Showtime: Better Gigs for your Performers

This is a simple XML Tuning mod which makes it easier (or harder) for your sims to perform Legendary shows, even when you let them do the entire show autonomously. This mod is available at ModTheSims.

Updates:

28 March 2012 – Added New Flavor: More Legendary Gigs. Makes it easier to perform a legendary gig at all career levels.

Important Details:

• This mod requires the Sims 3 Showtime Expansion Pack. Using it without Showtime should not have any effect on your game, but it will be a totally useless waste of space.
• This mod will only affect the Acrobat, Singer, and Magician performance Careers from the Showtime Expansion Pack.
• This mod was built with patch 1.33 and is compatible patch 1.31 and 1.32 as well.  Due to its simplicity, this mod may not necessarily require an update after major patches. It’s always best to check in, though.

Compatibility:

• This mod will conflict with any other mod that alters the PerformanceMeter_0x9712ea904535f8ec resource in the GameplayData.package. I do not currently know of any other mods that do this.
• This mod should not conflict with any script or core mods.
• If you are not sure if a mod will conflict with another, use Delphy’s Sims 3 Dashboard Tool to check.

Flavors:

Use only one flavor!

Flavor	Changes
Autonomous Gigs	Removes penalties for Autonomous and Repeat interactions. All other factors are unchanged.
Better Gigs	Penalty removed for repeat interactions. Skill multiplier bonus increased by 1 at max level for all 3 performance careers. Engaging trait (LTH Reward) bonus doubled (increased from .05 to .1) Natural Performer trait bonus increased to .20 (up from .15) Venue bonus for Big Show venues increased to .5 (same as Private Venues, up from 0) Penalty for Autonomous interactions removed (original: .8 negative multiplier for autonomous interactions)
Harder Gigs	Increases threshold for Legendary Shows to .90 (up from .85) for all three performance careers. Penalty for Repeat interactions increased to .6 (up from .5). Penalty for Autonomous interactions increased to .90 (up from .80).
More Legendary Gigs	Penalty removed for repeat interactions. Skill multiplier bonus increased by 1 for all career levels (except level 10) for all 3 performance careers. Level 10 skill multiplier increased by 1.5 Engaging trait (LTH Reward) bonus increased to .2 (up from .05) Natural Performer trait chance to ignore mistakes/negative updates increased to .95 (up from .8) Natural Performer trait bonus increased to .25 (up from .15) Venue bonus for Big Show venues increased to .5 (same as Private Venues, up from 0) Penalty for Autonomous interactions removed (original: .8 negative multiplier for autonomous interactions) Initial starting bonus based on career level increased by .1 for all career levels and all performance careers.

If you would like your own flavor, please ask! I will be more than happy to make one. I just don’t feel like guessing what other people might like in their own games.

Notes:

• I have only tested Better Gigs with a sim who had both the Natural Born Performer trait and the Engaging LTH Reward. She performed a Legendary show with one use directed interaction (Told her to sing first song, I totally forgot I did this the first time I wrote this up).
• This mod does not alter the threshold required for a legendary performance.
• Skill multiplier bonus is only increased for level 10 of the careers.
• This means, earlier on in the career, it will still be a little harder to have a legendary performance, but it will be easier once you hit level 10 (and/or purchase the Engaging LTH Reward).
• Autonomous and repeat interactions will not have a negative effect on any shows performed, regardless of the career level.

Please comment here or PM me at MTS if you have any problems with this mod.

Additional Credits:

Peter & Inge Jones for S3PE.

Horse mod: Child and Pregnant Sim Can Mount Horse

This mod enables the “Mount” interaction on horses for children and pregnant sims.

30 June 2012 – Updated to allow children to enter equestrian competitions and to use “Buy Horse” at the Equestrian Center.

28 May 2012 – Updated to add more unlocked interactions for children. Please re-download if you use a child version. Pregnant sims did not need more interactions to be unlocked.

22 April 2012 – New Flavor Added! Children can mount horse.

27 March 2012 – New Flavor Added! Children and Pregnant Sims can mount horse.

2 March 2012 – This mod is compatible with patch 1.31

Important Details:

• This mod requires the Sims 3 PETS Expansion Pack. Using it without PETS should not have any effect on your game, but it will be a totally useless waste of space.
• This mod was built with patch 1.29.  Due to its simplicity, this mod may not necessarily require an update after major patches. It’s always best to check in, though.
• New: New flavor added which allows children (in addition to pregnant sims) to mount a horse. Please note: When children mount a horse, they will stretch, but will return to normal child size once they dismount.

Compatibility:

• Pregnant Sim can Mount Horse mod will conflict with any other mod that alters the Mount_Sim ITUN resource in the GameplayData.package.
• Child can Mount Horse and Child and Child and Pregnant Sim can Mount Horsewill both conflict with any other mod that alters the following ITUN resources in the GameplayData.package.
  • Mount_Sim
  • MountedSlaveInteraction_Sim
  • RiderTrainForRacing_TrainingPosts
  • RideHere_Terrain
  • MountedReaction_Sim
  • UnsaddleHorse_Sim
  • GivePermissionToRideHorse_Sim
  • SaddleHorse_Sim
  • ReturnHorse_Sim
  • AskSimForPermissionToRideHorse_Sim
  • AskToDismount_Sim
  • Dismount_Sim
  • EnterEquestrianCompetition_EquestrianCenter
  • BuyHorse_EquestrianCenter
• This mod will conflict with shad0w’s Child Can Ride Horse mod, available at Custom Sims 3.
• If you are not sure if a mod will conflict with another, use Delphy’s Sims 3 Dashboard Tool to check.

Please comment here or PM me at MTS if you have any problems with this mod.

Ride on, Mama.

Ride on, Mama.

Download this mod at Simlogical

Additional Credits:
Peter & Inge Jones for S3PE, Armiel for the Builder’s DIY Island which I use so frequently for testing.

The lovely horse you see picture above was created by Miss Al at MTS. The hair on my sim is Peggy 445, converted by Savio and retextured by Shyne.

What I’ve been up to: Actually playing!

I’ve been a little quiet on the blog front the last several days, and that’s because I finally found some time to just sit down and play. Boy, has it been fun. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted Showtime, but I’ve really enjoyed the singer career so far. I haven’t even tried the Magician or Acrobat yet, nor have I tried the DJ booth. In fact, I probably haven’t tried most of the new stuff! I tend to focus early in the game on establishing the family and setting up a nice savings account so the new generations can do whatever they want. Actually, I suppose most people would consider it a boring way to play but who cares! It’s the freaking SIMS.

Of course, while playing I’ve also spent some time trying to fix silly bugs or other broken things. I had an issue with my dog not being able to sniff out collectibles, but luckily I posted about it on the NRaas wiki and I didn’t have to do half as much work as I would have if I tried to figure it out on my own.  I’ve also been having some issues with the game crashing in a seemingly random ways. I have no idea how I can possibly figure out what is causing the crash because I haven’t found a way to reproduce the crash. It just kind of happens. The Crash Log Analyzer is not helping that much as some of the crashes are Break Point crashes. I get a custom content warning, but obviously, I don’t know how to figure out which custom content it might be!

In any case, I’m really enjoying Showtime, so that’s what counts.

Recommendation: TS3 Store Content Fixes Directory at MATY

I’ve linked to store content fixes before, but this one is different.  A helpful MATYzen has created a seemingly exhaustive list of store content fixes. You can find the list here:

TS3 Store Content Fixes

I also recommend looking at my earlier post about the TS3 Store Premium Content fix by kissing_toast. I have updated it with new information.

Tutorial: How to Unmerge a package, or multiple packages

This tutorial will show you how to unmerge a package that you have merged into a bigger package. If you have never merged your custom content into one package, I recommend taking a look at Crinrict’s blog for combing packages: TUTORIAL: Combine Package Files to reduce Lag

You will need:

• S3PE
• Your merged package file *
• The separate packages you want to remove from the combined file.

* Keep a back up of everything you merge!

Click images if you would like to see them at full size.

Step 1 – Locate your merged package and the separate, unmerged package(s) which you want to remove from the merged package.

Locate the relevant files on your hard drive.

Step 2 – Open the merged package in S3PE. If you have S3pE as the default package opener, just double click it. Otherwise, right-click and choose “Edit Sims 3 Package.”

Step 3 – Drag the separate, unmerged package that you want to remove from the merged package onto the S3PE window.

The easy way to import to S3PE: Just drag the file onto S3PE.

Step 4 – A window will pop up. Make sure you choose “Replace duplicates.” Then click Import.

Choose Replace duplicates! Then Import.

Step 5 – Another window will pop up: “Autosave current package after each package imported?” Click No. This is very important and the key to removing the file from the merged package! Click No!

Don’t Autosave!

Step 6 –  Click the Chunkoffset button at the top of the resource list table to sort by Chunkoffset.

Sort by Chunkoffset to find thew newly imported files.

Step 7 – Notice you have a number of packages with the chunkoffset 0xFFFFFFFF – This denotes that these resources have not yet been saved to the package. These are all the resrouces for the package you’ve newly imported into the merged package.

You can compare the number of resources with Chunkoffset 0xFFFFFFFF with the number of resources in the original package if you want to verify all resources are being removed.

Step 8 – Select all resources with Chunkoffset 0xFFFFFF and then hit your DEL button.

Use it!

Step 9 – Save the package!

Questions

Can I do this for multiple pieces of custom content at once?

Yes, just drag (import) multiple .package files into S3PE.

What if I don’t have the original package and I don’t know where to find it?

You can still use this method if you don’t have the original package(s) for the content you want to remove. However, you will need to use s3oc by Peter and Inge Jones to clone the item you want to remove from your merged package. To do this, open the merged package in s3oc with File >  Open Package. Do not use the renumber option. Then import the resulting package into your merged package.

Alternatively, you could also re-download the content you want to remove from the merged package, provided you know that the creator has not removed any resources since you last downloaded the item (of course, this only works if you know where to find it…)

Do I have to drag and drop to import the package?

No, you can do it the old fashioned way, and right-click in S3PE to find the Import option. But isn’t dragging and dropping so much more fun?

More questions? Feel free to ask.

Additional Credits:

I did not come up with this method of unmerging a file from a merged package. I can’t remember where I saw it, or who did it, as I actually just sort of stumbled upon it while searching for something entirely unrelated to merging and unmerging package files. I do not take credit for coming up with the method, although I did write this tutorial and make all the screenshots on my own. Either way, it’s always good to have more tutorials floating around.

Thanks to Peter and Inge Jones for creating and maintaining S3PE.

Recommendation: Asian Hot Tub Fix at MATY

If you have the Japanese Inspired Living Compilation from the Sims 3 Store (also available in the December 2011 Compilation Set),then you’ve probably noticed that the Infinite Flow Hot Tub has broken animations. There is a tube out of which water should presumably flow, but nothing happens. You can see that the hot tub is using the wrong animation by looking very closely at the base, where the wall with the tube meets the tub.

In this case, the hot tub was assigned the wrong script class. It should have had the same script class as the celebrity reward hot tub from Late Night. The Thermal Sanitarium from the Future Shock Living set also uses this script class. Just changing the script class was enough, however, because the animation didn’t line up with the tube, it had to be scaled to the correct position. This is where kissing_toast comes in! He was able to move the animation so that the water would flow out of the tub and look all pretty and nice like.

Infinite Flow Hot Tub Fix by kissing_toast at MATY

Of course, the Infinite Flow Hot Tub isn’t the only broken hot tub from the store. The King and Queen of Steam from the Viva Las Vegas Bedroom set also has a broken animation. I waited with posting this recommendation first to see if using a different script class and making a few adjustments would work, but apparently it’s not going too well. You can check out the thread at MTS if you have any ideas.

Get the Asian Hot Tub fix here, courtesy of kissing_toast at MATY.

Party Mods: More guests and no time restrictions for parties

This is an update to graycurse’s popular No Party Guest Maximum XML Tuning mod at ModTheSims. Her mod has been out of date since generations.

Important Details:

• This mod does not require any Expansion or Stuff Packs.
• This mod was built with patch 1.33 but it should be compatible for 1.22 (Generations) and up. Due to its simplicity, this mod may not necessarily require an update after major patches. It’s always best to check in, though.
• This mod is unnecessary if you are using NRaas MasterController and MasterController Integration v83 or above.

Compatibility:

• This is an XML tuning mod and should not conflict with any script or core mod.
• This mod is NOT compatible with any other mod that alters the PartyPickerDialog_0x60041acaad16c0b4 resource in the GameplayData.package .
• This mod will conflict with graycurse’s original mod, which is not compatible with the current patch level.
• If you are not sure if a mod will conflict with another, use Delphy’s Sims 3 Dashboard Tool to check.

Flavors

Flavor	Description
Nona_PartyLimit_2x	Guest limit increased to 20 (default: 10)
Nona_PartyLimit_2x_notime	Invite up to 20 guests, and there are no time restrictions for parties.
Nona_PartyLimit_3x	Guest limit increased to 30 (default: 10)
Nona_PartyLimit_3x_notime	Invite up to 30 guests, and there are no time restrictions for parties.
Nona_PartyLimit_500	Guest limit increased to 500, virtually removing the guest limit (default: 10)
Nona_PartyLimit_500_notime	Invite up to 500 guests, and there are no time restrictions for parties.
Nona_PartyLimit_notime	Invite up to 10 guests (no change), but there are no time restrictions for parties.

Note:  This mod affects all types of parties, including teen parties and slumber parties.

If you are using NRaas MasterController and MasterController Integration:

As of NRaas MasterController v83, using the MasterController Integration module will replace the Throw Party Interaction on the phone and use one which does not have any restrictions. This mod is now unnecessary if you are using those two mods.

❗Warning 

Inviting too many guests to a single party can cause game breaking lag, or worst case, crash your game. Please use this mod responsibly and take into consideration how well your computer can run the game. If your game suffers from frequent Save Error 12 problems, I do not recommend inviting more than 10 guests to a party.

Please comment here or PM me at MTS if you have any problems with this mod, or if you want to request a new flavor.

Additional Credits:
Peter & Inge Jones for S3PE, Armiel for the Builder’s DIY Island which I use so frequently for testing. graycurse at MTS for the original mod.

Showtime: Performance Career Tweaks

Want No Limos for almost all careers and for celebrities? Check out my new No Limos mod at Simlogical.

This is a simple XML Tuning mod which removes the Limo for Showtime Performance Careers and/or removes the fail chance at the high levels of the career. This mod only affects Singers, Acrobats and Magicians, which are part of the Showtime Expansion Pack.

Important Details:

• This mod requires the Sims 3 Showtime Expansion Pack. Using it without Showtime should not have any effect on your game, but it will be a totally useless waste of space.
• This mod was built with patch 1.31 and is compatible patch 1.32 and 1.33 as well.  Due to its simplicity, this mod may not necessarily require an update after major patches. It’s always best to check in, though.

Compatibility:

• This mod will conflict with any other mod that alters the PerformanceCareer_0x15b71f1242766f23 resource in the GameplayData.package. This mod will conflict with gesimz’s Longer/Shorter Gig Times for Singers, Acrobats and Magicians mod.
• If you are not sure if a mod will conflict with another, use Delphy’s Sims 3 Dashboard Tool to check.

Flavors:

Use only one flavor!

• Nona_PerformanceCareer_NoFail.package – At levels 9 and 10, performers no longer have a chance to fail with their tricks.
• Nona_PerformanceCareer_NoLimo.package – Level required to receive limo ride change to 11 (up from 8), so that performers never get a limo.
• Nona_PerformanceCareer_NoLimoNoFail. package – Performers will neither fail at their tricks, nor receive a limo.

Download Available at Simlogical.

 If you would like an additional flavor of this mod, such as one which also provide the tuning from gesimz’s mod, please let me know and I can combine them.

Additional Credits:

Peter & Inge Jones for S3PE, Armiel for the Builder’s DIY Island which I use so frequently for testing.

Patch Confusion: 1.31, 1.32, and 1.33

EA really missed the mark this time around with the new patch that comes along with every expansion. We have now had a total of THREE (3) patches for Showtime: 1.31, 1.32 and 1.33, and who is to say that this will be the end of this madness? I hope it is, but if you’re one of the people confused by all the talk centered around the patches, here’s some information and links to help you out.

Patch 1.31 – About a week before the Showtime release date, EA released patch 1.31, which was the major patch for the Showtime expansion, available to all players whether they buy Showtime or not. Patch 1.31 introduced the new social aspects of the Sims, including achievements (in the form of badges on thesims3.com), and in game chat. When Showtime was finally released and people could use simport, we quickly learned that custom content attached to sims was being sent to other games via simport. EA announced a fix and shortly thereafter, we received patch 1.32

Patch 1.32 – The most confusing patch ever, patch 1.32 was originally available in two forms: a small, incremental patch which updated from 1.31 to 1.32 and a big super patch that would update all games, at any patch level, to 1.32. If you installed the incremental patch, you didn’t really notice any game breaking problems, but installing the super patch caused some serious issues for players. The 1.32 super patch had a ton of extra data for the next Sims 3 Expansion Pack, which is currently unannounced. Some features, such as new jaw and ear sliders, and skintone sliders, were also included, and these wreaked havoc in peoples’ games. Once EA realized what was going on, they pulled the super patch. They weren’t quick enough, however. Even I got my hands on a 1.32 super patch, and I waited a day before downloading (I updated via the incremental patch but downloaded the super patch on the side.). This is why they have released patch 1.33.

Patch 1.33 – Patch 1.33 is available in two forms: the super patcher and an incremental patch which patches from 1.31 to 1.33. Whether this patch is stable, we don’t yet know.

Get more information about this patching chaos at ModTheSims:  Game Help: Issues with 1.3x Superpatcher

See also: Crinrict’s article about the 1.3x patch fiasco.

The Good News about this patch mess:

No XML/Tuning mods have been affected by this. Patches 1.33, 1.32, and 1.31 all have the same exact GameplayData.package. This means, if you have an XML Tuning mod that was updated for patch 1.31, you can safely use it for patch 1.33. Many script mods were also unaffected by these patches. Remember: always update core mods.

Recommendation: Premium Content Fix mod at MATY

Update – Please see this post for information about fixing your Premium Content without a mod (if you don’t de-crapify): DCBackup, ccmerged.package and Your Premium Content Items

If you buy Premium Content from the Sims 3 Store, chances are that you’ve come across at least one seemingly broken feature of a “premium” object. Whether it’s the spell book and fountain of youth conflicting, the ladle for your cauldron not showing up, or if your sim can’t Pick Fruit from the Tree of Prosperity, the broken-ness of EA Premium Content is extremely irritating. If you’re having problems with any of premium content, I have a recommendation for you: the KT’s Store Fixes by kissingtoast at MATY.

There are several different fixes available in the thread, so read the details for each one thoroughly and choose the one(s) you need. You can install all of them, or only one of them. The most important thing you need to keep in mind is that you must have a ccmerged.package in your DCBackup folder, or in your Mods folder, or both.

If you don’t decrapify your Sims 3 packs, these fixes will still work. In some cases a fix is not necessary for non-decrapified content. For example, the Vintage Rotary Phone, which is a registration gift for The Sims 3 Generations, works fine without this fix (re-download the sims3pack if the phone doesn’t have a receiver). This won’t do any harm to your game if you don’t have a problem with all items, or if you haven’t installed them all.

If you’re interested in this fix, go ahead and download it from MATY. If you don’t know how to install package files, visit this link: Installing Sims 3 Package Files  and make sure to follow the instructions step by step. If you do it correctly, you will be able to use package files in your game.

Update:

11 December 2012 – I have been going around trying to update these fix posts on my blog, as they do occasionally need updating. This one in particular was terribly out of date, and much of the information was no longer necessary or valid.