Sims 4 Gameplay Hints and Tips

[jesirose]

jesirose, to rotate an object, click on it, then use , or . to rotate. I keep trying to rotate things with my touchpad, but eventually I'll learn.

Yeah I've got that but I want to do it with the mouse, like in 3

[EleLL]

If you left click on your sims portrait while they are at work, they have different interactions. Mine is in the culinary career, is insanely upset right now so I accidentally clicked on her and got these options:

Leave Work Early
Work Normal
Socialize with Coworkers
Study Master Chefs
Take it Easy
Work Hard

Btw, although my first post here, always loved this site! And loving TS4, my sims feel so much more alive now!

[jesirose]

If you left click on your sims portrait while they are at work, they have different interactions. Mine is in the culinary career, is insanely upset right now so I accidentally clicked on her and got these options:

I'm not getting these either!

[jesirose]

To get multiple outfits, click the little arrow above the outfit type, then the + symbol.

[EleLL]

Jesirose, under Options I set my game to act more like Sims 3, try that, maybe it will help?

[EleLL]

Oh and also Jesirose, I can rotate my objects with my mouse, same as always in TS3, grab and drag around. The only thing I changed for my setup was the camera controls for Sims 3, and I have a 2 button / scroll wheel mouse, if that helps.

ETA: I just sent her off to work again, and no choices, so I think they have to be under duress to get the options?

ETA 2: Ok, final edit! If you look at the sim portrait at the bottom, there's a couple icon there while they are at work, click on that to get the options!

[MissTrips]

When trying to work on friendships (my musical sim needs 4 friends for her next promotion) go to the park!  You can quickly round up 3-4 sims and enter into a group conversation with them, working on all their friendship scores at once.  Then once you have a core group you want to improve on take them everywhere you travel using the phone.  They're very accommodating to follow you around to the gym, or lounge or wherever you want your sim to be.

I haven't tried a house party yet, so I don't know how that influences friendships.

[jillz]

You can populate your Town with Sims of your own creation.

This is from a user named fireglare from another website:

Open "Manage Worlds"

Top right corner, open "Household Management"

Click the "Unplayed Households" tab

Sort households by "Not in World"

This is the list of townies which your game is currently pulling from.

Edit as you see fit!

I just edited the household I liked the least and added a bunch of sims I created during the demo and named the household "Townies".

How to add to the list: (by Vhyra)

I actually figured it out. It's kind of a daunting task, but I was able to delete half the list then repopulate it! If you 'evict' someone from a home they get put into the Unplayed Households tab and then can show up randomly. So I downloaded a bunch of Sims from the gallery, put them in houses and then evicted them.

[MischaMusic]

I'm loving all the tips! Most of the shortcut keys are the same from TS3. My favorites are page up and page down for the second story, and the "home" and "End" keys for walls up, cut out, or down. It seems to help me during the awkward phase of relearning my camera skills.

[_Annika_]

You can turn off auto-counters, and place corner counters or cabinets, half ones, rounded ones etc. This tutorial I found on the main website shows you how.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIlAZ37CiAU

[KeonaChick]

You can get upgrade parts by scavenging through your garbage.  Just take out the trash and cancel the action, then start sifting through the pile.  You can do this multiple times with the same pile and get plenty of parts.

[MarianT]

Edge Scrolling

I posted earlier that the arrow keys on my keyboard numberpad enabled me to scroll in all 4 directions. Well, that was one game. In the game I'm currently playing, it's the cursor arrows that work. Still, as long as either one works, that's okay.

Loading Screens

If you send several members of your household to a community lot and leave one at home, you can bring them back as individuals without a loading screen. Start with the family member at home and click on the greyed-out portrait of the away person. You'll get several options, one of which is "bring here." Choose that, and the person will come home without a loading screen.

Art Gallery

You can put a painting that your sim did in his inventory and take it to the art gallery. There, you can pull it out and hang it on the wall. You don't get paid for it, and I don't know yet whether it will appreciate in value, but you have the prestige.

[Cheezey]

I'm not getting these either, wth!

Okay, I'm not crazy. I had no interactions on my sims' panels either, and I could've sworn they said we'd have tones like in Sims 3.

The only settings I can see that mention Sims 3 are camera controls, though.  Does that affect this?  I'm just getting used to the Sims 4 ones, so I'd rather not change it.

[EleLL]

Look at your sims pic at the bottom while they are at work. On their picture, on the left of it, are two little icons, the top one is of 2 people and the bottom one is a briefcase. Click on the top people one and it will pull up the radial options for what they do at work.

[Katluvr]

For all you collectors - your sim can dig up a treasure map.  When you have one in your inventory it unlocks 'Dig for Treasure' interaction on rocks.  If you select 'Dig for Treasure' it uses up the treasure map but you may get something particularly awesome.  My sim dug up a voodoo doll that she can bind to another sim, just like the premium store item in TS3.