Band Question

[LlamaMama]

I read the guides at Carl's, and have a band of 2 sims who live together. Even at level 1, when they noodled around in the park they'd get small tips. Now that they are level 6-7 in music, have 20-40 compositions performed each, they've had a gig, they've jammed with a 5-star celeb, and they made $30K in one evening in the subways playing for tips separately.

That's so much money it's not even fun, so I tried to get them to progress in the Band career by jamming outside the theater on a Saturday night. They played all night long, attracting about 6 or 7 sims who stood around reading books! I stopped and started the music a few times, like Metro has suggested to get the npcs' attention, but nothing worked. My band got not one single tip for jamming in a prime location and time.

What did I do wrong? Oh, and the musicians were grouped with each other.

[Metropolis Man]

What did I do wrong? Oh, and the musicians were grouped with each other.

I don't think you did anything wrong. I have not played a musician in SV (my typical hotspot is SV's theatre) since Late Night has been released, but I have a feeling that the tipping AI of townies has been altered drastically. Either that or for whatever reason, Bridgeport townies are a lot stingier.

[LlamaMama]

A correction and an update. It was a Friday night that they played there with no tips.

On Saturday they began around noon and played for hours (also receiving no tips), so I invited the few audience members to join the jam. Around dusk the search lights turned on and the same people who had been watching started tipping. The lights only stayed on for a few hours, then the tipping stopped. They didn't earn much, though, and all of it went to the Star-Quality sim, none to the other guy - except that they share a household.

Edit: this was all in Bridgeport. But it sounds like you had better luck performing there, from what your article says.

[Devin]

I posted about this... somewhere. I don't remember where. I have had this problem off and on since installing LN, and it relates not just to bands, but also to individual musicians. I think that Metro is right in relation to the tipping AI having been changed, and I think that this is probably unintentional in the way that the issues with babies and toddlers are probably unintentional on the part of EA. Hopefully a patch will help with this issue.

Using the tricks to get the townie's attention isn't going to help at all. What I have done with success on more than one occasion is to send the sims on vacation and then bring them back. This has worked twice for me, and the sims then get large tips again, or at least tips that are proportional to the number of times they have played their compositions.

Have you tried to shut the game down and reload to test whether or not that works for you? I was having fine luck in Bridgeport but things weren't working in SV. I haven't been back in Bridgeport since I find it overwhelming with all of the glitches. They are bad enough in the other neighborhoods, but terrible in Bridgeport.

[LlamaMama]

I posted about this... somewhere. I don't remember where. I have had this problem off and on since installing LN, and it relates not just to bands, but also to individual musicians. I think that Metro is right in relation to the tipping AI having been changed, and I think that this is probably unintentional in the way that the issues with babies and toddlers are probably unintentional on the part of EA. Hopefully a patch will help with this issue.

Using the tricks to get the townie's attention isn't going to help at all. What I have done with success on more than one occasion is to send the sims on vacation and then bring them back. This has worked twice for me, and the sims then get large tips again, or at least tips that are proportional to the number of times they have played their compositions.

Have you tried to shut the game down and reload to test whether or not that works for you? I was having fine luck in Bridgeport but things weren't working in SV. I haven't been back in Bridgeport since I find it overwhelming with all of the glitches. They are bad enough in the other neighborhoods, but terrible in Bridgeport.

Thanks for your suggestions! I was about to send one on a trip, so I'll watch for the tipping behavior to change. Restarts of the game didn't change anything.

I think the most informative aspect of this problem (for programmers, hopefully) is the association between the prime time search lights and the onset/stopping of tipping.

[Schneider8]

Hi! I'd like to ask something a little off this topic.

I have 2 sims living together and they started a band, they both have 1 celeb star. Will I get gig offers even if I'm not employed (registered in city hall) as a band? I want to have normal jobs and a band like sidework. One my sim is musician and the other is a writer. I haven't got any gig offers so far.

[DLSpurlock]

I believe you need four band members and be registered at City Hall to get gigs. You can strum on street corners an subways to get tips without those, but not get gigs.

[Schipperke]

The two bands in my Clan Douglas Dynasty have both had gigs.  They aren't registered at City Hall - I wasn't even aware that option existed.  The Clan is in Sunset Valley, so there aren't a lot of places for them to play.  The only place they've had gigs has been at Waylon's.

[Schneider8]

I built 2 places for gigs in Sunset Valley, but they haven't recived offer yet. Btw you can click on your sim and then click on register as self-employed and there's option "Band". You must have a band already of course