TS4 Gameplay Tips- For Marley!

These tips are for my little niece Marley and her parents.  She has been such a good girl she is getting Sims 4!  I hope she keeps being a good girl so she can play and tell aunt Lacie all about her families!
 

• You can play lots of different families just like in Sims 3 but it doesn't show their pictures when you start like it did in Sims 3.  
• To start a new game click on the plus sign on the top right of the screen that says "new game".
• To load a game you have already been playing click on the disc on the top right that says "load game".  Don't use the green arrow in the bottom right.  People have had problems with using that.
• Load game will show all of your games with the one you played most recently first.
• It will show the map and you have to click on the familie's house to play them.  This is for people who play more than one house in a game file.  I don't suggest doing that yet there are bugs.
• When you are playing you want to save very often.  I save at least once a sim day when they are sleeping.
• When you save you click the 3 dots in the top right corner that say "options menu".
• The first time you want to click "save as" and name your game.  I recommend having more than one save file for each family.  For example I have: Marx Legacy 1, Marx Legacy 2 and Marx Legacy 3 and I rotate them.  The reason I do this is just in case I accidentally save over one of them I haven't lost my game completely just one day.  Two save files per family should be fine I am just really protective of my legacy family.
• You want to have a way to save your save file.  It can be found in start-documents-electronic arts-sims 4-saves.  Right click on that save file and copy.  Then you want to paste it into a safe place like I use an external hard drive.  That way if the game goes corrupt and you lose everything it is not lost you can copy and paste it out of your safe place.  This may sound like going overboard but I have read stories of people losing entire games.  If they had backed up they would have had something to go back to.  I try to do this daily. (The next time you do it you will have to delete the old save file from the safe place and paste the new save file it won't overwrite)
• I suggest starting with one sim but to switch between sims you click on their face on the bottom left of the screen.
• Needs aren't automatically shown.  You click the button all the way on the bottom right to toggle them to show or not show.  If they have a need it will turn a color and show up there even closed.  Like if they need to pee it will show a little yellow toilet paper icon there.
• Next to needs is simology which shows their age and traits.
• Next to simology is inventory this is where things will go like if your sim digs something up.  You can sell the things your sims digs up or fishes by dragging it to the left and selling.
• There is also a family inventory to find this click on the wrench/hammer on the top right and there is an empty box for family inventory.
• Next to inventory on the bottom right is relationships.  This is where you see the sims you know and how well you know them.  You can call them on the phone or invite them to your lot from here too.
• After that is skills and career.
• There are 8 jobs and each job has a different branch to pick on level 6.  Jobs and school require you to do things like "go to school energized" or "view 3 different paintings".  You must do these things to get to the next level and make more money.
• The star next to jobs is aspirations.  This is your sims goal in life.  It might say something like "catch 10 fish"  There are 3 levels in child aspirations and 4 levels in adult aspirations.  You get your adult aspiration when the sim ages to teen.  
• On the aspirations window there is a little present.  This is the rewards store.  You get aspiration points from completing whims too.  These are the little bubbles around the sims head in the bottom left.  If you don't think you will complete the whim you can click the x and a new one will show up.
• Sims have different moods these moods change all the time.  For work and school they should be in a certain mood.  Like taking a thoughtful shower makes a sim inspired.  Telling jokes makes them playful.
• Under the sims picture is the phone.  You can plan parties and different stuff from the phone.  You can travel to other lots using the phone.  Like you can go to the park.  It will show the map and you choose where to go.  If someone calls you it will ring and shake.  They might want to come see you.  You can say yes or no if you want to talk to them or have them come see you.
• When a sim is at work or school you can't do anything but wait for them to come home.  You can click on their picture and make them work hard though.
• You can pause, play, speed up the game and see the time on the bottom middle.  It doesn't show weeks like Sims 3. :(
• There is no family tree like Sims 3 either.  If you want to keep track of who is who in a family you might want to write it down.  I keep a notebook next to the computer.
• To get to the cheats window press cntrl+shift+c all at the same time.  If you don't want to worry about simoleans you can type in motherlode it gives $50,000 simoleans each time.  That would let you have a bigger house faster.
• Bills are much higher in The Sims 4.  If you don't pay your bills all the electric and water gets turned off.  Make sure you pay your bills!
• Most of all have fun.  Make your sims play out stories or just watch them and see what they will do without you telling them to do something.  Sims 4 sims do neat things on their own like give each other hugs.  It is a fun game and I hope you like it.

TS4 Possible Runaway Teen Challenge?

I've been messing around testing out how to do a runaway teen challenge in Sims 4.

This is Lyla Sadler.  Her traits are good and loves the outdoors.  Her aspiration is Angling Ace.

Her guardian trapped in a box.

Lyla gets to fishing right away since it's her aspiration.

Then she decides there's no money in fishing and starts digging.

She visits the park and luckily someone cooked a meal of hotdogs.

(This is when I realized that the guardian can get out of her box.)

Her first fish.

Shortly after her first fish she got a cowplant berry!

Isn't it cute???

The next day she was starving but couldn't leave the area (because the guardian would escape) so had to cook hotdogs.

It took forever for the guardian to die so I bought her a shower and toilet temporarily.

Good little cowplant.

Whoa big cowplant!

Grim finally comes for the guardian.

He plays with the cowplant.

Lyla's social was really low so she became friends with Grim.  I don't consider him an adult.

Notice Lyla has huge muscles now from all the digging?  I hate that bug.

Here is how I made the lot 10x10.  The small area where the bed is is her home.

TS4 Marx Legacy- Do We Have a Winner?

The competition between Duncan and Annabeth during this generation has been close.  Hayes has barely scored due to having sucky aspirations.  But I think I can say with only 1 day left until Duncan ages up that Annabeth will be heir.  She is 2 points ahead of him.  She still has several days before she ages up but I am still going to hook Duncan up with a girl and have them have babies.  Why?  Because Mom Isabel's aspiration is to have 4 grandchildren!  Instead of having Annabeth have 4 and have 4 kids fighting to be heir I thought it would be easier for Duncan to have 2 babies and then move them all out.  I already plan to move Hayes out when he ages up.  Poor Hayes, he didn't have a chance. 

Another thing.  On the EA bugs thread for sims disappearing they wanted to know: 1 when sims disappear 2 are they homeless 3 are they played or unplayed and 4 their age group.  So I decided to check every sim day.  Well... Under unplayed sims the only sims there are the ones in houses.  No townies.  One day I tried adding a family.  They disappeared the next day.  Checking every day makes me upset so I don't know how much longer I'll do it.  I don't have any answers to the questions they asked anyway.  I have no sims to disappear except the 4 families in houses!  Well, with that I'll give you your daily report:

• I tried to have Dane make Isabel angry for his aspiration but her happy mood overpowered it and their relationship took a huge hit.  It took several sim hours to get them out of the red.
• Annabeth completed the 1st part of her aspiration.
• Duncan completed the 2nd part of his aspiration.
• Hayes completed the 1st part of his aspiration but he's so far behind he's out of the race.
• Duncan invited over Michelle Cardwell from the legacy teens house.  She was flirty so he started flirting right away.  They "messed around" in the rocketship then she went home.
• Annabeth completed the 2nd part of her aspiration giving her a 2pt lead over Duncan.
• Annabeth invited Bernard and Gabriel over.  I think Gabriel looks a lot like her brother but he has better traits than Bernard.  But Bernard has that cute ponytail.  *sigh* I don't know.  I guess whatever traits they get when they age up will determine who wins Annabeth.
• Bills $4,224.
• I gave up on Dane's aspiration.  It is just too hard to make Isabel angry in order for him to apologize.  Their relationship has turned red both times I have tried.

Duncan really hit it off with Michelle.

 

 They had their first kiss within minutes of her coming over.

 Annabeth sitting with Bernard and Gabriel, her 2 potential mates.

 Bernard and Gabriel ditched Annabeth to chat by the microscope.

 I thought this was cute.  Hayes, Duncan and Annabeth sitting on the couch together eating.

TS4 Marx Legacy- Time to Make New Friends

Despite the new patch my problem with disappearing townies persists.  I read on the forums if you visit lots more often the game will make townies.  I sent Annabeth as a child to play at the park to test this out.  There were 2 other kids there.  After she got home I checked manage households and the kids weren't there.  But even worse there was nobody except the families I have put in houses!  So apparently the patch only saves those we put in houses.  (which I had some disappear from houses before so I'm happy about)  It doesn't seem to help produce more townies that stay in the game!  Ugh.  So I decided to check out #LegacyLoves on the gallery.  I downloaded a house for the new sims named NEUANFANG by Julchens77.  Then I found a household of all teens but the one required adult.  I was so happy.  It is called Legacy Teens by JCobe2810.  I think I already have someone picked out for Duncan and Annabeth.  Hayes is so far behind there's no way he's going to win heir.  So here is your update for the day of what's happening in the Marx household:

• Isabel spends her time making sad paintings since she's still mourning.  (BTW she was the only one at both Aaron and Erica's deaths so no wonder she's morning!)
• Dane got promoted at work and chose the authors branch.
• I replaced Duncan's angry lion hat with the hysterical tiger hat.  Seeing him in those hats cracks me up.
• Isabel's sister Hannah comes to visit quite a bit and whenever I send the sims out she shows up.
• Annabeth completed her 2nd aspiration the day before her birthday giving her a 1pt lead over Duncan.
• Annabeth aged to teen her trait is neat and her aspiration is Angling Ace.
• Hayes got a B in school.
• Bills $4,095.
• The 3 teens visited the new household Legacy Teens right away to meet them and learn their traits.
• It was hard getting pics in that little house with 11 sims.
• Isabel and Dane went on the 2 dates required for his aspiration.  The first one the bar was packed so it was hard to have them interact.  But they managed gold on both dates.  Now all he needs is to apologize when your spouse is angry.  I'm not looking forward to this one because it will require him to be mean to her.  I don't know how far their relationship will fall in order for her to be angry.

 I just thought this was cute.  Duncan, Hayes and Dane eating breakfast together.

 Hannah visiting the house again!  She's gotten kinda chunky.

 Annabeth working on her aspiration right away after aging to teen.

 Duncan, Hayes and Annabeth visit the Legacy Teens household.

 Duncan and Annabeth meet the different teens and discover their traits.

More teens came in the door and started dancing.

 

I left the walls down for this pic to show how crazy it was with so many sims.

 

 Isabel and Dane on their date.  It was a bit crowded.

 This date was less crowded.  Aren't they sweet?

TS4 Marx Legacy- Deaths and Birthdays!

A patch came out yesterday that is supposed to fix the disappearing sims.  I have 3 new households "not in world" that I didn't have before.  I'm going to keep track of them to see if they stay.  Update: they did not stay.  They were replaced by 4 new "not in world" households.  I'm really bummed about this.  I guess the patch is only fixing some parts of the disappearing sims.  Hopefully the part that made all my legacy spares disappear after I moved them out.  I still have one, Hannah, living in a house.  Yay.  I was going to download a family of teenagers from the gallery but it says I can't have a household of only teenagers.  Darnit.  Back to checking #LegacyLoves for more teenagers!  And with that I give you your update:

• Hayes got a B in school.
• Annabeth completed the 1st part of her 2nd aspiration.
• Bills $3,964.
• Aaron crash lands the rocketship and survives again.  I think I'm going to give up on getting the point for having every type of death.  It's just too hard to kill them!
• Isabel maxxed the painting skill, no surprise, it's all she does.
• Duncan got a B in school.
• Aaron dies of old age.  I sent the kids outside so they wouldn't "witness death".
• Shockingly Erica dies the same day of old age!  Grim turned the radio on and started dancing but I didn't get a good shot to take a pic before he stopped.  Darnit.
• Annabeth gets a B in school.
• Duncan ages to teen.  His trait is outgoing and his aspiration is Freelance Botanist.
• Hayes also ages to teen.  His trait is genius and his aspiration is Master Chef.  This sucks because that was Aaron's aspiration which he completed and Aaron already filled up the fridge before he died.
• Isabel and Dane age to adult.
• Annabeth completed the 2nd part of her 2nd aspiration.  So far she's winning the race to heir with Duncan a close 2nd.

 Annabeth on the jungle gym while playful for her aspiration.

 Aaron crawls out of the rocketship crash like it was nothing...

 ...then dies of old age later the same day.

 Grim giving the kids chess pointers.

 Erica finishes work and in the middle of her meal lies down and dies.

 Duncan and Annabeth celebrate Hayes birthday while he takes a selfie.

 Duncan tending his garden.  I really gotta get that angry lion hat off his head!

TS4 Marx Legacy- 3 Children is Just Too Much!

So you might be wondering why I haven't posted for the Marx Legacy in a few days?  Seriously?  The kids!  I have no idea how I'm going to be able to handle 4 children in the next legacy when 3 are driving me nuts!  It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to also control 4 adults.  When they have work I am so happy because they leave for awhile and I don't have to worry about them.  Isabel is the only one without a job now that Aiden died.  She spends all her spare time painting.  Having so many sims in one house makes it really hard to concentrate on aspirations.  Which is bad because if you didn't know already I play by merit rules.  Whichever child completes the most parts of his or her aspiration becomes the heir for that generation.  So I've been playing in spurts.  Just a half an hour or so here and there.  I also started another challenge which took up a lot of my time yesterday since my computer froze up and I lost all my progress.  But anyway enough complaining.  Here is your update on the Marx family:

• Annabeth completed the 1st part of her aspiration and Hayes completed the 2nd part of his.
• Aaron has been going into space in the rocket and filling the fridge with food when he doesn't work.
• It seeems elders have different timespans.  Erica aged to elder a day before Aaron but their ages are 32 days apart!  The strange thing is their green bars look the same.  It will be interesting to see who lives longer.  Though trying to kill Aaron with the rocket doesn't help that little experiment.
• I now have all of the consumable aspiration rewards.  That's a point for nature for those of us keeping track of points.
• Annabeth completed the 2nd part of her aspiration and was almost done with the 3rd and I hadn't even noticed!  See how hard it is keeping track of 7 sims!
• Duncan completed his Rambunctious Scamp aspiration and chose Whiz Kid as his 2nd and quickly finished the 1st part.
• Annabeth completed her Creative aspiration and chose Rambunctious Scamp as her 2nd.
• Hayes is lagging behind due to the need to find so many friends.  If he wants to be heir he will have to catch up in his teen years.

 Aaron crawls out of a fiery rocket crash.

 Hayes and Duncan playing chess.

 Annabeth dancing for her 2nd aspiration.

TS4 Roleplay Challenge- Meet the Ladies!

Post 1: Roleplay Challenge

Here are the ladies I will be using for my Roleplay Challenge.  Their looks, names, walk styles, aspirations and traits were all randomly generated either using my number generator app or create a sim's random button.  Now I just need to find them a house!  I'm really excited about this challenge.  Btw you can tell they are random because I never would have picked 2 ladies to have the hates children trait that I might be using for my baby challenge!  Eek.  I wasn't too thrilled with most of their aspirations either.  Oh well that's what happens when you roll the dice for everything!

Number 1: Lexie Ogden

Aspiration- The Curator

Traits- hates children, creative and slob

 Number 2: Addyson Rust

Aspiration- Joke Star

Traits- insane, genius and creative

 Number 3: Yesenia Dodson

Aspiration- Angling Ace

Traits- music lover, geek and lazy

 Number 4: Makayla Liang

Aspiration- Joke Star

Traits- non-committal, loner and self-assured

 Number 5: Julia Toth

Aspiration- Bodybuilder

Traits- art lover, creative and outgoing

 Number 6: Diana Savage

Aspiration- Fabulously Wealthy

Traits- ambitious, loves the oudoors and goofball

 Number 7: Kayla Beckman

Aspiration- Freelance Botanist

Traits- hates children, geek and bro

Number 8: Ana Kaminski

Aspiration- Master Mixologist

Traits- insane, loves the outdoors and loner

TS4 Roleplay Challenge

I absolutely love reading Simmerville Sim's Sims by Numbers Show here and here. I give all credit for this challenge idea to them.  What I have been thinking of doing is very similar.  I want to do a roleplay style challenge.  In this challenge there would be 8 sims living in a house.  Each of them being numbered 1-8.  Chores and activities that the sims get to do depends on what is rolled for them each day.  The only ones that have their chores and activities already determined is the lucky sim who had the greenest plumbob the night before and the unlucky sim who had the worst plumbob the night before.  The lucky sim gets to follow their whims and aspirations all day and the unlucky sim gets to be the one to clean that day.

I think I will have the challenge last 4 weeks with aging off.  I think the prize will be that the winner is the founder of the TS4 Baby Challenge.  I haven't decided on rules for that challenge as of yet.  The strictness of getting an A in school is making me leary of following the same rules as TS3. 

In addition to rolling for chores each day they will also roll for the activity of the day.  Here is the daily schedule I came up with using Simmerville's schedule as a base.

6am breakfast
7am chores
9am skilling/aspirations
12pm lunch
After lunch roll for an activity
8pm dinner
After dinner is free will
11pm plumbob check

Chores other than lucky and unlucky will be rolled for:
lucky sim follows whims & aspiration all day
unlucky sim cleans
cook
fisherman
gardener 1
gardener 2
gatherer
repairer

Activities I have thought of so far:
party (roll for which type)
go to park (roll for which park)
visit a neighbor (roll from lucky sims friend list)
more skilling
visit a pub (roll for which one)
visit the gym (roll)
visit the library
visit the museum
free will

Points:
1-8 greenest to reddest plumbob
1pt for each new skill
1 pt new relationship
1-8 aspiration pts

TS4 Marx Legacy- Births, Deaths and All That Good Stuff

Whenever I write these posts I always feel like so much has happened since the last post!  It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it was just yesterday when Isabel and Dane were married and had baby Duncan.  It was only a day or two before that when I was trying to kill Aiden.  To me it seems like so long ago.  When I'm playing this family for hours on end I get so immersed in the drama that is their daily life that I lose track of time.  I'm on the 7th generation now!  I already have plans starting to formulate in my head of other challenges that I'd like to try.  I love challenges.  But enough of my reminiscing.  Here is your update:

• Aaron threw another dinner party and got a silver metal.  He needs to cook 5 gourmet meals at an event to complete his aspiration.  He didn't manage it this time.
• During the party it popped up that it's Erica's birthday, I completely forgot, so Aaron baked a birthday cake too.  She's now an elder.  
• Aiden and Aaron become elders.  Aaron threw a birthday party but still couldn't get his aspiration.  He only got a bronze for the party too.
• I moved Hannah out into a house with another sim.  There's no way I can complete her Public Enemy aspiration since she needs to be hated by neighbors and we have none.  There was no space for her knowing there would be kids coming taking over.
• While I was moving Hannah I checked the households not in world and there was only 1.  I really lucked out the day I checked and found Dane!
• Duncan ages up to child.  His trait is creative and his aspiration is Rambunctious Scamp.  He finished the 1st part of his aspiration right away.
• I had to have Isabel be mean to her sister Hannah so that they wouldn't be best friends anymore.  Dane needs to be best friends for his aspiration and apparently you can only have 1!
• Aiden dies from overexertion.  He kept going on the treadmill even though he is elderly and I decided to have him and Erica take a whoohoo in the rocket.  I guess he couldn't take it.  LOL
• Everyone but Erica, Aiden's wife, mourn him.
• Isabel completed the 2nd part of her aspiration.  The 3rd requires her to adopt a child.
• Isabel gives birth to a girl named Annabeth.
• Isabel adopted a boy (I rolled boy) he loves the outdoors and is a Social Butterfly.  His name is Hayes.
• Adopting Hayes completed the 3rd part of Isabel's aspiration.  The last part requires her to be a grandmother so that won't be completed soon.
• Hayes and Duncan went to the park and Hayes completed the first part of his aspiration.
• On a side note the other kids that were playing on the playground were the other children shown up for adoption.  That was weird.
• Isabel took up painting in her spare time for some extra cash.
• Annabeth never cried.  I think she was bugged.  At first I forgot to feed her until I got a warning that she was hungry.  She had only 1 dirty diaper the whole time she was an infant.  When she aged up she had a full green bar but was showing hungry moodlets.  She was also invisible, again!  
• Anabeth ages to child, her trait is outgoing and her aspiration is Artistic Prodigy.
• Bills $3,930.
• Aaron threw another party and finally completed his Master Chef aspiration!  He earned a silver for the house party.

 Erica as an elder.

 Isabel finding out she's pregant again.

 Pregnant Isabel holding baby Duncan.

 Aiden as an elder.

Aaron as an elder.

 

 Duncan right after he popped out of the bassinet.

 Isabel reading to Duncan for her aspiration.

 Poor Aiden, just didn't know when to leave the rocketship alone.

This is Hayes after Isabel brought him home.

I just realized I didn't take a picture of Annabeth yet!  She was so bugged when she aged up I forgot!