Mod The Sims - Stupid/random questions... (v3)

cheshirekat

11th Feb 2011, 1:08 AM

I resolved this problem by having multiple sims selling similar items in their shops in my current hood.

In my previous custom hood, I wanted the entire hood to be able to provide for and sustain themselves. So, I had only one business owner selling toilets and bathtubs. Another owner sold sinks and counters. Another owner sold sofas and beds. Appliances. Gardening goods. Etc. Etc. Etc. I ran into the same problem when my owner needed something from their own stores.

If you don't want your businesses to sell different items, you can have your sim pay a friend or family member not living in the same house to buy their stuff for them. The friend can be called from the store, then do the "show item to..." sales action. Just make sure the friend has enough money to buy the item to begin with. Or have the friend visit the shop when they are a playable. Although this can be a problem if you play rotations.

Sometimes I made walkby sims/community lot visitors into "street vendors" or door-to-door salespeople. When they walked by, I would check their inventories by making them selectable. If they had something my sim needed or wanted, I would put the item in my playable sims' house. Then the walkby would be given something in trade or sent a money order. However, I made a rule that the sim could only get something from another inventory if they were friends with that sim. My sim had to greet and become friends with that walkby if the sim was not one of their friends before getting anything from inventory.

I would rather have my sims buy from another sim in the hood instead of the buy catalog or using one of the services just so all the money spent in the hood goes to sustaining and growing the hood. This also makes it easy to have most of the playable sims become business owners since several shops could sell similar items. But I don't think there is a mod to make it possible for your sim to buy from their own shops - unless the sim just buys an extra item with their wholesale discount, marks it for sale, then later unmarks it for sale and places the item in their inventory. Although I think it would be great if there were a lot more craftables, like a furniture maker, shoe maker, tailor, a sim that makes toilets and sinks, cabinet makers, etc., to avoid having to use the buy catalog at all once the hood has grown enough to sustain itself by relying only on the crafters within the hood.

arathea

11th Feb 2011, 6:53 AM

If you don't want your businesses to sell different items, you can have your sim pay a friend or family member not living in the same house to buy their stuff for them. The friend can be called from the store, then do the "show item to..." sales action. Just make sure the friend has enough money to buy the item to begin with. Or have the friend visit the shop when they are a playable. Although this can be a problem if you play rotations.
That would work for groceries or magazines but how would you do this with clothes from the rack, jewelry or computer games? These things don't go into the customer's inventory and can't be moved (as I know) from one family to another.

Bellasaurus

11th Feb 2011, 8:04 PM

But I don't think there is a mod to make it possible for your sim to buy from their own shops - unless the sim just buys an extra item with their wholesale discount, marks it for sale, then later unmarks it for sale and places the item in their inventory.

This is one of the perks of owning your own business!

I own a health food shop, and it's very handy being able to buy stuff at wholesale prices. It just means I make no profit on the things I buy for myself.

I see no reason for your sims not to enjoy this perk too :up:

cheshirekat

11th Feb 2011, 9:51 PM

That would work for groceries or magazines but how would you do this with clothes from the rack, jewelry or computer games? These things don't go into the customer's inventory and can't be moved (as I know) from one family to another.

True. Clothes can't be transferred from one sim to another. But, when sims move in, they move in with all their clothes. And the only way I know of to get clothes from another sim.

In my game, I have several different stores selling clothing. The clothing racks don't take up much room, even with the changing booth. So my owners can't get a discount from their own clothes and just have to shop for them at one of several places around town. When my sims are just beginning their shop-owner careers, they gotta have a clothing rack until they make enough money to put something of greater retail value in that space.

I also like having the clothing racks throughout the hood because I can catch a townie not wearing appropriate clothing and change their outfit. I created all my townies, so most have the clothes I like. But sometimes I get rid of outfits that I no longer like and the townies end up in some horrid maxis outfit. I don't use any maxis outfits for everyday, outerwear or formal so I have to keep my eyes open after I've deleted old cc from my clothing downloads.

Fortunately, other things can be transferred, so not being able to do so with the clothes hasn't been a big deal for me.

TUL

12th Feb 2011, 3:46 PM

I have a question...it's not exactly a gameplay question but a technical one. It's stupid and small so I don't see much point in opening a thread for it...

What is the "LockedBins" folder? I just found it/noticed it today in my Sims 2 folder, and it contains only one file, one called "kissingpoints.package". I'm sure what that folder is doesn't really matter in the long run, but I'm kind of curious...

Kailacat

12th Feb 2011, 3:58 PM

Can you run a community lot business from an apartment?

simsample

12th Feb 2011, 9:20 PM

What is the "LockedBins" folder? I just found it/noticed it today in my Sims 2 folder, and it contains only one file, one called "kissingpoints.package". I'm sure what that folder is doesn't really matter in the long run, but I'm kind of curious...
That one arrived with the pets EP- it contains all of the unlocked fur patterns and collars for your pets that they get with job promotions.

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=202353

smorbie1

12th Feb 2011, 11:17 PM

So, I finally found Chester Gieke a mate, Heidi Riley (cute babies, btw). However, when they married, she was a store employee. She was awfully committed to her job (although it wasn't a LTW or anything). As I was watching her run to the carpool leaving her newborn baby at home with the nanny, I realized her salary was 0. Of course, that means she doesn't get paid at all. I had her quit to stay home with the baby, but would there have been any advantage to her staying? Do store employees (of nonowned stores) get raises and promotions?

Amtram

13th Feb 2011, 1:22 AM

Do the sims ever get better at skating, or do they fall on their butts no matter how long they go around the rink? I'm wondering whether it's worth having them keep going if it doesn't raise a skill or fulfill a want. . .

cheshirekat

13th Feb 2011, 2:06 AM

I thought skating gained body/fitness points. It seems to in my game. I have a couple different community lots with a roller skating rink and used one of them just yesterday. I think it was nearly a couple years ago that I last had my sims try skating. I find it too boring to watch and the darn rinks take up so much room. So I have only recently began to put them on lots with other activities since none of my sims in my current hood are allowed to have stuff like that at their home lots.

Peni Griffin

13th Feb 2011, 2:25 AM

Skating and swimming both improve body on a lot that allows skilling (residential and University) and improve fitness even where skilling isn't allowed. Even my most sedentary sim teens are generally fit when they start University, because I find that the handiest way to get them and their younger siblings enough fun to get through their homework is to send them to community lots, the swimming pool in the warm months and the skating rink in the cold ones. I've seen people with no body points at all get out of the pool and make the "hey, I'm getting fitter" gesture.

Sometimes, my sims who skate a lot will pop up possible interactions implying that more complex activities than just skating in a ring are possible, including interactions with other skaters; but unfortunately this has tended to happen at inconvenient times, when the sim in question was getting orange-tired, so I don't know what all's required to get two sims to skate in pairs, for instance. It's on my to-do list.

MsScribble

13th Feb 2011, 4:05 AM

You know when your sim kiddies get top grades, and they race off the bus and get really excited, jumping up and down and pointing proudly at their A+? Well i love that, and always take picutes, because i'm soppy about my sim kidlets. But now they have started to do a speeded up version of it, and i can't take pics anymore. Has anyone else experienced this?
Cheeries :-)

mangaroo

13th Feb 2011, 4:14 AM

Can you run a community lot business from an apartment?

If you're asking if a Sim living in an AL apartment can own a community lot elsewhere, yes.

If you're asking if any Sim can own a business on the same lot as an apartment building, the answer is no. The game's code doesn't allow owned businesses on apartment lots, and the only mod I know to enable apartments+commerce on one lot (Mog's: http://www.modthesims.info/d/352602 ), does not change that.

Ms Scribble, since I imagine you're looking for a fix for a problem, please ask in Game Help after going through the Game Problem FAQ.

vhanster

13th Feb 2011, 2:14 PM

How do you change a Sim's name (first and last)?

Garambola

13th Feb 2011, 3:19 PM

How do you change a Sim's name (first and last)?

I almost always use this:

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=289073

Quick and easy no need to shut down the game or fire up SimPE.

Amtram

13th Feb 2011, 9:28 PM

I know that skating improves body skill, I was wondering if the skating itself ever got better. I have sims who have maxed out their body points and have high dancing abilities from practice, I was just wondering if they would learn how to skate better eventually.

Peni Griffin

14th Feb 2011, 1:34 AM

My presumption on the interactions that I haven't been able to test yet is that they indicate increased skill. I think one was "skate backward," and one was "twirl with..." - which implies either that the more skillful sim can teach the other, or that you need an equally proficient partner to twirl with. (But don't trust my memory; I make things up.) Since you do get better at swimming the more you do it (novice swimmers lose their balance on the diving board, belly flop, etc.), ditto dancing, yoga, fishing, etc., I see no reason why skating would be done differently.

iCad

14th Feb 2011, 9:58 PM

'K, here's a weird one. Last night, while playing, one of my Sims got abducted by aliens, which is not at all an uncommon thing in my game, given that I use a hacked telescope that allows Sims to autonomously choose to be abducted whenever they have a hankering for some alien lovin'. So, one of my teens, an alien herself, decides that she wants to go visit dad (or mom....or whatever). So...off she goes. And the hours pass...and she doesn't come back. I thought it was a glitch, not entirely unexpected given hack usage and such, and I figured that when I was done playing the lot for the Sim week, I'd move the family out of and back into the house, which tends to reset most strange things that happen in my hacked-to-hell-and-back game.

But then...she came back all by herself. Three Sim days later, almost to the hour. She'd continued to age while she was away, and when she came back she was happy as a pig in slop. And all nicely preggo (with twins, no less!) since I have a hack that knocks up the womenfolk with aliens, too.

So my question: Is this at all normal or was it in fact a really odd glitch? As in, do Sims sometime stay with the aliens longer? It's always seemed to me that it's about four hours or so, but this was three entire days. Yet, in the end I didn't need to do anything to fix it, like I usually do with glitches. Weird. I should say that I didn't mind that it happened; I actually thought that it was kind of cool, even though she lost her job due to missed work. So, I guess I'm just wondering if it might happen again, and am kinda hoping that it might...

Amtram

16th Feb 2011, 8:24 PM

OK, I finally got a couple of options on the skating rink, but meh. The twirling's kinda cute.

Nalia

17th Feb 2011, 5:50 AM

@iCad
Not a huge sample for research, just three Sims, all men and none them being an Alien. No one stayed that long, after a couple of hours they were all kicked out as usual.

maybesomethingdunno

28th Feb 2011, 5:10 AM

What happens if I were to initialize a Servo while in a dorm? Does it become a live-in ("adult") Servo that's a part of the household as normal?

mangaroo

28th Feb 2011, 5:17 AM

You can't initialize a servo in a dorm...unless you're using a cheat or hack. And I don't know what would happen in that scenario.

maybesomethingdunno

28th Feb 2011, 5:27 AM

Ah, okay. Thanks, mangaroo. After all this time, it never occurred to me to even attempt to try it until recently. (I was certain someone must have tried it at some point :lol: ). I made my conjecture based upon the faint memory that Numenor's "Salvation Army" Victorian Slum (Dorm) (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=60943) has a live-in Adult Sim.

cheshirekat

5th Mar 2011, 12:18 AM

When does the game generate character files for a CAS sim/family?

If I go into CAS and play around with a sim, choosing different outfits, but then do NOT save, before exiting CAS - has a character file been created even if a sim was never saved? Does it matter if I create more than one sim while in CAS?

I've been deleting a bunch of clothes from my Downloads folder, but had to use CAS to check out the tooltips for some of the stuff I can't remember from the files. I will have to do this again, probably a few times, and was just wondering if doing so would create a bunch of character files needlessly. I could use bodyshop (no SimPE for Mac users) but then I can't go play my game for a while afterward without the long wait for the game to load.

I'm a bit excited about clearing out my clothing Downloads. I have a ton of cc that I like. I am getting rid of the stuff I do not use so it doesn't weigh down my game. But, I am saving all the files to burn to DVD so they will be available if I start a new hood. I'm hoping my game will be lean and mean by the end of the weekend. Amazing how much clothing a person can download for their sims.

Kailacat

5th Mar 2011, 8:58 PM

If I go into CAS and play around with a sim, choosing different outfits, but then do NOT save, before exiting CAS - has a character file been created even if a sim was never saved? Does it matter if I create more than one sim while in CAS?
Nope. That's why you can "delete" sims in CAS without consequences. Before they enter the hood, they're nothing. However once they appear in the family bin then they're there for good.

EDIT:
My question: When you move sims out of a household with a gravestone in it, and this household does not have the Stay Things Shrub, then is the gravestone sold along with everything else?

Peni Griffin

7th Mar 2011, 6:06 PM

So is there any way to move a stuck townie while on a community lot?

This is very much in the "if that's the worst thing to happen to me all week it'll be a good week" category, but I just had to abort an otherwise successful group outing because a townie nobody wanted around to begin with trapped my only active sim in a restroom stall. Poor Lucas was about to pass out from lack of energy when I gave up; and now the only groups option he can get on the phone is "manage groups."

Sacred Nym

7th Mar 2011, 6:29 PM

@Peni: I think if you use the "boolprop dormSpecificToolsDisabled false" cheat that'll enable Buy/Build mode on the lot so you can use moveObjects to delete stuck object/townie. Not 100% on this.

Maranatah

8th Mar 2011, 7:51 AM

So is there any way to move a stuck townie while on a community lot?

You can activate testingcheats, shift-click the townie and select Force error - Reset. Or if you have another playable on the lot, just make them call the townie over.

Peni Griffin

8th Mar 2011, 1:07 PM

I couldn't right-click with testingcheats, no one knows why, and Lucas was the only playable on the lot. The dormspecifictools cheat did work, later yesterday, when I got the exact same problem on a different lot.

Damn townies.

cheshirekat

8th Mar 2011, 7:45 PM

I have not used the restroom stalls for several years. When I was a newbie, it seemed the townies/non-playables were always trapping my sims in the restrooms of the pre-made lots. I haven't had that problem at all since I banned stalls from my game. I always makeover the restrooms on the pre-made lots to regular, useable restrooms sans stalls even though I rarely play the pre-made lots.

SimMegaptera

8th Mar 2011, 11:27 PM

@cheshirekat, weird, I've never had a problem with the stalls. Make sure the bathrooms are long enough -- the stall takes up two squares and there should be another two squares in front so that there's room for someone to get in/out and room for someone to stand in front.

lecobr

9th Mar 2011, 2:42 AM

Hey guys, i dont know if this started now or it was this way before and i never noticed, but my townies have zero points in interest oO. What could it be? is there a way to fix it? I have uni and OFB. Thanx XD

dieKristina

9th Mar 2011, 11:03 PM

I have a question: I know you should not delete sims from the family bin since other sims can have memories about those sims. But if I do it as the very first thing - before I play with the hood, is it okay then? It would be good to know because I recently restarted Pleasantwiev and before doing anything else I deleted the sims in the bin (exept for Burb and Oldie family since they have a connection to the hood). Nothing bad has happend yet, but I want to know if it might be just a question of time, then I would prefer to restart it again.

Sacred Nym

10th Mar 2011, 2:46 AM

SimMegaptera

10th Mar 2011, 3:05 PM

My question: When you move sims out of a household with a gravestone in it, and this household does not have the Stay Things Shrub, then is the gravestone sold along with everything else?

I've never used the Stay Things Shrub. But yes, when you move sims out, any gravestones or urns are treated as furniture and deleted. I had a glitch with a house where a dog was buried in the backyard, and I moved the family out and back in to fix the glitch, and the grave was gone.

There's a mod called the Urnstone Spawner (I think it's here at MTS, not sure) that will let you recreate the urn or stone of any dead sim if that stone isn't already on the lot or at the cemetery. I used that to re-grab a grandmother's urn when I moved her family into another house. The version I have only works for human sims and not pets, and I don't know if it's been updated.

Of course, the easiest way to make sure you keep graves around is to move the urn into a sim's inventory, and then move the family out. Wherever you move them back in, that urn will still be in that sim's inventory and you can place it on the lot again.

EDIT: found it!

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=236885

[email protected]

10th Mar 2011, 5:56 PM

Can I move my Sims into another lot and have their home business move along? (I don't want to start a new business, I want to keep the same one. Is it possible?)

thankss

TrivialSim

10th Mar 2011, 6:00 PM

Can I move my Sims into another lot and have their home business move along? (I don't want to start a new business, I want to keep the same one. Is it possible?)

thankss

I would imagine not, that building becomes the business, and not specifically that family's current home, even IF they own it.
But you could always try to get a profit and sell your stuff, that'll give you enough money to start over.
Whether you keep the same staff and awards etc, I really don't know. I'm GUESSING not...
Sorry I can't be of more help.

esmesqualor

10th Mar 2011, 8:32 PM

Can I move my Sims into another lot and have their home business move along? (I don't want to start a new business, I want to keep the same one. Is it possible?)

thankss

No, not if it's a home business. The business will be sold back to the community and the price of that business should be included in the net worth of your sims when you sell the home. If you did move and start a business, you would start again with rank 0, no customer satisfaction stars and no employees (if you currently have them).

You would keep any badges you've earned and any rewards you've taken.

Kailacat

10th Mar 2011, 10:08 PM

I've never used the Stay Things Shrub. But yes, when you move sims out, any gravestones or urns are treated as furniture and deleted. I had a glitch with a house where a dog was buried in the backyard, and I moved the family out and back in to fix the glitch, and the grave was gone.

There's a mod called the Urnstone Spawner (I think it's here at MTS, not sure) that will let you recreate the urn or stone of any dead sim if that stone isn't already on the lot or at the cemetery. I used that to re-grab a grandmother's urn when I moved her family into another house. The version I have only works for human sims and not pets, and I don't know if it's been updated.

Of course, the easiest way to make sure you keep graves around is to move the urn into a sim's inventory, and then move the family out. Wherever you move them back in, that urn will still be in that sim's inventory and you can place it on the lot again.

EDIT: found it!

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=236885
Thank you. Unfortunately I'm having a glitch with a household where I cannot enter it and I was considering moving them out since I'm pretty sure it's the lot that's messed up. Well, I'll move them out another way, through another family - thanks though!

SimMegaptera

11th Mar 2011, 1:28 AM

What I meant was, you can move the family out in neighbourhood view and put them back in the bin, and then when you move them back into any house you can use the spawner to generate the stone that was lost in the move.

MsScribble

16th Mar 2011, 12:46 AM

Heyas - is it okay to delete the eb1350a21betc files?
Is this what people call orphan files?
Does having lots of these files mean i'm doing something wrong, or is it just something that happens as you open zips?
I'll stop saying files now.
Cheeries.

iCad

16th Mar 2011, 1:06 AM

Heyas - is it okay to delete the eb1350a21betc files?

If by that you mean CC files with file names that are meaningless strings of alphanumeric characters, then yes...but it means you'll be deleting custom content, and you won't know what it is. They might not necessarily be orphans. As I understand it, files end up named that way if you get them via a downloaded lot and don't use the Clean Installer. Or something like that. But yes, you can delete them...but you might miss what you delete. Better to find out what it is first. The Clean Installer can sometimes help with that, I've found.

And now I have a stupid question:
Just got Apartment Life. I'm curious what happens when someone dies in an apartment. Do they haunt everyone who lives in the building or only people who live in the apartment they used to occupy?

MsScribble

16th Mar 2011, 9:34 AM

The Clean Installer can sometimes help with that, I've found.

I don't know how to use the Clean Installer. I have it, i've asked on this thread how to use it and it was explained, but i still don't understand. :sheep:

mangaroo

16th Mar 2011, 1:19 PM

The clean installer has a guide: http://sims2pack.modthesims2.com/index.php?page=4
and a forum for asking questions: http://www.modthesims.info/forumdisplay.php?f=441

However, if all you ask is how to use it, you're going to be referred back to the guide. The key is to read the guide and ask questions about it.

Peni Griffin

18th Mar 2011, 6:30 AM

According to the gameplay FAQ, gender preference is a process, not a one-time deal. You can change your sim's preference over time, or work from the start to run him/her as bisexual - obviously the best route for Romance sims, as it gives them a wider pool.

I have seen single-gender attracted sims gag at the sight of the gender they're not attracted to, and I'm not sure it's always based on turn-offs.

I've always assumed that the one who gets the headline is the one with the highest point total, but I haven't looked it up.

Illirey

18th Mar 2011, 7:37 AM

mangaroo

18th Mar 2011, 7:50 AM

Quick Off topic Question!!!
I've Downloaded three different cars, which works on our other sims, but when I install them on my own computer they become broken ( meaning they miss their tires, lights and such). What Should I do to sort this?

Read this guide: Game Help: Getting Custom Content to Show Up (http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:GCCTSU)

In the future, please do not post questions in the Discussion subforum about getting custom content to work. This area is for gameplay discussion, not cc or technical problems.

Illirey

18th Mar 2011, 11:43 AM

Read this guide: Game Help: Getting Custom Content to Show Up (http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:GCCTSU)

In the future, please do not post questions in the Discussion subforum about getting custom content to work. This area is for gameplay discussion, not cc or technical problems.

yeah, I Know, Im Sorry About that, but I Couldn't Access that page for Unknown reasons ( As Soon as My FireFox isnt satisfied, it shows the broken link message... sigh), and needed a fast answer, as I'll leave for about three days in just a couple of hours ( without computer access). :help:

AlexandraSpears

19th Mar 2011, 6:23 AM

Okay, I'm wanting to download a pose box so hopefully I can take better pictures. Would I put it in my Downloads folder with my custom content?

maybesomethingdunno

19th Mar 2011, 6:43 AM

Okay, I'm wanting to download a pose box so hopefully I can take better pictures. Would I put it in my Downloads folder with my custom content?

Yes. It is a custom object just like a new chair or bed. :)

dieKristina

19th Mar 2011, 7:54 AM

According to the gameplay FAQ, gender preference is a process, not a one-time deal. You can change your sim's preference over time, or work from the start to run him/her as bisexual - obviously the best route for Romance sims, as it gives them a wider pool.
A strange thing in my game is that Brandi Broke says like "my gender preference is for males and females. Can´t get that, since I never had her to do any romantic interation with a female No, she is remarried to a man and they live like a married couple with everything that means. I don´t think she has been involved with something lesbian before the game starts, at least there are no memories of something like that. So by now she should prefer males only.

dieKristina

22nd Mar 2011, 12:20 AM

I have a question about SimPE. I have used it a bit to edit things like removing memories, but now I wanted to create a memory. Well the memory I created showed up in the game, but all the memories showed up in the wrong order (usually the newest memories should be at the right and the oldest at the left but now it´s the contrary instead). I first thought it was only that sim, but then I saw it was the same thing for all the other sims on that lot. Then I moved to another lot in the same hood (PW) - same thing. I started to get curious and tried Veronaville - same thing there. So when I created that memory I obviously must have done something more, but I can´t figure out what! Does anyone know??

(I know you should not post technical problems here, but I couldn´t decide if this was a real technical thing. If I have posted it in the wrong forum, I apologize).

tlynnjpeg

22nd Mar 2011, 5:55 AM

That's normally how it is. Scroll all the way to the right to see their toddler memories and keep it at the beginning, at the left, to see what just happened.

AlexandraSpears

22nd Mar 2011, 9:25 AM

For memories, there are also the Up and Down buttons. Use Up to make the memory an earlier one, Down to make it a later one.

lizziebee

22nd Mar 2011, 2:49 PM

My sims memories in game switch directions. One play session the toddler memories will be all the way to one side and the next time I play they will be on the other side. Is this normal?

E: someone already asked this. Sorry.

dieKristina

22nd Mar 2011, 4:35 PM

That's normally how it is. Scroll all the way to the right to see their toddler memories and keep it at the beginning, at the left, to see what just happened.

Aha, that´s strange, because, as I said, it has never been that way to me before I created that memory. Has it allways been that way to you?

lauratje86

22nd Mar 2011, 5:54 PM

It's always been that way for me! The way tlynnjpeg described, that is....

dieKristina

22nd Mar 2011, 6:22 PM

Okay... Then I guess I only have to get used to it, though it feels strange. And now when I know it has always been that way for most other, it can´t be a glitch atleast.

dieKristina

24th Mar 2011, 6:51 PM

Many of my sims get a negative memory when they marry. And those sims are not romance sims, not primary nor secondary. How come? I find it annoying. I didn´t had this problem with the basegame only, so perhaps it´s a bug that came with some EP? Does anyone know something more about this?

lauratje86

24th Mar 2011, 7:35 PM

I'm pretty sure that's a bug, dieKristina. I think I downloaded something that stops that from happening, but I can't remember where from. Chances are either somewhere on MTS or on MATY. I'll have a look for you and see if I can post a link. If I can't find it I'm sure someone will know where it is! :-)

This one (http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=16.0) fixes incorrect (good/bad) engagement memories, I'm still looking for one that does the same for incorrect marriage memories. Or maybe this one does that too, I don't know. Probably not, though, or I'd assume TwoJeffs would've mentioned it in the download.

dieKristina

24th Mar 2011, 7:54 PM

That´s very kind of you, lauratje86. Engagement memories work fine for me however, it´s just the marriage memories that doesn´t.

lazzybum

25th Mar 2011, 7:00 AM

Is there a way to save and back up a hood layout & deco with its lots for future use? For example, since I'm remaking the vacation destinations, I'd like the save the whole hood when Im done; so if I ever need to reinstall I can place it back. I could save the template and each individual lots, but wondering if there's a better way to save all of it :O! Thankies

mangaroo

25th Mar 2011, 12:17 PM

Tutorial: How to Create a Custom Subhood Template (http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=420196) <- possibly the most awesome thing ever. Since you've already started creating your subhood in a neighborhood, what you can do is follow the directions for creating it as a new, empty neighborhood, and use Mootilda's Hood Replace (http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=279992) to copy over the neighborhood you're working on, once you're sure it's in its semi-final state. Then move over the individual lots.

aaries16

26th Mar 2011, 2:10 PM

Can sims woohoo in the helicopter?

Croutonian

26th Mar 2011, 5:47 PM

I do believe they can. I'm sure I recall seeing the option once when my self-sim's eldest son got in his helicopter with his fiancee to go visit one of his businesses...

Nalia

26th Mar 2011, 6:06 PM

Thanks to Aaries for asking the question, today, after all these years of playing, I learned something new. Croutonian is absolutely right. I have just tested it in my game and the answer is yes, Sims will interact in the helicopters the same way they do in cars. There was even the option to "Try for a baby".

Peni Griffin

26th Mar 2011, 7:09 PM

Y'all have no idea how happy this makes me! I haven't been playing long enough to see the chopper in-game and didn't care if I ever did; now, suddenly, I care.

aaries16

27th Mar 2011, 4:22 AM

Y'all have no idea how happy this makes me! I haven't been playing long enough to see the chopper in-game and didn't care if I ever did; now, suddenly, I care.

That's exactly the reason why I asked. I have several rich sims, but no desires to build for a helipad because I had no idea what benefits it had. Now I have a good reason to get one.

Peni Griffin

29th Mar 2011, 8:10 PM

So, Dora Ottomas has finally started haunting her family; possibly as the result of the birth of another grandchild. The urn is in the living room on the homework desk, but she started in the bathroom where she died and has made the rounds of the first floor, waking Peter and Samantha and frightening Samantha and one of the twins into incontinence.

Sooner or later, every lot will have a ghost, and this sort of thing could get old quickly. According to the gameplay FAQ, if I get fed up with a ghost I can delete the urn in Build mode and she'll leave them alone, but this seems cold-blooded. I've seen references on the list to building community graveyards and transporting urns, tombstones, and ghosts to it. Is this part of a mod, or can I do it by adding the urn to somebody's inventory and taking them to the community lot? If I can only delete the urn with Build mode, can I even add it to inventory? I don't want to experiment, as if I do the wrong thing with her urn Dora will get angry, and that would be a real pain the neck.

iCad

29th Mar 2011, 8:20 PM

I don't think it's a good idea to delete urns; as I understand it, it's like deleting characters and that's A Bad Thing.

You can put the urn safely in someone's inventory. No haunting that way. You can move it to a community lot. (Click on it and select "Move Grave," but I think you need Nightlife for this. I think it's Nightlife, anyway...) I have a cemetery in all my 'hoods for this purpose. In my case, the graveyard is owned by the town's undertaker, and all graves to be moved are given to him (for a price, of course), and then when I play him next, he places the graves in the graveyard. I don't think you can transport them to an unowned graveyard because unowned community lots don't save changes when your playable leaves it.

OR, you can get the Ghost Hack at Simbology, which is what I usually use when I get tired of the haunting but don't mind having the ghost(s) around. If you install that hack, then you can click on any ghost once he/she appears and then you have a few options. You can have them not scare at all, in which case they'll float around and do their things, but none of their shenanigans will wake anyone up and they won't scare anyone. Or, you can choose to only have them scare Knowledge Sims, since they like to be scared. The hack also fixes an error in which, if two graves are on a lot, a ghost will sometimes return to the wrong one, never to be seen again on subsequent nights. I believe I recall reading that you're not big on hacks, but this is a really useful one, I think. Mainly because I like seeing the ghosts around but the scaring and general disruption of sleep does get old after a while. :)

dieKristina

29th Mar 2011, 10:28 PM

I have a problem with Uni. One of my sims can´t increase her class performance even though she has the requiered skills. I can´t fill her meter enough to avoid academic probation, so she will probably be expelled if I can´t find a solution. The sim I´m talking about is Heather Huffinton. She was okay when she lived in the Greek House, but when I moved her out to live with one of my other sims the problem started. Is there a solution for this? It happend to Jimmy Fenix to, by the way but since I didn´t care about him I killed him. But I care about Heather!

EDIT: I fixed the problem. I moved her out and then back again and now everything is allright again. Must be some kind of glitch, but I´m glad it was so easy to solve :)

Nalia

29th Mar 2011, 11:42 PM

This is a bug since Uni came out. From time to time it still happens despite the patches that followed.

I don't think it's a good idea to delete urns; as I understand it, it's like deleting characters and that's A Bad Thing.
It creates unlinked characters messing up data, but Pescado created "nounlinkondelete" mod which prevents it. If you have the mod installed, deleting a tombstone/urn results in shredding the character file, which does not allow resurrection at a later time, if you change your mind.

Peni Griffin

30th Mar 2011, 12:37 AM

Thanks; I'll let Dora haunt awhile and ponder my options.

Ms. Kristina, when that glitch infected some of my University households I found that the meter was giving a false reading. It's still advancing in the code, just not on the meter. Every single one of my infected sims was on the dean's list permanently while they had the glitch in place, because it made me so nervous I worked them hard at the beginning of the semester to get all the necessary points and then had even the non-ambitious sims do at least one assignment and attend every class. Since my sims visit each other a lot, and the assignments and group research they do while visiting count for the grade, this resulted in top grades every time.

Sometimes the glitch went away when I moved the sim and sometimes it didn't, but it's not dangerous if you're paying attention and understand how it works. Annoying if you want some sims to barely scrape by without failing, though!

MsScribble

30th Mar 2011, 10:53 AM

Hi - I've forgotten, can witches wear normal clothes or do i need a mod for this?
Thanks.

esmesqualor

30th Mar 2011, 1:07 PM

Hi - I've forgotten, can witches wear normal clothes or do i need a mod for this?
Thanks.

No mod needed to wear normal clothes - just go to a closet or dresser. But you will need a mod to keep them from poofing into witch clothes whenever there's an alignment change.

MsScribble

31st Mar 2011, 4:38 AM

Hi - thanks esmesqualor - interesting name!

I just read that using the sim bin to delete sims corrupts the game (thanks maxis!) How should i properly delete a sim?
Cheers.

lazzybum

31st Mar 2011, 7:41 AM

I'd like to add to the question above if it is still bad to delete sims that are freshly made and has never been placed in the hood.

added one more:
My sim that just graduated from University has moved back.. but she still has the lazy young adult walk... is this a known bug?

Nalia

31st Mar 2011, 1:27 PM

1. If the Sim was in the bin while you were playing X or Y household this Sim had possibly met someone. Even if he/she hasn't, you'd better do it the right way. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,6205.0.html
2. The walk might be a glitch. Did she grow up alright before leaving Uni?

lazzybum

1st Apr 2011, 2:28 AM

Yep, she grew up fine. I noticed when she went to a community lot, the walk was normal, but once she went back home it was the lazy walk again. I guess it will fix when I move her out hopefully.

Peni Griffin

1st Apr 2011, 9:20 PM

If he doesn't have a fear of getting engaged at the time of engagement, his memory should be positive, especially if he happened to have the want rolled at the time.

It's easy to write off Romance sims as sluts, but I've known Romance humans and as often as not they're just In Love With Love. They enjoy the whole rollercoaster ride of falling in love and expressing that love and yes, getting that love into physical form; but once they have to do the day-to-day work of maintaining it and lose the endorphin rush of new love, they start to feel that something's missing. If their partner isn't savvy enough, or gets too tired to, generate some excitement every few days, they start looking elsewhere, or start generating drama. Those couples who are in continual break-up-to-make-up mode are probably one or the other of them Romance.

So if you marry Gilbert to Florence, and you want it to work, make sure she understands this and makes a point of keeping it exciting; not too many children, lots of dating (even if it's the kind of date where you never leave the house).

AlexandraSpears

1st Apr 2011, 11:03 PM

I've seen Romance Sims have engagement as a positive memory, marriage as negative (unless it's to a Rich Sim, then it's always positive)...and the other way around. It's not too often for me that I get Romance Sims with both memories in the red.

lg135

2nd Apr 2011, 5:57 AM

Um... is Checo Ramirez by default gay? Or is that ACR working it's wonders? I thought because he was already in a relationship it would skip over assigning a gender preference for him but maybe..

dieKristina

2nd Apr 2011, 12:37 PM

I have seen many pictures here of toddlers hugging each other, but the oportunity never shows up in my game. Is it an interaction that came with AL? I have all EPs except for AL.

iCad

2nd Apr 2011, 5:04 PM

I have seen many pictures here of toddlers hugging each other, but the oportunity never shows up in my game. Is it an interaction that came with AL? I have all EPs except for AL.

Yep, AL. I just got that EP a little while ago, and I've been abusing the hell out of that interaction. It makes twins a little more tolerable. :lol:

FemGamerPlayer

3rd Apr 2011, 12:46 AM

I have seen many pictures here of toddlers hugging each other, but the oportunity never shows up in my game. Is it an interaction that came with AL? I have all EPs except for AL. I love that interaction. One of my favorite things about AL! And as for the question about Checo Ramirez being gay by default...considering he's married to a woman when you begin playing wih him, my guess is no. If EAxis intended him to be gay, I think they'd have left him single, or in a relationship with another man. So I'm thinking it's just the ACR. I have the ACR myself, and I've had a few instances of women whom I KNOW are straight (because I have them in a relationship with a guy!) checking out other women (and thus far, getting the red X's floating around the thought bubble each time, which makes me giggle!). The ACR is not only very useful, but good for laughs, too (another example is when sims who have only gone on a few dates and aren't even in love with each other yet decide to woohoo together! I guess some sims REALLY want to get to know their propestctive love interest early on!)! :lol:

omglo

3rd Apr 2011, 3:14 AM

Is there a way to keep college visitors from entering, then disappearing in one of the townie dorm rooms?

Can teens sneak out autonomously, and if not, is there anything else that gets a teen scolded, and sent to bed? I'm pretty sure I didn't direct Beau Broke to sneak out, but while I was focusing on another section of the house (so I'm not sure what happened), Brandi started lecturing him, then a little pop up appeared in the corner with her telling him to go to bed.

Peni Griffin

3rd Apr 2011, 4:20 AM

No; but you can follow them into the dorm room; and if you aren't sure where the visitor wound up, go into Buy mode and you can see him.

omglo

3rd Apr 2011, 6:03 PM

Thanks, I'll try that tip about buy mode, next time.

lizziebee

3rd Apr 2011, 8:59 PM

Can a sim marry without the other sim moving in automatically?

coko

3rd Apr 2011, 10:50 PM

Can my sim own a second home that is not in a vacation neighbourhood? I want my sims to own a yacht that is in the downtown area, and be able to sleep there. If not are there any hacks available to allow this?

FemGamerPlayer

3rd Apr 2011, 11:42 PM

lizziebee- When you marry sims, the one that doesn't live in the household you are playing (if they aren't already living together, of course!) always moves in right after the wedding.

coko- What you need is a hack that lets you sleep on community lots. There are a few here on MTS, but the one you should get is Numenor's. Not only is it the best one, but the others are no longer supported. You can find it here: http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=241797

With this hack, you can have your sims sleep at their owned yacht. :)

coko

4th Apr 2011, 12:11 AM

Thanks Fem!

katalina522

4th Apr 2011, 12:59 AM

Possibly silly question: if I want to delete a neighborhood properly, after I trash it in-game from the hood chooser menu, is it safe to delete the N00# folder in my .../Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Neighborhoods folder? I would assume I'd also have to delete/refresh the NeighborhoodManager.package file in there, but I couldn't find any tutorials explaining whether or not this is safe to do in the first place. (I only want to delete the most recent hood, not one that is numbered out of order.)

AlexandraSpears

4th Apr 2011, 1:15 PM

This will probably be a stupid question for most here, but I'm still very new at color binning (I only started playing Sims a year and a half ago).

What does it mean to "family" hair, exactly? Just giving all colors of the same style the same family ID?

SimMegaptera

4th Apr 2011, 4:49 PM

lizziebee- When you marry sims, the one that doesn't live in the household you are playing (if they aren't already living together, of course!) always moves in right after the wedding.

If you want to have a commuter marriage, get them married and then have one of them go to the computer or phone and "Get Own Place". S/he will move out but they'll still be married if their relationship is high.

Back in my poor neglected Pleasantview, Emmaline cheated on Jessa who promptly moved out. Emmaline is now seeing Tuyet, and Jessa has shacked up with Lucy the witch. Everyone is madly in love with their new partners. But Jessa still dreams of kissing Emmaline, and greets her romantically. Their relationship points are still high and they both wear rings. I think if I keep them apart long enough they'll automatically divorce. Not sure how that works.

But anyways, yes, you can have your marrieds living separately.

mangaroo

4th Apr 2011, 6:03 PM

What does it mean to "family" hair, exactly? Just giving all colors of the same style the same family ID?

Mostly yes. The family id keeps styles grouped across the different color bins, so your Sim doesn't switch from Nouk's great new braids to some default Maxis style when you change her hair color from blonde to black.

People tend to bin only 4 colors to a family (see the 4 "Pooklet" families or Nouk's lighter/darker groupings), so it's not all colors of a style (unless you only have 4 colors to work with), but a given family of four colors.

Bellasaurus

4th Apr 2011, 7:18 PM

I have to admit that I am a very lucky person. I tried the deleteAllCharacters cheat without any problems and I tried deleting whole families in-game without any problems, even though those two actions were considered VERY BAD THINGS to do in your game and may later cause corruption in the future. I just never felt any bad side effects, but then again, I only played for only a few months (3-4) before I deleted them due to boredom. I guess I'm just lucky. ;)

It can take anything from a day to a few years for VBTs to have any effect on the game. That's why they're so nasty - they cause errors immediately, but the errors won't necessarily show themselves straight away.

AlexandraSpears

4th Apr 2011, 8:12 PM

[QUOTE=SimMegaptera I think if I keep them apart long enough they'll automatically divorce. Not sure how that works.

[/QUOTE]

I think you have to do the "Break Up" interaction for them to actually divorce. And at least one of the pair has to have the relationship numbers low enough...if Sim A has negative numbers toward Sim B, but Sim B's is really high towards A, A can intiate Break Up but the interaction won't be available for B.

MsScribble

5th Apr 2011, 1:30 PM

Hi - is there any rules when it comes to the gypsy delivering the magic lamp, or is it random?
Cheers.

Cyjon

5th Apr 2011, 4:45 PM

Hi - is there any rules when it comes to the gypsy delivering the magic lamp, or is it random?
Cheers.

It's checked every 48 hours. The chance is 2% + 2% for every sim with a Lifetime Aspiration bar more than 2/3 full + 1% for every hobby enthusiasm bar over 80% filled (that's 1% for each hobby bar on each sim).

SimMegaptera

5th Apr 2011, 5:49 PM

I was very surprised at how well the magic lamp works. Is it like the aspiration reward gadgets, in that you'll get better results if you have gold or platinum aspiration level already?

Jack was at gold when the lamp was dropped off, and he wished for wealth twice and got $10,000 each time. Then Harper came home from school with a lot of her motives in the orange but with platinum aspiration (she fulfilled her wish for an A+ report card), wished for peace of mind, and got a platinum mood.

Cyjon

5th Apr 2011, 8:32 PM

Aspiration doesn't matter with the genie lamp. Any possible negative consequences are random - 20% of burglary after a money wish, 20% of resurrection wish bringing back a zombie. I believe those are the only negative outcomes, though some might consider the endless parade of visitors after a beauty wish to be a bad thing.

lizard49

5th Apr 2011, 9:11 PM

Oh, I thought the chance of getting a zombie after a wish to resurrect a dead Sim was 100% ... I only tried it once & that's what happened. Usually I wish for money or long life.

katya_stevens

5th Apr 2011, 9:38 PM

Jack was at gold when the lamp was dropped off, and he wished for wealth twice and got $10,000 each time.

You should get ~$22k from each wish for money (one bag each of $10k, $7k, $4k, $1k), but do watch the action queue as they can be bumped out by you adding other actions.

esmesqualor

6th Apr 2011, 7:23 PM

gulhare

6th Apr 2011, 7:43 PM

esmesqualor : I have a scribbled note on FamilyFunds cheat that says "several families with same name -> last made" wich I interpret as the money will go to the last family no matter what.
I dont know for sure about this, but I must have seen it mentioned somewhere. Im not persistent enough to try and figure out these things on my own.

And SimMegaptera. As katya stevens says, there are more bags of money to drop after the first 10000. But. It takes a while, so make sure your sim is idling or keep a close eye on her/him so you dont miss them. Grab them quick so they dont cancel :)

mangaroo

7th Apr 2011, 1:20 AM

I don't use this hack myself, but the RTFM for Pescado's ftminifixes claims it prevents the money bag action from being lost (or "queue stomped"). As always: select your highest EP, go to the hacks directory, and select ftminifixes.zip: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/index.php

AlexandraSpears

7th Apr 2011, 3:33 AM

When using the family fund cheat with multiple households with the same last name, how do I designate which household gets the cheat? For example, I had moved Brandi Broke to a new home via the sim bin (Dustin had already moved to college and was still in that bin),and while playing Brandi's household I tried the family fund cheat, but the change went to Dustin.

What you may have to do is actually enter the lot and do the cheat from there.

When I have them in the bin, the funds go to whatever family is highlighted.

esmesqualor

7th Apr 2011, 2:37 PM

What you may have to do is actually enter the lot and do the cheat from there.

That's what I did. I was playing Brandi's lot and saw that her cash didn't change. I exited her lot, went to Uni and saw that Dustin's had.

All my Capps and Montys are moved out, but I'll try the highlighting thing next time I re-start their 'hood.

cheshirekat

7th Apr 2011, 11:06 PM

That's what I did. I was playing Brandi's lot and saw that her cash didn't change. I exited her lot, went to Uni and saw that Dustin's had.

All my Capps and Montys are moved out, but I'll try the highlighting thing next time I re-start their 'hood.

I didn't think the familyfunds cheat worked from within a lot. You are supposed to use it from the neighborhood, according to the Sims2Wiki (http://www.sims2wiki.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:Sims_2_Cheats) so you might want to try that.

If you have problems because of multiple households with the same name; Open the cheat window first, then I just click once on the lot in neighborhood view before typing in the cheat.

If you still have problems, choose a sim that your sim knows to give the money through familyfunds, then use a money order to send money to the correct household. I actually didn't think it was possible to send money to a Uni sim using familyfunds, without being in the Uni subhood. I have never had money sent to a sim in a different subhood than the one I am currently at, which is one of the reasons I have not wanted to use familyfunds too often, especially when it would mean switching to a different subhood.

Personally, I don't use the familyfunds cheat too often. Generally just when the hood is starting out. After that, there are too many ways to make money and then pass it to other sims through loans and gifts using mods like the money order. In addition, money from familyfunds comes from nowhere, and when money is subtracted from a family, it goes nowhere. I prefer having money kept in the community, except when the hood is new, of course.

Within a lot, I can use kaching and motherlode. I have used motherlode, then split up the money by sending the money to more than one household through a money order. Mainly so I don't have to keep going to the neighborhood view more often than necessary.

When the hood is new, I just assign a temporary "banker" which is just one of the first sims I give a bunch of money to. Usually a popularity sim because the game seems to send popularity sims as walkby sims more than other aspirations when the hood is new. This works great with my play style where there are key popularity sims I try to get all my sims to know. If they want money, they have to become friends with the banker or another sim that has the funds needed so there isn't a lot of money coming into the hood "out of nowhere".

As often as I pass money around, I considered a community lot bank, but thought it would be b.o.r.i.n.g as hell because I don't juggle money that much. In addition, I don't want some random townie getting money, just specific sims/families. Even though they are custom townies I created myself and I really love most of them.

I also make use of the loan jar by Cyjon (http://drupal.cyjon.net/) to give my sims a specific amount of money when they think they don't want to borrow from the royals. They are just kidding themselves - all money makes it to the royals, plus they pay more interest with the loan jar. When the loan is paid off, it gets added to a spreadsheet I keep, so I can adjust the funds of my royal family accordingly. This is different than what I use for taxes. I make sims pay taxes each time I play their houses with a money order because each household has to meet at least one person from the royal family in order to send them money - hopefully, they meet them during the first rotation. And, some families borrow money directly from the royal family, with very high interest rates. Lowest rates when money is borrowed from friends/relatives.

Currently, my royal family is in two houses, so the next time their household funds is adjusted, I will use the familyfunds cheat - as the money has already left the other households through the money jar. For my game, it won't matter which household the money goes to, because I can always use the money order to give to the main royal household. I give a small percentage to the other royal household only as a precautionary measure - in case something happens to my primary royals.

There are other mods you can use to adjust money, send money, etc, including some stuff by monique, here at mts. However, monique's stuff is no longer supported (last I checked) although a lot of players use them.

esmesqualor

8th Apr 2011, 12:43 AM

I'll try it outside the lot, as you suggested. It isn't too often I need this cheat, but the no 20K handout didn't work as I expected and Brandi was shorted out of much needed cash. Motherlode was too much and kaching was too little. Actually, the last two times I needed it was because the no20K handout didn't work as I expected and simoleans were lost to the ether.

Cyjon

8th Apr 2011, 1:17 AM

My loan jar can be used to give people cash. Take a loan and then delete the jar. The obligation to repay disappears along with it and *poof* free money!

cheshirekat

8th Apr 2011, 2:34 AM

My loan jar can be used to give people cash. Take a loan and then delete the jar. The obligation to repay disappears along with it and *poof* free money!

How does this work?

I am assuming, you mean that one family can take out a loan using the loan jar. And then give the jar (via gift?) to another sim of another household? And that money is attached to the loan jar, so the funds goes with the jar? And then the other household deletes the jar - but the money is kept. Correct?

I will have to try this. Although I don't use the loan jar that often now. Just every now and then to keep my royal family from being depleted of funds. Or when they meet the royal family but the relationship starts off rocky but my hood is in dire need of that new shop. Or when I want to experiment with house building.

It really can be a challenge building up a new hood, especially when the desire is for the community to get to a place of financial independence - where very little money falls from or into some magical place. But, I really did not care for starting money slowly, like in build-a-city challenges. Which I found uber boring and wanted some happy middle ground. Much like the difference between acres of wheat fields and buying sacks of flower to make cakes and cookies.

Cyjon

8th Apr 2011, 3:53 AM

cheshirekat

8th Apr 2011, 6:22 AM

No, let me rephrase that. The loan jar can be used by you, the player, to give money. It's like "kaching" but you can do any amount, and more precise than "familyfunds" when you have lots of families with the same last name. Deleting the jar forgives the debt, but doesn't destroy the money.

Oh, I understand. I thought you meant that the loan jar had some other way of giving money from one sim to another. But yes, not paying the loan off would be much much easier than using familyfunds from the neighborhood view.

It would be great if I could use the loan jar in reverse, like a piggy bank. So my sims could regularly deposit money into it, then give it to another sim when the desired amount was reached. This would keep my sims from begging to buy stuff all the time just because they have a little bit of extra cash in the household funds - which I am trying to save for them to buy a business, new house, or when the money is needed to send the kids to college. My college doesn't have freebie dorms, per se. Each sim has to pay tuition. Yet, the more the family has in funds, the less they roll wants that don't require buying something stupid and wasting every bit in the household funds.

katalina522

8th Apr 2011, 7:45 AM

It would be great if I could use the loan jar in reverse, like a piggy bank. So my sims could regularly deposit money into it, then give it to another sim when the desired amount was reached.
I think Christianlov's wallet (http://www.modthesims.info/d/292893) does something like that.

cheshirekat

8th Apr 2011, 10:57 AM

I think Christianlov's wallet (http://www.modthesims.info/d/292893) does something like that.

Quite right you are. And I even had it installed. I just haven't used it in ages because my brain just doesn't think of the plants category when I need a mod.

Now, I have to figure out where I would put it when I use it because it will be lost amongst all my other plants because my lots are decorated with plants more than anything else. Unlike the loan jar, which I place on a kitchen shelf and can easily spot the cute little jar in all my houses.

I guess I should work on rewiring my brain so I can avoid the cheat console altogether - particularly at this point in my hood.

dieKristina

8th Apr 2011, 6:07 PM

katalina522

9th Apr 2011, 2:12 AM

Every time my sims woohoo when I play a Megahood (doesn´t matter if it´s HPs or the one on MATY), the woohoo-video shows up. You know the video you normaly only see the first time a sim woohoo. How come? Is it supposed to be that way?
You have to disable the special-effects camera. This is in the game options menu, I think. But you're right, it shouldn't show up every time the sims woohoo. Is it playing every time the exact same couple tries?

Why is it that, even though I have clean templates and a townie name replacement hack, the first male townie I spawn is still always named Abhijeet? :faceslap:

dieKristina

9th Apr 2011, 1:00 PM

Yea, I wanted Pollination Technican 9 smith and Jenny to have a baby. So they tried for a baby (and I was surprised to see the video showed up since it can´t be the first time they woohoo) but unfortunately she didn´t get pregnent. However; Jonny had a birthday party at the same time, and since woohoo gives a lot of party points I had PT and Jenny to woohoo during the whole party, but every single time the video showed up. When I play the "normal" Strangetown this doesn´t happen. There were no woohoo-video for Jenny and PT at all. So it only happends when I play a Megahood (I have tried the same senario with booth HPs Megahood and the one at MATY). But I´m not sure if it happends to other sims as well.

Peni Griffin

9th Apr 2011, 1:45 PM

There has been something weird in my f/x camera for the woohoo videos, too, but I don't have a megahood. I noticed it early in the game, when every time I had Paul and Marie Curian "try for baby" (it took them about ten tries!) I'd get the video, but I never got it for Goz and Kitty Hawkins, babymakers extraordinaire, not even the first time they did it in-game. I thought for awhile, not having played long, that whether or not the video ran depended on whether or not anybody else was on the lot - because there was always somebody besides the happy couple on the Hawkins lot - but then I started pairing off my college sims and realized that the way it's supposed to happen is, regardless of what else is going on around them, first time with a particular couple in-game you get a video for bed or the hot tub. (I've only had one in-car woohoo and they were an established couple, so I don't know if there's a car video or not. There isn't for the closet or the photo booth.)

This hasn't happened to me for awhile, so I'm just adding data; can't help you at all.

zauberlinda12

9th Apr 2011, 2:43 PM

In my game (not a megahood) every time Peter and Samantha Ottomas Woo-hoo (which is quite frequently in order to keep his aspiration meter full) the video plays. At first I thought it was because he's a romance sim and he initiated the woo-hoo. But it happens even when Samantha (family sim) initiates it.

It's bothersome because I get them queued up to woo-hoo and then go on to another part of the house to attend to another sim only to have the woo-hoo video play and interrupt all other actions.

With other sim couples the video only plays during their first time and their aspiration (romance or otherwise) has no bearing on whether it plays every time after that.

Just like Peni I'm just adding some more insight into this situation...

alicefishy

9th Apr 2011, 3:15 PM

AlexandraSpears

9th Apr 2011, 3:59 PM

iCad

9th Apr 2011, 7:47 PM

Is it bad to delete neighborhoods...?

A while ago I deleted all the maxis 'hoods and just created my own. I've done this on my previous computer and no problems arised...
But...out of no where now, my sims won't get out of bed. It doesn't happen very often but once and a while they will be frozen in bed. It only happens in double beds. I have to use 'force error' to get them moving again. It's highly irritating.
Does it have anything to do with the deleted neighborhoods?

I don't think so. Each neighborhood has its own files, so unless you've transferred Sims between them in ways that are ill-advised, deleting one shouldn't cause any problem. I myself delete all Maxis pre-made neighborhoods as a matter of course because I prefer to create my own.

HOWEVER, I do have the same "they won't get out of double beds" thing happen. It only started doing it when I installed M&G via the Fun with Pets collection, so I think it's a glitch in that, and I probably need to get a patch, which I haven't done yet. I just use "move_objects on" and pull one of the Sims out of the bed and they "wake up" just fine after that. So, knowing lazy me, I'll probably just keep doing that. :lol:

AlexandraSpears

9th Apr 2011, 9:13 PM

Quick question concerning SimPE here:

How do you edit careers with Bidou's Career Editor? More specifically, where are the package files that need to be opened?

I've searched this site and couldn't find an answer.

All I need to know is, what file do you open and where is it? Once I have this information, I can go from there.

Nalia

9th Apr 2011, 9:30 PM

Alexandra, have you check this link yet? http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=183213

AlexandraSpears

9th Apr 2011, 10:04 PM

Thanks, Nalia, I'll give it a try!

Nalia

9th Apr 2011, 10:16 PM

Best of luck! :)

AlexandraSpears

10th Apr 2011, 1:41 AM

Here's what I did: I went to the SimPE site and downloaded the files for career and EP1, put them in my SimPE folder.

I successfully edited the music career--instead of Rock God it's Pop Star (I like the sound of that better). When I cloned it, I saved it in my Documents folder, edited it (making sure the chance cards matched up too), then moved it to my Downloads folder.

I just now tested it. IT WORKS!!! (Insert Doc Brown hysterical laugh here.)

Now I want to change Horoscope Writer in the Journalism career to Gossip Columnist!

*toodles off to mess with SimPE some more*

alicefishy

10th Apr 2011, 2:02 AM

Ah, thank you iCad. I think I'll just keep doing the Force Error thing. I just didn't want my whole game to crash one day or something :blink:

AlexandraSpears

10th Apr 2011, 3:16 AM

You should see how I did the Oceanography career. I thought "Hand of Poseidon" a little much, so I changed it to Master Oceanographer, and here's the description I came up with:

"You know more about oceans than any Sim will ever forget. You know the difference between trade winds and breaking wind. You are a Master Oceanographer."

I also had to change the chance cards...the choices are between floating city and underwater dome...one outcome is, Atlantis is discovered and your Sim gets a hefty bonus.

lazzybum

10th Apr 2011, 8:00 AM

Ok so I built a lovely 2x2 house on the most perfect spot on the corner edge of ocean in my hood. I decorated the surrounding area with hood decos, everything couldnt be better. I then placed a copy of the house in my bin to save it and guess what? I cant place the lot back in the same spot. Actually, I cant even place it 5 increments next to it and there is no deco blocking that direction. I cleared out any deco that seemed too close, yet it still wont work +_+ Any way I could somehow place the lot back there?

And the lot is entirely flat, as well as the spot it was at.

Clashfan

10th Apr 2011, 8:39 AM

Lazzy- any chance you have any wave action deco still in place? Just a shot in the dark but I remember something similar in my hood, drove me crazy and it turned out it I needed to move the wave deco pieces. Once I placed the lot I put them back to get the effect.

lazzybum

10th Apr 2011, 10:35 AM

Yea, I took out the wave actions too; still nothing. But my bf suggested maybe its a glitch and that it still thinks theres a lot there (he has never played sims) I took his word for it and waited a few hours before I started the game up and it worked right away :]

Nalia

10th Apr 2011, 11:59 PM

AlexandraSpears

11th Apr 2011, 12:36 PM

I'm not sure what to back up--what file(s). *shrugs* I have nothing against starting the game over anyway.

Yeah, I kinda like living dangerously there!

Still, it is kind of a pain having to go through the chance cards in the levels immediately before and after and making sure everything's consistent.

Nalia

11th Apr 2011, 2:05 PM

What really matters when you experience with new stuff is your neighbourhood. So, this is the folder to backup. But if you wouldn't mind having a possible explosion it is all good.

AlexandraSpears

12th Apr 2011, 4:52 AM

So what exactly do I back up, the neighborhood folders (N001, N002, etc.)?

Peni Griffin

12th Apr 2011, 5:18 AM

Copy any neighborhood folders you're using into another folder someplace completely separate from the game where you won't get it mixed up. Then, if you screw up your neighborhood with the mods, you can delete the messed up neighborhood and replace it with the saved one.

Since my last big glitch scare I've backed up once per rotation; and, since I do one-day rotations and it can take several game days for a glitch, once introduced, to manifest, I'm keeping the old ones and renaming them with the date (N004-41011, for example). That way I can work backward through the back-ups, changing the name back to N004 and if (say) a glitchy baby is the problem, and I didn't realize it for four rotations, I should be able to go back to before the baby was born.

Too bad I didn't get that habit till the horse was out of the barn, but life is rough.

Nalia

12th Apr 2011, 12:11 PM

So what exactly do I back up, the neighborhood folders (N001, N002, etc.)?
The neighbourhood you play, as Peni said, your Downloads and the userStartup.cheat file inside Config folder, but only if you have modified it to start the game with certain cheats on, like
uintProp maxTotalSims 50
uintProp maxTotalHumans 35
uintProp maxTotalPets 15

Keep a backup every time you decide to make huge changes, such as the career editing using SimPE in your case, even if you don't care about the Sims in-game. Backups save you time when something goes wrong.

FemGamerPlayer

13th Apr 2011, 4:33 AM

This thread has turned out to be very resourceful for me. I read the information about editing existing careers and realized that it sounded a lot easier than I had initally thought it was. So I opened up SimPE to do some of my own editing. I edited the Education career, changing Playground Monitor to Student Teacher. Last time I checked, teachers begin their career by student teaching, not by being a playground monitor! Naturally that also meant I had to edit the chance cards for that level (they are now similar to the ones for substitute teacher, in which the kids start acting up and the student teacher needs to figure out how to handle it).

Now hopefully it works (I haven't tested it yet)!

EDIT: So far, so good. :)

MsScribble

13th Apr 2011, 11:12 AM

Garambola

13th Apr 2011, 1:36 PM

DON'T LARF!
Is it possible to hold back a pregnancy?? I want to play the Brokes again, but i'ld like to have more than 2 seconds of setting up the story and taking some pictures before Brandi pops her third sprog.
I hear giggles.

http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php?topic=20.0 That has an option to pause the pregnacy (as well as others) and, of course, many other useful things.

Clashfan

13th Apr 2011, 1:36 PM

DON'T LARF!
Is it possible to hold back a pregnancy?? I want to play the Brokes again, but i'ld like to have more than 2 seconds of setting up the story and taking some pictures before Brandi pops her third sprog.
I hear giggles.

The Sim Blender should let you do this. When pregnant you get options for speeding up, slowing down or suspending the pregnancy. I've used it to speed things up cause sometimes 3 days is just too many. ;)

AlexandraSpears

13th Apr 2011, 3:45 PM

I usually speed up Brandi's pregnancy by one hour--her child is born right at 6 pm, meaning two full days of infancy. If the child is born at 5, then he's a baby for only 25 Sim hours (that 6 pm cut-off).

alicefishy

15th Apr 2011, 1:21 AM

lazzybum

15th Apr 2011, 2:43 AM

Is it harmful to use the "know everyone" option when shift clicking the mailbox with testingcheats enabled? Because of the amount of people..and pets they end up knowing?

katalina522

15th Apr 2011, 5:06 AM

Is it harmful to use the "know everyone" option when shift clicking the mailbox with testingcheats enabled? Because of the amount of people..and pets they end up knowing?

It's not harmful, per se, except it makes it that much more annoying if you ever want to delete the sim from that hood, as you are forcing the game to create extra memories/relationships with *every* character.

Clashfan

15th Apr 2011, 6:08 AM

Is it harmful to use the "know everyone" option when shift clicking the mailbox with testingcheats enabled? Because of the amount of people..and pets they end up knowing?

I did this once and majorly regretted it. If you don't have mods in place to reduce the amount of NPC's the game creates you can't imagine how this will clutter up your Sims known Sims list. Not only that it adds Sims you have no ability to know like the Witch Doctor and so forth, that is assuming you have BV.

Not sure if the action in and of itself is unsafe but it certainly was not good. It did enable me to seriously screw up my game by allowing me to call and invite people over that I should never have been able to. So in that respect I think it might ultimately be bad.

FemGamerPlayer

15th Apr 2011, 10:56 PM

Is it harmful to use the "know everyone" option when shift clicking the mailbox with testingcheats enabled? Because of the amount of people..and pets they end up knowing?I very, very, VERY strongly caution against doing that. I did that once, and I will never do it again. My game crashed shortly after doing that. At least the game crashing meant that it didn't save that lot, so when I went back to that lot that sim did NOT know everyone, saving me any future disasters caused by having a sim know everyone!

Another thing to be aware of if you do decide to use that cheat: It really DOES make you know everyone....including all the NPCs such as social bunnies, the therapist, the grim reaper, etc. So be careful, and I certainly don't advise trying to call up the grim reaper, social bunnies, or any of their friends (since you aren't meant to be able to call them, I would imagine that doing so would cause the game to glitch)! :)

iCad

15th Apr 2011, 11:17 PM

Is it harmful to use the "know everyone" option when shift clicking the mailbox with testingcheats enabled? Because of the amount of people..and pets they end up knowing?

I dunno about the mailbox cheat, but I did it once via one of the business-owning perks and it was a pain just in terms of taking a long time to find the person I wanted the Sim to call on the HUGE! list and lags while the list came up and lags before the conversation started and...ACK!

I don't think the perk gives you the ability to call "uncallable" Sims like the cheat will, but...Really, it was WAY more trouble than it was worth. So unless there's a really strong and valid reason why a Sim needs to know everyone...I wouldn't do it. Even if it won't cause a BFBVFS, it's just...annoying.

grammapat

15th Apr 2011, 11:55 PM

Even worse is what I DID: "invite all neighbors" - this was a fairly new hood, so I didn't know how many people would try to crown onto the lot! I had a pic but can't find..

lazzybum

16th Apr 2011, 12:02 AM

thanks everyone. I did try it out before I asked and good thing I didnt save, since I noticed the sim knew like the silver entertainer guy and stuff that wasnt in the hood.

Nalia

16th Apr 2011, 1:19 AM

Really, it was WAY more trouble than it was worth. So unless there's a really strong and valid reason why a Sim needs to know everyone...I wouldn't do it. Even if it won't cause a BFBVFS, it's just...annoying.
Tell me about it! I did it ONCE and regretted it more than I can say. In my opinion it is a useless perk. Completely!

Peni Griffin

16th Apr 2011, 1:21 AM

If you delete your cache files while the game is loading are you likely to get a random glitch? And if so, are you going to have to reload your backup to fix it?

Because boolprop and the batbox aren't taking care of it and there is NO WAY IN HELL for adding a breastfeeding mod to affect the walk-to-lot option on a University lot ONLY AFTER a date sneaks back onto the lot to leave a date reward.

I'm going across the street to Urele-Oresha-Sham and inviting the guy over to see if he glitches that lot, too.

Nepheris

16th Apr 2011, 10:22 AM

Why is it that, when in Neighborhood view, while moving lots sometimes you can put them right next to eachother, and sometimes there has to be space? I find this rather annoying to say the least. I want all my lots right next to each other :faceslap: .

Probably because your lotedges aren't flat. If they aren't, you can't place the lots next to eachother.
If that's not the case, exiting and entering the neighbourhood sometimes lets you place lots where you weren't able to before. A sort of 'reset' of the terrain, as it were.

Psychosim

17th Apr 2011, 1:43 AM

You can use Mootildas LotAdjuster to flatten the edges.

mangaroo

17th Apr 2011, 4:21 PM

off-topic alert

Please don't post problems with cc or questions and comments about creating cc in this thread. Everyone, please take a moment to read the first post in this thread BEFORE you post.

lazzybum

20th Apr 2011, 7:43 AM

If there is a single sim in a household, and this sim owns a business, what happens to the deeds if the sim dies? What if they have family members on another lot? Will the deeds be transfered or will the business have no owner and be like a regular community lot?

mangaroo

20th Apr 2011, 7:54 AM

I'm not sure if unrelated playable Sims living on a different lot can inherit an owned business or vacation lot. I do know that when a Sim living alone dies, and they have playable relatives living on another lot, any owned community/vacation lots will be inherited by one of those related playable Sims.

Preference appears to be given to linear descent (children, grandchildren), then siblings.

Edit: Please note that first preference in inheritance of property is given to anyone -- related or not -- living on the same lot. Important to know if, like me, you send some elders to retirement communities.

Clashfan

20th Apr 2011, 4:11 PM

Peni Griffin

20th Apr 2011, 4:32 PM

I'd like an answer to this, too. I have successfully completed two portraits, but both are of sims standing next to the easel, and I had to frame the shot as I do for a "still life;" which means you have to position the easel with care before you start. I tried putting a comfy chair in the spot where I expected the subject to stand, and she just stood next to it. It wouldn't be the first time some false advertising got into an opening video, but most of the things in that video are doable under the right circumstances, so I'm not ready to concede that the posed portrait is impossible; I just haven't thought of any good ways to try.

Since I'm not very good at controlling the camera angle the results are - well, I'm just calling them "experimental." For really emotionally-charged portraiture, I'm cherry-picking my best in-game camera shots and putting them into the "custom painting" folder. Some of those are still pretty "experimental," since it took me forever to get into the habit of putting the walls up before I took the picture, plus I had the camera on "medium" resolution for a long time, plus, I'm not very good at it.

Clashfan

20th Apr 2011, 4:57 PM

For really emotionally-charged portraiture, I'm cherry-picking my best in-game camera shots and putting them into the "custom painting" folder.

Peni, this is interesting is it as simple as finding the jpg file for the in game picture and just moving it to the custom paint file or do you have to change the coding for it?

I never thought about that and I have about 400 custom painting options, my Sims all paint "masterpieces" even if they don't know it. ;)

arathea

20th Apr 2011, 5:24 PM

After one or two tries in the beginning, I never use the portrait option. I let the sims pose like I want them to be painted and use the still life option.

Peni Griffin

20th Apr 2011, 6:06 PM

Peni, this is interesting is it as simple as finding the jpg file for the in game picture and just moving it to the custom paint file or do you have to change the coding for it?
Yep; I just open up the "storytelling" folder in "thumbnail" view, pick the ones I think would make good paintings, and copy them over.

Not all of them format right on the easel, but it's easy enough to delete those.

gulhare

20th Apr 2011, 8:22 PM

If you, like arathea, use the "still life" option you can also copy those (from storytelling, before you take any other picture or photo) and put into the custom painting folder. I just sharpen the pics somewhat and rename them .jpeg
That way the picture will be stretched properly on the easel later. Plus you can make more of the same pic.

Bellasaurus

20th Apr 2011, 8:49 PM

After one or two tries in the beginning, I never use the portrait option. I let the sims pose like I want them to be painted and use the still life option.

Doing it this way means that the sim whose portrait is being taken doesn't have to stand there posing whilst being painted. Handy for those shy artists who want to paint in secret!

iCad

20th Apr 2011, 9:48 PM

I haz stoopid queshtun!

I have a neighborhood. It has a Downtown. It's the default Maxis one because I can't be bothered to build one of my own. Usually, to add other subhoods, I add them as empty business districts because they're...well, empty. But if I add one as a second Maxis Downtown (assuming it's possible to do so; I'm actually not sure!) I assume it will generate Downtownies. But what about the NPCs like the grand vamps and, yes, Mrs. Crumplebottom? Will I have doubles?

What I'm aiming for is a Crumplebottom-less Maxis Downtown (because I like some of the lots, don't feel like building my own DT, and while Mrs. C amuses me, she also gets really annoying after a while). I'm hoping that if I add two Maxis Downtowns, only one of them will have the NPCs. (I don't care about the extra Downtownies.) and I just won't use the one that has the NPCs. So...anyone know?

As for portraits...I like the "still life" way, for the reason that Bellasaurus gave. I imagine that the artist is working from a "photograph" rather than having the actual person sitting for it.

mangaroo

20th Apr 2011, 10:58 PM

It's not possible to attach two of the same default to a single neighborhood (unless you muck about in SimPE as if you were building a megahood). So no two Maxis' downtowns or two Bluewater Villages or two Sim States. I'm not certain if there's any danger of re-spawning NPCs if you attach a second custom downtown. I know that's something to avoid when attaching multiple Unis, so I'll try to look into it further. I assume you're using an empty template replacement for Downtown?

Croutonian

21st Apr 2011, 1:42 AM

Clashfan

21st Apr 2011, 3:13 AM

Thanks guys knew I would get some good advice! While I feel better that I'm not the only one unable to use the in game function of "paint portrait" I feel a bit daft for not thinking of the "paint still life" option myself. Seems so obvious and like Bellasaurus said your Sim doesn't have to hang around having their motives deplete.

Peni Griffin

21st Apr 2011, 3:41 AM

We all overlook obvious stuff, so don't feel stupid. .

You want stupid? I just this afternoon realized that there were no lights in the dining room of my sorority. I've been playing this university since August of last year. Wow, it looks better in that room now!

FemGamerPlayer

21st Apr 2011, 3:57 AM

I have never been able to get someone to successfully paint another Sim's portrait. I'm wondering if anyone has a full proof method or anything for this. My problem is that the Sim whose portrait is to be painted just comes and stands next to the easel, I can't get them to pose or sit or anything. That annoyed me to no end when I first started playing. However, then I learned that despite what the game seems to tell you, you do NOT need to have the sim who's portrait is being painted stand next to the easel. Here's what you do:

Have the sim who's going to paint choose "Paint portrait of" and then the name of the sim they want to paint. The "paintee" will then come and stand next to the easel and the green "select subject" box will appear. Now select the "paintee" and cancel the "pose" action in their action queue. From there you can pose the sim however you want and make them do whatever you want (you could even have them take a bath or a shower if you wanted to.....great for sims who want to paint slightly more "revealing" or "intimate" portraits of their spouses! Of course, you'll probably want to first download a hack that removes the censor-blur before you do this....unless you like having most of a painting be blurry pixels!). Once the "paintee" is posing how you want them to do or doing what you want them to be painted doing, frame the shot with the green box, and then click the capture button.

Presto! The "painter" will now paint a portrait of the "paintee" doing whatever you directed them to do!

That being said, don't feel bad that you didn't think of the landscape action and such. We all forget things from time to time! Not only that, but just recently, I had my own embarassing sims painting moment. I had Linus Burb (yes, Lucy's brother) paint a portrait of his girlfriend (now fiancee') Stella Terranno (the premade alien student that came with University). Then I had to give him give it to her, and she hung it on the wall of her dorm room (needless to say, they were in college at the time). Well, just a few nights ago they both graduated....and I forgot to have Stella take her portrait with her! Whoops!

I'm going to try to get it to an owned business (thank you, Open for Business!), mark it for sale, and have Stella buy it back.

maybesomethingdunno

21st Apr 2011, 4:16 AM

What would happen if I converted an occupied residential lot into a community lot? Would the occupant be permanently tied to the lot, like a persistent visitor whenever a different Sim took a taxi there? Or would it cause corruption or some other very bad thing(s)?

katalina522

21st Apr 2011, 5:22 AM

Are you planning to do it permanently, or just temporarily so you can access some of the community buy mode content?

I did this once or twice early on in owning the game. When you switch it over to community, it doesn't read anybody as living there anymore from neighborhood view. I can't remember if the sim who was housed there becomes like a permanent townie on the lot, but I don't think that was what happened. You can visit the lot just like any other normal community lot and it didn't cause any epic disasters. But it probably isn't a great idea to do this permanently, just because it does weird things with the former resident(s) of the lot.

maybesomethingdunno

21st Apr 2011, 5:34 AM

katalina522

21st Apr 2011, 8:51 AM

Hmmm...I was thinking about permanently (e.g. an uncontrollable homeless Sim that would be "living" in an alley behind a store but not really a part of anyone's household yet always there when the lot is visited). What kind of weird things does it do to the Sims?

Well, you're messing with how the lot and the sim are flagged, which I suspect isn't good for your neighborhood in the long run. More to the point, you haven't properly set the sim to be a townie but the game is forcing it to behave like one. I'm not sure what happens to it if you leave things that way for too long, as I never tried it for more than one play-test.

Test it out, but from what I remember the sim that used to live on the lot just works like a townie and doesn't consistently appear on the "community" lot any more often than other sims.

Do you really need to resort to fudging a residential lot in order to get a recurring townie? Mine all tend to gravitate toward specific lots anyhow... just figure out which ones frequent a particular lot and then make them over to suit it. Also, unless you are simultaneously using a visitor controller to block everyone else, other townies will show up anyway.

Bellasaurus

21st Apr 2011, 11:46 AM

I'm going to try to get it to an owned business (thank you, Open for Business!), mark it for sale, and have Stella buy it back.

I know that there can be problems moving custom paintings from lot->inventory & back again. They tend to revert to the Maxis painting of red & yellow. I don't know if this would apply to portraits as well, but you might want to check first! Or just back up & try, and if it doesn't work just restore the back up.

maybesomethingdunno

21st Apr 2011, 5:09 PM

Do you really need to resort to fudging a residential lot in order to get a recurring townie? Mine all tend to gravitate toward specific lots anyhow... just figure out which ones frequent a particular lot and then make them over to suit it. Also, unless you are simultaneously using a visitor controller to block everyone else, other townies will show up anyway.I was just exploring a possible approach to having an entity like Bigfoot that could be "found" somewhere and possibly interacted with somehow. (The best option would seem to be to create a custom NPC that spawns if a particular object is located on the lot.)

I appreciate the insight, though. :)

katalina522

21st Apr 2011, 7:38 PM

(The best option would seem to be to create a custom NPC that spawns if a particular object is located on the lot.)
Chris Hatch over on Back Alley Sims has done that, actually. He made a set of NPCs that are linked to objects and will "live" at community lots--police, burglar, nanny, etc. If you're a modder I suppose you could take a look at his and see about making one for your homeless character? His are mainly linked to cars, but the burglar is linked to a smaller object (a sink), so in theory it should be possible to connect it to anything.

FemGamerPlayer

21st Apr 2011, 11:40 PM

I know that there can be problems moving custom paintings from lot->inventory & back again. They tend to revert to the Maxis painting of red & yellow. I don't know if this would apply to portraits as well, but you might want to check first! Or just back up & try, and if it doesn't work just restore the back up.Thanks for the advice. I've already moved it into one sim's inventory, to another sim's inventory (via the "give gift" interaction) and out of the second sim's inventory without the painting reverting, so it should be fine. :)

dieKristina

22nd Apr 2011, 3:21 PM

My pregnant sims refuse to "browse web about hobby" and "blog tips about hobby". They say they are in a bad mood and don´t feel like, even though they actually are in a very good mood. How come? It´s annoying, since I hate it when sims don´t do what I tell them to do.

Peni Griffin

22nd Apr 2011, 3:59 PM

Are mood and motives both good? They both matter for obedience. Also, sims who are perilously low on Fun will refuse to do fun things that will have positive benefits like skill-building, presumably because they're in one of those moods when you're really, truly, deeply sick of being productive and just want to veg.

But pregnant sims are moody and capricious and need to be pampered a bit. They're busy creating LIFE ITSELF and are under no obligation to be reasonable. Remember, rule one of a happy home life: What the pregnant lady wants, the pregnant lady gets.

dieKristina

22nd Apr 2011, 6:52 PM

Yes, both motives and mood are good. And it´s, like I said, only pregnant sims who behave like this. It´s stupid that they refuse when they at the same time have rolled the want to do it. I mean; if they refuse they don´t want to, and if they don´t want they shouldn´t get the want.

dieKristina

22nd Apr 2011, 7:00 PM

I also have to make clear it´s only those freetime-activities they refuse to do. They will happily study cooking or anything else. So for me it´s strange.

Amairani

22nd Apr 2011, 8:42 PM

I really want my vampires to practice witchcraft, for their own entertaiment (and mine) and for being able to make magical items/reagents to sell at their businesses. But now I'm thinking if the buyers are able to use the reagents for making spells, if they are not witches/wizards but regular Sims? Or those reagents/magical items will only be stored in Sims' inventories?

mangaroo

22nd Apr 2011, 8:52 PM

A regular Sim will not have the option to cast spells, even if they have reagents in their inventory.

Amairani

22nd Apr 2011, 9:00 PM

That sucks... but also means I will have to make all residents into witches/wizards so that their shopping is actually useful :D Sounds like a challenge.

Thank you, Mangaroo!

dieKristina

24th Apr 2011, 4:33 PM

The text you write about your photos in the game; is there any way to see the texts without starting the game? I´ve been looking around in my folders, but I can only see the photos and not the texts to the photos.

Peni Griffin

24th Apr 2011, 6:41 PM

If you open up the Storytelling folder for your neighborhood, you'll see two different kinds of files with three different kinds of names: .jpgs, with names beginning either "snapshot" or "thumbnail," and .xmls, with names begining "webentry." The .xml files are the ones containing the story as it appears in your storytelling tool, and you can open it in a web browser to read the text (but not, at least in my system, see the pictures; only the code for them). The easiest way to find the one you want is to arrange your files in date order, then change your view to "thumbnails;" this will allow you to see all the .jpgs, scan for the most recent ones, and identify the webentries associated with them. The snapshots, thumbnails, and web entries for each of the households will begin with the same string of alphanumerics.

I have not been able to edit these files except from the game, but that's probably because I'm not using the correct tools and haven't wanted to do it badly enough to figure out which ones will be correct.

dieKristina

24th Apr 2011, 6:54 PM

Okay, thank you so much for your answer :)

lauratje86

24th Apr 2011, 10:48 PM

I seem to recall that there is a cheat that allows you to use Build Mode options that are usually not allowed on that type of lot (hotel/dorm/apartment). Is there? If there is, what is it and how does one use it?

dieKristina

24th Apr 2011, 10:53 PM

I think you mean boolProp dormSpecificToolsDisabled [true/false].

lauratje86

24th Apr 2011, 11:10 PM

I think you mean boolProp dormSpecificToolsDisabled [true/false].

Yes, yes I do :-) It's much simpler to use than I'd expected! Thanks dieKristina :-)

I had placed a Maxis dorm in my new uni subhood, with the intention of using it as a males-only dorm. Moved the first new student in, and then discovered that I'd forgotten to change the ladies bathroom to a men/anyone bathroom! So my poor sims would've been stuck with an inaccessible bathroom for their entire time at uni! But now the problem is solved, yay! :-D

lazzybum

25th Apr 2011, 3:07 AM

lauratje86

25th Apr 2011, 3:19 AM

Is there a way to temporarily hold off on going to work for a few days?

I have an idea for my town to evacuate to one lot due to a crazy scenario, and they have to live off of tents and limited amount of food for a few days, but dont want the carpool to come or have them get fired either. So after the scenario, everyone goes back home and it resumes to their normal life (unless a few dies xD).

I know that you can use Inge's Institution Sign (from Simlogical) to stop the carpool from coming, but then I'm not sure if they'd get fired or not. Quite possibly! Or you could give them extra vacation days using SimPE. Or there may be a hack that allows you to give sims extra vacation days, I'm not sure.

Or combine the two - vacation days so they can have time off work + the sign to stop the carpool from showing up, so that you don't have to ensure that your sims miss it each day.

maybesomethingdunno

25th Apr 2011, 3:30 AM

Sounds to me like it would be a Bon Voyage camping trip.

Cyjon

25th Apr 2011, 4:13 AM

No, they don't get fired when using the institution sign. That's the point of using it rather than just skipping work. The sign can be found at http://www.drealm.info/simlogical/sl/Sims2Pages/Sims2_InstitutionSign.htm

ac220

26th Apr 2011, 11:04 AM

what determines who wins a pet fight?

mangaroo

26th Apr 2011, 10:14 PM

Extensa, you can ask questions about challenges in the threads in the Challenge forum. Here's the (classic) legacy thread: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=335046

"plus $50,000 for every expansion pack you have installed" = If you have only the base game, you earn one point per §100,000 the family accrues. However, since each EP increases the ways to earn money, the rules handicap you for every EP you have installed. If you had base + Uni + NL, you would need §200,000 to earn 1 point. And if you have all the EPs, you would need to accrue §300,000 to earn 1 point (because 300,000 is the max handicap).

I don't see a question in your second paragraph: are you asking if it's okay for non-heirs to contribute toward legacy goals or to gift their accomplishments back to the heir?

alicefishy

26th Apr 2011, 11:32 PM

Alright, so I have a graphics issue. I clearly remember that the water in certain neighborhoods was pretty. And, now that I have the sims on my laptop, the water is ugly. I tried getting CC to fix it...nope. I want reflective water >:/ It's annoying how plain and ugly the water is in my game. Is there anyway to fix it?

mangaroo

26th Apr 2011, 11:37 PM

alicefishy, please check the system specs on your computer: Game Help:System Specs. It is very likely that your laptop has integrated graphics, in which case you'll want to read this guide: Game Help:Onboard Graphics.

If you need further help, please post in the Game Help Q&A section and provide your laptop's system specs in your post there. We don't provide technical support in the Discussion section.

alicefishy

26th Apr 2011, 11:42 PM

Thank you, mangaroo. I'm nearly positive that my laptop's graphics are crap.

DigitalSympathies

26th Apr 2011, 11:58 PM

Peni Griffin

27th Apr 2011, 12:04 AM

Sometimes the burglar tries to steal your car. Also, sometimes if the burglar walks past your car to get to the house, the car alarm goes off.

maybesomethingdunno

27th Apr 2011, 12:05 AM

The same purpose of having the burglar alarm. It scares them away and quickly...in fact, as soon as the thief appears on the lot. Of course, you could also just "moveobjects on" to place a regular alarm on an outside wall.

Clashfan

27th Apr 2011, 12:54 AM

What is the purpose of installing a car alarm? In all my years I've never seen its purpose other than to waste $250 and kill an hour with hubby or wifey off the lot so I can get some ACR action between "coworkers" xD

As far as I can tell the purpose is that when a burglar comes on to your lot the car alarm will go off and alert the police. So if you have a car alarm you don't always need a burglar alarm in the house, depends on how your lot is laid out I suppose.

If you have a house alarm but not a car alarm the burglar can steal your car without setting anything off, this just happened to one of my families. Really stunk cause they couldn't afford to replace the vehicle either.

Croutonian

27th Apr 2011, 5:06 PM

I once had a sim working on one of the freetime cars, they'd got as far as fixing it up but not yet painting it - then a burglar came and nicked the car, and only the car, therefore not going inside at all to set off an alarm :( All that time they spent working on it and they never got to drive it, I (and probably my sim) were absolutely gutted!

Peni Griffin

28th Apr 2011, 3:31 PM

So, when I open my Neighborhood folder, N004, I see package and .png files for Downtown, Neighborhood, and University001, which makes sense, but I also see them for Suburb001, 002, and 003. These files are much smaller (between 500 and 1100 KB) than the Downtown and Neighborhood package files (between 9,000 and 12,000); but larger than my University one (789).

What is the function of these suburb folders, and why is my University file, which I use constantly, so much smaller than they are?

mangaroo

28th Apr 2011, 5:32 PM

N###_Suburb files can either be player-attached OFB subhoods or hidden neighborhoods that install with specific EPs: Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Freetime, and Apartment Life all add stealth hoods. I believe they will always be created in that order, unless you add an earlier EP after playing with a later one, so that should help you figure out which numbered suburb is associated with which EP.

One of the functions of these files is to dump "universal" bin families into each of your neighborhoods (like Cyd Roseland, the Critturs, the Travellers, etc.). Another is to serve as a subhood for secret lots (hobby lots, witches' lots).

As to why these hidden neighborhoods would be larger than your Uni file, it's simply because they carry more data. Mine don't match the size of yours, but I play with empty templates, so all the EAxis character data has been cleaned out.

Peni Griffin

28th Apr 2011, 5:49 PM

I don't have OFB so I guess these hold the witch lots and the University secret society lots. I had assumed the University lot existed somewhere on Sim State (I even thought I had identified it), but since I've never been to a witch lot I didn't even think about where one might be located. And I don't even know what kinds of hidden lots shipped with Pets, Seasons, and Nightlife.

Okay, I won't worry about them, then.

mangaroo

28th Apr 2011, 5:54 PM

The Uni secret society lot does exist in the Uni package, not these suburb packages, and Nightlife does not spawn a _Suburb. The suburbs don't literally have to be places: they also carry character files data.

annieover

29th Apr 2011, 5:23 PM

How do you become a member of the secret society in University? I have been playing for (too many..lol!) years and have never been invited and/or selected....advice?
:giggler:

mangaroo

29th Apr 2011, 5:32 PM

annieover

29th Apr 2011, 5:49 PM

Befriend three secret society members. You can identify them by their blazers. They show up on community lots, and it seems you're a little more likely to find them working out on lots with exercise equipment. (Downside: they'll be in their athletic wear, not the blazer.) They're wily: don't worry if they walk away after the first interaction, just call them later to build up the relationship.

Quick response! Thank you :)
I use the shift click and select them; move their bars all the way to 100% so they become best friends with my sims. I've invited them over, I have even moved them in with my sims, had a baby with one...lol! Nothing works :(
Is their a cheat for this?

aaries16

29th Apr 2011, 6:36 PM

The night you become friends with the 3rd secret society member a limo and a cop will come pick you up around 10 or 11pm.

Peni Griffin

29th Apr 2011, 6:41 PM

And after all that it's not worth it unless you really like career rewards...I haven't had a sim join the secret society, but one of them pledged Urele-Oresha-Sham and I sent him off to the lot - one time. It didn't have the sorts of things I like on i. He can also hack grades, but what for? If he ever gets to really hate a playable I suppose I can have him hack those grades so the enemy fails.

mangaroo

29th Apr 2011, 7:31 PM

I do it for the secret handshake and (formerly) for potential spouse-hunting. A long while back (before I became OC about time syncing), I had a YA die after being struck by lightning while on an outing, and I was desperate for her cousin to join so he would have access to the resurrect-o-nomitron.

Like the inside joke (Freetime interaction?), the secret handshake is a no-fail interaction as long as both Sims are SS members. Very useful in awkward social situations.

lazzybum

29th Apr 2011, 8:59 PM

Like the inside joke (Freetime interaction?), the secret handshake is a no-fail interaction as long as both Sims are SS members. Very useful in awkward social situations.

Is the secret handshake its own different animation? I never joined SS before.

mangaroo

29th Apr 2011, 9:05 PM

Is the secret handshake its own different animation? I never joined SS before.

Yep. I can't perfectly recall the actual handshake, but it is definitely a different animation from anything else in the game and ends on a funny mutual "shhh" gesture. 'cause there's nothing conspicuous about doing an elaborate handshake dance in a public place and then clearly signaling to the world that it's a secret.

Clashfan

29th Apr 2011, 11:22 PM

Yep. I can't perfectly recall the actual handshake, but it is definitely a different animation from anything else in the game and ends on a funny mutual "shhh" gesture. 'cause there's nothing conspicuous about doing an elaborate handshake dance in a public place and then clearly signaling to the world that it's a secret.

They sort of act like chickens and cross arms to shake hands a couple of times, pretty funny really.

I play the La Tour campus and I used to try to get Sims in to the SS to access the plastic surgery machine. Long before I knew anything about Sim Blender or even custom skins, now if they happen to get in well I don't mind but I don't do much with it.

I did get one of my frat houses a hot tub when one of the guys got in. He went to the lot bought the hot tub with the society funds put it in his inventory and went home. It's still at the frat house and boy howdy has it seen some action!

lazzybum

30th Apr 2011, 6:44 AM

Keke, maybe I should finally try joining the SS just to see this handshake.

DM was on fire!

30th Apr 2011, 7:14 AM

A video of the handshake is here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JQkMBCXArs). :)

annieover

30th Apr 2011, 3:08 PM

Well this was indeed very interesting, however perhaps it is my game that is broken,....lol
Still cannot get invited to the Secret Society; Perhaps I am trying to hard..haha!
Thank you all for the insight however it is much appreciated :)

dieKristina

30th Apr 2011, 3:34 PM

I recently started a brand new hood, with 14 playable sims. They are all young adults now. Anyway, I have also created a lot of own dormies, and, since I want my playable sims to get as many friends as possibly, most of my sims are now members in the Secret Society. Right now the limo comes almost every night :) The strange thing is that almost all of the dormies I created seems to be in the SS. Thus it´s very easy to join it.

Clashfan

30th Apr 2011, 6:28 PM

The strange thing is that almost all of the dormies I created seems to be in the SS. Thus it´s very easy to join it.

This is probably because there's a minimum number of them required and if you didn't assign them to be in the SS the game did it for you. If you don't have that many dormies you created it probably just added them all or at the very least it added all of the first ones you made.

As a side note one thing I learned when combing through old threads at MATY is that you really need a minimum of about 39 dormies or the game will start cloning them. I had a clone show up on a community lot and panicked so went searching for the reason. After all that work to build the hood I certainly didn't want to screw it up.

Seems it's only really bad if your clone meets itself and interacts in anyway. The reason for the clone was I didn't have enough students, the game couldn't regenerate any new ones so it just cloned some.

The game itself adds 50 dormies when you attach a hood and then generates a new one if any die or become playables.

Just an FYI.

dieKristina

30th Apr 2011, 9:09 PM

maybesomethingdunno

1st May 2011, 3:56 AM

Can you get abducted by aliens while searching for constellations or planets through the telescope?

ETA: Can you build your own hobby lots (for custom hoods)?

Clashfan

1st May 2011, 7:08 AM

Okay, I think I have about 15-20 dormies right now, and 14 playables. But your advice would be to go and create about 20 new dormies? I really didn´t know about what you described here and I havn´t seen any signs of clones yet. But it´s really good to know because I love that hood.

I guess it depends on how much you use the community lots cause that's the only place I would see a clone. I'm going by information I dug out of old threads at MATY, which is usually the way to find some of these answers. But yes my advice would be to make some additional dormies. You can run a the main hood with little or no townies but Uni is apparently different and you really have to have them there.

Cyjon

1st May 2011, 8:14 PM

Can you get abducted by aliens while searching for constellations or planets through the telescope?
Yes. Each interaction increases the chance of abduction. From lowest to highest abduction probability is stargaze -> search for constellations -> search for planets -> search for UFOs -> call aliens.

ETA: Can you build your own hobby lots (for custom hoods)?
I vaguely remember a discussion about this on MATY. I think they came to the conclusion that you can't, even with SimPE fiddling.

Nepheris

1st May 2011, 8:49 PM

Can you build your own hobby lots (for custom hoods)?

MATY has an ongoing discussion about this, and a method to change the hobbylots can be found here (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,11323.msg345422.html#msg345422). You will need SimPE for it though, and the method isn't tried and true, so use at your own risk...

maybesomethingdunno

2nd May 2011, 2:24 AM

Thanks, Cyjon and Nepheris. :)

Peni Griffin

5th May 2011, 12:06 AM

mangaroo

5th May 2011, 12:42 AM

Teens and older can be cured with the medicine from the Science career reward. There's also a buyable cc version of the medicine [will edit with link]. Good AL witches have a Remedis Simae spell. Otherwise: rest and isolation.

Edit: here's the WCIF thread where I learned of the medicine: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=401901
The immunizer mirror suggested by noobkiller might be more useful to you?

Bwinney43

5th May 2011, 2:06 AM

Teens and older can be cured with the medicine from the Science career reward. There's also a buyable cc version of the medicine [will edit with link]. Good AL witches have a Remedis Simae spell. Otherwise: rest and isolation.

The medicine from the Science career track reward is a lifesaver. I once had a family that was constantly infecting each other for almost a whole sim week. It was frustrating and scary because I came so close to losing my pregnant sim. Who was in fact pregnant with the next heir.

maybesomethingdunno

5th May 2011, 2:25 AM

I thought it was broken. Or am I thinking about another function of that object (like creating viruses)...or perhaps even another object?

mangaroo

5th May 2011, 2:34 AM

I thought it was broken. Or am I thinking about another function of that object (like creating viruses)...or perhaps even another object?

Apparently broken unless you have patched FT or installed AL: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,5624.0.html

maybesomethingdunno

5th May 2011, 2:45 AM

Ah, cool. Thanks, mangaroo. :)

FemGamerPlayer

5th May 2011, 3:40 AM

If anybody has any advice on a time-efficient way to keep a large family with the flu from reinfecting each other repeatedly, I'm all ears.

I don't have FreeTime, so I can't make Grandma's soup. It's a temperate zone, so nobody has any orange trees. (But I'm starting to plant them in greenhouses, believe me!) And I just turned aging off so the kids don't get too out of synch with their age cohort, but the game keeps sending kids home with them to be infected and anyway it's so fricking time-consuming when, about the time you're down to one sick sim, you get a little pop-up message telling you another one is sick again!

If I knew a place where I could get FreeTime now, tonight, I'd go out and do it, but the local stores have only got dribs and drabs and we've got people coming over...I definitely feel your pain! Back in the days before I had Freetime, one of the things about TS2 that I dreaded the most was my sims catching the flu, since, as you said, they have a habit of constantly reinfecting each other! There were times when I thought I'd never get a sim household to be flu-free!

Although other people have made very good suggestions, I highly recommend that you get Freetime as soon as possible! The "Grandma's Comfort Soup" aspiration benefits is one of the best things EAxis has ever added to the game. Now I make sure that at least one sim in each of my sim families has that benefit, and I have them rush to make the soup the second anyone in the family comes down with the flu (or any illness other than morning sickness, for that matter)!

Peni Griffin

5th May 2011, 5:16 AM

Thanks, y'all. I don't have anybody in the science career, or friends with any witches, so I'll try these workarounds and break down and go actively looking for Freetime. It has a bunch of things I'd like (but do I really need to like this game any more than I do?) and other things I'm dubious about (I understand hobbies quickly become obsessive and hobby people are pains in the neck), so I've been going back and forth on the issue; but a neighborhood-wide flu epidemic turns out to be a total fun-stopper for my playstyle. Even with no parties or outings allowed, if the only way to cure the flu is isolation and rest, big families grind to a halt and big families in apartments become nothing but a chore.

One good result - my husband finally got our WINRar working.

Garambola

5th May 2011, 10:10 AM

If you aren't against hacked objects, Simwardrobe has a 'Maximum Strenth Disinfectant'. Spraying everyone with that and fumigating the house helps. (Until someone goes to work and brings the flu back.) It is found at http://simwardrobe.com/ Sims 2 Other Objects.

But getting Freetime is still a good idea. Plenty of fun stuff there. :)

Ghost sdoj

5th May 2011, 5:38 PM

If you have SimPE and a lot of patience, you can get into the secret society by opening all the Young Adult characters and looking in their memory for a Secret society token. Find 3, write down their names somewhere you can read while playing your game, and then use the campus directory to phone them and build a relationship that way. (Start by checking your unplayable dorm-mates. One of them is a member.) You want to be sure you don't accidentally save anything, because that is dealing with the neighborhood memory and you can kill your game if you mess it up too badly. Any time you deal with that file, you need to be sure you know what you are doing to it if you save anything. (Making a backup is also handy, just because a recent backup is always nice in case of power surges while saving a game, or favorite sims deciding to electrocute themselves while you were busy somewhere else, and turning up as an electrocuted ghost the next time you get back to them.)

Once you have a good relationship score, invite them over for a party or something, talk to each one to get the score transformed into an actual relationship, and wait for nightfall. (And DO NOT try to do homework or sleep after 9:30 that night. lol)

Or you can get a mod that gives automatic membership. There are several out there.

esmesqualor

5th May 2011, 6:04 PM

... and other things I'm dubious about (I understand hobbies quickly become obsessive and hobby people are pains in the neck)...

Peni - I had the same reservations but recently broke down and added Freetime. I also have several MATY hacks that seem to take care of the major annoyances, like hobby people breaking down your door and Humble visiting everyone with a freebie computer. That said, I'm loving it. It adds variety to Sim personalities and more choices for Sim actions without obnoxiously taking over the game as I feared.

I

Peni Griffin

5th May 2011, 6:58 PM

Yeah, I'm sure crack is lovely stuff...As it happens, E-bay has some up right now, so I guess adding FreeTime is in my future.

In the meantime, I still have a few hours before I can let myself play the game, but I got the medicine kiosk and took time to open things up and look around. The Engrish in the text description for some of the items has me a little confused - what on earth do Sims need Tampax for? - but I reckon I'll figure it out. For flu, would Tylenol do it, or do I need the cold and fever blister medicine? I guess I can buy both and see which works. If I send a healthy sim out to get the stuff, can they pass it around the family, or do I need to buy one for each, or can I set it on a counter and they can all access it?

You don't have to go into SimPE to locate the secret society members, because they kindly wear black blazers to community lots and are prone to spamming your active sim. If you want to meet secret society members, just take your sim to community lots and kick back till they start showing up, which they will do promptly. They don't wear blazers in the dorm or when you invite them over, only on community lots.

My Secret Society frat boy will graduate soon. Does he remain a member outside of University? Is this perhaps where those Networking townies come from?