Business Mods

UPDATE 39: Before this update, the game was unable to charge customers at the cash register if the owner was selectable. This is now fixed. Thanks to Bellisa in the comments section for notifying me.

UPDATE 38: There is an issue with sims who are assigned as a chef on OFB lots. If the sim happens to be the business owner, and the sim also owns other businesses, when a family other than the owner visits one of those other businesses, the owner will be stuck idling forever if their current assignment is being a chef and if there is no chef stove on the current lot that is assignable. This update fixes that.

UPDATE 37:
- There is an issue in the game which prevents the game from calculating the fair wage of managers who are recently promoted. This fixes that.
- In my Social Auto Mod, I explained how Maxis forgot to disable autonomous social interactions towards sims who are engaged in certain interactions, and paying at a cash register is one of them. This update prevents sims from initiating autonomous social interactions towards sims who are in queue at a cash register. Normally, I should add this feature to Social Auto Mod, but it is not possible as it would conflict with this mod.
- I decided to add two extra lines of code to how the game calculates the fair wage of employees. This new feature is disabled by default, but you can modify the values in order to change the fair wage expected by employees. Here is how you do that: Click on the resource "CT - Business - Get Fair Wage". The relevant lines are "0x13 - Local 0x0001 *= Literal 0x0001" and "0x14 - Local 0x0001 /= Literal 0x0001". "0x13 - Local 0x0001 *= Literal 0x0001" is the multiplier, if you change the number in the bottom box to a number higher than 1, it will increase the expected fair wage of employees. "0x14 - Local 0x0001 /= Literal 0x0001" is the divisor, and changing the number in the bottom box to a number higher than 1 will decrease the fair wage of employees. Valid values are 1 or higher. So, if you change the multiplier to 2, and the divisor to 3, an employee who expects a fair wage of 15 simoleons will now expect 10 simoleons.

UPDATE 36: This update reverts a change I made in UPDATE 24 with craftable flowers, which would make the game set their price depending on their current value which can depreciate. I believe this is not supposed to happen with the majority of craftable objects. Maxis uses the item's current value or a special value only when the object is very unique, like food or paintings. I have also released a new add-on called BusinessMod-AddOn-ClothingTokenFix which fixes the issue I talked about in UPDATE 22. So, sims will now satisfy their Buy New Clothes/Jewelry/Pet Collar wants on OFB lots. This add-on also fixes an issue which for some reason credits the owner with 1 simoleon per outfit the customer purchases on OFB lots. I am only releasing this as an add-on rather than incorporating it into the main mod, because this add-on also adds a new text notification when a sim purchases jewelry, as there are already text notifications for clothes and pet collars. This new text has to be translated if you play the game in a language other than English.

UPDATE 35: The unselectable owner will now be credited with the profit whenever a sim purchases something from the Apartment Life vending machines. I also released a new add-on called BusinessMod-AddOn-SelectableMoneyEffectsOnly which makes it so that the money effects and sounds that play after a sim is charged or credited will only play on selectable sims.

UPDATE 34: Family bin sims cannot be hired any more.

UPDATE 33:
- Sims were still unable to interact with their own vehicles on ticket-machine lots if they were not signed up. Now they can.
- Business owners and their family members cannot order drinks on bars and barista bars now. This is because they are not supposed to be charged as the regular make drink/espresso interactions don't cost any money. But, preventing business owners and their family members from being charged in this case is not very easy, because the strings show the price of the blended and poured drinks, which would have to be modified, and it is not worth it. The game already prevents them from buying from vending machines and such anyway, so it makes sense.

UPDATE 32: There is an issue in the game on OFB community ticket-machine lots which prevents the player from travelling to another lot/home if they are not currently paying through the ticket-machine. This update fixes that. Thanks to Gabby2805 for notifying me.

UPDATE 31: Sims will not try to autonomously buy food from food stands if they can't afford it.

UPDATE 30: Fixed an issue from the previous update.

UPDATE 29:
- The owner will now also be credited with the profit when unselectable sims check out at the register even when the currently controlled family is not the owner's family.
- When a selectable sim purchases a pet from a pet display on an OFB lot, the game ignores the cost of the pet as set by the owner (the value you see when you hover over the pet display), but charges the customer a value dependent on the skills and learned behaviours of the newly generated pet. More importantly, the owner doesn't get any money. This update makes it so that the owner gets credited with 10% of the price of the newly generated pet.

UPDATE 28: This update fixes certain issues with the Offer at Cheap interactions. First of all, the way the game determines whether the customer accepts the social had problems such as checking to see if the salesperson has the Fortune aspiration, rather than the customer, they have been fixed. In addition, you may have realized that when you succeed at this interaction, the game is supposed to increase the sim's Browse bar, and that's what it does, but right after that the game resets the bar and usually decreases it. Even if the bar reached 100, the sim still doesn't purchase the item. This is an oversight which happens because the game constantly checks to see if the price of the item is still the same as it was when the customer first started browsing the item. When you Offer at Cheap, the game naturally decreases the price temporarily. However, that's enough for the game to realize that the price has changed, and thus the game resets the bar. To fix this, I am releasing an add-on called BusinessMod-AddOn-OfferAtCheapFix. The reason I am releasing it as an add-on rather than incorporating it into the main mod is because this add-on conflicts with my Townie Budget Mod. If you have Townie Budget Mod (UPDATE 9 and higher), then don't download this add-on, as UPDATE 9 of that mod already includes this fix. BusinessMod-AddOn-OfferAtCheapFix-UPDATE1: Fixed an issue that still made the game reset the buy bar if the price of the object was lowered from a very high value.

UPDATE 27:
- Sims are now allowed to be hired at a business if that business is also owned by the owner of the business they are currently employed in. So, you don't need to fire or lay off your own staff any more in order to hire them at one of your other businesses.
- Fixed a mistake I made in the previous update as there wasn't anything wrong with window shopping.

UPDATE 26: I found out that there is a problem with window shopping in the code which prevents window shoppers from entering the shop to start browsing. This has been fixed.

UPDATE 25: The potion features from UPDATE 22/23 should now also affect all custom potions.

UPDATE 24: I found out that craftable flowers (from the OFB flower-making station) are not treated as true craftables when the game determines how to set their sale price. This is fixed.

UPDATE 23: Potions which were set for sale had their sale price lowered which was not intended. Also, potions which were set for sale on an OFB display didn't correctly have their wholesale purchase cost set. This update fixes all of this.

UPDATE 22:
- I found out that potions don't have a wholesale price of their current value. Now, their wholesale price is their current value, because they are craftables.
- Potions are not considered as preserve tokens by the game, meaning that if a sim puts a potion in their shopping inventory and then drops the bag, the game refunds the cost to the owner, which it should't do, because it should give the potions back to the owner. Now, the game gives the potions back to the owner.
- The game has "Buy Love Potion" and "Buy Vampire Cure" wants. These are the only wants about potions. However, you can only satisfy these wants if you buy the potions from an NPC (Matchmaker and so on). The game does not satisfy your sims' wants if you buy these potions on an OFB lot. Now, sims' potion wants will be satisfied when they buy these potions on an OFB lot, too.
Note: The game also has wants such as "Buy New Clothes" (University),"Buy Jewelry" (Bon Voyage) and "Buy a Pet Collar" (Pets). These wants are not satisfied on OFB lots, either. I think that there is really no proper way to fix this. It is possible to fix the Pet Collar want, but the other two are difficult to fix. The reason is because the game does not differentiate between clothes and jewelry. Clothes, jewelry and collars are all considered as Clothing Tokens when you add them to your shopping inventory, but Maxis seems to have only added a check to collars for the game to differentiate. So, if I try to make the game satisfy your sims' Buy Jewelry want when they buy jewelry, that will also satisfy their Buy New Clothes want, and also when you buy clothes, that will satisfy your sims' Buy Jewelry want, too. So, I will not bother with this issue.

UPDATE 21: On owned business lots, only the owner or family of the owner can make/serve espresso on a barista bar now.

UPDATE 20:
- Orchard tree produce harvested by the owner, family of the owner, or employees are properly added to the business owner's inventory, but garden produce are not. This has been fixed.
- The game does not check the quality of fruits/vegetables when it is restocking these items, meaning that a mouthwatering fruit may be restocked by a bland or tasty fruit. This should never happen, because the value of produce is determined by its quality. This has been fixed.

UPDATE 19: Fixed an oversight related to restocking robots from the previous update.

UPDATE 18: This update fixes further oversights by Maxis.
- The game tries to restock Love potions with Nice potions. This is fixed.
- The game tries to restock evil Pitchers with evil Tea Sets. This is fixed.
- The game can restock CleanBots with HydroBots, and SentryBots with MunchieBots, which should not be possible, because each of these robots has a different value. In addition, the game can restock a robot with a broken version of it, and a broken robot with a non-broken version of it, which should also not be possible, because broken robots have their value halved. When the game restocks an item with a broken version of it, or with a different robot, the game is unable to recalculate the item's price. In other words, the game should only restock an item with the exact same item which has the exact same cost. This update fixes this mess, and makes it so that the game can only restock a robot with the exact same type of robot, and can only restock broken robots with other broken robots, and non-broken robots with other non-broken robots.

UPDATE 17: Maxis made a mistake with the reporter NPC. Whenever a reporter is supposed to give your business a good review, the reporter is supposed to congratulate the business owner. However, Maxis made a mistake which makes it so that the game pushes the reporter to initiate the Change Wage dialogue towards the business owner. This is why whenever the reporter gives your business a good review, the game brings up the Change Wage dialogue which allows you to change the wage of the business owner, which should never be possible. This update fixes this mistake, and makes the game push the reporter to initiate the Reporter-Congratulate interaction towards the business owner. This particular interaction is a clone of the regular Congratulate interaction.

UPDATE 16: I found out that easel paintings, drafting board drawings and university camera photos do not have a wholesale price of their default value and are not considered as preserve-tokens by the game. Maxis seems to have forgotten to add these features to these objects. In an unmodded game, when you set one of these items for sale, the game will treat them as items purchased wholesale, but this should never happen, because these items are crafted objects. This update fixes this.
Note: If you have custom canvases in your game, then this fix obviously does not cover them. You will have to fix those canvases yourself, here is how to do it:
- Open this mod in SimPE, find the resources called "CT - Shops - Preserve" and "CT - Custom Wholesale Price" (Group:0x7F446D21), and extract them to your desktop.
- Now open the mesh package of the custom canvas, right-click somewhere in the resource list and click Add. Then, choose the two resources that you extracted to your desktop. These resources will be added to the custom canvas.
- Find the new resources, left-click on them, switch to Resource view below, then change the Group number to 0xFFFFFFFF.

UPDATE 15: I realized that harvestables/craftables still had a problem. If you visit an OFB community lot with a household other than the owner, and when customers buy harvestables/craftables, the game would give those items back to the owner. But, if the owner or employees don't restock any harvestables and craftables, the owner will end up with additional, free harvestables and craftables in their inventory. So, I decided to solve this situation in a different way. Now, whenever the owner or employee restocks a craftable/harvestable while the owner or family of the owner is unselectable, the game won't take the items out of the owner's inventory, but will instead restock the items for free. This is a perfect solution. The game also won't give any harvestables/craftables back to the owner when sims check out at the cash register any more, instead the game will give harvestables/craftables back to the owner when customers drop their bag on the floor while the owner or family of the owner is selectable.

UPDATE 14: Fixed an issue from the previous update which prevented customers from properly buying harvestables and craftables.

UPDATE 13: In UPDATE 11, I said that Maxis thought ahead and added a feature which makes it so that the game gives any harvestables or craftables customers purchase back to the owner when the owner or family of the owner is unselectable. I am taking that back. They did not think ahead. The game only gives harvestables and craftables back to the owner if the customer drops their bag on the floor, so that the owner or employees do not need to spend time recrafting/regrowing the craftables and harvestables. Obviously, there is still the problem where if the owner or family of the owner is unselectable, the owner does not make any money from their sales when unselectable customers buy, and only earns the profit if a selectable customer buys. All craftables and harvestables are considered to have a wholesale price of their default value, which means that when a selectable customer buys a toy which costs 40 simoleons with a default price of 35 simoleons, the owner will earn 5 simoleons. And then the owner or employee will restock that toy from their own inventory, ruining the business in the process. This update fixes this, and makes it so that the game properly gives any craftables or harvestables back to the owner if the owner or family of the owner is unselectable.

UPDATE 12: When a sim buys something from a vending machine set for sale, the sim is now always charged, and the business owner is credited if the owner or family of the owner is selectable.

UPDATE 11: In UPDATE 5, I made it so that the owner and employees would not be able to restock craftables and harvestables if the owner or family of the owner is unselectable. I now found out that Maxis did think ahead and added a feature which makes it so that whenever a craftable or harvestable is sold when the owner or family of the owner is unselectable, the game returns the craftable/harvestable back to the inventory of the owner. So, this update reverts the change I made in UPDATE 5, and now the owner and employees can restock craftables/harvestables when the owner or family of the owner is unselectable.

UPDATE 10:
- Maxis made a mistake which sometimes prevented the game from properly checking to see if a sim has an OFB employee job. This is fixed.
- The game allows business owners to hire vacation locals and tourists. You can't hire those sims any more, and they won't appear in the Hire Dialogue on the phone or computer.
- There was an issue with OFB employees bartending which has been fixed.
- There was a serious issue which made the game miscalculate the fair wage of certain employees. If you have ever seen a sim's fair wage status change to Very Underpaid and so on, especially right after the owner employs them for the first time, then you will never see this happen again as it has been fixed.
- Sims who are already employed by another business cannot be hired by another business any more unless the business owner of the employee's business lays them off or fires them, or unless the employee quits.

UPDATE 9: The game didn't properly charge the customer when the customer bought food from a food stand before this update. That's been fixed.

UPDATE 8: I found yet another oversight. When an unselectable customer dines at an OFB restaurant, the game attempts to charge the customer and credit the owner. The owner is properly credited, but Maxis made a mistake which makes it so that the game tries to charge a completely random person in your neighbourhood. This update fixes this mistake and makes the game properly charge the customer.

UPDATE 7: When the owner or employee restocks a pet display while the owner or family of the owner is unselectable, the game won't charge the owner.

UPDATE 6: Sims who can't afford lemonade won't buy lemonade any more. Whenever a sim buys lemonade, the sim is now always charged, and the seller is always credited.

UPDATE 5: The mod now prevents the game from charging the owner if the owner or family of the owner is unselectable when a non-shopping-rack object is being restocked. Additionally, the game now also prevents the owner and employees from restocking harvestables and craftables if the owner or family of the owner is unselectable, because these objects are restocked from the owner's inventory, and if the owner is unselectable, they won't be making any money, and will be effectively selling their harvestables and craftables for free.

UPDATE 4: This update heavily changes the mod. I found out some further interesting things about how OFB businesses work. Whenever the player visits an OFB community business with a household other than the owner's family, and whenever the player purchases an object that is restockable, the game removes however many objects that sim purchases from the rack. This allows the owner and employees to restock that rack which in turn charges the owner the wholesale cost of the objects. The problem is that when the player's sims or unselectable sims purchase these objects and then leave the lot, the game does not save the lot. The game only saves an OFB community lot when the owner or family of the owner arrives and leaves the lot. In other words, the next time the owner visits their lot, all those objects which were sold would actually be in their rack as if they had never been sold. What this means is that the game unfairly charges the owner of the lot whenever the owner or employees restock a shopping rack if the owner is unselectable, because those objects which are apparently sold will be back once the player switches to the owner's household. This is why Maxis attempted to make it so that the game didn't credit the owner if the owner was unselectable. However, as I have said, the game still charges the owner when the item is restocked while the owner is unselectable. This is why visiting an OFB business with a different household will very quickly bankrupt the owner. Maxis seems to have forgotten to prevent the game from charging the owner when restocking if the owner is unselectable. This update now makes it so that if the owner or family of the owner is unselectable, the game won't charge the owner for restocking items. In addition, when the owner, employee or a CleanBot picks up a pile of bags from the floor, the game will only refund the cost to the owner if the owner or family of the owner is selectable. The main issue with OFB businesses was the restocking issue which has now been fixed with this update. This also means that if you are visiting an OFB community lot with a different household, you can now freely delete items from your sims' Shopping Inventory, because the game won't charge the owner any more when the item is restocked, because the owner will be unselectable. This further means that whenever a sim checks out at the register, the game will only credit the owner if the owner or family of the owner is selectable. I found one exception to this rule which is a bit difficult to understand: whenever a selectable sim checks out at the register the game subtracts the wholesale cost of the Shopping Inventory from the actual sale price, and then credits the owner with this amount. For example, your sim just put a piece of clothing that costs 230 simoleons, with a wholesale cost of 200 simoleons, into their Shopping Inventory and checked out at the cash register. Your sim will be charged 230 simoleons and the unselectable owner will be credited with 30 simoleons. I am not sure what Maxis was trying to do here, but I have not changed this. Maybe, it is so that the owner can pay their employees with this profit, as otherwise the owner wouldn't make any money. All other features of the mod such as charging the customer and crediting the owner properly via the ticket machine, espresso stand, bar and all that are still intact, because those types of businesses are not restockable.

UPDATE 3:
- My Townie Budget Mod had a feature which prevented sims from ordering drinks/coffee if they couldn't afford it. I have taken those features out of that mod, and incorporated them into this mod.
- Before this update, sims who were part of a date/outing still had a chance to leave the business lot after checking out at a cash register. Now, they won't leave the lot.

UPDATE 2: This update fixes another error with sims ordering a drink from a bar.

UPDATE 1: This update fixes an error with sims ordering a drink from a bar.

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION

I found out that there are some truly incredible issues/oversights with Open for Business home/community businesses. This mod fixes these issues. Here is what this mod does:

- Whenever a sim checks out at a cash register, the game only charges the customer and credits the business owner if the currently played family is the owner's family or if the customer is selectable. This means that if you visit an OFB business with a different household, and whenever an unselectable customer (playable or townie, doesn't matter) purchases an object, the game does not credit the owner. This doesn't make any sense at all, because the owner will have to restock these objects and will have to pay for that, in addition to paying their employees if they have any. This is a huge oversight, and it makes it very detrimental to visit an OFB business with a different household. This mod fixes this, and makes it so that whenever a customer purchases an object, the customer is always charged, and the owner is always credited.
- Whenever a customer attempts to check out at a cash register, the game checks to see if the sim can pay for all the items in their Shopping Inventory. If the sim cannot pay for all or some of the items, the game removes those items that the customer can't pay for from the customer's Shopping Inventory and refunds the owner. However, it only refunds the owner if the owner is selectable. This means that you can fill your sim's Shopping Inventory with numerous objects they can't pay for, and then try to check out at the register which will delete the items without refunding the owner, which will cause the owner to lose a lot of money. This has been fixed. Now, the owner is always refunded.
- Whenever a sim purchases a make-over at a salon chair, the game only credits the owner if the customer is unselectable. This means that if you visit an OFB business and get a make-over there, your sim will pay, but the paid amount won't be given to the owner. This has been fixed.
- When a sim pays for food at a food stand, the game only credits the owner if the owner is selectable, which also doesn't make any sense. This has been fixed.
- Whenever a sim pays for a ticket or gets charged by a ticket machine, the game only credits the owner if the owner is selectable, and only charges the customer if the customer is selectable. This has also been fixed. Now, the customer is always charged, and the owner is always credited.
- This one is an incredible oversight. Whenever a sim throws their shopping bag on the floor on an OFB lot, the game allows the owner, employees and CleanBots to pick up the bags. This is supposed to refund the items back to the owner. However, if the owner, an employee or a CleanBot picks the bags up while the currently controlled family is not the owner's family, the game refunds the cost to the currently played family, rather than to the owner's family. It's almost as if Maxis never intended for the player to be able to visit OFB community lots with a different family. This has been fixed. The game will now properly refund the owner's family.
- Whenever the player visits an OFB lot with a cash register as part of a date/outing, and whenever an unselectable sim who is part of the date/outing checks out at the register, the sim has a chance to leave the lot. This mod fixes this and prevents sims who are part of a date/outing from leaving the lot.
- I released a mod called BarEspressoCostMod earlier. I have deleted that mod, and incorporated its features into this mod. What this does is that whenever a sim purchases coffee or a drink from an espresso stand or bar, the game will properly charge the buyer, and credit the owner if there is one even if the customer or owner is unselectable.
Requirements: Apartment Life.
Resources: See the image.

BusinessSignSendEmployeesHomeFix: This separate mod fixes a rare issue which sometimes causes the selectable business owner to leave the lot if the owner initiates the Send Employees Home interaction on the Open/Closed sign, which may make the save unplayable.
Requirements: Open for Business.
Resources:
Interaction - Dismiss Employees TEST/0x7F170050/0x00001008
CT - Dismiss Employees/0x7F170050/0x0000100F

You need the latest version of 7zip or WinRAR to get these mods.