More Awesome Than You!

I was thinking of the things that really annoy me the most in TS2 and thought I would ask and see if there are any mods out there that anyone knows of to fix them -

Sim routing failure going up/down stairs - I always remodel all houses that have more than one floor to have two staircases because of this

Can't queue anything for parents helping with homework or they will stop immediately (and it is a real pain in the neck to get them nailed down to do it in the first place unless I turn free will off)

Jealousy that doesn't go by lot but by aspiration - for example I don't ever want my romance sims to get jealous (unless maybe they are married) but I don't want to stop my family sims on the same lot from getting ticked about cheating

Some kind of a slow down for aspiration decay.  For example - Alex Goth is a Pleasure Sim this time around and he is really high maintenance even tho he should NEVER go anywhere near depressed.  He'll come home from school, go on a date, invite a group over for an outing when he gets back and then spend the evening playing poker with his buddies and STILL manage to almost go green by the time he goes to bed.  To me, it seems like he should not lose aspiration status while he is doing something he wanted to do in the first place instead of me having to have him jump on the couch (cancel it), mix drinks (cancel), play pinball (cancel), take a bubble bath AGAIN (cancel) etc, etc.  Same thing with the other aspirations - Don Lothario can woohoo 5 times in one day (guess he has the weekender Viagra) and still manage to not get promoted the next day because he is not happy enough with his life??

last  - Does every Fortune Sim HAVE to have a bowling alley and a DJ booth at their house???  It used to be every instrument with UNI (thank you twojeffs that I don't get that anymore) but now my fortune Sims all have to either have a huge house with room for that or throw one in the yard (which looks really dumb)

Well, the Romance Mod will take care of that jealousy issue.

Thanks, for some reason I was thinking that one didn't work with NL when I redownloaded recently after an install.  Gonna try it again :)

There's an updated version, now.

I have yet to use the romance mod, but I'm pretty sure it's supposed to take care of a lot of that, especially with romance sims if I recall reading about it all correctly.

The fortune sim wanting the expensive game..there's 2 work around for this... buy them one and then stick in in their inventory so you don't have to look at it or there is also an expensive dart board game that fulfills the want...I got the link to it here..I think it was posted a MTS2 (don't quote me on that though)  I still haven't found anything to make the annoying DJ booth want go away.  In fact the expensive game want is similar in that it will also  reappear after you buy them on..although it usually takes a while.  Again, if I do get them a DJ booth, unless they have the space for it, it usually goes straight into inventory just so they can quit wanting it for a while.

Not sure about the aspiration decay..then again I don't mind much b/c it provides more of a challenge.  However, Pleasure sims seem almost worthless b/c nothing makes them happy for long and their LTWs are pretty ridiculous IMO.    In fact even their general wants are boring and repetative.

The stairs thing..this is why I always using connecting stairs in my homes unless there just not enough space and I don't want to remodel.  Connecting stairs allow more than one sim to go up/down them at a time.

I hate the homework thing too.  It is such a hassle.  If you have to get the parent and kid in exactly the same spot, make sure nothing else is in que and have to have the child or parent initiate for help immediatly before one of them walks away.  I would love something that would make it priority instead of dropping from cue so quickly.

Unless Don actually wants to woohoo, it won't matter how often he does it, it won't help his aspiration meter.  If he wants a public woohoo, then a woohoo in bed or the hot tub won't fit the bill either.  Make sure you have don in the profession of his choice - ie. get him OUT of the medical profession! and he'll immediately be happier and if in your game he wants to be a celebrity chef, and you start him on that path he'll start to get cooking and creativity wants.

Also, if your sim is in gold or platinum, and then something happens that causes one of his fears to be realised, he will drop right down to green or even red - so watch for that too.

I believe JM's no route fail hack is what you need to solve your stairs problem, but having modular stairs rather than the solid ones helps too.

Yeah, the aspiration decay would take some of the challenge away but it seems like some of them are just ridiculous - particularly with family and pleasure sims.  Unless my family sims are hanging all over their spouse ALL day long they are just not happy doing anything else which is kinda tedious.  I mean - I love my hubby too but not THAT much! 

I think those types of things should still be their wants but not to the point that they go green or red if they are doing something else so long as they have spent some "quality" time.  My stay-at-home family sims can go green just waiting on their poor spouse to get home from work so they can cling and be happy again.  Too many times I just send a platinum sim to bed or to meditate until work which is just boring.

It also annoys me that all my sims end up with 5 gazillion aspiration points and there is nothing I want to get with them.  I only use the thinking cap, smart milk and sometimes the hot tub and the shades.  The elixir and the energizer just make everything WAY too easy and I already have a hard time getting sims to die of anything but old age without cheating.

Platinum aspiration only lasts for 8 hours, then it will start to decay at the top of the next hour.  Gold lasts a little longer, and green the longest.  Aspiration does not decay while the sim is sleeping or at work.  For this reason, JM recommends getting your sim into platinum before sending them to bed, and then getting them up right after the hour when the carpool arrives.  This can be accomplished easily with the aid of the sleep clock.  Even if your sim's energy bar is not quite full,  is hungry, or needs to use the bathroom, Platinum practically guarantees promotion because of the boost it adds to your sim's Mood and thus Job Performance. 

Also, you can try using a hack like the one posted by Carrigon at VS.  It is a big cheat though, so only use it if you don't mind cheating a bit. :)  http://www.variousimmers.net/vsimforum/showthread.php?t=1262&highlight=Aspiration+Decay

I get frustrated with the homework thing too.  What someone suggested and usually helps me is to pause the game, clear both sims' queues, then have the parent ask the kid to help them with their homework while simultaneously getting the kid to ask the parent for help.  Only one action will carry through while the other drops out, but this has the benefit of occupying them and getting them to walk toward each other.  If they are too far away from each other or the homework object, then you can try moving the homework to a different location, or have the two sims to "run" to the homework (helps if they are 6+ active) and then queue up the "Ask" commands.  The farther away they are, the greater the chance of the command timing out or something distracting them.  Stairs can be bad for this as well.  Be sure there is nothing blocking the parent from standing near the child or the action will fail also.  Sims are such peculiar little creatures!

I have found that modular stairs are the best way to go as well, but they sometimes require modifying the house because for some reason, they won't always fit in the same space as the other type.

I think everyone pretty much covered your other question about the DJ booth and bowling alley.  This has bugged me also.  Fortune sims get on my nerves sometimes anyway always wanting to buy useless stuff and ignoring their family.  So I don't play them as much anymore, but I do still have some.  They seem to be better now with NL and the attraction system, but those bowling alleys and DJ booths...grrr!!!

I hope I've been able to help!

EDIT:  I just read back over the discussion, and I agree about the Romance Mod.  It was one hack I missed the most when NL came out.  It is awesome.  My Romance sims can be sluts and their other Romance lovers don't care, as long as their Nice, Outgoing, and Playful points add up to 15 or more.  Everyone else gets jealous as usual.  Sims in a committed relationship should not fall for a flirt from another sim if their relationship with their SO is in good shape, although this doesn't seem to be working as well in NL as it did before.  JM thinks it may be due to the NL attraction system skewing the Sims' acceptance threshold.

I was going to ask about that.  I thought the Romance mod hadn't been updated for Nightlife and I hadn't put it back in.  Does it work with NL then?

There's a trial version of it somewhere.

But remember, not ALL Romance sims don't get jealous!  Watch out for Aries and Pisces, they both get violently mad!  Leos are about the least bothered by their partner's aberrations.

I think it's dependent upon their personality, if I remember correctly. They have to have 15 points total from playful, outgoing, and...nice, I think? I forget.

Right-o - I'll have a hunt for it later.

Gah - I HATE the astrology thing and I pretty much ignore the aspiration thing too.  So if they get mad because they're Aries or whatever - tough.  It just means more fights which in my book is a Good Thing.  Thanks god for Pescado's Fight Club that's all I can say.

That explains why Keanu Broke never gets jealous - 20 points in playful/outgoing plus 1 for niceness so obviously he won't get jealous!  But maybe some of his partners were just short of the total!

I didn't pay attention to astrology signs until NL came along.  Like Brynne said and I said in my post earlier, the way the mod is programmed, Romance sims must have 15+ points in Nice, Outgoing, and Playful.  That may mean some signs are more predisposed to jealousy because they would have less than 15 points in these areas, but I have never paid attention to which signs they are.  I do know that Nina as she comes out of the box is very shy and not very nice or playful, so she will always get jealous unless you tweak her personality.  I don't know what her sign is.  Don, being very outgoing, does not tend to get jealous under these conditions.

Nina is Scorpio, I think, and Dina is a very tweaked Sagittarius!  Her personality is really far more suited to Libra (the lazy kind)!

Thanks Rainbow!  Gonna try that mod for the aspiration.  I don't mind cheating as long as it makes things more realistic to me and the way aspiration works now I don't really get to "play" or have them display any personality because they are so busy running around doing silly stuff trying to stay platinum.

Thanks for the stairs hints too.  I didn't know that the connecting stairs allowed more than one sim at a time but on the downside I have a lot of problems placing those too :(

The homework suggestions were great too.  I usually cancel the school icon as they are getting off the bus so they drop it in the yard and it is easier to get two sims out there at once with nothing close by to distract them.  I am just annoyed that I can't queue stuff or they quit.  Most of my houses have several sims in them and if I don't queue and move on life can get pretty bad for my simlings :)

Great idea to put the DJ booth and bowling alley in inventory.  I hadn't thought of that because I don't like to use inventory usually.  It seems like some things get busted if they have been in inventory - beds, dressers...  When I take them out they won't place against a wall anymore unless I use moveobjects but even then my sims can't use them to woohoo anymore so I just end up selling and buying new anyways.

I used to have the romance mod and life was good so I think if it works NL I will be very happy.  I tend to be having lots of Romance sims these days, mostly just to add some excitement to my usual knowledge run.  Brandi's last boy Donny is just so cute and so good at it plus I want him to be one of my breeders so it will work out well.  I have a risky woohoo mod that spices things up nicely so most of my kids are from romance sims and I never "try for baby" (family sims just have to get a fertile wife or a few mistresses if they want to have five million kids).  Nina is on her 3rd unknown father kid with her 15th woohoo for now - unfortunately she and Don don't get to see each other much since they were always busting each other and staying furious but they make such nice kids I think they are gonna have to make up or change aspiration since he is perma plat anyways now and Nina will be soon ;)

The patch is supposed to fix those inventory problems (at least, most of them!)

Gwill made a very expensive golden dartboard to satisfy that want.  It's at MTS2.  Just search for GoldenDart.

Over in Peasantry Gwill has links to her paintings that cover a lot of the wants.. dj booth, bowling alley, instruments, trash compactor, expensive car etc.  It's much easier to find a spot on the wall than to place some of the bigger stuff.

Stuff I'd like to see...
Hmmmm.  I know

A computer that fixes itself.
No crashes in the Sims.
Downloads that don't need coaxing, they will just install themselves.
Someone on this forum who knows less than me.  (I feel smart at BBS)
Roosters without fingers so they can't type. (Hang on, they DON'T have fingers).
Alias' (fromMTS2) avatar in person. 

Gonna go think of more, this'll do for now. ;D

I never queue anything for after homework, but I do use the Macrotastics "Concentrate" facility on both the kid and the parent when they're doing it, which stops them going off to do anything else until it's done, so that might work with queuing.  To actually get them in the right place, I either tell one to "Go Here" and then put them onto "Procrastinate" with Macrotastics again while the other one gets there, or teleport them both over using the ... er ... Insim click on the floor thingy.  Never have any probs with homework using those methods.

I was just going to suggest the same thing Ancient Sim said.  I'll send the parent to stand by the homework and use the Procrastinate command in Macrotastics and then have the child ask for help.  Then use the Concentrate to keep the parent there until their finished.

I find it's rare for a parent not to complete the task, with or without macrotastics. the main problem is just getting the kid to ask before hubby decides to congratulate yet again!  "Darling, I must congratulate you!  You were sitting so beautifully!

My problem doesn't seem to be the adults, it's the kids who keep breaking the "help with homework" interaction to sob over their C grade.  >:(

I've never had that happen!  (At least, not after they've read the report!  But I have a teen who just got caught sneaking out, parents were fast asleep and didn't know anything about it, but for the rest of the following day she kept bursting into tears!

 I always make sure both kids and parent have fairly full fun bars before I queue the homework, maybe that (and my flamingo) is why it works for me!

Maybe we need an "expensive_aspirationrewards" hack?

(By the way, did I mention I'm loving the expensivenpcs hack?)

There are also a couple of 'pricey' little music makers at MTS2--both done by Gwillewyn (same as the dartboard).  One is the boombox and the other is the 'moderate' stereo.  If you use the Advanced Search and look for the user name you'll find them in a heartbeat.  I didn't investigate thoroughly, but I also saw he had some 'want fulfilling' paintings.

One thing to keep in mind with that homework thing is the parents only have to help each child with homework one time, then the benefits last the rest of their studying life.  I know it's kind of painful when there are several kids coming up one behind the other, but before long you develop a routine and it becomes very easy.  In fact, keeping your sims aspiration meter up basically depends on pretty much developing routines in their daily lives.

For me, family sims (even the stay-at-home variety) are fairly easy.  Once you get them into a routine you can keep them in either gold or platinum almost all the time.  They always want to make friends, and they like to gain skill points, although the higher skill points aren't hardly worth the measley 1,000 aspiration points awarded since it takes them so long to get them.  My sim-me likes to paint and has even rolled a want to sell a masterpiece (and yes, she's a family sim).

If you can manage to make sure your sim is still at gold aspiration by work time and they need a promotion, have them wear the Noodle Soother to work.  This maxxes their mood bars so a promotion is all but guaranteed.  You don't want them to wear it any time other than work, though, as their motives decay at a faster pace.  This can be a good thing, though, if normally they come home with a full social meter and you'd like to have them make a friend that day and would prefer their social meter be down somewhat.

Okay--I don't know how much of this made any sense!  I was lucky enough to get to sleep last night by 2 a.m. instead of 3, but then I woke up almost two hours earlier!  My sleep schedule's been a nightmare lately.

Family sims who reach high creativity nearly always get the Sell a Masterpiece want, and also very often the Write a Great Novel want too.  In one of my installations, Coral Oldie has already sold three or four novels and a dozen masterpieces - useful when they can only get elder jobs and have no pensions!  Since NL, Herb also helps family finances by playing poker with everyone who visits!

Macro Do Homework will automatically seek out the nearest idling friendly adult and attempt to dragoon them into helping. And it isn't quite as susceptible to stompage.

Why doesn't it always work though?  Do they have to be on power idle or just simply not doing anything? 

I think so much depends on what the adult is doing!  I mean, it takes forever to get up from the chess table or to finish a game of kicky bag, but watching TV isn't so hard unless they are very low on fun and refuse to move!  I usually catch them when they either just got out of the shower or just put away a book!  And just make sure they don't decide to look out of the window!

I think we also have to remember that Pescado most likely plays with Free Will Off and Power Idle On. So his sims are effecient automatons that are probably idling, awaiting their next "command" rather than walking around, acting like idiots and choosing the "wrong" and therefore utterly stupid things to do. ;)

Some of us actually prefer that the game simulate some kind of free will, even if that will is quite disagreeably stupid. And by disagreeable, I don't mean that I'm arguing against the fact that their actions are stupid, rather I am in agreeance with the notion that they are insufferably stupid, but despite this I would still want them to do things on their own instead of standing around idling. Besides, if they do something stupid that accidentally gets them killed, well then, it's their own fault and they deserved to die. :P

Ste

I get sims to play red hands before 'help' interactions.  It's a good way to get them together in the right place and ensures they have enough fun to start.

Thanks for the hints on those expensive paintings and dart boards!  Worked like a charm. 

Also, I redownloaded the romance mod and got some weird results.  Everything worked fine for awhile but then I got a new computer with my tax refund *YAY* and completely reinstalled Sims so had brand-new neighborhoods.  I put my saved downloads folder back and restarted Pleasantview but now the romance mod seems to not be working for me anymore.

I started by combining the Oldies with the Pleasants then moved the Burbs close by.  The visitors to welcome them to the 'hood were both the Oldies and Darren.  The Oldies stood out in the yard and "fell out of love" so Coral got the shrink.  I didn't have any problems though till Herb came inside to eat but then stopped and started doing a jumpy thing like he was reseting and so did Coral who had walked inside.  I boolprop'ed, made Coral selectable and ended up just having to delete her cause she kept error'ing and I couldn't do anything with her.

When I exit'ed the game I checked the log files (not that I really know how to read them but I thought maybe a word would jump out at me ;)) and it looks like Coral was trying to serenade Herb but couldn't I guess.  I disabled the romance mod, went back to the house and made Coral selectable again to find that apparently their relationshp was not high enough for that social although she did get a few others available with Herb.  This time though they didn't jump or anything when I put her back unselectable (I guess she didn't try that again, dunno).

It is really strange that I had been playing in an established Pleasantview with no problems  prior to that so I find it hard to believe it is the mod but can't explain why it stopped when I took it out.
Maybe because their relationship was kinda iffy in the first place and I hadn't played them yet?
 

First off, I'm surprised you think coral and Herb's relationship is iffy!  They always seem to get on so well - attraction of opposites, I think!

Now, I don't have the romancemod installed, nor have I installed the new patch.  However, River Finn and Ruby Rogers just got married and threw a wedding party straight after moving in to their new house.  It was a completely empty custom hood, and the only other family living there is the Torres Family who shared a house with River and his sister at Uni. 

Now, while at Uni, River had an affair with Kane March (now Torres) who managed to fulfil his Woohoo with twenty different sims LTW while still at college, many after Aron Torres had graduated and moved to the neighbourhood.

Well, River invited 4 friends (all he was allowed) and included in the list were Aron who is a friend of both him and Ruby, his sister, her cousin and another mutual friend.  But, since Ruby is not friends with Kane, he didn't invite him.  However, the toasts were underway - no wedding yet - when kane appears at the front door.  By the time I could get River's attention away from the toasts, kane had gone to the back door, but this time River went to greet him - ran full tilt down the stairs and threw himself into  Kane's arms!  No response from Ruby, as she's involved in the toasting still.  Then I told River to propose marriage to Ruby, Kane is in the same room and just didn't take any notice of the nuptial embrace!  Now since he is 10 Outgoing, 10 Playful and only 1 Nice, he does appear to satisfy the requirements of the Romance mod (which was installed when I played him at Uni), but since I haven't yet put the mod back in, I can't see that that is what caused his lack of concern!

It's really odd - obviously he knew that Aron had gone to a wedding party and he was determined not to miss out on the fun!

Argh!  Well, I guess I should have been paying attention - I didn't see the new patch msg so that may explain it.  After I installed I automatically went to get the patch I knew was there but didn't even bother reading it.  Whoda thunk Maxis would make another patch with OFB coming out so soon??

Well, I can say that other than the romance mod and the Oldies that one time I am having no problems with any of my other downloads.  I have only played a few neighborhood days so far though so I guess I'll  just keep my eyes open.

Use modular stairs.

Uh, you're a little late to the party, radio.  ;)

The story of my life, rainbow. Do I at least get a loot bag on my way out?

Hmm, let me see...there might be some of Brynne's stale popcorn and flat cola left over that you are welcome to. ;)

Here's what makes me pull my hair out.  I send my sim to interact with a visitor.  Meanwhile the visitor has decided to go up the stairs.  By the time my sim is upstairs, the command has disappeared and needs to be given again.  Meanwhile the visitor has decided to go down the stairs.  Repeat.  Works very well with the nanny.

I've had them play follow-my-leader too!  Maybe a family door at the foot of the stairs?

I've started using Call Over but if your sim is close to the stairs he may autonomously decide to be the leader in the stairgame.  In hindsight I should really try to have all the interesting objects on the same floor.    Or have a magnet by the front door.  That stupid bingo game and the swing are great magnets.

Oh, that stupid bingo game is banned in my game.  I saw it was on one of the downtown lots and immediately got rid of it.  The biggest problem is that it doesn't even work right half the time.  Sims are drawn to it like flies to honey, because it promises high fun, but they just stand there while their fun and other needs drain even more.

Is the bingo game "It's Myshuno!", or something like that?  It's useless, all right.  Quite a while back after my first graduation party bombed big-time, I thought I'd try this game to help avoid having another disaster.  Hah.  They stood there, stock still -- probably bored stiff -- and the party bombed again.  They enjoy that enormous fruit punch dispenser more.

I think the "Bubble" blower is a bigger hit with the Sims than any other party toy.  I'd like to see them have a well stocked %proof bar, who can party on juice?

DJS Sims has a "Less Annoying Myshuno".

Well, you know what they are really drinking.  Maxis had to call it "juice" and "fruit punch" to keep their teen rating.  Just like the "White Rabbit" bubble blower.  How obvious is that??

Well, if you play mainly CAS sims and always give them eyes that you really like, then the kids will get the eyes of one of the parents.

I'd like that too! and more skintones!  (so we can replace them with ones we like better of course)

I'd feel happier if they would fall over, sing stupid songs, vomit and generally sleaze over everyone.  You know, just like in real life. ;D

Well, that's what the karaoke machine is for, isn't it?  And they definitely sleaze over any romance sim at the party.  That leaves the vomiting and falling over - invite a couple of townies who haven't learned to dance!

I'll try that, sounds interesting..I think I spend more time here than on my game now..