Image quality follow up and S,HWC revisit

[strangetomato]

It turns out the issue I mentioned with my images losing quality was related to Firefox, so it's no wonder that none of you were having the same issue with quality, and in all likelihood, my image looked just fine in your browser (for an in-game camera pic, anyway). The issue was with my new PC being 64-bit and Firefox not having a 64-bit version available yet. My images look fine in my image viewer and Photoshop, but everything looks terrible in Firefox. I've switched to using Internet Explorer (which is a shame because I love Firefox) and now things look as they should. 

Thanks to the chat I had with skellington7d, I've also started playing in windowed mode and this has fixed my issues with Irfanview not taking in-game screencaps for me anymore (and I think that one was Windows 7 related). Thanks for the insight and nudge to try that, Skell. :) This leads me to the image below...

Johnny and Ophelia flirting, while Ripp nods in approval. :P

It's been a while since I visited these three at LFT, and this is in the original game I was playing while writing the story instead of my uberhood attempt to recreate it (which no longer exists). I went back to my backups and tested out the oldest one I had. There doesn't seem to be any issue with missing lots (and there shouldn't be - this was 7-8 backups and several years prior to that), and most story-related things are here. Some of the things I added later were just unnessarily adding to the clutter of the hood and further into the storyline than I needed to be (from playing ahead), leaving me with a game full of spoilers and chaos. This older game feels like a breath of fresh air. I can jump right in and play the story again, right where I left off.

On that note, I woke up on Saturday with a little scene in my head, featuring Tank, Frances, and Beau. It's one of those extras that doesn't necessarily fit into a chapter or gets added to one later as a scene if it fits. It's mostly just character-building stuff, a bit of fun, you know the drill. ;) I took a notebook to my yoga class and furously scribbled it down in the corner while waiting for class to start. And now, all I need is images, and my game is ready whenever I can grab a free hour to shoot them.

P.S. The Super Duper Hugs are also under control now. Thank you for all your help. :)

Comments

[meetme2theriver.livejournal.com]

*is excited* :D

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I'm excited, too. :D I have that "can't wait to post" feeling. Getting feedback, reactions, and theories was always so much fun.

[muslemura.livejournal.com]

Look at them, being in character, and all :D

Glad you've managed to fix (some of) your computer issues!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's good to see that ACR 2.0 functions much the same way 1.0 did. XD They haven't changed a bit.

I think that's most of the computer issues resolved at this point. Hooray! I still lost all that cc and the uberhood, which is sad, but in a way I think this worked out for the best. Like my later backups, the uberhood was also a lot to deal with for the story. Now I can keep Strangetown, LFT, Downtown, and Bluewater Village as simple as possible for the story. It makes the prospect of getting back into it way less daunting.

[timberwolfoz.livejournal.com]

All of this is making me do the happy dance of happiness. And the fact you can pick up your old neighbourhood right where you left off is just the icing on the cake, and bound to be a relief to you, now you're not fighting your medium. Funny how we all spontaneously started rereading STHWC more or less simultaneously, wasn't it?

I woke up on Saturday with a little scene in my head, featuring Tank, Frances, and Beau...all I need is images, and my game is ready whenever I can grab a free hour to shoot them.

Yaaaaaay!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

*joins the happy dance of happiness* :D

It's funny that it took losing the uberhood to hard drive failure to get me to realize that going back to an earlier state would have been a better choice this whole time. Playing the uberhood was informative (and I picked up some fun premade ideas along the way), but it was really too unwieldy for story purposes. I'm all about keeping it simple now.

It really was interesting to hear that a number of you had been rereading it. Maybe it is a sign.

[skoogy.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I use Firefox on a 64-bit computer, and didn´t know they were not entirely compatible... That´s good to know though, and maybe I should switch to IE when it comes to uploading pictures etc (though I have not noticed any quality loss while uploading to Photobucket)... However, Firefox is so much smoother and faster for me than IE, so I´ll still at least use it as much as possible despite the compability issues.

And it´s so nice to see the sims from S,HWC again! :D It´s one of my absolute favorite sim stories (read all the chapters about one year ago in only 1-2 weeks, it was so addictive:), so anything new about those sims would be fantastic:-)

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I don't think the images actually lose quality, but they look that way in the browser. Try opening the same page with an image in both browsers and see if you can notice a difference. Once side by side, it was very obvious to me. Your mileage may vary, of course. It's not enough to ruin it for me, but it was annoying. Less so now that I know the images will be fine for others.

I'm still using Firefox, too. I'll break out IE if I want to see something properly with the images at full quality, but for most things I'll stick with Firefox. I also find it much faster, and I just prefer how things work with it. I hear they're working on a 64-bit version, so that's good.

Thank you. :) I'm honoured you consider me one of your favourites. I'm looking forward to getting back to them, even just a little. Writing that scene felt really good. Like visiting with old friends.

[ambient-ghoul.livejournal.com]

I've been using Google Chrome for my web browser, but I haven't compared image quality on it to Firefox. You could probably try it if IE doesn't work out for you.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I tried Chrome, but it wasn't 64-bit either. I'm not sure if they have a different 64-bit version. It'd be worth looking into, since Chrome can import all my Firefox bookmarks and such.

[holleyb76.livejournal.com]

Oh, how exciting! I had hoped you'd eventually get back to this. Yay!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :) I've been wondering if I'd ever get it back, and hoping I'd get at least a chance to try to tie up some loose ends. Here's hoping it works out.

[w-sims.livejournal.com]

I always love your posts and having a good old discussion about your game, and my game and everyone else's! Glad to see you're enjoying being back too!!

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you, W. That's so nice of you to say. :)

Perhaps I should try to get a discussion post going, so we can all toss around theories about premade canon and fanon and whatnot. Those are always fun, though I feel I've been a bit prone to getting sucked into shipping war type stuff and arguments in the past. I've got to keep my opinionated/argumentative side more in check. :P

It's funny. At first, I was like, "I might be around a little more," and now I'm like, "SIIIIIIMMMMMSSSS! I forgot how much I loved this." XD

[w-sims.livejournal.com]

I don't mind your opinionated side... That's the beauty of the canon and fanon, we all get our own views!

[pbanda.livejournal.com]

I switched to Google Chrome a few weeks ago after years of staunchly sticking with Firefox. I switched because Firefox was constantly freezing/crashing. So far Chrome has been working much better than Firefox! It's noticeably faster, and I managed to get equivalent "extensions" to match all my old Firefox addons. It also imported all my firefox stuff (bookmarks, saved passwords, etc) with one button. Had it set up just like my old Firefox in no time. So I recommend trying Chrome - you might like it better than IE.

The one thing I can't do in Chrome is download YouTube videos (the extensions for that recently stopped working) so I just load Firefox when I want to save a youtube vid.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

I checked Chrome, but it was the same with my images, so I guess it also wasn't 64-bit, though I did't check to see if they have a 64-bit version available. I did like how it gave the option to import bookmarks and the like, and I agree that it seemed user friendly. I'm not too into IE, so I do thick I'd prefer Chrome if there is a 64-bit option.

[skellington7d.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm so glad you could figure things out. :D That browser thing makes sense. Once I zoomed in firefox slightly without noticing and started panicking over all my pictures suddenly being blurry.

Excited for the new scene! :D

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

I am beyond excited for Beau/Franny/Tank! BEYOND. Those three are my power trio. <3333333

I'm glad everything is working, but BLEH to Internet Explorer.

[smart-spell.livejournal.com]

Awesome that things are coming together for ya. Also, since Mozilla is open source, there is a 64-bit version called Waterfox (http://www.waterfoxproject.org/).

[xel-squirgle-ox.livejournal.com]

OMG OMG OMG OMG.

[boolpropbea.livejournal.com]

If you don't want to use IE, you might consider Chrome! I was a hardcore Firefox user myself, but I've been using Chrome for the past year and a half and I love it! I only use Firefox for certain things now (that I need a few plugins that they don't have for Chrome yet) and Chrome for everything else. As far as I'm aware, Chrome does have a 64 bit version available, too! :)

[thinker1127.livejournal.com]

Ok, I left you a message a couple weeks ago just to tell you how much I love your story and how much I wanted you to finish the rest of it. I was even more excited when you actually responded to me, but unfortunately, it has led to me stalking your page for any updates.

I am so happy to see this update! So happy in fact that I had to find a way to actually sign in so my excitement seems less like stalking and more like fandom! I hope getting back to the basic story makes it a little easier for you to continue it and I look forward to what happens next!

[selenecorvino.livejournal.com]

Late comment... Hoping you will continue on with S,HWC, I miss reading about their adventures. It was because of you and Simgaroop (lilacbloom) that I began to see the premades in a new light, and how you both endeared us to your character's stories. I'll look forward to any updates you'll have on their adventures.

Just wanted to wish you, Little Tomato, and your SO a happy, healthy Holiday Season.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :) I've actually just posted a new chapter update, if you'd like to check it out. Hard to believe after two and a half years, but I've finally finished chapter 35.

I hope you and your loved ones will have a safe and happy holidays as well! ^_^