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Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#1 Old 22nd Oct 2020 at 9:04 PM
Default Added Visual Effect to the 'Birdwatch' Interaction
Having discovered an unused effect holder associated with the 'Birdwatch' interaction, I decided to actually implement it.



Birdwatching is managed by a controller object. I edited the interaction so that it begins by spawning and activating the effect holder, and deactivates it before the controller goes on to delete itself. The effect used is one of the Freetime neighborhood deco ones. The holder itself now has a 'Main' loop that checks whether it should be deleted, and self-destructs as needed. This seemed to properly happen in my game, but I'd like to really be sure before I share the mod. I guess I'm asking for the Sims equivalent of a code review, haha.

Ressources involved:

Group 0x7FF9CCFE - 'Controller - Bird Watch'
Interaction - Birdwatch (BHAV 0x00001005)
Sub - Place FX Holder (BHAV 0x00001007)
Sub - Delete FX Holder (BHAV 0x00001009) (new)
Bug Hunt! (Pie Menu Functions 0x00000001)*
Attributes (STR# 0x00000100)

Group 0x7F6A3DC8 - 'Effect Holder - Bird Watching'
[Object Functions] (OBJf 0x000041A7)
Function - Init (BHAV 0x00001000)
Function - Main (0x00001001) (new)
Attributes (STR# 0x00000100) (new)

* : I ticked the 'Teen' flag. but it doesn't seem to have enabled the interaction for them.
Attached files:
File Type: zip  CandK_BirdwatchEffect.zip (916 Bytes, 106 downloads)

I'm http://crispsandkerosene.tumblr.com/ on tumblr, admittedly not very active on MTS.
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Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
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retired moderator
#3 Old 23rd Oct 2020 at 2:35 PM
Very cool! This was a feature that was shown in some of the pre-release promotional images for Freetime, but when we got the game it wasn't in there. I'll try it out when I boot my full game next!
Test Subject
#4 Old 23rd Oct 2020 at 7:28 PM
why is this under creator feedback forum, where you usually on find WIP, (Work-In-Progress), mods?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#5 Old 23rd Oct 2020 at 8:47 PM
Ohh! I remembered seeing that too, though I wasn't sure where. Thank you for clarifying haha.

I posted here because I want feedback, obviously. I'm not super experienced making this kind of mod, so I want to make sure I did it properly.

I'm http://crispsandkerosene.tumblr.com/ on tumblr, admittedly not very active on MTS.
Me? Sarcastic? Never.
staff: administrator
#6 Old 24th Oct 2020 at 12:46 PM
Since enabling via the ttab doesn't work for teens, I wonder if it can be forced via the bhavs using an age check?  Before the FT patch I remember there was a snafu with this hobby and teens, memories? hrm, I'll have to find it!  Either way it's cook and staying in my downloads.
Test Subject
#7 Old 27th Nov 2020 at 10:58 AM
Quote: Originally posted by HugeLunatic
Since enabling via the ttab doesn't work for teens, I wonder if it can be forced via the bhavs using an age check?  Before the FT patch I remember there was a snafu with this hobby and teens, memories? hrm, I'll have to find it!  Either way it's cook and staying in my downloads.


Well Teens can't do birdwatch anyway, maybe that is why you can't make it work
Lab Assistant
#8 Old 18th Dec 2020 at 1:38 PM
I bumped into an error when my Sim started watching birds on a steep slope.

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retired moderator
#9 Old 19th Dec 2020 at 7:39 PM
Ah, I just got this error too, with Pascal Curious on the Curious lot.

He was trying to birdwatch.
Screenshots
Space Pony
#10 Old 14th Aug 2021 at 7:45 PM
@Azelanne @Meduza @simsample
One day I fixed that mod and made some technical changes: CandK_BirdwatchEffect. And then I forgot about it until today.
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retired moderator
#11 Old 14th Aug 2021 at 8:53 PM
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#12 Old 15th Aug 2021 at 8:14 PM
Oof, I completely forgot about it as well! Thank you for fixing it Nopke.

I'm http://crispsandkerosene.tumblr.com/ on tumblr, admittedly not very active on MTS.
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 17th Aug 2021 at 6:42 PM
Thank you, Nopke!
Mad Poster
#14 Old 24th Aug 2021 at 8:59 AM
@Nopke - this is really cool, thank you!
Lab Assistant
#15 Old 29th Aug 2021 at 5:19 PM
So, I've been testing it for a week now and I've noticed that the birds keep flying several hours after the action is finished.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#16 Old 29th Aug 2021 at 10:44 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Izenvy
So, I've been testing it for a week now and I've noticed that the birds keep flying several hours after the action is finished.


My guess is that the sim's interaction might end without notifying the effect holder, which means it'll keep iddling for a long while before deleting itself. I'll try reducing for how long it can 'live' on its own. Do you remember whether it only happened in specific situations, for example when a sim dropped the interaction to go to work?

I'm still wondering how to enable this interaction for teens. I imagine it has a guardian function hidden somewhere in the person or ground pie menues?

Final question/feedback request: should the bird effect spawn higher?

I'm http://crispsandkerosene.tumblr.com/ on tumblr, admittedly not very active on MTS.
Lab Assistant
#17 Old 31st Aug 2021 at 7:31 PM Last edited by Izenvy : 31st Aug 2021 at 7:58 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Azelanne
My guess is that the sim's interaction might end without notifying the effect holder, which means it'll keep iddling for a long while before deleting itself. I'll try reducing for how long it can 'live' on its own. Do you remember whether it only happened in specific situations, for example when a sim dropped the interaction to go to work?

I'm still wondering how to enable this interaction for teens. I imagine it has a guardian function hidden somewhere in the person or ground pie menues?

Final question/feedback request: should the bird effect spawn higher?

So, I've done some testing today.
For the record, I'm not on UC, but I do have all EPs/SPs installed. I also downloaded Nopke's modification of your mod.
The first sim day (it's a newly created test neighborhood) I cancelled the interaction with birds stopping flying withing 2-3 sim minutes. Then I tried to make them cancel the action themselves and it did the same. No problem.
Then I added two more sims, an adult and a teen. The teen still couldn't do the action, I confirm. The second adult joined the first one and they watched birds together for several sim hours. Then one sim dropped the action himself and the second one followed - and from here the birds kept flying for the whole second day. I tried redoing the action with one sim, then with another, and then together - nothing made the birds stop flying. BUT, I noticed that the sims had very low needs and refused to do the action as directed. I then used the maxmotives cheat, made them do the action again - and the birds wanished. Looks like it has something to do with their needs or if the action is dropped because of low needs.
Sorry if it was too long!
And to answer your question - no, I think the height is just right. But If you can make the spawner a little closer to the lot that would be nice as most of the birds tend to fly in the opposite direction from the sim and spawn a bit far away from the lot (I made a screenshot to illustrate it).

Edit: I tried to remake sims drop the action because of low needs and birds disappeared as intended. Sooo...
And then I directed both adult sims do the action together, one dropped just because, the other followed and the birds were stuck again. When I made sims redo the action it seems like the birds were spawned twice? There were too many of them (it can be seen on the second screenshot). Looks like no particular pattern other than sims dropping action to do other not important stuff.
Screenshots
Space Pony
#18 Old 17th Nov 2021 at 7:56 PM
I've completely rewritten this mod, in order to:
  • resolve problems described by @Izenvy;
  • fix a bug that was causing all Sims who birdwatch to drop that interaction right after one of them dropped it;
  • replace the poor-looking effect with neighborhood bird effects: pigeons and crows + geese in a V formation + seagulls (NL required) on beach lots;
  • avoid a conflict with my Sensible Birdwatching mod.
Download: simNopke-birdwatchingBirdEffects
I haven't tried to enable the birdwatching interaction for teens yet.
@Azelanne
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#19 Old 18th Nov 2021 at 6:54 PM
Oof, sorry for not checking back on this thread. ADD is killing me these days :x Thank you so much for your help, Nopke! You should probably be the one to publish it at this point.

Turns out a teen birdwatch fix had been done by Jase439 on the old Simbology forums. The files are available here. I've not verified yet if the two mods need to be merged.

I'm http://crispsandkerosene.tumblr.com/ on tumblr, admittedly not very active on MTS.
Lab Assistant
#20 Old 21st Nov 2021 at 1:51 PM Last edited by Izenvy : 22nd Nov 2021 at 4:42 PM. Reason: Teen birdwatch mod feedback
@Azelanne @Nopke Look at all the little buddies I spotted while birdwatching with my test sim! That's so cool!

I also love how all the birds are now scattered around the sky, it's more realistic.
Last thing left - test the teen birdwatch mod. I read the readme file, so the animations will surely be off but we'll see.

EDIT: unfortunately the teen birdwatch mod didn't work for me (I tried both regular and autonomous versions). The pie menu simply wasn't there so I couldn't direct my teen to go birdwatch...
Screenshots
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