More Awesome Than You!

Is there some way to stop this from happening? I'm perfectly capable of watching from afar as their stomach gets bigger, or when they have their child. It annoys me to no end when I'm suddenely dragged to the moaning female, even if I have the special event mode turned off. Just tell me a new baby is on the way, let me name it, then let JM's baby control continue with it until the runt becomes a toddler.

No more, there must be a way to stop this from happening!

Oh yes that really gets on my nerves.  On a related matter, I wish each lot would remember what the view was and return you to that view, not a closeup of some Sim it thinks you might be interested in.

That is a very close second, especially on huge lots.

Yeah that gets annoying especially if your rerolling the kid until you get the gender, eye color, skin color ect that you want.

I agree - this is an annoyance that should be rectified.

And it always seems to happen when you're in the middle of something!  Now, a close up zoom on a dustbin-kicker might be useful!

That reminds me, there's something combination of keys you can press that will sort of 'record' your position, so that when you've been somewhere else to see to someone else, you can go back where you were.  I've forgotten what it is and I really miss it, it's very useful if you want to return to a certain vantage point after dealing with some other situation.  Anyone know what it is?

At least your game doesnt do what mine does...If Im on the third floor and the sim having the baby is on the first floor...The camera will move to the spot the sim is on just the wrong floor...First time it did it I was confused bc I thought nothing was happening

Mine does the same thing Starr, confused the hell out of me too. Especially because I sort of forgotten that my sim was due for 'round up'. I couldn't figure out what the heck was happening.

And ZZ is definitely right, it usually does happen when I'm in the middle of something else.

I wouldn't care if it was just focused on the sim but the fact it zooms in is really annoying.  Plus, that thing with the camera being focused on the wrong floor.  I'm wondering if this data would just be in a text file somewhere in TS2's directory, but I'm not that good in finding hidden stuff.

StarrKist:  Mine does exactly the same thing.  Not just during trimester changes or birth, but also when I double click on a sim to center them, and they are on a different floor.  It will go to where they are, but on the same floor I'm already on, directly over or under them.  :P  So I've gotten into the habbit of paging up and down to see what is going on when that happens.

yep that happens to me too.

I agree about the close-up being annoying, especially for each trimester - it's not that it's a close up, it's just that it's too close - far closer than the game will let you get when you want to take a pic!  It just makes it impossible to see what other sims are doing!

ctrl +# [4 through 9]

That what you mean?

it was better in the Sims1 when events like 'birth' happened. It was just a PIP. At least you would be able to turn the PIP off ;)

Well, there's PIP in sims2, so why couldn't they have made it so you could choose that if you turned the Special Event Camera off?  Mind you , I love it when certain sim couples (through some glitch in their coding, no doubt) always get the Special Event Camera when they woohoo!

I always get the special event cinematic when one of my sim couples woohoo in the love tub! I've turned that off now though. I just turned it on the other day to see the alien birth cinematic-that one is so cute!

Well, you shouldn't really get the cinematic after the first time, but as I said, there can be a glitch that causes is to happen,  I have one couple who get it when they woohoo in bed too, but the love tub is more frequent.  But a Romance sim who gets it with one partner doesn't necessarily get it with another.  And I don't think it's related to having 3 Lightning Bolts either, as it was happening with just the base game.

But, to go back to the original issue, I think with the camera turned off, you shouldn't get a close up of the birth - I didn't when I played on my laptop and I had to keep a lot of things to a minimum - So I think the answer is to turn it off in a house with a pregnant sim until the birth is over!

I love the alien birth one.  I almost always play with cinematics off, but if I have an alien baby on the way it hasta go on b/c it's just too cute :D

I don't really mind the zoom in & focus thing....I don't mind it for the birth b/c I'm always excited to see what traits the baby inherited.  It's gets annoying just for mom to get up, wave, and the bump gets bigger though.

I just wish the zoom was slightly less close!  that way, you'd actually see more!

I've tried the PIP, but I have never been able to get the setting to stick, even since having the base game only.

I hated it in Sims 1 and I hate it now - how many times do you need a close up view of the maid arriving?

The only reason i use PIP is because i forget to pay the bills otherwise.  I remember shortly after the repo men arrive.

Maybe you need the payatbox hack so you only have to tell your sims to pay the bills - and a lot will do it autonomously anyway.

It's not NL compatible so i don't have it in my downloads.  I see the pay bills pop up when i use macro tastics but i still prefer seeing the PIP of the mail carrier.  It's not such a big deal without payatbox but i do have to cancel the grab bills action after they pull them out otherwise they'll treck 2 miles up hill in the snow against the wind to find a counter.

Put an endtable by the front door.  Or make sure all your end-tables have something on them, and hopefully they'll just drop them in the road or at least put them on the kids' desk.

I've started putting those cheap outdoor end tables in front of all my mailboxes using moveobjects now.  Someone else suggested this, and it works rather well.  It looks like it is a part of the mailbox stand, creating a little shelf.  I just wish that the sims would quit putting their thinking caps there, because I have plenty of end tables throughout the house for them to use!

That's a cool idea i might try that.  Otherwise i guess i'll stick a endtable near the door like ZephyrZodiac suggested.

It would also be nice to choose what you wanted the special event camera for.  I get tired of the walls blocking my view of the birth because the special event camera decided to use a screwy angle to view the birth from, but I get a kick out of the "first time woohoo with" cinematic.  And I had a cheap integrated Intel graphics "card" when I first started playing TS2, so my first alien abduction cinematic was just a couple of months ago, and I think that's just as cute as the alien birth.  (I had had several abductions before that.)

And I recently decided to restart Pleasantview, and saw the cinematic for Cassandra's rejection by Don at the altar for the first time.  So it would be nice if I could just have a menu to pick what special events I wanted to watch, or NOT to watch.

And I always have an end table by the door, but as soon as I got a coffee table they wanted to put the bills there instead.  *Sigh*

The only time I let Cassandra get to the altar, Don didn't turn her down!   I wished afterwards he had, they are about the most incompatible couple in the game!  At least the Pleasants both like cleaning and don't leave a mess in the bathroom!

I downloaded a house from TSR some months ago, and it had a mailbox cover  in it that slips over the mailbox and creates a small table on the post.  I believe the house was almost a "mobile home looking small thing" and that Pinecat  built the house.

I'm also thinking the mailbox cover is by Windkeeper. It works like a charm with move objects on and only cost $25.00. Couldn't live without it. It is definitely compatible with Nightlife.

Well, the last time I checked, that table wasn't in the free section, so I'll have to pass on it for now.  If it comes around in the free rotation (and I'm looking around over there at the time), I might give it a try.

Oooh, I love the mailbox cover. It works amazingly well.  :)

I use that a lot too. I forgot who made it, but they have  a brick one there too!

Link and picture maybe, anyone?

http://www.thesimsresource.com/downloads/sims2/sets?ID=182049

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d108/BlueSoupForYou/w-250h-188-182049.jpg)

Thanks for the link and pic bluesoup it looks very nice.  Unfortunately they've got it under the pay section so unless someone wants to be kind and send me the file i'll have to forget it.  Stupid paysites.

Edit: Got it, thanks again.

That sucks it's not on the free rotation I guess I will just have to wait and hope I can catch it :-[ This looks cool since we can't use pay at the box anymore.

Alright anybody wanting these mailbox thingies Clicky here (http://d.turboupload.com/d/368267/MailboxCoverSet.zip.html).  Oh and to paysites i say  :P.

Thank you LFox!

No problem, may paysites burn in hell.

I agree!

Thank you very much!    :D

Awesome mailbox thing. I'll be sure to use it like I had actually paid for it. :D

Back to the issue though, does anyone (who isn't a moron, like myself) think a mod can be made to stop the zoom in? I actually remember someone making a hack very ealry on somewhere, but removed it because he was inexperienced and putting it into your game causes instant crashes.

New mod by monique:

http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=132164

Posted just now at mts2.

Blah Jordi you beat me to it :P

And about those mailbox covers....how many people leave their bills on a little ledge next to their maibox.   Howeve unrealistic, it does seem convenient. 

Monique's hack either disables all zooms, or all zoom except for the actual birth.  However I depend on those warnings to guesstimate when the birth will occur, so I can save sometime before.  This way I can exit without saving if I get the wrong sex, or if my baby turns out to be exceptionally ugly

I really like moniques "no auto punch you punch me"  ;D

Alright who here is Monique?

That's what I was thinking too.........

I rather like it when my sims choose to play punchyou-punch-me with a sim with no nice points!

Dunno, but it's a strange coincidence isn't it ?  One long thread complaining about this very thing and *poof* the hack appears.

Well, the reason I like the mailbox covers so much is because I use Macrotastics.  And the Sim putting the bills down on the ledge, spinning around and picking them up to pay them is nearly as awesome as PayatBox was.

You'd probably want a little table to do your writing on, too, if you had to sign and send checks for bills immediately upon receiving them because it took you 3 hours to bring them inside and read them there, and another 3 hours to put it back...

I pay all my bills online.  I don't even really get bills in the mail.  And I definitely don't get coupons for free meals or love letters.  :-\

Thank you so much ;D

Maybe Monique just lurks here...

I ended up downloading a number of her hacks this evening, including her computers that have been mentioned quite abit here, you all got me interested  ;D

Alas, the MTS2 file servers appear to be overloaded again -- I can bring up the threads about the hacks, but the server times out trying to actually download something...

Lfox, thanks for the mailbox cover file.  I'm using it religiously now.  One amusing property of the covers is that the sims think it's an endtable (naturally) and often put the thinking cap or noodlesoother there.  Then I have to move those things off so it can be used for the mail.

Amusing?

Oh no, no, no, not to me...it pisses me off when they do that!!  :P

It annoyed me before when I put an actual end table there, and the behaviour continues now with the mailbox cover.  But I don't know of any way to avoid it.  I wish that there was a way to designate an area or a table just for thinking caps, and they would put them there and nothing else, and they would put the thinking caps there and nowhere else.

Just like how great it'd be if kids actually put their homework on a frigging desk instead of the floor!!  >:(

Dizzy2 actually has a hack for that.

Ooh goody...

thanks for that Rainbow  :)

It's called Homework in Bedroom, and you can find it here:  http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=75476

Speaking of Dizzy2, I wonder where he is?  I haven't seen him around here in a while.

Just wish some custom desks were DESKS!  Or that kids would use tables!  I mean, how many kids do you know who use their bedroom desk for HOMEWORK when they can do it sitting on the sofa or at the kitchen table?

With Dizzy2's mod, they will use tables.  I even saw my sim kid use the kitchen table a few times when dinner wasn't on it, because she doesn't have a desk in her room.  I used to do my homework on my bed using a "lap desk" my dad made for my sister, which was just a large piece of press board he got from somewhere.

I might try that, then, thanks!  (Guess he used some of the YA coding?  Makes far more sense if it's applied to kids and teens as well - I mean, does going to college suddenly make it possible to do your homework at a table?)

The picture he posted up at MTS2 shows two kids in their room with two of those small, one-tile tables that look like card tables.  The cheap ones.  I hadn't thought to try one of those, but I just might now.  That will fit in my kids' bedrooms much better than a desk.

One or two of the bedroom and bathroom sets at 4ESF2 have tables made to look like counters which just attach to a wall, but operate like a table so I should think they'd be great and look better than the card-table.

I have a gorgeous rustic timber hutch; (can't remember offhand where it came from), it has blue and white crockery on the shelves.  Anyway,the kids put their homework on it and go spastic at me coz they can't get to it. >:(   So I have to  *move objects on* and put it on the floor.  Now I just put the phone and a plant or something on it so they can't put their homework there.

I have a glass-top recolor of that cheap card table that I use incessantly in my houses for all sorts of things. Hah, and I even noted where I got it -- it's by DOT at TSR. (Hm, I need more recolors of that thing that look nicer.)

I've got some nice recolours too, but I don't use them a lot.

You bet!  I'd like to see this weird zooming feature fixed, too!  Having it occur once, like when the birth is actually occuring is not that bad -- it's all those little 'pops' that are really annoying, and especially in those instances when you've finally gotten your exhausted pregnant Sim to bed, and up she pops to show off her bump!  ::)

Max

Or he! ;)

Oh dear, yes -- OR He, hehe!
(apologizing for most obvious sexual discrimination)  ;)

Max

Especially now we have TJ's mod!

Since installing OFB I get a "location out of bounds" error while trying to use moveobjects to place an object on top of the mailbox. Is there a cheat command for this function?

Is it the mailbox cover you are trying to place, or a table?  Specify what you are trying to place there.  :)

Moveobjects worked before with either the mailbox covers or a table.  I hope they haven't messed this up. :(

Looks like they did screw it up tried to put windkeepers mailbox cover on one of the mailboxes with moveobjects and you do get a out of bounds message.

Awww damnit! I only downloaded it the other week!!!  >:(

I'll bet Windkeeper updates it for OFB.  We just need someone with a sub to check it from time to time.

Is there a cheat forbuilding or placeing things out of bounds?


Edit...(.Found it, it doesn't work )  boolProp snapObjectsToGrid true/false

Me too!  >:(

Not only that, but you can't even move the mailbox, because when you try to place it again, you get the same Out of Bounds message.

That really sucks.  Why, Maxis, WHY?

Now that really sucks! I move the mailbox, trashcan and community lot phone ALL the time.  >:(

Guess it also mean that if you lose one of them somehow, you won't be able to replace them!  And how about replacing damaged portals?   If you can't replace a mailbox on the pavement, and presumably can no longer put plants on the kerbside, then how on earth can you replace a portal in the road!

since I don't have OFB yet I can't check myself but I read that this "out of bounds" issue has to do with the spaces by the road, so it might be possible to shift the mailbox/trashcan/community lot phone to the otherside of the sidewalk without problems (other then what JM says about doing that *laughs*)

I think I read something about Maxis changing the limits on where walls could be placed, could be they screwed up when changing the settings for front part of the lot.

I've also had to move mailboxes on a couple of Maxis pre-made lots because of problems with unloading children on the schoolbus and with carpools.  I'm not sure but the problem may exist on some other lots as well.  How am I going to do that now???  Stupid Maxis.   >:(

Yep. I  even tried the locktiles cheat and it also does not work to place the cover on the box. Bah.

I hope Crammyboy's portal monitor still works!

What about that new cheat that lets you place different things on top of each other?

Nope, I tried that.  I used moveobjects and the locktile cheat, both were a no-go.  Simsbaby, what's the new cheat?

Holding down ctrl + alt lets you place more than one object on the same wall section (e.g. a lamp over a painting). It doesn't help getting the cover over the mailbox.  :-\

What about already-placed mailbox covers?  Do they still work correctly?

The ones I already had in my neighborhoods seem to be working just fine.

Yes The ones already in place work fine just can't place new ones.

I wonder how long it'll be before they release the OFB patch?

Well, that's a relief.  Now I have to go put covers on all my mailboxes before getting OFB.  Any new houses will have to do without until this gets fixed.

Hehe, I just had the same thought. :)

And don't forget Inge's Stay Things shrub on all the lots with mailbox covers, otherwise you'll lose them  when the family moves out....

Karen

This is so aggravating to me.  I did a clean install right before OFB, and I only had Sims in Uni, none in the regular hood, which of course means that I didn't have any lots either.

Grr...