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Baby stuck on lot.
Bessieboo
Posts: 199 Member
in The Sims 2
I have a family with somebody else's baby stuck on their lot. At first it had the option to greet the baby but now it can't be interacted with at all. If I invite the baby's parents over of the nanny they will feed it. I've even tried moving the family to another house in another neighbourhood but the baby is still with them. Has anybody had this problem and how did you resolve it?
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Thankyou.
Uh-oh. Moving the family to another neighborhood corrupts the two neighborhoods.
If you moved the family into the Sim Bin to move them to the subhood, then it is fine. Otherwise, it still causes problems.
What you need to do to get the baby back is to open the family it belongs to, summon it, and re-add it to the family. Likely the problem comes using a mod or cheat to allow babies to be summoned to other lots: babies, like gravestones, aren't technically sims, they're objects with sim data, so the game treats them a little weird, and they weren't meant to be able to do much of anything.
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Use Boolprop TestingCheatsEnabled True to force errors on the babyclone, or the batbox. (You should be able to hit either delete or reset without harm since the baby is a resident on another lot.)
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Thank you.
Age it up to toddler see it you can then add it back to its family. Don't feed it and the social worker should take it.
Move you sim out of the house, save them move them back in.
Future reference: don't age it up on the lot it shouldn't be on. The un-interactable baby isn't the one with the right data attached. Age up the real baby if you must.
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Any baby or older sim aged up on a lot not their own can be made unselected when testing cheats is on tho.
The problem isn't the selectable/unselectable nature of the thing, it's that you have multiple copies of a sim and you should try to interact only with the original. Especially since there are missing interactions on one so you KNOW something is wrong. When a sim or item loses interactions at random, debugging them becomes a priority, and when one is a copy there is a good chance that changing that copy's character data (aging up, making selectable, etc,) could cause problems down the road, because it's pretty likely that you can't keep both instances.
If in doubt, do not change a copy's data in any way.
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Babies don't vist so what cheat or mod did you use to get the baby to the lot? It is never a good idea to delete anyone in TS2 ever. Don't do it. Clone or not. This causes broken memories and missing character files. No matter who tells you to do it, don't do it. This is what corrupts files in TS2, forcing error and deleting any Sim. It may take months or years before you see corruption but it's still the main reason TS2 gets corrupted from broken memories and missing character files.
I would suggest you forget about both families, put them both in the Family Bin and leave them alone, start a new family and hopefully you won't see any corruption that would be game breaking. And get rid of a mod or cheat that allowed you to bring baby to a lot or to visit. And if that wasn't what you did then get the patches because toddlers could travel to community lots in base game release, but it was soon patched to stop things like that from happening so it had to be you, or some crazy glitch caused by a lack of patches or mods and cheats.
ETA: It's been my experiencing using the mods that allows you to clear Sims off the lot only corrupted the game more though I have never tried MATY's batbox to do that. But have used others and it only made things much worse.
This is true, but when you use force error to reset you are NOT deleting a sim. I'll explain, but basically - force error is used to reset a sim. It does not impact their files in any way, just their actions. Resetting them can restore lost options, get them out of routing loops, and deal with some lot-related weirdness. Always hit reset for this. Deleting is best done via move objects on, not boolprop or batbox.
(Apologies to anyone I confused up-thread. I assumed that the safe way to use force error was a known thing.)
This is why you use the batbox to force error - the copy may disappear and resolve. Forcing error and hitting reset on a sim does NOT cause corruption, it enables the in-game reset that may be stuck for various reasons. When your sims suddenly drop all actions out of their queue they're using the same reset. Always use reset rather than delete as a first line of defence for on-lot sims, but using the batbox to "force errors" enables all sorts of stuck states to refresh and sort themselves out. Having a baby stuck on your lot as a visitor is precisely what you should use mods to clear sims off the lot for - if it were an NPC or family member this would be bad, but in this case it's fine. Deleting the baby via moveobjects On should not affect the sim, because they are not actually a resident. What it does is mean that when you save after the baby is no longer on the lot, the game does not think they are a visitor anymore.
Moving a baby into a new family should not cause corruption if done properly. (i.e, either use "put up for adoption" on the summon shrub or a similar safe option where the baby is REMOVED from the original family. Note that a baby will not leave the lot under their own power, the Social Worker will have to come and collect them if they are up for adoption. If she does not show up, you have done it wrong.) The situation described by OP is a problem because they have a duplicate of a sim that is persisting on a lot. From the limited interactability, this sim is clearly not living on the lot (a visitor) but cannot leave, likely because babies cannot move or use any travel portals.
If you're afraid of Testing Cheats enabled, use the blender, summon shrub, or batbox, which collect many of the safe options in boolprop.
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I haven't used cheats of cc, the only thing I can think of is the pregnant mother was on the lot when I saved and exited, then she gave birth on her own lot. At first the baby could be greeted but now it can't be interacted with.
That is a really old bug, I hope you can find all the patches and install them because TS2UC isn't all patched up in many regards.
ETA: I know it's hard sometimes, but try to remember not to ever save a lot while Sims are on the phone, or someone else is on the lot visiting, and or while the paperboy is there etc., or maid etc, or walk bys standing outside. I hope as others suggested batbox can possibly clean this up for you, I'm not familar with it, but it may be able to clean the game like you can with SimPE for stuff like this leaving characters files on the wrong the lot etc. I hope so. Good luck! ETA: If you do save with any other Sim on the lot, try not to rotate but play that household first after you reload so the files will be cleaned out before switching to another family in the future.
ETA: Clarity: Don't save then leave that lot to play another family if other Sims are on that lot. Wait until everyone leaves who doesn't live there. Or don't go to a different household to play. If you had to save and quit, then make sure to play that household first again, then save while no one else who doesn't live there is there before switching.
I've not experienced anything that would lead me to believe that the UC is not fully patched. You are the only person I have ever seen post that. So I highly doubt that that is the case.
Now it could be that they patched X in one game and then broke it again later on. Making it appear that it wasn't patched if you didn't get the EP that broke it or just lucked out and didn't experience the glitch prior to installing via the UC.
Edit: Went to test out if the patches would install or not and it told me BV wasn't installed (I tried one of the random patches I had). So the patches only work for the CD version. So no point telling people to go find the patches as they will not work. And it's also unnecessary as the UC is fully patched (which for EA never means bug free or that old bugs got fully fixed or didn't get broken again).
To clean out mistakes with saving and leaving while sims are "present" on a lot: use the batbox semi-regularly (you don't need to do it every time you play but you should probably do it at least once per sim year,) to clear off-world loiterers.
That said, saving while a pregnant mother is on a lot as a guest shouldn't have her baby show up after birth because the sim files for the baby are generated during birth. The baby could not have been saved as a visitor because it did not yet exist - upon opening the lot the copy of the mother who registered as "pregnant" might still look pregnant but a pregnancy would not progress as a visitor anyway, so her appearance should reset after leaving the lot.
Something else is potentially going on.
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There were two ways to install TS2UC. One was to leave in TS2 which that is what I did, and never removed any of the cds etc. I have all the patches and back on the old BBC we all knew (well most of us maybe) the comp packs did not contain some patches. Such as bugs like Sims can't get out of bed...that is one of the comp pack bugs that TS2UC uses. (Fun with Pets) And it mattered whether you had store TS2 or TS2 cd.
Many who got TS2UC installed fresh, without leaving in TS2 but some of us didn't and see less bugs. ETA: It's a fact not to save when Sims are on the phone and quit. It leaves behind the character files of the person on the other end of the phone.
ETA: Base game bug...pregnant mother leaves baby on your lot if you hurry and switch. That is a very old base game bug at realease. CDs in 2005 did not contain this bug since that cd was base game patched. An earlier cd from 2004 would contain this bug. I have no idea why your game is not patched since that was patched out in the 2005 cds. Unless you don't have the patched base game from 2005 and used a 2004 cd key to add game or TS2UC has broken that patch. The comp packs were famous for breaking the base game patch.
ETA: If you think TS2UC contains all patches then feel free to scan all patch notes (on MTS) to see if any returned with TS2UC...like a timing issue where Sim got stuck on your lot when leaving etc. In the OFB patch. Seems this is similar.
http://www.modthesims.info/wiki.php?title=Game_Help:TS2_EP03_Patch_Note
Note they have all the patch notes for each EP, stuff pack patch notes etc. Many bugs have returned with just TS2UC installed and not also TS2.
I've never had any issues and I interact with a lot of sims in the game.
What type of problems can it cause please?
I haven't experienced ANY glitches with the UC that I did not experience when I was fully patched using my discs.
I own all of the EP's and SP's and my base game was from the original launch of the game (so a DVD from 2004). I have none of the combo packs. I was fully patched up when I played with the discs
I also go the UC shortly before the released the code to everyone (after contacting support because I felt it was bs to give the UC to those who had digital versions but not those who could prove they had physical) because there was no reason not to. I didn't originally install it. It was stupid to uninstall the game to just reinstall it. I had no issues that would have required a reinstall.
I did install the UC when I got a new computer. Because I did not want to go through the hassle of installing all of my games individually. The UC was a time saver. UC does not allow for the installation of patches.
And based on what you've said, this is a typical case of EA breaking things they already fixed. It's fully patched for the versions they cobbled together. It's unfortunate if they did grab the combo packs given the fact that those carry base game bugs that those who bought separately would not have.
But I will file this info away for if I do start getting too many bugs. Avoiding corruption due to bugs would make reinstalling with the discs worthwhile.
Normal interactions should be fine. It's only if you have a sim stuck on a lot or multiple copies of a sim on a lot that you have problems with. Visitors are fine unless they've bugged like this baby has (stuck on lot), or unless you managed to do an interaction with an NPC that you can't do without cheats or mods. (Moving in an NPC who does not have full character files will corrupt your neighborhood very slowly.)
If you haven't been interacting with the grim reaper, mrs. Crumplebottom, the penguin, the leader of the pack, the carpool driver, the social worker, the living statues, the genie, the matchmaker, Mr. Humble, the Polination Technician (Not the smith one in strangetown, the actual abducting one) the Ideal Plantsim, or unsavory charlatan in game breaking ways (i.e. anything that would make them selectable, convert them into a supernatural state, etc,) you probably don't have to worry.
What is probably not the case here is that the baby is corrupted: it is likely only stuck because it's a baby. Removing it from the lot is the best course of action here.
A sim visitor who SHOULD be able to leave (old enough, has access to the edges of the lot, visitor) who is non-interactable is also probably not corrupted: they're probably stuck because a tile near the appropriate portal is blocked or they're in an interaction loop: debugging them via force error or clearing them off the lot via visitor controller, batbox, etc should be fine.
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