So what's been fixed in NL

[MaxoidTom]

Yes, Kitiara, very good point.  The smartmilk thing is rather nice, along with the potty training trick.  Also, the related trick with the medical career reward is rather nice too.

But, I suppose if all the other bugs get fixed, and there's no way to salvage these, I won't complain too loudly.

*sigh* I think we fixed these...

[MaxoidTom]

I'm glad to see everyone participating in this thread.  However, it's getting a bit unwieldy for me at the moment and I may have to turn in for the night.  I'll see if I can get a total list, but some bugs may be related to each other and fixing one may have fixed the others (like the greek amnesia thing--this could affect want tree checks since memories are being deleted).

Perhaps we can get some organization here, besides me scrolling through all the posts, hoping I didn't miss anything.  I'm having others also peruse posts, to try to make sure we are catching things not reported directly through our website form and that we've been unable to reproduce internally (perhaps with better reproduction steps).

I apologize in advance if I am unable to answer all your questions.

[vecki]

Yes, Kitiara, very good point.  The smartmilk thing is rather nice, along with the potty training trick.  Also, the related trick with the medical career reward is rather nice too.

But, I suppose if all the other bugs get fixed, and there's no way to salvage these, I won't complain too loudly.

*sigh* I think we fixed these...

NOOOOOOO these were actually good bugs!  And I only just discovered them!

*sulks*

[MissDoh]

I'm glad to see everyone participating in this thread.  However, it's getting a bit unwieldy for me at the moment and I may have to turn in for the night.  I'll see if I can get a total list, but some bugs may be related to each other and fixing one may have fixed the others (like the greek amnesia thing--this could affect want tree checks since memories are being deleted).

Perhaps we can get some organization here, besides me scrolling through all the posts, hoping I didn't miss anything.  I'm having others also peruse posts, to try to make sure we are catching things not reported directly through our website form and that we've been unable to reproduce internally (perhaps with better reproduction steps).

I apologize in advance if I am unable to answer all your questions.

Well I don't want to speak for everyone in here but for sure it is really really appreciated that you took the time to read our complaints, questions and worries.  With all this experience, I now finally have the impression that I can make a difference with Maxis. Thank you for listening to us, taking notes of our requests and trying to make the programming of the game differently so it can make players happy.    At least for the 1st time in months I do honestly believe a patch for Uni is on the way... Now let's hope it won't takes months before we get both Uni and Nightlife one's  

[Lerf]

The only bug I can think of that hasn't been covered is what Pescado refers to as the NPC Zerg.  Whre you get 42 gardners and no Baristas.  Or 42 Baristas. In other words too many of some kinds of NPCs, which adds to the Sims count in your neighborhood.

I've got two suggestions for a Patch or the next EP or whatever too.

1. Add a ctrl/s so we can save without going into the options panel.
2. Give us some way to disable the "free camera key" if we aren't using it.  Having it under the "pause" button is a major pain.
3. Can kids coming home from school please put their homework on the first empty desk instead of on the floor if the first one is empty?

But thanks HatedMaxoid -- we should change your nick to something else -- for responding.   I am so tickled that my post worked!  And it kills the time until I can pick up Nightlife tomorrow--oops, later today.

[RainbowTigress]

Oh yes, Ctrl+S to save game without going to Options panel is one of the things I miss most from Sims 1.  I never use Q, but that one is too easy to hit accidentally.  Whenever the message pops up, "Are you sure you want to quit without saving?" I panic a bit and then click Cancel.

[MissDoh]

Well I did put a question that was not answered but while I was playing my game I was wondering if this was ever notice by anyone (and this is not the question that as not been answered  ).

In Sims 2, when I saved and then return to a lot in which a ghost was, well when I reload it was always there waiting to scare my Sims.

Since I install Univerisity I notice that the ghost that came in Pleasantview will not stay if I save and reload a lot, now this mostly apply on the Goth house lot, Caliente and Dreamer lot which are all Maxis made.  I did not really notice if it was happening with the Sims that I created and died since I recently resetted my game and it was also happening before I resetted it.

Now the strangest thing is that it does not seem to happen in Veronaville or Stangetonw (though I am not a 100% sure about Strangetown), I save lot and the ghost are still there when I reload the lot.

What I wonder the most is since almost all of the Sims that died in Veronaville that were Maxis made can be brought back with the resurrect-o-nomitron but this is not true in Pleasantview nor Stangetown since only the former Dreamer wife can be brought that and I think no Sims at all can be brought back in Stangetown, well would it explain why the ghost just vanished if we saved the game at 3am (Sims time) and reload iit?  

It is definetely not a major bug but it could explain why some pre-made Maxis Sims can be brought back to life and others can't.

[cwhitney]

Someone has already mentioned the fact that Family Sims don't get their "Graduate 3 Children" want satisfied if they are not present when the third comes back from their final exam, but there is also a similar problem.  Popularity Sims who achieve their 20 Best Friends Lifetime Want on another lot (for instance, at a party) do not get credit, either.  A box comes up saying they've achieved it, but they don't get permanent plat or the Lifetime Want memory.  Similarly, we can probably also assume that if a Sim calls another Sim and they become best friends and that gives the called Sim 20 Best Friends LTW, they won't get their Lifetime Want achieved either.  The second one is particularly problematic because there is no way of knowing when it's happened.

I had someone try to reproduce the "Graduate 3 Children" bug, but they were able to do so.  Is it consistently reproduceable?  Are there any hacks that interfere with want check trees or otherwise in the related global trees?  I don't want to blame it on hacks, but we've been unable to reproduce this--perhaps we could get better repro steps?  I can have someone look into the 20 best friends thing, but no guarantees...

I've had a different problem with graduations that recently affected sims with the "Graduate 3 Children" bug.  It's not the bug that's been referenced here, in fact, it doesn't really have to do with the LTW itself.

Essentially, when a sim graduates, his relatives all receive the graduation memory.  Well, I've found that no matter how the sim graduated, if during adulthood the sim achieves another major accomplishment that would show up on relatives' memory panels, all the relatives will also get a "[X Sim] graduated Cum Laude" memory.  This affects sims with the Graduate 3 Children LTW because this counts as a graduation.  I've discovered this happening when a sim reaches the top of a career, that all of his relatives receive the memory that he graduated Cum Laude.  I'm not certain but it's also possible that it happens when a sim gets married.

It doesn't actually change the graduation status of the sim (that is, if he graduated Summa Cum Laude it still shows as such on his diploma) but it does count as a graduation on every relative's memory panel.  This can enable sims with the particular LTW to achieve it with only one or two actual graduations.

Just something to look into, although it is a bit less significant than most of the other bugs mentioned.

[Venusy]

Will the Uni/NL patch fix the problem that wasn't fixed with the first patch?
That is, the problem where the Dial-Up Connection settings are edited from "Always dial my default connection" to "Never dial a connection". While I will admit the problem has got better (it used to do it each and every time I started up Sims 2, now it only does it when I leave my internet connection running when I start the game), it hasn't been fixed as was claimed with the first patch.

[maxon]

What about the maid getting stuck cleaning the fish tank?

[dmchess]

It doesn't actually change the graduation status of the sim (that is, if he graduated Summa Cum Laude it still shows as such on his diploma) but it does count as a graduation on every relative's memory panel.  This can enable sims with the particular LTW to achieve it with only one or two actual graduations.

A similar "good" bug that I probably shouldn't mention is that the "WooHoo with N different Sims" or "WooHoo with N different service Sims" want-check seems to count "WooHoo with Fred" and "Public WooHoo with Fred" as two different Sims.  So Gina Raptor (I'm pretty sure) got the big "WooHoo with five different service Sims" power want credit by WooHooing three Professors normally, and public-WooHooing two of them.  Which was a nice surprise, but probably not as designed!

(And I also think it's great that there's an actual Maxoid paying attention here; much appreciated!)

DC

[DrBeast]

Here's a problem that has been bothering me for a long time...

Since the very first patch, my game lost all the specular highlights, for example all the toilets, sinks, or anything that should be shiny looks like clay. I was hoping this would be fixed in NL, but my game still looks rather poor. Or it might just be my old-school Radeon 9800 Pro-card? NL doesn't seem to like this card, the performance overall is pretty bad. It's time for a GeForce 6800 I guess.

Woah...if it goes bad with your 9800 Pro, imagine how it goes with my 9200 (though it packs 256MB)!! BTW, take a look at your settings, maybe something got lowered and thus the shininess you're refering to got lost. Ah, try the latest drivers too (I check for new ones at least once per month).

[shadow]

I don't understand what you mean by 'as designed'.  Can't these things be changed?  The serving only 6 people meals when there are 8 allowed in the household is annoying and ridiculous.

[Ancient Sim]

Someone mentioned the diagonal doors problem and I'd like to echo that.  Unless I take control of a visiting Sim, they will stay inside a room with a diagonal door literally until they drop dead.  My own Sims will do the same unless I give them an instruction.  For some reason, they just cannot find the doors.  I even had to remodel the Maxis-made Pleasant house because of this.  Once I can remove the gravestones when NL is installed I will be bulldozing it because it's full of bugs anyway. 

Another problem that hasn't been mentioned relates to graduation.  My Sims never get a want to hold a graduation party, although they often come back from their finals asking for an ordinary party or a sports party.  Then when they graduate, they get a "Had a Great Party/Had a Lousy Party" memory, not "Had a Great Graduation Party/Had a Horrible Graduation Party", so I have to alter their memories and everyone else's that was at the party in SimPE (which I am currently in the process of doing yet again as we speak).  Can this be dealt with, because it appears everyone else has the exact same problem and it's a pain having to go through SimPE everytime anyone has a party.  The alternative is not to have parties, but then I have the problem of them not transitioning.

Oh, and nannies.  I know you said you'd fixed some bugs, but have you sorted out the weirdness since Uni when a nanny is scheduled?  The fact that they always turn-up at the wrong time or leave early and at least one other nanny turns-up, usually in the middle of the night?  It's not so much of a big deal now as I'm using Dizzy's Sitter mod (far more logical, Maxis really should have included that option), but now and again I do like to terrorise the nannies.  I've already had two die (naturally) from starvation - their own fault if they refuse to go home, yes?

[miramis]

I noticed that problem with diagonal doors on some lots, Don Lotharios bachelor pad is a good lot to test it on, sims seem to congregate in the bathroom doing nothing.  A sim can get 'stuck' when trying to navigate outside a house with diagonal walls also, this can be worked around by placing objects around the diagonal area to square it off.

[knitro]

oh, another thing is the refrigerator thing, when I'm on the 2nd floor of a house and it only offers instant meal, but when i get downstairs its ok....also when I have one of the Large canopy beds from Uni, my sims tend to get stuck in the room sorta, they will be about to wet there pants or starve b4 i notice someitmes and they are still sitting there relaxing even though their comfort meter is full. odd.

[nectere]

Ah yes I forgot about the diagonal doors/arch bug. I stopped putting doors and arches on diagonal when people kept getting stuck behind them soiling themselves etc, the maid wouldnt/couldnt enter the room to clean and a burglar got stuck but no cops could come because of the diagonal archway...

Has this been checked out?

And also what makes random objects start scaring sims? Like lamps? Has a ghost haunted it and now its always scary or what? I know ghosts get stuck in random objects a lot. The only way I can get them unstuck is to save, leave the lot, reload and then use move objects to delete them and whatever they were stuck in/on, then I have to save exit lot and reload and things are back to "normal". Anyone look into that yet?

[Jade]

I've had the same problem with the lighting (plumbing and other shiny stuff looking clay-like).  I too have a 9800 pro, which was an upgrade for me.  How sad I was that after the upgrade my graphics looked worse.  We spent many hours changing graphics settings and drivers to try get the pretty shiny effect back.  In the end only one thing worked, rolling back the motherboard drivers to a much earlier version.  This makes my computer run less smoothly, but it did fix the lighting.

[Dea]

LTWs are determined when a sim becomes a teen

I thought LTW's were determined when they become children.  I have been using their LTW's to determine what aspiration they are when they become teens.  They dont reroll when they become teens.  Is that a bug?  Im not complaining about it if it is, Im fine with it bc I usually dont have an idea what aspiration I want my kids to be. I have also had a wider variety since I started using it as a factor too

[MaxoidTom]

Someone mentioned the diagonal doors problem and I'd like to echo that.  Unless I take control of a visiting Sim, they will stay inside a room with a diagonal door literally until they drop dead.  My own Sims will do the same unless I give them an instruction.  For some reason, they just cannot find the doors.  I even had to remodel the Maxis-made Pleasant house because of this.  Once I can remove the gravestones when NL is installed I will be bulldozing it because it's full of bugs anyway. 

The diagonal door problem was fixed in Nightlife, but I'm not sure if it was fixed in the Uni patch--it was quite a big change, so it is unlikely it was rolled back because of the concern for stability in the Uni codebase.

Another problem that hasn't been mentioned relates to graduation.  My Sims never get a want to hold a graduation party, although they often come back from their finals asking for an ordinary party or a sports party.  Then when they graduate, they get a "Had a Great Party/Had a Lousy Party" memory, not "Had a Great Graduation Party/Had a Horrible Graduation Party", so I have to alter their memories and everyone else's that was at the party in SimPE (which I am currently in the process of doing yet again as we speak).  Can this be dealt with, because it appears everyone else has the exact same problem and it's a pain having to go through SimPE everytime anyone has a party.  The alternative is not to have parties, but then I have the problem of them not transitioning.

Oh, and nannies.  I know you said you'd fixed some bugs, but have you sorted out the weirdness since Uni when a nanny is scheduled?  The fact that they always turn-up at the wrong time or leave early and at least one other nanny turns-up, usually in the middle of the night?  It's not so much of a big deal now as I'm using Dizzy's Sitter mod (far more logical, Maxis really should have included that option), but now and again I do like to terrorise the nannies.  I've already had two die (naturally) from starvation - their own fault if they refuse to go home, yes?

I'm not aware of the particular fixes for the nannies, but I am assured that there are many.  Hopefully the big list of fixes that we post with the patch covers all your concerns.

[Venusy]

StarrKist, it sounds to me like you've got an outdated version of the Greater LTW Variety and Sanity hack, that would assign LTWs when the sims aged to toddler, or kids (I forget which one it actually was).

[knitro]

any ballpark time we can expect either of these patches to come out? nothing exact even a vague idea would be nice.

[MaxoidTom]

What about the maid getting stuck cleaning the fish tank?

I thought this was fixed in a base game patch.

[Motoki]

LOL I rather like the nannies' general weirdness. Although once in a while they do something useful and surprise me. I had one give a toddler a bath for the first time and I've had the game for nearly a year now. Anyhow, I'd be interested in seeing if they end up actually being useful now instead of bizarre and perversely amusing.

[HRH Posie]

LTWs are determined when a sim becomes a teen

I thought LTW's were determined when they become children.  I have been using their LTW's to determine what aspiration they are when they become teens.  They dont reroll when they become teens.  Is that a bug?  Im not complaining about it if it is, Im fine with it bc I usually dont have an idea what aspiration I want my kids to be. I have also had a wider variety since I started using it as a factor too

I know the children that were already in the game when I installed the Uni EP were randomly given lifetime wants however they do not usually appear until they transition to teen.