't know how to combat this (if anyone wants to help, OFB code is a nightmare lol)
Requirements:
The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection OR Disc Version, All Expansions & Stuff Packs (Either recommended)
HB_easyInventoryCheck
FireFlower_EasyLotCheck
MT_MaxisCategoriesBCONOverride
maxis-ownable-cars-Mog-20090327
Siknoy336_EasyObjChecksAndGrabs
Installation:
All wanted files go into This PC > Documents > The Sims 2 > Downloads This is designed to be as compatible as possible with all other car mods. You can choose which ones you want to have, just make sure to load them before any vehicle maintenance content. If you were playing with all car mods (that I know of) the setup would look something like this:
DOWNLOAD: SFS
Happy Simming :)
In 16th-century Germany, an engagement ring was crafted to unfold into a tiny astronomical sphere.
When opened, it reveals a miniature armillary sphere — a model of the cosmos — engraved with the phrase: “The whole universe is in your hands.”
This rare piece symbolized both romantic devotion and scientific wonder, blending love with astronomy.
-> The ring is available for sale HERE with FREE delivery <-
Poet Charles Henri Ford (left) with partner painter Pavel Tchelitchew photographed by Cecil Beaton.