That means the picture is in the other split file.

Does anyone know what these highlighted details (Blized, Current and Score) mean on the Career Tab in a Sim's record in SimPE.

(These details are for Julian Moltke-Jones -- Andrew's husband.)

Especially what does "Blized" mean.

Thank you for this! I was wondering what you were referring to when you said that it could be taken from the files without using that program. Now all one has to do is figure out which character goes with what numbering they have in the package file.

But anyway, thanks! Now I can find those portraits I've been missing!

If you look at a Sim's record in SimPE, if you click on the "More" Icon, it has an option to open the Sim's Character File as shown above. (I've used Julian's record again.) Unfortunately I don't know what it does if the Sim has two Character Files -- all my Sims have only one!

If a sim has a split character file, the two filenames will be exactly the same except that one will have a .1 on the end of it.

My sim doesn't have a split character file and there still isn't a portrait when I open their file separately and not through the neighbourhood. Annoying, but oh well.


I found this on the Wiki:

"When viewing a Sim in SimPE's Sim Browser, the level of their aspiration bar is shown by two scales. One, labeled "Blized", shows the current level of the aspiration bar, and runs from 0 to 1200. For toddlers, children, teens, and adults, and for elders who have fewer than 12,000 points, it shows one-tenth of the Sim's current aspiration score. The other scale, labeled "Current", appears to reflect how long the bar will remain at its current level, and runs from 0 to 100. It will be at 100 if the bar is at maximum, and drops as the bar drops, but does not appear to be a percentage. Being able to view these scores is useful because a Sim's aspiration bar will occasionally be reset to a low green level when they are moved into a new lot, even if they had attained Perma-platinum. If this happens, the player can use SimPE to reset the Sim's aspiration level."

I have people in a Mansion test neighborhood without pictures too. But I think the images should get added once those people appear in the game with a portrait.

Yeah, I've noticed it kind of comes and goes. Usually the portraits are there after I've played with the household, but sometimes I've had to wait until they've been spotted on a community lot or been brought home from school/work.

My sim has 10 vacation days from having children. Will she lose those if she gets promoted? I've been playing for so long that I can't remember. I would hate to lose those days but she could also use pay raise lol.

No, the paid time off should stay.

The PTO is from days worked, and maternity leave is counted as such.

It's a benefit. Paid out when they retire from the career.

So I can retire my elders without "losing" the days? I mean, do they get it like a bonus? 'Cause I was thinking that I just skip work until all their vacation days is completed

When a Sim is planning to retire, I always get them to take all their Vacation Days before they actually 'phone in to retire. In a sense it's a sort of early retirement.

There is (of course!) a hack that will allow you to cash out the vacation days anytime you like:

https://modthesims.info/d/205632/fr...-available.html

"Vacation time Payout:

Parallel in real life:
When I retired, I had a year's worth of PTO that I had not used. I retired officially on Dec 31, which meant the company HAD to pay me all of it. It's required by law.

A week later I got a very nice final check. Of course I'd planned it that way. I knew the PTO payment was mandatory.

Yeah, that's why a lot of start ups now adopt a policy of "unlimited PTO". If they don't do any PTO accounting, they can't be required to pay out unused PTO when they inevitably lose their funding and lay everyone off.

Most PTO from established businesses is time limited and cannot be rolled over to the next year, which is why if you have a lot of it you should use it because the company will write it off as a tax deduction anyway and you won't have any for the next year.

(unlike in the game, where it's available for as long as the pixel is employed, but they can cash it out beforehand with that hack I linked to.)

What made me happy was the state where I live mandated every employee in any business had to have a certain number of hours of PTO for a prescribed set of hours-and when that kicked in, the amount was raised by a good amount. I think it was for every 40 hours worked, one got a one hour of PTO.

I certainly appreciated it!

...did that thread about the telescope spying implode? I have a notification about a reply, but I can't access the thread anymore.

Looks that way - can't find my replies, either. Maybe the OP deleted their post (I think this deletes the topic, but not sure?), or it was removed by the mods because it was phrased as a request (though getting functions mixed up between LS and TS2 is too easy, and this one just needed some clarification, since what they were after kind of existed already). I can't remember if I saw a reply from the OP.

Did you need anything in it (links...) or just curious/wanting to add more info?

No nothing in particular! Was just confused on how to get rid of the notification if I wasn't able to click it. I realized there's a "mark all as read" button, so now it's gone!

Just curious: would it be possible to turn a Carpool Driver into a regular townie if you change their NPC type using SimPE? Or is that going to cause issues? I thought it was in an April Black vid where she stated they were safe sims to move in but would just spin in circles because of their type. Or maybe I was imagining that...?

This tutorial seems to answer your question:

"Too many carpool drivers? Turn them into townies!"
https://www.tumblr.com/meowingcooki...em-into-townies

Perfect! Thank you.

For some reason Maxis created four paper boys/girls in Veronaville. One is a girl, and three are boys. In my (UK) game the girl is called Katherine Rauscher, but she may be better known to you as Renee Andrews, which is her name in the US version. That in itself is interesting, as Rauscher is a German name, and German names are more common in America than in Britain, as many Germans emigrated to the U.S.A. in the 19th and early 20th century. I rather like Katherine. She's the one that usually just happens to be passing when two of my Sims decide to woohoo in the front garden at seven in the morning. In such circumstances, the Sims involved often give her a quite substantial tip, which Katherine thinks is to buy her silence! She's certainly seen a lot over the years. One day she thinks she'll write a book about the things she's seen. But, to spare the blushes of her fellow-Veronavillians, she'll probably change most of the names.

Anyway, to get back on track, the boys are Jess Shaikh, Sirdar Curtin and Justus Bruenig. I regularly see Jess and Sirdar delivering papers, but I've never seen Justus Bruenig at all -- neither delivering a paper, nor doing anything else. When I look at his record in SimPE, I can see that he's never even met another Sim. When viewed in SimPE, his only memory is "Token - Sim - Initialized". I've been told that the game is coded never to use more than three newspaper delivery NPCs. So, if I leave things alone, he never will deliver a paper, or do anything else in my game. May I ask if he's ever appeared in anyone else's game. If that's true about the game only being able to use three of them, I suppose that would mean one of the other three would never make an appearance. I presume that if I were to make Katherine, Jess or Sirdar playable, Justus might take over their paper round.

But, since neither Katherine, Jess nor Sirdar look likely to become playable any time soon, I am tempted to turn him into a townie, which, the way I do it, would mean moving him into one of my changing huts/sheds, and making him playable for a few days first. I'd give him some new clothes, and probably a new hairstyle. Any thoughts?

[EDIT] Bruenig looks to me like a German name too, so I think he'll probably pronounce "Justus" the German way. Much in the same way as Julian Moltke-Jones pronounces his name.

Make him playable! Poor boy has been waiting on the edges of the stage for his turn in the limelight.

What do you do with Contempo Moderne? It's a medium sized shop on the fringes of the main commercial area in Bluewater Village. In some ways though it looks to me more like an exhibition hall than a retail shop. At an asking price of over §62,000 it's well out of the reach of most of my Sims. It's certainly not something the Larsons could afford. (They're buying an empty 2x1 lot across the road from the Club Dante.) It contains a handful of decorative items, which could easily be marked for sale, but to my way of thinking, it would need a lot more saleable stock -- perhaps another §10,000's worth to turn it into a viable retail business. There are some comfortable-ish chairs arranged around the place, as if placed so visitors could sit and admire the decor. I suppose you could also mark this furniture, and a flat screen TV for sale too. Or you might put in a banditron machine, and run it as a gallery with a few items for sale. I can't think of much to do with it as an unowned community lot either. The Maxis blurb about the place reads:
"We at Contempo Moderne believe that less is more...even when it costs more than most. If the sparse, clean lines of our showroom don't leave you longing for less, we'll treat you to a professional, aesthetic re-evaluation - on the house!"

Has anyone here managed to do anything useful with it?

I an currently playing Sarah McGuire, who is staying in the Bluewater Changing Huts, and is about to ask the above-mentioned unemployed paper boy Justus Bruenig to move in with her. The Contempo Moderne is the nearest building to theirs. I am thinking of them going on an outing there, but cannot think why they would go there. Maybe they'll just go and look at the place. "Just think Justus, this could be ours -- if we had seventy five thousand Simoleons to spare, and could think of anything to do with this place."



[EDIT] On checking the (Fandom) Sims Wiki, I see that they call Contempo Moderne a furniture shop, which means that they think you should mark the furniture for sale. At least that would give your entrepreneurial Sims a better chance of profit than if they only sell the decorative ornaments. But I'd still like to know what other players have done with this lot.