In the community, there are so many captivating storytellers. Whether you’re one of them or want to become one, there are templates and overlays to create more immersive photos. They are a great way to spice up your photos for your simstagram, simblr, or wherever you post your Sim’s photos.
Using the Polaroid PSD Template by witchytraits
Some of these templates include social media profiles and posts, texting conversations, video chats, video streaming, camera overlays, polaroids, yearbook templates, and numerous UI templates. There’s even a family tree template!
Using these templates requires basic knowledge of how to use photo editing software. But don’t let that scare you! There are plenty of tutorials online that can help you learn for free. And if you cannot afford Photoshop, GIMP is a free alternative with a similar function.
Simstagram Template by cilkey
We had so much fun testing out these templates that we created a list of our favorite templates, overlays, and filters for you to use!
What You Will Need:
GIMP(FREE), Photoshop, or a program that will read PSD files. Sims Screenshots Simlish Fonts Optional: Icons
No need to worry about prom dates anymore, now you can just take your friends!
A long requested feature from previous game, proms are back! SimGuruGeorge and SimGuruJessica did a deep dive livestream on Jul 15th going over the new features in the High School Years Expansion Pack. During the livestream, they went over prom and promposals, including the ability to go to prom with someone as friends.
In addition to the traditional romantic date, you now have the option to go to prom as friends. This option is both in the friendly menu and the Prom menu. And if your Sim is turned down after asking a Sim to the prom romantically, you can still ask them to go as friends, too. After they accept, the sims hug. This option will be great for the Socially Awkward sims, sims focusing on their studies, or sims not interested in romantic relationships.
Molly’s response when SimGuruJessica’s sim asked her to prom as a friend
Upgrade Copperdale High to a private school when High School Years launches!
As a generational player, I could not be more excited about the High School Years expansion. While I wish it wasn’t quite so USA-centric, the expansion is still pretty much everything I’ve wanted for my teenagers for the last eight years. Parenthood was a fun addition for teens but High School Years is going to blow Parenthood out of the water. I just can’t wait to get my hands on this expansion!
There was just one little problem for me, however. I’ve been playing my main save for so many years that all my Sims are descended from old money and in my head, I’ve always imagined my kids and teens attending very elite private schools thanks to their family’s wealth. Copperdale High, while a great public school build, was not the vibe I was looking for for my private school teens. So I set out to build Copperdale Prep Academy, the finest and most expensive private secondary school in the Sim world!
I saw in the livestream that Copperdale High is a 64×64 lot so I picked out a 64×64 lot and got to work building the fanciest private school I possibly could. I did not use any modded content but I did go crazy with packs and kits for this one. I really wanted to utilize everything I had available to me to create the feel I was going for.
I managed to find a screenshot of the high school lot requirements and focused on those necessary areas, first. I made sure there were two classrooms, a cafeteria area, and anything else necessary for a school to function (desks, washrooms, computers, etc).
On the first floor, there is a lobby as you walk inside with trophy cases and a grand staircase. To the left is the dining hall which currently has the barista station from Get Together but will have the necessary cafeteria object when the expansion comes out. To the right is the administrative section of the school. The main office is located here which connects to the headmaster/headmistress’ office. There are also washrooms in this section and a janitor’s closet. Stairs lead down to the basement level of the school, but we’ll tour the basement last.
In the north wing of the first floor is the gymnasium with a full basketball court, raised bleachers, and exits out to the back of the school where there are social areas for the teens during lunch and after classes.
Upstairs there is a large classroom set up for a business or economics class of some kind, a large library with a computer lab section and chess tables for the computer and chess clubs, and a debate podium for those aspiring valedictorians to perfect their graduation speeches. Or just argue with their classmates in an administration-approved setting. Whichever. In the west wing of the second floor is the art room and music room. The art room has both easels and digital sketch pads and the music room has just about every musical tool and instrument any top-notch high school might have.
Copperdale Prep Academy prides itself on its top-rated extra curricular facilities, like its indoor pool and photography studio with a dark room, both located in the basement, along with change rooms and a science lab which is the second functional classroom for this build. At least, it will be when High School Years comes out and it gets updated with the necessary objects.
It took two full days of building and would have taken much longer if I didn’t already have the gym, cafeteria, and classroom built as storytelling set rooms in my library, but Copperdale Prep Academy is finally ready to accept new students!
You can download Copperdale Prep Academy by clicking the button below or search Copperdale Prep Academy under the ID SnarkyWitch in the Gallery! If you like this build, I’d really appreciate it if you clicked the heart button and left a nice comment, too!
During the High School YearsDeep Dive Livestream, SimGuruGeorge and SimGuruJessica showed us the new ways that Sims can hang out. SimGuruJessica discussed the importance of more naturally being able to use beds and the importance of beds to teens in general.
They showed off a Sim sitting cross-legged and speaking to another Sim sitting on the bed.
You can also have two Sims pillow fight or have them sit on the floor cross-legged and talk. You will need to direct each Sim to sit individually. They did not mention if this will work with Sims outside the household.
With autonomy on, it will be difficult to have two Sims sit on the floor cross-legged at the same time, according to SimGuruGeorge. The Sims during the livestream did not stay on the ground for more than a few seconds which he attributed to autonomy.
Want the lore but don’t want to sift through the fragmented info scattered around Moonwood Mill? We’ve done it for you!
The Sims 4 Werewolves comes with the most extensive background lore we’ve ever seen in The Sims 4 to date. It answers so many questions about not just how Werewolves came to be, but Spellcasters and Vampires as well. The lore explains many mysteries that the fandom has mused about for years but it’s all scattered throughout different objects and locations in Moonwood Mill.
Piecing it all together into a cohesive narrative isn’t the easiest of tasks but we’ve managed to compile the vast majority of the town’s history from all of these fragments and put it all together in a timeline.
May we present… The Unabridged History of Moonwood Mill, by SnarkyWitch.
Ancient Times
Long ago, Moonwood Mill used to be an ancient Myshupotamian city. The Myshupotamians believed that the greatest minds of their society were reborn as wolves that howled to store their wisdom in the moon. As the moon moved through its waxing phases, the growing light each night represented the moon being filled with the wisdom of their wolf ancestors. On the night of the full moon when the moon had become full with this wisdom, the Myshupotamians wore wolf-masks and ceremoniously drew upon all of the moon’s stored wisdom. As the moon waned afterwards, the fading light represented the moon’s wisdom being dispersed amongst the people.
The Myshupotamians were also known for their ability to tame Cowplants. They used their Cowplant allies as stationary sentinels of defense to protect their people from threats. They also experimented with cross-breeding them to be mobile attack units; however, cross-breeding mobile Cowplants was a very difficult venture and they had limited success with this.
It is believed that the first Werewolves who would come later looked to the ancient Myshupotamians as their inspiration for harnessing the moon’s power.
The Original Mooncasters
In later times, a group of Spellcasters sought to use the moon’s powers as a means of enhancing their own magic. They took on wolf familiars and used the moon’s energy to draw upon their wolf’s nature and characteristics. These Spellcasters became the first Mooncasters. Records point to four individual Mooncasters as being the original Mooncasters: Greggorius Lunvik, Avalina Lunvik, Maria Volkov, and Yina Kia.
The four original Mooncasters performed a highly unstable spell from the Untamed school of magic atop Moonwood Mill’s Howling Point cliff to imbue themselves with the qualities of their wolf familiars. The spell was more powerful than they anticipated and caused an overload which transformed them into the first Werewolves. This overload also created the moonpetal flower and infused Lake Lunvik with lunar energy which in turn created the Luna Fish. Later, the moonpetal and the lunar waters would play a large role in the Mooncasters’ ceremonies. The newly born Werewolves embraced their new existence but each had a different view about what it truly means to be a Werewolf.
Greggorius’ (yes, THAT Greg’s) wolf familiar was named Brutus. Brutus was a fearsome alpha wolf and through him, Greggorius also adopted the beastly strength of his familiar. Avalina Lunvik was his wife and they were very close friends with their fellow Mooncaster, Yina Kia. However; Greggorius and Maria Volkov were often embroiled in intense disagreements with each other.
Avalina’s wolf familiar was named Gibby. Gibby had a special connection with the moon, which enhanced Avalina’s fascination with the night sky. She dedicated much of her life to studying the moon and the cosmos. She was convinced that her research would aid her husband’s efforts to experiment with his Fury.
Maria’s wolf familiar was named Verity. Verity had a distinguished, princely nature which enhanced Maria’s dedication to enrichment and diplomacy. She was often at odds with Greggorius and felt like Greggorius was just jealous of her ability to control her Fury. Maria’s husband was named John and their son is Kristopher Volkov, who is currently the Moonwood Collective’s alpha. Maria is also the author of A History of Moonwood Mill, one of the books that can be found at the Moonwood Mill library.
Yina Kia’s wolf familiar was named Renga. Renga had a love of adventure and passed his Wanderlust into Yina. Yina was married to a non-Werewolf named Emmy, who disliked her wife’s thrill-seeking nature and just wanted to settle down. Yina’s thirst for action led to her demise when she was killed by a Cowplant of the Moocasters (Not to be confused with Mooncasters; more on them shortly). Her best friend, Greggorius, was deeply affected by her death and Renga remained glued to Emmy’s side until his dying day.
Old records also name Kiyah, Logan, Mikal, and Wugbug as wolf familiars of the original Mooncasters. It’s unclear if these are aliases for Verity, Renga, Brutus, and Gibby. They may also be the familiars of other unnamed Mooncasters. It’s also possible that the game developers changed the names of the wolves midway through production and simply forgot to update the names in all text strings.
Operation Eternal Flame
One might say that the Spellcasters’ own hubris proved to be their downfall because they are responsible not just for the creation of the first Werewolves but also the first Vampires. Ultimately their mistakes led to the destruction of their own Realm and a centuries-long war that almost wiped them out of existence.
The Spellcasters were experimenting with creating duplicates of themselves but they became frustrated that these duplicates still needed food to survive. To try and maximize the efficiency of these duplicates, they fed them potions and in doing so, created monsters. The potions turned the duplicated Spellcasters into permanent mutations who turned on their creators, feasting upon them. The magical blood of the Spellcasters they consumed enhanced their strength and thus became the first Vampires. This event was the catalyst that started a grisly war between Spellcasters and Vampires.
In an effort to eradicate all the Spellcasters, the Vampires launched Operation Eternal Flame; a covert mission to turn every last Spellcaster into Vampires.
In response to Operation Eternal Flame, the Spellcasters divided into two groups; Mooncasters and Moocasters. Both drew inspiration from the ancient Myshupotamians and both were united in their efforts to thwart Operation Eternal Flame but their methods differed. While the Mooncasters focused on drawing down the power of the moon to amplify their powers, the Moocasters revived the Myshupotamian practice of taming and cross-breeding Cowplants to use as weapons against the Vampires. Unlike their ancient ancestors, the Moocasters had great success with cross-breeding their Cowplants.
At first, the Mooncasters and Moocasters enjoyed a prosperous alliance, working together to fight against the Vampires. The alliance fell apart when one of the original Mooncasters, Yina Kia, was killed by one of the Moocasters’ Cowplants during a joint defense mission. With the Spellcasters now at odds with each other, the Vampires gained the upper hand in the war and pushed the Spellcasters to the brink of extinction.
Near the end of Operation Eternal Flame, the last remaining Spellcasters attempted to harness unstable magic once again in desperation to save their kind. They derived a spell from the Untamed school that could cure every Vampire in the world. One spell that could reach across the globe and turn every Vampire human, wiping them out forever. The spell was too powerful and backfired on them, causing a massive overload that ripped The Magic Realm apart. To this day, The Magic Realm is still in fragmented pieces from this disastrous spell gone awry.
Modern Moonwood
As time passed and the Mooncasters had children, it became apparent that unlike other magical beings, Lycanthropy wasn’t guaranteed to be passed down through the generations. Some of the Mooncasters’ children were both with dormant wolf genes. These children sought out a way to awaken those dormant genes. They discovered that swimming in Lake Lunvik under a full moon would awaken the dormant wolf and complete their transformation.
Many years later, closer to modern times, refugees fleeing from conflict came to settle in Moonwood Mill, although they simply called the area The Moonwood when they arrived. They gave it this name because they believed the densely forested area was imbued with lunar energy.
The founding settlers in The Moonwood built the town’s sawmill and factories. The mill and the factories allowed the town to flourish and people flocked there for both employment opportunities and a more rugged life close to nature. Over time, the mill became embedded in the identity of the town and The Moonwood began to be called Moonwood Mill.
During the height of the Moonwood mill’s productivity, the mill’s founders established The Moonwood Collective; an organization that encouraged its members to strive towards self-sustainability, diplomatic communication, and communal contribution.
The Diary of Greggorius Lunvik mentions something called the Century Conflict and states that following this conflict, the remaining Werewolves scattered around the world but Kristopher Volkov chose to stay. It’s not entirely clear whether the Century Conflict refers to Operation Eternal Flame or if this is another conflict that happened later that might explain why the once-prosperous Moonwood Mill now lies abandoned. One theory is that perhaps the human settlers in Moonwood Mill were frightened by their Werewolf neighbours and left the town but I didn’t find any specific information in the game that confirms or challenges this theory.
Did we miss any important information about the history of Moonwood Mill? Tell us in the comments! Maybe you can spot something we didn’t!
High School Years is introducing additional After-School Clubs! Which one will you be joining?
The Sims 4 High School Years expansion is coming with four new after-school activities our teens can join and there’s something for a number of different high school cliques. Our teen Sims will be able to join the football team, the cheerleading squad, the chess club, or the computer club.
We want to know which after-school activity our readers are most excited about! Will you be the star quarterback, a cheer queen or king, or a brainiac with the chess or computer skills to back up your nerdy reputation?
Tell us in our latest community poll!
[totalpoll id=”114735″]
What other after-school activity would you add to High School Years if you could? Let us know in the comments! We’d add a theatre club with active performances and a student council that gives its members some control over certain aspects of the school, like the lunch menu and morning announcements.
..or as Maxis calls it – the future of The Sims Franchise!
Please note that this article piece is based on information written on the official Maxis Careers Page. Although EA still hasn’t announced The Sims 5 yet, there’s plenty of officially confirmed information in regards to the future development of the game that we’ll mention in this article.
It’s been a while since we’ve done a post on the subject of the next generation Sims Game. Or as we call it – The Sims 5. At least until we know the official name.
Anywho, the last couple of weeks have been pretty busy for The Sims 4 Series, considering that a massive amount of Updates, Revamps and a whole new Expansion Pack are coming to the game. In the process of all of this, EA has updated their Maxis Careers Page with new Job Opportunities.
Job Opportunities that definitely lead on and confirm some new details about the current development of The Sims 5.
We will first cover the Job Opportunities, and then seee what each one means in regards to the current, behind the scenes development of the next generation Sims Game:
This Job talks about a future User Experience Researcher for The Sims Franchise, to research “its future”:
You would report to the UX Research Manager for Maxis to conduct research for the future of The Sims franchise, delivering outstanding experiences for the millions of Sims players around the world.
Responsibilities:
– Conduct user research activities across multiple platforms (including PC, console, and mobile).
– Use Mixed Methods Research to answer essential questions about the game.
– Work with game teams and studio leadership to understand franchise goals and strategies.
– Partner across organizational and regional teams with a variety of disciplines (researchers, designers, product planners, producers) to produce insights which improve the trajectory of their product work.
Mobile Simulation Engineer
This Job Position asks for a future Mobile Simulation Engineer to join the Maxis Team. With some of the descriptions depicting the future plans of the game. Plans of course, nothing is probably fully developed yet.
In the
Maxis is looking for a talented engineer that can help us bring the next wave of simulation features to life. This engineer will work with an experienced team that has collectively built almost all Maxis games in the past two decades. You will actively work with multiple designers and simulation engineers prototyping and shipping various features that expand the gameplay possibilities of Sims games. Most of the work is expected to be done in Unreal Engine, both in C++ and blueprints.
As a Simulation Engineer for a game at Maxis, you will
– Work with designers, producers, artists, and other core and backend engineers to build a framework that brings designs to life.
– Implement a data driven simulation system to author player facing behaviors in C++.
– Demonstrate excellent technical problem-solving skills under iteratively changing requirements during game development.
– Build creative aspects of real life within a simulation game (e.g. socialization, careers, weather, unique characters).
– Build unique content for a game that supports a large demographic of simulation player patterns.
– Create mobile application features and systems that contribute to the experience of the main product.
– Collaborate with the Simulation team to break down designs into tasks and create compelling mobile user experiences.
Interestingly, in the Job Description they both stated that it’s for the “next wave of simulation features” as well as “Creating mobile application features and systems…”.
A couple of months ago we reported on the patents published by EA themselves that talk about creating revolutionary creation tools. All for the main thing, which would be a Sims Game on a bigger platform (Desktop / Console).
It could be very likely that Maxis is right now working on prototyping and developing tools for Mobile devices that lets you expand your gameplay possibilities for the next generation Sims Game.
In case you don’t know what the role of a Senior Animator generally is:
The Senior Animator leads the development of animation assets to support the execution of the production’s creative vision. He/She develops complex animation assets for production as well as mentors a team of animators to perform animation sequences and complex animation techniques.
It could be very possible that a future new Senior Animator, developing assets and leading the animation in Unreal Engine, could be the main leader of Animation Development for The Sims 5.
– Extensive experience as a seasoned gameplay animator contributing to all phases of game production on a AAA title
– Expert in creating full body keyframe animation with a primary emphasis on full body character performance in Maya
– Excellent technical comprehension in relation to designing and implementing animation state machines in a game engine such as Unity, Unreal or similar.
– Effective decision making defining and setting priorities for self or others as needed
– A keen eye in evaluating human/creature/object rigs for production
– Adaptable to new animation styles, in game animation production tools, workflows, and pipelines.
– Oral and written communication, keeping project stakeholders informed on project status and risks and collaborating with multidisciplinary groups such as: Design, Production, Engineering, Art, Modeling, VFX, and Audio
– A mindset that focuses on quality, collaboration, innovation, and accountability.
Your Key Responsibilities:
–Creating a variety of high quality keyframe animations and owning their implementation from ideation through the testing and bug fixing.
– Owning the design of complex animation trees, state machines, and driving innovative technical implementation to meet design objectives, creating documentation as necessary.
– Tracking and oversight of animation assets hook up to support great gameplay.
– Elevating our discipline, by mentoring animators, creating learning material, and spreading knowledge across the animation team.
Estimating and assisting in scoping exercises to ensure animation is able to meet production schedules.
Extras:
– Providing aesthetic feedback to a small group of Animators.
– Experience in motion capture workflows
– Proficient in project tracking software such as: Atlassian Confluence, Jira software, Shotgun or similar tools
That’s all we have so far with the behind the scenes information on the current development of the next generation Sims Game!
In case you don’t know, it’s been confirmed by Maxis that their Development Studios, which also now covers new opened Studios across the world, is working on both The Sims 4 and The Sims 5.
Get to know more about what it’s like to be a Student at Copperdale High!
Recently Copperdale High Students Molly, Sidney, Ash, and Kevin took to Social Bunny to show us what student life is like!
Take a closer look at what it’s like being the principal’s daughter, keeping busy between classes, and watching the drama unfold over lunch. Get a glimpse at after-school activities like cheerleading and chess. How about discovering the latest fashion trends or even setting a new trend? Get excited about prom and have the night of your life and make memories with your friends!
The Sims Team has published a new Laundry List for The Sims 4. The upcoming fixes should be coming in the Upcoming Update for The Sims 4 Base Game.
In case you don’t know what a Laundry List is – it’s a list of all the highly reported bugs and issues that are notable in The Sims 4. The Laundry List covers bugs and glitches that are being investigated for The Sims 4’s upcoming Game Patch. If all goes well, The Sims 4 should have these reported bugs and issues resolved this month!
Hi Simmers!
Welcome to the Laundry List where we’ll share a list of the top community concerns that we’re currently investigating and hope to have resolved in the upcoming patch. This is just a top list, there are more topics that we saw reported by players that are not listed and are being worked on.
These concerns were reported by players 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 top community concerns we’re investigating for the game update this month:
Thanks for all your patience and valuable help! Please continue sharing with us about any issues you’re experiencing on Answers HQ. We’ll continue to check in, and together we can make this game the best that it can be. Happy Simming!
During the High School YearsLivestream, SimGuruGeorge and SimGuruJessica showed everyone the new teen-specific aspirations that are part of the new High School Years Expansion Pack. These will be the first aspirations specifically for teens in The Sims 4.
The teen-specific aspirations are all part of the new teen aspiration category, with Relatable being the bonus trait for the category. The Relatable trait’s description reads as follows: “Relatable Sims build friendly relationships with fellow teens faster.”
The four aspirations include the Live Fast, Admired Icon, Goal Oriented, and Drama Llama. Each aspiration has a unique reward trait that will follow the Sim into adulthood. Although they did not mention what each unique reward trait would be, they stated that it would, “help you through the rest of your teen life as well as your adult life.”
The first aspiration is the Live Fast aspiration. The description for the aspiration is: “The Sim aims to get the most out of life by living care-free and rules-free.” Then, there’s the Admired Icon aspiration. The game describes the aspiration as: “This Sim wants to be a trend setter, popular, and influential, A true icon.” In comparison, the aspiration of Goal Oriented, is described as, “This Sim wants to be the best: Grades? check. Sports? Check. Money? Check! The road to success is being paved.” The final aspiration is the Drama Llama aspiration. The description reads as: “The Sim wants all the drama all the time.”
The following information is from LuniverSims and translated by MelinSimsLand. Note, the actual wording will be slightly different due to the translation. For each aspiration, there are three milestones that the teen needs to complete before Young Adulthood. These are some of the requirements for each milestone.
Drama Llama – Requirements for this aspiration include: Gossip 5 times, spread a rumor, kiss in the love ride, and have an enemy rival
Goal Oriented – To finish this aspiration, you need to: Start an after-school activity, do your homework 5 times, earn 500 simoleons, reach level 3 in an after-school activity, get and keep an A average, go to an orientation day, and reach level 3 of a part-time job.
Live Fast – To finish the Live Fast Aspiration, your sim needs to: Do 3 pranks, get in trouble, sneak out to go to a party, ask a sim for a date 5 times, provoke a fight, summon an urban legend 2 times, and pull a prank a sim.
Admired Icon – Requirements for Admired Icon include: Participate in the T-Pose challenge, have 10 teen friends, pose on Social Bunny 5 times, sell 5 outfits on Trendi, win gold at a party, and have 250 followers on Social Bunny.
Which Aspirations would you choose for your Sims Teens? Let us know in the conversation below!
Your Guide to finding and deciphering all the Moonwood Relics!
The Sims 4 Werewolves comes with one new collection called Moonwood Relics. There are a total of 12 pieces to collect and a special display shelf can be purchased from Build/Buy to hold all the relics. Pieces will automatically slot into their designated place when dragged to the shelf.
What makes this collection unique is they hold long-lost secrets about the history of Moonwood Mill that can’t be deciphered by just anyone. This guide is a full guide into finding these relics and learning to decode their hidden meanings.
Finding Relics
It is, unsurprisingly, ideal to have a werewolf hunt down the relics. Human Sims may be able to stumble across a relic here and there while exploring the town but only werewolves are able to pinpoint the exact location of possible relics with the right abilities, and only werewolves can learn to decipher the lost language written on them.
There are two main ways to obtain relics; by scavenging the ground and exploring Moonwood Mill’s underground tunnel system. You may also occasionally find relic pieces in your pack’s hangout stash if you are part of a pack.
Pup rank werewolves can purchase the Scavenge ability for themselves, which will allow them to dig anywhere on the ground in the hopes of finding a relic but more often than not, you’ll find nothing. If you increase your rank to Runt, you can purchase the Enhanced Smell ability. This will be extremely helpful in locating relics through scavenging. Your werewolf will be able to use this ability to sniff out specific areas where something is buried underground. Look for spots that are emitting stink fumes after using the Enhanced Smell ability; if you scavenge there, you are guaranteed to find something. It won’t always be a relic but you will still locate relics far more easily with this ability than without it.
Old BunkerSewer GratePortal Potties
Anyone can explore the tunnel system below Moonwood Mill, not just werewolves, but if you are a werewolf of at least Prime rank, you can purchase the Nightvision ability for yourself. This is going to help you find items in those dark tunnels. You won’t always find a relic but you still greatly increase your odds by having this ability. There are three tunnel entrances around Moonwood Mill; the old bunker next to the Volkov household, the portal potties near the river in town, and the sewer grate near the Wildfangs’ hangout. There is also a tunnel entrance you can purchase in Build/Buy and place on your home lot that will connect you to the tunnel system.
Don’t forget to check your pack’s resources at their hangout frequently! You might find relics in the stash that you can claim for yourself.
Deciphering Relics
When you first find a relic, you won’t be able to read the lore it contains. It’s in a very old language made up of cryptic symbols and only a werewolf can learn to read it.
Werewolves have dormant abilities that can be unlocked at any rank. Each dormant ability has a different requirement to unlock it. You will need to unlock the Lunar Epiphany dormant ability to be able to decipher the ancient language on the relics that you find.
To do that, spend a lot of time reading any of the werewolf books in Moonwood Mill. They are not skill books and look the same as any of the other books in the game but the titles and summaries will reference werewolves. The library in Moonwood Mill will have a decent selection of these books but any bookshelf in Moonwood Mill will have a few of these books. More of the books can be scavenged with the help of the Enhanced Smell ability. You may also find them in the tunnels or your pack’s hangout stash.
It may take a while to unlock the Lunar Epiphany ability but just keep reading as many werewolf books as you can until you obtain this ability.
Once you possess the ability to decipher the relics, click on a relic and select Decipher Engraving. Your Sim will spend a short amount of time studying the relic with a little pen and notepad. When they are finished, you’ll be able to hover the curser over the relic to see a tooltip that explains a piece of lore connected to the relic.
Collect and decipher all the relic pieces to get the unabridged history of Moonwood Mill and learn where werewolves originated!
Relic List
Below is the full list of relics to be found. We have not included the lore that can be deciphered from every relic in order to avoid spoiling everything for players but you will be able to see which pieces you’re missing from your collection, their rarity, and value.
For players who do like spoilers, keep an eye out for our lore article summarizing all the lore of Moonwood Mill coming shortly in the next week or two!
[table id=105 /]
Have you deciphered all the relics yet? Let us know in the comments!
The smart phone itself now has a more app-based UI and layout, resembling a real smart phone’s home screen. They’ve also added a lot of new phone designs for you to customize the look of your phone. The phone designs are better too; they now actually customise the in-game look of the phone instead of just the UI.
The Phone User Interface Revamp will be coming with the Upcoming Update for The Sims 4, with new features and looks such as:
The ability to go through Apps / Categories within your Phone:
The User Interface now requires you to click on a certain icon related to a certain Gameplay category. Each Category has options to choose from just like before, but with a redesign. In this case, the Social Bunny App has a whole lot of new features available:
Just like before, you are also now able to choose from different available Phone Backgrounds. There’s plenty of new ones to unlock as well with the High School Expansion Pack!
In addition to the cosmetic makeover, two new apps were shown off; Social Bunny and Trendy!
Social Bunny is an interactive social media app where your Sims can actually make posts, interact with others’ posts, slide into other Sims’ DMs, add social media friends and more! Stay active on Social Bunny to gain followers and catch up on your friends. Other Sims will also respond to what you post on the app.
Trendi is an online fashion marketplace linked to the new thrift store lot. As the stock rotates, so do the styles available in Trendy. Mix and match pieces to create unique looks, give them a style and a name, and purchase them! Wear your designs and take selfies to hype them up, then sell them to make a profit! You can also browse for unique outfits to buy on Trendy from other Sims. Your designs will be more popular if you have a lot of Social Bunny followers and if the style of those clothes is trending. You might even see other kids at school wearing your designs.
Wants and fears are back and they’re better than ever!
In the High School Years deep dive livestream today, SimGuruGeorge and SimGuruJessica showed off the new Wants and Fears system coming to The Sims 4 in a free base game update prior to the release of the High School Years expansion.
Wants and fears are finally back in The Sims and they’re even better than their predecessors. Unlike whims, wants and fears will cater more to your Sim’s unique traits and personality (yes, it’s true; no more BUY BEE BOX whim rolling over and over again).
Sims will have three wants; one long term want, one short term want, and one reactionary want that fluctuates based on where they are and what they’re doing. If they’re at the gym, they might have a reactionary want to work out, for example.
Sims will develop fears in-game based on negative lived experiences. If your Sim experiences a house fire, they may become afraid of fire, for example. Fears aren’t only a negative thing, however! Your Sims will have the opportunity to face their fear and conquer it, or they can choose to live with the fear.
Curved walls are finally a thing and everyone is getting them for free!
In today’s High School Years deep dive livestream, SimGuruGeorge and SimGuruJessica showed off a new Build feature coming with the next base game update before the new High School Years expansion launches; curved walls!
Curved walls can now be placed as rooms, similar to placing down platforms and foundations. The size can be adjusted to your liking after placement.
But it gets even better! Most windows and doors (with the exception of a few extremely wide ones) can be placed on curved walls! The Gurus stressed that while some door and window frames might stick out awkwardly on curved walls, they still wanted to give us the freedom to do that if we wanted to. Some select windows will even curve to match the angle of the wall when placed alongside a curved wall!
There will be a new filter in the windows and doors sections of Build/Buy that will allow you to easily find curved wall compatible windows and doors.
We compiled all the new info from the High School Years deep dive into a handy bullet list!
Today’s two-hour deep dive livestream into the upcoming High School Years expansion pack was jam-packed with new information about the teenage experience, high school life, the new world, and so much more! The stream was hosted by SimGuruGeorge and SimGuruJessica who walked us through all of the new features coming in the pack (and looked quite fashionable while doing so, if we might add!)
In case you didn’t have two hours to spare to sit and watch the full livestream, we’ve compiled all of the information from the stream into a handy bullet-point list for you!
World
The new world is called Copperdale and is a residential world.
Copperdale is a quaint town with a rich history as a mining town but the mines have since dried up.
Copperdale was inspired by gritty teen dramas like Riverdale and Stephen King novels; the sleepy, idyllic town that gets rocked to its core when a grisly discovery is made. Everything is quaint but with a creepy undertone.
3 neighbourhoods: Rockridge Heights, Prescott Square, and Plumbite Cove
All the lots in Copperdale were built by Game Changers
New lot type! Boba tea shop! The boba tea shop in Copperdale also doubles as a thrift store.
Plumbite Pier has a carnival area with rides and attractions. It’s a perfect spot for a group of teens to hang out.
The carnival has a haunted house, go cart rides, and a ferris wheel. You can ride them alone or with friends. Both friendship and romance options available during the rides (yes, you can Mess Around and/or WooHoo on the rides) but it’s more of a chance card experience; you don’t actually see them on the rides.
Places to buy food and carnival snacks on the boardwalk.
All families have in-depth backstories and lore attached to them. A lot of effort went into making them fleshed out characters
Lots of little hangout spots in Copperdale for teens to hang out as friends or get romantic.
The water by the pier is swimmable and has a fishing spot. There is also another swimming hole that’s more private.
The houses are reflective of a typical home with teenagers; the rest of the house is decorated like how the parents want it but the teen bedrooms are wild with all their personality and unique décor.
High School Life
Multiple Sims in a household can attend high school together! For the first time, you can send multiple Sims to the same active career lot at the same time. This is not supported with older active careers. The Gurus said they had to build this feature from the ground up to make it work for High School Years. The older active careers can’t support it.
You can decide whether or not you want to play your teens at high school. If you want to focus on other family members during school hours, you can still send the teens alone to a rabbithole high school if you want.
New after-school activities show up on the calendar.
The style of the default high school in Copperdale is Art Deco but the high school is fully customizable. You can bulldoze it and build a whole new school if you want but not while Sims are actively attending classes.
You can’t put high school lots in other worlds; Copperdale is the only high school location but teens from every world can attend the high school in Copperdale. You don’t have to live in Copperdale to attend high school there.
School is an active career. There are goals you have to complete throughout the day in order to do well.
Classes and exams are an important part of the school day but more effort was put into the socialization that happens in between classes.
You can claim and customize your own locker.
Classes are active! There are two classes per day. Subjects rotate each day and build different skills.
How well you do in class will determine your grades. You can fail to graduate high school now! Some careers will be locked to high school dropouts and they can’t get into university but you can attend online classes to graduate if you fail high school.
Classes are the smaller portion of the school day. The Gurus thought we’d have more fun socializing and doing other activities so hall time, lunch period, and after-school activities are a bigger focus of the school day.
If you do really well in school, you can become valedictorian at your graduation.
You can get in trouble at school. Prank lockers, tamper with the PA system, and skip classes. You might get detention if you get caught.
NPC relationship autonomy. Sims can now do things like ask you out or break up with you autonomously!
You don’t automatically go home after the school day ends. You can join after-school clubs and stay to hang out with your friends.
There are four after-school teams you can join. Football, cheerleading, chess club, and computer club. You can join at school or through the phone. When you join a team, you’ll have increased comradery with your teammates but also a rival you have to deal with. Your rival is someone on your team who hates you because… teenage drama.
Teams will have different festivals and activities you can attend.
Teens can ask their schoolmates to prom as romantic interests or as friends. There are new sentiments related to prom.
Teens can “prompose” in different ways. They can leave a note in their potential date’s locker for them to find or make a promposal sign and surprise them with a big grand gesture.
Prom is laced throughout the whole high school experience. It’s the highlight of your teen years so there’s a buildup to it. Teens talk about prom, plan out their prom outfits, decide who they’re taking to prom, and get ready together before the big night.
The prom venue is fully customizable. You can totally bulldoze it and rebuild it from the ground up so you can do all kinds of different themed events and dances.
Prom is a goaled event; you can do well or terribly at it. Have lots of fun with friends or have the absolute worst night of your life.
Vote for prom jester and prom royalty.
Dance, use the photo booth, and show off your outfits to everyone at prom.
You can cause a lot of drama at prom. For example, Sims might be pretty upset with you if you start dancing with their prom date!
If your teen is popular, they might get invited to an after-party when prom ends!
General Teen Life
Wants and Fears are coming back to the base game but there will be a few Wants and Fears that are exclusive to the High School Years pack. They will work differently than in the past.
Sims will have three Wants: long term, short term, and reactionary. Unlike Whims, Wants are more tailored to your Sim’s unique traits. So no more BUY BEE BOX!!!
Fears are developed through negative life experiences but they aren’t just things to avoid anymore. Your Sims can actually choose to face and conquer their fears to overcome them for good.
New selfie poses!
New streaming options: lifestyle and gaming streams, can watch other streamers.
New part-time careers for teens; Influencer and Streamer. You can choose a SimTuber avatar for yourself.
New phone UI with a more app-based layout resembling a real smart phone. Lots more phone designs/cases to choose from which actually change the in-game design of the phone, not just the UI colour scheme.
Social Bunny is a new active social media platform. See posts from other Sims, talk about your life on the social platform, react to posts, send DMs, add social bunny friends, and @ people. Other Sims will react and respond to what you post, too!
More ways to hang out on beds! Sit cross-legged on beds and have pillow fights on beds. Sims can also sit on the floor to hang out now.
Teens can sneak out of the house! New windows you can crawl out of and a lattice object you can use as a ladder to climb down from the second floor. You can sneak out from the first floor, too, and attempt to sneak out through front and back doors.
You can get invited to different events, movies, college parties, etc. You can ask your parents for permission but if they say no, you can sneak out of the house. You can get caught sneaking out and get in trouble for it.
New boba teas available to order at the boba tea shop. Can drink from straws now! The boba tea shop is also a thrift store.
Trendy is another new phone app. It’s a fashion marketplace where you create designs based on what you find at the thrift store. If you’re good at it, it can be pretty lucrative.
Create designs from the store’s selection, give it a style and a name, and purchase them. Once you’ve styled and purchased your outfits, hype them up by taking selfies with them and uploading them. Check the style trends to see what clothes are trending. Sell your designs and set the prices. Mail out purchased outfits and browse for outfits to buy on Trendy. Resell outfits you’ve purchased but don’t want anymore. Having a lot of followers on Social Bunny will help your designs become more popular.
If your designs are really popular, you might see other kids at school wearing them!
The Sims collaborated with Depop; a fashion marketplace that focuses on sustainable fashion and supporting individual designers. Some in-game pieces will be made by Depop creators and you can see which designers made each piece in-game.
The thrift store rotates regularly and some pieces are not available directly through CAS. You can only get them at the thrift store when they’re in stock.
Teens can take on viral challenges like the T-Pose Challenge. If you see teens t-posing, the Gurus promise it’s not a glitch! They’re doing the T-Pose Challenge for social clout! Teens will have to learn about the latest viral challenges by talking to other teens about them.
Teens will be on their phones ALL the time. They basically live inside their phones, much like real teenagers.
Teens can mess around with each other in a number of places, including the carnival rides, but if they get caught, they can get banned from the ride for a number of days.
There is a photo booth at the prom venue and at the pier.
This pack comes with new deaths! Feeding into the Stephen King/Riverdale vibes of the town, teens can get involved with urban legends, sometimes resulting in their own demise! There is a Bloody Mary style game Sims can play in the mirror. Most of the time, it will just be a fun teenage prank, but sometimes, Bloody Mary may actually appear and scare your Sims to death! Pranking certain objects can also go terribly wrong and kill your Sim so beware!
Crushes are being added to the game in the form of sentiments!
New WooHoo/Mess Around partners you can be physically intimate with with no strings attached.
Sims can ask each other about their sexual orientation (if they’re friendly enough with that Sim).
CAS
Clothes for teenagers. ALL fashion is aimed at teens exclusively.
A large array of fashion styles for teens. Dark academia, kawaii, Y2K, and e-girl inspired fashion to suit a wide variety of Gen Z aesthetics.
Clothes for different situations, like hanging out, school, and prom.
Fashion is a big focal point of the pack since teens are all about expressing themselves through fashion.
Some unlockable CAS items. You’ll have to go thrifting at the Copperdale thrift store or browse through the Trendy app to get access to those pieces.
Cheerleading outfits in different styles.
Unfortunately, Copperdale High does not have official school uniforms, but there are some school-uniform CAS pieces for storytelling purposes.
Sparse facial hair to suit a teen going through puberty.
BODY HAIR! Body hair will be a free base game update, but some body hair presets are exclusive to High School Years.
Ability to enable hair growth. Sims will need to shave regularly to keep themselves groomed. This can be disabled as well.
Acne came with Parenthood initially but were just presets in CAS. Teens will actually get acne in-game now and will need to apply cream to keep it under control.
Four new teen-specific aspirations focused on different aspects of high school life. These aspirations are only available to teens. Each aspiration has a unique reward trait that will follow your teen Sim into adulthood.
New fashion likes and dislikes in CAS.
New Socially Awkward trait. Socially awkward Sims will be incredibly awkward around new people but will find extra comfort in being around close friends.
Sexual Orientation feature coming to the base game! Can select which gender your Sim is attracted to, if they are currently exploring their sexuality, and which gender they want to WooHoo/Mess Around with. You can choose one, both, or no genders for all of these categories. For now, it’s gender-binary due to technical reasons but the Gurus have plans to expand upon it and make it even more inclusive in the future.
Build/Buy
A new gamer chair getting added to the base game.
Modular furniture.
New curved walls feature coming to the base game. Most windows and doors will be able to be placed along curved walls. New filter in build/buy that will let you find curve-compatible windows easily. Some windows will actually curve to fit the wall, too!
New Womp Womp gnome!
Dual monitor computers! Streamer setups with widescreen curve monitors. Lots of colour-changing LED lights.
A lot of mismatched styles to be realistic to a teen’s room.
