Some notes before the next chapter

I debated about including these notes in the actual chapter but I decided to put them in a post. I'm planning on posting the next chapter today or tomorrow but before I do, I thought I'd share one of the reasons it's taken me so long to post this chapter.

My game was running slow, and when I say slow, I mean sssslllloooowwww. It would lag whenever I tried to turn to get a better view for a picture and if I went into CAS. . .I literally wanted to pull my hair out for how long it took to load all the clothes/hair.

I was desperate to get the game running smooth again so I started looking up how to compress package files. I was a little skeptical if it would actually work, but I figured if it didn't, I could always just go back to the old way the files were stored and begin pulling my hair out again.

I was beyond happy when after compressing files I started the game (took little time), loaded a saved George game (again, took the fraction of the time it had been before compressing), and went into CAS. . .It was almost like I had a brand new game! 

With that, I realized that I might be able to turn up some of the graphic settings on the game; one of which was the sims details. And oh my goodness!!! It was like I was seeing them for the first time!!! They still look the same, just clearer and you can actually really see Steph's freckles!!!!  (it's not like the one time in Bridge's generation where I tried a new skin and they looked too different).

George before:

George after:

Steph before:

Steph after: 

So after this, if you're looking at George, Steph, Trev, any of the characters and are thinking "They look different." That's why. If anyone is interested in doing this, here's the link to the website I referred to  when I was trying to figure this all out.

Martine's Blog

I will warn, that if you do this, it's recommended that you not compress worlds, mods (the ones that change the game), and any sims store content. (I also didn't compress lots). It's also a good idea to back up your download folder and packages folder before attempting to make any changes to them (that way if something messes up, you have the original folders to put back into the game).

And while I was poking around trying to find info about compressing files, I stumbled back across the "anti-glare" lighting mod and some other color lighting mods. I don't know why I fought this for so long, but I finally gave in and installed them and some may notice a difference in the sky and that the annoying glare is gone from the pictures (Thank God!).

Here's the link for the anti-glare mod: 

Anti-glare Lighting Mod

And here's a link to the lighting mods: 

Burnt Waffles Lighting Mods


Just thought I'd pass on this info in case some readers were interested.

Thanks so much for continuing to read this story.