Date Posted: 27th Oct 2011 at 3:30 PM

So.... I haven't done anything with the dressers lately. Mostly b/c I decided to add an entry on the "hey I can make things" thread. Not that it's actually called that, but I'm too lazy at the moment to go look at what it's actually called. So two people, thechangeling and toni020695, asked me if I'd do stuff and I agreed to. Toni just wants a shirt, and as soon as I get the texture right, I'll be uploading it. Thechangeling wanted phoenix phaerie's manor house garden to be recolorable, and I got that working (after having a big DUH! moment when I couldn't figure out why it wasn't liking the recolors of the object its now slaved to. Subset names are important, and should not be overlooked.) I'd like to share these with you, but phoenix phaerie's policy is pretty strict and until she gets back to me with permission to share the altered versions, thechangeling and I will be the only ones with these files. Unless it's been several months and I still haven't heard from her, then I will assume she is retired for good and not just on a long hiatus like her profile and journal say. At that point, I may share these anyway, with the provision that if she does contact me, and doesn't want them up, I'll remove them.

So no work done on the dressers, but once I get toni's shirt done, they are back to me number one priority. And when they are finally done. I'll get back to my plumbob earrings. Which I just saw files for as I was testing thechangeling's objects in my basegame AGS. And they made me go "I should really work on those..." So yeah, that's what I'll be doing. ~VP

Date Posted: 18th Oct 2011 at 1:25 PM

Hi! I thought I might update y'all on my progress with the decorative dressers. Of all of the one tile dressers that have slots, all but two are working properly. The Malm 6 Drawer Dresser and the Sun King Drawers are giving me issues with getting the slot at the right height. And since I'm a bit frustrated with them right now, I'm going to give up for a (hopefully short) while and come back to them. Once those two decide to behave, I'll move on to the two tile dressers. On which I have to add a slot since coffee tables (the base object b/c it already has slots) have two slots and dressers have three. However HugeLunatic's tutorial seems easy enough to follow. Especially since I did so once, before switching to using coffee tables. Hopefully the resulting non working object was due to adding the one part and not due to me not following instructions properly. Well we'll find out won't we? See y'all soon(hopefully)!

Date Posted: 29th Sep 2011 at 2:57 PM

Hi everyone! I thought I might give you an update on the dressers. All of them could be released as is and I'm sure most everyone would be happy with them. Alright, one has UV map issues, and a couple more don't want to show properly in thumbnails or Neighborhood view. The first one is easily fixable and I'll do that shortly, the visibility issues I'm not sure how to fix, but I'll look it up before they're released. Of the 20ish dressers that have slots, one is working properly. Because one is all I've worked on. Apparently sculptures (what the bases for my deco dressers are) lack a certain part necessary for slots to exist. And cloning that part from the dressers and adding it to the deco dresser resulted in an object that put my game into perpetual loading when trying to load the object. So, leefish gave me a second option on the thread I asked for help on, and that one works just perfectly. So I pretty much have to redo all the dressers that need slots. Luckily it only took me about thirty minutes start to finish on the one (and also luckily the base object had the proper number of slots so I only had to move the slot to the right place), so although there are 20ish dressers, it won't take me months to do. Unless of course I just don't feel like doing it.

So that's the update. I'll probably end up doing one or two dressers a day until they're all done, may do more on my days off when I'm sitting on my computer in the middle of the night while everyone else is sleeping... Anyhow, I hope to have them finished before Halloween. See y'all! ~VP

Date Posted: 19th Sep 2011 at 3:31 PM

Hi! So I was in a great mood this morning since I'm no longer sick except for a cough, and not wanting to deal with a very long dungeon in my MMORPG, especially since I didn't have the time to, I decided to work on my deco dressers a bit more. And now all 46 of them are pulling their textures from the originals and all are properly designable (meaning the design tool works and they pull all recolors of the originals as well.) Now I just have to figure out slots and add them to the deco versions so that they behave as much like to originals as possible w/o the clothes changing functions and they'll be done! How far I get on that today depends on how much time I spend with my boyfriend today. He simply does not get that I'm a computer geek that likes to be awake at night and sleep during the day. There is a reason I transferred to the midnight shift at work you know... So anyway, the afternoon and some of the night is his, then I will either learn slots or play a 2(+) hour dungeon. Right now I'm leaning toward slots, but that may change once I get some sleep and bf time. ~VP

Date Posted: 7th Sep 2011 at 2:21 PM

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. And no I haven't made much progress with the dressers recently. Although I did work on a couple of them last night while my favorite game was on downtime before I got bored and watched a movie. I just haven't had much interest for sims lately, and changing the same thing over and over in SimPE bores me to tears to do it for long periods of time. Not that I've had a of of time recently. It seems all I do is work, sleep, and hang out with my boyfriend, which severely limits my computer time. Maybe I'll get a little time back after I move in November and we no longer live in the same apartment complex, thus making it slightly more difficult (or at least take longer) for one of us to get to the other's place. Of course then I might decide I miss him more and willingly sacrifice my computer time to meet him somewhere. Anyways, away from my personal issues, I hope to have the dressers up for download by sometime in December. And if I can stick to that deadline, I might have the Plumbob Earrings re-worked and uploaded in January, February at the latest. This assumes my current lack of interest in Sims continues. Should I decide to go on a "Sims Spree" and resume creating and playing, they may get done a hell of a lot sooner. ~VP

Date Posted: 19th Aug 2011 at 1:12 PM

Just to let everyone know: I have not fallen off the face of the planet. I'm still working on the dressers (and after them my Plumbob earrings). Its just slow going b/c well, doing the same thing over and over and over and over get boring really fast. Which leads to me to going to find something a lot less boring to do. Currently I'm enabling everything to pull the recolors of the originals. Really easy and really repetitive. I'm also attempting to have somewhat of a life, especially since I recently met a really cute guy the other day and getting to know him a bit better is alot higher priority than playing in SimPE. And loosing power (again) certainly doesn't help. Although this time one of my friends let me and my sister crash for the day in her apartment, so that was helpful.

Anyhow I thought I'd let y'all know I was still alive and that the dressers will be out sometime in the (hopefully near) future. ~VP

Date Posted: 9th Aug 2011 at 6:56 AM

Dresser Update: File parts gathered: Done. Files Created: 46. Files Edited: 0.

There are a total of 46 Dressers/Armoires/Wardrobes/Lockers whatever if you have all the EPs and SPs. At least that's how many of them I'm making into deco objects. I chose not to do the coat rack that comes with Seasons, the clothing rack (not sure which one this comes with as I didn't check) and the Apartment Life closets. If you include those the number is I think 51. So why if I have all these options do I seem to use only about ten of them when I decorate my houses?

Anyhow, that's the update. I'm off to place edited mesh files into the deco object files I just created. After that it's just linking them to pull the colors of the originals and then learning slots. ~VP

Date Posted: 6th Aug 2011 at 1:41 PM

Thought I'd let y'all know how those decorative dressers are going. First off, there are ALOT of dressers. Once I get the decorative files made, I'll let you know just how many. Right now, I'm extracting meshes and writing down all the important info I'll need later when I repository them. I'm nearly done with this step. Next I'll edit the meshes in Milkshape, taking out all the unnecessary stuff from the inner parts of the meshes. Like the drawers and the clothes. Since they're only decorative objects and won't be used like a dresser, why should the poly count be upped so much by something that's never going to be seen? I'm betting I'll get anywhere from 400 to 1000 polys out of every single one. Some of them more I'll bet. Once the mashes are edited, I'll create the decorative object files and stick the meshes into them, at which point I'll check them in game to see if the meshes are in the right pace and whatnot. Once that's done, I just have to link them to the original objects, recolor-wise, then they're done.

Okay maybe not quite done. Since the original dressers have slots on the tops to place deco objects, I decided to learn how to put slots on objects so that these can keep that feature. I've learned something new for each and every set of Maxis Annoyance objects. For the Computers it was the repository technique for objects. For the TV's and Stereos (they're lumped together b/c I made them together) it was how to add to an object's footprint, and where a mesh has to sit in Milkshape so that it appears in the right spot in game. And for these dressers, its slots. Which currently seem really confusing. Once I get into adding them, I'm sure the confusion will clear up, but just reading through the tutorials and ModdingInfoCenter... they intimidate me. But then alot of things intimidate me until I suck it up and try to do them.

Anyhow, I'm off to finish gathering parts for the dressers. ~VP

Date Posted: 2nd Aug 2011 at 9:20 AM

*sigh* Those earrings are taking longer than expected. I'm having major, major issues with getting the recolor files to appear right, and I fear I may have to start the recolor process over again. And I was nearly done too.

So since I need a major break from these guys before I go completely insane, and b/c goderguy sent me a PM requesting one of them, and since my sims have recently developed an obsession with them, I'm adding to my Maxis Annoyances As Decorative Objects series with dressers. Seriously, my Sims have recently developed an obsession with CONSTANTLY changing their clothes. I must have accidentally installed a mod or something that makes dressers irresistible or something and have recently had to take them out of every house. They leave the AL closets alone but if I don't actively watch them and control every action they stand in line and get in each others way as they change from everyday to formal to athletic to underwear repeatedly. I don't tend to use dressers alot, but the look of my pre-decorated bedrooms is completely ruined now. Once I make these dressers, I can fix that. Especially since I can't figure out what changed my Sims' behaviors. I was also debating on doing the dressers before my Sims started to be annoying with them anyway.

So yeah, the earrings are on the back burner for a while, but I promise I will get them finished. ~VP

Date Posted: 27th Jul 2011 at 11:06 AM

So the earrings... I got slammed by RL last week. Our power went out, thus shutting off the A/C on a day where the temperature was predicted to (and did) go to nearly 100 degrees Fahrenheit. So I didn't get to sleep but for a few hours when it came back on, and didn't get to work on the recolor files. I then spent the next few days recovering from the sheer exhaustion of that day (over 24 hours awake, plus working in a very hot store, a few hours asleep, then back to working in the hot store in a very labor intensive job is not a good combo) I also just got a fix for my game that I've been waiting a few weeks for the creator of a mod to get back to me with, so I wanted to play. Now, however I'm going to get back to work on the earrings. The fact that I have this week off from work shall help greatly. ~VP