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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 21st May 2014 at 10:35 PM
Default Story Progression vs Awesome Mod?
I'm sure this discussion has been done to death in the past but I'm a bit new to using story progression haha.

So my background is I started using StoryProgression a few months ago but it in the way of things I wanted to do so I deleted it. Then I had flashbacks to how EA's Story Progression royally screwed me over (and it indeed it messed me up again by having a toddler grow up WAY faster than I wanted him too), so I decided to try Story Progression again and this time try harder at making it work the way I wanted it too.

Well I looked and tried, and messed around and stuff but it's still causing me so much aggravation and frustration! One of my married couples will not do anything romantic other than 'take a romantic selfie' (and one of them is a technophobe at that!). One of my sims changed jobs and became a scientist when she was supposed to become an educator. And finally, my BIGGEST issue is that, for one of my stories a teen foolishly and recklessly gets with an older man because he's 'dangerous', but despite having Woohooer she won't do any woohoo because she's still a teen! I did do my research and I changed that Caste Option/Pregnancy/Allow/Whatever, but nothing has changed!

So I'm pretty much done with it by now and I'm thinking of switching to AwesomeMod which I heard was the only other good mod with story progression. I'm scared at the moment because I never really wanted to mess with core mods, but I'm at the end of my rope here. EA's sucks and NRAA's Story Progression is just frustrating (I mean I appreciate the time and effort that went into making it and I acknowledge that it works well for plenty of others. But still...).

So would you say that AwesomeMod is easier to use than Story Progression? Even based on the problems I've been having listed above? Also core mods only ever conflict with other core mods right? So I can keep all of my other awesome mods even if I get this one? I am open to still using Story Progression if my problems are simple to solve but if AwesomeMod is easier in general to use then...well...yeah.

Thanks for reading my long post of frustration. Hi everyone!
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Test Subject
#2 Old 21st May 2014 at 10:59 PM
I have AwesomeMod but I have EA story progression turned off, so I believe that turns Awesome progression off as well, is that correct? I am sort of new so I'd be interested in hearing about this as well. I personally hate EA story progression and am a control freak so I will probably leave all story progression off anyway.
Department of Post-Mortem Communications
#3 Old 21st May 2014 at 11:32 PM
Well, first of all, your aging problem was not caused by story progression; aging is independent of story mode and Sims skipping life stages is unfortunatley a glitch that can happen any time, even with story progression off.

As regards NRaas StoryProgression (SP) vs. AwesomeMod (AM), yes, I'd say AM is easier to use but also simpler in its scope. But you have to keep in mind that no story progression mod whatsoever can really read a user's mind with regard to what they wish or not. They all have their parameters and they act them out and if your decisions conflict with how these mods determine things you'll always be screwed.
An example would be your educator turned scientist. AM will give them the job that is most closely related to their lifetime wish and as there is no LTW for the education career you would have to choose that Sim's LTW such that AM will not hire them for something else. If you give them the professional author LTW, AM will always make them a self-employed writer, for example, so if you want to have them keep their job in education you will have to choose a LTW like Renaissance Sim which does not favour any particular job.
NRaas SP is probably similar in that respect, but I don't know how SP will handle these LTWs with regard to jobs.

And as regards the teen with the elder lover, well, AM will not allow this in any case. But as soon as Sims turn adult it will simply pair all available Sims with each other depending on their matching traits. You usually won't have couples with opposing traits.

AM also expects you to do things yourself, like setting up houses with cribs if you want Sims to have children or switch households to change the course of story mode. With NRaas SP it seems that you can set it such that story mode runs on autopilot, while having AM on autopilot can lead to odd results if you don't intervene from time to time.
AM is also not able to progress Sims in professions and several self-employments. It cannot make writers write novels and receive royalties, for example. You will have to make them active, order them to write a book and only then will AM push them to continue writing. But as soon as the book is finished AM will leave that Sim alone again.

Personally, I couldn't get myself into NRaas SP because I was constantly busy with tweaking it after something happened that I did not want, and it regularly affected my active families, too, which was a no-go for me, while, on the other hand, I found AM story mode not flexible enough after a while. I have turned story progression off and progress the town on my own now. It's more work but when things turn out nicely it is also more rewarding.

ETA:
Quote:
I have AwesomeMod but I have EA story progression turned off, so I believe that turns Awesome progression off as well, is that correct?
Correct, AM follows your in-game options, while NRaas SP would have to be turned off from within the mod's settings.
Mad Poster
#4 Old 21st May 2014 at 11:51 PM
Nraas SP seems to work in a similar way (I've never used Awesomemod since I refuse to touch it with a 10ft pole. I don't want a core mod I can't ask questions about near the core files of my Sims 3.) Where the Sim is hired depends on LTW, and at times, based on who needs co-workers if their LTW isn't job based. There are times that based on what skills a job requires SP will move a Sim into that job (all of the Sims with the perfect mind, perfect body LTW always seem to end up in the Criminal career, even though they may not have other traits that would normally put them in that career (e.g. evil, klepto).
Instructor
#5 Old 21st May 2014 at 11:54 PM
Storyprogression: NRAAs vs. Awesomemod
I've had trouble finding a good story mod as well. I started with NRAAs mod and found it was pretty functional and offers a LOT of options for tweaking under the hood... but you need to spend from ten to thirty minutes tweaking all of it to get it at the level you want it at. You can, for example, tell a particular sim to not change jobs, get pregnant, or move if you wanted to.

Unfortunately, my big problem with NRAAs mod was that it would lag my game badly. I even cleared out the rest of my mods to see if that was the problem. After one generation the game became unplayable so I had to stop using it and switched to Awesomemod's story mod.

Awesomemod has very little player input but it seems better then basegame story progression. I honestly don't know much about it and, frankly, I'm not a control freak. I have one or two families I care about and if I switch between them every so often things seem to go the way I want them to.

Anyways, as far as I know, if you can handle the lag (or fix it) and you want the control use the NRAA mod. If you want something simple and low yield then use Awesomemod.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#6 Old 22nd May 2014 at 12:51 AM
Quote: Originally posted by babele44
Well, first of all, your aging problem was not caused by story progression; aging is independent of story mode and Sims skipping life stages is unfortunatley a glitch that can happen any time, even with story progression off.


Well crap. But now I know so thank you.

Quote:
An example would be your educator turned scientist. AM will give them the job that is most closely related to their lifetime wish and as there is no LTW for the education career you would have to choose that Sim's LTW such that AM will not hire them for something else. If you give them the professional author LTW, AM will always make them a self-employed writer, for example, so if you want to have them keep their job in education you will have to choose a LTW like Renaissance Sim which does not favour any particular job.
NRaas SP is probably similar in that respect, but I don't know how SP will handle these LTWs with regard to jobs.


I actually gave her a Perfect Mind, Perfect Body wish but I also gave her traits that would really help in the scientist career so I guess that might be affect it too.

Quote:
And as regards the teen with the elder lover, well, AM will not allow this in any case. But as soon as Sims turn adult it will simply pair all available Sims with each other depending on their matching traits. You usually won't have couples with opposing traits.


Whelp! That's all I needed to know. If it can't help me with my story then I guess I can't use it. I think I'll just do what you do and turn off story Progression all together. So long as they aren't getting fired, then I think I can leave most of them alone.

@ James009

I despise lag with every fiber of my being. There was always lag in the beginning but it went away eventually. So I guess I won't be missing that either haha.

Thank you everyone else who replied too! Now that I've made my decision, I guess my only question is how to disable it. I've tried before but I couldn't find it on the options...
Forum Resident
#7 Old 22nd May 2014 at 2:02 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Riri19
Whelp! That's all I needed to know. If it can't help me with my story then I guess I can't use it. I think I'll just do what you do and turn off story Progression all together. So long as they aren't getting fired, then I think I can leave most of them alone.


With all Story Progression, being able to turn it off for certain sims is very important (at least to me and anyone else who plays more than one household in a save). AM is easier than NRaas SP - just ctrl-click on the household and choose 'Bless' - so that's an advantage for AM. I actually use both - NRaas SP is the one doing the progressing, but I use the Chosen trait introduced by AM to select the sims I don't want SP to touch. It works well, but is a bit complicated to set up.

But if you want teens to have romantic relationships with older sims, don't install AM. Or well... you can, but the adult will get arrested as a pedophile.
Top Secret Researcher
#8 Old 22nd May 2014 at 8:22 PM
If you want teen/adult romance, download Nraas Woohooer.

I would like to clear up the little matter of my sanity as it has come into question. I am not in any way, shape, or form, sane. Insane? Hell yes!

People keep calling me 'evil.' I must be doing something right.

SilentPsycho - The Official MTS2 Psycho
Banned
#9 Old 23rd May 2014 at 2:39 PM
I use both, but I don't really care what happens to the other households. I don't even know what I am doing.
Field Researcher
#10 Old 23rd May 2014 at 5:56 PM
i've had awesomemod and i didn't really have any problems with it, but i now use nraas and prefer it. it gives you way more options and the ability to fine-tune and sim-specify pretty much everything. or just be general if you want. i like that. sometimes i need to control a lot of things, sometimes i don't care.

the only issue i have isn't really an issue with the mod but a character flaw of my own: i'm so lazy and sometimes i just don't want to go through all of the options and fix them the way i want. or i have them the way i want but i need to change something specific and i can't figure out what options to go into.
however that's nothing a quick search on the nraas site can't fix. also, once you have your settings the way you generally like them with nraas, you can save those settings and import them to any town you start in the future. i love that. i've been using my settings from a town i started like 2 years ago in every game i start since then, and then i just make minor changes as i see fit. so you only really need to put a lot of time into fine-tuning it once unless you really play your neighborhoods drastically different each time.

the best thing about nraas story prog for me though is that all of the other nraas mods work with it, and those other mods are basically necessary add-ons for me. you can build up on your mod as you need to.

(i feel like a fan girl?)
Test Subject
#11 Old 25th May 2014 at 5:34 PM
i prefer awesome mod way more
Mad Poster
#12 Old 2nd Jun 2014 at 6:42 AM
I love NRaas story progression for my TS2 style of play in Sims 3.
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 6th Jun 2014 at 1:59 AM
StoryProgression is better to keep a 'hood alive since the requirements for reproduction are more relaxed, AwesomeMod is better for performance reasons, especially if you use every optional package for StoryProgression; my game constantly chokes if I do that.
Field Researcher
#14 Old 6th Jun 2014 at 3:07 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Riri19
@ James009

I despise lag with every fiber of my being. There was always lag in the beginning but it went away eventually. So I guess I won't be missing that either haha.

Thank you everyone else who replied too! Now that I've made my decision, I guess my only question is how to disable it. I've tried before but I couldn't find it on the options...


Well, the reason for the lag from StoryProgression is because it actually gives your neighborhood life. Inactive Sims can do all the (broad) things that active Sims do, like get a job, gain skills, build relationships, get together and break up, have kids, etc...

You have to make a trade-off at some point, to have lag or a static population.

That being said, I've never used AwesomeMod. A lot of Nraas mods are actually based off of Pescado's work, with the benefit of not being core mods. The reasons I chose StoryProgression have mostly already been mentioned, but extensive support online was also a major factor for me.
Lab Assistant
#15 Old 16th Jun 2014 at 1:31 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Riri19
And finally, my BIGGEST issue is that, for one of my stories a teen foolishly and recklessly gets with an older man because he's 'dangerous', but despite having Woohooer she won't do any woohoo because she's still a teen! I did do my research and I changed that Caste Option/Pregnancy/Allow/Whatever, but nothing has changed!


You have to look at Woohooer for this. Look under General options, there's an option for "Link to Story Progression" turn that off and also make sure that "Allow actions for teenagers" is on. You should also check the Woohoo! tab itself, it has also a few teen options.
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