zorba2357 wrote:Hi there jopie58. I think having this stickied would be a good idea also and help a lot of people. Especially would be good if it were sticked in tech help and creative corner.

That would be great but i have no idea how to accomplish that, i'm not the author, just a helper and only Simguru's kan make a sticky. So any ideas are very welcome

amjoie wrote:

Katty0 wrote:Would Twallans error trap help with this?? I have never checked for it

I don't move much (at all really), or build much so is it still a problem?

I have no idea how it is coded, or exactly what error trap catches, so I cannot answer that.

But, yes, it could still easily be a problem. Instead of wondering, though, why not just check all your lots, both above ground and by building a one tile "basement" also check underground. Check your lots by typing in the console, testingcheatsenabled true and then typing in the console again buydebug on, so you can see the spawners on the lot in buy or build mode.

Once you fix a lot, save your game. And go on to the next lot. When all your lots are fixed, save again and restart your game. That will turn off everything in the console, and after all the changes, it is good to restart the game, anyway.

Remember to use the testingcheatsenabled true and buydebug on again anytime you move or add a lot to your game. And if it is just a quick check, then you can turn off the two cheats by typing in the console again as before, but substituting the word false for true and then substituting the word off for on.

Of course, you could just learn to play with those cheats true and on in the console. I play that way all the time, and it doesn't hurt a thing. You still have to choose something in a menu before actually cheating, so it won't make you a cheater just to play with it on. But you would need to do the typing in the console once, every time you open the game.

I have a mod to turn both on, automatically. Either core mod, awesome or Twallen will do that. You can also use a combination of two mods, one for testingcheatsenabled true and one for buydebug on, to turn both on automatically, if you don't want to use a core mod. You would need both, because testing cheats have to be enabled before buydebug can be turned on. I believe TreeAg made both mods, over at Mod The Sims (MTS).

In this particular case, using a mod is prudent, to save your game. I don't consider having the mods in my game "cheating" at all. As I say, if you don't do a particular action or choose a particular menu, then you haven't cheated.

@ Writin_Reg Thank you for verifying the problem started when they changed things to keep the buff. I suspected that, but had no proof.

Do any other worlds even have that buff? I'd gladly sacrifice a buff in the first world to keep all my other worlds safe.

@ Mangoes I'm sorry that I didn't say something sooner. Your lot never caused a problem in my game, either.

How do you delete them?
How do you know the correct ones to delete?
What do spawners do?
I'm sorry I'm ********

didiruvalcaba wrote:

amjoie wrote:Check your lots by typing in the console, testingcheatsenabled true and then typing in the console again buydebug on, so you can see the spawners on the lot in buy or build mode.

How do you delete them?
How do you know the correct ones to delete?
What do spawners do?
I'm sorry I'm ********

I happened to check back on my thread and saw your questions, so I'll delurk to answer them.

Spawners are hidden boxes that repeatedly create an object or live collectible for sims to discover. The sim takes the object or catches the live collectible that they can see, and shortly thereafter within a preset time period, a new object or live collectible will be spawned in the same general area, someplace within a circle around the hidden white box with the symbol on it. The lot will never "run out" of whatever the spawner is designed to spawn, no matter how many times a sim takes it or catches it.

To delete the spawner boxes, type in the console as I indicated above. Then, when you see the spawner white boxes with symbols on them, drag the boxes like any other object you would want to delete, onto the buy or build window. Let go and they will be deleted just like any other object. Or, alternately, you can use the delete hammer, like you would on any other object to delete them. If you use the awesome mod, you can also "nuke" them.

You can tell which spawners to delete because they have symbols on them to let you know what kind of spawner they are. Some are fish, some bugs, some small critters, some seeds, some gems, etc. More detail about the particular spawner is available when you grab it, which will tell you what kind of fish (fresh or salt water, common or rare, etc) or critter or gem, etc, it is.

If you open the tab showing spawners in buydebug, you can read what spawners are potentially available. Each kind of spawner is located under its own tab. But some are combined where you might not expect them, because they were added after the fact. So read them all to see what spawners are able to be used in the game.

Plant spawners are not a problem, so ignore them.

But seeds are a problem, just like bugs, fish, gems, and all the rest.

As far as which ones need to be deleted, as a general rule, a lake could have one or two fish spawners. A large commercial lot could also have maybe a couple butterfly spawners, possibly a couple seed spawners and maybe a gem spawner or two. With pets, some lots may have a small critter spawner or bird spawner, in addition to the others I just listed.

Anything more than the suggestions above could safely be deleted without damaging the lot's intended use. If your computer is old, then instead of a couple of each kind, just leave one of each kind. Too many spawners will tax an old computer, so less is better.

But feel free to delete them all, and replace them with only what you personally want to see on that lot. If you want salt water fish instead of fresh water fish, you can do that. Or frogs instead of fish. Or maybe Koi instead of regular fresh water fish. It's all up to you. Choose the butterflies you want, the bugs you want, or seeds or gems. It is your game and you can customize it any way you want.

You can also remove all spawners, should you choose. Generally speaking, if you do that, you will have common fresh water fish in your lake that can be caught like any other fish, but no jumping fish, and it will never be noted as a "good place to fish."

More unusual spawners would be the ones for junkyard trash piles, or the ones for dig sites. If those do not logically seem to have a purpose on the lot, then delete any you find. If you are placing a junkyard, it should have no more than three trash pile spawners of various types -- unless you are very sure you have a bonafide need for more. But they will tax your computer to a degree, so limit them if you can.

Remember that every lot in your world that has spawners will be generating those objects or live collectibles at the same exact time, simultaneously, each sim night. At that moment, your game will "number crunch" and compute the changes to your game, which can cause lags, freezes, or even crash the game. So, the older your computer (or the less powerful your computer) the fewer lots should have spawners and the fewer spawners should be on each lot that has them.

After you delete the white boxes with symbols on them that you don't want, you may still see a plain white box or several plain white boxes. These plain white boxes with no symbols on them will not delete, in the normal way. They are place holders for things that have already been spawned. It is usually best to just send a sim to find the object and take it, or catch the live collectible. Then the plain white box will disappear.

It is safe to delete all the spawners with symbols and leave the plain white boxes, as long as your sim catches the live collectible or takes the object as soon as reasonably possible after you go back to live mode.

Please remember that spawners, used correctly, should make your game more fun to play, providing a richer game experience. But if they are causing crashes or making your game lag, then maybe you should sacrifice that part of game play, in order to fully enjoy the rest of the game. You have to experiment and see what works best for your game, on your computer.

Regardless, most worlds still have a large number of spawners that are in the world at large, and never cause the problems that the spawners can cause on individual lots. So your sim should still be able to go collecting, even if you remove many or most of the spawners on lots.

I hope this answers all your questions. Please pardon any typos or grammatical errors. I'm very tired, right now, and when I'm tired I can be a little fuzzy around the edges, so I hope what I said is clear enough. If it is still not clear, please continue to ask, until you understand. If you have a question, you may be sure many other people will have a similar question, even if they are afraid to ask.

Bump

I have moved, turned, and replaced every EA lot in my world (multiple times! ) . I can't even imagine how many spawners are in my save.

I hope that someone can make a mod that makes it a lot easier and faster to delete these evil spawners

I always play with cheats enabled + buydebug because I am always building. I don't use cheats in my game and see no reason why we should 'feel like cheats' for doing so. In building you really need them. Because of this, I have seen what happens with the spawners, but of course it hasn't been a problem for me.
It has been correctly mentioned that the EA lots are as much of a problem, not only the lots, but the 'worlds'. One starts a new 'town/world' and it is over run with spawners from other expansions. I do my best to first check every lot in edit town, but how do we get rid of spawners 'out in the world'? I'm not clever enough to know how that works. The Butterfly Dome is one of the first things I remove, with all spawners, when I play on my backup machine. I love BP, but now, when I 'open' it, there are all the spawners from every Ep and I don't know how to stop that. They are there even when you don't have the 'venues'. I noticed the lots need to have front of lot set. Unfortunately I have uploaded lots with spawners, never imagining that others don't know to check them if they move them. I will most certainly pass the message around.
I hate playing on lots without the beautiful moodlet. Is there a way to add it? I'd love to know.
Thank you so much for this thread.

I replied to this way back already, but seeing as it's still pretty close to the top of the forums is a good thing! You are a really great person amjoie, for trying to make sure our community sees this and realizes the dangers it can do to their games. Is there a mod anywere that makes this easier? I wonder if Twallan or at Nraas knows about this? Maybe he can try doing something about it.

@grandmothergamer - I'm a little confused when you say every new town started is over run with spawners from other expansions. Shouldn't a new town only come with the original spawners that it is supposed to come with?

Bump

@happyjme, yr creations are wonderful!! I so admire you + always rec btw.
Say I start BP, don't accept or allow 'new venues' for Pets, there are still wild horses + Pets in the town, dig site thingy's for dogs etc.
I've seen the Littler family end up with 2 horses and 4 foals, and various families have numberless puppies, and dif families get made the 'adoption agencies'. This is when I have not even 'used' App. after 're installs' of all my games.
I understand it in SS where there is already the 'Show Venue' for the horses placed, the rest is strange. I even had it in Coasterboi's world LA-Late Night Edition after Pets arrived.

Thanks amjoie for letting us know and thanks Jopie58 for keeping it bumped. I am working on a world when I find time. It will probably have 60-80 lots when finished.
The lots are already laid out, but about half haven't been build yet.
It has hidden caves, fishing spots and other lots relative to spawners. The graveyard has the deathfish spawner for example. (And a few more.) >_>

I do keep my spawners on actual lots to a minimum for the exact reason you mentioned, I don't want the world to lag other simmers' machines. Thing is I don't wanna go through and delete these spawners because they add to the theme of the lot(s).

amjoie I think I noticed earlier in this thread that you mentioned something about not placing spawners unless the lot is in the place you intend to keep it, then at that point it would be ok to add the spawners?

I was wondering because so far the community lots (all lots really) I have placed and not moved at all. I was just wondering if that would be ok because if it isn't it will effect how I build the rest of the world. Thanks. =)

I've been thinking about this too. My studio I regard as my 'bank'. I put things there so that I don't have to do them over and over again. I've had such misfortunes having to uninstall/re install so many times + right now sitting with having to do everything again. I started banking frantically with Pets on the horizon, and speeded up with ST coming. Just as well.
My finger hovers over the lots, then I think, but there is only ONE way TOO place them!? They are mostly 'sorted things' to replace 'in game' things when I start over+over+over. I just don't know what to do.

I did pull anything that had CC, pretty much what's left is 'clean' of bad CC anyway. Has re colours + free gifts + specials, but I know from my own d/l's some of it shows a shopping bag when it is 'game' not store stuff + my Sims + households show with the CC star thingy when they have only store stuff on them.
Very confusing.

Thanks for the sweet compliment and for answering my question Grandmothergamer.
I guess I never realized how many dog diggsites spawned in every world since pets. But I didn't think wild animals were supposed to spawn in worlds labled as cities. Pets will move in with sims, but you shouldnt find any homeless ones in BP as far as I remember. I think the story progression mod at Nraas can controle how many pets move in with a sim.

@tlc10175 you're welcome.

@Happy Jamie, There are wild horses and everything else in BP. Come to think of it tho, I haven't seen stray dogs and cats tho, I don't think. I'm just so used to the poor things showing up everywhere.
I figured that if I place a 10x10 lot in ET maybe I can put it over the 'dig sites' and delete them? Might work.
I don't have any mods. I'm not much good with the pc other than gaming, and can't do the cut + paste and put pics + stuff. I wouldn't know how.
I 'broke' my launcher trying to remove bad CC that came with the Disney Princesses and had to start all over. In fact I've even lost all my Port achieves. *insert impolite word here*
That's why I've tried so hard to get anything that's a hassle out of my bank. I've culled everything I think may be a problem, but I don't really have many people using my studio, so I think it's ok