Damn glitchy fridge!

[Swiftgold]

On the subject of burglars:  I haven't seen one in my game in *ages*.  I don't make any special effort to include burglar alarms in my houses, and most of my Sims are pretty rich so they have plenty of things to steal.  But I haven't seen a burglar since well before Nightlife.

Karen

Same for me - I've had a grand total of one burglary since the game came out, and it was well before Uni - none since. I've taken to leaving burglar alarms off since the description of the alarms says they help prevent burglaries; they're so rare that I'd rather the Sims experience something different every once in a while, heh. There are somewhere between 15-20 houses I play now... maybe one of these days I'll have a burglar again, sigh. I don't want it to be predictable, but something higher than the tiny percentage it seems to be now would be nice.

[ZephyrZodiac]

At one time every house in Pleasantview had burglars at least once (in my game), and I think sometimes putting the expensive paintings will lure them in!  Sometimes you'll actually see one of them passing the lot to case the joint.  However, I think if you deleteallcharacters at the beginning of the game and therefore there are no townie burglars, the odds are somehow reduced!  I know I used to notice this - Amin Sims or Joe Carr walks by the lot, the next night or soon after, the lot is burgled!  Coincidence perhaps......

[RainbowTigress]

On the subject of burglars:  I haven't seen one in my game in *ages*.  I don't make any special effort to include burglar alarms in my houses, and most of my Sims are pretty rich so they have plenty of things to steal.  But I haven't seen a burglar since well before Nightlife.

Karen

Same for me - I've had a grand total of one burglary since the game came out, and it was well before Uni - none since. I've taken to leaving burglar alarms off since the description of the alarms says they help prevent burglaries; they're so rare that I'd rather the Sims experience something different every once in a while, heh. There are somewhere between 15-20 houses I play now... maybe one of these days I'll have a burglar again, sigh. I don't want it to be predictable, but something higher than the tiny percentage it seems to be now would be nice.

Dizzy2 has the Daily & Weekly Burglar hack if you're interested.  I have never tried it myself, but maybe it will spice up your gameplay.
http://www5.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=72344

He also has a Daily & Weekly Burglar/Arsonist that not only burglarizes your sims, but randomly sets fires too.   

[cwykes]

re - counters and foodprocessors - I can't read the game code, but here's what I got from the official BBS.  I expect it's regurgitated Prima guide. 

"High-price counters provide quicker food preparation and higher food value than low-price counters. The food processor is equivalent to a midprice counter, for both speed and food value, regardless of which counter it's placed on. High-price is anything from §500 on up, low-price is anything under §200, and midprice is anything in between. Most meals require food preparation which must be done at either a counter or a food processor. Any food can be prepared at an empty counter but only chopped foods can be prepared at a food processor."

I interpreted that as - the food processor is a waste of time (at best) if you have an expensive counter. 
I build my starter homes with 1 expensive counter for preparation and cheap ones to put everything else on/in.

I have a whole long txt file about food preparation - not particularly organised.  If anyone wants, I can post the whole thing in a new thread for you all to shoot at and maybe someone can make something out of it for the peasantry or the war room.  It's cut and pastes from around the boards and most of it probably came out of the prima guide.

[IgnorantBliss]

Yes, please, I would be interested in seeing your text file

[Swiftgold]

Dizzy2 has the Daily & Weekly Burglar hack if you're interested.  I have never tried it myself, but maybe it will spice up your gameplay.
http://www5.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=72344

He also has a Daily & Weekly Burglar/Arsonist that not only burglarizes your sims, but randomly sets fires too.   

Thanks - I may try the weekly one, as the daily one seems way too predictable (not to mention unrealistic!), heheh.

[RainbowTigress]

I guess it would make sense that the counter that the food processor is on would not affect the food quality since it's not actually being prepared on the counter.  But you'd still need some type of counter to prepare food that doesn't need to be chopped.

I too would be interested in seeing your text file, cwykes.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Really a good reason to give Dina Caliente cheap counters!  She wouldn't be so likely to overeat if the food didn't do more than satisfy her hunger!

[Ancient Sim]

My fridges are driving me crazy.  Whenever food is put into them, the Sims no longer recognise their existence and all they can do is get snacks until I direct them to cook a meal, then they start functioning again. 

As an example, tonight while Dina Goth was on her way home from a downtown outing I went upstairs and got waylaid watching the kids playing some game on the Dreamcast or Play Station or whatever it was.  Anyway, I thought I'd paused the game on the downtown lot, I forgot she was actually on her way home.  When I finally got back into the game, about 30 hours had gone by on the lot.  Dina was in bed with her energy meter almost in the red and her hunger meter almost at zero.  Mortimer & Alexander were fine.   It would appear that Dina hadn't gone to work as she started an hour before Mortimer, otherwise the Social Worker would have been and the fact that Mortimer had clearly eaten suggested he'd been to work.  If Dina had already been at work, I don't think he'd have gone.

The twins were in a terrible state - it appeared they'd eaten at some point as they were about 25% full on hunger, but their social, fun & hygiene meters were bottomed-out and they had obviously been stuck in their cribs for some considerable time.  Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to adjust the Eye in the Sky to manage toddlers after they transitioned (which was just before Dina went out).

Dina did nothing but whinge about being starving for the next 12 hours (I didn't help her, because I can't stand her) and finally keeled-over on one of her endless trips to the bedroom that were constantly interrupted by her need for food.  I teleported Nina in and she managed to save Dina, but the whole thing started again later.  Mortimer wasn't working that day and when he got up he was pretty hungry, but all he could get was a snack.  Dina for some reason didn't even attempt to get a snack (probably too lazy to open the fridge).  Quite how she lasted as long as she did I have no idea, but then I could never kill her off before either.  I tried to electrocute her three times and all she did was gain mechanical points.  The only reason I saved her this time was because I knew Mortimer was dying the following day and Alexander was going off to Uni and it would have meant sending the twins to live with Cassandra or moving in a townie or something.  (I suppose I could have moved-in JMP).

I had to get a nanny in to help with the twins and after some considerable effort, got them back in the green.  The boy wasn't too bad, but the girl was in aspiration failure and by 6pm that day they both were, because Mortimer died.  Luckily I was able to get them both potty-trained the next day which got them into platinum.  Dina was in bed when Mortimer expired and although she woke-up when her energy was only half-full, she had no reaction whatsoever to Mortimer's death, she preferred to have a pillow-fight with Nina instead.  I really do not like that woman, although she's slightly more preferable to Mary-Sue, who I would gladly throttle with my bare hands.

Anyway, to return to the point, I have no idea why my fridges are like this, but it happens all the time and on all lots.  The only way I can avoid it is to restock the fridge with boolprop.  Buying a new one doesn't help, neither does forcing an error.  I don't think this is the same problem as in this thread, but one thing's for sure, the fridges are unbelievably glitchy.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Have you tried using custom-mesh fridges?

[cwykes]

that makes no sense at all Ancient sim!  It doesn't happen to most of us.  You know way more about this stuff than me, but I'd be looking for hack conflicts, deleting group.cache, bugged lots and all the usual stuff if it was my game or I was posting for a newbie.  Diagnostic questions - is it only one lot etc etc etc  good luck!!!