Python Upgrade Coming Soon

Oh boy :# Thanks for the heads up!

Short term this is going to be such a headache, but I think in the long run this is really good news. Kind of ironic though that I was just telling someone recently that EA would likely never update the Python version due to the number of mods it would break!

As Turbo says, THANKS FOR THE WARNING and for including those recompiled scripts so we can try and figure out how we're going to reverse engineer those in advance. :)

Any chance we get a more concrete idea of the time frame as you know more about when this bomb will drop?

It's very unfortunate to see that this could be the death of many great new script mods. The lack of a reliable decompiler for Python 3.7 means that a lot of essential sources are missing and without them there is no way to figure out how many elements of the game code work.

Is it possible that there is some documentation that we can get that explains all of the files and functions? Is there anything that can help us now @SimGuruModSquad?

@LittleMsSam Compiling existing scripts won't be an issue, there will be some changes required to some batch files but that's minor.

@SimGuruModSquad The problem will be getting the EA scripts we refer to for new mods. So far the best decompiler we've been able to work with for Python 3.7 is uncompyle6 and that just chokes and dies on any seriously important script files. Many critical files that would be a required reference for a script modder are simply no longer accessible (unless someone finds a better uncompiler, but they are mostly unmaintained since Python 3.5 bytecode changes).

game_object.py, object_tests.py, sim_info.py and many other critical files we'd need to reference are simply cannot be decompiled at this point. Unless something changes, this may well spend the end of script modding for me personally and likely others - I for one have no desire to continue to support mods when I can't look at script changes that break those mods. And certainly any new scripting would be unthinkable for me.

Unless somehow EA can reverse their viewpoint on releasing the core scripts to modders for reference, or we can find a reliable method to reverse engineer those files - something which EA has been aware of us doing and quietly approved of since the game came out.

I agree with @Scumbumbo if you're going forward with this change we need to have access to the source.

When Sims 4 dropped it toted itself as being modder friendly, and in many ways it is. But other ways it's frustratingly restrictive for the most arbitrary reasons.

If we're able to get the tuning source, why not the python source as well? Without it, this is practically a move to end script mods, whether that's the actual reason or not.

Not a modder, so maybe this doesn’t “count” but I’ve been with SIMS since day one. If those of us who rely on Mods to make our games fun lose out because they can’t fix the scripts easily, you’ll see a drastic drop in gameplay. I love the work ya’ll put into this game, and the work the modders put in too. Please make it easy for them to fix this issue when you release the update!

I'm not a modder either, but this is really worrying me. I use so many mods and I can't play my game without them.

Do not panic yet, folks! EA notified us of this in advance because there were bound to be unforseen issues. We have to give them time to digest what those issues are and determine what their best response to the issue is. They're being proactive for a reason!

I've been cutting back on script mod usage -- pretty much rely on MCCC and UI Cheats though for both gameplay and townie creation/fine tuning. It's been great going in and easily adding extra traits like the ones from Parenthood to fill out personalities on the premades. I hope that the change in Python version doesn't kill those -- as @PIsForPerry said, there'll be a lot of players who'll give up on the game if they lose script mods especially MCCC. Posted the link to this on the MCCC Discord server to give @Deaderpool a heads up.

He already knows. He sent out an email to his patreon subscribers like an hour ago.