Problems on Houseboats

[Pam]

For the personal watercraft (speedboat, jet ski), you can click on the mooring post that are scattered along the shores of the islands - usually next to piers/ports. You'll get an option to purchase a vehicle - whatever you purchase will go straight into the selected Sim's personal inventory. The same applies to parking spaces you find in the public parking lots.

Excellent!  That's exactly what I needed to know! 

[sims96fan]

Upon further testing, it seems that even though I upgraded to autopilot, the autopilot doesn't actually work.  When I cancel my sim manning the helm, the houseboat just stops wherever it is.

Also, I noticed that when the houseboat isn't docked at a port, I'm actually getting motion sickness looking at it bobbing up and down, ugh.   Is there any way to disable that?

[Pam]

Now my Sim is trying to fish from her houseboat.  She moved it to a spot that has fish jumping out of the water and got the pathing bubble over her head when I told her to fish.  Then I tried moving the houseboat around so that the back deck of it was closer to the fish.  Still got the pathing bubble.  When I had her in a cheaper houseboat, she was able to fish just fine.  Now I've moved her into a more expensive one and the trouble started.

[samoht04]

Now my Sim is trying to fish from her houseboat.  She moved it to a spot that has fish jumping out of the water and got the pathing bubble over her head when I told her to fish.  Then I tried moving the houseboat around so that the back deck of it was closer to the fish.  Still got the pathing bubble.  When I had her in a cheaper houseboat, she was able to fish just fine.  Now I've moved her into a more expensive one and the trouble started.

SimGuruGraham mentioned somewhere about a space requirement of several squares to be able to fish from a boat, I'll try and find it now.

[Bluebonnet]

http://forum.thesims3.com/jforum/posts/list/690014.page is a very extensive guide to houseboats. A bit of reading, but the FAQ are covering everything I can think of. To answer some of the risen questions in short form: for fishing you need a certain space on the houseboat. You can use autopilot by pointing to somewhere in the ocean and then click. That gives you other options than clicking on the helm. Same goes for using fast speed if I remember correctly. Also, according to the FAQ it should be possible to have all three updates available at the same time. So far I did only one with mine, but will do the others this evening.

[Ricalynn]

That FAQ/ guide is actually here on the forums, too.   You can find it over here.  I formatted it for easier reading but did not include the Edit Town tutorial for making a port.  It was a lot of pictures.

[samoht04]

SimGuruGraham mentioned somewhere about a space requirement of several squares to be able to fish from a boat, I'll try and find it now.

SimGuruGraham said this on this thread on the officials.

How do you go fishing off the side of a houseboat?
To be able to fish off the side of a houseboat, a Sim needs a minimum of three tiles wide and two tiles deep of free space along the edge of a houseboat. The edge of the houseboat can't be obstructed by a fence, half wall, object, etc. If your Sim can't find enough space to go fishing anywhere off the side of their houseboat they will route fail - should you see this, you need to free up more space for them.

[sims96fan]

You can use autopilot by pointing to somewhere in the ocean and then click. That gives you other options than clicking on the helm. Same goes for using fast speed if I remember correctly. Also, according to the FAQ it should be possible to have all three updates available at the same time. So far I did only one with mine, but will do the others this evening.

I did point at the ocean and click, but it automatically made my sim go to the helm to man it and then move the boat.  When I cancelled the "manning the helm" action, the houseboat stopped.

[Shirin]

I'm not at home right now, but I'll fire up my game tonight and replace my fast speed with autopilot (provided no one beats me to it).

When you do the click and move, how far is the distance? Like a few hundred yards away, or between dive sites? (I'm just wondering if there's a minimum distance requirement for autopilot to kick in.)

[MeestorMark]

I did point at the ocean and click, but it automatically made my sim go to the helm to man it and then move the boat.  When I cancelled the "manning the helm" action, the houseboat stopped.

After I installed the autopilot upgrade, when I click on the ocean to go somewhere in the houseboat, there are two different options. One is to go to the spot, and another separate option is to go to spot using autopilot. You have to select the autopilot option for it to work right. And when you get it working you will LOVE it. You can also click a series of consecutive points with the option and your boat will go to them all in a series. It totally rocks!!

Also for those asking about magically upgrading the houseboats with all three options. With each subsequent upgrade, the game states the options as "replace * with *" but each subsequent one won't remove the previous ones in spite of the text for the option. I upgraded my houseboat with all three options and they all work fine even though the upgrade text still says I can replace my last installed upgrade with the other two. Example: my last installed option was autopilot. When I click on the helm and select the "magically upgrade" option, it has the options for "replace autopilot with foghorn", as well as "replace autopilot with faster speed". Yet my houseboat can go the faster speed and I can use the foghorn from my previous upgrades.

[sims96fan]

Oh, this is good to know.  I clicked on the ocean at another dive site halfway around the map,  but I don't see a "move houseboat here with autopilot" option.  I'll try to look again.  I also noticed that when the houseboat is actually moving, if I didn't have my sims queued up to do a bunch of things, I'm unable to because the boat is moving too quickly for me to select any one object.

[Shirin]

You are able to still queue your sims up to do things while the houseboat is in transit.

The letter P or the number 0 is your friend

[sims96fan]

Oh!  I knew that... and now I feel silly.   Thanks for pointing it out!

[MeestorMark]

Oh, this is good to know.  I clicked on the ocean at another dive site halfway around the map,  but I don't see a "move houseboat here with autopilot" option.  I'll try to look again.  I also noticed that when the houseboat is actually moving, if I didn't have my sims queued up to do a bunch of things, I'm unable to because the boat is moving too quickly for me to select any one object.

I am not sure if it comes up when you click on button for a dive site, but it will come up when you click where you want to go on the surface of the ocean itself. If you don't have the "move here with autopilot" option come up as one of your choices, the game probably doesn't think you have installed the upgrade. Also if you use the button that centers the camera on your sim while the houseboat is moving, the camera will then follow your houseboat as it moves. It will stay in the same place in relation to your boat. So it is pretty easy to still click on objects on your houseboat you want the sim to interact with even while the boat is moving.

[Bluebonnet]

Are you playing a witch Sim? Because that "magically" upgrade doesn't show up for me. I did all three upgrades last night, no one replaces the other and they work all fine. The speed and the foghorn you control from the helm by setting the speed to slow or fast once its upgraded and by simply using the foghorn. Autopilot already has been explained.