Mod Summary

A new mod project that will introduce the realities of death to the game in a way the Sims has never touched on because it is not a positive experience. However, without this experience, this Sims itself lacks the true depth of a life simulated. 

Summary of Changes

We added/changed the following:

• RELIABLE REPORT A DEATH CALL: Previously this phone option only appeared when a Sim nearby was dying. Now, this option will always be present with some consequence if called when there isn't a deceased Sim nearby. 
• NEW REMAINS HANDLING OPTIONS: With this update, you will now have quite a few options on how to handle your Sims remains.
• BEREAVEMENT LEAVE OPTION: You can give your Sims additional time to grieve and handle arrangements.
• NEW FUNERAL SERVICE EXPERIENCE: No longer are you relegated to a rabbithole. You can now have a full service with everyone you know outside of the EA event system. 
• MULTIPLE DEATH HANDLING: Multiple Sim Deaths will each have separate arrangements. 
• NEW BURIAL OBJECTS: Instead of just keeping the urn or tombstone in the normal spots, you can now place them in a Tomb or Mausoleum with other family members or friends.
• CUSTOMIZABLE TOMBSTONES/URNS: Instead of all Sims getting the basic tombstone, you can now choose whichever tombstone you want your Sim to have. 
• UPDATE 08/05/21 - Cottage Living Update: Proper burial process for Farm animals if this Pack is installed. 

The Mortem Process

The initial Mortem stages after death are still in place. You will still need to call the Medical Examiner with your Sim's Cell Phone. If you don't have another active Sim nearby to do so, an NPC will take care of calling after a while. The Grim Reaper will also still not appear, meaning no bargaining to bring a Sim back from the dead. Just the cold, hard truth that the Deceased is no longer with them.

With that, the Deceased's body will remain until another Sim calls Emergency Services by way of their cellphone in the Household menu with the "Report a Death" option. If you have SNB-Bills in-game as well and the remaining Sims in the household do not have cell service, a Sim nearby in the neighborhood will be pushed to the Deceased's location to call for the family. 

What's new in this process is the fact that the Report a Death will always be available 24/7. So if you feel so inclined to make that call before a death actually occurs, be prepared for a fee to hit your bill account as a consequence. 

Another option at this stage is to "Bury" the deceased on the lot they are on. This option will be available until another NPC gets nosey, finds the deceased, and calls it in. This is a great option to use in conjunction with other mods that bring about more violent deaths so your murderer is not also the executor of the deceased estate. Once chosen, the deceased will disappear, and the Sim will complete the burial by going to the selected ground portion and start a planting animation. The result will be a death flower to mark the spot.

If you Report a Death instead, the Medical Examiner arrives, he will start taking notes and pictures of where the body was found. When finished, the M.E. will put the Deceased in a body bag and send them off to the Morgue for final examinations, at that time the M.E. will ask who should be the Executor to contact once done. Please be sure to click "Yes," if you want to continue with the Mortem process. If not, the body will be taken by the M.E., and your Sim will never get a chance to bury them or say goodbye.

By saying "Yes," you will then select the Executor, who will handle all "Funeral" arrangements. This Executor will drive everything until the very end. From getting a Condolence Visit a day after death from other Sims close to them to getting the call from the M.E. about final examinations being completed, and finally setting up the Memorial Service so that everyone can appropriately grieve or mourn the Deceased Sim. 

BEREAVEMENT LEAVE

Once the M.E. takes the deceased and confirms executorship, the Household will receive the ability to take 5 additional vacation days at any time to grieve and make final arrangements. 

CONDOLENCE VISIT

In about a day after a death, your Household will receive a Condolence Visit from any acquaintances or friends. Similar to the Welcome Wagon, someone may or may not bring a meal for the grieving household.

After a day or two, the M.E. will call the Executor to let them know that the final examination is complete, and they can call the Funeral Home to make arrangements. 

A new option during the call is the ability to ask the Medical Examiner to Donate Remains to Science as a way to bypass paying for cremating or burying and then the service. 

If you decide to continue with a Funeral Service, the option to call the Funeral Home will be made available. If you just want the deceased remains and no service, still choose the Funeral Service. This will allow you to request cremation or burial but NO SERVICE. This is when things change rather drastically. 

Making Final Arrangements

To make final arrangements, Call the Funeral Home with the cellphone option found in the Household menu. You will immediately choose what type of arrangements you would like to make for EACH deceased sim that the Executor is supposed to handle. Once chosen, the Executor will make the call to make those arrangements and get a Service scheduled if chosen. Yes, there's another way out from NOT having a Service but wanting your Deceased cremated or prepared for burial. This is where you can also do that.

This final step is all you need to do in order to set up a Service. You NO LONGER have to set up a social event. The mod picks the Executor as "Host" and gathers all Household members, Acquaintances, and Friends to come to the Service if they are available. 

CHOOSING YOUR SUNDAY BEST

In version 0.1.0, this mod randomly chooses formal outfits for your Sims when the Memorial Service started. With version 0.2.0, you can select which Formal outfit you would like them to wear for the upcoming Funeral. You can do this by clicking a dresser or closet to Choose Sunday Best Outfit at any time. You must do this before the Service or the mod will randomly choose one. 

Funeral Service

This process is very similar to what we have in place for Private Practice Checkups and Sick Visits to provide familiarity.  On the day of the Service, you should get a reminder so that you can prepare and get your Sims ready in time. When the time comes, you will get a pop-up that will gather all of the Household members and send them to the designated Funeral Home. You should immediately see event tasks at the top left like the previous version. If the lot you chose has a full kitchen on the premises, a caterer will automatically come to start cooking meals for the Mourners to have Repast. If not, I suggest you have a Sim make a meal to bring to fulfill one of the event tasks. 

Once all the Guests/Mourners arrive, the Funeral Home Director NPC will move from playing the piano to giving the Eulogy near the Stand to Bier the Dead (custom table mod object). All Mourners will be pushed to go listen to this Eulogy. If there is more than one deceased being remembered for this service, multiple Eulogies will be made with their respective caskets on display. From there, the event should progress like normal if you used the prior version. This includes receiving the deceased in the Executor's inventory after the FH Director gives the Eulogy, calling Mourners to eat, mourning the deceased Sim(s) being remembered at this Service, and talking with other Mourners. 

The entire process allows a Deceased's loved ones to come to terms with the loss of someone they cared for and will miss dearly, resulting in a Peaceful Closure if the event goals have been 100% fulfilled. Failure to complete this goal event will result in Unending Grief. Don't forget to release the Deceased Sim's spirit to the Netherworld, or they will be trapped as a ghost!

BURIAL OPTIONS

With this version, you now have the option to placed the Deceased in a Tomb or Mausoleum. These two options can be placed on a Funeral Home lot or any other lot you prefer to house their loved ones who passed. You can find these two options in Misc Decorative items in the Build/Buy catalog. 

Note: Your Sims will be able to Mourn Sims that are held within these objects but Releasing their Spirits or Customizing a Tombstone/Urn are not included activities at this moment. We suggest you handle those activities before placing your Deceased into one of these objects.

TOMBSTONE/URN CUSTOMIZATION

With version 0.2.0, you can now customize what kind of Tombstone/Urn you want the Deceased Love One to have from some custom ones included in this mod pack to some of the styles available in your Sims 4 packs. So If you want to get a darker-themed tombstone for Grandma, why not get that Vampire tombstone? Or maybe something a little magical and give her a Witch tombstone. Options are only limited to what you have installed. 😉

Cottage Living Update (08/2021)

Your farm animals now have a proper burial process for your household to fully feel their passing instead of just the quick Grim disappearing act. The process will now start at death with a death notification of their passing and a suggestion to go bury your animal where you would like them to be. As a result, a Death Flower will produce as if you were burying another Sim instead of reporting their death.

If you meet the requirements of being sad enough and a certain level in Gardening, you can Water with Tears the Death Flower that produces after burying the animal; it will help the Sim recover from the grief faster.

Placing or Creating a Funeral Home Lot

As with any SimRealist venue lot, the suggestion is to use a lot type of Generic with the Lot Trait called Funeral Home. We decided to not use the mod name for the lot type in anticipation of a possible Morgue addition. That way we can keep those two things separate if desired. So when placing or creating your Funeral Homes, please be sure these two criteria are met. 

PLEASE BE SURE TO PLACE PREBUILT LOTS FROM THE GALLERY AND THEN GO INTO BUILD/BUY TO CONFIRM THE GENERIC LOT TYPE. IT WILL SWITCH AFTER PLACEMENT.

For testing purposes, I created a Funeral Home (Oracle Point Funeral Home) for you to immediately use. You can find my test version in the Gallery for now since it will be updated again later this month. Kate Emerald, our SR Architect, has built two additional lots, Heritage and Legacy Funeral Homes, for your use as well! You can find our builds, both Kate Emerald and mine, under EA Account ID: SimRealist.