More Awesome Than You!

So everyone's probably seen that screen when you start Nightlife that tells you that you have custom content that overrides semiglobals or whatever. Being fairly ignorant when it comes to programming talk, what does this boil down to? Will having custom mesh doors, windows, etc. have any negative effect on the game, either now or down the road?

Jen

They want to make you think bad things will happen, but they probably won't (since even Maxis-made objects are included in that list).  Just select Enable--and you can prevent that screen from popping up by going into Game Options.

After clicking enable and restarting the game, all of my custom content seems to be available.  On the lot I tested, I did have the bed frame flashing blue but using the design tool corrected the problem.  All of the custom colors were available for selection.

I know the items will work, I'm wondering if the statement about them overriding semiglobals is a real valid issue or if it's CYA.

Jen

I've been wondering about that too, especially since I have had problems in the past. I had objects that would not work correctly, like the three tiled Maxis table, and all my Maxis double beds, until I deleted custiom meshes that were the source of the problem.

I'm wondering that myself. Of course, I don't even know what a semi-global is. It listed several custom objects, but I don't understand why a coffee table would interfere with semi-globals. Or whatever.

If the objects have special abilities or actions that have been changed with NL it can conflict.

The phonehack for example, possibly the single greatest hack ever made, breaks some of the new NL interactions.

Better take that one out, then. And delete my phones temporarily.
Thanks to that hack, my sims have kept their friendships with many sims, which means many phone calls coming from all those guys when the score drops.

I am still trying to figure out modding in my spare time..

I think:

semi-global effects objects of a certain type but not all necessarily the same for instance a table is not a table, there is a coffee table, a side table and a dining table, each may have a separate function but share all share a common denominator, as in you can put a certain object on all of the tables, but you can only eat at the dining table. Which I think is also called a local behav

a global is a behavior that effects all assigned to behave the same such as all lights turn on and off or all toilets flush or something like that

It would be nice if I could figure all this out before the next ten expansions, just when I think I am starting to get the hang of it something changes. But I hate asking questions so all I do is read and tinker when I have time, never really knowing for sure if I am getting anywhere. Of course I could still have no clue at all...

The code for detection of overriding semi-globals wasn't correct in the 1st release of Nightlife--I've fixed this in the NL patch.

Overrides Semi-Globals: think of it like changing functionality for a group of objects, like all chairs, doors, tables, etc.
Overrides Globals: trees ("functions") that are accessible to all objects have been changed, so almost anything can be affected.

If you are curious, you can type this in at the cheat console: "boolProp customObjectsDialogVerbose true"

Then bring up the dialog.  It should display what trees, constants, etc. are overridden.

The NL patch will also put the same listing in a text file in your logs directory for offline perusal.

Yeah. You could be me.

Non-hated Maxoid, when will the patch be out, or is it already?

Oh good (non) HatedMaxoid, I'm glad you're here. Thanks for the clarification and I'm glad to hear the patch will fix it. Will leaving these objects in cause any problems or weirdness in the meantime?

Jen

That's hard to say, because I don't know if the things the mods/hacks override have been changed in Nightlife.  It would be better if you removed them until there are Nightlife versions.

hmm. thanks!

I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one annoyed by this new "problem". I did a search, btw, and this thread did NOT come up! Strange how that happened. I find that custom content warning screen to be extremely annoying, and have removed all my Maxis made downloads until we have a way to fix it. hmm... I just hope no one has that fru fru lion sculpture or the cherub in their front yards. LOL

I think clean installer is a little better of an indication of this as it shows objects that mess with globals in red. If an object is just an object and doesn't do anything (ie it's just decorative or just to sit on or whatever) then I don't see how it can cause problems and I haven't been having any problems with custom objects or object recolors in Nightlife (I have with hacks and have since removed them all :( )

Some objects might have functionality and might mess with things, but those are more like hacks that use an object to initiate them rather than regular custom content.

You know you can turn off the start up dialogue right? It's under options the one that looks like gears; it's all the way over to the right in its own little box.

I have since reintroduced all my objects recolors skins etc after testing the game without, once I reintroduced them I enabled to the content restarted and then turned off the option to be warned at startup about custom content. Its seems to work just fine. The only mod I have in right now is crammys blur removal. And I cant tell you how intensely happy I am that I can now sort my sim content (i.e. hair clothing etc) into folders.

Whoa! I must have missed hearing about this--do you mean inside the downloads folder? We can finally use subdirectories to sort BodyShop stuff? *holds breath*

Jen

That's the rumor.  And if you ask me, they should include this ability in the Uni patch, for those that don't have NL.  It's ridiculous that some things work in the downloads folder while others don't.

D'oh this is probably one of the biggest (if not *the* biggest) game for custom content.  There ought to be a way to make all custom content work in subfolders, no matter which version you have!

Ivy

It's a CYA action: Cover Your Ass.

By adding a Big Scary Warning™ whenever custom content is detected, Maxis can disclaim any responsibility from damage caused by hacks. And they're saver from insane nazis like Jack Thompson who now cannot claim any longer Maxis is aiding people in fixing the Barbieken look of their Sims.

It's a safe-mode for playing the game, as well as informing some of the less savvy users that they may have a download that they didn't know about (remember that users download lots and some hacks/mods come with those lots).  Users can disable custom content objects, restart the game, and test it out--without have to move their downloads folder or what not.

I believe that. The safe mode thing it is. Jack Thompson's argument was thin, easily disproven (he claimed nipples and whatnot where in the base game), and ridiculous. Notice how even after finishing a big case with a similar premise, how quickly they dismissed the case against EA. No ass covering needed. I can however see the need for idiot protection, people who consistently ignore repeated warnings about downloading houses and checking your files, (along with repeted directions on how to be cautious and find and remove files that slipped through), are the kind of people that need in your face directions and warnings that their game play might be affected by their carelessness.

Of course, that's also a factor.

MT, don't let my sarcasm cloud my enthousiasm over Nightlife: especially when considering how much faster the game runs now (even in dorms!) it is a great improvement :-)

I noticed shut down is a lot faster now with Nightlife, before with Uni it could be at least 5 minutes before it shut down completely (from a running process).

That would be subfolders in SavedSims, right?

I suppose you could do that, but no that is not what I meant. I mean you can subfolder all of your custom content now, including hair, clothes, skins, etc in the downloads folder the same way you can with your object meshes, recolors, walls, floors, mods etc. Its true I tell you!

quote - That would be subfolders in SavedSims, right?

 No, the SavedSims folder is the same as pre-Nightlife.  It doesn't like subfolders at all. 

 I have many folders in my Downloads folder, inside some of them are folders, so I know you can get at least
two down on the tree and the game will still read them.    If you wanted to you could put your folders by site name and then put all the various subfolders for content inside.   for example ........build, furnishings, makeup etc.  Your genetic and clothes meshes work from a subfolder in your downloads as well.

Marg