coolspear

Updated for Patch Version: 1.36.99.1220

Hi @ZeraniLoki   Funnily enough, when I first made this mod I did have an idea to do exactly that. And now that you mention it, I cannot, for the life of me, remember why I did not follow through. I would guess that the latest patch has probably changed the interaction XML on this, so it will probably need updating for 1.36. When I get round to doing the update, I'll take a look at that idea again. At the very least, it may jog my memory why I didn't do it the first time.

Hi, spidergirl79. Just take note that is does need an update for 1.36 which I'm currently slogging through.

Hi, akaCat. Firstly, if you've patched to 1.36 Cats & Dogs, I know for a fact all the mods in this set need updating. So wait for me to update and put the clean ones up here soon.

But in regards to your issue, I cannot create empty WinRAR folders, WinRAR does not allow it. WinRAR folders, when working correctly, can never be empty. They self-delete if you command to delete all files contained within. That it is showing empty your end is a glitch of some nature, where it's not truly empty, just no access to the contained file. Files and folders can get corrupted during the downloading process from time to time. It's not unheard of. Have you tried re-downloading another? 

If any of you can remember ages ago I once had a mod for quicker upgrading of all the Neon Signs that came with Get To Work EP. It worked much like my quicker upgrading rockets mod.

Anyhow, it eventually dawned on the Maxis devs early this year that they had, once again, generally borked, or plain forgot to include, Instant Upgrade on objects. So out of all the many they had - and still have - yet to fix, they did the Neon Signs, by giving them an Instant Upgrade option. Yay! We said. They sneaked this fix in without mentioning it in their patch notes, but I eventually noticed in game the inclusion of Instant Update option on the neon signs. Yay! I said again, and removed, deleted and destroyed all traces of my quicker neon upgrade mods. (Bad move!)

Some time later, my sim is attempting to upgrade said neon signs, I noticed the Instant Upgrade feature only covers one of the three possible upgrades. The other two options remain "un-fixed," and the sim has to struggle doing them the long, hard way. You can imagine the praise and respectful words that came out of my mouth for our wonderful game devs, who have made it a personal mission to make the upgrading objects feature of the game a lovely, mystery, lucky bag, magical mystery tour of you never know what it's going to be. Such imaginative game developers. They really are the best in the business.

Now, waiting for Maxis to fix the fix of the fix, it's obvious their incompetence has now fully matured into abandonment, (TS3, anyone?) meaning it's not gonna happen. Nor was I going to remake mods I already once made then got rid of. So I just made this mod to permanently set Neon Signs as fully upgraded right out of build mode. That way, if Maxis pull out any more magical, mystery fixes from their crazy upgrade hat, I'm not going to give a flying fig about it and this mod can stay in my game and yours.

Get To Work EP is a required install for this mod to be of any use in your game.

cool1_upgrades_NeonSignsFullyUpgraded&Weatherproof.rar  - Personal Update for February 2019

XML Resource Used:

This will conflict with any other mod using same resources. Mod first made and uploaded with Game Version 1.35.10.1010

Thanks and Credit: Simsasylum, Sims4Studio, our sims community, EA Maxis and their Magical Mystery Hat.

Update - November 2017 - First a new addition, the Killer Queen double bed that was introduced to the game via a patch is now given the same treatment as all the other beds in this set. Also a quick little fix on one of the swatches for a Vintage Glamour SP bed. Each colour swatch for each bed object needs to have the mod data added, and out of all the many, many swatches all these beds have, I missed a swatch on one of the Vintage beds. Now that's fixed. Please re-download and replace the Vintage Glamour mod if you were using it. 

Update  - November 2017 -  Some new additions to include all stuff from packs and patch goodies to date. 3 X lights from Fitness SP. 4 X lights from Parenthood GP. 1 X Cloud-shaped light that came with a patch. And 1 X tree that came with Vampire GP. Since I already included the slender spooky tree here some months ago, I thought I'd add that massive spooky tree here too, as there's nothing sillier then a tree that's almost as big as a house being camera shy. A tree as big as that is almost certainly placed as the centrepiece décor attraction of a lot, considering it takes up most of the lot. So why then should it vanish from view as soon as the camera looks at it? Daft. Now it does not. 

That's what this mod does. It's not an error. Any song or music a sim creates can, by default, be licenced over and over, you just have to wait for the Maxis cooldown period to expire before re-licensing older songs. This mod removes that cooldown period so there are no delays in licensing new - and old - work.

Licensing music is not like selling books. Selling books is a one-off deal only. Licensing music is a period contract deal. Just like real life - except there's no mod for real life license deals.  Some good lawyers that might help terminate a stifling license contract earlier than originally agreed, but no mods.

Well, I know there is a high default autonomy push for every sim and their uncle to go pet and  play with a cowplant. I've seen that plenty myself. But feeding is not even possible autonomously. That's why I made this mod, so forgetful sims (and players) will not have dead cowplants every other day. On top of that, cowplants have coding so they always reject food if their cake trap is not exposed. Just try it yourself. Try feeding them when there's no cake. You'll see they won't take it, ever. They even angrily snap at the sim sometimes to drive the message home. Don't try to feed me if I'm not hungry.

I'm sure you're just seeing numerous sims out of the corner of your eye wander over to pet and play with it often, which they do a lot by default, not a glitch. (or this mod.) Yet if they are trying to actually feed it that often, even though the cowplant will always reject till it's hungry, then check your mods for conflicts, as I have no mods or XML edits that push cowplant feeding whatsoever.

It can't be a patch related issue as I have a large family with a couple of cowplants in the garden and they have never once tried to feed them autonomously (as ever) since the last patch.

Hi, Auroni. I missed that one. I have it done now, but need to test in game, along with some no fade ceiling lights from the last few packs. Will have them uploaded soon if they play nice.  

Update October 2017 - Maxis added preference codes to the XMLs, so now there's a choice between using a kitchen counter sink or the new inclusion of using a pedal sink. Plus they made the attraction of sink usage a bit lower. Though, in my head, I don't see how that will stop kids and teens trying to wash non-existent dishes. They may try less often, and now in a different type of sink, but to me it looks like they are still going to try washing dishes that don't exist just to earn pointless goody-two-shoes points. As such, I have amended the XMLs here with the new info, though that was something of a pointless exercise as the mod still bans them from ever doing it anyway. I like that they don't ever do it, so this mod stays in my game. It's up to you now if you want to keep banning them with this mod, or test out the new values to see if it's less stupid. Still stupid, but less so. If you do try the new Maxis values, please drop a note here of how it's changed in game. I won't know because I won't be removing this mod. I prefer NO STUPID PERIOD.

Cowplants have been given some new features. A new "name cowplant" interaction and a new sim buff that puts sims into a potent trance to eat the cake trap.

So now you can actually name your Cowplant to make it one of the family. Yay! Though it is only seen in the pie menu options. The coding on the cowplants does not accept a nice hover tooltip display, as seen with other garden plants. I tried for the hover tooltip, but it made some serious fubar on all other plants, crystals and rock tooltips. Now I finally understand why Maxis never gave the Cowplant this pretty hover tooltip originally. It's fubar-tastic! So I just left the naming aspect in the pie menu options only.

But the naming ceremony also comes with a high risk and even higher price, by awakening the cowplant's lust for human flesh! When first clicking on the naming function, "Portal Cake Is For Losers" will be seen in the small window. (An homage to the great game Portal, and its infamous cake.)  Just change those words to any name you like, up to thirty characters allowed, then witness the mystic cake trance of the newly-named cowplant overwhelm the sim!

Naming the Cowplant makes its cake trap appear. You also see how the sim is now primed and glowing, sick and green with the Cowplant Cake Trance spell. The new buff making the sim highly dazed and insatiably hungry, even though the sim's hunger bar remains high. With no other access to food, the entranced sim will grab at the cake, every time without fail.

Take note, if there's access to other food on the lot, then they'll pretty much wander off to eat that instead. The hunger attraction of the fake cake is pretty low compared to all other real foods. Maxis did not set it very high and I did not want to tamper with it either. The last thing you'd want is sims preferring to try the cake six times a day every time  they get a bit peckish. You'd soon want that to stop. But setting up the lot so there's no access to food, to force that inevitable cowplant kill, that's very doable and makes it worth the while.

When a disliked neighbour comes to visit, you'll know by now they usually come hungry, with a full bladder, and only hours away from sleep. So just get your controlled sim to fake another name changing. Don't actually change the name again, but hit the tick button to confirm, and out comes the cake. Yes, your controlled sim gets entranced wherever they are on the lot, but just keep them from eating the cake and that disliked, hungry neighbour will eventually go for it because you did not give them access to any other food.

The Cake Trance Buff only last 20 sim minutes then it's gone. Or, if you allowed your controlled sim to go for the cake, if spat out by the cowplant after being eaten, the Cake Trance Buff is instantly removed no matter how much time was remaining.

So here's where I advise you to use another of my mods if you want the outcome of that cake-grabbing trance to never be fatal. - http://simsasylum.com/tfm/index.php?/topic/12197-garden-long-lived-peace-loving-cowplants/

cool1_garden_NameCowplant&CakeTranceBuff.rar  -  Updated for 1.55

For patch version compatibility status, please see most recent Patch News thread for the TS4 General Mods section.

XML Resource Used:

B61DE6B4!00000000!00000000000039FF.object_Cowplant.ObjectTuning.xml

This will conflict with any other mod using same resources. New buff XMLs and SimData files made by me so will not conflict. Mod first made and uploaded with Game Version 1.44

Thanks and Credit: Simsasylum, Sims4Studio, our sims community, EA Maxis

Hmm, interesting. Very much like the personal storage ownership rules. I wonder, if removing the fish first, to place it into the sim's Personal Inventory, then placing the empty fishbowl in the Family Inventory, would avoid such glitches. That would be the perfect, trouble-free way to do it if it were one of my Personal Inventory Storage objects when sims move home. Take everything out of the boxes and giving it to each sim who's moving or staying, otherwise there's ownership hell to pay afterwards (Just as I've warned folks in each mod thread.) It's got to be the same rules in effect. Given that the fishbowl, by Maxis' own coding, is another form of storage object in the same token as my to my Personal Storage mods. Sounds like the issue has been identified, and it's just the same game rules of ownership being infringed.

That does seem like an unforeseen game issue, then. Some sort of hiccup related to the object ownership rules the game has. I'm aware of similar problems for my personal storage object mods, and what happens with the rules of ownership when sims move from one home to another with those objects in their Personal Inventory. But as the fishbowl has no such personal storage coding, pure Maxis in that regard, I did not imagine any hiccups when moving it from one home to another via the Family Inventory.

Thanks for reporting this in detail, as it's definitely worth knowing for future reference. Nothing I can do about it on my end, but certainly helpful to know it can happen even with this type of object. When you put the fishbowl into Family Inventory before moving home, was there a fish in it? Might have some bearing on it, or maybe not.

Yeah, I'm in good spirits. Currently clearing out all mods I've had in testing for a while, that's why I've been releasing so many this week, and still a few more to come. Also currently working on the big career mod projects, quite a lot of changes from the current career mods and so much new stuff, that I hope to have ready for release by the end of the year. As next year, I hope to be taking a back seat on releasing new mods. Take a break from modding new TS4 stuff for a while, so I can get other things done in my spare time. Mainly so many other great PC games I've paid for and they're just sitting on my computer untouched, total game-head that I am. I need to step back from TS4 for a while, I think. Just for a short while, though. Maybe wait for Maxis to release two or three more big EPs before I return to serious TS4 modding. See how I feel next year.

Hi, @larsVHow're you doing? Yes, the Alpha (Glass) Buffet table is needed for the other one to get its resources from. You can put them both in your Mods folder at the same time. As long as the Glass Alpha Table is in the Mods folder, you don't ever have to place it on any lots, if you just want to use the cloth-covered table instead. 

Designed to help facilitate cooking fish dishes without need to go fishing, yes. But as an object, it's just a fish bowl with more purchase options than buying the single, default goldfish, if that's all a player wants it to be. I have just now successfully purchased several fish types from this bowl and moved them to the aquariums. No issues occurred. Sounds to me like you have a mod conflict or an out of date mod, presuming your game is patched up to date. 

Neither a game issue nor any of my mods. All is fine in my game. If your game is patched up to date then it's a mod conflict or an outdated mod from elsewhere.

Update October 2017 - Just a simple name change of the mod. No coding change at all. The name changed simply to fall in line with two other hidden lot "Direct Travel" mods now released, so they all neatly group together in the Mods folder. That's all. Just remember to remove the older version as, due to the name change, the new version will not overwrite it. 

The two objects unlocked and can be found in buy mode Decorations / Misc and also in build mode Outdoor Plants where the other trees and big rocks are.

Additional Optional Mods

Also additional mods for each object to give them instantly open access, so no faffing around doing that, and instant travel to the hidden lots, so no more faffing around with the chance card nonsense that's designed to make your sim fail and restart something like 80 per cent of the time. Why? What's that old saying, "if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times." Well, if our sims get through the first time eventually, then why do Maxis insist in making them complete forgetful idiots for the next thousand times? None of that. Get straight to it. A sim's life is too short.

I know there are older versions of these on MTS made by Snaitf. But firstly, the XMLs in those are actually outdated. And due to the way extra text strings were added by Snaitf, so the creator's name could be in the buy mode description, if and when removing those outdated versions, it will obliterate all objects in the game that relied on that string change resource.

These versions do no such thing. So even if these ones here ever become outdated and you need to remove the mods, it will not obliterate all the objects you may have placed in your world. They are plain, ordinary Maxis default objects in that regard, and wherever you place them, it's as if Maxis placed them, and they will not be removed even if these mods are. Plus you can share your lots that have these objects, and any who download will also have them with no need to have these mods in their Mods folder. (Though they won't have the handy "always open" and "direct travel" features without the optional mods here.)

Objects

cool1_objectUnlock_AbandonedMine.rar - New for October 2017

cool1_objectUnlock_MysteriousTree.rar - - New for October 2017

Additional Optional Mods

cool1_DirectTravel_AbandonedMine.rar  - New for October 2017

cool1_DirectTravel_MysteriousTree.rar - New for October 2017

For patch version compatibility status, please see most recent Patch News thread for the TS4 General Mods section.

XML Resource Used:

This will conflict with any other mod using same resources. Mod first made and uploaded with Game Version 1.34.18.1020

Thanks and Credit: Simsasylum, Sims4Studio, our sims community, EA Maxis, Snaitf for original mod idea

This mod stops our sims from autonomously browsing books. Call me slow on the uptake, but I don't quite get it? From what I can tell, browsing books is a bit of a pointless activity, something of a meaningless time sink, that in the end equates to nothing. Perhaps the sim gets a unique browsing buff at the end that I've never waited to spot. It's just a needless half-measure, especially as an autonomous activity. If a sim is going to do anything with books autonomously, then just straight-up Read them, finish them, and add it to the checklist of books already read. Let the player be the one to command a browsing, if the hankering ever takes the player's mood.

There is also the Analyse Book interaction, but looking at the XMLs for that indicate it is already set as non autonomous. So let its browsing cousin join it, and leave only the more sensible Read Book as autonomous.

I have had requests to make reading books non autonomous, but I like sims reading books - properly reading them. My author sim writes enough of them, and I don't relish the idea of single-handedly putting him, his craft and a world full of publishing industries out of business with one overriding, bolshie no auto reading mod. Anyway, what else are they going to do down at the libraries or in the quaint Get Together Book Clubs? This mod will meet those requests half way, at least. In fact the pointless overuse of book browsing may be the very thing that some players have come to dislike, and may find the rarer, pure reading activities more tolerable.

I know I do.

cool1_sim_NoAutoBrowseBooks.rar  - Updated for 1.44

For patch version compatibility status, please see most recent Patch News thread for the TS4 General Mods section.

XML Resource Used:

E882D22F!00000000!0000000000012E64.autonomous_Bookshelf_Browse_Picker.InteractionTuning.xml
E882D22F!00000000!0000000000012E66.autonomous_Bookshelf_Browse_Picker_Child.InteractionTuning.xml

This will conflict with any other mod using same resources. Mod tested and uploaded with Game Version 1.34.18.1020

Thanks and Credit: Simsasylum, Sims4Studio, our sims community, EA Maxis

********** Menanceman44 has kindly updated this mod for 1.63. Go down this thread to his post dated 29th June 2020 for latest 1.63 version. **********

This will stop the game actively removing Void Critter Game Cards from the personal inventories of un-played sims. So you have a kid spend an age getting their favourite Critter card improved though many battles, only to jump off to play another household for a while, come back a few days later to find Maxis have stolen the kid's favourite toy. Hey, Maxis, go buy your own Void Critter cards and improve them yourself. Stop stealing the good ones from our sim kids! 

This is a quick little update of one of Zerbu's old mods. It was outdated by a patch a while back and I've been meaning to get it up to date. So here it is. May the Void be with you. (And stay once it is!)

cool1_object_VoidCritterCardsNotRemovedFromNPCInventories.rar  - Updated for 1.47  *****This is the older version only good up to 1.55/1.62*****

********** Menanceman44 has kindly updated this mod for 1.63. Go down this thread to his post dated 29th June 2020 for latest 1.63 version. **********

For patch version compatibility status, please see most recent Patch News thread for the TS4 General Mods section.

XML Resource Used:

This will conflict with any other mod using same resources. Mod first made and uploaded with Game Version 1.34.18.1020

Thanks and Credit: Simsasylum, Sims4Studio, our sims community, EA Maxis, Zerbu for the original mod

Update October 2017 - A few little tweaks done to this mod, and a renaming to better suit it. Since this mod never fully stopped sims peeing in the bush, I thought the "No Auto" prefix was always a bit of a misnomer. Now that's been corrected. (I will remove the old name from the mod thread title in due course. Just giving folks a few weeks to spot the new change first.)  I never wanted to end the chance of sims peeing in the bush completely, given the bush may be the only access to a toilet on some community lots. (The Windenburg Haunted Mansion and its massive maze being one such location, as too the Ruins.) What I did want is to stop sims using it even if they did not need to pee. That has been done more efficiently now buy removing the silly, reckless high bladder attraction Maxis put on the interaction. Now the bush is no more attractive than using a bog-standard toilet (if you'll pardon the pun.) Also, I believe equally as annoying as sims using it pointlessly, is how long the bush will stink after being used as a toilet. Many horrid, agonising hours in default play. This mod now jolts that to be a massive twenty times faster, so now the bush only stinks for an average of ten sim minutes, till it stops making your pretty garden look like a nasty swamp. Please remove older No Auto version if you are going to use this new renamed version. I will no longer be supporting the No Auto version as this new mod is an improvement on usage balance in every way.   

Update October 2017 - Purchasing correction for MySims dolls.

I'm surprised no-one mentioned this. During the last time this needed editing, to remove Slablets and Wabbits from the purchase options to stop it crashing the game, I accidently removed the innocent line of code that allowed purchasing all the collectable MY Sims dolls. Doh!

I had a new family of sims who I wanted to buy the dolls for kids bedroom décor, and there wasn't the option! All this time it's been gone! I guess players who use this modded object maybe thought they were part of the problem from the last edit, so thought that's why I took them out. But nope, just blind oversight on my behalf, deleting the code line in between the troublesome code during last edit. The innocent coding is now restored and My Sims dolls are back in the purchase menu options, where they should have never left. 

Update:  October 2017 - New additions and improvements

1 - Tidied up animation coding so there will, finally, be no more Last Exception errors. Though they were harmless, they were annoying. Especially, if like me, you use MC Command Centre and its on screen Last Exception reporting function, and see the notification pop up every time a sim uses the magic Fairy Dust options. Well, no more, at last. (No point in adding new features without cleaning up this annoyance first, right?)

2 - Plansims can now also use it, and seeing as they have a special, friendly connection to fairies due to both their species belonging to the forests, there is a new special friendly buff given to plantsims from the fairies.

3 - Vampires can now also use it, but better suited to evil vamps who don't mind killing fairies. Fans, like me, of the old True Blood TV series, will know well the struggle between vamps and fairies, and how delicious fairies are to vamps. There's also a new buff for those wicked vamps who choose the depraved course of fairy harvesting. Truly chilling, nightmare stuff, especially if you are a fairy.

4 - If fairies love anything about other occults, it's their toddlers. They have now allowed toddlers access to the Silverstone crystal to summon them, and given access to one of the magic functions, to bring joy and motive boosting to the cute, fun-loving toddlers. Plus the toddlers gain a new buff for enjoying their time dancing with the fairies. (This means it is the first and only Motive Manager Machine with toddler functions.)