Spiral Stairs

[Judy Sims]

Has anyone ever had any problems with spiral stairs in their worlds or lots?

Every lot that has a spiral stair in my world does not work for the sim. I have to go to build and click the hand on the stairs and then click escape. Then the stairs work. How stupid is that? They are not in the wrong place and nothing is blocking the sim. They seem to work after I do that simple thing and stay working. I don't get it. I really hate to have to rebuild every lot that has spiral stairs as there are a lot.

I have never used spiral stairs that much and did not realize how finicky they could be. Does anyone else find that so????

And since they are not working as the world populates, could this cause freezing and lagging in the world?

[Regina]

Yeah, this is a pretty well-known bug that came with Pets. You'll also find that elevators are in pretty much the same condition as the spiral stairs.

[Pary]

I thought this bug came before pets. I've been seeing people complaining for a while that spirals were broken in uploaded lots. Didn't know about the elevators though. Oh joy - the wonder of another EA fail patch / EP / SP / general rubbish.

[Judy Sims]

(11-03-2011 07:30 PM)Regina Wrote:  Yeah, this is a pretty well-known bug that came with Pets. You'll also find that elevators are in pretty much the same condition as the spiral stairs.

I don't have Pets. Oh great, another bug. Now, I am going to have to spend days getting rid of those spiral stairs. Grrrrrrr.....EA!!:(

[Regina]

Judy, do you have the Pets update?

Pary, I don't remember reading about it before but have seen much posted about it since Pets and its update came out. Of course I do miss things. Yep, when it comes to garbage, EA sure knows how to shovel it. :D

[Judy Sims]

(11-04-2011 12:36 AM)Regina Wrote:  Judy, do you have the Pets update?

Pary, I don't remember reading about it before but have seen much posted about it since Pets and its update came out. Of course I do miss things. Yep, when it comes to garbage, EA sure knows how to shovel it. :D

No, I don't have Pets or the Pet's patch. I have never heard much about the spiral stairs not working before, but I am sure seeing it in my world right now. I discovered it when I was trying to find out what causing the lag in the game. The stairs were working fine when I tested them before and now they won't work unless I go into to build and click on them with the hand tool. I have lots of spiral stairs in this Medieval hood I am about to submit and I can't take a chance that they won't work. I am going to have to redesign a lot of lots because of this. Have you ever had problems with the spiral stairs?

[Regina]

I don't have any spiral stairs in my game since I don't yet have Generations and haven't downloaded any of the player-made ones yet. I do believe I stumbled across the info because someone else had been experiencing a lot of lag while testing a world. When you have time, check out the official Create A World forum and look for a thread for a world called Serta. I believe that around page 64 or 65 or some such discussion starts about the problem with the stairs.

It would totally stink if you had to rebuild to replace all the stairs. Read through that thread because I'm thinking there may be a work-around.

And of course I didn't even think until just now about adding that to the FAQ I wrote the other day.

[Judy Sims]

(11-04-2011 01:33 PM)Regina Wrote:  I don't have any spiral stairs in my game since I don't yet have Generations and haven't downloaded any of the player-made ones yet. I do believe I stumbled across the info because someone else had been experiencing a lot of lag while testing a world. When you have time, check out the official Create A World forum and look for a thread for a world called Serta. I believe that around page 64 or 65 or some such discussion starts about the problem with the stairs.

Thanks, I will check it out. One thing is for sure though. I won't be using those spiral stairs in any lots again. It is a real shame, too, since they do save so much space in a home. I have already started removing them from my world. It is a pain though.:(

[Regina]

Things like that really are irritating to the point of wanting to rip someone's head off and spit down their necks for shoddy programming. I posted something the other day about thinking that I probably don't want to venture into the world of Sims 4. Someone replied and said they knew me way better than that, that when it comes I'll be in line with the rest of them. You know, I really don't think I will be there for the next go-round. It takes until just before the new one is coming out to get everything back that you had with the one before, plus maybe by then EA has fixed most of the bugs. There was a bug in base game TS2 that they never fixed until they finally did in one of the much later expansion packs, I think perhaps it was Bon Voyage. All those years I'd used a mod to make it work. As far as I know the WA dig site spawners still have a serious issue--again, I have to resort to a mod to use that feature of that expansion pack. It's like the last time I went to Taco Bell. We used to eat there fairly regularly then a while back my son and I went in to have lunch and the quality of their food had deteriorated to the point we never went back. I had a favorite grocery store that used to get most of my grocery money. Now because of quality going into the dumpers they're lucky if they get $100 a month out of me and that's only because they carry a few things I can't get anywhere else and even some of those are going downhill so badly that if they continue I'll quit buying them. Everyone has a point at which the dissatisfaction outweighs the satisfaction and I'm pretty much there with EA.

[Sookielee]

I know how you feel Regina. I know I won't be going down the Sims 4 path either. With TS3 I have been skipping EP's and the more I think on it the less likely I am to even buy them at all. As to the stuff packs, no thanks on any of them. I can tell that I have lost considerable interest in the game period, as I don't even get the joy out of playing that I used to. Building comes in spurts, but no where near what it was in the beginning. Putting all of this together really lets me know that I shouldn't even bother with another iteration of the series.

I am appalled that EA didn't gave us Spiral Stairs until EP 4 only to break them with EP 5. All those lots will make world unplayable due to lag and freezing. It seems that EA doesn't even care as long as they get more of our money. It it like they have taken to "Let the Buyer Beware" as the new EA motto.

[Writin_Reg]

Yep, Pyronium does indeed have a quick work a round that will fix every single spiral stair in the world on his Setra thread. He has a couple work - a-rounds for different issues in there. Most on page 66. He gave one of the fixes to Johnny Wr on his Great Bear thread as well. i don't want to repeat them as I might screw it up. Not being a world builder and all. So go read it yourselves for sure. They are good fixes that require very little effort.

Actually EA did fix the excavations finally, but now i am seeing something even more annoying in the WA trips - dig spots are deposited all over the place only they are not sims dig spots but the dog type and I can't see a reason for them as all my sim can do is view. It's annoyang because from a distance it looks like an excavation spot, then your sims get all the way out there, and it's one of those dog digging spots. What is the point? I do not see any dogs in Egypt and you can't take pets with your sim.

Add to that is thanks to the regular spawners also spawning creatures I am not finding the gems I need to do certain quests, so my sim has to go into the store and buy them. As it is the vacation spots i have no idea how to add the other spawners - in fact are there even WA spawners for WA creatures anyway because I discovered the creature in the WA worlds are different then the ones in the regular worlds. But that was dumb of EA to make our quests so we have to pay for gems. Also the gems that are not showing are the rare and hard to find ones in particular. Unless I am just having an awful lot of bad luck finding gems. I even had that finder thing and it will show a gem, get there and if there is a gem it must be invisible. But suddenly a lizard or snake will pop up out of the ground where the finder thing shows a gem. It's annoying. Maybe I just need to play the game longer in the WA worlds now.

[Regina]

Reg, I had posted a little bit about spawning in the routing test world thread on the official board last night. I didn't have much time to work on it after that, though, but as soon as I can I'll go back in and do some testing and see if I'm having the same problem with gems I've seen a couple of others having.

Sookielee, Syera and I realized yesterday that we are/were three expansion packs behind on this game. Much of that has to do with everything that's been going on over the past year. Another part of that is that the game has completely out-grown her computer and she needs a new one. On my part it's a combination of not really enough time and the fact EA is failing to get me enthused over much at all. I mean Generations sounds nice and I'll probably get it at some point--only when I can find it cheap. If I get it, great. If I don't it doesn't seem like a big issue. Stuff packs have always been a complete rip-off for the amount of things included. The store is also a huge rip-off. The price of a brand new expansion pack is ridiculous. No expansion pack is worth more than $30 new, $10 used if it's been registered (since it costs $10 to get a new registration code). I mean really, equate the actual content and such involved in any of this stuff and compare that price to other things. The other day I managed to find a download code for Barnacle Bay on Amazon for a total of $7.00. It was well worth that price, but that thing is no where near worth the $20 bucks I've seen it for on store shelves.

Zoiks! I've got to get my rear in gear. I have to get headed out to pick up my daughter and just saw the time. :shockedcow:

[Writin_Reg]

I can see the point with every one's situation, but in my case seeing Sims is the only thing I can much do that i take joy from these days, my hubby is just happy i can get lost in playing the game or helping others, and pretty much makes sure I get all the eps and sps, and most of the store stuff. With the store a lot of friends have been very generous to me as well - I do appreciate it and all, I just wish it wasn't because I am ill and people feel sorry for me. I may be ill, but I still feel funny if people just up and give me things that i didn't earn.
But I do have just about everything that's in the store but a bit of the early stuff.

So when you are a lot restricted in what you can do you really appreciate have something you enjoy doing. I am still sure I pay way less money for sims things then most people pay for entertainment a year. I can't go out places very easy, and any of the things I always enjoyed when we did go out I can't do anymore. So I guess it all depends on our own situations. Given the choice I'd much rather be able to do all the stuff i used to and see all my friends and family, but the Good Lord just said "NO".

So you get your laughs where you can. I never have to do a thing for my Sims stuff but click my mouse and there it is practically. The Disks come to the house, and even though my hubby won't have any part of the Sims games period, he usually finds out about a new ep or sp even before EA has posted it and pre-orders them for me without even asking if i wanted it. Of course he knows I do, so....

He built my last machine just a couple of months ago and it will handle anything - it has 8 gigs of crucial gaming ram, 6 - 3.2 processors, a Nvidia 550 ti TCP Top video card, a 750 watt power supply, and an expandable top end Asus mother board. So I don't have to worry if i will ever have anything it can't handle. Still with all that, I'd give it all up to be back where I was a little over a year ago.

I suppose in one way or the other we all have our demons. I don't think anyone, even the biggest lover of sims in the world would want to trade places.

You know what the biggest B***** of all, I have a super pc, have all the games and everything else, and I have pretty much the same darn A bugs everybody else has. Well not deformed sims or pets some people report - but you guys know what I mean - like the stupid influx of cheap cars and things like that.

But if you have Pets and all the updates anyway, you will see the excavation bug is now fixed. Now they need to fix the dig holes and the gems that are apparently taking that place. Grrrr.


ETA - Yeah I saw your post there. Aunty Lynds had a great idea doing that. Hopefully we learn some stuff we might have only been able to guess at.

[Regina]

Reg, I wasn't trying to make anyone feel badly with what I said. I know all too well how difficult it is to be limited in what you can do--have been there for a good number of years and it's partly what brought me back to the realm of video games and into the Sims to begin with. It's probably because of this that I've had my eyes open more widely to corporate greed and those experiences have made me more cynical than I was to begin with.

EA simply charges too much money for their defective merchandise in my opinion. Imagine walking onto a car lot and laying down money for a brand new car and have it perform the way this software does. No one would be buying those cars, would they? We justify our expenditures on the Sims by saying it gives us something to do, some place we can get lost in for a while and forget our troubles. Everyone needs a respite and deserves an occasional treat--nothing wrong with that. The way I see it, though, is that every dollar we spend on EA's products just reinforces their bad behavior.

Look at what happened with EA and SecuROM a few years ago. Players were livid and a class action lawsuit was eventually filed. EA had to back down from using that DRM. Were you around for the "Great Paysite Debate"? TS2's EULA stated very clearly it was illegal to charge for content for that game yet many sites were doing just that. Sure, many of us would have preferred EA shut down the pay sites but at least they DID change the EULA to allow that type of content. The point is, enough people made a ruckus and EA finally did something about it. Look what's going on right now with Bank of America et al. Hundreds of thousands of people are closing accounts and withdrawing billions of dollars from those banks and they're having to sit up and listen to the customers for a change. EA listens to their customers to a point--to the point where they've added many new things to TS3 that players have been absolutely begging for for almost ten years. They've even made the updates for each game so that everyone's games can stay as consistent as possible for sharing Sims and houses. Those are really great gestures but are gestures enough? In my opinion they're not. We shouldn't have to pay $40 for an expansion pack that we know will be riddled in bugs. That's a premium price for which we should be receiving a premium product.

[Judy Sims]

Sims has been a life saver for me these last few years. It has helped me with losing loved ones, family problems and watching my son go off to war every four months. I don't think I could have gotten through those times without my Sims fantasy world to escape in.

However, I do completely agree with others about the greed of EA and how they prey on people's addictions to their games. It is not only EA, but a lot of companies now. It is all about the money and many don't care if the product is shoddy. I see that in the clothes I buy now, the products I buy for my house and in the services I hire people to do. They will just half....do it and charge a fortune. People used to have pride in their work and products, but now it is all about how much money they can get and they don't care about the shoddy work they give or the products they turn out. I am not saying all companies are like that, but a great percentage.

I know I won't stop buying the sims because they give my life such pleasure, but I am with Regina, this might be my last go around on the Sims. I don't know if I will buy Sims4 or not. You invest a fortune in the game, finally get all the parts to it you want, and then it is time to do it all again. We don't really get to enjoy all the aspects of the game before they bring on a new sims. I felt that way about Sims2. I had my game just the way I wanted it and boom, walked away from it for Sims3. Not sorry I did, but I feel Sims3 in inferior in some ways as compared to Sims2.

Okay, back to the spiral stairs. :D I did read over at the site forum and people were suggesting that building with the stairs in EIG is the problem. They said to build or add the stairs in real game, then add them back to your world, then they are fine when you test your world again. That may be so, but I can't take a chance on that, so I am deleting all my spiral stairs and redesigning for the regular stairs. It is a major pain and will take away some of the quaintness of my world, but I had rather the world work and look less quaint. Lesson learned well.:(