New Uses for WA Tomb Building Tools

[NickyDuvyrda]

I think burglars must think my Sims aren't worth the trouble. Ever since I've installed Sims 3 I've had only 1 show up! Now forcing would be cheating and I'm midst a legacy. You're tempting me Hosfac

[Schipperke]

I know that you can place graves with cheats, but do those headstones have ghosts? 

I don't think they do, Hosfac.  I used buydebug to place a couple of graves in the Riches Galore yard, hoping to see a ghost or two, but if they were there, they never came out.  I got rid of the graves after a week or so, but I would have thought a week was long enough to know. 

[Hosfac]

It's not worth cheating to get a 24 hour negative moodlet lol.

UPDATE:  I'm going to call the burglar-defense system a substantial success.  Not phenomenal, but extremely worthy of further experimentation.

The first recipient of my super-ingenious, patent-pending home security system was Bunny Shore of Barnacle Bay.  Her house has a front entrance, as well as a rear entrance with 2 access points.  I placed the traps like this, so it would be impossible to enter the house without walking over a trap.  I set them to armed and hidden as their default state.




I also wanted to make it so it was simple to activate and deactivate.  The holes take time, and if a sim's mood is low they won't stick their hands in them.  So I added a wall light, set the color to red (to indicate that the system was active), and enabled the ability to add triggers.  I then linked all 4 traps to be armed when the light was on, and to be dormant when the light was off.  Now the system can be armed and disarmed with a click of the mouse, and with no direct interaction on behalf of Bunny!

The for the first test, I choose the least harmful option: darts.  I waited until after dark, and sent Bunny to bed.  Cue the burglar:



As you can see, it knocked him out cold.  While he slept peacefully on her front lawn, I woke her up and had her call the police.  Despite the fact that the burglar left empty handed, he managed to get away before the police arrived.

For the next test, I changed the trap types to fire, sent Bunny back to bed, and summoned another burglar.

Just as with the darts, he triggers the trap.  But despite the fact that he gets crispy on the first one, the second one doesn't kill him.  Nor does the third or the fourth...and yes, he triggered all four lol.  After triggering the final trap, the burglar gets in his Big Lemon and calls it a night.  But even though he survives, he never makes it inside the house.

For the final test, I changed all the trap types to electricity.  By the time the second test was over, it was morning, so I let Bunny go to work and continued the next night.  With a click on the mailbox our crash test dummy, Robi Baron arrives right on schedule to have another go at it.

He triggers the first trap as expected, gets zapped as expected, but something I didn't expect happened:  the trap caught on fire. 



I quickly disarmed the system, as Bunny woke up so she could go and freak out.  I had her extinguish the flames herself, and luckily the traps were not damaged.  After the fire, the burglar leaves.  So, I sent her back to bed and rearmed the system and summoned another burglar.

It turns out that this was a fluke (although it's good to know that it can happen).  Just like the previous night, he triggers all 4 traps this time, passing out on the last 2.  So while he was unconscious, I had a bit of an idea:  I turned the light off, and then back on to reset the traps.  upon waking, he starts trying again lol.  By this point it's daylight, and he only has time to trigger 2 traps before Bunny wakes up.  I have her call the police, but keep the traps armed for good ole Robi so I can see if the police can catch him.

Unfortunately, Bunny runs out the front door so she can freak out over the burglar and sets off one of the traps herself.  While she's getting electrocuted, the police officer shows up and Robi makes good his escape.  And where does the police officer stand?



Yep, right on the trap...electrocuting himself...and zapping poor Bunny again in the process.  She managed to survive both electrocutions, but as the burglar survived 6 in a row so it seems that as they currently are, they are not lethal.  But as it kept the house from being robbed, I still consider it a success.  I have an idea on how to possibly make them lethal, but it will require some extra research on triggers and behaviors with other objects.  But this is a great starting point.

[Schipperke]

The Hosfac patented burglar-defense system - love it!  Truly ingenious.  A little more complex than the standard burglar alarm, but a lot more fun.  Great pictures!

[Lilygirl]

That is so awesome!! Hosfac, I had to read your entire post to my husband because I just had to share this!

I wonder if a combination of different types of traps would work in terms of lethal defense. I think they all cause different moodlets. But then again, I've had a Sim die from going back to work on the dishwasher after a failed attempt. Small oops on my part.

[Seabody]

I was thinking that would be a good way to create ghosts for a custom graveyard.  I know that you can place graves with cheats, but do those headstones have ghosts?  But even if they did, you couldn't control what they looked like.

If you use buydebug to put down graves, you're terribly limited to your options. You can change the type of death. All that does is alter the insignia on the tombstone. Graves with buydebug are simply labelled "remains", so they shouldn't spawn ghosts. I think (note the think) that a grave has to be named to spawn a ghost. After all, would the system work if Tragic Clown's grave spawned Kitty Landgraab ?

EDIT:
How about this: A couple of traps to "deal with" the Paparazzi! Like dart traps! Lets see how they like it when they pass out in public...

[Ausette]

I just read your burglar post, Hosfac. I didn't think I'd want to use traps for that myself because like you said, the holes take time, but linking it to the lighting is genius! Perhaps you could design a house with a little foyer where you could put the traps and a burglar alarm to summon police? You'd be pretty much guaranteed not to lose anything from inside the house. Or maybe a fenced-off area with plaques saying "WARNING: TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT". You know, I might just have to use this security systems for some of my evil/insane/Mad Scientist Sims. 

As for the traps themselves: I've done tons of exploring and I'm not sure they're actually lethal at all, so I don't know about the ghost idea. Spawned "remains" don't produce ghosts either, although you can get them specidic to each kind of death (eg. you can put some starvation graves in a cave, etc). Killing the Sims yourself makes for a much better effect, especially if you give them punny names. 

Oh, and sorry I forgot to mention it earlier, but I just love mtglady's security light idea. Very realistic and very cool  .

[Hosfac]

...but linking it to the lighting is genius!

Well, it's about time some of your genius started rubbing off on me lol.  It took long enough didn't it? 

One of my thoughts was putting a trap in an air-lock style foyer, and setting the doors to lock when someone went in.  While I know this can be done, I just need to figure out the exact process for getting it to happen and resetting it later.  Now that I know how it's done, it's just a matter of fiddling with it a bit.  But even though the doors are locked, burglars have been known to bypass them anyways, so it's anyone's guess if it will work or not.

My plan for increasing the lethality was to have a rug covering the trap so that the rug catches on fire, too.  So the trap scorches them, and the rug continues the process while they're locked inside an inferno room.  I know a burning rug is lethal, as this is one way I liquidate sims without using cheats.  But what I don't know is if the trap will catch the rug on fire, or if the trap will even work with a rug on it. 

So far, I haven't found a house with an acceptable foyer yet, so I think this test might require a custom build.

[Ausette]

Ha ha, thanks Hosfac. Inspiring people makes me happy.  

Here's an idea that I forgot to mention earlier (I don't know why, since it was the first I ever used ingame): Short messages on description plaques. Yeah, yeah, I know it's not any different from their original purpose, but it could still add a touch of realism or serve as a funny Easter Egg in certain builds. For example, on an old town building you could place a plaque saying "Founded in 1823 by William Landgraab", or in a Simbot Recharging Station you could have a "WARNING! 100,000 VOLTS!" sign. On the other hand, you can hide plaques in tricky places and write something like "Hosfac is a legend!" if you want something fun. Just a little idea, but I think it's cute leaving little messages for players to find.  

[mtglady]

Here's an idea that I forgot to mention earlier (I don't know why, since it was the first I ever used ingame): Short messages on description plaques.

I actually use these plaques next to the doors of the rooms deep in the basements with my Sims names on them.  In these rooms I keep their plaques and any pictures taken or painted of them, as well as any special awards they may have received during their careers.  I paint the walls their favorite color too.  This way, as I get to my 5Th or 6Th generation I can remember who was who.  My youngest Simmies love to visit these remembrance rooms of their ancestors .

I also use the plaques above treasure chests to let me know what is in them as I am very forgetful . 

[Hosfac]

The plaques are a very good idea, and it's a pity that the buydebug menu is off limits in Dynasty games.  But I've learned to work around it by using photographs and adding short titles.  But it's not strictly off limits for a legacy, since the only cheats that are banned are mood and money cheats.

I mentioned something in the Building and Construction Showboat thread about houses and lots with "little surprises," and they would be a great tool to help inspire other players to discover these surprises.  You could use them to give other players hints on how to find them.

[mtglady]

The plaques are a very good idea, and it's a pity that the buydebug menu is off limits in Dynasty games.  But I've learned to work around it by using photographs and adding short titles.  But it's not strictly off limits for a legacy, since the only cheats that are banned are mood and money cheats.

I mentioned something in the Building and Construction Showboat thread about houses and lots with "little surprises," and they would be a great tool to help inspire other players to discover these surprises.  You could use them to give other players hints on how to find them.

My use of the plaques is purely for my game enjoyment.  I like to take my Simmies to as many generations as I can until I get tired of playing them.  Your use of photographs with titles is a good idea.  I will jot it down in my notes to use for my next full game. 

I have a habit of reading all plaques in the tombs my Sims visit so I would enjoy coming across ones that lead my Sim to "little surprises" in other creations.  I think my Simmies would enjoy it too !

[A126]

You could make a castle lounge with an escape route.

[Seabody]

That sounds like a fantastic Idea, A126!

Welcome to the forum!

[PolarBair]

Here's my situation, My backyard is completely walled in with no gates so the only way into the back yard is through the house and out the back door so no burglars or paparazzi can get to the backdoor. The front door which  of course is set as front door is locked for everyone and all the sims in the household come and go through the attached garage. This prevents any of the sims in my household from accidentally setting off the trap.

Now I have 1 electrical trap set right outside the front door and it's initial state is armed and hidden.

I'm using a hidden floor panel as the trigger and once I get that set up to trigger the trap I move it and place it right over the trap. So when any NPC (which always seem to head straight for what ever is set as the front door) steps on it they get zapped.

Now what I want to do is surround the trap with five more hidden floor panels that when stepped on will reset the trap back to armed and hidden. But I can't seem to figure out how to link a second trigger to the trap.

A littler help please?

[Hosfac]

Linking triggers is a simple process of cascading causality:  you program the action and then the reaction.

You set the trap to the state you want it, as you've done.  You place the switches where you want them and then you have to click on the switch to select the action (step on).  Once you do that, you click on the trap and select the reaction (reset to armed and hidden state).  You will have to do this with every switch you place individually.

Keep in mind that your Sim will seek out the shortest path to their destination, and if that leads out the door that is trapped, they'll trigger it too.  You'll need a way to disarm the traps so that they can enter and leave the house.  But...if you set up the hidden pressure switches around the trap that arms it, the trap will be armed every time someone walks on them.  That includes when they go to leave.

There has been a great deal of experimentation with WA tomb building objects done here, with a lot of creative successes and some less successful attempts.  I even attempted to make a burglar deterrent system that worked, but had some problems.  You can find the bulk of this research here.

[PolarBair]

You place the switches where you want them and then you have to click on the switch to select the action (step on).

I think it's worth noting that the Floor Switch and the Hidden Floor Panel are two entirely different Tomb Objects.

The Floor Switch has the Step On interaction which requires a player controlled sim to be ordered by the player to Step On the switch which would not work for my purposes since I'm intending on having fun torturing paparazzis.

The Hidden Floor Panel does not have any such Step On interaction in it's set up options and isn't required as any sim NPC or player controlled walking across it will trigger it. This is the Tomb object I am using as triggers.

You can find the bulk of this research here.

Yes, I've red all the way through that thread and while there are many posts from people telling of interesting uses they've found for tomb objects (Simbot charging station being one of my favorites) but few have explained in detail the process of setting up those interesting uses. Too bad really. That would have been extremely helpful.

[Hosfac]

I think it's worth noting that the Floor Switch and the Hidden Floor Panel are two entirely different Tomb Objects.

The Floor Switch has the Step On interaction which requires a player controlled sim to be ordered by the player to Step On the switch which would not work for my purposes since I'm intending on having fun torturing paparazzis.

The Hidden Floor Panel does not have any such Step On interaction in it's set up options and isn't required as any sim NPC or player controlled walking across it will trigger it. This is the Tomb object I am using as triggers.

Yes, I'm aware of what the hidden switches do and understand how they function.  I use them on occasion, although due to their nature, they're difficult to work with.  This is the point I was trying to illustrate to you:  if those switches set the traps to arm, it will arm the traps every time any sim walks on them...even yours.  So if they leave the house to go to work or go to a lot, it will arm the traps they're linked to and your sims will trigger them when they try to enter the house again.

Despite the fact that they function in different ways, their purpose is identical and the way they are set up is the same as well.

Yes, I've red all the way through that thread and while there are many posts from people telling of interesting uses they've found for tomb objects (Simbot charging station being one of my favorites) but few have explained in detail the process of setting up those interesting uses. Too bad really. That would have been extremely helpful.

Ausette explains the process in the second post in the thread quite completely.  There is literally nothing more to it than that.  It doesn't matter if you're using a torch lever, a floor switch, a hidden switch or a buy mode lamp, the process is exactly the same.  You set the Link Trigger, then you link the trigger to the activated behavior.  And you're done.  It's a cascading process.

This same process has to be followed with each switch you place, and has to be repeated for each trap that you want each individual switch to have an effect on.

[PolarBair]

Yes, I'm aware of what the hidden switches do and understand how they function.  I use them on occasion, although due to their nature, they're difficult to work with.  This is the point I was trying to illustrate to you:  if those switches set the traps to arm, it will arm the traps every time any sim walks on them...even yours.  So if they leave the house to go to work or go to a lot, it will arm the traps they're linked to and your sims will trigger them when they try to enter the house again.

This is why I said in my original post that I had the front door set to "locked for all" and the garage door left open so all the sims in the household come and go through the garage so they avoid the trap.

[PolarBair]

Okay I decided to torture one of my own sims to do some testing.

The option I was looking for under under Link Triggers on the Hidden trigger panel is Hidden Trigger NOT Step On.

Any way the problem I have now is that I want the hidden Trigger panel to set the traps state back to Armed and hidden.

There is no Hide option under Link to Activated Behaviors... so I don't know how to get the trap to go back to an Armed and Hidden state.

[Hosfac]

The option I was looking for under under Link Triggers on the Hidden trigger panel is Hidden Trigger NOT Step On.

I didn't go into the game to get the actual title for the trigger, since there is only one option available on hidden switches.  I didn't think I needed to be that specific since I assumed that what I was talking about would be clearly obvious from the start.

It's been a while since I messed with my anti-burglary system, but as I recall, if you set the activated behavior to "armed," it should enter the same state it was in when it was armed previously.  Not so.  See below.

Actually, I'm going to go in and mess with it so I can give you an exact answer as to how that works.

Edit:  I have merged the two topics, since the subject matter is identical and this actually adds more to what was in the original research.

I have the answer you seek:  to get the effect you're looking for, each switch must be linked to the trap you are wanting it to effect twice:  once to put it in the hidden state, and again to arm it after it's hidden.  The process, as I said, is a cascading effect, but it goes deeper than I originally thought.  You can set up more than one link between the two objects.  I had originally assumed that each subsequent link from the same trigger object to the same effect object would simply overwrite the previous link...but this is not the case.  Both behaviors will be applied in the order that they are linked.

You must do it in the following order, or it will not work:

• Shift+Click on the switch, and select "Hidden Switch" under the "Link Triggers" option.
• Shift+Click on the trap, and select "Set to Dormant" under the "Link to Activated Behaviors" pie menu.  This will hide and deactivate the trap.
• Shift+Click on the same switch again, and again select "Hidden Switch" under the "Link Triggers" option.
• Shift+Click on the same trap again, and this time select "Armed" under the "Link to Activated Behavior" pie menu.  This will arm the trap in it's current state, which is hidden.

It took some messing around with to figure this out, but after I did I tested it numerous time by resetting the links between the switch and trap and re-doing it.  This will do exactly what you want it to. 

[PolarBair]

Yes! Thank you. That's what I'm talkin about. With instructions like that even the densest of us can do it. Not that I'm laying any claim to being dense mind you.

Anyway. Now that That's working I'd like to tweak it's firing behavior a bit.

The way I have it now, I placed the hidden trigger panel that hides and rearms it a few squares away from the trap so that it takes some time for the sim to walk over to it and what happens is this...

Sims steps on trap, trap fires and shocks the sim, sim steps off the trap, Trap stops firing but remains visible while sim walks over to the hidden floor trigger, Sim steps on hidden floor trigger and the trap hides and rearms.

Now what I would like to happen differently if possible is to have the trap firing continuously until the sim reaches the hidden trigger panel to rehide and rearm.


I would have thought that Set To Fire would be the activated behavior to link to for that as opposed to Fire Once but after trying that Set To Fire didn't seem to behave any differently than fire once unless I did something wrong.  Here's what I did.


First I cleared all links to and from object on both the trap and the trigger panel....

then I Control-Shift-Clicked on the trap it's self and selected Link Triggers/Hidden Trigger
Then another Control-Shift-Clicked on the trap it's self and selected Link to Activated Behavior/Set to Fire

Then I went back to the hidden trigger panel and set it up to hide and rearm just as it was previously as per your instructions.

Doing that I got the exact same behavior as I had when I didn't have any Link Trigger set on the trap it's self.

So is the behavior I want just not possible or did I do something wrong there?


P.S. Wow I just noticed something interesting. I just had some fun torturing a burglar with my electrical traps on the front porch and after watching him zap himself countless times if the burglar has not given up and left ot been arrested by 6:59 am time in the game stops. & am does not come until the burglar is gone. The sims keep moving around and talking but the clock does not advance.

[Hosfac]

So is the behavior I want just not possible or did I do something wrong there?

Yes, actually, I believe it can.

In a house I was recently building around a family, I had built an inventing workshop with my patent pending Emergency Hydrogen Dioxidizer (the steam trap shower...I came up with a fancy name!  ).  I had an extensive basement, and had built some areas on all 4 underground levels, with the workshop on the top basement level.  What would happen is that any Sim who used the E-H²O System would run all the way down the stairs to the bottom level.  You can't cancel the run away movement, and it was quite annoying.

What I did to solve this was I placed another trap (lightning for looks, but any trap would work) in front of the door and set a hidden switch to cause that trap to go off when it was stepped on.  I then placed that switch in the same area occupied by the steam trap extinguisher.  So when someone jumped into the steam trap, it activated the trap in front of the door, blocking it.  This solved my uncontrolled running problem, and lead to another unique idea which I'll explain later in another post (it's kinda neat and I have to share!).

So you could simply set the traps to dormant, and have hidden switches, placed directly on the traps, activate them with the effect that you want.  This would also simplify the turn-off linking procedure from the other switches, since you only have to set them to dormant again.

[Hosfac]

SimPort is down, so I was a bit bored:

We, at Hosfac Industries Ltd, are concerned about Safety.  That's safety with a capital "S," in case you didn't notice.  It's capitalized because safety is that important to us!  And it's not our safety that we're concerned with (well, of course, we're concerned with our safety...it would be silly not to be):  it's yours!

That is why our staff of highly paid geniuses has spent countless hours wringing their hands, wondering how best to keep you safe.  It is out of those untold hours of lost sleep that our latest, most highly advanced, and most expensive safety product was born!  I present, for your consideration, Hosfac Industries' "Emergency Hydrogen Dioxidizer."  The latest and greatest in triple-stage Sim safety technology!



Behold:  the sleek design, drink in the fashionable colors...note the Sculpting Station!  That is because the highly paid geniuses at Hosfac Industries realize that metal sculpting can be a dangerous endeavor.  Exploding blowtorches has been the end of more than one Sim since the release of Ambitions.  But no more!  We've made sure that "lighting a fire under someone's butt" is reduced to the figure of speech it was always meant to be.



The Hosfac Industries E-H²O System comes with an integral user's manual.  Lost or misplaced manuals are a thing of the past, as this one's bolted firmly to the wall.  Believe me, you've got more problems than just figuring out how it works if you lose this bad boy!

One thing that our exhaustive and extremely costly research has shown us is the level of sheer panic that a flaming heiny instills.  It's so overwhelming that it can cause a poor Sim to run down four flights of stairs before they regain their senses.  The tragedy of this is not lost on us at Hosfac Industries:  terror induced fleeing equates directly to lost man hours and impacts your profit margin (that's why we chain all employees to their work stations).  So we've installed our patent pending Electronic Work Saver to combat your financial losses!



The moment a burning backside is detected, command your Sim to "Jump In" the Hydrator (stage one) near the workbench.  This extinguishes him, saving your Sims life and saving you the expense of the resulting interview process that would be needed to replace him.  When the Hydrator is activated, so is stage two:  the Electronic Work Saver.  This serves two purposes:  The first, and clearly the most important, purpose is that it makes those four flights of stairs that he would so carelessly run down inaccessible to him, saving untold work hours.



After every use, the E-H²O System requires maintenance to prevent the common condition known as the "Unreachable Object Syndrome."  Every day, countless Sims are stricken with this unfortunate malady as they obsessively try to interact with objects that are blocked.  Luckily, it is preventable and the Electronic Work Saver does this as it's second purpose!  The only way to disable the EWS and leave the room is to deactivate the E-H²O System, which clears the way for necessary maintenance to be performed.  Puddles can be mopped at your Sim's leisure (not that they have any of that).

You might say:  "But Hosfac...if the system can be disarmed doesn't that put my Sims at risk?  Couldn't they just resume their work without the wonderful safety system, that was worth every penny I paid for it, active?  How do I know for sure I'll be spared the agonizing and expensive hiring process and possible litigation from those pesky loved ones?"  Well, if our staff of highly paid geniuses hadn't thought of that, I'd fire the lot of them and write them all a really bad reference!

That's where stage three comes in:  the Automated Emergency Lockout System:



Stepping upon the fashionably colored yellow and black striped floor switch in the corner deactivates the Hydrator so necessary maintenance can be performed, deactivates the Electronic Work Saver so Sims can tend to those pesky needs of theirs (a Hosfac Industries solution for those is in the works), and engages the Safety Lockout so that work cannot be performed while the system is deactivated for maintenance. 



The puddle can now be mopped without all the maddening obsession.

Once the necessary maintenance is done, you simply step on the red switch to reset the entire system to normal!



This disables the Emergency Lockout, activates the Hydrator, and resets the Electronic Work Saver to it's original state so that it's ready to prevent the next post-life-saving work stoppage!

Remember to ask your builder to install the official Hosfac Industries patent pending Emergency Hydrogen Dioxidizer in your workshop!  Because anything else is just a steam trap...

Okay, without all the silliness, here's what it looks like in Buy Mode:



First of all, the 5 wall plaques just contain text that describes how the whole system is operated, in case I ever decide to upload the house to the Swap Shop.  I just love those things. 

As you can see, the steam trap is set to "Armed and Visible" so that a Sim can choose the "Jump In" interaction (it's one of the only actions they can take).  There's a hidden switch on top of the steam trap which turns on the electricity trap that blocks the door when the Sim jumps in.  That's all it does.

The color changing floor switch in the corner is actually two switches that are different colored.  Stepping on one makes it disappear and the other switch appear, so it appears to change color when used. 

In addition to this link, the yellow and black striped switch is linked to make the steam trap go dormant, to destroy the electricity trap (this way, the hidden switch doesn't turn it back on when the puddle is mopped), and turn on the two dart traps that block the sculpting station and the workbench.  I choose dart traps because electricity/fire traps can actually catch things on fire (seen earlier in this thread). 

The red switch (aside from the links to itself and the other switch) returns the steam trap to it's armed and visible state, and returns both dart traps and the electricity trap to a dormant state.  Now, the objects are accessible, and the electricity trap will activate again the next time the steam trap is used.

And yes, the steam trap works exactly as advertised.  Burning Sims will be extinguished.  This isn't even close to the first one I've built (although it is the most complex to date), so it's a tried, tested and exceptionally effective system. 

Although, this design has given me an idea for my cooking fire extinguisher that will likely work!  That will be in this build, and I'll be sure to post something once I implement it.

[Chuckles_82]

I look forward to seeing all of these wondeful innovations in the swapshop! It would be awesome if the "Emergency Hydrogen Dioxidizer." and the future automated kitchen fire extinguisher, and the burglar alarm system were included in a small, otherwise empty lot (built as pictured, but with no unnecessary house parts or landscaping. A full house version would be good too