Awesomod discussion/questions/helpful tips thread

[Indiasong]

The problem seems to be that you can't have the father or mother's skin, but in between. Which will in time make everyone dark brown.

[Inge]

Before I make a complete buffoon of myself by posting a spurious bug report, can someone tell me if I am meant to be able to see the markers for all the cars on the road moving around, in map view?

[Bijou]

I have the latest AM, and I have the 'more than 8 sims in a household' option enabled.  I had exactly 8 sims in my household, and today one of them delivered a baby girl.  There are now 9 sims in the house (including the infant), but only eight of the portraits are showing.  The very top portrait (belonging to the eldest sim in the household) was knocked off the 'list' and since I can't select her portrait, I can't control her actions.  Is there anything I can do about that?  I swear I don't see any sort of arrow or scroll bar or anything that would allow me to cycle through portraits...thanks for any help guys.

[chazzhay]

I have the latest AM, and I have the 'more than 8 sims in a household' option enabled.  I had exactly 8 sims in my household, and today one of them delivered a baby girl.  There are now 9 sims in the house (including the infant), but only eight of the portraits are showing.  The very top portrait (belonging to the eldest sim in the household) was knocked off the 'list' and since I can't select her portrait, I can't control her actions.  Is there anything I can do about that?  I swear I don't see any sort of arrow or scroll bar or anything that would allow me to cycle through portraits...thanks for any help guys.

Try using the space bar.

[Bijou]

Try using the space bar.

Oh brother...just when I think I can't get any stoopidrrr, I take myself to the curb.    Worked like a charm.

Thanks a million chazzhay.

[mhavril]

So I was using the "rename" cheat the other day, but it did still seem to care about the length. For instance, if I wanted to name my sim "Marie Antoinette of France," the game would see the first two words as too long for the name, so just assign Marie as the first name and Antoinette as the last, where my goal was Marie Antoinette for the first name and of France as the surname.

Could someone please help me with this one? It appears on the download thread that Pescado named one of his sims "Milhouse Trixibelle Saltf***er" and it showed up fine, so am I doing something wrong?

Thanks so much for your help!

[LVRugger]

So I was using the "rename" cheat the other day, but it did still seem to care about the length. For instance, if I wanted to name my sim "Marie Antoinette of France," the game would see the first two words as too long for the name, so just assign Marie as the first name and Antoinette as the last, where my goal was Marie Antoinette for the first name and of France as the surname.

Could someone please help me with this one? It appears on the download thread that Pescado named one of his sims "Milhouse Trixibelle Saltf***er" and it showed up fine, so am I doing something wrong?

Thanks so much for your help!

I haven't gotten the "rename" function to give more than 2 names. If you have Twallan's supercomputer (see pudding factory), there is a rename option where you can choose the first and last names separately.

[Inge]

Thanks Jordi (re moving cars)

[J. M. Pescado]

So I was using the "rename" cheat the other day, but it did still seem to care about the length. For instance, if I wanted to name my sim "Marie Antoinette of France," the game would see the first two words as too long for the name, so just assign Marie as the first name and Antoinette as the last, where my goal was Marie Antoinette for the first name and of France as the surname.

That's not really a last name, that's more like an epithet. I suppose you want me to add a system in which sims can come with attached epithets in addition to their names, like "Milhouse Trixibelle Saltfucker the Weasel".

[mellym]

Is there a way to edit the SIM in the CAS once you're playing them? I've had to give up Indie Stone, and I do miss that feature.

[ingeli]

Type editsim in cheat console to edit active sim, or editsim <name> <surname> to edit any other sim in the hood. Takes you to CAS. OR: type dresser to change clothes, or mirror to just change hair/makeup.

[moondance]

I suppose you want me to add a system in which sims can come with attached epithets in addition to their names, like "Milhouse Trixibelle Saltfucker the Weasel".

Yes.

[Buzzler]

Anyone can confirm that the storymode seems to have a habit to "get a new place" for the original family when there aren't enough beds and a YA is present? It's pretty obvious with the Alto family (I think that's their name in the English game too, but just to be sure: I'm talking about this "evil" couple in the mansion on the hill with their teen daughter). I placed a crib in their house when starting my test hood but no additional beds. They got another child and when it grew up to 6, their daughter, who was a YA until then, stayed and the rest of the family moved out. I moved them back in manually and moved the daughter out instead. Some time later the wife got pregnant again, and the exact same thing happened again. Seems like the logic behind that is that it's irrational to move a single YA to a house with 3 or more bedslots (smaller houses weren't available), not considering the fact that it might be even more irrational to inherit the parents's house, which might be extremely expensive, to an adult child.

My test hood is now at day 57, and it's most probably not going to survive on its own if I don't interfere. There are 21 male Sims and 29 female Sims in the default Sunset Valley hood capable of breeding and the primary reason my testing hood won't survive is that this relation has completely changed, there are 22 male Adults now but only 9 females left.
There's no way Pescado could have built in some sort of feedback to straighten out an uneven gender distribution, right? I think I'm going to place additional cribs so there's 2 of them in some houses, giving the chance for the families to breed again before the last offspring at least grew up to 6.

[simwit]

This is the current state of my 'ridiculous' neighborhood, Buzzler. You can probably make sense of these numbers a lot better than me, considering you've been talking over my head on several occasions. 

After moving the sims from the bin back in, there were 113 residents. It then dropped to 106, but there seems to have been a little more pollinating with the latest versions. Then again, I'm responsible for a woman with 5 teen girls, and a couple with 6 kids thanks to both of them having fertility treatment, and the husband being family oriented.

[Buzzler]

@simwit: It's hard to tell for sure from the data of only one single moment and there's no way of knowing how much of this is your doing and not the storymode's, but as far as Demographics go this is probably the most even distribution you could reasonably hope for (taking the woman with 5 teens out of the picture). The amount of Elders is a bit on the high side, but since they're not influencing the future development, it shouldn't matter. If you and the storymode can keep that up you're good.

[mhavril]

So I was using the "rename" cheat the other day, but it did still seem to care about the length. For instance, if I wanted to name my sim "Marie Antoinette of France," the game would see the first two words as too long for the name, so just assign Marie as the first name and Antoinette as the last, where my goal was Marie Antoinette for the first name and of France as the surname.

That's not really a last name, that's more like an epithet. I suppose you want me to add a system in which sims can come with attached epithets in addition to their names, like "Milhouse Trixibelle Saltfucker the Weasel".

Well not necessarily. The royals didn't really have last names, but my main point was to be able to have the longer names. Iffin' you do add that (which I'd never ask of you because it's such a complicated thing I'd not want to trouble you with something so trivial). I would just want the whole first name to be "Marie Antoinette" or whatever. Since she wouldn't really even have a last name it wouldn't matter anyway. But thanks so much! I'm just going to try what Jordi said. Iffin' you did add the ephitet thing that would be SUPER JAZZY, but I'd never ask it of you.

THANKS!!!!
T

[J. M. Pescado]

Seems like the logic behind that is that it's irrational to move a single YA to a house with 3 or more bedslots (smaller houses weren't available), not considering the fact that it might be even more irrational to inherit the parents's house, which might be extremely expensive, to an adult child.

It's sort of random what will happen, since both are valid scenarios: What happens in such a case is that the fambly is in a condition where either it can move to a bigger house, or split. Both conditions could happen. In the event that the fambly splits, either faction could move out: Either the kids move out, or the parents dump the old inadequate house on the kids and move to a more adequate one. Something had to give, so it happened.

My test hood is now at day 57, and it's most probably not going to survive on its own if I don't interfere. There are 21 male Sims and 29 female Sims in the default Sunset Valley hood capable of breeding and the primary reason my testing hood won't survive is that this relation has completely changed, there are 22 male Adults now but only 9 females left.

Well, keep in mind that AwesomeStory does not have the goal of enforcing any particular outcome. In real life, there is absolutely no mechanism that prevents a town from dying out in the face of socioeconomic pressures that are aligned against it. If you want a stabilization-based engine, look elsewhere. AwesomeStory is aimed at simulating a town where the residents act according their desires and interests, and if that isn't necessarily good for the long-term survival of the community, that's just too damn bad! Having the town die out, effectively losing the game, is part of the fun! Without the possibility of defeat, victory is hollow.

There's no way Pescado could have built in some sort of feedback to straighten out an uneven gender distribution, right?

Nope. There's no code whatsoever that controls gender distribution, as the storybus simply pollinates the sims, it doesn't control what results, which is purely EAxian code.

I think I'm going to place additional cribs so there's 2 of them in some houses, giving the chance for the families to breed again before the last offspring at least grew up to 6.

You do that. Half the fun of an ant farm is doing things to the ants and seeing how they react, isn't it?

[Inge]

Well, keep in mind that AwesomeStory does not have the goal of enforcing any particular outcome. In real life, there is absolutely no mechanism that prevents a town from dying out in the face of socioeconomic pressures that are aligned against it. If you want a stabilization-based engine, look elsewhere. AwesomeStory is aimed at simulating a town where the residents act according their desires and interests, and if that isn't necessarily good for the long-term survival of the community, that's just too damn bad! Having the town die out, effectively losing the game, is part of the fun!

Totally agree.  If the player wants to exert control over the town's population they will have to bus in new residents by placing them in the town, or evicting them if there are too many.

[Cocomama]

Is it really happening, sims skilling without me directing them to do it?
Messages of "A is going to skill athletic" are appearing,  notification of a "push you must do it"  action, like the "A is going to work" messages?

Sims skilling autonomously, absolutely brilliant!!

Can I plop a fresh CAS sims in game, and they will skill only nessecairy for work, or also for fullfilling wishes and lifetimewant?
Do I still have to give them a start education for charisma and athletic etc?

[J. M. Pescado]

Is it really happening, sims skilling without me directing them to do it?
Messages of "A is going to skill athletic" are appearing,  notification of a "push you must do it"  action, like the "A is going to work" messages?

Yes, that is the new Story Mode event added in a recent update. They will now gain skills. And you can SEE them gaining skills.

Can I plop a fresh CAS sims in game, and they will skill only nessecairy for work, or also for fullfilling wishes and lifetimewant?
Do I still have to give them a start education for charisma and athletic etc?

Yes, they will gain skills either for work, for their lifetime wants, or simply because they damn well please.

[chaos]

I noticed that my non-played sims were skilling when controlled by SupCom doing Task: Work & School. Does this new story mode feature mean that I no longer need to control them via SupCom?

[Solmyr]

Excellent, one of my beefs was that sims never developed work-related skills unless you put them on SupCom.

Out of curiosity, how do they go about acquiring items to skill up Guitar, Writing, or Painting? The other skills have books or readily available items/locations but those three require specifically purchased items.

[Gastfyr]

Out of curiosity, how do they go about acquiring items to skill up Guitar, Writing, or Painting? The other skills have books or readily available items/locations but those three require specifically purchased items.

Well, in my hoods the libraries have computers, so sims can easily gain Writing without needing to buy thier own computer.  I also added some easels to one of the parks and to the school lot, so if they are smart enough, they can go paint on one of those lots.

The one thing they will not have available is gitars.  I wish they could just buy themselves one straight into thier inv, as I hate micro-managing things like that for the whole town.

By the way, this new storymode skilling thing is totally freaking awesome.

[J. M. Pescado]

Out of curiosity, how do they go about acquiring items to skill up Guitar, Writing, or Painting? The other skills have books or readily available items/locations but those three require specifically purchased items.

They will buy their own guitars if they lack one and want one and can afford one. The library comes equipped with computers and they will use them. At least in Riverview, there is at least one easel. Finally, if all else fails, in the next version they take the class.

I wish they could just buy themselves one straight into thier inv, as I hate micro-managing things like that for the whole town.

They do. They need to be able to afford one, though, and they have to be careful when flying, or United will break their guitars.

[Buzzler]

Well, keep in mind that AwesomeStory does not have the goal of enforcing any particular outcome. In real life, there is absolutely no mechanism that prevents a town from dying out in the face of socioeconomic pressures that are aligned against it. If you want a stabilization-based engine, look elsewhere. AwesomeStory is aimed at simulating a town where the residents act according their desires and interests, and if that isn't necessarily good for the long-term survival of the community, that's just too damn bad! Having the town die out, effectively losing the game, is part of the fun! Without the possibility of defeat, victory is hollow.

Actually, I'd like to have an engine that is able to sustain a hood if I manage to operate all these levers and dials and switches and buttons right. Trying to figure that out is part of the fun for me. So tell me, do I have to look somewhere else?

It just appeared kind of weird to me that 2/3 of about 35 Babies (hard to keep track, sometimes) must have been Males. The chance for that to happen is about 2.5%, so while not totally unlikely it still made me a bit suspicious, like the random number generator maybe wasn't so random at all. If it's just coincidence after all, it's ok. I have no problem with being beaten by stochastics, it's my own fault the population wasn't big enough to withstand such a shift in gender distribution. I just don't like being beaten by the shortcomings of an engine, like getting shot in a first person shooter because the AI just doesn't take some obstacles into account...

Nope. There's no code whatsoever that controls gender distribution, as the storybus simply pollinates the sims, it doesn't control what results, which is purely EAxian code.

Is this EAxian code (for the random number generator) accessible somewhere or is it buried in the executable?

You do that. Half the fun of an ant farm is doing things to the ants and seeing how they react, isn't it?

It is. (Although I never had an ant farm myself, actually I never even saw one...)