The Sims Franchise Condition and Bug Dictionary

The following is a dictionary page defining the terminology of various things related to bizarre conditions, situations, and bugs in The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, as those terms are used on this wiki and in all Dozerfleet literature. Many of these conditions are not observable in the original Sims game series, as a lot of these problems involve issues with fully-scripted and fully-animated 3-D objects. Classic Sims were sprites, which averted a lot of these issues. The Sims 4, furthermore, reworks the aging and transportation systems to make it much harder to produce a lot of these bugs and glitches.

Disclaimer: Not all of these terms are standard vocabulary for all members of the greater Sims Community. Propagate these terms, but understand that not everyone will accept them.

BI-SWILS

 * 1) n., abbrev., Boddler-Induced Social Worker Infinite Loop Syndrome. (see below)

See Boddler Sub-Classes for more-detailed explanations of the Sub-Classes and how to deal with each one.

boddler

 * 1) n., Any object or character in a game with one or more non-synchronized layers of code which render it incompatible with its normal function.
 * 2) n., (as Boddler),
 * 3) A Sim whose AI age and geometric age are maligned.
 * 4) A type class of Sim in which the Sim's AI age and geometric age are maligned in such a way as that the Sim behaves younger than they really are.  Differentiated from an Endault Type, which behave older than they really are.
 * 5) (see below)
 * 6) v., To make an object into a boddler, to malign an object's layers of code out of sync.

Also: "boddlerate," "boddlerize," etc.

Not to be confused with "bastardize," which means to remove the legitimacy or legality of an object.

Boddler-Induced Social Worker Infinite Loop Syndrome
n., A condition in which someone's The Sims 2 game permanently locks the player into the gaming environment due to the inability to get rid of the Social Worker NPC because of an animation error caused by the presence of a Boddler somewhere on the lot, such that the Social Worker cannot get what she came for. The safest way out is with the Windows Task Manager.

gnoming
v., adj. gnomed, Making your Sim more like a gnome in terms of body proportion.

What does this mean?

Gnoming is accomplished through misuse of the stretchSkeleton cheat in Sims 2. Sims' skeletons can be stretched or squashed along the way in terms of the size of their legs and mid-sections, but past a certain threshold of tolerance the rest of their bodies will not follow suit. As a result, they will have arms disproportionately long and heads disproportionately big, in keeping with the difference between gnome and human body proportions explained in an episode of  David the Gnome .
 * In The Sims 2:

Sims aged up to a certain age stage will retain those size assignments permanently until aged up to an older age stage. If the player has a Cheen, for example, they will be a Child that's as tall as a Teen in storked dimensions, until told to do something. In motion, they will gnome down to normal Child dimensions, then stork back up to Teen dimensions when the task is completed.
 * In The Sims 3:

This process is not to be confused with gnomifying, which is to make someone's clothing, hair, and makeup more in keeping with the archetypal garden gnome, in essence, dressing up as a gnome.

Note: It is also not to be confused with turning a Sim into a Garden Gnome Object, which is what the Assassin Mod allows players to do as part of the "Assassination Career" skill. All that process does is replace one in-game object with another, in a way that both adds to the assassin's body count and performs Total Annihilation on his/her victim.

Also note: Animations will not align properly on gnomed subjects in Sims 2, and are the only thing that will keep boddlerized Sims from looking ugly and distorted in Sims 3.

Patch-related note: The worst Sims 3 gnomes are found in Late Night and earlier. Patching the base game in preparation for Generations will eliminate most cases of boddlers, thus eliminating the gnoming issue.

Other bugs related to the aging system in some games have resulted in storked Adabies and Adoddlers, leading to the infamous "Tarantula Baby" glitch often seen in YouTube videos.

The Sims 4 appears to have done away with all the faulty mechanics that would generate this. If not, then evidence of such an aging bug as this has yet to be observed. That Sims themselves cannot be deleted as objects with the MoveObjects cheat in Sims 4 has helped to eliminate several potential glitches.
 * In The Sims 4

The most effective way to gnome or stork a Sim in TS4 appears to be through abuse of slider mods.

storking
v., Making your Sim more like a stork in terms of body proportion, the opposite error of gnoming.

What does this mean?

This is accomplished through misuse of the stretchSkeleton cheat in Sims 2. In Sims 3, misuse of the Master Controller mod in cooperation with the MoveObjects cheat can cause this. Slider mod abuse also leads to storking. So far, the only time it's been observed in The Sims 4, is through slider mod abuse.

In Sims 2, Sims' skeletons can be stretched or squashed along the way in terms of the size of their legs and mid-sections, but past a certain threshold of tolerance the rest of their bodies will not follow suit. As a result they will have arms disproportionately short and heads disproportionately tiny.

Since gnoming occurs when they are made too short, storking occurs when they are made too tall. Their legs will become as tall as a house, or close, and the rest of them will not be large enough in circumference to match and balance their legs. Hence, they'll be stork-legged.

Just as a cartoon inspired the term gnoming, so also a cartoon inspired the term storking. The stork being alluded to is in the gender-stamping room of the 1936 cartoon short Cupid Gets His Man.

In Sims 3, storking is the only known major symptom of creating Boddlers, made infamous through the Tarantula Baby meme.

Forcing animations of an older age group on a younger age group is likely to result in some storking. In the above image, a pose intended for Teen-Adult Sims is forced on a child. The Child's body morphs into a super-skinny Adult, so that the skeleton can fulfill its job. This type of storking is not possible in Sims 2, as IK Animations are more absolute in that game.

Note: Animations will not align properly on storked subjects in Sims 2, and animation is the only thing that allows Boddlers in Sims 3 to gnome back to normal-looking skeletons. Inactivity storks Boddlers to distorted dimensions.

In The Sims Medieval, it's entirely possible to create Chaults and Adilds through cheat abuse, leading to Tarantula folk lurking the game. Early renders of Tarantrum were created by exploiting this cheat.

BWIFS
n., abbrev., Bad Window Freezing Syndrome. A problem in The Sims 3: Late Night. Some windows, when selected, freeze the game. This has since been patched, though running anything in Build Mode when also possessing a lot of custom content can lead to game freezes and crashes. Make sure to run the game on the most up-to-date patches, always. And be mindful of any custom content that may be outdated or poorly-engineered.

DECHI-SWILS
n., abbrev., Dead Child-Induced Social Worker Infinite Loop Syndrome.

A problem in The Sims 2. A Social Worker NPC puts the game into an infinite loop, trapping the player inside the game not because a child is a Boddler, but because the game fails to inform the Social Worker that the child she has come for has actually died.

If made playable, ghost children in The Sims 3 can still be taken away by the Social Worker. Babies and Toddlers are usually only able to die through cheats, being made fireproof.

In The Sims 4, babies, toddlers, and children are simply teleported into oblivion as punishment for being neglected. Players are issued a notification.

CHITI-SWILS
n., abbrev., Child-in-Trap-Induced Social Worker Infinite Loop Syndrome. A problem in The Sims 2. Usually, when a child is trapped inside a room with no doors or windows, and the Social Worker cannot get to that child.

This seems to only be a problem with Children, as Babies and Toddlers magically teleport into the Social Worker's van.

The Sims 3 is able to cheat geometric barriers and teleport anyone, thus eliminating most instances of this being a problem. The Sims 4 teleports neglected youth to oblivion, eliminating the need for problematic NPCs.

CLL-FILS
n., abbrev., Corrupt Lot Loading Failure Infinite Loop Syndrome. (Known on Mod The Sims' wiki as "Bad Lot Issues.") A problem that can occur in either Sims 2 or Sims 3, but is particularly noteworthy in The Sims 2. A failure of the game to load a particular lot, house, zone, level, stage, neighborhood, etc., resulting from a corrupt or missing object being assigned to that location, in which the failure to load locks up the game and possibly the operating system as well. The operating system threat seems to be a bigger issue on 32-bit versions of Windows XP than on any other type of operating system. Most 64-bit versions of Windows avert the OS lockup.

In The Sims 4, the lot will simply delete a bad object reference, and then load as if the object were never there. An error message may be generated to alert players to the fact that an object went missing.

CT-BILS
n., abbrev., Corrupt Twin Birth Infinite Loop Syndrome. Theoretically possible in The Sims 3, this site has only observed it happening in The Sims 2. A woman having twins fails to execute birth animations for the second child, causing the game to lock up indefinitely, while waiting for the failed animation to execute. Usually easily averted in The Sims 3 due to hospital rabbithole births being the default option. Hospital rabbit holes eliminate the need for actual birth animations.

More to that, The Sims 4 has some pretty stable mechanics for births to eliminate CT-BILS, including Get to Work allowing players to follow the expectant mother to the hospital and watch her deliver the baby. A machine helps ensure that she is successful giving birth. CT-BILS has yet to be observed in Sims 4.

MURSWIS
n., abbrev., Music Role Switch Syndrome. Switching game modes too quickly confuses the game concerning which mode plays what music, if any. Example: Live mode plays the Buy Mode music and Buy Mode is suddenly silent. Rare, and an easily-fixable glitch. This has only been observed in Sims 2, and seems to be near-completely-eliminated for anyone playing Open For Business and up. Using 2 GB of RAM or more is recommended to prevent this from happening, as systems with less RAM may not be able to handle the game.

While similar bugs have been observed in The Sims 3, this issue appears to be non-existent in The Sims 4. This is partially due to that game merging Build and Buy modes into a single game mode.

TNFL
n., abbrev., Task Normalcy Fatality Loop. Anything involving programming loop logic failures which disrupt both the player's ability to play the game properly and the operating system's ability to interact with said game properly. Can happen with almost any game, or any piece of software. Individual cases and results may vary.

TNM
n., abbrev., Task Normalcy Menace. Anything which proves an annoyance and disrupts normal OS operations, but which doesn't require dramatic action to stop or repair. In The Sims 2, it is anything which causes the game to absorb unusually high amounts of virtual memory off the hard drive (such as pre-Seasons weather hacks) or causes the game to not function normally, as in the case of MURSWIS (see above). In either case, the problem can be corrected by exiting the game through normal means. Additional drastic measures (such as the Windows Task Manager) are not necessary. To avert this issue, play on PCs that have at least 2 GB of RAM.

A full 8 GB are recommended for Sims 3, especially if played on Windows 7. For even better results with either game, play on a Hewlett-Packard with at least 1 GB of dedicated video memory. Dell computers may need to have their video cards upgraded, as Dell does not prioritize video except for its XPS series. Make sure you use an HP that already has that much dedicated video memory, as HP does not prioritize high-watt power supplies, so upgrading the card may require upgrading your power.

VERFILS
n., abbrev., Vehicle Return Failure Infinite Loop Syndrome.

An issue with The Sims 2: Nightlife, wherein which cars failed to return to lots properly, for whatever reason, and the game became locked up until they could return successfully, which was next-to-never. This appeared to have been partially fixed with later expansion packs, and therefore, occured much less often post-patching.


 * The Sims 3 had different car system game mechanics, rendering this issue obsolete.
 * Lack of driveable cars in The Sims 4 has also made VERFILS a non-issue.