Home› The Sims 3› The Sims 3 General Discussion
  • Categories
  • Discussions
  • Activity
  • Best Of...
    • Forum Announcement, Click Here to Read More From EA_Cade.

    Switching active households.

    LisaReneLisaRene Posts: 7 New Member
    in The Sims 3 General Discussion
    Why can't I switch active households? Am I missing something? I do not want to save a different game for each household I play. I want them to interact with each other with the perspective of each family in one game.... not 10 games so I can play different households. How do I switch households? How do I make other households active? It always takes me back to the one family I created with no option to play another family unless I save that one and start another game. I don't want to do that. Can someone please explain in detail how to play more than one family within the same game?

    Thank you,
    Lisa

    Comments

    • Options
      lmsmbulfroglmsmbulfrog Posts: 793 New Member
      edited June 2009
      Ooo.. It took me forever to figure this out last night.

      When in game do the ... button for Options. Go to Edit town (make sure you select to save). Then on the lower left control panel there is an icon (I think looks like two houses) when you mouse over it it says "change active household". Then you get the option to pick a household or make a new sim or move sims from the library in.

      Hope this helps as I'm typing it from memory since I'm at work right now.
    • Options
      Zaor2281Zaor2281 Posts: 10 New Member
      edited June 2009
      So if I create different families, I would be able to interact with them while using any of the other households, or will they be "on hold"? I do not mind if they age while I am playing any of the households. But would love to be able to interact with my created sims along with the ones from the neighborhood.

    • Options
      GramcrackersGramcrackers Posts: 1,162 Member
      edited June 2009
      Thanks Imsmbulfrog. I've been looking for just this very info. :D
    • Options
      lmsmbulfroglmsmbulfrog Posts: 793 New Member
      edited June 2009
      You will see your other created families walking around doing their daily stuff. I tested this by switching right after one went in to work. Grabbed a different household and took someone to sit outside that place of business. I got to see my first sim come out at quitting time and jump in her carpool and drive away.
    • Options
      AmicitaAmicita Posts: 35 New Member
      edited June 2009
      This a problem a lot of people are having with the Sims 3 auto progression. It was intended that you only have one active household per saved game. So it's not set up well for you to create different households to interact with each other because it will do strange things to any of the households you aren't currently playing. It's a drag, I know.
    • Options
      zombiebovinezombiebovine Posts: 71 New Member
      edited June 2009
      You can adjust aging as well as how long they live so if you switch households for a period but you just want to change something and go back to your "main" your original home will not age.
    • Options
      Steve42PlaySteve42Play Posts: 217 New Member
      edited June 2009
      Should keep in mind switching active household loses you everything in your sims inventory. you lose promised wishes also.

      EDIT: only lose inventory items if you leave them in there current house or put them in one while you play another family if you save them in library for future then they will have everything still there.
    • Options
      GalacticGalGalacticGal Posts: 28,694 Member
      edited June 2009
      This is exactly the information I was looking for. Been searching the game guide, the game pamphlet and even the special tips and hints that came with CE to figure this out. I wanted to CAS another Sim, or actually, try my hand at a family, next. Thank you!

      Also, I'm troubled that playing numerous families in one "town" is problematic. I have 8 families in my Sims2 game that I play on a rotation. Since they started out as four base families many of the households are related and interact. Hm ...

      Well, I'll just have to see how it goes. I'm guessing if it does create problems I'll have to resign myself to creating a family in CAS, or a single, depending on my goals. Yikes.

      And where's the spell check? I'm not seeing it here ... we all make silly spelling mistakes. Help! I'm one of those who at least tries to edit my posts first... :?
      You can download (free) all three volumes of my Night Whispers Star Trek Fanfiction here: http://galacticgal.deviantart.com/gallery/ You'll need to have a pdf reader. New websites: http://www.trekkiefanfiction.com/st-tos.php
      http://www.getfreeebooks.com/star-trek-original-series-fan-fiction-trilogy/
    • Options
      LisaReneLisaRene Posts: 7 New Member
      edited June 2009
      lmsmbulfrog wrote:
      Ooo.. It took me forever to figure this out last night.

      When in game do the ... button for Options. Go to Edit town (make sure you select to save). Then on the lower left control panel there is an icon (I think looks like two houses) when you mouse over it it says "change active household". Then you get the option to pick a household or make a new sim or move sims from the library in.

      Hope this helps as I'm typing it from memory since I'm at work right now.

      Thank you. I'm going to try this right now :)
      Lisa :)
    • Options
      HarperkingHarperking Posts: 9 New Member
      edited June 2009
      Thank you sooo much! I came here looking for this as well! :)
    • Options
      KiwiLover875KiwiLover875 Posts: 1,865 Member
      edited June 2009
      Yeah this took me a while to figure out lol. but one question. If i turn story progression off will it still cause weird things to happen? and when you say weird things do you mean the whole babies popping up and families moving away and stuff? :shock:
      tumblr_nbohhmBjJm1r9tnsko1_1280.png
      >>>>Origin ID : BeeFierce <<<<
    • Options
      lmsmbulfroglmsmbulfrog Posts: 793 New Member
      edited June 2009
      Steve42Play wrote:
      Should keep in mind switching active household loses you everything in your sims inventory. you lose promised wishes also.

      EDIT: only lose inventory items if you leave them in there current house or put them in one while you play another family if you save them in library for future then they will have everything still there.

      I know about the wishes and promises... but I never lost anything in my inventories ... I don't remember doing any special save to library either.

      I'm going to have to test this a little bit this weekend.
    • Options
      LisaReneLisaRene Posts: 7 New Member
      edited June 2009
      Ok it worked! Finally! yayy! Thanks :D

      I'll worry about things disappearing later. Hopefuly the creaters will see that we really like the interactions between families and from each family's different perspectives going on at once in the same game. Maybe that will be corrected within the first add on? We'll see!

      Thank you so much for your help :)
      Lisa
    • Options
      Steve42PlaySteve42Play Posts: 217 New Member
      edited June 2009
      lmsmbulfrog wrote:
      Steve42Play wrote:
      Should keep in mind switching active household loses you everything in your sims inventory. you lose promised wishes also.

      EDIT: only lose inventory items if you leave them in there current house or put them in one while you play another family if you save them in library for future then they will have everything still there.

      I know about the wishes and promises... but I never lost anything in my inventories ... I don't remember doing any special save to library either.

      I'm going to have to test this a little bit this weekend.

      idk maybes its my game but i heard alot of people complaining about loseing inventory items when they switch active household.
    • Options
      trhonda2000trhonda2000 Posts: 142 Member
      edited June 2009
      I have not lost items either, maybe that was just in the leaked version (haven't read thru the millions of threads that popped up here overnight)?
    Sign In or Register to comment.
    Return to top