MIDNIGHT DOWNLOAD:

Image	Source	Comments	Author	Download
	trash1.iff	This one is straight-up proto-core, as its sprites sample some old graphics for the "can of beans" meal. But otherwise it is consistent to the rest of the game world to an OK degree, and it's canonically cheaper than the original base game trash can. Why wouldn't you buy it? §§§§	LUCPIX	lpx_1998_trashcan.iff

Wow I'm happy for you! It's basically very adequate that it looks like nothing will ever be achieved in the context of getting this thing to work without tons of happy little Accidents... Sooner than you think you'll make some sense of all these errors and rebuild the scenario house in high fidelity using the conversions! Who knows it also contributes to facilitate the process of creating new fanmade scenarios from scratch just for the hell of it =) And thanks for the new, accessible (& nerfed) coffee table!

NEW "that's what Christmas is all about" GOODY:

Image	Source	Comments	Author	Download
	mirrorex.iff	Rare instance where a prototype object only has 2 original sprite rotation types: "back" and "front"; the engine fills the missing sprite IDs with flipped/zoomed out duplicates of them. For the convenience involved, it's the very same case as 99% of the final objects'. So converting this guy here was pretty ez! Who cares how the mirror looks, Sims will be spending most of their time looking at themselves in it instead of at it. Unlike the original, it supports the basic mirror interactions.	LUCPIX	lpx_1998_mirror.iff

NEW GOODY:

Image	Source	Comments	Author	Download
	DresserEx.iff	Back in 1998, Sims did not change (took) their clothes (off), not even pre bathing! This wardrobe is and has always been decorative! Does not have native "doors open" graphics. It enhances the Room score! Makes you look progressive. Not the most interesting item on the list.	LUCPIX	lpx_1998_dresserex2.iff

Exciting Level 1 scenario updates!! (But no object. Yet!) On the test lot I have managed to:

• Verifying every part of the scenario appears to run (i.e. all the parts directly actually copied from the original Level 1 iff run as expected)
• Allowing the player to set the household funds to match the Steering Committee lot (a personal choice, for realism)
• Allowing the player to set the motives to match the Steering Committee starting motives (technically a choice on the player's part but needed in order to keep the scenario from immediately completing if the motives for "Ross" are too high already)
• Resetting the scenario if you want to play again
• Keeping the object from running until the player marks setup complete (i.e. the player sets the motives, budget, etc. and then tells the object when they're done and THEN the level runs)
• Allowing manual setting of the Sim to be used for the stack object!! I DID IT!!!!

I'm glad Level 1 didn't need that last bullet, because the fact it didn't allowed me to take enough time away to really think methodically about what needed to be done to make the manual selection work. And by that I mean focus on other things (the fresh/from-scratch bhavs for budget and motive setting) and then realize what to do out of nowhere while I was watching something.

(I would have needed to figure it out before moving onto the other scenarios because I don't think automatic selection would be as usable in the Sam/Mercedes (/Ross) ones.) As it is, I think I'll leave the behavior of allowing the game to pick a Sim in Level 1 but any other levels I might work on in the future will require the player to pick the Sims the scenario will use.

The object still needs some polish. I need to clean up some parts (the several SEVERAL bhavs and menu items I added to troubleshoot, I need to add some menu checks for some stuff, etc.), figure out some weirdnesses (of note: the game can decide Ross is happy even if he's hungry and I don't know why but I might leave it in if I can't figure out), and make sure none of the places it can potentially end in an error or break are still in the object (of note: I'm pretty sure the object will immediately begin to error if Ross dies). I also want to use the beta match objects in the "real" lot and test things there.

But this is MAJOR progress!!

Don't know if it fully applies to this case/you already did it/it makes the scenario super hard, but consider applying some kind of "Expression"-based conditional branch where it is determined that the scenario can not be fully completed until Ross' Mood character data is no less than 100 — in other words, until his plumb-bob is the greenest it can be! I don't know think ordinary players like me have mastered the art of keeping the Sims' mood bars showing all the 5 green stripes past the 2 first minutes of gameplay.



Love this dynamic where the player can customize part of the lot's/character's setting before the scenario per se kicks off! You might want to script different difficulty levels for it, as long as it's plausible and makes sense!

===




On my end, I likewise ain't short of tiny+fun+annoying challenges. The large tv object has been easily the toughest one to port to date! Aligning its graphics' X/Y placement to its prototype equivalent is a piece of cake as it's always been when it comes to previous conversions, but the object is natively so messed up it's really hard to tell if the fact that it's manifesting itself a bit oddly in my game is because of a local whoopsie or it's something its og Maxis equivalent already suffers from!

The good news is that, 90% of times, the latter case is the definitive answer..


Left pic is a prerelease snapshot, right pic is our current conversion attempt.


Right pic is a prerelease snapshot, left pic is our current conversion attempt.

Also: asking TMOG to autoalign the most distant sprites' position taking the coordinates of their closest zooms as reference normally takes me to SUPER unsatisfying outcomes, which is an unusual obstacle that wasn't present in the making of previous CCs. It's basically the program's own way of saying: "There isn't such a thing as easiest path right here, you brat If you want a TV... EARN IT!!". Moving any of the layers away from their intended position as an attempt of making them look more "natural" does not help either, so we're talking about a precision task here. We can assume the work involved rewards one extra human capital points or whatever. Wait... this whole CC making thing is supposed to have a POINT in the end... right?

Yeah, it's a super weird process, or I'm making it weirder than it should, but I can systematically preview that my next post will already contain a download link for those interested. I think our Sims will love it.

I already found the scenario a little hard in the final game (the beta scenario only makes sure the motives are all above zero and I was having trouble maintaining even that, though I was operating with autonomy off because Ross in beta appears to act like his autonomy is zero unless you let him die/respawn, at which time his autonomy becomes normal, strangely). However, I think maybe a mood check added to the beta logic would potentially (maybe?) help control for the weird hunger issue, though maybe it wouldn't. The difficulty I had winning the scenario is part of why I think maybe I wouldn't be so upset if hunger happens to not be high enough when the win condition ends up true.

(Mood is definitely on my mind since Level 2 looks like it uses it, though--or it at least uses "Happy Now" which occupies the same part of the person data in the beta that Mood does in the final.)

Wow, this is amazing. I can't imagine all the time it has taken you on this project. Thank you for sharing with us!

DOWNLOAD (imperative mood):

Image	Source	Comments	Author	Download
	tvlarge.iff	Allegedly the quintessential item in the pre-release Sims canon, it has been exhaustively showcased in pre-release media and is also tentatively featured in all versions of HomeCrafter (the tool that allows users to create new walls and floors for the game). However, it comes with its own peculiarities. The conversion here stays true to its Maxis prototype IFF, specially in terms of how both of its halves are not quite connected with pixel-perfect precision. Upon closer inspection, you may feel as though it’s just a fraction away from falling apart, depending on the angle. Yet, why the hell have we been wanting to have it so badly over the past quasi-25 years? In the end of the day, you’re left with a beautiful—though heart-wrenchingly expensive—item. The beta kid's must-have!	LUCPIX	lpx_1998_tvlarge2.iff

To celebrate the 2/3 completion of our little collaborative project, here's a second showcase video:



Don't be scared of it =). The objects are legit as you very well know, but the overall presentation is meant to make fun of the sloppiest tropes associated with the post-internet "beta kids", obviously letting the toxic parts of it aside, as they do not interest us. =)

The video densely borrows voice samples from the clip below, with the uploader's permission, of course! As a child, he unselfconsciously showcased his (admittedly) messed out beta mod! More-or-less the way we do on this thread!

This is amazing Lucpix, thanks for these mods. You and Kenoi are so great, bringing me back to playing The Sims 1 again and again. You guys are awesome.

Don't forget purplewowies' greatness! 👆

cool, giwta kaga! the mods aren’t necessarily free from technical, weird, funny issues, especially on Hot Date+ releases. probably not, though. let me know if you find any, anyway.

and, wow, this discussion thread has been read >10K times by <10K human beings + robots + everything in between already! dope! maybe they're too shy to come by and say hi!

Fixed this for you

And me, I've also been refreshing constantly sometimes! XD

Level 1 update: I think it's in a state where I feel I can share it, unless I notice any oddness the next time or two I test. The only reason I'm not sharing right now this very second is that I want to make/perhaps include a few versions of the Level 1 lot with varying levels of faithfulness to the beta (i.e. one where the objects other than the scenario controller are Maxis-only, one with beta objects, etc.). Once I've got those prepared, I'll probably let all of it into the wild, together! (And if for some reason I fail to create these beta lots... I'll share it anyway. o.o)

EDIT: Oddness discovered, gotta add a thing to control for one really specific edge case, lol

Ouch me too

Anyways, thanks purplewowies, simsample and myself for hitting [F5] 3333x times in a row each. MrBeast who?



Hey it's okay if the mod is not there yet! We didn't have a previous solid reference as to mess around with these kind of things. But I'm super glad it's taking a good direction though =)

And thank God you won't need build the whole house from zero! Here's why:

It's safe to say it's already part of your knowledge, but the house file associated with the first scenario on the prototype can still be spotted hidden away within the retail build as UserDataxx\Houses\House11.IFF The lot's basic structure is there, intact and working, and that includes that terrain pattern that sorta resembles the USA seen from the space.

To make the house appear on the nhood screen, you can use the swap_houses 11 X debug cheat code. X = the number of the house you fancy swapping from

*nod* At least one form of the lot I was playing with building in my head was probably going to involve me grabbing something like 11 and seeing what I could do with it... (I think I'll keep the "Maxis only" version of the lot with the originally intended lot for that house number).

The layout of some of the ways the terrain looks on Level 1 makes me wonder if it's 00 rather than 11, but I can probably play around with trying both...

As for how fast or slow the object is coming together... I'm just surprised I've made an object that works at all, to be honest... even if a lot of the meat of it is just copying Maxis homework.

Hi
I encourage creators to explore the sprite pack and build their own object ports 😊!!! I'm sort of running of out of time myself...
I'd be beyond happy to support, teach, and give kudos to you anytime. It's hard work, but it's not 🤔!

my only discord account is "lucpix", even though it's a place where I take care of RL inquiries more than anything else nowadays...

otherwise lixcpu@gmail.com is the safer contact form. sixampcast@gmail.com if you want to reach both me and my pal Dan in regards of The Sims things. And maybe topics like the sense of life?

I've been glancing at maybe trying the bed (in part because I find it intriguing, in part because an accurately created copy would let the phone face the correct direction in the "beta match" house without preventing its usage, due to the bed seemingly being 4 tiles) but I think either I need to take a break from object coding or else I need more skills (both visual art AND coding) than I have right now. 🤔 (I fear it's the break I need, because when making the match lot, I've consistently gone in to tweak and then forgot to put the Level 1 controller on and play around and save and all that...)

On a side note: Level 1 is definitely House00 in the final game rather than 11... though the lot I picked for the location had it facing the wrong way, so all the little quirks in the grass color are facing the wrong way. But I still have the "match" version of the lot otherwise identical, I think. Yay!

Thanks. I currently do not know how to convert the old heads and clothing! I haven't been too invested in figuring out how they work. But that's the fun of it — until months ago, I said the exact same thing about the prototype graphics, and take a look at us now!

I can assume that the appearance of successfully ported "biped-to-adult" skins wouldn't be too far from their look in the snapshot below! Check how the characters' pelvis are lightly detached from their butts, kind of like they're Servo! The "beta" characters were notably shorter than your average Sim, so porting them to a later skin structure presumably causes this type of oddity. Easily fixable I suppose. We'll be ready if anything happens...

...Huh. I'm not SUPER knowledgeable about CMX files but looking at a normal final game Sim cmx, Servo's cmx (and his textures but without extracting them from the far), and Ross' beta cmx, I wonder if Servo is built more like (but not exactly like) a beta Sim. (From the CMX angle. I'm sure the msh vs the skn are more different, but the cmx felt like something that could be compared, even though the version's different.)

I don't have the skill to do anything with this epiphany, and I could be completely wrong... but it was a fun exercise, nonetheless!

Contact:

lucpix (discord)
sixampcast@gmail.com (Luc + Dan's contact)

NEW DOWNLOAD:

Image	Source	Comments	Author	Download
	X	Mid-fidelity take on a scrapped Maxis object called Velvet Elvis! Woo-hoo. It’s essentially the only object on this list that is a classic fan-made custom content (CC) rather than an actual port. Its sprites were sampled from pre-release snapshots a long time ago, so don’t expect it to be as faithful to the original as the other objects here. Given its style, canvas, and name, you might assume that Velvet Elvis was a rejected, less copyright-friendly version of the Velvet Clown, appearing in the game from late '98 to early '99 before vanishing. Honestly, I’m not sure I’d want a sobbin' & jugglin' Elvis in my home when I’m feeling down anyway! =) The description and price are entirely made up, although the name is confirmed to be real. Perhaps one day, this CC will face planned obsolescence as a later prototype than the Steering Committee one meets the light of the day, but until then... download it! 🖼🖌	LUCPIX	lpx_1998_velvetelvis.iff

Dear friends,

Internet Archive services are down as of now! And our files (bar purplewowies') are currently being hosted at it! By definition, we are temporarily unable to download the conversions listed here, or upload new ones. 😔 But it's just a matter of time until we are, though.

Maybe I should find a way of getting me a Sim File Share account at once!

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Oh no! I've sent you a SFS code @Lucpix

Sorry I didn't send you one before, I didn't realise you didn't have one!

If anyone wants a code, please let me know and I'll send one.

That's hands-down the coolest generous act I've ever experienced in my SimDome in recent memory, mister sample! You are a saint. I've genuinely thought by default that it took being part of a top secret clique I don't know of [or something] in order to be given one of these codes, so I didn't bother begging to anyone 😳! Thank goodness I was wrong. Man, thank you very much! It's a fact some people I know struggled a bit with my current file keeping method, involving boring and sometimes counterintuitive steps involving IFF files within zip directories that need to be extracted in order to be effectively read by the game. I bet having the files there will be a good facilitator. I'll transfer the Archive files to my clear SFS cloud as soon as I possibly can. Hooray!

But you are- you play Sims!
It's no problem really- anyone who makes content for Sims games can upload there, they just kept it by request or invite to prevent non-simmers from uploading there. Always good to have more than one place to host your files, if you have a google account or mediafire or something, you could upload them there too.

OOF. Internet Archive getting DDOSed? Wild. Not on my 2024 bingo card but maybe it should have been.

(For me when I went and got a Sim File Share account I did the world's fastest Google and found someone had posted a handful of invite codes just out in the open in a Sims reddit. Used one of them half thinking "I don't think this is the intent of how to give these codes out for this site" and half thinking "well, I suppose if I use it then it's goin' to a Simmer!" If codes hadn't been a top result I probably would have just requested a code and then waited to get it. And then no one here would have been able to enjoy Table 1 square as fast. )