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More Random Interests for Freetime+
More Random Interests for Freetime+
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Unrandom Interests.png - width=695 height=666
More random Interests.png - width=695 height=666
Created by simsfreq
Uploaded: 30th Aug 2023 at 7:47 PM
Updated: 20th Apr 2024 at 5:31 PM
Updated: 20th Apr 2024 at 5:31 PM
New info as of 20/04/24: If you use the Sim Blender to randomise interests, I noticed that this process was still using the old limits even with my mod in place. This is because the Blender uses its own BCON which is a copy of the BCON that sets the age limit for interests. What is actually useful about this is it means you can set the BCON there up differently to my mod if you like. In my game, I have it completely unrestricted. I don't know if other mods that allow randomising aspects of sims do the same thing. If so, it should be possible to change it using this method. Also, if you want to edit my mod to restrict or allow different interests per age group, here are the instructions to do that.
Original Description:
The problem:
In Freetime Maxis decided to change sim interests from being totally random at birth and hardly ever changing, to being set according to an "age appropriate" format, where sims created in each age stage have interests which are "restricted" and capped to a maximum of 4 points. You might have noticed that none of your CAS adults or townie adults seem to like animals very much.
In addition the game looks at whether sims are moving from an age where an interest is restricted/unrestricted and either adds or removes exactly 4 points in every affected interest.
Unfortunately, this causes issues with the interest balancing mechanic, which long story short, means that any sims created as child or younger, including born-in-game sims, end up with very similar interests as adults. Specifically, they typically have:
Apart from the animals/school/toys/sci-fi cap for adults and elders the results are less noticeable for these age groups, which might be why it was not picked up on by the devs.
Also, I get the impression most players ignore interests in gameplay. BUT, for those of us who used to use them pre-FT, this is REALLY frustrating!
AT LAST there is a fix!
I found that the number of capped interests starts to cause problems with the weighted allocation of extra points when there are more than 3 capped interests. I couldn't figure this out so I just kept it at 3.
I decided to cap Politics for babies-children, which means that born in game sims will have a maximum of 4 points in Politics. Then at the teen age transition, teens get +4 to Politics. This then may wane over life if they spend a lot of time involved in hobby activities.
I also capped Work at 4 for newly created babies-teens. On the adult age transition, sims get a +4 boost in their Work interest. However, this is also capped for Elders. So on the elder transition, sims will lose 4 points of interest in work, and newly created elders will have max 4 interest in Work.
Lastly, I capped Toys for teens and older. Sims created as children or younger will have a random amount of interest in Toys, and drop 4 points in this interest at the teen age transition, but sims created as teens or older will have this capped at 4.
All other interests are totally random. There is a very slight issue in that teens+ created in game all seem to have a fairly high interest in sci-fi. I couldn't get this to go away even by removing the Politics restriction, so if you don't like this effect and you are likely to be creating a lot of CAS adults or you're just starting a new hood and letting it generate townies, it might be a good idea to remove my mod temporarily or replace it with the mod that unrestricts all interests for all age groups by equinoxts2, then plop mine back in before you start getting in-game births if you want your sim kids to be bored by politics and work chat again.
Now, there are already 2 other mods which affect this.
@equinoxts2 at Tumblr made a version which unlocks all interests for all ages so you get no restrictions and no bumps/drops in interests at age transition. You can grab it here: https://www.tumblr.com/equinoxts2/6...terest-ages-mod
This version is not compatible with mine. You need to pick one or you can use either mine or virs as a base to create your own!
@lilbabydilljr, also at Tumblr, made a mod which adds a coin flip to the age transition interest change, so it only happens half of the time. You can use this with mine, and I think that they work really well together! Contrary to his description, I don't think that mod works with equinoxts2's, because equinoxts2's completely negates the change at age transition.
Thank you to equinoxts2 for the original mod which I used as a base.
Thank you also to MidgeTheTree for some info shared about how interests work. Also some discussions on MATY and Simbology and ModTheSims contributed to my understanding here.
Original Description:
The problem:
In Freetime Maxis decided to change sim interests from being totally random at birth and hardly ever changing, to being set according to an "age appropriate" format, where sims created in each age stage have interests which are "restricted" and capped to a maximum of 4 points. You might have noticed that none of your CAS adults or townie adults seem to like animals very much.
In addition the game looks at whether sims are moving from an age where an interest is restricted/unrestricted and either adds or removes exactly 4 points in every affected interest.
Unfortunately, this causes issues with the interest balancing mechanic, which long story short, means that any sims created as child or younger, including born-in-game sims, end up with very similar interests as adults. Specifically, they typically have:
Apart from the animals/school/toys/sci-fi cap for adults and elders the results are less noticeable for these age groups, which might be why it was not picked up on by the devs.
Also, I get the impression most players ignore interests in gameplay. BUT, for those of us who used to use them pre-FT, this is REALLY frustrating!
AT LAST there is a fix!
I found that the number of capped interests starts to cause problems with the weighted allocation of extra points when there are more than 3 capped interests. I couldn't figure this out so I just kept it at 3.
I decided to cap Politics for babies-children, which means that born in game sims will have a maximum of 4 points in Politics. Then at the teen age transition, teens get +4 to Politics. This then may wane over life if they spend a lot of time involved in hobby activities.
I also capped Work at 4 for newly created babies-teens. On the adult age transition, sims get a +4 boost in their Work interest. However, this is also capped for Elders. So on the elder transition, sims will lose 4 points of interest in work, and newly created elders will have max 4 interest in Work.
Lastly, I capped Toys for teens and older. Sims created as children or younger will have a random amount of interest in Toys, and drop 4 points in this interest at the teen age transition, but sims created as teens or older will have this capped at 4.
All other interests are totally random. There is a very slight issue in that teens+ created in game all seem to have a fairly high interest in sci-fi. I couldn't get this to go away even by removing the Politics restriction, so if you don't like this effect and you are likely to be creating a lot of CAS adults or you're just starting a new hood and letting it generate townies, it might be a good idea to remove my mod temporarily or replace it with the mod that unrestricts all interests for all age groups by equinoxts2, then plop mine back in before you start getting in-game births if you want your sim kids to be bored by politics and work chat again.
Now, there are already 2 other mods which affect this.
@equinoxts2 at Tumblr made a version which unlocks all interests for all ages so you get no restrictions and no bumps/drops in interests at age transition. You can grab it here: https://www.tumblr.com/equinoxts2/6...terest-ages-mod
This version is not compatible with mine. You need to pick one or you can use either mine or virs as a base to create your own!
@lilbabydilljr, also at Tumblr, made a mod which adds a coin flip to the age transition interest change, so it only happens half of the time. You can use this with mine, and I think that they work really well together! Contrary to his description, I don't think that mod works with equinoxts2's, because equinoxts2's completely negates the change at age transition.
Thank you to equinoxts2 for the original mod which I used as a base.
Thank you also to MidgeTheTree for some info shared about how interests work. Also some discussions on MATY and Simbology and ModTheSims contributed to my understanding here.
More Downloads BETA
Here are some more of my downloads: