Has anyone else noticed that as long as your vampires were skilling before daylight (stargazing, practicing speech, studying, etc.) and they don't stop, then they can continue doing so all day long with no motive decay as long as they don't get interrupted?  I thought this was so cool.  Now I just wonder if the reason they don't react to the sun coming up is because of a MATY hack like no ADHD.  Now I know I could experiment and find out for myself, but I thought it would be so much easier to ask the experts.   BTW, I like that this is possible, so I'm not looking to take out the hack if there is one.

Maybe my Bigfoot is a hoaxer.  He's just a regular guy in a bigfoot suit.    It's probably the default replacement skin.

Something about this picture not look right to you?  I just started playing with a Bigfoot I moved into a TSR challenge house, and sent him to the shower.  He got shooed out of the shower by a sim that needed to throw up, and I noticed that his fur/body mesh are not showerproof.  I do have default replacement skins, so that could be the cause.  I just wondered if anyone else has had this issue.  He changes back into his fur/mesh when he gets out of the shower.  It's stupid if he was made this way.

Yes, the parrot must be taught to talk by an adult, but after it has learned a child can build charisma by talking to it.

Thank you for the suggestion.  I did still have VC and took it now.  Nothing has changed so far, but maybe if I move to a different hotel it will work.  I'll give it a try.


Oh, that makes sense.  Thank you.   

I have a couple of more issues with BV.  There are no other guests in the hotels, and the only visitors were from the main hood who came and rang the doorbell.     But no one could be invited over, even though my sims had the consistent want for it. 

The only exception to having no other guests was the camping lot.  There were many guests there, but I only saw one other tent get used once for several days.  Camping is free, but no check-in desk means no maid.  My sims were exhausted if they grilled, because they had to clean up the huge mess of dirty plates all over the lot from other guests who helped themselves to the food.

From what I could tell, there was no way to fulfill the want my sim had to firedance on vacation once she learned it.  Any lot that had a mat, also had a firedancer who you could only watch or wait to watch.

Walking lot to lot causes me to lose my sim (the lot plays on, but my sim doesn't show up) until I type in boolprop dormSpecificToolsDisabled false to buy the lot debugger.  When I retrieve the missing sim, the sim is sent back to the home base, which means I have to go load the hotel again.

She could interact with the Witch Doctor after everything was fixed, but he didn't ever give her anything, nor could I find any way to ask him.  I also checked her inventory just to be sure, but no Mr. Mickles.  I'm sure it's just glitched -- maybe just for that one visit, but I'm not in a hurry to try it again unless I take a sim with high mechanical points.

My sim still didn't get anything.     Maybe he forgot why she was there, as she had no mechanical points when she started, so it took a long time to fix all the stuff.

I would post it in Peasantry.  I think other late entries are posted there. 


You've surely come to the right place.

I'll have to try that -- thanks! 

I finally figured this one out last night, but was unable to get on the internets because I can haz crappy satellite internet, and it was raining.  I need a Weathernaught reward IRL. 

I think the Weathernaught was actually the problem.  I had the season set to spring -- and with the Weathernaught had it set on the prolonged season (forever) setting.  Once the pond froze, I became impatient and set it to summer.  After days of play it wouldn't thaw.  I finally set it back to spring and then completely shut down the Weathernaught machine.  After a day or so, the ice finally thawed.  Once it did, I set the season to summer and prolonged the season forever in hopes that the pond would never freeze again until I was able to get the gold fishing badge, which worked.

This glitch is so annoying.  On some lots ponds stay frozen year-round.  I've read that others have had this problem, but haven't seen a fix for it.  Does anyone know what causes this and if there is a fix?  I need to earn a gold fishing badge for a challenge, but the pond just won't cooperate.      BTW, I have all the expansions up to Seasons, but not BV. 

UK Amazon sounds much better.  Amazon.com doesn't do that.  I tried pre-ordering an EP once, and I think it arrived about 10 days after the release date.  I live way out in the sticks, but still.  After a few days of waiting, I went and bought a copy and returned the Amazon copy when it finally arrived.

I know you're right, but maybe I just want to do free play-testing for EA to help you find those issues.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

I know, but it's really a choice of bad vs. bad.  Not going to be getting DSL or cable here anytime soon.

I understand.

Just say no to EA Link.

Yeah, I was impatient to get Seasons.  It always takes a couple of extra days beyond the release in my area to get an expansion, and when the stores do get it, it gets sold out quickly.  GameStop is the only halfway decent game store in the area, and I don't particularly care to shop there because of the attitude I get.  They tend to ring up any game you ask about before you even say you want it or can ask them the price, which is really annoying and presumptuous.  Their prices are too high, so I guess they don't want you to have time to think.  Wal-Mart has good prices, but no one there ever knows anything or wants to bother to find anything out for you.  Many times I have made a trip in vain to try to buy an expansion, and I live a half hour drive from anywhere.

I also understand about the problems when EA Link would update.  That's when it broke for me as well.  Fortunately up until yesterday I could still play my game if I was persistent and tried to start it a few times.  EA Link hasn't been able to connect for a couple of months.  Last night it refused to let me play until I could prove I owned the game.  I would try to log on, but I couldn't click into the box to type my information -- just kept getting the annoying beep that says "you can't do that, stupid."  I ended up completely uninstalling EA Link because I never want to deal with it again.


I went to GameCopyWorld as suggested by B and got the no dvd/fixed exe for Seasons.  I'm not good at explaining it other than to say I made a backup of the files I would be replacing in the Seasons directory in Program Files and then put in the new files -- had to rename the Sims2EP5 file to Sims2EP5_DRM and then ran the program from there.  When it worked, I made a shortcut to my desktop so I could set the program up to run in a window.  I'm sure somone else could probably do a better job at explaining, but that's what I did.  So far it's working for me.

Zazazu, that was what I needed.  I was putting the .exe file in the wrong directory.  It seems to be working fine now, even with EA Link uninstalled.  Yay!

Thank you everyone for your help.


Yeah, it's a load of crap.  I didn't even bother to ask for assistance because I knew I wouldn't get anyone who knew anything.  I knew I would get a lot more help here at MATY.  I just saved over $30 USD.  Well, I actually didn't yet because I did go out and buy it a little while ago, but I haven't opened it yet and have the receipt.  As soon as I install Bon Voyage, if all goes well I'll be returning the Seasons CDs.

Thanks B, I'll try that.

Update:

As I suspected, I can't get it to work.  EA wins this time.    I am just going to get the CD version.  Maybe I can serve as a warning to others.  Just say no to EA Link!

Awesome site.    Sadly, I haz crappy satellite internet that limits me to 200 MB a day -- something I discovered after I already paid for Seasons on EA Link, so I angered my family for 4 days while I hogged all the internets to download it already.

I promise, I will never download from EA Link again.


I can't hold my breath long enough to see if EA can make something work, but the cracked executable thing sounds cool, although I doubt I am awesome enough to make it work.

I was stupid and impatient and bought Seasons on EA Link when it was released, so I know I deserve to suffer.    EA Link has been borked on my computer since shortly after that, but somehow I was still able to play -- until yesterday.  I knew it was only a matter of time before I would be unable to play it.  It spends all its time trying to reconnect, and telling me I have to log in, which it won't allow me to do.  I don't expect EA Link help, because it is total crap.  I've been though all the information they provide and tried many things, and it still doesn't help.

What I am hoping is that someone will share how I can continue playing an electronic download version of a game I already paid for without forking over more cash.  Otherwise, I'm going to go buy it again today and consider it an expensive lesson.

Scary.  If that was the best I could do at making a Madonna sim, I wouldn't show it to anyone.  As far as looking nothing like the person, this is one of the best (worst).   She couldn't have done worse if she had stuck to the original Maxis archetypes -- even possibly the gorilla-faced one.

Makes them fat is my guess.

I love them, but I've been strongly warned not to use them since I used them in the building contest.  Since then I've been looking for a 12-step program.  Pescado said a 16-step program was needed, but I reminded him that stealth stairs actually have 4 steps already.  I guess I can just use Targa's stairs in small spaces.  Honestly, I will probably continue using stealth stairs.  I'll just be stealthy and only use them in houses I actually play -- and not upload anymore houses with them unless I include a warning.

All that in a two-level 8x8?  It sounds like hell to me.  You must be doing the Apocalypse Challenge.

True, but then stealth stairs already have 4 steps, so a 12-step program would complete the staircase. 

Thank you for the intervention, NVA.  I'll look for a 12-step program. 

Thank you, Pescado, that makes sense. I misunderstood the AwesomeSpecs, and I had planned around the idea that visitors wouldn't go past the foyer/dining areas.  Next time I'll be sure to make the stairway lockable.