World Adventures Weirdness

[Pam]

I've been playing the new World Adventures most of the day.  I've completed a few adventures and made lots of new discoveries for plants, fish, recipes, etc.  There's also some just weird things in the game now that weren't there before.  Metro has already mentioned the very short shelf life for leftovers in the refrigerator.  This is more than just weird...  it's plain WRONG!!  I used to be able to keep leftovers for several days with the most expensive refrigerator, but now I'm lucky if they last 24 Sim hours.  Please EA!!  Please put back the leftover times!

Another thing...  my garden plants no longer need water.  There's no option to water even a seed that's just been planted.  I have 2 automatic sprinklers that come on every morning and several others that haven't been upgraded to automatic, so they never come on.  Those plants are just fine without the sprinklers being on.  Weird.

And just now, I kept hearing the sound of a toddler laughing.  I checked the only toddler in my house and she was fast asleep.  I followed the sound and found a toddler in the house next door.  I could see into the windows a little and there she was just sitting in the empty floor laughing.  I've never had such thin walls in the game like that.  So, now I'm wondering if I'm going to hear the adult conversations, too.  I don't like it much.

I'm enjoying WA a lot and the improvements are fantastic!  But what's up with the changes in things that were working great?  If it's not broke, don't fix it!

[Metropolis Man]

I'm enjoying WA a lot and the improvements are fantastic!  But what's up with the changes in things that were working great?  If it's not broke, don't fix it!

Amen to that, sister. I think I jumped the gun on the new photography challenge and may end up scrapping it because in my opinion you cannot make money at all with photography. Like I told you in the challenge thread I'm going to stick with my tester character another full day. But, if my mood bar doesn't go up by tonight, then I think ES really needs to overhaul that skill to make it viable and fun. I'm not asking for photography to be as lucrative as painting, writing, and guitar playing. But, if my guy only has 750 Simoleans for 3 weeks work something is clearly wrong.

[HelenP]

I've noticed the leftovers thing with the latest patch on the vanilla game so presumably the sprinklers have been changed too.  Quite annoying really, it means there is no point in keeping food in the fridge at all if your sims have the 'Hardly Hungry' reward and presumably no point in buying sprinklers which means one less thing for Handy sims to upgrade and/or repair which could make the Max Skills challenge harder

[Metropolis Man]

My photography dislikes may just be my personal pet peeves. But, the whole food spoiling in nanoseconds thing — that to me is a game breaker. I mean it's truly awful. And it makes no sense because every feature they've added with this monster patch has been one of time saving — like the auto fertilizing thing. If you're feeding an enormous family of 8, then yes, you should be expected to have to cook once or twice a day because of all of the plates everyone is grabbing. But, for a single Sim who only grabs breakfast and dinner? Are you kidding me?

[RCHaynes]

But what's up with the changes in things that were working great?  If it's not broke, don't fix it!

Unfortunately, this is the state of 21st century software development, living down to the theory that there's never time to do it right, but there's time to do it over. I work for a very large company that spends literally hundreds of millions on software development in-house every year. And most of it is crap.
There is no longer pride in creating a program that runs well, does as it is supposed to and doesn't introduce problems in features that previously worked flawlessly (or nearly so). People become developers because there's big $$$ kaching involved, not because they love computers or programming. And gods help you if you infer that their creation is less than prefection codified, for they will react as though you wish to burn their first-born in effigy.
In general, software development teams are missing a crucial portion: Quality Assurance Engineers (and not just because I need work  ). One who writes a program to do X, Y and Z will not have, usually, the midset that says what if W²? Why are teams missing this crucial element? Becasue some suit in accounting can't see a fiscal need. Software companies, and games are NOT the worst offenders, have come to see it as their commercially given right to rake in mad cash for shoddy worksmanship and work on fixing it later.
I'd happily accept 1/2 as much 1/2 as often in terms of releases and expansions and such if it meant that what I get is solid software.
/rant off, steps off soapboax

[Pam]

If you're feeding an enormous family of 8, then yes, you should be expected to have to cook once or twice a day because of all of the plates everyone is grabbing. But, for a single Sim who only grabs breakfast and dinner? Are you kidding me?

Leftovers are even more important because it's a large family.  Not everyone eats at the same time and it's madness trying to keep 8 Sims fed.  Even if I had them all on the same eating schedule, it gets crazy when 8 of them try to grab a plate and find a place to sit.  Leftovers are a lifesaver for the large family.

I found another oddity, too.  Before when the cook made the meal, she wouldn't eat any of it unless she was very hungry.  She could cook it for everyone else, then go do something else.  Now she eats a plate every time she prepares a meal.  I had my cooking Sim at the park grilling several meals to get a wish of cooking 3 meals perfectly and she tried to eat a plate from each of them!  Even if I stopped her, she would go right back to it if I didn't give her another task to keep her busy.  I really don't like this.  She gets the stuffed moodlet and might put on weight.  Maybe it's not that big a deal and I'm overreacting, but it's annoying and it's new with the patches and expansion pack.

[PJSim]

Well, I assume the fridge is broken and it will get fixed. Fixing the save error was just a larger priority.

Now she eats a plate every time she prepares a meal.

My Sims are not doing that. They do like they always do, they won't eat unless they have the hungry moodlet.

Another thing...  my garden plants no longer need water.  There's no option to water even a seed that's just been planted.  I have 2 automatic sprinklers that come on every morning and several others that haven't been upgraded to automatic, so they never come on.  Those plants are just fine without the sprinklers being on.

In my game the plants no longer need water right after being planted but they do every day after that. I'm actually liking this, you no longer have to turn on the sprinklers while planting.

Something else I've noticed: I have a sim using the telescope a lot and he seems to see more meteors than usual. Could just be a fluke but I'm happy about this. I like meteors. On the very first day he found one worth more than 3.500 simoleons.


I installed WA yesterday (the 19th). I uninstalled the base game and did a clean install of everything. I also updated the game whenever it wanted to so I have the latest patches.
Until I see otherwise I really believe problems will get fixed soonish. In the past I never got the EP's right away and I never had any problems then.

[Carl]

Several problems...

I have trouble with the User Interface, in that hovering over anything and expecting a tooltip about it, be it a Sim's name, or even the name and description of a wish I'd promise seems to be there for a millisecond then disappear. I have to struggle with the game paused to get the tooltip to come.

When looking at tombs by going down a level so I can resume my progress I've gone for a couple really wild camera rides. For no explainable reason my camera flew from within the tomb to the base camp, even though my Sim was en route and nowhere near the camp.

I'm annoyed that Martial Arts skill journal lists what you need to do to complete the challenges, but doesn't describe what the challenges do for the Sim once they're done. Is this a problem with all the skills?

Also a puddle has appeared several times on the ground, as though a Sim has wet himself -- even mine, who has steel bladder and doesn't wet anywhere at all, ever.

Glad they fixed the issue with saving but looking forward to the next set of fixes. I'm sure they're working on them.

[HelenP]

To add to the weirdness, although I've got vanilla sims patched up to 1.7, is that my businesses are no longer paying out.

Monday at 11am they said "No money available, come back after 9am Monday" but I hadn't collected any money that week!

Just as I was getting somewhere with the Trump Challenge as well  . Have emailed EA, hope they fix it soon.


Oops put this in the wrong topic, v. sorry.  I don't know how to move it to the help section though.

[Carl]

To add to the weirdness, although I've got vanilla sims patched up to 1.7, is that my businesses are no longer paying out.

Monday at 11am they said "No money available, come back after 9am Monday" but I hadn't collected any money that week!

Just as I was getting somewhere with the Trump Challenge as well  . Have emailed EA, hope they fix it soon.


Oops put this in the wrong topic, v. sorry.  I don't know how to move it to the help section though.

It's ok, most of this is some sort of complaining about the patch that came with WA, and we likely just haven't noticed how it affects the regular gameplay. It seems like with every patch comes bugs, and eventually we'll iron out 95% with a lurking 5% to annoy us for the rest of our Sim careers. Here's hoping they address all our concerns.

[Metropolis Man]

I'm annoyed that Martial Arts skill journal lists what you need to do to complete the challenges, but doesn't describe what the challenges do for the Sim once they're done. Is this a problem with all the skills?

Ah, thanks for adding another black mark to my growing list of photography dislikes. Yep. Same thing.

I don't know if its, the game or the new patches but now The beautiful vista lots are fixed. I no longer lose the moodlet if I move a house on those certain lots. XD

Yeah, that was one of the million things in the patch notes that got fixed.

EDIT: Carl/Pam — You both probably figured out that getting me to do the photography walkthrough may entail an act of God at this point. Carl, you mentioned above the skill journal of Martial Arts being too sparse. Nectar making is a different story. That seems like a good skill and maybe even profitable too. I've got 2 sick kids at home at the moment so they obviously take priority over anything, but in my spare time I plan on creating Ernest and Julio Gallo today and keeping some notes for a future Nectar-making walkthrough if you guys are okay with that.

[Neo-Nightmare]

I don't know if it's the game or the new patches, but now the beautiful vista lots are fixed.  I no longer lose the moodlet if I move a house on those certain lots. XD

[PJSim]

I noticed this mentioned in the list of changes but haven't checked it out myself yet.

Yay!

[igzigpuff]

In regards to food spoiling in the fridge, read a thread over on the EA forum that they replaced the fridge with a new one and the food didn't spoil so quickly anymore.  That fix worked for some and not others, another fix mentioned he moved his family to another lot and that fixed the spoiling food.  I wonder if you are having trouble with objects not working in existing games, that maybe replacing the items not functioning properly with new ones might fix the trouble for example sprinklers, plants, etc.., just a thought.

[PJSim]

I tried buying a new fridge, that seems to work. Thanks igzig!

It's weird because it's a new family I made after installing WA. They moved into a house with a fridge so I guess that makes it "old".

[Pam]

I've replaced the refrigerator several times.  I think maybe the most recent one might be working better, but don't know for sure yet.  I also read in the Prima Guide that you can store leftovers of Great and Excellent meals to be eaten later.  So, now I'm wondering if it's only high quality meals that will stay in the refrigerator.  It might be something they changed with the new updates and World Adventures release that lower quality meals spoil faster.  I'll do some testing and see if I can find anything concrete.

[Metropolis Man]

My nectar-making Gallo brothers that sort of got aborted today did buy the best fridge. And I remember some Goopy Carbonara lasting for quite a few days, so I don't know what was the problem before. I did notice the spoiling problem when I was testing out the photography skill. That character was making a lot of sushi and throwing the leftovers in the fridge. One thing I wondered was — maybe not using the stove really cranks up the problem? But, to test that out today I had one of the Gallo brothers make some Autumn Salad and it still lasted a few days in the best fridge. So, I don't know if it's a fish thing, or if it's the fridge. I'm stumped.

[bcollins87]

I found a new rock in WA called "Tiberium" which comes from another EA game serius "Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars." After a few days of it being in your inventory it will no longer be a rough rock but a cut gem that makes you sick -30 mood. It was originally worth $90 now after it has evolved into a big crystal it is worth $40,000. I've found 3 more lying around in Egypt all have evolved and their worth depends on their weight but lets just say I'm rich

[Pam]

I don't suppose you remember where in Egypt you found them?

[bcollins87]

Okay, now that I remember, I found one in a neighbor's trash can in Sunset Valley at night (my Sim is Kleptomaniac). And the other 3, I bought in Egypt's marketplace one day. I try to buy as much stuff from the marketplace as possible because some of it is undervalued until you buy it and actually analyze it.

[Pam]

I found one in the wild somewhere between Ship's Oasis and the Great Sphinx.  Then I bought three at the Relic Store before I left Egypt.  It looks like an uncut gem, not like a piece of metal.  On my monitor, it looked green like an Emerald.  When I got back home, I put one on display and left the other three in my Sim's inventory.  On the display stand, it looks less green and more turquoise.  My Sim is at the point right now where's he's got the sickness, but the gem hasn't changed yet.

Very interesting find, bcollins!  Thank you for sharing it with us!  I'll be back with pictures and final details later.

[Bogie74]

Well, I finally FINALLY got my WA today..so much for "rush shipping".. anyway. Saw there was a new game update, and stared at the screen and laughed... SERIOUSLY?? After all I have been through there is NO WAY I am DL it until I see some posts about nothing major happening.  

Fridge thing still annoying me. I've just gotten to the point now where I open the fridge, find the bad food, and drag it into my sell window!! ROFL!

I have also experienced what Pam has, where I have my Sim make a meal, and unless she is SUPER hungry, she just sticks it in the fridge right after she cooks it!

Love the new clothes, moodlets, and LTR. I've been to France, and to Egypt.

First Impressions:

Did I miss the Eifle Tower because how can you have France without it?? Copywrite issue I guess I kinda take this Vacation Spot to heart because my mother was born in France, and came to the US when she was 7.. I do love the new recipes, and the nector. Which leads me to my next thought.. did they decide to call it "nector" -vs- wine because of the age content thing? Architecture pretty true to form considering.

Egypt - kinda annoyed at how you can only ride your bike in certain areas, then you run everywhere else! Took FOREVER to complete the Tomb Tours mission. Completed that, and the first 3 legs of the plunder of egypt.
I also found that gem Tiberium, along the banks of the river, near Camp moon. Here is Lara, using the snake basket:

I should have given her the genuis trait, because the stupid idiot stuck her hand in when she first tried and got bit! DUHH!!

[Pam]

I read somewhere that the Eiffel Tower is visable as decoration only.  We can't actually visit it.  It's just part of the landscape.

[Bogie74]

Thanks Pam!!  Must have missed it.

I also have the Tiberium in my inventory - it's been 3 days now, and she's now -25 mood, but gem has not changed..(moodlet for vacation has also disappeared) don't know if that matters or not, but Lara's keep carting around this radio to boost her mood LOL! 

Incidentally, mine was valued at 104, though I read somewhere that the value is different for different Sims..

[Pam]

My Tiberium hasn't changed yet either.  It's making the Sim sick, though.  I also put one on a display stand and it shoots off green sparks randomly.

I'm having a problem with a Filthy Surroundings moodlet in the living/dining/kitchen area of my house.  I have three neat Sims living there and they have all cleaned the whole house several times and have taken out the trash.  I even hired a maid for a couple of days to see if that would get rid of it, but no luck.  Every Sim in the house gets the moodlet while in those areas of the house, and it goes away for all of them when they go to a different area.  I'm really baffled by this one.   

[Bogie74]

Pre WA install I had the very same issue..I could not for the life of me figure it out. But let me back up. I had a party, where one of my sims had ordered pizza. He received the pizza, and put it on the back deck. Pizza mysteriously disappears. Went into build/buy mode. Not there. Used move objects cheat, hoping it would show up, and nada. Tried deleting the table, but even with the cheat, it wouldn't let me.. a day goes by, and Harrison..(man I miss him, he was funny) just goes to the backyard, grabs the invisible box, carries it to the trash, with his hand held out which was REALLY weird...moodlet went away...

[Pam]

I think I had that happen with the pizza once, too.  In this situation, I just tried a couple of new things.  I went into buy/build mode and deleted every item in the area where the moodlet occurs.  Completely emptied the area.  No luck.  They still got the moodlet.  Then I tried moving the entire house to a different lot.  Still no change.  It's taking I think 40 points from their mood and they keep gagging.  The only other option I can think of is to build a new house and I really don't want to do that.  This house has been built gradually and started from a tiny one bedroom cheap house.  Now it's three stories tall with a separate nectar cellar and a separate martial arts practice area.  It's been uniquely designed as the family grew and developed.  So frustrating!!

[Bogie74]

Oi!! Pam I completely empathize.. I just found this on another website..not sure if I can say where or not ? but someone else was having the same problem, and it said to use testingcheatsenabled true, then control click the moodlet, and it will get rid of it. Haven't tested it yet, but throwing it out there for you since you've been so wonderful!! 

[bcollins87]

Here's my plunder from Egypt:





If you take the Tiberium out of your inventory the nausea will go away.

[Pam]

Oi!! Pam I completely empathize.. I just found this on another website..not sure if I can say where or not ? but someone else was having the same problem, and it said to use testingcheatsenabled true, then control click the moodlet, and it will get rid of it. Haven't tested it yet, but throwing it out there for you since you've been so wonderful!!  

Thanks Bogie!  I wouldn't mind using that cheat in this instance, but I'm pretty sure the moodlet will come right back the next time they go into that room.  I've got 8 Sims in this house and I sure don't want to always be removing that moodlet with all the activity they have.

If you take the Tiberium out of your inventory the nausea will go away.

Nice plunder!  I was wondering if the Tiberium would still morph into a gem if it's not in your inventory.  I've got one on display and 3 or 4 in inventory.  

Edit:  I have to admit I was a little doubtful about the Tiberium thing, but mine just transformed into the green crystals after I'd say about a week of game time.  They started out valued a little over $100 and now they are worth $43,000 each!!  That's just amazing!  Thanks, bcollins, for alerting to this fortune maker!

[bcollins87]

I just found a plutonium rock worth 1500 in sunset valley, it can be smelted. Does anyone know if this was in Sims 3 original?

[Bogie74]

Yes - I found quite a few down by the mines, and in the cemetery, SV.

[bcollins87]

Oh really? Where are the mines? If anyone finds any more, let me know.  I'm big into smelting rare metals

[PJSim]

I can fix the food spoiling too fast problem by buying a new fridge but only if I exchange it for a different model. Just buying the same fridge again doesn't work.

A Sim came to visit my Sims house (uninvited) and parked her fancy-ass car in their driveway. The entire time she was at the house there was this strange traffic noise; when she left and took the car with her the noise stopped.

I upgraded the fortune cookie machine and now my Sims handiness skill journal is broken. It's just completely blank. He can still complete the handiness challenges though, I just can't see them.

This game has some strange bugs.

[HelenP]

I can fix the food spoiling too fast problem by buying a new fridge but only if I exchange it for a different model. Just buying the same fridge again doesn't work.

I tried this but it only seemed to work for 1 or 2 meals, then it's back to quick spoiling   Hope it works better for you.

[PJSim]

It seems kind of random. Sometimes it works for a long time, sometimes when a Sim returns from a trip it goes back to spoiling fast.

Oh well.

[Bogie74]

My sims recently went to China. I bought the martial arts training dummy, the fortune cookie machine, and something else that I can't remember off the top of my head right now. When she got back from her trip, none of those items were in her inventory, at all!!

When her roomie got back, he had no wishes. I had fulfilled all of his right before the trip was over. When they got back, nada! It took about 4 or 5 hrs to even get ONE!!

[PJSim]

My sims recently went to China. I bought the martial arts training dummy, the fortune cookie machine, and something else that I can't remember off the top of my head right now. When she got back from her trip, none of those items were in her inventory, at all!!

Those types of items go in family inventory, also the nectar maker and treasure chests. Hope I'm not telling you something you already know and your problem is something else.

When her roomie got back, he had no wishes. I had fulfilled all of his right before the trip was over. When they got back, nada! It took about 4 or 5 hrs to even get ONE!!

I get that a lot when I have been playing awhile. They get lots of wishes in the beginning of a game, too many to keep up with, but later they will sort of dry up. It usually helps to make them start doing something different than they have been doing, like if they have been gardening a lot make them paint for a while and they will get painting wishes.

Right after a trip my Sims also don't get too many new wishes for a while.

[Bogie74]

ROFL Thanks PJ!!

Those types of items go in family inventory, also the nectar maker and treasure chests.

*tap tap tap.. umm..hello? Bogie, is this thing on?**

DUHH!! I'm so used to these game glitches that it never even occurred to me to look there!!

[CitrusZebra]

Another weird issue

I found a dive well in my bedroom (2nd level of the house) after loading a saved game this morning. Don't know if it's the game or something I clicked that triggered this thing, I moved it out to my carpark lot. Tried exploring it, but it doesn't seem to have a tunnel for me to do so. So i kept it, at the corner of my lot. Pretty interesting though, at least to me. 

[PJSim]

 

I'm so used to these game glitches that it never even occurred to me to look there!!

I know what you mean, you just yell "Ahh, my game is broken" instead of thinking for a minute.

[igzigpuff]

ROFL Thanks PJ!!

Those types of items go in family inventory, also the nectar maker and treasure chests.

*tap tap tap.. umm..hello? Bogie, is this thing on?**

DUHH!! I'm so used to these game glitches that it never even occurred to me to look there!!

Haa ha...I did the same thing when I bought items on vacation and thought I'd been cheated!!!    I was upset because this is one game I don't use cheats for and I was mad my Sim had wasted his money.  I even sent him back after he made more money and bought the items again....yes and thought he was cheated once again, until my 1 brain cell kicked in and remembered the family inventory...and yes he had 2 of each of the items he bought on vacation.

[PJSim]

Double D'oh!!

At least we saved Bogie from that.

[PJSim]

Sometimes when my Sim makes pancakes and has to buy the ingredients from the fridge they will turn out to be made from French grapes. Like "Renoit Grape Pancakes."
This just strikes me as funny. You can't buy these grapes from the grocery store but you can buy them from a fridge?

 

[Simmerville]

And just now, I kept hearing the sound of a toddler laughing.  I checked the only toddler in my house and she was fast asleep.  I followed the sound and found a toddler in the house next door.  I could see into the windows a little and there she was just sitting in the empty floor laughing.  I've never had such thin walls in the game like that.  So, now I'm wondering if I'm going to hear the adult conversations, too.  I don't like it much.

At first those sounds from houses next door drove me nuts. First it was next door visitors ringing the door bell. Also in the middle of the night. I thought it was my Sim's tv that was left on. Then I also heard talking. And of course tv-noise.
But after a while I love it    It really makes a different if your Sims live in town or in the countryside. Houses packed together will give some noise from neighbours, but if you live alone in the forest you will escape all those sounds. Quite logical...

[igzigpuff]

I didn't see it mentioned when you all were talking about the Tiberium, but I read that once it changes to the crystal form you can put it on the ground outside and it will reproduce more gems!    I haven't tried this myself yet and my Sim used his Tiberium for a work opportunity at the Science Lab.  So curious to know if this works! 

[box3d]

I bought a fortune cookie maker from china with my current sim, and placed it into my house. A week or so later I decided to send him on another trip but when he came back it was gone..? 
It wasn't in his family inventory or inventory either.

Anyone else have this problem?

[Pam]

I didn't see it mentioned when you all were talking about the Tiberium, but I read that once it changes to the crystal form you can put it on the ground outside and it will reproduce more gems!    I haven't tried this myself yet and my Sim used his Tiberium for a work opportunity at the Science Lab.  So curious to know if this works! 

Any idea how long it takes?  I've got a family with a couple of Tiberium crystals.  I'll set them outside and see what happens, but wondering how long I'll have to play that family to see if it works.

[PJSim]

I bought a fortune cookie maker from china with my current sim, and placed it into my house. A week or so later I decided to send him on another trip but when he came back it was gone..? 
It wasn't in his family inventory or inventory either.

Anyone else have this problem?

No, that's just weird.

[ChristineG]

Sometimes when my Sim makes pancakes and has to buy the ingredients from the fridge they will turn out to be made from French grapes. Like "Renoit Grape Pancakes."
This just strikes me as funny. You can't buy these grapes from the grocery store but you can buy them from a fridge?

 

Isn't that because you had the specific grapes in your inventory list? I had a lot of things like apples etc. in my fridge, but my Sim still used the French grapes from the inventory list to make the pancakes

[Schipperke]

Isn't that because you had the specific grapes in your inventory list? I had a lot of things like apples etc. in my fridge, but my Sim still used the French grapes from the inventory list to make the pancakes

Welcome to the forum, ChristineG.  I've had my sims make pancakes containing the French grapes when they had never been to France and definitely didn't have any way of getting the French grapes.  Who knows how this works?  Magic?  One of those strange things that can happen only in Sims!

[CarlosLordofTacos]

Mine have always gone for the French grapes too, they must be the cheapest fruit in the game.