Most up to date files and descriptions for the electric system
Files:
- post #40 - bill penalties and solar/wind reabte
- post #93 - electric box, power generators (gas & bike), fuel can, digging accident, candle, collection file
Descriptions:
- post #39 - digging accident
- post #40 - bill penalties, solar/wind reabte
- post #43 - electric box, gas power generator and fuel can
- post #93 - bike power generator
- candle's description is all over the place
Latest update:
2 Oct 21 - electric box

Other mods:
The rent clipboard is removed due to a bug I couldn't figure out.
The watering can is still available in post #29, but I don't remember if it's in a good enough shape.
The pipe, the vent, the wall cracks are not available.

I won't speak for everyone, but this seems like a pretty awesome idea to me! I've made a handful of lots that I could easily imagine people having a lot of use for something like this on!

Another couple ideas (bearing in mind that this is coming from someone with literally NO CLUE how modding things works, so IDK if it'd actually work or not...) might be to have deliveries and emergency services take longer to arrive (after all, despite how it should theoretically work IRL, it's no secret that the ambulance and the police show up faster to rich neighborhoods than poor ones).

That sounds a great idea. I'll be happy to test when you're ready.

Sounds great! There's a power outage mod here, extracted from Maxis code:
http://www.modthesims.info/d/184494

I'll look into it. If it can be done without global changes to the whole 'hood, it totally goes in. Would be extra fun in combination with a power outage and a handyman taking forever to arrive.

Speaking of NPCs, the burglar striked my mind, too.


Thanks for the offer. Seeing how I keep coming up with ideas, the number of features grows fast, and I will need extra pair of eyes in testing!


Hmm... Briefly examined the mod - never would've guessed there were something about power outage, if it wasn't for description and screenshot on download page.

Anyway, being impatient, I'm already on the way of developing my own power outage system. So far figured out how to disable/enable lights. Worked out anti-cheat protection to make it unprofitable to buy the pipeline for the sake of discounts and then immediately sell. Including that the pipeline is now un-placeble in inventory, thanks to William (who is definitely not whoward) over at modding subforum.

Next thing to do - to handle different types of appliances and to think through various factors and situations. I'm thinking rainy weather and random chance, frying electronics when in use during storm, local breakage causing power going off (which sim can fix) or remote central power outage (which sim have to wait through), leftovers get spoiled in the frige. Possibilities!

This made me think about separating features into two objects to handle water and power. The pipeline for plumbing and - I need to come up with some kind of electric unit for electricity. Wouldn't make much sence for sims to fix a pipe when power goes off. Any suggestions on what could be a decent representation of electic box in the Sims 2?

@Zarathustra, you're a pro in industrial stuff and in making the most of what the sims 2 can offer without custom content. You did not happen to see anything suitable in game?

I'd like my object to be cloned from maxis mesh rather then CC, but all I can think of - recoloring a painting or burglar alarm.

There is this thing in the Sims 3. I wish they'd included something along the lines in the Sims 2...



I'm starting to think, this mod becomes more than puddles and roaches. Telephone lines can break, too. Doors can accidentally get locked. No fires, though. Too dangerous.

No individual objects that I can think of would really match what you're imagining, and I haven't found an approach that I'm particularly fond of that's small enough to look right on a "normal" residential lot, but there are ways that various decorative and build mode items can be combined that gives a good industrial-scale HVAC effect... might at least point you in a different direction. This is a screenshot from one of my Mars lots, so it's a little more scifi than what I'd imagine you want, but essentially, I'd make something like this- really any of the objects could be a mesh to clone, though I'd probably opt for the large air-vent... it at least bears a passing resemblance to a low-income home's circuit breaker panel.

Most "real" electrical meshes look too modern and high-end to really fit in the same way the pipe does, but I'll give it some more thought too!

Yeah, air-vent goes well with the pipeline. I've missed it while browsing the in-game catalogue today. Thanks.

Will be on a lookout for some more options, too.

That vent made me think of central heating going off, hmmm. Poor simmies, don't know what's coming to them :D

EDIT: lovely people at WCIF found a conversion of the sims 3 electric box! Now I have options.

I've wanted something like this for so long.

As for more ideas for what it can do:
-Maybe objects get dirty faster (think countertops, cheap bathroom sets, etc.)? IDK how you'd program that
-Make it more difficult to get the headmaster to accept your kids into a private school - again, not sure how you'd program that, but if this object takes a major chunk out of Environment, isn't that a factor in whether the headmaster likes you or not? I don't remember...
-Cause Sims' body temperature to be too hot/cold even while inside, or to stay too hot/cold for longer than normal once they come inside? That may be like the weeds, though
-Increase chance of getting sick, even without roaches/spoiled food/etc.?

-For burglars/roaches and the like, I'm pretty sure you can create an object as a generator for NPCs/roaches, although I don't know how

...Basically none of this was actually helpful, but I love this idea and I'm looking forward to it

Hey guys, need your opinion on aestetics of repairing electric box.

Important feature is ability to fix it when it's broken. Initially the object is decorative, so I have to improvise here. Ideally, it'd have its door opened and etc, but... well... Wouldn't know how to make custom animation, so I've looked what repairing animations we already have in the game to kind of frankenstein it together. This is how it looks so far.





What do you think?

LOVE, if you love it.
AGREE, if you think it looks OK and you would agree to such a compromise in your game.
DISAGREE, if you think it looks awful and you disagree to tolerate such a lazybutt execution.
FUNNY, if you find it funny.
HELPFUL, if you'd like to help make it better! (not a request just a button, lalala)
UNHELPFUL, if you're a zombie.

I've started with 3to2 conversion of electric box, but it's nothing final yet. I have too much coding ahead of me, and I can decide on the mesh and animations later.

As for the air-vent, I'm not giving up on it, I'm actually thinking of sticking some features to it, too! If the amount of functions grows big, I'll delegate roaches, weeds and something else to it, leaving the pipe for plumbing and and related stuff.


Come on, ideas are helpful, too.
Yes, roaches can be spawned just like that. I haven't gotten around to NPCs yet. Good point about environment score - I'll make sure to bring it down. Interruptions in heating are totally on the list to investigate, too. Dirtifying appliances may do for when the whater goes off for long enough - it'd be like there's not much water to waste on cleaning them. I'll think about it. As for sickness, we'll see, maybe roaches and freazing will be enough on their own to make sims sick more often. So much to do, I need a check list before it all gets out of hand.

***
OK, one thing at a time. Let's get back to electric box and not-so-perfect animation for fixing it.

LOVE, if you love it.
AGREE, if you think it looks OK and you would agree to such a compromise in your game.
DISAGREE, if you think it looks awful and you disagree to tolerate such a lazybutt execution.
FUNNY, if you find it funny.
HELPFUL, if you'd like to help make it better! (not a request just a button, lalala)
UNHELPFUL, if you're a zombie.

Thank you all for taking an interest in this project

This sounds awesome.

Ohh this is very cool thus far !

What you could also add as an effect for the roach/weed emitting object is to make it emit the miasma from the failed snapdragon bouquet. It can be modified to affect what needs you want, so you could make a trash container lower nearby sims' hygiene and comfort or something of the sort. Perhaps it could also spread diseases?

Finally, something's ready to be tested! First 2 "lot traits" are done.

Before you download anything:
- Back-up your WHOLE neighborhoods folder and test the mods in testing neighborhood or at least on testing lots - especially if you don't have all EPs installed.
- If you want to help, play with testing cheats enabled and report any errors that suggest that they have anything to do with the mods. Any feedback on logic, aesthetics, usability, impressions - all that is also welcome!
Updating the mod:
- Before you replace the file, it's best if you delete electrical boxes from lots, especially if they are in the middle of an event at the time. Sell the box and save the lot without it. I know, it's a pain, I don't do this myself and, well, you can skip this step, too. But don't be scared if the game throws errors or crashes on lot load. It only happened to me twice after major updates during early stages, but still.
Uninstalling the mod:
- Before you delete the file for good, make sure there's no lot in the middle of power outage. Without the electrical box you'll have no means of turning the power on and certain objects on that particular lot will remain unusable. Good news is you don't have to delete the box from all lots before deleting the file - the box will just fallback to a basegame stereo.
Compatibility:
- Ideally it's all EPs, but you still have a chance if you have any EPs from Open for Business and/or higher. I've tried to make it compatible, but I can't test it on my UC. The lower the level of your latest EP, the higher the chance that something will go wrong.
- With custom content and mods, there's also a chance that something will go wrong. Not a big chance, I hope. Custom objects that practically are clones of maxis objects shouldn't be a problem.
- I've made as few global overrides as possible to avoid conflicts. Considering the scope of the electrical box (it affects every "electrical" object in the game), 7 overriden BHAVs is pretty few:

I don't think there are many mods modifying these BHAVs, but who knows, if there are any - they will conflict with mine.



Now that I've got that out of the way, let's move onto the good stuff!

Electrical box - simulating power outages, phone line disconnections, blinking lamps, tv static noise and more. Experience wiring problems and accidents like short circuits and voltage surges. Upgrade and maintain electrical box for better protection, tinker it for fun, build mechanical skill and raise hobby.

I don't know even where to start... OK. You can buy electrical box in misc. electronics and place it on a lot. From then it quietly does it's thing on that lot. If you don't want any electrical disasters on some particular lot, just don't place the box there - it's as simple as that. No hidden tokens or controllers, no secretly affecting the whole 'hood. The mod is the object that you can see, move and delete (unless it's power/phone outage, in which case you temporary can't delete it).

Place it on any type of lot - residential, community, dorm, owned business, etc. Some lots have differenсes, e.g. electronics can't be repaired in dorms for some reason, so I've limited some functions there.

In apartments the electrical box has to be on private territory. Each apartment is treated as a separate sub-lot. Whatever family is active at the moment, their box is active during that session and others are not.

I'm not going into details, there are too many, but I'll list the basics.

Main types of events
Energy:
- Power outage long or not so (because of storm/snow or random). The most complicated thing about this mod. To give you some sense of the level of detail - when power is out, water in a hottub stops bubbling and fridge motor goes silent. Sounds, lights, interactions, textures, effects, animations - I've done everything I could to make it look like it's for real. Has support for business objects too.
- Power trip (during busy hours or as a consequence of some other events)
- Voltage spike (because of the storm or direct lightning strike)
- Minor power surge (during busy hours)
- Short circuit with chance of fire
- Overheat in wiring (as a consequence of fire or short circuit)
Phone:
- External phone landline outage for a breif or long time (because of storm/snow or random)
- Sporadic phone interruption during conversation (during rain/snow, by sim/ghost or random)
- Local malfunction in telephone wire (by sim/ghost or random)
Misc.:
- Sporadic static noise on TV (during rain/snow, by sim/ghost or random)
- Broken lamp blinking annoyingly
- Broken electronics or appliances (short circuit, voltage spike or lightning strike)
- Various damage to electrical box and its upgrades (common consequence)

Reactions. Sims react on suddenly turned off light, burned electrical box and whatnot. Reaction type depends on their location, age, personality, mood, aspiration score.

Chances of incidents and damage they cause are affected by installed equipment, building and area conditions, hidden faults and sim's qualities. Consequences vary from nothing noticeble to total damage, fire and fried electronics.

Building condition and area you can set up.
- Area condition affects external events, e.g. accident on a power plant. Problem area means more likely power/phone outages and longer downtime, more severe and repeated power surges during busy hours, worse phone line connection, etc.
- Building condition represents local state of wiring on the lot. Decayed building means more often and dangerous short circuits, worse outcome in case of voltage spike, higher chance of blown fuses or tripped breaker, more problems with phone wiring, TV antenna and blinking lamps, etc.
You get the idea. Set conditions to how you see the given lot in your head. They can be normal or bad. By default everything is normal.

Upgrades. You start with simple cheap equipment, but there are more advanced pieces that do a better job:
- Circuit breaker. Old-fashioned fuses protect your circuit from overheating, but they take time and skill to replace when they blow. With circuit breaker, you can quickly switch it on, should the power trip. You also can switch if off any time you want, e.g. to avoid electrocution when repairing electronics or appliances.
- Surge protector. Default voltage control relay protects your supply from minor power surges by shutting it down untill voltage goes back to normal. But it can't stand against swift voltage spikes that can happen during storms. Surge protector takes care of those. You'll have to buy new one from time to time for it has limited load.
- Money-saving meter. Allows to switch to a more favorable tariff and get cash-backs.
There are circumstances in which equipment fails or goes out of order and needs replacement. You'll have to experience it yourself.



Repairing. Basically, it works like repairing any other object in the game, but with some details. Different incidents cause different damage to the electrical box, which affects amount of work to repair it and sometimes visual effects.
Installing upgrades works as repair. You can hire repairman to do it! And you honestly should if you have low skill. The lower the skill the higher the chance to do half-assed job and leave hidden fault in the box. Personality counts too (neat, serious and vice versa).
In case of failure, sim can be electrocuted, unless electricity isn't delivered to the box (external power outage).

Maintaning & Tinkering. Maintenance is important. Connections need to be twisted from time to time, and all that. Ignoring it may end up in breakage and hidden faults. Maintain interaction builds mechanical skill and tinkering hobby. If it is not available, it means the box doesn't need it. The higher the skill the less time it takes to do the job. Maintenance level may also be affected by repairing and ghosts haunting. Tinkering is not necessary, but it raises fun and hobby. It can substitute maintenance, though it has lower impact. At both interactions sims have a chance to fail and break something or reveal and fix hidden fault.

Little details about electrical box.
- It's crappy by default and gets crappier when broken.
- Sims may get lectured for breaking it.
- Not everyone knows how to repair or even open it.
- You can have more than one.
- It can't be put in inventory, stolen or repossessed.
- Angry and happy ghosts may have different impact on it.
- Rent agreement mod (clipboard) works with it.
- Unless it's centralized power outage, apartment neighbors have electricity in their units.
- Busy hours are 19-22, and in addition - 10-12 on week-ends on livable lots.

Interactions
Animated:
- Repair - repair phone wire, change blown fuses, repair circuit breaker, adjust new equipment, finish the fixing, tackle all the problems
- Maintain
- Tinker for fun
- Close (for the sims leave the box open if they didn't finish repair, and sloppy sims leave the box open anyways)
- Switch circuit breaker On & Off
- Look inside (if the box is open, sims may autonomously get curious, especially if they love tinkering or aspire for knowledge; after that they may proceed to tinkering if they are enthusiastic enough)
- Look around & Stop (hidden reactions)
Setting:
- Upgrade - buy circuit breaker, buy surge protector, buy money-saving meter
- Set conditions - normal house in problem area, decayed house in normal area, everything is bad, everything is normal
Debug:
- Power On & Off
- Phone line On & Off
- Reset conditions
- Show stats

Objects that may break
- stereo (short circuit and voltage spike)
- television (short circuit and voltage spike)
- computer (short circuit and voltage spike)
- garden sprinkler (short circuit)
- trash compactor (short circuit)
- microwave (short circuit)
- dishwasher (short circuit)
- electrical box (various reasons)

Your head is probably exploding from the amount of information already, but it was just the top of the iceberg.

Cheap Rent Agreement - simulating living in a cheap apartment.
This object is simpler. You can't buy it - only get it by clicking on the electrical box. Terms: living in apartment and setting at least one electrical box's condition (area or building) to bad. It appears on the floor and instantly recalculates your rent. After that you don't need to do anything. Use it as a decoration - it looks like a clipboard that you've seen in game, but with improved texture. It has to stay in apartment - on family's private territory. If you delete the agreement, the rent will revert to normal. If you delete the electrical box and don't buy new one or reset the living conditions to good, the agreement will self-destruct and the rent will revert to normal.
If you don't have Apartment life, you won't be able to get it in game, so there's no point in downloading it.
Cheap Rent Agreement will also support pipeline and air-vent, when they are ready. They will count as bad living conditions, too.

The Back-up Candle
This candle works without power and has modified interactions. I've made it before I found a way to make in-game candles light up without power. Since I did found a way, this candle is not that needed anymore, but I still like it and will upload it.

Whew! I'm done. I hope I've told everything important. Don't forget to back up! And then let me know what you think. :D

I was testing some fire situations and realized I forgot to include ceiling sprinklers into the system. I suppose they must use power to extinguish fires? So I've included them, also fixed a bug with cash registers and updated the file (electricalbox-1.0.zip).
If you already placed the electrical box somewhere, the box may reset to its initial state or throw an error, don't be scared. If you want to be super safe, sell the old box first, save the lot without the box on it, quit the game and then replace the file (that's why I recommend not to put it on your "good" lots just yet).

That made me think about burglar alarms. In your head - are they wireless or connected? So far I decided they work on batteries, as well as fire alarm / smoke detector.

Looking forward to hearing from you

I tried it out this afternoon. Nothing actually happened - probably because I set it on normal. But, in good news, it didn't apparently clash with anything that I have in my mods folder - no errors. I have a lot. I will try it again setting it on the lower setting. You uploaded the updated file to your previous post yes?

Yes, I did.

As for nothing happened. I didn't want the mod to be annoying, so the chances of events are pretty low. It's still a subject for tweaking. For testing purposes try setting to "everything is bad" and/or buying extra box (you can have more then one). If you still find it not often enough, I'll raise up the chances.

Thank you!

No, no - it's fine if it's only occasional. One of the things I was thinking was that for ordinary lots I would like to see some issues come up but I don't want to be dealing with them all the time. So, I was trying it out thinking - 'let's see how often something comes up' and whether it's like EAxis 'occasional' which means every other day. I only played for a couple of days but that's fine for me. I'll keep going and see what happens. I'll also try with the higher setting.

Slowly writing a description for future download page. Figured, potential testers and advisers might be interested in this info too.

Can a person be electrocuted?
As any device, the box may shock a person when repairing. There is an exception - if electricity is cut off externally and does not enter the box at all (for example, an accident at the power plant due to a storm). If the power is out due to a breakdown in the box itself, the box may electrocute because the current flows to the box.
As for repairing electronics and household appliances, I excluded electrocution, if electricity does not flow to the device. If a circuit breaker is installed in the box, it can be turned off for a while for this purpose.

Objects that will NOT work, sound, animate and emit light, if power is off:


Objects that WILL work, if power is off, but may have limitations:


Custom objects. Very interested in testing results in this area!
If an object of the certain category operates pretty much like maxis clone, it should behave as intended. Those categories of objects are:

Other objects like musical instruments are done by GUIDs, so custom ones won't be recognised by the mod, unfortunately, but there is a way to modify custom object to check for power.

Interactions


Throw questions at me and I'll answer.

If you're going to link by GUID for objects like electric pianos (for example), what you could do is include information on the DL page about which BCONs need to be altered ( assume it's BCONs). Those people who are able will be able to edit your mod to their liking.

It's a little more complicated than that. To manipulate objects through my mod I wrote a bunch of separate BHAVs, because a way to turn an object off is different for every type. Lights, sounds, textures, animations, effects, attributes - all different. I would need to know exactly how a hypothetical piano works... Might be easier to modify the piano itself.
I guess, I could make some generic interaction disabling BHAV with no specifics to be extendable through BCONs. It's actually a very interesting idea. Thanks!

Well, if you can do something about it, I'm sure there'd be a (small) number of people interested in that but I'm pretty sure your mod will be popular without it so if it's a lot of trouble, don't worry about it.

I can safely disable object's interactions pretty much regardless of its type. I can trust people to add any custom object's guid and sims will not be able to use that object during power outage. Things like light, effects and animations are not that safe - try to disable them on a wrong object or in a wrong way, and the mod will choke on it. I guess, disabling interactions will still be helpful in supporting the whole power outage immersion. I'll definitely try to do my best.

Meanwhile started plotting for the pipeline. Thinking massive flood, water outage, broken plumbing/appliances, broken pipe, water contamination... If only I could resurrect water/energy usage counting system without too many global overrides.

Sounds great

The fire sprinkler systems that I've seen around here require no power to work. If I understand it correctly, the heat from a fire melts or breaks a plug in the sprinkler head and sets it off. No electricity required.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_sprinkler#Operation

Real smoke detectors and burglar alarms do have battery backups. They'd better because both fires and burglars can knock out the power to a building.

I think this is a really neat idea and I look forward to trying it out in my game.

Thanks for educating me. I'm learning so much stuff with this mod! Ceiling sprinklers are out then.

This sounds like a really interesting idea! Going off you first post, I'd like to add that finding random money on the ground doesn't sound like a good idea (it's a bit too unrealistic to find new bills in your own house), the lower rent should be enough in my opinion. As for another positive thing, I guess improving the Mechanical skill reasonably fast from repairing or tinkering with the thing? This kind of reminds me of upgrade housing in the handheld version of Urbz where you could upgrade your apartment to have lower bills or a better burglar alarm, it's not exactly the same I know, but it's still cool!