Hi there! You are currently browsing as a guest. Why not create an account? Then you get less ads, can thank creators, post feedback, keep a list of your favourites, and more!
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 21st Mar 2017 at 2:58 AM
Default Child Guidance Need + Parenting Interactions (looking for feedback and testing)
This mod adds a new Need for Child Sims that replaces their Social Need with –> Guidance. The mod (so far) includes 6 new social interactions, with more planned. I’m calling this a Beta version and making a post for it here, rather than releasing it more officially on MTS, because it's a new Need and there's a lot of balancing in that that's difficult for me to eke out solely from my own testing.

For instance, I want to know whether the Need seems too easy to maintain, too difficult, etc. Or additional features you'd like to see that also impact the gain or loss of Guidance.

I'd also like to know how people feel about the "parenting" interactions (they are listed in detail below): For example, other interactions you'd like to see, changes you'd like to see in the ones I have now, that sort of thing.

You can download the current version of the mod here: http://simfil.es/203406/

The feature details are listed below, including info on compatibility with other mods.


Child Guidance Need, Current Features List, V1-1Beta

For Child Sims, Guidance Need replaces Social Need. Guidance can be gained by being mentored or parented.

What counts as “being mentored”?

If your Child Sim is currently being mentored by anyone, they will periodically receive Guidance.

What counts as “being parented”?

This mod adds several new interactions, in two different types:

Type 1) Normal social interactions. A parent or older sibling interacts with a child and the child gains some Guidance. Current interactions of this type are: Tell Moral Story.

Type 2) Parenting interactions, appearing under the category “Tell Child To…” when a parent or older sibling clicks on a Child Sim, represented by the Train Engine icon in the menu. If the interaction is successful, the Child Sim will perform the instructed action and gain some Guidance. Current interactions of this type are:

Go To Bed: If successful, the Child Sim will look for the nearest place to sleep and go sleep or take a nap. They will also gain a tick of Guidance.
Requirements: The Child’s Energy Need must be about in the yellow (or lower) for this interaction to be usable. If you want exact numbers for testing purposes, the exact number is -25 or lower.

Have Some Fun: If successful, the Child Sim will look for the closest/best way to increase Fun Need. They will also gain a tick of Guidance.
Requirements: The Child’s Fun Need must be about in the yellow (or lower) for this interaction to be usable. If you want exact numbers for testing purposes, the exact number is -25 or lower.

Do Homework: If successful, the Child Sim will go do their homework. They will also gain a tick of Guidance.
Requirements: Currently has no requirements, meaning that if the Child’s homework is already done, the interaction will run, but the child won’t actually go do homework at the end of it. I plan to fix this later.

Drop and give me 20, soldier!: If successful, the Child Sim will do pushups.
Requirements: The Child Sim must be Energized for this interaction to be usable.

Take a Time Out: The Child Sim will walk away a few meters and then start an interaction called Time Out. While this interaction is active, any Angry buffs they have are decreased and their Mental/Logic skill increases a little.
Requirements: None, though I have some vague ideas for giving this different flavors, depending on the mood of the Child.


Compatibility:

This mod does override a few game files, so if other mods override those same files, there will be conflicts. I’d love to avoid this entirely in the future, but for these particular files, I wasn’t sure if there was a way to avoid it.

The override files are as follows:

trait_child | S4_CB5FDDC7_00000000_000000000000860C
Buff_Trait_Child | S4_6017E896_00000000_00000000000086DB
sims.sim_info | S4_03B33DDF_00000000_32B2CBA3DF34CAAA

♫ Improvising into a corner ♫
♫ No rhyme or rhythm in this verse cause I'm in a corner ♫
Advertisement
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#2 Old 26th Mar 2017 at 10:03 AM
For any who might be curious or following along, I'm looking at revamping the functionality of part of this project (the Guidance Need). The general plan is to rename it to Stability (that part is easy enough and is done) and have it be fulfilled with a combination of parenting interactions and more general stuff that has to do with stable relationships, such as a special kind of hug between friends (I have some progress made on this, but I'm juggling more than one mod project right now, so it's one step at a time when I can fit it in).

I don't have an updated file for it yet, but I wanted to post this, so that anyone who may be following along knows that the mod is not in the exact same place as when I posted this thread and can therefore be up-to-date in giving feedback, if they desire to give feedback in the first place.

♫ Improvising into a corner ♫
♫ No rhyme or rhythm in this verse cause I'm in a corner ♫
Mad Poster
#3 Old 29th Mar 2017 at 9:31 AM Last edited by christmas fear : 29th Mar 2017 at 9:43 AM.
I really like this idea, and I'm willing to test it tonight. I'll report back with feedback for you.

edit: So far for me only my sim child's sibling gets all of the interactions (greyed out when the mood requirements aren't met) and the parents are only getting the 'tell child to.. take a time out' interaction. I tried it without my mods in there to see if there was a conflict, but it still happened.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#4 Old 29th Mar 2017 at 6:28 PM
Quote: Originally posted by christmas fear
I really like this idea, and I'm willing to test it tonight. I'll report back with feedback for you.

edit: So far for me only my sim child's sibling gets all of the interactions (greyed out when the mood requirements aren't met) and the parents are only getting the 'tell child to.. take a time out' interaction. I tried it without my mods in there to see if there was a conflict, but it still happened.

Odd. So Take a Time Out is the only one that's even showing up for your parent sims? Thanks for doing testing and for the report! I'll look into it when I get a chance.

♫ Improvising into a corner ♫
♫ No rhyme or rhythm in this verse cause I'm in a corner ♫
Mad Poster
#5 Old 29th Mar 2017 at 11:00 PM Last edited by christmas fear : 30th Mar 2017 at 4:58 AM.
For some reason, yeah. I can test on another household tonight and let you know if it's the same thing.

Edit/ I tried another household an adopted a kid, and the interactions worked. The interactions also worked on my current household (only for one parent sim though). The sim it didn't work for was a vampire.. in case that helps.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#6 Old 30th Mar 2017 at 5:42 AM
Quote: Originally posted by christmas fear
For some reason, yeah. I can test on another household tonight and let you know if it's the same thing.

Edit/ I tried another household an adopted a kid, and the interactions worked. The interactions also worked on my current household (only for one parent sim though). The sim it didn't work for was a vampire.. in case that helps.

Interesting, thanks so much for the information!

♫ Improvising into a corner ♫
♫ No rhyme or rhythm in this verse cause I'm in a corner ♫
Mad Poster
#7 Old 30th Mar 2017 at 9:21 AM
I'm really liking this mod. I had some ideas for some new guidance interactions. I think 'brush your teeth' would be a really good one, and maybe 'do chores' (which is just where the kid sim cleans up the house)
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#8 Old 30th Mar 2017 at 6:38 PM
Quote: Originally posted by christmas fear
I'm really liking this mod. I had some ideas for some new guidance interactions. I think 'brush your teeth' would be a really good one, and maybe 'do chores' (which is just where the kid sim cleans up the house)

Thanks for the feedback and good ideas! I like the sound of them.

♫ Improvising into a corner ♫
♫ No rhyme or rhythm in this verse cause I'm in a corner ♫
Mad Poster
#9 Old 31st Mar 2017 at 4:31 AM
I'm happy to help! I'll post more ideas if I think of anything. There was one idea I had where you could tell your sim kid to take a shower or bath as well, because the idea of the mod is 'guiding' your sim children (by telling them what to do aka parenting lol) to fill the guidance need

I'm also wondering if the mood requirements could be taken away, so you could help fill the guidance need when it's low and you don't run into the problem of everything being greyed out (except time out) when the guidance need is low
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#10 Old 31st Mar 2017 at 6:34 AM
Quote: Originally posted by christmas fear
I'm happy to help! I'll post more ideas if I think of anything. There was one idea I had where you could tell your sim kid to take a shower or bath as well, because the idea of the mod is 'guiding' your sim children (by telling them what to do aka parenting lol) to fill the guidance need

I'm also wondering if the mood requirements could be taken away, so you could help fill the guidance need when it's low and you don't run into the problem of everything being greyed out (except time out) when the guidance need is low

I appreciate it!

I think the only one that has a mood requirement is the pushups and to be honest, that's because there's some oddity there, where Child Sims, if they don't have the Active trait, can't actually do pushups. So it was either put in that requirement, or run into a situation where you tell the Child to do pushups and they just don't do it. Similar reason with the requirement for Go to Bed and Have Some Fun... I had to use the same call that a sim uses when their need is desperately low, so that they could autonomously figure out a place to sleep, in the case of Go to Bed, or some way to have fun, in the case of Have Some Fun. And for some weird reason, it wouldn't trigger unless the need was below a certain level.

I agree with you though. If I can overcome those oddities, it would be ideal, I think, if you could do the interactions under any circumstance. Or just if I made enough of them that you don't have to feel like you're relying on the ones with requirements; adding in stuff like Brush Teeth, Shower, etc.

It does occur to me though... I could maybe do a thing where if the requirement isn't fulfilled properly, instead of not being able to use the "Tell a Child To" interaction, it runs the interaction, gives some Guidance, and then does a notification along the lines of, "Your Child was unable to follow your instructions because [whatever the missing requirement is], but they nonetheless felt the comfort of your Guidance." That may be better in the long-run than outright restricting interactions.

And maybe more true to the spirit of the need, too, since the general idea was for the child to feel like they have a guiding presence, whether they're actually doing everything the parent says or not.

I'll see if it's something I can do. There's probably a way to set up a notification like that. I just haven't done something like it before... but then, that's most of modding, is figuring out how to do things I haven't done before. :P

♫ Improvising into a corner ♫
♫ No rhyme or rhythm in this verse cause I'm in a corner ♫
Mad Poster
#11 Old 31st Mar 2017 at 6:56 AM
Quote: Originally posted by CardTaken
I appreciate it!

I think the only one that has a mood requirement is the pushups and to be honest, that's because there's some oddity there, where Child Sims, if they don't have the Active trait, can't actually do pushups. So it was either put in that requirement, or run into a situation where you tell the Child to do pushups and they just don't do it. Similar reason with the requirement for Go to Bed and Have Some Fun... I had to use the same call that a sim uses when their need is desperately low, so that they could autonomously figure out a place to sleep, in the case of Go to Bed, or some way to have fun, in the case of Have Some Fun. And for some weird reason, it wouldn't trigger unless the need was below a certain level.

I agree with you though. If I can overcome those oddities, it would be ideal, I think, if you could do the interactions under any circumstance. Or just if I made enough of them that you don't have to feel like you're relying on the ones with requirements; adding in stuff like Brush Teeth, Shower, etc.

It does occur to me though... I could maybe do a thing where if the requirement isn't fulfilled properly, instead of not being able to use the "Tell a Child To" interaction, it runs the interaction, gives some Guidance, and then does a notification along the lines of, "Your Child was unable to follow your instructions because [whatever the missing requirement is], but they nonetheless felt the comfort of your Guidance." That may be better in the long-run than outright restricting interactions.

And maybe more true to the spirit of the need, too, since the general idea was for the child to feel like they have a guiding presence, whether they're actually doing everything the parent says or not.

I'll see if it's something I can do. There's probably a way to set up a notification like that. I just haven't done something like it before... but then, that's most of modding, is figuring out how to do things I haven't done before. :P


Hm, I think (or thought) the interaction to sleep on beds is always available whether you're tired or not.. but I miss being able to tell your kids to go to bed just at night time from the sims 3. I think you can't go wrong with adding in more stuff though!

I do like the idea about the notification about being unable to follow instructions. It's a bit different from toddlers for example, where if they get the moodlet 'don't want to' they have a fit but still end up doing it anyway (like using the potty or whatever). But it will help fill the guidance need. I found my child sim with a really low guidance need and unsure of what to do. Maybe some of the regular interactions for children and parents can fill the guidance need, too (I forget what the interactions are, I think there's a teach life lesson one or something) since it replaces the social need.

Good luck with everything! I wish I could help with the modding process but I've never even made a simple tuning mod successfully for ts4. I can't wait to try your updated version of the mod
Lab Assistant
#12 Old 31st Mar 2017 at 1:54 PM
Hey. I haven't tried the mod, but I had some thoughts about the ideas.

I like the sound of the new interactions. I remember thinking the game ought to have something for adults to try to tell children what to do. Those interactions might be worth splitting off to release without the new need as well.

I don't quite understand yet what the new need is representing. You haven't said what the consequences of low/high levels of the need are either. Is it something like how well the child is being parented?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#13 Old 2nd Apr 2017 at 1:00 AM
Quote: Originally posted by christmas fear
Hm, I think (or thought) the interaction to sleep on beds is always available whether you're tired or not.. but I miss being able to tell your kids to go to bed just at night time from the sims 3. I think you can't go wrong with adding in more stuff though!

I do like the idea about the notification about being unable to follow instructions. It's a bit different from toddlers for example, where if they get the moodlet 'don't want to' they have a fit but still end up doing it anyway (like using the potty or whatever). But it will help fill the guidance need. I found my child sim with a really low guidance need and unsure of what to do. Maybe some of the regular interactions for children and parents can fill the guidance need, too (I forget what the interactions are, I think there's a teach life lesson one or something) since it replaces the social need.

Good luck with everything! I wish I could help with the modding process but I've never even made a simple tuning mod successfully for ts4. I can't wait to try your updated version of the mod

Yeah, my dream vision would be to allow people to schedule a time for their kids to do particular things, like go to bed, but I think it'd involve scripting far beyond my current capabilities atm, with this game.

It's interesting that you bring up toddlers and refusal. That is something I'd like to do as well, is make it more of a thing where they might outright refuse, or at least be annoyed about it.

And thanks! I will hopefully get back to updating this one relatively soon. I have too many projects I'm swapping between. XD

Quote: Originally posted by roBurky
Hey. I haven't tried the mod, but I had some thoughts about the ideas.

I like the sound of the new interactions. I remember thinking the game ought to have something for adults to try to tell children what to do. Those interactions might be worth splitting off to release without the new need as well.

I don't quite understand yet what the new need is representing. You haven't said what the consequences of low/high levels of the need are either. Is it something like how well the child is being parented?

Thanks for your thoughts. I can't remember exactly off-hand where the idea spawned from, but I think I thought up the Need first and then I thought up the parenting interactions after the fact as a way to fill the need. I was studying literature on kids who are about 6-10 and trying to represent the idea that despite being a lot more independent than, say, toddlers, they still need a lot of guidance in their life. Thus, the need and the interactions.

So that's more or less what it's aiming to represent.

The consequences are so far just structured like any other need in that they get a negative moodlet from it being low. I don't have a solid distress built-in yet for them auto-solving the need, such as going to a parent and asking for guidance in some way.

Splitting off and releasing parenting interactions separately is definitely a solid idea, as Teens could probably be more interesting with some parenting direction as well. I'd want to make the functionality more centered around parenting as a whole though. Possibly a parenting skill, or some way of setting up a relationship between parent and child that has to do with parenting itself, as opposed to just friendship.

♫ Improvising into a corner ♫
♫ No rhyme or rhythm in this verse cause I'm in a corner ♫
Mad Poster
#14 Old 3rd Apr 2017 at 2:48 AM
Quote: Originally posted by CardTaken
Yeah, my dream vision would be to allow people to schedule a time for their kids to do particular things, like go to bed, but I think it'd involve scripting far beyond my current capabilities atm, with this game.

It's interesting that you bring up toddlers and refusal. That is something I'd like to do as well, is make it more of a thing where they might outright refuse, or at least be annoyed about it.

And thanks! I will hopefully get back to updating this one relatively soon. I have too many projects I'm swapping between. XD



Oh, actually I meant always having the interaction available to make kids go to bed. That way it will always be there at night regardless. Are there other mods you're working on that I can help you test?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#15 Old 5th Apr 2017 at 7:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by christmas fear
Oh, actually I meant always having the interaction available to make kids go to bed. That way it will always be there at night regardless. Are there other mods you're working on that I can help you test?

Thanks for your interest. If you're still interested in a week or so, I will hopefully have what I'm currently working on to the point that it's ready for some testing (really depends on what and how many issues I run into). I'm doing some bigger stuff with the Sorcerer Trait I released on MTS.

I don't know yet for sure that I'm going to want testing for it outside of release (I may just do some bits of testing along the way and consider the release of it in the MTS downloads to be the testing grounds), but if I find that I do and you're still interested, I'll be sure to let you know when the time comes.

♫ Improvising into a corner ♫
♫ No rhyme or rhythm in this verse cause I'm in a corner ♫
Mad Poster
#16 Old 7th Apr 2017 at 7:19 AM
Quote: Originally posted by CardTaken
Thanks for your interest. If you're still interested in a week or so, I will hopefully have what I'm currently working on to the point that it's ready for some testing (really depends on what and how many issues I run into). I'm doing some bigger stuff with the Sorcerer Trait I released on MTS.

I don't know yet for sure that I'm going to want testing for it outside of release (I may just do some bits of testing along the way and consider the release of it in the MTS downloads to be the testing grounds), but if I find that I do and you're still interested, I'll be sure to let you know when the time comes.


No problem! I can test pretty much anything. Just let me know
Back to top