Objects from Sims' inventory unable to cast shadows

[Peel]

Has this occured in anyone else's game? In my game once an item has been placed in thier inventory it is unable to cast shadows when placed on a lot. Now it is not that big of a deal since the objects function normally... well seem to. It is items that two Sims can use together that are used or entered at an angle like the above ground hot tub and the punchingbag can no longer be placed against a wall, railing or in a corner but require to be one space from from the physical barrier. When these items are orginally bought they can be against a physical barrier or in a corner. Like a said no big deal but...

One of my Sims moved from one lot to another and brought most of his things with him in his inventory which included his hatchback car. He later went to a community lot to buy a cell phone and some groceries. Stopped to talk to some neighbours and then I clicked on the car and told him to drive home. He walked to the opposite end of the lot and started walking in a V pattern, trying to find his car I presume. The way to the car was unobstructed and he was actually right next to the car when I instructed him to drive home. I pulled up the console with the cheat menu and it said the following:

ERROR TSSGShadow:GUOB subset not bound to GUOB material: 'groundshdow' in 'vehicleHatchBackNew'.\source\ TSSGShadow.cpp(1586) 

I then hit the return to neighbourhood and left the lot without saving, as one has to do. Then I went back into his lot and opened up the console on his lot and every item that was in his inventory and placed on the lot had the same error message, with of course the appropriate item name. I then got him to drive to another lot and the same thing happened there. I tried it with another lot, same result also. I then went back into his lot sold his hatchback and bought another one had him drive to the first lot buy a cell phone, some groceries and chat to his neighbours. Then stood him beside the car clicked on it and told him to drive home, he got in the car and sped off. I then went to other Sims lots in the neighbourhood and put an item or two in their inventory then removed it and recieved the same 'groundshadow' error messages for those items.

So my question is, was he unable to get into his original hatchback because the car was unable to cast a shadow on the community lot so there was a one tile space around the enterance to his car that made it unaccesable? (They enter their cars at an angle) Or was this another problem with the lots? He was able to enter his car on his home lot. 

Edit: To add that I do have one hack in my game the notownieregion and anxiously awaiting the nodowntownieregion hack I might add.

[ElviraGoth]

I have gotten the same error from a few things that I had my sims move from one house to another as well.  Also noticed that sometimes, but not always, things like beds, dressers, etc. cannot be placed against the wall unless I use moveobjects on to put them there.  I think this was discussed in another thread.  The strange thing is, it's not consistant.  I had one sim family take their armoire and couldn't place it against a wall in the new house, but with another family who had the same armoire in a different color, I was able to place it next to the wall as usual.

And if I have them take their curtains or drapes with them, when they are placed on the window in the new house they are visible from the outside if I am viewing the house from that side, even with walls cutaway.  In order for them not to be seen, I have to delete them and buy new ones.  Same with pictures or anything that hangs on the wall and is normally not seen when the walls are set to cutaway view.

I also noticed that whenever I move sims to another house, they lose their cell phone and have to buy another one.  And they seem to occasionally lose things from their inventory, like the handheld game or mp3 player.  They had it one minute, and the next it's gone.  (It won't show up in inventory if they're using it.  It's when they're not using it that I have noticed the item is missing.)

I hadn't actually noticed that things didn't have shadows, so will have to check that out in the house where I noticed that "shadow not bound" error.  Actually, I think I saw the error when I mistyped a moveobjects command and looked at the log above the prompt line.  It seemed like it was in relation to a sim, not an object.

I don't have the notownieregen hack, but I do have some others, like the new scanner gun hack and novelprogress.  But I have a feeling it's not related to a hack.

[Kestran]

Since I turn off the shadows in my game anyway I haven't noticed that. But the annoying not being able to place the beds and such against wall I have noticed. And cussed up a storm over too.

[gillies]

The notownieregen hack already stops it making downtowines - though there are four with slightly different properties that will always regenerate if you kill them or move them in with a family, those are the mr. big & diva, and the so-called "dateable slob" - of which there is a male and female version which you will probably see hanging around downtown lots wearing stained pajamas and slouching a lot.

[RainbowTigress]

I had this problem too, with the bubble blower, Lizz Love's waterbed, the bass and drums, and a few other things I don't remember.  I had to buy new ones.  I used the eyedropper tool before I sold them, and that made it a bit easier than having to search the catalog and make sure I got the same color, etc.  I had heard of this problem, and sometimes moveobjects allows you to put them against the wall, but with Lizz Love's bed, I kept getting an error message every time my mouse went over it, so I had to delete it and get a new one.

[Ancient Sim]

The notownieregen hack already stops it making downtowines - though there are four with slightly different properties that will always regenerate if you kill them or move them in with a family, those are the mr. big & diva, and the so-called "dateable slob" - of which there is a male and female version which you will probably see hanging around downtown lots wearing stained pajamas and slouching a lot.

I'd forgotten all about these "dateable slobs".  I have seen a guy in pyjamas once or twice (the new set that came with NL) but can't recall seeing a woman.  What is it about these people?  Are they desperate for dates, or something?

[Motoki]

Just a suggestion, but anytime I've had a problem with an item (a double bed that only allows one person to sleep on it, a chair that stays pushed out when it's against a table or desk etc) I've been able to fix it by doing boolprop testingcheatsenabled true and then holding shift and clicking on the object and choosing force error, then reset. This should reset the object to its original state.

[gillies]

I'd forgotten all about these "dateable slobs". I have seen a guy in pyjamas once or twice (the new set that came with NL) but can't recall seeing a woman. What is it about these people? Are they desperate for dates, or something?

My guess is that these sims are supposed to cause humourous situations somehow due to their slovenly personalities, besides that that they just seem to be like the other townies except that in my game files at least they both appear to have been placed into a job at level 2 of the slacker career and they have almost all of their mechanical and creativity skills but no other skills, but if they do anything differently from any other sim I haven't seen it yet.

[Peel]

Thanks for the replys. I was able to place his sofa, bed, etc against walls but I guess that would be the inconsistant part. I have not had things disappear from the inventory but it seems that once something goes into it the Sim has nothing to indicate that it has that item. I had a Sim that wanted a cell phone and he went to a community lot to buy it and recieved the aspiration points for it, then the next morning he rolled a buy a cell phone want, and he still rolls it quite frequently. If memory serves me right before NL if they had a cell phone (or the MP3 player or hand-held) in their inventory they would not roll the want. Also in one of the houses that I put items in the inventory and then took them out to see if they would get the 'groundshadow' error was a hottub. After I put it into the inventory and put it back on the lot the one of the Sims wants rolled to buy a hottub.

I had forgotten about the boolprop command it has been quite sometime and quite a few games since I last played The Sims as I found University was... well kind of lackluster. Thank you gillies for the info on the notownieregen, now I am off to torch those bloody downtownies.

[Kestran]

Just a suggestion, but anytime I've had a problem with an item (a double bed that only allows one person to sleep on it, a chair that stays pushed out when it's against a table or desk etc) I've been able to fix it by doing boolprop testingcheatsenabled true and then holding shift and clicking on the object and choosing force error, then reset. This should reset the object to its original state.

Motoki. I read somewhere that doing that force error thing would do some very very bad things to the game. Is that wrong?

[Motoki]

I don't know who said that but I suspect someone at the BBS. :p I've used it LOADS of times with no problems. It just resets the object to its original state.

[miramis]

If Reset doesn't work the options come up again, just don't ever hit Delete because I think that deletes the object from the actual game.  It's not the cheat that's bad, it's how you use it.  If you ever get in a situation where the options just keep coming up because reset or cancel don't work, reboot the pc.

Don't force error on the Renewu reward - reset/cancel doesn't work on that one.

[Motoki]

Yes, for an object, delete gets rid of it for good, gone, poof. The only way to remedy that is to kaching yourself enough money to buy a new one. For a sim though delete isn't a huge deal because they will come back when you reload the lot. It's pretty much akin to turning moveobjects on and deleting them.

[miramis]

Motoki, are you saying that the object doesn't get completely erased from the game if you 'force error/delete'?  A bbs post I read long ago gave me the impression that unless the game was re-installed the object would be gone for good.  I get the feeling now though that it was posted by a moron, and I'm twice the idiot for taking it on board 

[RainbowTigress]

Motoki, are you saying that the object doesn't get completely erased from the game if you 'force error/delete'?  A bbs post I read long ago gave me the impression that unless the game was re-installed the object would be gone for good.  I get the feeling now though that it was posted by a moron, and I'm twice the idiot for taking it on board 

It's like you deleted it in Buy/Build mode, only you don't get simoleans for it.  It's still an object you can purchase in the game, you just don't have that particular one in your house anymore.

[Motoki]

force error > delete removes the object from your lot. It doesn't remove it from the catalog and you can of course buy another one.

*edit: Rainbow beat me to it.

[RainbowTigress]

*edit: Rainbow beat me to it.

[miramis]

Thanks Rainbow & Motoki, that's one more myth laid to rest for me

[witch]

You're not supposed to use the debug mode, shift click on a sim and Delete though, are you? I'm sure MaxoidTom told me I have fubared my sims when I did that. He said Reset was fine. Delete would be for objects.

[Motoki]

*shrug* I've done it without problems, but anyway there's not much need to when you can delete them with move objects or just try reseting them.

[witch]

Yeah, I use Delete with MoveObjects on sims, that works fine & I've never had a problem.

I had a moveout bug in my first n'hood and using debug mode, selected Delete on a sim instead of Reset, completely screwed the sim. BFBVFS 

[ElviraGoth]

Well, I don't seem to have a problem with shadows showing up for the objects that can't be placed against a wall, but after moving 15 sim families to new houses, this is what I noticed consistenly:

Single beds place fine.
Double beds: can't be placed against the wall.
Dressers/armoires: Most of the time, can't be placed against the wall.
Couches (sofas):  Can place with one arm against a wall, but not the other.  (So I could only place them facing one direction, but not facing the opposite direction, with an arm next to a wall.)
Pianos: place fine.
Any other musical instrument has to be away from the wall by a tile, even though I've placed them next to a wall before.

Now - I used moveobjects to postition them next to the wall.  For every double bed I did this with, my sims were unable to woohoo.  It would come up in the pie menu for only one of the two involved, but not for the other.  When I clicked on "woohoo" for the sim it showed up for, it would go up to the bed queue like it should, then disappear right away.  I had to sell the bed and buy a new one, and then they could woohoo without problem.  Other activities like sleeping and relaxing worked like they should on the bed that had been moved, though.

I've only had one painting that I moved, and I didn't have any trouble placing it on a wall.  Also have a couple of photos that one artistic sim took, and they moved from one house to the other just fine as well.

I didn't try to force error on the beds, but I have a couple of previously moved sims whose beds I haven't replaced yet, and if I think of it I'll try to force an error on a bed and see it if works.

Things I don't move any more are curtains/drapes.  These always show up from the outside of the house when the wall is cutaway, and I find it very annoying, so I leave the drapes in the old house and buy them new ones in the new house.  Also, purchased paintings that are moved from one house to another do the same thing.

Those are the only things I've noticed so far.

Edit:  I tried force error/reset on one of the beds and it didn't work.  I had to delete it and buy another one.

[MaxoidTom]

Well, I don't seem to have a problem with shadows showing up for the objects that can't be placed against a wall, but after moving 15 sim families to new houses, this is what I noticed consistenly:

Single beds place fine.
Double beds: can't be placed against the wall.
Dressers/armoires: Most of the time, can't be placed against the wall.
Couches (sofas):  Can place with one arm against a wall, but not the other.  (So I could only place them facing one direction, but not facing the opposite direction, with an arm next to a wall.)
Pianos: place fine.
Any other musical instrument has to be away from the wall by a tile, even though I've placed them next to a wall before.

Now - I used moveobjects to postition them next to the wall.  For every double bed I did this with, my sims were unable to woohoo.  It would come up in the pie menu for only one of the two involved, but not for the other.  When I clicked on "woohoo" for the sim it showed up for, it would go up to the bed queue like it should, then disappear right away.  I had to sell the bed and buy a new one, and then they could woohoo without problem.  Other activities like sleeping and relaxing worked like they should on the bed that had been moved, though.

I've only had one painting that I moved, and I didn't have any trouble placing it on a wall.  Also have a couple of photos that one artistic sim took, and they moved from one house to the other just fine as well.

I didn't try to force error on the beds, but I have a couple of previously moved sims whose beds I haven't replaced yet, and if I think of it I'll try to force an error on a bed and see it if works.

Things I don't move any more are curtains/drapes.  These always show up from the outside of the house when the wall is cutaway, and I find it very annoying, so I leave the drapes in the old house and buy them new ones in the new house.  Also, purchased paintings that are moved from one house to another do the same thing.

Those are the only things I've noticed so far.

Edit:  I tried force error/reset on one of the beds and it didn't work.  I had to delete it and buy another one.

It sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable about these problems.  Could you post some information using the official bug form for NL on the Sims 2 BBS?  I asked the engineer who worked on inventory to take a look, but he was unable to reproduce these issues.  Any 3rd party modifications that may have conflicted?

[simmiecal]

It sounds like you are pretty knowledgeable about these problems.  Could you post some information using the official bug form for NL on the Sims 2 BBS?  I asked the engineer who worked on inventory to take a look, but he was unable to reproduce these issues.  Any 3rd party modifications that may have conflicted?

Just as an FYI -
I had the same problem with beds and dressers with no hacks/objects/downloads in the game (had never been in the game at that time) so I really think this is a NL problem. There are several people who don't have any mods in the game that have had this happen. The engineer couldn't reproduce this with any double bed? It happened with every expensive (top 3 priced) double beds that I had put into inventory (don't know about the cheaper ones - my sims only buy the best  ). I do know that in two cases, the sim was moving from a base neighborhood to a downtown lot when it happened, but it also happened with a move between two lots in the base neighborhood.   

But even with these glitches with the inventory, I still think the inventory is one of the best features of NL. Hopefully we can resolve these few problems with it.

[Scotbo]

I've been having the same problem with objects taken from the inventory and my game is hack free (with the exception of Quaxi's  no-censor hack). I normally play with shadows off so I haven't seen any errors related to that.  I've noticed it with double beds, dressers and some career and aspiration rewards. It doesn't effect every instance of these objects, but does it often enough that it is quite annoying.  I have to delete the object and buy a new one so that it can be placed against walls.

I've also had problems moving some objects into the inventory.  The buffet table and university degrees (taken off the wall) are the only objects I've had issues with so far.  I grab the object with the mouse, but there is no description in the inventory panel and it won't allow me to place it in inventory.