Bon Voyage dissatisfaction

[Orikes]

I had the honeymoon problem too. Sims were engaged in Uni, before BV was installed. Playable sim moved home with her parents. Invited fiance over and had him move into the house. She then booked the vacation. Immediately afterwards, she invited the wedding guests and had the wedding party. The wedding went fine and was even a roof raiser. When it was over, though, the bride and groom stood there for a moment while all the guests left. Suddenly, I had another party timer up in the corner of the screen. It had started the timing for the party over again. They had the wedding memories, though. I don't know about wants being fulfilled or not, since neither had the want locked.

I ended up canceling the honeymoon and booking a normal vacation. That worked fine.

Oh, and I also had the problem where the speed of the game jumps to x3 when entering a community lot.

(In your opinion) is this as useless an EP as Sims 1's VAC EP (which I loathed)?

In answer to this question... Ultimately I think it's going to depend on a person's playstyle. People who never use community lots are probably going to find this one to be a waste of money. While Nightlife added a whole bunch to the game in addition to the downtown area, BonVoyage's extras are more peripheral. The big fun is actually going on a vacation and exploring the various community lots. If that's not your thing, than it probably is a waste of time.

I do think I like Bon Voyage better than I liked Vacation. I poked at Vacation a bit when I had sims1 installed and I really wasn't impressed with it. Bon Voyage seems more robust and better thought out. I like the different flavors of vacation destinations. Some of the new interactions are nice, as well as some of the social objects. I thought the MahJong table was cute.

I think, in a way, Bon Voyage will be a bit like OFB. To get the most out of it, you actually have to use its features. There's a lot too it, but if someone doesn't like disrupting their sims routine, they'll never really get much out of it. For me, OFB was useless until I finally decided to try fulfilling that annoying 5 Businesses want. Now I know how much is really in it. Bon Voyage will probably be the same for most people. 

[Ellatrue]

Can the sims gain skills from any of the new objects? Are there any new ways of earning money?

[witch]

Oh no, my simmies are on their second day at the beach and I assumed they could move on to one of the other areas in a day or two. Stuck at the beach for seven days - sucky.

[KatEnigma]

Well, you don't have to stay the whole 7 days. You can leave early if you want.

[Velda]

Can you set the climates at the destinations the same way you do the neighborhoods/subhoods?  I had heard the Prima guide said you couldn't, but that thing is wrong a lot.

[KatEnigma]

Yes, you can adjust the Seasons like in a normal 'hood. I did it, even.

[witch]

Well, you don't have to stay the whole 7 days. You can leave early if you want.

True.

I enjoyed Sims 1 Vacation possibly the most of the EPs so I'm enjoying exploring BV. I wish they'd made a fairground though. And ski slopes.

[Sleepycat]

Can you set the climates at the destinations the same way you do the neighborhoods/subhoods?  I had heard the Prima guide said you couldn't, but that thing is wrong a lot.

actually the guide says you can.

[Velda]

Well, that's good, I didn't want my snow on my beach.  Even though it might be kinda funny.

[J. M. Pescado]

Well, that's good, I didn't want my snow on my beach.  Even though it might be kinda funny.

Making it snow at the beach sounds like the kind of evil plot that Blue Lazor would do. Definitely a must-have.

[FlareStorm]

Climates for vacation hoods work the same as for other hoods. As in, you can choose which seasons and their order.  Weather (lol) or not they are actually applied, I dunno. Haven't played enough.

Note that you have to remember to go into the vacation hood and set the seasons. Easy to forget since there are no playable sims there and the only other reason to go there is to build stuff.

Edit: Something I just noticed, by default Three Lakes has seasons set to fall-fall-winter-winter. Surprising, I would have thought all the defaults would be winter-spring-summer-fall.  Something I wouldn't have checked normally and could cause potential confusion.

[Velda]

I should really make my antisocial mad scientist Sim again and send him off to the beach with the weather machine.  And I had "my" in that post one too many times.  My snow!  My beach!  I never remember to set climates downtown, then I wonder why my dates are ridiculously easy instead of criminally easy.

[KatEnigma]

No, the dumb Maxoids said that the vacation hoods would default to something suitable for their climate. The beach one is summer-summer-summer-summer.  Or at least it was before I tweaked it. 

[FlareStorm]

No, the dumb Maxoids said that the vacation hoods would default to something suitable for their climate. The beach one is summer-summer-summer-summer.  Or at least it was before I tweaked it. 

Yeah I was just pointing it out. I like spring/summer/fall/winter defaults so I haven't clicked on that seasons button since I installed it.  I kinda forgot it was there   I just wanted to point it out if you are in the same boat. I can just see the "halp its always winter!" threads in a couple of weeks.

[Tina G]

Whatever you do, don't take a friend on vacation with you and stay at a hotel with a restaurant. All they do is hang around there and eat even though they are not hungry.    

I discovered one interesting thing that has nothing to do with taking a trip. In my newly-generated Pleasantview, I visited the Dreamer house and all the bills that have been missing for several expansions are back! 

[squish]

Not to sound like a dirty perv, but I find the new WooHoo options disappointing. At least with the pre-BV ones, the action was somewhat believable. As funny as it looks, the hammock WooHoo is just stupid (the joining sim just jumps on and jumps off), but the sauna one is the worst. The room fills up with steam and when it clears, the sims are in exactly the same position they were before the steam! It would have been better if they'd had them cuddle up either before or after, rather than just sitting there.

[zoebme]

Does anyone know yet how the seasons work in BV? I mean, if they are set to fall, fall, winter, winter in Three Lakes, how do you ever make it into winter? In the main hood, the seasons change by lot in the set order, but sims normally only stay for 7 days on holiday, so winter wouldn't be reached. Or do the seasons carry on after your sims left, for the next ones?

My biggest annoyance so far was when I tried to make some sims woohoo in their hotel room before they went to sleep. As soon as they were relaxing, one of them would turn on the TV. But with the TV on, they can't go to sleep afterwards. So I made them turn it off, for which they got out of bed (they can turn it on while relaxing just fine). By the time I had them relax again, the other sim would have turned on the TV... meh. I guess that always happened, but I don't normally put TVs in the bedroom.

And are sims supposed to be able to use other sims' hotel rooms? After my sims checked in, the other doors had red signs on them and were occupied by other guests. One room was blanked out like in uni and you couldn't enter it, but my sims could use the other rooms fine. I found one sleeping in another guest's hotel bed...

[Batelle]

Does anyone know yet how the seasons work in BV? I mean, if they are set to fall, fall, winter, winter in Three Lakes, how do you ever make it into winter? In the main hood, the seasons change by lot in the set order, but sims normally only stay for 7 days on holiday, so winter wouldn't be reached. Or do the seasons carry on after your sims left, for the next ones?

When my sims visited Three Lakes the main hood was at the end of its second season (Fall).  When they arrived at Three Lakes, it was also at the end of its second season (Fall) and it transitioned to Winter while they were there (which annoyed me, because I usually don't play winter due to snow lag/general uselessness).  So I'm thinking that the season at the vacation lot lines up with whatever point in the cycle they were on when they left the main hood.  It's possible that I am completely wrong.  I haven't paid close attention during their second trip.

Brandi and Jem (my Bon Voyage test couple) returned home from Three Lakes without incident and then rolled up wants to go to Takemizu Village.  I'd say that the objects there are less entertaining (though prettier) than those at Three Lakes and there is a definite need for a "no autonomous tai chi" hack.  However, their visit to the secret lot there was one of my favourite game playing experiences ever.  It's so peaceful, no music, no townies/tourist swarming.  The way that they depict The Legend is probably the neatest effect I've seen in this game. Tt was quite unexpected.

[Zazazu]

Only answering the ones I know:

My Second Dumb Question: I noticed that jfade is already being awesome and offering suggestions for dealing with accessories stuck under Glasses prior to BV. Are any players having problems with mis-catted non-Glasses items being slotted with Glasses? Any blue vamp teeth? And flashing blue accessories? How's layering working?

Can't speak for layering. I haven't touched the tattoos and such. No blue flashy. No vamps to reference, so not sure. All my custom accessories are with glasses, which makes sense in a round-a-bout manner since they wouldn't have known to put them in bin #08. This doesn't bother me and isn't worth the effort of changing, IMHO. Non-hack CC issues: Obviously, since CEP isn't updated you can't edit the new objects beyond Eaxis intended bounds. Makes sense. But they borked public toilet recolors again.

My Third Dumb Question: I'm seeing that a lot of people are alreayd having problems with Walk To Lot. Is there a restriction on what lots you can walk to? Is it only within-same-hood lots (which would make sense)? Is there a certain distance limit? Do they have to be able to see the lot they are walking to (my assumption is yes, they do)? I'm trying to figure out if it is a click option, requiring the Sims to be able to see the lot in question first (and for the player to adjust how far the Sim can see in the video options menu?), or is it a different kind of menu option, say, when they reach the edge of their own lot (and thus spawn a 'where are you going?' pie menu)?

My walking issues were caused by TJ's Visitor Controller. Removing it fixed it. Walking has no distance restrictions and is slightly faster. I also was able to have a 3rd-trimester pregnant woman walk to a community lot from downtown. Whether this was intended or a bug, I like it.

My Fourth Dumb Question: Will new added want slots compete in any way with hacks that allow non-Uni Sims to get more want slots? Also, how long do they last? Are more want locks and fear slots also possible?

They shouldn't conflict. I can tell you that a Uni graduate will get the additional temporary slots, as will an updated pre-Uni (via lot debugger). The wants last for approximately 24 hours. There are no additional lock benefits. After going on vacation, you get points to spend on each sim (I got 2 the first time) on benefits. there are eight benefits, I believe. Unfortunately I didn't write them down. One is the want slots, one is for maxed work performance, one is for skill building faster, one is for romantic ability, one is to make your sim less able to be furious, one decreases the fun and comfort degradation (great for pregnant sims).

My Fifth not-so-Dumb Question: In terms of stability, I understand that Seasons was pretty decent. How is BV holding up? I'm seeing lots of complaints about lagging, but am not sure who has what other EPs / RAM / etc.

I really suspect the game is dialing home. Really. I personally don't get much lag at all. But I also told my firewall to block it. I also have 2 gigs RAM, a middling video card that has 512 MB capability (Radeon x600), and a 3.0 Ghz processor.

What (in your opinion) did EAxis get right?

I really like the benefits. I like the cute moments...I had a pop-up of a son saying that the vacation was worth every penny while he was dancing on his father's toes by a bonfire on the beach at night right after taking a family picture. Walking to lots...great, realistic, especially with downtown-dwellers. I'm currently testing houseguests, but I think it's a cute concept to have kids who have moved out of the house come stay for a bit, or friends from a different subhood.

What (in your opinion) did EAxis fuck up royally?

What didn't they?  Piano's broken again. Haven't tried the fish tank, but I suspect the maid will be obsessed with it as always before. I've had some oddness with the concierge not returning to his desk after bringing over room service. Room service seems to be less filling (like it was prepared by someone with no cooking skill points) but the destination food and sim-grilled food is still the same. There's no special interactions for the hot springs. As far as I can tell, there are no added secrets to impressing the headmaster. I had a sim give him a massage: no dice. Not being able to bring toddlers or pets with you = fail. Treasure maps are diggable at home. Also, you can redig in the same hole unlimited times (or until you burst a pipe) and get loot. Where are my additional careers?

(In your opinion) is this as useless an EP as Sims 1's VAC EP (which I loathed)?

No, it is better than that. No scary pedophiles. Nude levitating sleeping witch doctor (so far only seems to be a little nudist in my game) is funny, not disturbing. The benefits are great and give you an actual reason to go. You aren't stuck on one lot as with Sims1 Vacation.  Did I mention no scary pedophiles?

[Loncaros]

Tattoos as a turn on? Has Maxis finally implemented Tattoos properly then?

[Inge]

I think, in a way, Bon Voyage will be a bit like OFB. To get the most out of it, you actually have to use its features.. 

Well I think homebuilders will greatly appreciate the beach lots too, because they make seaside homes so much more realistic.

[jolrei]

I think, in a way, Bon Voyage will be a bit like OFB. To get the most out of it, you actually have to use its features.. 

Well I think homebuilders will greatly appreciate the beach lots too, because they make seaside homes so much more realistic.

No doubt.  Do we finally get thatched roofs?  I always wanted to build a thatched roof cottage for my country-or-outback style sims.  Tired of having slate or tile as the only available options.

[KatEnigma]

Yes, there are thatched roofs.

[ZiggyDoodle]

  Do we finally get thatched roofs?

Not only are there thatched roofs, but metal roofs as well. Also some nice new windows, doors, and (finally) a fireplace with a mantle.  I'm not particularly fond of the fireplace stonework but that can be recolored.

[SnootCB]

I really suspect the game is dialing home. Really. I personally don't get much lag at all. But I also told my firewall to block it. I also have 2 gigs RAM, a middling video card that has 512 MB capability (Radeon x600), and a 3.0 Ghz processor.

How did you get your firewall to block it?  The lag isn't terrible, but it isn't normal either.  I would just cut off the modem, except that the SO is usually playing WoW while I'm on Sims, and if this computer isn't connected, ain't no computer connected.  And I would like to see if it's the game calling out to the mothership that is causing some of the lag.