Testers Wanted: Uni Careers Hack v0.00.20 (Updated 9/23/2008)

[syberspunk]

NOTE:

1) Debug version is available at the bottom of this post.
2) v0.00.18 version is available at the bottom of the 2nd post here.
3) v0.00.20 version is available at the bottom of the 3rd post here without - including wussy documentation.

Use the Custom Calculator spreadsheet to compare the Default settings and the Custom settings.


Uni Careers Hack v0.00.20 for TS2FT v1.0p0
Made by: syberspunk

Future Features
1) Incorporating the new careers from the Lies and Propaganda: Seasons Edition
    Done.  See 3rd post here.
2) Less restricted version that does not require specific majors to enter a career track
    You can now use the instructions found in 3rd post here to customize the hack.
3) A "how to" file explaining how you can customize which majors are associated and/or required for each career track
    Done. See 3rd post here.
4) An "imbalanced" but somewhat more "realistic" version where majors are relevant to career tracks (in name only, not the skill set earned)
    You can now use the instructions found in 3rd post here to customize the hack.
5) Possibly adding teen/adult careers and completed chance cards for Uni careers
6) Possibly adding changes to job level salaries and skill set requirements


So... as Pescado has assigned me homework I am in the early stages of working on a mod to alter which jobs depend on Uni. It appears to be a trivial change, but I want to make it fairly realistic, so here's your chance to throw your 2 cents in. Of course, I'll have the final decision of what gets incorporated into the mod, but if your argument is reasonable enough to sway me, who knows.

Of course, that was with respect to current Lies and Propaganda, which is a bit of a ways off. However, croiduire brought this up with respect to the current state of careers, but I wasn't able to find the hack which supposedly swapped Uni careers for basehood careers. I can't remember where I saw that or if I just imagined it. So I guess I'll make one myself, as practice, and I can later update this to include any future careers that develop from the Lies and Propaganda. If anyone does find that hack, let me know.

In anycase, I'm not quite sure yet if it will work, as it will require some testing, but my plan is to have 3 categories of jobs:

1) Jobs that do not require a uni education
2) Jobs that require having a Uni education i.e. they must have at least graduated
3) Jobs that require having a uni education in a specific major

From my notes, this is currently how default Maxis EA rules work:

Career	Requires Education	Associated Major(s)
Artist	Yes	Art and History
Athletics	No	Drama
Business	No	Economics and Psychology
Criminal	No	Literature and Mathematics
Culinary	No	Art and Philosophy
Law Enforcement	No	Biology and Psychology
Medicine	No	Biology and Physics
Military	No	History and Politics
Natural Scientist	Yes	Biology and Mathematics
Paranormal	Yes	Philosophy, Physics, and Psychology
Politics	No	Drama, Economics, History, and Politics
Science	No	Mathematics and Physics
Show Biz	Yes	Drama, Economics, Literature, and Politics
Slacker	No	Art, Literature, and Philosophy

Note: If your sim has an associated major, then they are supposed to get a "bonus" when looking for a job using a computer. They will be able to start at higher levels in that career track.


I propose to change this so that it will be somewhat more realistic. Career tracks such as Medicine and Business will require a degree, whereas Paranormal and Show Biz won't. Also... certain career tracks will only be open to you if you have a valid, associated major. I may also expand the list of associated majors for certain careers. Note proposed changes in bold

Career	Requires Education	Associated Major(s)	Requires Associated Major	Additional Major
Artist	No	Art and History	No	Drama
Athletics	No	Drama	No	Physics
Business	Yes	Economics, Psychology	No	Mathematics
Criminal	No	Literature, Mathematics	No	Economics
Culinary	No	Art and Philosophy	No
Law Enforcement	No	Biology, Psychology	No	Politics
Medicine	Yes	Biology, Physics	Yes	Literature
Military	No	History and Politics	No	Psychology
Natural Scientist	Yes	Biology and Mathematics	Yes	History
Paranormal	No	Philosophy, Physics, and Psychology	No
Politics	Yes	Drama, Economics, History, and Politics	No	Philosophy
Science	Yes	Mathematics, Physics	Yes	Biology
Show Biz	No	Drama, Economics, Literature, Politics	No	Art
Slacker	No	Art, Literature, Philosophy	No

Notes:

The effect of expanding the associated careers is that, your sim will have a further range of careers to major in that will give them that extra boost up the career ladder when searching for a job using a computer. I may also increase the penalty for not having an associated major.

The effect of requiring a major is that a sim will have to graduate with the major that is associated with the career in order for that track to show up when searching for a job.

Ultimately... using this hack will most likely result in having unfulfillable wants (and fears) as well as unfullfillable Lifetime Wants. Which is fairly realistic, because in real life, many people are born, with wants and lifetime wants that never get satisfied, then you die, and then you get raped by wild boars. Or wait... do you get raped by the wild boars before you die? I forget.

Caveat

Due to the fact that the base hood careers have teen/elder jobs and the Uni careers don't, there are obvious exceptions:

1) Teen sims who start off in a certain track that has teen jobs but would otherwise require a uni degree will still be able to retain that career track if they do not enter Uni. Otherwise... once they graduate, they will be unemployed again, and the previous career track may no longer be available to them if they did not pursue an associated degree, if that career is restricted as such.

i.e. A teen sim can get a job in the medicine track. You then send them to Uni, but they major in Politics. Once they graduate, they can no longer pursue a career in the Medicine track.

Perhaps I will find a way to make an exception if say... the teen has a memory of reaching the top of that teen career track (and the memory actually stores the specific career track and isn't just a generic memory). I will have to look into this further.

2) Uni career tracks that have been changed to no longer require a Uni degree will still be unavailable to teens (and elders unless you have noagediscrimination, and even if you do have that hack, your elder will need a degree and the associated major if required) obviously since those career tracks do not have teen/elder jobs.

There's no work around for this unless someone bothers to hack the Uni careers and add teen/elder positions.


I'm open to suggestions. Let me know if you agree or disagree with certain things, and let me know what should be added or removed.


INSTALLATION:
This MUST be in your Downloads folder, typically found under:

C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\My Documents\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\Downloads

:!!: Note: You can use subfolders, however, be aware of 'benign' conflicts that depend on the load order of hacks.


Compatibility:

:!!: This hack obviously requires University to be of any use.

This hack is compatible with most, if not all mods by MATY crew (Pescado, TJ, and CBoy), dizzy, and probably more. Again, up to you to help me determine any possible conflicts.
This hack is compatible with Squinge's Uni Enabled LTW Hack (at least, as far as I can tell, for now, until it is reported otherwise).


REMINDER and fine print (to cover my ass ) :
Remember to ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE INSTALLING NEW HACKS. By using this hack, you agree to absolve me of any responsibility or liability for any potential loss of or damage to your data. You have been warned.

HOW TO REPORT: Conflicts, problems, or errors
I would appreciate any constructive criticism and feedback that is actually helpful. With that in mind, it would be helpful, when reporting any conflicts or issues, that you include the following:

1) thorough but reasonably brief description of what you were doing
2) clear, comprehendible explanation of your problem
3) list of hacks that may be related aging, moving in sims, or inheritance
4) archived (.rar or .zip) of log produced by error

HOW TO PRODUCE AN ERROR LOG:
1) Open the cheat menu - Ctrl + Shift + C
2) Enable the debug mode - Type: boolprop testingcheatsenabled true
3) Hit Enter
4) Play as normal until an error occurs. If an error dialog box pops up, note the location of the error log and choose Reset. If the error pops up repeatedly, choose Delete and exit WITHOUT SAVING!
5) Post your error log here, preferably as a .zip or .rar archive.

Posts which do not include a clear description of what your problem is will be pretty much ignored. (i.e. posts such as "This does not work! I am taking it out! You suck! Nice try! etc.") I can't and won't help you if you don't explain what's wrong.

Please be nice when trying to explain your problem and I might be nice and help you.

Finally, my Thank Yous go to:

J.M. Pescado, twojeffs, dizzy2, and jase439 for being excellent tutors and providing excellent models in their mods. As always, thanks to those creators who've put out some excellent modding tutorials, Quaxi and co for SimPE, and dizzy2 for disaSim2, and the finally letters T and S, and the number 2, all of whom, without which this mod would not be possible.



Version History:
v0.00.15 - Beta Release for testing
v0.00.16 - Removed Uni requirement for Law Enforcement, Moved Bio from Culinary to Science
v0.00.17 - Removed change to career level major bonus
v0.00.18 - Fixed minor bug/conflict with duplicate group instance
v0.00.19 - Updated for Seasons
v0.00.20 - Updated for Free Time

[syberspunk]

Uni Careers Hack BETA v0.00.18 for TS2PETS v1.0p0
Made by: syberspunk

Future Features
1) Incorporating the new careers from the Lies and Propaganda: Seasons Edition
2) Less restricted version that does not require specific majors to enter a career track
3) A "how to" file explaining how you can customize which majors are associated and/or required for each career track
4) An "imbalanced" but somewhat more "realistic" version where majors are relevant to career tracks (in name only, not the skill set earned)
5) Possibly adding teen/adult careers and completed chance cards for Uni careers
6) Possibly adding changes to job level salaries and skill set requirements


So... as Pescado has assigned me homework I am in the early stages of working on a mod to alter which jobs depend on Uni. It appears to be a trivial change, but I want to make it fairly realistic, so here's your chance to throw your 2 cents in. Of course, I'll have the final decision of what gets incorporated into the mod, but if your argument is reasonable enough to sway me, who knows.

Of course, that was with respect to current Lies and Propaganda, which is a bit of a ways off. However, croiduire brought this up with respect to the current state of careers, but I wasn't able to find the hack which supposedly swapped Uni careers for basehood careers. I can't remember where I saw that or if I just imagined it. So I guess I'll make one myself, as practice, and I can later update this to include any future careers that develop from the Lies and Propaganda. If anyone does find that hack, let me know.

In anycase, I'm not quite sure yet if it will work, as it will require some testing, but my plan is to have 3 categories of jobs:

1) Jobs that do not require a uni education
2) Jobs that require having a Uni education i.e. they must have at least graduated
3) Jobs that require having a uni education in a specific major

From my notes, this is currently how default Maxis EA rules work:

Career	Requires Education	Associated Major(s)
Artist	Yes	Art and History
Athletics	No	Drama
Business	No	Economics and Psychology
Criminal	No	Literature and Mathematics
Culinary	No	Art and Philosophy
Law Enforcement	No	Biology and Psychology
Medicine	No	Biology and Physics
Military	No	History and Politics
Natural Scientist	Yes	Biology and Mathematics
Paranormal	Yes	Philosophy, Physics, and Psychology
Politics	No	Drama, Economics, History, and Politics
Science	No	Mathematics and Physics
Show Biz	Yes	Drama, Economics, Literature, and Politics
Slacker	No	Art, Literature, and Philosophy

Note: If your sim has an associated major, then they are supposed to get a "bonus" when looking for a job using a computer. They will be able to start at higher levels in that career track.


I propose to change this so that it will be somewhat more realistic. Career tracks such as Medicine and Business will require a degree, whereas Paranormal and Show Biz won't. Also... certain career tracks will only be open to you if you have a valid, associated major. I may also expand the list of associated majors for certain careers. Note proposed changes in bold

Career	Requires Education	Associated Major(s)	Requires Associated Major	Additional Major
Artist	No	Art and History	No	Drama
Athletics	No	Drama	No	Physics
Business	Yes	Economics, Psychology	No	Mathematics
Criminal	No	Literature, Mathematics	No	Economics
Culinary	No	Art and Philosophy	No
Law Enforcement	No	Biology, Psychology	No	Politics
Medicine	Yes	Biology, Physics	Yes	Literature
Military	No	History and Politics	No	Psychology
Natural Scientist	Yes	Biology and Mathematics	Yes	History
Paranormal	No	Philosophy, Physics, and Psychology	No
Politics	Yes	Drama, Economics, History, and Politics	No	Philosophy
Science	Yes	Mathematics, Physics	Yes	Biology
Show Biz	No	Drama, Economics, Literature, Politics	No	Art
Slacker	No	Art, Literature, Philosophy	No

Notes:

The effect of expanding the associated careers is that, your sim will have a further range of careers to major in that will give them that extra boost up the career ladder when searching for a job using a computer. I may also increase the penalty for not having an associated major.

The effect of requiring a major is that a sim will have to graduate with the major that is associated with the career in order for that track to show up when searching for a job.

Ultimately... using this hack will most likely result in having unfulfillable wants (and fears) as well as unfullfillable Lifetime Wants. Which is fairly realistic, because in real life, many people are born, with wants and lifetime wants that never get satisfied, then you die, and then you get raped by wild boars. Or wait... do you get raped by the wild boars before you die? I forget.

Caveat

Due to the fact that the base hood careers have teen/elder jobs and the Uni careers don't, there are obvious exceptions:

1) Teen sims who start off in a certain track that has teen jobs but would otherwise require a uni degree will still be able to retain that career track if they do not enter Uni. Otherwise... once they graduate, they will be unemployed again, and the previous career track may no longer be available to them if they did not pursue an associated degree, if that career is restricted as such.

i.e. A teen sim can get a job in the medicine track. You then send them to Uni, but they major in Politics. Once they graduate, they can no longer pursue a career in the Medicine track.

Perhaps I will find a way to make an exception if say... the teen has a memory of reaching the top of that teen career track (and the memory actually stores the specific career track and isn't just a generic memory). I will have to look into this further.

2) Uni career tracks that have been changed to no longer require a Uni degree will still be unavailable to teens (and elders unless you have noagediscrimination, and even if you do have that hack, your elder will need a degree and the associated major if required) obviously since those career tracks do not have teen/elder jobs.

There's no work around for this unless someone bothers to hack the Uni careers and add teen/elder positions.


I'm open to suggestions. Let me know if you agree or disagree with certain things, and let me know what should be added or removed.


INSTALLATION:
This MUST be in your Downloads folder, typically found under:

C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\My Documents\EA GAMES\The Sims 2\Downloads

:!!: Note: You can use subfolders, however, be aware of 'benign' conflicts that depend on the load order of hacks.


Compatibility:

:!!: This hack obviously requires University to be of any use.

This hack is compatible with most, if not all mods by MATY crew (Pescado, TJ, and CBoy), dizzy, and probably more. Again, up to you to help me determine any possible conflicts.
This hack is compatible with Squinge's Uni Enabled LTW Hack (at least, as far as I can tell, for now, until it is reported otherwise).


REMINDER and fine print (to cover my ass ) :
Remember to ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE INSTALLING NEW HACKS. By using this hack, you agree to absolve me of any responsibility or liability for any potential loss of or damage to your data. You have been warned.

HOW TO REPORT: Conflicts, problems, or errors
I would appreciate any constructive criticism and feedback that is actually helpful. With that in mind, it would be helpful, when reporting any conflicts or issues, that you include the following:

1) thorough but reasonably brief description of what you were doing
2) clear, comprehendible explanation of your problem
3) list of hacks that may be related aging, moving in sims, or inheritance
4) archived (.rar or .zip) of log produced by error

HOW TO PRODUCE AN ERROR LOG:
1) Open the cheat menu - Ctrl + Shift + C
2) Enable the debug mode - Type: boolprop testingcheatsenabled true
3) Hit Enter
4) Play as normal until an error occurs. If an error dialog box pops up, note the location of the error log and choose Reset. If the error pops up repeatedly, choose Delete and exit WITHOUT SAVING!
5) Post your error log here, preferably as a .zip or .rar archive.

Posts which do not include a clear description of what your problem is will be pretty much ignored. (i.e. posts such as "This does not work! I am taking it out! You suck! Nice try! etc.") I can't and won't help you if you don't explain what's wrong.

Please be nice when trying to explain your problem and I might be nice and help you.

Finally, my Thank Yous go to:

J.M. Pescado, twojeffs, dizzy2, and jase439 for being excellent tutors and providing excellent models in their mods. As always, thanks to those creators who've put out some excellent modding tutorials, Quaxi and co for SimPE, and dizzy2 for disaSim2, and the finally letters T and S, and the number 2, all of whom, without which this mod would not be possible.



Version History:
v0.00.15 - Beta Release for testing
v0.00.16 - Removed Uni requirement for Law Enforcement, Moved Bio from Culinary to Science
v0.00.17 - Removed change to career level major bonus
v0.00.18 - Fixed minor bug/conflict with duplicate group instance

[syberspunk]

As requested, here is the seasons version of the Uni Careers Hack sans documentation and how-to guide, for those far too impatient to wait.

Use at yer own risk.  If you don't like the changes, tough noogies for now.  I'll finish the documentation when I'm good and ready, so nyah!

Oh, and this should pretty much work in most any game configuration that at least has Uni (cuz... duh...).  It should also affect the Life Stories careers if you happen to have those installed.  Feedback, as always is appreciated.  At this point, I'm more concerned with potential bugs, rather than suggestions regarding the "features" i.e. what career or major should have this or that.  Other features previously mentioned/suggested are still being considered, but are on the back burner for now.

Ste

ETA:

The hack has been updated to include the Free Time careers.  It should also be compatible with Apartment Life.

The documentation has also been updated.

[syberspunk]

Alright, here is the beta version. It definitely needs testing. I've done some preliminary tests in the Goth household, and it appears to work so far. Right now, what I probably need is feedback with regards to what happens with graduated sims.

In my own tests, using noagediscrimination, the Artist, Paranormal, and Show Biz careers showed up for both Mortimer and Cassandra. Aging Cassandra down to teen, she still had options available for Medicine and Science. More testing is required to determine whether these options do not show up for non graduates and they only show up for graduates, and where applicable, only if they have the associated degree as explained in the table above.

I would also appreciate in-game pics. So feel free to take some in-game pics showing that the hack works. If you've got any photo editing skills, probably keep the file down to 600x800 the largest. But probably something more reasonable like 450x600 pixels by size. You can email me your in-game pictures to my hotmail address in my profile. Please put in the subject line of your email:

Re: Uni Careers Hack - In Game Photos

Any feedback, positive or negative, and suggestions would be appreciated.

Ste

[kutto]

That was quick. I will be putting this into my game. Hopefully I'll get a chance to play this week to test it.

[MistyBlue]

*squeeeels like a pig

I've wanted this for the longest time. I will start testing tomorrow.

[Gwill]

I'll download it, but I probably can't be of much help testing-wise; I don't have many non-graduates.

[syberspunk]

I'll download it, but I probably can't be of much help testing-wise; I don't have many non-graduates.

Then you can test whether your graduate sims get options to enter the restricted tracks. For example, only sims who have a degree in the appropriate majors should be able to enter the Medicine track. Check to see if graduates with other majors can still enter that track (hopefully... they shouldn't be able to).

You can also check the promotion boost thing. I decreased the job boost/bonus arbitrarily by 2 levels. I can make this even lower depending on feedback. Hopefully I can get a general consensus about it. For now, I just thought I'd try it to see how this works.

Ste

[Gwill]

Just reporting in to say my game hasn't blown up yet.  I haven't seen any jobs I shouldn't see, although I'm not sure I remember exactly what major each of my sims had, at least one studied physics.

I assume it's a sign of associated major required when one day there were only three jobs available on the computer.

[miros]

You can find out what they majored in using SimPE...

[syberspunk]

Just reporting in to say my game hasn't blown up yet.  I haven't seen any jobs I shouldn't see, although I'm not sure I remember exactly what major each of my sims had, at least one studied physics.

I thought the memories showed what major they had. Well... I don't remember. I'll have to look in the game.

I assume it's a sign of associated major required when one day there were only three jobs available on the computer.

This is probably true... but it shouldn't be. Theoretically... it should refresh and try and offer other jobs. :/ So this is most likely a bug, and I will have to take a look into it.

The next time this happens. Can you do me a favor? Make a note of the following:

1) The age of the sim (teen, adult, elder)
2) how many jobs you saw, if less than the amount you should see normally (if using the comp < 5, if using the paper < 3)
3) what jobs did you see
4) try to use the same object (comp or paper) with sims from the other two ages (i.e. if you were using an elder, and they only saw 3 jobs, try using a teen and an adult and see if they are limited as well)

Oh also... are you using noagediscrimination?

Afaik, teen/elder jobs should not be affected by dependency on major. At least I don't think so. Teen/elder jobs use a separate BHAV which doesn't even test the major properties. So those should be available all the time.

Only adult jobs should be limited. But... if the game cannot offer a job to a sim because they aren't qualified... I thought it was supposed to go back and randomly generate other jobs again. So I definitely will take a look at this and hopefully it can be easily fixed. Thanks for the feedback!

Ste

[jsalemi]

You can find out what they majored in using SimPE...

You could also just have them stick their diploma on the wall and read that.  And if they misplaced the diploma along the way, the lot debugger has an option to regenerate it for them.

[Nauthiz]

I'd love to use this hack, but it doesn't work for me. Here's an error log: CAS-made sim, in new neighbourhood, looking for the job using a computer. The only other thing in my Downloads at that time was Twojeffs' ACR. He jumped somewhere about the first job offer should appear.

Edited to add: I guess I should remind I have Pets, but no OFB.

[Gwill]

I thought the memories showed what major they had. Well... I don't remember. I'll have to look in the game.

I thought so too, but I couldn't find it.  I do hve the diploma on the wall somewhere, but this is my 5th generation of graduates, so it might take some fiddling to find the correct one.

I assume it's a sign of associated major required when one day there were only three jobs available on the computer.

This is probably true... but it shouldn't be. Theoretically... it should refresh and try and offer other jobs. :/ So this is most likely a bug, and I will have to take a look into it.

I believe that's normal maxis coding.  I seem to remember having a servo look for a job in the paper once (ages ago) and finding no available jobs at all.  So I had another sim on the lot check, and there were three uni careers available.

Anyway, I'll take some notes along the way and keep testing through normal game play.  I've got at least one other sim coming out of college soon.

[Flamingo]

I'd love to use this hack, but it doesn't work for me. Here's an error log: CAS-made sim, in new neighbourhood, looking for the job using a computer. The only other thing in my Downloads at that time was Twojeffs' ACR. He jumped somewhere about the first job offer should appear.

Edited to add: I guess I should remind I have Pets, but no OFB.

I believe I'm having the exact same error unfortunately, but I have OFB as well.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[syberspunk]

Ok, I'm not quite sure why the error is occurring. I suspect that it may be related to the change I made for the boost that you normally get from graduating, honors, and associated major. So, for now, I have removed that in the latest version 0.00.17. Please update to that version and let me know if you are still getting errors.

I have also uploaded a "debug" version which may help me better. It keeps the changes I made that reduce the bonus levels you get. However, I sorted the "CT - Offer Job" so any error logs you get will hopefully help me track down the problem.

For those of you who use v0.00.17, please keep me informed as to whether you still get the same problem. For those of you willing to use the "debug" version, please post any subsequent error logs you may get.

I will probably be pretty busy in the next few weeks. So I'm not sure if I will be able to add any further improvements for now. In the meantime, I have been workin on two other minor things that I'm hoping to release fairly soon.

Ste

[Flamingo]

Alright, it works just fine for me now. No problems at all.

[jennydeenyc]

I'm curious as to whether this will work with sims who "graduate" from Uni using JM's Lot Debugger - Upgrade Pre-Uni Sim option? I've stopped actually sending sims to Uni since putting the Debugger in my game (yes, I know I'm lazy!), and while the concept of adjusting which careers require a degree is very attractive, I dunno if I'd bother to install this if my insta-grad sims weren't affected by the changes.

[syberspunk]

Alright, it works just fine for me now. No problems at all.

Thanks for the feedback. When I find time, I'll have to dig around and/or sit around and think more about this. I just started working this week, and although I actually haven't really done anything yet (still sorta in the trainingish, intro, adjustment early phase ) I have been gettin up crazy early and puttin in a full days of awake time has been tiresome. Anyhew, maybe I'll get a chance to take a look at this some weekend, but the next few weeks will be just as crazy with the holidays and family.

<snip> ... while the concept of adjusting which careers require a degree is very attractive, I dunno if I'd bother to install this if my insta-grad sims weren't affected by the changes.

Well... one way to figure this out would be to test it. Heh. But... off the top of my head, it would depend on whether the lotdebugger sets the major and semester flags. If so, then I don't see any reason why lotdebuggeredly upgraded sims wouldn't also be affected by the hack. Afaik, it doesn't bother to check memories, just if certain bits have properly set flags.

Ste

[Gwill]

Just wondering if this is a bug or a feature or just an effect of Pedcado's noagediscrimination:
I had a retired mad scientist look for a job, and she was offered a possition in the Science career as a mad scientist.   All other jobs offered were suitably low levels.

And I think lotdebugger upgraded graduates get graduate jobs.  At least I think that's what happened to my servo.  Is there any way to de-graduate an upgraded sim?

[J. M. Pescado]

It's actually an effect of "harder jobs": Sims applying for a job may be offered the position to unretire if their old slot is still vacant, otherwise they won't be offered it at all.

[Gwill]

That's strangely considerate for a Pescado hack.

[syberspunk]

Minor update. I found a silly little conflict where I mistakenly had two instances of the same Group BHAV. Should be fixed now. No major changes yet as I've been a tad too busy to dig into things. Probably will have to wait until the new year before I find time to really dig in.

Ste

[baratron]

Wow! I've been wanting this for ages! Sadly, while I have omgzPets (Richard bought it for me for Christmas in a panic that he hadn't got me enough presents ), I won't be installing it until after I've played with OFB for a while. So I won't be able to help you with the initial testing.

The thing I would REALLY like to see is probably impossible with the current Maxian code, but I'll tell you about it anyway:
Any career available up to e.g. level 4, but for certain careers, promotions are only possible past level 4 if you've graduated in a relevant discipline. So a non-graduate sim could enter the Medicine career and work as an EMT or a Nurse, but never be promoted to Doctor.

To make that work without sheep bleating that their sims didn't go to Uni so they're stuck with "crappy" jobs, you'd need a Night School hack, so that sims who chose not to go to University after being teenagers could still study on the computer and unlock some of the later levels of their career. Even then, it would be impossible to get to the top of some careers - because it's very difficult to become a university lecturer without a degree of your own (e.g. Scholar & Theorist, Science track).

Also, I really think you should reverse the Associated degrees for Medicine and Military:

Career	Requires Education	Associated Major(s)	Requires Associated Major	Additional Major
Artist	No	Art and History	No	Drama
Athletics	No	Drama	No	Physics
Business	Yes	Economics, Psychology	No	Mathematics
Criminal	No	Literature, Mathematics	No	Economics
Culinary	No	Art and Philosophy	No
Law Enforcement	No	Biology, Psychology	No	Politics
Medicine	Yes	Biology, Physics	Yes	Literature
Military	No	History and Politics	No	Psychology
Natural Scientist	Yes	Biology and Mathematics	Yes	History
Paranormal	No	Philosophy, Physics, and Psychology	No
Politics	Yes	Drama, Economics, History, and Politics	No	Philosophy
Science	Yes	Mathematics, Physics	Yes	Biology
Show Biz	No	Drama, Economics, Literature, Politics	No	Art
Slacker	No	Art, Literature, Philosophy	No

I can just about see History being linked with Natural Scientist (geology? hmmm), but Literature for Medicine?! Psychology seems much more useful for Medicine than Literature is!

[syberspunk]

Wow! I've been wanting this for ages! Sadly, while I have omgzPets (Richard bought it for me for Christmas in a panic that he hadn't got me enough presents ), I won't be installing it until after I've played with OFB for a while. So I won't be able to help you with the initial testing.

You don't need Pets to test this. You must have Uni. I've sorta just been modeling my titling after Pescado's in that, when I've made a hack for <EP X> it just means that's the EP I had when I made it. And if I have to update a hack... that's probably the time that I will bother to change the title. If a hack doesn't need to be updated, then I will be lazy and I probably won't change the title. That doesn't mean a hack I made for say NL, but is still compatible with Pets won't work with Pets. It just means I was lazy and didn't bother changing the title.

The reverse is also true. For the most part. If I make a hack for <EP X>, unless otherwise specified, a hack should be compatible with almost any configuration (Base game or up). Most of the time, it will be obvious if a hack is EP specific such as the hacks that modify things that are specific to an EP. Obviously you can't use that hack because you don't have that EP yet. But other times, if it is something that exists in the basegame and in all later EPs/SPs, then unless I've specified in the compatibility section, it should theoretically be fully compatible. In some cases, I won't actually know if a hack is incompatible until it's been reported as such. And if I'm not lazy, I may be willing to make a compatible version.

The thing I would REALLY like to see is probably impossible with the current Maxian code, but I'll tell you about it anyway:
Any career available up to e.g. level 4, but for certain careers, promotions are only possible past level 4 if you've graduated in a relevant discipline. So a non-graduate sim could enter the Medicine career and work as an EMT or a Nurse, but never be promoted to Doctor.

To make that work without sheep bleating that their sims didn't go to Uni so they're stuck with "crappy" jobs, you'd need a Night School hack, so that sims who chose not to go to University after being teenagers could still study on the computer and unlock some of the later levels of their career. Even then, it would be impossible to get to the top of some careers - because it's very difficult to become a university lecturer without a degree of your own (e.g. Scholar & Theorist, Science track).

That would be neat... I'd have to dig deeper into something like that. That would be a much bigger project. Locking promotions might be easy to do... but it probably could conflict with Pescado's harderjobs hack. I'd have to look into that as well. The night school thing seems like it would be a bit more difficult, well for me at least. It would be an interesting project tho. And even if I was able to create a night school for adults, I'd have to think of a way to differentiate the degree from regular uni degrees. This would most likely require custom memories, tokens, and what not, which I don't yet fully understand, so it might be beyond my capabilities at the moment.

Also, I really think you should reverse the Associated degrees for Medicine and Military:

<snip>

I can just about see History being linked with Natural Scientist (geology? hmmm), but Literature for Medicine?! Psychology seems much more useful for Medicine than Literature is!

I'll consider this. I did want Psychology related to Medicine. But would Literature make sense elsewhere? I can imagine that Doctor's tend to be much more well read. Doctor's must do a lot of lit research and reviewing. And the Medical career track does describe goin to med school too, doesn't it? I'll think about it. But eventually, when I get around to it, the how-to/faq should explain how to customize what majors are required and whether or not specific majors are required.

Ste