The Sims 2 is teh b0rked

[pne]

Meh. My lot is acting up.

The car for Maxim and Brandi showed up, but it was right at the edge of the lot rather than next to the mailbox, and they couldn't get in—the "Go to Work" action was immediately de-queued. So they both got reprimanded for not going to work.

The next morning, Maxim's schoolbus arrived, and it was in the normal position (which put it right in front of the car), but again, he couldn't go to school. And after a bit of trying out "Go to Work" and "Go to School" for fun, the car disappeared and the bus moved backwards to occupy the spot where the car had been before. Um.

The hot tub also acted weird: the candles lit up even though they had burned down days ago, and when Brandi tried to join Denise, she immediately hopped out. (This had also happened to me before with a guest, but I hadn't attached any importance to it; I figured the guest simply had more pressing Needs or something.)

I remembered something I had read, about how problems with actions spontaneously cancelling themselves could occur when a Sim had 255 memories (since the number of memories is stored in a single byte), but none of my Sims had that many memories, not even Denise, the oldest… althought wait, she had six pages of memories à 24 (6×4) memories per page = 5×24 = 120 full memories plus a not-full 6th page, perhaps she had 127 or 128? Hmm.

At any rate, I tried to get Maxim and Brandi to "Find a new home" on the computer; I had never tried this option before and didn't know what to expect. As it turned out, a taxi showed up outside the house, but I couldn't click on it ("No actions possible" came up)—and Brandi and Maxim were frozen! Maxim was standing next to the TV where he had been working out and Brandi was sitting in front of the computer, and neither of them could move. Their Needs went down and down but they couldn't do anything about it. Nor could I even go to the neighbourhood as all three of the "Go to Neighbourhood", "Quit Game", and "Save" buttons were grey and disabled! ("Q" didn't work, either.)

So I finally booted the game out of memory through the Task Manager. Meh.

Maybe I'll try to make a new house with one inhabitant, then make that inhabitant get to know Maxim and Brandi and invite them to move in. If it's Denise that's causing the problems, or the lot, and not one of those two. Meh.

Anyone had similar experiences?

Comments

[pleiades829.livejournal.com]

Haven't had the issue with the vehicles freezing like that, but I have had Sims freeze before (in the hot tub). Fortunately, the move_objects on cheat from the old Sims still works (type that in the cheat box, and then you can move everything - including Sims - in buy mode), and once I moved the Sims away from the object they were stuck interacting with, they were fully functional again. Maybe you could try playing around with that and see if it helps the vehicle problems too.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Well, I kind of "fixed" it now.

I figured, if she can't move out of her current house, perhaps she can move into a different one. So I made a new house with a single inhabitant and had him friend Brandi and eventually ask her to move in. She consented and I was asked to say who would move in with her, so I told her to bring Maxim along, and he wandered up the pavement not long afterwards.

I wanted to make Brandi marry Jean-Paul, but the option is not there… I suppose because she's still married to Denise. But the "Leave" option isn't there when she comes by; I suppose it's only available when the two partners are in the same household. But I don't want to invite her into this household in case the problem is with her and not with the lot. I'll just settle for the two of them living together and in love with one another and not married and simply pretend they are :p

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

I've had similar things in the original game - none of my sims would get in the cars or buses - though I realised this was due to placing bushes and ornaments along the far line of the plot which was preventing my sims from entering the vehicles. I've also had a lot of people getting out of the hottub when others get in - really not sure what that's about.

[eridanusus.livejournal.com]

bwahahaha your game is haunted

chrischris

[asciident]

I'm not sure it's that many memories; just a "large number", says Maxis.

Anyway, they're nearly done with a patch: http://thesims2.ea.com/news/detail.php?id=267

Are Maxim and Bani the only ones in the house? Try moving the family out from the neighborhood screen and moving them back in?

[pne.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it's that many memories; just a "large number", says Maxis.

Ah. I had read about the "one byte" thing somewhere, but maybe that wasn't exactly it.

Anyway, they're nearly done with a patch: http://thesims2.ea.com/news/detail.php?id=267

Ooh, spiffy. Let's hope that this patch can be used for the German version of the game, and/or that a German one will be there shortly afterwards.

Are Maxim and Bani the only ones in the house? Try moving the family out from the neighborhood screen and moving them back in?

Well, I've had them move into another lot now, so it's kind of fixed.

Only now Brandi can't marry her new love interest, but Denise (her current partner) is really old (over 70 days IIRC) so if I play her for a bit she might die, and I'm hoping that that will free Brandi up to re-marry. (OTOH, the fact that "A Sim whose fiancé dies can now become engaged again" appears on the list of bugs fixed in the upcoming patch means I'm now not so sure that will work. Do they count as fiancées, since they're married?)

[asciident]

Well, if Denise dies, then Brandi can marry her new love interest. Alternately, she could break up with Denise. It should work -- I think the bug they described is a rarer problem. I actually haven't heard of anyone having that particular problem.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Alternately, she could break up with Denise.

Doesn't seem to work; I imagine they have to live in the same household. I vaguely remember a "Break Up" option when she was still living in the same home, but now that Brandi has moved out, that action wasn't available when she invited Denise over.

I think I'll probably go the "die" route.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Well, if Denise dies, then Brandi can marry her new love interest.

And indeed, that worked. Well, Brandi and Jean-Paul are only engaged now, but they should marry soon.