Institutional Simulation

Prisons, hospitals, schools - these are examples of scenaria where you need to control more than one Sim at a time, and where to be realistic you need more Sims on the lot than you can have in one family, and more than you can control individually. All these sets of objects rely on special controllers, and objects hacked to force their use upon "visitor" Sims.

Because the controllers rely on giving the inmates/pupils/patients temporary resident status, and because some of the interactions that need to be carried out depend on appealing to the Sims' motives, you will need to take care when using other hacked objects on the institutional lots. Normal recolours of Maxis objects are alright of course, but in general it's better to:

Avoid combining institutional control objects with:

Any object that is designed to artificially maximise any of the motives, e.g. magic mirrors, or the Party Plant.
Anything that makes Sims want to use it all the time e.g. a caffeine doctor.
Objects that are meant to change the status of visitors or force them to stay on the lot; e.g. the Visitor Empowerer, the Event Controller.

However, it is usually alright to use:

Teleplants for staff or other visitors only, but not inmates/patients/pupils.
The Event Control objects, and their object controllers (the ones with the pictures on but not the 'E')
Shareable, reservable, lockable, targetable, and timed objects and doors.
Hacked and non-hacked skill objects that do not promise extra fun or other motives.
The Visitor Controller (the one with the green diamond on, not the 'V')

If you have followed the above, and you are not happy with the way your Sims are responding to the institutional scenario, read the Troubleshooting FAQ

Click on buttons to go to pages:

			Prison

			Hospital

			School

			Staff objects and doors for all the above institutions

			General institutional type objects and furniture, some hacked, some not. Click on image to go to page

Troubleshooting FAQ

Q.		My Simmies are just standing around waving, hollering and peeing themselves. They won't use any of the objects I have given them, they won't eat or anything

A.		If you have used any hacked doors, including ones that go with the set, have you set them up so that the Sims can get through the ones they're meant to and use the objects? Do you have any cars or other vehicles on the site? Some that you can download have a bug in them that stops the Sims on the lot having free will. Delete all downloaded cars to see if that helps. You do have free will switched on at the game control panel, don't you?

Q.		The Simmies are moving around by themselves ok, and doing a few things, but they're in terrible moods and they're not using the objects available that could help them feel better

A.		Sims know about every object on the lot, including the ones they can't get to because they're the other side of locked doors. If they've decided they want to use the toilet or TV you put in the staff quarters, even if they're exactly the same as the ones in the prisoners' quarters, then they'll keep fretting about it till they drop! For this reason on simlogical you can find all sorts of objects that can be set up with exclusions that match or exceed the doors. So behind a staff-only door should be a staff-only toilet etc., or even one that is reserved to an individual. If your doctors have cooked a normal meal from a normal fridge in the staff lounge, the patients will get the urge to go and eat it just the same as if they were on a home lot, even if it means ignoring the buffet table or servery.

Q.		My doctors and nurses are having a great time in the staff lounge, and they won't go and treat the patients!

A.		The treatment and nursing interactions are not forced on the staff, they are "advertised" to them as promising fun and perhaps some other benefits. If they are already completely happy because of other objects you have around the lot, they won't feel bothered to go and see to the patients. There is also some bias towards nice and active staff being better than lazy or nasty ones.

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