Q&A: Royalty & Legacy
#AD (just in case this counts as social media) I was invited to join the CFE (not final build) opportunity for The Sims 4: Royalty & Legacy. Thank you to the EA Creator Network for this chance to answer questions for you about the pack! I will be taking and answering mainly questions about gameplay - Skills/Traits/Aspirations/Career/Venues/Systems/Collections/Lore - and anything else you guys want to know about! I did test with ALL PACKS in as I believe this is yet another pack with cross-compatibility possibilities related to the various systems. (Please Note: Testing with other packs in is unsupported before regular Early Access, so may be extra buggy.) Testing was/will continue to be done on a mix of fresh CAS Sims and premades, to see lore and experience different levels if they are present. Format will be similar to past Q&As where I have links to each subject and add more info to each based on questions asked and as I discover things through gameplay. I can't start posting right away this time due to the embargo, but will be continuing to take notes/screenshots and will post info when I can. P.S. - I have a Creator Code, so if you find my Q&A useful you might consider it as an option at checkout. Using my code gives me a small commission (5% regularly, 7% during sales) and can even save you a little bit of money on TS4 DLC during sales (normally 5%). My code is EmmaVane. Just enter the code on the the payment screen where Promo Codes normally go. Thank you, EA for this opportunity. INDEX (to follow): ACCESS TO WATER DYNASTY SYSTEM: Dynasty Perks Dynasty Values NEW VENUES & LOT TRAIT: Backroom Venue Community Market Venue Clandestine Lot Trait NEW CAREER & OCCUPATIONS: Noble Career (WIP) POWERSHIFTS (WIP): ⚔️Simcalibur (additional info, thanks to crinrict ) 🕷️Anansi's Well PREMADE UPDATES Family Trees (Laurent, Dreamer & Alto) Dynasties (Goth & Landgraab)
Hunting for the guinea pig infection
So I don't play SIMS, but I am interested in the "guinea pig disease" from a computing history perspective - it's an interesting meta twist on the virus concept. As I understand it, there were at least two generations of this. SIMS1 : The "Guinea Pig Disease" that you caught from being bitten by a guinea pig if you didn't keep the cage tidy. It was introduced in the "Living Large/Living It Up" expansion. I read somewhere that this disease was later patched to become less deadly. SIMS4: "Rabid Rodent Fever" caught in a similar way. It was introduced in the "My First Pet Stuff" expansion. I'm specifically looking for infected lot/household/character/save files to study. Anyone have a clue as to where I can find such things?
List of Traits in The Sims 4
Hello! Despite the discussion collecting these already existing, I've decided to make my own traits list due to how these forums work (it starts from the first post, not the last post, and it takes long to reach the last post). This list contains all the traits in-game, both visible and hidden, in these sections: Base Game Expansion Packs Game Packs Stuff Packs & Kits Non-Pack Filtered Visible Traits Non-Pack Filtered Hidden Traits Popular traits Update Log To add a trait, you'll need to use this cheat: traits.equip_trait [trait_codename] And to remove a trait, you'll need to use this cheat: traits.remove_trait [trait_codename] In both cheats, [trait_codename] needs to be replaced with trait's codename. For most of the personality traits, it's same as its name, but there are exceptions (Erratic for example). Find the trait codenames in the list below. These lists will be kept updated as patches and packs come out. Please do not post under these trait lists. If you'd like to suggest traits for the popular section or want to discuss some traits, please reply to either this post or someone else's.
How do you make peace with the randomly generated sims?
I have realised that the reason I can't move beyond about 3 generations in any legacy is that I actually spend hours more on making over the randomly generated sims, and also making over the randomly generated outfits when unplayed premades age-up, than I do actually in game play. Yes, it is a me problem that I can't make peace with the, let's face it, clowns the game randomly generates to fill NPC roles, etc. I don't even let my sims visit bars anymore because they generate thousands of "bar regulars". So far, my coping techniques have been mods, but I still find these are hit-or-miss (especially since career outfits don't retain the hairstyle from the makeover). I need advice then, from people who are able to continue to play (particularly long legacies) despite the state of the randomly generated 'clowns' the game creates after the original premades die off. How do you just remain unbothered? I really want to do a legacy challenge, but this petty irritation keeps me from getting interested in multi-generational saves.EgonVM's Ultimate NPC Making Guide 2.0
So yeah, due to how these forums work with the spoilers, the original guide is somewhat messed up and updating it would result in loss of information. So, after some consideration, I've decided to make a V2.0 thread on it, using the similar approach to the List of Traits with link trees and each pack being in its own post (so it is collapsible). This thread will have two main posts under which I'll post the info. Please do not reply under them. You may reply to this post or other replies (including mine). Links to important replies: NPC Making List Additional Guides But how does it all work? Basically, if you ever wanted to make custom NPC sims, good news is that most of them can be done without any mods. The main cheats you are going to require are those: testingcheats on traits.equip_trait [trait_codename] careers.add_career [career_codename] In the guide, there are 5 types of "difficulties" I'm going to use (and emojis I'm using with it): 🔷Played-Friendly - These ones, usually traits, can not only also be taken from sims the Played Households, switching to the household the sim is in won't make them lose their NPC status. 📝Simply Assign a Career/Trait - These will lose their NPC status when you play with them. The usual way of making those is by making these sims, equipping them with the required traits and/or careers, then evicting them. 🏙Location-Based Career - Unfortunately, this is where the career location matters, and it is the venue they'll be working at. As to my knowledge, there isn't any way to set a career location to a sim without mods, the best bet here is to modify sims already working there or make one of the custom sim unplayed and hope they'll appear in that role. 🔻Must Be Unplayed - You may assign a required career and/or trait, but they'll won't appear in the role until you set the household to be unplayed. 👨👩👧👦Out of Control - Welp, these sims are chosen randomly from a broad selection. No way to influence the game to pick the sim you want... And in addition, these emojis represent the following: ✅️ Must have, meaning that your sim must have that skill, trait, career etc to appear in this role. 🟡 Optional, meaning that your sim can have it for the game to consider them more for the role, but they don't need to have it. Sometimes used in sub-types. ❌️ Mustn't have, meaning if your sim has the skill, trait, career etc, the game will never place them in the role even when all other conditions are met. ❕ Splits into sub-types, meaning that for the sim to appear in the role, they must meet at least one of the requirements in the following list below for the game to consider them. Ghosts and sims that are currently at work are usually excluded. In addition, this list shows the sims that will be excluded from the most of the roles: I've also decided to bring out templates too. These are not important when making NPC sims, but are rather some interesting side-info on how sims are generated for the role by the game. So yeah, look at the list and have fun making your own NPC sims!
[Lifestyle] "Hungry for Love" an Explanation
This lifestyle has frustrated many people trying to get it or keep it. It has been posted several times about not working, being broken or needing to be overhauled. In my game my one Sim could sometimes maintain it and sometimes not (and no matter how much they seemed to do romantic interactions) but I always seemed to have to cheat add it to start with. So I decided to look at the internal files and figure out what the heck is going on. I am an amateur modder, but I tend to be able to figure out tuning files (once I get use to a games files). Let's talk about The Romance Lifestyles, just like many other lifestyles there is polar opposites: Single and Lovin' It, is basically a very slowly earned by default lifestyle; earned simply by not being in a relationship, and otherwise is only—by chance—can be stalled by reading romance novels or watching romantic tv. You might earn this, even if you don't want to—eventually—as long as you aren't capped for lifestyles. If you don't want this lifestyle, you only need to be in a relationship—plain and simple. Hungry for Love, from what I can see... romantic interaction don't seem to play much or any part of it at all. What people are probably getting confused or frustrated about is how you earn this lifestyle. Chance! from what I see the only way to get this lifestyle is a success in chance from 3 different actions. 2 are from just reading romance novels/watching romantic tv, which if you trigger successfully (once or twice) daily you'll gain this lifestyle fast enough and maintain. The other way to get a chance is a passively if/when you wake up, and are in a romantic relationship (less sleep with traits/potions/coffee/etc. hurt this). Autonomy is probably not going to help you, if your Sim doesn't have the Romantic trait and autonomously reads/watches romantic media (and in some cases, some people play households without TVs making it even harder)—this lifestyle is a lot of work. Let's talk about The Friend Lifestyles: Now compare to Close-Knit and People Person, these are easy enough to get one or the other (or change if you really want to). It is a simple set up of 1-3 friends = Close-Knit, and 4+ you get People Person. Not exactly much depth (and the amounts aren't great) but easy enough, and again these are other default earning lifestyles—that you will eventually earn. Only way to avoid is 0 friends or are capped for lifestyles. Conclusion: it isn't broken...?—it just wasn't set up great. What is misleading was the romantic interactions counting towards the lifestyle, and may only be used for unlocking purposes. But enough of it works, so that is probably why all posts complaining have been pretty much ignored? IMO, yes, it should be tweaked to overhauled. I have been working with the tuning files to make this lifestyle better and testing like crazy, because as-is, leaves much to be desired XD
Home Fellowship Gathering?
I've been thinking of having my Sim start a home fellowship gathering in her home. Modeling it after the Saturday morning men's group that I'm in IRL, the group would meet in my Sim's home, start with breakfast, then have a time of group singing, followed by a time of study/discussion. The maximum group size (to get everyone to do things together) is 8, so I figured that would be a good size for the gathering, even if it's possible to invite more guests to some events. Breakfast - Inviting everyone over and serving breakfast is easy. My Sim has hosted plenty of dinner parties. Singing - This I'm less sure about. The ads for the Adventure Awaits expansion pack showed Sims singing around a campfire, while one Sim played the guitar. Something like that would be great, only they wouldn't have a campfire. They would be sitting in my Sim's home. Study/Discussion - This I'm less sure of. Can Deep Conversation happen in a group? Or maybe my Sim could use the Tell Story action, but it's really more "book club" and less sermon. Maybe I could have them read a book together? The Get Together expansion pack adds Clubs, which look like they might help with something like this. I might even be able to model this after one of the existing Clubs (book club, singing club, breakfast club, etc.). Is there a particular expansion that adds group singing (my Sim playing guitar and everyone else singing along)? Right now, I'm playing the vanilla base game. If there are particular expansion packs that would help make this kind of gathering easier, that would be good to know. But I'm just starting out, and don't want to add dozens of expansions. Thanks in advance!
