FreeTime questions

[Karen]

For those of us who don't have a Prima guide (and wouldn't necessarily trust what it says in any case...) can someone answer this question?

What exactly is the definition of a BFF (in terms of LTR/STR) and how does it differ from a regular best friend relationship?  I got three of them in one family in the space of a few minutes and I wasn't paying the slightest attention at the time.  Seems to me BFFs will be very easy to accumulate with autosoc/autoyak.

Karen

[J. M. Pescado]

The exact definition of how it happens is presently unknown. The effect of such a thing is basically negligible and has no real meaningful effect: Daily rel decay is -1 when positive, +3 if negative, instead of -2/-2. So, basically, it has no effect, since the rel is still damaged.

[doren]

I got a description for it, either in the wants panel or in the memories and it says that there are also some special interactions which only BFF get, something along the lines of sharing secrets, though it is worded differently.

[Trubble]

Wasn't it sharing secrets and greeting from long distances or something?

How I understood it was you have to maintain best friend status for a certain amount of time (don't know how long) to turn them into a BFF (blech).

ETA: It also says about them not being able to stay mad with the other sim.

[sloppyhousewife]

Afaik, you can call them at any time, too (unless they're at work). Great, more memory spam. I have a sim with ~30 best friends, now I have to scroll through ~30 golden icons before getting to the interesting stuff 

[Karen]

Does the baby controller support the new Maxis cribs?  I have not seen my Sims autonomously put a toddler in a new-style crib yet.  (Have not played any lots with babies yet.)  They do use the new wooden changing table, which is great. 

If it doesn't support the new cribs now, are you planning to do so at some point in the future?

Karen

[Sivany]

BFF are made far too easily, the memory spam and new interactions are ridulously annoying. In real life I have one person who is my best friend who I share all my secrets with and forgive straight away if she annoys me. I don't see why sims should have more than 2, maybe 3. Most annoying is the stupid hug interaction that wipes out the sims queue and current activity. It only happens if the sim is outside when the BFF drops by but still, grrrr.

[nekonoai]

piggybacking on Karen,

Is there a way to make the babycontroller use custom baby furniture sets? I have a couple of nice looking cribs/changing tables that I can't use if I want to have the eye in the sky as well.

[Zazazu]

Anyone tried using the current SimPE on an FT game? I suspect it'll error into oblivion. I want to change that BFF crap. And heck, I'll try my first non-autonomy hack on those inane hobby actions.

[Corylea]

it says that there are also some special interactions which only BFF get, something along the lines of sharing secrets, though it is worded differently.

One of the specials is under Entertain, where there's now a third kind of joke.  There are regular jokes and dirty jokes, and for BFFs only, private jokes.  I don't think that an in-joke is the same as sharing a secret; you can have in-jokes with people you wouldn't trust with your secrets. 

[jsalemi]

Is there a way to make the babycontroller use custom baby furniture sets? I have a couple of nice looking cribs/changing tables that I can't use if I want to have the eye in the sky as well.

Alas, no -- it's tied into the GUID of the Maxis baby furniture.  Since every custom set has its own GUIDs, Pescado said in the past that he's not going to even  try to track them all down so they can be supported. So if you want to use custom baby furniture, you'll have to go back to manual control of the ankle-biters.

As for Karen's question: have you updated the baby controller recently?  Pesc has been putting out a flurry of updated hacks for FT, and the baby controller is among them.  I strongly recommend you (and anyone else with FT) check at least daily for updates to the hack, and sometimes even hourly.  

[Karen]

As for Karen's question: have you updated the baby controller recently?  Pesc has been putting out a flurry of updated hacks for FT, and the baby controller is among them.  I strongly recommend you (and anyone else with FT) check at least daily for updates to the hack, and sometimes even hourly.  

I'll update again in a couple of hours when I get home from work   But yes, I do update frequently in the early days of a new EP.  (Not hourly, but I do check for updates before I start up the game each time.)  I'm reasonably sure I was running with the current version, whatever was in the DC as of early this morning.  Will test again, more systematically, tonight.  I've had the game less than a day.

Karen

EDIT to add:  Well, um, never mind....    I played another household with a toddler and the baby controller worked fine with the wooden Maxis crib.

[KatEnigma]

To the original question, according to the L&P Guide, you are supposed to be BFF's after 2 days of being best friends. The decay of friendship is supposed to be slower, you can call them in the middle of the night, or any time other than when they are at work, there's a special interaction "Inside Joke,"  if you are outside when they come over, there's an automagic "greet at distance" thing, and if you're not outside, they are supposed to let themselves in without being greeted. I've yet to see these last two things happen.

To instruct in any of the Hobbies, you have to have 9 enthusiasm points.

[Corylea]

if you're not outside, they are supposed to let themselves in without being greeted. I've yet to see these last two things happen.

I've seen this one, and I'm glad to hear that it's supposed to be that way, because I was thinking it was a bug. :-)

[Liz]

To the original question, according to the L&P Guide, you are supposed to be BFF's after 2 days of being best friends. The decay of friendship is supposed to be slower, you can call them in the middle of the night, or any time other than when they are at work, there's a special interaction "Inside Joke,"  if you are outside when they come over, there's an automagic "greet at distance" thing, and if you're not outside, they are supposed to let themselves in without being greeted. I've yet to see these last two things happen.

To instruct in any of the Hobbies, you have to have 9 enthusiasm points.

So after two whole, grueling days you finally achieve the pinnacle of BFF? Lame on a cracker. Can't wait to see the endless parade of people who now feel entitled to let themselves in and harass the pets. 

[Kyna]

if you're not outside, they are supposed to let themselves in without being greeted.

DO NOT WANT!

Thank goodness for "make bugger off ..." on the hammer & sickle.

[Sivany]

you are supposed to be BFF's after 2 days of being best friends.

What!?! That's ridiculous. I can be really close friends with someone for months then lose contact with them and never speak to them again. I know sims don't live as long but two days is lame. Pescado has a made hack that stops them making BFF with anyone after they leave the child stage and the more I hear about this ridulous BFF thing the more I'm tempted to download it. I really didn't want to at first since my sims don't tend to make best friends with anyone until they are teens and I would like to see some BFF things occuring. The ideal for me would really be that it takes at least 5-7 days to make a BFF and they stop making them once they leave the teen stage.

[aubreylaraine]

...and if you're not outside, they are supposed to let themselves in without being greeted. I've yet to see these last two things happen. 

are you serious?    is it with the door locked or unlocked? i had to lock all my doors for family use because my sims will just walk into any given house to raid the fridge and play pool/watch tv/stop up the toilet. then they wonder to a floor i don't use often and get stuck and die.

[Karen]

then they wonder to a floor i don't use often and get stuck and die.

Seems to me in that case they get what they deserve.... 

Karen

[KatEnigma]

I think just with doors unlocked. I always keep mine locked anyway, since I've had random strangers walk in during the middle of the night and raid the fridge, etc. going back to the base game. Darren Dreamer was the worst offender. Plus, I hate when family members do it too. 

[sloppyhousewife]

if you're not outside, they are supposed to let themselves in without being greeted.

DO NOT WANT!

Thank goodness for "make bugger off ..." on the hammer & sickle.

You can say that again. I have to use bugger off so often now that I wish there was a hotkey for it. Also, your "friends" make a beeline for the computer now, which adds to the annoyance. All households with computers in my hood have an APO secured computer room now.

[Sivany]

Oddly I've never had any sims wander into my house randomly without being invited in, except for the occasional time when I've used the phone to invite them over. Sometimes then they just wander in without ringing the bell, but since I invited them I'm not too bothered.

Maybe it's down to the right combination of hacks, I have one that stops visitors raiding the fridge and various others to prevent more annoying guest behaviour.

[Liz]

On the subject of annoying guest behaviour, does any of you know of a hack/mod that will get guests to leave my sims' pets the hell alone? When I throw a party I'd generally like the guests to interact with each other instead of lining up to bother family's pets. I mean, sure, if you're a friend over for a visit, you might like to pet the dog once or twice, but the constant clusterfuck of people waiting to razzle and/or fling the pets in the air is ridiculous.

Honestly, if the families themselves were just a little less obsessed with their pets, I wouldn't hate that either. Hardly any point in buying them fun-making goodies at all if all they ever wanna do is razzle and cat teaser.

[morriganrant]

Honestly, if the families themselves were just a little less obsessed with their pets, I wouldn't hate that either. Hardly any point in buying them fun-making goodies at all if all they ever wanna do is razzle and cat teaser.

TJ has a No Pet Obsession, it's been updated for FT.

[jonas]

On the subject of BFF's, I wish they had made it so the sims could have a maximum of like 5 BFFs but made them never decay after that - BFFs should never decay in my book.  But family shouldn't be BFFs either...

I will never understand why they don't ask us, the players, how we would like the BFF system to work before they implement it?  They could easily have made that a forum topic and let us decide how many BFFs should be allowed and the effects of such a title.