NPCs and portals
does anyone know if the patch cleared up existing NPC portal problems properly? 
I gather it fixes the glitch Crammyboy found where cancelling a "read to ...." interraction sometimes deleted a portal, but I have seen a couple of Simmers whose gardener went home without doing anything and one of them seems to have lots of glitchy NPCs still around post patch.  Logically, if the portal is fixed, they should all have gone home, but have they really?   
Can you safely use Merola's mirror or the teleporter shrub to check for invisible stuck NPCs?

I've also had mad scientists missing work when they weren't supposed to go - FYI this is in the base game as I don't have Uni or NL.

When/If HM bug comes back I will do just that unless I've heard for sure that it's really bad idea in the meantime.  HM code probably didn't chang between TS2 and TSU.....   

 I still want a proper Maxis patch though....   

Isn't this a form of NPC slowdown bug caused by a missing/non-working portal?  I thought this was fixed in the patch and that's why I'm worrying the guy still has it!

There's a storage limit on interests.  You're good sharing interests until you hit that.  Once the game notices you are over the limit, it randomly chops things off other subjects until you are back within the limit.  So sharing interests or reading magazines can actually cause your sim to lose interest points!  Most people don't bother with share interests or magazines because of these random losses.  Otherwise share interests would be a really good interraction. - better than gossip which spreads corrupt and other memories around the place!  There's a thread here about efficient personalities which covered interests too.  Did you knwo interests change as sims age and you gain points at age transitions?
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=323.0

The thing I liked about unleashed apart from the fact that it fixed build mode bug, wasn't the pets, but the gardening.  In fact I liked all the things you could have your sims do to be self supporting without having to go to work.  There's no challenge in sending them to work and once you've got to the top of the career, what next - start over on another career - same old....  Sitting waiting for them to come home again is tedious too....

I thought Sims in business would be giving us some of these objects back like workbench, chemistry set, nectar press, veggie gardens, jam and honey making, spinning wheel etc so you could sell the things your sims made.  Maybe I got that wrong.  My fear about the business EP is that you'll get some really bad management stuff like that naff "negotiate the pay" option I remember from Theme park tycoon.  I imagine we're going to get more awful chance cards "your employee screws up, do you say never mind dear or kick his ass?" or "your customer is being unreasonable do you ... ".  (I always ignore chance cards now - too risky!)

thanks whoever for the link to the hacked computer - article writing sounds good and I've got the download now, but the hack does rather too much for me.  One thing at a time like JM hacks suits me better.

Thanks I have it, but the rtfm says tested on TSU.  Is it OK if you don't have University?  I guess it probably is, but since I don't actually have HM bug at the moment I thought I'd wait for an answer.  I asked on the thread about patches - didn't see a reply last time I checked, but will try later.

My main point is really on behalf of all those other simmers out there who don't have all JMs wonderful hacks.
Maxis should update the patch for the base game to include all the fixes they put into the Uni patch that apply. 
That isn't only HM bug by a long shot...  The patch already exists - might as well put everything in it not just half of it.

Thanks for this I'll pass it on. I know a good simmer who may have made this mistake

re whether these bugs are common or not....  come on guys... if you were writing the blurb for the patch what would you put on it... "to fix a really common and nasty problem..."?   

Thankyou for listening MaxoidTom - 

Yes but I DON'T have University so I CAN'T use this patch!!!!

Yeah well what about those of us with NO university and NO nightlife.  Some of these fixes go back to the basic game like headmaster bug.  That was a major problem to me for over a month (real time) til it went away of its own accord.  I don't want it back. We need an updated patch for the basic game too!  I guess this is in rant mode.  How about begging and pleading and yes, I did post on the main BBS.  I got 2 people explaining where to get the old patch - aaarrrghhh!

I mostly visit the old EA site where maxoid and beneseekers never go.  Nice friendly place though we field a lot of "will my PC run NL" posts.  We had 2 posts today from people with gameplay problems post patch.  One with a stuck gardener and the other still can't get his young adults back into real life.  I'm looking around for any similar problems post patch and any new solutions. but not much is posted yet  - I can read up on the old ones..... 

The simmer with the stuck gardener also had nannies running round in their underwear and a wedding crasher who died of starvation and I think they had a stuck grim reaper too.  that was all pre-patch and I'm not clear if this was all on the same lot and whether any problems disappeared, but my games are never that exciting!  If that portal diagnosis tool from MTS2 is OK post patch, I'll get them to try that.  First link has the gardener at the end.  The second is about the nannies.
http://thesims.ea.com/us/index.html?frame_src_content=%2Fbbs%2Fmessages.php%3F%26threadID%3D639bb08f1eb3631bde12a44b35bd6dc6%26directoryID%3D341
http://thesims.ea.com/us/index.html?frame_src_content=%2Fbbs%2Fmessages.php%3F%26threadID%3D639bb08f1eb3631bde12a44b35bd6dc6%26directoryID%3D341

The simmer with the young adults also isn't very specific.
After my sims graduated from college, I tried to play them and I couldn't!!! It is like you entering an empty lot!!! How do I fix this problem? I have NL, and I installed the patch for it & it still ain't working!!! Will somebody tell me what to do to fix this problem?"  later post " I moved them back to Pleasantview. The guy sim I moved him in with his children's mother and the other sim I moved her in her own home. I didn't throw a graduation party, because I didn't know that I had to! I did install the college clock and VK told me that it is not compatible in Night Life and I haven't installed it as of yet. I didn't think it would interfer with my game if I didn't use it. Could that be the culprit?"
http://thesims.ea.com/us/index.html?frame_src_content=%2Fbbs%2Fmessages.php%3F%26threadID%3D639bb08f1eb3631bde12a44b35bd6dc6%26directoryID%3D341

If homecrafter just plain doesn't work if you have Nightlife but not University, that's surely a problem for Maxis to fix. Isn't it?  As they are listening to us at the moment, please could someone pass this on. 

that's about the reaction I get from pretty much everyone.

Since I don't have Uni or NL, I don't have permaplat.  I have sims who would be permaplat though.  I use them as tutors and baby sitters to avoid nannies completely.  I moved a bunch of teen townies in with one romance sim who had got to 30 loves at once and concentrate on them not him.  The idea was to grow them up so he could flirt with them too.   He can't encourage, but he can use career objects.  In another house I had 1 knowledge sim who knew everything - I gave him a succession of boyfriends and had him make friends with all the kids and teach them things (thanks to JM's hacks).  He and a partner adopted a really ugly kid, then I had him marry the maid and start a family.  I wanted to have him max all his interests, but that's technically impossible I discovered.

I've only had 3 sims die - one by accident during the headmasters visit, one was an elder I created in CAS to live and die in a starter home, thus creating a starter home with a gravestone for other knowledge sims to move into.  it was on the sims2 site.  The other was also created to die and provide a gravestone.  I was trying to set up a sort of elder challenge... I can't bear to kill any others off, but I have quite a few elders now...

re grandma - Buntah made some non-saggy meshes for grandma on TSR.  They're better...

If you use cleaninstaller, can't you clear out the junk sims before you put the lot in your game?  Is it then OK?

re Nannies - someone on my usual board has a "scary" nanny problem.
http://thesims.ea.com/us/index.html?frame_src_content=%2Fbbs%2Fmessages.php%3F%26threadID%3D1e1944f2a13aec4010f2ce0351eb8824%26directoryID%3D341
" Oh help! Not only do I have two nannies and can't make them leave, the older one was tired so she got into my sims' bed in her underwear and is now roaming around the house in her underwear. I'm pretty sure she wears a girdle and she'll traumatize the toddler, the kids going to grow up to be a sociopath if he has to keep seeing this. She's sure scaring me. Yikes! How do get rid of her!"

build yourself a small food and clothes shop with 1 checkout till - that will run nice and fast especially if you use the garden for chess, swings or whatever.  You'll have a really useful little lot.  Sometimes my sims are terminally broke and the 50$ delivery fee is too much! - they take a friend to a community lot, pick up the groceries, play chess until they are friends and meet someone new.  (I put one or two on TSR, but they are easy to build.

We had a couple of people with the same problem on the old Sims site.  You could chip in on that threadl if you want to ask them about operating systems.  We don't visit the new BBS much....

http://thesims.ea.com/us/index.html?menu=community&content=/us/chat/

Me too - I think I had just about every download from there in my game!  including the simslice chickens, the kiwis and the koi.  Hard work, but your sims could be self sufficient with a good garden (unleashed & MM), a nectar press (MM), an easel or a workbench and a phone.   I miss the nice phone calls too. "You have won some money etc" beats "are we still friends"  hands down!

Similar story - my daughter got to the "good" PC first and I was reduced to the old Win98 PC that just about managed Sims1 + all expansions.  I did like the control you have over what the Sims do with their lives.  I do find all the aspirations a bit constricting.  That was about a month ago.

thanks - I've downloaded one and will try it out.  I don't have uni or NL, so the wallcoverings will probably be subsituted and the shower disappear.  It will actually fit in my willows neighbourhood I think  .  How about a matching community shop (food and clothes)?  - small size for extra playability...   pretty please?

I'm glad you like them...    you made my day!  do you know what they look like in NL - does the river idea work?
I've been thinking about that no20k hack as well....

NB - I recommend you only put one checkout till in the lot, so the number of NPCs is down to 1 and more sims can visit the lot. I also recommend a chess table!

I had a few more thoughts:
1. the starter house should be expandable as the family grows and earns money.  Plan where a staircase will go if you build a bungalow so you don't have to change the whole floorplan when you want to put another floor on top.
2. for a starter home 1 bedroom is enough with room for a double and 1 or 2 singles.  No point having 2 small rooms with low room scores instead of 1 with a reasonable score. 
3. a starter family can manage with 1 bathroom, but a 2nd bathroom is always the first thing you have to add.  If you only have 1 bathroom, don't put a sink in it, just shower and loo.  Neat sims can wash their hands in the kitchen sink and vacate the bathroom!
4.  I like a garden that can be used as a room -  You can put the dining set on an outside patio plus easels, gym equipment bookcase and chair.  I usually put the baby and toddler stuff outside too. Ponds with lilies work for me as they don't need gardeners.  I wouldn't download a lot with nothing in the garden.  sims go through the garden on the way to work, so it needs to have a good room score.
5. A big cheap kitchen is a waste of space and money in a starter home.  I always put the expensive fridge and one expensive counter in a starter home to improve the food and forget the cooker - they can't use it without any cooking points and it's asking for trouble when they don't have many.!

wondered if lack of Uni had something to do with it.  might be nice to have this in the readme......
Actually - I quite like airhead - in some perverse kind of way!

My PC is at the lower end of the specs, so I'm looking for something I can play comfortably.  I mainly download things on small lots as the PC copes better, my sims don't have to spend hours getting from A to B and I don't lose track of what the others are doing while I deal with 1 sim.

I don't want any hacks included when I download, but custom content is fine.  However, the house has got to be affordable by my sims.  I don't use money cheats and my established sims don't move because of the portraits career objects etc etc, so the only houses I'm actually going to play are starter homes and maybe a few second homes.  I downloaded a nice looking house from somewhere the other day - the price turned out to be 431,000$ - none of my sims are that rich or likely to be that rich!

I think there's a niche for small playable shops.  The maxis community lots are not very playable -everything is a long way to walk and my PC couldn't cope with them at all before I bought a graphics card. 

I also like a set of themed lots to give the neighbourhood some coherent style.  more tudor lots for veronaville - some of the maxis starter lots have badly place stairs for example. I made some small lots on a theme with water and willows along the back of each lot so you could put them next to each other and get a fake river on the neighbourhood map.  I'm sure one of you clever people could do a lot more with that idea and I'd love to know how it works in NL when you can see next door from your house.  This pic was taken a while back, the neigbourhood has grown since then!  I put them on TSR as I have downloaded so much free stuff from there, it seemed like a fair payback.  they also check lots for hacks which I like.  I'm cwykes there if you want to see individual  lots - PMs and comments welcome!

[attachment deleted by admin]

tried it again with another sim in another lot.  I don't get any options.  He just started right in encouraging niceness.  He did have a choice of things to encourage so it wasn't skipping the menu through lack of choice .
I only have the sims2 not Uni or NL, but that hack read me says that's OK.
Personally I don't like my sims too nice or too neat, but ultra grouchy sims are a real pain when it comes to making career friends.
I see I'm an asinine airhead - first time anyone's ever dared call me an airhead! - anyone alive that is......  Grouch, grouch   

I didn't get a choice about what was to be encouraged.  He just started right in on encourage grouchiness - Isn't that child abuse too? - better try it again though - maybe there were special circumstances about that one.  I'll post again if necessary.  thanks

Can you choose what they encourage?  When I tried it, I discovered Consort Capp encouraging Juliet to be grouchy and had to put a quick stop to it.  I don't have Uni so I wasn't sure if that was how it was supposed to work.  I just never liked the sound of Uni...

I don't have Uni or NL.  Can I use the debugger? 
It says "tested on Uni" and most of the problems it addresses are Uni problems, so I thought I'd better ask before I put it in my game.
My main interest is headmaster bug as I had a major problem with that a few months back and don't trust it not to reappear as suddenly as it vanished.  I also want to try the randomiser to prevent all the kids being identical.    People were talking about Maxis Sims genetics being a problem - where can I read more about that?

Thank you for the hack JM.

re - "Headmaster - there are a few fixes in there for the Uni patch, hopefully they solve most of the problems"

I don't have Uni or NL!  will I be able to patch my game?  I have also seen a post from someone whose headmaster would never stay, who insists they didn't save after they called the headmaster.  He put a roof on his extension and the HM stayed.  (it's on MTS2, they only have 2 headmaster threads)"

re the stairs - - you lose the queue of actions as well.  If you tell simA to teach SimB something with a career object on a different floor, it will always fail, because the second sim can't get up or down the stairs.  aarrgh...

re the maid stuck putting cups in the dishwasher - I don't have Uni or NL, but I have the latest patch and it still happens.

I have seen posts from people with NL whose maid has moved in.  sounds like the old NPC slowdown bug to me reappearing in NL  they tell me they have no hacks...  could find links if required.

re - "As for the moving sims from one unrelated neighborhood to another, that's the way it was designed to keep the family tree intact, memories, etc.  Sorry.  The character files should be smaller, but I understand that they count towards the overall neighbor count--this has been fixed in the Uni patch as well as Nightlife."
Yes but what about me - I don't have either and my neigbourhood is large!
In case it matters, can I point out that the neigbourhoods often aren't unrelated exactly.  People move sims from one veronaville to another veronaville on a different PC.  They also download sims in lots from the Exchange created in the same neighbourhood they are playing.  I ended up with 2 identical sims with the same name after downloading from someone who'd moved a maxis townie in with her sim.  I think that adds to the confusion and memory problems.

disappearing sims is the worst NL bug I have read about on TS1 and TS2, though one simmer has a neighbourhood that is completely unplayable having installed NL

Have any of the original maxis lots been updated to fix design errors? 

Some maxis lots have shrubs placed where the gardeners cannot trim them.  In the summerdream house and Consort Capp's mansion for example, gardeners spend the whole day stamping their feet because they cannot trim bushes or the hedge.  They leave having done almost nothing.  Have the actual default lots been fixed?  The shrubs must have been placed on slopes with moveobjects, the hedges are next to a slope the gardener cannot work on.   I remembered this one seeing the posts about the pleasantview flowers.  Another point - with their short working day, the gardeners can't actually get to everything in these elaborate gardens in one day anyway!   

I found a couple of other things in the original houses that weren't playable.  In the master bathroom in the monty ranch one of the objects isn't usable. One house also has a diagonal door you can't get through because there is a bed in the way.  that's in the summerdream house I think.  NB that summerdream house is a pain to play without a front door at the front - kids have to leave really early to catch the bus. 

Could you include some small community lots in the game for simmers with graphically challenged PCs?  We can't play the big lots without stamping our feet and shouting.  I guess that's a request not a fix, but thank you muchlovedmaxoid for listening