How to research/try to fix irregular problems

Hi!

I hope this is okay. It's not so much how do I mod, but a how do I find why something is not working as intended when the issue is not always present and you can't quite figure out why it is for some and not for others.

Two reasons for this post.
1. I have a mod on MTS that alters the duration of novel writing. Every test in my game has given predictable results, following the same pattern, always doing what I intend it to. For one MTS user, the duration is shorter than the mod says it should be, and her regular game gave one duration and a cc-free environment an even faster time. No one else has posted that it doesn't behave for them, and I can't replicate it in my game.

2. Pescado-problem related to ofbfixes that causes me to be unable to assign a chef in restaurants. For me it occurs with macrotastic in, for another MTS user with only ofbfixes, and heaps of people have both and does not have the glitch. Pescado is never going to care or fix, and I don't feel I can remove ofbfixes, and I do use macrotastic at times, so I'd like to try and see if I can fix it myself. Macrotastic is all private, and the code in ofbfixes that deals with chefs, is not in macrotastic. And god knows why it only happens with macrotastic for me, but not for the other user.

Any advice on what to do in situations like these? How does one try to unravel a problem that you either can't replicate, or that doesn't make any sense?

If a mod's behavior becomes unpredictable *only* on *one* other person's machine, I think it's fair to wonder what mods they are using with it, and if a *conflict* might be the cause. Have you tried the mod without any other CC yourself?

About the pescado issue: I'm not certain that ofbfixes is the problem. If you *also* have autosoc in your game, macrotastics-controlled sims in a business will suddenly develop some nasty habits! Or maybe it's because you do NOT have autosoc... Really, Pescado has an evil sense of… well, let's call it humor, for lack of a better word.

The chef-issue I've tested with no other CC, and I narrowed it down to being the package called macrotastics, so only those two on their own will cause the problem for me. Not sure about the other MTS player that said only ofbfixes though. It happens with all the other macrotastic mods in as well, so that's not it either. Pescado has an evil sense of everything xD Might be worth testing with the entire directors cut though, since he thinks everyone should just use what he uses and be happy.

And the novel thing the player only had your no sim loaded and some other anti-hug mod, and I always playtest my own mods in a clean environment so I've tested it multiple times with no other CC.

Anti-hug mod? Might that be some thing to stop the *DEBUG*-Super-Duper-Hug? If so, then my question would be: why? Because all but the most basic version of No-Sim-Loaded already include that fix. But that's a question I should ask that other person, of course!

Anyway, try adding autosoc.package to your installation, and see if that fixes your problem with ofbfixes. I have no other ideas.

Yeah, that's the one. And I know, but I believe it makes her feel more safe so I leave her be

I had autosoc when I found the problem, so that's not it. I'm guessing it's one of those things that Pescado did not care to fix, because he doesn't use the feature himself. I believe the problem is in ofbfixes, because macrotastic is all private and should reasonably only affect pie menu options from that mod. I figure I'll have to try and pick apart the actual code, but I don't know where to begin with someone elses stuff.

Nor do I know where to start looking with my own novel one, since it only includes a BCON with a value changed. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that the novel writing time is affected by more than the BCON, some conditional thing that only affects certain Sims. We've ruled out creativity skill and hobby level, because those were 0 for this person (and in my tests). I've glanced at the BHAVs, but I can't see anything like that, but my understanding of the code is not well enough to be sure.

I don't know, I guess I barely know where I'm going with this. Ofbfixes thing I can live with, but it irks me to know one of my mods is not functioning properly for someone and I don't know why

(31-07-2015 08:37 PM)gummilutt Wrote:  I'm guessing it's one of those things that Pescado did not care to fix, because he doesn't use the feature himself.

Ha! I'm certain that Pescado actually *wanted* it to work that way! That's just the kind of Sims-player and modder that he is.

(31-07-2015 08:37 PM)gummilutt Wrote:  I believe the problem is in ofbfixes, because macrotastic is all private and should reasonably only affect pie menu options from that mod.

Macrotastics is 'all private'??? What the heck do you mean by THAT? I know from my research that Macrotastics also influences stuff from other mods. Autosoc is one of them, but I expect to find traces in other mods of his hand as well!

(31-07-2015 08:37 PM)gummilutt Wrote:  I figure I'll have to try and pick apart the actual code, but I don't know where to begin with someone elses stuff.

You're not alone in that! Some people, like Cyjon for example, write very clean, organised and understandable code. I never have a problem understanding his mods. But the likes of Pescado seem to purposely obfuscate the true intention of their code by making it overly and unnecessarily complicated.

(31-07-2015 08:37 PM)gummilutt Wrote:  Nor do I know where to start looking with my own novel one, since it only includes a BCON with a value changed. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that the novel writing time is affected by more than the BCON, some conditional thing that only affects certain Sims. We've ruled out creativity skill and hobby level, because those were 0 for this person (and in my tests). I've glanced at the BHAVs, but I can't see anything like that, but my understanding of the code is not well enough to be sure.

Actually, I'd say that the person who has that problem is also using some OTHER mod that affects novel-writing. Maybe a mod by someone like Pescado, who keeps certain features a secret, so we don't know everything their mod does.

(31-07-2015 08:37 PM)gummilutt Wrote:  I don't know, I guess I barely know where I'm going with this. Ofbfixes thing I can live with, but it irks me to know one of my mods is not functioning properly for someone and I don't know why

I know how THAT feels, friend. I've had to admit on several occasions that I cannot imagine why a certain person had a problem with one of my mods. I even had to give up looking for a solution, because I could not reproduce the problem that they reported. Sometimes it's just impossible to explain. You better learn to live with that, or eventually it will cause your blood pressure to rise!

(31-07-2015 11:21 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  I know how THAT feels, friend. I've had to admit on several occasions that I cannot imagine why a certain person had a problem with one of my mods. I even had to give up looking for a solution, because I could not reproduce the problem that they reported. Sometimes it's just impossible to explain. You better learn to live with that, or eventually it will cause your blood pressure to rise!

Amen to that, BO! I, too, have had it happen that someone's reported a problem with something of mine and I had no idea why it was happening and also couldn't reproduce it in any environment (tested it in everything from vanilla base-game to CC-loaded all EPs and SPs). Having to tell someone "sorry, can't help you" is not a good feeling to be sure - but sometimes, that really is all you can do. It doesn't mean you're a bad modder. None us can fix everything always. So you're not alone in this, my fellow Swede.

(31-07-2015 11:21 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  Ha! I'm certain that Pescado actually *wanted* it to work that way! That's just the kind of Sims-player and modder that he is. [...] But the likes of Pescado seem to purposely obfuscate the true intention of their code by making it overly and unnecessarily complicated.

Yes, he probably does. And seriously! I rarely even bother opening them in SimPE and looking anymore, because I can't make any sense of it. My very first mod was an edit of one of Cyjons, and even though I had only taken one class in Visual Basic and had no idea of any simantics, I could make some sense of it. Enough to make it do what I wanted, any way

(31-07-2015 11:21 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  Macrotastics is 'all private'??? What the heck do you mean by THAT? I know from my research that Macrotastics also influences stuff from other mods. Autosoc is one of them, but I expect to find traces in other mods of his hand as well!

The group ID is 0xFFFFFFFF on all of it. Hence my confusion at it having a conflict with ofbfixes. How does it even what? I could get ofbfixes interfering with macrotastic options, but that's not the case, so I don't know what to think. The only things in there not set to that group ID is the directory of compressed files, and TXTRs/TXMTs/GMNDs.

(31-07-2015 11:21 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  I know how THAT feels, friend. I've had to admit on several occasions that I cannot imagine why a certain person had a problem with one of my mods.

Like my game spawning gossip despite your no trash memories?

(31-07-2015 11:21 PM)BoilingOil Wrote:  Sometimes it's just impossible to explain. You better learn to live with that, or eventually it will cause your blood pressure to rise!

(01-08-2015 02:26 PM)NixNivis Wrote:  Amen to that, BO! I, too, have had it happen that someone's reported a problem with something of mine and I had no idea why it was happening and also couldn't reproduce it in any environment (tested it in everything from vanilla base-game to CC-loaded all EPs and SPs). Having to tell someone "sorry, can't help you" is not a good feeling to be sure - but sometimes, that really is all you can do. It doesn't mean you're a bad modder. None us can fix everything always. So you're not alone in this, my fellow Swede.

Thank you guys for the encouragement. It's nice to know that even the great ones are sometimes unable to figure it out. It's easy to feel discouraged and like I should perhaps leave the modding to more knowledged people. Since I can't replicate it in my game no matter what, I didn't know what to do. I'll take your advice and leave it be. Perhaps I get more info on it at some point in the future that can help figure it out, but until then it'll just have to be

(And yay, Swedes unite, or something <3)

* NixNivis shouts "heja Sverige!" and waves blue and yellow flag

One thing that occurred to me: Do you know what EPs and SPs the person with the problem has? (Well, other than the obvious FT.) And have you been able to test it with the same set-up? Because I know from personal experience that EAxis bork their own code sometimes, and it can make things behave in unexpected ways. (And it's not just EPs, SPs can muck things up, too, even though they shouldn't.)

So if you can (and haven't tried it already), I'd set up an AnyGame with the same EPs and SPs as this player has, and see if you can reproduce the problem then. If you can't... well, then I'd say you can definitely write this off as a problem related to something with their game, and not with your mod.

That's the only other suggestion I've got, really.

Whoops! Completely forgot to keep an eye on this, sorry.

Person has all EPs/SPs, no collection packs or anything. Same as me. I'm waiting to see if anyone else reports a problem, but so far it's just the one user. Every time I get a comment on that thread it's half-dread half-happy. Dread that it will turn out not to work as intended, and happy that I might get more to go on if so