Expanded Mermaids Mod (28.02.2024) 

[Exclusive]

  

https://youtu.be/ZRiI0mfRN_w - Watch the complete mod walkthrough! 🧜🏼‍♀️🐠

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwRkqBvp7IQ - View the Trailer 🌊

Hello!
It's been a minute, but the new and improved Expanded Mermaids mod is here! I've spent over nine months adding new skills, gameplay items and objects, spells, perk systems, and more to one of my first mods and I'm so excited for you all to enjoy it. This mod adds a TON of new gameplay to mermaids, so let's go over what you're getting when you download it!

New & Improved Ocean Interactions

The ocean interactions from the first version of the mod have been improved with new collectibles, new outcomes, and different outcomes based on location.

Mermaid sims can Dive Underwater in any swimmable ocean or lake to go on rabbithole adventures with a selection of possible rewards that are helpful for building the new skills from this mod. They can Dive Deeper (requires Fitness level 3) in Sulani and Tartosa for extra-special rewards as well. Dive for Kelp will now give 4 different varieties of kelp that mermaids can consume and Fetch Fish allows mermaids to hunt for fish with specific selections based on what world they are swimming in.

New interactions have been added for finding specific ingredients, some of which require the new Mermaid Mythology skill. Finally, non-mermaid sims are able to Scuba Dive anywhere in Sulani or Tartosa as long as they've purchased a Rebreather from one of the scuba buoys and they can Snorkel anywhere as well.

Mermaid Ranks and XP

Mermaids have been given a couple new stats, Mermaid Rank and Mermaid XP.

Mermaid Rank is a 5-level skill similar to the ranks of vampires, werewolves, and spellcasters. This controls which perks are available to mermaids and how successfully they use them. It is increased by swimming, lounging in mermaid form, using perk abilities, or any other mermaid-related activities.

Mermaid XP is a 3-level skill that works like the XP of a vampire or spellcaster. Once your sim hits level 3, they will be able to select a perk, where the skill will reset and start building again for your next perk. It is gained in the same ways Mermaid Rank is.

Aquatic Perks & Weaknesses

There are a selection of perks and abilities for mermaids now! By building their rank and XP, mermaids will be able to gain perks that will help them and add useful powers or develop weaknesses that give them negative effects or extra abilities.

Weaknesses can be developed randomly through gameplay (unless you use the cheat I've included with testingcheats enabled to disable this) or they can be given in a few other ways intentionally through gameplay or cheats.

Mermaid Mythology

The Mermaid Mythology skill is a new 10-level skill that offers tons of lore to mermaids, a few new socials, improvements to the Ask if Mermaid interaction, books with special recipes that are crafted at bars or stoves, and more. This skill is built by reading the Mermaid Mythology books that can be bought from Build/Buy or the computer.

Sea Witches

Sea Witches have received a huge overhaul with new spells, craftable potions, a new system for fulfilling contracts with sims, and new items to use.

Poseidon's Grimoire is a special book that sims can find while Diving Deep in Sulani or Tartosa. Once examined, this book will instruct your sim on how to become a Sea Witch and will subsequently allow them to learn spells.

Sea Sorcery is the 10-level skill that determines what spells can be learned and the success rate of them. Spells can be learned from Poseidon's Grimoire. Too many spells learned at once may be overwhelming for your sim, but taking a break or doing other Sea Witch activities will help them recover.

Tidal Energy is a Sea Witch's level of magic energy, gained from swimming in the ocean or meditating under the moon. If it gets too low, a Sea Witch cannot perform certain spells or abilities.

The Deep Sea Conch is another object that relates to Sea Witches. If your sim finds this item while deep diving and they are either a Sea Witch or they've read about this special shell in the Mermaid Mythology books, they will be able to summon Sea Witches that have been placed in the world if they blow the conch over a cauldron.

Sea Witch's Cauldron

This item, which can be found in Build/Buy under the activities & skills section in the Study category, allows Sea Witches to learn and craft potions of varying types. Once your sim starts gaining Sea Sorcery skill, they will unlock more advanced potions. These potions can then be consumed or thrown at other sims to see their effects or to fulfill the terms of a contract.

Sea Witch Contracts

Just like in the older version of this mod, Sea Witches can form contracts with sims in exchange for unique payments, but this system has been expanded on and improved massively. Now, contracts are actual objects that can be crafted once your Sea Witch learns how to with level 5 Sea Sorcery.

Crafting Contracts - This can be done at the cauldron. Your sim will conjure a contract over the cauldron, where you'll be able to select a number of options for the spell/potion used, the payment required, and the time limit for the other sim to give their payment. Once crafted, you will be able to see the terms listed in the object's tooltip description.

Signing - Once a contract is crafted, it can be placed back over the cauldron, where you can select nearby sims who fit the proper criteria to sign this agreement. The Sea Witch will explain the terms and the other sim will sign their name, sealing their fate!

Fulfillment - Fulfilling a contract is simply done by selecting the contract and choosing "Initiate Contract Fulfillment". A special event will begin, instructing you to perform the agreed upon spell or use the potion necessary. Spells and potions need to be learned by the Sea Witch in order to successfully complete this event!

Payment - After fulfillment, the time limit chosen will begin and the other sim will have that amount of time to pay the Sea Witch's dues. If they neglect to pay, the Sea Witch can enact consequences by selecting the contract and choosing "Enforce Consequence".

This system can be a fun way to earn money as a Sea Witch or to cause havoc!

Kelpies and other Aquatic Sims

Kelpies are another kind of aquatic creature dwelling in the sea. They're more fishy than their mermaid counterparts and have their own set of abilities that have been improved with this update.

Kelpie Form- Kelpies have a separate form that has been given a makeover with better textures and overall design. They have several color variant options that can be chosen through the Kelpie Form pie menu as well as some new customization options.

Shapeshifting Power- This motive controls a Kelpie's ability to hide their true self. If it depletes, the sim will be forced to transform similarly to a werewolf and will be stuck that way for a while. In this update, Kelpies now have a hidden skill that gives better control over the transformation as time goes on.

Other Aquatic Beings- There are also a couple temporary aquatic lifestates that have their own abilities and can be gained through gameplay, with potions, or with Sea Witch spells.

Child Mermaids

In this new update, your child sims can be real mermaids! MANY adult mermaid animations have been converted for children that allow them to Dive Underwater, Dive for Kelp, sleep in the ocean, lounge in mermaid form, and more!

Mermaid Form- Child mermaids don't have the same occult form that adult mermaids do, but both tail styles from Island Living have been converted for children, as well as the custom tails from my Down Under Set and my Atlantica Set! These can be selected from a pie menu on the child sim, which will set that tail style and swatch as the one they change into when swimming, bathing, lounging, or using the Basking Rock.

Gameplay- As stated above, child mermaids can do many of the things adult mermaids can do, such as most of the ocean interactions, eating kelp, lounging in mermaid form, relaxing in mermaid form while in the hot tub or hot springs, etc.

New Objects/Items

New objects, both purchasable in Build/Buy and gameplay-acquired objects, are included in this mod. Most have custom interactions and gameplay features!

Requirements

This mod only requires Island Living and the Base Game to function! Certain gameplay interactions won't work without packs like Seasons or Vampires, but this doesn't affect the stability or functionality of the mod itself.

Compatibility

This mod overrides the Mermaid and Mermaid Form traits that came with Island Living and will conflict with any mod that alters those as well. The mod also overrides the Ask if Mermaid interaction, the base mermaid trait buff, the loots for Child of the Ocean sims reacting to mounted fish and consuming fish, and the transition interaction for drowning. Mods that use these resources will also conflict, but very few mods if any use these as far as I have seen.

Installation

*Make sure to remove the old Expanded Mermaids mod before installing this version!

I highly recommend placing ALL FILES from this mod DIRECTLY into your main mods folder, especially the .ts4script file. If you keep the files in their subfolders and you're having trouble finding items or gameplay doesn't work, try unpacking ALL the folders into the main mods folder!

Future Plans

As always, there are things I would like to circle back to later to add to this mod. Some potential additions are:

- More Sea Witch potions

- Additional spells

- More Kelpie variations

- More contract options

- More ocean interactions

These are not guaranteed, but any suggestions will be taken into consideration. :)

Thank you all so much for your support and for enjoying what I make! I hope to continue making mods like this, as it is truly a labor of love.

Last but not least, ENJOY! 😁🧜🏼‍♀️🐠