Sims At Work - Tips for Sims 4

I see this a lot regarding Sims "At Work"; once our Sims character heads off to work (or school), we tend to just let it happen and take their promotions every three to four or five Sims days. But we can control that.  We already notice that while the Sims is away at work or school that their Bladder and Hunger needs are routinely attended to without adding to their stress levels.

But, if our Sims is struggling to meet Happy needs, there's an option while the Sims is at work that can help with that.  Or if the Sims is struggling to meet its Social needs, that too can be helped while at work. Or if you want your Sims to make it to the top of their career quicker, there's an At Work option for that, too.

The options only become available while the Sims is at work (or school).

At Work Avatar

When the Sims leaves for work (or school) their facial avatar (icon) will become faded, with a smaller icon that shows where they are, at work or school, and next to that icon is another icon of a male&female that, if you move your cursor over, will indicate "Work Normally."  This is the default At Work option,  Click on that icon for more At Work options.

For this example, I'm using only the At Work options. The At School options are similar -

• Leave Early (No description).
• Normal - Work as normal.
• Socialize - Reduces work performance - increases Social.
• Take Risks - Increases work performance - chance of Confident or Sad moodlets.
• Work Hard - Increases work performance - reduces Fun with chance of Stress moodlet.
• Take it Easy - Reduces work performance - increases Fun with chance of Happy moodlet.

These At Work options give some help in areas that the Sims might be struggling to meet while home or traveling.

Cooking Off the Grid with Sims in Seasons - Sims 4

Sims that want to live off the grid can refer back to my earlier post about Living Off the Grid. But, in the Seasons pack, it becomes even harder with no heat in the Winter season, and gardening with enough plants to sustain health and avoid those quick meals that are stored in the refrigerator.

While a Sims can be sustained with Happy Moodlets by eating fresh fruits and vegetables from the garden. Also, with a refrigerator and a counter, the Sims can cook and serve Garden Salads, which is perfect for those athletic Sims that want to stay in top shape. Thankfully, at this point, Cooking skills do continue to improve on only "cooking" salads.

As mentioned in the earlier post, Sims can cook two meals with one of the two stoves, but is it really worth the price of a stove to only cook grilled cheese or egg meals?

Any social events that require serving gourmet meals while living off grid is off the list. However serving garden salads will still be a serving option.

Sims can also grill, but those "meat" meals are not considered to be "serving a group" type of meal, even though there are eight servings per grilling. The grilled meals can be stored in the refrigerator for about a week before it goes bad. These grilled meals will also put Meat on your Sims frame.

However, when the Seasons Sims celebrate some holidays, there is a Grand Meal tradition that Sims living off the grid cannot accomplish (unless that Sims has an "Always Welcome" reward through Aspirations). Always Welcome Sims can cook up a Grand Meal at a neighbor's house.

On the other hand, if you also have the Island Living pack, you can purchase a BBQ Pit in Build Mode, and add that to your Sims Lot.  The Volcanic BBQ Searer will allow Sims to cook a Grand Meal during the Seasons' holiday events. Word of caution though, if cooking something with fish that your Sims caught, make certain that the fish is fresh (and making certain that the "Use Fresh Ingredients" option is checked) or the meal may turn out horrible.

So that pretty much sums up the hardship of cooking while living off the grid for Sims.

Build Mode's Description of BBQ Pit

Where's that Coconut Tree? - Island Living - Sims 4

If you have the Island Living Pack, and are attempting to do the Beach Life Aspirations of Location, the first level of the "Eat a Coconut" Aspiration is likely tripping you up if you can't find the elusive Coconut.

If you also have the Seasons pack, that might be adding to the problem since Coconuts only grow fruit in the Spring and Summer seasons, making them harder to find in the Fall and Winter.  Add to the fact that they don't grow very fast.  It is a little like trying to grab a cutting off the Cherry tree in the Landgraab's backyard in the Winter.

Mature Coconut Tree

One option is to purchase a bunch of Uncommon seed packs in Build Mode.  You might get lucky and find one pack with coconuts. In order to get that option, your Sims will need to have built a higher Gardening skill level.

Lani St. Taz Neighborhood Map on Sulani Island

On the Island of Sulani, there are at least two Coconut Tree locations that I found in the neighborhood in the top left of the map.  In the neighborhood with Lani St. Taz, my Sims finally located a coconut tree "mound" next to the Painter's Easel located on a small sand path in an area overlooking the water.  Not the easel next to the swing set. This particular easel is not very close to anything else. The other coconut tree is kind of in the center of the neighborhood close to one of the beaches. [Images below this post. Click on the images for a larger view.]

Note - Sims navigating the Island spend a lot of time walking.  It takes a huge amount of time to walk/jog on the many island paths.

Now I know that the coconuts are growing (or will be growing) in the other neighborhoods, but I focused on Lani St. Taz to visit every day to help speed up the growing process once I found the tree starts.  Then it took visiting the neighborhood at least six Sims hours per day for about five to six consecutive Sims days before my Sims could get a cutting off the mature Coconut Tree to graft to a tree in my Sim's home lot.

Iland Beach Shax Vending Maching

Or, in the alternative, go to the commercial neighborhood located on the bottom of the map, Ohan'ali Town, to track down an iLand Beach Shax.  These are not the "vendor" carts.  It looks more like a Vending Machine on the side of one of the many paths. Your Sims can purchase a single coconut that can either be eaten or planted for a lot less than purchasing the seed packs.

Wild Coconut Tree (mound) next to Painter's Easel on a sandy path

Coconut Tree Off the Path - Lani St. Taz on Sulani Island

Update - A coconut tree grows next to the public restroom of the Mua Pel'am neighborhood.  The other three plants also grow in the area around the house next to the volcano. So they are all, relatively, close together.  Hoping that helps.

Coconut Sprout - Mua Pel'am

Build SnowPal - Sims 4 Seasons

The four seasons offer different outdoor activities that the Sims can do to have/build Fun needs. In the winter, especially when/where there is heavy snow, the Sims can build SnowMen and SnowLadies.  But, depending on a variety of factors, such as who your Sims is building with, the SnowPal may not always look fantastic. While there are several different versions of SnowPals, I have just pulled in "the good, the bad and the ugly" of the traditional SnowMan.

The Good (best) SnowPal with three nice Snowballs

The Bad (average) SnowPal with two mostly nice Snowballs

The Ugly (Cyclops) SnowPal with two malformed Snowballs

Gardening and Fishing for Cooking Ingredients - Sims 4 Basegame

Gardening as a Sims can become a full-time job, between harvesting, tending and potentially selling your Sims' daily harvests. Some of the crops can be gathered in the community, depending on the neighborhood, which is different for each locations. [Note - if you have Seasons, specific crops are only available during specific seasons.]

In other words, you can save your Sims some time by focusing on the plants that are most likely to be used for cooking. 

Developing cooking skills offer more and more options, but to save money, your Sims must also have some Gardening and Fishing talents.

The ten common garden ingredients used by those who cook:

• Apple
• Basil
• Carrot
• Lemon
• Mushroom
• Onion
• Potato
• Spinach
• Strawberry
• Tomato
• Fruit (any)
• Herb (any)
• Vegetable (any)

If you want to save time on gardening relative to cooking, focus on these particular plants.

The three common fish used in cooking:

• Bass
• Salmon
• Tilapia
• Fish (any including Minnows and Tetras)

Keep fish fresh longer for cooking purposes in the refrigerator but time still degrades the quality of fish stored in the fridge.

Seasons - Holiday Calendar - Easter to Halloween - Sims 4

For those who have Seasons, you all know that the most difficult part of dealing with the four seasons is the extreme weather that comes with it, whether it's a stormy hot summer day, or a blizzard in the winter. But the Event Calendar helps to break up the weather, at least a little.

None of the holidays built into the calendar are "traditional" with the exception of New Year's Eve. The rest are something close that almost fits for something. But did you know that you can schedule your own "Make a Holiday" event?

I added Easter and Halloween to mine and yes, I made them "Paid Days Off Work!"

Easter does not have great theme decorations for the houses, but I chose Spring. Then, in the traditions section I added in Decorations, Egg Hunt, Give Gifts, and Flower Bunny. [Note - Click on the images below for a larger version.]

First Eggs Found on Lot in Trees, Shrubs and Flowers

Egg Hunt is not explained clearly in the description. If your Sims property has any decorative trees, flowers or shrubs, you can click on those to Hunt for Eggs. Garden plants don't work for this. A few other items inside the house, like the toilet, stove, bookshelf, bed, etc. are places to hunt. Don't forget the Mailbox!

Decorative Egg Collection

There are 12 decorative eggs for the collection and it is one of the easiest collections to fill for the Curator Aspiration. Check inside the Sims Personal Inventory Collections to see how well your Sims are doing once you start collecting eggs.

If you run out of places to Hunt for Eggs on your Sims lot, travel to other lots, like neighbors and businesses. Just keep looking, inside and out. By the end of the day, my Sim had completed the collection and had gathered over 60 eggs! They are not of great value, at 10 Simoleans/each but they do add up, and with it being a paid holiday, it was pretty fun because there was no need to prepare for work and spend half the day at work.

Hunt for Eggs in the Newcrest Park

Flower Bunny

The Flower Bunny is only around for a short period at noon. It will interact similar to Father Winter, but does not speak. It will answer questions like telling your Sim the Career and Traits of the Flower Bunny, but I could not hear any voice responses, so I'm guessing that the Flower Bunny is using some animal telepathy.  The Flower Bunny gives away flowers and, if you are bold, you can have your Sims fight for Eggs!

Fighting for Eggs

I won't tell you who won, but let's just say that the Bunny was very confident after it was all done.

Decorations are just like with the pre-built holidays, only you select the type of decorations to use in the Theme of the calendar. Plus the Gift Giving tradition is similar to the Love Day.

Halloween with the basic Seasons is fine, but it really gets amped-up if you have the Spooky Stuff Pack. There is even a Spooky Party Event included in that pack, that can be scheduled for the household.  But, just going with the Seasons basics here, you can treat children that come to the door, which will enhance your Sims moodlets. You can wear a costume and decorate with pumpkins and other fall holiday decorations included with Seasons.

I recommend that you explore all the options and just have fun.

Steps to Adding Holidays:

Select Show Calendar to view Household Calendar

Now, select a day in future that is NOT today on the household calendar.  In the example above, I selected Wednesday in the Summer Season. The day has a green border now. When I open that date, the upper left column will show "Wednesday" and "Summer" and below that will be two options.

Add Holiday and Add Event

Now select the Add Holiday option. The Calendar page will change to allow you to select a holiday Icon, Name the Holiday, choose Decoration Theme, whether to get the day off from work, and traditions for the holiday.

Add a Holiday Options Page

So let's create a Halloween Themed Holiday.

Change Holiday Icon from Party Hat to Pumpkin

Add Name of Halloween and Change Decoration Theme to Spooky.

Add Traditions and Click the "Check" on the bottom of page.

Please note that in order for the Spooky Decorations theme to be part of the holiday, it must be included as one of the holiday tradition aspirations. I chose the Grand Meal, Spooky Spirit, Trick or Treat and Wear Costumes for the day of holiday traditions.

Oh, yah, in case you ask "Where is the Pipe Organ?" for the Spooky Spirit tradition. Well, that's in a different pack. Vampires has a Pipe Organ that is pretty spooky!

Then, the day before the holiday, you will receive notification of the upcoming theme so that you can decorate your house/lot.

Show Holiday Objects Option

Having a few extra holidays to the calendar makes the seasons more fun.

Sims Off the Grid - No Utility Bills! Sims 4 Basegame

Although there is a challenge to living off the grid in the Sims Worlds, it can now be done.

At the time of this article, Sims "Off the Grid" updates are constantly being added, so take these suggestions for what it they are worth. Examples are shown at the bottom of this piece.

The Off the Grid trait must be selected for the Residential Lot.

Some of the important things I have learned:

1. You cannot go on vacation or be off the lot between 5 and 6:30 AM, especially on Mondays or Tuesdays. Your Sims will start receiving utility bills! (Might be a script bug.)
2. All refrigerators will act as coolers/storage in Off the Grid home traits. You can store fish and garden harvests in the refrigerator. The better quality (more expensive) fridges tend to help food stay fresh longer.
3. Only two basic stoves work (gas and wood) but the Sims can only cook Grilled Cheese or Eggs and Toast regardless of the Cooking skill level on these stoves. 
4. With all refrigerators, the Sims can also prepare Garden Salads. 
5. When cooking, the Sims can opt to use Fresh Ingredients, or not. 
6. Quality with cooking comes by upgrading the appliances as soon as possible
7. Hygiene tends to take longer and may cause discomfort with foul smells and tepid water. 
8. Toilets need to occasionally have "water-saving" flushes for cleaning purposes. 
9. No Internet and almost no electronics. 
10. Some cell phone services don't work.
11. Books can still be ordered through the Bookshelves. 
12. Few Lighting Options - some candles don't work and none of the oil lamps or lanterns work. None of the ceiling lights work Off the Grid! 
13. Install a lot of tall windows when building for natural lighting during the day. 
14. Be certain to have both a sink and a small trash bin inside the home in order to clean up after eating. (Seems to be a bug at this point.)
15. Different extension packs provide other unique Off the Grid options. 
16. Use the Build Mode Search Engine to locate Off the Grid items.

Off the Grid Pros: 

• No Utility Bills! 
• If your Sims owns the Nano Trash Recycling Bin, you can actually earn money by collecting trash from around the neighborhood to dispose of in the Recycle Bin. 
• The candles are romantic
• It's an adventure without leaving the lot!
• Most of the Cell phone features still work, but not all. 
• Encourages the Sims to Grill foods more often for cooking variety.
• Your Sims can build a large home without having to pay for utilities. 
• Some electronics like tablets and cameras work (mostly) Off the Grid. 
• Most entertaining/skill building items can still be used Off the Grid - Chess board, music instrument, handicraft table, gardening, reading books, mirror, etc. 
• All Fireplaces work Off the Grid

Off the Grid Cons: 

• Getting clean is more difficult with everything needing to be quick. 
• Fewer cooking options. 
• No Career selection access from cell phone without traveling to another lot. 
• Careers that require certain skills may need to be handled off the lot. 
• Electronic entertainment options suck!
• You may need to leave the lot to use laptops or order some items online. 
• The Gym or other commercial buildings become the best places to clean up unless you have acquired the "Always Welcome" reward to shower at the neighbor's home.
• There are other game bugs that keep popping up. 

Off the Grid Tips: 

• Keep the Hygiene levels in the green as much as possible. 
• Develop a high Handiness skill as soon as possible.
• Upgrade appliances and plumbing with quality as soon as possible to reduce discomfort. 
• Taking showers just before going to bed minimizes discomfort moodlets during the day. 
• Eat Garden or Wild harvests stored in personal inventory as much as possible. 
• Garden salad leftovers seem to store well in the refrigerators. 
• Store fish in the refrigerator to use for quality garden fertilizer.
• Getting High Skills in a single day with a first level Skill book! 
• Switch the Sims Lot Traits to have the "Peace and Quiet" option.
• At some point (like the day before) have the Sims read the first level skill book up to level three then stop reading the book. 
• Do other activities for the rest of the day, meeting and improving all "Sims needs" before going to bed. 
• Get up the next day and refresh (top off) needs, then start reading the first level skills book non-stop - don't answer the door, don't stop to eat or bladder or anything until the Sims has become so worn down that stopping is essential. 
• I have been able to get Sims to the Seventh or Eighth Skill level on the first level skills book alone and this is not a cheat or bug! 
• Recommendation - Start with the Handiness Skill Book!
• Computers Off the Grid can be used for finishing Comedy Routines started at the library. 

Some Off the Grid Items Example Images:

All Books Work Off the Grid	All Trash Bins Work Off the Grid
All Fireplaces Work Off the Grid	All Grills Work Off the Grid
Few Stoves but All Fridges Work Off the Grid	Few Plumbing Items Work Off the Grid
Few Electronics Work Off the Grid	Few Light Options Work Off the Grid

Llama Land Library - Missing Skills Books - Sims 4 Basegame

If you are building a neighborhood using the Llama Land Library from the Sims 4 Gallery, you may soon discover that, unlike the Willow Creek Archive Library, Llama Land Library only has a few books on its library shelves and none of them are skill based.  The question being, how to fix this without using any "cheats."

The Llama Land Library seems like such a useless library! I have read a lot of suggestions with extensive steps to get those skill books on the shelves, by essentially cloning them, but who-boy, what a process. Or there are cheats, but I don't like to use them.

When I first start to build my new neighborhood with Llama Land Library (typically in Newcrest), I create a "throw away adult Sim" and then basically take the next few steps to fill the library with books.

1. Your Throw Away Sim purchases one of the tiny empty lots in Newcrest. [Do not build anything, yet.] Just save and exit into Manage Worlds.
2. In Manage Worlds, select an empty lot at least 20x30 and build the library. [If you don't know how to do this, there are plenty of sites that explain.]
3. Save/exit Manage World.
4. Now "load the game" and select the new throw away Sim's lot and open that back up [basically activating that lot starts the process].
5. Use that Sim's Cellphone to travel to the Llama Land library.
6. Have that Sim use the library computer to Order Books.
7. Purchase one of every skill book available. [Scroll down the list adding one of each book to the order and then Purchase.]
8. Books will load into the Sim's personal inventory.
9. Click on each book in the inventory and instruct Sim to "Put Away." [This is the tedious part, depending on how many skill books are purchased.] The basic game is typically about 18 sets of Skills Books times 3 per set. 
10. Sim will put each book onto the shelves. 
11. Have Sim travel back home after stocking the shelves. 
12. Save and exit.
13. Before creating your next Sims family/character check to ensure that Llama Library is still in Newcrest. 
14. After creating your next Sim family/character and proceed to play from there. 
15. At any point after that, you can delete your Throw Away Sims. 

The future Sims you develop should be able to access the skills books at Llama Land Library in the future generations.

Unlike the Willow Creek Archive, if a book is not on the shelves, it is because another Sims in the game has the book.  Your Sims may need to search around the library to see which Sims is reading it, or find it on a table or floor.

Once you have the new family going, you can eventually pull out your throw away Sim and delete him/her from the world.

One word of caution.  If you choose not to eliminate that first Sims, he/she may go to the library and walk away with some of the skills books that he/she purchased because that Sims technically "owns" the books.

Now, save that new Llama Land Library to your personal Sims Gallery with all the Skills Books on the shelves.

Tiny Homes in Tiny Living - Sims 4

Building Up Newcrest with Tiny Homes

I purchased the Tiny Living Stuff Pack and am having fun using it to build Newcrest World with only little homes plus business buildings from the gallery.

If you have used the build mode at all, you know that you can designate the lots for a variety of things, like parks, residential, etc.

If you have not Built yet, click on a lot in "Manage Worlds" and go into that lot's Build Mode and have access to the Lot Info Panel. First, you need to be playing a Sim household. If you don't have one, create one and then select your lot to start.

Once your Sims character/household is at the selected lot, select the Manage Worlds Icon or the Build Mode Icon in the upper right hand corner of the window. (The Build Mode is the hammer and Wrench, and the Manage Worlds icon is a grid with a map-pin in the center.)

Sims Toolbar w/ManageWorlds Icon

From there, if you chose Manage Worlds you need to either "Save and Go" or "Just Go."

Save Game?

Once you have the lot open in Build Mode, there are tools across the top of the window. In the upper left hand corner of the window, it will have a building icon with an i in the middle. That is called the "Lot Info Panel." It will also tell you the name of the lot. Click on the Building i Icon and a drop down will let you decide whether it will be residential, or something else, like a park, beach, or business.  If you fill in the bedroom and bathroom numbers, it will become residential automatically.

You can also select traits for the lot that enhance certain skills.

Lot Type Info

Lot Type

While you could always build a small house on any lot, there were few incentives to except that it cost less to create a Tiny Starter Home.

Now, with Tiny Living, you can choose between three types of Tiny Home Residential options; Micro Home up to 32 floor tiles, Tiny Home up to 64 tiles, and Small Home up to 100 tiles. When you choose one of the Tiny Home residential options, you will get some extra rewards that will appear as an icon to the right of the Building i Icon. These are the Tiny Residential Venue Lot Rewards (by tier). The smaller the home, the more rewards the residents of the lot will receive.

Tiny Home Residential Requirements

So it is not simply a matter of receiving exceptionally small weekly bills, there are other perks to Living Tiny!

Tiny Home Lot Perks

The Tiny Home Starter that comes with the stuff pack is geared for the desert and is very hilly, making it difficult to plant a garden if you have the inclination. The Starter House is 30 tiles with quirks. There is no stove and the microwave is on the only counter if you want to "cook" a Garden Salad. The Murphy Bed breaks down almost every night from day one, and until your Sims had enough Handiness Skills repairing it, the repair takes time to fix each day. On occasion, the Murphy Bed won't finish dropping down, and when your Sims attempts to pull it down, gets briefly trapped under it, causing a lot of discomfort just before going to sleep.

Tiny Home Starter Gallery View

On the plus side, the Tiny Living toilet does not break as often as some of the other low-end toilets. Plus, fixing the bed everyday does allow the Sims to scavenge for upgrade parts every day. There are some nice affordable compact furniture features in the Tiny Living Stuff Pack.

On the negative side, Tiny Living TVs do not work with Seasons' calendar events like the New Year's Countdown or the Season's TV Premier day.

Enjoy!