Hack Dilema

[orikes]

I have been playing with TwoJeff's 'Age Duration Mod' since it came out, so it's been around in my game since before I even started the legacy. I'm not sure I like it any longer, but I'm also not sure I want to take it out of my game.

The mod basically takes the aspiration bonus that was supposed to effect the elder lifespan and tacks it onto the adult span. Elders are given a random duration of between 10-15 days. According to what his mod notes say, before this mod, elders had a range of between 18-30 days, which could mean that they were around as elders far longer than they had been as adults.

I *like* the idea of increasing the adult span a bit and decreasing the elder span a bit. Unfortunately, I think 10-15 days is much too short. I've found that I've been giving all of my elders at least one to two doses of the elixir to keep them around long enough to see most of their grandchildren born.

On top of this, the mod does not change how long the adult lifespan of townies, downtownies, and etc. are. So when I married in Professor Kelly, she had 27 days to elder, while Taylor had something like 42. The difference was insane. I ended up elixiring her to balance with him a little closer.

I SHOULD pull this hack out of my game and just be done with it. Once Miranda will graduate, it's another generation before I have to deal with anyone aging to adult. But I still have to deal with the fact that I want the default adult time span to be longer and the elder time span to be a little shorter.

Do any of you Simmers out there have any advice or alternatives?

Comments

[smoothiesims.livejournal.com]

I've been wondering if you used this mod since I started reading your legacy, but I didn't see it in your TS2 blog post about the mods you used and didn't think to ask ^^

I wish the adulthood was longer too but I can't think of how you'd do it otherwise. Maybe all your adults would get X amount of elixir before elderhood, just to make it a bit longer? Though if you pulled out the mod, you'd still have the long elderhood. Which is fine, really. I definitely enjoy it when my Sims live long lives.

In the end it's up to you if you mind the drawbacks enough to toss it. I think the concept is great, but the way the hack works now is a bit too sketchy for me to use it. I'd rather there was still a set adult lifespan, just a little longer than it is.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

I should probably update my list of what hacks I use. I was never very clear on it to begin with.

And you're right.. the concept for the hack is great, but the way it works isn't. I hate the fact that any townies or NPCs married in are already at a disadvantage AND they don't get the bonus to their elder time span.

[ndainye.livejournal.com]

Yeah I wouldn't want that short of an elder span at all. As for the adults I'd just figure out what you think is reasonable for your adults and elixir them to that point. Whatever works best for you.

I haven't quite settled on what I consider to be realistic, so I'm still playing with it. My gen fours were adults until after the gen fives returned home from university and I kinda liked that but I wasn't really sure about. So my gen fives all remained adults until their youngest child was at least a teen. I would kinda like for my elders to remain around until their grandchildren are at least teens - letting the grandparents die off about the same time as their children age to elder. By the time that there are great-grandchildren around I start feeling the houses are really small.

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

That's sort of how I like it as well. I like having the parents still be adults when their eldest kids come home from college, but be very close to turning into elders.

I think I ended up elixiring Zoey and Christian about three or four times each, and they both died right as Miranda (the youngest grandchild) turned into a teen.

I'm hoping things fall into place for me when I start playing in full rotation style. I keep giving in to temptation, though, and playing a house for a day here or a day there, just because I want to play but shouldn't. :}

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

That's right about the way I like it. Usually my adults turn elders almost exactly when the heiress returns for her wedding. I seldom think my elders live too long, actually. Ruby has been around a loooong time: she was the first sim I elixired since the second generation. At first that was to get Gaius to his cheese goal, then twice to make sure she earned the Fortune Master Point, and she didn't need nearly that long. But I don't regret it, because she got a nice second life with Killick.

Usually my grandparents die when the oldest kids are teenagers. Ruby is going to have a longer life than that: Emerald will be an elder next time I play the house, so her elderhood and overall life will be shorter. About the worst thing I have to deal with is house clog, with the cats and having to have girls. That's why I changed my policy to "I only have to have *one* girl."

Bottom line: I'd take the hack out, which gives them the nice long elderhood you seem to enjoy without having to elixir at the tricky elder phase. Then if you want them to have a longer adulthood, elixir them for that.

PB

[wtsims.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I would tend to just adjust agespans with elixir as seems reasonable... combined with fiddling with the teen life cycle by when you send kids to college, to help sibling relative ages. I've never liked the default life cycles in general so I've been doing that for a while, myself.

[silverselene.livejournal.com]

I use a couple hacks, I'll see if I can find them online again. One includes the ability to age a sim forward or back 1 day/3 days/10 days. Usually if I am getting towards the end of an adult's time and I don't want them to go elderly yet I'll hit the 'back 10 days' option and poof, 10 more days.

[silverselene.livejournal.com]

Haha found it! I use this painting *constantly*, it's my favorite hacked object.

http://www.simchaotics.net/Files/MerolaSims2/MultiPainting.htm

[jamdoodle.livejournal.com]

Hey. Could you give me a link to this hack? I have been searching and can't find it. Thanks! :]