Do I need an interaction or an object tuning, or both? Thank you!
Autonomy is kinda awful and messy, and I've been told it's not fully understood by the modding community. If you're new to modding, my instinct would be to choose a different project.
I skim read the object tuning. It has a section called "autonomy_modifier", but as far as I can tell that is NOT anything to do with the Sim. Object tuning is more like: can it burn? Can I recycle it? What happens when I click on it? Can I mend it? Properties of the object itself.
Instead, I would look at the interaction. After all, some objects do multiple things - so, for example, a child might be more autonomously likely to switch on Kids TV and a snob sim Arthouse Movie Channel.
In the object tuning for a television, scroll down to <L n="_super_affordances"> to find all the interactions the object has.
In tv-watch-comedy, the code states:
<T n="allow_autonomous">False</T>In other words, Sims can't do that interaction autonomously.
I think you want "tv_PickChannelAutonomously". It's listed in preroll_super_affordances, i.e. the interactions that happen before the others in the super_affordances list.
In tv_PickChannelAutonomously
Look at <L n="_false_advertisements">, and then read that section in the Tuning Description under Interaction Tuning. The TV sends out an invisible advertisement to Sims, adding or subtracting points from their autonomy score to make it more or less likely that the TV has the most "points" at any given time, and the Sim will choose to do it:
<L n="_false_advertisements">
<V t="statistic_change">
<U n="statistic_change">
<T n="amount">0.78</T>
<T n="stat">16655<!--motive_Fun--></T>
</U>
</V>
<V t="statistic_change">
<U n="statistic_change">
<T n="amount">10</T>
<T n="stat">38440<!--Commodity_Age_Teen--></T>
</U>
</V>
<V t="statistic_change">
<U n="statistic_change">
<T n="amount">-10</T>
<T n="stat">38437<!--Commodity_Age_Elder--></T>
</U>
</V>
</L>From this, I can tell the TV sends out these vibes when a Sim is low on fun; it sends out more vibes to teens and fewer vibes to elders (which is absurd, because a lot of lonely older people spend all their time watching telly)
There's also this:
<L n="_static_commodities">
<U>
<T n="static_commodity">27034<!--StaticCommodity_Watch_TV--></T>
</U>
</L>A
static commodity is uhhhhhhh it's a number, which is a property of another thing? This number can be compared to other numbers, and it can be increased and decreased. Static commodities form part of the autonomy system. My understanding of them is incredibly shakey.
I uhhhh I think how a static commodity works is, TVwatching == 8. Therefore, the Sim wants it at 8. And in the false advertisement section, it sets temporary adjustments to an objects score:teens want TVwatching at 8+10. Something like that.
Hopefully, someone more informed will help with your problem in the places I don't really understand.
if you want to push ahead with your project now, though, what I would do is open up the interaction files for two different interactions, and compare them. Something you know from your gameplay is very tempting to Sims (like the wretched coffee maker), and something you know is not tempting at all. You could even just look at TV vs Bookcase, and see how they differ, as you think one is too high and the other is too low. Maybe make a spreadsheet, and check a whole bunch of fun-providing interactions, to get a sense of the normal numbers.
& then in the code, I'd start by looking at these two areas - the static commodity and false advertisements. I think there's two possible avenues to change how the autonomy works? make the TVwatching staticcommodity much higher, OR leave it as it is and make the false advertising much higher. Of the two, I think the false advertising is a better idea. After all, this is temporary and only happens in the context of one interaction, making for neater code and less likely to break other bits of the program. I'd adjust the one with fun, because that's what you're trying to do: advertise to the Sim that the telly is REALLY FUN whereas the bookcase is LESS fun than the television.
Hope that's some help & best wishes
(other forum members - how did I do...?)
