Sims Community | Latest Updates and News from The Sims Universe!

The Sims 4: Your Sims can now finally Relax in their Beds

Jovan

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March 23, 2021

The Sims 4: Your Sims can now finally Relax in their Beds

It took a while to get to this point but your Sims are now a little bit smarter when it comes to using their Beds!

The Sims 4’s latest Update introduces a new “Relax” interaction on Beds which finally lets your Sims unwind on their matresses without having to either just sit on them or completely fall into a deep sleep.

The Sims Team shared in their Patch Notes that Sims will also be able to do some relaxing multitasking – such as watching the TV. All you have to do is have a TV placed down somewhere across the Bed and you’ll be able to both watch the TV and Relax on your Bed at the same time!

However, it seems that that’s pretty much it? I’ve tried to do some other “relaxing” activities while relaxing such as reading a Book. My Sim didn’t want to perform this interaction and instead decided to just sit up and read the book next to the Bed, probably meaning that this type of relaxing multitasking isn’t allowed in the game just yet.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that if you have two Sims relaxing on a Bed at the same time they won’t be able to communicate with each other until they stand up or sit right next to each other – even though they’re just half a meter apart!

It’s clear that there’s still a lot of multitasking abilities left to explore when it comes to object and social interactions. I’m hoping that The Sims Team plans to further develop this aspect in the game because there’s a lot of potential for plenty of social interactions!

Maxis talks about Generations, Cars and Upcoming Content for The Sims 4

The Sims 4

Jovan

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March 23, 2021

11

Maxis talks about Generations, Cars and Upcoming Content for The Sims 4

During The Sims Team’s latest Inside Maxis Livestream SimGuruAzure and SimGuruBat got to talk a little bit more about the future of The Sims 4 and what The Sims Team is planning.

In their Sims 411 segment both developers answered a “When will you add…?” Frequently Asked Question. The two developers acknowledged highly suggested features and packs such as Generations type of Pack and Cars and that currently it’s among their top priority to release these features. They’ve also reassured fans that The Sims 4 will definitely STILL have many more years of new content!

You can check out the full transcript of their answer from the official livestream that I’ve written down below.

SimGuruAzure: We’ve seen a lot of questions from you guys about specific pack themes and features such as Generations Packs and Cars and here’s what we want you to know. We love your ideas, first of all, and I personally really enjoy having those things in my game too. What we can say is that these suggested packs and highly, highly requested features are always at the top of our mind. Especially when we think about what we want to do next. As soon as these things become more real we’ll update you right here at Inside Maxis. What do we need to make it more real?

Just to give you a little bit of a behind-the-scenes look at what we do; to bring new content to the game it involves many, many processes. We have to take important steps that are a part of the game development process and often that takes a lot of time. This time is needed to ensure that we meet your expectations and that we’re delivering the best quality to you guys. Sometimes there’s also foundational technology that we need to work on and sometimes we have to dig into the designs very deeply that make these things happen.

SimGuruBat: We’ve read a lot of your feedback and our goal is for you to be as excited about packs and features as we are. We put a lot of heart into what we do and we try to make as many people as happy as we can but we also know it’s kind of impossible to meet everyone’s expectations. The great thing is as our game continues to grow and we look forward to delivering more stuff as the game goes on…for many, many more years to come.

SimGuruAzure: Many more years to come!

The Sims 4: Preview of Two New Hairstyles coming to Base Game

The Sims 4

Jovan

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March 23, 2021

1

The Sims 4: Preview of Two New Hairstyles coming to Base Game

SimGuruAzure and SimGuruRad have shared a little bit about which new hairstyles are coming to The Sims 4’s Base Game!

They’ve revealed these two Hairstyles with some different color variants that you can check out below. One of the SimGurus have also confirmed that the first hairstyle is unique and is not to be mistaken with the Base Game Afro from 2014 – which they’re planning to update seperately in the coming period.

Check out the new Hairstyles!

The Sims 4: New Trait Slot in CAS and New HAIR COLORS are coming!

The Sims 4

Jovan

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March 23, 2021

9

The Sims 4: New Trait Slot in CAS and New HAIR COLORS are coming!

The latest Inside Maxis Livestream has just ended!

SimGuruAzure and SimGuruBat got to talk more about their latest update for The Sims 4 including Bunk Beds, some new Hairstyle Updates and a little bit more from today. However, they seemed to have teased at something else which they seemed to have teased on their screen.

If you look closely on the bottom screen you’ll notice that there’s a new Trait Slot added right below the Aspirations Menu. Check it out below:

HOWEVER, that’s not all! The two SimGurus also seemed to have shown some new Hair Color options for all Hairstyles which you can check out down below. There are new options for silver-ish tones, blond tones and some other ones that you can spot.

LuumiaSims was also able to quickly spot the differences between the current Black Hair Color we have and the True Black Color that they’ve teased in the stream:

Yep, looks like we’re getting a true black swatch in the next update! Left is the black right now, right is the updated black. pic.twitter.com/zWH213OZXi

— Luumia (@luumiasims) March 23, 2021

The two developers haven’t exactly addressed when these changes are coming. However, assuming that they’re already there in their latest build we can take a guess and say that they’ll be ready by the time the next content update gets announced.

Stay tuned for more details on the upcoming update on our website!

OFFICIAL LIVESTREAM: The Sims 4 Update (Inside Maxis)

Jovan

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March 23, 2021

0

OFFICIAL LIVESTREAM: The Sims 4 Update (Inside Maxis)

The Sims Team will be doing a special livestream today, March 23rd, 2021 at 11AM PT / 7PM CET / 6PM BT to talk more about their latest update for The Sims 4 Base Game!

The latest update adds Bunk Beds, Trait Improvements and more which they’ll be showcasing officially in the stream. Maxis has also teased that they’ll also talk about “what’s coming in The Sims 4” so make sure you don’t miss out!

We’ll make sure to keep you updated on all the latest info from the stream on Sims Community! You can watch the stream below:

new Twitch.Player(“twitch-embed”, {
channel: “thesims”
});

The Sims 4 PC & Console: NEW UPDATE + Patch Notes! (March 23rd, 2021)

Jovan

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March 23, 2021

5

The Sims 4 PC & Console: NEW UPDATE + Patch Notes! (March 23rd, 2021)

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: 1.72.28.1030 / Mac: 1.72.28.1230
Console: Version 1.39

Happy Spring, Simmers! We hope you are well wherever you are in the World.

Today we bring to you a plethora of updates and bug fixes. There is something for everyone, so we hope that you all enjoy these additions.

As always we thank you for your continued support and feedback.
Happy Simming!

-SimGuruJill and SimGuruRusskii

What’s New?

We made some updates and improvements to a couple of hair options in Create a Sim. Now cfHair_Puffball and ymHair_ShortAfro not only look fabulous, but we also provided conversions for Adults and Toddlers for cfHair_Puffball and to Children and Toddlers for ymHair_ShortAfro. Screenshots below for maximum reference.

cfHair_Puffball

yfHair_EF29AfroPuffs

pfHair_EF29AfroPuff

ymHair_ShortAfro

cHair_ShortFro

pmHair_EF29ShortFro

And if you were wondering what they would look like in different Frames, here is a peek.

ymHair_ShortAfro on Female Frame Sims

ymHair_EF29AfroPuffs on Male Frame Sims

We have taken the following paintings and posters and given them a few more variants to not only provide more choices in customization for your Lots, but also to add diversity in the designs to broaden representation.

Rock My Universe Pin Up Girl Poster

Dramatic Cooking Poster

The Illustrated Sports Poster

Teen Idol Poster

Henry Puffer Poster

“Just Justin” Fan Poster

Kick It Sally Soccer Poster

Mystery Poser Antique Portrait

Art in a Box

Portrait of a Marriage

In addition to adding these spectacular variants, we have also edited some of the text to reflect these changes. We hope you love them as much as we do!

We made some improvements to the visuals of our Sims for Simmers that were affected by improper-looking textures, particularly with Skin Tones in Live Mode for Console players. You should see improvements with how your Sims appear in live mode… This change will also benefit Simmers running Minimum System Requirements on PC/Mac. Thank you for your patience on this issue, and as always, we will continue to improve over time.

On the Gameplay side, we have made some targeted improvements to a selection of Base Game personality Traits to make them more meaningful in gameplay. The idea is to provide these Traits a noticeable improvement so that Simmers can identify the specific Traits with more obvious visual cues and apparent, unique behavior.

The Traits that we have improved are Bookworm, Cheerful, Clumsy, Genius, Gloomy, Glutton, Good, Goofball, Hates Children, Hot-Headed, Jealous, Mean, Neat, Noncommittal, Perfectionist. We also made some Reactionary Trait changes to Slob and Ambitious. We think this selection captures a proportional set of positive and negative Traits. But wait… there’s more! We also made some changes to daily activities, such as Taking a Shower or Eating a Meal, that would allow them to be completed in less time. We hope that you enjoy playing with these changes and we look forward to hearing from you about them.

And I think that is it, ya? Hold on… let me check my notes for a sec… <looks at her bunch of sticky notes> Hairs… check. Some tweaks to traits and everyday activities… check. Painting variants… check. Backend stuff… oh! I knew I had forgotten something!

OK, there is one more thing…

B-B-B-BUNK BEDS!

Yes indeedy, Bunk Beds have been added to The Sims 4. You can now cram twice as many kids, teens, young adults, full grown adults, and elders into their sleeping quarters than ever before. Why share the same horizontal space when you can literally sleep… above? Let this be one more way to show whoever gets the lower bunk that you are superior in every way, including elevation.

We’ve included a basic style Bunk Bed that matches with the existing Mod Pod Bed from Base Game, as well as a Metal Framed Bunk Bed to carry out all of your twisted or industrial Bunk Bed story-telling needs.

What’s more, we’ve added a new Relax posture to all beds so your Sims can now relax in bed while doing relaxing things like watching TV, even from the top bunk. I may never want to leave my bed again!

You may see on first glance of the Bunk Beds in the catalog that they have two ladders. “That was very generous of you and all, but I really only needed one ladder”, you might say. We’re with you! By default, when you place a Bunk Bed against a wall, the extra ladder will be automatically and cleanly removed. This automatic ladder removal can also be toggled off via the “Auto Bunk Beds” button in the Comfort Sort UI.

But wait, what is that Top Bunk thing I see sitting next to the Bunk Beds in the catalog, you might ask? Good eye. We can’t forget the Top Bunk! Hyphen over-use-incoming: The all-in-one Bunk Bed is intended for ease-of-use for the more grab-and-go builder. But for those of you who want to further control your bed’s makeup, this one’s for you. You can use this on its own for the visual interest and excitement of simply sleeping higher up (and without having to share your bedroom), and you might notice a sprocket icon next to the Top Bed’s color swatch UI. Clicking this sprocket will also turn off the “Auto Bunk Beds” toggle for ladder placement and offer you options to have the ladder on the left, right, or keep 2 ladders. Additionally, you can slot in any existing single bed below the Top Bunk if you want to get a little more creative with your Bunk Bed style.

For this first iteration of Bunk Beds, placement of other objects beyond single beds will not be supported. But for those of you who want to experiment, we’re excited to see what kind of creative things you come up with from leveraging the MOO cheat!

Bug Fixes

Sims 4

Toddlers will now eat the food your Sims have prepared for them. My mom used to say when my siblings and I were children that “this is not a restaurant, you eat what I cook for you all” so yeah… a lot of times I saw my sister stay at the table until she finished all her veggies… her nemesis was spinach. Bet my Mom wishes she had this fix… yup!

Is your Sim creating puddles as they drink water? We have tweaked and duct-taped every leak your Sims could have so this should no longer occur.

Auto Solving for Hygiene should no longer queue a drink in the interaction queue. OK.

Elder, Adults, Young Adults, and Teen Sims can now Play Dolls With Toddlers. Aww, adorable. ^_^

21st Birthday Create a Sim assets puTop_EF28TankScallop and puBottom_EF28JeansCuffed are now properly displayed with the Special Birthday icon and tooltip.

As always this editor and the Localization team made some adjustments and perfected some of the text in-game across all packs and previous updates. #fabuloso

Get to Work

Scientists Sims can now complete the Transform Some Grass task.

Cats and Dogs

Kittens will now Age Up when given Age Up Treats. Now, why would you have your kittens age? Who wannnntttsss kittensss to live foreverrrrrrrrrrr? – Oh ooo oh – Who dares to be a kitten foreveeeerrrr?

Pet Poop is now able to be used properly as a Fertilizer. This means that no, you are not storing Pet Poop forever in your Sims inventory, it will now be used again… as intended.

Seasons

Ever heard that saying “it is as useless as plowing the sea?” What? Is that a Venezuelan saying only? Well, those Maids that were mopping puddles while in a thunderstorm? That’s a thing in the past… the immediate past… yes.

For those who are Polar Bear enthusiasts, we have great news! The Polar Bear Plunge Tradition is now able to be celebrated.

Get Famous

Global Superstar Sims will no longer get the React with Disgust from other Sims – especially on their wedding… really? This was a thing? <clutches pearls> – Reacting with Disgust will be left for those Celebrity Sims that are not famous and they appear on the Lot – Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

Eco Lifestyle

Fixed an issue with Insect Farms that were displaying Ready to Collect when they actually were not. Hold yer tiny insect horses little guys!

What? Vertical Gardens are evolving! Fixed an issue in which Vertical Gardens didn’t Evolve when they were both in the Ready to Evolve and Ready to Harvest state.

The Community Voting Board has been found and reinstated in Build Mode! However Cafés, Restaurants, and Vet Clinics will have to wait for a future update as it will be still missing for these lot types.

Loving that Off the Grid life but suddenly plumbing is required? Wait, what? Say no more… We have now made it so that eating/drinking Cereal, Milk, Juice, Yogurt, and Water doesn’t require plumbing. Wait, why would Milk – well even Cereal – require plumbing? Is there a Cereal bar plumbing system I don’t know about that is in the game? Wouldn’t that be filled with soggy Cereal? I have questions!

The best way to keep Cricket Flour is to store it in the refrigerator! Now you can have your flour ready to use extra fresh and crisp (crisp? crunchy?). We have also made it possible to store Beetle Nuggets, Bombardier Beetle Nuggets, and Grub Meal. Buen Provecho!

Parenthood

Parent Sims, were your Teens misbehaving? You grounded them, but they keep doing mischievous things? We have fixed an issue with Teens misbehaving stealthily while Grounded via the Phone. My parents grounded me in person, but hey, whatever works.

Journey to Batuu

We fixed an issue in which Batuu alien residents did not have the correct look. However, this fix is not retroactive and will be seen fixed in New Saves.

Nifty Knitting

Sims can resume Knitting after being interrupted while Knitting.

The Beginner’s Yarn Basket is now properly tagged under Skill-Building Objects in Sims’ Inventories.

Bust the Dust

We retrained our adorable yet filthy Dust Bunnies to not appear quite so often. We also made some tweaks to the dust situation and we hope now that it doesn’t accumulate as frequently as it has. What’s your favorite name for your Dust Bunny? Mine is Furthur! (Italian Simmers… hope you know what I’m talking about).

The Sims 4 on Next-Gen Consoles is a Smooth, Solid Experience

Jovan

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March 22, 2021

1

The Sims 4 on Next-Gen Consoles is a Smooth, Solid Experience

But it can be better!

A few months ago I wrote an article saying that The Sims 4 with All Packs is no longer a playable experience on PS4 and Xbox One. Okay, I might admit that the headline of this article may have been a little more dramatic than it should be, but for someone who’s been playing The Sims 4 on PC ever since release I couldn’t accept the fact that it takes more than 10 minutes just to jump into my game.

Some of the readers pointed out the fact that the way The Sims 4 is made just isn’t cut out for the build of the current-gen consoles PS4 and Xbox One, which are built using outdated Hard Disk Drives that contribute to very slow loading times, especially with all packs installed. There is a workaround to make The Sims 4 run a lot smoother on PS4 and Xbox One using external SSD drives which I’ll be talking about in my future article, but for now let’s see how The Sims 4 performs on next-gen consoles.

For this comparison article I’ve tested out The Sims 4 (PS4 version) with almost all Packs installed on my PS5 however the results should be the same for players who own an Xbox Series X.

I’ve managed to boot up The Sims 4 to the Main Menu from the splash screen in about 50 seconds. This might not sound like an ambitious number but it took me 4 minutes to get to the Main Menu when I was playing The Sims 4 with the same Packs on my PS4 Pro. Hard Disk Drives – they’re a real pain when you’re trying to run The Sims 4 with multiple packs and that reflected on the loading times of my previous console.

To further test out how well The Sims 4 runs I’ve booted up one of the heaviest Save Games I have on my Console which includes two Sims and 6 Pets. To get from the Main Menu to Live Mode it took me about 40 seconds if you exclude the time I’ve spent in the Manage Worlds screen. This cannot even compare to the loading times I had on my PS4 Pro which lasted 6 minutes to jump into Live Mode!

In conclusion, when it comes to the full loading process from the console’s splash screen to Live Mode it takes approximately a minute and a half to get into your favorite household. It truly feels like a solid, smooth experience even after because there are no lags or waiting for all of the object assets to load up after you’re in Live Mode, which was always the case on my PS4 Pro.

It’s of course guaranteed that these loading times may not exactly reflect on your next-gen consoles and that there are a few variables in seconds, but it just can’t compare to the struggle I’ve experienced before, which was waiting 10 minutes to jump into the game.

I later tested out some other things like jumping into Build Mode and travelling to a different Neighborhood and it all felt like a smooth experience that you’d want when playing The Sims 4.

I’ve even tested out how long does it take to place a build from The Gallery onto an empty lot. On PS4 Pro this experience took me more than a minute to finally place the lot down, with lots that aren’t even that heavy in objects. I was able to place down a full blown mansion on the PS5 in less than 30 seconds, with almost constant 60 frames-per-second after placing it down.

You can check out the full 9 minute video of me testing out the game on Playstation 5 down below:

So, how can it be better?

For starters The Sims 4 on next-generation consoles isn’t exactly fully updated and optimized to reach the full potential. The Sims 4 on PS5 will still be treated as a “PS4 version” – with the difference only being mostly in loading times, textures and minor graphic setting improvements that very much resemble the graphics on PC with high/ultra settings.

Assuming that The Sims Team plans to put out PS5 / Xbox Series X versions of the game they’d have to consider fully embracing the console’s next gen SSDs and graphics. This would include completely getting rid of the loading screen bars and just relying on the spinning plumbob with just seconds of loading screen times that you’d encounter on higher-end PC builds. That plus an update on the resolution of the game as it can currently run only up to 1080p.

These are just little details that could overall improve a smooth, steady experience that’s already there on next-gen consoles.

The Sims 4 will be getting Bunk Beds and TRAIT IMPROVEMENTS Tomorrow!

The Sims 4

Jovan

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March 22, 2021

7

The Sims 4 will be getting Bunk Beds and TRAIT IMPROVEMENTS Tomorrow!

It seems The Sims 4 won’t be getting just the new Bunk Beds that The Sims Team has been teasing over the last month.

In their latest tweet they’ve revealed that The Sims 4 will be getting a brand new Content Update including Bunk Beds, Improved Console Textures and TRAIT IMPROVEMENTS?!

Bunk Beds

Trait Improvements

Improved Console Textures

The Sims 4 update goes live tomorrow, March 23, at 10 AM PT for all players! Which bunk are you fighting for – the top bunk or the bottom?

It’s no surprise that the simming community has been vocal regarding the traits system in The Sims 4 over the last few years and how few there are available in Create A Sim. It’s looking like there will be a complete revamp of the Traits and what they mean in the game with tomorrow’s update, but we’ll know about that when the time for the update comes tomorrow.

The team also announced their official livestream which is set for tomorrow where they’ll be talking about the update as well as “future content”. We’re excited to find out more and will make sure to keep you up to date on Sims Community!

@SimGuruBat & @SimGuruAzure are excited to walk you through tomorrow’s update! 🖥️
Tune in March 23rd, at 11 AM PT for another Inside Maxis on https://t.co/0kxZKRIjOP to learn more on the latest update & what’s coming in The Sims 4 ✨

— The Sims (@TheSims) March 22, 2021

EA Play launches on Xbox Game Pass for PC; The Sims 4 included!

Jovan

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March 18, 2021

1

EA Play launches on Xbox Game Pass for PC; The Sims 4 included!

Microsoft launched their first ever gaming subscription service back in November 2020 where you can get access to a huge catalogue of games for just $9.99 a month ($14.99 a month if you choose the Ultimate Game Pass option). The Ultimate Game Pass option for this subscription service also included the full EA Play catalogue however the EA Play list was only available for Xbox Consoles at the time.

Today, the EA Play catalogue has been released for Xbox Game Pass on PC and yes – The Sims 4 is also included in the list!

The Xbox Game Pass for PC lets you have a full access to over 100 PC Games including EA Play Games and The Sims 4 Digital Deluxe Base Game for $9.99.

You can learn more about Xbox Game Pass on Microsoft’s official page and watch the official installation and introduction video down below. Please note that in order to have the EA Play catalogue you’ll be needing EA’s latest launcher client – the EA Desktop App. All is explained below!

Origin Sale: Save up to 75% off on select The Sims 4 Games!

The Sims 4

Jovan

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March 16, 2021

1

Origin Sale: Save up to 75% off on select The Sims 4 Games!

Origin is having a huge Player’s Delight sale for almost all of their franchises, including a selection of The Sims 4 Games that are up to 75% off!

Now to be more precise The Sims 4 Base Game specifically is 75% off and you can get it starting at 10USD (Standard Edition) and 15USD (Digital Deluxe Edition).

Included in this sale are also all of The Sims 4 Expansion Packs which are slashed by 50% off and now cost 20USD.

This sale is active right now only for PC / Mac platforms for players on the Origin platform and will last until March 26th at 10AM Pacific Time. During this sale you can also get The Sims 3 Expansion Packs at 50% off so make sure you take advantage of these offers!

After quite a while, The Sims 3 Games are finally on Sale on Origin!

The Sims 3

Jovan

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March 16, 2021

4

After quite a while, The Sims 3 Games are finally on Sale on Origin!

It’s been a hot minute since The Sims 3 Games have ever gotten a chance to get a special promotion deal over on Origin. The game would usually be on sale every few months or so on Steam but almost never on EA’s own platform.

Now, the time has finally come for you to update your The Sims 3 collection at a special price!

The Sims 3 Expansion Packs are a part of Origin’s special Player’s Delight Sale promotion. From today until March 26th at 10AM Pacific Time you’ll be able to get all of the Expansion Packs for The Sims 3 at 50% off! That means all of the Expansion Packs are priced at 20USD each!

The Sims 3 Base Game isn’t included in this offer but you can get The Sims 3 Starter Pack for 40USD which includes The Sims 3 Late Night Expansion Pack and The Sims 3 High-End Loft Stuff pack.

Unfortunately none of the Stuff Packs, World Packs or SimPoints are included in this sale. It’s sort of weird considering during this Sale period Stuff Packs and Expansion Packs both cost 20USD each. But hey, at least the better part of the catalogue is on sale!

You can check out the deals on Origin by clicking here!

The Sims 4: Bunk Beds Update to be released Next Week

The Sims 4

Jovan

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March 15, 2021

0

The Sims 4: Bunk Beds Update to be released Next Week

UPDATE: The Sims Team confirmed the update will be released on March 23rd – get ready!

The free update will be available to players on the 23rd with more information on what to expect on the 22nd😃

— The Sims (@TheSims) March 15, 2021

In the beginning of March The Sims Team has teased that they’ll be releasing a Free Content Update for The Sims 4. Included in the update? BUNK BEDS!

Although we still don’t have a lot of details regarding the update and what else it might include, we did get a confirmation today from The Sims that the update will be fully revealed on March 22nd, posting yet again the silhouette image of Bunk Beds:

Who’s that Voidcritter? Find out March 22nd!

We’ll make sure to keep you updated on all things Bunk Beds (and possibly more) on Sims Community so stay tuned!

Check out this Custom Kit for The Sims 4 that’s all about Plants!

The Sims 4 Custom Content

Jovan

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March 15, 2021

2

Check out this Custom Kit for The Sims 4 that’s all about Plants!

Bite sized custom content created by the community that is 100% free? YES PLEASE! So far we’ve had an interesting variety of Custom Content Stuff Packs created by the community that offer tens of different items fitting to the theme the creators have chosen. However the new release of Kits has also inspired Custom Content creators to take the matter into their own hands and provide the community with bite-sized niche content for free!

Talented custom content creator Max 20 released their first ever Custom Kit for The Sims 4 that’s all about new Plants!

The set contains 19 different custom content plants that are 100% Maxis Match and fit into the art style of The Sims 4. You can check out the preview of these plants below and download them by clicking the download button below.

[mks_button size=”large” title=”DOWNLOAD!” style=”squared” url=”https://maxsus.tumblr.com/post/645019137158135808/download-one-file-download-rar” target=”_blank” bg_color=”#1e73be” txt_color=”#FFFFFF” icon=”fa-arrow-down” icon_type=”fa” nofollow=”0″]

You can install this set easily on your PC / Mac by placing the .package files to Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods folder.

The Sims 4 Bust the Dust Kit Mod: Tweaks for Dust and Dust Bunnies

Jovan

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March 15, 2021

2

The Sims 4 Bust the Dust Kit Mod: Tweaks for Dust and Dust Bunnies

The Sims Team acknowledged that their new “Dust System” that came with The Sims 4 Bust the Dust Kit needs a few tweaks. They promised that the update that will fix the rapid dust accumulation is planned for release later this month, however PC / Mac players already have a quick solution thanks to the talented modding community!

Modder simmytime came up with a Mod solution that will significantly slow down the dust accumulation period, changing it from a few hours to a few days:

Much slower dust accumulation
The EA default is ridiculous. Within 5 hours my Sim living alone had a dirty house! So with this mod, dust will collect much more slowly – the time they take to accumulate has been more than halved. Dust starts to gather at around 3-4 days, which I think is much more realistic. It would also take a good week and a half for your home to become filthy: again, much more realistic.

There’s another small mod included in the linked page below which completely gets rid of dust bunnies and their spawning!

To install these mods simply extract the .zip files to Electronic Arts > The Sims 4 > Mods folder and ensure you have Mods / CC enabled in your game options!

[mks_button size=”large” title=”DOWNLOAD!” style=”squared” url=”https://modthesims.info/d/653496/bust-the-dust-tweaks.html” target=”_blank” bg_color=”#1e73be” txt_color=”#FFFFFF” icon=”fa-arrow-down” icon_type=”fa” nofollow=”0″]

The Sims 5 is planned to have “Story” and “Narrative” Features

Project Rene

Jovan

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March 15, 2021

6

The Sims 5 is planned to have “Story” and “Narrative” Features

New information about Maxis developing a brand new Sims Game (or The Sims 5 as we call it) keeps on surfacing!

We’ve already done a few reports about The Sims 5 and what it might include, such as:

All of this information came directly from plenty of new job listings that have been posted on the official Maxis Careers website. Today, there’s a brand new job opportunity listed on the website searching for a Senior Narrative Designer to develop prototypes and final versions of, what appears to be, a Story Mode for the next Sims game.

Before I dive deeper into the interesting information that was listed in the new job opportunity please note that this is almost certain information regarding the next Sims game. Career opportunities listed on Maxis Careers that are meant for The Sims 4 are marked as such while the opportunities for the next Sims game are marked just as “The Sims” and mention information such as creating a whole new game, prototyping, new software development tools that are outside The Sims 4’s software scope and more. It’s also worth mentioning that none of the talks about the next Sims Game will impact the current development and content release for The Sims 4 considering that Maxis has different teams working on different projects within the studio. It was also confirmed that Packs will continue to be released regularly as before, along with the new Kits that will have a more frequent release schedule compared to Packs.

Now that we have all the disclaimers out of the way let’s talk about what was mentioned in the Senior Narrative Designer opportunity!

The introduction to the Senior Narrative Designer job opportunity briefly explained what the role is all about, mentioning:

As a Senior Narrative Designer on The Sims, you’ll report to the Creative Director and work with a team of enthusiastic industry craftspeople from all walks of life. You will use your passion and knowledge to lead the development of the narrative experience from initial prototypes through final design.

You will work with your engineering, design, XD, UXR and Production partners, along with using feedback and research insights to create experiences that surprise, delight, and invite millions of gamers around the world to Play with Life.

This vaguely confirms that the next Sims game will have a “narrative experience” and that the future Senior Narrative Designer will have to help develop this new experience from initial prototypes through final design. However, this just scratches the surface of what Maxis is planning for this game. The responsibilities of a Senior Narrative Designer talk a lot about the game having a “narrative vision” within a “non-linear simulation experience”. Some of the other key responsibilites have been highlighted below:

Responsibilities

Guide the delivery of the following:

Define and and maintain the narrative vision of the project.

Explore new ways to bring characters to life and create emotional experiences in a non-linear simulation experience.

Work with multiple disciplines to direct and implement the characters, settings, goals, and conflicts from drafts in game.

Work with the tools team to improve workflow and processes.

Create design documentation to support prototyping efforts.

Partner with Development Directors to track tasks, identify risk, and clarify changes in work.

Partner with UX to design, research, and implement features, particularly for introducing narrative elements and decisions.

Aid team leadership in gathering presentation materials.

Playtest, attend UXR sessions, and participate in organizing feedback/insights.

Document findings for future use in Sims development.

Still, that’s not all. The qualifications section of this job opportunity have revealed which knowledge and qualifications should the future Senior Narrative Designer have.

Qualifications

Significant Narrative Game Genre design experience, especially in the area of creating the production pipeline to integrate story with the gameplay.

Significant experience writing fictional stories, ideally interactive experiences.

Capability to lead cross-discipline prototyping and idea iteration, actively participating in the development of a feature from start to finish.

Experience with young adult fiction, pop-culture stories, in particular romantic narratives.

Hands-on implementation for an interactive experience or mod.

Excited by and helping define new business and distribution models like live services through the lens of narrative elements.

Knowledge of popular interactive story machinima or mod communities a plus (ex: The Sims, Episode, Grand Theft Auto Online).

Excellent communication and presentation skills required.

All of these qualifications hint heavily at the possibility of the next Sims game having a story-based feature that’s more than just pre-made household lore that we’ve been met with in the past, especially The Sims 2 and The Sims 3.

Considering that they’ve mentioned decision making, interactive narrative experience all within different story types that are popular today could mean that the game will have a whole Story-driven gameplay – something similar to what we’ve had in The Sims Stories spin-off era.

Be aware that none of this is 100% certain on what the final game could turn out to be considering that the new team at Maxis is still prototyping various features. EA’s CEO Andrew Wilson confirmed that the game will stay true to its core while also exploring new ways to play The Sims.

Considering that so far we’ve had clues and information about the next Sims Game including…

“The game will stay true to its core”
It’s being prototyped in a massive, Unreal Engine software used by major game developers
Will have competitive, online and “subscription-based” features
…and now is planned to have a non-linear Simluation, Narrative, Story-driven experience

…It’s almost certain that the next Sims game will be more than just one thing.

There’s a lot we don’t know about for The Sims 5 and the game is still early in development but it’s definitely interesting to see what Maxis is planning for the game.

If you want to stay in the loop about the next Sims game make sure you check out our The Sims 5 News Category!

Tip: PekeSims