The chance code (as of the old version of the game I developed these tuning mods from) for same-sex households was 1%, I recall. So, something has to explain why you are getting a higher percentage. With 1% odds, it seems statistically unlikely without other variables, like:

a) The code was deprecated or eliminated and replaced with something else.
b) The code works in conjunction with something like a "neighborhood conversion" factor. So, if a player "converts" characters or neighborhood with manual initiation of same-sex romance, then neighborhoods have a higher chance of having new same-sex couples.

Srikandi said on the Sims 3 site at one point that entire neighborhoods are optionally converted to having gay autonomy, via manual player-initiated action. So, it's possible that my mod would affect the neighborhood, not just the Sims involved directly.

I'm still in the process of getting other projects sorted out, but I'll install the game again soon -- to at least see if the conversion mod still works and if the code for the two mods is still around. It would be nice if someone with greater knowledge of the game's code could clarify some of this, though.

Wow, another surprising "oversight" by EA - that opposite-sex couples get children in the background but not same-sex couples. This is also odd, given this code, which indicates that same-sex couples should have children. The original EA chance must have been really low as it is with the same-sex couples chance. That could explain why you're not seeing your gay couples get kids:

My edited values are there, but look at the code descriptions. It suggests that the gay (at least at one point) did provide background kids to same-sex couples. I don't remember the value offhand, but I know it's rather low, although perhaps not as low as the 1% value for same-sex couples. I assume partner refers to same-sex couples here:

The chance code only, or the chance code and the conversion code? Is the chance code that Household Change affects no longer around in recent versions of the game, or is the code ignored?

When I tested the conversion mod with 1.4.6, it definitely worked. I consider shaving 5 artificial forced interactions off same-sex autonomy useful, and also bringing the chance of having same-sex households up from 1% seems very helpful for players who don't want to have to manually create gay couples all the time — but perhaps EA changed the way the game handles this. Do you have any information related to this part of the game?

Yes, I know what you mean about antagonism. Does your AwesomeMod affect any of the values adjusted by these tuning mods? If so, I should make a note of it in the opening post. Do you know if the code is still current for one or both of these? I've been planning to reinstall the game and get it to the current version to see if the code is still around, but I wonder if there is a way the code may still be around but no longer used. It's straightforward to test the conversion mod, but the chance mods seem harder to pin down.

Also, if there are, as one person said, mods around that affect the chance values, do you think it would be better to remove the version of the Household Chance mod that affects multiple values and stick with just the same-sex value? One more question. If these mods load after other mods that affect the values, is that a safe way to supersede such code duplication in some circumstances? I understand that that was occasionally a way to work around Sims 2 mod/code redundancy, but I am not as familiar with Sims 3 mechanisms.

Thanks. I am not an expert coder by any means, but I am interested in making these mods as useful as I can.

Entropy is a fact of life for everyone.

I suppose this latest and greatest incarnation has been upgraded with new sockpuppet code.

Like a rude version of ELIZA.

Ask the person who posted it on MTS. I posted it here to see if it was true, and am glad to have so quickly been informed that it's not.

You know, the incessant sniping really isn't necessary or helpful. Can we stick to the mods, please?

I didn't expect otherwise, but posted it because I felt it's relevant. If he had some sort of anti-gay bias we would have known it a long time ago. The Sims 2 Romance Mod, for instance, has been around a long time.

In fact, I was the one who requested No Shock for Outgoing many moons ago on MTS2, back when there was a requests forum, and he was kind enough to create it, so aside from my gratitude for his other work, I personally appreciate that effort.

I'm not interested in bickering. If you'd like to add something constructive to the topic, please do so. Thanks.

What I believe is immaterial. That information was posted so it was relevant in this context. I don't think my mods were worked into that person's mod, because I got a PM about them a while back and the mod description doesn't address either the conversion issue or the household chance issue.

If you want to do me a favor, you can check to see if the code in my mods has been deprecated/superseded in the recent patches. I would be very grateful. If not, though, I'm going to install the Sims 3 again in the next day or two and will look into it. I'd like to be certain that the mods are still useful for those with the latest patches/EPs.

Also, if anyone knows of a possible conflict with these, I'd be very glad to know so I can include the warning in the Read Me and opening post.

When we have a situation in which a character acts autonomously toward the opposite sex but must be forced 6 times to act the same way toward the same sex -- then turning gay... that's conversion, right? If not for the forced same-sex interactions, of which a specific number are required, the player would never behave in a gay manner -- unless acted upon by another character who is forced 6 times. I don't see how this isn't a matter of conversion.

Here is a later mod that was posted on ModtheSims. It has two notable tidbits.

Perhaps later versions of the game, via patches and EPs, have changed the way the game handles this. As I wrote in my post, these were created for version 1.4.6.

When I created them, the percentage of same-sex households was very very low - unrealistically low, so I created Household Chance.

It took 6 forced (player-initiated) advances before a Sim would act autonomously on same-sex romantic socials, so I created Quicker Conversion. This contrasts with the heterosexual advances which happened without such forcing.

If the code has changed, I would be very interested in seeing a post with the new code.

As for being "homo biased", I have to say that being forced to initiate romantic socials only for same-sex autonomy to be unlocked is hardly fair to gay players. It's also unscientific and politically volatile because people aren't converted and yet there are political groups that make that very claim. There are other things the game did, too, like take my male players and put them in situations where they would meet strange women for the purpose of romance. The bias isn't mine. These mods, especially Quicker Conversion, are designed to minimize the game's bias. If I could get rid of conversion altogether I would.

Even if the code has changed with recent patches, some may want to use an older version of the game and could find these tuning mods useful.

Because the average player doesn't need to read about the code affected. It's a niche matter.

For those interested in the code, here is the line that Quicker Conversion addresses:

kNumUserDirectedSameSexGenderPreferencesBeforeSameSexAllowedAutonomously value="X"

(X = 6 for EA default. In my mods it's either 1 or 2. 0 has the same effect as 1).

For the "only" version of the household chance mod, this is the code:

<kPercentChanceOfSameSexHousehold value="X">
      <!--Chance of same sex household, in percent-->

(For my mod, X is either 19 or 50, depending upon which one you download.)

For the full version of Household Chance, this is the code:

<kPercentChanceOfSingleParentHousehold value="10">
      <!--Chance of single parent household, in percent-->
    </kPercentChanceOfSingleParentHousehold>
    <kPercentChanceOfSameSexHousehold value="19">
      <!--Chance of same sex household, in percent-->
    </kPercentChanceOfSameSexHousehold>
    <kPercentChanceOfElderlyHousehold value="18">
      <!--Chance of elderly household if childless, in percent-->
    </kPercentChanceOfElderlyHousehold>
    <kPercentChanceOfRoommatesHousehold value="20">
      <!--Chance of a household being composed entirely of roommates, in percent-->
    </kPercentChanceOfRoommatesHousehold>
    <kRelationshipDistributionWithKids value="65, 10, 25">
      <!--Relationship distribution for couples with kids [spouse, fiancee, partner]-->
    </kRelationshipDistributionWithKids>
    <kRelationshipDistributionWithoutKids value="35, 25, 40">
      <!--Relationship distribution for couples with no kids [spouse, fiancee, partner]-->
    </kRelationshipDistributionWithoutKids>

Hello,

Here are two mods. The first is Quicker Conversion, which reduces the number of times a player is forced to initiate same-sex romantic actions before the character will be "converted" to gay. It was tested and created for version 1.4.6 of the base game in 2009. I haven't played the Sims 3 since then but I do plan to test this again and update if necessary. There are two versions of this mod. The first reduces the number of forced interactions from 6 (the game's default) down to 1. The second reduces it to 2. Only install one.

The second mod is a Household Chance mod that either just increases the likelihood of there being same-sex households or (with the other version) -- affects the other variables (such as percentage of elderly couples, couples with children, et cetera). There are four versions; only install one.

Reasons for these tuning mods: I find requiring players to force characters 6 times to perform same-sex romantic socials to break the "suspension of disbelief" to a strong degree. Also, the default percentage of same-sex households is very low. I recall that it was 1%, although I am not absolutely certain about that.

Edit: Download and install the basic modding framework file: d3dx9_31.dll, unless you have game version 1.12 or higher.

If anyone knows if the code has changed or been deprecated, please let me know.

Update: These should be compatible with AwesomeMod, as JMP said none of the code I adjusted is dealt with by that mod.

Ok, I just found a tutorial for SwiftShader that says it can take advantage of dual and quad core chips. You have to change the thread count from 0 to 2 or 4.

But, I don't think it's possible to have it work in conjunction with a dedicated card like the Parhelia that supports vertex shader 2. It's purely a software CPU renderer.

I just happened upon this torrent today.

The only scenario I can think of that would make something like this work is when a user has:

1. An oddball card like the Matrox Parhelia that supports vertex shader 2.0 but only pixel shader 1.x
2. A modern processor/RAM. In order to have that, one must have an oddball motherboard like the AsRock Dual 775 that supports Wolfdale 45nm processors at 3+ Ghz or 4 or so overclocked.
3. Software similar to this that does more:
    a) Bypasses pixel shader on card, and uses processor (taking full advantage of SSE 4.x, dual core parallelism, and so forth)
    b) while utilizing the card's ability to do vertex shading
    c) all while maintaining processing cohesion (good luck trying to balance that)

I am not a hardware or software engineer, so this is just speculative. I assume that such software would have to be designed specifically for a card like the Parhelia. I don't know if such a scheme would yield a playable frame rate.