One of the most annoying things is when you tell one to read that skill book, and their needs don't diminish and they should be fine, they get up and hide it, and go talk to someone else. I play eight Sims in most of my Sim households. These are enough to make me wish I had a peashooter just to knock them off one by one when they interrupt each other. Or just stop and hide the books.
I have a different issue. In this pic (adequately named: So Smart, It's 🐸🐸🐸🐸), you'll see that dude decided a tasty meal was more important to him than peeing himself. I've brought it up plenty of times. But apparently I must have mods, CC, or computer issues. *shakes head to all*
NOTE: His hunger never hit yellow.
I've had this happen, too. It makes me wonder what the thinking was when programming what Sims are supposed to do when left to their own devices.
And I also have no mods or CC. I don't even have anything from the Gallery. Nothing to conflict with the way the game is supposed to work.
I played one household where I controlled only one Sim but would click on the others to check status. Some of the others wouldn't bathe until they had the "totally dirty" dirt all over themselves. None of them would clean dishes (even though having a dirty place made them all Uncomfortable). Even the ones that had the Neat trait didn't do dishes. Their Energy was constantly blood red but they'd only take naps (which barely nudges the Energy bar). At one point, every sink, shower and toilet (not to mention the refrigerator, TV and radio) in the house was broken, yet none of them took the initiate to do any repairs.
Could that be because I needed to give them a point in handiness?
No one did their daily requirements. Several of them never even went to their appointed places of business during the day. Needless to say, they didn't do well, performance-wise.
In the end, I had to abandon that game because I found it too frustrating. It's one of the reasons I started this thread -- I assumed I MUST have done something wrong. I need to do some experimenting, I think.
I played one household where I controlled only one Sim but would click on the others to check status. Some of the others wouldn't bathe until they had the "totally dirty" dirt all over themselves. None of them would clean dishes (even though having a dirty place made them all Uncomfortable). Even the ones that had the Neat trait didn't do dishes. Their Energy was constantly blood red but they'd only take naps (which barely nudges the Energy bar). At one point, every sink, shower and toilet (not to mention the refrigerator, TV and radio) in the house was broken, yet none of them took the initiate to do any repairs.
Could that be because I needed to give them a point in handiness?
No one did their daily requirements. Several of them never even went to their appointed places of business during the day. Needless to say, they didn't do well, performance-wise.
In the end, I had to abandon that game because I found it too frustrating. It's one of the reasons I started this thread -- I assumed I MUST have done something wrong. I need to do some experimenting, I think.
Hm. This sounds like it could work well as a legacy challenge with a twist
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
Didn't read previous posts because I'm good like that.
But my thoughts on autonomy are:
- it's terrible
- however it does mean my sims will not wet themselves on the carpet
- and it actually gives me something to do
However "Care for Self" - where I have no choice - that needs to work better than it does - at least get sims to finish the queues I setup before I left - or prioritize doing daily tasks etc better.
I played one household where I controlled only one Sim but would click on the others to check status. Some of the others wouldn't bathe until they had the "totally dirty" dirt all over themselves. None of them would clean dishes (even though having a dirty place made them all Uncomfortable). Even the ones that had the Neat trait didn't do dishes. Their Energy was constantly blood red but they'd only take naps (which barely nudges the Energy bar). At one point, every sink, shower and toilet (not to mention the refrigerator, TV and radio) in the house was broken, yet none of them took the initiate to do any repairs.
Could that be because I needed to give them a point in handiness?
No one did their daily requirements. Several of them never even went to their appointed places of business during the day. Needless to say, they didn't do well, performance-wise.
In the end, I had to abandon that game because I found it too frustrating. It's one of the reasons I started this thread -- I assumed I MUST have done something wrong. I need to do some experimenting, I think.
They're not going to repair broken stuff and they're definitely not going to carry out their job's daily tasks. They usually should go to their jobs by themselves if they're in the mood (if their plumbob isn't red).
Have you tried using auto-solve? Click on the circular icon beside their needs bar that are in the red or orange, they would be able to cook for themselves or use the toilet, etc.
I'm not too sure if this is a glitch in your game or maybe you're not used to playing with more than one sim. Maybe you could try playing with two sims first before doing family challenges, etc. You might have to practice a bit, I'm guessing!
Hmm. My sims pick up dishes by themself. They go and take a shower, go to sleep and so forth. Might be because it is a family with three sims, fewer to train. Come to think of it all my families are small. The father in my main family started to help the child with her homework yesterday on his own.
Well actually, when I start a family that I haven't played for quite some time in my rotation they will start up with the toilet-bar in the red zone.
But you are micromanaging. If you turn your Sims loose you will find out they aren't that smart. They are just as silly as the TS1 Sims because their social is full (unlike TS1 Sims who could never fill their social) but they will keep moving around and running down other Sims who are 'busy' and interrupt them and cause things to fall out of queue inorder to make them talk or hug them. The OP is talking about why aren't they doing what they need to do, because they can't get past the need to group talk and play musical chairs.
Yes, they are 'fine and very happy' if you micro manage which I do micromanage and find I have to cancel group talks and musical chairs just to get them to do what I want and to stop putting away the skill book for the tenth time. But micromanaging is not free will left up to them.
You find out fast they are worse than all the other games if you care they didn't do what you told them to go do if you leave them to it.
You can't leave them to it. They're too smart to do what you told them to do for long periods of time.
One of the most annoying things is when you tell one to read that skill book, and their needs don't diminish and they should be fine, they get up and hide it, and go talk to someone else. I play eight Sims in most of my Sim households. These are enough to make me wish I had a peashooter just to knock them off one by one when they interrupt each other. Or just stop and hide the books.
I gave up on skill books within the first week of playing. It is a bit sad, considering how important those have been in previous sims games, but I never could find any logic in the way sims pick up a book, decide where to sit and read it and how long to read for.
If I have more than 1 bookcase on the lot (very likely), they never go to the one I direct them to, and there is no logic to which one they pick, so I can adapt. I have the same issue with the pc's, but in that case, they always go for the nearest one, so I solve it by telling them to go to the room with the pc I want them to use first. With the books, I can direct them to the nearest one, but they will go to the office in the basement instead, pick up the book, then walk back to the first bookcase to read it. There is not one preferred bookcase, or one preferred reading spot - there are a few preferred spots to put the books down, but it is hardly ever a surface in the room they are reading in. They put the books down way too fast, even if no other sims are interrupting (I micromanage them all, so no one gets to interrupt), and ultimately the reading experience is just so frustrating, that I do it as little as possible. Manually putting the books in their inventory helps, but it is too many clicks and too annoying for me in the long run, but I do use that option when they are reading books to the kids.
I play by whims, but due to all those issues, I rarely choose to "read something" and never "finish reading a book". Both almost always just show as the focused whims, and they will loose both whims due to other emotions as they're wandering around the house. I will "read something" when it is not a focused whim, but the "finish reading a book" is just too frustrating with the many times as they will put the book down before they finish it.
On top of all of this, skill books seem to be the slowest way to skill anything anyway, and there isn't even a bonus for reading at the library, which is poorly stocked on books as well. I don't see any point in asking for a change though, as I am sure they would just "improve" it, by making them e-books.
It's an issue I mentioned in a thread about why multitasking prevents restaurants from being in the game, there's no prioritization of actions, so any action (especially social ones) can override any other.
You may be onto something here. They're not being smarter. In other words, they're not tending to their needs as they should be. They're just prioritizing to the highest advertisement. Makes me wonder how much the devs are into commercialism.
After reading TriX0099's post I feel I should correct what I said.
There's no prioritization at all, not bookcases, computers, actions, sims in a conversation, nothing takes priority over anything else.
It's no wonder our sims can't decide what they're feeling, even their emotions don't have any form of priority... What kind of coding is that?
I let my sims take care of themself often. My advise would be not to panic if a meter is red, the autonomy will handle it. Sometimes I help with stopping the current action. So yes my sims might get smelly sometimes and dishes may pile up, but they will clean up eventually on their own. I feel that the more freedom they get, the better they do (my test play was a boarding school with three adults and five kids).
I play by whims, but due to all those issues, I rarely choose to "read something" and never "finish reading a book". Both almost always just show as the focused whims, and they will loose both whims due to other emotions as they're wandering around the house. I will "read something" when it is not a focused whim, but the "finish reading a book" is just too frustrating with the many times as they will put the book down before they finish it..
Ah I don't like that either. I usually out the book they've been readin in their inventory, so I remember what it was and then they'll continue with it another time until it's done.
I don't know about it being bad, I've been fine with autonomy, especially when playing multiple sims! As long as there are more than enough thing for them to fulfill their needs it would be fine! I currently using autonomy mods though so I don't if that help!
I agree that there needs to be a better prioritization of autonomous actions. I swear every time one of my sims wake up, they do a pee walk straight to fridge. They could be minutes away from peeing themselves, but if their hunger meter is in the yellow they decide that feeding themselves is the most important thing to be doing!
I completely micro manage all of my sims though, so I don't run into a lot of these issues on a regular basis. But the one other thing that has REALLY bugged me is when they take naps when they're tired instead of just sleeping. I don't understand the point of that
I played one household where I controlled only one Sim but would click on the others to check status. Some of the others wouldn't bathe until they had the "totally dirty" dirt all over themselves. None of them would clean dishes (even though having a dirty place made them all Uncomfortable). Even the ones that had the Neat trait didn't do dishes. Their Energy was constantly blood red but they'd only take naps (which barely nudges the Energy bar). At one point, every sink, shower and toilet (not to mention the refrigerator, TV and radio) in the house was broken, yet none of them took the initiate to do any repairs.
Could that be because I needed to give them a point in handiness?
No one did their daily requirements. Several of them never even went to their appointed places of business during the day. Needless to say, they didn't do well, performance-wise.
In the end, I had to abandon that game because I found it too frustrating. It's one of the reasons I started this thread -- I assumed I MUST have done something wrong. I need to do some experimenting, I think.
were you doing the asylum challenge? I started that one but gave up when not having assigned beds drove me bonkers.
but 100% agree that it wouldn't have been long before someone died due to the lack of self care.
Dear EA/Maxis,
I am incredibly disappointed with the lack of answers provided by you in regards to issues and bugs with TS4. I will not be purchasing anything more from you until a proper venue for dialogue is opened.
I don't know about it being bad, I've been fine with autonomy, especially when playing multiple sims! As long as there are more than enough thing for them to fulfill their needs it would be fine! I currently using autonomy mods though so I don't if that help!
Well of course those mods are what is controlling your Sims. It is telling them to take care of what is more pressing, such as eating or going to the bathroom. If you don't have them installed, then you would see what others posted, they may choose to eat (though not that hungry) over going to pee which is in the red almost ready to use it on themselves. Mods are what is making this game better for people to play, not the actual programming of this game. The actual programming of this game is literally no better than the past and in some cases worse.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
It's an issue I mentioned in a thread about why multitasking prevents restaurants from being in the game, there's no prioritization of actions, so any action (especially social ones) can override any other.
You may be onto something here. They're not being smarter. In other words, they're not tending to their needs as they should be. They're just prioritizing to the highest advertisement. Makes me wonder how much the devs are into commercialism.
After reading TriX0099's post I feel I should correct what I said.
There's no prioritization at all, not bookcases, computers, actions, sims in a conversation, nothing takes priority over anything else.
It's no wonder our sims can't decide what they're feeling, even their emotions don't have any form of priority... What kind of coding is that?
Willy- Nilly programming.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
I don't know about it being bad, I've been fine with autonomy, especially when playing multiple sims! As long as there are more than enough thing for them to fulfill their needs it would be fine! I currently using autonomy mods though so I don't if that help!
Well of course those mods are what is controlling your Sims. It is telling them to take care of what is more pressing, such as eating or going to the bathroom. If you don't have them installed, then you would see what others posted, they may choose to eat (though not that hungry) over going to pee which is in the red almost ready to use it on themselves. Mods are what is making this game better for people to play, not the actual programming of this game. The actual programming of this game is literally no better than the past and in some cases worse.
It seems to me you're missing what the mods are in fact doing. The vast majority of them are tuning mod : they change a couple of numbers/data used in the simulation. Only a tiny percentage of them is actual programming, most of the times either a couple of modification in a specific function (like the No Culling mod) or adding a bunch of new functionalities reusing existing functions (like the Door Lock mod). I don't know of any mod that change the actual programming of autonomy.
Goodness, lot of replies while I was gone! It may take me a while to get caught up, so please bear with me.
@kremesch73 said the situation I described (multi-Sim household where I controlled just one Sim) sounded like it could be a Legacy with a twist. Hehe I suppose it could! Actually, the requirement to play a multi-Sim household is one of the primary reasons I don't do Legacies. It would drive me bonkers!
@DeKay, you're probably right, I definitely need more practice. Either that or just abandon the idea of playing multi-Sim households haha. One question: are you saying Sims will never autonomously repair broken items? That stinks, especially since there is no hireable repair person. I don't necessarily always want my controlled Sim to waste time repairing and replacing is far too expensive.
@SilentKitty, you're lucky that your Sims will clean the place up. As I said, in that game, not even the Neat Sims cleaned up. And I agree with you -- why do they let themselves get into a pee-panic state?
@TriX0099, I gave up on skill books long ago. First off, they are sloooooow. Secondly, there's no in-game indication of how far the Sim has progressed in the book (there used to be in TS3). Thirdly, as you suggested, there's no rhyme or reason as to where and when they will read. In the chair next to the bookshelf? Maybe, maybe not. Too much wasted time, wandering around. I dismiss all reading whims. Not worth the effort.
@luimistelija, don't panic??? hehe I totally panic!!! To me, the red-state is like a squalling baby. We attend to a baby half because the baby is in distress and half because the sound drives us CRAZY hahah . Just kidding, I'm a good mom and always attended to my baby because he was in distress. Heck, if he was squalling right now, I'd still attend to him and he's an adult!
@AkramA, as I said earlier, I don't do mods, but I appreciate the suggestion. I'm sure they help quite a bit (I've seen some of the lists), but mods just aren't my thing.
@quinlynkate, yes!!! Why do they satisfy the yellow need Hunger before the red need Pee? It just doesn't make any sense to me.
@saphfire, that's one of the (many) reasons I don't have any animals hehe. I'd find erratic behavior in animals even less endearing than I find it in Sims. Not funny, not cute. At least with Sims, I can turn them off and walk away. I'd be stuck with the dog. I know my limits .
@Letty91, no it wasn't an Asylum Challenge but something similar. As a participant, you are only allowed to control one Sim from start to finish. The others must fend for themselves with NO intervention from the player whatsoever. Player is allowed to check their status, however. That's how I knew they were in red zones and that they didn't do their daily requirements. Grrr.
@Sigzy05, see the answer above. In this particular Challenge, I couldn't micro-manage them. In other cases, where I can switch back and forth, I've found the non-active Sims will allow their needs to run way down unless I'm constantly switching.
@Cinebar and @Neia, the way I understand it, mods do alter the way the game plays. Whether they *change* programming or simply *tune* behaviors, I don't know, since I don't use them and never have. And I doubt I ever will. Not my style. That said, even a mod like Door Locks would, in some way, modify behavior, since Sims would no longer be able to access parts of the household.
@Cinebar and @Neia, the way I understand it, mods do alter the way the game plays. Whether they *change* programming or simply *tune* behaviors, I don't know, since I don't use them and never have. And I doubt I ever will. Not my style. That said, even a mod like Door Locks would, in some way, modify behavior, since Sims would no longer be able to access parts of the household.
Well the difference is that people using tuning mods don't have a completely different autonomy AI than you, it's just a little tweaked.
I'm not using any autonomy mod and I'm quite satisfied with the way it works. I'm playing large families and often let some of the family members autonomous, I can count on one hand the number of toilet incidents in hundreds of hours of gameplay. I don't know if there's something different in my houses that could explain it.
I wish they would y'know, paint paintings or write bestsellers or fulfill their work/school requirements.
I think a sim wold build skills automatically, if they already have one skill point in that field. So, you might need to direct a sim to paint something, and they immediately gain the first skill point, and I think that single point will rase the chances that sim will start painting later on.
I found several of my sims reading skill books without me telling them. I never checked if they were any skilled on the subject, though.
I can confirm the autonomous skill-book reading happens. I also can't recall if I even checked if the skill was actually building, but I suspect I'd have noticed if it wasn't.
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One thing to keep in mind about autonomy : its purpose is to make the Sims take care of themselves, and not to make the game play itself. And that's by design, that's why there are a lot of interactions which are not available to autonomy.
I have had a tendency through the years to be a micromanager, but when I started blogging with Sims 4 I found myself sitting back a little more to see what my Sims would do on their own. One thing I noticed is that my artists were much more likely to produce masterpieces if I just led them to the room and let the AI decide on its own what size and genre of painting to create.
I have also seen autonomous skill-book reading. Once I was busy in another part of the house and got the pop-up that someone had just earned a cooking point. Lo and behold, that Sim had selected a cook book from the bookshelf.
I've also had "good" Sims autonomously donate large amounts of money to charity on the computer when I wasn't paying attention to them. Then there is the autonomous mourning (also my "good" Sims), of course.
Sometimes I disagree with my Sims' prioritization, like choosing hunger over bathroom, but I've seen them stop in the middle of a meal (or other activity) and go to the bathroom if it got too bad. I've only had one bladder accident, and that one was manipulated by me.
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And I also have no mods or CC. I don't even have anything from the Gallery. Nothing to conflict with the way the game is supposed to work.
I also don't use the gallery. I only just started using it to upload lots within the last month or so since I gave up on play mode.
Could that be because I needed to give them a point in handiness?
No one did their daily requirements. Several of them never even went to their appointed places of business during the day. Needless to say, they didn't do well, performance-wise.
In the end, I had to abandon that game because I found it too frustrating. It's one of the reasons I started this thread -- I assumed I MUST have done something wrong. I need to do some experimenting, I think.
Hm. This sounds like it could work well as a legacy challenge with a twist
But my thoughts on autonomy are:
- it's terrible
- however it does mean my sims will not wet themselves on the carpet
- and it actually gives me something to do
However "Care for Self" - where I have no choice - that needs to work better than it does - at least get sims to finish the queues I setup before I left - or prioritize doing daily tasks etc better.
They're not going to repair broken stuff and they're definitely not going to carry out their job's daily tasks. They usually should go to their jobs by themselves if they're in the mood (if their plumbob isn't red).
Have you tried using auto-solve? Click on the circular icon beside their needs bar that are in the red or orange, they would be able to cook for themselves or use the toilet, etc.
I'm not too sure if this is a glitch in your game or maybe you're not used to playing with more than one sim. Maybe you could try playing with two sims first before doing family challenges, etc. You might have to practice a bit, I'm guessing!
Well actually, when I start a family that I haven't played for quite some time in my rotation they will start up with the toilet-bar in the red zone.
I gave up on skill books within the first week of playing. It is a bit sad, considering how important those have been in previous sims games, but I never could find any logic in the way sims pick up a book, decide where to sit and read it and how long to read for.
If I have more than 1 bookcase on the lot (very likely), they never go to the one I direct them to, and there is no logic to which one they pick, so I can adapt. I have the same issue with the pc's, but in that case, they always go for the nearest one, so I solve it by telling them to go to the room with the pc I want them to use first. With the books, I can direct them to the nearest one, but they will go to the office in the basement instead, pick up the book, then walk back to the first bookcase to read it. There is not one preferred bookcase, or one preferred reading spot - there are a few preferred spots to put the books down, but it is hardly ever a surface in the room they are reading in. They put the books down way too fast, even if no other sims are interrupting (I micromanage them all, so no one gets to interrupt), and ultimately the reading experience is just so frustrating, that I do it as little as possible. Manually putting the books in their inventory helps, but it is too many clicks and too annoying for me in the long run, but I do use that option when they are reading books to the kids.
I play by whims, but due to all those issues, I rarely choose to "read something" and never "finish reading a book". Both almost always just show as the focused whims, and they will loose both whims due to other emotions as they're wandering around the house. I will "read something" when it is not a focused whim, but the "finish reading a book" is just too frustrating with the many times as they will put the book down before they finish it.
On top of all of this, skill books seem to be the slowest way to skill anything anyway, and there isn't even a bonus for reading at the library, which is poorly stocked on books as well. I don't see any point in asking for a change though, as I am sure they would just "improve" it, by making them e-books.
After reading TriX0099's post I feel I should correct what I said.
There's no prioritization at all, not bookcases, computers, actions, sims in a conversation, nothing takes priority over anything else.
It's no wonder our sims can't decide what they're feeling, even their emotions don't have any form of priority... What kind of coding is that?
Ah I don't like that either. I usually out the book they've been readin in their inventory, so I remember what it was and then they'll continue with it another time until it's done.
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I completely micro manage all of my sims though, so I don't run into a lot of these issues on a regular basis. But the one other thing that has REALLY bugged me is when they take naps when they're tired instead of just sleeping. I don't understand the point of that
were you doing the asylum challenge? I started that one but gave up when not having assigned beds drove me bonkers.
but 100% agree that it wouldn't have been long before someone died due to the lack of self care.
I am incredibly disappointed with the lack of answers provided by you in regards to issues and bugs with TS4.
I will not be purchasing anything more from you until a proper venue for dialogue is opened.
Sincerely,
A concerned simmer
Well of course those mods are what is controlling your Sims. It is telling them to take care of what is more pressing, such as eating or going to the bathroom. If you don't have them installed, then you would see what others posted, they may choose to eat (though not that hungry) over going to pee which is in the red almost ready to use it on themselves. Mods are what is making this game better for people to play, not the actual programming of this game. The actual programming of this game is literally no better than the past and in some cases worse.
Willy- Nilly programming.
It seems to me you're missing what the mods are in fact doing. The vast majority of them are tuning mod : they change a couple of numbers/data used in the simulation. Only a tiny percentage of them is actual programming, most of the times either a couple of modification in a specific function (like the No Culling mod) or adding a bunch of new functionalities reusing existing functions (like the Door Lock mod). I don't know of any mod that change the actual programming of autonomy.
@kremesch73 said the situation I described (multi-Sim household where I controlled just one Sim) sounded like it could be a Legacy with a twist. Hehe I suppose it could! Actually, the requirement to play a multi-Sim household is one of the primary reasons I don't do Legacies. It would drive me bonkers!
@Spidersweb, what is "Care for Self"?
@DeKay, you're probably right, I definitely need more practice. Either that or just abandon the idea of playing multi-Sim households haha. One question: are you saying Sims will never autonomously repair broken items? That stinks, especially since there is no hireable repair person. I don't necessarily always want my controlled Sim to waste time repairing and replacing is far too expensive.
@SilentKitty, you're lucky that your Sims will clean the place up. As I said, in that game, not even the Neat Sims cleaned up. And I agree with you -- why do they let themselves get into a pee-panic state?
@TriX0099, I gave up on skill books long ago. First off, they are sloooooow. Secondly, there's no in-game indication of how far the Sim has progressed in the book (there used to be in TS3). Thirdly, as you suggested, there's no rhyme or reason as to where and when they will read. In the chair next to the bookshelf? Maybe, maybe not. Too much wasted time, wandering around. I dismiss all reading whims. Not worth the effort.
@luimistelija, don't panic??? hehe I totally panic!!!
@AkramA, as I said earlier, I don't do mods, but I appreciate the suggestion. I'm sure they help quite a bit (I've seen some of the lists), but mods just aren't my thing.
@quinlynkate, yes!!! Why do they satisfy the yellow need Hunger before the red need Pee? It just doesn't make any sense to me.
@saphfire, that's one of the (many) reasons I don't have any animals hehe. I'd find erratic behavior in animals even less endearing than I find it in Sims. Not funny, not cute. At least with Sims, I can turn them off and walk away. I'd be stuck with the dog. I know my limits
@Letty91, no it wasn't an Asylum Challenge but something similar. As a participant, you are only allowed to control one Sim from start to finish. The others must fend for themselves with NO intervention from the player whatsoever. Player is allowed to check their status, however. That's how I knew they were in red zones and that they didn't do their daily requirements. Grrr.
@Sigzy05, see the answer above. In this particular Challenge, I couldn't micro-manage them. In other cases, where I can switch back and forth, I've found the non-active Sims will allow their needs to run way down unless I'm constantly switching.
Well the difference is that people using tuning mods don't have a completely different autonomy AI than you, it's just a little tweaked.
I'm not using any autonomy mod and I'm quite satisfied with the way it works. I'm playing large families and often let some of the family members autonomous, I can count on one hand the number of toilet incidents in hundreds of hours of gameplay. I don't know if there's something different in my houses that could explain it.
I think a sim wold build skills automatically, if they already have one skill point in that field. So, you might need to direct a sim to paint something, and they immediately gain the first skill point, and I think that single point will rase the chances that sim will start painting later on.
I found several of my sims reading skill books without me telling them. I never checked if they were any skilled on the subject, though.
I have also seen autonomous skill-book reading. Once I was busy in another part of the house and got the pop-up that someone had just earned a cooking point. Lo and behold, that Sim had selected a cook book from the bookshelf.
I've also had "good" Sims autonomously donate large amounts of money to charity on the computer when I wasn't paying attention to them. Then there is the autonomous mourning (also my "good" Sims), of course.
Sometimes I disagree with my Sims' prioritization, like choosing hunger over bathroom, but I've seen them stop in the middle of a meal (or other activity) and go to the bathroom if it got too bad. I've only had one bladder accident, and that one was manipulated by me.