Lot Sync Timer: All BlueSoups Suck Edition

[J. M. Pescado]

How odd. I switched the string printing to DayLocal to save space. Will look at it.

[Karen]

Tried the latest version and it's fixed now - thanks!

[Lyra]

Lot swappage isn't available if you have OFB installed. Which it says in the first post.

[Invisigoth]

If you turn on clickable neighbors and visible neighbors you can just click the lot you want and it will give you the option to start playing that lot. I can't remember which EP this came with, though.

[Annan]

I've had some weird problems with the Lot Sync Timer since I re-downloaded the DC the 9th. Trying to change the life expectancy on pets makes the game crash, and when I tried to skipday it errored, then skipped four days.

I are not happy cat.

I have a log from the skipday error, if The Awesome One wants it.

[Madame Mim]

OK, OK, but necromancy is probably the least of my problems, so . . .

Is any attempt going to be made to make the lot sync timer work uniquely for each apartment in a block? Or are we stuck with time spent on each lot 'counting' in every apartment?

[Karen]

Not sure what you mean by "time spent on each lot 'counting' in every apartment".  I have been using the synctimer since it was first released, and most of my lots are on day 203 now.  Just as an experiment, I went into one of my apartment lots, where I have two different playable families.  Both were on day 203 when I saved last time.  I went into apt A and bumped the counter up from 203 to 204, saved and exited back to the neighborhood.  Went back in to apt B.  It was still showing (correctly) its previous setting of day 203, and it also showed (correctly) that lot A was at day 204.  (Both synctimers are located inside the individual apts, not in common areas.)

As far as I can tell, everything is working fine in my game.  What specifically is the problem you're having?

Karen

[jsalemi]

The trick is that you have to have a sync timer in each apartment, MM -- you can't have just one for the lot like you do for residential lots.  The fun part comes in trying to find a place to put it in the smaller apartments.

[Karen]

Exactly.  I wish somebody would re-mesh the thing, maybe to make it small enough to place on a desktop?

Karen

[Kyna]

OK, OK, but necromancy is probably the least of my problems, so . . .

Is any attempt going to be made to make the lot sync timer work uniquely for each apartment in a block? Or are we stuck with time spent on each lot 'counting' in every apartment?

Did you use any cheats to edit the apartment after they were occupied?

I have one apartment lot with three households where one of the sync timers (all 3 families have their timers on the balcony) stays visible all the time and keeps ticking on.  The timers on the other households on the lot are only visible when playing those households.

It only happens on this one lot, although I have several other apartments lots with multiple families.

This household with the always-visible, always-counting lotsync timer is unique, because it's the only lot where I used a cheat to edit the lot while the lot was occupied.  I'd already moved all the households out to edit the lot (twice), and it wasn't until after I'd put them all back in for the second time that I realised I'd forgotten to move one door.  Since I didn't feel like moving them all out for a third time, I just used a cheat to move the door.  Next time they come up in my rotation I'll move them all out again, and edit the lot.

Editing apartment lots is a pain.  To make changes stick and not have weird glitches (like seeing inside the other apartments or having lotsync timers counting when they shouldn't) I find I have to enter in build mode, rezone to res, save & exit, re-enter the lot, make the changes I want, rezone back to apartment, save & exit, then enter the lot for a third time to check the mailbox changed, save & exit - which is why I didn't want to move 3 households out and go through all this just to move one door.

[Madame Mim]

I'm only just setting these apartments. What I am seeing is that the newly placed sync timer is taking its time from others placed on the lot (and, yes, I am placing one for every apartment and also placing them inside the apartments proper). These particular apartments haven't been editted (other than in non-cheatie permitted ways) since move-in.

I will go back and see if time progression is normal after the first day. From what you have said I am perceiving a problem where one does not persist (at least not after proper setup of the timer).

[J. M. Pescado]

This side effect has been noted. A fix will perhaps be available shortly, so that the clocks in other apartments don't fire.

[Sagana]

As well as the time being off (I just set mine back with the -days function so they were the same and after that they counted fine), the "list" feature isn't listing the other apartment lots for me. When in another household totally, they all list fine, but when playing the 2nd family in an apt, the first family isn't on the list.

[jsalemi]

When in another household totally, they all list fine, but when playing the 2nd family in an apt, the first family isn't on the list.

Yea, I noticed that one too, but I figured that's because both families have the same lot id, which is what the sync timer uses.

[Karen]

I just noticed that the version of the synctimer that's in the AL DC (dated 7/28/08) includes lot jumping.  Have the issues around that functionality (mentioned earlier in this thread) been resolved?  Is it safe to use lot-jumping in AL?  I admit it would be convenient, especially for moving between apartments on the same lot without having to go to the neighborhood screen in between....but there were so many issues with this function before, I'm just wondering if it's safe to use it now.

Karen

[J. M. Pescado]

No, it's not. That's a version detect error. It will be resolved in the next version, soon as I resolve the apartments issues.

[Gastfyr]

So...for now, it's not recomended to try to use this in appartments?  I just downloaded it to use in a new neighbourhood, but many of my families will be living in apparmtnets in that hood, and I basically need it to keep track of where everyone is in the whole neighbourhood; if this won't work with apts, I might as well just keep track of everyone manually.   

[J. M. Pescado]

New version should be moar apartmentsafe and not stomp anything. Lemme know how it works out.

[shalunyturns]

Soo... if I put this in all my playable lots, click install for each family, then use time warp to set the day of the week to 0 without fiddling with the time on the first lot I want to play (say its the Goth Family in Pleasantview which I presume is Lot #1), then use the maxis clickable neighbors function to switch to the next lot in the # order the lot sync timer puts the houses instead of using the lot sync timer version, plus never save the game without this hack being present in the downloads folder...this hack should run smoothly? I really tried to read the whole thread to understand the issues and how it works BTW I don't have OFB but do has UNI, PETS, SSN, BV, FT, GLS, MGS.

F*** necromancy I need clarification please!

[phyllis_p]

Been having a problem with the lot sync timer in the last couple of weeks.  I haven't been playing much, but last week I was playing a family and after several Sim days clicked on the lot sync timer to check when an event was coming up, and it said "Install for family."  It had been previously installed and the lot had been played several times before, so I figured this for a fluke.  I installed for family and it went to zero, so I reset it using the approximate day I thought it should be.

Today I entered that lot just to check the timer.  It was fine, so I exited the lot and went to the next family I wanted to play.  Checked the timer.  It was fine.  Played several Sim days, then wondered when the next event was coming up.  Checked lot sync timer -- "Install for family."  Installed, went to zero, reset manually to approx. day.

I'm not sure why this is happening.  These are houses, not apartments.  The only things I've installed in the last many weeks are updates to the Director's Cut.  The Sims are doing nothing out of the ordinary:  going to work, engaging in ACR, getting pregnant, going to school, going to community lots, going to hobby lots, skillinating, hobbinating, talking on the phone.

The neighborhood is only about 8 Sim days old.  I've got an event coming up on Day 11 and just started the next neighborhood round of play to bring everyone to Day 11.  There are about a dozen families.

Thanks for any insight.

[shastakiss]

I switched out the elixir mesh for the bg fern, more info here.