Orb & Pillars of Enlightenment

Title: The Orb & Pillars of Enlightenment

UPGRADE August 5, 2017

1) This upgrade makes several improvements to teacher and student routing, making it more likely that they will position themselves correctly.

2) The teacher and students now use a more varied vocabulary, including Enthusiasms if FreeTime or any later EP is available.




Purpose

a) To create a functional crystal ball that qualified Sims may use to teach the Lifelong Happiness Skill as well as raise an interest in the Environment, stimulate FreeTime Music & Dance Enthusiasm, increase Niceness, and satisfy Comfort, Fun and Social needs.

b) On non-residential lots, to code this Orb to automatically invite an Apartment Life Good Witch (or Warlock) NPC, who will sit and use the glass sphere in private sessions with paying clients (if the Witch or Warlock is not available, the Basegame Nanny will appear instead).

c) To supply freestanding "Pillars of Enlightenment" to support the crystal ball at either coffee table or counter height.

d) In addition, to program the Orb to facilitate requests for the Good Witch or Warlock NPC to heal a Sim or bless (beautify) the lot.



Description

The Orb is basegame compatible, but to actually learn the Lifelong Happiness Skill, Apartment Life or Mansion & Garden must be available. When used by an occultist, the Orb acts as a source of blue light and randomly displays some glowing visual effects. The Lifelong Happiness Skill slows the rate of aspiration level decay.

This set is compatible with the podiums available in the Opportunity Pack Lectern, Reading Desk and Ravendancer projects.

The Pillars of Enlightenment and the Orb of Enlightenment are each available from the Hobby/Knowledge section of the catalogue. The Lesser Pillar of Enlightenment costs §157, The Greater Pillar of Enlightenment §158, and Orb of Enlightenment §159.


Contents

1) The Orb of Enlightenment - throughout the ages, thoughtful Sims have reflected on the nature of joy. Enlightened ones claim they have discovered the secret of Lifelong Happiness, and with the aid of the Orb they will impart this wisdom to others, for a fee. All those at the session will increase their Environmental Interest and FreeTime Music & Dance Enthusiasm, while satisfying their comfort, fun and social needs. School and college students will also earn Grade Points. If the teacher is a magician, everyone present will become slightly Nicer, and spellcasters can also bless or heal.


Only Sims who have already learned the Lifelong Happiness Skill may teach using the Orb, gaining Charisma in the process. Magicians who practice "Good" magic and moderately Charismatic Sims (those with at least three Charisma skill points) may do so autonomously.

Registered witches and warlocks will also improve their magic skills and shift their magical alignment towards "Good", but only magicians who are already good will attend the session autonomously. Magic skill and alignment data is displayed at the beginning and end of a student's learning session.

It is college accredited for those majoring in Philosophy, but regardless of what major they may be specializing in, attending a lecture at the Orb will grant college credits to all those registered in university.

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 (up to one half term for 1000 points) in college.

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

The default visionary is the Apartment Life Good Witch NPC. Her backup is the Basegame Nanny.




If a Sim is sick, the "Heal" menu option will direct the Witch or Warlock NPC to cure any selectable Sim using the Remedis Simae spell. The "Receive Blessing" option will inspire the NPC to cast Beautificus Locus which beautifies 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 Orb of Enlightenment is based on the crystal ball mesh used as a handheld accessory by the Fortune Teller NPC, and like that accessory, it consists of an inner and an outer sphere. The inner sphere of The Orb of Enlightenment is mapped to the glass subset of the basegame "End-to-End" Coffee Table and the outer sphere is mapped to the glass subset of the basegame Centerpieces Coffee Tables. A large number of recolours for these coffee tables were made available in the 140+ Tiny Filesize Glass Coffee Table Recolours project. Those recolours labeled "Crystal Ball" are exact reproductions of the textures from the Fortune Teller's handheld ball or of the outdoor decorative balls released in Seasons and Mansion & Garden. The animated glass textures can produce some interesting crystal ball effects.


2) The Greater Pillar of Enlightenment - some Sims are certain that one must stand to receive Enlightenment. Those folks call this Pillar the Greater one, and insist that the Orb must be positioned at counter height. The Greater Pillar is shaped to hold a crystal ball in either of its two deco slots. Slot 0 allows the ball to sit directly in the concave depression that is shaped to contain it. Slot 1 places the bottom of the ball level with the top surface of the column, so that it appears to hover slightly above it. Alternatively, Slot 1 is a convenient location for a book or other small object.

2) The Lesser Pillar of Enlightenment - There seem to be two denominations of Sims who seek Enlightenment. Some say you must stand to receive it, but others say that sitting down is just fine, thank you. The Lesser Pillar belongs to the second group, who are content to put their Orbs at the height of a coffee table. Apart from the height the two pillars are identical.

The Pillars of Enlightenment are based on the mesh for the Seasons Odd Foretelling crystal ball decor. Both pillars are mapped to the textures available for the basegame "Museé Public Collection Sculpture", such as those from the 150+ Tiny Filesize Basegame Vase Collection Recolours and 64 HiRes Wood Basegame Vase Collection Recolours projects.




Looking into the Future

This set is the second in a series of crystal ball projects dedicated to raising Apartment Life and M&G Life Skills, with each including one or more crystal ball holders or stands. While each stand or holder is intended to convey the theme of the crystal ball that is is released with, the crystal ball supports are usable with any crystal ball in the series.


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.


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, 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 create appropriate medieval dialogues
The handsome, no-monkey-or-fishlips faces in the medieval settings are a result of selzi's default replacements
Sunni's default replacement NPCs, such as Sunni's Medieval NPC Replacements: Commoners, are also featured
StephSim's Gwrych Woodland Lot provides a realistic medieval ambience


Polygon Counts

The Orb of Enlightenment: 360 faces, 202 vertices
The Greater Pillar of Enlightenment: 434 faces, 474 vertices
The Lesser Pillar of Enlightenment: 400 faces, 414 vertices