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Custom Addons for The Sims 4 Snowy Escape

Jovan
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Custom Addons for The Sims 4 Snowy Escape

The community has been hard at work over the last couple of days to provide you with some extra content that expands upon the world of The Sims 4 Snowy Escape Expansion Pack.

In this post specifically I’ll be talking about the two great Custom Content Addons that you can add to your game to expand (and improve) your CAS and Build Catalog.

The first set is created by grimcookies that expands the catalog of Create A Sim clothing from The Sims 4 Snowy Escape. The set contains 16 different CAS items that are different variations of the items you already get with Snowy Escape. With this set you’ll get:

  • 3 Adult Male tops
  • 3 Adult Female tops
  • 2 Adult Female skirts
  • 8 Adult Female hairs (3 of which are ombre variants)

My personal favorite (which is also featured in the box art below) is the liberated puffer jacket that doesn’t come with the sweater that has been originally introduced with the pack.

Just like any other CC pack this one can easily be installed by extracting the contents to your save game. More specifically Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods folder. Make sure you’ve enabled CC / Mods in your game options for the set to appear in your game! This set relies on textures and mesh already created by EA which means you’ll need Snowy Escape in order to use the set.

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Custom Addons for The Sims 4 Snowy Escape

The other set created by IllogicalSimmer just came out and expands your Build / Buy Catalog with new objects that follow along the theme of Snowy Escape’s already existing objects. The set comes with over 40 different objects that are original creations – however, considering that the items rely a lot on different textures and mesh that Snowy Escape brought with its objects you’ll need the pack in order to have these additional objects.

This set contains over 30 objects, 41 to be specific, if you include each individual separated plant and shelf. It’s weird how the total number of objects turned out exactly the same as my last addon… Just some of the objects included in this addon are sofas (with and without armrests), desks, dining tables, built-in sliding doors and a single bed variant.

As this is an Addon which uses many assets from Snowy Escape Expansion Pack, it requires you to have Snowy Escape for it to work.

Just like with the CAS set, this one can be installed by extracting the content to Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods folder and enabling CC / Mods in the options.

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Check out the preview of this set in the screens below!

The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu

Jovan
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The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu

The Sims 4’s Main Menu went through A LOT of changes ever since the game’s release in 2014. There have been plenty of reasons why the Main Menu changed through the game’s lifespan – the releasement of new packs, new gallery features and showcases and in general the desire to make the menu organized and filled up.

In this post I’ll be showing all the different versions of The Sims 4’s Main Menu for all the User Interface fanatics and graphic designers out there!

2014-2015 Main Menu

The Sims 4’s first Menu was simple. Maybe a bit too simple. It featured a lot of plain white with not much going on except the cool animated splash screen showcasing different features that came with The Sims 4 Base Game. The release of The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat Game Pack also brought in some new video animations.

The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu

You can also check out some of the animations that were featured in the video below:

2015-2017

The Sims 4’s first Expansion Pack (Get to Work) also brought a new Main Menu. It featured an animated splash render of the latest installed pack as well as information boxes on the bottom of the screen that featured Community Highlights, Tips and more. There was also a My Packs category that featured box arts of all the Packs that there are and which ones you own. This design has been similarly implemented on the Main Menu we have today.

The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu

The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu

2017-2019

With more packs releasing came the need to fit them all together on the Main Menu. In February 2017 shortly after the release of The Sims 4 Vampires Game Pack came a new Main Menu with somewhat similar elements featured on the right side of the screen. On the left was a banner with save game options and a collection of all The Sims 4 Packs. However, as 2019 came the Pack Collection menu became too overpopulated where players then had to scroll to see the entire collection.

The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu

2019-2020

In July 2019 there was a huge rebranding of The Sims 4 which changed the look of some of the game’s User Interface elements – including the Main Menu. Online news and information have been displayed on the top center with the latest packs and their trailers showcased on the left. The Your Collection category has been recategorized so that all the packs could fit in properly. However, the Stuff Packs bar kinda became too big with new releases, leading up to the Main Menu we have today.

The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu

2020

Probably the most drastic Main Menu change. Online news, pack releases, new challenges and gallery creations are now put up front and center with save game, gallery and game options displayed on the right bar. The Sims Team also reverted back to showcasing the packs as boxarts in the Packs category so that the Main Menu doesn’t keep reminding you constantly of which packs you possibly don’t have. The category features Pack type filters as well as filters for packs you have or don’t have purchased. All the pack reminders regarding the Pack discounts and sales have also moved to this category!

The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu
The evolution of The Sims 4’s Main Menu

2025

The Sims 4 Main Menu evolution continues almost 11 years after the release of the Base Game. This time releasing just in time for the 25th Anniversary Celebrations, the new Main Menu puts your last played household on the front center of the screen.

You can also expect background changes depending on The Sims 4’s current Roadmap.

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Official Sims 4 Main Menu Mockup
the sims 4 main menu 2025
Current look of The Sims 4’s Main Menu in 2025

The Sims 4: Modders Show Off Hair Color Slider Possibilities

Jovan
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The Sims 4: Modders Show Off Hair Color Slider Possibilities

The Sims 4’s Skin Tones and Makeup Sliders update is proving that there’s even more features that The Sims Team could do to improve the Create A Sim experience. Beside the fact that you can officially change the color of your Sim’s Skin Tone and Makeup using the new sliders provided in the game, modders are now exploring the possibility of unlocking the new sliders for hairstyle colors as well!

@aharris00brit and @grnllamas have shown off what they’ve been working on as soon as the update had been released. They’ve made one of their Custom Hairstyles so that the opacity slider changes the color tones as you move the slider left and right.

You can check out the actual custom tool in action down below:

As of now the Custom Hairstyle Sliders would only work if the Hairstyles have been categorized under the Makeup category since the new sliders are only available to be used there. Still, this is a good sign of all the options that we could get either through the modding community or from The Sims Team themselves in the future. After all we all thought that Skin Tone and Makeup Sliders couldn’t be possible and here we are.

The Sims 4: December 2020 Update Overview

SnarkyWitch
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The Sims 4: December 2020 Update Overview

The Sims Team has surprised us a day early with the long-awaited skin tones and makeup update! Today’s update brings over 100 new skin tones and an opacity slider for most makeup in the game!

Skin Tones

The Sims 4: December 2020 Update Overview

There is now a new category dedicated to skin tones in Create-A-Sim. In the skin tones category, there are a total of 144 skin tones to choose from, broken up into 4 categories; Warm, Neutral, Cool, and Miscellaneous. The Miscellaneous section contains all the occult skin tones.

The Sims 4: December 2020 Update Overview

But that’s not all! Each of the 144 skin tones has a light to dark slider so you can further customize your Sim’s skin to your exact desired shade. When you find a customized skin tone you like and want to use again in the future, just hit the plus sign to save it! No need to struggle to remember your exact customization settings every time you open CAS. Saved skin tones that you no longer want can also be deleted by hitting the trash can icon.

Makeup

With the addition of the new skin tones and the added customization, makeup has also seen a feature overhaul. Not only can you change the hue and opacity of individual shades, but you can also change the saturation and brightness for them as well.

However, as you explore the new customization features, you will find that some options will not be available and will be greyed out, preventing any changes. We’ve detailed these below.

Eyeshadows
  •  Other than one white eyeshadow shade from Get To Work where the saturation cannot be changed, all eye shadows are fully customizable.
Eyeliner
  • While most eyeliners are customizable, a number of orange, yellow, bright pink, blue, and black shades are not fully customizable. These were from various packs.
Cheeks
  •  Three of the four Get to Work options do not allow you to change hues.
  • Both MAC Cosmetic options only allow you to change the opacity.
  • Base Game option only allows you to change the opacity.
The Sims 4: December 2020 Update OverviewLips
  • Get to Work –  There are several lip options where you are unable to edit the brightness and/or saturation of the white, green, pink, grey, or blue shades.
  • Vampires – You are unable to edit the saturation of the black, blue/purple, red, turquoise, or yellow shade. You are also unable to change the brightness of the white shade
  • MAC Cosmetics – There are several shades across all the options that will not allow full customization.
  • Base Game – All Base Game options are fully customizable
Face Paint
  • While most of the face paints are fully customizable, there is a small handful that has either brightness or saturation greyed out on particular shades.

Hair Styles

In the spirit of inclusivity, three more African-inspired hairstyles have been updated! There are now two variations of the braided ponytail for female children and an adult male hairstyle has received a more subtle update.

Main Menu

The skin tones and hair aren’t the only things to receive a face lift! The main menu has seen yet another makeover. The new design is much cleaner and doesn’t try to cram as much stuff onto one page anymore. Packs now have their own section in a tab at the top, so no more being taunted by those greyed out icons every time you open your game! If you are actively looking for new packs to purchase, you can see a more detailed overview of each pack in the Packs tab, including the box art. You can also organize your packs by expansions, game packs, stuff packs, free stuff, and packs that you own.

Other Stuff

In addition to these new features, today’s update also brings plenty of bug fixes and small gameplay tweaks. For a full rundown of all the fixes and tweaks, check out the official patch notes here!

Co-written with Krista (LeeksEverywhere)

The state of Custom Skin Tones and Makeup with The Sims 4’s Latest Update

Jovan
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1
The state of Custom Skin Tones and Makeup with The Sims 4’s Latest Update

The new Skin Tone and Makeup features that have been introduced with The Sims 4’s latest update have been long awaited. Even though The Sims Team explained how these features will work even before today’s update it still wasn’t certain how they will affect the Custom Content community. Today I’ve learned more on how CC Skin Tones and Makeup are being affected with the latest update!

I’ve talked with the community member @littledica to see how his Mods folder is being affected by the latest update. Specifically – all the Custom Skin Tones and Makeup.

When it comes to Custom Skin Tones he explained that…well…they’re not there. At all. Even though there’s now a huge selection of Skin Tones already present in the game, Custom Skin Tones that have been created before the new update won’t show up in the Skin Tones User Interface. This isn’t too bad considering that I expected that Custom Skin Tones would break the entire UI / Game.

The state of Custom Skin Tones and Makeup with The Sims 4’s Latest Update

Now onto some better news – all of your Custom Makeup that you’ve downloaded before the update will properly show up and work without any issues just like before. Not only that but the new Opacity slider also works without any issues on Custom Makeup!

Although 3 other sliders (Hue, Saturation and Brightness) will appear unlocked when selecting Custom Content Makeup, moving the sliders from left to right won’t show any difference onto your Sim that you’re customizing.

This update will probably open up the possibility for Custom Content creators to make their Cusotm Makeup work with all 4 sliders. Make sure you keep up with your favorite CC Makeup creators when they release an update regarding the new makeup features!

We’ll also keep you posted on all things CC / Mods and future creations created up by the community.

Thanks to @littledica for the screens!

EVERYTHING included in The Sims 4’s December Update (Video Overview)

Jovan
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EVERYTHING included in The Sims 4’s December Update (Video Overview)

Want to find out what’s new in The Sims 4’s latest update that just came out for PC, Mac and Consoles? Check out our latest video overview diving deeper into the Patch Notes, the new Main Menu and OF COURSE – the new Skin Tone and Makeup options!

The Sims 4: CAS Update Official Renders

Jovan
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0
The Sims 4: CAS Update Official Renders

The Sims Team provided us with the official render material of The Sims 4’s latest Skin Tone & Makeup Update. Check out the new renders below!

The Sims 4: Skin Tones Update Official Trailer

Jovan
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1
The Sims 4: Skin Tones Update Official Trailer

The Sims Team released an official trailer for the Skin Tones update for The Sims 4! Check it out.

The Sims 4: First Look at the new Main Menu

Jovan
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The Sims 4: First Look at the new Main Menu

The latest update for The Sims 4 that introduces Skin Tone and Makeup Sliders and options has also given a major revamp to the Main Menu of The Sims 4!

Check it out below:

The Sims 4: First Look at the new Main Menu

The Sims 4 PC & Console: New Update + Patch Notes! (December 7th, 2020)

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The Sims 4 PC & Console: New Update + Patch Notes! (December 7th, 2020)

ts4logonew

The Sims Team has released a brand new Update for The Sims 4 on PC, Mac, Xbox One and PS4!

To download the latest version of The Sims 4, simply open your Origin program and if the game doesn’t update automatically, right click on The Sims 4 and select ”Update”.

In case you have Mods or Custom Content, the game will automatically disable them for you after first launching The Sims 4 after the update. To re-enable all your Mods and Custom Content, select the Settings option in the Menu and select Settings. Under the”Other” section you’ll find the ”Enable Custom Content and Mods” option. Check it and restart your game in order for it to take effect!

Patch Notes

PC:1.69.54.1020 / Mac: 1.69.54.1220
Console: Version 1.35

Happy Holidays Simmers!

It’s time to go back in to Create a Sim! Where in this update you will find 100+ new skin tones, customization sliders for skin tones and makeup, and three improved base game hairstyles!
Every skin tone now has a value slider that allows you to change the light to dark value of that skin tone, unlocking a much wider variety of skin tone options for you to play with! You will also find that our skin tones are now filterable to warm, cool, and neutral tones (as well as miscellaneous that covers our occult skin tones).

The new makeup sliders add more choices and opportunities for you to customize your Sims, and express your Sim’s style! Hue, saturation, value or brightness, and opacity are now available to modify on the makeup. We have locked some of the sliders where it did not provide an optimal experience or make sense for the makeup. Expect us to continue our work on these issues into the future to provide you with more.
In addition to the customization opportunities provided, you can also save custom swatches as you tweak your sliders to get the perfect look. When you click on the swatch (for skin tones and makeup) as you modify the sliders, you will have an opportunity to save your custom settings, so you can re-use it later without having to remember your perfect looks!
Did we mention that we made some hair updates? We did – we updated a base game child hair (cfHair_BraidedPonyTail), and we added a second version of that hair that removes the baby hairs (cfHair_BraidedPonyTailPlain). And we updated a base game male hair that you may find difficult to recognize from the original hair (ymHair_flatTopTextured)!

We have updated the Main Menu!… Again! The idea behind this change is to create a more cohesive experience and give Packs a more proper space as we continue to grow our content lineup. As a nice bonus, we highlighted the Gallery in a more meaningful way to inspire you.

-SimGuruGnome & SimGuruRusskii

Now onto the fixes:

Sims 4

  • Sketching so much that the Digital Sketch Pad just quit on you? Never fear! Freelancer Sims that use the Digital Sketchpad will now be able to complete designs without being reset abruptly.
  • Happy Birthday to all! Sims will now properly Age Up. Adulting is hard but they will make it, don’t worry.
  • Fixed an issue in which Doors, Windows, and Arches had cutouts when being reflected in Mirrors. Rorrim Rorrim no eht llaw, ohw si eht tseriaf erutaef fo meht lla?
  • Sims that do not have the Fishing Skill, or have not been Fishing at all, will not get notifications about identifying Fish. THEY WERE FISHING WITH THEIR MINDS.
  • The following careers have added the “Take Vacation Day” option, yay!
    • Gardener (Seasons)
    • Military (Strangerville)
    • Lifeguard for Teens and Conservationist (Island Living)
    • Law, Education, and Engineer (Discover University)
    • Civil Designer (Eco Lifestyle).

    Editor Russkii note: I didn’t want to add each line in each pack for this fix, it would have looked weird and robotic so that is why I chose to do one bullet point for all in this section.

  • Child Sims will no longer forget they are in their Sleepwear when they go to school. Though in these times of Work and School from Home, I don’t blame them one bit.
  • The Sweet Escapes Country Toilet will no longer be Comfortable AND Uncomfortable at the same time… There can only be one!
  • Sims with the Best Selling Author Aspiration can now complete their task of writing 3 Best Sellers.
  • Fixed an issue in which resized objects would disappear when they were part of downloaded Gallery items.
  • We revised our Careers (Pack specific and not) and we made sure there were no Chance Cards that were repeated constantly.
  • We noticed we had added the option to Clean Up Toddler on kitchen and bathroom sinks for both Toddlers and Children by mistake, so we removed it for both age groups from the sink… but how would have they fit? Like… how? These are the questions that keep me up at night.
  • Build Snowpal interaction is no longer available on non-natural ground (For Simmers that own Seasons and/or Snowy Escape). That’s why it’s called a Snowpal, not a Floorpal!

Get to Work

  • We made a clarification on the Xenophilia moodlet when interacting with Alien Sims. It should no longer say “From Discovering Aliens” but now it correctly reads “From Interacting with Aliens.”
  • Fixed an issue in which childbirth was not possible if Simmers changed the color swatches of the Surgery Tables. Now listen, I have heard about renting whole hospital wings for a birth in real life and other eccentricities, but this… was really something.

Get Together

  • Male Sims will no longer get Pregnant after receiving calls from NPC Sims.

City Living

  • NPC Sims will now text and call with invitations to Festivals. I personally welcomed the calm and quiet of my phone not beeping about constantly. But I can’t miss a Festival!
  • Sims rejoice! Yard sale customers will no longer invade their Home Lots and use Household objects. It is a Yard Sale… OUT in the yard, not an Open House.
  • Did you ever regret trusting some Sims enough to give them your apartment keys to constantly get visits from them for Milk and Juice? You can rest assured that they will no longer visit you for this purpose. I think some neighborly love is appreciated, but this went beyond the proverbial “May I have a cup of sugar?” type of situation.
  • Fixed an issue in which interactions to participate on GeekCon contests would not appear when interacting with objects.
  • We decided to give a bit more clarity when displaying the location of Festivals, so now it will display as “Near <insert location>” and not a distinct location that is not entirely correct. This is true for Festivals in Snowy Escape as well.

Cats and Dogs

  • Pets will no longer sleep in random places when told to sleep on their Pet beds. In my world they can sleep where they are most comfortable, my conspiracy… allegedly.

Seasons

  • Sims can now Shower in the Rain… Jury is still out on Singing and Dancing.
  • Sims will no longer “lose” their shovels when performing other autonomous activities while performing the interaction “Shovel Snow.”
  • Our friendly neighborhood Snowpal has been properly renamed to Chill from Chil. Everything I knew before was a lie… a LIE!
  • Ever felt like the Holiday spirit has just been too much to handle, and Father Winter starting to show up everywhere and not letting you do much of anything getting a bit… out of hand? Fear not! Father Winter will stop replicating himself* to spread holiday cheer. *Note this fix is not entirely retroactive, new saves should see this without issue. Existing saves will correct themselves over time.

Get Famous

  • Duck Security SCROO9E Super XL Smart Vault will no longer disappear after Sims Woohoo in it… you can say Woohoo can be romantic and magical, but maybe not to this extent?
  • NPCs from the Actor Career sometimes would never show on Set, making gigs impossible to complete. We’ve spoken with their union reps and everyone has agreed to stop this ridiculous strike. What were they striking about? Was there even a Strike? We may never know.

Island Living

  • Mermaids and other Occults should no longer be able to make hybrid occults. How were they making them? Oh boy, I’m not sure if it’s appropriate for me to give you the mermaid-birds and spellcaster-bees talk.
  • Randomly generated Mermaid Sims will no longer be seen without some features in affected Simmer Saves. However this fix is not retroactive, so it should be seen fixed in new saves.
  • Pizza delivery to Lagoon Look Lot has been fixed to arrive promptly.This is Sulani Deep Lagoon Pizza, home of the 2×1 Mermadic Kelp Pizza and the Salty Llama Combo, may I take your order?

    <Descriptive Simlish on the line>

    Uh huh… uh huh…

    <Indescribable Simlish on the line>

    Yes, we now can ACTUALLY deliver to Lagoon Look…

    <Interrogative Simlish on the line>

    Yes, we told our delivery Sims that they need to deliver it there and not keep the pizza for themselves… like give it to the actual client.

    <Surprised Simlish on the line>

Discover University

  • Has this ever happened to you? Your Sim is ready to make an offering to the Sprites only to find a crystal stuck without being able to move it? No longer a problem, Sims now can remove offerings so all their rituals can resume. Sprites rejoice.
  • We fixed an issue for our Console Simmers that wouldn’t allow them to close the Humanoid Robot’s Behavior Module Menus correctly.
  • Fixed an issue that would cause items to be repossessed when loans were fully paid. That is NOT how it worked Repo Person… NOT how it worked.
  • Sims with Research & Debate Skill 3 or higher will no longer be able to “Convince to” with Toddler Sims.
  • Masquerade Secret Society Masks are now properly unlocked in Create a Sim when joining the Secret Society.
  • Fixed an issue in which Heckle animation was sometimes not being performed autonomously by Sims while playing Ping Pong.

Eco Lifestyle

  • Fixed an issue that triggered the Off-the-Grid notifications after traveling to different Lots in Evergreen Harbor, even when they are not labeled as Off-the-Grid.
  • We spoke to all Eco Inspectors, and they have agreed that they should NOT be charging the Energy efficient appliances fine if your appliances are fully upgraded to be super efficient and amazing. I mean all that work and still get fined? Not in this house!
  • Fixed an issue in which some placeholder text was showing in notifications after Dumpster Diving.
  • The Americana Station Speakers will now play Music… as the prophecy foretold.
  • When the We Wear Bags N.A.P is active, Grim Reaper will not be partially invisible when appearing on a Lot. Grim Reaper contributes!
  • Living the No Appliance lifestyle? We’ve got news for you! Sims will no longer be penalized for not having “Eco-Friendly Appliances.” No appliances, no fines!

Snowy Escape

  • Vending Machine Canned Soups and Drinks won’t spoil anymore. Time to stock up!
  • Sims can no longer go on Hikes while holding their Toddlers.
  • Space Heaters will now be able to be placed on Lots from Inventory. Sharing the warmth everywhere!
  • Fixed an issue in which the Shoe Removal Sign in 5-1-2 Kiyomatsu was not working properly. We also added Shoe Removal Signs in 5-1-1 Kiyomatsu and 2-4-2 Wakabamori.
  • Sims will now be more visibly furious when having the appropriate furious sentiment toward other Sims. “Yes, I’m mad!… No! This IS my furious face!”
  • Fixed an issue with some animations that would stutter while Snowboarding or Skiing. We also made sure that Sims with a high level of those skills would not always choose the Bunny Slopes.
  • Izzy Fabulous’ Star Simmi Rank was just too fabulous so we had to correct it to be one star less than displayed. Don’t worry Izzy, you are a full 4 stars in my book, you are that fabulous to me.
  • After much debate of whether it is the Cave Shrine or the Mountain Shrine for Hiking destinations we finally decided to just call it Mountain Shrine.
  • We revised the Snoop-Proof Bamboo Blinds and it is now possible to drop’em like they’re hot with the Thousand Words Window.
  • NPC Sims will no longer “take over” the Slopes for themselves for an indefinite period of time, now they will be sharing with all Sims the joys of the Slopes.
  • Fixed an issue in which Sims would get highlighted in the Sentiment Panel as if receiving new Sentiments every time traveling is involved.
  • Sims with Rock Climbing Skill 7, or higher, are able to autonomously climb the Tall Wall (Such tall! So much wall!). There is no need to not face what makes you uncomfortable… autonomously.
  • Had a chat with Yamachan and asked if he was ok, he seemed to start random conversations and then randomly say goodbye without reason. We are happy to report that he is OK now and will try not to do that. Give us a hug Yamachan.
  • Food Stalls at Mt. Komorebi Festivals won’t be closing shop randomly during Festival hours anymore. <guitar and piano intro> Closing time, open all the Stalls and eat all the food in the world…Closing time, turn all the lights on and let Yamachan greet you heeeere…
  • Create a Sim asset ymHat_EP10HelmetGoggles has been fixed to no longer display clipping around the neck area as well as we made sure no facial hair is removed when wearing this asset.

Dine Out

  • Experimenting with photo frames will no longer use the same picture of an Experimental Meal when displayed.
  • Hot Pot meals are now part of Restaurant Menus! I miss the times I would go to eat Hot Pot at a restaurant. One of my favorites has a conveyor belt that carries your fixings never leaving your table for a thing. *happy sigh*

Vampires

  • Vampire Sims will no longer be affected by temperature, so they won’t be constantly obsessed with lighting fireplaces trying to get warm.

Preparing for The Sims 4’s December 2020 Content Update

Jovan
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10
Preparing for The Sims 4’s December 2020 Content Update

We’re just days away until one of the biggest updates for The Sims 4!

The Sims Team will be releasing a big Create A Sim Update on December 8th – giving over a hundred new Skin Tones to choose from as well as new Skin Tone and Makeup tools and options. Before I explain how you can prepare your game for this big update let’s quickly talk about what are some of the announced features coming with the update.

The Skin Tones update will now include a completely seperate Skin Tones category in Create A Sim, giving you the option to choose from 4 different Skin Tone categories: Warm, Neutral, Cold and Miscellaneous. With each Skin Tone there’s also a hue slider that lets you make any Skin Tone of your choice darker or paler depending on your preference. Each custom Skin Tone preset that you make with the slider can also be saved so you can quickly use the same Skin Tone variant for your next Sims that you create.

Preparing for The Sims 4’s December 2020 Content Update

When it comes to new Makeup Features – there’s a lot of them. Not only that there are 4 new sliders that will let you customize makeup but each slider will work for ANY piece of makeup we’ve gotten over the last 6 years – including the Makeup from Base Game as well as all the packs we have so far.

There are 4 new sliders for Makeup: Hue, Brightness, Saturation and Transparency. One of the most important things to note here is that the Hue Slider will allow you to change the color of the makeup to any color you want – meaning that you’re no longer limited to the preset variants that each makeup option offers.

Preparing for The Sims 4’s December 2020 Content Update

Another part of this update that’s been announced is adding and improving some of the Base Game hairstyles.

Three more base game hairstyles will see improvements in the December update. These include two children’s hairstyles—the braided ponytail with baby hairs and the braided ponytail without baby hairs—and the flat-top texture hairstyle.

The team also revealed that they’ll be improving the Base Game afro hairstyle, however that won’t be included in this month’s update.

So, what does this update mean for your game and the possible Custom Content / Mods you might have already installed in your mods folder?

It’s not known yet what else might be included in this update beside the CAS features that I’ve talked about above, however with big updates like these it’s always important to play it safe and remove any CC / Mods you might have installed. The game will automatically disable them after opening up The Sims 4 for the first time after the update but it’s important that you leave them disabled until your favorite Mod creators confirm that their Mods work, don’t work and / or are planning to release an updated version of their creations to work with the latest update.

One thing is 99.9% certain – any Custom Skin Tones / Makeup that you’ve possibly installed will probably be broken after this update considering that this update is changing the way Skin Tones / Makeup work and function from the ground up.

There is a chance that the talented modders over at Sims4Studio might come up with a batch-fix solution that will fix CC Skin Tones / Makeup to work with the latest update. We’ll definitely keep you posted when and if that happens!

Until then, play it safe and ensure your save game files are healthy and ready for the next update! If you’re just getting started with Mods / CC make sure you check out our handy guide!

Stay tuned on Sims Community to be the first to know when the new update comes out!

The Sims 4 Snowy Escape Official Survey

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The Sims 4 Snowy Escape Official Survey

The Sims Team released an official survey for The Sims 4 Snowy Escape Expansion Pack!

The survey mostly asks questions regarding where you’ve heard about the pack, which features you like / dislike and what is your general impression of the pack.

You can take the survey by clicking the button below!

[mks_button size=”large” title=”TAKE THE SURVEY!” style=”squared” url=”https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6026109/SnowyEscape?EA_ID=279440654″ target=”_blank” bg_color=”#1e73be” txt_color=”#FFFFFF” icon=”” icon_type=”” nofollow=”0″]

The Sims 4 Snowy Escape Official Survey

The Sims 4’s Next Expansion Pack is in the Final Stage of Production

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The Sims 4’s Next Expansion Pack is in the Final Stage of Production

The Sims Team is already wrapping up the production for The Sims 4’s 11th Expansion Pack!

Maxis’ official Careers Website has published a new job opportunity looking for a Voice Editor. There are two job opportunities listed for the same Voice Editor role looking for someone who will help ship The Sims 4’s next Expansion Pack.

It’s known generally in the video gaming industry that some of the final steps of creating a new video game (or in this case a Sims 4 Pack) is recording and editing audio / voice material for the game. For example, we’ve published the same finding back in March 2020 regarding the same job opportunity and about 2 months after The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle has been announced.

If all goes according to plan The Sims 4’s next Expansion Pack should be announced and released in the first quarter of 2021 according to previous patterns.

At Maxis, we excel at outrageous thinking. It’s the fuel that inspires the best games in the world. We’re trailblazers and great storytellers. But it’s not just about amazing your peers – it’s about amazing yourself and our fans. Take risks. Work with dazzling minds and dare to dream big. Together, we can change the way millions play every day. The Sims 4 has an extremely unique player base, with 60% of our audience being women between the ages of 18-24. We are looking for someone with deep insights on how to create the best experience for our players.

The Maxis Studio of Electronic Arts is looking for a Voice Editor to join the Audio team and help us ship an upcoming expansion pack for The Sims 4.

The Sims 4’s Next Expansion Pack is in the Final Stage of Production

The Sims 4 with All Packs is no longer a playable experience on PS4 and Xbox One

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The Sims 4 with All Packs is no longer a playable experience on PS4 and Xbox One

When The Sims 4 first came out for Xbox One and PS4 back in November 2017 I was excited to test out just how well it runs on my PS4 Pro. The optimization of the game in the beginning wasn’t too bad but there was room for improvement. The Sims Team released multiple updates for the Console version that somewhat solved the issue but there was something they couldn’t stop – releasing new Packs.

Before I begin with explaining why The Sims 4 (with Packs installed) is no longer playable on Xbox One and PS4 I’ll have to first explain the way those consoles have been built. Both Consoles have been released in the holiday season of 2013 and both rely on the now outdated method of storaging files – Hard Disk Drives. The introduction of SSDs (or Solid State Drives) was already on its way for PC computers during that period and players have already started adapting and upgrading their desktop computers with SSDs. By the time The Sims 4 came out along with some of the first packs PC and Laptop manufacturers have already started creating pre-built computers with SSDs that are way faster than HDDs. This made plenty of video games, including The Sims 4, skip the loading screen in just a matter of seconds. This was all thanks to the power of SSDs providing enormous writing and reading speeds for their disks.

Skip to 2020 and we have The Sims 4 series that, at the time of writing this article, has 10 Expansion Packs, 9 Game Packs and 17 Stuff Packs. For players that have almost all or all packs installed on their desktops that have SSDs this really isn’t an issue considering that the game still switches between loading screens in a matter of seconds. However, players who are stuck with older computers where The Sims 4 is installed on an HDD playing the game becomes difficult. This really isn’t an issue for PC players considering that doing an SSD upgrade is really cheap in 2020. However Console players who aren’t tech-savvy and expect The Sims 4 with multiple packs installed to run smoothly on their PS4 / Xbox One will be unpleasantly surprised.

The Sims 4 with All Packs is no longer a playable experience on PS4 and Xbox One

I’ve gotten a chance to revisit The Sims 4 with all of the Packs installed on my PS4 Pro and I was shocked to discover how slow the game runs on the platform. It took me 4 minutes of loading to just enter the game’s Main Menu and additional 6 minutes to load my save game and enter Live Mode. In comparison it takes me about a minute on my PC to get into the main menu, load up my save game and jump into Live Mode.

The Sims 4 with All Packs is no longer a playable experience on PS4 and Xbox One

The struggles of playing The Sims 4 on my PS4 Pro didn’t just stop there – after finally jumping into Live Mode I’ve encountered a huge fps (frames per second) drop that lasted for a minute – probably because the game was still loading assets even after the 6-minute loading process. The game somewhat normalized and was running at around 20 fps but there were still occasional lags that occured in-between, including when I was switching between Sims and anything that included loading additional assets such as Sim Profile thumbnails. The loading struggles continued after switching into Build Mode as the game had to additionally load object thumbnails and features that are exclusive to that mode. In conclusion – the game’s performance felt like the console didn’t even meet the minimum system requirements that are listed for PC players.

The loading struggles were best shown by Moonlight Gem on YouTube who recorded the loading process and compared it to the newly released PS5.

In the video below the player had a regular PS4 console with almost all the Packs installed (excluding Snowy Escape, Star Wars and Tiny Living Stuff). It took exactly 4 minutes and 35 seconds to load up the game’s main menu. By the time the player entered live mode it took the player roughly 12 minutes in total to start playing their game.

Thankfully PS5 and Xbox Series X have been released this month and both consoles rely on super-fast SSDs that can load up games in just seconds. Moonlight Gem recorded their loading process of The Sims 4 on their new PS5 console and with almost all of the packs installed it took roughly 2 minutes to load up the main menu, the save game and jump in straight into Live Mode. The game was also running smooth from that point as it was able to reach 60fps.

Of course the loading speeds on PS5 and Xbox Series X should be even faster considering their SSD capabilites but we should expect further game optimizations for The Sims 4 (and other video game titles) on PS5 and Xbox Series X in the upcoming months.

Playing The Sims 4 Base Game with maybe two or three packs isn’t a bad experience on PS4 and Xbox One. However you’ll be more and more disappointed in the game’s performance as you keep installing more packs on your Console.

At the moment I’m still waiting for my PS5 order to arrive so I can record and compare the game’s performance with the next-gen specs so I can showcase how well each segment of the game loads up. Still, I can tell you upfront even without the next article showcasing the comparison – The Sims 4 with all Packs isn’t a playable experience on older consoles. If you plan on expanding your Sims 4 collection for your Console it’s best to also start considering getting a new, next generation Console.

Custom Sentiments proven as possible for The Sims 4!

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Custom Sentiments proven as possible for The Sims 4!

The Sims 4 recently introduced Sentiments – a new way for Sims to build (or destroy) relationships with each other. Although the current list of Sentiments in The Sims 4 is pretty big (over 50 if you count the ones that come with Snowy Escape), there is still a lot of room for improvement and new Sentiment additions.

Considering the Sentiments feature is pretty new to the Base Game we could see a lot of new additions in the future. Until then Sims 4 modder @lumpinou decided to take the matter into their own hand by exploring the possibility of Custom Sentiments!

They explained that creating Custom Sentiments for the game is possible (using external modding tools of course) and that there’s almost an unlimited amount of Custom Sentiments you’ll be able to add into the game.

Are custom Sentiments doable? yes. Will I make roughly a billion of them to put in my mods? yes. Am I by any chance making a First Impression system for Sims when first meeting each other, which will influence friendship & romance development? You know it.

Custom Sentiments proven as possible for The Sims 4!

Some examples. Aiming for a November release. Using the moods mod as well to vary up reactions, see that ‘suspicious’ moodlet? 😉 First impressions don’t last forever & can be overcome…. Hopefully there’ll also be time for a very tiny Woohoo Wellness update.

Custom Sentiments proven as possible for The Sims 4!

The modder confirmed that they’ve already started working on some of the Custom Sentiments that will build interesting chemistry between two Sims. You can check out some of the examples above!

They’ve later explained some of the technical details behind Custom Sentiments:

We’ll let you know as soon as first Custom Sentiments get released!

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