Bathroom Controller: In Soviet Russia, Bathroom Uses You!

[ZephyrZodiac]

It can be caused by a visitor rushing to the bathroom faster than the sim who's queued to use it, or interrupting the sim and kicking them out before they've showered, and they then get stuck and block everyone,  The get removed forcefully!  Also, since these sims can't yet afford even cheap alarm clocks, although we are getting there slowly, it happens in the morning when I use the Macro/Use Bathroom option.

One other thing, if I queue something else before they've finished showering, sometimes they don't finish showering and proceed to the new action.  But if I manually click on the loo and the shower, they finish their ablutions and are neatly ejected!

[RainbowTigress]

If a sim decided to mess around in the bathroom on his own, he would first have a regular icon with an object in the bathroom that he wanted to use, such as the toilet, a shower, etc.  If his bladder is too high, he will be tossed out, if not, he will be sent to use the toilet, and the BUY icon will then take over.  If you are seeing the BUY icon first, then it would seem that it's pulling them in.  I have a few neat sims who will autonomously want to clean the shower, but BUY will toss them out unless their bladder is low enough that it will send them to the toilet instead.  (Manually ordering them to clean the tub or using Macrotastics Clean will work since it's not autonomous.)  Anyway, I would pay special attention to see what the icon looks like when the sim first goes into the bathroom.  Also, have you tried turning off free will to see if this still happens?  If so, then that would rule out autonomy as the source of the problem.

[ZephyrZodiac]

My sims aren't being drawn in with a nearly dull SP full bladder, for me that has never been the problem, the problem is only that they get stuck after exiting the shower if another sim is waiting their turn.  Move them out with a new instruction, and the hovering sim will have their turn in the shower and be ejected normally.  The only thing that occurs to me is that somehow the second showeree has appropriated the shower before the first has totally left.  (Or in the case of a visitor, substitute toiletee.)

[jsalemi]

Anyway, I would pay special attention to see what the icon looks like when the sim first goes into the bathroom.  Also, have you tried turning off free will to see if this still happens?  If so, then that would rule out autonomy as the source of the problem.

That I have done, and the icon is always the BUY icon, not the regular toilet or shower icon. I'll try turning off free will next time I'm in a dorm (where it seems to happen most often) and see if that makes a difference.

[RainbowTigress]

I was having the same problem you describe ZZ, but I have not observed it lately.  I am playing different lots though, and I've updated the BUY a few times.  I haven't played a dorm in a long time, but I did play one briefly last week or so, and I had this problem.  It seemed that selling the old toilet paper and buying new ones fixed the problem.  But I didn't play it very long after that.  I can't remember whether you said you tried this or not?

[ZephyrZodiac]

I tried that, Rainbow, and it did improve things, but they still aren't working perfectly.  I only created my latest couple at about 1am this morning, after installing the 6.06 ersion, and it's still happening.

[J. M. Pescado]

Can you describe exactly what the trigger appears to be? Does the bathroom have both a shower and terlet within its field of influence, and what exactly are the sims doing and how are you triggering it? It's worth noting there may have been more than one 6/06 version and to make sure you have not pulled a Ness.

[ZephyrZodiac]

JM, all your hacks are together in their own folder, which I checked for a duplicate.  It's just remotely possible I may have copied the last file to the wrong folder, so I will check, but I'm generally pretty careful about that kind of thing.

The bathrooms concerned are all 3x3, maxis door, not diagonal, one toilet, one shower, often no washbasin as they can't afford luxuries and unless there is a baby in the house there is no real use for a bathroom washbasin with BUY installed!  (Just get festering dirty dishes left there before everyone rushes off to work!

Checked, and it's the only BUY file in the game, and the file is 6.06  8.22

[jsalemi]

I've had it happen both in dorms with multiple stalls and showers in the sphere of influence, and with houses and dorms with solo toilet/shower combinations.  I haven't pulled a ness , but I also haven't replaced any existing TP rolls since updating the file, either.  I'll try that and see if it makes a difference.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I have a couple of error logs, one associated with the shower, when curtis failed to dress and then did something to the counter he was about to clean, another with the gnome when son Marvin was given Macro - kick stuff, and one other with a neighbour in the welcome wagon - I'm not sure but I think she may have been ejected from the BR - this is the one who constantly gets stuck in BRs.

[syberspunk]

Yea, but this is very recent behavior where it's so dominant its obvious.  In the past, sims with nothing in their queue would do other autonomous things like listen to their mp3 players, go eat, or do some skilling task using an object that's closer to them than the bathroom (i.e., telescope, chess board) -- anything but  run to the bathroom with nearly full bladders and high hygene scores.  I do play with free will on, but I also make sure to turn Power Idle on for every sim so they do something generally useful if I'm tied up elsewhere.

I've noticed and mentioned this too in chat. It happens quite often in this dorm that I am playing. I notice it more frequently with my playable sims, that if they are just standing around, even if their bladder gauge has a little red (I'm saying that instead of full, because it gets confusing whether you mean the gauge is full or their bladder is full. I would think that they are opposite - if the gauge is full, it is green and their bladder is empty. If the gauge is depleted, it is all red and their is bladder is full and needs to be emptied ) they will immediately run off to the bathroom.

I don't know if there is some attraction to try and futz with the bathroom controller itself? But I don't think its because my sims suddenly developed an obsession with the objects in the bathroom. I am pretty sure this behaviour developed recently, since before, my sims weren't being used as much. *shrugs* The good thing that I noticed, however, is that male sims are now actually using the stand-up urinals. This never happened before in my dorm, but now it works. So huzzah for that!

Ste

[Magicmoon]

What are you having them do at the time? That's definitely not part of any macro.

In most cases, nothing -- i didn't have anything queued up after they got back from class.  They would stand around by the portal for a few sim minutes, the BUY icon would pop up, and they'd run to the bathroom, even with almost full bladders.  And I saw it happen in some houses, too, when a sim comes home from work and doesn't have anything in the queue.  The common thread seems to be an empty queue.

I rolled back to version to version 2.50 because 2.51 immediately crashes my game. On occasion (mostly rare) the sim will get queued up to use the bathroom with a nearly full bladder gauge, usually when returning from work or class and only when their queue is empty. It is on campus that it happens the most.

If the sim decides on their own to use the bathroom either the shower icon or the toilet icon appears in their queue and they walk until they enter the bathroom at which point the BYU icon takes control and shows up instead. But this going to the bathroom with a mostly full bladder gauge is using the BYU icon in their queue and they run from the sidewalk to the bathroom just like when the BYU normally calls for them when their bladder gauge is red.

This does not even affect all the sims equally. I may have 5 sims return from class at the same time, some with somewhat lower bladder scores (not critical) will be passed over for this strange call to the bathroom while someone completely green takes off running.It is rare enough in my game to not be a problem, but i wanted you to know that it is affecting others and not just the latest version.

The last time I had the "waiting queue" problem was several versions ago and only in small houses that had few bathrooms. This problem is not currently affecting me at all.

[jsalemi]

Well, I did some testing in a house with 4 sims, and a dorm with a solo sim.  Prior to changing anything, they all had the 'run to bathroom with a almost completely green bladder' syndrome.  I found that:

1) it isn't a problem if free will is off and power idle is on.
2) it is a problem if free will is on and power idle is on.
3) in the house, replacing the BUY controller in both bathrooms seems to have solved the problem so far.
4) in the dorm, replacing the BUY controller in three bathrooms (all single toilet/single shower) mostly solved the problem (as in, it still happens, but a lot less than it used to).

The only situation I haven't tried yet is a dorm with multi-toilet/multi-shower bathrooms.  I'll give that a go later.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, I turned "seek" off and checked room only, and a sim returning from work, who normally even when being rushed to the loo in seek mode, walks sedately, on this latest occasion ran hell for leather as if her bladder was bursting (which it wasn't, and nor was she more than 45 % of the hygiene bar down.  I'll check for a later version and put it in when I close my game to see if that makes any difference.

[J. M. Pescado]

I rolled back to version to version 2.50 because 2.51 immediately crashes my game. On occasion (mostly rare) the sim will get queued up to use the bathroom with a nearly full bladder gauge, usually when returning from work or class and only when their queue is empty. It is on campus that it happens the most.

Is this an NL-only game? It still crashes, even with the current update?

The last time I had the "waiting queue" problem was several versions ago and only in small houses that had few bathrooms. This problem is not currently affecting me at all.

2.50 is known to have the problem, 2.51 fixed that. You're saying it crashes the game?

I have a couple of error logs, one associated with the shower, when curtis failed to dress and then did something to the counter he was about to clean, another with the gnome when son Marvin was given Macro - kick stuff, and one other with a neighbour in the welcome wagon - I'm not sure but I think she may have been ejected from the BR - this is the one who constantly gets stuck in BRs.

These are all force-error logs, none of them are useful. Don't force unrequested errors, they don't tell me anything.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Sorry, as it happened I forced the errors in order to reset the sims and stuff in question because they weren't acting correctly, and I don't understand the things myself, so I didn't know whether there might be something there that would help.

[Magicmoon]

Is this an NL-only game? It still crashes, even with the current update?

Yes, up to Nightlife as per my signature.

I downloaded the latest version of BYU. Is it for OFB only? Whenever I enter a house and take it off of pause the game crashes after a few seconds with the message "this application has crashed". After several hours of reloading the game to pinpoint the problem, it came down to the latest BYU. I rolled back to the last version and everything is fine again.

Grr. That problem is back again? Lemme try something else....

Maybe my screwup. Did the above mean that you already downloaded another version after 2.51? Because I was referring to 2.51 when I wrote the above and thought by your post that you meant you were working on the problem, not that you already uploaded another. If you did, then I need to redownload.

[J. M. Pescado]

Maybe my screwup. Did the above mean that you already downloaded another version after 2.51? Because I was referring to 2.51 when I wrote the above and thought by your post that you meant you were working on the problem, not that you already uploaded another. If you did, then I need to redownload.

No, this problem was already fixed, I had someone with NL-only test it, it didn't crash theirs. So it should be fixed now.

[jsalemi]

Final update to my testing:

5) The problem still exists in a multi-stall/multi-shower with a BUY controller for each toilet, even after replacing all the controllers. The sims still (with free will on) run off to the bathroom when they're idling and their bladder and hygene are higher than 3/4 green. 

I also noticed that it seems to be affecting dormies the same way -- they run off to the bathroom more now, even though I have nouniprotect active.  They're still falling asleep in their food and whatnot, but not a single instance of dormie bladder failure in an entire semester.  I didn't notice this in the dorm with single toilet/shower bathrooms, so I'll have to pay more attention next time I play one.

I can't imagine why this is happening this way, but there you go.  I did run a scan with Paladin's hack scanner, and it didn't turn up anything that's conflicting with BUY.

[Magicmoon]

OK. Redownloaded latest version of V2.51. No longer crashes game. But it is much, much worse about calling sims to the bathroom with a full bladder.

I have a sim that has 98% bladder that has 6 BYU icons queued up, as she is presently doing her homework (so evidently an empty queue isn't mandatory for the BUY to call them). Others may be down in the orange area and not be called until desperation sets in. Most are being called while 50% or higher . (I am calling 0% desperation and 100% just got done going).

I did remove all the old BUY controllers and replaced them as others have reported that this helps. It did not help in my case.

I had a trying time trying to take them out though, as this is in a frat house with 4 showers and 4 bathroom stalls, each with a controller, in one room and I couldn't stop it from calling sims long enough to get them out of the bathroom so I could grab the controllers!

I did notice that I do need one BUY controller for each stall. I was pulling them out one at a time as I could get them while not in use. When I got down to just one controller there was a line outside of the bathroom, sims with green bladder gauges all waiting to use the one controller while ignoring the empty stalls.

I am playing in a Greek house. Free will is on. I am not using procrastinate, power idle, or any of those type things available with macrotastics. BUY controllers not changed from default. I usually play with seek on, but I didn't change anything after replacing the controllers.

[J. M. Pescado]

I have a sim that has 98% bladder that has 6 BYU icons queued up, as she is presently doing her homework (so evidently an empty queue isn't mandatory for the BUY to call them).

6? Is Seek mode on? Because I've never seen this behavior and cannot reproduce it.

Others may be down in the orange area and not be called until desperation sets in. Most are being called while 50% or higher . (I am calling 0% desperation and 100% just got done going).

That seems to be about normal, if you're using Do Homework or other such idle-loops.

I am playing in a Greek house. Free will is on. I am not using procrastinate, power idle, or any of those type things available with macrotastics. BUY controllers not changed from default. I usually play with seek on, but I didn't change anything after replacing the controllers.

If you leave them on default, do they queue 6 uses at once on their own, or what?

[RainbowTigress]

Now I just experienced having a sim race to the bathroom with his bladder almost full green, about 80% of the bar.  It was Malcolm Landgraab, and he was at his electronics store.  I had put toilet paper in both bathrooms, removed the urinal and the stall, and placed a cheap toilet in each one.  I removed the gender doors and replaced them with a plain door.  I also put the cheap Uni shower in each.  I had him being the cashier, but he wanted to sell an item to a customer, so I canceled the "Be Cashier" from his queue and told him to do a basic sell on the customer he had the want to sell to.  As he was walking toward the customer, he suddenly took off at breakneck speed to the bathroom as the others described above, it was as though his bladder was about to burst, but it wasn't even halfway.  I'm sure this happened earlier, but I wasn't clear on the details at the time, but this time it was very clear. 

I have OFB patched and I'm using the 6/6 version of the BUY.

[J. M. Pescado]

The common thread I'm seeing running through this is Free Will....I suppose even though it's a business, you left that on? My guess is that the sale action dropped from queue, as they are wont to do, and he decided to do something his own.

[RainbowTigress]

It shouldhn't have dropped from his queue that fast.  The customer wasn't that far away when I issued the command, and he had no sooner started walking toward him than he broke off running.  I'll try it without free will, but I don't see why that should make a difference because I've been using it since Uni, and that's never affected this.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I wonder if there's something else that is affecting the BUY.  I wonder if it would help to remove all the macrotastics stuff except the BUY and see if the same thing occurs?  Or, in fact, to remove all hacks except the BUY.