Hi! Firstly, absolutely love this mod, (I've seen your work before and have been quite impressed) and have a suggestion if you ever feel like adding it if you have time involving power generation (please be forewarned I don't know anything about modding I'm just bouncing off ideas):

An exercise bike fueled power generator; in where one sim needs to pedal on a modified exercise bike in order to generate power to power a select item or a room, I guess depending on whatever would be most interesting to you. Capacity for power generated (and by extension number of things powered) would be based on fitness level or overall body skill, and the moment they stop the power does as well. I've got hippies in my hood so they're probably not as interested in a gas generator ^_^

Thanks in advance! Will be testing the mod and will edit if I have any hiccups along the way!

@Lamare this happend when the sports broadcast thingy happend.

Created Sims, put them on empty lot. Was building, and added the electric box. On ANOTHER lot, occupied but not played before, I added a box and DID get "settings".

Thank you, Bananensap. I see the problem and pretty sure I'll be able to fix it.

grammapat, I'm sorry, I don't understand what you are trying to say by "did get settings".

MHS0501, fun suggestion! My mod works lot-wide and it might be tricky to power one object without powering the others, but I'll think about it. I like the idea.

I've placed in in a number of residences; usually I can click on it and get 3 options: tinker, upgrade, and settings. But the FIRST house I tried in on was a basement, where the option Settings was grayed out. So the basement placement did not have "settings", but the houses I tried after that first one "did get settings". ALSO noted that when lights went out elder, adult, and a TODDLER all "looked around". And it's FUN! "How do I open this thing", "Where's the manual".
PS: I'm going to use this in conjunction with this http://www.modthesims.info/d/211415 - utility poles and lots of related (deco only) electrical stuff.
QUESTION: does it ever effect the whole hood? Seems not, that it is lot only, even when it says something LIKE "main power plant is off line"

Hey, Lamare.

I've tested the lot traits in a few different settings. I haven't experienced any problems so far, and I love the random blackouts. I noticed that my laptop died during the blackout too though; I guess I could edit it to not be affected, but I can also just pretend that it doesn't have any batteries since it's not like the game can differentiate between laptops and desktops. I also find it somewhat amusing that if there's a blackout around the time you get called for an outing downtown, the call comes in as soon as the power returns, even though it's 3:00 AM.

Edit: I forgot to mention that sims wake up to laugh at busted lights(?). I didn't realize that they'd be woken up for that or maybe that's just my game.

Lamare - My first time seeing this, wow! So creative! I'm excited to try it out. I read through the thread and noticed early on you said you wanted something positive to happen. I immediately thought of this: it would be fun if when the power went off, there's an increased chance for an unexpected romance - I mean stuck in the dark, a little candlelight... it happens, right?

Hey, @Lamare. I tested the lot traits out in a few apartments, and I have a few notes:

• It's mentioned that the electrical box randomizes its settings when placed onto an empty lot. I was wondering it's possible to have it cycle through the settings instead. There were instances when it took me longer to place the boxes into the apartments/houses because I couldn't get the specific setting I wanted. I guess I can just move the sims in and have them adjust it manually, but it affects sale price when they move into houses (not apartments, because lot value reduction doesn't work on them).
• Is it possible to place and use the electrical box on a diagonal wall without cheats? I did so with moveObjects and snapObjectsToGrid, but I assume it'd be harder/impossible for routing and animations. I have to test if it can be used in such a position.
• Minor comment, but it'd be nice to have the option to have the 1-tiled version of the box from Buy mode; I understand that this would be double the work, however, since it's a new object. I had to place the box in some small apartments and I just placed it on with moveObjects and manually changed and moved it when the sim moved in. It's kind of funny when I visit an NPC apartment resident and find it in an odd area/position.
• Are sims supposed to wake up when the power goes out to laugh at the lightbulbs? I think it's all right (and amusing in some cases), but what are the factors that determine whether the action is initiated? Sometimes it happens, and other times it doesn't, so I'm curious.
• I also mentioned the downtown and outing calls that come in as soon as the power returns regardless of the time. Is it possible to cancel the call instead if it's past a certain hour during the night? Sometimes they call around 3:00 AM onwards.

I'll continue testing in the mean time. I hope you'll be able to release the pipeline addition, but no rush and pressure; the current lot traits are already quite comprehensive.

I don't know if this happens but if not, is it possible to have kids wake up at thunder (or if the power goes out with lightning)?.
Would be a nice touch if kids would run towards their parents crying depending on their personality.

I haven't had much time to play the game recently so I'm sorry that this isn't a continuation of my last notes, but I noticed something else - the circuit breaker shut off in an apartment and because nobody around had any mechanical points, it was down for 2 days. I thought I could bypass it by buying another electrical box (debugging works yet I wanted to see what'd happen if I did this instead), but then the computers wouldn't function (no interactions available) afterwards and I had to buy new ones. All other electronics were usable.

Edit: Another household went through the same thing, so I sold the electrical box and replaced it with another one. The computers were fine this time. Perhaps it was just a one-time thing then, or maybe I'm being silly because I could've just debugged the box.

In another apartment building, I also had an instance wherein the 1-tile electrical box had no interactions available and was unselectable during Build and Buy mode. I thought that it might be another hiccup, so I left it there. It was selectable the next day but the Settings option was grayed out.

Edit 2: In another building in another hood, I had the notice for a 19-hour blackout. It was fine and the TV functioned after it passed, but nothing else did, the electrical box reported that it was working, and I debugged it to make sure the power was back, and I had to force reset all of the lights to get them to work again. I'm not sure if that's intended or an effect of short-circuit, but the fridge couldn't be selected outside of Build/Buy mode despite the force reset and I had to buy a new fridge.

Edit 3: I noticed something interesting. Before I saved a household in an apartment, their phone lines were down. When I played their neighbors and had one sim visit the first household, their own phone lines went down. There wasn't a notice but it seems that the phone status transferred over to the second household. Their electrical boxes would say that the phone lines were fine yet none of the phones were selectable; trying to force reset them just caused the menu to disappear so quickly it was impossible to click it. Debugging the electrical box didn't work either - it refused to set the option to force the phones off.

I had a hunch that it might be related to the first apartment, so I went over there, debugged the box to return their phone lines, and went back to the second household, whose phones started functioning again.

Hey guys! I'm back and brought a minor new version of electrical box (fixed the bug found by Bananensap).
Thank you for testing and posting your thoughts!
Now to some late answers.

It's lot only. Notifications contain a bit of a storytelling.
(Thank you for the link to utility poles. Nice find!)

It's supposed to test if sims are asleep and only push reactions if they're not.
I checked the code and didn't see where I screwed up... Might take me some time to get to to the bottom of this one.

Sounds like fun =) I would make it standalone functionality though, not pushed by the electrical box itself. I'll think about it.

I'm afraid not. Every time you click to buy new electrical box it's a brand new object - it doesn't know what settings you got the last time.

Would it be better if I made 1-tiled model as default instead of 2-tiled? I definitely don't want to make 2 separate objects (it wouldn't just double the work, it'd be a HUGE complication).
+ About diagonal wall placement and downtown and outing calls. I haven't thought of testing it, but I will. Thanks for mentioning!

Nice idea for a reaction for kids. I might use it as a reaction to turned off power.

For all the objects to return to normal state, the electrical box needs to perform special procedure of turning the power on. If it doesn't go through it some objects may remain unusable/unlit/etc. So, this is to be expected.
Keep in mind that you can hire repairman or complain to landlord about the breakage.

I'm not sure what happened there. Was it completely unselectable or did you see a pop-up that it "can't be selected because of this-and-that"?

I'm not sure what happened there [2]. Fridges do not get made unusable by the mod at all. Weird. I don't even know where to start to investigate.

This one I can investigate.
Thank you very much, Sketching!

__________
Notes to self:
- test basements - can't reproduce the bug
- test sims waking up to turned off lights (1. when snoring SFX takes effect; 2. toddlers on pet beds) - can't reproduce the bug
- test diagonal wall - guid issue
- downtown and outing calls - fixed? - can't reproduce the bug
- phone status transfer in apartments - fixed
- test self-fixing short circuit - can't reproduce the bug
- test if lights are restored in apartments after power outage - can't reproduce the bug
- investigate: load message popping up with outage -1 even though the power is on in apartments (post #73) - fixed?
- test load function changes (load with phones off, but power on) - done
- repair function, ask landlord to repair phone wire
- fix grammar in text notifications - done
- cycling settings - done
- switching CB doesn't require skill - done
- consider 1-tiled version as default - done
- consider modding candle for romance
- consider kids running towards their parents
- consider powering one object without powering the others
- consider the sabotage idea

I was away from modding for a month and I already feel sooo out of it... %)

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The updated file is down the thread

Hey, Lamare! Great to have you back and so sorry for spamming your thread. I decided to just edit the last post to prevent additional posts.



It's happened a few times, so I thought you should know. It's inconsistent though - I was hoping to have more information for you but asides from the common trend that the sims involved were active, I couldn't think of anything else - that probably isn't helpful, however. I'm sorry about that. I'll try it out with your updated box and see if it happens again.



About the cycling options every time the box is selected from the menu, is that the same thing as reselecting the electrical box while it's on the wall? I'm not sure if I explained it properly now that I look at my comment.


Whoops, that was an understatement on my part - it would be horrendous to have to make 2 objects with the same functions anyway! If I think about it, I guess I'd prefer a default 1-tile version so that there'd be more options in terms of placement, especially in smaller lots - I'd especially love if it could be placed diagonally as well. I'm not sure how it works in other areas, but our electrical boxes here tend to be "1-tiled" as well. Why didn't I think of suggesting it as a default instead of separate objects? Oh, brain...

The downtown and outing calls were a bit shocking in the late hours when they first occurred. I almost didn't want to answer it (irrational fear from TS1, hahaha), but when I did I was surprised that someone asked me downtown at 3:00 AM.

Thanks for the information about the return of power. I was being silly and wanted to see what'd happen. It's all right now though.


The box was completely unselectable without pop-ups. Everytime I tried to grab it, it'd only select the surrounding objects. I had no idea what to do with it since nothing worked, so I thought just leave it for a while and suddenly it was selectable the next day. I thought it might be the placement, but it didn't have any problems before this incident. Edit: It's only happened once so far though, but if it helps, it was in this position.


Yeah, I was surprised and it only happened once too. I couldn't replicate it despite going through the debugging options. I was confused because it was dark and none of the lights were functioning even though the TV was on. Clicking them didn't give me the option to replace the bulbs, but they came back on when I forced reset them. That didn't work with the fridge though - it was still missing all of its options even after a day, so the only thing I could think of was to sell it.


You're welcome! The collection has been a great addition to my game, so I'm happy to help out. No pressure, though - you just got back and you should be having fun with this too.

Hey, Sketching. Since when helpful comments are considered spam? Not in my world.


Actually, buying is not the point when settings are randomized - placement is. I remembered it wrong. It might be possible to implement what you ask. I just need to look at my code and get my brain around what I did and why I did it before I say something.


Then I'd say it's that common Sims 2 glitch when you can't grab objects. For me, it sometimes happens with ceiling lights and stairs (not even CC). Otherwise you'd see a pop-up near your cursor.

About the rest, I'll be back as soon as I have news.

Good to know the constant posts weren't a bother and that the non-selectable box was one of those usual glitches. It'd be nice to have the cycling options instead of the randomized settings - there were times when it only gave me a specific one for 4 clicks, so I'd be grateful if it cycled instead.

I'll report back if I notice anything else. Thanks for your hard work!

you're the best! idk if this will ever make it but it would be a lovely touch when kids run towards their parents when power breaks down due to lightning! :D

Hey, @Lamare. I mentioned that sims sometimes wake up to power outages. I'm not sure if it's particularly helpful but it happened twice in my game this time - once when a couple was asleep in bed but had only been in bed for a few minutes so the snoring SFX hadn't taken effect yet, and the other was a toddler sleeping on a pet bed. I'm not sure though maybe it's because they're not considered in deep sleep yet or because toddlers sleeping on the pet beds aren't considered sleeping? I thought it might be different for them since time doesn't fast forward for the latter unless modded.

I also had a previous post that lights didn't turn on in a particular apartment even when the TV was working until I had to force error all of them back on. It happened again in another apartment in another hood:


No other unusual instances so far, but I have a question - is it possible to have a repairman, landlord, or influenced visitor switch the breaker back on via repair? Most of my sims don't have mechanical points and I realized that it was becoming a trend to debug the box back on since I can't do it otherwise unless I missed the option somewhere. I understand if it isn't, but I thought it'd be better to ask.

Edit: I noticed that the landlord can't repair the phone wire - I can ask them for repairs and they consent but it seems that it doesn't register to them to fix it, so they leave the lot to come back the next day when their other chores are done. When one of the sims broke the shower, I asked for repairs again and the only thing the landlady fixed was the shower. I still have to further test if it's consistent.

@Sketching, thank you for your notes.

Good point about switching the breaker. I'll make it so that Switch the breaker On/Off interaction doesn't require skill. I guess, most people can handle as much.

I did some work on the electrical box, but haven't gotten a chance to test it in game, and I would really like to give it at least a quick test before I post it here. I'm pretty sure I didn't get it quite right with cycling settings. I hope that next week I'll get access to gaming computer and finally fire up the game.

No problem, @Lamare. It's such a comprehensive mod that adds much desired flavor to my gameplay, so I'm happy to help out.

Thank you for the update. Now that I think about it, it's somewhat of a simple process given that it's possible to ask someone else which levers to tinker with without much knowledge of electronics otherwise. I appreciate the change.

Take your time though - there's no pressure at all. I'm grateful that you're taking the time and effort to thoroughly test the updates before uploading them and keeping us posted at the same time.

I'm back! I've got another suggestion here: How about playful sims or furious sims (Like the ones that steal your newspaper and kick your rubbish bins) can use an interaction on the electrical box called 'Fiddle.' They will come and mess around with the box, which will either cause the power to go out, result in nothing and them being lectured (Except furious sims, they would've ran off by then) or having them get electrocuted. Maybe with this supposed interaction will cause the power to go out 90% of the time, 8% of the time being lectured (Yet again playful sims only) and a 2% chance to be electrocuted.

Another possible name for this could be Sabotage, but that'd make more sense for an angrier version done by furious sims. Maybe there could be an upgrade to add a lock to the power box? Playful sims might have something like a 1% chance for it to be forced automatically, and if the lock is there they'll complain about not being able to do it. If a furious sim comes to fiddle / sabotage and it's locked, one of the other two interactions are forced (The kicky bin / stealing the newspaper).

Playful sims might be able to fiddle with the box, even with a lock if forced by the player.

By the way Lamare, I love this mod so much that I've made some changes and additions to the dialog for the telephone/electrical text. Mainly improvements to existing things, but I have added 2 or 3 new scenarios. Feel free to use it.

Also, should you add the fiddle event, here could be a dialog box that appears. "It seems that someone has been poking around in your electrical box. Whether it was a frustrated neighbor or a playful household member, you should get around to fixing it. Maybe consider adding a lock so this won't happen again." Automatic*
"It seems that someone has been poking around in your electrical box. Because you have a lock, it has to have been someone with access to the key for the box, probably someone playful in your household. Try not to let them to do it again. "
Player forced with lock*

Edit No. 2412 (Not Really, but I have made a lot of edits to this post.):
Maybe low logic skill can force the proposed Fiddle interaction more often, and low logic + low mechanical will cause that 2% electrocution rate to increase.

Hey, BkajnlConcepts.
Thank you for the suggestion. I'll think about it as soon as I took care of bugs.
Your text improvements - are they just tweaks to your liking or do they correct actual mistakes? I'm not a native English speaker and I can only imagine how much of what I say sounds wrong =) I wouldn't want to leave mistakes in my texts, but I wouldn't want to just blindly use your texts either (I hope you don't get me wrong). If you see a mistake or weird phrasing, feel free to point it out to me.

Mostly correcting actual mistakes. Sometimes they are tuning a bit to my liking so they sound better. For example, you have this line: "Power keeps going off." I've made it better like this; "The power keeps going off continually." When starting sentences like this it sounds better to add 'The.' Also, seeing as the power keeps going off, adding that descriptive word makes it sound better. English is my first language, but to get me to speak another it's difficult.

Also, I found this odd error with the electrical box. With the area set to terrible and the building set to terrible, the power went off. I flipped the CB and I got a message saying "The power keeps going off," telling me to check a device. I turned the circuit breaker on again and the power stayed on without me repairing anything. Hopefully this makes you aware of something you don't know. Maybe add an indicator to the broken device (In general) as I have difficulty finding it.

Maybe I'll resend my updated texts with comparisons with the original messages.
I just did.


Also, if you're currently still working on the Pipeline as well, I know from the original post it was intended to serve more as a nasty object, but should it end up like the power box but to do with plumbing, here could be some ideas.

Upgrades:
Valve: It sounds pretty simple, and it is. Simply allows you turn turn the water off, acting like the Circuit breaker.

Filter: Filters the water going through the pipe, creating cleaner water which blocks the buildup of crud on the inside of the pipe, which would cause the pipe to clog, causing it to have to be repaired.

Pressure Limiter: Acts like the voltage regulator and prevents large gushes of water breaking the pipe.

And yet again, as I've said, if the pipe does end up more like the electrical box, here could be some scenarios:


Oh and by the way, if you don't want to take any of these ideas, it's fine. Contributing in the first place is what matters.

I didn't have the time to figure out all the bugs yet, but I do make progress and quietly cross off things in my notes-to-self-to-do list (currently located in post #61). I want to *at least* figure out non-working lights (Sketching) and fix grammar (BkajnlConcepts) before uploading new file.

BkajnlConcepts, yes, the pipe is going to be something like electrical box, but about plumbing. I've made some notes when I researched this stuff, but haven't started "coding" yet. Still have a lot of reading and planning to do. Funny scenarios you wrote, I might use them

Hey, Lamare. Just wanted to drop by and leave another note - the timer to an apartment blackout kept going up even the power was back on. I thought it'd be gone after I closed the dialog box, but when the household left and returned to the lot a second time, the counter went up again. It disappeared when I played another household for a day in an attempt to see if it'd stop, which worked.

I'll attach the screenshot below just in case. I've read that you're having hardware problems; I hope that you'll be able to fix them, but no rush on the mods. Thank you for your hard work!

Thank you, Sketching! Nice bug. I can't wait to test and fix everything.

Hi all!
Here you can get the updated file and read about what's changed. Don't forget to delete the old file before putting this one in your downloads and delete the Groups.cache. Also, existing electrical boxes on your lots may get reset due to code change and/or you may have to sell them and buy new ones, but not necessarily. As always, make backups or test in a testing 'hood. Hopefully, it's one of the final versions before the official upload.

Changes and fixes:
- Sims with 0 mechanical skill will be able to switch the breaker and close electrical box and, sometimes, to repair, maintain and tinker it (I found it annoying that they absolutely couldn't fix or tinker it, but didn't want to cut the noob reaction entirely, so I gave it a chance of occuring).
- 1-tile graphic model is set by default.
- Electrical box cycles through random settings each time you click to pick it up when building without family.
- Event inducing interactions are available outside debug mode (for now) + new one for fake landline outage. These interactions are helpful in testing, and I'm thinking of leaving them in the release version as well.
- If the phone line resumes working around 0-8 in the morning, unimportant incoming calls shouldn't get through. (I couldn't recreate the middle of the night call situation, but took some measures to prevent it anyway.)
- Bugfix: In apartments, neighbor's electrical box won't affect active family's phones on loading.
- Also in apartments, neighbor's lamps will be present, even if his part of lot was saved with power off.
- Fix for stuck smoke fx after repair.
- Fixed grammar in text notifications and added a couple of suggested scenarios. (Thanks, BkajnlConcepts! You may notice I've missed a few words here and there, but I mostly followed your advice.)
- Text notifications shouldn't pop up with -1 hours of power outage any more.

Supposed bugs I couldn't reproduce and therefore didn't fix:
- sims waking up to turned off lights (Sketching) - tested repeatedly, including toddlers on pet beds, but had no problems; will keep an eye on this issue
- self-fixing short circuit (BkajnlConcepts)
- non-working lights in apartments after power outage (Sketching)
- no settings with basement placement (grammapat) - the box works the same, basement doesn't make a difference

To do:
- issue with asking landlord to repair phone wire (Sketching) - landlord kind of needs to be reminded twice sometimes... haven't figured it out yet
- translation

Things to do later, when issues are fixed:
- diagonal wall placement - turns out diagonal objects are separate objects with separate GUIDs and all that, so I'm putting this in the maybe pile for now
- consider modding candle for romance
- consider kids running towards their parents
- consider powering one object without powering the others
- consider the sabotage/fiddling idea - turns out furious and grouchy sims' pranks are managed by the visitor controller, and I don't really want to override its functions, but I will think about adding user directed interaction
__________

@Sketching, since you experienced non-working lights more than once, could you please help me by answering a few questions:
- were the lamps inside apartment or in common area?
- were you playing with testing cheats on right before the issue came up?
- were you able to click on the lamps? what options were available?