New Patches for OFB and FFS

[blubug]

Yes, that's what I thought.

Today I solved the problem without doing a reinstall. I was walking home from work when I remembered that after patching the game I put in my no-cd exe which I had downloaded by fear of scratching the game, putting it in every time and hearing the roar of the cd-rom had really put me off. Well that was a pre-patch exe, so I put my backed up original exe back in, and the cheat works! (I patched my game with the original exe, to avoid any confusion). I'm sooo sorry to have puzzled everyone and taken up your time.

But I did learn to make my objects.package read-only and that I can back up my installed game folder, so it wasn't a total waste. Sorry again. I usually keep track of every thing I keep in my games folder, or on my pc, this was just so obvious, no wonder I missed it! *shame on me*


I have another question. I read in the fixed stuff list that the speakers would now work properly. How do you do that? I mean I realise it's not techno anymore, but I have classical music playing in my bar, how do I change that? I admit I've only used the speakers in supermarkets before Do I get a stereo and change the channel there with the speakers present? Because I can't click on the speakers when I'm visiting a lot.

[ZephyrZodiac]

The problem was that some of the speakers were reverting to one particular type of music (hip hop, or techno, I think) but each different speaker is supposedly for one particular kind of music.  If you want to be able to have different kinds of music in your bar, don't use the speakers, get a juke box.

[blubug]

Oh, I just assumed they were recolors of one speaker but that maxis had messed up and not put them as recolors. I feel really stoopid now :lol Thanks, I'm gonna pay more attention to the hideous maxis stuff, maybe I'll find something I haven't found before!

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think there is one speaker (the one available at home) that plays whatever is on your stereo in another room, but the others each have their own music!

[blubug]

Thanks for the heads up on that one too But I'm still angry the patch hasn't looked at the issue of misplaced restocking signs. But that's another issue for another day, or yet again, another patch. This game is getting to be too frustrating for me. I'll go back to building houses. No gameplay bugs then Teehee

[BlueSoup]

I just wonder everyone if everyone who bitched and whined about bugs here, actually submitted bug reports, where we'd be then.

I submitted my beef with the moveobjects cheat and it got corrected.  Now, I'm not saying everything would be, but I am thinking for the most part the type of feedback they get is not exactly helpful. (OMGZZ!!11! MAXIS ROX!!!)  Perhaps if some of the articulate Simmers did submit these kinds of things, they'd get fixed sooner.

[ZephyrZodiac]

You're probably right, Blue, and when they have a thread for articulate simmers, maybe I'll post there - but I spent 20 years reading the illegible and inarticulate, I feel I've reached the stage when I don't want to have to mentally correct everything so that I can make some sort of sense of it!

I remember a while back, though, they had a sort of post-box where you could report problems you found in your game, which didn't involve starting a thread, or posting in an existing one, and must surely have been a lot easier for Maxis people to go through for useful information too.  I did contribute to that, and if it was available again, I'd probably tell them of future glitches.

[BlueSoup]

They do still have one of those, but it's not open all the time.  It's opened after EP's are released, and then closed after a couple of months.

[ZephyrZodiac]

And of course, so often you only really notice a bug after you've been playing a while.  (I thought it had gone for good as it's never been around when I've been there.)

And no doubt, from what I've seen of the teenies clamouring for the PETZ asap, they'll get even less time to test it themselves before release!

[Twain]

As I have found...complaing to EA/Maxis..does work eventually.
To their credit they do address things that people complain about...eventually.

I believe the people that design and work on the game are extreamly overworked by EA that they really do not realize how buggy the game is.  I doubt they actually play the game other than to test it using Boolprop.

So I agree with Blue..people have to speak up and let EA/Maxis know what is going on.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I think it's really EA that need to realise that rushing games out before they are ready not only causes dissatisfied customers but creates more work for their own people in the long run.  Also, if they were to accept that most of us would willingly pay more than we do now for a product that was, if not trouble-free, far less so than it is now.  The people at Maxis do their best, I think, but they are working under constant pressure - and people don't do their best work if they feel rushed!

[J. M. Pescado]

As I have found...complaing to EA/Maxis..does work eventually.
To their credit they do address things that people complain about...eventually.

I am not willing to attribute that to anything other than simple coincidence. With so many bugs, both major and minor, if they fix ANYTHING, it will seem like they listened. That's like saying if you fire into a crowd, hit someone in the head, and kill him, that you aimed well.

[ZephyrZodiac]

The whole course of World History could have been totally different if Harold hadn't looked up at the wrong moment!

[J. M. Pescado]

I'm sure, too, that more than one assassin has had his perfect shot foiled when the target suddenly bent over to pick up a penny just as he pulled the trigger.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Serendipity!

[J. M. Pescado]

Serendipity!

Is that a movie? If so, I've never heard of it. Or was that just a random ZZ outburst?

[BlueSoup]

Serendipity is a movie, yes, but it's also a word that means, "fortunate accident."

[J. M. Pescado]

Serendipity is a movie, yes, but it's also a word that means, "fortunate accident."

Yes, but I fail to see how standard definition has any connection. What's the movie about? Does it answer life's deeper questions, like why your head is so fat?

[ZephyrZodiac]

Or why little fat men are frequently bald?

[BlueSoup]

Yes, but I fail to see how standard definition has any connection. What's the movie about? Does it answer life's deeper questions, like why your head is so fat?

Well, it's pretty damn fortunate that the target bent down accidentally at the same time someone wanted to take a shot, now isn't it?

(Maybe not for the assassin...)

[ZephyrZodiac]

Especially if he killed someone else and then got caught - he'd be the laughing stock of any high-security gaol-block!

[blubug]

I just wonder everyone if everyone who bitched and whined about bugs here, actually submitted bug reports, where we'd be then.

You're probably right, Blue, and when they have a thread for articulate simmers, maybe I'll post there - but I spent 20 years reading the illegible and inarticulate, I feel I've reached the stage when I don't want to have to mentally correct everything so that I can make some sort of sense of it!

I hate the BBS. I can't find any solutions for my problems, the search option is terrible, and almost all the posts give me a major headache. I just figured out last month that I could make the signatures not appear, even that wasn't enough. I realised the posts were as bad as the siggies. And god forbid I should write anything in that forum. I couldn't find my own post to track it ever again. And my eyes go all watery looking at that layout... *shudders*

So maybe if the maxoids came here more and saw what everyone was whining about, they would think of looking into it. After all, most of the fixes come from here, and more people here know how to put up a log of errors and whatnot (probably not me) at least they would be led into the problem without going through insufferable posts like O my god!!11! The game broke! My sim was just standing there and now it's standing over there when I thought it was standing over here all the time! And how do we get Bella Goth!!!1!! (I'd do that in leet but that's equally agonizing to me )

[BlueSoup]

Why should they come here?  They don't even have enough time to properly test the game beforehand, let alone troll fan sites afterwards to see what people say.

I'm not talking about posting your problems on the forum, that is painful for someone who hasn't been immunized.  I'm talking about filling out their bug report they release every time a new EP comes out.  No BBS required.

But hey, if ya'll want to keep bitching here and whine when Maxis doesn't fix anything you wanted, don't be too surprised.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I actually think they do fix issues which are important to the functioning of the game.  However, why should they change things that are basically a matter of personal likes and dislikes?  A lot of mods only fix globally what you can fix in game by using testing Cheats etc., so in those cases there is really nothing that Maxis needs to fix anyway.  Sometimes, too, they make a fix for something (the NANNY immediately comes to mind!) but they don't get it quite right, but to give them their due, if they are told it still isn't right, they try again to fix it.

To be perfectly honest, since I patched the game, I've been reasonably satisfied with the way it's working for me and my only complaints really are to do with things that are not fundamental to game performance, but as I said, just a matter of personal choice.

[blubug]

Bluesoup, you're right about them having no time to come here or elsewhere for bug-searching, but at least they could keep that bug box all the time, I'd be willing to fill out the bug reports. Though I usually get the game late about a month or two, and by the time I start getting issues, I usually find a fix here. And I want to report the misplaced restocking signs, as they have no fix.
I don't want to whine and bitch all the time (well, maybe sometimes) but I also am happy when maxis releases a patch and fixes some of my problems. But I still hate the BBS.--> that's the bitching now.
Is it the writing not showing the emotions or did I come off as mean? Sorry if I have, I'm overly tense and a crybaby today. Bluesoup, Are you mad at me for saying all that?