More Awesome Than You!

The hood i've been working on for the past few months finally has enough sims for a few to own some businesses.. Today i put together a florist shop with a music shop next door on the same lot.

I've got enough hacks and mods to make running businesses fairly easy (for me), I totally forgot about the problem with misplaced Out of Stock signs until i played this lot. I read a few threads here about the problem, there seems to be a few theories about what causes it (stupid Maxis, CC, Custom shelves, Gamma Rays, Full moons, etc), has a definitive cause ever been found?

I wandered over to MTS2 and got the fix from Numenor, didn't help and i already had it in my DL folder. I've got the object nuker from JMP and that gets rid of the ones at the edge of the lot. I know the debugger has an option to nuke all Restock signs but then i'd forget what was on the shelf.

I couldn't find any other info about the problem other than "it's a problem". I read in Numenors thread that the patch for OFB was supposed to fix the problem. (yeah sure, thanks Maxis  ::))

I've got all EP's and SP's except seasons, all patched. Any ideas what can fix this problem? Am I missing as fix somewhere? Did I just not search enough? Feel free to poke and laugh if I deserve it...  ;D

Not that this helps much, but I've had far more problems selling crafted items than I have selling items from the Buy catalogue. I got so fed up with the damned buggy restock signs that I stopped using crafted items altogether, and now only run salons and retail shops. I still get the occasional errant sign, but it's nothing like it used to be. I too wish there was a definitive solution to this problem, because it renders half of OFB useless.

Well.. the one florist business is crafted objects and plants from the catalogue... but the other 1/2 of the lot is a music store that sells instruments and some electronics from the catalogue.... so no crafted objects in that store and i'm noticing all of the misplaced signs so far are not crafted objects... but objects from the catalogue....

Was there a gamma ray burst today??

This one feature almost makes OFB useless... Why would Maxis/EA leave such an obvious bug not fixed... I don't want to run just restaurants and use the ticket machine on all the business lots just to make money.

"Yes Sir, Just come in and take what you want, as long as you pay $100 an hour while you're here... HEY!! you weren't here long enough to pay for that stereo"  Stupid Maxis/EA

ETA: actually, you've given me an idea... I'll make a business tomorrow that only sells maxis items from the catalogue without any craft objects on the lot and see what happens...

I haven't run any controlled experiments, but I have noticed I have more problems if I'm using non-Maxis shelves and/or using moveobjects on to get some stuff to place.

Also, along with the crafted items problem - I was selling honey from a bee hive (obviously hacked thingie) that works like a crafted item. It was working fine until I ran out of honey in inventory and then next time I went to look the signs were out by the curb across the street and the honey wasn't going into inventory properly anymore. So I'm wondering if running out makes it worse.

Where can I find that, it sounds good

http://www.pc-sims.com/smb/showthread.php?t=6158
Google is a girl's best friend :)

Thanks, I was being lazy at work.... I'll try that this evening.

That's the one. Have your business owner be the first person to "check" honey when you place it. I believe that's how it decides whose inventory it should go into. Carrigon has some edible honey, some beeswax candles, and a hive also (at Inge's site) but hers doesn't have the maker part yet so it doesn't collect and automatically go into inv. I'm still selling the candles anyways :)

Sorry not to give the link - I ran off to work and can only hang out at lunch.

I'm not sure if my experiences with the missing restock signs will help or not.

I have noticed that the restock signs appear across the street or in the corner of the lot IF one or both of the following has occured:

I have used "Move Objects On" to place multiple items on a display counter AND/OR the items placed for sale were custom items.

I have had everything from custom cars to custom knick-knacks cause this to occur...I remember several 'oriental' decor items from TSR causing this - especially the umbrellas.  I am wondering if those custom items that cause this are based on objects Maxis did not intend to be set for sale (although the cars would be based on cars and all Maxis cars can be set for sale, so that blows that theory all to Hell).

What I usually do is have someone on the lot replace the item to remove the out of stock sign from the lot. Then I replace the item with something from the catalog that does not cause this to happen.

It's bad juju for the business owner because they just paid for inventory that they can never sell, but I can't stand having those signs in the corner of the lot.

well if you want to have the store available for your other sims to visit and aren't worried about making money from it and don't care about running/playing it yourself, then you could put the owner in the business career (or another one if you want) and never go to the business Lot ever again (unless you really want to).
That way your sim earns money and goes to work and you never have to worry about restocking but your other sims still get to buy stuff from the store. I did this with a store that sold craftable toys and flowers (and regular toys and flowers) and it worked out great. I plan to do it again when I get my new hood set up.

That was my theory at one point, but i've never used move objects to place things on a shelf... i figured if i had to cheat to get the object on the shelf then the sim would need to cheat to restock it...

I like that idea... i'm not to worried about the sim making money... but i want other sims to be able to buy stuff...  I find it a pain to decorate a sims residence beyond the neccesities... couch, chair, stove, fridge, etc... so if playables can go to a lot and buy stuff on thier own that would make me happy... then the next time i play them i check out thier inventory and see what they got and use that stuff to decorate the place and if they buy something stupid i can get rid of it without the sim losing money... things don't depreciate when it's in the sim's inventory, right?

I guess that would require making a manager... how do i do that, never had one before? If i create a manager then the employees will stay on the lot?

I did play an almost totally maxis lot today and still had the same problems... there was no craft stations or craft objects... used maxis shevles, maxis items, and still had signs showing up at the corner... happened with microwaves, toaster oven, jade plant, coffee maker... using maxis shelf, pedestals and tray... Stupid Maxis   >:(

Ok, off the top of my head.

You won't need employees, but they will help.  When another sim visits the lot, your owner will wander around cleaning and restocking.  When sims line up at the cash register, the owner will eventually wander over to check them out.

Some sims will become impatient and throw their bags down.  If your playable sim waits in line too long, it will throw its bags down EVEN THOUGH you are controlling that sim and don't want it to throw its bags down.

If you decide to hire employees, it should help.  You won't be playing the lot so you won't ever actually have to pay them, except for that first day when you hire them and assign tasks.

Recommended - put Merola's mind control mirror on the lot.  Then you can control the owner and employees, if needed, and direct them to the cash register.

An important note:  You will have to visit the lot for sims to buy things, obviously.  The sim you control will not autonomously buy things.  Other sims will, and this should accomplish what you want.

If you want your controlled sim to buy something, move fast.  Another sim may buy it first.  Then you will have to wait for the owner to restock it.

There's an antibagthrow hack in JM's DC

I would think that setting up and saving the data for BRY would also help with making sure the owner and employees are doing their jobs when you visit. I should do this some time, use playables I'm not actually interested in playing....

Do i need to leave the owner at the business then? They'll never age then, and wouldn't that be the same as them becoming an unplayable sim?

But if there's more than 1 cash register then i'd need more than just the owner there? Can't an employee restock or is the restocking not saved when the playable leaves the lot?

I've heard not to use that so i use dolphins hack.. does the same thing though.

I don't use BRY got other hacks to accomplish most of what it does...

Thanks for the help nocomment

I've saved community business lots with the owners on them and tried to visit the lot with another sim, it didn't work, said a saved game was in progress or some such, so I loaded that game sent the guy home saved it and tried again with the other sim. This time the sim was able to enter the lot and the owner and his employees were all present.

Sorry, I didn't make things clear.

Don't leave your owner at his store.  Take him home, then go play another family.  When they go to the owned lot, the owner will show up.  Also, your employees will show up.  They will all be unplayable, and act like NPCs.

Every time you visit the lot, it will reset.  It will look exactly the way you did when you had the owner leave the lot.  This is useful with the crafted items.  Have your owner make one water wiggler and put it up for sale.  Now someone can visit the lot and buy it.  Then on the next visit it will be back and someone else can buy it.  This means the owner only has to make one.

However, this brings up my other point.  If you want your playable to buy the water wiggler and another sim gets it first, you're out of luck.  If the owner doesn't have one in his inventory, he can't restock.

This doesn't apply to non-crafted items.  The owner can always restock them.  But he may wander off to clean the bathroom first, so you may have quite a wait.

I imagine if you have more than one cash register, but only one worker (the owner), you'll have a lot of unhappy customers.  The owner will work one register, and customers at the other register will not get checked out.  I would suggest only one cash register, or hire employees.

Employees should restock, clean, and work the registers.  I haven't really used employees much.  The best thing is to experiment.  I've had a lot of fun letting sims buy their own things.  My goth sim loves pink.  Really.  I used SimPe to make pics of the houses I built and let sims buy their own homes.  My goth sim bought a pink house, a pink toilet, and a pink floral rug.

I don't play businesses a lot, but I had this happen with cleanbots placed on the floor. One would display the restock sign in the right place, the other was in the corner of the back yard. However, there was shelving behind it. Maybe it's just that the rear has to be accessible for some illogical reason?

This is where i got confused.... I've always assssuuuuuumed that the owner needs to be on the lot for another sim to visit the lot... so i tried sleepycat's advice and what you're saying now and i had a sim visit an owned lot but the owner wasn't there and it worked as if i left the owner there..... cool... that's what i want and i didn't notice any misplaced signs....

So... if i play the lot with the owner, i get misplaced signs..... if i play the lot with another sim, no misplaced signs...   Stupid Maxis    >:(

Another thing I've noticed is that, if you do not completely fill a shelf, this will cause the misplaced signs. For example, if your shelf holds nine items, but you only stock six items, leaving three spaces bare, this causes problems resulting in misplaced restock signs. I've also had problems with single crafted items (mostly robots) placed on the floor, but not with catalogue items (large plants, sculptures, etc), so there are definite issues with the crafted items. It's very frustrating.

This was my working theory for a while but with the lot i played yesterday it did seem to be happening that way... but then there was a maxis shelf with 6 maxis coffee pots on it and they started making misplaced signs too.... i'm sure it has something to do with craft objects though....

I downloaded an Art museum from MTS2 at some point and decided to set it up yesterday.... cool museum, mostly already furnished.... i decided to place a couple of cleanbots for bag throwing tantrums and i noticed after a while I was getting payouts of $164,092 every few hours... The owner was a millionaire in a few sim hours.... So i got rid of the bots and it stopped the payouts and the whole time i played the lot there wasn't one misplaced sign... i think maybe because i never used a maxis shelf on the entire lot...

Lots of theories... but i'm convinced it has something to do with craft objects too..