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Mad Poster
#26 Old 7th Oct 2014 at 3:00 PM
Clothes racks are cool because you can suggest outfit to a customer and if the sale is successful they'll change into the outfit you picked.
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retired moderator
#27 Old 7th Oct 2014 at 9:17 PM
Hire Family members: http://www.insimenator.org/index.ph...cd&topic=7778.0

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#28 Old 14th Oct 2014 at 9:06 PM Last edited by AndrewGloria : 14th Oct 2014 at 10:14 PM. Reason: typo
Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
I resisted getting OFB for a long time, because businesses sounded boring; but I was finally sold by the "children dancing on feet" interaction, which I believe you will like a lot.
It took all of 10 Sim minutes after installing OFB today, for me to see a child doing that autonomously.

Yes I do like it!

Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
I suggest you read Cyjon's "Study of Death" ( http://cyjon.net/node/268 ) to assure yourself you know how to protect your sims adequately.
Thanks Peni. I did read it, though for me it made rather depressing reading. It made me feel I wanted to mod out every form of death, except, perhaps, old age! I suppose Maxis had to do it like that, but I hate to see the life and death of my Sims reduced to simple arithmetic algorithms. I read the section on death by fire some time last year, and it made me heartily glad that I had Squinge's No more fires mod; I realised that without it there was a near statistical certainty that I would have lost a Sim to a fire no matter how carefully I played. Reading the rest of this study, I now realise that I was exposing the Sims in my school to a risk of death by flies, not because they were particularly slobbish, but just because they once left the supper dishes till next morning. That wouldn't matter with a normal sized family, but with 12 Sims eating, that makes a lot of dirty dishes, plus serving plates, and hence an awful lot of flies. Sometimes I feel that ignorance was bliss, but I suppose I'm better off knowing then not knowing. At least I can take precautions. So thanks anyway.
...
Well now that I've got OFB installed, my next question is where to start. I've got a few ambitious plans, but think I'd be better to start off by playing a couple of small businesses more or less the way Maxis designed the EP. But, who running what business in which neighbourhood? After a bit of thought, the Moore family pictured above seem not a bad place to start. Although I made them in CAS about a year ago, my Veronaville ran into problems soon after I created them, and I've never really played them on their own lot. It's still 8:25 a.m. on their first morning, and I've really got nothing planned for the adults. Scott (the father) is Fortune, which seems the ideal aspiration for someone starting a new enterprise. The only problem is money -- after buying and furnishing their house, they've got about §630 left, and I doubt if that's enough to even set up a home business, let alone buy even the smallest of community lots. Of course I can use money cheats, and would have done so had I even been thinking about starting a business when I created them. I used FamilyFunds to give them enough money to buy their house. But I prefer not to use money cheats after a family has moved in. So I'm thinking of Scott borrowing enough money from businessman Consort Capp to buy a small grocery shop and pay back the money to Consort (with interest) as and when he can afford it. Hopefully I can help make his shop profitable by sending my other playables to it to buy groceries. So I think I'll start by building the smallest possible grocery store on a 1x1 lot, and then see how much he has to pay to buy it. I'd prefer an owned community to a home business as I can send other Sims there. I'll use christianlov's wallet to transfer money between Consort and Scott. Does this seem a reasonable way to start my first Sim-owned business?

Another option would be to attach Bluewater Village to Veronaville, and look at the established businesses there, but I think I'd rather try to build and run a very small one on my own first. (I had a poolside restaurant at my Veronaville Swim Centre before I attached Downtown and saw the large restaurants there.)

Another longer term idea I'd like to run by you all. How about rezoning the House of Fallen Trees as a community lot, and getting some of the Tricou descendants together and to buy and run it as a Tricou Museum? (None of my Sims is mad enough to actually live in that place!) I think I should learn to walk before I try to run though, so I won't be doing that for a while.

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#29 Old 14th Oct 2014 at 10:08 PM
A small grocery store sounds perfect for a first business.

If you do attach Blue Water remember to never play the bakery as is as it's designed to drive you mad. In fact most of the Blue Water set up is terrible.

If the two adults and teens are to run the place themselves you can have one on the till, one restocking and one on sales. Make sure you use the sale tool to mark everything cheap to start with, run over and offer help quickly to a sim who looks lost especially if you have never aeen them before as it's probably the reporter. Leave enough room near the till so sims don't block it and remember new till operators are agonizingly slow, so if a line starts to form get one of your other sims to go chat to the last sim in line so they forget they are waiting.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#30 Old 14th Oct 2014 at 10:23 PM
Supplementary Questions:

Can you take children to an owned lot with you? So they're not left alone in the house?

And, does time work the same way as on ordinary community lot visits? i.e. If you leave the house at 9 a.m. and go and open the shop, and close it at 6 p.m. and go home, is it still 9 a.m. when you get home. Or is it after 6 p.m., so your child has come home from school, and been taken away by the social worker? Little Othello Moore is the most important person in that family!

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#31 Old 14th Oct 2014 at 10:29 PM
You can take children. I often add a fishing hole so they have something to do. Do you have Seasons?

Same way if you don't use community lot time. Because I do use that I take kids either in the summer holidays (summer holiday mod) or I simply place my school sign out the front of their house, change the kid to flexischool and no bus comes because now he is officially homeschooled. I don't like being a slave to a school bus in sims or in real life!

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#32 Old 14th Oct 2014 at 10:40 PM
Not only can children go to an owned lot, they can buy things there! They won't show up on their own, alas, only when you take them. They can't perform business interactions, but you can put him in charge of distracting the person at the end of the line. He'll also be able to jump rope, play in puddles, and get stuff out of his inventory to play with - the owners can access inventory on an owned lot. He can help clean up, too. Just be careful about timing or he'll be too tired to go to school.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#33 Old 14th Oct 2014 at 11:01 PM
If you use a sleep on community lot mod, sims including kids can sleep there. before that I used the BV tent, but I know you don't have BV.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#34 Old 15th Oct 2014 at 1:29 AM
Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
You can take children. I often add a fishing hole so they have something to do. Do you have Seasons?
I don't have Seasons but I think I'll put a toybox on the lot. Or perhaps the children's cooker. (Though selling burnt muffins to the customers might not be a good idea! )

I think I might get that sleep on community lots mod. Older Sims can drink espresso, or that wonderful energy drink from the CC vending machines, but children can't drink either. So it would be nice to let them have a nap. I can adjust their energy levels with the Sim Manipulator, but I don't like doing that. Have you got a link?

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#35 Old 15th Oct 2014 at 1:43 AM
Sleep on Community Lots: http://modthesims.info/d/241797
Quote:
fully compatible with any game configuration, from base-game up to Apartment Life


You can sell muffins, the kids just need a point or two of cooking skill not to burn them. Maybe they might like to make a little bit of pocket money.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#36 Old 15th Oct 2014 at 11:04 AM
All my sim kids seem to grow up from toddler and immediately roll the buy lemonade stand want. You could stick one of those outside a business and let your kids take advantage of thirsty customers.

I'd leave the House of Fallen Trees alone. Even if you play Tarlia's version without the graves (which I do) it still seems to be buggy. I redecorated it once and tried to package it and it wouldn't let me. I personally wouldn't try changing lot zoning on it. You could still have one of the Tricous move in and run it as a home business though.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#37 Old 15th Oct 2014 at 11:46 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Charity
You could still have one of the Tricous move in and run it as a home business though.
But that would mean living there. I don't think any of my pleasure-loving Tricous would want to do that. There be ghoulies and ghaisties there!

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Mad Poster
#38 Old 15th Oct 2014 at 11:48 AM
Quote: Originally posted by AndrewGloria
But that would mean living there. I don't think any of my pleasure-loving Tricous would want to do that. There be ghoulies and ghaisties there!


LOL, give one of them a knowledge secondary aspiration, then they're bound to roll see ghost wants.
Mad Poster
#39 Old 15th Oct 2014 at 1:39 PM
Is rezoning a lot with graves a bad idea? I've been thinking of doing it for Olive Specter's old place, to make a town graveyard and Strangetown museum all in one.

Just a note about the uniform feature; it's broken. The game also applies a face template for the duration that the employee wears the uniform. Not too bad if it's Face #2 or anything else fairly neutral, but in my megahood it somehow picked up Nervous Subject's face As far as I know, nobody has modded this out yet. If it bothers you, don't plan on using uniforms. It is totally temporary and they go back to their normal face when they aren't at work.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Mad Poster
#40 Old 15th Oct 2014 at 2:06 PM
Somebody here found a workaround for the uniform glitch - was it LivLukas (Jessa of the Jessa Channel)?

Andrew doesn't have Freetime, so no secondaries.

I changed Mary Munny's home into a community music center/love nest after she died, and had her grandson run it as a venue business till her ghost spawned, then sell it back to the community, and have had no obvious problems so far. I might not detect them, though, since Drama Acres is already corrupted. A couple of odd things happened, though. One was that Mary didn't seem to realize that the place was being run by her grandson, waving her arms with a Family icon in her thought bubbles (Mary's Romance to the core) and looking angry, though she didn't spook anybody. Another is that she sometimes spawns in daylight, with no headstone-kicking or lightning strikes. And the third is, that Frank sold it without opening it on a spring day (Day 1 of the household; he was selling it so he could afford the house I'd built him), last saved it on a fall day when people were getting in and out of outerwear when entering or leaving the house, and now when people visit the community-owned lot they'll get in and out of outerwear when the visiting household is in the middle of summer, and the correct season shows in the season display.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#41 Old 18th Oct 2014 at 1:18 AM
Well my first Sims-owned business is up and running. It is a very small grocery shop in Poet Place, Veronaville, and it's owned by Scott Moore (perhaps better known as the father of little Othello Moore). When I say "owned", he borrowed §15,000 from Consort Capp. The shop cost §9,682 and the rest is intended to be working capital. Immediately Scott and his teenage son Ross went and opened the shop, although it was nearly midnight. Here are a couple of pictures:


Three prospective customers arrived, but although they looked round and chatted, no one seemed interested in buying anything. Ross rolled a want to sell to Isabella Monty (one of the customers), but neither he nor Scott had any selling actions available. I thought this might be because of their lack of relevant skills and badges. Eventually they closed the shop and went home.

I thought I'd try it from the other end. so I saved their lot, and opened their neighbours the Smythes. I sent Emma Smythe to the shop to buy groceries, but there was no "Buy" action available on any of the displays. As consolation she gave Scott a tip of §5 and went home. That §5 is the sum total of his earnings so far! So it looks as if I'm missing something, but I'm not sure what.

I bought the vegetable displays and the freezer unit from the catalogue before Scott bought the lot. When he bought it, I made him buy an Open/Closed sign which is hung on the wall outside. When playing the lot I set the price of everything: I tried Cheap, Very Cheap and Ridiculously Cheap. I tried this both by clicking on the Sims and by using the business control panel in the top right corner. All to no effect. When playing the lot I made Ross the cashier and Scott the restocker. Again, when Emma was visiting the shop, I made Scott controllable, again got him to price everything -- this time to ridiculously cheap. I made him the cashier, but it didn't matter what I did, Emma couldn't buy anything. Clicking on the displays produced "There are no actions available."

It seems obvious to me that I've missed something, and from my Real World retail experience, the most obvious thing seems to be that he hasn't bought any groceries, so maybe that's why he can't sell any. But I haven't a clue how to buy groceries wholesale in The Sims 2. I see an option on the telephone at home: "Check in a business." Might that have something to do with it? Assuming that it is possible to run a grocer's shop with OFB (and you don't need Seasons to grow your own food) , can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong?

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Mad Poster
#42 Old 18th Oct 2014 at 1:30 AM
You see that price tag in the bottom of the round display in the upper right hand corner of the screen? That's the "for sale" tool. Click on it and use it to set the groceries for sale. Do this for every display that allows sims to purchase things when on an unowned lot - grocery display, jewelry, cologne, clothesrack.

I often have to try several times before everything is set for sale. Apparently it's fussy where you click on it.

When you sell individual items out of the buy catalog - say, deco that looks like groceries, or furniture, or non-crafted toys - you'll use the padlock to change pricing to wholesale. You'll know it worked when you get a lot of yellow. You don't have to set each of these for sale separately, but can set prices from the register and set particular items that you want to be more or less expensive than the other items by clicking them individually.

Sales options are available once the customers start browsing, or when they're doing the "may I help you" dance.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#43 Old 18th Oct 2014 at 1:50 AM
Once they are set for sale those things will look yellow when you click the for sale tool. Your shop had nothing set for sale so nobody could buy yet. At first you will want it set to cheap, or most items set to cheap. As you gain stars and gain rank you can charge more and you will get many more customers.

If you see a new sim come in- often with terrible fashion sense, they could be the reporter. he will rate your business and can leave a good or bad review. Try and keep him or her happy. You will know it's a reporter when they take out a folder and start writing on it. They will always do the "I am lost, where is it?' action, so be ready to click on them and give help. Giving most customers help when needed can earn you a star although some can be difficult and not want your help. being friends with customers helps.

When sims are thinking of buying a thinking icon will show above their head and you can click on them sale>basic sell. if they like you selling to them, try three in a row for a star. You can see if they don't like it and if not don't try them again.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#45 Old 19th Oct 2014 at 9:46 AM
Thanks again Peni, Jo and PlatinumPlumbbob. You had explained that to me once already Peni, but I clearly didn't take it in.

The next morning Scott and Ross went back to the shop and opened it after breakfast. Both boys have been enrolled in Simlogical Flexi-school, which probably means no school at all. "I can't afford to send you boys to school, until this shop is making a profit," says Scott. We (meaning myself and my Sims) set the displays For Sale -- all four of them! And then Ross turned the sign to "Open". Soon customers arrived, and this time they did buy! Cornwall Capp was the first to start browsing. He had come all the way from Downtown. But Jenny McBain (the mother of my twins and the Moores' nearest neighbour) was the first to actually make a purchase. Things went well after that, and they soon had three gold stars. . . Until Berjes Wilsonoff arrived. Berjes was clearly in one of his bad moods, and had come into the shop with absolutely no intention of buying anything. Instead, he marched straight up to the counter and started to complain to Scott, who had taken over the till to let Ross go to the toilet. The only substance of his complaint seemed to be that he didn't like Ross, and he wanted Scott to send him home! Both Scott and Ross tried to amuse him by telling him jokes, but when Berjes is in a bad mood, he doesn't do funny. A queue began to develop while Scott and Ross were trying to placate Berjes, and then Berjes started to annoy the other customers. Having run out of ideas, Ross gave up and asked Berjes to leave. And, believe it or not, Berjes politely shook hands and left without any fuss.

What do you do about people who only come to complain and cause trouble?

Incidentally, to try to deal with the queue that had built up during these altercations, we bought a second cash register (a modern one) and Ross opened up a second till, but the customers ignored him, and continued to stand in line grumbling as his dad very slowly served them with the ancient cash register. When Scott had finally dealt with the queue, he could see that it would be easier with more people serving in the shop. So about mid-afternoon they closed the shop and went home. When they return, they'll bring the whole family. Even little Othello can entertain the waiting customers.

After that I played the Smythe sisters lot. After lunch Emma went with her sister Enid and bought the groceries they needed from Scott's shop, without any difficulties. In the evening, after Enid had gone to work as a paramedic, Emma invited Berjes Wilsonoff round. (By coincidence she had a want to be best friends with him.) With her, Berjes, a teenage ex-Downtownie who now acts as a live-in nanny for Antonio Monty, was all sweetness and light; not a trace of the behaviour he had displayed at the Moores' shop. He played red hands with her, and later chess. He chatted with her over a meal of (burnt) spaghetti and even fixed a broken sink in her bathroom. Emma tried to persuade him to be nicer, with, I believe, a little success. But lack of niceness isn't really Berjes's problem; it's more his moodiness. Berjes has seven nice points already, more than other Veronaville teens who behave much better. I find him hard to fathom out. He's gay, but I think he wishes he was straight. He's had relationships with boys who weren't faithful to him, and I think he thinks the world is against him. He blames other people for all his problems, and this only antagonises them. At the moment 3 of his 4 wants are unrealisable. What on earth am I to do with him? I think I'll get Ross to phone him away from work, and see if a chat over the telephone helps them to get along better. And maybe play Berjes's own lot and give him a dream date. But I love these little dramas that my game throws up.

Any thoughts?

All Sims are beautiful -- even the ugly ones.
My Simblr ~~ My LJ
Sims' lives matter!
The Veronaville kids are alright.
Alchemist
#46 Old 19th Oct 2014 at 10:29 AM
I don't think the elevator thing is deadly unless your sim has low hunger.

I don't find owning community lots fun, because you have to visit them to make profit and time will just warp back when you get home ..
Owning stores on your home lot is really fun though.

I would recommend Seasons or Apartment Life for your next EP.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#47 Old 19th Oct 2014 at 11:06 AM
Quote:
What do you do about people who only come to complain and cause trouble?
Try to see if they have 'say goodbye/ask to leave' on their pie menu. often they will and you can get rid of them quickly.
Quote:
Incidentally, to try to deal with the queue that had built up during these altercations, we bought a second cash register (a modern one) and Ross opened up a second till, but the customers ignored him, and continued to stand in line grumbling as his dad very slowly served them with the ancient cash register.


Yes that doesn't work. I mentioned in one of the other posts that a child can be useful for telling a joke or a chat on a long line of customers. But any sim of the family who doesn't have immediate needs can do that.

ZenGarden, if you use Community Lot time, time won't warp back. It works with all EP's.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#48 Old 19th Oct 2014 at 4:25 PM
Hey, you've got a lot to absorb all at once, Andrew! I can't even learn things like that - I have to be in the game poking around and when I can't figure something out ask a specific question, which I won't understand the answer to till I get back in the game and poke some more.

It's a funny thing - I've got, um, nine if I counted right community lots and I've never had anyone come in just to complain and make trouble! Even though one of the store owners is Leslie Gay, the sim with the highest woohoo score in town; and one is Esteban Casa, the Grouchiest Man in Drama Acres (who if I don't watch him will poke his customers, and is the only one I've seen yet flub a dazzle. His trash can lives on its side.). Nobody complains unless there's spoiled food on the lot. The only person I ever ask to leave is the Wicked Witch - no bugs in my businesses, thank you very much!

Funny character thing: I was running the Hot Spot with Luz Ghote and her husband Billy, and Luz had put out some chicken, because nothing sends stars up on this lot like a free meal. But she'd gotten busy and missed an empty dish, which started to steam green and draw flies. George Hawkins was talking to her and laughing, getting along fine; then he left her, and went to Billy - interrupting a conversation - to complain to him about it! The club is in Luz's name and Billy was only along to help out. But George comes from a gynocentric family and I guess he wasn't about to hassle the nice old lady when her husband was around to hassle. Why didn't he take better care of his wife's property?

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Mad Poster
#49 Old 19th Oct 2014 at 5:56 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Peni Griffin
Somebody here found a workaround for the uniform glitch - was it LivLukas (Jessa of the Jessa Channel)?


Do you have any idea of the thread, even discussion topic or rough time scale? I'd love to find the workaround but I'm not coming up with much by searching the problem.

I use the sims as a psychology simulator...
Lab Assistant
#50 Old 19th Oct 2014 at 7:13 PM
I think it had to do with a mod called "gussy up" or something like that. I remember reading that thread, let me see...

here you go! (:
http://modthesims.info/t/460765
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