Disabling Seasions But Keeping its Stuff - Want to disable weather or make plants in season year-round? You can do so with my new Seasons Tuner Mod Improving Sims 4: The past month, I've spent every day tinkering The Sims 4, making quality of life improvements, gameplay changes, and new difficulty settings for the game. If you'd like to learn more about my project, visit the post on Patreon where you can download it now.
The Sims 4 Pets: Cats and Dogs DLC
Guide & Expansion Pack Features
The Sims 4 Cats and Dogs will bring pets to the game on November 10, 2017. While the usual 'pets' pack will not include horses this time around, it does attempt to bring loads of detail to the two featured pet types. Below you'll find a list of many new additions you'll receive with the Cats and Dogs Expansion. It's not an exhaustive list of new stuff, but does give you a good idea of the main gameplay you'll get if you buy the pack.
Pets Guides (UPDATED)
I'm just getting started on these because my review copy came late through no fault of the Sims team. For now we have:
Explore My Mods! Color Picker for Builders, Seasons Tuner, Dine Out Reloaded and a Gameplay Overhaul! Like other modders, I've been working to make The Sims 4 a better game. Check out my many mods here!
Click to Enlarge. Create-a-Pet
The new DLC features a fully functional Create-a-Pet system. While using it, you'll have all the tools and options you need to customize your Sims' pets. Common Dog and cat breeds are available to choose from, and you can further customize the look of your companion animals. Each pet takes up one slot in the household (max 7 with one Sim). Pets can be made from a young age (kitten/puppy), natural or neutered. Since every pet is unique, you can also select traits for your dog or cat which will influence their behavior.
Cats and Dogs can made to be mixed breed - I've made a small guide to how to do it here.
Playing with Cats and Dogs
Click to Enlarge. A cat and puppy from the game's trailer.
Aside from making a cat or dog in Create-a-Pet, you can also adopt one using your Sim's phone. During the adoption process you can actually screen pets and choose whether you'll decide to adopt them if you like the animal.
Pets will liven up Sims' lives in a number of ways. First, you will have to care for them, for example walk dogs, feed them and take them to the vet when they're sick, else they can be taken away. Kids who do this will gain responsibility from the Parenting pack.
Click to Enlarge. A dalmatian having fun with his owner in the park.
You can't control your pets, but you can teach them. Pets can be trained and your Sims will build up relationships with them in the process. Is the cat shredding furniture? Scold it and teach it not to do that, and it'll gradually stop using this behavior. Housebreak your dogs and teach them to go outside. Many players seem to like this feature, as it's more realistic than giving the player the ability to control what the pet does. You can't see their moods, you can only check how they're doing.
The new presence of animals in the Sim household will blend in perfectly with the base game and other expansion packs. For example, Pets can travel with you to Granite Falls or Sixam should you wish to have them along for the trip.
Pets can get pregnant, and can be encouraged to breed. If you fail to have your pet neutered, they may run away and come back pregnant. They'll run away regardless, but you can prevent 'surprises'. Pregnancy can result in 1-3 puppies or kittens, depending on household space and randomness. When pets get pregnant, it's possible to sell the puppies or kittens. Adult animals can be put up for adoption if you no longer want them.
Veterinarian and Pet Training Skill
Click to Enlarge. The new veterinarian career lets you care for cats and dogs by either playing one, or taking your sick pet to be cured. Pets can only die of old age in the Expansion.
New paintings and new clothing and hair styles are also in the Expansion
There's a new Pet Training skill you can use to teach your pet tricks and useful abilities. Should you wish to further specialize in caring for animals, you can try the new Veterinarian career and do it for a living. Playing a Veterinarian is a lot like owning a business. You'll have to staff it, and manage treatments of animals. Customers will judge you based on employee impressions, the level of care and your efficiency. You can customize your veterinary business by using perk points.
New treatments unlock as your Sim gains levels in the Veterinary skill, which is separate from owning a veterinary clinic. There's actually some viable money-making opportunity in creating special pet treats, which can be sold from the Sim's inventory. You can actually treat your own pets if you purchase veterinary equipment for your home ,though they are big and expensive. It may be helpful as a time-saver if you have many pets, though most players will opt to have the medicine crafting lab instead of a full-blown surgery machine costing many thousands. Special treats can be given to your pets, including one that acts as ambrosia and will bring pets back to life. You can also make them immortal, by producing age down potions for when they become elders.
Click to Enlarge. Brindleton Bay, the new neighborhood in The Sims 4 Cats and Dogs
A new world is featured in the DLC - Brindleton Bay, and it's got a beautiful New England look. New lot traits have been included in the pack as well - Training spot, cat/dog friendly, dog spot and cat spot. There are new collectibles (features) aspirations for Sims to pursue, and Sim traits. Naturally the pack also features plenty of new build/buy mode objects that can be used to accent your Sim's home or vet office. Some of these are interactive, such as the vending machine and medicine crafting table.
Overall there's quite a bit of new content in the Expansion that can't be listed here just yet. I'll dig into the gameplay the weekend of release and work on guides for cats and dogs, the veterinarian and any Sim skills.
Cats and Dogs Trailer
How You Can Support The Site and Channel
If you like my sites and Youtube Channel, consider supporting me on Patreon to help me to continue.
We now have a Youtube Channel with over 50 guides in video format to go along with the huge site I've already created. Check it out and consider subscribing if you like my style.
{"commentics_url":"\/\/www.carls-sims-4-guide.com\/comments31\/","page_id":181,"enabled_country":false,"enabled_state":false,"state_id":0,"enabled_upload":false,"maximum_upload_amount":3,"maximum_upload_size":5,"securimage":false,"securimage_url":"\/\/www.carls-sims-4-guide.com\/comments31\/3rdparty\/securimage\/securimage_show.php?namespace=cmtx_181","lang_text_drag_and_drop":"Drag & drop images (max 3)","lang_text_drop_success":"Success","lang_text_drop_error":"Error","lang_error_file_num":"Only {{fi-limit}} files are allowed to be uploaded.","lang_error_file_type":"Only images are allowed to be uploaded.","lang_error_file_size":"{{fi-name}} is too large! Please upload files up to {{fi-maxSize}} MB.","lang_error_file_size_all":"The files you've chosen are too large! Please upload files up to {{fi-maxSize}} MB.","lang_text_loading":"Loading ..","lang_placeholder_state":"State","lang_text_country_first":"Please select a country first","lang_button_processing":"Please Wait..","lang_button_submit":"Add Comment","lang_button_preview":"Preview"}
When you click on one pet there should be an option 'be friendly with...' click this. A menu pops up and you can choose who your pet is to go and be friendly to. Your sim has to know both pets for this to work as your sim has to know the target sim/pet for them to appear in the menu choice.
I can't figure out how pet pregnancy works! I can encourage to mate, but it has worked nearly everytime with my dogs, but never with my cats! Is there any info yet on the details?
There is a bug report thread with many reports on various issues with cat breeding. Bug Report: Problems with Cat Breeding I'm not sure if there are any solutions but have a read through and hopefully you might find something to help.
I have a single sim with 7 pets (don’t hurt me please) and I want to know how long it will be for two of my cats before they become elders. Is it possible to see how many days, like with Sims?
Hi! Can someone tell me how to get my puppy up and downstairs? my sim took my puppy upstairs to give him a bath and now I cant get him back downstairs!
2 of my pets have been stuck on orange mood even though i have catered for their need (change litter box ETC). is there a way to reset pets? i have tried using the reset sims cheat but it did not work
If you have given your pet a wellness vet treat or taken them to a vet for a preventative shot they get stuck in this negative mood. There is a work around EA Bug Report - and workaround
I've tried to get my dogs to mate 7 different times now. The hearts fly up and it looks like they kiss. The Encourage so-and-so to Mate option is grayed out saying to wait a day or so to see if it took. It hasn't taken yet. Any tips?
Sounds like everything is working as normal. You do have to wait a bit to see if the pet is pregnant. If they bump noses and hearts happen...that is the pets mating.
Hi. I have a few questions. How do you teach your dogs to do tricks and to increase your pet training skills. I only get the heel icon and it seem like the dog is not doing anything. I'm lost.
When your sim click on their pet you will see a category 'Training' and 'Trained Commands'. Trained commands are the ones the pet has already learned. To teach new commands to your pet click on one of the options under 'Training' and this will start the animations of your sim teaching this to their pet. It takes a while and sometimes a few goes but it can be continued at any time by accessing the same menu. Sims level up in their training skill while doing this. You can also take your sim to the obstacle park or place the obstacle items down on your home lot.
Thanks. I need to see if the training option comes up. I think I didn't see it when I tried to train my dog. That's why I was lost with how to train them.
So my kitten needs to go to the potty, but I don't know how to do it. Going with her near the potty won't help and I can't train her, I don't know why. What should I do?
Make sure the litter tray has loads of empty space around it. Going near the litter box with your cat should eventually result in the cat/kitten using it. It is a bit of a long process without an option to make a kitten use it. At this point I'm not sure if it's a glitch or intended.
Anyone know how to train dogs peeing? When they need to pee, they dont try by themselves and I always have to tell them to pee.. it’s quite annoying when I hav lots of things to do :(
Dogs need to be taught how to pee outside. Click on your dog and use the 'ask to go potty' interaction. It takes about 5 times or so and then the dog will have learned how to pee outside autonomously.
Hi! I made a family a long time ago, and I play with that family most of the time when I'm playing the sims 4. But i recently bought the cats and dogs expansion pack, and wanted to at a dog to their household. So I made another household with the dog I wanted, and moved it in with my family. But now I can't train it. I found out what I needed to do, was to give it up for adoption, and then adopt it again. But when I did, they lost their relationship and the dog became aggressive, independent and jumpy, and before I gave it up for adoption it was friendly, loyal and smart. What do you think I should do? Thank you for all advice.
You can take the family into CAS using the testingcheats on then cas.fulleditmode on cheats and change the traits of the dog. It's probably easier to add pets to households through the Manage Households menu.
NO STRAYS MOD/CHEAT Does anybody know the cheat or if there's a mod out there to deactivate the strays in the game? I run an animal shelter in RL and everytime I see a stray animal in the game (specially when they're crying for food) it just wounds me, even if they aren't real. I can't keep playing like this, I'm in pain
Haven't seen one yet but wouldn't surprise me to see a modder make one. Meantime enable testingcheats on and you can shift click the strays and 'make happy'. This will basically fill all their needs. They sometimes still whine like they are hungry but I think that is just the animation playing out. You can also take pet food bowls with you in your sims inventory and place them in the world and feed the strays that way.
Is anyone else unable to marry after downloading Cats & Dogs? I have tried removing/disabling mods, repairing game multiple times, removing Sims 4 to desktop and regenerating, including no mods and/or sims. Issue remains in a brand new Sims 4 generated file, played using pre-installed Sims. These sims were not vampires, so I imagine it has nothing to do with that bug. Elope immediately and get married are both options, but they disappear when selected as an action. I've seen only one other post about this on the EA forums, but no one gave an answer.
The option to get engaged and married is working perfectly in my game and I have all the DLC to date. Remove all cc and all mods to your desktop completely outside of the game files. Delete the localthumbcache.package file from your TheSims 4 folder. Start a brand new game and play until you have two sims romantically involved until the option to get engaged appears. Don't use cheats. Get the 2 sims engaged and then married. if this all works correctly then you'll know it is a broken mods issue.
Can someone please tell me how to buy clothes for your cat/dog. My sassy kitty keeps getting out of the apt. I've locked the doors for pets but I'm sure she'll get out when people come to visit. I feel like I've looked everywhere, even the vet and can't figure it out. Thank you in advance if anyone knows!
Just take a sim to a dresser and go into CAS, the whole family including the pets will be there so you can dress them as you want to. Not sure what you mean about a vet not knowing
Thank you so much Playalot for the answer. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that. What I was referring to was the vending machine at the vets office. When I saw that I thought for sure it would sell them. I’m so very thankful you answered my question. Off to buy my kitties collars for when they sneek out. Thank you again!
Does anyone know where to find your pets that have died? My sim is a level 10 veterinarian, so I'm able to bring pets back to life. I've crafted the ambrosia treat, however, my problem is that I haven't encountered my ghost pets. Are they at the pet cemetery? Or do they show up at my house? I have both of their urns at my house, and I've left sugar skull offerings, but they still haven't shown up.
It takes up to a week sometimes for a ghost to appear out of their urn. Make sure your sim is on the lot with the urns between the hours of 11pm and 6am each day and eventually the ghost pets will appear.
There is a wait time between encouraging your pet to mate and getting the in-game notification that your pet is pregnant. Perhaps you have just not played long enough.
In Sims 4 Cats and Dogs, are we able to save a pet as a breed? Let's say for instance your pets had a puppy or kitten and you want to save that pet as a new breed. Can you do that? Can you also take a pet in a household and possibly put is CAS (change appearance or use cas full edit mode) and save it as a breed?
I had thought there was a way to do this but all I've been able to do is just save the newly made 'mixed breed' as a made up name. However this doesn't actually save it to the CAS dog breed menu/list.
How can I make it so my dog can go to the bathroom by himself in the back yard? Every time she needs to go she barks and whines at the door instead of just going out herself.
Take your dog outside, either by taking it on a leash or moving your sim outside and then calling the dog. Then use the interaction 'ask to go potty'. After doing this a few times your sims dog will learn how to pee outside and you'll get a notification to let you know.
No as this is the way to teach the dogs how to pee outside. My dogs learn after 2-3 times doing this. If you are using mods or cc take them out, delete the localthumbcache.package file from your TheSims 4 folder and try in a new game. If it works then you'll know it's a mods issue.
Just got the pack at 50% off, really enjoying it so far. I had an older gay couple who were trying to make it in the Entertainment business, and I never realized how much they were missing a tiny foufou dog. I ended up adopting a cat because none of the dogs were attractive enough/had good traits.One thing I'd like to see more content on is the Simstagram interaction with your pet. Your photography skill increases, but also I've been getting rewards at higher levels of followers (starting with no photography skill at all, I might add!). A cute little feature that deserves a paragraph somewhere :)Thanks as always!
Is there any way to get rid of the companion relationship between a sim and a pet? I've noticed that sims can be companions with more than one animal, but i can't get the pets to have more than one companion.
I think this is a bit glitchy as my pet is companion to both adults sims in the household and the option has recently appeared for the children as well. Maybe try deleting the localthumbcache.package file from your TheSims 4 folder and seeing if that changes anything. I guess it could be removed using the trait.remove_trait traitnamenospaces cheat but sometimes traits in-game are a littel different to the cheat. so try trait.remove_trait companion while in live mode with your game paused on the sim who you want to remove this from. Like I said, not sure if this will work though.
HELP! I have no option to create pets when making sims? but it shows on the Sims home screen i do have the pets expansion pack? Am I missing something obvious?
{"commentics_url":"\/\/www.carls-sims-4-guide.com\/comments31\/","page_id":181,"flash_id":0,"scroll_reply":true,"scroll_speed":1000,"lang_text_view":"View","lang_text_reply":"reply","lang_text_replies":"replies","lang_text_replying_to":"You are replying to","lang_title_cancel_reply":"Cancel this reply","lang_link_cancel":"[Cancel]","lang_text_not_replying":"You are not replying to anyone","lang_button_loading":"Loading..","lang_button_more":"More Comments","show_read_more":false,"read_more_limit":150,"highlight":true,"date_auto":true,"show_pagination":true,"pagination_type":"multiple","timeago_suffixAgo":"ago","timeago_inPast":"a moment","timeago_seconds":"less than a minute","timeago_minute":"a minute","timeago_minutes":"%d minutes","timeago_hour":"an hour","timeago_hours":"%d hours","timeago_day":"a day","timeago_days":"%d days","timeago_month":"a month","timeago_months":"%d months","timeago_year":"a year","timeago_years":"%d years"}
The Sims 4 Seasons expansion now has options! Want to disable weather or make plants in season year-round? You can do so with my new Seasons Tuner Mod
Disable Seasons individually
Always Sunny! Set to Base Game Weather
Grow Year Round - Make Plants Always in Season!
Healthy Year Round - No more Winter twigs
Disable Color Changes - on ALL Plants & Trees
Disable Fall Leaves
Disable Ground Snow
Keep the Stuff You Paid For!
A Deeper Game
The past month, I've spent every day tinkering The Sims 4, making quality of life improvements, gameplay changes, and new difficulty settings for the game. If you'd like to learn more about my project, visit the post on Patreon where you can download it now.
I have much more to come, since you can actually write a few guides about this pack!
Calling all Blender Users
Blender has been incredibly useful in video production, so I made my own Physics and Simulation Improvement Addon that lumps a ton of unique tools into one compact interface.
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:
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.
Best Mods in Sims 4
I've created a massive List of The Best Mods in The Sims 4 that should be very helpful to new players and those who have not yet explored modding and how much it can do for your gameplay.
Readers who use adblock or those who'd like to thank me for my efforts can now pledge $1/$5 monthly via Patreon. This helps a lot with server costs and provides some stability for my business.
I now have a guide page to Tiny Living Stuff where you can learn about Murphy Beds, the new death, as well as the lot bonuses you'll receive if you manage to keep the size of your lot down with this new pack's Tiny Home Lot Type.
Let's Play Playlist
New I now have a guide to Making Super Sims in The Sims 4. Look for a text version within the next 72h. It won't have THAT much more info but it will help out as a checklist.
This was inspired by a series, "Let's Play a Super Sim" in which I start at toddler and gradually take on the major bonuses. Here's a link to each part for people who are interested. You can also see the Let's Play as a Playlist on Youtube.
The Sims 4 Discover University has been announced for November 15 for PC/Mac and December 17 for Xbox and Playstation 4 consoles. Click to learn more about the pack, see my summary of the livestream or read our FAQs below.
Comments (75)
Can't bill owners EA Bug Report
EA Bug Report - and workaround
Sims level up in their training skill while doing this. You can also take your sim to the obstacle park or place the obstacle items down on your home lot.
It's probably easier to add pets to households through the Manage Households menu.
Does anybody know the cheat or if there's a mod out there to deactivate the strays in the game? I run an animal shelter in RL and everytime I see a stray animal in the game (specially when they're crying for food) it just wounds me, even if they aren't real. I can't keep playing like this, I'm in pain
I have tried removing/disabling mods, repairing game multiple times, removing Sims 4 to desktop and regenerating, including no mods and/or sims. Issue remains in a brand new Sims 4 generated file, played using pre-installed Sims.
These sims were not vampires, so I imagine it has nothing to do with that bug.
Elope immediately and get married are both options, but they disappear when selected as an action. I've seen only one other post about this on the EA forums, but no one gave an answer.
Remove all cc and all mods to your desktop completely outside of the game files. Delete the localthumbcache.package file from your TheSims 4 folder.
Start a brand new game and play until you have two sims romantically involved until the option to get engaged appears. Don't use cheats. Get the 2 sims engaged and then married.
if this all works correctly then you'll know it is a broken mods issue.
Thank you in advance if anyone knows!
I guess it could be removed using the trait.remove_trait traitnamenospaces cheat but sometimes traits in-game are a littel different to the cheat.
so try trait.remove_trait companion while in live mode with your game paused on the sim who you want to remove this from. Like I said, not sure if this will work though.