There is still one thing in BO's mod. If family goes to vacation, they need still hire a nanny for these 10-15 min.

Yup, and there are a few other situations, too, where it still won't work.
For example, if mom and dad are both temporarily absent, you can't send your teens to college if that means leaving a baby, toddler or child alone, even for just ten minutes. You must wait for someone to come home to watch the kids for that one.
Sending sims away by taxi cab is also an issue in many instances. If your sims leave walking, there's nothing wrong. If they use the carpool to work or the bus to school, nothing wrong either. But the taxi? No way, José!

I have yet to find out why, and if there's anything that can be done about such things.

Hmmm that must not be the one I have after all. I've had parents die leaving toddler orphans and had them grow up on their own just fine. I do use max motives liberally, though. Maybe that makes the difference. But still, they are alone for an extended period of time inasmuch as they raise themselves.

Thank you for the correction, BoilingOil; it's been a long time since I read the mod description. I've had a couple of occasions in one house where toddlers woke up with very low hunger bars or where social was nearly empty, and the social worker had never shown so I assumed the mod was preventing it completely and started intervening myself. Aside from kids obsessed with bed jumping I've never even gotten a warning, and I can't recall if that warning was before or after I started using your mod. I guess the game's threshold of care is lower than I feared it was. It's good to know that if the tots are in real danger the social worker will still turn up; I prefer that to not having her at all. Thank you for creating such a useful mod.

@smorbie: and there you have it: "Neglected" isn't necessarily the same as "alone". Neglected means that they are in a very bad condition because nobody takes care of them. When you use maxmotives, you're improving their motives, their needs. So they're not in the red for an extended (very long) time. Therefor, the social worker will not come.

@stitching: usually, one motive in the red isn't bad enough; their overall mood is still greenish yellow or yellowish green. But when the child is continuously crying because their overall mood is in the deep orange or red and their wants are never met either, then sure... she WILL come. Having a toddler's fears come true a few times, and not fixing it, that will also do the trick, eventually.

Thank you for the tutorial iCad. It's greatly appreciated. I also downloaded Mootilda's mod.
That's a cute house for your sims. I like the colors you used and the landscaping. Would you mind a small WCIF? I think I'm in love with the blanket you use. I love orange but it seems that my sim houses are mostly decorated in blue and green.

I don't mind at all. The blanket in that pic is one that's slaved to Jonesi's bed blanket, and can be found here. I have a ton of JBB slaves in my game, for better or worse, as well as a ton of recolors of the bed blanket; they're cornerstones of my in-game decorating. Anyway, that particular recolor is one made by riekus13, who's on Tumblr and SimPearls, I think. It's part of a very nice orange-and-black recolor set they did around this past Halloween. I'll head off to their Tumblr and edit this post with a link to it...

EDIT: Here it is!

And yeah, doing on-street parking is MUCH easier with Mootilda's mod, as is building things like side- or rear-entry garages. It was such a pain in the butt to build such houses before that mod existed, so it's one of my must-haves now. I still miss Mootilda a lot.

character creation.
the "New [age] [gender]" interactions on the Tombstone of L & D; are there third-party equivalents of those interactions? besides pregnancy.

Body Shop.
is there a easy way to change its graphics settings? mainly shadows. lighting can be changed with the Body Shop Mechanic.
can the directory for projects be changed? if so, how?

"First 15" (installation game).
the pictures in the side panel; where do they get stored? found the directory for that game.

FYI, I have found that my sims are unable to leave the kids alone in the house in University (I have InTeen) with this mod. Not a problem, the nanny still comes over. :D

@SciBirg: Hmm, nobody has ever mentioned that before. I can't test such myself, though, because in my game all ages except young adult must live *outside* the Uni hoods, the way it was originally designed by Maxis (add: no Inteen in my game). So there you have a kind of 'conflict' that probably doesn't show up in HCDU, but does affect the game. I'm glad you don't consider it a problem, though. Because I fear I would be totally unable to fix this.

Anyway, thanks for mentioning it. Maybe I will add a note to the download page mentioning this 'feature'

...Well, after dealing with HCDU crashing repeatedly, I discovered that sshack has a conflict with a single BHAV in InTeen. sshack runs last, but I'm guessing the two of them are getting mixed together and causing the issues I described earlier. Well, I'll keep testing, if I run into any more issues I'll think about switching back to BO's mod.

When I start a new neighborhood or have several teens that have just aged up, I use TwoJeffs' SimBlender to make sure there are no sims with zero gender preference. I go to Traits > Hood > Gender Pref > Adjust Bi % (set to 100 - this can of course be set to some other percentage if you prefer) and then Traits > Hood > Gender Pref > Run Randomizer. Select "No Pref Only". This sets everybody with no gender preference to bi without having to use any romantic interactions. After doing this, all my sim has to do is greet, chat, joke with, etc. a neighbor or townie to see whether there are any bolts of chemistry. No romantic actions necessary unless you want to.

Thank you for both links. I think I'm going to add more slaved JBB CC in my game but I'll need more willpower. I keep adding stuff and don't often get rid of the things I don't like. Time to make some changes.



I also use Pes' sshack. I get warnings for kids left home alone and kids with bad grades.
In my game, kids can be left alone during one hour with no harm when they're back from school and the parents are back from work at 16.

In my game i had baby and toddler left alone for whole day when parents went to work. Baby was changed and feed just before parents left to work and toddler was trained. So baby and toddler slept over all this time and toddler played with toys before getting to bed. I have BO's mod and Rebecah's toddler beds.

Was hoping to take an informal poll about info/spoiler buttons. I've been using them to keep posts visually manageable (and also easy to scroll past when someone is not interested in the topic, which I try to specify outside the infobuttons so they can not bother with it).

However, do folks tend to automatically not read info under a button? I seem to find that a lot more often, even though the buttoned info is typically just what they might have wanted to know (based on their subsequent posts in the same thread). Would anyone like to weigh in on whether I ought to keep using buttons or ought to perhaps just try to use regular headers, but not hide any of the text?

(One idea that I have is that perhaps in a general thread, like this one I'm posting in, I could still use buttons to share research results because the thread is about lots of other topics too. But maybe in threads only about a specific topic, such as here where I've written sort of a manual for usage of a couple systems now only found on the Graveyard, I ought not to use buttons, because that information can be assumed to be relevant to everyone reading the thread. What do others think?)

Long posts are not in and of themselves a problem. Spoiler tags should be to hide pictures (which load differently than text and can be a PITA, especially on certain platforms) and details that people might not want to know.

Just break up the Wall of Text into idea-sized chunks for ease of reading and you're fine.

You will still find that some people won't read it whatever you do, and some people will misunderstand you in a way that will seem positively willful. But that's not your responsibility.

Having spent the last week attempting the test the whole birthday party thing - and failing because apparently I'm rubbish at getting the birthday party want to appear at all at the moment - I'd like to thank natboopsie and BoilingOil for the testing/fact-checking they've done, and retract my comments on the topic.

I never use info buttons, but spoilers yeah... first of all - ofcourse - to hide pictures. But also to hide details that may not be interesting to everyone skimming the topic.

Within the brackets, I simply type "spoiler=whatever I have to say", and what you see is a button saying "Show Spoiler about whatever I have to say". Works well enough for me, and it allows me to hide several things each with their own short title/description.

The results of tests that you do, is a perfect example of what *I* would hide as well, just like you.

Thanks to those who have already weighed in! OK, so @Peni Griffin seems to be saying that it's not really necessary to spoiler anything but pictures---just break text up in logical chunks. @BoilingOil seems to be saying that my research results probably should continue being under spoiler buttons, though I am interpreting him to mean that in that case, in an entire thread I start with the intent of sharing research and collecting more info about a specific thing/topic, perhaps I don't have to spoiler all the details, since you're only in that thread if you want details.

(I hope both Peni and BO will say so if I have misunderstood them.)

I've often been surprised at how many more responses and views posts and threads seem to get when given at least a couple days to sit, so I'll ask folks to please continue to add your thoughts if you have a different opinion than I believe either BO or Peni has. Or, if you agree with either BO or Peni's positions, could you hit the Agree button on their posts?

Then I will take a look at the numbers after giving folks a couple days to check out the thread. After that, I'll start posting (and perhaps edit some old posts) in a way that reflects the majority vote.

Thank you to all in advance for your help!

ETA: You're welcome, ieta_cassiopeia. But if you do manage to get a good situation for testing going and find something different, it could still be interesting to hear about it!

If I understood Peni properly, not just pictures.

My own opinion would be to continue just as you usually do. I agree also with the fact that if a thread is started to show research and results, then no spoiler is really needed..unless the thread starter thinks it is. Members/guests are viewing this because they are interested, indeed.
How do you end up having anything else than *spoiler* showing up though? I see this very often..but have no clue how...I tried with your example..but the = does not work. lol
Sorry I am derailing da thing.
Editing so i don't bother BO now that Nat told me. lol

I hear ya! When it comes to custom meshes, I try to keep them at a minimum. Mostly what I have are add-ons to Maxis sets (which are slaved to a Maxis mesh) or, indeed JBB slaves. Basically, I would rather have lots of those meshes than lots of "stand alone" custom meshes that also require lots of recolor files. It reduces the CC load a bit and has the benefit of keeping my catalogs a little neater, too. But in general, I try to work it like I do buying real-world clothing: For every new item I buy, something I have that I no longer wear has to go to the thrift store. But I'm not always successful at that, not in the game and not in the real world. So...Yeah, good luck to you!

EDIT @natboopsie
Personally, I find the "spoilers" to be annoying in general, but of course everyone else's mileage will vary. As I understand it, the only time they're required by the forum rules is if you're posting more than four images inline in one post, to reduce load times for people with slower computers/internet connections. (As a person with extremely slow internet -- usually less than 1MBps -- I appreciate it when people don't post loads of big pics in one post.) Otherwise...I say let all your text hang out. Scrolling is not difficult if people don't want to read it and text will not affect load times. But, yeah, I doubt you're ever going to get a consensus about this issue!

I was thinking mostly of actual spoilers - anybody who references the locations of clues to the Polgannon murder should put them under spoilers, for example, and make clear that this is what's under there. That way no one (like me) who intends to play Polgannon but hasn't yet accidentally finds out more than they want to know ahead of time. But detailed programming notes or the kind of tech specs that go on for days also qualify.

Always read over your posts before posting. Anything that makes your own eyes glaze over slightly should be rewritten to be more interesting, or hidden, or deleted entirely.

Thank you, Rosebine! (And apologies, Peni, that I misunderstood your full meaning just by...not properly reading, lol. How's that for irony!)

Well, the question then becomes, how would I decide what other people might/might not want to know? But I see Peni is in the thread as I type this, so perhaps she is already clarifying.

About using the syntax that gets all the buttons and other formatting to show up, I was very pleased to find this reference page right here on the site. That's how I learned to do any special formatting that I know how to do here.
ETA: That page even has a clickable index, basically, if you scroll all the way to the top. The commands are all listed alphabetically, and if you click on anything in orange font, it scrolls down to that point in the page.

Oh I see. Thank you Peni.
OH!!! thank you Natboopsie!!! ahah, now I see what my mistake was when I tried the = sign.
How useful!!!

*Should* is a big word... I would not tell anyone to put stuff in spoilers that is on-topic. But if we're in a thread about random questions, and I suddenly start veering widely off course about something very specific like userstartup.cheats, that might not be interesting to everyone except the person I'm responding to, so *I* would put it in a spoiler. I'm not telling anyone to do the same, but I'll understand if someone deems some of their stuff worthy of a spoiler tag.

(I hope both Peni and BO will say so if I have misunderstood them.)







Well put, @Rosebine.

@ETA: @natboopsie, nice page that you linked about the tags

Um...you'd decide the same way you always do? Whatever way that is. Try imagining yourself talking to someone who is only moderately interested in a topic and seeing at which points they start to zone out. Imagine you're reading a tech manual and see if there's anything that really belongs in a sidebar or a long bulleted list. You could reasonably spoiler that stuff.

Don't fret about it too much. People are perfectly capable of both skimming over stuff that's more than they want to know, and of asking for more details. Just be as interesting as you can, and proofread.

Hell, I write long, long, loooooooong posts sometimes, and some people like them and some people skip them and it's not a big deal.

Nat, don't worry too much about what others think and how they do. We're all individuals, and everyone does things differently depending on their preference. If you aren't breaking the site rules, it's up to you how you prefer to style your posts.

Personally, I appreciate and use spoiler tags if the text is large. I find a huge wall of text hard to focus on, I end skimming involuntarily. When someone breaks it up using spoiler tags, I often re-load the page after I read the first spoiler section, so that it goes back to being hidden before I click the next one, because I find it easier to focus that way. But it's not like I automatically ignore a post that is long and has no spoiler tags, or does something else I dislike. If I want to hear what they have to say, I suck it up and read any way. Does that sometimes mean I grind my teeth over how something is written? Yes, but that's my problem, not the posters problem. It's not their fault I'm sometimes a grammar nazi, and it's certainly not their job to try and fix it just to keep me happy.

@Peni Griffin: I can't always tell, because sometimes I miss a cue (or even a clue ), but I'm kind of thinking that you're not talking to me, right?

I was answering nat, who was asking the question. I should've said so.

Thank you, Peni!

Thank you, Peni and BO, for the clarifications! (And I appreciate the reminder to proofread myself, Peni.)

I appreciate you weighing in as well, iCad.

OK, so it's clear that both Peni and BO meant that highly detailed or technical info ought to be considered for spoilering, though again and as Rosebine puts so well, probably not in the case where the point of my thread is to share that sort of info.

For practical reasons, however, since I already posted the directions earlier to Agree with Peni if folks supported my earlier interpretation of what she said, and to Agree with BO if folks supported my earlier interpretation of what he said, I think perhaps I should just stick to allowing those requests to stand, to avoid confusing everyone who may have already clicked Agree at my request. The thing is, my original post about that would almost have to be partially deleted otherwise to avoid confusion, and I prefer not to do that.

So @Peni Griffin and @BoilingOil, is that all right with you? Even though I understand both of you better now, can we still use both your initial posts about this as the polling places, in the way I originally suggested that people do? (Though iCad may be correct---we may not have a consensus about this in the end.)

This is fun already, either way---I sort of wish we had a better way to conduct little polls on this site!

ETA: Oh, and BO, I'm glad you appreciate that reference page too. I went back and added to my original mention of it that it has sort of a built-in index at its top that is very helpful to finding specific syntax.

And @gummilutt, many thanks for weighing in as well! I quite enjoy how you are a strong supporter of independent thinking and self-governing.

Talk to you guys later---must be AFK for awhile now.

@natboopsie: you know how I feel about editing posts, dear. Especially posts that are already replied to. You not editing everything out in this instance is perfectly fine with me! If people read on, they will get it too.

Is there any way to turn off the business tracker? Especially for home businesses?

It's annoying that my sim is going into the red for that business day when all they want to do is buy baby furniture when the business isn't open!

Is this normal game behaviour? If I lock a want to be BFFs with another sim and save the lot and go play another lot, when I come back the want is still locked, but it's unfulfillable, because the two sims are already BFFs. I thought it was a random glitch the first time I saw it, but now it's obviously a pattern. Is this a "normal" game bug/glitch or did I break something?

You have to shift click or shift right click to activate it when that happens.
Check there memory and see if the BFF memory is there.

I would say it normally should have been fulfilled and rolled to a new want.

It should have been filled. You can fill it with the trick Mark mentioned, but if this sort of thing happens consistently you should troubleshoot it.

I guess I didn't think to look at the memories, just the relationship panel (where they were showing as BFFs). I knew there was a trick to force a want fulfill, but I couldn't remember what it was, so thank you!


It's happened now twice that I've noticed, so maybe I exaggerated a tiny bit when I said it was "obviously a pattern." I guess I'll have to keep a closer eye on it from now on, 'cause it seems all my kids and teens are constantly wanting to be BFFs with at least one other person, and I guess it would be nice if they got a bit of credit when they managed it. :p

I hate to argue with a modder, BO, but I play asylums with ACR and your kids and pets unattended. By the time those asylum kids make it to teen, they've been neglected, failed school, everything, and I never see her. Red aspiration, during the infant and toddler stage absolutely red needs--adults in aspiration failure tend to reject the toddlers even if they manage to corner one long enough to ask. Once they're kids they can look after their own needs between brawls, but they still don't do homework and often miss school, so their grades bottom out very quickly.

It's ctrl left click according to my cheats file, and you might want to mention that it requires boolprop testingcheatsenabled true to work.

If you simply place an open/closed sign and set that to closed, no customers will show up to destroy your business' reputation.



If that is true, then the mod does more than I ever intended it to do. If is supposed to only prevent her coming for kids being alone.

Lets say, I'd like to share a lot I made with someone, but it has some of my own creations in it. Knowing, assuming that person must have a lot of CC already, installing my lot into their game would place my CC amongst theirs. I would like my stuff to be easy to find...and especially, not cluttering their folder.
Can you tell me if the way I have in mind would work?
-I go ingame and package the lot to a file.
-2 I open it with CleanInstaller, and take note of everything Rosie in it.
-3 I save the file with Lot File Only checked.
-4 I then create a folder..*Rosie's Creations* on my desktop or else.
-5 I go in my Downloads folder and copy everything I have on my list, to the previously created folder.
-6 Then of course, I share the Sims2Pack lot file along with my folder in a zip...
Adding my folder within their Downloads folder, then installing my lot...

EDIT : I think I found an easier way. Star a new EA Game folder..then install my lot. My CC should be easy to find, even for me..as there will be nothing else in there...

Would that work?

@BoilingOil That's not exactly what I was looking for. I'm trying to find a way to prevent my sims from buying things and it showing as a business expense. I'm not worried much about reputation or customers.

Pardon me, but I do not understand what you mean..I read your first post, and now this one..and I still don't get it.lol
When you say your sims..do you mean the ones who own the shop and live in the house? I never had any homebusiness owners/household members to buy anything from their own shop..So I find your question confusing. OR..maybe you mean, if a sim has a want to buy a stereo..or anything. Then you buy if from the catalogue in buy mode..this is treated AS a business expense for them, just because they own a shop? If this is what you mean...I never noticed this, and/or It never bothered me.
All I know is that you can buy anything either FOR the shop or for the household, using discount because..you own a shop..Now that, yes does not have to be ON.
I am pretty useless I think.
I'll go for a walk!

Sorry. I guess I didn't put it straight. Here's an example.

My sim owns a magic shop and sells potions and the like. He closes the shop for the day, sets his kitchen on fire, and has to buy a new stove later. However, the business tracker see this new stove (which is part of his household, not his shop) as something bought for his business. So it's more of the second option. It doesn't bother me overly, but I've never done a bakery home business. I'm worried that my Sim will be charged every time he makes dinner on the lot.

Let me know if I don't make sense. I'm low on caffeine again.

Ok. So when you bought that stove, your catalogue was all yellow-like? This can be turned off. I have yet to create any homebusiness in that new Hood of mine, so I might not have the proper term...but, you do not need to use the tracker when you go into build/buy mode. It should appear yellowish, only when you click on the tracker so your sim can use the discount.
You bought that stove with the discount, so the game thinks it is for your business.

Define what you mean with "would work". Would work as in they have the CC and it shows up on lot? Yes. Would work as in makes it easy to find? Not necessarily. Personally, I'd much prefer you name your files clearly than put them in a separate folder. Everyone has different ways of organizing their CC, and even if it comes in one folder it doesn't mean it'll stay that way. If your files are clearly named, they'll be easy to find regardless of where the player puts them. But if you want to have them in a separate folder in the zip rather than part of the sims2package, that's your choice. Just don't forget to name them properly

If you are going to include your stuff in a separate folder in the zip, make sure you untick them in Clean installer and re-save the sims2package so that they aren't also included when you install the lot.

Well of course, as I said I would save the file with Lot File Only checked. All my files are named properly. Even though I am not an uploader, I still want my game files clean. Putting them within a folder with my name though gives another option. You place them as you wish once in your game. Many will sort their CC in a folder with the creator's name, some sort them by what it is etc.
But I have my answer, so thank you.

Question: I'm troubleshooting something and I think it's to do with the custom cameras. I lost my original camera files. Are they available through the games' installation files (like the untouched base 'hoods are)? Anything easier than renaming the save folder and letting the game regenerate everything....

My bad! It appears my brain did not register step 3. I see now you had indeed already though of that. Sorry

I am assuming that you are talking about an owned home business here and cash flow. Anything that you buy from the buy catalog regardless of how - with discount on or off - is kept track within the business cash flow tracker. It doesn't recognize if it is for the household or for the business. Now, since you are only charged for cooking on a community lot and not a residential lot, you will not be charged for making dinner on that lot even if it is a home business.

Thanks! I just wanted to be sure. No reason to throw my poor sim even deeper into debt. lol

This is one of the main reasons why I never ever do a home business in my own game. (I don't currently even have OBF installed, but when I did, I learned quite quickly that home businesses just weren't going to work for me at all.)

But Alia, it's not actually debt. The business tracker is tracking profit/loss of the business. So the business value is affected, but this doesn't cost the business, or the sims, any more money. And the business's profit/loss statement will be set right next time you take a money perk.

If you have a same-sex pregnancy enabling mod, will the first born syndrome still occur when the other parent is pregnant with the second+ kid?
I rolled the pacifier just in case, but I'm curious now... Since the genetics should be the same, but where the pregnancy is is different... and it's not something that's possible in a vanilla game... and then I start going 'round and 'round in circles and getting really curious! lol

If I understand how the genetics mixing work, the game instructions involve "draw X, Y, Z from Father, draw A, B, C from Mother." So if the game defines "Mother" as "One who gives birth" and Father as "non-pregnant source of genes" (which seems likely) then First Born syndrome would manifest as the second birth having exactly opposite genetic combinations from the first.

You could test this by using two parents with recessive hair and eyes, two different non-geneticized skintones (which don't blend, but are decided on a coin flip), and a few obvious disparate features, such as one parent with a long chin, small nose, and huge eyes and one with a short chin, huge nose, and tiny eyes.

Am I the only one that kidnaps sims by throwing a drink at them, making them selectable with boolprop, putting their energy down to zero, using moveobjects to drag them somewhere (in a bush, a room etc) for fun? I made a teen do it as a hobby, soooooooooooooo...

The game has been played so often, by so many different people, for so many years, that it is unlikely that anyone has come up with something nobody else has ever tried.

Using that particular process for that particular purpose is probably an extreme minority taste, though. Especially if the drink-throwing is an important part of the process to you. I believe most people who play kidnappers and serial killers do so by luring sims into rooms and then locking or taking away the door. It's a lot simpler.

I use the drink as a syringe. Plus, they become furious with said kidnapper too.

And here I was thinking the drink was symbolizing putting something in their drink. I don't see how doing that in Sims is any different from enjoying watching movies, tv series or reading books that are about crime and people getting hurt. Not to mention all the other ways invented to harm Sims, CC guns and cow plants and satellites falling from the sky. Point being, we enjoy what we enjoy, and as long as we don't harm real living beings, it's your choice.

I'm sure you aren't alone, but perhaps you'd be more likely to find like-minded people in a less PG sims site. Doesn't GoS and certain tumblrs have lots of "creepy" CC?

I made up the method when I wasn't able to sleep (I'm sorry, I don't have any way to describe it without it being creepy). I'm pretty sure this is the creepiest thing I do in the Sims.

Alright. I assumed the point behind posting it was either wanting confirmation that it isn't crazy, or to find someone with similar interests to talk to. But if I'm wrong, perhaps you want to tell us what the purpose was with posting that in this thread

Probably just curiosity. And it's not as if we don't get some pretty dark stuff going on here among the regulars. Astha, take a stroll through the Challenges, paying particular attention to the "Serial Killer Challenge" and "Black Widow Challenge." And in "What's Happening in Your Game Right Now?" read some of Freefalldreams posts, in particular.

You'll feel so sunny and normal afterward.

Sorry to post this again, but it got stuck at the bottom of the last page and I don't think anyone saw it. Does anyone know?

I decided not to answer your question because I fail to understand how renaming the folder and generating a new one is more strenuous than writing a post to ask for other methods, and then completing that method. I figured you probably didn't want that answer. Perhaps I wasn't the only one to think that way.

Some camera mod creators might offer backups of original camera files along with the backup. Perhaps you could go back to the custom ones you have, or check the ones on offer here. But really, renaming and regenerating is such an easy solution, why would you not do that?

You only have to regenerate the Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Cameras folder, not your neighbourhoods or downloads. Just drag your existing Cameras folder to the desktop.

ihatemandatoryregister, renaming and regenerating is super easy. Remember there is no cc in this newly generated game. Right click to rename, run the game. Yes you have to wait awhile as it makes things. Go grab a coffee or something while you wait.

simsample, I didn't know that, well that is even quicker.

most content in the My Documents directory have equivalents in the Program Files directory. Program Files/EA Games/The Sims 2/TSData/Res/UserData/
pretty much same folder/file names as the My Documents counterparts.


question/questions of my own::
hypothetical; if a safe NPC type (Adult or Elder) was made selectable, would the "Find Own Place" interaction be available to that character?
if so, would that character be in the Family Bin if lot was saved after it was done?

same with Townies/Townie-types?
and with characters of other households? though it might be better for those sims to move out from their own lot/lots.

I've actually done it once before to make a townie I liked playable. That was before I had all the EPs though, so it might've changed since.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I forgot that a freshly-generated game would be quicker to load than 4 gigabytes of CC. I'm a little slow sometimes.

You have to move the NPC into the lot first.

It is normal behavior in that it can happen, but it is a Maxis glitch that was never fixed. I have similar issues with my UC game. The issue is actually (as I previously learned from reading a MATY thread somewhere in which Pescado mentioned it) that sims do not always properly process things that have happened on other lots, even when those events should be clearly known to them. I went looking because I had Pescado's notelepathy in and was wondering whether it was an example of that mod working almost too well. He mentioned the issue in the threads I found (and he seemed to agree that in those cases, his notelepathy will obviously only exacerbate the problem).



Probably a bit late to help with your wish to make things easy on yourself, but I remember seeing that at least a couple of camera mod makers have included the Maxis original camera files along with their mods. The one that comes to mind on here is Gunmod; you can spot the RAR with the Maxis original files easily on the Downloads tab for his well-known mod. (I have never had cause to use that RAR, just remembered it was around, so I cannot vouch for whether it indeed holds the correct original files.)

Sorry for the double post, but since this originally got several comments, I wanted to call out more clearly the conclusion:



It's kind of unwieldy now to go and summarize all that went on as a result of that statement of mine, so I shall focus on thanking everyone who voted! From the votes (and you are welcome to take a further look back into that process if you'd like; it was initially requested by me in this post, though the discussion and clarifications about it went on for a while after), it looks like it's preferred that I use spoiler/infobuttons much less than I have been doing, especially since I'm not one to post pictures.

So I appreciate everyone's thoughts. That's what I'll be doing from here, then. And for threads that I start/have previously started specifically to give information about some particular subject or bit of cc, I may even go back and edit so that they no longer use the info/spoiler buttons.
ETA: I've now redone my original post that started this thread, so that gives some idea of how I plan to organize longer posts from here on. I edited the original content mainly for clarity and reformatted, though I called out the one section where I made significant additions.

Does anyone know what food this is?

Fried chicken. With mashed potatoes and gravy, two kinds of greens, and an ear of corn on the cob. An excellent dinner, if you eat meat.

Looks more like a fried womrat to me, but OK...

It looks a lot more like chicken from a different angle. There's a drumstick and I think a thigh.

Thanks. Sometimes it's hard to tell from those images.

Download the expansion pack-compatible version. AL = Apartment Life, OFB = Open For Business, FT = FreeTime etc etc

AL = Apartment Life

Uni = University
NL = Nightlife
OFB = Open For Business

and so on.

If your intention is to randomly kill off sims, and I'm not saying you are, (nice use of a Grim's quote, dontcha think? I would use the lemonade stand, wait for a random sim to buy a (drugged) drink, then drag him off to where ever, you would not only fulfill your want to do evil, you could make a little money at the same time. (:

my questions about Townie/NPC selection and moving out; did some testing last night. no one moved out with just 1 Townie and/or just 1 NPC selected. moving out successful with 2 from same household selected. did not test with other playables.


unrelated::
what are the chances of Satellite without cheats/hacks/mods? I know it comes with the ground type of Stargaze and/or with "Watch Clouds".
and does it occur to just characters that do either interaction or could it occur with anyone? again without cheats/hacks/mods.
and are there any kind of limit/limits in which the death occurs (time, needs, mood, etc)? again without cheats/hacks/mods.

Cyjon did careful studies of both death and matters of chemistry in Sims 2. Here is the one on death, which I think will answer your questions above.

Where is that thread where we ask advice, opinion on our creation prior to upload them? I am SO tired of searching...lol I can't find it

Go to the top of the screen. Click "Create." Select "Creator Feedback/Sims 2." Start thread.

Duh..I was looking under Sims 2 Creation...never saw it. lol
Thank you

How do you have a golden anniversary party? I've done all the steps, called the "throw party" option, invited the friends and fam, ordered food, an bought the cake. But my sims can never serve the cake. I just get the clean up option. And it's not a mod. I've never been able to do it even in a vanilla game.

I always figured it's because I'm stupid. For example, I asked you guys a while back how to get my sims to be able to fish in a pond I made. I had lots of great answers because ya'll are the best. Still can't do it.

I don't think you need the cake. Are your sims elder ? IIRC I believe they have to be elder in order to throw a golden anniversary party. The option must show up on the phone.

You don't need a cake - what would you use it for? A Golden Anniversary is 50 years so you need a married elder. And it will start appearing on your phone as soon as it's available: House Party, Sports Party, Anniversary. Invite the kids, and it's also a family reunion.

I don't think I've ever had one not raise the roof. But then I teleport in all and sundry and my elders are all randy and canoodle all over the joint.

The pond must be deep enough and it must show white fish in pond and even then it is tricky to find a spot to fish. i use top down view to find a spot.

I just click all over the pond till it works.

Some older graphic systems may have to turn off shaders and therefore not have fish. There is a mod that lets fish show without shaders on here somewhere.

Yes, I have it
http://modthesims.info/d/481859

It might make it easier..but I haven't noticed. I never had any trouble fishing in ponds. I had to download this mod because now that my computer is old & grey...graphic chip is dying. But never had to use a mod for them to show, years ago on same machine! ouch.

Is it safe the date the mailman?

To date the mail person? yes. They are safe.

just 2 of the base game parties use a cake (without hacks/mods):: birthday & wedding.
the other 2 base game parties are pretty much an equivalent of the other.


unrelated::
how would a former exterminator react to roaches?

how would a former firefighter react to fire?

In an earlier hood Jan Tellerman was the postal worker. Almeric Davis and his brother moved in together after college. Almeric saw Jan from afar. Thereafter, she was literally all he talked about. At night he dreamt of her. Finally (this was before I had a mod that put everyone in his phone book), I had him stand outside by the mailbox until she came by. He introduced himself and then fled into the house. As Jan disappeared from view, Almeric called her and invited her over. She shouldn't have come because their relationship was like a six or something, but she did. He went outside to wait and when she appeared on the portal, he ran over to her (autonomously), grabbed her and kissed her. I checked and, yep, three bolts. The two were married that day and lived very happily for the rest of their lives. It was one of the sweetest relationships I've ever seen in the game. :lovestruc

That's kind of a clang reference, but it's what I thought of when you asked about dating the postal worker.

I'm not sure, but since a former postal worker doesn't continue to deliver letters, maybe they just forget what they used to do? I don't think a former maid cleans up.

So I'm guessing the newspaper boy is safe as well?

AFAIK, yes

Once you make any of them playable, another service sim is generated to take its place.
Same thing happen if for instance, you invited the maid over just before the time she would show up on your lot..at 10am, another one will then be generated.
Only now, you'll have one more maid/service sim of that sort in your hood. More choices when your sim calls for one.
Yes, a former maid might have many clean skill point, and might as well be more likely to clean up. I made a few playable, and generally, they still clean up after other sims. They will loose their job though. But even when a maid is a maid, if your sim ask them what their job is?..They will answer unemployed..silly, I know.

So yes. pretty much all service sims. maids, pizza/chinese delivery...
One rule you could apply to be real sure is this :
Can I interact with this sim? Is there ANY interactions available without using testing cheats enabled true?
If you can without cheats, the sim is safe and made to mingle with your playables. If not..don't touch.

All delivery people are safe to move in. The game just makes an NPC as needed. Once made playable they have no memories and no job. Some special NPC's like the burglar keep their outfit and the sneak walk.