Relationship Decay This is the gradual reduction in the strength of a relationship between two Sims.
Current Status
- Relationships decay for the active household at all relationship levels and for all relationship types, like they always have.
- For non-active played Sims, only low-level relationships decay; higher-level relationships (e.g., friend, sweetheart) don't.
- For nonplayed Sims, relationships don't decay.
- After enough relationship decay, some relationships may be culled (removed/forgotten); see the next post.
If you'd like the more complex details, to help you figure out if the current system will work well for you without mods, please see Neia's post below.
BackgroundRelationship decay has been a feature of The Sims 4 (as previous versions) for currently active households (the household you're playing at the moment) since launch. In Spring 2016, relationship decay was extended to non-active played households. This resulted in a lot more relationship culling (Sims forgetting each other — see the next post). Relationship decay was tweaked again in Fall 2016 to affect fewer relationships.
Related Mods
- To stop relationship decay entirely: MC Command Center
- To reduce the speed of relationship decay (or even increase it): MC Command Center
- An older mod, The Relationship Decay Mod, from September 2014, is no longer supported.
Relationship decay affects the performance mechanism called relationship culling, because relationships are culled based on their strength. Mod at your own risk.
