Myshuno’s tips on rotational gameplay in The Sims 4
This guide describes how I’ve been approaching rotational gameplay in The Sims 4. You will find some tips on gameplay settings, links to mods, and some ideas on how to keep things interesting.
A bit of an unconventional post from me, but I hope that this inspires some of you to try out new things, and perhaps rediscover your passion for The Sims 4 gameplay with all (or most) of its nonsense. Read more below.
Why rotational gameplay?
Throughout The Sims 4's entire lifecycle, I really tried to get into generational gameplay a few times: I tried to focus on playing with and expanding one specific family. However, I found myself getting bored each time, ultimately abandoning both the save files and the game itself. Prior to The Sims 4, I'd always gravitated towards rotational gameplay, especially in The Sims 2.
For me, rotational gameplay is all about variety. It involves playing with storylines across different households and neighborhoods. These narratives may intersect or remain entirely separate.
You would enjoy rotational gameplay if:
You want to explore different game mechanics
You want to focus on specific gameplay features that come with various DLCs
You want to play with a diverse set of households (with varying traits, relationship dynamics, careers, etc)
You get easily bored with the progression of your save file when you play with a single household
You fall under the “chaotic” axis on this alignment chart
You probably wouldn’t enjoy rotational gameplay if you know that you’d rather focus on playing with the same household over a long period of time. Some people juxtapose generational and rotational gameplay styles, but I think you can nicely combine the elements of generational gameplay when playing rotationally.
Households that I currently play with include:
Sims of all occult types (some of them aim to excel at their occult shenanigans)
Varying family and relationship dynamics, conflicting personality traits, and conflicting preferences
Different age groups (unless it’s a household comprised of a single Sim)
Sims who pursue all sorts of careers and aspirations (or don't)
Progression and other settings
The story progression principles outlined below are a combination of gameplay settings and personal guidelines I follow.
My general rule is to switch households when a child, teen, young adult, or adult Sim in my current household ages up. I then play through another age phase with a Sim from a different household, and repeat this cycle.
This approach works well if you're managing multiple households with interconnected storylines. It allows me to engage with all my households while ensuring that Sims with related narratives grow and develop together.
For households with a single teen, young adult, adult, or elder Sim, I switch when the household expands or when that Sim dies.
The foundational setup:
Autonomy is set to full
Auto age is enabled for the active household and unplayed households, and I do not speed up aging
Auto age is disabled for played households
Sim lifespan setting is set to normal, with a small adjustment for young adults via MCCC (set to 30 days, more about recommended mods below)
I have the vast majority of pack settings set to default, with a few exceptions:
Sims are not opted out of fame
Lifestyles are disabled
Werewolves are limited to Moonwood Mill
It’s up to you whether you want to enable neighborhood stories or not. I find that the vast majority of the changes that this system introduces in the world are not super balanced (I have a similar issue with lifestyles), so I opt for only enabling a few configurations for other households. I occasionally adjust these settings just to see what happens during one week of in-game time, but I typically have only these enabled:
Leave a career
Retire from career
Join a career
Ok, let’s say you started a new save file. You created a new household, or picked one of the pre-made households. Once you play through the entire age phase of one of the Sims, it is time to switch to a different household. You can create a new household, or pick one of the pre-made households.
Feeling overwhelmed? In case you can’t keep track of what’s going on in your save file, I’d suggest focusing on 2-4 households in your rotations.
Right now, I rotate between 5 household. There were more played households in my save file, but I decided to “give them up” and let the game take the wheel - as mentioned above, I have age up enabled for Sims under other households.
Mods and enhancing game difficulty
Some of the vanilla mechanics and settings already work for rotational gameplay, but mods can definitely make it more exciting and challenging. If you’re looking for a challenge, of course.
Some weeks ago, I decided to return to my save in The Sims 2 after a very long hiatus, and I was absolutely bamboozled by how difficult that game is. The difficulty levels combined with the lack of story progression outside of the played household pushed me to play rotationally.
Personally, I think that such challenges encourage me to try out different gameplay mechanics, and subsequently approach the game differently within the context of each household. Enhancing the difficulty is not a definitive prerequisite for enjoying playing rotationally, but I believe that it can help you discover things that you may not have necessarily reached for previously.
I enjoy it when choices that I make, or events that are out of my control, have consequences. In other words, I like playing stupid games and winning stupid prizes.
Can you play rotationally without any mods? Absolutely. I like a good challenge - however, I don’t personally find the balance of existing systems to be very compelling. That’s why I wanted to include a few of my favorite mods in this post.
You can find the full list of mods that I use here, but below are just a few notable highlights:
MC Command Center. Probably no introduction needed, but you can check out the mod’s documentation and see what kinds of core adjustments you can make using MCCC. Things that I have adjusted include, for example, age phase duration for young adults and relationship culling settings. You can also adjust modifiers that impact relationships, skills, and fame gain.
Random Traits & Aspirations by graycurse. This has been my must-have mod for a long time. I like the idea of not being able to assign traits myself as Sims age up. This also forces me to play with traits that I typically would not typically gravitate towards.
Career Overhaul by kuttoe. In short, this mod significantly enhances the career progression difficulty.
Lower Payments by satira. This is a nice companion mod for kuttoe’s Career Overhaul.
Home Regions by kuttoe. This mod adjust the way townies and household Sims spawn across the different neighborhoods. For instance, it prevents Sims who are not residents of the active neighborhood from spawning there.
Compatibility Matters by bienchen tweaks the relationship changes based on Sim compatibility.
Whim Overhaul by bienchen (in my opinion) vastly improves the whim system.
Trait Overhaul by bienchen tweaks all EAxis traits and makes them impact the gameplay more.
In summary
The key word of this post is variety. Each time I get back to The Sims 4 when playing rotationally, I notice that I’m always looking forward to it.
I think that a lot of really nice The Sims 4 systems and features are not that easy to explore when playing with the same household. This rotational approach to playing the game has definitely helped me discover things that were simply not on my radar, because of how attached I was to specific game mechanics.
Anyway, hope this was helpful! If you have any tips, feel free to share them under this post.
Follow and support me here: Tumblr / Patreon / Instagram / Bluesky / PayPal / Creator code
Time is flying so quickly. It's already February. After a month of Shop the Look, it's time to return to the Soho Set. With part four, I want to pick up on something I wanted to create for the Fayun Set, a modular seating island situation. After further developing the idea, I called it a book lounge, which reminds me of Soho with all its book shops. This Set is also my contemporary answer to the library I created for the Chateau Set :) Spoiler alert: you can mix and match the books from both collections!
The lounge consists of a long Table you can use as a dining table or desk. You can combine it with a seating platform (PSST is a loveseat) and a Ficus planter that slots into the table. The platform has lots of slots perfect for your decoration purposes.
I approached shelves differently this time. For versatility, I separated the poles from the shelves; there are three different height options and two different shelf lengths. They come in metal and wooden swatches. I had quite some fun trying out all the various combinations :) Of course, I filled them with slots until the brim!
No shelves without clutter, I created nine different book arrangements inspired by all sorts of design books. Additionally, I made the Zettel'z Light from Ingo Maurer and had fun creating a painting.
This Set is on Early Access, and you can find it here.
Thank you so much again for the love and support. I can't spoil next month just jet, but I'm sure you will be happy about what is to come :D
Come with us into a world full of miracles and magic and create the fairy tale wonderland you always dreamed of as a child.
This month is a special one for me as I didn't work by myself, The Clutter Cat and I joined forces to create this kid's set together for you:)
What many of you don't know yet, The Clutter Cat and I studied fashion design together and we have been friends for 12 years now :). Over the years we also worked together on various projects and it felt natural to eventually create a collection for The Sims 4.
Fairy tales and extraordinary creatures inspire this month's collection. Castle-style bunk beds, a cardboard castle, a unicorn desk chair - it's all about creating your holistic dream world.
I think the set turned out very detailed and sweet, in one word ⋆ FAIRYLICIOUS ⋆
This Collection is on Early Access and if you are interested you will find it here
Hi! Lullaby Nursery is a set of 6 items for your pixel nurseries. The set comes in 2 versions: first version is base game compatible, second version requires the Growing Together EP. Select and download only one version.
In case you couldn't tell, I really like leather handles in my objects. I'm super excited for you to try these items out in-game.
Thank you to the EA Creator Network program for providing me with a copy of the new pack. As always, custom content is not affiliated with EA. You can read more about the items and see the in-game preview below! Enjoy!
Download set (always free on Patreon) / Follow me on social media
Here's what you get:
Infant crib, 17 swatches, 150§
Changing table (base game version - functions as a dresser, Growing Together version - functions as a changing table), 17 swatches, 250§
End table, 17 swatches, 80§
Toy box, 17 swatches, 100§
Wall decal, 21 swatches, 80§
Nursery chair (base game version - functions as a living chair, Growing Together version - functions as a rocking chair), 12 swatches, 200§
More info and credits:
Base game compatible
New meshes, all LODs
Custom specular and normal maps
Custom catalog thumbnails, tagged swatches
Swatches are from my personal palette and from peacemaker-ic’s color palettes
All custom textures by me, wood texture is based on this macrovector pattern and is modified by me
You can search for “lullaby" or “myshunosun” in the buy catalog to quickly access these items.
Follow and support me here: Tumblr / Twitter / Patreon / Instagram / CurseForge
Little Whiners - Base Game Changing Stations [GET NOW Patreon $5 Tier]
Your little bundle of joy deserves a place to sit down, relax, and get that messed up diaper out of the picture now please! The Little Whiners Changing Stations are that, and so much more!
Highlights:
Base Game Compatible Changing Stations: Unlock a world of possibilities with your infants' nursery rooms with these fully base game compatible changing stations, no growing together pack required at all!
Wall variant: No space in the nursery room for a free standing changing table? No problem! Little Whiners offers a version of this item that goes on the wall, and folds closed into a neat, colorful box;
Matching Bin: Aesthetics are everything, even if the little ones can't tell yet, but they will when they'll look at their baby pics growing up! Decorate in style and match the changing tables with the colorful diaper bin;
Artsy swatches: Look at that blank piece of wood on that table.. it sure could use some color! Spice up these pieces of furniture with kid friendly stickers, or chalk drawings by the little ones themselves!
Matches Growing Together: Own the new expansion pack already? Awesome! These nursery room pieces match perfectly the color swatches of Growing Together;
This collection is the perfect choice for a pop of sweetness in your child’s wardrobe. 🍭🌈
Available to children, toddlers and infants! 👶🍼
This look consists of 3 items:
🌸 A charming cap featuring cute cat ears and a bow, adding a playful touch to any outfit.
👗 A stylish and comfortable outfit that’s as cute as can be, designed with vibrant colors and fun patterns. It also comes with a star-shaped bag, perfect for carrying their little treasures.
The infant’s update was released, and a lot of us have been playing and adoring them, including me, the player that usually speeds the clock to my game kids grow up fast.
These cute little guys need a lot of love so I’m releasing my first set focused on kids.
This set started with the Cribs. I saw this acrylic one many months ago and swear that I almost bought it for my dog. So I waited for the patch and tried to create it but, as any crib has an alpha layer(the mesh layer that allows us to add transparency), I had to almost construct an item from scratch to get this on the game, and love it so much!
I even thought of releasing this set with some toddler items but there are plenty of items that I want to create for toddlers now so maybe a next set focused on toddlers’ stuff.
You will get with this 22 new items and 3 new wallpapers;
I tried to focus on the Cribs and I really want a Crib that I could decorate by myself so I made a separate mattress, pillows, and even a blanket to place on it. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to add more slots to the cribs so I recommend placing the crib first and decorating it when you are sure about the crib position;
There are some items that need a specific pack to play so pay attention to the list below;
Base Game Items:
Armchair Ondina - 23 Swatches;
Dresser - 30 Swatches - Same design as the changing Station but I bit smaller and is BG compatible;
Crib Acrylic - 9 Swatches (including some fun ones);
Crib Wood - 30 Swatches;
Deco Bassinet Wood - 30 Swatches;
Made to be used with Sixam’s Invisible Bassinet Mod. To know more about it, go to the mod page: https://www.patreon.com/posts/invisible-80088219
Flag - 19 swatches;
Wall Hanger - 23 Swatches;
Crib Mattress - 32 Swatches;
Crib Side Pillow - 32 Swatches;
Crib Side Pillow Roll - 32 Swatches;
Crib Blanket - 32 Swatches;
Ceiling Lamp - 5 Swatches, all 3 wall heights;
Leaf Rug - 19 Swatches;
Regia Rug - 19 Swatches;
Tamanduá Stool (a.k.a Anteater) - It’s an EndTable with two slots over it - 10 Swatches;
Tamanduá Toy (a.k.a Anteater) - it’s a toy - 7 Swatches;
Wardrobe - 30 Swatches;
Nifty Knitting SP
Tornet Rocking Chair - 30 Swatches
Growing Together EP
Changing Station - 30 Swatches
I know that some creators released it BG Compatible and I’m investigating it. If I manage to create it I’ll add a BG version separately;
My name is Emanuel and I'm here to post my very first CC online.
Here I bring you 6 different top surgery scars in 5 different swatches. The procedures I chose are "Double Incision, Inverted T, Fishmouth, Peri-Aerolar, Keyhole and Minor Scar" Both double incision and Inverted T have 2 versions.
Swatches: Light, Medium, Dark and Deep were created to work with as many skin tones possible, as seen in the image above. I also added a 5th swatch that aims to match the already existing scars the game maxis has given us.
I would like to clarify that I'm not a trans man myself, I'm a queer individual. So I don't know the experience of going through top surgery, I tried my best to do the proper research by reading articles written by clinics who perform top surgery and reading/watching blogs from transmen who have gone through with the procedure. If you believe I did a disservice please don't hesitate to let me know so I can fix it with your feedback or take it down if needed.
We are kicking 2022 off with a new concept that I’m hoping will be just the first of many more to come…Shop The Look! This series transforms real life into The Sims, as you can see from the 2nd & 3rd images. The real life inspiration comes from the furniture store West Wing & you can Shop The Look for real HERE. It was really fun to take an inspiration image and try and recreate as close to possible in The Sims, which is very different to how I normally create sets.
Set Includes:
Armchair
Loveseat
Sofa
Sideboard
End Table
Coffee Table
Floor Lamp
David Sculpture
Wooden Decorative Bowl
Decorative Marble Tray
Decorative Marble Tray with Candle
Now Available on Patreon Early Access
Public Release: 6th February
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This also happens to be a mini collab month with Felixandre as he has also created a Shop The Look set, which pairs beautifully with this. Below is a GIF showing the set, but you can find all the details over on his Patreon page HERE
With the first set safely released, I’m now off to catch a flight to Berlin…I wonder who I could be going to visit & what could be happening next month….
Hello helloHere's the last part of the Coldbrew Coffee Shop ! I apologize for being very late.. I hope you'll understand and I thank you for your patience ❤️
This new set is composed of 14 new items, with a lot of swatches to make the coffee shop of your dreams! Again, don't hesitate to tag me when you post some builds, I'd love to see your builds! 😀
All the items are base game except for the espresso bar, and the cake stand that are Get to Work and Get Together compatible :).
You can find all the items by searching for COLDBREW or Pierisim ;).
The set will be available for the public the 8th of November!
Again, thank you all for your kindness, your support and your patience. I wish you a very good day or night ❤️
The last part of the COLDBREW Coffee Shop is now out for everyone! Let’s have a break and a coffee! Speaking of break, I’m slowly working on the December set, and I’ll send you some wip as soon as I can! 😀
Thank you again for your amazing support, I send you tones of love! ❤️
Welcome to month two of the Spoons Collection! This second part is a 32 piece collection to bring your café and retail dreams to life, as well as giving you a brand new kitchen for your homes too 😜
Full overview video: https://youtu.be/t9PAtOUtpxw
All items are Base Game compatible with the exception of the Espresso Bar which requires the Get Together EP to be fully functional.
Farming rice is one of the most soothing and tranquil tasks for the mind and… well, strengthening for the body. This stunning 200 year old japanese farmhouse provides the calming therapy of rural life and its traditions, while not forgetting about your contemporary needs. It allows you to find purpose in living in symbiosis with the cows, the chicks, the shepherd dog and the local wild birds and rabbits. Watch the sundown while listening to the soft water sounds - finally feel truly at peace.
1 Bedroom, 1 Bathroom
2-5-1 Wakabamori in Mt. Komorebi (50x50)
136.886 Simoleons
Packs Used: Cottage Living, Snowy Escape, Get Famous, Seasons, Cats & Dogs, Get Together, Journey to Batuu, Jungle Adventure, Outdoor Retreat
+ contains custom content by @felixandresims and @harrie-cc. You’ll find a full CC list with links in the patreon post.
Download: free on patreon / origin @ honeybellabuilds
Watch the Speed Build: https://youtu.be/0XYr-P0TPcE
I'm always on the look out for more cottagecore themed wallpaper, and Cottage Living has only increased my need - so I made my own! This comes with both dark brown and white panelling, and looks great in bedrooms, living areas, or as a fun feature wall.
@maxismatchccworld @mmoutfitters
Details and download under the cut
BGC
Available with dark brown and white panelling
Works for all three wall heights
Download on SFS (ad-free): http://www.simfileshare.net/download/2616436/
Download on Google Drive (ad-free): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Mkm1oIq78tTi8R8GvSktfDdm4n19BXjM/view?usp=sharing
As always, please let me know if there's any issues, and I hope you enjoy it! I might make some plain paint swatch versions that match the colours of the pattern - let me know if that's something you'd be interested in!
Hello hello Tumblr simmers !
It's time, the final part of the Oak House collection, the kids bedroom is now out for everyone on my Patreon! You can find the link down below ! This set is divided into two .zip files because it was too heavy to upload it on Patreon, so make sure to get the two of them 😁 Also, for some of you when opening the link, it show the tiers choice first, just scroll down of go to posts to find the two download posts 😉
Thank you all for your amazing support and lovely comments, it means so so much to me 💚
This mini kit contains 11 new items, with lot of swatches, perfect for homeworking ! It includes decorative landline and printer, two plants (because we never have enough plants) books, etc :). You can find all the items by typing « the office » in the search bar.
All of the items are base game compatible
This set is on early access now and will be public the 25th of April!
dededos
turnnoffyourmind
origamiaround
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
jbbartram-illu
yousharknotpass
areudirty
