There aren't underwater lots, so my merfolk aren't underwater. Using cheats, I had my mermen use their mermadic forms on land. I adjusted the lighting to dim them, and I used a cc from spinning plumbob to have fish swimming around. So, I hope it looks like they are underwater.
Well, my mermaid Kelly tried to get 2 other mermaids from Sulani to swim with her, but it didn't go well. At first they went into the water with Kelly, changing into mermaid form, and then they immediately changed back and headed towards the shore. I'm getting the impression that it's hard to get mermaids to swim with each other
Sorry about the delay, but I got my next update worked out. At first, I thought things would be going a darker route, but my twins have proven once again that they can turn something that seems hopeless into something much better!
Inspired by the scene where Alexander makes a deal with Damion, I made a club hangout for my merfolk that simulates being underwater. I’m really excited to share it. I figured out a few of the build mode tricks I couldn’t do on the console too!
Also, debug item’s definitely add a lot to building, but there’s just no way I could have truly pulled off the simulated underwater environment without mods.
The more I do stuff on the PC, the more convinced I am that switching platforms to play on was the right decision.
So, I tested a few things out with the Expanded Mermaids Mod.
Kemps spent some time relaxing in the hot tub before I sold it.
Rehydration Meditation is different in the Water.
Alex got caught in the rain while reading about mermaid mythology. He did have a bit of trouble calling for help. He hasn't mastered the ability of evaporating the extra water that forces him to transform.
Arihi caused a blizzard in Sulani. I was a little disappointed that the water didn't freeze over. lol.
I gave the Zalrian's their own underwater room.
Dylan and Zeph now have a space where being in their tail might make a little more sense which opens up new possibilities for story telling. Unfortunately, some of the mods I decided to get aren't free, but they add something to the gameplay that I'm looking for. I don't mind supporting someone that creates content for merfolk in the Sims 4, so I would probably support them regardless.
So, you might be asking. If these rooms are underwater, why are their working electronics underwater? The simple answer, a bit of magic and careful waterproofing.
I do need to figure out the screenshots because their tails clip through the floor with their current furniture. I'm still happy with the what I was able to do with minimal mods and cheats.
But, the underwater illusion wouldn't be possible without Spinning Plumbob's Seanery CC for build mode. I also added some pool bubblers from get together that help.
The Club Hangout for the Zalrian Pod that simulates being underwater.
My merfolk enchanted the ice sculptures with Perma Frost Magic, they won't melt. Still haven't figured out how to make the ice sculptures yet.
Picking on Damion
I know, I'm terrible, but Damion kept showing up at the beach in the same spot doing nothing. I think it was because I made him the NPC Sea Witch and their was a Sea Sorcery Cauldron on the lot. Regardless, I couldn't help myself.
Damion: "Please don't?"
Metior_Ice: "Then why are you standing there doing nothing?"
Calum: "I got this!"
"Easy! Just a little splash of revenge and water." Calum said.
Calum laughed maniacally as he watched his enemy flounder around on land.
"Curse my gorgeous tail! I love you, and you are absolutely beautiful, but you are not helpful on land." Damion cursed his tail.
I also decided to use the Merfolk Cove Lot Trait by Simularity. I made the Wayfarer’s Atoll a Karaoke Bar, and I plan on Using MC Command Center by Deaderpool to limit how many merfolk can be in the game. That should hopefully, be a fairly decent workaround to the lot trait creating random townie Merfolk every so many sim hours.
@Nate_Whiplash1 In my experience, it’s much easier to get merfolk to swim together if you group them together. I use clubs for my merfolk and have one of the club activities be swimming.
As for merfolk going on land, they tend to do that often, and I don’t have an explanation. That behavior started after there were bug reports about merfolk swimming incorrectly. To be honest, that behavior, while odd, does autonomously fix the swimming animation for merfolk when they start to swim wrong.
If you get more than 16 merfolk on the same lot and try to get them to swim together, it actually becomes too much for the game.
On the other hand, there are a number of autonomous interactions that cause mersims to leave the water because they can’t do those interactions in the water. The funny thing is that some of those interactions use repeated animations that can be done without leaving the water. Most of the interactions that cause MerSims to autonomously leave the water are from packs that came after Island Living, packs that use repeated animations that came before Island Living work fine in the water.
The easiest way to see what I mean is place a mirror that MerSims can interact with while in a pool, then try to do the interactions with the mirror.
Merfolk can practice their speech without leaving a pool, but they can’t practice research and debate. The difference between the two interactions is that one is from the base game and the other is from Discover University. The animations the sims perform for both interactions are exactly the same.
@pacer1965 Honestly, I have quite a few packs, but as I understand it, the mod works with the base game and Island Living.
The power to change the weather requires the Seasons Pack. For Vanilla Gameplay, Merfolk can cause thunderstorms, rainstorms, and clear skies. With the mod and I assume the right combination of perks, Merfolk can cause blizzards. But all weather conditions depend on the Seasons Pack as far as I know.
Realm of Magic and Vampires are also helpful packs and have plenty of their own gameplay value.
Another pack I recommend is Jungle Adventure. It also has content that is helpful as well.
If you aren’t using mods, I definitely recommend using the following packs with Island Living:
Seasons - The ability for merfolk to control the weather
Snowy Escape - Hot Springs for merfolk. You can cheat their mermadic form in the hot spring but it isn’t the same as the mod
Eco Lifestyle - I think of this pack as an expansion of Island Living instead of its own expansion pack for the base game. A lot of content from this pack expands on features that originally came with Island Living, especially the Off-the-Grid Lot Challenge that was originally a lot Trait in Sulani. Off-the-grid became a base game feature after Eco Living came out.
City Living - Karaoke Bars are popular with merfolk, and all my merfolk have max singing. I leveled the skill without cheats a long time ago. Now, all my merfolk have max singing skill. Singing and Merfolk is a very strong combination.
Realm of Magic - Spellcraft, sorcery, and magic. This pack came out after Island Living and this is when they started to make great occults. It has its own gameplay value and offers a lot of build mode items I prefer to use in merfolk homes. Magic Floating Crystals look better underwater than some other electronic objects.
Vampires - Again, they did really well with the occult in this pack, but it came after Island Living. I think this pack is generally worth getting. Some of the build mode items are on the darker, gothic side and could add to an evil mers home just like it can add to an evil vampires home. I like the graveyard build items if you want to create a graveyard for your sims.
Jungle Adventure - This pack adds a lot of gameplay and Island Style Decor. I enjoy exploring the temples, and the mermadic ability to call rainstorms can douse the fires caused by fireflies, literally a life saving ability under the right circumstances.
Spa Day - The only game pack that got a refresh. They added a lot of value to the pack with the refresh and gave merfolk more things to do. I believe the refresh introduced face masks that are uniquely beneficial for merfolk among other things. The wellness skill will give your merfolk the ability to teleport like other occults.
Perfect Patio - The hot tubs are always a welcome water activity for merfolk
Backyard - Water Slides are also fun activities for merfolk
Romantic Garden - Merfolk can splash in the fountains that come with this pack
Movie Hangout - Maybe it’s a quirk of those living in Sulani, but if you place a TV on a beach lot, there is a tendency for townies to spend night’s watching scary movies. The TV gets a LOT of use on a beach lot.
I always get those packs for gameplay, build mode, and CAS.
A pack that I always get is Cool Kitchen, primarily because my twins get their signature hair style from that pack. Beaches and Ice Cream is also a good combo.
Parenthood is a good pack to include with merfolk.
When I switched to the computer, those were the core packs I got because of how much they added to merfolk while I played on the console.
The Fashion Street Kit is the only kit I’ve gotten because I like the CAS items with Island Living and Merfolk.
It’s up to you, but depending on how you bundle the packs, it’s possible to save quite a bit on the packs I mentioned. I think the cost was roughly the equivalent of buying four or five expansion packs when I got them, and it was everything I mentioned above.
The only other expansion pack with Nautical Items is Cats and Dogs. But all the other packs aren’t exactly something I would rush into with merfolk.
The really really unfortunate part of merfolk without mods is that you need other packs to attempt to add to the gameplay.
As far as I know, the Expanded Mermaids Mod benefits from the packs mentioned above but doesn’t require them. It only requires Island Living and the Base Game. Still, if you get Island Living, I would buy it as a bundle with a game pack and stuff pack.
Edit: I would definitely try to eventually get all the packs I recommended regardless. With or without mods, they do make merfolk gameplay more enjoyable and gives fun things to do for storytelling and general fun.
Important: Please don't assume I'm trying to get people to go crazy spending money on packs. I'm just sharing my experience with the packs. When Island Living was first released, I've been playing on the console until recently, February of this Year. I pushed the limits of Vanilla Gameplay and had a lot of experience with the packs I mentioned above.
If I could turn back time, I wouldn't have gotten the game on the console because the console version doesn't support mods. Everything else in the game I was happy with, Merfolk might be the only gameplay feature that I feel needs mods because of content that isn't there.
@pacer1965 That’s good to hear! My personal mistake was playing the game and buying all the packs as they came out for the PS4. As time went on, I started to realize what I was missing but it was too late.
Truly, I think console gameplay is enjoyable for everything except merfolk. The mods add so much value to the merfolk gameplay. So, I would recommend the PC for MerSims.
As for the Bundle Option, if you are going to buy packs, the bundle option will get you the most value without spending money on all the packs individually.
I feel like there’s something more about snowy escape that I connect with merfolk, but I’m drawing a blank? 🤔 It’s actually bothering me a bit that I can’t remember… Eventually, I’ll look at the pack specific features and let everyone know…
But Snowy Escape and Spa Day are a strong combination, and I built a merfolk friendly spa for Mt. Komorebi… Still, I wish I could remember what I’m forgetting…
Still can’t recall anything about how I make Snowy Escape work with my merfolk, I’m thinking it probably has more to do with Sentiments and Surging Emotions… Merfolk have a lot of vanilla interactions that influence a sim’s emotions. There are Siren Songs for making sims, Sad, Tense, Inspired, and Flirty. To my understanding, the ability to call thunder storms can make sims in the entire neighborhood scared. There are ways to use Siren Songs to make progress on Character Values from Parent Hood. I think Empathy is one of the values that actually becomes easier to develop when you can actively influence emotions…
———————
In general, Merfolk might be the most reclusive occult life states in the game. Merfolk generally won’t even look like merfolk if a household isn’t merwoke, and they do not actively use any interactions autonomously on sims. Only idle animations can give away a merman or mermaid in a vanilla game.
The only vanilla exception is if a merman or mermaid is swimming. The merwoke feature is not perfect when it comes to hiding merfolk in you game.
Now, when you start using mods, it becomes much easier to become merwoke and start seeing a merman or mermaid’s true form.
For instance, the Expanded Mermaid Mod will immediately make a sim merwoke if they see a merman or mermaid in their true form or if you ask them if they are a merman or mermaid while they are swimming in their true form. Generally, if your merfolk aren’t actively hiding what they are, a lot of sims will quickly start to realize that merfolk are real and see them as they really are.
The Forced Transformation Weakness merfolk have will reveal their true identity to any sim that walks past a merman or mermaid as they flounder around on land. Having your sim go out in the rain can risk making the entire household merwoke. The merwoke feature affects an entire household, not just one sim.
Also, there is a weakness that will make merfolk uncomfortable if they spend too much time hiding their fins. All of my merfolk get an uncomfortable moodlet if they spend too much time in their human form. The weakness is a play on the original little mermaid where the little mermaid felt like she was walking on daggers on land after becoming human. Point is, merfolk with this weakness tend to actively try to go for a swim because they can only tolerate being in their human form for so long. The uncomfortable moodlet does get worse the longer they hide their fins.
The Merfolk Cove Lot trait works similar to the Vampire Nexus Lot Trait, it generates random merfolk townies and increases the chances of a household becoming merwoke when Sims visit a lot with that trait.
As long as a household remains unaware of the existence of merfolk and isn’t merwoke, merfolk will behave much more like a human sim than other occults.
If you have merfolk hide their merform using the Expanded Mermaid Mod, they will continue to hide their fins even after leaving that household. So the Expanded Mermaids Mod can make merfolk more hidden or dramatically increase their presence in your game.
As far as I know, a lot of occults are designed to stay hidden unless you are looking for them. Doing things in your game that increase the chances of encountering merfolk.
In the Vanilla Game, if your sim is asking townies if they are mermaids or mermen, or reveal the discovery of merfolk, you will encounter a merman or mermaid on the lot. The interactions will increase the chances of a Mersim showing up.
Your posts are very helpful @Metior_Ice .I've not played any mersims for a while. Even though I'm still on my console I decided to make myself a merman.I don't have any pics of him. He is called Lucky Suzuki. At the moment he has a job in the military (Covert Operator branch) I'm trying to get his money up a bit as I want him to move to a bigger lot in Sulani. He is living on the island Ohan'ali. He has Nalani as a BFF. He did try and get a little flirty with her but I think he rushed it a bit to quick as the friendship bar was a little low
Comments
Chapter 1: Wayfarer's Cove
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/18234824/#Comment_18234824
Chapter 2: Life's Full of Tough Choices
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/18234965/#Comment_18234965
There’s still so much I’m still discovering while playing this mod! If you can use mods, this mod really is perfect for MerSims!
I’d love to see what other people do with the gameplay that comes with this mod!
Sorry about all the updates! I just really love this mod, and I wanted to share as much of it as I can just because it’s that awesome! 😎
Chapter 3: When Things Don't Go as Planned...
https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/18236836/#Comment_18236836
Also, debug item’s definitely add a lot to building, but there’s just no way I could have truly pulled off the simulated underwater environment without mods.
The more I do stuff on the PC, the more convinced I am that switching platforms to play on was the right decision.
Kemps spent some time relaxing in the hot tub before I sold it.
Rehydration Meditation is different in the Water.
Alex got caught in the rain while reading about mermaid mythology. He did have a bit of trouble calling for help. He hasn't mastered the ability of evaporating the extra water that forces him to transform.
Arihi caused a blizzard in Sulani. I was a little disappointed that the water didn't freeze over. lol.
I gave the Zalrian's their own underwater room.
Dylan and Zeph now have a space where being in their tail might make a little more sense which opens up new possibilities for story telling. Unfortunately, some of the mods I decided to get aren't free, but they add something to the gameplay that I'm looking for. I don't mind supporting someone that creates content for merfolk in the Sims 4, so I would probably support them regardless.
So, you might be asking. If these rooms are underwater, why are their working electronics underwater? The simple answer, a bit of magic and careful waterproofing.
I do need to figure out the screenshots because their tails clip through the floor with their current furniture. I'm still happy with the what I was able to do with minimal mods and cheats.
But, the underwater illusion wouldn't be possible without Spinning Plumbob's Seanery CC for build mode. I also added some pool bubblers from get together that help.
The Club Hangout for the Zalrian Pod that simulates being underwater.
My merfolk enchanted the ice sculptures with Perma Frost Magic, they won't melt. Still haven't figured out how to make the ice sculptures yet.
Picking on Damion
Damion: "Please don't?"
Metior_Ice: "Then why are you standing there doing nothing?"
Calum: "I got this!"
"Easy! Just a little splash of revenge and water." Calum said.
Calum laughed maniacally as he watched his enemy flounder around on land.
"Curse my gorgeous tail! I love you, and you are absolutely beautiful, but you are not helpful on land." Damion cursed his tail.
As for merfolk going on land, they tend to do that often, and I don’t have an explanation. That behavior started after there were bug reports about merfolk swimming incorrectly. To be honest, that behavior, while odd, does autonomously fix the swimming animation for merfolk when they start to swim wrong.
If you get more than 16 merfolk on the same lot and try to get them to swim together, it actually becomes too much for the game.
On the other hand, there are a number of autonomous interactions that cause mersims to leave the water because they can’t do those interactions in the water. The funny thing is that some of those interactions use repeated animations that can be done without leaving the water. Most of the interactions that cause MerSims to autonomously leave the water are from packs that came after Island Living, packs that use repeated animations that came before Island Living work fine in the water.
The easiest way to see what I mean is place a mirror that MerSims can interact with while in a pool, then try to do the interactions with the mirror.
Merfolk can practice their speech without leaving a pool, but they can’t practice research and debate. The difference between the two interactions is that one is from the base game and the other is from Discover University. The animations the sims perform for both interactions are exactly the same.
The power to change the weather requires the Seasons Pack. For Vanilla Gameplay, Merfolk can cause thunderstorms, rainstorms, and clear skies. With the mod and I assume the right combination of perks, Merfolk can cause blizzards. But all weather conditions depend on the Seasons Pack as far as I know.
Realm of Magic and Vampires are also helpful packs and have plenty of their own gameplay value.
Another pack I recommend is Jungle Adventure. It also has content that is helpful as well.
If you aren’t using mods, I definitely recommend using the following packs with Island Living:
Seasons - The ability for merfolk to control the weather
Snowy Escape - Hot Springs for merfolk. You can cheat their mermadic form in the hot spring but it isn’t the same as the mod
Eco Lifestyle - I think of this pack as an expansion of Island Living instead of its own expansion pack for the base game. A lot of content from this pack expands on features that originally came with Island Living, especially the Off-the-Grid Lot Challenge that was originally a lot Trait in Sulani. Off-the-grid became a base game feature after Eco Living came out.
City Living - Karaoke Bars are popular with merfolk, and all my merfolk have max singing. I leveled the skill without cheats a long time ago. Now, all my merfolk have max singing skill. Singing and Merfolk is a very strong combination.
Realm of Magic - Spellcraft, sorcery, and magic. This pack came out after Island Living and this is when they started to make great occults. It has its own gameplay value and offers a lot of build mode items I prefer to use in merfolk homes. Magic Floating Crystals look better underwater than some other electronic objects.
Vampires - Again, they did really well with the occult in this pack, but it came after Island Living. I think this pack is generally worth getting. Some of the build mode items are on the darker, gothic side and could add to an evil mers home just like it can add to an evil vampires home. I like the graveyard build items if you want to create a graveyard for your sims.
Jungle Adventure - This pack adds a lot of gameplay and Island Style Decor. I enjoy exploring the temples, and the mermadic ability to call rainstorms can douse the fires caused by fireflies, literally a life saving ability under the right circumstances.
Spa Day - The only game pack that got a refresh. They added a lot of value to the pack with the refresh and gave merfolk more things to do. I believe the refresh introduced face masks that are uniquely beneficial for merfolk among other things. The wellness skill will give your merfolk the ability to teleport like other occults.
Perfect Patio - The hot tubs are always a welcome water activity for merfolk
Backyard - Water Slides are also fun activities for merfolk
Romantic Garden - Merfolk can splash in the fountains that come with this pack
Movie Hangout - Maybe it’s a quirk of those living in Sulani, but if you place a TV on a beach lot, there is a tendency for townies to spend night’s watching scary movies. The TV gets a LOT of use on a beach lot.
I always get those packs for gameplay, build mode, and CAS.
A pack that I always get is Cool Kitchen, primarily because my twins get their signature hair style from that pack. Beaches and Ice Cream is also a good combo.
Parenthood is a good pack to include with merfolk.
When I switched to the computer, those were the core packs I got because of how much they added to merfolk while I played on the console.
The Fashion Street Kit is the only kit I’ve gotten because I like the CAS items with Island Living and Merfolk.
It’s up to you, but depending on how you bundle the packs, it’s possible to save quite a bit on the packs I mentioned. I think the cost was roughly the equivalent of buying four or five expansion packs when I got them, and it was everything I mentioned above.
The only other expansion pack with Nautical Items is Cats and Dogs. But all the other packs aren’t exactly something I would rush into with merfolk.
As far as I know, the Expanded Mermaids Mod benefits from the packs mentioned above but doesn’t require them. It only requires Island Living and the Base Game. Still, if you get Island Living, I would buy it as a bundle with a game pack and stuff pack.
Edit: I would definitely try to eventually get all the packs I recommended regardless. With or without mods, they do make merfolk gameplay more enjoyable and gives fun things to do for storytelling and general fun.
Important: Please don't assume I'm trying to get people to go crazy spending money on packs. I'm just sharing my experience with the packs. When Island Living was first released, I've been playing on the console until recently, February of this Year. I pushed the limits of Vanilla Gameplay and had a lot of experience with the packs I mentioned above.
If I could turn back time, I wouldn't have gotten the game on the console because the console version doesn't support mods. Everything else in the game I was happy with, Merfolk might be the only gameplay feature that I feel needs mods because of content that isn't there.
Truly, I think console gameplay is enjoyable for everything except merfolk. The mods add so much value to the merfolk gameplay. So, I would recommend the PC for MerSims.
As for the Bundle Option, if you are going to buy packs, the bundle option will get you the most value without spending money on all the packs individually.
But Snowy Escape and Spa Day are a strong combination, and I built a merfolk friendly spa for Mt. Komorebi… Still, I wish I could remember what I’m forgetting…
———————
In general, Merfolk might be the most reclusive occult life states in the game. Merfolk generally won’t even look like merfolk if a household isn’t merwoke, and they do not actively use any interactions autonomously on sims. Only idle animations can give away a merman or mermaid in a vanilla game.
The only vanilla exception is if a merman or mermaid is swimming. The merwoke feature is not perfect when it comes to hiding merfolk in you game.
Now, when you start using mods, it becomes much easier to become merwoke and start seeing a merman or mermaid’s true form.
For instance, the Expanded Mermaid Mod will immediately make a sim merwoke if they see a merman or mermaid in their true form or if you ask them if they are a merman or mermaid while they are swimming in their true form. Generally, if your merfolk aren’t actively hiding what they are, a lot of sims will quickly start to realize that merfolk are real and see them as they really are.
The Forced Transformation Weakness merfolk have will reveal their true identity to any sim that walks past a merman or mermaid as they flounder around on land. Having your sim go out in the rain can risk making the entire household merwoke. The merwoke feature affects an entire household, not just one sim.
Also, there is a weakness that will make merfolk uncomfortable if they spend too much time hiding their fins. All of my merfolk get an uncomfortable moodlet if they spend too much time in their human form. The weakness is a play on the original little mermaid where the little mermaid felt like she was walking on daggers on land after becoming human. Point is, merfolk with this weakness tend to actively try to go for a swim because they can only tolerate being in their human form for so long. The uncomfortable moodlet does get worse the longer they hide their fins.
The Merfolk Cove Lot trait works similar to the Vampire Nexus Lot Trait, it generates random merfolk townies and increases the chances of a household becoming merwoke when Sims visit a lot with that trait.
As long as a household remains unaware of the existence of merfolk and isn’t merwoke, merfolk will behave much more like a human sim than other occults.
If you have merfolk hide their merform using the Expanded Mermaid Mod, they will continue to hide their fins even after leaving that household. So the Expanded Mermaids Mod can make merfolk more hidden or dramatically increase their presence in your game.
As far as I know, a lot of occults are designed to stay hidden unless you are looking for them. Doing things in your game that increase the chances of encountering merfolk.
In the Vanilla Game, if your sim is asking townies if they are mermaids or mermen, or reveal the discovery of merfolk, you will encounter a merman or mermaid on the lot. The interactions will increase the chances of a Mersim showing up.