"Cinderellimouse;c-16333536" wrote:
*pops head in*
I'd love for objects to auto-call NPCs as well. If it's possible it should definitely be a thing! I liked the way objects did this in TS2 and you could make community lots function as whatever you wanted them to, simply by placing down different objects.
However... I'm afraid TS4 is not set up to work in this way. I poke around at the code a lot and it appears to me that each type of lot has its own rules to follow. The code for each type of lot is individually coded to determine which types of Sims will turn up, what their traits might be, what they will do when they get there. The Sims going to a coffee shop might not be random visitors that blindly use whichever object appeals to their needs, but they will be a pair of Sims having a 'business meeting', or series of individuals who are there for their morning coffee hit before running off to work.
Every Sim, every hour, of every day. Everything is finely coded so that certain scenarios happen at times that make sense. So you might get an after school rush of kids on the playground. Or you might see Sims out for a morning jog around the park. And have you noticed how, when a bartender ends their shift, another one is there to replace them? Coded.
The way TS4 codes their lots (and open world areas!) is both a blessing and a curse. I love that these scenarios make sense. That Sims will be doing sensible activities and you can watch Sims going about their business. Like those late night revellers doing the walk of shame through the city in the early hours of the morning!
But it sadly also means that NPCs often are programmed into the lot itself, and not actually called by the objects. So delete all the bars in the nightclub and you'll see the bartender stood on the pavement outside looking lost. Add ten bars and you'll still only have the amount of bartenders the venue was originally coded for.
So... when I made the auto-NPC mods I had to take the behaviour rules from other lots and make them work for other lot types. I took the code for the library, for example, and told it to call baristas and Sims who want to buy coffee. If I hadn't told those specific coffee-drinking Sims to come to the lot too, then it would be much less likely that random Sims would buy coffee. But EA can't do it this way because maybe not every player wants a coffee bar at their library and if they didn't have one the barista and their customers would be stood around like potatoes on the kerb.
I do hope they figure out a way around this. A way to call NPCs to the object rather than the lot. But it doesn't look easy to me and I haven't figured it out. So... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I hope that provides a little bit of insight into the problems behind this request. I was mad too. Which was why I looked into it and made the work-around mods. But like I said... EA can't do it that way because it wouldn't work for every player. I know it's frustrating.
Yeah, I figured the way lots are sims come to that lot to do whatever is intended on that lot. Though I still wish the general lot had more use for sims to just use whatever and do whatever on that lot. Wish the generic lot would also attract townies. I do like how the lots function as there seem to be specific times and peak hours for these lots, but like you said it can be a curse as well.
Heck, sometimes some NPC's my sim hire indefinitely won't show up. :(
