toddler madness

[Ellie]

Recently I have become very annoyed by this thing, I don't know if it's a bug or something. I also don't know if it's a problem caused by another hack, but I don't think I have any hacks affecting toddlers. I would like to know if anyone else has been experiencing this. I think this has become especially bad since nightlife and/or its patch, before that I haven't noticed it that much.

So, I'll try to explain my problem.. when a toddler is tired and gets put into a crib, very often an adult or teen in the household will come and take the toddler out of the crib again, although their energy is very low. Then I tell them to put the toddler back into the crib and when they do that someone else comes and gets the toddler out again. This drives me mad, especially since the action can't be cancelled. Whenever I cancel the action to get a toddler out of the crib, the sim just stands there for a while and eventually takes the toddler out anyway. This way, it can last for hours until a toddler finally gets to sleep and valuable play time has gone to waste.

I'm starting to hate toddlers for that reason although they are so cute and I like to let my sims have many children. Unfortunately, the moveobjects cheat also doesn't work here, whenever I use that to put a toddler into a crib they just reappear on the floor.

[miramis]

When a toddler is getting tired direct one sim to pick it up, go through each household member and cancel any actions they have auto-cued to do with the toddler.  Once your toddler is actually in someones arms no-one else can pick him up, and that should stop them taking it back out of the crib. They take it out of the crib because they'd already cued the 'put in crib' action, so as soon as the toddler is selectable for them they take it back out - stupid sims 

[Ellie]

thanks, but I've tried that. I go through every sim, cancel the toddler action and tell them to do something else to keep them occupied, but somehow they still go and take the toddler out afterwards. I have also noticed that sometimes the toddler doesn't go to sleep immediately but stands in the crib and cries for a while before he starts sleeping, and that's probably why the other sims go and get him out because they think he is awake.

And this monitoring is also very annoying, I have to go through all household sims again and again before the toddler finally sleeps and that can last for many sim hours.

stupid sims, indeed.. I wish at least the action was cancellable, that would make it much easier.

[SaraMK]

I have to agree it seems worse after NL. Or maybe it just seems that way to me because I still haven't installed the hacks that I used to have for stopping this behavior. They did it enough in TS2 and TS2Uni that I definitely wanted those hacks installed.

There is a hack in the Global Patches section at http://simlogical.com/ which pretty much makes most baby care non-autonomous (means sims can't do anything without your command). It is for NL.

JM's nobabyharassment just curbs the unnecessary actions, but it hasn't been specifically updated for NL. It's on the list of hacks that are being updated and will be released eventually. This is why I'm currently hackless. Waiting for this great hack to be updated. It was definitely a must-have before NL, and I'm hoping it will be released soon to stop the madness.

[cwykes]

I'm sure you're right and it's buggy.  There's a couple of thiings that could be going on though.  One is that they are tryiing to age transition the baby and the other is that the baby is also hungry and they want to go feed it.  I've cancelled out the first one pretty regularly.... Ooooops

[miramis]

Is there anything in the room the toddler sleeps in that might be keeping him awake?  Perhaps a musical toddler toy or talking rabbit that is being played with, a stereo, excersise machine, t.v...basically anything that makes a noise?  A cellphone or normal housephone ringing in the same room willl do it, as will the doorbell.  You can get a hack here at MATY to stop the doorbell waking up sims though I'm not sure if it's NL compatible.

cwykes has a couple of really good points there too.

[Emma]

 You can get a hack here at MATY to stop the doorbell waking up sims though I'm not sure if it's NL compatible.

Yes, it does work with nightlife

[Ellie]

There is a hack in the Global Patches section at http://simlogical.com/ which pretty much makes most baby care non-autonomous (means sims can't do anything without your command). It is for NL.

JM's nobabyharassment just curbs the unnecessary actions, but it hasn't been specifically updated for NL.

Oh yes, I remember using the nobabyharassment before nightlife, I hope it will be updated sometime.

Thanks for the simlogical-link, I might try that hack in the meantime

[Ellie]

Is there anything in the room the toddler sleeps in that might be keeping him awake?  

No, I don't think so.. usually I put just a crib and a changing table into their rooms. And the doorbell isn't ringing all the time.

[Hairfish]

This is what I'm doing until the NoBabyHarrassment hack is updated:

Once you get the kid into the crib, use moveobjects on and put a two-tile object in front of the crib. I recommend having a hack in place that keeps them from throwing a hissy fit when they can't get to the kid to wake him up and hold him.

[SaraMK]

Simlogical.com has a hacked crib that has an option to lock the kid in so that no one can get it out. I use that sometimes. It's a bit more hassle than I like, since you have to change the settings pretty often, but it works nicely. It's under Reservable Objects if you want it.

[syberspunk]

I think that the way babies and toddlers work is buggy in general. Pescado has explained in the past, and I'll try and paraphrase, hoping that my understanding is correct. Basically, the way baby/toddler needs are advertised, it seems is that whatever need is urgent, the Sim with that similar need seems to get called over. So... if a baby needs to pee, unfortunately, the Sim who needs to relieve their bladder the most is the one that gets "called" over to get the baby out of the crib. In your case, I'm guessing the toddler is really tired, and so your really tired Sims are incorrectly being told to get the toddler, as if they could actually do something to satisfy the toddler's needs. When, in reality, the toddler should just be left in the crib to pass out on its own.

I could be totally wrong about how I've interpreted Pescado's statements. I found the whole mess to be confusing altogether, and I don't quite understand how motives are advertised by objects anyway, but that seems to make sense to me. The way I understand it, objects advertise or "broadcast" to sims what kind of need they are supposed to satisfy or take care of. So a bed would "broadcast" to a sim that it would help with low energy. Since everything in the game is essentially an object, even sims themselves, maybe the baby/toddlers are "broadcasting" in a similar way. Only, when they do this, sims "think" that this object (the baby or toddler) is supposed to satisfy their needs. As a result, it has a sort of backasswards effect on them.

Ste

[Motoki]

I've had this happen too and like syberpunk says, I just figured the toddlers have always been buggish and annoying in general so I didn't think anything of it. It is annoying though.

[laeshanin]

Happens to me all the time, and it is really annoying. I did find that having only one cot on the site helps (I used to have two because all that taking them upstairs or leaving the infant on the floor pissed me off even more) so this behaviour is a little better. Stupid simmies...

[reggikko]

The only time I've had this happen was with a custom crib. It was like the Sims didn't recognize the crib and kept taking the baby out and putting him on the floor.

[Zeljka]

I've had a lot of multiple births, and regardless of what I cancelled, the stupid parents would (try to) spend hours putting them in and out of each crib. It did seem much worse with custom cribs but I find this drastically reduced just by using Inge's assignable cribs. (even giving parents 100% autonomy)

I find almost any teen or older Sim that's hanging out near a baby's room will get an urge to pull it out of it's crib, regardless of anyone's needs. This is why I also like to use Inge's locking doors. I usually assign the only key to whichever Sim is least interested and send them in only to drop the toddler in the crib, then queue them to do something in a far away room immediately after.

[ZiggyDoodle]

I wonder if the relationship the adult/teen has with the toddler has any bearing on how often they wish to pick them up.  In some of my families the teens have no interest in their younger siblings and in others,  a teen (who has lots of nice points and has a higher relationship with the sibling) will often go to the toddler.

For me, grandparents are the ones who most often try to get the toddlers (and infants), but as I play the pause button quite often, I can redirect them - usually to the bathroom which seems to always be a priority for elders.

On the other hand, if my toddlers aren't having smart milk or using the potty, they are building skills or sleeping, so they don't offer many opportunities for anyone to interrupt them and I've never had any adult/teen go to a toddler sleeping in a crib.

[Christianlov]

Isn't it funny that adult sims often go to cribs, wake up sleeping toddlers, just to do something not so important and put them back in? I think no baby harrassment hack or a targetable door system should handle it fine. In my case, what I think most annoying is the age transition from baby to toddler. It takes really long time and make mother sims completely exhausted.

[Kyna]

In my case, what I think most annoying is the age transition from baby to toddler. It takes really long time and make mother sims completely exhausted

I have JM Pescado's Baby Controller in my game.  It has a painless way of aging babies to toddlers. 

I've had this mod for so long now, I really can't remember what the transition used to be like.  I have vague memories of it failing, buying another cake, faliing again, repeat until it worked, then having to get a sim to clean up the undeletable cakes (back then I didn't really use move objects on a lot, this was back in the days when I thought move_objects on might turn my game into a BFBVFS).

[Process Denied]

The only time I've had this happen was with a custom crib. It was like the Sims didn't recognize the crib and kept taking the baby out and putting him on the floor.

I always have this prob when I use custom cribs.  I don't use them anymore.  I only use recolored Maxis cribs. 

[skandelouslala]

I've had a lot of multiple births, and regardless of what I cancelled, the stupid parents would (try to) spend hours putting them in and out of each crib. It did seem much worse with custom cribs but I find this drastically reduced just by using Inge's assignable cribs. (even giving parents 100% autonomy)

Oh man..this is THE most annoying thing ever.  I need to look into those assignable cribs.  I once watched my sims drag a toddler from one crib to another for 6+ sim hours straight.  Everytime I went to go do something else with another sim they would go back and do it until the other twin was in the their crib as well.

[Zeljka]

I've had a lot of multiple births, and regardless of what I cancelled, the stupid parents would (try to) spend hours putting them in and out of each crib. It did seem much worse with custom cribs but I find this drastically reduced just by using Inge's assignable cribs. (even giving parents 100% autonomy)

Oh man..this is THE most annoying thing ever.  I need to look into those assignable cribs.  I once watched my sims drag a toddler from one crib to another for 6+ sim hours straight.  Everytime I went to go do something else with another sim they would go back and do it until the other twin was in the their crib as well.

Get the crib, run... it will only take one toddler for you to wonder how you played without it, and if you have twins or more, you will want to start worshipping her. The targettable doors are extraordinarily handy too, I've banned visitors from my nurseries. It's bad enough trying to cancel controllable sims, the last thing I need is some stupid co-worker removing the kid just as I've managed to get the family in line.

If you need more selling, you can also ban toddlers from bathrooms, stop those creepy kids who like to watch their parents woohoo, and of course, just keep everyone on the side of the door you've put them on.

[laylei]

I'm having this problem in my Legacy house. I've NEVER had a problem with elders and adults obsessing over babies and toddlers. But ever since NL, it's terrible. Two elders, two adults, two babies. The E/A have to be watched every second of the day, because even if the baby is newly fed, diapered and napped, the elders will try to take the baby out to feed it repeatedly. It's the same for toddlers- even if they're fed, pottied, bathed and have full fun and social and are napping, they'll try to take the toddler out to bathe it.

I can't even use Power Idle, because the second I turned it on for my elders, they beelined to the nursery and started harrassing the babies and toddlers.

I took out nobabyharrassment because in NL, the ability to talk to toddlers was lost, but I'm considering sticking it back in and losing that ability. I'm at my wits end!

[skandelouslala]

Oh man..this is THE most annoying thing ever.  I need to look into those assignable cribs.  I once watched my sims drag a toddler from one crib to another for 6+ sim hours straight.  Everytime I went to go do something else with another sim they would go back and do it until the other twin was in the their crib as well.

Get the crib, run... it will only take one toddler for you to wonder how you played without it, and if you have twins or more, you will want to start worshipping her. The targettable doors are extraordinarily handy too, I've banned visitors from my nurseries. It's bad enough trying to cancel controllable sims, the last thing I need is some stupid co-worker removing the kid just as I've managed to get the family in line.

If you need more selling, you can also ban toddlers from bathrooms, stop those creepy kids who like to watch their parents woohoo, and of course, just keep everyone on the side of the door you've put them on.
[/quote]

Downloaded the cribs! Relief at last.  Haven't tried the doors yet..might try those out in the future.  So far I can tolerate  that whole issue..but when the day comes where I can't..I know where to go

[RainbowTigress]

I've been using JM's baby controller and Inge's autonomous baby care hack with NL, and I haven't noticed them harassing the toddlers.  I was using JM's no baby harassment with Uni, but I took that out since it wasn't compatible yet.  But I tried playing without any baby hacks for a little while and I started going crazy with how much the adults kept wanting to feed the baby, play with the baby, feed the baby, bathe the baby, feed the baby.  Poor thing.  I heard that the baby controller was working in NL with a few minor issues and stuck it back in my hacks folder.  It works well with Inge's hack because the baby controller pushes actions as if you were issuing them instead of them being considered autonomous.