More Fun Activities For Sims 3 - Updated September 8th

[Chaavik]

More Fun Activities - Sims 3 enhances the stuff Sims do to gain more Fun because in truth, there weren't many things in Sims 3 that Sims can do and gain Fun.

The following are listed below with some of the mods having special notes:

Explore Mausoleum More Fun
Go Jogging And More Fun
Hack Computer More Fun
Paint Faster And More Fun
Play Chess With Chess Table And More Fun
Play Chess With Computer And More Fun
Play In Toybox More Fun
Play On Playground Equipment *The EA default was 0, therefore Sims weren't gaining Fun*
Play Toy Peg Box More Fun
Play Xylophone More Fun
Read Book More Fun
Read Newspaper More Fun
Read Skill Book More Fun
Search Galaxy More Fun *Not the same as Stargaze - looking at the stars*
Solve Hard Problem With Computer More Fun
Stargaze More Fun *Not the same as Search Galaxy - searches the galaxies for unusual stuff for fun*
Toddler Read Book More Fun
Workout Bench And More Fun
Workout Stereo And More Fun
Workout TV And More Fun *You can use with "UnlockedTVChannelsAndMoreFun". Different files*
Workout Treadmill And More Fun
Write Novel With Computer More Fun *You can use with "Faster Novel Writing For Sims 3". Different files*

NEW:

Chat On Computer More Fun *Chat With Random Or Specific Sim*
Fishing More Fun
Cuddle On Seat More Fun *Kiss And Make Out*
Cuddle On Bed More Fun *Kiss And Make Out*
Take Bubble Bath More Fun *All Types of Bathtubs*
Swimming More Fun
Picnic More Fun *Picnic On Ground And At Picnic Table*

SPECIAL NOTE:

Picnic More Fun also has its Social values fixed because the Sims' Social motives did not improve at all when they socialize while they're on a picnic on the ground or at the table.


NEW:

Jump On Bed
Do Homework
Do Homework With - *This is a different interaction to do homework with other Sims*
Blog On Computer
Make Inappropriate Post On Forums
Troll On Forums
Smash Dollhouse
Tinkering - *All tinkering activities are combined into one single file*
Overclock Computer
Research New Stock On Computer - *Only Sims with Charisma trait and skill can do this by EA default*
Run Forensic Analysis On Computer
Sabotage Electronic Objects - *TV, Stereo and Computer activities combined in one file*
Work From Home
Check For Forum Responses

SPECIAL NOTE:

Tinkering, Sabotage Electronic Objects and Overclocking Computer did not have code bits to boost Fun.


NEW:

Rummage Through Trashcan Outdoors
Collect Rocks
Hang Out With Sim - * Social motive fixed. It was 0 by EA default *
Interview Sim - * Social and Fun motive boosts were added *
Scare Sim - * EA default was 0 *
Write Report On Computer - * Fun motive added *
Protest City Hall - * Social motive boost added and Fun motive boost increased *

SPECIAL NOTE:

These interactions originally did not contain either or both Fun and Social motive boosts, making the interactions less sociable or fun for Sims. Interviewing people should be considered as a social activity for most people who like to do these interviews in real life. I guess EA is anti-social, or maybe their dev team is anti-social. Hanging out with people should be a FUN activity as well a socially acceptable gathering at most colleges. I hung out with my friends while I was in college and had fun doing that. So should our Sims!


NOTE:

These activities had no line added to allow for Sims to gain Fun or had either zero or low values that aren't enough to justify the activities worth doing for your Sims. Some of the activities did have a bit of code, but EA was too freakin' lazy to get them right to let a Sim visibly gain Fun.

These are my personal mods that I made for myself because in my opinion, there weren't very many activities in Sims 3 to let Sims gain Fun. I figured you guys would like to have some of these mods for yourselves. The activities are the ones I think make sense if they give the Sim something fun to do whether they're kids, teens or adults.


SIDE NOTE:

You can pick any or all of the mods to install for Sims 3. Be sure to use Indie Stone Compatibility Checker (available at MTS) to check for any conflict between any of these mods against other similar mods.

If you don't see something listed that you think can be modified to gain more fun, please let me know.


INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS:

Put the mods here:

C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods\Packages

* They're so easy to place in the Packages folder that you don't need a monkey to tell you how to install them.

More Fun Activities - Sims 3
More Fun Activities - Sims 3 - Pack 2 *New activities not included with the original package*
More Fun Activities - Sims 3 - Pack 3 *New activities not included with the first two packages*
More Fun Activities - Sims 3 - Pack 4 *New activities not included with the first three packages*

[Indiasong]

Swim?

[GayJohnScarritt]

Makeout and Woohoo have never (in my games) been consistent in giving fun.  It drove me bonkers on the occasions when their fun bar never went up.

Other activities?
- Picnic
- Fishing

[Gastfyr]

Play On Playground Equipment *The EA default was 0, therefore Sims weren't gaining Fun*

*facepalm*

How about flirting?  Can flirting be made fun?  Or just general talking to friends face to face.  It makes not sense to me that they have lodes of fun talking on the cellphone, but talking face to face is no fun at all.

Are bubble baths fun?  I know in TS2 they weren't which always annoyed me.

[Chaavik]

Those are a few things I overlooked. I'm gonna check into those activities in a little bit, and I'll see what I can do.

*UPDATED*

New Stuff:

Chat On Computer More Fun *Chat With Random Or Specific Sim*
Fishing More Fun
Cuddle On Seat More Fun *Kiss And Make Out*
Cuddle On Bed More Fun *Kiss And Make Out*
Take Bubble Bath More Fun *All Types of Bathtubs*
Swimming More Fun
Picnic More Fun *Picnic On Ground And At Picnic Table*


Bubble Baths were fun, but there was a bit of code that disabled the Fun motive. Fixed that to let Sims have fun taking bubble baths.

Picnic More Fun also has Social that was given a zero value, so the Sims weren't benefiting from socializing around the picnic basket on the ground and at the table. Their Social motives didn't improve. Huh, figures.

More Fun Activities - Sims 3 - Pack 2 is uploaded alongside with the original More Fun Activities - Sims 3 package. I'm adding more details in the original post.

Oh, the flirt and make out interactions are simply... interactions from the socializing file. Neither have any code to increase Social or Fun motives. The only things I found were related to a seat (presumably a couch) and a bed. Those interactions do have bits of code and lack the appropriate code for boosting Fun.

[CheritaChen]

It makes not sense to me that they have lodes of fun talking on the cellphone, but talking face to face is no fun at all.

Based on what I see around me every day, it's the most realistic aspect of the game. Everyone is always attached to a goddamn phone even if there are real, live people there to interact with.

[Gastfyr]

I guess since I am one of the few humans on the plannet who does not have a cellphone, I really don't get the whole cellphones are Teh Funnest thing.  But whatever.

Chaavik, thanks so much for fixing the bubble bath fun-ness and the picnic socail-ness.  My simmies thank you. 

[brownlustgirl]

Cool, more fun stuff. EA sure made fun a no-no in this game. Found some to be very useful and thanks for supplying this.

[Chaavik]

I own a cellphone and do not have fun using it anyway. I use it for texting mostly to pester my family and friends.  

If you find anything else that you think should be fun, let me know. I'll see what I will do.


Yeah, I definitely agree with you, brownlustgirl. I was under the impression that EA made Fun a big no-no in Sims 3. I was scratching my head and thinking "Huh?" while I'm watching my Sims enjoy activities that should be fun. I think EA needs to get a life and do fun stuff for a change.

[Gastfyr]

I had some "fun" tunings in my game from someone else, so I decided to look them up.  Turns out it was on MTS:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=352187
I only use the Hacking, Kicking, and Collecting ones, since in my mind cooking and especally cleaning shouldn't be fun.    lol
And by the same person, I use the Tinkering one from here:
http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=351416
I didn't understand why picking up seeds couldn't be made fun allong with picking up rocks and gems, but apparently that is true.

Just thought I'd throw these links out there for anyone looking for more fun for their sims who might not already have seen these.

[Doc Doofus]

I wonder how hard it would be to make a single offline GUI utility that would let you modify all or any of those values and then spit out a single XML package that contains them all.  That way you wouldn't have to keep track of all the individual XML tweaks you have in your system.

[chann]

I wonder how hard it would be to make a single offline GUI utility that would let you modify all or any of those values and then spit out a single XML package that contains them all.  That way you wouldn't have to keep track of all the individual XML tweaks you have in your system.

Like morgade's Mod Generator?

[Chaavik]

I looked at the Mod Generator and chucked it out, preferring S3pe and Postal to do the work with various files. I'm more into reading and understanding the scripting with subroutines and values to understand what Sims do in Sims 3, and what things do too in Sims 3.

I don't think anybody is going to complain since these files and those other files have different approaches to how much Fun should be gained. I tried a couple of those "fun" activities from those links before and felt they weren't really boosting Fun visibly enough to make the activities worthwhile.

But everybody has their own preferences. I was willing to share what I considered as fun activities with those who wanted those same fun activities and have Sims visibly gain Fun doing them. Whatever floats your boat...

Oh, the reason they're individual files is because these are fun activities the players can pick and choose from than to deal with one file full of activities, some of the activities which the players may not wish to have in their games if they think some of the fun activities are not "Fun" for them and their Sims. If you don't think exploring a mausoleum is fun, then you can opt not to install that. That's the reason for the packaged files containing separate fun activities.

[varmint]

While consolidating all of your fun choices into a single package would be efficient and lovely, it really wouldn't streamline the process that much. As long as your resource.cfg is set up the usual way, you have 4 levels of subfolders you can create in your mods folder. I organize them by creating a MOARFUN folder and just stick the ones I want in it, and swapping them around doesn't really take any more time than it would take to open a separate app and glue them all together that way.

[Doc Doofus]

I looked at the mod generator.  That wasn't what I was really thinking about, although it looks very handy.

I was thinking of something like a Preferences or Settings utility that would be universal.  It might generate a mod XML but that would be transparent to the user and you wouldn't have to know its name.  You could have everything set up in a nice GUI app with the EA defaults that you could change as you pleased, all in one place.  Why have several different mods with different names that aren't terribly descriptive of what they do if you could have one app that does it all for you, all in one place? 

If, then, you wanted to change something, you could just tell people what setting to change in the app rather than releasing a mod.

[Chaavik]

Exactly.

If I did combine all of the files into one single package, then someone will ask for a separate file if the person is only interested in one or two fun activities and install those instead of dealing with the activities he or she doesn't want.

Really easy process for those of you who wants to combine activities you want into a single file:

1. Open S3pe and click File on the menu bar.
2. Select New to create a new file.
3. Choose File again and scroll down to Import Packages...
4. Start importing the files you picked out for yourself, making sure you know where you unzipped the files to.
5. Once you imported the files you want, then click Save As to name your new mod.
6. Drop the new mod into your Mods/Packages folder or whatever subfolder you have in the Mods/Packages folder as long as your resource.cfg file supports more folders and subfolders.

I could've done that, but I figured people will want one or two activities from either package for their own games.

*Edited*

I was responding to varmint's post.

I was waiting to see if that one program is out yet to edit ttabs in a similar manner to SimPE being used to edit the menus and bcons. I saw and tried out most of the programs available to modify Sims 3. So far, I liked S3pe and Postal. I checked out the object cloner tool, but it was a bit unstable at the time.

Sure, we could tell users to edit the values in the mods if they wanted to, but some users can't for some reason or other. Or have their reasons for not wanting to touch anything out of fear they might screw up their own games. 

[chann]

I was thinking of something like a Preferences or Settings utility that would be universal.  It might generate a mod XML but that would be transparent to the user and you wouldn't have to know its name.  You could have everything set up in a nice GUI app with the EA defaults that you could change as you pleased, all in one place.  Why have several different mods with different names that aren't terribly descriptive of what they do if you could have one app that does it all for you, all in one place? 

If, then, you wanted to change something, you could just tell people what setting to change in the app rather than releasing a mod.

It's a nice idea. The tool would need to be well-supported though, in the event that patches update the XMLs, and tool-makers often come and go.

Sure, we could tell users to edit the values in the mods if they wanted to, but some users can't for some reason or other. Or have their reasons for not wanting to touch anything out of fear they might screw up their own games. 

Funny, because XML tuning is incredibly easy to do once you get a grip on using s3pe and knowing how the mod framework functions. Still, sometimes you never realise you needed a mod until you see somebody's made one (like for children reading skill books).

[edalbformat]

This is true. XML is in plain English and is very easy to understand how it works. I always use the mod of someone else to make my adjustments cause the worst work is to find the xml self. 

Out of topics. Do you casually know if Beds are global? I couldn't find the xml that says "Availablity: todldlers, children,teens, adults, elders - true or false". Reason: the highest required mod over here is to avoid that kids use double beds. I don't like it, some of my friends vomit if they see a kid in a double bed.

[chaos]

The only bed mods I've ever seen were object mods, not global mods. I don't know if global mods for beds are even possible, but I'd think so, since sims seem to globally recognize which beds they sleep in, though they don't always use the same side of their beds each time they sleep, relax, etc.

[chann]

Out of topics. Do you casually know if Beds are global? I couldn't find the xml that says "Availablity: todldlers, children,teens, adults, elders - true or false". Reason: the highest required mod over here is to avoid that kids use double beds.

There is a "BedSleep" XML for that interaction, but I don't think it differentiates between single and double beds. If you change it, you might find kids will never autonomously use any bed.

I don't like it, some of my friends vomit if they see a kid in a double bed.

What, the kids in double beds or your friends' vomiting in revulsion at the sight of it? I had to ask.

[edalbformat]

Several motives: 1) they pee on the bed that are not theirs. 2)old education: double beds are associated to marriage and sex. Most of the people over here are around 70 years old.
I have a double bed and a TV in the bedroom. The kids are only allowed to watch TV in the living room CAUSE I DON'T want them in my bed. Nothing special, I allow my dog to sleep in my bed. Just old education. I don't associate dogs to marriage and sex.

[J. M. Pescado]

Several motives: 1) they pee on the bed that are not theirs.

I don't think you should be allowing unhousebroken children on ANY bed, really. In fact, they really should not be allowed in the house without being supervised. Have your spray bottle handy for if they try to pee on the floor.

2)old education: double beds are associated to marriage and sex. Most of the people over here are around 70 years old.

I think that's an association unique to you.

I have a double bed and a TV in the bedroom.

You're crazy, right? Haven't you learned ANYTHING? If you leave a TV in the bedroom, someone will turn it on while you are trying to sleep.

[kuronue]

Several motives: 1) they pee on the bed that are not theirs. 2)old education: double beds are associated to marriage and sex. Most of the people over here are around 70 years old.
I have a double bed and a TV in the bedroom. The kids are only allowed to watch TV in the living room CAUSE I DON'T want them in my bed. Nothing special, I allow my dog to sleep in my bed. Just old education. I don't associate dogs to marriage and sex.

So wait... you allow your dog in bed because that's not associated with sex, but your kids are a no-no... so you associate your kids with marriage and sex?    Definitely just you XD

[CheritaChen]

So wait... you allow your dog in bed because that's not associated with sex, but your kids are a no-no... so you associate your kids with marriage and sex?

Glad I wasn't the only one who read it that way.

[edalbformat]

You suffer the consequence of the way society reacts, boy. On the past, if an old man was in company of a girl, it was seen pretty hard (some of the kids are not genetically from us). Today, if an adult is seen in the company of any kind of child male or female, it is subject to doubt. This creates a phobia. I dislike children from nature.
The case is that none of us like to see kids on a double bed. First of all double beds occupies too much space and I place one only for the couples to make woohoo, once it is the only EAway.
So yes, I associate double beds to marriage and sex. In TS whatever number, you cannot have sex with pets, so it is not associated. What the hell are you all thinking about.
Yes, yes, yes, kids are associated to marriage and sex - or are you growing out from vegetables?

Anyway, I found out a temporary solution. In TS2 I cloned all the double beds and hidden the original ones, so no double bed could be used by minors. In lack of those clones once I don't want to mess up too much with the Base Game, I deleted ALL the double beds from my game. I do not use woohoo anyway and I'm too old to like to see it. So, I'm going to make my clones after selected EPs. I'm using the NRAAS Inseminator, it is practical and much more to my sense of selected genetic (no racial statement, I select all genetics).

The fun activities by the way is OK. I just avoided the more fun for reading books because the advertisement for books are far too strong for my taste.