Helicopter Couldn't Land

[Ancient Sim]

One of my newly-graduated Sims went to work for the second day in the Business career.  He'd started at Level 9, but was still about 7 skill points short of making the top.  While at work, he got a chance card and was instantly promoted to Business Tycoon, along with a $35,000 bonus.  When he came home, an error box popped-up relating to the helicopter, which it would appear couldn't land.  The only option that worked was "Delete", at which point my Sim vanished from the list.  I used the Inseminator "Restore Family" function to bring him back (this may have been a mistake, I maybe should have reloaded the lot) and he was back with a memory of getting the bonus, but no memory of the promotion, no Lifetime Want satisfied, no Business Tycoon icon and, most importantly, no job.  I've adjusted it all in SimPE, but I'm curious as to why the helicopter produced an error?  Could it have been unable to land because the maid's van was in the way?  That seems unlikely, as I'm sure I've had Sims come home in helicopters before when the maid's been there. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

Odd, but then the helicopters are odd.  I had a couple who were both Mayor of SimCity and quite often only one of them could get into the mayoral copter before it took off!

[LK]

Odd, but then the helicopters are odd.  I had a couple who were both Mayor of SimCity and quite often only one of them could get into the mayoral copter before it took off!

It's a competetive job, Mayoralship!  The last one in the office wearing a blue suit is often the rotten egg!

[ZephyrZodiac]

 

[Hook]

The helicopter will land on some lots while the maid's van is there, but will not land on others.  It may be the size of the lot.

If you didn't have testingcheatsenabled, you wouldn't have gotten the error message and the helo would have flown a holding pattern offscreen while your Sims slowly died.  This has been reported many times.

The helo is buggy enough and annoying enough that I don't let my Sims stay in professons that use helicopters as carpools longer than absolutely neessary.

Hook

[ZephyrZodiac]

And all you can do if the helo is offscreen is to exit without saving since you can't get them out with Move_objects.

[Ancient Sim]

Crikey, I didn't realise he would have died if I wasn't in the habit of playing in debug mode!  Just for curiosity, how would that have panned out?  Would the helicopter have dropped his body on the grass, rather like a food parcel?!  Then again, maybe once the maid had left, it might have landed.  He wouldn't have been dead by then.  I suppose the only way to sort that out if you don't play in debug mode and don't want to exit without saving would be to save, then go to another lot and move him in there temporarily or something. 

Anyway, he's OK now.  I sorted him out in SimPE and now he has his permanent platinum and the right memories.  He looked a bit bemused standing on the pavement, though.  He's one of Brandi Broke's grandsons, incidentally.  Weird things always happen to that family.

[gali]

You could delete the helicopter with moveobjects on. You should find your sim somewhere in the middle of the house (in my game - usually the kitchen). You just didn't search for him....
Pascal Daughter was stucked in the bus; I deleted the bus, and I found her in the kitchen.

[ZephyrZodiac]

You can only delete the helicopter if it's visible - if it's moved out of view, you can't.  That can happen with taxis too.

[J. M. Pescado]

I've actually been examining this problem, trying to figure out what to do if the helicopter is unable to land. The current solutions so far are to either do the entire "holding pattern" thing, only quietly and neatly, instead of spewing errors and hiccuping badly, smashing everyone's queues, or, alternatively, force your sims to make a HANO insertion ala the Social Bunny. Which do you think I should go with?

[Brynne]

I just couldn't stand the noise, so I switched it to a humvee in SimPe.  Solved my problem, anyway.

[veilchen]

Tell me how you did that Brynne, and I'll buy you a cup of coffee (or a beer :D)


JM, since I don't know what a HANO is, anything that at least relieves the buggy helicopter would be an improvement.

[RainbowTigress]

I kind of like the Social Bunny thing, although that might get annoying, as he/she always startles me when he comes crashing out of the sky.  But it's always funny to see the bunny staggering around drunkenly until he gets his bearings.

I had a problem once with a sim getting his LTW.  I quit without saving, and I dismissed the maid early.  He was then able to get his promotion and LTW.  I have since fired the maid since I use macrotastics, and with both parents having maxed out skills, what else is there for them to do?   I have had no further problems with the helicopter, but he is captain hero now anyway.

[Hook]

HANO insertion!  HANO insertion!  I wanna see the general bounce on his tushie when he jumps out of the helicopter!  Woot!

Heck, I'd even make sure it happened a few times just to watch.

Hook

[Ancient Sim]

Either would be fine as long as it worked (I don't know what HANO is either - well, I can guess what it is, but not what it stands for).  I rather like the idea of the 'copter hovering until it can land (sounds more 'real-life'), but anything that works will do.  Incidentally, when I edited my Sim in SimPE, I noticed that although in-game he showed as unemployed, according to SimPE he had gone down to Level 3.  Seems like whatever happened mucked him up totally.  He'll probably die of 'flu now.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think your game needs one of the no more deaths from disease hacks!

I too admit I have no idea what HANO stands for, probably some esoteric military acronym, I shouldn't wonder!

[Ancient Sim]

Nah, don't want any hacks to stop them dying of diseases.  Where would be the fun in that?!

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, I guess it depends on your idea of fun!  I tend to avoid hacks which change basic game behaviour, but if my sims were dying at the rate yours are, I'd assume the game was sick and do something about i!  Sometimes, I've noticed, putting a fix into the game seems to correct faulty behaviour permanently (or semi-permanently anyway!).

For example, I had all the move out fixes in after Beau had problems moving back to Pleasantview.  Then I had a problem getting a sim to move out of a Pleasantview house after a fall out with the boyfriend.  Suggested here that one of those three hacks was the cause, removed all three.  No longer have a problem with Graduates moving out, even from Greek Houses!  Did one of those fixes overwrite a piece of faulty Maxis programming and then when the game was saved, it was permanently corrected??

[J. M. Pescado]

Odd, but then the helicopters are odd.  I had a couple who were both Mayor of SimCity and quite often only one of them could get into the mayoral copter before it took off!

The carpool fix resolves some of the problems with boarding helicopters.

Either would be fine as long as it worked (I don't know what HANO is either - well, I can guess what it is, but not what it stands for).  I rather like the idea of the 'copter hovering until it can land (sounds more 'real-life'), but anything that works will do.

The problem is that the there's no guarantee the obstruction will go away. It could stay there for hours.

[Brynne]

Tell me how you did that Brynne, and I'll buy you a cup of coffee (or a beer )


JM, since I don't know what a HANO is, anything that at least relieves the buggy helicopter would be an improvement.

I used the career editor in simpe. You can switch vehicles to any other career vehicle. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

I'd love it if my sims could go on a fitness kick and jog to work!

[Brynne]

Does flying count as exercise?

[ZephyrZodiac]

Well, you have to be pretty fit to be Captain Hero!  Although, of course, once you've got there, you can get really fat if you want!  But I don't think helicopter rides would count as exercise!

[Brynne]

Sorry, I should have mentioned I was talking about Captain Hero.

[RainbowTigress]

I just looked up "HANO" in The Free Online Dictionary Acronyms, and it says "High Altitude No Opening."  So I guess it is a military term.  Well, learned something new.

Don't worry though, we will have cars to drive to work in Nightlife, and I'm sure we'll have new bugs with that.