More Awesome Than You!

It's very possible this is caused by one of the mods in my game because it's been happening since before NL, but reading the burglary thread and the fact that a couple of my sims were burgled last night and had another failed attempt at interacting with the policeman jarred my memory so I thought I'd post here and see if anyone else has had this problem.

I try during the whole time the cop is on the lot to interact with him without success.  Previously once he arrested the burglar, my sims could talk with the cop but now, although the option is active, they just follow him around trying to talk to him while he walks aimlessly around his car like he can't find the door, then he gets into the car and drives away.

I have had the same problem, even before NL.

That's what I was saying--this started pre-NL.

Do you have mods in your game?  I'm wondering if it could be related to something I put in my game, and like I was saying just hadn't given it much thought and haven't taken the time to test it through because, well, it's kind of hard to know when a burglary is going to happen. LOL

Yeah, I have a bunch of mods, but I haven't tried taking them out, and I haven't had any burglaries since NL.  I never got them much anyway.  From what I understood, your sims have to go to bed within a certain window of time, and mine are usually up past that.  You can force a burglary if you want to test with debug mode.  Enter boolprop testingcheatsenabled into the cheat window, and then shift click on the mailbox.  Choose "Make NPC... Burglar."  Soon a burglar will visit your lot.  (It doesn't actually make a new burglar, it uses one that's already made.)

It's a VERY annoying bug introduced in University. Not fixed in NL and not fixed in either the University or NL patch.

If you make the cop selectable you will see that many multiple leave the lot interactions keep getting queued up continuously over and over again infinitely until he leaves. If your sim tries to interact with his, the leave the lot actions will push forward past your sims interaction and eventually completely knock it out of the queue.

My hunch is this is a really badly implemented attempt to fix the issue pre-university where sometimes the cops would just get stuck on your lot and never leave.

Another obnoxious bug university introduced that still hasn't been fixed and annoys the crap out of me is that since university 9 times out of 10 when your sims chat online with someone they haven't met, they don't actually meet the person.  >:( The computer used to be a great way for popularity sims to meet someone new but now chatting on it is basically just a waste of time.

I've been using Monique's computer over at MTS2, and it has a lot of neat functions, including an improved chat social online and with email.

She cloned if off the uni computer and it has the same problem with meeting sims. I have her computer too.

Motoki, I don't have Uni but like I said it happened before NL.  I'm thinking probably when I patched my game.

So, since it's a game bug, then I think it would be within all fairness to use the mind control mirror, grab hold of the cop and let him 'talk' to my sim in my Legacy Challenge family. Right?  I know I'm right!  ;D

I've had that chatting problem in my game for a long time, too, and now that you mention it, it was post-original-patch.  Sometimes my sim meets the other and sometimes not.  It's really irritating.  If that's the case, this could be another place where a game mod is called for.  I installed the one where they can call anyone in the neighborhood, like a normal phone book.  In my Legacy family I simply don't allow them to call sims unless they've actually met them.  However, if they try to chat with them on the computer and it doesn't work, I think using the 'phone book' would be justified.

I know I use too many hacks for my Legacy families to actually qualify, but I just get too frustrated without them but I do try to stay within the boundaries of the rules as much as possible.

Maybe it was the patch then. All I know is with the original TS2 game out of the box with no addons or patches this problem didn't exist. Though the problem with the cop sometimes not leaving the lot did.  :-\ If it's not one thing, it's another.  :P

You can't interact with the policemen and with the burglar - it's not a mod you have, you just can't...:). Why? I don't know, but it's from the beginning of TS2.

But if you have the Merola's Mind Control Mirror, you can "force" the cop to interact with you. Even a small talk with him will enable you later to phone him and befriend him.

I did it once or twice, thinking that I will get better relation with him, when he busts my kid. But no - I got lectured as always, and our friendship score was reduced by 7 points...:).

Gali, I definitely interacted with the cops when I first got the game before the first patch, before uni, before any hacks etc. I even moved one in and had one of my sims marry him.

As for the burglars, as NL any time they commit a crime your sim automatically knows them and is furious with them (even if they were sleeping at the time; I guess the cop or a witness told them about it ;) ). Prior to NL I never had a burglary so I really can't say. I know the Prima guide claimed you could open the car door and let them out after the cop catches them and meet them that way. As of NL you can't do that, but I am unsure whether or not you could really do this prior to NL or Prima was just blowing smoke out of their asses like they have on a lot of other things.

I think it wa glitchy, some people could do it and some couldn't.

The cop? That's odd. I could do it 100% of the time initially when I first got the game but something along the way either the patch or uni changed that and now I can never interact with them since. :(

letting the burglar out I meant.

I'm pretty sure I was able to talk to the cop when I first got TS2, but I think the patch is when it changed.  I never was able to let the burglar out, but that never appealed to me anyway.  Using Merola's mirror didn't seem to help because when I tried it just now by forcing a burglar (in the middle of the day!) the cop just kept heading for the car as Motoki said.  When I canceled his Get in Cop Car actions, he then decided to Leave World by walking off the sidewalk portal.  I wondered what would become of the car and the burglar, but the car vanished soon after, leaving the burglar suspended in midair in the sitting position for a moment, then she too vanished.  I quit without saving.  My sim chased the cop all over the place but could never get a word with him other than the police giving him $3,000 something for his stolen hot tub.  That's another thing.  The burglar made it all the way to the back yard to steal the hot tub before the police caught up wtih her.  My sims had a memory of meeting the burglar and were furious with her, but they had no memory of meeting the cop or have him in their relationship panel.  Seems they would have met the cop too and maybe had a relationship boost since they had -100/-100 toward the burglar and the cop caught her.  Argh.

In the original Sims 2 I was able to meet both cops AND burglars.  And if you let the burglar out of the back of the car, it trashed your relationship with the cop, which I thought was pretty funny. :)

I haven't been able to talk to a cop in a while, even tho I've tried lots of time.  I don't know about burglars tho, as it was only a couple of seconds where you could click on the cop car door to let them out.  I figured if I couldn't get the option, my timing was off. 

Also, it takes at least two people at home to release the burglar.  One for the cop to come back inside to talk to when you get your reward, the other to stay by the door to let the burglar out of the car.

Hook

Oh believe me, on multiple occasions (I have Dizzy's weekly burglar hack now and get burgled quite a bit) I have had 2 or more sims on a lot and awake during a robbery and had my trigger finger over that damned car door from the second the cop put the burglar in there to the second he left and I kept pausing and unpausing trying to get the timing right. At least in my game, it no longer works, which isn't actually a huge deal because with NL everyone automatically meets the burglar. And anyhow, even if you let him out, your sim is furious with him at -100/-100 so not a very good start for a friendship. ;)

I suppose it could be the hack, as I've not tried with a burglary without for the simple reason that I've never gotten a burglary without it.  :P  I did scan the code of the hack though and while I fully admit I'm no Pescado TS2 codemaster it didn't appear as though anything to do with the cop or cop car.

I suspect letting a burglar out of the cop car has been removed, as you no longer need to do that to meet the burglar.  As for why we can't talk to the cop now, I'm totally mystified.

Hook

My guess is it was a quick fix to the problem of the cops getting stuck on the lot and not leaving. When I first got the game I had one who wouldn't leave and he just kept standing there and eventually peeing himself and passing out in his own filth and crying.

Thing is, if it was an intentional fix, it's worse than the problem it fixed because at least if they got stuck on the lot you could delete them with move objects.

Seems to be a bit of a habit. Fixing things that already have satisfactory community workarounds that don't cause any of the problems of the official fixes. Like the NL Pollination Technicians thing. Grr. No, I'm not bitter.

That's exactly the same behavior that I've seen (and my Romance Sim really wanted to meet the cop, too!).  This was definitely pre-NL, and with no hacks or patches installed.  It may even have been pre-Uni, I forget...

DC

That wasn't the case in my game at all.  One of my sims married Demi Love, one of the default policeman.  At one point, one of my sims let the burglar out of the car.  This was all pre-patch.

Now, of course, it's not necessary to let out the burglar because as soon as your sim gets the memory for the burglary, they also get a memory for having met the burglar and he/she then shows in their relationship panel.

I think that since they made this happen for the burglar, then that's all the more reason they should meet the cop since they actually talk to them when they tell them about their insurance money.  I have to resort to hacks to get my romance sim to meet the cop and ask him for a date.   :-\

That's an excellent point as you're right--the cop does actually 'talk' to the sim, even if they slept through the whole thing!  I'm resorting to mods, too, because of the chat feature on the computer not working all the time and the cop problem.

I prank call an emergency to meet the service people.

That works too, although a bit expensive. ;)  If it's a cop do you manage to talk to them before they leave the lot, unlike when they've arrested the burglar?

yes, but you have to be quick about it. I have also talked to them when they come to arrest, but only when they have lost the fight, not when they make an arrest. Also if you can manage to let the robber out of the car, the cop automatically knows you as well as the robber, the cop will be furious and the robber will like you.


Rather than write another new reply...

I havent tried to let the robber out of the car since installing the patch (NL). I know it worked before the patch though. I suppose you could think of the fine for the emergency prank as about the same as calling the gypsy for a date. Except of course the cop will be furious at you, but hey at least you will "know" him/her. Usually when I dont get my way with an uncontrollable sim I just remove the doors until they give up and comply. (its still kind of cheating for legacy, but I am not using a mod so I figure its fair game)

Have you let the robber out of the car with NL?  I'm wondering if since the robbery opens up a relationship with your sims they didn't change that option.  Since putting in the original patch I've tried everything under the sun to get my sims to either let the burglar out of the car or talk to the cops to no avail.  I've even saved at critical moments and re-loaded that house.  Still no good.

Yes I've tried too. Many times and to the point where I would pause ever half second and click lol! I just can't get to do it no matter how hard or how many times I've tried.

Same here, I wasted so much time on that in the past that I forgot about it.  There is a chance anyway that the policeman will pass by on a community lot so I decided to meet them there instead.  As for the burglar, Dustin Broke knows one of them when you start the game.

With Nightlife we start a relation on a bad foot with the burglar but it is better than nothing I guess.

I figure Legacy family or no, if the game's broken I'll fix it any way I see fit.  ;D  I do walk my own fine line with that, though, as in my sims can't just pick up their phone book and call any sim in the neighborhood without actually having the opportunity to have met them first (like the chat on the computer not working, or not being able to talk to the cop).

By the way, has anyone noticed how the whole relationship with the burglar thing goes after NL?  It's very bizarre.  Your sim is furious, of course, with the burglar and their meter works its way up toward zero.  However, once it reaches zero it doesn't stop like it should.  It just keeps on climbing.  I'd been having my sim call the burglar and talking to him off and on and she did eventually make friends with him, but at that point her relationship was already at 100/97.

I noticed that too - my sim had called the burglar to chat once, and then next time I happened to look at her relationship score with him, it was 100/80 - I thought that must be a negative score, but when I looked more closely, no, it was positive.  How to win friends and influence people: rob them! ::)

From the looks of things one of the burglars will be my Legacy heir's next spouse.  They were robbed again, this time by another burglar and if Braun carries the crown he's going to have one cute wife!  If Bianca does she'll have, well, maybe she won't marry a burglar--she might go after the grocery guy and save the cute burglar for a later generation. ;)

Hmm, I was playing just now and saw a cop npc who none of my sims have been able to meet walk by a downtown community lot. He didn't go in, he just walked by, but I could interact with him so I suppose there's a chance, albeit fairly rare, of meeting them that way.

I always look for opportunities like that but the weird thing is since installing NL I've yet to see an NPC walk down the sidewalk on a regular community lot and have seen very few even on Downtown lots.

After I posted that I went back and played for a few minutes. I just had a gardener walk by and in the past I've had nannies and professors walk by quite a bit. It is really random and odd. Sometimes I'll play for hours and won't see them, other times I'll see several in a row. Those vampires are a pain in the ass too. When I am looking for them they never show up and when I am not then they are around.  :P This is the first time I saw a cop though.

I was having trouble getting one of my sims to meet one of the vampires, so I created a new downtown community lot with visitor turnover in mind.  It had four expresso bars and no bathrooms (or shrubs, for that matter).  It worked very well.

Yep.  The NPCs walking by is random.  They cycle with the regular Townies and Downtownies, which is another good reason not to have too many of those in your hood if you're wanting to meet service workers. ;)

I've noticed that vampires show up on the chat on the computer quite often during daylight hours, of all times!  So far I haven't had much trouble meeting them.  However, in the neighborhood I'm now playing so far I've only ran into one of them.

I learned quickly about creating high turnover in regular community lots.  Merola's multi-painting is quite useful.  Visitors don't use the restrooms on those lots so all you need to do is drain their bladder.  Cruel, I know, but it works! LOL  Unfortunately, without Uni I can't put coffee shops anywhere.