Options

This page is is currently being updated, for now, please refer to the most recent Youtube video covering the options:

Youtube Direct Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMVmBsEYKmM

You can find the City Manager 2078 Holotape in your Misc inventory and load it into your Pip-Boy to access the following options.

Configure Zoning Laws

Reset All to Defaults

This will reset the global zoning laws to the default options. When you click this you will get a pop-up asking you to confirm the choice so if you clicked it by accident you have an option to cancel.

All Work Counts As A Job

Left OFF (default), vanilla "jobs" and/or "work object" assignments are not counted by Sim Settlements in the "Jobs" meter or in any calculations/requirements that count/need your settlers to have "jobs". This is because vanilla "jobs" and/or "work object" assignments don't have upgrade levels and the Residential plots are designed to only upgrade after a certain number of jobs have upgraded first.

If you switch this option to ON, all vanilla "jobs" and/or "work object" assignments will now be counted by Sim Settlements as "jobs" and will be used in or factored into any calculations/requirements. By making non-plot work count toward the job total, your Residential upgrades may occur faster than usual.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: OFF

ASAM Sensors

The ASAM Sensor shows you if the plot is powered and provides an activation menu for managing the plot and is visible on the plot’s power post by default. The ASAM Sensor can be hidden if you wish, in which case you can still reach the activation menu for managing the plot by pressing Activate on the plot post itself.

Choosing to make a plot Hidden (or Visible again) is not an instant update. You will not see the change until the next time each plot is updated or manually refreshed.

Options: Visible or Hidden
Default: Visible

Auto Assignment

Allows citizens to automatically take unassigned plots. By default, after you build a new plot (Residential, Commercial, Industrial, etc.), Sim Settlements will automatically assign an “unassigned” settler to that plot. If you wish to make all assignments of your settlers “manually”, you can turn this setting “Off”.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Auto Assign Away from Beds

This option is turned OFF by default which means that settlers whom you have already assigned to beds (or named settlers like the Abernathies or the Finches who already have a home/beds) won’t be automatically reassigned to any residential plot you lay down. It also means that if you decide to assign a settler to a vanilla bed (or a custom home you create) Sim Settlements won't steal them away.

If you were to turn this option ON, settlers who have “bed” assignments would then be eligible for auto-assignment by Sim Settlements - the ON setting allows Sim Settlements to essentially take priority with its auto-assignment system which means settlers can/will be “reassigned”.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: OFF

Auto Assign Away from Work Objects

This option is turned OFF by default which means that settlers whom you have already assigned to vanilla settlement “jobs” such as a scavenging station, farming particular plants, guard posts, etc. won’t be automatically reassigned to any agricultural, commercial, industrial, advanced industrial, martial, or recreational plot you lay down. This includes named settlers like the Abernathies or the Finches who already have “jobs”. For the most part it also includes “work objects” added by other mods (this is very hard for us to test, but reports from players indicates it works).

It also means that if you decide to assign a settler to a vanilla “job” (or work object added by another mod) Sim Settlements won't steal them away.

If you were to turn this option ON, settlers who have a “job” or have been assigned to “work objects” would then be eligible for auto-assignment by Sim Settlements - the ON setting allows Sim Settlements to essentially take priority with its auto-assignment system which means settlers can/will be “reassigned”.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: OFF

Auto Assign Unique NPCs

This setting is ON by default meaning that “named” NPCs who do not have assigned “beds” or “jobs” can/will be auto-assigned by Sim Settlements to any residential, agricultural, commercial, industrial, martial, or recreational plot you lay down.

“Unique NPCs” is generally meant to cover people like the first group of people you “lead” to Sanctuary, your companions (if you leave them at a particular settlement), and any named NPCs (Abernathies, Finches, Warricks, etc.). So by default, Sturges (who has no previously assigned bed or job) will be auto-assigned to both a residential and "job" plot (agricultural, commercial, industrial, martial, or recreational) if/when you build Sim Settlements plots at Sanctuary Hills (or if you have existing "unassigned" plots by the time Sturges arrives).

Due to the way that Fallout 4 is configured there are a few random NPCs named “settler” (i.e.at Tenpines Bluff or Oberland Station) whom are also counted as “unique NPCs” so this setting affects them as well. So if you happen to turn this OFF and you find that auto-assign isn't applying to certain NPCs named “settler” that you would expect it to, it's just due to the way the Fallout 4 game tags them.

Note: Other auto assign options will take priority over this option, so if for instance you want the Abernathy or Finch family members (most of whom have beds/jobs already) to get auto-assigned by Sim Settlements to plots you have built, you will also need to turn ON "Auto Assign Away from Work Objects" & "Auto Assign Away from Beds" (both of which are OFF by default).

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Auto Close Doors (ACD)

By default, doors in Sim Settlement plot based houses and buildings (e.g. any plot type structure with doors) will close automatically after a certain amount of time. If you wish to have doors stay open until you or one of your settlers close the door you can switch this setting to OFF.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

ACD Opened By

If you want your doors to stay open when you open them but close automatically if your settlers and/or settlement visitors open them, you can change this setting from “Everyone” to “Citizens”

Options: Everyone or Citizens
Default: Everyone

Bans Applied To Plan Selection

NEEDS DESCRIPTION

Options: ON or OFF
Default: OFF

Beds are Homes

NEEDS DESCRIPTION

Options: ON or OFF
Default: OFF

Citizen Needs Requirement

Your citizen’s needs will no longer be considered when checking for upgrade eligibility. This includes things like: Food, Water, Defense, and Happiness.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Commercial Requirement

NEEDS DESCRIPTION

Options: Homes, Population, or None
Default: Homes

Delay Building Materials

NEEDS DESCRIPTION

Options: 15 sec, 30 sec, or none
Default: 15 sec

Demolition FX

If you haven't seen it already, whenever you destroy/scrap a Sim Settlements plot or demolish a building/structure that has been (or is being built) on a plot, a little explosion scene/sequence plays out to immersively show the resulting demolition. If you don't like this demolition effect you can turn it off here

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Dynamic Needs

Dynamic needs is an advanced “civilization building” system that Sim Settlements uses to make the settlements you are “founding” all over the Commonwealth more “realistic” in terms of building a functioning communities that have changing needs and desires over time.

The general idea of dynamic needs is that as your settlements grow and your “civilization” progresses your settlers are going to start expecting more from you (as opposed to the vanilla 1 food, 1 water, 1 covered bed, more defense than food + water basic survival mechanic). With dynamic needs, over time as buildings & structures upgrade and the population of a settlement increases, your settlers will start to expect (demand) more benefits, resources, specific plot types, specific structures to at certain upgrade levels, more building materials, and many other things so that you have to build more “infrastructure” as the game goes on - thus to better simulate how an actual town/civilization evolves.

The dynamic needs system runs completely in the background so it is nothing you have to micro-manage or know specifically about how it works. However, if you don't like or simply don't want to have to provide extra resources, utilities, specific plots types, etc., you can turn dynamic needs off.

It is very important to note that turning off dynamic needs will effect, reduce, or eliminate the many positive benefits your factories, farms, stores, and any other job buildings provide to your settlers. The new plot types and building plans introduced in the “Industrial Revolution” expansion pack will be especially affected by turning off dynamic needs as there are a lot of benefits and new positive modifiers for your settlements built in that require dynamic needs to be ON (in order to be activated or for your settlers to take advantage of/benefit from).

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Hold Upgrades Until I See Them

If you want to have a chance to see every upgraded level (and what's changed) of every structure your settlers build (don’t want to miss a thing), then leave this setting on. This setting essentially tells Sim Settlements not to execute upgrades (level changes) to buildings until you have had a chance to see the latest upgraded version level first.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Ignore Factions

By default (OFF), things like available flags will consider the factions you’ve met, allied, or enemied with.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: OFF

Initial Plot Costs

Reduces the cost of all plots is to only a single ASAM sensor when set to OFF. It is ON by default and plots require various resources to build correctly. This can be helpful if you would like to pre-plot out settlements before any additional citizens arrive. New citizens will then automatically take a plot and start building a home and/or business, so long as Auto Assignment is also ON.

Martial Tech Requirement

Martial Tech requirement being ON makes it so that Martial plots only upgrade if you have a certain number of assigned Industrial plots in your settlement (both regular and advanced industrial count).

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Realistic Build Times

Enables realistic in-game build times for plots. It is OFF by default and plots will build in approximately 60 seconds in real time. When using Realistic Build Times, times take much longer by using a randomly generated time per plot (upwards of 36 in-game hours). This can lead to more immersive game play.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: OFF

Residential Job Requirement

By default (ON) your settler’s homes (e.g. Sim Settlements residential plots) will not be eligible for “upgrades” unless those settlers also have “jobs” (e.g. they are also assigned to Sim Settlements job plots - agricultural, commercial, industrial, advanced industrial, martial, or recreational - you have a lot of options).

The basic idea behind the "residential job requirement" is to increase immersion, to make it so that it feels like your settlers have to have an advanced economy around them before they're actually investing money into their homes (upgrades).

The calculation/difference this option makes is that at least 50% of your settlers have to be using Sim Settlements “job” plots in order for their homes to be marked as eligible to be upgraded from level 1 to level 2. The number is higher (75%) for eligibility to upgrade from level 2 to level 3. Please note, this is only one factor in deciding eligibility for upgrades for the residential plot type, the other requirements still need to be met.

If you find yourself not using a lot of the Sim Settlement plots for "jobs" for your settlers but you are using the residential plots (and want them to upgrade) you have a couple of options:

1. You can leave this ON and instead use the “All Work Counts As A Job” option to make it so vanilla work objects will be counted by Sim Settlements as “jobs”.
2. You can turn this option OFF and Sim Settlements will no longer use how many of your settlers have “jobs” as a factor when determining if a residential plot is eligible for upgrade (other factors will still apply).

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Stockpile System

By default, extra resources will be stockpiled on the plot as part of the upgrade process. This provides you extra options and benefits:

• Easy access to extra resources via the Access Stockpile option on the plot menu.
• Ability to donate resources to a plot to speed up the upgrade process.
• If you turn Upgrades Advanced to Manual, plots that you choose NOT to upgrade once eligible will go into extra production mode (creating double resources)

The system is designed to provide you more options and benefits and will happen in the background if you choose to ignore it, so leaving it ON is strongly recommended.

If you decide to turn it off, extra resources will no longer be stockpiled on the plot as part of the upgrade process. The option to turn the stockpile system OFF was added for people who have load order conflicts or save corruptions that prevent the resources from ever generating correctly. Without the stockpile system, you get far less resources, but at least you'll be able to upgrade the buildings.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: ON

Upgrades

By default, basic buildings will automatically upgrade as soon as they are eligible.

If changed to manual, basic building will now require your direct approval before they will upgrade. This can be done via the Plot Options menu, which is accessible by clicking on the ASAM Sensor on the plot post (or the post itself if you have ASAM Sensors Hidden)

Note: Plots built before patch 2.0.0 will need to be refreshed for the ASAM Sensor to be displayed.

Options: Auto or Manual
Default: Auto

Upgrades Advanced

By default, advanced buildings (e.g. Advanced Industrial) will automatically upgrade as soon as they are eligible. They will randomly select one of the available upgrade options.

If changed to manual, advanced buildings will now require your direct approval before they will upgrade, which will allow you to select the type of upgrade to occur. This can be done via the Plot Options menu, which is accessible by clicking on the ASAM Sensor on the plot post (or the post itself if you have ASAM Sensors Hidden)

Note: Plots built before patch 2.0.0 will need to be refreshed for the ASAM Sensor to be displayed.

Options: Auto or Manual
Default: Auto

Use Original Plot Size

This option is there as legacy support for players who have settlements that were built with the very first version (1.0.0) of Sim Settlements (and who have stubbornly refused to rebuild their original plots) which used a very awkward, custom plot size rather than the standard 2x2.

So unless you know exactly what the "original plot size" means (and you really need it), just leave it OFF.

The change to 2x2 as standard came way back in patch 1.1.0 and no new building plans since then have even supported this original custom plot size.

Options: ON or OFF
Default: OFF

Audio Options

The audio options allows you to change the volume level, or completely turn off, groups of sounds.

There are 5 sound groups you can control.

Ambience

Construction

Barkers

Machinery

Machinery Ambience

Configure Tax Laws

Tax Cycle

Adjusts how frequently taxes are collected from your citizens.

• Daily
• Every 2 Days
• Every 3 Days (default)
• Every 5 Days
• Weekly
• Bi-Weekly
• Monthly

[Plot Type] Tax Rate

Determines how much money your citizens must pay in taxes for each of their respective plots.

• Standard
• Half
• No Tax
• Double

Performance Options

As of patch 1.1.9 a Performance Options section exists in the City Manager 2078 Holotape. These options allow you to disable certain object types from being spawned in most plots.

Turning off any of these performance options will remove related things from your buildings to help improve performance. The more plots you have built, the longer the process will take, though you do not have to wait (in a settlement) for it to complete.

A couple things to know/keep in mind:

• These performance options are Global meaning they will effect every Sim Settlements plot, building plan, structure at every settlement in your game.

• As performance options were only recently added to Sim Settlements, it may take a while for all AddOn Pack authors to add support for performance options to all of their building plans (it takes a bit of work). So it is likely that if you turn off some of these options, that some building plans added by installing AddOn Packs will not reflect your performance preferences (until the AddOn author releases a new version that supports performance options.

Descriptions of the 8 Performance Options

At the time of this writing, their are eight types of objects you can disable via the Performance Options menu. The settings labeled (High Impact) will be the best place to start if you are having severe frame rate issues.

Detailed Models

This will disable complex models, and if possible, replace them with lower polygon versions.

Detailed Lights (High Impact)

This will disable non-primary building lights. These are lights with shadows, or smaller lights meant to add more detail as opposed to the primary lights which are meant to help you see the building at night.

Animated Objects

This will disable animated models, and if possible, replace them with static versions.

Special Effects (High Impact)

This will disable things like smoke and fire.

Radio

This will disable objects that play the radio stations.

Sound Emitter

This will disable objects that play some sort of looping sound effect.

Actors

This will disable pets and extra NPCs created as part of the building plan.

Clutter (High Impact)

This will disable the settlers non-furniture belongings as well as the randomized clutter.

Note: none of these options are applied to the VIP homes, where the object types are key to VIP having any meaning. VIPs are rare, so they should have minimal impact overall.

Software Settings

TODO

Help

TODO

ASAM Sensor Info

TODO

Setup Notifications

All notifications are ON by default.

Turn On All Notifications

Enables all notifications.

Turn Off All Notifications

Disables all notifications.

Tax Day

Displays a notification at the end of the period when taxes have been collected and how many combined caps to expect from all settlements.

[Plot Type] Started

Displayed when settler has been assigned to a plot.

[Plot Type] Completed

Displayed when settler has completed a Level 1 plot.

[Plot Type] Improved

Displayed when a settler has improved a plot to Level 2 or Level 3.