Does anyone know the status of Squinge's MakeOutFun and MoreEmployeesForHire mods? I didn't see them listed anywhere on Amber's lists.

What garden signs?

Just as the title asks, I'm wondering if anyone knows if that awful werewolf walk that makes them look like a zombified monkey can be fixed so they walk normally and if it can - has someone made a fix for it?

I've searched MTS2 and InSIM; I found nothing at MTS2 and a request for a fix at InSIM that never got any replies, not even a "sorry but that can't be fixed" reply. I'm not sure where else to look, those 2 and this site are the only Sims 2 sites I usually visit for hack related content.

I'm going to try an earlier driver and see if that helps, if it doesn't I guess my next step will be to get a higher powered powersupply, if that still doesn't fix it, the card is going back to eVGA.

Thanks for the input. It's much appreciated.

I know some of you are pretty knowledgable about computers so I thought I'd ask here.

I got a Geforce 7800GS (AGP), it ran fine for 3 weeks and then it started locking up the computer until it finally died and I replaced it with my 5700LE (also AGP) until the warranty replacement arrived. Problems with the 7800 got so bad I had to do a windows repair just to be able to get into Windows again. I'd thought it might be a heat issue and took off the side panel and sat a fan next to it, I was able to use my computer with no problems so I got a video card cooler and put it in, removed the fan and next thing I know everything is screwy again and restarting gets no response from the video card (everything else was running though, I guess it was just 1 too many times) so I pulled it out and put the 5700 in and no problems with the computer in the mean time. Research on the internet had led me to believe it was a heat issue and the tower case feeling very hot made me sure of it although I thought the card was putting extra heat into the case, but now I wonder if it wasn't the power supply causing it and not the video card.

I got my replacement card today, hooked it up, a little while later the computer is locking up again and tower case is hot, very hot, around the power supply, I have the video card cooler installed but it doesn't affect the PSU as the video card catches the air flow, however the fan I had originally set next to the tower did and I'm wondering if it kept the PSU from overheating to the point that it could cause a system freeze; when I wasn't using the fan, letting the computer sit for a while (cool down) would typically allow a normal start up to go through.  The difference between the 7800GS and the 5700LE (aside from the obvious graphical advantage) is that the 5700 doesn't use a molex connector and the 7800 does. Do you think I might be on the right track or am I way off base?

System Stats

Geforce 5700LE / 7800GS (when working)
Driver Ver. 93.71
240GB Sata HD
Windows XP Home
P4 2.6 HT
1.75GB RAM

PSU stats:

PowerLab

Max Output: 450W

Output:      3.3V   +5V   +12V   -12V   -5V    +5VSB
Max(Amp):  30A    50A   25A     0.8A   0.5A   2.0A

AC Input 100V - 127V/16A 60Hz
200V - 240V/3A 50Hz

The power supply has the standard fan and it has slits for air flow at the back of the unit near the interior cords, my previous power supply had two fans in it, 1 on the bottom and then the standard fan and the PowerLab PSU only has the 1 fan - that surprised me when I got this PSU, I hadn't been expecting that.

I find HomeCrafter Plus to be useful in viewing and deleting custome floors, walls and ground textures as I can go through them all, see what they look like and who made them/where they came from and then decide which ones I wont use and delete them.

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.

I haven't seen the shopkeepers doing that (my sims dont usually get out much) but I have seen the maids do that, gardeners and repairmen probably do it as well. The peons are there to work not gawk! *cracks bull whip*

I don't mind the teach pet commands wants, gives me a reason to do them, but I agree that the 'command pet to do whatever' want constantly rolling up after you've taught them the command is very annoying.

Squinge has also made a no autonmous waterballoon fight hack.

However, rather than seeing it squashed altogether, I'd rather the game do a check for appropriate season (Summer), location (outdoors) and perhaps even body temperature - a sim who needs cooling down should be more likely to participate in or initiate this activity than a sim who does not need to cool down.

I luckily didn't have to do that, when I loaded the game back up and entered the lot I tried to burninate it one more time and this time it worked. Thank you for the suggestions.

Well the toy my toddler was playing with was the logic one, where you fit the shapes into the box.


Okay, just tried burninating the corrupted tiles. The tile in the kitchen is now corrected, however the tile in the playroom where the toddler toy was, resists burnination after multiple attempts and remains corrupted.

I'll have to try that, it hadn't occured to me that there may be a stuck issue since I've never encountered this problem before. But, now that I think on it, I just remembered that the tile the counter was messing up on, used to have a highchair on it before my toddler aged and I took it out and extended the counter space in the kitchen.

Both tiles had toddler related items on them, is there some kind of occassional bug caused by toddler items?

I have 2 corrupted tiles in a modified version of the Maxis "Federal Fortress" house and I have no idea how to fix them, both tiles display the same behavior in that any object placed on the tile causes the object to be moved off-set on the tile or rotated incorrectly. I can't place a counter on a tile in my kitchen because it causes the counter to move backwards through the wall and not connect with the counters either side of it or be useable. I tried deleting the counter and placing a new one incase it was the counter but it still didn't work properly. The second tile I noticed became corrupted after my toddler finished playing with one of his toys, the toy displayed sticking up sideways through the floor when not in use. Any item placed on that tile displays incorrectly and multi-tiled objects cannot be placed there without moveobjects. The tiles are on different floors of the house and are not directly above/below each other.

Is there a way that I can fix this or do I need to move my family out and clear the lot? I have ALL the expansions and stuff packs (except Holiday) and I've tried to make sure that all my hacks are compatible with Pets, which I'm almost completely sure they are since 97% come from MATY.

I think you're right Jsalami, I was mixing them up. I was really only using it as an example anyway because it's one of the most visible ones. It's so big it actually hinders how I can customize my game rather than enhancing it. Bottomline, because InTeen and other huge hacks do so much, no one or hardly anyone, is willing to do anything in those areas because it's "already been done". There are features of InTeen that I'd like to have (it's the only hack I know of that allows teen pregnancy), there are somethings I dont want at all, and I dont like how the hack actually works, the bio clock is clever but I dont want to use it and I'm not sure if thats optional or not because I can't seem to find a list of features available in Inteen let alone a manual without downloading the thing. I'm blind I think or maybe just too tired. But because it's all bundled together it's all or nothing (not including the optional flavor paks- but even those aren't stand alone). I kind of feel that way about Macrotastics too. *shrugs*


This is the line of thinking I am protesting, no one doing anything because there is already an existing hack. I realize when you have 10 modders making different versions of the same hack not everything is going to work together and that's not what you want. But say you have some modders get together to work on a project where they're making hacks of a specific type and each one does something different in that type and each one is completely standalone from the others, i.e. you dont have to have any of those others if you dont want them, but because they're working together on a project the modders are also being careful to make sure the hacks work together without conflict except in cases of deliberate intent between certain hacks that are supposed to do opposing things and be used as an either/or. How is that really any different from those huge projects object modders get together and do? Wouldn't that be challenging for hackers to work on? And they could pick each others brains, maybe get a fresh perspective on something, because there'd have to be a lot of collaboration.

Variety and customization is the spice (to me atleast) of The Sims 2, but where is it? I'm stuck with an existing version that doesn't really do what I need it to and nothing else.

Ah well, I'm done. I did not mean to derail this thread, though lol derailed threads do seem to happen quite often here. I've said my piece. Just for the record though, I'm not criticizing Jase or anything, I dont want anyone to think that, he's a good modder and I'd take his advice on a lot of hack related issues if he offered it. My eyes are starting cross though, I'm so tired, so I'm off to bed.

I'm glad this hack has been updated, it's one of my favorite hacks though if you asked me why I know I wouldn't be able to give a reason.


I've not had any game destroying problems with my neighborhoods, and I have a lot of hacks, but that is probably because I pretty much only use hacks by creators found here, a few that are endorsed by MATY creators and the odd 1 or 2 others (but I always check into their other work to see how reliable and stable they are).

Approximately 97% of my hacks are fixes to bugs, annoying features or unrealistic behaviors while approximately 3% are completely and utterly frivilous.

I think it also helps that I absolutely refuse to use Insiminator which clashes with sooo many hacks I find it rediculous and the thing is so huge and invasive in your game that it seems inevitable to me that something is going to go kaplooie.

I think it's so much better and so much safer to use smaller more focused hacks that, if they're causing problems, can be taken out without losing much functionality from your game whereas a huge hack like Insim, if it's causing problems and you take it out, you lose a whole lot more from your games functionality and features.

Dont modders ever get frustrated at having to work around that thing? I find it annoying that so many modders wont make a certain type of hack just because Insim has that feature in it, but what about the people who dont use/want it? I hate seeing an interesting hack request and the requester saying "I know Insim does this but I dont want to use Insim" and people STILL say, "use Insim", dont they read or are these the people that dont R.T.F.M.? And the hack never gets made because Insim already does it or some second rate hacker makes one and it doesn't ever work properly. That seems so stupid to me. People who dont use Insim should be able to have those options too and I'd much rather they came from a reliable modder.

Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this post into a rant against Insim. 

Well thats not very fun. Darn. I figured the furious reaction was probably the only one, but I hoped it wasn't. I didn't know though that sims only spy on the first created sim. Interesting.

Now I know that when a sim uses a telescope there's a possibility of them "spying" on another sim, that other sim getting angry and coming over to harangue/beat you up. Does this also work in reverse? That is to say, if your sim is "spying" on another sim and lets say this sim has a crush or is in love with your sim and they catch your sim spying, might they come rushing over to leap into your sims arms or something equally amusing?

I have the eVGA GeForce 5700 LE but mine has 256MB of memory on it. But also have a P4 2.6Ghz processor, 120GB Ultra DMA hard drive, 1.5GB RAM, the 78.01 driver and Direct X 9.c

I have no problems running Nightlife on my computer with that card, the problem might not be your video card.

Have you checked your game options to see if anything is turned off that wasn't before or if any settings are on low that shouldn't be?

Sometimes a graphical problem like that can be caused by the driver. Generally, if your driver is working the way it's supposed to with your programs, there's not usually a need for you to update the driver unless the new driver is specifically fixing an issue with your card model (and older card models aren't always compatible with newer drivers). I would say try rolling the driver back to the driver you had before, but since you've changed your system I don't know if that will work. If the driver information gets stored on the hard drive, then it might work, but I dont know if that's how all that works. I'm not a computer wizard, just an apprentice heh but I dont see how any harm could be done by trying since if it doesn't work you can simply re-update the driver.

Try following Bangelnuts' suggestion and see if you can rule out it being a processor issue. If that doesn't fix it and it's not your game options I would suggest that you try checking your RAM (try going to www.memtest.org and install their RAM tester) to make sure none of it got damaged when your motherboard got fried. And regardless of it working properly or not I would highly suggest increasing your RAM if you can afford it (you can find some good deals on the internet), I know the minimum requirement to run NL is 256MB RAM but that's probably only enough to run it at its lowest settings (I'm not inclined to find out...); you have 512MB but still this is a very graphic intensive game which usually translates to being memory intensive as well, I have 1.5GB RAM and 256MB video card memory and there are settings in my game that are turned off or set at medium settings whereas prior to NL everything was turned on and set to max settings.

Right, it figures that the few days I'm being lazy about keeping up with Sims2 modding news because I'm busy doing someting else, TJ joins the light side of the force (there is no doubt in my mind that VS is aligned with the dark side)... So I go to VS to see if TwoJeffs has made any updates or added something new and he's gone! So of course I hurry over here knowing the folks here will know whats happened (because they're all awesome) and I find him HERE! Fabulous. 

I'm almost tempted to hug you TJ but despite being a girl, that touchy-feely stuff makes me shudder in near disgust.

So that's why I didn't get any food points even though my sim had made Lobster Thermidor...

Thanks, I'll have to remember that for the next try.

Well I won't be buying the Holiday Party Pack just on principle, I refuse to pay for something that other people are getting free (The Holiday Edition sells for the same price as The Sims 2 CD so tell me how the christmas stuff isn't a FREE BONUS!), I dont do holidays in the Sims since it's not as if they have seasons or anything to set the scene - christmas decorations on green grass looks stupid to me. But if they provided booster/party packs with interesting, year round things like I had mentioned or things you all have mentioned - I thought you all had great ideas - then I'd buy them. And I agree, men and boys seriously get the short end of the stick.

As a gamer, albiet a casual one, paying for stuff like this is just something I accept as being part of the gaming industry, I dont really mind paying for booster packs because I dont have to buy them if I dont want what it's offering and it's not an expansion so the game isn't reliant on my having the booster packs in order to have certain features enabled. But I do think they're asking a little much for the pack, especially since if they dropped the price they'd probably sell even more of the packs and hence make more money than they would have.

I'm not trying to stir anything up, I'm just curious. This question is meant for everyone but it's especially aimed at the people who wont buy the holiday party pack for whatever reason. Maybe someone with the company will see this thread and make a few suggestions to marketing and the designers...but probably not.

So the question is:

What would have to be included in the next party pack (if another one was released and it wasn't another holiday pack) for you to consider buying it? It can be clothes, interactions, objects, themes, anything...

Bonus question: Would you NOT buy a party pack if it was only available through the EA online store, versus being able to buy them at Walmart (I dont know what the discount retail chains are outside the US sorry), or gaming retailers such as Gamestop or EBgames?

I'd prefer to just go to Walmart or order from EBgames.

I'd like to see some themes with a cultural flavor for houses like South African, Indian (Hindu?), French (Louis XIV type stuff), Egyptian and Japanese (I know they have the asian theme but it seems predominantly Korean), plus everyday - and possibly formal - clothing to match each theme for all ages and genders. Kimonos would be wonderful (especially for men) the asian clothing in the game also seems to favor the Korean style. Nothing wrong with that, but I love Japan, the architecture, art and the traditional clothing, so that would be a must buy for me.

Other kinds of themes I'd buy would be gothic, science fiction/UFO, south western, victorian (include clothes and a fancy chandelier with that!), Fantasy (for a more fitting neighborhood/house for the Elves) + appropriate clothing; Seafarer since they've got those pirate looking clothes in the game I think they aught to have a pirate theme to match; Medieval - I know they have that collection in the game but I'd like to see more added to it, especially a medieval type ceiling light which is NOT in the game despite their having added medieval style floor, wall, and table lamps with University.

Heck I'd probably be tempted to buy a party pack of just utilities (lights, appliances, bathroom fixtures) so long as it contained a variety of ceiling lamps and new styles of kitchen/bathroom fixtures because I dont like most of the Maxis ceiling fixtures and there's so few as it is (I dont think they added any new ceiling fixtures in NL or Uni) and the kitchen/bathroom pieces dont suit some of the themes they have included in the game. If I have a medieval neighborhood I dont want modern toilets and tubs!

I might even buy a pack that contained nothing but wall items (just no more posters!) and "clutter" type items as I'd like a wider variety for paintings and tapestries when decorating my houses so they dont all have the same artwork; and I'd like the clutter for adding that homey touch so the place looks a little more personal (desktop pictures, etc...) as though someone actually lives there... (if some of that could be placed on the fireplace mantels that would be nice...). Half the paintings I download from Sims2 sites dont work regardless of the fact that I have all the files or the most recent CEP; most of the ones that do work are paintings that require me to download a new mesh, it's the recolors of maxis paintings that seem to be the most trouble.

I don't go to VS for the conversations, in fact I've pretty much decided to stay out of them. I saw that thread and it was awful, I couldn't get past the first 3 pages of it. I was appalled at the way people were conducting themselves and I didn't think it was really appropriate for people who neither made hacked objects or made objects of any sort (recolors or new) to stick their noses into the issue and make things even worse since it had nothing to do with them (it was like they were deliberately egging people on).

Rentechd is not on my good side (not that it matters) for reasons I wont go into but the only reason I even visit VS now is because of TwoJeffs and Dizzy-two (and if they left I would follow) though I have maybe 2 of Carrigons hacks. It doesn't help any that even though I have a very fast internet speed it takes ages for VS to load and often it wont load at all. I dont see how some of the mods at VS can attack MTS2 when their own site is nearly inaccessible. MTS2 loads much quicker, and yes while I did at first dislike the change of site layout I have since gotten used to it and found that it's much easier to find specific types of objects I'm looking for, but I don't visit that site for the conversations either as most of them dont make any sense. I dont visit the BBS for the same reason.

I'm pretty sure I saw one of my fortune sims roll the earn $100,000 want atleast once. Not the LTW one either.