Catching Spirits

[avpino]

So far my sim has had no luck in her job catching spirit. I am on her second time right now. I didn't catch any spirits the last time, and I hope that isn't what happens this time either. How do I find spirits? I can't see them and I'm looking everywhere in the house for them. Aren't they supposed to do stuff? Seems to me like they're just lying around the screen. <_< So how are you supposed to look for them?

[Metropolis Man]

I just finished writing the Paranormal Profiteer Walkthrough and Carl has his Ghost Hunter career article. Both should help you. There are different types of jobs. The most difficult is the Ghostly Presence job where no ghosts are visible. You have to go into different rooms and use the Spook-o-Meter. Keep tabs on the info panel in the top right — it will play "hot and cold" with you and give you hints. The other types of jobs should be pretty straight forward — you enter a house and will see ghosts or spirits in various rooms, or with the Poltergeist Haunting job, the furniture will be floating. But, the bottom line is you'll break out your Banshee Banisher and suck up the spirits.

[Alsier]

The spirits during a spirit invasion don't really do anything, they're just little misty blobs of color that float around.  I've never had much of a problem finding them, although they do occasionally dissapear for a little bit and reappear in a different location.  Unpause for a little bit and look around to see if any show up.  If you have problems finding them, your sim will actually find them for you once you're at the site with free will on (although sometimes they may choose to do something else).  

During postergeist invasions, you're looking for the floating objects, but I don't think you'd have one of those first off.  Ghostly Presense ones are a pain IMO, but you won't get those until you gain a few levels in the profession.  One night I spent 12 hours on one Ghostly Presense site (and found out that it doesn't just end at 5am if you stay onsite).

[avpino]

Thanks. I'll take a look at those links. In the meantime, my sim has already banished a total of 3 spirits. W00t! 

[Saltypaws]

I know mine ended about an hour before the time to quit.  It was the ghostly presence one.  The prompt kept telling me I was far far away.  I looked at the time and realized it was close to 3am.  I had been in every room, garage, outside, everywhere and it said far away.  I left and got the same house a couple of days later, only different ghosts.  I do know this, if you go ghost hunting at another house that you play sometimes and do not catch the ghosts and then change households and go to that house, that little ghost will still be there.  It is just the little blob that moves from room to room, still annoying sometimes, kinda cute though and no one sees it either. lol

[Catarra Nightshade]

Something I've noticed, and I cannot guarantee it will always work, but it's worth a shot...in the Ghostly Prescense opportunity, try pausing and running your cursor over the floors. If you find a spot that causes the foot print cursor to change to a red "no" sign, and there is nothing on that floor space, there is a good chance that is a ghost.  Have your ghosthunter "scan" the rooms where this happens. It makes the job go a little faster when you don't have to play the "hot and cold" game.

[Catarra Nightshade]

I've tested my theory further, and it does work. It takes an extra minute of my time to pause the game, tilt the camera to see the floors better, and run the cursor over the floors, but I can usually pin point where the ghost will materialize. Saves my sim a lot of time, and makes the job much more bearable.

[soyrosalia]

I am at level 5 but never got anything called a spook-o-meter and cant find ghosts for the next challenge..what can I do?