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TL;DR: Sims will now socialize in accordance with their traits, moods, relationships, preferences, skills, and much more! If you have specific questions about functionality or compatibility, drop a comment here.

Deeper Social Autonomy rewrites how Sims decide to interact. In an unmodded game, Sims often behave in ways that feel disconnected from their mood, traits, preferences, sentiments, and relationships. This mod overhauls the autonomy tests for Friendly, Funny, Mean, Mischief and Romance/WooHoo interactions so that these things actually matter. The result is more thoughtful, context-aware behavior for all your Sims.

For more varied conversations, consider downloading my Social Variety mod in addition to this mod!

Mod & Pack Integration

This mod draws from all packs to enhance Sim autonomy, including traits, moods, wants, fears, preferences, lifestyles, and relationship bits. It also integrates with a few popular mods. You don’t need any expansion packs or any of the supported mods below for Deeper Social Autonomy to work, they are simply factored in to enhance the overall experience.

Supported Mods:

A certain mod that is both based and mental
Chingyu's Brave Trait in CAS & Faithfulness Traits
Kuttoe’s Traits
Lumpinou's Mood Pack Mod - All custom moods
Lumpinou's Charm & Chemistry
TURBODRIVER's mods – Attraction bits and certain Traits
MissyHissy's The Hopes and Fears Mod
MissyHissy's The Custom Wants Mod
MissyHissy's Lovestruck Attraction Overhaul

Examples of Integrated Features From Different Packs:

Character Values (Parenthood)
Clubs (Get Together)
Juice and Nectar (Eco-Lifestyle, Discover University, Horse Ranch)
Lifestyles (Snowy Escape)
Compatibility (Growing Together)
Attraction (Lovestruck)
Luck system (Enchanted by Nature)
Getaway competition behavior (Adventure Awaits)
Supernatural interactions, like werewolves interacting with vampires or Mystical Sims interacting with occults
Much more!

🤝🏻 Friendly Autonomy

Sims now look at their mood, relationship strength and compatibility before striking up a conversation. Positive moods like Happy, Playful or Confident encourage sociability, while Angry, Sad, Uncomfortable or Stressed moods suppress it. Compatibility bits from the Growing Together expansion or Lumpinou's Charm & Chemistry mod make kindred spirits more likely to talk to one another, whereas Sims with Awful compatibility or negative sentiments will be less likely to initiate friendly interactions.

At higher relationship bands the restrictions loosen. Best friends and close family members can chat freely unless they have strong negative sentiments. On the opposite end, friendly interactions between despised Sims only happen if there’s a positive sentiment or the actor has the Mediator trait (Parenthood), making reconciliation possible but rare.

Sims with traits like Loner avoid talking to acquaintances unless they feel Confident or have a drink in them. Matching traits like two Bros or two Snobs subtly boost the chance of interaction, and certain wants (e.g. “Make a New Friend”) can nudge acquaintances into socializing.

😆 Funny Autonomy

Sims will now only tell jokes autonomously when they’re in a light‑hearted mood (like Playful), a Funny/Humorous conversation, or have certain comedy-specific traits (like Goofball). Low‑skill comedians won’t subject acquaintances to cringe‑worthy material. Sims who are only Acquaintances require a higher Comedy skill to tell jokes, while close friends can laugh together even if neither Sim is a master comedian. Drinks that provide Playful or Confident buffs make Sims more likely to tell jokes.

Socially avoidant Sims (like Loner, Paranoid) and those with a dislike for Comedy avoid being funny unless they’re coaxed by a want or a specific mood (like Hysterical).

🤬 Mean Autonomy

Mean socials now only fire when there’s genuine anger or frustration. Sims need to be Angry, Stressed, Uncomfortable or, in rare cases, Embarrassed to lash out. Happy, Focused and Confident moods suppress meanness unless the Sim has the Evil or Mean trait.

The relationship bar matters: the likelihood of a mean interaction to appear when two sims are conversing increases as friendship drops into the red. Negative sentiments and difficult family dynamics also feed into mean autonomy, but most Sims won't go looking for a fight, they'll opt to avoid one another when possible.

Sims with traits like Evil, Mean, Grouch, Argumentative and Insensitive are predisposed to negativity, whereas Good, Proper, or Mediator traits drastically reduce mean impulses. High Empathy and Conflict Resolution (Parenthood) similarly suppress meanness. Good Sims will argue only when the social context has deteriorated into an Abhorrent or Offensive state. Loyal Sims will be less likely to be mean to their friends.

Recovery system: When a positive sentiment is recently gained, mean socials between Sims will be discouraged for a brief period of time.

💡 Tip: The Mean module will not increase Mean autonomy.

😈 Mischief Autonomy

Mischievous autonomy now distinguishes between playful mischief and antagonistic mischief. Sims with traits like Childish, Goofball, or “Likes Pranks” lean into the more playful side of Mischief, opting to target Sims they like. Sims that fall into this side avoid mischief when their target has Furious sentiments toward them or when the relationship is strained or difficult. Sims with traits like Mean, Grouch, Rogue, or “Likes Deception” lean fully into the antagonistic side, targeting Sims they actively dislike.

A modest Mischief skill (level 2) or a Playful mood is required for most Sims that don't fall into either of the above categories to perform mischief during an appropriate conversation. Proper Sims and those with a dislike for the Mischief skill tend to steer clear of mischief altogether. Special checks ensure that Sims with playful intentions don’t prank a friend who dislikes pranks.

Cooldown system: After a Mischief interaction receives an unfavorable reception, the Sim who performed the interaction gets a cooldown bit that temporarily blocks further Mischief with that Sim. Sims that fall into the antagonistic category are hoping for a negative reaction from their target, while everyone else is hoping for a positive reaction from their target. If a subsequent Mischief interaction is received poorly by the same Sim (or positively in the case of antagonistic Sims), a longer cooldown is applied.

💡 Tip: The Mischief module will not increase Mischief autonomy.

💕 Romantic & WooHoo Autonomy

Sims now flirt in accordance with their relationship status, attraction, mood, and traits. Most Sims verify whether their target is single, engaged, married or in an open relationship and respect those boundaries. Attraction bits from Lovestruck or from TURBODRIVER's mods (if installed) determine if the Sim is actually attracted enough to a given Sim to flirt.

Sims with a Fear of Intimacy or traits like Low Self‑Esteem will only flirt when Very Flirty or under the influence of a drink. Negative sentiments or a Strained romantic dynamic dampen romantic urges. Vampires can override a Sim's orientation with Alluring Visage.

WooHoo recovery: The WooHoo cooldown system now factors in age and fitness: younger and fitter Sims recover faster between WooHoos.

Loyal, always: Loyal Sims will never cheat autonomously, even during clubs or romantic competitions, unless Jealousy is disabled.

🤝🏻 Introductions & Greetings

Introductions: Adds additional tests to all introductions in the game to prevent them from happening when they don't make sense. For instance, Loyal Sims will no longer randomly perform Flirty Introductions when they are partnered

Greetings: Adds tests to the initial greetings Sims make when striking up a conversation. Prevents friendly and romantic greetings when Sims have negative sentiments with one another or dislike each other. For instance, Sims who hate each other won't wave pleasantly at one another before being mean.

How to Install

The mod is fully modular. There is only 1 required file:

tyjokr_DSA_MAIN_REQUIRED

With optional modules that override autonomy for different categories:

tyjokr_DSA_Mean

tyjokr_DSA_Mischief

tyjokr_DSA_Romance

tyjokr_DSA_Funny

tyjokr_DSA_Friendly

tyjokr_DSA_Introductions

tyjokr_DSA_Greetings_Platonic

tyjokr_DSA_Greetings_Romantic

In addition, there are extra modules that enhance the Deeper Social Autonomy experience (more on these below):

tyjokr_DSA_DiscourageRomanceIfRejected

tyjokr_DSA_DrunkenRomance

tyjokr_DSA_LessIdleChat

tyjokr_DSA_LessRepeatedSocials

tyjokr_DSA_MeanLimiter

tyjokr_DSA_MotivesNotRed

tyjokr_DSA_PostWooHooGrace

tyjokr_DSA_ReduceSocialDistractions

tyjokr_DSA_SocialReach_Friendly

tyjokr_DSA_SocialReach_Funny

tyjokr_DSA_SocialReach_Mean

tyjokr_DSA_SocialReach_Mischief

tyjokr_DSA_SocialReach_Romance

💡 Tip: If you’re unsure what to use, I recommend installing everything first to experience the full system. You can then remove or mix modules to suit your preferences.

Extra Modules

✅ Discourage Romance If Rejected

This module reduces repeated romantic attempts after a Sim’s advances have been rejected. If a Sim gets turned down, they’re far less likely to immediately try again.

✅ Drunken Romance

This module adds a separate autonomy branch for Sims who are mind-controlled via Vampire Powers, drunk on juice, nectar, or through Basemental's mods. This branch is intentionally looser overall. The key difference is that Sims will no longer factor in the other Sim’s gender preference when deciding to autonomously pursue them.

✅ Mean Limiter

This module limits the amount of mean interactions a Sim can perform with another Sim. The more they dislike one another, the more mean interactions that can be performed in a row without a cooling off period.

✅ LessIdleChat

This module tunes the idle chat interaction so that it only fires when two or more Sims are already having a conversation. It also adds a cooldown that prevents it from queueing back to back.

✅ Less Repeated Socials

This module pushes the game's autonomy to pick different socials after one is fired. For instance, Sims won't give a Heartfelt Compliment twice in a row. Also, If one Sim does an interaction, the other Sim will no longer immediately respond with the same interaction.

✅ Motives Not Red

This module prevents a Sim from seeking out new conversations when either their Hunger, Bladder, or Energy is in the red. It also prevents them from carrying on an existing conversation when either of these 3 motives are at critical levels.

✅ Post-WooHoo Grace

This add-on only affects WooHoo Partners and Sims whose Romantic Preferences do not match.

For 2 in-game hours after successful WooHoo, Sims will be less likely to flirt with one another, physical and non-physical romance will succeed more often with one another, and successful romance interactions will have a negligible effect on the romance bar.

✅ Reduce Social Distractions

This module encourages Sims to stay put while relaxing on beds, hot tubs, pools, romantic blankets, couches, and similar objects. Unlike other “less musical chairs” style mods, this does not force Sims to remain seated. Instead, it steers them via autonomy tests to prefer socialization with other Sims who are sharing the same posture.

For example, a Sim relaxing in a hot tub will not jump out just to flirt with someone across the lot. They’ll look to socialize with Sims already in the hot tub.
Sims who are sleeping, showering, meditating, or using the toilet are far less likely to be targeted by autonomy. This reduces the number of interactions that briefly appear in the queue, then immediately disappear.
Standing Sims can still approach sitting Sims and pull them into conversations. However, the seated Sim will not be the one initiating it, which helps reduce unnecessary interruptions.
There is also a small window of time that allows Sims to get up and initiate conversations with partners, family members, friends, and lovers if they have not seen them in several hours.

✅ Social Reach

These modules make autonomy consider how far away a Sim’s target is before deciding to allow two Sims to socialize.

The maximum interaction distance expands or contracts dynamically based on a wide range of factors, including the Sim’s mood, active moodlets, needs, traits, lifestyles, relationship with the target, and even whether the Sims are in the same travel group or on a date.
For example, a Sim who’s Flirty will walk farther to initiate a romantic interaction than a Happy Sim, and a Sim who’s Very Flirty will push that distance even more. Conversely, a Loner Sim will be less inclined to walk far to start a conversation.
For Friendly interactions, distance expands when a Sim’s Social need is low, making lonely Sims more likely to seek out others. Sims with full Social need are more selective, tending to engage only with those nearby.

💡 Tip: If you want less random flirting, friendly, etc. These modules will cut back on the randomness.

Compatibility

✅ This mod is compatible with [Kuttoe] RegionalGreetings

⚠️ This mod is mostly compatible with Lumpinou's RPO Collection, but it has conflicts with the following module. Place my mod in an overrides folder if you'd like to use both:

Lumpinou_RPO_Collection_M10_Custody&PermanentSeparations (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Greetings_Romantic)

⚠️ This mod is mostly compatible with the following files from Bienchen's activitypreferencestweak, but it has conflicts with the following file:

sims4me_activitypreferencestweak_comedymischief (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Friendly and tyjokr_DSA_Funny)

⚠️ This mod is mostly compatible with Bienchen's conversationtweak, but it has conflicts with the following 3 files:

sims4me_conversationtweak_lessrandomflirting (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Romance)
sims4me_conversationtweak_lessrandomfriendly (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Friendly)
sims4me_conversationtweak_lessrandommean (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Mean)

⚠️ If you want your Sims to WooHoo more often, download Scanner's Woohoo autonomy tweaks. My mod is compatible with the main module, but it has conflicts with the following addon files:

Scanner_AutonomousWooHoo_Addon_Testset_V1 (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Romance)
Scanner_AutonomousWooHoo_Addon_Testset_V2 (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Romance)
Scanner_AutonomousWooHoo_Addon_Testset_V3 (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Romance)
Scanner_AutonomousWooHoo_Addon_Testset_V4 (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Romance)

⚠️ This mod has conflicts with the following files from Chingyu's Smarter Social mod:

chingyu_Autonomy_Mean (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Mean)
chingyu_Autonomy_Friendly (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Friendly)
chingyu_Autonomy_Mischief (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Mischief)
chingyu_Autonomy_Funny (conflicts with tyjokr_DSA_Funny)

ℹ️ The modules in this mod override the following files:

tyjokr_DSA_Friendly
testSet_FriendlySocialsAutonomous
testSet_FriendlySocialsAutonomous_Hug

tyjokr_DSA_Funny
testSet_FunnySocialsAutonomous

tyjokr_DSA_Greetings_Platonic
tunableTestedGreetingGroup_BowGreeting
tunableTestedGreetingGroup_CollegeOrganization_SecretSociety
tunableTestedGreetingGroup_Fallback_Dismiss
tunableTestedGreetingGroup_Fallback_Yawn
tunableTestedGreetingGroup_Friends_Tests
tunableTestedGreetingGroup_HowdyGreeting
tunableTestedGreetingGroup_Wave
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Aquaintance_Glare
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Aquaintance_Neutral_Tests
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Aquaintance_Tests
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Compatibility_Amazing
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Compatibility_Awful
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Family_EnemyGlare
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Family_Hug_Tests
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Friends_Tests
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Gathering_Tests
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Infant
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Jungle_Tests
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Military_Salute
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_ProperTrait
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_WerewolfPack
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_NobleCareer

tyjokr_DSA_Greetings_Romantic
tunableTestedGreetingTargeted_Romantic_Tests
tunableTestedGreetingGroup_Romantic_Tests

tyjokr_DSA_Mean
testSet_MeanSocialsAutonomous

tyjokr_DSA_Mischief
testSet_MischiefSocialsAutonomous

tyjokr_DSA_ReduceSocialDistractions
testSet_SitBedPosturesPrecluded

tyjokr_DSA_Romance
loot_Buff_Woohoo_AutonomousCooldown
testSet_RomanceSocialsAutonomous
testSet_WoohooAutonomous_Strict
testSet_UnflirtyTraitRomanticSocialsAutonomous
testSet_SexualOrientation_KnowledgeGate_WooHoo
testSet_SexualOrientation_KnowledgeGate_Romantic
testSet_SexualOrientation_Compatible_ActorOnly_Romantic
testSet_SexualOrientation_Compatible_ActorOnly_WooHoo
testSet_SexualOrientation_KnowledgeGate_WooHoo_PickedSim
testSet_SexualOrientation_KnowledgeGate_Romantic_PickedSim
testSet_SexualOrientation_Compatible_ActorOnly_Romantic_PickedSim
testSetInstance_Loyal_RomanceAutonomous
testSetInstance_RomanticallyReserved_IntenseInteractions
testSetInstance_RomanticallyReserved_IntenseInteractions_PickedSim

This mod was made possible by Sims 4 Studio and Tuning Builder.