[NEEDS INPUT] [CD] Cats are unaware of Bowls or Litter Boxes on the other fl

[adduapina]

I'm experiencing this issue also. There's 2 cats in the household (adult + kitten) and 3 litter boxes (2 on the 2nd floor and one outside - the first floor has no foundation) and the cats are uncomfortable nearly all the time because of the litter boxes even though all are empty and clean.The kitten seems to be able to use the one outside, but the adult one wont.

[StarryMight]

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@SimGuruNick wrote:

I'm hearing that we limited the object picker range for pet bowls and litter boxes because of performance issues. Not to say this is "by design" but yeah, that's why it's happening. 

Detection radius for litter boxes on the cat's occupied floor is about 60 units. If the litter box is one floor away, this shrinks to ~30 units. Cats cannot detect litter boxes that are two or more floors away. 

So yeah, I'm guessing this is primarily an issue for bigger houses/lots. If you place multiple self-care items (litter box or food bowl) on the lot and space them out, does that stop the issue from happening? Thanks much for the reports!

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Since I saw this was bumped, I was going to mention what I've read in relation to Deathcofi's mod (which I've used in the past) when I saw this post. So that's why it happens?

I see, and I do understand. I'd still like to ask, though, if the radius restrictions were achieved it as follows...

"Having looked at what this mod [Deathcofi's Pets can find Pet Stuff on other Floors] does I am surprised to discover that EA have set all of the actions for eating and relieving themselves on pet objects as actions that are NOT autonomous which really doesn't make sense considering we can't control the pets ourselves without mods.
I also noticed that the issue might affect pet beds as well as the laying down interaction is set as not autonomous as well!"

~ Menaceman44

"It appears to be. All I could see that had been changed by this mod was the 'Allow Autonomous' flag had been changed from False to True."

~Menaceman44 (after asking if that's the cause of the issue)

[brubruQC1998]

My cat is stuck when she/he pooping.

I need to ''reset him'' everytime...

[crinrict]

@brubruQC1998 DId you try moving the box somewhere else to see if the same happens ? Sounds like a different issue than outlined in the thread

[KatastrophicSim]

@Deathcoffi There is a fix on ModTheSims. Seems like the devs won't ever fix this one.

[halloweenchild13]

@DragonAge_300905 I'm still having this issue as well.

[syer2403]

happened to me too really hope they fix it

[xochiquetzl_xkvn]

I have some very, very old cats.  (I tend to not let them die of old age and just feed them age-down treats forever.)  The older cats that pre-date the "we retrained all our dogs and cats to eat autonomously" patch are very hit-or-miss on finding their food dishes.  Even with a kibble tower on every floor it's sometimes "[Name] is very hungry!  Don't forget to fill up a dish for him/her!"  It used to be always, then it was frequent. 

If they go on vacation with the cheap dish you have to refill constantly yourself they find it 100% of the time. My impression, right or wrong, was that eating was somehow tied to how often the bowl was filled and not, you know, the actual presence of food in the dish.

"Newer" cats are better at finding their food dish but still not 100%. 

I've gotten into the habit of, if their icon turns the uncomfortable red, just having a Sim walk to a kibble tower and "call to eat" before actually asking the cat what's wrong.  I've also found that they only seem to know about the kibble tower they were last called to. I did install the mod that was supposed to fix this, but maybe these poor elder cats are too buggy?  It helps but doesn't completely resolve it. 

I also have the laser litterboxes on each floor, and they can USUALLY but not always find those.  If "what's wrong" is that they want a nice clean litterbox when they have three, I...

...cheat the cat's need.

Honestly, it's crossed my mind to install the playable pets mod just so I can tell my Sim pets myself where their food dishes and litterboxes are.  I'm not quite there yet, but it's crossed my mind. 

[xochiquetzl_xkvn]

Nick wrote:

I'm hearing that we limited the object picker range for pet bowls and litter boxes because of performance issues. Not to say this is "by design" but yeah, that's why it's happening.

Detection radius for litter boxes on the cat's occupied floor is about 60 units. If the litter box is one floor away, this shrinks to ~30 units. Cats cannot detect litter boxes that are two or more floors away.

So yeah, I'm guessing this is primarily an issue for bigger houses/lots. If you place multiple self-care items (litter box or food bowl) on the lot and space them out, does that stop the issue from happening? Thanks much for the reports!

Interesting.  Yes, one of my buggier cats lives in Ophelia Villa (the Goth house; Alexander aged up with the RNG trait "Cat Lover" and married one of my Sims).  She has kibble towers and litterboxes on multiple floors and has trouble finding them sometimes.  Like, she's on one side of the basement I added and saying she's hungry or needs a litterbox when she has a kibble tower and laser litterbox on the other side of the basement.  She also has a kibble tower in the kitchen and a litterbox in one of the second floor bathrooms, but those apparently don't exist.  (That said, well.  Her name is "Princess" and that's how she's treated, so she has eager human attendants telling her about her dishes whenever she seems hungry.)

The other is over 900 Sim days old, based on Simology panels of the elders he lives with.  He lives in a 3 story house with a greenhouse on top and litterboxes and food dishes on each floor but the greenhouse.  I love him dearly, as do his human-Sim companions, but he has terrible trouble finding his food dishes.  He can be maybe five build mode squares from his food and still be generating popups reminding me to fill his dish when he has a full kibble tower.

The cat in Riverside Roost is a lot younger and has never had trouble finding her (single) food dish or litterbox.  Nor has the very young cat (aged up from kitten a week or two ago) in the Chieftain's Villa  lot in Sulani.

I always assumed the issue was the age of the cats, since pets from my oldest save were super buggy in that regard. On one memorable occasion I lost my temper with a cat requesting a nice clean litterbox when she had four, so I went into build buy and purchased her maybe 10 and surrounded her on all sides, to no avail.  (Perhaps I confused her.)

[Ozlem80]

Jumping in as well, I thought it was just my current pet but it makes sense.

Ever since the recent update of 1.72.28.1030 I never had this issue, I play in a mega legacy mansion, fills most of the 50x50 space and I have only ever needed two little "pet rooms" however to get my current pet (who I had prior to the update) to feed and use the litter box I have had to delete the current food tower and place a new one, call pet to location, fill it and command it to feed and so far the pet has 'remembered' where the food is located to self feed and same deal with the litter box, I've had to walk to the old box, delete it, buy a new one, place it (these are placed in the same spots as before), call the pet and the pet uses the box and then remembers it.