[Misc.] Info & Status: Upcoming Patch + Upcoming Law & Disorder + Upcoming Offshoot of it

Hello everyone!

Here to give news as I know some of you appreciate being kept in the loop!

A. BE PREPARED FOR A PATCH SOON

-         Another EA game patch is coming for the upcoming new Expansion Pack “Adventure Awaits”. It might be the 23rd of September, according to leaked sources - and if those are wrong, at the very latest the patch would be the 30th.
Considering the breadth of the pack, I’m expecting a mod-nasty patch.

B. LAW AND DISORDER

-         Alpha group testing has flopped due to everyone’s (un)availabilities, so it’s now coming to an end by default / giving up, and not because we’ve done all I meant. We'll have to make do!

Preview (= beta) files are coming before the patch (more on this later), but first,

-         Here’s thereabouts the status of the mod's parts:

o   Core systems (arrest, court, etc): finished, tested in groups.

o   Sentences: all finished except Mandatory Distance Order; all tested only by me except Jail and Hat of Shame which were tested in groups, so there’ll probably be things to fix for the other ones once more people are there to find issues.

o   Misbehaviors / reports for misbehaviors:

§  Swiping (three types): finished, two of the three types tested only by me so far, so there’ll probably be things to fix once more people are there to find issues.

§  Pyrocy: finished and well-tested in groups

§  Naturing: finished, tested only by me, so there’ll probably be things to fix once more people are there to find issues.

§  Trespassing: finished, tested by me + 1 person, has some bugs on occasion, still trying to figure it out

§  Hacking: finished, tested only by me, so there’ll probably be things to fix once more people are there to find issues.

§  Hexing: finished, tested only by me, so there’ll probably be things to fix once more people are there to find issues.

§  Parental Negligence: started out simple and would be finished if it had stayed simple - but now has turned into a full-blown CPS overhaul & expansion. That’s something I was meaning to mod at some point anyways (and requested!), so I wearily yielded to the itch to expand on the concept now already. It is now A SEPARATE MOD with integrations into Law&Disorder.

§  Blackmail: finished, tested only by me, so there’ll probably be things to fix once more people are there to find issues.

§  Bribing: finished, tested only by me, so there’ll probably be things to fix once more people are there to find issues.

§  Destruction of Property (rampaging wolves, pranking toilets, defacing celebrity tiles or murals): finished, untested

§  Disrupting Public Order (fighting if in public, noise): finished, untested

§  Punching: finished, tested only by me. (this is like “Fight” but split from it to indicate a deliberate attack. Fighting itself only counts as misbehavior (“disrupting public order”) if enough Sims are around to see it - this because Sims constantly fight for no reason, so it’s not made to look very serious. Whereas, this “punching” equivalent IS serious, and considered a Major misbehavior.)

§  A few other misbehaviors ideas are not implemented at the moment. Misbehaviors can be added to the system whenever, so future updates are definitely in the cards right after initial release if need be – I’d just rather not hold up first release.

o   Integrations with other mods: not started - in the cards right after initial release – I’d just rather not hold up first release.

o   Unrelated thing I want to add still:

§  settings to let you choose, of all the ‘misbehaviors’, which ones you do want to count, or not. ie, you get to decide what the mod does or doesn’t do.

·       If you want Sims to get in trouble only for Naturing and nothing else – you’ll be able to set that. If you want them to get in trouble for everything except Naturing, or some things but not others - you’ll also be able to set that.

§  Setting to let you adjust the BASE probability for each witness to report or not report

§  Setting to let you decide if all sentences should be considered valid for all misbehaviors (by default, some sentences are for Minor misbehaviors only, and some others for Major misbehavior only)

---> B2. Law & Disorder Preview Files coming to Sun Tier before the EA patch

Considering how tired of this entire process we all are, and of an approaching EA patch ready to break everything again:

before the patch comes, I’ll throw out the Law & Disorder files in their current somewhere-between-alpha-and-beta stage to the Sun tiers for the beta / suggestion opportunity tier benefit.
At that point, I will-can adjust features slightly / make some small additions based on opinions and wishes born out of people using these preview files.

This should be in a few days – before that I want to:

-         finish the “mandatory distance order” sentence

-         do the setting systems I mentioned above

-         do a hint more testing / address the testing reports I got yesterday from one person, investigate and fix where I can

.... B3. AND ALSO PREVIEW FILES FOR THE CPS EXPANSION / OVERHAUL OFFSHOOT?

This is also something I'd like to finish before the patch, so I'm working towards that finish line with that in mind. We'll see if I manage it all!

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That's it for today. Thanks for being here and a good day!