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Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball

SCREENSHOTS
1,806 Downloads 114 Thanks  Thanks 29 Favourited 21,599 Views
Uploaded: 29th Aug 2016 at 5:56 AM
Updated: 20th Nov 2018 at 11:55 PM
Title: Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball, with Holder

UPGRADE August 6, 2017

1) This upgrade makes several improvements to teacher and student routing, making it more likely that they will position themselves correctly.

2) The teacher and students now use a more varied vocabulary, including Enthusiasms if FreeTime or any later EP is available.




Introduction

When StephSim was creating the Medieval Great Hall for her legendary Gwrych Neighbourhood, I was disappointed that although the Nightlife Fortune Teller (Matchmaker) NPC takes great pains to keep her crystal ball clean and polished there was no option to see her actually put this oracle to use at the Hall's Fortune Teller Camp, or anywhere else.




Purpose

a) To create a functional crystal ball that qualified Sims may be use to impart the Couples Counseling Life Skill as well as raise an interest in the Paranormal, stimulate FreeTime Arts & Crafts Enthusiasm, satisfy Fun and Social needs, and increase the Niceness of clients. The Couples Counseling Skill allows a Sim to try to repair a romantic relationship.

b) On non-residential lots, to program this crystal ball to automatically invite a Nightlife or FreeTime Fortune Teller so that she will sit and use the glass sphere in private sessions with paying clients (if the Fortune Teller is not available, the Basegame Bartender will appear instead).

c) To supply a simple wooden or stone base to support the crystal ball.


Description

The Crystal Ball is basegame compatible, but to actually learn the Couples Counseling Skill, Apartment Life or Mansion & Garden must be available. While in use by an occultist such as the Fortune Teller, the Crystal Ball acts as an amber coloured light source and displays some electrically charged visual effects at random intervals.

This set is compatible with the podiums available in the Opportunity Pack Lectern, Reading Desk and Ravendancer projects.

Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball Holder and Crystal Ball are each available from the Hobby/Knowledge section of the catalogue at a cost §156 and §159 respectively.



Contents

1) Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball - for centuries, Sims have turned to seers for relationship advice. Those skilled in the art of Couples Counseling can increase their Charisma and charge a fee as they use this orb to impart their wisdom to others, even giving their clients a nicer disposition. All those present at the session will raise their Paranormal Interest and FreeTime Arts & Crafts Enthusiasm while restoring their fun and social motives. School and college students will also earn Grade Points.

Only those who have already learned the Couples Counseling Life Skill may become seers. Qualified magic Users and moderately Charismatic Sims (those with at least three Charisma skill points) may teach autonomously.

Sims will "Learn Relationship Skills" to satisfy their Fun and Social needs, but if the speaker is moderately Charismatic then Sims will continue listening until their needs or mood becomes too low. The Crystal Ball will also satisfy the "Practice Speech, "Read To" and "Be Read to by" wants.

It is college accredited for those majoring in Literature, but regardless of what major they may be specializing in, attending a lecture at the Ball will grant college credits to all those registered in university.

College and school progress is displayed at the beginning and end of each student's learning session. If a school student earns an "A+", additional study will earn Extra Credits which allow a child or teen to take time off without losing a letter grade, or can be saved for advanced placement (up to one half term for 1000 points) in college.

Registered witches and warlocks will also increase their Magic skill, with no effect on their magical alignment. Magic skill and alignment data is displayed at the beginning and end of a student's learning session.

The default professional seer is the Nightlife and FreeTime Fortune Teller (Matchmaker). Her backup is the Basegame Bartender.

Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball is based on the crystal ball mesh used as a handheld accessory by the Fortune Teller NPC, and like that accessory, it consists of an inner and an outer sphere. The inner sphere of Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball is mapped to the glass subset of the basegame "End-to-End" Coffee Table and the outer sphere is mapped to the glass subset of the basegame Centerpieces Coffee Tables. A large number of recolours for these coffee tables were made available in the 140+ Tiny Filesize Glass Coffee Table Recolours project. Those recolours labeled "Crystal Ball" are exact reproductions of the textures from the Fortune Teller's handheld ball or of the outdoor decorative balls released in Seasons and Mansion & Garden. The animated glass textures can produce some interesting crystal ball effects.


2) Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball Holder - while the Crystal Ball has no chance of actually rolling off the surface on which it may be situated, you may want it to look like it is properly held in place with an appropriate support. The Crystal Ball Holder is shaped to support a crystal ball in either of its two deco slots. Slot 0 allows the crystal ball to sit directly in the concave depression that is shaped to contain it. Slot 1 places the bottom of the ball level with the surface of the Holder, so that it appears to hover slightly above it. Alternatively, Slot 1 is convenient location for a book or other small object.

The Crystal Ball Holder is mapped to the textures available for the basegame "Museé Public Collection Sculpture", such as those from the 150+ Tiny Filesize Basegame Vase Collection Recolours and 64 HiRes Wood Basegame Vase Collection Recolours projects.



Looking into the Future

This set is the first in a series of crystal ball projects dedicated to raising Apartment Life and M&G Life Skills, and each including one or more crystal ball stands or holders. While each holder or stand is intended to convey the theme of the crystal ball that is is released with, the crystal ball supports are usable with any crystal ball in the series.


Terms of Use

You may include any item from this set in uploaded lots, whether for free or pay. It is nice but not necessary to provide a credit and link to this page.


Recommendation

I suggest using Pescado's Community Lot Skilling and Enthusiasm patch so that these and all other skill building objects are fully functional on all lots.


Additional Credits

GIMP 2 and Microsoft Paint for graphics editing, file conversion, processing, sizing and titling
Jfade's Compressorizer for minimizing file size
Milkshape 3D, Ultimate Unwrap3D Pro and UV Mapper Professional, for 3D modeling and mapping
Numenor's AnyGameStarter, used for testing this project in several game environments
SimPE, PJSE, and CEP for Sims 2 object creation
rugrat0ne's Gift of the Gab: Speech Bubble Replacements create appropriate medieval dialogues
The handsome, no-monkey-or-fishlips faces in the medieval settings are a result of selzi's default replacements
sunni9676's Medieval NPC Replacements: Commoners are featured in the medieval scenes
Gwrych Medieval Great Hall and a Gwrych Woodland Lot provides a realistic medieval ambience


Polygon Counts

Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball: 360 faces, 202 vertices
Lady Valentina's Crystal Ball Holder: 290 faces, 208 vertices