Language Barriers v2.0 alpha 4

Alphas are incomplete snapshots of my mods while they're in development, and are only available to Goth and Landgraab patrons. The 2.0 update will be released to Pancake patrons when it's feature-complete, and to the public 2-3 weeks afterwards. I do not have a concrete date at this time, but it should be done sometime in July.

About this alpha

This is the fourth alpha of Language Barriers v2.0 (read about the first here, the second here, and the third here). It mostly focuses on revamping miscommunication (i.e. the chance that something happens when two sims are speaking in a language that at least one of them is not completely fluent in).

Communication

Communication events

• Replaces the old, vague "miscommunication" system with specific events that elicit specific reactions from both the speaker and target.
• There are 8 different events. If the speaker has a lower level in the language, they may say something [1] nonsensical, [2] inappropriate, or [3] offensive. If the speaker has a higher level in the language, they may be [4] speaking too fast, be [5] condescending, [6] simplify their speech, or be [7] misunderstood by the listener. If neither sim speaks the language particularly well, then [8] neither sim speaks the language.
• The chance that an event occurs depends on the sim's shared level in the language they are speaking, as well as their native language's genetic closeness to it. The chance for each individual event to occur depends on the sim's individual levels in the language.
• Each event has somewhere between 2-4 potential outcomes for both the speaker and listener, which may be either positive or negative. The chance for an outcome to be positive depends on the sim's traits and current mood, and this influences the exact buff that a sim will get for a particular outcome. In total, there are 150 different outcome buffs (some of which are locked behind trait requirements, to keep things a little more exclusive). Example: A sim accidentally says something inappropriate in another language. They may feel playful, embarrassed, tense, or, if they have some particular traits, flirty. The other sim may have similar emotions, but can also become angry if they have another set of traits.
• The mood that results from a communication event will tend to stay when other communication buffs are applied. Example: A sim says something inappropriate, and becomes embarrassed. They then say something offensive, and will still be embarrassed rather than switching moods to something else.
• There are unique notifications variants that may occur for each event. Some events do not have notifications, and notifications can be disabled entirely with an add-on.

No more extreme emotions

• No communication buffs will ever exceed +4 (this number may change in future versions), so you should no longer have to fear buffs from LB potentially killing your sims from extreme emotions. Just note, though, that LB buffs in combination with others can still exceed +8 all together. If you don't like emotional deaths, there are mods out there to disable it altogether.
• Since LB buffs no longer reach +8, the option to toggle extreme emotions on a sim has been removed, since it would no longer do anything.

Other small changes

Simlingo Mobile

• Simlingo is now available as an interaction on the phone. Go to the entertainment tab and click on "Simlingo Mobile". You can study any language that you do not speak natively - the same as the computer and tablet interactions.
• The "Hide Sixami from Simlingo" add-on has been updated to hide it from Simlingo Mobile as well.

Interaction locking

• Whitelisted some non-verbal interactions, such as giving gifts and sharing photos, from being locked behind language barriers. You should now be able to perform these interactions no matter the sims' shared language level.
• Unlocked the "Ask About Day" interaction for any shared language level, just so sims actually have something to try and say when they're low-level.
• Unlocked the group story interactions. This is temporary, and will be fixed later. This was the result of fixing a long-lasting bug, and I need more time to figure out how to hide these interactions without breaking anything else.

New Add On

• Created an add-on to disable communication notifications.

Mod integration

• Re-added support for LittleMsSam's SimDa. If you have SimDa, be sure to include the integration package to ensure that LB does not block sims from going through with their dates.

Conclusion

The main feature in this alpha is the introduction of communication events, and the 150 buffs that may result from them. Please keep in mind that this is a development version of the mod, and is therefore unfinished. A lot of these buffs use recycled text (that is, they share text with each other), and there may be some gaps in the system (i.e. not every event has the same emotions in their outcomes, which may result in some unwanted mood swings). As such, this new system will not be perfect, so please report any issues you have with it to me immediately so I can address them. I also welcome any feedback or ideas you have for it.

I apologize for how long this alpha took to come out - revamping miscommunication took way longer than I anticipated, and on top of that, my personal life has been insanely hectic for the past couple of weeks (apartment hunting, traveling, taking care of family, starting a new job...). But, I hope this was worth the wait, and you find this new system fun to play with.

Thanks, and have fun!

Goth and Landgraab patrons can download the alpha here.