I've been having issues every now and then with routing and bookcases -- this *seems* to work fine now, but one person testing only goes so far, so I'd like to have this tested some more before I put it in Downloads.





It's a wall mounted bookcase similar to the Base Game Maxis one ("Intellectual Illusion"), only in a traditional/country style. Should be working exactly like the "Intellectual Illusion", except that it can be put on the wall at any height. -- this I had to remove since it made the shelf unusable in basements (see below, thanks for finding that!), so I made it relatively low now. This way one can still move it up in Build/Buy, so there's at least a little variation possible.

The normals on the boosk mesh are a little busted in some places (forgot to split seams) but that doesn't matter for testing the functionality. -- that is done in this version.


Updated again with a version that has the deco slot ON the shelf, instead of half a meter above it =P


Attachment removed -- available in Uploads, see last post.

Everything seems to work as expected above ground, but the routing is messed up in basements. Tested on 2 lots in case one was somehow corrupted, and in different basement rooms on one lot: on the first lot sims can't interact with the shelf at all and play the routing issue animation (empty room, one armchair, one floor light); on the other lot, in one case sims can take a book but reset and put it on the ground when asked to put it away; in another room (same level), sims can put the books away but can't route to take one. In both places I tried different walls and placement heights.
I've been wondering how hard it would be to make this much needed little thing... Not as straightforward as one could have hoped it seems!

Oh, thank you! That is something I would never have tested -- none of my lots have basements atm. So that's why the Maxis bookcase has a fixed height, I guess.

I'll make a version of the shelf that also has a fixed height and post it here as well. I'll tag you when it's up =)

Here is a fixed-height version to test with. This is quite unfinished, with only one working colour variant (ignore the second one, that's using the wrong textures), but for testing placement/routing it should be fine.

I was able to repro the basement issue (thanks again) and I don't seem to have it with this version.

@Nuliette --- Would be glad if you could check as well, since you said it behaved somewhat different for you on different lots. Thanks!


Testing done, attachment removed.

Okay, this took me some time to figure out, and it's related neither to the free height feature, nor to basements ; it's just more obvious when testing with basements, which tend to not have a great environment score.
With your first version, the sims won't use the shelf is there's a bookcase more expensive than the original wall mounted one anywhere on the lot, or even if there's another shelf in a nicer room ; if the path is blocked they get a routing failure. This is not so bad with your newest version, but there seems to be a balance with distance, expensiveness and I don't know what else - I'd need to test some more with that one.
The other issue is a bit more specific : sims can't put away books on the shelf if there's any of your intellect bookcases around *with a stereo or TV placed on it* - and yes, I had those on both of my lots... This was made clear with your newest version since it allows the sims to use the shelf in most of my tests, but happens with the first one too.
It would be great though if there was a way to keep the free height placement feature!

Wow, that's some thorough testing! Thank you!

Unfortunately, the free height placement is a core issue it seems -- as much as I'd prefer to have that, I can consistently break a working version just by changing the placement flag (it doesn't even matter how i actually place the bookcase in the end). But what does work is give the bookcase a relatively low minimum height, and then moving it up in Build/Buy with moveobjects and the 0/9 keys. So that is what I did now; it's not ideal but one can still place it quite freely that way, if not as effortless as with totally free placement.

I'm not sure I can follow your description of routing issues with the first version, but since that is not working in basements I won't upload that anyway. Thanks for checking though =). Re. "there seems to be a balance with distance, expensiveness and I don't know what else - I'd need to test some more with that one" -- to some extent I think it always works like that; I've never tested it systematically but since all bookcases share the same inventory, I think it's kind of logical that sims won't insist to use the bookcase on the attic that the user has clicked on.

To figure out whether it's actually an issue with my bookshelf, or with the game in general, you could test with the Maxis wall mounted bookshelf (Base Game, "Intellectual Illusion") -- whenever sims won't use the Maxis one they probably won't use mine either, but in that case it would be a game issue that I cannot change.


Regarding the TV/stereo blocking things: I have updated the low Intellect bookcases at some point because there were issues with TVs, do you have that update? If not I'll take another look at that then -- from what you say it sounds like sims were trying to use the Intellect bookcase because it's closer/nicer/whatever, and then that is blocked by the TV, which is why it fails (so it probably wouldn't change anything to edit *this* bookcase since the TV blocking would still be an issue).


I also have a more finished version now, with colour variants and such -- I'll put that in the first post in a sec.

--

Edit: I just checked and yes, the routing stuff you see seems to be a general game issue/feature/particularity:

* House has a Rustic Bookshelf in the basement, and a Suchandsuch Intellect (one of mine) with a TV on top on the ground floor. Sim stands in front of the Rustic one, and when I tell her to Read Something, she goes upstairs to get a book from the Intellect bookchase (which works without issues for me) and proceeds to read it there.

* When I do the same experiment with the Maxis wall mounted bookcase instead of the Rustic one, the exact same thing happens. I dunno, this might actually be a feature? My testing basement is really uninviting after all =P.

* When I put a stray book near the shelf in the basement and click "Put Away" on it, the sim puts it in the basement shelf in both cases. When that doesn't work for you, check whether you have the last version of the Intellect shelves?

Okay, I just came to the same conclusion about the routing, I just never noticed that the preference for nicer things could result in a routing failure - I have a very nice but locked electronics shop as decor in a village, the inhabitants just make do with their own cheap stuff, but I understand now that bookcases are a very different thing. Sorry for the confusing description, english is not my first language XD

Also, I downloaded the updated low intellect bookcases and the issue is solved now, thanks for pointing that out!

The link in the first post doesn't seem to be working but I can wait for your final upload. Anyway, thank you for another lovely addition to the game

Are you still having any routing failures now?

To me it sounded like the non-working Put Away would have been caused by the old version of the Intellectual bookcase .. is that solved now or not?

Hi Plasticbox!

Good to see ya :D

Ooooh...nice bookshelf! Would fit anywhere!

My sims won't take books from it though, they go to another bookshelf and take them from there, no matter if they're upstairs or in the basement. The "Clean up books" interaction works though.
E: The slot for deco is a bit high too, but maybe you're working out the bugs first?

Re. not taking books from it -- can you check whether they behave the same when you put the cheapo Maxis wallmounted shelf instead of this one? If they do, that would mean it's a general game issue/feature/behaviour (see posts above). I can't say I understand 100% how bookcase routing works, and as long as my shelf behaves the same as a Maxis item I would not want to fiddle with that.

Re. the slot, thanks! I forgot to move that when I moved the whole object to its current position. (Also, very nice of you to call half a meter off "a bit high" )

Yup...just a teeeny bit high
Oh, I see what you mean, the cheap wall mounted one from EA acts the same...awwwe man, and I really like your bookshelf!
I deleted every other bookshelf on the lot except yours and the wall mounted EA one...and then they finally used yours...but NEVER the one I directed them too Oh EA.
Does it work for you though? Maybe you're referencing something else of yours? I removed all my mods 'cause I'm testing my woodwork toys and only have that and your shelf in game atm.

Sorry for getting back to you so late, but I've been having inconsistent results all day while trying to force sims to take books from the shelf whith other bookcases present on the lot (locking rooms, using closed basements). It did work at times, enough sometimes that a pattern seemed to appear; but at the moment, on a new game with all mods removed, the sims won't take books from the shelf if there's *any* other bookcase on the lot - and yes, the Maxis wallmounted shelf behaves the same.

I did reply about the intellect bookcase issue, it's all solved with the updates, no more issues putting the books back.

Okay, thanks to you both =)

To clarify: I see the same behaviour as you do -- sims will often use another bookcase to actually take their books from, not this one or the Maxian cheap one when you click on it. But when my object behaves exactly like a Maxis one I consider that good enough to upload it -- I cannot tell whether any of the routing behaviour might be considered a bug, but if it is, I don't know how anyone but Maxis could fix it.

(For those really interested in bookcase routing, scumbumbo has posted some details about it in this post: http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/dis...omment_14022498 (that's from last summer though, I don't know whether it still behaves the same). It is definitely not as clear-cut as with other kinds of objects; as I understand it the game always takes *all* existing bookcases on a lot into account when deciding how to route the sims. From that thread you can also learn in what manifold other ways bookcases can go haywire as long as it's "only" resetting -- and now it's not even doing that any more -- I'm actually quite happy!)

Yeah, it seems to be a Maxis issue, but even so, I'll definitely be downloading your shelf, I like it so much better Besides it still looks great and is functional, great for small spaces and a bit of deco...and how often do I actually "direct" my sims to read...I am however constantly telling them to clean up those books they leave EVERYWHERE!
Great work as always!

I've uploaded it --> http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=573802 so I'm closing this thread. Any further feedback, please post in the upload comments. Thanks again!