Walkbys are seriously messed up in OFB

[Motoki]

I just had 3 sims walkby my house in a fairly short time. One of them did not need to be greeted for some reason, I had all the interactions available to do with her. I later checked her and she has less than 8 outgoing so she's not a house barger. I also am not using interact without greet.

Anyway, I had my sim run to try and reach her but she didn't make it in time and this sim left and exited via the portal.

The other 2 did need to be greeted (again, no idea why the first didn't) but when I did, right after I greeted them they went back on their way and exited via the portal.

I never had this happen before OFB so I don't know what's going on. I made some of these sims selectable and nothing showed up in their queue (in the past, I used to see an exit to portal action queued up on sims leaving, but not this time).

For some reason the portal is calling to them strongly and ignoring the fact that they've been greeted. I also strongly suspect this is the cause of the shoplifting bug as all my shoplifters have been walkbys that I made sales pitches to.

Something is screwy and I'm not sure what Maxis did but I seem to be having a lot of trouble keeping walkbys on the lot.

[Ancient Sim]

I've mentioned something similar to this on a couple of threads, one of which you've seen.  In my case, if it's a home business, the walkbys won't stay once greeted if the business is closed.  This basically means that on days off, the residents can't have any visitors, at least not walkbys (haven't tried to see if invited guests will stay).  For Romance Sims, this isn't good news, because they can hardly be cavorting with all & sundry while the business is open unless it's established enough to have full staff.  The walkbys do stay when the business is open, so it's pretty obvious the problem is connected to the business side of things.  If the lot you're talking about doesn't have a home business, there could be an even worse glitch somewhere that's mixing everything up.

[Motoki]

It does have a home business, but it's never open. I only started it so when the servo makes pies they will automatically go into the owners inventory instead of hers because I got sick of having to hand transfer every single one between sims. 

I'll have to try getting rid of the home business and see if they stay but I bet you are right. I must say, if this is a 'feature' I really don't care for it at all (and surprise surprise the guide makes no mention of it  ).

I also still think all the shoplifters are walkbys that get nosy or haranged by the salesmen and not true shoppers, though why they would be prompted to leave while the store is open is beyond me.

On another shoplifting note, I've found out the hard way to be very careful when running a restaurant that also sells retail items. If the stove catches on fire all the customers will stop whatever they were doing and run like a bat out of hell as far as they can from your shop, taking any unpaid merchandise with them. 

[Ruann]

I've noticed the same thing with home lots that have a home business.  It's very annoying. 

It's also why I'm considering giving up on all home businesses.  They're just more trouble than they're worth, and you can't reasonably expect to make decent money off of them (except for real-estate, and that's just cheesy easy) and have a life at the same time.

[Motoki]

I've noticed the same thing with home lots that have a home business.  It's very annoying. 

It's also why I'm considering giving up on all home businesses.  They're just more trouble than they're worth, and you can't reasonably expect to make decent money off of them (except for real-estate, and that's just cheesy easy) and have a life at the same time.

I agree, they just seem way underpowered compared to the community lot ones. You can't promote managers that you can control. You can't earn money remotely without having to micromanage them, you can't sell them. Well you can sell the house, but you don't get any extra for the business. I'm starting to feel like they crippled home businesses, they seem to have more disadvantages than advantages. I suppose the only advantage is it give pregnant sims something to do and a way to earn money. *shrug*

[Ruann]

But even then you're not earning anything remotely worth the effort unless you mark everything up to insane prices and Dazzle your way through a sales day.  I think the only real good use of a home business is to get the Money perks and use that cash to buy yourself a community lot.

[FatedCircle]

My sim had a home business with one of those ticket taker thingies that charges by the hour, and my sim's child brought a friend home from school.  Before she could come in though, or even stay on the lot, she had to pay!  So she spent nearly the whole time standing in front of the ticket taker deciding if she was gonna pay or not.  By the time she did pay, it was nearly 6PM anyways, so she just turned around and left.  On one hand, having guests pay whether they're there to shop or not is advantageous for business, I suppose, but for someone trying to make friends, it could be quite a hassle.  

[Ruann]

My sim had a home business with one of those ticket taker thingies that charges by the hour, and my sim's child brought a friend home from school.  Before she could come in though, or even stay on the lot, she had to pay!  So she spent nearly the whole time standing in front of the ticket taker deciding if she was gonna pay or not.  By the time she did pay, it was nearly 6PM anyways, so she just turned around and left.  On one hand, having guests pay whether they're there to shop or not is advantageous for business, I suppose, but for someone trying to make friends, it could be quite a hassle.  

Just shove them onto the VIP list.  Then they won't have to pay for the day (and you'll get free customer loyalty to boot!)

[FatedCircle]

Woot!  Cool!  Didn't think of that. 

Thanks! 

[PlayLives]

Just shove them onto the VIP list.  Then they won't have to pay for the day (and you'll get free customer loyalty to boot!)

I've found that even when trying to give them VIP status, they still keep "deciding" at the ticket machine.

[Darkstormyeve]

It is my impression that the home businesses are generally trouble.

[Chanco]

I fine that doing a home business, is great for one sim or two elders that just want a few extra bucks.
I tried to have a home business with 2 adults and 2 kids and servo; it went smooth in the beginning. But after a few days all hell broke lose.
I had one adult that went to work, 2 kids in school and you know the carpool has its quirks.  Then you have the customers coming in and out of the house. And then you got servo that goes crazy here and there, and the food going bad and customers complaining that you and your house smells. Also you waste money to hire some one that doesn't really help.
I fine the community lots a lot easier.

[Motoki]

Locking the doors helps with the smelly food. In a home business they really need one specific room to shop without a lot of distractions and that's it. Maybe a bathroom they can have access to but don't give them access to any more rooms beyond that. And if you do let them have a bathroom, use bathroom uses you. For some reasons, my sims always seem to think the bathroom is the social hub of the house if I don't have bathroom uses you going to kick their asses out.

Your sims definitely shouldn't be eating, drinking, playing games, sleeping, watching tv, going in the hottub etc etc in the same space the customers have access to.

I agree it's hard to manage a home business and work too. The Natural Science career works well when you get to the top and go one day a week at 10,000, but some of the others that go in more often will leave you short staffed a lot of the time.

Definitely get the elders and teens to help out. I only had servo run amok once. As long as you keep their mood up they shouldn't.

[Regina]

My sims have been running a home business for over two sim weeks now with very little problems.  It was a trick getting the hubby all 12 friends he needed to be able to get his top job promo, but we managed.  For a lot of this time the mom's been pregnant (they now have three kids, one teen, one child and one toddler) and still running the store.

On a normal day she can take in anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000.  When I decide I want the family to do something else, I close up shop and they get on with their lives.

Granted, their house often times LOOKS like a house with a home business--dirty dishes everywhere, things unkept, that sort of thing.  But then the whole family chips in to get the chores done and it doesn't take long.

One thing that helps is being able to run the store at odd hours.  If there's a problem with running it during the daytime, she sometimes opens in the late night or early morning hours for a while.  Goofy sims are out and about 24 hours a day.

[Motoki]

My sims have been running a home business for over two sim weeks now with very little problems.  It was a trick getting the hubby all 12 friends he needed to be able to get his top job promo, but we managed. 

Can't you just chat up the customers? I would think that would be good for business anyhow. Once kids get child age they can make friends too. With network and powernetwork I've had my sims now having toddlers on their known sim list (presumably they got it from networking with the kids parents). I haven't tried calling them yet though lol.