Cell phones, and neighbourhoods exploding

[cyperangel]

Hi there.

Seing as how im rather attached to my lips, im quite fearful of asking a stupid question here.
But, after all, you are the master of the universe, at least the sim universe, so if anyone knows the answer, it is probably you:

I know there is a bug that burninates the neighbourhood, if you save the game while one of your sims is talking on a cell phone, been there, done that, had backup.

What I am wondering is: Are there any fixes out for that yet? I confiscated the cell phones from all sims in all hoods the moment i had my backup up and running, but they have been begging to have them back ever since, and im tired of using 1 outta 4 possible want slots on a whole hood each day, on "gimme a cell phone dangit".

By the way, in leu of a Thank You button (Thank you for not doing one...), here is a great big THANK YOU from Denmark. My game is so much more fun, with all your hacks in it.

[J. M. Pescado]

That depends on if you have the AutoYak or Phone Hack installed.

If you do not have them installed, then the only cure is to replace the lot file that the family lives on with an older backup, which should revert everyone's instanced state to that timeperiod. Skills, memories, and othersuch will be retained. If anyone was added to the family during that time, then they will respawn by the mailbox.

If you *DO* have it installed, then temporarily remove one, preferrably starting with the AutoYak (if you have it, you're probably using this as your dominant phone call choice). Then restart the game and enter the lot. The removal of one of these should invalidate the phone interaction and force the sim to reset, unjamming him so the game doesn't explode on lot-load. Now that you have unjammed the lot, you should save it and replace the hacks.

Note that the problem is not actually caused by the hacks, but yanking the rug out from under things in TS2 is a good way to cause a reset if you can't access the object to force an error on it.

[cyperangel]

 

Man, i so wish you had told me that a month ago, when i lost almost 14 days of playtime, to this sweet thing, thanks to my inbred inability to take backups.... At least to do backups regularly.. Which reminds me, i should probably do one around right now...

Anyways, If i ever get in that pach of kudzu again, I'll remember to yank my autoyak hack.

My question was mostly if there was a cure at all. I guess a fix of the problem as it stands is almost as good, and not having to do backups all the time, in fear of the Explod-a-lot lot, is just as good. The ban on cellphones has been lifted, and this advice saved as a txt file on my harddrive.

I once more bow down before the mighty Pescado.

[J. M. Pescado]

There's no super-cure that prevents this from happening, no. Really, it's quite baffling, as the phone appears to be functionally correct, but instead crashes the entire game inexplicably.

[dizzy]

My super cure is to only ever save when all my sims are home and asleep. No exception. I've never had any problems reloading.

[daysies]

Pescado,

When you have to revert to a back up of a lot file, don't you have to revert to old character files, too?  Are these character files linked to the lots or vice versa, or is your theory (or fact) of reverting to an old lot a true enough fix to these cell phone annoyances?

Thanks.

[J. M. Pescado]

Pescado,

When you have to revert to a back up of a lot file, don't you have to revert to old character files, too?  Are these character files linked to the lots or vice versa, or is your theory (or fact) of reverting to an old lot a true enough fix to these cell phone annoyances?

No, character files are not linked to lot files, and the reason cellphones wig out is because of an instantiation problem. Restoring the lot file reverts the instantiation state of everything back to that time, so the cellphone is no longer in use and crashing the game. Sims, however, will retain any non-instantiation global states, such as skills, aspirations, memories, and aging. If anyone has been removed from the family since the backup, they will no longer be there. If anyone has been added to the family since the backup, the added members spawn by the mailbox.

[daysies]

No, character files are not linked to lot files, and the reason cellphones wig out is because of an instantiation problem. Restoring the lot file reverts the instantiation state of everything back to that time, so the cellphone is no longer in use and crashing the game. Sims, however, will retain any non-instantiation global states, such as skills, aspirations, memories, and aging. If anyone has been removed from the family since the backup, they will no longer be there. If anyone has been added to the family since the backup, the added members spawn by the mailbox.

Awesome.  This is good info to have.   

[Oddysey]

No, character files are not linked to lot files, and the reason cellphones wig out is because of an instantiation problem. Restoring the lot file reverts the instantiation state of everything back to that time, so the cellphone is no longer in use and crashing the game. Sims, however, will retain any non-instantiation global states, such as skills, aspirations, memories, and aging. If anyone has been removed from the family since the backup, they will no longer be there. If anyone has been added to the family since the backup, the added members spawn by the mailbox.

So, the sims store data about themselves in their files, and lots store data about what the sims are doing at the moment in their files? And if a lot doesn't already know what a sim is doing, it spawns them at the mailbox?

[J. M. Pescado]

So, the sims store data about themselves in their files, and lots store data about what the sims are doing at the moment in their files? And if a lot doesn't already know what a sim is doing, it spawns them at the mailbox?

Something like that, yes. If a sim is supposed to be on the lot but isn't, the game will respawn him by the mailbox. The lot otherwise records things like the current date, the sim's current activity on the lot, etc.

[pamysue]

My super cure is to only ever save when all my sims are home and asleep. No exception. I've never had any problems reloading.

Glad to know that's not just me.     OCD loves company.