The Wraithsands: Almost complete!

[Claeric]

I've started lots of worlds and said I wouldn't stop etc. But this one...this one is actually working, and I am loving it.

A battlefield, between high cliffs next to the ocean. A war. The battle, unfortunately, was not isolated to those involved: This land was home to a small village of Sims, families, who lived off the plentiful fish down in the ocean. They were caught in the crossfire between two kingdoms and many died by mistake.

The people prayed to their god*, whose existence was proven by his enormous hand crafting their world on a daily basis, to stop the fighting. And their god answered- though not in a very appropriate manner. An enormous wave crashed into the battlefield, killing every soldier, man, woman, child. Everyone. Even the innocents. The fighting stopped but at the cost of everyone's lives. The water drained down the rivers and took the bodies of the soldiers to their homelands, leaving the villagers corpses where they stood when the wave hit.

Now, the rivers flow in reverse. The water pours in from the ocean, instead of towards. There is no way for the people of either kingdom to reach the village by water- not that there's any village left to reach.

But 500 years later, the water cast a mysterious shape into the sand.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/3923/wraithsands.jpg

The people's god was obviously quite incompetent, as he managed to kill them by accident to begin with, and now the people find...he cannot even create life properly.

The shape glowed brightly, as if it was imbued with magic, and with a quick burst of light, each and every soul was restored.

Ghosts.

Every single villager, returned to life. As ghosts. It seemed in their minds to be an instant: They died and were brought back to life in no time, despite 500 years passing. Since they didn't have tombstones, they were unable to go to the netherworld, and to them, almost nothing has changed.

Even their ancestors: Every villager who had died before was also brought to life(although most chose to stay in the netherworld, where they had adjusted).

Now, just years after returning to life, they have all adjusted to the modern world. Still ghosts, they live in modern houses, have connected with the modern world, and have rebuilt their society. They are, by all means, a perfectly normal modern world, aside from being...well, dead. They still keep their traditions and culture, however, despite the sudden influx of sims from other lands coming to live amongst those who do not live, for their own reasons, be it to study or a general interest in the occult. The villagers are, in fact, overrun by the living, but it is not an issue. They do not mind.

And thus is the story of The Wraithsands. But is that all there is to it? Are these ghosts all ghosts of the villagers? Could the god, incompetent as he/she was, have accidentally left behind the souls of warriors from either army? Nobody can be sure, quite yet.


*If it's not obvious, the god is supposed to be the player/a player :p

So basically, despite the rough and not-all-that-refined-yet story(I feel like I did a terrible job of writing it), this is supposed to be the remnants of a battlefield. Probably 30% of the residents will be ghosts, most of those the "Drowning" type(the rest will be those who died beforehand and chose to remain with the living when everyone was resurrected, they may be fire, electricity, etc). There will also be science-savvy sims living in the town, explorers, eccentrics. People who came to live in the land of the ghosts. And will there be a few ghosts of warriors? Some say that the head men of the small warring families on either side of the river are warrior ghosts...

What do you think? So far it's only a rough landscape, but I adore this idea and cannot wait to get started on the actual families and houses. There will be lots more to the landscape than what I posted, obviously. do you think the idea of a world with lots of housed, playable ghosts is a good idea? I think a mod to make ghosts walk normally might be required(the hell of waiting for these ghosts to get to your house/event/school/work is just terrible), but I have yet to found amod that simply does that.

[HystericalParoxysm]

So, liek, when do the ghosts turn into Cybermen?

http://gopher65.com/images/drwho/Cyberman.gif

No really, sounds interesting. Not sure about the "mysterious shape" - it looks a little bit like a uterus with little arms underneath going YAY but... um. Yeah. Concept is neat. Assuming you stick with a concept long enough to actually see it through - though I know how that is with CAW (I've got 3 half-finished worlds myself).

[Claeric]

The shape is supposed to be a wraith...I dunno what a uterus looks like(don't blame me, I have no need for such knowledge, as girls are gross). I may or may not keep it the way it is. It's supposed to help emphasize(along with the river rapid effects) that the water is flowing in reverse and that things are quite clearly not right here.

I'll probbly work around the river and give room to change the shape of it a bit if needed...I dunno.

Edit: ...It does look like a uterus. I removed the top connecting piece of river and now it looks better, I think. Now the little triangle splice of river looks like a mini head, and the rest looks like horns or perhaps hair, and now there's 3 little triangles of land all jutting out in the same direction, relatively close to each other

[Claeric]

Does this landscaping look natural? Or at least belivable?

I highlighted the areas intended to be routable, and the blue line is to show that that area is the same elevation throughout. SO it's basically a small cliff that leads to a higher cliff which wraps around a tiny indent up towards the top. <_<;

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/8458/landscaping.jpg

I just realized how ENORMOUS this world is. Lots of room for secrets and landscaping.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/6062/roadk.jpg

That tiny dot is an intersection.

[Jaylo]

that looks pretty believable. You may want to put some rocks though. I think you should make the 'hands' less hand like and more pond like or something. You could have then hook up with the main rivers near the end also

[Claeric]

I hate CAW.

I dont know where to go from here. <_< fffffff

It's really hard to see how things are going with a desert terrain. The shadows make it look like up is down and down is up.

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/8479/canyon.jpg

Here's a canyon area accessible from two sides...

[I'mSimalicious!]

It looks great!

I could easily get an Egyptian vibe from this. Especially because there looks to be a mini delta. Though, if you go with this, then you'll probably change god to gods.

No really, sounds interesting. Not sure about the "mysterious shape" - it looks a little bit like a uterus with little arms underneath going YAY but... um. Yeah.I died. :lol:

[plasticbox]

Claeric: in order to see the shape of your terrain better, try changing the time of day so that the shadows become ctronger. Dunno where that button is, but there is a button – I've seen other CAW users do this.

[ZimZ]

HP - I laughed so hard with the uterus thing..

Claeric - what a sexy little thing you have going, your most recent update is pretty cool... hmm the little hands on that river... I dunno if they are hands but... yeah what exactly are tose fingery things there for? I mean if it's just like ends of the river you may wanna make them a bit... wonky, less straight, I dunno :)

[Sookielee]

I like the concept. If you don't know to change the time of day select, "View" and about halfway down you will see it. A side bar will come up on the right and you can either change the time of day to a specific time (24 hour military clock). I found that changing the time of day when terra-forming details really helps a lot.

Also, I think the little dude is kinda cute, now that he doesn't look like a uterus head :rofl:

[Jaylo]

I agree. a diffeent time of day could help. besides it looks really really really really cool!

[Winterhart]

Claeric: in order to see the shape of your terrain better, try changing the time of day so that the shadows become ctronger. Dunno where that button is, but there is a button – I've seen other CAW users do this.

Flabiliki has a great video tutorial here:

http://thesimsupply.com/showthread.php?tid=154

[Claeric]

Unfortunately, that guy's accent is too much for me to understand. THe pitch of his voice coupled with his accent and how fast he insists on speaking, with lots of "ummmms" in the middle of sentences, just...I can't follow him.

I figured out the time of day though, and it is helping.

[mtsimguy]

I hope you manage to beat CAW into submission and manage to complete this world. It has a great concept!

[Claeric]

I am not good at terrain painting.

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/561/capturewc.jpg

[HystericalParoxysm]

I think you need more shading on the sand - a lighter colour of sand to highlight some of the high spots on the ridges you have, and a richer green here and there for the areas on shore. Also, it looks like you maybe painted the underside of the river green, where it dumps into the larger body of water; those are some hardy underwater plants ya got there. ;)

[Claeric]

It gets really choppy and gross looking in CAW from afar, but up close I think it looks pretty good and will look fine with deco and roads and buildings.

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/9469/captureqf.jpg

I think I'm ready to start laying out the town.

And from sim view it actually doesnt look half bad. I keep severely underestimating how big the terrain is, though. I started adding a few details and am realizing how enormous it is.

It is very fun to see how just a tiny addition of detail gives it so much more life, though.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5391/capturemd.jpg

3 trees and a boat and that area feels so much nicer looking.

Though I STILL need to find a frickin mod to make ghosts walk like normal sims. Even if I 100% complete this, I will NEVER upload it without being able to link to such a thing. I would not plauge the people of MTS with a neighborhood partially populated by sims who can't move at even normal sim speed and show up to work and events 10 hours late because of it.

[Jaylo]

Would this help at all?
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=385612

[Claeric]

That is for individual sims. I need to be able to propose a global change to ghost movement.

Though Shinrod is supposedly working on one. Or will be. Eventually.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1013/capturebh.jpg

Unfinished, but does this look like a good bridge format? I figure it has to be high enough to allow boats...

[Deluxe Designs]

Yeh i like that a lot! :) I think your idea of having it high to allow for boats is quite a good idea

[Claeric]

http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/1921/roads.jpg

Excessive or appropriate?

I'll be using a different road texture, and I'll only be doing it for this bridge and the one on the left, because the town is supposed to only have a few major roads.

Most roads wont be straight and homes wont be aligned with them, except in the city "center" which is down on the right side of the beach.

[Zinthos]

I like it, and love the story behind it. And I like the idea of Sims actually having to travel on their feet for once. I'm sick of them driving everywhere, no matter how short the journey.

[Jaylo]

I think it's fine. It'll depend on the texture

[Claeric]

yeah, the city center will have a good bit of roads, and there will be roads leading to the hills for houses and stuff, but lots of houses will be sandy brick style(like egypt) and sitting a bit away from major roads. One side of the river(with downtown) will be more developed, the other will be almost devoid of road and less developed. Think of the town center as a modern area and as the road goes out more it becomes the "country".

Here's some in-game shots of how it looks so far. Sims arrive on a plane and check in at the military base, and use the "highway" to get where they are going.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-218.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-219.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-217.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-216.jpg
(Right there, on the other side of the bridge, I'm imagining a little area of clustered houses with dirt paths between them, like the market area in egypt)

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-220.jpg

Possible road layout:
Yellow = homes without roads near them
Blue = Roads(just where they'll be)
Dotted blue = paths

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/roadspaths.jpg

I like the idea of a mini-town along the highway, between the main roads.

[Claeric]

In the middle of the small town along the highway...

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-217-1.jpg

Is the beginnings of a gas station.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-216-1.jpg

[Claeric]

I am overly fond of this gas station.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/3569/screenshot218r.jpg

All bridges are "complete" except making the edges better and adding deco.They dont quite seem suited to cars, but this places was developed before cars anyway.

[Claeric]

Then everyone in the base turns into more ghosts

(I meant to rotate the airport so the hangar is next to the base, but forgot)

[armiel]

Nice work with this! I like the whole concept and ghosts and all.

The only thing that bugs me a little bit is the military base at the end of the airport runway.... I know it's just in my imagination, but what if a poor pilot fails to take off and crashes straight to the military base?? :P

[Claeric]

I've started the road placement. Or, rather, am finished with it.

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/1258/subdivision.jpg

This, I want feedback on. A highway leading to a subdivision and town. THis is where the most modern/traditional houses will be, very packed together, in a nice subdivision. The town area will have shopping, the school, town hall, the hospital, the police department, and the corporate towers. (Other rabbit holes will be at the small town along the highway).

There will be a large park in the middle, two small parks in the subdivision which go on either side of the road, and a few "beach" lots.

There will be more houses at the small town, and a few larger more rural egyptian houses scattered in clusters throughout the landscape. large lots, with small houses and bigger yards(for gardening and etc)

Sound good?

[Claeric]

Tiny area complete- Bottom big lot will be stadium, upper big lot will be abandoned warehouse. This place is kinda a craphole. There will be an alley going between the houses towards the top. If I could find decorative cars, I'd make a car salesman for unfortunate souls stuck in the desert or for those who arrived without cars :p Maybe I can use awesomemod to switch a res lot with lots of cars to a community lot.

Also included are two areas of desert houses. There will be another area "beneath" the tiny town(beneath referring to the bottom part of this picture), and some spread out randomly. There will probably be 110 lots when I'm done. There are 69 right now.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4936/tinytown.jpg
http://img704.imageshack.us/img704/1324/3areas.jpg

Edit: I believe this will be final lot placement, just around 110 lots.

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/5620/lotplacementcopy.jpg

Lots of empty space(except deco), very few developed areas. Large, major roads(still have to retexture)...

[Claeric]

I hope double/triple posting is OK in threads that are both your own and intended for regular updates :p

I know nobody has been commenting lately, but hopefully I can get some input: Does this look ok as a "path" sytsem? Theres a sidewalk hidden in there.

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/764/sidewalk2.jpg
http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/1967/sidewalk.jpg

Should I spread the dark area out towards the road more? I dunno. It's dirt with light sand brushed onto it a bit.

[Claeric]

For now I just made the sidewalk match the sand.

And I just learned you can't edit "Base Game Road" and you can't apply a different road texture to existing roads. So unless I completely redo all the roads(basically impossible) I am stuck with what I have. :\

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/8458/landscaping.jpg

I dunno how well this landscaping is going, but I'm sure it will look a lot better once I add some bushes and maybe darker grass and some dirt splotches.

[Claeric]

I have decided(partly to explain what is potentially ridiculous landscaping) that as a positive side effect of the "blessing" of the god was that anything planted in the sand would grow. So every cluster of palm trees(I have somehow convinced myself that palm trees grow in clusters?) has at least a small spatter of grass growing beneath it, to emphasize the idea that while it is a barren desert, anything can grow anywhere in it, except the badlands area which is just dry dirt. No wonder your sims can grow watermelons and cheese in the sand! ;)

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/949/prosperity.jpg

[Claeric]

Well, it's basically the same as that picture, but with some hills added to the flat empty areas, and I am thinking that some spawners and rocks and little details and such will mean I'm ready to build in-game.

I've gotten almost no feedback on this world so I'm just going with what I do and not worrying about it. Waiting for anyone to care and give consistent feedback has wasted enough time building it. I dunno where the interest went, but whatever.

[Claeric]

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/7319/billboards.jpg

I dotted the highway with billboards. It designates it as a major road, and when sims drive from the a town on the fringes to the main district, it feels very natural, I think. Big empty highway with billboards. Though there are a lot less of them than in that picture.

The small town now has street signs and wooden-pole street lights. The main town will have metal street lights, and none of the other areas will have lights at all unless on the lots.

[Claeric]

Digsite placement, a few sidewalks, and it will be ready to start adding lots and sims to.

[Claeric]

Houses will surround this.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-230-1.jpg

The gas station is a bit of a hangout. It sells food and wine, and has a coffee area.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-231-1.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-232-1.jpg

Small town coming along.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-233.jpg

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-234.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-235.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-236.jpg

[armiel]

You're still doing a very good job on this. One of my favourite projects to follow. After palms and other plants the place has began to look natural.
The hidden sidewalk is very well done, I like it. I'm lazy modding the roads myself :P

[Claeric]

I was hoping to change the roads of this town after placing htem, but if you use the "Base Game Road", you can't edit it...so I just stuck with it. :(

It is looking very nice though, although it is a bit off that the entire area is pretty much just palm trees. It looks great from sim level though.

[Claeric]

I am using lots of families from egypt...but retooling their names and appearances and stories.

The Diab family, for example, drowned like everyone else...but their son managed to survive, if only for a little while. instead, he drifted miles away before drowning, and as a result...was not resurrected. The Diab's connection to death allowed them to find their son's remains, which they brought home, and are now wishing for a way to bring their son back, even if as a ghost.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-240.jpg

Right now I'm making a couple whose (gay) love was despised by their parents...which died before the Great Wave, but were resurrected along with everyone else. Now they've had to move in together, since the parent's homes were long since sold.

[Claeric]

Aaaand here they are.

All ghosts have coherent looks and clothing, despite losing specific colors as a ghost, just in case they get resurrected.

I got the best shot ever for this family.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-241.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-242-2.jpg

[Claeric]

And here is their house. Not yet used to the modern world, they only have an older model TV with crappy reception and a microwave. The fireplace in the kitchen used to be used for food, but trying to cook any of these packaged meals in it just sets them on fire.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-241-1.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-242-3.jpg

[Nyn]

lol I love the family/ghost shots :)

the house looks good too... I like the rustic feel of it.

[Claeric]

I added some more details to the house and just uploaded it. :D

[Claeric]

I now have 50 completed lots placed.

[Claeric]

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-231-2.jpg

[Claeric]

Look familiar? A starter home peppered in a few places across the landscape, one of which is populated...;)

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-232-2.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-233-1.jpg

[Claeric]

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-232-3.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-233-2.jpg

Raab and Nabetty Noobi moved to the sands from another country, because Nabetty wanted to tap the untapped movie market of the area. Raab just wants to laze around.

[Claeric]

List of self-made standalone families so far:

Nohara- Yukiko and Akihiko, twin brother and sister. Dressed in dark clothing with eyeliner. They moved to the sands because of all the occult and supernatural things about it. Is their obsession due to the supernatural bond between twins? The locals think they're just suffering from insanity, due to their heavy and dark clothes.

Noobi- Pictured above.

Skeffington- Recently uploaded/not-yet-approved sim Addelai Skeffington has grown into an adult and changed up his hairstyle(to be an EA default). He moved to the sands because the barrenness reminds him of the snows back home in Sweden, but the heat may be too much for him. He lives near an oasis, in a home that is mostly outdoors.

Hiero- Sol, Monet, Solei, and Monet Sr, the gay couple and their parents posted earlier.

Salem- Two GORGEOUS sims I made a while back as sims for me to play, loosely egyptian in nature. They live at and run the only major farm in town.

Porter- Tarzan. Tarzan is just passing through on his exploration of the world, and has settled down for a while, intrigued by the ghosts.

Still to come- two warring families, one for each palace on each side of the river. The heads of each family will not be drowned ghosts, but rather fire ghosts, heads of the armies that fought on the sands the day of the Great Wave. They were resurrected and pretended to simply be sims who died before the incident, and started families. They are secretly at war with each other.

[Claeric]

I'm using this thread as kind of a log now, so excuse this.

Stuff to do:
-Town Hall
-Police Station
-Science Lab
-Town Pool
-West Family
-East Family
-Myself Family
-Scientist family

..I think that might be it.

[Claeric]

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-235-1.jpg

Note the toddler. The old man died from a rogue lightning strike but was revived with everyone else. His 3 sons and one of their wives live here, along with their children-

A little girl concieved before the wave...and a little boy concieved after. A LIVING HUMAN son :O

[Claeric]

I have added an introduction home. The save game included with the world will have it as the active household, so the main screen will show a mini-blurb about the world. The save game that opens has a sequence of plaques which give a recap on the story and the world as well as some general information to make it seem a lot more personal and a lot less like dropping a save game into your documents. :D

[Claeric]

Added a family of people who were dead before the wave, but resurrected and opted to stick around. They all live on the same lot, but in different houses.

There's also a mother and son who are close in age- the mother died young, her son kept living for a while, then died in an accident. So they're close in age now.

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-237.jpg

[Ahlaam21]

This is so cool! I love the idea.
BTW, who takes care of the infant? lol. The ghosts don't stick around to change diapers do they?

[Claeric]

They are playable ghosts, not tombstones.So you can interact with them at any time of the day, they go to work, they can marry, have kids, story progression will handle everything as normal. You'll see ghost kids being born or you can play a ghost family and resurrect them, anything.

[Zinthos]

I really love this. :D
I just love the ideas, the characters, the houses, the landscape... everything!

[Claeric]

I'm actually almost finished. :D

I really only have to make the two families on either side of the river. The rest is semi-complete(the city area, housing section looks like its's in development. There are no major trees planted and it looks somewhat empty and freshly built, and the area along the highway has a few empty houses.) for people to finish as they desire. There's plenty of empty community and residential lots around the sand, too.

Though there are 4 lots marked with spires, which will be the later locations of tombs. I will build them eventually and upload them separately as add-ons, because it would take months to finish if I waited until I finished tombs. Plus that way people can do what they want with them.

[Claeric]

CRAP.

I know for a fact I disabled routing in these places, and by default the game disables routing up high cliffs...

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x294/ClaericBryant/Screenshot-250.jpg?t=1265935284

Sims run right along the side of that extremely tall cliff, instead of through the small canyon below. Fantastic. There is nothing to do about this.

Also, the pyramids are broken and I had to add a pyramid to the actual lot- the ones from the world are not visible until the lot loads. So I had to double them up. Consequently, it counts as TWO community lots(or, rather, there are two icons above the one lot). And it may just be my game, but the game lets me grab at the world object pyramids(or maybe its from buydebug?) and clicking them when doing so crashes the game.

:\

[Claeric]

Alright, I ran into a few issues.

It will mean the loss of relationships, but I think I'm going to save EVERY LOT to the library, and rebuilt with an altered version of the map.

There are a few routing issues and I just discovered a huge oasis is for some reason UNFISHABLE. So I'm gonna redo the routing, add street lamps to the bigger town, and redo some stuff. But I'll probably upload the whole thing by sunday.

[whitewaterwood]

This is a lovely neighborhood. An amazing story and a great concept, I can't wait to see the finished product!

[Nyn]

That sucks you ran into all those issues... but glad to hear you're working on it as I'm looking forward to trying out your world!! :)

[Zinthos]

I can't wait for you to sort out your issues so we can get an update.
I hate it when CAW just won't behave itself.

[aelfwyne]

Awesome looking area... I wouldn't mind an unpopulated version of this as well when you're done, as I'm not too fond of the whole ghost storyline, but I *love* the scenery.