Raising the game's difficulty level (read the 1st post and vote, pls)

[linolino]

I'm looking for ways to Mod the items below. If you have any information that might help, about how to do this with SimPe, please post here:

1 - Lower the reward points for every want, making it harder to raise aspiration level and to buy aspiration rewards
2 - Change the total asp points needed for to reach platinum, making it harder to get to platinum level, but not to gold level
3 - Enable Aspiration decay while sleeping and while offworld
4 - Make bills more expensive
5 - Raise the cost of the hiring services (maids, gardeners...)

Aspiration Rewards:
The game is about generations. So the rewards should also be a reward for playing the generations. Making the rewards harder to acquire, will make them valious items that the grampa sim acquired and will leave in the attic for his grandchildren, or that your adult sim really earnt, becuase you really worked on those wants!
And also, that reward that sucks out asp points will be actually usefull, because raising the rewards price, will make it usefull sometimes to get some "extra" asp points!!!

Reaching Platinum Mood:
My sims are constantly in Platinum mood, however there is no such thing. No one is always in the best mood ever...
However it is very easy to reach platinum level. For example, and adult sim needs less than 4000 asp points before he reaches platinum level. just by fullfilling a few wants, you get there. That's very little for someone to be "as happy as ever".

Maitaining the Apsiration level:
The Aspiration metter has a fixed decay rate. It decays only each 8 hours in platinum level, each 16h in gold and green level and each 32h in red level, only at the top of the hour. But the decay don't occur if the sim is off the lot or asleep.
Considering platinum level that has the fastest decay rate, if the sims sleep 8 hours a day, they'll miss 1 decay when they are asleep. Also they can miss another decay while they are at work; and if the sim takes a 10 min nap just before the top of the hour when the decay occurs, he will miss the 3rd decay. Since the day has 24 hours, that sim have missed all the 3 decays of the day. if you repeat that process you can have a static aspiration metter as long as you want. Considering that almost every want is easily fulfilled, you can get platinum level and keep it forever. wheres the challenge in that?
So i think that enabling the decay while sleeping or offworld, the sim will have a point in fulfilling all those wants, because they will need them in order to mantain their aspiration level that will certainly decay from time to time.
It does not mean your sim will get stuck in aspiration failure, it means more normal and bad mood for sims.

[Oddysey]

Aspiration meter varies by age. Increases as they get older. I think that's the kind of thing that's hardcoded, though. Doubt we'd be able to mess with it, but you never know.

On the rewards thing, I'd download JMPescado's anti-ghost sign and poke around in the files. Once you find out how to mess with the reward value on that, theoretically you'll be able to alter the same value on  the other reward objects. I say use JMP's because it's easier to find and it's all in one package, with nothing else there.

[linolino]

oh, thats right! i could look into the no-ghost sign package...! the problem then will be finding the files for the other aspiration rewards...

now as for the asp metter.. oh no, i hope its not hardcoded...! tehre must be a way of raising the amount of asp points needed to fill it...

[syberspunk]

Actually, maybe if you looked at the aspiration reward recharge hack, that should pretty much have most of the files for most of the rewards. Then, presumably, they would have the same group id, and you could just filter the objects.package for that and look at the different instances. Hope that helps somehow.

Ste

[linolino]

Actually, maybe if you looked at the aspiration reward recharge hack, that should pretty much have most of the files for most of the rewards. Then, presumably, they would have the same group id, and you could just filter the objects.package for that and look at the different instances. Hope that helps somehow.

Ste

great idea! thanks.
No clue about the Asp Metter though uh? oh well..

[Hook]

Here's evertything I know about the aspiration meter.  Base numbers are from the Prima guide, calculations are courtesy of Excel spreadsheet.  Unfortunately, I don't have any information on young adults.

------

The aspiration meter has 6 sections, and each section has a percentage of the total aspiration points.

Platinum:  35%
Gold: 25%
Top Green: 20%
Bottom Green: 10%
Top Red:  5%
Bottom Red:  5%

Each age of Sim has a different number of total aspiration points.

Toddler:  3000
Child:  6000
Teen:  9000
Adult:  12000
Elder:  15000

So a little arithmetic gives us the actual number of aspiration points for each age Sim:

TGrn = Top Green
BGrn = Bottom Green
TRed = Top Red
BRed = Bottom Red

Age ------ Plat -- Gold -- TGrn -- BGrn -- TRed -- BRed
Toddler -- 1050 --- 750 --- 600 --- 300 --- 150 --- 150
Child ---- 2100 -- 1500 -- 1200 --- 600 --- 300 --- 300
Teen ----- 3150 -- 2250 -- 1800 --- 900 --- 450 --- 450
Adult ---- 4200 -- 3000 -- 2400 -- 1200 --- 600 --- 600
Elder ---- 5250 -- 3750 -- 3000 -- 1500 --- 750 --- 750

Aspiration decays at a different rate for each section of the aspiration meter.  Here are the number of hours for a segment of the meter to decay from top to bottom:

Platinum:  8 hours
Gold:  16 hours
Top Green:  32 hours
Bottom Green:  32 hours
Top Red:  32 hours
Bottom Red:  No decay, you have to experience a fear to get here

A little arithmetic gives us the aspiration decay per hour.

Age ------ Plat -- Gold -- TGrn -- BGrn -- TRed
Toddler --- 131 ---- 47 ---- 19 ----- 9 ----- 5
Child ----- 263 ---- 94 ---- 38 ---- 19 ----- 9
Teen ------ 394 --- 141 ---- 56 ---- 28 ---- 14
Adult ----- 525 --- 188 ---- 75 ---- 38 ---- 19
Elder ----- 656 --- 234 ---- 94 ---- 47 ---- 23

And finally, assuming your Sim sleeps 6 hours a day, here's the number of aspiration points you'll need per day (18 hours, they don't decay during sleep) to keep a Sim in a specific aspiration.

Age ------ Plat -- Gold -- TGrn -- BGrn -- TRed
Toddler -- 2363 --- 844 --- 338 --- 169 ---- 84
Child ---- 4725 -- 1688 --- 675 --- 338 --- 169
Teen ----- 7088 -- 2531 -- 1013 --- 506 --- 253
Adult ---- 9450 -- 3375 -- 1350 --- 675 --- 338
Elder --- 11813 -- 4219 -- 1688 --- 844 --- 422

Hope someone finds this useful.

Hook

[linolino]

WOOOOWWWWW HOOK!!! THATS AWESOME! More awesome than any other post! Thank you!!! cooooolll

wow, really? platinum mood only 35% no no no i must find a way to Mod this and turn it to 60%!!!!

THXx! various benes for you! (há!)

[laracon]

The aspiration levels can be increased - though not through a mod - only by changing the game files themselves. So I backed off the idea.

[linolino]

The aspiration levels can be increased - though not through a mod - only by changing the game files themselves. So I backed off the idea.

But then you do have a clue on how can we modify that? please please share! what files are these you are talking about? what else can you tell me?

[dizzy]

http://www.variousimmers.net/vsimforum/showthread.php?t=1262

The above is a hack to do the opposite of what you want. Considering that it's just a group of BCONs, it shouldn't be too tough to tweak the way you want.

[linolino]

YAY!!! very good, thats exactly the opposite of what i want!

Actually, it's part of it. I want to accelerate the aspiration decay rate,

also, raise the aspiration prices of th rewards

and last but not least, i want to raise the maximum points the aspiration metter can hold, and change the percentage of total points needed for each color level in it.

I mean, 35% of metter bar for platinum level is just lame!

[J. M. Pescado]

Another thing to note is that aspiration level does not decay when your sim is off-world (work, school, abducted by aliens, etc.) either. Meaning if you are at work for 4-6 hours, no decay then, either.

Also, decay occurs only at the top of the hour. If your sim catnaps about 10 minutes before, then wakes up after the tick, he will miss the decay.

[linolino]

wow!!! lammer than i thought! Ok, so then i'll just see the time the decay occurs and put my sim to nap 10 mins before...

no no no, thats just ridiculous. It should decay while sleeping and also when offworld...

The way it is now, that LTW reward of getting platinum mood forever is just good for nothing!...

Do you know if these changes are possible J.M. ?

1 - Accelerate the aspiration decay rate
2 - Raise the aspiration prices of the rewards
3 - Raise the maximum points the aspiration metter can hold
4 - Change the percentage of total points needed for each Aspiration level
5 - Enable Aspiration decay while sleeping and while offworld

[laracon]

Linolino, have a look in the wants folder. One of the the files there holds the individual points for each want/fear and another holds the aspiration levels for each age group. They are both .xml files which JM informed me cannot be altered by placing in the download folder but it may be possible to change and save if you really want to do that.

If aspiration decay could occur at all times, that would certainly make the game more difficult and could be enough to satisfy your need. On that point, I'd bow to JM's superior knowledge 

[linolino]

oh thank you laracon. i might just go and check the wants folder. actually, there are only 3 .package files there, so i might have to open them with SimPe and extract the xml right?

Wants.package
WantTree.package
WantTuning.package

Also tehre a wants folder in the The Sims folder and one in the University folder... wich one should i use? probably  uni right?

[Oddysey]

Hook . . . I never thought I'd say this, but you are even more awesome than I am in Excel. My spreadsheet that calculates the end of the world using U.N. estimates pales in comparison. (The look on someone's face when you say, "According to U.N. estimates, the world as we know it will end in approximately 90 years," is absolutely priceless.)

I'm pretty sure that YAs use the same meter as adults.

[laracon]

I don't have Uni installed so you'll have to use trial and error. As for extracting, no, just alter as you require commit and save

[dizzy]

no no no, thats just ridiculous. It should decay while sleeping and also when offworld...

In my opinion, you're making your game so that your sims will be hopelessly locked into aspiration failure. They cannot achieve wants while asleep or off the lot, so why would want decay during that time?

If you just want a hack that gives them constant aspiration failure, then just ask for that. No need to complicate it with a lot of pointless dancing around it.

[J. M. Pescado]

(The look on someone's face when you say, "According to U.N. estimates, the world as we know it will end in approximately 90 years," is absolutely priceless.)

Dammit. We still have 90 years? I was hoping it would at least happen within my lifetime. Now it's absolutely nothing anyone here has to worry about at all, because even the 12 year olds here will be dead by then.

[laracon]

linolino, in objects.package (group 7FF64E02), you will find BCONs controlling aspiration decay for both sleeping and working. I thought I'd give it a try by using the same constants as for the different ages, also within this group. It makes aspiration success much tougher, as dizzy-two points out, you cannot counter failure during sleep or work. You could tweak these constants to some other level if you wish, giving the result you require but this would probably be unique to your style of play.

[linolino]

Well, to begin with, NO, i don't want to lock anyone in any aspiration failure dizzy-two, no need for your depreciating judgement about me, that is not what im doing , im not dancing around anything. Thank you but if you can't be helpfull, i'd prefer if you would not be harmfull either. 

It just happens that i CAN make my sims complete their wants so much, that they are ALWAYS in platinum mood, can ALWAYS buy any aspiration reward, and that kinda of takes away a lot of the challenge and a lot of the fun of the game.

I want it to decay while they are sleeping and offworld exactly becuase i want it to be more difficult to keep them in platinum mood, because i doubt that you or anyone that you know, is constantly in the best mood ever.

Thank you Laracon for the info. I am still going to look in those files, to see what i can find out, and i post it here later.

Ok maybe i don't make it decay while in those situations, but i will raise the price of the rewards... i don't know, i have to experiment with it to see wich will be the best combination. if it is faster decays, or less-fulfilling wants,  or whatever..

[laracon]

linolino, I can help you if you wish with the specific files on this issue. However, I know that there is some fun in experimenting and learning for yourself.

[linolino]

yeah i know! i really want to learn this stuff, since i am mostly the only one interested in my ideas for hacks.. haha..

I'm taking every tutorial I can find, and i'm going to look at the files we discussed here. if I happen to get very lost, I'll cry out for help, thx!

[laracon]

linolino, I feel the same way about the changes I'd have like to see. So I started doing it myself. So far it includes: higher bills, higher NPC costs, lower wages and longer hours, less comfortable beds (so they sleep till morning),making skill gain more difficult, fleshing out skills for job promotion, making an A+ grade harder to achieve .....etc

[wombat]

Any luck with this so far? Am particularly intrested in the higher bills, npc-cost and aspiration awards. And to make all furniture more expensive, if possible?