Searching For Decoritive Dogs & Cats

[Zirconia Wolf]

(I wasn't sure this belonged in the "Help" section, as it's really just another silly plea from me after striking out on Google yet again...)

As I continue my experiments in controlling the stray pet population the Pets EP likes to add, I have noticed that when a Sim visits a Community Lot with one of the Dog/Cat bins (where you can customize a Cat or Dog to buy in-game) that the Dog/Cat shown in the bin is drawn from the wandering stray pet pool.

The problem (for me) is that I doggedly convert all the strays into the Phone Pool (via Inge Jones cool Teleporter) & should I send a Sim to a lot with one of the pet bins on it, the freaking game doggedly generates a stray pet (or two, if two bins are present) to "fill" the bins!

Grrrrrrr!

So I would like to create a "Sim City SPCA" type lot without the bins, but with some "decorative" Cats & Dogs to "look the part", so to speak.

So far I have had no luck finding anything like that, so I thought I would ask here if anyone as any leads I could follow.

Thanks,

-ZW

[Crystal]

Do you mean dogs and cats that are statues? I know I saw some of those a long time ago before Pets came out. It was on a site that had alot of farm stuff.

[Zirconia Wolf]

Yeah, statues would be perfect so long as they look "real" enough.

I may have to try digging through The Sims 2 Graveyard, as I can't seem to find any sites I know about that have such a thing.

-ZW

[Crystal]

I found some horse statues on MTS2. They are not dogs but it it gives me hope!!

horse statues http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?p=1910390

It says you need this to go with it. I didn't try it yet.
http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=257255

[Greg]

I remember those statues, too. Now I'm wringing my little brain trying to remember where I saw them. They might have been part of the Farm Theme on MTS2. I think they had a contest and the fans responded with a great deal of really neat stuff that I have been meaning to look at because I want to flesh out the farms in southwestern Happy Valley.

Those horses are cool, at least in the pictures! I saw a bunch of other farm animals by following links in the upper left-hand corner of that same post on MTS2. If anyone has made dogs and cats of the same quality, I think you will have just what you need. I haven't found them yet, but I have only been looking for about five minutes.

Another idea: Try searching for either hacked pets or hacked pet bins.

(What's a pet bin?)

[Miros1]

Greg, when a Sim wants to buy a pet, he or she goes to a pet store to select one. The selection mechanism is to click on a sort of counter with a little fence around the top and a dog or cat in it. That's the "pet bin."

BTW, Zirconia, I left just the puppies and kittens in the P001 folder when I zipped it up the other strays and adoptables, now I just have puppies and kittens when my Sims call to adopt!

[Greg]

Would that provide a solution to the problem of the game regenerating pets to fill the pet bins? (Having never seen Pets in action, I really don't know the scenario we're working with here.)

[Miros1]

No, the "stray family" is separate from the "adoptable family." Stupid but true...

[Zirconia Wolf]

Yes, the whole stray/adoptable thing in Pets is about the dumbest thing I've encountered.

Why on earth the "Pet Displays" in the pet stores can't draw their "pets" from the phone adoption pool- instead of the stray pet pool- is beyond me!

I am mostly dealing with trying to set up a decent looking pet store/adoption center for storytelling purposes, but am not crazy about having the dumb game spawn strays in my nice stray-free Hoods!

Gonna keep looking...

-ZW

(I totally forgot about the leftover thing! It is cool, isn't it!)

[Greg]

Yeah, leftovers do sound cool! Somewhere around here, someone posted a note about stocking up on leftovers that kids could zap in the microwave.

Back to Pets: What? There's no Daisy Hill Puppy Farm?

[Miros1]

Actually, the kids (and everyone else) eat the leftovers cold, but they're still nourishing! If the food is prepared with good quality home-grown vegetables or Sim-caught fish, it will sparkle and be extra nourishing, both when served and when eaten as leftovers.

I have a couple hacks that make your Sims eat leftovers autonomously! They even work if the Sim is under the control of a hack that tells him/her to go eat something.

I tried making Daisy Hill Puppy Farm -- I have one hood with a well stocked born-in-game puppy and kitten adoption pool, but I haven't managed to move it into P001 (which contains a couple pre-made pet store lots, a couple occupied lots, and the Maxis versions of the stray and adoption pools) so it will work.

Somewhere, I have a picture of a kitten sitting in the food bowl...

[Zirconia Wolf]

Originally Posted by Greg;

Back to Pets: What? There's no Daisy Hill Puppy Farm?

No, there isn't!

In order to add a pet to your household you have a couple of options:

-The Phone-

Gives you access to a pool of Dogs, Cats, Puppies & Kittens to choose from. Prices vary depending on what commands the pet in question knows. Make your choice & an Animal Control Officer (actually, a Cop complete with Police car) shows up shortly with your new family member. It always makes me laugh to see a big, burly Police Officer pull up in a Squad Car only to unceremoniously deposit an itty bity Kitten in the middle of the street...

-A Pet Store-

The community lot Pet Stores are another way to get a Dog or Cat. Once there you will see a bin (or 2 or 3) that houses a Dog or Cat (depending on the bin) drawn from the Stray Pet Pool. These animals are mostly just "placeholders", as clicking on a bin brings up a simplified version of the CAS screen for you to design the pet you want. When you're done *poof*, your new family member is by your side & ready to go home. (This only works for adult/elder Cogs & Cats, not Puppies or Kittens.)

-The Stray Pet Pool-

Unless you take steps to prevent them, your Hoods will have a small army of adult/elder Dogs & Cats that will occasionally wander by your lots. If you manage to build up the required relationship score (think it's 60 0r 70ish) you will have the option to add that pet to your family. Stray Pets are from a completely different pool than the Phone ones.

-Sim To Sim Transfers-

Sims can sell any Dogs or Cats they own to another Sim with the "Sell...Pet" interaction. The better trained the pet, the more money you get for them

-Breed Your Own-

Well, duh! If you have a male & female of the same species that get along pretty good, you can "Command" them to have a litter. Breedings are always successful & will range from 1-4 critters, depending on how much room you have left on your lot.

-The CAS Screen-

You can create pets (in greater "detail" than the pet bin interface) via CAS. I have heard mixed reviews on the buggyness of pets created that way, however.

-Buy Mode Catalog-

If a Womrat or Bird is more your speed, you just need to buy the appropriate cage from the Buy Mode Catalog, then click on it & select "Stock Cage".

*********

You will most likely want one of the many hacks that stops stray pets from constantly re-spawning when there numbers get low, as well as a hack to stop your Sims from buying pets on their own! (Yes, Maxis did it again...)

That's about it...

-ZW

(The Left Over thing is a feature from Seasons onward, not Pets btw.)

Miros, if you ever manage to succeed in "over ridding" the P001 files, let me know! I tried it a couple times (trying to make all the pre-made pets into phone Pool) & no dice yet.

I have however managed to nuke Sarah Critters buggy pregnancy, which made me happy!

[Miros1]

You also need TwoJeffs' cagedpetfix unless Maxis has managed to fix that little bug completely -- not only does build mode time not count against the pet's hunger (the bug), but you get a warning that your pet needs feeding, so it won't starve from neglect (unless you ignore the warning).

Your Sims also get Wants to adopt a pet, puppy, or kitten, or buy a cage. Once you've got the pet, they'll want to play with it, train it, or put it to work!

Glad you got rid of the buggy pregnancy -- it's ridiculous that you need a hack to fix a Maxis made pet!

[Greg]

I take it that Sarah Critters is a Maxis-made animal?

All in all, I don't see why I would want to install Pets at all. There's just nothing about it that appeals to me.

[Zirconia Wolf]

Well, Pets has pets!

Which is why I have it, being an animal lover. If you're not interested in having pets for your Sims (& many people aren't) then I would say give Pets a pass. Just don't be one of those annoying people who installs Pets & complains on all the boards about how lame they think it is. I really hate people who complain about self-inflicted stupidity!

Yes, Sarah Critter is part of a duo of pets (along with Danny) that Maxis created. They appear in the Sims Bin (complete with $500...what's that about?) & can be added to an existing family...but Sarah is expecting pups & Maxis being Maxis managed to screw up the data files so bad that without (or sometimes even with) a hack, her pups show as having no father & usually turn out to be clones of Sarah.

This is lame, but because I am using Danny, Sarah, Cyd & Porthos (the Maxis Sim Bin families Pets adds) for a very long & involved storyline I have that weaves through all (currently 13) of my Hoods, I didn't want to zap them out of the P001 folder...so I fired up SimPE & edited the Neighborhood Memory file & deleted Sarah's Token/Memory of being pregnant. *Poof* Sarah is no longer preggers & I am happy. (I also fixed the written description of Cyd to better fit what I am doing to him. SimPE rocks!)

-ZW

[Greg]

I think it would fun if my sim families could have pets, but only if they were like real-world pets. From what I've heard, the way Maxis programmed it, the relationship between The Sims 2 Pets doesn't go much deeper than the shape of the mesh.

[Miros1]

Hm, I'll keep in mind that you like Sarah, Danny, Cyd, and Porthos when I mangle the P001 files...

Greg, as long as you stay away from the Maxis made pets and zap the strays, Pets is rather fun!

[Greg]

Another thought: If we can find someone who knows how to extract a mesh from the game, pose it, and make it a static stature, ZW's original problem would be solved!

We've seen folks make statues from sims so it stands to reason that the same can be done with critters.

Rose, yeah, but I'm obviously reluctant to install an expansion pack that needs a stack of new hacks just to make it work. Maybe if I get back to having time to actually play the game, I'll change my mind about that.

[Zirconia Wolf]

That would be awesome!

The trick is finding a modder I can ask who won't attack me. (Many of them are getting surly of late...)

-ZW

[Greg]

Asking it as a general request on one of the big boards might work. After all, if you don't ask the question, you've already determined the answer.