Bon Voyage dissatisfaction

[Invisigoth]

I tested with only JM's Bon Voyage Director's Cut (and CC that shouldn't throw errors like replacement face templates, makeup, hair, floor tiles etc.) in debug mode and I have had no errors since JM's update. I am having some things drop from the queue, however. Walking to other lots works fine, I am seeing the tooltips for all additional turn ons/offs. Load times are not unreasonable even though my computer is just barely over minimum specs.

[KatEnigma]

*sigh*

I had my family on vacation, and decided I was tired of hotel life, and saved and exited to build a vacation house. When I was done, I couldn't get back into the hotel lot to play them because the game was stuck in build mode. I tried exiting to the main hood and coming back, but no go. I tried entering through their main house, but no.  I tried going to another hood and coming back, but they are apparently lost. It was just the throwaway Eaxis Traveler family, but still.

[dusty]

Hm, I had a sim family saved at a hotel. When I went to play their house in the main neighbourhood it said "the x family are staying at blah blah hotel, do you want to play that lot" and worked fine.  Which is of course no help to you 

[KatEnigma]

*head desk* Can't blame Eaxis for that one.  Pure User Error.  I think maybe I shouldn't be allowed to have aliases in my userstartup, except for the 2 that I use all the time. Apparently, accidentally turning a hotel into a dorm while your Sims are vacationing there is a VBT- who'd have guessed?  Inge's teleporter Bush to the rescue.

And I have the gall to talk about stupid sheeple. Baaaaaaaa!

[Clara]

This is really minor but I've noticed CAS thumbnails are generating differently. The ones made with BV are brighter and choppier than earlier ones. I found a preview screenshot that showed the same thing so it can't be any of my custom content (I took it all out and forced it to regenerate thumbnails anyway--same result). It doesn't look so bad in Body Shop because that was always pretty dark but in-game they're kind of ugly. Why would this have been changed?

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/ClaraP_photos/CASthumbnails.jpg

[Batelle]

This is really minor but I've noticed CAS thumbnails are generating differently. The ones made with BV are brighter and choppier than earlier ones. I found a preview screenshot that showed the same thing so it can't be any of my custom content (I took it all out and forced it to regenerate thumbnails anyway--same result). It doesn't look so bad in Body Shop because that was always pretty dark but in-game they're kind of ugly. Why would this have been changed?

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g14/ClaraP_photos/CASthumbnails.jpg

A lot of people complained about how dark Body Shop is.  I figure the brightening is Eaxis's half-assed way of "fixing" that issue.

I've downloaded some of hacks in the Director's Cut, though I can't say if "antiwatchout" is among their numbers, and I have had no issues walking between lots.

I did have a glitch with booking a honeymoon.  Brandi and Jeremy were engaged before I installed Bon Voyage and had the wants to be married locked.  Brandi called to arrange a honeymoon, and there was a pop-up saying they would need someone to watch the house, which is strange because they have one cat and no kids.  I agreed to the nanny and the next pop-up said that the wedding would trigger the vacation pick-up.

I decided to have them have a date to get them into platinum and then they got married at the original wedding arch.  It generated the special events movie, and they have the memories of having gotten married, but it didn't fulfill their wants to get married.  Then the nanny arrived and said "This lot has no children, I'm getting out of here" or something equally obnoxious and the vacation taxi never came.

I ended up cancelling the honeymoon and just booking a regular vacation at Three Lakes (and this time the nanny came and stayed).  So far, they're enjoying themselves and I'm having a good time playing.  My main issues so far:

1.  The hotel lots, while mostly quite nice, are also huuuuuge and tedious to navigate.  Brandi and Jem stayed at the cabins and it was almost comical how random the routing was.  Elsewhere, the surrounding mountains cause the camera to shoot up when you move it around the lot. Lag wasn't bad, even with the neighborhood decorations and neighbors visible, until it started to snow.  The beds/plumbing at the cabin and the showers at the campground are cheap, so sleeping and bathing takes an annoyingly long time to fill needs.  There are also no mirrors to be found anywhere. 
2.  Learning a gesture is frustrating, because you have to have the local approach you with it, and they don't like to wait until you finish another action (even a cancelled action).  It is hilarious to watch them try it when they still suck at it.
3.  They dug about 30 holes and found two worthwhile things- both maps to the secret locations for the other two vacation destinations.
4.  Skill points gained from positive chance cards don't get applied.  This can be fixed by an updated skilling on community lots hack, but it's still a bunch of bullshit.
5.  The locals are generated like crazy.  I saw four or five that were on about every lot along with a few new faces, but then I had this happen:

Four new sims, same outfit type, same last name.  This worries me. 
6.  The Unsavory Charlatan isn't playable.  I knew this before, but now that I've seen him in his top hat and monocle, twirling his evil little mustache and cackling to himself, I want to marry him into a legacy at some point. 

[jsalemi]

I'm so annoyed.  This thing has been loading for like 40 minutes.   And it's been creating "exotic destinations" for like another 10.  Before I installed this EP it still took a shit ton of time to load b/c my enormous amount of CC...like 15 minutes...but me thinks 40 minutes is just ridiculous. 

And that's why the first time you load it you move your downloads folder elsewhere.

[Batelle]

And that's why the first time you load it you move your downloads folder elsewhere.

I did do that the first two times I loaded it. I played around in CAS and visited my Seasons test lot before restarting the game with CC (default replacement skins and eyes and a few BV DC hacks) in the game and then enabled.  I think my honeymoon glitch was a result of the want being locked before BV was installed and, with the inevitable reset, it went a bit wonky.  I don't know what the deal is with the local spawning, though. 

[jsalemi]

Oops -- sorry, I was actually replying to an earlier message, and the quote got borked. I fixed it.

[Batelle]

Oops -- sorry, I was actually replying to an earlier message, and the quote got borked. I fixed it.

No problem.  I've been on other boards this morning and almost all of the people complaining about problems still have their old hacks in and they seem really resistant to removing them, choosing to kvetch about Eaxis instead, which confuses what is and is not actually a bug. 

[Zazazu]

I've downloaded some of hacks in the Director's Cut, though I can't say if "antiwatchout" is among their numbers, and I have had no issues walking between lots.

I know I have that one. I rarely play with cars on lots, but the drama involved with parking and getting out annoys me to no end. That'll be my first one to remove, and since no lot is currently playing with a car, no skin off my back.

I did have a glitch with booking a honeymoon.  Brandi and Jeremy were engaged before I installed Bon Voyage and had the wants to be married locked.  Brandi called to arrange a honeymoon, and there was a pop-up saying they would need someone to watch the house, which is strange because they have one cat and no kids.  I agreed to the nanny and the next pop-up said that the wedding would trigger the vacation pick-up.

You have to have a nanny if there are any children/babies/toddlers/pets being left behind. Yup, Rover can't fend for himself for a couple days. Wish you could just plop an automatic feeder down like I do when I have to leave for the weekend. (Plopping down a full food bowl with enough food for the weekend is bad idea when you have an itty bitty piggy. Mikko, the 8lb crazy, will sit there and eat the entire bowl in an hour. Then he and Soren starve for the rest of the time. Mikko can trip the automatic feeder and get more food, but he doesn't do it enough to run out.) Of course it didn't work. It's Eaxis.

1.  The hotel lots, while mostly quite nice, are also huuuuuge and tedious to navigate.  Brandi and Jem stayed at the cabins and it was almost comical how random the routing was.  Elsewhere, the surrounding mountains cause the camera to shoot up when you move it around the lot.

Uneven terrain is a major annoyance in picture-taking, and few of the island lots were flat. My camera hack didn't seem to want to work, either. Again. Will beat into submission. My first order of business after testing the three 'hoods is making my own lots, and a realistic hotel one will be first on the docket.

3.  They dug about 30 holes and found two worthwhile things- both maps to the secret locations for the other two vacation destinations.

Mine dug all of five holes. One proved that you should always Call Before You Dig^tm. Two yielded rocks. One the map for the pervy witch doctor. The last gave a rooster statue.

4.  Skill points gained from positive chance cards don't get applied.  This can be fixed by an updated skilling on community lots hack, but it's still a bunch of bullshit.

I may not have been credited for a $350 chance card either. I didn't notice an addition, but then I wasn't paying complete attention.

5.  The locals are generated like crazy.  I saw four or five that were on about every lot along with a few new faces, but then I had this happen:
Four new sims, same outfit type, same last name.  This worries me. 

Far as I can figure, those are families who would also take hotel rooms. I had one similar in the bungalows. Several more families showed up on community lots.

6.  The Unsavory Charlatan isn't playable.  I knew this before, but now that I've seen him in his top hat and monocle, twirling his evil little mustache and cackling to himself, I want to marry him into a legacy at some point. 

There's always sim surgery.

[nekonoai]

Really? Huh. Mine are popping up titles. There's one for each skill...like "charismatic" "creative" "good cook". There's one for "unemployed" and some career-advanced one for level 6+. One for jewelry. One for plantsims, zombies, servos, werewolves. Those are all I can remember at the moment.

I wants me an unemployed, tattooed, zombie man. yeaaaaaaaaaah baby. XD

[Ellie]

I'm loving how sims can overheat and explode from jumping on a bed, yet their body temperature won't rise a bit when they are in the sauna 

Then again, it's probably an American (or Swedish) sauna, which rarely heats above 37 C anyways 

[Aggie]

Regarding the missing skill points/money due to vacation chance cards: I notice that they don't get applied until after the tour is over. Are you all paying attention to the requisite areas when the 'returning from tour' option appears on the screen? I've never had this problem.

[KatEnigma]

Interesting...

Even if you're staying in a vacation home, you can visit and check in to hotels, you just can't save/exit from them. So you can leave the pregnant Sim at the vacation house, and take everyone else to a hotel for the remainder of the trip, without having to deal with keeping her out of the red. I just left my pregnant Sim asleep on the couch, while the dad and daughter checked into the new hotel I just built to test it out. 

[ApatiaMax]

well the most irritating thing for me is that, now my hood is full of townies that wear stupid cloth that none of self respecting sims will wear
eaven than that thare are some bugs, like the pages of the book, when they turn the page, it will come back "her self" (lol)

i've a totally custom hood but now i'm filled, again, of townies, and pets.. (mea culpa, i've didn't remove the files form the BV directory)
btw i didn't want a town filled of sims wearings trees and leaves, or kimono (what's if they made italian sims ?.. with a pizza on the head ?)


So i realy wish in some Awesome hack that fix all Maxis EA stupid things...
(wear stupid cloth just on BV hoods, for example) 

[Skadi]

I found that the body skill point reward didn't come through, and a few of my friends had the same issue, but other points came through. Body point was a reward for parasailing.

[kuronue]

..I picked up my preorder today. I love how they're pointing out bugs in the friggan manual now: "note: due to the extensive insulation of a sauna, relocating one can have hidden costs. The wall of a sauna will need refinishing (new paint or paper) once it has been moved." rofl.

An amusing anecdote: after picking it up, we went to lunch at the chinese place in the mall, and after eating and skimming the manual, I opened my fortune cookie: "you will go on a vacation soon". Again, rofl.

[angelyne]

I'm loving how sims can overheat and explode from jumping on a bed, yet their body temperature won't rise a bit when they are in the sauna 

Then again, it's probably an American (or Swedish) sauna, which rarely heats above 37 C anyways 

What I thought was funny is that sims sitting alone in a sauna gain social points  talking to themselves.

[Lorelei]

Amazon probably won't ship mine until next week, when I will be back in grad school mode and too busy to mess about with it. Meh.

My Dumb Question: Regarding Turn-Ons, do pre-existing Sims get to add or change theirs in any way now that there are more to choose from? If so, how? I'll be annoyed either way, as it will mean a lot of tweaking! LOL

My Second Dumb Question: I noticed that jfade is already being awesome and offering suggestions for dealing with accessories stuck under Glasses prior to BV. Are any players having problems with mis-catted non-Glasses items being slotted with Glasses? Any blue vamp teeth? And flashing blue accessories? How's layering working?

My Third Dumb Question: I'm seeing that a lot of people are alreayd having problems with Walk To Lot. Is there a restriction on what lots you can walk to? Is it only within-same-hood lots (which would make sense)? Is there a certain distance limit? Do they have to be able to see the lot they are walking to (my assumption is yes, they do)? I'm trying to figure out if it is a click option, requiring the Sims to be able to see the lot in question first (and for the player to adjust how far the Sim can see in the video options menu?), or is it a different kind of menu option, say, when they reach the edge of their own lot (and thus spawn a 'where are you going?' pie menu)?

My Fourth Dumb Question: Will new added want slots compete in any way with hacks that allow non-Uni Sims to get more want slots? Also, how long do they last? Are more want locks and fear slots also possible?

My Fifth not-so-Dumb Question: In terms of stability, I understand that Seasons was pretty decent. How is BV holding up? I'm seeing lots of complaints about lagging, but am not sure who has what other EPs / RAM / etc.

Also, while we're chatting about BV:

What (in your opinion) did EAxis get right?

What (in your opinion) did EAxis fuck up royally?

(In your opinion) is this as useless an EP as Sims 1's VAC EP (which I loathed)?

[Tigerlilley]

Its a cute expansion but i still think Seasons has been the best so far.
Your preexisting sims can change their wants via one of the reward thingys anyways.  You have to change their aspiration as well, but you can just change it back.

I have a question also.

Ive seen people talking about the tattoos, the only tats ive found was on one of the fire dancers.  Is there a tattoo skin now? Or is it a accessory?

[akatonbo]

The easiest way to change turn-ons is still going to be the potion (unless someone's made a mod that just lets you change the things without bothering with the potion), but they're not handing out a new batch as far as I know. That's what buyable versions are for.

[FlareStorm]

My Dumb Question: Regarding Turn-Ons, do pre-existing Sims get to add or change theirs in any way now that there are more to choose from? If so, how? I'll be annoyed either way, as it will mean a lot of tweaking! LOL

Existing Sim's wants didn't change.  I guess you have to use that potion.  Didn't Nightlife dump one of those in every sim's inventory?  I wonder if re-installing that would do it again.

My Third Dumb Question: I'm seeing that a lot of people are alreayd having problems with Walk To Lot. Is there a restriction on what lots you can walk to? Is it only within-same-hood lots (which would make sense)? Is there a certain distance limit? Do they have to be able to see the lot they are walking to (my assumption is yes, they do)? I'm trying to figure out if it is a click option, requiring the Sims to be able to see the lot in question first (and for the player to adjust how far the Sim can see in the video options menu?), or is it a different kind of menu option, say, when they reach the edge of their own lot (and thus spawn a 'where are you going?' pie menu)?

Works just like the taxi interface. You click on yourself, click "walk to lot." Brings up a dialog asking you who is going.  Click that, your sim walks to the edge of the lot and you load the community lot. You can go to any community lot in the hood, downtown, ofb suburb, etc.  Its exactly like the taxi except you don't wait for the taxi. In other words, the taxi is now obsolete as far as I can tell.

My Fifth not-so-Dumb Question: In terms of stability, I understand that Seasons was pretty decent. How is BV holding up? I'm seeing lots of complaints about lagging, but am not sure who has what other EPs / RAM / etc.

Mine is working fine, which is surprising because my computer is getting old. Every EP, P4 2.2ghz, 1 gb ram. Haven't experienced this lagging issue.

What (in your opinion) did EAxis get right?

It does what it is supposed to do, you can go on vacation.

What (in your opinion) did EAxis fuck up royally?

Time issue  Sometimes I wonder if they even test  their games.

(In your opinion) is this as useless an EP as Sims 1's VAC EP (which I loathed)?

Depends how you play. If you didn't really use community lots previously, I imagine you wouldn't use vacations.

[jsalemi]

You can also use the Renu-u-Orb to change a sim's turn ons/offs without having to change their aspiration -- at least, it's worked that way for me.

[FlareStorm]

Yeah, that works. I'm just thinking about the least time-consuming way to change a whole bunch of Sims attractions.  I know Nightlife stuck that potion into every Sim's inventory when you installed it. I'm wondering if re-installing Nightlife would do it again without breaking the game.