Drama Professor & Met Self Fix

[Casey]

Thank you syberspunk and Avalikia for your input and trying to help me.  I do use TwoJeffs' Visitor Controller.  But I don't ban visitors.  I just ban the silly Streakers, cheerleaders, etc.  I do ban Professors, also.  But I don't think that has anything to do with it.  I was having this (dramafix) problem before I ever put TwoJeffs' Visitor Controller in my game.

There is just one version of Monique's work hack as far as I know.  I've been using it (with University) for ages.

Syberspunk, in your reply you say that, essentially no matter what I do, there is no way to rule out the possibility of Maxian sadorandomness.  I think it would be a losing propostion for me to spend any time trying to figure out what might be causing this to happen.  Because it can always be said that my testing hasn't ruled out the possibility of Maxian sadorandomness.     I hope you can understand that I don't want to put in hours and hours of testing only to be told that I can't rule out the possibility of Maxian sadorandomness.  (No sarcasm intended).   

In the mean time, I will just have to avoid enrolling my Young Adults in the Drama Major.  Heck, I just want to play the Sims2 and have fun...!   

[cwykes]

I don't have Uni, so Drama professors's aren't a problem.  Should I install it to deal with any other "met self" problems?

[syberspunk]

Heh, yeah, sorry about that casey. I wish there was an totally absolute way to be 100% certain that it isn't merely Maxian sadorandomness. You'd probably have to play several sim days with and without this hack to be even sort of sure. And since other people don't seem to report the problem, it's unlikely (but not impossible) that the hack is the cause. If other people with a similar configuration as yours (Uni only?) report the same problem limited to sims leaving upon being greeted, then it would seem quite possible that the hack is a cause.

But yeah, I totally don't blame you. Testing for this sort of thing is definitely painful, hence the sado part of the randomness and I wouldn't want to put any huge amount of time into this either. Maxian sadorandomness is just pure evil.

If you ever upgrade to OFB or FFS or later... maybe/hopefully you could use the hack then and not have the same problems.

I don't have Uni, so Drama professors's aren't a problem.  Should I install it to deal with any other "met self" problems?

I would guess that it would be safe to use the hack for "met self" problems. I took a peek and it looks like they are all fixes to global BHAVs anyway. The changes make sure that the two sims in question that are being passed to the BHAVs that set these memories are not the same, essentially preventing the "Met Self" memories.

Interestingly, it looks like the reason why drama profs are such freaks is because the game considers them "Lecherous" and Lecherous sims apparently fall in crush/love with every person they meet. Now who's brilliant idea was that? That's some freaky drama profs those Maxians had.

Ste

[Avalikia]

I wonder if it's possible to fix the sadorandom thing, or if it's just too embedded and complicated to do anything about.

[syberspunk]

I think the sadorandomness is built into the executable or primitives and isn't something modders have easy access to. Sadorandomness is what is responsible for the First Born effect, which I don't think has ever been 'fixed' so to speak. It really has to do with however they heck they are seeding (or not seeding) their sadorandom number generator.

Ste

[jsalemi]

Sadorandomness is what is responsible for the First Born effect, which I don't think has ever been 'fixed' so to speak.

No fixed, but at lest Pescado's Lot Debugger has the option to rerandomize the generator to avoid the FB effect.

[Kestran]

What the heck is a  sadorandomness? And a first born effect? I haven't heard of that one.

[J. M. Pescado]

What the heck is a  sadorandomness? And a first born effect? I haven't heard of that one.

"Sadorandom" is a wordplay combining the process of computer random number generation, "pseudorandom", with "sado-", like in "sado-masochism". Thus, a "sadorandom" number is a number randomly generated to be one of the worst possible choices. If you've ever had straight strings of misses with a 80% hit chance, you know what a sadorandom number is.

The Firstborn Effect is documented in the War Room. Basically, all spawn born to a pair of sims will follow an established sequence that is reset everytime the game starts. Unless you're in the habit of playing very long stretches continuously, this means that you will likely play a bit, have a baby, save, quit, come back, have another one....which will be identical to the first.

[Kestran]

Ah! Of course! /slaps head

Yeah I've had that annoying first born thing. I used to and I guess I have to still (as it aint fixed yet right?) to generate a sim in cas to fix that first born thing. It has worked in the past.

And my god you are fast!

[RainbowTigress]

The Lot Debugger saves you the trouble of having to go in CAS and generate a randome number of sims.  Just generating one sim in CAS won't fix it, as you'd then be getting the second type of sim in the sequence every time instead of the first.

[Avalikia]

When I have a pregnant sim who is about to give birth to her second or more child from the same man, I go into CAS and make the game generate the same number of sims as children.  Then I head off back to the lot for the birth.  That way the children aren't clones and it's easy for me to remember how many Sims I need to generate to get semi-unique spawn.  I would just use the lot debugger, but my little sister plays the game too and she's the kind of person who says, "Hmm, 'Decimate' sounds like fun!  I've gotta try that!"    But this system has worked out well.  Incidently, is it possible to sort my hacked objects so that they appear nowhere except for a custom collection?  It would be easy enough for me to tell her "Touch that folder and you die!"

[Kyna]

You could set up a different user profile on the computer for your sister.

She will then only be able to access downloads that are in her profile's My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads folder, and unable to access your game or downloads. 

If she has sims in any of your neighbourhoods, make copies of those neighbourhoods on her user profile so she can still play her sims there.

You'll need to put a copy of the downloads she uses in her downloads folder, otherwise she won't be able to access them.  If you want to be nice, you could even take responsibility for maintaining her downloads folder - everytime you update your hacks remember to update hers as well.

[Avalikia]

I was thinking about that but our computer is very slow when it comes to rebooting, and we found out long ago that our computer doesn't respond well if we try to load a major program like the Sims 2 and switch users without rebooting (it crashes most of the time).  It's just a lot easier if we keep everyone on the same profile so that we don't have to restart the computer constantly.  We do keep seperate neighborhoods so I'm not especially concerned, but I just know if I put in a tool that's too powerful she'll beg me to fix any problems she makes for herself.

[jsalemi]

I would just use the lot debugger, but my little sister plays the game too and she's the kind of person who says, "Hmm, 'Decimate' sounds like fun!  I've gotta try that!"

AFAIK, the decimate option doesn't show up unless you're playing with testing cheats on, and then shift-click on the lot debugger.  So you're actually safe there.  There's really nothing in the lot debugger that would cause problems in its normal mode, and it fixes way more things that need fixing.

[RainbowTigress]

I could not play without the Lot Debugger.

[J. M. Pescado]

Updated with switched support for ZOMGPets!!!1111oneoneone.

[pioupiou]

with the new dramafix in, I get an error each time the slapper come to slap my sim who spied on him with the telescope.
as soon as I removed this file, the slap interaction occurs without error.
Pioupiou

[J. M. Pescado]

Should be fixed now.

[GayJohnScarritt]

   Per another thread http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,5973.0.html 
   Both Ness and myself reported a problem with installing the most recent updates.   I started removing those hacks, and Dramafix is the problem.   I noticed a reset of all my lots after installing those hacks, both of us reporting inability/jumping when greeting walk-bys/dates at restrarants.
   Upon removing of Dramafix, my lots were once again re-set but now my sims are able to greet walk-bys.

[J. M. Pescado]

Fixed, redownload.

[V]

You could set up a different user profile on the computer for your sister.

She will then only be able to access downloads that are in her profile's My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads folder, and unable to access your game or downloads. 

If she has sims in any of your neighbourhoods, make copies of those neighbourhoods on her user profile so she can still play her sims there.

You'll need to put a copy of the downloads she uses in her downloads folder, otherwise she won't be able to access them.  If you want to be nice, you could even take responsibility for maintaining her downloads folder - everytime you update your hacks remember to update hers as well.

Actually this does not work. I have a separate user identity from my children. And in my Downloads folder I have all my hacks and what-have-you's. I am "Mom" and my side is password protected... But on the "Kids" side of the computer I don't add anything at all.

I thought I was safe with my big-boobied girls and my whoo-hoo hacks, but my 6 year old is fascinated by the game and plays on the "Kids" side... and she has full access to every download I have on my side. So whichever has the hacks shares the hacks. That is why I don't have Casual Sex or naked Sims running around. I realized this when she asked me what "Spawn" means and what "Will I Woo-Hoo?" means. I kept InSIM, but I took out Casual Sex and thankfully I never downloaded the naked sims or the anti-blur -- not that I didn't want to, but I make myself think a few times before I download a new hack. Now, of course, I have to think "Is it suitable for 6-year olds?" before I download.

Since I have not explained how Sims get pregnant to her all of her families are made via adoption.   

Just so you know... protect the little sister!! Don't rely on separate user IDs to keep her safe.

V

[J. M. Pescado]

Are you sure you remembered to logout and switch users properly?

[Sleepycat]

different user profiles do work, I had to share my other computer for awhile with my daughter and my CC didn't affect her game at all.


make sure you didn't put anything in the "Shared Documents" ea games/sims 2 folder and as JM said log out and switch users

[dizzy]

I don't know how to do this in Windows, but in Linux or BSD it's absurdly easy to change permissions on your folders and files to prevent unwanted access.

Anyway, maybe this can help:

http://www.uwec.edu/help/WinXP/perm-types.htm

[J. M. Pescado]

make sure you didn't put anything in the "Shared Documents" ea games/sims 2 folder and as JM said log out and switch users

Wait, TS2 will look in "shared documents" EAGAME~1/THESIM~1/ also? So you can have something in multiple profiles without duplicating it? Sounds like you can put all the critical fixes there, then.