This isn't a help thread and shouldn't be used as such, HOWEVER, just this once...

Type [IMG](http://www.yourimagehere.com/whatever/blehbleh.jpeg)[/IMG], without the ( ) and with your image's URL in the ( ). Usually you'll be using one that's uploaded to a photobucket account or something...
The "Insert Image" link will do it all for you automatically.
You have to have your pictures ONLINE. Okay? Hopefully that helps.

I have noticed that a lot of pictures in stories have thought bubbles above sims and plumbbobs too, so I just thought I could help by giving some cheats to get rid of them and make pictures more realistic:

press Ctrl, shift and C (you all know that but just in case)
then write:

plumbbobtoggle : this will remove the plumb bob for every sim. if type it again, the plumb bob will appear again.

showheadlines on/off : removes or enables all bubbles when sims talk or think.

I found these by typing "help" in the cheat bar. There are tons of really helpful cheats. Check them out!

Yes, but plumbbobtoggle only works in OFB, and showheadlines only works with Nightlife or OFB (I think?) Some people don't have either of those expansion packs. That's when you have to get creative with the angles of the shots.

Occasionally with boolprop on you get an option "Hide me!" when you right-click a plumbob.

Is there a better way to put a story together than trying to write the whole chapter in one post? It seems that it would be easier to write it at home in a word processing program, then upload it and add pictures, but I have no idea how to do that. And writing it in the story mode in the game has some serious limitations! Not the least of which is 9 neighborhoods make for a half-hour load time just to go into one house to type the story.

I'm sorry for posting this here, but my browser says MTS2 is not available, and tech help links there.

Well that's what I do for my story. I write the chapter in Word, correct all the mistakes and check my text. Then I go in game and take the pictures, and after that I upload the pictures with photobucket (there is a whole thread that teaches you how to upload pictures via photobucket and other web sites right here in the "Sim pictures" forum. It's asticky, that's how I learned to upload pictures. I was new at everything two months ago). When all the pictures are uploaded, I go in my thread, copy paste my text and put the links to the pictures I have uploaded where I want them to be in the text.

Did I help?

Yes, that helps a LOT! I never thought of copy/paste to post text. (Now I feel stupid :insane: )

I would like to add something! I found some nifty tools.

First is a browser called Flock , which I believe to be built from the Firefox engine. You can view all of the stuff on your photobucket or Flickr accounts from there once you've set them up, and it provides drag-and-drop BB code ;D

Also, I haven't tried this myself, but the Google toolbar has a web form spellchecker. Since you post to forums in a web form, this might be a good last-minute tool to check with =D

But seriously, Flock is good ^^

Thanx for helping me i am working on a story called "The Graveyard Talks" is that a good title? just asking thank you its helped me!

and this in itself is why i choose not to write.. because i look like a freakin second grader.... and i graduated highschool in 2004... so it doesnt really speak highly of me...


so YAY for everyone for you dont ever have to read something written by me :D

This is a great thread, could I ask a question though? My main problem is that there are three toddlers and two children in the house, and I don't want them growing up or going to school as I'm not playing the family, just making a story. I only have the uni expansion and I'm having trouble finding cheats to stop them doing this. Is there anything that writers do when they are making stories with young characters?

Sim Magic

Click on the link, read the instructions, it's the magic omnimod. The version linked works with all games but does not require all games to be installed.

It does several thirty- or forty- some magical functions that make taking pics easier.

Thanks heaps, I've just downloaded it and am going to test it right now :D

Great thread, Lifa. But I'm a bit confused...
One minute you're saying that people should try and make it interesting by adding more drama to the writing, then you're saing that the pictures should be able to tell practically all the story for you... make up your mind! :D

But seriously thanks for doing this, most of it is really helpful

I actually think most foreigners are betters spellers than native speakers. Dunno why but many I've met are quite good at spelling. I also think being a foreigner is no excuse. If we make grammatical mistakes, we should be corrected or we'll never get it right. I often correct people's grammar. Not that it helps. They just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. So annoying!

The folks I've talked to who speak English as a second language all studied much harder to learn the language rules than the average native-speaking teen I knew in high school who had to scrape by in English class. No one really paid much attention because they felt they already were fluent enough in the language that they didn't need to understand sentence parsing or even what a verb was.

As for corrections... I agree. I appreciate it when someone corrects me when I'm speaking another language (I'm an English speaker who's been studying Spanish and Japanese). I've never had someone get nasty about it or act like I was dumb for misusing a word. I'd object if they did but I welcome well-intended corrections because it does help me get better with the language.

:howdy: Heya
I'd just like to say - that's really informative! I'm writing a Legacy sometime soon after Christmas and I'm going to be using this! I'm not going to put it on the community, but on the Sims 2 exchange. This is still very helpful. I'm very thankful for all the tips and tricks.
I'd really like some sort of camera mod that let's you get very close to the characters so you can get extreme close-ups, does anyone know where to find one?
Also, I'd like to say I'm very pedant when it comes to grammar and spelling. I used to use text language on messenger, and stuff like that but I thought 'If I like writing so much, my stories are going to be terrible and be saying "she then decided tht he wasnt gd enuff 4 her" or things like that!'. For some reason I always correct my friends and myself and type properly. It also strangly annoys me when they abbreviate peoples names stupidly (is that a word?) or don't use capitals correctly. I'm just too pedantic!
Thanks for writing it and sorry that this is terribly long-winded,
Pepsi :hat:
P.S. Reptile_Faded, I think you were a little out of line with your beating up bunnies remark. But not trying to, and I quote, 'start anything'

this is a great thread. I used to write fanfiction ( a long long time ago) and although sim stories are more complicated due to the picture taking, I do believe grammar is very important. it makes reading so much easier and more enjoyable. kep up the great work.

if i could impart one tip, remember this:

"I" before "E", except after "C".

Weird...

i think this is a MUST KNOW! thing for story creators. very useful and interesting!

Indeed... Thanks for the thread! SOME people who have posted here have been more than a little unfair and if they think they are perfect sotry writers maybe they shouldn't have read this in the first place :p

How do you get a photo to show up in a post? I tried doing the "Insert Image", but it just leaves a link. And when I do the URLs the image host gives me, it gives a thumbnail leading to their website for the full picture, rather than the full picture. How do I get full photos to show up?

When you use photobucket or any photo online account, there should be an [IMG]__[/IMG] code, this is the one that you need in order for pictures to show up on your post.

Hope this helps

Auroraspirit :angel:

Thanks a bunch.

Huh. I actually disagreed with some of the advice, especially the thesaurus bit for inexperienced writers. All that leads to is purple prose and a dark, dark well of despair.

Could have used more on dialogue, like the beauty of 'said' and soft actions. A link I'd love to give instead of just being cranky all over is The Craft of Writing from Macedon's Taberna, a surprisingly good little writing guide for its location.

Also, Padlock's suggestion for beta readers is fab. It just helps to find someone who won't be afraid to correct you. And being willing to take their corrections.

Anecdote on why that last part is so important: I stopped it after the person I was reading for tried to justify any error she made, from things as simple as a grammar error to using a word that meant something completely different than what she meant as her 'style' instead of fixing a thing. And then? Even though I would refuse to approve half the things she wrote (and she'd often post before I was even done on the spelling errors), she'd put my name on as her beta reader anyway. Eventually our conversations would end in a lot of 'I see your style is "stupid"'. That was when I realized I needed a new hobby.

Like this.

Where I'm complaining again.

Please kill me.