This mod for The Sims 4 allows you to take control of any sim in the game, offering unprecedented flexibility and creativity in your gameplay.
Mod Features
Play as any sim
Seamlessly switch control between your active household sims and any other sim in the game world.
Easy-to-Use Interface
Integrated into the game's pie menu for intuitive use.
Customizable menus
You can hide this mod in the Shift + Click menu or access it via the Relationship Panel
Travel Group Management
You now have full control travel groups. Create, modify, or delete Vacation and Stay Over groups, with the ability to add or remove individual Sims at any time.
Situations Management (NEW FEATURE)
Gain complete control over your Sims' situations. You can now add them to any lot situation such as 'Stay The Night' and 'Visit', or remove them as needed for full gameplay customization.
How It Works
Installation
Simply download the mod, place it in your mods folder, and enable script mods in your game settings.
Activation
Click on any non-playable sim and select the new "Add to Selectable Sims" option from the Actions > Sim Control Hub category in the pie menu.
Gameplay
Once added, the sim becomes fully controllable, allowing you to direct their actions, change their outfits, manage their needs, send them to work, and perform all functions available to a playable sim.
Benefits
Enhanced Gameplay
Experience the game from new perspectives by controlling different sims and situations.
Storytelling
Create intricate storylines by directly influencing the actions and decisions of all sims.
Flexibility
Perfect for managing multiple households or intricate social dynamics within your game.
Lightweight
This mod does not add buffs, traits, or affordances to any sim.
Fast
Utilize custom interactions and cached tests to prevent delays when loading the pie menu.
Safe to remove
You can remove this mod at any time without leaving any trace.
Demo
List of Interactions
Add selectable sims
Add a selectable Sim to the Skewer. It will be added to the default situation of a playable sim brought to the zone with the ‘Bring Here’ interaction. For example, if the lot is a café, the Sim will be added to the situation "situation_Cafe_GenericCustomer".
Remove Selectable Sim
Remove a selectable sim from the Skewer. What happens next depends on the situation the Sim is in:
If the Sim is part of a specific situation (e.g., a hired mixologist), they will return to their previous role without significant changes.
If the Sim is not involved in any situation (i.e., does not have a role such as Stall Vendor) and is within the active lot, they will be assigned a default role based on the lot type. For example, if the lot is a cafe, the Sim will assume the role of 'Cafe Customer.' If the Sim is outside the lot, they will return home after a few minutes.
Clear All Selectable Sims
Remove all selectable sims added to the Skewer by this mod.
Start a Stay Over
Create an indefinite-duration ‘Stay Over.’ It can only be used when you are in the residence of the active household (i.e., the household you selected to play).
End this sim's Travel Group
Ends the ‘Stay Over’ or vacation group that this Sim is part of. All group members will be released.
Add to Travel Group
If the active household has a ‘Stay Over’ group in their home lot, the target sim will be added to it. If no ‘Stay Over’ group exists, the target sim will be added to the Travel Group of the active selectable sim.
Remove from their current Travel Group
Remove the Sim from their ‘Stay Over’ or vacation group. If the group becomes empty, it will be automatically destroyed.
Technical Details
How it works
This mod operates exclusively during simulation time. It retrieves the previous state and configuration from a JSON file generated by the mod while the zone is active, eliminating the need to alter your save file. When you exit a zone, any modifications made by the mod are automatically undone, restoring the original state.
You can safely keep this mod in your mod folder, even if you don’t actively use it. It won’t introduce any delays to the pie menu or affect other aspects of the game. As long as you refrain from adding any sims to the Skewer, the game will function as if no mod were installed.
Selectable Sims
When you start a game in The Sims 4, your first crucial decision is selecting a household to dive into. Behind the scenes, the game populates a list known as ‘Selectable Sims,’ which determines which Sims can be chosen via the portraits displayed at the bottom of the screen (referred to as the Skewer).
Sim Control Hub provides the capability to augment this list by incorporating Sims from other households. Achieving this involves making modifications to various aspects of the game, which is why the majority of functionalities within this mod are implemented using Python scripts.
Situations
When you add a new selectable Sim who is present in the active zone, they are likely engaged in a specific situation. This could range from a casual ‘WalkBy’ scenario to a hired mixologist tending the bar, someone leisurely fishing by the pond, and so on. These situations can vary from one zone to another, making it more challenging to control a Sim since they directly influence their autonomy.
A straightforward approach would be to limit control to sims in ‘WalkBy’ or generic situations. However, I chose to take a risk and allow control over any sim. This means you can take control of a store vendor, Father Winter himself, or any other sim. Initially, managing these Sims doesn’t pose significant issues. As long as you position them near the relevant areas where they naturally perform their tasks, they will continue to do so automatically.
However, it’s important to remember that there are many different situations to consider. I would greatly appreciate any reports of issues that arise from controlling sims in specific situations, as unexpected glitches can occur.
Leaving Situations
In the game, all situations progress through distinct states. However, when most situations conclude, they transition into a ‘Leave State,’ during which each participating Sim assumes a ‘Leaving’ role. This role can cause an issue where selectable sims added to the Skewer by this mod may become trapped in an endless loop, attempting to leave the area but remaining unable to do so. You can easily spot this when you see a sim standing still, endlessly restarting an idle animation.
Fortunately, I’ve developed a solution: my mod actively monitors changes in the situation’s state for any selectable sim added by this mod and promptly removes any situations that assume a ‘Leaving’ role.
If you encounter any stuck sims, here’s a quick fix: send them back home and then bring them back to the current zone. This should resolve any potential issues. Additionally, if you do experience this bug, please take note of the steps that led to it and report them. While I’m confident this fix will prevent the problem, it’s always good to be cautious.
Homeless Sims
Adding homeless selectable Sims to the Skewer was a significant challenge, but it’s now possible.
In the unmodified game, when you are playing in a different area from the active household’s home lot, any selectable Sim at home automatically heads to work. However, selectable Sims who are not at home and need to go to work must first return to their home lot.
An issue arises with homeless sims; since they lack a home, exceptions occur. To address this, my mod introduces a small patch that allows homeless sims to enter a null zone and engage in any Rabbit Hole activity that typically requires a home lot. I’ve thoroughly tested this feature, and there shouldn’t be any issues related to it.
Travel Groups
I’ve added a small module with interactions specifically for handling Travel Groups. I did this because Travel Groups can cause quite a few issues, especially since the base game wasn’t originally designed to control sims from different households and travel groups.
Here’s a breakdown of how Travel Groups work:
Types:
- Vacation Groups: These are formed when a sim uses the “Take a Vacation” interaction. This creates a Travel Group consisting of all sims currently on vacation in another region. The Sim who initiated the vacation becomes the group leader.
- Stay Over Groups: Introduced with the “Growing Together” DLC, these groups are created when Sims are invited to stay overnight at the active household’s residence. Notably, the Sims from the active household do not become part of this Travel Group.
Constraints:
- In the base game, each household can have only one Travel Group. If a sim from the active household is on vacation, there cannot be any Stay Over guests. Conversely, if there are Stay Over guests, no sims from the active household can be vacationing in another region.
- When a sim is vacationing in another region, you’ll notice that you cannot select sims who are not part of their Travel Group—unless you invite them using the “Join Vacation” interaction.
When you consider it carefully, this introduces significant complexity to the mod, as it must evaluate numerous scenarios. Here are some examples:
Error Logging
This mod includes a logger designed to record potential errors that might occur. If you suspect something isn’t working correctly, check the folder where you’ve stored the mod. Look for a file named `dquiet_sim_control_hub.log`—it should contain information about any errors encountered. If you find this file, feel free to share its contents with me, and I’ll investigate to determine what might be going wrong.
Known Issues
- When you control a sim who is a Stay Over Guest, they are treated as if they are vacationing on a residential lot belonging to another Household. You may see some interactions that normally appear during vacations, such as "Go To Lodging".
- When a sim is on vacation or is part of a Stay Over group and decides to visit a different area from where they are staying, the 'Go To Lodging' interaction icon will never disappear from the Sim's portrait in the skewer. This is a bug present in the unmodified game.
When you add a sim to the Skewer who is already in the area, the information in the Aspiration and Skills Panels might not appear immediately. These panels will remain empty until the sim completes their current animation. The Skills Panel will update automatically, but for the Aspiration Panel, you’ll need to switch to another Sim to refresh the UI. Keep in mind that this is only a visual glitch.
Partially fixed. When adding a sim present in the area to the skewer, a custom interaction will be pushed to the sim’s interaction queue, forcing the UI to reload after two minutes in the game. It should be compatible with almost all interactions and prevent their cancellation.
When controlling a selectable sim added by this mod within their home lot, you may notice interactions that should not be available between household members. For instance, the 'Ask to Be New Roommate' interaction might appear.
Fixed. The ‘Ask to be New Roommate’ interaction now verifies that the participating Sims do not belong to the same household. Please report if there is another interaction with this behavior.
If one or more selectable Sims are added using this mod and a member of the active household dies, leaving no remaining Sims in the household, multiple issues and exceptions may occur. To prevent this, avoid such scenarios entirely. Additionally, do not attempt to save the game if this situation arises.
Fixed.
Unexpected behaviors may occur when adopting a child while using an added selectable NPC.
No significant issues were detected when adopting a child while using an added selectable NPC. If you notice any unexpected behavior, please feel free to report it.
- When adopting a pet while controlling a Sim from another household, the pet will be added to the active household, not the household of the controlled Sim. For example, if you are playing with Household A and control a Sim from Household B while they are at home, adopting a cat will result in the cat being added to Household A. The potential errors this may cause are currently unclear, so it is strongly recommended to avoid saving the game until you have confirmed that no additional issues have arisen.
It requires further testing and reports. - Some users have reported that this mod may cause the follow cam to stop working unexpectedly. I'm currently looking into this issue and appreciate your patience as I work towards a resolution.
It requires further testing and reports.
Acknowledgments
Control Any Sim by TitanNano
I took inspiration from this mod. Since the author hadn’t updated it for a long time, I started developing my own version from scratch. Recently, this mod received some updates, so I recommend downloading and trying it out.
Sim Control Hub shares some functions with Control Any Sim; however, I decided to take a deeper approach, treating the added non-playable sims as players and retaining all their functionalities. This results in greater complexity in the source code and an increase in the number of injections needed in the game.
Creator Musings
I am very grateful to the Creator Musings community on Discord. All the members are amazing and willing to help with anything. They guided me in solving various problems I encountered while developing this mod.
heidi137 - luniversims.fr
Acknowledgment for the French translation of the mod. Thank you.
Download Links / Release Notes
V1.3.4 - 02-24-2025 - Download
Part of the code has been updated to ensure better compatibility with the latest Businesses & Hobbies Expansion Pack DLC. You can now safely control Sims in Customer or any other situation inside small businesses.
Added "Situation Manager" module to handle Sims' active situations. This new feature allows you to view all situations a Sim is currently involved in, remove unwanted situations, and create visit-type situations (such as "Stay the Night" or "Invite Over") depending on the current lot type. The module helps with troubleshooting potential issues, managing NPC autonomy more effectively, and giving players greater control over social interactions and visits.
The mod now provides enhanced compatibility with NPC-only careers (such as maids and butlers) that were not originally designed for playable Sims. Since these careers lack proper Rabbit Holes, their initialization will be cancelled. Additionally, a custom notification has been added to the Career Panel for Sims employed in the current area
The mod has been restructured into independent modules to enable optional feature management in future updates. Currently, users can disable the Situation Manager module by simply removing its corresponding .package file.
The debug mode has been enhanced with more detailed messaging, enabling better issue detection and troubleshooting. These upgrades provide clearer error reporting and more precise problem identification while maintaining all existing functionality, helping players resolve issues more efficiently.
The mod now processes selectable Sims' situations more efficiently during lot loading. Situations update immediately upon load rather than waiting for the zone to unpause, followed by automatic permission corrections for the current lot. This optimization results in smoother transitions between locations and more reliable situation management throughout gameplay.
Fixed an issue causing exceptions when adding Sims in WalkBy situations requiring transportation objects. The error occurred because the system attempted to delete the in-use object twice. For example: In Sulani, taking control of an NPC using a canoe or Aqua-Zip would trigger an exception due to the vehicle being destroyed twice.
Fixed an issue with selectable Sims getting stuck in "Leave"-type situations. This occurred when a Sim in a Customer situation was active at a Small Business that closed, causing the Sim to be incorrectly added to the Situation_SingleSimLeave scenario. The mod now properly detects these cases and removes affected Sims from these situations.
Fixed a minor issue where an error was logged when a Sim aged up in the area. This error occurred due to an incorrect attempt to update the portraits of selectable Sims.
Several Bug Fixes. The improvements address various gameplay-related problems to enhance overall stability and performance.
V1.3.2 - 02-11-2025 - Download
Resolved an issue where the follow camera, activated via the "Lock the Camera" interaction or by right-clicking a selectable Sim's portrait, would stop following the Sim. This occurred because the mod unnecessarily updated selectable Sims' information whenever any Sim in the area updated their work info. Updates now occur only when necessary, which should slightly improve the mod's performance.
An optional fix for the follow camera has been added. In the vanilla game, there is a behavior that appears to be a bug, causing the follow camera to be unnecessarily disabled whenever any Sim from the active household updates their information. For example, this occurs when a Sim from the active household finishes their workday. This behavior is more noticeable in active careers.
Updated the settings menu texts to clearly indicate whether an option is enabled or disabled, enhancing usability and clarity.
Enhanced detection of background situations in specific zones such as Alien World of Sixam and Mt. Komorebi's Summit. This ensures both player Sims and NPCs are added to their corresponding background situations, allowing their autonomy to adjust correctly.
V1.3.1 - 02-08-2025 - Download
Enhanced the triggering mechanism for Discovery Quests when controlling an added selectable sim. Now, the Discovery Quest will only activate when you are controlling a sim from the active household. Previously, it would trigger using the first available sim from the active household, which required iterating over every sim in the household, making it a bit inefficient.
Fixed Exceptions and Errors Caused by Sim Death: Resolved exceptions and errors that occurred when an sim, belonging to a household without another member capable of living independently, died. The mod now checks if there are other members in the household upon an sim's death and removes all added selectable sims if necessary.
Updated French Translation, courtesy of user heidi137 - luniversims.fr
V1.3.0 - 02-07-2025 - Download
Part of the code has been updated to ensure better compatibility with the latest version of the game. PC: 1.112.519.1020 / Mac: 1.112.519.1220
Relocated Travel Groups Interactions: Travel Groups-related interactions have been removed from the Pie Menu and are now exclusively accessible through the Relationship Panel. This change improves performance by reducing Pie Menu loading times and resolves several issues previously linked to these interactions.
Enhanced Situation Detection for Lots: The mod now dynamically detects all available situations within the Zone Director, Open Street Director, and Venue Service. It selectively stops only conflicting situations, resolving previous issues. For example, when making a sim selectable, the mod no longer incorrectly stops club gathering situations. This improvement ensures smoother gameplay and fewer disruptions.
Fixed Internal Exceptions: A minor bug causing internal exceptions within the mod when interacting with certain objects or animals in the Relationship Panel has been resolved. This includes interactions with items such as the Potty Mouth 2.0 talking toilet and the Grim Deluxe Ascendant Crow.
Fixed Active Sim Consistency: Resolved a minor bug where the active Sim would unintentionally change when loading a new zone. The active Sim now remains consistent during travel or zone transitions, ensuring a smoother gameplay experience.
Fixed Career and Rabbit Hole Issues: Resolved several bugs related to careers and Rabbit Holes. This includes issues such as selectable Sims appearing in lots when they should be working. These fixes ensure Sims behave as expected during work hours and maintain proper immersion.
Improved Debug Mode: The Debug Mode has been enhanced to deliver clearer and more descriptive messages. This update facilitates easier identification and troubleshooting of potential bugs within the game, streamlining the debugging process for both developers and players.
Code Refactor and Bug Fixes: The code has been refactored, and several minor bugs have been resolved to enhance the overall performance and stability of the mod. These changes aim to provide users with a smoother and more reliable experience. Additionally, I'm considering the release of an open-source version of the mod in the future, which would allow the community to contribute to its maintenance and development.
V1.2.0 - 09-16-2024 - Download
Support for Infants and Toddlers Sims has been added. They can now be controlled.
The mod can now save the state of multiple households. There's no need to re-add selectable sims when switching between different households.
All mod settings have been relocated to a custom menu for easier access and organization.
A setting to enable the debug logger was added, and it was improved to help players detect issues.
A French translation has been added, courtesy of user heidi137 - luniversims.fr.
Fixed an issue where a selectable sim on their home lot was added to the
GreetedPlayerVisitingNPCsituation, which limited their autonomy within their home.Fixed some issues caused by situations that don't have a role leave at the end, which caused them to never finish and the sim to get stuck with a role and limited autonomy until they left the area. For example: the situation situation_FanStan_CelebritySims.
Fixed Autonomy Limitation Bug: A bug causing selectable Sims to be incorrectly added to the GreetedNPCVisitingPlayer situation when they were inside the lot during zone loading has been resolved. This previously restricted their autonomy. Now, these Sims will behave like regular players and fully adhere to the autonomy settings configured in the game options.
The update process for selectable Sims' situations when starting a zone has been enhanced, correcting several bugs, including one that prevented a Sim from entering a home lot.
V1.1.4 - 09-08-2024 - Download
Fixed a rare bug that caused a LastException when initializing a zone because the mod attempted to access a non-existent sim instance.
Fixed an error that caused an exception when a homeless Sim was added to the list of selectable Sims and a new zone was initialized. This was due to an attempt to load a non-existent zone.
The mod's persistence system has been unified. It now uses a single JSON file to save configurations and states. The CFG file can be deleted as it is no longer necessary.
Various fixes in the logging system of the mod. The mod will no longer create a .log file unless an internal error occurs. You can delete the .log file if you don't want it to take up unnecessary space.
V1.1.3 - 09-05-2024 - Download
Hotfix to resolve a LastException error occurring during game load. This is a minor issue in the Logger that does not affect the player.
V1.1.2 - 09-04-2024 - Download
A bug was fixed that prevented an added Sim from entering the active household's lot after using the 'Visit' interaction.
A notification was added to inform that a Sim will take a day off from their career when performing any task or profession in the current area. Additionally, the method for taking a career day off has been improved. It now uses a PTO without deducting accumulated days, impacting statistics, or affecting work performance.
The mod menu has been moved to the Actions category in the Pie Menu.
V1.1.1 - 08-31-2024 - Download
The 'Ask to be New Roommate' interaction now includes a verification step to ensure that the participating Sims do not belong to the same household. A Sim added through this mod can now request an NPC Sim (who should not be selectable during the interaction) to become a new roommate. If accepted, the NPC will be correctly added to the household of the Sim who initiated the request.
A large part of the mod's source code was refactored. The logging system was improved to detect potential issues within the mod more effectively.
V1.1.0 - 08-30-2024 - Download
Fixed a problem with infinite loading screens when a homeless sim is the last to leave the zone using the 'Go Home' interaction. This issue occurred because the game attempted to load the sim's home lot. Now, when an added selectable sim leaves the zone, loading a new zone will be avoided, allowing the player to switch control to another sim.
Fixed a critical error that could halt the game and cause various exceptions when an added selectable sim attended their career and the player decided to change zones. This issue occurred because the AwayActionTracker was not properly stopped, causing the career scheduler to attempt to access unavailable information.
Fixed a problem where sims performing important tasks in the zone would abandon them to attend their careers. Now, when it's time for their career to start, the workday will be skipped without any performance loss, allowing the sim to complete any pending tasks in the zone.
When a selectable sim present in the zone is added during work hours, the workday will be skipped without any performance loss.
When a selectable sim who is not present in the zone is added during work hours, they will automatically attend their career, making up for the lost work hours. Consequently, they will not incur any performance or money penalties.
There are certain generic careers intended solely for NPCs or homeless sims, such as variations of Nanny, Barista, and Stall Vendor. These careers previously caused issues that prevented these sims from performing their tasks correctly in the active zone when they were added as selectable sims. Now, these careers will be ignored, and when it's time for them to start, they will be automatically canceled without any penalties.
Several minor bugs were fixed.
V1.1.0-beta.1 - 08-28-2024 - Download
The ability to add Dogs, Cats, and Horses to the list of selectable Sims has been added. They can be controlled using the cheat code
pets.toggle_selectable_pets. This command can be enabled using TwistedMexi’s All Cheats or charitycodes Selectable Pets AlwaysA large part of the mod's source code was refactored. The logging system was improved to detect potential issues within the mod more effectively.
V1.0.0 - 08-27-2024 - Download
First release