Improved Autonomy During Loading Screens (Patreon)

11/03/2021

• Updated for game version 1.81.72

This fixes the new Scenario feature not working with this mod installed.

07/05/2021

• Further adjusted the amount of time spent during the loading screen.

The mod now checks each Sim's interaction queue and exits the loading screen when no interactions are being executed.

• Blacklisted bookshelf related interactions from being chosen.

In my testing, when multiple Sims choose to grab a book during the loading screen, the interactions cannot be executed properly and cause them to stand still. 

06/22/2021

• Prevented cases where puppies and kittens could be stuck on counters after the loading screen ends.
• Improved compatibilities with other mods.

01/31/2020

• Added support for the new Tiny Home Residential lot type.

11/30/2019

• Fixed instances where the mod needlessly extends the loading times beyond what's necessary.

11/14/2019

• Updated for game version 1.58.63.
• Prevented NPC Sims spawned in the neighborhood from selecting interactions on a University Housing lot.

09/10/2019

• Removed separate flavors of the mod.

The mod will now estimate the amount of time needed to execute interactions based on the number of Sims that have queued interactions and then use this estimate to extend the loading time accordingly.

07/07/2019

• Multiple Sims can now properly sit on the objects with multiple seating slots (e.g. couches and loveseats).

Previously Sims could not detect if a slot is already occupied during the loading screen and thus very often multiple Sims would be trying to sit on the same slot.

• Fixed the issue that when it's raining, Sims would simply perform the "Open the Umbrella" interaction without moving away from the spawn point.
• Fixed the issue that if the front door is only accessible through the stairs, puppies and kittens would get a routing failure while standing on the spawn point.

As a result of this fix, this mod now includes a package file in addition to the ts4script file.

• Prevented object-based social interactions from being chosen.

One example of such interaction is clicking on the stereo and choosing a Sim to dance with. They are technically not social interactions, but they cause the same issue as social interactions if they were chosen during the loading screen.

06/25/2019

• Prevented uninvited NPC Sims choosing something to do on your vacation lot, or your business lot when it's closed. 
• Prevented social interactions from being chosen during the loading screen.

Because all Sims are spawned on a spawn point right outside the lot, if a social interaction was chosen, then two of the Sims would stand on the same spawn point to perform this social interaction. A notable example is when you visit an NPC Sim's house. After loading into the lot, very often you would see them standing on the street instead of being inside their own house. Social interactions being chosen is often the culprit so I had to disable them.

• Prevented single sim interactions such as using the phone or tablet from being chosen during the loading screen.

Similarly, if these interactions were chosen, the Sim would perform it right at the spawn point. Once again this means they would stand outside the lot when the loading screen ends.

• If all autonomy selections fail, the mod now forces the Sim to stand somewhere inside the front door. If there's no front door, then they should stand somewhere on the lot.

This is mainly designed for pets. In my testing, when I visit neighbors, their pets can almost never find anything to do during the loading screen. This is added as a fallback option to prevent them standing on the spawn point.

• Improved the success rates of finding an interaction to do for off-lot Sims.

Previously the default radius of 25 was used. Sims didn't consider objects beyond this range. This limit has now been removed and Sims spawned in the neighborhood will now consider all off-lot objects to use.

• Sims can now choose to dance to the DJ booth during the loading screen.

There are two reasons why they couldn't do it previously. Firstly, most objects in the game do not allow being chosen by multiple Sims during the loading screen, as a way to avoid clipping. So if the DJ booth is being used by the DJ, other Sims cannot choose to dance to it. This mod now enables the DJ booth to be chosen by multiple Sims. Secondly, the dance interactions requires the DJ booth to be actively played. If nobody is DJ'ing it, then Sims can't dance to it. During the loading screen, Sims cannot detect that somebody is DJ'ing it so the dance interaction always fails. This mod temporarily makes this object state check to always pass so that Sims can dance to it.

06/23/2019

• Prevented that under rare circumstances, uninvited NPC Sims could choose to do something on your home lot.

06/20/2019

• Updated for game version 1.52.100. 

Description

The goal of this mod is to reduce instances where the game failed to find an interaction for an NPC Sim to do during the loading screen and thus causes them to stand awkwardly outside the lot once the loading screen ends. For example, in the actor career I've always noticed there are like three background actor Sims standing outside the lot, while the rest of the Sims (directors, producers, etc.) are already inside the lot, There are two possible reasons why this occurs: 1) the game failed to find an interaction for them to do, or 2) the game did find an interaction, but did not have enough time to run this interaction. To tackle this issue, this mod:

• whitelisted most autonomous interactions in the game to be available to be chosen by Sims during the loading screen
• if the game somehow still fails to find an interaction for a Sim to do, this mod will force this Sim to find somewhere on the lot to sit
• if no seating is available on the lot, the game will run a full autonomy request on this Sim as a last resort

Additionally, in my testing the game only simulates for about 1.5 seconds during the loading screen and then it will pause the game & exit the loading screen. When lots of Sims were spawned during the loading screen, this is not enough time to run interactions on all Sims, resulting some Sims once again standing outside the lot. Thus, this mod will make the game to simulate a longer period of time during the loading screen to ensure all interactions have been properly executed on all Sims. As a result, the loading time will be slightly extended, depending on how many Sims there are on the lot.