Forum Discussion

Hero

Re: No skill books in library

@SheriGR wrote:
@RaichiSims Did you try having your sim purchase the skills books you want left in the library and have them visit the library and leave them there? Then when they are put away they will hopefully be findable there. Are the books that come in the bookshelves by default present? I have not experimented with this on a public lot, so will try a few things, but some of the more expensive bookshelves come with more books when purchased, I think, and some of the cheaper ones only have a small number of books. But... if it is a public/community lot you probably cannot order the extra/skills books. Good point. Anyway, I will experiment a bit now and let you know what I find. I don't use mods or cc so I'm not sure about any of the details on how they work.
I would also try changing the lot designation to 'residential', move a sim in, have them stock the bookshelves, save, move them out, then go back inedit lot/builder (with no owner) and change it back to a commercial lot and save.
I have a 'library room' that I made for a challenge. I will try adding it to a lot, designate it for community, add a roof and stairs, and experiment with that. In the case of this room the bookshelves are some of the more expensive bookshelves, and when I built it (with residential designation) I also purchased gardening, herbalism and flower-arranging books for the shelf. I also deleted most of the other books, but it may be a good place to begin the experiment: Gardener Conservatory .

@RaichiSims Okay... I did the experimenting that I mentioned above.I discovered several things that did and did not work for adding books to the library:

When I downloaded the room that I had saved as a residential room and added books to the bookshelf (extra gardening books) from the gallery (mine)... The bookshelf was empty. So... Books must be considered a part of the non-retained inventory/content.
In other words, the bookshelves not only did not contain the books they would normally contain when you purchase a bookshelf, they also did not contain any of the extra books that I had purchased specific to my gardening theme. So...
I tried clicking the shelves to order/purchase books. They were still empty afterward. Then I clicked the computer and purchased books there, and the book shelves were still empty... then I checked the personal inventory of the active sim when I was purchasing the books and discovered the books in her inventory.
If I then dragged the purchased books out of the sims' personal inventory and onto the floor (I had them all over the floor, and click on the bookshelf and tell the active sim to 'put away books' (take several sims with you and tell them all to do this) they will start putting the books from the floor into the book shelves. In face, other sims showed up at the library, plus sims who were already there and started putting the books away and taking them from the shelves to sit down with and read... like magic, they were all about it! Even that new shiny-lady-movie-star with the big hair was there floating her shiny self around! 🙂

When I then saved and exited they books were retained on the lot in the bookshelves' content. Yay!!

3 Replies

RaichiSims
7 years ago
Thanks for trying and going out of your way to come up with a solution.
I just think it's not suitable/acceptable. I paid a lot of money to play this game so I expect not having to go through all of that to get skill books in the library...
Simply put: it breaks gameplay.
My sim is short on cash/saving up for a house, so he goes to the library in order to read free books.
Having to buy books FOR the library himself, or me having to cheat that money into his wallet so he can spend it on books used at a community lot just is counter intuitive. It is also rather a hassle, for something that shouldn't even exist as an issue to begin with.
I am hoping someone will come with a solution that doesn't involve me manually purchasing every book that the library is lacking and having the sims put the books away. :/
SheriGR
Hero
7 years ago
@RaichiSims I can understand your frustration, and I am happy to help in any way I can. I'm sorry it's frustrating. If you don't come up with a better solution, and your sim is short on money, you could always go into a household of an in-game (not your) sim and play that sim - take them to the library, and have them buy/stock the books you want. Hey, what else do they have to do? 😉
This will sound really weird, but if you make the library residential, move a sim in, the bookshelves should have books. If they don't, buy new bookshelves - some of the nice ones with more books, and there should be books in them. Some of the skills books may be in the more expensive shelves, I don't remember. Then if you drag all of the books to the floor and have the sim leave the lot (before anyone puts the books away), then change the lot to a library again, those books will be picked up and put away by the community sims and then they will be part of the library. You would then just need to have a sim add the skills books or any that didn't come with the bookshelves. That would cost less than providing all of the books. And, as I said, you can play a rich sim and have them go in and purchase and lay out the skills books for everyone to put away. It can be their benevolent philanthropic contribution. 😉
Having said all of that, I think you make a great point... if a bookshelf is placed on a public lot (library, etc.) it should contain the books it would normally. It would also be good if there was a way to purchase books for it during build to be used in the library when placed. Perhaps it was not an aspect of people being able to build/add libraries that the developers realized was going on? If you would like to I expect you can post this issue on a suggestions forum. @PugLove888 do you know of any for this?
kreatora
Hero (Retired)
7 years ago
@RaichiSims
Unfortunately, each EA bookcase contains only similar books by EA design.
The only advice - if someone plays without codes to quickly earn money to buy his own bookcase and books, instead of going to work he must go to the museum and paint. The first painting will not bring extra money, but already the fourth painting will start to bring profits much bigger than from regular work