HandOnTheMouse

23. CS Major with a 9-5. Sims 2 Player. Currently: (1) Uberhood (2) Vacation World Building (3) Screenshot Manager Program V1 Released.

[handonthemouse]

Photo Managing App Version 1

*22:35-29:35 To watch how I use it to manage my Sims 2 Screenshots Hello, I made a photo managing app. It's not limited to just being used for the Sims 2, but it is heavily inspired by it. Basically you know how in-game, screenshots have terrible quality? And if you use Reshade to take screenshots, it just dumps the photos all in one folder and file explorer is terrible? Well my program makes it so that the screenshots can be better viewed: 1) Better UI than just file explorer 2) Tagging makes it so that you can group and categorize photos 3) Better search regex 4) can change display name and add descriptions to photos

The program is coded with HTML, Javascript, all that and so it opens on the browser instead of being a separate program file but fear not: a) it does not use the internet in any way, b) Personally, it was easier for me to code HTML to be displayed on a browser than integrate it to a separate new program c) command line also runs when you run the program, and it logs there every action the program makes, this is for transparency, and it's interesting to observe, d) the program only modifies files within its own folder [like the database files in its own folder], it does not modify any files outside of the program's folder, it just accesses the locations of the photos so that it can display them. If you want to see an extensive demonstration of the program, watch the video linked. Currently, the video timestamps don't seem to be working, but they're in the description of the video nonetheless if you want to see specific parts, since the video is really really long.

Or if you want to read more about the program, here is my previous post from months back tacking about it here.

Looking back at my previous post, I see that I haven't implemented all the features yet, which is okay, I can still do future updates.

Basically the program's folder has 4 parts: 1. Exe file (comes with the zip), which when clicked, will run the program. 2. Static subfolder (comes with the zip) which includes all the visual references of the program, all modifiable 3. Project.db (will generate when program is ran the first time), contains list of all projects. 4. Projects subfolder (will generate when program is ran the first time), contains each projects' database. so if I update the program, all you need to replace is the exe file. The static folder, project db and projects folder need not be replaced. I mean everything is basically implemented, just slight UI quirks.

Download it HERE (MediaFire)

--------- Tangent: P.S. I know I said I would finish this months back but I just didn't have the time bc of work. I leave the house at 6 and I come home like 8:30. Actually am planning on buying a steamdeck so that I can play the Sims 2 during lunch breaks since now apparently, the sims 2 legacy collection is in a playable state than it was when it was released.

Since the steamdeck is like Linux apparently? My new side project might be to make Linux versions for the programs that I made so far? Don't know, but I'm excited. Buying the legacy collection since it's discounted, I'll buy the bundle with Sims 1 since it's cheaper. It'll be really fun to play TS1 on steamdeck, just looks like it was made for handheld, the vibes.

[handonthemouse]

Town Center - Custom Vacation World Update (no cc)

This is just me showcasing one lot but I put my whole thing into this. It's a canal with a bridge, surrounded by several buildings. I swear one picture can't compass everything.

Here's how the 4 buildings look like night vs day:

The temple:

The restaurant:

Cafe lounging area:

Botique:

Library:

Supporting Photos:

This is such an improvement. C'mon let's compare before and after:

This whole new thing probably took like 6 hours. I was halfway done with my build and then it crashed on me while saving. When I reopened my game, the progress wasn't saved, so that was another hour wasted rebuilding my progress ╥_╥.

Originally wanted to have a hood deco boat and put it over the lot and over the river, so I downloaded this mod that lets me put hood deco objects over lots BUT since the mod is old, it broke my build mode and there wasn't a good boat hood deco object in base game anyways. So I just put some lily pads instead.

I'm proud of the final output though. Dare I say I'm getting better at the whole building thing. I think the other remaining builds for the vacation world project is easier than this so I'll finish building those way faster. Again, this is just the base. I will definitely go back and polish. Do the interior, fix the paths, add more foliage and deco stuff.

There's gonna be a temple/big structure behind this bridge, so this view will look even better.

I also wanna go back and revise the cathedral. I'll attack it when I get inspired by something.

---------------------

I'll try to rush as much as I can do before the weekend. This and my coding project are on my to-do list. Won't have time after this week bc first day of work is on Monday. I might update less often than I already do after this week. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[handonthemouse]

Custom Vacation World Update 2 (no cc)

City area still 5/7. Added some hood deco. There's banners with "25" on 'it which is perfect since it's 2025! I love the boardwalk and the hotels, but might revisit the church exterior and the buildings in the town square. Not quite satisfied with em

Countryside area 3/7. Made a hotel lot, I like how it looks. real rural. Also made an ancient villa.

Cliff buildings 3/7. Made exterior of a new lot in the cliffside area. I feel like the buildings on this lot is too big, but I'll see if I change my mind.

Then there's like a chapel in the middle of the left lot. I added a big window to it so it overlooks the cliff and the vineyard will be the window view when I build it. Don't know if sims can get married in vacations, but the arch is there so I put it there.

Note: oh ever since I learned how to do constraintfloorelevation, I've used it in all the new builds.

[handonthemouse]

Custom Vacation World Update

Current progress of my first custom vacation world in progress. 1/4 of the exterior builds are... semi-done. Really really long wayyyy to gooo. I'll go back and edit them all again and add the interiors too.

[handonthemouse]

New Default Alien Skin

Made an alien version of the current skin set that I currently use. It's the alien-ized version of this. Just made it today, wanted to share it as it's what I'll be using. Made in just 15 mins with my program. Visual:

Download here (Mediafire)

[handonthemouse]

Sharing my current coding project + me yapping

Hello! I'm sharing my current personal coding project. It's a photo manager app. Got inspired by The Sims 2.

Why?: You know how in the Sims 2, you can use the storytelling features but the quality of the photos taken in-game is bad? Well nowadays there's reshade and stuff to help in taking high quality screenshots... but... the storytelling aspect is lost and all the photos are just dumped into a folder. Aside from the loss in ability for storytelling, the photos being sorted by family isn't there anymore. So that's what inspired me to make this program. It's not specific to the sims 2 just inspired by it. And it doesn't actually edit the photos, it just references and displays them. What the program does is create unique ID's per photo stored in a local database, and each photo can have multiple tags, long descriptions, and a renamable display name within the program. So, it doesn't actually touch the photos, just accesses them and creates a unique instance of it in the DB. Then theres the "scan folder" button that will update the database if there are either new, relocated, or deleted images in the folder. I've been brainstorming about the database structure of this program for months that 2 weeks ago I decided to just go ahead and code the program. This is the database structure of the program btw if anyone's interested (greyed out are the primary keys per table):

The program is actually like a website almost, but locally. It doesn't use internet, but uses HTML, so it opens the program in your browser. I thought that would be better instead of like a program interface, so it feels like a website (and plus it's easier to code that way). It's still a work in progress. I mean, I'm done with the basic features but I still need to (1) clean my code (2) do testing (3) update the user interface. For example of stuff I still need to do: - Tag filters, i want it to be on the side instead of the middle. - Zoom in photos functionality. - Description portion in photo view should be multiple rows. - Testing to see how someone with no prior knowledge of the program uses it. This will let me know how user friendly my program is. To know how well people with no prior knowledge of my program are able to use it without any confusion. I'll most likely release this program before the end of next month. ---For the yapping segment--- For this program, I really just used the knowledge that I gathered during my internship earlier this year. I was asked to make a social media website from scratch to prove myself: the database, the frontend, the backend. So the database for this program is actually inspired by twitter or any social media website, where each user has multiple posts and stuff. I just applied my knowledge from that here, where each project in my program can have multiple photos. And the tag feature also is inspired by like albums in social media websites. Where in social media: multiple photos can be in multiple albums, here: multiple tags can be assigned to multiple photos. There's like multiple uses for this program. Aside from the tagging feature which is useful, a sample unique feature is that I made the search functionality better. In file explorer, the search functionality is dumb as hell. For example if the file name is "Testfile" and you search "file" it won't appear as file explorer doesn't look for a file with "file" in it, it looks for a file that starts with "file", which is dumb. So I avoided that with the search functionality of my program. Made the regex work well for stuff like that and searches any file with “file” in it. Plus, since most screenshots are labeled by date, the search functionality can be used to technically filter by date. If you type “2025-05” or something, then your screenshots in that month and year will appear filtered out. Again, I'm most likely gonna finish this program and wrap this up within a few weeks cuz I'm gonna start my first job. This was just one of my summer coding projects to pass the time and be productive. I swear the hiring process has worn me down, and after months of waiting and waiting I'm glad the unemployed life is almost over. I mean it hasn't been 6 months yet (maybe just half of that) since I graduated but it felt so long just waiting for interviews, technical exams, and just the scheduling availability of all that. 90 days felt like 900 and I'm ready to move on. Still have to wait a few weeks for the documents and stuff but it's aight I guess. The program's gonna be done before then I swear.

[handonthemouse]

Giving Bluewater Village a Makeover

When I started Bluewater Village, I was so confused as it didn't really have a cohesive aesthetic to it. Different aesthetics were present: a bit of suburban, a bit of industrial, with a bit of garden/nature vibes. I needed to make it distinctive to make it interesting to me. With all those descriptors in mind, I thought of the eco-lifestyle aesthetic which to me is a blend of industrial and natural. I combined that with a midcentury modern style as I think the big windows and the brick-wood combination goes along well with it. I think the houses look easier on the eyes now. I added a couple of houses because I moved the Gavigans and the Goodies here.

Delarosa's house interior is my favorite:

Then, the big-ass brick house looks the worse exterior wise, but I swear it looks better inside:

I also moved in Roseland but I didn't show his house nor Malcom Landgraab's as they didn't really fit with the aesthetic, which is fine. Roseland's house is nearer towards the beachside and Malcolm's is secluded in the rich part of town anyways, so I didn't adhere those builds to this style.

As for the community lots, I rearranged their places on the map and I think the new style I thought of will work well with it. Think businesses with eco-modern, big windows, and brick style.

I've yet to reno the community lots and I don't plan to anytime soon. I'm more focused on my vacation world building, and I'm also making a program which I'll announce soon.

[handonthemouse]

New Project: Vacation Worlds WIP (no cc)

I'm in the point in my Uberhood where I've encountered plenty of my sims wanting to go on a vacation either for a mountain, a far east or a tropical vacation. Because of this, yesterday, I went to see online downloadable vacation worlds for my sims to go to but I didn't seem to dig any that I found.

There is only a handful of vacation worlds online can you believe it? I thought by now there'd be like a hundred. But, there aren't any close to what I would've preferred. So I took it upon myself to start making it. Plus, I've been building everything in my Uberhood from scratch so why ruin that streak?

Mont Ruma is going to be the first of three vacation worlds that I am gonna be spending my time on. The architecture of the builds for this WIP Vacation world will be inspired by those coastal towns in Italy, and the tourist sites will be based on ancient Roman and Greek sites.

My Pinterest board rn for Inspo:

I found this awesome map on MTS, it's exactly what I was looking for. It has small volcanoes and placeable beach lots. I then modified it a bit by creating a cliff to put a village on, and I think this gives Italy, I love it. I'm so inspired, I'm conceptualizing different areas. You'll have a (1) cliffside village, (2) a Pompeii area near the volcano, (3) a beachside area (with pools, bars), (4) a tourist area (Parthenon type build, cathedral, museum, library, bathhouse, etc.), (5) and a countryside area (hanging gardens, vineyards). Probably gonna be around 30ish lots when I'm done.

I'm gonna make it with no cc so that I can share it when I'm done making it. The skyline and clouds in the background will be removed. It's actually the only cc I have in my game rn aside from default replacements.

So far I've built one lot today (yay!). I made this cliffside town and I like how it's turned out. 80% of the buildings are empty, but I do plan on putting shops and restaurants on this lot.

I'm happy with how it turned out. I can already see the potential of how this cliffside area is going to look like which makes me happy.

I think I'll plan on making the outer appearances of the buildings first so that I can see the overall vibe of the world before delving into the interiors and things.

Not the best builder but I think I'm decent. I don't plan on overly-decorating the lots nor to over exaggerate them. I want them to be simple yet effective (just like how the Sims 2 is as a game). No need for too much decorations and extra lagging as a result.

The main goal is for the builds to look good in photos so that it really does feel like a vacation, and that would, in turn, be an incentive to make my sims go on a vacation. Like if the views are great, it would encourage me to maybe take my sims on a vacation to do a proposal or to make memories with their sim families.

So there's gonna be three vacation worlds that I will be working on:

1. The Rome/Greece inspired world currently in this post for the mountain vacation type.

2. A Maldives meets South America inspired world for the tropical vacation.

3. and an East Asian (Japan, Korea, China) inspired world for the far east vacation.

To end this post, some extra thoughts I have:

1. I'm making this vacation world separate from my Uberhood rn. I know there's a way to transfer vacation worlds to a different save file since there's downloadable custom vacation worlds online. I just hope I can do that easily when I'm done or this would've been for nothing lol.

2. I don't know if there's a way to create a store and sell specific buy mode items for sale without a business owner, and in a vacation world at that. But it would be great to be able to buy souvenirs and things while on vacation. Hopefully it's possible but I'll have to test that out.

3. In terms of vacation worlds, Sims 3 World Adventures did it great. god, not a dull moment when i played that pack, and the open world really made it feel like an adventure.

4. It's not a bother but it would've been great if neighborhood view had an edit terrain option. I wanted to add a rocky texture to the cliff area without cc but there wasn't a way aside from just increasing the terrain height itself.

5. The thought of my Sims vacationing and going to the coastal towns of Italy, the overwater villas of the Maldives, or the cherry blossom trees in Japan really inspires me to actually make that possible.

[handonthemouse]

Sims 2 Skin Adjuster Program V3 (Quickly Create your own custom skintone!)

Hello, this is version 3 of my Sims 2 skin adjuster program. Firstly, what is the "why" of this program?: If you've ever made a custom skin in the Sims 2 you know how tedious it is to do because you have to manually edit each bmp file and there are 30-40 bmp files for just one skin. This program aims to help in that. With this program if you want to quickly blend skins or adjust the color, saturation, etc. you can do it quickly in an instant, and the program will apply your changes to all the png files, no need to do it manually anymore! It's like an automated Photoshop.

If you've seen my Tumblr post on the V2 of this program, here are the the main updates that i made since then: 1. This version only edits png files instead of bmp files (since I found out SimPe should be used instead of Bodyshop to not reduce texture quality) 2. Any png file of the skin can now be viewable in the program as you edit in real time. 3. less file name specifications. (read more at the end of the line)

If you wanna just use the program quickly with no regard of the quality, just export a skin in bodyshop, use V2 of my program to open that folder. That’ll edit the skin quickly in real time. But, if you care for the quality, use V3 and it involves the tedious process of exporting all the pngs from SimPe, then importing it back via the “Build DXT” feature.

All positive and constructive feedback are welcomed! It makes me know what features work and what needs fixing.

Download version 3 of program here (Mediafire)

Happy Simming!

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Guidelines (also in main menu of program): (1) For the program to not overlay eyes and teeth, face files must have "face" in their filename. (2) For the baby skin file, "bu" must be in its filename to avoid overlaying the *eye texture. (3) For the skin overlay, make sure a file with "ufhair" exists.

Disclaimers (also in main menu of program): (1) This is a Windows-only program. It is designed to edit PNG skin files for The Sims 2. (2) It is meant to be used in conjunction with SimPE and any standard photo editing program for any small changes. (3) For more information and to give feedback, visit my Tumblr. (4) This program is not affiliated with EA, Maxis, or The Sims franchise. (5) This tool is intended for personal, non-commercial use only. Additional disclaimers (i just thought about while typing): (1) Do not put existing folder names as output unless you want that folder's contents to be replaced. (2) This program is meant for simmers who already know how to make custom skintones using SimPe. (requires DDS Utilities extension for SimPe to not loose texture quality, which is shown in the video)

[handonthemouse]

Making a version 3 of my Sims 2 skin editor program

After collecting a good amount of feedback, I'm gonna start creating a version 3 of my program, which will now use png files instead of bmp files, since i discovered that using Bodyshop reduces texture quality of the skins.

If you would like to create skins using Bodyshop only, version 2 will work well. But if you are to create skins and would like to use SimPe, version 3, which is now in the works, would be your best bet for that.

Will update the status of the program on here, and will eventually release another tutorial video for that. Thank you all for the feedback, it helps me make the program better. Stay tuned for updates. I'll most likely finish v3 + a video tutorial in just a few days. ✌️

Link to version 2 (bmp to bmp): https://www.tumblr.com/handonthemouse/787519095610458112/sims-2-skin-adjuster-program-v2?source=share

[handonthemouse]

Going vanilla... deleted my realistic cc of 15 gigabytyes!

A few days ago, I found a USB in my house, which I then proceeded to use to backup all my Sims 2 files. I had 16 GB of mods, and it took 2-3 hours to transfer all of that into the USB.

Aside from the slower loading times of the game, this made me realize how far I've drifted from the aesthetic of the game.

Don't get me wrong, the realistic cc that I have downloaded looks great, but I realize I only downloaded all that stuff because I came from the Sims 3/4 to the Sims 2 (started playing S2 exclusively around 4 years ago).

I never really gave the game the chance, and to actually play it as intended. I didn't embrace the cartoony nature, and I also didn't embrace the premade neighborhoods. I have never played the premades.

Because of this, I decided to give it a shot.

My mods folder is, from ~11.5 GB, now 166 MB only! Wow! And it only takes the game exactly 25 seconds to load (from 5 mins!). So freeing.

I only have the basic default replacements (i.e. skin, eyes, eyebrows, face templates, etc.), mod fixes (remove box shadows, date stood up fix, etc.) and the essential mods (ACR, Community time project, etc.)

I found that with maxis match eyes and skin, I actually don't mind the base game hairs.

I'm doing this not only for the performance boost and file size saving, but also to have the ability to actually share my save files easily. I want it so that when I share my save files, the downloader sees exactly what I see.

For the past week on my spare time, I've started an Uberhood, so that I can give the premade hoods a shot. I plan on rotating every 2 rotations (8 days, where 1 day = 1 year).

Again, this is my first time playing with the premades in the Sims 2!

I'll make another post after I finish one rotation of Pleasantview.

From setting it up, I'm looking forward to Bluewater Village. Least looking forward to Veronaville (although it looks the best).

Will still use my realistic cc, if I'm inspired to create sims in bodyshop, but I'll be sticking to vanilla-compatible mods for gameplay.

If you've seen my previous posts about me making a custom hood, I've shelved that one for now, so those posts are now privated. Focusing on the Uberhood now, which I know, will last like forever lol.

[handonthemouse]

Sims 2 Skin Adjuster Program V2 (V3 is also available, check it out)

Hello, this is version 2 of my skin adjuster program.

Firstly, what is the "why" of this program?: If you've ever made a custom skin in the Sims 2 you know how tedious it is to do because you have to manually edit each bmp file and there are 40 bmp files for just one skin. This program aims to help in that. With this program if you want to quickly blend skins or adjust the color, saturation, etc. you can do it quickly in an instant, and the program will apply your changes to all the bmp files, no need to do it manually anymore! It's like an automated Photoshop.

If you've seen my Tumblr post on the V1 of this program, here are the the main updates that i made since then: 1. UI for the program, not command line anymore yay! 2. Teeth and eye areas of the skins are now unaffected 3. Added a color overlay feature

Quick no sound, straight to the point video demo of the program:

Disclaimer: This program only works on Windows. Also, if you use Bodyshop instead of SimPe to import or export the bmp files of the skins, there will be a slight reduce in quality, to no fault of my program. This is due to the compression problem of Bodyshop (I talked about it in a previous Tumblr post).

Download the Program here (Mediafire)

All types of feedback are welcomed! Happy Simming! Note: not sure if i explained it well but, for the output folder, you can either make a new folder or use a folder that already exists. If there are already bmp files in the output folder, the program will replace those.

P.S. Took me a while to write this Tumblr post. I was already done but Tumblr didn't save it : /

[handonthemouse]

Sims 2 Bodyshop Compression Problem + Skintone Editor Program Update

Found another problem with TS2. Bodyshop compresses bmp textures when you import or export when making cc. This leads to that whole pixelated texture thing. I know cc experts probably know this but I'm new to this whole thing.

So as for my skin editor program, it 100% works, but you can't use it directly to Bodyshop because of the compression thing (texture pixelation, low-qual is because of Bodyshop). At least I know the skin pixelation is not a problem of my program but a Bodyshop problem.

To get around that problem and have non-pixelated skins, don't use Bodyshop when dealing with textures. Here's how you do that: 1. If you have a skin that you like, open it's package file instead of exporting it using Bodyshop. This does mean manually exporting all 40 bmp files of that skin into a folder. 2. Then after it's in a folder, use that as input for my program. Modify the skin, then export from my program to a random folder. 3. Then only use Bodyshop, to generate the .package file for the skin, then import the project to your game to make it into a .package file. 4. Open that .package file generated using SimPe, then replace the bmp files with the edited skin files from my program.

And that's the known way to work around the Bodyshop compression problem so far as I know. Tedious, but now I know it's not a problem of my program but a problem of Bodyshop.

Version 2 of my Skin Editor will be released next week, will make a video tutorial alongwith.

If you have any fixes that solve the Bodyshop compression thing on your computer or if you don't mind the slight texture quality loss, you can use my program directly to Bodyshop, but if not, you have to import/export manually in SimPe.

My program will aid in you not having to manually edit each skin if you want to achieve a certain color/shade, skips that process of manual recoloring.

Have a skin tone variant you like and the program will manually apply it to all 40 bmp files of that skin in an instant.

[handonthemouse]

Build.

Wi-Fi at home kept disconnecting so I decided to build a house out of boredom.

[handonthemouse]

WIP Sims 2 Skintone Editor Program V2

decided to make a UI for the program. might be done w/ this around next week.

[handonthemouse]

WIP Sims 2 Skintone Editor Program V2

Hi everybody, so I have a few ideas to improve the program, so there will be a version 2 on the way. On, the top of my head, here are the improvements that I plan on doing: 1. Adding a color overlay to the skins - So maybe if there's too high of a contrast on the skin and it gets pixelated, an option to add a color overlay to the entire skin may work to lessen the harshness/contrast but still keep the color of the skin itself.

2. Extracting teeth and eye positions - This was a problem I had with the program months ago and I just remembered. Since the program changes the color of everything, it also affects the color of the eyes and teeth (if you don't have replacements/overlays). I might do something where there's a third option to make sure that teeth and eyes stay unaffected while changing the color of the skintones.

3. Work on the saturation feature - Now, I don't know yet how to fix this but with enough Googling I know I can. So, the problem is when you saturate, it oftentimes saturates the middle and lighter parts more than the darker areas, which leads to that patchy look sometimes.

[handonthemouse]

How my randomized Sims look like in the Sims 2

After all that effort for my game, downloading default replacements, townifying every cc hair and clothing I have donwnloaded, editing, townifying and geneticizing the skintone and eyes, and creating the face templates, all of which took months... It's all worth it, I love how the randomized Sims look. And add that with easily being able to Gussy Up randomized townies that spawn and I'm happy with the outcome