Retuner Noob Questions

No one knows everything this mod can do. Did you know you can tune the size of your sims nostrils with this mod? I'm kidding.
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enable_llamas
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Retuner Noob Questions

Post by enable_llamas » August 17th, 2019, 9:59 am

Hey guys :) I've been eyeing Retuner for a good long while now and finally downloaded it. Ideally I want to get rid of my big bunch of separate tuning mods and tweaks I've accumulated over the years and fix the issues from there. I wonder if I post a list could you tell me what can and can't be done via Retuner? Oh and any general tips and pointers where to start with it are very welcome. Thanks! :)

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C-Dark
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Retuner Noob Questions

Post by C-Dark » August 17th, 2019, 10:02 am

Here are some information Retuner-FAQ

At the end there is the members retuner setting examples link.
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Retuner Noob Questions

Post by igazor » August 17th, 2019, 12:05 pm

There's around 300,000 lines of code in the game's master tuning file and none of it is documented. Its organization is a mess because that is how the game and its expansions evolved over time. This is what Retuner exposes to us for adjusting ("retuning"). The members suggested retunings are a great place to start, but it's I'm afraid not very realistic to expect a full set of explanations as to ALL of what the mod can potentially do and which sets of tuning settings will not be effective or should be avoided. When experimenting or looking for things to adjust, it's often a good idea to search the file in a text editor like Notepad++ (regular Windows' Notepad falls a bit short for such operations) for keywords pertaining to whatever we might have been looking for so we can see where they are presented in the hierarchy of the mod's "By Tunable XML" menus. That which is reachable by way of object menus is (usually) a bit more straightforward but those only dictate who/which sims are allowed to perform or are disallowed from performing actions involving those objects and not how the actions actually function.

The tuning file is available for download at the end of the FAQ page linked to. The 1.63 version is the most recent, the patches that came after that didn't change anything here.

Those which Retuner cannot reach because, for example, the settings are done by tables rather than direct single values, still require a standalone tuning mod and in some cases a standalone mod is preferable just because what it is adjusting is so complex and difficult to grasp. And of course many things require scripting in order to change game behavior and that which is blocked by the game core will not allow tunings to unblock even if it looks like there are ways to do it (e.g., sadly toddlers cannot have a career or perform interactions they are just not meant to perform).

None of this is meant to discourage anyone from trying Retuner to see what it can do for their game and remove the requirement for what could be dozens or hundreds of standalone tuning mods. But there is typically more art than science in getting it do what we expect it to.

As to how we even got here, let's take a look at the required uniform for game coders/developers: :)

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C-Dark
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Retuner Noob Questions

Post by C-Dark » August 17th, 2019, 1:16 pm

Yeah, right Igazor.
@enable_llamas: If you have an old savegame with your old Retuner settings you can export it to an xml file.
Rename it and then compare your setting file with The tuning file 1.63 version (see answer from Igazor).
F.i. with Notepad++ install the Plugin Compare or use Winmerge

This way you can find the different values easily and at the same time the original on the other side.
Claudy ;-) Bookworm, Cat Person, Computer Whiz, Couch Potato, Eco-Friendly, Friendly, Frugal, Genius, Nurturing, Social butterfly, Supernatural fan, Virtuoso in the past, Workaholic, Brooding, No Sense of Humor

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Retuner Noob Questions

Post by igazor » August 17th, 2019, 2:34 pm

C-Dark - That's a good tip, but the OP doesn't have an old saved game with old Retuner settings. They are reportedly just getting started with Retuner. But what they might find helpful is opening up their existing standalone tuning mods in S3PE one by one and examining the XML resource within to see what exactly the tuning mod is supposed to be doing. If there are Retuner reachable options showing in the master tuning file corresponding to that XML code that the mod developer was using, then this operation for that mod should (or might) be successful. Sometimes it's kind of obvious, a Tuning Mod that disallows singing in the shower for example or one that allows four sims to go bowling together on the same lane (this is one of my favorites!) would be pretty simple to re-create by way of Retuner. But a classic example of one that is deceptively complicated would be a mod that changes the default pregnancy lengths because so many different variables are involved to do this correctly.

Of course we can't do this with Script or Core Mods as those involve compiled code, so one has to have a pretty good idea of which of their mods are which types (or find out by poking around inside of them).

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Retuner Noob Questions

Post by enable_llamas » August 17th, 2019, 4:03 pm

Thank you both, I actually found a lot of my existing tuning mods in the suggested Members' Settings (and several other good ideas). I think I'll start from there until I get a feeling of how things work. :) Didn't see the bowling one which sounds cool, too?

How does the export/import settings from one save to another work? Cause I saw it exported to an xml and I'm kinda confused.

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Post by KittyTheSnowCat » August 17th, 2019, 4:13 pm

I was just lazily reading through the current threads but WOOOOW I need that bowling fix, I got so annoyed that the family I send out to have some familytime could not play together. It is always great to talk about the game with others, even after so many years and so many Mods there is always more to fix :)

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Post by Sarah_Sims » August 17th, 2019, 4:29 pm

enable_llamas wrote:
August 17th, 2019, 4:03 pm
How does the export/import settings from one save to another work? Cause I saw it exported to an xml and I'm kinda confused.

I think you may be confusing "Export Settings" with "Export Tuning". Take a look at the following FAQs.

How does Export Settings and Import Settings work?

How do I save my settings so I can use them in a new save?

I believe the "Export Tuning" option, where it generates an XML, is only available in certain mods that have optional tuning files - Story Progression & Retuner, for example. :-)

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Retuner Noob Questions

Post by enable_llamas » August 17th, 2019, 4:30 pm

Oh definitely, once you start brand new annoyances spring around every corner and just wait to be squashed :D And when you read what other people have done you suddenly absolutely need it in your game too, even if you never noticed it before lol. That reminds me I need to find the tuning for the bathing duration and shorten it to something that doesn't take 3 freaking years to complete and I'll be able to start using bathtubs again without wanting to off myself. (Seriously, who takes like 6 hours to take a damn bath?! Who has that kinda time?!)

Edit: Thanks, Sarah, that clears it up. :)

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Retuner Noob Questions

Post by igazor » August 18th, 2019, 4:43 am

Not sure what all the fuss was about, but for those who haven't found it yet here we go:
By Tunable XML > Sims3.Objects.HobbiesSkills > Bowling Lane > kMaxBowlers > 4 (default is 2)

There's a gotcha with this one and now I remember it's why I never added it to the Members' Retuner suggestions page. If you save and quit the game while more than 2 sims are bowling, when you start it up just prior to Retuner's settings being loaded as the game clock begins moving forward, the sims who are still bowling will briefly be doing something undefined.That bowling game will not end well and just about every time I find that all sims involved get reset eventually, not always right away and not always before the bowling game appears to have concluded. The workaround is to not save and then quit the game while more than 2 sims are bowling on the same lane, or at least not any whom you are trying to control very carefully or wish to have stay in the building.

Will also point out that a 5-frame game with 4 bowlers takes quite a while to play through, so you might want to plan that out accordingly. There are only settings in Retuner for number for frames for single- and multi-bowler games, so it's not like we can adjust this downward without also applying the same adjustment to the number of frames for 2 or 3 sims bowling.

I have to thank the player who inspired me to make this change long ago. She doesn't show up here as often as she used to, but perhaps playfulalice will see this and remember the next time she passes through. :)

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