I did (not) cheat

@EnkiSchmidt That I wouldn't even call cheating, just creative story telling. Sometimes when I play a story I might forget to take a screenshot or the one I took is back. Then I can reenact that event to get the right screenshot. But then I consider story telling one aspect, and the game to be another.

I cheat as long as it makes my gameplay more fun to have done it

simultaneously theres no really point of playing if I am just inputting codes for everything

Not me owning snowy escape since day 1 and not knowing there are caves to explore. :D

I cheat to make the game harder because sims 4 took the game out of the simulation and just left the cheats. So I have to go out of my way to reimplement an actual game. If that makes sense.

Build Cheats:

Building cheats are an absolute must! Not only do I create intricate homes and community lots, but I also redecorate outside of the lots to have functional objects for everyone to use (with a mod called TOOL). It makes the world so much more lively.

Here are some pics of my useable off lot objects in Willow Creek:

https://i.imgur.com/Ute1OpW.jpeg
You can see that one of my sims is interacting with the chicken coop off lot. I added swans and a boat to the river. I also added more fish and alligators. Everything you see off lot is interactable. I make sure of it because I play with it all.

https://i.imgur.com/CRlScfH.jpeg
They're using an off lot hot tub and the camera on the tripod behind them on one side of the fence lets them take pics on the other side.

https://i.imgur.com/y6DQrHE.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/I5uXra3.jpeg
Grilling and filling the bird feeder

https://i.imgur.com/CH4rgox.jpeg
Using the in ground barbeque pit

Here is Henford on Bagley and you can see my animals live off lot and are fully interactable.
https://i.imgur.com/jPT4XzE.jpg

As you can see, there's a person I'm not playing interacting with one of the cows
https://i.imgur.com/Axip9O8.jpg

This is a different Willow Creek neighborhood where I added more off lot stuff.
https://i.imgur.com/MBrQ18w.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/iUgcSOy.jpg
Using off lot toddler slide

https://i.imgur.com/buZCN6S.png
Here's the apartment in the eco lifestyle world where I put things outside the apartment and they're still usable.

So anyway, that's just the build cheats. I can't fathom playing this game without that.

Gameplay cheats:

The way I cheat is mostly with mods, but my main goal is always to make it a game with real consequences rather than just making it super easy and posing my sims. I prefer to let things happen organically and then accept the fate. The main thing I use is the club system. That way only certain sims have access to certain areas and it makes my world feel more organic because the clubs show up (actually might be broken after For Rent) - it used to anyway. But it's still super easy to get sims together, bonding, and skilling. I create community lots so they have places to work and skill and I remove anything that's not a basic skill from their homes. It forces me to get out and go somewhere. I also have mods that allow live in businesses and I've been using those mods along with for rent apartments to create huge communities that look like cities. I love it.

And beyond that, I don't think using cheats for whatever is hurting anyone. It's your game, do what you will. This is the best creative outlet for lots of us, if you can imagine it and implement it, then do it!

@Mstybl95 If it makes you feel any better, day one owner of Snowy Escape here, too, and I only ever knew about the first cave, the one from the screenshots. Only this year did my sims (and I) find the second cave, in the summit area. I just never took them around that paticular corner.

Your improved neighborhoods look great and so alive <3 Wish I had the patience to spend more time in build mode.

@EnkiSchmidt - the funniest part is that I actually take my sims skiing there all the time. I play the heck out of that world and I had zero idea there were caves...I saw that picture and was like...where is that? LOL apparently I don't actually explore and click around.

I was just there last night. Now I gotta go look for these caves.
https://i.imgur.com/MxakXdt.jpeg

A lot less hesitant to use bb.moveobjects instead of trying to figure out why an awning made a whole chunk of the build disappear, etc.

I'm more and more often using aspirations.complete_current_milestone when something like writing a song doesn't get counted because I forgot to have that aspiration selected at the time. Sometimes I'll use that cheat because the sim had already done that a million times before the aspiration milestone came up.

Often I use the money cheat to take away funds because the game just seems to throw Simoleans at our sims and I want it a bit harder to earn money. And who in the heck would buy fish that had been left forgotten in the inventory for who knows how long?

@JustMeAlb Or paintings from a no-name sim with no connections whatsoever. Getting to know the correct sims is an important step for my would-be artists and entrepreneurs.

@Mstybl95 Oh, the caves are not down there. You find them by doing the mountain hike event. The first cave you will see after climbing the third steep wall, the second in the area after that. Make sure your sims have a climbing skill of 5 or higher and don't forget to buy climbing gear at the computer!