I don't know about hiders, but there must be something in a Body Shop item's code that stops some things appearing on randomly created Sims. Ever since I got Open for Business, I've noticed that some outfits like the gorilla suit and the diver's suit never appearing on Sims generated in CAS or in-game. The only way I can get a Sim dressed as a gorilla or a diver is if I choose that outfit for them. I reckon there must be some kind of hidden flag or something that tells the game not to use them on randomly created Sims. I have a feeling that these outfits aren't available when a Sim buys clothes in a shop either. Something must be hiding them.

If the items are properly hidden, this should also stop them from spawning on townies and sims growing up, etc.



Most likely the items you mention are not townie enabled, so sims won't wear the items unless the player chooses them. Items can be hidden from the catalog in different ways, too. It's mostly to do with various settings in the PropertySet resource (or MeshOverlay/TextureOverlay, depending on CAS item).

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I have come across some CC items that appeared to be townie enabled and de-customized, so they didn't have a star and kept being randomly assigned to sims. Mostly from one quite old site, though. I've had some occasional issues with CC from that site... Never got around to fix them, but at least I now understand what was going on (at the time I almost wondered if the game had several hidden outfits, but still doubted dit since they looked like CC).

If I'm not mistaken, the mixture is made by randomly matching facial features of both parents. I was simply referring to the fact that a nose or type of eyes that never appeared due to fate could reappear in a grandchild, obviously with fewer possibilities than the genetics of the parents. Sometimes you have to add new blood because by chance very similar traits have come out, with that mod sometimes more varied things could come out.

I didn't say anything about cloning grandparents' full faces, obviously the parents' genetics have to be much more dominant. Regarding eye and hair colors, are really inherited from grandparents looking for information in them? Or are the parents carrying it as a recessive gene in their genetics? I would say it's the second, right?

Anyone using Chris Hatch's visit sims mod, can it be used for a family (or individual sim) to use it to visit another in a Vacation hood?

How does seating at multi-storey restaurants work? When playing this lot, I noticed that nobody ever used the upstairs tables until I added a second podium (which spawned extra waiters and occasionally caused minor traffic jams around the kitchen).

I think that without a mod like my dining stuff, the podium finds all dining tables on the lot even if they are very far away. When tables are found, they are sorted by their distance. Being on another floor level adds 10 tiles of distance. The host will pick a free table in order from the closest. So I think they should get seated when tables on the podium level are full. But that is not right because you could have tables for other reasons on the lot.

How does your Dining Table Selection compare with Midge's dining table size mod? Yours also seems to take weather into account.

I'm definitely going to grab the hack that prevents plate-stealing

It combines a few features into one mod because I found them hard to divide, and there were already too many packages. It does the opposite of what you want by limiting the area considered to be a restaurant. Yes, in bad weather people will sit at tables that are too big rather than outside. For example, in the One-Twenty Five Cafe they will not sit outdoors in snow. I think my mod will also try to seat the party together in the same room if it has to be divided between two tables. It will skip tables where food cannot be placed. For example. in the Crypto Nightclub it will not go to the counters at the bar, which are too far away or to the outdoor tables with the candle trays that are too big to fit a food dish.

So, what makes it if you can or can't place a lot up to a road in a map?
As an example pictured below, I want to put some lots in the Channelwood map, but when I try to place lots (regardless of how large they are), the red area says I can't place them.
No matter where I put the lots there, they will not allow any placement, with the lot ground being shown as red, so I can't put it down.

I'm guessing that's something I, as a layperson, can't alter in-game, but would have to change in the actual .SC4 map?

@CatMuto I think you'll need to level the ground just there with the modifyneighbourhoodterrain tools. If I remember correctly there's a slope there away from the road? Will check later when I boot the game.

I took more in-game pictures to see it better, but now it looks like I can put lots on just fine... maybe it's because I previously had some neighborhood deco stones nearby that somehow messed with the placing.

Some of the neighbourhood deco has a strangely large footprint which can prevent placement. I've had trouble with the telephone pole specifically.

It is possible to mod neighborhood objects to allow them to overlap roads and lots in the XNGB resources.

Sometimes the neighbourhood needs reloading to place lots after removing obstructing hood deco (you can do this either by entering and exiting a lot or going to another hood and back).


I modded some of mine so that I can put it in lots or on water or over roads etc.

In my Baldrair Bluffs custom 'hood (based on patul's Le village de Patul terrain, I cannot place a lot on the gap site in Simourris Boulevard, marked with an "x" in the picture above. I was however able to place a 1x1 empty residential lot in the gap site marked with a "y". I have no idea why I can't place a lot at "x". I can't use the neighbourhood terrain modifying tools because they came with an EP I don't have (FT?), but I am tempted to use the Lot Adjuster to let one of the neighbours temporarily take over the site, and then flatten the land using the in-lot terrain tools. I have no idea if this will help.

In my Elswyn 'hood based on M.M.A.A.'s Oceanside County terrain, there is at least one forest that extends over a couple of roads. I have no idea how M.M.A.A. did this, and think it may even have been a mistake. If I try to move the forest I can no longer place it over a road. I think there may have originally more such forests in the neighbourhood but some of the trees have been felled to build houses -- just like in real life?

Likely this is due to the lot edges not being flat, or the terrain being non-flat, so that it's impossible for the game to create the lot geometry correctly within the boundaries. Maybe moving the surrounding lots and replacing them once you have put in the new lot might work, but it depends on the hood geometry there.
You can edit the Hood.ini to allow for lot placement with different parameters, so it might be possible to fix this. @CatherineTCJD made one such mod here to allow steeper lots.

It's really simple to mod hood deco, and SaraMK already did the Maxis stuff here (plus tutorial):
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...ic,10625.0.html
Zazazu did the later EPs here:
http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s....html#msg392480

I agree - the lot edges are most likely NOT flat.


If you move all the houses out of the way, and flatten the area with the modifyNeighborhoodTerrain cheat, then move the houses back - it should work.
Good luck!

Thanks Catherine!

The trouble is I don't have the modifyNeighborhoodTerrain cheat. It comes with an EP I haven't got. (FreeTime I think.) Which is why I'm thinking of temporarily extending at least one of the adjoining lots with the the Lot Adjuster, and then using the Build Mode terrain tools to level the ground. If all else fails, I might just let the McLeish family in the green house (130 Simourris Boulevard) take over that bit of land. There are eight of them living in that house, so I'm sure they could use a little extra space. Maybe they could build a play house for the children. (That might actually be the best answer!)