http://modthesims.info/t/317272

Sounds like a hardware problem, heat, graphics, etc.

Oh, that *is* fast. OK, then, perhaps either Squinge's hack of that rider is more moderate in allowing gains or my slower skilling mod works differently than yours? (I use version 5, here.)

I'd love to figure out which. Because when they're on the rider in my game with Squinge's hack and that slow-skilling mod, I can watch the skill bar increase steadily, but it's definitely never so fast that I could focus elsewhere in the household and come back to see they've even hit their Body skill level limit (which is quite low: only 1 to 3, depending on "achievement" level, for my toddlers through teens, although with a Fitness or Sports hobby I allow a limit of 8, just for Body---so every teen has a chance to get a scholarship just by loving their individual hobby).

Actually, I've never had toddlers working on even their hobby-related skill achieve much past level 4 no matter which skill, even though only the "high-achieving" ones (with high-achieving parents) have time taken out by learning to talk or walk...and even though toddlerhood in my game takes 8 days. So even with Squinge's mod, it mostly ends up that my riding tots stop a session themselves before they've finished gaining their next Body skill point.

Thus, if it's the Affinity mod making that much of a difference, perhaps I don't want to switch after all. Every eligible toddler maxing out their Body skill limit wouldn't provide more variety...

Thanks. I didn't expect there to be one honestly.

Just saw this post from you, AndrewGloria. You've probably seen the skill-building toy garage here, but in case you hadn't, I thought I'd mention it. It's base game compatible, because it's based on the BG dollhouse.

I almost always use it instead of the dollhouse because it allows for skilling and (I'm pretty sure) building relationships when 2 sims use it together (and every age can use it too whenever one child or toddler is already playing).

The only thing I don't like about it is that, as with the FT activity table, it takes a bit long for sims to disengage from the object, which means micromanagement and patience are required if you want another sim to interact with one who's using the garage---the first attempt to interact will never succeed unless you've prepared by already canceling the garage interaction...and given it a few RT seconds past that point to boot. (I've no idea whether the BG dollhouse has that same problem...just don't use it enough.)

Yes, I do, so the game does treat it as indoors. Why?!


I can see that. Good thing I have a much better computer (and computer maintenance skills) now. Thanks!

@natboopsie Yeah, that's why I set the toddler skill limit to zero to compensate for the speedy skill gain.

I use version 1 of that same skilling mod, though in most hoods I don't allow any skilling toys for the non-overachieving toddlers, and even then the overachievers are limited to level 3. The toddlers are around for 3 - 4 days and none of the aspiration perks and rewards allowed, so some learn all of their toddler skills but barely have any skill points or vice-versa. There are consequences for not learning toddler skills - if you didn't learn to talk, then you can't learn to study. I still have the wet the bed mod (I use the original; the updated one didn't seem to work for me), but not many of the kids and teens wet the bed so I ended up limiting their cleaning points to 3 regardless of neatness and motivation level. Some of my toddlers are also treated ISBI style - I'm not allowed to check on their panels so I'll have to guess what they want or need and sometimes the parent gains aspiration points for teaching them to walk but the toddler doesn't because they didn't have the want at the time.

And the activity table is temporarily banned from my game until I can figure out how to make toddlers leave it faster - it's useful for building relationships but not worth the hassle of the horrible eject mode, just like you said in another post. I did notice that the kids gain social from the BG dollhouse but sometimes it also takes a bit long for them to stop using it, so I don't use it that often either. (And I could've sworn there was a mod to protect the teddy bear from harassment - I wish nice kids wouldn't slam them against the floor!)

Because my husband had a room in one of his sim's houses that the sims were perfectly comfortable in winter (temperature meters never turning blue or anything, and it was a bedroom so they'd sleep there all night), but that the lights were wonky and thought it was outdoors, so there was no option to turn on/off all lights "this room" and the lighting in the room was also crap. Just trying to rule that out as another possibility.

Ah, thanks for clarifying. So then I'll file away the Affinity mod for a later point. Autonomy on the horse would be nice, especially because in mild weather seasons or hoods, I like to set up an outdoor nursery around Sophie David's Perfectly Natural toddler/pet beds. So my toddlers are outside always during those times and using the riders whenever they want would be great. But yeah, I put slow-skilling mods in my game for a reason, one more important to me than autonomy on one object.

Heh, your playing style for toddlers is in some ways more intense than mine! Appreciate the mention of the wet-the-bed mod; always been curious but never enough to put it in my game. My toddlers who aren't able to walk or talk do grow up with similar consequences to yours, including not able to learn to study. It does seem to me that a sim's overall level of actual (not just as calculated or decided by me) motivation (that is, affecting how they behave autonomously) shifts through their life in accordance with their experience---maybe just depending on how many red or green memories they have overall---so I enjoy playing with rules about motivation. Makes for a variety of sims.

Ah, so the extra delay with disengaging from the toy garage was inherited from the dollhouse, then! Good to know. It's true, I am perpetually searching for new toddler skilling objects too because I dislike the micromanagement that a long disengagement cycle requires, especially because toddlers' needs can be so urgent. I mean, that long cycle says nothing about the personalities involved; it's just poor coding. It's too bad---the activity table is good for so many things. (Though I'd love for it to come smaller, too, if that were possible; like, a 2-tile version. Not everyone has 4 kids. And the fact that sometimes a side is unusable just because there's a drawing unfinished on it...ha, would a toddler really care about that?)

Yeah, poor teddy. Mog Hughson created that mod you're thinking about.

@Rosawyn: Don't worry, the Why?! wasn't referring to you but the game. Oh, game, you crack me up sometimes, like making twins roll love potion wants after failed interactions with each other.

I tried rebuilding the house myself - it's not a perfect recreation but they look similar enough and there's no snow line. That's good enough.

Thanks for the help. I totally forgot the batbox temperature info function too.

Edit: because I posted the same time @natboopsie did

Thank you for the link. Mr. Bean disapproves of people hurting teddy! I don't mind mean kids doing it but I'll take none of them over all of them.

joandsarah77 linked to some toddler toys here, and there are several if you look back a few pages here, though I'm sure you did because you replied to some of the posts.

I also like the variety motivation levels gives the sims. When I first started, all of my kids grew up well as BFFs with their parents and then I got to wondering about the premade sims. There are a few of them who grew up badly even with all of their toddler skills and don't have strong relationships with their parents. I found this interesting because it seemed easy to keep their aspirations in the green and their relationships high. It caused a drastic change in playstyle, which I ended up preferring for the story potential.

Since there aren't any aspiration perks and rewards, I had to find another way for the toddler skills to actually mean something to me in-game. I liked the idea of TS3 toddlers who missed a single toddler skill growing up badly so I implemented another way of replicating it. It makes quite the difference. Nice sims who grow up badly can start picking fights for no reason and the mean ones with better upbringings are not as volatile.

I like the concept of the toddler table but I find the shipped one could use some improvements - definitely smaller varieties, recoloring options without the need for a default replacement, and that eject mode made much faster (you're right that it doesn't make sense even personality-wise). It also seems to be too attractive, especially for drawing, which makes it more difficult to leave a toddler alone with it without having to constantly check on their needs - and with ISBI-style play, that makes it worse. I tell a parent to change the fly-addled toddler's diaper, but it drops out of their queue and the parent does something else. I can't say I blame them. And where's the ability to sit alongside the kids and toddlers to draw along with them? Maybe I should go to Hacks I'd Like to See for this.

I find that sims are almost impossible to clone because their upbringing and training is unique to each of them. You'll have to repeat the same events for them to be close to identical and yet there can still be minute differences from the original. For those who play hoods long-term, this makes losing them absolutely devastating.

There is a bed wetting which affects kids who were not potty trained. Squinge maybe.

It was Inge though Squinge may have updated the hack. I modded my version of it so can't help there much.

That would be amazing, thank you! If you are able to PM me when you have more time that would be absolutely awesome :-)

Okay, I'm trying to overhaul the careers in my game--basically I'm trying to set up a class/wealth system, where sims in certain tiers can only get/take certain jobs, etc. The "problem" is that eventually I'll have a bunch of careers, making it almost impossible to find the right ones for the right sims without cheats. Now, I know all you can select jobs manually/with cheats (i.e. job noticeboard, simblender, etc.), but I was wondering if it's possible to make it so that certain careers are either only available on the newspaper or only on the computer?

Also, is there a mod that increases the number of jobs that show up on the newspaper and/or the computer? I've tried searching but Google keeps turning up sims 4 results and when I try to filter that out, I get nonsense unrelated to the sims at all.

I never really use the dollhouse in my game, because it doesn't raise any skills and therefore feels like a waste of time...but does it raise any hobby enthusiasm?

It does a nice line in interactive play with adults. That can raise relationships. And the kids suck the dolls so it's all good.

Right...most of my sim kids are BFFs with their parents before they age from toddler (perhaps a slight exaggeration), so I guess I never have any trouble raising relationships. I was just hoping the dollhouse raised Film & Lit enthusiasm or something, since that's one of those nearly impossible to raise hobbies...

I kind of wish the dollhouses slowly raised charisma, because there's no real way for children to do that without a parrot or a career reward.

It also raises fun, so don't forget.

There are about a billion and one ways to raise fun. Playing Red Hands is pretty much my go-to if another sim is available.

There is this (the small superstar microphone from Al thing is also here, not only the karaoke).
http://modthesims.info/download.php?t=476556

I love and recommend that hack by Neder that justpetro links---it really was a fun idea of his to link the audience reaction only to the performer's Charisma level while keeping the way the performing sim sounds dependent only on Creativity. It makes me look forward to karaoke outings quite a lot! (For those who don't want to make their own karaoke spot, Mootilda* included a very compact one in her Nightlife Mews collection.)

Neder's hack also offers the clever option of letting you mod only the karaoke machine or only the Superstar Mic. I love being able to just pick one to mod; it makes the mod so much more versatile. Like, the Superstar Mic is small enough for most homes (did you know that you can use MoveObjects to push the speaker part of its footprint into anything, like a sectional or piano, without affecting the mic's function? It really only needs one tile to be usable!). So unmodded and placed where it only takes up a single tile, it stays a great home alternative to the easel in case of non--Art-hobby sims. Then I mod the karaoke machine (which I'd use almost exclusively on community lots) to give sims a fun public way to gain Charisma. (Because with NL, you can always take your sim out DJing to gain Creativity, and of course jamming on Uni instruments for tips works for that too.)

Actually, I think the Superstar Mic is underappreciated. In addition to its one-tile trick, it also lets you choose between two Hobby enthusiasms: Film and Lit (Recite Poetry) and Music (Sing). And in cases where sims need Creativity but you don't want either of those hobby enthusiasms (for example, they just need Creativity for promotions but have a non-Creativity hobby), there's Perform Stand-Up, which gives no enthusiasm. I definitely wish there were more multi-hobby objects like that, especially ones that had the option not to gain whatever enthusiasm they were coded to increase.

*I love to recommend Mootilda's lots because she's one of the very, very few creators whose lots I trust enough not to put them through my usual process of installing in a throwaway hood, stripping out all the lot's sim references with SimPE, and then repackaging for actual hood installation. She was a gem.

I wanted my Sim to send $50 to a university student. I ran into a problem, though:

1. She doesn't have a computer, so Monique's computer won't work.
2. SimWardrobe's chequebook allows me to set $50, but for some reason no university students appear in the list of recipients.
3. Pescado's money order lets me select the university student, but the smallest increment is $100!
4. I have Monique's Payer Bills, but I think that's for recurring payments.

What do I do?

Do you have allmenus unlocked? There's a cheat code that gets unhidden that might work if you do. In the house where the uni sim lives, you put "money +50" and "money -50" on the family that "sent" the money to that sim.

Not on the newspaper or the computer, but there is a separate mod item that shows openings for all careers.

http://modthesims.info/d/304689

There is also a link that leads to the one-tile wide of the noticeboard.

This user actually has some other neat stuff available. I got some of their mods, like one where Sims can now watch TV from other angles (no need to stand behind or in front of viewers anymore) and another where you can store a group meal into single plates as leftovers.

Oh. That'll work. A kludge, but it'll work. Thanks.