Honestly? Just play. Build. Create Sims. Play the game. Not sure what you'd be most interested in but for me, personally, I'm into building and rarely do I actually play beyond that. I've been playing The Sims since the very first pack in the original The Sims series and I've enjoyed every single second I've spent playing since. Having been playing for over 15 years now, I'm enjoying what every new series brings and in Sims 4, for me, I enjoy the building. The more you build, the better you get. I've gone from boring, boxy homes to some things that when I'm finished, shock me 'cos I didn't think I'd ever accomplish something I like that much. Seriously, just play or build.
Check my builds and Sims out on the Gallery, username Lizzychicago!
- Don't start off with a large family - a single sim or couple is a good starting point.
- Don't have your teens get jobs just yet. Trying to manage a job, school, and needs is fairly difficult, and it's unlikely that you'll need the money.
- Don't fret over the daily work tasks. Keeping your sims happy should be a priority, and being in a good mood will help work performance even if the daily task hasn't been completed.
- Replace your appliances with better ones when you can afford to. This is especially important when it comes to stoves, since low-quality stoves carry a higher risk of causing a fire.
- Some skills can be used to make money from home, to the point where a proper job is unnecessary. Painting is a good example of this, since you can sell paintings at any skill level, and writing can earn you TONS of money - even more than most jobs will get you - once you've submitted enough books to be published.
- Finally, if you're interested, take a look at the various mods that exist. MC Command Center is the most well-known; it adds story progression with customizable settings, as well as various other features, and many simmers consider it to be a must-have for TS4.
For a person who is just starting I would suggest starting out with a single young adult sim, and only the one sim, and turn off aging. I say this because it will keep things on an easy level. Also a good thing to keep in mind is to keep some fruits and vegetables in the sim's personal inventory. I have kept sims from starving to death by doing this. When preparing a meal, don't make a single serving, but the group meals. This will save time later on. For a sim's first time preparing a meal, I would have them prepare a meal that does not require use of the stove. In Sims 4, if you have your sim first go outside and either watch the clouds or stars, and afterwards prepare their meals, it will be of much better quality.
Other than that just get into the game and play it anyway they choose. I remember the first few times I played The Sims, it took me over an hour just to figure out what things did, but at the time I did not have access to the forum, because I didn't know it even existed. Also here are some other really good web sites that deal with all things sims.
I agree with the 'just play' statement. Let your creativity lead you and just have fun. If you're completely new to the sims series, read the tutorials as they pop up and don't be afraid to google things because it is a pretty in depth game and there is loads of info on google. If you're unsure what to do, use the whims/wish/want system to give you pointers. Sims 4 is also pretty good with the aspiration system because it breaks it down into manageable goals that you can learn parts of the game with.
In terms of building because someone mentioned it above, I am totally new to building too. I've been playing sims for years and years, almost a decade, but rarely have I built something and never have I built anything at all decent. I stumbled across some build tutorials by lilsimsie on youtube earlier that taught me a lot. I didn't even know you could lower roofs so yeah if you're new to building I recommend video tutorials.
That's the thing about the Sims games: there are no rules or any one right way to play it. Do what you like. My only suggestion would be to consider whether or not you want to include Mods and/or Custom Content in your game.
play a legacy, this is how i started (s4 anyway). it's ok if you fail, it's fun. the original: http://www.simslegacychallenge.com/the-sims-4-legacy-challenge-rules/ not so berry (will help you use different game mechanics): http://lilsimsie.tumblr.com/post/157671494755/not-so-berry-legacy-challenge build newcrest (will help you improve building if you're interested in that): https://buildnewcrestchallenge.wordpress.com/about/
Oh, and I personally would recommend against mods and CC initially. Play the game on it's own first and learn that, and then add mods or CC if you decide you want to later. I remember getting into sims for the first time was really difficult... granted, I was only 12 but even so, I was overwhelmed enough by the game itself without worrying about extra content.
- Turn off autonomy, as it makes play unncessarily hard/confusing. Don't worry, your sims will still attempt to eat when extremely hungry.
- All you really need to watch is your hunger need as sims can starve. All other dangers are deadly at the second occurence only AND you get a warning. Even fires take ages to kill you.
- If their needs are really low, send one of your sims to a community lot. Those left behind will regenerate their need bars while you are away. For this reason, and to earn more money, you'll probably want to start with 2 or 3 sims.
- In a pinch you can move in sims from other households via the household management feature and toss them out after you don't need them anymore.
- Don't be afraid to try out things. Even if everything that can go wrong does, the game has saved a copy of your household that you can use to start over.
Dodgy computers can be the bane of anyone's life. If you have a really important game then save a copy to an external hard drive periodically. Watching your laptop go up in flames can be heartbreaking but at least your sims will live to play another day.
I no longer use Origin or My Page. You can find me on YouTube or Twitter as Bettyboop711000. You are welcome to contact me as I explore options for a PC sandbox life simulation game.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Just have fun! If that means being a social butterfly and having loads of friends, but no family, have friends! If that means searching the world for your soulmate, go search! If that means settling down and raising a few tykes, give them cute names! If that means pursuing a successful career, pursue it! Don't be afraid to do what you want and don't over complicate things. If you aren't the best builder at first, don't sweat it, it takes practice! If you have a few flop dates, it's ok townies can be mean! If your first sim ends up looking really weird in a few months, don't be hard on yourself. Take everything you experience and learn from it! We all started out as new simmers at some point, so anythings possible! Find your fun, and do that, and sims will always be enjoyable!
~Find Me On YouTube: My Channel~IG: katiesadie00~Twitter: katiesadie00~
Just chill and relax. The cool thing about The Sims is there's not real 'game over' (unless when your sim dies) and you are also not forced to follow the objectives.
But anyways, here are my tips:
1. Maybe spend a day on live mode just to get used to how controlling your sims will be like. I would suggest making 2 Young adult room mates living together (rather than just starting with an already married couple). This will give you more room to experience forming bonds and friendships with non-related sims. Also, on Day 1, you would want to get used to the UI.
2. Play at speed 1 for most of the sim day and maybe only go to Speed 2 when you're making them learn skills such as reading. Speed 3 should only be used when they're sleeping or when they are all at work.
3. Maybe on your second day of playing, try out buy and build mode. It's much easier to build in TS4, so you should find it to be really fun.
4. Try to avoid all cheats including kaching and motherlode. If you really need to cheat your sim's needs, try to get them to get Satisfaction points so they can afford to buy some potions from the 'reward' store to fulfill their needs. However, avoid buying reward traits like Steel Bladder or other traits that make your sim's needs decay slower. This kinda just takes away the fun, in my opinion. Trust me, your sim's needs do not decay that quickly to begin with. XD I have 4 sims and they are almost never in the red even without these traits.
For both Sims 3 and 4, I don't know where I would have been without Carl's Sims Guides. A absolute must read! It will help with any complications as you go. Plus, if you have never played it at all, watching YouTube videos can help you in at least figuring out where to click and how to get your Sims to do things.
Just have fun with it! Make a family of one or two sims and just explore the game. Meet new sims, build skills, get job promotions. Find out what you like to do in the game. A lot of people like to build, but it's not really my thing. I'd rather create families and build skills.
Dodgy computers can be the bane of anyone's life. If you have a really important game then save a copy to an external hard drive periodically. Watching your laptop go up in flames can be heartbreaking but at least your sims will live to play another day.
Turns out if you save your game to the cloud, you can retrieve no matter where you are Thanks for this tip. I never would have thought of this!
Dodgy computers can be the bane of anyone's life. If you have a really important game then save a copy to an external hard drive periodically. Watching your laptop go up in flames can be heartbreaking but at least your sims will live to play another day.
Turns out if you save your game to the cloud, you can retrieve no matter where you are Thanks for this tip. I never would have thought of this!
I don't think The Sims games save to the Origin cloud, if that's what you're talking about. Unless you save ot to One Drive or something but I don't recommend that cuz One Drive is kinda wonky.
I upload all the stuff I love to onedrive.com I go as far as taking a picture of a couple, making a folder for them, putting their sim file in the folder, and then doing the same for all their children just because I'm sick of losing all my families to computer failures just when the game gets interesting.
Keep your CC as organized and manageable as possible.
Don't micro manage your sims, it's fun to see how they use their freewill.
Dodgy computers can be the bane of anyone's life. If you have a really important game then save a copy to an external hard drive periodically. Watching your laptop go up in flames can be heartbreaking but at least your sims will live to play another day.
Turns out if you save your game to the cloud, you can retrieve no matter where you are Thanks for this tip. I never would have thought of this!
I don't think The Sims games save to the Origin cloud, if that's what you're talking about. Unless you save ot to One Drive or something but I don't recommend that cuz One Drive is kinda wonky.
EA actually told me that. I called them up one day to ask them if there was a way to retrieve my sims to my husband's laptop, they said Only if I saved my sims games to the origin cloud, so TYhey do. You just have to check the option in Origin to turn on Cloud Storage for Saves. If you scroll over the little question mark it even tells you "get right back into your game to where you left off on any computer" so it does. I didn't know that either
Dodgy computers can be the bane of anyone's life. If you have a really important game then save a copy to an external hard drive periodically. Watching your laptop go up in flames can be heartbreaking but at least your sims will live to play another day.
Turns out if you save your game to the cloud, you can retrieve no matter where you are Thanks for this tip. I never would have thought of this!
I don't think The Sims games save to the Origin cloud, if that's what you're talking about. Unless you save ot to One Drive or something but I don't recommend that cuz One Drive is kinda wonky.
EA actually told me that. I called them up one day to ask them if there was a way to retrieve my sims to my husband's laptop, they said Only if I saved my sims games to the origin cloud, so TYhey do. You just have to check the option in Origin to turn on Cloud Storage for Saves. If you scroll over the little question mark it even tells you "get right back into your game to where you left off on any computer" so it does. I didn't know that either
It didn't have it last time. I really don't know if they have changed it since the recent change they have with Origin. I doubt it tho. It's better to just back up your save files manually.
EDIT: Turns out I already have it on, so obviously it doesn't work. When you launch the game on a different computer, it will open the last game you've played on that computer and the save game is tied to the one you have on your folder. The cloud just doesn't work for The Sims.
tell them that while I can find something I enjoy about everything I have not to just buy everything right out, watch a let's play with someone who just uses the stuff normally to see if they for sure would enjoy the same pack. After that just have fun with what you pick.
Reddestiny921 on the gallery...still not sure if I capitalized the second d..lol
All the sims err'day
To the person above I think that depends on the game, I had an awful lot of trouble running TS3 until I upgraded my computer but I could easily run TS2 and most of the EPs on my laptop. TS4 seems to be in between. I never tried it on my laptop but it never gave me issues on my old PC either.
(Though now I've said that I realise that I know nothing about computers and what is classed as 'good', my little brother built mine so it's possible my old PC was just total trash)
Comments
- Don't have your teens get jobs just yet. Trying to manage a job, school, and needs is fairly difficult, and it's unlikely that you'll need the money.
- Don't fret over the daily work tasks. Keeping your sims happy should be a priority, and being in a good mood will help work performance even if the daily task hasn't been completed.
- Replace your appliances with better ones when you can afford to. This is especially important when it comes to stoves, since low-quality stoves carry a higher risk of causing a fire.
- Some skills can be used to make money from home, to the point where a proper job is unnecessary. Painting is a good example of this, since you can sell paintings at any skill level, and writing can earn you TONS of money - even more than most jobs will get you - once you've submitted enough books to be published.
- Finally, if you're interested, take a look at the various mods that exist. MC Command Center is the most well-known; it adds story progression with customizable settings, as well as various other features, and many simmers consider it to be a must-have for TS4.
Other than that just get into the game and play it anyway they choose. I remember the first few times I played The Sims, it took me over an hour just to figure out what things did, but at the time I did not have access to the forum, because I didn't know it even existed. Also here are some other really good web sites that deal with all things sims.
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/
https://simsvip.com
http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/The_Sims_Wiki
In terms of building because someone mentioned it above, I am totally new to building too. I've been playing sims for years and years, almost a decade, but rarely have I built something and never have I built anything at all decent. I stumbled across some build tutorials by lilsimsie on youtube earlier that taught me a lot. I didn't even know you could lower roofs so yeah if you're new to building I recommend video tutorials.
the original: http://www.simslegacychallenge.com/the-sims-4-legacy-challenge-rules/
not so berry (will help you use different game mechanics): http://lilsimsie.tumblr.com/post/157671494755/not-so-berry-legacy-challenge
build newcrest (will help you improve building if you're interested in that): https://buildnewcrestchallenge.wordpress.com/about/
and i don't recommend you install any mods yet.
- All you really need to watch is your hunger need as sims can starve. All other dangers are deadly at the second occurence only AND you get a warning. Even fires take ages to kill you.
- If their needs are really low, send one of your sims to a community lot. Those left behind will regenerate their need bars while you are away. For this reason, and to earn more money, you'll probably want to start with 2 or 3 sims.
- In a pinch you can move in sims from other households via the household management feature and toss them out after you don't need them anymore.
- Don't be afraid to try out things. Even if everything that can go wrong does, the game has saved a copy of your household that you can use to start over.
Wherever I am friends call me Betty
Sim enim est vita
The beauty of this game is that it is what you make of it.
If that means being a social butterfly and having loads of friends, but no family, have friends!
If that means searching the world for your soulmate, go search!
If that means settling down and raising a few tykes, give them cute names!
If that means pursuing a successful career, pursue it!
Don't be afraid to do what you want and don't over complicate things. If you aren't the best builder at first, don't sweat it, it takes practice! If you have a few flop dates, it's ok townies can be mean! If your first sim ends up looking really weird in a few months, don't be hard on yourself. Take everything you experience and learn from it! We all started out as new simmers at some point, so anythings possible!
Find your fun, and do that, and sims will always be enjoyable!
But anyways, here are my tips:
1. Maybe spend a day on live mode just to get used to how controlling your sims will be like. I would suggest making 2 Young adult room mates living together (rather than just starting with an already married couple). This will give you more room to experience forming bonds and friendships with non-related sims. Also, on Day 1, you would want to get used to the UI.
2. Play at speed 1 for most of the sim day and maybe only go to Speed 2 when you're making them learn skills such as reading. Speed 3 should only be used when they're sleeping or when they are all at work.
3. Maybe on your second day of playing, try out buy and build mode. It's much easier to build in TS4, so you should find it to be really fun.
4. Try to avoid all cheats including kaching and motherlode. If you really need to cheat your sim's needs, try to get them to get Satisfaction points so they can afford to buy some potions from the 'reward' store to fulfill their needs. However, avoid buying reward traits like Steel Bladder or other traits that make your sim's needs decay slower. This kinda just takes away the fun, in my opinion. Trust me, your sim's needs do not decay that quickly to begin with. XD I have 4 sims and they are almost never in the red even without these traits.
Turns out if you save your game to the cloud, you can retrieve no matter where you are Thanks for this tip. I never would have thought of this!
I don't think The Sims games save to the Origin cloud, if that's what you're talking about. Unless you save ot to One Drive or something but I don't recommend that cuz One Drive is kinda wonky.
I upload all the stuff I love to onedrive.com I go as far as taking a picture of a couple, making a folder for them, putting their sim file in the folder, and then doing the same for all their children just because I'm sick of losing all my families to computer failures just when the game gets interesting.
Keep your CC as organized and manageable as possible.
Don't micro manage your sims, it's fun to see how they use their freewill.
The Sims2 Land Rich: Cash Poor Challenge
The Gods of Monte Vista
Athena & Crog: Life in Sims 4
Hit the Like Button - and let me know you liked my story.
EA actually told me that. I called them up one day to ask them if there was a way to retrieve my sims to my husband's laptop, they said Only if I saved my sims games to the origin cloud, so TYhey do. You just have to check the option in Origin to turn on Cloud Storage for Saves. If you scroll over the little question mark it even tells you "get right back into your game to where you left off on any computer" so it does. I didn't know that either
It didn't have it last time. I really don't know if they have changed it since the recent change they have with Origin. I doubt it tho. It's better to just back up your save files manually.
https://forums.thesims.com/en_us/discussion/782788/the-sims-4-cloud-save
Maybe I'll try it today and see if it works.
EDIT: Turns out I already have it on, so obviously it doesn't work. When you launch the game on a different computer, it will open the last game you've played on that computer and the save game is tied to the one you have on your folder. The cloud just doesn't work for The Sims.
All the sims err'day