The 'Vampire Death By Ticket Machine' epidemic

[ataribaby]

Just thought I'd warn everyone (especially vampophile, Gothy types):

I just had another Vampire Death By Ticket Machine(TM). The syndrome occurs on Home Business lots where a ticket machine is installed. Vampires seem to randomly kick the bucket while purchasing their ticket well before sunrise. It's happened to me twice where vampires have been killed before midnight and I know of others who've experienced the same problem.

Two of my valued, Maxis, stock townies have bought the farm just for daring to be different; for daring to be vampires. In a daytime-obsessed world where people run around happily in daylight, and frown upon feeding on others' blood, Komei 'Ginger-Bob' Tellerman and Sandy 'Sucker-Lips' Bruty have been reduced to ashes.

Let not their memory be in vain. Has anyone else been witness to an instance of this syndrome? Please share your pain and hopefully, together, we can find out the cause of the problem.

If you haven't been affected then please be warned that your neighbourhood vamps maybe in danger if allowed to purchase tickets on a Home Business lot.

[J. M. Pescado]

This is a known issue. What happens is that motive decays are imprinted into the sim anytime a sim visits the lot. For NORMAL sims, these decays are largely the same and differences are not readily observable. They quickly restore themselves the moment a sim changes actions in his queue or his queue goes empty.

Vampires, however, have very different motive decay rates: "On fire!" and "not on fire". The results are thus very readily observable anytime you return to a lot where a vampire was saved after the vampire was last seen doing something else, generally "Aaah! The sun, I must flee!". Which, incidentally, sets them to the "on fire" decay rate. When you then reload the lot, this decay rate is still being used, so even though the vampire was fine the last time you loaded the lot, perhaps even at night (or else they would have fled already), they're in the middle of a long blocking interaction (pondering a buyable) and this quickly fry in their "on fire" state.

A fix for this has been a subject of contemplation and has been addressed to a limited extent in VampireFixes with regards to coffins. It remains an otherwise unsolved problem. I will bump it up on the priority queue.

Short version: Known, unresolved issue.

[ataribaby]

Ok thanks for the info Pescado, with your permission I'll pass this info on to the others affected.

I have noticed some of those effects you described on loading other lots. Both lots in my game on which this happened were freshly set up, home businesses that had been running for a several days without problem until the vampire showed up. Neither lot had been exited or saved since the business startup.

Both vampires however had last been seen in the 'Aaaah!... flee' state - but on other lots. So the salient fact seems to be something gets stuck in the individual vampires character file and it's nothing specific to the lot on which s/he carks it.

So my rant about 'Home Businesses' isn't the problem. Seems like the only way people can protect their neighbourhood vamps is to shoo them off any lot well before sunrise, so that should they appear on a business lot and immediately perform an absorbing action like a 'Buy' then they won't be stuck in "On Fire!" mode.

[SimMoon]

Thanks JM. I'll pass that one on. I didn't know about that but it explains some wierd Vampiric behavior on OFB lots.


SimMoon

[J. M. Pescado]

Actually, the problem mainly occurs when the vampire is SAVED on a lot, and then you go elsewhere, and the vampire is last seen doing "Aaah! The sun, I must flee!".

[BlueSoup]

*cough*  I hope this doesn't mean the Numenorian sound-thingie is put on the back burner.