[NEEDS SAVES] Sims autonomously do mean interactions for no reason

[theslowesthnery]

The problem persists. I had to use a mod to turn off autonomous mean interactions completely, because my sims kept being randomly mean to each other for no reason regardless of how good their mood and relationship was.

[masonuk]

Anyone still having issue with this i might have something you can try... 

i had same problem was tearing my hair out trying to solve it.

for me it was a hidden relationship bit sentiment that was causing it.

i found it purely by accident

my sims partner got flirted with and rejected the flirt yet my sim got jealous cheating buff and sentiment so i removed the buff and all sentiments (debug cheat remove all sentiments) but she was still doing the mean social in the middle of friendly and romance conversations

so next i checked hidden buffs and there was a hidden angry cheating buff, removed that and cleared all hidden buffs still kept happening

so like others have done i turned off auto mean for a while

it was when i aged up my sim to young adult i realised

when they get the silly happy relationship bits when they age up and pause actions you have them doing  to think about family member for an hour

so i went in to remove the relationship bit first with her mother (who she was also kept being mean to) it was there i spotted another festering grudge buff, along with other sentiments)  removed it and did same with her partner and noticed another angry cheating buff there so removed that too and bits for her partner and mother toward her and that sorted the problem

you need debug cheats to set the relationship bits unless anyone knows a regular cheat to do it

if you have debug cheats...

shift click on the sim that your sim is being mean to 

go through the menu, find cheat relationship

remove relationship bit

see if in the list there is a angry sentiment and remove it

do the same the other way round too as i notice they still be mean sometimes if another sim has a hidden buff against them

and if you haven't already checked for hidden buffs you can use mccc buff control to see if there is one there and remove it or just use the Sims.remove_all_buffs cheat

this whole sentiments and lifestyle system is totally wreaking my game especially with an already f**d up romance and jealousy system

have turned off lifestyles in options but that doesn't work and yes i have a ton of mods i ain't even gonna bother with the game without mods so don't even anyone ask

i have to have mods to make some of my sims faithful then more mods to stop them being jealous when their faithful partner is being faithful and even more mods to block all the other ridiculous stuff the devs can't be bothered to fix.. 

[theslowesthnery]

I turned autonomous mean interactions back on to check if maybe the problem had been solved and it didn't take long for one of my sims to again autonomously be mean to their beloved spouse for no reason: both sims's motives were fine, neither is mean or evil, and the conversation was pleasant until then. I checked my sims' hidden buffs and relationship bits, but I couldn't find any hidden negative ones that would be causing it.

Actually, writing this I took another look at the sims and their buffs, and when they're talking to each other they both have a moodlet/buff called "near unfriendly". I initially didn't pay attention to that because MCCC lists it as "buff_near_friendly" so I thought that's what it was. But I can't remove this "near unfriendly" buff, and I have no idea why they have it. I'm so confused.

EDIT: I looked at the buff_near_friendly tuning file in Sims 4 Studio and the buff name within the file is "Near Unfriendly" and has the same code (0x85C60C0C) as the near_unfriendly buff. If that's just a naming mistake that doesn't affect gameplay then it's no problem, but now I'm wondering if there's something else wrong with the near_friendly buff. Thinking back, when my married sims interact, they often display negative thought balloons - thumbs down icon, cross over the other sim's face - about each other even when they're having a pleasant conversation and have very high relationship stats with no negative sentiments.

I included screenshots the "buff_near_friendly" and "buff_near_unfriendly" tuning files for comparison.

[masonuk]

@theslowesthnery yeah my simmies have the near unfriendly too always have... some even have two of them. i think one of them is the mischief partners in crime.. they've never affected the game play for me so i've always ignored em.. its the sentiments wreaking my game... now they're even getting angry sentiments doing the neighbourhood brawl. and not even just one sentiment but several

[masonuk]

@theslowesthnery did you run the remove all buffs cheat and remove all sentiments cheats just to be sure.. i've had to do that a few times even after removing the hidden buffs

[masonuk]

@masonukanother thing i noticed that can make sims start being mean a lot over time since city living first came out is adult sims seem to have hidden character values like the ones kids and teens have. over time through bad conversations they go down same as kids and teens do which pushes them more to doing mean interactions. doing the remove all buffs cheats clears these too. if you run that cheat and look at the list of what is removed you see character values like negative empathy scores etc also removed.. i do this now and then on my mean, evil and hothead sims when they start doing my head in going ott with the mean interactions. it happens with positive trait sims also if they get into bad conversations... i've editted my hothead trait so they don't get pushed so much to start argument and don't get angry from mischief it makes them a whole lot more fun to play with as when angry they do more mischief instead of mean to sims they like and find a sim they dont like to take out their mean anger on

another thing you can do is put em all in a club and allow only friendly and funny socials and disallow mean socials this'll push up their character values for a while too. i do this with my huge mob family and run club gathering when they all start hating on each other. eventually you see even the mean and evil sims out and about having more friendly conversations for a while

[simsplayer818]

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:Xbox Series S
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Often (50% - 99%)
What is your current game version number? 1.48.5.2300
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Courtyard, island living, luxury party, laundry day, snowy escape, vintage glamour, knitting, jungle, realm of magic, bowling, cats and dogs, my first pet, outdoor retreat, country kitchen, throwback fit, toddler, decorator, Fitness, romantic garden, dine out, movie hangout, university, Gnome on the go, perfect patio, spa day, kids room, industrial loft, parenthood, backyard, Strangerville, Moschino, animal hats, Tiny living, City living, Get famous, life of the party, get to work, up all night, cottage living, get together, seasons, cool kitchen, grims guitar, Incheon arrivals, fashion street
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Join social gathering with friends and/or family. Or while sitting round at home with family/children.
What happens when the bug occurs? Autonomous conversation despite playing with autonomy off. Largely negative mean and unpleasant mischief actions. Relationships get damaged as a result and causes unhappy/angry moodlets and relationship bar drops sometimes causing the relationship status to go backwards say from good friends to friends or acquaintances. A group gathering at a festival say, ends up with people in a rage.
What do you expect to see? Autonomy Off should mean Autonomy Off... including with conversations.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? On console - never used.
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Neutral/Not Sure 

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Since I play with linked families across worlds, when they gather for example as new family members meet this causes issues. I literally cannot leave them as they are talking as the conversation turns. I'm having to police their action queue and delete the unpleasant actions that pop up before they say it. Like argue for example or Lie about career, fake bad news.

It also happens with children when in conversation with a parent or adult. The child will say something mean to the parent despite not having negative personality traits. I usually adopt child sims and it can send their relationship back over. I often have to stop the conversation as the child has more negative interactions pop up automatically to throw more verbal barbs at the parent... even if they are not in a mean phase.

Autonomy is the issue for me. It's turned off for a reason...it should stay that way.

I've also noticed strangers are mean to pets, may be a separate issue though.

[crinrict]

@simsplayer818 Any goofball traits ? Anyone disliking mischief ? to be sure, you don't have the Eco pack. Don't see it listed but sometimes packs get missed when listing them.

(also merged with existing thread)

[simsplayer818]

@crinricthey there, it doesn't matter what traits they have, it happens to all of my Sims to varying degrees. I usually use the Cheerful Trait and don't have Eco Living yet but was planning to add it at Xmas. I was having an issue with likes taking over so I don't add likes/dislikes. But during the conversation carnage I keep getting numerous requests for more than one of the Sims (even unplayed Sims) asking to add Likes Mischief...which I decline!
Just took a friendly trip to the spice festival and they all fell out on arrival without me even controlling the conversation. I don't know what Nina Caliente said to my Sim but it rightly kicked off and almost became a knock down drag out fight outside Waterside Warble!

Edit: in addition to this, I'm assuming as part of the same issue I get the random action pop up in queue "argue with someone" and my sim starts walking of her own accord to find her target. I can't stop her, I cancel the action but despite it then being greyed out in my queue... she's still on a mission to start a rumble with someone. I've noticed this a few times with different Sims. Sometimes they get in a row with a random but sometimes the person has vanished and the sim stops storming in their direction. It's more annoying as their reputation takes a big hit if it ends in a scrap and their loved ones relationship can be affected too. It results in a nasty text from someone close about them being despised.

[crinrict]

@simsplayer818 OK.Sounds like thsi thread then.