I've downloaded and installed the newest version of the game but I'm still having problems with my peeps (specifically the parents) running out of energy all the time.

I turn the game off before I go to bed and leave it alone all night and turn it back on in the morning. It's usually off for 6 to 8 hours straight. Within a couple of hours the husband is inevitably napping on the couch with a status of exhausted.

Aside from doping him up with energy drinks is there any way to make him less tired all the time? It just seems silly that all he's ever doing is napping on the couch because he's exhausted.

Did you start a new game or continue the old one? If you don't start a new game even after updating the game the update doesn't work, Also make sure it is 1.00.05 that you are using, If you purchased the game from another site they are not putting out the .05 version yet, (so Ive heard). Look on the menu screen in the bottom left corner to make sure of the version you are running, I hope this helps. Good Luck

I double checked the version and it's a new game.

Maybe he's just that lazy. :P

Maybe, but i would Praise for naps. it does help with the tiredness also praise them for going to bed, and relaxing in the hammock. these things help with the energy problems. If he constantly works he will get tired/exhausted more than most.
Also try searching tired/Exhausted. there are several threads for help with ideas on Getting them happy or elated again.

I am having this same problem only it's with every single family member. I am praising them for going to bed, they all get in bed and go to sleep... then I shut off the game and go to bed myself.

Even after 12 hours of the game being off (I went grocery shopping before checking in on my peeps) they are all completely exhausted.. Mom, dad and the four kids.

The family is from the most recent game version.

The odd thing is as soon as I turn the game back on, my peeps have no problem hopping up and running to the bed or chairs to nap or sleep while I am watching. I am not sure what to do.

I allways keep my on daytime.My hardly ever get tired.I play at nite,and i dont want it dark.

I'm having exactly the same problems. Oddly enough, when I was playing the old version of the game, I didn't have an energy problem at all ... I just left them over night, and they woke up almost fully energised. Now, I'm lucky if I get a half-full energy bar after having left them over night. I find it very odd that a version that was supposed to fix a fault actually created that fault for me!

That's really odd.

Maybe you should praise them a couple of times for going to bed and like with RL kids, settle into a routine. I play my families from my time morning to about 10, 11-ish before they start getting tired or exhausted.
After that I shut down the game and by the next morning they'll fully (or almost fully) refreshed.

I know! I praise them for going to bed all the time, and play exactly the same times as you do! I just don't get it. Maybe it's something to do with the Mac version?

That is how I play too. I have my exhausted family set to day and play them during the day. When it becomes dark my time and in the game I put them to bed. I always give lots of praise and they have no problems going to sleep while I am watching them. I also never pause, and I have the windows version.

It's been a few days and they are still exhausted .. >.<

Would anyone know if putting everyone to bed and then switching to a different family still counts as "turning off the game" to the first family?

I think you have to watch them once or twice while they're sleeping coz I know they tend to wake up and sometimes they dont want to get a drink (its acceptable) or read magazines (UNacceptable) then you've got to punish to stop it from happening.

To my limited knowledge, it doesnt seem to stop the first family. They continue their lives while you're playing another family.

I've tried a bunch of different things to keep my peeps asleep. I praise them for going to bed when they're tired and try to keep them from napping during the day when they don't really need to (aren't tired).

I've noticed when I close the game and reopen it, even if it was paused or not, they'll be up and running around again, and then head to bed immediately, and will still be exhausted.

This is version 1.00.05, I just got the game yesterday in fact.

Also... my store is only updating like once a day or something. I bought things yesterday, and then today, and it's been about 12 hours since I woke up this morning and it still hasn't updated.

Yeah I read somewhere in the forums that when you open the game or switch families it randomizes the location of your people. Which is one of the reasons why it's bad to put them to sleep, turn the game off, and check on them.

With a typical family, it is best to turn it off for a the length of a full night's rest.

*wishes her first family was typical*

Try putting your peeps to bed at night before you turn the game off for the last time. I have been running the same families since day 1 and all the upgrades work fine without starting over. Just make sure they are all in bed and then leave your game off until the next day and see if that cures the problem. Hope this helps.

I don't know about the OP or the others with this problem, but that's exactly what I have been doing each night. I put them all to bed and praise them for going to bed. Then I sit and watch to make sure they actually go to sleep. Once they are all fast asleep, I shut the game down for the night.

The first thing I do in the morning is to feed them. As soon as the family has eaten their 1st time, I check each one on the detail screen to see how the "hunger" and "energy" levels are. I feed twice if need be, sometimes the kids need a third helping. Then, several time during the day, the more productive the parents are, the more naps they seem to need. *** If I encourge excercise, the energy bar does increase. Staying in shape has its benefits...
At first, I used to use the red hand whenever they checked their weight...(had visions of vain anorexics....) but that was a mistake. Keeping tabs on their weight leads them to stretching on their own, then quick work outs and so on...

Ooops. I always discourage them from checking their weight but it doesn't affect them because they're still doing workouts on their own.

Do you have some families where it's daytime for them when it's daytime for you and some families where it's daytime for them when it's nighttime for you? Like, out of 5 slots, 3 are day when it's day for you and 2 are night when it's night for you? Because I extensively tried this and it won't work. Even if you don't bother the day ones when you're playing the night ones, the day peeps suffer.

What I ended up doing was installing the game on a second user account on my computer. So, during the day I have all day families on my "regular" account that I've always had. Then, when I want to sit down and play in the evening, I leave that game closed and instead I go into my second user account and play those families. I haven't had anymore problems with tiredness or exhaustion since I started doing that.

No, tugging-in one family and switching to another, does not turn off the game nor the family you tugged-in. You have to PAUSE the family you wish to turn off. You do that by pressing spacebar on your keyboard. Then you switch to a different family.

In this case, switching to a different family is the same as "turning off the game" for the first family. Pausing the game is an entirely different thing, which will "suspend" everything in the game - the family won't sleep, eat, work, or anything else. If you want each family to get a good night's sleep when you're playing multiple families, just tuck each family in for the night, move on to the next one and do the same, and on the last family, exit (quit) Virtual Families.

I do exactly this. They go to bed when I do & wake up when I have breakfast. But they still wake up with only a half full energy bar. Is that normal?

Ok am confused now. I bought the game after the update came out but have version 1.00.01,so not sure why I got old version when there is a newer one. I am quite a way through with my families and doing ok.

If I download the newer version am I going to have to start all over again?

Is everyone having problems with energy levels? I have windows version so is this issue affecting windows?

Advice please??

Debs

you wont have to start over again the updates install over your game, i have had the game since two days after it was released on LDW, and none of the updates erased my games. If you didn't buy the game from LDW you will not have the newest version until the company you bought it from reviews it and releases it. you will have to contact them to get the updated version. If you did buy it from LDW all you need to do is download the trial version over your current game. it will work fine after that. However i have read that some of the updates don't take affect unless you do restart the game. As far as i know it doesn't affect windows. and anyone who has .01 does have energy problems. but the problems seemed to be fixed after the .05 update. Also, try praising your peeps for taking naps and relaxing in the hammock as these things help with energy levels, Hope this helps.

I have this problem with exhausted families as well, and play them generally only from about 5:30 pm to 9 pm. With that usage it irritates me that they are ALWAYS exhausted.

Last night as soon as I logged on I fed my peeps as they were all exhausted and half fed. I then let them all sleep a cycle...which brought them to tired...they then napped or slept a cycle again, and that brought them back to elated. It's a pain, but it appears before I can do anything with them I have to immediately feed them and put them to bed, and then after 30 minutes to an hour of that I can finally work on the game with them.

Oh, and yes, I put them all to bed and praise them for it before I leave. It doesn't seem to matter as by the time I login again they've all gotten promotions and such. Obviously they're inclined to work rather than rest while I'm away.

Try reversing day/ night. by the time you are able to get on they are already exausted from a hard days work. but if your were to reverse day and night they would be just waking up when you are ready to play. and would be happy or elated.

so if im reading this correctly, if i installed the .05 version over my .02 which i have right now, i have to restart everything??? im on my 4th or 5th generation!! that means i would have to start over at 1?????

No, your savegame files will be intact so you won't notice much difference (apart from the extra actions and possibly some of the bugfixes).

Thanks for the replies.

As I said before I have the 1st version but I forgot to say I don't seem to have any problems regarding energy levels.

I check in with my people around 7.30am at which time they are perfectly happy and already working (not sure bout energy levels at this point as I never took any notice, will check them in the morning and let you know). I then go off to work and don't get back to them till around 7pm. They are only just tired at that time and start getting exhausted around 8pm.

Not sure what bugs or problems everyone has been getting. So far the only problem I have is that all my people seem to die when they are in their 60's.

The target of getting the "Wise" trophy (at 70 years old) I thought would be solved by getting all the upgrades so they didn't have to work so hard and therefore make life easier so they live longer? Yes? No?

Debs

phew thanks Arnie! i was starting to get scared! i just checked and im on the 4th generation. unfortunately Debkat thats not the case. well in .02 anyways, they die way too young!

What I have found since I have been having a problem sleeping at night myself. My peeps all go to bed around 10:00 however they wake up after about 20 minutes (if that) and get a drink, nature calling, heat up some food, get a drink again, watch tv, get a drink all the while going to bed several time but never staying asleep. sometimes they take turns going back and forth to the kitchen sink and bathroom sink. I've been watching them do this for about week. Then at 6 am the adults go to work. They do not work much throughout the night if at all but they move around all night. I have version 5.

I didn't understand how does the switch REVERSE DAY / NIGHT work. I don't like dark because when is night my peeps are tired or exhausted. I wish to know which option makes my game allways clear as day and the little people full of energy.

Barbara, use that switch if you play the game at night. Press the Menu button, then Options. Change "Reverse Day/Night" to Yes.

It will then be daytime for your villagers.

Also adding to this.... I have tried putting them to bed and pausing the game and when I turn it back on 8+ hours they are not in the bed where I left them and they are still exhaused???? Then I have tried them being exhaused puting them in bed NOT pauseing the game but exiting and when I come back 8+ hours they are exhaused again???? I have the new verison .5 got this game from Big Fish Games. Please help.

If you pause the game it is as if you never put them to bed - pausing makes everything stop, they don't sleep, eat, work, or anything else while paused. So that is your problem.

Also, the game is set to randomize the location of your peeps when you reopen - therefore, they will most likely not be in the same location as when you exited their family.

There is a chamilnile tea your people can drink that makes them go to sleep for a whiile ,a long while and if they get too sleepy there is an energy drink that makes them super fast for a long while

ok got the pause thing but what about when I don;t pause it and I put them to bed and then quit the game and do not reopen it for 8+ hours they are still exhaused?

When they get really exausted to the point where the line is really low, i give them pennicillian it brings the energy line up a bit and after a bit they get ok again. I just let them do whatever they feel like doing till they regian their energy level back to elated.