No helicopter on lots of frontage 1.

Earlier in this thread, Mac made mention:

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I'll just have to keep the helicopter in mind when moving in Business, Politics, and Military Sims.

So, you are correct, Aaron.
I don't know if the chopper arrives in any of the later careers (that came with Seasons? Or Freetime?).
Sorry I can't be of more help.
I checked my Prima Guide and it doesn't make mention of WHICH vehicle transports to and from work at the top of our Sims' careers (level 10).

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So while I am in the game I'll see if I can determine which careers use the helicopter.

  

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...the mod would only work with EA/Maxis careers...
I'll say right now I probably wouldn't be willing to update each custom career...

Understood! And I'd be quite happy with such a mod, truth be told.  

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I can release instructions on how to update them. Updating them is pretty simple, Since all it requires is changeling two numbers. 

Woot! YESSS! Sounds too good (aka easy   ) to be true!   

Thank you, in advance, and DO keep us posted, Aaron.  

Added later @ 10:05 am on 6/26/2014:

I found this info this morning:

SimsWiki wrote:

Sims who reach the top level of the Business, Military, Politics, Show Business or Paranormal careers will have a helicopter as their carpool.

I'm assuming this is accurate?  

Your information is correct Sugah, I just finished looking over all the careers(including teen and pet careers) and the ones I found were the ones You mentioned.

I have gathered up the resources needed to modify those career carpools. All that has to be done is deciding what to replace their carpools with. I've been thinking about that and I was thinking the Military carpool could use the Military style hummer. The Business, Politics, and Show Business carpools could use the Limo. I am not sure about the Paranormal carpool, Maybe the high end sports car.

Nothing is concrete yet, I am just putting out suggestions.

Sorry for not posting sooner, But RL decided to rear it's head. Everything should be back to normal for now.
Anyways I now have made a  mod to remove the helicopter from Maxis based careers. Below I will post images of the new carpools.


Show Business


Paranormal and Business


Military


Politics

And here is the mod for anybody that wants it http://www.mediafire.com/download/krb23sfd5pz3mh3/TinyLots_FriendlyCarPools.zip. The mod does not require any expansions or stuff packs to work.

I think that's everything, Let me know if I forgot anything.

Cool!   Now if there just was a hack to allow the moving van to show up at our house a few days earlier. (I think our lot is wide enough   )

I sorta like the helicopter, but when I have my 'puter back, I'm going to install the fix. (I also like small lots)

I myself I think the Helicopter is fine. But the one thing that drives me crazy about them every time is that if any sim is outside when the it appears they feel the need to cover their ears.

I rather like the helicopter, too.
The Sims holding their ears due to the noise, doesn't bother me, 'cause I'm thinkin' I'd be coverin' MINE, if a helicopter landed in front of my house!   

But like Mac, I play with small lots quite a bit.
I rather like the 1 x 1 and 1 x 2 mini residential lots by MaryLou.   
So, it's GREAT to have a mod like the one you've created, Aaron.
My Ben Spencer of Tres Lagos lives on a 1 x 2 mini lot with his fiancee and is currently a Judge. I haven't allowed him to get a promotion to Mayor, because I feared the helicopter issue.

I really like the vehicles you have chosen as the alternative ride, Aaron.
Question 1: Will the stretch limo fit on a frontage 1 lot? You've tested it on a mini lot?
Question 2: Will the chopper continue to p/up Sims when NOT living on a frontage 1 lot w/ your mod installed?

Thank you for creating the Tiny Lots: Friendly Car Pools mod.  

Sugah wrote:

Question 1: Will the stretch limo fit on a frontage 1 lot? You've tested it on a mini lot?

Sugah, The stretch limo works fine on a lot of frontage 1.

Good to know, Mac! Thank you!!!   

I took a snapshot of Judge Ben Spencer going to work in his stretch limo to show what Mac had confirmed earlier.
The stretch limo DOES, indeed, arrive on tiny lots (the Bradshaw-Spencer lot is a 1 x 2 mini).


Aaron, now all I need to know is the answer to my second query before I download your new mod! Thanks!

Sugah no matter the size of the lot the helicopter will be replaced with the car I chose. Sadly I am not 100% positive if it's possible to detect the size of the lot. I'll do some research into it and let You know.

Oh, good to know, Aaron. Thank you for getting back with me right away on this.
I am currently playing the Bradshaw-Spencer lot and Ben is now a Senator.
I haven't installed your mod yet, as I wanted to know if it would affect ALL of the lots before I did.

If you learn whether there is a way to detect the size of a lot, that'd be great.
I'm not sure I want to take away the chopper as an option for my regular size lots...  

Thanks for the mod, Aaron. I have a set of 1x3 lots that I placed in the shopping district and I know the mod will come in handy.

I knew there was the helicopter mod problem with narrow lots like these, but I hadn't realized that they can only accommodate two vehicles simultaneously. One (sim) morning I was expecting both the carpool and a school bus. However, only the bus appeared and it wasn't until it had left that the carpool showed up. I then realized it's the lot size that prevents it. At least I know now just to wait, or else have the sim walk to work.

Karen wrote:

...but I hadn't realized that they can only accommodate two vehicles simultaneously. One (sim) morning I was expecting both the carpool and a school bus. However, only the bus appeared and it wasn't until it had left that the carpool showed up. I then realized it's the lot size that prevents it. At least I know now just to wait, or else have the sim walk to work.

This is good to know for those of us who enjoy building on mini lots, Karen!

  

While I was indeed correct that there is no way to detect the size of the lot... I do have anther idea. My idea being having some sort of object that You could place on the lot. Clicking on the object would have a interaction to mark the lot as a small lot, Of course You would have to do that for each lot that is a small lot. But it would allow You to still use the helicopters on lots You want to. Once You marked the lot as a small lot You could safely remove the object from the lot.

At this time it's only an idea, But it's definitely something I am thinking about.

Interesting idea, Aaroneous! I do like the narrow lots and, alas, some of the careers that have helicopters (but Pirates??? ) I'm currently putting the "No Burglars" sign on all of my lots as I activate them. A "Narrow Lot" marker would be a good idea, too. I'm not currently using your helicopter replacement hack as I don't want to give up helicopters just yet. I'm trying to be careful what careers I put on the narrow lots. The Maxis ones I have pretty well scoped out, but 3rd party ones can still cause surprises.

For your work in all of this...

Another difficulty with lots of width 1. Say mom and dad and a child live in such a lot. Both mom and dad leave for work, and the child leaves for school at 8:00. It may be the case that one parent has to stay home. So, say, mom goes out to the ride, but the ride stays waiting for dad until almost 9, and the school bus may not come at all. The kid has to walk to school (actually, in RL I did, or rode my bike). The whole constellation might not happen, but it did happen to one of my sim families.

Aaron wrote:

My idea being having some sort of object that you could place on the lot. Clicking on the object would have a interaction to mark the lot as a small lot.

Good idea, Aaron! There are plenty of objects like that, aren't there (eg No Burglars & No Strays signs)?

Mac wrote:

I'm not currently using your helicopter replacement hack as I don't want to give up helicopters just yet. I'm trying to be careful what careers I put on the narrow lots.

Ditto. Same here!

Mac wrote:

The whole constellation might not happen, but it did happen to one of my sim families.

I can definitely see how that could happen on a mini lot, Mac.
Good point and something to look out for!    
I do so enjoy playing mini lots and don't intend on giving them up anytime soon.
But the comings and goings of the Sim fams who live on them can get a bit tricky sometimes!  

It can happen on any size lots Mac. I have had cases where there were three vehicles that try to appear on the lot at the same time and one usually ends up not appearing(it depends on the size of the vehicles).

I only know of a couple objects like that Sugah. One being the Anti Burglar sign, The other being the Anti Social Worker sign. There may be others but those are the ones I am aware of.

Add the Maxis career Show Business to those which have a helicopter come at the highest level.