More Awesome Than You!

Perhaps this has been discussed, but I can't find it and am short on time. I have sims appearing on the lot after my resident sims finish talking to them on the phone, is this a hack that needs to be updated, or game glitch? Only noticed it after seasons, have the latest phone hack.

On a related note (possible is diff version of same problem): When my sims phone someone, they don't show up, but their portrait changes as if they were on the lot- as in, they get sunburned or turn blue depending on the weather.

It has been discussed and it is a Maxis glitch.  I had it in a completely vanilla game, long before I found MATY, around the time I got NL.  I actually have not seen it yet since I installed Seasons, but I fully expect to.

Multiple callers backed up at the same time on cell and house phones seem to result in some of the callers teleporting onto the lot.  My sims with many friends (50+), and multiple comm outings per day get lots of phone calls.  Friends around 50 STR all call around 4pm, and contacts + invitations to more outings call at 6pm.  As far as I can determine, it has to do with playing style.  My households with fewer family friends rarely get teleporting callers. 

So that's why it only happens to my popularity sims! Hmmm, you learn something new everyday.

I've had that happen since I installed JM's phone hack, but it only occurs if one Sim is using a cell and other using a landline at the same time.  If I cancel out the cell phone call, no popup visitor. 

Given Seelindarum's claim that it's an EA glitch, I'll move out the phone hack and see if I can replicate it.

I'm not sure if this is a glitch, but it sounds sort of related. When I'm playing, my sim teens can no longer go on dates. They'll get permission, call up the sim, I get the box saying "cool" and all that...and then right after the kid hangs up, the date walks on to the property like they've been called to come over. Kid never shows up later with the car. They just show up on the lot after I call.

Sneak out still works though...so I suppose all my simteens will have to make do. Darn. It's not a big deal, but i'm wondering as to why this is happening. If it's related to the mysteriously appearing sims thing above.

Aryn

I had always thought that this behavior was some sort of unusual feature, since it only happens rarely for me.  I'm not sure why, but it seems to happen much more often on lots with basements than on any other.  It might be related to 'brought home friends' who appear teleported into the basement instead of getting off the bus?


I am using 'phonehack' now, and I have had this issue both before and after.  Now that you mention it, though, I had not seen it for quite a while, then the behavior returned recently.  It still is not common, but there definitely seemed to be a break in it for a while.  Perhaps there is something to this, or maybe it is just sadorandomness.


You should definitely be getting a dialog box asking whether the date should be at home or on a community lot, and this should be the first thing after the phone call.  If you are not getting that, then something is broken.

No, only if you ask them out.  If they call you they always want to go downtown.

Thanks, this is great!

And here I thought I was responding to this post:

I have never experienced the teleporting phonecallers effect, not even during the morning 8-man autoyak fest. Something non-Awesome is likely producing this, as this issue SHOULD have been eliminated as a result of the Pets changes to the way phone calls worked.

The "phonecallers turning blue on the phone" issue is fixed in the warmthfixes.

Pes, since you never allow a relationship to decay below 98 before having a macro call everyone, you'll never have had the problems of multiple friends trying to call you at 4 pm.

I've occasionally seen Sims teleported to the lot after the game resets, but I've never seen it happen otherwise.

Hook

I've actually been lurking here for the better part of year before I finally signed up, and since getting the shiny new laptop have tried to keep my game relatively hack -free. (No, really. Stop laughing.) This, of course, failed the moment i discovered the awesomeness of the More Awesome (as found under the directory for Redundant Department of Redundancy), so I have Awesome hacks...and some clothes that are less awesome.

This 'appearing sim' trick, that would make a magician green with envy, is something new as I haven't encountered it before seasons.  It's not a problem really, I'm just curious about why...and will my neighborhood implode?

Aryn

Probably. Suddenly appearing sims may materialize in the basement and get stuck and die. Also it's the sign of a deeper problem. Try the Phone Hack, perhaps this fixes it?

When a teenage sim asks permission to go out they can then phone a Friend and they go out exactly the same as sneaking out except they do it during the day with no risk. Its been in the game since before Nightlife and Downtown even existed and has nothing to do with Dates or Outings, there something different. So his problem is he calls his friend and asks to "go out" then instead of his friend turning up to pick him up in his car then leaving the lot for a few hours, the sim is coming around as if he was invited over. Ive never had this problem myself though, just thought I would clear it up..

As for the Teleporting sims I used to get that a lot, but I haven't really noticed it since installing Seasons (I don't have pets). I don't play Pop sims as much now, so my sims tend to have less than the usual 20+ best friends so that might also be why  :P

Yes, that's it exactly. They just walk on by, no date at all. Poor poor simteens, doomed to forever live their teenage ...weeks out as bad girls/boys who sneak out at any chance, but never get to go on a single date. 

So anyways, checking out JM's phone hack, will see if that fixes things. 

Aryn (pssst...girl here not a guy)  ;)

Not really a glitch.....but interesting, I have had parents show up on a lot if my sim is talking to a child on the phone close to midnight. It has happened with Vidcund showing up while Pascal was talking to his (Vidcund's) son. Chloe Singles also always shows up when the father of her son rings the boy late at night.

I had this annoying glitch with any phone call when I had Uni EP installed after NL. When later I reinstalled the game with EPs in correct order, that glitch disappeared.

Well, as all of you were, then.  The maybe two times I ever used the 'ask permission' command I probably inadvertently stomped the automatic behavior by directing the teen to use the phone, and as such did not even know this feature was there.  Now I will have to try this out.  Previously I had considered this interaction a useless formality and did not bother.  This just proves it is never too late to learn something new.

Well, I tried to get the cell/land line teleporting trick to work tonight.  Three times in one family, once in another. Didn't work.  The one thing I wasn't certain of is the location of those being called.  They may have all been at Uni (I've lost track) and I think my previous magical appearances dealt with Sims in the same hood.

Actually this is good news.  Now I can retrieve all the cell phones I ditched in the back bushes, on the premise of out of sight and hearing range, out of mind.

Every time it happened to me, it was with uni sims who all had cellphones, but it's been quite a while since I've had the teleporting sims problem, so I couldn't tell you what brought it on, though I do know that two of the sims on the lot had popularity aspiration, and thus many friends.

The entire Go/Sneak Out thing was a poorly-thought out add-on that became functionally obsolete as of NL, since you can have outings or dates, anytime the hell you feel like, without any sneaking or asking.

Can wfsanity be tweaked to stop my teens rolling the silly wants to Go/Sneak Out?  If I want my teen sim to go out then I'll send them on a date or outing, not some pointless, silly, timewasting Go/Sneak Out.

link=topic=8939.msg244882#msg244882 date=1183520126]
Well, I tried to get the cell/land line teleporting trick to work tonight.  Three times in one family, once in another. Didn't work.  The one thing I wasn't certain of is the location of those being called.  They may have all been at Uni (I've lost track) and I think my previous magical appearances dealt with Sims in the same hood.

Actually this is good news.  Now I can retrieve all the cell phones I ditched in the back bushes, on the premise of out of sight and hearing range, out of mind.
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I can hope that maybe Seasons fixed it then?
I don't remember if it happened at Uni.  Usually, my Uni sims don't have quite as many friends yet.


I reported that it happens when incoming calls get backed up on cell phones.  An example:  Wellesley gets a call at 6pm from Cameron and then Carter to invite her on more outings.  She declines.  Backed up behind the twins are two contacts from her outings yesterday.  She declines them, too.  By the time she's done with all this around 8pm, I notice on her relationship panel that Cameron has teleported onto the lot.  Since Wellesley's house has a basement, that's where Cameron is.  If not, they can appear at the back porch, or the front porch, always right next to the foundation, but on the ground.

I'm not sure if it's relevant that more than one sim in the household receives this kind of barrage at the same time.  It seems like it happened more often if Wellesley's father Alan was also receiving calls, but that could just be an effect of increased odds.  No one is using the landline at this time, although of course it is ringing off the hook since there is a long line of waiting callers while one is being received on the cell phone.

As I said, I saw it first in a vanilla game with Uni+NL, and I've continued to see it sporadically all the way up to Pets.  The phonehack does nothing for it.  I remember adding it hoping to get rid of this glitch.  The only hacks I have are Awesome, or awesome from the Peasantry.

Since I only experience this with incoming phone calls, it's rather time-consuming to set up.  If I can make it happen in Seasons, I'll investigate more and report back.

That would explain why I never see it: I don't accept incoming calls, they tend to be useless, as it's either someone I don't want to talk to, or someone I've already hit 100 with. I can look into fixing it so that only one incoming call is allowed at a time, though.

I've had this happen on rare occasions as well.  Much more often with the base game and it appeared to be fixed with the patch for me.  So, I always thought it was associated with the jump bug because it only happened with one Sim who later started experiencing more symptoms of the jump bug - she was the only Sim I ever had that caught the jump bug. 

I didn't notice it happening again until Pets and it has happened perhaps only 2 or 3 times so far - once or twice with Pets and only once with Seasons installed.

I don't think that hacks have anything to do with it.  I only have a select few Awesome hacks - 3 to be exact and nothing phone related.  In fact, I have ever only used Awesome hacks & I regularly scan for other hacks.

I don't recall if it was only during incoming calls or not, but I do answer incoming calls sometimes just to stop the ringing.  I'll have to start paying closer attention...

The glitch seems to be mostly harmless, though it's annoying when they show up in the basement, as it messes up the APO management of visitor traffic flow.  Since OFB and Seasons, my sims have more to do, so only Popularity or Romance sims have a ludicrous excess of friends.  Hence my theory that it's the change in my own playing style which has lowered the incidence of this glitch.

What would happen to the other calls if only one incoming is allowed at a time?  I typically ignore the 4pm calls since those are friends I want to neglect if they've become so low, but some sims can use the contacts from outings to help fulfill their LTWs.

Nothing. Only one incoming call allowed at a time is the system that has worked fine in real life, so you probably wouldn't notice anyway.