Ghost Buster - Anti Ghost Device (07/21/05)

[J. M. Pescado]

Yes, well, given the pictures of how the Datgen folks think objects should be programmed at all, you'll understand why I'm understandably skeptical of the value of their opinions. Have you seen it? It looks ridiculous, like some little kid's erector set toy. That is not how to program anything!

[Oddysey]

Eh? What looks ridiculous? Datgen itself, the Datgen code, the way Datgen edits code? I am not entirely sure of your meaning.

[themaltesebippy]

Too true. I always end up with a lot of ASP's that follow the sim into oblivion when it dies, since unfortunately, they can't be passed along as the regular money can via inheritance. I like the idea of safe zones too, I don't want to ban ghosts outright (they are too much fun to watch), but I hate that they interfere with the sims need fulfillments, such as sleep.

I did an experiment today on my death lot with a bunch of ghosts and the Mind Control Mirror.  Use mirror to pick ghost and use their asp point (out of their own pocket) to buy more Ghostbuster signs!  Dang it, it works!!

[J. M. Pescado]

Eh? What looks ridiculous? Datgen itself, the Datgen code, the way Datgen edits code? I am not entirely sure of your meaning.

All of the above.

[veilchen]

That's great, as well as really funny. So they keep the asp points even as ghosts. Who would've suspected? Great idea Bippy, I'll try that right away. I'd have never thought of doing that. I have to cease and desist thinking logical where maxis is concerned and just try things out.

G.

[reggikko]

I did an experiment today on my death lot with a bunch of ghosts and the Mind Control Mirror.  Use mirror to pick ghost and use their asp point (out of their own pocket) to buy more Ghostbuster signs!  Dang it, it works!!

Oh, now that is awesome. Also, not a cheat in my book, since you earned those points anyway.

[Bane~Child]

Just so you know, I at least know about The Maltese Bippy.  I have seen several people ask you about that on different forums.

Your experiment is primo - How ever did you think of it?  I would say your Spirits definitely got a lift out of that.

Hmmm, what else can be done?  Oh, I wonder if the SimVac could be of use here?  You know, you can grab those guys and they become visible for a moment.  I impregnated a Sim with a ghost this way one time - I wanted a particular bloodline.

Somehow all this seems wrong on so many levels, but hey, they're dead and the fun just never ends!

[RainbowTigress]

I noticed something in SimPE concerning ghost flags.  For the Goths and most other dead ancestors in Pleasantview, only Is ghost is checked.  But for Mortimer, he has all flags checked, Can pass through walls, objects, people, and Ignore traversal costs.  I'm not sure what the last one means, but what would happen if I were to uncheck these options except for Is ghost?  Would it actually prevent him from going through walls and stuff, which would be a good thing, or would it cause my game to explode into a BFBVS?

[ElviraGoth]

I've been using this for a long time without any problem, but just noticed last night that it wasn't working in one of my dorms.  The girl was haunted by a ghost on the lot 3 times!  I had to put one in the room after the first time, because I didn't realize there wasn't one already there.  But the ghost came in twice after I put up the ghostbuster, and woke her up.

I was looking to see it something in the OFBp2 might have messed up my old file, and see the one here is dated 4/6/06, whereas my current version is the old one from a year ago.  Was something fixed in this newer version for OFB?

[ElfPuddle]

Always get the newest version. Even if you don't know why. This way, everyone's happy.

[ElviraGoth]

I always check for updates, but I must have missed this one!  Since I wasn't having any problems with it until last night, I didn't think about it being updated.  I play with walls down, so I don't see the thing hanging on the wall to remind me it's there!

[ElfPuddle]

I frequently have that problem. Not that I want my paintings showing when my walls don't, but I would like someone to remind me, "Hey, Stupid!, you've got something hanging there!"

[ElviraGoth]

It's really wierd to see a sim standing and staring at something (nothing?) only to realize they're looking at a painting!

I see now how I missed this -  it's not in the director's cut, and I usually DL that because the hacks I use are in there - except for this one, I guess!

[RainbowTigress]

Yeah, it's in the objects folder, so I guess it doesn't qualify as a hack.  But I had this version and I still had sims being scared by ghosts.  And I know I had one of these things hanging in just about every room in this house!  I wish it weren't so attractive to sims also.  They are always admiring it, sighing over it and otherwise messing with it.  You can tell even when the walls are down because they will have it in their thought bubble.

[Chienne]

Too true. I always end up with a lot of ASP's that follow the sim into oblivion when it dies, since unfortunately, they can't be passed along as the regular money can via inheritance.

Usually when one of my elders is in their last couple of days, I buy a lot of aspiration objects with their points.  My sims use a lot of Thinking Caps, so I buy a lot of those and usually one of everything else.  Their aspiration points die with them, but whatever you've BOUGHT with those points sticks around.

It's like spending down your savings so Medicaid will pay for a nursing home. :-)

[J. M. Pescado]

Meh. My sims have more ASPs than I know what to do with, so I've started to treat dying with 327670 points as a rite of passage.

[Avalikia]

I've imposed a rule on myself to only allow sims to use aspiration rewards that they got with their own aspiration points (except toddlers use smartmilk "bought" by their parents).  My older sims die with massive amounts of unused aspiration points all the time, and this also makes it harder for me to max out the skillpoints of my sims too fast.  It gets a little boring when your knowledge sim gets their ltw to max their skills when they're very young, and then you have a skill-maxed permanent platinum sim who spends the rest of their life in a good mood with no ambitions except seeing ghosts and getting abducted.

[J. M. Pescado]

Eh, but when they max out when every young and get perma-plat, you can then switch them over at college to one of the less "functional" aspirations to get some diversity in your neighborhood, without being enslaved to their crabby mood swings and insane wants, and just do the ones that make sense.

And frankly there needs to be more aspirational-rewards, that are useful. Like this one.

[RainbowTigress]

That's what I've been doing.  I don't like being a slave to their wants, I can pick the ones that I like, and if there aren't any I like, I can let them do whatever and not worry about them going into aspirational failure. 

[Avalikia]

Eh, I just go after their least-stupid wants.  Since there's so many Uni-graduates, there's bound to be something sane somewhere on their wants panel.  If not, I don't bother satisfying any wants at all.

[Karen]

Is the ghostbuster painting not compatible with Pets?  I just had a Sim get scared by a ghost while he was standing directly in front of a ghostbuster painting.



The version I have installed is dated 4-6-06, if that helps.

Karen

[J. M. Pescado]

The painting works, but stopping a moving ghost has never worked, the ghost just warps back and keeps going, so it has to wait for the ghost to stop. Sometimes this can already be too late.

[miros]

Too true. I always end up with a lot of ASP's that follow the sim into oblivion when it dies, since unfortunately, they can't be passed along as the regular money can via inheritance. I like the idea of safe zones too, I don't want to ban ghosts outright (they are too much fun to watch), but I hate that they interfere with the sims need fulfillments, such as sleep.

I have my elders constantly topping off the Energizer and Thinking Caps and buying extra Elixir for the next generation to guzzle.  If you don't like all that stuff sitting around, jam it into a kid's inventory.  There's no law against a kid taking an Energizer and a Thinking Cap to college with him!

[kutto]

Does this thing have a number of charges? Or infinite? I prefer the former myself.

[J. M. Pescado]

It doesn't run out, since there's no discrete trigger point, but it also only works for one room, so you have to buy several. And they're not really cheap, either, considering that you'd only use them if you want ghosts, but not in the house (it's cheaper to just foist them off to a cemetary or your inventory).