Reasons for Patching, part 1

Sims 1.0 Problems

Night Workers Need a Union

A night-job worker needs only miss one night before being fired instead of two. Sorted in the v1.1 patch and EPs.

The chipbag bug

If the Sim puts down a chip bag, it cannot be selected or removed by maid or by Sims. "Unsnacker" fixed this in the patch to v1.1 and later EPs, otherwise the Slot Machine download contains the fix.

Limits

• 100 objects per build mode category.
• 99 wallpapers and/or floors

(Fix)

Limits were removed with Livin Large - upped across board to 65k!

Build mode limitation upped to 2000 objecst with Unleashed.

Symptom Limits cause

Across Sims generally, too many build objects "morph" into something else altogether.

Solution: Remove some downloads to come below the limit.

Deleted Mailbox Trashcan Portal

NEVER delete these.

Portals have been known to just disappear for no good reason in the original game.

Makin' Magic, includes extra "intelligence" to try and recover from this but it's not always successful.

Swimming removes will to work

The icon to get in the carpool disappears when the sim is in the swimming pool. This is a persistant little "problem" that has never been sorted.

Navigation Problems

Also, if you fence off all access to the road (so the only way there is back through the house), Sims lack the intelligence to go through the house to get out with free will but don't seem to have a problem when you direct them to the carpool.

House Party Problems

Flies - get stuck in walls. Third party patch fixed it but caused issues with the House Party buffet tables. Use move_objects to get shot of the flies.

Hot Date Problems

• A Sim ends up outside their house after reading a mag from Downtown and his new interests get reset back to zero.
• Hot Date: The patch fixes the following: Sims get stuck when cuddling or dining in the booth and on the couches. Dates get stuck and no more dining available.
• Problematic clothing rack.
• Maid gets stuck in the basic shower from probably Hot Date onwards.

Vacation Problems

• In Vacation with one certain table, Sims will not sit to eat at it, preferring instead to wander all round it first, and then they will sit at one chair with their food at the next chair round. The table in question is on the default top right lot from the Vacation screen, by the fireplace.

Unleashed Problems

• "Alert" for no reason - tone heard when El Bandito or burglar turns up but tone also sounds for no apparent reason. Started with Unleashed, never fixed in subsequent EPs.
• Biographies are not saved in Unleashed. Bought clothes don't 'stick'. Supposed to be fixed in the Unleashed patch.
• Unleashed: The boxed flowers aren't functioning properly. They still block sims' movement, but the Sims apparently don't realize that, so they attempt to walk through them, get stopped, turn around, try to walk through them again, and eventually just get stuck there. A couple of downtown lots and new houses with Unleashed are particularly dangerous with this bug.
• Unleashed: Sims will no longer sit down on the couch in order to watch TV. Fixed in the patch.

SuperStar Problems

• According to a usenet posting, the Butler (from Superstar) will slow the game to a crawl. The gardener will also do this if he's hung around too late in the day past finishing time. Get rid of him with move_objects cheat.
• Waylon the bartender (from Hot Date) is upgraded for whatever reason to a superstar status when Superstar is installed. When he arrives in Studio Town he won't do anything. You're stuffed if he holds up the traffic. With Makin Magic, the game's new logic will sort this situation out but won't stop Wayne coming to Studio Town. This is a "bug cum feature" because apparently Maxis can't reproduce it, although it happens all the time in OUR games.

Makin' Magic Problems

• Making Cakes charm in Makin' Magic doesn't work properly - will ALWAYS backfire and make toads.

Music Problems

• If you have more than about 1000 song shortcuts in the Sims music directory, some of the songs/radio stations don't actually play anything.

Build Problems

• If you build to the virtual edge of a lot (outside the squared zone) with the move_objects cheat the house will be cropped on the neighbourhood screen.

Baby Problems

• If you evict a family while a baby is present, the baby does not leave with them. It just disappears, never to be seen again.

More issues from the Sims 1.0 (unpatched)

• Get a Sim kid over in any way you can. Keep them there, ignore the parent when they come to collect after 8pm. The parent will go away eventually. Basic idea is to keep the kid occupied and energised and what not and idea is he'll get on the school bus with your kids the next morning and come home with them. This works even better if you have an object that replenishes energy for visitors as well, such as the kids hot-tub from C&C Enterprises.
• Messages for the dead! Paraphrased: I'd gotten bored with one family and killed them off. To the end, however, the adults kept their jobs. They went to work the last day, came home, and died. I buried them in the backyard and created a new family to move in. Shortly afterward they got a phone call, one intended for the old family.