Imaginary Friends

[cathyknits]

See if it goes back to doll form by the bed when he goes to sleep or leaves the lot?

[athena]

The boy already sleeps in a regular bed and not in the crib, so I wouldn't know if it has returned. Do the IF really turn invisible when the child grows up? Or is this a glitch in my game? 

[Pam]

The boy already sleeps in a regular bed and not in the crib, so I wouldn't know if it has returned. Do the IF really turn invisible when the child grows up? Or is this a glitch in my game? 

The invisible friends should always be visible when the child who owns them is the active Sim.

[MLBerry]

Could some one summarize the steps to make an imaginary friend and what we should expect?  I have been trying to make one for some time without any success.

I got the doll.

My new toddler has been talking and singing to it and I got a notice that they were best friends for life.
Should the doll be in or out of the inventory?  In my first attempt I moved the doll in and out and the doll never aged and that sim is now a teen and the doll is still a doll.

My new toddler is not due to age up for a while should the doll be out of the inventory when this happens and do I need a cake for the doll?

When does the doll show some life?

Note that I am not at the stage to make the IF a playable sim.  That seems to be straight forward.

I would appreciate some feed back from some one who has successfully gone through the process.

Thanks
 

[VampirePlasma]

I found this on Carl's site. Very helpful.

-Growing Up Together
Your toddler should play with the doll very often. Give it a name, and play/sing to it. You will see a message that it has become a very special toy to your Sim. This is a good sign that it will age up with them. When the toddler has a birthday, the process continues as a child.
-Again, if you want the bond to form between child and imaginary friend, you'll need to keep playing with it into childhood. That's fine as it fulfills needs. Have tea parties and sing/play with the toy as often as possible. You will eventually see a message that you should set the doll down, so it can look about the world. Drag it out of the inventory and your Sim's Imaginary Friend can now interact like a normal Sim with the child. No one else will see it, which can lead to some funny moments.
The Imaginary Friend can play, pillow fight, get your Sim a snack, and even clean up for the kid. Just treat it nice and build the relationship. Interact as much as possible. When you're super good friends, the option to Offer to Make Real will appear on the social interaction menu. If you have the Imaginary Friend Metamorphium potion, which any Sim can learn to make through Chemistry. If you didn't learn Chemistry, your child or older may get an opportunity to make the Imaginary Friend real. You'll need to collect a rainbow gem and deliver it to the Science Lab in order to do so. If you know for sure you'll want to do this, you can start looking for the gem early and hope to find it. Check the consignment shop from time to time as well. You never know what's on sale -- maybe a rainbow gem! I probably wouldn't mess with looking for a rainbow gem for days, I'd rather learn Chemistry instead. You're guaranteed to get one of these potions upon discovery.

I guess everytime your sim ages up, you take it away from your inventory and out it outside and wait, it should age up.

Sorry if I was no help, I don't have them yet.

[MLBerry]

With my first sim child, I played with the doll for hours and days and never got the "You will eventually see a message that you should set the doll down, so it can look about the world."   Message.

Does it make any difference whether the doll is left in or out of the inventory?  When aging up?

[Teresa]

You can take the doll out of the inventory when the toddler ages to child.  If the doll is sitting on the floor then pretty quick after the child ages the doll will age.  You can't use a cake on the doll, it is automatic to age up while the doll is alive.  Leave the doll on the floor, don't move it back and forth into inventory as putting it in inventory keeps it in doll form.  It can only come alive while it is out on the floor. Also have your child do a tea party with the doll.

After that if the doll is in inventory it will just be a doll.  If the doll is sitting on the floor somewhere it will come to life when your child is awake and home.  When the child goes to sleep or leaves the lot the doll will become a doll again.

Any point during child or teen years you can put the potion in your child's inventory and while the doll is alive the child will have the option to offer to make real.  At this point the doll becomes a real child member of the household, although not related to anyone in the household.

[cathyknits]

That shouldn't matter, Athena - as an example, I had a Young Adult sim whose imaginary friend had grown up with her play chess with her friend before work. When the carpool came, she left for work, and the imaginary friend walked back to the bed that "belongs" to that sim (have you noticed that if you click on someone else's bed, "Sleep in Joe's bed" comes up as an option?) and turned back to doll form right next to it.

[RunAmokSims]

I've found that the timing seems to change randomly. Put of the 6 IFs I've had so far none have been the same.

I have the toddler play with the doll any time it's not sleeping, eating or learning something. At some point the doll, if out of inventory, will turn into an IF and then age up with the child. If the doll is in the inventory I've gotten the message that the doll  wants to come out and play. This happened once while the child was in school. I took the doll out of inventory, put it on the floor of the child's room and it turned into an IF when the child got home. I also found that the sex of the IF is random. Several of the IFs changed into the opposite sex of the child but I had one that had sort of a male name (Cosmo) and it became a female Sim. I'm experimenting to see if naming the doll with a specific gender makes a difference.

Also, even though I had each child play with them in the same way two failed to change and stayed a doll.

[Saltypaws]

I am going to merge these two threads.

[MLBerry]

Well maybe my first attempt was one that would not turn.

[underredskies]

Sorry if this has been answered already but I couldn't find any info on it...

If a child sim has an imaginary friend, but then they die and are later added to the household through the Oh My Ghost! opportunity, does the ghost of the child still have the imaginary friend?

[Natsuko]

Sorry if this has been answered already but I couldn't find any info on it...

If a child sim has an imaginary friend, but then they die and are later added to the household through the Oh My Ghost! opportunity, does the ghost of the child still have the imaginary friend?

When a sim dies all of the belongings in their inventory goes to another household member's inventory. I guess if that member gifted the imaginary friend back, the child would still have an imaginary friend.

[underredskies]

Oh okay, thanks! I'll try it out later if I get a chance.

[VampirePlasma]

I got this! I think I figure out why some dolls won't turn! You baby sim has to play with it, but not just play once till you get the first pop-up. Keep on playing with your doll 'till the second pop-up. Don't stop there, it says something like "(Doll's Name) has become a very speacial thing for (Baby's name.) I wonder what happens if you keep playing with it?" After that play with the toy more. And after, you should see another pop up, now when your baby age up it should too! I hope this works after all it's just an idea.