No Hobby Spam

[Inge]

What does it actually do/stop?  It says it does the same as the jfade version but I can't find a description for that either.  I have read the rtfm but inside the zip, but it doesn't really explain what is stopped.  For example will I still get weirdos walking into the house whenever they feel like it?

[iHateyou]

You don't get anyone coming in the house, and you don't get the phone calls, but you still get the pop-up messages you would have otherwise.

[Inge]

Do you still get the "your sim has lost one millionth of a point of enthusiasm by not doing a hobby-related activity during the past millionth of a second" spam?

[Charamei]

Do you still get the "your sim has lost one millionth of a point of enthusiasm by not doing a hobby-related activity during the past millionth of a second" spam?

Alas, yes.

[Cappuccino]

Do you still get the "your sim has lost one millionth of a point of enthusiasm by not doing a hobby-related activity during the past millionth of a second" spam?

Alas, yes.

Really? I don't get those anymore, if it's not nohobbyspam then must be some other hack I'm using that represses that.

[Emma]

You don't get it as much, only when your sim is close to losing a hobbypoint.

[Inge]

Hmm I don't want it at all.  Hobbies are like wants to me, something to be hidden behind a closed panel, and only of interest to the sim.  I mean if they want to do a hobby they can do a hobby - that is when they're not busy testing stuff for me

[J. M. Pescado]

The constant "losing a millionth of a point" thing has been cut down also, yes. Previously you would lose a point every 6 hours if you didn't do something. This has been increased to a more reasonable duration that scales with the number of points you have. I believe I changed it to 6 * level instead, so sims are much less likely to spam you over this every night.

[spaceface]

I agree with Inge, that there should be no hobby spam AT ALL. Quite honestly, I got the EP for the extra activities, I am not interested in whether the sims actually like them or not.

[EsotericPolarBear]

I hate hobbies.  For one, I'm tired of all my sims getting a cuisine hobby just because they have to eat.  Also, I hate that skilling gives hobbies.  I don't want my sims to have every hobby under the sun.  Especially since they then get their want boxes filled with "Blog about science" and "Blog about cooking" and "blog about blog" and don't get any decent wants anymore.

Am I alone in this?  Can anything be done about this?

Plus, hobbies serve no practical gameplay purpose.  You get a shiny plaque and that's it.  The secret lots aren't worth going to and the 'hobby' actions are pointless.  The only really good thing freetime came with, IMO, was the lifetime asp rewards and the secondary aspiration.

I mean, I like that I can restore a car and such, but we didn't really need a 'hobby' system just to add that.

[Zazazu]

I still get the calls about getting the magazines, which I could do without. But I almost never get those annoying enthusiasm loss messages with standard sims. Sims who have gained a lot of low-level enthusiasm while studying skill points are still slightly spammy.

[Charamei]

Am I alone in this?  Can anything be done about this?

I've taken to periodically dragging them back down to 0 in debug mode, unless it makes sense for them to have the hobby (so the Curious brothers are allowed to max Science, for example).

[Sleepycat]

I just use Carrigon's 'No Enthusiasm Decay' & 'No Zone Glow' hacks and pretty much forget about all the hobby enthusiasm stuff. 

[Gwill]

I just use Carrigon's 'No Enthusiasm Decay' & 'No Zone Glow' hacks and pretty much forget about all the hobby enthusiasm stuff. 

No decay seems so cheaty.  I'd like something like, no decay once maxed, but even that sounds cheaty to me.

[Inge]

I'm very happy to have them decay as EA intended, but can always find out how that's going by checking the hobbies panel.  Don't need constant reminding.  Doesn't the game have an "advanced mode" for people who can play without all these helpful reminders?

[EsotericPolarBear]

I wish that maxxing hobbies actually did something.  Right now, there's no real benefit.  Extra social interactions are pointless.

[J. M. Pescado]

I'm very happy to have them decay as EA intended, but can always find out how that's going by checking the hobbies panel.  Don't need constant reminding.  Doesn't the game have an "advanced mode" for people who can play without all these helpful reminders?

The main problem with the EAxis decay is that the suppression timer was too low for a sim to even manage to sleep through the night. I have tweaked it to make it easier to lose unwanted hobbies like Culinary, though, and that low-level unimportant hobbies are lost in silence. TTL on the popups has been slashed to the lowest possible value, so they will self-destruct very quickly.

[EsotericPolarBear]

I don't suppose there's a way to change the hobby membership crap to be voluntary, is there?

e.g. I raise culinary by eating, but I don't want to join the club, so I opt out of membership, but can still join the dance club or whatnot.

[gynarchy]

I'd like to know that as well, I have been trying to figure out the Hobby Membership tokens and can't make heads or tails of them. I'd really like to revoke memberships once a Sim's enthusiasm dips below 500. If they aren't going to maintain the hobby, they shouldn't have access to the sekrit lot.

[Sigmund]

I'd like to know that as well, I have been trying to figure out the Hobby Membership tokens and can't make heads or tails of them. I'd really like to revoke memberships once a Sim's enthusiasm dips below 500. If they aren't going to maintain the hobby, they shouldn't have access to the sekrit lot.

I guess I had just assumed that once Sims lost interest in a hobby, they were no longer a member of the club. It seems like kind of a stupid decision to have them maintain access to the hobby lot if they have zero interest in the activity. Then again, this is EAxis we're talking about, so I probably shouldn't be surprised.

[Zazazu]

I was thinking last night, as I was looking at poor little Rose Bleu with her 6 hobby lot cards from cramming skill points, that memberships would really make more sense at level 8, 9, or even 10.