SIMS 4 CHALLENGE LIST (Updated May 24, 2021)
The purpose of this thread is to create a current list of all available challenges for The Sims 4. This includes Legacy and many other type challenges. There have been other threads in the past, but they haven't been updated in at least a year, so here's a new one that will be much more up to date. Please feel free to add any new challenges in the comments! Any thoughts on how you would like to see this list formatted are welcome. Thank you to @Nicarra60 for all the work you put into the original post. I have organized the challenges below by "types" of challenge. Links to find each type are here: Legacy Challenges Toddler Challenges (Under Legacies) Gameplay / Story Based Challenges Building Challenges Sim Creation/CAS Challenges Rotation / Multi-Household Play Challenges Selection / Contestant Challenges Pets / Animals Challenges Holiday / Special Event Challenges Exploration / Scavenger Hunt Challenges TV / Movie Fan Based Challenges HOW TO SUBMIT A CHALLENGE 1. To submit a challenge to be added to the list, please include the challenge name and a working link for full challenge rules. 2. Challenges submitted MUST have their own forum thread or blog/website post for rules. Any challenges posted with rules within this thread will NOT be added to the list. 3. Read below for tips on creating a new challenge. 4. Feel free to ask any questions you may have! Here are some excellent tips when creating a new challenge, written by @EuphorialQueen: When I am reading thru a new challenge suggestion I look for a few key items: What is the story behind the challenge? Tell me something to make me interested in reading more about the challenge. Is it based on another existing challenge? Is it a complete challenge with a beginning, middle and end? How do I start, how do I play and what is the ultimate goal or how do I 'win'? Do the rules or guidelines seem reasonable and can goals set by the challenge actually be achieved? Has the person posting the challenge play tested it? By posting a challenge on a blog or in the forums it is much easier to discuss and ask questions. When updating a challenge or change the guidelines just edit the thread where it is posted. Starting too many threads on the same challenge or subject only adds to confusion and leads to information being lost. These are only suggestions and offer a view of how I - as one person - review challenges. Thank you for your time. Edit: Use spell check and complete words to make reading your post more pleasant and easier to understand. Want to write stories about the challenges you play? Here is an excellent guide to SimLit by @Julyvee94 http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/884045/a-quick-guide-to-simlit/p1 Want to submit stories you have written for others to read? Check out this awesome archive by @mastressalita http://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/861629/the-stories-and-legacies-index-submit-your-stories/p1Building Tips and Tutorials. Ruthless KK Build Guide Link too .
I have started this thread to provide links to threads that may be helpful to Builders. If anyone has any building and furnishing tips, links or tutorials that they have found to be helpful, it would be great if they posted them on this thread. I will post the links on the second post of this thread.
Editing & Modeling Tutorials ~
https://i.imgur.com/zDGqZhw.png (These need some updates, sometime in the distant future.) ~ Please do not post these anywhere else while I'm still here (if I disappear for more than 2 years, you can move them to protect them), or claim them as yours, thank you. Note: The tutorials will be updated and changed over time. I will post in the thread when an update is made, so I recommend bookmarking the thread. If you see any errors, or have more information to add to one of the guides, please post here or contact me. I am currently working on: ~ Updating old tutorials ~ Rewriting combining images tutorial (for better quality and bigger sizes) ~ Hair drawing (with tablet) ~ Hair stranding tutorial (without a tablet) ~ Making Transparent Backgrounds ~ How to Pose Your Sims (CAS/in-game) ~ How I do my B&W photos *request* ~ Extremely basic clothes drawing *request* ~ Creating editing breakdowns for a few photos of mine *request* I recommend reading these in order if you are a beginner to editing/modeling. If you are still having trouble with something in these guides, or need more help, please post here, or contact me or the other authors. If you like the tutorials make sure to leave feedback or give them a Like, Awesome, or Insightful! Discord Tutorials Don't have a misc section yet, but here are some tutorials about using Discord. Tutorial 8 - Placing Images Side by Side★ Tutorial 10 - Beginning Your Assignment/Challenge Tutorial 11 – Improving Quality and Larger Images★ Tutorial 13 – Fixing Green/White Edges★ Tutorial 14 – Fixing Rough/Jagged Edges★ Tutorial 15 - Backgrounds Tutorial 16 - Objects Tutorial 21 – Correcting Errors with Layers★ Tutorial 22 – Correcting Errors with Clone Stamp & Drawing★ Tutorial 24 - Combining Backgrounds★ Tutorial 28 – Skin Shading & Smoothing Intro★ Tutorial 28 – Skin Smoothing★ Tutorial 28 – Skin Shading★ https://i.imgur.com/h8RLM5Q.png Tutorial 7 - Get to Know Your Program (Gimp) Tutorial 9 – Saving and Exporting (Gimp) Tutorial 12 - Cutting with Layer Masks (Gimp) Best Option for Cutting Tutorial 12 - Cutting with Paths (Gimp) Tutorial 12 - Cutting with Layer Modes (Gimp) Tutorial 12 - Cutting with Simple Selections (Gimp) Tutorial 20 – iWarp Tool (Gimp) Tutorial 23 – Correcting Errors with Healing Tools (Gimp) Tutorial 25 - Blending Part 2 (Gimp) https://i.imgur.com/gXrss9J.png Tutorial 7 - Get to Know Your Program (Photoshop)★ Tutorial 9 – Saving and Exporting (Photoshop)★ Tutorial 12 - Cutting with Layer Masks (Photoshop) Best Option for Cutting★ (Needs to be Translated) Tutorial 12 - Cutting with Paths (Photoshop) Tutorial 12 - Cutting with Layer Modes (Photoshop)★ Tutorial 12 - Cutting with Simple Selections (Photoshop)★ Tutorial 20 – Liquefy Tool (Photoshop)★ Tutorial 23 – Correcting Errors with Healing Tools (Photoshop)★ Tutorial 25 - Blending Part 2 (Photoshop) https://i.imgur.com/zXBZWvI.png Check out the Sims Editing Workshop! Veterans are around to help with questions, provide feedback and support for all your editing needs. My tutorials are linked on there and I also help with the workshops that are hands on and teach you new information. We post workshops on the forums and Discord, and we are also on Twitter for news and updates. Veterans: @MizoreYukii @jilliebee22 @themelonic here The Sims Modeling, Hosting, and Judging Guide List of Current, Future, and Past competitions: Modeling Competition Directory Share your before and after edits here! TS4 Sims & Modeling Chat Thread The modeling community now has a modeling forum! Everyone, even people who don't model (we have CC, stories and legacies, building, etc. sections) are welcome to join! http://simmetrydesign.forumotion.com/
TUTORIAL: Create Gallery NOCC-Paintings with Legacy-Edition
Updated! 18th. August 2021 A lot has changed and I haven't been online in a long while. Another update damaged our dream to create NOCC Art. Yet, there are Simmers who are still able to create them. How does this work now, you wonder? What will you need to do ahead? Do this before you start to create your ART! Have your images gathered in one place, if you want to paint them later in your game (always choose those with the highest resolution) Photo Edit-Software like Photoshop, Gimp, or Paint.net (check below for more info on that) Sims4Studio-Software Link TS4 & TS4 Legacy Edition (free to download via Origin if you own TS4 already) Two Mods, one that will improve the quality of your images the other to make it work! Set filters on paintings by reference and both are by Scumbumbo Some time and a bit of patience, Simmer. mysimsdreamhouse made also a video tutorial on Youtube here. For those who need visuals! Thanks for your time and effort to do this! <3 Keep in mind you don't need Photoshop in order to create your own art! ;) Make sure to follow mysimsdreams' video instructions on how to install the Legacy Edition As you will need to choose the 32bit Version during installation and disable Origin ingame! Now you can either watch the video tutorial or continue to read my extended tutorial. Let the fun part begin. There you go: There are two ways how you can create your own art & upload them to the Gallery as NOCC: You download existing CC and paint those for the upload You're using Sims 4 Studio download here and create your own art with pictures/images from Google. A very useful and easy tutorial did TheSimSupply simply check his youtube tutorial here Remember you will need an "Image Editing Software" for that like Photoshop or use Freeware instead like Paint.net "easier for newbies" or Gimp "not bad if u have advanced skills. Type those names in the search bar of Google and you will find what you need. NOTE You don't need to save the images as .dds files you can save them also as .png files because lot of editing software don't support .dds files (in most cases you need a seperate plugin for this) and .png files are way easier for this purpose to handle ;) trust me! LET'S START Assuming you have already the art of your desire you want to turn into NOCC for the gallery, just go along with the now following steps: Remove all existing mods Create a new save file with a new random Sim (make sure it doesn't have needy traits I used "Creative, Loner, Cheerful) who will be your painter! After that, I named my save file "ArtGallery" Now exit The Game! Pronto! ;) LOL Add now the art (.package files) of your desire into the mods folder Open the new save file "ArtGallery" (I went to Newcrest) Use two empty adjacent lots Setup of the first lot: Use the foundation tool to build a 3-tile wide foundation "place it very close to the edge of the lot near the second lot for the case to have the CC from the second lot close to you) add stairs to the foundation. Place along the whole way the most expensive easels :). So since our simmies get hungry, need to pee and sleep I did build beneath a bunk where it can get all needs fulfilled :D Use cheats: Open the console with Left CTRL+Shift+C (press/hold in that order) Helpful cheats for that are testingcheats on or testingcheats true motherlode & bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement . Make sure to get the most expensive easels (for the highest/best quality, capeesh? ;) Now set up the second lot with your custom content art. Place your art very close to the front edge of the lot nearest to the first lot. Place them on a wall up to 3 levels with the tallest height (my suggestion). I use mostly a black/sometimes white wallpaper (depends on art) because I do frame them before upload + it looks way better later if you aren't 100 % accurate! Place your art along the wall (make sure to leave some space in between). HINT: Enlarge the art you want to paint 2 or three times but depends on the art you have - so that you can paint it from the other lot way easier and it fits within the picture when you start to paint. Be prepared sometimes you have to travel between the two lots to adjust the size of your cc art so that it fits within your painting :p Time to travel back to the first lot B). Make sure that all needs are satisfied. Best time to paint is during the daytime of course between 8:00 am & 6:00 pm depending on the light effects u prefer, which of course will change during the daytime, take this into consideration ;) Now it's time to paint by reference (or take a photograph) use the cheat stats.set_skill_level major_painting 10 or stats.set_skill_level major_photography 5 Once the mission is accomplished, your painting or photos will not be flagged as CC. Because you use the Legacy Edition and this one has no connection to the Gallery! Save it in your library - restart the game and open the Gallery. Now upload the room with your latest NOCC Pictures and yay, it can be used in builds without being flagged. Upload to the gallery as a room or within your build B) yay. Further helpful things are good to know: As BryonRae (see quotes) strongly recommended already, so do I: Store your artwork in the sim's inventory, but not the household inventory, as there is a bug that can cause them to go blank when stored in the household inventory. When done imaging your CC, I recommend going to another fresh lot. Set up up a wall and place all of the created art on that wall "Motherlode" cheat is quite helpful in that case o:). Save that room to your library and check if it's getting flagged. If it's flagged you must redo all steps & start over again. So a good piece of advice is to try it out with one picture first before painting for hours :D I did that mistake, trust me, lol! Also, if I could offer just one tip to newer builders, especially those using bb.moveobjects, it would be to make sure to test saving your lot to the library and then placing it from there. There are a lot of bugs that don't show their heads until you do this, so you won't even know there's a problem with your lot. But your downloaders will quickly find it... I recommend doing this at several points during the building process, so you won't discover you have a lot of rework looming at the end. Now enjoy creating your own NOCC - Art! Show off how creative you are ;) and use this post if you have questions. I might won't be able to answer all questions but fellow simmers will for sure answer if needed. Show me your creations or hashtag me with #simsforumtutorial by #suepixels on the gallery if you want me to know it & show from where you got the skills to show your art & show how others can do it for themselves. Thank you, simmers :) Appreciate each insightful/like/awesome you give if you like it ;) <3 o:) it shows you found it helpful. OBSOLETE @BryonyRae did a short tutorial in 2015 here you can find her tutorial. Sadly that one is after a bunch of patches, now obsolete! So let's get artsy! B)
Speed Build
I want to try to do a speed builds but the easiest way at the moment. I'm using my laptop (gaming PC is on the way) so I just want some free software for it. I'm not going to do a voice over but maybe some music. What's the best way to go about it? I literally just want to build, speed it up, and then put music to it. TIA!
Screenshot Editing (Photoshop and some Lightroom)
http://i.imgur.com/wBkvfYu.gif So howdy! Hopefully this is the right area to post this :dizzy: but I was asked by a few kind folks to create a tutorial for editing Sims screenshots both on this forum and the Sims Amino. Kinda started doing screenshot edits about a year or so ago mainly for coloring/lighting practice to be used in drawings but really find it super enjoyable to do as a totally separate creative thing! I do both edits for Sims 3 and Sims 4 depending on what I'm feeling like working with any given day. I used to have a Simblr with most of my edits on there but I've since taken it down (I also like forum formatting better than Tumblr r.i.p me). I've once again organized the thread under Spoiler tags to not overwhelm anyone with a boat load of pictures. There are 4 Steps and at the bottom under the "Other" header image will be before and afters of other edits I have done. Working on making the process .gifs again for a few if anyone is interested! They will be posted at the bottom of this with their corresponding preview thumbnails. So without further a-do here's my best attempt at a tutorial on how I edit some of my screenshots. ◘ http://i.imgur.com/GRZw499.png Programs and Tools ◘ ◘ Adobe Lightroom ◘ Photoshop CS5/CS6 (any version is fine) ◘ Wacom Cintiq/Wacom Intous/Wacom Bamboo or any graphics tablet of your using is fine. If you do not have one a mouse will work just might take a bit longer. ◘ A playlist of your favorite tunes Clip Studio Paint and SAI can work just as well however; I personally do not use these programs very much for screenshot editing ◘ http://i.imgur.com/seV34BE.png ◘ First thing I always do when creating screenshot edits is actually take separate sectioned shots and splice them into one. It allows you to work with higher resolution images and add more details/fix imperfections easier if need be during the editing process. This isn't really a super needed step, just something I have a habit of doing now ◘ http://i.imgur.com/Upw9Ex3.png ◘ After I have finished splicing together my screenshot, I then import it into Adobe Lightroom (don't worry if you don't have it, you can do everything very similar in Photoshop). I always like to "fix" the lighting (especially for Sims 4) before diving heavily into the next step of editing. ◘ http://i.imgur.com/nia2jxp.png ◘ So we finally made it to the meat of the process! This usually is the longest part of editing for me as I tend to try and clean up anything that might be clipping, oddly shaded, or just plain not detailed enough on my Sim as well as any seams from the screenshot splicing process that are visible. ◘ http://i.imgur.com/k3YOkOX.png ◘ Back to the Image Adjustments! Now that some of the tedious hand drawing/blending is out of the way, the image's Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, etc gets tweaked again with the newly added details. ◘ http://i.imgur.com/LjCWtYW.png ◘ Now that the majority of the hard work is done, it's one last run through the Image Adjustments or Lightroom to really blend everything in. I put a light blue hue on the whole image then I also added a very slight Film Grain which can be found under Filter ---> Noise ---> Add Noise and changed the Exposure Offset which can be found in Photoshop under Image ---> Adjustments ---> Exposure to give the image a bit of a lighter look to it. After this, this edit was finished and the final product looks like this: http://i.imgur.com/OWk2Oxi.jpg Here is also the before and after of the finished edit! http://i.imgur.com/l6wc8Au.jpg Hopefully this was of some degree of help! I've been working on this for a bit so my mind might have started to get a little fuzzy at times just let me know if something is not clear! I am not the best with explaining processes via text but I tried my best. ◘ http://i.imgur.com/5Szx6fS.png ◘ As mentioned above. Here are a few before and afters of other edits using the same method as the tutorial covered. Some I will be making .gifs for and I will upload them ASAP as those might be of some help for anyone who is interested. ◘ http://i.imgur.com/wVsA5Jv.png Mac Plus before & after ◘ Randal before & after http://i.imgur.com/R8GGmlM.png ◘ Tapped Out http://i.imgur.com/XbcSIep.png Thanks for reading and, again, let me know if anything needs clarification :smiley: .GIFs coming soon~
Tutorial : *--How to Remove and Add Background-- ( STEP BY STEP GUIDE )*
I decided to do this tutorial for anyone who needs help with removing backgrounds and isn't sure how to do it. It's a step by step guide to how to make your background transparent for editing purposes. This guide works amazingly with solid-colored backgrounds and not so well with complex ones so keep your backgrounds simple guys to get the best results. Firstly, you need Gimp. Here is the link to the software, download it and install, it won't take long : http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ Secondly, here is a list of custom-made solid backgrounds for your CAS. Follow the instruction within : http://lumialoversims.tumblr.com/post/94862615014/custom-cas-backgrounds-19-flavours Now that you're set guys, we start :wink: STEPS : 1- Start up Gimp and open the picture file you wish to remove the background from or you simply drag and drop from original placement. http://i.imgur.com/I43RTZy.png 2- Add an Alpha Channel from the right panel http://i.imgur.com/Qix9ihj.png http://i.imgur.com/LYHILz6.png 3 - Adjust the Radius for smoother edges/boundaries in the " Color Selection" Tool in Toolbox ( No white ugly silhouette). Make sure you do this before you color select your background. http://i.imgur.com/z5WesZS.png http://i.imgur.com/2rgfGQi.png 4 -Color select your background http://i.imgur.com/TqMS3Fu.png http://i.imgur.com/3yVJkQl.png As you can see here some parts of the Sim where also selected to be deleted ( the gray/white area) because the color of the background we selected is white, same as his shirt and glasses. Next step, I'm showing you how to make sure those parts are safe from being removed. 5 - Click on the Selection Tool on the Toolbox, left. http://i.imgur.com/2ymcmCL.png Keep that Tool selected and hover your mouse over the Pic then press Ctrl and Drag at the same time to frame the areas you wish not to be deleted. http://i.imgur.com/FkCQ45I.jpg http://i.imgur.com/EEDdUqF.png http://i.imgur.com/Y9pNJ24.png 6- After you select the areas and keep your Sim whole. Right Click on your pic and select " EDIT". Click " Fill up with Pattern". http://i.imgur.com/OODDQPL.png http://i.imgur.com/3fs5AUL.png 7 - Keep your mouse hovering over the pic and simply hit " Delete" on your Keyboard. http://i.imgur.com/W9RttBm.png 8 - Go to File and click " Export As". Uncheck " Save background color" if it's checked. http://i.imgur.com/MflVyVU.png http://i.imgur.com/sZuVKXi.png http://i.imgur.com/54iAMJu.png 9 - Name and Export to the desired Location. http://i.imgur.com/QVmeGux.png RESULTS :smile: Original ( white background) http://i.imgur.com/cxgo1zN.png After ( No more background) http://i.imgur.com/0T89dai.png You can still give your Sim a bit of glow if you wish. Just adjust the Radius and Threshold in the Color Selection toolbox however you want like in the example I made below. It all depends on what you want the pic to look and feel like. Harsh glow http://i.imgur.com/nDU82s6.jpg Softer glow http://i.imgur.com/CfsIiFf.jpg
How to change a sim's mood?
I'm preparing to make more machinima, but need help setting a sim's mood. In the past we had the buff cheats, but they are gone. So, is there any other way to change a sim's mood? Don't see how we can create machinima without being able to set the "actor's" mood... :neutral:Sims Editing Workshop ~ Closed
https://i.imgur.com/zXBZWvI.png (Closed) Hello and welcome to the official Sims Editing Workshop thread! As I’m sure most of you know already, we are a Discord server created to help people with their editing, whether it be for personal use or competitions. Now we are launching a thread as well! While I still recommend the server for the best experience and other resources, this thread will be hosting the same challenges as the server so forum members can learn too! Here’s how this works: This is not a competition but instead an activity, meaning all rounds are optional. You are also allowed to complete the challenges at a later date if you missed a round and would like feedback. When a new challenge starts, I will post the challenge in a new post and also on the front page. It will provide information (tutorials, links, examples, etc.) for you to learn from and at the end of the info will be your assignment instructions as well as the due date. This assignment will be based on what you just learned and will be what you receive feedback on. No scores though! While we may pick an image that reflects the topic the best, you will not receive scores, just plenty of feedback. We also have different workshops for different levels, but everyone is welcome to participate in any of them! Advanced members can join Beginner challenges, Beginners can join Advanced challenges, and so on. Just keep in mind that the wording and expected knowledge is different for each level. There may also be mini workshops (labeled as .5) that cover misc. information, are small, or are assignments to check on your progress. Hopefully that explained everything! Veterans: @MizoreYukii @jilliebee22 @themelonic Twitter Discord https://i.imgur.com/AHU0nvD.png https://i.imgur.com/usTnPHV.png Beginner Challenge 2 - Cutting Challenge 2.5 - Non-destructive Editing Challenge 3 - Bigger & Better Quality Sims Intermediate Advanced
