I've stood on the NRAAS allows me to play my game hill for a long time and continue to do so. When it comes to Windows 11 though, my personal experience is that my game wouldn't run at all without the Adler Lake patch from Lazy Duchess. Making the game Windows 8 compatible and all the other things that are being recommended did not work. Where's EA regarding all of this? Who knows. Modders are saving EA's games, again.

I'm not telling anybody what to do, but if Windows 11 can be avoided, I'd suggest it. If anybody needs the Adler Lake patch, it's here: https://github.com/LazyDuchess/AlderLakePatcher Make sure the patch is installed to the right .exe file. Don't do what I did which was try to use the patch on the wrong file which lead to a whole bunch of unnecessary aggravation and loss of time.

What's happening in my game? Nothin. I sadly am going to have to replace my HDD since it's failing a short DST check; going to have to find a way to clone it to a new HDD, since I lost all my sims 3 disks in a move and can't afford to get new ones. UGHhhhhhh.

Wish me luck. I'm glad I have a laptop I can still go online with LOL.

Now that my game is behaving, I'm back to experimenting.

I took a series of screenshots the other day as I wanted to give Lazy Duchess' Shader Tweaks mod a test run. Lighting in TS3 is what it is, but the mod does help. Below is one of the pics I took, the rest of them are on my Tumblr if anybody is interested. There is link in my signature and one in my profile. You have don't have to have account, you can just lurk if you want to. I'm not into the whole number chasing thing. I'm on there to do my own thing and chill. I digress.

I decided to experiment with one picture in particular.



Original



Edited version

This was a simple fix. I bought a Photoshop overlay pack from Creative Market for $12.00. The pack comes with overlays for sunlight, bokeh and some other stuff.

I let Photoshop auto correct the 'exposure' of the image, then it was literally a layer over a layer. The image itself ( layer one), I applied and adjusted the overlay ( layer 2) then used a mask ( layer 3) to remove coloring from the overlay from spots where I didn't want it.

I'm sure this could be just as easily done with something like GIMP if anybody is interested in tinkering with their screenshots. I use Photoshop and Lightroom because I like it. I find it relaxing; most of the time.

Lazy Duchess Shader Tweaks

Tourists typically annoy me, but I haven't gone through my NRAAS settings which are weird so I'm doing something other than being annoyed with their presence. I'm learning how to do stuff.

This is me today

I'm going to look into those tweaks. I fired up the game (as much as I love Sims 2 , three is king in my book). After the long loading, I was frustrated to see how dark it is.
I have to go back to a learning curve with each version of Sims. I forgot how to play my beloved Planet Zoo since I've gone back to Simming. I think the summer heat has gotten to me.

I used to wonder why it seems Jules has such a difficult time finding love. Sometimes he comes off as jealous, possessive, and/or eager. I thought he had gotten better with those issues with time but that doesn't mean it's no longer a struggle for him. He is so difficult to try to help him because he ends up unintentionally driving away the one he wants to be with. So in this latest development he's interested in his roommate, Gail. To add to his personal issues, his oldest brother Jonathon also likes Gail. So now these two brothers are trying to woo the same woman. Surprisingly overall, they both been mostly cordial about it as Gail, or at least so far, hasn't chosen either Jules or Jon. She has never autonomously flirted with anyone but she usually accepts Jules and Jon flirts. And usually she will also accept the flirts of others as well.


As of late Jules has been feeling rather sad it seems as Gail enjoys career life over romance. Maybe that will change in the future but for now she hasn't shown any interest except...


...the mail carrier!? She autonomously asked him to hang out but he said no possibly because he was still on the job...maybe. I mean I can see why she would choose to get to know someone else than be two brothers unofficial love interest. And she might not even like either of the brothers like that anyway, maybe Jules and Jon are friend zoned, lol. Seems so. Hopefully I'll remember to investigate her interest in the mail carrier the next time I play.

I created a diner attached to a garage where my Sim, Nicolle, can work on her handiness skill, smelt her metals from mining expeditions, work on crafting widgets, toys and inventions, sell her fixed up cars (if I can figure out how to get it working) and then have a place to eat whenever she gets hungry. I also added the gem cutter machine but I might have to find a different location for it as everyone complains about the obnoxiously loud noise, lol. Maybe I'll have her sell her cut gems and bars of metal too. I'm also curious what would happen if I gave her a makeover and if that would get her crush to notice her more.




This is an older version so some things have changed but overall the layout is pretty much the same. I'm surprised I just went with the flow and it turned out better than I was expecting as I didn't have much of an idea initially about the layout.


Next door from her diner & garage is her personal mining site which in the future I may build something for her to own, yet another business. A motel sounds interesting or build her storefront to sell all her other stuff or do both on one lot.

Scotty told me an amazing secret:

If you don't have it, this mod reduces the radius on the gem cutter noise (and it is still compatible with 1.67/1.69). I hadn't thought about making a 1950s style diner/workshop, that looks really nice

Thank you Tacitala.

Followed up with Gail about the mail carrier whose name is Taurus Clay, I think. Long story short, they went on three dates and Gail seemed bored and uninterested, besides that then she kept berating his ignorance and refused to interact with him. So she didn't have any chemistry with Taurus as she may have initially thought. After her unsuccessful dates she started autonomously flirting with both Jonathon and Jules besides just accepting their flirts. And that went on for a while but nothing ever came from it...I think the game was like, "Hello?" Yes, yes, I do wish there was an option for Sims to be 100% autonomous and do everything the player can and more; I find it fascinating watching the A.I. with little to no input.


Well, watching the development of the relationship between Jon and Gail versus Jules and Gail, I picked Jon because Jules became impatient, argumentative and discouraged. At that point, Gail chose to interact with Jon a lot more than she did with Jules although she liked Jules but not his attitude. Honestly I think Jules would have been her choice if it weren't for his attitude as she was spending more time with Jules initially and somewhat kind of ignoring Jon. Fast forward, I had Jon confess his attraction towards Gail and then she autonomously tried for a baby successfully. After that I had Jon propose going steady. Then Jon wanted to get engaged and then wanted to marry Gail so I'm like okay.


So they get married and now I focus more on Jules who keeps moping around, arguing on and off with Nicolle and then trying to flirt with her and keeps creeping her out and I notice she won't accept mind melds from him...interesting. Moving on, I took a mod out of my game which prevented the calling for dates and gifts because it made it a lot easier for Jules to meet a potential love interest. Most the dates didn't go well. One in particular he autonomously made a romantic move and then she when she didn't respond the way he wanted he started arguing with her which auto ended the date and then she just left and went home, lol.

He got cocky and then got rejected. Honestly even the A.I. can see how eager Jules comes off and no, it's not about woohoo as he had plenty of opportunities. It has to do with finding someone he connects to and them reciprocating their feelings genuinely. Also when he did woohoo with Roxy, he went about his business as usual, whereas his brother Jon when he woohoo Gail almost everytime he would see her he would initiate. Just woke up, woohoo, trying to eat no let's woohoo, trying to use the bathroom no let's woohoo, trying to work on skills no let's woohoo, lol. But I already observed that Sims do tend to have different libidos so that's nothing new.

On one date he seemed to really get along with Roxanne and showed he was interested so I ended up following up on that but decided that my playstyle was too hands off, therefore, I took the lead instead of allowing Jules to pick and choose, though high free-will is always on. I had Jules invite Roxy over. They talked, they cuddled, they kissed and then they kissed some more. He got a wish to woohoo so I'm like, okay sure. Then I had him confess his attraction to her and asked her to move in.


Now here comes the A.I. injecting that special dose of drama into all this interactivity of a soap opera. What is happening? XD I wasn't paying attention or was it because I easily get distracted and just forgot? Oh well, it is what it is. If things don't work out at least Jonathon will be a father. Finally, since he's the first born and oldest 2nd Gen from the Rumbaa family. By the time I end the round he'll be 58 51 years old and Jules will be 36 25. I don't know if there will be enough time in the round for the baby to grow into a toddler but maybe. I hope so I can see the genetics. Is the baby going to look like mom or dad, a blend or even get one or more carrier genes. I'm still on the lookout for that orange hair to pop up somewhere. Only two thus far in the Rumbaa family inherited the carrier blonde hair gene. Anyway whatever the baby looks like, I'm super excited.

What's happening in my game?

At the moment, I'm working on a Ts3 Legacy Simlit on my blog.


This is Elena Villareal, the 4th generation heir.

i discovered if you have a accessible pool and the Llama mascot is on the lot they will go to swim in your pool.

I wanted to check a few lighting mods and ended up playing the Parrots in Appaloosa Plains. I liked their terrible marriage and the fact that his oldest son Ethan hates him, so I had her file for divorce curtesy of @PJSims' Take Sims to Court mod.
They are now divorced but stay in the huge house together since there isn't enough money for him to move out. He is also an excellent parent, so until the youngest of the now five children are teens, he'll stay put. Jazlyn has become a firefighter and Kanoa is a real estate agent. I feel those careers fit them better and I think of her coming into her own once she got the divorce. It was expensive but worth it.
Eventually I'll get around to collect some birds fitting with their name. And move him out into something small. They really don't get along.

If you haven't already, demolish the purely decorative greenhouse. There's a fair amount of money tied up in it and while it looks okay, no one goes in it since there's nothing in there other than a bird cage that can be either sold or moved inside.

I had a fun little glitch with my Rockstar Sim. I initially created him as a young adult and with just a few EPs. I then played him almost all the way to the elder stage. As I wasn't ready yet to let him go, I paused time. I then started looking into ways to make ambrosia (unfortunately Roaring Heights doesn't have deathfish spawners in their graveyard... maybe I can get it on vacation?). I then played around with tombs after reading that you can find life fruit in one of the tombs in France. Which in turn requires the Pangu Axe. While doing those things I also had him fulfill his lifetime wish of becoming a rockstar and getting the genie lamp. The youth wish did bring him down halfway through adult aswell.

Now an interestring glitch occurred after I got the Young Again potion and had him drink it. For some reason the game registered that he aged up from teen, not down from adult. So I got a notification about graduation at the City Hall. Now, I didn't have generations enabled internally. I enabled it as I was playing as some of the tomb lots I played required it. So he didn't start with a diploma. But now he got it... and his "class mates" seems to think he'll be a sports star... I suppose a maxed out athletic does lead to that conclusion. But he's a rockstar.

Having fun transforming my sims into humans. My son with his wife and his son.

So, what's the news from Finnington?

Well, first of all I nearly messed up with my rotational play set up. There's three weddings coming up (Corina's, Jerry's and Cosima's) and I'd forgotten to include their respective fiances in the rotational caste. I don't want them ageing, breaking up, or unexpectedly kicking the bucket whilst I'm playing Alison's household. Rather than lose any progress I visited each of those households, used MC to reduce each of their ages to where they should be, and then put them into the caste. So that's finally sorted.

The first thing that happened when I returned to the Marcus household, was a midnight dash to the maternity ward...



Chris is in the military career, and so I thought that the Wilis Jeep would be the most appropriate vehicle for him. It's not the most comfortable ride. And it's not that Alison doesn't trust his driving, it's just that the steering wheel is something to hold on to.

So here's the latest addition to the family, master Peter Marcus...



And I don't know how he comes to have black hair, when Chris is blond and Alison has sort of mousey coloured hair. Sim genetics are a mystery to me.

Meanwhile, big sister Christina has been working on her skills. One skill in particular...



At the rate she's going she'll have mastered the guitar skill before she's a teen. I think I can guess what career she'll be pursuing. She's already rolled the Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous LTA, which is of course the whole point of being a rock star.



And then, with the tedious business of learning to walk and talk and potty training over, it was time for Peter to make his public debut, and for mother and child to enjoy some much needed fresh air. Not to mention some peace and quiet.

Welcome to the big wide world Peter!

I installed olomaya's psychiatry/private clinic mod and it ended up borking my game (I have a lot of mods so it might just be a conflict) so I had to uninstall it. BUT it was a ton of fun before I had to uninstall it. My rebellious teenaged Sim stole a prescription pad so she could get a prescription anxiety med (I assume it's supposed to be a benzo) and got caught by another Sim, who pressed charges via the Take Sims to Court mod. That was the first time I've had my Sim get into legal trouble since I installed that mod! She ended up winning her case, NO idea how though

My fire chief is driving around Egypt with her fire truck....

LOL my sim had a ferrari in her inventory that I forgot about and raced all over China in it!

The oldest son of the Parrott family in Appallooza Plains has no luck at all. Obviously, his childhood is marred by his father's cheating ways. Then, he falls in loves with a woman who can't help but cheat and flirt with his brother. Their marriage is a disaster, they kept fighting and making up and they eventually broke up after she got pregnant.
I moved her out after the child was a toddler. Just too much stress. Then he falls in love with another woman who seems to get along with his daughter just fine. Two days later, the grim reaper comes for his mother and his new wife dies too from all the fright encountering the Grim Reaper. I quit without saving.

And he's been stuck on level 1 in his chosen career from the beginning. He's in the green and everything but he's just not advancing.

The only child in the household is now a teenager.

Today at Fae Lawns



Okay, so this is a fairly regular feature of sims life and nothing to write home about, and in Sims 3 it's only a matter of time before it happens. But I was waiting for it happen, so I could record a scene similar to the one that took place at the real life Fae Lawns earlier today. Of course, being High Queen of the Seven Fae Realms, Ellie fixed the leak with fairy magic. I have to wait for the plumber to arrive. Tomorrow morning - I hope.

But Her Majesty still had to mop up, as did I. Oh, how are mighty fallen!