SimsonianLibrary
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Upcoming Projects in Progress
🕑 Added 2023-09-04 04:34:05 +0000 UTC
Here's a sneak peak at the next two things I'm working on. I have them far enough along that I'm confident that they'll 'work' and be completed.
Enchanted Items
I was looking over the list of old AD&D spells again to see if there were any others that I might adapt to the Sims 4 for Classic RPG Spells. I spotted Enchant Item, and decided to take it on.
The Enchant Item spell will allow your spellcasters to use an Enchanter's Workbench to create magic scrolls and wands.
The basics as far as I have them working right now
To create a magic item, either a scroll or a wand at this point, your spellcaster needs to know the spell that they are enchanting the item with. So in order to create a Wand of Delicioso, your sim needs to know Delicioso.
Scrolls contain the same spells as potions, and are also single use. You can use the to either cast the 'potion/spell' on yourself or another sim, or you can learn the spell from the scroll if your spellcaster doesn't know it yet. In addition to having to know how to make the potion corresponding to the scroll, your sim must also have all the ingredients normally required by the potion, an empty scroll (purchasable in the Magic Realm), and a Mote.
Wands contain regular spells, and contain a number of charges, based on the level of the creator. To enchant a wand, your sim must have the appropriate type of wand for the spell and a Mote.
Spells and scroll potions cast by an enchanted item are cast at the level of the spellcaster who created the item. This allows spellcasters who may not know a spell to use a magic item that casts it.
You can both buy and sell these in the Magic Realm.
Anyway, I have a ways to go on this. I'm about 1/3 of the way through the items I need to create tuning for, but it's a lot of tedious copy/pasting.
Family History Mod
We don't have a great sim family tree system in the Sims 4, and when a new sims enters the world, it kind of appears from nowhere.
I came up with an idea to enable Sims to research their family history and put together their own genealogy. There's a 'Research Genealogy' interaction on the computers, and this mod makes that do something (though most of the tasks in the mod are not on the computer).
I added a Family Lore skill that represents partly what your sims knows about their own family, and partly how well they know how to do genealogical research. In addition, I added a Research Progress mechanic very similar to Scientific Breakthroughs from the Get to Work Scientist career. Your sim can research their genealogy, and once they get to a certain point they'll have a breakthrough and learn something new about their background.
Your sim can research by
- Reading certain historical books in the library
- Searching for Rare Documents in the library
- Analyzing Memorabilia found in the Sim Historical Society Annex cabinets in a region your sim's ancestors came from.
- Using the metal detector to find buried memorabilia and analyzing it.
- Talking to other sims in regions that your sim's ancestors came from.
- Analyzing gravestones
- Visiting Mediums
- Probably some more things as I'm thinking of them
Ancestral Traits
There are a lot of them. There are traits for each region. If you go to a region that some of your ancestors were from, you get a positive buff, as well as extra luck when doing genealogical research there.
There are notable ancestor traits, where your ancestor was a famous professional of some sort, like a doctor or an athlete. These give your sim an interest in that field, as well as a slight aptitude for it.
There are legendary ancestor traits, where your ancestor was a legendary spellcaster, pirate, mermaid, Royalty, etc. These give your sim a variety of bonuses, as well as attitudes in some cases.
To make this all a bit more real, each of the 57 notable and legendary ancestors has a name and a backstory. And a portrait, thanks to Dwayne (see below).
Passing the Knowledge On
Once your sim learns about some of their history, they can teach relatives about it so that they will get the benefits of those traits as well, eg, a grandparent teaching a grandchild their family history will result in the child acquiring all of the ancestral traits that the grandparent has.
Your sim can also create a Family History book that will keep track of their ancestral traits, and allow family members who read it (down through the generations) to also have those traits.
Distant Relatives
There's a chance that you will find distant relatives that have some of the same notable or legendary ancestors as you. I'm keeping track of this, but haven't entirely decided what to do with it yet, other than enable the creation of an extended family reunion event.
The Paintings
I'm adding a ton of paintings in this mod, mostly (fictitious) historical portraits and landscapes that correspond to the ancestors that are discovered during research.
I'm working with an AI (whom I've named Dwayne...) to come up with the paintings, because I'm a lousy artist, and I can't afford to pay a real artist for dozens of paintings for a free mod.
Anyway, with the right art direction, and some custom models, Dwayne does a pretty good job, so there will be a LOT of new paintings in this one.
Hensford-On-Bagley Landscape, by Dwayne
I don't know when I'm going to get either of these done. But they are coming along. The mechanics all seem to work, so I need to finish up the scrolls and wands for Enchanted Items (I'm about 1/4 through) and do a lot of copying and pasting to finish Family History.
I'm also trying to get a lot of small bug fixes out for a number of my other mods, but I can only fix bugs for so long in one sitting, else it starts to feel like work. :D
Anyway, I'd love any feedback or ideas that anyone has about these two new projects or any others.
Thanks for your support!
Comments
Simsonian Library
Also, since I wrote the above post, I've been looking more into how the Paranormal Pack would fit in. I can see a lot of possibilities, including getting haunted by ancestors, etc.
Simsonian Library
I have something like 'memorabilia' added, where you can find things like old letters that give you clues, but hadn't considered heirlooms. I like that idea, especially heirloom recipes, but have to figure out the best way of implementing that in-game. For example, 'heirloom seeds' would be super cool, but there isn't any reasonable way that I can think of to track individual instances of plant seeds across owners, and then propagate that to their own seeds. At least not in a way that would plug into the current game logic (but who knows...sometimes I come up with things).
Simsonian Library
These are some great ideas! I've been pondering the best way of handling an ancestral sentiment system of some sort, including some type of old feud. I've been trying to imagine the best way of handling 'regional sentiments'. So far, the only ones I've implemented are giving those with Brindleton and Sulani ancestors a slight predilection for fishing.
Naturalitarian
The family history mod is right up my alley!! Both of these are such fantastic ideas I am so excited for them. Regarding the family history mod, and what to do about the extended family connections, will it be possible to have family dynamics with them ? Now I am going to share some ideas, just for your consideration to take or leave as you like. No pressure whatsoever. What have you done is already above and beyond anything I could have dreamt of and I am so excited and grateful. Ideas: Could the traits work with something like a compatibility system so some sims with certain region and family traits will not get along with each other because of old, long-standing feuds? Maybe some sims from certain regions could have old family feuds as a part of their lore and this could make forming relationships with sims from that area harder. Another idea is the idea of family heirlooms. Could we designate items as heirlooms and then we can name them to keep track of them and they could increase in value over time? Items such as the ones that are associated with the family genealogy discovery would be good but it would be awesome to be able to designate other items as heirlooms such as art made by a family member or wearable and displayable modded jewellery from Piedpiper. Being able to pass down family recipes through an interaction that teaches the sim and unlockable recipe without them having to taste it first would be awesome. Then when they pass on the recipe it could give a sentiment called sharing/learning family recipes. Heir and Spare traits with the ability to choose a distant relative as an heir allowing them to receive and claim the heirlooms- could be a possible integration with Dale heir and spare traits mod. A family business buff they receive if they get a job in a career that they have an ancestor had. Long lost relative scenario where there is a chance a distant relative could call to stay over as you get closer to find them via the genealogy skill. Could the family inheritance dead relative call be more likely to be triggered based on the genealogy and then you could find out who died maybe? Inheritance event where you can read the will of a distant relative or relative and pass the heirloom to the heir and then get some money if the funeral and will reading goes well. TLDR: As you can see, I got a bit carried away because I am such a huge fan of your work. Feel free to ignore all of this or use what you like. Thank you for sharing your creativity with us.
