Sims move through the ground

[Igon]

I used large map for creating my world. Sometimes the sims move normally but sometimes they walk through mountains, underground, and through air, i.e. they walk in a straight line to a given point through obstacles. This always happens when they return home, if they live on the other side of the island.

[bakafox]

Have you finished all routing paint for your world? The over air/water thing can happen if a patch of water is left routeable without their being a bridge or the like over it, the others may be a result of bad routing paint too, if there were some steep areas left routeable, if I am not mistaken.

Do you have an image of the routing data for the world, where the grid can be seen?

[Igon]

I checked this problem after completing the staining, and I checked it while using only base E.A. paint. This didn't affect the result.

I tried to pave the road from one end of the island to the other end in diagonal. The problem disappeared. However, I need to use the paved roads around the island in perimeter, not in diagonal because I have a big lake in the middle. I checked all routing around the lake, and I didn't have water on the road, or impermeable area.

[bakafox]

I wasn't meaning terrain paint like the grasses and things, not sure if you understood, I mean the routing paint, that is bright blue for no-Sims or bright yellow for no-Sims-or-camera.

The image I'm asking about is one where you flag "Show routing data" in view so one can see all the pathing. As an example of this view, here is a small world of mine's screenshot while viewing routing:
http://thumbs2.modthesims.info/img/2/9/2/0/8/7/0/MTS_bakafox-1267995-arrouting.jpg

That is the view that is needed to see if your issues are due to route painting not being done correctly or see if it might be something else.

[Igon]

There are very large island. First image is one side of the island, and second - is other side. My world uploaded here: http://ca.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=5170880

[armiel]

Hi,

Your routing pictures are very small and far. Could you post routing pictures of just those issue areas you have shown? (for now)
At a fast glance, if I squeeze my eyes, I think I can see that you have not routed about half the map, but to be sure, I'd have to see more close up pics.

[Igon]

There are places where these phenomena have been observed. I didn't use the routing paint, blue for no-sims, and yellow for no-camera.

[bakafox]

From your pictures it looks like you have not painted any of the island with routing paint that would prevent Sims from travelling over it, is this correct?

You will need to paint all water areas, and any steep areas of cliff or hill side that Sims should not travel over with the bright blue 'no sims' paint. If you have very steep areas that Sims can walk over, I believe that can lead to some of the problems you are experiencing.

[simsample]

I think this looks like one of those screwy things introduced with the Pets patch. I think the non routing paint will help as Bakafox recommended, but also check any bridges as I've seen strange things happen like this if you have the routing there wrong.

I'm not sure that the water routing is significant here though as your water is already non-routable- you can tell by how the route splines end neatly at the water's edge. Can you show us where the sims run from and to? Does it only happen when you click 'go home'?

[bakafox]

Just a heads up, I have had Sims run over shallow water if the water is not painted unrouteable and it's the fastest or only way they read as getting from point A to point B. Have lost my screenshots but when first working on Howell, my test Sim ran from the boardwalk to a nearby smaller island over water/air, despite the even splines. Had to paint with the routing paint for Sims to not do it.

[simsample]

Hehe, I bet that looked daft! I always paint the water non-routable, so perhaps you're right. Maybe it's generating the splines based on the auto-route paint (red) that it generates. They did warn to paint the water in the pdf guide they did, so maybe that's why! :lol:

[armiel]

I don't think I paint water non-routable, I may have some worlds. But the waterwalking sim Baka had (I assume I know the pic as I took it) - my thoughts for that would be that the routing was not done at the point of testing the world (this is very likely), and then later, when new test version was run, caches were not cleared. Just guessing here.

Same goes for any sinking/floating sims - you alter terrain, but forget to rebuild routing date - you get funny sims.

[Igon]

I think the reson is not in the water. My roads are laid far from water, and no obstacles.
Cause depends how far the sim lives. See pictures.
Man lives near this place. He can move normally in his area. However, woman lives on the opposite side of the island. She can not move on the ground.

[Igon]

Another example: there are the opposite side of the island. There are the same person, but woman lives here, and man came from far away.

I checked the boundary between the change events is the middle point of the world.

[armiel]

Have you rebuilt the routing data and exported a new test version after you brought this problem up? The routing data at the last pictures looks just fine, sims should be able to access every spot except the underside of the trees. Also remember to clear the caches before installing the updated version, and also make sure you delete the earlier version in both launcher and installed worlds-folder to avoid conflicts.

[Igon]

I think this looks like one of those screwy things introduced with the Pets patch.

This is true. Perhaps, this problem introduced with latest updates. This happens not only when I click "go home" but it happens always with "go home" for sims who live on the opposite side of the world.
To eliminate this problem I need to lay a straight road in the middle of the world. I can not have a large lake in the middle and I can not build roads only along the perimeter of the world. I checked it and it helps.
I think that the central road is the base program for traffic.

[simsample]

Before you do anything though, rebuild the routing data and export again, as armiel mentioned.

Start a new savegame to test too- don't use a save from an old version. :)

[Igon]

I'm sorry but I don't know what can I do with routing data, how can I rebuild it. Do you have more information about it, or any tutorial ?

[bakafox]

Igon: The layout of road is not the problem, it is that you need to paint the areas you do not want Sims traveling on, and you need to go to "Vew" in upper menu and select "Rebuild Routing Data"

http://www.modthesims.info/article.php?t=439329 is a tutorial on basic routing

http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Tutorials:TS3_CAW_Tutorials is a list of CAW tutorials here on Mod the Sims or related to Mod the Sims- http://thesimsupply.com/showthread.php?tid=154 is the start of a video tutorial that covers several basics.

[Igon]

Thank you very much, Tutorial is very nice. I'll do this and maybe I will correct my mistakes. :)

[Igon]

I rebuilt the routing data, see pictures. The problem is not solved. The sims continue to go through the ground. Any other suggestions?

[Igon]

My world:
http://www.mediafire.com/?6svx54xv7bbhn77

[simsample]

Okay, I downloaded the world and tested it, and I can't reproduce the errors. I moved sims into every lot and played them; they can use the roads and run across the hills with no issues, and I can make them visit community lots and go home with no trouble. I tested by foot and by vehicle. Perhaps you could tell me exactly what you do to create the problem, like 'I put the sim on this lot and click on top of this hill to tell them to go there'.

Otherwise, the causes I can think of for this could be:
1) Some kind of mod or install affecting your world. For example, do you have a world installed as a package file in your Mods folder? To test this, drag Documents\ Electronic Arts\ The Sims 3 to the desktop, and run the game to generate fresh files with no mods/ CC. Install the world again and test.
2) Perhaps you are using an old savegame when you install the world? You need to delete the old save and start a fresh one.

[Igon]

Thank you for your time and thank you for your advice, but I didn’t use any mods, and I re-installed my game and origin program before I started to test a new version of the word.
I want to ask you to test the game one more time. Don’t use any other lots and middle part of the island, use only two opposite lots where the samples of houses are located and test only these places.

I put the sim on the lot with the sample of the house and clicked on the coast of the opposite side of the world, diagonally. The sim moves automatically, he uses car on the road and runs to the beach. When he arrives his point of destination, I click “go home”. The problem areas are where he runs on the ground.

[ellacharmed]

I didn't encounter floating or sinking Sims either in my testing. Did you start over to test with new Sims 3 user folders, and just have your world file installed?

One issue I did encounter is the Saves cannot be loaded on the 2nd try due to the world name, I believe - the period in "v.2". As others have encountered, you should refrain from using non-alpha characters when naming worlds - like apostrophes or periods.

[simsample]

Oh wow, I get it now, Igon- but only doing as you instructed in post #25. Very strange.

The only thing I can hazard a guess at is that the area affected has no objects; meaning that the routing splines are few and far between. What you could try as a test is to place a rock or some trees there, make the non-routable areas a little smaller and then rebuild routing data so that you get a 'mesh' of small triangles instead of those long rays. This in effect increases the resolution of the routing map, so perhaps forcing the sim to more accurately follow the terrain contours. What I think is happening is that the sim is following the routing, but the routing is bisecting the hills (a little like the inaccuracy you get when sims feet sink slightly as they run up hill, but on a larger scale). So perhaps forcing the routing to be rebuilt differently will solve this. Placing an object or tree will cause the routing map to change.

@Ella- I noticed that too!

[Igon]

Thanks again for your participation. I tried as a test to place a rock and trees there and rebuilt routing data after that. I got a fine mesh. However, it did not solve the problem.

[Igon]

I used another solution to this problem. I took the same world and only paved one road in diagonal, from one corner of the world to the opposite corner. If you test this new version of the world again, using instruction from post #25, you will not find the same problem.

My new version of the world: http://www.mediafire.com/?aepww7j71os8v4v

[simsample]

So you solved it in this version, by changing the roads? Did you start over, or did you edit the existing version? I'm curious as to whether this was an error with the map itself, or just the road!

[Igon]

I didn’t start over, and I didn’t change the roads. I edited only one road that connects the corners of the world, and the problem was gone.

[simsample]

How curious, I'll take a look when I get chance because I'm intrigued!