WEEK 2: Enhancing Moods

EXPLORING BEHAVIORS (continued)

Let's open up Behavior #4113 "inc comfort" which really means #4113 "increase comfort". It's very nearly the same as BHAV 4112. The first line in this BHAV does lead to other lines, however so when we rewrite the bhav in a few moments it'll actually make a difference. First, we are going to have a look at the BHAV grouped as it is.

In one section, neatly bunched together, we find some lines that have to do with GUID numbers (lines 1 through 6).

Fig. 1.27

GUID is an acronym, meaning that you do not pronounce it like a word, but rather you say the letters as in G - U - I -D. It stands for Global Unique Id. A GUID is a set of numbers (hexadecimals) that is assigned to each and every object in the game. No two must be alike or your game will freeze, crash, burn, or reach over, grab you by the neck and shake you until your brain rattles in your skull. The Magic Cookie number you've all heard about plays a major part in the GUID and you will learn about that at the end of this lesson.

Notice there are several GUID numbers here. That's because as you will remember, Maxis lumped a bunch of dining chairs all together into one tree table. This means that only ONE of these GUID lines belongs to our chair and the rest can be ignored. If we could take an eraser and wipe out the "extras", we would have a nice clean behavior to work with, but alas, that is seldom, if ever, the case.

In the next portion of our behavior we see a LOT of lines all having to do with our prime objective: Find Comfort. They all mention comfort. But not all the lines are identical.

Some say: my motives Comfort < = (lines 7 through 12).

Fig. 1.28

The others say: my motives Comfort + = (lines 13 through 18).

Fig. 1.29

The difference is a matter of math employed, and will make perfect sense if you understand that one deals with "less than" and the other with "add". If math stumps you, don't worry, soon enough everything will fall into place with or without knowing math. I, for one, can't even add 2 + 2 without getting it wrong. Go figure.

Continued on Next Page . . .