AutoYakYak Macro Phone Caller (10/25/06)

[RainbowTigress]

I know what JM will say to that.  Sims are inherently stupid and will always choose the most stupid thing to do when left to their own devices. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

Oh, I've had sims do some quite intelligent things at times!  For instance, one morning I directed Sim A to serve toaster pastries.  He put them in the oven then went off to clean a counter (stupid), but his partner just strolled in and took the toaster pastries out and served them!  Now that (for a sim) was intelligent!

[Magicmoon]

I am not positive this is the mod causing my problem, but I think it is. Sometimes when I use call Sim/invite over/ the calling Sim jumps off of the phone and is standing still beside it. I usually have to try 2-3 times before they hang up properly and the dialog of "Thanks I'll be right over" occurs. I have tried waiting to see if just the dialog was missing, but the invited Sim doesn't come over.

On occasion when a sim hangs up from calling another sim the sim that was called is suddenly in the house standing by the phone and caller.

The call friends and call family features seem to work great.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I had that problem of called sims suddenly appearing on the lot - but it was after installing NL and before the first NL patch - so I think it was a problem with NL and not Autoyak!  If I remember rightly, I tried removing autoyak, and the problem still occurred.

[RainbowTigress]

Yeah, I've heard of this happening even without this hack installed.  I think it was discussed over in the Phone hack thread.

[ZephyrZodiac]

It was, in some depth, I think.

[Magicmoon]

Thanks. I knew that I read something about it quite a while back before I had the problem, but couldn't find the same thread and couldn't remember what solutions were offered. I'll go look for the other thread.

[Thraxwhirl]

Forgive me if I'm asking a question that's already been answered elsewhere, but is this hack OFB-Compatible?

Indeed, are Hacks in the Armory here because they are ok with it?

I know most of them PREDATE OFB of course, but can one assume that they REMAIN here unaltered - rather than put BACK INTO the Firing Line - because they're in need of no alteration?

Sorry, it's just I'm a bit confused about which of the OLDER Hacks are safe and which aren't. 

[jrd]

All OFB compatibles: http://moreawesomethanyou.com/ffs/ofb/

[Daria]

Thanks, Jordi! 

[Meek_Monkey]

I am not sure if you have seen this error but it seam to come up a bit in my game if I get the option to join a phone converstaion and accept it I get this error log.

[J. M. Pescado]

Give it a try now, should be fixed.

[Meek_Monkey]

Thanks JM I will give it a try and let you know

[seelindarun]

I know it's not a rumour because I read it here, but the RTFM doesn't have anything about it and I can't find or don't have the option in my game.

None of my sims can Call... Targets.  They can call friends or family from the Macro... menu, as per macrotastics, but no targets.    I have autoyak dated June 06, 2006, and I have the other items needed for macrotastics.  Do I need something else?

I can't imagine that it's due to a conflict.  I have barely half a dozen other mods, strictly critical items and all Awesome. 

Oh, and I have Uni and NL EPs.

[jsalemi]

None of my sims can Call... Targets.  They can call friends or family from the Macro... menu, as per macrotastics, but no targets.    I have autoyak dated June 06, 2006, and I have the other items needed for macrotastics.  Do I need something else?

You don't mention it, but do you have the Phone Controller installed? http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,131.0.html

That and AutoYakYak work together to let you call target, etc.

Also, sometimes a sim just doesn't have a target to call, so the option doesn't appear.  It will only pick from sims your sim already knows and isn't friends with, and it does a basic check to see if that sim is available to talk (i.e., not at work or at school).  If you sim knows very few other sims, then there may not be any targets to call at the particular time you're trying.  If you have the phone controller, and you know your sim knows other sims who aren't friends yet, try again after 6pm or so and see if the 'call targets' appears.

[seelindarun]

Nope, I didn't have it.  Thank you! 

I read over the description for the phone hack before, but it doesn't fix anything critical and I didn't find its features particularly compelling.  Maybe there should be a footnote about it in the autoyak or macrotastics rtfms for noobs like me?

Anyhoo, off to try it now...

EDIT: To the powers-that-be, the link for the Shiny Edition Phone Controller in the Armory is dead.  I dl'ed the Nuclear Edition for the appropriate EP from the Firing Range.

EDIT #2: I still don't see the option to call targets.    I looked in the self-menu under Call... and Macro... and the wall phone itself.  They can call Family, Friends, and the usual suspects, but no Targets.  These sims (now adults) were born in-game so they have 2 or 3 panels' worth of sims they've met in their address books, so a lack of targets isn't the problem.  What else can I try? 

EDIT #3: Hmmm, I think maybe the problem is in the Autoyak.  There's no option to call Enemies, either.  I didn't notice this before because most of my sims don't have any enemies, but just checked one crotchety elder who does.  His enemy is most definitely home; I manually had him call and harass... 

[J. M. Pescado]

EDIT #2: I still don't see the option to call targets.    I looked in the self-menu under Call... and Macro... and the wall phone itself.  They can call Family, Friends, and the usual suspects, but no Targets.  These sims (now adults) were born in-game so they have 2 or 3 panels' worth of sims they've met in their address books, so a lack of targets isn't the problem.  What else can I try? 

The targets option won't appear if your sims have an already massive surplus of family friends, as it would be unnecessary and likely counterproductive to make more!

EDIT #3: Hmmm, I think maybe the problem is in the Autoyak.  There's no option to call Enemies, either.  I didn't notice this before because most of my sims don't have any enemies, but just checked one crotchety elder who does.  His enemy is most definitely home; I manually had him call and harass... 

The enemies option will not appear if it is an appropriate time to call them. Enemies may only be called at the wrong times, because otherwise it won't tick them off! Wait until after 0200 for NL+ or midnight for pre-NL, unless your enemy is a vampire, in which case the correct time to harass them is during daylight hours.

[seelindarun]

The targets option won't appear if your sims have an already massive surplus of family friends, as it would be unnecessary and likely counterproductive to make more!

But Pescado!  What about teens?  They may be currently living in a multi-generational household with well over 50 family friends, but eventually they're going to have to make their own way.  Since I don't let my teens kill kittens, gaining skills and getting a start on accumulating friends is all they do.

Another major activity my sims engage in (esp. elders) is going on outings for profit.  With 1 or 2 friends about to fall off the 50/50 threshold and 1 acquaintance at around 40/20, you're pretty much guaranteed the highest outing rating once you get all guests up to 100 daily with the host.  At the end of it all, needs are greened up and they will have earned anywhere from $2000 - $5000 from gifts in about 4 sim hours.  Anyway, my point is that acquaintance is important to getting a strategic ratio of guests to relationship points.  My elders need to cultivate their targets for maximum profits from their outings!

[jsalemi]

But Pescado!  What about teens?  They may be currently living in a multi-generational household with well over 50 family friends, but eventually they're going to have to make their own way.  Since I don't let my teens kill kittens, gaining skills and getting a start on accumulating friends is all they do.

You can still have teens call other sims normally, and AutoYakYak will keep them talking until they hit the friends stage (and all the way up to 100 STR, if you let them go that long). Call/Targets is handy if they know a lot of folks already, since it winnows down the call list, but teens usually won't have as big of a relationship list as their parents.

[seelindarun]

You can still have teens call other sims normally, and AutoYakYak will keep them talking until they hit the friends stage (and all the way up to 100 STR, if you let them go that long). Call/Targets is handy if they know a lot of folks already, since it winnows down the call list, but teens usually won't have as big of a relationship list as their parents.

Oh don't get me wrong, Autoyak is a great improvement over nothing at all!  It's most definitely staying in my game. 

It's quite possible that Call/Targets wouldn't do what I'd like, even if I could get it turned on.  That's hard to say since the docs are thin, and I haven't been able to get the right conditions to see it in action.  Mainly, I was challenging Pescado's position that a household with many family friends has no need for more.  I gave two examples where individuals may benefit (indeed, profit).

Under just what circumstances does a sim have a valid Target?  I played some sims in Uni with only 5 or 6 friends, and they don't have this option either. 

[jsalemi]

Under just what circumstances does a sim have a valid Target?  I played some sims in Uni with only 5 or 6 friends, and they don't have this option either. 

JMP will correct me if I'm wrong, but it has to be someone the sim already knows, who is available to call at that time (i.e., not at work or school).  As JMP said earlier, if there are a lot of family friends this won't appear, but I don't know if that carries over to Uni.

[Fallen-Angel]

Thanks for this it makes life so much easier for my sims

[J. M. Pescado]

It's quite possible that Call/Targets wouldn't do what I'd like, even if I could get it turned on.  That's hard to say since the docs are thin, and I haven't been able to get the right conditions to see it in action.  Mainly, I was challenging Pescado's position that a household with many family friends has no need for more.  I gave two examples where individuals may benefit (indeed, profit).

When you have enough to fill any job requirement in the game with a healthy margin, the option disappears since it is pointless (and needlessly computationally expensive) to run it, as your friend-calling selection at that point is largely arbitrary and not motivated by a strict desire to make specifically new family friends with no overlap. Aforementioned teens would end up moving back in anyway, to avoid having to create ANOTHER house (endless house spawning is both undesirable and greatly slows down progression speed in your neighborhood, as 2x the families consumes about 2x your PERSONAL time to maintain!). Even if for some decidedly masochistic reason you DID split them off into dozens of new houses and suck up the massive time sink doubling the number of houses your family is split into, the "call targets" functionality would be wasted in such a case, as overlapping friends would no longer be relevant.

[pcgeekri]

Pescado,

Is it just my game or does Autoyak need to be updated for Pets?

Thanks,

Pcgeekri

[notveryawesome]

ZZ: "call anyone" by dizzy2: http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=72672

I don't use it myself, but this seems like it is what you want.

I've been using the 'call anyone' mod for quite some time now. The sheer number of sims in the phone directory seems overwhelming at first, but I just sort them by friends (the smiley face icon at the top right of the panel) and start from the beginning. The sims are listed in order from friendliest to least friendly. It's great for promotion time!