The Sims Wiki:Newsletter/12 September 2011

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Changes In Bureaucrat & Admin Voting Changes in the voting system for Admins and Bureaucrats ''Hey guys! This thread kind of branches off of the above thread and the points made on that thread that are related to whether there should be community input on rollback requests or not. Firstly, I personally think that we should shorten the voting period on Requests for bureaucratship from the current two week period to one week as I (and possibly others) have noticed that most of the voting seems to take place within the first week, with very little happening in the second week and given a community of our size, I think one week would be enough to generate an overall consensus.''

''Secondly, I think we could adopt a similar system when it comes to promoting new administrators via the Requests for administratorship page. While I have no major gripes with requests being left open for a few days so that the community can voice their opinions, I think that there are a few flaws with this system as before, I have seen one request that was accepted within a few days while another was left sitting there for approximately 2 weeks.While it is based of off the proposed changes for voting for bureaucrats, I still think we can have more than one vote going for administrators at a time (like we currently have) for the same reasons that we use that method now. I think if we brought in a one week system, it would make administrator requests more organised, overall consensus would be clearer and it would be more fair overall for every candidate.''

The above proposals have been made by bureaucrat GEORGIEGIBBONS in the community portal. Though only the first, shortening the voting periods for bureaucrats to 1 week, is being discussed due to some opposition against the second proposal, there could possibly be some large changes in The Sims Wiki's voting system in the coming weeks.

As always, users are encouraged to view and comment on important discussions, as the result of this one may have an indirect or direct effect on them.

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Horoscope
HOROSCOPE Libra: September 23 - October 22

Look at the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane?

Or is it...a meteor!?

Don't worry, if it's any help, you'll soon find out!

Be prepared for some positiveness in your workplace - and be prepared for all the early Christmas gift-giving and awkward pauses between sentences that come with it. Fear not, however. Ending this spell will just be an onion-filled meal and giant fan masterminded plan away.

Strike 1, strike 2, strike 3, you're out! No matter how many times you try, you just don't seem to be able to reach that sporting goal you seriously want (which, for many, is actually starting to play a sport). Don't worry - if cooking is more your taste, no fires are set to burn in your near future! You're a free person!

Fanon Review Feature
Review: Hearts of Hallowan By DanPin Today I sat down and read, for this review, Hearts of Hallowan, written by our retired LostInRiverview and I quickly fell in love with it. It is about the life of the citizens of a town called Hallowan.

There is a big number of characters, all with their well-defined personal relationships and their personalities are all well-defined. The story is great and when I finished reading the first chapter, I quickly couldn’t hold myself and started reading the second one, because this fan-fiction is intriguing and filled with cliffhangers. The descriptions, along with the surprising events of the story make it worth the time spent.

The writing style is very descriptive and the author couldn’t think of a better way to place us in the story and allows us to imagine the action’s surroundings.

So, concluding this review, I’d like to wish LostInRiverview good luck out in the world and I want to tell him that he should be proud of this amazing story that I recommend to everyone.

Review: The Diner Guy By DanPin I really enjoyed reading The Diner Guy, written by our own GEORGIEGIBBONS. Basically, it's the story about a young man named Lucas who applies for a job at the local Diner, where he lives some amazing adventures, ranging from his relations with his co-workers to Charlie Sheen’s attempt to take down the Diner.

I liked the solid characters this fan fiction has, which were very amusing by themselves. The story is funny, with some inside jokes that will make one who chats regularly in the IRC channel laugh. Some links are there exposing the expression’s double meaning, a la Uncyclopedia.

The writing style is simple and enhances the comedy in the story, with some deranged font formatting to some misspelt words, only to provide laughs. The ending is among the most wonderful ones I’ve seen. Long story short, The Diner Guy is a jewel inside our wiki and I recommend it for anyone who wants to laugh for a while, so… Kudos to you, GG.

Please see here for instructions as to how to submit a Fanon for review, or to become a reviewer.
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Modding Programs
By Andronikos Leventis, writer of The Mod & More Column If want to mod a game in the Sims series, you should know that you do need to open huge books and devour knowledge about programming in a dozen languages. No. You just have to know that there are some programs that can help you to do so without programming the game from the beginning. Over time, tons of programs have been developed in order to help you to better understand the game and edit its contents, adding new stuff to it. This article will cover the best of these programs for every game in the series.

Sims 1 Engine
The Sims 1 has many programs that can help users create new mods to fit in it. And as strange as this might sound, the best mods ever have been made for the original The Sims. IFF Pencil is one of the most famous programs ever created to help you edit .IFF files, so that you can change object and interaction values, or even create your own. It is also useful to create skins. Also, the programs FAR In and FAR Out can help you into compressing tons of .IFF files in one .FAR file. Or you might need to edit and .IFF file inside a .FAR one. These will work. But not for Mac. If you are running an Apple Computer, I would recommend IFFSnooper and FAR Maker.

Sims 2 Engine
Definitely and ultimately, the most famous program for The Sims 2 and Sims Stories series is SimPE. SimPE is the simplest package editor ever made. It allows you create and edit anything and everything you might ever imagine. What makes this tool so famous is its layout, its design, its capabilities, and of course its support! SimPE is obsolete now, and development has finished. So, you don't have to worry about updates anymore, and you can't get glitches easily. Recommended by all means. Get it as fast as you can! It's amazing!

Sims 3 Engine
The Sims 3 and The Sims Medieval games are the newest additions to The Sims series. This is also the first time EA ever develops itself programs for customizing your game, namely, Create a World and Create a Pattern. However, this has not stopped other programs from being developed. Sim3PE is one of the most famous Sims 3 Editors. However, I have to say it is not as simple and beautiful as SimPE was for Sims 2, however starts to be one of the fastest tools ever made. Extract a resource, edit, and compress it in a package. As simple as ever. The sooner you get it, the best for you.

Simprograms.com
Perhaps one of the best sites for news about The Sims series and programs, www.simprograms.com is so far the best source! If there is something you need to get for The Sims 1, 2, 3, you will find it there. Every program ever created is there. What are you waiting for? Get there and download whatever you need to start your journey in molding.

Monthly Highlights

 * Wir.wiryawan and Andronikos Leventis were promoted to admins.
 * Bleeh was nominated for bureaucrat rights.
 * LostInRiverview retired from regularly editing on the wiki as a bureaucrat.

From The Editor
T  his newsletter doesn't write itself! Anyone who is willing to contribute ideas or articles should do so; you will be given credit for your contributions, and they stand a good chance of being included on the next Newsletter.

Along with a new column writer, we would like to include one or two more members of the community to write for us, making us a 4-5 member team. This team will communicate via e-mail and IRC to bring the community the best possible newsletter each month. The Sims Wiki Newsletter would also like to remind you of how fun it actually is to write for The Newsletter. We plan on growing and adding a whole ton of new things, from new game reviews by regular users, to in-depth articles concerning Wikia's changes and how they effect users. For now, growth is extremely limited, and we ask for as many possible users to apply to join.

If there's something you think we missed, tell us about it and we'll do our best to include it.

- Happy Simming and editing!
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