Apartment Life: Question about butlers

[strangetomato]

Based on the information in my Prima guide (yeah, I know... not exactly the gospel according to Sim), sim butlers are supposed to act as nannies, but mine doesn't seem to have received that memo. Circe hired a butler and he did nothing at all with little Vali. Now, it's not a good idea to mess around with Circe, so there's a chance that Loki's (very angry) ghost might "accidentally" scare that poor butler to death, but that's not the point of my story. I want the butler to work as he's supposed to.

The butler does not act as a nanny and he also cancels the nanny's services, and then quits for the night at 8:00 pm, leaving the poor kid for the social worker (Circe does late nights at the hospital). Not cool. Has anyone else played around with butlers or read anything about this? Is it a bug or am I just missing something? I did some searching, but found no answers. I suppose I could just tell him not to cancel the other service sims, but that's missing the point of the all-purpose butler, isn't it?

Comments

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that they could act as nannies. My copy hasn't arrived yet, but from what I've read I thought he just cleaned.

Sorry I'm not a bigger help. :(

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

No, the butler takes the place of all other service sims. He cleans, gardens, makes repairs, and even cooks meals. He's supposed to look after your kids too, but maybe only children. He doesn't seem to notice toddlers or babies.

No problem. :) Hopefully, someone will enlighten us.

[smjoshsims.livejournal.com]

Yeah- I really cannot wait to see what he can do.

Considering how expensive he is, I would hope he did everything and more.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

You can get him to give you a massage at your massage table. ;)

[floppydisco.livejournal.com]

I am of no help but I know my butler worked as a nanny (for the toddler on that lot).

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... so he actually picked him up, gave him a bottle, and put him to bed? Mine isn't doing that at all. I wonder if there's some sort of conflict with my hacks. I don't have anything that isn't updated for AL, though.

[floppydisco.livejournal.com]

yes.. i actually played the lot again now and he even played with him while he didn't have anything to do.. strange. here, i took a picture on storymode in the game (but i was able to find a thumbnail of it) so its very small:
http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thumbnail95dae6e3f5dae7zd3.jpg

[dragancaor.livejournal.com]

I read something about it on MATY in the AL bork thread (I'm 98% sure it was that thread, but it was definitely MATY). I dont remember if there was a fix or not yet though, but this is the direct link to the thread if it helps.

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! I'll do some reading. It would be nice to know it's a flaw in the programming instead of something that's only happening to me.

[madame-ugly.livejournal.com]

You already got the "look at MATY" advice (it's really all the advice I ever have).

Is the butler like one of the untouchable NPCs (crumplebottom) or could you marry him? It'd be a shame if he was untouchable. Then you'd miss out on all the canoodling with the help fun (or the help canoodling with each other--can you have a maid AND butler--I mean, it doesn't make sense financially but. . .). Come on, if the guy will give you a rub down. . .he could be full service and offer a happy ending, right?

[zepheera.livejournal.com]

They can be interacted with just like the other service NPCs that you hire.

[cindyanne1.livejournal.com]

I haven't had a butler for any of my sims yet so I'm afraid I'm not much help, but I just had to say I didn't know he did massages, lol! Full service I guess! :D

[ndainye.livejournal.com]

From the reports I've read the butler can act as a nanny and do child care, but the game doesn't recognize him as a responsible adult member of the household for avoiding social services. You can get around the social services with Pescado's SSHack but the butler will still leave at 8pm.

[sophie10.livejournal.com]

My butler looks after my sim kids, and social services have never turned up for them when they're parents have been working. One of my sims had a two sets of twins right after each other and she never lifted a finger except between 8-8. Btw, what's the ACR hack you keep mentioning?

[themhooligans.livejournal.com]

ACR is "Autonomous Casual Romance", and can potentially cause hilarious havoc with Sims that have bolts for each other. It caused Lola Curious and Kristen Loste (two of the Singles girls from the Bin in Strangetown) to become romantically involved, much to my surprise! I removed it after in favor of the Casual Romance mod instead--too much trouble for me. But it was wacky random fun for the while it was in.

You can find ACR here: http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php/topic,19.0.html and the Casual Romance mod here: http://www.simbology.com/smf/index.php/topic,6.0.html

[sophie10.livejournal.com]

Thanking you :D

[hannahspring.livejournal.com]

You can also ask your neighbors to babysit. You just have to have a good relationship with them? Or does it have to be the butler?

[strange-tomato.livejournal.com]

That's right. I'll have to keep that in mind. That's a good solution for apartment living, but it wouldn't help Circe, since she's in a house. Apartments don't really work for secretive villains like the Beakers.