Overall, can’t say I learned much that hadn’t already been shared in the blog post/behind the sims, except for names of some townies and their roles, however here’s my written summary including screenshots from the trailer of a few things I noted.
First thing they mentioned was how much work it is, which was already mentioned in EA’s guided tour blog post.
Community is mentioned as being important.
We got ‘introduced’ to a couple of townies over the course of the trailer.
The first townie we were introduced to was Siena, horse trainer and owner of the Equestrian Center in town, where all the competitions like barrel racing and jumping take place. This clip from the trailer shows plaques which are probably what you win from the competitions:
Horse ‘temperaments’. Some horses can be friendly and patient, others can be aggressive and defiant. They have different personalities and traits (Which was already mentioned in the behind the scenes look at horses during the Behind the Sims).
The closer you are with a horse, the easier it is to practice your skills.
You’ll see sims on horses pretty much everywhere, long rides out in the park and through town.
Horses take a lot of space (no surprise there!).
Foals can inherit their parent’s nature.
They need to be fed, played with, brushed, trained, and cleaned up after.
Adding the mini goats and sheep adds to the work (not sure why they need to be bottle fed if you can get milk and wool from them).
Not sure if sims will be able to count sheep or if that was trailer magic!
Mentions hiring a ranch hand, they will look after your livestock and tend crops needed for nectar making (however I would think they just garden in general?)
They mention you can hire the ranch hands from the community board, and you can also buy or adopt horses from the community board.
You can eventually make money from nectar making, though in the beginning you’ll make sub par batches.
There are many kinds of nectar (they show grape, strawberry and apple and they indicated different emojis for both, so I wonder if they give different emotions, like different fizzy juices do).
Is this one like the suspicious fizz you can make in Eco Lifestyle?Is this the special nectar?
The second townie we were introduced to was Roberto Crinkletop who you can learn a secret recipe from.
I expect that’s the recipe for the nectar that brings sims back to life.
Roberto has no home, no one knows where he lives, but he will show up to the dances!
The pack is out July 20th, 2023.
Early purchase bonus if you buy the pack by August 31, 2023 (pre-ordering isn’t necessary):
Reminder, the developer livestream is on Friday, July 14, 2023 at 11 am Pacific and will be on their Twitch and their YouTube. This was shared in the Behind the Sims blog post recap.
No indication given on how long the gallery maintenance will take.
New Console Control Feedback Thread
The May 30 update brought more changes to console controls and EA has closed the old thread and created a new one. From what I’m seeing on the new changes, is negative.
Link to new thread I recommend going over there to comment with your feedback. Hopefully they are quicker to respond this time then they were last time.
New Mod to Bring Back Relationship Gain When Taking Photos:
If you want to share your own Sims play with other friendly simmers, have any questions, or need troubleshooting help please head over to my Facebook group, Sims Sanctuary or my Discord
If you want to share your own Sims play with other friendly simmers, have any questions, or need troubleshooting help please head over to my Facebook group, Sims Sanctuary or my Discord
If you have any questions, need troubleshooting help or want to share your own Sims game play with other friendly Simmers please head over to my Facebook group, Sims Sanctuary or my Discord
Meet Lila Mayberry, who is a creative freegan who is also an animal enthusiast and is about to embark on the No Skills, No Problem Scenario. The twist, we’re going to try and get a golden chicken to help her get a perfect garden since she won’t be able to gain any skills and evolve her garden herself. As per the scenario goals, she is starting with no simoleons and on a now empty lot (3 Olde Mill Lane in Henford on Bagley). As an aside, she is playing in the same save and neighourhood that Cameron McGregor is in, i.e. the sim used in my playthrough of the Extraterrestrial Researcher Scenario.
If you’d like to play with Lila, she’s now on the gallery.
The scenario goals are quite simple, have 400,000 simoleons while not being able to gain any skills.
In addition to this goal, I plan to complete the following aspirations:
Fortune Aspiration
Both Spellcaster Aspirations (Spellcraft & Sorcery and Purveyor of Potions)
Curator Aspiration
She will also work on other aspirations as best she can when not being able to gain any skills.
As for the rags to riches element, the main rule I will be following is that Lila won’t be able to sell into her personal inventory until she has earned enough for a yard sale table. So she will have to first earn money by taking on errands, selling fish/produce to the Finchwick grocery or gardening stands or taking on odd jobs.
For more Rags to Riches guidelines, see my blog post.
Contact Me:
If you have any questions, need troubleshooting help or want to share your own Sims game play with other friendly Simmers please head over to my Facebook group, Sims Sanctuary or my Discord
Meet Cameron McGregor, who is a genius, geek and animal enthusiast and is about to embark on the Extraterrestrial Researcher Scenario. The twist? He’s starting with nothing on an empty lot (2 Olde Mill Lane in Henford on Bagley).
If you’d like to play with Cameron, he’s now on the gallery.
The scenario goals themselves are pretty simple, bring back 5 unique living alien critters from voyages into space.
In addition to this goal, I plan to have Cameron complete the nerd brain aspiration.
As for the rags start, the main rule I will be following is that Cameron won’t be able to sell into his personal inventory until he has earned enough for a yard sale table. So he will have to first earn money by taking on errands, selling fish/produce to the Finchwick grocery or gardening stands or taking on odd jobs. There are other ways to earn money that can be used if you want to play along with a rags start (getting a job or programming or writing using a public computer are other ways that come to mind).
For more Rags to Riches guidelines, see my blog post.
Contact Me:
If you have any questions, need troubleshooting help or want to share your own Sims game play with other friendly Simmers please head over to my Facebook group, Sims Sanctuary or my Discord
Links for bugs mentioned in my video, and if available mods to fix the issues and/or Crinrict reports summarizing the issue:
GRO = Growing Together
BG = Base Game
This list is split into two types, ‘bigger bugs’ that have a bigger effect on game play (10 in that section) and minor bugs that are more of a nuisance and have a smaller impact on game play (6 in that section).
Note that if you are using mods and cc and are experiencing issues, make sure you test in a mods/cc free save as they may be causing problems, even if you’ve updated. Please check either Luth’s mod tracking list on the Sims 4 forums or Scarlett’s mod tracking list.
Note some issues have been fixed as of April 26, 2023 which is noted under the individual points.
Initially it was thought that this was tied to Laundry Day and that disabling the LD stuff pack would help. This doesn’t seem to be the case anymore, so the cause seems to be unknown. If you’ve experienced this, here is some information that EA would like (screenshot from bug report):
3.Parents need to be introduced to infant (BG): Note the issue with this is the parent/caregiver won’t be able to look after the infant until they are introduced. You can hire a nanny to introduce your sim to the infant, or if someone else on the lot is known to the infant, have them do the introduction. If you have MCCC you can use the ‘set relationship levels’ and then choose friends (lower level may work, but that was the option I choose) and your parent will then have all the options to look after the infant. It was initially thought to be tied to the beloved trait, and that may be one cause, but I’ve had it happen with sims who don’t have the beloved trait.
4.Sims lose milestones, including infants (GRO): Note one issue with this as it pertains to infants, is that they don’t seem to be able to get the milestones again and losing them can reset their progress and then they can’t progress any further. Some people found it was triggered by rotational play, others by sending the infants to the grandparents and others just by travelling. Not sure if just going into manage worlds might cause an issue.
5.Sims have all the same name/CAS corruption(GRO + Other): Note that there is a similar existing bug, but it can also be caused by GRO if you try to change traits after sims have learned extra self discovery traits. i.e. either by using the cas.fulleditcheat or if you download a sim from the gallery with extra traits learned through self discovery. See Crinrict’s report for more information.
Second key bit of advice from Crin's post: THIS ERROR CAN SPREAD to other households and even other Saves! If you see this error in CAS with the names or traits, "close your game completely without saving if you run into the error and reload the game." https://t.co/OGy4CqXLMD
6.Teens and Children change appearance due to loose tooth (GRO). The ability to lose a tooth has been temporarily disabled for PC/Mac (Mar 24/23 update) and console will hopefully get the same update shortly while EA works on a solution to this problem. Since the issue is not actually fixed, the bug reports are still open.
7.Pregnancy not Progressing & Relationship Telemetry Hooks Last Exceptions (BG): Neither of these are happening to everyone, but it is an issue for some people. For the never ending pregnancy, some have found that switching to another household has allowed the pregnancy to progress, but that doesn’t seem to be working for everyone, or possibly even many people. There is a bug fix mod for both these issues, which may be related. Fixed in April 18, 2023 game update.
10.Issues with the Mountain Climbing Excursion: The new issue is that the mountain climbing excursion is not progressing. There was an old issue where there was no check mark to select the members. There’s a work around for the latter. You currently need bug fix mod for the excursion not progressing, there is no other work around. Fixed in April 18, 2023 game update.
1.Items Removed pop-up appears when no items removed (BG): This is an older bug, but seems more common since the infant update. You get a message that items from unowned content have been removed but nothing appears to be removed from your build/lot.
Here is where the lots are in San Sequoia (sims can’t walk on the grassy area around these two lots, they can walk on the road and a dirt path that doesn’t show in this map view)
General Advice:
⚠️ Just a general piece of advice I saw Turbodriver give on September 21, 2022 is that if you are experiencing issues with saving, it’s best to save the game in gameplay (i.e. from live mode) versus from manage worlds. ⚠️This can help prevent some issues with corrupting saves. So I recommend if you are editing your world from manage worlds, go into your household/a household and then save the game. While this refers to the issue happening in modded saves, I have seen people have a problem even in unmodded saves.
My latest LP for Growing Together LP is a variation on rags to riches, as my family will get to start with an empty house. First part should be up later today, March 24, 2023 at 3 pm EDT. Playlist link to TBA.
Meet our Family:
The Samuels are a close knit family. including a recently widowed mom who has a teen, a child, an infant and another one on the way! Her husband passed away recently and she used the little insurance money remaining to buy an unfurnished home in San Sequoia, which is new town for her and her family but happens to be where her sister is currently living. How will they all manage? Gallery link for the family.
Mom, young adult Madison Samuels, she is creative, family oriented and an animal enthusiast. She has the bonus collector trait from choosing a nature aspiration.
Teen, Brynn Samuels, she is a creative and a geek & has the muser trait from choosing a creativity aspiration. She will be joining us in the fall as she is currently on an exchange for the summer in Mt. Komorebi.
Child, Fiona Samuels who is an animal enthusiasts.
Infant, Avery Samuels who is sunny.
Family cat Mimi, who is a glutton, clever and a prowler!
Also in the San Sequoia is Madison’s young adult sister Sage Galloway. She is a genius bookworm, who also happens to be an animal enthusiast. She has the quick learner trait from choosing a knowledge aspiration.
Goals:
Have Madison at a minimum complete the Parenthood parent aspiration, the fortune aspiration & one nature aspiration. She will also work on other aspirations and complete what she can.
When our teen Brynn joins the household she needs to complete the overachiever teen aspiration and like her mom she will also work on other aspirations, including her primary aspiration, Bestselling Author.
Have all children, starting with Fiona, complete all child aspirations, including the four new ones.
Have all children learn how to ride a bike.
Have all infants, starting with Avery, complete all infant milestones and try all infant foods (both mashed and finger foods) and as a toddler, max all skills.
Furnish their home so that it suits a family living there!
See if we can complete all the puzzles!
The family must buy and build a treehouse and fully upgrade it.
Will Madison meet someone and if she does, what impact will that have on her family?
Optional Goal: Complete the Making Money scenario.
Rules:
Sims start with nothing except the unfurnished house on 23 Eucalyptus Lane, a 30×20 lot in the Hopewell Hills area of San Sequoia (gallery link for my starting home, see screenshot below)
No selling into inventory until you have a yard sale table/street gallery (requires either City Living, Jungle Adventures or Eco Lifestyle).
Aging can be whatever you wish. I will have it on long for my current household only.
You can use whatever type of residential lot you’d like. Mine is a tiny home (2 tier Tiny Residential)
For more Rags to Riches guidelines, see my blog post or video.
Some tweets from the last few days* covering the following:
Game Play (Mix of Base Game & Growing Together)
Children (Growing Together)
Tweets re Growing Together Lots
Build/Buy (Growing Together)
Create-a-Sim (Growing Together)
Behind the Scenes (Naming Worlds)
Just for Fun, including some glitches! (Base Game, Growing Together & Other Packs)
*mostly March 6 to March 8, but one is from March 4.
Link to my video where I discuss many of these tweets.
1. Game Play
Adoption:
Sims can adopt infants (hopefully older children too) that are already in the world! A couple of examples where this will be great is if your sim already has a child and then gets married or if you have Get to Work and the spouse has a child through alien abduction (and I’m sure there are more examples!). This looks different from the ability to adopt a child using the phone. Since it shows an adoption certificate, I’m not sure if the entire interaction is limited to Growing Together, or just what I expect is the milestone related to it.
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 6, 2023
Most certainly. All changing tables are compatible with toddlers.
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 6, 2023
Toddlers and Baby Proofing (Base Game):
Toddlers escaping is also part of the base game update, it’s not limited to Growing Together. The fence is base game, most everything else that looks new is Growing Together.
Three different types of marriage certificates and your sims can order copies via the phone or computer. Hopefully sims who are already married will also be able to order them!
Married Sims now get a marriage certificate in Growing Together, which you can then customize from these three designs in a variety of frames!
Sims can request additional copies via the phone or computer!
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 8, 2023
I wanted to show off dogs playing on the splash pad. Maybe I shouldn't have selected a Couch Potato Bulldog who just wants to lounge on the baby rug all day. 😂 I'll get my picture though!
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 8, 2023
Cats will need to be held
I believe you can hold them and play in the water!
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 8, 2023
2. Children (Growing Together)
Sneak peak at the reward trait for Slumber Party Animal Aspiration:
The four new Child Aspirations are a bit of a hybrid. Slumber Party Animal gives you a different set of goals that support Children who are focusing on both Social and Creativity. https://t.co/tmSxC0N1Lgpic.twitter.com/7odZQAY5iR
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 8, 2023
Correct to all above. They each also tie into our new objects (as seen in icons) + a few other kid-friendly activities.
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 8, 2023
Two children can play together on the treehouse:
Didn't get a chance to show this on the stream, but 2 Child Sims can also Play Pretend together! Space explorers, fairy tale castle, pirates, island castaway, and house! pic.twitter.com/M73bTLqRaZ
We showed off one dressed-up Starter Home during the Growing Together Livestream, but check out how cute this one is by @dzidziak86 in the Gilbert Gardens neighborhood! My two favorite parts: 1. The modern roof over the doorway. 2. It has the cutest little starter nursery inside. pic.twitter.com/65SvVZN0KG
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 6, 2023
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 6, 2023
40×30 Lot in Gilbert Gardens – this one was built by @lilsimsie. No sneak peeks since I'm sure she will be showing it off herself, but you can get a feel for the lot in case you want to build something there.😉 pic.twitter.com/kSd2JfRe4N
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 6, 2023
4. Build/Buy (Growing Together):
Splash Pad
The Splash Pad Play area in Gilbert Gardens is amazing! But you also have all the pieces to build your very own splash pad play area at home! Or why not at a public pool or your very own Recreation Center? 🐳 pic.twitter.com/9hDPAcrGTu
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 7, 2023
Most of these (splash pads, emitters, Whalebert) are found under outdoor activities. Whalebert is also a Fountain Decoration. The leaves and flowers are found in Sculptures in the Outdoors category. No cheats needed to access them at all!
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 7, 2023
Modeling did some extra hookup with Whalebert so that if you want you can also place him in a Fountain. ⛲️ pic.twitter.com/uHOfGYhTm2
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 7, 2023
Kindermade ‘Lore’
Does anyone remember Kindermade, a brand we created for Build/Buy for a few pieces from the base game? (like these ones pictured below)
So… I may have gone a bit wild with expanding the Kindermade lore for Growing Together build-buy items.
Kindermade HQ has informed me that I am obligated to share that these two tables? They are definitely two of the tables ever made! pic.twitter.com/6LJr39Aacy
Look! Kindermade's KinderMod line is also bringing retro-future vibes and existential panic to your libraries! Perfect for when your studies have you in literal agony, or you're on the verge of having your secret love of cowplants spilled via a slightly-too-tilted phone screen. pic.twitter.com/0bHY6zt5Gw
In Growing Together, we added some fun new Build/Buy assets for Recreation Centers & Libraries—you might have spotted them during the Livestream in our builds. Just a preview – I won't show all the Rec Center/Library objects. 😉 pic.twitter.com/OIq5EMp1R3
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 6, 2023
before you call me cringe – yes, the first one is meant to be an excruciating read! it's poking fun at the way brands will often misuse slang. the idea of a chair company having a board meeting to decide how to sound "cool and relatable" is absurd (and probably happens?)
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 8, 2023
6. Behind the Scenes
I found this thread by GrimSuruDoi on what goes into naming a Sims 4 world very interesting!
I’ve finally recovered after our marathon stream yesterday (it seems y’all liked it??) and while I enjoyed ranting about why Moonwood Mill and San Sequoia are ✨perfect✨ world names, I figured a little behind-the-scenes context on how we go about naming worlds could be fun. 🧵
— Cheapskate Keepsake Doi (@GrimSuruDoi) March 4, 2023
One thing we don’t decide until much, much later? The world name. We don’t want to design a world around a name but rather fit a good name to the world that we’ve already designed.
— Cheapskate Keepsake Doi (@GrimSuruDoi) March 4, 2023
We think about a lot (maybe too much?) like the connotations of the name, the history of the places that inspire the world, possible translations, words they sound like, personal preference
— Cheapskate Keepsake Doi (@GrimSuruDoi) March 4, 2023
For those 2 worlds, I think we arrived in the right place. We looked at abandoned/secluded mill towns that seemed like good werewolf hangouts or at how the Bay Area’s flora has transformed over time and how local places are still named after trees that are no longer there
— Cheapskate Keepsake Doi (@GrimSuruDoi) March 4, 2023
Anyway, this is all to say while there was certainly some truth to my bit on world naming on the stream (Chair Village ahoy!), I really do appreciate the thought and intention we put into all the work do. We will sometimes still make mistakes, but we continue to do our best!
— Cheapskate Keepsake Doi (@GrimSuruDoi) March 4, 2023
(What we came to lovingly refer to as "Beard Baby" was a bug that showed up in early development on infants. Cracked us up.) pic.twitter.com/OTVRvWuS2o
Maple Simmer 