More Awesome Than You!

So we know that sims get reset after installing an EP or patch.  This usually means sims at work or school are sent home.  Well, I guess I should have made sure all my sims were home before installing the patch but I was in a hurry.  I did back up my hoods, but I have been playing Uni the past few days since getting the patch.  I graduated a sim and moved her back home, and I notice that her mom is standing in the front yard dressed for work.  I think, no problem, I'll just have her drive back to work.  That's when I realize she drove to work that morning and her car is nowhere to be seen.  I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this, but is there any way to get the car back?  I guess I'll just have to kaching the cost of the car and replace it. *sigh*

EDIT:  Okay, now I feel dumb.  After I took pause off, the car magically reappeared in the driveway.  So just disregard the above.   :-[ :P

I've had similiar "duh" moments with my car as well. Almost all my houses are on a foundation so my garage is actually a level below my "ground/first" floor. When my sims are moving around on the lower level (not in the garage) and my view is towards the garage, it looks like the garage is empty. Several times now I've gotten upset that the car must have been stolen and I missed the little animation, only to find that if I move to one level lower (the foundation level) I can suddenly see the car in the garage.

Thanks for sharing that. :)

 I had something like that after I installed the patch,  I had a white car sitting in my driveway and it was the only car in the family  but this message kept popping up " a vehicle is trying to return to this lot but first you must put in a driveway"   so I had to delete the current car and driveway and then I put in another driveway and when I looked outside the red chop hocky car was setting in their driveway,   I was bizarre.    It only happened on lot though. 

Got someone in the family in the Criminal career??  Hehe!

Ok, I suspect this is something that might happen if you had a dream date recently.  Your dream dates tend to bring expensive presents.  I've gotten the expensive TV a couple of times, a DJ booth and the new waterfall fountain.  It wouldn't surprise me if one of your dates tried to bring you a car.

I assume no one was returning from work at the time.

Hook

I got the message today about a car wanting to return to the lot, but all 3 cars belonging to the family were on the driveway.  I deleted one and another appeared, which apparently belonged to one of the residents.  Then on another lot there is an identical car to the one owned by the teenager living there parked in the road.  It can't be clicked on or deleted, even with moveobjects on.  Luckily she went to college tonight and I'll be bulldozing the lot.  Both these things have happened since I installed the NL patch.

When objects get versioned (like they did in the patch), they get "reset."  To be safe, when a car is reset, it falls back on creating a new one of itself.  These anomalies should only happen the first time you load a house with a car after a patch or new EP installation.  After that, the cars should work the same as before.

I had a recent "duh" moment myself. I was looking around at the lots from the neighborhood, trying to decide which house I wanted to play. I glanced at the house of Cassandra, her husband (created sim) and their twins boys and panicked when I didn't see their red minivan in the driveway. Mystery was solved when I entered the lot, hubby Mitch was at work. ::) Boy did I feel dumb, but at least now I know that the car won't show on the lot from the neighborhood view if I save & quit the lot while one of the sims is at work and they use the car (not the carpool) for their transportation.

My favorite is when the car is invisible. I've had sims back out of the driveway and drive off in their invisible cars. You can see the sim but not the car. Too funny.  :D

I've had that happens several times now. Reminds me of Wonder Woman and the Invisible jet. ;)

LOL, you beat me to it.  That's exactly what I was thinking.

I noticed this happening a lot on the smaller sized lots. Especially when someone is returning to the lot - their little body is in the driving position and is moving down the street and the car "materializes" around the moving sim. On the smallest of lots, the sim is starting up the driveway before the car fully materializes.

I'm surprised no one pointed out the fact that this situation described above is because the "Hide Objects" option in-game is On.

I suppose I shouldn't be so lazy. I've never changed that setting from what it was defaulted to and wasn't sure exactly how changing it would change the display. What's funny it that I can see some things on a lower level but not all things. For example, items at the side of the garage are visible but the car isn't. When I have a living room which is open to the second floor, when I'm on the second floor, I see my sim in a sitting position - with nothing else around - and when I switch to the lower level, suddenly a bunch of furniture becomes visible. I guess I'll be playing with my settings tonight to see what difference it makes.  :-\

What's really strange is when you're on the first floor and you can see a sim on the second floor, but no furniture.  I just snapped a photo for my sims' story of one sim "levitating" above two others who were in bed on the first floor.  He was asleep in his bed on the second floor, above them, but the bed wasn't visible.

Also had that happen with a sim who was taking a bath on the second floor.  Base game, pre-uni, no remove censor blur hacks, and there was no blur, just this naked teenage boy sitting in mid-air.

Yeah, I have a bunch of those, LOL.  I've taken them from different angles and with different sims, sleeping, bathing, and even one at Uni doing her assignment at a desk upstairs.

Hide objects is good for some houses and it does seem to make the game run a little faster since it doesn't have to load all the junk on all the floors at once, but there are some houses (and some community lots too) where it just looks to weird to have it off. Anything split level or with multi story windows or a sort of indoor lookout or balcony where you can look over the rail and see downstairs is going to look odd with it on. I guess that goes for lots with garages and foundation now too.