Whatever keeps them warm - invisible underfloor heating?  new heating deco items in AL?

maybe the Pets are just borked to think they are human - I've had that before, but the familiars were new in this play session.

I bet a lot of countries don't let you give power back never mind pay you for it.  But one or two solar panels shouldn't give you enough power to cover all your bills and give you a net negative on property tax and utilities! 

Is this just me?
1. Pets are on the list of invitees for parties...  so are familiars who are not on the lot!
2. Familiars Error when trying to get through the new bookcase/revolving door.  "Error: Animation name is empty string."   I haven't tried it with a normal pet.
3. Caged birds get stuck after a while.  No error, you just can't interact with them..

I have M&G installed with all SPs and EPs.  The house I'm playing is the one in Belladonna cove with the 2 sisters who want to be witches, but I don't think it's the house.  There's a ton of CC in game including most of the directors cut & twojeffs caged pet fixes (AL version).

cursor XP is the one that always used to stop you using the cheat box.  Turn debug mode on in startup if you can't do it in game.  MTS2 has a "how to" in the help section.  Look there for this kind of basic stuff.

there may be some hacks you used to need for deluxe that you don't need for OFB.  Just overwriting won't get rid of them. You'd need to take out the old set before you put the new set in.

more 101 questions just in case....
did you patch OFB?
did you delete groups.cache

I hadn't thought of that.  I'd have said it would pretty rare for a power company to pay real money to an individual for excess electricity, but I guess the system varies from country to country.

I'm told that if you install enough solar panels, you get more cash back than you pay in bills.  Is this true?  Surely the rebate ought to be capped in some way - say no more than 25% of the household bills.

Oh goodie - I hate being without it!

Anyone know if the AL version works with M&G or if EAxis have messed things up for us yet again?

Save the whole neighbourhood and just drop it right back in the game after the re-install. 
Keep that file as a backup and then re-make the hood how you want it - evict sims, bulldoze lots, kill sims off etc etc.  Just don't delete sims in the simbin and don't put occupied lots in the lotbin.  If you do either of those by mistake - start over with that backup.

I'm not buying Sims3/Securom, but I'd like to know what I would have had to buy to play it.  My Dell Dimension has old-style PCI slots (PCI 2.2 I'm told) & I suspect that all the in-spec cards will be PCIe or AGP.  So am I saving the cost of a new graphics card or a new PC?

EDIT - These are the revised specs published here http://thesims3.ea.com/view/pages/newsItem.jsp?item=236875146

THE SIMS 3 MINIMUM HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS

FOR WINDOWS XP
    * Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
    * 2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
    * 1 GB RAM
    * At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
    * 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

FOR WINDOWS VISTA
    * Windows Vista (Service Pack 1)
    * 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
    * 1.5 GB RAM
    * At least 6.5 GB of hard drive space with at least 1 GB additional space for custom content
    * 128 MB Video Card with support for Pixel Shader 2.0

For computers using built-in graphics chipsets, the game requires at least:
    * Intel Integrated Chipset, GMA X3000 or above.
    * 2.6 GHz Pentium D CPU, or 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo, or equivalent
    * 0.5 GB additional RAM

SUPPORTED VIDEO CARDS

NVIDIA GeForce series
    FX 5900, FX 5950
    6200, 6500, 6600, 6800,
    7200, 7300, 7600, 7800, 7900, 7950
    8400, 8500, 8600, 8800
    9600, 9800, GTX 260, GTX 280

ATI Radeon™ series
    9500, 9600, 9800
    X300, X600, X700, X800, X850
    X1300, X1600, X1800, X1900, X1950
    2400, 2600, 2900
    3450, 3650, 3850, 3870,
    4850, 4870

 
Intel® Extreme Graphics
    GMA X3x00 series

Laptop versions of these chipsets may work, but may run comparatively slower. Standalone cards that are installed in vanilla PCI slots (not PCIe or PCIx or AGP), such as some GeForce FX variants, will perform poorly. Intel integrated chipsets featuring underclocked parts will not perform adequately.

Integrated chipsets such as the ATI Xpress and the NVIDIA TurboCache variants will have low settings selected, but should run satisfactorily.

Please note that attempting to play the game using video hardware that isn't listed above may result in reduced performance, graphical issues or cause the game to not run at all.

The NVIDIA GeForce FX series is unsupported under Vista.

Try deleting the attraction markers - sometimes they screw things up.  The lotdebugger has the delete attraction markers on the memory pie menu.

Search on frigid sims will find other reports about this problem.  I've had them too.

EDIT - frigid sims usually won't fall in love - the last one I had would make out, but not fall in love....

Ohhhh!!!!  So your relevant wages hack is probably impoverishing my playable employees......

Gamecopyworld have this great disclaimer on the front page - maybe whoever is putting up or linking to these fixed items should explain that they are putting up fixed items as a public service for those who bought the glitchy stuff from EA in good faith and tell people not to download unless they already have a copy. ........ 

I M P O R T A N T   N O T I C E
GameCopyWorld only supplies Information and Tools necessary to make a PERSONAL BACKUP of legally owned Game CD/DVD's.
GameCopyWorld in NO WAY links or makes it possible to illegally download or acquire any copyrighted game(s) or Serials/Keys (including CD/DVD & Activation Keys).  GameCopyWorld cannot be held responsible if any of the information and/or files contained on this site are used in the pursuit of illegal activities, such as copyright infringement or piracy.
Keep the following in mind when making a backup of an Original Game CD/DVD:

    * You are LEGALLY ALLOWED to make a personal backup of an Original Game CD/DVD as long as you are the owner of the Original Game CD/DVD.
    * You are NOT ALLOWED to sell, rent or give away any backups of copyrighted Games CD/DVD's, as this is not allowed by Copyright Laws.
    * You MUST DESTROY any backups when you don't legally own the Original Game CD/DVD anymore (e.g. selling or giving it away)
    * Before making a backup, check in the supplied manual or on the back of the CD/DVD, if there are special conditions or provisions for making a personal backup.

You are ONLY allowed to ENTER GameCopyWorld if you need information to make a backup of an Original Game CD/DVD of which you are the legal owner. By Clicking the ENTER button you agree with the above Notice!
If you do not agree with the above notice then close your browser now!

I wonder if I could sell them some new clothes in an OFB business....  Thanks for the suggestion!  Changing clothes would certainly help.  The socialite would work a lot better in a twinset and pearls.

Like Maygus, I understand them to mean that not deleting links to those downloads is 'allowing' and 'encouraging' copyright violation.  As you're not posting in the thread egging people on, that's a bit of a reach for me, but I'm not a lawyer.  Isn't posting about whatever you want a freedom of speech thing anyway?

Do they really believe that dealing with those particular downloads is going to fix anything?   Delete one and another 5 will pop up elsewhere.  The stupid thing is that the Sims2 community is almost certainly the least geeky and most law abiding game community in existence!  Going after us with Securom and antagonistic legal stuff like this just sets more people on the road they want us to avoid!  I'd never even downloaded a hack until I hit headmaster bug & I didn't know what nocd cracks were until EA went over to Securom.

I'm another non-US customer who can't buy this stuff anyway.  Not that I actually want more of their junk - there's better stuff on fansites.  But if I did buy any, I'd go straight out and look for fixed versions on the internet!

Didn't think I owned any tight pants.  I certainly don't have insim or inteen.  Could have been a version problem I suppose, but this was in Meadow Lawns and I was careful what hacks I had in for that because it was for download.  Other sims were OK, but this one had a problem.  Water under the bridge really, but it left me with a lasting impression of borkedness.

You've said before that what the business pays isn't what the sim actually gets.  I don't remember the explanation if I even understood it at the time.  I can't say I've looked at the numbers even - I'm happier not looking for things that would annoy me.  Given the way the game works, the two numbers are never going to match, but are you saying there is actually some logical connection?   I was imagining all employees received a standard wage regardless of what the business paid.  That would be consistent with the fact that it's set up as a career.  Maybe I need to reconsider my aversion to pay rises - just for playables of course!

I just think that if they set it up as a career, they missed a good opportunity to do something different and make it a normal career with badge based promotions.  The fact that they had to fix the teen problem in the patch just proves they didn't think about teens in the first place.  If they had thought about them, they'd have built a teen/elder career alongside the adult career like they always do. They'd have fixed it to work for the Uni scholarship as well!   I'm not 100% against elders working longer hours for low pay, but 9-5 Mon-Fri is too many hours and the hours are wrong - the oldies should be doing odd shifts here and there or shelf stacking at weekends.   If you want elders to work full time, then you can keep them in an adult career instead of making them retire or use a noagediscrimination hack.

Thanks for the answers - particularly the VBT warning. I've deleted the entire hood and I'll start over again converting unnoccupied lots and package them up at all key points before adding sims for testing!  I hope the communal garden idea works.

So what is a terrace of retired folk?  They don't want either socialites or mech heads as neighbours!  Maybe I'd better go with medium.   What is the default setting?   

I can't say I like the social groups - none of them fit into my game - they're all too young.   Where are the golfers, the WI, the mothers&toddlers group, the AmDram or the local choir?  Young sims in weird clothes just look odd walking around my hoods.

I have some existing buildings I want to convert to apartments.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/cwykes/MeadowLawns/jubileegardens/jubileegardens.html
They're terraced houses and I built them in OFB for multiple occupancy - the idea was to use Uni or OFB lockable doors to keep the families separate, but they weren't easy to play.  I've had problems with my first attempts at converting them to AL.  The playabes end up with service NPC tokens according to the lotdebugger.  I've had AL about a week, so I'm behind the curve...  if there's a guide, please point me in the right direction..

1. Is converting an existing lot as simple as a,b c?
a) eliminate all access but 1 door,
b) change that door to an AL door
c) use changelotzoning apartmentbase

2. Can I convert existing occupied lots?  The readme that came with the game, says not, but is there a workaround?

3) How do you add things to the communal area once you have sims in?  EDIT - I guess that's boolProp aptBaseSpecificToolsDisabled false

4)  wtf is lotclassification & what's the point of the "changeLotClassification [low | middle | high]" cheat? 

5) Does all the Seasons garden stuff work on community lots?  Looks like it does to me, but then my apartments are possibly borked...
I built a big communal gardens at the back of one terrace including orchards and a greenhouse.  The playables could use communal compost bins and plant things in the communal garden and the landlord was sweeping leaves, weeding, watering and pruning. Is that because of an awesome hack or basic EAxis? I didn't get as far as harvest, but it was all working rather nicely!  Does the garden club look at the communal area or just the appartment?

They screwed up other aspects of the fake career as well didn't they. 

1) There isn't an elder/teen career so elders and teens are supposed to work 9-5 mon-fri.  There's a fix for the teens (in Pescados OFB fixes?), but the elders work a very long week.   

2) The pay doesn't work right - I can live with amounts that don't make sense, but one playable manager went to work and came back with 0 pay every day. 

3?) I don't think he got any vacation days either.

4?) I bet you can't get a Uni scholarship off the OFB 'career'.

If they'd gone a bit further with it, the fake career could have been really good - with badges required for promotion instead of skills and a proper pay scale.  level 0 no skills, level 1 sales bronze, etc etc.

I guess the thing is too bloody complicated to fix properly, but at least they won't be screwing it up any further now the last EP/SP is out!

My sim was having a yard sale.  I obviously didn't want him to restock anything so when an item sold, I either deleted it, or used the lot debugger option to clear stock signs en masse.  After a while I noticed I couldn't place things on various squares and had to go around with the stuckobjectremover to clean up.  Surely the 'clear stock signs' option shouldn't leave invisible junk behind?

Yard sales turn out to be good for building a reputation btw  The grumpy old fart is now very popular!

This OFB annoyance is even more irritating because it's been there so long - I want to be able to queue things after "ring up these customers".  Whne I queue 'Ring up the customers' & then 'use the toilet' - the sim heads of to the bathroom and abandons the customers.  OK the work around is to use "be cashier" instead, but you have to remember to cancel that.  'Be cashier' & then 'use the toilet'  ....... Oops!

Are the hobby chance cards properly integrated?.... for Pets?...  A couple of days back a cat got a chance card which lost it the job, but it didn't come home immediately.  Instead it came home at the normal time with a promotion - I guess job performance was good - or it had 9 lives....   I was playing the sim while the pet earned the money, so I wasn't paying proper attention to the details.  I've had something similar before though.

delete groups.cache?....

Motoki made a pink servo a while back that didn't overwrite the defaults.  He gave a quick outline of how as well.
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,3685.0.html