If I take too long in replying to any ask or a tag, please know that my adhd is acting up and that I'll reply as soon as I can wrangle it back to focus.
Wcifs will be answered on weekends!
@ink-finds is my sideblog for any and all cc I find that looks interesting to me.
October Notice: due to EA and the Sims franchise being bought by people whose morals I consider deplorable, on December I'll be leaving the simblr community behind.
For more, see this post HERE!
January Notice: still have somethings to post so I'll stay around til February when I get back to work and studying.
Info post HERE!
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THE PAST WE HAUNT (discontinued)
Chrono - Recent - Extra - Nav Post
FOXFYRE LEGACY (discontinued)
Chrono - Recent
A SIDESTORY OF SOPHIE (discontinued)
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I'll be arranging my posts and some reblogs with some specific tags:
#mine-inks - for posts of my sims that are not gameplay related
#ink-eye - tag for tutorials or posts of notice from other people
#ink-ask - tag for me replying to mail
#ink-random - non sims things or something related to any of my gameplays that could be considered a notification
#ink-tag - adding this one now for any tag challenges or games
#ink-cc - tag for the two recolors I did so they don't be floating around in my blog
: A very quick explanation for what 'Unyoozd' was (likely) trying to say in his 'crash-out'.
+ Internet safety and stop panicking.
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[The post in question]
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The Majority of the panic surrounding Unyzood and his CC is due to this part of his post.
"
"
This is an amendment to Unyoozd's poll, which is elaborating on the item (option) '9' included in the poll in his post.
^The first screenshot is an elaboration on this text. Polls are limited (on most sites, including Patreon, which this poll is from) by a certain number of characters.
Let me show you an example, using my Patreon :
'When I type into a poll, there is only a certain amount of information which I can include before I am prevented from elaborating further by the text limit'
if I try and input the above text into a poll, Patreon will prevent me from typing further than :
'When I type into a poll, there is only a certain amount of information which I can include before I am prevented from elaborating further by'
as-in, there is a text limit.
This is how it displays. Because of this, we need to rephrase poll text to be shorter. Often, people will add a supplementary note, to add nuance or simple elaboration / explanation to a certain option, if the rephased poll text is ambiguous in some way.
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1️⃣'My point, truncated*'
*2️⃣A longer explanation of said point, connected by '*' but can also be indicated in other ways, like with numbers, or by saying 'my point about [x]''
We typically place these clarifications after the text.
This is what Unyoozd was attempting to do in the first image.
So when we are reading, it is intended to be :
1️⃣ ➡ 2️⃣
However,
Patreon forces the poll to appear at the END of the body of text.
This means the additional note read as part of Unyoozd's speech, rather than the speech associated with the poll, because of the way the post had to be formatted.
The connection between 2️⃣ and 1️⃣ is weakened.
^ this serves to re-connect the poll and the text, but because of the positioning, (2️⃣ is seen before 1️⃣ ) this is slightly less intuitive.
Now, this is a small thing, but we need to remember - people who are stressed, or otherwise upset, do not read thing clear-headedly
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Polls and how we phrase polls -
Why did 'Unyoozd' say 'I' ?
When writing a poll, we typically will have the answers phrased in the 'voice' of the reader / audience.
When Unyoozd was writing the amendment [2️⃣] to his options, he was talking in the voice of 'those who choose this option [1️⃣]'. this is very normal for a poll.
This means that he was using 'I' rather than 'they' or 'you' to refer to 'those who choose this option', which you might expect.
A poll as an example :
What's your favourite colour?
My favourite colour is pink!
My favourite colour is orange!
My favourite colour is white!*
My favourite colour is green!
My favourite colour is blue!
My favourite colour is yellow!
My favourite colour is purple!
Voting ended onApr 19
*Option three : While white is not technically a 'colour', I (the reader) consider it one, and it is my favourite.
^ This is essentially what was (most likely) intended (I would also like to note this isn't how all polls are constructed, someone could also say 'Option three : White is not technically a colour, but it is included here.'
Now, I know this may seem condescending, but because this misunderstanding has spread some deal and caused some panic, I feel it is worth explaining simply.
TLDR : Unyoozd was not threatening his patrons, this was not a villain monologue. Unyoozd is accusing sites like kemono, SFS and dollhouse mafia of being 'traps' to trick people into downloading files which give remote access to their computers to nefarious individuals.
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Q : SO, is reuploaded CC a trap?
A : It depends. Mostly, no. Sometimes, yes.
However, Most Malware requires some action on your part to actually... 'work' and works via 'socially engineering you to install it yourself'
Most of the people who re-upload cc free-to-access are just doing it to share something that is paywalled, because they disagree with pay walling in general, or the pay-walling policies of a specific creator.
Sharing is caring, etc. (whether you agree with that or not)
If you are using the doll-house-mafia telegram channel (but are still somehow wary of it as a source), I would recommend only downloading things that have been re-uploaded to the 'booty' rather than a file uploaded in the main chat or WCIF channel, because these files can be uploaded by anyone, and the moderators may not check these files unless they sense something suspicious. However, things reuploaded to the booty channel are checked by the moderators prior to being reuploaded. Could they miss something? Sure, they could, but there's still a process in place and a lot of effort on the part of the moderators and the community to ensure that doesn't happen.
People are volunteering their time to maintain these resources, and they have a hell of a lot of patience to.
Like it or not, there is still a community effort in making and maintaining these spaces and resources.
I know for some who are wholly motivated by profit, the idea of someone doing something without financial gain is 'hard to understand'.
This is likely why Unyoozd thinks of re-uploads of cc in such a conspiratorial way (especially considering his other statement prior to the one we're discussing now).
Not everyone is entirely motivated by money.
I'm going to get real with you here.
We are talking about cosmetics and mods for a video game. A video game which community-wise is saturated with creators- and of those creators, there's a lot of people asking for money, so if you're trying to make money off of this stuff, you're moving in an extremely saturated market.
There are very few people who could make a living off of their cc, and there are very few people who would be able to buy all the cc that they like if everything was paywalled. The market is saturated. I don't mean the EA creator marketplace, I mean the 'cc' market.
Add this to the constant bullshit on the part of EA - you're not just competing with other creators, you are competing with the mega-corp that throws out expansion packs every quarter, and your independently produced paywalled assets are not going to be able to beat out the price of that same content when subsidised by EA , especially if what you make is essentially an edit of that content. No, EA's releases are not 'value for money' either, but any attempt to price your content to gain you a living wage is pretty pointless unless you're big enough to be competitive (scale allowing you to under-price yourself)- and most of the time, people who are 'big enough' are 'grandfathered in' from back when the market was not saturated (i.e people starting 2019 or earlier) coming so late into the game and expecting such success is not realistic - not now, at least.
Like yeah, it sucks- but it's also like- a video game, that most people play for fun.
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SO WHAT'S SAFE ? RULE OF THUMB :
Does this re-uploader want me to pay for access to 'free' cc?
Yes?
SCAM. Don't pay them SHIT. They probably source the cc through the free re-uploads anyway.
No?
Proceed with caution. As much as people might say there is no such thing as a free lunch, there also is. Through human kindness and the sacrifice of others, 'good' things can happen.
Also idk about kemono like on one hand it's fine on the other hand bro don't look around on that site because you will want to wipe your eyes with steel wool, and also please use as much ad-block as physically possible because yes, it is dodgy in the 'hot MILFS in your area want to date' way- still probably fine but also yeah don't go on there .
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But if you are still concerned by what Unyoozd said : Some very basic knowledge of file formats will go a very long way to prevent you from malicious files and programmes.
Nowadays, malware isn't exactly the same as it was fifteen years ago, so most of what you'll be looking for is some sort of trojan,* rather than a worm or a virus per se.
*does it matter? eh, no, but most of what I'm talking about is looking for a trojan which is usually what 'plants spyware on your PC' means - as far as my little Posies mind can comprehend.
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Internet Safety - Some very basic and limited explanations.
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note - this is very simplified and uses imprecise language as this is targeted towards people who do not know about this stuff.
Sims 4 mods and CC is usually by itself included in a .package file or a .ts4script file.
Package files usually contain custom content assets, though some unscripted mods are also contained in the .package file.
Here you can see all the types of files you might come across when downloading cc and other related stuff!
Files you may come across.
.INI
I'll also add : you will see .ini files occasionally when downloading re-shade or other visual 'mods' such as camera overrides these are a type of file that holds 'settings' for a programme to read, and are not executable - if you click on them, most likely, you'll just see the plain text. .ini files need to be read by your game or by reshade to work - they're just a set of instructions.
A .package file is not 'executable' (able to go into action/ make changes to your computer) by your computer.
You need another programme to open it or to read it.
By itself, it does nothing.
You need those programmes to 'open up' a .package file. You cannot decompress the file, and it cannot 'run' on your computer, even if you extract it, or directly run it by double clicking like an executable file.
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Archives : .zip, .rar .7z
(there are other formats, but these are most common)
Sometimes you will download multiple files in an archive. Many cc makers will share their cc in these compressed formats for a variety of reasons. An archive compresses (makes smaller) the size of a file, while it is compressed, and the files' size goes back to the original size when decompressed.
Compression is useful for quickly downloading and uploading multiple files.
Putting your files in archives also means that you can include a certain folder structure, arrange files into hierarchies, group them, or separate them according to your needs.
This is why you will see .zips and .rar files on download posts. Easier for us to upload, easier for you to download. Creators know that even if we put 'this file requires this other file' in a post, some people are only going to download one of the two files, so we'll sometimes make the decision to have those files compressed (and unable to be downloaded separately) so that you're definitely downloading what is necessary, rather than just 'clicking the first thing that comes up regardless of what the post says'.
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Does opening a .zip file explode my computer evil-style?
Compression Versus Execution
There is a distinct technical difference between downloading an archive and executing a program. When you download a ZIP file to your computer it sits on your hard drive as static data.
It does not actively run code or communicate with the internet. Even the act of “unzipping” or extracting the files is usually safe because it simply copies the contents from the container to a folder.
Malware typically requires a trigger to function. This trigger occurs when a user double-clicks an extracted file, such as an executable program or a script.
If the files remain unclicked they generally cannot infect the system.
[source]
Can .zip files automatically download files like malware or viruses and run them or is that not possible?
'That's not possible, you can extract one from an archive but the archive will not be one.'
'Following the normal rules of zip files, they shouldn't be able to download other files without your permission (accidental permission is permission too). If a zip file contains, for instance a bat or exe file, then it might download other odd things if you open those files.'
[source]
Essentially, if you are in doubt over the safety of a .zip or .rar(or other archive) just don't 'double-click' to open it- and don't 'double click' on anything inside the archive without first verifying the extension of the file, the function of that file - if you were downloading a programme such as the sims 4 studio, or ts4 morph maker, or other tools for creating cc, yes, there should be some sort of .exe or equivalent (dependent on your operating system) there. If you were downloading cc in of itself? Do not fucking click on it. Delete it.
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.Ts4script files, on the other hand, are also a type of archive, they work a lot like .zip files, but your game can 'look inside' them, unlike a .zip file, which your game doesn't read.
You can open them up and see what is inside with just your file system.
They usually have .pyc inside. This type of file, you can click on it and execute it directly, because it is already compiled.
As you can see, when I double click on the .pyc file 'open it' it runs- you can see that dark window pop-up, because my computer is trying to follow the instructions within- but because this is just a set of instructions for the sims 4 to follow, it does nothing to my computer.
When people say .ts4script files can contain viruses, it is technically correct, since the .ts4script could, as an archive, hold other things inside it, just like a .zip or .rar, but you would still need to - at the very least- have to have something trigger the file to execute it, or extract or open the file in some way.
If you are worried about the possibility of malicious files in .ts4scripts or other cc, download ModGuard :
Get more from TwistedMexi on Patreon
TwistedMexi has some tips here about making sure to download .ts4script files safely and from trusted sources.
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MISC
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Executable files
When people talk about viruses and spyware, stuff like that, most of that requires a file to be executable.
An executable program (or "executable") is a specific type of binary file designed to be run or executed by the operating system. It contains machine code (instructions that the CPU can understand) or bytecode (for interpreted languages like Java) that tells the computer what actions to perform.
[source is linked in text]
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SFS does not allow you to upload an .exe , btw. That doesn't mean that there cannot be executable files inside of other files such as .zips, but you're not going to click the download button on SFS and have something run 'automatically'. That's silly.
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Wait, what's a cc 'tracker' then?
Isn't cc tracking a virus?
Mostly, no.
I have not heard of these actually being a virus or sort of malware- that's a bit too complex for most of the people who are concerned with their cc being leaked or are actively attempting to track down those who leak their cc.
When we talk about creators tracking their cc, the method is like this.
Prior to limited release, The creator makes small changes to the cc package or item such as adding a watermark or some other unique identifier into the package (can be hidden in the diffuse, mesh, thumbnail, etc) , and notes down who they send this modified package to.
[nothing too fancy, just sticking something onto the diffuse]
Sometimes, this means that they're sending individual packages to individual subscribers, each with a specific identifier within it, sometimes this could also mean they're adding an identifier only to the package they send to people they already suspect, while those they have 'cleared' receive a clean version of the file.
The creator then, when a re-upload surfaces, downloads this re-upload, and opens up their package to find the unique identifier they left in their package in the first place - they cross-reference this with the list of people they sent the modified package to, and determine who leaked the package from that list, since the version that was leaked will match the version provided to that specific person.
You can download re-uploaded cc even if that cc has a tracker on it, because it's not actually doing anything different to your game or computer than the 'official' version of that file would be doing - trackers are only really a problem for when you want to share cc with others, but they suck majorly, anyways, since there is an element of deception necessary for the tracker to be effective - the creator has to lie to everyone, place trackers on everyone's cc (even innocent people who support them with no other ends) .
Even simple modifications like that, which aren't viruses or malware still show a degree of willingness to surveil that most people aren't comfortable with, and collectively punishes the same people who are supporting you.
It's not a good look, especially if you are someone who is perma-pay-walling content (against EA's policy)
Bonk Bonk.
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Patreon and what creators know about you :
A quick reminder - when you join someone's Patreon, even their free Patreon, they can see the info you provide to Patreon, such as your name (if provided) (don't call your Patreon your legal name please!!!) and email address.
Someone with ill intent could very well take that list of email addresses and use it for malicious means by giving it to data-brokers.
While this information by itself may not be that dangerous, it's also
I am personally a bit wary of free-walling (putting cc behind a free Patreon membership to access / having no file mirroring / back-ups) because I believe it's giving more information than strictly necessary to download cc.
That is my personal opinion, but I know creators also like to have that additional data, especially for Patreon, which is higher-visibility, but doesn't give you information like how many times your file has been downloaded, unlike services like SFS.
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Don't do that:
A while ago, I saw that people were subscribing to a paid Patreon from someone claiming to be maintaining a new DLC unlocker after Anadius quit. This is very stupid.
Look : rule-of-thumb (again if you missed it)- if someone is making you pay to access something 'for free' don't pay. That's a scam. Don't.
Please do not give your financial details to someone openly committing piracy. That is extremely fucking stupid, bro.
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Obligatory : Posies is not an expert and just trying to help everyone out with some basic information that helped Posies. I am a regular person who is a bit stupid.
^ like this, man. I am just chatting to you about stuff.
Read the stuff I linked if you want a more comprehensive (but still very basic) overview of this stuff.
I like to help when I can, even though it's not much, if it helps someone out, I'll be happy.
Meet Dr. Ardelean, a scientist specialized in chemiluminescence, studying the bioluminescent capabilities of marine and terrestrial creatures and its variations between members of the same species.
Been playing an interesting pet site, The Final Outpost, where you're a researcher/scientist that collects interesting looking creatures.
It has some genetics involved, the people there are very nice and warm, and the lore is so bloody good!
