Below, I will try to answer some of the more commonly asked questions that I get often. Click the link to go right to the question.
– MC Command Center Q&A:
Do I need to delete my mc_settings.cfg file when I update? Is there a way to carry my settings over between versions?
Shift-clicking a Sim is doing something strange? An option isn’t working or there is a blank menu button or anything in the Shift-click menu is causing problems.
Do you have any options to change NPC Sim skills or careers?
I am not seeing an option on the Sim menu that I have seen before or am expecting. Why?
Why did I get a notification that a child in an NPC household was adopted by another family?
How do I keep my family tree Sims from being deleted when they become ghosts but still clean-up the other ghost around town?
Why can I not set other family relationship types like Aunt/Uncle/Cousin/Grandparents?
– MC CAS Q&A:
Are you adding any way to manage Traits in your mod?
– MC Occult Q&A:
Is there a way to prevent any vampires from being created with MCCC?
– MC Population Q&A:
Is there a way to generate less homeless? I have “Maximum Homeless Sims” set to zero but I keep getting homeless generated.
If my household size is set to above 8, how do I edit Sims in CAS so the game doesn’t delete all the Sims past the 8th in the household?“
How do I prevent homeless Sims from moving into houses?
– MC Pregnancy and Marriage Q&A:
How do I stop automated pregnancies or marriages from happening?
I have pregnancy set to 100% but my Sims are not getting pregnant! Why?
– MC Tuner Q&A:
Can you add “xxxxxx” to the annoying action list?
Why do Sims do an interaction even though it is turned-off in Annoying Actions?
– MC Woohoo Q&A:
When I am using MC Woohoo and have nudity enabled for Hot Tub Woohoo, the “Get In” interaction disappears?
How do I fix Bathing Outfits that show clothing when it should be naked?
I don’t see MC Woohoo on the Sim menu or I don’t see MC Cheats on the Computer menu.
– Last Exceptions:
I keep getting messages about LastExceptions. How do I stop them? How do I fix them? How do I turn it off?
I am getting Last Exception errors but I have run Mod Conflictor utilties and it shows no conflicts. Why?
Is there a way to generate less homeless? I have “Maximum Homeless Sims” set to zero but I keep getting homeless generated.
The short answer is no. The Sims 4 generates homeless Sims when it needs them to fill a role in the particular zone. If there is no Sim already that matches the filter the game uses for that role, then a new Sim is generated. If the Sim that matches the role is already in the zone and the role comes-up as being needed again, it will generate another Sim to fill the role, even though there is a Sim in the zone that matches it. Just the way the base game works.
“Maximum Homeless Sims” has nothing to do with Sims needed to fill a role. This setting is used for two things:
- Limiting the homeless family households that EA will generate. By default, EA will ensure that if there are not already this number of homeless households when you first load-up the game, it will generate some family households usually with one or two parents and one or two children. The default that EA uses for this is 5. If there are already this number of homeless Sims in the world, then the families will not be generated. So setting the value to zero in settings will just ensure that no homeless FAMILY Sims are ever generated.
- Limiting how many homeless Sims are left after the weekly move-in of MC Population occurs. If the setting is set to zero, all of the homeless households currently available will attempt to move into homes if they are available. If the number is set to the default of “5”, then 5 homeless households will remain in the world, even if there are houses for them to move into.
If my household size is set to above 8, how do I edit Sims in CAS so the game doesn’t delete all the Sims past the 8th in the household?
All of the core game’s “Edit in CAS” basic functions have household size hard-coded to 8. So no modder can prevent those functions from deleting extra Sims. However, there is a different “CAS Edit” that allows editing those large household sizes without losing extra family members. You would use that CAS edit rather than “Manage Household” or a dresser or a closet or a mirror or anything else. In MCCC, it is using the “MCCC > Sim Commands > Modify in CAS” path.
Why can I not set other family relationship types like Aunt/Uncle/Cousin/Grandparents?
The only relationships that are actually stored on Sims are spouses, parents, children and siblings. All other relationships you see in the family tree and on Sims are calculated from those base relationships. That’s why in CAS when defining a household, the only settings between Sims for relationships that can be defined are Spouse, Parent, Child or Sibling. As such, those are the only relationships that I allow to be set as well, just like the core game does. The other relationship types will be calculated from those relationships just like they are from CAS.
How do I stop automated pregnancies or marriages from happening?
In the MC Pregnancy Settings for “Pregnant Sim Selection”, there is a setting for “Pregnancy Adjustment Percent”. The higher this number is, the greater a chance you’ll have Sims getting pregnant. The lower the setting is, the less chance you’ll have for Sims getting pregnant. If you set it to the lowest value, “-100”, then pregnant Sims will not be generated by MC Pregnancy.
I have pregnancy set to 100% but my Sims are not getting pregnant! Why?
There are rules for Sims becoming pregnant. They vary some depending on the situation. If it’s an active Sim with Try for Baby or Risky Woohoo, then the documentation for the MC Woohoo module has the rules to determine when a Sim can become pregnant. If it’s an NPC using the random scheduled pregnancies, then the rules for that are in MC Pregnancy. If it’s a Sim getting abducted, then the rules for that are in MC Occult. If the Sims don’t pass all the rules, they can’t become pregnant. The percentage only applies if the other rules pass.
How do I prevent homeless Sims from moving into houses?
Several different things you can do, depending on how much control you want.
- If you want homeless Sims to leave certain houses always open, you can edit the houses in build/buy mode and set the number of beds under lot info to zero. Sims will not move into houses that the bed-count is set to zero.
- If you want no homeless Sims to move into houses, you can edit the “Open Houses” setting in MC Population in the “Population Settings” section. Setting this number to greater than the current number of open houses will result in no Sims moving into houses. The maximum value is 100 and setting it to that value will definitely result in no moves happening.
When I am using MC Woohoo and have nudity enabled for Hot Tub Woohoo, the “Get In” interaction disappears?
Yes, that is the way it works. As part of the many changes I had to make to various places to get nudity in the Hot Tub to work correctly for Woohoo, the “Get In” interaction got lost. I consider it something not worth investing the amount of time I would have to invest to try to get that and Nudity in the Hot Tub both working. I don’t know if I could get them working together at all and it is really a player choice sort of thing. A player can choose to allow nudity for Hot Tub woohoo, or they can choose to allow the “Get In” interaction.
Are you adding any way to manage Traits in your mod?
I have a TO DO on my list to add Trait management to MC CAS. That would include things like Blacklists/Whitelists/Editing existing traits on a Sim, etc. This is NOT something I currently have because the EA UI doesn’t have anything available in dialogs to show a Traits drop-down. The only Trait selection dialog EA has built-into the game is the one in Age-up and that’s not something that be called to do other things, like editing Sims or selecting a Trait for a blacklist trait and such. It would not be management to have a drop-down with every single trait in it as it would take forever to load and to scroll through. As such, I am not putting a lot of time or effort into this until some new UI element is implement that allows me to do this efficiently.
Do I need to delete my mc_settings.cfg file when I update? AKA: Is there a way to carry my settings over between versions?
If you leave the mc_settings.cfg file in your mod folder when you upgrade to a new version of the mod, it will upgrade your current settings to the new version automatically and all of your settings will carry-over to the new version without having to be re-entered.
Shift-clicking a Sim is doing something strange? An option isn’t working or there is a blank menu button or anything in the Shift-click menu is causing problems.
Any menu activated through shift-clicking a Sim is not my menu. It is either the “Testing Cheats”/“Debug” menu from EA, or it is another mod that uses Shift-Click to activate their menu options. All of my mod’s menu options are in the “MC Command Center” or “MC Cheats” menus. I can’t fix problems with the shift-click menus because they are not mine.
Do you have any options to change NPC Sim skills or careers? AKA: Why don’t you have any options to change NPC Sim skills or careers? AKA: Suggestion! Add options for NPC Sim skils or careers!
The filters that EA uses to generate roles for NPC Sims and to fill NPC careers can take an NPC Sim and give them a new role or job they did not currently fill. It can do this at any point with no consideration to what they may have done before. When it does so, it can also change the skills to fit the new job or role. As a result, I do not have any options to cheat NPC Sim skills or career levels in any way. It is not something I feel is worthwhile to add since everything can be reset or changed without any notice from the game.
How do I fix Bathing Outfits that show clothing when it should be naked?
Clothing showing on Sims when they are supposed to be naked in bathing outfits is caused by bad CC. The clothing causing the problem is set as “Valid for Bathing Outfits” by the CC creators. It needs to be removed or repaired to prevent it being equipped on any Sim that gets a bathing outfit generated by the base game. Sims 4 Studio has an option to repair CC that is setup incorrectly like this. Once the clothing has been removed or repaired, a Sim’s bathing outfit can be reset by running the “Clean Outfits” MC Dresser command on the Sim when they are in their bathing outfit.
I am not seeing an option on the Sim menu that I have seen before or am expecting. Why?
The Sim menu changes based on the Sim. For example, active Sims will have some options that NPC Sims will not. The reverse is also true. Adult Sims may have options that children Sims do not, etc.
I don’t see MC Woohoo on the Sim menu. Is MC Woohoo not installed or not working? AKA: I don’t see MC Cheats on the Computer menu. Is MC Cheats not installed or not working?
Only commands show-up on the Sim menu, so MC Woohoo would not show-up on the Sim menu because there are no MC Woohoo commands. There are only MC Woohoo settings, so MC Woohoo only shows-up on the computer menu. MC Cheats, as another example, only has commands. It has no settings. So it will never be found on the computer menu. It will only be found on Sims/Mailbox menus.
Why did I get a notification that a child in an NPC household was adopted by another family?
As of 3.5.x, a new feature was added into the core MCCC functionality so that replaces core EA code dealing with deaths. In the core EA processes, when a Sim dies, it checks the household to see if there are any Sims left in the household that are at least Teens. If not, it deletes any babies, toddlers and children in the household. The functionality that I added will, instead, have those babies/toddlers/children adopted by another family so they will not be lost to the game forever. There will also be a log file message when this happens, if logging is enabled, letting the player know what happened.
Can you add “xxxxxx” to the annoying action list?
Anytime I add an interaction to the annoying action list I have to analyze several things. First, is this an interaction that the game queues-up based on the Sim’s priorities. If so, it is more likely something I can block. If it’s something that comes from an object that broadcasts to all Sims in the area and adds the interaction to the Sims’ queues, then it isn’t. I only block interactions triggered by Sims, not from exterior influence. Secondly, is it an interaction that is being triggered for a reason. See the question below for more information on what I mean by that. Thirdly, is it already covered by another MC Tuner setting? Finally, I have to always keep in mind how many people would consider the action an “annoying action”. The more actions I add to block, the more that other less-frequently used actions start happening more often. The new actions now become everyone’s new “annoying action”. I can’t block everything. There’s already a setting for that in the game settings, so there is a limit to what I’m willing to add.
Why do Sims do an interaction even though it is turned-off in Annoying Actions?
There are several reasons that a Sim may still do an interaction autonomously even with the Annoying Action setting disabling that interaction. One possibility is they are at a club situation. Club situations override the annoying action blocking of interactions. It’s the way the game works. Another possibility is that the Sim has a career or a trait that overrides the annoying action setting. I don’t block everything that causes the interactions to happen autonomously. Only the “The Sim needs to look like it’s keeping busy so let’s throw some random interactions at it” autonomy. Trait and career autonomy makes sense for those Sims based on their personality. Finally, it’s possible that EA has added a new interaction to those categories for a pack they release. Happens pretty often. When they do that, I have to manually add the interaction to the blocked list.
How do I keep my family tree Sims from being deleted when they become ghosts but still clean-up the other ghost around town?
This is very easy to do. You want to flag the Sims in your family tree with the “Never Cull” flag. Then, you can enable the MC Cleaner “Clean Ghosts” setting which will delete ghosts around town on a scheduled basis. It will not, however, delete any of the ghosts you flag for “Never Cull” and neither will EA’s culling, so it will always keep your family tree intact. If you can’t click on a ghost in the Relationship Panel to flag them, you can run the “mccc” or “flag_sim” console commands to do it. Those are documented further in the MC Command Center module documentation.
Is there a way to prevent any vampires from being created with MCCC?
Short answer, “no”.
Long answer: I don’t fight the core game when it comes to homeless generation. To do so, many filters, situation roles and jobs and other files have to be changed. The code that EA added to ensure that there are vampires for particular situations will generate more and more homeless Sims if a mod just “blocks” a vampire from being created. The only “Anti-vampire” mod I have seen does exactly this. It does prevent vampires from being generated, but it will create homeless over-and-over-and-over again because the files EA uses that are expecting vampires are never finding them so it keeps running the process to generate a homeless vampire. I have no plans to try to track-down and modify all the files necessary to prevent that process from happening.
I am getting Last Exception errors but I have run Mod Conflictor utilties and it shows no conflicts. Why?
Mod Conflict Detectors have NOTHING to do with Last Exception errors. Last Exception errors come from mods or CC that are out-of-date. EA has made changes to the core requirements for particular tuning files or CC and the mods/cc in use are not following those requirements. This causes a Last Exception. Mod Conflict Detectors check all CC and Tuning mods to ensure that the resource ID being used in one is not used in another. It detects CONFLICTS, not Out-of-Date errors. Apples and Oranges so it should NOT be expected that one has anything to do with another.
There are additional details about Last Exceptions and how to deal with them in the Troubleshooting documentation.
I keep getting messages about LastExceptions. How do I stop them? How do I fix them? How do I turn it off?
As to how they can be stopped or fixed, there are multiple steps detailed in the Troubleshooting documentation in the Last Exceptions section.
As to can it be turned off, the answer is “no”. Through the first two years of supporting MCCC, not only myself but also all of the people trying to help me support the mod spent countless hours often trying to help players reporting issues “with MCCC”. Far too many times, after going through many steps to try to help players determine why their game was having problems, we would find that the player was getting LastExceptions and had not reported it or just flat-out didn’t know because they didn’t know how to check. All of those hours spent on issues that weren’t even MCCC-related are the primary reason it was decided to add this notification when a LastException happens. There is no excuse at this point for someone having a LE and not STARTING the support session saying that this is the case. That allows us to offset the support from MCCC support to just general, not MCCC, support.
What would happen if we had a setting to allow this to be bypassed is that everyone would just lazily turn the setting off rather than fix their content. As a result, we’d go right back to getting reports all the time from people having MCCC issues that are, in fact, from their LastExceptions, but since they turned those notifications off, they are again unaware of it. It negates the whole purpose for doing it. So that won’t be happening. LE’s can be fixed either by content creators (if it’s mods/cc) or by EA (if it’s EA’s code). I often do work-arounds for some of EA’s more glaring coding issues that cause errors. In the cases that I cannot do that for EA’s code, it is usually for a specific part of the game that can be avoided or removed until EA fixes the problem.
As a result of this notification, players now get rid of all mods/cc that are out-of-date and causing issues. The number of times that we have heard, “My game is working fine, I don’t need to know about these” cannot be counted. But, if someone is getting an exception, the game is NOT working fine. Whether or not the player would notice what was happening as a result of the error doesn’t mean that the game is working as intended. Often, the errors cause unintended side-effects like menus not working or interactions glitching.
The most valuable result from having notifications about LastExceptions is that when players get them all resolved, their game works better and runs cleaner and often performs better as well (exceptions are not currently being logged to the LastExceptions.txt file which costs performance). It’s always a pain for players to have to figure these things out, but the end result is a better game experience and we’ve had many people post in support that they are very happy when they get the issues resolved with the way their game plays afterwards
