Problem with Satisfying Sibling/Sim Goes to College Want

[J. M. Pescado]

If you're playing in one of the pre-existing colleges (and not one you created from scratch) the dormies are already generated for each of the pre-existing dorms on the campus. They show up as random college students wandering around the campus, but will populate the same dorms.

I learned this because I tend to move my college kids into a dorm, then have them inducted into the Greek house where all my other playable sims are. I began noticing the pattern of which dormies showed up in which dorm. There is a definite pattern and they're already assigned to a specific dorm. I don't think you would generate more unless you create a brand new dorm on the neighborhood grid.

That's more of a sadorandom behavior. What actually happens is that the game starts grabbing the first available non-residing dormies it sees and starts populating your dorm with them. If you go to another dorm, those dormies now have tokens saying they're already living at another dorm, so the game will pull from further down the list (or generate more if you don't have norespawn). If you evict everyone from the occupied dorm, those dormies still retain their tokens, so the game still thinks they live there....until you move someone else in, which resets all the doors. The game then begins pulling from the list to populate the dorm....which means it pulls THOSE dormies again, because they were first on the list, and are available again. So no, the preexisting dorms do not have preassigned dormies associated with them, but may appear to if you play them.

[Orikes]

So wouldn't that mean that if no dorms are occupied by a playable sim, no matter which dorm I choose, it would populate it with the same dormies, right? I think that's what you're trying to say. If it is, that's not quite what I've observed with the dorms in my version of Academie Le Tour.

[adriennelisa]

Could it be because they only tend to get memories of the first child in a family going to college?  That's always irritated me, the fact that only the first one is recognised.  Maybe it has something to do with that?

I don't really have evidence to support or refute this, at least not in my game. This is actually the first time that I have ever sent more than one child to Uni from the same family. When I searched through the memories of the rest of the family that was still at home, they had the 'artificially added' memory of "Went to College" that really should have been "$Sim Went to College" for this sim that I added to the family via SimPE. They had correct memories for the first sim that I moved to Uni in-game through regular gameplay.

I also read somewhere recently that if the new YA doesn't move into the same dorm, the want won't be satisfied until the other Sim either talks to them on the phone or comes into physical (pixel?) contact with them.  Did this actually happen in your game?

That might be a possibility since, when I moved the 1st brother into a separate dorm, I probably did have phone contact between the sister in the other dorm. However... I am fairly certain that I also had the 1st brother call home and speak to his other sibs and his parents... none of which had memories of him going to college. BUT... I did not actually go and play the home lot. I Did play the sister's lot. Maybe... if I had gone to the family lot in Pleasantview and called him from their side, it might have made a difference? But if it requires playing the 'other side' to make sure the memory gets distributed... I don't think I had the sister contact the 1st brother when I played her dorm. I just entered her dorm, right after I had moved him in, and the want was immediately satisfied. This led me to believe that the want for the 2nd brother should have been satisfied the next time I just entered her lot.

Maybe something similar with your problem, since I have the same problem as you, only having some of the teens being recognized as going to college. I've even had the parents not recognize that their child had left the nest for college and their want was still locked.

By the time my Sims are ready to go to college (and I'm ready to send them) they usually have the aspiration to go. The parents do too (for them). So I right-click to lock it in for both (mom and teen). Then I have then teen select "move to college" from the computer. The taxi shows up and every Sim in the house runs to say goodbye. However, no one (mom or teen) ever gets the want satisfied and I dont get the influence for either Sim. It still sits there when I continue to play the mom (and of course the teen is already gone from the house) and the now YA Sim doesn't show the additionally influence when they get into uni. What am I doing wrong?

[Magicmoon]

1. Lock the wants.
2. Send teen to college. Put into a new dorm which does not have any of your playables in it. (You can send them to a different dorm or residential housing later)


You have to actually leave the home lot and physically place your teen into a dorm so that they spin and "grow up". Then the want will be satisfied. That is why you have to use a dorm that doesn't have any of your playables in it yet. If you "combine households" they don't do the proper spin thing that seems to "kick in" fulfilling the wants.

When you return to the family lot you'll see that the parents no longer have the want as it was satisfied. If they still have the locked want, then you probably didn't put your teen into an unused dorm. (The dorm can been used previously, it just can't have any of your playables in it at the time you put the teen into college).

[adriennelisa]

ok - so the teen has to go into an "empty" dorm.  Do they then have to call home also?

[ElviraGoth]

No.  I've never had them call home, and the want for both is satisfied, usually putting the new YA into platinum, if they weren't already.

I have one dorm that I only use for the purpose of getting the wants satisfied.  Once they're there and have done the age-up spin, I immediately save and exit, move them back into the bin, and then into whatever dorm/residence I'm putting them in. 

There aren't even any dormies present on the first lot yet when I exit.  And this dorm is close to a clock that I hear tolling the hour every time I put a new sim on it!

[Magicmoon]

Yep. That's the way I do it. You have to if you are interested in fulfilling all the "go to college" wants.

[jsalemi]

I have one dorm that I only use for the purpose of getting the wants satisfied.  Once they're there and have done the age-up spin, I immediately save and exit, move them back into the bin, and then into whatever dorm/residence I'm putting them in. 

Yea, I do the same -- that tiny, otherwise pretty useless 5 room dorm is handy for this. I also have it setup with Inge's teleporter plus bush, so I can turn CAS YAs into custom dormies, or get rid of pre-made Maxis YAs I don't intend to play.

[syberspunk]

Hrm... sometimes necromancy isn't so bad, eh?

magicmoon, why didn't you mention that in the first place? Or was this something you newly discovered since your first post in this thread?

Probably woulda saved me a lot of time, trouble, and aggravation. Heh.

Anyhew... just to further clarify, because I need the "How to Play the Sims 2 for Dummies" version I've got  couple of questions:

1) Does this "empty" lot have to be a "new" lot i.e. one that has never been used before? Or... as implied by ElviraGoth, I can create create an empty lot (literally empty that is devoid of playables, dormies, or even a building) and I can use (AND re-use) this lot to satisfy the "Sim Went to College" want?

2) Does this also result in the YA transition "special" camera/movie event thingie, with the parents all the time? Or does that always have to be an entirely new i.e. never been lived in/moved in lot?

In other words, can I re-use the lot to get the special movie event thingies all the time?

If not... then can I just lay down a new lot, use that to move the sim onto, move them back to the sim bin after everything, bulldoze the lot, and repeat the next time I have more YAs move in. It would be tedious but I guess that would be the only way to ensure you get the special camera event all the time, that is if you can't reuse an "old" lot.

Oh wait, does it have to be dorm type lot? And if so, does it have to be uninhabited or is it ok for dormies to be living there?

Ste

[jsalemi]

In order to get the special event movie, or just the spin to YA if you have them turned off, it has to be an empty dorm, as in no playables currently living there.  Doesn't matter if it's been used before -- what you're doing is avoiding the 'combine households' message. So you could pick any dorm currently devoid of playables, move your new student in, get the SE movie/spin to YA, save, and move them back to the student bin if you don't intend them to stay in that dorm.

I don't know if the same is true for a rental house, but I imagine it'll work there too.  But really, it just has to be an empty dorm.

[Magicmoon]

Hrm... sometimes necromancy isn't so bad, eh?

magicmoon, why didn't you mention that in the first place? Or was this something you newly discovered since your first post in this thread?

1) Does this "empty" lot have to be a "new" lot i.e. one that has never been used before? Or... as implied by ElviraGoth, I can create create an empty lot (literally empty that is devoid of playables, dormies, or even a building) and I can use (AND re-use) this lot to satisfy the "Sim Went to College" want?

2) Does this also result in the YA transition "special" camera/movie event thingie, with the parents all the time? Or does that always have to be an entirely new i.e. never been lived in/moved in lot?

In other words, can I re-use the lot to get the special movie event thingies all the time?

It's something I *thought* might work earlier, but it wasn't until lately that I have been able to confirm it.

What you have listed in #1 (empty lot devoid of playables) is just fine, as long as you don't have inteenimator. Inteen is made to keep teens at the teen age at residential lots on campus so that a child raised on campus doesn't enter college automatically as soon as they become a teen.

If you do have Inteen, an empty lot is still ok as long as it is classified as a dorm when you place the lot. (Use boolprop changeLotZoning dorm)

You can reuse this "initial" dorm as long as you have moved all playables out to another lot before sending another teen to college moving another teen into the lot. The key is putting them on a lot (which is a dorm if you have inteen) devoid of playables. If you have the special event camera on then you will see the parent say goodbye. If not, you will still seen the teen age into YA. You miss this event if you "combine households" and when you miss the event, you don't get the memories.