Go Home, the front door, and the newspaper NPC.

[StripyWitch]

This is an aspect of building that is often overlooked. I thought we could pool our collective knowledge about the subject, and maybe add an entry onto the Sims Wiki (http://www.simswiki.info/)

So, what do we know about what determines where sims will go when told to go home, and where the newspaper npc will deliver the paper?

This seems to be especially confusing with custom apartments. If you have ever downloaded a custom apartment with a garden, you will probably know that sims will consider this garden as the Go Home area.

I have heard it has to do with the location of the front door, mailbox and garbage can. However these things become contrived when dealing with several front doors, mailboxes and garbage disposals in apartments.

[BionixWV]

I've had the newpaper delivered at 1-3 AM sometimes.

[arathea]

If the lot is occupied by your active family click at the door you want to be the front door (or the door into the apartment). There is an option to set it as front door.
If the lot is unoccupied, ctrl+shift+click at the door in build/buy mode and you'll get the same option. :)

[babele44]

If the lot is occupied by your active family click at the door you want to be the front door (or the door into the apartment). There is an option to set it as front door. Under certain conditions this will not be possible, like when there's only one door outside leading into a house consisting of only one room. Sims will go to their mailbox instead and not enter their house.
The same when the the only entrance is an arch. You cannot set an arch as a front door.
If the lot is unoccupied, ctrl+shift+click at the door in build/buy mode and you'll get the same option. :)This has never worked for me.


Here's a quote from twallan regarding paper delivery
Route tuning for the newspaper delivery is in the EA "DeliverNewspaper" tuning file.

The deliverer will first attempt to place at the front door, and then at the mailbox.

By default, the paper must be placed a minimum 3 tiles away from the object, and a maximum of 9 tiles.

:)

[Stina1701-D]

Well, at my household the newspaper girl comes as usual at mornings and goes through the gate and places the newspaper on the porch a little to the right from the front door (I set it as the front door). The house is a house i made myself but there is nothing fancy, just basic walls used and no halfwalls or anything like that. The mailbox and trashcan is outside of the fence and I didn't really move them around after I discovered I could move them without cheats enabled. Now when my family goes home they will either stop outside or go straight inside. I have not seen any rhyme or reason for when or why they alternate like that. And its not confined to one Sim. All of them do this.

[tangie0906]

I made a house that had a stairway to the basement near the front door. Guess where they went every time they came home? Yep, way down to the basement and into a small bedroom down there. :wtf:

Very annoying! I always had to send them back upstairs for whatever I wanted them to do next. What a waste of time in a game that already takes way too much time for sims to complete actions. :rolleyes:

ETA: When I mentioned that you can't set a door as the front door if it's framed by an arch, they told me that you can click on the arches themselves and set them as the front door. I've never tried this, however, so have no clue if it works or not.

[Purity4]

For those of you who have silly sims walking all over the place when they get home, wasting time, you can X - cancel - the go home action queue to stop them in their tracks.

[tangie0906]

Yes, I have clicked on the home icon in the que, which I know will stop them, but sometimes in the household I mentioned I am busy with another sim (it's a big family) and don't get to it until they are already starting down the stairs. Besides, like I said, the stairs are located just to the right of the front door so you have to be really quick to catch them right before they come in. If I click too soon, it stops their whole vehicle from coming home! :faceslap: So yeah, maybe someone else didn't know this but for my situation it just doesn't always work.

[Ghost sdoj]

I had one house that was on the edge of a lot with most of it underground under the rest of the lot. "Go Home" took them to the center of the lot.

(Do you have a way to put a door in front of the basement stairs, and then lock it? That would force them to stop before going down. You can unlock it when you want the stairs to be usable, and lock it again when someone is away from home.)