Painting Collection Challenge (The Sims 4 Rags to Riches)

I’ve done a lot of painting in The Sims 4, but generally have my sims sell the paintings, so I came up with this idea to try and have two sims get as many different paintings and display them. To make it harder, your sims are going to start with nothing!

I will be doing a short Let’s Play of this challenge, I’ll be covering the goals and rules noted here in my video premiering on at 7 pm EST, Sunday, December 4, 2022.

Set Up/Rules/Suggestions:

Start with two sims (can be aged teen and up, whatever you want, relationship between them is also up to you). If you want to add a third, non painting sim to help with collectibles/yard sales, that’s up to you, but they can’t be used for painting.
You can turn aging off or use a normal or long lifespan. I don’t recommend using a short lifespan.
Your sims start with nothing. You can make ‘seed’ money for painting via Odd Jobs (Island Living), Errands (Cottage Living), finding/selling collectibles, etc., though the focus should be on using painting to make money. Of course painting tends to be an easy way to make money, though possibly not as easy because you can only sell duplicate paintings. (Since the sims start with no money, if you wish, you can start using the ‘Making Money’ scenario as a way to set the funds to zero. If you do, completing the scenario won’t be part of this challenge.)
You can use easels on public lots, etc. before your sims have enough money for an easel.
Start on an empty lot that is at least 40×30, though it can be bigger. This is so you have room for your room/building to display the paintings. Re the empty lot, that means no buildings, but if it’s a lot that has a little landscaping, including a pond (but no fishing sign until your sims can buy it), that’s fine.
You can sell any duplicate paintings, the rest must be kept and displayed in some manner on your lot. You can choose which duplicate to sell (i.e. I recommend selling the more valuable versions of the paintings to help keep your bills down).
You can use a household club, but you can’t have non household members join and paint. Only your two painting sims can paint.
You can buy your sim any reward traits they can with their reward points. I recommend the ‘marketable’ reward trait to increase the value of your sims’ paintings once your sims have the points for it.
I don’t recommend using any of the following to boost the painting skill, as some paintings are only available at lower skills, so you don’t want to rush through maxing the painting skill:
- a tiny residential lot (though you can use to boost other skills once your sims have already maxed the painting skill),
- using a club perk to boost the painting skill, and/or
- using the Natural Light lot trait.

Goals:

Keep any painting that is different (i.e. ‘unique’).
At a minimum have at least five of every type and size, however you need to keep any unique paintings that your sims paint so hopefully you’ll end up with more than five of each type. This includes all emotional paintings and the figure paintings if you have DU.
- Types of base game paintings that come in three sizes are classic, pop art, impressionism, surrealism, realism & abstract. (so since there are 6 types, that’s a minimum of 6×5=30 small, 6×5=30 medium, & 6×5=30 large for these six types of paintings)
- Landscape paintings are just one size (so minimum 5 of the these).
- Emotional painting types: flirty, confident, playful, sad, angry & focused & only come in one size. Note that focused paintings builds logic skill, and logic skill is what unlocks the different types of focused paintings, so at least one of your two sims must build their logic skill. (so minimum 5×6=30 of these)
- If you have Discover University (“DU”), try to get at least five different types of figure paintings (per a Sims Sanctuary Facebook group member, there are 9 different types). (5 more of these)
Have your painting sims do a large paint by reference of each other. (2 more paintings)
The minimum total different paintings you should have are 127 (30+30+30+5+30+2) if you don’t have DU, 132 if you have DU.
Put all the paintings you’ve collected, including the paint by reference of each sim (i.e. two paint by reference paintings), on display in a separate room, possibly separate building (i.e. ‘art gallery’), on the sim’s home lot.
Upload your lot (or room with all the paintings) to the gallery once you’re done and use #MSPaintingChallenge when sharing. Share your progress & pictures in the group*, including how many different paintings in total and by type that you got.
Have both sims both complete the painting aspiration.
Have both sims complete the fortune aspiration. To do that, both your sims will need to have earned 200,000 and have 50,000 in household funds. Note that any funds earned by selling through the street gallery, which requires City Living, get attributed to everyone in the household, which can make it easier to complete this aspiration.

General Rags to Riches Guidelines:

Link to my updated Rags to Riches blog post:
https://maplesimmer.video.blog/2020/05/05/sims-4-rags-to-riches-guidelines/

*Contact Me:

If you would like to share your gameplay of this challenge, or if have any questions head over to my Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/maplesimmersimssanctuary or my discord, https://discord.gg/aJaX7Pca8A

Potential Love Interest for my House 10 Drifter

The first part of House 10 of Drifter will be up this Thursday, October 27, 2022 at 3 pm Eastern.

My Drifter Jackie Driver will need a love interest/potential spouse so if you’d like to create a potential spellcaster love interest please put them on the gallery using #H10BachforJackie . Jackie is active, creative and a foodie.

I would like the love interest to be a male, young adult redhead (I’m curious if the red head gene will resurface!). I’m looking for newly created, unplayed sims that use the hashtag mentioned above. You can use all packs but the modern menswear kit and no custom content.

Bonus if they have a family member with them (i.e. one parent/teen or older sibling).

Also, please don’t use any of the following traits for either the potential love interest or family member:

kleptomaniac
hates children
freegan
evil or
mean

Deadline is this Sunday, October 30, 2022.

Thanks!

House 10 Drifter Challenge: Overview

House 10 of the Drifter Challenge will be returning this Thursday, October 27, 2022 at 3 pm Eastern.

Playlist link

After living a sheltered life where we couldn’t even control her directly, our new drifter Jackie Driver is returning to the first neighbourhood of the Drifter challenge started in (Bedrock Strait in Oasis Spring). She will be living in Pebble Burrow, a 30×20 lot. This is the neighbourhood where Johnny Zest usually lives in a new save!

Will she be up to the following challenges?

As a minimum create a 2 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom home worth at least $50k Simoleons – include a pool and a designated personal workout area.
Achieve level 10 of the Fitness Skill
Produce and raise the Heir (see my notes on this*)

There are some optional goals for house 10, the ones I plan to complete are:

complete the Bodybuilder aspiration
max the Wellness skill

If it fits in with the house, I may try maxing one of the SE skills (rock climbing, skiing or snowboarding).

Note that I will be adding goals from House 11 to this house, so here are the additional goals that will be required, note House 11 also requires you to raise an Heir:

In addition to the house requirements noted above, it will also need to include a designated party space.
Complete the Master Mixologist Aspiration.
Achieve level 10 of the Mixologist branch of the Culinary career.

Optional goals for house 11 I’ll be attempting are as follows:

*Re the heir, usually the goal is to raise the heir to the young adult life stage, however, with the changes to life stage lengths that came with the July 26, 2022 game update, I plan to end this house when either A) all the goals are complete or B) the heir ages up to a teen, whichever happens second.

In this house we can control the Drifter.

Exceptions are as follows:

*per Vihisha’s blog post as of Oct 26, 2022*

(screenshot is from Vihisha’s blog post as of Oct 26, 2022)

The ability to leave your home lot is limited, usually you need 1,000 simoleons and where you can travel to is set by house. Here is a screenshot of the details, again screenshot is from Vihisha’s blog post as of Oct 26, 2022 (Note the club gatherings should say ‘Get Together needed’, not ‘City Living’. ):

As part of house 10, we are able to place a spa or an Onsen on the Pique Hearth lot (where the Pancakes usually live). I will be placing a Spa there.

Some exceptions or amendments that I do re places that can be visited is that I include Bars and Lounges as ‘Nightclubs’ as they act similar to Nightclubs. In prior houses I have hosted club gatherings at museums & gyms, however gyms are now unlocked & I will continue to visit museums for the Painter Extraordinaire aspiration & for dates (I find museums are a great place for dates as other sims don’t interrupt as much).

Link to my Overview of the Drifter Challenge.

If you have any questions or want to share your own Sims game play with other Simmers head over to my Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/maplesimmersimssanctuary or my discord, https://discord.gg/aJaX7Pca8A

Aliens Stole My Parents Scenario (Sims 4)

This scenario requires you to start with a family with one teen, one child and at least one sim who is young adult and over. They are able to start with a home, however my twist is that they will be starting on an empty lot and only the 500 simoleons the aliens left them.

Playlist link

I am doing the scenario with the Cope family, two young adults and their two children, i.e. one teen and one child. Gallery link

Scenario Goals:

Recap of the goals shown in the screenshots:

Have 15,000 simoleons (the aliens take all but 500 simoleons)
Raise Child’s grade to an A
Raise Teen’s grade to an A
Complete and aspiration with the Child Sim
Group Cook Together
Have the Teen Sim get a Part-Time job
Hire a Nanny

Additional Goals:

As I mentioned, my sims will be starting on an empty lot, so their additional goal will be to build a home. Extra goals will be to furnish it with all the basics needed for a sim to live and to still have 15,000 after doing that.

Notes on Starting Grades:

I’ve noticed while playing that if you choose the option to start with a new household, your teen and child will start as C students. However if you start with a household already placed in the world, the teen and child start as F students. I wasn’t aware of that when I started this scenario, so my teen and child got the easier start by being C students. I expect they should be consistent so have created a bug report for that. If you notice the same thing, head over to EA AHQ and add a ‘Me Too’ to the report.

In Game Families that Meet Scenario Guidelines:

In case you’re curious, I took a look to see what existing families can be used for the new Aliens Stole My Parents scenario. This is across all packs released to date, and can easily be seen by looking in other families in manage household, but I thought I’d share.

Are there any families here that interest you to try the scenario out with? I tried playing the Goth household just for fun, though in my renovated version of their home, after I removed the garden plants I had added and a few other skill building items. I shared the results in my Facebook group.

Willowcreek – Goths (harkens back to the lore of Bella being abducted in past Sims)
Windenburg – Bjergsen & Munch (two families)
Mount Komorebi – Ito
Tartosa – Laurent
Copperdale – Prescott (however, I would avoid this family as playing this household removes the mom as principal!)

Note there are a couple of households with more than one teen and a child, or one teen and two children, but they don’t fit the scenario.

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. I can also be found on Twitter and Instagram.

Rags to Riches?: High School Years Edition (Sims 4)

Meet our teens, Hermione Driver (Genius & Bookworm) and her younger twin siblings, Hugo (Creative & Overachiever) and Harry (Good & Active). Their younger brother Herbert, who is still a child, will be joining them once they have a home. All four sims were born in House 7 of my Drifter Challenge.

Playlist

Goals:

To complete two of the four aspirations that came with High School Years (Goal Oriented and Admired Icon). We will take a look at the other two aspirations (Drama Lama & Live Fast) and attempt to do the first tier of both if we can.
They all need to max the new 5 level entrepreneurial skill.
Each sim will complete a different after school activity (i.e. the four new ones that come with High School Years, Cheerleader, Football Team, Chess Team & Computer Team) and they will also all max one of the two new part time careers that came with the pack (Video Game Streamer & Simfluencer, between our sims, both careers will be covered).
To build at a minimum a three bedroom, two bathroom home.
To see how much money they can make after building their home!
We will also try to examine the other new aspects that come with the pack including prom, social bunny and Trendi.

Rags to Riches Rules for This Challenge:

They will start with nothing on the now empty 30×20 Hillside Haven lot that usually has a rental property on it in Copperdale.

Since selling paintings directly helps the entrepreneurial skill, they will be able to sell those directly without a street gallery, however, for other items they first need a yard sale table. They can sell paintings on a street gallery, I just won’t require it.

They will earn money from odd jobs and their part time careers to get the ‘seed’ money needed to get the yard sale table & do some painting.

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

Honeymooners & Proud Parent Scenario (Sims 4)

Now that the No Skills, No Problem scenario is done, I’m going to do the Honeymooners and the Proud Parent Scenarios with Sebastian and Fern.

Honeymooners Playlist

Proud Parent Playlist to be added when we get there!

Scenario Goals:

Honeymooner Scenario Goals:

Proud Parent Scenario Goals:

Proud Parent goals will also be added once we get to that point.

Additional Goals:

Along with the scenario goals, I’ll also be working on the following goals with them while doing these two scenarios:

Have them complete the frog collection.
Have at least one of them complete the following aspirations:
* Country Caretaker
* Freelance Botanist
* both Spellcaster Aspirations
Have both of them complete the following aspirations:
* Painter Extraordinaire
* Soulmate Aspiration

Please let me know if there are any other goals/aspirations we should try and work on with them.

Gallery:

I’ve put their current version, i.e. as of the end of the No Skills, No Problem Scenario Let’s Play, on the gallery, if you’d like to play along with them. The home they move into during the first part is also on the gallery, this includes their garden & collectibles. There is also a mostly unfurnished version of their new home on the gallery. Both versions are modified micros, i.e. the core is on 32 square tiles, the rest is unconnected walls with roofs covering them.

Contact Me:

Explore the Night Scenario – Rags to Riches Edition (Sims 4)

I’m attempting this scenario with three spellcaster sims (an engaged couple Felicia Flores & Jax Story and Jax’s father Ellis Story). The twist is they will be starting with nothing. Will that slow them down in completing this scenario? Playlist link

Meet our Sims:

Gallery link TBA (they’ve been uploaded, the gallery isn’t working for me, but you can find them under my gallery ID MapleSimmer).

Scenario Goals:

Unlike many scenarios, which rewards satisfaction points, the reward for this scenario is supposed to be the Seldom Sleepy Trait.

Rags to Riches Element:

Our sims will be starting with nothing. Their lot is off the grid and they will have to pay 6,055 to connect to the grid (starting value of their lot, 2 Olde Mill Lane, which comes with some landscaping, but no home or amenities).

Similar to many of my other rags to riches LPs, as an added challenge, I will not let my sims sell directly from their inventory/directly off the plants until they buy a yard sale table (street gallery for paintings). Some ways to make money to get the yard sale table are to do odd jobs (requires Island Living) or to sell items, including harvestables and fish, at the grocery and plant ‘shops’ (requires Cottage Living) or flowers to the plant shop (requires My Wedding Stories).

There’s no goal for what they need to finish the challenge, however one of the goals is to make and drink coffee. I will require that they do that on their own lot, so they will need to either connect to the grid or have a power source to do so, as well as the counter and coffee pot at a minimum.

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

Best Friends Forever Scenario – Rags to Riches Edition (Sims 4)

How long will it take to complete the scenario with the extra goals added on? First part goes live tomorrow, Sunday May 29, 2022: Playlist link

Sharon is creative, an animal enthusiast and a freegan. Ashlynn in creative. They are on the gallery if you’d like to play along.

Best Friends Forever Goals & My Tweaks:

Our sims will be starting with nothing. Their lot is off the grid and they will have to pay 6,500 to connect to the grid (approximate starting value of their lot, which comes with some landscaping, but no home or amenities).

Ashlynn will also be joining scouts and have the additional goal that of completing all four childhood aspirations. She will also work on getting positive character values; at a minimum she will need to get her conflict resolution to be positive before she ages up to a teen.

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

No Skills, No Problem Scenario (Sims 4 Rags to Riches)

I’m going to attempt the No Skills, No Problem Scenario with my young adult sim Sebastian Meyers. He’s also going to do the parts of the Frog Scenario that don’t require skills & complete the curator aspiration (at a minimum).

How long will it take him to complete the scenario? Playlist link (first part goes live tomorrow, Sunday May 8, 2022).

Meet My Sim:

Sebastian is a creative freegan who is also an animal enthusiast with the bonus collector trait from choosing the curator aspiration. While he can’t learn any skills, as a spellcaster he can still learn magic. If you’d like to play along, Sebastian is on the gallery under my Origin ID MapleSimmer.

No Skills, No Problem Goals & My Tweaks:

Your sim starts with no money and had to have 400,000 simoleons before the scenario ends. While the scenario is active your sim will be unable to learn any skills. He’ll be starting on an empty, albeit beautiful, lot in Sulani (Key Point). I’ll be playing in the same save that my Plant-Sim Fern Pruitt is in, she’s just recently had her home moved to another lot in Sulani.

As an added challenge, I will not let my sim sell directly from their inventory/directly off the plants until my sim buys a yard sale table. Some ways to make money to get the yard sale table are to do odd jobs (requires Island Living) or to sell items, including harvestables and fish, at the grocery and plant ‘shops’ (requires Cottage Living) or flowers to the plant shop (requires My Wedding Stories).

For more Rags to Riches guidelines, see my blog post.

Frog Scenario Add On:

Here are the 8 of the 9 goals of the frog scenario, we will do seven of the 9 goals (we can’t fish while using frog as bait or make the frog hot pot goal not shown here, as those goals require skill in fishing or cooking respectively).

Written Summary of Frog Fanatic Scenario Goals Sebastian Will Do:

Catch a frog from a Log	1 time
Catch a frog from a Pond	1 time
Catch a frog from a Water Pump	1 time
Breed 9 Frogs	9 times
Catch or Breed 8 (of 8) unique Common Frogs	8 Common
Catch or Breed 6 (of 11) unique Uncommon Frogs	6 Uncommon
Catch or Breed 4 (of 6) unique Rare Frogs	4 Rare

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.

Plant-a-Sim Scenario: Rags to Riches Edition (Sims 4)

I’m going to attempt the Plant-a-Sim Scenario with my young adult sim Fern Pruett; the twist? She’s starting with nothing (see note 💰 below) on an empty, albeit beautiful, lot in Sulani (Key Point).

How long will it take her to complete the scenario and will she have a home by the time it’s completed? Playlist link (first part went live today, April 17, 2022).

Meet My Sim:

Here is what Fern looked like before she became a PlantSim. She is creative, loves the outdoors and an animal enthusiast with the freelance botanist aspiration.

Details on Becoming a Plant Sim:

Here is the notification the game gives when your sim becomes a PlantSim. Keep in mind only non occult sims can become PlantSim. I tried with a spellcaster and when she ate the forbidden fruit, nothing happened!

Plant-a-Sim Scenario Goals:

Written Summary of Plant-a-Sim Scenario Goals:

Eat the ‘Forbidden Fruit of the PlantSim” from your inventory	1 time
Have your PlantSim Talk to Plants	5 times
Harvest from a Perfect Quality plant	1 time
Satisfy Water Needs	5 times
Absorb solar energy from plants	5 times
Photosynhesize by absorbing sunlight	25 times
Care for Plants as a PlantSim	99 times

💰 Rags to Riches Element:

Note that while I am doing this as a rags to riches challenge, your sim is given 5 forbidden fruit and one starter package of vegetables. I am letting my sim keep them.
No selling into inventory/directly off the plants until your sim buys a yard sale table. Some ways to make money are to do odd jobs (requires Island Living) or to sell items, including harvestables and fish, at the grocery and plant ‘shops’ (requires Cottage Living) or flowers to the plant shop (requires My Wedding Stories).
For more Rags to Riches guidelines, see my blog post.

Note I have no target for money earned, this is just an added element to see how my sim manages after starting with no money or home, and only the items given to her for the Plant-a-Sim Scenario.