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BadCowboy1969's avatar
BadCowboy1969
6 years ago

Wanting to make an aquarium wing in a museum I built

This is tricky so bare with me. I built a really nice museum and I have been using it to showcase all the things I've collected while playing. I was able to put everything in there...frogs, bugs, Easter eggs, fossils, prints from the microscope and telescope, postcards, etc etc etc. All things my main household has collected. However, fish are being a pain. I bought an aquarium and the only option was to buy fish. I could not put fish that were caught in it. I have put fish in bowls when at the campgrounds in the past so what's the deal with aquariums? I thought it would be a really cool idea to have a room with all the fish swimming around for visitors (and my Sims) to look at, but alas it's not to be. All the fish they caught and mounted are on the wall, but there doesn't seem a way to get live fish in the building.

I tried a variety of ways including the the bb.showhiddenliveobjects All that did was leave a bunch of dead fish on the floor I couldn't pick up or do anything with, but that same cheat I tossed post cards all over and was able to collect them. I tried having a rando Sim move in after making the building a resident area instead of a museum and that didn't work. I put all the aquariums in a room on my lot and then uploaded to my library then downloaded it on the museum lot. That worked great, but the fish vanished from the tanks. UGH.

I have seen posts on here about the same topic, but they were from years back and I'm sure cheats and mods have changed since then. I'm also not exactly willing to have a rando Sim live in the building going through all the time and effort catching all 52 fish in the game. That seems like the only way I can figure out, but it's not logical. Does anyone out there know if there's anything I'm not doing or missing? Is there a mod out there for such a thing? Granted, I can have all the fish in my home lot where they currently are, but to make a nice section in my museum like I did with my other items would be super cool.

Thanks for the help!!
build and buy

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  • dianed485's avatar
    dianed485
    Seasoned Ace
    6 years ago
    I tried to make an aquarium lot in Sulani and it wouldn’t let me put fish in tanks either. I think I even tried to make it generic lot but it wouldn’t work. I noticed people use debug spawners in a pool or something like that and it looks like fish are swimming there.
  • BadCowboy1969's avatar
    BadCowboy1969
    6 years ago
    @Daephene Well you were close, you mentioned about mounting the fish. It's all good I appreciate the help :)
  • BadCowboy1969's avatar
    BadCowboy1969
    6 years ago
    "kalaksed;c-17474531" wrote:
    yeah, this is a frustrating thing about fish on community lots... i had a similar museum that displayed everything but couldn't figure out how to display live fish instead of just mounted versions for the life of me... that was a few years ago and the lot has since been replaced, with all the displays now being divided among multiple museums and art galleries around my world

    i did recently build a 'marine biology lab' in sulani, have it set up as a museum and have various fish in aquariums there, both the ones that came with packs (spa day and dine out both used in it) but also some larger tanks i made out of swimming pools... with some tricks of various sorts for those larger ones if you'd like to try...

    first off, as mentioned the lot is set as a museum, as seen here:
    https://i.gyazo.com/3ca3a28887cc4338cc9c122ed2e7c5a4.png

    but to get the fish into the aquariums i had to have it as a residence, with a sim living in it (i used this sim to fish up all the fish in it, as well, placing them in the aquariums as they were caught) and once had all the fish i wanted, i then evicted the sim and then turned the lot into the museum i wanted (evicting a sim ensures all the stuff on the lot stays on the lot instead of moving to their inventory/household inventory). it's frustrating and can take a while unless you use gallery upload collection rooms with all the fish or seashells you want to use

    here are three side by side aquariums (part of a row of five) with some of the local fish in them (note, none of these fish on display here can be purchased from any aquarium)
    https://i.gyazo.com/ef3a3aced4b7ebd64077329666a3f1c8.jpg


    gonna put the next bit in spoilers, since it's build/decor focused for the large tanks
    Spoiler

    basically, both tanks are just swimming pools on the second floor with windows placed so you can see inside, then decorated, primarily with showliveedit objects from island living. the first shot isn't the easiest to see the fish in, since it's darkened by being shot through a window

    https://i.gyazo.com/7bb61fa3bac1f95d8250d14c380572a1.png
    you can sort of see a few fish swimming around in here, easier to see the ones in front of the window in the back

    scrolling the camera through that first window shows how i was able to have these fish swimming 'freely' in the tank
    https://i.gyazo.com/e37c9e0ae1568d131f201e7ce855defd.jpg
    i took a few more of the dine out aquariums and shrunk them down, hiding them within the coral and rocks on the aquarium floor. the fish stored inside them don't shrink in size, so swim around like they're in more open water

    you can also do similar with the one coffee table from my first pet stuff if you have that, since the fish and plants inside it don't shrink down when it is
    i had a few more tricks in my setup (like using shrunken fishing signs at or near the surface of the pools) but don't think that'll really suit your setup here


    Wow that's all really nice. I had zero trouble moving my Sims out of the museum. I didn't have to evict them. I simply had them move and chose the option to sell the furniture. That means everything from the museum stayed where it was. The same when I sent them from their original home to the temp life in the museum. You just sell the furniture. You get the value for all your junk in your funds and it stays behind. When my boys finished with the fishes and I sent them home, it was like they were never gone. Even had the luck/fun of getting the Welcome Wagon to visit again lol
  • BadCowboy1969's avatar
    BadCowboy1969
    6 years ago
    "Mariqueen;c-17474565" wrote:
    Am I the only one getting strong ACNH vibes here or...???


    What is that?

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