SMag Issue 10 by SMag

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welcome

to issue 10 Hello and welcome to SMagazine Issue 10. Ten issues! What an amazing milestone for SMagazine. Thank you all for being so supportive! I’m glad that we can continue to celebrate SMagazine this issue - last issue we celebrated one year of SMagazine and this issue is our tenth issue. This issue is all about bringing the outdoors in, and also perfecting your garden. It’s important to make your garden somewhere you enjoy relaxing and working, since your garden is a blank canvas for you to work with. Inside this issue, we’ll look at some of the best uses for gardens.

As always, I hope you’ll enjoy reading this issue as much as I have enjoyed putting it together! GEORGE B Editor

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contents

06 Quick Tip 08 Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Abode 24 Eye on Mods 30 Sunset Beach House 38 Sidetracked for a Second 40 Quick Tip 42 Spring It Up 48 Smell of Bamboo 60 Quick Faves 66 Freshen it Up 70 Blossom Farmhouse 80 Custom Content Addict! 86 Exclusive Interview: Steph0Sims 94 Loft it Up 102 Cow Patch Farm 108 6x6 Living 114 Paradise Palm 124 Interview with Minraed from SIFF 130 Machinima Magic

we have a podcast! 4

Writing for this publication commenced in November 2014. This All views expressed inside this publication are those of the pers other important rubbish we need to say. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all for this page; t

s publication was published in March 2015. son who wrote the article and they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t reflect the views of SMag and all that the rest of the boring stuff is at the back.

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quick tips Did you know that you can use wallpaper to create the effect of a garage door? In The Sims 4 there are no cars, and therefore no garages for your homes. However, there’s still a way to give the effect of a garage, and that’s with a little help from wall coverings. Siding, combined with windows, can create the effect of a garage door. Or, if you’re going for a more modern feel, try enlarging windows.

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artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s abode words and lot by George

This contemporary, modern townhouse is fit for a trendy young adult. Every detail of this houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interior has been meticulously thought out to give this home a charming, lived-in feel whilst maintaining a tidy, modern atmosphere.

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The houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kitchen has a strong industrial vibe. Large windows open up the kitchen area, and the oven is unconventionally placed inside the rounded counter island to free up the limited counter space along the back.

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Like many of the rooms in this house, the dining room uses splashes of bright, vibrant colours. The large dining table promotes a sense of busyness and lots of people coming and going, which was the idea with this house.

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The living room is home to a bold orange feature wall but otherwise uses neutral, light colours. The living room is uncluttered and open, and would make a great entertaining room .

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The bathroom is simple yet very sophisticated. It uses a clean monochrome theme, and is home to a beautiful vintage clawfoot bathtub. There are large windows overlooking the town, but with blinds for privacy, of course!

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Finally thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the small roof garden. By utilising the flat roof of this townhouse, we were able to create a small, contemporary garden space with a bar, planters for gardening, a barbeque and even an easel.

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This house is on the Gallery Search for Artistâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Abode by georgeishungry

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Blossom Farmhouse by Will

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In the centre of Willow Creek, I present Blossom Farmhouse. This is an old cottage, with a twist of 21st century advancements. The lot in which this house sits contains abundant wildlife, a pond, and plenty of space to dine, among other outdoor activities.

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To the left side of the house, I have included decorative solar panels, to give the impression of a house that is green and environmentally friendly, which fits the description of this issue of Smagazine - â&#x20AC;&#x153;Life In Bloomâ&#x20AC;?.

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Inside, you will find a large living room, a kitchen-diner with ample space for cooking and eating, three bedrooms and four bathrooms (one room being spare, and undecorated in the download of this house).

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The structure of the building uses natural materials, and fits perfectly in the middle of the lot, surrounded by nature. It contains wood panelling, stone, and a rustic wooden roof. To download this house, click the image. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll see you in the next issue with another creation!

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custom content

addict

Custom content normally gets a bad reputation with some Simmers - Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll admit, if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not careful CC can cause issues with your game, but the community has proved time and time again that custom content can produce some amazing looks in your game.

WORDS George Bishop IMAGES jenba-sims

left: jenba-sims.tumblr.com

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I’ve often said that I would never use custom content in my game. For a long time, I held true to my word - I stayed away from TSR, ModTheSims and any other sites that could convince me to stray away from my promise. In the summer leading up to the release of The Sims 4, I went on a bit of a ‘custom content binge’, as I like to call it. I must have downloaded hundreds of package files that day, all ready to be neatly combined into one super package file. It was a bit of a “YOLO” moment, to be honest - I was getting impatient waiting for TS4 and I wanted to spice up my game with something new. Now, I can’t play TS3 without custom content. My houses and Sims are covered in it now, and the basic content that comes with the game just doesn’t do it for me any more. Everything has to be CC. I told myself that this wouldn’t happen again with TS4, but alas, I caved in a few days ago. I was on Tumblr and I found the beautiful blog jenba-sims, who has taken the screenshots you see in this article. I started to download stuff I saw on her blog, and before I knew it, it was The Sims 3 all over again. Who knows if I’ll ever choose to take out my custom content (CC)? I’m more than happy to include it in houses I make for the magazine. However, it

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presents a new problem, since I know that not everyone wants to use custom content, and I completely get that. That’s why I try to include some creations without custom content in every issue, in the same way that we include creations from The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. But, unlike other sites you might find, we aren’t completely against custom content. The huge catalouge of content avaliable for The Sims 3 and the growing selection for The Sims 4 gives people a new way to express themselves in the game. Some people I know will only use The Sims to create custom content; it’s their way of expresing themselves in the game. Creators that dedicate their time in-game are truly amazing. I’ve tried to create custom content before and it’s just been a complete and utter mess, so I understand how difficult it can be. But let me emphasise that I’m not trying to persuade people to download custom content. I’m simply trying to explain why we support it at SMag. •

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H P E ST MS I S 0 E

USIV L C X E

IEW V R E INT

Steph0Sims is a long-time builder and letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s-player on YouTube. Her unique house designs and her impeccable taste when it comes to interiors has spelt success for Steph. She now has 61 thousand subscribers and over 200 videos on her channel, ranging from house building videos to letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plays. We spoke to Steph about her builds, The Sims 4 and more in our exclusive interview with her.

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Introduce yourself for people that might not know you. My name is Steph and I make sims related videos on YouTube. My videos mostly revolve around making houses in the game but I also enjoy making lets plays and other kinds of videos. What inspired you to start making videos? I don’t really remember since it was quite a while ago but I remember I used to watch a lot of other YouTubers such as James, Chrill and Curtis and really felt inspired to make my own videos after that. When did you first play The Sims? I first played The Sims when I was 5 with my older brother. He would never let me play properly because he was scared I would kill his Sims, but a couple years later I found The Sims 2 in a box and started playing myself. What is your favourite house that you’ve built? I think my favourite house I’ve ever built would have to be either saddle stone or mountain oasis. They were definitely the two houses I spent the most time on and put the most detail into. Where do you get inspiration? I get a lot of inspiration from images of houses and also other builders in the community.

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What is the creative process behind your houses? I usually have an idea of what kind of style I want to build first (e.g modern, a cabin, traditional ect) and from there I look at a few images on google and try to pull a few ideas from the images I see. A lot of it is just experimenting and seeing what works. What’s your favourite part of building a house? My favourite part of building a house is probably putting the windows and wall coverings on. At this point you really start to see the house taking shape and what it’s going to look like in the end. What’s your least favourite part? My least favourite part used to be furnishing but recently I’ve started to enjoy it more so my least favourite would probably have to be going the garden. What is your favourite house that you’ve built? I think my favourite house I’ve ever built would have to be either saddle stone or mountain oasis. They were definitely the two houses I spent the most time on and put the most detail into.

“A lot of it is just experimenting and seeing what works.” 91

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What are you best at? I think I’m probably best at building modern houses. It’s definitely my favourite style to build. Which content creators do you admire most? There are a lot of people in the community that inspire me a lot! To name a few I would say Deligracy, TheSimSupply, Chrillsims, DutchSimsMaster, ruthless_kk and fancysimmer. Finally, what tips do you have for people trying to get noticed on YouTube? Upload frequently and just keep going! Overtime the quality of your videos will improve and also the amount of views you get. Also make sure to tittle and tag your videos appropriately so that it’s more likely for your videos to come up in peoples suggestions.

Steph has been creating content in The Sims for years now and if you haven’t already, you should follow her on Twitter and subcribe to her on YouTube. You can find her on both using her handle steph0sims.

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cow patch farm by a 100

alex 101

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Welcome to Cow Patch Farm, a charming farm located on the outskirts of Willow Creek. Here you’ll find all the modern ameneties you’d expect from a present-day house, with the added charm of old barns and buildings left from the farm’s heyday (pun intended). The landscape may seem a little wild and untamed, but with a little bit of work the vegetation that has taken over the farm can be sorted out in no time!

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Inside the beautiful farmhouse, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find a cozy living room, which leads off to a traditional country-style kitchen and dining room. The whole house has been given such precise attention to detail; it really feels like a traditional farmhouse.

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But what really brings this house to life is itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s huge garden. The farmhouse has a small terrace out back, but the meticulously planned garden which includes dirt trails and even pens for little fake pigs is the houseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best feature.

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6x 6 L I V I N G

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“Welcome to your new home!”, the landlord said cheerfully, as he handed me the key to my new apartment. I’d moved out of home, and I was ready to make a name for myself out in the big bad world as a designer. Clearly, I hadn’t read the listing for the apartment properly (I hadn’t looked around it since I lived too far away) and I failed to notice how small the place was. Like, it was teeny tiny. “There’s barely even enough space for a family of mice in here!”, I said to myself, taken aback by how very small this place was. But, I had to make the most of it.

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I must have hit my head on something since I moved in, because now I love this place. It took a lot of work, but I transformed the horrible empty concrete chamber the flat used to be into a beautiful space I can use not only for living in, but also for my design work. Downstairs, I have a tiny little galley kicthen. There’s only one countertop for me to use, but it’s okay. My workbench which is opposite the kitchen also doubles as a counter when I’m not using it as my dining table. The living ‘room’ is two armchairs and a TV up on the wall. One thing I’ve done is put as much on the walls as possible, since I need all the floor space I can get. I’ve also kept away from putting curtains on the windows and there’s plants everywhere, which makes the apartment feel nice and open. My desk area is super simple - it has my laptop and any discarded Starbucks cups I haven’t thrown away yet on it!

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The bedroom is my favourite part of the house. It’s upstairs, away from the rest of the apartment, which means it can serve as a little getaway for me. I’ve put curtains on my balcony opposed to over the windows. I have to go outside to draw the curtains, which may seem like an inconvenience, but it helps to make the tiny 3x4 space I have to sleep in feel more airy and open. My bedroom may be tiny but I’ve managed to fit a double bed in there, just by pushing it up against the wall. My bright pillows have a great contrast with my dark covers and the dark bedside table, which makes a really nice juxtaposition. I didn’t think I’d be able to stay in such a tiny space, but by putting in a little bit of work a lot of work, I’ve been able to make this place somewhere I’m proud to call home. This design was featured on the SMag website, but the article has been written for the magazine.

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Paradise

by gwtreave

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e Palm

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Welcome to Paradise Palm, where the drinks are flowing, the weather is great and the Sims are beautiful. Here thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s everything you need to entertain until the cows come home, from a spacious living area to an outdoor patio thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perfect for guests.

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Inside, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll find everything from a beautiful kitchen to a 12-seat dining room thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just dying to be used at a dinner party. Or, if dinner parties are a bit too formal for you, the house is home to loads of entertainment systems to keep everyone dancing until the sun comes up.

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This house comes to life in the garden. Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got not one but two swimming pools - one thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great for pool parties and getting in shape, but the other is more like a jaccusi, perfect for cooling down after a dip in the pool or for a natter with friends.

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lights, camera, action

For those who don’t know me, I’m Minraed Arzhel across various media, but really just Minraed. I’ve been into The Sims since the original, but it wasn’t until The Sims 3 that I realized the creative potential of the game. My original interests were in photography, machinima and interior design

aspects, much more than game play itself. In real life I am a Dietitian, a Diabetes Educator with a special interest in mental health and eating disorders. I’m even going back to school this year to start working on a certificate in Psychology. MINRAED

FROM

SIFF

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What is the best part about running Simatography? Simatography is a small community, mainly because it is a special interest site. We focus primarily on photography and machinima making (movies made with The Sims), with some story telling thrown in. In a small community you get to connect more directly with more people. The other joy I get is knowing that Simatography is a site that many come to and find the help that they need to kick off or improve their machinima skills because there really isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t another site out there that has this focus that we do.

The one thing I say over and over with SIFF is that it is a celebration of creativity, not a contest where winning is the main goal.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the best thing about SIFF?

How did you discover The Sims?

The one thing I say over and over about SIFF is that it is acelebration of creativity - NOT a contest where winning is the main goal. The thing I love best is that we are open to everyone - no matter what your skill level is, and though you may not win in the viewerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s choice or special recognition awards, we really do believe that everyone should feel proud of their creative productions. We feel that SIFF is a safe place for people to give their craft a shot at being noticed, but also as a venue for pushing people to grow, learn, and be inspired to improve over time.

The first Sims... I think it was through a player friend of a MUD I was involved in at the time called Threshold if I am remembering correctly. The Sims 3, when I really got into all of this in earnest, came when I was looking for something new to dig myself into after finally finishing University and now having more time. The Sims3 was coming out in two months, so I just held off waiting instead of looking for something else, and I am so glad I did.

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Thank you to Minraed for taking part - follow her on Twitter and visit the Simatography website for more!

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How did you discover the machinima community? Ok, when I say this I know how it will sound, a bit self-centered perhaps, but read through this. I didn’t discover it, I created it. Now when I say that it is important to realize that I didn’t realize that there was a whole Sims 2 machinima community out there. When The Sims 3 came out I started to notice great Sims 3 machinima, it didn’t even occur to me that people were still “playing” the Sims 2. I was a bit focused on my own thing obviously. Anyway, I was intrigued and wanted to learn to do this machinima thing, but I could not find anywhere that The Sims 3 machinima makers were collectively gathering into a community, so I started Simatography. I had pretty much no experience, so I recruited some people I noticed in the community that were doing what I liked. SuperPogimon for photography and Mmyoko for machinima. The rest is history. (I must say that there were dozens of other instrumental people along the way and I can’t name them all, but I do remember them all) What’s the best thing you’ve ever seen because of Simatography? SIFF - the Sims International Film Festival is our primary focus. I had no idea what this would grow into when I started it all. SIFF, if you ask many machinima makers out there, has been a catalyst for their own machinima making adventures. Many film makers have told me

that it was because of SIFF that they keep on making machinima. It is unbelievably rewarding to know that my random little project idea grew into something that so many have come to love. I get more satisfaction out of knowing I have been able to help others than I do even from my own projects. How can people get involved? It is simple - drop by our site. We are quiet at times, much of our activities span out over the internet universe through social media. We have members connecting to us through Tumblr, Twitter and Facebook, so not everyone spends a whole lot of time on the site, but it is always a place to come back to. There is so much helpful content in our forums that I am told by people that they come by often, even if they don’t speak out much. Aside from SIFF we have several ongoing machinima and photography challenges that people can get into. I personally am attempting to get through the 100 themes photography challenge, 100 photos that fit a list of prompts/themes. And I should mention that even at SIFF there are many ways non-machinima makers can get involved through Battle of the Bands, to graphic arts, and photography as we do have a virtual Red Carpet. Last but not least, we have a monthly magazine theme that anyone can join in on if they are sparked by the theme.

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Building Cheatsheet smagazineofficial.co.uk

You can use our new handy Cheatsheets to remember what cheats you need to do something for both building and playing.

To open the cheat console, press Ctrl+Shift+C, type in your cheat and press enter.

bb.moveobjects usage: bb.moveobjects on Allows you to place an object anywhere, regardless of it intersecting any object or wall. You can also place objects partly off of your lot. To move an object up and down using moveobjects, press Ctrl+9 to move the object up and Ctrl+0 to move it down. Note: this will mess with your saved camera positions. Objects placed using MOO are saved with your lot. bb.showhiddenobjects usage: bb.showhiddenobjects (requires testingcheats to be enabled) Allows you to place hidden in-game objects. To find the objects, search for DEBUG in Build/Buy. You can find objects such as the public toilet blocks, trophies and some paintings. Hidden objects do save to your lot, but are not transferred up to the Gallery or My Library.

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bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement usage: ^ (itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s too long to fit in!) Allows you to place objects that are unlockable without having to unlock them (such as career reward objects).

RESIZE AN OBJECT You can resize anything in Build/ Buy by pressing Shift+[ to make it bigger or Shift+] to make it smaller. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make objects smaller than they already are.

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Live Mode Cheatsheet smagazineofficial.co.uk

You can use our new handy Cheatsheets to remember what cheats you need to do something for both building and playing.

To open the cheat console, press Ctrl+Shift+C, type in your cheat and press enter.

kaching usage: kaching Gives the household $1,000 motherlode usage: motherlode Gives the household $50,000 resetsim usage: resetsim Firstname Lastname Resets a stuck sim to a safe, netural position. hideheadlineeffects usage: hideheadlineeffects on Hides thought/speech bubbles or the plumbob. freerealestate usage: freerealestate on Makes homes free for your Sims. Your Sims household funds wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change when moving house. households.autopay_bills usage: households.autopay_ bills As the name suggests, it makes bills free for you.

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money usage: money X Sets your household funds as X (the number you put in). sims.remove_all_buffs usage: sims.remove_all_buffs Removes all moodlets from your Sim. fps usage: fps on Shows the FPS count in the corner of the screen.

the ground You can teleport anywhere! You can also ‘setup’ a lot, which puts all the bare essentials for a Sims’ life there. an object Make it your head! (Don’t worry, objects set as head don’t save). You can also make dirty objects clean again. NPC sims You can add them to your household or reset them if they’ve got stuck.

fullscreen usage: fullscreen A slightly easier way to toggle between fullscreen and windowed mode. testingcheats usage: testingcheats on Testingcheats is a very powerful cheat. You can see many cheats by shift-clicking: the mailbox Shows you cheats for your household or the whole world, such as maxing needs or making needs frozen.

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Important information EDITOR GEORGE BISHOP THE TEAM Lot specialist Alex Lot specialist Will Ask Dan Martymor On behalf of SIFF Minraed Web Writer Arthur Tom JOIN US If youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re interested in joining the SMagazine team, then send the editor an email george@smagazineofficial.co.uk COPYRIGHT SMag is not endorsed or funded by Electronic Arts, or itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s licensors, in any way. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Creations featured in this magazine are all available for free and we do not gain anything by sharing any lots. The lots shared in this publication are not used for commercial gain by SMag, or the creator of the lot. All creations inside this issue are shared with the belief that the original creator would not object to the sharing of their creation. If you are a creator and you do not wish for us to share your creations, please tell the editor via email.

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e y b d o o g e!

t tim see you nex

SPECIAL THANKS TO

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Listen to us natter whilst you Sim. Join the conversation live with #scast

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