More Awesome Than You!

TS2: Burnination => The Podium => Topic started by: ReneeFox on 2009 February 23, 21:28:58



Title: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: ReneeFox on 2009 February 23, 21:28:58
Okay, before I get boo'd off this site, I'd better ask before spelling it all out.  I thought this fit in The Bowels of Trogdor, but I can't post in there.

I found a bug with EAxis spaghetti code where they tried to do something fancy with Read Section... of a newspaper, and broke the ability for Sims to put the paper back where it came from; it goes on the floor.  I followed code from Check Weatherforecast, Do Crossword, and reading magazines.  I couldn't figure out where the problem was, but all of them seem to call "put paper back" (something else for reading magazines).  So, they bwoke it!!!  It drives me crazy that the paper could be anywhere, depending on what floor a Sim puts the paper down.  I couldn't get beyond looking through nests of code and scratching my head.

Can somebody around here create a hack-fix for this?  Oh, and how do Peasants upload their teeny-weeny fixes to this site?   :D


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Zazazu on 2009 February 23, 22:37:31
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


Peasant offerings go in the Peasantry. You know. The section that says "Random stuff from the peasants. " Yeah. That one. As for the newspaper issue, sims have always dropped it wherever they may (closest coffee table, then floor).


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: ReneeFox on 2009 February 23, 22:40:48
Okay, okay, adjust your glasses.  I didn't say WHERE!  I said HOW!  How do you like THAT?  Booooooooooooooooo you, too. ;D  I don't want to mess with HTML to upload a file, and FTP isssssssssn't it!  I'm sure there are things the DCs want to accept hacks from Peasants.  I didn't see how, but then again, my eyes are buggin' from reading tiny print.

Oh, and once you start looking at the code difference between Newspaper - Check Weatherforecast and Read Section... (0x7F08E23C), if it doesn't make you flinge (or cringe), I'll pull my own hair out for you; or shoot that thing off the top of your fury little head with an arrow if I'm right. LOL

My Sims always put the paper back on an available table (if present) when checking the forecast, doing a crossword, and perhaps others.  They never place it on an end-table or coffee table for reading hobby sections. So:

GOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Stitches on 2009 February 24, 03:20:05
I dunno about any fixes you come up with. I mean, it isn't exactly rocket science to upload an attachment into Peasantry. If you can't handle that simple task, why would anyone trust a fix from you? I can only surmise that you are either very silly or want attention.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 24, 03:22:40
The newspaper is simply not a priority, because I have long engaged in the practice of preemptively burying 3 using a Makebuyable collection under the foundation somewhere of any lot I make, because, frankly, it's a hassle. Sims seem to think it is worth stealing, others seem to think this silliness is worth caring about, and worst of all, if you don't, it SPAWNS A 12! FILTHY 12s!


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Milhouse Trixibelle Saltfucker III on 2009 February 24, 04:37:58
What do you use for "a Makebuyable collection"? I used to have a nice collection of normally unbuyable things that I found very useful, but apparently it broke at some point.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Dark Trepie on 2009 February 24, 13:44:35
What's gotten annoying is that the paperboy/girl will hike all the way to your front door now and plop it down instead of at the mailbox.  And any walk-bys who want to read it will do the same.  A nice little "feature" that came with AL.

I seem to recall old newspapers attracted roaches.  I can't be sure though.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Zazazu on 2009 February 24, 15:58:57
Oh, and once you start looking at the code difference between Newspaper - Check Weatherforecast and Read Section... (0x7F08E23C), if it doesn't make you flinge (or cringe), I'll pull my own hair out for you; or shoot that thing off the top of your fury little head with an arrow if I'm right. LOL
All EAxis code has that reaction for me. It's unnecessarily complicated, roundabout, etc. Calling it spaghetti code is too kind. Also, look up Trichotillomania. Jokes about pulling out hair are not amusing. It's nearly as bad as saying you'll cut yourself.

You asked to be booed. I aim to please.

I seem to recall old newspapers attracted roaches.  I can't be sure though.
Not a behavior I've noticed. It's really common for my sims to have newspapers decaying all over the place because I don't direct cleaning unless one of the sims is high on neat, and few have maids. Only one household has a butler. No roaches. I get them from trash, of course.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: professorbutters on 2009 February 24, 18:47:40
The only thing I've noticed with old papers is that the Garden Club members regard it as trash--only a problem if you're trying to get a Wishing Well--and if you have some sitting around, the paperboy/girl stops delivering them.  My maids clean them up; a lot of the time my neat Sims have already cleaned them up on free will.  I find the coffee cup behavior much more annoying (and there is a hack for that) and the dropping of Thinking Caps on the kitchen counter. 


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Zazazu on 2009 February 24, 18:58:55
Eating out of the trashcan when there's a fully stocked fridge easily accessible in the house. My former mayor's kid, Colin Henry, used to trashdive in the can kept in a cupboard off the kitchen in the manse when he would visit. Since he was a poor farmer and I'd rarely leave food out, I could buy that. But doing so at his own home?

Customers will complain about old newspapers in a home business. My home businesses usually get maids, excepting the Corelli shack...if you're paying $5/hour to shoot hoops in the yard and spin vinyl on a dj booth on the driveway, you can't expect much.

Pescado has a cap rack. Somewhere. Here (http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/al/objects/hatstands.zip).


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 24, 22:43:56
Here's a tip: You can entirely avoid newspapers, including the whining about the old newspapers by burying 3 of them someplace inaccessible. If there are at least 3 newspapers on the lot, the paper 12 will never show up (and thus never even be generated), and as a result, none of the 3 newspapers will ever expire. You can use the "makebuyable" hack someplace in test(?) and the old buyable-newspaper collecton, and this will let you bury newspapers, unsubscribing from this nuisance. Alternatively, if you don't hate NPC 12s clogging up the works as much as I do, just pick up the newspapers anytime you see them, before they expire, and stuff them into your sim's inventory. When you have 3, bury them under the foundation or the roof. No more newspapers.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: DrNerd on 2009 February 25, 01:17:39
DJSSims has a hack that automatically recycles the newspapers, if you use them for job-hunting or some other nefarious purposes, and therefore want fresh papers every day.  A few Sim-hours after the new paper is dropped off, the old one either fades away, or composts itself if you have a composter on the lot.  I don't use the newspapers for job-hunting very often, but the free compost with no work is nice, especially in the winter when I can't see through the snow to make the Sims pick the papers up themselves.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Exiled on 2009 February 25, 05:32:26
I tried the stop newspaper hack (http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=254022) at MTS2, but it literally broke my inventory system.  I couldn't stuff anything in there and whenever my Sims put leftovers in the fridge they woudln't be saved.  I had to remove it.

Now i use twojeffs' Visitor Controller to ban newspaper delivery lot by lot.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 25, 06:09:35
I used to maintain an unsubscribe hack, but it was discontinued after I discovered it was more effective, more portable, and reduced maintenance overhead to just bury live newspapers. With 3 live newspapers, none of them will expire, so the maid will never attempt to clean the buried, inaccessible newspapers. And no 12 will be spawned because you can haz too many newspapers.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: tunaisafish on 2009 February 25, 09:06:04
My Sims always put the paper back on an available table (if present) when checking the forecast, doing a crossword, and perhaps others.  They never place it on an end-table or coffee table for reading hobby sections.

That's because you have never cancelled the crossword or forecast, and you always cancel the reading before they stop on their own due to low motives.
There's basically no difference in the code with regard to 'put away' tidiness.
So if there were another way to cancel the reading, then that minor annoyance would be dust.  See .sig

And no 12 will be spawned because you can haz too many newspapers.

I assume that you'd still get the 12 spawned to deliver hobby mag's,  or to make the subscription call.

What's gotten annoying is that the paperboy/girl will hike all the way to your front door now and plop it down instead of at the mailbox.  And any walk-bys who want to read it will do the same.

I find that annoying too.  I keep forgetting to lock the gates to see if that makes a difference (on those lots that have them anyway).
Neder @ MTS2 has a hack that nukes the visitors reading the paper.  Not sure about compatibility. I'm told still works fine with M&G. Thanks CandyToast.
There's probably a few ways of attacking that one with a hack.

ETA: Neder's hack compatibility.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Strangel on 2009 February 25, 09:52:16
I'd use the Makebuyable hack if I could find it.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 25, 11:57:45
I assume that you'd still get the 12 spawned to deliver hobby mag's,  or to make the subscription call.
I've never called for either of those things and am unclear as to what their actual BENEFITS are, so I've never seen a 12 deliver that, either. Is it the same annoying 12?


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: phyllis_p on 2009 February 25, 12:36:53
I assume that you'd still get the 12 spawned to deliver hobby mag's,  or to make the subscription call.
I've never called for either of those things and am unclear as to what their actual BENEFITS are, so I've never seen a 12 deliver that, either. Is it the same annoying 12?

Seems to me that the chief hobby person is the one who makes the subscription call, but it's the same 12 in the yellow news-delivery outfit who delivers the magazine.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 25, 12:52:02
Heh. I never order the magazines anyway. What do they even DO?


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: caterpillar on 2009 February 25, 12:53:40
I assume that you'd still get the 12 spawned to deliver hobby mag's,  or to make the subscription call.
I've never called for either of those things and am unclear as to what their actual BENEFITS are, so I've never seen a 12 deliver that, either. Is it the same annoying 12?

Seems to me that the chief hobby person is the one who makes the subscription call, but it's the same 12 in the yellow news-delivery outfit who delivers the magazine.

If you reject the subscription call, you get a pop up featuring the news delivery 12 saying you can call to subscribe if you change your mind.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 25, 12:54:35
Ah. Thank goodness for Phone Hack, then. I never answer the phone! Although I suppose I should look into stomping this so that no sims are spawned.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: tunaisafish on 2009 February 25, 12:57:54
The benefits of the hobby mags are high, as the mag has a base enth. gain rate of 200... best rate in the game as far as I know.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: caterpillar on 2009 February 25, 13:02:19
The benefits of the hobby mags are high, as the mag has a base enth. gain rate of 200... best rate in the game as far as I know.


I want a magazine that reduces enthusiasm, especially for Food. Even with your food enthusiasm mod, tuna, I have too many Sims obsessing over food, patting their bellies.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: tunaisafish on 2009 February 25, 13:12:19
Do you use the overhaul too? If you don't then try that as it will help your sims concentrate on their OTH.  You can turn gain off completely for spam hobbies with that.
If you already do then it's probably better to move discussion of that back to the sporum thread so we don't hijack this one.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: caterpillar on 2009 February 25, 13:16:11
I don't think I am using your overhaul, but if I can turn off gain in non-wanted hobbies with it, I'll go grab it now. Thanks!


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 25, 13:26:09
The benefits of the hobby mags are high, as the mag has a base enth. gain rate of 200... best rate in the game as far as I know.
Same rate as Blog, then.

Well, good news, at any rate: EAxis was smart enough this time NOT to generate a filthy 12 just to pop its ugly mug in the dialog: If one does not exist, the dialog is simply faceless.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: phyllis_p on 2009 February 25, 13:57:23
I assume that you'd still get the 12 spawned to deliver hobby mag's,  or to make the subscription call.
I've never called for either of those things and am unclear as to what their actual BENEFITS are, so I've never seen a 12 deliver that, either. Is it the same annoying 12?

Seems to me that the chief hobby person is the one who makes the subscription call, but it's the same 12 in the yellow news-delivery outfit who delivers the magazine.

If you reject the subscription call, you get a pop up featuring the news delivery 12 saying you can call to subscribe if you change your mind.

I thought that was only if you unsubscribed, and that the pop-up for initial subscription and subsequent rejection was the main hobby person.  Ah well.  It's no matter.  I'm sure the FOJ will find a way to stompinate appropriately.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: tunaisafish on 2009 February 25, 14:36:32
Nothing to stompinate - see FOJ reply above yours.
Actually, the way EAxis have written it, they actually call a different dialog control if no 12's are found.  So if you run a paperdeliveratorless hood - that dialog confirms you still have no 12's.  If you ever see one, they already exist.
If you want the actual phonecall stompinated but keep the dialog then I have a hack for that already.



Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: phyllis_p on 2009 February 25, 14:41:10
Nothing to stompinate - see FOJ reply above yours.
Actually, the way EAxis have written it, they actually call a different dialog control if no 12's are found.  So if you run a paperdeliveratorless hood - that dialog confirms you still have no 12's.  If you ever see one, they already exist.
If you want the actual phonecall stompinated but keep the dialog then I have a hack for that already.



That's what I get for reading/writing before first cup of coffee is finished.  I managed to miss all posts on page 2, d'oh!

The paper deliveries and magazine deliveries and 12s and phone calls don't actually bother me.  I was just making conversation, more or less ;-)


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Zazazu on 2009 February 25, 17:01:44
They bother me, but not enough to throw something about it. Since my current 'hood involves jerking over a lot of townies, I get lots of hobby states that are ready for the magazine option. So with the Nejem's last night, in one season I had six calls. Considering that until the abduction craze of nights 3, 4, and 5 all the three sims did was sit on the couch autonomously reading, those calls stuck out more.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: ReneeFox on 2009 February 25, 20:26:14
Back to the subject at hand, I do realize the fix is for a NIT!  This message really belonged in the other section, because it is an annoying EAxis bug to me; among other stupid little inconsistent bugs.  I also understand it wouldn't be a priority to anybody; I was just hoping.

As for uploading any of my fixes to this site, just because I've never shared any of them, or uploaded anything without a dialog box to do it, doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing.  Also, I don't speak up a lot around here, because people are too assuming when someone doesn't have 500+ posts around here.  My fixes work fine, are global, and are as simple as Installing an Alarm in 15 minutes instead of what it was, making Sims fix 12 plates of food instead of 6 etc., and nobody is asking YOU to use any of my fixes ... I could care less.  But, for people who find and fix annoying little things in the game, they would be free to use mine.  Stop being mean, y'all!!!!!!  I'm no dummy; just a little behind times from being off the net for almost a year.  Much has changed, and honestly, I've never uploaded anything without a dialog box to get it from my computer to a site.  If FTP is what I should use, then I'm sure there is still a format for uploading things that I don't know about, or haven't read.  I was a senior software designer in the mainframe-world, so don't assume anything about anybody.  I'm just new on this board; not with the world of software OR The Sims.  I was a good hacker and designed some things with TS1; not as much so with TS2, because I don't have the same kind of time I had back then and TS2 is far more 3D-complex'd than 2D was.  Same with the code.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: dragoness on 2009 February 25, 22:25:56
If you were an oh-so-important senior software designer, why can't you tell the difference between an actual bug, and intended behavior that you don't like? These two things are not the same.

Also, your use of "I could care less" is annoying. If you do not care at all, it means you couldn't care less.

Here, have a helpful diagram:

(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b314/mcshme/33v2r87.png)


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Sigmund on 2009 February 25, 23:01:49
If you were an oh-so-important senior software designer, why can't you tell the difference between an actual bug, and intended behavior that you don't like? These two things are not the same.

Also, your use of "I could care less" is annoying. If you do not care at all, it means you couldn't care less.

Here, have a helpful diagram:


This is a major pet peeve of mine. I am saving the diagram.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: Marhis on 2009 February 25, 23:53:33
Also, I don't speak up a lot around here, because people are too assuming when someone doesn't have 500+ posts around here. 

Then, please, don't be assuming you either; I was never treated less than well by anyone on this board, since my very first posts here, even if I never felt the need to post my resume. And trust me, I'm not that special; the same happened (and still happens in the present time) for many others.

Anyway, for attachments, in the post or modify forms, click on "Additional Options", and you'll set. BTW this is clearly explained in the FAQs, too. So, see, we're not really assuming anything, here.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: caterpillar on 2009 February 26, 00:24:25
Marhis is right. Look at all the people posting in just this thread who have less than 500 posts, none of us are complaining about being treated badly because of it. It isn't really your post count that matters, but what you post and how you post it.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: tunaisafish on 2009 February 26, 04:51:50
Back to the subject at hand, I do realize the fix is for a NIT!  This message really belonged in the other section, because it is an annoying EAxis bug to me; among other stupid little inconsistent bugs.  I also understand it wouldn't be a priority to anybody; I was just hoping.

Did my fix not suffice then?
Perhaps my posts were overlooked as I don't have 500+ posts here yet.




Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: rufio on 2009 February 26, 05:36:41
Alternatively, if you don't hate NPC 12s clogging up the works as much as I do, just pick up the newspapers anytime you see them, before they expire, and stuff them into your sim's inventory. When you have 3, bury them under the foundation or the roof. No more newspapers.

Cool.  Now, is there a hack to prevent the "Oh noes, you can has too many newspapers!" dialog from tormenting me every single day of my sims' virtual lives?


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: witch on 2009 February 26, 05:52:34
Perhaps my posts were overlooked as I don't have 500+ posts here yet.

Quiet N00b, I've never heard of you or your fixes before and I most certainly do not have a folder in my hacks labelled tunaisafish!  :P


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 26, 08:07:21
Cool.  Now, is there a hack to prevent the "Oh noes, you can has too many newspapers!" dialog from tormenting me every single day of my sims' virtual lives?
That only happens once, on the first day of excessive newspaperage. It seems unnecessary to spend the effort maintaining a hack that would get rid of a dialog you'll only see once per fambly, evar.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: GayJohnScarritt on 2009 February 26, 14:26:15
That only happens once, on the first day of excessive newspaperage. It seems unnecessary to spend the effort maintaining a hack that would get rid of a dialog you'll only see once per fambly, evar.
[/quote

Which brings up another related question.  What brings up that 'Too many newspapers' dialog, when there aren't enough newspapers sitting around.  Does the game count papers in trashcans/composter (that have not been composted), for the 3+, yet still sends a 12 to deliver a new one?]


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: J. M. Pescado on 2009 February 26, 15:25:23
Trashed papers are gone forever. Papers are only counted if they are in-world, in newspaper form, including those held by sims on the terlet.


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: cwykes on 2009 February 27, 08:43:18
I use the papers for compost.  Less effort than raking leaves.  What annoys me is visitors walking up onto the porch to read the paper.  I can tolerate them reading it by the mail box - but walking up onto the porch is trespassing.  I don't mind the delivery boy putting it there - that's realistic.

Welcome to the board Reneefox.  :)


Title: Re: Hack Requests? I'd Like a Newspaper Fix...
Post by: caterpillar on 2009 February 27, 13:40:05
There's a fix for neighbors reading your paper at MTS2:
http://www.modthesims2.com/download.php?t=317468