Saturday, 12 June 2021

Safari Pyjamas for Children



My next custom content creation is Safari Pyjamas for children which has two tops and two bottoms.  One set has a little picture of a lion, giraffe and elephant on the top with plain bottoms and the other set is patterned on both the top and bottom, so the items can be mixed and matched.  Even though I have a little boy showing these off to you, girls can wear them too!

I had a lot of fun creating these pyjamas and I think they turned out really nice.  I would love to know what you think!

As usual, these pyjamas are on my Patreon for early access and will be released on this blog in a couple of weeks time.  You will be able to download them from the Sims 4 Custom Clothing Downloads tab at the top of this page.

Please note that I will never charge for any of the items I make - they are all completely free.  Placing them on Patreon for early access is just a way for you to support me if you so wish - or not, as the case may be!

Don't forget to follow me on this blog and/or subscribe to me on YouTube so that you get notification of when the next item is available and when it is released to the public!

Happy Simming!

- Minicart


Friday, 4 June 2021

Octopus Pyjamas for Children

 


After a long break from creating custom clothing for children and toddlers for The Sims 4, I have decided to start up again.  Because I haven't created anything for a while, this was quite a learning curve for me.

Unfortunately, my Photoshop doesn't work any more and even though I have it on disc format, the registration number from the back of the box isn't recognised.  I contacted Adobe online and was given a different number for some reason but that doesn't work either!  Each time I went back to ask for help, the number I was given was the same as before!  In the end I gave up and purchased Affinity Photo.  

On a side note, the fact that my Adobe Photoshop no longer works, I feel that I should be given a refund.  I wish I had purchased Affinity Photo in the beginning as it is just a fraction of the price - £49.00!  Affinity does what Adobe does, apart from one thing...

It doesn't support DDS files!

As you may or may not know, DDS is the file format for creating stuff for computer games, including The Sims.

After a lot of fluffing about however, I found that Gimp (which is free) does support DDS files after installing the plugin.

So after watching tutorial videos on YouTube on how to install the DDS plugin, how to use Sims 4 Studio and figuring out the settings that I needed to export the files, I was again, back in business, so to speak!

I have made a few pyjama sets and the first one that I am releasing is Octopus Pyjamas for Children.

You can get early access to these PJ's on my Patreon or if you hang on until the 25th June, you can download them from my blog via the "The Sims 4 Custom Clothing Downloads" page above.

And I have made a few more PJ's that I will be releasing soon over the next few weeks, so to keep updated with everything, subscribe to me on YouTube and/or follow this Blog!  All clothing will have an early release on Patreon and will be posted on this Blog after around 3 weeks.

I hope that you and your Sims enjoy these pyjamas just as much as I enjoyed making them!

- Minicart



Thursday, 13 May 2021

Tomb of Discovery

 


In this episode of The Sands of Time, our hero John Linden, travels to Egypt for his first adventure.

On arrival he looks at the board at base camp to see what adventures can be had.  Apparently an organisation named MorcuCorp is working on a business opportunity with the Egyptian Government to locate three ancient relics in Al Simhara.  They are looking for someone to help them find these relics and if anyone is interested, they should report to Hassan Badawi.

Well of course John is definitely interested in this adventure and reports immediately to the person concerned.

Hassan Badawi is extremely pleased that John has decided to take on this adventure and awards John 10 visa points.  If you have ever played The Sims 3 World Adventures before, you will know that earning visa points means that this will grow your visa levels.  Once you have attained Visa Level 1, you will be able to stay in that particular Country for 5 days instead of 3 thereby being able to get more done and of course, go on more adventures.

Unfortunately for Hassan, he has lost some papers in the Tomb of Discovery and needs John to retrieve them for him.  John agrees and is given some dried food to help him on his way.

As with anything, one needs to be prepared and going on an adventure it is most important to be really prepared, especially when your life could be at stake.  John therefore decides to visit the market place in Al Simhara to obtain more supplies, such as a shower in a can and some more dried food.  He also purchases a motor bike to get him where he is going a lot quicker.

After he has finished buying what he needs, he makes his way to the Tomb of Discovery.




On entering the tomb, John ventures down the stairway to find some ancient coins and a treasure chest, which he hastily opens.  Although ancient coins cannot be used as normal currency, there is a market vendor who will sell special items for ancient coins.  We will delve into these special items in a later post...

John finds a moon shaped keystone in the treasure chest which he uses to place in the moon shaped crevice by the side of one of two locked doors.  The door opens and John is able to enter.

Throughout the tomb, John comes across ancient plates which he has to stand on to open other locked doors and he has to move large statues to reveal other ancient plates.  Although this particular tomb isn't filled with traps, John checks just in case.  During his adventure he finds more treasures, a secret door and of course the missing papers that Hassan Badawi had mislaid.

John runs back to Hassan with the papers and on arrival earns some more visa points and dried food.  Hassan Badawi was quite surprised that the Tomb of Discovery hadn't killed John which is rather strange as, after all, it was just an "Introductory Test".

John is then asked to report to Ahmed Diab who is employed by Hassan and is told to do what is asked of him.

John immediately goes to visit Ahmad who asks him to find 4 pieces of turquoise.  John accepts and starts the search.  Fortunately, when asked to look for gems and crystals and indeed insects when one is on an adventure, whether it be in China, France or Egypt, these "treasures" show up in map view, so they are easily found.  Unfortunately for John, only 2 pieces of turquoise are showing up.  This means of course, that he will have to wait for the next day to collect another 2 pieces, when in the morning they again spawn in game.  But John has a better idea.  He travels to the market place to see what is on offer at the store that sells pottery, broken vases, canopic jars and other interesting items and quite often, crystals, gem stones and metal pieces.  John is in luck!  The market vendor has 5 pieces of turquoise which John snaps up immediately.

He delivers the gems straight away to Ahmed Diab and earns some simoleons.  Ahmed then asks John to discuss MorcuCorp with three Egyptians to earn some more visa points.  Of course John agrees and sets out to meet some more Sims, strike up friendships and find out a little more about this mysterious corporation that everyone seems to be so nervous about.

- Minicart