More Awesome Than You!

I have a set of default replacement skins that were made by an online friend.  They are really very lovely, a little shiny, very smooth.  The problem is that the "fat" morph doesn't work well.  The top half and the bottom half seem to live in separate dimensions.  It's fine when she has clothes on, but naked, she looks like a magician's trick gone wrong.

So, show me your favorite default replacements!  I need some new ones.  I don't like a lot of shading (they need to be pretty smooth) and I don't like the hyper-realistic ones either. 

C

ETA:  a word in the title for clarification

I've been using paradisesim's defaults ever since they were released. They're not deviating much from Maxian standards, and they're anatomically correct as well.

I use Enayla's skintones, but not her default set. Instead I have mixed and matched skintones from her sets to make an S1-S4 spectrum that fits in more with my playing style: my S4 is more like default S3. I have a dark skin which I made genetically S5.

I used to use them, but decided I liked Heleane's better -- someone made defaults out of her latest set (1111) and put them on MTS2.  You can also find defaults of her older skin sets there too.

I like Helaene's, too. I use the set previous to her newest as I like those better. I also use her eyes.

I really like some of her new skintones, but for the fact that all the male bodies are so goddam hairy. I mean, gosh. They're like mini sasquatches.

 :D :D :D  ROFLOL

C

I use Louis' default replacements that I got off of MTS2. I really like them, they're not overly realistic but there also not too cartoony.

Louis's are still my favorite. Helaene has a recent set that nobody has made into defaults yet that I'd actually love to try out (matte finish, light freckling, not so much with the bags under the eyes as a lot of her others), but since nobody's done it yet and I've got other projects I'd rather work on than learning to do it myself, it's Louis's for me.

I am using Enayla's. They are quite glossy, but I love not having to put makeup on everyone just to make them look human. Some of my sims have her custom skins, too. Here's the link for the defaults:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=128208&page=1&pp=25

Well, I adore Enayla's skins and those hyper realistic skins from SimsVault. Im gradually wacking Enaylas onto the Vault meshes thyen having them all show up as for breeding purpouses ( the way maxis skin baby's can be part-way between the parents tone) even tho they are still in the custom bin :)

I use the Helaene 1111 skins someone made into defaults too.  I actually downloaded like 8 or 9 sets of skins from MTS2 and tried out each and every skin, and that one was by far the best.


nectere did those ones as default as a sort of private project.  I didn't like them, they were still too shiny, although I think she likes them.  You could ask her if she still has them and if she'd be willing to share.

The 1/12 set? That's the one I'd like to see. The 11/11 ones are pretty nice, except they have a case of the eyebags like whoa.

Yes, that's the set.

Nectere?  Are you listening?  I'd like to try those helaene skins if you please!  or if you don't please, then I guess I'll have to find something else.

C

I love the Louis set, because they are detailed but not "scary realistic", and they aren't overly shiny. Enayla's skins are nice from a distance, but in my game they look oily and somewhat sickly, maybe because of the yellowish tints?

Simvault's hyper-realistic skins just scare me.

Interesting thread...I've always wanted some default replacement ones but suck at picking out decent ones.
I think I might try the Helaene ones.... *trusts Bluesoup's raves for them and goes to try them out.*

I use Louis's #7 too, for the same reasons that others have said already.


Nah, there have to be other people who think that. We just haven't met them yet. ;)

Hmm, strange, I think the opposite. Maxis defaults look a little weird to me.

I've been using Helaene's for some time; before that I used Duddly's. But I generally choose a custom skin for a sim when I create one—I have skins from Helaene, Allan Akbar, Paradise, X-Sim.com, Elau, and some new ones from Navetsea at MTS2 that I have not yet tried. I seem to use the Akbar skins most often.

I made a set of my own out of one of AllenABQ's less scarily hairy sets.  They're close to Maxis standard but with just enough added detail to not have that 'Barbie effect,' or I think they are anyway.

I did the same thing; just turned off the Enayla set becasue i didn't particularly like them.  I have the Heleane 805's active now to give them a go.

Those are what I used before Louis's, and I quite liked them except that they have a bit too much eye makeup on them. (Actually, even Louis's look a bit overdone about the eyes on some Sims.) Of course, what really sold me on Louis's was the fact that there are matching alien and zombie defaults.

Links, I want links! Just kidding, I'm sure I can find them on my own... 8)

What I need desperately is a Default Alien skin that doesn't come with pointed ears. My Aliens aren't elves but I do like normal eyes and noses. :D

The few I came across at MTS2 are either garishly neon or simply horrid. I love Dylan's at Laverwinkles, it is perfect except for the ears.

Any suggestions?  ::)

Umm, I linked that for you at nectere's site, Maria.  Did you see that?  Also, they don't have pointed ears.  :)

Unless you don't like the skin, of course.  :D

Thanks Blue! I haven't made the rounds back to Nectere's yet so I hadn't seen it. Thanks a million, going to grab it now! :D

I'm just going to stare blankly as you people rattle off strange numbers that mean nothing to me, then ask...

What does this have to do with us here?

We thought you were sleeping. :P

You know..while the cat's away.. ::)

And this is why there needs to be another child board for non-Retardo, non-Podium stuff.

Well, somebody translate what all those numbers mean so I can follow along. What the heck is a 1111 or a 805? The only numbers I know are 403 and 404, which might happen if nobody translates those others for me.

It indicates the date Helaene made the skins. January= 1/11 Etc.

The names of Helaene's skintone sets are numbers, which are actually calendar dates.

I still want to know how on earth a skintone could possibly cause pointy ears. Just because a preview image has pointed ears doesn't mean the skintone actually makes Sims have pointed ears.

I have seen Pollination Technician replacements that have pointed ears, but that's completely different from a skintone replacement.

And now that I look around at Laverwinkles, I see that is exactly what Dylan has up for download there -- a replacement polli tech which happens to have both purple skin and pointed ears. The skintone and the ears are completely unrelated to each other in every way except that Dylan happened to use both of them when he (?) created his polli tech replacement.

I tried two sets and didnt like them so I took them out and am using Maxis defaults unitl I find one like.  I cant remember what the first set was maybe Louis but not sure.  The second was Enayla's.  They were both too shiny for me.  Maybe I should try Helaene's.

Im looking at Healanes now ... very nice :) Im goint to try some maby, but I couldnt have em as default unless I can keep my sims-vault penises! lol

I use Helaene's skins and Crammy's penis mod - works fine.

Enayla needs a DNS, like, say, "oilysims.com".

Actually ive already taken em back out .... WAYYYYYYY to oily and greesy looking for me.
SussiSoGood has nice skins ....

What I don't like about the skins helaene and Enalya have created is the fact that males look too damn feminine! These skins look perfect on females, but on males...meh!

I don't think the males look feminine at all with the 1111 skins.  At least not the default.  The pictures on her yet-again new site show something completely different to what I see in my game.

Hmm...maybe that's one series I haven't tried. Oh, and never trust a pic  ;)

ETA: damn, I see some skins in there I hadn't seen until now. Oh my poor Downloads folder. Oh Lordi...!

I've been using some of Lyran's non-default skin tones and I rather like those. They're not terribly realistic but have a bit of eyelash and some color to the cheeks and lips. Females are correct above the waist. The only reason I'm not using the default ones is I'd like some with a bit of hair down there and maybe a little less blush to the cheeks. I haven't seen any others I like, so I'll have to check out some of the ones mentioned here.

I have tried other skins but keep ending up with AllenABQ's skins made into defaults. They're not super-realistic but they do have body hair (on the men).  I tend not to like the shiny look, plus I think a lot of "realistic" skins have this weird effect where the collarbone seems to really stick out...

I used Lyran's as default, but the men looked too feminine with all that eyeliner :D I am currently using the maxis skins cos I haven't seen any skins that seem right for my game.

Downloaded and at this point am totally liking the 1111 skins.  They don't have that creepy over realistic effect that some of her prior skins I have downloaded have.  Or the guys looking feminine as I have noticed that as well with some of her prior work.

Helaina has a new skin out today ... not bad, but still to 'yeti' on the male's for my taste :)

I used Lyrans for a very long time - but the blokes lookd far too efiminate.

I've now switched over to Helaenes 1111 defaults (thanks Blue!), and I find them much better for the women, but the blokes are still a tad hairy.  I figured I could put up with hairy blokes easier than I could put up with girly blokes, so I've stopped there for now.

I can't remember which alien default I have (another thanks to Blue), and I really would like male defaults like that one for the human type sims.

Or they'll have a protruding belly, or weird knees, yeah.  I don't know whether it's a flaw in the whole way skins are handled, or if I'm just clueless as to what constitutes an attractive physique, or what, but I honestly prefer the Maxis style to most of the custom skins I've seen.

The other thing I've noticed is, the more detailed and realistic your default skins are, the harder it is to make your Sims really look different from one another.  A somewhat bland skin seems to lend itself better to individualizing each Sim because it draws one's attention away from things like lip and lower-eyelid shape, and more toward variable things like eye color, hairstyle and facial hair.  I find AllenABQ's are a nice compromise between too-doll-like and too-realistic.

I use sims vault real skins with real adds...


Regarding the 112s, I tried to edit them for Blue so they wouldnt be so shiny. I liked them at first and then sometimes a line would show up at the neck and other times not, I never could figure it out. Anyway, I miss these skins because I love the faces, but I am having graphics issues on and off, maybe I will use them again later I dont know...so here they are, please dont email me and tell me they suck, if you dont like them remove them. :P

Light (http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=27747&share_id=55946&hash=9b636d8248e09c30f3b24c10c182d260)
Medium (http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=27747&share_id=55944&hash=4837c8f6ca603eb7e0559dbd98c62055)
Tan (http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=27747&share_id=55943&hash=b37740ae7a002f66bfc067dfa5ee5ddd)
Dark (http://www.onlinefilefolder.com/index.php?action=getshare&type=0&user_num=27747&share_id=55945&hash=18d1652c94977b5c3fea7ddb632ab4f8)

Are these the default versions, or just modified versions?

(Oh, and thanks -- I've downloaded them...)

 :D  That is what I would do anyway Nectere.  I'm not that much of a whiner to complain about something someone has made and offered for me to use.

C

Thanks Nectere!
I've noticed the occasional neck line thing on different skins and was thinking it was the custom clothes the sim had on causing it? But then I easily get confused by all the layers that make up a sim!

I think they're default

Same here. I use Helaene's 1111 set too; the eyes aren't really as baggy in-game as they look in some screenshots. I like the hair amount on the males, and I actually wish she'd put a bit of arm hair on the females. I don't know any woman who waxes her arms  :P.

I love Enayla's art, but I don't think "realism" has ever been something she's shot for. Her males are very feminine, and all Sims made with her skins look like they're wearing makeup and lots of baby oil. I'd use her skins for a fantasy kind of thing, but not for boring bourgeois Sims.

I like Enaylas skins but not for all my sims

I shave my arms...does that make me weird? >.>
I'm just really pale with dark hair, and I don't like looking fuzzy.

Personally, I usually throw a little eyeliner on my men, so I don't mine the skins that come with a bit of colour on the male face. I'm not a fan of mass amounts of body hair in general, so I tend to stay well clear of any skins where the men come out looking like bears. I'm also not a fan of the waxed and oiled look on some skins, that's one of the reasons I like Louis' skintones. They are clean looking, and soft, not shiny. The knees are a bit iffy though.

I'd get off my lazy butt and make my own skintones, but damn. That's a lot of work, and I'm really not talented enough to make anything half so nice looking as the hand-painted skintones already available.

Are these the (adult) ones that Jfreddog converted to default on MTS2, ages ago? If so, im using the same ones. If not, ill shut up and go away. :)

I can't stand skins that are far too realistic. All of enaylas and helaenes fit into that category. I had to go and find a separate adult alien skin though- i played for over a year without even noticing that was missing.

Is Louis the paradisesims fellow?

You know, I think that came out wrong, I meant that I already know they have issues and I cant figure out what it is...bah, I mean you can email me and tell they suck but I already know that lol. And yes these are the defaults I kept the original name, plus they are edited to not be so shiny although I dont really like how the darkest skintone looks if I recall...I have used a whole lot of different skins since then.

Thanks for your efforts with these -- I'm giving them a go, and I'm not sure yet if I prefer them over the 1111 set.  I'll give them another day or so.  They're fairly nice skins though, so I may download the originals from Heleane's site and use them for custom sims even if I don't keep them as the defaults.

No, Louis is the SimCribbling gal.

Ah -- thanks!  What's her id on MTS2 so I can search for her stuff?


Edit: never mind -- a Google search turned them up on MTS2.  Thanks again!

peter_halland is the guy from paradiise skins

I am not a fan of the louise skins, I don't like the way the ribs show on females, or the push up line over the boobs, because I think it looks really unnatural. I mean, look at your own body in the mirror. Even if you are skinny, you won't see anything like it.

Enayla's definately look bad on the males, it annoys me that she puts so much effort into the female faces but won't remove the male lipstick, or the odd glow around the face. In my game it just looks all wrong.

The thing about Enayla is that she wasn't really creating skins for others in the Sim community. She made the skins so that her game can mimic her art, which has very feminine, ethereal men. She only started sharing them because people asked after seeing her pictures on the MTS2 social forums.

What I don't understand is why people that don't like a certain aspect of a skin, feel that the creator should change it for them. If I really wanted to use a skin and didn't like some aspect of it, I would edit it myself. For instance, if I didn't like the pink lips, I would copy and paste ones from a skin I did like.

People that like masculine looking sims should check out KSK's tasty skins over at insimenator or mts2. She put a lot of effort into them looking perfect.

Nectere, thank you very much for posting these.  I'm always looking for defaults to play around with in my game.

 ;D

Yea, I tried them last night, and they just didn't look right to my eyes.  So it's back to heleane -- either the 805's or the 1111's.  I did like louise's greyish skin tones for the zombies, though and may also try one of them on my aliens (currenly using sybercat's creamy alien skin).

Where do you get yours? I have some of Helaene's but i hate the thing they do by the leggs. I just downloaed exemn's but his make all of the sims seem too old. Anyone know of any other Default Replacement Skins available?

Ness, I merged the two threads, you can delete your post if you want.  :)

Thank you goddess blueth soup

Thanks, Blue!

Deleting is always good - stops one looking like more of an idiot than they need to.

I got the default Heleane skins off MTS2; TurboJAzn made the changes to make them defaults. 

Pegasys, Amberdiceless, et.al. ... thanks   :)