Holiday Cabin

[MyPrecious]

I guess most here have already tried owning a second home but yesterday I tested something I had been meaning to for ages. I wanted My Sims to be able to own a holiday home without all the usual daily hassle of checking in with business and phoning people all the time, as age doesn't happen at University I thought a house from that Neighbourhood was worth a try.

So I built a cabin on the University neighbourhood and then dropped it down in Bluewater Village, bought it and set off to test it. I left the House on the 2nd day of spring; during the 2 weeks my Sims spent there this didn't change, although the days of week continued as normal the season remained static. They didn't age at all, but the thing is I can't remember if they age while they are running a business or not? (I know that they don't loose days while they are there I just can't remember if they get days add to their age that they keep when they return.) These Sims are millionaires and no longer have to do anything but call in every night to their 4 places so it could be the University effect or it could be just what happens.

The usual stuff like any fish caught went into the owners' inventory, there was no ‘try for a baby' on the hot tub or the bed (I used Squinges' sleep on community lots hack-find at the Insiminator site), the hot tub was from the rewards and did work but the warmthfix had no effect they still overheated very quickly?  All the rewards seem to be available but as they were not needed I didn't test any of the others. As I locked the doors to everyone but the household the sprinkler over the cooker was a great idea…Only a couple of people rang to bother them the whole time they were there which was good and the relationships didn't appear to suffer like they do normally so after 3 days I stopped calling and just enjoyed myself, also checking in with a business was a waste of time leaving more time to relax. Oh I used 2jeffs visitor controller to ensure they were not bothered at all, and ran in boolprop testingcheatsenabled true (handy for not washing the dogs) and had no errors at all.

In all I'm uncertain if the University house is effecting the way they age or the seasons so I think I'd better get my butt down to one of the other business's and check out how time passes. But it's true what they say a holiday is a great routine buster. As these two own 4 business's and grow their own food and have a shedload of mates their lives had become pretty boring, but on this new lot I let them do what they wanted and had great fun, also because this was a holiday cabin I didn't have loads of custom content in it to slow the playing down so even though it is a big lot it ran like silk..

I gave them a pool table, something I don't usually do so was amused when he hustled her at pool and she hung her head when she realised. They swam naked and played marco polo at 3am, I put a radio in the kitchen a stereo in the living area and outside and watched as they danced their way through 2 weeks LOL. The water balloon fight was also amusing to watch when they don't have something else to do, they caught fireflies and played fetch with the dogs, did yoga while listening to classical music; it was a real holiday and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will be doing it again soon. In fact I want to make a beach sub hood and see how that would work out.

As I have loads of stuff from here that makes this game worth playing I wanted to give something back, and as I can't hack or make things I thought maybe an idea might be better than nothing, so if this has stirred an imagination great, enjoy.

[LauraW]

Great idea! Did you set the house as a business or a community lot? You said you bought it so I am assuming you bought it as a business. I believe there is a bug that does not allow businesses or community lots to change seasons so that might be why the seasons did not change. If you want them to change, you could try SimWardrobe's vase that allows you to change the weather. I don't think Sims age on business lots anyway, even in the regular neighborhood but I could be wrong.

[maxon]

Are business lots the same season as the home lot as a rule?   I'd guess that means it will remain the same season as the left-behind home lot until you return home.  When you go back in Spring or whatever, the season will change then.  I'd guess it doesn't matter if you stayed for a week - if it was winter when you arrived, it would still be winter when you left because it's still winter on the home lot.

[mildlydisguised]

Crammyboy's community time hack might be useful for you, although I'm not sure whether it would be advisable to use it and have sims at a community lot for days at a time.  I'm not sure what the aging ramifications would be either.

I like your idea though

[starrling]

This does sound like a lot of fun!  And with the phone hack I could turn the ringer off and they wouldn't be disturbed at all.   

[Hecubus]

I'm not entirely certain why you built the house at University and moved it to Bluewater....?

[Shivani]

Well, it sounds as if something is certainly borked if the season failed to tick over to the next.  If i recall correctly, moving a property built in a Uni hood to a different one can result in aging off, but... I don't think they age in an owned business, either, or any community lot, really.

[Nec]

Sims DO NOT age on community lots, Moving a lot from Uni  to another hood can, and often does, prevent all aging, period. It cannot be fixed from what I have found. EA mentioned in their Seasons glitch list that the community lot seasons were messed up, and that it will be addressed in a patch.

[morriganrant]

this from the prima guide:
"Community lots also have seasons and, like neighborhoods, they're determined by the last saved home lot. If Sims leave home in spring, it'll be spring on whatever community lot they visit.
Seasons can't however, change while your sim is visiting. Lets say your sim left home at 11:45pm on the last day of spring and stayed on a community lot until noon the next day. Though it seems like it should be the next season, the home lots season remains frozen in time until your sim returns to it. even if the move directly to another community lot, the saved home lots season persists"

So yeah, seasons change on community lots, weather change (sunny,rain, snow what ever is appropriate to the season") will happen on community but the season is set at the home lot, if you want their vacacion place to be in winter well it needs to be winter at home before you leave.
No aging on community and the time on your home lot will be the same time\day you left it i beleive, because say Herman has a preggy wife about to give birth at home, he leaves and he manages to stay for a sim week on a community lot. What happened with his wife and baby? If aging were on, he could return to his wife and child an old man his whole life spent away from home.

[maxon]

Didn't I already say that? - though not in so many words.

[morriganrant]

yes you did ...i was just giving the whole thing as "this is indeed verified information" ...and some use needs to come from that damn prima guide ...

[Dragon Slave]

A good while back I sent two sims on a romantic overnight vaction at the beach, and I've considered for some time now setting up a winter themed subhood where some of my wealthier families could own holiday cabins..it's still on my to do list though.  My plans were to have them buy the house as a community lot, then use the visitor controller to keep out the usual influx of meddling townies.

 I dont' understand why you used a universtiy lot to control aging though.  I'd just turn it off through the cheat command.  I do this alot with I'm playing buisnesses, since I have my sims running them on a several day nonstop block.  It's the only way they can rake in a profit, over the long haul.  there's no way I'd send them back and forth each day, from home to work, with my game taking 15 mins (give or take) to load each subhood and lot   Of course they don't sleep at their buisiness, I just refresh the motives.

but anyways, vacations are entirley possible, with a little bit of imagination, and the right hacks.  That's why I don't think maxis needs to make a vacation ep...seems like it'd be a waste of an ep that could have gone towards something more useful. 

 

[maxon]

yes you did ...i was just giving the whole thing as "this is indeed verified information" ...and some use needs to come from that damn prima guide ...

maxon salutes.

That's cool.