I keep hearing about added features sneaking into Pescado's hacks other than the ones on the label. I was cleaning out my hacks folder anyway and I wanted to know exactly what I had in there, so I decided to open them up in SimPE and see if I could tell which ones did just what they said they did and which ones had suspicious looking stuff. So, in the interest of sharing info, the following ones I (with my limited knowledge of modding) thought did not have any added features.

antibabylecture
antibusinessdecay
antifoodnap
antipeeobsession
antiredundancy
breakupfix
callover
carpoolfix
censustool
clothingtool
clothingtool-globals
coffeecuphack
collegeclock
crumplefix
customerselector
dailygardener
darwincowplant
don'twaveatme
doorjamfix
dramafix
eggjuicememfix
encouragificator
evilsimseviltoys
expensivenpcs
ffsdebugger (Batbox)
fishandharvestfix
fitness4all
frontdoorhack
hydrogardenbadge
indoorplantfix
interestlosshack
lessgamerage
lesspetwarfare
lesssuckskating
ltwvariety
marriage-postmortum
moneyorder
no20Khandouts
noagediscrimination
noaplusspam
noautopetbuy
nobabyharassment
nocorruptdeath
nocrybabies
nodiningwithscum
nodormieregen
nodroptiredbaby
nodupegradmems
nofraternization
nohobbyspam
noinstantlove
nolamehires
nooffercheap
nopedostalkers
noplagiarism
nopuddlerage
noroadpillows
noroutefail
nosmartmilkdrag
nossrespawn
nostrayrespawn
notelepathy
notownieregen
nounlinkondelete
novanishindorms
nowhat'sthis
orchardtreefix
phonehack
phonehack-talkmodule
poolhack
privateschoolbillfix
rallyforthnomove
relevantwages
restaurantbarfix
romancemod
rpshack
scannergunhack
shoonobreakgroup
signsarenotfunny
smartercashier
snapdragonpets
snseldercareeroutfitfix
snsnpcslotfix
sshack
stereohack
stuckobjremover
swindler'slist
tippingfix
toastinghack
togafix
tombstonemovefix
warmthfixes
winterflowerfix

Three things.

First, as you can see I collect far too many hacks, but I haven't caught them all, so if you have a Pescado hack that you want to add to the list then go ahead.

Second, as I said my modding knowledge is not extensive. If you think that one of the hacks listed here does have some sneaky added features, then let me know!

Finally, when I poked around alfixes a while ago I found out that quite a few things in it had since been fixed with a patch. If you think that one of the hacks here is obsolete then also let me know!

Link to Pescado's hacks. I'm using the AL ones.

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s.../topic,8.0.html

Link to the hack descriptions that I used.

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/s...ic,14444.0.html

Wow, thanks for doing that Charity, must have taken you some time going over all of those.

Yes thank you Charity for your time and research, but to me "honest" I don't care if Pescado's hacks or mods have some un-for-seen other hidden things in it. ( Not saying they do or not )
Because some of his mods are a "Must Have" like No Corrupt death, No Link on delete and a few others important mods that is a must have in the Sims game, ( that will help keep your game safe and from corruption )

Also I have been using Pescado's mods as I am sure other members have for many years as far back as 2006 when I had Window XP. ( with no problems or suspicion )
One thing if you have a good virus and great Malware or spyware on your system, then why worry. Anyway what I have by Pescado or any other Modders like TwoJeff's "will stay on my computer" if it is not broke why fix it. not going to worry about what is hidden outta sight and mind. Until my Protection tell me other wise and I do have more than one.

But just the same Charity thank you

Well, what Charity is saying is that quite a few of his mods take fun stuff away from the game without mentioning it in the RTFM or description. Like the love letters after a date, etc.

I have several Pescado mods, my favorites are Macrotastic, Autoyak, autosoc and the batbox.

Thx for the thread... Charity. I do not have all of those hacks in my game, just started with the most essential and added a few I didn't know were important. Like "creaturefix".
I still get the flaming bag of poo after a bad date... haven't had a good date for a while , so not sure if I still get the love letter/flower vase or not.

Simonut, if you were playing and decided you were going to do something, wanted to see something, but then realized that thing you wanted to do, that you know you did a year ago, wasn't working, you would be kind of annoyed. Maybe you would think something was wrong with your game. Mods should not come with hidden 'features' When you put in a mod to fix something EA has broken you expect it to only fix that and for the readme to say everything that the mod does and not say, stop your date card appearing without saying so.

Yeah, this is why I sort of gave up on Pescado's hacks. He has a very clear definition of what he thinks is "awesome," but, really, awesomeness is in the eye of the beholder. Some things that he thinks are non-awesome and that some of his hacks take away without him expressly saying so are things that other players might love. I'm not saying that Pescado hacks are bad to have -- I do have the recommended anti-corruption ones. I'm just saying that I don't agree with his tendency to A) Automate everything; to me that sucks all the challenge/fun out of the game and B) Not to document everything that his hacks do. So, Charity's idea here is a good one. It'd be nice to know all of what you're getting before you put something into your game, whether it's a Pescado hack or anyone else's. That's just common courtesy. Pescado's just not known for courtesy, common or otherwise.

^That^ exactly.

I tried bathroom runs you, ran me up the wall pretty fast. I thought it was stupid to have sims running into and out of the bathroom and more then once I got a loop. The sim would use the toilet and have a bath and use the toilet and have a bath until I noticed and forced him out of the bathroom to do something else! So much for getting out of the bathroom. Also I don't want sims running everywhere unless I want them to run someplace. Certainly not in and out of the bathroom or around their shops. I do have the business runs you sign I use it to open the shop or sometimes to make a sim 'bugger off'. But that's all that does as I don't have the other parts of it that makes a sim run around like a mad man around his shop.

LOL, and I love that mod! But I want to know that this is all I am getting and not something that is not even mentioned in any description.

Besides the batbox, I don't even know what the few you mentioned even do.

I don't know most of those but Macrotastic is one of those Pescado mods that makes sims run around and do things autonomously. Something I've never tried as I know I wouldn't like it.

Yes I understand what you are saying, and agree joandsarah77 and SciBirg, with me when it comes to mods no matter who the Modders may be, I "only" download what I really need, that may be very annoying to me .
I never download mods for example like "front door hack" call over, or for every "little bit of things" that take place in the "structure" of the Sims game.
A hack for this or that can take away the whole fun of the Sims game, because then your whole game is being control by and ran by mods which take the original fun out of the game.

Now if you want that Mod or just because someone else may have it, do not mean you need it, it really comes down to how you play your Sims game, and the things you want to control or happen or not.
I have a Simmer friend who live near me her whole game is ran and control by mods; then when she come over and watch me play my Sims, she end up saying OMG I did not know or ever see my Sims do that. ( I wonder why )

Well mine is modded pretty heavily, but mine is more about adding new things in not taking them away. Like I use the Simlogical School mods because I want to have home schooling and prep schools. I have taken away sims waking up at 3am to the rain, I've taken away the door bell waking everyone up, I've taken away the hobby lot people walking into my house-even into the bathroom while my sim is showering or standing over a toddlers cot. (those hobby NPC's are creepy) the hand to the forehead when the sims go outside and I've taken away the sound that happens when sims are in the zone. I don't think you have free time, but that one is really annoying. if you have a sim who loves gardening and he is out weeding the sound start and stops at each plant. I have taken away the noise of the gardeners truck so she turns it off- noise and air pollution. I've taken away sims wanting to take a coffee cup up a flight of stairs. I don't think in the thousand mods that I have, that I have taken away too much more. Also I added these in slowly over ten years.

Doesn't phone hack have some sneaky features? I remember hearing somewhere that it does, but I don't remember anything else about it.

@>> joandsarah77>> I enjoy reading what you have re -moved, and added to your game. I also added these mods they have been in my game for a very long time as follow:

1. No Trash Kick- It was driving me batty my teens had a thing about doing it.
2. No dropping the baby bottle- I felt like I was the one cleaning the house and not the Sims.
3. Coffee Cup drop- Sims would walk way out of the way to drop their cup- Another batty thing I did not like.
4. No Pillow on the road- Please who would stand in the middle of the street hitting each other with pillows.
5. No dishes in the bath sink - Please Sims stop !

6. Stop running into fire- Are you crazy- running and standing in the center of fire .
7. Monique Child Support - I love this mod, the best thing for those Romance Sims, and dead beat dad.
8. Serve more food- keep my Sims from being in the kitchen cooking so much, plenty of leftover. Good for big family.
9. No Social Worker- I hate her, she took my first twins away because the nanny show up late.
10. Drop groceries at the door- I love this mod, I was sick of my Sims chasing around after the Sims man or women that came with their groceries, in order to get their groceries.

The mods above are just a few I have and really love, I also have all the mods to keep my game from corruption. And I have some "adults Mods" why? Because it took me years to become an adult (lmao )

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that I think Pescado's hacks have viruses or corruption causing things or anything like that. I have never had any problems like that with them.

What I don't like is downloading a hack to fix one thing I don't like only for it to 'fix' something else that isn't mentioned in the description and where I wouldn't have used the hack if I'd known it took that out.

I mainly have fix hacks that fix Maxis bugs or feature adding hacks; I don't want gameplay features taken away unless I think they're totally stupid or annoying. Because I'm obsessed with dream date achieval I hadn't noticed the missing love letters with alfixes, but that's something I definitely wouldn't want to lose. In fact, my sims are going to have less dream dates because the love letters are kind of cuter than the big bouquet of roses. Even yellowpee taking away weeds is kind of annoying. My sims could do with doing the occasional bit of gardening (the lazy sods).

I don't use the control your sims mods like bathroomusesyou or macrotastics because I prefer to do things myself, so I'm afraid I don't know what those mods might have in them.

Has anyone else heard about phonehack having sneaky added features?

I haven't noticed any added features with phonehack, but if someone tells me what to look for I can check for it/them. I like Macrotastics because while it will send sims around doing things on their own, it won't initiate on its own. So for instance if you choose the option "Clean," your sim will run around the lot cleaning on their own... but they won't run around cleaning everything on their own unless you tell them to* and you can cancel the action at any time. I find it's easier than clicking on the plates individually and saying "Clean," and then clicking on the sink and saying "Clean," and then clicking on the counter and saying "Clean," and then clicking on the toilet and saying "Clean"...

*It is part of normal game behavior that 10-Neat-point sims will sometimes go around cleaning things on their own anyway, because it raises fun for them. Macrotastics does not stop that behavior, but it doesn't make it worse either.

All depending on individual style of play, some of the mods are nice, some less so - I tried almost all of them. Kept the anti-corruption ones and around 12 of the others. I especially like noroutefail; at least Sims aren't constantly waving their arms, not going where I want them to go; I LOVE the romancemod and I really find the clothingtool thing handy, not having to send my Sims to shop for new outfits (although sometimes I still do that) and not having to place a HUGE dresser in a tiny bedroom. Also the childhug one, I don't think I will let that one go easily, having all these twins all over my hood. Macrotastics - you can choose to use those interactions, so it is up to you - I find the macro socialize (friendly or unfriendly) handy at times when my Sims meet others - especially if I want to keep one busy while playing with another member of the family. I don't have the date not getting flowers one because I want my Sims to get their flowers, not only the letters (I line the flowers up next to the path leading up to the entrance of the house when I play a romance Sim - signs of success )

Huh, I didn't know yellowpee took away weeds. It does cause a hard reset, that one, when taken in or out which I'm baffled as to why it would need to.

There is a hack called Gussy Up by Christianlov which does the same thing as the clothing tool, except it only works on Children and older (toddlers can use the clothing tool) and Gussy Up doesn't change outerwear. But apart from those two issues, Gussy Up works the same and is superior. The clothing tool does a really odd thing with the wardrobe where it replaces clothes rather than actually fixing them, whereas Gussy Up leaves the original clothes in the wardrobe plus adds new ones. OK it's cheaty becauseit's free, but meh.

It says in the manual the date rewards are retrievable now. Does not state that alfixes removes the letter option.
Is is a hidden feature? Because we do have that hack.

The main thing i hate about Pescado's hacks are that alot of them cause that reset like adding a new ep does when you add or remove them.

Love letters are some of the things delivered after a good date, IIRC. Pescado removed them because AL broke them or something, and Pescado didn't bother fixing them, because he didn't like them himself anyway.

The "hidden" features can be a pain in the behind to identify, so yes, this is useful and not about being ungrateful towards Pescado.

It took me hours and hours for instance to figure out why stupid townies, dormies and all non-controlable sims and visitors would suddenly head straight to the easel and paint until they had to leave from low motives (hello, my house is not an art studio )
The culprit? ftminifixes, whose RTFM doesn't even mention painting. Or easels. At all!
That's what "hidden" features are.

I'm assuming 'ftminifixes' means Free Time Mini fixes? I don't have that one what does it do?

I think people either love or hate those Macrotastics type mods. I can't stand sims running around to do all the things. Now if they walked normally to clean the toilet okay, but if my teacher run in and out of all the school toilets it would drive me batty.

Do they really run? I've not noticed my sims running to clean, but maybe that depends on how Active they are?