More Awesome Than You!

I have a neighborhood of about 13 houses that I play in rotation. I've long wanted the ability to take one of my teens to a community lot on Sat night and have a prom.

What hacks could make the following happen?

1) call all teens (playable and townie/npc) to lot (without calling them one by one)
2) allow ONLY teens on lot
3) force change to formal
4) keep needs above 25% (or whatever percent would cause them to go home before I was ready)

Oh, and other than fixes, I'm not really very familiar with some of these behavior hacks, so some instructions (if necessary) on how I'd need to work the hacks to get it to happen would be great .

For 2) and 3) use Two Jeffs Visitor controller.

TJ used to have a statue that kept needs at a certain level. I'm not sure that it will work still, though. It's been a while. The InSim also has an object (I use the OBJ InSim) that lets you put the mood of all people on the lot to either 25 %, 50 % or 100 %. I use that on community lots too. You can change the model and chose between several, which is a fine feature.

There are also the flamingos. Not Dizzy's, but flamingos that were made by a now defunct site. I still have them, I use the one that counteracts the friendship decay. There are several that influence mood, and although I don't use them, I do have them. PM me if you want to try, and I dig them out. They are now residing on back-ups until I get my computer and can play again.

For # 1 I can't recall anything that would make that happen. The teleporters (Inge's, or the InSim object would be the safest bet) are the only thing that come to mind.

...but if you have BV make sure you use the latest updated version, or when your prom queen decides to take off with some lucky fella to a secluded hotel, they could get stuck there forever (cue ominous music) in a PROM NIGHT FROM HELL.

* jolrei laughs maniacally *

Anyway, older versions of the Visitor controller have been the reported cause of BV lost sims incidents.

Oh, is it still Beta? I thought he'd released it.

Haven't checked in a while (should do so I guess, even though I'm not using this right at the moment) - there was a beta version that was working well though, if memory serves.  Pre-BV versions caused problems with BV.  Some people seemed to have an aversion to beta stuff, and ran with the old Seasons version.  As you can imagine, hilarity ensued.

/me imagines hilarity ensuing


TJ does have the BV compatible one out. I don't know whether it's still named beta, but it works like a charm in my game. Or rather it did, and will again shortly.

Mine works fine too. It is dated.....*looks in folder*.....13/09/2007. I hope it is the latest one, I think I might go check :D

[edit] Mine wasn't the latest version (doh!) and the VC is still Beta :P

Is there not a motivedecay cheat that could help with 4?

Yes, but Gethane would have to use the cheat window for that. Unless I'm not understanding you right. The flamingos, InSim object, or TJ's statue can be placed into the lot and you don't have to activate the cheat window - ever. Although, as for the statue, see above.

I always had issues with the motivedecay cheat. Every time I turned motive decay off, my sims stood there and did nothing, with the odd exception of cleaning windows.

At first I thought it was Seasons glitching up, but then I eventually realized that it was only happening with a lack of motive decay.

So don't use that unless you want a very boring prom :)

You can always decorate the lot with snapdragons. =p

I was just thinking that the game needed something like this. Although I was thinking more of it being like sneaking out. Only the parents do wave and kiss and all that. Then there could be chance cards for the event. Like being picked prom queen depending on charisma skills or getting punch dumped on you for being a serious nerd. =p

Or a bucket of pig's blood he he.

Yes, yes, that was another thought. *evil giggle*

I would really like a lot more things like that in the game. I would love to have dinner parties, where the guests ACT like dinner party guests and are dressed formally, not just some random loser who walks in your house, raids your fridge, goes to your pool and hot tub, even though everyone else is eating. Swim parties where the guests stay outside swimming rather than hanging out at your piano, etc.

Well, on those things, you can lock the doors.

I always thought it was stupid to have teenagers have formal outfits since they don't have a prom. Who invites teens to a wedding anyways?

I'd just like to be able to throw formal parties and swim parties at home, and have all the guests show up dressed appropriately.   :'(

As for the prom:

1) In your userStartup.cheat file, set intProp maxNumOfVisitingSims to the number of teens in your 'hood
2) use the VC to disallow all non-teens
3) use the VC to force sims to arrive in formal
4) create the lot with everything needed to keep motives up -- coffeepots (serve coffee at the start of the event) or coffee bars, full bathrooms with BUY, a buffet table (Can those be placed in community lots?  If not, use an owned community lot), etc.  I find that more entertaining than static motives, as sims do more when they have needs to fulfill.

Surely there is a way to hack out formal and swim parties? When one throws a wedding party, the guests show up in formal wear, so would it really be a stretch to hack the pie menu to throw a party which will make them show up in swimwear (or even their underwear - a sexy party)? The problem though, would still be with making the little pixels behave appropriately. The locked doors from OFB were great, as I could make the kitchen off-limits from the thieving, fridge-raiding little bastards. I, for one, have never been to a party where it was deemed appropriate to go into the host's kitchen and help myself to the contents of his or her refridgerator.  Still, unplayable Sims on free will act like...well, unfocused imbeciles.  ::)

3) I use the Wardrobe Adjustor that came with InSimenator when I want to have a party with everyone in formal.
4) Cheats. If you have Nightlife, use motiveDecay off.

Thanks everyone, you've given me some good things to try. Now I'm stuck on building the venue. Knowing me, I might be stuck several weeks.  :P

Let us know how it turns out, Gethane. That's an interesting idea you had. There is so little that can be done with teens, and even less with the kids. A shame, really.

And like I said, if you want the flamingos, just let me know. I'll go find them.

I bet you are talking about Gnohmon's Flamingos.. am I right?  I've only ever cared for the max motives one.. it just bugs me to see everyones motives set at a low bar even if they'll never plummet into failure range.  On home lots it's quicker to place a flamingo than to pull up the cheat window and type in MaxMotives.. but if I actually remember to to run "cheats enabled true" it's really much quicker to just drag the bars to where I want them.

For community lots I prefer Carrigan's Golden Spider to set motives/relationships.  Couple that with Merola's Mirror for control of visitors.  I think the mirror is community placeable.

~misty

I've been doing proms for a while.  I have a public high school community lot with a decorated gym.  I usually get my teens together with their friends at about 5 or 6pm, while it's still light outside and take pictures in the yard.  Ah, fun! :)

#1 - I use Monique's computer, the option for the email invitation card.  You can invite, all at once, anyone your sim has ever met and they will show up regardless of the relationship.
#2 - Visitor Controller
#3 - I use the formal pigalle doors by Inge, I think?  They change as soon as they walk through them.  I haven't tried the force formal option on the VC though yet.  That might work better.
#4 - hmmm, don't know about that one.

You also need to worry about curfew if you don't have the VC.  Before I got that, I had to keep resetting the hour to 7pm, because I wanted it to be dark, but only had two hours before they would leave at 9pm.  They stay later with the VC. 

4.  Inge's Please Yourself Plant at Simlogical should take care of the motive thing, no?

You're probably right, Misty. There are several of them, but I only consistently use the "slow decay" one to stop the relationships from dropping to rapidly. There are several that take care of motives and others that take care of aspirations. I remember using the "every half hour a need that's only one quarter full, will become half full" flamingo on a new business lot that I was experimenting with.

I found it easiest, because you just place it, and forget about it. It will do the job without the need to do anything else. The "slow decay" one gets stuck under the foundation, and I never worry about it again. It adds a STR point for every two lost, so the decay slows down considerably. I always found it stupid that sim-friendships deteriorate so quickly.

Hrmm. Well I gave it a go. And it wasn't a success  :'( After placing the visitor controller and changing it to teen only, force formal, I proceeded to take 10 minutes teleporting everyone in (and trying to remember the names of all the teens). Unfortunately, the teleported and the playable I arrived with did not change into formal. And the visitor controller zapped everyone trying to get on the lots, even teens in formals that were walking on. Pause, ZAP.

The teens that were there had fun, but no one danced.

Seriously, try again with Monique's computer: http://www.modthesims2.com/member/showthread.php?t=64137

Select email... Invitation eCard.  It's so much easier than teleporting.  You'll get a menu to select anyone your teen has ever met, and they WILL show up regardless of how well your teen knows them.  I would still leave the VC on the lot, just so that you don't have to worry so much about curfew.  I don't know how late it is, maybe 11pm instead of 9pm?  And if you fill up your lot with teens, and maybe use the mind-control mirror or something to make sure they're happy, so they don't leave, then you won't even have many adults show up.  I usually have a couple adults show up, and about 10 teens.  I just pretend the adults are chaperones ;) 

And use Inge's formal pigalle doors for changing: http://www.simlogical.com/sl/Sims2Pages/Sims2_Doors_ClothesChange.htm  Put one from every room to the next, especially if you have a pool or hot tub on the lot.  Everybody changes into formal - they don't have a choice.

It will work better, I promise!

thank you. i'll definitely try that "next Saturday"