Ever wondered why all the power plants you decorate your neighbourhoods with suddenly shut down whenever you enter a lot? Do the workers organise a mass strike during each loading screen? And who's the joker who keeps stealing all my farm fields???
With TS2VisibleHoodFX™, you can bust those pesky power plant unions and have your Sims marvel at the wonders of the industrial revolution from the comfort of their homes, as toxic pollutants pour into the atmosphere day and night! Mmm... Fossil fuels...
Complete global saturation.
Desiderata Valley - note the wild flowers, farm fields, train, and blinking water tower light.
Because neighbourhood effects were never designed to be seen in lot view, there are a few minor issues you should be aware of. I'll have to get into some technical details, so I'm leaving all the nerd stuff below the cut.
As always, you'll need either the Ultimate Collection or the disc version with all EPs and SPs to use this mod.
DOWNLOAD
README
Issues
Maxis gimped the lot skirt's functionality when compared to the neighbourhood terrain and lot terrain. The most obvious example of this is the lot skirt looking like absolute ass, while the neighbourhood terrain has detailed cliffs etc. - both the neighbourhood terrain and lot terrain support multiple paint layers and alpha maps, whereas the lot skirt is just one, boring texture.
Unfortunately, these limitations cause some semi-annoying problems when forcing hood effects to show up in lot view.
Certain effects have bugged positioning
When you download the mod, you'll notice that along with the usual plugin, there's a config file included too. This config file is important, as it allows you to blacklist neighbourhood effects to prevent them showing up in lot view.
Why might you want to blacklist effects? Well, several effects appear to require something called an 'effect map' to be positioned correctly in the world (don't ask, I don't know what an effect map is either).
The neighbourhood terrain and lot terrain both have an effect map, but importantly, the lot skirt does not. This means that the effects that rely on an effect map for their positioning (mainly those that are placed on water) will appear way up in the sky when you load in to a lot:
If you want to know why they get placed in the sky, it's related to a peculiar bug(?) I discovered while trying to figure out why decal effects (e.g. farm fields and wild flowers) weren't appearing in lot view, even though I could clearly see the game creating and processing them in the debugger.
Basically, things like decals and shadows need to be assigned to an overlay manager which... manages overlays. For whatever reason, when you load a lot from the neighbourhood, rather than assigning these to the lot terrain or lot skirt overlay managers like the game logically should, it instead assigns them to the neighbourhood terrain overlay manager. The same thing happens with the effect maps - the neighbourhood effect map is used, not the lot terrain one.
The neighbourhood terrain coordinates aren't actually 1:1 with the lot skirt. The game generates the lot skirt below the neighbourhood terrain during the loading screen, and translates the position of each object downwards. Couple this with the neighbourhood effect map being used, and you get boats sailing around in the sky.
It isn't until you travel to a community lot or switch to another playable household while in lot view that the game starts using the relevant lot effect map and overlay managers. For example, if you load the Goth household from the Pleasantview neighbourhood screen, then click on the Pleasant's house to switch to them, boats will suddenly start sailing around in their garden as the lot terrain effect map is now in use:
I have no idea whether this quirk has any noticeable effect on gameplay, outside of when trying to get neighbourhood effects to appear in lot view. I've already patched the decals so they correctly get assigned to the lot skirt overlay manager when loading from the neighbourhood, but I'd be interested to know if there are any instances of lot effects not appearing until switching lots due to the incorrect effect map usage!
The config file is preconfigured to blacklist any problematic vanilla effects, so you don't need to worry about adding these yourself - it's mainly there in case you run into any custom hood effects with bugged positioning that you'd want to prevent appearing in lot view.
Decals appear on top of roads
Decal effects will draw over roads in lot view, instead of drawing underneath them like in hood view, as they should do. I can't say for certain why this happens, but I'm pretty sure it's due to differences between the neighbourhood road materials and the lot skirt ones.
If we patch the code that creates the lot skirt roads to simply use the name of the neighbourhood roads instead, we can see that although the roads no longer match the surrounding terrain and have huge holes in them, the decals do correctly draw below them. Weird, right?
Either way, you should probably move any farm fields and wild flowers away from the roads to avoid this happening.
Decals that overlap the current lot's bounds get cut off
This is due to the lot skirt and lot terrain being two separate entities, each with their own overlay managers. Decals can only be assigned to one of these managers, so are unable to be drawn by both.
The lot skirt also does some maths to mask out the lot bounds, which prevents it from drawing its overlays over the lot terrain. You can patch out this mask and allow decals to overlap the lot, but it causes all of the decals and shadows on the lot to flicker like crazy, as both the lot skirt and lot terrain are fighting to draw their overlays on top of the other (aka z-fighting).
Treeag made a "No Unneeded UI Sounds" mod a long time ago, however I only wanted to remove the sounds of pausing & changing speed. I still like the action cancel noise, pie menu click, etc.
idk if there was an easier way to do this, but in order to figure out which instance #'s in the mod package were for which sound effects, I extracted & converted all base game sound effects from the Program Files with the same group # as the ones in Treeag's mod, then I listened to every single one and marked off what their instance #'s were. after that, I deleted all the ones from the mod package file that were not the pause/speed sound effects. which is why I thought to share this, because then nobody else would have to do the same thing lol.
my thought was to use this for recording gameplay videos, as the reason my last dozen-ish videos involved me never pressing the Speed 2/3 button a single time was solely to avoid annoying people with the sound effect lol.
I mean you can use Treeag's original mod with the same results, I just wanted to retain the ~experience~ of the other UI sound effects and not the annoying ones.
Bug fixes and more plugins! Theo's Color Binning tool, Theo's Alt Sim Surgery, and JFade's Collection Creator are all added and working. It is on my Github for all 3 platforms, Windows, Linux, and Mac. You can download all three from my Github. You can also download the Mac Mootilda's Clean Installer and Mac Delphy's Download Organizer. Still testing the Mac Mootilda's Hood Checker, but it coming very soon.
Join the world's most widely adopted, AI-powered developer platform where millions of developers, businesses, and the largest open source co
I know last time I posted about this I got some comments pushing back on my use of AI for this app. I understand the concerns that people have, so i'm trying to be more thoughtful going forward. I have never used AI like this in the past, it was simply because I got given "Free Access" with the purchase of my new computer and I thought I would utilize the fact it was free to finally create something that I wanted. That free era is almost over but I won't be using it again.
I also got way more comments / messages saying how much they enjoyed the app. Thank you for both kinds of messages, good or bad.
After talking and discussing with people on both sides of the fence I have come the decision to hire a HUMAN developer to look into the app, look at its code, check for any "nastiness" that some people were worried out, and genuinely review and audit / fix any coding errors.
Going forward I will acknowledge that yes, the initial set up for this app was built with the help of AI, but future updates / current changes and anything else will be done by a hired human developer.
This developer gave me a comprehensive review of the app and confirmed there was no nastiness or weird stuff going on with the code - which I knew anyway but it's nice to have that confirmed.
They had some recommendations for some changes, such as as only allowing the app to read .package files / its own files. When "uninstalling" it should make sure it is only removing files it created - it should be doing that anyway but they recommended some more checks in the back end.
So they have edited some of the code already. But I hired them again to address the tightening of the code regarding the file reading and other recommendations they have suggested. Which again, has now been implemented.
So that being said... here is the Sims CODEX - again!
Note - The Sims CODEX is currently unsigned, so Windows / Some antivirus programs may show a warning. This is because code signing requires paid identity verification which displays my personal details. The app is offline, reads local Sims 2 .package files, and has had its source reviewed for unsafe behavior.
TS2 tends to be praised for its detailed objects, however, TS2 vanity tables seem rather lackluster compared to TS4 vanity tables. Therefore, I decided to improve vanity tables a bit. :)
TS4 Make Up animations added to TS2 vanity tables
First part is a global mod that adds four TS4 adult animations and one TS4 child animation to vanity tables that your Sims will perform when changing their appearance with the use of a vanity table.
It comes in two versions - CHOOSE ONE:
Meduza_VanityTableMakeUp - standard version
Meduza_VanityTableMakeUp_PlantsimChangeHair - choose this version if you have Plantsims Can Change Hair Mod and make my mod load after Midge's
I also converted TS4 make up accessories - they are stored in one-OBJD mulitstate object (your objects limit likes that!): Meduza_TS4_MakeUp_ObjAcc, so you need to keep it. It's hidden from the buy catalog and its only purpose is appearing in Sims' hands while they are putting on make-up.
I also made changing appearance cancellable - if you cancel the action while your Sim is already sitting at a vanity table, they will perform TS4 animations, but you won't get the change appearance window. It might be useful for storytelling purposes. :)
There is one downside - the way changing other Sims' appearance at a vanity table works. The Sim who gives another Sim a makeover stands next to them and gives them lecture, so with this mod the Sim that is given a makeover does their make-up on their own while the other stands next to them and preaches. xD Maybe I'll try to alter this behaviour at some point, but converting animations has exhausted me.
As this mod also uses OFB powder cloud effect and powder puff, I recommend using this mod alongside @pforestsims' powder default.
Download at SFS | alt
2. More interactions with vanity tables
The second part is not a global mod, because every vanity tables has its own pie menu table. :(
I added new interactions to three in-game vanity tables (Uni, Seasons and Teen Style):
gussy up
practice speech - I used @jacky93sims' function from their Professional Make Up Vanity Table
use zits cream (teens only)
Zits cream animation looks a bit wonky at times, but it was the best I could get.
Since this is not a global mod, it won't affect custom vanity tables - new interactions have to be added separately if you want them on other vanity tables.
I added new interactions to four custom vanity tables (included with upload):
One tile University, Seasons and Teen Style vanity tables by tbudgett
Queen Elize vanity table by Kate at Parsimonious
I changed their filenames to make edited versions easily distinguishable from originals.
You need to keep Meduza_VanityTableMoreInteractions_Required in your downloads for extra interactions to work, unless you have Meduza_VanityTableTS4MakeUp - then you can delete Meduza_VanityTableMoreInteractions_Required.
Credits: @jacky93sims, tbudgett, Kate
Download at SFS | alt
Change Wand From Inventory
I also made a mod that lets your spellcasters switch between the wands they have in their inventory without the need to use Midge's wand stands or click on a wand in live mode.
The action can be found under Witch…/Choose Wand…/ or Wizard…/Choose Wand…/.
Once you select the action, your Sim will show you the wand they will be using. Sometimes the wand is placed oddly in their hand, but I decided to live with it and move on.
@midgethetree's Pick Your Wand IS REQUIRED for this mod to work.
However, I recommend using this mod with my edit of Midge's Pick Your Wand as it includes Gryning's TS4 wands and my wandless magic.
hello, anon! i actually am very indecisive when it comes to sticking to reshade presets because i love them all, so if i were to compile a list of all the reshades i've ever used, it would probably be longer than the tumblr post limit, xD. as it is though, i've compiled a list of my top 5 reshade presets just for you!
these are in no particular order, and they're very much based on my own personal preference, so do keep that in mind! <3
(previews also are from the original creators, they're not mine unless otherwise stated!!)
MY TOP 5 RESHADE PRESETS FOR TS2
1. dove 2.0 by @kindlespice
i love this preset SO MUCH, like many of the reshades i use it's originally meant for ts4 but looks really cool in ts2 as well! especially with clay hair.
i have made some of my own edits to it in my game to make it match my semi-realistic save more, but here is how it looks in my maxis-match save! <3
2. permasummer by myself!
self-promo but this was my first preset and i'm still quite proud of it! i only use it for certain builds now as my style has really evolved since i first started playing with it, but it still has a special place in my heart :3
3. longdistancewinner by @dreadpirate
i just love the dreamy look my game has when i use this reshade--so pretty! it also fits with almost every style you have, maxis match or alpha :)
4. gia by @kindlespice
another kindlespice preset that i really love! again, it's for ts4, but who cares when it looks so cute in ts2? build wip of the oldie-pleasant home for reference :D
5. tv dinner by @microscotch
there are actually 3 presets on that download post and i've used all 3 with varying results, but i love this one the most! it looks especially good at sunset.
hope this is enough to satisfy your hunger for reshades, anon! <3 <3 <3 if you guys would like any other cc/mods recommendations, feel free to ask :3
A conversion of a GP12 pack from Sims 4, including debug section, buy, build objects (modular stairs, flora, windows, doors, fences, gates etc) and hood deco in collaboration with @lordcrumps and @platinumaspiration and help from @lamare-sims.
Hi! I'm watching ur most recent neighborhood play of vigrid-sim's neighborhood and i love it! Where u offered to share the school you recreated i would love that if you still wanted to :) i subscribed to ur channel
Hi! Thank you very much! I am very pleased! Yes! I will release a video about this school when I finish reviewing all the families and upload it for download, if you want to receive it now, please write to me in messages!
💬 0 🔁 0 ❤️ 26 · Mirage Bay · The aesthetics of the phone photo
Once upon a time in 2021, I made a post about Mirage Bay and tiktok with these screenshots with this track Little Dark Age, but I didn't post it here. Yesterday I heard Little Dark Age in Latin and decided to repeat that video, I really like the aesthetics of VHS tapes
jimmyeatworldofficial
titsay
turnnoffyourmind
origamiaround
yousharknotpass
