Would this be possible - hack for random NPC ages?

[anyeone]

I have no idea if this is possible but it seems reasonable so I thought I would pose the question.

One thing that annoys me frequently is that when my Sims marry (or otherwise invite to the household) NPC Sims, they are always at the very beginning of the age spectrum for their age group.  So my original player Sim always dies first (unless I use the elixir of life, which I don't like to use at all, or unless I make sure the original player Sim is very unhappy when he/she becomes elder). 

What I was pondering was the idea of a hack to randomize the actual age in days of NPC Sims when they become player Sims, to be somewhere between the ends of the age range.  This way, some NPCs would be playable for longer than others, but it would add some realism to the game.  (If Mary Sim was dating Goopy for eight days after she became an adult, it seems silly he would still be at the very beginning of the adult range).  I know it isn't feasible to track actual NPC age since they pretty much stay the same age until they become controllable, but to randomize their exact ages at that point seems like an interesting compromise.  Note that the age "group" would remain unchanged -  Goopy is still an adult, Yvette Dalton is still a young adult etc.

Alternatively I'm just going to start making my sims drink elixir when in the red and hope it ages them a bit.  But I like the hack idea better.

What thinkest thou awesome modders?

[gali]

You can do it by yourself, no need of mods.
Open the SimPe; assure that the first left bottom button is highlighted (plugin).
Click on "tools" and choose the hood you want, click on "open".
Wait until it upload the hood.
Click again on "tools", choose "sim browser", and click on "open".

Click the first letter of the sim's name - Goopy = G, and continue to click until you get the sim's picture on the left.
Click on "open", and you will see on the general definition a small window, with the days left for this sim to live - for now, 28.
Highlight the "28", and change it to 25/5/4/3/2/1/0.
Click on "commit".
Save the file (file/save).

Now Goopy will die before his wife.

[Ness]

Sure, it can be done in simpe, but the element of randomness is something that would be nice.  Along with not having to exit game, load simpe, reload game...  ugh!

[Vren Lyet]

I'd appreciate some hack like this, too. Very much so actually.

[aussieone]

I can't remember the last time I tried to move in a(n) NPC but I find Merolas Multi Painting useful for changing the ages of sims that I move in to the household.

Not sure if this would help you, but it does help me.

[mkir]

I usually set them to an appropriate age for whatever job-level they hold.

[Sleepycat]

I just use InSIM to adjust how many days they have left... 

[seelindarun]

I just use testing cheats to age them up to elder whenever I feel they've served their purpose in life.  It hardly matters how many days they have left in adulthood, since it's so uniform. 

As for surprise, what would be surprising is if all sims had a random number of days in adulthood, and it was hidden.  They would age up without warning.  That would be random.

[eevilcat]

I like the idea, for me the element of randomness would definitely add to gameplay. I usually pre-plan committed relationships at the teen/college stage by building up short/long term relationships so that the townie/NPC can move in as soon as my sim hits adulthood. I do already use the age duration hack which is fantastically awesome and brings a sensible degree of randomness into adult lifespans and some much needed sanity to elder age spans.

[anyeone]

Yes, I'd definitely rather have it be random than have to manually set it myself.  Given that it can be done manually in SimPE, how hard would it be for someone who already knows how to create hacks to create a hack for it?

[V]

I have taken to moving the desired sim into his (or her) own place and then playing him until he is the age I want him to be. I have started using the lot clock to keep track of how close I am getting, which has helped the process very much. It also serves the purpose of letting me test him out a little before he really moves into the household (just in case he has some unwanted personality traits or something).

I don't like the option to decide how many days they have left in their whole lives because that does not affect their time in adulthood. I want to be able to affect only the stage of life they are currently in.

So, if someone is thinking about making this as yet imaginary hack perhaps it could have a dialog such as, "Goopy is an adult. He has 28 days left in this stage. Would you like to change his age?" and then if I choose "yes" then it would say, "How many days does Goopy have left in this stage?" and let me fill in the number.

 

[miros]

I'm planning on using Merola's Mind Control Mirror and Inge's Heirloom Cake to age child friends  up to teen so they can go to University with my Sims...

[Sleepycat]

I don't like the option to decide how many days they have left in their whole lives because that does not affect their time in adulthood. I want to be able to affect only the stage of life they are currently in.

maybe I should have been more clear in my earlier post, when I use InSIM to adjust how many days they have left - I meant, for that current stage of their life. I can add 1 day, minus 1 day or set the exact amount.

[V]

ah... I tried to use that feature on InSIM myself and it seemed to leave the days left in that stage alone and announced that my sim had 5 (or some such number) fewer days to live. I waited a minute to see if the bar would change in the life stage section and it did not, so I exited without saving and didn't touch that feature anymore.

Did I do it wrong? or did I just not understand what was going on?

[Sleepycat]

ah... I tried to use that feature on InSIM myself and it seemed to leave the days left in that stage alone and announced that my sim had 5 (or some such number) fewer days to live. I waited a minute to see if the bar would change in the life stage section and it did not, so I exited without saving and didn't touch that feature anymore.

Did I do it wrong? or did I just not understand what was going on?

It may have burped or something   

I've had sims that for some reason ended up with more days left till they would age then normal, mostly happened with maxis/ea sims (I fixed them with InSIM) but yesterday I was checking a couple sims out in simpe and found one of my infants had 99 days before it would age to toddler    that one I just fixed in simpe since I was right there anyway.  Most of the time when I use InSIm to adjust ages it's because I moved them forgetting the "monday is moving in day" thing so to keep everyones ages correct with the rest of the hood I give or remove a day or so.

[V]

Well I went and tried it last night. I wanted to play, for the first time, the new DNA-correct Smith family in Strangetown. I aged PT9 down to and adult so he could get a decent LTW and aged him right back up. I aged Johnny down a day so I'd have time to build up his relationships (and get him at least one scholarship) before sending him to college and that worked just fine also. But when I tried to age Jenny down a day so she could get pregnant, nothing happened. A box came up and said that I had added 1 day to Jenny's life, just as it did for Johnny, but she didn't get the meter swirl down thing. And it still said she had 4 days left. I finally gave up and went to SimPE and fixed it that way.

I thought that was kind of weird. Your "burp" explanation is as good as any, I suppose. Intermittent problems are very annoying.

[Sleepycat]

hmmm I didn't think of it before but if your using the new "Pets" version of InSIM then it could be that part is still broken. we didn't get to test everything before it was released (to get people to shut up) and I haven't had to adjust the age of anyone since installing pets, except for that 1 infant that I did in simpe.

It's still being worked up and hopefully the stuff that still has issues will get fixed soon. Eric mentioned releasing another version this weekend (probably Sunday). I had to drop out of testing due to company coming this weekend for Thanksgiving *sigh*

[V]

Great! Thanks.

I'll look forward to the updated download on Sunday-ish. I am wondering why your company is coming this weekend when Thanksgiving isn't until next weekend. But my hubby came home this weekend to save on airfare and we are having Thanksgiving on this Saturday instead of the "official" day ourselves.

[Sleepycat]

well they are really using Thanksgiving as an excuse to come visit for the week *laughs* 

[Sleepycat]

V..., it's not broken after all

Eric says

I have used this option many times during testing of v2.5 and tested many times while updating the option for use with animals in the version that I am working on. The option is not broken. You have a couple of likely culprits.

1. Some sims after a game installation have ridiculous amounts of days left in their current life stage. For example, a sim will have 100 days instead of 29 as an adult... adding or subtracting days will not show visual results unless you subtract 101 days, in this scenario.

2. You have a mod that keeps a sims "days left" at a specific number for some reason (intentional or not).

The Add/Subtract Days option will not cause either of these.

Edit: I may add an option that will tell people how many days are left in a sims lifestage so that people can either confirm or eliminate the first possible culprit that I listed above.

Edit 2: I am revising my previous Edit. I am going to add a diagnostic(s) option(s), in the User Control sectional, that should help (help is the key word) in the process of elimination when trying to determine if a problem is related to the InSIMenator.

and someone else said that if theres 1 sim whos "days left' is messed up then there are probbably more *sigh* looks like I'll be busy checking sims in simpe soon 

[Andygal]

I've noticed that every time I use the Tombstone of L and D to move in a teen townie/NPC they end up with 99 days in their teen lifestage. I use SimPE to correct that problem.

[V]

Thanks for your input, Sleepycat. I appreciate it.

I can't imagine which of my mods has messed with sims "days left". I mostly have just awesome hacks and a few bits of clothing. But it is possible that some of the older things I have could have some dodgy code hiding somewhere.

I am looking forward to the release of the InSIM that has those features you mentioned above.

[miros]

I've noticed that every time I use the Tombstone of L and D to move in a teen townie/NPC they end up with 99 days in their teen lifestage. I use SimPE to correct that problem.

I really never noticed.  They've been moved in to get their grades up and get enough skills for one or more scholarships.  As soon as that happens, they go to college.