I am currently using:
the Hipster Loft bunks, converted by Veranka
selected beds from Threadandsandpaper's "Sleepover Party" sets - top bunk versions to match the EA beds.
the 3t2 Ohio bunk (converted by Chrissy?)
the 3t2 Sinuous Sleeper, by HCove
the 3t2 Bare Bones, by HCove

I haven't noticed any jump bugs with them to date.

Any particular reason why pescado's bat box might be crashing my game? It seems to happen at random when I use Rerandomize sim generator against firstborn syndrome. Sometimes it crashes, but not always. I'm considering only doing it via Create a Family, but that takes longer to load than using the bat box. But of course if I now have to take the risk of crashing into consideration, the choice is not that obvious.

EDIT:
On a completely unrelated note, what are the golden hobby "placards" you get from the hobby instructors when you reach maximum enthusiasm called in English? I'm trying to find a way to get the thingys through cheats or hacks for a friend but I don't even know what they're called so I don't find anything when I look for it.

Question. I made a bunch of recolours of a baseball cap today, but it was originally cloned from a pair of glasses with a rim as well as the usual lens and frame. Only the frame texture is actually used, so is there any way I can remove the useless rim one from the packages?

^ It's tricky and/or tedious to remove them from already established recolor packages. Much easier when you're making a new mesh/recolor combo that doesn't have recolors. Files need to be deleted both from the recolor file and the mesh, and have to be recolored again in Bodyshop (or it's a very fiddly process in each recolor file - and there's one line that can be very difficult to figure out how to edit, which Bodyshop does without issue if you make that second recolor - it's mentioned in Rented-space's tutorial below).

If you want to remove large textures that don't show anyway, the easiest is to just replace the texture with a placeholder (a small, for instance /64x64/128x128/256x256, either white or black floodfill texture will do, these take up just a few KB, and you can use DXT1 for this in SimPE - it updates all sizes). If you do it in Bodyshop, leave the alpha white, and make sure to resize both the alpha and the texture BEFORE you save the file (should be same size!) - otherwise Bodyshop throws a tantrum.

Improperly removing the group references from the MeshOverlay and other resources can result in all sorts of weird things happening (Bodyshop likes to throw a hissy fit if you don't do it properly, and CAS loves to crash your game if anything is wrong). Removing the lens and rim groups from the mesh will result in a blue-flashing accessory, and pretty much the only way to fix that (if you have a bunch of recolors that would also need fixing - which honestly would be too much work to bother) is to add a placeholder lens and/or rim.

If you are making a new accessory mesh/recolor combo,
How to eliminate lens/rim group in accessories, and more on how to rename or edit them - Link
Tutorial (adding groups, but reverse it for removing them) - Link

You could do the edits for each file and then make new recolor files of these again. Depends how much work you're willing to put into it.

Bleugh, I was hoping it would be as easy as removing normals and worried it would be... that. I'll have a look at the tutorials anyway, thank you.
ETA: Well I just opened up the mesh file and it's missing bits and would end up flashing blue anyway, so might as well go for it and try and fix it!

^ The easiest/quickest for a blue-flashing issue would probably be to add mesh placeholders - https://modthesims.info/t/283059

The thing is, you have to fix each individual recolor file - which means to edit the MeshOverlay, then make a new recolor file of each individual file (and maybe replace the texture, because Bodyshop loves to add grain), and then edit out the mesh parts you no longer need.

It's much simpler and quicker to add a placeholder texture and mesh parts that take up minimal space in the files.

Also, why do people insist on using the accessories that include the Rim group when they only plan on using the Frame group? Never understood that... I've always used the ones that only have Frame and Lens (and will stop using Lens in the future, but it's too much work to remove it from I don't know how many files - can't bother since it doesn't have a texture anyway).

I think people just choose a pair of glasses at random. And the mesh is from 2006, so maybe they genuinely didn't know any better. Anyway, I've altered one and it was tedious and there are 43 more recolours so I'm going to sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning, but I'll probably go with adding the placeholder to the mesh and making the rim textures tiny. Or I might just extract all the frame textures to a folder and bash out new recolours from the one I've fixed (I already exported it to check and yay, it only exported a frame texture). Now I've made all the pretty recolours, copy-pasting them will be easy.

I would consider finding a better mesh. I've done that before when trying to recolour base game items. Nothing worse than messy badly mapped mesh.

The actual mapping is fine really, hence why I ended up with 44 recolours of a hat I'll probably only use on a handful of Sims. XD it's just the useless extra parts spitting out redundant textures that are a problem, and only in a bloaty file way.

Is your computer memory constrained? I've noticed that each time in CAS when I generate a new random Sim, the memory in use by the game increases a little even though I'm not saving those Sims - like you, I'm just doing that to seed the RNG to avoid Firstborn Syndrome. So one possibility might be a memory problem since doesn't the bat box possibly generate up to something like 25 Sims behind the scenes?

Another possibility might be that you have a bad default or townie-enabled piece of content and whenever the bat box generates a Sim with that item, it causes a crash.

Just guesses on my part...

Nobody knows what they're called? I guess everyone just sells them right away like I do.
"Congratulations, you've reached maximum enthusiasm so I've put this in your inventory". Now it's driving me crazy. What is it that they put in the inventory?? XD

They're called plaques.

Question about ACR fertility.

Does it matter at all for men?

I am right in understanding that it's only significant if you have a mod that allows male sims to get pregnant, but otherwise, won't affect game play?

I want to confirm because I have an extended lifespan, so for ACR fertility, I have to set it to static and change it for each Sim. I then have to reduce it each rotation. It would be lovely if I only had to do this for the female sims who are straight or bi.

Male sims fertility means only if they will be pregnant by aliens. There is NOTHING what stops them being a father.

I'm pretty sure the chance of pregnancy by aliens is controlled by something else entirely and ACR doesn't touch that. Each sim's fertility is the chance they'll get pregnant from woohoo, if that sim is able to get pregnant from woohoo in your game.

Yes, you can leave it alone and ACR will assume normal fertility for the guy. If you wanted certain sims to be infertile, though, I think changing that (their personal pregnancy odds) would do the trick.

But how long is your lifespan? You can adjust ACR's curve so you don't have to do it manually. I wrote step by step instructions from Almighty Hat's explanation once--check the link in my siggy and if you need help, let me know.

ETA: Annaminna, I think we discussed this before, in answer to Primavera's question a while back. No one posted their results in the thread, so I don't know if it worked for you, but I'll mention it again, just in case. If you have a male/female couple and you don't want the male to ever be a father, change that sim's personal settings to 'Cannot get pregnant' and that sim should not try for baby at all. (And so won't be a father.) If you have a same sex couple and you want one sim to be the father (Sim A) and the other sim to get pregnant (Sim B), then you would change Sim A's personal pregnancy odds to 0% (and make sure 'Can get pregnant' is selected/enabled, so that they can try for baby). This way Sim A should try for baby, but the chance for pregnancy should be 0, so the partner should get pregnant. Did you try that? Also, remember that ACR settings only affect ACR interactions, so you would need a separate mod to make a sim infertile during Maxis interactions. And there's a couple of those out there.

When you want to move a family to a new house using the sim bin, which of these would be better:

A) putting expensive furniture in their inventory, everything else sold by moving out, or
B) letting the game sell everything and getting the amount shown as their "net worth"

Basically, I don't know if net worth is calculated with the furniture's current value, or the catalogue value, because if the former's the case, A would be better, but if the latter, then B.

Current value; but personally I'd think that "better" would be calculated on the basis of which you find less convenient, going in and out of inventory or going through the catalog. You'd have to have a lot of expensive furniture in order for it to make much difference whether a particular piece was in inventory or sold as part of net worth; and that difference would become moot when the furniture was replaced anyway. Other considerations would be whether the new place is in a style that would suit the old furniture or is different enough that the sims would want to start completely fresh, and amount of room in the new place vs. the old.

Personally I always load up the inventory, because selling everything and starting fresh is not something we ever did when moving, and because I like continuity.

Remember not to put beds and cars in inventory; and that photobooth pictures and custom/portrait/still life pictures are prone to being lost in transit.

Not sure which house layout to go with, kitchen and dining in the front or kitchen and dining in the back, so I'm coming to my fellow simmers to get a quick poll! Agree if you like layout 1, with the kitchen and dining in the front. Disagree if you like option 2, with the kitchen and dining in the back. Of course if you have other suggestions, I'd appreciate that as well. Definitely been staring at this house layout for a while.




Why do people dislike the kitchen and the dining rooms in the front of the house anyway? Especially nowadays where the kitchen is central to the home?

The kitchen is a work area, and until recently was where the mistress of the house spent most of her time. I don't know how it worked elsewhere in the world, but until recently the custom was for the front of the house to be the formal, public face of the home, where visitors were received, and the rear was the private, intimate, area, where things weren't as tidy and no one had a right to judge you. Anything wrong with the front of the house would be gossiped about by neighbors, but the kind of person who'd talk to you behind your back didn't get into the back of the house. Instead you rang the front doorbell and the lady of the house, or a servant back when that happened, or whoever was expecting you, would take a minute to make themselves tidy and let you in. Intimate friends of the house, however, were privileged to go around back to the kitchen door and be welcomed immediately - if you were intimate enough you just walked in, with maybe a token knock - in an informal setting.

Nowadays, it's much less common to have formal callers - if people aren't on intimate terms they aren't invited in. Also, women don't spend as much time in the kitchen as they used to, so it's not usually in disarray. So how strongly you feel about the location of the kitchen will vary with your social class (people throwing parties for business reasons don't want anybody seeing behind the scenes where the hors d'oevres are thrown together), self-consciousness, and desire to make an impression.

In the sims, of course, you have to take game mechanics into account. Sims don't make formal calls. Even the headmaster visit makes no distinction between one room and the next - a large well-appointed bathroom will please the headmaster as much as a small living room. They do, however, head straight to the fridge during a party to raid it and take long detours to set the table if the layout is very slightly off. So for game purposes it matters less where in the house a kitchen is located than it does where the doors are in relation to the stove and table.

Those pictures look like the same layout from different angles to me.

Lol, I probably should have taken the picture from the same angle; I always forget that. I updated the pictures; hopefully, they're a little easier to tell apart now.

And you make a good point about people's different attitudes about entertaining, Peni. Sometimes I watch HGTV (a tv channel with lots of home renovation and house flipping shows, for any simmers who don't know what that is) I see someone with very strong views about having a dining room too close to a front entrance or having the kitchen in the front of the house. It seemed weird to me because what usually happens in family gatherings is that everyone ends up in the kitchen and hangs out there, if only to hang around/help out the cook. I think that's one reason why open concept is loved so much, too. Anyway, I think I'll keep that in mind as I'm now designing more middle and upper class homes for Pleasantview. It'll make more sense for higher end homes to have kitchens that are set back, or further away from the entry.

I think what's stressing me about this layout though, is that I'm worried about that sim functionality flow you're talking about Peni. I don't usually put the stairs in the middle of the home, but because I'm trying to fit 4 good sized rooms upstairs, this was the best layout I could come up with. (This will be a mid range home, and these series of homes I'm building or renovating to have at least four bedrooms and two bathrooms, and room for two cars. This will be the only mid range home without a garage, too, at least so far.)

Yes, I can see it now. I think which one plays better will depend on the size of the family, with the front kitchen serving better for a large family (three or more children) and the rear one for a small (two or less). The rear kitchen really calls for a single-tile table, and if the family has more than two children, or entertains a lot, the cook will wind up eating in the living room out of sight of the rest of the family for most meals. With room for a multi-tile table and an island, the front arrangement, with the kitchen offset from the front door, will work better for families in which sims are eating breakfast on their way out the door to work and school, or in which guests are frequently brought home for dinner.

I like the first layout better because I love when the counters/stove/fridge have their own little nook like that. I also think the whole thing - the counters, island counter, and table- fits really well into the front of the house and looks a bit more awkward in the back layout. I've been to plenty of houses where the kitchen is in the front of the house. If that bugs you, maybe take the 2x3 section by the front door and give it a wooden flooring and give the rest of the kitchen tiles so it has a mini foyer.

Thank you to the both of you; talking about the layout helped me realize my biggest problem--that I did need to move the stairs. For me, the house has much better flow with the stairs on the side of the house; I felt the dining table was tight in both of the previous layouts. In the front of the house, I ended up with dead space behind the island & barstools, and then the chairs were too close to the front door. Okay, but not ideal for routing. And then, yes, in the back of the house, the table seemed to call for more space as well--I couldn't seem to get it to not seem too close to the stairs or the back door. (When building and planning, I try to stage with the 2x2 table. I don't often build with a particular sim or family in mind, so by doing it that way, I can ensure I have space for all six seats if I need it later. Plus that is my preferred dining set up anyway. It's not really necessary in all houses, but it never hurts to have extra seats for guests, right?) Anyway, here's what I came up with:



I still got a nice kitchen nook (I love when that happens, too, BeckyBoo8!), I think, and was able to keep the island and barstools. And I was even able to keep the same room sizes upstairs:


As I'm rebuilding Pleasantview, I'm trying to be more exact about my building. My starter homes have 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, maybe closets if you're lucky, and these mid range homes will have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and have to have closets. So I was happy I could keep my prefered room size (I don't like to go smaller than 4x4) without increasing the house size.

I'm still not 100% positive about it, especially since the door to the sunroom is now in the back mudroom/laundry room, but I think it flows better. Thoughts?

Personally, I would do layout 1, and flip the cabinets to the opposite wall against the stairs. Then you can place the kitchen table in the front with a window to look out. That's how my childhood home was- kitchen in the front with a big bay window.