New bug? Some NPC's missing from PhoneBook

[miramis]

This bug could be caused by one of two things, an actual Freetime bug, or my game files are screwed.

Here is what I've discovered so far.

A new sim in a new neighbourhood created to test Freetime through normal gameplay with some maty mods and three types of CC (face templates, default eye replacements and default skin replacements).  This sim met three npcs..The maid, the newspaper girl and the mail carrier girl.  He became friends with the newspaper girl when she dropped by.  She does not appear in the phonebook at all though, and neither does the Mail Girl.

The maid (Kaylynn Langerak if you're interested) is the only one that does appear.

I have tried pulling all maty mods - still the same.  So I renamed the TS2 folder within My Documents and let it generate a new one when I started the game again.  Still the same.  So, I need to know now if anybody else has the papergirl or mail carrier in their phonebooks since Freetime, because if you do I will probably have to reinstall all of it.  If you do have them in your phonebook could you check to see if any sims that have met them only since FT was installed has them also.

The interesting part is that the the 'Call Friends' option on a maty mod (phonehack?) includes the papergirl, so I know they are there somewhere.   

ETA: changed mail carrier to newspaper girl

[cassblonde]

I too have noticed this and have pretty much the same set up as you(default CC eyes &  skins) my girl met the mailman and he called her(thanks to phonehack I think) but I could not call him as he didn't appear in either the regular call ... Sim nor the Macro ... call ... friends. To be honest I am not all that perturbed about it but it is nice to see I am not alone. Maybe EA decided to block them and the new NPCs to avoid trouble?

[miramis]

If they are trying to block the npc's they're doing a poor job of it since the maid is still in the phone book. Thank you for responding cassblonde, makes me feel a little better to know they are missing in at least one other persons game.

[Aggie]

They're missing in my game, too.

[Kyna]

I noticed that the hobby instructors don't seem to be callable either.

Don't know if this will cause problems in my game later, but to fix it I shift-click on them in debug mode and give them cellphones.

[miramis]

That was a great idea about the cellphones Kyna, I just tried it with the newspaper girl and it didn't work though.  The mail woman hasn't been by in a couple of days, not since the last bills were paid, they usually come every day at the same time whether you have bills or not so this is unusual too, though it is possible that they changed it on purpose.

[Zazazu]

Mail carrier only comes on bill days (Tuesday and Thursday) and the morning after you put the paid bills in the mailbox, excepting if you've received a thank-you note for a date.

[miramis]

Playing since release and I didn't know the mail days - how embarrassing.

[Zazazu]

S'okay. I just realized a bit ago that I actually can ignore the mailbox, as long as I pay all bills on Friday.

[Emma]

S'okay. I just realized a bit ago that I actually can ignore the mailbox, as long as I pay all bills on Friday.

That's what I do-I wait until the pop-up warning to pay my bills.

[katatonic]

Simwardrobe has a fix for this. I haven't tried it yet

[Lord Darcy]

One of BV bugs was that non-interactable NPCs like Fire Dancer or Witch Doctor appear in the phonebook for Sims who gained OFB perk "Head for Numbers". If Sims try to call them, the game will crash. I guess that EAxis went overboard and removed ALL NPCs from phonebook, interactable or not. Yay for Romance and Popularity Sims with woohoo/friends with NPCs wants.  WTF?

SimWardrobe fix works, though be careful not to accidentally click on non-interactable NPCs like Fire Dancer or Bus Driver.

[Process Denied]

I had to summon Big Foot because he wasn't in the phone book.  I also notices the instuctors not being in the phone book(what is interesting is that I think the instructors are townies not NPC's).  It says in The Sim Enhancer, that the family doesn't have a phone--I wonder in Sim PE, if you give them a phone, maybe you will be able to call them.  I just noticed that it is probable that they never do--I don't know.

[Gwill]

Bigfoot lives in a secret hovel in the forrest. He shouldn't own a phone.

[gynarchy]

I also notices the instuctors not being in the phone book(what is interesting is that I think the instructors are townies not NPC's).  It says in The Sim Enhancer, that the family doesn't have a phone--I wonder in Sim PE, if you give them a phone, maybe you will be able to call them.

I had read that the hobby heads shouldn't be in the phone book and yet mine are. I created my own in CAS and then used the NPC gun to assign each to a hobby but I am slightly concerned that they appear in the list of Sims to call with the "Head for Numbers" perk. I haven't tried actually calling one of them yet because I have enough problems with my game crashing without any help from me. I will give it a try and see what happens.

ETA: It just gives the "So-and-so doesn't have a phone! You can't call someone without a phone!" message if I try to call one of them. I did notice a handful of NPCs listed though, like the burglar and the bartenders so I don't know what the dealio is.

[Gwill]

I gave my hobby mavens cell phones, and I've been calling them and befriending them with no trouble at all.  I haven't taken it further than friendship though.

[AnnaM]

My hobby NPCs are in the phonebook too, and I haven't messed with them in any way, so that's not the issue. This happens even without the "head for numbers" perk. And yes, calling them produces the message that they don't have a phone. (I may try giving them a cellphone, if no explosions are reported...)

[ChillyzGrrl]

I've had this same problem too, since installing Free Time, only not with new NPCs.  My troubles have been with Nannies, random townies, and more recently, a barista working in Downtown. 

The barista is annoying because she called my Sim up for an outing and they fell in love on that outing.  A couple days later, I go to have him call her, and she's not in his phonebook.  I check to see if she's on the lot and she's not.  I have him try for days to call her, at all hours, to no avail.  She simply is not there.

If there's a fix for this bug, It'd love one.  You got to all the trouble of getting 2 sims to fall in love, they ought to be able to call each other, maintain friendships and fall in love.

This bug could be caused by one of two things, an actual Freetime bug, or my game files are screwed.

Here is what I've discovered so far.

A new sim in a new neighbourhood created to test Freetime through normal gameplay with some maty mods and three types of CC (face templates, default eye replacements and default skin replacements).  This sim met three npcs..The maid, the newspaper girl and the mail carrier girl.  He became friends with the newspaper girl when she dropped by.  She does not appear in the phonebook at all though, and neither does the Mail Girl.

The maid (Kaylynn Langerak if you're interested) is the only one that does appear.

I have tried pulling all maty mods - still the same.  So I renamed the TS2 folder within My Documents and let it generate a new one when I started the game again.  Still the same.  So, I need to know now if anybody else has the papergirl or mail carrier in their phonebooks since Freetime, because if you do I will probably have to reinstall all of it.  If you do have them in your phonebook could you check to see if any sims that have met them only since FT was installed has them also.

The interesting part is that the the 'Call Friends' option on a maty mod (phonehack?) includes the papergirl, so I know they are there somewhere.   

ETA: changed mail carrier to newspaper girl

[Sleepycat]

I believe the FT patch fixes this, it's up on the german site.

[miramis]

Thanks Sleepycat

I'll have to wait to download the Patch for now.  In the meantime Paladin has a fix over at www.simwardrobe.com

[Kyna]

Have you tried call friends, or call targets?  Both of these are available using one of the hacks from this site.

[Madame Mim]

Call friends definately works for these 'missing' Sims once you have a relationship with them.

[maxon]

I had read that the hobby heads shouldn't be in the phone book and yet mine are. I created my own in CAS and then used the NPC gun to assign each to a hobby but I am slightly concerned that they appear in the list of Sims to call with the "Head for Numbers" perk. I haven't tried actually calling one of them yet because I have enough problems with my game crashing without any help from me. I will give it a try and see what happens.

ETA: It just gives the "So-and-so doesn't have a phone! You can't call someone without a phone!" message if I try to call one of them. I did notice a handful of NPCs listed though, like the burglar and the bartenders so I don't know what the dealio is.

Well, my sims have been calling them right left and centre without problems.  I didn't get a message about them not having a phone either.  My gardener is missing from the phone book though.  Looks like I'll be paying a visit to SimWardrobe.  All NPCs are summonable with Inge's shrub.

[gethane]

Mail carrier only comes on bill days (Tuesday and Thursday) and the morning after you put the paid bills in the mailbox, excepting if you've received a thank-you note for a date.

Playing since release and I didn't know the mail days - how embarrassing.

I had no idea. I thought mail just came every 3 days or so.

I just noticed this bug when trying to call my mailman. I was pretty bummed I couldn't get a hold of him.

[miramis]

Have you tried call friends, or call targets?  Both of these are available using one of the hacks from this site.

I haven't played for a couple of weeks but I think the mail woman did get called by call friends, but my memory is a little hazy.  I just installed the patch so I'll try removing Paladins fix to see how it goes.