coolspear

Hi @nynvieealmerecheers. Not sure what SCCO is. I've been off the scene for a while. I presume it's a food mod of some kind? If it's a big affair, getting its fingers into a lot of pies, it may well conflict as my versions of the quicker eating and sit at tables mods do involve messing with a lot of food/drink object and recipe files - hell of a lot - and a lot of eating/drinking interaction mechanics.

Hi all. Got a new shiny for all you folks with Eco Living, think you might like it. I've only had the EP for over a week now but it wasn't long before I wanted to make this beauty. I know there are instant cheat codes for instantly ramping up the green footprint, but I wanted something a little more tangible, and something that worked well for the community ethos of Eco Living.

What we have here is a deluxe portable wind turbine/water pump. The reason for it to be portable in a sim inventory, is that it can be taken off lot and placed in an open world area, and it will then service every lot in that area, be it four or five homes. The beauty being that all homes can contribute, the community ethos thingy, and each can buy and place a turbine, building something of a community wind farm. Each one added will stack, and increasingly boost the power to all homes, the ground water pump extracting from the water table also supplying water to all homes. Also stacks - massively - in increasing the green footprint for each lot and the region. A true community endeavor that beats any of those silly N.A.P initiatives. and more than just whacking in a cheat code, as a tangible, physical wind farm is supplying the area.

I do think you have to play each household in the area for each of them to pick up the green eco footprint so it displays properly in town view. But if the community has plonked about five of these down, then that green footprint wont take too long to amass. 

The deluxe ground turbine is a standalone clone, with its own unique xml coding, should not interfere with the Maxis default version.  It comes fully upgraded so no need to mess around with any of that, it's found in the same place in build mode as the other Eco objects, but is twice the price. Just get all in the area to contribute to the growing wind farm in the chosen world area and all will reap the benefits. So much so you don't have to put a single power generator and such the like on the home lots. Or be a total meanie and keep it on their own lot just for that family.

I really should put this new object in its own thread. A picture of the community wind farm I built on one of those small outer sand islands in Sulani would really set the idea, five turbines from the five houses, all now reaping the stacked rewards - maybe a little too OP with the power and water supply they now enjoy, but hey, that's mods for you, gotta be a bit cheaty somewhere - could always make a smaller wind farm though. Guess I'll have to get a thread for this mod sorted soon as there'll be a few more new goodies coming for the Eco pack now that I'm tearing into it. 

 

Edit - mod has been moved to its own thread here - https://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php?/topic/15971-portable-powerful-green-eco-wind-turbine-eco-living-ep-new-for-sept-21/

Please make any comments about that mod in that thread, thank you all.

 

Hey all. Uploading the first little bundle rar with some up to date goodies. All good for 1.79 and new stuff added.

The full set of Chefs Kitchen Helpers all tidied up and new produce added to purchase from the two Fruit Bowls, all that new stuff from Cottage Living. Many other mods of a similar type, with objects that allow purchasing of collectible goodies and some with storage holds. Most notable of them is Plenty O' Presents. Maxis went and broke that fancy search for presents interaction on it again, they love doing that, so I've removed it completely. Just straight up buy stuff from it now. Heck, my sim made himself a lightsabre from the parts without going anywhere Batuu. I'll probably scrap the V.A.T of Life Genetics mod, if anyone was using that. Maxis broke it again and I just can't be bothered faffing around to fix it. It was a good mod, but too intricate, too many "moving parts" just the type Maxis love to smash over and over.

The Cornucopia Buffet Tables and Fridges are in fine working order. Have not added any new models for fridge or any new meal types to them since I last left off, that will come later on down the line.

Updated the Garden Plants for all seasons mod, making sure the special feature for Master Gardeners to pick the growth state and instantly spawn new produce is working great. Extended that function to the new Giant Plants from Cottage Living. So if you haven't already seen the most supermassive giant plants as yet, just get your Master Gardener to go chat with the melons, mushrooms and what not, and you'll see some jaw-dropping whoppers spring into existence immediately after. Competition winners every time. That mod was broken way back for 1.63 Eco patch, right when I retired, so many of you may have missed another special feature I included in the 1.62 patch. Well now that it's all updated and 1.79 compatible, you might get to play with it for the first time. Remember Sims 3, and that crazy harvesting tool you could build? Now you have similar for harvesting your gardens in Sims 4. No matter how big your gardens, hundreds and hundreds of plants all over the lot, now the Master Gardener can just whip out the harvesting tool and suck them all into their inventory in minutes without moving from the spot. Yay! RepoMan style - or should that now be ReapoMan? Akk, forget it... Just click on any garden plant that has harvestable produce and the level 10 Master Gardener will see the new Suck It Up option just for them. Choose it, and let it ride.

The next mod types I'll be working on are the Improved/quicker Eating and Drinking mods and sit at tables and such the like. The game is simply awful without them, I just can't bare to watch, waiting in agony, as they eat and drink in dreadful default rules. So maybe a couple of weeks working on that due to the many xmls and trickery involved getting the balance right. Happy simming, folks. Right, I'm off now to have my sim get a lightsabre production line on the go with Plenty O' Presents and he can sell them all on the internet. Batuu, pffft, who needs it? 

   

Edit - the bundle rar folder that was here has been removed. For the most up to date mods and info see here - https://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php?/topic/15991-all-updated-mods-180/

 

Hi Kimi, it'll be a while before that can be decided. I've been playing the game without mods on purpose, to get a feel for what mods I'll need to update. Oddly enough, the first I did was No Auto make a mess for kids, because they were at that every five minutes, and it takes them so much longer to mop up than it did to make the mess, it's just horrible to watch over and over. No Auto wash hands is gonna be next for them, because the youngsters are now doing that excessively since make a mess is denied them (Or, if memory serves, maybe it's that silly thing they do of washing fake, non-existent dirty dishes to get good influence points, either way it has to go.) The no auto drinking from sink or fridge don't seem to be needed any more, haven't seen a sim do any of that yet, not even once let alone excessively.

But what I'm getting at is I'm just playing and modding as I go, to see just what is still needed. So it may be a while before I've got anything worth uploading. Though I'm sure I'll have all these kitchen helper mods and vase mod and a few others of similar nature all updated to 1.79 and any new produce added all quite soon, so I'll upload a bundle rar with all them in the near future.

^^^^^Great Minds Think Alike!!!

Would you believe it, over the last few days, I've only gone and got myself every last blasted pack for TS4, everything I was missing up to date - even Batuu, for the love of all that's holy. And of course, patching the game to current 1.79 was an unavoidable part of the process. Equally unavoidable is the agonizing process of updating all my mods I simply cannot play without. Well, that's a slow-going agony, as you can imagine. But I was right now, just now, trying to update the All Produce Perfect mod and the Fruit Bowls and Flower Vase for buying all the produce. I came here to see what you did to the Milk Churn, and as coincidence will have it, not four hours ago, you posted the very code I was looking for to reinstate the interaction to continuously purchase stuff. (Beats searching through the extracted game file XMLs to discover what Maxis did, let me tell you -  which I have to do for most of my mods anyway, seeing they've changed so much all over the place since I was last actively modding. Even the never-changing statistic xmls, they've thrown a little extra <U/> in at the bottom, just to break that which they never broke before. ) I cannot believe the coincidence. Just four hours apart!!! MenaceMan, that is some serious messing of eternal fate going on there, God bless you!!! There is a plan, and I'll be turned upside down, inside out and forevermore gobsmacked if I were to ever fully realize what it is, but there is most evidently "a plan."

 

And yep, it seems I'm back on the TS4 modding trail. I needed a break from playing and modding Anno 1800, so TS4 is where I've returned as the familiar stomping ground.    

It was not intentional to make these objects only sell one thing at a time. They never used to. Maxis must have changed something in recent times for these objects to now do this. Like making them the same as only selling one buyable Trait at a time in the Rewards Store - an annoyance I also had to mod to make multiple sales available. It truly baffles me how those folks whose career it is to develop games, fail to see how annoying such features are. That's the defining line between developing games and playing games, I guess. Some of those in the industry do not do both, it seems.

Hi @SailorEffinMoon thanks for explaining the Overrides Folder element. Also the TS4 (Time Slice 4) version is certainly the fastest, but designed moreover for folks like me who use MC to slow down the global game time to at least half default speed. (I actually slow down three times slower, such that my game days last three times longer than default.) That's where the TS4 speed version works the best. If playing on default global time speed, the difference between TS4 through to TS16 would not even be noticed by the player in most aspects of the game.

Also, the Resource.cfg file you attached, is it the same one from here? - https://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php?/topic/12798-more-nesting-depth-for-folders/

I see it's been edited, the blank lines removed - made more tidy. Even shaved off 50 bites from the file size. 

Also worth mentioning that this Resource.cfg adds extra nesting depth (Allows more folders within folders 5 deep) and allows for Script mods to be placed into a single folder and still be recognized/read by the game during loading, unlike the default Maxis version. As well as setting up the Overrides Folder to also be recognized and giving load priority to any mods placed within as you rightly explained.

Thanks for all your kind words. Of course it was hard to see someone you love deteriorate in the hospital. But then it's merciful when it's all over. Though the hardest part was having to empty out her flat. She'd made a lovely haven for herself over three decades. And we've had to go pull it all apart. Like deconstructing a life. I mean if she was going to be anywhere after that fikken time in the hospital, she was going to be at that haven.  And we had to pull it all apart. Not easy. And of course the funeral this Thursday.

Thank you all. All the years she played the sims she would often visit this site and see my mods, reading posts from you guys. So in a way, she knew quite a few of you.

I will take a look at the mod and the patch as I am keeping this mod updated. I knew they were going to try something relating to simulation lag, as last May they did indeed change something that seemed totally pointless at the time, but I did have to update this mod to be compatible with that patch change last May. Perhaps they are now using that otherwise seemingly pointless change they made last May, expanded upon it in this latest patch? I'll get back to you on that.

 

Might be a while though, as my mother passed away Sunday 11th and we're organizing the funeral details. 

It will always work for the older world regions it covers, given the nature of the mdding involved. Patches cannot break it, nor should it break the game. Safe to use forever. However, it does not work on any new regions introduced, as they have not been included in the mod. Every new world region since University pack has not been modded, not included in the mod, ergo they will be Maxis rules.

 

There is also the chance Maxis may rework older region XMLs, creating brand new replacement XMLs and making the old ones utterly redundant. (As seen with the Granite Falls Region XML.) In such cases, those older region XMLs that are in the mod will stop working, have no effect as they effect absolutely nothing, and the new replacement XMLs Maxis introduce will then run the regions. This is very rare, but can and has happened, once. Though I was still modding at the time of the Granite Falls replacement change, so was able to fix. If it happens again though...  

When I mention about slowing the world time down, I'm referring to the function on MC, not the in game time controls. Where the default world speed is 1 second real time equals to 1 minute sims time. Sixty seconds real time equals to 1 hour sims time. MC has a function to change that, for folks like me who think Maxis have set default world time to tick over too fast, a day goes by far too quickly - 24 real time minutes. I slow it down to three times slower,  so my days in game are three times longer than default. That's the speed I prefer, can get more done at a leisurely pace. Doesn't have to be a sprint race each damn day, getting little-to-nothing done. 

In regular play the differences at that stage between T8, T4, and perhaps T16 to a degree, are minimal, probably not even noticeable. The mods made more so for folks who prefer to slow the world time down via MC as that's when they make the most differences. The slower you go with world time speed, the faster the interaction pushes will need to be.

 

As said in the original explanation, it's not a perfect system. The methodology I used in reworking the coding was to create a open field between a lowest factor and highest factor, giving the game more chances to push sims quickly and have the availability to "slide up" to highest factor per interaction push. But it can sometimes randomly land on the lowest factor in the field as the starting place for an interaction push. Hence sometimes it's as bad as Maxis default, as Maxis only gave the coding a set low field and nothing else to work with. So yes, there is always the chance the sims will still be slow to get underway. But also, yes, it's not as bad as Maxis default because even if sims do randomly start slow, at lowest factor, they can and do slide up and get thier asses moving quicker, not locked into a permanently low, unchanging (unforgiving) single factor.

 

This mod also came with another, once upon a time, that was made to complement, that was to make sims do Fun activities more often. As there is another element to the game that may initially seem like simulation lag, but is not. It's just if a sim has no need to attend to their motives, everything high in the green and no particular thing to do, then they do take to doing their favorite pastime of sitting or standing around for hours. (Not forgetting there are a small handful of interaction/animations that also appear to the untrained eye as typical simulation lag. Watching kids play and watching toddlers can appear as typical aimless lollygagging. The only difference being an interaction icon in the sim's queue, otherwise you just can't tell as the same animation resource is used. Not able to control all sims on the lot, so as to see their queues, I made no autonomy mods for those interactions so they did not continuously blindside me to the simulation lag issue.) 

 

I took that old Fun mod down a long while back after Maxis made a particular fubar of it in a patch. (Very intricate re-balancing factors that patches were always messing with. I gave up.) I don't think I'll ever try to fix it. Not unless I were to get back into modding TS4 again. Maybe after Maxis bugger off and quit patching the game I'll bring the Fun mod back to life, to complement the simulation lag mod once again, and even less (satisfied) sims standing and sitting about aimlessly.

 

Regarding Turbodriver's mod, I have no idea. Turbo's usually good with updating and/or commenting on the mod thread if its required. Plus I haven't been playing TS4 for a while - even though I'm still only on game version 1.62. I don't keep abreast of latest patches and mod updates if and when I do play the game. (Except to maintain this Simulation Lag mod if needed.) Currently busy (finally) playing older games I got ages ago that were just gathering dust. Anno 1800, to name one. That's a bloody good game. Enjoying every minute of it. Almost addicted!

 

I think your machine specs are more than enough for Sims 4 and TS8. Hell, if Maxis made the game engine better, your specs would be great on their own and you wouldn't even need this mod. This mod wouldn't even exist! The question is, what game world time speed do you prefer to play at? As well as what size lots and families are the majority in your world. Slow time, big lots and big families, with your machine specs. TS8 is okay. TS4 if you like to go as slow with world time speed as I do. Default world time speed, big lots, big families, TS16 a good place to start, perhaps TS8 if you can spot the difference between the two when experimenting. 

Once you place one of these green tiles, the insect types pertaining to that tile will spawn. As Maxis made several types that randomly spawn, you may have to try a few times to get the preferred insects types you want. However, default rules will make all those insects vanish after a little while, never to be replaced. The other mod here ensures that the spawned insects do not ever vanish and will always remain visible.

 

The mod that prevents insect vanishing also prevents the insects from other default spawners to vanish. Such that if you were going to the forest region to hunt insects for collecting and spotted bees you've already collected , don't wait for the game to make them vanish so it can later replace them with butterflies or some such. It won't. The bees will always be there. Unless you collect them, so that the game will then spawn random insects next time.

 

Any of the insects that these green tiles spawn can also be collected to a sim inventory, put inside an insect display tank and registered to the achievements list. No need to go hunting in Granite Falls, do it all in your own back garden. Or just leave the pretty butterflies to flit and flap about over the rose bushes forevermore, it's up to you.

 

As far as patches breaking mods is concerned, the green tile insect spawner objects are probably safe, I can't see Maxis having a need to tamper unless they did a noticeable rework on the insects of the Granite Falls Outdoor Retreat GP. They hardly ever go back to tamper with stuff like that. The vanish prevention mod, they may have had more reason to tamper with, perhaps changing a general code line that all such XML types share that may effect it. I Don't know. I'd say probably not, given there is very little data on it, but Maxis do tamper with code lines here and there that makes no discernible sense nor any improvement in game, yet they do it. Like they hand over the game code to programming students on a regular basis, then when the uni students send it back, they just stick it in the game unchecked. Lots of Tom, Dick and Harry changes, just because...

 

Finally, you don't need both mods here, but if you are looking to make insects a decorative feature of your homes and gardens, then you probably won't like the game deleting the insects five minutes after you've placed them. Especially if you've messed about for ages to first get the insects you want - let's say bees - and to then move them with the MOO cheat to fit all snugly next to a bee hive object, delighted with the visual outcome and your skills to decorate. Five minutes later you come back and they are either all deleted forevermore or replaced with termites or something. AKKK! Then you'll be needing the no vanish mod to keep your pretty decorating just as you like it.    

 

 

Well, the real question is, since dance floors now have an on/off switch feature, I was wondering just what the heck that's all about. It's not for stopping/starting sims dancing outright, so just what does it do? I was guessing, that you switch on/off if dancing is seen as performing. So that if turned off and a celeb is dancing, no bugger is interested. If turned on and celeb is dancing, it's seen as performing and the annoying crowds then gather round to clap and cheer like imbeciles, because one sim is now doing exactly the same thing they were all just doing only moments before the idiot game mechanics forced them to stop doing same and marvel at the celeb for doing the same fucking thing they were all just doing. Akkk!

 

So then, dance floors have an On/Off switch, and basically I don't know what it's for. If it's for what I guessed at above, then great, we can scrap the mod I made for "Dancing Is Not Performing." But if it's for some other equally obscure reason Maxis failed to explain, then I don't know what the heck??? Dance floors have an On/Off switch. WHY?!!! WHAT?!!! WHY???!!!   

@Menaceman44thanks for that report. It turns out Maxis did, finally after seven years, change the autonomy XML in a way that needs the mod to be updated for 1.71 games.

 

I have updated the set for 1.71. Also tweaked the set that predates 1.71 for older game versions. (Like mine.)

 

They are all now back in this mod thread where they belong, no longer posted in other threads. This mod is too important to let it fall by the wayside. So I am happy to at least keep this one up to date, even if I'm not modding full time.

 

It took longer than I planned to check, as I had to test updated 1.71 version on my old computer. That version of the Sims 4 has absolutely no mods or CC, nothing - apart from this one for testing. So it's really annoying to play for any length of time. But I had to test this 1.71 version is working fine before releasing, and happy to report it is good to go without issues, crashes, LEs or anything. Sims still jumping to it quicker as the mod dictates, albeit to do the annoying interactions I'd completely forgotten they do in my other, fully modded version of the game on newer computer. The agonies we have to endure for modding!!! 

 

@kevinnclayWhere it's true no version of this mod will bring about simulation perfection, - the faults are too deep-seeded for mods to fully address - there are some main difference between this tuning version and the script versions available. The whole reason I began this project was due to the script version being very poor at handling multi-interaction autonomy, such as a sim cleaning up many dishes. The script version does nothing to address this as it tweaks a higher push for single autonomy interactions. Where, yes, you may see an improvement and think it's great, until the sims hit a snag on multi-interaction autonomy, and three or four sim hours can pass between each multi push to pick up individual dishes for cleaning. (Been there, seen that, needed to address it.) It is a fine balance, a sliding scale between the two factors, single interaction autonomy and multi-interaction autonomy, that has to be taken into consideration to get the best, well-rounded mod possible. Yet, as I say, it will never be perfect in any case.

 

So when making reports of how none of these mods have benefited your game, in fact made it a hindrance, then it would be nice to know in exactly which way. Especially regarding my own versions, as they do try to find the balance. If it made multi-interaction autonomy worse in your game, cleaning dishes, playing chess moves, anything with multiple interactions to complete a single task, then that would certainly fit my own experience with the script version of this mod. Hence this version being made. Also the script version only being catered for one type of play, whereas I have made a set in the hopes of catering for many different play styles and machine specs. I too have a high end gaming rig, so making and using this mod is not relevant to a hardware issue for me either. Just more to do with the bafflement of a game such as TS4 struggling on rigs such as yours and mine. And that's more to do with the iffy coding and the not-so-bright in-house engine TS4 runs on than the initial machine spec requirements, for sure.

 

Given that this version of the mod does tweak at more settings than the script version, it would be immensely helpful if you would specify more accurately the types of interactions that are, as you report, made worse by the mod. Though I have yet to see any negative outcomes from this mod in the years I've been using it, my play style could be quite different from your own, and you are perhaps doing things with your sims I seldom or never do with my own, so have yet to spot any truly adverse effects of this mod.

 

@gukingWith the latest updated versions, there is also a shorter, redefined explanation. Hopefully you can understand it all better now. 

Give me time to check on the files. I'll patch TS4 on my older computer. I don't actually play TS4 on that old computer, I just use it to patch and extract latest game files to see what Maxis have been up to.

 

Until then, there is actually a more recent version of this Simulation mod set I updated and uploaded to this thread - http://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php?/topic/15317-all-mods-and-lots-in-rar-bundle-folder/ Look down the list of spoiler tabs to find it. I still do the odd mod from time to time and upload them there. Even though I'm still at 1.62 on my newer computer where I have the version of TS4 I play, I continue to upload mods once in a while to the above linked thread as they're usually the type that Maxis don't mess with in patches and also for those folks like me who are not gonna patch any more till Maxis quit with TS4. (Can't wait for that day, let me tell you.) 

 

The last time I checked the files for this Simulation mod was round about the 1.69 update, and Maxis still had not changed anything. But I'll patch my old comp TS4 tonight and check again to see if the kits update has changed anything in the files. 

Hi all. @Kimiyes I am happy for @Ingeli to upload these objects and/or links here, seeing as they are based on the code in my original table mods. I think it's such a great way for folks to see the growing variety this mod has on offer by creators and get them all.

 

And the medieval theme is one of my particular favourites, (must be that Celtic blood in me) so great work once again, Ingeli. 

If I recall I did take a quick look at the mini fridge when Uni first released, just to see if it would be a quick convert job, or a big, rebuild of all the hundreds of recipes to match the take from mini fridge animations and the unique XML fridge spawning of each food plate and drinks glass for a mini fridge. Unfortunately it's the latter, not the same method as a big fridge, not a quick convert job. It would be a massive project to get a similar sort of mini fridge cornucopia underway, explaining why I never did it myself. That would be a lot of work, just to have  a small fridge do exactly the same as a big cornucopia.

 

Doing the Adventurer's Mega Cooler was the last time I had any enthusiasm to do that sort of recipe file grinding modding, burning the midnight oil for a good many nights to get a big selection of food and drink recipes into it, and only because the Cooler is portable compared to a big, home fridge - that would just seem silly making that portable.

 

But if you really want to do same to mini fridge as a big fridge cornucopia, then I suggest you reverse engineer the Alpha Cornucopia, to see how I've set up each food file and drink file, and the spawning mechanics XML.

 

The mini fridge will be a similar setup, but of course unique animations and spawn points not the same as a large fridge. See how food and drink are spawned and grabbed from it, with the few default examples Maxis give for each, and then let the nightmare commence as you make hundreds of new files for food recipes, then scores and scores of slightly different files for drink recipes (As the grab animation for drink containers is not the same as a food plate.) All the while separating into themed groups via allocating them to pie menu options, to prevent one heck of a mess when clicking on fridge and seeing hundreds of random drinks and foods in no particular order.

 

If you're okay with using S4S to open mods and do a bit of reverse engineering,  you should get the general pattern involved, so then able to get the rinse and repeat file building grind underway.

 

But if not so familiar, then I'd say as far as this type of modding goes, it will be like a first time swimmer jumping in at the deep end with the wave machine set to max. And holy moly, the file building monotony will give you the shakes at night before you're halfway through. With the only thing keeping you going is knowing how good it could be when you finally reach that light at the end of the winding, grinding tunnel.

 

Sure, if Maxis did not cry themselves to sleep at night after only knocking out a handful of grab-able, spawned food and drink fridge recipes, then they'd have probably done a good few more themselves than the measly default slim-pickings on offer, if they had better nerves. 

 

Though they still might, if ever an Into the Future remake EP comes along and they do a very similar Cornucopia-like Fridge again, as like the one seen in TS3's Into the Future.  You never know...    

 

  

Did a couple of little tweaks on this. I noticed that I'd broken my own rule, that all pics had to have the Cyberpunk 2077 logo included on the image. Two did not. One without the logo has been removed completely, and the other without a logo has been replaced by a version of the very same image that does have a logo. So that means the image count has gone down from 35 to 34. The third screen shot picture in the main post shows the difference. (Ciri in the black leather jumpsuit has gone forever from the mod, - so if it's your first time seeing this thread, you won't even know what I'm talking about unless you've seen that image somewhere else on the internet -  and the image of Ciri sitting in a futuristic car now has the Cyberpunk 2077 logo.)

 

Just me being me. Had to stick to my original rule of the logo has to be present, because that's what billboards are for; advertising products, and products have logos.

I don't know if patches beyond 1.62 have broken this mod. Though I did do some extra work on preventing the holiday events and fan mail, and other repeat  annoyances in the game with a another mod which complements this one. I did not officially release that other mod in its own thread here, but is is yet another mod included in the rar bundle folder - found in the Overrides Folder in the rar.

 

The XML used stops all holidays - even the pesky lottery which was the only one I allowed until it too just annoyed the heck out of me. The fan mail, which again was the only one I allowed until it too finally annoyed the shit out of me. I had a mod already that stops city festivals, but that newer mod I mention also stops the notifications of them regularly popping up. No point in a message if there's no festival at the end of it. Also stopped a lot of annoying messages regarding doing more Fame related jobs on that video editing station gizmo. They got repetitive, real soon, with the same shit jobs and tasks over and over from a highly limited pool, so they too went the way of the dodo with all these other repetitive nonsense events. And also the warnings and threats from the music manager people if doing mixing on that synth gizmo that comes with Get Famous. All in all, that mod and its altered XML really puts a dead stop on things when used in conjunction with a few of the earlier mods I made to first put a stop to things.

 

I cannot say for sure, but the older stopping mods might not even be needed with that newer dead-stop-every-annoying-blasted-thing mod. Even so, I still use them all in my 1.62 game and for the longest time none of that annoying stuff ever pops up to bother my game.

 

But I advise caution if you want to try out that Overrides mod on a higher game version. The XML used is one Maxis are likely to alter often with new EPs and GPs, and there's been a few of them since I first made it when 1.62 was the latest patch. (Still is for me. )    

 

 

The long-awaited release of Cyberpunk 2077 is at last upon us, just less than a week now.

 

Are you also looking forward to it? Well, how about a little taster of the game to go into your sims' universe, in the form of a billboard with 34 images of the game you can put up all over the world to let your sims know it's coming soon. The 34 images are comprised of a mix of official art and a bit of clever fan art.

 

 

 

Yep, even one or two pics of Ciri. (From Witcher 3.) Freely available fan art from around the internet - (And yep, even that one, callipygian Cirilla, that suits the risque nature of the game.) - which all came about due to the plot in W3 where Ciri explains to Geralt one of the many worlds and dimensions she had visited, sounding very much like the dystopian future world of Cyberpunk 2077. She may yet find a way into the game, perhaps just a passing mention by one of the future folk, of an odd encounter with a strange, white-haired woman with a facial scar. Who knows, eh? We'll soon find out.

 

 

The billboard is a standalone clone, an object from the Get Famous pack, and it will have no effect on the original object - seen in the pic below for reference. Found in Wall Sculptures for the cost of 1 simoleon. Should not conflict with any other mod as I built new files for it. I'm still on game version 1.62, so the mod is guaranteed at that level. Though I suspect it should work in all games given the nature of the simple XML, not much there to break in a patch, not the kind of thing Maxis have much need to tamper with. Not that it stops them breaking things indirectly all the frikken time. But that will be up to them to fix.  

 

 

Here's what to look for in build mode, the thumbnail is a picture of Keanu Reeves' character in the game.

 

 

You can also change the name of the object if you click on it. (This interaction XML, even though I built it myself,  may be more subject to patch update influence, so if it's not available in games beyond 1.62 then so be it. Worse still, If it causes an LE, then let me know and I'll remove the interaction as it's not exactly a critical function.)

 

 

We'll that's about it folks. Happy simming and, indeed, happy Cyberpunking next week if that's what you have planned. I know I do, so I may not be around for a while as I get stuck into it.

 

 

Does my bum look big in this?

 

Cirilla is furious.

 

 

"The insult! When I get my hands on the culprits behind this, behind exposing my exposed behind, their lives won't be worth living! Until then, I have to go round town pasting up these damn flyers. The insult!!!"

 

 

 

Maybe see you in the Cyberpunk world, Ciri. Maybe that's where you'll find those cheeky - literally - culprits...

 

 

 

Download - cool1_object_Billboard_X34_Cyberpunk2077_(Clone)GetFamous.rar

Ever since the original sims got my hooked on the franchise, my play style has remained a certain way. I don't allow auto aging. I don't allow sims to breed willy nilly. Tight control over all that, And I really don't do a lot of rotational play. Maybe three or four main families due to different occult types that can make it worthwhile switching between a small handful of homes for the experience. But other than that, hundreds of sims in default resi homes I never actually play. Very well groomed sims, many hours in Cas for each, but just eye candy for when visiting community lots. So the idea of fighting for residential space in my worlds over the years and iterations, even with the slim pickings of residential real estate for TS4, has never really bothered me. In fact most of it goes to waste as nothing more than sim storage facilities.

 

I wanted to rethink the idea of them, and make them into a lot type more like hotels, family owned B&Bs and hostels. The sims who come are specific, large enough groups, but never really changing those fated to be present. Unless it's more like a boarding school scenario with resident students and also daily turnovers of locals. Yet with a few lots that still mimic private homes with (large) families. Usually the classic Sim families like the Goths, who are never my main sims, but I still want to keep as a family unit, which have on average about twelve to fourteen family member designed to be there and live there whenever one of my main sim visits. For as long as my sim stays there, weeks on end if I wanted, they never leave, truly living there like it's still a home.

 

Why not just leave them as default residential homes then? Mainly because I would just never play them if I did. But also for the many benefits the homes start to develop with the way the sims can be controlled and manipulated for a more unique feel from home to home. For instance, I've spent the past week reworking the Straud Vampire home into something very special. It's now the Vampire Ball, hosted by the Straud family made up of 10 or so vamp sims, with another 8 or so local vamps coming and going. Before midnight, I have them mostly all turned angry via lot buff and traits so they do a bit of vamp dueling and challenging, but the best time is after midnight, when I have a bunch of hypnotized fairies compelled to come from Granite Falls forest, and the six hour orgy of feasting commences. The mob of hungry, frenzied vamps continually gang-fanging the fairies on the dance floor through specialized interactions. Merciless and Horrific! Usually powerful spellcasters in their own right the fairies, but so visually weak and ill by the vamp curse, they cannot resist. (I'm sure I'll set up a scenario fairy event venue where thy can get their revenge.)

 

I also like the aforementioned boarding schools for different age groups, and the student events and activities I've set up, where my main sims can go spend all day being teachers. And the toddler orpanage is the cutest thing ever.  But my current favourite is the WinterFest Cafe, the home of Father Winter. The things that go on there, the folks who come to stay long term or the local forest sims who stop in for a bit. I cant get enough of it. A Permanent Christmas B&B affair, where the heads of all the classic families have their own room and come to stay for the duration my main sim is there,  and the locals always up to something, all while staying with the king of Christmas and his merry family. Brilliant!

 

And I've got so many more ideas for venues I've yet to even start on. A massive project. But so far, great fun, and worth the effort seeing my world slowly transform into a completely different animal. I might share a couple of them soon, for a taster. The Vampire Ball and WinterFest Cafe should go down a treat. Especially with real world Christmas just on the horizon.

 

Doing all this while working on my other big project that ties in, the Rent-A-Mob mobile phone network. Plenty going on there too, but I'll talk more on that another time.

I play TS4 as much as I ever did on my proper gaming computer, actually more so since retiring from patch update modding. Also while happily working away for months on the biggest mod project I've ever done, totally redefining what residential housing and sim group gathering is across the TS4 world in a very different perspective.

 

It's the type of project a modder would usually only attempt embarking on after the devs fully finish with a game, no longer patching it. Seeing as that's how I've been treating my game for most of this year - as if Maxis have moved on and no more patching for TS4 - it's no surprise to me I dared to start a project of this type and size. But that's not the reality of it, Maxis are still patching, and there's always the slim possibility they might actually release a worthwhile pack that I'd want to patch for, purchase and play, but would need to update all mods in order to do so.

 

Snowy Escape seemed like it might finally break the trail of weak, crappy, old-stuff-rehashed packs, or Disney brand-ad garbage that Maxis have been regurgitating. (So crap even LGR can't be bothered reviewing! How low do Maxis have to go for that to happen? Well, they did.) I was even a tiny bit enthusiastic for Snowy... until the more honest of the reviews started coming in. And it seems it's the same bland, shallow crap everything else has been. And I also hear nothing but horror stories of the nightmare 1.68 patch itself. As soon as I saw the files size of that patch, I just said no, no, no. Maxis can't do normal patches without messing things up. A patch that big? There will be hell to pay! And yep, so it is. All in all, not the stuff of warm, fluffy invitation I was hoping for to brig me back in. i cannot say I will never get back into it in a pubic capacity. I'm still working on the principle that as soon as Maxis do actually quit patching TS4, then I'd be willing, happy even, to do one, last massive wrangle with the patching and mod updating malarkey, knowing it will all be plain sailing from there on in. And I won't have to pretend with projects like the one I'm currently working on, that 1.62 was the last patch ever.

 

Recently I've also been jumping in and out of TS2 Ultimate Collection, even a bit of TS3. - (Though I usually quit TS3 in a jealous rage seeing as it got no 64bit love like the Mac version recently did.) - And I'm going to say something here, that you'll have to promise me you won't tell anyone else that I said, though I'll say it now as even further news that I probably will return to modding TS4 in a  public capacity when Maxis finally move on to TS5, that out of the three iterations, I prefer TS4!!!! (I cannot believe I just said that! If only the original Sims worked on my computer, or TS3 Windows also got a 64bit update, it might have been a different result, but TS4 is always the one I'll go running back to as things currently stand - not least of all due to the massive mod project I'm currently doing for it that makes the game so much fun. So shhh, tell no-one else.)        

Finally got a 1.67 version of TS4 on my older computer, then extracted game files and took a look at the current versions of the three xml files used in this mod. As I suspected, Maxis have not made any changes to them whatsoever. They are confirmed still good to go for 1.67 games.

 

BTW, I played the Goth household for about ten minutes in a totally mod-free, CC-free game. Ten minutes was all I could stand. I saved, quit and ran like hell. Didn't even check any of the new features that come to all games in patches since 1.63. I ran like hell and did not look back! Not going back into that nightmare world of chaos till I'm armed to the teeth with sanity saving mods.   

 

 

I wrote it into the Resource.cfg coding to recognize a folder named "Overrides" and to prioritize all files within it during the load. (That's why it's essential not to change the folder name or it renders the process null.) So only by the nature of the edited cfg does the game know what to do with an Overrides Folder and the files within it.

 

As the original EA cfg file has no mention of it in the coding structure, it would simply ignore it. Or, more to the point, simply load up the mod files within it with no priority clearance and allow the instance of conflicts, as and when identical files meet like two cars about to crash into each other, and it's only then it gets decided which mod files get loaded and which ones don't to prevent the collision just as it was about to happen.

 

The Overrides folder puts the mod files within it safely on the road to load from the get go, and parks the other mod's identical files at the curbside miles before they get anywhere near any potential collisions.