Why does locking doors/gates not work?
I have an enclosed area for horses and mini sheep. The sheep will escape and horses will randomly not be able to enter their own stalls anymore. It's frustrating. I have some questions, I hope somebo...
Forum Discussion
@PipMenace Oh man I didn't know about the hatchlings yet.. It would take perhaps 3 beers worth of patience to start testing this mess.
I just wish they rewrote the whole code for locking doors kinda like they redid the way conversation topics are organized.
I just wish they rewrote the whole code for locking doors kinda like they redid the way conversation topics are organized.
The locking and unlocking assignments for Doors and Gates needs an overhaul. With every new pack brings new needs. The current locking assignment system is confusing, wastes time and is severely unorganized.
There is currently no way to tell what locks have been assigned to a given Door or Gate. Some lots have many Doors and Gates, especially Ranches. Revisiting an old Save File means re-discovering or re-assigning locking preferences - taking time away from playing the game.
- What does All Pets encompass? Only Cats and Dogs? does that include Horses? Chickens? Sheep? Goats?
- Baby-Proofing applies to both Toddlers and Infants? Only Infants?
- All Employees = Includes Butler? Ranch Hand? Vendors? or only Hired Services?
- Is a one-time Hired Mixologist considered an Employee?
- Is a one-time Food Stall Vendor considered an Employee?
- Are only Maids and Gardeners considered Employees?
Some solutions
- Hover-Over Listing: Hover your mouse over a door or gate, the choices for Locked are shown in a list.
- Assignment Toggle: Same as the new Sink Assignment. Unlocked options are an open circle. Locked assignments are a filled circle.
- Unlist from Lock Options: If All Cats is chosen from the Lock For... category, then unlist All Cats from the Lock For... category. Lock For... All Cats has therefore been assigned and need not be chosen again.
- Pop-Up Form: Check and Uncheck from a list of options.
Personally, I'm a proponent for a one-click, all-in-one listing Pop-up Form. This option would provide a clear listing of what locks have been assigned to that door, what allowances have been made, and any other preferences have been chosen. It takes out the guesswork. This listing would allow for growth with future DLC.
Here is what a possible Pop-Up Form could look like and function:
NOTE: This example Pop-Up Form shows two new features that I think would be welcomed inclusions for Doors and Gates.
- Invite Only - Your Sim can "Invite [Name] into home or room or yard
- Knock To Enter - If the door is locked, a visiting or Locked-Out Sim must knock (like the Front Door knock)
- Dialog Pop-Up: [NAME] would like to enter. Accept or Decline
- Accept: This is a instance-session option. Once the visiting Sim leaves the Locked room, they would need to knock again.
- @Vyo4 I love the idea of being able to invite sims past the locks on a one-time basis! And a pop up would certainly make it more organized. Or at least reorganizing the menu options as @siirysiir suggested.
@Vyo4Yes, a whole new menu is something I would love to see too! The current system is just like it was trying to find a specific friendly social interaction from the dialogue menu before the current, updated system. I really like your mockup menu otherwise but having tick-boxes for locked AND unlocked is unnecessary and confusing. When trying to find out the lock configuration of a specific door/gate I need one question answered: Is it locked for subset x of sims? Yes or No? --> I want to see just one tick indicating "Yes, it's locked for subset x of sims.". If the box is unticked, I know it's not locked then. (Not "yes it's locked" AND "no it's not unlocked" at the same time so it's easier )
Also, it would need to be able to manage and communicate all the exceptions we want to set for doors. So for example, I want only a certain employee to be able to get through a specific door (gardener can go to the shed but I don't want the nanny there) or I'll allow only a certain pet through a door (my indoor cat can sleep on my bed but I don't want the dogs to get on the bed) so it should be possible to set the locks as such and later see how they are set up.
Therefore I'd have it set up as groups and then you could set exceptions. Maybe if there was a second tick then it could be for exceptions so if you check that too, then it would open a menu for selecting specific sims.
The biggest problem with the current system is indeed that there is no way of knowing how the lock configuration is set currently so it's incredibly hard to find out why, for instance, my sheep keep escaping.
On a separate but related note, I feel like the gendered toilet doors aren't functioning properly either. I hate it when teen boys enter girls' shower rooms in my highschool build, it feels like harassment honestly. So I'd love too see a gendered lock too to be able to have proper "no boys allowed!" areas.
edit:
Other suggestions for improvements:- Have it accessible from build mode. For the very least, I should be able to see the lock configuration by hovering over or clicking on the door in build mode too. Doors should retain their locked state even if moved around.
- Doors should be able to save their lock configurations so that the door could be temporarily unlocked if necessary. This would really help with all sorts of routing bugs as well as unusual or unexpected yet "normal" gameplay situations. Also it seems there's some sort of a bug with doors unlocking themselves after travelling so this should also help with such issues. A door could easily be reset with its proper lock configurations by unlocking it and then resetting the locks. Managing locks would be a lot less tedious if we only ever had to set them once. (Have you watched James Turner's Horse Ranch a.k.a. Door Lock Simulator let's plays? It's a good demonstration on how frustrating it is to deal with these locks that unlock themselves and are confusing to deal with in the first place!)
- With saved locked configurations it would be great if we could apply that configuration to another door by copying and importing the list.
- Locks should be possible to be set for invited and surprise guests alike (surprise guests being those that just come to your door knocking)
- Locks should be possible to be set based on gender. I suggest females, males and custom gender to be the options.
- It would be great if doors/gates could be locked all at once or just that level at once. This could be used as a shortcut for setting many doors for the same or almost the same configurations.
@siirysiir LoL what a Duh! moment, of course there'd need be only one column for Lock. I fixed that in this new mockup.
I've made some changes:
- Simplified wording. Realized that the wording could be further simplified by removing the need to say ALL of something. It's assumed that ALL Chickens would be locked out. So just listing "Chickens" should suffice.
- If the box for Everyone is checked, then all subsequent boxes should auto-check. Then the player can uncheck exceptions.
- Added submenu, the same seen as the Select Sim pop-up.
- Added Ages. Personally, I think specifying Ages would be good for some situations. Like, if someone wanted to create a Child Only clubhouse on the lot. Or a Toddler Only play area at a pretend Day-Care. I read more about Baby-Proofing (I usually don't bother with it) and learned it locks for Infants and Toddlers, but allows an older Sim to come and go freely. Added a Helpful Hint Hover-Over icon for user-friendly explanation.
- Added Visitors section. This would be great for home businesses, like Yoga Instructor, or Stay Over Guests. Included Club Members too, so you're not cornered into just using the Club Door if the room you're meeting is temporary.
- I tested the gendered doors and they did work for me, so I left off gender in this new mockup.
- Accessible from build mode. AGREED! -- Same with Lighting. Would love to adjust Lighting color and brightness while in Build Mode.
- Save locked configurations... apply to another door by copying. AGREED! -- However, I can see this as being coded as a temporary Save To Clipboard with the intent of copying the lock settings and pasting it onto another door(s).
Here is an updated version of the Lock Door Pop-Up mockup. This lists all the possible options for locking. Didn't know where to catalog Celebrities, so I put them under Occult. Keep out Judith Ward!
@Vyo4 Your mockup looks absolutely brilliant!
1. I absolutely agree with the simplification! I basically worded it the same on my paper mockup including the animals being just one category. Partly because I didn't know which animals are considered pets anyways but it got me thinking.. that's basically something the devs know but us players don't have a clear distinction in the game! So why should we even have them in separate categories, why not just have everything under "Animals" as it's the simplest solution. I'd like to think that categories that seem intuitive to players would be the best solution.
2. I'd love to see options greyed out when they're not applicable as it is in many of the UI choices already in the game but ofc I can't come up with any examples right now. 😅 What I mean is that if you check Cats under Animals then the option All Animals would become greyed out, just for clarification.
6. I feel genders would be helpful not only because inevitably the bathroom doors sometimes bug out but because the only ones we have are very modern and don't suit any other styles. They don't look good on more traditional onsens. It would be consistent to have the gender options on all doors, not just a few. I also want the peace of mind knowing that, for example, my teenage girls can change & shower in peace at school without the possibility of an older male teacher walking in to look at decor in there.. It just.. creeps me out. :/
I feel like another section, perhaps Other Sims might be needed as we still have some other groups of sims, the most recent addition being Tenants. I'd probably categorise it so that we'd have animals, household, clubs, employees, other sims, occults, ages, genders and guests. Probably not in this specific order but anyways! I'd have it something like:
Other Sims:
Roommates
Tenants
Landlord/lady (not sure if they follow employees categorisation and it makes sense to me to have them separate)Teachers
CelebritiesI could see Other Sims including visitors and clubs as well. I'd personally prefer them separate though.
Another category could be Service Sims that are not hired. These would include Vendors (I'm aware they can be hired but the issue is usually with the ones that spawn independently in the world), Mail Carriers, NAP Investigators, Master Gardeners etc. I'd love to stop the mailman entering homes to judge décor, it's creepy. The Landlord/lady would optionally fit this category too.
I see a design strength in having these clear, separate groups because it's a) clear and easy to understand for the player and b) it would be easy later on to expand these categories with additions from new DLCs! Like if we got something like news reporters as NPCs I'd put them to Other Sims, but nurses who visit to take care of elder sims, they'd obviously go to employees same as... chimney sweeps. :D (Burglars don't go to any group because they can get through any door, right?😉) I hope the Sims team would consider these suggestions!
