STOP with the dormie assignments!

[ThyGuy]

I dread sending sims to college because of the dormies. The dormies are actually quite hilarious to watch most of the time, but they have one single habit that drives me up the wall and causes me to take away every table in the dorm and make them hold their plate while sitting down and eating.

The damn dormie assignments.

The assignments themselves aren't what piss me off. the fact that they almost ALWAYS make the chair they're sitting at unusable and then come later and whine for hours that they can't sit down and do a assignment is the part that makes me want to scream. They will do this to every single chair in the dorm that has a accessible table next to it, then no one can sit down to eat.

I don't want a mod that prevents them from doing it as much; I want a mod that prevents them from doing assignments COMPLETELY if there is no way to stop them from breaking all my damn chairs in the dorm every single sim day.



But there is something odd the dormies are doing that may be causing these chairs to become unaccessible. I've noticed that since OFB, dormies appear to have a weird jump bug while sitting down for assignments. They go to sit down, then they abruptly jump beside the chair, the homework is gone, and the chair is now unusable. This happens almost every time they try to sit down and do a assignment. This never happens to controllable sims that are asked to do a assignment. Only dormies.

Here is a error log from when I forced a error on the homework while they were doing the homework. If this doesn't help, tell me when I should force a error and on what object.

[dragoness]

Ohmygod. Agree.

I don't have the jump bug you describe, but my dormies are eager to stick assignments all over the dorm, do about 3%, then wander off, only to complain about the lack of tables for their new assignment.

My current solution is to lock my playable sims' doors to protect their desks, and delete the dang things the instant I see the hated blue notebook laying around anywhere. If they actually wanted credit for that 3% of an assignment, they shouldn't have left it on the kitchen table. Or the floor. Or that end table in the study room. (Though that only happened once, that table is usually occupied by one of the forty gazillion books abandoned by the group-research-obsessed nitwits.)

Preventing all dormies from doing assignments ever would be nice. It's not like they ever graduate. Or if not that, make it so they can't do assignments anywhere but a desk, and then one could put all desks not occupied by a computer in the dorm room behind a Myne door. But that wouldn't help people who design dorms differently than I do, I suppose...

[purplehaze]

Why on earth do you two not have noassignment littler installed? I  run a tidy little dorm.

ETA: there's no homework in bathrooms also.  I noticed the chair thing too. It was happening with such frequency since Seasons ( yep...I'm going to blame the EP) that I installed the hack to try and stop this.

[witch]

The chair thing's happened since forever. That's one of the annoyances that finally turned me off Uni altogether. I used to just shift click reset every 24 sim hours or so.

[purplehaze]

I'll probably be accused of smokin' crack, but it seems like this is happening more often. I play Uni a lot and have recently noticed this happening with greater frequency and not just in old dorm lots. It is happening the first day on a new dorm. *shrugs*  Probably anecdotal.

[ThyGuy]

Why on earth do you two not have noassignment littler installed? I  run a tidy little dorm.

I've used that and all the other mods twojeffs, JM, and Squinge. JM's only makes sure the assignment dissapears when the dormie walks away from it (By no means, do I say this is a bad mod. Not having this mod would be madness). Twojeffs is effective only if you have comfy couches and arcades in the dorm but still doesn't prevent because wanting to sit on the couch/play arcade stand right beside Do assignment, because they advertise the exact same thing. Squinges mod conflicts with JM's, so that's out of the question.

Syberspunk has one but it where it should be at MTS2. All there is is a mod that stops assignments at parties, even though I know that mod was available in the same space at one time. I've heard good things about it.

[mmmyrs]

I may be mean, but when I make a dorm the only desk is for computers. I place the cute candle lamps on tables so it's eat only. Or of course a small flower crafted from the OFB works on tables too. That way they HAVE to use the floor.  They wanna act stupid? Well they'll have to do it in the floor.

[Venusy]

Syberspunk has one but it where it should be at MTS2. All there is is a mod that stops assignments at parties, even though I know that mod was available in the same space at one time. I've heard good things about it.

You mean this one? It makes it less autonomous (and kills autonomy in certain situations, such as parties), but resident dormies will still do them. As far as I know, this is all the hack has ever done, it's just named nopartyassignment for some reason.

[Alexx]

The most stupid and annoying thing is when dormies with zero hygiene trying do assignments again and again instead to take shower.
I have stinky dormie fix By twojeffs mod,but seems it not work effectively with Seasons.

[ThyGuy]

I didn't realize those tables were eat only!

That will help immensely.


I hope someone makes one that stops them altogether eventually. They can always go do research and amuse me with their moronic tactics.


Alexx: Twojeffs mod nostinkydormie fixes that. Just make sure you have something very fun, and very comforting around otherwise they'll spend day and night doing assignments because of comfort failure.

[Hook]

I don't seem to have the problems with assignments that everyone else does.  I have seen a cafeteria table unusable apparently because it was used for assignments, but it only happened in one dorm, which had other problems and has since been bulldozed.  Stupid Maxis dorm designs.

I remember getting a boatload of assignments in another dorm.  When I saw one laying around I'd move it out on the patio. I had quite an array of assignments out there.  Since dormies can only spawn 3 assignments (or so I've read) eventually they wouldn't put any more on the tables.  They had to go do assignments on the patio.

My knowledge Sims have always had full grade meters, so doing an assignment was a waste of time.  For them, I'd collect assignments that were over 90% completed by dormies and hide them so the dormies couldn't get to them, and my Sim would finish them for aspiration points.  I figure this is only fair, since Knowledge Sims don't roll up the usual skill want trees in Uni for some reason.

I like the idea of putting the little candles on the tables to keep assignments off.  I think we should have some additional tables where assignments are allowed, as it seems reasonable for a dormie to do assignments in the cafeteria.

Hook

[phyllis_p]

If you want to be more, um... dormish ... you can use the napkin dispensers instead of candles.  I think they came with OFB.

Hook, I love your idea of having knowledge Sims complete dormie assignments for points! Must try that!

[purplehaze]

I may be mean, but when I make a dorm the only desk is for computers. I place the cute candle lamps on tables so it's eat only. Or of course a small flower crafted from the OFB works on tables too. That way they HAVE to use the floor.  They wanna act stupid? Well they'll have to do it in the floor.

I used the little candles last night in a dorm, and they worked great. I just wanted to thank you. I rehabbed a Maxis dorm and tweaked the tables, desks etc.  I created a study area far away from the cafeteria with really comfy chairs to attract the studiers. It seemed to work. I didn't have any stuck chairs after 3 hrs of playing the lot. I think that the candles on the dining tables and the noassignmentlitter may have cleaned up my problems regarding kattywampus seating.

[dragoness]

Why on earth do you two not have noassignment littler installed? I  run a tidy little dorm.

Because I didn't know it existed, and even though you've told me about it now I still can't find it. Used the search tool but it isn't pulling up this fix, that I can tell... can someone link me to the no assignments hack?

[Ethendrelle]

noassignmentlitter appears to be part of the Director's Cut, in the 'moreawesomethanyou.zip' files under the
Seasons dir, the Pets dir, etc.

[Gwill]

I've had MASSIVE problems with this.
I get the dormie jump, although it doesn't seem to produce an error log.  Chairs get stuck, and won't unstick unless I sell them and re-buy, which is a huge strain on the ecconomy.  I use noassignmentlitter, but once the assignment is zapped, the damage to the chair is already done.
Right now I have a dorm where all desks have computers and I use counters and barstools in stead of tables and chairs, because if I had tables my sims would stand around complaining when trying to rampage.  College is way too dull for me, so I just let tell my sims to do their stuff at the start of the term and set the game to fast forward while I go do something else, so it's very important to me that I don't get stickyness that causes my sims to stand around for days complaining.
After I started building around the problem I've only ever had one problem with dormie assignments when a dormie decided to sit down right outside my sim's room, blocking the door and keeping him from going to class.

I'm going to give the table decorations a shot if I ever feel the need for tables again.

[ThyGuy]

Gwill, you're experiencing exactly the same problem as me. Until I learned about candles and napkin holders; having a cafeteria was madness. Now it's not as bad as before, I have the most comfortable sofa sitting next to the door, and most of the time they choose to sit down and watch TV, other than going and doing assignment.


Watch out for Ghost with your napkin and candle tables. they tend to eradicate them like all other lamps.

[purplehaze]

GRAH!  I just played a new dorm and it's happening again...even worse than before. I placed a dining table with 2 chairs upstairs in my new dorm. The dormies lay their assignments down...complain about the chair 'in use' and then the assignment disappears. Wash, rinse, repeat.  I've deleted the chairs using moveobjects on and repurchased them numerous times. It just keeps happening. I'm still blaming this on Seasons. It's so much worse now.

I'm going to go back to the dorm I was playing last night, in which the chairs did not get stuck, to see what is different about the two scenarios. Both lots are using HolySimoly tables and chairs. But, I noticed this happening with plain vanilla Maxis chairs in other dorms. Hmmmm

[dragoness]

noassignmentlitter appears to be part of the Director's Cut, in the 'moreawesomethanyou.zip' files under the
Seasons dir, the Pets dir, etc.

Goodness, seems like someone made an effort to hide it.  Or I suck and didn't look there, that's a possibility too. Either way, thank you!


I take it the hack zaps abandoned assignments, so dormies will still start them and leave them around but they'll automatically be deleted after they wander off? That plus some napkin holders on my tables (why didn't I think of that?) will solve my problem for me! Thankfully I've never once had a chair or table get stuck after a dormie uses them...

[notveryawesome]

I don't have this problem, because I don't allow dormies in my game. Any rooms not occupied by playables get regular doors instead of Myne doors. Works like a charm.

[dragoness]

Ehh, sometimes their stupidity is entertaining. I like having autonomous sims around to see what kind of trouble they're going to get up to, but I hate doing something like designating some playable sim as autonomous... then they drive me crazy and have to micromanage them. But if I can't? They're hilarious.

So I usually just put one sim through Uni at a time. I have more fun with fewer sims and with the no dormie protection hack in, there's all kinds of hijinks to watch while doing College Rampage.

[mmmyrs]

I used the little candles last night in a dorm, and they worked great. I just wanted to thank you. I rehabbed a Maxis dorm and tweaked the tables, desks etc.  I created a study area far away from the cafeteria with really comfy chairs to attract the studiers. It seemed to work. I didn't have any stuck chairs after 3 hrs of playing the lot. I think that the candles on the dining tables and the noassignmentlitter may have cleaned up my problems regarding kattywampus seating.

You're welcome! 

[Emma]

Dizzy has this posted at MTS2 which allows the cafeteria chef to clean up unguarded assignments.

[Hook]

Practice safe eating:  use condiments!

I put the napkin holder (and condiments, ketchup/mustard/salt/pepper) on 2/3 of the tables in the cafeteria and things went much nicer.  I hadn't played this dorm since the last time an update reset it, so all the dormies were hungry at the same time.  Most of them had a place to eat in the cafeteria, with only one plate being carried upstairs to a table there.  The maid picked that one up the next day.

Hook

[purplehaze]

Update: played another Maxis dorm with all Maxis content. I had the same problem with a table and chairs. The chairs were fine, but the table was 'in use'. I replaced it and so far, so good.  I only played the lot for about an hour, but it seems to be working. I'm sure with more play those damned chairs (and table) will get stuffed again.
The candles/napkin holder are working great for the cafeteria, but my 'assignment' tables and chairs are still acting up.