Macro Control: Macrotastics

[wenfish]

I just downloaded this last night and played with it quite a bit today. I have only FFS Hacks in my game and I have most of them. It worked PERFECTLY. I have every expansion pack and have been playing the sims since the first sims 1. All I can say is "genius" once again! This one I think is my favorite. On another note...I noticed that with free time you can't use the conference call  (silver popular) with the phone hack. Thanks again for this hack!  

[jolrei]

When I Macro-Caffeinate and the available caffeine provider in the lot is the new FT coffee-machine, the sim keeps drinking and disposing of the cups but doesn't gain energy at all. (I think the same happened with the LS Stories super coffee machine too) They do gain energy normally though through the CoffeeBeanShrub from CS  Stories.

OK, I'm having the same issue.  Sims can seemingly caffeinate on comm lots when at a coffee bar, but none of the coffee makers on residential lots contribute to energy anymore, not even the espresso.  The sim makes coffee, sips once or twice, and disposes of the cup, rinse, repeat.  Ultimately, he collapses on the floor in sheer exhaustion.

It's funny the first couple of times, but y'know...

[talysman]

Don't caffeinate when the sim is nearly exhausted. The thought balloon for "DAMN, I'M EXHAUSTED!" will stomp the coffee drinking, which causes exactly the behavior you describe.

If a sim is about 1/8th to 1/6th energy, caffeinate should work fine. Test that before you test anything else. Make sure no other needs are at desperation levels, though.

[Emma]

Yeah, the kick-out point for most macro>skillinate actions is dangerously low when the sim is in platinum mood. You have to keep an eye on the energy level and cancel the action for sims to caffeinate properly. It is gets too low and they sip then dump the cup, get them to bed for a sim-hour, get them up and then caffeinate. That works too.

[Cappuccino]

Oh cool, I figured it might be it cause every time it happened the sim was close to falling asleep anyway.

[J. M. Pescado]

The Tree of Nom does not have this failure mode, and MacroCaffeinate prefers the Tree of Nom to anything else, so if you find this is a problem with your sims, try getting the CS Tree of Nom instead.

[kuronue]

That explains everything! I've never really gotten caffeinate to work, but if it's just that they're too tired to drink coffee it all makes sense.

[jolrei]

That explains everything! I've never really gotten caffeinate to work, but if it's just that they're too tired to drink coffee it all makes sense.

Well it doesn't make sense to me.  I have never been too tired to drink coffee.  I have downloaded the CS tree and will try to get my sims moar sleep.

[Emma]

Yes, but if you are truly nodding off to sleep (like the sims doing that little stagger backward when they are exhausted) then even the strongest coffee would have a job to keep you awake. The only way the sims can chug and the energy bar rise is when there is another sim sitting and they chat.

[Cappuccino]

Okay, different thing now:

This artist-sim needs 2 mechanical points for his next promotion (and it's the first 2 actually so he can just read from the bookcase for those) but after selecting Macro/Skillinate/Mechanical he gets fixated on using the surgical-dummy that his geeky son keeps locked in his bedroom at the basement so he just stands in front of the locked door doing nothing. I had to pause the game to cancel the Macro interaction cause it kept blinking so fast while unpaused that it was impossible to do.

So anyway, could it be made so that they can be directed to the next best thing to skillinate on if the best choices are for whatever reason unavailable to them?

[J. M. Pescado]

Yes, but if you are truly nodding off to sleep (like the sims doing that little stagger backward when they are exhausted) then even the strongest coffee would have a job to keep you awake. The only way the sims can chug and the energy bar rise is when there is another sim sitting and they chat.

You just aren't using strong enough coffee, then. I suggest more habanero.

[jolrei]

...after selecting Macro/Skillinate/Mechanical he gets fixated on using the surgical-dummy that his geeky son keeps locked in his bedroom at the basement so he just stands in front of the locked door doing nothing. I had to pause the game to cancel the Macro interaction cause it kept blinking so fast while unpaused that it was impossible to do.

You could...just a thought...unlock the door.

[Cappuccino]

Ha, of course I could, but there might be other reasons that the son keeps it locked.

Everyone has their sekrits...

[J. M. Pescado]

I have better things to do than cater to willfully stupid user behavior. If you insist on locking away the skilling objects, you pay the price for it. Given that there is no reliable, non-hideously-expensive method of testing for accessibility as opposed to merely temporary route failure caused by traffic, use of anything assumes you have not stupidly created a completely nonfunctional layout in which all the skilling objects are inaccessible. Quit being stupid and wasting my time.

[Simergy]

Why not just put items you want inaccessible in Sim inventory?

[Cappuccino]

Why not just put items you want inaccessible in Sim inventory?

Yeah, I could do that, but the point was that this object somehow didn't "belong" to him but his son so he shouldn't be trying to go use it. (Sounds like what the next EP will be about, right? ) It's no big deal, I'll just direct him to go study from a book manually, I just thought it wasn't common sense that the Skillinator only tried to use the best object even when they couldn't reach it and wanted to report that.

[jolrei]

Yeah, I could do that, but the point was that this object somehow didn't "belong" to him but his son so he shouldn't be trying to go use it.

This is not a game distinction - it is purely a matter of your projected storyline.  If something belongs only to one sim, the only way to make that distinction in the game is to place the object in that sim's inventory.  As you have noted, the "locked door" approach merely creates sim confusion and annoyance.

[Emma]

I have a request for Macro>Clean. Can the bug jars be added to the list of stuff to clean up?

[EsotericPolarBear]

Too bad macrotastics doesn't alter NPC AI.  I watched a dormie repeatedly pull a book from the shelf, sit down, open the book, close the book, put it back, whine about fun, pull a book from the shelf, etc...

all while my sim was sitting on the couch sipping away at his coffee and watching it all during a rampage macro.

It amazes me (or not, at this point) that the EAxis AI is so borked that a simple thing like motive management is quantum physics to sims.

[talysman]

Too bad macrotastics doesn't alter NPC AI.  I watched a dormie repeatedly pull a book from the shelf, sit down, open the book, close the book, put it back, whine about fun, pull a book from the shelf, etc...

I discovered, however, that if you make the dormie selectable, queue up actions with Macrotastics, and make the dormie unselectable again, they will complete their actions.

Disclaimer: I didn't try this specificially with college rampage, but with another macro. Clean, I think.

[jolrei]

I discovered, however, that if you make the dormie selectable, queue up actions with Macrotastics, and make the dormie unselectable again, they will complete their actions.

Disclaimer: I didn't try this specificially with college rampage, but with another macro. Clean, I think.

Heh.  That's what I do too.  Why hire a maid when there are stupid non-playable dormies to enslave for dorm cleaning?  Can also be done with walk-by visitors in the main 'hood.  Make your guests useful.

[EsotericPolarBear]

that's sorta cheating, tho.  I just use influence to do that.

[jolrei]

that's sorta cheating, tho.

Sorry.  What's your point?

[EsotericPolarBear]

Sorry.  What's your point?

Hey, I'm a freak.  I'll waste time in downtown lots just to meet the count and befriend him and trick him into biting my sim rather than shift-clicking and choosing "Make me...vampire"

I just like doing things within the game rules, rather than breaking them.

[talysman]

that's sorta cheating, tho.  I just use influence to do that.

It's not advice on how to play, it's a discussion on the functionality of Macrotastics. If you make the dormie selectable, queue the macro, and make the dormie unselectable, it *will* replace dormie AI for the duration of the macro.