[27/08/2021 - Testers wanted!] New version of my Off-Grid Plumbing mod
NEW! 27th August 2021 New versions for testing - please see post
https://modthesims.info/showthread....995#post5770995 for details
------------------------------------- Old stuff below :P---------------------------------
16/05/2021 New versions for testing - please see
this post for details. Thanks!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey there,
So I have been working on a new version of
this mod for quite a while now. As I mentioned in the Future Plans section of the description, I really wanted to have a more realistic way of representing water in the game. So rather than having buckets that need to be used all at once, I made a version which uses pails that can be filled up at the well, and then depending on the interaction, a certain amount of water in the pail will be used up.
I had some problems with it, but I think I have it working now so there shouldn't be any weird behaviour, but because the original versions had problems I didn't even notice for a long time (and still has a couple of minor things I need to upload the fixes for :p), I figured I would get this version properly tested before uploading it officially.
I tested this version on a longer-term basis and found some issues, and I have tested the fixed version in a short-term way, and all seems to be working right, but I would really appreciate some external testers just to make sure I haven't missed anything.
Details
I separated this version of the mod into 4 parts - there is the main package with the interactions, ITUNS, etc.., the well itself, the water storage barrels, and the pail.
It works in effect the same way as the original one, in that each plumbing interaction has a certain amount of "water" which is required to complete the interaction. The difference is that instead of buckets, you need to purchase pails, and then fill them up at the well. The pails have a certain capacity
(currently set to 3 and isn't tunable at the moment) which is tunable (kmaxAmount in xml called Sims3.Gameplay.Objects.Miscellaneous.zoeoe_WaterMod.Pail) default set to 5, and so then the amount the interaction requires is taken from the pails. Water can also be stored in the barrels once you have collected it in the pails, and like with the original, all sims in the household can use the water from the barrels.
The amount of water each interaction uses is as follows, but is also tunable (in the FW_Interactions package, the xml file called zoeoe_WaterMod.Interactions):
<kWashHandsWater value="0.25" />
<kFlushToiletWater value="0.25" />
<kWashDishesWater value="0.5" />
<kSpongeBathWater value="0.5" />
<kTakeShowerWater value="2" />
<kTakeBathWater value="3" />
<kTakeBubbleBathWater value="3.5" />
<kScubaAdventureWater value="4" />
<kBatheLargeDogWater value="2" />
<kBatheSmallPetWater value="1" />
<kUseAllInOneBathroomWater value="2" />
The pails can be dragged into sims' inventories, or can be Put In Inventory with the interaction. Once the pail is in the inventory, the sim can Collect Water, which will make the sim go to the well and fill up the pail that was clicked on. If the sim has multiple pails, you can click on the Well and Collect Water, to fill up all pails in the sim's inventory. You can't fill up a pail that's already full, and if you don't have any pails, the interaction on the well should be greyed out, as well as if all the pails in the inventory are full.
The barrels and the pails have an immediate interaction called Check Water, which will tell you the total amount of water in them, as well as the available water. There is an explanation of what this means in the original description, under Technicalities, but it's basically for when sims start their interaction, the water needed is locked so other sims can't use it before the sim actually reaches the object and uses up the water. It also means if the interaction is cancelled, the water should become available again.
There are still a few things I need to clean up, such as the Check Water notification using the old text which refers to buckets, as well as the greyed out message for when there are no pails to fill at the well not being localised, but they hopefully won't be a problem to fix.
Installation
This new version will conflict with the original ones, so if you have been using them, you'll need to uninstall them and delete your script cache. Remember that if you are going to play without the mod in a save that was affected by the original mod, you'll need to reset the town before uninstalling to make sure no sims are using the custom interactions. This will be the same for this new version too.
To install the new ones, just place the 4 packages in your Mods folder. You could merge them if you want, but for testing purposes, it's probably easiest to keep them separate, and it makes it easier to edit any of the xml or ITUNs to tune the interactions how you want them.
It would probably be the safest option to play with this mod in a brand new save, just in case there is a problem, it won't affect your beloved sims, but as long as the old versions and this versions have been unistalled correctly (resetting the town first) there shouldn't be anything more disastrous than a bunch of proxy objects filling in for the removed ones.
You will find the objects in the misc decor section or sculptures - there is the well, the barrels, and the pail.
Note that the barrels require WA and the pail requires Pets, because they are objects cloned from those packs.
Testing
The main function of the mod should be working fine, but of course I'd appreciate some extra opinions :p
The difference with this mod is that there are no bucket objects, and so the water is really just a number, so my main concern is something messing up directly with using water, but there are also some general things which will apply to the original mod too.
So here are some questions:
Do all the water collecting interactions work properly?
Are there any blank strings, for the interactions or notifications?
Do the plumbing interactions only work when you have the required amount of water?
When you have enough water, do the interactions use up the correct amount of water properly?
Do you notice any issues with the locked water - when you stop an interaction, is the water made available again?
Are all the interactions autonamous as expected - eg do sims use the shower on their own when their hygiene is low, and does the water get used up properly?
Only active sims are affected, so do sims who come over to visit use plumbing objects as normal without your water being taken up? This might be a bit hard to test, because showering and stuff will be "inappropriate behaviour", but you could check when a guest is using the toilet, if before and after they flush, if the water in the barrels has gone down.
Are there any issues with non-active sims using plumbing objects? If you have NRaas error trap or Overwatch, do you notice any strange behaviour when sims are using plumbing objects?
Weird mod conflicts - this is the part I am most dreading, as @
Franklee300 actually found some weird conflicts with NRaas WrittenWord, and the mod that stops the toe tapping animation.
We figured out that NRaas Shooless conflicted with my mod, but that's because they both replace the plumbing interactions, but my mod should not affect bookstores, or the jazz files, so I really have no clue why my mod would cause problems. What I'm hoping is that something else was going on there, and messing up in the way that sims 3 just does sometimes, but I figured I would use this opportunity of hopefully getting some willing testers to check this out if you do play with either of those mods.
And lastly, any other small issues, or ideas to make it function any better in some way?
I know this is a lot to look out for, but what would be great if you could basically play as you normally would, maybe with a big family, maybe rotationally - basically play for a while and see if you notice anything working incorrectly, any weird behaviour, or if there is something that doesn't work as intuitively as you want.
And if you can be bothered to set up scenarios to test specific situations, that would be great, but it's just really to check that in a general play session, things are working fine, as well as on extended play.
I would really appreciate anyone who can help out with this
Onto the files:
There are two versions of the scripts - one in which all plumbing objects in the world are off-grid for the active sims (All), one in which only the lots with either a well or a stack of barrels are off-grid (Specified). So if you play rotationally and only some households will be off-grid, you want the specified version, and you will need to place a well or just the barrels and have the well elsewhere, in order for the plumbing objects to require water.
So to install you need to put in your mods folder the 3 objects, and one interactions package
Thanks so much!