Hello all, 

So a community that was near and dear, and beloved by several of us here, has now (apparently, as I'm told) been put to rest. Not all of us are members of this community, and neither are we at MS, an offshoot in any capacity. But many of the members that were the most invested in MS were invested here because they supported what we did, and a couple of us were active members over at Simmania. Other communities that people have come from that have made the MS community include the general MyBB community (including Icyboards), as well as a few other websites, and collectively, they have made us what we are. (I have faith. We'll make it further! )

But Simmania (http://simmania.net) was something special of its own. Founded in 2010, it has brought over eight years of tight-knit community that has stayed true to its values. I write this as a former admin of the community from years back, as it started off with a core group of about four or five people, most of which aren't around today, until around 2013ish, where members such as pupper_donut and brian come from. The community was a small Simcity fansite with a very active chat community that slowly spread out 

It was never a huge forum. It had about 35K posts about ~300 members, many of whom had posted, by the time it had disappeared. So this thread shall serve as a tribute to one of our biggest inspirations as a community. And because some of the same members that supported Simmania now are here supporting MS, and because MS shares much of the same tight-knit atmosphere that defined Simmania, Makestation now says profoundly, thank you. 

May a tribute to Simmania be held here in this thread. 
Farwells, beloved community.

http://simmania.net

It's offline, and it's been for a little while. Anyone in the know as to what's going on over there?

This is mainly for Darth-Apple but I'll leave it open for discussion as well... I'm also not much of a car guy so I'm not really sure how all this works.

Ever since I bought my 2012 Kia Rio 5 the thing has had minor issues with a slight engine rattle and losing power in low RPM ranges, but I learned to live with it and it was never bothersome. However, over the past few months or so the problem has been steadily getting worse, now it has reached the point of an incessant and loud spark knocking on acceleration and under load. My mileage has also seemed to drop significantly.

After doing some reading around I found out that many others also have the same problems, and after taking it to the dealer have been told there is no issue. Some people have said that using premium gas has helped (but I really couldn't be bothered to spend the extra money). I'm beginning to think it's just a problem I'll have to live with as it seems that these particular engines do this a lot (even though there's nothing mechanically wrong with them). 

Either way, I just wanted to get a little bit of input and maybe advice/suggestions. Given this and other experiences with this car I've already decided not to bother with another Kia anytime soon

the 2018 hockey playoffs , got underway last night with 3 games..

Tonight my team, ( the Tampa Bay lightning), are in action against the New Jersey devils in game 1 of a best of 7 series..

Game starts at 7:10 in Tampa..

How much is your Steam profile worth? Check it out here:

https://steamdb.info/calculator/

Pretty interesting statistics. Mine: 

My Steam Profile (from SteamDB)

• Worth: $1468 ($488 with sales)
  
• Games owned: 73
  
• Games played: 56 (76%)
  
• Hours on record: 3,072.5h
  

I've made a few Hearts of Iron mods. Figured I made them, so why not share with Makestation? 

Just in case anyone plays:

Russian Empire mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi...1286967352
Free American Empire mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi...1286871337
Communist States of America: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi...1352515604

I figure I will eventually get around to making videos for them. Was considering making some more. These are minor, but I was wanting a massive overhaul.

The 2018 baseball season is underway! 

Houston, Boston, and Pittsburgh all getting off to strong starts.

Everyone has gotten the first win out of the way, but there are a lot of teams that still need a lot of work.

Hello everyone,

Please welcome homelessllama to our forums. Not only is he a new member, but he is actually my brother, who has decided to join us here on the community. He's an awesome guy, and is great at graphics design, audio work, web design and programming, and various other venues in digital arts.

You'll probably see him lurking around, please be sure to say hi and make him feel welcome!
-Darth

We have a playstation 4 at our apartment and have spent quite a lot of time playing GTA. Between myself and my three other roomates, we made it through the game and spent a little more time than we should have getting through the levels. 

Five star police chases? Check. 

Every cheat code imagineable? Spawning trash trucks and outrunning the police? Check. 

Stealing cop cars to get away from the police? Check. 

Making millions of dollars, stealing junk cars, and upgrading them with color changing tires? Check. 

Stealing planes on the military base while in invincible mode (you can't die)? Check. 

Perhaps the craziest experience I had in the game was when I outran the police by getting stuck in the escape tunnels beneath the city. They looked like either storm drains or subway tunnels, wasn't sure which, but as hard as it is to escape the police on 5 stars, going through those tunnels will lose them hilariously fas.t 

It's a must have game, and is well worth the 60 dollar price tag. Who here has also played the game? What were some of your most interesting experiences?

This was a short work that I did for a class last semester. It's far from perfect, but I enjoyed the class quite a bit and figured I'd post some things that I did and see what y'alls thoughts are. I plan on taking some inspiration from this piece and turning it into a song. 

Quote:“This is bullshit” -- he exclaims.
“You’re not thinking straight. You’ve got three semesters left, you’ve already changed your major twice, and you’re not--” …
“Not what?”
“Don’t interrupt me.”
“Yes, but I’m not going to waste one more semester on the wrong major, not following my own heart.”

It’s late in the fall and the leaves have all changed colors. A little darker in the afternoon and the sun is getting ready to set, I turn around to the same architectural masterpiece that I had seen every day since I began this job. The walls were covered with windows as high as the ceilings themselves, and could see the sidewalks, the streetlights, and the campus right outside of the lounge. I’m here three or four days out of the week, making the same coffees and the same lattes every time. The job itself is mundane enough.

        “Honey… I don’t… I don’t know why you would feel this way. But you need to talk to me. You can’t let all of this stress get to you.” she responds.
        “You wouldn’t know stress if it fell from the sky with the passion of a thousand suns.”
“And you know what, stars will still fall from the skies, and you still have to catch them. This is your future here! ”
“That’s all my father had ever told me. And you’re here to burn that bush into the ground like everyone else.”
“This isn’t about your father! You are the first person in your family to ever set foot on a college campus. You are doing things nobody in your family ever did before you. You need to be so much easier on yourself. ”
“Yes but uh--” ...
“Um what? That you still feel your father is writing your life story for you? You are your own person, capable of chasing your own dreams. You have to light that flame for yourself and keep it lit. You are the only one who can do that for yourself. ”

        She pulls out her phone. Half eaten sandwiches from Chick-Fil-A and a mess of notes were scattered across the table. The art still hung from the ceilings, and the skies get a little darker as they became shaded in red.

        “You know what, let me look at these notes.” she says.
        “They’re right here. Still nothing.”
        “That’s fine, I understand. But we’ll get through this…”

I glanced over and saw six or seven different textbooks, a few loose assignments scattered across the table, and a mosaic of notes that seemed to correspond to more than a couple different classes. The table was undeniably an incoherent mess. He stood up, grabbed the nearest dry-erase board, recalled information from the latest exam and became visibly agitated.

        “I can’t do this, Sky. It’s all bullshit. It’d be easier to memorize Pi to the 1,000th decimal than to read one more page out of... -- ”

        She grabs his jacket aggressively in an attempt to grab his attention.

        “Listen to me. We can get through this. I’ve been with you since the beginning and I’ve always believed in you. But I need you to believe in yourself. Changing your major for the third time is not going to make the schoolwork any easier on you, and it will only set you further behind.”

I looked back towards the study hall, the skies now becoming dark, the halls becoming quieter and more clear, and the street lights illuminating the walkways for another evening. Inadvertently, they say if you’re ever unfortunate to get caught up in a rip current, that you’re best bet is to stay calm and to fight your instincts to swim against the current. Their conversations seemed much like this. His frustration was consuming him against a wall that would never change.

“Well I’m glad you believe in me. Nobody else did.” He responds.
“Not true. You’re just young and you are figuring yourself out.“

        She turns around slowly, and pauses to glance at two pictures that she had kept in her wallet. Then turns back, and says,  

        “See here. This rose. It represents what’s beautiful in life. It represents your dreams and your emotions. It represents your passion and your soul, and life itself. But the sword represents your doubts and your fears. It represents the things in your life that destroy you rather than build you up …”   

        She pauses. He nods his head. Suddenly you can hear the wind beating against the lounge walls and the weather seems to shift rapidly. A drizzle turns into a pour, and then into hail as the whether vehemently shifts the mood for everyone in the room. “It’s an odd time of the year for hail,” I thought to myself, but I suppose you never know what each day brings, and I head back towards my empty register. I realize that as my shift comes to a close, I’ll likely be stranded here for a least a few minutes longer.

        “That was unexpected” he murmurs.
        She merely nodded her head.
As the rain got louder, I could no longer hear their conversations.

And shortly thereafter, six o’clock arrived. My shift came to a close, the rain slowed to a drizzle, and I left shortly thereafter.
My slow walk towards my uninspiring vehicle left me with time to contemplate. I suppose the sword represents sabotaging the positivity in your own life. But what was the meaning of the rose? Is it better to look at the world through rose colored eyes, seeing the positivity in every situation, or with the pessimistic lens that prepares you for the inevitable in life, for the worst in any moment, or for the storms that will arise without warning?

The only real question in my mind was a matter of which lens I should view the world through. And as I caught myself being skeptical, I realized that in my heart was a little of both.