Carpool problem

[Emma]

I am having a problem with the carpool on lots that have been used by another family before. I use the downtown lots until the sim I am playing with is married, then has a baby, then I move them out to my main neighbourhood. I then move another new sim into the old house....thing is, if I do that the carpool will not come 80% of the time! 'Okay, no problem, just buy a car and the sim can go to work that way' I thought-sim hops in car, drives to work-and never comes back! I do not put things in the inventory apart from the reward objects, painting, photos etc, I make sure there are no unpaid bills or mail left in the box and I also make sure that both sims are home from work before saving, exiting and then moving them out.
I remember there used to be a problem with the carpool not coming if you had saved then moved out a family with a sim still at work or school on the sims 1...I am wondering if anyone else has had this problem...it might be just a downtown thing, I haven't tried to do it in my main neighbourhood.
Sorry for the long winded post, I was trying to make sure I remembered all details I hope someone can help or has a suggestion...it is getting quite annoying!

[edit] Okay-nobody else is having this problem....I am just going to put new houses in the N'hood as I need them

[C.S.]

Did you go back to the lot (in Buy Mode) you just moved sims out of, before moving new sims in? I'm just making a wild guess here (I don't know much ), but maybe the game didn't register the state of the lot, like the way it doesn't update the picture/number of sims actually living on a lot in the Popup Info panel in neighbourhood view until you exited and re-visited the lot that had had sims moved out into their own house? I'm not sure about others, but when i have sims move out, they are not truly gone (I have Merola's Mind Control Mirror and I could still see names of sims that I had find their own place on the mirror even though they have taken off in the taxi) until I exited into neighbourhood view and re-entered the lot. I also remember there were problems with unoccupied lots already placed in the neighbourhood when Uni was introduced, that they were corrupted somehow with the installation of EP1, and the advice given was to try and enter those lots to see if it would load before moving sims in.

Out of curiosity, did you move the new sim out of the used house into a new lot to fix the carpool problem, and if so, did that fix things? If it did, then maybe the carpool problem might somehow be related to those things mentioned above?

[veilchen]

Emma, I wasn't ignoring you, but the only thing I could think at time was "jeesh, I hope that never happens in my game" and that wouldn't have helped you one bit. Since the carpool does show up sometimes it couldn't have been a stuck invisible object or a portal issue, so I didn't have a clue. The lot-debugger takes care of stuck thingies, and Crammyboy's portal fix has been my sanity saver. Other than that, I have no clue, sorry.

[Emma]

Did you go back to the lot (in Buy Mode) you just moved sims out of, before moving new sims in? I'm just making a wild guess here (I don't know much ), but maybe the game didn't register the state of the lot, like the way it doesn't update the picture/number of sims actually living on a lot in the Popup Info panel in neighbourhood view until you exited and re-visited the lot that had had sims moved out into their own house? I'm not sure about others, but when i have sims move out, they are not truly gone (I have Merola's Mind Control Mirror and I could still see names of sims that I had find their own place on the mirror even though they have taken off in the taxi) until I exited into neighbourhood view and re-entered the lot. I also remember there were problems with unoccupied lots already placed in the neighbourhood when Uni was introduced, that they were corrupted somehow with the installation of EP1, and the advice given was to try and enter those lots to see if it would load before moving sims in.

Out of curiosity, did you move the new sim out of the used house into a new lot to fix the carpool problem, and if so, did that fix things? If it did, then maybe the carpool problem might somehow be related to those things mentioned above?

I moved the old sims out, gone back to the downtown neighbourhood screen, put them in a house in my main hood, played them for 7 sim days, then back to downtown. I then made a new sim in create-a-family and moved them onto the vacant lot. I haven't gone into the lot in buy mode before moving the new sim in though...
Yes, when I moved the sim to a new unused lot, the carpool problem was fixed
Yay-I wasn't being ignored! *dances* lol Thanks for responding!

[veilchen]

Glad you're happy Emma 

I don't like seeing posts sitting around all alone and lonely, but I'm always reluctant to respond if I don't have a solution. I don't want to get people's hopes up. I can hunt down links, sites, point you in the right direction for downloads, and I can tell you what happens in my game, but technical advise? You might as well kick the CPU, it probably would yield the same results 

Isn't it amazing... the wrenches the game can trow into the gears never ceases to amaze me.

[Emma]

Heh I know- I always try to reply to posts that are unanswered Thanks again.

[C.S.]

Oh Emma, I'm sure you weren't being ignored. Most probably, people are at a loss as to what to tell you because they don't know why it happens too. Or simply, people more awesome weren't on this board at the time. Well, at least that's what I tell myself .

Anyway, if you plan to re-use lots that were formerly occupied, try visiting it in Buy Mode first before moving new sims in, see if the carpool problem still occurs. If it does, then at least you'll know the lot is not usable. Good luck .

[ZephyrZodiac]

Have these lots been empty since before you installed NL?  If so, it may be that you need to go into the lot and save it before you move the family in.

[Emma]

The lots I am talking about are in downtown I am going to move sims out, and visit in buy mode before moving new sims in to see if it fixes the problem. Don't know how long it will take me, cos all I have been doing is building houses

Thank you both for helping-I knew I wasn't being ignored, that was a little joke...I knew no-one was either experiencing my problem, or was, and didn't know how to help Thanks again 

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, I've definitely had problems moving sims to Pleasantview, I guess it's a bit like the way we had problems graduating students and getting them to return safely to the neighbourhood.  Maybe, if we've been playing for a while, then RAM is a bit low when we move our sims out, and the changes don't get saved properly.  Also, the game doesn't keep cars that are on the lots, even with the staythingsshrub, so it may be that selling the car before you move the family out could solve the problem.

[Emma]

  Also, the game doesn't keep cars that are on the lots, even with the staythingsshrub, so it may be that selling the car before you move the family out could solve the problem.

D'you know what? I think that is it! I was wondering why a few of my houses had no problems with the moving out/in thing, and it is because they didn't have a car!
I will test that theory Thanks!

[ZephyrZodiac]

Hope it's what caused the problem, as it's then just a case of remembering to sell the car before you move!  (Not a good idea to try taking it with you, I've found!)

[Emma]

I've found it is a good idea not to take anything with you if you can help it! Stupid inventory system is all screwed anyway  I take the career rewards, and thats it

[ZephyrZodiac]

I lleave in photos and sometimes if a sim is off to college I put the paintings they've done in to sell when they get there.  But Lilith took her bedroom, pc, desk etc., with no problems at all - seems to work fine between Pleasantview and Uni, I think downtown to Pleasantview is the bugged bit.

[Emma]

Oh yeah-I take photos and paintings too Forgot about that!