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Do you ever create "test" Sims?

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What I mean by "test" is that the Sim's existence is solely based on being used as a guinea pig of sorts--it's not a household you play regularly, their only purpose is to either test things or set things up in advance. I guess you could call them "worker Sims".

I always have one in every save. His only job is to test out new establishments I've created, or in some cases to prepare things. For example, I always send him to any location I have bee boxes to "enrage" the bees. I'll take care of his needs, but I don't care about his fun or social--he's there to work! lol When he's served his purpose, I don't play him again until I need more testing done.

Do you do anything similar to that?

Comments

  • catmando830catmando830 Posts: 9,117 Member
    I used to make Sims to see how the Grimm reaper worked. I used to like to set the houses on fire. I've evolved from there, I now make Sims and lock them in a very small room with about 4 or 5 toddlers. Muahh haa haa!!!
  • RouensimsRouensims Posts: 4,858 Member
    No, I like to live dangerously, lol.
    Ooh Be Gah!! Whipna Choba-Dog? Whipna Choba-Dog!! :smiley:
  • SelinaKylesSelinaKyles Posts: 4,337 Member
    Yup, I created an spellcaster adult sim to see if it’s possible for her to outlive her kids and have her raise her grandchildren but stay immortal using spells...it’s possible. I got tired of waiting for the kids to die though and just drowned them 🤷‍♀️
  • ChazzzyChazzzy Posts: 7,166 Member
    No. The most I’ve done is create a new household with a random Sim just so I can move babies into that household whom I want to delete.
  • CAPTAIN_NXR7CAPTAIN_NXR7 Posts: 4,451 Member
    Sure. I get a quick random one from the gallery and dump them into a lot when I want to focus on world building. When I’m happy with my worlds I ‘release’ the sim from their duty (cheers & goodbye) and move in my main characters. Let the game begin.
  • MonaveilMonaveil Posts: 652 Member
    I make a test save with one or two test Sims whenever I install a new expansion or game pack. I have a lot of old saves on an external drive that I occassionally go back to with a test Sim to find out what went wrong. Some of the old saves were affected by glitches that popped up after a patch or update. I've managed to fix most of them. I have a one save from April 2017 that I go back to now and then because I like the Sims in it but the save itself is terribly broken.
  • EllupelluelluEllupelluellu Posts: 6,779 Member
    One of my main characters sim-life started as a tester sim. Heh, his surname still is Tester :)
    My love, my love, my fearless love, I will not say goodbye..
    Sea may rise, sky may fall, My love will never die..
    My heart, my heart, My drowning heart, Oh all the tears I've cried
    Oh I may weep forevermore, My love will never die..

    My Story:Villa Catarina
  • DaWaterRatDaWaterRat Posts: 3,351 Member
    edited September 2020
    I have one save where I create a Test character with every new pack to test out the pack, and I have a "house flipper" save for building and have a sim available to test the builds to make sure they work.
  • Nate_Whiplash1Nate_Whiplash1 Posts: 4,085 Member
    I just used my test Sim today, and that helped me sort out a club I just built. I found that everyone was fawning over the star dj instead of dancing, so I eliminated the dj booth. In it's place I put up a 2x2 room, knocked out the front wall facing the dance floor, and slid a jukebox in there--problem solved.
  • catmando830catmando830 Posts: 9,117 Member
    Monaveil wrote: »
    I make a test save with one or two test Sims whenever I install a new expansion or game pack. I have a lot of old saves on an external drive that I occassionally go back to with a test Sim to find out what went wrong. Some of the old saves were affected by glitches that popped up after a patch or update. I've managed to fix most of them. I have a one save from April 2017 that I go back to now and then because I like the Sims in it but the save itself is terribly broken.

    Excellent idea, I need to get an external drive for my laptop before I loose everything on it.
  • alanmichael1alanmichael1 Posts: 5,384 Member
    I use test sims all the time to test bugs. They live in a test save in test worlds where I also build all my houses before downloading them the my current worlds.
  • SerraNolwenSerraNolwen Posts: 731 Member
    The save file in which I create builds for challenges is full of test sims and test families that are played only long enough to test the house. I still create them with an idea of their style and personality, since I put some on the gallery and plan to use my build save-file as a starter world for my next legacy.
  • Chicklet453681Chicklet453681 Posts: 2,431 Member
    Monaveil wrote: »
    I make a test save with one or two test Sims whenever I install a new expansion or game pack. I have a lot of old saves on an external drive that I occassionally go back to with a test Sim to find out what went wrong. Some of the old saves were affected by glitches that popped up after a patch or update. I've managed to fix most of them. I have a one save from April 2017 that I go back to now and then because I like the Sims in it but the save itself is terribly broken.
    One of my main characters sim-life started as a tester sim. Heh, his surname still is Tester :)

    I always make a "test" sim when I install a new pack, I always put my TS4 folder on my desktop and have the game generate a new one, then I'll move my saves and mods folder into the new TS4 folder.

    And I have a million sims with the last name of "Tester". That made me laugh when I read that.

  • MDianaSimsMDianaSims Posts: 4,175 Member
    I use test sims all the time, probably more than my actual sims. I use them mainly for testing new packs, new builds and new or updated features. I build a lot (especially now that live mode is very bugged) and usually pick a random family I made before to test things.
    Gallery ID: MDianaSims | Simblr
  • Nate_Whiplash1Nate_Whiplash1 Posts: 4,085 Member
    I see I'm far from being the only one that does this, good deal.

    Another thing I use my test Sim for is if I want to hang out somewhere just to observe, but don't want to play the Sim. I just let him do whatever he wants while I watch whatever is going on at the club or bar
  • amp107amp107 Posts: 205 Member
    I have a few build saves where my test sims live, except I call them my consultants :) I use them to play test new builds and sometimes to be present while I build so that I can set custom lighting and take take photos with certain environmental lighting that you can only get in live play mode.

    0IzRxZE.jpg
  • SimmingalSimmingal Posts: 8,888 Member
    for my world rebuilding save I have this absurdly rich fabulous grandma i take to test the builds and play around for a bit

    also don lothario is her boytoy cause he keeps showing up as npc in spas and whatever so its hilarious
    ⭐️ AHQ Champion 🦇 Vlad Advocate 🐉 Team Dragons
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  • pinneduphairpinneduphair Posts: 918 Member
    I always create a new “test” save after every game update, to see if I experience any new bugs - either from the game itself or from mods/CC. But I never have sims used for any kind of testing within my active save files. I don’t like any time to pass for my sims while I’m not “there”, even if aging is off.
  • RedDestiny92RedDestiny92 Posts: 7,820 Member
    0Oj7GKq.png
    I always have a test sim for something, even when we get updates and I wait for mccc or put certain things back in and if I like them enough
    97aLKZ0.png
    They get promoted to normal sims.
    Reddestiny921 on the gallery...still not sure if I capitalized the second d..lol
    All the sims err'day
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  • BabykittyjadeBabykittyjade Posts: 4,975 Member
    edited September 2020
    Interesting.... I just use one of my main sims for all testing. It feels like I'm taking them touring a new place or experimenting on something. But I have plenty back up saves.
    Zombies, oh please oh please give us zombies!! :'(
  • SindocatSindocat Posts: 5,622 Member
    What I mean by "test" is that the Sim's existence is solely based on being used as a guinea pig of sorts--it's not a household you play regularly, their only purpose is to either test things or set things up in advance.

    (snip)

    Do you do anything similar to that?

    This is my usual MO for a new pack - I create a Sim to explore the pack mechanics with, before I proceed to integrate it into my legacy.

    For Journey to Batuu, I took a slightly different tack, and used a skilled, developed iteration of my original base game tester Sim, so that he wouldn't be struggling along with skills at 1-3. He did have to learn Programming from scratch, but had enough going for him already that it wasn't too hard to bring that up to speed. I did let him take on a new (unskilled) Sim as a romantic interest (and to find out what in Batuu is woohooable).
  • Jasonschick80Jasonschick80 Posts: 686 Member
    Yup, I created an spellcaster adult sim to see if it’s possible for her to outlive her kids and have her raise her grandchildren but stay immortal using spells...it’s possible. I got tired of waiting for the kids to die though and just drowned them 🤷‍♀️

    Well, ok then....
    But seriously, thats hilarious, just unexpected lol 🤣
  • LustianiciaLustianicia Posts: 2,489 Member
    Yup! Absolutely! I use my test save file every time I get a new pack to look at all the new content, along with new features it may have come with! I also use them to experiment with certain things. This is also the save I use to build new houses and community lots (then I save them to the library if I wanna use them in my real save files).
    Favorite Packs
    Sims 1: Hot Date
    Sims 2: Seasons
    Sims 2: Happy Holiday Stuff
    Sims 3: Seasons
    Sims 3: 70's, 80's, & 90's Stuff
    Sims 4: Seasons
    Sims 4: Paranormal Stuff
    Sims 4: Strangerville Game Pack

    78MB6Gb.jpg
  • Karababy52Karababy52 Posts: 5,952 Member
    Yes, I have a Sim, Tina Tester, to playtest challenge builds and BG update features. I also create tester Sims with 'regular' names to test new EP and GPs features. I made 4-5 just to test EL. Normally I don't test SPs, they typically only include 1-2 gameplay objects. However, I did create a couple for NK.

    Tina has been my tester for years, usually I place a copy of her in a current save to test things. But I've been playing the Drifter challenge since March and didn't want to mess up that file due to all the bugs/glitches in the EL pack and patch. So I decided to create new test Sims and saves instead. I don't know why I didn't just use copies of Tina, I guess maybe I just like making Sims! :D

    Some of my tester Sims get promoted to regular game play too. For instance, my current Sim created to test playing on a short life span had a baby with Darrel Charm. I was thrilled to discover the child has a Spellcaster ancient bloodline! I've never had a born in game Spellcaster before so I'm going to keep playing this household while I wait for an EL pack/patch fix. :)

    Happy Simming! <3
  • joRN1414joRN1414 Posts: 1,669 Member
    At first I didn't really know what I was doing so I would create the same Sim over and over to test my houses and such... then I had 457348915345534 Phil Google's and it was a hot mess. Since I mostly build for myself, I build and then I put the Sims that will be in the place there and test it that way.
    "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!" -Auntie Mame
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