Better Control
Description
Better Control expands how you interact with Sims beyond your active household, offering greater freedom and flexibility without permanently changing their household membership.
Version 1.2.2 fixes an issue with missing information for Sims you’re temporarily controlling: skills, careers, and relationships now display correctly when controlling non-household Sims, and Optional Autonomous Dancing Add-on included.
The mod also offers optional integrations and configurable behaviour systems, including autonomous dancing. A new optional Passersby Behaviour module in version 1.2.3 Beta, offering greater control over neighbourhood activity, pedestrian density and NPC gathering while building upon EA/Maxis' native gameplay systems.
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Key Features
✛ Make non-household Sims playable directly in Live Mode through the Actions menu, without permanently adding them to your household.
✛ Designed to stay aligned with EA/Maxis’ native interaction systems, prioritising long-term stability over forced or invasive behaviour.
✛ Intelligent autonomy management:
- Non-household Sims made playable have their autonomy disabled during the session (not saved after reloading the game).
- Household Sims can be switched to an autonomous state whilst remaining fully controllable.
- Autonomous household status is preserved after reloading the game and after entering Create-a-Sim (CAS).
✛ Non-household playable Sims can enter the household’s home can enter the household’s home seamlessly while under your control when you are controlling them.
✛ General optimisation and internal stability improvements.
✛ What's New & Improved:
- With version 1.2, temporarily controlled Sims can now cook, eat and drink naturally, making everyday gameplay considerably more seamless.
- Version 1.2.2 fixes an issue with missing information for Sims you’re temporarily controlling: skills, careers, and relationships now display correctly when controlling non-household Sims, and Optional Autonomous Dancing Add-on included.
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Optional Autonomous Dance Behaviour
Introduced in version 1.1, this optional feature introduces autonomous dancing for eligible Sims.
✛ Everything described under ‘Key Features’, plus the information below.
✛ Added an optional autonomous dance behaviour system for household Sims set as autonomous and for non-household Sims.
✛ Added adjustable dance intensity settings directly in-game: Weak, Normal, Strong or Extreme.
✛ Added a dedicated in-game configuration menu for dance behaviour inside the EA interaction menu system by clicking on a door or gate 🚪.
In the video, Bella Goth is intentionally unaffected by Better Control’s autonomous dance behaviour because “Disable Autonomous Sim Status” is enabled for her, while the game autonomy setting is configured to “Full”.
Music Credits | Music Artist: Le consortium des artistes libres | Music Title: La Fécondation de la Publicité | Licenses: Licence Art Libre
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New Features in Version 1.2.1 Beta
Following the results of a recent Patreon community poll, I'm delighted to introduce a brand-new optional WickedWhims integration in Better Control version 1.2.1 Beta!
The beta will initially be available exclusively to paid Patreon subscribers, giving supporters early access to the new features while development and testing continue. It will then be made freely available to everyone at a later date.
This integration requires WickedWhims and the corresponding optional Better Control package. It is not required for the main Better Control features.
✛ Enable or disable WickedWhims’ global autonomy directly through Better Control’s in-game menu.
✛ Choose between four intensity levels: Weak, Normal, Strong or Extreme.
These levels modify WickedWhims’ autonomy settings rather than forcing interactions to occur.
✛ A dedicated optional mode allows you to reserve supported autonomous romantic interactions for Sims recognised as NPCs by WickedWhims.
Existing WickedWhims compatibility checks, animation selection and location systems continue to determine whether an interaction can proceed.
✛ All Better Control WickedWhims settings can be accessed by clicking on a sofa.
✛ Optional and independent
✛ This integration is experimental and has been developed and tested with WickedWhims v185k. Compatibility with other versions is not guaranteed.
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New Optional Passersby Behaviour in Version 1.2.3 Beta
I'm delighted to introduce Better Control — Passersby, a new optional behaviour module designed to bring more life to your Sims' neighbourhoods while remaining as faithful as possible to EA/Maxis' native systems.
The beta will initially be available exclusively to paid Patreon subscribers, giving supporters early access to the new features while development and testing continue. It will then be made freely available to everyone at a later date.
✛ Three operating modes: Follow EA's original walkby schedules, introduce random neighbourhood profiles, or generate additional pedestrian activity.
✛ Adjustable density: Choose between ×1 and ×10, depending on the selected mode.
✛ Configurable population limits: Set a target of 25, 35, 50, 70 or 90 Sims, with an optional adjustment to EA's global NPC spawning limit.
✛ NPC Gathering: Ask eligible non-household Sims to gather at a chosen location using EA's native movement and routing systems.
✛ In-game configuration: Access all settings and diagnostic tools by clicking on a lamp or lighting object 💡.
✛ Optional and independent: This module requires the main Better Control mod and its two dedicated add-on files. It is not required for Better Control's core features.
✛ Complete Passersby User Guide — Features, Installation & Configuration
Please note: Passersby is an experimental beta. Population targets are not guaranteed NPC counts, and higher density settings may affect game performance.
The video deliberately pushes the mod to its limits, leaving Sims with very little room to act independently in order to demonstrate its effects more clearly.
Music Credits | Music Artist: Le consortium des artistes libres | Music Title: Nos ailes | Licenses: Licence Art Libre
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System requirements and compatibility
✛ A recent version of The Sims 4.
✛ Script mods must be enabled in the game settings.
✛ May conflict with mods that modify autonomy or Sim selection behaviour.
✛ Installation: place the .ts4script and .package files directly into your Mods folder (or within a single subfolder).
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Supported Languages
This mod currently supports:
Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Swedish.
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Acknowledgements
✛ Thanks to the Simsonian Library team for their S4 Shell Tools compilation utilities.
✛ Thanks to Maxis for creating The Sims 4.
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Support and feedback
Have you encountered a bug?
Feel free to leave a comment or contact me. Your feedback is essential to improving this mod.
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Development & Future Features
Better Control is actively evolving, and community feedback plays an important role in shaping future updates.
Free Patreon members can participate in exclusive polls to help choose upcoming behaviour systems, gameplay mechanics and compatibility features planned for future versions of the mod.
You can also support development through Patreon donations or subscriptions.