"Instant Meal" bug?

[Brynne]

Make sure your tent door is on the diagonal, and the bear will just stand outside waving his paws and shouting "Erm, Woohoo!" On the downside, you will only be able to cook cereal on your stove (with a 10% chance of failure).

That cracked me up!

[Bane~Child]

Schmoopee,

I had this happen with a stove and it had to be set to a dirty state and then cleaned before the Sim could cook anything but an instant meal.  Ideally, the fridge is supposed to check for the type of cooking appliance that the Sim has in addition to the cooking skill level in order to offer the appropriated menu options.  So this error can happen with either appliance and several people have used various methods to reset the appliance by forcing some kind of error - this seems to be the primary goal.

Just so you know, there have been various experiences about how long this cycle lasts.  Mine also happened to be a Maxis condo with one of the diagonal doors, but yet others have not had this problem.

In another similar situation, I had a dishwasher that would not function, could not be used, was not broken and was replaced with a new one - Rinse and repeat.  I finally decided to try and move the dishwasher to another location.  So I moved it one tile over and next to the spot where it had been sitting.  This apparently had the same effect as resetting the dishwasher and the problem did not return.

[ZephyrZodiac]

In which case the lot debugger would have possibly helped as there could be something like a stuck kicky-bag in front of it.

[Bane~Child]

In which case the lot debugger would have possibly helped as there could be something like a stuck kicky-bag in front of it.

True, but even with this, it seems you would get the 'noroute failure' briefly or an image of a kicky-bag in their thought bubble.

I know about the invisible kicky-bag, though, what a nightmare those are/were.  I reported to TwoJeffs a problem in the nursery where you have two or more babies present.  The little guys are born with KBs in their nappies, having no pockets you know.  I can only guess that they must play when noone is watching, like the faeries do - even with the eye in the sky.

If you remember TJ's fix was included in the Lot Debugger when it premiered, due to so many reports of problems like this appearing
in the regular neighborhoods.  Up until then, I was using his stack of phonebooks from his college package.  I was so glad when they included it in the Lot Debugger, it happened so often I was going to have to resort to recoloring them to coordinate with my nurseries.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I hope Mum and Dad didn't try to play kicky-bag with the baby!   You obviously needed the No Kicky-Bag Indoors fix!

[Kitiara]

The only non-Maxis kitchen appliances I have are Inge's apartment stuff, which I no longer use. The apartment doors and tokens made the the appliances pretty much obsolete. I almost never use custom walls or floors. My game drags with too much cc, so I limit it to the essential stuff.
After hearing of problems with diagonal doors, I checked all of my houses and straightened out all of the doors.
Still, sometimes I have problems in the kitchen. It seems, the have meal and serve meal options will disappear. Everything else will work fine. Then it will come back. Later. For no apparent reason.
I don't get it.
I blame it on EA.

I've started using christianlov's all-in-one npc in most houses because it reduces the irritations of contrary refridgerators, and also gardens, repairs, etc.
Lazy - maybe.
Convenient - YES!

[ZephyrZodiac]

It does seem to me that you have something getting in the way of your fridges.  Does the same thing apply if you click on the stove instead?

[Kitiara]

Sometimes clicking on the stove works, sometimes it does not. Sometimes using a different sim works. Sometimes it does not. Sometimes going into the kitchen, as close to the refridgerator as possible clears it up. Sometimes it does not. I have a hypothesis that none of these things ever really fix the problem, rather that what I am doing when it goes away is coincidence. However, I can't prove that; I don't even know how to test it.

[BlueSoup]

I get this happening all the time in my Legacy lot.

If my Sims are in another room when I try to queue them to make a meal, it will sometimes only come up with the Instant Meal option.  As soon as they are in the same room, I can click on the fridge again and it's fine.  I can also have them check the food levels first, and then click on the fridge again and all the options are there. 

A lot of the time they are in one of the bathrooms, which both have diagonal doors, so I tested that and moved them to the bedroom which has straight doors, and I have the same problem.

I don't know what the deal is, I only know it's yet another bug for Maxis to fix.

[ZephyrZodiac]

It always happens in my bathrooms with diagonal doors, but never when the doors are normal.  Are the doors concerned by any chance new meshes?

[RainbowTigress]

I had this problem with Don's condo, and it went away as soon as I replaced the diagonal door with one on a right angle corner.  I also had the problem with guests getting stuck in the bathroom as well.  This was before I had the bathroom controller, and even shooing the guests had no effect.  Don had Bella living with him, and they had a couple of kids.  They would rather pee themselves than sit on the toilet in front of someone.  So they'd stand there shooing the guest and they'd just stand there with their arms folded until my sims peed on themselves.  It drove me crazy, so I installed a no privacy mod, but I didn't really like that either.  Finally I fixed the door and the problems went away, and I got the bathroom controller from JM about that time, so I haven't had any more problems with this.  I am convinced that the problem is the diagonal walls and doors.  In every house I've had the problem, I've gotten rid of all diagonal walls and doors and the problem has gone away.  In one Maxis house that had a lot of diagonal walls, the one in Pleasantview with three stories, I had a problem with JMP's sleep clocks.  The sims would just stand there when the clock called them to bed.  Once I replaced all the diagonal walls, I had no more problems.  Since Uni came out, they have caused no end of problems.  In those condos with the long diagonal wall in the front where the living room is, I usually end up remodeling those because to me it's wasted space.  I remember in Sims1 somewhere in the game Maxis said that Sims like diagonal walls.  Probably something to do with environment, but I rarely used them because you can't put anything in front of them.  So in my opinion, diagonal walls and doors are evil and must be eradicated. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

You can use them to put things in front of if you use:

 boolprop allow45degreeangleofrotation true/false

The condo I have where Dina and her husband Dylan live, I have 4ESF's cheap Quadro sofas along a diagonal wall and they work fine, and so far Dina hasn't complained!

It's funny with the bathrooms, though, in some houses, as you say, visiting sims get stuck inside (if you use "call over" they will come out) but in other houses they won't go in!  Just stand there looking desperate!

I've noticed though, that Sims2 sims don't seem so keen on odd-shaped rooms as the Sims1 version - perhaps because they are more intelligent??

[Kitiara]

I know that in Sims1 the more corners a room had, the higher the score. Diagonal walls often made lots of corners easier. I guess they found a new evaluation method this time around.

Regardless of whether my Sims like diagonal walls, I don't let them have them. I find my creativity is occasionally stifled, but I can live with that. I've heard too many bizarre stories related to diagonal doors. I eradicated them all. Diagonal is taboo in my game.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Diagonals for bay windows don't normally cause problems.

Stupid thing is, in sims 1 diagonals were useless wastes of space and what people made to go on them didn't always work very well, but Maxis obviously took the hint and decided to make diagonals usable, then made their usual hash of it!

[Bane~Child]

Rainbow,

I had this appliance problem with the stove in Don's condo, too.  Those glass and matte doors are one of the ones causing the most trouble for me.  I can use the arched double door with fewest problems of the bunch.

I notice that there seems to be a difference among the two-tile (double-wide) doors when placed diagonally.  Some seem to cause problems and some do not, but I notice problems less often than with one-tile doors placed on the diagonal.  Another door that seems to have a problem is the two-tile sliding glass door.  Sometimes it will stick and stay open.

Inge mentioned that doors can get stuck in an open position if there is a light fixture above it, this is in the abscence of any obvious obstacles like drapes hanging across the door frame.  This is the only thing I thought might be causing the sliding door to remain open.

[Hairfish]

I have a theory. Well, not a theory, per se, but I noticed a few things on the two occasions that the "Instant Meal Only" bug popped up in one of my houses (none of which have diagonal doors, btw).

In a house with four adult Sims, only one got the bug. He had a very high Neatness score, 8 or 9. He was standing within the kitchen area (it's an open floorplan) when I gave him the order to Serve Dinner.

The kitchen counters are very crowded with appliances, with only two open countertops. This happened at night, so meals had been prepared since the maid had been there.

The Sim who eventually served hamburgers for dinner has a low Neatness score.

So, what I think is happening is, when this "bug" pops up it's with very Neat Sims who refuse to prepare food on a dirty countertop, when all unoccupied counters are dirty ~ not visually dirty, but "used," and thus "cleanable." When it happens again, I'll check the condition of the countertops and the Neatness rating of the Sim who's stuck with Ensure for dinner. If I remember to. I probably won't.

In the meantime, those who encounter (ha ha) the bug may want to try having the limited Sim clean the counters, and see if that brings back the rest of the menu.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Sounds feasible - or get them to make spaghetti using the food processor!

On a related note, I had a wonderful little episode with a couple of gay male Romance sims who are married and very much in love.  One got up and I told him to serve toaster pastries.  He put them in the oven then decided to go and clean the worktop.  His partner appeared to realise that the pastries would burn, so he came into the kitchen and served the meal!   Honestly, a totally autonomous action!

[Hairfish]

Sounds feasible - or get them to make spaghetti using the food processor!

Except that the only option they have is "Instant Meal."

(Reminds me of my phone company's recorded message asking if I'm calling from the number with the problem when I'm reporting a NON-WORKING phone line.  )

[ZephyrZodiac]

Sorry, it's very late and I'm not thinking straight!  Of course, that wouldn't solve the Instant Meal only!  Seems like, for some reason, the game thinks the sim is still at work!  Like it gets confused and sends nannies when they're home and doesn't send them when they're not there!

[Darkstormyeve]

Just a note that it happened to me last night again. Darn annoying!!! No diag walls/doors and it was in Strange Town.

[knitro]

It happens to me all the time, no diagonal doors, nothing stuck, checked the debugger, its ok. But mine seems to happen if the sim is on the 2nd floor, as soon has they hit the ground floor where the fridge is, all the options come up again. its weird.

[schmoopee]

It happens to me in single-story homes. I downloaded a few starter homes, unfurnished. And sometimes it happens to one sim and not the other, sometimes both. (Most of my sim houses currently have two adults. Some with kids and some not.)

Hairfish - intersting theory. I know at least one of the houses where this happens, I have a super-neat sim. I will have to check this out when I next boot up that house.

Baddmark - Bahaha! That made me laugh. I have returned, lips unscathed by bears or other predatory beasts. 

[Zeljka]

It's happening to me right now, in my e-mail lot... fortunately they had enough money to buy a second fridge or they both would have died of starvation.
Unfortunately, this is brand new to me (last week or so). I got it only after installing smartserve g and a new fridge from TSR.
One of my homes had 3 fridges that were unusable, 2 were near empty, but I couldn't restock them, the third was new but apparently only held the makings of dessert, baby formula and snacks after two meals had been served. I will get rid of the fridge (which wasn't in the home anyway) and the hack and see which (if either) is responsible. Right now, the only fridges that appear to work in any of the homes are Inge's non-autonomous and one I got from SunAir.

[Kitiara]

If one of those is the problem in your game, that will just confuse me more. I have no custom fridges, nor do I have this smartserve hack, and I have this problem in my game.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Maybe your actual Maxis fridge has become corrupted, in which case, what I personally would do is to remove the Sims2 folder to the desktop, uninstall/reinstall Uni, then move the sims2 folder back into EAGames.  I'm sure someone else has a simpler method, but this always works for me.