💭🧠 "Can you please help me customize randomization?" -- ⚡ Section(s) complete: BENDING "CASTUNING" TO YOUR WILL + OTHER THOUGHTS

🦄 PARTFLAGS and TAGS only seem like rocket science from the outside looking in. Once you dedicate the time to trying to understand them and you're willing to do some modding on your own to see what happens, they kinda unravel themselves, for the most part.

🦄 I like the idea of responding to these questions publicly so that everyone can benefit from the discussion, but I will only do so with permission from the Simmer who asked. I intend to go into detail in the tutorials I started but that's gonna take time to finish. I need to not have anything else to do, and right now we have a lot of modding to do.

🎓 We'll break down this question into sections and I'll address the first part last because I need to pop open my "Clownies" override to refresh my memory on how it works.

🧠 I'm doing this off the top of my head, so bear with me if I make a mistake. Also, if anyone has followup questions or require further clarification on anything, feel free to toss it into the Comments and I'll either address it directly and/or create a new section for it.

☆// ⋆ RELATED PROJECTS:

• 🎁 No Random Body Scars + Surgery Scars Reworked -- https://../posts/119633307

• 🎁 XTKO: "Goodbye Clownies" (CASTuning) -- https://../posts/116350036

☆// ⋆ THE PLOT:

The simmer is attempting to override the randomization of entire categories of CAS items in order to force the game to randomize only the things they want.

☆// ⋆ OCCULT SIMS RANDOMIZE WITH TRASH EVEN THOUGH IT AIN'T FLAGGED "ALLOW FOR RANDOM":

TL;DR: Some Occult species' randomization is broken and they do not "respect" the "Allow For Random" PARTFLAG. Disable their respective "Occult (Randomization)" TAG instead.

[...] occult sims randomize with various parts that the game natively has unchecked for “allow for random”.

[...] It worked for humans! But not occults. The crappy EA parts, both checked/unchecked “allow for random” polluted my RNG pool.

[...] something convoluted and beyond my limited modding comprehension is happening with randomization on occults, and mostly what I’ve found is these “allow for random” tags are nearly pointless on occult sims.

I know right? 😹

I may or may not have explained this better in the mod-post for "No Random Body Scars + Surgery Scars Reworked".

"Allow For Random" has been broken for YEARS for some Occult species, and EAxis can't be bothered to fix it.

Some Occult species completely ignore the "Allow For Random" PARTFLAG for certain items, specifically Skin Details like Scars. It doesn't matter if the PARTFLAG is enabled or disabled. They instead use the "Occult (Randomization)" TAG to determine whether or not a Scar randomly generates.

It is why some Occult species randomize with one of every "Scar" despite the fact that none of those Scars are FLAGGED for "Allow For Random".

Solving this problem is simple; remove all "Occult (Randomization)" TAGS except "Human".

To be on the safe side, you should only ever use the "Human" "Occult (Randomization)" TAG unless your item is specifically made for an Occult species.

Only use the other "Occult (Randomization)" TAGS when your intention is for that item to randomize onto that Occult species, because EAxis can break this for other Occult species at any time and then never fix it, like they've never fixed this, or bothered to adjust the TAGS on those Scars, despite the numerous Bug Reports over the years about this.

In CASO, when I say I disabled "Occult (Randomization)" for a species or "tweaked it for CAS perfection", all of it is done with this in mind - specifically because of this issue.

If your intention is to disable Randomization completely, then remove all "Occult (Randomization)" TAGS and all "Age Appropriate" TAGS.

If you're doing this on your own, you need to override every Scar (Body and Face) and disable "Allow For Random" on all of them to prevent them from randomizing onto Humans, then disable all other "Occult (Randomization)" TAGS to prevent them from randomizing onto any other species "accidentally".

You can leave Human "Occult (Randomization)" enabled if you want, because for now at least, Human Sims "respect" the "Allow For Random" PARTFLAG.

☆// ⋆ ALLOW FOR RANDOM V. ALLOW FOR LIVE RANDOM:

TL;DR: I gots no idea because I haven't done the required troubleshooting, but it's on my list of things to troubleshoot.

I also can’t figure out the difference between Allow for Random and Allow for Live Random, but if one is for sims randomized in CAS and one is for sims generated by the game in Live mode, I want both.

It's possible that it is exactly that or was intended to be that, HOWEVER, I have seen a randomly generated townie in Live Mode with almost one of every jewelry accessory that shipped with SP50 URBAN HOMAGE, and none of those items are FLAGGED for "Allow For Live Random".

There is Tuning code that relates to "Live Random". It's possible that this FLAG relates to that.

It's probably gonna take extensive troubleshooting to narrow down what exactly this is for.

All human sims spawned with the same facepaint CC as intended, which was now the only facepaint item tagged “allow for random”.

Since this was successfully achieved, you could modify that Face Paint CC to either enable or disable "Allow For Live Random" (with "Allow For Random" enabled) then start a New Game and see if the townies generate with the CC.

If townies generate with the CC when "Allow For Live Random" is disabled, then maybe we can safely say that it has nothing to do with Live Mode randomization, and it's either related to something else, or EAxis decommissioned it (and just didn't remove it), e.g. the Create-A-Sim Demo was discontinued years ago, yet the "Show In CAS Demo" FLAG is still present in the game (at least I think that's what "Show In CAS Demo" is/was for), or they just broke it years ago and can't be bothered to fix it, which is not outside of the realm of possibility.

⋆ ── ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ⋆ \\⚡// ⋆ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ── ⋆

☆// ⋆ BENDING "CASTUNING" TO YOUR WILL:

TL;DR: "CASTuning" is the easiest way to disable randomization for entire categories of items, BUT it doesn't work for that issue highlighted with Occult species even though it has an entry for it. Ain't life grand? 😹

I currently use XTKO: "Goodbye Clownies" to fully limit randomization but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to allow specific items to randomize instead.

To my knowledge, "CASTuning" will not allow you to fine-tune for specific items. The only way to achieve fine-tuned randomization, is to enable randomization for the entire category in "CASTuning" (if it isn't already), then fine-tune the "Allow For Random" FLAG and the "Age Appropriate" and "Occult (Randomization)" TAGS on every single CAS item in that category.

I want sims to randomize with any one of my eyelash CC’s (eyelashes aren’t a category we can randomize I guess?

Not via "CASTuning" I'm afraid. What you see is what you get with "CASTuning".

It's possible that "CASTuning" could be expanded to cover all CAS categories, but EAxis would likely have to do it, because I think the definitions for CAS categories used in "CASTuning" is defined in "the Elsweyr place".

To be fair, I haven't actually tried just adding an entry for "MakeupEyelashesChance" or some variation of it.

[...] MakeupChance 1 and MakeupFacePaintChance 1 forces all sims to randomize with an available facepaint

"0" is disabled, and "1" is "forced to always randomize" enabled. Read it as "0%" and "100%".

You can do "0.5" for like a "50%" chance that the category randomizes or "0.25" for a "25%" chance that the category randomizes.

[...] but I can't find the XML "chance" tuning lines to edit in yours.

I haven't looked at SimplyAnjuta's override, so I'm not sure what it looks like internally, but unless I'm mistaken, I think they created it after seeing the one from Sims4Me.

Mine only includes the "SimData" resources, which unless I'm mistaken, is the resource you need to edit for it to work as intended.

In the current release (which does not appear to need a compatibility update for Update 10/2/2025), you'll find what you're looking for in the first resource, starting at line (89).

Instead of just modifying any of ours, you should create a new PACKAGE and add/extract the Tunings to it so that you can compare:

1. Client_CASTuning_Human

2. Client_CASTuning_HumanWerewolf

3. client_CASTuning_Cat

4. client_CASTuning_Fox

5. client_CASTuning_Horse

6. Client_CASTuning_LargeDog

7. client_CASTuning_SmallDog

I haven't done anything with the pets stuff despite including them. I don't really mind the fuzzies generating with accessories. I once had a furry husky doggo in a shark suit show up at my door. It was the cutest thing ever. 😻

☆// ⋆ OTHER THOUGHTS:

Your project is a monumental undertaking similar to CASO, and I commend you for just jumping right in. 😹😺

I’ve wasted so much time trying different methods, and now I’ve wasted even more time trying to explain it.

Eh... We learn by trial and error because there is no real central hub for knowledge. I should have been knowledge-dumping for years. I intended to on Reddit, and started on Steam, but between the internet and my many SKULLS and my real life !@#$, I just still haven't gotten it done at the scale that I wanted to.

How do I go about limiting randomization to ONLY what I want for content?

There might - MIGHT - be a way to achieve what you're trying to do by using the "DefaultForBodyType[X]" FLAGS in Warehouse.

I've had limited success manipulating these FLAGS on non-NudePart items, but I haven't tried it in combination with disabling randomization for the item category in "CASTuning".

Even if it works, EAxis could screw you in the future by breaking the functionality of these FLAGS, like they've done with the NudeParts and our Nude/Bathing Outfit.

Since you've already overridden all of the necessary items to make your CC work, you could duplicate and modify your "CASTuning" to disable the category, then modify that CC to enable "Allow For Random" and both "DefaultForBodyType[X]" FLAGS, and see if it randomizes in CAS or generates on townies in Live Mode in a New Game.

If it doesn't, then it was poop idea. 😹

[...] my plan to override entire categories of CAS items to only leave desired CC in the “allow for random” pool.

I'm sorry I haven't focused more on CASO and that you had to do this manually.

Which brings me to a question; would anyone like me to share the unmerged override packages on GDrive? I organize them into a folder hierarchy, e.g.:

• 📁 EP19

  • 📁 Accessory

    • 📄 yfAcc_TightsEP19Asym.package

    • 📄 yuAcc_GlovesEP19Asym.package

  • 📁 ClothingBottom

  • 📁 ClothingTop

  • 📁 HeadDeco

  • 📁 Makeup

  • 📁 Tattoos

Along the way of this admittedly time consuming project, I’ve seen what you’ve been talking about for years about terrible part flagging from both EA & content creators (WTAF?! Why?!) and how the game is broken hot garbage.

Yep, and the part that pisses me off the most is that it doesn't need to be this way.

I must say though, this journey I’ve been on has nearly made me a Jr. PartFlags expert, and I’m finding a weird special interest in it.

Yep! It's not rocket science, and it's fun, and it also exposes how easy it is to fix EAxis CAS. 😹

I wish more was Google-able but I’ve learned a tremendous amount from your content!

I'm glad to hear it.

I try to make things as D.I.Y.-friendly as possible, and it's also why I explain so much.

I hope you’ll be willing to collaborate with me on this project or at least mentor me in your ways.

Of course!

I've accumulated a fair bit of knowledge in different areas of modding for this game and I would like to pass it all on.

I also have no problem helping anyone with their modding.

You are the only content creator I’ve found that does this kind of CC work, to this degree or this thoroughly.

I've said before, somewhere, that I credit Scarlet with pulling me into modding - I started modding to ensure that the game worked for Scarlet. If I hadn't created Scarlet, we mightn't be here. Before Scarlet I had "cisframe" Sims. "Cisframe" Sims aren't plagued by improper PARTFLAGS and TAGS to the extent that "transframe" Sims are.

One of my very first projects was a "CAS Override" to fix the PRIDE fingernails that EAxis mucked up post release. They tried to fix their duplicate "Fashion Choice" TAGS and lack of "ROF" FLAGS, and instead added "ROG" FLAGS that blocked "transframe" Sims from using the items. If I'm not mistaken, they did this during or near to PRIDE month, and then took months to resolve it. So much for pandering, aye?

Fixing that set me on the path to fixing EAxis CAS, because once I started understanding the issue, I began seeing it everywhere, in every little CAS "glitch", and every body deformation. "Oh, all of those Tops and half of those Bottoms have the wrong PARTFLAGS, innit?!"

Reporting it doesn't get it fixed efficiently, so what am I to do other than just fix it myself and try to make folks aware of the problem by explaining it to the best of my ability?

And here we are! 😹

Does no one else actually care that their EA & CC content is dysfunctional?!

WELL, there was that one very disappointing discussion that I had in [X] that makes it seem like the answer is "No! And don't you dare correct me either!" 😹

Oh, I can't wait to get the internet sorted so it's no longer a daily frustration.

☆// ⋆ TBC...