More Awesome Than You!

Okay, we all have our favorite custom content sites... and I think there are some of them out there that really shine among the rest, and you want to have at least half of their stuff in your game (for example). So my question is, which sites do you find truly exceptional? Other than MATY, of course!

My nominations for awesomeness:

pronupsims
www.pronupsims.net

simswardrobe
http://www.simwardrobe.com/

holysimoly
http://www.holysimoly.com/

I have to add http://www.aussietopenders-sims2.com/ (http://www.aussietopenders-sims2.com/) and http://www.4eversimfantasy.net/ (http://www.4eversimfantasy.net/)  to that list of awesomeness.  I love their stuff  ;D

Okay, some of their stuff is pay, yet I still find that I have a lot of their stuff gracing my D/L folder  >_>

All About Style, http://www.all-about-style.com/ (http://www.all-about-style.com/)

For hair, I love love love Raon Sims  (http://www.raonsims.com/item/list.php?cat1=1&cat2=3) (bootified, of course) - Just updated on the free stuff last night.
*second place, Noukie Sims  (http://www.noukiesims2.net/) (free)

For clothes, probably SimChic (http://www.simchic.com/) (bootified again)

Objects, Mango-Sims (http://mangosims2.free.fr/meubles.htm) (free)is where all my staples are from.
*second place, Around the Sims 2 (http://www.aroundthesims2.com/) (bootified) the only issue being that some of the wood textures look a little blah at high resolutions.

Between MTS2 and TSR I have more favorite creators than favorite sites, but. (I'm addicted to beddingmatch and other texture repository stuff, and very little of that is on individual sites.)

http://www.aroundthesims2.com/ - CLUTTER. And other nice things too, but the clutter is the star.

http://www.xmsims.com/ - If you didn't like their older hair, take another look -- mesh quality has improved light years, most hair is now animated, multiple natural shades are available for each bin (and they ARE binned, and listed by which bin they've been placed in). Pages 52-53 have some really nice curly hair, and their recent style with the scarf would look excellent with some opaque recolors for the pirate laydeez.

ETA: Almost forgot -- http://www.piggis-sims.net/ is the mother of all woodtone recolor sites, and if you want a lot of nice windows and doors with lots of color options, get thee to Windkeeper's section in the TSR booty. (I mention these together because many of Windkeeper's sets draw textures from existing Maxis stuff, including recolors, and Piggi has a lot of Maxis recolors. So if you get a bunch of Windkeeper's sets and Piggi's recolors, you'll have the same color options for a huge variety of windows and doors, both Maxis and Windkeeper.)

I love almost all of those sites already mentioned and I'm discovering the others thanks to all of you ;D http://avenidasims.com/ (http://avenidasims.com/) and http://www.pixelsims.com/ (http://www.pixelsims.com/) are also good.  They don't have alot of stuff but like almost all of what they have.

I love ATS2 (already been linked), Nouk (http://www.noukiesims2.net/), N99 Forum Paks (http://n99forumpaks.djssims.com/index.php) and Hairfish's Site (http://www.hairfish.com/mermaidcove/).

Two of my favourites for clothing are

Stajl - http://sillychic.com/stajl - awesome designs, awesome handpainted textures

SkindeepSims - http://skindeepsims.freehostia.com/ (all of my sims use her eyeliner these days)

Most of my favourites have already been mentioned, but I'll add another one to the list - http://sims-2.gameslife.ru/ (http://sims-2.gameslife.ru/) for gorgeous floors/walls and some beautiful buy mode goodies.

Each of the above mentioned are on my must-have lists! I would also add the following for specific categories/objects:

JustSims2 (http://www.justsims2.ru/) - for great makeup by Barcelona, and some lovely haute couture

Windkeeper (TSR) (http://www.thesimsresource.com/artists/Windkeeper/) - MUST-HAVE window sets (donation items bootified)

Dincer (http://moonsims.asi.org/dh-sims-site/sims2index.html) - for unique antiquities, including a stunning Nefertiti bust (donation items bootified)

Moune's Neighborhood (http://mounes-neighbourhood.110mb.com/) - for her shelving system, which has become a staple in my game

ssalam style (http://ssalam.realmind.net/) - for some lovely dresses and suits (sadly no longer updating)

Sterling Sims (http://www.sterlingsims2.com/skyes_web_5_001.htm) - for gorgeous walls and floors

Stylist Sims (http://www.stylistsims.net/) - for some gorgeous items, including a great spiral staircase and the Barcelona bathroom (donation items bootified)

Simply Styling (http://www.simplystyling.de/homesims2.html) - for their great textured walls, which are now a staple in my builds

Sims Kitchen (http://www.simskitchen.com/) - for just about everything...her Pottery Barn set is stunning in-game

BogSims Institute
http://www.bogsims.com/

In spite of recent troubles, I still like 2-for-U (http://www.2-for-u.de.vu/) ...I even have to admit I've got some of her more 'slutty' stuff in game... romance sims always need something racy to wear...

And previously mentioned - the always free and always topnotch work at All About Style... a must stop destination every Friday and Saturday (that's when Judy updates).

At the other end of the spectrum, I was looking at TSR today, and shudder - there is some gawdawful crap in amongst the good there.

Lyran 2.0 (http://www.lyran.net/ts2/).

I love Bruno's (http://www.modthesims2.com/creator/bruno) makeup. It's all I use for lips and eyes these days.

So very very very very helpful to me.. Recently spousi got together and bought me a new graphics card for my birthday. While installing it, the wrong button was hit on the "Hey, wanna update Firefox, permanently deleting ALL Strangel's two years of carefully collected, hoarded, and categorized bookmarks, including links that can no longer be easily found and/or searched for?!" popup window.


-whimper-

This is a big list from Exnem:  http://www.exnemsims.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1051

Thanks for the link to Stajl, I'd wondered what happened to her...

Let me introduce you to my good friend and occasional savior, Bookmark Backup:

http://www.pikey.me.uk/mozilla/

Yeah, with Firefox and Opera, you can back up bookmarks pretty easily. All it involves is making copies of your current bookmarks file. Firefox will do it automatically.

Go to Documents and Settings>User>Mozilla>Firefox>Profiles>ppgk8s0b.default. This should contain your bookmarks that are currently in use. Your equivalent of my ppgk8s0b.default folder may be named something different, but I am unsure. The folder for your backups should also be located in this folder.

Alternately, for Opera, clicking the help menu and going to "About Opera" will show you the path for your bookmarks.

I wasn't happy with Bruno's makeup. At least the one I downloaded on recommendation. It's not universal to skin tone, so it looks hideous on the two darker skin tones.

I'll echo the recommendation on Raon's hairs. There's plenty of free stuff, and anything that's donation can be snagged from the Booty. Not to mention that, she's got some great male hair in addition to all the female hair. She's also got a nice porch swing on her site.

I'm also a fan of some of Caravan Shop Sims2 stuff. You have to grab it from the Booty, but they've got some nice stuff. I'm particularly fond of the Alchemy stuff, which gives you a hidden bookcase door that looks nice and is animated well too. http://www.caravanshopsims2.net/EN/caravan.php.

Most of my other favorites have been mentioned. Flem and Shtinky of Holy Simoly are so good they can have my firstborn. I'm also getting to be a fan of All About Style.

For individual creators over at MTS2, there's a couple I like...
Hysterical Paroxysm - http://modthesims2.com/creator/HystericalParoxysm - Love the hairs, and there's some other cool stuff there.
Animera - http://www.modthesims2.com/creator/animera - I love her kids clothes.

I also refuse to live without the ceiling tiles from there http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=42789. They make picture taking so much nicer.

Yeah, a lot of bruno's eye shadow is for light skintones only (and for no real good reason). The rest of the makeup is nice, though (and I've kept a few of the light-skin only stuff anyway because it looks so nice on the S1 types). Nobody beats Helaene for greatest total VOLUME of stuff worth keeping, though, for makeup, eyes, and brows.

Wondering have you tried HP's "Bottomful Floors" for use as visible ceilings? It's so much easier to place than those individual tiles ...
http://modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=211418
and I love Ailias for his sheer volume of creations, but especially for all the maxi's completer sets he's made...
http://modthesims2.com/member.php?u=16333

My view of favorite creator/site is somewhat skewed because it's always more important to me if the items are share friendly (not just free) since I want to include the stuff in lots I upload...  I don't have anything in my game that's not share friendly nowadays...

I did a little probing and found the folder you're talking about. Unfortunately, the oldest backup it has is POST-upgrade. I understand it's my own fault for not backing them up like I used to.. lol I just miss them. What I did before was go to Bookmarks, Manage Bookmarks. It opens a little manager window, then File, Export. That sends the equivalent of one of those files you sent me to out to your desktop.

Amber, thanks for sharing the link to Bookmark Backup.

Numenor and xanathon (at least his scifi stuff) at MTS2. Also stuff by echo and such. However, that does not mean that MTS2 is perfect. There are many things I don't like, even among the features.
And I like simlogical. There is stuff by Inge that I use as much as some awesomeware. For example her security system (which I need to upgrade and reinstall, by the way) and the clothes changing system. Well, not the original one, but rather mine, which however is based on hers (I took some of the menu options and used it as a base, but all but the clothing options and the NPC check are original code nowadays. That's why my solution works on diagonals and has a few more triggers to make sure that the dresscode is enforced properly).

Fat D - I can't live without you're clothes changing system.  Its the one of the first things I place on a new lot.

I recently discovered and fell in love with VJ Development.  She has 80+ lots that are replicas of many Chicago Area neighborhoods.
www.vjdevelopment.com (http://www.vjdevelopment.com)

Gail  ;)

Where is this clothing changing system found?

Am I the only person who hates Raon hairstyles?  They are pretty enough in the screenshots, but the back of the long hairs usually looks like a scraggly mess, none of them seem to be animated, and you can see exactly where the vertices are assigned during head turning animations because she only uses one skin weight.  I've tried and deleted many Raon hairs, and the only one I've kept is a cute short style.

For things I do like, I love Nouk's latest hairstyle:  http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=235994 (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=235994)
I also use a lot of "all-ages" conversions of Maxis hairstyles by Melodie9  (http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=57451 (http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=57451))  and Callum91 (http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=14491 (http://www.modthesims2.com/member.php?u=14491) -- although I like my version of the Tata Young hair better because I animated it)
XM Sims has a lot of great choices; this updo is my favorite:  http://www.xmsims.com/sims2/ehtm/hair/hair33.htm (http://www.xmsims.com/sims2/ehtm/hair/hair33.htm)
I find Peggy and Rose irritating for general incompetence, but there are a few gems among the muck, like this braid by Rose:  http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org/booty/rose/rosedonate0063.jpg (http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org/booty/rose/rosedonate0063.jpg)  -- the back of the head is a little too large, but otherwise it looks exactly like the way I wore my hair for almost a decade during my 20's.  If I don't cut my hair before it grows out another foot, I'll probably go back to the long braid again.

I don't use a lot of custom content these days, as I find that there are now enough decent Maxis items to cover most of my needs.  I use a few older items like Windkeeper's Fire Alarm Clocks (http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/sets/objects/139986/ (http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/sets/objects/139986/) or http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org/booty/tsr/windkeeper/ (http://paysites.mustbedestroyed.org/booty/tsr/windkeeper/)) -- there are other choices for hiding the fire alarm, or I could just use the sprinklers, but I like the little round framed picture.   :)  I also use her plastic flowerbeds (http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/sets/objects/192742/ (http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/sets/objects/192742/)) if I want corner flowers; I want my sims to have to water their plants, so I only use them in places where normal flowers can't survive.

And this strawberry cake by Ayshala is just beautiful in the game, one of the few custom foods I've decided to keep:  http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=236605 (http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=236605)

I looked at them, but I heard was that they tend to be a bit more resource intensive than the ceiling tiles. Since I consider myself to be riding the edge of the game being too laggy, I decided to go with the less resource intensive version. I'm pretty happy with the ceiling tiles. They take a little time to place, but they look absolutely wonderful and are very easy to use. They may take a little time to place, but at this point, I have most of my frequently used houses outfitted with them.

I just spent hours decustomizing CC thanks to this thread.  I went through almost 200 files and I have a lot of work left to do.  I hate you all.
Also, it's usually so hard to find normal looking clothes for men, but fanseelamb at MTS2 has some great stuff, including the untucked stuff (if you like the untucked shirts you can still use them with normal Maxis pants, but the pants won't look normal with Maxis tops).  And the sheer amount of downloads she has virtually guarentees you'll find at least *something* you like:  http://www.modthesims2.com/member/fanseelamb

You are not. IN fact, I deleted all Raon, Peggy, and Rose hairs in my game because of how crappy they look in play. The only ones I have now are those that came with MATY sims.

I use amost exclusively XM, Nouk, and Seomi hair now.

I was in the middle of sorting out my downloads folder when this thread started and I was being really good, deleting all the stuff I didn't use or like that much. Needless to say I've just downloaded and added yet more stuff to my game.  ::) Thanks for the pointer to the Barcelonista goodies, I had the couple of bits that were on MTS2 and really like the make-up. I thought I had sorted out my custom hair folders really well, getting rid of all the excess but when I checked it was still 200Mb worth!  :o I do have some Peggy and Rose hairs but only the ones that look good in game. If I get rid of a hairstyle that's in use, do I get a baldy sim or a default style?

I've usually seen them go bald, but occasionally they get a default style.  I guess it depends on if the deleted hair is an all-new mesh, or a variation on a Maxis mesh and defaults back to the Maxis style it was based on.

When I burninated all my custom hair, my sims all got the default hairstyle in their color of choice...I don't remember what happened to the custom color sims.

It's worth it, though!

And about getting more CC - I am pretty much now in the habit of deleting stuff I no longer use/never really liked in the first place. And I also use the compressorizor, so it feels like i'm not taking up too much space!

That doesn't stop me from sneaking in a new pile of Piggi's recolors though....LOL

I'm a pretty big fan of CarnabySims.com (http://CarnabySims.com) what with the very Jesus and Mary Chain esque teen boy outfit and the adorable babydoll dresses.

That's a feature of seasons.  With older EPs sims using deleted hair just go bald.

Most of the sites previously mentioned are already on my fav's list. And after reading this thread there are now a few more. ;D

You too, huh?   ;D

Whenever I stumble across a resource like this, I make myself go through my downloads and get rid of what I'm not using, in addition to downloading a whole ton of new crap. :) It makes me grateful that I organized my downloads with pictures of what each item was in its folder. Otherwise, I'm sure my game would have asploded a long, long time ago.

Pescado's bunker has two of those doors to hide the two bedrooms from any intruders who manage to survive long enough to infiltrate the common areas. :)

Sims in Paris, while a small site, has some gorgeous furnishings.   http://simsinparis.com/   

I love their fireplaces; use them in my country kitchens. 

For garden plants, I've not found anything comparable to Kate's collections at Parsimonious.

Marina Sims (http://www.marinasims.net/) is great for Victorian and medieval themed Build and Buy items.

And to think..  a week ago, my downloads folders were a pretty respectable, yet highish number of MB..  Now.. NOW!!!!  Over 2 gig.  :o

Get the Compressorizer from Jfade; ran it last night and my formerly one gig DL folder is now 658MB.   Check the Bowels of Trogdor for info.

Kewlies!  Thanks Ziggy  ;D