Rotating briefcase icon above house

[Nissun]

Anybody know what this rotating briefcase icon means?

It's above an ordinary residential lot. I don't know why it appeared. As far as I know, the only icons that can appear above a lot are the apartment icon, the business icon, and the one when they go on vacation. But I had never heard about this one and I'm completely baffled.

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6866cgR2N1qje3ox.jpg

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m686e80QrH1qje3ox.jpg

[Simsica]

What kind of a hood is this? Vacation hood? I haven't had a vacation hood in years so I can't tell you for sure, but I'm almost positive that this is a sign that the lot in question is a vacation home. But I'm also fairly certain that it shouldn't look as pale as it does. It should all be in that familiar vibrant Sim green :) Or maybe it becomes completely green when someone is inside/on vacation in it.
It most certainly shouldn't appear in an ordinary main hood though.

I'm puzzled. Eagerly awaiting the resolution of this thread.

[maxon]

So am I - the only time I remember something like that was from SimCity.

[Simsica]

Maybe the OP's game has integrated the parts of Sim City programming into its own? Or maybe I'm watching too much Star Trek. It must be the latter...

[Nissun]

So am I - the only time I remember something like that was from SimCity.

Yeah, it meant "unemployment". Most google results when I searched for this were about that. :lol:

Here's the thing about this lot: It's on a regular main neighborhood, nothing special about it. I moved in 4 sims. Later, I made them into townies using a hacked bush (I don't know where I got it, but it's worked fine for me before)

I believe the icon appeared after that. I don't know what I did, but the rest of the hood' seems to be working fine. So at least I didn't mess anything up. I think.

[Simsica]

The bush is probably Inge's. I have her teleporter bush too. Did you move the Sims out before turning them into townies or after? Did you enter the lot after this icon has appeared? Maybe tried to save it and see if the icon saves too?
I've never seen anything like this and my questions are merely shots in the dark.

[Nissun]

Update:

I just entered the lot, and found one of the sims I thought I had townified still there. She had an action in her queue, "clean up" or something like that. When I cancelled it, she left the lot and the house was effectively empty.

Now when I select the house in neighborhood view, it says "This vacational residence has already been bought. Only the owning family can visit the lot." (roughly translated, my game is in spanish)

So apparently it's a vacation lot. On the main hood. What.

[zumppe]

The suitcase is indeed a symbol for a vacation lot... one that has no-one staying there at the moment. My selfsim's family owns two vacation homes in the mountains, and now that they are visiting one of them, its symbol is a rotating green bed, and the other house, unoccupied at the moment, has the grey briefcase symbol.

But how the lot in Nissun's neighborhood can be a vacation lot, is a mystery to me. :wtf:

[Nissun]

Update 2:

I entered the lot a seond time, and she was back there again. I think she was behaving like a business employee, but I had no option to make her quit, or shut the business down or anything. She couldn't even use the phone. And she had these various "clean up", "sell items" kind of actions in her queue.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/Briefcaselot.jpg

I did the following: Through another sim in another lot, I invited her to move in. Then I told her to find her own place to live. And though she was now in the neighborhood screen as a selectable household...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/Briefcaselot01.jpg

...whenever I entered the lot, she was still there!

So I moved her into an empty lot, hoping she could scape that creepy glitched place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Viki/Sims/Briefcaselot02.jpg
(you can see the haunted briefcase house in the background)

And when I got back, the house was finally empty. But the briefcase is still there.

Going back to the girl's lot, I noticed that she figures as the owner of the briefcase lot. She can't visit, because it's marked as either residential or vacational. And since I have no vacation subhoods in this hood, she can't book a vacation.

I guess I could make her sell the lot, and maybe that could make the briefcase go away...

...but I think I don't want to do that now. I don't want to get rid of that thing. I like the mistery it represents, and I'd be sad if it went away. :(

[julmoo]

I'd be creeped out and bulldoze that lot into oblivion <.<
But that's just me xD

[Simsica]

But there's a Sim in that lot, obviously. I'd be careful about the bulldozer if I cared to preserve that hood.
Don't delete anything yet.
Check those Sims in SimPe. See what their status is, if there are indeed Sim*s*, not just one Sim.
Sounds like something somewhere didn't get deleted properly. Maybe you have an outdated version of that teleporting hack. Check that out too. If you've installed some EP or SP lately this could be what's caused this.

On a sidenote - a Sim in a limbo. I'm properly creeped.

ETA: On second thought, maybe it's just an alien trait, this being in two places at the same time? Sounds like a storytelling opportunity to me :giggler:
ETA: I forgot. Did you try changing the lot zoning?

[Nissun]

I did use the lotzoning thing in the end, but I don't know if it did any good. The lot still figures as "owned" by her.

I'll have to re-download SimPe now and check if she has a duplicate somewhere in limbo. She's actually living well in another lot now.

[Simsica]

Will you tell us your findings? I'd like to know.

[Lerf1950]

It's a suitcase, not a briefcase. And it only shows up on hotels. Sounds to me like your game has really messed this lot up, since Sims can't own hotel lots.