⚠️ ADVISORY: Malicious Mods, Identity Theft, Malware, And You ⚠️

⚠️ ADVISORY: Malicious Mods, Identity Theft, Malware, and You ⚠️

(2/11/2024 update - this was written on Feb 8, 2024, and new information has come out since then. Will write a follow-up post as soon as I can! Been busy with work and life stuff, sorry!) New TL;DR: download @twistedmexi's ModGuard [link and explanation here], and continue to stick to trusted download sources.

(2/16/2024 update - new post with current information: uloelu on Tumblr: ⚠️ 2/16/2024 - Mod Malware update, and a personal thank you ⚠️)

Hey, all! Not sure how many people will see this, but if you do, please reblog. This is a 'little' post regarding a potentially big problem affecting the Sims 4 community. If you download mods/CC at all (and yes I know CC is a type of mod), this applies to you.

TL;DR: For the sake of your personal info, identity, bank account, et cetera, please STOP downloading any mods/CC for the time being. Especially from the following sites: CurseForge, ModTheSims, The Sims Resource. It doesn't matter if you know the creator or not. Give it at least a week while we all figure out what's going on. If you must, I would recommend only downloading directly from a creator's Patreon (assuming they have one).

Other people have written at length about the mods in question, so I'll just share their posts below.

What's going on?

From the Sims 4 After Dark Discord server (a server you should join if you're not in it already):

⚠️ ADVISORY: Malicious Mods, Identity Theft, Malware, And You ⚠️

⚠️If you downloaded any mod listed in the above post and played the game with them installed, this is the cleaner program Kuttoe (creator of the Home Regions and Townie Demographics mods) mentioned in their post: GitHub - overwolf/sims4-social-events-cleaner: Source files and exe release for a tool to clean up your machine if you have downloaded the "Social Events - Unlimited Time" Sims 4 mod ⚠️

Got confirmation from Kuttoe that as long as you didn't boot up the game with the malicious mods installed (or deleted them completely from your computer before playing the game), you *should* be fine. Still, I recommend that anyone who thinks they might have downloaded any of them run the cleaner program.

Here's an explanation from @anadius2 (reposted by Kuttoe) in the Sims 4 After Dark server (not providing a link to prevent brigading or spam, but you can DM me and I'll give you the link) about what the malware will do to your computer:

And a little dive into the back-end coding stuff for the more tech-savvy Simmers out there:

So, to recap:

Fake mods were uploaded to Curseforge, ModTheSims, and The Sims Resource

@msqsimsofficial had their account compromised on 2 of those sites (they are a victim of hacking, so do not send them hate!)

If downloaded, these malicious mods have the ability to steal very sensitive info (your passwords, credit card info if saved somewhere in your browser, data)

As of right now, antivirus software may not be able to detect the malware

Mac and Linux users seem to be safe; Windows users are the ones that could be affected

Why is this happening?

Unsure. Lots of theories are being made by people far more knowledgeable than me, but from the looks of things, could be crypto bullshit and/or an attempt to steal your data and sell it. This is very, very serious, and could wreck your life if said data/personal info falls into the wrong hands.

Identity Theft: What It Is, How to Prevent It, Warning Signs and Tips - NerdWallet

It's always a good idea to change passwords every couple of months or so, but if you think you've been affected, you also need to change your passwords for things like online banking, email and social media accounts, healthcare sites AFTER running the cleaner.

What now?

I want to talk about how we approach modding our games and downloading files in general.

Please STOP downloading mod file folders from people who did not create the specific mods. Period. This includes Sim dumps, building/lots with CC, mod folders promoted on YouTube, etc. This does not mean that anyone sharing them is doing so maliciously. In fact, I appreciate the amount of effort people put into compiling these resources! But unless you're super careful (and super knowledgeable), you run the risk of downloading malware like this on your computer. Make no mistake, the malicious files in question look like run-of-the-mill, everyday mods. Two of them were even posted from a trustworthy creator's actual account! The only way to know what they actually do is to peek into the code, and idk about you, but I don't know Python. So even after this issue is resolved, you really should only download files from the creators themselves.

But what about CC shopping?

Here's how I like to approach it: I stick to lookbooks and combing through the Patreons/accounts of creators who make items I like. If I see a Sim dump with CC that I'm interested, I try to reach out to the poster and ask where they got specific CC. If I can't do that, I see if it was shared via Drive, look at the individual files themselves, then head to the original CC creator's official download page and get it from the source.

That's all I have for you! Stay safe, and happy Simming! 🫶🏾

Custom Rig / SimRipper Tutorial

Hi hello, welcome to todays lecture! Nah it's real simple even if it doesn't look it, I promise! I'm gonna go ahead and assume you have some basic knowledge of Blender/pose making for this tutorial, so I won't be going over how to set up your rigs or anything. Feel free to ask me any questions though! My previous pose tutorial is here if that's what you're looking for.

Disclaimer: I use this process to rip sims for posing only, idk if it's different for making renders 'cause that I ain't my jam. Although I assume it's pretty similar.

You're gonna need Blender (I use 2.79b but I'm pretty sure the newer version works okay for posing too) and SimRipper which you can get here...

Blender (2.79b) SimRipper

First things first, you're gonna wanna dress your sims! Just go in game like you usually would and once you're done dressing 'em you can save and exit. Hint: SimRipper will load up your sim wearing the outfit they're dressed in when you exit the game. I usually make sure they're wearing the right outfit before I quit. You can load up other ones later but it can take a while so it just saves some time.

Okay! Once your simmies are dressed and you've downloaded the SimRipper/extracted the file, double click on the .exe to open the application. You'll be greeted with this:

Click "Retry" to set up the correct paths then hit save. (I only needed to set up the first one so I'll assume you do too! If not just let it know where everything's installed)

Once you've hit save the application will open! Hit "Select" on the right and choose the correct save file, like so:

Hint: SimRipper is slow so don't worry if it says Not Responding or seems to take a while, it's pretty normal. The less sims/outfits there are in a save file, the quicker it'll work. You can make a blank save to make it faster but I don't bother; it doesn't take too long and I can't be arsed. You'll be greeted with a long list of all the sims in that save file. Find and click on the sim you wanna rip:

Once your sim has loaded up there's a couple of things we wanna change:

Change the top drop down menu to "Solid and glass meshes and textures" - this'll make it easier to get rid of eyelashes etc later (we don't really need those for posing and they get in the way of the eyes)

Click HQ - it'll look better, trust me!

You can change their outfit here too if they're not wearing the right one - though it'll take a while to load up again.

I like to hit the "Tanned" option, especially for paler sims, since blender seems to really wash them out and it hurts my eyes 😂 - personal preference though!

Once everything's set you'll need to click on "DAE" near the top right, this'll save your sim as a .dae file ready for blender. Again, it might take a while! Once you're done, you should have these files:

Okie doke! Now we're off to Blender. Open up your rig and click the little plus to the left of it to extend the menu. You're gonna right click on each of these body parts like "bottom" "feet" etc etc and hit delete until they're all gone.

Once you've deleted every body part, you'll be left with an empty rig like this:

Now that our rig is empty, we can import our .dae file! Go to "File" -> "Import" -> "Collada (Default) (.dae) like so:

Find your .dae file and double click on it to import it. Hint: I like to make a separate folder for my .dae files and I regularly delete 'em once I've saved my rig. I like tidy files!

Hi Oscar! I'mma go ahead and right click on this extra lamp that was imported and hit delete 'cause I don't need it! You can keep it if your eyes aren't sensitive little babies like mine, it doesn't matter much.

Okay.. so now we should have a "rig" and a "rig.001"! Click the little plus signs to the left again so you can see what's in the hierarchy of each one, and then:

Click the upside down orange triangle of your sim from the "rig.001" rig and drag it up to the first one, then drop it on top of "rig"

A box should come up like the one below and you wanna click on "Object"

All we've done here is move Oscar (or whoever) from the extra imported rig to the original. We don't need that extra rig or the glass textures (the eyelashes etc) anymore so get rid of it by right clicking it and hitting "Delete Hierarchy" like so: Hint: "Delete Hierarchy" is different from "Delete" and gets rid of the whole hierarchy (shocker) at once!

I like to rename my rigs, it can get complicated when you start posing more than one sim so naming them just makes it easier. Double click on where it says "rig" then rename it:

Now we need to attach your sim to the rig, as below!

Left click on the sim (aka "OscarFinch" in this case)

Head to the toolbar just below and click on the little wrench/spanner.

A little further down, click on the box beneath "Object:" and choose your sim/rig

In this case it's called "OSCAR", but if you didn't rename your rig it'll still be called "rig".

And that's it, you now have a custom rig 👍 Just make sure you save it!

You can go ahead and click on the little plus/minus to hide the drop down/extra info of the rig and start posing! \o/

Once you've done this a couple of times you won't even have to think about it anymore! I do it almost everyday and I had to really pay attention to what I was doing for this tutorial 'cause I was like ??? when I tried to think how I do it lmao.

They're so much more fun to work with than the base rigs, no more clipping, better facial expressions, poses with clothes in mind?! Amazing 😌

Extra Hint! If you rip a sim who's dressed with a pose accessory assigned to a stigmata joint, it'll still move as if you imported that accessory via blender. I randomly found this out by accident but it might save you some time!

I hope you found this easy enough to follow, but lmk if you have any questions! I think this is one of those things everyone kinda does a bit differently. Like.. one tut I saw you had to add the textures in separately n' shit? Idk that one confused me so this is how I do it and it works, so I hope it does for you too! ❤

Happy SimRipping! (sounds kinda painful, doesn't it? ouch)

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vctrx136

4 months ago

i have an inspiration to build

(Base game version) Sims In Bloom: A Sims 4 Legacy Challenge ☆ﾟ･｡･

I won’t be play testing this one, so please let me know if you come across any issues!

( Original version )

General rules

For each generation complete the designated aspiration, career and skills.

Asterisk * marked points are optional, you can choose to complete these to make the challenge more difficult.

There are two colours associated with every generation. Use these for genetics (berry/vanilla), or just clothes and house decor if you wish.

Start each new generation with a small house/apartment and 1000 simoleons. If you want to make the challenge harder, you can start each generation on an empty lot with 0 simoleons (rags to riches style!)

Play on any lifespan you wish (short is not recommended).

If you decide to play this challenge @ me or use the tag #sib or #SimsInBloom if you want me to see!

Gen 1 - Daisy (white, yellow)

Gardening has always been your passion. Owning a large, healthy garden is all you’ve ever wanted in life, even if your nails constantly have soil under them and you have so many broken pots you’ve lost count. Your happy place is sitting in the shade of the fruit trees that you grew yourself from tiny saplings. You wonder what your family will grow to do, and hope that they will flourish just as beautifully as your garden has. This is the start of your family legacy!

Aspiration: Freelance botanist

Traits: Cheerful, Clumsy, Loves the outdoors

Career: Self-employed/None

Skills: Gardening, fishing, fitness

Earn money by selling the produce you’ve grown/collected yourself

Grow a cowplant and keep it alive for as long as you live (if it dies, immediately plant a new one)

Grow 5 perfect plants

Marry a sim who also has the ‘loves the outdoors’ trait

Grow a death flower

Czytaj dalej

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