Lady Ravendancer's Magical Arcana

Title: Lady Ravendancer's Magical Arcana



UPDATE December 16th, 2016: Routing Improvement

Enthusiastic listeners will now go to the front of the class to attend the talk, rather than the rear.


ACCREDITED December 11th, 2016:

a) With this major upgrade, all the teaching items in the Magical Arcana set are now University and grade school accredited, meaning that school and college students will earn grade points while they attend the talks. Their educational progress will be displayed at the beginning and end of each tutorial session.

b) To support this more serious purpose, a proper dress code is now enforced for all teachers and students - no more attending lectures in pajamas or swimsuits! Children and teens who are not magicicans will dress in private school uniforms.

c) Lecturers who teach autonomously are now more likely to stay on the job.

d) For students of the occult, magic alignment and skill status is displayed at the beginning and end of each learning session.

e) The placement rules for the reading desks are changed to prevent the back of the object (where the Sim stands) from being occupied by another object, but to allow the front to be placed next to a railing such as might exist on a raised stage.

f) A bug that caused listeners not to use audience seating has been fixed. My thanks to gazania for confirming this problem.

g) In checking for valid audience seating, bar stools are now approved for use.

h) The Book of Light now supports the Blessing and Healing options introduced in The Orb of Enlightenment. The Good Witch NPC can be asked to bless the current lot or to heal any sick Sim on the lot.

i) Similarly, the Necronomicon can now be used to ask the Evil Witch NPC to curse the current lot or to sicken any selectable Sim present.

Please download sdRavendancerReadingDesks_WithBooks.zip for this update. Ideally, NPCs who are teaching on a residential lot should be dismissed before installing this update. However, if you find that an NPC such as the Bon Voyage Ninja ends a teaching session without disappearing as he should, this release allows the NPC to be recalled and then dismissed properly.



Purpose

To supply two gothic style reading desks, eleven functional texts and supporting recolours suitable for a Sim's general or magical education.


Description

Apart from the college credits, enthusiasms and magical skills only available in later EPs, all the objects are fully functional in basegame and can be used to increase basegame school grades, skills and interests. This set is compatible with the Opportunity Pack Lectern and Reading Desk projects. Together with these other items, these lecterns and texts can be used to build a college or school, or an academy that specializes in the paranormal.

When used in a Sims University context, this set is particularly useful for building skills, interests, enthusiasms and grade credits in support of completing the various majors, and for providing supplemental income to college students.



Contents

Each item in this set is available from the Hobby/Knowledge section of the catalogue. The majority of the objects in this set cost §179 each, but similar to the Opportunity Pack Special and Archival Editions, the Closed Books in this set are priced at §298 to reflect their higher decorative value. The Didactic Desk and Grandiose Reading Stand are priced at §178 each.


1) Lady Ravendancer's Didactic Desk - this recreation of the Sims 3 Store's "Book O' Spells" lectern has five slots on the top surface that are designed for holding Opportunity Pack Books & Notes, Collector's Editions, Lectern Accessories and Reading Desk Accessories, as well as the texts included in this upload.

The Didactic Desk uses the recolour sets provided for the Opportunity Pack Lectern as well as those included here.



2) Lady Ravendancer's Grandiose Reading Stand - this adaptation of the Apartment Life magic user's lectern is functionally identical to the Didactic Desk and uses the same recolour sets.

3) Opportunity Lectern Ravendancer Recolours - this set of 18 recolours is designed for the Ravendancer Didactic Desk and Grandiose Reading Stand as well as the Opportunity Pack Reading Desk, Decorative Lectern, Lamp, Microphones and Teleprompter Insert. The textures are adapted from the 100+ Tiny Filesize Transport Urn Recolours set.



4) Lady Ravendancer's Book of Light - this legendary arcanum enables idealistic Sims with at least three points of Creativity Skill to "Illuminate" a class. Devotees will increase their own Creativity skill and acknowledge their blessings with a donation. All Sims at the meeting will gain Sci-Fi Interest and FreeTime Film & Literature Enthusiasm. Those in school and college also earn Grade Points, and if the teacher is a magic user, all those present will become slightly Nicer. Spellcasters can also bless or heal.

Good Witches and Warlocks, and Moderately Charismatic Sims (those with at least three Charisma points) will teach a class autonomously. Children cannot teach at all unless they have at least one Charisma point as well as three Creativity points.

For the Book of Light, the default teacher is the Good Witch NPC but if she is not available or Apartment Life is not installed the Basegame backup is the Nanny. Either one is equally effective at teaching white magic. Magic skill and alignment data is displayed at the beginning and end of a student's learning session.

The Book is college accredited for those majoring in Literature, but regardless of what major they may be specializing in, attending a lecture at the Book of Light will grant Grade Points to all those registered in university or school.

College and school progress is displayed at the beginning and end of each student's learning session. If a school student earns an "A+", additional study will earn Extra Credits which allow a child or teen to take time off without losing a letter grade, or can be saved for advanced placement (one full term for 1000 points) in college.

Teachers and students will dress appropriately to attend class. In the case of children and teens, those who are not magicians will dress in private school uniforms.

The book will satisfy the "Practice Speech, "Read To", "Be Read to by", and "Went to Class" wants.

If a Sim is sick, the "Heal" menu option will direct the Good Witch or Warlock NPC to cure any selectable Sim using the Remedis Simae spell. If the Sim is no longer sick when the spellcaster is ready, then Benemoodus Simae or "Make Sim Happy" spell will be cast instead. The "Receive Blessing" menu option will inspire the NPC to cast Beautificus Locus to beautify the lot. Either of these options will cause the Witch or Warlock to cancel a teaching session at the Orb or a Ravendancer book to answer the request, or to appear at the lot if they are not there already. "Receive Blessing" is a convenient way to invite the NPC to visit so as to make friends with a Sim, leading to a possible initiation into the magical realm.

The Book of Light and all the other books in this set use EA's built-in basegame book recolours as well as those from the Opportunity Pack Books, Collector's Editions, Grimms' Storybook and those included here.

Additionally, the Book of Light uses the many available basegame Lady on Red (Bella) recolours for the picture on the left-hand page, including these, and the Rossetti prints available here, here and here





5) Lady Ravendancer's Book of Potions - similar in features and function to the Book of Light, this reliable reference allows Sims with at least three points of Cooking Skill to "Teach" a class while raising their own Charisma. Paying students will increase their culinary skills and all Sims involved gain Health Interest and FreeTime Nature Enthusiasm. Those in school and college will also earn Grade Points. Both the teacher and the student, if registered as a witch or warlock, will increase their Magic skill, with no effect on their magical alignment - i.e. the degree to which they are "Good" or "Evil".

The default teacher is the Nightlife and FreeTime Fortune Teller (Matchmaker) and her backup is the Basegame Bartender.

The Book of Potions uses the basegame Fourth Element Tapestry recolours for the graphic on the right-hand page. Many recolours are available, including those provided for the Opportunity Pack Lectern & Accessories, StephSim's medieval and fantasy series at Plumb Bob Keep and those included here.

The Book of Potions is college accredited for those majoring in Art.



6) Lady Ravendancer's Book of Shadows - similar in function to the Book of Light, this mystical work enables Sims with three or more Cleaning Skill points to "Initiate" a class. Students will pay to increase their Cleaning Skill and all Sims involved gain School Interest and FreeTime Sports Enthusiasm. Those in school and college will also earn Grade Points. Like the Book of Potions, both the teacher and the student will increase their Magical skill if they are registered as witches or warlocks, but there will be no effect on their magical alignment.

By default, the Bus Driver will lead the initiation - and he does not require a backup.

The Book of Shadows uses The Sims 2 Opportunity Pack Ticket (Note Card) recolours for its left-hand graphic. Please be sure to use the latest version of the Ticket recolours, released August 1, 2015.

The Book of Shadows is a secondary master for the Ticket recolours, so it not necessary to have the original Ticket file in a Downloads folder for the recolours to work.

This book is college accredited for those whose major is "Undeclared".





7) Lady Ravendancer's Grimoire - this volume allows Sims with at least 3 points of Creativity to gain Charisma and earn an income as they "Charm" a gathering. Listeners pay to attend the meeting while developing their Charisma Skills. All participants gain Culture Interest and FreeTime Music & Dance Enthusiasm. Those in school and college will also earn Grade Points. Registered witches and warlocks will increase their Magic skill, but with no effect on magical alighment.

Although slow to appear when summoned, the Nightlife Grand Vampire is content to beguile the class, and is protected from sunlight while doing so. A man of hidden skills, the Headmaster acts as backup.

The Grimoire uses Lady on Red recolours for the picture on its right-hand page.

This book is college accredited for those majoring in Political Science.



8) Lady Ravendancer's Necronomicon - this infamous tome enables Sims with three or more points of Mechanical Skill to "Corrupt" an audience, increasing their Interest in Crime, as well as their Mechanical Skill and FreeTime Tinkering Enthusiasm. School and college students will also earn Grade Points, and if the teacher is a magician, all in attendance will become a little less Nice. Sorcerers can also curse the lot or sicken selectable Sims.

Warlocks and Witches will raise their Magic skill, while shifting their magical alignment towards the "Evil" domain.

If available, the Apartment Life Evil Witch NPC will lead the audience astray, otherwise the Repo-Man makes a surprisingly effective substitute.

Using the Necronomicon menu, the Evil Witch or Warlock NPC can be asked to either curse the lot using Corruptus Locus or to make any selectable Sim temporarily sick using Heavus-Ho. If the Sim is already sick when the spellcaster is ready, then the Witch will cast Spiritus Poultria or "Chicken Possession" instead.

The Necronomicon uses Ticket (Note Card) recolours on its right-hand page and it acts as a secondary master for Ticket recolours.

The Necronomicon is college accredited for those majoring in Physics.



9) Lady Ravendancer's Page of Centring - This unassuming piece of paper appears to have been taken from either Lady Ravendancer's Book of Light or her personal Grimoire. As such it contains powerful magic that is missing from either volume. Not only will Sims with at least 3 points of Body skill gain Charisma and earn an income as they "Enchant" an audience, but speakers who are magic users will also comfort and energize all in attendance - a particularly helpful restorative for active spellcasters. If Seasons is installed, the comfort effect includes the maintenance of a neutral body temperature. Any witch or warlock present will increase their Magic skill with no change in magical alignment.

Regardless of the magical abilities of the sensei, all listeners will enhance their Body skills and everyone will raise their Paranormal Interest and FreeTime Fitness Enthusiasm. School and college students will also earn Grade Points.

Noted for his flashy entrance and exit, the Bon Voyage Ninja will lead the session. The basegame Burglar and Exterminator provide backup.

The Page of Centring is designed with an oversized bounding mesh so that if a larger text is placed on top of it the stack may be easily relocated. When put on a Ravendancer or Opportunity Pack lectern, the stacked text will be offset to the left so that it will be perfectly centred on the lectern. This will also centre the lecturer with reference to the lectern and may provide just the look you need for a building project.

If you are using the stack centring feature and make the Page of Centring invisible, the stack will appear to float slightly above the surface it is on. To avoid this subtle anomaly the Page of Centring has two additional slots which will bury the stack in the Page mesh, making the stacked text appear to be resting directly on the surface object. If you have one of the later EPs you can access the additional slots using the "m" key, otherwise you will need to temporarily fill the unwanted slots so you can place the stacked text in the slot you want.

This object uses basegame book recolours only.

The Page of Centring is college accredited for those majoring in Drama.



10) Lady Ravendancer's Writ of Balance - using this document, intelligent Sims with at least three points of Logic Skill will be motivated to "Educate" those in attendance, stimulating their Interest in the Environment while increasing their Logic Skill, FreeTime Science Enthusiasm and Grade Points (for school and college students). Taking care of the environment starts with individual actions, and magical practioners will inspire all in attendance to become a little Neater. Warlocks and Witches will raise their Magic skill, while shifting their magical alignment towards "Neutral".

You may never have seen this NPC character in person before, but by default the Seasons Ideal PlantSim will facilitate the discussion, backed up by the Bon Voyage Masseuse or if she is not available the basegame Gardener.

The Writ of Balance uses Fourth Element Tapestry recolours for the picture on the left-hand page.

The Writ is college accredited for those majoring in Biology.



11) Lady Ravendancer's Closed Book, Narrow - Unlike all the open books listed above, the four closed books in this set are not made for lecturers to use. Instead they are skill building decorative objects like Opportunity Pack Special and Archival Editions. If the player chooses, Sims will gather around a Ravendancer Closed Book and discuss it together, building a skill, interest and enthusiasm (FreeTime or later), until their needs are depleted.

The Closed Book, Narrow, is sized to represent the Book of Shadows and Necronomicon when they are not being used for lecturing. The Narrow Closed Book stimulates Logic skills and FreeTime Film & Literature enthusiasm. Serious Sims and those who talk about the Closed Book with others will increase the Entertainment interest.


12) Lady Ravendancer's Closed Book, Slender - this Closed Book represents the Book of Potions and Writ of Balance when they are not being used for teaching a class. The Slender Closed Book will raise Mechanical skill and FreeTime Science enthusiasm. Serious or socializing Sims will increase their Money interest.


13) Lady Ravendancer's Closed Book, Standard - the Standard width Closed Book is sized to be equivalent to the Book of Light and the Grimoire. This tome has the potential to raise Creativity skill, FreeTime Games enthusiasm and the Toys interest.


14) Lady Ravendancer's Closed Book, Upright - the Upright Closed Book also represents the Book of Light and the Grimoire. This volume will raise Charisma skill, FreeTime Cuisine enthusiasm and the Travel interest.





15) Ravendancer Basegame Book Recolours - in addition to the Opportunity Pack Book, [http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=519229]Collector's Edition[/url] recolours, Grimms' Storybookand the built-in basegame book recolours, the volumes in this set can use the following eight textures that are inspired by the Apartment Life Grimoire.



16) Fourth Element Tapestry Magic & Mystic Recolours - this collection of 72 esoteric recolours supports the basegame tapestry, the Frontal Tapestry for the Opportunity Lectern and some of the textbooks in this and the Opportunity Pack Reading Desk sets.



17) The Sims 2 Opportunity Pack Ticket Recolours - this set of 12 Ticket (Note Card) recolours extends the options for any book that uses them, such as the Book of Shadows and Necronomicon included in this project. Eight of these recolours are derived for the Ravendancer Book Recolours listed above, with an additional four from the Tapestry set. Those sourced from the Book Recolours are particularly useful for making a book with facing text pages that are actually different from each other.



18) Invisible Recolours - for occasions when you do not want these objects to draw attention to themselves, I have created invisible recolours for the basegame book, the Lady on Red painting, Ravendancer Lecterns and basegame Tapestry. This is the same set of Invisible Recolours as supplied with Opportunity Pack Reading Desk.


Downloads

This set is distributed in five downloads, as follows:

a) sdRavendancerReadingDesks_WithBooks.zip - this archive contains the two reading desk and eleven book and paper mesh files for this set.

b) sdOpportunityLectern_RavendancerRecolours.zip - this file contains 18 Ravendancer themed recolours for the Opportunity Pack and Ravendancer "non-electronic" Lecterns, together with the Teleprompter Invisible recolour.

c) sdBookBG_RavendancerRecolours.zip - these eight recolours support the text and cover graphics used in basegame, Opportunity Pack and Ravendancer books.

d) sdFourthElementTapestry_MysticRecolours.zip - holds 72 magic & mystic recolours to support the pictures included in Opportunity Pack and Ravendancer books as well as basegame Fourth Element and Frontal Tapestries.

e) sdOpportunityTicketBG_RavendancerRecolours.zip - contains 12 Opportunity Pack ticket recolours to support the note card itself as well as the Opportunity Pack and Ravendancer books that use the ticket graphic.

f) sdOpportunityReadingDesk_InvisibleRecolours.zip - this download contains invisible recolour files you may find useful for making the books or lecterns invisible.


Terms of Use

You may include any item from this set in uploaded lots, whether for free or pay. It is nice but not necessary to provide a credit and link to this page.


Recommendation

I suggest using Pescado's Community Lot Skilling and Enthusiasm patch so that these and all other skill building objects are fully functional on all lots.


Warning

I took special care in this project to ensure that potentially dangerous NPCs such as the Ideal Plantsim are tightly controlled and not permitted to interact directly with Sims. It is possible to override these precautions with hacks that cause the NPCs to be selectable or even become members of a playable household. Doing so may corrupt not only that household, but the whole neighbourhood or game. As a rule, only cause NPCs to become selectable or to join a household if they could be invited to do so during the course of normal gameplay.




Additional Credits

GIMP 2 and Microsoft Paint for graphics editing, file conversion, processing, sizing and titling
Jfade's Compressorizer for minimizing file size
Milkshape 3D, Ultimate Unwrap3D Pro and UV Mapper Professional, for 3D modeling and mapping
Numenor's AnyGameStarter, used for testing this project in several game environments
SimPE, PJSE, and CEP for Sims 2 object creation
rugrat0ne's Gift of the Gab: Speech Bubble Replacements are featured in the pre-modern speech making outside the Gwrych Great Hall
sunni9676's Medieval NPC driver is seen at the Book of Shadows
StephSim's Ravendancer Academy (not yet released) and the Gwrych Medieval Great Hall provided a realistic ambience for the in-game images. Stephanie also gave me invaluable assistance as a beta tester.


Polygon Counts

Lady Ravendancer's Book of Light: 138 faces, 183 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Book of Potions: 138 faces, 183 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Book of Shadows: 138 faces, 183 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Closed Book, Narrow: 138 faces, 192 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Closed Book, Slender: 138 faces, 192 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Closed Book, Standard: 138 faces, 192 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Closed Book, Upright: 141 faces, 197 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Didactic Desk: 622 faces, 1262 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Grandiose Reading Stand: 826 faces, 1058 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Grimoire: 138 faces, 183 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Necronomicon: 138 faces, 183 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Page of Centring: 32 faces, 40 vertices
Lady Ravendancer's Writ of Balance: 138 faces, 183 vertices