The Great Lifespan Research Project

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kowbonez
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The Great Lifespan Research Project

Post by kowbonez »

Please let me know if this is the right place to post this!

I'm very fussy so I've been working on a lifespan mod to see how many sim days per lifestage feel "right" to me for a legacy playthrough. Un-modded, the Normal setting is too short and the Long setting is WAAAY too long. I've used other's mods, but everyone's preference is different. I want a happy medium! This is a work in progress to see what fits for me and I wanted to share with others. I can update on my findings in some way if anyone cares. Turns out making a lifespan mod is really easy so I don't have to stretch my non-existent coding muscles.

I have the progression mod found here: http://modthesims.info/d/551680. These lifespans will also affect those outside of the active household, which I want so that my legacy kids can grow up with their childhood friends (or enemies!) and there's a consistent flow of new faces in the neighborhood.

So let's get into theory:

Firstly, I don't focus too much on babies. In general play, I age them up automatically once they become good friends with the parents. I figure, with enough interaction spamming, them growing up on their own in 2 days should be good enough. The default is 3 days. The point of a legacy is that it's a challenge so if the parents can't get that good friend relationship with their baby before it grows up, then that's a milestone they've missed. The difficulty of raising a toddler is no longer present so this adds a bit more challenge. I would edit this if toddlers become a thing, but I didn't particularly like toddlers much so hopefully there will be an option not to use them.

Childhood is a really great time for parents to get to know their kid and for the kid to excel in school. I hate how kids have to stress themselves out just to get an A in school with the default Normal lifespan, 13 days. It doesn't leave much time for family activities and meeting other children. A big part of relationships are built through autonomous interaction and allowing for time away from doing homework and skilling helps. On Long (52 days), once they've built up those relationships and started gaining lots of skills, they get a little boring and I get antsy to see them grow into a teenager. 22 days is what I will have it set to.

Teenagers are defaulted to the same amount of days as children, and therefore have the same set backs. They're also building more of their "personality" now so I think setting the lifespan to 22 days is a good amount of time for them to get a feel for themselves. They should already have a good relationship with their family and other children from their childhood so they'll have quite a few good friends and best friend candidates. This is a good time to start scoping out potential mates as well whether they be teenagers or young adults. Which leads me to.....

Young adulthood! It should be long, but not longer than adulthood, in my experience. Maybe this is realism getting into it too much, but I don't think it's very fun to get sims married as soon as they age up and start pooping out babies (that's how it works right?? :p ). They end up with mid level relationships with their mates and that doesn't lead into enough autonomous cuddling for me (hehe). This is also when many are starting careers. Because of how short the default Normal lifespan is, 20 days, there's a similar scramble to skill and work as in childhood. They miss out on doing cool stuff. Building up a good relationship and getting a career established takes maybe a week, less if they've been skilling throughout childhood and adolescence. And by "building a relationship" here, I don't mean spamming romance and friendly interactions for sim hours at a time. I let it build up. I like most of my sims to be friends first before interacting romantically (sooner if there's a lot of....passion idk). Mid-stage and late young adulthood is good for getting married, pausing to get settled and get to know the new sim better and THEN starting on kids. So I'm thinking 36 days.

Adulthood and young adulthood are basically identical except that some sims get eyebags lol. Still an important life stage. It can range though. Depending on the career, it may be better for it to be longer than young adulthood. But since this mod would be all encompassing with little to no tweaking once it's done, I have to come up with a solid number. In my experience sims who work from home, doing art or freelance programming or whatever, have a lot to do at the beginning of their careers but can take a few days to relax once they get to higher levels (how I wish this were the case for real life). If they've skilled up enough before this stage, this may not be a big enough deal. There's a chance one could "retire" as a young adult. My hope for adulthood is they will have a chance to see their children become young adults AND meet their grandbabies before they become elders. I think 40 days is good for this.

As for elders, they should have enough skills and relationships and consistent income (now coming in from the heir too) to retire and be almost completely ignored. My favorite thing is to let elders roam and do as they please. I let them go out with their friends whenever they ask. I only make sure they don't pee their pants or pass out. An elder's lifespan is defaulted to 10 days in the code but it is dependent on their life up to that point so it's a range. It doesn't tell how long they have left to live, it shows how long they HAVE LIVED and you can make guestimates from there. With the numbers I provided, a sim will be 122 days when they grow up to elder. Pregnancies may effect this, though. I'm changing the default to 15 just in case that extends the end of their life a bit.

So to round it up:

Baby = 2 days
Child = 22 days
Teen = 22 days
Young Adult = 36 days
Adult = 40 days
Elder = 15 days

I'll report back when I get a full life done. Maybe I'll document with pictures!

Please let me know if you have any feedback about what I've written up. I'd love to hear other's ideas.
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ZaleISBI
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Re: The Great Lifespan Research Project

Post by ZaleISBI »

I completely agree with you regarding the Sims 4 Lifespans being too short, but long is EXTREMELY LONG!

I also agree COMPLETELY with the child stage. It's nothing but homework and skills, and it's VERY hard to complete the goal. They can't make friends, go camping, or enjoy a lazy day.

I do enjoy the baby stage just enough to think that 2 days is a bit too short. Players can always age them up automatically at any time... so I personally would go with a couple more baby days, but I do believe I'm in the minority!

I also think the elder life is a tiny bit short. I want children to have relationships with their grandchildren. But! That said, it really depends on how early a Sim starting having children... and that's pretty realistic! A young parent will have children with lots of time to know their grandparents... if you wait longer, it's far less likely. So I don't mind the 15 days as is.

I would LOVE to see if any documentation! What fun would that be!

Unrelated question? How's the story progression mod? I don't have it, but I'd LOVE it if it's any good? Lemme know?
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Abby
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Re: The Great Lifespan Research Project

Post by Abby »

Yeah, I feel like lifespans are extremely short in the TS4. Although I dont know why I feel like that, because theyre not so different from TS3/TS2 are they? I cant remember.
Maybe its the whole no toddler thing. It feels like a sim gives birth then BOOM theyre a child right away. It just feels too quick. D;
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Taube
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Re: The Great Lifespan Research Project

Post by Taube »

My main gripe with the lifespans (besides no toddlers obviously) is that the elder years are so short compared to everything else on regular! It feels like they bust their butts to complete all these goals and have a family, and then they don't get to enjoy being retired and being grandparents like a lot of my sims did in Sims 2. If I don't give them a potion of life, it feels like they're just gone!

To answer the original question, I find your mod intriguing. I've never used a lifespan mod before but I do find it interesting. In my opinion, elder years could use a few more days and I would still keep babies as 3 days if it were me, though I understand your rationale. :)
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WistfulRose
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Re: The Great Lifespan Research Project

Post by WistfulRose »

Okay, old thread, but I was wondering if this mod has been updated for toddlers? I'm having issues with the normal option being too short and the long option being waaaaaaaaaaay to long.
With what Abby was saying, though, I think the reason sims 4 life spans seem super short is because there is just so much to do in the sims 4 as far as goals are. And it is a bit more difficult, in my opinion, than the previous games. I also feel like, in sims 4, needs don't fill up as fast as they did in sims 2. Though, I guess it could just be my laptop having a hard time keeping up...
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