Sims Can't Dance or Work Out to Stereos: Partially Solved

lanlyn

I have a weird glitch that I can't figure out how to solve. Not a huge problem, but very annoying. I've done several searches online for help, but haven't found any suggestions about this particular issue. Sims can't dance or work out to any stereos I place on one of my lots. It doesn't matter which model I use or where I put them. The other stereos in the world work fine.

I've tried removing furniture, different rooms with lots of space, and outside with nothing around. I've tried resetting the stereos. I've tried upgrading them. I've tried deleting them and using different models. Nothing works. And sims can't dance to stereo music on a dance floor either.


I've even tried resetting the lot and the sims. I've looked through the NRaas generated item list to make sure there weren't any hidden spawners or jigs causing trouble. The land is totally flat where the stereos are.

Sims hear the music because they have music moodlets. I hear the music. But dance actions get cancelled without a word. Workout actions get cancelled with sims complaining they can't access the stereo. But I have no idea why. There's always plenty of room.

And the other odd part is they can dance and work out to wall mounted speakers, no matter where they're placed, lots of space or very little.


The only thing I haven't done is move the sims out temporarily and bulldoze and replace the lot. But I'm afraid I'd lose the land shape if I do that because most of the lot is set over water.

igazor

Sounds to me like routing issues related to what must have been very creative use of such tools as Constrain Floor Elevation and the like. Not so much a lack of space or invisible objects blocking them, but more like they just can't route to the specific spot alloted to them to do the dance or workout animations.

I have a pre-built vacation home lot in France where around 1/4 of the time when my sims try to dance to music in the living room, they go out back, across the backyard, and into what looks like a large potting shed to do this. There's no music I can hear back there, but for some reason the game treats those far away spots as if they were part of the living room. I never dissected the lot to find out why this happens because it's quirky and kind of funny, but at least not as frustrating as the queue dropping thing described here.

lanlyn

@igazor Interesting info. Thank you. I didn't use Constrain Floor Elevation, but I did use Move Objects On a few times. But this lot started out as one built by someone else. I completed demolished that building, but maybe the original creator had used CFE. Could that still be affecting the new house?

I forgot to mention too that there's a fog emitter in the lighthouse which does a rotating light beam effect. Would that cause routing issues somehow? Maybe I should take it out for a test.

igazor

Erf, I'm not exactly a master builder myself. I just sit back and point/laugh (or frown) at the mistakes others make. Not sure how persistent CFE remains, if MOO is a factor, or what exactly is causing the fault here. Just seems that if your sims can dance to wall mounted speakers and to regular ones elsewhere in town, and script errors are not being generated but just the generic route failure indicators, then the fault almost has to be with the lot's construction somehow. Not really seeing how a fog emitter could be at fault, but I'm sure more surprising things have happened.

phoebebebe13

ask @Karritz she builds

lanlyn

Thanks guys. I think you may be right, @igazor. Something in how the lot is constructed I suppose. And good suggestion, @phoebebebe13. I thought about asking @Karritz. She's good at this sort of thing. If she doesn't see the notice for this thread, I'll ask at the other one we usually post in.

Karritz

Did you flatten the terrain to build there?

If so I'd try cfe cheat to see if the terrain is all over the place on the lot.

Testingcheatsenabled true
ConstrainFloorElevation false

Do this in build mode and see if you've got terrain levels scrambled. I'm on my tablet so can't post pics but if they are scrambled use the terrain levelling tool. See my tutorial video on getting rid of that buried apple to see what I'm trying to describe if you aren't sure.

lanlyn

@Karritz I remember flattening the entire lot to begin with. (I placed a blank lot down first.) But not sure I did it again after adding the lot with the building on top of that. After I demolished that original building, I did flatten all the area where the structure had been.

Thanks for the idea. I'll go in game and do the CFE cheat to see what I find.

lanlyn

@Karritz I just checked the lot with CFE false in build mode and everything looked normal. I'll look at your tutorial video again though.

Karritz

I hope you can work it out. I have a similar problem with toddler books. My toddlers at Plumbob Island can't read their own books due to a routing error. But the toddlers at Surf Circle can read to themselves. Surf Circle is the home lot. My solution was to get the adults to read to the plant sim toddlers.

I've been wondering if Go Here might be the problem. None of the toddlers go to where I tell them to go.

lanlyn

@Karritz It seems there's always some weird issue going on. Most of the time I can deal with stuff. Just minor things. This stereo problem isn't a game breaker, but it's annoying when sims can't do what they want. My athletic sim tries to work out to the stereo, then complains when he can't. At least I can send him to the gym equipment I have instead. And if sims want to dance, they can use the wall speakers.

BTW, your advice about finding hidden objects underground did help with one small issue. There was a spot further out in the lawn that couldn't be leveled. I opened up NRaas Object Stats/Local and found a gem listed. When I looked around, I didn't see any gem on the property (no spawners either), so I used the Stats list to delete the gem. I was then able to level that one spot, which was cool! Unfortunately, it didn't help with the stereo issue.

Which makes me think. I also saw several core stairs objects (white boxes) listed for the staircases I have on the lot. Those are normal, right? I don't need to delete them, do I? Or should I? Will the game regenerate new ones?

Thanks for your help!

Karritz

@lanlyn I've never noticed white boxes relating to staircases. I have no idea if they belong there or not.

lanlyn

@Karritz Just FYI: One year later and I'm going to necro this thread. I found a workaround for this problem finally, though it doesn't really solve whatever the issue is.

Today, after being back in this house with a different family but still experiencing the same problem, I tried something different. I moved the stereo and TV to other floors and they worked! Originally sims couldn't dance or work out to the stereo and TV I had on the first floor, but they can use them now that they're moved. Turns out it was the ground floor that was the problem somehow.

I don't understand how this can make a difference, but it does. Similar amount of space, same items, same house and lot. But being on another floor works (TV on second floor, stereo on third). I'm sure that's why sims could dance to the wall-mounted speakers before--because they were on the second floor instead of the first.

So, I had to move furnishings around and swap out rooms, but at least it all works now.

Karritz

@lanlyn do you have something in the basement that might be poking up through the floor? It won't be visible. For example I was shocked to discover sims couldn't use floor tiles that looked perfectly good to me. After much exploring and thinking about what had changed between when they could use those floor tiles and then when they no longer could I discovered the Group Science Project in the basement reserved 3 levels above it for the flame that comes out of it. Other objects do the same thing. They don't usually take up all of the tiles above them, just a few. The Swift Gro Gardening stations is another object that does this.

It's usually something blocking them. It could be a jig. It could be a piece of food or something that they dropped and it sank just below the surface. Did you try moving the mat to see what's under it?

I really don't know what caused the problem. The white box usually indicates something has spawned. Lots often have spawners on them.

In any case, I'm glad you found a work around.

Happy Simming.

lanlyn

@Karritz This house doesn't have a basement and the one I knocked down before building this one didn't have one either. Today, I actually built 3 levels of basements looking for any issues that might be going on below, but didn't find anything. I didn't have any problem with building the basements either. I also took a look at the lot items again using NRaas DebugEnabler, but there wasn't anything unusual listed (such as jigs). If something's invisible, I don't know any other way to find it without tearing the lot apart. And I've already saved the lot to the bin and then replaced it, which didn't help at all.

I was just glad to find I could put the TV and stereo on another floor and have them work. But as for the original problem, I'm truly stumped! It wasn't an issue with just one area. No matter where I moved the TV or stereo on the ground floor--in the house or outside--sims could not dance or work out to them. But up a floor, things are fine!

Karritz

lanlyn wrote: »

@Karritz This house doesn't have a basement and the one I knocked down before building this one didn't have one either. Today, I actually built 3 levels of basements looking for any issues that might be going on below, but didn't find anything. I didn't have any problem with building the basements either. I also took a look at the lot items again using NRaas DebugEnabler, but there wasn't anything unusual listed (such as jigs). If something's invisible, I don't know any other way to find it without tearing the lot apart. And I've already saved the lot to the bin and then replaced it, which didn't help at all.

I was just glad to find I could put the TV and stereo on another floor and have them work. But as for the original problem, I'm truly stumped! It wasn't an issue with just one area. No matter where I moved the TV or stereo on the ground floor--in the house or outside--sims could not dance or work out to them. But up a floor, things are fine!

I guess it's just one of those mysterious things that happen in the game at some stage. I really don't know and haven't come across this type of thing before. At least your sims can dance on another floor.