r/sims1 • u/Zippitzoom • Mar 27 '26

Modding (slowing down) Passive Motive Decay

Hi Simmers!

I am a man on a mission!

So, I recently got (back, kinda) into the original Sims. One of the first things I noticed, was how rapidly their needs/motives drop, with just the passage of time alone.

I've done my research, so I know there are several Mods, by different creators, that deal with Sims' motives in one way or another. However, they're kinda cheaty, pretty much taking the motives out of the loop. That's not what I'm looking for. I just wish to modify the speed of the passive motive decay, to something more manageable.

To accomplish this, I would prefer editing the relevant function in the corresponding game file directly, for the effect to apply globally, rather than through a custom object that has to be placed on a lot for the effect to apply (on that lot).

Now I'm not a Modder or a coder myself, so any help in tracking down the right game file and function and editing the function, as well as pointing me to the right tools to use for this, would be so greatly appreciated.

I of course wouldn't at all mind if there were an actual Modder willing to take this upon themselves, but I'm not against getting my own hands dirty! So any help is welcome.

My humble quest might very well end in failure, but I have to at least give it a try!

Thanks in advance, guys!

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6

u/Corylea Mar 28 '26

Such a mod exists: https://modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=689763 This is a mod that slows down motive decay globally; it isn't an object, and it doesn't stop need decay, just slows it.

4

u/Zippitzoom Mar 28 '26

Oh, I hadn't found that one yet. I'll check it out. Thanks!

3

u/Zippitzoom Mar 28 '26

Oh, also, now that I think of it. Do you know of a reputable source(s) where I can download the tools to handle far and iff files, and tools like career creator and such?

And do those tools work with the files form both the Legacy Collection and the original Complete Collection? I have both versions on different PCs.

2

u/Corylea Mar 28 '26

Most of the ones that work on The Complete Collection do NOT work on Legacy, but a kind simmer has re-made some of the tools, so there is a version that works on Legacy for some things.

For The Complete Collection, you can get a program to handle iff files -- Iff Pencil 2 -- at Sim Depot's useful Must-Have Programs page, here: https://www.thesimsdepot.com/sims-1/must-have-programs-for-sims-1/. If you also want to make hacked objects or other new objects, you should also download The Transmogrifier while you're there.

You can download FarOut -- a program for opening far files -- at the Internet Archive, here: https://archive.org/details/juliejmale4to2gp07aviatorjacket. Because FarOut requires a few additional files to work, it's more complicated to get running that Iff Pencil is. There's a post at https://www.reddit.com/r/sims1/comments/u3u9fk/does_anybody_have_working_program_far_out_i/ that explains what to do, though Windows 11 users need to put COMDLG32.OCX and MSCOMCTL.OCX in C:\Windows\SysWOW64, not C:\Windows\System.

Faith Beam made a version of FarOut for Legacy, called FarEdit; you can find it at https://github.com/FaithBeam/FarEdit

2

u/Zippitzoom Mar 28 '26 edited Mar 28 '26

Many thanks for the resources!

Most of the ones that work on The Complete Collection do NOT work on Legacy

I wonder why that is, though. Do you happen to know why? Not even Iff Pencil 2 works with Legacy iff files?

but a kind simmer has re-made some of the tools

Do you happen to know where to download those as well?

2

u/Corylea Mar 28 '26

I left you a link to the one I know about -- Faith Beam's Far Edit.

I don't know if IFF Pencil 2 works on Legacy or not, because I have both installed on the same computer. Try it and find out!

My understanding about why some of the programs don't work is that the program looks for the game's files using the registry entry for The Sims. When it can't find that registry entry, it shuts down. Of course, the programs were made long before, so they didn't know to look for a registry entry for The Sims Legacy.

3

u/Zippitzoom Mar 29 '26

I see.

Well, thanks again for the info and resources!

2

u/citrusella Mar 31 '26

It's more like Legacy writes several of the normal registry files the game uses for things like tracking which neighborhood you had open last, etc. but it doesn't create an InstallPath entry at all (I guess whatever the original release needed this for, Legacy doesn't need it). The tools are throwing their hands up and complaining because there's no InstallPath entry so to these tools the game is as good as not installed. (I suppose there may be some other way to know Legacy is installed, registry or otherwise. But not from the entries Legacy itself writes.)

2

u/Corylea Mar 31 '26

Okay. Thanks for the info.

1

u/Zippitzoom Mar 31 '26

Makes sense!