Hello and welcome to my blog- How to Play the Sims. If you are new, you can visit my blog and catch up by reading my previous posts. Follow me @simgirl to receive my newest posts in your Steemit feed.
In this post we will be exploring how to build a home. Since there are many steps to building a home, I will be separating the steps the way a contractor would in real life. The purpose for building the house is to provide a home for Sally Steemit. Sally Steemit will be created soon, so if you have not added your input as to what kind of Sim she will be, be sure to comment on any of my posts.
Since I have the Sims 4 expansion pack called, City Life, Sally Steemit has the option of living in the city. City apartments are already created, and the Sim will move in if they have the money. The more money they spend on an apartment, the nicer the apartment. City Sims must deal with noisy neighbors, ghosts, and vermin. But they are close to everything, they can participate in local festivities, and visit the flea market.
New players of Sims 4 may decide to buy a pre-made home. This home will be furnished, or unfurnished. If the home is furnished, it will come equipped with most of the home items needed for a Sim to begin living in the home. If it is not furnished, the player will need to buy essential appliances, such as the refrigerator, and stove, as well as the plumbing and furniture.
If you decide to build your own home, this post should help you understand the fundamentals. I am horrible at building rooftops. An architect I am not. But I can show you the basics of building a house, and the requirements needed for a Sim to live in the home.
When you begin building in the Sims 4, you will need to pick out a piece of land. The bigger the land, and the better the location, the more expensive the land will be to buy.
When you click on the arrow play button of your Sims 4 game, it will allow you to go into the world. Depending on how many expansions of the game you have, you will have different locations to begin building. You will need to pick a destination, and look for unused land for sale to begin building your Sim’s home. Each location will have different background, neighbors, and local businesses.
Newcrest has many open lots to build on. The lowest price for land is $1,500. It is a small piece of land. This would be good for a single-wide trailer type of home. The more you spend on land, the less you will have to build the house. A new Sim begins the game with $20,000, so you will need to keep that in mind while building, and buying materials for your Sim’s home. You may want to build a grand house, and you can, but your new Sim cannot afford to live there.
To make a nice sized home, with room to grow, the $2,000 plot of land works nicely. It will provide enough land to have a nice garden, or room to put a pool in the future. The bigger you build your house, the less land you will have for outdoor activities. Once your Sim begins making money, they can sell their starter home and buy, or build a bigger home on a bigger plot of land. The outside squares on the land cannot be used, so keep this in mind when you are building. The land is smaller than it appears.
Once you click on the land it will be highlighted, and in the lower left-hand corner of the screen you will be given the option to build. Once the build option is selected, you will be taken to the land, and you will be able to begin building. The building menu is opened, and you have many options available to you. You can build the home by using pre-designed rooms, or you can use the building tools to begin from nothing. Pre-made rooms are expensive, but they are already built, and provide all the items needed for a nicely decorated area.
Since you are working on a limited budget, you will need to be careful about how many items you add to the new house, so that the final price of the home is not above $20,000.
On the top of the screen are the options for the land, as well as the description and lot size. You have the option of changing the name of the lot, or the zoning from residential to commercial. Once the land is zoned commercial you can assign the land a business.
If you zone the land commercial, the requirements to open a business will appear in the menu. You may also assign traits to the land. Homes on a ley line for example, will have a fertile trait, and twins will more often be born here. You can improve the qualities of any building built on this land, by assigning positive traits.
The next set of menus contains the tools needed to build and decorate the home. The select tool will allow you to escape any other menu, and grab any item. The eye dropper tool is used to duplicate items. (Very handy for building the front and back porch.) There is also a tool to decorate and change colors, or prints, and a sledge hammer to delete anything you have built. You can save your progress, move the house or lot, or bulldoze any building to the ground.
If you have played previous versions of the Sims game, you will find some changes in the Sims 4 build mode. You no longer need to build a foundation for the home, and you can now build a basement. When you build a house, you simply build the walls. The floors and ceilings are automatically added. You can use the up and down arrows on the right-hand corner menu to move down to basement level. This option will open once you build the ground floor.
By scrolling your mouse, you can zoom in and out. A closer look at the land shows the square feet. The $2,000 plot of land is more than enough room for a nice sized house. The Sims will arrive home on the sidewalk. You may want to position the front door of the home facing the sidewalk, so that your Sims can easily come and go.
If you do decide to use the pre-made rooms, you can select them by room. You can also browse the Sims community gallery to find rooms made by other players of the Sims 4 game. Select the rooms, and then fit them together like a jigsaw puzzle. You must be sure that the doorways, and windows are faced in the right direction, and that items do not intercept. If you put rooms together and they intercept, items in the way, highlighted in yellow, will be removed. You will then be refunded the amount of the item from the room price.
Clicking on the room will give you a closer look at the room and you have the option to change the color scheme. As you can see, pre-made rooms are pricey. If you are new to the game, or starting a new Sim, you will need to design, and decorate the home, while staying within the $20,000 budget.
Once you have finished rearranging the rooms, you will have created a new home, and can save it.
If you take time to build a home, be sure to save often, by clicking on save in the options menu.
If you choose the least expensive pre-made rooms you can manage to keep the price under $20,000, and you will save yourself the time of designing, and decorating your Sim’s starter home.
Once you have overcome the frustration of fitting these rooms together, you will have a nice, comfortable home for your Sim to begin their young adult life. You may need to make some rooms bigger, or move some windows and doors around, but in the end, you will have everything your Sim will need in a home.
All these pre-made rooms can be purchased, and constructed within your $20,000 budget. You can save the lot, and move your new Sims in without any problems. They should not have any complications, or need to upgrade the items in the home for a few years of Sim time.
Throw a few flowers, a tree, mailbox, and an outdoor trashcan, and you have a super cute, decorated home made from the pre-made room option.
Next post, I will show how to build a house using the building tools provided in the Sims 4 build mode. Sims 4 build mode is easier to use than in previous versions of the game. And with any aspect of the game, the more expansions, and stuff packs you purchase, the more content your Sims 4 game with have. Every expansion and stuff pack will include new decorations, items, and options for your Sim’s home. Until next time...
Happy Gaming-Sim Girl
For More Posts @simgirl, follow these links:
Creation of A Sim: Creating a Sim From Scratch
Creation of A Sim: An Outfit For Every Occasion
Creation of A Home: Buying the Land
Creation of A Home: Rough Framing
Creation of A Home: The Details
Creation of A Home: Final Touches for Functionality
Picking Sally Steemit’s Life Goal
Sometimes it Is Okay to Cheat
How-to Sim Your Life: A Guide to Winning the Game of Life
