HomeworkSometimesFasterFun - available for TS2, UNI, NL, OFB, Pets, Seasons, Bon Voyage, FreeTime and Apartment Life. Please read the installation instructions and select the correct file for your game.

January 11, 2009: The Apartment Life version is available. Feel free to download and test it in your game.

This versions is still considered to be 'in testing.'
I have tried it and it seems to be working without any issues. There is a chance, though, that I may have missed testing certain scenarios, so if you notice anything odd, please let me know! (This goes for the previous versions, too!) Thanks!

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My purpose for creating this mod was to make school and homework for the teen and child slightly more realistic in the game. Please remember that this mod does NOT affect Young Adults in college.

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MOD FEATURES

Homework Sometimes
1: My favorite feature...homework will only be given occasionally. When the student gets off the bus and checks their report card, you will then see a message appear in the top right corner of the screen ONLY if the child has NO homework for that day.

Faster
1: Students with an A-, A, or A+ will finish their homework faster.
2: The homework speed increase is dependent upon the student's grade. An A- will get a 1 point boost, an A will get 2 points and an A+ will get 3 points.
(Note: Maxis also already has a number of speed boosts pre-built into the game - I will describe them below in the 'MAXIS SPEED BOOSTS' section)

Fun
1: Serious Students (those with their Playfulness Attribute of 4 bars or less) will get a raise in their Fun Motive while at school AND while doing homework. Nerds!
2: Any student who is being helped with homework will find that homework is not such a fun-sucker and their social bar will also get a tiny boost. (Fun won't necessarily go up, but you will notice that the bar won't shoot down as rapidly as it usually does).

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MAXIS SPEED BOOSTS
For those who do not realize, the game already has some homework speed boosts built in. I have not touched or tweaked their numbers. For those of you who are interested in the tiny details, I have provided you with the information below. I believe I have covered everything accurately.
All Games
1 - There is a 3 point speed boost only when a student is being helped with their homework.
2 - There is a permanent 3 point speed boost after a student has learned how to study. (Check their memories to see if they have learned to study)
Seasons Only
3 - There is a 1 point speed boost when a student does their homework in the autumn (fall) season. Note: You will see fall leaves swirling around their head as they do their homework during this season.
4 - There is an extra speed boost if your Sim drinks the homemade apple juice before doing homework. (I haven't tried this in-game yet, so I'm not sure exactly what happens or how it works - I just know that it happens)

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EXTRA NOTES
1 - The fun increase for serious students does not begin until the little blue progress bar begins to rise. The initial few minutes of homework are not fun, but as the homework progresses, so does the fun.
2 - The student's grade will continue to rise even though they don't get homework. Grades are more affected by undone homework and missing school. Mood might affect this, too. Any undone homework *will* affect their grade. Make sure they finish all the homework they receive.
3 - For those of you who are curious, a Sim will usually complete their homework in about 2 Sim hours when they do not have any speed boosts at all.
4 - When all the boosts are available (Learned to study, Autumn, A+, etc.) the Sim should be able to complete their homework in about 30 minutes or less.

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INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Download the correct zip file at the end of this post.
The "BASE to PETS" file is for anyone who has one or all of the expansion packs up to and including Pets.
If you also have Seasons installed, you must use the "SEASONS" file instead.
If you also have Bon Voyage installed, you must use the "BON" file.
If you also have FreeTime installed, you must use the "FREE" file.
If you also have Apartment Life installed, you must use the "AL" file.

Make sure ALL other versions of the 'homeworksometimes' hack are taken out of your downloads folder.
Save the and 'unzip' it with a program like WinZip.
Put the .package file in your Downloads folder.
(C:/My Documents/EA Games/The Sims 2/Downloads)
Load the game and test it out.

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March 1st, 2007: I noticed a month ago that TwoJeffs decided to add their own features to my mod and redistribute it there. I just want you to be sure that when you come to me with questions about the "homeworksometimes" hack, that you are asking about the one I uploaded here and not the one they decided to alter and redistribute. Do NOT use their version of my 'homeworksometimes' mod when you use the one you downloaded from here. The mod here is the most recent version and the only version of this mod that I support. Thanks!

Thank you so much to everyone who has given their feedback!
Let me know if I missed any compatibility issues. Have fun!