Has it, though? Does a week and 3 days really classify as "a while"? Whatever. Anyway.
For a change, I actually wrote this post in Notepad++ as opposed to the Neocities code editor, for no real reason but I could. I think my first-ever post (that wasn't originally written for that gopherhole that never got dug) had to do with how much of a hassle it is to write HTML in MS Notepad now. Well, sure, if you're using a spoon to dig a hole, obviously it's a hassle. What you need is the right tool for the job, and MS Notepad ain't it. I sure hope everyone on Neocities who runs a plaintext website like this one is using Notepad++ to code their webpages and not kludging along in standard Notepad, and I'll say mi shebeirach for you if you're using Microsoft Word.
So, what have I been doing during the past 10 days, then? Well, in amongst other "real-life" things, discovering that someone's cracked the code for how to play The Sims Classic on Windows 10 and 11. It's not like this is a particularly recent event—I think it dates all the way back to KB3086255; it's just I wasn't paying attention. So, I've been researching various things about how to run the game and all the old-ass modding tools on modern computers so I could write a guide on the subject, and I guess I got carried away a bit by the whole thing. See, The Sims made up most of my Y2K internet use. I'd go to the library after school and spend my 60 minutes alotted time scrolling idly through the Exchange, looking at all the stuff people were coming up with and thinking of the possibilities. Then, at the weekend, mum would have to do some extra work at the office and she'd take me along, and I'd spend sometimes 4 hours alone with the Sims fansites and a box of diskettes. My research into running the game on modern PCs took me to the Library of Alexandria, where I found that a lot of the old places I used to go had been archived. Not just the content, but the webpages as well. I've been spending the past week archiving all of those Sims Classic sites in my personal datahoard, simultaneously finding stuff I remember from the old days.
Also, it's Hanukkah, so I haven't had a great deal of free time over the past couple of days to do anything with the website. I logged on briefly to delete the "NEW!" tictacs from the Blog directory, but did nothing else at the same time. Back to The Sims—now that I have the guide on how to run the game on Windows 10 and 11, I can do that up nice in HTML and put it up, but a major issue is The Sims Creator. We'll be using a no-CD crack of Complete Collection, but only the game was cracked. Creator was not. As it stands right now, Creator won't start without verifying Safedisc from disc 1 of Complete Collection, which Microsoft has now forbidden. Basically, unless someone cracks Creator as well, we're going to have to get used to making skins the old-fashioned way with GIMP and SimShow. Whatever. That's a discussion for another time.
--9 December 2023--