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Post by believe&become on Dec 9, 2015 11:16:04 GMT -5
I'll go first! Pictures taken in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It reminded me a little of this preview:
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Post by believe&become on Dec 9, 2015 11:04:54 GMT -5
It would be interesting to see if any of us have been in towns, cities and areas that look like Windenburg, the new area in The Sims 4: Get Together, so if you have any photos or videos of similar areas (preferably your own photos/videos), we can post them here. A little like our wildlife thread, but this time urban landscapes and such. Please state the country and name of city/town if you know it so we can have a mini international tour.
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Post by believe&become on Dec 9, 2015 8:05:27 GMT -5
Bakie And about doctors... I always remember what I got told on the 1st day of Medical School: all doctors are ultimately failures. Eventually, all our patients die, with or without our help. We're not glorious life-savers, but if we can make life quality a little better, if not longer, then that's how we serve. A bit drastic, but I don't like doctor worship.
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Post by believe&become on Dec 9, 2015 7:57:36 GMT -5
Thank you Bakie! I forgot to explain TheAfricanSim name. I played vanilla Sims 4 for a long time and only started "needing" cc when one of my Polynesian Sims fell in love with a black townie Sim (and she didn't have "culture-appropriate" hairstyles or clothes) - and then when I started investigating the Simblr community, I wanted to create one with a bit of character - not just another Scandinavian interior simblr (although I love those) or a berrySimblr or whatever - they are all fun and beautiful, but they also say " write about what you know", and TheAfricanSim was my way of merging what I missed in real life with a certain gap in the Sim community (there are a lot of black Simblrs, but not many African ones). It was my start, and my main tumblr, but again, I wanted a forum name that was vaguer. Being African born raised is definitely part of what I am, but it's not all who I am and it can be misleading. It's cool though that your forum name is simple and easy to remember, and I do like the sound of it. It must be nice to have one main nickname, I've had so many (e.g. from country to country, whether they could pronounce it or not, order of hierarchy in the family), it also started me disassociating me from them (though I don't mind any of them in particular).
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Post by believe&become on Dec 9, 2015 4:33:23 GMT -5
I usually make a zipped file so that I can include a preview of the custom content and an appropriately named folder. I sometimes wonder if that's "too much" space and bother, or a security concern for many people (obviously my stuff is virus free). What are your preferences? .package or zip? Feel free to reason why.
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Post by believe&become on Dec 9, 2015 3:47:32 GMT -5
This is a good thread, I must admit I've also wondered about many names I have seen. I chose Believe&Become for two reasons: 1. I don't like names as it leads to classifying people, and classifying people leads to judging. A name can lead to people thinking about you as only binary male/female; only from one country; correlate you to other people they know with that name... One of the most obvious is "where you are from", and in my case it's such a long complicated story. The fastest explanation is that an Australian of German origin and a Filipino American met and married in West Africa, where both were working for United Nations. They had three kids who grew up there, what does that make me? Born African - with an Australian passport, European, Asian and Native American ancestry, like are people even going to believe me? (I can back all of this up btw lol) I had a lot of identity crisis when I was younger, and being intercultural can make it difficult, as you are never completely at home anywhere. But since now I am quite ok with my checkered ethnic and legal baggage, I'm not so concerned with how people perceive me. In a sense, believe what you will about me - I don't have to prove anything, but if you befriend me, I'll be happy to. If not, peace be with you. I am whatever you Believe and will Become that for you. 2. I study in the Medical field - but I'm extremely skeptical of modern medicinal practices. I believe much of Western Medicine is about symptom management and business deals. I also believe (well I actually know this, studied it in Epidemiology) that much of modern sicknesses in the 1st world are caused by lifestyle choices and socio-psychological damage that can be prevented (the main killers as such are heart problems and cancer). In part because I am both East/West ethnically, I advocate a change in medical practices that reflect the direct relationship between mind, soul and body. As you believe, you will become, in both sickness and health. I have not yet seen a physical disease that did not have an energetic counterpart originating within the patient's mind and heart and soul. Many people know this intuitively, but it hasn't changed yet because Medicine and Pharmacology is a giant money maker, and soul therapy, although very hard, is free. Lol. Personally, I'm looking forward to the ancient Chinese doctor deal - you pay me while you're healthy, if you're sick, I'm not doing my job well.Btw, my guess at orangemittens forum name is that she chose something that was both funny/happy and neutral/non controversial. If you have an important role in a community and need to remain impartial, you can't go running around with names like hijabs-are-the-worst or i-worship-satan or even very-grumpy-person (probably ok for members though).
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Post by believe&become on Dec 9, 2015 3:16:56 GMT -5
I agree with you Ghost00 but would add three clauses to the " everyone who loves you, will never leave you alone" line, I would make it: Everyone who loves you, will never knowingly leave you alone if they can help it, unless they think you do not need or want their help. I'm saying this because although I wholeheartedly believe there is a lot of love in the world, there is also a lot of misunderstanding, ignorance and pride. So I think the 3 top exceptions of why "good people fall through the cracks" and don't get the support they deserve, are because: 1. Their loved ones didn't realize how much suffering they were going through. Or perhaps putting them through. For example, many parents don't realize that their teenagers are having peer issues until there is serious body harm or drugs or worse. But it's often blindness (and that they are immersed in their own little world) not lack of love. 2. Sometimes their loved ones do know what is going on, but they feel helpless and/or guilty. It's not a good excuse, perhaps, but many people are paralyzed by fear. I have seen mothers turning a blind eye to their abused children in part because their own personality was destroyed and they authentically felt they could do nothing to alleviate the situation. Again, it's not an excuse, but I wouldn't say they don't love their children, only that their own self-hate or self-doubt kidnaps their attention. They might also have some issues that noone knows about (they lost their job, have health concerns, etc). 3. Especially with men and boys, some people mistakenly leave them alone with their problems so they will "man up" (I hate that term, someone said it to my 16-year old cousin when his mother committed suicide and it made my blood boil). Sometimes it is plain ignorance that it will make people stronger, or they authentically believe the person will be able to deal with it well, and sometimes they are afraid they will be rejected if they offer help, or that the person they help will feel weak. What I am saying is, if you don't receive the love and help from someone special in your life, don't automatically think they don't love you - I'm not ruling that out either, but the three situations above happen very often, especially in dysfunctional families and relationships. It doesn't mean there isn't any love, just that there are things that need to improve - communication, relationship goals, personal responsibility, moral accountability... I hope things are better for you now Finn Quill and that you do feel loved and appreciated, albeit misunderstood or misjudged at times. Everyone deserves to feel loved. As for helping people, it's something I love to do, but I have learnt also that it is relatively useless and painful to help someone who doesn't want to be helped. So I do not actively insist on helping adults who have already vocally refused my help - the only exception is when they are completely helpless (children, animals, extremely mentally ill, etc). With some people (including battered spouses, for example who do not wish to end an abusive relationship, or adult drug users who voluntarily go back again and again) the only thing to do sometimes is say, "When you need me, tell me. I'll be here if you want to change your lifestyle" and leave the subject until it can be "productive" again. And another thing - I also feel that "I want help, but just a quick fix, not a change of lifestyle" is not always a good way to help, it kind of fuels the unhealthy lifestyle to last longer. But to each his own, I am no one to judge. Be safe and have a good day.
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Post by believe&become on Dec 8, 2015 18:08:57 GMT -5
I did enjoy all of that. Since I love counterbalancing stuff, after all that American quality stuff, I'm going to give you some politically incorrect Aussie rubbish (known as "garbage" in the US) that might make your ears bleed and is known to produce a variety of other symptoms. One might be laughter, but you never know how much twistedness (or lack thereof) exists in the world. And if you enjoy it I also recommend their Gangnam Style parody "Aussie Battler Style". It's possibly more politically incorrect and Aussie. But what more could be expected from two blokes called Fitzy and Wippa?
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Post by believe&become on Dec 8, 2015 14:02:08 GMT -5
Boy oh boy what talented photographers you are! Kind of embarrassed to say, I haven't taken many good wildlife photos in the "exotic" countries I have been in, either because I was busy on a work assignment there, or because I was too young to own a camera (and too old for a phone, I'm giving away my age here lol!). But here are some of my favourite pictures I took in Sauerland (in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia), I have family and friends nearby so I've been there quite a few times. My German is not very good but I'll try my best, I'm really guessing at all but one of the breeds, so I'm tagging some people who might be able to help - , some of the animals Bakie and francien may be familiar with as wildlife is not too different in the Netherlands I think (to get there I usually fly to Niederrhein Airport, close to the Dutch border, and sometimes I unconsciously wonder whether it is still Germany or if it's already the Netherlands). I don't know where in Germany @stevenssimsstuff lives but maybe he knows the proper terms. Please do correct me, I know quite little but I am really interested. Here is your standard shepherd, German shepherd and sheep. My guess is that they are German Whiteheaded Mutton Sheep ( Weissköpfige Fleischschaf) rather than East Friesian sheep ( Ostfriesisches Milchschaf). Please let me know if I guessed correctly, I looked at the woolly tail, head shape and upkeep tendency (shepherded rather than penned). In case you need a closer look at them whilst they invaded my lenses... And they trailed off, love the dark one looking at a different direction from the rest. Guess that would be me. About these sheep, the two smaller ones in the centre (they have striped faces) are Cameroon sheep ( Kamerunschaf) , the only sheep I know very well, because they are originally from West Africa (where I was born and raised). The other two... I believe are German Black Head Muttonsheep ( Schwarzköpfiges Fleischschaf). Here are the same four sheep again, you can see the striped faces here on the Cameroon sheep. This one I took at the end of winter (technically it was actually the first day of spring), and it was beginning to snow. This is a close-up of one of the sheep I believe to be German Black Head Muttonsheep. You wanna see some Cameroon sheep newborns? These were a day old. I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. Yes, they could stand but they were a little clumsy. Okay, this is probably a Western honey bee ( Apis mellifera in Latin, in German Westliche Honigbiene). I think the flower is sage ( Salvia officinalis in Latin, Garten-Salbei in German). Another kind of bee, probably the German black bee or European dark bee ( Dunkle Europäische Biene in German, Apis mellifera mellifera in latin). I don't know what flower it is, but it belongs to the Asteraceae or Compositae family (same as daisies). This is one of my favourite pics because although at first glance it is one animal, there are four. The cow I guess is a Braunvieh (same name in German as in English, it means brown cow and originates from Switzerland). Animals 2 and 3 are a ladybird beetle (or ladybug in the States, although it is not a bug; Marienkäfer in German), the latin family is called Coccinellidae - and the other is a face fly I think ( Musca autumnalis) ( Herbstfliege). The fourth is Mulier non sapiens - my head is reflected in the cow's eye (sorry, the original photo is much higher resolution and I can see it better). FYI the face fly is annoying but does not bite or transmit anything terrible besides bovine pinkeye or infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (which can be painful, annoying, etc but not lethal). The ear tags on many of the cows most probably have insecticides to help control face flies and horn flies. Here you can see ear tags. And cows. And happy fields. And proof that cows kiss. This filly (female horse) is called Hanni, I didn't see her owner but the coat type is Palomino (blondish mane, chestnut hair, not a very good description but I'm not an expert). The breed maybe is Haflinger/also known as the Avelignese...? It's the same name in German, although it could even be a Edelbluthaflinger, a relatively new breed not much known outside Germany, as it looks a little bigger to me than the Austrian-Italian variety. Whatever breed, I think she is so lovely. Another wild guess, this lovely horse might be a Trakehner, a light warmblood breed of horse, based on the finely chiseled head and majestic appearance. Warmblood ( Warmblüter in German) refers to the fact that it is not "hot blood" (light saddle like Thoroughbreds, Arabs) nor "cold blood" (heavy draft horses).And kitty there - well I guess we have a case of Felis silvestris catus. I think these dark chickens are Barnevelder (same name in German, medium heavy breed of chickens named after the Dutch town). The cockerel though - Sussex? Leghorn? I guess a Barnevelder and Leghorn or Sussex chicken? The house on that field is for rent, in case any of you want to vacation there lol. These brown chickens are your basic hybrids, though we just call them tuktuk. This is not the same cat, by the way. This is a wild boar (German: Wildschwein Latin: Sus scrofa) that lives in a nature reserve there. I think it's the Central European boar ( S. s. scrofa). The babies (piglets) are called Frischlingen in German and are mega cute. And stripey. These have been featured before here I think - Red Deer (German: Rothirsch, Latin: Cervus elaphus) I don't know about this one though - I'll have to research it. And this is just a bonus image of the landscape! Really beautiful place. Hope this wasn't too boring for you all! Most are basic farm animals but I look at them all with starry eyes.
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Post by believe&become on Dec 7, 2015 19:17:10 GMT -5
African Fashion Week Vol I includes 11 recoloured clothing items (29 Mb in total), for which you need Spa Day and Perfect Patio as well as the turban/headwrap mesh converted from TS3 to TS4 (for both males and females) by Hellfrozeover / icecream-for-breakfast HERE (thank you so much!). Details:- Standalone recolours, will not overwrite anything - custom thumbnails (you'll see a brown border, TheAfricanSim stamp and a dark skinned model) - disabled for random, most are enabled for the majority of outfit type (everyday, formal, party, situation, career) and are for teens to elder - Fabrics used: ankara wax, dashiki cloth, kuba... I also uploaded and shared the textiles as a resource HERE if you want it (for example, for The Sims 3). - TOU: Have fun, toy around with it (recolour, convert, modify) but credit me (theafricansim or believeandbecome) and link back to me and the original post, and please respect Hellfrozeover’s TOU. Please DON’T claim as your own or upload; if in doubt, ASK ME. Alternative link (Dropbox) HERE. Detailed list of all 11 items: (if you want to pick what you download, get what you want from the Simfile folder HERE) 1 - Hellfrozeover’s turban with lucky 13 swatches, some use only one kind of fabric, others use two or even three. Don’t forget the mesh. WARNING: If you have Kijiko’s old lashes installed they might look weird (like the turban reflects on the lashes), but if you replace it with her version 2 that you can download from her site here, the problem is gone. On the other hand, if you leave it, it looks quite funky, like disco eyelashes!). 2 - Sleeveless mid colour dress from Perfect Patio (you need to have it installed) with 8 swatches of Ankara wax prints. 3 – Base game ruched party dress in 8 swatches. 4 – Base game high heeled pumps in 8 swatches. 5 – Base game cold shoulders sweater in 8 swatches (one resembles one of the base game solid swatches, but mine uses a natural silk texture and the colour is slightly different from the basegame – it’s deep wine red). 6 - Base game espadrille sandals in 8 swatches. 7 – Base game mid (flared) skirt and belt in 8 swatches. 8 – Sweatpants from Spa Day (you need it installed) in 12 swatches. 9 – Collar bikini top from Spa Day (you need it installed) in 12 swatches. 10 – Base game blazer and tucked in open collar shirt in 5 swatches. 11 – Base game pencil skirt in 6 swatches. More preview pictures: Disclaimer: I included some photos that inspired the looks but in no way are the Sims meant to represent the models in the photos nor do I own the photos. If you want to check out the other custom content I used for the pics, they are listed with links at the end of this post. #african #clothes #cas #ethnic #dress #tops #skirts #jacket #sweater #bralet #recolors #spaday #dashiki #headwrap #turban #muslim #islam #islamic #ankara #female #adult #fashion #believeandbecome #theafricansim
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Post by believe&become on Dec 6, 2015 19:48:33 GMT -5
Oh wow incredible! You are so talented! Love the tree, cosy pose and lighting effects especially.
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Post by believe&become on Dec 6, 2015 19:04:09 GMT -5
Welcome sillyplumbob , voodoobg and applesause ! Hope you enjoy it here and don't hesitate to ask if you need support in anything! @stevenssimsstuff thank you for that background information on the word "newbie" - there are a lot of military people (both male and female) in my family but I didn't know that. May I ask if it is first hand information (just curious, don't feel obliged to answer) and in which country is that custom? And did you mean "newbie" as an American or British military term or maybe somewhere else? J Mzungu about the dichotomy between number of downloads/number of followers - I try to value quality over quantity in how the "general public" find my cc. I'm happier with something I produce that make 2 people really happy, happy enough to maybe write me about it or just truly enjoy it day after day - then have hundreds of people add it to a list and forget what it is, what it means, who made it. I don't mean to sound egotistical, I'm not looking for people to come worship my cc or my cc abilities, quite the contrary, I am happy to serve bringing value to people's lives. Or people's Sims lives. I don't expect them to "remember my name" but I would like them to remember what the cc meant, e.g. if it's a painting series that celebrates a certain artist, or a appreciation gift of something historical, or culturally significant, things like that. A bit like the movie industry really - sure, general Hollywood blockbusters are a safe bet if you want numbers and money, they grab your attention for two hours but many are sculpted from the same mold (hero/heroine/antagonist/plot/car chase...)- and at the same time there are some independent movies that make you go "wow, that made me think - that made me view the world in a different way". And you are in some "minor" way transformed, touched by the movie, even though you only have a few odd looking guys in the movie theater with you instead of a stereotypical time-planned jam packed session. Chances are, those few odd looking characters who came to see it, really really wanted to see it and have been planning to see it all year and keep the ticket afterwards and write about it in forums and imdb etc... versus the thousands who see the blockbuster because they were bored and won't remember it afterwards. I don't know, I always seem to be with the nerds, geeks, freaks (from back when that was NOT popular), etc rather than the popular kids lol. But I like it, it's my place!
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Post by believe&become on Dec 6, 2015 18:17:14 GMT -5
courtesy that was a great idea and thank you for volunteering for the Asian languages! Korean and Japanese are definitely useful, in my case I know a few custom content creators that use that language and it is sometimes difficult to find/understand their TOU or reblog their stuff correctly. fufu508 thank you for the update! Español is correct, though perhaps you could put Español(Castellano). It's not a big difference, really, just specifying what dialect of Spanish, as Latin Spanish can differ a little, although we all understand each other well. Also, some Spanish nationalists would insist that Spain has four national languages (and what is internationally/generally considered Spanish is indeed what I speak - Castellano or Castilian, spoken all over Spain, but still, the other languages do exist and have millions of speakers). As for Jamaican Patois, it would probably be best to not mention it, I am nowhere near being fluent in it, I do read and listen to it but since it's a dialect of English, anyone who speaks Patois (also called Patwah) would revert to British English or Jamaican English by default for general purposes, it's not like they "need" translation, I just happen to be a big supporter of relatively little known dialects and languages. If you really want to keep it, maybe put Patois/Patwa. May I just say it's really cool to belong to such a helpful international community!
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Post by believe&become on Dec 2, 2015 10:56:21 GMT -5
That was a really interesting conversation spinoff I must say! Hope you all don't mind that I post my experience with tumblrs and simblrs, to answer J Mzungu 's original question. I have only had a simblr for a few months, so I don't claim to know the ropes. But from observing the simblr community, I roughly categorize them in four groups: 1. Gameplay pics/legacy stories 2. CC uploads and/or reblogs 3. Showcasing builds or Sims or lookbooks 4. Combination of any of the above And they can be homogenous (only Sim stuff) or heterogenous (mixed with personal stuff ie. real life updates, pictures of cats, funny stuff, political issues, etc). The upside and downside of Simblr is the randomness of people, it's a little like being in an airport, people talking in different languages going to different places, people of different ages and races, and different agendas (work, holiday, family, relocation...). Since it is more random (and there is no restraint or regulation on what you put on your blog), it increases the possibility of finding someone really special who feels free to share whatever, but to the same degree it increases the possibility of finding a real scumbag. A lot of simblr is centred around popularity and accumulating followers, I'll admit even I got caught up in that craze for a few weeks (although I despise the term follower in this context - I find it reminiscent of cult like behaviour or an ego-based relationship between people who do not consider themselves equal). But ultimately my take on it now as a semipopular Simblr (700+ followers after 4 months) is that having a high number of followers is nice, but that's it - it's otherwise meaningless. Does that mean my relationships with the people who follow me are meaningless? Hell no! Excuse me there. There are a few people that are now closer than family to me and we write/talk/phone regularly. However, whenever a friendship became more solid it moved off tumblr and onto email/chat/skype, simply because tumblr is a platform for short, quick interactions not lasting friendships who have page long conversations. So my experience is that tumblr is great for "finding" people but once you've established a good connection, you need a better medium to continue building the friendship. About what should you do? Well what are your objectives? (I mean, I hope you're not creating a tumblr only to make other people happy). If what you want is to have a big follower base (for whatever reason, whether to be in contact with a lot of different people or distribute your cc widely) here are my tips: (Tips to establishing a well-known Simblr imho)1 - post regularly (every day, preferably 2x a day) - creating a queue helps with this so you don't have to be stressing every day 2 - find a target audience if you can (e.g. my main blog is very obviously especially for simblrs of african heritage, it's not exclusive at all but it is specialized), it sets you apart from the crowd and gains you not only focus but a specific follower group, people looking for that tag (eg mine would be "black sim" for blog 1, "alien sim" for blog 2) 3 - reach out to other simblrs within that group, write them, collaborate with them, and reblog their content. That doesn't mean suck up to them, obviously, just be nice. 4 - you can post non sims stuff too, some people don't like it, but what makes it nice/acceptable is 1) tagging it nonsims or saviorhide for those who don't want to see it, and 2) keeping it in line with your theme (eg a bakery simblr could post cupcake pictures or videos of favourite cooking shows). It helps if you are suscribed to tumblrs that whilst not simblrs, relate to your themes so you also get inspiration for your cc. I make a personal rule of maximum 1/1 (at most 1 sim post for every non-sim post) 5 - ideally a simblr is mainly original content, but practically, that's hard to do unless you have a lot of time on your hands. In my case it's not possible, but since I do have a theme, finding little known cc that fits in with my theme is useful, it's sharing discoveries. One of my favourite things to do is search foreign Sim sites, I can tell you a couple if you wish 6 - mixing things up, e.g. posting work in progress pics, gameplay pics, Sims you made and are proud of, is fine, if only because you want to show a few people you are close to. Ultimately, whether people like it or not - it's your blog!! So blog what you enjoy. I'm really happy with starting to use Sims 4 Studio forums and it definitely goes straight to the point and once you learn to navigate the boards, it's quite easy to track history, conversations, threads, people; and precisely because it is regulated, there is less time and energy wasted on petty rants or going off topic. And also because it is a forum, you're much more likely to get an answer of some type soon, versus posting a question on simblr where there may be hundreds of people passing by but everybody is doing their own thing and noone takes responsibility - as noone's going to say, "just checking if you ever got an answer on this?" unless they wanted the exact same thing. Like I mentioned before, tumblr's upside and downside is randomness and also lack of personal accountability/responsibility, and the ability to post everything and anything without personal restraint/restrictions. This also means however that someone who doesn't speak English at all, and very especially those who do not use a Latin alphabet, may not feel comfortable posting their stuff in an English forum because they feel they do not have control about what happens to their content or it's just plain too complicated to make the effort, so there is a possibility that many foreign cc creators might "slip through the net". Though we can always talk about and post links to our cc finds in the appropriate thread - I think it's within sims4studio.com/board/15/custom-content-links (not linking to their content but their posts)- I guess if we can make out the TOU in the foreign language. I hope I didn't ramble too much!
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Post by believe&become on Dec 2, 2015 10:19:26 GMT -5
Welcome alcatpone I hope you find making cc entertaining! It certainly is for me and you'll find all the help you need here, so give out a shout if you get stuck or don't know where to start! Welcome imagimary looking forward to seeing your poses and other creations! It's always nice to hear from players of the earlier Sims games, as I've only ever played TS4 and I am curious about how the cc side has changed since then. Welcome ansett747! Wow, you've been busy! That's great that you have found a niche that you like to focus on, kids and family. I make all kinds of stuff but I am partial to cc for Sims kids and using TS4 as a learning tool for kids too. Welcome to anyone I've missed!!
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