LegacyRanches_V1.0_RC2_PublicTest2

LEGACY RANCHES — V1.0 RELEASE CANDIDATE 2 CHANGELOG
Public Test 2 — Monday, 3 August 2026

This includes the major gameplay, balance, stability and menu changes made
since Release Candidate 1.

============================================================
RANCH DEED MENU REORGANISATION
============================================================

- Rebuilt the deed around two main sections: Manage Ranch and Livestock.
- Added Manage Ranch Co.
- Moved former Improve Ranch options into Improve Infrastructure.
- Renamed Manage Ranch Land to Improve Land.
- Placed Improve Infrastructure and Improve Land under Manage Ranch Co.
- Moved Ranch Events under Manage Ranch.
- Moved the full Sell Ranch system under Ranch Finances.
- Kept staff, contracts, NPC ranches and administration under Manage Ranch.
- Moved Cattle Services and Horse Operations under Livestock.
- Divided Cattle Services into Purchase Cattle, Sell Cattle, Herd Management,
  Cattle Breeding, Dairy Operations, Herd Health, Cattle Drives, Cattle
  Records and Beef & Processing.
- Moved commercial purchases and all four foundation herds into Purchase
  Cattle.
- Moved private sales, auction actions and the market report into Sell Cattle.
- Moved calf decisions and Breeding Difficulty into Cattle Breeding.
- Moved commercial milking into Dairy Operations.
- Moved herd service and welfare records into Herd Health.
- Moved all drive controls into Cattle Drives.
- Moved the registry into Cattle Records.
- Renamed the Slaughterhouse section to Beef & Processing.
- Preserved the working commands, prices, timers and saved ranch data.

============================================================
ECONOMY AND EARLY GAME
============================================================

- Starter Ranch balanced to §6,000.
- Starter cattle capacity increased from 5 to 15.
- Added once-per-Sim-day commercial-herd milking.
- Milking estimates 60% of available cattle as milk-producing cows.
- Base milk value is §50 per estimated cow.
- Cattle away on drives are excluded.
- Welfare and Cattle Facilities affect payout.
- Milk income enters household funds.
- Commercial cattle cost §500 per head.
- Direct sales pay §700 per head.
- Added a three-Sim-hour resale lock.
- Lowered early upgrade prices.
- Corrected visible price labels.

============================================================
RANCH WORK AND CONTRACTS
============================================================

Added:

- Repair Neighbouring Fences
- Help With Branding
- Deliver Livestock Feed
- Assist With a Cattle Drive
- Find Stray Cattle
- Work as a Ranch Hand

============================================================
BREEDING
============================================================

- Added Easy, Normal, Challenging and Hard difficulty.
- Added custom failure adjustments.
- Settings save with the household.
- Settings apply to cattle and horse breeding.
- Livestock Specialist support remains active.
- Welfare affects breeding outcomes.

============================================================
NPC RANCHES
============================================================

- Added balanced weekly progression and an ON/OFF setting.
- Added real unplayed Sims as NPC ranch owners.
- Limited NPC ranches to five per eligible world.
- Added inheritance and outside sales.
- Added auction buyers and event rivals.
- Added a combined NPC Ranch Directory.
- Removed unnecessary individual ranch buttons.
- Fixed registry persistence and reload behaviour.
- Excluded San Myshuno, Tartosa, Granite Falls, Selvadorada, Batuu and the
  Magic Realm.

============================================================
HERD HEALTH AND WELFARE
============================================================

- Combined branding, dipping and vaccination.
- Added 2–5 Sim-day service times.
- Added automatic initial coverage for foundation cattle and registered calves.
- Added 28-Sim-day records with last service, cattle covered and renewal date.
- Added Current, Due Soon, Due, New Arrivals, Overdue and In Progress states.
- Added welfare effects to auctions, breeding and milking.
- Added Cattle Facilities time and cost benefits.
- Blocked duplicate bookings and duplicate payments.
- Fixed the active-service recursive status crash.
- Replaced the oversized second-booking report with a short message.

============================================================
RANCH CONSTRUCTION
============================================================

- Converted all 22 upgrades into construction projects.
- Changed construction from 2–5 Sim days to 4–24 Sim hours.
- Small projects take about 4–6 hours.
- Medium projects take about 8–12 hours.
- Major projects take about 18–24 hours.
- Funds are paid when construction starts.
- Only one project can be active.
- Added View Active Ranch Construction.
- Added migration for older day-based records.
- Fixed the 23-hours-on-a-six-hour-project timer mismatch.
- Reports and completion use one shared validated timer.
- Added a compact project, cost, total-time and remaining-time report.

============================================================
USER INTERFACE AND STABILITY
============================================================

- Replaced the long Ranch Information popup with a compact overview.
- Moved detailed welfare, construction and NPC information to separate reports.
- Cleaned Ranch Administration and NPC Ranches menus.
- Fixed household-fund detection.
- Added a notification cleaner for whitespace, duplicate popups and recursive
  notifications.
- Removed visible Registry Test wording.
- Cleaned public filenames and internal test wording.
- Added a full README, installation guide, public-test notes and checksums.

============================================================
PLANNED VISUAL POLISH AFTER RC2
============================================================

- More rounded EA-style buff icons.
- Better livestock certificates using a framed diploma-style canvas.

============================================================
RELEASE STATUS
============================================================

RC2 remains a public test. Back up saves and report unexpected behaviour with a
screenshot and the newest exception or crash file.

Development note: Johan Prinsloo worked directly on the mod's coding,
tuning, gameplay design, balancing and in-game testing. AI-assisted tools were
used as support for troubleshooting, code review and proofreading. The project
direction and final release decisions are Johan Prinsloo's.

MULTILINGUAL LOCALISATION

- Added STBL string tables for all 18 languages supported by The Sims 4.
- Localised the RC2 deed menus, cattle and horse operations, construction,
  milking, welfare, finances, NPC ranches and certificate text.
- No separate translation package is required.
- The game automatically chooses the STBL matching the installed game language.
- These are community translations created with AI-assisted multilingual
  support and may be refined from player feedback.

DEVELOPMENT DISCLOSURE

I worked directly on the coding, tuning, gameplay design, balancing and in-game
testing. I used AI-assisted tools for troubleshooting, code review, proofreading
and the multilingual translations. The concept, hands-on development, gameplay
direction and final release decisions are my own.