Tutorial 101: How To Create Computer Interaction With The Mod Constructor
Added 2021-05-07 13:17:37 +0000 UTCHi guys, recently I came accross a lot of questions about the Super Interactions and, if it's possible to be created with Mod Constructor. I am by no mean specialist in modding, but I wanted to share what I've learned so far, through tutorials that I think might be helpful for beginners, since I personally never found online tutorials on this subjects I decided to give it a try and write them myself.
So my first tutorial is about the computer interactions, I think a lot of new creators have this misconception that is exremely hard to create it, or that is not possible in the Mod Constructor.
NOTE: I won't go through the set up of Mod Constructor and how to open it, since there are already enough tutorials.
Let's go directly to the Mod Constructor, once you open it, you go on Add Element, and you go on Advanced category, there you will see these four options. You chose the first one - add basic super interaction.
Once chosen you can change the name, if you wish, then go on Add component, and start adding extra stuff (like with traits and careers).
I picked these three that are marked, since it's tutorial, but if this interaction is part of a bigger mod, or in general you can add test condition (for example you can create computer interaction: read anime reviews, and you can restrict it only for teens or something like that). Once we pick what we need, we go down to outcomes.
And we choose single outcome (there are no other options to choose from, I know). And then we go down to Super interaction types.
You need to add Computer Interaction (obviously .. since we do computer interactions ...). And you are ready, this alone it's enough to make your interaction show up in the game.
Once you close the previous window, you should see the one below. We need to add a name to our interaction, I named it "Look For Tutorials", pie menu category, I left it the same (so in my case, my interaction will show up under the "Action" menu on the computer), but you can create your own pie menu, and then your computer interactions will be all together in the new customized pie menu on the compuer. Then we choose an icon for the interaction (exactly like with social interactions), and then we have an outcome.
For the outcome you can create your own costumized, let's say we can add a buff, and when your Sim finish doing their thing, they can be Inspired for example. Or, you can add a loot from the game, that's what I did. For reference type I changed new element to game reference and looked for existing loot.
I decided to give $20 loot for this interaction. So, when my Sim finish the interaction, they will receive 20$ in their household funds. This is a cool feature, if you want to create custom interactions for a career for example.
Okay, so we are ready! That's it! Doesn't looks so complicated, right? It's exactly like a social interaction. Now you saved your file, you put it in the game and you run it, everything is cool, your Sim is looking for tutorials, but there are no 20$ ... hmm .. why it's that? Also, when this Sim move out of the computer?
Okay, so everything we did in the Mod Constructor is correct, however, the Constructor doesn't export the computer interactions very good, so basically to finish the interaction, you need to cancel it manually, which means there is no outcome, there are no money in the pocket in the end. Now, I bet that even for a beginner, you still want your interaction to have an outcome. So, what's the issue? To have an outcome a given interacton, it needs an end. And that's what we will give it, very easy in the Sims 4 Studio. You need a little XML, but I promise it's nothing complicated. Now, let's open the S4S.
What we see it's our computer interaction, and the string tables on all languages. It might look a little overwhelming the XML at first (trust me, I know exactly how you feel, I am still there). But we don't need to mess around too much, you see on the upper photo there is an arrow, which point where we need to add our extra XML. Before we do anything let's take a look at the photo below, as you can see, in fron of each line you have tags <V; <U; <T ...
The reason for this is because Xml files follow a hierarchy.
If we look at the below photo we can see <V t="list_reference">, this is an open tag, every tag needs to be closed, in our case, the tag is closed after the second list reference, right above the black line </V> this is the closing tag. It's important when you add extra XMLs, to know this, so you won't add it at the wrong spot. We need to add our extra code right after the </V>, on the place of the black line. If you want to learn more and to understand better the XML hierarchy, I advice you to take a look at these amazing tutorials by Zero:
You need to place this code in the space:
<V t="literal">
<U n="literal">
<L n="conditions">
<V t="time_based">
<U n="time_based">
<T n="max_time">65</T>
<T n="min_time">60</T>
</U>
</V>
</L>
<E n="interaction_action">EXIT_NATURALLY</E>
</U>
</V>
Max time and min time where it's written 60 and 65, you can change to as much as you like, 60 means 1 sim hour, so if you leave it like this, your sim will stay on the computer doing the interaction for one our.
Now, after we placed our timing, let's save the package and try it again in the game.
Here you can see my interaction, under the actions menu on the computer. And here is the outcome, once the interaction is over.
I hope this tutorial was helpful, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Since Patreon doesn't allow you to expand the images, I added an attechment with the screenshots, if you want to look at them better, as well as the package file of the interaction we just examined, you can open it in and study it if you want or I don't know, add it to the game, for extra 20 bucks?!
I hope you have a great day! And happy modding/simming!
Mirai M ~
