This site has entered read-only mode as of July 18th. The new Forums.EA.com are now live.
For Builders: Tips on Creating Better Tester Families
ZooProfessor3
Posts: 9,847 Member
What is a tester family?
It's a household (which often only contains a single sim) that you put on your lots as you build in order to help you test the lot as you go and to make it really easy to save.
You can certainly build without a Sim and put one on the lot to playtest after the build is complete, but this method involves the cumbersome switching back and forth from the lot to Edit Town every single time you have to save. Very annoying and time consuming.
Many people use a tester Sim, but just stick a newly created Sim on the lot and only turn on live mode to have the Sim make sure that a chair or an object is usable by a Sim. That's fine, but what if you could use your tester Sim to actually improve your builds?
Read on to discover how to do that!
It's a household (which often only contains a single sim) that you put on your lots as you build in order to help you test the lot as you go and to make it really easy to save.
You can certainly build without a Sim and put one on the lot to playtest after the build is complete, but this method involves the cumbersome switching back and forth from the lot to Edit Town every single time you have to save. Very annoying and time consuming.
Many people use a tester Sim, but just stick a newly created Sim on the lot and only turn on live mode to have the Sim make sure that a chair or an object is usable by a Sim. That's fine, but what if you could use your tester Sim to actually improve your builds?
Read on to discover how to do that!
Post edited by EA_Solaire on
0
Comments
If there will be features on the lot for adult Sims only, then there is no reason to have a child Sim or a pet in your Tester family.
If you are building a lot for Sims and horses, then your Tester Family should have at least one Sim and one horse.
The same Tester families can be used over and over again.
It is actually very useful if certain of your tester Sim's skills are high so that you can have them produce things for use in your build, so using the same tester Sim over and over again makes it more likely that that Sim will have the skills that you need.
I have one Sim that I have used for a very long time. I have more than one version of her (and the skills for the various versions in my library are not all exactly the same) because I have a version where she is alone in her household and a version of her with pets.
Here are the steps to make a Tester Family:
1. Go into Create a Sim and make your Sim family have the minimum number of Sims that will be required in order to test out whatever you will have that needs testing on your lot. The Sims can look any way that you want them to, but the choices of traits are important. You can actually use an existing household instead of creating one from scratch, just make sure that there are the minimum number of Sims needed and change their traits as in the next step.
2. Artistic is a good trait to give your Sim so that he or she can paint and sketch and hang this artwork on the lot you are building (IMPORTANT: do not frame your Sim-created artwork if you plan to upload your lot as framed art will not appear in the upload).
Handy is a good trait to give your Sim so that he or she can upgrade your appliances if desired.
Bookworm is a good trait to have (at least in the beginning) so that your Sim can quickly learn skills from books.
3. Choose any other traits based on the lot you will make. For example, if you are making a farm with a large garden, Green Thumb would be a good trait to give your Sim.
4. This step is optional, but very useful. If you plan to do it, you will need to use the cheat “testingCheatsEnabled true” and you will need to use it on the MAIN menu (before going into your lot).
Place the Sim on a lot. While in live mode, go to the right of the treasure chest icon (lifetime reward points panel) and CONTROL click beside it. If you are doing it in the right spot (and if you used the cheat as instructed) you should see the total of lifetime reward points jump by 500 with each Control click.
Load up this Sim with enough points to purchase all the following: No Bills Ever, Collection Helper, Super Green Thumb, Fast Learner, Super Creative, and Fireproof Homestead. There are other really good lifetime rewards that you may eventually want (so you can add stuff like the Hover Bed to your lot), but you can always add more points with this trick later.
http://www.thesims3.com/assetDetail.html?assetId=5018210
It is MUCH more convenient to save with a Sim on the lot. If you want to use my favorite Tester sim I just uploaded her. Scroll back up a post and I've added the link for her Exchange ad.
Hi,WalkingStick, and thanks! I completely agree about running out of artwork. I have my Tester sim keep everything she paints, even if it isn't right for my current build. I use the same Sim, so maybe next time she'll have what I need in her inventory.
I also like handiness in my Tester. Not only is it nice to have a house with upgraded appliances, it is also a good way to playtest. Generally speaking, if a Sim can reach an appliance in order to upgrade it, that means that she could use it as well.
I'm about to make a Steampunk house in the near future and I just started making sure my Tester can make improved widgets when I need them by improving her inventing skill and having her make 250 widgets so that all future ones are "improved" and will move. It takes surprisingly little time because I have the needs turned off when I use a Sim like this, strictly as a tool to make better builds.
You are very welcome, MariskaAmy!
About the plants: do you know how to use buyDebug? THAT is the way to get a fully mature garden on your lot as you build. The only reason a Sim would be really useful here is if you want to make the garden have better quality plants in it. Mostly buyDebug gives you normal quality for everything. STILL awesome though!
As far as assigning traits, you can easily change them out as needed by using "testingcheatsenabled true" and shift clicking on the active sim. You should get an option to change the current sim's traits.
Also, you don't necessarily need to cheat up your reward points to get SOME of the reward objects. The hover bed is available in buydebug, as is the teleporter and several others.
Oh, and one other good reason to have a sim on site is so you can take photos in live mode using cameraman mode.
And finally, I have the sim cancel newspaper delivery first thing so I don't have to deal with newspapers littering the place.
I find it easiest to start with a residential lot first. Then convert it to a community lot. Just make sure you remove the "tester Sim" from the clip board first. You never know when the gamewill decide to return personal items to them.
I was afraid of that...been working on this lot for 2 weeks now..its massive. Ill just throw a party there once I am done creating it and make all them test everything out..
@Sgizzle09 I love your dancing siggy! Where did you get it? Or did you make it?
--Wibble
Thanks! I had a party animal sim break out these dance moves on top of a counter and I thought it would be great to have as a siggy but was too lazy to make the gif myself so I found this gif and used it. it cracks me up every time I see it
She also has all Lifetime Rewards that are just icons that show. The objects you can get would just be in the way imho, I think I'd rather get those as she needs them. She does however, have the collecting item.
Good start? Recommendations? Advice? ^^
Thanks, Yanti! If you are using the testingcheatsenabled cheat, you can always shift-click on the Sim to change their traits, so you can use the same Tester Sim and tailor the traits each time depending on the kind of lot you want.
Yanti, you likely KNEW that, but since I sent my Zoo U students to this thread, some of them did not! Thanks for your support as always.
Thanks, Ashley!
K2M1TOO: I agree with everything you just said, thanks for adding this useful information to my thread!
I knew about the photographs, but not the digital frame being a bad idea. I kept meaning to play test that to see if it would work, but now I don't have to!
I always cancel the newpaper immediately and always set the needs to static immediately. Those two things and turning off Auto-Roof (which is evil) are the first things I do when I put a Tester Sim on the lot and get ready to build.
You bring up a good point about Cameraman Mode and about some of the Lifetime Rewards being in buyDebug.
I mentioned having your Tester Sim get the Collection Helper Lifetime Reward, but it's probably worth a mention here that having a Tester Sim who has gathered enough gemstones and had them cut in enough ways to be able to have all the different cuts available is very advantageous if you plan to have a treasure room or tomb on the lot you build. And it's fun to just have cut gems displayed on tables and stuff, too. That is why I think the Collection Helper Lifetime Reward is a good one to have.
There are lots of things like that that I didn't mention. Like how having a Tester Sim who can make all the Improved Widgets is essential if you want a cool inventer's workshop or if you build a Steampunk house or if you just want to tuck a few neat knicknacks around the house you built.
Thanks very much for sharing your insights with us, I learned something new, too!
Sgizzle: I'm sure OriginalSim knows more about this than I do. I very very rarely make community lots.
OriginalSim: Thanks for answering this question and for the information about the Tester Sim on the clipboard!
I didn't realize that! I think it's because I never play with a budget when I play (YES, I'm one of THOSE cheater players), but some of the people I build for definitely DO worry about budgets. I'll make sure to watch out for this, thanks!
Smashbridges: I do that, too. I may change the hair and clothes, sometimes I even change the first name so that I can see at a glance which version of my Tester Sim I'm looking at.
And I haven't even mentioned inventories but in passing and you make a good point. My current favorite Tester Sim has tons of good stuff in her inventory and since I'm almost always building with the intention of uploading I like to tuck little goodies around the lot as fun surprise treasure for the people who download my lot to find.
Thanks, Wib!
The dancing siggy is funny!
MariskaAmy: Sounds like you have a great Tester in the making.
One tip: A sculptor who has made 25 ice sculptures has an Ice Personality (I think it's called) and now makes ice sculptures that won't melt. If you plan on making a fabulous ice palace, this would be useful.
For other advice read the posts in this thread. People are handing out some great little tidbits! I've learned a lot and this is my thread!
Oh, one thing I'd mention: When you are using a Tester Sim, definitely do NOT put a washing machine on the lot until the very very end. Otherwise you will run the risk of piles of dirty laundry on your lot that you didn't notice before you uploaded it to the Exchange. If you never build in order to unload, then this isn't an issue.