Not sure if this got answered yet, if so, I've missed it. I often put consignment registers on random lots if I don't want to have a separate consignment store. (In a new SV save I usually drop it at the art gallery.) My sims can sell their stuff without problems though I'm not sure if it builds up reputation, never paid attention to that.
It's different with lot types that give certain buffs (library, gym) or let sims use objects differently (again the gym). If you build these types without setting the lot to the appropriate type, you won't get the buffs or have npc's use them accordingly. Also the salon items only spawn npc's if placed at a salon, they are usable on any other lot though.
Another thing I like to add to multi-purpose lots is a laundromat. Even if the lot isn't labeled as one, sims will still do their laundry there while on the lot.

Thanks for your input, arathea. I knew that certain kinds of lot wouldn't function correctly without being classified appropriately, but I appreciate you sharing your experience. That's helpful!

I just wanted to update to say that I've played another sim week and the lot is still getting lots of activity/visitors categorized as "No Visitors Allowed", so there seems to be no difference from when I had it classified as a Market.

I have been building some other lots but will soon be testing this lot separately as a Consignment Store in one test and as a LN club in another and and will update again then. I should also report that my Internet service has been out more than it's worked the past 5 days so that may delay things until it gets fixed and becomes more reliable, but that's the plan.

I hope people will keep posting about their own experiences with lot combinations and how those play out.

If your lot is set to No Visitors Allowed then it is the rabbithole that draws visitors to the lot.

Registers should work on any community lot, regardless of the lot type, same with food stands (although I've read that the resort food stands only work on resorts, and I don't know about the Seasons concession stands outside festival lots either). Objects that are certainly tied to the lot type are the stylist station and the tattoo chair. Outside of a Salon they won't attract an NPC.
The only thing to keep in mind with regard to registers is the possible conflict between the register NPC schedule and closing times of lots. When a register is supposed to be manned 24/7 then it should not be placed on a lot with closing times. EA made that mistake themselves in the Uni town: the barista bar and the nerd shop register are 24/7 objects but they placed them on lots with closing times. This will break the connection between the NPC and the register. This connection guarantees that the NPCs' needs remain locked at 100 for each motive. Once this connection breaks the NPCs will suffer from motive failure after a while.
The only register that I can recall that has a specific shift coded is the consignment register (9am to 6pm).

Late Night bars are a special breed of register, though. If on a lot with no closing time then a mixologist will work from 12pm to 4am. If it is on a lot with closing times then these will override the bar object's setting and the NPC will follow the closing times then, without risking their motive lock be broken.

I have more information on this but I don't want to flood this thread with a wall of text. So, if you've got any specific questions with regard to this I am happy to answer them in a separate post.

Now, as to why your merchants wander away. They shouldn't. If they do nevertheless then there's three reasons I can think of: (1) Their motive lock is broken, as described above. This can also happen when you edit a lot in Edit Town with the roles already assigned. (2) There are some objects specifically coded to attract merchants. The harvest stand from the Store is an example. (3) Your mod.

The food merchants do come back. I've seen them come back when a sim is standing in front of their register so I assume that they are getting a 'call' from the sim wanting to order something. It's true though that the merchants for the Food Register mod do not stand indefinitely at their registers like they do for the regular WA Food Register.

I also use a mod that changes the working times for special merchants, but I do need to pay more attention to the hours set in that mod and the hours for the lot I will be using. Thanks for your input!

@newlibertysims, sims will visit a cafe/java hut lot and they will visit any of the LN bars. Your lot should work fine! What I want to do though is to combine lots that sims DON'T visit (much, if at all) with the lots that have been coded to work in the game. Like if you've ever played a bakery, you already know that sims will almost never visit - but I combine it with a bookstore and now I have sims! (See info below.) So if it was me, I would combine a java lot with some other lot and put something else next to your bar! But then maybe I misunderstood what the lot next door is, so if I got it wrong please correct me.

But first I wanted to check back in to let those interested know that I started a new test game in Riverview and added a consignment register to my multi-function theater lot and classified the whole thing as a Consignment Store. It's still working great and the RH are bringing in lots of sims to the lot. (You can get a peek at the consignment clerk on the far right of the pic below, just this side of the staircase in the theater.) I'm still planning on testing the lot with a couple of other configurations so I'll report again later when I get to those.



I also made a lot in the spirit of the EA Baker's Bazarre lot only smaller - it's a 20x20 lot - with a Book Store/Bookstore RH rug and a bakery. It's also quite busy and lots of fun to play!





I used NRAAS Cupcake to set up the recipes available at the bakery. My two tester sims on the right are eating Mocha Walnut Cake and that sim in the green and blue plaid shirt (I forgot his name already) is eating a pistachio cupcake - both recipes are from @icemunmun's Baker's Basket plants, ingredients, and recipes mod. :lovestruc

Do you mean the Diner RH rug? Or is this a rug replacement for the Coffee Shop RH that came with Showtime? You'll have to explain how that would work; all the Coffee Shops I have seen place a SHT stage outside so that part is actually open. Unless you aren't planning to use the stage and just wanted a Coffee Shop RH?

And no, I am not using ani's Business as Unusual mod. So far I have just stuck with the Cupcake mod on this lot and filled the rack with foods from the pizza oven. I don't think I have room to put the industrial oven and all the other stuff needed here in this space, so I think I will save my more 'formal' restaurant lot for ani's mod.

And thank you for the nice compliment on my bakery!

Please excuse the double post! Here is one of the problems I keep running into every time I try to use the Business As Usual or ani's Business as Unusual mod - this is a lot that was classified as a Dive Bar and it was made by sashraf on the Exchange (no CC included in the lot). It is set up with the Business As Usual menus etc., but I changed those to Business As Unusual items and reclassified the lot as an Arcade.

It was also rockin' with sims, but every time I try to set up the pro oven in this or other games, a box comes up listing the names of everyone in the 'hood. I don't know who they are or what they are currently doing! So I never know who to select to be chefs and waiters/waitresses. Plus I have no idea how long to make the shifts. Will the sims just disappear if the shifts are too long? I have played lots with the Business as Usual items on them and the chefs are always failing to show up. If I have to make the shifts shorter to keep sims in these positions, then I guess that means that I need to make about a dozen sims and add them to my game just to serve as chefs and wait staff.

I am really kind of stumped as to what to do with this set. @libertysims, if you have any advice on using it I'd love to hear it. That goes for anyone else who has used it for a restaurant lot.

Since I was stopped short with the Business as Usual/Unusual stuff again, I just added a room on the in the back (this photo was taken from the back of the lot) and used the Diner RH rug. I sent my two sims to the RH and instructed them to 'eat outside' and they took their food to the bar and sat down and ate it.



Lot available here.

Hi Tangie
Loving this thread! Ani has a YouTube tutorial on setting up a restaurant with her mod: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9UhLBtKhuY

Hm, it seems that you could find the rabbithole mods useful that I've made but haven't submitted for upload yet. They are like my Arboretum Map View Visibilty Change mod and have two major uses: first, they allow the blue lot map tag to appear alongside the (red) rabbithole tags, meaning that you can make your Sims visit the lot itself from Map View without having to click on one of the rabbitholes first; and, secondly, they allow you to invest in the lot, if the lot type is investable.

:makes note to self to finally finish that upload:

Awesome lots Tangie, they look fantastic, I love them !

From what I remember with some troubles once before about the ice-cream maker, not only does it fill hunger, but apparently fun as well ( I haven't read every response yet sorry, so don't know if it has been mentioned ) which could explain why sims are so attracted to it. I believe there was a big discussion about it on the officials once, when it was released, because sims were ignoring taking care of babies and toddlers and such, to just continually eat ice-cream. I never put it on my lots because they become obsessed with it.

Also, I too have issues like you do with my barista's and mixologists constantly leaving their stations to go and play pool, just talk to sims, or use the pizza oven, or the Claw. It's bloody annoying and I can't find any way to push them back to their role. I removed a Mixologist tonight from a bar because he was playing pool all the time instead of tending the bar where sims were waiting. He disappeared off the lot after that. A couple of minutes later the game reassigned him back to the bar, but he arrived at the lot and immediately ran upstairs to play pool.
It's driving me mad.

Don, I am looking forward to those mods. I put the Gypsy Caravan at the beach sometimes, and it would be nice to have both map tags.

Thank you Attuned; I have seen that before but watched it again since it's so short!

How to set it up is not exactly my problem. If I want the restaurant to be open for a good chunk of the day and ideal shifts are 4 hours long (to keep the staff from running off), then for a restaurant that is open from 11am to 11pm would need at least 3 chefs and 3-6 wait staff. In my own neighborhood that I am building up from scratch I plan to add sims who can cook to the save and then I can select them from that list that pops up. But in a new save I don't know what all those sims have already been assigned to do so I hate trying to drag them into being a chef or waiter for fear I'll mess something else up. I think that might be why when I've tried to play lots that someone else set up, the chefs stop showing up. The game is just selecting someone and that sim has other things to do! So I was just wondering how people handle that part. It seems like a very labor intensive business!

DonB I would love to try out that mod! That sounds like it would be a great asset to how I am trying to set up my lots.

Thanks, Pary! If you read the other posts about the ice cream maker, you'll see that I ended up deleted it. Even changing some of the values with NRAAS Retuner didn't make sims obsess over it less (at least not that I could see, although maybe I did not give it enough time to kick in) so I just deleted it. Now the sims eat popcorn occasionally which works for me.

(((hugs)))

And this is why I occasionally complain that MTS is too big... I've needed that mod since about 4 months after I got Supernatural, and I just now found out about it.

Oh wow...what an useful thread! Thanks to @tangie0906 for the shoutout and bringing this thread to my attention :lovestruc

I use the method of plopping down a RH for lots which do not attract any sims. Also for restaurants I sometimes use the Eat Outside Restaurants mod by icarus_allsorts

Hiya, icemunmun! I use nearly all of icarus_allsorts mods; they are fantastic! In another game I took the Business as Usual EA lot, got rid of all the Business as Usual ovens and menus and substituted the Bistro RH rug, added a LN bar, and used icarus_allsorts' Eat Outside Restaurants + Waiters mod. Voila, my sim sat down and ordered dinner (because 'inside' is now outside!), and here is the waiter bringing it to him. Love it!

Thanks for checking, newlibertysims. I think I'm going to add some sims in my 'hood (not the testing 'hoods but the 'hood I'm building from scratch) and give them the unemployed career, then select them to be the chefs and wait staff. I will probably just do one restaurant using ani's mod, then do another using icarus_allsort's mod mentioned right above your last post just because it is so simple and easy. And it won't require nearly as many sims, and I could also assign one or more sims to a pro oven and use Zerbu's open careers mod!

edit: I mean I can use Zerbu's career mod on the lot I use the Business as Unusual set on - I think I'm confusing myself,

I built a library in another test save and no sims ever visited it. But there were only about two dozen sims in the whole neighborhood so I didn't worry about it too much. I just figured none of my sims must have the Bookworm trait or something.

But in my test of these lots in Riverview, I created a new library loosely modeled after the one in Twinbrook and created a "Dairy Barn" establishment next to it using Arsil's Ice Cream Stand mod and the CC from Sandy at ATS3 and others.


But no sims ever came to this lot when my active sim was there.







It was Leisure Day so they weren't working. Maybe they were lounging in their chairs all day? But I'm beginning to wonder now if there isn't something special in EA's library lots that drive sims to them because it seems to me they always have traffic. The default Riverview library was always busy every time I sent sims there.

Anyone also experience this problem in custom libraries? OTOH I know I have played custom worlds with player created libraries and those worked fine. I guess I will send sims here again in the evening and on the weekend to see if anything changes with this, but if anyone has any input please let me know!

@tangie0906

Is this lot zoned as a Library? I think the library lot type might drive certain interactions, as BeInLibrary is a commodity type.

Thanks! You might notice that I have the Sweet Treats pack (just thought I had to have all the things, what can I say?) but this is the first time I have used any of it. Ever.

I created the library first so I might just make that a lot by itself and rebuild the ice cream shop with some other RH building. We'll see how it goes as I play this test game a bit longer to see what happens. Speaking of my test game, I created a SHT stage in the basement of the theater and labeled the lot a LIve Show Venue but silly me didn't think about the lot being closed during the sims' work hours in the music and film careers. So I made it a Hangout instead. It did spawn a proprietor but I haven't had a chance to play the game much to see how the lot functions so I'll have to report back on that (I don't think I will have any SHT venues in my BACC - my sims will have to travel to the big city to see a show - but I'm still experimenting with lot types).

@Butterbot yes, the lot is zoned as a Library.

The reason why nobody visited the library might be two-fold: not enough residents and Leisure Day. I think that Leisure Day pushes most Sims to outside activities, pools and beaches in particular. Pool parties in this case I don't think that they're to blame. Unless your Sim has been invited to a party, accepted that invitation AND agreed on going there when he/she got the message that the party is starting now, no party will happen, and the host will be the only Sim at home.

As regards Showtime stages, there's a list at sims.wikia where you can see what type of performances are possible at venues other than the original SHT ones: Source

I exaggerated slightly about never having used any of the objects in the pack. But I rarely use it, and hide all the clothes (which are hideous) with NRAAS MasterController CAS feature. And yes, I do have the cotton candy hair!

That's a good idea about putting a stage in a park. And maybe I'll change my mind about having a SHT stage in my theater; by the time the neighborhood is 'mature' enough to have a theater it's certainly conceivable that they have a community theater with live shows and 'plays' as well. So perhaps I will do both!

Thanks Don Babilon! I was looking for that info last night on which venues can host a stage. I'm going to continue playing my library lot for a while and see if it starts to attract other sims. Although maybe I should build a coffee shop next to the library where I can add a stage to it at some point if I want to. Hmmmm...

One of the things I love about the way that Ani plays is that she is constantly experimenting with different things to try and is always changing things up. I haven't seen her carnival lot though - need to check that out!

And I am the opposite with TS4. I kept trying and trying, and buying and buying (at half price, but still), and excuse my language, but now I finally just don't give a rat's ass about that turd of a game. Doesn't tempt me in the slightest!

I want to give a big shout-out to Simple Minded Sims and her Little Business Lots (and she has some other fabulous lots, too!). I recreated her Pharmacy and Herbalist lots so I could include them on another multi-purpose lot I made, and she asked to see pics so I am resurrecting this thread.

In addition to the Pharmacy and Herbalist shops, this multi-purpose lot also includes an open Day Spa (as well as a RH rug) and a Coffee & Tea Shop. So far I am just starting to test the lot and sent a sim there to take some screenshots; I don't know if sims will visit this lot much or not yet (especially since this is my save that only has a dozen households). It's designated as a Java Hut.

From left to right, Day Spa, Coffee & Tea, Pharmacy, & Herbalist.









And last, here is a screenshot of the back of the lot.



Thanks again to Simple Minded Sims for the inspiration! Check out her lots because they're better than mine, and they're in S3P format so they come with all the CC you need.

Very well done tangie, love the style and colours. Thank you for posting those pictures. You've done a great job

Thank you! Glad you approve. I do encourage people who are interested in these types of lots to go check yours out, because seriously they are wonderful.