Language Barriers v2.0 alpha 1
Added 2021-05-17 15:18:42 +0000 UTCAlphas are incomplete snapshots of my mods while they're in development, and are only available to Goth and Landgraab patrons. The 2.0 update will be released to Pancake patrons when it's feature-complete, and to the public 2-3 weeks afterwards. I do not have an estimated date at this time.
About this alpha
This is the first alpha of Language Barriers v2.0. It primarily focuses on the behind-the-scenes, technical changes required for the update, but does include some changes and new features you may notice.
Technical changes
- Rewrote the script to support tuning modules.
- Added tuning modules, which allow users to easily customize nearly any feature of the mod they want. A guide on how to do this will be provided when the beta phase begins - in the meantime, if you want to customize something, ask me how.
- Made mod integration easier. Other creators can now make a file to tell LB which of their interaction it should not touch (i.e. which interactions should never be locked behind language barriers).
- Temporarily removed the lb_settings.cfg file. It will return once the tuning modules are set in stone -- it is too complicated to develop both at the same time.
- The fklb.reset cheat now targets a single sim rather than all sims who speak a particular language. You can either name a specific sim, or leave the name out to have it apply to the active sim.
- Removed the fklb.add_all, fklb.enable_all, fklb.disable_all, and fklb.reset_random_skills cheats. They will come back later.
- Added a debug mode (can be enabled with fklb.debug) which outputs more useful information to LanguageBarriers.log so that I can help you figure out the cause of any issues you may encounter.
Feature changes and additions
- Worlds now support multiple official languages, which are considered when assigning native languages to sims (all worlds have one official language by default, but you can add more).
- Native language assignment now takes a sim's parents' languages into account, and may assign multiple languages to sims raised in bilingual households or worlds (the chance that this happens is customizable).
- Temporarily removed second language assignment (default language skills), since this will be overhauled next. It didn't make sense adapting the current system to the new code base, since I'm just going to redo it all anyways.
- Minor tweaks to toddler language acquisition, miscommunication, and passive language learning (learning languages by speaking to other sims). Nothing intentional -- this is just a result of rewriting the script. These systems will be tweaked and overhauled in later versions.
- Added the Native Multilingual reward trait for sims who have more than one native language. Sims with this trait learn languages faster than other sims*.
- Added the Language Savant CAS trait. Sims with this trait learn languages faster than other sims*. This can be stacked with Native Multilingual.
* = These features are not fully implemented yet. They currently only impact the speed of learning languages passively by speaking to other sims. They do not affect Simlingo, reading textbooks, or asking others for help.
Conclusion
It's not that big of an update feature-wise, but I wanted to share it ASAP so that you can get started playing with the new script. Keep in mind that this is a development version of Language Barriers, and has an entirely new script -- although I have thoroughly tested it, I am just one person and LB is not a small mod. It is very possible that there are more bugs in this version than the current public release (v1.1.8), so if you notice any, please bring them to my attention immediately so I can fix them for the next alpha.
Thanks, and hope you enjoy it!
Goth and Landgraab patrons can download the alpha here.