IllusoryThrall's Sims 4 Hub
- Challenges, Tips & Stories
I started this WordPress Blog back in 2012. At the beginning, I assure you, I had no idea what I was starting. I posted a few things… but it wasn’t for several years that my blogging really took off. I dabbled in a few Sims 3 stories (which are still accessible on this site – just check my retired & completed simlit section). By August 2016, however, I was well and truly hooked on blogging, although at that point, I was still waffling between Sims 3 and 4. The waffling didn’t take too much more time, though, before I was thoroughly addicted to Sims 4. Once I hit this point, I’ve never gone back. I still had (and have) periods of writer’s block and inactivity, but I always come back.
Sometime in 2023, this blog really tripled in traffic. And it did so on a very consistent basis. Which made me really start seriously considering the thoughts and ideas for it that I’d had in the back of my head for YEARS. The host I was on prior to this one, wordpress.com .. was great. It was cheap, it was reliable, and it was easy to use. However, the amount of customization and control I had over the website design and add-ons was, well.. very very low. And even if I doubled the cost of the plan I was on, it was going to remain virtually the same…. which is exactly the opposite of what this growing blog needed. With my challenges gaining in popularity, and my livestreaming, I really wanted to be able to upgrade the graphics, layout, and things that the website offered… By October, it was clear my blog was getting 25,000 to 30,000 hits per month on a very stable basis – so when I noticed that my two year subscription to wrodpress.com was ready to renew on the 26th, I decided, spur-of-the-moment, that there wasn’t going to be a better time to upgrade. So I immediately started looking for a way to pay for a new webhost, and researching where I wanted to go, as well as finding out exactly what upgrades I wanted and needed for the site. Originally, I was going to do a fund-raising stream for the money, but a very lovely friend of mine kindly donated the full amount I needed to pay for the next THREE YEARS of hosting. When that’s almost up, I will certainly be looking for ways to raise the money for the next web-hosting fee, but that’s a problem for future me. (If you’re interested in helping to support this site and my streaming, check out my Support Me page. 100% of donations will go to the website and my streaming.)
All that being said, I do try to be pretty transparent on the effort that goes into this website – the background work, the time for upgrading, the work involved in moving the site, as well as what it takes to keep my challenges updated. I’m also in a long process of adding a knowledge database to this website to share the Sims 4 knowledge I’ve accrued over the years (expect that to start happening by January 2024 – I do have a few other major things on my list before I start devoting a ton of time into the toolsnlinks section, but it’s coming.) This transparency led to the need to have a page devoted to collecting the posts about website news and information…. so that’s where this page comes in. Obviously, there’s no real reason to go back to the news I was posting at the very beginning of the website, but it’s there buried in the archives if you’re ever curious!
Life has been sort of up and down since fall when my mother passed on, so I’ve spent a lot of time doing whatever I could to distract myself. Concrete in game goals became a thing of the past. That doesn’t mean I didn’t still have them! 🙂
While waiting for Island Paradise to come out, I spent a good amount of time trying to work on achievements I’m missing in Sims 3 (which is a LOT – 170 to go without counting the island paradise ones!!) .. and I also worked some more on my Sunset Valley update build (“Project 2”). Of course, that got de-railed when Dragon Valley came out because… duh.. it’s dragons. And Celtic stuff. And vaguely midieval … so yeah, I was all over working on builds and updates for that… which wasn’t in my gameplan. Then, I had spent hours upon hours one day on working on my “Project 1” – the catalog organization, and about half of it didn’t get saved when my game crashed suddenly .. (yea yea once again, guess who forgot to save..) So, I haven’t worked on that project since .. and every time I work on a build, I hate fishing around for the sets I need .. catch-22. Don’t want to take the time to organize, but it takes more time to build because I didn’t. 🙂 .. haha, go figure.
Anyway, now that Island Paradise is out, I’m taking some time to play around with the new in-game stuff, then I’m buckling down and finishing my Sunset Valley build updates and publishing them. I’m so very close to being ready on this, it’s ridiculous to keep putting it off. That, and I’m tired of my timeless fishing for items in an uncoordinated catalog. Then, and only then, will I allow myself to dive back into my challenge play. Distractions bad! .. (or something)
Most of which was real life stuff, but then I got on a Sims kick this past week and have been back to making some really nice progress on goals. (Although I also ended up taking a challenge from my daughter and playing on that quite a bit.. hehe!) I’m down to four last builds in my Sunset Valley project – and yes, of course, they’re the ones I’m least looking forward to doing. Isn’t that always the case. I have a fairly good idea of how I’ll do the fusion lounge with a private room for showtime stage, but then I have to do the live show/karaoke bar, coffeeshop, and a big show venue. Most of the other lots have been doing very well in testing – had some issues with the church, but they’re now fixed. The supernatural bar turned out extremely well – probably one of my best builds ever – it’s an extremely difficult build that looks like a cabin on a hill, but turns out the hill is hiding a rather large bar and entertainment area! Have high hopes that people will like that one. Themed very rustic/western style, well decorated and landscaped – took hours and hours. Other than that… I’m still doing testing on the “finished” lots, and I have now figured out how to switch out pictures to make them easier to see on the exchange, so that’s a huge plus, as well. I even managed to get a campground with working, permanent tents put together. The “Junkyard” is now a “recycling center” patterned after several I have been to, and the firehouse looks much like some of the rural ones around my home. Overall, I’m really impressed with the looks, and have had a lot of fun testing the lots during play. From map view in game, the town is really looking put-together and matched, and that’s what I wanted, ultimately. I will likely be releasing all of the builds once I’ve retested and updated the ones that need it after university and aurora skies. 🙂
(Copied from my Sims 3 Blog): http://www.thesims3.com/myBlog.html?persona=IllusoryThrall&month=02&year=2013
Continue reading →So, Project 1:
Step 1 – reinstalling all Store Content, getting rid of ALL Custom Content so I can very very carefully install a select few items (mostly worlds and lots without CC)
Step 2 – sorting all of it into easy – to – use (and find) in-game collections.
The update: Successfully uninstalled all store and custom content, returning game to factory settings. Got my in-game options set up again, and have finished a good 40-50% of re-downloading and installing bought Store content. I’m doing it VERY slowly, and double-checking everything installs correctly, for the simple reason that one of the reasons I decided to do this was a lot of store content that said it was installed, but was nowhere to be found in game. Uninstalling/reinstalling it never did any good, the game refused to notice the items were even there. So far, so good.
While working on this, loading and testing the items, etc.. I went ahead and started on the before-mentioned “town-organizing” projects. The first town I’m tackling is Sunset Valley – because, hey, it’s the first town… logic, organization.. ok, so I’m going a little bit overboard, but at this point in my life, I desperately need some order somewhere. So, in a nutshell, Project 2 is Sunset Valley. First, I loaded up the town, deleted all “auto-placed” lots.. (thanks EA).. and started making lists and organizing. I think I’ve pretty much figured out what needs updating for which expansion pack, what lots need building, and where they’re going to go. I also have a pretty good idea of a concept for each lot – the idea is to make each town and neighborhood as unique-feeling as possible – so I’m going to attempt to re-use as few lots as possible. Which means, building matching lots for each town – and since this is about organizing, I’ll do one town at a time so the items will be easier to find in the lot bin (they organize by the time they’re saved, far as I can tell.)
The benefit for me? A plan and stuff to do, .. and more things organized. The benefit for everyone else? .. once I test the lots in game (by having sims interact with them and making sure they work) .. I’m uploading them to the exchange so other people can use them in their towns. The plan is to use absolutely zero custom content, and keep the requirements for each lot as simple and low as possible. I tested and uploaded the first one – the Sunset Valley Pictures (Film Studio). Good thing I did test it, because the initial version apparently had the door blocked… duh.. all fixed, correct version on the exchange. Expect more as I bounce back and forth between projects. 🙂
(Posted 11/17 on my Sims 3 blog) http://www.thesims3.com/myBlog.html?persona=IllusoryThrall&month=11&year=2012
Continue reading →Okays. My OCD is acting up, and after the recent death of my real-life mother (still less than two weeks ago on 11/6 – it was very sudden, and she was one of my very best friends…) .. I need a project. I have been putting off a million Sims projects, but after having a million issues with Store content not showing up, or not being able to find stuff in my horribly jumbled restored Sims 3 backups, I decided to start with this one. Basically, I’m resetting to factory settings, and re-downloading each store item separately, then setting up a collection for each “set” or “theme” – so they’re easier to find in-game. Then, and only then, will I re-install my save files from their backups, and get to work on my next project – town-sorting! … I’ll explain that one later, I think.
(Posted on my Sims 3 blog 11/17) http://www.thesims3.com/myBlog.html?persona=IllusoryThrall&month=11&year=2012
Continue reading →So.. the reason I’ve been so very absent lately.. is that upon starting college, I was required to upgrade my computer’s Operating System…. which went more or less alright. Then the main hard drive crashed. Fixed that with few issues… only I had to completely reinstall everything – Windows, programs, etc… and Sims 3 promptly goes belly-up. The launcher simply won’t run. I could bypass it, but without a lot of work and manual patching, it was still tough to play, and all my store and exchange and bonus content was completely un-reachable. 🙁 … So I started searching for fixes. I found many. None worked. Appealed to the tech forums for help. Nobody’s fixing ideas changed a thing – it still crashed. Did a full manual uninstall/reinstall (with all the expansions and stuff packs, mind you – this takes DAYS!) … that didn’t work. Called EA support, spent all day on the phone, and I thoroughly stumped all of the technicians and managers in the call center that day – so they “escalated” my call to the “experts.” I get an email with a link telling me how to go mess with the registry for a complete install – and nothing else. Finally, I decide the limited playing I can do wasn’t enough, so I tried yet another manual uninstall, this time including a lot of registry and other nonsense.. that again, didn’t work. By this point, it’s been over a month since my ticket was “escalated” .. so I contacted tech support live chat today. After three techs (and tickets) and a multitude of “fool proof” “solutions” that.. again, didn’t change anything.. I finally, on the third tech, managed to get someone with a brain. The problem is – I am now informed that they’re not even supposed to be working on the issue as techs because it’s been turned over to the “experts” and I’m supposed to still be waiting for them. 0.o … SERIOUSLY???? Almost six weeks in the list to be contacted by them, and nothing.. aparently they’re “very busy”. By this point, I’ve thoroughly had it. I wish I could log in to sims and commit Simicide in a multitude of ways… but nope. So.. in a “I don’t give a rat’s rear” moment, I decide that since I really wanted to switch my new Windows 7 version to the 64 bit from the 32 bit (to allow all my memory to be recognized) – which requires a .. yep.. again, fresh install of my operating system. Going to keep my fingers crossed, but with the base game and World Adventures, the launcher is again working and patching, etc. I have my backups ready to install.. and my “order” finger is itching to order Seasons (which I didn’t want to do if my sims wouldn’t work at all!) …. so, I am truly holding my breath that the rest of the expansion packs install alright. … Moral of the story, barring an epic disaster, it appears something in the actual Windows installation was killing my Sims Launcher.. eeeeks!
(Posted on my Sims 3 blog 11/4/12) http://www.thesims3.com/myBlog.html?persona=IllusoryThrall&month=11&year=2012
Continue reading →I will be updating and working on this blog some more in the very near future. With college starting, and my daughter’s new school starting the week after, things got hectic. Add to that – I discovered the week after that – my main harddrive was in the process of failing and wasn’t going to allow a simple upgrade to Windows 7 (which I needed for college classes). So I had to pull my entire computer apart and rebuild it. After said rebuild – while trying to install sims.. it turns out, sims won’t work at all. After what feels like YEARS I have it installed and working… kind of. The launcher is completely non-functional. I’ve talked to EA tech support twice, my call has now been escalated to the “big techs” – and I haven’t heard from them yet. However, the game seems mostly playable if I bypass the launcher – as long as I save a lot because it keeps crashing. Why, I haven’t figured out yet. 🙁 I just wish everything would work!!!!
Beyond that.. the list of the challenges/games I’m currently working on: (I’m setting myself a limit of 5 challenges running at once, three to be updated weekly, the other two bi-weekly… since there’s a ton of challenges I still want to try, this should help me finish the ones I’m started and get to new ones!!)
Meantime, happy simming all!!
Continue reading →I finally decided to stop beating a dead horse. An issue with Lacee (Osprey’s imaginary friend) caused a glitch that I could not find a work-around or fix for. And let’s face it – I was dreading going back sorting through memories and catching up with the story .. that I started late in the first place. That, and I learned a lot through playing Falconvale and trying out the challenge, and I think I have a better handle on how not to let the game’s innate settings get the best of my story (example: the dang ice cream truck and nonstop paparazzi!!)
After being so frustrated by my seeming inability to fix the problem (I’ll try to detail what went wrong in a postscript in a second here..) – I actually pretty much stopped playing Sims for all this time (hence the lack of updates). (Although I did spend some time working on/writing/setting up what I’ll dub my “mystery project”- a challenge I’m writing from a vague idea up- but more on that another time.) However, the impending release of Supernatural brought back the addiction, and despite rather looming and time-consuming real-life changes (err.. again, postscript!) – I unearthed my Sims game and spent another three or four days futilely arguing with my Falconvale save file. (Fruedian slip – I just had to correct my mis-spelling of “file” as “fail”… hm..) Besides the fact that I ended up thoroughly annoyed at the game in general .. I didn’t really give up – I just decided discretion really may be the better part of valor, and I ordered the hearse for the game/challenge/story. I will eventually build another Falconvale town.. but it won’t be on that custom world (Sunset Valley 2 also got the brunt of my frustration and got uninstalled) .. and it won’t be with those sims/story.
Now, on to the good news. I have (after a day of wracking my brain and searching custom worlds) come up with a brand new story, a new idea.. and a new challenge beginning. This time I resolve to write the story along with the game, so I won’t get ahead of myself like I did with Falconvale.. and also.. this time, the story really is going to take the reins and dictate how the challenge is played. But more on that later. Now to finish this post, and get going on the new story. .. also.. going to have to archive poor ol’ Falconvale on the blog.. (more procrastination ensues..)
Postscript 1 – or – “What Killed Falconvale”
As I mentioned, it was the imaginary friend’s fault. (When in doubt, always blame an inanimate object, they can’t argue.. or can they…) At some point during play, Osprey’s imaginary friend was following him around (as usual). She was in “child” age-state, and not “real” yet, he was a teen. I finally managed to get the relationship high enough to use Osprey’s saved “morph” potion to make her real, and, impatient as usual, I ignored the fact that it was late in Osprey’s awake-time/day, and I barrelled ahead with making her real. Once I triggered the “make me real” scenario, my game (as it did on all other imaginary friend transitions) decided to take an extended hiatus (load) moment – but of course, time keeps going, and his needs kept going lower while the imaginary friend continued to glow…. eventually, he went into needs “failure”, and got lower and lower, until I worried enough to cancel him out of the interaction and send him to replenish needs. The game kept going, I lost track of the fact that the whole interaction had been cancelled, I suppose I figured I could simply restart it. The next day, the doll in question tried to age transition to catch up to Osprey, and again got stuck – again, I got bored/impatient and cancelled it. Stuck her back in the inventory when he went to bed, and went to check on some other households. When I came back, I tried setting her on floor, and the doll appeared frozen, and wouldn’t come to “life” no matter what I did, no actions available. I tried everything I could think of and then some, finally, even attempting to simply delete the doll, or stick her back in inventory and forget her. However, all was clearly not forgotten, and the next time I switched households to check on someone or other, the game simply refused to load the Falcon household any longer. Upon actually downloading “errortrap” and some other mods, it was clearly showing the doll/imaginary friend persona was blocking the load of the household. After the above detailed frustration, I finally deleted the save file and the custom world and went on my merry (.. or, not so merry) way. Later, I discovered that the game automatically backs up the game whenever you use a different save game name, so I was fairly sure I have old files before the error happened, however, it’s probably a good week or more of game play back in the story, and I’m far to annoyed by the whole issue in general to attempt to rescue it any longer… so.. goodbye, Falconvale and the Falcons. 🙂
Postscript 2 – real-life changes..
As a final addendum to this post, I will explain what I meant by real life changes for anyone curious or interested. If you’re not, simply move on to whatever you planned to read next.. 😉 As I think I mentioned in the “about me” posts, I have homeschooled my daughter since preschool. Long story short, as she’s getting older and closer to high school, the less confident I feel in my ability to manage her educational needs AND be the mom she needs. We’ve found another schooling option that will allow her to get the education she needs, as well as parental support. She will actually get to do school online, and I get “demoted” (or promoted) to “educational coach” instead of “teacher” – someone else makes the lesson plans, I just help make sure the lessons get completed and classes get attended, etc. She’s very excited.. and with “all” my “free” time, I decided it was time to make a transition in my life. So.. after two failed attempts at college in the past, and 12 years since I’ve seen the inside of a classroom, I took a leap of faith in myself and enrolled in the major/program I’ve always wanted to pursue anyway. The college is online, so I will be able to be around for my daughter and family… the only issue was getting in. I had to test in at a Pre-Calculus + math level to even be ACCEPTED to the program.. not to mention other placement tests (that weren’t an issue). Somehow, I managed to brush up on my math skills enough to be accepted.. and I even managed to secure the financial assistance! So, as of the beginning of September, I begin full-time classes with Devry University in a Bachelor program for “Game and Simulation Programming”. (Which is actually a part of their engineering college, and, from what the advisor says, one of their more difficult programs.) I certainly won’t be dropping out because I’m bored this time…. (interestingly enough, one of my first two classes is Advanced Composition (I had a good number of English credits transfer, so the lower classes are already crossed of my list).. which should keep me busy and working on creating/writing more – so hopefully that will improve story quality on simmy challenges.. hehe!)
Continue reading →After watching my husband go through all these weird pictures/posts/jokes with memes and the like.. I find myself so utterly annoyed I can’t even sleep. … grrr. Sometimes I feel like I must be the only person anymore who just doesn’t find 99% of them funny. And staring blankly at my hubby just gets me an “explanation” of why they’re funny – which never seems to help.. so I’ve learned to just chuckle for half a second and he’s satisfied I “got it”. It’s not that I don’t get the jokes – I do. It’s not that I don’t have a sense of humor.. I do. Rather sarcastic, quirky, often dry, and usually involving taking things literally or hearing them wrong simply because I can. 😉 It’s just that these “memes” are usually so stupid they simply cease to amuse. (Probably this also correlates to my problems with a good portion of today’s (and yesterday’s) “comedy” movies and 80-90% of sitcoms. .. perhaps more..) Granted, I realise that is simply my opinion. Most people seem to find all that stuff incredibly funny, and I at least put on a good face for it.. but some days.. inside, I’m simply seething with the need to scream. Now, however, that’s not to say I don’t find some of today’s stranger “geeky” internet trends darn funny. ICanHazCheezeburger? cats .. that, I can look at all day. Failblog? You bet… Most of the time that’s funny. I’ve even been “converted” to actually watching – and laughing my rear off at the “Jacka$$” films. (Although they’re still incredibly stupid.. haha).. But memes? Count me out. Sorry hubby.. and the rest of the world. Re-roll. Format, Reinstall. Something similar. But please, get rid of them!! 🙂
This message has been brought to you by Random Rants. For when you simply have to say something .. or burst!
Continue reading →Sorry I’ve been completely absent for so long.. interest in playing Sims sorta waned for a while, plus real life gets so inconveniently in the way sometimes. Hehe… 🙂 Summer is always such a busy time for my family, it’s easy to get caught up in other stuff. Been busily playing Diablo 3 lately – which is a ton of fun.. among other games. Finally back to playing Sims, though, and picking up some new challenges / working on old ideas that I’m finally getting around to trying out. Should be fun. I’ll be getting back to Falconvale soon – my first priority there is trying to catch the story up to where my playtime is at – I got way ahead of my writing, I’m afraid. In the meantime, I found and started a new challenge – ISBI (I’m Surrounded By Idiots) – .. which has been eye-opening at the very least. I’ve been learning all sorts of things about building houses to avoid sim-ish traffic jams, and that keeping items in the house simple helps the AI point sims in the directions you’d like to go… sometimes.
Continue reading → 
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!
Chapter One – Starting Anew
November 2025 Dev DiarySuperSweetBot Commands for Mods & BroadcastersOctober 2025 Dev DiaryProgress Report!Hacking Situation ResolvedHey all…
Welcome to my new webhost!!
Progress Report on Not So Berry & TimelineExtended Not So Berry 2.0 is coming!!
OMG A Thrall Post?? What?Not So Berry Updating
Jaynie’s Gems: By-The-NumberToday
