I use she/her or fae/faer and I'm in my late 20s.
This blog is dedicated to The Sims 2. I'm WCIF friendly and I make CC sometimes! I play on Linux.
NOW ON INDEFINITE HIATUS - Our home was struck by lighting. My gaming pc is gone, as well as so many of our essential appliances. I don't know if I can ever come back, and I miss you all deeply.
Mobile navi:
download categories: mobile users / pc users :: all downloads :: past wcifs :: past asks :: pillowfort
tags you might wish to block:
xwp talks :: xwp nonsims :: nonsims :: personal :: delete later
TOU:
Do whatever you want, just no paysites or paywalls! ad.fly included.
Reuploading is fine, content preservation matters!
Uni's been keeping me super busy for the past months, and now I have a 9-6 (unpaid) internship at a local company! My job includes 3D modeling and optimization, can you believe it? lol
Regarding simming... My gaming pc has been struck by A LIGHTNING through the ETHERNET CABLE??? I didn't even know it was possible. So now the motherboard is fried and lights up like a christmas tree. No more simming for a little, until I replace some parts.
Speaking of.... I had been stubbornly ignoring Paralives. Because I hate change (I'm not proud lol). But I did myself a favor and purchased it for my Steam Deck.... Omg. It is INCREDIBLE even on a handheld console whaaat!!!! I'm losing my mind about it, it's the best game I've tried in a VERY long time!!!! I only purchased it last Friday and I'm already enamored! It will be consuming my life for sure haha!
I am also keeping up with the GoS news. I have strong feelings though I am trying to keep them to myself. It's shocking and disheartening, but I'm glad it's back. I will try to be active on there once I restore my pc!
Aka: the clarity and communication that you deserve
Hi everyone. As some may have caught already, GoS is not dead (anymore)! During the period that it was, however, so much drama started and if you ask me; it all comes down to people not knowing what's going on and making assumptions that further sparked panic. So, let's clear some stuff up for those who got caught in the rumor mill.
Oh and if you haven't, it's worth reading @julessims excellent writeup on how she got GoS working again.
This is gonna be focused a bit more on communications stuff. Like, a bit more general I guess?
Q: what did you do?
A: I helped get GoS back online. @julessims did the actual hard work of upgrading the forum. @teaaddictyt played a role by facilitating communication and doing some PR (even if that wasn't received well by many a simmer) and ofc hugelunatic provided files, databases and the occasional bit of relevant information. I approached lunie and provided help with hosting, DNS and ensuring the files were safe and handling some communication. It was teamwork (and jules did most of it if you ask me).
Q: why didn't lunie communicate that it would be rehosted?
A: I'm not sure what lunie's exact motivation behind cancelling the hosting was and if I knew it wouldn't be mine to share, but I do know that @julessims and I upgrading and rehosting wasn't planned. It was a spontaneous action on our ends and so lunie couldn't have told you beforehand. I'm really glad that lunie decided to trust us with this and hope GoS will have many more years!
Q: why didn't you communicate any of this?
A: I thought my time would be better spent actually doing the work instead of playing communications department, fielding questions and countering people's wild speculations. I did think about making a post clarifying matters when it became clear people were making some pretty wildly incorrect statements, but I had other things to do. Better to focus on what matters than to get caught up in more miscommunications.
Q: GoS looks different now. Why?
A: the new look of GoS is a direct consequence of the upgrade. The old theme was not made to fit the new software and the conversion process does not convert themes. Seeing GoS in the default (white) theme felt so wrong, so we picked a good-looking dark theme and @julessims modified it to look more like classic GoS, with great success, I think. Still, it is and never will be truly identical. I don't think it's a bad thing.
Q: is the site in archive mode or can I comment?
The site is not in archive mode. It is a live forum. Posting works, registration works, if anything doesn't work, you should find a mod to message so either they or @julessims or I can try to troubleshoot and fix the issue.
In fact, you should comment! Forums are best when people leave comments and engage. Go express how much you like a piece of CC, contribute to the current theme (fittingly about renovating old things) or talk about something!
Q: why did it have to be upgraded? Couldn't it have just stayed now it was?
A: no. It really couldn't. GoS was running SMF 1.1.21 on PHP no higher than 5.3. The newest version is 8.5. PHP 5.3 had been obsolete since 2014. It would've been difficult to find a host that would be willing and able to host GoS and even if that could be found, it'd still leave it vulnerable to bugs and vulnerabilities resolved in newer versions of SMF and PHP. Credit to lunie's host for having continues to support it for this long, many wouldn't. Now that the forum has been upgraded and is running nicely on 8.3, it should be all good to go for many years to come.
Q: just a forum upgrade? So why did it go down?
A: make no mistake: going from something running on PHP 5.x to 8.x is no small leap and had to be done in steps. There were a lot of issues converting the database to the new format which resulted in all sorts of errors that needed manual database conversions. Upgrading a forum, particularly an old one with more than 600.000 posts is in fact not a piece of cake. There were also traces of a prior attempts to upgrade that complicated matters even more. @julessims made an excellent write-up of the technical bits if you're interested.
Q: who is running GoS now?
A: lunie is still forum admin and it will be up to her to decide what to do about the day to day running of the forum. Whether she'll be running it herself, with the help of others or elect someone else will be her choice in the end. As for hosting: that would be me.
Q: so does that mean we can stop archiving?
You could, but I would honestly suggest at least backing up your own favourite CC, regardless of where it's shared or hosted. Also, you can consider looking up an "auto archiving" extension for your browser that will automatically save pages to the wayback machine. The web archive has a page with resources
Q: *insult angry comment about hugelunatic*
A: you are 100% entitled to your anger and frustration. GoS is an important part of the Sims community and losing it, even for a little bit was a huge blow. It's understandable to be angry. Angry comments, however, were never gonna resolve the issue. Angry comments would not get GoS back nor would comments defending hugelunatic for that matter. What did help was working with hugelunatic. No files+database = no forum. Squabbling was not gonna get either back. Saying that, it's important to acknowledge that I was in a good position to do what needed to be done in regards to skills and connections which is not a privilege most people have. I get why people were angry and given that most were not privy to what was going on behind the scenes, it's no wonder everyone got as upset as they did. I also wouldn't have reacted well if I wasn't in direct communication with lunie and working on getting the site back.
Q: what's the plan now?
A: well, sims2artists still needs an update. I hope we can do that sometime soon. I'll also be keeping an eye out for any errors and aim to implement some extra security headers for the site. We also still need to fix some matters in regards to the domain and DNS. I also hope to have some more contact with the GoS mods so we can discuss hosting and what my responsibility and theirs is. Like, write down who is responsible for what and who can be contacted by my host should I pass away unexpectedly, for example. These things happen, so it's good to have backup plans and emergency contacts.
Q: did you have any freakouts tho?
A: certainly. First, when GoS and S2A went down. I was afraid the files and the S2A DB could be gone for good. I was also afraid that lunie wouldn't be willing to work with us and truthfully I also had the fear that if she got more agitated, we could risk losing the files and database. Fortunately this didn't happen, in fact: lunie gave us the resources and helped us out where necessary so we could get GoS back online. I'm very thankful for that.
I also got dragged by my emotions a bit when an unhelpful reddit post suggested that Delphy of MTS infamy might have something to do with hosting and when lunie mentioned something about an offer of hosting as is, no upgrade required. I may have freaked out and freaked out some other folks in the process (my apologies for that. You know who you are). There were many freakouts and I think it was good I didn't make any tumblr posts about this before we got GoS back. I stand by my decision it wouldn't have helped. Freaking out in private was bad enough.
Q: can you tell us what you actually did technically?
A: certainly! First, I set up hosting and new empty databases for GoS (and eventually: sims2artists). I made sure all the required aliases were in place so that when the DNS records for gardenofshadows.org.uk were switched over, it'd find the correct place on the webserver to go to. I also provided a subdomain on a domain of mine to test the forum live before it'd be moved back to the correct domain.
I also got access to the FTP for the original GoS hosting and was able to grab all the files and reupload what was necessary to the new server. While jules was in PHP hell I also cleaned up some stuff on Sims2artists. It's not gonna be anything you notice, but it's something.
I also did a number of things on the webserver, including changing directories. At some point I accidentally moved the forum to example.tld/gardenofshadows/gardenofshadows/gardenofshadows/index.php if you'd believe it. Finally I helped set the DNS records for the move. An SPF record went missing, but was quickly fixed. I also added some HTTP Headers to be served when visiting GoS and a lil something to hopefully keep AI bots from scraping and spamming HTTP requests. If you notice link previews not working: sorry, that'd be the X-Frame header.
Tldr: webserver and domain and DNS stuff; hosting infrastructure
Q: what about hosting costs?
A: right now they're so low we could call them non-existent. Should that change, I don't expect it to be above €100,- per calendar year. Probably closer to €50,-. Aka: it's not an issue. No need for ads. Should fundraising ever be needed, I will discuss it with the mods first.
Now go leave some comments on GoS!
Anyways, if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask. There's a lot more to say about this. But hopefully this does clarify some matters.
"Wow finally I have some time to play the game and return to tumblr for a bit"
*electronic engineer boyfriend almost accidentally explodes my pc because my hardware is weird + game won't launch anymore even after hardware is fixed*
Lutris couldn't find the configuration files for some reason and it wouldn't let me save new settings. So I decided I'd just... manually re-add the game into Lutris. I don't know why I hadn't thought about it! But it worked so I can finally play again!
"Wow finally I have some time to play the game and return to tumblr for a bit"
*electronic engineer boyfriend almost accidentally explodes my pc because my hardware is weird + game won't launch anymore even after hardware is fixed*
The next episode of my quarterly mods series is here! I’ve compiled every single mod I found for The Sims 2 released in July-September 2025 and showcased them all in a video and written a list on my website! There's been a record-breaking amount this time!🎉
Watch the Video:
Read the Website Post:
All of the new mods I found for The Sims 2 released in the third quarter (July, August, and September) of 2025!
Thank you to all the creators that shared their mods this past quarter and made this video possible💚 @teaaddictyt, @siknoy336, @heathensimmer, @lamare-sims, @evenfall-sims, @asimtypical, @thatonebritishsimmer, @pforestsims, @sims-for-semi, @tvickiesims, @episims, @sgthebee, @jacky93sims, @creesims, @wolftestsims, @mrplumbob95, @simmymom, @gummilutt, @freezerbunny-sims2, @enkisstories, @pastel-skulls-sims, @1nsnlgo1nsn, @atomtanned, @fracturedmoonlight, @morepopcorn, @12raben, @letomills, @nosferatusim, @xwhitepolar, @handonthemouse, @nopke, @sunmoon-starfactory, @meowingcookie, @shockmeamazed, and many more exclusively on Mod The Sims!
Omg mom I'm famous 🥹🥹🥹❤️ thank you so much for featuring my mod, I am so proud of that one! This is a dream come true for me, I really appreciate it!!!!!
okay i uh. opened my game with an old savedsims folder. do you know what i found out? i was making custom content in 2007. just simple maxis recolors but they are adorable and something players today seem to seek for nostalgia. and i was 8 years old then and i've always had a memory of making one of those things but i had no idea i made more. makes me emotional :')
also i only had 2 hairs in my downloads folder and one was a hair from vxen that i still have in every single iteration of my game to this day even if i dont use it. and the other one was literally from lidiqnata who i posted about YESTERDAY claiming they're one of my fav creators. which is true but i didnt think it was THAT true. also i have a neighborhoods folder with 21 neighborhoods
I've been using a personal default for the Mannequin TXMT so it uses S2 skintone instead of the greyscale one. Turns out, you can change which skin you want to use on the mannequin from this Bodyshop menu. I feel stupid now. 😂
Anyway, sharing in case anyone is as clueless as me. 🫂
afhairhatsleepingmask (blue, grey and purple) replaced with Simpliciaty Romane, 20k polys (yeah, I know...). Child-elder, not towniefied. There's a package replacing all of them as well as separate packages in case you want to mix and match.
Download sleepingmask: SFS
afhairshortheadband (brown, green, pink, purple and teal) replaced with Nightcrawler Icon with bandanas by @simgigglegirl, 10.9 k polys (lower poly by @xwhitepolar). All ages, not towniefied. Also available as a bundled package or separate files.
Download shortheadband: SFS
ufhairflypigtails replaced with Jujujam Polar Bear, 12.3k polys. Original ages only, so child-elder.
A mesh replacement, it changes the shape of the puffer jacket and of the boots. (EAxis, those are snow boots, where is the cold protection if you barely gave us soles??)
A texture replacement,
Or the custom version of recolors, as outerwear.
It's all optional - so you can, for example, keep the mesh replacement and the custom recolors, you can have the full default replacement, etc. [Turnaround for the textures]
Download: SFS | MF
Textures are EAxis, plus some photoskinning from real puffer jackets to get those shines right.
Formal floral dress for plantsims (or anyone, really)
this is a recolor of this dress here. The textures are entirely the original ones, I just recolored it. Categorized as formal, 9k poly. Special thanks to @adrift-in-andromeda!
I lent my old phone to my dad because his broke and what did he do?.... he (accidentally) called my ex situationship AAAAAA
at least there was my dad's phone number in it so I don't think the guy picked up but
L O R D
Some old hairs, some new hairs, some CF stages added where I could (and I will revisit and add all of them when I have built up reserves to fight SimPe again lol) I am using @theboldandthebeautifulsims's Caden for preview pics. She's so gorge 🥺 but on to downloads!
This is has been done a few times but not in pooklet textures so here we are! I'm also planning to do the dual toned version later | TF - EF // 14.5k poly
DreadlocksShort replaced with @esotheria-sims Stealthic Solace AABG dreadlocked (originally converted by @eir-sims-uploads)
Not in the least bit short but 😂 I just think these dreads are so gorgeous so they won out lol | CF - EF // 19k poly
DreadBands (Dark) replaced with @esotheria-sims Platinum Aspiration 4t2 Ebonix Shauna box braids (orignally converted by @platinumaspiration)
There wasn't a version of this mesh with pooklet naturals but Esothoria very kindly retextured it for me and graciously let me share it as as this default so thank you!! My previews are (more) awkward (thank usual lol) so I really suggest giving this a download so you can see just gorgeous this retexture is also fun fact: I have my hair like this currently lol | TF - EF // 23k poly
DreadBands (Blue) replaced with @amidalasims 4t2 Nightcrawler Formation
Update of my default here. Family strings fixed so teenagers keep their hairstyles once they age up and I've added the child stage to this download as well, as opposed to having it separately for the weird dragon hairs (could actually make this one work hazzah...) | CF - EF // 15k poly
DreadBands (Maroon) replaced with @memento-sims 4t2 Nightcrawler Amunet
Update of my default here. Again, family strings fixed and child stage added | CF - EF // 17k poly
DreadBands (Myrtle) replaced with @withlovefromsimtown Nightcrawler Sparks (originally converted by @marja87)
Update of my default here. My original default was using remi textures (which I only just realised as I was typing this and looking to get the poly count lol), which i have swapped for pooklet ones of course and I just thought this version the braid pattern looked a little defined which matches my kind of semi-realistic vibe more. Same as above, family strings fixed, and child stage added | CF - EF // 12k poly
DreadBands (Tan) replaced with @amidalasims 4t2 Nightcrawler Shuri (originally converted by @eir-sims-uploads)
So I accidentally made Shauna default over my original for this and was too lazy to start again so Shuri in a new slot lol. | TF - EF // 27k (i think?) poly
GetFabulous replaced with @esotheria-sims Newsea Sweet Villain in Twists (originally converted by Martini)
Very fabulous hair here 😉 lol | TF - EF // 10k poly
So I know that I'm like... always yapping about my wips and then never sharing anything but I wanted to share how nice this thing came out!
I always despised this outfit the came with Seasons but it's shocking what a change of textures can do. Now it actually looks like a puffer jacket, it's shiny, the fur looks nicer, and the pants are no longer a flat textureless tube. I'm obsessed!!
Could anyone point me to a tutorial to bin custom clothing as if it was of a specific EAxis EP, in SimPE? e.g., I made recolors of an EA outfit, how do I make it show next to the original one in the catalog?
I'm trying to find a tutorial on google but my skills seem to be poor, I can't find it :(
if you love playing Sims 2 and want to learn how to make CC, watch out! You'll end up loving that more and spend most of your time making stuff instead of playing
