No Playable Shoppers

[Lion]

I read in the newspaper about a guy writing guide for games, like half-life 2 etc. He would play the game, and get help from the company, but he says sometimes he couldn't get much help if the company people are very busy. hehe....so, maybe Maxis also farmed out the guide writing to some guy/gal?  I was stunned how low the pay can sometimes go, it says $3000 to $12000 

[idtaminger]

I read in the newspaper about a guy writing guide for games, like half-life 2 etc. He would play the game, and get help from the company, but he says sometimes he couldn't get much help if the company people are very busy. hehe....so, maybe Maxis also farmed out the guide writing to some guy/gal?  I was stunned how low the pay can sometimes go, it says $3000 to $12000 

Well, then. No wonder it's unreliable.

[JenW]

I'm a tech writer so I do more or less what Prima does (though for far less exciting things  ) and it's hard to get info from developers...they are indeed very very busy, often don't see documentation as important or worth their time reviewing, and often don't keep the writers updated on changes that are made to the software (sometimes even very big changes). So while the mistakes and inaccuracies of the guide annoys the hell out of me, I can sort of understand it. We should all be kicking Maxis, not Prima

[Motoki]

it's hard to get info from developers...they are indeed very very busy, often don't see documentation as important or worth their time reviewing,

Apparently not. Have you looked at that piss poor scrap of paper that they're trying to pass off as a manual that comes with OFB. 

Also, it seems that sometimes Maxis themselves is not informed on certain aspects of the game so they pass on their misinformation to Prima. Maxis seemed quite blissfully igornant of the fact that the cheesecake causing twins feature in fact was broken and did not work. Perhaps had they tried actually playing the game. 

[Dolphin]

This is an awesome hack!  Since I've had it, I haven't had any sim complain that they didn't have enough money to buy my overpriced stuff.    I guess townies have unlimited funds?

I assume you must be modifying separate BHAVs than twojeffs visitor adjuster, because (at least so far) the two hacks don't seem to conflict.

[J. M. Pescado]

I assume you must be modifying separate BHAVs than twojeffs visitor adjuster, because (at least so far) the two hacks don't seem to conflict.

That thought occurred to me shortly after I posted it, so I grabbed the Jeffian Visitor Controller hack and checked it, and they are, indeed, located on seperate BHAVs, and don't conflict as a result. A fortuitous coincidence, at that.

[Parsimonious Kate]

Thank you so much! Highly useful

The trouble is with Maxis, as far as I can tell, a guy in a suit at EA says 'You have 8 weeks to create this expansion pack... ready, steady... code!' and they throw themselves in to creating as much of their idea as possible, then at the deadline the man in the suit comes back and tells them to stop and whatever isn't finished stays that way, whatever they didn't have time for doesn't get done when its released.

[anelca]

it's hard to get info from developers...they are indeed very very busy, often don't see documentation as important or worth their time reviewing,

Apparently not. Have you looked at that piss poor scrap of paper that they're trying to pass off as a manual that comes with OFB. 

Also, it seems that sometimes Maxis themselves is not informed on certain aspects of the game so they pass on their misinformation to Prima. Maxis seemed quite blissfully igornant of the fact that the cheesecake causing twins feature in fact was broken and did not work. Perhaps had they tried actually playing the game. 

that piss poor piece of paper remains untouched in the case, as has the more glossier versions in previous cases

hmm...i quite like the playable sims coming to buy stuff, but it has been concerning me exactly how much crap they will buy. wtf does  a single sim do with 2 little sister computers and another, custom teen only, one?? not to mention the 3 alarm clocks, all bought on the same outing

[Klaatu]

If you move a townie in to your lot, does he/she bring with them all the stuff they've ever bought? If so, it could be quite a windfall when you finally sell it all.

I can see it now: Jane Golddigger goes around marrying all the townies she can, selling all their stuff, then they somehow wind up dead from trying to fix that TV with zero mech skill! LOL

[Jelenedra]

According to the Prima Guide, the townies and downtownies have bottomless pockets. Nice windfall, that.

[Motoki]

If you move a townie in to your lot, does he/she bring with them all the stuff they've ever bought? If so, it could be quite a windfall when you finally sell it all.

I can see it now: Jane Golddigger goes around marrying all the townies she can, selling all their stuff, then they somehow wind up dead from trying to fix that TV with zero mech skill! LOL

Supposedly, the Prima guide also says that they only keep the last 3 items they bought, except I'm finding that not to be the case. They do have bottomless pockets too I can confirm that, hell I sold a business deed to some teen townie for 100,000 lol. Those get sold back though, they don't keep them. But the items they do.

NPCs also have unlimited spending money. Normally, they don't show up as shoppers but they will if you call them or if they walk by and you greet them. Be careful though as walkbys have been known to shoplift and leave without paying. 

Oh and the funny thing is, you can marry a townie with LOADS of expensive junk in their inventory and it doesn't count as marrying a rich sim. 

[J. M. Pescado]

hmm...i quite like the playable sims coming to buy stuff, but it has been concerning me exactly how much crap they will buy. wtf does  a single sim do with 2 little sister computers and another, custom teen only, one?? not to mention the 3 alarm clocks, all bought on the same outing

The fact of the matter is that playable sims buying things is irreversibly broken. Firstly, they buy these things at an illogical loss, meaning your money is simply going down the tubes, since anything they buy cannot be returned for their money back. Secondly, they tend to buy useless things, perhaps because your stores tend to sell useless things. Thirdly, you have to manually junk everything from their inventories if you want ANY of your money back.

The short version is that for logic and sanity reasons, playable sims simply should not buy things unsolicited. On the off chance you DO want them to buy your things, I have left a trigger method so that you can designate specific sims as designated shoppers on a temporary basis. But as a general rule, they really, really, shouldn't, for the above reasons.

[PlayLives]

So if you teleport your sim to a business to buy something, they have to have the money-order trigger in their inventory, otherwise they won't be able to buy?

[rma]

Wait, so townies keep everything they ever bought? Please say that isn't so, because it sounds like a really bad idea. What happens if I sell them some custom content and later delete it? Would that cause the whole 'hood to go KABLOOY?

[Karen]

Would it be possible to extend this to banning townie kids and teens from visiting business lots during school hours?  Whenever a townie kid shows up on one of my home business lots during the day, I want to yell at him, "Aren't you supposed to be in school?!"

Karen

[J. M. Pescado]

So if you teleport your sim to a business to buy something, they have to have the money-order trigger in their inventory, otherwise they won't be able to buy?

If you invite any sim to a business, he may start buying, but he will never show up on his own with the intent of being a customer. If you put the trigger in their inventory, they will show up on their own.

Would it be possible to extend this to banning townie kids and teens from visiting business lots during school hours?  Whenever a townie kid shows up on one of my home business lots during the day, I want to yell at him, "Aren't you supposed to be in school?!"

Ah, yes, the joys of delinquency in general. Maybe they show up during recess, and since they return back at the same time they left, they can spend hours there and still make it back in time for the bell.

[J. M. Pescado]

Is it possible to make something that they all show up, but when they enter your lot their inventory is cleared?  Then it would be great to have the money order flag for playable sims that you don't want their inventory cleared.

That would wipe out the legitimate contents of their inventory and quite possibly other things.

[zoebme]

I tried the shopping thing in my game by noting down the money I had in a household, then changed to my business, waited until one of my sims from that house bought something, then went back to the house. There I saw that exactly the money my sim spent in the shop had been deducted from the household money. After that, I sold the two things my sim bought from the inventory and then...I didn't make a loss, I actually won money. Everything was sold at the catalogue price and it seems that my sim hadn't paid this price for it. So it's not always a bad thing to have your sim buy crap...

Edit: Maybe that has got something to do with the shop owner having bought things in whole sale mode?

[idtaminger]

Well, then. If you have an inventory token already in place for this, why not have an inventory token in there that entirely restricts the addition of objects to the inventory. If you're playing the sim and want to take him shopping, then you can just take it out for the moment and go. Would this be possible at all? I very much like having playables visit - my sims are making lots of useful friendships - but the inventory thing bothers me.

[Ruann]

I tried the shopping thing in my game by noting down the money I had in a household, then changed to my business, waited until one of my sims from that house bought something, then went back to the house. There I saw that exactly the money my sim spent in the shop had been deducted from the household money. After that, I sold the two things my sim bought from the inventory and then...I didn't make a loss, I actually won money. Everything was sold at the catalogue price and it seems that my sim hadn't paid this price for it. So it's not always a bad thing to have your sim buy crap...

Edit: Maybe that has got something to do with the shop owner having bought things in whole sale mode?

Could be.  Could also be that the price that you have the item set to on the lot is lower than the re-sale price the Sim in question has to deal with.  This is most likely if you have the Wholesale perks, since they reduce the restocking fees.

[zoebme]

Could be.  Could also be that the price that you have the item set to on the lot is lower than the re-sale price the Sim in question has to deal with.  This is most likely if you have the Wholesale perks, since they reduce the restocking fees.

So my Sims can make good deals and bad deals, depending on how I run my shops. But why should I always stop them then?

[Sleepycat]

Could be.  Could also be that the price that you have the item set to on the lot is lower than the re-sale price the Sim in question has to deal with.  This is most likely if you have the Wholesale perks, since they reduce the restocking fees.

So my Sims can make good deals and bad deals, depending on how I run my shops. But why should I always stop them then?

this hack is for if you want to stop them, don't use it if you don't mind your playables shopping at your businesses.

I tried it out and ended up removing it. I like seeing my male playables show up at the hoods whorehouse (all female visitors have been banned by TJs visitor controller, they will get their own to visit soon)

[zoebme]

this hack is for if you want to stop them, don't use it if you don't mind your playables shopping at your businesses.

Well, you see, I was trying to work out if I want them to visit or not...

The fact of the matter is that playable sims buying things is irreversibly broken. Firstly, they buy these things at an illogical loss, meaning your money is simply going down the tubes, since anything they buy cannot be returned for their money back.

This sounded to me like it was always a bad idea to allow them to do it.

[jsalemi]

Well, do remember that you can keep this in and still allow certain playables to go shopping by sticking the FFS Money Order in their inventory as a token. That way your more wealthy sims can waste their money while the poor and lower middle-class ones don't. 

[notovny]

Would it be possible to add an object  that overrides the prevention of playable shoppers if present on the lot? I mind if my playables are buying cars and plasma TVs, but I'd like to still allow them to show up at owned venues and restaurants.