Frustrated with Sims just standing in place in droves whining about motives

[Motoki]

I've had this problem for some time now where all they do is stand in crowds on various lots and whine about their motives but otherwise take no actions other than maybe occasionally pass out. My game does it with Awesome mod, it does it with Indie Stone, it does it with no mods.

Other people talk about sims doing this that and the other thing in their neighborhoods so is my neighborhood just screwed up or something? I'm really tired of it and nothing I have tried has helped.  I tried resetting them and it does no good, I cure them with the moodlet soother and it just temporarily shuts up the whining. I purged all the homeless bums etc. No change.

Should I just pack up my family and move to a new town?

[Roflganger]

What do you have Free Will set to?  I've never turned it down, so I don't know if that's the answer, but your problem is not anything I've ever seen.  They may not be the most exciting, but in my game they talk to each other, read books, have picnics, enter and exit recreational rabbitholes, etc.

[Motoki]

It's set to high free will. I just tried turned it off, then running the game for a couple of minutes with it off, then turning it back on again just to see if it jogs anything but I doubt it.

I seem to vaguely recall sims having picnics and what not when I very first started playing the game in Sunset Valley before I switched to Riverview so either a mod borked something up or my neighborhood is just hosed. 

[Kerryee]

My freewill is Medium, and I've never had a problem.  I see Sims jogging, swinging in the park, playing chess, etc.  I've even seen a fight downtown in front of the Library.  And I have THE minimum system requirements for my game, so I don't know what it could be.   

[Gastfyr]

My sims do stuff...sometimes.  I mean, they play chess, grill endless platters of burned food that they drop everywhere, sit on parkbenches, use the toilet, have a drink at the bar, pass out repeatedly from fear of ghosts at the graveyard, and sometimes do something as interesting as chat with one another, jog, use a computer, or even fish!  I have seen way too much standing around whining about motives, but while I have seen one or two pee themselves, I have never witnessed a sim pass out on a com lot (though I did have a sim I was visting pass out on her own living room floor once    I mean, the bed was like 3 steps away in the next room!).

I wish there was some way to prompt sims to do more interesting stuff more often.  Mostly, they do just stand or sit like zombies for hours on end thinking about how much fun they are having or how lovely the park is.  Erg.  Why can't there be MOAR socalizing?  And instead of seeds dissapearing for no reason at all, why can't sims autonomously pick them up?  Do they even try to catch beetles or butterflies?  Cathing butter/fireflies was all they ever wanted to do in TS2 Seasons...

Hell, I don't want them messing with the Science Facility Omni Plant that I've fed something, but picking a few apples in the park to eat or whatever would make sense if the sim was a Green Thumb, Loves the Outdoors, or just plain hungry at the time.  It would be insanely wonderful if sims with gardens would actually harvest thier own stuff sometimes instead of just watering it and then standing there staring into space while my playable picks it all under thier oblivious noses.  And if a sim is a Green Thumb and is not set up with a garden, couldn't they aquire something plantable and maybe start their own little garden by themselves?  What the hell is the point of a sim having a trait if they refuse to act on it?  Couldn't Bookworms autonomously write a book (since random titles are supplied by the game anyway)?  Couldn't Genius sims take it uppon themselves to at least play chess in the park even if thier fun was high instead of just standing thier like buffons?  If I go to a com lot with an easel, I'd like to see artistic sims painting from time to time.  And if I meet a sim at the art gallery who is admiring a statue, and stirke up a conversation about art, I simply find it mind-blowing innane that he freaks out at me because he "can't stand art"...what the hell are you doing at an art gallery then, moron?  Overall, it irritates me to no end that some of the most potentially interesting traits have absolutely no effect whatsoever if assigned to a non-playable.

Maybe I'm asking too much with all of that, but mainly I just don't want some random townie whining at ME about some motive they're too stupid to figure out how to deal with on thier own.  I know they did this is TS2 as well, but it sucked then too.  I am not responsible for you and I can't do anything about your stupid motives!  Deal with it or drop dead; just don't freaking whine at me.

edited because my spelling sux.

[fatkitty]

I've read the no auto go home mod was causing this.  You said you took all mods out though so this probably isn't any help at all.

[Motoki]

I've read the no auto go home mod was causing this.  You said you took all mods out though so this probably isn't any help at all.

Yeah I don't even use that one so in my case it's not it, but come to think of it, they never do go home when they are guests and are supposed to. They just hang out outside my doorstep. 

[Orange Indigo]

Start a new save file and see if the Sims are acting the same way in that game. I used to have a similar problem in my very first save file, but I didn't realize it was a problem until I started a new file and observed more active Sim behavior. Sims 3 Sims seem to have much lower autonomy than their TS2 counterparts. Back in TS2, my Sims would do anything to get to another Sim and start socializing. In TS3, they'd rather just... do nothing.  Still, your problem seems a bit more severe than normal TS3 behavior. Like I said, I had the same sort of thing happen, but the problem only affected one save file.

[J. M. Pescado]

If you have something that isn't allowing them to LEAVE, then this is why they can't find anything to do.

[Motoki]

If it were just at home I would think maybe that were the case, but it's everywhere. All the public lots, in their own house. Like someone else said, I've visited other sims houses and seen them pass out in their own house. 

I will have to try another save game. I think my neighborhood is just hosed for some reason. :-/

I'd say I can package up my family and move them over, but I already moved them once from Sunset Valley to Riverview where they are now so I almost wonder if that maybe was some cause of it.

[Motoki]

Well I tried a different save and different neighborhood and non controlled sims are going about their business picnicking and using their laptop at the park and whatnot. Still not quite TS2 level of autonomous interaction, but a hell of a lot more than I had.

I guess my main family I spent many hours into is hosed.

I could import them over but I'm kind of afraid they'll infect another neighborhood. Guess I could make a copy first and test it.

[FrickinIdjit]

If it's any consolation, Motoki, you're not alone.  I used a library copy of the Goth family in a rebuilt Sunset Valley (pre-made inhabitants and residential lots removed/replaced) and moved them to a new home with 28 new YAs.  They were the only family to spawn a child, using ISM on a wolfing run.  None of the others so much as acknowledged each other.  The 28 YAs died alone of old age.

They also spawned a second child in an untouched Riverview.  Everyone else there married, moved, and bred.

In an otherwise-untouched SV in which I deleted the Alto family, Mortimer was an only child.  Other families interacted, wed, and spawned.  Interestingly, of the 2 YAs I moved into SV before beginning the wolfing run, the family-oriented one died alone (with a romantic interest) and the flirty one married and had a child after I switched to the family sim for a day or two.  I switched back to raise the kid and that's when the family-oriented sim grew old and died.

This all suggests to me that removing pre-mades has something to do with whether or not sims choose to interact.  Testing continues.

[chaos]

I wonder if moving families to new towns causes problems, like it did in TS2. If your sims live in Sunset Valley and form relationships with other sims living there, then I'd think it would cause problems to suddenly move them to Riverview. I'm not sure about new families with no relationships, though.

[FrickinIdjit]

Sims have some sort of attachment to the games in which they're introduced - even if they've never met anyone - but I couldn't tell you what it is.  I used a single sim to rebuild and test Sunset Valley after deleting all the pre-mades and sledgehammering the buildings.  In a copy of the rebuilt SV with the same sim in play, they stand around like actors without a script.  The museum is filled with question mark paintings and the novels are missing from the library.  The original sim has the option to sleep in her own bed.  When I use the sim's original game, the community lots are OK but I've still got YAs whining until they grow old and die alone.  In an untouched SV, the original sim and everyone else I could squeeze in are fine but the library copies of the comm lots are screwed up.  If there's some happy medium, I haven't found it.

Frustration - let me show you it.

[dream_operator]

The NPCs and townies in my game socialize with each other just fine.  In fact I often have to wait until my sim can socialize with a chosen target since the non-playable tends to be engaged with another sim.  I haven't messed around with any of the premades, nor do I have any mods.  I also have the freewill set on the highest level.