More of a 'just wondering' sort of question... but why does my camera go weird whenever I play a lot that's in front of a mountain? Same thing happens if I play on the higher floors of a 2+ storey house. It's like the camera jumps around and it's difficult to zoom in directly on something. It doesn't happen on lots that are on flat ground, but stick a mountain in the background, and the camera is all over the place. It's hard to explain. It's really a minor irritation, I've tried using different camera mods but it still happens. If anyone (a) knows what I'm talking about and (b) has any ideas how to get rid of it, I'd be really appreciative. Otherwise, I guess I'll just keep on playing anyways.

You'll see the same thing on really tall lots, even if there's no terrain height variation anywhere nearby... The camera seems to want to have a constant height above the floor at each zoom level, so when you have skyscrapers or very hilly lots or neighborhoods, there can be a lot of variety in where the "floor" is, for camera purposes. I've run into it a lot with my skyscraper builds, and the best advice I can offer is to use higher zoom levels (closer in to the action, as it were)... that seems to help at least a little bit.

Thanks, Zarathustra. Yeah, I've noticed it on really tall lots, too - I now tend to avoid playing them because the constant camera-swooping becomes really annoying and takes me out of the game. I'll try more close-up zooming!

My worst one is a park in a shallow valley, where most of the park is a bit below road level. I can't get the in-game camera down to give the Sim's eyelevel view that I like. I just get the tops of their heads, or worse still, their plumbbobs. I posted about it a couple of years ago in the forerunner of this thread. I think I could do a bit better now as I now know how to use the tab "freecam" camera, but it 's still not really satisfactory. I wonder if a camera mod might help.

Does CoEG 's tooltip thingie works with W8.1?
I can't figure out how to use it after several trials.

Can you clarify what you mean with "how to use it"? Can you not open it? Can you open it but not do anything? Can you use it but no changes are made?

None of these, I'm afraid. I think I need to do a little more testing.

Anyone else craving cut content from Sims 2?
It seems EA really cut some of the interesting things, such as the Boss scenario. And fashion shows? Sounds cool!

When a Sim becomes BFFs with another Sim, does the "forever" there actually mean "forever?" Like, if I had a couple of immortal Sims (say, two vampires) become BFFs and then never speak again, would they still count as friends for things like job requirements even if both daily and lifetime relationships dwindled to zero?

I think the BFF should last through that - yes!

They can lose the regular friend/best friend symbol but the BFF remains. Not sure on the job front if that counts or not. it's quite easy to get a BFF who has lost friend status back to friend status.

Apparently the Boss scenario was just a reworking of the Headmaster scenario.

You can get fashion shows from www.simwardrobe.com, under Other Objects.

I don't, actually (but I'm not the "disagreer", for the record ). I feel there's more than enough service NPCs and scenarios, with all the EPs and SPs. In fact there's a lot of stuff I still have never tried, even though I've been playing this game so much.

The Boss is basically the Headmaster, like Charity said, and I wouldn't care to have runway scenarios, I think. The contests that are in the game are not all that riveting (cooking, dancing,... is that it?), and confirm that's it's probably not possible to integrate a satisfying fashion show in a life simulation game. The closest thing I can think of is the dog show in Pet Stories (no offence to models^^), in terms of being the most developed form of show, and even that I wouldn't enjoy replaying over and over (and most of it is made of cut-scenes).

But you could probably stage your own fashion show better than the game would be able to do it in free play mode*, and take awesome pictures/videos of it

*(I'm saying in free play mode because there is some kind of private fashion show in the scenario of the Life Stories, where a sim tries on several outfits to show to another sim. It's nothing to write home about and it's probably the best that can be programmed within the game mechanics.)

Exactly! Here are a few things I still need to try:

• So far, I've only ever sent my sims on vacations to the Far East. None have ever been to the Mountains or the Islands.
• I've done all kinds of businesses... Except for Pet Shops, Art Galeries and Restaurants.
• Death: I've killed one sim for a story, and a few annoying townies just for kicks. But I've never allowed myself to suffer the loss of any of my favorite sims from old age.

I'm certain there are other things I still need to try. I don't need any of the cut materials just yet...

Yeah I still haven't had the nerve to play the "leave restaurant without paying and try to avoid the staff" scenario :p

Haven't had a sim turn into a plantsim.
Haven't created a zombie. I've never actually seen a zombie in the game, since the game doesn't offer premade zombies like we have premade plantsims in Riveblossom Hills.
Have never seen Santa (and never will since I uninstalled that SP).

And countless other stuff I can't think of, or am not even aware exist! And it's good to still have things to discover

How do you even leave the restaurant without paying? Whenever I've tried it, it just deducts the bill amount from the household.

You have to select leave without paying and then you have to get away with it,random chance and mostly they get caught. Easier to walk in, steal a plate of food, they don't care about that. My homeless guy did that all the time.

Klapaucius, I don't know, like you I don't even see the option. Maybe it was removed by a recent EP? I never took the time to investigate this, honestly.

Edit: The wiki doesn't explain where and when to click to start the scenario either. (But at least it doesn't say that it's been removed from the game so I'm good, I can keep it on my list of things to do^^)

No, I have all Eps. I'll have to see if ic an get a screenshot of it.

Jo I didn't read your previous message right: I don't think it's random actually, the wiki confirms you have to stay far enough of the restaurant staff. I've seen sims get away with it most of the times in other players' journals. It helps if there is more than one exit apparently. I guess if you're trapped in a single little room with the waiter you're toast :D

One time a sim didn't receive their food after ordering and there's no way to correct that when it happens. I had the sim get up without paying and leave the lot, the game still 'kaching-ed' the money from him. It's odd how customers can complain in an owned business, but playables can't complain about bad services.

What are the rules for using other people's content when they don't have a terms of use? I have some boots I shoe swapped from one skirt to another and their creator has no policy. Can you use them or not without explicit permission?

If the person is still in the community, you should ask them if it's okay. If they don't respond in a couple of weeks, go ahead and use them, with credit and a note that you'll take them down if asked.

Is there a way to guarantee a Sim will have a certain preferred hobby?

No, but there are a couple of ways to make their hobby one that you prefer-the Simblender or SimWardrobes "Hobby Adjuster".

Or else go into SimPE to change it. Any of those will work.