The quest for better 3D continues

While a 3D-capable monitor and video card are still financially out of the question at Dozerfleet for the time being, making battery-powered 3D options not a plausible reality, there is still some desire to increase the efficiency with which some projects could be made with 3D support - for those who'd love to see at least some 3D Dozerfleet content.

One of the best applications in planning for it at the moment would be the pending remake of Blood Over Water. As a 3D comic, it would be stellar. A 3D re-release of the photocomic could make a great proof-of-concept. At present, unfortunately, anaglyph is still the best method for Dozerfleet works. There is a setup possibly arriving by Christmas that would allow for shooting native 3D photography. While applications for this are currently limited, it would make for a nice option if, say, The Mutt Mackley Show got a reboot.

As for machinomics, options are highly limited. ReShade's SuperDepth3D was tested with Dozerfleet Main's handling of The Sims 4 - with very unsatisfying results. The best 3D possible with that format looked like this when used on the Iqaluk Cafe from The Sims 4: Magic of Movies and Memes Stuff:

Not terrible, but not great either.

By contrast, this is what was produced when forcing the camera in-game into slightly different angles to attempt native 3D:

A dramatic improvement! However, the camera in The Sims 4 doesn't always cooperate well enough to match this gold standard. So when there are scenes that won't work for native shot? The best solution is still depth-mapping. However, that can take a lot of time to do manually.

Fortunately, Owl 3D is able to do a reasonably good job with post-processed 3D. Here's the scene with Owl:

Still not as solid as native 3D, but close enough to make you feel like you're watching something with some quality.

To note: back in 2011, native was how Warner Bros. and its subsidiaries shot The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The Amazing Spider-Man from 2012 was also made in native 3D, albeit by Sony. The Avengers, with slightly inferior 3D quality, was post-processed. Disney hired a decent conversion team though.

Owl 3D has given to the average consumer the kind of depth-mapping AI tech that Hollywood has already been able to take advantage of for quite some time.

So for Blood Over Water? The remake will attempt native where it can. It will post-process where it can't. The photocomic would have to be post-processed, given that 2009 was a very long time ago, making reshoots for that version pretty much impossible.

Some items removed from the slate

The AI revolution has taken its toll. With that, very few Sims projects remain in production at Dozerfleet.

Of the comics / short story books with Sims illustration, the following remain:

• Corando's "Don't Lose Hope"
• Blood Over Water
• Sorbet
• Ciem / Anarteq: Kahoopiliana
• Sniperbadger: Fall of the Critter Resistance
• Volkonir 2008
• Path of the Ming-Cho

Of the DzMD Sims 4 packs for download, only a few projects remain:

• Centipede and Fire Saga Story Pack
• Anarteq Saga Story Pack
• Sodality: Adaptation Story Pack

The Sodality: Determination Story Pack is being merged with the Adaptation Story Pack, as has what would have been the Mukade: Reinvention story pack. The Tales of Extirpon and Gray Champion: Modern Legends packs are going to be truncated and merged with Swappernetters.

The following have been removed from the DzMD roster without merger or replacement:

• Cherinob Saga Story Pack
• Exploits of a Navy Rope Story Pack
• Experiments and Offspring Story Pack
• The Battle for Gerosha Story Pack
• The Gray Champion: Modern Legends Story Pack
• Tales of Extirpon Story Pack
• Volkonir Story Pack
• Camelorum Adventures Story Pack

There also will be no Ciem Tomorrow story pack.

Following the seven packs still slated, no new Sims 4 pack content will be created for download via Dozerfleet Labs and DzMD. The completion of the eight comics listed above will also mean that, home build interiors notwithstanding, there will likely be no new Sims content of any kind in the future from Dozerfleet Labs.

While Dozerfleet is slowly getting out of the machinomics / machinima / Sims modding business, and won't be getting Sims 5 nor doing much with Sims in the future, that's not to say that there aren't other games on the horizon that look promising. For those who can't get enough of life simulation, InZoi looks promising. For those more concerned with CAD software for buildings, House Flipper 2 may be the way to go.

OBRL now listed on IMDB

You read that right! The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff is now officially listed on IMDB! This makes it the first time a Dozerfleet Productions item has ever been given such a listing. Hopefully, it won't be the last. Stay tuned for more updates! And don't be afraid to download the pack, and go to IMDB to give ratings!

New facelift and the progress of packs

So many new packs!

The Swappernetters Pack got so large, it has been split into four packs! The Frontliners' pack is now available for download, as discussed in a previous post.

There will be three more in this set: one for the Chrome Kite baddies, one for the other baddies, and a third for all the remaining heroes that will be featured. This pack series is the Sims 4 answer to the much smaller singular pack of Swappernetters characters cleared for release for The Sims 3. It is predicted that work on these packs will resume some time in October.

For the next several days, until completed, focus will shift to the official trailer for Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff. Immediately after that, work will resume on a pack for The Horrorday Gang, which will most likely be released in late September - plenty of time before Christmas.

With these out of the way, editing can resume on 3-13, as well as completion of Purge-Flare: Stickin' It to Pencil. Along with that, Blood Over Water can be made into a webcomic. These works will clear the way for Ciem: Inferno to finally be written, and then sent in search of a publisher. With Inferno ready for publication, completion of Ciem / Anarteq: Kahoopiliana should go pretty quickly. And with it finished, writing can commence on Anarteq: Guardian of the Soo.

The Swappernetters and Horrorday Gang packs are the final Sims 4 packs that will be released this year. A few packs for Sims 3 are scheduled for creation and release in 2021, as well as the remaining Sims 4 packs. When all Sims packs in pending are finally released, no new Sims content is expected to come to Dozerfleet Labs. However, old projects that are not game-related are expected to return to this blog.

Facelift

Dozerfleet Labs has received a redesign, in keeping with integration of the Labs division visually and thematically with other divisions. The post-apocalypse theme it previously had was put up as a statement to be made about the state governors, and their manipulation of the exosome scamdemic in an effort to steal the November 2020 elections. The idea is that a war and apocalypse may be needed to undo all their crimes.

However, the future of the Labs division rests in its downloadable content, not in political commentary. The place for that is elsewhere. Therefore, the blog has been updated to show a retool toward that purpose - as well as to aid integration with the Dozerfleet Database.

Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff updates

As of 9:45 AM EDT on July 21st of 2020, the lots for The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff, Second Edition have finally been completed.

Pending, are the release of the actual Sims associated with that pack, to be included in release. Some Snakes on a Plane memorabilia is also pending for release with the Second Edition. One of the new Sims to be released, will be Merre Bowmaster: a wonderful woman from the area who tragically died from Huntington's Disease and related injury-induced complications, in early July of 2020. She will be immortalized in the pack as someone to know.

The cast of Blood Over Water, and Hadley Mint, will also be included, as will the Evancris. Jimmy and Jackie Blankenship are coming with the pack too.

Perhaps the most dramatic overhaul, is to the Big Rapids Cinema lot. Special care was put into this remake of the lot, to get it as close as possible to the original Carmike Theater - without the use of custom content. Limitations on accuracy are to the interiors, as many of the side shops no longer exist - and the AMC Theater of today was closed at the time of the tour related to this pack.

The pack's related ad is still pending for release in late August.

Blood Over Water cast now available for The Sims 3

Please click the image above to go to the download page.

The cast can now be downloaded for The Sims 3, for the enjoyment of those who want this crime thriller in their games. Their Sims 4 equivalents were merged into The Sims 4: Oughties Big Rapids Living Stuff. A new version of that pack is coming soon, with more content and corrections to buildings.