Separating/ Divorcing your Sims - TS4

I have played Sims, since Sims2. I played 3 and now am playing 4. I can count on ONE hand the number of divorces I allowed in my game. The very first one only came about because I had created a live-in Nanny for my game, (this was in Sims2) and while I was busy tending to one Sim in the family, the Dad got home and suddenly my attention got brought around to him out in the backyard with said Nanny. An idea tickled the back of my brain, and I decided to see how the game handles divorces. So, I allowed those two Sims to carry on in an untoward manner and eventually, he got himself kicked out of the house! The children (five of them) cried so hard, it broke my heart.

In Sims3 my poor singer Sim came home to find his wife had put their newborn baby out on the front lawn at night in the POURING rain! (The Sim did this autonomously, too.) I had them 'talk' about the situation, after Dad rescued his little son. Guess things got out of hand, because the fight got very bad between them. I decided to see if they could salvage their relationship anyway. He had another gig to perform one evening a short time later. Again the weather was rather inclement and it rained. Once again, for no good reason (not a routing problem, no she was NOT insane) Torrie did it again (autonomously). Took that helpless newborn outside and placed him on the lawn — IN THE RAIN. (The baby cried piteously, I could barely stand it.) I brought my singer Sim home immediately after his gig (when he would normally go dancing to unwind, afterwards) to rescue his son. Yes, they fought again. Suddenly, the interaction for break-up was in the menu. This was very sad for Erik who had broken up so many times, prior, thinking he'd finally found the One. But, I sat in my desk chair and contemplated what to do. I deemed the female evil and punched the break-up button. Then I immediately went into Edit Town, to remove her from the household, so she couldn't take the baby with her! I put her into an apartment. Erik then went to the Courthouse and got a divorce. Yes, he took heat from it, since he was a 5-Star celebrity. But, considering he had full custody of the child, he sued for slander — and won. This is my Sim, whose second fiancée recklessly flirted with his brother-in-law at the family Gift-Giving Party. (Her punishment? I put her into the Bin.)

I keep thinking in the back of my mind that there was possibly one more, but it's not coming forward at this time. I play as I live, same code of ethics. My maternal grandparents were married 50 years, same with my parents. I'll be married for 44 in May.

"Gruffman;c-16263463" wrote:
It only affects the two sims and their relationships, all others remain as they were. Basically, the alien causes the target sim to forget them, and only them ... but the aliens relationship to that sim remains unchanged ... until they start getting hit with negative moodlets from awkward conversations, refused romantic actions. Similar to the vampire 'drain life spirit' affect.

And yes, aliens with mischief skill will do it randomly, on their own or the player could initiate it as well. In some ways, it is useful. Your on a date with the sim, something goes horribly wrong, you can have the other sim forget everything and start over brand new. Most of the time, its annoying. I've been playing a lot with aliens through multiple generations and its annoying when mom wipes out dads memory regarding her. It isn't so bad when said mom erases their teens memory, the teen can still has the other parent to go to or help with homework or whatnot ... but when it is the spouse, it is an automatic divorce. Even if you do get the relationship back up, the one sim has to become boy/girlfriend, proposed to and re-married. When it happens now, I just move out the sim who did it and leave the other now single parent in the household.

Mischief is the key to it. If sims don't do mischief behavior, there isn't a problem. The sad part though 'trollin teh forums' is considered mischief ... and sims are addicted to the computer.

I can personally vouch that when vampires use Drain Life Spirit, it is FAR worse than when an alien does Memory Erase. I had to cheat to get relationship progress with many sims back.

Ah, that is a relief. I thought the aliens just went around town and erasing Sims memories at random. If it is only to an immediate family member or their own lovebunnies I can cope. Although I will probably give the offending alien a good trashing :naughty:

"lovebunnies"

I had 2 parents who divorced. The kid switched houses every 3-4 days.

I recently had a situation where I'd married a guy (Matthew) into a family that consisted mainly of ghosts, vampires and a ghost vampire. He married the heir of the house, Anders. Matthew never seemed to quite fit in with the family and I was trying to figure out some way to reconcile that because he and Anders were really in love, but Matthew didn't have much to do except wander around, practice music and have kids. Basically a kept husband.

They ended up having 3 kids close together and when the oldest, a girl, aged up to child she became evil (I always roll random traits...some of my most-played sims have just absolutely awful personalities). I got the idea to have Matthew divorce Anders and run off to San Myshuno with their daughter with the vague idea that he could make a living as a street musician and somehow "save" her from a life of evil vampirism. (He won't, though, she's much too diabolical for him, although he doesn't realize that yet. Mostly because I haven't gotten back to his new household in my rotation). In the meantime Anders, who was badly confused by the whole thing, keeps inviting him over for visits with the other two kids and the occasional booty call.

Other than that, in my whole rotation, Anders' grandparents are the only other couple to have gotten an actual divorce and divide up the kids. I'm on week 14 of this rotation so that's a lot of relationships. Usually when my sim relationships end it's due to death, natural or otherwise. (Wait, I'm mistaken. There was one other divorce when a spouse had the romantic trait and flirted enough to send his marriage into the toilet, and I didn't care enough about him to fix it. So, three divorces, but only two that I put any story behind.)

Usually I have sims cohabitate because it is with the express purpose to have a "trial run." If all works out, they marry and live happily, um, mostly happily ever after. If not, said sim gets kicked to the curb. I rarely, if ever have a full blown knock down drag out with a man and wife...I saw that once and didn't like it. Of course, divorce ensued. I let my sims pick who they want as spouse and know it as soon as want to marry that sim pops up. Of course, nobody's perfect, not even sims, lol.

It's sort of a gauge to judge whether or not everybody is happy, if not, do what makes you happy. (Pretty much my rl motto. :D)

I cause break ups if I get bored enough, but I also let them work out their issues sometimes, even if they do it in separate households for a while. The break ups don't always involve cheating either, sometimes I have them argue over one working too much and not helping around the house, someone getting too caught up in their career and not helping with the kids, etc... It just depends on the story I'm trying to tell. Divorces were more fun in the TS2 days, although I did like that TS3 gave us self-help books.

"bshag4lv;c-16265253" wrote:
Usually I have sims cohabitate because it is with the express purpose to have a "trial run." If all works out, they marry and live happily, um, mostly happily ever after. If not, said sim gets kicked to the curb. I rarely, if ever have a full blown knock down drag out with a man and wife...I saw that once and didn't like it. Of course, divorce ensued. I let my sims pick who they want as spouse and know it as soon as want to marry that sim pops up. Of course, nobody's perfect, not even sims, lol.

It's sort of a gauge to judge whether or not everybody is happy, if not, do what makes you happy. (Pretty much my rl motto. :D)

Did you know they did a study a few years back that suggested the rate of divorce was actually GREATER if the couple lived together, first?

"GalacticGal;c-16265981" wrote:

"bshag4lv;c-16265253" wrote:
Usually I have sims cohabitate because it is with the express purpose to have a "trial run." If all works out, they marry and live happily, um, mostly happily ever after. If not, said sim gets kicked to the curb. I rarely, if ever have a full blown knock down drag out with a man and wife...I saw that once and didn't like it. Of course, divorce ensued. I let my sims pick who they want as spouse and know it as soon as want to marry that sim pops up. Of course, nobody's perfect, not even sims, lol.

It's sort of a gauge to judge whether or not everybody is happy, if not, do what makes you happy. (Pretty much my rl motto. :D)

Did you know they did a study a few years back that suggested the rate of divorce was actually GREATER if the couple lived together, first?

13/10 would still cohabit before marrying. Same with my sims. I can get a better sense of the compatibility. But that's just my way of playing.