The Sims (Windows)/Oddities

This is a sub-page of The Sims (Windows).

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Early Builds Artifacts Continuity and consistency is for the weak.

Pink Flamingo

The scripting tree flamingo::tweak kick inc ends the Kicking interaction with a Expression primitive that adds 20/100 more Mood for Sims.

Something of a placebo effect happens in the code for Pink Flamingos. Although no benefits are observed in any of the Sims' eight basic needs when they are instructed by the player to "Kick" the object, its Expression primitive "my motives" increases the Sim's "Mood" score by 20% once the interaction ends. As a result, players are able to see the addition of a green stripe (or, for depressed Sims, one less red stripe) to the flamingo kicker's "Mood" score in the Control Panel for less than one second. However, it abruptly returns to its original score, as the effect is then counterbalanced by the absence of any motive gains from kicking the Flamingo, rendering it null.

(Source: LUCPIX)

Odd Object Conditions

An ordinary View interaction.

When players purchase objects within the game, Sims may respond with a range of reactions, from love to hate. While the majority of these object reactions are governed by a single script (comeandseeme::Do Come and See Me), certain objects deviate from this norm by utilizing unique private scripts that offer distinct likability conditions.

Objects.FAR

Various
Sprite	Object	Comment	Context
	Pink Flamingo	Script: flamingo::react Effect: Makes Sims like the object depending on their "Playful" score.	flamingo::React
	Love n' Haight Lava Lamp	Script: lamplava::ComeAndSeeMe Effect: The tree contains an "Expression" primitive that loosely checks the Sims' interest in "Music". Script: lamplava::React Effect: Contains the code for the View menu interaction. The tree contains an "Expression" primitive that loosely checks the Sims' interest in "Weather". Script: lamplava::View Test Effect: Checks the Sims' "Fun" as a condition for making the "View" interaction available to users — the only case in the entire game where the availability of a pie menu item is sensitive to this particular motive. A "Fun" bar filled less than one-half makes it possible for Sims to view the object; otherwise, all they can do is switch it on/off. The only comparable scenario is when players can not make Sims sleep in beds because their "Energy" has already been well filled up.	lamplava::ComeAndSeeMe lamplava::react
	Painting/Sculptures	Script: sculptures/paintings::react Effect: Loosely check how much Sims like to talk about... "Old Conv. Topic". "Old Conv. Topic" is the internal name for conversation topics that were not used in the final game: "Babies", "Beauty", and "Spooky Stuff", whose graphics can still be found in the game as old leftovers.	paintings::react
	Dining Chairs	Script: diningchairs::ComeAndSeeMe Effect: Contains three possible reactions for chairs of "Cheap," "Moderate," and "Expensive" types, respectively: The "Cheap" reaction is negative, causing Sims to express disgust, the "Moderate" reaction is neutral, representing indifference, and the "Expensive" reaction is positive, intended to cause Sims to applaud with joy. However, due to a coding oversight, a portion of this reaction system went unused in the base game: The code incorrectly classifies all dining chairs as "Cheap.", as it fails to return a "False" value that would trigger the appropriate reactions for "Moderate" or "Expensive" chairs. As a result, Sims always react to dining chairs with disgust, regardless of their type. Interestingly, the code for the "Expensive" chair reaction includes a unique "Expression" primitive that loosely checks the "Nice" trait of the active Sim.	diningchairs::ComeAndSeeMe

(Source: LUCPIX)

Stoves As Surfaces

• In the base game, the placement scripts attached to stove objects allow users to move dishes to their surfaces through the move_objects cheat code. Forcing this scenario makes Sims unable to perform anything related to cooking, even getting meals from the fridge.

(Source: LUCPIX)

Flower Intersection

The Newbies household, where the tutorial scenario takes place, is one of two areas in the entire game that contain an outdoor flower intersected with another object — in this case, another outdoor flower. This type of arrangement can not be likewise reproduced by the player, not even post-move_objects on cheat code, well-known for letting the player place objects in unusual places at the world.

Sample of a May 1999 pre-release snapshot on which outdoor flowers share the same tile grid as a Buy Mode object.

• Interestingly, if the player chooses to place any of these two plants elsewhere with the Hand Tool, the game will not allow them to return it on its original position, as using the Undo tool only makes the flower vanish from the world — without money back, as it is typical of Plant Tool catalog.
  • The ability to arrange home appliances and other items directly onto outdoor flowers tiles was removed at the last minute of the game's development, given that the Newbies house, in its default state, was last modified less than one month prior to the game's final build compilation.
  • It has been noted, however, that if the player adds an Expression primitive at the tree flowersoutdoor::init tree that instructs outdoor flowers to have the literal flag value 3 (has zero extent), they can restore the outdoor flowers' ability to be intersected by objects as they once did, meaning that that was the original settings for flowers back in pre-release builds.
• The opening video for the game has footage of a garden on which outdoor flowers share the same tile as the "Fountain of Tranquility".
• There is another instance where outdoor flowers at the mansion at 2 Sim Lane sport a similar conundrum. Still, their intersection happens with trees in that case, which is a object placement instruction that is allowed by default.

(Source: LUCPIX)