Awesomod discussion/questions/helpful tips thread

[sammie]

Hey this problem might of already been solved but i couldn't find it.
I've just downloaded and installed awesome mod and tried to use lifetimehappiness but it doesn't work, just tells me it doesn't exist.
Any ideas?

[J. M. Pescado]

How is this actually called or where is this buried? I searched in reflector for debug, stasis, freeze, hold, stop and basically all synonyms I could think of, but didn't find this.

It's a flippybit on the simdescription. The same thing you're flipping that pauses aging is the stasis flippy. Another flippybit is used to shut off motive decay, which is how ISM locked motives for Wolfrun. These flippybits are EAxian in origin, anything can toggle them, and they will thus persist after the toggler is removed.

[wizard_merlin]

Hey this problem might of already been solved but i couldn't find it.
I've just downloaded and installed awesome mod and tried to use lifetimehappiness but it doesn't work, just tells me it doesn't exist.
Any ideas?

You need to enable the cheat codes first, like "enabletestingcheats true" before it will work. 

[sammie]

You need to enable the cheat codes first, like "enabletestingcheats true" before it will work. 

i have done but it doesn't work.

[wizard_merlin]

You need to enable the cheat codes first, like "enabletestingcheats true" before it will work. 

i have done but it doesn't work.

Try typing in help, and seeing what appears in the list.  I can't remember if the lifetimehappiness is a testing cheat or a debug one.  Might need debugcommands or debuginteractions.

With each one enabled, the help command will show whats available.

If the list shows lifetimehappiness, check the spelling, etc.  If it is in the list but still says unknown, or whatever, then you have a problem.

[coltraz]

Wait a second. Just stumbled upon this. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,16983.0.html Isn't that, combined with AM's "sacred" option, more or less, a stand-alone stasis? Is this a workable option if I want to use the Awesome Story-Driver + have a stasis option? It seems my dreams are not so far out of reach... ?

[J. M. Pescado]

Yes, the Aging Control, if you use it to freeze a sim's aging by setting the flippybit, will halt aging. If you are using AwesomeStory and set Sacred, storymode will ignore that sim, so the sim in question will essentially have their macro-state preserved akin to TS2. Unlike TS2, however, micro-state, like the specific thing they are doing or their current motives, are not preserved and the entire neighborhood continues to "act", and they will still be able to gain job performance, be promoted, and earn money, so it's not quite like TS2. Ultimately, you should probably let go of TS2-style modes of thinking.

[Buzzler]

It's a flippybit on the simdescription. The same thing you're flipping that pauses aging is the stasis flippy.{...}

Oh, alright. When I read "stasis", I imagined something less ordinary. You know, liquid nitrogen, lots of steam, this typical hydraulics' whining ... that stuff.

Wait a second. Just stumbled upon this. http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php/topic,16983.0.html Isn't that, combined with AM's "sacred" option, more or less, a stand-alone stasis? Is this a workable option if I want to use the Awesome Story-Driver + have a stasis option? It seems my dreams are not so far out of reach... ?

Depends on what you expect from a "stasis" option. Like Pescado noted my mod is simply a "front-end" to access the already existing in-game aging switches.

Stasis in a TS2-style way is next to impossible. You'd have to save an awful lot of data for each household, and there's probably a fair chance to screw up the database's consistency, if you try to roll back the state after certain events.

[coltraz]

Yes, the Aging Control, if you use it to freeze a sim's aging by setting the flippybit, will halt aging. If you are using AwesomeStory and set Sacred, storymode will ignore that sim, so the sim in question will essentially have their macro-state preserved akin to TS2. Unlike TS2, however, micro-state, like the specific thing they are doing or their current motives, are not preserved and the entire neighborhood continues to "act", and they will still be able to gain job performance, be promoted, and earn money, so it's not quite like TS2. Ultimately, you should probably let go of TS2-style modes of thinking.

Sounds perfect, and exactly what I want out of my game. It's no big deal if they progress with LITTLE things while I'm not watching, I just don't want them doing anything crazy like producing children and turning into elders.

[Sifaradia]

This sounds to be more or less what I'm looking for as well, except I still have a couple of points I need clarifying.  First, I enabled Awesome story mode and blessed the first and only custom family I played.  I dumped the others and re-moved them in and blessed them before actually playing them.  As far as I understand this, all I need to do now is set them all to aging off as a sort of default and remember to turn on aging when I play them, right?  So, question:  When I played one of my other families for the first time, they already had some relationships with townies and other custom sims established - not strong ones, probably just that they've met.  One of my blessed sims even had a want to be friends with another of my blessed sims who I haven't even played yet.  Is this NORMAL behavior for Awesome story driver/chosen setting or is something screwy?  Also, is Awesome story driver something that just works in the background or can I access settings via an object or the active sim or whatever?  Are there even settings to access like other story progression mods.  Still not clear whether this is something we can customize ourselves or if it's just a fix.  Thanks.

[Buzzler]

As far as I understand this, all I need to do now is set them all to aging off as a sort of default and remember to turn on aging when I play them, right?

Correct.

So, question:  When I played one of my other families for the first time, they already had some relationships with townies and other custom sims established - not strong ones, probably just that they've met.  One of my blessed sims even had a want to be friends with another of my blessed sims who I haven't even played yet.  Is this NORMAL behavior for Awesome story driver/chosen setting or is something screwy?

This is normal. The chosen trait will only save sims from Storymode generated events. Whenever Sims run in "high res" simulation, they do all the stuff Sims can do autonomously, with all the consequences to relationships, dreams&promises, motives etc.. They'll still go to work and gain/lose work/school perfomance, so if you suspend a chosen and employed Sim's aging, and leave him for 100 years or something, you will probably come back to see the Sim suffocate on all the money... To me, this isn't so much of a Sim in stasis but a Sim who doesn't age and doesn't do much while the world around him lives on (Now that I think of it, naming the main class DorianGray in my Aging Manager actually made sense.), but I'd agree if you said stasis was a more manageable description.

You can see what's configurable on the AM's configuration page - not that much. There might be more hidden switches, Pescado's mods usually contain a lot of undocumented stuff. On the other hand, I think configurability is nice and all, but Indie and twallan's Story Progession are a tad over the top for my taste. I don't see why the player should have direct access to the length of the alarm cycles for example. Something like that just attracts all the F-types to ask questions about the inner workings of the mod, questions whose answers they won't understand, then more questions are asked ... just thinking about it, gives me the creeps.

[J. M. Pescado]

You can see what's configurable on the AM's configuration page - not that much. There might be more hidden switches, Pescado's mods usually contain a lot of undocumented stuff. On the other hand, I think configurability is nice and all, but Indie and twallan's Story Progession are a tad over the top for my taste. I don't see why the player should have direct access to the length of the alarm cycles for example. Something like that just attracts all the F-types to ask questions about the inner workings of the mod, questions whose answers they won't understand, then more questions are asked ... just thinking about it, gives me the creeps.

Yeah, that's why I try not to provide such an overwhelming profusion of buttons that the players get confused. If you REALLY wanna know how to configure some of that shit and are actually qualified to do so and assess the consequences, the values in question can actually be tuned by XML...but you'd need the technical chops to find them. Which, really, should be trivial for anyone who'd actually be qualified to attempt it. For everyone else, they are magic and would make no sense to someone who does not have the ability to read the underlying formulas used.

[Tangie]

Buzzler: I don't see why the player should have direct access to the length of the alarm cycles for example. Something like that just attracts all the F-types to ask questions about the inner workings of the mod, questions whose answers they won't understand, then more questions are asked ... just thinking about it, gives me the creeps.

OK, this I really have to address, because your statement is not logical.

There is a difference between learned behavior and innate preferences. A so-called MBTI "F-type" is perfectly capable of learning critical thinking and logical analysis, even when they prefer to use feeling-based judgements in their decision-making. And just because a T-type preferes thinking-style judgements does not mean that the criteria they use to make those judgements will always reflect flawless logic - as you yourself have just proven. 

I think what you really mean is what Pescado said: anyone who does not have the technical ability to mod, regardless of MBTI preferences, would not find those options particularly useful. On that point I do agree!

Back to the topic: if I understand correctly, if one is using IS/Twallan's mod and they want to stop using it, as long as they turn off stasis before removing it then aging will resume?

[gtachampion]

Knock on wood...everything is working pretty well in my game. I update AM religiously, so no problems there except one little thing. I noticed that suddenly bills aren't payed automatically and I have unified billing enabled. I get the pop up that the bills are due and can click to pay them immediately which is fine but I thought they were supposed to be paid automatically. Did this get changed? No problem if it did as long as I still get notified. Just wondering. 

[shadow]

Knock on wood...everything is working pretty well in my game. I update AM religiously, so no problems there except one little thing. I noticed that suddenly bills aren't payed automatically and I have unified billing enabled. I get the pop up that the bills are due and can click to pay them immediately which is fine but I thought they were supposed to be paid automatically. Did this get changed? No problem if it did as long as I still get notified. Just wondering. 

I noticed this, too. I didn't get a notice until the one that says the repo man is on his way.

[Tangie]

After evicting my family in order to save their custom built house to the bin, and then moving them back in, I immediately got a notice stating that the repo man was coming since I didn't pay my bills. I am pretty sure my sims paid their bills before I evicted them, but I suppose it's possible they didn't get paid and that's why I got the notice as soon as I moved them back in.

Correct me if I'm wrong (as if I really need to say that, lol), but I don't think AM automatically pays the bills in your active household. (Unless this is a change in AM that I've missed?) Previously the unified billing option meant that when the active household paid their bills (which they had to do manually), all the other non-played households bills were automatically being paid at the same time.

[J. M. Pescado]

Knock on wood...everything is working pretty well in my game. I update AM religiously, so no problems there except one little thing. I noticed that suddenly bills aren't payed automatically and I have unified billing enabled. I get the pop up that the bills are due and can click to pay them immediately which is fine but I thought they were supposed to be paid automatically. Did this get changed? No problem if it did as long as I still get notified. Just wondering. 

Unified Billing doesn't auto-pay bills, that's Robotic Hand of God. Did you turn that off? THe Robotic Hand wil automatically trigger and banish the popup faster than you can see it. For other houses, the billing is automatically deducted because the mailman doesn't visit NPC households.

[gtachampion]

Unified Billing doesn't auto-pay bills, that's Robotic Hand of God. Did you turn that off? THe Robotic Hand wil automatically trigger and banish the popup faster than you can see it. For other houses, the billing is automatically deducted because the mailman doesn't visit NPC households.

My bad. Yes I did turn off Robotic Hand of God. I didn't realize that was what paid the bills. I needed to turn it off because it kept cleaning up the dinner before anyone got a chance to eat it. It's okay though because I do get the message to pay my bills and can click it and have never had the repo man show up unexpectedly. Thanks for setting me straight J.M.!

[Hellga]

Okay, shit ain't working. Do I absolutely HAVE to update my game past 1.2.7 to use awesomemod? I really don't want to 

[wizard_merlin]

Okay, shit ain't working. Do I absolutely HAVE to update my game past 1.2.7 to use awesomemod? I really don't want to  

YES

[dragon_tfm]

I thought I found somewhere a post that said awsomemod would not allow your sim to purchase the lifetime wish change reward, but i can not find that anywhere. The reason i wish to know if that is true (and my searched come up with out anything useful) is that Id like to know if my game is bugged or if this is a feature of the mod. Ive tried a few time to purchase that reward and it will give the pop up to choose the new lifetime wish, I can choose one but it will not change it.  This has been occuring for some time, with each new version of the mod and before I added the stand alone indie story mod. Would some one please point me to the thread if it exists to where it says if this is a feature or correct me if it is a bug.

[wizard_merlin]

I thought I found somewhere a post that said awsomemod would not allow your sim to purchase the lifetime wish change reward, but i can not find that anywhere. The reason i wish to know if that is true (and my searched come up with out anything useful) is that Id like to know if my game is bugged or if this is a feature of the mod. Ive tried a few time to purchase that reward and it will give the pop up to choose the new lifetime wish, I can choose one but it will not change it.  This has been occuring for some time, with each new version of the mod and before I added the stand alone indie story mod. Would some one please point me to the thread if it exists to where it says if this is a feature or correct me if it is a bug.

It works alright for me without any problem.  You can't change a LTW after it has been fulfilled, but then in that case the option to buy the change usually isn't available. 

Your game might be bugged, but I did notice in my game that I could not change the LTW for a sim I downloaded and installed.  For all other in-game sims, either made by me or EAxis in the game, I can change the LTW just fine.  I have only downloaded one sim, so can experiment any further to check it out.

[coltraz]

I've never seen anyone complain about this here, that I noticed, so I'm guessing this occurrence hasn't anything to do with AM: But is there perhaps any Awesome-related reason why one of my Sim acquired the "insane" trait out of nowhere? When I dropped it I got an "ORLY?" message of confirmation which was unique to that particular dropping instance.

[shadow]

I thought I found somewhere a post that said awsomemod would not allow your sim to purchase the lifetime wish change reward, but i can not find that anywhere. The reason i wish to know if that is true (and my searched come up with out anything useful) is that Id like to know if my game is bugged or if this is a feature of the mod. Ive tried a few time to purchase that reward and it will give the pop up to choose the new lifetime wish, I can choose one but it will not change it.  This has been occuring for some time, with each new version of the mod and before I added the stand alone indie story mod. Would some one please point me to the thread if it exists to where it says if this is a feature or correct me if it is a bug.

I've noticed, at least in my game, that I can only change the LTW once. After that, I can still access the 'change lifetime wish' reward but it will not change so, if I've changed it once by any method, I can not change it again.

ETA: I forgot to mention - With the SuperComputer, I can change LTW as many times as I like. It's only with the reward that it can't be changed more than once. It also can't be changed if you've tried changing it in CAS then try the reward. The reward counts the 'trying' as a change and won't let you do it again. 

[J. M. Pescado]

I've never seen anyone complain about this here, that I noticed, so I'm guessing this occurrence hasn't anything to do with AM: But is there perhaps any Awesome-related reason why one of my Sim acquired the "insane" trait out of nowhere? When I dropped it I got an "ORLY?" message of confirmation which was unique to that particular dropping instance.

That's the standard message that drops traits. As for why one of your sims acquired the insane trait out of nowhere, no idea. The insane trait is pretty hilarious, though.