How to stop Overwatch from deleting FakeMetaAutonomy/homeless sims every time I load the save?

ktosktosiowy · Post by **ktosktosiowy** » February 20th, 2024, 11:17 am

I want to have townies in my save but Overwatch keeps deleting them. I don't see any settings to stop that from happening except for the "Kill All Homeless" option which I have set to false already.

C-Dark · Post by **C-Dark** » February 20th, 2024, 2:37 pm

homeless sims are no townies, but service or role sims.
Real "townies" - means inactive sims - are residential sims who live in houses. Maybe place some families from library or create some in CAS.

ktosktosiowy · Post by **ktosktosiowy** » February 21st, 2024, 7:07 am

Townies are a class of NPCs in The Sims, The Sims 2, The Sims 3, and The Sims 4. They are the biggest class of NPCs. Introduced in Hot Date, Townies are Sims that are similar to playable Sims, except that they don't live in any of the households. They are full-fledged Sims with jobs, skills, and personalities. In The Sims 2, they even have aspirations and, once Nightlife is installed, have turn ons and turn offs.

Townies are created by the game using the resources the player has to create Sims, then doing some mixing and matching. In The Sims, this includes custom body and head skins. In The Sims 2, it will not include custom clothes, but will include custom hair that has been placed in one of the color bins.

Pre-made Sims and NPCs from other neighborhoods are not considered townies.

- The Sims Wiki

I'm talking about NPCs in the FakeMetaAutonomy role, a.k.a. townies.

Sims being held in the FakeMetaAutonomy "to be deleted" list are purged.

Any sim lacking a valid genealogy is removed from the FakeMetaAutonomy pool.

This is from the Overwatch FAQ page. I'm looking to disable this function, without removing the mod from my game entirely.

Knight · Post by **Knight** » February 21st, 2024, 7:27 am

Interesting fact: in the game's code, sims whose household doesn't have their own lot are considered townies.

It's weird, in my game I often see the same sims from the FakeMetaAutonomy pool walking in parks. I have the latest Overwatch beta (v.123e) installed.

ktosktosiowy · Post by **ktosktosiowy** » February 21st, 2024, 7:32 am

I have the lastest release, version 122. I'll get 123e and see if it still deletes the townies.

Edit: Yup, it still does.

Chain_Reaction · Post by **Chain_Reaction** » February 21st, 2024, 7:33 am

It's not possible to disable that system as it's helpful to your game to prevent bloat and corruption. It only purges those that EA has already deemed it will delete or with corrupt genealogy records, like it states.

The FakeMetaAutonomy service is used to move Service Sims to who no longer meet their service requirements. I.e. they have aged up. They are kept around if the player has relationship with them until their death, otherwise they are purged. Their push to be simulated in town was reduced very early in the game's life cycle for performance reasons.

Sims are either residents in town, are service/role or are homeless. If they are homeless it's usually because they are EA generated coworkers or are the result of an error which is why those are purged. Sims 3 does not have townies like 2 does, each Sim that exists has a purpose to play in the simulation fodder for the active household or they simply don't exist.

ktosktosiowy · Post by **ktosktosiowy** » February 21st, 2024, 7:48 am

Chain_Reaction wrote: ↑
February 21st, 2024, 7:33 am
It's not possible to disable that system as it's helpful to your game to prevent bloat and corruption. It only purges those that EA has already deemed it will delete or with corrupt genealogy records, like it states.

The FakeMetaAutonomy service is used to move Service Sims to who no longer meet their service requirements. I.e. they have aged up. They are kept around if the player has relationship with them until their death, otherwise they are purged. Their push to be simulated in town was reduced very early in the game's life cycle for performance reasons.

Sims are either residents in town, are service/role or are homeless. If they are homeless it's usually because they are EA generated coworkers or are the result of an error which is why those are purged. Sims 3 does not have townies like 2 does, each Sim that exists has a purpose to play in the simulation fodder for the active household or they simply don't exist.

The point is, the game shouldn't flag those sims for deletion. I even made a tuning mod that raises the limit on how many FakeMetaAutonomies can exist at once, but Overwatch is still deleting them. And it doesn't matter whether my sims know them or not.
Here's the mod I've made

Knight · Post by **Knight** » February 21st, 2024, 8:17 am

ktosktosiowy wrote: ↑
February 21st, 2024, 7:48 am
The point is, the game shouldn't flag those sims for deletion. I even made a tuning mod that raises the limit on how many FakeMetaAutonomies can exist at once, but Overwatch is still deleting them. And it doesn't matter whether my sims know them or not.
Here's the mod I've made

I tuned that file too, but only to slightly increase the number of sims, start and end times, and duration of walks, I didn't change the pool size.

I think your problem is something else, maybe you have other mods or tunings that can affect demographics? You can also try installing Register if you don't have it.

Chain_Reaction wrote: ↑
February 21st, 2024, 7:33 am
The FakeMetaAutonomy service is used to move Service Sims to who no longer meet their service requirements. I.e. they have aged up. They are kept around if the player has relationship with them until their death, otherwise they are purged.

I have aging disabled in my game, and this pool consists of service sims who are not suspended from service, but just free from their duties at the moment. For example, mailmen or dancers walking around in uniform.

ktosktosiowy · Post by **ktosktosiowy** » February 21st, 2024, 9:20 am

Knight wrote: ↑
February 21st, 2024, 8:17 am
I think your problem is something else, maybe you have other mods or tunings that can affect demographics? You can also try installing Register if you don't have it.

I didn't consider that before. So, I tried removing and re-adding my nraas mods. As it turns out, Overwatch wasn't at fault here. It was Register.
I poked around with the options on the town hall, and enabling "debug" in Register made this option appear:

"NIE" means it was set to false. I enabled it before the mod had the chance to delete the townies and it worked.

Knight · Post by **Knight** » February 21st, 2024, 9:34 am

ktosktosiowy wrote: ↑
February 21st, 2024, 9:20 am

Knight wrote: ↑
February 21st, 2024, 8:17 am
I think your problem is something else, maybe you have other mods or tunings that can affect demographics? You can also try installing Register if you don't have it.
I didn't consider that before. So, I tried removing and re-adding my nraas mods. As it turns out, Overwatch wasn't at fault here. It was Register.
I poked around with the options on the town hall, and enabling "debug" in Register made this option appear:

"NIE" means it was set to false. I enabled it before the mod had the chance to delete the townies and it worked.

Hmm, as far as I understand, Register removes extra service sims if their number exceeds the limit. For example, you have 5 pizza deliverers in the game, but according to the limit there should be only 2, then Register will remove three of them. I didn't change the debug settings and I had no problems with deleting service sims every time I load a save.

MODS	VERSION
Animator	10
AntiMagicScroll	9
Careers	86
Consigner	22
Cupcake	5
DebugEnabler	54
Decensor	14
Dreamer	15
Dresser	38
ErrorTrap	100
GoHere	43
HomeOpener	11
Hybrid	9
MasterController	133
Mover	28
NoCD	1
OnceRead	13
Overwatch	121
Packer (editor)	7
PocketProtector	2
Porter	42
PortraitPanel	33
Register	80
Relativity	23
RelationshipPanel	20
Retuner	10
Saver	21
SecondImage	5
Selector	13
Shooless	18
SleepFreedom	21
StoryProgression	267
Tagger	3
Tempest	15
Traffic	21
Traveler	86
UntranslatedKey	1.67
Vector	19
Woohooer	129
WrittenWord	10

ANI MODS	VERSION
Apartment Mod	2
Business As Unusual Bistro	2
Buyable Moneybag	3
Dexter The Bear	5
Have Coffee With Me	4
No Free Work Performance	4
No Fridge Shopping	7
Open Cinema	4
Produce Stand	1
Shop For Clothes	4
Shop For Clothes Pedestal	2
Shop From Inventory	7
Sims Drinks	7
Tax Collector	2
The Savvier Seller	5
Working Sims Bed	6
Workout Costs Money	4

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