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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 16th Aug 2014 at 4:30 AM
Default Modding careers, skills, traits, and aspirations
How easy do you think it's going to be to make custom careers in TS4? I'm not happy with the over-the-top choices in the base game. I hope someone comes up with an easy to use tool, where you can just pop in textual information, and click create, and stick it in the mods folder. Done. I would make hundreds of career tracks where the levels are a single job title, but increasing money and skill requirements by level. I'd also make use of skills that can only be developed through the workplace (eg. medical). I'm thinking a sim could aspire to be a surgeon, but has to start working in an orderly job, while earning medical skill, then when he reaches say 8 medical skill, he becomes eligible for general practitioner, etc. Big, complex, branching career trees is what I'm dreaming of.
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Eminence Grise
#2 Old 16th Aug 2014 at 5:22 AM
We have no idea how easy it will be.

But it is not going to be a matter of just editing text. Careers in TS4 are more complex than careers in TS3, apparently, in that every career step has particular (and different) tasks that need to be performed to get promoted. Similar to medical journals or interviews in the TS3 doctor and writer careers respectively, but more diverse and ubiquitous. In other words, they become more similar to the "open" ambitions style careers in TS3, that were never successfully imitated in mods as far as I know. Implementing these career assignments seems like it would require the career to be able to tie into practically any piece of gameplay code... the way custom LTWs did in TS3 (we knew how to make them but practically none were made because it was so complex).

However, there's always the potential that TS4 wraps up this complexity in a general framework that would be easy to extend. Ask again in a couple of weeks
Lab Assistant
#3 Old 16th Aug 2014 at 6:39 AM
Quote: Originally posted by Srikandi
We have no idea how easy it will be.

But it is not going to be a matter of just editing text. Careers in TS4 are more complex than careers in TS3, apparently, in that every career step has particular (and different) tasks that need to be performed to get promoted. Similar to medical journals or interviews in the TS3 doctor and writer careers respectively, but more diverse and ubiquitous. In other words, they become more similar to the "open" ambitions style careers in TS3, that were never successfully imitated in mods as far as I know. Implementing these career assignments seems like it would require the career to be able to tie into practically any piece of gameplay code... the way custom LTWs did in TS3 (we knew how to make them but practically none were made because it was so complex).

However, there's always the potential that TS4 wraps up this complexity in a general framework that would be easy to extend. Ask again in a couple of weeks


One thing I noticed was that teens had several realistic part time jobs. Do you think it would be possible to enable these for ya and adults, then perhaps further work from their framework to make a standard career from s2 or s3?
Eminence Grise
#4 Old 16th Aug 2014 at 9:26 PM
Quote: Originally posted by hlvspomtactfr
One thing I noticed was that teens had several realistic part time jobs. Do you think it would be possible to enable these for ya and adults, then perhaps further work from their framework to make a standard career from s2 or s3?


Maybe. No idea! Do those jobs not have the tasks associated with adult jobs? Haven't seen any reporting about that from people who have played the game.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 17th Aug 2014 at 2:28 AM
Well, maybe EA will be nice and include a "custom career maker" in one of the expansions.
Eminence Grise
#6 Old 17th Aug 2014 at 2:35 AM
Quote: Originally posted by cwurts00
Well, maybe EA will be nice and include a "custom career maker" in one of the expansions.


Hah, that would rock And a custom trait maker, and custom mood maker, and custom aspiration maker! :D
Test Subject
#7 Old 17th Aug 2014 at 9:24 AM
I looked through the DATA files in the CAS Demo. Those contain information about careers, aspirations, traits, etc that previously was containd in the xml files, the twist now that each career, trait, etc now has it's own independant file. This suggest to me that these things will be much easier to add and will not interfere with other mods. Unless they arbitrarily limits the system (now it seems that more of the information is given in these files, but again I have not looked at them enough). We might not even need to create a python script to add most careers. One caveat with this system is that the files are binary and not text files, so some work has to be done allow easy editing (I can say that this will quite likely be a feature of s4pe as it seems they already have a nice framework for these things, compare it the String Tables). If it all works as I suspect it might, creating content for sims 4 will be easier then it has ever been (when the tools are ready).
Inventor
#8 Old 17th Aug 2014 at 6:49 PM
Yes, there's quite a bit in the DATA files this time. If someone wants to take a closer look, I've made a list of which group includes which files:

0x0003C397 = ColorFiltering, BuildBuy, ObjectTooltip
0x00057D11 = Tags/Filters
0x000785C3 = SituationJob
0x000A3610 = CAS_LightingTuning
0x0012D444 = Client_TagCategoriesMetadata
0x0016353A = SlotTypeSet
0x0017E8F6 = Buff
0x001F95DE = Renderer.TunableFadeValues
0x0020FC6D = AspirationTrack
0x00295874 = Renderer.GlobalShadowSettings
0x00334E67 = AchievementReward
0x0033A053 = Renderer.GlobalDofSettings
0x003E4215 = Client_TagsTraitGroupMetadata
0x00496642 = Client_CASThumbnailCamera
0x004A2443 = Tutorial
0x004B5265 = Client_CAS(Camera)Tuning
0x004DFB84 = RelationshipBit
0x0050DB3B = AspirationCategory
0x0051C125 = AchievementCat
0x00559EE6 = Achievement
0x0059C569 = CareerSituation
0x005FDD0C = Trait
0x0069453E = Objective
0x006CA304 = misc general settings
0x006EE320 = Renderer.GlobalSsaoSettings
0x0070ADD4 = CareerLevel
0x0073074B = Client_Tutorial
0x007B6002 = Mood
0x007E2E29 = Renderer.GlobalHighlightSettings
0x008811FE = Video.GlobalTuning
0x0094E9AE = NativeBuildBuy
0x00996B98 = Career
0x009BC58E = Commodity/Statistic/RelationshipTrack
0x00A49847 = SimReward/HouseholdReward
0x00ABFFCF = Client_CASModifier(Tuning and other stuff)
0x00B2600F = Renderer.GlobalLightSettings
0x00B3E03E = TutorialTip(Group)
0x00B6465D = Aspiration(SimInfoPanel/Career)
0x00B98960 = Client_TagsMetadata
0x00BBD738 = Venue
0x00BF458B = Video.Playlist
0x00C27C36 = Client_ThumbnailPoses
0x00C75CAB = TunableCareerTrack
0x00D16262 = Automation
0x00D2B461 = AchievementCollection
0x00D6FA33 = Renderer.CensorTuning
0x00DB5F47 = CAS.SimLightingParamsWorldData
0x00E2451B = Renderer.GlobalVolLightScatteringSettings
0x00E5D42A = Telemetry.Tuning
0x00E9D967 = PieMenuCategory
0x00F216E1 = ScreenSlam
0x00FC90DD = Renderer.HsvTweakerSettings
0x00FF8F22 = subroot (I think for positioning sims for various objects/situations)
Pettifogging Legalist!
retired moderator
#9 Old 26th Aug 2014 at 3:54 PM
From the EA forums:

Quote: Originally posted by SimGuruModSquad
The things you have mentioned (careers, skills and traits) *should* all be add-able via tuning. Yeah, crazy! More details to follow. Of course python script modification is available if needed.

Quote: Originally posted by SimGuruModSquad
The Sims 4 uses both binary and XML! Python loads XML based tuning and native/c++ code loads the binary resources that you see in the CAS Demo. There are no examples of XML in the demo because it does not use python. More details on this coming.


Just thought this must be of interest to you =)

Stuff for TS2 · TS3 · TS4 | Please do not PM me with technical questions – we have Create forums for that.

In the kingdom of the blind, do as the Romans do.
Eminence Grise
#10 Old 27th Aug 2014 at 1:22 AM
Yeah that's AMAZING... sounds like careers, traits and skills should not require a lot of technical chops to add :O However, I wonder if there's a fly in the ointment somewhere! Traits for instance have associated animations, influences on mood, give rise to whims etc... similarly with skills... TS4 careers have those assignment things... have to tie it all in with lots of gameplay systems in other words. But still, can't possibly be as hard as in TS3
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