Bon Voyage time issue. <SOLVED>

[Kralore]

You said that the game started synching lots for you automagically with one of the EP's. That wasn't supposed to happen. Are you sure you don't accidentally have something in your downloads folder?

That is actually the one thing that is really bugging me.

I could swear after installing seasons when it came out, going to a community lot with a sim, and when that sim went back home, the time on the home lot was sychronized with the comm lot. I remember being surprised by it.   But as I was writing this reply, something occured to me.  Sims Pet Stories does synchronize comm/home lot times.  And i'm wondering now if thats what I am remembering.

Downloads is empty,  when I install a new expansion pack, I always move my current sims 2 folder, and let the game generate a new/clean sims 2 folder.

Is there anything in the directors cut (or any hack) that would synch time on lots with no player input and thats why its not working now, because I don't have the hacks in?

Have you actually checked the bill? I had this in my game, but when I checked out I only paid for 2 days, even though I had 3 pop ups.

I've checked the bill and I am being charged extra. But I think I will go back and double check, just to make sure.

[Kralore]

I feel like a complete idiot, so feel free to poke me with any large sticks you may have handy.

When your at a community lot and want to go back to your hotel, you "Call Taxi" or "Walk to...", you then get two options.  Community Lot or Home.  When I saw Home, I mistakenly assumed it meant ending your vacation and going back to your house in the main hood.  So from the start i've been selecting Community Lot.  It lists all the community lots in the hood, including your hotel with a bed symbol beside it.  That's why lot times between the hotel and comm lots weren't being synchronized.  I finally tried clicking on Home instead and when I got back to the hotel, the lot times were synchronized.

I think this could still be considered an issue though.  If you go back to your hotel by the Community lot option instead of the Home option, lot time isn't synchronized properly and you can get hit with the double payments etc, and there is no warning at all about this.

[syberspunk]

Wow.  Thanks for the clarification.  That is somewhat of a relief.  But you shouldn't be poked at all, because I probably would have thought the same thing.  Home means... home.

Stupid Maxis EA.

And yeah, I would say that still is a problem. I mean, how fucking majorly retarded.  Why would you ever want to visit your own hotel again as a community lot in the first place anyways?  That just seems like plain stupidity.  What would be the point of that?


Ste

[KatEnigma]

It must be something that got left in because when you have a vacation home, you can visit hotels as community lots. And they didn't discover it in testing because of course they KNEW which option to pick. 

Stupid Eaxis.

[akatonbo]

Prima guide, btw, makes a point of stating that 'Home' means, well, home, when you are staying at a hotel in a non-vacation neighborhood -- you can set up a community lot with a hotel in your own hood, and stay there, and then go somewhere else, and then go back to the hotel by choosing it specifically, but when you're going around your main hood, or downtown, or something, the hotel does not become your "home base" like it does on vacation. Whereas on vacation you have to use a much more deliberate command to end your vacation earlier than the number of days you booked.

[Kralore]

Can someone explain what goes through the minds of EA developers when they do stuff like this...

After reading akatonbo's post about what the prima guide said, I decided to put a hotel in the main hood.  I thought the prima guide info might explain why the travel options were the way they were.  Well guess what, hotels in the main hood or non-BV sub hoods are pretty much useless.  They don't show up as destinations when booking a vacation (no big deal). You visit the hotel like you would any other comm lot.  When you get there you can reserve a room and then check in.  But you can't leave the lot.  The new "Walk to..." is disabled.  If you "Call Taxi" on the phone you are told "If you leave you will be checked out of the hotel and will have to pay your bill".  Once you check in to a hotel in the main hood, you can't stay there and visit other comm lots. You are stuck at the hotel until you check out.


Edit:  Considering my recent experience with Bon Voyage, it's possible i'm missing something completly obvious about how hotels should work in the main hood. So please correct me if i'm wrong. LOL

[KatEnigma]

Hotels never were really supposed to work in the main hood. You CAN have them there, but they aren't supposed to be there.

The only real good it does is it gives you a community lot where your Sims can sleep. So if you're out to meet people or on a date or something, you don't have to cheat to bring the needs back up. *shrug* Walking does make it better, but I hate popping from lot to lot. For my community lots I always try to cram everything I might need onto the same lot. So the next time I build one, it will also have a hotel. 

[Kyna]

Having a hotel in the main hood could be somewhere for your attached romance sims to take their latest conquest.  They could book in as Mr & Mrs Smith for a few hours for a little extra-marital fun.

[Kralore]

Hotels never were really supposed to work in the main hood. You CAN have them there, but they aren't supposed to be there.

The only real good it does is it gives you a community lot where your Sims can sleep. So if you're out to meet people or on a date or something, you don't have to cheat to bring the needs back up. *shrug* Walking does make it better, but I hate popping from lot to lot. For my community lots I always try to cram everything I might need onto the same lot. So the next time I build one, it will also have a hotel. 

Having a hotel in the main hood could be somewhere for your attached romance sims to take their latest conquest.  They could book in as Mr & Mrs Smith for a few hours for a little extra-marital fun.

The pre-built BV Inn that came with Bon Voyage has a 1 simoleon rating. It's 1000$ a day to stay.  Sounds like a very expensive date/fling to me LOL

[KatEnigma]

Hotels never were really supposed to work in the main hood. You CAN have them there, but they aren't supposed to be there.

The only real good it does is it gives you a community lot where your Sims can sleep. So if you're out to meet people or on a date or something, you don't have to cheat to bring the needs back up. *shrug* Walking does make it better, but I hate popping from lot to lot. For my community lots I always try to cram everything I might need onto the same lot. So the next time I build one, it will also have a hotel. 

Having a hotel in the main hood could be somewhere for your attached romance sims to take their latest conquest.  They could book in as Mr & Mrs Smith for a few hours for a little extra-marital fun.

The pre-built BV Inn that came with Bon Voyage has a 1 simoleon rating. It's 1000$ a day to stay.  Sounds like a very expensive date/fling to me LOL

It depends on what's in the room. Plus, the Maxoids rated it, not the game. My $$$$$$ hotel has $800 rooms. It also has $2300 rooms.  Still an expensive fling, but it will lend some realism to the game.

[Kyna]

Hotels never were really supposed to work in the main hood. You CAN have them there, but they aren't supposed to be there.

The only real good it does is it gives you a community lot where your Sims can sleep. So if you're out to meet people or on a date or something, you don't have to cheat to bring the needs back up. *shrug* Walking does make it better, but I hate popping from lot to lot. For my community lots I always try to cram everything I might need onto the same lot. So the next time I build one, it will also have a hotel. 

Having a hotel in the main hood could be somewhere for your attached romance sims to take their latest conquest.  They could book in as Mr & Mrs Smith for a few hours for a little extra-marital fun.

The pre-built BV Inn that came with Bon Voyage has a 1 simoleon rating. It's 1000$ a day to stay.  Sounds like a very expensive date/fling to me LOL

I never use Maxis-built lots anyway.  I suck at building lots, and even I can build better than Maxis can.  I'm sure I'll be able to find a custom-made lot (or build one myself) that's ideal for discreet romantic liaisons.

[Strangel]

Having a hotel in the main hood could be somewhere for your attached romance sims to take their latest conquest.  They could book in as Mr & Mrs Smith for a few hours for a little extra-marital fun.

This has led me to two thoughts...

1. When I get BV I MUST make the seediest "pay by the hour" looking hotel possible for the main 'hood.
2. Someone should make a main 'hood hotel the old fashioned OFB way - beds in rooms and a ticket machine - and see if the customers sleep. If they do, voila! Sim-owned hotels!

[cassblonde]

/has light bulb moment/ Ohhhhh! I understand now!

Thank you everyone that has participated in this thread, it has been extremely helpful to me! Now I get why my lot time wasn't syncing up with that Sim I was playing last night.  Also nice to know how hotels work in the main hoods.

You guys are all Awesome! 

Cass

[Inge]

Someone on another forum has just discovered a drawback to this time synchronisation.  They took the adults out to do some sightseeing, leaving the child eating his breakfast back at the hotel.    When they got back, it was late at night, the child was still eating his breakfast.  But it had spoiled by then, and the child got foodpoisoning.

[Liveangel]

I suppose the drawback is that when you get back to the hotel, exhausted at bedtime, the kids you left behind in the morning still have their green energy ready to play all night?

Kids generally tire out early anyways. I always give them naps on the weekend. Weaklings. I never took naps.

Prior to discovering cheats, my kids would go to bed before 7pm, wake up at 3 in the morning, and head off to school with a half full energy bar

[jolrei]

Someone on another forum has just discovered a drawback to this time synchronisation.  They took the adults out to do some sightseeing, leaving the child eating his breakfast back at the hotel.    When they got back, it was late at night, the child was still eating his breakfast.  But it had spoiled by then, and the child got foodpoisoning.

So, don't leave people eating in a hotel when other sims go off for the day.  Additionally, this might seem to indicate that, while you can't leave kids in a house by themselves in the main hood, you can leave them by themselves in a hotel room without hiring a nanny.  Is this the case?

[jsalemi]

Probably because there are still adults on the lot, even if they're hotel workers.  Either that, or every hotel has a secret day-care center.

[Loncaros]

So, don't leave people eating in a hotel when other sims go off for the day.  Additionally, this might seem to indicate that, while you can't leave kids in a house by themselves in the main hood, you can leave them by themselves in a hotel room without hiring a nanny.  Is this the case?

Dunno, best ask Madelaine's Parents ^^

[jolrei]

So, don't leave people eating in a hotel when other sims go off for the day.  Additionally, this might seem to indicate that, while you can't leave kids in a house by themselves in the main hood, you can leave them by themselves in a hotel room without hiring a nanny.  Is this the case?

Dunno, best ask Madelaine's Parents ^^

Sorry, what?  I'm an old wreck of time and I am not able to process or comprehend your comment.

jsalemi: I like the idea of a secret day-care service.  Although in RL, keeping such a service secret would render it completely useless.  Very EAxian.

[kuronue]

You mean Eloise. Madeline had her appendix out; Eloise lived in a hotel.

[Venusy]

Dunno, best ask Madelaine's Parents ^^

Sorry, what?  I'm an old wreck of time and I am not able to process or comprehend your comment.

There's been a media frenzy over here purely because of Madeline McCann. Or rather, her parents not realizing that it is a bad idea to leave your children (with a collective age of 7) in a hotel room unattended with the door unlocked. For some reason, the media has given massive amounts of sympathy to the parents, instead of condemning them, while the parents have been flying around the world in a donated private jet in an attempt to raise awareness (and get more money out of her disappearance). We'll never hear the end of it, regardless of if she was snatched, wandered off and got in an accident somehow, or if the parents killed her. Hell, some papers over here haven't stopped talking about Princess Diana yet, and that was 10 years ago.

[jolrei]

Dunno, best ask Madelaine's Parents ^^

Sorry, what?  I'm an old wreck of time and I am not able to process or comprehend your comment.

There's been a media frenzy over here purely because of Madeline McCann. Or rather, her parents not realizing that it is a bad idea to leave your children (with a collective age of 7) in a hotel room unattended with the door unlocked. For some reason, the media has given massive amounts of sympathy to the parents, instead of condemning them, while the parents have been flying around the world in a donated private jet in an attempt to raise awareness (and get more money out of her disappearance).

OK, with you now.  I did see this story a couple of weeks ago over here in the Outer Limits of Canada, but the only Madeline that popped into my mind was the one from the "12 little girls in two straight lines" stories.  Was not aware of the 'leaving kids in room alone with door unlocked' part of the story.  That part was conveniently omitted by the Canadian papers (and any webnews I saw, come to think of it).

Fortunately, the 'secret day-care service' in BV hotels will deal with this in game, although it does not, apparently, stop children getting food poisoning while parents are away for the day (mind you, food poisoning is a feature of many tropical holidays for many people, so perhaps that's just realistic - do we also have hepatitis and other diseases available from drinking the water?).

[KatEnigma]

Someone on another forum has just discovered a drawback to this time synchronisation.  They took the adults out to do some sightseeing, leaving the child eating his breakfast back at the hotel.    When they got back, it was late at night, the child was still eating his breakfast.  But it had spoiled by then, and the child got foodpoisoning.

That's odd. I have Sims leave their vacation lot for 2 days (the check into the hotel, leaving the pregnant Sim sleeping) and when they got back, I specifically noted that the food that had been left on the counter wasn't spoiled. When I woke up the remaining Sim, I had her put away the leftovers.

[jsalemi]

We'll never hear the end of it, regardless of if she was snatched, wandered off and got in an accident somehow, or if the parents killed her.

And the later is looking quite possible, based on the news today that the mother (and possibly father) is now a suspect.


(And now back to your regularly scheduled thread... )

[Loncaros]

- do we also have hepatitis and other diseases available from drinking the water?).

Honestly, it's about time we get some more diseases. Including the "Get AIDS" Fear for Romance Sims.