I don't think any of this needed to be cleared up.  It "is supped" that you should read the thread about the patch and decide for yourself if you want to deal with the new bugs in exchange for fixing the old ones that it lists.  Either way, you should definitely install all the old patches for previous EPs before playing.  And use the appropriate no-CD crack to avoid SecuROM.

I have the official patch with the new crack from Vitality, and the "Rent furnished" option works fine for me.  I also have Inge's apartment fixes, though.

If I understand it correctly, antiredundancy is not necessary if you don't mind having multiple sims of each NPC type.  Unless you get seriously crazy with marrying them into your families, the extra files shouldn't be enough to cause any problems.  However, more files always means longer load times, so it's a trade off.

I personally like having a bit of variety with my NPCs.  I wouldn't want everyone in my neighborhood to have the same maid, gardener, butler, etc.

My experience seems to contradict this.  I've never had any form of CEP, and all the colors of the Ergo windows were still available after installing AL.  The already-bought windows did revert to red, but I was able to change them back to black with the design tool.

There is now a no-cd crack for the patched version at GameCopyWorld:  http://m0001.gamecopyworld.com/games/pc_the_sims_2_apartment_life.shtml

Seriously, they couldn't even manage to copy all of Pescado's fixes this time.

Those character files are townies that were created when you added all those subhoods.  650 shouldn't be enough to cause problems, though.

I would like this feature if they hadn't gone so overboard with it.  I don't pay enough attention to the poses to care that those change, but I have noticed the phonebook and relationship panels taking ridiculously long to load.  That is definitely something I Do Not Want.

There have been plenty of posts about this.  Remove or possibly update CEP.

How exactly have the nannies in particular improved?

I've seen some people saying this on the BBS, and I just don't understand it.  What would be the point of having an apartment feature with special doors if you still had to control everyone at the same time?  That's the way it worked before if you tried to make apartments.  You could still do it that way if you want to.

I'm pretty sure that came with BV.  I agree, though.  It was a much needed feature.

I got the files just fine without any dancing, registration or otherwise.

Would it be possible to make the roomie mod as a separate hack?  I don't have any problem with the way the neighbors act, but I want my roomies to be non-invincible.  Pretty please?

Stuff that may or may not have been introduced with FT:

Like:
How it counts the tiles for you in build mode.  No more squinting and counting identical squares of grass!
BFFs. I know it's silly, but it makes the daily grind of maintaining friendships much less of a hassle.

Do Not Want:
The Lifetime Aspiration meter.  This is one of the reasons I chose not to get FT, and here it is cluttering up my control panel anyway.  At least it isn't as easy as I thought it would be to get an accidental permaplat.

Is there some way to get the tombstones back once they are moved?  I haven't been able to find mine yet (they weren't where it said they were), but I'm wondering how I can get them back to a playable lot once I do find them.  I don't have NL, so I can't use the "move tombstone" feature, and inventories aren't accessible at community lots...

My faith in humanity just jumped up a notch.  Maybe the masses really aren't going to let entertainment companies stomp all over them like I thought they would.

From page 7...


Just wanted to confirm that this is happening in my game, too.  Hotels are sad and lonely without the tourists.

Also, the maid just stood next to the checkout desk the whole time instead of doing his job.  Oh, and he also didn't have a face.  Fun stuff.

Edit:  Now I'm totally confused.

Test 2:  Tourists showed up at hotel right away, just like they normally should.

Test 3:  No tourists at the hotel, even after waiting two whole days.  They show up just fine at the community lots, though.

Edit #2:  After returning from the community lot, some tourists finally showed up and checked in.  WTF?

Okay, has anyone figured out how to place two decorations on the same wall section yet?  I can move them up and down fine, but it won't let me place the second object.

Antiredundancy isn't necessary if you don't mind having a few different sims of each NPC type, right?  The unlimited NPC spawning thing hasn't been a problem since BVp0...right?

I haven't installed notownieregen yet because I haven't yet seen it explained what the AL version actually does.  Does it keep the game from spawning any townies at all now?  I just want to squash the never-ending spawning of the new social group townies.  Ideally, I would also want the game to continue replacing townies who die or become playable, but I suppose that can be done manually.

Edit:  Okay, I've done a bit of testing with a rebooted Pleasantview.  Before loading with AL installed, it had 358 character files.  After loading, it had 447.  So I guess AL automatically creates 89 NPCs/townies when installed, and notownieregen doesn't do anything to hinder this.  After visiting community lots and moving people into apartments, the count is still at 447, which is similar to your results.  So notownieregen does seem to completely stop the continual spawning of new AL townies, instead populating apartments and community lots with the new townies that are created at install, which is definitely how it should be.

Most of us are just playing Belladonna Cove or another throwaway hood for now.  I'm personally not touching my regular hood with a ten foot pole until someone figures out what's going on with the mass invasion of new townies.

The picture is turnable with just the normal mirror for me.

How is the neighbor hiding supposed to work?  It seems to do something different on every lot I play.  On the Peterson lot, it stayed blacked out all the time, even when the playable girl was in the apartment.  On the Patel lot, it was blacked out most of the time, but became visible when a playable entered.  In the Cho lot, it was blacked out, but I could still see them walking around and doing things in there.  And finally, with a CAS sim on the painted ladies lot, the neighbors were completely visible 24/7.

Did they bork every single lot in Belladonna Cove, or what?

I've been using a random name generator for a while now.  I get a lot of weird ones, but it gives me a nice variety with minimal effort on my part.