More Awesome Than You!

This is an odd bug I hit after added OFB -- I finally made it into every existing pre-OFB residential lot, and on every lot with the cheap floor stereo, there was music playing when I first entered the lot, even though the stereo was off. I had to have a sim turn the stereo on and then off to get the music to stop.  And the funny thing is, the music that was playing was whatever selection they last had (i.e., jazz, pop), but when they turned the stereo on it went back to the default salsa. I don't have any boom boxes on existing lots, so I don't know if they have the same glitch, but it definitely didn't happen on lots with the expensive stereo -- only the cheaper one.

Anyone else hit this one?

I had this glitch in NL-I don't think it is because of OFB. I quit the game and reloaded it, and it was fixed :)

I've noticed this since installing OFB, I thought I was going mad.  The weird thing is that I don't recognise the music at all.  I know OFB put some new stuff in, but it didn't seem to be any of those, either.  I suppose it must be, but if so I haven't found it yet.  Very peculiar.

I had that problem in NL too. Was it the small stereo that fits on a desk or was it the small standing stereo? I had that problem with the small standing one.

Also had an issue where the tv sound was on but the tv wasn't. Drove me nuts.

Happened with the expensive stereo in one of my neighbourhoods.

Though I've never heard of the TV doing that before. How odd.

When I installed Uni I notice the stereo was on on some community university lots and in dorms.

After I install Nightlife the music was turn off everywhere.

I install OFB, phantom music plays everywhere there is a stereo.  I also needed to turn on the stereo to stop the phantom music and then turn it off.

I wonder what will happen when we will install the next ep...  :P

I had one instance in my home business family where their jukebox was doing that. I think it happened because I had them turn it off and immediately after another sim autonomously turned it on, so I had her turn it off again and the music kept going. Turning on and then off again fixed it though.

The phantom tv kept going though. Even selling the tv didn't fix the problem.  :o

That's the one -- the small standing one. No problems with the boom box or the expensive stereo in my game.  I just dropped in on a couple of dorms in Uni, and same problem there.  Thank goodness for Merola's mind control mirror -- I got some idle dormies to turn the stereos on and off, instead of having my sim run around the dorm doing it.  :D

I really wish there was a way to lower the autonomous factor of stereos and tvs. Very annoying having to tell them to turn them off all the time, but sometimes I want to let them do their thing.   :-\ But then sometimes, I'm tired of them turning on the tv while relaxing in bed because I am trying to get you to whoohoo, dammit stop watching the sports channel!

I usually keep the steros and things playing alll the time so I have music to listen to, and I've noticed after installing a new EP the stereos will be off everywhere, but the music will still be playing. I just turn them on again and then I can change the stations once more.

What I'd like to know is how to change the stations on community lots where the only apparent "stereo" is the speaker! I nabbed the flower shop from the Bluewater in my test hood (didn't want that area in my real hood) and set it up for one of my Sims in the hood itself. Anyway, there's a speaker there and music's going, but I can't change it and didn't choose it, so it's getting annoying.

Maybe if you put a regular stereo in you can control it?

What was annoying(back in the day)when I installed Uni,the speakers were doing that.  You can't turn speakers on and off.  They had to all be replaced(that was before I knew that you only needed one speaker in the back yard.  I also had some computers that where doing that.  I think it was the ones that were on at the time of install.  I haven't noticed it in OFB,yet.  Maybe it only happens to the stereos that are actually on.  Most of mine were off cause I was so sick of the tunes.

This is actually a "bug" that was introduced with UNI.  It happens in every expansion after as well.  The game basically resets all the stereos to "off", but some lots are programmed to have them be "on" at start.  Hence you have music.  This happens on Don Lothario's lot and the Pleasant's lot in a fresh install of the base game and all expansions.

The only way that I know of to change the music for those, is to choose a different speaker.  Each one is a different color because they only play one station.  Or...if you want to be able to have the normal stations, just pull the speakers off the walls and put in a normal stereo.  Just dont' accidently mark it for sale. :P

Same here.

Yep, had the stereo bug too after installing OFB. After reading Ruann's post, I'm glad to know it's sort of normal.

I also had the same problem as Jelenedra with the TV. Weird thing is that it wasn't after installing an expansion or doing anything that changes the game's files.

I'm getting this too.

After I installed OFB I sent a couple on a date to Red's Famous 50's diner.  The first thing I noticed was that the music that was playing was from the College Rock station and not the Oldies station like usuall.  Then I tried to make them dance together but could see the option.  Finally I clicked on the jukebox and saw the option to turn it on...

And that speaker in my flower shop constantly plays Techno.  How appropriate is that?

I'll have to try that, then. I just hope the really ugly checkered one isn't the music I want :P I'm just used to those speakers piping music to a different floor/outside in residental, so that seems kinda weird, but ah wel...

You could place a stereo or a jukebox instead and place the "generic" speakers which will appear as green I think (look for 2 speakers showing the same color, one will be the generic one and the other will play a specific music type) on walls where you want the music to play, some community lots are set this way.  I think that speaker can be found in the miscellanous section in electronics.

EDIT:  The south or north park in the downtown section have a stereo and you can make Sims switch station at any time they wish.

I'm having this problem also, but it's with buy and build mode as well. Any ideas on this?

The thing I noticed now is I cant switch tv stations on it. Whatever comes on comes on. And its stuck on nasty sports.

I've also had this bug on comm. lots with phantom music . . .

I've always had a problem with speakers on residential lots; they never seem to turn off.  They may not have sound, but the music notes still come out of them, and if a Sim happens to fall asleep where the speakers are, they wake up.  I hate that . . .  I've always had that bug since we first got them (Uni?).  Does anyone know any mods that turn them off when you turn a stereo on a lot off?

The speakers are independent of the stereo, and they're really not designed for residental use. There's no way to actually turn them off that I've ever found.  However, Squinge did make a 'noise doesn't wake anyone up' mod that over on insimenator.net and MTS2; unfortunately, it has the negative effect that alarm clocks no longer wake up the sims either.

There was a tut over at MTS2 for this a while back. Never tried it,..... Try searching on TV volume.

Eh, not quite a major loss. The alarm clocks could never be properly set anyway, and I recall they tend to wake your sims up at the WRONG times anyway.

And it's not an issue in my game, I guess, since every sim has one of your sleepclocks rather than an alarm clock. :)

Is this stereo problem in some way related to the spam of audio log errors I keep getting? 

Now, I don't know whether it's something to do with the stereo hack, or something similar, but now my sims never EVER turn the stereo on autonomously, and they also never turn it OFF!  But I have one adult sim who regularly naps on the sofa when it's blaring in his ears - but wakes up if someone starts to play SSX3!  (He's a general, and was complaining bitterly about his ears, so maybe he's a bit deaf, LOL!)

I thought it had something to do with all the music I uploaded on my system to make the build/buy mode bearable but I also get all the audio log errors.  I've ignored it until now.

Until I upgraded my video card drivers I was getting texture errors too, but I did upgrade my sound drivers and nothing has changed with the audio errors I keep getting - and what's more, they always seem to be the same!  Guess I'll have to restart, play a lot with no music and without entering build or buy mode, then exit the game and see what happens.