Silly things that annoy you in the sims 4.

[ratchie]

What are some insignificant things that drive you mad when playing.
I will start with Sims eating birthday cake before I have the chance to add birthday candles especially between twins birthdays.

Rachel

[Brian_Z]

Lumps of clay.  If you're famous and got "Fan" Mail, or completed the Stangerville storyline, you keep getting these in the mail.  And sims seem to be OBSESSED with them!

And a one-time-only, harmless little glitch I had, that totally freaked me out when it happened.  I either went into BB or CAS, and the music got stuck on when I went back to Live again.  It was the gentle guitar piece.  Ok, what's wrong with that?  It felt like I was playing out an epilogue montage, and I thought I was going to get a Game Over screen at any moment.

[Deklitch]

causing me anxiety when they try something I haven't had them try before because I'm certain they'll somehow catch alight while exploring the root system under that tree on their way to Sylvan Grove. Also, the way they set fires when they try to cook. I mean, my cooking skill would be equivalent to about 1 and I haven't caused *THAT* many fires, and certainly none that set the entire kitchen alight.

[ratchie]

Dek my rags to riches Sim set the space next to her campfire on fire and the islanders all gathered to look at it but apparently couldn't reach it to put it out because the fire was too far away. At least that's what the pop up said.  Then I got 5 simoleons to replace the plate of hotdogs that had tragically been lost in the blaze.

Rachel

[Brian_Z]

There's been a bug for quite a while with routing to put out fires caused by a campfire.  Also if my sims try to play guitar by the fire, the guitar immediately catches fire.  Someone recently made a mod that simply makes campfires not cause other fires, so you can enjoy your trip to Granite Falls without constant mishaps around the campfire.

[Alexg1981]

What are some insignificant things that drive you mad when playing.
I will start with Sims eating birthday cake before I have the chance to add birthday candles especially between twins birthdays.

Rachel

the most annoying thing for me is when a Sim gets stuck for a while and you give him a lot of orders and it seems frozen

[liverbird1892]

The animation to throw the ball when playing fetch with dog, so stupid

[whymelani]

washing dishes in the bathroom sink ONLY.

NEVER using the automatic dishwasher.

[Brian_Z]

washing dishes in the bathroom sink ONLY.

NEVER using the automatic dishwasher.

My sims use the dishwasher all the time, it's their first choice.  But they'll put ONE FREAKING PLATE in and start it up, which means 2 minutes later when their wife finishes eating the dishwasher is in use and she has to use the sink.  And then she'll usually walk right past the perfectly good kitchen sink and wash it in the bathroom.

[Tigerskin]

With the new expansion pack I decided to download a new sim to play. I usually recycle the same sims because it takes so long to set them up how I like. Chose a beautiful lady, changed her to my liking - different to my usual sim styles.

I was so happy to start playing with her. But once I put her in the game all of a sudden she started maxing all skills.... turns out the original sim I had downloaded had been uploaded with max skills.

From what I can tell there is no way to wipe all skills? I know you can do testing cheats and reduce them down to one but I want to get rid of them completely. I don’t understand why you can’t choose how skilled your sims are in the first place (without cheating). Surely sometimes people would want their sims skilled in certain areas etc at the start.... you know, personalise them 🙄

I rarely have time to play these days and this has just annoyed me so much that I haven’t played since.... I want to play with that sim!

In addition, I hate you can’t “lock” make up. I tend to keep the same make up for all outfits and it is laborious having to change it for every outfit....

[Nindigo]

@Tigerskin You can take her into CAS and generate her identical twin. Althought tiny differences still might occur.

[Tigerskin]

Hi @Nindigo,

Yeah I did try this but was surprised how different she looked. Examples are chunkier legs, different face/smile.

Obviously I could tweak it (and I probably will whenever I get a chance to play again) but it just frustrated me as I had spent so much time setting her up in the first place.

[Brian_Z]

@Tigerskin  Do you use MCCC?  If not, I highly recommend it.  One of the many, many things it can do is reset all your skills.  Or pick through and set each where you want them.  It's not unusual for me to play a sim for quite a while, and then find them a spouse.  The spouse will be either an NPC or a sim I downloaded, at least halfway through Young Adult or often, beginning of Adult.  And they know absolutely nothing.  My sim has maxed nearly every skill they've picked up, and here's their love interest who might as well be a newborn.  So yeah they get a bunch of skills granted through MCCC.

[Tigerskin]

Hi @Brian_Z ,

No I don’t use MCCC. That’s a mod isn’t it? I have never used mods in my game, although sometimes I am tempted!

I did eventually continue on with the twin thing. She seemed a lot similar this time (although still took ages to copy the previous sim) 

[Franki]

Lumps of clay - especially in university housing.. the amount of clay that appears in university housing is amazing...

Kleptomaniac sims in university, so I don't mind klepto sims normally, but in university housing it seems like they take every available seat and table, it's just a little frustrating at times, cause unless you lock your door you will have nowhere to do homework, read or even sleep. 

The whole NPC skills/ people entering unannounced are annoying but I've been able to fix those quickly enough.

[Nindigo]

Automatic skill gain.

I don't have the same control over my Sims in Sims 4 as I do in Sims 3, despite autonomy being disabled. Because Sims will start interacting if approached by an NPC. Then they will start to gain charisma and humor and whatnot without me telling them to. This does not sit well with me. And I'm far from the worst of control-freaks. Plus, it feels like everything is a skill in Sims 4. I'm surprised that there is no burb, fart or turn-your-head skill.

[Hosfac]

Autonomous cooking.

The Sim is hungry, so he/she goes to the fridge and cooks a single serving meal.  Now, you would think that, since they have a plate of freshly cooked food in their hand, that they'd just go ahead and eat it.  And, you would be wrong.  The Sim sets the meal down on the nearest surface, and then cooks another single serving meal.  But do they eat that one?  Hahaha, how silly!  Of course they don't eat that one!  Why would they eat that one?  No, they set that one down on the counter, too, and go to the fridge and grab yogurt and eat that, instead.   

And don't even get me started on their obsession with drinking water.  Take your eyes of the screen for even a fraction of a second and they got 27 glasses of water sitting around all over the place.  It's like they're living in an ocean lot, except that the ocean is in a bunch of drinking glasses.

[Brian_Z]

@Hosfac  Both of those things are actual bugs.  The one with cooking, then cooking something else, seems to be recent.  The one with autonomous water drinking has been going on for quite a while- there's a hidden Thirst motive, so sims will occasionally get a drink on their own.  But at some point, it seems to have become bugged and doesn't get replenished when they grab a drink, so they keep drinking, and drinking, until they're finally interrupted by needing to pee.

[Dadjokes502]

The rate at which you have to fix items. I have a several things break at once.
Cooking fires is another when your new and hardly any money to replace it.

[Shay]

I built this great house and now when ever my sim goes near her computer, she gets squimish. its like there is garbage there but i cant see it. any ideas on how to fix it?

i hired a maid. the bad vibs went away. nice to have a happy sim again.

[Brian_Z]

@Shay Sounds like your maid found the mess for you.  If it happens again, you can try going into BB and moving furniture to see if a dirty plate or trash pile is hiding under or behind it.  I'm seeing this happen a lot in Henford, with plates, eggs, or milk ending up hidden under counters and spoiling.

Just had this happen again!  This time it wasn't under a counter though.  It was up on a wall-mounted shelf that doesn't usually show in walls cutaway view, the way I play most of the time.  I moved the counters and fridge around TWICE trying to find it, and finally showed the walls and noticed this shelf.

[nomo]

Not a lot actually, but I find the bug process too slow and the troubleshooting over at AHQ quite silly; and most forums for this game are full of negative mean people and posts, so that can be annoying too I guess. This forum has more testing posts, and going back a long way, which can be very informative; but the official forum is very silly, which in turn makes me feel silly for playing a game with such an audience. But mostly I am very entertained by it!

[Shay]

yes, I find it quite silly too. the forum has been helpful to me a few times. i love the game

[Technomage]

I hate job offers in this game.  If I wanted a new job, I would have applied to one of my own initiative.

[Brian_Z]

I hate job offers in this game.  If I wanted a new job, I would have applied to one of my own initiative.

Yes, those are annoying.  Oddly, I don't get them anymore!  I don't know if I have a mod blocking them, or if having some pack disables it, but I haven't seen those in a long time.  Not that I'm complaining!

[Deklitch]

Not knowing why kid A and B befriending adults was simple for completing social butterfly aspiration, but for kids C and D it is worse than pulling teeth.

Eventually kid C got there as well somehow, but kid D, no luck yet.

Meet new ya or older, kid d does respectful greeting, chats to adult, makes adult laugh, chats to adult, makes adult laugh etc etc etc. Nothing.

[thesimslover828]

The painting camera system, it's completely unmovable, yet no one has to stand in one spot to take a picture for a painting. The Sims 2 and 3 allowed for almost limitless movement when trying to take a snapshot of something to paint. I just hate it, and never use painting as a result.

[Brian_Z]

The painting camera system, it's completely unmovable, yet no one has to stand in one spot to take a picture for a painting. The Sims 2 and 3 allowed for almost limitless movement when trying to take a snapshot of something to paint. I just hate it, and never use painting as a result.

I think you need Discover University for this, but if you get the Digitalistic Sketchpad for your painter sim, you can start a painting from reference anywhere.  You aren't tied to an easel.
And if you use mods, on ModtheSims there's a "Paint from Reference Anywhere" mod.  You don't need Discover University for this.  It adds a "Start a Painting from Reference" option to any camera.  You take the photo, and then a blank canvas appears in your inventory.  It can be placed on an easel and completed from there.

[thesimslover828]

The painting camera system, it's completely unmovable, yet no one has to stand in one spot to take a picture for a painting. The Sims 2 and 3 allowed for almost limitless movement when trying to take a snapshot of something to paint. I just hate it, and never use painting as a result.

I think you need Discover University for this, but if you get the Digitalistic Sketchpad for your painter sim, you can start a painting from reference anywhere.  You aren't tied to an easel.
And if you use mods, on ModtheSims there's a "Paint from Reference Anywhere" mod.  You don't need Discover University for this.  It adds a "Start a Painting from Reference" option to any camera.  You take the photo, and then a blank canvas appears in your inventory.  It can be placed on an easel and completed from there.

Thank you for the tips, that's super cool, I'll finally be able to get into painting again. 

[Cheezey]

One of my biggest peeves is that every time sims visit, I have to lock the computers in rooms or visiting sims will use them. Why isn't it considered rude to just jump on someone else's laptop?

Washing dishes in the bathroom also irks me! I had a small house where they constantly did this because the bathroom sink was just slightly closer than the kitchen one. It drove me nuts.

Sims going to bed when their needs are just turning yellow.  No.  Pee and get a snack, then go to bed, so you don't wake up screaming that you're starving and about to wet yourself.

This one is mod-related to an adult mod, but... I hate it when visiting sims will decide it's time to woohoo on one of my sims' beds.  I don't mean sims in romances with sims in the household, but both parties are visitors.  Married couple neighbors, and once even the spirits in Sulani made themselves waaaaay too much at home in my sims' house!

[Brian_Z]

@Cheezey Amen to all of those, except maybe the adult mod related one.  I mostly find that amusing!

There are things you can do about some of these though.  I don't remember if all computers have security settings or if it's just laptops, but you can lock them for yourself only, or household only.
Washing dishes in the bathroom:  There's a mod by Scumbumbo, now maintained by someone else (Scumbumbo passed away), called Don't Wash Dishes Where You Angry Poop.  It allows you to lock or unlock sinks for dishwashing.  If I remember right, it locks them all out by default, and then you just unlock the kitchen sink.
Sadly I don't know of any way to stop your sims from trying to go to bed the moment their Energy goes yellow.  It drives me nuts too.  Not only do they go to bed with other needs they should take care of first, they often try to go to bed WAY TOO EARLY!  No, don't go to bed at 8, you'll be so out of sync tomorrow it will be a disaster!

[Cheezey]

@Cheezey Amen to all of those, except maybe the adult mod related one.  I mostly find that amusing!

I admit that it can be funny sometimes. I laughed at the Sulani spirits because it was just so... sims-level ridiculous. But it gets frustrating when it happens when I've got other stuff going on in the game, like a party I want screenshots from or whatnot. Nothing like interrupting a birthday celebration to stop an in-law from getting too cozy with his girlfriend on the bed when they should all be watching someone age up! 

There are things you can do about some of these though.  I don't remember if all computers have security settings or if it's just laptops, but you can lock them for yourself only, or household only.
Washing dishes in the bathroom:  There's a mod by Scumbumbo, now maintained by someone else (Scumbumbo passed away), called Don't Wash Dishes Where You Angry Poop.  It allows you to lock or unlock sinks for dishwashing.  If I remember right, it locks them all out by default, and then you just unlock the kitchen sink.

Oh, good! I'd heard of that mod, but by the time I found it, it was out of date. Probably because it was under the original owner on MTS or something. Thanks for letting me know. I'll hunt it down!

Sadly I don't know of any way to stop your sims from trying to go to bed the moment their Energy goes yellow.  It drives me nuts too.  Not only do they go to bed with other needs they should take care of first, they often try to go to bed WAY TOO EARLY!  No, don't go to bed at 8, you'll be so out of sync tomorrow it will be a disaster!

Yes. It's one of the reasons I get frustrated with too many sims in the house. You really have to micromanage their sleep schedules. It also peeves me when they put their near-hungry toddlers to bed.  If you think they're cranky now, wait until they get hungry in five minutes and drag you back in there with their tantrum about it.   

That said, I'm so glad I read somewhere that you can put food or snacks on the floor and the toddlers can feed themselves.  At first I thought you had to use the high chair and that thing is such a pain in the plumbob. It's cute when it works, but it takes so much time and the grown up sims always wander off at the wrong time.

[oshizu]

Cheezey
For toddler meals, you can also place multi-serving meals in a Baker's Cousin Display Case.
It not only prevents spoilage in the same way that a fridge does, it also lets toddlers grab individual servings for themselves (which they can't do from a fridge).

Regarding all the undesirable behavior, I confess that I used lockable doors A LOT.
And I play without a sink on the lot which I realize is completely unrealistic but all "Grab a drink" actions drive me crazy enough.

[RushTX]

Something that annoys me is when I've got 2 sims on a date, and they're having a romantic conversation/getting to know each other, then a NPC comes up and "happily" joins the conversation. (Luckily I've got MCCC, so I can just make the "third wheel" go home or go jogging, but still, it's kind of annoying.) 

[Brian_Z]

@RushTX thepancake1 has a free mod on Patreon that lets you kick a sim out of a conversation simply by right-clicking their thumbnail.  A very handy solution for something that is, indeed, really annoying!

[Sonshine]

One thing that annoys me the most right now is a sim who is a "goofball." He is ALWAYS pranking the toilet. I have to keep VERY close watch on him and then sometimes he slips in there and boom! : / To me, this is just overkill.

[Brian_Z]

@Sonshine I don't remember if you said you use mods?  If so, there is a No Autonomous Prank Toilet mod, I think I got it from Mod The Sims.  It works great, haven't had a pranked toilet since I got it.

[Sonshine]

Thanks for that!!! I'll check that out!

Hi Brian, do you have a direct link or a zip of that file? I did a search for it, but nothing came up. 

[ModHunter]

I can answer this one for him:

https://modthesims.info/d/658469/no-autonomous-toilet-prank.html

[Sonshine]

Thanks Mod Hunter!!

[Technomage]

Another thing that annoys me is the fact that items in your inventory leave it when you use them; it gets especially annoying with bikes being left on the overrworld.

[Sonshine]

One thing I'm experiencing now is when I queue up a bunch of social interactions for one sim and then go to another family member to queue up actions or whatever for them to do, all of the social queues are gone from the first sim and the sim they were talking to walks off.