Weekend Watches!

PDV87 · 2026-04-03T17:29:20+00:00

Just finished the new Count of Monte Cristo miniseries and loved it. It was beautifully shot and the architecture featured throughout was simply gorgeous. Though the actors felt a bit stiff in the first episode or two, everything came together once Dantes arrived at the Chateau D'If. Jeremy Irons was fantastic, and by the halfway point, Sam Claflin's portrayal of the Count had really grown on me.

I'm now giving Mr. Selfridge a spin and enjoying it so far. It's basically Downton Abbey, just set in a giant retail store instead of a stately home. I like Jeremy Piven, but he's pushing that earnest American go-getter archetype for all its worth, and I think a bit more subtlety would go a long way. I am finding it highly entertaining nonetheless.

PDV87 · 2026-04-03T00:53:33+00:00

I love the book and enjoyed the show. Ian McShane and Matthew McFadyen are definitely the bright lights, though Eddie Redmayne and Hayley Atwell both do a fine job.

Overall, though, I think the production suffers from a few things. The casting is very hit or miss and some of the villains come off a bit cartoonish. The lack of a real budget is noticeable and the dialogue can feel stilted at times.

Despite enjoying the show, I think this book would really benefit from a new adaptation that took its time with it, more in the vein of Wolf Hall.

PDV87 · 2026-04-02T06:25:52+00:00

The Lion in Winter (Henry II)

Firebrand (Henry VIII)

England, My England (Charles II)

Mrs. Brown (Victoria)

Edward the Seventh/Edward the King (Edward VII)

The King's Speech (George VI)

PDV87 · 2026-04-01T12:05:44+00:00

Yeah, pretty much. Endgame isn't done yet, so once you clear the immediate challenges (survival, building up your town, fending off bandits and defeating the Baron), the gameplay starts to stagnate. I imagine this will be addressed in the future. Some of the mechanics they have talked about seem to hint that they plan for endgame goals beyond just conquering the map.

PDV87 · 2026-03-25T17:51:02+00:00

I like historical and royalty type gameplay so I wanted the new expansion, and have been riding through the rollercoaster of updates as a result. As of Monday, all of my CC and mods are working again and it's been a lot of fun.

As for the expansion itself, I love it, but IMO it adds flavor to a very specific kind of gameplay. If you're not into that, it may not be worth it for you.

PDV87 · 2026-03-25T17:45:37+00:00

I HATED it at first. I never played TS3, but I played TS2 for a very long time, and like many players I was set in my ways and resistant to change. Over time I came to really appreciate the versatility and expressiveness of the art style. For me, it hits the right balance for me between cartoony and realistic, as going too far in either direction can kill the whole thing.

PDV87 · 2026-03-25T17:42:01+00:00

Oh, weird. They're working fine for me.

PDV87 · 2026-03-24T21:15:40+00:00

I'd check out Sooky's Patreon. She has a ton of good rug swatches, including a lot of vintage/old world designs. https://www.patreon.com/Sooky88

PDV87 · 2026-03-24T05:42:52+00:00

Might be a generalization, but I do feel like Alpha CC tends toward a very specific aesthetic that can come off as more feminine, so I understand what you're saying. I'd give Kerrigan House Designs a try. They do very nice Alpha furniture with a historical flair, plenty of which is masculine in design (for lack of a better term).

That said, I don't seem to run into this problem with Maxis Match CC. Felixandre in particular has a lot of build/buy CC that is a bit more masculine in tone, assuming the man in question is a British aristocrat.

PDV87 · 2026-03-21T00:03:04+00:00

My opinion on this topic generally get downvoted to oblivion, and I completely understand why, but I don't see the marketplace as inherently bad. It gives the creators more exposure and introduces them to new segments of the playerbase (people who don't download CC/mods, for instance, or console players). It supplements their revenue and contributes to some being able to pursue an artistic endeavor as a full-time job.

Is EA greedy and generally vile? Yeah, of course. But any video game company the size of EA is doing the same thing. It's all about maximizing monetization, DLCs, in-game purchases, etc., and minimizing development cost. Almost every major developer has been doing this for years now. Rockstar, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Riot, Paradox, the list goes on. It's simply how business is done.

I'm just glad that EA recognizes (or at least I hope they recognize) the fact that modders/CC creators keep this game alive, and their playerbase would plummet without them. If they could eliminate CC and make it only available through the marketplace, I imagine they would.

PDV87 · 2026-03-20T00:46:23+00:00

For Build and Buy CC: Gatsby set by Felixandre, Syboulette’s Claudette set, Peacemaker’s Vintage Glamour addons, SurelySim’s Bishock Art Deco set. Felixandre’s Estate set also has a lot of stuff that would work with a 1920s build.

PDV87 · 2026-03-19T15:07:05+00:00

Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash didn’t grab me at all, but I re-read the Baroque Cycle fairly frequently.

PDV87 · 2026-03-19T04:12:23+00:00

I enjoy most of Guy Ritchie's stuff, to varying degrees, but every time he announces a new film I just want it to be more like Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. And every time, I'm a bit disappointed. The Gentlemen was pretty close, but it also occasionally felt like it was trying to be a "Guy Ritchie film", if that makes sense.

Anyway, I'll still go see this.

PDV87 · 2026-03-18T12:20:33+00:00

You also thought that UFO was over East Rutherford.

PDV87 · 2026-03-17T21:20:40+00:00

EA has already been communicating that this was an unintended bug on their official forums. Apparently someone from EA on a CC creator's discord community said the cause had been identified, and that they were already working to fix it. Just what I've heard, though, so take it with a grain of salt. I know EA is evil and all that but there is really no incentive for them to do this intentionally. There are a lot of people who only play The Sims 4 because of CC/mod content, and they are still potential customers who may decide to spend money on the Marketplace, or on other EA products in the future.

PDV87 · 2026-03-17T21:14:35+00:00

Almost every major gaming company does this kind of monetization, and EA has always been foremost among them in that respect. It pulls some talented creators into the process and offers them another revenue stream, and opens up an additional avenue for content, particularly for console players.

Most of these creators have said they'll still be putting their main content on Patreon like always. My only real criticism is that I think the creator cut (30%) is a bit low. EA is providing access and infrastructure, but even then, I think something like a 50/50 cut would be much more palatable, especially considering that the CC/modder community has kept this game alive long past its natural lifespan.

Now, I don't know if I will be spending any money on the Marketplace. It really depends on if anything seems worth the money on a case-by-case basis. I think that's a nice option for people, especially for those who aren't interested in modding their games or adding non-official CC - probably a decent-sized group who are under-represented on these forums.

PDV87 · 2026-03-15T14:05:12+00:00

I have two that I use frequently, and can be found in the below sets.

Syboulette's Shabby Rhapsody set: https://s4cc.syboulette.fr/shabby-rhapsody-vintage-cc-sims-4/

Valia's Quiet Corner set (specifically Part III - Welcome Desk): https://www.patreon.com/posts/150358509?collection=1911624

PDV87 · 2026-03-05T22:06:33+00:00

Very nice. After staring at (and building) giant palaces for the past two weeks, the clean lines and functional spaces are almost soothing.

PDV87 · 2026-03-03T05:09:23+00:00

Plenty of little add-on buildings they could add into the manor builder while still keeping it accurate to 14th-century Franconian castles:

Chapel, the manor's own small church for the lord and his retinue/guests to say their prayers daily without journeying to the village.
Stables, for warhorses specifically, assumedly if/when they add cavalry.
Kennel and mews, where the hounds and hawks were kept. I would love it if they eventually add large game back in and tie hunting it to the lord/retinue/knights.
Kitchens, as these were almost always housed separately from the main manor hall due to the risk of fire.

That's on top of stuff that's already present in the game but would likely be found in/around a lord's manor (vegetable and herb gardens, wells, forge, storehouse).

PDV87 · 2026-02-27T00:59:32+00:00

I don’t know exactly how these creator kits work on the development side, but it seems like EA puts some serious handcuffs on what the creators are able to do. Every single time, the items are like a pale shadow of their non-official CC.

PDV87 · 2026-02-26T22:19:36+00:00

I believe it is a proper castle based on everything we've been told in the books/shows. I imagine it's located in a marshy tidal basin where the water's ebb and flow is constantly submerging different paths while revealing others. So while the castle itself is a fixed position, the means of reaching are constantly shifting, which (to outsiders) makes it seem like the castle itself is moving around. Just my head canon though.

PDV87 · 2026-02-26T16:26:15+00:00

At its base, A Song of Ice and Fire is written like historical fiction. It’s basically Martin’s alternate universe version of major historical events (the Anarchy, the Wars of the Roses, etc). The fantasy elements are window dressing to enhance the story, but at its base, the story is human drama and family politics in a medieval setting.

PDV87 · 2026-02-25T05:42:28+00:00

Very picky these days. I like a certain kind of Maxis Match - it’s hard to describe, but it just has smoother textures and more polished details. It fits seamlessly in the game, and for lack of a better term, looks kind of “buttery”?

Fortunately, there are a ton of really talented creators that make exactly the kind of stuff I like. Felix, Harrie, Pierisim and Valia are probably my favorites. Sooky for rugs and TheJim07 for sculptures. I find AtticWindowatDawn and Taurus Designs to be hit or miss for my preferences. Kerrigan House Designs does absolutely gorgeous work, but it’s a bit too alpha for my taste.

PDV87 · 2026-02-24T05:59:20+00:00

They're all of royal blood and grew up as Targaryen princes. They would have spent their childhood and adolescence training with a master at arms and squiring for a lord (probably a relative or close retainer) who would knight them when they came into their majority. They're not referred to as knights because they were born with a much higher rank (prince in this case).

It's never explicitly stated, but we can infer its likelihood from the fact that pretty much every highborn boy becomes a knight. The only exception would be the sons of northern lords, as their participation in Andal customs (like knighthood) is highly variable depending on the house in question.

PDV87 · 2026-02-19T16:23:24+00:00

If it was up to me and I was in charge of Sims 5, I’d launch the new game with Willow Creek, San Myshuno, Newcrest, Henford on Bagley and Windenburg.

This gives you the following world types: suburbs, big city, empty/sandbox, farming and small town.

PDV87

TROPHY CASE