New Patch Guys!!

Hey guys there's a new patch out!! It seems The Sims team has finally started Upgrading the gallery. YAY!!! Also there are several bug fixes as well. Finally our sims will be cooking and washing dishes where they are supposed to, and not in the thrid floor bathroom.


Patch notes by SimGuruGrant

UPDATE: 07/31/2018 - PC 1.45.62.1020/ Mac 1.45.62.1220

Hello Summers!
Hopefully the weather isn’t too hot in your neck of the woods, because then you’d be...Simmers. *cough*
In addition to several fixes and tweaks to improve your game experience, we’ve overhauled the Gallery! This is something we’ve been working on for a while and is the first step to keep enhancing the Gallery to make it an incredible platform for this community to share its creations.
Read below to find out what we changed with the Gallery as well as various improvements throughout the game.
Gallery Update
Our goal with the Gallery is to shift the focus towards the creators making incredible content and make it easier to download the content.

• We’ve re-arranged the content images so that you can now Follow the creator, Favorite the content, and download the content on the front page.

• We’ve moved the Search bar and popular hashtags front and center.

• Popular Now is the default filter, which means you should see more fresh, different content.

• We’ve renamed and re-arranged the tabs. You now have Gallery, for content, News to find out who is uploading and sharing content, your Profile (with your name), and your Library, to see your downloaded content.

• We’ve updated the art and visuals throughout the Gallery.

• You can now download and place Lots and Rooms from the Gallery even if you begin in Live mode. Hurray! At last!

Just a reminder in case you haven’t used the Gallery before: The Gallery will not download custom content or mods to your machine. There is a filter to see items created with custom content, but it will not install the custom content for you. So, you can rest assured that items downloaded from the gallery will not break your game.
The Sims 4

• You can now move Easels into your inventory and Live Drag them, which means you can paint out and about in the world! Be sure to pick up your easel before you leave!

• Removed unnecessary “seams” that appeared when wearing some full body toddler outfits.

• Sims should now use the closest counter to prepare Garden Salads of any portion size.

• Sims should now use the closest sink to wash dishes.

• Sims should now only use a single Kitchen space to prepare a meal, even on Lots with multiple kitchens.

Get to Work

• The “Ask About Suspect” interaction is now available during an APB event in the detective career.

Get Together

• You can now select Hot and Cold Weather attire via the Closet.

• Sims who belong to an Infamous Club no longer get the Intimidated by Fame moodlet at a gathering.

Seasons

• The temperature in the Kiddie Pool is now consistent with other pools. Sims will get the “Uncomfortable Chilled” moodlet, but won’t immediately begin freezing to death.

• Vampires are now protected from the Sun when using an umbrella, though it probably gives things away, wouldn’t you say, Vlad?

• Decorations no longer clip through the rooftops when viewing a Lot in Free Camera mode.

• Electronic objects will now function properly during the rain, assuming they are indoors and beneath a roof.

• Sims will no longer freeze to death while playing basketball in cold weather. One could say that as a result of their skillful play, they’re on fire.

• Father Winter has been banned from all Clubs and will no longer appear when adding Sims to a club. Seems Father Winter has been naughty.

• Pets will no longer stretch bizarrely while Sims are opening presents.

• The Sing Together… interaction is now available on the Kinara, Menorah, and Holiday Trees when a Holiday Tradition is active.

• The Flower Bunny no longer appears on random holidays and events, which is good, because Flower Bunnying is a full time job and they were really slacking.

• Sims with the Responsible Trait now have their Daily Tasks automatically completed for the Gardening Career. R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-L-E doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. Sorry, Aretha.

• Sims who die while skating now die like you’d expect them to die. There was some weirdness, but now there isn’t. Just good ‘ol standard death.

• Sims were sometimes slipping indoors while walking TO a mud pile, which is silly. They now slip and fall like you’d expect.

• Sims disturb their bees less frequently. We told them to buzz off.

• Plants pollinated by bees will now evolve more quickly, which is how they bee better.

• Facial hair now appears while the Hot and Cold Weather filters are active.

• Banana, palm, and fern trees no longer drop leaves.

• While using the randomize function with a mannequin you can now see Hot and Cold Weather options appear.

• We fixed various typos in the Scouting Career. Apparently our Scouts didn’t earn the spelling merit badge…

• Handiness Whims are now completed when Handy Sims work on the Sprinklers and Weather Controller.

Jungle Adventure

• Vegetarian safe options purchased from local vendors are now actually vegetarian safe.

• Purchasing items from a vendor now contributes to the Jungle Explorer Aspiration progress.

Perfect Patio Stuff

• Broken Sparks visual effects now go away once you repair a Hot Tub.

Backyard Stuff

• Birds will once again appear when a bird feeder is placed.

Vintage Glamour Stuff

• The vanity table should now apply makeup appropriately once more.

Laundry Stuff

• Clothing should no longer disappear after hung on the Model T Clothesline.

I'll try to get back later with screenies. Need to watch the stream though and  get the kids to bed. So it might take a while

ETA: A little note from SimGuruNick on Twitter

A Different Sim

Trying to fiddle with my files and get a CC free save. Mostly for challenges, gallery builds or showing off new content. I need a sim to start the file.. Gemmy (my sim self that looks nothing like me) is the most appropriate one. She is representing me everywhere, hiding the face I'm too shy to show off. She deserves that.

Searching my library ..There she is with Mike and the kids..all black, bold and naked (Mods folder is sitting comfortably on my desktop) ..Oh well it can't be that bad making them over a bit ....

Yeah, about that... No just no... LOL It's scary. Well ok not that scary, but I'll need to get used to them. Especially Gemmy... I already miss her dark purple hair. Why don't we have a dark purple swatch for hair? I needz it!!!

She is pink now. I thought it was light lilac , but nope. It's pink..Cotton Candy pink. Don't get me wrong I love that pastel shade of pink. In fact she is actually wearing pink. But not on her hair. She is all I want to be, she is the "inside" me . I can't do purple hair irl. Not unless I keep visiting the hairdresser once every 10 days. I can't do that , my fragile hair will abandon me. She is the one who has to sport it... She doesn't look like me at all , she is 4 times smaller than me, and not worn out by life. She is also a YA , when I'm already past my mid thirties..

Oh well I'll get used to it.

The family also needs a home. Just placed them in an empty lot in Willow Creek, it's early spring and it's raining. I'll need to get working on that , but not tonight. It's already 3am. The real Gemmy will need to go to bed at some point, and building a house usually takes me quite a while.

You know what? I might even record that and upload it as my first speed build. Hoping my headphones and mic will arrive soon so I can do a voiceover, as I'm pretty sure that if I use random music on it I'll end up using copyrighted stuff. I'm a total newb LOL . I'll get there ... hopefully

For now good night , sleep tight and have fun . Carpe Diem - Seize the Day
Happy Simming

5 Years Later...

And I'm back... So many things happened, I really have no idea where to start.

I have two kids now

Older one turned 4 last March, and younger one enters the Terrible Twos on September, even though he is already throwing tantrums all over the place for a few months now.

Both kids seem to be late talkers.
Older one finally started talking once he hit three, but we are doing speech therapy any way , just to help him clear up. He has done awesome progress so far. He even seems to like English too, as he easily learned a few words and even can count to 10 in English.  He is starting pre-school this September.
Little one has yet to blurt out a word, besides "Dada" He does communicate by pointing pretty well though. We've appointed a speech evaluation right after his second birthday.
All in all , they are good kids, quite active and happy. Always finding way to keep me running. I admit I'm a helicopter mom, mostly because of my anxiety. Def need to work on that and chill out a bit.

My hands have been full. And still are. Two kids, a house to take care of, hubby coming home from work late, away from my friends and family and with no help at all.. Struggling to keep up with everything and me time squished somewhere between midnight and 4am, where I force myself to go to bed. Still, finding it hard to relax and sleep, and usually managing to do so around 6 am.

And the money issues... Paycheck by paycheck would have been nice. We're struggling. Hubby got a serious pay cut 3 years ago. They literally halved his salary. It was supposed to be a temp thing. And it was, in a way. He did get a raise at some point , but still not as much as he used to get payed. I don't want to be ungrateful though. We have my family behind our backs. They might be 200km away, but they are here. My father, my mother and her husband, my uncles, they are all supporting us however they can..

Somewhere between all this, I felt I was loosing myself. I was getting cranky, impatient (and patience is a thing I'm known for), and soo bored. I was bored to even do the things I loved so much like play the sims. Most likely bored with my life I guess. Not that I wasn't happy. I can't say that. It was just all this stress, the everyday routine, not being as creative as I wanted to...they started taking me down

A couple of months back, I forced myself to get up. I have two children and a spouse and this people need ME. My family needs ME. The real me. Not the shadow I was turning into.I HAVE to do something. I started being more active in the community, started playing sims again, and creating houses that I so much loved. What if I started a YouTube channel ? Or streaming ...Nah I don't have and can't afford the hardware or the software to do that. And there was this EA Game Changers program I've been reading about that had lit a fire in me... But how, haven't been active for ages, I'm no youtuber nor streamer. I don't have "the audience" needed..

I started researching. Graveyardgirl started out YouTube with here phone as a camera. LuckeySimsYT had mentioned his low end hardware a couple of times and yet his videos are just fine for me, and really fun to watch. They all started somehow...Why not me?? I kept researching. Seasons released and I managed to upload a couple of builds , before giving in and getting my CC back in my game. I love my CC.

My builds are usually loaded with CC and I hate linking them. So I can't really upload them. I could start that YouTube channel I was thinking about and do speed builds or walkthroughs of them. But would people be interested if I didn't list my CC? I did a poll on twitter about it. The results came back , with the whooping amount of two votes, that they didn't really mind... OK convenient result , low number of voters though.. not enough to push me to actually do something

And then it happened....As I was checking my email, I see it ... It's an invite to join the Game Changers Program. I don't know how, I don't know who. All I know is that as soon as I opened it, I blurted out "OMG YES!" I felt all warm and fuzzy, I felt so much energy , like it opened my eyes to see that I CAN do something. I can get up and take a step forward. It was the push I so much needed.

I downloaded OBS, and Filmora. treated myself with a nice razer set of head phones and microphone (cheap but for now its ok), checked out a few tutorials and ...oh wait I somewhere have a blog too

And here I am writing down those lines, trying to figure out my plans better. Looking back , not that back really, where I was, where I am and where I want to be.Hoping that someone might read this , and get the push they need to get back on their feet and take the next step forward. Because in the end you can do whatever you want or at least something similar (I'd love to work at EA in The Sims, but yea that's a few hundreds of miles away) all you have to do is keep your eyes open and let NOTHING get you down.

As for this blog, I'm planning to be more active from now on, I'm just moving things around a bit, adding new links, killing old ones, so bare with me until I've set everything up and running. The blog seems to be the easiest of all of what I'm trying to accomplish, but as I'm starting up again from almost ground zero don't expect any fireworks just yet. Taking minor steps slowly and carefully. At least now they are going forward.

If anyone actually reads this...Cheers, patient reader , kudos for reading all that essay of nonsense. To you. Cause for me it was a weight on my chest that I had to lift. Thank you for helping me with that.

See ya!!! (Soon hopefully)