New Guides Sentiments are Free for All Players. You can also learn about the Snowy Escape Expansion and explore our pages on Climbing Mt. Komorebi, The new Lifestyles system, get Snowy Escape Cheats, and see the three new skills: Skiing, Rock Climbing, and Snowboarding. More Coming Soon!

New Patch!: Learn about the new Platform tool, which came with Sentiments and rental lot types in a free update.
Top 50 Mods: Top 50 Best Mods in The Sims 4. They are not ranked, but these are my favorites.

The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle

New Gameplay Ideas and Different Play Styles

Sim using the fabricator in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
My Sim being drowned by the Fabricator. He lived, and gained a new respect for machinery.

Because of the gameplay additions in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle, I think at least a couple unique play styles are supported and I'd like to share those ideas because I believe some people will find them fun. Share your own ideas in the comments below.

Eco Lifestyle Guides

The Freegan

Sleeping in a Dumpster in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
You can nap in a dumpster any time you like. It's not quite sleep but it does perk your Sim up a bit.

Freegan is a new trait in Eco Lifestyle. Its theme is anti-consumerism, meaning they actually hate to buy things and players who embrace this idea may find Sims 4 to be a bit different than usual.

Freegans actually get in a bad mood when they spend too much money, and prefer that everything they get be free. This idea sounds fairly interesting - Start from scratch and use the new dumpster diving and base game collecting (or other means of gathering like Island Living's beach combing).

Try to avoid upsetting your Sim and only purchase things when necessary. While at first you will not have much, you can find furniture in the garbage and feed yourself from sustainable activities like using the bug motels, fishing, or catching frogs.

Dumpsters in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle. Dumpster dive to find helpful items.
Dumpster diving is actually a fine way to make some money, especially if you recycle the things you find and fabricate them into funiture.

Diving for deals will get you free stuff, and freegans actually get a boost that will help them to find the more random items in the garbage.

Take on the Fabrication skill and slowly use the bits and pieces you find in the garbage to create new, better furniture. Everything furniture related can be crafted, and you could even take on woodworking to add on the wooden tubs and toilets. Just sand it well so you don't get a splinter in your butt.

You can recycle things you find dumpster diving. Now you're talking! Free materials for crafting at the fabricator.
You can get free materials (and meals) dumpster diving. When you find things you don't feel safe to eat, you can recycle them to get Bits and Pieces (new crafting materials)!

It will give you an advantage but you can use the new Lot Trait called, "Reuse and Recycle" which will make trash pile up faster. The garbage men will only come once a week, so you need to keep your trash at a minimum by taking advantage of compostables and recyclables.

The Freegan Trait can be combined with Recycle Disciple if you'd like a little boost to your Sim's enjoyment of recycling. Be warned, the description of this trait falls off so I believe if you do not recycle regularly they might just break something down on their own to scratch that itch.

Off The Grid

Clean up your neighborhood of Evergreen Harbor in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
Don't make a Green Eco Footprint your only goal. You'll only get rid of the trash if you pass a Green or Modern Development Neighborhood Action Plan.

Eco LIfestyle enhances off the grid play by making you work for power and water if your Sim wants to make use of it. This playstyle will offer a bit of difficulty at the start because you won't have access to much power with starting funds if you build a regular house.

Playing with the new Green Fiend trait, work to make your neighborhood totally green by taking advantage of solar panels, windmills, and sustainable fuels for generators such as those made by using the bug houses.

Work on handiness to upgrade your windmills and solar panels to be unbreakable, install a living roof to collect water. Water can also be collected at fishing spots and you can also install dew collectors to give your Sim a bit of water. If you don't mind industrial objects, there's a much more powerful water collector available.

Items that work with Off the Grid can be found in build mode in their own category, and thanks to that you will know what items will work or help you in some way to support this style of play. You can load ice into refrigerators to keep things cool without power, and gather the water your Sim needs for a bath from a fishing spot when your dew collectors aren't putting out enough.

Your home can be lit initially with just candles, but you may want to build with some fire resistant materials in those areas that are lit. You could even go so far as to make this your only light source to cut down on power usage.

The Industrialist

Civil Designer is the new career in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
Civil Designer has both a Green Technician and Civic Planner Career Track. This is the only new Career in The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle

While living in a clean world is ideal to many people, there are plenty who are bored with it and want to live in the dirtiest world possible. This playstyle embraces trash and contributes to pollution.

Take the Maker Trait and perhaps Evil, because you will see suffering Sims and you may get a happy boost when they're uncomfortable due to the smog. It's like the opposite of Good or Bro. If you build up your Fabrication and Woodworking skills, you can make a lot of cash and will get access to handiness upgrades.

Build generators and power them for your electricity and sell it back to the power company. Make them reliable through handiness upgrades and put out more power to pad your income. While it's unlikely you can live entirely on bills, you can ensure your Sim is doing their best to make the world a nastier place. Relish in the smog, feel satisfaction when Sims cough, and use influence to make sure policies that help you generate more power and avoid those awful green roofs.

I put this idea down, but I'm not quite sure yet how it'd go but I feel it's worth discussing. See, this pack is all about that green side of things and while some players want trash, I think it might get a bit old.

During marketing for this pack, the emphasis was always on making things green and the auroras. Hell, it's called Eco Lifestyle. So I'm afraid while it may be an option to play this way and contribute to pollution, there may not be enough changes to make it feel truly unique.

Eco Lifestyle Guides

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Comments (10)

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Regular
Aurelia Auritasays...

I'd like to see changes like in Sims 3 when there were both the Utopia and the Dystopia as possible future scenarios. Being able to change a neighbourhood to the worse is a good start, however. Some traits supporting that kind of behaviour would have been nice, but at least we got four new traits instead of only one or none at all. So perhaps I shouldn't demand too much at this point.

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New
Seputo Manieusays...

The fabricator construction time has to be cut by at least 25% but preferably more around 50%. It just takes way too long to make things through it. Same thing applies to making candles. Another issue with the fabricator and the long crafting time is that it often will *fail* and if that happens you can't resume and you're forced to scratch the object and start over. Unacceptable.

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New
Jakesays...

WHAT?! You’re telling me “Industrialist” isn’t an official feature of this game?!

C’mon, it would be a perfect trait for this pack (especially since it’s presumed opposite “Green Fiend” is useless, redundant, and vaguely worded): “These Sims LOVE money and don’t care about pollution or depleting natural resources and aren’t afraid to get other Sim’s hands dirty to protect their bottom line.”

…Or a new “Disrupter” aspiration (under “Deviance”): “These Sims love causing trouble wherever they go. If some do-gooder is trying to better their community, the Disrupter is there to stop them: from infiltrating protests to hijacking neighborhood ballots. This Sim isn’t happy until everyone else is miserable.”

Would also work as a new part time career (perfect for Mean/Evil teens)… often paid (off-the-books, of course) by Industrialist Sims.

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Admin
Playalotsays...

The Official Forums have an Ideas Board where you can share these types of ideas etc. OF's Ideas Board

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New
BobDeNobsays...

Your "Industrialist" sounds like a biography of Monty Burns.

<steeples fingers>

Eeexxcellent

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New
Smileysays...

How do you get the ice for the refrigerator?

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Admin
Playalotsays...

If you have the Lot Trait 'Off The Grid' on your played lot then click on a fridge and you'll see the option 'Add Ice.

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New
Faithsays...

Does anyone else’s bugs die within a day or two? I’m not sure what to do about this

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New
Dezzysays...

You have to "nurture" them when their health begins to decline. I've found that you'll need to nurture them at least a handful of times before it brings their health back up. I'm pretty sure it will work more quickly if they have the "well fed" buff from feeding them compost.

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Admin
Playalotsays...

Yes, if you can and want to LittleMsSam has made a mod that fixes the decay motive timer making the insect farms playable: Look under the heading 'Eco Lifestyle DLC" and the mod is called "Nurture Gives More Health' Nurture Gives More Health mod

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New
BobDeNobsays...

Re: running around in garbage town getting old.

City of Villains had the same problem, they made the bad guys' city a dump, and nobody wanted to be there. On the other end of the spectrum, without the strawman villainy, even cartoonish eco-hobo'ing played for laughs would quickly turn into the nightmare it is.

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New
Deanna Lindseysays...

Which is best for green, plumbing high consumption rate or low? I know the higher the rate, the more expensive the item.

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New
Simonymoussays...

Any Idea what all you could get from the dumpster

Are they limited to items from the pack/ base game?

Can you get skill building elements?

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New
Dave Hudlowsays...

We need a industrial revolution to make eco lifestyles better, imagine factory lots, fighting for productivity over recycling and protesting against the eco fiends. Industrial perks, buildings (Generic, residential, and/or communities), industrial footprint type objects medium to huge with large power and water consumption, lot traits for occasional power outages and water shortages from mass power and water usage. ( 2 hours is short from small usage, 12 hours for moderate, and 24 hours for max usage, weekends have none do to workdays end on Friday at 330 pm and start on Monday at 6. Notifications occassionally may show some work days are off due to holidays, accidents, weather, and other factors. Loads more can be achieved from this idea and other ideas I have for industrial revolutions and eco friendly life.

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New
Denise Lyonssays...

The only thing i'm having problems with is how does the dew collectors work?

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Admin
Playalotsays...

You place them into your game on your Sim home lot and they magically collect water and so reduce your over all water Utility bill.



Sims 4 Snowy Escape

The Sims 4 Snowy Escape launches November 13, 2020 and my coverage has started. Until I get my review ready, you can learn about the following:

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Lifestyles in Snowy Escape
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Sentiments in Snowy Escape
Rock Climbing
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Sentiments & Platforms (Free Patch!)

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There is a new platform tool in The Sims 4. There's also a new Sentiments system, but it'll take some time to create a guide to that. Players can also use rental lots in any world now by changing lot types of builds in manage worlds.

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Nifty Knitting is now available. Learn all about the stuff pack on my guide page here.

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New features in the Sims 4 June 2020
The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle Guide
Eco Footprint: How it Works
Neighborhood Action Plans
How to Cheat in Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle
Civil Designer Career
Insect Farms & Bio Fuel
Fabrication Skill in Eco Lifestyle
Juice Fizzing NEW
Traits and Aspirations in DLC
Gameplay Ideas for Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle

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The Sims 4 Discover University Expansion Pack

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