Cool Item of the Week

I can't believe I only now discovered this object! It's called Dexter the Bear, from ModTheSims and it allows for your Sims to kill other Sims by stabbing with a knife, hitting with a poker, or hitting with a hammer. What is so awesome about this mod though are the extras, such as new moodlets and Sims can actually be arrested when they murder another Sim! I just love mods that add realism to the game!

Thanks to ani_ for making this!

Fourth Expansion Pack - Sims 3: Generations

So I found out last night that the fourth expansion pack has been leaked, but not officially announced. It's called Sims 3: Generations.

TheSims3.com shows the title, but the link isn't functional yet.

SnootySims posted this blurb, but they didn't post their source:

"With Generations, Sims of every age can enjoy new activities! Kids can hang out with friends in tree houses. Teens can pull hilarious pranks. Adults can suffer midlife crises. And so much more!"

I'm intrigued by the idea of an expansion pack focusing on family life, but I think all of the community, myself included, are a bit shellshocked by this. All I've been hearing about is pets and/or weather, and I was hoping for that as well, and EAxis has thrown us a curveball.

There's supposed to be an official announcement soon, and hopefully that will come with much more information and maybe some screenshots will start popping up soon. I'll keep you all posted!

Quaint Starter Home (LollySims)

I find starter homes to be challenging to build, because it's so tempting to go extravagant and blow the budget. The downside to that is that every new Sim has to live in a starter home, unless you use cheats, so I thought I'd take a stab at making a nice starter home.

This Quaint Starter Home features 2 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, 1 car garage, an unfinished basement, and an open concept living, dining, and kitchen area.

Front View

Floor Plan

Kitchen

Living Room

Hallway -

Point of view from the front door; living area on the left, bedrooms on the right.

Master Bedroom

Four Piece Bathroom - 

Doors from both bedrooms and from the hall

Second Bedroom

Garage

Powder Room/Half Bathroom -

located off the kitchen and behind the garage

Unfinished Basement

Unfurnished - 17,296
Furnished - 19,093

I used no custom content on this lot!

**Requires: Ambitions**

DOWNLOAD LINK

If you have any questions or run into any problems, please leave a comment.

Cool Item of the Week

*Quick note about "cool items": since I've changed them from daily to weekly, I am changing the category name to simply "Cool Items", so as not to clutter things up unnecessarily.

This week's cool item comes from Sugichaco: working Bunkbeds!

The style is very realistic, which I love. Many thanks to Sugilog for making these!

Hatter Hat

Almost forgot to post this. I finally found that awesome Hatter hat accessory I mentioned before. I don't know why EA didn't make hats an accessory to begin with, but modders always seem to come through where EA lacks :)

Hatter's Hat Collection (3 different styles; available for male and female!)

Thanks to "Twilight" for making this!

Meshing is a nightmare...

The title says it all. I've been attempting to learn how to mesh and it is just not going well. Actually, it's not so much the meshing as the UV mapping and texturing. No matter what I do, it doesn't seem to turn out right. *sigh* I think I've read and watched every possible tutorial on the subject and follow them exactly, and somehow my objects and clothes just end up an epic fail. This sums it up nicely:

I'm not sure where to go from here. I feel like I'm wasting a lot of time on something I might just never be capable of doing :( So for now, I'm going to go back to working on lots. I'm actually in the process of making a lot which is becoming a much bigger project than I was expecting, and since it's taking more time than I thought, I might put it on the backburner, so I can get more content added to this blog. Time just hasn't been on my side lately I'm afraid.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I've been rather discouraged lately.

Link Exchange

If anyone would like to exchange links, please post a comment below with a link to your site. The only thing I ask is that your site contains some sort of Sims 3 content.

Please link back to: http://lolly-sims.blogspot.com

I don't know if/when I'll be setting up a section for banners, but if you prefer to use banners on your website, you can save mine below:

Azalea Park (LollySims)

I started making this park awhile back, inspired by a park that I used to live by when I was a kid, and I abandoned it because of the in-game limitations. Now with the new EP's, I found I could make the park very close to how I always wanted to make it :)

Overhead View

Baseball Diamond - 

Buy your Sims a baseball and put it in their inventory, and they should be able to play catch on the baseball field!

Baseball Dugout

(hard to tell but this is slightly below ground level)

Bleachers

(the bleachers themselves are just stairs, but your Sims can sit on the top level)

Old Wood Playground -

I discovered that Sims can actually climb up the firefighter pole (with some effort), so I made a platform with a telescope they can climb to, a bridge across to the other platform where the playground object is, and then another pole to slide down from there.

Picnic Area

Swings and Restroom - 

I also added a couple butterfly spawners here.

I used no custom content on this lot!

**Requires: World Adventures, Ambitions, and Late Night**

DOWNLOAD LINK

If you have any questions or run into any problems, please leave a comment.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a nice Valentine's Day :) Here's a few more goodies I've found on the web:

Living Room Romantic

Valentines Room

LunaSims Valentine's Set

Valentine Heart Set

Bedroom Romance Set

Bedroom "Valentine"

Li'l Simmies Toy Store (LollySims)

I located another property I had made awhile back, edited to improve it, and now I can present Li'l Simmies Toy Store! Sim kids are highly ignored and neglected in Sims 3, so I wanted to make a fun lot for them to visit, especially if your Sims can't afford the finer things in life. This lot is suitable for Sims of all ages, there's lots of fun things to do here!

Front View

Front Entrance

Floor Plan

Checkout Counters - 

Cash Registers are just decorative, no working ones really apply to toy stores :( 

Also sorry about the excessive lighting, but with a warehouse-type ceiling, hanging lights just don't look right.

Pirate/Explorer Room -

There's a playable chest in this room too. These are just for display.

 Near the front entrance - 

Foosball is near the doors, toy chest is more in the middle of the room

Bathroom

Teddy Bear Room

Cribs and High Chairs - 

Bring your toddlers along, and if they get cranky they can eat and nap right in the store :)

Chess Table/Blocks Tables/Shuffleboard

A variety of Doll Houses (all floor models are playable)

Video Game & Electronics Area

Dart Board and Arcade Machine

Checkout Counter for electronics (decorative register)

Playground Equipment

Reading Nook

Children's Stoves - 

(Your Sim kids can bring their baker's stand from home and set up shop right in the toy store)

I used no custom content on this lot!

**Requires: World Adventures, Ambitions, and Late Night**

DOWNLOAD LINK

If you have any questions or run into any problems, please leave a comment.

Cool Item of the Day (and some changes)

Before I tell you the cool item of the day, I want to say that I've decided to stop doing the cool item of the day. At least for now. There's stuff I want to make for the Sims, and as I said before, I feel like that should be my priority. However, I will be switching the format over to cool item of the week instead, and I'll probably post on Saturdays from now on.

But for today, the cool item comes from 5npc Sims 3 and it is a mini fridge!

Many thanks to 5npc for making and sharing this item!

Unfortunate Apartment (LollySims)

Yay, finally finished my first apartment! This is not a high-rise, but rather a regular house, broken up into 5 apartments. I call it the "Unfortunate Apartment" because this is not a nice place to live. It's for Sims down on their luck who just need a roof over their head. The idea came to me of a sleazy landlord with a studio apartment to rent out that happens to have a walk-in closet, which the landlord converts into a bedroom in order to collect more in rent. So your Sims are left with a tiny bedroom, and basically a coat closet to act as their closet for their entire wardrobe. Yeah, I really am tormenting the Sims with this one ;)

I realized as I was designing this building that I was drawing inspiration from Silent Hill, so you might see some similarities in the sort of rusted out, unkempt design.

Front View - 

The entire lot is asphalt so would look better in an urban city.

Side View - 

There's a junk pile to collect scrap from, and this is also where the trash can is.

Floor Plan - 

Your Sims live on the second story, in the left-side apartment.

Lobby Floor Plan

Basement Floor Plan -

This area is public, and offers a washer & dryer, and an inventor's table.

Lobby -

The door to the basement is behind the stairs, across from the door in this picture.

Apartment - living room area

Apartment - kitchen area

Apartment - bedroom

Apartment - bathroom and closet

The clothes rack is decorative but you can put a dresser in there instead, to make it functional.

Apartment - doors to closet, bathroom, and bedroom (left to right)

Basement - washer/dryer

Basement - inventor's table 

(made the basement intentionally dark to make the place seem even more bleak)

Back of House - 4 Parking Spaces

(you can buy and place cars without needing cheats, just fyi)

Front Entrance

So, that's it! I didn't put a hamper into the apartment, because there really wasn't much space for one, and also I thought it added to the whole feel of the place to have the Sims just throw their laundry on the floor.

There's a callbox in the lobby across from the stairs, I just forgot to get a picture for it. There's no trash chute, because it didn't seem realistic in a house like this. (Actually callboxes aren't either, but I wasn't sure if Sims could visit without one...I should test that for future reference).

NPC's will move in to the apartments, and you can ring their doorbells. All the apartment features were tested and work fine :)

I used no custom content on this lot!

**Requires: World Adventures, Ambitions, and Late Night**

DOWNLOAD LINK

If you have any questions or run into any problems, please leave a comment.