As you may have noticed, I have recently been adding an On/Off Autonomy switch to objects. It's a new-ish way to handle autonomy allowance per object, as the ye olde format of global no autonomy is not very helpful in many situations. The old global way could certainly help keep your sanity by stopping sims over-doing things while at home, but also kills the autonomy during other important scenarios for NPC workers while at community venues or on Active Career lots. Not good.

The On/Off feature gives a player and their sims much more freedom to turn off autonomy per object, so you can control many scenarios much better. Such as stop your sims playing the keyboard in the kitchen/dining room for a while, because AKKK!!! ENOUGH ALREADY!!! But leave the keyboard in the child's bedroom On as they can still practice and you don't hear that one as often to annoy you as much, so just let them get on with it. Your game, your way.

Plus it's just a simple On/Off switch right there on the object, no more need for rigmaroles and shenanigans adding and/or removing autonomy settings or putting in/taking out No Auto mods the ye olde way.

In this thread I will be adding the majority of objects, as it would be too much to make individual threads for each one, especially if my only reason to mod the object is to give it an On/Off switch. Though there are a few other mods in different threads that add an On/Off Autonomy switch to objects as well as other features. Such as the Musical Instruments mods, Dance Floors found in Fame mods, No wash dishes in bathroom sinks, and one or two others here and there.

Also some objects here have also been given a higher autonomy push when they are On, as sims tend to ignore them otherwise.

This list will grow over time, but please make a suggestion for any objects you would like to see this On/Off feature added to. Just take note that I will not be changing the generic wording of "On" and "Off" to anything more specific. With many objects to cover, it won't be getting more fancy than what is already available by default in the game. Plus Maxis have already done the necessary language translations. "On" and "Off" will do just fine for the majority of objects they are added to, as I can't see how that could ever become confusing on objects where there was no such switches beforehand. "Why is there an On/Off switch on this Massage Table again? I forgot. I'm confused." Really?

If you are okay with using apps such as Sims 4 Studio to change text strings, it is not advisable to alter the On/Off text of these mods. To alter it to read something like "On Piano," "Off Piano," because you want that extra bit of finessing per object, will only be shooting yourself in the foot, as all other objects of these mods - and many Maxis default objects that also have it - will pick up that same change. I'm sure you'll like that even less than the default, boring On/Off text that both Maxis and myself think is good enough for the purposes they were designed for - that are easily incorporated into these mods as is.

Speaking of "picking up the change," it may be that for some objects you will have to replace them to see the new On/Off Autonomy switches. I've not come across any myself yet, so far they all correctly display the new change, but it can happen sometimes.

 

Major Update - December 2022 - Mod totally reworked! I decided to make my own XMLs for the switching on and off process, so it no longer relies on the default Maxis "Turn Off" "Turn On" interaction XMLs. They were very limiting, and also could not be used on many electrical items, such as TVs, Stereos, Karaoke Machines, as Maxis is already using those interactions on them. Making my own switches frees me up to change a lot more objects, and also allows me to be a little more descriptive in the interaction text, saying more than Turn On, Turn Off.

There is the new Alpha Mod, which holds the template coding for the switches. Always keep that mod installed. Then there are all the individual object mods I'll keep adding to the growing list. You can remove any of them you don't fancy. Though many, such as Painting Easels, have other elements added as well you might like, not just on/off switches. All are now found in the one folder below.

 

 

Most of the things in the pics above have been turned off for that particular sim household. The thumbs up, thumbs down icon also a helpful indicator of what is off and what is on.

There are still one or two older mods with the older format of Turn Off, Turn On. Musical Instruments and Bubble Blowers if I recall. I will get round to updating everything with the new switching options. And there will be plenty more new ones added to this set. Things like TVs, Stereos, Karaoke Machines, now that I know my switches will not conflict with Maxis switches.

A few objects in this set will be in a state of Turned Off as default. Things that can get annoying if they start as default as Turned On. Skating Rinks, The Snowy Escape Ski Slopes and Rock Climbing start as Off. So that not every sim in the area gets free skiis and climbing gear in inventory just because they are there. Or sims aren't trying to leave the vacation rental home to going miles away skiing every bloody five minutes. Just "Turn On Interactions" if you want sims to use them. Next time you load up the area they will be turned off.

Update June 2023 - Nothing patch related needed. Just more objects given the annoyance-avoiding, sanity-saving On/Off treatment. The list ever grows. Yay! Also as a heads up, there are a few older mods in the General Mods section that were designed to make some objects more autonomous. Seeing as the same things are in here, but also with an On/Off switch when you're tired of sims overusing them, I will be removing those older mods today. They're probably outdated or broken anyway, so I'll just get rid of them as they're all here with better features.

Update August 2024 - It's been a little over a year since I last updated the mods here. So here's the latest versions. First of note is the Sinks On/Off part of the mod has gone. Maxis gave us in-game features since Horse Ranch to decide what type of sinks should be in bathrooms and kitchens, so that element of the mods is redundant, extinct and now removed. Some older ones tweaked, and some newer ones added. Such as my old Hot Tubs mod. That was a favorite back in the day, sims using it better, longer, less hokey-cokey in-and-out with it, using more often, and now with the On/Off treatment. Yay! Please keep in mind that I don't dare patch to latest Lovestruck shambles and its umpteen hot fixes.. I'm waiting till it's safe to patch, so some of these might not be compatible if you have risked patching. Most certainly the last one in this set Command to Teleport might need patch updating, it usually does with big patches. That teleport mod used to be in another thread, but I did a big rework on it a while back to click on ground to turn On/Off a lot of clutter features, barely used interactions, and auto bike riding, so it got moved to this set because of the On/Off features. So keep in mind if Maxis has added any new ways to walk (walkstyles) with Lovestruck, then the terrain files in the Command to Teleport mod will need updating, and I cannot put an accurate timeline on when that will happen. Only when Maxis tidy up their act, their shit and the game, will I risk patching.

Update September 2024 - Just a quick fix for the On/Off Gym Treadmills, nothing else. That's the only mod in this set that needs to be replaced. I missed including a base game treadmill - (The "Zen" one that unlocks via completing career goals if playing default game rules.) I could have sworn I fixed that about seven months ago, but found in game yesterday that, nope, I still haven't included it. It should now have all options available again.    

Update September (Again) 2024 - These updates are in line with the older Love Stuck patch and the recent 1.109 patch.

All the gym equipment mods needed tweaks, including the rock climbing treadmill. The hot tub is also updated. (Maxis, it better not be an erroneous mistake, and you better not blooming-well revert those stereo music files back to their original hot tub music files in a future patch!)

Also the Bars On/Off mod. I neglected to mention that newer mod in previous update notes, so I'll take the opportunity to do so now, especially as it also needed a 1.109/Love Struck update. The On Off selecting allows or disallows sims to tend the bars. Very useful in either residential or community scenarios when you want to herd the visitors around like sheep. When mixologist workers come to the venue, they will go to the bar that is switched On, (On by default) so you can move the visitors around to different areas. Very handy when having parties at home, that starts as an outdoor pool party, (using my clothing crystal mod to make them all wear swimsuits.) then come the evening you want to herd the guests and staff into the dining room, (again using the clothing crystal mod to make them all wear Formal.) then come the wee small hours want to herd them again to the basement disco. (Again with clothing crystal to make them all wear Party outfits.) When also used with my updated drinks trays with On Off features for even more party guest "cattle herding," that's bound to have you making some of the best, aptly-dressed-sims, party-everywhere-in-the-mansion videos ever! Like a blooming Hollywood movie, eh. Not just Maxis who can do it in their videos. Now you can too! "Party Rock is in the house tonight.." All over the house actually. Cometh the hour, shuffle them along to the next stage of the ongoing party. "Every day I'm shuffling..."

Oh, and I added much more variety to the drinks sims order at the bars autonomously. Also teens can auto order from bars. I did this in much older, outdated mods in another thread years ago. So it makes a comeback in this mod where it's more aptly suited. And finally, where it certainly helps if the mixologist's skills and traits have them more capable of making the best quality drinks, the bars themselves have also been tweaked to enhance the quality of drinks made on them, should the mixologist's talents be a little sub par. Though if the mixologist's skills and traits are anywhere in between godawful and non-existent, then I don't think the bar itself can pull off miracles of top quality drinks all by its lonesome. 

Update December 2024 - A few things needed updating for Life & Death patch stuff. Mostly the On Off Bars, with new coding to do with Death working a bar or something, I dunno. I do need to add a few new ghost possessing interaction nonsense to things like gym objects, but it's not object-breaking nor LE causing if they don't have it yet. I'll get round to it eventually, but as I can't stand that kind of ghost crap I'm in no immediate rush. A few new things added, the Lovestruck group card game thing, where if game box is placed on a table every blooming sim in the house rushes to play it autonomously. Sorely needed an On/Off switch, now it has it. And one of the "biggies" I finally got round to doing, giving televisions an On/Off switch. Works a treat! See a separate folder inside rar for Televisions. The two mods inside are needed. One for better sitting while watching TV, and the other mod for removing the stupid Maxis glitch for the Instant Upgrade interaction to always reappear and be active again after game load. (Maxis haven't fixed that in ten years! It causes sims to get stuck doing the Instant Upgrade again as it's already completed and should not become active again.) As it turns out, all the files I needed to do On/Off on televisions are already in these two mods. So now two mods become three mods. That was handy. Lastly, the Command Sim To Teleport mod also had a tweak. I added new coding, but also removed all things to do with bike riding. Now bike riding has nothing to do with the mod whatsoever. It was getting too finicky and would never be 100 percent perfect in all annoying bike situations because Maxis really did a number on them, so I scrapped the lot and got rid of a headache from my mod. Although bikes will still be a headache in the game, but that's on Maxis.

Update March 2025 - Uploading the updated Command to Teleport mod from this set. Seeing as this particular mod has an important Terrain XML in it that governs and allows all the walkstlyes on land, you're gonna need that one fixed pronto. A few others in the set also need updates, but only of a minor nature so I'll get to fixing them later. 

Update May 2025 - Hi all. I've been messing with these again. It is a big project and I'm forever tinkering, so I'd better upload latest versions. A good bit of tidying for existing mods in this set. Quite a few, but to name any specifically the easels needing a touch up for latest coding, with a couple of painting annoyances finally cleared up. Firstly the Figure painting is now non autonomous because I'm sick of sims painting that autonomously so, so often. You wanna see figure painting, - actually figure charcoal sketching - you gotta tell them. Also since Cats & Dogs, the devs of that pack introduced new paintings, and to make us all realize this, they put way too high a chance multiplier on sims painting those few cats and dogs images. So I'm sick of seeing those more often, too. We get it Maxis, you gave us new paintings seven years ago! Yip-de-frikken-do! The obnoxiously high multiplier has finally been removed on those, so they're now the same random chance as any other painting, at long last.

TVs got tweaked too. (I'm really enjoying the On/Off for TVs. Not only because sometimes you just want TVs Off for a while, but because it allows for having dedicated gaming console only if a TV is Off while a game console is placed near to it. Good for kid's rooms or man caves. And also for placing in gyms, so while Off - and no gaming console in sight - the only available choices are the two special TV workout interactions. Great stuff.)

Also a few new additions. The Karaoke machines at long last added with the On Off functions. Hallelujah!

And of all things, the Loungers, the pool floating ones, the poolside ones and the Beach Towels. Because you may have noticed since last patch, these things are now autonomous for sunbathing, and sims are rushing to it. I think this is yet another sign the next EP will be Vacations/Hotels, and Maxis making the Loungers and Beach Towels ready for guests to auto use. However, typical Maxis, it's a bit ham-fisted. Sims are now sunbathing after midnight, yep, (Not moonbathing from Life & Death, but actual sunbathing at 2am FFS! Maybe the new Vacation/Hotels world will be 24/7 tropical clear sunny skies, like the way Snowy Escape is 24/7 snow.) And sunbathing while fully dressed! Not funny, Maxis. Anywho, I've made it all On Off. Also made sunbathing in everyday clothing (Actually "current clothing.") permanently No Auto.  Swimwear and Nude are autonomous when Loungers are switched On, but I've tweaked the Nude interaction so that sims will frikken-well dress themselves - in hot weather outfit, or swimwear when leaving floating lounger - once they've finished nude sunbathing. Because Maxis leave them naked otherwise and, well, that's just a bit silly, and downright lazy of Maxis. (Then again, Maxis may leave it that way because of their nudist lot trait and/or to work alongside WW nudity settings and whatever. So then my mod forcing them to dress afterwards is the bad guy. All down to play style preference, I guess. Obviously I don't mind nudity here and there, but I don't play full-on nudists colonies either. Garden of Eden pre-Apple incident, not for me. I wouldn't spend so many hours in Cas dressing them otherwise!) Also, for those brave sims who chose to sunbathe nude, they also get the buff for having sunscreen applied, so they don't get their dangly bits and pointy bits and baby-making bits and baby-feeding bits all sunburnt. That's too harsh and merciless, even for a game. Maxis want to give all our summer sims skin cancer by making sunbathing autonomous but not auto applying sunscreen. If sim chooses swimwear, you'll have to give them sunscreen yourself, because I don't want to totally kill off the "funny ha, ha" sunburn chances, so Maxis can be happy they managed to give some sims skin cancer, you know, for a laugh.  Good old Maxis.

And a final word on all loungers, I utterly hate auto napping in all iterations of the Sims franchise, so there is no auto napping on these objects when they are switched On. (You wanna sleep when visiting my Vacation Hotel? Rent a room, pal. No free rides.)  

I can't remember all the other mods I've tweaked for this set, but there were a good few. And always more to do with this set, so I'll keep plugging on with it. As ever, if you notice anything weird about objects of this set that I missed in testing, please don't hesitate to report it.

Update July 2025 - I'm uploading the updated Command To Teleport mod individually for now, as that is a main mod that always needs looking at every major patch, and it did indeed need updates for all the fairy terrain commands. But I will also very probably be updating it again very soon, as I've seen the SatchOnSims video and once again Maxis have made the new Foraging commands very obnoxious, always present and getting in the way of the simple, mainstay Go Here commands. I will probably give those obnoxious Foraging commands the On/Off treatment too - just like I did for the vacuum dust commands - as they are not always needed to be seen ffs. But I need to actually play in game for myself for a while to see just how obnoxious they truly are. Watch this space, and please report if you find them obnoxious, ever-present and getting in the way too.

Update February 2026 - Loads of tweaks and updates since last July and a couple of new additions. Too numerous to mention them all, but the more recently relevant ones are related to newer packs like Adventure Awaits and Royals & Legacy. Update to fix the wonky Hot Tub animations to get in and out since Adventure Awaits gave us the new in-ground Hot Tub. Easels updated for the new Portrait Paining Freestyle interaction from Royals EP. The new standalone playground slide added with on/off functions because kids won't leave them things alone for too long, eh? ENOUGH ALREADY!!! You've burnt the skin off your ass, sliding after sliding after sliding FFS! And you took your dinner plate out here to keep on sliding instead of eating at the table?! Akkk!!! Enough! Just switch it off, and calm and order returns. New bars, new dollhouses, a good few of those type of updates.

The only one I haven't checked yet is the TV mods. A lot of files to check so I'll do that with fresh eyes tomorrow. Though if there are no new models of TV objects, or new TV channels, or new Royal TV watching interactions (WTF?) then it will be okay. But if it does need anything, then it will be done soon.

Edit - Just wanted to make a mention that I was duped into thinking there is now a new Portrait Painting interaction available on easels. Absolute Maxis bullshit in their Youtube videos. In fact the new autonomous "Dambele Freestyle" interactions is to mostly paint older Abstract art, and three new paintings that come with Royals pack. So what Maxis showed in their video was staged bullshit. The male sim painting the woman like he was doing her portrait live, is a fake portrait scenario. It's either just a paint from reference staged to look like a new Portrait Painting interaction, or perhaps it's the same painting every sim will do of her if autonomously choosing to do the "Dambele Freestyle" and her painting is randomly selected from the six available. Well, actually, only three new available, as three of them are old Abstract artworks. You cannot even command your sim to do this new Freestyle interaction to quickly see what the new three paintings are, it's autonomous only. So we have to wait for random chance, for god knows how long,  for sims to paint the three new ones autonomously to see exactly what the new paintings are. Though I suppose I could mod a massive multiplier on the Freestyle autonomy to speed up the revelations. But the question now is, do I even care that much? I fucking hate cheap-ass, bullshitting Maxis.

 

Download

Interactions OnOff.rar - Update February 2026

 

 

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

Thank you!!

I can definitely see how this would be useful.  I really hate how my Sims swarm to certain things in my home, but if those items were in a venue, I'd have no issue with it. 

 

The massage table comes first to mind; I always have to place my household's massage table into the family inventory whenever my Sims have guests over.  Otherwise I will see the queue stomped on one of my main Sims,  and the "give massage to X" replacing his or her queued interactions. 

 

When I'm at venues, however, I would certainly want the massage tables there to be used, so a direct "no autonomy" mod wouldn't be the best choice.

 

Other devices I would see needing this would be karaoke, and the podium.  Those are two household items my Sims keep swarming to, but I don't mind those being autonomous at venues.  If you're not interested in coding those, I would be interested in seeing your code, and I could try to add it to those devices myself.

things that don't get used by my sims.unless i tell them too.

the toddlers use the climbing object, the ball pit, but ignore the slide.

the photog set

the expresso bar/machines.

the rocket.

firepits/tents at home lots.tho sad toddlers hide in them when sad/scared

@AmberLokisdotter - The karaoke might be one of the ones not possible I mentioned, given it already has the generic On/Off switches like all electronics, for karaoke regarding the duration sims sing songs to switch on/off music tracks and singing animations. I will take a look, but if it has the same switches used then it won't be possible. The Podium is already one you can download here. (5th mod down the list.)

The massage chair and table mods can be found in my WSC Spa Venue mods, though there are more files I need to add to it as some massage types are missing from On/Off feature.

@pylon - The kitchen stuff is something I'll do. I already have traditional no auto mods for small kitchen appliances, but I do plan to give them On/Off Auto functionality if permissible.

Don't know about the toddler slide. Pretty sure that involves two sims, grownup playing with toddler? Haven't used it much but it's usually a grownup helping toddler to slide. As such, autonomous two-sim object activities are very rare to see, almost never, probably because they can be very annoying if too many of them were autonomous. Sims always dragging other sims away from what they are doing, nothing ever getting done, Maxis tend not to push that type of scenario too often, because the few times they do allow it (toddlers often asking adult to watch TV with them) someone quickly makes a no auto mod to stop it. What I'm getting at is they are usually no auto most of the time anyway, for good reason, so I won't be upsetting the apple cart. I've never seen a toddler slide being used autonomously either, due to the two-sim scenario.

Rockets are non autonomous as default, specifically for residential game play. They can be made autonomous for community lots, as seen at city festivals and I've used this feature to have Astronaut NPCs at the Science Labs for the Active Scientist Career. But as a feature that could be randomly autonomous at home with played sims I would not recommend it. Given sims will fly away often, sometimes for ages, sometimes they will keep wearing astronaut outfit after they come home which can be annoying, and worst thing, you would be besieged with multipart chance card scenarios regarding their space missions, often breaking your concentration and your patience. (From my knowing descriptions you might be able to guess that I have once already made rockets autonomous at home for played sims, to know of these highly annoying results.) Would not recommend it to be anything other than permanently, old school non autonomous - as it currently is.

Unless you actually want rockets switched off for City Festivals? Given Festival Rockets use debug rocket objects and debug rocket xml files - not same as buyable rockets - and that I have banned all City Festivals from my own game, then I probably will not be tampering with that element of (debug) rockets.

Again, anything regarding photography is another of those two-sim interaction scenarios I will probably not be editing. Because sims just may never use them autonomously even if I make them autonomous and give it high attractions factors, they may still just ignore it. Especially if there is no "auto simpicker" files attached. Very important files for auto two-sim activities. And if non are present for the two-sim activity, (which is often the case, hence what I said above) they'll never do it autonomously ever.  Though I could make new auto simpicker xmls for it, depends if interaction will be an over-abused, royal pain it the butt, once made dual autonomous. Sims randomly dragging other sims away from stuff usually is. You command a sim to do one thing, then another sim uses their ESP Telepathy from the other side of the lot to say no, stop doing that, come over here and do this with me now. You'll end up hating that very much. Very, very much. So goes Auto Simpickers, best used sparingly if not at all.

Firepits, bonfires and  campfires I'm currently testing with this feature, as well as others features. Tents, yep, I can look into it.

@coolspear my toddlers can use the slide by themselves if I tell them to use it.

I usually don't do anything off lot with the exception of the camp world. speaking of two sim things. sometimes, i will catch my sims playing chess by themselves(which is weird in my eyes. I never knew all that dual sim issues existed lol.

Speaking of autonomous things/non-autonomous things, is there a way, i know i'd probably have to remove during the winter any outside ones, but is there a way to turn off the its too cold outside to use the kiddie pool if i place one inside for the toddlers to use in the winter?

I am such a noob with all this.thanks for explaining all that about the dual sims stuff never would have guessed it.

 

 

On 5/3/2020 at 2:42 PM, coolspear said:

As such, autonomous two-sim object activities are very rare to see, almost never, probably because they can be very annoying if too many of them were autonomous. 

One that happens all the time in Uni is the ping pong table.  The first couple of degrees that my main Sims got, I had them also join some clubs and do some college campus activities.  Their queues were *constantly* stomped with the "play ping pong with X" interactions, if there were a ping pong table anywhere around.  Although this was irritating, it wasn't NEARLY as aggravating as the time one of my Sims got it when they were about to head into the stadium for their diplomas.  Of course I canceled the interaction, but the townie who threw it at her and who was also in graduation robes, he just stood there by the table looking like an idiot, waiting for her to finish graduating, I suppose.  He was NOT friends with my Sim; apparently you don't have to have any acquaintance with the other Sim at all.  It is a completely random, queue-stomping interaction.

 

Now I have my Sims inferniate that table every time I see one now.  (They respawn on the quad, btw.  You can't delete the one on the quad because it's technically not on a lot, so you have to do something like inferniate to temporarily get rid of it.  And annoyingly, the next time you go to that area, the table will be perfectly OK again.)

 

If you ever visit the Foxbury campus and try to do something on the quad (like one of those robot competitions), you will probably run into this.  And then you might get mad enough to want to inferniate it as well.  :)

I've seen that with the ping pong too. It has the auto simpicker xml necessary for two sims to do it themselves, and they do tend to do it at awkward times, close to point of abuse.

But I think this is part of a larger problem I've been seeing lately. When a sim is already engaged doing something, whether chosen autonomously or commanded by player, you may have noticed a second interaction pops up in their queue and they stop what they are doing to go start something else. This should not be happening, especially when in engaged in an interaction commanded by player. Finish what you're told to do, don't change your own mind halfway through and go do something else instead. That's a no-no.

It's not particularly rife, (yet) otherwise the player community will be up in arms at Maxis to make it stop. But it is creeping in more and more.

But before I even start putting the blame on Maxis and take to griping about it, I will need to check my Quicker Sim Autonomy mods to see if that could be the cause of sims doing this annoying "impatient autonomy" thing. If any mods are going to do it, that would be the one.

But even so, yes, the ping pong table will probably need an On/Off switch added. I agree.      

New for May 2020

The Uni Ping Pong Table now with On/Off options. Make those uni roomies take a (long) break from ping pong playing madness.

I've checked the debug object files to make sure there is not a hidden debug Ping Pong Table Maxis put on the uni lots that would escape the On/Off treatment. I did not see one. (Though that does not mean there isn't one. Just that S4S is not geared up to reveal it or Maxis have hidden it deep undercover.) However, as seen with the Hand and Foot Massage table, even after setting up the autonomous simpicker interaction XMLs with the On/Off rules, sims can sometimes supersede the rules if they first start a conversation about anything else, then somehow they are allowed to offer hand or foot massages as part of that continuing conversation. It's been a real kick in the nuts to try and curb this random thing, so just take note that it may happen with any other object - such as this ping pong table - where an auto simpicker between two sims, for a two-sim activity, exists.

Blocking it directly is one thing, but try to stop it randomly popping up in an ongoing conversation is proving a little bit more difficult. Though it certainly will slow down the overall potential for autonomous two-player use. I think it's a Maxis glitch with the Hand & Foot Massage, as the Body Massage table has the same On/Off and they never use that when it's turned Off. So just let me know if they continue using a turned Off Ping Pong table - especially if they were having a conversation about other stuff first - and maybe I'll find out where the superseding push during the conversation is coming from. (If it's not a Maxis glitch.)

@AmberLokisdotter- see if this helps, and please take note of the "conversation" thing mentioned above. For those uni roomies playing excessively, it will also be part of their Situation tuning, specifically their situation Roles, that pushes them more so than normal usage. I will take a look at this and see if I can tame down the static commodity push on it, to make them ease up on ping pong usage. That's if they are bullishly superseding the new Off switch. So let me know the results as there's still a few modding tricks to try to tame down their particular excessive ping pong playing if it persists.

On 5/11/2020 at 12:40 AM, coolspear said:

I've seen that with the ping pong too. It has the auto simpicker xml necessary for two sims to do it themselves, and they do tend to do it at awkward times, close to point of abuse.

But I think this is part of a larger problem I've been seeing lately. When a sim is already engaged doing something, whether chosen autonomously or commanded by player, you may have noticed a second interaction pops up in their queue and they stop what they are doing to go start something else. This should not be happening, especially when in engaged in an interaction commanded by player. Finish what you're told to do, don't change your own mind halfway through and go do something else instead. That's a no-no.

It's not particularly rife, (yet) otherwise the player community will be up in arms at Maxis to make it stop. But it is creeping in more and more.

But before I even start putting the blame on Maxis and take to griping about it, I will need to check my Quicker Sim Autonomy mods to see if that could be the cause of sims doing this annoying "impatient autonomy" thing. If any mods are going to do it, that would be the one.

 

MY sims usually do this either with cooking or cleaning up leaving a big pile of dishes lol

Your mention of them getting up while doing something else and interrupting it, I've seen that recently as well.  I was rather baffled by the fact that I could not queue up interactions for a Sim who was eating; if I did, then he would get up with his plate in his hand, head up the stairs, and start to do whatever.  Still with his plate in his hand.  It was like he forgot it was there, and it just became a prop.

 

I thought this was just a behavior that I hadn't noticed before.  Your explanation makes perfect sense for what I've been seeing.  Sounds like something they broke in 1.61.  I hope someone mods it out, eventually, since I think most of your followers are going to freeze what TS4 version we're on.  

 

I probably won't see the Ping Pong behavior too much now, at least in my current game.  I've never done the dorm thing at all (and glad I haven't - everything I've read and watched about Uni shows that it's a huge disadvantage living in a dorm, particularly for getting to class on time, ironically), and I no longer need to do the clubs, as my two main Sims maxed out on all of them several degrees ago.  They only have two more degrees left, and as the only time they actually go to campus is for their graduation, there would only be a few opportunities for that to strike.

 

That said, I'm certainly glad for this mod!  I hated it when one of my Sims was interrupted right when she was heading in to the stadium for graduation!  And they were a serious annoyance at those times I spent on campus before that, so it will certainly be useful for everyone who has Uni.  :)

December 2022. Mod totally reworked. See main post for more details.

Thank you so very much!!!!

I am in desperate need of this autonomy off switch for the boxing dummy / bag, which I see in the picture next to the weightmachine and the other thingie, so I am going to go ahead and assume it is included in this wonderful mod. But even if it were not in here yet, IT IS!!!!! 

 

I believe this is an absolute necessary mod, so

Edited December 9, 20223 yr by RedMallie
ETA: found what I was looking for

You're welcome. Yeah, there's loads of stuff in that folder, all exercise equipment most certainly. Far too many to take screenshots of them all. And it will grow and grow with more stuff.

Thank-you, Thank-you, THANK YOU!! 🤗

This is fantastic and amazing! Thank you ESPECIALLY for doing this for the cheer mat!! It was driving me crazy that everyone in the house thought they wanted to be a cheer leader. lol. If I could make a request: grills. The people at the new community center in San Sequia are going nuts with them!

Another thing that would be great would be able to disable autonomous gaming on select computers (so everyone would not be playing video games in the library, for instance).

I would very much like to do some on/off autonomy on computers, seeing as the personalizing options to ban other users isn't worth a damn during lot load. Locked computers remain a free for all until after lot is loaded and user rules are finally allowed in play. (Same lazy dev crap for buyable Reward Store Traits the game totally ignores until after lot load. So that things like a Never Hungry Trait sim will still have their hunger bar reduced anyway during lot load mechanics. Thank god Maxis do not work on strategy games like Stellaris, where an earned buff is expected to be be in play ALL THE TIME, lest a battle or war can be lost. Lazy Maxis. Could lose an entire battle fleet during lot load if it were them nitwits behind the coding development. Yeah, if Maxis did EVE Online there'd soon be real world murders. But they're doing online sims for Sims 5, so there may yet be some real world bloodshed soon enough. 😜 "I gave my online sim a new Trait to say no Romance or WooHoo, but they still got pregnant anyway to that other online stalker perv sim during lot load." Yeah, real world murders incoming!) Sorry for tangent, back to the computer topic. I do intend to make many things on computer on/off, as well as properly lock down the lock out functions, as the on/off mod will do that successfully, even during lot load. But I'm waiting for Maxis to quit patching the game. Computers have a gazillion interactions already, and no doubt Maxis will keep adding to them. Computers are their go-to object to keep adding more shit to. And I'll be damned if I'm going to have to fix hundreds of computer XML files after every other patch. Best wait till Maxis finally do an Elvis and leave the building forevermore.

Though I will be posting an update of this mod soon as there are more on/off items added to the list.

Edit - Also, regarding the Grills, I do have an outdated no autonomy mod on this site for all cooking objects. I will be scrapping that mod, should take it off the site if I can remember to do it, but I really should get round to making those objects with the on/off functionality. I'll certainly try to do that in near future. 

Update June 2023

 I was hoping you’d update this one! 

Yep, and there's still loads more I want, NEED, to add, but haven't got round to it yet. But eventually all will. The NEED is such. 😁

This latest bunch is mostly kids toys. I've been working on a Kids Hangout Venue like my Teen Hangout Venue, and it was fun for my controlled kid to herd all other kids around the lot, to indoor toys and outdoor activities by turning stuff on and off. Damn control freak I am.

The yoga mats and meditation stools too, as again I've been enjoying the new options to hold private classes, so my main sim gathers up all the family and teaches the whole family yoga and meditation. Had to make mods for that to be more successful, and will be uploading those today also.

Update August 2024 - It's been a little over a year since I last updated the mods here. So here's the latest versions. First of note is the Sinks On/Off part of the mod has gone. Maxis gave us in-game features since Horse Ranch to decide what type of sinks should be in bathrooms and kitchens, so that element of the mods is redundant, extinct and now removed. Some older ones tweaked, and some newer ones added. Such as my old Hot Tubs mod. That was a favorite back in the day, sims using it better, longer, less hokey-cokey in-and-out with it, using more often, and now with the On/Off treatment. Yay! Please keep in mind that I don't dare patch to latest Lovestruck shambles and its umpteen hot fixes.. I'm waiting till it's safe to patch, so some of these might not be compatible if you have risked patching. Most certainly the last one in this set Command to Teleport might need patch updating, it usually does with big patches. That teleport mod used to be in another thread, but I did a big rework on it a while back to click on ground to turn On/Off a lot of clutter features, barely used interactions, and auto bike riding, so it got moved to this set because of the On/Off features. So keep in mind if Maxis has added any new ways to walk (walkstyles) with Lovestruck, then the terrain files in the Command to Teleport mod will need updating, and I cannot put an accurate timeline on when that will happen. Only when Maxis tidy up their act, their shit and the game, will I risk patching.

Yeah I haven't bought Love Struck, from what I've seen online it doesn't really appeal to me very much.  Just Maxis adding more "features" to break the game imo.  If I wanted something like that there are far better FREE options online and at least THEY won't break my game lol.  I wish they'd just give up on The Sims 4 and move on to failing on Sims5, sigh.

Anywho. Thanks for the update your the best!! 🥰

Update September 2024 - Just a quick fix for the On/Off Gym Treadmills, nothing else. That's the only mod in this set that needs to be replaced. I missed including a base game treadmill - (The "Zen" one that unlocks via completing career goals if playing default game rules.) I could have sworn I fixed that about seven months ago, but found in game yesterday that, nope, I still haven't included it. It should now have all options available again.

Hello Coolspear
I tried to use the hot tub on and off mod but it has a bug
When I put it on, the bathtub interaction disappears and the radio stays on constantly even though this improvement has not been made.

Hi @rosalegal2005I'll get back to you on that. I only patched my game this morning and have been going through some mod updates today. There's quite a lot to do, since I haven't patched for a few months, (Because the Love Struck patch was a shit show game-breaker on release last July I didn't bother getting it till this morning. So two big patches to my game today and a lot of broken mods to fix. I've not got round to checking the hot tubs as yet, but I'll bet Maxis did some Love Struck shenanigans to them, so if you are patched up to date then that may be the culprit why they're glitched.

But I'm on the case, so won't be long now before I can confirm.

Also, are you also using the Alpha on/off mod too? All these on off mods need that Alpha mod. It's the first mod in the bundle rar.

I'll have more news by tomorrow. See ya'll later.   

1 hour ago, coolspear said:

I'll have more news by tomorrow. See ya'll later.   

Good luck!

Still looking into it, doing the hot tubs as I write. And there is a strange change done to them that I'm wondering if it's a typical Maxis blunder they'll be correcting in another patch, or is this what they intend from now on?

Regarding the music playing glitch reported by @rosalegal2005 Maxis have indeed done a seemingly pointless, seemingly erroneous edit, that I'm reluctant to change in case they fix it in another patch. I want to know their motives behind the change, if any. Since hot tubs released they had their own, unique, hot tub music channels. Exactly the same music for stereos, but made specific to hot tubs. Now they have changed that, removed the hot tub specific ones and replaced with the stereo ones. (Hence the music constantly playing regardless of upgrading hot tubs or not even switching on music on an upgraded hot tub.) Why do this, Maxis? Perhaps they are trying to lighten the weight of game files for this bloated, ten year old game, so hut tub music channels now deemed an exuberant unneeded extra because normal stereo music files will do the job just as well. Then why did they waste their time creating the hot tub music files in the first place? And if trying to lighten the mess of bloated files, then the hot tub specific music should not be playing at all as Maxis would have removed them. The fact music is playing on the hot tubs, means the specific hot tub files are still in the game, so what was the point of changing the resource to stereo music channels? You can see how that baffles me, right? It's just bizarre. And all answers to questions that we'll never find out, I'm sure.

Anyway, I'll correct this in my mods and give them the stereo music files as Maxis now patched it. But if this is an error, and Maxis fix it back to the hot tub channel files in a future patch, then I'm going to be writing a strong letter to my local MP to have the government ban all Maxis-made games from being sold in Britain forevermore because I'm sick, sore and tired of this kind of Polly put the kettle on, Sookie take it off again erroneous crap Maxis keep doing.

But if it was intended and will remain the way of it for hot tub music, then so be it. I'll update hot tubs to reflect this. (But I'll still go find out the business address of my local MP just in case. 🤪 )

 

Lol, too funny.  I don't know what all they changed but the game seems to be running super smooth now it's kind of shocking tbh.  If they could do this, why wasn't it done years ago?!  I'm surprised you haven't mentioned anything about their announcement NOT to release a Sims 5.  I was waiting for a rant on that one lmao 

Edited September 26, 20241 yr by SailorEffinMoon

If I were a younger, healthier man I might indeed take to ranting about Sims 5, or the lack thereof. Nor did I truly like the idea of Project Rene, online multiplayer, free to play, but cost an arm and a leg to maintain, runs-on-a-mobile, potato-tech crap. And I never saw Rene as being Sims 5 at any stage.

(Though still waiting on news of what the more secret Project Delores is supposed to be???)

But whatever Rene was/is to be or not to be, I've long since resigned myself to the notion that I will probably be pushing up daisies by the time Rene is in mid swing.

What does piss me off, though, is that I'll also most probably be pushing up those daisies while TS4 is still frikken going. Meaning I'll never get to that dream endgame of Maxis quittiing TS4, giving me enough time to work on my back catalog of mods, leaving a perfect set here for all to enjoy before I pop my clogs. But this is not going to happen methinks. Now I could whinge and moan about that all day, if you get me started. But hey, life's too short, and getting shorter by the minute for some of us. 🫣

TS4 will outlive me. Never saw that coming...

Thank you so much Coolspear !!

I also couldn't wait for the end of this saga that is The Sims 4, but unfortunately it seems like it will never end.  😪

Edited September 28, 20241 yr by Kimi
no need to quote the post above yours, as stated in the rules

Update September (Again) 2024 - These updates are in line with the older Love Stuck patch and the recent 1.109 patch.

All the gym equipment mods needed tweaks, including the rock climbing treadmill. The hot tub is also updated. (Maxis, it better not be an erroneous mistake, and you better not blooming-well revert those stereo music files back to their original hot tub music files in a future patch!)

Also the Bars On/Off mod. I neglected to mention that newer mod in previous update notes, so I'll take the opportunity to do so now, especially as it also needed a 1.109/Love Struck update. The On Off selecting allows or disallows sims to tend the bars. Very useful in either residential or community scenarios when you want to herd the visitors around like sheep. When mixologist workers come to the venue, they will go to the bar that is switched On, (On by default) so you can move the visitors around to different areas. Very handy when having parties at home, that starts as an outdoor pool party, (using my clothing crystal mod to make them all wear swimsuits.) then come the evening you want to herd the guests and staff into the dining room, (again using the clothing crystal mod to make them all wear Formal.) then come the wee small hours want to herd them again to the basement disco. (Again with clothing crystal to make them all wear Party outfits.) When also used with my updated drinks trays with On Off features for even more party guest "cattle herding," that's bound to have you making some of the best, aptly-dressed-sims, party-everywhere-in-the-mansion videos ever! Like a blooming Hollywood movie, eh. Not just Maxis who can do it in their videos. Now you can too! "Party Rock is in the house tonight.." All over the house actually. Cometh the hour, shuffle them along to the next stage of the ongoing party. "Every day I'm shuffling..." 

Oh, and I added much more variety to the drinks sims order at the bars autonomously. Also teens can auto order from bars. I did this in much older, outdated mods in another thread years ago. So it makes a comeback in this mod where it's more aptly suited. And finally, where it certainly helps if the mixologist's skills and traits have them more capable of making the best quality drinks, the bars themselves have also been tweaked to enhance the quality of drinks made on them, should the mixologist's talents be a little sub par. Though if the mixologist's skills and traits are are anywhere in between godawful and non-existent, then I don't think the bar itself can pull off miracles of top quality drinks all by its lonesome.

Thank-you 🙂

OK, so first, always glad you're back, and thanks for fixing the hot tub! However, I think I'm losing my mind because wasn't there a version that had nap always visible and the "relax" interaction? Ever since I updated the relax option on hot tubs has just disappeared, so now the thing just sits there and wastes space. Or am I just dreaming this? Was it really there to begin with? Help appreciated 🤪

For years I have done all I can to many objects to make napping non autonomous. I just hate sims using it. Go to frikken bed, that's what it's there for. The hot tub was one of the worst offenders, where tired sims would often choose the tub to go nap, on the off chance they would drown - funny ha ha Maxis - so I did edit that to be non autonomous. But you say it's missing completely? Is that when the hot tub is tuned On or Off. If Off then all functions are gone, including napping. If On, then the player should still see it, but sims will never use it autonomously.

Though I haven't really used a hot tub since getting back into to game after patch updating. I'll go take a look and see what's up.

Hello
For me, the Relax and Nap interactions in the hot tub are not showing up either.
Just leaving my feedback too
Thank you

On 10/1/2024 at 3:11 PM, coolspear said:

For years I have done all I can to many objects to make napping non autonomous. I just hate sims using it. Go to frikken bed, that's what it's there for. The hot tub was one of the worst offenders, where tired sims would often choose the tub to go nap, on the off chance they would drown - funny ha ha Maxis - so I did edit that to be non autonomous. But you say it's missing completely? Is that when the hot tub is tuned On or Off. If Off then all functions are gone, including napping. If On, then the player should still see it, but sims will never use it autonomously.

Though I haven't really used a hot tub since getting back into to game after patch updating. I'll go take a look and see what's up.

They're both gone completely, whether the object is turned on or off. The only options available are "Get in," and "Skinny Dip." All result in the sim getting in and almost immediately getting out. Relax only shows up for the hot springs. Interestingly, sometimes my visitor npcs will relax in the hot tub, which is interesting. I understand about nap though, that's one I disabled using the tuner function on MCC for that same reason. 

Thanks!

My edits to the hot tub were to remove and replace the Relax with the reworked Get In coding. As the Relax was very open ended - sims getting in and out willy nilly - and is the direct route to napping. Where autonomous sims would have to first choose Relax to then slip into Nap. And when they are tired, this is what they are doing, ignoring beds, opting to Relax in hot tub as if the Maxis coding is singing to them as the Psirens, that could lead to the sim's own drowning detriment. Greek Tragedy in a hot tub, a la Maxis.

Nope, go to bed sims, even you Odysseus. Bed! Now!

Originally the Get In was not autonomous by Maxis design. Nor is it a pathway to Nap. Buy was as opened ended - in out willy nilly - as Relax. That's why I reworked the coding for Get In to be autonomously, with very high attraction, - hence On Off also needed - and to force sims to a timer, anywhere from 45 mins to an hour before getting out. That is, of course, when sim is left alone to enjoy this timeframe.

The biggest problem with hot tubs since their original release is due to Sims ESP - a magical force present in every iteration of the game. All it takes is another sim on the lot, perhaps miles away, to have a social interaction with a hot tub sim pop into their queue and while making their way to hot tub sim, that ESP foretells of the social sim on their way and hot tub sim gets out. Sometimes waiting a while depending on distance, and just as often to no avail as social sim suddenly drops social interaction from their queue then buggers off elsewhere, leaving hot tub sim standing there for apparently no reason and player wondering what's wrong with the hot tub or the hot tub mods they're using. Why are sims getting in and out like eejits? I know a way to remedy that. But it would involve extracting every single social interaction xml in the game, and adding a blacklist for the hidden "in hot tub" buff so as to prevent a sim two miles away wanting to talk to a hot tub sim. The two main downsides of that would be it would also put an end to social conversation for any sims already in hot tubs. Secondly the amount of files needed are in the hundreds, no sooner than Maxis think about patching the game, it would break that mod.

And then a second game mechanic that is just as troublesome. When sims are in hot tub, they also get the "is sitting" hidden buff. And this is again another buff that if sims have it, there is a higher push to do something else because "you're just sitting, you can do something else because TS4 has multitasking push so go do other things." Ergo ten years of musical chairs, sims watching tv or console games for mere minutes before they're up and off to do something else, and of course hot tub hokey cokey.

There's only so much a modder can do in the face of that. In and out of hot tubs is never going to cease, but if my timer on the Get In takes a hold, and it really does half the time they use it, there is a good chance they will be in there for a good while. If none of the aforementioned autonomous annoyances barge in to take over. Multitasking, be careful what you wish for, eh?

In summary, Relax has gone. Get In is the direct replacement for it. Nap in hot tub exterminated due to my own zealous preference. But I see now that I was too harsh in doing that as some folks seem to want the perilous feature. To that end I will put it back the next time I work on hot tubs, to be a visible option again, but most definitely will not be autonomous. (Even more so as Relax, being the Psirens conduit to Nap, will not be making a return.)

I hope that clears it all up.

    

Totally understood. I think I never ran into the problem because I had another mod that prevented naps altogether (they chose to sleep in actual beds instead), and on top of that I usually build my sims up until they've gotten the "Never Weary" trait. Not all of them have it, but when they got in the hot tub previously via the "relax" option, if another sim wanted to talk to them, (except the "kiss" interaction, which can at times get annoying) they would just join them in the hot tub, and soon you'd have a bunch of them just sitting in the hot tub drinking, listening to music, and chatting for hours, which I loved to see them do. Now the things are neglected. But I hear where you're coming from and that sounds like a lot! I certainly wouldn't want you to go through that much trouble. I'll explore other options, and if you do decide to add the relax or nap option in the future, I'll check it out and make sure I've taken necessary precautions to prevent any. *ahem* tragedies.

Thanks! 

Edited October 9, 20241 yr by Kimi
no need to quote the post above yours, as stated in the rules

Actually, going back to the game, I was thinking that "Get in" was broken since they originally would just get in and then immediately back out. But it turns out that, like you said, with the mod they stay in as if they've chosen "relax," and they do so for a while, which is great. While others don't seem to join them like they used to, maybe it's the dynamics that changed with the new updates. So adding "relax" seems a bit redundant now. Appreciate your help.

Update December 2024 - A few things needed updating for Life & Death patch stuff. Mostly the On Off Bars, with new coding to do with Death working a bar or something, I dunno. I do need to add a few new ghost possessing interaction nonsense to things like gym objects, but it's not object-breaking nor LE causing if they don't have it yet. I'll get round to it eventually, but as I can't stand that kind of ghost crap I'm in no immediate rush. A few new things added, the Lovestruck group card game thing, where if game box is placed on a table every blooming sim in the house rushes to play it autonomously. Sorely needed an On/Off switch, now it has it. And one of the "biggies" I finally got round to doing, giving televisions an On/Off switch. Works a treat! See a separate folder inside rar for Televisions. The two mods inside are needed. One for better sitting while watching TV, and the other mod for removing the stupid Maxis glitch for the Instant Upgrade interaction to always reappear and be active again after game load. (Maxis haven't fixed that in ten years! It causes sims to get stuck doing the Instant Upgrade again as it's already completed and should not become active again.) As it turns out, all the files I needed to do On/Off on televisions are already in these two mods. So now two mods become three mods. That was handy. Lastly, the Command Sim To Teleport mod also had a tweak. I added new coding, but also removed all things to do with bike riding. Now bike riding has nothing to do with the mod whatsoever. It was getting too finicky and would never be 100 percent perfect in all annoying bike situations because Maxis really did a number on them, so I scrapped the lot and got rid of a headache from my mod. Although bikes will still be a headache in the game, but that's on Maxis.  

I know it's not quite December yet, but here in the UK, in a little over three hours, it will be. So I'll stick December on the update timeline to emphasize how new it is.

Greetings! Is it possible to hid the interaction behind the shift + click menu?

Update March 2025 - Uploading the updated Command to Teleport mod from this set. Seeing as this particular mod has an important Terrain XML in it that governs and allows all the walkstlyes on land, you're gonna need that one fixed pronto. A few others in the set also need updates, but only of a minor nature so I'll get to fixing them later.

@daluved1Sorry for late reply. Maybe it can be done. I think I'd only need to add the code line to the alpha mod, just tell it it's a debug cheat, then shift +click will be needed. At least I think that's all I'd need to do if memory serves. I'll look into it.

On 4/25/2020 at 12:18 PM, coolspear said:

As you may have noticed, I have recently been adding an On/Off Autonomy switch to objects. It's a new-ish way to handle autonomy allowance per object, as the ye olde format of global no autonomy is not very helpful in many situations. The old global way could certainly help keep your sanity by stopping sims over-doing things while at home, but also kills the autonomy during other important scenarios for NPC workers while at community venues or on Active Career lots. Not good.

The On/Off feature gives a player and their sims much more freedom to turn off autonomy per object, so you can control many scenarios much better. Such as stop your sims playing the keyboard in the kitchen/dining room for a while, because AKKK!!! ENOUGH ALREADY!!! But leave the keyboard in the child's bedroom On as they can still practice and you don't hear that one as often to annoy you as much, so just let them get on with it. Your game, your way.

Plus it's just a simple On/Off switch right there on the object, no more need for rigmaroles and shenanigans adding and/or removing autonomy settings or putting in/taking out No Auto mods the ye olde way.

In this thread I will be adding the majority of objects, as it would be too much to make individual threads for each one, especially if my only reason to mod the object is to give it an On/Off switch. Though there are a few other mods in different threads that add an On/Off Autonomy switch to objects as well as other features. Such as the Musical Instruments mods, Dance Floors found in Fame mods, No wash dishes in bathroom sinks, and one or two others here and there.

Also some objects here have also been given a higher autonomy push when they are On, as sims tend to ignore them otherwise.

This list will grow over time, but please make a suggestion for any objects you would like to see this On/Off feature added to. Just take note that I will not be changing the generic wording of "On" and "Off" to anything more specific. With many objects to cover, it won't be getting more fancy than what is already available by default in the game. Plus Maxis have already done the necessary language translations. "On" and "Off" will do just fine for the majority of objects they are added to, as I can't see how that could ever become confusing on objects where there was no such switches beforehand. "Why is there an On/Off switch on this Massage Table again? I forgot. I'm confused." Really?

If you are okay with using apps such as Sims 4 Studio to change text strings, it is not advisable to alter the On/Off text of these mods. To alter it to read something like "On Piano," "Off Piano," because you want that extra bit of finessing per object, will only be shooting yourself in the foot, as all other objects of these mods - and many Maxis default objects that also have it - will pick up that same change. I'm sure you'll like that even less than the default, boring On/Off text that both Maxis and myself think is good enough for the purposes they were designed for - that are easily incorporated into these mods as is.

Speaking of "picking up the change," it may be that for some objects you will have to replace them to see the new On/Off Autonomy switches. I've not come across any myself yet, so far they all correctly display the new change, but it can happen sometimes.

 

Major Update - December 2022 - Mod totally reworked! I decided to make my own XMLs for the switching on and off process, so it no longer relies on the default Maxis "Turn Off" "Turn On" interaction XMLs. They were very limiting, and also could not be used on many electrical items, such as TVs, Stereos, Karaoke Machines, as Maxis is already using those interactions on them. Making my own switches frees me up to change a lot more objects, and also allows me to be a little more descriptive in the interaction text, saying more than Turn On, Turn Off.

There is the new Alpha Mod, which holds the template coding for the switches. Always keep that mod installed. Then there are all the individual object mods I'll keep adding to the growing list. You can remove any of them you don't fancy. Though many, such as Painting Easels, have other elements added as well you might like, not just on/off switches. All are now found in the one folder below.

 

 

Most of the things in the pics above have been turned off for that particular sim household. The thumbs up, thumbs down icon also a helpful indicator of what is off and what is on.

There are still one or two older mods with the older format of Turn Off, Turn On. Musical Instruments and Bubble Blowers if I recall. I will get round to updating everything with the new switching options. And there will be plenty more new ones added to this set. Things like TVs, Stereos, Karaoke Machines, now that I know my switches will not conflict with Maxis switches.

A few objects in this set will be in a state of Turned Off as default. Things that can get annoying if they start as default as Turned On. Skating Rinks, The Snowy Escape Ski Slopes and Rock Climbing start as Off. So that not every sim in the area gets free skiis and climbing gear in inventory just because they are there. Or sims aren't trying to leave the vacation rental home to going miles away skiing every bloody five minutes. Just "Turn On Interactions" if you want sims to use them. Next time you load up the area they will be turned off.

Update June 2023 - Nothing patch related needed. Just more objects given the annoyance-avoiding, sanity-saving On/Off treatment. The list ever grows. Yay! Also as a heads up, there are a few older mods in the General Mods section that were designed to make some objects more autonomous. Seeing as the same things are in here, but also with an On/Off switch when you're tired of sims overusing them, I will be removing those older mods today. They're probably outdated or broken anyway, so I'll just get rid of them as they're all here with better features.

Update August 2024 - It's been a little over a year since I last updated the mods here. So here's the latest versions. First of note is the Sinks On/Off part of the mod has gone. Maxis gave us in-game features since Horse Ranch to decide what type of sinks should be in bathrooms and kitchens, so that element of the mods is redundant, extinct and now removed. Some older ones tweaked, and some newer ones added. Such as my old Hot Tubs mod. That was a favorite back in the day, sims using it better, longer, less hokey-cokey in-and-out with it, using more often, and now with the On/Off treatment. Yay! Please keep in mind that I don't dare patch to latest Lovestruck shambles and its umpteen hot fixes. I'm waiting till it's safe to patch, so some of these might not be compatible if you have risked patching. Most certainly the last one in this set Command to Teleport might need patch updating, it usually does with big patches. That teleport mod used to be in another thread, but I did a big rework on it a while back to click on ground to turn On/Off a lot of clutter features, barely used interactions, and auto bike riding, so it got moved to this set because of the On/Off features. So keep in mind if Maxis has added any new ways to walk (walkstyles) with Lovestruck, then the terrain files in the Command to Teleport mod will need updating, and I cannot put an accurate timeline on when that will happen. Only when Maxis tidy up their act, their shit and the game, will I risk patching.

Update September 2024 - Just a quick fix for the On/Off Gym Treadmills, nothing else. That's the only mod in this set that needs to be replaced. I missed including a base game treadmill - (The "Zen" one that unlocks via completing career goals if playing default game rules.) I could have sworn I fixed that about seven months ago, but found in game yesterday that, nope, I still haven't included it. It should now have all options available again.    

Update September (Again) 2024 - These updates are in line with the older Love Stuck patch and the recent 1.109 patch.

All the gym equipment mods needed tweaks, including the rock climbing treadmill. The hot tub is also updated. (Maxis, it better not be an erroneous mistake, and you better not blooming-well revert those stereo music files back to their original hot tub music files in a future patch!)

Also the Bars On/Off mod. I neglected to mention that newer mod in previous update notes, so I'll take the opportunity to do so now, especially as it also needed a 1.109/Love Struck update. The On Off selecting allows or disallows sims to tend the bars. Very useful in either residential or community scenarios when you want to herd the visitors around like sheep. When mixologist workers come to the venue, they will go to the bar that is switched On, (On by default) so you can move the visitors around to different areas. Very handy when having parties at home, that starts as an outdoor pool party, (using my clothing crystal mod to make them all wear swimsuits.) then come the evening you want to herd the guests and staff into the dining room, (again using the clothing crystal mod to make them all wear Formal.) then come the wee small hours want to herd them again to the basement disco. (Again with clothing crystal to make them all wear Party outfits.) When also used with my updated drinks trays with On Off features for even more party guest "cattle herding," that's bound to have you making some of the best, aptly-dressed-sims, party-everywhere-in-the-mansion videos ever! Like a blooming Hollywood movie, eh. Not just Maxis who can do it in their videos. Now you can too! "Party Rock is in the house tonight." All over the house actually. Cometh the hour, shuffle them along to the next stage of the ongoing party. "Every day I'm shuffling."

Oh, and I added much more variety to the drinks sims order at the bars autonomously. Also teens can auto order from bars. I did this in much older, outdated mods in another thread years ago. So it makes a comeback in this mod where it's more aptly suited. And finally, where it certainly helps if the mixologist's skills and traits have them more capable of making the best quality drinks, the bars themselves have also been tweaked to enhance the quality of drinks made on them, should the mixologist's talents be a little sub par. Though if the mixologist's skills and traits are anywhere in between godawful and non-existent, then I don't think the bar itself can pull off miracles of top quality drinks all by its lonesome. 

Update December 2024 - A few things needed updating for Life & Death patch stuff. Mostly the On Off Bars, with new coding to do with Death working a bar or something, I dunno. I do need to add a few new ghost possessing interaction nonsense to things like gym objects, but it's not object-breaking nor LE causing if they don't have it yet. I'll get round to it eventually, but as I can't stand that kind of ghost crap I'm in no immediate rush. A few new things added, the Lovestruck group card game thing, where if game box is placed on a table every blooming sim in the house rushes to play it autonomously. Sorely needed an On/Off switch, now it has it. And one of the "biggies" I finally got round to doing, giving televisions an On/Off switch. Works a treat! See a separate folder inside rar for Televisions. The two mods inside are needed. One for better sitting while watching TV, and the other mod for removing the stupid Maxis glitch for the Instant Upgrade interaction to always reappear and be active again after game load. (Maxis haven't fixed that in ten years! It causes sims to get stuck doing the Instant Upgrade again as it's already completed and should not become active again.) As it turns out, all the files I needed to do On/Off on televisions are already in these two mods. So now two mods become three mods. That was handy. Lastly, the Command Sim To Teleport mod also had a tweak. I added new coding, but also removed all things to do with bike riding. Now bike riding has nothing to do with the mod whatsoever. It was getting too finicky and would never be 100 percent perfect in all annoying bike situations because Maxis really did a number on them, so I scrapped the lot and got rid of a headache from my mod. Although bikes will still be a headache in the game, but that's on Maxis.

Update March 2025 - Uploading the updated Command to Teleport mod from this set. Seeing as this particular mod has an important Terrain XML in it that governs and allows all the walkstlyes on land, you're gonna need that one fixed pronto. A few others in the set also need updates, but only of a minor nature so I'll get to fixing them later. 

 

Download

cool1_sim_CommandToTeleport_SpaTeleport&VacuumingOnOff.rar - Update March 2025

Interactions OnOff.rar -  Update November 2024

 

 

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

this is the most amazing thing ever made. THANK YOU

Update May 2025 - Hi all. I've been messing with these again. It is a big project and I'm forever tinkering, so I'd better upload latest versions. A good bit of tidying for existing mods in this set. Quite a few, but to name any specifically the easels needing a touch up for latest coding, with a couple of painting annoyances finally cleared up. Firstly the Figure painting is now non autonomous because I'm sick of sims painting that autonomously so, so often. You wanna see figure painting, - actually figure charcoal sketching - you gotta tell them. Also since Cats & Dogs, the devs of that pack introduced new paintings, and to make us all realize this, they put way too high a chance multiplier on sims painting those few cats and dogs images. So I'm sick of seeing those more often, too. We get it Maxis, you gave us new paintings seven years ago! Yip-de-frikken-do! The obnoxiously high multiplier has finally been removed on those, so they're now the same random chance as any other painting, at long last.

TVs got tweaked too. (I'm really enjoying the On/Off for TVs. Not only because sometimes you just want TVs Off for a while, but because it allows for having dedicated gaming console only if a TV is Off while a game console is placed near to it. Good for kid's rooms or man caves. And also for placing in gyms, so while Off - and no gaming console in sight - the only available choices are the two special TV workout interactions. Great stuff.)

Also a few new additions. The Karaoke machines at long last added with the On Off functions. Hallelujah!

And of all things, the Loungers, the pool floating ones, the poolside ones and the Beach Towels. Because you may have noticed since last patch these things are now autonomous for sunbathing, and sims are rushing to it. I think this is yet another sign the next EP will be Vacations/Hotels, and Maxis making the Loungers and Beach Towels ready for guests to auto use. However, typical Maxis, it's a bit ham-fisted. Sims are now sunbathing after midnight, yep, (Not moonbathing from Life & Death, but actual sunbathing at 2am FFS! Maybe the new Vacation/Hotels world will be 24/7 tropical clear sunny skies, like the way Snowy Escape is 24/7 snow.) And sunbathing while fully dressed! Not funny, Maxis. Anywho, I've made it all On Off. Also made sunbathing in everyday clothing (Actually "current clothing.") permanently No Auto.  Swimwear and Nude are autonomous when Loungers are switched On, but I've tweaked the Nude interaction so that sims will frikken-well dress themselves - in hot weather outfit, or swimwear when leaving floating lounger - once they've finished nude sunbathing. Because Maxis leave them naked otherwise and, well, that's just a bit silly, and downright lazy of Maxis. (Then again, Maxis may leave it that way because of their nudist lot trait and/or to work alongside WW nudity settings and whatever. So then my mod forcing them to dress afterwards is the bad guy. All down to play style preference, I guess. Obviously I don't mind nudity here and there, but I don't play full-on nudists colonies either. Garden of Eden pre-Apple incident, not for me. I wouldn't spend so many hours in Cas dressing them otherwise!) Also, for those brave sims who chose to sunbathe nude, they also get the buff for having sunscreen applied, so they don't get their dangly bits and pointy bits and baby-making bits and baby-feeding bits all sunburnt. That's too harsh and merciless, even for a game. Maxis want to give all our summer sims skin cancer by making sunbathing autonomous but not auto applying sunscreen. If sim chooses swimwear, you'll have to give them sunscreen yourself, because I don't want to totally kill off the "funny ha, ha" sunburn chances, so Maxis can be happy they managed to give some sims skin cancer, you know, for a laugh.  Good old Maxis.

And a final word on all loungers, I utterly hate auto napping in all iterations of the Sims franchise, so there is no auto napping on these objects when they are switched On.  (You wanna sleep when visiting my Vacation Hotel? Rent a room, pal. No free rides.)

I can't remember all the other mods I've tweaked for this set, but there were a good few. And always more to do with this set, so I'll keep plugging on with it. As ever, if you notice anything weird about objects of this set that I missed in testing, please don't hesitate to report it.

Thank you so much!! 😍

There are probably paintings I don't know about because  the are always painting that one cat and dog painting.