The Sims 3 Immortal Dynasty Challenge

[Trip]

I'd definitely listen to @Deklitch. I think the extra YA/adult day is just a really consistent bug (I got it without fail in my immortal dynasty and even with isolating out anything that could have caused it, but it was generations in and I was tired). It'd be cool to find a solution that doesn't mean abandoning the save. I'm giving you permission to age up "early" though with your notes.

[Sarabi]

Ooh, great idea, @Deklitch !  I've cleared the caches per the excellent instructions you linked.  Any thoughts as to whether that's something I ought to do regularly?  I've really not been having much lag thus far.

Thanks for the green light, @Trip.  The next couple of sim days will be much easier if I cake up my almost elder on the day she's supposed to age up.  Sounds like this might be happening frequently, eh?

[Deklitch]

I follow that about once a month or once  every couple of months.

Edited to Add:
Regarding my opportunity issues - I've just been in Muppets Take Twinbrook playing, and the 'gorgeous' Miss Piggy has just received a skill opportunity - Take Visa Photo of Deandre Wolff - It is Tuesday Week 1 at 2:00pm.

Ummm ... a question. Do you need to be looking at the sim when their phone rings in order to get offered skill opportunities? Because that's what I did, and I also cancelled her current activity to answer the phone straight away with her. Because ummm that's not what I've been doing with Blues, I was thinking 'the skill opportunities will be automatically offered to the sim in question even if I don't have them answer the phone, like it does with people wanting to go on a date with my happily married sim.

[Trip]

@Deklitch: you don't need to have the sim active or have them even answer their phone.

[Sarabi]

It looks like this 1-day age slip business is going to continue.

Gen 3 looks like this:
W10D3 to toddler
W11D3 to child
W12D3 to teen
W14D3 to YA
It's currently W17D2, and is now showing 2 days to age up.  So - it looks like I'm again going to need to deal with multiple birthdays on the same day.

This looks to be the same pattern that happened with my previous gen, with the YA->Adult and Adult->Elder stages each taking an extra day.

Would it be better if I just cake them up on the correct day, or wait until the game ages them up?

Thanks.

Edit: I also had bed bugs for awhile.  A double bed that 2 sims had been using got to the point where it would accommodate only one - the other would do the "I-can't-get-there" stompy dance routing errors trying to get in bed.  After a few days of rearranging stuff trying to figure out the problem, I deleted and replaced the bed, and the new one is working fine.

1/1/2018 Update:  I've also noticed there seem to be some elders slated for a visit from Grim that are still around.  We're at week 19, and Cora Francisco has shown up in the midnight messages (the ones that tell you so-and-so is getting old and this might be a good time for a visit as they might not be around much longer) multiple times, but she apparently persists in the game.  I believe she's an original townie, and she still shows up on relationship panels, invitation lists, etc.  I've seen that happen with a few other sims as well.  I get the midnight message, but no message saying they have passed.

Is there anything I should be doing about that?  Like maybe reset them or something?  Thanks.

[Trip]

@Sarabi: sorry for the delay.

Continue with caking up. I trust your notes.

Some elders just don't like dying and I have had eternally bugged ones (thankfully not in the household though). Unless it's affecting a vast majority of the town or your own household (and is reeeeaaaally beyond the point of believability; elders can stick around for 130+ days and it's not really a bug or anything to intervene with)

[Deklitch]

@Deklitch: you don't need to have the sim active or have them even answer their phone.

Didn't think so, Trip, thanks.

So, My Blues founder is not getting Ops from the Business Career, nor from Skills. His supermax skill was Science, and he's also maxed Logic (for which I have received ops from in the past). He got one/two opportunities from his maxed career (Ghost Hunting - Spooky Props and I think one other).

My Blues Gen 2 is in High School, and she completed 2 or 3 (stinky bugs and I think the delivery to city hall) school opportunities as well as the 'Olympics' one.

I have also had Aggie in the household, she is still alive, but she hasn't been offered any opportunities for skills. She hasn't had a job.

Miss Piggy in my Domination Dynasty has received 3 opportunities related to photography and all three have required her to travel to complete them. Kermit has also had a photography based opportunity needing travel to complete.

My Blues founder is currently 3 days away from his elderhood ...

Done a search on this issue, and came across the following: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/784293/the-phone-skill-opportunity-bug

It seems that it is related to the ITF bug, even if you don't have ITF installed, but that it is also related to Uni Life. (I don't have ITF installed, but I do have Uni Life installed).

Edited to Add:
I THINK I have possibly worked out the issue. I am running some tests to see if my suspicions are correct. If they are, user error is partly (possibly 80%) to blame.

[Deklitch]

Sorry for double post, but it seems my suspicion was correct, and user error was to blame for some of the issues I was having with opportunities. I closed out of laptop, cleaned caches and logged in, same issues with games. So then I looked at options, and remembered about repair the game, and so did that. I then went in and began a new game. Low and behold, Aggie got a painting opportunity on the third day. In recent times I had become obsessive about brain enhancing machines and multitabs to skill both mortals and targeted immortals. Often to level 10. At the same time, I didn't have acquaintances outside the family. Which meant my skills were too high for most opps to be offered or I didn't have someone who needed things, or both. My SIM this time is doing painting which he is learning through painting. So, I will see how that goes.

[Deklitch]

Deepest apologies for the triple post, however ...

My Sm has just gone to his 2nd day of work and he received a skill opportunity - it was the Street Art Opportunity called 'Commissioned Street Art' and it has taken his opportunity slot for skill opportunities.

So it is looking like the game needed the 'repair' function done to it. But still, I have to trial the Blue and/or the Citrus family to see how they are going now.

[KRae]

I have found that it is really important to go out and meet townfolk to get skill opportunities. I've had problems getting opportunities for instruments skills because I use the subway too much. Playing out and about town solves it.

[Deklitch]

Oh thanks for that KRae, that would explain why Holly Alto and Agnes Crumplebottom are getting skill opportunities

[Trip]

@KRae: I never thought of that. :O

@Deklitch: Thanks for experimenting (since I was fresh out of tips)

[Deklitch]

I've decided to continue on with Blues and Citrus families and see if they can't get through.

Gen 1 Blues has just completed his 3rd Opportunity. Science was his supermax, he's also maxed Logic
Gen 2 Blues is in high school. Her Supermax is going to be writing, which I'll be starting her on seriously as YA
---
Gen 1 Citrus is immortal.
Gen 2 Citrus is sculpting supermax, not sure about his Opportunities.
Gen 3 Citrus is toddler.

[Sarabi]

@Sarabi: sorry for the delay.

Continue with caking up. I trust your notes.

@Trip

I appreciate it.

Do you want me to cake them up on the correct birthday always or at my convenience?  If I don't cake them up, they get an extra day each of YA and Adult stages.  That hasn't been to my benefit.  I usually have everything done well ahead of schedule, and am waiting for my heirs to become elders to get their final portraits done.  The mortals are just hanging around.  Those extra days don't advantage me at all...

... however...

Caking them up disrupts the entire household and has them eating birthday cake instead of a quality moodlet-inducing meal that I would otherwise feed them.  A lot of the time, I'd rather just let the game age them up.

So - the clarification I'm requesting here is whether you want me to cake up on the correct birthday always or at my convenience?

Thanks.

Some elders just don't like dying and I have had eternally bugged ones (thankfully not in the household though). Unless it's affecting a vast majority of the town or your own household (and is reeeeaaaally beyond the point of believability; elders can stick around for 130+ days and it's not really a bug or anything to intervene with)

Well - I'm 25 weeks in and still get messages about some that were there from the beginning (newspaper deliverer Cora Francisco).  The sims affected tend to be the service NPCs (surprise, surprise!).  Another was a cop named Kenisha Gentry that we met during a burglary that occurred in week 9.  They're likely homeless, only in the game because my family befriended them, and don't really exist anywhere in town so Grimmy cannot find them.  I would expect that if I were to invite them over when the midnight message pops, Grimmy would find them at my house - lol.

Their existence in my save file isn't causing any real problems.  I'm still getting plenty of new families moving in.  If that changes, I'll let you know, otherwise I'll carry on.

I have had a couple of other bugs pop up lately.
1) The bed bug again, where only one sim could get in a double bed.  I replaced it, and a couple of days later, neither of them could get in it.  So I replaced it again - it's working for now.
2) The laundry bug - when a sim is doing laundry, she'll sometimes just suddenly drop the laundry bag she's gathered and the action is cancelled.  I queue it again, she may drop it again, walk a ways and then drop it, or actually get it started.  I could try replacing the washer to see if that fixes the problem, but then I'll want to upgrade the replacement.

Thanks again.

@Deklitch - I'm really glad you got that all worked out.  I've also learned from your experiences, so I'm glad you've been posting about it here.  Best of luck going forward.

[Deklitch]

Aggie in my Alto's Lament ID has just been offered a sculpting opportunity - personal sculpting, I think it was called.

Founder Zachary in that one supermaxed street art/is maxing art appraiser - acquisitions branch career - has been offered the 'make street art anywhere around town' opportunity - 'side job - delivery' and 'side job - do street art' opportunities; the first one took up skill opportunity slot, other two took up career opportunity slot (so obviously completed one of them, then the next).

In the same one, Holly was offered the 'deliver 10 painting to business office' opportunity and bad old Nick was offered the 'deliver package to crime syndicate in China' opportunity from his new career as a criminal and future master of evil. He's also spent time in jail.

Vita has been offered the 'deliver watermelons' skill opportunity and the 'write political memoirs and deliver to work' career opportunity.

Poor Connor though hasn't been offered any opportunities - skill or career, though he left his original career and is fishing.

Oh and Generation 2 Yuri? He's still a nooboo - too young for opportunities