Rant: Hacks are ignored by Nightlife

[Ness]

having cell phones turn off when the sim is sleeping!

you took the words right out of my mouth!

please, can we have this?!

Ness

[Skadi]

I have the phone hack in now and it works fine.
So does the pay at the box. testing other as I go through.
All my objects and meshes show fine, just a couple of flashing blue items until I reselect the texture (it was still there)
Its going well so far. 

[Hook]

It is a "safe mode" so that Nightlife runs the shipping code--the game will essentially run as if the files are not there.

Excellent!  Some others may not agree with this, but I think it's a great move on Maxis' part.

And welcome to the forum, MaxoidTom.

Hook

[Motoki]

Skadi: the phone hack appears to work okay at first, but it doesn't work properly with new Nightlife features like groups and asking sims out on a date.

[Ancient Sim]

I use the online computer from MTS2 which has a function that disables cellphones when Sims are sleeping.  Mine never go off anymore for sleeping Sims.  Amazing what a difference it makes to the game.  What I would really love to see though is the removal of that stupid "calling people to ask why they haven't called" scenario.  I mainly use the phone hack for that, but because of it I miss other things I actually enjoyed (such as parents coming over when you called their kids, I found that hilarious because they always looked like peeping toms).  That calling thing really should be removed, because it totally spoils the game.  I had reached the stage where I never let mine answer the phone, because I knew what was coming.  No way was I going to get them all set-up learning a skill or training a toddler, to be disturbed by a stupid call like that.  It really does need to be removed, it's not funny, it's totally pointless and ruins the game.

[maxon]

An answerphone would be excellent and then your sims would be able to use the phone properly whenever they want and not either have to answer the constantly ringing phone and tell the calling sim to 'sod off and stop calling me' and then pick it up quick before it rings again or wait forever till the bloody thing stops ringing.

[katemonster]

It really does need to be removed, it's not funny, it's totally pointless and ruins the game.

Yes, yes, yes. Please! This is THE reason I cannot play this game without JM's phone hack, and makes me seriously wonder if anyone even played this game (all the way to the base game) before it was released, long enough to actually build up any relationships between households--because I don't think it's possible to do more than play a single sim with no friends, without seeing how UNBELIEVABLY annoying and pointless this is.

I'm home right now anxiously awaiting UPS with my copy of Nightlife, but seriously, I'm not going to play it (beyond playing around with a clean neighborhood, not screwing up my real one) until JM's new phone hack is out. This is too bad, because I start graduate school next week and will not have time anymore--but this little "feature" makes the game UNPLAYABLE.

[DaveFlew]

What I would really love to see though is the removal of that stupid "calling people to ask why they haven't called" scenario. 

I've found that I can avoid those phone calls by ensuring that the DR score between friends never slips down towards 50. LTR deteriorates by 2 points per Sim day - so if you get the relationship score up to 100/100, it should be about 3 Sim weeks before that friendship gets down to 60/60, at which point those phone calls are likely to start. So I find it best to put in the effort while the friendship is new, do lots of Appreciating, Hugging and Busting of Moves, and eventually your Sim will only need to boost that friendship once every couple of weeks in order to prevent those phone calls.

Bleh. I'm stuck here without NL. Gimme gimme gimme. Etc.

[vecki]

I installed NL, and forgot to remove any hacks (aside from those I'd already disabled).  It wouldn't finish the installation.  So I removed my downloads folder and dumped it on the desktop, and remembered the DMA live-in NPCs.  I had to go through and uninstall every package of them.

Stupid me for paying for the expanded version, I never even use the NPCs in it, it's just the teleport/caller ID/pregnancy info object I kept it for.  So at the moment I'm playing 'clean', but will start putting downloads (and a few hacks) back tomorrow (am actually having a social life tonight so won't be playing).

[Karen]

I've found that I can avoid those phone calls by ensuring that the DR score between friends never slips down towards 50. LTR deteriorates by 2 points per Sim day - so if you get the relationship score up to 100/100, it should be about 3 Sim weeks before that friendship gets down to 60/60, at which point those phone calls are likely to start. So I find it best to put in the effort while the friendship is new, do lots of Appreciating, Hugging and Busting of Moves, and eventually your Sim will only need to boost that friendship once every couple of weeks in order to prevent those phone calls.

Or just use Pescado's "autoyak" (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=207.0) and save yourself the hassle.  It's working fine with NL.

Karen

[Zeljka]

it's just the teleport/caller ID/pregnancy info object I kept it for.

Me too, I find the caller id invaluable and the pregnancy info is so handy. I've also found use for sleepy all, though there are other ways to do that I suppose.

[Andygal]

I remember reading on a SM's webpage (I forget which) that the eternal A+ dance will be fixed in NL, which will negate the need for the hack.  Did this turn out to be true, people who already have N

Yep yep yep. The A+ dance has been removed. Now they just quietly walk into the house and put there homework down.

[Brynne]

I am having trouble going back to the illogical pre-romance mod way of thinking. That is the mod I am most waiting for! I have a married couple living with their male sims two sons by another sim (he's romance) and his "step-son", who is the son of his half-siblings' mother. I was having a nice little karaoke party, and Josh and Meadow Thayer (his current wife) slow danced. The stepson began having a fit and their relationship score dropped drastically. And I'm not even going to try another romance sim date after Justin Goth's disaster of a date with Dina Caliente. The whole neighborhood is pissed at him now. It was kind of funny when he got home, though. He was talking to his brother, then got a flaming thought bubble of one of the female sims who had slapped him silly.

[LynnMar]

Please, please  more awesome than me or anybody else on the planet,  please make my phone stop ringing.   I know it will take a while to get all the new hacks out but please do the phone first and I will  forever  bow at your feet, most awesome one.                              thanks. 

[laeshanin]

So many people with NL... Don't sound too hot at the mo so I think I'll wait till J.M. has it all figured out and running smoothly.

Where is he, by the way? I miss his meaness. 

[Motoki]

So many people with NL... Don't sound too hot at the mo so I think I'll wait till J.M. has it all figured out and running smoothly.

He claims it will be 6-8 weeks before he gets it. And judging by how long it took him to get University I don't think he's bullshitting either.

[MokeyHokey]

But, he was modding for Uni before he got it, so one can hope and pray to whomever that he can do the same again.  I didn't realize just how dependent I was on the phone hack till now...

[Brynne]

Where the hell did he order from, that it takes 6-8 weeks! I've seen places with free shipping, or even the lowest paid shipping where it would only be 5-7 business days, or something. Motoki, you weren't kidding about the Pony Express! Maybe he could at least upgrade to the Thoroughbred Express.

[Baddmark]

In one of the NL threads, Mr. Maxoid was offered a highly populated neighbourhood to test, but declined saying "we can generate high population NHs ourselves" (or something similar). I bet that those Maxis HQ neighbourhoods aren't the same as one that has been played to that size. It wouldn't take long for them to realise the constant phone ringing is a royal pain in the ass. Especially when you get "why haven't you called? CLICK" and think "OK I'll ring you back and talk if that's what you want" only to get "so and so is at work unlike someone I know". WTF? Then gimmee his work number, dammit! If he can ring me from work with a crank call he can accept a call from me! I'd bet a million simoleons that if Maxis had played a neighbourhood to a decent size they would have spotted the jump bug a bit sooner, too.

[J. M. Pescado]

Where the hell did he order from, that it takes 6-8 weeks! I've seen places with free shipping, or even the lowest paid shipping where it would only be 5-7 business days, or something. Motoki, you weren't kidding about the Pony Express! Maybe he could at least upgrade to the Thoroughbred Express.

Free shipping is highly insecure. My shipping has to go through a secure process of blind drops and screenings to make sure that the EA tracking number has become thoroughly disconnected from its previous buyer. It doesn't help that one of the regions it will be passing through is currently a warzone, so that may cause delays.

[LynnMar]

well, I think that maxi should send you a free one before it comes out to the public, considering you have to fix everything that they mess up.

I saw a cute post in another forum the other day, it said  "how many hacks do you think it wil take JM to make miss Crumplebotton work right? "   and another person said  "I heard that JM was Miss Crumplebottom"     

[Baddmark]

Unless she has a flame thrower in her inventory that's probably not the case... 

[Kristalrose]

I saw a post in Merola's forum that his mirror and painting still works...

They work fine in my game.  I've tested both. 

[laeshanin]

As soon as J.M. says "all is well, idiots", then I shall rush (saunter, possibly) to buy NL. Until such time, I can't be arsed. Too much fecking hassle.

[Zeljka]

Exactly, I shall await the power far more awesome than me to tell me it's safe.

After all, with the new coding in the game, whatever we think is safe may just as well be creating a fiery ball of our game and I am just getting mine how I want it.