I wouldn't mind a patch with a mermaid update too. Aquatic outfits and steampunk outfits with an underwater pack would be fun.
What's the name of that book, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Let me do a quick google search... Yes, Captain Nemo and the Nautilus. It kinda scares me how I know the name, but haven't seen the movie or read the book.
Yeah great book. There was a Disney movie called Atlantis too. I play this game called Subnautical and the underwater builds in it are really fun.
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” –Helen Keller
I wouldn't mind a patch with a mermaid update too. Aquatic outfits and steampunk outfits with an underwater pack would be fun.
What's the name of that book, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea? Let me do a quick google search... Yes, Captain Nemo and the Nautilus. It kinda scares me how I know the name, but haven't seen the movie or read the book.
Yeah great book. There was a Disney movie called Atlantis too. I play this game called Subnautical and the underwater builds in it are really fun.
I'm thinking of taking a short break from the Sims 4 to play Subnautica.
My current build for my legacy house has incompatibilities with certain sim life stages I need to think about. I use pools to design houses for merfolk, but toddlers can't swim, and children can't sleep in the water. Because the life stages younger than teen don't have the physical abilities that come with the merform, it's looking like I have to design an entirely separate set of rooms to raise the merlings. Honestly, it would be so helpful with not splitting up the living conditions if mertoddlers had a merform that allowed them to at least awkwardly and slowly swim. If children had a merform and the ability to sleep in water at the very least, I would find that helpful too. Naturally, a merform comes with immunity to drowning regardless of the life stage.
For toddlers, it would be nice if they had a special kind of toddler bed for the mertoddlers, but I think that applies more to underwater lots. As things are, a house designed with pools allow mersims to get around significantly faster and stay in shape, but a toddler would not be able to get around at all. Toddlers simply have no way to cross the pool, and adult sims will glitch if they carry them.
I learned with a beach lot on Mua Pel'am that toddlers spawn on beach lots, but the path to entering and leaving the lot is different. The lot in question is surrounded by the ocean, and it is incredibly dysfunctional for toddlers when sims have to cross water to leave the lot. For human toddlers, I would never expect them to be able to swim, but for merfolk toddlers, there are sea creatures that can swim the moment they are born. So, it might be one instance where a toddler can have unique abilities because of their occult status and still make sense. It just requires the merform to really fall together.
The game doesn't support any of that as it. I'm at a point where I'll be raising the next heir, and I feel stuck. I really want this legacy to embrace being mythical merfolk, and I don't like the idea of designing an entirely separate set of rooms just to raise a toddler. At least children will be able to move around the lot normally, but that still feels off when the build is designed for merforms they don't have.
The reason so many of my male sims I play as look the way they do is because they spend so much time swimming that they never develop the body fat. The reason Sara gained weight was because I didn't have the build for merfolk started yet. The calories system virtually means nothing if the act of moving around the house everywhere burns off the fat. Reef maintained his weight because he spent more time swimming and eating harvestables. In fact, anyone that downloads the household with Reef and Sara can see a significant difference in their fitness levels.
So, if people ever wonder why merfolk are depicted as beautiful and handsome (and unfortunately get grouped with a sexual or romantic element), it should be important to remember that anyone that spends every second of their life being physically active might actually end up looking better because of it. In my mind, the driving force behind why merfolk always have unusually outstanding looks is because they are constantly swimming around and more physically active. It's a natural part of their everyday life, and I'm sure that anyone living with that norm wouldn't notice the looks as much.
In fact, the merfolk sims seem to almost always show up at gym venues to exercise or maintain their physical appearance better than most other sims. It comes with their physically active life style. I suspect that an underwater lot would have a similar perk that would naturally come with the environment. Depending on the lot and the type of build, it almost wouldn't matter how many calories a sim consumes because it'll never stick with them.
Unfortunately, toddlers don't have a merform, so I created a separate room for them. In my mind, a merfolk family would require every life stage to have a merform that lets them live underwater. Even a baby would need a merform. A baby with a merform could also come with any needed baby imporvments. Toddler merfolk wouldn't be expected to be able to swim as well as older merfolk, but it would be something that develops similar to the way the movement skill develops.
Merfolk are able to sleep in the water, but the time does not speed up. I also noticed an issue with my sims staying asleep, and they would regularly wake up to do anything queued up whether or not their energy was filled up. I found this frustrating, and I think the sleep option should be different from back floating and trigger the speed up like it does when they are in beds. I added the beds to the build because the option to sleep in the water wasn't working as well. For an underwater build, a merstyle bed would be great if sims need a bed for the game to do everything as it should. And, Vampires have a coffin, so why can't merfolk have ocean themed beds like a giant clamshell or something.
There really should be corals in build mode that could be found either under rocks or one of the other outdoor plants. It should be possible to place corals in a pool or on an underwater lot. They could add more variety to the Water Objects and Fountain Decorations in a merfolk pack or update to Island Living that was supposed to introduce merfolk. They missed a lot of opportunity to add more depth to merfolk.
I use different pool water types to implement story progression. The idea is that the water started out green and mucky and gradually becomes closer to the best looking water type like the ordinary chlorinated water that comes with the base game. I think this would be an opportunity to include a new water type, something like clear, tropical-blue seawater. There is an option for murky brackish water. I'm currently using the hot springs water.
The combination of Windows and the Sea Plus Aquarium from the Dine Out Pack make for some interesting designs. This aquarium is sea through, so you can look through the aquarium and see into the pool while playing as your sim. Merfolk Sims can view and talk to fish without leaving the water, and I assume ordinary sims should be able to view fish without leaving the water. The inclusion of an Aquarium with a stone frame or something that might look better with other stony wall materials would be awesome. In general, a variety of aquariums, even fish that can be placed in a pool, like designing a pool that acts like an aquarium would be so cool.
Using the Testingcheats True
Using bb.showliveeditobjects
And finally searching "Coral" or "Reef" on the console I found the coral reef included in the game. Searching "**DEBUG**" on the console did not work for me.
The sims 4 mermaids/merman do look the best we ever got.
Great picks.
In my opinion, they aren't bad, but after hours of play time, I definitely think they need something more exclusive to the occult life-state. The more I think about it, merfolk are too dependent on features from several different packs. There is definitely room for improvement.
Personally, I think a sim laying on a pool/beach recliner, laying on a beach towel, at the water's edge, and sitting on the pool ledge should have options to toggle their merform.
The other stuff, well, they should be possible action underwater on an underwater residential lot. An underwater residential lot could have many of the same interactions that an on land residential lot has with the exception of sims being in their merform and the ability to use and interact with water objects underwater. That would be my starting point, at least. From there, an underwater lot could come with unique lot traits and merfolk could have a trait developed in childhood that determines a preference for life on land or life underwater. That trait could affect how quickly a mersim gets dehydrated and other moodlets related to being underwater or on land. Merfolk could have more options to change the weather.
I'm still curious about a blizzard in Sulani and the ocean freezing over because of merfolk magic. (Evil Laughter)
Mersims could have a unique form of woohoo for those who want an underwater merfolk family.
I can see a pool of water similar to this hot tub working.
At extreme depths, the salt does separate from the water. This creates deadly salt pools, and I think in some places, pools of freshwater. The point being that, with enough pressure, salt and water can be separated at certain depths. I'm sure with the right word play, most of the household functions can be explained underwater.
If you've ever watched A Lull in the Sea, you know that the people living underwater had a magic flame from the Sea God to cook their food.
The other important detail involving underwater residential lots is that they are underwater. Any sim that isn't a mersim would naturally run into difficulties living on these lots. I would imagine a human sim would need to build a house similar to subnautica to survive in that environment. That would mean potential steam punk items for non-merfolk and merfolk alike. There may be a need rooms that are underwater but not full of water.
However, I'm thinking about a world similar to the Forgotten Hollow, only underwater and for merfolk.
Because everything will be underwater, merfolk would have a maxed diving skill similar to the Sims 3, but human sims would have to dive into this world. Friendly merfolk might actually have a reason to use the Mermaid's Kiss that helps prevent drowning. Human sims that decide to live underwater without being a mermaid or merman would have some trouble living outside their environment. I don't think that would be terrible because the environment is better suited to merfolk to begin with.
After watching the Snowy Escape gameplay with the mountain, it makes me want to see a patch that turns certain rabbit hole interactions into actual gameplay. Diving underwater isn't that different from climbing a mountain, I can name a few different games with underwater environments that work in a fe different ways, I can totally see sims diving into deeper environments similar to how they climb a mountain.
I'll share a screenshot later, but during my gameplay I found a bug exclusive to Mua Pel'am. Basically the bug is the result of the open world swimming areas and how toddlers can't swim. Regardless of the circumstances, the lot is exited different from how they enter and I had my mermaid sim jump into the water with the toddler in her arms and bugged things to the point where my sim was stuck in a T pose holding her toddler until I sent the toddler to day care. The merman tried to pick up his son, but he put him back down before leaving his son at the beach alone. So, the sims seem to know that they can't swim in the water holding their sims. It was only after I restarted the action to go home with the mom that she tried to carry her son across the ocean.
For gameplay purposes, that particular residential lot is extremely broken for toddlers because, understandably, a human sim toddler should not be carried in deeper water by their parents. Because merfolk aren't human, I do feel like the same expectations don't apply in the exact same way. So, there is an instance where merfolk toddlers might use a merform. Also, there may be a general need to look at the pathing for that lot. It works great as a beach, but because it is surrounded by water in the oprn world, there is something seriously bugged with toddlers in general. Some actions would make more sense with occult forms while other occults might need to be able to leave the way they came.
I remade an under the sea home for a certain little Mermaid & her cousin Siren after I got Island Living back in 2019.
The furniture can be playable under water. Only the Kitchen appliances, BBQ & Electronics have to be on land.
I remade an under the sea home for a certain little Mermaid & her cousin Siren after I got Island Living back in 2019.
The furniture can be playable under water. Only the Kitchen appliances, BBQ & Electronics have to be on land.
Does this require mods or CC? If I had the game on the computer, I would absolutely give it a try, but I play on the console. So, if it's a mod or CC, I don't think I'll be able to use it.
Regardless, it might be cool to share for those who are able to use mods or CC.
After thinking about how much limited space I have on my computer for other content besides video games, I'm kinda happy that the Console doesn't support Custom Content. Like, if I went online, I might get carried away downloading stuff that might cause the game to freeze. I have found a lot of actions using cheats that I wish were features, but if there is one thing I've learned, the game does have an increase in glitches whenever I use cheats to do things that aren't normally programmed into the game.
I want underwater lots, but I think that those lots need to be created and added to the game by maxis to avoid some issues that come with pushing the limits of the game. I think most of the loading issues people experience is also a product of custom content. Custom Content adds more stuff to the game, and judging by what I've read in older threads, it makes the game work harder to load content.
But, I would still choose a slower loading screen over not being able to follow my sim underwater at dive bouys. There are at least 5 or 6 interactions that are no better than a loading screen and generate random results. It's essentially an experience for a sim that results in a collectible or sad moodlet, but the collectibles are almost guaranteed.
This is what the player is stuck looking at until they surface, so it's hardly the most enjoyable way to interact with the game.
I can support a new pack to add a substantial amount of merfolk related content if the pack add something new. After commenting in another pack, the Ocean Tides came to mind, and I think it could be an interesting feature introduced in the world. Right now, the game has ocean waves hitting the shore. These are not tides. Tides are the AM high and low tide and the PM high and low tide that follow a predictable schedule in real life.
The reason this could be an interesting feature in a new world or something added to Sulani is because the tides can cause islands to appear and disappear. One of the plants in Sulani are Mangrove Trees, and Mangrove Trees grow in coastal environments that experience tides. Mangroves have three different species that grow in the water, partially in the water, and on dry land. Everything from the tropical weather, the plant life, and coastal environment tells me that there are places that would be more realistic if there was a high and low tide in the game.
Monsoons, the unique severe thunderstorm in Sulani, should have an effect on the ocean environment. There should be a storm surge or the rise in water level that causes flooding. If it required it, there could be a world created with multiple deep areas with dive spots that lead to underwater lots. Above water, there could be an island that is mostly submerged during half the day and dry during the other half. When the tides recede into low tide, there could be something collectible or what not that becomes exposed. This could introduce a high and low tide element in other worlds.
Oasis Springs might not have a tide, but there is a stream that could grow drier during certain seasons and times and become wetter during other times. In another neighborhood in oasis springs, there is a stream that might be shallower, and that could experience a high tide that makes it swimable. Sims can go to the waters edge with Island Living to fish, but they can't swim. There could be rivers and lakes that have a high and low tide too. For some areas, it might be practical for current bodies of water to be at high tide, and the low tide could be something introduced. Obviously, most of this is just a what if for other worlds, and they tend to make things more world specific.
Windenburg, Sulani, and Bridleton Bay are all worlds with a significant body of water that could have underwater environments to dive into. Sulani is the only one that has actual buoys to perform the interaction to dive.
A pack good introduce more features for pools. Pools could have more unique shapes and the furniture can actually be more merfolk themed with a stronger ocean element. I love Sulani's Polynesian theme, but I personally, don't feel like any of the packs have the merfolk vibe I'm looking for, and I have all the packs except the star wars one.
You know, I've done some digging and shared mods and CC I found that does things I wish was included with the PS4.
If anyone finds any ocean or water themed mods or cc, I think this thread would be an awesome place to share it. I'm always interested in seeing what is possible!
I noticed something with merfolk that made me happy to see.
So, the sleeping in the water animation is identical to the back floating animation, but after the patch that addressed the crashing, I noticed that merfolk will occasionally drift underwater while sleeping. I think the little detail was nice to see. Merfolk sleeping in the water still doesn't speed up time like sleeping in a bed.
Also, my merfolk with the forever fresh trait will autonomously sleep in the water even if they have a bed assigned to them to gain energy. So, the preference for being in the water isn't exclusively about maintaining hydration.
Now, I've almost spent all my time playing as merfolk in Island Living. Merfolk sims are like other sims, but they have that half fish part to them and special abilities. While Island Living missed a lot of opportunities, I think it failed the most with what could be done with merfolk.
When you look at occults, the game is pretty well equipped to support Alien, Vampire, and Spellcaster families. For Spellcasters, you even have a place for them to call their own and bloodlines. Aliens can result in weird genetics, and Vampires are, well Vampires.
Island Living offers the hidden Sulani Mana Trait and Merfolk. Merfolk have a bunch of unique abilities, and I consider Seasons a must because it adds the weather changing abilities. However, merfolk don't have a place to call their own, there are no special bloodlines, and the trait doesn't even show up until they are teens.
I've seen people talk about how the dive spots could be part of something like a secret lot or how it could be a place for merfolk. But, the idea that I think is different from other threads, and I think worth mentioning is: Merfolk really would benefit from underwater lots. I'm talking about underwater lots that could be used as residential lots or serve similar functions to other venues but underwater.
The idea is pretty simple, but it's not like people haven't done similar things in real life. Of course, those examples aren't very common, so I doubt many have seen anything.
I think it would give merfolk that extra thing they need if the game play could actually support having a merfolk family on an underwater lot. Of course, this would mean creating underwater friendly stuff for the home, but I think it's doable. I think they could have given Toddlers and Children a merform. Here are a couple screenshots of the merform equipped to children and a toddler. It's in the code. They just didn't design a smaller, child-size version of the adult tails or include the swim style.
Kylen and Rylen: Merboys with their merform equipped using cheats. The next life stage (Teen) will include a merform with a tail.
The children and toddlers could have a merform that allows them to live underwater and support everything the sims has to offer but underwater with unique underwater items to interact with. Of course, only the merfolk sims could live underwater without some kind of underwater life support. Something like underwater life support could be included for non-mersims.
As things are, merfolk have limitations on what they can do in their merform, but there's more they can do then it appears. Testing the limits of what merfolk can do in their merform, I found that they can almost have a functional home while hardly taking their human form.
Without Cheats
With certain mirrors, they can do almost everything except a select few things that came with later packs. It seems merfolk were coded to do a lot of stuff, but this didn't get updated with introduction of new packs.
Naturally, he doesn't have legs in this form, so I wouldn't expect him to practice dancing. Instead of a quirky message they give about ladders, he just won't know where to go to perform the action.
He can view and talk to fish without leaving the water.
Thanks to their ability to call thunderstorms anywhere they go and the Storm Chaser Trait, Bringing the Lightning is a very easy ability to acquire at any time anywhere.
If you get two merfolk together, you can almost keep a thunderstorm going perpetually and further increase your chances of getting struck twice. One of my mers were struck three times while trying this.
If you use cheats, you can equip the merform while the sims is sitting. Like this, a mer can be at the waters edge performing various things fully submerged in the water. Things like hunger can be satisfied without changing back. Hand held electronics can be used (This includes the electronic drawing pad).
Also, merfolk might have interactions that seem to only be lethal to players and not townies, but their abilities can wreck a lot. If I kept going, who know how many fires would break out and destroyed object would need to get replaced.
Merfolk didn't get as many perks as other occults. The way they developed them, I kinda have to use features from other packs. However, I really, truly believe that the one things they could do to make merfolk more popular in the sims is to include underwater lots that can be used as merfolk family homes for occult players or various types of diving venues for non-occult players. I'm sure a few google searches would bring up plenty of possibilities for underwater non-occult playstyles. I am upset that a previous version had underwater lots and the second one didn't include it. The technology the sims 4 is run on must be better than what the sims 3 runs on even if it isn't the best. I don't know why features from the Sims 3 would be excluded. I'm still very new to the Sims, but it's the merfolk that sold the games for me. They've made all their sales because of them, so I'm a bit disappointed that they haven't at least offered a free update for the people that want to play as merfolk.
I'm still exploring what I can do, and even though I play on the Console (Playstation 4), I continue to push the limits of what I can do with merfolk.
This is my current build. It still has elements from my experimentation, but I hope to find the perfect combination of traits and building style to create a home for merfolk where they don't have to change into a human form. For now, it's the only thing I can do until something is done about the lack of underwater lots. I think they have tons of missed opportunities with merfolk.
My Underwater Build (Experimental)
The Upper Chambers (The main part of the house. Everything in this build includes basements and basement pools).
The Lower Chambers (Essentially a Lava Tube that would wear down sims and potentially drown them if they don't have high fitness or are merfolk. Certain areas are too narrow for water vehicles. Makes for good anti-klepto and sharing is caring measures.)
In some ways, a merperson has more ways to make the most of a tiny living boost too. Considering that a pool can facilitate most of the living space needs, its possible to create a build with huge benefits that only merfolk can take advantage of because they can sleep in the water and perform so many interactions while in the water. There's still room for improvement.
Hmm I would have never thought to put aquariums around a swimming pool. Great idea.
These is one of my three households with multiple households inside a household that I play in rotation.
The Mua Pel'Am Merfolk
Zalrian
Calum's brother and official leader of the Mua Pel'am Pod. Leaving the islands requires getting his approval first. Kemps is usually very helpful when it comes to traveling to other worlds.
From Nalani Mahi'Ai
Mahi'Ai
I wanted to keep a premade around.
From Kemps Zalrian
Kainalu
Ukupanipo's, named after a Polynesian Shark God, doppelgänger that I made a vegetarian before realizing what he was named after. Coincidentally, Panipo is the name of a vegetarian dish...
From Kemps Zalrian
Zephyra and Eldora
The Love Fish in the Pod. The two of them naturally got along autonomously so I nudged their relationship forward.
Andria Kian is the Matriarch of the Kian Family. This family is a close-knit family. Andria and Fin have a son named Lyric, one of the youngest members of the pod aside from Jade and Juniper.
My merfolk in this household run a store that specializes in dive gear, swimwear, and sunken treasures. The shop also features Island Living furniture and various electronics so I can buy them at a store instead of build mode.
Part of me would really enjoy being able to follow my merfolk underwater as they collect stuff to sell in the store. I added Island Living build mode items and Electronics to the store, but the specialty is selling things collected from the ocean.
Some members of the household are divers that collect things. Inside the merfolk pod. They are the scavengers and gatherers looking for things to sell to human sims to support their little community.
One member of the pod is a cook. This is a play on the importance of nutrition for sailors to prevent lime disease while in the open ocean. A cook is a very important role for anyone living close to the sea and on the open ocean. The chef is a vegetarian.
Nalani is a conservationists trying to restore their island.
Maria is a master maker that creates sea themed art.
Kemps is the elder that acts as a guardian watching over the pod and managing the store.
This is my play on what a merfolk household might be like if they lived underwater.
Unfortunately, locking the doors did not function as expected. I tried to control access to the homes on the lot, but with five different houses that can function as houses by themself, the sims seemed to ignore locked doors when they are locked out of another households home. I guess it might be too complex of an idea for my sims.
Interesting that sims kinda drift underwater. Who knows. After that underwater ad everyone was salty about we could be getting an underwater world this year! I love mermaids! that would be a dream.
Interesting that sims kinda drift underwater. Who knows. After that underwater ad everyone was salty about we could be getting an underwater world this year! I love mermaids! that would be a dream.
I haven't seen the ad, but I would love it if they expanded on the water elements of the game. It's actually one of the least common things in game, and very few games do merfolk better than the sims.
Interesting that sims kinda drift underwater. Who knows. After that underwater ad everyone was salty about we could be getting an underwater world this year! I love mermaids! that would be a dream.
I haven't seen the ad, but I would love it if they expanded on the water elements of the game. It's actually one of the least common things in game, and very few games do merfolk better than the sims.
It could of course just be an ad to attract players but it seems really weird to advertise something so far off from actual gameplat when we have tons of packs they could have shown. Of things we can actually do.
Wow absolutely love your merman! And so original the idea of creating underwater parties. I agree that aquatic sims could do lots of incredible things under the water! 😁 As for clothing, do you have packs like Get Famous, Realm of Magic or Journey to Batuu? If most of your sims live in Sulani, I agree islander clothes are the best for them (specially the ethnical swim short skirt! ). But if you have forest/Nordic ones as well, you can dress them up with the apocalyptic pants from get famous (really cool if you combine them with the net top for mermen), realm of magic tall boots and broken sweaters.
As for the buildings, I don’t know, I’ afraid. If it helps, I think twisted mexi has a mod to build basements and pools on the ocean lots. And I discover a cool trick if you want to create a swimmable pool with fish for your story purposes!
1/ create a pool.
2/ add an aquarium inside, on the floor (or more, depending on the pool size) from build and buy and stock it with different fish. You can also buy individual fish tanks and place the tropical animals you fish on the sea! When placing the aquarium, reduce its size at maximum with the corresponding shortcut key. You will see a tiny aquarium now with full size fish swimming above it.
- cover the aquarium glass with rocks and plants and that’s it!
I also have sort of a swimmable pool with fish in my game. It's just a regular pool made to look like a pond, with a debug fishing sign plopped down in front of it, lol. Now they can swim or fish in it. It's on the left side of the house in this picture. Sorry the picture isn't very good, but it was available.
Interesting that sims kinda drift underwater. Who knows. After that underwater ad everyone was salty about we could be getting an underwater world this year! I love mermaids! that would be a dream.
I haven't seen the ad, but I would love it if they expanded on the water elements of the game. It's actually one of the least common things in game, and very few games do merfolk better than the sims.
It could of course just be an ad to attract players but it seems really weird to advertise something so far off from actual gameplat when we have tons of packs they could have shown. Of things we can actually do.
Wishful thinking that this means something more🙈
I actually made homes very similar to that ad, and I shared a save when they were dealing with the November bug. Now, I can't actually dive underwater to interact with anything in actual underwater gameplay, but the furniture placement around a pool is very possible.
Wow absolutely love your merman! And so original the idea of creating underwater parties. I agree that aquatic sims could do lots of incredible things under the water! 😁 As for clothing, do you have packs like Get Famous, Realm of Magic or Journey to Batuu? If most of your sims live in Sulani, I agree islander clothes are the best for them (specially the ethnical swim short skirt! ). But if you have forest/Nordic ones as well, you can dress them up with the apocalyptic pants from get famous (really cool if you combine them with the net top for mermen), realm of magic tall boots and broken sweaters.
As for the buildings, I don’t know, I’ afraid. If it helps, I think twisted mexi has a mod to build basements and pools on the ocean lots. And I discover a cool trick if you want to create a swimmable pool with fish for your story purposes!
1/ create a pool.
2/ add an aquarium inside, on the floor (or more, depending on the pool size) from build and buy and stock it with different fish. You can also buy individual fish tanks and place the tropical animals you fish on the sea! When placing the aquarium, reduce its size at maximum with the corresponding shortcut key. You will see a tiny aquarium now with full size fish swimming above it.
- cover the aquarium glass with rocks and plants and that’s it!
I also have sort of a swimmable pool with fish in my game. It's just a regular pool made to look like a pond, with a debug fishing sign plopped down in front of it, lol. Now they can swim or fish in it. It's on the left side of the house in this picture. Sorry the picture isn't very good, but it was available.
I never thought about the fishing sign. That gives me an idea! I haven't been able to play underwater, but the way I use pools for surface level swimming has given me ideas.
There is in island in Windenburg, and I wish there was something you could do in and under all that water. There are unique cold water biomes just like there are unique warm water biomes.
Comments
I'm thinking of taking a short break from the Sims 4 to play Subnautica.
My current build for my legacy house has incompatibilities with certain sim life stages I need to think about. I use pools to design houses for merfolk, but toddlers can't swim, and children can't sleep in the water. Because the life stages younger than teen don't have the physical abilities that come with the merform, it's looking like I have to design an entirely separate set of rooms to raise the merlings. Honestly, it would be so helpful with not splitting up the living conditions if mertoddlers had a merform that allowed them to at least awkwardly and slowly swim. If children had a merform and the ability to sleep in water at the very least, I would find that helpful too. Naturally, a merform comes with immunity to drowning regardless of the life stage.
For toddlers, it would be nice if they had a special kind of toddler bed for the mertoddlers, but I think that applies more to underwater lots. As things are, a house designed with pools allow mersims to get around significantly faster and stay in shape, but a toddler would not be able to get around at all. Toddlers simply have no way to cross the pool, and adult sims will glitch if they carry them.
I learned with a beach lot on Mua Pel'am that toddlers spawn on beach lots, but the path to entering and leaving the lot is different. The lot in question is surrounded by the ocean, and it is incredibly dysfunctional for toddlers when sims have to cross water to leave the lot. For human toddlers, I would never expect them to be able to swim, but for merfolk toddlers, there are sea creatures that can swim the moment they are born. So, it might be one instance where a toddler can have unique abilities because of their occult status and still make sense. It just requires the merform to really fall together.
The game doesn't support any of that as it. I'm at a point where I'll be raising the next heir, and I feel stuck. I really want this legacy to embrace being mythical merfolk, and I don't like the idea of designing an entirely separate set of rooms just to raise a toddler. At least children will be able to move around the lot normally, but that still feels off when the build is designed for merforms they don't have.
So, if people ever wonder why merfolk are depicted as beautiful and handsome (and unfortunately get grouped with a sexual or romantic element), it should be important to remember that anyone that spends every second of their life being physically active might actually end up looking better because of it. In my mind, the driving force behind why merfolk always have unusually outstanding looks is because they are constantly swimming around and more physically active. It's a natural part of their everyday life, and I'm sure that anyone living with that norm wouldn't notice the looks as much.
In fact, the merfolk sims seem to almost always show up at gym venues to exercise or maintain their physical appearance better than most other sims. It comes with their physically active life style. I suspect that an underwater lot would have a similar perk that would naturally come with the environment. Depending on the lot and the type of build, it almost wouldn't matter how many calories a sim consumes because it'll never stick with them.
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I don't think he's unflirty, but he is a glutton. You could win him over with food.
The sims 4 mermaids/merman do look the best we ever got.
Great picks.
Here's a look at all the different rooms and floors.
Unfortunately, toddlers don't have a merform, so I created a separate room for them. In my mind, a merfolk family would require every life stage to have a merform that lets them live underwater. Even a baby would need a merform. A baby with a merform could also come with any needed baby imporvments. Toddler merfolk wouldn't be expected to be able to swim as well as older merfolk, but it would be something that develops similar to the way the movement skill develops.
Merfolk are able to sleep in the water, but the time does not speed up. I also noticed an issue with my sims staying asleep, and they would regularly wake up to do anything queued up whether or not their energy was filled up. I found this frustrating, and I think the sleep option should be different from back floating and trigger the speed up like it does when they are in beds. I added the beds to the build because the option to sleep in the water wasn't working as well. For an underwater build, a merstyle bed would be great if sims need a bed for the game to do everything as it should. And, Vampires have a coffin, so why can't merfolk have ocean themed beds like a giant clamshell or something.
There really should be corals in build mode that could be found either under rocks or one of the other outdoor plants. It should be possible to place corals in a pool or on an underwater lot. They could add more variety to the Water Objects and Fountain Decorations in a merfolk pack or update to Island Living that was supposed to introduce merfolk. They missed a lot of opportunity to add more depth to merfolk.
I use different pool water types to implement story progression. The idea is that the water started out green and mucky and gradually becomes closer to the best looking water type like the ordinary chlorinated water that comes with the base game. I think this would be an opportunity to include a new water type, something like clear, tropical-blue seawater. There is an option for murky brackish water. I'm currently using the hot springs water.
The combination of Windows and the Sea Plus Aquarium from the Dine Out Pack make for some interesting designs. This aquarium is sea through, so you can look through the aquarium and see into the pool while playing as your sim. Merfolk Sims can view and talk to fish without leaving the water, and I assume ordinary sims should be able to view fish without leaving the water. The inclusion of an Aquarium with a stone frame or something that might look better with other stony wall materials would be awesome. In general, a variety of aquariums, even fish that can be placed in a pool, like designing a pool that acts like an aquarium would be so cool.
Using the Testingcheats True
Using bb.showliveeditobjects
And finally searching "Coral" or "Reef" on the console I found the coral reef included in the game. Searching "**DEBUG**" on the console did not work for me.
To place the Reef underwater I entered the cheat.
bb.moveobjects on
In my opinion, they aren't bad, but after hours of play time, I definitely think they need something more exclusive to the occult life-state. The more I think about it, merfolk are too dependent on features from several different packs. There is definitely room for improvement.
First TestingCheats True
Traits.equip_trait trait_occultmermaid_mermaidform
Personally, I think a sim laying on a pool/beach recliner, laying on a beach towel, at the water's edge, and sitting on the pool ledge should have options to toggle their merform.
The other stuff, well, they should be possible action underwater on an underwater residential lot. An underwater residential lot could have many of the same interactions that an on land residential lot has with the exception of sims being in their merform and the ability to use and interact with water objects underwater. That would be my starting point, at least. From there, an underwater lot could come with unique lot traits and merfolk could have a trait developed in childhood that determines a preference for life on land or life underwater. That trait could affect how quickly a mersim gets dehydrated and other moodlets related to being underwater or on land. Merfolk could have more options to change the weather.
I'm still curious about a blizzard in Sulani and the ocean freezing over because of merfolk magic. (Evil Laughter)
Mersims could have a unique form of woohoo for those who want an underwater merfolk family.
I can see a pool of water similar to this hot tub working.
At extreme depths, the salt does separate from the water. This creates deadly salt pools, and I think in some places, pools of freshwater. The point being that, with enough pressure, salt and water can be separated at certain depths. I'm sure with the right word play, most of the household functions can be explained underwater.
If you've ever watched A Lull in the Sea, you know that the people living underwater had a magic flame from the Sea God to cook their food.
However, I'm thinking about a world similar to the Forgotten Hollow, only underwater and for merfolk.
Because everything will be underwater, merfolk would have a maxed diving skill similar to the Sims 3, but human sims would have to dive into this world. Friendly merfolk might actually have a reason to use the Mermaid's Kiss that helps prevent drowning. Human sims that decide to live underwater without being a mermaid or merman would have some trouble living outside their environment. I don't think that would be terrible because the environment is better suited to merfolk to begin with.
I'll share a screenshot later, but during my gameplay I found a bug exclusive to Mua Pel'am. Basically the bug is the result of the open world swimming areas and how toddlers can't swim. Regardless of the circumstances, the lot is exited different from how they enter and I had my mermaid sim jump into the water with the toddler in her arms and bugged things to the point where my sim was stuck in a T pose holding her toddler until I sent the toddler to day care. The merman tried to pick up his son, but he put him back down before leaving his son at the beach alone. So, the sims seem to know that they can't swim in the water holding their sims. It was only after I restarted the action to go home with the mom that she tried to carry her son across the ocean.
For gameplay purposes, that particular residential lot is extremely broken for toddlers because, understandably, a human sim toddler should not be carried in deeper water by their parents. Because merfolk aren't human, I do feel like the same expectations don't apply in the exact same way. So, there is an instance where merfolk toddlers might use a merform. Also, there may be a general need to look at the pathing for that lot. It works great as a beach, but because it is surrounded by water in the oprn world, there is something seriously bugged with toddlers in general. Some actions would make more sense with occult forms while other occults might need to be able to leave the way they came.
The furniture can be playable under water. Only the Kitchen appliances, BBQ & Electronics have to be on land.
Does this require mods or CC? If I had the game on the computer, I would absolutely give it a try, but I play on the console. So, if it's a mod or CC, I don't think I'll be able to use it.
Regardless, it might be cool to share for those who are able to use mods or CC.
I want underwater lots, but I think that those lots need to be created and added to the game by maxis to avoid some issues that come with pushing the limits of the game. I think most of the loading issues people experience is also a product of custom content. Custom Content adds more stuff to the game, and judging by what I've read in older threads, it makes the game work harder to load content.
But, I would still choose a slower loading screen over not being able to follow my sim underwater at dive bouys. There are at least 5 or 6 interactions that are no better than a loading screen and generate random results. It's essentially an experience for a sim that results in a collectible or sad moodlet, but the collectibles are almost guaranteed.
This is what the player is stuck looking at until they surface, so it's hardly the most enjoyable way to interact with the game.
I can support a new pack to add a substantial amount of merfolk related content if the pack add something new. After commenting in another pack, the Ocean Tides came to mind, and I think it could be an interesting feature introduced in the world. Right now, the game has ocean waves hitting the shore. These are not tides. Tides are the AM high and low tide and the PM high and low tide that follow a predictable schedule in real life.
The reason this could be an interesting feature in a new world or something added to Sulani is because the tides can cause islands to appear and disappear. One of the plants in Sulani are Mangrove Trees, and Mangrove Trees grow in coastal environments that experience tides. Mangroves have three different species that grow in the water, partially in the water, and on dry land. Everything from the tropical weather, the plant life, and coastal environment tells me that there are places that would be more realistic if there was a high and low tide in the game.
Monsoons, the unique severe thunderstorm in Sulani, should have an effect on the ocean environment. There should be a storm surge or the rise in water level that causes flooding. If it required it, there could be a world created with multiple deep areas with dive spots that lead to underwater lots. Above water, there could be an island that is mostly submerged during half the day and dry during the other half. When the tides recede into low tide, there could be something collectible or what not that becomes exposed. This could introduce a high and low tide element in other worlds.
Oasis Springs might not have a tide, but there is a stream that could grow drier during certain seasons and times and become wetter during other times. In another neighborhood in oasis springs, there is a stream that might be shallower, and that could experience a high tide that makes it swimable. Sims can go to the waters edge with Island Living to fish, but they can't swim. There could be rivers and lakes that have a high and low tide too. For some areas, it might be practical for current bodies of water to be at high tide, and the low tide could be something introduced. Obviously, most of this is just a what if for other worlds, and they tend to make things more world specific.
Windenburg, Sulani, and Bridleton Bay are all worlds with a significant body of water that could have underwater environments to dive into. Sulani is the only one that has actual buoys to perform the interaction to dive.
A pack good introduce more features for pools. Pools could have more unique shapes and the furniture can actually be more merfolk themed with a stronger ocean element. I love Sulani's Polynesian theme, but I personally, don't feel like any of the packs have the merfolk vibe I'm looking for, and I have all the packs except the star wars one.
If anyone finds any ocean or water themed mods or cc, I think this thread would be an awesome place to share it. I'm always interested in seeing what is possible!
I did use the Cheats though.
Now I have to see what you built!
So, the sleeping in the water animation is identical to the back floating animation, but after the patch that addressed the crashing, I noticed that merfolk will occasionally drift underwater while sleeping. I think the little detail was nice to see. Merfolk sleeping in the water still doesn't speed up time like sleeping in a bed.
Also, my merfolk with the forever fresh trait will autonomously sleep in the water even if they have a bed assigned to them to gain energy. So, the preference for being in the water isn't exclusively about maintaining hydration.
Drifting underwater while sleeping
Autonomously Sleeping despite an Assigned Bed (Not a problem as much as it is interesting behavior)
Edit: I'll add the images later. I'm having trouble with the bb codes on my phone.
Hmm I would have never thought to put aquariums around a swimming pool. Great idea.
The Mua Pel'Am Merfolk
From Nalani Mahi'Ai
Mahi'Ai
From Kemps Zalrian
Kainalu
From Kemps Zalrian
Zephyra and Eldora
From Maria Eldora
From Delphin Zephyra
Kian
From Fin Kian
From Andria Kian
From Andria Kian
Here is their community home.
My merfolk in this household run a store that specializes in dive gear, swimwear, and sunken treasures. The shop also features Island Living furniture and various electronics so I can buy them at a store instead of build mode.
Part of me would really enjoy being able to follow my merfolk underwater as they collect stuff to sell in the store. I added Island Living build mode items and Electronics to the store, but the specialty is selling things collected from the ocean.
Some members of the household are divers that collect things. Inside the merfolk pod. They are the scavengers and gatherers looking for things to sell to human sims to support their little community.
One member of the pod is a cook. This is a play on the importance of nutrition for sailors to prevent lime disease while in the open ocean. A cook is a very important role for anyone living close to the sea and on the open ocean. The chef is a vegetarian.
Nalani is a conservationists trying to restore their island.
Maria is a master maker that creates sea themed art.
Kemps is the elder that acts as a guardian watching over the pod and managing the store.
This is my play on what a merfolk household might be like if they lived underwater.
Unfortunately, locking the doors did not function as expected. I tried to control access to the homes on the lot, but with five different houses that can function as houses by themself, the sims seemed to ignore locked doors when they are locked out of another households home. I guess it might be too complex of an idea for my sims.
I haven't seen the ad, but I would love it if they expanded on the water elements of the game. It's actually one of the least common things in game, and very few games do merfolk better than the sims.
It could of course just be an ad to attract players but it seems really weird to advertise something so far off from actual gameplat when we have tons of packs they could have shown. Of things we can actually do.
Wishful thinking that this means something more🙈
I also have sort of a swimmable pool with fish in my game. It's just a regular pool made to look like a pond, with a debug fishing sign plopped down in front of it, lol. Now they can swim or fish in it. It's on the left side of the house in this picture. Sorry the picture isn't very good, but it was available.
I actually made homes very similar to that ad, and I shared a save when they were dealing with the November bug. Now, I can't actually dive underwater to interact with anything in actual underwater gameplay, but the furniture placement around a pool is very possible.
I never thought about the fishing sign. That gives me an idea! I haven't been able to play underwater, but the way I use pools for surface level swimming has given me ideas.
There is in island in Windenburg, and I wish there was something you could do in and under all that water. There are unique cold water biomes just like there are unique warm water biomes.