Dev Blog: 08/06/2021

Hello everyone! Hope you've been enjoying the new patch and/or the pack!

It is now August 6th, unfortunately for me (hopefully not for you guys), and I'm extremely disappointed because I really, really, wanted to get the planned mods out before Cottage Living had hit. Besides a few days of break, helping others, or working on a mod, I only just finished the last of my updates for the patch, which is frustrating. But I'm still focusing on the mods though, and now that I'm not in a total rush will hopefully have some more detailed goodies throughout the month to post, rather than shoving them at you all at once.

Most of the work I've gotten done in-between mod updates, and since my last dev blog, is mostly internal stuff so I don't have any pictures of gameplay (though I'll add a few pics to show what I'm explaining).

📌 Arranged Marriages

First up, Arranged Marriage's test system between parents is almost complete! I've added the tests for some careers, skill, fame, money, nobility & royalty (compatibility with Llazyneiph's Royalty Mod, I will talk to Kiara about her Royal Family mod at some point), and even added tests for traits (those more likely to accept or refuse, and those most likely to succeed or fail), current mood, current character values, and even some misc related stuff like spell or potion buffs. I still have reputation, "boosters" to increase your chances, sentiments, and relationships left to do but I'm so happy to be almost done with that humongous file! I still have to test after I finish to make sure it's working as intended, but I've been mentally calculating the chances as I work, so hopefully there won't be too much tweaking when I'm done.

Here's the royalty section for example. These are a list of TestSets being scored, which are a separate file I am referencing. Inside those TestSets I have a list of the Royalty/Nobility trait IDs from Seb's mod (with permission of course, if you were wondering!) and test against the actor and target (so active sim vs clicked sim) in order to determine if they get the listed score. I consider royals with royals, royals with advisors, and royals with peasants (though there is no trait for them yet) and vice versa. I don't have a separate system for nobility with royalty, though if people want me to add it eventually I will do so.

As I mentioned this testing system is currently only between the parents/relatives arranging for other family members, it doesn't consider any black sheep in the family or the people you are arranging for. I do not plan to do those now because I want to get Version 1 released to you guys as soon as possible and that would take a long time to implement, but it is in my plans to do (if possible), though they will not be as impactful as the main one. 

After I do finish up the testing system I still have to make the "break arrangement" options for both individuals and the arrangers, some socials to help with storytelling, a few misc things like dowry, an arrangement option for the person asking (for those who need it), as well as the final big hurdle: finding a way to enable the romance interactions without causing conflicts. I can't just make separate interactions for everything like I originally planned to do because then script mods won't "see" them (like WW), and I can't override them through tuning, so the only logical way is through script (at least I hope, I can talk to Turbo and others later about it). This section of the mod is also going to take a bit, but once these are done Version 1 can finally release! I of course have a looot more planned for future updates, but for now I just want to get the original version I planned released. 

📌 Broom & Medieval Dance

I don't have much to report on these at the moment. Medieval Dance has a couple of bugs left to investigate and I still need to do some other stuff for it. One of the bugs is that I saw a toddler turn into a string demon while dancing and I was not expecting it since I made sure to only override adult stuff, but apparently I missed something...sigh.

For the broom, Panda saved me some time by separating one of the modern brooms for me from it's wooden board, so now I can just focus on the finishing touches. I also decided on another system to add to it, not too large or too small, that will allow you to slot a broom to the wooden board and another hook system, that way they can be placed outside your inventory and not awkwardly lay on the floor. I'm hoping they won't be a pain to implement but they shouldn't be. Really want to get this released!

📌 Tutorials

I have a mini tutorial releasing soon covering how to shrink world icons. Someone was asking me about making a mod for it but I simply don't have the time to maintain it the way I want, so I'm writing a tutorial on the process for them to do it themselves. Fairly easy to do, and hopefully it allows a few of you to dip your toes into UI editing. I'll release one tutorial on setup, second tutorial on the shrinking.

📌 Update on that secret project

For those who remember that Bard+ post back in May where I discussed this demon project (Merchants didn't have access):

I FINALLY conquered it! I not only got it mostly stabilized (still a few mesh issues) but it WORKS! I still won't reveal what it is because if it fails I'll feel extremely bad for saying what it is, but the fact that it works is amazing and hopefully you guys will be happy to have it once it's complete! I had to resist the urge to tell you guys what it was the other day because I was so excited and almost in tears once it started working. This was one of those projects I was afraid to do (for good reason!) but it's working now and I'm so relieved. Just a few more things left to get working before I can reveal it....Wish me luck!

I should say this project won't interfere with the others. It's a long term project that I'm taking somewhat slowly, because I've already burnt myself out on it before back in May where I barely did anything else other than work on it non-stop. 

Anyhow, have a great week! I'll hopefully have some more info/previews in a week.