What's Blocking Their Path?

[Ancient Sim]

Below is a link to a picture.  I'm having a weird problem in one of the dorms, in the cooking area.  Whenever the dorm cook wants to lay out the food, he insists he can't do it from where he's standing and walks round the counters to lay it from the other side.  He normally lays out just one meal, then goes back and lays the others out from the original side, which makes little sense.  Then tonight two Sims insisted they couldn't get food out of the fridge (even though they managd perfectly when I moved the fridge).  Both the Sims got the same weird image in their thought bubbles as the cook does.  It looks as if they're saying their path is blocked, but by what?  There are no stuck kicky bags according to both the lot debugger and TwoJeffs hack, so what's blocking them?  There's nothing there!  Could it possibly be connected with the ghost of the llama mascot who frequently goes in the fridge?  I can't see how though, because it's happened while he's been floating about outside and also when he's not been there at all.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  Here is the link to the photo, which shows the weird image in the thought bubble of one of the Sims: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/jools1953/MysteryObject.jpg

[J. M. Pescado]

It sounds like an invisible stuck fridge object of some kind. Generally, the solution is to set the offending square on fire using Buyable Fire.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Sounds a bit like the Sims1 bug where someone dropped an unfinished snack and then noone would clean it up!

[SimMoon]

Looks like a kicky bag is stuck. You'll need to get that out. Right this second I don't exactly know where to send you looking for the remedy. Im not sure I even knew a war was on or what it was about. I go to San Jose for what... 3 weeks and wham... all hell breaks loose and I have to go looking for J.M. cause he aint where I left him! Check with J.M.'s hacks and see if he has one for invisible stuck objects. If you're still having problems pm me and I'll see if I have something in my game that can help you. Okay?

SimMoon

[Hook]

If it's a stuck kicky bag, the ffsLotDebugger will fix the problem.  You should probably download and install that puppy anyway, as it fixes a variety of problems with lots.  It's under Misc/Misc in the catalog, and is a yellow "placeholder" box that hides nicely under the foundation.

Read the RTFM included in the download for more info. 

Hook

[SimMoon]

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=72.msg944#msg944

Hopefully that link will take you to a debugger that will fix your problem.

 

[J. M. Pescado]

I added a new command specifically to fix stucky fridges. The original poster has specified that it does not appear to be a kicky bag, so it's a new form of stuck (and fortunately flammable) object.

[Ancient Sim]

I tried the Buyable Fire, didn't work.  All that happened was that one of my students got fined for calling the fire brigade when there wasn't a fire!  They fire burned for quite a while, then eventually the sprinkler across the way kicked-in.  The game also let me delete all the floor tiles and replace them with new ones, which I wouldn't have expected it to if something was stuck on one of them.  I noticed today that the dorm cook had another object in his thought bubbles before the one with the footsteps, which was a collection of vertical lines, some broken some not.  They were always gone too quickly for me to get a picture, but I will keep trying. 

To be honest, I'm wondering if it's possibly a download I've recently added that's somehow causing it, because I also saw this footsteps thing in someone's thought bubble on a lot in the actual Strangetown neighbourhood today and I'd never seen it at all until a couple of days ago.  Whatever it is, it's on the tile directly in front of the fridge because they can't access the fridge and also they walk round this tile instead of over it when they are getting food from the counters. 

Anyway, I will try the stuck fridges addition, although I've changed the fridge several times already so I don't think it's anything to do with the actual fridge. 

[J. M. Pescado]

It's not the fridge itself which is stuck, it's a stucky-fridge tile of some kind.

[Ancient Sim]

I'm loading up the game now as we speak to see if the new thing works.  Maybe it will help if I mention that I can place things on this tile with no problem.  Also, I can move the Sims and stand them on it.  Sometimes they sort of twirl round and move off it, then complain that they can't stand on it again, but on other occasions they will stand there quite happily.

Anyway, I will wait for the game to load to report on whether they new fix worked ... unfortunately, it didn't, mainly because no option mentioning fridges came up on the Debugger.  I tried a few experiments and I'm even more puzzled now.  It's not just the fridge that can't be used (which I think I said at the outset), but also the counter opposite it.  When I replaced the counter with the fridge, the fridge was still unusable, ditto the mini-fridge.  However, when I moved the mini-fridge back one space it could be used, but the larger fridge couldn't.  When I replaced the original fridge (in its usual position opposite the counter) with the coffee-machine, a Sim was able to stand in front of it and juggle the cups.  If I moved the fridge one space to the left or right, it could be used as normal.  This suggests to me that it isn't something on the floor, but something in mid-air, at a level higher than the mini-fridge would reach, that is blocking the opening of the fridge door.  I am still wondering if somehow the mascot ghost has something to do with it, as it's only started happening after he appeared and began messing about in the fridge.  Maybe he spawned a replica of himself and it's stuck there, or something equally silly.

Whatever it is, it looks to me as if it's there to stay, so I suppose I'm going to have to replace the lot with the original and re-furnish it.  I'll probably have to say goodbye to my mascot ghost, because bringing him back and messing about making him an NPC again wouldn't be worth the hassle.  I'd rather find out what is causing this problem though, because it's really puzzling me now. 

[J. M. Pescado]

No, leave it there. I'll keep looking. We need it as the test case. In the meantime, force something to error and send me the log.

[Ancient Sim]

What do you want me to force?  I can try the fridge and the counter if you like?  Not sure if you can force an error on a floor tile (and anyway, I've changed them twice since it started, ditto the fridge come to that).  Haven't changed the counters, though.  Also, where do we post error logs, or do we email them to you?

[J. M. Pescado]

You just post 'em right here. And you can force anything to error, it's not important. When I say "force something to error", as opposed to "force a specific thing to error", it means just FORCE AN ERROR SOMEWHERE ON THE LOT.

[Ten Tigers]

I don't know about a stuck kicky-bag "ball object", but I do know that sims seem obsessed with playing kicky-bag behind the service counter in kitchens, perhaps because it's the most obnoxious place with lots of traffic to block.  My sims would constantly complain and display the blocked-path icon shown in your screenshot, and not because their "bag" was stuck in anything, but rather because they had stupidly chosen a spot to play which was occupied by furniture or other structural elements, and so immediately began complaining.

Twojeffs has posted a "No Kickybag Indoors" hack which seems to work well enough to keep them from playing in the house, and I haven't noticed many sims complaining about routing since I installed it.  I'd rather see it in the form of a sign object you can hang in high-traffic rooms which do not benefit from poorly planned games of kickybag, but it works perfectly well as it is.  It's over on VS if you want to check it out.

Ten Tigers

[Ancient Sim]

I've managed to get a picture showing the strange lines that they are getting either prior to the footstep things or instead of them.  I did take two, one of the dorm cook and one of a YA, to show the different positions they were standing in, but the game saved one over the other.  The one here is of the YA's reaction when I told him to check the contents of the fridge.  The dorm cook was standing to the left of where he was standing, perhaps slightly further forward, trying to put a plate of food in the empty space you can see (that counter is the offending one).  I watched carefully and the offending area seems to be in front of the counter rather than the fridge (or maybe somewhere in between, because there doesn't seem to be a full two tiles between them anyway).  The dorm cook will put meals on the end space, then walk to the left past the fridge and back to the right, avoiding the space in front of the counter. The weirdest part is that when I stand them there, they don't bat an eyelid.  They just won't go there on their own.

Photo: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v734/jools1953/William.jpg

As for the error log, I can't post it because it makes the post exceed 20,000 characters (not surprised, it's VERY long, but I don't know what are the relevant bits and what aren't).  I did notice one odd thing in it, although I doubt it's connected.  It shows my "Starting Neighbourhood" as Pleasantview but I haven't played in there for about 2 weeks.  The neighbourhood the problem is in is Strangetown.  Let me know what you want me to do about the error log.  I can look for specific things in it or whatever if that might help.

[J. M. Pescado]

You're supposed to attach it, goofus. Check out the "additional optionstuffeths".

[Ancient Sim]

You're supposed to attach it, goofus. Check out the "additional optionstuffeths".

Oops, silly me.  Blame it on the fact that I've been trying for so long to solve this mystery that it is now 6.04 am and I haven't been to bed yet.  Will try attaching it now ...

[attachment deleted by admin]

[gali]

According your pictures - your kitchen space is too narrow.

If you remember TS1 manual, we were told to make at lest 2 rectangles between 2 objects, but if sims have to pass between them - we have to make at least 4 rectangles between 2 objects.

Just move the counters opposite the fridge 3-4  rectangles left - now you have enough space to move for all sims, and the cook.

[Ancient Sim]

Well I thought of that, but this has only started recently, it was fine before that.  I've already graduated four students from this dorm and am almost through with graduating the next batch and there was never a problem with the fridge or the counters until now.  It all started after the ghost mascot started mucking about in the fridge, as I've said before.  Anyway, it's a Maxis-created dorm, for crying out loud!  Not that I should really trust that fact, I don't suppose ...

According your pictures - your kitchen space is too narrow.

If you remember TS1 manual, we were told to make at lest 2 rectangles between 2 objects, but if sims have to pass between them - we have to make at least 4 rectangles between 2 objects.

Just move the counters opposite the fridge 3-4  rectangles left - now you have enough space to move for all sims, and the cook.

[gali]

Maxis built all the dorms very uncomfortable - you can hardly move there. I used the motherlode cheat and made all my dorms wide and spacy. None of the Maxis' dorms remained as they were built, not even the SS building - there too I smashed walls, added ladders, enlarged the kitchen space, even put new walls and floors.

Perhaps Maxis did it on purpose, to force you to redecorate the dorm - to create more complaints, thus you can see what is wrong in the decor and fix it....

[gali]

Ancient, I looked again at your last picture. See the bubble over the head of the sim - it shows some perspective "wide going to narrow". Perhaps this is the hint you needed?

[Ancient Sim]

Ancient, I looked again at your last picture. See the bubble over the head of the sim - it shows some perspective "wide going to narrow". Perhaps this is the hint you needed?

It can't be that - as I said, it worked PERFECTLY for ages, this has happened suddenly with no structural changes whatsoever.   I also noticed it in a neighbourhood house and tonight it's happened in another, the Spectre house.  Again, no structural alterations.  It happened twice there, once outside and once in the kitchen (near the fridge again).  I think the chances are it's something I've downloaded.  It definitely ISN'T the size of the rooms or anything like that, otherwise it would have happened from the start.

[J. M. Pescado]

Well, I looked at the lot dump, but could find no references to strange, unusual objects. This remains a mystery, as it doesn't appear to be a stucky fridge tile, and you're able to place objects on the allegedly blocked tile. Try setting a few more things on fire?

[Ancient Sim]

OKkkkkk ... I've been to the offical BBS and guess what?  I'm not the only one with this problem.  In nearly all cases, the offending objects are appliances.  One person caught the bug after her cooker caught fire (but it was the fridge they couldn't access), but with others it's just started for no apparent reason.  NPC's seem particularly prone to it.  Not that this helps me any, but at least I know I'm not alone.  Bugs like this are worrying though, things that just start-up for no apparent reason.  I am going to try another neighbourhood tomorrow, see if it happens there as well.  If not, I will assume my Strangetown (which has hardly been played) is well & truly buggered.

[J. M. Pescado]

It's probably only a lot-specific problem and shouldn't break your whole neighborhood. I still say you should set more stuff on fire.