MIDWIFE GIGS:

Why I chose this one to start : I've heard stories all my life about my own great-grandmother, Aunt Rachel, who would be called out of bed at literally any time of the day, any day of the year, to get in a tiny boat to head out to help a woman give birth. She would be gone for days, leaving her own family behind so that another one would hopefully have not only a new member, but also keep the mother/wife/daughter that they already had.

A general historical career option for women, throughout most of history, going back literally thousands of years. I tried my best to be fairly non-specific in my language so that it should cover most eras. There's reference to 'the Lady' and 'the young maid,' both of which should be fairly generic, I think. (Here, at least, young maid might simply be an unmarried younger woman or girl.)

There are 5 different gigs at present, with different recommended skill levels. I chose parenting skill, as that deals with children, and I would assume most midwives would historically have been mothers, grandmothers, etc. They will also gain a tiny bit of parenting skill at the gig.

Male sims can't see these gigs, since it's historically specifically a woman's profession. Teen sims can see some, but not all, since I would think experience would be expected for helping the Lady than for lower level gigs.

The customers vary by gig--a man looking for help for his wife (he may not be married, but he should be a male sim), a woman, or a child/teen. If you don't have enough sims in your save, some may be generated. No babies will be born as a result of these gigs.

The length and pay vary. Not all gigs will show at once--some prefer higher levels of experience/a higher reputation. They're available on the phone or computer (assuming your computer shows Odd Jobs, I can't guarantee it will work on all cc computers), and presumably anywhere else Odd Jobs show, if you have a mod to make them show up elsewhere.

They're available whenever Odd Jobs are available, I haven't altered that, even though a midwife would be called out at all hours of the day and night. They refresh daily. There is a delay before your sim leaves--they should leave at the start of the next hour. That gives them time to gather their supplies, put on clothes that are easy to clean or that they don't mind not getting clean, tell their eldest daughter to mind the children, etc.

At present, the longest is, I think, 12 hours. In reality, a midwife may have been gone for days or weeks, until the mother could manage on her own/arrangements were made. That was what they did. But it's not really realistic for most people's aging to have a sim gone in a rabbithole for a week. I'm also not sure what would happen if you switched households--I think they'd be gone until after you switched back, and then they'd just continue where you left off, which would be okay for a few hours, but not so much if it's going to be days. They also would often go without pay other than the room and board that was provided, or be paid in food/other goods, but that's also not something that would reflect well in game.

Some of the endings of the gigs aren't pretty. A failure for a midwife is a failure for more than the midwife, and I did not pretend otherwise. Feel free to skip this one if you can't/don't want to face that. Some of the endings are happy, and you should see more of these if you pick gigs that match your sim's skill level. There are two happy and two sad endings for each gig.

DOWNLOAD:

You NEED Island Living. That's where odd jobs come from.

The customer filter file (amethystlilac_HistoricalOddJobs_CustomerFiltersREQUIRED.package, https://simblr.cc/ts4/mod/7730-historical-gigs-customer-filters.html) is required. It will be used across multiple types of gigs to determine who the customers are. You WILL get errors and the job picker won't open if you don't have that file.

SUGGESTIONS:

I am open to suggestions for gigs. Otherwise I'll end up only making gig I want to send my current sims on, which is limited by what they're doing at the moment and my imagination.

Submit suggestions here: https://forms.gle/D9WwFALr91H4P5XW8

No google account is required. It's open to everyone.

Recommended Other Mods to Complement These:

By @midnitetech, Odd_Jobs_HideMaxis. Hides the game's odd jobs so that custom odd jobs are much more likely to appear. Only use this is you don't want to also use EA's odd jobs. Available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/mini-mods-69172769

By Ilkavelle, Odd Jobs Unlocked For Children. Not currently useful for anything I have, but likely in the future. And the One Time Jobs for Children and Teens that it works with is another possible source of income for some historical saves. Available here: https://ilkavelle.wixsite.com/simsquest/post/one-time-jobs-for-children-and-teens

UPDATES:

• Nov 10, 2024: The midwife gigs file has been updated for behind the scenes reasons that have nothing to do with mod function.