Sims 3 Business As Usual Bistro
This venue brings something new and innovating to The Sims 3 Store. The Store has always had limited budget and technology in order to bring out store content that never utilizes expansion packs, requires coding for the Base Game only, and of course never brought NPC's to the game. Towards the end of The Sims 3 series, it looks like they allocated more time and budget into some new content that will allow NPC designation to some premium objects. Although it may not seem perfect, I find this new venue a step towards future content that will utilize NPC's. I remember Open Restaurants being introduced in The Sims 2 Nightlife, and actual running of said restaurants was introduced in Open for Business. I believe this new content will be a step towards something many simmers missed from The Sims 2, and hopefully we'll see some new content, maybe even a world, designed for OFB. The price of this venue is 1900 Simpoints, and is on sale for 1700 Simpoints until 7/21/13.
Included are 15 items: 1 is a community lot, 6 are CAS, and 8 are Build/Buy that are themed mostly towards an Industrial Kitchen. I am squealing like a fanboy right now due to the fact that we are finally getting some nice content for Industrial Kitchens as I always wanted to build something utilizing a theme as such, and now I finally can!
Jul 18, 2013 Hey guys, Welcome to the review of the Business as Usual Bistro, a new Restaurant-themed venue released in The Sims 3 Store on July 18th, 2013. Hey guys, Welcome to the review of the Business as Usual Bistro, a new Restaurant-themed venue released in The Sims 3 Store on July 18th, 2013.
There is only ONE Premium Content object included, but there is enough design and gameplay utilized that you could say it includes more than one in a single venue. The premium content object is the It's Business Time Industrial Oven, which will be detailed in the next step.
The price breakdown of the set is below. Even though there are no savings with this set, I do feel like it makes up for the lack of missing OFB-style and missing restaurants that we had, even if it should have been introduced in the Base Game to begin with. Also, I kind of wished they varied their prices with Store Venues, while not pricing higher than 1900 Simpoints, I wished there was a range from good venues for 1900 Simpoints to lower cost venues at 1000 Simpoints, in order to provide variety for players. Perhaps if this set was 1600 Simpoints initially, and then marked down to 1400 Simpoints for sale, it might be a catcher for many simmers. That's just my opinion of the price though. You can only hire one chef per oven. Therefore, if you want more than one chef, you need more than one oven.
There are no Hostesses, Waitresses, or Waiters, but the chef does act like a waiter at the same time. If your sim goes on a date, and wants to order and sit together, it may be difficult to get the other sim to order. There are chances you both will order at different times.
Your chef will just continue making food until someone orders from the menu. The interaction does repeat and tends to get old. The menus are temporarily replaced by the dishes, and when you are done, the menu pops back up. And that is pretty much what the basic gameplay is in terms of this new object. One single flaw I could find in regards to the menu is that if you go on a date with two sims, you don't know what the other sim will do. When you order your food, and if by chance they order their food, by the time you are done, they get their food also.
One suggestion that would have improved on this was if the menu had an option that says 'Place Order with.' Meaning this object will que the interaction of the sim to come to your table and you both would order at the same time. Another flaw is that children cannot use the menu and order food. No clue if this was intentional or not as the premium content page says that children can take part of the Industrial Oven, but we know children cannot cook in it, so it would be safe to assume they can use the menus.
Hopefully it was an oversight and will be fixed in the future. Premium Content: 10/10 - This deserves a 10/10 because it goes beyond the limited capabilities in the past due to budget and restrictions when creating new premium content via the store. It introduces a new NPC, new job outside of your household, and potentially new ways to play utilizing this object. Combined with the menu, I do hope more coding gets added to the base game to introduce missing elements like ordering food for someone, etc. Other than that, this object is a must-have in my book, even though it's still pretty pricey for what you're paying for. Overall: 8.75/10 - While I do wish all of this should have been introduced via the Base Game through an update, or through an Expansion Pack, more coding and concepts would have expanded through both rather than the store. Now that they are introduce OFB-like content via the store, it makes me feel irksome that we will be getting more limited content through the store, unless they continue stepping up their game and add something better than what they just added today.
Curious to see what they add in the future.
AKA Fix Your Premium Content Having troubles with your Premium Content? Do your sims reset when they try to use the Spell Book? Are you unable to place your Sauna? Is your Multi-Tab 6000 not working properly? Do your sims not receive moodlets when using premium content objects?
Does your wood fire oven have no interactions? If so, you’re not alone. But I have good news for you. The vast majority of issues with Premium Content can be easily fixed without the need of any mods. This tutorial is available in Dutch, thanks to Libby. For Missing Accessory/Missing Resource issues (missing Megaphone, missing Cauldron spoon, missing Charles the Chicken, big white boxes when using premium content etc.), see: The DCBackup Folder Back before there was Premium Content, it was perfectly safe to delete everything in the DCBackup folder without care. This folder merely stores a package format back up of all content you install via the launcher.
Keeping this folder empty means you will clear up some extra hard drive space (which is probably only important for people with SSDs). As far as I know, it also means your custom content will not be packaged with your lots and sims, though I have never personally confirmed this. After EA released the spell book premium content object, which had a custom skill and moodlet, gone were the days of simply hitting Ctrl+A in the DCBackup folder, and then delete. There is now a very important package file stored in your DCBackup folder: the ccmerged.package file. This is where EA stores all custom moodlets, skills, ingredient data, plant data and recipes relating to Premium Content you’ve installed.
If you delete this package file, the game will not be able to load your store moodlets, and objects that grant custom moodlets, such as the Deep Fryer and Fountain of Youth, will not work properly. Moreover, if you delete this file, you will encounter all kinds of issues including: the spell book reset issue, being unable to place the sauna, no interactions on the wood fire oven, deep fryer, ice cream maker, teppanyaki grill etc.
Please note that the game does re-create the ccmerged.package when you delete it, but it is empty, and this empty ccmerged.package will cause most premium content objects to malfunction. So, what does this mean? This means you should not delete the ccmerged.package in your DCBackup folder. It also means that you can fix nearly all Premium Content item “bugs” without any mods at all. You can still safely delete everything else in the DCBackup Folder. So, maybe now you’re thinking, Help! I already deleted my ccmerged.package. Don’t worry, we can get your ccmerged.package back, though it will require a little bit of effort.
Restoring Your ccmerged.package Who should use this method? Anyone who installs premium content from the Sims 3 Store can use this method to repair their ccmerged.package. Even if you have never deleted anything in your DCBackup folder, your ccmerged.package may have somehow become corrupt or incomplete if the Launcher had trouble merging the information.
Errors with the Deep Fryer and Ice Cream Maker, the sauna, moodlets, sims resetting, sims not gaining gambling skill, being unable to use the wood fire oven/teppanyaki grill/etc., are all linked to the ccmerged.package. This is probably also why the store development team is not able to reproduce the errors: their ccmerged.package is complete. It’s also why the SimGurus may simply tell you to re-install the object. If you arehaving a Missing Resource/Missing Accessory issue (missing Megaphone, missing Cauldron spoon, missing Charles the Chicken, big white boxes when using premium content, etc.), see: How to Restore Your ccmerged.package If you’ve already deleted your ccmerged.package, you’re going to have to get it back somehow. This is easy to do, especially if you back up your Store downloads (you DO back up your Store downloads, don’t you?). To do this, we will use the “factory reset” method (re-name “The Sims 3” folder) to create a fresh game environment.
Then we will install all Premium Content, and move the resulting ccmerged.package to our old The Sims 3 folder. See detailed steps below. Go to Documents Electronic Arts and re-name the folder called “The Sims 3” to something else. For Example: The Sims 3.old (All of your current content is store in this folder and it will not be lost in the process.) 2. Start the Launcher. The Launcher will now re-build all necessary files to run the game. Move your backed up premium content sims3packs into Documents Electronic Arts The Sims 3 Downloads.
If you did not back up your downloads (tsk tsk), you will need to re-download your premium content items. You only need your premium content items. Note: You can use the World sims3packs (Hidden Springs/Lunar Lakes/Lucky Palms/Monte Vista/Aurora Skies/Midnight Hollow) to install Premium Content items that came with the worlds. You may need to restart your launcher to see the now full Downloads tab. Otherwise, click on the Downloads tab and install the premium content items via the Sims 3 Launcher.
Optional Step: You may now wish to test your premium content before moving your ccmerged.package. Simply launch the game and try to use your premium content objects. If they work, your ccmerged.package is good and you can continue to Step 5. Close the Launcher. Find the ccmerged.package in Documents Electronic Arts The Sims 3 DCBackup and copy this file to the DCBackup folder in your old The Sims 3 folder (The Sims 3.old).
If you still have a ccmerged.package in your old DCBackup folder, choose replace. Important: Do not rename the ccmerged.package. Re-name or delete the current “The Sims 3” folder in Documents Electronic Arts 7. Re-name your old The Sims 3 folder (In this example: The Sims 3.old) to The Sims 3 8. Go to Documents Electronic Arts The Sims 3 and delete the scriptcache.package. Start your game and test your premium content items. If they all work perfectly, YAY!
Don't let the age of the game dissuade you.the graphics look great on my newer machine and the cleverness of the puzzles and HOS make them better than what I've seen in many newer games. I really wish there were more games like this. There is no running around wondering what to do with an item in your inventory or where to go next which is a huge plus IMO. There is a cute and often amusing story that unfolds between each grouping of HOS and puzzles which is icing on the cake. Hidden expedition everest walkthrough. Instead of clicking through scene after scene scurrying back and forth you just play puzzles and find objects which given that it's a HOG is exactly what's wanted.
If your premium content items are still not working properly, there are few possible reasons for this:. You may have an out of date premium content mod. This would have to be a mod that alters premium content moodlets, skills ingredients, plants, or recipes, In other words, a mod that alters a resource in the ccmerged.package. You may have an older copy of the ccmerged somewhere in your Sims 3 folder, such as in your Mods folder, or somewhere else. You may have some other package, or corruption in your Sims 3 folder which is causing the ccmerged not to be loaded properly. I highly recommend using the Optional Step in Step 4.
Test your objects in the clean Sims 3 folder and make sure they are working before you move the ccmerged to your original Sims 3 folder. You can also try the following:. Download the ccmerged.zip below and unzip it to Documents Electronic Arts The Sims 3 DCBackup. Alternatively: Place a copy of ccmerged.package in your Mods Packages folder. NOTE: This requires. I do not recommend keeping your ccmerged.package anywhere except in the DCBackup, as otherwise you must remember to update the package every time you install new Premium Content. If you installed your premium content as package files, place the ccmerged.packaged in Mods Overrides.
Also, try reading the “It Sill Doesn’t Work!” section. You can achieve the same results by uninstalling the your premium content through the launcher and then re-installing.However, I personally think using a clean Sims 3 Folder is easiest. The launcher is very clunky to use, and if you have many objects installed via the launcher, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to properly uninstall all premium content objects through the launcher. Simply re-creating the ccmerged.package by using a factory reset and re-installing the objects is a very quick, safe and easy way to get a working ccmerged.package, especially if you back up your downloads. Q: It Still Doesn’t Work!
If your Premium Content still isn’t working properly, consider the following:. Do you have any old premium content fixes/mods or an old ccmerged.package somewhere in your Mods folder or The Sims 3 folder?
Try removing the old fixes and see if it that helps. Tip: Remove your mods folder and start the game. Load up a test world and test the object. If your object works without the Mods folder, then you have an outdated mod or ccmerged.package somewhere. Did you skip a step?
Don’t skip steps! The best method to fix your premium content is to use an empty Sims 3 folder, so you can be sure that you didn’t miss uninstalling any of your Premium Content before you re-install. Try launching the game and testing the content before you go back to your old Sims 3 folder. If the content works, then you have something in your old Sims 3 folder that is breaking your object. If the content doesn’t work, then your launcher is not properly creating the ccmerged.package for some reason.
You can use my ccmerged.package, provided below, if your launcher is not building the ccmerged.package properly, or if you’re too lazy to fix your own ccmerged. Make sure you delete the scriptcache.package, or the game might not pick up the changes in the ccmerged.package. Finally, just to remind you, if you installed your premium content items as package files (this does not apply if you install through the launcher), you must keep an updated version of the ccmerged.package in Mods Overrides. Q: I have all Premium Content from the Store. Do I really need to install everything?
No, you do not need to install all Premium Content (but if you have backed up all of your store content, it shouldn’t be much of a hassle). You only need to install content that provides custom moodlets, skills, recipes or plants (which is, admittedly, most premium content items). All premium content listed above is included in the ccmerged I have provided for download at the bottom of the post. Please post a comment or send a PM if I’m missing Premium Content Item that provides custom moodlets, skills, recipes, plants or ingredients. Q: What if I install new Premium Content that comes with a custom moodlet, skill or recipe? As long as you do not delete the ccmerged.package, you will be fine. You can install as many new Premium Content Items as you wish, and you should not encounter any problems with your content.
The Launcher will merge any new information into your ccmerged.package on its own and you will not have to re-install all your premium content whenever you get something new That said, I do recommend that you keep a backup copy of your ccmerged.package. In fact, I often back up my entire Sims 3 folder whenever I install new store items. If something goes wrong for some unexpected reason, you may need to repeat this process again. If you had to put your ccmerged.package in your mods folder, you will need to replace that file with the new one when you install new content. ❗ However, if you put your ccmerged.package in the Mods folder, you must update it every time you install new Premium Content, Q: But I install my store content as package files Or I really don’t want to create a ccmerged.package. You can have my ccmerged.package.
I update it every time there is a new Premium Content item. Unzip to Documents Electronic Arts The Sims 3 DCBackup This ccmerged.package contains all data for all premium content. Even if you do not own all premium content, you can safely use this package in your own game. It will not cause problems with your game at all. Please see for more information about why you can use this ccmerged. Related Posts. Last update: 7 June 2014 for World of Wonder Carousel Collection.
The Sims 3 Business As Usual Bistro
About Hi, I’m Nona and I love the Sims. Welcome to my blog. I’m an avid Sims fan, player, and modder. I’ve been modding the Sims 3 for over two years, but I’ve been playing the Sims since The Sims 1 was first released in 2000. I’m not a professional coder, however, I’ve been programming since middle school, where I learned BASIC.
In high school I learned C, HTML, and Java. It was only natural for me to transfer my love of coding (and blogging) to my favorite simulation game. I know all of us who love the Sims have also had our fair share of technical issues with the game. I love to help fellow simmers fix their game, so they can spend their free time playing and not troubleshooting.
I also love to mod the Sims, so we can play with life the way we want. If you’re having a problem with your game, feel free to drop me a comment, and I’ll try my best to help you out. If you want to find more of my mods, visit my forum at, where most of my mods are hosted, and check out my profile.