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Turn off the TV when stop watching (from bed, too)

by Numenor Posted 15th Apr 2005 at 10:12 PM - Updated 12th Feb 2009 at 1:57 PM by Numenor : Updated game compatibility note
 
180 Comments / Replies (Who?) - 174 Feedback Posts, 5 Thanks Posts
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Test Subject
#51 Old 20th Apr 2005 at 10:28 AM
I think the same thing ^^
The ModFather
retired moderator
Original Poster
#52 Old 20th Apr 2005 at 2:21 PM
Syberspunk:

Thanks for the report (others have suggested to post and attachment, next time, so I won't repeat it ).

Actually, the error log you attached seems to prove that everything was working fine: the error reported was "Tree break encountered"; it's a simple breakpoint that the developers have created in order to test some BHAVs: if the testingcheats is disabled, it is simply ignored.
As for me, I always have the testingcheats on, and I never experienced any problem, not even the Tree Break one.

On the other hand, I'm sure that you have had the jumping problem, so please play some more with the testingcheat on and report here any errors different then the "Tree Break Encountered" (but please post the error logs in zipped attachments ). Thanks.

I've finally started my Journal. Information only, no questions.

My latest activity: CEP 9.2.0! - AnyGameStarter 2.1.1 (UPD) - Scriptorium v.2.2f - Photo & Plaques hide with walls - Magazine Rack (UPD) - Animated Windows Hack (UPD) - Custom Instrument Hack (UPD) - Drivable Cars Without Nightlife (UPD) - Courtesy Lights (FIX) - Custom Fence-Arches - Painting-TV - Smarter Lights (UPD)


I *DON'T* accept requests, sorry.
Test Subject
#53 Old 20th Apr 2005 at 6:42 PM
I'd like to see a hack that does the reverse. My Sims ALWAYS turn the TV off. I'd like it to just be blaring in the background sometimes, gives more of a 'home' feeling.

IE: Hack to always leave TV turned on unless specifically issuing command to turn it off.
Lab Assistant
#54 Old 20th Apr 2005 at 7:35 PM
Oh cool!!!
Field Researcher
#55 Old 20th Apr 2005 at 10:52 PM Last edited by syberspunk : 21st Apr 2005 at 12:48 AM.
Edit 2: 7:46 PM EST

Since I am the most recent post, I am just editing my last post instead of making a new one.

Just to update, I removed all other hacks. The ONLY hacks I now have are recolours and new meshes. No gameply hacks whatsover.

I have not yet reproduced that error. However, I notice that when I try to change the channel, the Sim simply turns the TV off!!! No matter what channel I try to change it to, he always turns it off. And it isn't just because his fun meter is full, because it is NOT full.

I tried playing with debug mode on, but no error popped up? :confused:

I tried it with two different TVs (the cheap one and the medium flat screen one). In BOTH cases, the sim just turns the TV off instead of changing the channel.

Edit: Also, please don't take any offense to this. I know I sound bitchy and holier than thou sometimes, especially when I get ticked by some posters who post the same questions over and over. But I am obviously not infallible (as much as I would like to think I am ). I do make mistakes and I do have the occassional brain fart a la error log.

Friendly, sarcastic/flippant tones sometimes do not translate very well in written word, so I do my best to break the tension with the occassional smile!. :D

Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
Syberspunk:

Thanks for the report (others have suggested to post and attachment, next time, so I won't repeat it ).

Actually, the error log you attached seems to prove that everything was working fine: the error reported was "Tree break encountered"; it's a simple breakpoint that the developers have created in order to test some BHAVs: if the testingcheats is disabled, it is simply ignored.
As for me, I always have the testingcheats on, and I never experienced any problem, not even the Tree Break one.

On the other hand, I'm sure that you have had the jumping problem, so please play some more with the testingcheat on and report here any errors different then the "Tree Break Encountered" (but please post the error logs in zipped attachments ). Thanks.


First, thanks jase! Stupid me, I didn't think to zip the file up. Of course that makes total sense. :Slap: self!

Second, in my defense, I did say in my post that I attempted to Attach the file, but it was too large/over the bytesize limit for attachments.

Third, I also said that this happened even when I had debug mode OFF! With debug mode OFF, the problem occurred. Just to make SURE it occurred, I exited without saving and re-entered the household and followed the same procedure leading to the same situation and I had the same jumping problem. Only this time, debug mode was ON and it spit out a log.

So, sorry if I am not clear, but just to reiterate and reemphasize and recap:


1) The first trial, I had debug mode OFF.
  • The sim jumped off the bed
  • No log was produced
2) The second trial, I had debug mode ON.
  • The sim STILL jumped off the bed
  • A log was produced


I will check it out again later tonight. It is possible that I may have hacks that conflict with this? But I don't think I have any other hacks that affect the TV, AFAIK. :confused:

I will test it without any other hacks. And if doesn't happen then, I will try and figure out what hack it might possibly be conflicting with.

Ste
Systemic Anomaly
#56 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 1:03 AM
Quote: Originally posted by syberspunk
I will check it out again later tonight. It is possible that I may have hacks that conflict with this? But I don't think I have any other hacks that affect the TV, AFAIK. :confused:
Do you have any of the custom TV objects from this site installed? Or possibly some of the "adult TV channel" hacks installed? Without looking at those mods under SimPE, its hard to say for certain, but they seem like likely candidates that could possibly conflict with this mod.
The ModFather
retired moderator
Original Poster
#57 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 1:27 AM Last edited by Numenor : 21st Apr 2005 at 1:33 AM.
Syberspunk, I don't know if you were talking to me when you said about using unpleasant sarcastic tone... If so, I'm sorry, it wasn't intentional (and mind that I'm Italian, so sometime I simply don't choose the right words... ).

As for the jumping problem, probably I'm just too ignorant about BHAVs to fully understand the operation flow of the TV routines, and maybe I made a mistake about the "Tree Break" error: it could be a safety system, built-in into the routines, that makes the sim interrupt ("jump") the action if an unhandled error occurs.
I've studied once more the BHAVs that I've edited, comparing them to the originals, and still I can't find a solution. I'm sorry. Maybe someone more experienced then me in BHAV editing might give an helping hand?

EDIT:
I was checking the error log once more, and I noticed this, at the beginning:
Code:
Stack size: 15
Error: Tree break encountered.
Iterations: 103


You described your sim continuously turning the TV on and off, when the bug happened; I'm sure that you haven't let your sim do it 103 times, of course, but maybe there's an instruction (used for instance to decide if the sim should turn the TV on or off) that was repeated too many times, thus compelling the BHAV to force exit with a Tree Break. :confused:
I repeat: I'm probably too ignorant to solve this riddle...

I've finally started my Journal. Information only, no questions.

My latest activity: CEP 9.2.0! - AnyGameStarter 2.1.1 (UPD) - Scriptorium v.2.2f - Photo & Plaques hide with walls - Magazine Rack (UPD) - Animated Windows Hack (UPD) - Custom Instrument Hack (UPD) - Drivable Cars Without Nightlife (UPD) - Courtesy Lights (FIX) - Custom Fence-Arches - Painting-TV - Smarter Lights (UPD)


I *DON'T* accept requests, sorry.
Systemic Anomaly
#58 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 2:45 AM Last edited by jase439 : 21st Apr 2005 at 3:29 AM.
I'll take a quick peek at this and report back.

----

OK, here's what's going on. The error is a "trap" condition that is hit by the idle behavior controller. What's happening here is that the idle controller is trying to start, because your sim is watching TV and needs to play their "idle/watch TV animations". The behavior in question has detected that your sim is either sitting or lying down. So it then proceeds to ask, "what kind of 'thing' or 'container'" am I idling in...is it a chair, a bed, a land yacht, etc. In this case you're in a bed, it looks like. What's happened here is that the bed you're in isn't classified as being a 'bed'. The idle controller doesn't know what "kind of thing" your sim is trying to idle in, so it gives up and returns. The presence of the hard breakpoint causes the idle controller to abort (ergo, the jump bug).

More than likely your sim was trying to watch TV, started to watch TV, went to start the "watch tv" idle behavior, failed that task, which caused the interaction to fail (as if you cancelled it)...Numenor's mod detected that, tells the sim to turn it off...which he does. But he hasn't satisfied his need to watch TV, so he turns it back on again, tries to idle, fails, round n round we go. With the boolProp cheat on, the break point will always trigger a jump bug.

My guess is that this is a custom bed your sim is in? At any rate, it doesn't appear to be a problem with Numenor's mod - although the continual turning off of the TV appears to be a side effect caused by his mod in response to the error. But I don't see how he could tell the difference between a behavior that was cancelled explicitly by the player, cancelled by the sim, or cancelled by the behavior system in response to an error.

J
Systemic Anomaly
#59 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 3:35 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
but maybe there's an instruction (used for instance to decide if the sim should turn the TV on or off) that was repeated too many times, thus compelling the BHAV to force exit with a Tree Break.
There actually is an error code for just this condition, namely "Too many iterations", but it isn't this one (which is simply a hard break point that a Maxis developer added because an unexpected condition occurred).
Field Researcher
#60 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 4:04 AM Last edited by syberspunk : 21st Apr 2005 at 4:07 AM. Reason: Added more info about the turning channels on/off
Quote: Originally posted by jase439
Do you have any of the custom TV objects from this site installed? Or possibly some of the "adult TV channel" hacks installed?


Nope. As much as I enjoy porn, I don't have any of those hacks. Especially since they are most likely str8 adult channels. :p

Not hating, just assuming.

Besides I have plenty of porn, which I stick into the regular default channels. It thoroughly amuses me to see my sims hoot and holler and cheer and boo when they watch the Sports channel. :D

But nope, I don't have any other TV related hacks that I know of.

Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
Syberspunk, I don't know if you were talking to me when you said about using unpleasant sarcastic tone... If so, I'm sorry, it wasn't intentional (and mind that I'm Italian, so sometime I simply don't choose the right words... ).


No, no, no!!! Hehehe. See, this is what I was afraid of. I knew, from reading on the boards, that you were not American, and in the past, I've seen you express that your English wasn't very good. On the contrary, I believe that your English is quite excellent!

What I meant was, I was concerned that you (or anyone else) might think that what I posted might come off as rude and sarcastic and condescending. In other words, I did not want you to think that I was being unpleasant. I was afraid of the way that I type, the way that I choose my words, I tend to be sarcastic in a way that I hope is funny and amusing and light. But, I find that doesn't always get translated easily, and some people might take it the wrong way and think that I am being a jerk. :p

Anyways, I guess I can't win either way. If I bring attention to it, people get confused, and if I don't bring attention to it, people get offended. Oh well... I really should just keep my mouth shut and go back to lurking... :mute:

Who am I kidding? I am too addicted to downloading and posting here. :laugh:

Anyways, Numenor I think you rock. Your tutorials and CEP stuff and everything is great. And your mod works mostly well for me. I just want to try and help the best way I can. At least you are able to create some amazing stuff, and I just want to try and contribute in a small way, however that may be possible.


Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
You described your sim continuously turning the TV on and off, when the bug happened; I'm sure that you haven't let your sim do it 103 times, of course, but maybe there's an instruction (used for instance to decide if the sim should turn the TV on or off) that was repeated too many times, thus compelling the BHAV to force exit with a Tree Break.


My sim did turn the TV on and off. I didn't count how many times, but it didn't appear to be 103 times I wasn't paying attention that much, but it he did keep turning it on and off while he was relaxing. It could have been more close to like 20 or 30 times. I really doubt that it was 103 times. :confused:

Quote: Originally posted by jase439
My guess is that this is a custom bed your sim is in?


And finally, thanks for the explanation. I think I get it. As for that particular bed? Well I had some funky stuff happen with it. But, AFAIK, I do not have any custom beds. I typically do not use custom objects, unless they are like part of some kind of gameplay mod. But even then, I can't think of any that I might have. The majority of my hacks come from twojeffs and Pescado, and some other minor ones here and there.

Ok, I just reviewed the hacks that I had in my folder at the time. They all pretty much just mod behaviors, and as far as I can recall, none of them are attached to objects.

There are two minor possibilies:

1) I have Pescado's sleep timer clock. But that doesn't seem right, because it is a clock, not a bed. Now, if it does anything to beds, that could be something? But I don't think it changes beds at all. All the functionality is contained within the clock. (Ok, so I lied about not having a custom object, but this is meant to be a gameplay hack really... so :nana: ) AND... for this particular bed, I did not assign a clock nearby it.

The other equally remote possibility is:

2) I had (emphasis on Had) Danny's Worker NPC mods and his NPC bed. However, this bed was NOT an NPC bed. And unless his hack somehow infects other regular beds (which seems very doubtful), I don't see how that could have changed it? PLUS, I removed that hack a long time ago anyways. So again, very doubtful...


There is only ONE other possibility that I can think of, and that is just that the bed is FUCKED. I've had some weird things happen before with beds. This has happened in my Legacy game before, which has practically NO hacks at all. I play my own modified version of the Legacy game, with hacks that allow some atypical same-sex interactions as well as keeping hacks that are actuall fixes (such as anything that would prevent jump bugs and other funky errors). Other than that, my Legacy game is pretty much barebones.

I do not ever use any custom objects, and only recently have I started using custom meshes (the realistic male penises). The only other custom content I have are recolours, which if I understand correctly, should not modify the behaviour/function of objects. They only allow you more coloured choices. And heck, the Majority of my recolours are actually made by me (all those adult paintings I made, mostly as requests... 'natch ).

Anyways, sooo I digress. I was going somewhere with this... Oh right!! I had problems with beds where, for some reason, some double beds, only ONE sim can get into it. When ONE sim is sleeping in it, and I try to direct another sim to get in, that sim acts like it is already being used. But it's a double bed and there is visibily only ONE sim sleeping in it. And this is NOT the case where the 2nd sim does not know the first sim well enough. This was in my legacy game, where all the children are close to the parents. And this happened with the Parents actually too. One of the spouses would not get into the bed that the other was sleeping in. It was as if some invisible sim was there, or maybe the last sim to use it somehow got it stuck in an occupied state. :confused:

Also, when the bed was completely empty, no matter which sim got in first, they always only entered the bed on the SAME side. Oh yeah, and when it is already occupied, I remember that if a 2nd sim was directed to get in, they complained as if something was blocking their way. I couldnt figure it out and it wouldn't reset when I quit and re-entered. I ended up just deleting the bed entirely.


Anyways, I'm rambling again. :talk: I will try deleting the bed and buying a new one and seeing if I have the same problem.

So... my question now is:

With the info that jase provided, does that mean it is a fixable problem on the mod side? Or is not a problem with the mod, but just a problem with my bed? In which case, I should just test with a different bed and see if I get the problem still.

On the flip side... I don't know if you guys saw the other problem I mentioned in my 2nd Edit to my last post. A couple of hours ago, I just tested Numenor's TV hack, without ANY other gameplay hacks. (I only kept the recolours and skins and penis meshes, but all other gameplay hacks were removed). With this set up, I got that problem I mentioned how, while lying in bed and when directed to change the channel, the Sim turns the TV off instead. I tried this in two different beds. I also tried this with the debug mode ON, but there was no error log.

It doesn't seem like the action is failing. It just seems like the action got crosswired/confused. It acts as if the Change To command is the Turn Off command. Maybe that is why there is technically no error, and thus no error log? :confused:

Well, I will try testing more tomorrow. I've got 6 more papers to grade, and then I gotta hit the sack cuz I have to proctor a final exam for my students tomorrow morning! :p

Ste
Systemic Anomaly
#61 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 4:32 AM
It's a problem with your bed - not the mod. Something about your bed is completely fux0red and the game is barfing on it.
Field Researcher
#62 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 6:35 AM
Quote: Originally posted by jase439
It's a problem with your bed - not the mod. Something about your bed is completely fux0red and the game is barfing on it.


Heh, figures that would be it. Well, I just finished my grading. So I will quickly test this. I will delete the bed and try with a new one.

I was play testing earlier, and I was not able to duplicate the bed jumping yet. But he kept getting out of bed anyways because of his other pressing needs like hunger and bladder.

Anyways, I'll see what happens. But this still doesn't explain why, when he tries to change the channel, he turns it off instead of changing the channel. This happened in a different bed as well (a non-fux0red bed ).

Oh well, a quick test and then I'm gonna hit the sack. I gotta get up in like 5 hours. :p

Ste
The ModFather
retired moderator
Original Poster
#63 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 8:46 AM
To help you testing, if you have the cheatmode enabled you can act on the needs meters like sliders: you can instantly satisfy the hunger and bladder and keep the fun low, to let the sim keep watching TV.

As for the jumping problem, a big THANK YOU to Jase: I'd never been able to spot the bed problem. I'm so curious to know whether the bug occurs or not, once the bed will be replaced with a new (and/or different) one.

Sorry Syberspunk for not having addressed the "change channel" issue: I'm going to check it.
Test Subject
#64 Old 21st Apr 2005 at 11:23 PM
Default Help
:banghead: Im new to the site when i download it it goes to my desktop as a zip file and when i go to unzip it i don't know what file to put it in and i can't find from the site where to put it. please someone help.
The ModFather
retired moderator
Original Poster
#65 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 12:10 AM
Extract the .package file contained in the zip to the Downloads folder.
Field Researcher
#66 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 2:40 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
To help you testing, if you have the cheatmode enabled you can act on the needs meters like sliders: you can instantly satisfy the hunger and bladder and keep the fun low, to let the sim keep watching TV.


Someone mentioned this somewhere else. I think in chat once. But I could not get this to work. Are you supposed to shift click or something? I tried clicking on a need, say Hunger, and then tried dragging/sliding, but nothing happened.

When you say cheatmode, do you mean boolprop testingCheatsEnabled ? That's what I assume you mean. I have that set to true, and I can shift click on my sim to get those debugging options. But I cannot adjust his needs. Is there something else I need to do? Or is it a different cheat?

Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
As for the jumping problem, a big THANK YOU to Jase: I'd never been able to spot the bed problem. I'm so curious to know whether the bug occurs or not, once the bed will be replaced with a new (and/or different) one.


Yeah, thanks again jase for the analysis. I briefly tested the other day after buying new beds, but tests seem inconclusive. It too way too long this time for the sim to pop up out of bed, but I guess that was also cuz his fun meter was midway, so it took a while for it to fill up. Then he went through the repetative cycle of turning the tv on and off. This time, it took really long, so I tried waiting it out and putting it on fast speed. But just like my sims, my attention span would not hold up at the very crucial moment. I would be waiting, and then turn around/leave to attend to something else, and when I came back, my sim was off the bed. So, inconclusive since I wasn't sure if he actually got up or if he popped up.

There was one time that it Looked like he popped up. One second he was on the bed, the next I blinked (or turned away or something) and then he was standin next to the bed watchin TV. But... he could have just got up really fast cuz it was on super speed. I dunno, I'm gonna try and test it again tonite. Hopefully my attention span will hold out. :D

Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
Sorry Syberspunk for not having addressed the "change channel" issue: I'm going to check it.


Just curious if this happens to you at all as well? I mean, is it confirmed that this happens to you too? And there is an actual problem to look for? Or is my game just fux0red and the hack won't behave properly in my game?

Anyways, I'm playtesting now. I will report back later.

Ste
Systemic Anomaly
#67 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 4:26 AM Last edited by jase439 : 22nd Apr 2005 at 6:29 AM.
Can you reproduce this with ONLY the TV hack installed?

EDIT: I can reproduce the on/off looping behavior you describe, but I don't think it's because the game is stuck in a loop due to an error condition (I think the jump bug is a separate issue altogether). It appears that the sim relaxes on the bed, selects the "watch tv" behavior, watches it for a brief period of time, the behavior times out, which triggers numenor's mod, which instructs the sim to turn off the television. They idle briefly, and if no pressing motive moves them to do something other than "relax", they'll flip the TV on again, watch it briefly, turn it off, relax, turn it on...so on and so forth until a motive instructs them to select a different task.

I don't think this is *caused* by Numenor's mod. I think this is the same obsessive-compulsive autonomous behavior BS that infects this game (like the g'damn hacky sack and pillow fights). It's causing the sim to select the same task again and again and again - and with every cycle, numenor's mod instructs them to turn the TV off. If the AI were smarter it would "poison" a task that just completed to make it less appealing for re-selection.

J
The ModFather
retired moderator
Original Poster
#68 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 8:14 AM
As for the on/off loop, I remember that often the dmaNPCs by Danny, when off-duty or have nothing to do, watch TV; but if the fun meter is full, they go on turning TV on and off continuously (eventually breaking the TV! ).
I noticed this behaviour long before I created my hack.

As for the turning off the TV instead of changing channel, I can confirm that my sims, *when there aren't other sims watching*, turn the TV off when they shouldn't. this happens even while acting autonomously: i.e. if the TV is on the Yummy channel, and the sim doesn't like it, sonn he will turn off the TV even if the fun meter is low. So I guess that the sim was trying to change channel, and that turning the TV off was not intentional.
Field Researcher
#69 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 9:39 AM
Quote: Originally posted by jase439
Can you reproduce this with ONLY the TV hack installed?

<snip>

I don't think this is *caused* by Numenor's mod.


Again, :sorry: I should have clarified. I wasn't implying that the looping was a problem. It was pretty evident to me that the sim turning the tv on and off was just cuz sims are stupid. He was relaxing, and now when he is actually done watching the tv because his fun meter is full, he will actually turn it off, which is what Numenor's mod is supposed to do. So that part works correctly.

I was complaining about the jumping. I was able to reproduce that bug, that night, like 3 or 4 times. But, at the time of testing, I had a bunch of other hacks in there. Plus, that bed was that funky fux0red bed (the one that I had problems where it would seem like the other half was occupied, so when I tried to get another sim to relax in it together, that other sim acted like it was already occupied even though it was visibly empty).

Since then, I tested without any other gameplay hacks and was unable to reproduce the jumping, with both the fux0red bed and a newly bought one. But as I mentioned the testing was inconclusive/indefinite.

I tested again today after sticking in a few more hacks, just in case there may have been some unforeseeable potential conflict. This time, it appears that I was unable to reproduce the bug. I only did a quick test, but in two sim days, after constant relaxing and watching tv, and the on/off cycling, I did not see any jumping. And this was with the fux0red bed.

I now suspect that it was probably do to the bed being in a fux0red state. And somehow it magically reset itself. :confused: When I had problematic beds like this before, sometimes they would get unfux0red, and sometimes I had to just delete them and rebuy.

I have been unable to figure out what might cause this. I am not positive, as I was unable to reproduce it, but I did recall it happening once after one of my sim children autonomously decided to go to sleep in his parent's bed. I cancelled out of that and forced him to go to his own room. After that, the parent could not get into bed on that side. And both parents could not sleep in that bed together. Only one could sleep in the bed, and the other acted like that other side was alread occupied. I tried this again a couple of times, but it is hard to get other sims to autonomously choose to sleep in a particular bed And the few times it did happen, the bed was not fux0red. And, the other times that I did have a fux0red bed, I did not witness what occured to make them fux0red. :confused:

Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
I noticed this behaviour long before I created my hack.

As for the turning off the TV instead of changing channel, I can confirm that my sims, *when there aren't other sims watching*, turn the TV off when they shouldn't. this happens even while acting autonomously: i.e. if the TV is on the Yummy channel, and the sim doesn't like it, sonn he will turn off the TV even if the fun meter is low. So I guess that the sim was trying to change channel, and that turning the TV off was not intentional.


Yes, the turning the TV on and off will occur, even without your hack. But at least now, sims will actually turn the tv off when they stop watching. Some sims won't turn it off, which is annoying if they suddenly decide to do something else and end up leaving the tv on all night. :p

I haven't tested with sims watching the tv from a couch yet. But when my sims are relaxing in bed and I queue the change channel to action, they always turn the TV off. This happens in several households and not just the one with the fux0red bed. This happens in any bed that I tried with a TV nearby.

It seems as if the bhav for changin the channel got swapped for turning it off instead? But I don't know much about the inner workings of mods and Maxis code. :confused:

Anyhew, I'll try and do more testin tomorrow I'd really like to get this working as best as possible, just cuz my sims often watch tv before goin to bed, and I love that they now will actually turn it off when they are done. Instead of stupidly trying to go to sleep with it still on. (Stupid little sims. :D)

Ste
Test Subject
#70 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 10:16 AM
great hack, works 100% fine here.

could you integrate that sims turn off radio/stereo off too?
Lab Assistant
#71 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 12:10 PM
Numenor, you are a saint for coming up with this!

I can't wait to test it.

A couple of months ago(or thereabouts), I posted a request for a hack of this precise nature, so my sims would never end up getting in and out of bed all night if there was a TV on in the bedroom and I happened to have my attention focused on another sim(or sims) in the household.

Needless to say, I was flamed pretty immediately for having feeble enough intelligence to place a television in a sim's bedroom. I seem to recall the phrase was something along the lines of "most sim users have a level of intelligence above that of the average sim they control, and wouldn't place a TV in the same room in which they sleep."

Go figure.

Anyway, THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU SO MUCH for coming up with this. I can't wait to test it, and if I find any bugs/problems with it I'll be sure to let you know.
The ModFather
retired moderator
Original Poster
#72 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 12:15 PM
The original BHAVs acted like this:
when the sim stops watching TV, the game checks if there are other persons watching it (in this case, friendly sims leave the TV on, nasty sims turn it off).
When the last sims stops watching, the game checks a number of parameters, among which the tidiness of the sim (sloppy sims will always leave the TV turned on).
I edited the BHAV in this way:
If there are multiple sims watching TV, the original BHAVs are executed; when the last sim stop whatching TV, the game *doesn't perform any check*: the TV must alwayse be turned off, even by sloppy sims.

Probably, now the game skips some important check: for instance, when the sim wants to change channel, he stops watching the current channel, in order to perform the "change channel" animation. But my hack compel him to turn off the TV, before he can actually change the channel. I guess that the problem is in the terms explained above, but I still couldn't find the exact line(s) of the BHAV that should be restored to their original state.


FLENSDORFER: I think that the hack you ask for can be easily created, but unless we solve the problem with the TV channels, your sims might not be able to change music type any more
Test Subject
#73 Old 22nd Apr 2005 at 12:43 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
FLENSDORFER: I think that the hack you ask for can be easily created, but unless we solve the problem with the TV channels, your sims might not be able to change music type any more


that wont dirturb me - or my sims
Field Researcher
#74 Old 23rd Apr 2005 at 6:57 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Numenor
Probably, now the game skips some important check: for instance, when the sim wants to change channel, he stops watching the current channel, in order to perform the "change channel" animation. But my hack compel him to turn off the TV, before he can actually change the channel. I guess that the problem is in the terms explained above, but I still couldn't find the exact line(s) of the BHAV that should be restored to their original state.


Hi Numenor!

Ok thanks for confirming this. I was afraid that I might be on crack :insane: and only I am having this problem. Whew!

Anyways, So I did some more testing. ANd I do not know if this is related to your hack. But now... with the Wall tv, my sims cannot sit down on the couch. They animate and walk over to the couch, but then they turn around and walk towards the wall tv and then stand in the middle of the room to watch TV after turning it on.

It is almost as if they act like the couches are occupied, but they are not. I have two couches and two living chairs in front of the tv (so my family and guests all have seats). This happened with a family member AND a visitor. The visitor went to join, and walked over to the couch, but then turned around and stood in the middle of the room just behind my sim that turned the tv on.

In this case the sim COULD change the channel! She was able to change to every channel and did not automatically turn the tv off. However, she could not sit on the couch in front of the tv. She would walk over, then turn around, stand in the middle of the room, turn the tv on and then watch while standing.

I got the following error messages in the cheat console. I don't know if this helps. However, no error log was produced. :confused:

Quote: Originally posted by Cheat Console
ERROR TSSGObject: Missing bone '' on 3D model 'tvWall' - associated slot will not function properly.
.\source\TSSGObject.cpp(1132)
ERROR TSSGObject: Missing bone 'route_tvfloor_0_n' on 3D model 'tvWall' - associated slot will not function properly.
.\source\TSSGObject.cpp(1132)
ERROR TSSGObject: Missing bone '' on 3D model 'tvWall' - associated slot will not function properly.


Anyways, you must be annoyed by now since I keep complaining and bringing things up that I don't even know if they are real problems with the hack or not.

Please don't hate me! :p

Ste
The ModFather
retired moderator
Original Poster
#75 Old 26th Apr 2005 at 1:01 AM Last edited by Numenor : 26th Apr 2005 at 10:05 AM.
Syberspunk, your reports are always welcome: maybe I will never find a way to fix the problems you point out, but they will anyway lead me to study and learn more and more things

BTW, sorry for not having answered you before: I was out of town for the weekend (a mini-vacation ). But now I'm back in business!

I'm going to check that problem about the slots, but I fear the slots are still a misterious subject for the Community: so far, I couldn't find documentation on them.
Oddly enough, though, the wall-mounted TV was cloned from the expensive Soma wall-mounted TV: all the slots should be the same...


EDIT:
I've run some tests and I've dicovered that a similar error message appears in the cheat window even using the original Soma wall-mounted TV and without my hack installed. Another Maxis oddity, that seems harmless, though.

As for the sims that prefer to seat on a distand chair, instead of the sofa, I've run some tests and I've discovered that there is apparently a gerarchy in the seating preference: regardless to the seating type (a cheap chair is treated the same as a luxury sofa), the sims prefer a seat located 2 tile far from the tv, and possibly not in the center. It's something in the game routine that manages the choice of the seat and the routing to it. Luckily, it doesn't seem related to the TV itself, or the turn-off hack.

I've finally started my Journal. Information only, no questions.

My latest activity: CEP 9.2.0! - AnyGameStarter 2.1.1 (UPD) - Scriptorium v.2.2f - Photo & Plaques hide with walls - Magazine Rack (UPD) - Animated Windows Hack (UPD) - Custom Instrument Hack (UPD) - Drivable Cars Without Nightlife (UPD) - Courtesy Lights (FIX) - Custom Fence-Arches - Painting-TV - Smarter Lights (UPD)


I *DON'T* accept requests, sorry.
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