Post by marshmallowmancer on May 2, 2017 1:01:03 GMT -5
Hey guys, new to the community but not to the Sims, and I have something I want to discuss the possibility of with the modding community.
I'm a complete noob when it comes to modding, so pardon me if this sounds completely inane and asinine. I'm more curious than actually requesting any sort of mod (I know we're not supposed to make requests on this board anyways), so consider this a symposium more than anything.
Many, many months ago, I had quit and given up on the Sims 4, but I immediately came straight back when EA announced their patch to make gender more fluid and less binary. While simplistic, I loved that they at least acknowledged some of the spectrum in game terms, allowing us to make characters who may be "male" in a strict sense but also have female characteristics, or vice versa. I also like that it's much easier to switch gender and even sex on the fly, even if the game mechanics themselves don't really acknowledge it. As a transgender individual who has always been fascinated by the fluidity of gender and sex, I have always tried to incorporate some form of transgender storytelling into my game, even if I had to do so in a more narrative and less mechanical sense.
But I was wondering what the possibilities were, now that these mechanics are actually incorporated - however simply - into the game, our ability to use mods to play with these features within the game mechanics (rather than having to enter CAS to change a sim's gender features). For example, could we create an item - a "potion" perhaps - that could change the Sim's gender? Or have them get corrective surgery? Or even just add a command to the mirror that alters their gender/sex/whatever. In my various projects since returning to the game (I spend way more time world-building/planning than actually playing), I have noticed that these gender features - a Sim's ability to become pregnant, their peeing situation, even their body frame and actual sex - are represented in a Sim's traits (hidden, of course), just like their walk type. Now, I've played around with this a bit. I can't figure out how to console command all of this (i.e. traits.remove_trait or traits.equip_trait...I don't know what the console name for the walk cycles are, or even if they can be affected this way), but with radial commands in debug mode, I know we can remove walk cycles and replace them, which immediately changes a sim's walk cycle.
Can we do this for gender?
In my own experimentation, I found the sim's sex (male vs. female) represented by a trait, and I can remove this trait (again, via radial commands, not console commands). However, I can't seem to find the opposite sex trait (the one I removed is available in the add trait menu, but not the opposite sex trait). HOWEVER, I was able to remove the sim's physical frame trait (while not accurate, I'll refer to this as their "gender" because it's basically how they present, even though there's a lot more to it than that) and replace it with the opposite gender, which, after a brief delay, did indeed change the Sim's frame shape.
Now the question I have, as a complete modding novice, is this: can mods create commands/items that can alter a sim's traits? If so, this would create a lot of possibilities.
So to continue this discussion, if you folks are willing, can a knowledgeable modder weigh in? Even if you've no interest in exploring this sort of thing, I'd love to hear if it was at all possible to create a more immersive way to alter a sim's sex and gender within the actual game, rather than having to go into CAS to do it. It'd be nice for telling stories, if nothing else.
I'm a complete noob when it comes to modding, so pardon me if this sounds completely inane and asinine. I'm more curious than actually requesting any sort of mod (I know we're not supposed to make requests on this board anyways), so consider this a symposium more than anything.
Many, many months ago, I had quit and given up on the Sims 4, but I immediately came straight back when EA announced their patch to make gender more fluid and less binary. While simplistic, I loved that they at least acknowledged some of the spectrum in game terms, allowing us to make characters who may be "male" in a strict sense but also have female characteristics, or vice versa. I also like that it's much easier to switch gender and even sex on the fly, even if the game mechanics themselves don't really acknowledge it. As a transgender individual who has always been fascinated by the fluidity of gender and sex, I have always tried to incorporate some form of transgender storytelling into my game, even if I had to do so in a more narrative and less mechanical sense.
But I was wondering what the possibilities were, now that these mechanics are actually incorporated - however simply - into the game, our ability to use mods to play with these features within the game mechanics (rather than having to enter CAS to change a sim's gender features). For example, could we create an item - a "potion" perhaps - that could change the Sim's gender? Or have them get corrective surgery? Or even just add a command to the mirror that alters their gender/sex/whatever. In my various projects since returning to the game (I spend way more time world-building/planning than actually playing), I have noticed that these gender features - a Sim's ability to become pregnant, their peeing situation, even their body frame and actual sex - are represented in a Sim's traits (hidden, of course), just like their walk type. Now, I've played around with this a bit. I can't figure out how to console command all of this (i.e. traits.remove_trait or traits.equip_trait...I don't know what the console name for the walk cycles are, or even if they can be affected this way), but with radial commands in debug mode, I know we can remove walk cycles and replace them, which immediately changes a sim's walk cycle.
Can we do this for gender?
In my own experimentation, I found the sim's sex (male vs. female) represented by a trait, and I can remove this trait (again, via radial commands, not console commands). However, I can't seem to find the opposite sex trait (the one I removed is available in the add trait menu, but not the opposite sex trait). HOWEVER, I was able to remove the sim's physical frame trait (while not accurate, I'll refer to this as their "gender" because it's basically how they present, even though there's a lot more to it than that) and replace it with the opposite gender, which, after a brief delay, did indeed change the Sim's frame shape.
Now the question I have, as a complete modding novice, is this: can mods create commands/items that can alter a sim's traits? If so, this would create a lot of possibilities.
So to continue this discussion, if you folks are willing, can a knowledgeable modder weigh in? Even if you've no interest in exploring this sort of thing, I'd love to hear if it was at all possible to create a more immersive way to alter a sim's sex and gender within the actual game, rather than having to go into CAS to do it. It'd be nice for telling stories, if nothing else.