AL gameplay questions and help

[Bugger]

Speaking of renting a furnished apartment Carrigon has enabled the Rent Furnished Apartment option along with a couple of more options.

http://www.sims2workshop.com/viewtopic.php?t=2900

For someone who was "so offended" by this EP, she didn't waste much time cracking into it, did she?  Maybe that's just my own twisted opinion.

[Zazazu]

No, it's quite astute and shared.

And here is a no sparklies hack for those with lag issues.
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=299567

Confirm that this hack works quite well. Familiars still have sparklies, so Plum's pink kitty will remain sparkling.

[GayJohnScarritt]

TJ has updated his mods   
   http://www.simbology.com/mods/index.php?dir=al/&sort=date&order=desc

[virgali]

It would be nice if someone could create a hack for ingredients. As in you make one and that one charges the ammount you need for each spell. Making them is timeconsuming and annoying. I hate it when I'm in a townie bullying party and have to stop because one of my ingredients just finished.

You may want to try this: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=299368
It's called "No Reagents Needed for Spells".

Thank you for the link. I haven't been looking for hacks yet. I forgot how fast the sims community is when it comes to fixes and improvements ^^

A comment on the messages from the Landlord. Someone was pointing out that they're annoying and I figured it's because he checks if anything is broken on the lot. I had an incident where my sims' shower got broken. I waited it out at first thinkig the Landlor would come and fix it. I believe after several hours I'd figure I'd try the phone to call him. I didn't see an option to reach him there but was puzzled that I still had the option to call a service NPC.

A couple of simhours later I got a pop up message of the Landlord that everything is just fine! I was really annoyed now! I mean what good is it to us to receive the pop ups if he's not able to detect any real problems. So once I again I directed my sim to the phone to call a service NPC to fix the problem anyways when I noticed the option to call the landlord! I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before! So I called him back and sure enough he came and fix the shower. At least that worked! /rant

[coralleane]

A comment on the messages from the Landlord. Someone was pointing out that they're annoying and I figured it's because he checks if anything is broken on the lot. I had an incident where my sims' shower got broken. I waited it out at first thinkig the Landlor would come and fix it. I believe after several hours I'd figure I'd try the phone to call him. I didn't see an option to reach him there but was puzzled that I still had the option to call a service NPC.

A couple of simhours later I got a pop up message of the Landlord that everything is just fine! I was really annoyed now! I mean what good is it to us to receive the pop ups if he's not able to detect any real problems. So once I again I directed my sim to the phone to call a service NPC to fix the problem anyways when I noticed the option to call the landlord! I'm pretty sure it wasn't there before! So I called him back and sure enough he came and fix the shower. At least that worked! /rant

Without having actually seen the situation, obviously, here's my take on what probably occured:

-Firstly, the Prima Guide claims that Landlords won't autonomously fix items inside your apartment.  I know that the guide is not the most accurate of sources and shouldn't be followed blindly, but it would seem this is correct based on your experience.  They are not telepathic and need to be told about problems inside the apartment.
-Secondly, I expect that when you tried to call the landlord, and didn't have the option, it's because the Landlord was probably already on the lot.  They apparently hang around from 9am until all communal area repairs/cleaning/rent collections etc are done.  Obviously once they're present on the lot you can't phone them (since they're already there!) but you can track them down and ask face-to-face for them to do repairs inside your apartment. 
-Once you received the pop-up, that meant the Landlord was done for the day and had departed.  You then could get through to them on the phone because they're at 'home' and not on the lot anymore.

Hope this helps.

[virgali]

Thank you for the advice. I was suspecting that indeed the landlord was probably somewhere on the lot and therefore I wasn't able to call him. It was my second time playing an appartment. The first time I moved my sims in decorated and then exited and never played them again untill then. Though I wasn't sure sicne sometimes things tend to escape me when they're right in front of me eyes.

The point I was trying to make is why does he do the check and we get that annoying pop up message if he doesn't fix things autonomously? Is that just to tells us he's leaving the lot? I understand what you mean about not being telepathic but it seems to me that check is unecessary. Also it annoys me that I have to go find people around the lot especially when I lag sometimes and with all the NPC's and such walking around.

A question about something different. I'd like to test playable sims complaining about other sims living in other appartments. If I create a sims and make it  leave garbage everywhere, dirty plates, dirty shower etc. and have the sim turn on the stereo system really loud at night eg 3 AM. Save and exit the lot. Will my other playable sims living next to him be able to bang on his wall about the noise and complain about the smell?

[coralleane]

The point I was trying to make is why does he do the check and we get that annoying pop up message if he doesn't fix things autonomously? Is that just to tells us he's leaving the lot? I understand what you mean about not being telepathic but it seems to me that check is unecessary. Also it annoys me that I have to go find people around the lot especially when I lag sometimes and with all the NPC's and such walking around.

It's to let you know he's leaving the lot and that everything in the communal areas has been dealt with - the same way an NPC maid will pop up a message before leaving, or an NPC repairman, or an NPC Gardener... it's exactly the same system, really. 

[Kyna]

The fact that they only scan for things to fix/clean/garden in the common area is probably by design.  It requires less processing than if they were also scanning the inside of the apartments.

[cyperangel]

ok, I seem to have a gameplay problem. Or rather, theres something I cannot find.

The tooltips says that to move pictures on the wall up or down, i should press the [ or] keys.
Those i have to use ALT GR to get written, and Nothing happens when i do that. Ive gone as far as to try random keys on the keyboard, with alt, ctrl and alt gr pressed, and so far all ive managed to do, is to make the world spin either way, unable to stop again.

So, anyone who can help me on how to do that?

[Drakron]

The [] keys are simply for the case of a US keyboard ... if you have another keyboard then they are other keys

Problem is knowing WHAT keys work in your case, in my case they are the ? and » keys so just keep pressing keys until it moves up or down ... do not bother with the Shift or Alt keys.

And yes, that was rather stupid of then to map then to those keys due to keyboard differences.

[ingeli]

Maybe you have a non-US-keyboard? I do, and to use the BV hood cheat for example, I had to check what keys those were at my Swedish keyboard. Here is a link to a map of a US-keyboard: http://www.penticoff.com/nb/images/USKeyboard.jpg
You can also try other keys outside the letter ones. I don't think it works with alt gr -keys.

[virgali]

First thank you to Cor and Kyna for the explanation, that makes sense now

@ cyper I had the same problem with tiles when they enabled the option to turn them by using "<". I thought I had to use shift/alt too. It doesn't matter what you have to press to type that particular symbol. As long as you press the keys the symbols are painted on it works fine. Try the keys that made the worls spin again but without pressing shift or alt. That happened to me when I was trying to turn the tiles. I then pressed them wihtout shift/alt and I got it to turn fine. So the spinning may be an indication that those are the working keys.

[VampLena]

Are Closets broken? I cant seem to open them or use them to change clothes or plain outfit.  On the normal one, i get no options at all, on the mirror one I get mirror interactions + Vanity Table interactions.  Any ideas?

[SJActress]

Are Closets broken? I cant seem to open them or use them to change clothes or plain outfit.  On the normal one, i get no options at all, on the mirror one I get mirror interactions + Vanity Table interactions.  Any ideas?

Do you have any clothing-related hacks?  Like pregnancy wear anything?

People are having issues with those closets with this particular hack.

[VampLena]

Yes actually, I have a pregnacy wear all clothing or something mod. I'll try removing. Its amazing all the little things AL is breaking, Freetime wasnt that bad that i remember.

[fway]

Yes actually, I have a pregnacy wear all clothing or something mod. I'll try removing. Its amazing all the little things AL is breaking, Freetime wasnt that bad that i remember.

Actually, you are supposed to have all of your unupdated hacks out before installing a new EP. So, you actually broke it, because my closets are working fine.

[J. M. Pescado]

Those i have to use ALT GR to get written, and Nothing happens when i do that. Ive gone as far as to try random keys on the keyboard, with alt, ctrl and alt gr pressed, and so far all ive managed to do, is to make the world spin either way, unable to stop again.

You mean you can't type those symbols normally? Must make programming anything with that keyboard a real pain in the ass.

[tippytoeturnip]

Maybe you have a non-US-keyboard? I do, and to use the BV hood cheat for example, I had to check what keys those were at my Swedish keyboard. Here is a link to a map of a US-keyboard: http://www.penticoff.com/nb/images/USKeyboard.jpg
You can also try other keys outside the letter ones. I don't think it works with alt gr -keys.

Hm, for me (Swedish keyboard) I have to type the Å and ´ (stress-mark) keys to get objects to move up and down, not exactly the same as in this picture, I've had problems with the FT cheat to change NH terrain though, I'll try this pic out to see if I get anywhere with that.

I know Pescado can't be serious, but for anyone else who doubts programming abilities on non-US keyboards [ ] are (for us Swedes anyway) written by pressing ALT GR + 8 or 9.

[Inge]

OMG shouldn't the ducts and stuff be buildmode and therefore stay?  :rolleyes:

[fway]

OMG shouldn't the ducts and stuff be buildmode and therefore stay?  :rolleyes:

Hehe, nope, seems silly EAxis made them only decorative and the disappear when a sim moves into an "unfurnished" apartment.  I wish I knew more about hacking, because damn, I'd make those suckers stay!

Although I did find this yesterday:
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk221/hekkahekkawhat/ScreenShot082.jpg

So now there are 2 types of objects when moving into an apartment

- The base objects: Stoves, Counters, Sinks, Tubs, etc.
- The non base objects: Everything else but the above... and ductwork and plumbing

[SJActress]

OMG shouldn't the ducts and stuff be buildmode and therefore stay?  :rolleyes:

Yes, they SHOULD.  It sucks that they're not.  Since when is ductwork the responsibility of the renter? 

[Inge]

That's probably a simple task of making line 1 do nothing but return.  That's how I do the no socialworker and no disease patches.  Though you'd have to be careful it didn't also affect the blanking out of the non-playable apartments because of the processing overhead displaying them.

[J. M. Pescado]

The fact that they only scan for things to fix/clean/garden in the common area is probably by design.  It requires less processing than if they were also scanning the inside of the apartments.

Actually, it doesn't. All objects must still be iterated through to check for brokenness, and, in fact, it takes more processing to specifically check if the item is a part of an apartment interior than to just blindly check brokenness. Obviously, the entire point is that the landlord is not supposed to be psychic and should not know if you have broken something inside your apartment!

That's probably a simple task of making line 1 do nothing but return.  That's how I do the no socialworker and no disease patches.  Though you'd have to be careful it didn't also affect the blanking out of the non-playable apartments because of the processing overhead displaying them.

It is not. The business of shredding apartment contents is buried in a horrible unreadable LUA. Hopefully this practice does not become all-consuming in TS3. However, there is no need to specifically do anything in this case, as a shift-click option already includes "rent furnished" to negate the shredded. It does, however, make another exploit more apparent: That you receive money for the value of all fixtures in the apartment on move-out, even though you did not pay for them on move-in.

A more elaborate hack to counter this exploit would involve charging the player a security deposit for the value of the fixtures in the apartment (which would be automatically refunded at move-out, as happens now). As a side effect, defiling the apartment horrifically would result in the loss of your security deposit.

[Inge]

Sigh... it's quite depressing really.  And I am getting paranoid that if thinking it's the last EP we do put our shoulders to the job and hack the game into some final sort of shape, they will decide to conjure up one final EP to wreck it all again.

[fway]

Soo, about Carrigon's hack, I'd take it out for now as her hack BORKED the options on the door:

http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk221/hekkahekkawhat/Sims2EP82008-09-0117-19-17-96.jpg