Now that we are staying at home, many new players are discovering The Sims for the first time. We all have been there at some point: our Sims’ first kitchen fire, their first bladder failure... many amusing and surprising moments to live!
But I think it’s safe to say all of us also looked at our first Sims at some point and wondered: ‘
What do I do with you?’
To all of you who have been playing this ‘virtual dollhouse’ for a while now: let’s welcome new players by helping them discover what makes The Sims special and showing them what’s so great about this game: the community!:
What are the things you wished you had known when you were getting started with The Sims?
Share your tips, resources and expertise below!
To all of you who are new to The Sims: read, enjoy, and welcome to the party! You can also ask your gameplay questions in this thread - no question is too basic, we have all been there. No judgement here!
Comments
Building can be a bit scary at first. It takes some time to learn how to get the best of the game’s building tools so don’t get discouraged if your houses look like giant boxes or the roof is not quite how you were hoping for. Practice makes perfection!
What are the things you wished you had known when you were getting started with The Sims?
The Sims 4 hasn't introduced a new musical instrument since 2017
🐲🐲🐲🐲
Plus I prefer to spend my time on live gameplay.
My favorite game feature would have to be toddlers. They're adorable and oh so realistic. 💗
Since this thread expressly asked for tips on the Sims 4 all I'll say about the previous versions is that you can find information on them in other sections of the forum.
Have fun and as @EA_Mai said don't hesitate to ask questions. 😊
You are invited to visit this thread and introduce yourself.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/817478/hello-come-and-introduce-yourself
Happy simming!
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/817478/hello-come-and-introduce-yourself
http://tinyurl.com/OneRoomOneWeek
http://tinyurl.com/rosemow
My Showcase thread https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/948861/rosemow-s-rooms-showcase
Hello @Mrosarro Your sim can’t have the photo studio as their own home. But they can still live at the photo studio, but need to own a home somewhere else. The home will be where their mail goes to and where kids come home from school. You can still live at the photo studio but will need to have the other home also.
http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/817478/hello-come-and-introduce-yourself
http://tinyurl.com/OneRoomOneWeek
http://tinyurl.com/rosemow
My Showcase thread https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/948861/rosemow-s-rooms-showcase
Take your time to enjoy each addition. Getting many new packs added at once might be twice the fun, as some packs even get better when mixed. But the content might also be overwhelming, resulting in getting the feeling of not staying on top of it all. It takes a while to get familiar with new features, ie most packs offer objects with new functionality, more social interactions and some adjusted UI. Careers often bring new stuff at the higher levels, not taking the time to get there means you'll miss some of the fun.
Check out the buyable extra traits! Some might look pretty useless with the base game only, but with a few packs added, you'll see them in a new light.
Some packs might not add a lot of obvious content, you might think Seasons is just about weather. But it's not. It changes how you'll see each of your worlds and lots - it brings tons of visual variety to the game, and also challenges you to plan your events differently (who wants their garden wedding in Winter anyway?). Same with clubs system in Get Together, it can be used as a plain club system, but it's also very in handy for bringing sims together - like gathering relatives! Throwing a wedding allows your sim to only invite sims s/he already met, but with a club packed with relatives old Auntie will no longer be left out
Use the gallery if you don't want to build everything yourself, or create all sims. Anything you grab there can be modified by you now or later.
Unfortunately Sims 4 is the only Sims game that I own right now. I take look on youtube now and again for building inspiration and think I can do that, let's go. Somehow once I have finished it looks nothing like anything resembling a good living environment. Already had 1 fire and I guess The Sims 4 fire service are in isolation too.
1. The Pause Button is your friend! You can pause the game and then choose what you want your sims to do & in what order to do them. Use Pause often!
2. Some actions will multi-task, saving time in filling needs. For instance, they can eat and watch tv at the same time, filling the hunger & fun bars at the same time.
3. The game will only save your sim to the library when you create them. If you have any sims born in-game or you wish to use your skilled sim in a different save, be sure to save them to My Library in Your Gallery.
4. Save early - save often - use "save as" to make a backup of a particular time. You can make backups of all of your games by copying the folder "Saves" from your "The Sims 4" folder in Documents to a safe place like an external drive
5. Sims can die! If you only have one sim in your household and they die, the game will end. You cannot save a game while a sim is dying. You CAN exit without saving, which will mean you restart the game from the point you last saved. If that was 4 hours ago, you will be sad for a number of reasons. See Tip #4 :smile:
6. Try lots of things! For sure make your sim-self (doesn't everyone start out by making themselves in sim-form?), but once you've explored a few possibilities with your first sim, feel free to branch out. Some people really like creating stories around their sims, others like setting their own goals or playing towards in-game achievements, some like building, some like creating households and still others like doing challenges written by other people. The Sims is such an open-ended type of game the possibilities are almost limitless.
Have fun! That's really the most important part
The best advise I could give is Shift- Control-C is your friend. MOTHERLODE .
Shift Click the sim for more options ... Make ALL HAPPY
Your Welcome.
Seesin8 (CC)
- When you first play, cheat. Cheat a lot. Figure the game out, have fun, build them a mansion and buy an oversized ice cream machine. Make your sims build rocket ships and travel to the moon. Try different aspirations that you're interested in.
- Then play without cheats. None at all. Try and aim for the life your sim lived after motherlode, complete aspirations without cheating and see where it takes you.
Ps. You don't have to cheat to be rich. Choose the Kleptomaniac trait and steal from others to sell, marry rich sims and kill them for their money, collect as many items as you can and sell them.
It's great fun when you play like that, but I definitely think you should discover the game using the cheats first
I'm finding that I spend most of my time building as I just love being creative (I've been watching a lot of youtube vids and have picked up some amazing tips).
My problem is, I don't know how to be more inspired to live play as I end up getting overwhelmed with the amount of actions required, especially with more than one sim.
That's a thing??? Are they available on Xbox One and if so, where can I get them?
My sims skills reset in a new game, at least, I think they do. I make them all with story mode quiz and I know for sure that the library copy of them does not keep their job in a new game.
100% agree with that point!
Easy, start with just the one. Keep that one at home and focus on needs. Neighbors will wander past your house so you can run outside and meet many people. Focus on needs first, wants later. And last but not least search PenguinFoop in the gallery and download Downward Living and The Modern III They'll save your life!!! Okay, so that's a shameless advertisement but truly, I think you may be inspired by the depth you can go when building. Especially when you see the creative way I made the "Eco-Pool." Pools are awesome again!!!! And just how far down you can go with a garden near the center of the planet!!!
As for things I wish I knew, I think the thing I wish I knew first and foremost was that this forum existed. But the newcomers obviously know that now. So I would say that the next thing I wish I knew was which packs to buy first. There are so many. I would definitely agree that Seasons is a must. I can't imagine playing without it now. Finally, there's a reason to create a summer and winter outfit!!! Downside, plants grow only during certain seasons (different types for different seasons) unless you plant them indoors. Also, with Seasons, the thermostat will only work in a house properly if every room has a ceiling, including the patios and porches!
And finally, search "The Vazquez Family Needs Your Help" and become a mentor in the story. Okay, so that's another shameless advertisement. But hey, if I don't advertise them, who will? Right?
No idea how this works on other than PC.
Oh wow! I didn't realize that you could buy extra traits in there!!! Then again, I rarely use my AP. I always forget about them. lol
***Keeping expensive stuff in a Sims inventory will increase weekly bills A LOT. If you find or create high-value items like paintings, for instance. Don't keep them in the sim's inventory.
***The best way to get it out of inventory is to sell it or hang it in your Sim's house.
***I like to buy one of the storage chests available in build/buy to allow my Sims to keep collectibles in them.
***Bills are much higher in Sims 4, even after you "buy" the reward traits of frugality et. al.
***If you owned a lot of Sims 3 stuff, check in build/buy for some special table lamps. You might have gotten some included for free that you can buy, and they're not too expensive! They will help boost your Sim's emotional state in a given direction like "Focused." Later in the game, your Sim will be able to create paintings that will boost moods, but the lamps are a non-cheat way, early in the game, to get your Sim "Inspired" while painting or cooking, for instance. These skills increase faster while your Sim is Inspired. Computer and Science skills build faster when "Focused," etc.
***Don't forget about those earbuds. Check 'em out!
***If your Sim becomes "Very Playful," be careful. It's possible for them to die Laughing. Literally. I recommend that you hit "save" whenever you see a Sim in that mood, so if they die, you can go back to the save and change the circumstances.
***SAVE your game before making major Sim Life decisions like getting married or having a kid. Sometimes you will be very grateful, after you play a new scenario, to be able to UNDO it if you hate playing it.
***I have one Sim who started the game as an heiress (motherlode!) from the base pack. As each new pack comes out. She's easy as heck to play. but the advantage of playing her as immortal is that she can easily find out what the benefits of a given job are, and whether it's worth having my other Sims do it. She's my test-Sim for how the fame system works, finding fishing spots, etc. I can
***I absolutely love to play an active Scientist from the Get to Work pack. What a Sim "discovers," like the Sim Ray, they are allowed to keep. The cloning machine will allow your Sim to replicate endless potions and many collectibles.
And a gazillion other things... Happy Simming.
Happy simming!
I'm such a dork. I've got my ten-year forum-member badge, but I don't know what a "hybrid" is. Could you please explain a bit more? Thanks.
I'm not sure either, maybe like half alien half mermaid or something?
The problems come in when the game glitches out or you use cheats or mods to create a sim with the powers of both its parents.
EDIT: And the best way to learn building is lots of practice. Everyone starts off making boxes, unless I'm trying to recreate a plan my houses still look like boxes.
Pick an empty lot from the town overview (not the lot your family is living on, that adds pressure and costs money) and just play around in free build mode, getting the feel of the building tools, don't actually try building any thing, just get the hang of the tools, how the room and wall tools work, how roofs work and how you can combine them to cover an odd shaped house, that sort of thing.
Then try building something simple, doesn't even have to be livable or good looking, just something to test what you know.
Also, a random hint, the Christmas trees can catch fire when you light them.