This mod gives the player greater control over the work-play balance for their Sims, by enabling the player to decide in advance of the car pool arriving if the Sim is going to take paid/unpaid leave or "fake a sickie".
Sim Interactions - Making A Decision
Clicking on the active Sim (provided they have a job) gives an additional "Work ..." menu option, with the following sub-options.
Take Paid Leave
Selecting this option will make the Sim miss their next working day, taking authorised paid leave. They will be paid their normal daily rate and a day of PTO will be deducted. Their job performance level will not be affected.
This option is only available if the Sim has at least one day of PTO available.
Take Unpaid Leave
Selecting this option will make the Sim miss their next working day, taking authorised unpaid leave. They will NOT be paid their normal daily rate NOR will a day of PTO be deducted. Their job performance level will be affected - the amount depending on their current performance level.
This option is only available if the Sim's current job performance level is above a (configurable) threshold.
Take Sick Leave
This is the same as calling in sick after missing the car pool. It carries the same risks of performance decrease and being fired.
Forget It, I'm Coming In!
This option is only available after a Sim has selected one of the previous three options, and it cancels that selection.
Sim Interactions - Enacting The Decision
Choosing one of the first three options above doesn't immediately do anything work related. What happens is that an invisible token is created in the Sim's inventory (a bit like the hidden dancing, pool playing, etc skill progression tokens) to record their decision. This is how the decision can be cancelled - the token is deleted.
When the Sim is next due to go to work, the car pool arrival code checks for the token in the Sim's inventory, and if found, enacts the decision. In all cases the car will NOT wait for the Sim (or even show up if no Sims are heading into work that day). In the case of taking paid leave, the Sim will be paid immediately and not at the end of the day. In the case of taking sick leave, the Sim may be demoted or fired (via a notification).
Unpaid Leave Performance Deduction Calculation
The amount of job performance deducted when a Sim takes unpaid leave is an inverse function of their current job performance level. The better their current job performance level the less will be deducted (employers are more likely to look favourably on a good employee's request for unpaid leave than a poor one.)
Job performance is measured on a scale of -100 (terrible) to 100 (excellent).
The function is
BaseDeduction = (100 - min(90, CurrentPerformace)) * 1/2
ActualDeduction = max(5, BaseDeduction + random(1, BaseDeduction) *1/2)
Final job performance from unpaid leave deductions will never fall below -10
Most values configurable, see "Configuration - BCONs" below
Example 1
A Sim with a performance of 80 (very good) taking unpaid leave will have a base deduction of (100-80) *1/2 = 10 and an actual deduction between 10 and 15 (as a random element is applied)
Example 2
A Sim with a performance of 30 (mediocre, right on the limit) taking unpaid leave will have a base deduction of (100-30) *1/2 = 35 and an actual deduction between 35 and 52
Example 3
A Sim with a performance of 100 (Excellent) taking unpaid leave will have a base deduction of (100-90) *1/2 = 5 and an actual deduction between 5 and 7 (as a random element is applied)
Some role-playing possible usage scenarios
Scenario 1
It's Monday evening and Donna and Dean want to get married. Donna works 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, while Dean works 2pm to 8pm Tuesday to Saturday. Donna doesn't want to wait until Sunday - for one thing her wedding dress is being to feel tight around the middle and she doesn't think her sudden weight gain is from over-eating! Dean has a day PTO in-hand, and as he's in line for promotion he decides to take Tuesday off as paid leave. Donna also has a day PTO in-hand, but as she's pretty sure she's about to get additional leave anyway, she's not concerned about her job performance (as maternity pay isn't performance related) and decides to take unpaid leave. On Tuesday, the work pool car will not arrive, Dean will get paid and lose a day of PTO and they can enjoy their nuptials without all the car horn honking (or the possibility that the player forgets to cancel the go-to-work action for the bride or groom!)
Scenario 2
Ethan has tickets for a band he wants to take his girlfriend Ellie to see. But he's meant to be working the Friday evening of the gig, so he takes "sick leave" ... again! Unfortunately, Ellie excitedly posts about her wonderful boyfriend's treat for her on SimBook, which Ethan's employer sees, and Ethan is promptly fired when he fails to show up for work on Friday evening.
Scenario 3
Tomorrow is the first day of the Spring Sales and Jenni really wants a new wardrobe. Work will just have to wait, retail therapy is much more important! Jenni books the day off work, using a day of paid leave, as that way she'll have both the day free for shopping AND the money in her purse to take full advantage of the bargains.
The mod is compatible with "Shared Parenting PTO"
Shared Parenting Scenario
Jack and Jill have a new baby. Both work as teachers at the local school and can share parental leave. Jill has been assigned the maternity leave PTO, but is going to go to work today. Jack has no PTO and will stay at home (and let the Shared Parenting code kick in). However, Jack wants to "Take Paid Leave" (to stop the car pool waiting for him). Normally this wouldn't be allowed (as he has no PTO), but, provided there is a Shared Parenting Planner on the lot, and Jack qualifies for sharing Jill's maternity leave, the option will be available.
Configuration of Duvet Days is done via BCONs. Details are given below, to make changes to these values it is assumed you can use SimPE to open the WH_DuvetDays.package file and locate the BCON entries.
See the PDF manual for more details.
- Pets or later (including UC) - copy the WH_DuvetDays package file into your downloads directory.
- Open For Business - copy the WH_DuvetDaysForOFB package file into your downloads directory.
- Night Life - copy the WH_DuvetDaysForNL package file into your downloads directory.
- Base Game or University - sorry, not supported.
Installation - Optional Fixes
The following packages are optional, and fix a few niggles. By default, you should install them all and only remove those that conflict with other mods. They are not crucial to the operation of this mod, and have been split out into their own packages for ease of removal.
- WH_DuvetDays_DriveToWorkFix - (Apartment Life, Mansions and Gardens, and UC only) this fix stops a sim from being able to "Drive to Work" after they have decided to stay home for the day. If this package conflicts with another mod, delete this file and just don't select the "Drive to Work" option on a car for the sim!
- WH_DuvetDays_WalkToWorkFix - (Apartment Life, Mansions and Gardens, and UC only) this fix stops a sim from being able to "Walk to Work" after they have decided to stay home for the day. If this package conflicts with another mod, delete this file and just don't select the "Walk to Work" option for the sim!
- WH_DuvetDays_DemoteJobFix - (All expansions) the standard "Call in Sick" code is broken. After three or four days of "faking a sickie" a sim should be demoted or fired, except the demotion code does nothing. This package fixes that issue, as the same code is needed by the "Take Sick Leave" option. If this package conflicts with another mod, chances are that mod fixes it as well, so, delete this file.
- WH_DuvetDays_MoveInOut - (All expansions) this fix removes any leave tokens as sims move in or out of a house, for example, by marriage. This resolves some oddities if the sim being moved in (for instance) is in a different time zone to the family they are joining (eg the moving in sim was taking unpaid leave on a Tuesday on their lot, but is joining a family that is currently on Monday, when they don't work). The oddities are not game breaking, you may just get out-of-the-blue notifications about taking leave / missing work. If this package conflicts with another mod, just delete it and ignore the odd notifications.
Uninstallation
Delete the WH_DuvetDays and any associated patch and fix package file(s) from your downloads directory.
Will conflict with any mod that alters the JobDataGlobals (group 0x7F8F4EB6) BHAV 0x201C "Function - Does Sim Work Today?".
- Known NOT to conflict with "No carpool for mothers" at MTS
- Known NOT to conflict with "Institutional Signs" at SimLogical
(It should be noted that those two mods conflict with each other, so do NOT install both!)
Conflicts - Special
Fixes - Drive To Work
Will conflict with any mod that alters the CarGlobals (group 0x7F4EA230) BHAV 0x21D2 "Interaction - Ownable - Work Common TEST".
Fixes - Walk To Work
Will conflict with any mod that alters the PersonGlobals (group 0x7F01EC29) BHAV 0x2537 "Interaction - Walk to Work - TEST".
Fixes - Demote Job
Will conflict with any mod that alters the JobDataGlobals (group 0x7F8F4EB6) BHAV 0x204C "CT - Demote Job".
Fixes - Move In/Out
Will conflict with any mod that alters the "Controller - Inheritance" (group 0x7F859641) BHAVs 0x100A "Move Out - Normal" or 0x1007 "Move In - Normal".
Conflicts - Interactions and Tokens
Both the Sim Interactions and the Token have their own GUID so will NOT conflict with any other object or interaction..
- If a Sim has a PTO of exactly 100 (1 day), the UI will display "Vacation Days: 0", but the Sim will be able to take Paid Leave.
- There is a superfluous "X has the day/night off" notification. Unfortunately, this is being generated in the BHAV 0x2009 "Sub - Process", and fixing this will cause conflicts with many other mods.
- Requires Night Life or later
- Works for any career - base, expansion or custom
- Works with the Sims Salary Bonus Scheme mod, paid leave will include any accrued bonus
- Works with the Shared Parenting PTO mod, a Sim without PTO will be able to take "Paid Leave" if they are a stay-at-home carer
- Does NOT apply to pets
- All default values are configurable via BCONs
Both the Sim Interaction and the Token objects set the original GUID to itself and the fall-back GUID to 0x00000000, so are Super Duper Hug Bug proofed.
See the PDF manual for more details.
- FranH @MTS for the initial idea and input during development.
- The developers of SimPE.
- Any Game Starter.
- The Compressorizer.
- Pets onwards DuvetDays.zip
- OFB only DuvetDaysForOFB.zip
- NL only DuvetDaysForNL.zip
- PDF Manual Only DuvetDays.pdf