The Sims franchise has been delighting its fans for around 20 years now. These games have taken a simple concept - playing with life - and turned it into a worldwide miracle. Millions of players worldwide spend their time creating families, building houses, and acting out life stories, and nosotros wouldn't have information technology any other way.

As the games have go more detailed, they've besides go more than complicated. Many people learn how to play The Sims 4 without picking up these unproblematic tips and tricks for edifice and gameplay that tin can help y'all enjoy the game fifty-fifty more. Have a await at these things you may have been doing wrong and discover out how to get the well-nigh out of The Sims 4.

Updated May 14, 2021, By Helen Ashcroft As The Sims four continues to expand with DLC and The Sims 5 is still just a dream, we've taken a fresh look at these tips and tricks. Over time the base game has expanded hugely and now there are new ways to solve common problems that just didn't exist before.

The game at present comes with a tutorial merely you may still discover you're doing things wrong, or at least inefficiently. After all one of the joys of The Sims iv is that there isn't a wrong way to play. So if you want to discover some edifice tips, gameplay hacks, and hidden secrets in The Sims iv then check out this listing.

25 Solve Your Roofing Problems

houses in build mode in a split screen.

I of the well-nigh frustrating parts of house-building in The Sims iv is getting the roof right. The auto-roofing tool from previous games didn't make it into the newest Sims title. It'due south not all bad, though as there are a few roofing tips and tricks out at that place.

Over time the team has added extra roof pieces into the game and when you click them yous can use the arrows and spheres to manipulate the roof. Property shift as you lot exercise it will permit you to just adapt ane side or corner at once.

24 A Vampire (After) Life Hack

A vampire using mind control powers on a sim.

The Sims 4: Vampires didn't just provide u.s.a. with a whole host of Victorian-manner Build and Buy Mode items. Every bit its name suggests, this pack too allows you to create vampire Sims but keeping them happy can exist annoying.

Vampires need to feed off other Sims from time to time to sate their thirst for blood. Rather than hunting hapless Sims for this purpose, it's easier to just create one human being Sim and make them best pals with your vampire. The Sim will then happily donate plasma whenever it'due south required! Alternatively, you tin keep a less willing Sim in your basement behind a locked door just we'd never do that, plainly.

23 Unlock The Power Of Moving Objects

A child and toddler playing with a dollhouse together

Have you always wished that a potted plant could be bigger, or that ridiculous-sized dollhouse smaller? Well, at that place's a cheat for that!

If you printing Ctrl + Shift + C and type in "bb.moveobjects on", you'll now have the ability to resize objects - amid other abilities.

While you lot're moving a slice of furniture, use the Shift button plus your square bracket keys to toggle its size. The left subclass will make the object smaller, and the correct i volition brand it bigger.

22 Detect Willow Creek's Big Secret

sylvan glade from above

The Sims four isn't just about building houses, filling them with families, and letting chaos ensue. It's about exploration and discovery too. There are surreptitious lots dotted nearly the in-game worlds, many of which crave your Sim to have certain skills before they tin be constitute. An exception to this is Sylvan Glade in Willow Creek.

If y'all travel to the lot Crick Cabana, you lot'll notice a huge, pretty interesting-looking tree nearby. If you lot view this tree, water it, and and then talk to information technology enough, the "Explore" option will pop up. Select it, and you'll find yourself in Sylvan Glade!

21 Build A Meliorate Home

The Sims 4 House Blueprint From Above

If you don't take much experience building houses in The Sims 4, it can be hard to know where to start. A lot of us oft fall into the trap of cartoon out a giant square or rectangle with the wall tool and leaving the business firm at that. However, that often but doesn't look very realistic!

Adding extra rooms, multiple levels, decks, and a chip of landscaping can brand all the difference. Using floorplans constitute online tin likewise be a cracking mode to get a good base to start with.

xx Explore Sixam

sixam from a distance

Another of The Sims 4'southward subconscious areas is the conflicting planet of Sixam, which was added to the game in the Become To Piece of work expansion pack. Unlike Sylvan Glade, Sixam requires your Sims to jump through a few hoops earlier they're allowed to visit.

At that place are two methods of unlocking Sixam. Your Sim either has to progress through the Scientist career until they tin can build the Electroflux Wormhole Generator, or build an upgraded rocket ship that also has the generator. If they manage either of these feats, they can travel to Sixam and have a look around.

19 Don't Forget The Alt Button

A sim reading a book

If you dear decorating houses in The Sims 4, the Alt button is the all-time friend you didn't fifty-fifty know y'all had.  If you hold down Alt while placing an object in your Sims' home, you lot'll no longer have to accommodate strictly to the snapping grid organization that's imposed on the game.

If you use the motility objects cheat you'll have even more free movement over furniture, ataxia, and other items in your abode.

xviii Diagonal Floor Tiles

tiles in bathroom placed in triangle shapes using the trick described.

Another edifice trick that a lot of Simmers don't realize exists in The Sims four is the half-floor tile tool. Accept you ever wished that you lot could place triangle tiles instead of squares and create an intricate floor blueprint for your Sims to enjoy? Well, turns out you tin can!

If yous concur down the Ctrl and F buttons while placing a floor tile, it'll half and become the triangle of your dreams. Y'all at present have some extra versatility. Go create crazy patterns and mosaics.

17 Cheating The Reaper

grim checking his list

If you've ever felt that sense of dread when the Grim Reaper turns up on the lot of your favorite Sim, this trick is for you.

Even if the Grim Reaper is poised to take your Sim to the afterlife, you tin convince him to relent using a Decease Flower. This found can exist unlocked through a lengthy process of grafting different fruits and flowers together.

Graft a cherry and apple to become a pomegranate; graft a Lily to a Snapdragon to brand an Orchid; and so graft the Orchid and Pomegranate together to go your Death Flower!

16 Pregnancy Tricks

Jasmine and Arun Bheeda, Arun feels Jasmine's belly when she is pregnant

A lot of Sims players don't realize that it'southward possible to influence the outcome of Sim pregnancies. Y'all don't fifty-fifty have to employ cheats, either.

You lot can control the gender of the unborn baby by getting the mother to listen to or eat certain things. If you want the babe to be female person, your Sim should eat some strawberries or jam out to some pop music. For a male child, eat some carrots and listen to the alternative music radio station.

15 Solving Photographic camera Struggles

Summer watering plants

When The Sims 4 was first released, ane of the fans' main criticisms of the game was that the camera style seemed much less convenient than its The Sims 3 analogue. If you're still struggling to go your head wrapped around how information technology works, it might be worth switching to The Sims 4's other camera mode.

In the top correct-paw corner of the UI is a movie camera icon. Click this and y'all'll exist able to zoom or rotate the camera. You'll too see three other buttons. These switch betwixt Sims 3 and Sims four camera modes as well every bit a top-down mode. Swapping between them can assistance you build and play more easily.

14 Customize Your In-Game Music

a group dance in a windenburg club.

Did you know that y'all tin can really put your ain music into the game using the Custom Music feature? The tracks accept to be in MP3 format for this to work, though.

Merely copy your MP3 files and paste them into the Custom Music binder that'south in your estimator's Sims 4 folder. This is commonly plant in "My Documents" under "EA Games". Happy listening!

thirteen Swap Your Swatches With Ease

Sims 4 hispanic update family eating at table

The Design Tool is a very handy little gadget for builders and decorators in The Sims 4. If you lot select this control and click on a slice of furniture, all of its different color options will announced for your designing pleasance. However, at that place'southward one matter about this tool that a lot of players don't realize.

You don't accept to utilize your mouse to click between each color: there's a button for that! Printing R to toggle between Pattern Tool options. It'south a lot quicker and easier than clicking on them all individually.

12 Go Monster-Hunting In Windenburg

windenburg city shot

There are so many secrets in The Sims 4 that you'd just uncover if yous're in the right area at the right time. An example of this is the monster-hunting you can engage in while taking a trip to Windenburg.

Emily the Body of water Monster is a play on the Loch Ness Monster, and she dwells in the sea around this pop world from The Sims iv: Get Together. If you gaze at the water for long enough, she's bound to appear!

eleven Vary Your Landscaping

wide shot of a garden and greenhouse.

In Sims terms, landscaping ways adding trees, bushes, flowers, and paths to your Sim's lot. All the same, you tin't just plonk a tree downward here and at that place and expect your Sim's dwelling house to look similar a woodland paradise!

Landscaping turns out a whole lot improve if yous think about how and where plants would naturally grow. Don't be afraid to add some overgrown grass or ivy up the walls. You can also utilize planters and greenhouses to create unique looks.

ten Sip On That Tea

Sims in a kitchen chatting.

Emotions are both a approval and a curse in The Sims 4. If your Sim is doing well, their happy emotional state tin can bring all sorts of benefits. However, if they start to feel uncomfortable or upset, it can seriously affect your game. Luckily, at that place's a quick-fix solution to go rid of whatever unwanted feelings.

The Tea Magic Personal Brewer serves lots of types of tea to your Sim, each of which triggers a dissimilar emotion. We'll leave information technology to you lot to work out which tea sparks which kind of feeling.

9 Split Level Rooms

Split image. Left side bunk beds with a bookcase and dsesk on the platform at the top. Right image a desk replaces the bed on the bottom.

Split-level rooms can be a really stylish and modern addition to your Sims' houses. Now, thanks to the contempo improver of platforms, nosotros can finally create some split levels, fifty-fifty if they aren't perfect.

Y'all can also create split levels by calculation extra floors and removing some ceiling or floor tiles to create open hallways with upstairs corridors and much more. Why not experiment with both options and see what yous can come up upwardly with.

eight Use The Club System

a group of knights in costume in a bar

The Sims 4: Get Together introduced the club mechanic. Groups of Sims with similar interests could now form an official order, take scheduled meet-ups, and terrorize any rival groups.

The thing is, clubs can be used for so much more than only organized fun. You can utilise them to create a vampire coven, a cult, or even but a family unit hangout group for those Sims who love their relatives. The possibilities are truly countless.

They are a way of getting multiple sims to perform specific actions so there really are no limits. Create a club of people who want to make clean for a maid service, a report group for help with your homework, and much more than.

vii Harness Your Voodoo Powers

A sim using voodoo powers

If yous thought the Mischief skill was just designed for your Sims to play pranks on their friends and family, you were incorrect! If you build this skill to a high enough level, it really takes on a pretty sinister undertone.

You can use mischief to practice voodoo on your enemies (or your friends, if yous're a bit messed up) It doesn't even have much skill-edifice to unlock the voodoo doll: you tin buy it online later your Sim reaches Mischief level three.

6 Living Underwater (Kind Of)

a bsaement room in a pool in sims 4

Before you become excited, we're not talking about a Little Mermaid-esque "Under the Sea" situation here. Yous can't live beneath the body of water waves in The Sims iv sadly. All the same, you lot can create the illusion of living underwater using basements and the pool tool.

The bodily water of a puddle sits on the same level equally a basement. If you lot add windows to your basement walls, all you'll run into outside is water. Besides anything else, it's a slap-up way to let natural light into your underground room.

If yous have Island Living you lot now live past the ocean, although sea front lots won't allow basements then y'all tin can't combine the 2.

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