Because no horror movie is complete without a creepy gas station on a desolate road in the middle of the woods…
Spooky season is upon us!
In honour of the start of spooky season, we have a delightfully spooky gas station build for you by the extremely talented simpolcheeks! This gas station was built for Moonwood Mill and it certainly fits right in with the rundown, derelict vibe of the town.
Let’s dive in and take a tour, shall we?
Gas Station Exterior
We can see immediately how detailed this build is. The full debug catalogue has definitely been used to its maximum potential here and we are obsessed with the creativity! Tires and oil drums have been used as décor all over the place and the gas pumps look so realistic sitting on those platforms. The cars at the pump waiting to get gas are a great touch that add some life and movement to the whole scene (even if they don’t actually move; they give us the feeling of movement and activity).
Attached to the right of the gas station appears to be an old mechanic’s garage which looks so cool and is honestly a perfect touch of realism for a build like this. It’s incredibly detailed with a broken down car sitting inside the open garage with newspapers underneath to soak up leaking oil.
Gas Station Interior
And the best part of the whole build? The interior is a functional retail store! We love the shelves on half walls to create a realistic variety store feel. The shelves are stocked with fizzy drinks and all kinds of odds and ends you might find in a gas station’s store. Everywhere we look, there is detail, detail, detail! It really looks like a real-life gas station out in the middle of nowhere!
We are so impressed with simpolcheeks‘ skill, creativity, and attention to detail! They used absolutely no custom content in this build so it can be enjoyed by everyone on PC/Mac and consoles alike!
You can download this amazing grungy build from simpolcheeks’ Gallery! Search for Moonwood Mill Gas Station under the ID simpolcheeks or click the download button below to be taken directly to the Gallery page!
The Sims Team has a new Laundry List, also known as Bugs & Glitches List.
TheSims.com just published a new Laundry List for The Sims 4, covering the hottest Bugs and Glitches for The Sims 4.
The listed issues in this article should be fixed in the upcoming update for the game.
Hi Simmers!
Welcome to this month’s Laundry List, where we’re sharing our list of the top community concerns that we’re currently investigating and hoping to resolve in the next upcoming patch. This is simply a list of those with coming fixes, as there are more topics that we’ve seen reported by players that are not listed and are still being worked on. These listed are the concerns reported by players on Answers HQ, who help us continue our work of improving the user experience on a regular basis.
Please note that some topics can be tricky and require an extended investigation on our end, so even though we are actively reviewing, it’s not a guarantee that we’ll have an immediate fix for it in the upcoming patch.
Here’s the list of the community concerns we’re investigating and aiming to resolve in the game update this month:
In case you don’t know what it is – The Sims Team is holding a special, first of it’s kind, live presentation on the future of The Sims Franchise. Alongside the rumors of The Sims 5 being announced this month, the first clue that the team dropped was the name “Project Sunrise”.
Although we don’t know what it is as of yet – The Team quickly changed the naming after it got discovered online.
Today, TheSims.com got updated with a new image on the main screen on the website teasing The Sims Summit.
The image features an updated graphic of the plumbob with interesting elements in the background.
However, we went behind the scenes of the image to see if another “Project-Sunrise” type of clue was left. The new graphic has a name:
TS4-2022-its-your-time
That’s really cryptic.
But that’s also the only new clue we have leading up to The Sims Summit.
We’ll keep you posted on The Sims Summit and the upcoming announcements right here on Sims Community. We have a handy countdown on our Home Page that’ll let you know exactly when The Sims Summit begins!
New to The Sims 4? Let us walk you through making a living!
We’re excited to be welcoming so many new players to The Sims 4 when it becomes free to play on October 18th! We thought we’d welcome new fans to the franchise with some “Back to Basics” guides covering aspects of the base game that new players might need help with! Today, we’re going over careers and how to make a living in the base game!
How to Join a Career
When you first start playing, you’ll have to decide how your Sims are going to make those simoleons to spend on new items and nights out on the town. The most straight forward way of making money in The Sims is by joining a career!
To join a career, use the cell phone and choose the Business app to find a job. Scroll through the list of available jobs and select one that you think suits your Sim. If you join a career and decide you don’t like it, you can always quit and start a new job, but beware! Quitting a job and starting a new one means you’ll start at the bottom of the career ladder again!
Gaining Promotions
When you start a new Sims 4 career, you’ll begin at the entry level position. You’ll need to earn promotions to make it all the way to the top of your career and start making serious cash.
Open the career panel on the bottom right of the screen in Live Mode to see the requirements for gaining a promotion. You’ll see your work performance, daily tasks, and promotion requirements all listed here, as well as information about your work hours and pay.
To gain a promotion, your work performance bar needs to be maxed out with a gold checkmark next to it and all promotion requirements need to be met. You can increase your work performance by going to work in a positive emotional state and finishing your daily work tasks each day before your next shift starts.
However, even with a maxed out performance bar and completed daily tasks, you won’t get that promotion unless the promotion requirements have also been met. Promotion requirements usually revolve around building skills tied to that career. For example, an athlete will need to build the Fitness skill, and a writer will need to work on their Writing skill. Make sure you pay attention to the promotion requirements and work on those to advance.
Most careers have 10 promotion levels, except for freelance and part-time careers.
Decide How You Work
For inactive careers where your Sim disappears off the lot for the duration of their shift, you have the option to change how they behave at work by clicking on their portrait in the bottom panel. Some work modes will improve performance but at the cost of making your Sim stressed. Others lower work performance but offer other benefits, like increased Social need.
Sims 4 Career Branches
All inactive careers have two branches. Once your Sim advances far enough in an inactive career, they’ll be able to choose which branch of the career they want to pursue. For example, the Culinary career will allow you to pursue either the Chef or Mixologist branch at later levels, and the Entertainer career will allow you to decide whether you want to be a Musician or a Comedian.
Each career branch comes with its own unique rewards and salary, so choose the branch you feel will be most advantageous for your Sim… or just the most fun. It’s totally up to you!
Career Rewards
You may unlock new objects and clothing pieces as you climb your career ladder. Many of these objects have emotional auras so remember to place them in your Sim’s work space and enable their aura. Being near those objects will help put your Sim in an emotional state that’s helpful for building skills related to that career!
Other rewards may include new social interactions with other Sims that can increase friendship or offer you a way to make some extra money outside your working hours.
Types of Careers in The Sims 4
Not every career is the same! There are different types of careers, even in the base game. Some careers are inactive careers, others are work-from-home careers, and some are part-time or freelance careers. Knowing how each type of career works will help you select a career that’s right for your Sim’s ifestyle.
Inactive Careers
Inactive careers are hands-off careers. Your Sim will disappear off the lot at the start of their shift and won’t return home until the end of their shift. If you’re playing with a single Sim, this might be kind of boring, as you won’t be able to do much while they’re at work, but if you have a large family of Sims, inactive careers can be a great way to get some Sims out of your hair for a while so you can focus on other family members.
Work From Home
Work from home careers allow you to work remotely. An hour before your shift starts, you’ll be able to choose whether you want to send your Sim to work alone (inactive career) or work from home. If you work from home, you’ll receive a set of tasks you’ll need to complete in your own time before your next shift starts. Work from home career tasks are usually quick to complete so if your Sim values their free time, choosing a work from home career will allow them to make easy money and have most of the day to themselves.
Freelance Sims 4 Careers
Freelancers work on their own schedule from the comfort of their home. After joining the Freelance career, you can select the agency you wish to work with. This will determine what kind of freelancer your Sim will be. Your Sim can be a freelance writer, programmer, or artist.
Freelancers have no work schedule; instead, they rely on paid gigs for their income. They can take as many or as few gigs as they want to suit their lifestyle. Look for freelance gigs on the computer and complete them to earn simoleons for each gig you complete.
Freelancers don’t get promotions but they do make more money per gig based on their skill level and reputation as a freelancer. Improve your reputation by meeting your gig deadlines consistently.
Part-Time Jobs
Part-Time careers can be joined by both teens and adults. Unlike the other standard careers, part-time careers only have three promotion levels but you get to choose your work hours. Each part-time career has a morning and afternoon shift. When you join a part-time career, you can select whether you want the morning or afternoon shift. Teens may be restricted to a specific shift due to their school hours.
Sims can have two part-time jobs at a time, provided their shifts for each job do not conflict with each other. Otherwise, part-time jobs are the same as the standard inactive careers; your Sim will disappear off the lot for their shift and will have daily tasks and promotion requirements to complete in order to advance.
Active Careers and Odd Jobs
Since we know we’re going to get swamped with comments telling us we forgot about these job types if we don’t at least mention them, we’re going to make a note about them here.
Active careers are specific to the Get To Work expansion pack. You can follow your Sim to work at an active career lot. If you do not own the Get To Work expansion, you will not have access to these careers.
Odd Jobs are specific to the Island Living expansion pack. Your Sim can look for odd jobs to complete whenever they feel like making a bit of extra cash. If you do not own the Island Living expansion, you will not have access to these jobs.
This guide is aimed at helping new players who have just downloaded the base game for free. We want to focus on helping them navigate through all of the base game’s content, so we will not be covering these careers in this particular guide.
Sims 4 Base Game Career List
Below is a list of every career available in The Sims 4 base game and what type of career they are so you can pick a career with a schedule that’s right for your Sim.
[table id=107 /]
Looking for Career Guides from previous The Sims 4 DLC releases? Don’t worry, we have it all covered on our website!
If none of the above careers sound appealing to you, you might be interested to know that your Sim doesn’t necessarily need to have a career at all in order to make a living. You can make a living on your own terms through various skills without ever having to hold down a job. In some cases, these alternative options can be far more lucrative than a 9-5 job.
You can register as self-employed at any time by using the cell phone and choosing Register with the Ministry of Labour in the Business app. You can pick your own job title and description. Having a self-employed job title does not track your income but it will prevent the game from treating your Sim like they are unemployed if they don’t have a standard career.
Self-employed Sims can make money through many different skills. Here’s a few examples of ways your Sim can work for themselves in the base game!
Gardening: Gardeners can sell their fresh produce and flowers for a pretty penny, especially if they can graft rarer combinations of plants!
Writing: Become a novelist on your own schedule and write and publish novels whenever you want! The higher your Writing skill, the better books you can write, which means more royalty money!
Any Musical Skill: If your Sim can play the piano, guitar, or violin, consider paying a visit to a community lot to give impromptu performances for tips. At level 8 of these skills, you’ll also be able to write and license songs, which will provide you with daily royalty income.
Handiness: If your Sim is good with their hands, why not buy a woodworking table and start carving your own sculptures and furniture to sell?
Fishing: If you’re a skilled angler and know all the best fishing spots, consider turning your fishing hobby into a full-time career by selling your fish you’ve caught!
Collecting: Avid collectors can scour each world for all kinds of valuables to sell. Crystals, metals, fossils, and more are out there waiting to be discovered! Or collect space prints and microscope prints from home!
Video Gaming: Got the skills to go pro? Prove it by entering video game tournaments on the computer and winning sweet cash prizes!
Programming: Want to make some extra cash on the side as a programmer? Build this skill to be able to take on side gigs, or design your own app or video game!
Trick or Treat your Sim with these delicious The Sims 4 Custom Foods
There can never be enough food options in The Sims 4! From custom ingredients to custom recipes, it’s amazing to see what the Recipe and Harvestable The Sims 4 modding community has to offer. Today we will be featuring food from three talented creators: KingZace, Robin, and Icemunmun.
For more information about each food or drink, visit the Creator’s website!
Serving Sizes: Single and Party Sizes (8 servings) Skills Needed: Cooking Level 1 and Vampire Lore Level 3 Ingredients: Plasma Fruit and Skulls
Important Information: This dish is for Vampires and non-vampires will get sick if they eat it.
SCCO: If you use Srsly’s Complete Cooking Overhaul, the dish will be in the Customs Menu > Occults > Vampires > Main Dishes or Appetizers Menu. Without SCCO: The dish will be found within the regular Cook Menu or the group cooking menu.
Dine Out: This dish is available at restaurants
DLC Requirements: Vampires Game Pack
Important Note: Download only one version of the recipe depending on whether or not you have Srsly’s Complete Cooking Overhaul installed.
Serving Size: Single serving Non-Alcoholic Special Diets: Vegetarian-Safe, Lactose Free Ingredients: Optional SCCO ingredients any lactose free milk, any sugar, and flavor extract Menu: Make Custom Drink > Make Bar Drinks
Pumpkin Juice:
Serving Size: Single, Family, and Party Sizes Non-Alcoholic Special Diets: Vegetarian-Safe, Lactose Free Ingredients: Optional EA “Any Pumpkin” and SCCO any sugar Menu: Make Custom Drink > Make Bar Drinks
Toadstool Tea:
Serving Size: Single Serving Non-Alcoholic Special Diets: Vegetarian-Safe, Lactose Free Ingredients: Optional EA “Any Mushroom” Menu: Make Custom Drink > Make Bar Drinks
Translations
All three have Italian translations included; translated by Robin.
Important Note: These food items REQURE the latest version of Robin’sfood enabler object.
Give ’em pumpkin to talk about!
Three exciting Halloween Drinks! Download them for FREE on Robin’s Patreon.
Serving Size: Single, Family, and Party Sizes Special Diets: Vegetarian-Safe, Lactose Free Ingredients: Optional SCCO Any Eggs, Any Sugar and Lactose Free Milk, and Icemunmun Orange Menu: Make Custom Food > Make Dessert
Creepy Eyeball Macarons:
Serving Size: Single, Family, and Party Sizes Special Diets: Vegetarian-Safe, Lactose Free Ingredients: Optional SCCO Any Sugar and Any Eggs, Icemunmun Green Apple, and EA Blueberry Menu: Make Custom Food > Make Dessert
Red Velvet Vampire Cupcakes:
Serving Size: Single, Family, and Party Sizes Special Diets: Vegetarian-Safe, Lactose Free Ingredients: Optional SCCO Any Sugar and Any Eggs, Any Lactose Free Milk, Baking Chocolate, Flavor Extract and Any Flour Menu: Make Custom Food > Make Dessert
Chocolate Orange Black Cat Cupcakes:
Serving Size: Single, Family, and Party Sizes Special Diets: Vegetarian-Safe, Lactose Free Ingredients: Optional SCCO Any Sugar and Any Eggs, Any Lactose Free Milk, Baking Chocolate, Flavor Extract and Any Flour, and Icemunmun orange Menu: Make Custom Food > Make Dessert
Translations
All three have Italian translations included; translated by Robin.
Important Note: These food items REQURE the latest version of Robin’sfood enabler object.
Love at first bite!
Some spooky treats for Spooky Day! Download Halloween Desserts Set by Robin for FREE!
Important Note About Custom Ingredients: Custom Ingredients are optional. Recipes can still be cooked or baked without the required ingredients.
Where to Find the Recipes? Menu: Custom Bake Menu on Fridge and Stove (from Custom Food Interactions), and toddler menus. It is also available under Desert menus Restaurant: Appears in the restaurant menu under Dessert with Dine Out Installed
Other Important Information: Compatible With: Cottage Living, Group Cooking, Simple Living Lot Challenge, Snowy Escape, Freegan Trait, Discover University, Realm of Magic, City Living, Toddlers, Pets, Parenthood Vegetarian Safe Base Game Compatible No Known Conflicts
Servings: Single and Party Sizes Skill Needed: Cooking skill– Level 6
Custom Ingredients (Optional): Cocoa Vanilla Egg Any Fruit
Important Note About Custom Ingredients: Custom Ingredients are optional. Recipes can still be cooked or baked without the required ingredients.
Where to Find the Recipes? Menu: Custom Bake Menu on Fridge and Stove (from Custom Food Interactions), and toddler menus. It is also available under Desert menus Restaurant: Appears in the restaurant menu under Dessert with Dine Out Installed
Other Important Information: Compatible With: Freegan Trait, Discover University, Realm of Magic, City Living, Toddlers, Pets, Parenthood Vegetarian Safe Base Game Compatible No Known Conflicts
Built into Srsly’s Complete Cooking Overhaul (with the ability to use them without the main mod coming soon), these Occult foods are perfect for any Occult save! Is your Vampire family holding a Halloween Bash? Make sure your fanged family are fed their favorite Plasma Fruit Pudding!
Plasma Fruit Sushi
DLC Requirements: Base Game and Get to Work Important Notes: Make sure to remove any files for packs you do not own. Do not touch the way the files are organized and make sure the script mods are only one folder deep.
READ MOD INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE INSTALLING
Vampires hate peaches, but they love neck-tarines!
PlantSims, Vampires, and Mermaids finally have their own food! Try out Srsly’s Complete Cooking Overhaul for these changes and so much more!
It’s that time of year again! It’s time to get spooky!
With Spooky Season well on the way, we thought it would be the perfect time to share a new community challenge!
Having taken a short break with our Sims Community Challenges, we are excited to be back with this Create a Sim orientated challenge for you all!
We want to see you get creative and make the spookiest Sims you can. You can find everything you need to know below!
Part One
Create A Spooky Sim!
This can be an individual Sim, two Sims or your current family. Any Sim that you want to use! Just no more than eight Sims in total.
Part Two
Take your best spooky screenshot!
Challenge Rules
One entry per person
You can use any packs that you own
Custom Content is allowed
Poses may be used for your screenshot
Screenshots must be family friendly
Once you have completed both of these steps, you can submit your entries by one of the two following ways.
Twitter – upload your image to Twitter using the hashtag #SCSpooky!
Discord – head over to our Discord server and head to the Spooky Sims Channel, which you can find under the Announcements & News category. Make sure to upload your image with the caption #SCSpooky! Any images without the hashtag will not be included in the showcase post.
Click the button below to join The Sims Community Discord
Closing date for entries: Tuesday 25th October 2022 at 10am PST/6pm BST/ 7PM CET. The Spotlight post will be released shortly after entries have closed. Don’t worry, it will be in plenty of time for Halloween!
If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below, or head over to our The Sims Community Challenge channel on our Discord server! If you aren’t a member of our Discord Server, you can click here to join.
Good luck, have fun, and we can’t wait to see your spooktacular creations!
Talented builders have recreated Atlantica from Little Mermaid, a bite sized Disneyland and more! Check out the highlights
I’ve had everything Disney living rent-free in my mind 24/7 ever since I started playing Disney Dreamlight Valley. Readers who are familiar with my articles will know that I love doing crossovers between my current interests and The Sims! Right now, my current interest is Disney, so I set out to find some of the coolest Disney-themed builds on the Gallery and share them with you.
And so, our magical journey begins! Once upon a time…
Disney Belle Cottage
Creator: wizardofozz1988
I didn’t even need to read the title to instantly recognise this cottage as Belle’s home from Beauty and the Beast. The attention to all the little details really makes this a recognisable Disney build, from the animal pen on the side of the house to the stairs leading up to the elevated first level of the home, to the storm cellar doors at the front of the house. It’s like this fairy tale cottage leapt right out of the film and into our games!
While we sadly can’t actually dive into the sea to see Atlantica, this talented builder has brought Atlantica to the surface for us to admire on land! This dreamy, whimsical castle with countless turrets and schools of fish swimming around its many towers looks like a scene straight out of The Little Mermaid! It’s definitely getting me hyped for the new live-action film coming next year!
Let it go, let it goooooo! Okay, okay, the song is a little overplayed but we’ll never let this ice palace go! Frozen is one of my favourite Disney films and Elsa is one of my favourite Disney princesses so seeing her iconic ice palace come to life in my favourite game is all kinds of awesome! I am seriously obsessed with how this creator used glass bottles and decorative crystals to recreate Elsa’s shimmering palace of ice!
Lady and the Tramp is an undeniable Disney classic and so is the traditional Victorian home Lady resided in with her human family, the Darlings. And what a darling home this is. It looks just like Lady’s home from the film and is another build that’s so well done, I didn’t even need to read the title to recognize it.
Speaking of instantly recognisable builds, I don’t think it’s too hard for anyone to guess where this house is from. If the balloons coming out of the chimney didn’t give it away, already, this is the iconic house from Disney Pixar’s film, Up. The colours are on point and so are the unmistakable balloons and white picket fence. Adventure is everywhere in this build and we can’t wait to find it!
Feeling like a trip to Disney but travel is a nightmare right now? Honestly, same. That’s why I’ll be taking my Sims to Disney, instead! This absolutely incredible recreation of Main Street from Disneyland California is just too stunning for words. The castle and the surrounding shops and attractions all look identical to the real thing. Are we absolutely sure that THIS isn’t the real Disneyland? I can’t tell the difference!
Perceptive Simmers touring Warner Brothers’ Studios noticed an interesting setup that seemed to be for some sort of Sims-related production. All we know about the project is that EA seemed to have been filming some kind of commercial for the game. But for what purpose?
Since nobody knows, we’re just going to make up whatever the heck we want!
1. A Secret Society Meeting
Maybe it wasn’t a commercial at all. Maybe it was a secret society meeting for EA and Maxis employees only. The Simuminati, if you will. Their mission? To cover up the truth about Bella Goth’s disappearance! Their strategy? To hide in plain sight where no one would suspect a secret society to gather, such as Warner Brothers’ Studios. It’s all one big conspiracy!
2. The Ultimate Simulation
It’s often been said that perhaps we are the ones living inside a simulation and maybe there’s some truth to that. Why, it all makes sense now! Why else would The Sims spring to life right here in the real world? Are we even in the real world at all? What if WE are all Sims living in a simulation controlled by the Simuminati?! Think about it!
3. Our Very Own Lab Grown Bella Goth
Image Credit: Rémi Marocelli
Alright, alright, maybe it is actually a commercial… to announce EA’s latest cloning technology! That’s right; they have found a way to clone digital people into real humans by combining DNA from llamas and their newly bred, top-secret cowplants in petri dishes within a highly controlled lab environment. And who better to clone into a real human than the most iconic figure to ever exist in The Sims than Bella Goth herself? Nailed it. We’re totally psychic.
4. The Sims: Bust-A-Move
Forget The Sims 5! The newest commercial is definitely for EA’s upcoming Sims title, The Sims: Bust-A-Move. In this thrilling dancing simulator, you, the player dance through over 9000 intense urban levels with newly-retconned Bob Pancakes, who is now a buff dance instructor who wants to put his lazy ways behind him and inspire others through the power of dance. How inspirational!
5. Project Sims Sessions!
A real-life Sims themed setup at a big studio can only mean one thing: Sims Sessions is coming to the real world, oh yeah! After the success of the in-game Sims Sessions last summer, EA decided to go even bigger and launch Project Sims Sessions! A three-day musical festival in the middle of Warner Brothers Studios parking lot, featuring big headliners like lab-grown Bella Goth, performing her smash hit single, Shashoobie Flahoopsinarb! Oh, did we forget to mention? All the acts will be sung entirely in Simlish for authenticity. And the currency for all the food and drinks is simoleons so good luck trying to get that converted at the bank. But we’re sure it’ll be great!
What do you think is going on at Warner Brothers Studio? Wrong answers only!
Relive the timeless fashion of Daphne Blake through The Daphne Collection!
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You premiered in 1969 featuring Fred, Velma, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo, and Daphne. Through the many iterations, there have been animated tv shows, comic books and live-action movies including the two live-action movies.
Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne Blake in Scooby Doo (2002) and Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), these movies had Daphne in clothing from a high fashion event to a tropical island. All in her iconic purple wardrobe.
Most importantly, the names of these items are spot on. This whole collection was made by someone who is a fan and not just someone who needed a theme. Vulrien-Sims mentions possibly doing a part 2 to the collection and I hope they do because I’ve enjoyed this collection a lot!
“A collection of chic and glamorous outfits, your sim will find the perfect ensemble for any occasion, be it a sunny getaway to the exotic paradise of Spooky Island, a team meeting at Mystery Inc. Headquarters, or attending a high-profile opening at the Coolsonian Criminology Museum.”
(From Vulrien-Sims’ Patreon Post)
How Close Did Vulrien-Sims Get?
Of course, we aren’t expecting an exact replica, but here’s a gallery of photos from the original movies in case people do not remember Daphne’s wardrobe or have not seen the movie at all.
12 New CAS Items (this includes a recolor of AH00B’s Alice Headband)
33 Swatches for each clothing item
20 EA Color Hair Swatches
Base Game Compatible
All LODS
Custom Thumbnails for the first swatch
Important Information
When using Reshade, make sure to turn of MXAO if sim is wearing the Fashionista Jacket. It looks better with it turned off.
Although this is “The Daphne Collection”, not every swatch is purple.
Credits
Credits: Thank you to Serenity-CC for letting me use their Amanda Hair as a base, to AH00B for letting me use their Alice Headband, and to HappyLifeSims, Marigold (Fashionista Jacket is an edit/retexture of their mesh).
A couple who loves each other dearly may have no choice but to part ways due to culture clash. Is love truly enough?
Welcome to our tenth official Story Starter Kit! If you missed all the info on Story Starter Kits, you can read more about what they are and how they work in our introductory article!
This month, we’re bringing you a young farmer, his wife, and their young son and dog. If it seems too cozy and perfect to be true, well… it might be.
City Girl Blues
When Maisie left her fast-paced life in the big city to marry a young, handsome farm boy, she envisioned a cozy life of floral patterned dresses with cute floppy hats, picnics in fragrant meadows, and afternoon tea parties with all the other local wives where they nibbled on biscuits and gossiped about so-and-so’s outlandish new hairstyle.
She did not envision being woken at dawn every day by roosters, walking out her front door and breathing in the stench of cow dung, mud ruining her brand new designer heels, or every square inch of her home having a permanent layer of dust no matter how many times she cleaned it. She misses all the convenience of her old life in the city. She misses her spa membership, half-caf caramel soy lattes with a half pump of vanilla, being able to eat cuisine from all over the world within a two block radius of home, shopping sprees, and all the concerts, museum exhibits, and theatre productions. It doesn’t help that she’s having a hard time making friends outside of her husband in her new home; small towns are cliquey and those other wives she’d hoped to have tea with aren’t keen on welcoming some high falutin’ city slicker into their circle.
Some days, Maisie fantasizes about packing her bags and running back to everything familiar to her, but she knows she could never go through with it. She loves Jack dearly and their baby boy, Asher. Jack’s the only person who’s ever made her feel special in a way that designer clothes and expensive jewellery couldn’t. He treats her like a queen and she knows he tries so hard to make her happy by treating her to nice things from home whenever he can. She appreciates him more than she could ever express to him. And when Jack has to leave her alone in the house all day to work the farm, Asher keeps a smile on her face. She loves being his mom.
Poor Jack doesn’t know what to do to make the woman he adores happy. He can’t sell the farm; it’s been his family’s legacy for generations and his life’s wish is to pass it on to Asher one day, but he can’t stand seeing his wife so isolated and ostracized from the rest of the town. If she could just get out of the house more and make some friends of her own, he thinks she could thrive here. Maybe he could get her to take an interest in farm work? Unlikely, but a possibility. Or perhaps he could find some type of local club or group for her to join! Like the Finchwick Fair Planning Committee or a cross stitch club!
Will Maisie find things to love about her new home and make the connections she longs for, or will the homesickness be too much for her and lead a loving marriage to ruin?
EverydayFormalAthletic (Asher pictured in Everyday)SleepwearPartySwimwearHot WeatherCold Weather
Other Info:
Jack Fields
Age: Young Adult
Pronouns: He/Him
Romantic Interests: Women
WooHoo Interests: Women
Romantic Exploration?: No
Traits: Family-Oriented, Loves the Outdoors, Animal Enthusiast, Collector (Bonus)
Packs Used: Cottage Living, Seasons, Cats & Dogs, Spa Day
Lola Fields
Species: Dog
Breed: Beagle
Gender: Female
Spayed/Unspayed: Unspayed
Traits: Vocal, Loyal, Active
Household Notes:
This household should be able to purchase their lot with their default starting funds. Make sure you import the family into CAS, then move them in. If you move them into a home straight from the Gallery, they will not have the funds I set for them.
Pastoral Pampering
This ramshackle but cozy home started out as a one-room shack back when Theodore Fields first purchased the land back in 1902. As the farm around it flourished over generations, multiple additions were made to the home room-by-room. Now, it’s a charming little place for a small family to live modestly but comfortably.
Lot Info:
Lot Type: Residential
Price: §50,397
Size: 50×50
Beds: 2
Baths: 1
Lot Traits: None
Lot Challenges: Simple Living
Packs Used: Cottage Living, Seasons, Cats & Dogs, Spa Day, Get Together
Your Story Starter Kit is waiting for you! Get The Household and The Lot by downloading them from the official Gallery Website linked on the buttons below. Or, follow SnarkyWitch in the Gallery and look for City Girl Blues and Pastoral Pampering!
Players have shared their fondest of memories related to the game!
Earlier this month, The Sims 4 celebrated its eight birthday. The past twelve months has seen a wave of new content added into the game through both through free updates and paid content.
The Game had a long tenure of new Updates and DLC Releases that we’ve covered in our The Sims 4 Timeline.
Sims 4 Releases in the last 12 Months
Here is a quick recap of some of the new content we’ve seen over that time!
In honour of the game’s birthday, we took to Twitter to ask members of the community what some of their memories were from the game.
The Sims 4 recently celebrated its 8th birthday! What are some of your memories, both good, bad or funny from over the years? Reply to this tweet to have a chance to be featured in an upcoming post over on @TheSimCommunity#TheSims
Be it good, bad or funny, here is what the community had to say!
One of my favorite memories is when the gallery came to consoles. I downloaded sooooooo many builds that day to replace soooooo many lots. Back then, I had to copy speed builds if I wanted the lot in my game. This took so many hours!
Honesly when I first started the game I didn’t understand why my builds were so dark lol like Ithought something was wrong with the game… I had to learn the hard way that you had to actually put LIGHTS in to see anything. I’m talking about like the first couple days I played lol
I remember the first time I played the game during the pandemic I was so inexperienced but now I’m really proud of the things I create! Here is an example
I remember when Vampires came out I made two vampires to form a family, didn’t remember that vampires dies when exposed to sunlight, one of them died while the other was pregnant with their children; decides to add Grim to the Family and then had triplets for the first time ever
One reply to our Tweet that did make me laugh was this one from Miss Bunny. For a lot of us, I’m sure we will remember the reveal of the Ball Pit from The Sims 4 Toddler Stuff, but we don’t talk about that any more!
The toddler ball pit reminds me of that Tumblr convention ball pit, which I think is hilarious but terrible
With so many replies, looking back and reminiscing on various memories from events that have happened in game, discovering a variety of custom content and mods, storytelling, making lifelong friends, it is no wonder that The Sims 4 is still widely popular eight years on.
For myself, there are a lot of stand out moments from the past eight years that I could choose from. However, one in particular was rediscovering a back-up of an old save of one of my families from early 2017. It must have been from around the time that Toddlers were added to the game, but it also included some very early builds from when I was learning to build properly and experimenting with different ideas.
I thought I’d lost all my old back-ups when my computer had broken, so I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled across this one day. While I’m not currently playing with this save, I’m hoping to do so again soon!
Do you have any standout memories from playing The Sims 4? Let us know in the comments below!
What is the commercial all about? We don’t know what it looks like yet other than the real life grafitti that were left on the walls of the Studios.
Considering that the grafitti features a Sims 4 Plumbob along with some iconic Simlish catchphrases, we can only guess that it was just one of the ways for EA to celebrate the upcoming big things for the game. Either Project Sunrise, The Sims 4 Base Game going Free, or both?
We don’t know quite yet, but we are eager to find out!
Several hours of delightful insanity were experienced today and I have no regrets.
For whatever unexplainable reason, I woke up today yearning to experience The Sims 1 all over again. Granted, this isn’t a super uncommon desire for me; I have The Sims Complete Collection installed with heaps of CC and mods and revisit it semi-regularly, but it’s been a hot minute since I’ve delved back into it.
Usually, I have a goal in mind but today, I really wanted to just make a Sim, plop ’em down wherever, and see where fate decided to take me. Naturally, I documented everything to share with you.
This is how that playthrough went.
Create-A-Witch
Oh, Sims 1 Create-A-Sim… There’s something so charming about your total lack of well, anything, really. But the personality point system was pretty sweet, not gonna lie.
And oh, look! I see all my broken CC is still here to haunt my nightmares after all this time. Hello, headless body.
I slapped a head on my Sim that I’m pretty sure is custom content and a body that I know for a fact is from Makin’ Magic, put together a less-than-stellar but highly accurate personality for myself and off I went! To Old Town! Because none of the towns had actual names back then. Also, Old Town was the only home town you could start in, even though you can eventually live in Magic Town if you scrape up enough MagiCoins.
Gotta Spend Money to Make Money
I moved Sim Snarky into the same house I always move into because it’s the cheapest house which leaves you with the most funds to spend on expensive things right away. Any OG Simmer knows that having good quality stuff is way more important in this game than in later Sims titles because your motives deplete super fast and good quality objects are the only way to make that bearable.
I splurged big time on the bed, the kitchen appliances, and went a bit upscale on the living room chair as well so they would not only increase motives fast but also the room score, which will save me money on decorating. I also deleted all of the plants on the lot apart from trees because plants actually need to be watered and I am not about that life, no thank you.
Oh and let’s not forget the flamingo army in the front yard because it’s cheap outdoor décor, which is important for going to work in a good mood and getting promoted. See? I’m a total pro at this game.
With the house looking completely ridiculous but otherwise all set up for Snarky’s success, it was time to get a job and meet some Sims!
OMW to Steal Your Girl
The only job in the paper is for the military career track which is both the worst and best career ever for Snarky. It’s the worst because it requires getting up early and exercising, but it’s the best because it pays the most and doesn’t require very many friends to get promoted. Sure, we’ll take that.
I was bummed that my flamingo empire did very little to boost the outdoor room score until Mystery Man showed up with his mystery box. Snarky opened it up and got herself a magic for beginners kit which for some reason boosted the room score outside immensely??? Well, okay, I guess all that stuff is staying out in the yard for all the neighbours to gawk at.
Oh look! Here come the Goths! In strangely fancy clothes which I’m sure I put them in at some point in the distant past. Let’s see if my winning personality will be enough to befriend them.
Welp. Turns out giving compliments counts as flirting in this game so I apparently flirted with Bella in front of Mortimer, which made him slap me and then Bella consoled him while I cried. Off to a great start. Really knocked that out of the park.
For some reason, all was easily forgiven as soon as I started talking to them about magic. I’m pretty sure I also made them both witches at some point so that tracks. Unfortunately, magic was all they’d talk to me about. They hated everything else I tried to do with them and eventually, my unbearable presence drove Mortimer to madness. I mean, why else would he randomly start talking to his wife through a sock puppet?
Seriously, what is going on???
Back to the Grind
After miraculously being able to somewhat salvage my relationship with the Goths due to our shared interest in magic, it was time to prepare for for work and get some skills out of the way. My experience with this game has taught me never to touch a stove without at least level 2 Cooking skill or you will burn down your house. Goal #1 sorted.
Goal #2 was just to go to work in a good mood because Snarky didn’t actually need any skills, yet. So far, so good. She’s got awesome objects to ensure awesome motives… ONLY TO HAVE A FREAKING RACCOON RUMMAGE THROUGH HER TRASH IN THE NIGHT AND LEAVE GARBAGE EVERYWHERE, TANKING HER ROOM SCORE AS SHE LEFT FOR WORK AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!
But shockingly, she still got promoted anyway? You know what? I won’t complain.
After purchasing an exercise machine to build her Body skill for work, Snarky was left with exactly 666 simoleons, which I’m starting to feel is an omen because I discovered Snarky’s favourite TV channel is horror.
*terrified screaming* HAHA! BRAVO! *CLAP CLAP*
Romance? Blech. Cartoons? Ugh. Action? Boring. The sound of chainsaws and people screaming? HILARIOUS! Music to my ears! Inspirational!
Another promotion in the bag and this time, we need to work on Mechanical and Charisma. Gotta love The Sims for being the only game out there where you can improve your people skills by talking to yourself in a mirror.
Magic Town is Terrifying
Snarky did not get promoted to level 4 like I wanted after her next shift, which I was mad about until I realised she was still one Charisma point short. Okay, that one’s on me, I guess. Fair enough. She did, however, make almost 1,000 simoleons just for answering the phone so that was cool.
I don’t remember entering any such contest and this smells like a scam but sure, here’s my credit card number.
With a few promotions under her belt and some money in her wallet, it was time for Snarky to explore and see the world. Except not actually because vacations are hella expensive and time consuming, but that mysterious hole in her yard must lead somewhere, right? GERONIMO!
So we are now in Magic Town at the most terrifying carnival I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m not sure if we’re about to have the time of our lives or get murdered by a deranged clown in some kind of twisted funhouse but either way, sounds eventful. Let’s go!
The Sims giving solid life advice? What universe is this?!
After getting a strangely profound and useful fortune at the fortune telling booth, Snarky could not run fast enough to the carnival rides. No seriously, I clicked on them and she booked it to that little roller coaster cart faster than I’ve ever seen her run to the carpool for work.
This absolutely insane carnival ride tried to murder her several times but nearly drowning, suffocating inside a clown’s brain full of colourful balls, and being shot out of a cannon was apparently thrilling to Snarky. She had the time of her life. You know what? I don’t know why I’m surprised given the fact that chainsaws and screaming make her laugh with sheer delight.
Add setting an old lady on fire to the list of horrifying things Snarky finds exhilarating
After surviving that deathtrap, I thought we’d end things here with a big finale. A magic duel against Cornelia Goth! If memory serves me correctly, the magic duels in this game are like a rock, paper, scissors thing where some spells trump other spells and picking a better spell than your opponent is how you win.
Let’s electrocute her for good measure!
I had no idea which spells were the better ones but I kinda guessed using common sense, such as water and lightning? Bad combo. Try a tornado. Somehow, I was very good at that and Snarky completely kicked this poor old lady’s butt in every round.
“I WIN! I WIN!” Yes, Snarky, but at what cost?
I’m starting to become a little bit scared of my Sim, if I’m being honest, so I decided maybe it’s best to just save here and leave her to her own maniacal devices where she can’t come through the screen and kill me… I hope…
Today, the modders have done a full reveal and let me just say that they have exceeded my expectations!
The Sims 4 Spiral Stairs Mod
What thought was difficult to develop has now been brought by this talented modding team.
Thepancake1 and MizoreYukii have crafted the Spiral Staircase Mod for the game with special care and attention towards details (and technical challenges).
The Spiral Stairs Mod functions just like you would expect: you place down the stairs and you go up and down.
Absolutely magical – right?
You’ll be able to give your rooms extra space with a modern, rounded twist.
The functionality of the Mod has been best described by modders in their FAQ Post:
Surprise! Announcing Project Spiral, a base game compatible functional spiral staircase mod with animations that doesn’t use elevators or other teleportation systems to work. It is currently in alpha testing since some features are still being investigated and worked on, and because it is a new system that needs extra testers to identify bugs we may have missed.
This is a project we started back in November and had immediate success with, but delayed announcing or hinting as we wanted to see what else could be done with the system and how close we could get to EA’s stair/ladder system. Unfortunately, it’s fairly hardcoded, but we’re quite happy with what we’ve done so far to replicate the system!
How does it work?
Though these spiral stairs are objects, they have a floor cutout that auto-applies upon placing down and will move with the stairs wherever you move it (or in case you accidentally move the cutout), making it work similarly to EA’s ladders/stairs. After placing the stairs down in build mode you are done, and sims can now use it automatically when needing to travel between floors. No need to click the stairs or do anything else, it functions like EA’s system.
The only thing we could not replicate so far was the auto height adjustment ladders/stairs do when walls are set to a different height, though sims can still route to the upper floors without issue if a taller wall is used, but will have animation weirdness when doing so. Our current plan is to make different height versions that can be placed down instead.
Another thing we are working on is auto-removal of the cutout after deleting the stairs. Right now it must be manually deleted as well if you delete the stairs.
You can also place stairs directly above each other on each floor and sims will route with them continuously when going to higher floors!
As explained, the Mod is currently in alpha testing phase. Animations have been converted from The Sims 3 with appropriate adjustments for Sims 4 Sims.
Toddlers at the moment are still a nuance and are expected to have fully developed animations sometime in the future. When it comes to Pets, they are a bigger challenge to tackle than expected:
For the first version of this release we only focused on fixing the bugs we could find and converting and adjusting the child to elder animations. Toddlers will have animations added at a later date, and pets will soon get teleporting as well in case a house only has spiral stairs placed, then animations (hopefully) further down the line. Pets are more difficult and we’re not sure if we may encounter any issues with them.
So far the Spiral Stairs Mod is everything than expected – and more!
If you want to get it right now, know that you might still encounter some bugs and issues here and there as it’s currently still being developed by the modders.
If you want to get it right now, it’s available as Early Access on thepancake1 and MizoreYukii’s Patreon. Public Release has been scheduled for October 17th!
Gorgeous Collections and outfit inspirations for feminine Sims!
With the Summer coming to an end, I thought it would be fun to check out a few custom content collections that will help continue those Summer vibes in game!
A creator who came to mind straight away way Aretha! I’ve always loved her custom content and have been using various collections in my own game for some time, now. I felt that this would be the perfect way to share my love of her Summer Collection releases!
First up is the August Collection. This is an eight piece, Base Game compatible set featuring new Create a Sim options, hairs and accessories. As this is the last collection Aretha has made for the Summer, I’m excited to check it out in the near future!
The second collection that I’ve been loving is the Hot Girl Summer Set! This is another eight piece Base Game compatible set with a variety of new Create a Sim options.
It was actually the Kayla Necklace from this collection that caught my attention and made me take a closer look! I’ve loved pairing these items with various different in game items too!
The final collection from Aretha that I’ve loved takes things back to basics! With the collection appropriately named the Basics Collection, this is another collection that I’ve found hugely versatile with my Sims. With nine new Base Game compatible Create a Sim options, there is something for all Sims!
Each and every collection by Aretha is unique and really stands out when using the different items to create my own Sims. I’ve really enjoyed mixing and matching items from different sets to make even more looks for my Sims!
With so many great collections to chose from, I can’t wait to see what future collections Aretha has planned too!
You can download all the Custom Content by Aretha mentioned in this article and more, by clicking the link below!
You can download all the Custom Content by Aretha mentioned in this article and more, by clicking the link below!
