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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 15th Jul 2018 at 4:57 PM
Default 5 hours to eat a meal? C'mon!
There has GOT to be a mod or a hack or whatever for this. Why on earth does it take them so long to eat a meal, especially if someone else is at the table with them? This is ridiculous!

Even if the poor fool is starving and exhausted, he'll spend more time chit-chatting than eating . . . until he eventually conks out in his soup-bowl. Well what an idiot! If I were that hungry and that tired, I'd just wolf down my food then go to bed. I think sims should do that too.

And even if they're NOT on the verge of collapse, I still think it takes WAY too long to finish a meal. And it takes about a minute and a half to drink a glass of juice in real life, not half an hour while staring off into space between sips. ("Snacks" from the fridge should be a much quicker fix for the hunger problem. After all, if I wanted to spend that kind of time I'd have made the sim make a meal and then temporarily delete the table so he'd have to eat it standing alone in the kitchen. How realistic! NOT!)

Okay that is my main concern, so if anyone has any suggestions, please put in your two-cents'-worth.

. . . . but I'm gonna keep complaining, 'cause that's just me!

Okay, I understand that if they have guests at the table the meal might take longer, because while they are eating they are also getting to know their guests . . . but that should be reflected in the friendship meter. (You shouldn't spend 5 hours sharing a meal with somebody only to come out with a mere 5 points on the friendship meter, unless you hated that person's guts to begin with and you were actually starting out at -30 or something, which nobody ever does . . . so what the hell?) SO HOW I'D FIX IT: It would make sense to me if meals taken with strangers lasted longer than family meals, but the friendship meter with strangers should rise accordingly.

I also think that all meals with family and strangers should have a much greater improvement on the friendship scale: Realistically, meals together are where people chat and not only get to know the person they're talking to, but also the people they are talking about: Meals take a long time, and there is a lot of yapping and getting-to-know-you stuff going on. The friendship meter should reflect that accordingly. If a mom, dad and two kids are sitting at the table with one stranger off the street, and the stranger is speaking to the dad at the dinner table, the dad's friendship meter for the stranger is the only one that rises. That is unrealistic: They ALL get to know the guy who is sitting at the dinner table with them, not just the person he's speaking to directly. SO HOW I'D FIX IT: I think that if a stranger sits at the dinner table with a family, all family-members present at that meal should have a relationship with this person.

Family meals should be much shorter than meals taken with strangers/new friends. They should still contain some pleasant conversation, but that conversation should not take precedence over the need to sleep or use the bathroom. I mean really! You live with these people, you see each other every damn day . . . I'm sure they'd all understand if you were about to pee your pants or collapse from exhaustion. And what else do you really have to talk about anyways? I think If I were that close to drowning in my soup I'd say goodnight and head off to bed. SO HOW I'D FIX IT: Whatever meal-time is programmed into the game, I'd cut that by two-thirds at least, for family-members-only dining together. I would also allow heavy-bladder types, and exhausted types to let their needs take precedence over meaningless table chit-chat.

Also: Chinese Food! Why does it always get placed on a countertop, and why can only one person eat at a time, and WHY does it take that person hours and hours to eat one box of it while everyone else in the house either has to wait or else cook for themselves? Chinese food should be placed on the counter, and people should be able to take a box and sit at a table and eat it like a regular meal. At least!

Also: Pizza! Why do they 'grab a slice' and then slither off into corners of the same room, facing into those corners, and carry on a conversation with each other? Maybe they should sit on a nearby couch to eat pizza, or at least a nearby barstool and at least face each other while they are talking. It's as if the game TRIED to get it right, but just somehow got it wrong.

Anyway, I'm done complaining for now. Thanks for reading this far, if you have.
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Undead Molten Llama
#2 Old 15th Jul 2018 at 5:43 PM Last edited by iCad : 15th Jul 2018 at 6:00 PM.
There are several mods you might be interested in, but I don't think there's anything that'll get you all of what you want.

Pescado's noeatcrap will make Sims talk less while eating, reducing mealtime. It'll also make (some) Sims stop eating when full and stop them from eating spoiled food.

Cyjon has a seating selection mod that affects how Sims choose to eat certain foods, including pizza and Chinese, and where they'll sit to do it. (Make sure you also install Smarter EP Check if you get that one. Otherwise, your game will throw errors.)

MogHughson also has a seating selection mod that affects where Sims sit to have a drink.

I use a modified version of noeatcrap and Cyjon's mod, and they work fine together. Mog's and Cyjon's might conflict because they do some of the same things. I don't use Mog's mod because...Well, my Sims rarely drink anything! So, I haven't felt a need to install a mod that affects how/where Sims drink things.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#3 Old 15th Jul 2018 at 9:09 PM
I've just downloaded noeatcrap and I can't wait to try it out! I already have the MogHughson mod about sitting down to drink coffee, etc., and I quite like it. When it comes to pizza and Chinese Food, I order them so rarely that it's really not that big a deal to me . . . but I was on a rant and I couldn't be stopped. I wouldn't want to download anything that might conflict with a mod I've already got and like. Thank you for the heads-up on that!

I think simply getting their meals to be less than half-a-day long will be a huge improvement to my game and their lives. That is something that has bothered me from the beginning. It's nuts how long they spend eating a sandwich. (it's five bites, for Heaven's sake, what is the big deal?)

Thanks, iCad!

Quote: Originally posted by iCad
There are several mods you might be interested in, but I don't think there's anything that'll get you all of what you want.

Pescado's noeatcrap will make Sims talk less while eating, reducing mealtime. It'll also make (some) Sims stop eating when full and stop them from eating spoiled food.

Cyjon has a seating selection mod that affects how Sims choose to eat certain foods, including pizza and Chinese, and where they'll sit to do it. (Make sure you also install Smarter EP Check if you get that one. Otherwise, your game will throw errors.)

MogHughson also has a seating selection mod that affects where Sims sit to have a drink.

I use a modified version of noeatcrap and Cyjon's mod, and they work fine together. Mog's and Cyjon's might conflict because they do some of the same things. I don't use Mog's mod because...Well, my Sims rarely drink anything! So, I haven't felt a need to install a mod that affects how/where Sims drink things.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 15th Jul 2018 at 9:43 PM Last edited by RoxEllen1965 : 16th Jul 2018 at 1:21 AM. Reason: typo
How long it takes a sim to eat also depends partially on the animation cycles for what kind of food they're eating. Sandwiches take a very long time to eat - the sim picks up the food, takes a bite, puts it back down, chews thoughtfully for several sim-minutes, picks up the sandwich again, etc. Food that's eaten with a utensil has much shorter animation loops, especially if the sim is very sloppy. I only give my sims sandwiches if I actually want them to take some time to eat (if they need their comfort boosted by sitting down while they eat, etc.)
Undead Molten Llama
#5 Old 15th Jul 2018 at 10:13 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Laurcleve
I've just downloaded noeatcrap and I can't wait to try it out!


Yeah, I thought you might like that one. But! I should have pointed you at a different link. The one I linked to is an old version and might not work right in your game, but I wanted you to have the description. I kinda forgot that you're not confident with this downloading stuff. You'll really want the version that's updated for your newest EP. (If you have the UC, that'll be Apartment Life.) So, you go here: http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s.../topic,7.0.html and pick your newest EP from the list in the first post on that thread. (The EPs are in reverse release order on that list, so the newest EP is at the top of the list. If you don't have the UC or don't have all EPs, then pick the link for the newest EP you have installed.) THEN, from the list that next comes up, pick the "hacks" link. Then from the next list, which is in alphabetical order, find noeatcrap and download it from that link.

Yeah, it's kind of convoluted, but that's how Pescado is. The mod works well and you'll definitely see a reduction in the amount of time it takes for Sims to eat a meal. There's no adjusting for relationship level like you wanted, though. All meals will be treated the same, regardless of the Sims involved. I don't think what you really want is possible with the game's coding, although that'd be nice.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#6 Old 15th Jul 2018 at 11:33 PM
It's connected to personality. Sims who are very neat and really social are the ones who will sit longest. Check their bar and see if that is how they are. Messy sims will eat quickly. I had a sim who was both 10 neat and 10 social and yes eating meals was his major pastime.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#7 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 12:21 AM
Also, this mod: http://modthesims.info/d/94886

Naturally it conflicts with noeatcrap, it's an alternative to that.
Field Researcher
#8 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 1:23 AM
Come on Simonut, that's not helpful. From a gameplay perspective, every hour your sim has is precious and spending several in-game hours on one meal is indeed excessive. If held against the 8 hours sleeping, 8 hours working, 8 hours 'free' time rule, they have barely any time left for other things on a school- or workday! Without noeatcrap, my sims would also regularly miss the carpool or schoolbus because the sims had no sense to check whether they have something to do at the moment that is not eating or talking. You can tell your sim to stop eating, but not to just eat faster so you have to choose between unfinished meals and a hungry sim or missing work or school. Some things were just coded in a ridiculous way.
Mad Poster
#9 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 1:27 AM
The Sims 2 is only a game, but it's a very buggy game and there have been complaints before about design decisions like this. In an un-modded game, sims will spend too much time talking when they should be eating, especially if their energy bars are low. The problem is not that taking so long to eat is "unrealistic," but that taking so long to eat makes the game annoying to play when it should be fun.
Mad Poster
#10 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 11:45 AM
Another idea, although quite drastic: Chris Hatch's Time Controller (download link here). It slows down the clock (and motive decay, I think) by 50%. Since the animation cycles are the same, your 5-hour meal would be 2.5 hours - hopefully a bit more reasonable! It makes the day feel less rushed.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#11 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 2:19 PM
You could, after the meal use the set hour cheat to put time back to where you think it would be in real life.

Be aware that Chris's mod does not play nicely with community lot time.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Mad Poster
#12 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 4:25 PM
Chris Hatch does have "wait on community return" though which does the same thing. So if you use community time project it may be a good idea to look into it.

I'm secretly a Bulbasaur. | Formerly known as ihatemandatoryregister

Looking for SimWardrobe's mods? | Or Dizzy's? | Faiuwle/rufio's too! | smorbie1's Chris Hatch archives
Undead Molten Llama
#13 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 8:07 PM
Quote: Originally posted by kestrellyn
Also, this mod: http://modthesims.info/d/94886

Naturally it conflicts with noeatcrap, it's an alternative to that.


That's an old, old mod, though. Made in 2005 and not updated since. From the comments, it looks like it stopped working with BV installed. 'Course, I always take user comments with a grain of salt because it could just be that they have a conflicting mod, but since a couple people reported problems, I'm more inclined to believe that it's not working anymore. Which isn't surprising, since it's a 2005 mod. But hey! If it does still work, great. Alternatives are good! I wasn't 100% happy with how noeatcrap worked, which is why I use a tweaked version of it. Cyjon also has his own version of it here, which has slightly different effects, too.

Quote: Originally posted by joandsarah77
You could, after the meal use the set hour cheat to put time back to where you think it would be in real life.


This is what I used to do with community lot visits before I had Community Time. The problem was that motives got really screwed up and it was kind of more trouble than it was worth to adjust those, too. But that might not be the case so much if you're just knocking a couple hours off a meal. Because even with noeatcrap in, like others have said the time it takes to eat is influenced by personality. Get two neat, talky Sims at a table and you'll still be there for a while even with noeatcrap. It's yet another reason to love slob Sims. They eat fast! The pee while showering, thus taking care of two motives at once! (Of course, the ones with zero neat points will also flood bathrooms when showering, but if they have one point, at least, they won't do that.) I love slobs!

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#14 Old 16th Jul 2018 at 11:01 PM
A lot of the time my really neat sims have to eat alone, guarantees no talking!

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
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