- Predictably, I am running out of empty lots, so may first question is: is there a mod with which you can move lots around (plenty of unused space) and, above all, make new ones? I never heard anyone mention it so I guess not, but I'd still like to check.

- I built the community pool the way I always did in older games, with a small bar, some chess tables, a hot tub, etc. Townies came to swim, play chess and soak, but no barista. I changed the lot to "generic": still no barista and no townies either; finally changed it back.

- I made a couple of other "generic lots" with what you might call mixed functionality and nobody, except my Sims, ever visited them. What is "generic" good for?

Usually my answer would be no, you're stuck with the lots in the world. There's no way to move around lots or increases lots. No Create a World tool for Sims 4. That said, I've recently heard that some people have figured out a way to copy the terrain from neighborhoods and make their own worlds. I don't know how or where to find those sort of modifications though.

Disclaimer, I'm no expert, nor a modder. But I've formed some ideas of how it works, out of my playing of the game. I might be wrong though.

As far as I know, in Sims 4, townie AI is dependent on lot classification. If the pool lot doesn't support a barista, the game won't spawn one. Little Ms Sam has some mods that allows you to hire NPC to your lots. One of those might fix the problem.

Same with generic lots. There's no "coding" to tell the game to spawn townies or tell them what to do on such lots. In essence, generic lots are useless. Sure, your Sims can use the facilities, but townies doesn't know "how". Little Ms Sam have mods that allow you to add lot traits and challenges to generic lots that might make townie Sims "do stuff". But I haven't tried that myself.

Great; thank you!

There are empty worlds (with all lots demolished) available, e.g. on CurseForge, and saves with revamped worlds as well, but that is not what I am looking for. I also found Arnie Studio that was abandoned a couple of years ago but restarted in October 2024. Could be what I am looking for, but somebody more experienced should have a look. - I guess I'll have to do demolishing of my own for now.

I quickly found Little Miss Sam; must take a closer look. - BTW, you can hire a mixologist without a mod; it costs 100$. My Sim is, of course, quite well off by now, but it still feels silly.

Indeed, generic lots are good for builds that you "don't" want a lot of sims to visit. I use it for special builds that I only want certain sims to visit without having to use mods to block everyone else (although, there will always be the occasional townie who'll show up eventually, so I may have to use one anyway). For example, I use it to place a "club hall" for certain clubs I've added, and therefore have my club(s) meet there. Another use is for builds that you add just for esthetic reasons. In other words, you don't intend to use them anyway.

They work

So do Chingyu lot traits.


Sims 4 can be a great game but it needs a modding hand or two to make it work.

To auto-spawn employees, like a barista, without using their corresponding lot type (e.g., a cafe for a barista), you can use LittleMsSam’s Auto Employees (Lot Trait) Mod.

Thank you.

When I first played TS4 there were (almost? - I really don't remember) no mods around. Now there is a ton of them and quite a few are real game changers; there are some very good hacks as well. I am slowly learning about them and the few I have are already indispensable.

ETA: I discovered how to make a sandbox. Then I went online and found out that it has been known for years. Now I know how the second man who invented wheel felt.

That has been one of my biggest complaints about 4 since release. World are too dang small. I have moved some lots in and out of game but in usual fashion the game loses most of them as it has nuked most of my saves.

I feel you. I couldn't place my own lots from my gallery due to missing packs glitch when I didn't uninstall any

I have put my own lots in gallery as game says something is wrong and then it will not let me put back or does with same issue. I had some issue with my Addams house that I think was game kept saying was a rental and family could not live in and own or something, when it had been their house and for some reason the game changed it. ???? I also had many Halloween lots to place that time of year that gallery totally nuked.

The last time I spoke about this, people laughed. I agree it somewhat doesn't make sense, but it has saved me countless times when I thought I lost a save or a favorite sim or build. What is it? I save the saves. In other words, I make a copy of my save folder after my sessions - especially sessions that I have done extensive work in, such as add new builds or sims, or moved things around, whatever. (Only simple plays that I really haven't done much more than played a few sims are ones that I may not save afterward.)

I know you can "recover" a bad save thru the game select option, but I found that that don't always work - at least not always to my satisfaction. But having a folder with my last saved session in reserve always does. I simply swap them out. As long as the Mods folder and Tray folder are intact with the necessary CC and saved builds, everything returns to the way it was at the save I previously made, giving me a chance to start over again if necessary without having lost much of anything. The only danger, if any, is if the previous save was also corrupt, unfortunately being no better than what I already have.

Though I don't do it as often, it's also not a bad idea to make backups of your Tray folder and Mods folder, too - especially after adding stuff - that is, if you got the space for a second Mods folder. Depending on how much CC and mods you got, that can be a pretty sizeable folder, as I'm sure you know.

Hey, this is The Sims 4 we're talking about here, not 3 or 2, which were a bit more dependable (if I remember correctly). You got to think of other ways to protect your sims, builds, and worlds. DO NOT TRUST THE GAME TO DO ANYTHING FOR YOU.

I did this for years with TS3. Granted, it was not for the same reason a person would do so for TS4, but saving saves is worth the few minutes spent doing so for those that want to continue playing a save or saves in the future. I don't know if TS4 has a save cleaning tool or not, but for those that play TS3 and want to save saves, I'd suggest cleaning them with Regul Save Cleaner ( found here on MTS ) first. Save bloat is just as much of a problem in TS3 as it is for TS4.

These days I don't care as I don't have any attachment to my once favorite pixel people. Playing sims in general feels more like a chore than fun. It could be a phase, it could be I'm done with the franchise. I'll give it until the end of 2025 before deciding whether to uninstall or not. Regardless, saving saves is is a good idea for anybody is actively playing. Maybe people thought it was funny because saying saving saves sounds ridiculous. There are far more ridiculous things in this community, especially when it comes to TS4....

I totally agree with the previous advice and I cannot stress it enough.... SAVE YOUR SAVES!

I have multiple backups on two HD's and a stick. We all invest too much time in this hobby to lose it all because of a bad patch, PC crash or even just taking a bad direction with your story telling.

From what I've read, it would pay to avoid using OneDrive or any other cloud software which can overwrite your saved saves that you saved to save you from not saving!

OneDrive is a pain in the ass and makes a mess of things. Uninstalling OneDrive with Revo UnInstaller fixes that problem.

I have the paid version of Revo, but the free version works just as well for uninstalling junk that people don't need / want.