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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 4:47 AM
Default Some Questions
I'm getting back into the game after a while of not playing, and have a few questions:

1. How do I rename a sim-written novel? I forgot what the name was supposed to be and named it the wrong thing. How can I fix this with SimPE?

2. How do I rename a lot in SimPE? I tried finding the lot resource and just giving it a different name, but that did not take for some reason. I have no problems renaming families, but I want to rename the lot.

3. Is it possible to make an apartment with a gated-off outdoor area as part of the apartment? I have a premade apartment lot from someone that has an outdoor area with a greenhouse as part of one of the apartments, and for some reason that apartment is treated as being a common area even though it has an apartment door. I played with this lot in an old hood and it worked fine, I just don't remember what I had to do to fix it.

4. My YA sim got abducted by the secret society and my Greek house lost $60,000 (out of $100,000). I saw a post about how going to the secret society lot doubles your money - does anyone know what is going on with that? My sim did not do anything on the secret society lot except for make out with a secret society member and then go home.
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Lab Assistant
#2 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 6:12 AM
3. Yards in apartments need to be fully fenced off and the only point of entry allowed for each apartment is the apartment door; so no other doors or gates can be used, unfortunately. You could use invisible fences to fence off areas if need be.

If your apartment is on a foundation this tutorial might be helpful; http://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=437141

I'm not sure about greenhouse walls, though. Do you have a link or picture of the apartment in question?

Also, I'm sorry I can't be of help with your other questions. I'm sure 1 and 2 have easy fixes, but as for 4 I have no idea why they lost all that money!

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Undead Molten Llama
#3 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 6:30 AM
2. Can you not rename the lot in-game for some reason? In neighborhood view, you can click on any lot and in the info window that pops up there's an option to rename the lot.

3. If the lot is properly made into a functioning apartment (And I'm surprised, with the gates; they will usually prevent the lot from converting to an apartmentbase in the first place), I'm going to guess that it's the greenhouse that's causing issues. Greenhouse walls are basically fences. Enclosing an area inside an apartment with fences will cause the enclosed area to become common area that can't be accessed by anyone. Walls and fences are what defines an apartment's square footage (even if that "square footage" is outside), which is what the game uses to calculate rent as well as to determine what space on the lot belongs to each resident household, so they can cause issues on apartment lots when used in ways that the game doesn't expect.

All that being said, LOLBAG2 is correct in that seeing some pics would be helpful.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#4 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 6:37 AM
I don't remember where this lot came from, but here is a top-down image of the apartment:



When I said "gated-off" I didn't mean there was literally a gate, there isn't one, it's just fence all the way around. The door out of the apartment to the fenced in area is in the space between the kitchen counters and the wall to the left. It is on a foundation, so there are some stairs down to the ground.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#5 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 6:45 AM
Quote:
2. Can you not rename the lot in-game for some reason? In neighborhood view, you can click on any lot and in the info window that pops up there's an option to rename the lot.


Oh, thanks, I didn't realize you could do that in game. Well, that one is sorted.
Undead Molten Llama
#6 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 6:47 AM
It's the greenhouse walls that are causing the problem. As I said, they are fences, and you can't have areas inside of an apartment (even if that "inside" part is outside) that are enclosed with fences without causing issues. I would simply remove the greenhouse and have a regular garden patch instead. Or you could try using regular walls with full-size windows instead of the greenhouse walls; I'm honestly not sure if having an outdoor space enclosed with walls will cause the same issues as enclosing spaces with fences will. I've never tried it.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#7 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 6:52 AM
I deleted the greenhouse walls and it didn't fix it.
Undead Molten Llama
#8 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 7:04 AM
Is it the whole apartment that's being seen as common area, or just the outdoor part? I had interpreted what you said as just the outdoor part being common area, but perhaps I interpreted that wrong. In neighborhood view, does the lot info say that the lot has the correct number of apartments? Or does it say one apartment less than you'd expect?

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#9 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 7:12 AM
The whole apartment is labeled as common area. The neighborhood view says there are 3 apartments, but there should be 4.
Undead Molten Llama
#10 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 7:24 AM
Ah, then something went wrong when the lot was made into an apartment base. I suspect that the greenhouse messed it up. To fix it, you will need to move everyone out, bulldoze the building, put down a new copy of it, check to see if it shows the correct number of apartments in neighborhood view. If it doesn't, go into the lot, change the lot zoning to residential, remove the greenhouse, change the lot zoning back to apartmentbase, see if it works. If it does, go back out to the neighborhood and see how many apartments it says the building has.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 7:39 AM
It looks like you'll need to follow that tutorial I linked to make that yard (and apartment!) truly private. To safely edit an apartment lot in build mode, you'll need to move out all families first.

While the backyard is fenced off, the game ignores it because its on a different level to the apartment. You need to fence off the small landing with an invisible fence like in the tutorial. That tricks the game into thinking its an enclosed space, even if you put stairs going to the garden off of it.

As for the greenhouse, I'm not sure if it'd still cause problems, but I'd follow iCad's advice and forfeit it just in case!

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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#12 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 7:44 AM
Well, no one has lived on the lot, and I didn't do anything to it except place it a long time ago and maybe rezone it.

I tried making it residential, and doing the steps of the tutorial LOLBAG linked, and I even put back the greenhouse. After rezoning it back to an apartment, it seems to be fixed. I'm not sure the outside area is being counted as part of the apartment, but it's only accessible from that apartment, so I think it should be fine.

Edit: Ninja'd! That's kind of strange that the problem is multiple levels, though. I have an apartment across the street where almost all the apartments are on multiple levels with a lot of spiral staircases and it seems to work just fine.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#13 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 8:06 AM
With the apartment, the first thing to check is the apartment door, is it the correct way around?

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Lab Assistant
#14 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 8:26 AM
Quote: Originally posted by kestrellyn
That's kind of strange that the problem is multiple levels, though. I have an apartment across the street where almost all the apartments are on multiple levels with a lot of spiral staircases and it seems to work just fine.


It's not so much the levels, its more about the space being enclosed. Stairs within an apartment are fine, just so long as the apartment is "whole". Your apartment wasn't considered whole because it had a "hole" (ha ha); that door leading outside. Like I said before, the Maxis apartment door is the only entry/exit an apartment is allowed to have. The way the game saw it, that outside door was breaching that; because it wasn't fenced in and thus wasn't considered another room. The invisible fence fixes that, though!

The only exception I know of is garage doors. I think there are a couple of Maxis apartment lots in the house bin which have garage doors...

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The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#15 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 10:41 AM
That lot/build is on a foundation is it? If so, that's the problem.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#16 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 11:34 AM
Quote: Originally posted by LOLBAG2
It's not so much the levels, its more about the space being enclosed. Stairs within an apartment are fine, just so long as the apartment is "whole".


The one time stairs within an apartment are not fine is when it goes up onto a stage then up again. I did that and found the entire upper bedroom level was seen as common space. Something about the stage broke it.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Forum Resident
#17 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 2:51 PM
If you have a fenced-in backyard to an apartment it's O.K. to have a regular door that leads to the backyard; without a door how are you going to access the backyard? You just can't add a gate to the fence. I created a duplex apartment lot and each unit has an upstairs/downstairs, 2 separate garages for cars and separate enclosed backyards. Also it's not necessary to bull-doze the whole lot; moving everyone out and correcting the problems should fix the lot and enable it to save properly.
Mad Poster
#18 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 4:49 PM
This is true only if the fence-in backyard is at the same level as the building. The problem the OP is having is due to the fact that the fence-in backyard is lower. There is a connecting staircase leading down to it.
LOLBAG already gave the solution, and what to do to remedy this

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#19 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 8:24 PM
Ok, but does anyone know the answers to questions 1 and 4?
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#20 Old 19th Apr 2018 at 11:18 PM
1 and 4, no clue. If somebody knew they would have said so.

As far as I know you can't rename a novel, but maybe it's because nobody has tried. 4 sounds like a glitch unless it happens again, and then you would want to troubleshoot your CC.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#21 Old 20th Apr 2018 at 12:54 AM
Additional question: how do I close the cheat console manually? I typed a wrong cheat and now it won't close automatically after I type a cheat. I tried "quit", but that just quit the game without saving and I lost a lot of work.
Mad Poster
#22 Old 20th Apr 2018 at 12:55 AM
type expand this will resize it to what it was. Then you can just hit Enter, without writing anything, to close it.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
Alchemist
#23 Old 20th Apr 2018 at 12:56 AM
renaming a sim's novel; might check if the novel has a corresponding file in the My Documents directory. not sure where it would be; have not had any of my sims do a novel after installing Apartment Life.
if there is a corresponding file, might load that file in SimPE.

secret society sims gaining money; so far none of my Young Adult sims became secret society members.
if you have disc version of your packs, you might test it in AnyGameStarter.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#24 Old 20th Apr 2018 at 12:56 AM
Use Esc or ` (the key under Esc.) Sometimes I find I need both.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#25 Old 20th Apr 2018 at 12:58 AM
Quote: Originally posted by mdsb759
renaming a sim's novel; might check if the novel has a corresponding file in the My Documents directory. not sure where it would be; have not had any of my sims do a novel after installing Apartment Life.
if there is a corresponding file, might load that file in SimPE.


The novels shows up in the sim's memory among other stuff they would have in their inventory, in SimPE. But there is no specific title. All it says is Book Title[book novel]
I checked, as I have one sim that I know of, who writes them. But since she was moving out, I kept all her written novels in her inventory. This is how it shows for her.
I did not try to rename where it says Book Title, as I have no clue what might happen if I do.

Je mange des girafes et je parle aussi français !...surtout :0)

Find all my old MTS Uploads, on my SFS, And all new uploads Here . :)
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