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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 1:49 AM

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 2, University, Nightlife, Open for Business, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, Free Time, Apartment Life
Default Sim With Owned Lot Does Not Seem to Actually Own the Lot
I have a problem with an owned community lot. Although it shows up as owned by Alf McFarland, when Alf goes there he does not have any 'owner' business commands or any indication that he owns the lot. Alf has a wife. I sent her there too with the same result. There are a whole lot of customers in the store and a cashier. Alf cannot close the store. Alf cannot interact with the cashier except to talk to him. When Alf called 'real estate' on the phone, there is no option to sell an owned lot. What do I do? Alf and his wife are elderly but still have two teen daughters. I thought of killing off Alf and his wife but don't want to do that if it makes it worse.

I ran Hood Checker which found no problems. Except for this lot, there is no sign of corruption. I sent several owners to their owned lots to see if they had similar problems but none of them do. What is happening? Can I fix it?
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Mad Poster
#2 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 2:21 AM
Does he have the deed for the lot in his inventory?
Mad Poster
#3 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 2:27 AM
Back up your game and pull out the Downloads folder, then load the game and take Alf to the lot. Does he get the proper interactions now? If so, then the problem's in the Downloads folder and you just have to hunt it down. If not, tell us exactly what happens instead. Maybe we'll spot a clue. And by all means check for the deed, too! I don't know what happens if a deed gets corrupted or lost, but this game is so complex, everything is guilty till proven innocent.

Don't worry about loading your game without any downloads. That's why you backed up your game. Once you're done troubleshooting, you delete the copy of the neighborhood you've been testing, put the back up copy back into the game, make whatever changes you've determined to be necessary to solve the problem, and go back to playing.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Alchemist
#4 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 2:44 AM
an alternative to removing Downloads folder might be to copy the neighborhood to a non-download version of game.
-AnyGameStarter if you have disc format of game.
-another account on the computer if you have their password; or create another computer user if you are an administrator on the computer.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#5 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 2:47 AM
Okay thank you! I don't know if he has the deed in his inventory but I will check tomorrow when I run the game again. I'll also run the game without Downloads which I didn't think to do for this. There is one other strange thing. There is a floating white object at the corner of Alf's lot that looks like a blurry urn type vase hanging up in the air about ceiling height. Alf couldn't interact with it so I thought it must belong to the lot next door partly because it was blurry and because it is on the property line. The lots are smack against each other. I sent Keith who owns the next door lot to his store to try to get rid of the weird thing, but the vase isn't visible from his lot. I put the Nuke object boxes all around the corner and edge of Keith's lot to try to delete it even though I couldn't see it. I didn't delete it. It's not a neighborhood object but I can see it from neighborhood view. Anyway I will try these tomorrow and thank you again.
Theorist
#6 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 2:04 PM
Is this a downloaded lot, or did you build it yourself?

Go to the lot in build mode, don't bring your sim, check every area slowly for anything out of place. Do this without pulling downloads, that might make it vanish so you won't find anything odd. If you have an odd object, try checking up or down a level to see where it is. Sometimes objects do end up on corners of lots or other areas and they cause problems, not sure how or why this happens. Does anyone else think that maybe replacing the open-close sign could help? I've run successful businesses and only had a problem once with a bakery and a plate some how ended up in a back corner. I really don't remember what problem I had with it, but the deed was my first thought and has been mentioned. There is a way to get a replacement deed, maybe the batbox, simmanipulator or blender?

When you forgive, you heal. When you let go, you grow.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#7 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 3:01 PM
Thank you all again. The lot was downloaded from MTS. It was a community lot, part of a set of similar community lots. I installed it in a test neighborhood and cleaned it with SimPE although that isn't a guarantee it won't be a problem of course.

I use the discs. I have no idea how to create a separate account on the computer or how to install AnyGameStarter I'm afraid.

After loading the game this morning, I can report these things:

1. The floating white urn belonged to Zara AcrossTheStreet. I've been deleting cc and frequently run into problems with missing meshes I used on a lot and forgot about (Adele's ornate Chinese coffee table flashes blue etc), but this is a new one on me. I've never seen something float. It was a collection of flower vases and bath deco and other odds and ends. Once deleted from Zara's lot, it disappeared from both neighborhood view and lot view.

2. Alf has the deed in his inventory.

3. I moved the Downloads folder to the desktop, keeping only Pescado's critical mods.

4. With no cc except for Pescado's critical mods, Alf still can't do a thing at the store when he goes there as the owner. However, Alf can call the real estate office and sell his store, but Alf still has the deed in his inventory after selling his store.

5. After Alf sells the store, the store appears normal when I enter it from the neighborhood. No cashier, no customers.

6. I had Zara AcrossTheStreet buy Alf's former store. The deed appears in her inventory. She can go to her new store and use all the business owner commands.

7. I checked back on Alf. He STILL has the deed in his inventory despite the fact that Zara now owns the store.

8. I conducted a brief 50/50 without finding anything that prevented Alf from selling his store over the phone. I'm now thinking I imagined it. It was late, I was tired.

What do I do? The problem seems to be with Alf now, or Alf's possession of the deed since otherwise Alf seems normal.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 3:23 PM
Buy Alf another business. Can he use it normally? Dismiss it as One of Those Things and move on. If he can't, the problem would be with Alf, and it might or might not be fixable. Balance the hassle of figuring out what's wrong with him against your desire for Alf to own a business. Only you can decide if it's worth it to you to figure it out.
Send Alf to his former store. Does anything weird happen? The problem might be to do with Alf in combination with this particular lot. See cost/benefit analysis above.

Ugly is in the heart of the beholder.
(My simblr isSim Media Res . Widespot,Widespot RFD: The Subhood, and Land Grant University are all available here. In case you care.)
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#9 Old 24th Oct 2017 at 7:08 PM
Peni, as you suggested Alf bought a new business. It went well and he can come and go, open and close the place, set sales prices, and so on. He can use the business normally. He now has two deeds in his inventory, or he did have. I got reckless and deleted the bad one - so far there are no apparent consequences. He went to visit his old store and had a good time talking to people while shopping went on around him. Zara from next door was wandering around doing owner things. Nothing weird happened. All seemed fine.

I'm going to let Alf sell the new business and enjoy a quiet life playing chess and other things in the garden with his wife. They are both of a goodly age and enjoy each other and money really isn't an issue. I don't know what went wrong for Alf and his store but it doesn't seem to matter as long as it doesn't blow up the world, and it shows no signs of doing that.

Thank you everyone, and Peni thanks so much for practical step by step help and the very useful cost/benefit analysis. I really appreciate it!
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