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
In addition to this blog post, here is a link to my video which includes the CAS and my thoughts on the livestream.
High Level Overview of Pack Goals:
Give the player the opportunity to celebrate full lifetime and memorable milestones of every sim.
First goal was to make sure that family matters. That interacting with family members feels different, than interacting with random sims in the game. This was regardless of if they live together or not.
Second was to make sure all relationships across the game mattered, i.e., make all relationships deeper so that no two sims interacting would feel the same.
Another goal was to add ‘Drama of Life’. This was done in two ways. First, players could set it and second, it can also be triggered in the game, but you as the player still has control so you can say yes to no to story prompts.
Timestamp for when the Growing Together portion of the stream starts
This blog post covers the following in this order:
Create a Sim, including Family Dynamics
Two New ‘Like/Dislike Categories, Sim Characteristics and Conversation Topics
As mentioned above, my video, which is linked above, shows the CAS shared in the livestream.
The pack includes clothing and accessories for all ages, i.e. from infant through elder.
The pack style was urban casual everyday wear and vintage.
Also includes some clothing that can be coordinated across the ages (similar patterns, but not the same).
New headscarf that is separate from hair.
They collaborated with a professional hair stylist to help improve their hair catalogue & they tried to improve their baby hairs.
New freckles, moles, and body freckles.
Family Dynamics
Can set in CAS when you create them (and when you first install the pack you will be able to set them with your existing sims) or just not set it and let it be discovered through game play.
Some that were shown were jokesters, difficult, supportive. Also mentioned ‘distant’ and ‘close’ and showed ‘strict’ in the livestream (grandparent to child).
They can also be removed through a dynamic remover potion.
This dynamic will also remain when a family member moves out.
2. Likes and Dislikes
Now 50 vs 20 (this is a base game change)
Two New Categories which are the TWO main pillars of social compatibility.
Sim Characteristics
This is platonic and available for child sims and up.
Characteristics shown with some examples of what helps to add/lose points:
Ambitionless Sims
Argumentative Sims: if like this traits like Hot-Headed, Mean and Evil will gain compatibility whereas good will lose points.
Cerebral Sims: if like this, Genius, Geek & Bookworm gain points, Creative or Goofball loses points.
Egotistical Sims
Emotional Decision Makers
Family-Motivated Sims
Funny Sims
Hard Working Sims
High Energy Sims
Homebody Sims
Idealist Sims
Nature Enthusiasts
Optimistic Sims
Pessimistic Sims
Pet Enthusiasts
Rascals
Romance Enthusiasts
Spirited Sims: If like this, Outgoing, Bro Cheerful gain points. Gloomy loses points.
There are a few categories related to romance are only for teen and up.
If they like a category/dislike a category gets added up and checked against other sims they meet to see if they are compatible.
The characteristics pertain to traits, including reward traits, activity likes & dislikes and lifestyles (if you have SE and it’s enabled) of the other sims and traits across packs were considered and will also impact the sim characteristics.
Conversation Topics
Choose categories and it will affect what sims like to talk about, includes:
Affection,
Arguments,
Complaints
Compliments
Deception
Deep Thoughts
Discussing Hobbies
Discussing Interests
Gossip
Jokes
Malicious Interactions
Potty Humour
Pranks
Silly Behaviour
Small Talk
Stories
3. Social Compatibility
Sims will either have:
Good/amazing compatibility. Puzzle pieces fit together on the sim on the social panel. Easier to make friends.
Bad/awful compatibility. Puzzle pieces don’t fit on the sim on your social panel. Harder to make friends.
No compatibility no puzzle pieces on the sim on the social panel.
Note that the social interactions have subcategories that match the conversation topics (there is a reorganization of social menu to base game, however, didn’t see it and base game is not getting these new conversation topics so not sure how it will work). Some things will be left uncategorized so that they don’t get impacted by a sim’s like/dislike of a category. So there will be a learning curve as you’ll need to remember where the social interactions are, but once you do, it will be quicker to find them. It seemed to me like many of the categories would help you determine what would be underneath it.
Base Game Change re Making Friends
Some ages find it harder to gain relationship when interacting with each other but will be easier for other ages. It will add additional challenge for adding relationships across different age groups.
Example give, child will find it easier to make friends with other children.
It should be noticeable but not impossible to play with.
4. World of San Sequoia
Based on San Francisco.
No sequoia trees, but there is ‘old stumpy.’
Three neighbourhoods, Anchorpoint Wharf, Gilbert Gardens and a relaxed residential locale, Hopewell Hills. They all have a slightly different vibe, like how San Francisco has unique areas.
Has a little parklet with a pirate ship jungle gym.
There’s a marina area you can walk out on.
The Michaelson’s and one other family live in this neighbourhood.
There’s a four bedroom starter for a small family built by lilsimsie and an 30×20 empty lot.
Anchorpoint Wharf
Has the rabbit hole Movie Theater with lots of different options.
It has a bit of a city vibe, food stand which looked like it had some foods that you previously only got with City Living (samosa, ramen and a few other items, see screenshot)
and the founding family home is in this neighborhood (the Robles).
It also has a family friendly library built by Deligracy.
Foods you can order at food stand:
Movie choices:
Gilbert Gardens
Has the rec center built by lilsimsie. The rec center is a new community lot type that has game tables, work out area, you can play musical instruments, do art, & book to do social events. It is appropriate for all ages.
You can fish and swim in the lake in that neighbourhood. Keep your eye out for white claw the crocodile.
There’s also the public splash pad including Whaleburt in the neighbourhood. Splash pad pieces can be found in build/buy mode and are available to use on your home lot or any community lot.
It also has three different power walking trails for elders (seemed like hikes in Snowy Escape, the walk style just looked different).
Screenshot of the Splash Pad:
5. Milestones
For All, but Special Element for Infants
Some can be specific for ages.
Infants have milestones that impact what they can do. These specific milestones replace skill building at this age, reaching certain milestones unlocks more things they can do. They do also have lifetime milestones that are more like memories (like first fire, first temporary visitor, etc.)
Milestones for other ages more like memories, some are specific to certain ages. Some other ones mentioned, learning to ride a bike, lose a tooth (child), first woohoo, got married (young adult or older). Some milestones get little rewards. One that was shown was a marriage certificate. They also showed a milestone related to having a bladder accident. This can impact sims and how they feel. Milestones will also indicate where it happened.
Note if a sim is born in game, you will be able to look back to different ages to see their milestones (not sure how that will work with existing sims that were born and raised in the game).
6. New Things for the Different Life Stages
Newborns:
New outfits for them
New kiss interaction (available for a variety of ages)
Newborns will have temperaments; they will act differently from each other. Some will be needier, and some will be easier to care for.
Infants & Toddlers
Quirks
Both infants and toddlers can have up to three quirks that you discover through game play (18 possibilities for each age).
You can use cheats to remove the quirks and set the quirks you want them to have. The latter can be helpful if you have an idea of what personality/quirks you want them to have. Just remember to turn cheats on first to see this option (‘testingcheats on’ or ‘testingcheats true’).
Some examples shown/mentioned for infant were ‘loves to be held’, ‘frequently sneezes’, ‘prefers sleeping in arms’, ‘gassy’, ‘feeding tinkler’.
One quirk the toddler got was aggressive:
Which looked liked this in the simology panel:
Then she got the loves water quirk
Changing Tables
This comes with the pack, one wasn’t shown in base game.
If you have a diaper pail attached the diaper will go in automatically.
They can be used for infants and toddlers (unless the toddler is potty trained and doesn’t use a diaper!).
There’s also one for community lots.
Baby Proofing:
Toddlers can try to break out.
The toddler in the stream was successful in breaking out and got this moodlet!
Child
4 new child aspirations:
Slumber Party Animal
Playtime Captain
Creative Genius
Mind and Body
All under ‘Multi Skill’ category vs how the base game aspirations focused on a particular child skill.
Children have more interactions with toddlers, other children and teens (showed some mean ones as the child in the family was difficult)
Children can have low, neutral, or high confidence. If they age up with high or low confidence, they will age up with high or low esteem (if it’s neutral they will get neither).
If they have high confidence, they will have a confident buff which might make the parts of base game aspirations that require inspired/playful/focused moodlets to be harder to do, though I did notice later that the child sim still got playful playing on the playhouse so it looks like that confident moodlet may not be permanently there.
Base Game Change to child skill building. They will learn certain adult skills as soon as they start doing those interactions. The adult skill will be slower to build, but the related child skill will build more quickly. Not sure if the adult skill will continue to be slow to build once they max the underlying child skill.
Also, not child related, and also coming to base game, you will see a little picture over the skill bar as to what skill they are building (with the children they show the related child skill, not the adult one. Not sure what happens when you max the child skill).
Children need to learn to ride bikes. Once they learn they can ride it around. They can fall and hit their head and loosen their tooth. There are six new kids bikes, with their own variants.
Children can lose their teeth. They will get an uncomfortable when it’s loose (see screenshot).
They can wiggle it or take it out.
Can hide the tooth under their pillow and go to sleep.
When the tooth fairy visits, they’ll get some simoleons, a certificate and a milestone.
Adults
Things added for adults were to create drama!
Adults can now have midlife crisis!
They said there were four different mid life crises. One shown was ‘Desire for Adventure’. You can find it on the aspiration tab.
Work rivals. You can sabotage or try to make friends as a work option. While you have a work rival you won’t get a promotion. You can also try to make friends outside of work.
They’ve also added a burn out system so if you’re going to hard on one skill or working too hard you sim will indicate to you that they need a break, they need to do something different.
‘Added the opportunity to get laid off’. Their company may be going through restructuring, they can try to work harder and possibly avoid it.
Elders
Have more social interactions, including the ability to sneak a treat under the new friendly subcategory ‘affection’.
They can teach life lessons, and if you have Parenthood some of these will teach character values.
They can designate a memory box, though they can only have one.
7. Higher Number of Traits!
Self Discovery System:
Sims can get moments in the game that give them an option to get a new trait in addition to the three you give them in CAS, so your sims can add up to three new traits for up to six in total.
You may also get a prompt to change a trait. If you have a slob sim who is cleaning up, you may get the opportunity to change their trait to neat.
8. Temporary Stays
They showed Kyle asking to come, new NPC that comes with the pack. They said yes, but you can say no.
Kyle’s visit was for 6 days. It shows in the calendar, but you can delete it. Length of stay can be from 1 to 6 days.
You can also initiate the stay over by asking other sims. They were planning on asking a grandparent to come until they had this ‘story prompt’ by Kyle.
Other possibilities for temporary stay pop ups mentioned were a family friend, old friend, long lost family member that’s trying to reconnect.
Temporary stay will bring a suitcase. You can also buy suitcases in build/buy.
Suitcases will work like a dresser, but they are mobile.
You can’t control the temporary stay visitor, however you can ask them to help out or have them relax (those were the the two options mentioned). They may also start a fire if they cook, which is what happened in the livestream!
9. Objects:
Treehouse:
When you purchase the treehouse it’s completely unbuilt. The one in the livestream was already partially built.
Teen or older has to initiate building it, but once they start, a child can help with building.
It is a woohoo spot (in the hidden ‘club house enclosure’) but that wasn’t an option shown as the child was playing on the tree house.
Children can play on it or watch nature. You can also set admission rules.
Can also relax, nap, or sleep in the enclosure.
You can decorate it when it’s fully built. There are four different styles you can decorate the tree in, Fairy Tale Castle, Island Castaway, Pirate Hideout, and Space Explorer. You can also leave it undecorated.
Pirate Hideout:
Space Explorer:
You can upgrade it (requires handiness skill or debug cheat). Upgrades including adding a bell, lights, slide, & sliding pole.
You can place some things on it, to find what can be placed use the search term “Placeable on Treehouse“ in the search bar. Some things shown/mentioned were big soft friends (i.e. Barfly), toys, toy box, telescope, small planters, VR gaming mat. Any useable items placed on the treehouse will remain useable.
Friendship Bracelet:
Can make and exchange.
Can use the Friendship Bracelet box or a child activity table to make a friendship bracelet. You can also make them using the knitting bag (Nifty Knitting) or the cross stitch box (Cottage Living).
If two sims in the same household exchange friendship bracelets, they both have to have made one. If you exchange them with someone outside the household, only your sim needs to have made one. The sim in the other household will automatically have it.
Friendship bracelets will eventually wear out and fall off.
Once you exchange a friendship bracelet, there is a new interaction you can do under Affection.
If you do that interaction in front of another friend, they may be a little jealous
Can also ask to have it back and the sim will get a hurt sentiment.
New Options for Game Table:
Game tables have two new options for the pack, puzzles and simbles, in addition to the base game cards. You will also be able to do other games depending on what packs you have.
They showed a puzzle from reference.
Sims can steal a puzzle piece and then place it at the end and ‘steal the finish’.
You can frame a completed puzzle and put it on the walls or put it in your keepsake box.
10. Three New Social Events:
They mentioned the three events but didn’t show them or say much about them. They did say that you can hold social events even if you have a visitor staying over.
Baby Shower – you don’t need a pregnant sim, so you can be telling the story of adopting (probably also works for the ‘science baby’ which is coming with the March 14, 2023 base game update).
Family Reunion – per a tweet can also invite extended family, close family friends. It also mentions that in the description when you go to fp
Reward for family reunion are collage photo frames.
Slumber Party
Tweet with one of the Slumber Party reward objects and a tweet reply saying there is also a basic version of the toddler sleeping bag in build buy mode:
Don't worry! There is also a basic toddler sleeping bag that isn't a reward you can get directly from Build/Buy anytime. pic.twitter.com/6pHuOpE7oA
— GooGooGagaGuruMorgan (@SimGuruMorgan) March 5, 2023
Summary of the Infant and Baby Update part of the March 3, 2023 Developer Livestream:
Note this will be included in the base game update coming Tuesday, March 14, 2023. Usual time for updates is 10 am Pacific. Link for when that will be in your own time zone.
We’re getting lots of new things including the following:
a new bassinet!
3 new infant sensory toys,
more décor (including two rugs with different patterns),
new bookshelf for the wall (noticed an option on it to ‘read to children’,
more décor (including two rugs with different patterns),
different cribs, including one portable crib,
also, some cribs can be converted to toddler beds at a cost,
some cribs can be upgraded, one upgrade they showed in the livestream was a mobile (two variations, one birds, one space theme) could be added.
new fence with new locking option ‘baby proofing’. This can be applied to doors and gates.
“Science Baby!”
Your sim can now have a baby in a new way and they can have it on their own (i.e. only using their genetics) or they can choose another sim that they know and have a friendly or romantic relationship with (but does not have to be a romantic relationship)
It costs 1,200 simoleons and the sim initiating it will leave and when they come back the baby will be on the lot. It seems like how adoption works. Sims using this option will not experience pregnancy.
Babies also getting an update!
The game currently only use 3 skin tones for babies, they will now get the full gamut.
Babies will get an eye colour to reflect their eye colour and their movements have been changed to make them seem more like newborns.
Baby life stage will be shorter, other life stages extended so you can be around to hopefully enjoy grandkids (no details on how they were lengthened, I wonder if this is only going to be for normal lifespan since the baby life span on the long lifespan has already been shortened )
Menu on baby reorganized to have care interactions in one place.
Kids and toddlers can now ‘entertain’ babies.
Interactions more seamless, they won’t put the baby down before they do the next interaction.
If you have Seasons, the baby will react to being outside in bad weather (cold/rain/storms)
Sims will autonomously look after babies better than before.
Now can set in CAS under gender options whether a sim produces milk.
Infants:
We can control them, they mention they have the same needs as other sims but I didn’t notice them showing their needs menu (i.e. bladder, hunger, energy, fun, attention and hygiene).
You can set a preference to bottle or breast feed on the infant (and on a baby/newborn).
Infants can be fully customized in CAS when you create them. If you age them up, you will not be able to change their traits without cheats.
Stork bites, which have different colours and will ‘fade’ (i.e., go away when they age up).
However we are also getting birth marks for all ages, which have different colours to go with different skin tones as well as stretch marks and C-section scars, which The Sims previously tweeted about, and I have a separate video on.
Infants will also have Attachment – a well cared for infant (i.e., sims are caring for the infant and spending time with them) will not get as upset about waiting as they know their needs will be looked after. An infant who hasn’t had their needs met in the past will be extra sad about waiting for their needs to be looked after. When infants age up to toddler, they can age up with one of the following three traits depending on how well they were looked after.
Happy infant for a sim that formed a good bond and therefore trusts that sims have good intentions.
Top notch (natch?) infant if they were very well cared for, which also means they trust their caregivers specifically.
Unhappy infant, if you intentionally push to the other end, this will make them more skeptical of sims, they have a hard time trusting the intentions of those sims.
There is a selection of different baby foods you can feed your infants (these are the ones I saw, but it looked like there were a few more):
Infants will either like, love, be unsure or dislike a new food. Their trait can impact how they react.
Note that while you can feed the infants in the high chair, exploring foods in the high chair is more about establishing moments of care, trying new things & exploring the world around them. Infants will primarily satisfy their hunger by being bottle or breast fed.
Highchairs will be fixed in the update. Sims will not take their toddlers in and out like they currently do. This fix will also apply to infants use of the high chair.
Cross Pack Integration Mentioned:
Cats and Dogs – infants can pet dogs (hopefully cats too!)
Parenthood – higher parenthood skill helps with parenting infants. As it increases, you will find new ways to take better care of your infants.
Nifty Knitting – infants get onesies (I wonder if they will be toddler onesies or the baby onesies).
My latest rags to riches LP is now on my channel. Playlist link
Rags to Riches: Fishing Edition Goals and Rules:
Note you can start with one to three sims. If you play with more than one sim, anyone who is a teen and up must complete all required goals. If you do any of the optional goals, you can choose whether one or all sims will complete them.
Goals:
Complete fishing aspiration
Complete base game fishing collection
Fish in every world, including any vacation worlds (i.e., for each pack you have, if you only have base game, then fish in every neighbourhood with fishing).
Max the handiness skill
Fish in Sylvan Glade and Forgotten Grotto (the latter requires level 10 of handiness skill 😊)
At a minimum, build a one bedroom, one bathroom home worth 20k per sim (if you play with one sim, it needs to be worth 20k, if you play with 2 sims, it needs to be worth 40k, and so on, though you only need to count sims that are child or older)
Optional Goals (choose any or all):
Complete fortune aspiration.
Complete making money scenario.
Fish in the Hermit’s neighbourhood (Outdoor Retreat required).
Fish in every neighbourhood with fishing (vs only in every world).
Catch every fish in the game.
Display one of each fish you catch (either by mounting them or in a fishbowl or aquarium). Alternatively, just display the uncommon and/or rare fish.
Max the part time fishing career (requires Island Living).
Max the Odd Job rating (requires Island Living).
I plan on trying to complete optional goals 1, 3 & 5. I may work on some more; I’ll see how it goes!
Rules:
Start with nothing on a mostly empty lot (unstocked pond is fine, and if the lot comes with some landscaping, increase the value that your house needs to be to reflect that starting value).
Most money must come from things caught fishing. But that doesn’t mean just from fish, you can catch other things, those are fine to sell, or to craft into something else and sell.
You can plant any harvestables you catch.
Your sims can do Odd Jobs &/or a part time career (though this may interfere with their fishing)
Optional Rules:
No selling into inventory until you have a yard sale table (requires either City Living, Jungle Adventures or Eco Lifestyle).
Use simple living lot challenge, however, until you have completed goal 6 you can only buy Cottage Living items (eggs, meat, cheese, bread, oversized produce) to cook with. The rest must be caught fishing, and then planted and harvested. After you complete that goal, you can buy seed packets to get more harvestables to plant and eat.
Play off the grid. Once you complete the fishing collection you can connect to the grid.
Furnish your house from things crafted/found dumpster diving/purchased in game (not in build/buy mode). Exception, once you find one kitchen counter, you can buy more of the same. You can buy things you don’t find dumpster diving or craft, like skill building objects, Seasons’ holiday objects. If your sim has a child, you can buy things needed for them. *To make it easier, you can buy the cheapest item to use, and only upgrade once you find something better dumpster diving. You can ignore this rule once you complete goals 1 through 5 (and optional goal 1 if you are doing that one).
Meet The Sims:
Meet our sims for my latest rags to riches. They are a young married couple just starting out. Both are spellcasters.
Rex Bishop, who is a genius, a geek and loves the outdoors. His bonus trait is also collector from initially choosing a nature aspiration.
Serena Bishop, who is an animal enthusiast, creative and loves the outdoors. Her bonus trait is collector from initially choosing a nature aspiration.
After living a sheltered life where we couldn’t even control her directly, our new drifter Katie Driver is moving to the Aquisition Butte neigbourhood in Oasis Spring. She will be living on the Affluista Mansion lot, a 50×50 lot. This is the neighbourhood and lot where the Landgraab’s usually live in a new save!
Will she be up to the following challenges?
Create her dream home
Complete the successful lineage aspiration
Produce and raise the Heir
Note that I will be adding goals from House 13 to this house, so here are the additional goals that will be required, note House 13 also requires you to raise an Heir:
In addition to the house requirements noted above, it will also need to at a minimum have 2 Bedrooms, 1 Bathroom & be worth at least $100k Simoleons with a designated gaming area.
Achieve level 10 of the EASports Gamer branch of the Tech Guru Career.
Achieve level 10 of the Start Up Entrepreneur branch of the Tech Guru Career.
Score 1st place in a Pro-Ranked Tournament on both the Hillock II and Sims Forever games.
House 24 and House 13 have optional goals, here are the ones I plan on doing:
Complete both the Big Happy Family and Super Parent aspirations with both my Drifter and her spouse (House 24 goals)
Complete the Computer Whiz Aspiration (House 13 goal)
I also plan on adding the following goals to my playthrough:
Have all sims in the house max Scouts and complete the Goal Oriented and Admired Icon Teen aspirations.
At a minimum, have all sims that age up to young adult in the house have four positive character values, preferably five where possible.
Use the Simple Living lot challenge until one sim unlocks the Simple Living cookbook. At that point, the simple living lot challenge will be optional.
Have both my drifter and her future spouse get a university degree and complete the university aspiration. I will be turning aging off while they attend university.
Have both complete the fortune aspiration.
Have all toddlers max their skills.
Have all children complete all four child hood aspirations.
I will also aspiration swap and work on more aspirations then noted here as that’s just how I like to play.
In this house we can control everyone (this is also true of house 13).
Note one rule I plan on breaking is the rule of not moving sims out of the house. I plan on adding Katie’s younger siblings and raising them to young adult and then moving them out. I may do the same with any siblings of Katie’s futer spouse.
With house 24, there are no restrictions of where/when you can travel (so having a minimum of 1,000 simoleons for this house is not required) and all community lots are available.
We are still not allowed to have club gatherings on the home lot.
You can play on normal or a long lifespan and you can also use age altering/life prolonging items in house 24.
As an FYI, here are all the optional goals for House 24, screenshot is per Vihisha’s blog post as of Jan 25, 2023:
As well as the optional goals for House 13, screenshot is per Vihisha’s blog post as of Jan 25, 2023:
Screenshot of rules, etc per Vihisha’s blog post as of Jan 25, 2023 as an FYI:
Potential love interests & their family members were provided by:
Elliot & his brother Sawyer Finch (Simgirlsam3)
Gabe & his sister Gretchen Lewis (Simgirlsam3)
Emmett Woods (VampireMum)
Kenneth McCann & family (born in game & provided by me)
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 (exception is focused paintings as there are only three of them) 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 5×5 + 3 focused =27 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 124 (30+30+30+5+27+2) if you don’t have DU, 129 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.
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.
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).
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.
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
There have been a number of issues with the game since the July 26, 2022 game update and I will try and summarize some of the more common ones here.
The biggest issue is with aging, both on the long lifespan and short lifespan. This issue is so big EA has a message about it on your main menu, this appeared on July 27:
They are recommending you back up your saves and temporarily play on a Normal Lifespan. I recommend avoiding any saves where you currently play on Long or Short Lifespan. Also, while turning aging off is one option, make sure you change the Lifespan to Normal before turning off aging, otherwise there are reports that the issue persists.
I did a separate video on the long term issue and how to use the no aging option.
Here are some other issues I’ve seen noted on EA AHQ with links to their bug reports. If your issue isn’t here, I recommend going over to the Sims 4 Bug Section of EA AHQ and looking for the issue you are experiencing.
Here’s a screenshot of a Tweet by SimGuruNick re the first issue noted here:
Wants/Fears: Sim wants to ask a relative to be GF/BF Note EA Cade has responded to this report to say the Sims Team is looking into this. SimGuruNick has also tweeted (see above screenshot) to say they can reproduce this and are working on it. I have uploaded a room to the gallery with 5 want refresher potions so you can use that to get rid of wants you don’t want and not use any reward points (each want refresher potion is 200 reward points).
You should be prompted to use this template, however if you aren’t, then just copy and paste this and fill in the details.
Product: The Sims 4 Platform: Which language are you playing the game in? How often does the bug occur? What is your current game version number? What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? What happens when the bug occurs? What do you expect to see? Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system?
Mod Issues
Most mods broke with the game update so make sure to check all your mods to see if they broke and if they’ve been updated. Many have already been updated including MCCC, UI Cheats, Twisted Mexi mods, Wonderful Whims and LittleMsSam mods.
As of early on July 28, 2022 here is a statement re Kawaii Stacie mods:
One common issue I see mentioned is not being able to change your hair colour in Create-A-Sim, my understanding is this is caused by the More Columns mod by Weerbesu which has been updated.
There’s a Sim forum post that tracks what broke, what’s been updated and what’s fine which is a great source to check.
Another source is Scarlet’s mod tracking list, this includes mature mods, the Sims forums don’t allow mention of mods that increase the games’ rating.
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. Either I or other members will try to answer any troubleshooting questions and I also have some guides that can help in my Facebook group. I can also be found on Twitter and Instagram
Maple Simmer 