needlecream

Hello there, I'm Teresa. This is my main tumblr account. If you want to see only sims posts, unfollow this tumblr and follow my sims 2 simblr: https://needlecreamsims.tumblr.com/

[julessims]

GOS is back for good!

Hello! I was the one who fixed it.

Well it wasn’t just me, to be fair. I would have never been able to without @fireflowersims help and HugeLunatics trust in both of us. Thank you to both of them for their work and thank you @teaaddictyt for reaching out and doing the more public communication.

I’m super happy I got the chance to work to fix it. It wasn’t an easy undertaking. It seemed like every little thing would cause more errors, I fixed one and another thing broke. But now it seems stable, finally.

A lot of technical stuff below the cut, beware.

Fixing such an old forum is not easy. Documentation is rather sparse because the framework it runs on is old. There is however a more modern version, but updating is difficult. Here was the issue for the forum - upgrading failed. 

A website (usually) consists of two different parts: 1 - The files. They contain the code, scripts, designs, images, attachment, profile pictures etc. 2 - The database. The database connects all the different parts and tells the website where to find something. Everything gets stored in tables, assigned IDs and given values. Everything written, each post and topic is also stored in the database. So without the database the whole page would be useless.

It was clear from the beginning that the database was the culprit for the failed upgrades. I got an earlier backup from HL and started working.

I set up a local environment with two versions of XAMPP. One running on php 7.4 (the last version having compatibility for the forum framework version and the upgrade script to the recent version) and the other on a modern 8.3, which was the same as the version the server @fireflowersims set up for GOS.

I ran the upgrade script (which consists of 4 separate parts) on the old backup and ran into errors right away. The script would just outright crash on me, most often without a log or message. The (local) server would just stop responding. My original plan had been to upgrade to version 2.0 first, then 2.1, since it was the recommended order. However the database backup had already been partly upgraded to 2.1. That was the reason my upgrade script failed. Reversing those changes could have been a possibility but extremely time intensive.

(This is the frontpage of the upgrader. I stared at it so much. Like you can see it has a ton of steps)

Instead I asked for the current database and HL provided it to me. This one was already further along on the upgrade and I could see the error HL had run into before handing over. I had to look at the upgrade scripts and source php files to diagnose what the framework was expecting - and failing - to find in the database.

That’s where I found the main culprit for *most* of the errors: Time tables. The framework saves every action that a user does in a log, a long table with the action, an id and a date. This was where everything had gotten wrong. The upgrader expected to see one column for the date, named *day*, while the current table had a different column for day, month and year. I tried fixing the table at first but that didn’t seem to work, so I completely deleted the table and created a new empty one myself. (By now I think the issue stems from forgetting to uninstall certain packages before upgrading, more on that later)

That was possible because the log actually doesn’t hold relevant information for the forum to work. It just records each step, probably for moderation purposes. Once I had done that step the upgrade script was finally able to proceed.

There were a few more errors where I had to look at what the script was doing, find the corresponding code in the sources and edit the database myself. Thankfully the code is relatively well commented and named, so I was able to find what I needed.

Finally I got the upgrade script to run to the end and I was actually able to open the forums (local) page. I hadn’t been able to for now so it was a first. But a lot of stuff was still missing, like all the topics. I could see that the posts were back, but not sorted correctly.

The fix was simple but annoying. The forum framework comes with a repair_setting.php file which I had run several times to fix all the paths, but apparently it didn’t fix *all* of them. So back to the database I went, ran some queries and fixed them myself.

Then the forum finally worked again!

(This is what the forum looked like when I first opened it. It ONLY had recent posts)

(The working local forum, no files yet with the default theme. Seems wrong to look at GOS without the dark theme, right?)

There were still a few things I needed to fix but the database seemed to work fine now. I had never done so many queries in my life. I know SQL, and had to fix databases before but not this intensely. So I guessed I learned something new haha.

Next was the exciting step to upload my clean install to the server. @fireflowersims and I had some directory issues, but I was able to fix them manually once again.

Then I had to take a look at the files which mostly consist of avatars and attachments. They didn’t work at all once moved to the clean install. Once again I took a look at the code and realized that the upgrade script would have changed those files as well, but because I ran it on a clean install it didn’t actually do this step.

I didn’t want to run the upgrade script again, worried that it would mess up a now working database. Instead I wrote a script myself that sorted through all the attachments, looked for the IDs of the avatars from the database so it could move and rename them.

Last were the attachments. This was an easier fix. They just had to be given the ending .dat. @fireflowersims ran a command through the console and then the attachments worked too!

We were getting closer!

Next was the theme. The old theme didn’t work on the modern framework anymore so @fireflowersims looked for a new one which I customized with CSS, trying to get it closer to the way the forum looked before. I think it turned out quite alright, hope you guys think so too!

(Trying to find out what CSS class addresses what? Make everything red and green!)

(All the spider webs)

Next was packages, or mods, to the framework. Fire and I encountered some hiccups here too, since there were some leftovers in the database. The packages hadn’t been properly deinstalled before running the upgrade script, which was another source of the errors. I tried fixing them manually but one of the packages would continue to just break the site no matter what I tried, so we settled for an alternative.

Some more work was put into SSL and making the forum secure. Once again some settings seemed to just break the page and each time I had to go back in the database and manually fix what had gone wrong. It was tedious but by now I knew my way around quite well.

@fireflowersims handled a lot of the server administrative work and DNS settings. I know very little about that part so having @fireflowersims there was great and they made sure the page is reachable at the correct address.

So yeah, I hope the site stays online for a long time now. It’s such a big part of our community and communities history. I used to download so much from there when I was younger. I wanted to give back to the community I love so much. That was the reason I spent many many hours digging through code and old forum threads.

[fireflowersims]

Jules, I cannot emphasize enough just how cool you are for having done all of this work to get GoS back online! I'm glad I was able to provide a good new space for GoS to live from now on and assist with all the DNS. It was a trip alright, and I'm glad we could work together on this!

You are a hero and I (and I bet so many others) am so grateful for your skill and dedication! ♥️

[teaaddictyt]

GOS is back 😊

[shadysentinel]

Rejoice.

[latmosims]

In case people want to access the new domain through the old (digitalperversion.net) links, I made a redirection. 👇

DOWNLOAD: SimFileShare | Dropbox

Steps to install (very easy):

Download the "Redirector" browser extension (Firefox / Chrome) ;

Download the JSON file above ;

Open the extension's settings > Edit Redirects ;

At the top of the settings page, you'll see a few buttons, one being "Import", click it and select the JSON file I provided.

Hope this will make the transition a bit easier :)

And big thanks to @fireflowersims, @julessims and @teaaddictyt for dusting that Resurrect-O-Nomitron!! 🫶

[victusinveritas]

[adhdemonic]

here's a link to Ember's website, where you can download a high quality version!

https://www.betterthanember.com/

[rainbowyumy]

Yeah. This is fine.

[twentyfourfirst-sims]

Garden of Shadows: a preservation effort

Like many of us, I grew up with Garden of Shadows. To me, it was more than just a forum. It was a place I could ask for help, learn new skills and, best of all, find amazing content in any style I could possibly want. I loved the board names, the people, the themes; everything, really.

And I admit I was more than a little heartbroken to find it gone.

After mulling it over, I decided that I wanted to preserve what I possibly could. I spent a few hours yesterday running through strategies and ideas about how to best go about it, and the best I could come up with was, well, exactly the same.

So, here it is: the Garden of Shadows mirror forum.

I've only just started, but I hope to add a little bit to it every day. The primary focus will be on preserving all the knowledge and custom content. I'm tackling it myself, but if you feel so inclined, you're more than welcome to join in.

--

PS. I am not here to offend, break Terms of Use, or to step on any toes. This is simply an effort to preserve content and knowledge for a game I have played and loved for over twenty years. Thank you ♥

[simnostalgia]

Garden Of Shadows - All Custom Content

I've successfully scraped all of the available Custom Content that was linked on GOS from Mediafire, Box, and SimFileShare. (Mirrors on 4shared not included)

Of course, I can't go back in time to retrieve things that are already long gone but here's a .zip of 49 GBs of content. This is everything from the beginning of GOS to September 2023.

Garden Of Shadows (CUSTOM CONTENT SCRAPE - SEPTEMBER 2023) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

This is the entire site's worth of custom content scraped. There are a few things that you need to know.- This is not checked to see if depe

[rockethorse]

So, in the Sims basegame objects.package, there's a semi-functional DnD-style roleplaying game table which, from its limited options when other people poked at and play-tested it, seemed like it was going to have one player act as the game master and then other Sims would change into LARP-y costumes so they could play different classes (it's theorised that this was the purpose of the hidden basegame warrior AF outfit with the super-cleavage, but that connection isn't proven).

Given the Sims 2 modding community is on steroids atm, has anyone ever actually looked at finishing it as lost-and-found TS2 content? I don't know enough to know how broken it is or even how it would ideally function, but it's a neat concept.

I would happily contribute texture-making or copy-writing (and even basic meshing/frankenmeshing) if other people were interested in the code. I'm about to head to bed so I can't go digging myself but it got me thinking that it would be a fun thing for potential hobby and skill building with a social element 🤔

[rockethorse]

THANK YOUUU to @3snappingrectangles for hooking me up! I KNEW I wasn't imagining things (just wasn't in the basegame files, it was in Castaway Stories):

It seems like it's almost fully-functional as-is? I tested it and here are the current problems I would LOVE to collaborate with someone to fix:

The BIGGEST problem that stops this from being usable is how limited the animations are - a Sim "rolls", then Sims react either positively or negatively. But it seems like since that rolling animation doesn't exist, it defaults to all the Sims belching clouds all over each other lmao. Not sure what animations would be best to replace 🤔 Maybe a generic swipe/clear? One of the poker table animations? I'm sure someone who knows this stuff could add more player reactions to rolls, too.

The table just pulls the basegame card table as its mesh (which means it's non-recolourable). Would love to make a custom object to replace this - in an ideal world it would be an object you had to place on a separate table (so players could mix-and-match), but I'd make a full table-sized object if necessary (with an invisible recolour, players could still use different tables). Would just need some help getting the table to point to this new mesh 👍

The object is a Logic skilling object (YIPPEEEEE) and that all seems to function, except there's no notification that a Sim has gained a skill point. If someone can add that, I can write the flavour text (for other things too, like the catalogue description, etc.) Would be cool if the notification was different depending on which role the Sim was playing?

Object currently only functions for adults and elders (the catalogue flag says it's a University object, which is the EP I presume it was made for before it got scrapped [makes sense - def associate DnD with college geeks haha] - so I assume it works for young adults too, but haven't checked). Would love to enable it for teens too?

Sims change outfits to play the game - this functions, but the outfits are all placeholders, as you can see in the picture above. Would love to offer two versions - one which redirect these to other in-game outfits (obviously that legendary unused AF warrior outfit would finally have a purpose) and another which directs them to bespoke CC outfits I'd be happy to make! Not sure how to handle the gender split though (or possibility of added teen functionality)

If anyone wants to poke at the files I uploaded them here. It functions (annoyingly 🤢) in the game if you change its catalogue flags in SimPE.

[insanelayne]

omg guys, stop using ai on your screenies. YOUR SIMS R COOL WITHOUT AI FR!!!

[lolabythebaysims]

the millennial urge to name a download set after a song lyric with the most tenuous relationship to the content

[goatskickin]

The Apocalypse C.O.W. update

If you are readers of it that is!

I updated the pictures for Chapter 28 Part 1 so they aren't so low-res. I was using a new picture saving method when I did that chapter but I've updated them to look nice now. That was really bothering me (for a long time!) because I worked hard on a lot of those shots.

I am, in fact, slowly, working on Chapter 31

Progress looks like this: an un-small handful of pictures from like a year ago, unedited screenshots from March and then November, 2 notepad documents with poorly spelled ideas, about 40 small pieces of paper with ideas for this chapter and future ones on them

I will make a new chapter in 2026 though. I love a challenge and I love a long-term project

[goatskickin]

I should be able to post chapter 31 in the next few days! Told ya I was working on it.

It's certainly very weird to try and tell an apocalypse challenge story as my own country descends into technofascism. 💀 makes some parts of it seem quaint in comparison and other parts all too prescient

going to also clean up the images in chapter 29 1+2 and chapter 30 because they look cruzty and low res i just need to reupload the better bigger versions

[brandinotbroke]

Spockthewok (aka Will Nixon) wrote a master's thesis on pink flashing, figured out the cause and potentially found the first genuine fix.

The fix itself (along with the thesis for those interested) can be found here:

A patch to fix the 'pink soup' bug in The Sims 2. Contribute to spockthewok/TS2MemCapRemover development by creating an account on GitHub.

[pforestsims]

Author of the mod discovered that memory-usage-related pink soup is a result of an intentional safety check in the game's code, rather than a mistake in calculating texture memory.

So his experimental mod for TS2 RPC launcher basically tells the game to stop freaking out and turning stuff pink when shaders' memory usage goes over certain threshold. NOTE: it may get rid of the pink, but the game will still crash if you exceed 4GB limit.

There are two mod options to choose from:

Version 1 is more radical, it completely removes the safety check. You'll (probably) find out the shader's memory limit has been exceeded when your game crashes.

Version 2 is supposed to allow some pink soup at around 3.5 GB memory usage, near the danger zone, so you have time to act - so obviously, this one sounds more sensible.

And while I remain convinced that pink soup can occur because of other shader-related issues or f*cked-up memory settings, not just this "failsafe", if your game suffers from pink soup it's definitely worth a try!

[needlecream]

I actually have been kind of getting the urge to make CC again. I'd have to re-install the game, but I would just be doing the basics to test and take previews.

However, I feel like if I tried to share the CC, I'm so out of the loop that I'd do it wrong somehow. I don't know what the etiquette is anymore. I don't want to be rude.

[purpleguitar]

all hands on deck!

the new content filters and the flagging system require every reblogger to appeal independently from the poster.

What is happening?

With the latest tumblr content filter updates, every reblog is flagged independently from the original post without the OP knowing. This means that if your post is reblogged by someone and that reblog is flagged, you won't know. The note count will go up, but the note is hidden: you can't see it on the rebloggers blog or any other reblogs branching from the flagged post.

What should I do?

Every reblogger needs to appeal for their own reblogs. Thankfully the review time on Tumblr's side has been fast, usually in a couple of hours they restore the post. If you can notify the OP, grand. If you have time, leave a support ticket, choose feedback and tell them why you think this is a bad model.

Why and how should I do it?

We all know the latest and contested change about the note counts that was thankfully rolled back, but its ramifications are still in use. Tumblr now considers every reblog a post in its own right, as you can see from the new banners for the same post as above:

The turn this website has taken regarding the ownership of posts is at best discouraging and at worst a massive disrespect done to all the artists, creators, gifmakers, fic writers and meta writers out there, making fandom fun and alive. If artists, writers and gifmakers don't get autonomy over their own art being shared on this website, how is a reblog different from a repost, something tumblr actively discourages from doing? How can the OP appeal for a post if they don't even know it's flagged? Why are we taking away ownership of the art from the artist, the human behind it?

How do I appeal?

Tumblr has this very useful feature, both on the website and on the mobile app:

You can find all the flagged posts on your blog either by going to the relevant blog>right hand menu, below Posts, Followers, Activity>Review flagged posts on the website OR by going to Settings>Review flagged posts on the mobile

Then you click on Appeal, and write a very short reason why, describing the post. You can even write this:

This post has nothing that is against the User Guidelines.

Let's keep fandom culture alive, folks.

[shigure]

i'm sorry i never did your tag game. i love you

[heybaetae]

and if i said that tumblr thought they could get away with that update bc they know the majority of this website ignores the reblog option entirely compared to years ago, so they figured they could just BREAK the very foundation of how this website was built to operate and people would just shrug and be fine with that. please let this be a wake up call. our strong reaction to that change should start to reflect significantly in that ACTUAL reblog count under those notes we just fought for to stay untouched. fandoms and communities cannot thrive on likes alone. as much as tumblr has tried to turn this place in tiktok and twitter, it's not. posts need to circulate. art needs to be seen and shared. tumblr is not tumblr if this is not happening consistently because reblogs are the heartbeat of this website. please don't ever take it for granted. never give tumblr a reason to take away the thing that links us together and amplifies creativity. make reblogging a priority, PLEASE.

[bardic-tales]

Be careful of the double-speak in the Update Post.

Staff has officially posted an update regarding the reblog decoupling, and while they are reversing the change for now, we need to look closely at the language they are using. This is a classic example of corporate "double speak" designed to de-escalate a PR crisis while keeping the door open for the same harmful features later.

The Post: Reblog Update: We’re Reversing the Change

The Red Flag:

"We still believe there's a better version of how reblogs can work. One that gives every voice in a chain the credit it deserves. But we want to get there with you."

The Breakdown: When they say they want to give every voice the credit it deserves, they are still justifying the decoupling of notes. They are framing the destruction of the original creator's attribution as a feature for the rebloggers or the loss of community. Their goal hasn't changed. They just realized their current execution was a technical and social disaster.

They also mention working "directly with some of you." This often means selecting a small, curated group of "power users" who may not prioritize the accessibility or safety needs that we have been fighting for.

Viral Hell & The Power of the Call to Arms

To my friends and followers: my condolences for going viral are accepted. I love you. Let’s look at the numbers. My original post on this has cleared 24,000 notes. This is exactly why a Call to Arms was necessary. When we first saw the decoupling, we saw the immediate theft of credit.

In my case, over 10,000 notes were stolen or hidden by the uncoupling before I even realized the extent of the damage. This isn't just a UI preference. It is the systematic erasing of a creator’s reach and legacy.

Why we cannot stop now:

Staff’s reversal is a tactical retreat, not a surrender. Their language proves they still intend to push for a version of decoupling in the future. We forced their hand because:

The volume of feedback was undeniable. 24k notes on a single advocacy post is a massive indicator of user dissatisfaction.

Emails and Support Tickets work. They specifically cited emails as a reason for the reversal.

Public pressure creates friction. By making this a PR nightmare on Bluesky and X, we made the cost of the update too high for them to maintain.

The Mission Moving Forward:

We have won the first battle, but the Double Speak in their post tells us the war isn't over. They are going to try to rebrand a change like this in a few weeks or months.

Keep the pressure on: Continue to reblog your concerns when they surface.

Stay Vocal: They are betting on us getting tired and going back to business as usual. We need to show them that our safety and our creative credit are non-negotiable. Continue to voice concerns when they surface.

We’ve seen that we can move the needle. Let's make sure they don't try to move it back when they think we aren't looking.

[ayeforscotland]

All due respect to Tumblr staff for listening and rolling back a feature that was obviously not what people wanted. Like, doing that is actually commendable.