A brand new Sims 4 Patch has just arrived this February 3rd for PC, Mac, and consoles! This update sets the stage for the anticipated The Sims 4: Royalty and Legacy Expansion Pack launching on Thursday, February 12. Beyond just prep work, the patch also introduces several long-awaited features that the building community has been dreaming of for years.
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Check out all the new update features in the base game!
In this new February 3rd patch for The Sims 4, Maxis has added updates to stairs and stair railings, allowing for more elegant, imperial-style designs with curved outer ends. Railings can now be placed on both sides, on just one side, or removed entirely, and they can even cover only specific segments of the staircase instead of the full length. The update also introduces a more detailed genealogy tree and stylish new nails. Several bugs have also been fixed, including the one that caused photos to turn black in the previous patch.
The Sims 4 Patch for February 2026
Check out all the new features added to the latest patch for The Sims 4. There’s something for all types of players: storytellers, builders, and CAS enthusiasts.
Stair Rails Upgrade
This is one of the most requested features by the community. With this update, players can finally add, remove, and cut stair rails with much greater flexibility. When placing stair rails, a new set of options appears in the same panel where you can move, rotate, and duplicate them. These tools make it possible to fully customize both the number and placement of the rails, whether you want double rails, rails on only one side, or no rails at all. For the first time in the franchise, players can also adjust the length of stair rails, choosing to cover the entire staircase or just specific segments.
New flared stairs!
Stair customization has reached a whole new level! While we are still waiting for spiral stairs, you can now give your houses, manors, and castles magnificent flared stairs. Simply use the new arrows at the bottom to customize their shape and adjust the width to create the perfect grand entrance for your Sims.
New Family Tree features
The new Family Tree panel now features multiple icons that visually represent the relationships between Sims. A new legend panel has also been added, clearly explaining the meaning of each icon.
After more than ten years, Maxis has finally updated the Family Trees of the game’s most iconic Sims. The Goth family tree, for example, now includes Mortimer Goth’s ancestors, such as Cornelia Crumplebottom. Johnny Zest also appears for the first time as the son of Nancy and Geoffrey. Extended family members will now also be shown in the family tree. You can also choose to label adopted Sims as such in the Family Tree.
New relationship labels include: Mother-in-Law, Father-in-Law, Sister-in-Law, Brother-in-Law, Daughter-in-Law, Son-in-Law, Distant Relative, Distant Relative-In-Law, Half-sister, Half-brother, Stepmother, Stepfather, Stepdaughter, Stepson, Great-grandmother, Great-grandfather, Great-grandson, Great-granddaughter, Parent’s Cousin, Cousin’s Child, Grandniece, Grandnephew, Grand-aunt, Grand-uncle, Ancestor, Descendant, and Relative-In-law. Divorced has a new name: Ex-Spouse, and Deceased Spouse has a new name: Late Spouse.
In addition, if you have the Cottage Living Expansion Pack, you will find that Agnes Crumplebottom will appear as Mortimer Goth’s aunt!
In the Get Famous Expansion Pack, there are also plenty of iconic Sims as celebrities, such as Dirk Dreamer, Dustin Broke, and Holly Alto. They also receive an impressive upgrade to their Family Trees. (Thanks to @lunar_britney)
New nails
Maxis has also added new nails: long, bright, and shiny, with a variety of swatches that pair perfectly with glamorous dresses and formal outfits. Take a quick look here.
New filters
The Sims Team has added new filters relating to the new Royalty and Dynasty Expansion Pack. Specifically, they relate to the new African culture introduced in Ondarion, the new world. You can now tag CAS items as curly or afro-textured in the hair category and as Africana in the clothes category. This update was much needed!
New Quest Event!
From February 3rd to March 16th, you can unlock exclusive new items by participating in the brand-new Lost Legacy Event. Following the format of previous events like ‘Forever Friends,’ your Sims can earn fresh outfits, objects, and collectibles by completing a variety of in-game quests.
A ton of new bug fixes!
Along with lots of new features, lots of bugs have been fixed too! The “Black Photo” glitch is finally a thing of the past, so your Sims’ memories will no longer turn into dark voids! Builders can also breathe a sigh of relief now that room type assignments are working correctly again in Build Mode.
The retail experience has been polished as well; skill book covers will now stay consistent on displays, and Mixology and Fabrication books finally have their own unique looks. The “Dance With Someone” goal at Prom is fixed, making those Gold Event ratings actually achievable. Lastly, the missing buttons for Turn-Ons, Turn-Offs, and Likes/Dislikes are restored so you can fully customize your Sims once more.
What’s your favourite part of the February 2026 Sims 4 Patch release? Let us know in the comments! Don’t forget to follow our News category so you don’t miss when The Sims 4 receives new content!
wait the sims 4 get famous versions of Dustin broke, dirk dreamer, and holly alto are the same ones from the sims 2 and 3 due to the family tree update, that’s not only a huge surprise for me, but the simmer youtubers and simmers on social media are gonna have a field day about this. and i can’t believe my theory of that skip broke from adventure awaits is the father of the Dustin broke from get famous had come true.
I really like the update to family trees for townies. <3 Have you seen Laurent’s family tree? It confirms that Arnessa Thebe is a descendant of Princess Cordelia — something that had already been hinted at through gossip with locals and messages in bottles.
My only disappointment is the lack of ancestors in Bella Goth’s and the Caliente family trees. While the tree confirms Katrina as Nina’s and Dina’s mother, this was already the case in the previous, simpler version — and let’s be honest, we all know that Nighat Caliente was their real mom. But I still hope there’s room for further histories and dramas. 🙂
I have problems with the game UI.
Even after I have removed cc what is old. And removed the localthumbcache.
I think that if there are cross pack connections (past or future) there are updated family trees. The Vatore siblings and Lily Zhu are now connected with their mothers and shared grandfather (interestingly all three of the ancestors are shown as alive at least in my game). However the Pleasant twins, Olive Spector, the Summerdreams, the Calientes, Don Lothario, and Bella Goth do not have ancestral sims even though they had them in previous games.
got to agree with you on that one, but expect bug fixing is my top priority.
What has most disappointed me with the expansion of the family tree stuff is that it doesn’t appear to translate to CAS. I got excited when I first read about this and thought that would mean that I could create more complex family structures when I make a household, establishing more than just ‘parent/child’ and ‘siblings’ between the sims in the household. It doesn’t even appear to let you set that a child is adopted in CAS, it just gives the option for being a parent or not.
I would have loved to have been able to set up much more intricate family arrangements (a couple taking in their nephew, two second cousins getting an apartment together, or grandparents raising their grandchild) without having to sit there creating, then deleting, all the middle family members (which sometimes breaks the connections you were originally creating) to set up those kinds of scenarios.