Testers Wanted: Grow Up Townies (Updated 3/15/2008)

[Ancient Sim]

The noagecheck one doesn't work either, at least not for me, I just tried it.  Will try the notype one, or whatever it is.  That should work as I've never seen any dormies typing.

You'd have to do without me if it wasn't for the fact that I'm doing the "Ugh, let's get it over with" Uni stint at the moment.  I've changed the day I send the teens so I've got more than usual.  My dorm is full and I can't keep track of who's woo-hooing with who or who fancies who.  One of the females has changed her 'One' on the hour every hour almost and she's making me feel quite dizzy.  Luckily, 5 of the 8 want to join the Greek House, although that just means I'll have 9 to play in there instead and they'll probably all expire from Fly-Ridden Pizza Syndrome.

Er ... Ste???  There's like no notype and two noage up there. 

[syberspunk]

Doh!

* syberspunk punches self in the head. 

Stupid me. Ok... 3rd times the charm, I hope? 

* syberspunk crosses fingers, elbows, knees, eyes, and toes. 

At least between the two of us, someone has their sharp wits about 'em, and it obviously ain't me lol. Ok, so This time, I checked all four controllers and I'm pretty sure the code is fixed. I haven't tested it in game tho... because I'm actually in bed now. Heh. I just decided to check the boards again before goin to sleep.

Sounds like Uni's keepin ya busy. I just played like half a semester myself. Last night, I finally played my self sim enough to the point that I was prepared to send him to Uni. I delayed his arrival because I wanted to satisfy his LTW first and get that out of the way. One less LTW I have to worry about, considering my plans, which were to add him to an existing dormlot with 6 other playable YAs. Heh. So of course I'm now dealing with my own headaches.

Anyhew, the controllers should be oky now. This is probably why people make One controller with the options adjustable via the mod in-game instead of making separate packages, which can be a pain to update, because they each have minor differences, so cutting and pasting and extracting and replacing doesn't exactly work. Heh. Only right now it's actually less overhead than for me to figure out how to add an in-game adjuster type object. Also... all four packages should be attached properly now too. I was bit hasty trying to roll out the fix, that I didn't bother to check the thread after I posted. I'll double check the controllers in-game sometime tomrrow, and hopefully this will be the last update for awhile, assuming no other bugs are found.

Ste

[Riez Forester]

Heya Syberpunk. I've downloaded the latest no type version and it seems when my simDad ask his simSon to grow up, he indeed grows up but no longer controllable. It's from a child to a teen. Does he turns into a townie or somethin? I'm too scared to save the game fear that he might lost forever.

[syberspunk]

Hrm. I'll have to take a look at the code. If I find it, I'll put a fix out shortly. I need to test some things anyway.

ETA: Oh yeah, and if unexpected things happen, it is a good idea to NOT save. You should probably save your game before trying the interaction, just in case something strange happens. Heh. It is still a fairly experimental hack.

Ste

[Riez Forester]

By the way, the simDad cannot ask another child, a simDaughter to grows up even though they have good relationship (the option does not shows up). simMom cannot ask both children to grow up at all. Both simDad and simMom are adults while both child are children.

[syberspunk]

By the way, the simDad cannot ask another child, a simDaughter to grows up even though they have good relationship (the option does not shows up). simMom cannot ask both children to grow up at all. Both simDad and simMom are adults while both child are children.

Ok. I found the bug and it's fixed now. I'll post it shortly. Which version of the controller are you using?

I only made three types:

1) no type check - removes type check (if PC or NPC) but still checks relations AND age. So... sims have to be within two age ranges.
2) no rel check - removes type check AND relationship check but still checks age range. Sims must be within two age ranges.
3) no age check - removes all checks.

I did it this way because that was sort of the order that I was doing the checks in the code. Do you think it would make more sense to switch it around?

1) no age check - remove age check, keep type and relations check
2) no type check - remove age AND type check, keep relations check
3) no relations check - remove all checks

I only made 3 types of controllers because I didn't want to have to maintain too many versions, and besides, it only let's me attach 4 files at the same time. I think that's what I will do. I think I will switch it around. So each check that is removed progressively increases the "range" of sims that the option is available to. Expect an update shortly.

Ste

[Riez Forester]

That was quick. Thanks. I shall try it when it's up! I am using the 'no type check' version by the way. 
Just read about the order. I like the original order just fine but it seems the new order makes more sense. Just so you know.

[syberspunk]

I forgot... the original requirement for relationship checks was that sims had to at least be best friends. That is probably why your parents didn't get options on their kids. I have now added an additional check so that, in the very least, sims would have to at least be friends with 80+ STR.

In addition, the checks are now as follows:

1) noagecheck - removes age check ONLY, keeps type check (only Visitors have the option) AND relationship checks

2) notypecheck - removes age AND type check (allows option for PCs, Visitors, AND NPCs - use with caution), keeps relationship check ONLY

3) norelcheck - removes age, type, AND relationship checks i.e. the option to Grow Up/Say Goodbye Forever should show up on anyone that is a child or older. Restricted to child and up due to animations (i.e. anims don't exist for toddlers and babies since this is a social interaction - this may be addressed in the future).

All files have been updated, so please redownload and retest. Keep them bug reports comin'

Ste

[Riez Forester]

Syberpunk, the hack works but the teens are still uncontrolable afterthey grew up (to be more exact, after we have chose the turns ons and offs and aspirations), but I've try go to the neighborhood (save the game, since I had backup that neighborhood a while before opening the game) and return, they are there. So I guess it's working.

[Ancient Sim]

Tested in my dorm tonight (not with the latest version) and it worked fine in terms of getting majors for the resident dormies (couldn't ask them to grow-up, but maybe that was because they're on campus).  What didn't work was getting majors for non-resident dormies (which is the majority of them, seeing as I only have three in my dorm).  It will allow me to set a major, but as soon as they leave the lot it disappears and goes back to Undeclared, or nothing at all if they're SS members (for them I had to set it with TwoJeffs phone books first, then set it again via your mod).  The non-residents will also go to their finals and get the Dean's List memory, but when they come back they lose that first half-semester and are back to the beginning again (the resident dormies keep it).

If you can somehow work out how to get the non-residents to keep their majors that'd be great (not bothered about the final exam bit), otherwise the majority of dormies are still going to have no major set.  Also, I know for a fact that if any of the resident dormies leave, they will go back to the beginning again and be Undeclared because it happened to an ex-dormie I'd made playable.  He fell out with his girlfriend, so I made him a dormie again and he lost all 3 of the semesters he'd gone through.  The game resets them obviously, but whether you can bypass that I have no idea.

[syberspunk]

Syberpunk, the hack works but the teens are still uncontrolable afterthey grew up (to be more exact, after we have chose the turns ons and offs and aspirations), but I've try go to the neighborhood (save the game, since I had backup that neighborhood a while before opening the game) and return, they are there. So I guess it's working.

Hrm... how strange. I'll take another look when I can. I thought I fixed that, at least code wise. I haven't actually had a chance to test it in game myself. Originally, the code just makes them unselectable. But theoretically, everything should reset when you save and return to the house. I just didn't want to suggest that in case it actually did become permanent.

If you can somehow work out how to get the non-residents to keep their majors that'd be great (not bothered about the final exam bit), otherwise the majority of dormies are still going to have no major set.  Also, I know for a fact that if any of the resident dormies leave, they will go back to the beginning again and be Undeclared because it happened to an ex-dormie I'd made playable.  He fell out with his girlfriend, so I made him a dormie again and he lost all 3 of the semesters he'd gone through.  The game resets them obviously, but whether you can bypass that I have no idea.

Thanks for testing this. I actually didn't play long term to see what would happen. In my own test run, I was sending my test subject to his final, one after the other, just to see if I could actually get him all the way up to the last final. I also graduated him. But I did not save that progress to the lot because I wanted to keep using him as test subject. I'll have to dig around further to see if, where, and how the game is reseting dormies. That might make things a lot more complicated.

Hopefully I can dig through it all and have fixes for both of these issues soon.


ETA: new version with some bug fixes and minor tweaks.

v1.084- Fixed bug where interaction shows up but fails to execute, removed college options for non-resident YAs

I tested some changes, and while playing the Burbs, I was able to age Lucy Burb up, and she remained selectable. I summoned Alexander Goth over, and aged him up, and he was correctly NOT selectable. I also aged up Randy London and he also remained NOT selectable. This is how it should be. To double check this, I went to the Goth house and aged up Alexander there. He remained selectable. I summoned Lucy over, and aged her, and she was NOT selectable. These changes should have already been included in the last version, but I made some other small changes to clean up some code anyways. Make sure that you update BOTH the controller AND the interaction packages.

As for the issue with non resident dormies reseting... I will try and take a look at that later. I did verify that non resident YAs do not keep their majors or their semester's completed in their timer. Even though they do keep the memory. However, I didn't want to delve into the code to figure out what is going on, as I can imagine there could be several possible places that the code is reseting them, and it would probably take some time to hunt them all down and figure out a way to mod this in an non-conflicty, unobtrusive way.

So... the simpler solution was to just remove the option from sims who are NOT residents. The code should now check to see that the dormie has a dorm key, and therefore lives on the current dorm lot. If not, then the option should not appear at all. I'd rather remove the option than have something buggy happen. If you really want to age those other dormies, the best thing you can hope for is that they might be a resident on another dorm lot. And you would have to go to that dorm lot and age them there. Otherwise, you won't be able to age dormies who do not live on a dorm lot.

Ste

[Ancient Sim]

The only problem with that Ste is that when they cease to become dormies (i.e., because one of our own Sims moves in and takes their place) they are going to get reset again.  That means they'll be going around with memories of making it to whatever semester level when they appear to have never taken a single final!  I suppose the easiest way round it is just to give them a major and forget about the final aspect.  I always move mine in when they are obviously destined to become the 'other half' of one of my playables anyway, which I am about to do with two I've just used this mod on. 

It'd be nice if they could at least keep their majors permanently, but as it stands they don't unless they're resident on the lot. Oh, and even though I used the ssfinalsfix mod that is supposed to give you the money when they take their final - it doesn't!  Curses.

[syberspunk]

Ahh... you're right! I didn't think of that, Doh!

* syberspunk smacks self in the forehead.

I was just hopin that I could delay looking into the code for the reseting and eventually figure it out. But yeah, I forgot that if you move new playables in, YAs will move out, and thus get reset. Oh well. It was a neat idea. If I ever get around to it, hopefully I can get it completely working.

As for the major thing, that will probably reset too, but I suppose that is less harmless, since you don't get memories for that, right? Ok, I'll go back and just disable those options in the controllers. And when I have time, maybe I can delve deeper into the reseting thing and figure how to get it working properly. Thanks for pointing that out.

It'd be nice if they could at least keep their majors permanently, but as it stands they don't unless they're resident on the lot. Oh, and even though I used the ssfinalsfix mod that is supposed to give you the money when they take their final - it doesn't!  Curses.

For the sslotfinalsfix, is it not giving you money back at their original lot? What the fix should do is, if you send a sim to a final while they are on an sslot, the money should go to their own funds and not the ss lot. Is the money not going to their home funds Or the ss lot funds? Is it just disappearing into the ether? Or does it at least end up in the sslot? I'll try and take a look at that soon as well.

Ste

ETA: updated controllers up with Go to Final Exam option disabled. Also fixed a minor bug in some of the alternative controllers, so please update. Interaction package remains the same.

ETA: I also updated the sslotfinalsfix; details posted here.

[Ancient Sim]

No, what I meant was the dormies aren't getting any money.  From what I could gather, they would if the sslotfinalsfix mod wasn't updated to the one that goes with this mod, but in my case it wasn't making any difference.  It doesn't matter anyway, there's always kaching!

[syberspunk]

No, what I meant was the dormies aren't getting any money.  From what I could gather, they would if the sslotfinalsfix mod wasn't updated to the one that goes with this mod, but in my case it wasn't making any difference.  It doesn't matter anyway, there's always kaching!

Ahh. Ok. Hrm. Well I think I did find a bug anyways in the sslotfinalsfix. At least I'm pretty sure. I'll have to test it in game. Heh. But I purposefully disabled the grants for dormies because, since they aren't playable, it would be sort of cheaty and unfair to get the money from them and say graduate them or if they leave because of moving in other playables. Since they don't their "own money" with them when they leave, however they leave, I thought it would be too cheaty. If you want "free" money, you can just use a cheat to do that. If you want them to actually get money as grants from finishing exams and have that count towards the dorm lot funds, then you might as well make them playable. I was just trying to find a way to make dormies sort of progress in a similar way as playables, that isn't too cheaty, and still keep them as non-playable.

Ste

[Ancient Sim]

Well, I downloaded the latest noage one, which if I understand correctly also allows non-friends to ask townies to grow-up?  Well if it does, it doesn't, as it were.  Haven't tried to see if it would work on NPC's because nobody has one as a best friend.

Onward and upward ...

[syberspunk]

I switched the order around for the controllers. I decided to make the noage version more restrictive and the norel version the one that removes all checks. I partially did this in response to Riez Forester' posts. I thought that made more sense, to have each check removed progressively open up the options to more and more sims.

So starting with age, it only opens up a relatively small range. Next, the notypecheck opens it up to pcs and npcs. And finally the norel removes all checks.

Ste

[Ancient Sim]

Ah yes, I do remember reading something along those lines, but I think I thought I had the right one.  This is all getting terribly confusing, don't you think?  Not to worry, I'll toddle-off now and download the right one and hopefully all will be well and I can go kill=off my surplus NPC's, now that I have JM's one-only mod whatever it's called and have re-installed Dizzy's Sitter mod (rhat should give a strong hint as to which surplus NPC's I am most looking forward to getting rid of).

[MaiviaStorm]

Not explicitly, but its not uncommon for people to make townie teens selectable, knock them up, and then send them on their way.

*raises hand*  Hey!  He knocked over my trash can! lol

[miros]

I'm planning to age the townie kids to teens and send them to college as controllables from the "Send to College" dialog, so I don't have to worry about the dormie pool.

One question: if a Sim has a graduation party, one of the dormies shows up in cap and gown, poses for the graduation picture, and jumps in a taxi, but after you save, they're still listed in the University directory.

What's the best way to make this fit my mental storyline (that the graduate has moved back to the hood, etc.)?  I'm tentatively thinking have one of the remaining controllables invite the "graduate" over and grow them up.

[syberspunk]

One question: if a Sim has a graduation party, one of the dormies shows up in cap and gown, poses for the graduation picture, and jumps in a taxi, but after you save, they're still listed in the University directory.

What's the best way to make this fit my mental storyline (that the graduate has moved back to the hood, etc.)?  I'm tentatively thinking have one of the remaining controllables invite the "graduate" over and grow them up.

I'm not quite sure what you mean... as I've never thrown a graduation party yet. But are you saying that when you do, a "dormie" i.e. a non-playable YA that resides in the same dorm as your playables actually dresses up in a cap and gown and leaves in the taxi? Does this always happen? From what I read, I thought dormies didn't graduate and stayed in the same dorm forever immortal?

Anyhew, if this dormie actually moves out, but doesn't age up, they most likely are still part of the dormie pool, which really is still the townie pool. The dormie pool is just townies that are YA aged. Anyhew, if I understood you correctly, then I would say yes, to fit your storyline, you should be able to invite/summon/teleport that "graduate" dormie over, and you should be able to age them up.

I have tested aging up YAs to Adults while at Uni, and it worked for me, but I highly recommend that you save immediately afterwards to make sure that it "sticks" so to speak. With aging, and this even goes for playable sims, if something interrupts the process, or if a sim gets reset (via jump bug), the sim will have the physical model of the age they were set to, but have all the animations and probably voice of the previous age. For example, if you age a child to teen, and they get reset... you end up with a sim that has the physical appearance of a teen, but they are scrunched down at the knees to the height of a child and they act like a child. It's pretty fugly. When I came across this, it could not be fixed by simply deleting the sim or forcing a reset on them again. I had to use debug cheats to age them up and down or down and up again. If you have to do this, make sure you check for memory spam (I don't remember if cheats add the memory or not). I mention this in my first post. This is not a bug in my hack, because afaik, this can also happen to your regular playable sims even without this hack in place.

Ste

[miros]

One question: if a Sim has a graduation party, one of the dormies shows up in cap and gown, poses for the graduation picture, and jumps in a taxi, but after you save, they're still listed in the University directory.

What's the best way to make this fit my mental storyline (that the graduate has moved back to the hood, etc.)?  I'm tentatively thinking have one of the remaining controllables invite the "graduate" over and grow them up.

I'm not quite sure what you mean... as I've never thrown a graduation party yet. But are you saying that when you do, a "dormie" i.e. a non-playable YA that resides in the same dorm as your playables actually dresses up in a cap and gown and leaves in the taxi? Does this always happen? From what I read, I thought dormies didn't graduate and stayed in the same dorm forever immortal?<snip>

Yes, I had a non-controllable dormie show up (univited, mind you) at a graduation party in cap and gown and pose for the "going away" picture with the Sim that threw the party.  I don't remember if the Sim got in the taxi or not, but I'm pretty sure they did.  After saving, I started looking for the "graduate," and couldn't find them in the Sim bins for either the main hood or for the Uni hood.  Then one of my other YA Sims became friends with her (still on campus) and invited her to move in.  She had no major or skills and was a first semester freshman!

I don't do graduation parties very often, so it was pretty surprising when I realized what was going on...

[jfreddog]

HI syberspunk!
Thanx for making this hack. It really bothers me that townies live forever!
One thing though, can you put it under the adjust menu? It would be much better just in case someone miss clicks and makes a Sim age without wanting it.
So can you put it under the adjust menu? PLZ! I notice it's like 73% in the pool on the begining of the thread.
thanx!
 
 

[miros]

1) Aging a child to a teen worked great.  Haven't sent them to college yet, tho.
2) Aging a dormie to an adult wasn't so great; it basically worked like the normal "Propose->Move In" and I had to fix up her wants and locks with the college adjuster.

[syberspunk]

So can you put it under the adjust menu? PLZ! I notice it's like 73% in the pool on the begining of the thread.
thanx!

This can easily be done yourself. Just edit the MakeActionString prim string set Text Lists STR# file in the growuptowniescontroller package. Just open the file, click on Text Lists STR#, instance 12E. Then in the plugin view, edit the strings by putting

Adjust.../

in front of each line. For example, you should change:

Ask to Grow Up

to

Adjust.../Ask to Grow Up

Do this for each of the lines you want to change. Commit the changes. Save the file. And you're ready to go.

2) Aging a dormie to an adult wasn't so great; it basically worked like the normal "Propose->Move In" and I had to fix up her wants and locks with the college adjuster.

Well... that's sort of the point. It is due to how the game itself handles aging up Young Adults to Adults. The game will copy the status of the sim who is asking them to grow up. As of now... dormies can't really graduate anyways. I had added options to send dormies to their final exams and what not... but it appears that dormies can get reset and ultimately end up losing the those changes when they move out. I haven't had a chance to research this further and figure out a way for dormies to retain those changes. So I had to remove those options. Declaring a major for dormies also has similar problems I believe.

So for now that's pretty much the way it will work. If you want a dormie to have graduated status, then you'll have to only use sims who have actually graduated ask them to grow up.

Ste