[SUGGESTIONS] Off-the-Grid lot trait

If you want a realistic gameplay... Things that do work "off the grid" (I know from experience, and education) are: Coffee- Yes, you can grind it, roast it, and use a press to brew it (heating the water in a kettle over a fire), ditto with gathering tea leaves and steeping them in a pot. Cooking almost anything (soup in a pan over a fire), baked goods (like breads, bannock) wrapped around a stick and cooked over hot coals- you can even do this with goodies (like brownies and scones, etc.). You can also cook meats, veggies, etc., etc. You can also do laundry, empty the bucket, and have clean water. There are also ways of having indoor plumbing (through methods like reed bed sewage system which manages wastewater- and using things such as bamboo for pipes, whilst using slopes and such for assisting to provide natural pressure for flow). Keep in mind that there is a myriad of proven ("off-the-grid") methods, it's just that most people are completely unaware that these things exist. It's also pertinent to remember that newer innovations are always happening, and these things even refine other ideas to make things work even better. There are also natural pools (that utilize plants with natural antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial properties (like lavender, pine, etc.), and small fish (minnows)... And you can even make them look how you want (elegant, backwoodsy, lush, etc.). And, yes, there are even off-the-grid hot tubs. Yes.... You can even have well-working fridges (google sawdust/ice methods, or other 'freezer' methods).

And... If you play the creative way (imagination, magic, whatever you wish to call it): Everything works (without bills)- because there is a magical World where the previous sims already figured out how to make all of the lovely things we enjoy (and more) - while all of them work without power (as we know it), and without damaging the environment in any way. I mean, really, sims are already showing you this everytime they do things - like magically change their clothing (without having to wash clothes, or have piles of clothes... unless a mean 'sim goddess/god' buys a stupid washing machine/dryer... which makes the sim then have to do that stuff 🤔  ). We do like visual cues though. I get that. I like them myself.

I do think it would be nice to have ways to shut things off in options (like how we could adjust the weather to how we wanted in TS3, or shutting off supernaturals, or shutting off weather/seasonal effects on plants, for players who like non-realistic. And, importantly, shutting off certain traits, and violence- for those who have had the trauma of having to experience it irl.

Oops... back to "Off-the-grid".... Many things are already possible, and in a game (and in life) all (good) things should be possible. I guess that the dev team just weren't educated on off-the-grid stuff, which has been humming along since ages and ages (and ages) ago. 

As this seems to be a general off-the-grid topic some things I noticed:

 - The welcome wagon doesn't come when you are off the grid. I heard stuff about islanders visiting with food and thought my fresh save was bugged, untill I removed the off-the-grid trait. This might be intentional though?

 - Off The Grid messes with aspirations. I have gotten at least 10 notifications of having unlocked the grilled cheese aspiration while I was working on it, although I am not sure if this bug was related.

 - Most important!!!! - When I was working on The Curator, I got points for collectables I didn't collect. Basically each time I traveled to a location that wasn't off the grid everything in my inventory was counted again, so that for example I got points for having collected 5 crystals while I have only found 2.

@AlHollandiyah, thank you for the information on how the Off the Grid lot trait is affecting Aspriations! 😮😇 That is important to know! 🤨

Update:  I mentioned this to another helper and they have gotten duplicate inventory counts long before the Off the Grid lot trait was added.  They would get duplicate counts of inventory collectables when traveling to any lot! 🤨  But it doesn't always happen so it can be difficult to pin down. 

So in order to determine if this is the same bug, can you see if it happens to your Sims when they travel between any lots that don't have the Off the Grid trait?  🤔  Please try this and update us on your findings! 😇 Thank you! 

@AlHollandiyah, thank you for testing that, especially without your Mods! :eahigh_file:😇  At least that is one less problem with the Off the Grid trait! 😃 

Dear Devs and other The Sims 4 Creation Team Members, 

It would be super cool if the off-the-grid trait had been thought out a little more. It feels unfinished. Slap-dash. As if it was rushed out the door as a last-minute addition with little testing. 

I was a little excited at the thought of off-the-grid living, all the possibilities! At least until I tested it out in-game. It was mainly disappointing. I don't normally stick my nose into these sorts of discussions, because while I don't always agree with certain choices, I usually warm up to them in the end. With this issue, I just can't get past certain aspects. So, at the risk of public ridicule, this is what I think.

It's great if my little homeless sims don't have running water and must "live rough," that's the story-line. But my eco-warrior sims shouldn't have to live in the dark ages (or just plain in the dark) just to be kind to the environment. 

1. Water: Lots of people live off-the-grid while also not lacking running water. At our house, we're not hooked up to city water at all, yet we don't resort to collecting rainwater in a bucket and taking "tepid" showers in it: We have a well. We have clean, hot-and-cold running water 24/7, and have done for around 60 years. There are also off-the-grid water-collectors or reservoirs which do things like collect rainwater, store it, even filter it, for use in a modern home (see Earth Ship home designs from 10 or 15 years ago - self-sustaining, off-the-grid homes). Some sort of off-the-grid water source would be fab. 

2. Power: Again, check out those Earth Ship homes. There are plenty of sources of off-the-grid power. For the eco-vibe of the new expansion, things like solar panels and wind turbines could be great options. There are also things like gas generators. Or maybe something off-the-wall, like a hamster-wheel generator - put your pocket pets to work. Tie power-generating device building into the Science careers or handiness skill maybe.  Having options for off-the-grid power would make it feel a lot more immersive. It was a bit of a let-down to find that there are no alternative energy sources for off-grid living. 

3. Candles: Why oh, why don't most of the candles work in off-the-grid mode?? It's SO hard trying to light my Sims' hovel when my options are limited to tiki torches (and maybe two or three actual candles, none of which can be wall-mounted). Those torches would set the ceiling on fire. Their little home would burn to the ground in no time. The outdoor citronella candle even needs power! Why!? Wall candles that don't need power would also be pretty spiffy. Like maybe those Victorian wall-candles from the Vampires pack which currently require electricity to power the gas-powered, simulated-candle lights...um...what? Please, more non-electric-dependant candles would be really nice. 

4. Food: Erm. This one might be trickier. A person can cook quite a lot on gas. More than toast, that's for sure. Also, the fridge... How can food be stored in it and kept fresh without power? I mean, I'm GLAD the fridge still keeps food fresh longer, my off-the-grid sims generally can't afford to waste that much food, don't get me wrong here, it's just a bit annoying that there isn't really an adequate, off-the-grid option for food storage. An icebox would be an amazing addition. Slap a new skin on the antique fridge or make it work-off-grid or something. Maybe they have to have ice delivered, like pizza, or buy it from the bar or vending machines, or camping supply kiosks (you could use the laundry bag and re-skin it to look like a sack of ice if you were feeling in a hurry). Pop open the icebox, toss in the bag, boom, done. Make it last a week, upgrade to last a month or "recycle" ice, or use the freeze-ray tech inside it or something. Something besides a giant fridge that is magically keeping food cold without power. Or cooking, for that matter. The grill is wasteful and expensive, (due to lack of storage) and even the antique stove, which could feasibly be a wood-burner (it even has wood stored under the oven), doesn't really work off-grid.

Overall, it feels so unfinished and only partially thought-out. I (and many others) LOVE the idea, but the implementation could use some tweaking. Please and thank you. (Ooh, new traits, skills, and even retail options could tie into the off-the-grid thing really nicely. I know, I know... can't bog down the game, but seriously, as it stands, I find the off-the-grid feature virtually un-playable and completely immersion-breaking.) 

Again, just my own, personal opinions here.  

Many thanks. 

Yours faithfully, 

A player who's been enjoying Simming since the beginning. 

@alissaclarem You have done an amazing job at putting together a list of off-the-grid feedback! I thought you may enjoy reading and possibly adding your information to some other great feedback on the subject at either:

• This thread has a large amount of posting going on: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/962321/off-the-grid-tips-tricks-compilation
• Another popular thread on the issue: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/961445/off-the-grid-issues-suggestions
• And this one is pretty active as well: https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/961418/off-the-grid

Anyway, I thought you may enjoy reading the other posts, plus with all of your great ideas you will have a lot to contribute to them also, if you choose to! I have not played the 'off the grid' option yet, but I am both looking forward to it and holding back a bit hoping that they will adjust a few of these things in the next patch or something... But I may not be willing to wait that long. 😉 Sounds like there is room for tweaks but that it would be a great challenge and quite interesting! :eahigh_file:

Hi all,

Had previously been avoiding playing off-the-grid due to the numerous issues that people were reporting. So when I saw that a lot of August 8th's update had to do with off-the-grid fixes, I was super excited! I've been playing around with off-the-grid all day, and I'm a bit disappointed, as I'm still finding plenty of objects that don't work, but should (candle-powered lights, etc). So, I wanted to just start a thread here (having taken the most recent patch notes into consideration!) for us to list the objects we've had issue with, or suggestions for further improvements.

That said, thank you EA for the off-the-grid fixes you've put out already!

So, here we go...

1. the "off the grid" filter

- Why no option to view ALL off-the-grid usable objects at once? Right now, I'm only seeing a search for Off the Grid in about 8 or 9 different categories.

- When I click one of the categories, such as Off the Grid in Tubs, not all of the available objects actually show up. For me, only one tub shows up. Whereas, when looking through the list of tubs without the Off the Grid search, I see at least 3 tubs that are listed as usable. 

2. lights! I'm just going to list the lights that are clearly candle- or battery-powered that are still not enabled and/or listed as enabled for off-the-grid use

- 3 Senses Oil Lamp

- Weathered Lantern (JA)

- Happy Holiday Floor Lanterns (S)

- Bow-tiful Candlelight (S)

- Candlelit Fall Leaves (S)

- Candlelit Holly Branch (S)

- Pine Fresh Candles (S)

- Four Festive Candles, ho, ho, ho! (Holiday)

- lANTern (BYS)

- A Story of Three Candles

- No Fear Night Lantern (OR)

- Moonlight Lantern (OR)

- Barnyard Lamp (C&D) ...there's a candle in there!

- Handy Dandy Fright Lights, Left & Right (SS)

- Old Life Gas Lamp 

- The Tinkerer's Wall Light (S) ...the description say's it's battery-powered!

- Industrial DYI Lighting (SV) ...okay so it's not a candle but look at it... it was made for an off-the-grid lot!

- Rustic Candle Chandelier (JA) ...another one of my favorites that I was super bummed to see wasn't usable off-the-grid.

- Obstructo Coffee Table (CL) ...I don't know, maybe? It looks like a gas fire pit? 

- 

- [working on it...editing]

3. A couple questions about plumbing objects that I haven't had the opportunity to try out yet post-patch...

- Are the "Open Air", "Party Bush", "Duty Calls" bushes usable off-the-grid?

- Same question for toddler's potty chairs?

- Same question, for the public bathrooms?

- Has anyone found out if the Sim-built toilet and tub are usable off-the-grid?

- Why is the Island Living sink usable off-the-grid but the tub isn't?

4. off-the-grid rental lots?

I know the whole utility bill point won't apply here, but I still would like to be able to enable this feature on some lots in Granite Falls and/or Salvadora.

I haven't had a chance to explore the appliances yet. It looks like pretty much none of them are labeled as usable off-the-grid. Has anyone tried out things like the popcorn maker, ice cream maker, etc. to see if they're battery-powered? Fountain of Mirth? The thermostat? Laptops? Wind chimes?

Hi SimGurus

It seems to me that ye olde cave per/son/nongender/nonspecies/specifics were able to slap a bit of the ol'meat or chickpea and many more tasty paleolithic treats on a fire and cook it up real nice. Yet. I can only make eggs and bacon or grilled cheese on my 'off the grill' lot. Which is weird as I have an electic oven. And a Grill AND A FLIPPIN FIREPLACE. yet all i get is these and oh yeah. Salad. And I get it. Us dweebs didn't vote for it.

For what it is worth  I DID.

I HATE LAUNDRY!!!!!!.

OMG. I have spent over coughmmmnhhmmhh many years on this earth and I never want to ever see another flippin towel/bathsheet/dirtyknicker/snottyhanky in my life again. But nooooooo. Peeps wanted a cute ironing board on their wall. They did not understand the ramifications of their actions. EA please. Did you not learn from Boaty McBoatface!! Don't ask the public their opinion, let them eat cake!

Although in this instance. Fix this. It's bloody annoying

cheers 

nanshi etctera

PS I havent played sims in a bit and a lot of people have been saying this for a while ... ouch...

Another one to add to the long list: It would be nice to be able to cook a Grand Meal on an off-the-grid lot. Seems like some of the grill meals should be eligible for this (grilled chicken, breakfast scramble, steak, salmon), or we could get some wood burning stove upgrades as mentioned.

(Also if we have battery-powered lanterns can't we have battery-powered Winterfest tree lights???)