Interesting find: each lot package contains a 3D model of the lot, which can be exported to a 3D modelling program (with caveats):
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=496787

There are two neighborhoods available in the Sims 2 Graveyard, but I'm not sure how to document them in the wiki. Normally, we would specify the download thread, but these neighborhoods have no download threads and can be accessed as follows:
http://sims2graveyard.com/
Choose Downloads tab.
Choose catandsusims site.
Choose macgirl_neighborhoods folder.

N005 is Serenity, made with Bon Voyage game engine. *
N006 is Epiphany, made with Seasons game engine. *

It's possible to get a link to that folder, but that circumvents the graveyards website, so I'm not sure whether that is considered hotlinking or not.

* Both of these neighborhoods probably require earlier EPs as well; requires research.

I have guests until Monday, so I might forget my to do list:
- Investigate CI with DXT 5:
http://www.modthesims.info/showpost...7&postcount=333
- Check pregnancy controllers for Widespot as Business District.
http://www.modthesims.info/showpost...37&postcount=66
- Check storytelling for Widespot:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthre...630#post4083630

My internet computer just refused to boot this morning.

Never fear... I have a backup. Unfortunately, my DVD drive keeps failing and the backup is on DVD. The restore just couldn't get past 50%.

Never fear... I copied the backup from the DVD to a USB stick, and managed to restore my system. Unfortunately, the wireless network wouldn't work, even with a reinstall of the drivers. Looks like that's gone too... or else the DVD issues are causing the drivers to install incorrectly.

Never fear... I managed a wired connection and was able to get the internet up.

So, I'm back up and running.

However, with one of my two hard drives failing a month or so ago, and the DVD drive gone, and the wireless gone, I think that it's time to consider a new computer. I bought my most recent computer in 2008. I'm considering getting a new development / gaming machine and using my current dev / gaming machine for the internet.

I guess that it's time for some research. My main problem is that I want a really quiet computer. Desktop graphics cards sound like jet engines to me. If you have any suggestions, please join us here:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=496287

Just wanted to gather this together in one place, so that I can find it easily.

Pescado tells us how to safely delete sims from a neighborhood:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...pic,6205.0.html

This technique requires the batbox:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...topic,72.0.html

Since that tutorial was written, Theo wrote a SimPE plugin which makes the SimPE and Windows Explorer steps easier. You'll want the Action Delete Sim plugin from here:
http://www.simbology.com/smf/index....60709#msg160709

How to use:
- Extract and install the batbox in your Downloads folder.
- Extract and put Theo's DLL into the SimPE Plugins subfolder.
- Run the game.
- Turn on debug mode by typing in the following cheat:
boolProp testingCheatsEnabled true
- Use the batbox to prepare your sims to be deleted. Note that you need to <shift><click> on the batbox to see the option to prep your sim.
- Save and exit the game.
- Open your neighborhood in SimPE and select the SimDescription(s) for the Sim(s) that you want to delete.
- On the extreme right hand side of the SimPE window, click on "Resource Actions". The text is sideways right against the edge of the window. If you can't see that, try resetting the SimPE layout.
- At the very bottom of the Resource Actions area under Plugin, you'll see "Delete Sim (by Theo)". You may have to expand the Plugin area before it becomes visible.
- Theo's plugin will delete the Sim Description (SDSC) and Sim Scores (SCOR) for the sim. As well, it will delete the sim's Character file.

Some pictures available here:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=495772

I watched The World, The Flesh, and The Devil recently (as part of a 12/12/21 apocalypse festival), and it reminded me of an interesting movie that I saw a long time ago and that I'd like to see again... a quick google found the title: The Quiet Earth. I found the final scene haunting enough to remember for a long time, although I don't seem to remember much else about the movie.

Another movie that I watched a long time ago, but which I have been interested in seeing again: Mindwalk. I really enjoyed this movie, but I notice that most of the reviews that I see pan it. That's OK, since I found it an intellectually interesting film and most people are panning it for being too intellectually challenging.

I'm trying to figure out how to see these movies again. The movie channels in Canada just don't seem to be showing them. We used to rent movies at Blockbuster, but that's gone now.

Quatchi and I have been discussing how hard it is to make a great populated neighborhood, with an interesting neighborhood story, a variety of sims, and interconnections between families. I found out that he's really good at creating backstories for sims and neighborhoods, which is something that I'm not very good at.

So, he suggested a neighborhood based on the US elections. Get a US-style map with roads approximating the state borders. Lots in each state would be either red or blue, depending upon the results of the election. Other than that, lots would reflect something about the state itself. Farms in the mid-west, mansions in the more prosperous states, large covered porches in the south east, etc.

While it would be nice to have at least 50 families, one for each state, it might be feasible to have less. Perhaps it would make sense to start with the more populated or "important" states and then work towards the less populated. Families would be related to the state in some way. For example, the Alaskan family might mimic Sarah Palin's family, with the grandmother looking after the grandchild for an unmarried under-aged child. The family for D.C. might mimic the president's family; they would live in the only white house in the neighborhood. Sims wouldn't have to be famous, but they should try to reflect something about the state where they live. This might require some research to try to decide where to put small houses, where to put cheap or rundown houses, etc.

In general, red families are socially conservative, with predominately white couples with fortune fathers and family mothers, although there's a lot of leaway as to aspirations. In some of the southern states, they might have live in (illegal) aliens to do the dirty work. The blue families would mix things up more: more non-white families, gay and lesbian couples, mixed race couples, focusing more on knowledge and pleasure sims.

To do it really right, you'd want to set individual lifetime wants and choose career paths to match the lifestyles in the area.

Relationships between blue and red houses would tend to be strained; this might be easier to enforce by setting interests and / or personalities for the entire neighborhood to make sure that the red and blue would have problems carrying on a reasonable discussion, and tend to fight each other.

I really love this idea, but it looks like a lot of work because of the sheer number of families, the variety of families, and all of the research that would need to be done.

A collaboration might make more sense, if anyone found the idea interesting. There's no problem creating lots and then adding them to a shared neighborhood, or creating sim's appearances to be used when creating families. However, the population of the neighborhood should be done by just one person, or by passing the neighborhood around between various people.

If I were able to run a contest, it might even make a good way to get a variety of lots and families for each state.

I download several new subhoods:
Bucolic Peace
Bustlin' Beaches
Mystica

Unfortunately, they all require the latest version of the Store Edition, which I don't have. I tried changing the VERS record to Mansion and Garden, but the subhoods still wouldn't appear in my game.

So, I decided to see whether I could remove the Store Edition requirements for these subhoods and I seem to have something working.

Here's what I did:
1) Run the game. Create a new empty neighborhood. Exit the game.
2) Copy the entire Characters folder, Lots folder, and Storytelling Folder from the original subhood to the new neighborhood. Rename the prefix if necessary.
3) Copy the neighborhood PNG and rename if necessary.
4) Open the old neighborhood in SimPE and extract all of the records listed in steps 6 and 7 below.
5) Open the new neighborhood in SimPE. Delete records from step 6, if they exist.
6) Add all of the following records, which were extracted in step 4. It might be a good idea to add the records in the order listed, and to save your game after each set.
- STR#
- LTXT
- SDNA
- SDSC (I save and exit, then re-edit at this point, to make sims pictures appear)
- FAMI
- SREL
- SWAF
- SCOR
- BINX
- 3IDR
- COLL
- INIT
7) Replace the following records, which were extracted in step 4.
- IDNO (only if you want a subhood, rather than a primary neighborhood)
- FAMT
- NHTR
- NHTG
- NGBH

At this point, the neighborhood seems to be playable with Mansion and Gardens. If you've created a subhood, you'll want to move the subhood to your M&G installation folder, normally C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\The Sims 2 <EP>\TSData\Res\NeighborhoodTemplate

This procedure really leaves very few records which could be causing the incompatibility. My guess was that one or more of these records had a new versioned format which is incompatible with M&G. So, I replaced all of the following records with versions from a new M&G neighborhood. Unfortunately, that didn't make the subhood compatible with M&G.
- VERS (must be downgraded)
- POPS
- SCID (actually a good idea to start Sim instance at 1 again anyway)
- TATT
- 0x0F9F0C21
- 0xB21BE28B (WTHR) (might want to copy this one from old to new)
- 0xEC44BDDC (NHVW) (might want to copy this one from old to new)

So, I'm stumped about what's causing the incompatibility, but copying most of the records seems to work just fine.

EA's plan to sell weapons for charity backfires:
http://www.mtv.co.uk/news/medal-of-...ontroversy-sale

This idea was flawed from the start. Why couldn't EA see that?

My major one, of course, is trying to rewrite the AGS from scratch. Ouch!

However, since I've been able to reproduce tbudgett's problem with the CRES record in SimPE, I want to remember to look into debugging this if I can find the time:
http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=479638

I do not have anything else major on my plate at this time. If I've missed something important, please let me know because it has slipped my mind.