Object error from batch creating dormies in FT :(

[twistingsims]

After using the empty templates for the university hoods, I wanted to batch create dormies and using Jordi's instructions (4b), I used the  mailbox instead of the NPC and Townie maker as the latter would only give me the option of generate one townie at a time.

Using the mailbox, I was able to select generate townies and then selected townies ( I assume this is the same procedure for dormies in the university hoods.) It would start the generation process and then stop and produce an ObjectError box.  I tried again several times and was able to generate around 15 but I stopped after getting so many ObjectError boxes.

I have all expansions up to and including FT, unpatched.  I use only mods from the DC with the exception of;

Other hacks:  Carrigon_ForeverBurnFireplaces, No Shoving from Look Through, alexx_no_automusplay_funmore55_FT,alexx_no_autosplash_puddle, and alexx_Visitors_Still_Here_FT

Any suggestions would be great! 

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[jolrei]

If you remove your hacks and CC objects from Downloads, does the game allow generation of dormies/townies using the mailbox?

[Ness]

I have had the same problem.  http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,11620.0.html

I didn't find a solution, but it did seem that generating the dormies one at a time with the gun managed to do so without errors.

In the end, I decided that going with a pre-populated uni was less painful than generating 50 dormies one by one so that's what I did.  I know you don't need 50 dormies, but that's what the game creates, so it's what I wanted.  Of course, now I have unbearably ugly dormies rather than the ones created with decent face templates, so I'm seriously considering toasting the hood and starting over.  Again.

[abelle]

I got an error when trying to create dormies as well. I have nothing after seasons and townies could be created without a problem.

Seems like batch creating dormies is just borked. However it is possible to create YAs in the YACas and turn them into dormies on a residential unilot with the teleporter shrub. I populated my uni that way.

It´s not that time consuming as you can create 8 dormies at once and you can tweak anything if the clothes or hair option are too horrible. It´s also a big plus that everyone can have a different last name, as only the YACas is used.

[twistingsims]

@ jolrei, thanks! I hope it's not a mod, soo time consuming!  .

@ Ness, thank you for your reply, I was worried that I might have caused some unseen errors, so far so good! It's definitely hard to decide on 50 (WOW that is a lot) or just doing a few.  I am glad I only got 15 or so, I think that will be plenty.

@ abelle, thanks for the info, I am glad not to be the only one who had this problem.  I might go with the CAS option next time around, give more uniqueness to the hood!

[Ness]

It's the naming all of the sims in CAS that I object to.  I find I get more uniqueness in a hood if I let the game generate the sims than if I generate them myself.  With face templates most of the hideousness is removed, and I'm getting to kinda like S4 skin tones with blonde or red hair.  What's life without a bit of chaos?

The good news (if you can think of it that way) is that the errors still occur with a game completely devoid of custom content.  It's EAxian borkenness, so I guess there's nothing, unfortunately, that we can do other than the work arounds already mentioned.

[Invisigoth]

It's the naming all of the sims in CAS that I object to.  I find I get more uniqueness in a hood if I let the game generate the sims than if I generate them myself.  With face templates most of the hideousness is removed, and I'm getting to kinda like S4 skin tones with blonde or red hair.  What's life without a bit of chaos?

I create all of my dormies, downtownies, vacation locals, and tourists using CAS and the teleporter shrub. The only sims that I batch create are the regular hood townies, actually. The thing that has absolutely saved my life through this process is Hook's Randomizer. It's very, very easy to modify the text file to roll random face template numbers, hair colors, eye colors, and names. I use a simplified system of having it roll a random number and that's how many times I press the "randomize" button in CAS. I keep the hair color and face template, but I allow myself to change the hair style and tweak the face to make it a bit more unique if I want to. I also add new interesting names to the text file as I discover them (I've stolen a ton of names from posts that you guys make about your sims and a ton from the discussion process that lead up to Ella's live.package creation). I also pick turn ons/turn offs, aspiration, and personality using this program. It really helps to speed up the process, and I wind up with more interesting characters instead of just making every popularity sim super outgoing and every family sim super neat, for example. I've also wound up with some sims with interesting turn on/off sets that seem near fetish like (like the sim that goes oh baby over zombies in formal wear, a combo that I probably would have never given to any sim on my own).

Since I'm so used to doing it this way now the process isn't very time consuming anymore, and I think that it's pretty easy to get used to. Of course, I should mention that I have also come to enjoy this process. I put the uintprop maxtotalsims to 44 in my userstartup.cheat (34 humans, 10 pets), so I create batches of 8, put the first 8 on a small teleport lot, put everyone onto macro/procrastinate, then merge two more batches of 8 onto the lot. I go back in, the game is still paused and I put the remaining sims onto macro/procrastinate. Then I can unpause and change sims to have custom hair or if it's uni give some of the sims majors and then turn them into dormies/downtownies/whatever one by one. When I had my old, cruddy computer it would die if I tried to put that many sims onto a lot at the same time, but I still managed by doing just 8 sims on the lot at a time. The entire process obviously took longer on that computer, but I seriously doubt that most of you are attempting this on a 5 year old laptop with an intel onboard graphics card and 512 MB RAM (it took me hours and hours to do this on that machine). My new computer obviously has substantially better specs and I can do 34 sims from creation to dormification in just about an hour (as a reference point I now use: GeForce 8400 GS, 2 gigs RAM, Athelon 64 X2 dual core 3.0 Ghz).

[J. M. Pescado]

Death to all Nesses.

[Ness]

To throw another bit of oddness into the mix...

A did just start another new hood.  This time, I moved a sim into a dorm, allowed the game to generate dormies as needed to fill the dorm.  I was going to go through and generate a few extras one by one with the gun.  But on the spur of the moment, after playing a few days, I decided to give the letterbox method one last go.  And what do you know...  straight through 50 dormies, no errors, all perfect.

Time is the key, it seems.

[gynarchy]

Is it at all possible that you are trying to create dormies at the same time the game is generating professors?