Play Together: Billy's Band - v2.0

1/17/26: Since it seems we are apparently never getting an official bands expansion, I am dropping a huge feature update to this band mod! Enoy!!

Description
What do we want? Bands! When do we want it? Right now!

Tired of no bands expansion pack from EA in sight? Sick of struggling to get your bandmates to play instruments at the same time and the resulting cacophony when they do? I am too, so I made a mod that lets aspiring rockstars play multiple instruments simultaneously together at once! Choose from a setlist of Simlish in-game rock/alt songs and command your bandmates to play together with a few clicks.


Version 2.0 Update: Perform Concert

Billy is back and bigger than ever! Your band can now perform concerts, entertain your adoring audience, and earn fame on your journey to stardom:

• Draw a crowd: Other Sims in the area will be drawn to the concert and perform festival actions like watching or cheering.
• Sway the mood of your fans: Songs marked with a moodlet color in the pie menu will give audience members a matching 4-hour mood buff.
• Earn fame: Up to twice a day, a concert will net your band members some amount of fame based on their star levels and instrument skills.

Other features and updates in v2.0:

• Form and break up your band: Assign a new "Band Member" trait to your members, or remove them when drama goes down. Band members are immune to audience effects and can earn fame during concerts.
• Band Practice: For when you just need to rehearse in your garage. These are basic mechanics of version 1 that allows you to choose a song and play instruments harmoniously together.
• Brass instruments: Now you can play with Necrodog's Saxophone and JaneSimsten's French Horn.
• Your played Sim no longer has to be the guitarist. Any playable or NPC Sim in the band can be assigned to this role.
• Three new Simlish songs added: Cherub Rock, American Idiot, and We Are Young.
• Increased the allowed instrument selection distance
• Added v1 Russian translation from Viavet

Video Demo:


v1.0 Video Demo (Band Practice only)


Works with the following band instruments:

• Microphone
• Guitars
• Piano
• Necrodog's updated drum kit from the Into Music pack
• JaneSimsten's French horn
• Necrodog's saxophone
• Custom in-game instrument CC like VRO's playable bass (or mods with the func_guitar, func_piano, or func_microphone tags)

Do note that completely unique instruments with custom sound effects will not work with this mod, unless they're listed above.


How To Use:

• Gather your bandmates and make sure all instruments are nearby and in-world, not in-inventory
• Click any guitar to find the new pie menu "Play with Band"
• Select "Form Band" and add your bandmates if you haven't already
• Select either "Band Practice" for low-key practice or "Perform Concert" to draw an audience
• Choose your song and assign your guitarist.
• Return to the menu and assign the other bandmates to as many or as few instruments as you want. Works with multiples like two singers!
• To stop playing, cancel any Sim's Play with Band interaction. All band members will follow suit once their animations end.

Requirements:

• Scumbumbo's XML Injector
• City Living required for microphone singing
• Get Famous required for fame accrual
• Necrodog's playable drum mod required for drums. Please be sure to download this updated version - this mod does not work with the older, original drum release!
• JaneSimsten's playable French horn required for the French horn
• Necrodog's playable saxophone for the sax
• City Living required for microphone singing
• Only base game needed for other instruments. This mod WILL work with just the base game and no CC; you just will not be able to assign a microphone, drums, or brass to your Sims.

Notes, FAQ, and Shoutouts

This is my first mod and is heavily inspired by the logic behind JaneSimsten's clever Violin/Piano duets mod, and of course Necrodog's playable drums. They both have more wonderful instrument mods available, so please check them out and support them on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/JaneSimsten and https://www.patreon.com/necrodogMTSandS4S!

Looking for even more immersive band functionality? Consider using this alongside Thatssojordy's World Tour Mod or Wicked Pixxel's Music Industry.

"This isn't a "real" bands mod - why isn't each band member playing their own instrumental track?"
This mod works by playing a single audio song track for the band, and no, I do not plan to update it so each member is playing their own instrumental tracks. There are a lot of reasons why this won't work, including syncing problems and actually needing a copy of these isolated instrumental recordings. Sorry, but this is the best I can do; if you feel this isn't good enough, please just don't download the mod instead of messaging me.


Known quirks / Troubleshooting:

• Necrodog's saxophone is technically more of an in-inventory item, and unfortunately the on-ground saxophone will not disappear when picked up.
• Other sims cannot already be seated at the piano if you want to assign a pianist. Make them get up first.
• Microphone singing in Sims City Living is weird, and Sims at the mic will randomly express emotions or other short subinterractions, both with or without this mod. I am not clever enough to figure out how to create a custom looped animation to stop this, but if someone else wants to create one, please do!
• Adoring fans love to get up on stage. When playing concerts I highly recommend adding your band to a club-only access door, or installing a door locking mod like LittleMsSam's "Unlock/Lock Doors for chosen Sims".
• Is an instrument missing from the pie menu? This probably means there is no instrument of that type in range, or the instrument is being used by another Sim.
• If you also have JaneSimsten's Oboe, this is tagged as a guitar and will show in the guitar/bass picker. Don't pick this unless you want to watch your Sims playing a sweet Air Woodwind.

"Can I modify this mod to add features or improvements?"
Yes! Everyone has my permission to make their own updates or fold this into your own more extensive band mod. If you do make a new versions, please comment here and let me know so I can link it. Please share the band wealth and let's make Bands Xpack at Home!

Songlist available:

• American Idiot (Songs in the Key of Simlish)
• Bleed Into Me (Sims 4)
• Cherub Rock (Instrumental)
• In My Head (Sims 4)
• Let's Get Outta Here (Sims 3)
• Our Time Now (Sims 2)
• Pressure (Female Vocals: Sims 4)
• Sammishquad (Sims 4)
• Savior (Sims 3)
• Time Bomb (Sims 3)
• Untitled Track 5 (Instrumental: Sims 1)
• Up We Go (Female Vocals: Sims 4)
• Walking At a Downtown Pace (Sims 4)
• We Are Young (Sims 3)