The Sims 4 is free to play after eight years, and now a complete new era of Simmers are enjoying the sport for the primary time. Listed here are the highest 7 suggestions, tips, and issues you must know when you’re enjoying The Sims 4 for the primary time.
You Don’t Should Use the Create-A-Sim Story Characteristic
While you begin a brand new sport and enter Create-A-Sim (CAS) for the primary time, your new Sim will ask whether or not you need to create their story. Should you say “Okay,” you’ll need to reply a number of questions. The solutions you select will decide your Sim’s traits, likes and dislikes, and aspirations. Should you click on “No, thanks,” you’ll go into the traditional CAS mode, which lets you select each element of your Sim’s character or randomize it.
However when you’re enjoying The Sims 4 for the primary time, I extremely suggest utilizing the story builder in CAS. There are lots of traits and aspirations to select from, and the choices is usually a little overwhelming when you’re new to the sport. I exploit it typically since making a Sim from scratch can typically take an hour or extra, and utilizing the story builder will get me into my Sim’s life quicker.
You’re Not Caught with Your Sim’s Aspiration
Should you use the story builder to find out your Sim’s aspiration and don’t just like the one you bought, don’t stress. Whilst you can’t change your Sim’s traits or aspiration in CAS after utilizing the story builder, you may change it after you progress them into their new house.
The truth is, you may change your Sim’s aspiration as typically as you need with out dropping your progress. Really feel such as you’re not getting anyplace on that Mansion Baron aspiration? Take a break and take a look at the Grasp Chef aspiration as a substitute whilst you earn some cash and reward factors. You’ll choose up proper the place you left off if you change again later.
You Don’t Should Micromanage Each Single Want
Your Sims have eight wants that continuously shift all through the day. You could be tempted to spend all of your time ensuring every want is as excessive as doable, however you’ll miss out on lots of the enjoyable of the sport that method. Focus your efforts on finishing your Sim’s aspiration milestones and getting them promoted, and have a tendency to their wants as wanted.
Whilst you’re going about your Sim’s life, you may preserve extra helpful panels open, just like the aspiration tracker or job panel. When considered one of your Sim’s wants begins to get low, you’ll see its icon seem in yellow on the bottom-right nook of the sport window. As the necessity will get extra extreme, it would flip pink. While you deal with the necessity, its icon will disappear. That method, you don’t need to hover on the wants panel continuously.
Test Your Family Stock Typically
As your Sim makes progress of their profession, they’ll typically get profession reward objects. These objects are often both mood-enhancing or sensible, they usually may also help your Sim get even additional forward at work. When your Sim will get a promotion, the notification tells you about any rewards you obtained, however when you don’t know the place to search for them, you may miss them.
So examine your family stock not less than each time your Sim will get a promotion. In Construct Mode, click on on the open field icon on the bottom-left nook of your display screen. This may open your family stock, the place extra-large objects and profession rewards are saved. Then you may place the objects inside your Sim’s home the place they will get some use out of them.
Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Make Gameplay Simpler
Navigating the Sims 4 interface takes lots of clicking, however you will get round quite a bit quicker with just a few useful keyboard shortcuts. My favorites are:
- J – opens the job panel
- O – opens the wants panel
- G – opens the aspiration panel
- Dwelling/Finish – partitions up/cutaway/down
- Web page Up/Web page Down – up one story/down one story
- F1 – Reside Mode
- F2 – Construct Mode
You Don’t Should Construct on a Grid
In Construct Mode, each object robotically snaps to a grid. That is nice if you wish to guarantee each room is completely straight and symmetrical, however it will possibly depart some layouts feeling barely unnatural. Happily, there are two tips even brand-new Simmers can use to make their builds and decor look extra practical.
First, you may press the Alt key (Possibility on Mac) whereas shifting an object to put it freely with out snapping to the grid. This lets you transfer furnishings like sofas and finish tables nearer collectively, so they give the impression of being extra pure, or place furnishings nearer to the wall to avoid wasting a little bit of area. You can too press Alt or Possibility whereas rotating an object to rotate it freely as a substitute of snapping to quarter-turns.
Second, you should utilize a primary cheat code to assist you to place objects on high of one another, corresponding to tucking litter beneath a desk or some grass across the base of a tree. To entry the cheats menu, press Ctrl + Shift + C (Cmd + Shift + C on Mac). Within the textual content field that seems, kind “bb.moveobjects on” (with out citation marks). Now you may place objects the place you couldn’t earlier than.
Simply watch out to not block doorways or put objects so shut collectively that they’re unusable. Should you see your Sim waving their arms over their head if you attempt to get them to do one thing, you might have positioned an object of their method. Clear a path for them and also you’ll be good to go.
You Can Change the Coloration of Most Objects After Inserting Them
In Construct Mode, you’ve a restricted number of stylistic choices for each object you place. For instance, a wood desk might have six completely different types of wooden to select from. However the thumbnails don’t all the time precisely symbolize what the desk will appear like in every coloration. And it may be tedious to put an object, understand it’s not the colour you thought, delete it, select one other coloration, place it once more, and nonetheless not like the colour.
However you may change the colour of most objects in Construct Mode after you’ve positioned them with out ever having to delete them. In Construct Mode, click on the Design Instrument icon that appears like paint swatches on the high of the display screen, or press R. Then click on on the merchandise you need to customise, and hover over a coloration to preview what it would appear like. Click on the colour you need, and the thing will change to that coloration.
With these seven useful suggestions, you may navigate The Sims 4 quicker and get extra enjoyment out of the sport. What’s your favourite Sims 4 tip, trick, or hack? Tell us within the feedback beneath! Earlier than you go, take a look at our different Sims protection, together with our information to gender and sexuality and learn how to construct a useful room beneath the steps.