Sims 2 Mod Addons: No Driving Without A Licence Tuning & Patches

BellaDovah
24 minutes ago
4 min read

This is a set of addons for Pick N Mix's No Driving Without A Licence mod with tuning edits I've made for my personal taste and gameplay style, as well as some compatibility patches for other mods I use. You can use all of these together or pick and choose as few or as many as you like. The original mod files are required for my tuning patches to work but mine must load after the original files to have an effect.

Exam Centre Hours

WH_DrivingLicence_Core_Controller_zPatch_BellaDovah_ExamCentreHours

Makes the theory exam centre open every day 7am-7pm instead of 8am-5pm and closed on Sundays. The original is definitely more realistic especially for us in the UK but I wanted more convenience and flexibility for my sims, without feeling too cheaty and unrealistic with the optional file WH_DrivingLicence_Option_TestCentre24x7 (so don't use this with that). Since the theory exam lasts around an hour, opening at 7am means they have chance to go before school, and plenty of time to go after school and even their part-time job.

Skill Gain: Family Lessons

WH_DrivingLicence_Core_Controller_zPatch_BellaDovah_SkillGainFamilyLessons

Increases the skill gained per lesson when a sim takes a lesson with a family member. They will now get 100-150 skill progress per lesson instead of 90-120, and therefore be ready to take a test sooner with fewer lessons. They will also celebrate a good report card at 650 instead of 700 to compliment the LowerTestApprehensiveConfidentThresholds file as with that, sims will be apprehensive and therefore able to take a test at 650 skill points instead of 700.

Lower Test Apprehensive & Confident Thresholds

WH_DrivingLicence_Core_PrivateLessons_CarMods_zPatch_BellaDovah_LowerTestApprehensiveConfidentThresholds

Reduces the amount of skill points needed for a sim to be ready to take their test. They will now be apprehensive at 650 skill points instead of 700, and confident at 800 instead of 850. This means they will be able to take their test after fewer lessons.

Test Centre Not Closed on Sundays

WH_DrivingLicence_Core_PrivateLessons_CarMods_zPatch_BellaDovah_TestCentreNotClosedOnSundays

Makes the Driving Test Centre open on Sundays instead of closed, giving your sims more opportunity to take their driving test, without being as cheaty and unrealistic as the optional file WH_DrivingLicence_Option_TestCentre24x7 (so don't use this with that). The hours are still 8am-5pm - I did not change the hours like I did for the theory exam centre, because a driving test lasts around 90 minutes so opening at 7am wouldn't give them enough time before school, and it can't be open any later than 5 because they can't be doing a driving test in the dark!

Allow Puppy, Kitten & Toddler Riders Mod Patch

WH_DrivingLicence_Core_PrivateLessons_CarMods_zPatch_BellaDovah_ToddlerPuppyKittenRiders

This is a compatibility patch for the Allow puppy kitten toddler riders mod so that all of the car interactions are still enabled for puppies, kittens, and toddlers as intended by that mod with the Driving Licence mod. Both original mods are required and this patch must load after both of them.

Skill Gain: Instructor Lessons

WH_DrivingLicence_Option_BookableLessons_Controller_zPatch_BellaDovah_SkillGainInstructorLessons

Increases the skill gained per lesson when a sim takes a lesson with an instructor. They will now get 150-200 skill progress per lesson instead of 140-160, and therefore be ready to take a test sooner with fewer lessons. They will also celebrate a good report card at 650 instead of 700 to compliment the LowerTestApprehensiveConfidentThresholds file as with that, sims will be apprehensive and therefore able to take a test at 650 skill points instead of 700.

Sunday Bookings

WH_DrivingLicence_Option_BookableLessons_PhoneSubCalls_zPatch_BellaDovah_SundayBookings

Allows booking lessons on a Sunday, so sims have more learning opportunities. Not needed with the WH_DrivingLicence_Option_TestCentre24x7 file.

More sensible "Can my friend come over, too?" Patch

WH_DrivingLicence_Option_RiskySneakOut_zPatch_BellaDovah_canmyfriendcometoohack

This is a compatibility patch for the More sensible "Can my friend come over, too?" mod. It simply preserves the text changes made by both mods, so as well as containing the Driving Licence Risky Sneak Out strings, the friend's first name will be shown in the popup message such as "Can my friend Dina come over, too?". Both original mods are required and this patch must load after both of them.

Skill Gain On Pass

WH_DrivingLicence_Option_SkillGainsOnPass_BellaDovah

This is the only file that can actually completely replace the original, rather than being an additional patch. It reduces the mechanical skill gained on passing a driving test to 100 (1 full skill point) instead of 125. It also removes the dance skill gain. As well as this, it increases the logic skill gained to 100 (1 full skill point) from 90 on passing the driving theory exam and removes the 25 creativity gain.

Read Books Autonomously

WH_DrivingLicence_Option_Theory_Book_zPatch_BellaDovah_ReadBooksAutonomously

This allows visitors to read normal books and the Freetime books, as is done in the Read Books Autonomously mod so this is intended as a patch for it and must load after to get the full effect of both mods, but this can be used on its own if you only want this part of that mod and it should also work alongside any other mod with the same effect as long as this loads after.

Scholarships Value & Skill Requirement Edits

Meduza_Scholarships_BadgesEducationDriving_zPatch_BellaDovah_ValueSkillReqEdits

This is a tuning patch for Meduza's Scholarship for having a parent in Education Career mod, specifically the Meduza_CJ-djsbadgescholarships_Education_Driving file. Meduza's mod replaces the WH_DrivingLicence_Option_Scholarships or WH_DrivingLicence_Option_Scholarships_With_Badges files in the Driving Licence mod. It also includes Cyjon's Badge Scholarships. My tuning tweaks the requirements, as now Skill Scholarships (including dance & billiards) have been reduced to needing 7 points instead of 8, and values of some of the scholarships as follows:

Scholarship	Value
School Grade A- or higher	1000 -> 2500
Skill level 7+ (formerly 8+)	750 -> 1000
Billiards level 7+ (formerly 8+)	1000 -> 500
Dancing level 7+ (formerly 8+)	1000 -> 500
Alien Abductee	1500 (unchanged)
Zombie	1500 -> 500
Teen Career level 3	750 -> 1000
Orphan	1500 -> 2000
Driving Theory Exam Passed	250 (unchanged)
Driving Test Passed	500 (unchanged)
Badge Silver+	1250 -> 1000
Parent in Education	500 (unchanged)