DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Apr 4, 2006 17:36:17 GMT
Sorry, your comment didn't suggest your awareness so I embarked on the profesorial disertation. In the future I'll just write "blame Kuju" ;D It does look odd and irks me too. Same as the feature of MSTS-supplied tunnels and bridges preventing rain from going through, but AFAIK no one has been able to build one themselves without rain entering as the 'trick' isn't documented. I sometimes think the 'M' in MSTS means masochist.
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Apr 4, 2006 16:43:17 GMT
Looking good, but the train looks a helluva lot darker than the rest of the scenery...! Sam You won't notice that from inside the cab The real reason is that there's no natural light to illuminate the train, MSTS rendition of moonlight leaving something to be desired. I textured the buildings to try and emulate the effect of platform and other lights. The ability to create real "lights" that actually illuminate objects would be a great feature for a new train sim. A train is, however, illuminated by the lights of another train and by signal lights. Unfortunately, in MSTS lights are limited to a finite number in each 'tile' and the implementation needs improving. That's why trains lit up like a christmas tree (many lights) can actually cause signals to go dark. Given the number and frequency of signals on the DL you see my dilema, and why I had to construct special efficient signals to get that aspect (bad pun) of the route to work at all. Sorry - didn't mean to lecture, just explaining the limitations MSTS imposes. Alan - as virtual DMT I imposed on the good nature of the I/Ops virtual personae to do those test runs. I await the virtual payback ;D
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Apr 4, 2006 2:07:48 GMT
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Apr 2, 2006 19:59:59 GMT
Thanks guys - there's still some detail to be added, such as a few more blue seats and a lot of foliage, but it's about done. Also need to add the local buildings each side. Ah yes Colin - DM 7033 gets around a bit! I debated leaving the number off the inside cab wall. I believe we got the numbering right on the car exteriors, even using the 'right' numbers for differing destinations (i.e. E/W facing). If/when we do a refurb version, I'll attend to that detail as there'll be other changes needed to the cab ;D
/Jimi
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Apr 1, 2006 22:25:02 GMT
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 29, 2006 17:04:03 GMT
Fear not. My comment was very tongue-in-cheek, suggesting that all the extra time spent on the attractive detail at Kew could be made up by slapping together the ugly concrete at Gun. In truth, it takes about as long to build an architectural brick building as an ugly concrete one (although there are less actual structures at Gun). My goal is still to try an capture the character - whether it be more or less pleasing to the eye is subjective There is still plenty to do before this road is done. After Kew, there's all the trackside scenery to Kew bridge, 2 small bridges (before the Kew rail bridge), 2 road bridges before Gun, the NRO building, Gun itself with its overhead structures, the large road bridge after it and the BSI building. Plus assorted scenery around Kew rail bridge, including 2 notable pubs on the river bank ;D And yet more miles of trackside cabling... again, fear not. I'm not cutting any corners. That would diminish the fun of doing it.
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 29, 2006 0:34:04 GMT
Thank you gentlemen! If you folks who see it every day find it representative of the real thing, then I'm meeting my goal. The one thing that is niggling me is the size of the arched windows. I feel the sills need to be slightly higher (so I can fit a seat under each) and the windows themselves seem a touch small in scale compared to the building wall. It's an easy fix if so. Thoughts? I admit to spending a little extra effort on this station. Kew has so much character and so many noticeable details and I have great material (photos/videos) to work from. I think you'll like the other pfm when it's done and all the foliage is present ;D By contrast, Gunnersbury is essentially a platform, some weeds and a bunch of concrete - so maybe I'll make up any 'lost time' there
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 28, 2006 3:53:43 GMT
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 24, 2006 0:29:13 GMT
Alan, you're absolutely right re the pfm sigs at RMD. When I build the semi (controlled) versions of the NR 3-light sigs I accidentally assigned them the 'auto' shape which has the striped board. It's a 1-line fix in the signal definition file (which I'll now do before I forget). Notice the pfm 6 starter is at red as it's route is not cleared, so it is acting as a controlled sig. My auto sig logic code only tests for block occupancy (2 blocks ahead least-restrictive aspect for NR sigs so we can have 3-light operation), so they default to green. The semi sig logic also tests for route defined (player or AI train in an activity) and route cleared for that train, so they default to red. I knew someone would spot that. Mea culpa. I'll get my anorak... ;D
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 23, 2006 23:53:11 GMT
There were a couple of details at RMD I needed to fix before the P-way gang moved too far away and got busy at Kew. Here's the end result. NR PSR signs now the right color and correctly placed, count-up boards (1...6) placed, signal platform telephones added. Bridge traffic functional, assorted clutter added per recent real-life pictures So RMD to KEW is now done - unless some eagle-eye I/Op spots a clanger ;D Meanwhile, back at Kew Gdns, the intrepid P-way gang surveys where everything has to go. First job was to build the 2 nearby bridges. Bridge 31 is the High Park Rd road bridge, and is a mix of girders and brick arches. The station footbridge is very distinctive and is (I believe) a listed structure. Both were located based on known distances from the platform ends. The road had to be torn-up and re-laid to match the bridge. "We apologize for the inconvenience". Next the platforms were constructed and sited. Southbound is 140m, Northbound is 180m, with about a 2000m radius as the station is on a curve. The first attempt at construction using the TSM backdrop picture was close - the test train only had a few scratches from the edge nosing needing to be polished-out A little tweaking to adjust the platform heights and the platform-to-train clearance and we're all set. The banner repeater location will be finalized once the adjacent building is in place. Last 2 nights were spent making the textures for all the buildings and surrounding stuff -- lots of brick, slate, corrugated iron, gravel, etc. I've been looking forward to building Kew as it has so much character. The building construction is straight-forward, and starts tonight. But it'll be the textures that bring it to life. I think I'll start with the pub... More news as it happens... /Jimi
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 17, 2006 2:32:47 GMT
Absolutely the last screenshot of the RMD-KEW section, so you can see what happens next. You can also see from this 'altitude' how the apparent scenery density was done. From cab eye-level it works. The car spawner is also obviously functional. Heavy traffic ;D The distinctive signal at the bottom of the shot should uniquely identify the location. It's also functional as a repeater for GB13 (starter). The road sections aimed across the tracks just this side of the buildings mark the location of where Bridge 31 (High Park Rd) goes. The square grid is used as a scale/alignment guide so I can use an overhead shot as a backdrop in TSM to build the station and platforms to scale. It also marks the platform ends at the south end. That's it for now. Next set of shots will show the bridge and Kew Gdns station - hopefully in about a week. Best, Jimi
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 13, 2006 23:55:14 GMT
Looks excellent Jimi, howevere I can't quite follow you. I get the idea you're doing Richmond - Turnham Green, but you say next to build Kew gardens I'm totally confuzzled My construction process - which may not be logical - was first to 'sculpt' the landscape (or terrain as we call it), then to lay the trackwork from TG to RMD using various accurate data as a guide for track location and grade, signal placement, etc. Next I decided to work back from RMD building each station and its surrounding scenery. So, build RMD station, create scenery from RMD to KEW, build Kew Gdns station, then it will be scenery from Kew to GUN (Kew rail bridge already in place), then build GUN station. Scenery from there to TG is already done. I still need to finish the scenery from CPK to TG. Once all that's done, continue east from TG towards HAM, ECT, etc. Just the way I chose to do it. I like to break up the job so I'm not working on a particular type of thing for too long, so I get a bit of variety as I go. So, given the above plan, next job is to build Kew Gdns station and its surrounding buildings. This also gives me time to ponder how I'm going to fill the area around Kew rail bridge with sufficient scenery to look realistic, but not break the 'object budget' and cause single-digit frame rates Clear as mud? Me too. I said it wasn't logical... And in case my avatar text confused you, I may be a virtual arborist, but I wasn't planning on constructing the Royal Horticultural Society locale, merely the requisite station ;D
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 13, 2006 17:23:51 GMT
An excellent question (and also asked on UKTS). The system I'm running on is an Asus A7v333 mobo, 2.8GHz Athlon XP cpu, 1GB memory and an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro video card. I have almost all of the MSTS 'detail sliders' set to max and other effects like dynamic shadows enabled. On the section pictured, I get no lower than 24fps, rising to 40+ nearing RMD station. While the area pictured looks (I hope) like a busy residential/commercial area, the actual scenery only extends for maybe 400m each side of the tracks. I created the buildings with 2 "layers" (near/less near), to give the impression of density, with tree lines (far) behind that thus obscure your view of "what isn't there". Given the real-life density of the DL, my construction philosophy has to be to focus on what the train Operator/passenger can see from the train - and to give that user the best experience in terms of scenery and 'land marks'. Anyone using an external camera view from a higher viewpoint would see areas of empty space where the real world isn't modeled. Using that approach keeps frame rates reasonable by limiting polys and objects. All objects are also optimized for poly count and LODs, textures are DXT1 compressed, etc. Should your system not be quite the power of mine, you can always lower the MSTS sliders, but you will then loose some of the effects I've put in. However, it will still look acceptable. Hope this helps.
/Jimi
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 13, 2006 3:33:35 GMT
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 8, 2006 23:45:03 GMT
Thanks Alan! They should be close - I've been using SB's videos extensively. With my 2 LCD monitor setup I can have the video on one and the MSTS editor on the other and prety much "drive the line" a bit at a time simulating what I see. BTW, the reason I was dawdling along at 20mph, and not at a more typical 40+ approaching for the 35 PSR, was I've found taking pictures at line speed is hard! I don't now how you folks do it...
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 8, 2006 3:47:03 GMT
Area near the bridge is now finished. I added more buildings and foliage, and turned on a bunch of object shadows... HEADING SOUTH HEADING NORTH /Jimi
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 4, 2006 22:56:04 GMT
Lower Richmond Road - Bridge 31b, facing south. Almost complete, with some more surrounding foliage and building to add.
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 4, 2006 0:46:23 GMT
*sigh* I apologize to both of you, and plead old advancing senility. My short-term memory is now so bad, everything I know is at least 2 weeks old ;D
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 3, 2006 17:21:00 GMT
Well said Waland. Joe Alex, in general you need to install MSTS, then install the V1.1 update. This gives you the 6 default routes and locos, etc. You will want to keep the default routes, as many 'new route' installation procedures use parts from them, these being auto-copied as required during the new route installation. That saves greatly on route kit sizes. Any new route should include a Readme which should be followed exactly. With regards to trains, most authors - myself included- will package the kit to be installed as easily as possible. Likely just unzipping or running an install exe. Most trains will also include 'consists' which means you can go right ahead and run the train once installed. Activities should include a list of what locos or other stock is required, and may even list the UKTS file IDs so you can find/download them easily. Some trains may require other trains to be installed first as they share sounds or cab items. Our CO/CP, 38TS and 59Ts do that. The D78 is all original. Again, authors will (or should) list any such pre-requisites.
As Waland notes, there's a bunch of us on here who have accumulated some "scar tissue" can offer help or suggestions if you have problems.
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Mar 3, 2006 2:09:59 GMT
Thanks to ADW and Motorman Jim, I got some data about a building I wanted to replicate, as it's a noticable landmark. Hopefully the location is recognisable... GOING SOUTH GOING NORTH Bridge 31b (Lower Richmond Rd) is now under construction, on the way to Kew Gdns. Best, Jimi
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 25, 2006 23:47:31 GMT
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 23, 2006 16:20:18 GMT
Thanks Jim! When we build the D78, Richard (being a smart guy) designed the texture mapping to allow for a subsequent "refurb" version. This would include exterior, interior (passenger view) and I also allowed for cab view/control changes as required. My preference would be do create other stocks first (ideally a 73TS then a real C69) before refurbing the D78. That way we'd have varying "eras" of stocks (silver R, red CO/CP and the 59TS; and C69 and 73TS). Some mixing may also be permissible depending on how "anorak" one is about period accuracy ;D
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 20, 2006 17:11:49 GMT
Thank you sir! Life imitating art? As it happened, I had just modified the SD (shape descriptor) file for the station to tell MSTS to use night textures when appropriate. Experience has taught me to test out all reasonable combinations of day/night and weather variations to ensure all textures are in the required folders -- else the station shape fails to load. I just happened to capture a few shots of the night/rain test as I liked the look of it. Apologies if my actions somehow inadvertently caused rain in your locale Can I go ahead and test the snow textures now? ;D
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 19, 2006 16:06:40 GMT
As you may have heard, we had bad storms and very high winds through New England over the last few days. We lost power about 2pm Friday (trees hitting power lines, etc.). I have a couple of large trees down in my back yard, but thankfully no real property damage. Power came back an hour ago, so about 40 hours. Recent news reports there are still 200,000 people without power. Fortunately I have a generator that powers most of the house. All that "free" time let me get more done... BRIDGE IS FINISHED - SPAN OVER NR LINES ADDED NIGHT TEXTURES FINISHED A COLD, RAINY NIGHT AT RICHMOND I'm now working on some nearby walls and Richmond signal box... Best to all, Jimi
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 17, 2006 18:45:26 GMT
Not only does MSTS allow it, it provides a mechanism called "sound regions" to do it. I had bought the "enhanced track sounds" to test this out, but have since used my own sounds created from an extensive set of in-cab recordings DD sent me. It's especially effective, for example, approaching GUN WB crossing over the NR lines at 15mph. Lots of "clunks". The sound regions also allow adding ambiance such as the different "echo-like" sound going under a bridge. At some point I'll spend time adding in more sound regions around the whole route. They do certainly add to the overall feel.
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 16, 2006 23:42:18 GMT
They have both flag switches up aswell, naughty naughty. ;D Um, *cough* purely for test purposes. Besides, I couldn't convince the MSTS "eng" gubbins to let me implement coasting control, so it's "off" and thus they're "virtually legal". I should add that other LUL professionals on this board deserve recognition. We need a "real" C69, despite the fun of driving the CO/CP. Coincidentally both Alan and Motorman Jim have provided help over the years Citysig applied his specific expertise to beta test the signal set on his own MSTS test route. I just started building the Richmond signal box. Maybe a smiling face at the window? Similarly, a 73TS complete with a certain "Pilot" on the front would be appropriate, given that gentleman's eye for detail and constructive criticism that have guided a lot of my efforts. Just some fun thoughts from a idle mind, as I prepare to continue laying bricks at the Richmond box. But when you do get to actually run this thing and see a train coming the other way, you'll be able to wave and say to yourself "I know that guy" "And why's he heading for Sth Ealing?" ;D
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 16, 2006 21:21:43 GMT
I think I know who that is - are there any more 'celebrity' drivers on the virtual DR? Absolutely. Besides that most "solid" of I/Ops, our fearless leader is also represented. Without their considerable help, the D78 project could not have succeded as it did. Richard & I asked them if we could include a reasonable approximation of their likenesses in the various D78 consists in recognition of their part in the project -- to which they agreed (with some initial reluctance). Strangely, the one from the east end of the line seems to drive the WB consists, and vice-versa. Both are present in the EBDY consist as you see. It's unclear which I/Op is "instructing" the other, or whether they're merely competing for the comfy seat
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 16, 2006 14:33:22 GMT
Sorry, no trash and no graffiti. I realize that in real life that's virtually impossible, but as this is a virtual rendition I can get away with it Here's one screenshot in honor of a certain I/Op and project team member who apparently just loves to drive to Richmond ;D
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Feb 16, 2006 1:12:11 GMT
Virtual Richmond is about completed. See a screenshot pictorial here: forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?t=51215Once again, my thanks to the LUL guys on the team who make this possible. More news as I progress... Best to all, Jimi (virtual SSL constructor and arborist)
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DrJimi
Virtual District Line construction engineer and arborist
Posts: 365
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Post by DrJimi on Dec 15, 2005 18:58:19 GMT
i replied to your PM, but just to let everybody else know...
I'm getting back to it more now winter's here again (-6F at 6am this morning!), and I'll be putting in a concerted effort to get everything west of Hammersmith done over the winter (in terms of scenery and details). I realize ECT is "only a few stations further", but there's a lot of detail in that area. Including the need to slightly re-site Lille Bridge depot. I'm still periodically frustrated by the editor and issues with too much density (scenery and signals), but bar the odd crash things are progressing. There's some new tools/features in RouteRiter that have bailed me out a few times. I've also been playnig with more recent tree and forest creations that have less impact on frame rates. Also messing with a stunning tool called Mosaic that works wonders for terrain detail. I only hope all this will somehow translate over to one of the new sims due out maybe next year...
Best to all, Jimi
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