Unfulfillable wants

[Marvin Kosh]

I've recently moved an elder couple into their retirement pad, leaving their kids the family home.  Problem is, they've got wants for their kids to be Overachievers and Go To College, which as I remember and now rue, can't be fulfilled unless they're actually on the same lot as their kids.  You can't even scrub the wants by going into testing mode and Control-clicking them to make them be fulfilled.  It's like there's some sort of memory testing required before the want can be fulfilled.

Is there a way of fixing this, by actually checking the kid's memory to see if they have a memory of being an Overachiever, or is that just not possible?

Edit: Just tried editing the wants panel in SimPE.  It's just a quick fix though, and wants are not actually satisfied in this way, meaning they can just roll up again

[gali]

The parents don't need to live in the same house with the kids, and their wishes can be fulfilled. You can test it by locking a wish, for instance "go to college". Now send the kid to college, and then check if the wish was unlocked - it means that they fulfilled their wish.

Pollination main wish was "relative get engaged" (about Johhny). I locked it, and when Johnny got engaged, the wish was replaced by some other wish "relative get married".

If you want to make the teen overachiever too, before sending him to college - lock the parent's wish, make the teen overachiever (it takes 3 days), and check again if the wish was unlocked.

[Marvin Kosh]

Oh, hang on, maybe it's the 'no telepathy' hack?

From the RTFM:

CHANGES:
Most memories are no longer transmitted telepathically to relatives that they
have never even met before. They can still be passed normally by gossip, but
memories do not begin appearing in the relative's memory bar unless they've
actually met that person.

The teens did become Overachievers, but this wasn't reflected over on the parents' lot.

Edit: Just tried for the parents' Child Goes To College want.  Interestingly, Dad snagged it, Mom didn't (and still has it locked and clogging up her wants panel).  Neither of them have a memory showing that it was fulfilled..... although just because they aren't visible, doesn't mean they aren't there.

[gali]

Yes, because dad went with kid to college, and cried at the separation. Mom, if she would go with kid to college (I saw it only once in my game - discrimination!), her wish would be unlocked too.

If the locked wish was unlocked and replaced by another wish - the parent gets the aspiration points; it doesn't matter if he has the memory - the points are the important ones.

[Marvin Kosh]

I didn't get the cutscene, come to think on it.  I did with my first teen to hit college, but not the latest one.  It could be because I combined her with an existing student household instead of moving onto an empty lot,  but the effect is the same.

[gali]

You will never get the cut scene, if you combine the teen with an existing sim. That's why I always move them first to the dorm (I never use dorms), only to get the cut scene, pause the game, move the YA back to the students bin, and only then combine him with the sim.

The first time I sent 2 siblings to the college, I moved the first to an empty house - and got the cut scene. When I combined the second with the first - I didn't get the cut scene. From then on - I keep that each teen receives his cut scene, by moving him to an empty house or an empty dorm, then I can move him back to the bin and combine him with the chosen sim.

[J. M. Pescado]

No Telepathy isn't the cause of the remote want fulfillment problem: It's a bug introduced, I think, in Uni: Indirect Want-fulfilment is buggy and does not consistently function correctly when the wanting sim is not instantiated on the lot. Meaning if your parent/relative/friend is PRESENT for the wedding, the college enrollment, the graduation (not the party!), etc., they get the credit, but if they're not at the event, they won't remember it. Meaning a family sim can very easily be cheated out of LTWs like Graduate children, Marry off children, etc.

[Ancient Sim]

Happens to Popularity Sims, too.  I had one achieve her Lifetime Want of 20 Best Friends at a wedding on someone else's lot.  The message box came-up to tell me she'd done it and she had the 20 BF memory, plus her Lifetime Want changed, but no special icon in her memories and no permanent platinum.  I had to remove the 20 BF memory and untick a couple of BF ticks in SimPE so I could get it to register on her own lot.  This is a baddie insofar as there is no control over what happens on another lot and it's not always easy to keep track of who is near achieving what.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Only answer to that, I guess, is to make sure they achieve it while at college, as you do have control over them appearing at other lots - they don't just roll up after work.  And if you use the Autoyak, it's amazing how quickly the friends turn into best friends!

[Ancient Sim]

She was still at college!  She went to the wedding of two of her former friends on campus.  I hadn't played her dorm for a while so didn't realise how close she was.  I should have known really, she's a phone stalker and is friends with practically everybody in the neighbourhood.  Most of her best friends were 0/0 when she started.  That's what you get by using boolrop to let a zombified Sophie Miguel have a child.

[ZephyrZodiac]

You really should have known better!  Sophie Miguel!!!!!  Cow Plant food!

(Both Lilith and Beau in my game got platinum while still at college with no problems.  However, I had to use all the available hacks to get Beau to leave and go home!  Still having trouble with Beau's younger brother, Keanu, though - he's a romance sim with the twenty simultaneous lovers LTW  and he reached 6 before leaving College, and he's got no further since!  Since I got him a job as an actor, which really suits him, it's be a shame to have to give him a mundane LTW like Hall of Famer instead!)

[Marvin Kosh]

Indirect Want-fulfilment is buggy and does not consistently function correctly when the wanting sim is not instantiated on the lot. Meaning if your parent/relative/friend is PRESENT for the wedding, the college enrollment, the graduation (not the party!), etc., they get the credit, but if they're not at the event, they won't remember it.

Thanks for clearing that up.  I guess it'll only make sense to lock these particular wants if you plan in advance for the Sim to be present.

I'm guessing that the logic that rolls these wants up is fairly simple - that is, it checks that they're in the right life stage.  It can't be checking to see if the want has already been fulfilled, and is (or in theory should be) a one-time fulfillment per Sim like Overachiever or Go To College.  The only reason I don't get, for example, 'Child Goes to College' rolling up again and again is because once they go to College, they're not teens anymore and so are invalid subjects for the wanter.

Edit: Also, I tried adding the correct memories.  There's a visible memory, which is owned by the wanter, and an invisible memory, which is owned by the subject of the want.  So, just goes to prove in some respects, memories do not fulfill wants

[Marvin Kosh]

Just out of curiosity, if a Sim calls someone on the phone, does that count as having 'em instantiated?  That would be a lot less hassle in some respects, than having to invite them over.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think that depends on what kind of sim they are.  Family sims have separate wants for "chat on phone" and "talk to" and the second isn't fulfilled by a phone conversation., and the same goes for "talk to a family member".

[bluecatvon]

while we're on the unfulfilled want topic, my fortune aspiration sims can't fulfill their wants for buying a fountain that costs above $600. not even buying the $6000 sth fountain helps.

[Venusy]

Yes, my sims can't fulfill that want either. They can't "Become a zombie" either. They get the memory, but the want doesn't get fufilled.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think the fountain want is faulty as a lot of people have reported that problem.

[veilchen]

I know the 'fountain' want is buggered, almost everyone I talked to has that problem.

I didn't know about the 'zombie' want though. I ignore that one, I don't like zombies. Purely because of their shuffle, it drives me up a tree. I'm glad TJ fixed the uni-walk, otherwise I wouldn't be playing uni at all. It's unfortunate that the silly 'elder' walk can't be fixed. Leave it to maxis to make a fix for that impossible.

[Kristalrose]

I have a family sim who's lifetime want is to graduate 3 children from Uni.  She died while her oldest was in Uni and the youngest 2 were babies.  I raised the youngest two and they are now in college, the oldest has graduated and had a child.  I also used the "Grimmy Phone" to resurect Momma.  I have to check when I play tongiht, but I don't think she has the memory of the youngest two going to uni.  So, I am wondering when they graduate if her want will be fulfilled??  Anyone have this situation come up?

[ZephyrZodiac]

It's unfortunate that the silly 'elder' walk can't be fixed. Leave it to maxis to make a fix for that impossible

The only way I know of is to go into /simPE and make them adults again!  I've done that with Mortimer and his girlfriend, they still look like elders and wear elder clothes, but they walk and talk normally, don't need to pee every five minutes, and they can get a proper job and satisfy LTWs!  Just done the same with the Oldies.  Now all I have to do is give Herb a more respectable LTW, can't have him straying after all these years!

[bluecatvon]

I'm glad TJ fixed the uni-walk, otherwise I wouldn't be playing uni at all. It's unfortunate that the silly 'elder' walk can't be fixed. Leave it to maxis to make a fix for that impossible.

can you please tell more about the uni-walk and the elder-walk? i have no idea what they were...*ashamed*

[ZephyrZodiac]

Have you not noticed the way all the young adults at Uni walk like they were 95 days old?  (A bit like the female "gorilla walk" in sims1, it's enough to drive you mad!

[bluecatvon]

Haha!! I totally understand that now! Yes, it drives me crazy! my children all walk like Neanderthals!

[veilchen]

Haha!! I totally understand that now! Yes, it drives me crazy! my children all walk like Neanderthals!

Bluecat, TJ (twojeffs) at VS has a mod that will fix that YA walk. Once in place, the YA's walk normally.

[ZephyrZodiac]

And FASTER!