Bad Parenting Trait

[Zuperbuu]

I've been into the Sims for years, and whilst I do enjoy the SIms 4 I find its way of dealing with Families to be...a bit pathetic. The Sims 2 and 3 gave you a variety of different Families and how they would behave with one another, from playful and adoring parents (Family orientated), to normal alright ones (No family trait) all the way to complete jackasses (Hates Children). You could mix and match parents with these traits and get some really interesting and dramatic stories, but the Sims 4? it falls flat on its face; Parents are either Good or Amazing, always friendly and even when they are mean they quickly fix the relationship themselves, even when they are given negative Traits such as Evil. This pissed me (and others) off to no end; we lost our diverse family stories!

 

So, I have started my own trait which is made as an alternative for Hates Children...call it what you want, but for now it is just listed under CAS as "Dysfunctional partner". The Trait serves as a gateway into a possible "bad parent" mod to balance out the sheer volume of Good Families in your Sim worlds. So far, this trait does the following, and works with Cats & Dogs.

1. Sims with the Trait get tense when near Toddlers and angry when near Children, just like with Hates Children, only this works with their own kids as well. (This use to be on all the time, it should now be random.)
2. Sims will get a very angry moodlet called "Homewrecker" when they are near their own child, this buff stacks with the other "angry" buffs, so one minute the Sim will just be very angry, but other times they may be enraged. This stops the Sim from interacting with Toddlers and Children almost flawlessly, since they are too angry to "Check Toddler". (I will eventually try to remove this autonomy completely, but right now I don't know how.) WARNING! Sim's might have heart-attacks if they are in a room with a LOT of children.
3. If the Sim is in a Romantic Relationship with the mother/father of their child, and both are in the same room, they will get a very uncomfortable moodlet called "Painful Reminder" since they remember what got them into this mess to begin with!
4. Sometimes the Sim will also get a buff called "Deceitful Partner" which gives them another Angry buff when the conditions for #3 are met.
5. I have enabled a Positive Moodlet scrubber for the following paternal moodlets: Childrens birthdays, Toddler growing up/skill up, birth of baby, being near toddlers and Big News. Any positive moodlets that are usually forced onto a parent with this Trait are automatically removed immediately, any negative moodlets are left alone. Unfortunately I can't seem to get the negative moodlet for "forgot childs birthday" to be scrubbed the same way, but I am trying to fix that.
6. Sims with this Trait will randomly get extra angry buffs when they see their own children.
7. On random occasions the Sim will emit a negative energy, which makes all Family members nearby Very Tense, called "Family Troubles".

WIP! 8. The Negative Moodlet for when the Social Worker takes a baby or child away has been replaced with a positive one for Sims with this Trait, netting them a Happy buff. (currently not functioning 100%!)
NEW! 9. Sims with this Trait, and assigned as parent to Children, will occasionally get one of two random moods; Sadness (Suicidal Thoughts) and Boredom (Shrugging things off)
Next on my list of to-do's for this trait involve:

1. Fixing "Try For Baby" acceptance rate for those with this Trait.
2. Set relationships for all born children to 0 instead of the default +50.
3. Enable a few features found in "Commitment Issues" for this Trait.
4. (Far Future) Give Sims with this Trait the ability to destroy their childrens projects (Parenthood DLC) and never be selected for Parenthood Events.

Why did I choose Angry moodlets over Tense? When a Sim is angry they are less likely to engage with Toddlers, including checking up on them, I will eventually make a random moodlet for "Wanting to Abandon Family" which will make them very scared to stay in the house, but this is another possible future addition.

 

Please remember, this mod is still a heavy WIP and I am very new to it so it will be buggy.  I have attached the Trait WIP file, along with the contents for tweaking in The Sims 4 Mod Constructor should you feel I missed something.

 

EDIT: Fixed the "Homebreaker" Buff icon, it showed the wrong one. Fixed the Hates-Children buffs being on all the time (I think). Added that thing with the Social Worker moodlets. Added two new random chance moodlets. Fair warning,

 

EDIT 2: (18/6/18) I got the Social Worker moodlets working a little, so Sims will get a positive moodlet from the baby or child being removed, but the original moodlet still appears. I have made the positive one weigh more than the default one, but I am working to get rid of the thing entirely, so download the package file (Zuperbuu_BadParentTrait).

 

EDIT 3: (19/6/18) Sadly the Positive moodlet scrubber isn't working as intended; moodlets that should be supressed are not. I am investigating this.

 

EDIT 4: (21/6/18) I fixed the Trait after the Seasons Patch, and merged the Trait with the patch I made for Hates Children, and the Opt-Out of being a Caregiver for parents tweak. If you'd rather just have the patch and tweak, I have separated them from the Trait, but please only use one of the .packages inside the RAR.

I have also renamed the Trait to "Bad Parent" and adjusted the trait description accordingly.

Zuperbuu_BadParentTrait.rar

Zuperbuu_HatesChildrenFix.rar

[tanuhk]

I think the mod is good so far, but my sim still keeps trying to talk to his toddler. i haven't tested anything else but thanks for trying.

[brsis]

Following for now, not up to my taste to use in-game right now. I might come back later (doing major clean up and testing of my current mods right now) to test and give some feedback.

 

I like your initial toughts and i share then, but the direction seems off to me, perhaps too heavy handed on the negatives to the point it becomes unrealistic the other way around.

From what ive seen elsewhere and my closer experiences with bad parenthood id never tie suicidal toughts with it. Also the couple getting sad when together seems fitting to just a specific scenario of unwanted child for both parents, common scenario in teen pregnancy for example, but the most common thing is one parent desiring/liking the child and even the bad parent wanting one is common (later finding out how he/she disliked it).

 

Perhaps separating things would work better; Theres a couple of different reasons to bad parenting, from complete lack of responsability and care (but no anger or sadness for the child itself, only some things childs do) to the angry ones (fits with hates children a lot) to the sad ones ('i never wanted this'). Homewrecker and randomly destroying a childs project fits the angry type, the couple getting sad fits the sad type... while someone else could just be bad at noticing/handling the childs needs.

 

Btw would be interesting to see one or more types tied to common traits that fits. Hates childring is fitting for the angry and most impactful type, but things could for example be spread (stacking or not) with mean, evil... but can go beyond- that non-commitment trait comes to mind, it reflects someone who doesn't want responsability after all.

 

Im not familiar with what modding can or can't do (easily, without complex scripts), but an 'ausent' style would be nice too (fitting with non-commitment); The sim would get angry, unconfortable or similar near the child (or when the child cries or plays) and move away from it- go for a jog, grocery, whatever could make then leave home more often; Btw that would probably work well with autonomy in situations like cheating.

[Zuperbuu]

19 hours ago, brsis said:

Following for now, not up to my taste to use in-game right now. I might come back later (doing major clean up and testing of my current mods right now) to test and give some feedback.

 

I like your initial toughts and i share then, but the direction seems off to me, perhaps too heavy handed on the negatives to the point it becomes unrealistic the other way around.

From what ive seen elsewhere and my closer experiences with bad parenthood id never tie suicidal toughts with it. Also the couple getting sad when together seems fitting to just a specific scenario of unwanted child for both parents, common scenario in teen pregnancy for example, but the most common thing is one parent desiring/liking the child and even the bad parent wanting one is common (later finding out how he/she disliked it).

 

Perhaps separating things would work better; Theres a couple of different reasons to bad parenting, from complete lack of responsability and care (but no anger or sadness for the child itself, only some things childs do) to the angry ones (fits with hates children a lot) to the sad ones ('i never wanted this'). Homewrecker and randomly destroying a childs project fits the angry type, the couple getting sad fits the sad type... while someone else could just be bad at noticing/handling the childs needs.

 

Btw would be interesting to see one or more types tied to common traits that fits. Hates childring is fitting for the angry and most impactful type, but things could for example be spread (stacking or not) with mean, evil... but can go beyond- that non-commitment trait comes to mind, it reflects someone who doesn't want responsability after all.

 

Im not familiar with what modding can or can't do (easily, without complex scripts), but an 'ausent' style would be nice too (fitting with non-commitment); The sim would get angry, unconfortable or similar near the child (or when the child cries or plays) and move away from it- go for a jog, grocery, whatever could make then leave home more often; Btw that would probably work well with autonomy in situations like cheating.

 

I have considered doinjg the seperate types of "Bad parent" Traits for various tastes, such as an Aggresive parent, a sad parent and an ashamed parent, right now I am working on the aggressive type and have slipped some of these other moods into it for testing purposes, but a few features will remain throughout any alternative traits I come up with (such as being able to smash the dollhouse with any of them). At present I want to perfect this trait first before doing the alternative ones, since this is the version me and my friends wanted (polar opposite to the "perfect good" Sim parents we have right now).

 

At present both parents don't get negative moodlets at having children unless they both have the same trait. Only the parent with the trait gets them, as I am testing with "normal" parents with Family Orientated trait, who lives with a Sim with the Dysfunctional Partner trait...so when they tell their partner they are pregnant, she keeps all positive moodlets, but the partner gets negative ones instead in the aggressive version. In the other two versions I will make it a random toss in getting a positive moodlet or a negative one. Right now the only moodlet that is negative that impacts surrounding sims is the "tense" buff the sim with the Dysfunctional Partner trait will randomly emit, as this is the aggressive version of the trait it makes sense to have family members be tense around them, since they are usually angry. This buff only impacts family members, has no effect on others in the house, and requires either the spouse or the children to be present, it is also random. The other versions of this buff will change depending on the mood it is based around (sad parents will radiate a sad moodlet which will make their partner and children sad, when they are having an emotional breakdown, for example).

All these moodlets and buffs only occur when the sim with the trait is in the same room as their children, and some also require they be occupied by the spouse. So the parent with the trait won't be constantly angry/sad unless their children don't give them any privacy at all. The Homewrecker buff also requires the parent with the trait to be looking directly at the child, so again they won't just get extra angry from being in the same room.

 

I had originally intended to merge this trait with Non-Commitment, but I like the stacking idea a lot better. At present my two testing Sims (male and female) both have two other "negative" traits, one is Hot-headed and Hates children, the other is Evil and has Commitment Issues. I am not sure how to prevent people assigning these bad parenting traits with others that conflict with them (such as Family orientated), so I just have to hope for now that people know better than to combine those two! Either way, the stacking does work really well, but can also yield some hardcore effects (like hot-headed sims with this trait are more likely to have a heart attack).

 

I am hoping to get some help with the more "autonomy" side of the problem, since I don't know much about scripting either (this trait itself is difficult for me, but I am trying!). Right now the only way I can reduce the parents odds of interacting with a baby or toddler is to make them have such a huge negative emotion that it auto-cancels the action, as they are "too angry/tense/miserable" to do that action. Until I can work out how to disable this autonomy, or drastically reduce it for some of the less intense versions of the trait, this is my only fix for it. I have a rough idea of what can be done to make this work, but I don't know how to execute it properly; removing the "Caregiver" flag from a parent will stop them being approached, and approaching, toddlers to check their needs without needing over-emotional buffs to stop it. I just don't know how to remove this flag from just those with the trait, instead of all parents in the game.

 

Thanks for your input!

 

EDIT: I lowered the anger for Homewrecker from +5 to +3, to reduce the risk of fatal heart attacks. I am also testing the modifications to the positive moodlet scrubber, and hopefully once it works I can replace the usual moodlets associated with toddlers with some "tense" or "embarrassed" ones.

 

EDIT 2: A few things on the scrubber...

1. Can confirm the scrubber blocked all positive moodlets associated with "That Was Cute" and "Proud Parent", which you get when Toddlers interact with their parents in certain ways. I will soon work on replacing these with more relevant moodlets and buffs.

2. "Had a Baby" is still not being blocked successfully. I do not know why, I am looking into it.

3. "Expecting a Baby" positive moodlet is blocked successfully, however the negative moodlet version will not show up in its place. This is because the "response" of the Sim determines what moodlet they get, and even with Hates Children the response a Sim may give is not always the negative version. So if a Sim seems pleased by the Big News, and has no moodlet at all, then this is why (I roleplay this as the Dysfunctional Partner pretending to give a fuck about their spouses pregnancy, when they really don't.) If the Sim shows the negative response to the news, they will still get their negative moodlet.

4. All birthday moodlets involving children have successfully been blocked.

5. The negative moodlets associated with the Social Worker are still not being removed when they should be. Still investigating this, but for now the positive moodlet I have added is stronger and overrides the default negative ones.

 

Also, there is an unfinished moodlet associated with the death of Dysfunctional parents children in this version. It will not trigger yet, I am still working on it. In the default "Aggressive" version of the mod, when a Dysfunctional sim's Son/Daughter dies they no longer will get the default sad moodlet, and instead will get a happy one. In other versions of the mod the Sad moodlet will not be touched, and will be the default EA one.

 

Zuperbuu_BadParentTrait.package

[Zuperbuu]

Just a little something I made, for those who want the option to remove a parent as a caregiver, and reassign them as one, just like any random Sim in the household. It also contains a fix for HatesChildren, so they will get the same moodlets from their own children if they have the trait already. The best, and so far only, way of stopping Sims parents from autonomously interacting with their toddlers is to remove their caregiver flag, and this little package file lets you do just that at your leisure. Fair warning, I made two versions (one for myself, which disables flagging parents as caregivers right at birth) and I made a mistake to not name them differently, so be sure to check your toddler is assigned a caregiver unless you don't want them to have any at all. If your toddler still behaves like the parent you disabled is a caregiver, try adding and removing that parents caregiver status in the usual "Toddler Care" pie menu.

I will eventually merge this with the Dysfunctional partner trait mod, but for those who would rather just have this little fix rather than a hardcore bad parent mod, I have decided to make it available on its own. I made this during the middle of the Seasons patch and tested it as soon as the patch finished, and it seem to work.

 

I also removed the "hates children" buffs since the Seasons update kept making them flag errors. If you use this Trait with the hates CHildren one, you'll still get the same benefits. I will work to get this fixed once my modding tools are updated to the seasons patch level.

 

EDIT: The Trait is broken due to EA sabotage (the game updated). I cannot update the trait until Sims4Studio is updated, and the correct line of code I need to get the trait to function again is made known. The remove-caregiver flag package (badparent) still works, so fuck you EA: I can still have bad relations with my kids, but dammit...expect your sims to still get positive moodlets from toddlers even when that flag is gone. You will still get relevant negative moodlets from Hates Children with the badparent patch so long as your sim has the Hates Children trait, they do not need the Dysfunctional partner one. Sims4 UI Cheats still works, use the right-click function to delete those moodlets until I can get the scrubber to work again.

 

Enjoy!

 

 

EDIT 2: I got the trait working again, though I have yet to test if the positive moodlet scrubber is working correctly as I haven't had the chance to activate all the usual social interactions that trigger them. Please get all newest versions of the mods from the first post.

 

 

[doan77]

You should upload your mod correctly.

 

Spoiler

 

Else your topic will be flooded and the content lost into the abyss 

[Zuperbuu]

On 6/21/2018 at 10:33 PM, doan77 said:

You should upload your mod correctly.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Else your topic will be flooded and the content lost into the abyss 

I already did it, but thanks anyway!

[cherrygoodness]

Hi, I'm really sorry, what is the difference between the package and the trait. Can i download both or should i download one or the other? Thank you

 

[Mariana Soprano]

If the mod isn´t updated since the Python patch last year (13.11.2018) you better not use it (outdated mod).