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(Seasons) Guide to Seasonal Lot Markers

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  • Faith_AndhopeFaith_Andhope Posts: 4,468 Member
    edited November 2012
    enkeli63 wrote:
    I just wanted to inform you (because it might be a bug, or either way, I think it needs to be fixed) that ghosts can use items that have been hidden with the Seasonal Lot Marker.

    I had an ice cream maker for summer time and a ghost used it in the fall to make ice cream. The ice cream maker still looked invisible, but after the ghost made ice cream, all the sims in the house autonomously helped themselves to ice cream (it looked like they were grabbing ice cream cones from thin air!). Also, the counter top got messy from it. Sims could not use the machine themselves while it's hidden, but the ghost could, and all the sims in the house went and ate ice cream after the ghost made it.

    There's nothing wrong with my Seasonal Lot Marker--everything works exactly as it should. I'm not sure if there's something wrong with the ice cream maker (no doubt, because it's the most annoying premium content ever made :twisted: ) or if this is an issue with ghosts--perhaps ghosts can use other items that are hidden with the Seasonal Lot Marker? I haven't noticed her using any others just yet, but I will let you know if I see it. The ghost is an NPC ghost, by the way, not a controllable ghost.

    I have since deleted the stupid ice cream maker because I hate it. I thought it would be okay to have it for just a couple days of the year, but if ghosts can go and use it, I'm better off getting rid of it completely! Boy, I wish I could get my money back on that thing...

    That does sound like a glitch and a bad one at that. Not that there are any good glitches really, but you know what I mean. The whole point of the Seasonal lot markers is to be able to control what is available on the lot in any given season. If ghosts can access from any season any time - AND make a mess doing it -- that is so not good.
  • MelissaAHardyMelissaAHardy Posts: 53
    edited November 2012
    Nice guide but piece of advice. DO not, and I mean this very seriously, do NOT under any circumstances place the seasonal lot marker without going in and out of your festival lot, and checking the entire ground at least twice!

    Why? Because it does too allow 2 on a lot if you have the move objects cheat enabled. Furthermore, once placed the second marker cannot be deleted. Said second marker will crash your game within minutes. Even worse, it stops you from being able to reload the game.

    How do I know? I did it by accident. I now have to completely reinstall Seasons, have lost 8 hours of work on my Festival lot, which was NOT saved yet, and all because yes it will allow 2 seasonal lot markers. Grrr. :evil:
  • wzw1177wzw1177 Posts: 1,140 New Member
    edited November 2012
    I can't find the marker when I wanted to edit it again....is it invisible?
    Ah....I clicked the "?" again and it popped out.... :mrgreen:
  • anettesbanettesb Posts: 39,168 Member
    edited November 2012
    Interesting thing... I was editing a park to be a festival spot... saved and left... when I got back the next day the festival season marker silver ball was gone... glade I hade saved to bin... becouse there the ball still was... so I could ad the next 2 seasons
    🌺 streaming at https://www.twitch.tv/lady_anette 🌻come join the Sylvan legacy, and help control their life. 🌳
  • anettesbanettesb Posts: 39,168 Member
    edited November 2012
    wzw1177 wrote:
    I can't find the marker when I wanted to edit it again....is it invisible?
    Ah....I clicked the "?" again and it popped out.... :mrgreen:

    you clicked what to make it come back?
    🌺 streaming at https://www.twitch.tv/lady_anette 🌻come join the Sylvan legacy, and help control their life. 🌳
  • cherid87120cherid87120 Posts: 2,823 Member
    edited November 2012
    If you can't see the seasonal lot marker ball after entering buydebug, go to *build* and then to *buy*. After doing this at least once the ball will show up again. I have found that if I am build mode after entering buydebug I can't see the ball until I go to buy. And if I am in Buy I can't see it until I go into Build.

  • KensieL01KensieL01 Posts: 13
    edited November 2012
    Thanks! Bookmarked! :D
  • anettesbanettesb Posts: 39,168 Member
    edited November 2012
    If you can't see the seasonal lot marker ball after entering buydebug, go to *build* and then to *buy*. After doing this at least once the ball will show up again. I have found that if I am build mode after entering buydebug I can't see the ball until I go to buy. And if I am in Buy I can't see it until I go into Build.

    ah... thanks...
    🌺 streaming at https://www.twitch.tv/lady_anette 🌻come join the Sylvan legacy, and help control their life. 🌳
  • SimGuruGrahamSimGuruGraham Posts: 1,188 SimGuru
    edited November 2012
    Mass amount of replies inc :mrgreen: Glad to see that the guide has been helpful to get people started with this unique object.

    Did you mean to say Construction mode instead of Common mode? I just want to make sure.

    Yes, I did! Updated the post and thank you!


    Is there any possibility of the Terrain Paints eventually being added to the seasonal transitions?

    Sorry but no. Terrain Paints are a build mode tool and it will not be possible to have them rotate throughout different seasons.


    Just read this very helpful guide again, and am about to prepare one of my community lots.

    There is just one thing I don't quite understand;

    What is the difference between marking a lot "Festival grounds" and just adding the seasonal marker to a lot branded as ie "big park". Will festivals require the "festival grounds" category, and if so, what will I actually miss if I go with the "big park" category?

    I plan to use the marker on a field that is already marked as a "Dog park", and I still want sims to bring their pet there, even if there will also be festival content. Is that not possible?

    Setting a lot as "Festival Grounds" just affects the tuning/behavior of Sims on the lot, and auto places a Seasonal Lot Marker on the lot as the true experience of the festivals is to have them change throughout the year. Sims will want to visit that lot more often, and will have appropriate behavior depending on which mode the lot currently is. A "Big Park" lot for example is roughly equivalent to the construction mode of a "Festival Grounds" lot. If you want to place festival objects on a dog park, you're welcome to do so.


    Your Build/Buy list on the first page says columns can be used on a rotational basis from season to season, but any columns I placed automatically went into common, not the season I was editing.

    How can we keep the weather off the food vendors?

    Thanks for pointing that out about the columns... I'll have to double check them, I could swear that they're able to rotate properly.

    As for your issue with your concession stand workers getting rained on, could you post a picture of the area you're talking about? I'd have to see it to really understand what the issue you're having may be.


    Gmn19665 wrote:
    So I set my lot up with different furniture and deocor based on my liking for each of the Seasons. And then I start playing. Its Summer....my Sim has a fire and she loses a table. I buy a new one. Or I want to fulfill my Sims wish for a Pinball Machine. Will that table or Pinball Machine show up in every season? Meaning is gameplay mode considered "common". I hope so. It would be a hassle to keep having to rebuy that same item whenever the season changes.

    Oh...and can we disable "testingcheatsenabled true" when we are done seasoning our lot?

    For starters, yes - feel free to disable the cheats once you're done editing your lot.

    If you buy a Pinball Machine to satisfy a wish (going by your example), then it will appear in whichever version of the lot you place it on in buy mode. Now if you replace an object, such as one that burnt... hrmm, I don't know exactly how it handles that on residential lots off the top of my head. If you run into any troubles with that situation let me know and I can investigate further.


    enkeli63 wrote:
    I just wanted to inform you (because it might be a bug, or either way, I think it needs to be fixed) that ghosts can use items that have been hidden with the Seasonal Lot Marker.

    I had an ice cream maker for summer time and a ghost used it in the fall to make ice cream. The ice cream maker still looked invisible, but after the ghost made ice cream, all the sims in the house autonomously helped themselves to ice cream (it looked like they were grabbing ice cream cones from thin air!).

    Thanks for pointing this out - definitely good to know. I assume you're talking about the Ice Cream Maker from the store? We don't typically touch that content, so I'll have to check with the store team about it. For the time being, I'd recommend leaving it on the common version of the lot.


    If you can't see the seasonal lot marker ball after entering buydebug, go to *build* and then to *buy*. After doing this at least once the ball will show up again. I have found that if I am build mode after entering buydebug I can't see the ball until I go to buy. And if I am in Buy I can't see it until I go into Build.

    Precisely. This is why I recommended putting in the codes before entering build/buy to avoid this confusion. If you're already in build/buy mode when you enter the cheat codes, the marker object won't just appear. You'll have to switch modes before it becomes visible.
  • anettesbanettesb Posts: 39,168 Member
    edited November 2012
    Question... why can't fire pits be seasonal?

    I wanted 1 on my fair ground but only in winther time... but that was not an option...

    I did get my colums to just be spring though....
    🌺 streaming at https://www.twitch.tv/lady_anette 🌻come join the Sylvan legacy, and help control their life. 🌳
  • SimGuruGrahamSimGuruGraham Posts: 1,188 SimGuru
    edited November 2012
    anettesb wrote:
    Question... why can't fire pits be seasonal?

    I wanted 1 on my fair ground but only in winther time... but that was not an option...

    I did get my colums to just be spring though....

    Firepits in and of themselves work fine - you'll notice them on a few of the festival lots I built in winter before the change to force them to common mode was made. The problem is that Fireplaces have problems rotating since they're made up of multiple objects, and forcing those to common also affected the Firepits.
  • anettesbanettesb Posts: 39,168 Member
    edited November 2012
    anettesb wrote:
    Question... why can't fire pits be seasonal?

    I wanted 1 on my fair ground but only in winther time... but that was not an option...

    I did get my colums to just be spring though....

    Firepits in and of themselves work fine - you'll notice them on a few of the festival lots I built in winter before the change to force them to common mode was made. The problem is that Fireplaces have problems rotating since they're made up of multiple objects, and forcing those to common also affected the Firepits.


    that didn't make sense to me..... maybe becouse I'm not english....

    I did put it in the lot, marker set as winther... then when I played it was there during summer (start of play test)

    the pit decided to be in commen... it was a store pit...but schould that matter? a pit is a pit.

    I'm not talking bringing my own pit... I want to ad it to the lot.

    isn't the firepit 1 objects...? + I never forced it to commen... it went there it self...
    🌺 streaming at https://www.twitch.tv/lady_anette 🌻come join the Sylvan legacy, and help control their life. 🌳
  • miklcmiklc Posts: 3,110 Member
    edited November 2012
    This has to be one of my favourite aspects of the new expansion, I love that we can dress our Sims homes appropriately for each season and it automatically changes without having to worry about it. I have never really gotten any use out of the free holiday sets in the Store before now, with this option though I plan on getting a lot of use out of them. Currently just started a new game with the Cho family in Hidden Springs and I'm just completely redoing their home, once I have finished I can't wait to then play around the Lot Marker and add Halloween decorations in Fall etc :D
  • julienrob2004julienrob2004 Posts: 4,166 Member
    edited November 2012
    Not sure if it is intentional but on my Festival lot i built i found i could not access the toilets on the lot outside the hours the food stalls are open and tell my sims to use them . Once its in hours the walls disappear and i can click on them again

    Only thing that annoys me about the lot is that only 2 people can skate on the lake at once , but there is not room to make it bigger so they will have to make do with it
  • KoumoriDiruKoumoriDiru Posts: 6,681 Member
    edited November 2012
    This is gonna be such a dumb question, and I'm really sorry if this has been asked before but
    If I add a seasonal marker to my home, will I need to mess about with it to get it to change the seasonal decorations?
    I'm completely useless when it comes to doing stuff like this in Sims 3 :oops:
    tumblr_nvbyvezH0b1uvyu9yo8_r1_400.gif
  • aldavis411aldavis411 Posts: 5 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Ah, I'm so happy I rummaged through the forums before I used the seasonal marker. It's the absolute perfect thing for the change of seasons. :mrgreen: I just hope my park venue still has a proprietor.

    This is gonna be such a dumb question, and I'm really sorry if this has been asked before but
    If I add a seasonal marker to my home, will I need to mess about with it to get it to change the seasonal decorations?
    I'm completely useless when it comes to doing stuff like this in Sims 3 :oops:

    If you want the decorations to change according to season, then you'll have to mess around with it, only to select specific decorations - like in the tutorial. Once you've done it the first time, you don't have to do anything else with it. You can always just buy decorations for your sims as the seasons change and place them in your household inventory to make things easier, but you don't need to have a seasonal marker on the lot for the seasons to change, they will change regardless.
  • BlyssciaBlysscia Posts: 3,771 Member
    edited November 2012
    Thanks for the guide! I'm so excited to try this feature.

    I want to use it on a residential lot just to make holiday decorations appear.
    I have a question about this though.

    Let's say I set a holiday tree to appear on the lawn during winter.
    When winter arrives, can I just enter regular buy mode and drag the tree into my living room if I want?
    Are the seasonal items fixed in place?
    Do I have to go back and edit the winter placement to get the tree inside?

    I hope that question makes sense to someone. Thanks for your consideration!
  • SimGuruGrahamSimGuruGraham Posts: 1,188 SimGuru
    edited November 2012
    Not sure if it is intentional but on my Festival lot i built i found i could not access the toilets on the lot outside the hours the food stalls are open and tell my sims to use them . Once its in hours the walls disappear and i can click on them again

    Ah, someone noticed :wink:

    This doesn't have anything specifically to do with the seasonal lot marker, it's only for the festivals. They do shut down at night (you can see their hours by hovering the cursor over the map tag or a concessions stand), and when that happens Sims aren't allowed to go inside or use any objects that are indoors. This is the same way that bars in Late Night worked.


    anettesb wrote:
    that didn't make sense to me..... maybe becouse I'm not english....

    I did put it in the lot, marker set as winther... then when I played it was there during summer (start of play test)

    the pit decided to be in commen... it was a store pit...but schould that matter? a pit is a pit.

    I'm not talking bringing my own pit... I want to ad it to the lot.

    isn't the firepit 1 objects...? + I never forced it to commen... it went there it self...

    Sorry, didn't mean to confuse. Sometimes I provide more detail than necessary to give some background on why something works a particular way.

    To put it simply, Firepits can only be placed in Common mode.


    Blysscia wrote:
    I want to use it on a residential lot just to make holiday decorations appear.
    I have a question about this though.

    Let's say I set a holiday tree to appear on the lawn during winter.
    When winter arrives, can I just enter regular buy mode and drag the tree into my living room if I want?
    Are the seasonal items fixed in place?
    Do I have to go back and edit the winter placement to get the tree inside?

    Once you have placed a seasonal lot marker on your lot, any time you enter build/buy from that point forward it will always set the lot to the current season during editing.

    So going by the example you gave... If you placed a holiday tree to only appear in winter, and then during winter you entered B/B mode and dragged the tree indoors, you would automatically be editing the lot in winter mode - so yes, it would remain in winter only.

    This does mean that if you want to add something to your home in the future that shows up all year long, be sure that once you enter build/buy mode that you switch the seasonal lot marker to common before placing the object down.
  • Cat0EyeCat0Eye Posts: 4,629 New Member
    edited November 2012
    Not sure if this has been asked...I love the seasonal lot marker and used it on my home lot, its working great except that when I go into build/buy mode its not there and I can only build/buy in that season not switch back to common mode....is there something I am missing?

    I tried going back in to buydebug and still cant see it, is it possible it moved?
  • SimGuruGrahamSimGuruGraham Posts: 1,188 SimGuru
    edited November 2012
    Cat0Eye wrote:
    Not sure if this has been asked...I love the seasonal lot marker and used it on my home lot, its working great except that when I go into build/buy mode its not there and I can only build/buy in that season not switch back to common mode....is there something I am missing?

    I tried going back in to buydebug and still cant see it, is it possible it moved?

    Are you going into build/buy and then entering the buydebug cheat? You need to enter the cheat prior to entering b/b or the seasonal lot marker won't appear initially.
  • calgarygirljencalgarygirljen Posts: 38 Member
    edited November 2012
    I placed a seasonal marker on a residential lot, and now it's gone. I added some seasonal item, did the lock common mode thing and exited buy mode to play. A little later i went back into buy mode to add some other stuff, and the marker is gone, but objects on the lot still go clear and i can yank things out of common mode. I do have all the cheats on.
  • IngeJonesIngeJones Posts: 3,247 Member
    edited December 2012
    Sorry, didn't mean to confuse. Sometimes I provide more detail than necessary to give some background on why something works a particular way.

    Keep doing so, I find it interesting and helpful :)
  • ZeekSliderZeekSlider Posts: 5,831 Member
    edited December 2012
    Is it possible to create a Festival Lot that only has one Festival?

    For example, say I want to create a festival that comes to a park in the Spring and only in the Spring time for that specific lot. Can I do that and have the Common objects show up during the rest of the year without triggering a Festival?
    To put it simply, Firepits can only be placed in Common mode.
    Then how were you able to place Firepits in the Starlight Shores festival lot for Winter if they can only be placed in Common mode?
    Post edited by Unknown User on
  • MistermoomanMistermooman Posts: 265 New Member
    edited December 2012
    A couple of big questions, please answer.

    Okay, so first can there be two festivals running in one world at the same time? (i.e. A summer festival at the beach and another summer festival at the park.)

    And the second question, can I have it so there is only one festival on a lot? (The lot has a festival in spring, but the rest of the year it's just in construction mode, and its tag in the world view is just the plain 'park' tag instead of the big, gold 'festival' tag.)
  • SpiderCrowWolfSpiderCrowWolf Posts: 1,380 Member
    edited December 2012
    Can this be used at the sims house? Because I try to use it but the seasonal lot marker keeps disappearing and I can't find it when going back into buy/build mode. What happens now? Are my sims doomed to not be able to decorate their home?
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