Corylea has already written an excellent guide on making friends which covers all the basics. But I still frequently find myself confused about how to get sims to accept certain interactions, while others I'm pretty sure I have figured out. I'm posting this in the hopes that other people will benefit from my learnings and can also provide information where I am lacking it! Please help me figure out the finer points of sim social interactions!


Why did they refuse?

Sometimes sims will tell you why they did not accept an interaction with an icon inside a thought bubble, but that's only helpful if you know what the icon means.


Drama mask: This means the interaction was rejected due to bad mood. They might accept it if their motives were higher, i.e. you get them food or let them pee or whatever.

Two faces: The interaction was rejected because you tried to do it too many times in a row. Hot Date introduced this anti-spam mechanism so you can't just repeat the same action over and over. I believe you need to use at least 3 different interactions in rotation to avoid this, e.g.: Joke, Admire, Talk, then you can Joke again without it being rejected. (N.B. this also affects YOUR sim. If you have a visitor who keeps repeatedly trying to gossip or kiss your playable sim, your sim will eventually refuse. To avoid a relationship hit, cancel the repeated interaction before the animation starts.)

Crossed out shower: You smell! Your hygiene is too low and the other sim doesn't want to hug you or whatever. Take a bath, Pigpen.


Are there any others?



When they DON'T tell you why they refused

Unfortunately this is most common. Interactions just fail and you don't know why. But they are usually a combination of:


MOOD: Sims in a bad mood will refuse many social interactions. And unfortunately, visitor sims and townies always arrive on a lot with most of their motives tanked. If you plan to do anything more than a few chats and jokes with a sim, feed and entertain them and let them pee before you go to work.

PERSONALITY: Playful and Nice scores contribute to acceptance of many interactions. Outgoing influences how fast they build relationship points generally.

RELATIONSHIP SCORE: Many interactions need both sims to already have a high relationship with each other before they have any chance at succeeding, especially romantic ones.


Here are various interactions that I either have figured out or am looking for more info on.


Platonic interactions (no chance of causing crush/love or jealousy)

Talk About Interests: Be sure to read Coreylea's guide if you haven't. Basically this is affected by the two sims' interests and their Niceness. One sim will pick a topic at random from their list of high (7+) interests, and if the other sim shares it as a high interest, the conversation goes well (several green plusses). If the other sim has it as a medium or low interest, they will do one of three things, which is affected by their Niceness, how much they dislike the topic, and (possibly?) their mood: stop the conversation and walk away (usually red minus), change the topic (no direct impact), or play along and talk about something they dislike (sometimes no impact, sometimes green plus).

If you are talking "passively" i.e. while doing something like watching tv or eating, YOU can change the subject manually by clicking on your own sim. If you can pick something the other sims loves, you can get a good boost to relationship while also getting your motives up. If you are just standing around talking, you can't do this, because uhhh... unclear? I guess sims get stupider when they stand up.

Reading magazines to change your sim's interests is an option but I find it tedious, so I recommend either using a hacked object to do this or just picking friends who already share your interests.


Talk About Cats/Dogs: I have never seen this succeed. FINALLY got it to work by having Mama and Elden Hick talk about Dogs, and they had a nice conversation about their dog Duke. Maybe both sims need to be part of the pet's family? Will test more.

Talk/Gossip: Again, I have never seen this succeed, which is a real bummer since sims want to do it ALL THE TIME. I have seen two different failure states: one where the other sim goes "uh-uh" and crosses their arms, refusing to participate in the gossip, and another where the action actually completes and the sims gossip, but you get a red minus anyway! I have no idea why and I have no idea what could make this interaction have a positive result. More info needed!


Entertain/Joke: Playful sims (6+) like jokes. Less playful sims don't like them as much but may accept if in a good mood. Serious sims (3 or less) do NOT want to hear your stupid limerick. Unfortunately, this nice quick interaction goes away at 70 daily relationship.

Entertain/Puppet or Entertain/Juggle: Generally the same as above, but Juggling appears to require a better mood for acceptance. The puppet is hard for me to test because I hate the creepy thing, but probably acts similarly.


Cheer Up/Encourage: This appears when the other sim is in a VERY bad mood. It always seems to succeed, but if it's even an option it means you need to get that sim some food and entertainment if you want any other interactions to work.

Cheer Up/Puppet: This usually results in the puppet being punched. I don't know the mechanical reasons why but on a vibes level I totally get it. Go away, Mortimer.


Hug/Friendly: Nice sims (6+) like hugs. Less nice sims may accept if in a good mood. Mean sims (3 or less) really don't want to be hugged. I am unsure if Outgoing score also contributes anything here.


Tickle: The goofiness of this game is charming in many ways but I can't say I'm a fan of the way grown adults are constantly running around tickling each other and whipping out puppets. Anyway, this silly interaction is only liked by playful sims (6+) in a good mood. Everyone else is likely to think you're a creepy weirdo, and I can't say they're completely wrong. Be aware that Extreme tickling may cause a sim with a full bladder to pee on your floor, and you will have only yourself to blame.


Brag/Various: Sort of mysterious. I see it both fail and succeed all the time and don't quite know why. Clearly mood plays a part, perhaps Niceness as well? Meaner sims seem to accept it more. More info needed here.


Tease/Various: This seems to be available to sims who are at least a little Playful and Mean. It seems like it would be a hostile interaction, but it's quite common that the other sim will accept it good-naturedly and have a chuckle at their own expense. It's likely that this depends on mood and Niceness but I see it yield green plusses surprisingly often.


Greet/Various and Say Goodbye/Various: These don't fail, exactly--the sim will always be greeted or leave--but it can rarely cause red minus relationship, usually when the two sims already hate each other. I have little information on this as I tend to be conservative in my choices. I've never seen Shake Hands cause any issues, but sims seem to consider a Wave to be more casual and may be offended if you use it at very low relationship. More info needed.

Beware as some greetings and goodbyes that you might not expect can cause romance hearts, including Air Kiss/Kiss Cheek (this would probably be news to much of Europe and also your grandma). Hugging is safely platonic.



Romantic interactions (can cause crush/love hearts and/or trigger jealousy)


Crush can be triggered by a romantic interaction at 70 daily relationship. Love can be triggered the same way at 70 lifetime relationship. Both cause the infatuated sim to feel jealousy. I think the only mechanical difference between the two is that love enables marriage proposal. Sometimes crush or love will be one-way if one sim likes the other more or the interaction just works that way.


Compliment/Admire: Believe it or not, this triggers jealousy. Bella Goth will absolutely slap you silly for telling her husband he looks nice today. However, it does NOT cause crush/love hearts (it disappears as an option long before the appropriate friendship levels are even reached). This is almost always accepted; only sims who are very mean or in a very bad mood will refuse a nice compliment. Disappears at friendship level 40. Edited to add: eating a meal at a restaurant table Downtown can make the Admire interaction appear even at high relationship levels, and in this case, it WILL cause romance hearts!

Compliment/Worship: A rare and strange interaction only available when daily relationship is below 40 but lifetime relationship is higher than 20ish. This combination is, for me at least, really rare outside of freshly moved-in families. I tested it a bunch with different personality sims in a great mood and was not able to get the worship-ee to accept the interaction successfully even once, so any further information is welcome! (Also, I don't know whether it causes jealousy, but since Admire does, it's in this section just to be safe.)


Dance: Again surprisingly, dancing can cause jealousy, even the non-Slow variety. This is usually accepted and I have little other info on it. You usually need music playing, but sometimes sims with high relationship will have the option to dance without music, which is kinda cute.


Give Gift: Guess what, it's yet another interaction that inexplicably causes jealousy! Giving your friend a video game will make your spouse think you're a filthy cheater! Nobody at Maxis has any idea what healthy relationship boundaries look like! Anyway, this almost always succeeds, because who doesn't like gifts? Well, Cornelia Goth, for one. That evil harridan crushed my flower beneath her boot and I have no idea why. It's likely that mood and/or relationship level affect acceptance but I don't know for sure. Screw you, Cornelia!

Gifts that DO NOT cause hearts: Yellow rose, lollipop, The Sims, jewelry (I think? Needs testing), gnomes, food/drink from expansion packs

Gifts that CAN cause hearts: red roses, box of chocolates, stuffed animal (definitely Patrick the Pachyderm, and probably Teddy Bear as well, despite my earlier assertions). I believe this only causes hearts in the gift recipient, not the giver. Wrong again, it CAN cause hearts in the gift giver.


Flirt/Various: Obviously a romantic interaction. I believe that only mood and daily relationship impact acceptance, but perhaps Outgoing plays some part? There may be a different relationship threshold for acceptance of various Flirts, but I'm not sure what they are, as Flirt disappears surprisingly early in a relationship so it's hard to test. Holding a bar drink enables some different flirts, perhaps it also increases acceptance? More info needed.


Hug/Intimate: Despite the name, it does not cause hearts nor jealousy. Wrong, it DOES cause jealousy (though it still seems that it does NOT cause hearts). I think I was confused because the stand-alone Intimate Hug uses the same animations as the Say Goodbye Hug, and the goodbye hug does not cause jealousy. At this point I think Maxis is just trolling.

Hug/Romantic: Obviously romantic. It's not available as an option for all sim couples, even those with relationship of 100/100. Unclear what is gating it, possibly mood?

Hug/Leap in Arms: My personal favorite. Requires quite a high relationship score to even appear. Probably same rules as other hugs, and I'd guess it requires higher mood for acceptance.


Kiss/Various: Kisses require a VERY high mood to be accepted. They appear in the menu clockwise in order of how high your relationship has to be for them to be accepted, so only sims with incredibly high mood AND relationship will accept a Passionate or Romantic kiss. Kisses appear to cause hearts in both the kisser and the kiss-ee. Since the names are somewhat vague, here's a detailed list:

Suave Kiss: Sims A kisses Sim B repeatedly on the hand and wrist while Sim B giggles. Lowest acceptance threshold, pretty safe.

Peck: A quick peck on the cheek. Cute and fast.

Polite Kiss: Your basic romantic kiss on the mouth. This is where we start getting into higher acceptance threshold territory.

Passionate Kiss: Dramatic music swells! Needs VERY high mood and relationship to be accepted. It's commonly recommended that you try this, and if the other sim accepts, they are in a good enough mood to accept a marriage proposal, and in my experience it works!

Romantic Kiss: The sims make out and do some sound effects that will make other people in the room where you're playing think you're some kind of pervert.

Fiery Kiss: Sim A bends Sim B over in a dramatic swoop and they kiss while Sim B kicks a leg in the air. Only appears at high longterm relationship and requires absurdly high mood. But if you can get it to work, it's quite amusing.


Play in/Various: Hilariously, sims will accept this more easily than they will many types of kisses, although they do still need to be in a fairly good mood. Sims seem to treat it simply as a fun-raising activity rather than a romantic one, meaning they'll agree to it more easily. This can be accepted if the sim is over 50-ish daily relationship, unclear if there is a lifetime relationship requirement. Thus you can Play with a sim you don't have hearts with and without causing any if you are between 50ish and 70ish daily relationship. It will still cause jealousy, though... I mean, obviously. Can rarely cause the "Should we have a baby" prompt in hetero couples in love, but I believe that can only trigger in bed, not the various public places you can besmirch with your filthy passion.



HOSTILE Interactions!


These are social interactions whose main effect is to LOSE relationship points. Why would you want to do this? Well, usually you won't, which is why there's not much information here. These are generally to be avoided unless you're in a sim-torturing mood or need to break up a relationship for some reason.


Nag About/various: This interaction only appears when a sim is in a very bad mood and is interacting with a spouse or friend they have a high relationship with. Grumpy sims sometimes do it autonomously, so you might see Mortimer nagging Bella in the welcome wagon if you're being a poor host. A jagged speech balloon appears with the nag topic and the sims bicker and lose relationship.


Insult/Shake Fist and /Poke: This is always available to sims with 3 or less Nice points. It does what it says on the tin. Even a sim with great mood and 10 Nice points will not like to be Insulted and will even Poke the instigator back (yes, I tested it and yes, I feel bad). Obviously, relationship points are lost.


Attack: This can appear when two sims absolutely hate each other's guts and causes a cartoony brawl to break out. Be aware that THE LOSER MAY LEAVE THE NEIGHBORHOOD FOREVER. This is PERMANENT. It is even MORE permanent than death! Miss Lucille can reach beyond the veil to the spirit world but even she can't make your enemy forget what a colossal butthole you are! What I'm saying is, if you click this option for the lulz, know the consequences and approach the save screen accordingly.



Pets and Children


Honestly, I don't have a lot of information here. Sim children bore me and pets get in the way, so I rarely have either around. Kids seem to accept any interaction from mom or dad if their mood is good. I have never seen a dog or cat refuse to be Petted, even a stray, but mood may impact this. Hugging will get your sim nipped if the pet doesn't have a relationship of around 50ish with them. The guinea pig is technically an object but can also bite a sim, possibly resulting in disease, but I think this biting is completely random since objects don't have mood or personality!

(Tangentially, please note that the "guinea pig" in the game is shown in a cage that is inappropriate for a guinea pig and is running on a hamster wheel that can IRL break a guinea pig's back. Guinea pigs are not hamsters! Please do not take small animal husbandry tips from this 20-year-old video game! Okay thank u)

Anyway, if you have more detailed information on kids or pets, it is sorely needed!



Okay, that is it for now, obviously this does not cover EVERY social interaction in the game but it's a fair start and I am hoping that other people can add information that I am lacking. Also please feel free to correct me if you know for certain that anything I have said is incorrect! Just please... don't do it with a puppet.

Very interesting post, @EphemeralToast!


I don't know for sure, but I'd been assuming that only Mean sims enjoyed gossip. We could test it, or I could check the SocialGlobals and PersonGlobals files and see if there's a personality gate. (I might not get to that today, since my health is poor, so I can't do much in any one day.)



It's also only available if the joking sim is in a good mood. I hadn't realized that it went away at high relationships; I thought I'd done it when high? I should check on that.



Hee! Love this! I should check the files to see what makes this succeed, because I never do it. The puppet thing seems really weird to me; I find it interesting that Maxis implemented this while not implementing some more ordinary social interactions!



Hee!



Yeah, that's weird.



There's a no-jealousy mod if you want one. I use it partly so that I can give compliments without its being seen as romantic.
It's from C&C Enterprises. Their site is no more, but parts of the site are preserved on the Wayback Machine, and luckily, the no-jealousy mod is one of the things that was saved. You can find it at https://web.archive.org/web/2005030...ads_regular.htm. There are a lot of things on that page; scroll down about halfway to find the No More Jealousy Patch.



Yes! I think that's really weird. In real life, I only know if I want to flirt with someone after I've gotten a sense of who they are. I'll have to look into modding this...



Ooh, I didn't know that! Cool! I don't drink in real life, so I forget that our sims can drink. :-)

I have sims with 6 Nice who constantly try to Gossip, so if it's Niceness-gated it's generous, though acceptance may be a different story. I've noticed the sims will also choose a specific other sim on the lot as the gossip subject (sometimes even a cat or dog, which is... interesting. You'll never BELIEVE where Fido peed yesterday omggg!!!!!) and I wonder if relationship to THAT sim has any bearing on acceptance. Mysterious! If you do check it out, definitely let me know (no rush, of course take care of your health).




It goes away very reliably around 70 relationship in my game, and I don't THINK I have any mods that would affect it. I generally invite family friends over at 60ish relationship to boost them back up to 100, and Entertain/X is available when they arrive and not when they leave! It's quite silly, because I certainly Joke with my good friends!




Ahh that's great to have as an option, thanks!




Drinking is a rather poor option as far as in-game time management goes, which is a shame since it's pretty entertaining (and sims LOVE to drink Downtown). They gain access to some of the sillier flirts like Growl, regardless of relationship with the other sim, though it doesn't seem like they will do them autonomously and I'm not sure how much other sims like being hit on by some drunk weirdo.


Thanks for your reply and your new mods! Meanwhile I need to edit the OP since I have SHOCKING new evidence that the gift of a stuffed animal can actually cause romance hearts. Although I mean check Patrick the Pachyderm out, he's a pretty dapper fellow if I do say so.

Hey, @EphemeralToast, I didn't find it too big ─and it's really interesting too.

On my experience, Mood is the biggest factor when having sims socialize. They can be madly in love ─they won't touch wach other if their moods are only average. Let's see if I can help:

I don't think the subject of Gossip has any impact on it. Sims that have a good enough realtionship gossip about another ones ─and the reactions tends to depend on relationship, something around 40 and a good mood is the only thing that makes a sim accept Gossiping. You're totally right ─sometimes the initiator does add Relationship Points and the target sim doesn't, or one of them gets negative points. Only when they're friends is the action successful at all (which really helps if you want an asymmetrical relationship).

Only extremely Nice and, I believe, extremely Grouchy sims accept bragging (only nasty sims like each other I guess?). It is a extremely dangerous interaction, since it almost never results in positive points and almost always sims do it autonomously. I just cancel it anytime. If a sim feels head-over-heels towards the intiator, though, it results in a positive ─I believe all interactions are positive between two sims on a 100 per cent relationship and good mood. Which makes it a bit boring to max the relationship, if you ask me.

This makes sense to me; the unmodded game is fiendish when it comes to socialising! All my sims hate each other and they are all lonely.

No, I knew that Nice sims COULD gossip; what I was wondering was if only Mean sims would accept or approve of gossip.



You're right; the ability to Joke is taken away at 70. But Maxis uses a DIFFERENT way to remove it than they do to remove Flirt and Compliment, which I think is weird. But I can still mod it out; I hope to upload that tomorrow or Tuesday.



Well, even if it's not efficient, I'm glad you mentioned it, since I haven't really played with drinking in the game at all, so it's stuff in the game I've never seen! And when you're talking about a twenty-year-old game, stuff I've never seen is precious to me.



Hee! Yeah, drunk weirdos aren't to many tastes.



Oh, cool! I love elephants, but I never thought of them as something all sims would crush for. :-)

Thanks so much for tracking all this stuff down; it's very interesting!

Okay, I've made and uploaded a mod that makes Entertain/Joke available up to a relationship of 100. Because really, it probably takes someone who truly cares about you to enjoy those silly limericks. :-)

Because this mod uses the same file -- PersonGlobal.iff -- as the mods for Flirt and Compliment and for the one that makes families actually start with a relationship level that suggests they didn't just meet today , I've had to make a bunch of different combinations of mods, because you can only have ONE modded PersonGlobal.iff in your game. So there's the Joke Mod alone, with the Flirt mod, with the Family mod, and with both other mods, plus Flirt alone or in combo with one or the other or both of the other mods and the Family mod alone or in combo with one or both of the other mods, for a total of a zillion combinations. Whew!

Edited to add section on hostile interactions, moved all gift giving into romantic section because Maxis is dumb, added Tease. Still testing various things and happy to accept further information.

I have some additional information on gifts, from poking through the files.

The reaction of the recipient always depends partly on existing relationship and mood, but sometimes it was ALSO originally intended to depend on interests and/or personality. And yet the lines of code that take interests and personality into account seem not to be active anymore. I'm not sure why Maxis made this choice. Some examples:

The recipient's reaction to the heart-shaped box of chocolates was originally intended to depend partly on their interests in both Food and Romance, but although the lollipop is also food, the reaction to that was originally intended to depend partly on the person's level of Playfulness. I guess a lollipop is supposed to be a childlike food, so sims high in Playful are more childlike.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the most complex sets of variables is for the reaction to the gift of a game of The Sims. I've attached a picture of the relevant BHAV here. As you can see, the reaction to the game was originally intended to be lowered by the amount of the recipient's Outgoing score, increased by the level of their Playful score, and increased by their interest in Technology. So that's what Maxis thinks of those of us who play The Sims: We're playful loners who like technology. :-)



The reaction to a gift of roses -- either red or yellow -- was originally intended to depend partly on the recipient's Romance interest.

The gift of an elephant, bizarrely enough, was originally intended to depend partly on the recipient's interests in Style and Money, as do the gifts of a nutcracker, a unicorn, a ring, or a necklace.

The gift of any of the giftable paintings was originally intended to depend partly on the recipients interests in Style and Food. Food?! Do they plan to EAT the paintings? But that's what the files say.

In spite of some choices I regard as a bit questionable, I'm impressed at how much depth Maxis originally intended to give to the gift-giving! Sims with a high interest in Romance like traditionally romantic gifts more, sims with a Playful personality like games and toys more, and sims with an interest in Money like that very expensive necklace. Good job, Maxis! I'm not sure why they decided to skip those lines of code part of the time; it would have been very cool!

This is fascinating stuff, thanks for posting it!


ummm idk what u are talking abt Will that doesn't sound like me at all >__>;


Since the jewelry came first in Hot Date and those other items came later in Vacation I'm guessing someone just copy-pasted some code from the jewelry stand to make the vacation gift stand. Style and Money are decent choices for the jewelry gifts, and since they didn't end up activating these preferences there would be no reason to bother changing them for the vacation gifts.

I had no idea there were giftable paintings, what are they?

Yes, I thought this was the probable reason, too. I wonder, though if the code was originally active, but people complained about not being able to predict how much relationship they'd get from a gift, so it was later patched out? My memories of twenty years ago are too hazy to recall...



They came with Makin' Magic. There's a kiosk in Magic Town that sells paintings. I'd actually never noticed the kiosk until I found files called gift_paint1.iff through gift_paint4.iff in the files.

Folks, I am looking for any info you may have on how the zodiac chart affects interactions in the Sims 1. In the Sims 2, it was very clear when chemistry was affecting a social interaction because it would have lightning bolts next to it, but there's no such signposting in original Sims and the game's documentation is very vague about how it is supposed to work. Do zodiac signs affect only romantic interactions, or all of them? What happens in the confusingly common case where 2 signs have "mixed" chemistry (sign A attracted to sign B, but B repelled by A)? What kind of bonus or malus is actually applied? Any information is appreciated!




Now that is odd... I have definitely bought those paintings and they are just placeable house decor. Perhaps they have gift code leftover as a result of the kiosk being cloned from a gift stand? Or is there actually a way to give them as gifts and I just never noticed?

Moved Intimate Hug to the proper section (it causes jealousy because sure, why the hell not, everything else does).

I am now looking for any available information on the interaction Admire/Worship. I have never seen this in my own game, but saw it in a few seemingly unmodded YouTube gameplay videos, but the player did not use it so I don't know what it does or how to make it appear. Very mysterious!

I haven't seen any indication that it has any effect at all. I might simply not have seen it, so I'll paw through the files some day when my health permits.

I bought some and tried to give them, but couldn't make it work. I think maybe the game started calling anything that went into the sim's personal inventory as gift_nameofitem, because the first few inventory items were gifts. So the name of the object in the files doesn't mean it's actually giftable. Sorry to have led you astray!

Updated bc I was finally able to find the Worship interaction, though not able to get it to do anything but creep the other sim out (kind of understandable). This game is so full of weird interactions!

Oh, you've been all so helpful and interesting to read!!! Let's see if I can be of any help.

On the subject of children interactions, they generally accept all of them alright; but I believe they have it easier to cover their mood, so it makes sense. In general, they're very sociable and like to talk and play with adults. From Vacation onwards, however, they added an "acting out" feature, so as soon as the little rascals have red mood, they start belching, laughing to themeselves and doing some antisocial interactions. It's not something too noticeable, however. The interesting thing is that several manuals and even Kana tell something about it ("Oh yeah, if your children act out you will be fined in Vacation Island"), but it isn't properly explained anywhere.

Didn't know about gifts!!! Sims not liking some of them, or not getting as many relationship points may have been enabled somehow in the game: when you go on a date with a sim and buy gifts in front of them, they'll show a thought bubble crossing over the gift if they don't like it. Don't know if it's using the system @Corylea mentioned; I should investigate.

As said before, drinks enable a lot of flirting interactions only available that way. Supposedly sims let "their guard down", but I recall some are more risky than others.

As in TS2, supposedly zodiac sign is a BIG element in two sims getting along. It obviously affects Niceness, Playfulness and Outgoing-ness levels, with condition social relationships, but it supposedly will also make sims like one another more or less; my theory is it has to do with relationships points gained with social interactions (some failed interactions TANK relationships, they make sims lose as much as 10 points; conversely, some successful interactions only give a couple points). Just yesterday I had a sim who got along well-ish with another sim go up to my family's door and ring its bell; it seems relationship+zodiac also plays some role here.

Finally, the Worship interaction seems to appear when the initiator is on a bad-ish mood; they play a kinda ironic animation, so I'm not surprised the receiving sim doesn't like it as much. Again, they have to be on a extremely good mood. As @simsample said, mood management is RIVETING in this game!!!

Does anyone have any info on the interaction Flirt/Back Rub? I've never seen it and the only reason I even know it exists is this hack from SomeSimThings (http://www.somesimthings.com/Obj/01Obj.htm), which unfortunately includes no information about when it's supposed to appear in a non-hacked setting.

Looking at the code, there are some other possibilities, depending on magic spells and the like, but in the normal course of things, the option is supposed to be available when relationship is over 30 and mood is also over 30, but since Flirt is only allowed with relationship under 60, then it's available when the relationship is between 30 and 60, and the flirter is in a reasonably good mood.

There are also some lines relating to Niceness score and Playfulness score further down, which it looks like the code doesn't get to unless they fail the mood check.

Great info, thanks!

I attempted to test with several sims, all in fabulous mood. First pair of sims had a relationship 49/24 one way and 45/25 the other way, and the only flirt available was Sweet Talk. Second pair of sims had a relationship of 34/31 both ways, and the only flirt available was... Back Rub! I finally found it!

So I conclude that the relationship referred to in the code is lifetime and not daily, since that's the only way these results make sense. So you need to have a lifetime relationship between 30 and 60, with the usual caveats about mood.

It's interesting, and fairly weird, to me that Maxis apparently implemented a fair number of high-ish lifetime relationship checks on interactions that are also pretty severely restricted by daily relationship. Vanilla friendship decay mechanics incentivize getting a daily friendship score as high as possible as quickly as possible, and lifetime relationship advances much more slowly without deliberate player manipulation (spamming gifts etc.). So unless two sims live on the same lot (to maximize LTR growth) but don't interact very much (to restrict DR), a player is unlikely to ever see them.

And, as usual, it's weird that Maxis thinks people in love stop wanting to flirt with each other, but oh well.

Sorry, I should have mentioned -- both daily AND lifetime relationship need to be between 30 and 60, unless you have my mod that permits flirting up until 100.


Which is why I thought a mod was necessary. :-) Not just so people who were in love could still flirt but so that some of these rare interactions could be seen.

Thanks, as always, for testing the limits of the various interactions; I enjoy your scientific approach!