Very nice. I won't complain that I wish there were carnival games that gave prizes. If I ever gained the knowledge of modding objects, I would love to make a candy apple and cotton candy machine. You guys on here inspire me.

...must...get...all...EPs...
This looks incredible,though!

I think it would've been better had it been in one file, but, i love this set. Thanks.

Maybe its just my game but I have every expansion but Apartment Life.If you don't have that it may not work.

I am loving this carnival set! I can't believe it has been seven years since you posted it. It feels like a birthday present.

Echo, you are brilliant and I hope you still monitor this thread, because I have a question and request about a feature of the carnival carts (definitely applies to the Spooky Cart; not sure about the roller coaster).

I have been trying to build a two-story haunted house in which the cart goes upstairs partway through the ride and then back downstairs. However, there's a feature of the Spooky Cart that makes it difficult. From what I have been able to tell by testing, the Spooky Cart has no difficulty going through doorway arches and up and down stairs as long as the building is not closed or complete (i.e., as long as there are missing wall sections and the cart is not technically "indoors."). Inside a completely enclosed building, however, the cart just stops at thresholds and staircases. It also will not cross thresholds to go from inside to outside or vice versa.

The nice thing about having a closed building is the view feature that automatically brings down walls so you can see inside. If part of the exterior wall is missing, this feature doesn't work, and the walls stay up, obstructing the view inside the haunted house. The only option left is to leave the whole front wall missing, which really ruins the amusement park's aesthetics.

So...it appears my choices are to be able to see inside the house easily, or to have the cart be able to go upstairs/downstairs and through arches. I can't have both. And I especially can't have what I REALLY wanted to do, which was to have the carts weave outside onto balconies and into a graveyard, and then back inside....because the carts can't the cross inside/outside thresholds.

Do you know of any possible solution to this problem....either by making the carts able to pass through thresholds and go upstairs/downstairs with a closed building, OR by enabling the walls to come down automatically for viewing even when the building is not fully closed? Enabling "walls down entirely" does not work, because then you can't see the decorated back and side walls, and it does not feel like you are inside a haunted house. I found this thread on MTS asking about a view feature that might work, but it doesn't look like anyone had a solution: http://linna.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=339400

Is there any way to modify code so that the cart can cross thresholds and climb stairs even with a closed building?

Thanks for any help or ideas you can offer. I thought I would check with you before I tear this thing down and settle for a single-story ride. You are a rock star for creating this set!

Hi carrien,

As you noted, it's been a very long time since I coded these! I don't actually have SimPE installed any more, so I can't say with absolute certainty... But I'm pretty sure I originally added code in there which makes sure that carts only target cart runners in the same room. That's why outdoor ones can travel through doors and the like - outdoors is all considered one room. But in enclosed spaces, doorways mark portals to different rooms, so the cart won't travel through them.

If you're willing to make some BHAV modifications, you could have a look in (I think) either the "main" or the "find cart runner" function, for an Expression call which mentions "My Room" or "Stack Object's Room". Change the return for that line so that it always allows the cart to continue.

The downside of making that change is that if you have a haunted house and a roller coaster on the same lot, they might conflict. That is, if the haunted house cart thinks that a runner laid down for the roller coaster (in another room) is closer than the one you intended it to use, then it will drive up to that runner and start following your coaster tracks. (Preventing that conflict was the reason the room check was added in the first place - as long as your carts are all in different rooms they won't steal each other's tracks).


ETA: As for putting the track 'outside' and dealing with the walls problem... I can actually think of one solution but it would definitely take some modding. Make a one-tile object with a wall-height single square face along one edge. (It has to be a face, not a cube, because TS2 does not render backfaces.) Place this object with the face pointing in towards your haunted house, and recolour it however you choose in place of a wallpaper. When the game camera is pointing at the outwards wall, it'll be showing the backfaces of your fake-wall, and won't render anything. When the game camera is pointing at the inside wall, it'll be showing the normal faces and will render your texture. If you want to mimic the 'cut away' effect, then simply add a small cube running along the bottom of the face, which will be visible from both sides.

The downside of this is that it won't respect the "walls up/walls down" button. It will always hide the outside of walls and show the inside no matter what. It might also look a little bit odd if you angle the camera to look along its edge.

Echo, thanks VERY much for your fast reply and for taking the time to explain all that. I'm not a modder, and the second part you explained is Greek to me, but perhaps if I read a little more about how the codes are written I could figure out the first suggestion you made. I find all of this fascinating.

Before I found your reply, I was just about to write again to ask you if just the stair problem could be handled separately from the crossing thresholds problem, so that the cart could go upstairs in a closed building without worrying about going outside or on balconies. But it sounds like you are saying that the stair problem is also tied to "entering another room," rather than the action of using the stairs itself (going to another floor = going to another room). It's so interesting to hear what the code is actually doing. I was testing all these different configurations on the lot to try to figure out what was wrong, and it took me forever even to realize that outside/inside was an issue; I was fiddling with how far the direction changers were from the door, etc.

I have attached a few pictures of the first amusement park I made with your wonderful creation. I lost the packaged lot for that one when I reformatted the computer recently, so I am having the fun of starting over and building a new one.

Echo, I am in awe of your talents, and so impressed that you share them with everyone when you could easily ask money for your creations. In addition, you are a genuinely nice person to be answering questions in such detail, seven years later.

Thanks again so much for the hours and hours of fun.

Carrie

Exactly, yes. Doors, stairways, the 'teleport' ability, bridges, they're all basically the same type of object - a portal. Portals have two key tiles, end points, and those two portals can go in different rooms. Any other tiles are just decoration. Using a portal results in the sim switching from one room to another. In the case of stairs, it just so happens that one of those rooms is at a different height to the other.

The second part of the answer, with the backfaces, wouldn't require any code at all. It's basically just a very simple new mesh. Just FYI.

If you're interested in learning how the code works, you should absolutely read through this tutorial: http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=142907 . Modding is a very cool, very fun thing to learn, and makes a whole lot of unexpected things possible.

Your carnival looks quite fantastic, by the way!

Thanks. I love that you made the rides so customizable. The possibilities are endless.

Wow! I have just been at your website looking through the tutorials. It's a goldmine! They are so clearly written that I think I might actually be able to do this!

Thank you!

Wow..I have one question though.. do you HAVE to have pets because i have all the rest of that stuff.. oh and and please answer quickly before i leave the library

This is one of my all time favorite downloads. I love how you made the objects useable. I have had had fun making my own roller-coaster tracks with this set.

Grata por seu Trabalho Grandioso. Talento Artistico! Parabens

Thank you ! :)

thank you

Thanks!!! Beatiful!!!!

this carnival set is amazing love it (")

Wonderfull job!! Thank you very much!!

This takes me back to Makin' Magic. Thanks a ton for this

i love it

Oh, amazing!!

There are Minds than there are "GREAT" Minds thank to you ECHO and REAL. LOVE :lovestruc

holy cra-p

Thanks You!

Just a warning to anyone downloading this lot. Some of the content on this lot are custom NPCs. If you decide you don't want the lot, you can't just delete all the contents without corrupting your hood. You would have to delete/reset all your hoods.

There is nothing wrong with custom NPCs. I have a bunch of them that I enjoy thoroughly. This lot has a batch of great rides!. But before you commit to a custom NPC in any download, back up your old game, make a copy, and test on that copy. That way, if you decide that some or all of these items aren't for you, you go to your backup, put the items you want in there, and delete the copy.

Thanks!