WantTuning package is basically a list of lifetime wants and some other want related things.
Let me show you how to add, remove and customize lifetime wants for your own game by editing it in SimPE. It's as simple as adding or erasing a line of text or changing a number in a straightforward text field.

First of all, you need the WantTuning.package in your Downloads. There are two ways to get it.
1. With a downloaded custom LTW. Make sure the package is exactly for your latest pack (e.g. M&G for Ultimate Collection). If you have more than one set of LTWs, each with their own WantTuning, you'll have to keep only one WantTuning package and edit it to include LTWs from other packages.
2. By copying the original package from the game files, if you don't have any additional LTWs that come with it. Find the WantTuning package in a Wants folder where your latest pack is installed. Example location for Ultimate Collection:


Put the WantTuning.package in your Downloads folder or its sub-folder, not program files!

Now let's see what you can do with it.

Open the WantTuning package in SimPE and click on the UI Data file.




In Plugin View, scroll down to the <lifetimeWants> part (don't confuse it with the careers part or the lifetimeGoals part).

Here it is. As you can see, it is a list of lifetime want IDs with comments. Recognize anything?


Things in tags like these are comments:


The game ignores them, they are there to let you know what's what.

The file is in XML. You can edit it in SimPE window directly or copy-paste its contents into a notepad and copy-paste the edited text back. You could also use a code editor that highlights syntax to make sure it stays correct, but you don't have to. Personally, I edit it right in SimPE, and only do the copy-pasting if I think I made a mistake and want to find it.


1. Removing wants

This part is for custom lifetime wants. I don't recommend removing in-game LTWs from the list like this. Uni LTWs are considered custom, by the way. I use my own wants as examples, but it will work the same for any other.

Let's say you want to get rid of the Astronomer LTW. Find a line where it says Astronomer and erase the whole line:


Hit Commit in the lower right corner.



Then Save the package. That's it.

After that you may proceed to delete the LTW_Astronomer file from your Downloads.

Some lifetime wants come in sets that can't be separated, like my crafting set. Before you delete the LTW package that has all 5 wants, erase 5 corresponding lines in the UI Data list:


Commit and Save. Delete the LTW_Crafting package. Done!


2. Adding wants

Now let's say you need to add a want, e.g. you downloaded Rio's Firefighter and Social Worker lifetime wants.

Just paste new lines at the bottom of the list, before the closing </lifetimeWants> tag:


The result will look something like this:


Don't forget to Commit. Then Save. After that the game will see your new LTWs. Oh, and remove the WantTuning package that comes with Rio's mod, unless it's the one you edited (doesn't matter whose file is it as long as all lifetime wants you have in your game are listed in one file and it suits your game version).

If you want to use Life Stories career lifetime wants, these are the lines to add:


Don't forget to download the files, if you haven't already. I provide edited and separated versions in LTW Chooser's thread.

You may leave empty lines in between for readability. For example, I spaced out maxis and my own LTWs:


I don't think it matters what order the elements are in, as long as they are inside the <lifetimeWants> tag. Maybe the order matters for cycling through LTWs with BatBox or SimBlender, not sure.


3. Customizing wants

Feel like some amount of "X things to do" is unreasonable? Want to have to make 30 friends instead of 20? You can change that fairly quickly -- edit a "number" field of a certain want in the file. It works for original lifetime wants as well as for custom, so you won't need a separate mod for that. The change may not affect sims that already have the lifetime want you've customized, you'll have to reroll it to refresh the number.

Let's say you want to change a goal for toy makers to make 200 toys instead of 300.

Find a lifetime want you wish to customize.


Change the number field from 300 to 200, like so:


Make sure to only edit numbers, do not remove quotes, brackets, slashes or other syntax.

Commit. Save. You've made the toy making lifetime goal require 200 toys instead of 300.

In my package, I noted min and max amounts in comments, where it matters. In any case, the number can not exceed "30000".

If you also use my LTW Chooser, it'd be neat to update this number there too, although not necessary. The Chooser uses it for the "Choose LTW from Personally Available" option to check if a want is available, but it won't matter for the "Choose LTW from All" option, because all checks are ignored.

So, open LTW Chooser file in SimPE. Click on Behaviour Constant (BCON) #1001 - Choosing LTW Number Args. Make sure you're in Plugin View.

Click on a line with a want in question. Notice the Dec field to the left? Change the number in that field.



Commit File. Save package. All done!

Some lifetime wants are not customizable -- the career ones, for example, even though it looks like the number makes sense.


4. Troubleshooting

Common causes of problems with WantTuning package are:

• syntax mistake that renders the file partly unreadable - the quickest way to check for it is to copy-paste file's contents into a code editor that has the ability to check XML syntax;
• more than one WantTuning package, e.g. sneaky file from another mod that overrides your good package - check for conflicts with a conflict detection program to find it and keep only one, correct WantTuning package;
• extra reference to a want you don't have in your game makes the rest of the file unreadable - look at the <lifetimeWants> list and find a want that doesn't belong. You might have removed a custom LTW and forgot to delete the reference from WantTuning package.

If you see an "unnamed wantable category" iconless want in game, it might be the wrong version of the WantTuning package that is missing a reference to that object category. Note that AL file doesn't suit M&G game, because Mansions have two more object categories. Common causes mentioned above may also cause this bug.


♥ That's it. Test your file in game and enjoy having customized lifetime wants suited to your own play style!

OMG OMG OMG THIS IS GREAT!!! Thank you so much for this!!!

One question: Is there a way to customize a Lifetime Want per individual? For instance, I have one family who has 6 children they want to graduate from college, but another family who only has 2 children. Can I set the numbers differently for each individual?

You may be able to edit the sim in the neighborhood file. I believe the numbers are stored for each sim individually. Wants and fears resource, I think, it's called. I haven't tried editing it. Before you open the SimPE to experiment with it make a backup of your Neighborhoods folder.

This was great, thank you!

Would you be interested in writing a tutorial for customizing the Wants.package file next?

I use yours from the Custom 50 LTW mod, and Midge's Matchmaker Name Fix. I made backup copies of each and ended up merging them for myself, but I don't know if it's as simple as that.

if I remember correctly, you can either merge them or keep them in separate folders to avoid renaming.

Sorry if this is obvious, but how do I know what values to put for the "want guid=" and "object=" sections?

Hi @Daynasaurus
If we're talking about a custom career LTW, want guid can be found in its package file, in XWNT resource as ID. Object is a job object's GUID that can be found in the career's package file.

DoubleDash7 made a set of careers that should also have LTWs.
https://www.tumblr.com/doubledash7/...t2careersandltw

Now, they say it's compatible and the tuning just needs to be put into the tuning file. The guide explains how to add them.
But what do you add? I went through the LTWs and the job IDs to get the information you need. I might have gotten it wrong, but nothing has crashed so it's working, I guess?

It looks like you did it right, @IAmTheRad

Hi,

I found the object guid but still can't find the want guid. I didn't know how to find the XWNT resource ID you were talking about. Could you explain how to find it please. Also if I want my custom LTW to be attached to a category like Romance aspiration or popularity aspiration, do I just use the lifetime goals instead of lifetime wants. Whats the difference between wants and goals? This is an awesome thread by the way. Many many many thanks!!!

This thread is about editing existing lifetime wants. I'm sensing you're talking about creating a new LTW. There's more to it: https://palominocorn.tumblr.com/pos...-out-how-to-add

Should I export the "WantTuning" file from the disk folder to the downloads folder or copy and paste it to the downloads folder?

Copy and paste

WTF?????? I am TRYING to follow this tutorial but I CANNOT REMOVE ANY WANTS!!!!!

I delete the line, I save the package, and when I open it to check, the damn line is BA-ACK!!!!!

Not even Copy, Edit, and Paste works.

NOTHING works. And no, the file is NOT Read-Only - I checked that first thing.

Hi @Sims2Maven
Do you remember to COMMIT first? :D

That's part of the problem. I cannot find any Commit button, link, or anything. There does not appear to be any way to Commit from within that package.
(It's the modified WantTuning_MG package - should I toss it and go back to the one that came with your mod?)

Update: Found it. It's a teeny-tiny link with teeny-tiny text. Way too easy to overlook.

Successfully tweaked a few wants (did not remove any, after all - just reduced the number).

I experimented a little. The want indeed needs to be re-selected to see an updated number of stuff to be achieved.

The value that is compared against number="x" is supplied via opcode 7C Wants Satisfy, parameter 2 identified as "Target:" in PJSE. The counting of the stuff done/achieved is done in BHAV. If you call 7C and give, for example, 6, and the XML requires 30, false is returned and nothing happens. Or you can lie and say you've achieved 60 of whatever.

I notice that parameter 0 (want owner) sometimes takes an object ID and other times it takes a neighbor ID. How would one know what is expected without an example? For the LTWs it seems to always be a neighbor. Is it OK to satisfy a want in another object where Me is not the want owner?

You can probably work it out by looking at lots of wants XMLs in the Wants package. I mostly worked with LTWs. About the Me thing, I don't think it matters who Me in the BHAV is (as long as you don't pass "My object ID" or "My nID" to 7C, of course). I've seen interactions where both sims wants were satisfied in one BHAV. Then again, I can't speak for all types of wants.

Thank you very much for sharing this!