Simming Tips, Tricks, and Curiosities

Simming Tips #10: Extraneous Build Considerations

The items of interest below have no real heavy impact on your builds, and their functional contributions range from middling to none.

1 - Bed Upgrades - The age-old practice of upgrading from one bed to the next was done away with when Maxis introduced the ability to upgrade one's existing bed. With this came 2 upgrades:

• Mattress Firmness: Has a chance of sims awakening in a happy mood.
  
• Massage Controls: Nearly halves the necessary sleeping time for sims to reach full energy.
  

The latter of the two becomes less potent the more expensive the bed is, but for the most part all beds are on par with one another (or nearly so) once upgraded with Mattress Controls (source and credits).


2 - Library Skill Books - There's a legendary debug bookshelf that holds within it untold knowledge. This bookshelf resides within the 'Willow Creek Archive' library, as well as the 'Library Escape' (the upgraded version that came with 'Kids Room Stuff'). It cannot be cloned, doesn't change colour, and looks just like a basegame bookshelf. The difference is that this version holds most of the basegame (as well as one JA and one 'Vampires') skill books.

When placed in a library, all other bookshelves will spawn the same books, allowing your sim (and the community) to learn marketable skills, free of charge. To duplicate it, the shelf must be walled off in a secluded room, then the room must be saved to your library. Simply plop it down in a basement or the library proper, and reap the benefits.

3 - Sandboxes - Ever wanted to build a sandbox on yours or a community lot? ...No? Well I'll tell you how, anyway.
First you'll need sand. The terrain paint sands work just like those of the desert and beach areas within certain worlds.

The available ones are (from left to right, skipping the first square):

• Sun-Kissed Sands (BG)
  
• Just Desert (BG)
  
• Just Beachy (BG)
  
• Sand Castle Dream (BG)
  
• Putter's Pit (BG)
  
• Scorched Earth (BG)
  
• Illusion Of Sand (IL)
  
• Rough Sand (IL)
  

Next, you'll need 6 full squares of the stuff (3x2). Doesn't matter if it's one type, or similar to the picture above.

Lastly you'll need a fence around your sandbox area, but sims will need to be able to get in and out. Luckily (or "unluckily" if you were hoping to protect your precious "granular masterpiece") there are 5 fences in the game which allow for easy traversal (from left to right):

• Smooth Keeper (BG)
  
• Illusion of Fence (SV)
  
• Fence for Window Shopping (GTW)
  
• Curved Iron Fence (BG)
  
• Wrought Iron Fence (BG)
  

4 - Mermaid Playground - Mermaids, just like everyone else, can swim around just fine in any-sized pool, but should you decide to stop torturing the poor fish-people, a 7x10 pool gives them complete freedom of motion to make themselves dizzy by swimming around and around without touching the edges.


5 - Door Direction - See that door you're about to put down? Do you think it'll look better opening into the room or out of it? The direction of the arrows is opposite to the way the door(s) open(s).


6 - Chimney Smoke - Want some vfx style points? Get yourself a fireplace, then put a chimney on the roof (roof decor). If it's unsightly, just surround it with half-walls. The result is smoke emanating from the chimney each time the fireplace is lit.