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Biotech Station Mod

by simler90 Posted 14th Nov 2017 at 3:42 AM - Updated 18th Sep 2022 at 5:55 PM by simler90 : UPDATE 10
 
37 Comments / Replies (Who?) - 18 Feedback Posts, 18 Thanks Posts
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Forum Resident
#2 Old 14th Nov 2017 at 4:54 AM
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for fixing this very broken set of objects...that has until now remained mostly broken for so many years. Your dedication and attention to detail are really appreciated.

Also appreciated: your clear and accurate description here. Again, really good of you to update your own download---and so substantially.

I'm not near my simming machines for months yet, so unfortunately I cannot personally help to test anytime soon. But FYI for you and all testers, these are the two mods I know of which also touch the Biotech station in some way:

1. Pescado's biotechfix should now no longer be necessary, since it made only the small change that Maxis made with the Freetime patch, just made it available for pre-FT games. Because simler90 has now included that change in this mod, Pescado's mod is likely entirely obsolete.
2. Cyjon's Biotech Fix might conflict, but since the point of that mod is to bypass making any usable medicine or virus ever, with the trade-off that the machine instead will uninterruptedly train logic, you likely wouldn't be using that with this one anyway.

*Ongoing TS2 informational projects (come on by to contribute, get info, or spectate!): (1) the SimPE Preservation Project and (2) Conflict Tracking for the 3t2 Traits Project Mods
*Need a Pescado mod? Use his hack directory: in the first post, find the link for your latest EP, then go in hacks/
Mad Poster
#3 Old 14th Nov 2017 at 11:49 AM
Thanks for the fix! The biotech station has been a source of frustration in the past with all the broken stuff in it.

Did you happen to stumble across the debug interaction that allows you to sell the virus (a thief comes by and tries to buy it, but then you just get a jump bug or error message, if I remember correctly)? This action also seems to be broken. I've always wondered what this interaction would look like if finished, and what it was meant to do.
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retired moderator THANKS POST
#4 Old 14th Nov 2017 at 2:31 PM
This is great- I'm going to test it! Thanks, I'm loving your mods @simler90 ! :)
Test Subject
#5 Old 14th Nov 2017 at 4:15 PM
Thank you so much for this and for all the fixes you are making to the game! I have a request to make. Could you make the cure/virus buyable and sellable on community lots? I have always want to make an alchemist shop. I don't know the complexities of this addition. I hope I don't offend you by the request.
Thanks for your good work.
Alchemist
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#6 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 12:37 AM
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've long been waiting a fix like this and I can't wait to test it. It is a bit of a bummer that sims have to be sick already to trick them into taking the virus, but I get it. I also would like to know if the virus can be made sellable--it'd be a great addition to this mod.
Test Subject
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#7 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 12:52 AM
Great ideas! Any chance you'd make a fixes-only version, without the virus additions?
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#8 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 2:38 PM Last edited by simler90 : 15th Nov 2017 at 3:13 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by Paperfold77
Thank you so much for this and for all the fixes you are making to the game! I have a request to make. Could you make the cure/virus buyable and sellable on community lots? I have always want to make an alchemist shop. I don't know the complexities of this addition. I hope I don't offend you by the request.
Thanks for your good work.


I've been working on this for a few hours, and it seems it is kind of possible. The Vial is an "accessory" of the Biotech Station. It uses a semi-global resource to determine whether it could be sold. From what I can see, Maxis prevented all accessories from being able to be set for sale. I managed to change that by editing the semi-global to check for the accessory's GUID and allow it to be set for sale if the accessory in question is the Vial. So, it is possible to open a pharmacy in the game, I played with a pharmacy for a little bit. There are some problems, unfortunately:

- In order to set the Vial for sale, you need to disconnect the Vial from the Biotech Station, which can only be done through the "Give Medicine to" and "Give Virus to" interactions. This on its own is a problem. If there was a "Put Vial into Inventory" option on the Biotech Station, everything would be easier, but the Inventory feature came with Nightlife, and the Biotech Station is a base-game object which was never updated for such functionality. You will need a sick sim on the lot to perform the "Give Medicine to" or "Give Virus to" interaction to separate the Vial, and after your sim puts the Vial on a surface, you simply put the Vial in your sim's inventory and go to your pharmacy lot.
- You put the Vial anywhere you want and set it for sale through the sale tag option. It restocks as if it is a buy-mode object. Normally the Vial does not have any price. I edited the OBJD and gave it a price. So, when you restock the Vial, you take advantage of the wholesale business perks you have and so forth. What I am saying is that the Vial is not considered a craftable or harvestable. Craftables and harvestables can be restocked from the inventory: they are not like buy-mode objects, they do not make use of wholesale perks. What I wanted to do was make the Vial restock from the inventory, so that if you had a Vial in the business owner's inventory, you would be able to restock it, otherwise you would have to make new Vials. From what I can see, though, accessories cannot be restocked from the inventory in this game. It seems to be impossible. I tried almost everything, it doesn't work.
- When the Vial is restocked, it seems to preserve the potency and type (medicine/virus) of the original Vial.
Test Subject
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#9 Old 15th Nov 2017 at 3:42 PM
Thank you so much for investigating this. I had planned to make an alchemist (witch owned and operated) where these things could be sold. You put a lot of thought into the problem and into your answer. Keep fixing stuff! Thank you!
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#10 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 2:24 AM Last edited by simler90 : 16th Nov 2017 at 3:01 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by Paperfold77
Thank you so much for investigating this. I had planned to make an alchemist (witch owned and operated) where these things could be sold. You put a lot of thought into the problem and into your answer. Keep fixing stuff! Thank you!


I have managed to make the game consider the Vial a "craftable". Now you can only restock it if the owner has a Vial in their inventory, just like other Maxis craftable objects. I am now looking for a way to implement a "Put Vial into Inventory" interaction onto the Biotech Station and the Vial. I will release it as a separate download on this page some time later.

In addition, I have also come to the conclusion that the "Function - Main" BHAV of the Vial constantly checks to delete the Vial if it has "expired". It seems that Maxis wanted the Vial to expire and disappear within a short time after the sim makes it on the Biotech Station, but it looks like it is a completely unfinished idea. There is no expired visual state on the Vial. What happens in an unmodded game is that if you make a Vial on the Biotech Station and then leave it like that for a short while, the Vial becomes unusable, then if you click on the Biotech Station, you get pie-menu options as if the Vial is not there, but the Vial is visually there. This is also why you get a "Slot number out of range" error when you separate the Vial and then put it on a surface. This mod already fixes the "Slot number out of range" error, but I will release an update soon which will make it so that the Vial cannot expire, because it should not.
Mad Poster
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#11 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 2:43 PM
thank you
Test Subject
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#12 Old 16th Nov 2017 at 4:07 PM
Thank you!
Lab Assistant
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#13 Old 17th Nov 2017 at 12:09 AM
I always thought this object had so much potential and never understood why it was as useless as it was. Thank you so much for all your hard work. I can't wait to use it.
Lab Assistant
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#14 Old 17th Nov 2017 at 6:44 AM
Unfortunately I'm not in a position to test out the mod, but I'm looking forward to adding it to my game on completion! Keep up the good work!
Test Subject
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#15 Old 17th Nov 2017 at 7:13 PM
You did it! That is just amazing! Thank you!
Not actually evil.
THANKS POST
#16 Old 17th Nov 2017 at 9:39 PM
Love, love, LOVE the pharmacy business that is possible thanks to your mod.
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#17 Old 18th Nov 2017 at 4:15 PM
Quote: Originally posted by CatOfEvilGenius
Love, love, LOVE the pharmacy business that is possible thanks to your mod.


You'll love it even more after I release my "Disease Mod" and "Grandma's Comfort Soup Does Not Cure Disease" mod.

Additionally, I have come across a very rare issue with the mod. The issue is not caused by the mod directly, but instead it is caused by the game's own restrictions. Basically, if you are playing in the fastest game speed, and your sim performs the "Put Vial Into Inventory" interaction on the Biotech Station, sometimes the Vial will go into your sim's inventory without its mesh. When you make Medicine or Virus, the sim puts a rack of vials on the Biotech Station, that is the mesh that the Vial uses for that time. Then, if you select "Take Medicine/Virus", "Give Medicine/Virus to" or "Put Vial Into Inventory", the Vial's mesh changes to a single vial. The problem is that when you are playing in the fastest speed, sometimes the game skips the frame where the mesh changes to the single vial, and if the interaction is "Put Vial Into Inventory", then the Vial is put into your sim's inventory without its mesh. Everything happens too fast in the fastest speed, that is the problem. The Vial goes into your inventory without its mesh, because the game does not have enough time to render it. You can still restock Vials successfully with the invisible Vial in your inventory, but the problem still needs to be fixed. The reason you do not see such a problem with Maxis' own items, is because there are no Maxis craftables or harvestables that need to undergo a mesh change while being put into inventory. The reason this happens is because the Vial is a pretty unique object with multiple mesh model states. As I have said, it is not caused directly by the mod, there is nothing wrong with the "Put Vial Into Inventory" action. It's just the game's own restriction. So, can this problem be fixed? Yes, I have already fixed it in my game by simply adding an idle and an extra "put into pocket" animation. What I want to do, though, is add a relatively lengthy animation after your sim picks the Vial. Right now I am trying some animations to see which one looks best.
Lab Assistant
#18 Old 19th Nov 2017 at 12:34 AM
Quote: Originally posted by simler90
You'll love it even more after I release my "Disease Mod" and "Grandma's Comfort Soup Does Not Cure Disease" mod.


You've got me interested... I've always been a bit underwhelmed by diseases in the game, so out of curiosity, what plans do you have for your disease mod??
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#19 Old 19th Nov 2017 at 6:12 AM
Quote: Originally posted by kittenn1011
You've got me interested... I've always been a bit underwhelmed by diseases in the game, so out of curiosity, what plans do you have for your disease mod??


In an unmodded game, the game only checks the sim's energy and comfort motives in addition to whether the sim is sleeping or sitting. But, there are so many other things in this game that should affect recovery. My mod will make it so that the Aspiration bar, Water/Hygiene motive, fitness state, age, body skill etc. will also have an effect on the recovery of the sim.
Forum Resident
#20 Old 21st Nov 2017 at 2:57 AM Last edited by natboopsie : 21st Nov 2017 at 3:55 AM.
Since you mention development around improving sickness mechanics, I'll strongly recommend checking out the existing Realistic Sickness mod to see what work has already been done. It is the primary mod now still used by players who want more of a challenge from sims becoming ill. (Some players additionally add this tried and true mod for further interest.)

You can find Realistic Sickness, and its entire discussion thread (a worthwhile read as well in terms of what's previously been discovered both about illness and the mod), here. For those downloading Realistic Sickness itself, I recommend reading the first post in that thread very carefully---the original poster's version of the mod was edited to be far more usable by another user in the same thread, and the original poster even now recommends that version (the pioupiou/BastDawn revision). The reason for the revision was that the original mod made sickness almost unplayably deadly in some situations.

The revised Realistic Sickness still has some problems that have never been fixed. For example, colds were designed in the shipped game to progress to flu if not properly treated. Unfortunately, the mod fails to allow that progression properly, and instead colds that reach the progression point just kill the sim instead, with the mod installed.

Finally, to help you further in not reinventing the wheel, there are already some excellent write-ups on what has been discovered about disease processes in the game. There is a concise summary of the knowledge here, and that modder also links to an even more in-depth study.

*Ongoing TS2 informational projects (come on by to contribute, get info, or spectate!): (1) the SimPE Preservation Project and (2) Conflict Tracking for the 3t2 Traits Project Mods
*Need a Pescado mod? Use his hack directory: in the first post, find the link for your latest EP, then go in hacks/
Lab Assistant
Original Poster
#21 Old 22nd Nov 2017 at 11:14 PM Last edited by simler90 : 23rd Nov 2017 at 12:14 PM.
Quote: Originally posted by natboopsie
Since you mention development around improving sickness mechanics, I'll strongly recommend checking out the existing Realistic Sickness mod to see what work has already been done. It is the primary mod now still used by players who want more of a challenge from sims becoming ill. (Some players additionally add this tried and true mod for further interest.)

You can find Realistic Sickness, and its entire discussion thread (a worthwhile read as well in terms of what's previously been discovered both about illness and the mod), here. For those downloading Realistic Sickness itself, I recommend reading the first post in that thread very carefully---the original poster's version of the mod was edited to be far more usable by another user in the same thread, and the original poster even now recommends that version (the pioupiou/BastDawn revision). The reason for the revision was that the original mod made sickness almost unplayably deadly in some situations.

The revised Realistic Sickness still has some problems that have never been fixed. For example, colds were designed in the shipped game to progress to flu if not properly treated. Unfortunately, the mod fails to allow that progression properly, and instead colds that reach the progression point just kill the sim instead, with the mod installed.

Finally, to help you further in not reinventing the wheel, there are already some excellent write-ups on what has been discovered about disease processes in the game. There is a concise summary of the knowledge here, and that modder also links to an even more in-depth study.


There is no need for any of that. If you want to know how disease works in the Sims 2, all you need to do is to have a look at the "Function - Main" BHAV of the "Controller - Disease" object which is what I did. Here are some interesting finds:

- The game completely prevents the disease process from running if the current lot is a community lot. This is why you never see sims showing any symptoms, spreading or contracting diseases on community lots. This on its own is stupid enough, but additionally Maxis did not even add a Secret Hobby lot check, meaning that the disease process runs on Secret Hobby lots, including gaining or losing recovery points, and updating severity information, which should not happen. My mod will make it so that sims can show symptoms, spread and contract diseases on any lot, but they can only gain recovery points and update severity information on livable lots, which is how this thing should work.
- Sleeping and sitting ignore all other factors. I dislike this, but Maxis did not bother adding any other factors other than energy and comfort anyway, so it is understandable why they made sleeping and sitting ignore other factors. The problem is that there are not enough factors that affect disease recovery. As I said in my previous post, my mod adds many other factors and also makes the disease process consider these factors even if the sim is sleeping or sitting. For example, if your sim's aspiration is red, they will lose quite a bit of recovery points even if they are sleeping or sitting.
Forum Resident
#22 Old 24th Nov 2017 at 8:17 AM Last edited by natboopsie : 24th Nov 2017 at 8:34 AM.
Quote: Originally posted by simler90
There is no need for any of that. If you want to know how disease works in the Sims 2, all you need to do is to have a look at the "Function - Main" BHAV of the "Controller - Disease" object which is what I did.


Ah, of course. And I'm quite sure you're good at studying the code. It's good to know you feel you want no assistance there.

But are you equally sure that absolutely none of what I said is relevant to you at all? Because the reason I made a point of mentioning the other mods to you is that those of us who have wanted extra difficulty from sickness likely have those already.

You see, the thing is, many of us by now run heavily modded games. For us to want your mod too or especially instead of what we've got, it's probably preferable if you're willing to talk about how yours is different from theirs...and most of all, what conflicts you see or don't. This has been a common, perhaps even "best practice" in the modding community in recent years. And in return, many of us prefer to download from modders who proactively acknowledge their work's effects and possible interactions with pre-existing mods, for the safety of our games.

Just thought you should know.

*Ongoing TS2 informational projects (come on by to contribute, get info, or spectate!): (1) the SimPE Preservation Project and (2) Conflict Tracking for the 3t2 Traits Project Mods
*Need a Pescado mod? Use his hack directory: in the first post, find the link for your latest EP, then go in hacks/
Criminal Mastermind
retired moderator
#23 Old 26th Nov 2017 at 10:33 PM
Holy Cowplants! This is one mod I definitely will try out. I always had both Pescado's and Cyjon's mods for the Biotech Station for years since Sims 2 came out. It was known back then that the Biotech Station was broken, and no one was able to figure this out until you came along.

Very well done job. If I find anything, I will post here. I did see that an expansion pack later than OFB is required. I have UC. So this will be tested ingame. I finally can have evil Scientists! Muah hahaha!
Test Subject
#24 Old 25th Jan 2018 at 3:03 PM
Yeah this mod really confuses me. I've tried to give a vial to a sim (Dina Caliente) and she passes all the checks in my game and she still won't drink it.
Top Secret Researcher
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#25 Old 3rd Apr 2018 at 6:11 AM
This is awesome! Can't wait to try it out! Thank you. :D
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