When we found out that christianlov pulled all his downloads, there was no notice to anyone on staff.  I PM'd him on the site, thinking that he'd at least check his PM's (admins can do that).  But I got no response... and the e-mail address that was tied to his profile didn't seem legit.  At least we know *who* he is now.  I didn't read that thread on S2C.  I also didn't know that Simsky was a team of people.  Unless his name is Dave Luv, too (because he has some mods under that nick on MTS2 as well, and they still exist).

Just grabbed the updated hot tub hack and the gardening hack.  I have gardens on all my lots so I should be able to extensively test this.

Regarding the hot tub hack... hrm... coming up with specs is going to be hard for me.  I don't want my Sims to completely ignore the hot tub regardless of their personality (lazy, grouchy, etc), but I just want them to use common sense.  I was ecstatic that they exited the tub once it started raining!  I don't know if that was a game default, but I saw it happen when I made it rain again.  I also don't want to spend forever in the tub, too.  If they're in the tub by themselves, once comfort and fun is 100%, they should get out.  If they're in the tub with others, once comfort, social, and fun is 100%, then they should get out.  But in either scenario, they should autonomously get in if those motives are around 50-75% at the most.

[Update #1: Gardening]

I can see the skill bar above my Sim's head when she plants or harvests!  This is so cool!!!

However, there is a little glitch (or it could be the way it was designed)... When I direct her to "harvest many..." the skill bar shows up with the first plant, but then it has problems with the rest of the plants.  It'll pop up and then go away with the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc, plant.  Same when I direct her to "plant many..."  If she is planting/harvesting single plots, the skill bar shows up just fine.  Maybe I should take out the "harvest faster" mod and test again.  Nope, that didn't make a difference.  Just tried "water" and she gets the skill bar when she's watering one plant... but when I direct her to "water many" the skill bar comes up once, and then it pops in and out on the rest of the plants.

When I directed her to "harvest" or "harvest many..." the apple, orange, and lemon tree(s), no skill bar shows up.

Good thing is they gain the gardening skill just fine with this mod in place.  No interruption there.

[Update #2: Hot tub]

It had just turned winter (first day) and my Sim autonomously went into the hot tub.  She probably spent like 2 minutes in there and then jumped out.  A bit later, it started snowing, so I directed her back to the hot tub, she got in, and then quickly got back out.  Her fun, social, and comfort were already maxed out.  Her fun was probably maxed out after she finished harvesting her trees.

I don't mind Sims using the hot tub during the winter... in real life, people do that because it keeps them warm... I just don't want them abusing it and staying in there for hours.

Oh goodie!    I'll test your gardening hack, too, whenever you decide to put it up.

I'm glad the maxed comfort wasn't coming from any of my other hacks because I wasn't about to take them all out!  *whew*  My Sims rarely get below 1/2 comfort because I have a hack that really makes their motive decay go reaaaaal slow.  I guess I could take it out for the sake of this test.    Does hygiene decay when you're in the hot tub?  Maybe you could use that as a factor.  If it goes to 1/2 then they jump out.

I tested... and this is my first findings:

I directed my Sim to use the hot tub, and once her fun and comfort were maxed, she immediately got out of the hot tub.  I'm not sure if that was tied to a hack I removed prior to reloading the lot (I had Squinge's "no staying in hot tub all day" and this hack at the same time when I loaded the lot originally, but I didn't save and took out Squinge's hack afterwards.)  I've since deleted the hot tub and bought her a new one.  My Sim also has maxed platinum aspiration and has never been struck by lightning or electrocuted.  She also has maxed out logic points.

It's also the fall, so I will need to change it to spring to get more rain.  I'll update again later.

[Update]
I had to use SimWardrobe's seasons & weather controller to make it rain.  Anyway, I made it rain, then I directed my Sim to go into the hot tub.  She went in, but then she quickly went out.  Comfort was not maxed.  Then I stopped the rain, directed my Sim to go back into the hot tub, and she sat there for a few minutes.  Then I made it rain again.  Comfort was not maxed, and she quickly got out of the hot tub.  I know I keep mentioning "comfort" but I'm just covering my bases as it might be a residual effect of Squinge's hack even though it's been since removed.

It's probably going to take me days to see if she goes into the hot tub autonomously, but I just wanted to let you know.  I hope this helps.

Do you know when they'd use a hot tub autonomously?  I know visitors tend to flock to hot tubs after they've been greeted, but how about the lot owner?

[Update #2]
So my Sim invited her boyfriend over and he brought over a friend.  I turned weather off and directed her to get into the hot tub and then invite the other two to join her.  They both got in.  Then I made it rain again, and they all got out.  I didn't check their motives to see where they were at.

I did another test, and my Sim got hit by lightning in the hot tub.  Is there a "no lightnings ever" hack?  I think getting hit by lightning is totally unrealistic.  I know it happens, but still...

[Update #3]
My Sim autonomously used the hot tub.  It just turned Winter and she got out before her temperature was red.  Also, her comfort and fun was maxed out.  I'm guessing it's because it turned Winter.  Then again, before this hack, my Sims have gone into the hot tub during the winter and stayed there until their temperature was spiking.  I have a non-awesome hack that prevents them from spontaneously combusting.

I know, but if it's a home business, that means you're on private property.  I find it weird that townies would just autonomously fish on a lot that actually belongs to someone.  It's not like it's a true community lot.  *shrug*

I didn't see an answer to this... I don't mind townies fishing on a home business lot, but I do mind if they just start harvesting my plants.  I'm keeping an eye out for that, but I hope they don't do that autonomously.

DOH!  Sorry, that was a brain fart on my part.    I guess I didn't have enough coffee in me when I wrote that.

Ooh, I've heard about some pantry object that was part of Sims 1.  I've been wanting something like that for Sims 2.  It was on my own personal request list.  I can't wait to try it out, Jfade!  (An unlimited inventory-type object for both fish and produce is what I've been looking for.)

I guess I'll buy another fruitbowl and stock it again with everything.  I wonder why it didn't take any boots when it took some from each type of produce.

Found it.  It's in Misc - All (infinity sign).

Just a couple observations:

I chose Store Everything..Then I checked my Sims inventory and he still has produce.  Looks like there's a max of 500 (and I've maxed it out to 500).  Could that be because I have JFade's juicer hack that allows for more stock?  Should it be infinite?

Also, it doesn't add any boots.  My Sim has 8 boots and it shows that 0 were stocked in the fruitbowl and they're still in his inventory.

Just an idea:

It would also be cool if someone could make an Igloo cooler/ice chest that you could store your fish in.  Same concept as the fruitbowl one, but for fish.

At the risk of getting my lips ripped off, what are we supposed to look for?  Is this a new object in buy mode or is this just added functionality to the existing juicer?  Or am I missing this completely?    I hate that dialog, too!

I've tested Inge's permafridgeNL intensively and it works perfectly.    Does not conflict with fresh food or leftovers.  Her permafridge only refreshes the "grocery supplies" counter to whatever the max that that fridge can hold.

*daysies glomps Pescado* thankees! 

I have no idea.    I've only had 1 sim die in my game.  And he was all by his lonesome so he had no one swarm for him.  I just saw this as a passing comment on another forum and was wondering if it could be done.

I checked the NL list... I was wondering, Pescado, if you could look into making a hack so that when someone dies, they don't come swarming in and start boohooing.  I guess it would have to be a global hack, much like your noageswarm hack.  I guess it's cruel of me to ask for such a hack since it would suck that no one cried when you died, but hey, it's worth a shot.  It's good for people who are trying to set up pictures for stories and movie-makers.

Thanks in advance!

If anything I would remove any global mods, if you know what they are.  Since the patch has fixed a bunch of stuff, even hacks that Pescado have created, it's best to remove those as you don't know what will happen once you run with those hacks still in place.  I also agree to reverting any files in Program Files that were previously modified.

That is because the hack list hasn't been updated in months but I think Phervers has a team collecting data to build the new hack list so they can be spotted more easily.

MaxoidTom has said that some Sims (NPCs, townies) will not move much if they are not in "focus"... meaning you can still see them in the background but they might just be standing around.  They've really jam-packed the community lots in Nightlife.  I notice it, so that's why we asked him why that was like that.

Also, if you're talking about residential lots, make sure you don't have the lesswhiny hack from Pescado as it stops the autonomy.  It will be updated for NL.

MaxoidTom would attest to this as he has come into our chat and we asked him about the very same thing:

[19:43] <daysies> and one sim like jumped one square or so
[19:43] <LyricLee> i mean not a huge deal and not a big impact on game play, but the animations skip like you said
[19:43] <daysies> yes, it's more like "skipping"
[19:44] <MaxoidTom> we added some optimizations so that sims that are not "on screen" do not animate all the time or do things.  however, if there is a global hack interfering with that, then that could cause problems.

this particular thing happened while i was at the 50's diner.  there were so many sims there but i had only 2 playable ones and zero hacks (as i started over with Nightlife).  my 2 sims were dancing The Smustle (and their motives were locked using the motivedecay off cheat).  when i was observing around the room, that's when i noticed some sims were kind of "skipping" and some were just standing there.

Even with the lots out at sea, are they still playable or do you have to move them to land?

Awesome.  This is good info to have.   

Pescado,

When you have to revert to a back up of a lot file, don't you have to revert to old character files, too?  Are these character files linked to the lots or vice versa, or is your theory (or fact) of reverting to an old lot a true enough fix to these cell phone annoyances?

Thanks.

Have you tried deleting your temp files and/or cookies?

I wish you took a screenshot of this!

7. Start TS2 and open up your modified neighborhood. Rearrange all of the houses so they once again are on proper roads.

Are all these houses in the Lot Bin?  If so, if they were occupied, will this muck up the families/memories that you are so adamant in not doing (i.e. moving occupied houses to the Lot Bin)?