More Awesome Than You!

You know, I'm liking Nightlife and I'm enjoying the whole vampire thing, but one thing that is really irritating me is that when I have a vampire in the house I spend the whole night babysitting her coffin to keep stupid non-vamp Sims from stealing it.  If I relax my vigilance for a moment I end up having to chase some moron out of the coffin.  As it is I spend the whole night switching between my living Sims to constantly X out that "sleep in coffin" icon that just keeps popping up.

Why on Earth would any living Sim want to sleep in a coffin?  Especially since they all have perfectly nice beds which were much more expensive and come with higher comfort and energy ratings?  I can't imagine what the attraction is.  Then again, I'm sane and we all know that Sims are not.

Anybody else as irritated by this coffin obsession as I am?  Any suggestions for what to do about it?  I don't want to have to give up on having vampires.

It is indeed very annoying. Sometimes their energy bar still has enough energy to last a few hours and they want to go to sleep in the coffin anyway. I hope a modder out there will do something to prevent this stupid thing to happen, very soon. Thinking of it, I'm surprised nobody hasn't done something about it yet.

Hmm...I am not sure, not having played with the vamps too much yet.  Couldn't you place it behind a "Myne" door and then have your vamp claim it?

Could you put up a Myne door (like in dorms) and lock it? Or I believe that Inge's site (simlogical) has lockable doors. 

Jinx. ;)

I could give that a shot.  I hadn't tried it so far because my vamp is sharing a room with somebody else.  I can shift some of these people around, though...

I am going to officially state that I am not making any such thing. There are multiple solutions for this, including Myne doors, Deny Autonomous on the new NL-updated APO, Ingelogical doors, Free Will, etc..

I personally recommend denying autonomous access to bedrooms in combination with the Sleep Clock. Now in testing for vampire support.

As this is a purely autonomy-related issue that does not affect visitors, this is not worth the maintenance overhead to maintain for the rest of TS2.

Happens in my game, too.  I deliberately left the dorm door of one of my YA's open in the hope that some dormies would go and take a peek in her coffin, but all that happened was that another of my YA's kept constantly trying to sleep in the coffin.  None of the others bothered, just him - I put it down to him being Knowledge and having the want to become a vamp.

I think maybe some coding is wrong somewhere, because they're supposed to look into the coffins, not climb into them.  Looking into them has never happened in my game.  That's why I don't want to lock the doors, or the looking into coffins will never happen and I want to see it - AND it could kill unwanted people like dormies.  So, we DO need something for this!

I don't think sims will autonomously look into coffins much at all, due to the fact that it probably doesn't advertise to any important motive. You could always dare someone to do it, and keep the place locked until then.

I used a Myne door, which worked fine. No clue why the dang coffin is so attractive - even to the point of everyone in the house trekking all the way down to the basement of the House of Fallen Trees (or whatever it is) if I didn't catch them fast enough... I just got rid of those coffins and moved the vampires upstairs as well - atmosphere is nice and all, but...

My other problem was *keeping* the actual vampires in the blamed coffin. They'll jump up at any excuse, and it's downright annoying. Personally, I think they should act like real vampires - head for their coffins top of the list at the first hint of daylight and basically fall down dead in them, incapable of rising before the sun goes down unless they're masters or something. Getting up because the phone rang is, imo, breaking the genre :p

Oh, this is an easy one to fix... Inge's (simlogical.com) global "bed reserving patch".. Just remember to RTFM unlike my mom did at first, and it'll nip that common irritant in the butt. As for vamps waking up too easily, try here: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=95516

Apparently the very same thing irritated Monique. I haven't tried it. I have one of her hacks in my game, and I'm testing it out before I venture any further into her mod web.

EDIT: She also has a nifty thing to call them to bed at daybreak.
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=95517

You may want to try the Sleep Clock, it will suppress overly-easy wakefulness until the designated waking hour. The bedtime functionality is currently inoperable for vampires, but the next version will properly support it. Oh, yeah, and it 'll send them to their coffins right before daylight and keep them there. Or, if you want, send them there and keep them there indefinitely, so they can sleep for eons before awakening.

Odd..I have yet to encounter any obsessive behavior concerning the coffin beds.    I agree that sticking it behind a MYNE door or using any of the other reservable bed or door  hacks would solve the problem. 

Lockable doors and reservable bed patch don't help.  All it does is make the nonvamp sim stand outside the door thinking about the coffin.  Drives me batty, as I like to leave their autonomy on and yet I'd also like them not to act like twerps.

Locked doors: No, no, no.

Bed Patch: Yes... You have to be sure you assign a bed for every sim living in the household, or they'll just pick their own aimlessly, and not with any real consistency... Which just screws up everyone else because their spot is taken. Mayhem ensues.

If you use the latter mod correctly, you will never have any issues with sims sleeping in the wrong bed/coffin ever again. I promise, cross-my-heart.  :P

I'm talking about Inge's Global Bed Reserving Patch. It does not affect coffins in my game. It never has. If it is meant to, I must have a hack conflict. I don't use the reservable beds because of my many custom meshes. Beds are my favorite objects and I'd rather have twerpy sims than give up my beds.

oooh, that's sounding great. I'm looking forward to it :) Maybe I'll put the coffins back in the basement and let them sleep through several generations and wake up and infect their descendants or something. Could be a fun storyline.

(No offense to Monique. I use and like her computer, but I trust JMs hacks more, especially for fixing the annoyances.)

PS - Mine were willing enough to go sleep in their own beds if the Myne door is in the way (ugly, but I just used the regular Maxis one). I probably did queue it up for them (I micromanage) but they didn't spend much time whining about it.

This never worked for me either. My sims all have beds assigned and always have long before any vampires were around, but as soon as a coffin showed up, it was crazy go nuts time.

The coffins don't get assigned I guess. Sort of like how if you have a regular bed or side of a bed that's not assigned to anyone, sometimes sims who are already assigned some other bed will go to it anyway.

I'll take a look at why coffins are not affected.  Maybe they have their own semiglobal file.

Later:  No they actually have their own tests on the coffin itself, it does't use the bed semi globals.   I can either make a reservable coffin as a buyable separate object, or I can make a patch to the existing one (which at least means you will be able to use all the recolours people make).   But if people have already started cloning the coffins to make new meshes for them, then my patch won't work on those of course.

If you have Uni or Nightlife, the Sims should not holler outside a locked door, because I have updated most of my lockable doors and my security patch to take advantage of the route blocking flag which came in with Uni.  This stops sims trying to choose an object the other side of a locked door - although I expect JM's sleep clock overrides that as it forces the sims to try and go to a bed that the sim might not have chosen by himself.   Much as Pescado and I mutually respect one another, you can expect our hacks to be largely incompatible because of our opposite approaches.

Anyway, anyone having trouble with Sims complaining about locked doors check back at simlogical for updates - also everyone needs a no-route-blocked-tantrums patch or similar.  I have one at my site, and I think other people have made alternatives.

I can't imagine why you would intentionally install and assign the sleep clock to a bed that you know the sim can't reach, and the clock will only choose beds in the same room with it. If you're intentionally installing these things behind locked doors that sims can't get to, well, you're an idiot!

Well I understand what you're saying, but I have seen so many people reporting problems using the reservable patches or beds and the sleep clock that they can't all be imagining it.   Maybe I should try it myself some time - I haven't even got my own hacks in the game at the moment because of wanting to test the prison without interference, lol.

I think I'd prefer a reservable one myself, but anything to fix this would help. The lockable door solution just isn't enough for me. I'm not sure why they even let humans use it in the first place. Are they even supposed to? I've heard people say they tried and their humans can't use it, so it is just that they use it autonomously? If so, it's probably a bug. :P

I don't know what they did to it either but they all find it VERY attractive, even moreso than the expensive University double bed which is rated higher.  ::)

I use custom beds, so the reservable bed/sleep clock would not work for me (at least that's the way I've read it in the RTFM's). I also have the coffins in dungeon-like set ups, so the Myne-door would look very funky (one of the dungeon entrances is the wrought iron black gate in one instance. But if that's what I have to use, then I will use it. I am sooo tired of every pixel person in the household trudging to the coffins, out of the house and into the dungeons/graveyards/mausoleums, even with the higher rated beds available at much closer range.

The authorized personell thing did all kinds of weird crap in my game, but that was way back when (especially since that particular neighborhood went to hell in a handbasket anyway shortly thereafter).  It was so long ago that I don't even remember the weird stuff that was happening after getting the mod, that says something right there. I will give that one another go-around then, and see if it works - anything but the fugly Myne door -

Inge's doors are nicer. You might find one that takes a key that doesn't look bad for your dungeons (tho I don't remember any iron gates - does she have these all working with Numenor's? There's some recolors of those that would work for that.) I woulda used hers myself but I didn't have them yet :) and I still don't have quite all of them and don't remember how it all works - blame it on age, I gotta have something.

But why not use the newer Security system?  Then you can use any door you want.  It's a bit like authorised personnel but different.

Thank you both, and thanks for the heads up.

*hangs her head in shame and trots over for a long overdue visit to www.simlogical.com*

Edit: Went and got it.

Thank you Inge, serves me right to have to suffer, if I don't smarten up. Works like the proverbial charm and then some. From now on I will check before whining. That'll learn me :D

If i could not use inge's security system I would stop playing. Period. it is that good.

I use the sleep clock with custom beds and it works fine.  This humans sleeping in coffins is for the birds.  I have been setting sims on fire it pisses me off so much.  Glad the new APO is ready.

Edit:  Just downloaded the nice simlogical stuff too.

Did any of you try http://www.variousimmers.net/vsimforum/showthread.php?t=3478 ? Supposedly it makes coffins for vamps only. I haven't tried it, since I have not yet had any vamps who live in the same house as non-vamps, but you could give it a try and see if it works properly.

I hadn't seen it no because I don't go to that place. :P But while I very much like making the coffins for vamps only, I dislike removing the ability for sims to get killed from taking a peek inside one.  >:(

I had to smile when I saw a couple of XPTL's downloads - saying something like "this is INGE JONES (whatever) with a different number in (attribute whatever)" or something like that  :D   Still, at least he bothered with the credit!

I think he explains how to remove that and make it so they can get killed.

Heh, as far as I can tell, XPTL doesn't really create anything and mostly just rips off other people's hacks. He's like a meta-hacker, he doesn't make hacks, he hacks other people's hacks.

Today I had my first Sims become vampires.  It was also the first time I experience people sleeping in the coffin when they're not supposed to.  It's funny that Heather Huffington loathes vampires yet I caught her sleeping in "Countess" Tiffany Sampson's coffin.   ::)  Fortunately I already had Myne Doors installed in every sorority chicks' bedroom, so a lock was put on Tiffany's door.   :D

I came acroos this at another site but I am not sure u guys will like it. It stops other people getting into the coffins.

http://www.variousimmers.net/vsimforum/showthread.php?t=3478

A REAL vampire?   ;D

Yes, well, that's not really how real vampires work at all. Real vampires are nothing so extreme, and don't sleep in coffins except maybe as a fetish thing. Some of us don't sleep at all. We all do hate sunlight, though, and drinking blood is a great way for us to fill our iron needs, not to mention quite tasty, but not strictly required.

JM, I thought you got all your iron from raw meat. Or is that included under drinking blood? And all your fiber from top secret documents, too. You have truly strange dietary habits.

The raw meat is bloody, of course. Also, your Oddsey nation requires your attention.

You should hear about the rats.  :-X

That hack by XPTL conflicts with another mod that keeps the vamps from coming out of their coffins during the day.

The other mod is from DJSims.

I think maybe several things conflict with that, because it certainly doesn't work properly in my game - thanks for the heads-up, I'll take it out because I'd rather have the other one, I'm getting so fed-up of my YA's constantly trying to get into the dormie's coffin.  I've noticed that when they're really tired they go to their beds, it's only when their energy reaches a certain level (probably about 80% in the yellow) that they try to get in the coffins.  Normally they wouldn't try to sleep at that stage (except some really inactive ones), so I'm not sure what it is they're after.  It can't be comfort, so goodness only knows what it is.  Maybe they just want a bed with a lid.

oh, just another "wanna-bleh-bleh" Nowadays every guy with pale skin and a dark cape thinks he's a blood brother of the grand master. (to paraphrase a rather good show) :p

At least Thessaly knew what she was playing at, not that it really helped her overmuch.

Not wiccanly and doesn't wish you blessed be,
     Sagana

Heh, there's no grand master. "Vampirism" actually has several causes, often genetic in nature, that causes people to adopt lifestyles that superstitious peasants consider "vampires".

The peasants are revolting.

And you never know where you'll end up next.

It's dangerous to be that definite about things.

Edit: Spelling, spelling. I meant to be discussing certainty, not stress

Why is it that my college Sims are treating vampirism like it's the plague.  It's almost a Tiffany-Witch-Hunt going on at the Tri Var Sorority.   ::)  Only one other Sim wants to be a vampire, and his ugly looks would suit the part.   :D

I finally just plunked the coffin in a room with an APO panel.  I hesitated to try that first because I've had difficulty with APO before, but I found out that's mainly because I had an old version.  Now that I have a recent version of the security system all configured correctly it works fine.  I'll have to unlock the door if I ever want anybody to peek in the coffin, but that's no huge hardship.   :)

Just a quick question about this... I haven't been able to play since nightlife is out because of my real life... (ew real life sucks, but I'll be back home and simming in one week) so I was wondering if someone would breifly explain the limitations of flying as a bat?  I had the idea of sealing off a room that humans couldn't reach (like on higher floor without stairs) and having the vampire fly up to it at dawn.  Now I'm thinking that probably the bat flight thing isn't that useful.

They can only fly on normal walking paths. If a normal sim can't get there, neither can the vamp ::). Stupid Maxis.

There goes my brilliant idea.   >:(

Maybe you could teach your vamp to meditate so he can teleport to his coffin.

Would that work?  The only problem I would have is that it takes several sim hours of meditating to be able to teleport... so that's wasted time.  Makes me mad :P Bats should be able to fly UP.