No laptops, please.

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Sara_Darkees
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No laptops, please.

Post by Sara_Darkees » August 21st, 2019, 6:27 am

The problem and the related question are simple. Inactive sims get free laptops and use them. I'd like it not to happen anymore, because in the current town I have the atmosphere of the thirties and I think such technical progress is very inappropriate. Tell me a way to get rid of this, please. It's feasible, isn't it?

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JohnL83
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No laptops, please.

Post by JohnL83 » August 21st, 2019, 9:55 am

What a cool idea Sara_Darkees! I'm curious how far you went with this idea. Wouldn't you need to remove a few of the auto generated cars as well? Or did you already find a way to remove them and just add the cars that look more from that era?
And what about the cell phones? If you delete all cell phones in town do they re-generate? Do all your homes have landlines? (part of me wishes we could go back to landlines in real life...I get so irritated with everyone staring at their phones in public!) I will be watch this thread, I'd like to try something similar some day, but maybe the 50's or the 70's. :)

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Sara_Darkees
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No laptops, please.

Post by Sara_Darkees » August 21st, 2019, 10:34 am

Given the fact that the developers created this town more or less in accordance with the conceived era, I could only prevent the generation of new cars. In one of the posts I got information that it can be done with the help of SP (I mean that you can eliminate unwanted models like cheap buckets on wheels), but since I couldn't make friends with this mod, I used the Traffic settings. Standard yellow taxis look great there. I don't know what will happen if I remove cell phones, but if you, JohnL83, ever decide to take a chance and try, I will be happy to get a report of a bad or good result. By the way, in one of the towns I was able to successfully prohibit the use of all musical instruments, except guitar and violin, so as not to disturb the fabulous atmosphere. With laptops the situation is a little more complicated.

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igazor
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No laptops, please.

Post by igazor » August 21st, 2019, 11:12 am

On the cellphones, the phone is used as a sim identifier. If one ever goes missing or gets deleted, a new one should be spawned to take its place or the sim without a cellphone will be broken. I think the best that could be arranged, not that I've ever seen it, is some sort of default replacement for the phone object but then that object would unfortunately still have the same functionality as the phones do -- guess it wouldn't look quite right to see sims talking into and taking selfie photos using a cucumber or even an orange juice can with string tied to it (anyone remember trying to make walkie-talkies out of these?). Depending on the sims' traits, maybe a teddy bear or a rubber ducky would work?

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Sara_Darkees
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No laptops, please.

Post by Sara_Darkees » August 21st, 2019, 11:46 am

igazor wrote:
August 21st, 2019, 11:12 am
On the cellphones, the phone is used as a sim identifier. If one ever goes missing or gets deleted, a new one should be spawned to take its place or the sim without a cellphone will be broken.
​​​​​​​Wait, but babies and toddlers somehow exist without phones... Ah yes, I think there's a better way. We only need to find a cellphone in the list of objects using Retuner. And after that to prohibit the independent use of all interactions with it. So they will remain in existence, but will not manifest themselves in the game. Well, I can do something like that with laptops, but this is the very last case. I think I still need standard computers. Although what computers existed in those years...

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Sarah_Sims
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No laptops, please.

Post by Sarah_Sims » August 21st, 2019, 5:12 pm

No cellphones, you say? Take a look at this little gem by Arsil at MTS.

Other - No Cellphones

The mod is still described as experimental and was never released officially but I don't think anybody has reported extreme dire consequences when using it, myself included. I didn't use it for long though and it was many years ago so I don't remember the details now but it can't hurt to try it in a test game if you're curious. ;-)

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Sara_Darkees
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No laptops, please.

Post by Sara_Darkees » August 21st, 2019, 5:47 pm

Eh... I looked through the phone interactions in Retuner. Unfortunately, many of them are not separated between a landline and a cellphone. In fact, a cell phone only adds two interactions. But the options of the smartphone, which appears only thanks to the University (I don't have it) are assigned to a separate category, so I think some players can easily get rid of annoying selfies and chats. However, the problem with laptops anyway will remain. Computer options and laptop options are also not separated.

By the way, I suddenly got curious: what was with the random quests without cell phones?
​​​​​​​

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Chain_Reaction
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No laptops, please.

Post by Chain_Reaction » August 21st, 2019, 8:12 pm

Unfortunately the core grants these and there's no easy way to stop it. Much like the cell phones that have to be continuously deleted. Any time you add a writing skill to a Sim they get a free laptop. If you add writing skills then delete the laptops they should stay gone though... or disallow learning writing skill with SP (which I know you don't use). Although unless you're using EA SP, I don't think inactives gain many skills. You can tune the autonomy of any write book interactions to false to also add another barrier.

Of course your idea to tune all cellphone and laptop interactions to not be autonomous with Retuner would also work. They won't touch them so it'll be like they aren't there.

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Sara_Darkees
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No laptops, please.

Post by Sara_Darkees » August 22nd, 2019, 8:27 am

It's not just about writing. According to my observations, workaholics receive a generated laptop as a gift more often. However, other sims can also get them because they may want to communicate or play. Oh, it's very ironic and contradictory on my part, but I find it annoying, especially when there is such a beautiful and interesting world around. Well, if deleting and prohibiting automatic use works the same way as with musical instruments, they will not be generated again. At least, I hope it will be so. But I'm a little frustrated that old-fashioned cheap computers will also be unavailable for use. Perhaps in my utopian version I'd like to see a world where there are some miracles of progress, but they aren't available to everyone.

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Kukko69
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No laptops, please.

Post by Kukko69 » August 22nd, 2019, 8:53 am

I feel you, Sara_Darkees. Even in real life I'm a bit old-fashioned myself when it comes to technology (I don't have a smartphone and use only regular PC, NOT A LAPTOP! :D) and it's really sad looking at people outside not noticing the beauty of the surroundings or other people, because their faces are glued to the screens of their phones... like zombies. And as it comes to these dear little mindless sims, constant use of cellphones and laptops is a nuisance for sure.

I've managed to set no automatic use for smartphones and that works for me, but I'd also like to find a way to somehow restrict this unholy rain of laptops...
Good, Eco-friendly, Vegetarian, Green thumb, Cat person, Equestrian, Bookworm, Perceptive, Childish

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