Hi!
I could have post this in the "Stupid/random questions" thread but thought it would be a better idea to give it a separate place. I did, however, not post it in the "Help" section as I do not see it as a game issue, just a game play issue.

Anyway, today I did install and started to play the Apartment Life EP (Yay, breaking news! I just told you half a year ago that I should do it Oh well... ). And to test it out I did place an apartment complex and moved in a family I have had sitting in the simbin for a while. It was a man, a female and a poodle named Yvette. Everything worked just fine but I could not get the dog to get inside the apartmet to eat. I did discover that the door was locked and then that the food bowl was blocked. And when the poor animal in the end was able to have her food she was so hungry she could not eat and the police arrived to pick her up because I had not been taking care of her.

Oh well, getting the dog back was not a problem and now she will go inside to eat from her bowl. But the next problem is harder and I do think I will need some advice on this. When I had the family living in a hause I did not pay much attention to where Yvette decided to sleep and where she spend her time when she was awake. And I did not check her interests. Now that the family lives in an apartment I did notice that "Miss De La Cruz" (it's the dogs last name) seems to spend mush time outside. Sure, she can do that. No problem. She does like being outside, that "interest bar" is almost full. But when she gets sleepy she walks all the way to the end of the lot and sleeps on the sidewalk (near the mailbox) . For some reason I do find it very unnecessery that she does that. How to solve that? I guess I could try to train her to use the pet bed but my experience is that even if the bed gets used during daytime the pets sleeps on the floor or outside. I guess it would be OK if I could place a pet hause outside but I can not do that.

Are you patched?

As far as I know, I am. I did use the patch from here: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims...ment_Life/Patch and did install it just after the EP itself.

Perhaps the design of the apartment is preventing the dog somehow. Could you post a picture, or If you're using a premade maxis or downloaded one, either of one unmodified by you, could you provide us with its name or download link (respectively). Letting us will help us dwell into and find the cause (and maybe in our spare time we will be able to test it out on our own in-game). A mod/hack could also be the cause of your gameplay issue, so listing it out that you think is relevant to your problem again will also help us identify the issue.

Also, the thing your referring as an "interest bar" is actually mood bar (just to clarify for you).

I would use the ones hosted at MTS http://modthesims.info/wiki.php?tit...elp:TS2_Patches but it is probably okay.

Yes, a picture of the unit close up and outside the area just outside might help. I haven't had a pet in a flat for awhile but I don't recall any issues.

Yes I can as I was able to find it. It's a premade lot and you got a picture here: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/File:Seaspray_Apartments.png My family lives next to the playground and the apartment is not so overfilled whit stuff as my lots always tend to be.

I have one or to hacks/mods but nothing conected to pets. I can not recall the list right now but it's stuff like: NoMoreCrumplebuttom, Acr, Low food warning...

OK, I have to take you word on this one. Anyway, it's the section where I see the things the pet likes.

BTW, I did some research and found this article: http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Apartment (scroll down to see the warning notice). I made my family move in shortly after arriving on the lot and do not use the cheat code. And I do not recall seeing Rub Humble at all. But maybe he was there. (This is Off topic but I let you know anyway).

No, we need a big close up. Go advanced, upload photo, preferably a screenshot program like Fraps.

That's a maxis apartment though, right? They are known to be buggy, I would not use a Maxis made apartment.

It could be just her strange/casual behavior/AI she simply has, which might not be the fault of the game or wrong of it per say. Apartments in this game culturally program to be "Meet-and-greet" places that tempt sims to go outside, chill with neighbors, go for a swing If they're highly playful. In real life, it's polar opposite: the lobby/hall (or how do call that place outside of apartment unit) is the dullest place that has a mailbox and stairs to same adjacent side leading to 5 stories to everyone's apartment unit. On the outside, there's a parking spot and a few swings that are next to a stadium surrounded by a fence. People rarely social outside irl, while in game I picked that even If you leave the lobby/communual area empty, npc sims (particulary neighbors) will be drawn here, which I guess it's the whole point of apartment living style: it's just there to make world around that lot you live in more alive with non-playable residents of it). It's quite normal for a dog/cat stay away from four walls that surround, as it would in any normal non-apartment lot (unless you we're to lock the exists to the outside world to keep the pets closed with disallowed access).

Perhaps your dog is drawn there because certain things draw here that her behaviour/personality magnetizes her there. What she is doing outside anyway? Is she tempted to casually knock down a garbage bin because she's a pigpen? Or there isn't enough space in the flat for her to run around since hyper is her thing? Too friendly? Maybe your pet is taught to do things that involve and conveniently leads them to be more keen to outdoors and keeps them away from the shelter. Things like forbidden to stay on furniture/bed, are housebroken, there is furniture tempted for a pet to destroy. Not saying these are the things that guarantee the temptation to keep there paw-step away from the building interior, but a consideration could be made.

This is what you're talking about, right? http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Interest#The_Sims_2:_Pets

Pet interests have no effect on behavior. They only affect compatibility - how well pets get along with other pets.

Mrmo said his sims were living in the Seaspray Apartments in the unit next to the playground. I don't think I've ever had sims living on that lot, so I can't tell you if there are any odd bugs, routing, etc. associated with that specific lot. Here are some screenshots of the default version. Mrmo may have placed different furniture etc.

I've had that happen to me - the dog slept by the letter/mail box instead of in its bed in the house. It happened in one of the Maxi's houses. I just figured the dog was too tired to get to the basket, as it had slept in it before, no problem.
I don't often have pets but it does annoy me when I provide sleeping places for it and it decides to sleep outside on the ground.

Yvette should have been able to enter the apartment. unit in the first place. Apartment. doors can be locked to disallow pets, but in my experience, it is not locked to pets by default. If you had to manually unlock it to allow her to come in, this is weird. I never play apartments provided by the game, so I have no precise experience with that one. Dogs will go outside a lot when living in apartment, and maybe near the mailbox was one of the only available spots for her to lay down outside...parking spaces take room.

I always amend apartment lots, because they not always designed well and can cause problems. My animals who live in houses sometimes sleep outside when I've had them working too hard (or because that's where they like to be). If I had to correct this behaviour in game, I'd check no doors are locked and the animal has an available bed, then I would train them up to come when I call them. I find that if I let pets pick up bad habits, like sleeping outside, they get used to it and then it becomes habit. Go over and scold her until she learns that sleeping outside is no longer permitted. I don't think it's a hack problem, but maybe a training problem.

Can you actually scold a dog for sleeping on the ground? I know you can praise/scold them for using pet and sim beds, but if they're not using a bed at all I wouldn't expect to be able to praise or scold that behavior.

Well, when a pet sleeps elsewhere than on a sim's bed, you can actually praise him for staying off furniture...so scolding them as well, for the same behavior. Which would not help with dogs sleeping outside.
We need more praise/scold option as mods.

Guess I scold them for not sleeping in pet beds. Once you bother them when they're sleeping, they move and are less likely to sleep on that spot again. Anyway, I'm going off to play and I'll check right now, my new fashion people have some animals that need training.

I believe that would teach to not stay off furniture and develop their habit to go on sims furniture instead of their own pet beds and houses. I should really put that to the test before coming with an answer.

Oh my! i did get of the internet about 01 o'clock at night local time and then I get a lot of answers. Thank you. I will try to answer your posts.

Jonandsarah77: I'm quite opposite and prefer the premade lots or make my own instead of downloading. as I wanted to test the EP out I just piced one of the lots in the bin. You want pictures? I started upp the game and made some. Here we go:


First floor. The garage is empty.

Second floor.

SneakyWingPheonix: I agree whit you. The way things work in game and irl is not the same. No, yvette is no pigpen. Quite the oppisite. But she is friendly and maybe that's why she spend so mush time outside. She is not Hyper or Lazy, she's between them. She likes scary things and being outside.

Rosawyn: That's right. Sometimes I can not explain things in enlish. (Clicks Agree).

RoxEllen1965: Thanks. Pictures uploaded.

Yavannatw: Loves the comment.

Rosebine: It was my fault that the door was locked. I did make a misstake.

Diovanlestat: I should try that.

Rosawyn: I think you can scold them for sleeping on the grund.

This post was a monster but I wanted to give you all an answer.

Indeed. It's the things/topics that pets tend to talk often and or just communicate well (either one of them, can't remember). If a pet has more interest on about Outside, it's not gonna encourage them or engage more into said thing gameplay wise, but it will determine If the pet with said interest how well they will communicate with another pet in question with the same interest but with different point scale. It just resolves "Do we have anything in common? If so, can we continue this discussion without conflicting with one another in awkward cringy small talk?".

Is the pet bed turned the right way round so she can access it?

Oh! right..there is a door there, the little pink bathroom? I do not think you could place the pet bed in the proper direction as it would block the access to the door. So maybe Maxon pointed out a problem...

Yeah, and it looks there isn't a good for it unless you move the armchair so that it's adjacent to the tv and put the pet bed where the armchair was previously held. Actually, nevermind - that might not work. There seems a room for it in the study room, one accessible spot available in the bedroom next to the closet, or as a last resort - get rid of stuff and make room for it in the smaller bathroom.

Maxon & Rosebine: Yes, the bed is the right way around but I did play whitout seeing the toilet door, maybe it was blocking the bed.

SneakyWingPheonix: I can try to move the bed to an other room. I will not play until next saturday so you have to wait for the report on that.

I'd strongly advise against placing the pet bed in the study room because coming from outside of the apartment the dog would have to use two spiral staircases to get to the bed. These kind of stairs can only be used by one Sim/Pet at a time, so if the dog is trying to get to the bed and someone else is already using the stairs (which can happen easily) the action would most likely fail and drop from their queue.
I've also noticed that this is the cheapest pet bed. Have you tried a more expensive bed to see if it makes a difference? Don't know if it works the same way for pets but Sims tend to use the more expensive funiture if given a choice.

When the dog is outside, have you tried "boolprop controlpets on" and then ordering the dog to use the bed? That will help you make sure the bed is accessible and also see if there is any routing issue with those spiral stairs (which are a pain!). It might also help get her in the habit of using the bed. I once had a cat refuse to eat from its bowl even though it was starving and it was an expensive bowl, but after ordering her to eat from it once I never had that problem again.

Another thought - how far is her bed from her usual spot by the mailbox? If she's spending a lot of time outside and her energy gets quite low, the bed might be too far away for her. When I have pets get home from work if their energy is in the yellow/orange range they will often fall asleep on the sidewalk rather than walk to their beds.