Better Romance

UPDATE 26: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.93.146.1020 / Mac 1.93.146.1220.

UPDATE 25: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.91.205.1020 / Mac 1.91.205.1220.

UPDATE 24: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.90.358.1030 / Mac 1.90.358.1230.

UPDATE 23: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.77.131.1030 / Mac 1.77.131.1230.

UPDATE 22: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.75.125.1030 / Mac 1.75.125.1230.

UPDATE 21: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.71.86.1020 / Mac 1.71.86.1220.

UPDATE 20: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.70.84.1020 / Mac 1.70.84.1220.

UPDATE 19: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.68.154.1020 / Mac 1.68.154.1220.

UPDATE 18: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.66.139.1020 / Mac 1.66.139.1220.

UPDATE 17: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.63.134.1020 / Mac 1.63.134.1220. This mod is not compatible with the Legacy Edition any more.
- When Sim A considers initiating a romantic interaction towards Sim B, the score of the test I added to the mod in UPDATE 5 is increased by +2/+4/+8/+10/+12 if Sim B has 1/2/3/4/5 fame levels above Sim A.
- The mod no longer modifies any jealousy broadcasters and doesn't modify any code related to date calls, as Maxis seems to have fixed and added enough checks to these features in the past few months.

UPDATE 16: When Sim A considers initiating a romantic interaction towards Sim B, the score of the test I added to the mod in UPDATE 5 is increased by +50 if Sim B has the flirty Pheromone Cloud buff, and decreased by -50 if Sim B has the embarrassed Pheromone Cloud buff.

UPDATE 15: The mod is now compatible with patch PC 1.55.108.1020 / Mac 1.55.108.1220.

UPDATE 14: I found out that the Player trait doesn't work properly. Sims who have the Player trait still receive a relationship decrease when another sim gets jealous, which isn't supposed to happen. This oversight only affects Kiss/Woohoo jealousy, because Maxis forgot to add the necessary check to prevent the relationship decrease for sims with the Player trait during those interactions. It is fixed now.

UPDATE 13:
- When Sim A initiates a romantic interaction on Sim B, and if Sim B does not have the Non-Committal trait, and the romance bar between Sim A and B is lower than 25, and Sim B has a romance bar of 25 or higher with anyone else in the game, the success score is decreased by -5 for all romance tests.
- When Sim A considers initiating a romantic interaction on Sim B, and if Sim A does not have the Non-Committal trait, and the romance bar between Sim A and B is lower than 25, and Sim A has a romance bar of 25 or higher with anyone else in the game, the score of the test I added to the mod in UPDATE 5 is decreased by -3.
- In UPDATE 12, I made it so that the score is decreased similarly for a romance bar of 50 if the sim does not have the Non-Committal trait. In this update, I am making it so that Non-Committal sims also receive this score decrease for a romance bar of 50. Note that they won't get the score decrease for a romance bar of 25 above, as that requires the sim to not have the Non-Committal trait.

UPDATE 12:
- When Sim A initiates a romantic interaction on Sim B, and if Sim B does not have the Non-Committal trait, and the romance bar between Sim A and B is lower than 50, and Sim B has a romance bar of 50 or higher with anyone else in the game, the success score is decreased by -8 for all romance tests.
- When Sim A considers initiating a romantic interaction on Sim B, and if Sim A does not have the Non-Committal trait, and the romance bar between Sim A and B is lower than 50, and Sim A has a romance bar of 50 or higher with anyone else in the game, the score of the test I added to the mod in UPDATE 5 is decreased by -5.

This update effectively allows sims to show loyalty towards their non-committed love interests.

UPDATE 11:
- I found one more romantic introduction in the game, Instant Besties - Romantic version (Fame perk). The game also does not check to see if Sim A is in a relationship already, so now Sim A needs to pass my test before they can initiate this introduction.
- Maxis made a slight mistake in the jealousy broadcaster for all Kiss interactions, I've also fixed that.

UPDATE 10: There are two romantic introductions in the game, Flirty and Enchanting Introduction. Sims can initiate these interactions at any time, and the interactions cannot fail. In addition, they don't cause jealousy. Also, Maxis made a few mistakes with their autonomy checks. This update fixes those checks and makes it so that sims will only initiate these introductions if they pass the test I added to the mod in UPDATE 5.

UPDATE 9:
- I fixed some of Maxis' other tests in the Ask on Date success score test.
- There is a separate test for the Friendly>Other Sims...>Hook Up With social. If the picked sim is on the lot, the game uses the normal success score test, but if not, then it uses a special test in which Maxis' tests also don't work. They are fixed now.

UPDATE 8:
- Alluring Visage does not work properly in an unmodded game. It is a supernatural power that can be activated by clicking on the vampire and choosing Vampire>Alluring Visage. When you do this, the vampire receives a Happy buff for 4 hours. Any sim who is 3 tiles within the vampire has to pass a resistance check, and if they fail, they become affected by it for exactly 1 hour (swirling effects). In other words, Alluring Visage should only affect sims for 1 hour, and when it wears off, it is not supposed to have any effect on the sim. Alluring Visage will continue to be active for 4 hours, but sims who are affected can only stay affected for 1 hour. Technically, this is exactly what happens, but when Sim A initiates a romantic social on Sim B, the game checks to see if Sim A has the Happy buff from Alluring Visage, and if so, it heavily increases the Success Score. The game does not check to see if Sim B is currently affected. The game also increases the score if Sim B is currently affected by Alluring Visage, but again the game does not check to see if it is Sim A that Sim B is affected by. It is so poorly written. This update fixes this entire problem. Now, the game increases the Success Score by +15/+30/+45 only when Sim B is currently affected by Sim A's Alluring Visage 1/2/3.

UPDATE 7: Fixed an error that would occur while two sims were trying to greet each other romantically. Sims will only greet each other romantically if they are in a committed relationship now.

UPDATE 6:
- In UPDATE 3, I added new checks to incoming date calls. Before this update, these new checks didn't work at all. This update fixes that.
- I realized that Maxis made a mistake in a test called testsetFameDifference3, which prevented the check from working. It is now fixed.
- There are two main Romance-related success score tests in the game, one for normal socials, and one for the Ask On Date phone social. Many of Maxis' tests do not work for the Ask On Date success score test, because the target sim is PickedSim in that test. So, the game's committed relationship test or Get Famous' celebrity level difference tests don't work at all. They are now fixed.

UPDATE 5: This update changes the way the game determines whether a sim is allowed to initiate romantic socials at any time. In the previous updates, I made it so that the sim is not allowed to initiate romantic socials if the sim is Responsible, or Family-Oriented without the Irresponsible trait, and so on. I don't like this. I am completely changing it in this update. I made a new test of my own, that all sims have to pass in order to be allowed to initiate romantic socials at any time.

UPDATE 4:
- Get Famous added what the game calls Celebrity-Acquaintance socials. These socials become available when you successfully Attempt Introduction on a celebrity sim. There are three categories: Friendly, Romance and Mean. The Romance category is messed up. First of all, the game has very few checks when determining the result of these Romance interactions. As if that's not enough, some of the interactions in the Romance category are clones of other interactions, some as serious as First Kiss and Ask to Be Boyfriend/Girlfriend. The game does not use the usual success scores that it normally does. For example, the Compliment Appearance social has no failure states, meaning that you can spam it until you have a high Romance bar with the celebrity sim. Even if you would normally fail the regular Compliment Appearance social, you are guaranteed to succeed if it is the Celebrity-Acquaintance Compliment Appearance. This entire thing makes no sense, so I got rid of them. There is now only the Friendly and Mean categories. If you didn't know already, when you get your Friendship (or Romance, but that's not possible now) to 35 with the celebrity, the game considers you to have impressed them, and then you can normally interact with them.
- When Sim A considers initiating a romantic social towards Sim B, and if Sim A and B are not in a committed relationship, but Sim A is in a committed relationship with Sim C, and if Sim C is somewhere close to Sim A, then Sim A will only be allowed to initiate the interaction if Sim A is Irresponsible or Non-Committal without the Responsible trait.
- When Sim A initiates a romantic social on Sim B, and if Sim A and B are not in a committed relationship, but Sim B is in a committed relationship with Sim C, and if Sim C is somewhere close to Sim B, then the Success Score is reduced by -10.
- The Success Score is decreased by -25 by default now, then -10 for Family-Oriented, +10 for Non-Committal, -10 for Responsible, +10 for Irresponsible, -5 for Companion, and +5 for Player.

UPDATE 3:
- This update adds the Parenthood traits Responsible and Irresponsible to the mod:

- If the sim has the Responsible trait and the sim is in a committed relationship, they are only allowed to initiate romantic interactions towards their committed partner. If the sim has the Irresponsible trait, they pass the second test right away. In other words, the two traits override the Family-Oriented and Non-Committal traits. A Family-Oriented, Irresponsible sim may not remain faithful. Similarly, a Non-Committal, Responsible sim will remain faithful, though they may still get that Tense buff obviously.
- Success Score is decreased by -25 by default now. Then, -15 for Family-Oriented, +15 for Non-Committal, -10 for Responsible, +10 for Irresponsible, -10 for Companion.

- The game has a number of incoming date calls. Maxis does not perform enough checks on the caller, that is why sims who are in a committed relationship can ask you out on a date. This update modifies all incoming date calls and adds the following extra checks:

- If the caller has the Unflirty trait, they will never call you to ask you out on a date.
- If the caller is in a committed relationship, but not with the sim they are calling, they cannot call if they have the Responsible trait.
- If the caller is in a committed relationship, but not with the sim they are calling, they can call if they have the Irresponsible trait.
- If the caller is in a committed relationship, but not with the sim they are calling, then the caller will be allowed to call if they have the Non-Committal trait without the Responsible trait, and won't be allowed to call if they have the Family-Oriented trait without the Irresponsible trait.
- If the caller is in a committed relationship, but not with the sim they are calling, and the caller does not have the Responsible, Irresponsible, Non-Committal and Family-Oriented traits, then the caller will be allowed to call if the relationship between the sims is Lovebirds, Lovers, Sweethearts or Soulmates.
- Obviously, single sims and the sim's committed partner can ask your sim out on a date.

UPDATE 2: The mod is now compatible with patch 1.47.51.1020.

UPDATE 1: This update heavily changes the mod, so read the information below carefully:
- The game has romantic greetings, but the game only checks the relationship bits such as Married, First Kiss, Engaged and so on. This is why all sims are greeting each other romantically everywhere. This update makes it so that sims will only greet each other romantically if Sim A passes the autonomous behaviour checks of this mod and the Success Score is at least 12. If Sim A and B are in a committed relationship with each other, or are both single, they'll easily pass these checks. Honestly, these greetings are very similarly designed to the way sims are allowed to greet each other romantically in the Sims 2, which also had very few checks.
- I have decided to replace the role of the Companion trait with the Family-Oriented trait, but the Companion trait still has an effect:
Acceptance
- The game decreases the success score by -20 if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but if Sim B is in a committed relationship with someone else. No change here.
- The game decreases the success score by -20 if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but if Sim B is in a committed relationship with someone else and Sim B has the Family-Oriented trait. This is much more consistent, because the Family-Oriented trait conflicts with the Non-Committal trait.
- The game increases the success score by +20 if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but if Sim B is in a committed relationship with someone else and Sim B has the Non-Committal trait. The Non-Committal trait directly counters the -20 commitment penalty.
- The game decreases the success score by -10 if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but if Sim B is in a committed relationship with someone else and Sim B has the Companion trait. The Companion trait is still very relevant, as -10 to the Success Score is very important.
Autonomous Behaviour
- If Sim A does not have the Unflirty trait, but has the Non-Committal trait, Sim A automatically passes this test.
- If Sim A does not have the Unflirty and Family-Oriented traits, and if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but Sim A is committed to someone else, then Sim A passes this test if Sim A is Very Flirty.
- If Sim A does not have the Unflirty trait, and Sim A is single, then Sim A passes this test.
- If Sim A does not have the Unflirty trait, and Sim B is Sim A's committed partner, then Sim A passes this test.
- If Sim A has the Unflirty and Family-Oriented traits, and Sim A is single, then Sim A passes this test if Sim A is Very Flirty and the Success Score is at least 25.
- If Sim A has the Unflirty trait, but not the Family-Oriented trait, and if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, then Sim A passes this test if Sim A is Very Flirty and the Success Score is at least 25.
- If Sim A has the Unflirty trait, and if Sim A and Sim B are in a committed relationship, then Sim A passes this test if the Success Score is at least 12.

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION

This mod adds more rules and checks to how romance works in the game. Romance in this game is pretty simplistic, there is not much to it really. The player is always guaranteed to succeed in romance. There is almost no way to fail. Below, Sim A is the initiator and Sim B is the target of the interaction. Committed relationship means boyfriend-girlfriend/engaged/married.

Acceptance
The game has success scores which are determined by certain tests performed on Sim A and Sim B. If the final score is below the success score of the interaction (every interaction has different success scores), then the interaction fails, otherwise it succeeds. I will not tell you every single test, if you want to know them all, you should export the "scores_socialoutcomes_romance" resource and open it in Notepad and read it. If Sim A is Flirty, for example, it adds +6, and if Sim A also happens to be Very Flirty, then another +10 is added. If the target is Sad, then -12 is subtracted and so on. I don't really have that much of a problem with these checks... except one: If Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but if Sim B is in a committed relationship with someone else, the game only decreases the success score by -10. This is not enough. In addition, the Non-Committal trait has no influence on romance whatsoever. Also, there is this reward trait called Companion, which you get for finishing the Soulmate romance aspiration. That also has no influence on romance.

This mod adds the following features to the acceptance of romantic socials:
- The game decreases the success score by -20 if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but if Sim B is in a committed relationship with someone else.
- The game decreases the success score by a further -30 if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but if Sim B is in a committed relationship with someone else and Sim B has the Companion trait.
- The game increases the success score by +15 if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but if Sim B is in a committed relationship with someone else and Sim B has the Non-Committal trait.

Note that all of these checks are cumulative. If Sim B has the Companion trait, but not the Non-Committal trait, that means -50 to the success score, which is not easy to overcome. If Sim B has both the Companion and Non-Committal traits, then that means -35 to the success score. If Sim B has the Non-Committal trait, but not the Companion trait, that means only -5 to the success score.

Autonomous Behaviour
In an unmodded game, if any of the following conditions is true for Sim A and Sim A does not have the Unflirty trait, then Sim A is allowed to initiate autonomous romantic socials towards Sim B:
- If the social context is Suggestive, Amorous or Steamy.
- If Sim A is married/engaged/boyfriend-girlfriend with Sim B.
- If Sim A has had their First Kiss with Sim B.
- If Sim A and Sim B have done Woohoo.
- If Sim A and Sim B were ever in a committed relationship, but broke Up/divorced.
- If Sim A is in the Flirty mood.
- If Sim A's romance bar towards Sim B is 10 or higher.
If Sim A has the Unflirty trait, then an additional test is done. Sim A still needs to pass at least one of the checks above to be allowed to take the second test, though. Here is the additional test for Unflirty sims:
- If Sim B happens to be Sim A's committed partner, then the Success Score needs to be at least 12.
- If Sim B is not Sim A's committed partner, then the Success Score needs to be at least 16.

That's it really. As you can see, there is not a single loyalty check in the autonomy code. The acceptance code at least has a single check. In addition, the game directly allows sims to initiate romantic socials towards those sims with whom they have had their First Kiss. This is why all sims are obsessed with their old romantic interests. Anyway, this mod adds additional checks to the autonomy code. Sim A still has to pass at least one of the checks in the first test. After that, all sims have to pass at least one of the checks below added by this mod:
- If Sim A does not have the Unflirty and Companion traits, but has the Non-Committal trait, Sim A automatically passes this test.
- If Sim A does not have the Unflirty and Companion traits, and if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, but Sim A is committed to someone else, then Sim A passes this test if Sim A is Very Flirty.
- If Sim A does not have the Unflirty trait, and Sim A is single, then Sim A passes this test.
- If Sim A does not have the Unflirty trait, and Sim B is Sim A's committed partner, then Sim A passes this test.
- If Sim A has the Unflirty and Companion traits, and Sim A is single, then Sim A passes this test if Sim A is Very Flirty and the Success Score is at least 25.
- If Sim A has the Unflirty trait, but not the Companion trait, and if Sim A and Sim B are not in a committed relationship, then Sim A passes this test if Sim A is Very Flirty and the Success Score is at least 25.
- If Sim A has the Unflirty trait, and if Sim A and Sim B are in a committed relationship, then Sim A passes this test if the Success Score is at least 12.

You need the latest version of 7zip or WinRAR to get this mod.

Installation: Extract the file and put the .package file into your Mods folder.

Resources: Check the image.