Use loose books rather than getting a new one off the shelf
booksheldhack.png - width=255 height=275

Sloppy sims will discard books when they are done using them, and then never touch the book again except for when you direct them to clean up. This quickly results in houses becoming carpeted with loose books that are completely ignored by sims. This is especially a problem in dorms, where unselectable sloppy dormies will quickly pile books up on every available surface.
This hack doesn't force sims to put books back on the shelf (possibly in violation of their personalities), but it makes the loose books actually useful by directing sims to use them every time you have them interact with a bookshelf. That way, the number of loose books doesn't grow out of control, and eventually the books will be picked up by neat sims who will put them back on the bookshelf.
Books that are not in either the same room as the bookshelf or the same room as the sim will not considered as options.
If you are studying skills that are not normally available from bookshelves using the Seasons Education career reward bookshelf, the sim will still always go to the bookshelf because for some reason directing those actions at a loose book always results in the book disappearing without even an error, even if it is a golden book.
This hack probably conflicts with other hacks that modify existing bookshelf interactions. It modifies the "Read Book", "Read to", "College Study", and "Study" interaction BHAVs in the bookshelf globals group (0x7F327BCE), and also an unused Maxis BHAV called "Read Book - Book closeby?" which may have been from an abortive attempt by EA to implement something similar. In particular, this hack conflicts with the part of PickNMix's Driver's License hack that allows sims to study driving theory from the bookshelf. If you use that hack, simple load this hack after the WH_DrivingLicense_Option_Theory_Book package.
Game Compatibility: This hack should work with all game configurations, but make sure to get the right file:
If you have Apartment Life or Free Time you want bookshelfhack-AL.
If you have Seasons and either Seasons or Bon Voyage is your last EP you want bookshelfhack-Seasons.
If you have neither Seasons, nor Apartment Life, nor Free Time either file should work.
If you have Seasons and Mansions and Garden Stuff but NEITHER Apartment Life NOR Free Time I don't actually know which file you should use because I don't have M&G. You can find out by downloading one file and trying to study one of the bonus skills from the Education bookshelf (Logic, Charisma, etc.) in debug mode, and if there are no errors that is the correct file to use. If you identify the correct file for your game configuration, I'd appreciate if you could leave a comment about it so I can update this description. The only bad thing that will happen if you download the wrong file is the bookshelf will throw an error.
(I'm sorry if this is confusing. It's all because EA changed the interaction indexes for no good reason.)
bookshelfhack-Seasons.zip
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Uploaded: 30th Apr 2022, 1.3 KB.
888 downloads.
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bookshelfhack-AL.zip
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Uploaded: 30th Apr 2022, 1.4 KB.
5,149 downloads.
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For a detailed look at individual files, see the Information tab. |
Install Instructions
1. Download: Click the download link to save the .rar or .zip file(s) to your computer.
2. Extract the zip, rar, or 7z file.
3. Place in Downloads Folder: Cut and paste the .package file(s) into your Downloads folder:
- Origin (Ultimate Collection): Users\(Current User Account)\Documents\EA Games\The Sims™ 2 Ultimate Collection\Downloads\
- Non-Origin, Windows Vista/7/8/10: Users\(Current User Account)\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads\
- Non-Origin, Windows XP: Documents and Settings\(Current User Account)\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads\
- Mac: Users\(Current User Account)\Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Downloads
- Mac x64: /Library/Containers/com.aspyr.sims2.appstore/Data/Library/Application Support/Aspyr/The Sims 2/Downloads
- For a full, complete guide to downloading complete with pictures and more information, see: Game Help: Downloading for Fracking Idiots.
- Custom content not showing up in the game? See: Game Help: Getting Custom Content to Show Up.
- If you don't have a Downloads folder, just make one. See instructions at: Game Help: No Downloads Folder.
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Uploaded: 23rd Apr 2018 at 2:12 AM
Updated: 30th Apr 2022 at 12:22 AM - Compatibility
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