Sunday, January 30, 2011

Culling Downloads

I've been on a mission to cut down on custom content as much as possible. Why?
  1. I happen to like maxis style items.
  2. I need my load times to be quick so I can get more play into my busy schedule.
  3. I tend to declutter in RL as well, so of course it's going to happen to my game as well.
So how am I cutting down on custom content?
  1. Download ban for two-three months during the process. I can still download, but the downloads may not enter the game.
  2. Mercilessly delete duplicate recolors, I don't need 7 shades of white.
  3. Mercilessly delete poorly made recolors, I tend not to use it anyway, so why let it take up space.
  4. Mercilessly delete recolors that I don't use frequently.
  5. If I like a texture, but don't want to use the custom mesh, then I will move the texture to a maxis mesh. This is mostly for paintings and rugs and the occasional seating item.
I do have a plan for deleting object items.
  • I'm deleting duplicates of recolors, poorly made recolors and recolors that I don't use frequently item by item. Yes, that means going through the catalog and shifting through each and every item and deleting recolors.
  • This obviously can quickly becoming tedious, boring and overwhelming, so I of course broke it down into smaller tasks.
  • For the initial pass I will go through the following subcategories within six months: Comfort, Surfaces, Decorative, Plumbing, Appliances, Electronics, Lighting, Hobbies, Miscellaneous, Community Lot-Only.
  • For maintance, I will go through the catergories once a month just to make sure I am not shifting through a ton of unnecessary custom content.
My plan for deleting body shop items is very much the same.
  • I'm deleting duplicates of recolors, poorly made recolors and recolors that I don't use frequently item by item. Yes, that means going through the catalog and shifting through each and every item and deleting recolors.
  • For hairs, I will only allow two shades of the same color family for each mesh. Ie, a nouk curly mesh can only have two red recolors,
  • This obviously can quickly becoming tedious, boring and overwhelming, so I of course broke it down into smaller tasks.
  • For the initial pass I will go through the following subcategories within six months: Hair, Adult Clothing, Elder Clothing, Children Clothing, Teen Clothing, Toddler Clothing
  • For maintance, I will go through the catergories once a month just to make sure I am not shifting through a ton of unnecessary custom content.
Wish me luck!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Design Preferences

I've been trying to expand a bit when it comes to decorating my sims houses. Design preferences have come and gone and have come back again to Apple Valley. Originally based on Simmerville's system, it has been modified for Apple Valley residents.

I now use a combination of my sims' favorite color and their two design styles randomly (or not randomly) chosen from ten options.

The design styles that I use in my hood are: Coastal, Contemporary, Cottage, Country, Eclectic, Exotic, Modern, Rustic, Traditional and Vintage.

Each design style has a few different key words to help me visualize a sim's preference.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails