The Sims Wiki:Newsletter/August 2012

{|style="border: 2px solid green; -webkit-border-radius:10px; -moz-border-radius:10px; border-top: 5px solid green; border-bottom: 5px solid green;" width="660px" align=

SEASONS! Because having just one EP announced is too mainstream...  By DanPin, editor

Simmers all over the Web are rejoicing as they eagerly await the releases of the two next expansion packs: Supernatural (announced in late June) and Seasons (announced last week).

Seasons was announced in the EA Summer Showcase and more information about it was given on the Supernatural Broadcast a couple of days later. The new EP will feature weather, several festivities scattered around the year, reminiscent of Easter, Halloween and alike. New activities are also included, such as skating and swimming in rivers, lakes and in the sea. The Broadcast also showed some insight on Fairies from Supernatural, including their ability to fix objects and their natural skills in gardening.

Supernatural will be released on September 4th and Seasons on November 13th. The Newsletter Team hopes you have an awesome time reading this issue!

{|class="roundborder" style="border: 1px solid green; background: #FFFFFF; border-left: 5px solid green; border-right: 5px solid green;" width="50%" align="right"

Poll
By DanPin, editor What do you think of Seasons? IT'S AMAZING!!!111!!!!1!1!!1one!! It looks like a decent thing. Unlike Sweet Treats. Who cares about Supernatural, Seasons FTW! Meh. Supernatural looks better. Looks like a waste of money. I don't play TS3.

Horoscopes
By DanPin, editor

Short News
By GEORGIEGIBBONS

Wiki News
 * The countdown towards the deletion of Player Stories started.

The Sims News
 * The Sims 3: Seasons was announced.
 * The Supernatural and Seasons broadcast occurred.
 * }

The Mod and More:Package vs. Sims3Pack
By Andronikos Leventis Many people believe that one format is better than the other when it comes to distributing and installing custom content for The Sims 3. This article is determined to explore the certain aspects of each one of those types of files.

What is better when it comes to installing and managing?
Most users would agree that while .Sim3Pack files are relatively easier to install, they are hard to manage and take too long to install. Also, .Sim3Pack appear to have problems when it comes to detecting duplicates; users who have many Store content compilations or collectors may find they have multiple instances of each piece of CC. Also, it is widely known that the Launcher can easily become slow if a lot of content is installed, and may therefore be rendered relatively useless when it comes to managing content.

.Package files on the other hand, require a resource.cfg file to be added to a specific folder based on the player's version of the game, and the creation of the Mods/Packages subfolders. However, for the average computer user, .package files will later prove much easier to install (that is, simply copying and pasting them to the desired subfolder under Mods/Packages), and then also much easier to manage, as they can be handled as any other file.

As for distributing?
Although package files could easily be considered better, they are also only found in modding sites, such as ModTheSims.info, and cannot be upload to the Exchange. The Exchange stores tons of CC from many simmers dedicated to The Sims 3. Distributing content to the Exchange is as simple as clicking on a button. Modding sites, on the other hand, are more closed communities and require people to have their desired files to be uploaded reviewed, a process that can take as much as days. Therefore, .Sim3Pack's are certainly more easily distributed.

Which files are bigger?
.Sim3Pack files are generally many .Package files, or other types or files used by the game, compressed. Therefore, by doing the math, you can understand Sim3Pack files are generally usually bigger in size. However, a single .Sim3Pack file can have whatever content is present in many .Package files.

What about the actual content?
.Sim3Pack files are usually hair, clothing, furniture, houses or Sims. .Package files are usually mods and more complex clothing and furniture.

What should be used?
Currently, the answer should be "whatever suits the user better". This means, the user should use whatever he thinks is better, as long as he also has logical expectations when it comes to the people who will download what they are uploading, and is also logical. Houses for example should be .Sim3Pack files. Mods should be .Package files (and in fact, I doubt there is a single mod out there in .Sim3Pack format, or if mods can even be in .Sim3Pack format at all). That's generally all there is to be said about the actual usefulness and ease of distribution of these files, and why it is no use for only one of them to be used, and anyone should simply use what they are used to, or get used to something else as well (Could I use "use" more times in a sentence? Well it doesn't matter! Happy Simming everyone!).

Auror's Take: Interviewing Xd1358
By Auror Andrachome I decided to interview Xd1358 for my column this month. Xd is a user that can be found rarely on-wiki, but can be found very often in the IRC channel. Now, without further ado, here's the interview we had through IRC: Hello Xd1358. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me. Do you accept the terms and conditions you must follow?  There are terms and conditions? *scrolls past and accepts* Thank you. Now let's get started. Xd, where do you originate from?  Well, I've been a Wikian since 2009 and though I've edited many wikis, the Star Wars wiki is definitely my "home wiki" and is where I spend most of my time. That's very interesting. Where did your interest in Star Wars come from?  I remember getting Revenge of the Sith as a birthday present some years ago, and I guess that's where my interest started. There was also this one animated Star Wars series that I followed a couple of years ago. Nice. Do you remember how you found The Sims Wiki and it's IRC channel?  I'm not 100% sure, but if I remember correctly, I found it via the Call of Duty wiki's channel, where GeorgieGibbons happened to lurk. If my memory serves me correctly, #wikia-sims was being trolled at that time so I joined to see what's up. Ah, okay. Have you ever enjoyed life simulation games like The Sims?  I have actually never owned a TS game but I've played The Sims 2 and some of its numerous expansion packs at friends etc. However I am an avid fan of The Sims' sister series, SimCity, and SC4 is definitely among the best games that I've played. That's really good to hear. So who do you consider your "best friend" IRC-bound?  On all of IRC or just TSW's IRC channel? I suppose the latter? On all of IRC would be fine.  I frequent a fair share of channels, so it's really hard to name one "best friend". There are many people with whom I interact a lot, such as the co-leaders in my Minecraft project, etc, and I don't really want to point out someone special.  There are people with whom I've talked on IRC for almost three years now and of course you grow a bond with them, and there are some people on the Star Wars wiki who are very nice and have been my mentors etc. for an extended period of time.  As for #wikia-sims, I must say the users there are very friendly. The channel is not so big, which results in closer relationships. I happen to play Minecraft with a fair share of #wikia-sims lurkers too, so I have some sort of friendships with many of them.  It would be natural to mention RoseGui (now on "Rose") with whom I happen to be wiki-married ( ^_^ ). I've been a very good friend of hers since November '11, so I could say she's a very good friend and an awesome person.  I've also spent countless hours playing Minecraft with DanPin, so I suppose he's something special too. :P lol  In general the people in #wikia-sims are all nice, though :)  So, people in the audience have all been wondering the same thing. Xd1358...are you a homosexual?  XD  Not that I've noticed, no. Okay then. ^_^ Xd1358...do you have any deep hatred or dislike towards any user in particular...?  There are users with whom I sometimes have some sort of disputes, but I don't have any hatred for anyone specific. Usually they're all nice. Well, Xd, you're a very interesting person. Thank you for joining me in this interview and see you next time! <Xd1358> :)

Review: The Case of the Gunshot Wounds
By Bakerychaz, guest writer The Case of the Gunshot Wounds is a story about investigator Jake Gannon, and his investigation of his friend Renee Littler's murder. She was shot, and has two suspects - Renee's husband Reuben and Reuben's mistress Odine Perry. The story focuses on both Renee's murder and Jake and his husband Matthew Hamming's marriage. I think the characters are perfect. I think Jake is a great character for a story like this, as he is extremely smart and is very curious. I like the plot of Matthew and Jake's marriage, and the ending is just fantastic. My favorite character is Grandpa Charlie, and the twist is amazing - just like a best-selling murder story. The author of the story is amazing at writing, and is very gifted with it.

I found some of the scenes a bit cheesy, but the main plot is amazing. I especially like the ending of the story - a tearjerking moment. I like the fact that there aren't too many stories to focus on; there are only two main plots, whereas many Fanons have more than two. This Fanon is different from other Fanons, as it's quite a realistic story, and some of the others focus on things that only the Sim universe can do, such as different life states and complicated death types. Each chapter of this Fanon has just the right amount of lines and words. I can sum up TCotGW in one word - amazing. I give TCotGW 5 stars out of 5.

From the Editor...
We hope you all had an awesome time reading this issue! Until next issue...




 * }