Additional Entry and Exit Routing Slots to Reduce Door Crowding - Schools, University

Well, I'm sure most everyone has probably experienced the "crowding" debacle when you have lots of school sims trying to enter a one-door building or lots of graduating sims only using one door when there are three available. My wonderful husband has worked very hard to try and find a solution that will help to further deal with these issues so that sims can get in and out of these buildings more quickly. There are two versions available depending on whether you currently use NRaas mods, so please read everything very carefully to be sure you download the correct version for your setup. If you experience any problems, please post and I'll pass the information on to him.

UPDATE MAR 11, 2017
For NRaas Users -- there was an issue with sims not routing to Science buildings with custom school careers -- this should be resolved if you redownload the two mods from NRaas (may still be in testing area):

Career mod should now be version 88 or higher
StoryProgressionCareers mod should now be version 269 or higher

Possible Conflict Info
Bluejenjutsu from Sims Asylum had previously made some mods that dealt with exiting rabbitholes more quickly. Logan failed to catch these, so Dashboard will probably show conflicts when using this mod with hers. I don't know for certain if the game will be affected since the duplicated resources (school / stadium / uni) between mods contain identical info, but placing her mods in a higher priority folder (i.e. Overrides instead of Packages) will ensure that her resources override the ones in this mod if you feel something isn't right. Those familiar with using S3PE can simply delete the 8 XML's from this mod if you prefer.

Dec 31, 2015 Additional Tips for those adding this mod to Pre-Existing Saved Games
From Logan --

It's ok to use this mod with previously saved games (still keep back ups though), but you will need to do one of the following steps 1, 2, 3 or 4 noted below to make sure that the saved game updates correctly once loaded. Whichever step you choose should be done once you've added the mod and immediately after loading your saved game. This will prevent an annoying reset that happens the first time a sim uses the building's new entry points.

It's also recommended to add this mod at a time when schools are empty (no students or employees) so that sims do not get booted out when you start playing. Simply load your game, run it past school (work) hours, make sure everyone's out and make a new save before adding the mod. If you are currently at University, you may want to wait until you return home before adding the mod (Uni buildings will update the next time you travel there).

Once you have added the mod and loaded your saved game, do one of the following:

1. Use the menu (shift-click on the lot will not work) to go to edit town, use build/buy to enter any lot that uses a school containing additional entry points, immediately exit the lot without doing anything (unless you need to remodel) and return to game.
   
   
2. Use the menu (shift-click on the lot will not work) to go to edit town, save a copy of any lot that uses a school containing addtional entry points to the library bin (you can delete these new copies from the bin as soon as they are made) and return to game.
   
   
3. NRaas users can use Master Controller to "Reset Lot" on any lot that uses a school now containing additional entry points.
   
   
4. NRaas users can use Master Controller to "Reset Everything" (could take several minutes depending on pc speed, # of objects, etc.).

**The outer sets of doors on both the Twinbrook and Town Life models will not animate (sims are gonna walk through them ). It appears that these two models need to be replaced with fresh copies in order to update the animation, which of course will reset school performance scores, after-school credits, etc.....just something to keep in mind if your saved game uses either of these models.

Important Notes:

• Those adding this mod to pre-existing saved games, make sure you've read the tips above.

• Be sure to back up saved games before using, just in case something doesn't work correctly so that you can revert back if necessary.

• Thankfully, most pre-existing rabbitholes work straight up, but some remodeling is required under certain circumstances. It's not too overboard, but I wanted it to be known up front in case that's not something you wish to do, only to find this out after spending a lot of time reading all this info.

• NRaas mod users who are currently using Careers or StoryProgression Career will need to make sure the versions they are using are compatible with this mod in order for it to perform correctly. The compatible versions are currently in the "Update History Testing" area of the NRaas site and are usually ok to use until they are eventually moved to the regular download area. The folks there are very quick to inform people of any current issues with the test versions. The required version information is detailed below in the How To Use section.

• Overrides from store worlds & store objects use data that correspond to the original "unmodified" versions of those packages. If you have edited anything before or after installing your store stuff, you will also need to edit these files in the same manner, or the resources will probably not match up or function correctly. These packages do not add objects to the game. Also, any resources included in this mod that correspond to an object from an expansion or store world that you do not own will simply not get used at all.

The Good:

• Compatible with NRaas suite and TwoFtMama's Route Fix or Bluegenjutsu's No Route Fail mods. (registration required)

• Select school & university models will now have 2 to 5 entry / exit points.

• Less crowding issues when multiple sims are attempting to enter simultaneously.

• All doors animate on Twinbrook model and all front doors animate on Town Life model.

• Works with multiple schools, though multiple school bus arrivals might still be confusing.

The Not-So-Good (but Not-Too-Bad):

• Those adding this mod to pre-existing saved games, make sure you've read the tips at the top of the post.

• Most of the newly added slots are in front of "deco" doors that do not animate.

• If you are using a custom world or custom lots that you have created yourself, remodeling could be required if the door areas don't have enough space to accomodate the new routing slots. You should check any door areas for possible routing concerns.

• If you are using a default EA world, some lot remodeling will be required in several cases so that the new routing slots function correctly. These are noted below in the "Remodeling Specifics for Pre-Existing EA Defaults" section. There are also some example images above in the pictures area.

The Basics
This mod simply adds additional entry and exit slots to select rabbitholes along with a script to handle entry so that sims are distributed more equally between all available entry points.

If there's only one doorway, lots of sims will cause problems, obviously. Even when there's more than one doorway, it is still possible for crowding to occur since it appears that sims go for whichever door the game calculates them to be closest to. So, if you have multiple sims all coming from the same direction, it's possible that they will all be assigned to the same entrance, even though there are more available. The autonomous "Give Up and Try Another Door" approach does help out but sometimes seems a bit slow to kick in. This script further helps to deal with crowding by "reassigning" the slot given to each sim to a different one "when" they are told to leave for their destination, thus ensuring that all entrances are being used. The script reassigns the entrance slots sequentially and then simply loops back to the beginning after reaching the end (depending on how many total entrance slots the building now has....from 2 - 5).

You may still get several "reassigned" sims in front of a doorway if they all happen to arrive at the same time, but that's a piece of cake compared to the mass that was. Things improve even more when used with other current mods such as NRaas Relativity, TwoFtMama's Route Fix and Bluegenjutsu's No Route Fail. When tested in Moonlight Falls, all students (except the homeless townies that didn't spawn until 9am) were in school by 8:20 am!**

**It looks like NRaas Story Progression handles the spawning of a few homeless townie teens and children. They appear in the world at 9:00 am and are given instructions to attend school after spawning, so any late sims arriving at school will most likely be these guys. I've seen them occasionally get stuck on the side of the road when in transit, but the game removes them from the world around 1 or 2 am, and they are respawned the following day.

Exiting is still handled via the individual _XML's from GameplayData.package with only a reduction in the "kNPCExitFrequency" property value. Most of these are set to like 10 or 15 (number of game seconds that has to pass before the next sim can exit the rabbithole). The included overrides have a value of 2 that seems to work well. This can be increased using S3PE or NRaas Retuner if you experience sims coming out too fast and morphing through each other (schools that still have only one door are the most likely to be affected). I've seen combo rabbits be inconsistent, sometimes pulling from the single rabbit _XMLs and sometimes pulling from the combo rabbit _XMLs, so overrides are included for both types with matching values in case they decide to act wonky.

The new routing slots were only added to areas around the buildings that already have a visible "decorative" door (non-animating) with the exceptions of Twinbrook and Town Life whose front doors were already capable of animation. In some cases, there may be only one additional access area added even though it's possible to have more, but Logan couldn't stand to see sims disappearing in front of solid walls and windows...lol. He did fix things so that sims would walk up to the deco doors and not walk through them (like ghosts!). The few schools that still have only one door will not make use of the new reassignment code since there would be no point. More details on this below.

IMPORTANT
To Avoid Routing Issues - Empty tile space in front of doors is very important! There should be a minimum of 4 empty grid squares from any door outward. A 4x4 empty square is ideal for double doors, though a smaller width (4x3, 4x2) may also work ok. The starting distance from the door is the most important thing to keep in mind. This will require some slight remodeling in certain cases as noted below:

• If you're creating a new lot with a new model, you should have no problems. Just stick to the above guideline, and don't overly clutter up any visible door areas.

• If you already have a custom built lot and model, once you're game has loaded, you will need to double check all door areas to make sure all is well. Slight remodeling could be required.

• If you're using the default lots and models from EA worlds (new or saved games), there are several models that will need some slight remodeling.
  
  See the "Remodeling Specifics for Pre-Existing EA Defaults" info below for details on all this.

**HOW TO USE

Deleting the scriptCache.package and compositorCache.package is recommended when installing these mods. Removing them may affect saved games that were using them, so be sure you keep backups handy.

SUMMARY OF POSSIBLE SETUPS - Do step 1, 2 OR 3, then do step 4 if applicable

1. If you do not use any NRaas mods:
   
   Download More Entry Points Version1_EA
   
   
2. If you use NRaas mods but do not use Careers:
   
   Download More Entry Points Version1_EA
   Update NRaas Story Progression Career to version 269 or higher (if currently using)
   
   
3. If you use NRaas Careers by itself or with other NRaas mods:
   
   Download More Entry Points Version2_EA
   Update NRaas Careers to version 88 or higher
   Update NRaas Story Progression Career to version 269 or higher (if currently using)
   
   
4. CaSTable RabbitHole Users:
   
   Do one of the above steps (1, 2 or 3) first
   Download More Entry Points_CaSTable Rabbits
   Re-Download MainAssemblyScript .package from the CaSTable RabbitHoles web page if you haven't already updated to the current file dated Dec 14, 2015 (updated file size should be 150KB instead of 280KB)

Make sure to put the .package files in the appropriate folders -- Mods/Packages, Mods/Overrides, etc. (see below for a more detailed explanation)

______________________________
MORE DETAILED EXPLANATION
Choose and download the appropriate .package version (1 or 2) below according to your specific setup. Do NOT Use version 1 and version 2 together or strange things will likely occur.

• EA Default Rabbitholes Users - place one of these .package files in your Mods/Packages folder**
  
  -->More Entry Points Version1_EA
  For those who do not use NRaas mods at all OR use NRaas mods that do NOT include the Careers mod
  Slot reassignment is handled by this mod
  
  -->More Entry Points Version2_EA
  For those who use the NRaas Careers mod -- must be at least version 88 or higher (currently in "Update History Testing" area)
  Slot reassignment is handled by Careers
  
  **If you use .package files instead of the launcher to install store items, then you will already have store rabbitholes in .package form inside your Mods/Packages folder. In this case, you will need to place the Version 1 or 2 .package above inside the Mods/Overrides folder instead.

• CaSTable Rabbitholes Users - place this file in your Mods/Overrides folder***
  
  Include this file in addition to one above if you wish to add the new door routing slots to the CaSTable rabbits.
  
  -->More Entry Points_CaSTable Rabbits -- Must be used with one of the EA versions above!
  
  You will also need to redownload and update the "MainAssemblyScript" .package from the CaSTable RabbitHoles download area (updated Dec 14, 2015) in order for all front doors to animate on the Twinbrook and Town Life models (if you haven't already done so).
  
  ***If for some reason you have the CaSTables in the overrides folder already, then you will need to make a new folder that has an even higher priority, i.e. Mods/UltraOverrides, and edit your resource.cfg file to include the new folder and set it's priority.

Also, anyone using the NRaas Story Progression mod along with the optional Story Progression Careers mod will need to update that optional StoryProgression Careers mod to version 269 or higher (currently in "Update History Testing" area). It can be used with any of the above versions since it will override and take priority in both cases.

If you run into any issues and need assistance, please note exactly what steps you took and which folders you are using for each package.





Additional Credits:
Logan (my wonderful hubby) for contributing to the Sims community
Inge & Peter for their wonderful S3PE / S3OC / Tweaker tools that have made this possible
Chain at NRaas for his help to make things compatible with specific modules (and GitHub stuff) and for fixing some boo-boo's on our first attempt at updating Test versions
igazor at NRaas for helping out with initial testing and feedback
J4Ks and deesim at NRaas for their quick find and notification of a rather big initial boo-boo
icarus_allsorts for a couple of nudges to get us back on track when we got stuck
All the other modders who continue to provide us with more great game content