Using Bookcases: gameplay ideas, challenges, mods, CC «12...Next Go

Katofhyrule12

How do you use bookcases in your game? The first thing that popped into my head was Beauty and the Beast.

Do you have any favorite mods or CC for using bookcases?

Here is a link to a BIble
https://modthesims.info/m/10336046

Here is a link to 400 classic books: Plato, Shakespeare, Treasure Island, Little Women, Heidi, Fairy Tales, Velveteen Rabbit and so much more.
https://modthesims.info/d/669115/project-gutenberg-real-world-books-for-your-sims.html

I would love a set of hardcopy encyclopedias!

What careers, traits, etc include the use of bookcases? Obviously the bookworm trait.

The Bible and the Gutenberg books remind me of homeschoolers. Some type of reading list or homeschool curriculum aspiration for kids would be interesting.

I have never run a store. Has anyone ever run a bookstore?

sn4ph

I mostly use them in my playthroughs where I play as a poor family that cannot afford electronics. It makes for a difficult challenge, but it's fun! I made my teenage sim bring a book to school to read at lunch because he couldn't afford cafeteria food. Bookstores could be a fun idea as well, though.

simgirl1010

I always have a bookshelf in my sim's home office. Bookstore is on my to do list.

Atreya33

I always have a books in my sims homes. But more than half of the time I use the small objects : the books between two bookstands. The patch that made those functional was a game changer for me. There is also a pile of books on the floor (requires cats en dogs) that is functional as a bookcase and I love that as well.



When it comes to bookcases I like the ones that can be put next to each other without a gap between them. I try to avoid using move objects to place them. My recent favourite are the ones from growing together because they fit nicely together and each wood color is given twice, with different colored books to make them look less repetitive.

I don't use cc bookcases, or any other cc furniture. I feel I have enough choices and use the small book items if nothing fits.

The only bookstore I ever created was a magical store that sells magic tomes so I can select which spells my spellcasters learn. I also added regular books with magical themes (novels that came with RoM). Next to books, spellcaster can also buy wands, brooms, potion ingredients and outfits fitting for spellcasters on this lot.

The shop was only owned for a short while to set items for sale. After that I sold it again. Sims can still buy things there and they are restocked next time I visit the lot but I don't play the shop owners.

Katofhyrule12

sn4ph wrote: »

...I play as a poor family that cannot afford electronics. ... I made my teenage sim bring a book to school to read at lunch because he couldn't afford cafeteria food.

What a great idea!

Katofhyrule12

simgirl1010 wrote: »

I always have a bookshelf in my sim's home office. Bookstore is on my to do list.

Does anyone know of any good videos or tutorials on starting a bookstore?

simgirl1010

This is an older thread but it has some good information.

https://forums.thesims.com/en_us/discussion/831300/making-a-bookstore-advice-please

ETA: Just did a Google search for Sims 4 Bookstore and a ton of stuff popped up. Bookstore CC, retail lots, etc.

Katofhyrule12

Atreya33 wrote: »

... There is also a pile of books on the floor (requires cats en dogs) that is functional as a bookcase and I love that as well.

...I don't use cc bookcases, or any other cc furniture. I feel I have enough choices and use the small book items if nothing fits.

... Sims can still buy things there and they are restocked next time I visit the lot but I don't play the shop owners.

Thanks for these tips. I somehow missed the pile of books!

Good to know that I can create a bookstore and not have to maintain it!

I just reinstalled my game from scratch and I am trying to use as few mods and CC as possible. I did add the whole folder of Gutenberg books and the Bible, though. I miss bookstores. I cannot believe there are so few of them left. I have enjoyed using the bookstore and reading the newspaper in Sims 3. I want to include more reading into my Sims 4 game.

crocobaura

None of my book reading sims have fancy home libraries like in Beauty and the Beast. With some sims I prefer to give them one of the small stacks of books, with some I just let them have a book they borrowed from somewhere, and for some I give them small bookcases. When I give them bookcases, I like to clean out the inventory and leave only book genres that I think they would read. Some read romance, others fiction, others mystery books and so on. I don't like it when it's cluttered with random stuff like children's books and skill books and on one occasion I found 90 copies or so of the same book. Don't know what caused that but it was crazy.

Katofhyrule12

crocobaura wrote: »

... I like to clean out the inventory and leave only book genres that I think they would read. ... I don't like it when it's cluttered with random stuff like children's books and skill books and on one occasion I found 90 copies...

I hate a cluttered home bookcase! Birds usually like books as gifts, so I get rid of a lot of them that way. Scouts get points for donating books to charity. Books can be contributed to pack resources in Moonwood Mills. Does anyone have any other methods to get rid of books besides deleting or selling them from the inventory? I think some can be sold to the grocery stall?

I like to add books to the community libraries. In Build mode, I use cheats to find them in the catalog and then I just place them on the floor. The librarian puts them away, later. Sometimes I send my sim to help. And I also can drag the books into the bookcases in live mode.

crocobaura

I think it would be nice if sims could borrow books from the library or from their friends, keep them for however long they need to read them and then return them. It would solve the issue of bookcases and half read books lying everywhere. Sometimes I avoid giving them bookcases because of this and prefer to store their books in a trunk.
If you want to get rid of books, I think you can also put them in the recycling machine. I think it might also be possible to sell them on the sales table too and pretend you are a second hand books dealer. Would be nice if sims could burn books. Kind of like how they burn money, but books instead.

Katofhyrule12

crocobaura wrote: »

I think it would be nice if sims could borrow books from the library or from their friends, keep them for however long they need to read them and then return them. It would solve the issue of bookcases and half read books lying everywhere. Sometimes I avoid giving them bookcases because of this and prefer to store their books in a trunk.
If you want to get rid of books, I think you can also put them in the recycling machine. I think it might also be possible to sell them on the sales table too and pretend you are a second hand books dealer. Would be nice if sims could burn books. Kind of like how they burn money, but books instead.

Book burning! we need a mod for that along with a dystopian challenge!

There is a mod to borrow books from the library. I have not tried it.

What a great idea to sell books on a table! The jungle adventure table includes a cooler, but I sometimes cannot justify the price just to cool food. And I really did not want to learn all that would be needed to run a bookstore. A book table is a great idea!!!

Ravasheen has some great storage items. I have been storing books in the backpack and placing it too high to be accessible to a certain child sim, so she would finish a book before I gave her the next one.

I have not used the recycle machine for anything yet. I am curious to try it in general and especially for books.

elanorbreton

@crocobaura that's an awesome idea, borrowing books from the library. We could even have a late return fee if they don't take them back in time

I always have a bookcase of some sort in my homes, but mostly it is the small book piles you can fit on surfaces.

If I have the room and it's appropriate for the sim I like to make a home office or separate study room and will then use a tall bookcase or two. And kids rooms usually get the house shaped bookcase lol.

I really really wish they were empty of books when purchased though. How annoying is it after all these years to have to keep manually deleting those same few books we always get for free... grrrr....

Also, I wish there was a way to buy books that have been written in-game by sims.

SheriSim57

Katofhyrule12 wrote: »

How do you use bookcases in your game? The first thing that popped into my head was Beauty and the Beast.

Do you have any favorite mods or CC for using bookcases?

Here is a link to a BIble
https://modthesims.info/m/10336046

Here is a link to 400 classic books: Plato, Shakespeare, Treasure Island, Little Women, Heidi, Fairy Tales, Velveteen Rabbit and so much more.
https://modthesims.info/d/669115/project-gutenberg-real-world-books-for-your-sims.html

I would love a set of hardcopy encyclopedias!

What careers, traits, etc include the use of bookcases? Obviously the bookworm trait.

The Bible and the Gutenberg books remind me of homeschoolers. Some type of reading list or homeschool curriculum aspiration for kids would be interesting.

I have never run a store. Has anyone ever run a bookstore?

A bookstore was one of the first retail stores I downloaded. I put skill books for sale there along with Knick knacks, and a few musical instruments ( smaller ones ). I also have camera’s for sale there too.. .I changed it around a bit to add a couple of things. First I made an office with a computer on a desk, and also added an archeology table in the office too. I don’t really play as a business. I just gave the Landgrabbs money to set it up, and put them as owners. (They own a lot of the businesses because you have to set businesses up ). The whole vibe of the bookstore is antiquey. I also have an area in the store where I put the children’s puppet theatre and seats. Outside in the back I added a grassy picnic area with a grill, picnic table, trash can and horseshoes game.. I play rotationally and do have a family with a father and son who are writers, but haven’t played them in awhile. If they could earn enough to buy a bookstore, I would set them up with it. I don’t use mods or CC. Encyclopedias would be a cool thing to add to the game, I would also love to see ( readable ) magazines and newspapers return to the game. I would love to be able to put a magazine rack in the bookstore that they could buy magazines from, and a newspaper machine to buy daily newspapers.

Katofhyrule12

elanorbreton wrote: »

@crocobaura that's an awesome idea, borrowing books from the library. We could even have a late return fee if they don't take them back in time ...

Also, I wish there was a way to buy books that have been written in-game by sims.

Has anyone used this mod? I am trying to limit my mods as much as possible, but this sounds so good to me, right now.
https://ilkavelle.wixsite.com/simsquest/post/borrow-books-from-library#:~:text=First Sim needs to go,am – 10 pm? ).

It would be great to be able to buy sim written books!

SimplyJen

I usually only place one bookcase for a residential lot since the game lumps all books together anyways.

I spent a few days trying to find a way to save a bookcase loaded with all the skill books so I can plop it down onto any Library lot but wasn't successful. Instead used a mod that adds a debug cheat to add all books. It worked but hasn't been updated in a long while. It's possible it doesn't need an update but the creator also hasn't been around. I've since pulled it from my game but it's there if I need it.

Keep Books after Publishing is a great mod by scumbumbo currently being kept up to date by LittleMsSam. I've used this in the past but would rather make a copy before publishing so it's one less mod I need to worry about.

Katofhyrule12

SheriSim57 wrote: »

A bookstore was one of the first retail stores I downloaded. I put skill books for sale there along with Knick knacks, and a few musical instruments ( smaller ones ). I also have camera’s for sale there too.. .I changed it around a bit to add a couple of things. First I made an office with a computer on a desk, and also added an archeology table in the office too. I don’t really play as a business. I just gave the Landgrabbs money to set it up, and put them as owners. (They own a lot of the businesses because you have to set businesses up ). The whole vibe of the bookstore is antiquey. I also have an area in the store where I put the children’s puppet theatre and seats. Outside in the back I added a grassy picnic area with a grill, picnic table, trash can and horseshoes game.. I play rotationally and do have a family with a father and son who are writers, but haven’t played them in awhile. If they could earn enough to buy a bookstore, I would set them up with it. I don’t use mods or CC. Encyclopedias would be a cool thing to add to the game, I would also love to see ( readable ) magazines and newspapers return to the game. I would love to be able to put a magazine rack in the bookstore that they could buy magazines from, and a newspaper machine to buy daily newspapers.

I have never added a business or restaurant and I barely edit the community lots. I am very interested in everyone's bookstore experiences.

I am craving all things paper. I would like to be able to write books in a notebook. It seems like any mods for this are all broken. I really want to be able to buy newspapers. Maybe we can get some type of pack that lets us use paper again.

Can we create a shared residential and commercial lot? Can a sim live above their bookstore?

Katofhyrule12

SimplyJen wrote: »

I usually only place one bookcase for a residential lot since the game lumps all books together anyways.

I spent a few days trying to find a way to save a bookcase loaded with all the skill books so I can plop it down onto any Library lot but wasn't successful. Instead used a mod that adds a debug cheat to add all books. It worked but hasn't been updated in a long while. It's possible it doesn't need an update but the creator also hasn't been around. I've since pulled it from my game but it's there if I need it.

Keep Books after Publishing is a great mod by scumbumbo currently being kept up to date by LittleMsSam. I've used this in the past but would rather make a copy before publishing so it's one less mod I need to worry about.

Wow, thanks! I did not know about these mods! I wish different libraries were stocked with different books. I love the cottage living bar with its own unique menu. I wish all bars and libraries were themed to the world they are in.

GalacticGal

Thanks for the link to the Bible. The only way I could have a Holy Book in my game was the short time I used a mod. It was whacky and out there, so to speak. I eventually removed it. But, while the Holy Book was in my game, my Sims showed a definite interest in it. So, again, thank you. I may grab the other classics, too.

ClassicalSim

@Katofhyrule12 Thank you for the links.

Katofhyrule12

GalacticGal wrote: »

Thanks for the link to the Bible. The only way I could have a Holy Book in my game was the short time I used a mod. It was whacky and out there, so to speak. I eventually removed it. But, while the Holy Book was in my game, my Sims showed a definite interest in it. So, again, thank you. I may grab the other classics, too.

I was thrilled to find a working Bible. It fits a certain Sim. She gets inspired moodlets from reading it and then goes on to write better books. I really like that reading the book has a direct affect in her life.

Katofhyrule12

ClassicalSim wrote: »

@Katofhyrule12 Thank you for the links.

You are very welcome! I found the Artist's Way in the Gutenberg Books! I love this collection for story telling!

Katofhyrule12

I installed this CC magazine rack into my museums

https://www.patreon.com/posts/magazine-kit-63605097

This video is informative.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWolglhQY2s

Lenny_Ogg

My Sims love to read and do a lot of research so there are bookcases on each of my lots. I don't use mods or cc.
The following library is inspired by Terry Pratchett, where the books write the stories of the living.

Next is the Library in the Wolves of Letters bunker inspired by the Men of Letters bunker from Supernatural

Horatio likes to read too

The library in Saarburg

Katofhyrule12

I tried going vanilla again. I missed the Gutenberg books way too much!!!! And the Bible for one of my Sims. Bookcases are nice, but it is the books themselves that I love.

Atreya33

@Lenny_Ogg Those libraries look absolutely amazing.