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I am...both 😂
I had serious restartitis before where any save I started would probably be quit in first month or so
but I've gotten very attached to my current save I have since 2019 and all the sim families and builds I have
and I can't really even imagine losing it and starting over anymore that would be devastating 😅- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
Restartitis!!!! Bwahaha! Yes, I'm diagnosed.
I'm really encouraged by your story because maybe I can actually get attached to one save. I really think I need to slow down so that I can. Maybe my sims would feel more real if they were at normal speed most of the time. 🤔
- Jehane40Rising Veteran
I can't really even imagine losing it and starting over anymore that would be devastating 😅
Same. My computer broke down a couple of months ago, or rather, it got stuck in a loop and just wouldn't start up. The only thing I was freaking out about were my Sims saves 😁 I had copied them to an external harddrive shortly before my computer went into that loop, and I had completely forgotten that OneDrive was active, too, so all the saves were still there when the computer was finally back up and running. I was SO relieved 😁 At that point, I had been playing with my current save for a year, I would have been devastated if everything had been lost.
- elliebretonSeasoned Ace
Recovering restarter here 😄
My current game is the longest I've stuck with one EVER. I am rotating around 16 quite different households, which helps, and am half way through my third sim year (4 week seasons). Normally I don't make it through one sim year, so this is a big achievement for me. I took all my favourite sims from all my favourite past games, aged them down and gave them parents and am seeing how they now turn out. I'm really enjoying it.
My main restart reason used to be new content coming out and I would think of new ideas I wanted to implement which didn't fit with my current game. Or just new ideas popping into my head randomly.
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
Wow! That's great! I also play on 28 day seasons. I like gardening and cooking in game, so I like the seasons to be long. Sounds like you found your secret to success.
- GameGirl2168aSeasoned Vanguard
Same here, WisdomBuilders. In fact, I honestly wouldn't mind if they gave us a week or two more for each season. (I know, I know, it's not like that in real life. lol) I would also love it if Maxis/EA updated the calendar so that it can be personalized for each household separately; that way the main holidays you want all your sims to share in, they can, but then you could also add your own special holidays for a household without making all your sim households have to experience that holiday as well. (I know you can always cancel any holiday early, but that also makes the sims sad when you do.)
- fruitsbasket100New Vanguard
I envy people who can do rotational play. I get bored even sooner than I normally do whenever I try because I can't connect to a sim/sim family and their story when I'm constantly switching to a different one every few days.
- Jehane40Rising Veteran
It helps if you only play two households on rotation for starters because then you get more time with each of them. Also, I'd recommend adding a second household only once you've played with the first one long enough to have a connection. Otherwise, it might be difficult to get into rotational play.
I've been playing the same save for the last six years. One family, now four generations. All family members still alive. I play with aging off and age up when I feel the time is right. Never bored. So many aspirations, careers, Uni majors, etc., still to be completed.
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
I aspire to have a game like yours! Truly your family is so so inspirational. I just love it.
- mitchiebanjoRising Rookie
Boredom. Sims 4 is the least fun gameplay-wise to me. But it is a pretty game. If it had Sims 2's genetics it would be better. I hate how samey all the sims look. The supernaturals are the best thing EA has done and the one reason to continue playing a game.
Also, I love ugly babies!
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
LOL in real life I love ugly babies, but in sims I want to change them. Yeah I really loved sims 2, but Sims 4 is my favorite.
- SimmervilleSeasoned Ace
Oh, I would like some of the TS2 genetic - especially being able to inherit a grandparents genetics, like in RL, and it's sad a sim will pass on dyed hair color etc. But I disagree that sims look too similar. I have a few routines for adding wrinkles and stuff though, as they age, and the facial details might make them look more unique, but my only negative regarding looks is that very old sims does not change from their elder birthday - adding wrinkles won't make them look like they are 100 years old.
I love ugly (=unique) sims in general - I don't even adjust their eyebrows in CAS and I love to see how they (might) resemble their parents and siblings :)
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
I say I hate ugly sims, but I dressed like a Townie for Halloween last year and it was so much fun!! It's really like the aging up with a mohawk or like bright red hair with dark skin. It helped me when I saw an actual tribe of people who had dark skin with very blonde hair...because it was now set in my mind as natural, I didn't mind that anymore. It's more the times when I think, yeah right, I don't think that combo is natural. But sometimes I find out I'm the one who's naive, and then I adjust my thinking accordingly. Admitting to being very superficial here...please don't be too hard on me lol.
- crocobauraSeasoned Ace
I have all kinds of sims in the same save. When I get bored with one household, I switch to another one, and sometimes I build. It's nice to pick up when you left and there is already a story line started and sometimes I may do a plot twist and change their story around. I only play them when I get fresh ideas and enthusiasm for them and depending on my mood. I still get to see my sims around town when I am not playing them and get to interact with them and include them in my gameplay indirectly so they are not completely forgotten.
- GameGirl2168aSeasoned Vanguard
I do this as well, Crocobaura; I always have, with all my The Sims games, right from the start. Generally I will start a new family when a new pack featuring a new world is released, so I can have fun learning about all the new stuff in CAS for it. But all my sims and their worlds, and builds, are on one save. Like you, I enjoy seeing my sims interacting in all the different worlds, all together.
- Jehane40Rising Veteran
That's what I did when Lovestruck came out. A made a new household specifically for testing a few of the gameplay in Lovestruck, especially the relationship dynamics. The couple I created is horribly incompatible and has different ideas of how they want to live their life, so their relationship is a constant struggle, requires a lot of effort and the odd visit with the therapist. They're on the same save as the rest of my households and usually, I try to let my households befriend each other. In this case, however, most of my other households just hate the new guy I created because he simply isn't very likeable.
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
That's really cool! I admire simmers who rotate. I've tried it before, but I end up starting over anyway. Maybe my problem is I don't stick with one sim long enough to get attached.
- fruitsbasket100New Vanguard
I restart my game at least once or twice a month. I try to stick with one game but something always happens that makes me want to start over. Whether it be a new idea, getting bored, or just a corrupted save file. My goal for this year was to get through an entire 10 gen legacy but I haven't done so yet.😅 I have once before but I don't think I will again.
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
So glad to know I'm not the only one! This sounds just like what I do.
- Jehane40Rising Veteran
I used to do restarts over and over again, hardly played a household longer than maybe a month before I got bored and created a new one. That has changed when I created my current main household last year in April or May. It was the first time in Sims 4 that I had created a couple and had a pretty good idea what I wanted to do with them in terms of careers before I started creating them in CaS. I have been playing with them ever since, there have been many ups and a few downs, they've moved to a new house twice, started a family after a while because they felt there was something missing... by now, they have a full-fledged story they can tell their kids... and with the kids, I find it interesting to see how they develop, what traits they get when they age up... and then I start thinking what other traits would match those and what kind of profession would be perfect for that Sim.
I've also started adding new households over the past months, all of which are somehow connected to each other, and I make sure they meet each other and become friends. There will be more households in the future as the main household's kids grow up and need places of their own... and eventually, I want at least one household per world 😁 Currently, my households are spread across six worlds, so there's a lot to be done, and I can totally see myself sticking to that save for a long, long time. I've just gotten very attached to those households and the Sims therein, and while rotational play is a bit stressful, it's also fun to explore different gameplay mechanics, traits, careers, skills etc with different Sims.
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
I have a feeling I need to keep my sim single longer. I love being a family person in real life, so I keep figuring I want to in sims. But that's when I quit. I think I need to stick with a single sim until I'm really happy with their progress and can actually shift focus to the husband or child. I find it frustrating diving my focus up between sims. Maybe that's my problem. I don't think I've ever played with just one sim. I should try that. 🤯 You may have just solved the issue for me, lol. thank you!!!
- Jehane40Rising Veteran
Having just one Sim to take care of is a lot of fun, too, because they can do whatever they want, and you can focus on them without having to look after the others. I currently have two households with single Sims, both of them daughters of my main household. They're all grown up now and have their own places, and it makes for a rather different gameplay than with the whole family because that family was larger than I had intended - the couple ended up having five kids, and that was really, really stressful for both them and me 😁
I always enjoy playing with those two in their respective households; one lives in a penthouse in San Myshuno, the other has a cute little house in Windenburg. Both are very happy singles, focus on their careers, go out with their friends or on dates, and in general, they have a lot of fun and the odd non-committal woohoo 😁 At this point, I can't see either of them getting into a serious relationship or married with kids. The oldest one got to help raise her four siblings, I think the last thing she wants is to be a mum herself 😁
- NateWhiplashSeasoned Hotshot
I have 7 saves, each with a different theme. I just pick whichever one fits the mood I'm in
- GalacticGalSeasoned Ace
NateWhiplash, so good to see you!
- GalacticGalSeasoned Ace
Guilty as charged. I am the Queen of Restarts. I did some "treatment", as it were, when I chose to simply do a game save recovery, instead to fix whatever went horribly wrong. That did help, but I have been charged with restarting just so I could play the latest game pack with my preferred family. This was correct. I also, having saved my family when my Sim, Erik Cantrell, had reached Global Superstardom, and instead of a full-blown restart, I picked up with that saved version of the nuclear family where he began. All of this to allow him to meet and marry Kayleigh Golden via MWS.
With the changeover in forums, I got the bug to truly restart by taking my Cantrell family back to the beginning. I had created Erik back in 2014. When Sims 4 came out. I used him for the Pinstar Legacy Challenge, since he was a Superstar in Sims 3. From him I generated parents, again, only this time I went for a slightly different look. From them I created his older brother, Aaron. Aaron was a Toddler, and I aged Erik down to an Infant to start their story in Cantrell: The Early Years. (Shameless plug)
I am having a blast filling in some of the many blanks of this family's story. I play the game as a stress-reliever, so if something bugs me enough, I simply have to have a do-over to make it 'right'.
As for crashing and burning, it just hasn't happened, yet. But then again, I still love Sir Paul McCartney, too . . .
- charmednmissouriSeasoned Veteran
I SO envy those who can do a legacy challenge! I too am the Queen of Restarts. I do try to play a save for as long as I can, but it seems as if every time EA updates our game, my saves act weird and I just start another. (I have just discovered WHY my saves are wonky...I forget to put my mods back into my game before playing it and every one is bald, naked, and houses empty) When I can play, I try to do a weekly rotation for each household. It helps to have a mod that extends the age of the sims, so I turn off household stories so no one dies or has a baby while I am playing another household. The last save I had before the one I am playing, I forgot to turn that off and Kyle Kylerson(?) died on the way to the sims house I was playing. Kept getting messages about him but I never could find where he had died. My sims was heartbroken and it ruined my play, I will admit. I couldn't stand that I couldn't find where he was when he died as he didn't have a household in the first place. My sim was going to invite him to move in after he called and said he was on his way.
But a legacy...I would love to keep a game going long enough to play that!
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
I relate! I get very upset at such funny stuff. How dare my toddler's milestone not register. LOL. Ruined. How dare my household of 8 get far far out of whack because my toddler refused to eat. Ruined. I mean it sounds ridiculous because I know in the grand scheme of things, it (whisper) just a game. But it doesn't feel like it when you have such high hopes for them. I don't understand why I'd rather start over than allow a few milestones not to tick off. 🤭
- WisdomBuildersRising Ace
I tend to use the same loved sims, but I start them back with no skills, etc because that's how I save them in my library. I redo their hair and clothing, maybe makeup if I'm feeling like it. So I have at least 3 of every sim saved in different outfits and traits. I love my sims, but not enough to keep them going...sigh.
Firmly in the restarter camp!
I stick with the same sims for years, but not with the same save. Thing is, I have my cast, that I like and whom I want to follow through their ups and downs. I'm not interested in seeing them die and get replaced by a new generation, so I usually play my sims for at most twenty story years before I start over with the same characters, but in a different timeline. Sometimes I just change their jobs, other times they get to experience a drastically different setting (like historical or occult). I'm learning a lot about my characters by throwing various living circumstances at them.
I usually stop with a save when I feel the story has concluded, vague as that sounds. For challenges there is a clear goal (like reaching Oregon or a certain amount of time has passed before tallying up the points), so that's easier.
Looking through my screenshots, I seem to keep a save for up to two months.
Meanwhile my sims are with me for eight years (Renegades), six years (Detroit) and one year (Star Wars) now.
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