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Considering buying Eco Lifestyle - I have a few questions for players who have it
GlacierSnow
Posts: 2,421 Member
I'm tempted to buy Eco Lifestyle while it is 60% off right now. I love a lot of the CAS and build items, could use the extra world, and would like to have some of the activities (candle making, recycling, etc.) that are a part of it.
The reason I still have not bought it, even though it has been out for a long time, is that I don't really want to use the eco footprint (pollution system) gameplay or the NAPs much. Maybe in one or two of my saves, but not in most of them.
I've been searching around trying to find info about how easy (or hard) it is to completely turn these systems off, and whether or not they can be disabled on a save by save basis (so I can play with them if I want to but completely turn them off if I don't). But my searches have turned up conflicting answers (some from before the pack came out, so they were probably just people guessing).
So, asking players who have the pack...
1) Pollution - Can you completely disable the eco footprint / pollution system? Does it fully turn it off (like game would be without the pack)? Or are there aspects of it that are still happening (for example, smog) even if it is turned off? Can it be turned off in one save and turned on in another? Does it reset back to "on" if you travel or switch households?
2) NAPs - Can this system be completely turned off? Basically, I have the same set of questions about NAPs as I asked about the pollution system.
3) Bugs, glitches, other issues - Are there any bugs still in this pack that are really problematic?
I feel like at 60% off it's worth getting it for the stuff I want to use, but because of the pollution and NAPs I am still undecided.
The reason I still have not bought it, even though it has been out for a long time, is that I don't really want to use the eco footprint (pollution system) gameplay or the NAPs much. Maybe in one or two of my saves, but not in most of them.
I've been searching around trying to find info about how easy (or hard) it is to completely turn these systems off, and whether or not they can be disabled on a save by save basis (so I can play with them if I want to but completely turn them off if I don't). But my searches have turned up conflicting answers (some from before the pack came out, so they were probably just people guessing).
So, asking players who have the pack...
1) Pollution - Can you completely disable the eco footprint / pollution system? Does it fully turn it off (like game would be without the pack)? Or are there aspects of it that are still happening (for example, smog) even if it is turned off? Can it be turned off in one save and turned on in another? Does it reset back to "on" if you travel or switch households?
2) NAPs - Can this system be completely turned off? Basically, I have the same set of questions about NAPs as I asked about the pollution system.
3) Bugs, glitches, other issues - Are there any bugs still in this pack that are really problematic?
I feel like at 60% off it's worth getting it for the stuff I want to use, but because of the pollution and NAPs I am still undecided.
Seventeen & Maldusk Forum thread link
My name on AHQ (and the upcoming sims forum) is "GlacierSnowGhost".
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Comments
but not by specific world its all worlds get eco footprint or none
does not turn on off when travelling its similar to the weather settings for blizzard in that you either have it or don't
also you have to get rid of trash in evergreen harbor through gameplay (or probably some cheats I am not aware of) but I prefer the trashy look so I have not changed things
eco footprint it seems way too easy for me to have all my dang worlds be green
you have to intentionally be adding trash and stuff to make it polluted
otherwise I don't really know
I haven't really played the pack enough to tell about the bugs and I am still confused if i have NAPs active even though i turned them off because sometimes i get random eco inspector dudes visiting vlads house
oh yeah and the dang clay, hate that.
kind of would not recommend this pack unless you are super into it
I find I just use the trashcan everywhere pretty much
but it does pair well with get to work i suppose
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Some people don't like the world. I definitely use it. It's kind of a very average town based on the Pacific Northwest. It's good for industrial & hipster or even urban styles. You can clean up the neighborhoods or leave them as they are. Port Promise is very gritty. I've actually played a lot with Conifer Station, kind of a gentrifying (or not if you prefer) area with townhouses and apartments. That has been a popular place for my university graduates to move to. The careers link well to college degrees and there's some interactive gameplay for the jobs in urban planning and environmental management. I actually do like that and play with that. I also like the ways in which you can change the community spaces to suit your gameplay. Grims Quarry is also a nice green neighborhood.
I like the creative activities that come with the pack. You can also recycle excessive stuff in sims' inventories. I'm not into playing with grubs personally so I don't do that. I would label it a very average world and a good starter one if you like the aesthetic that some of it offers. I definitely use the CAS/BB a lot.
To emphasize based on your question, if you turn the features off then they do not impact your game. I had eco-effects on for a while across the save and then turned them off and immediately noticed a difference. I might sometimes switch them back on and make my sims be more eco-conscious. When the effects are off, they are off globally for that game save. The setting works similarly to the fame setting for Get Famous.
I turned off the eco effects in game setting, but I think this only takes away the animations in world/hood view, and not (always) in each lot. Recently I visited a lot where the pollution was real bad. I like this, because the pollution on lot level will normally make sense, being in cities or hoods with a high level of commerce. Specific items (ie fireplaces) will add to the pollution "score", but it also depends on what lots you actually play. If there is a "bad" lot in the hood, but your sim frequently visit the good lot (say a park) the negative pollution will take longer to tick in - if ever.
For NAPs, which I like but dislike how they were performed - with no customation per NAP (whish we could have created custom NAPs!). So while I use them for my kingdom's political system, I turn of the voting. Seems like no changes are made to current NAPs but you will still get the weekly notifications "voting is open/closed". When installing the pack NAPs will probably be assigned to some hoods, but you can easily cheat them off by shift-clicking the mailbox (must be done once per affected hood). Even if NAPs feature is restricted in your game settings, sims will keep earning "influence points" which is a sort of community currency used for voting. Unfortunately there is no way to spend those points on anything else.
I like many features of the ECO pack, especially the many new ways to make a living from home, also CAS is good, and I find the BB good because it represents something different in the game. However, this is one of the packs that I could have survived without, I'm simply not enough into ECO to explore all the features.
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If you turn off NPC voting, then NAPs aren't really gone, but they only happen if your sim votes for them. Otherwise, you'll get notificiations about the voting window and NAPs being enacted, but if you check the NAPs on your mailbox, there won't be any. For neighborhoods where you don't have any Sims living, I don't think NAPs activate if you have NPC voting off, but I haven't tested.
I do know that since I turned off NPC voting, I haven't had any mysteriously broken community lots because of issues with Caring is Sharing (namely that NPCs would swipe required community lot items) and I turned off NPC voting not long after the pack came out, so we're looking at a couple of years of play now.
NAPS CAN be turned off.. just clicking the option if NPC can vote off.
But any active naps already will not get deleted, those have to be turned off manually.
But if turned off at beginning of the save, no naps will happen, at least I have never had unwanted NAP in my saves, EVER.. Game may still give a notification of this and that NAP , but its visual bug only.
I personally love the world and use it much. EL community lot is my far favourite lot type.
EDIT: and yeah, all eco effects, can be turned off, and the toggle do WORK
EDIT2: way too many typos, still .. *sight*
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
You can also make it through settings so that only your sims vote on NAPs, that’s how I was able to modernize my world without other NAPs getting passed.
I turned NAPs off right after release but I only have this one save. (I don't use mods.)
table there
table gone
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Kind of. If a NAP was enacted before you turned off NPC voting, you'll need to pick a family in that neighborhood and cheat off the NAP on a mailbox, but then they shouldn't show up ever again.
I also play vanilla, and none of my saves have had issues with NAPs since I turned them off.
The problem is this: When Sharing is Caring goes into effect, the sims in the neighborhood get a hidden trait that allows them to steal autonomously like kleptos EVERYWHERE they go, not just in that neighborhood.
When the NAP is repealed, the trait goes away. However, if sims move around, they take their hidden NAP traits with them, they do not get updated automatically. I had this happen with a sim from a Good Old Times neighborhood, she got fined at uni, despite the uni neighborhood not having that NAP. That's how I learned about those traits. I don't know the trait names on top of my head, since I add/remove them with MCCC, but can look them up later.
1. Pollution can be turned of in the settings. You won't see the score of the neighbourhood at all
2. NAP voting can be disabled. This doesn't disable NAP themselves but prevents any NPC from voting. In other words only votes you actively make as a player count. So you can still vote if you want and implement a NAP. Any existing NAP will remain active until you revoke them with the mail box.
3. Every week you will get a message that a NAP has been voted, even if you have voting off. This is a false alarm. With NAP voting disabled (and no votes from active sims) no NAP will become active despite the messages. I once had smog despite pollution being disabled. I managed to sort it out but it was an annoying glitch. But this was only once in all these years.
If you don't want to use NAP at all, I suggest disabling voting right away. I read about hidden traits getting added to sims with NAP which can stick around if you disable NAP's. Nor sure if this bug is fixed by now.
The neighbourhoods are very trashy by default. There are two special NAP's to change the neighbourhoods in evergreen harbour to make them look better. These are the only NAP's I use. They can be added with cheats by shift clicking on the mailbox/voting boards.
I'll have to try this. I take my doggies to a vet in Brindleton Bay and the veterinarians are always wearing bags. It really doesn't inspire confidence in their work. 😄
As for NAPs, I’ve got to the point where the full number of NAPs are now set in most of my worlds, they don’t need to change, and they don’t impact on my game. If ever I find a NAP has been voted for that I don’t like, I use one of the cheats to change it to one I do like, Some NAPs do intrude on your gameplay (eg. water conservation, where you have to have your water turned off for a day), but others don’t. I make sure the ones I like are set, and after that I just ignore them. To that extent they’re a bit disappointing, as it’s quite an interesting gameplay idea but it only goes so far.
I really like the pack and I would say it’s well worth getting in a sale, and I don’t think anyone should be put off by the eco footprints or NAPs.
As others have said, you can either turn off NAP voting right off the bat, or you can vote in some NAPs and then turn them off if you want, and the NAPs will stay as-is. It is not hard at all to earn enough influence points to always win the vote. The only problem I have is that the Promote Creative Arts NAP causes NPCs to play with clay excessively. It's super annoying. I use Bienchen's mod called NAP Overhaul (noautonomousmoldclay module) to get rid of that issue.
I can't think of any other bugs specific to this EP in my game. I recommend buying it for the reasons you listed. The bb alone is great.
ETA: @GlacierSnow, your question about everyone playing with clay is answered here in my post.
I just want to say I love this pack
For many of the same reasons as others, plus no one has said how great the premades are! The Greenburg family, the Tinkers, Bess and Jules, and who doesn't love Jeb Harris with that bag on his head?
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..
I have only been annoyed with the bag over the head and sharing is caring app once or twice because at the time I didn’t know to turn the stuff off in the beginning of my save.
Here are some positives I have with the pack…..
there is new furniture you can add by making things with the maker object.
You can dumpster dive for different things and sell burned furniture and things from your inventory. Also if you use spell casters, they can use a spell to repair the furniture.
This pack makes it where you can really play off the grid. I used it in my scenario save and I really had a good time with one family. Using the off the grid lot trait, you have to collect water to use in showers, have to remember to add ice to the off the grid fridge. Have to use lighting that doesn’t use energy. And, it gives you a sense of accomplishment to be able to save up enough power to cook with it and stuff. It ended up being quite fun playing with my off the grid family.
I use dumpsters in so many lots, they are one of my most used items
You can learn to manage your eco footprint by what objects you put there…. Like for pollution, you use more objects that pollute, like fireplaces, industrial wall paper and flooring etc. To make it greener you can use more solar power and plants. You can literally change neighborhoods by your actions.
I’m always learning new things about the pack.
I love the 4 apartments that come with the pack.
The new community lot type is one of my favorites.
You can make candles, fizzy drinks, and maker furniture
Being a civic engineer is a new career.
I think the pack is very much worth it,
The world is not my favorite, but it is very different.
What I'm getting from all the comments:
1) The eco footprint system is easy to turn off and can be done at any time.
2) NAPs are a little trickier and might have a few glitches, but turning off NPC voting right away as soon as the pack is installed, should keep NAPs from being assigned.
Is that correct?
I also have a couple followup questions:
1) Is the setting to turn off NPC voting for NAPs a setting in the main menu (can be done globally for the whole save without loading a household)? Or do you have to load a household and turn it off via the mailbox (or some other object), neighborhood by neighborhood?
2) If voting on NAPs is turned off, does that also affect voting for the type of community space on those multi-use lots that have the three options (I think it was garden, maker space, and marketplace)? I actually do want to use that gameplay, but don't want NAPs. Are they part of the same system, or separate?
3) I've heard about the "everyone constantly playing with clay and leaving clay everywhere" issue. Is that tied to a specific NAP, or is it a glitch that happens even if NAPs have been turned off? Are there any mods that get rid of this problem?
4) I do use mods and cheats. So if anyone has good links for mods and cheats that are helpful with this pack (especially controlling Eco footprint and NAP stuff) can you share those, please? Thanks!
I'm getting confused. If I set it so that NPC sims can't vote, as soon as I install the pack, will I still have to pick a NAP for any neighborhood I am playing in?
No, you can start playing in the world without having to touch NAPS at all.
They CAN be turned off, literally what most of the ppl here have been saying
It is the same as NAPS completely removed if you want, as your played sims do not have to vote
Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..