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GrumpyGlowfish's avatar
GrumpyGlowfish
Seasoned Newcomer
2 years ago

I got trolled out of high school!

So, I bought High School Years on the current sale, thought I knew what to expect, but my first two days as the new kid at school ended in a complete disaster that I now have to share with you. :D Consider this my first real-life Social Bunny post.

Trying to be an exemplary student, the first thing I did was introduce myself to the principal. Strangely, she immediately accused me of skipping school, even though the first period hadn't begun yet. I ended up skipping it for real, albeit accidentally, because I couldn't figure out how to join the class. The game told me to click on the whiteboard and select the corresponding option, but there was no such option. Same with the second period, I didn't even know which of the two classrooms to go to. My poor teen got yelled at again, this time by a teacher, his performance suffered and I even got a warning that he might get kicked out if he doesn't change his behaviour.

Back home, I did homework, but it didn't seem to improve performance at all. The next day at school was a lot better, though, or so I thought. When the first period was about to begin, my sim autonomously entered the classroom, sat down, and took notes when the teacher started talking. This did NOT happen on the first day. I continued doing everything the game asked of me throughout the rest of the school day, and by the end of it, that progress bar thingy in the upper left corner of the screen (whatever it's called) was full. Despite this, I got a notification saying that my sim was kicked out of school... Wait, WHAT??

I was about to fall into despair - kicked out of school after just two days! If that doesn't justify an entry in the Guinness Book of Records, I don't know what does. But how was I supposed to tell my parents? Were my so-called friends going to bully me on Social Bunny for the rest of my life? Thankfully, I found a way to re-enroll by selecting the high school in the job menu on the mobile. Now I'm a pathetic D student, but at least I'm a student again, and tomorrow is my second "first day" at school. Wish me luck!
  • That's one reason why I won't get HSY. A single undeserved detention and I'd start deleting the offending teachers and principals (mail delivery personnel that gets mouthy about not being able to reach perfectly accessable mailboxes has a short life expectancy in my game already). Some of my sims might also want to, let's call it "talk to the principal", but mainly it's me as the player who'd get furious.

    Good luck to you in your new high school life!
  • Hi @GrumpyGlowfish that is a bug that the team is looking for saves for, would you consider sending in yours?
    https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-SAVES-HSY-Randomly-Expelled-Teen-gets-expelled-from-daily/td-p/11680312
  • GrumpyGlowfish's avatar
    GrumpyGlowfish
    Seasoned Newcomer
    I realised it was a bug when the same teen got expelled a second time, despite having a perfect day at school. But if it's been around since the release of the pack, and no one could be bothered to fix it almost a year later, will my save really make a difference? I metoo'd it for now and downloaded a mod to disable expulsion completely. Not what I wanted, given that it's one of the few instances where bad behaviour actually has consequences in the game, but given that this particular case of "bad behaviour" only happened because of another bug in the first place (my sim not being able to join classes), I'm not having it.
  • GrumpyGlowfish's avatar
    GrumpyGlowfish
    Seasoned Newcomer
    Update: I was unable to make the problem go away, even with the mod, maybe because it was already too late when I installed it. Fortunately, I found another solution. I saved the afflicted teenanger to the library after deleting the dropout trait and re-enrolling, then deleted the original sim and replaced him with his library clone. He lost all relationships beyond his own household, but none of the progress with skills and aspirations, and most importantly, he didn't get expelled again at the end of the next school day. Now he's unable to claim a locker, which I hear is yet another known bug, but if that's the only problem, I'll accept it.

    Other players whose teenagers keep getting expelled may want to try this solution, too. It's harsh, but it works.
  • LadyGray01's avatar
    LadyGray01
    Seasoned Hotshot
    I don't know if it will help with the bug or not (having higher grades may affect it?), but I do know that the only way to ensure they aren't perpetually failing is to not always go with them. They didn't update the grading system properly for HSY, so grades only go up when they go to school the old way.

    You have to send them on their own for a day or two, then go with them for a day or two. Every time they go on their own, assuming homework and skills are where they should be, their grade will go up.
  • janyses's avatar
    janyses
    Seasoned Spectator
    I wonder what triggers the expulsion? I've played quite a few teens in high school and never got kicked out.
  • GrumpyGlowfish's avatar
    GrumpyGlowfish
    Seasoned Newcomer
    From what I've heard, it's tied to a strike system. If the staff catches you breaking the school rules, you get a strike. Once a single sim has three strikes, they get expelled at the end of the day, no matter how well the day went otherwise. As I explained in the first post, my sim was accused of skipping school by the principal for some reason before the classes even began, then ended up skipping for real because I wasn't able to join, and got caught twice. That must have been my three strikes. Why the expulsion only happened the day after that, no idea.

    I don't think the strike system is bad. The problem is just that re-enrolling does not reset the strikes, and if the sim has been expelled once, the game considers their every appearance at the school another violation of the rules. So I guess I could have gotten away with simply not following that particular sim to school anymore, sending him to a rabbit hole instead, but that's not what I bought the pack for.

    That being said, I only had those problems with the very first sim I ever sent to active high school. I've played with other teenagers in the meantime, none of which were ever unable to join class or got yelled at by the principal for no reason. Still not a good first impression, but when it works, it works.
  • That sounds utterly frustrating. For me my issue is the opposite. I have a teen who never does her homework, who has skipped classes several times, made sure she got caught by the headmaster (I had to go find her because no one cared the first times she skipped classes), and yet she has top marks and keeps getting asked (at least once a week) if she wants to graduate early. Her responsibility points are also through the roof even though she breaks curfew and skips homework. Generally, it seems impossible to decreasing a grade once you have it.

    I generally like HSY otherwise, but of course if a teen behaves they should be rewarded, and if you have a kid who messes up, then that should be reflected too.