Mod to Change Active Households

jordand

Is there a mod that allows you to change active households within one version of a saved game? I know you can start a new save game, but I was just wondering if it was possible within one saved game.

TreyNutz

Without mods you just go into Edit Town, select the household, then in the pop up choose Switch To This Household. I think NRaas has a mod that allows you to switch with a right click. I might be wrong about that, I rarely switch active families in my saves.

jordand

Will your original family in the saved file keep progressing though? If possible, I want to be able to switch families, but have their lives continue even when they're not the active household.

TreyNutz

Well, yes, sort of. Story Progression will take over and run their lives, EA's version or NRaas StoryProgression if you have that installed. So they should progress to the extent the game does so, like any other inactive family in the world.

They'll lose all the wants you promised, and perhaps some things in their inventories (I've heard the multi-tab from the store gets deleted) and possibly everything in the refrigerator. I'm trying to remember all the consequences I've read about. Perhaps others will post more information.

I'm not sure about emigration. I thought I read that EA's Story Progression won't emigrate families you've played out of the world (which is permanent) but then I read about a case where that might have happened. I know NRaas SP has that off by default (but you can change it).

jordand

Thanks for the info! It sounds like NRaas' version of Story Progression might work better than EA's. I've been considering getting a few of their mods, but they seem a little intimidating to me. Lol

TreyNutz

NRass SP is a big complicated one. It's a steep learning curve but you can customize your game quite a bit with it. I had it in my game a few months before I started looking into various options.

bklienhart

Story Progression is complicated, but you can ignore all that. just install it with the defaults and it will run 1000x times better than the default SP.

Minx

Not only that, but they have little FAQ/tutorial type things to help you do what you need to do. They definitely have made my simming much more enjoyable. Today, I had an issue with something in game that was annoying me... I googled a mod... Nraas came up, and I was like... of course THEY have a mod for what I need.

Zeri

ive been running nraas story mod for so long i dont even remember how ea story progression operates lol. but yeah in my game, i can switch to another family in edit town, and the other family will still age and progress on their own. sometimes sp will give thme new jobs, which is a little annoying if i plan to go back to them, but not a huge deal really. most of my items stay put, only wishes are lost. not sure if that is just a nraas thing. i used to be a one family per save game only kinda girl, but lately i have been mixing it up a little. instead of just starting a new save when i get bored of a family, i just move a new one in and continue. takes so long sometimes to get a town the way i like it, sucks to start over

igazor

Once you get a bit used to how StoryProgression works, you may want to take a look at this recent thread where we were discussing Rotational Play. You can, if you want, designate the household you are rotating out of to just stop progressing entirely or you can create a caste for them that allows you to tune what it is they are allowed to do or not do while you are playing elsewhere. SP is much less randomly engined than the EA version, but you will still find it trying to give your now inactive sims new jobs, split up and move households, make babies, learn new skills you hadn't really intended them to learn, etc. But it's all controllable.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/12998941

Emigration does not happen at all with SP engaged, unless you take some rather complicated steps on purpose to allow it.

If you switch active households using an NRaas "Dream Catcher" interaction (by way of MasterController, StoryProgression, PortraitPanel, or Selector), the household you left behind will not lose its dreams and wishes. In the case of each mod, you would have to switch Dream Catcher on in its settings. You can also use SP to designate which households have Dream Catcher running. It's not advisable to run that across the entire town as doing so eats up game resources, but I've never had any problems having DC running on three or four households at a time. The following page explains how it works (scroll to the very bottom). The Dreamer mod is not required for this, but it's a nice add-on if you like its extra effects.
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/Dreamer+FAQ

Sims won't sell everything in their inventories if you use the Rotational Play strategy above and disallow Inventory Management. You may find a lot of personal items shifted to the family inventory when you return, though.

I've never had the contents of a sim's refrigerator get disturbed when switching households by using an NRaas command, although prepared foods will continue to age until they spoil. Messing up the fridge contents entirely is a "feature" of EA switching.

Sims' Multi-Tabs will not disappear on switching in/out if you add the PocketProtector mod. There is also a module available to similarly protect SNL potion display cases.
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/PocketProtector

And finally, all about SP and how best to get started with it although as others have stated there is nothing wrong with adding just the base mod and leaving things on default settings in the beginning:
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/StoryProgression+FAQ

BlackSand

@jordand ...

With Story Progression I started to learn it by approaching it in small doses.

If you open up the NRaas Story Progression tab ... You get a face full of options to mess with.
Each time you play ... Just take a moment to investigate one of those options.

It won't take long until the whole mess starts making sense.

.

jordand

Thank you all for giving me such info! I downloaded the Nraas SP today. I didn't mess with the settings though. For now, I'm just watching to see how it works. A few questions I have though....

To change active households, I need to use the Edit Town option?

Also, how can I turn off some of the notifications it gives for every sim in that particular world? It seemed like the notifications were constant.

igazor

Changing Households

MasterController - (on the household or sim)
NRaas > MC > Household > Make Active or
NRaas > MC > Sim > Make Active

StoryProgression- (on the household lot or sim)
NRaas > SP > Make Active

PortraitPanel-
If you have any inactive sims in your PP (the icons of sims on the left side of your screen), left-click on their icons in the panel to make them active

Selector-
Has on option to right-click on any sim to make them active (on by default). I keep this switched off because I kept clumsily switching households when I was really trying to re-focus the game camera on them.

All of the above can be Dream Catcher switches, if you allow such in their options. Selector is always a Dream Catcher switch.


By Edit Town-
This is the EA way to switch, without mods. It will still work with mods, but it won't be a Dream Catcher or an NRaas operation, so not sure if basic things like protecting the refrigerator's contents are invoked this way.


When SP first takes hold, a lot of inactive sims are going to get new jobs, skills, move to new houses if available, form relationships, etc. very quickly. Hence the barrage of notifications. This also happens when you start playing just about any new world, if it's populated. Things calm down after a while, but you can control which story notifications you don't want to see.
http://nraas.wikispaces.com/StoryProgression+FAQ (click on "What is a Story?" in the TOC on the right)

TadOlson

I've got about 79 NRaas Mod files and use Selector to switch households if I see a sim from the household I want to play next.I also use make active from MC or story progression if I don't see any sims and click on their house.I've had nothing happen to the leftovers in a sim's fridge other than the food going bad and sims eating it after it spoils.I've even had them prepare means and leave it out to spoil and had to put it in a storage box when I switch to that family.

SiskaNewbie

I used Nras to make a homeless sim living in a public commercial lot park. His name is Hobo Harry Rumbo. Insane, temperamental, mooching, slob who likes the outdoors. His home is the park right in front of city hall. With Nras I made him unable to buy a new home, get married or to search for jobs. Of course with all the gems and stuff he collects he is actually now quite wealthy. But he will never settle down in a home or the gnomes might find him!

TadOlson

I've had a couple living at Garden Market in my Oak Leaf legacy until there was a house they could move into available.I might have a warehouse set up as a hobo camp for some homeless sims in hard times.

Karenn

i want this in the sims 4 to switch households in game fast. wish someone could make a mod for it.