Those are your library households, also known as those in the household bin. They have no bearing or impact on your ongoing game nor the sims already in it; some will just be copies of households already in play. However, there are mods that call upon the genetics of households in the bin and might use two such sims as donor "parents" when creating new sims to immigrate in or become newly created homeless NPCs. NRaas SP does this, but by mod option and individual saved households can be exempted from being used this way, or the option to use binned sims at all can be switched off by setting the bin's percent chance of being used to 0.

EA puts some starter households in the library (bin) in each world for you. Then whenever you save a household, newly created or a copy of one already in play, this is where it goes.

They party like there's no tomorrow, so glad to be rid of those annoying know-it-all uni students for a while.

Nah, just kidding. Absolutely nothing happens as time is frozen in worlds that are not being simulated and the game can only simulate one world at a time. The sims and the day/time will be exactly the same as when you left them upon your sims' return home. In fact, if you move the game camera around quickly enough,, you might still see the sims left at home waving goodbye to the uni student(s) upon their re-entry into the world, provided they were around and not too busy to wave goodbye in the first place.

If they were engaged in some other activity at the time, like sleeping or even woohooing, they will still be doing exactly that upon the homeworld becoming the actively simulated one again. To us, they have been at it (whatever "it" is) for one or two sim weeks and should win an award for stamina or something, but to them no time has passed at all.

Thank you.

I didn't know about that SP setting either. I'm going to make use of that.

@igazor Thanks I was curious about that.

I feel silly for having to ask this, but this is really bugging me, so here we go: Does anyone recognize where this sim's (the male) hair is from?



I reinstalled the game to a new computer a while ago, and I've been getting the 'Missing Content' warning for every save file. Usually, it's been small items that I don't even notice are gone, but this time I can clearly tell this item is missing because this sim is now bald! What bothers me is that I have no clue why this content is still missing since I've tried to reinstall everything I had from the Store, and I certainly have the same expansion packs installed as before. I double-checked all my store hairs and I don't see anything perfectly matches this hair. I see some items that are close, but not this specific hair. Does anyone know which pack or store item this is from? Alternatively, is there a mod that can help me track down which items are replaced when the game detects that content is missing? That would also help a lot!

It's from the 'More Halloween Treats' free set.

https://store.thesims3.com/setsProd...ategoryId=12082

Thank you! I figured it had to be from the store, but since the items in that collection don't show up individually I couldn't track it down. Much appreciated .

So what's up with Barnacle Bay? I've had it installed for some time, though I've not played it much - I'd been planning to set a story there. But it looks to me like something is missing - unless it's just my game. The landscape seems to be criss-crossed with what look like paths, but I don't think they are. It reminds me of when they were ripping up English hedgerows during the 60s and 70s (because you can't stand in thie way of PROGRESS don't y'know!). Has Barnacle Bay also decided to embrace modern farming methods. Or were there supposed to be hedges, fences, or some order of field boundaries, but then EA decided not to bother with them? That wouldn't surprise me in the least.

I don't remember noticing Barnacle Bay having missing hedges, but every house I went into had wall sections missing or other problems, so I didn't explore it much.

Is there a a list somewhere that breaks down how many items / what those items are for a residential lot to auto-populate? i.e- How many beds? Do I need to put down a crib? Ya know, that kind of stuff.

Yes, here is the list.

1. At least one refrigerator. Sims will never move onto a lot on their own that lacks one.

That's it. But are we maybe talking about with NRaas StoryProgression in play, or perhaps AwesomeMod? That changes things. EA unmodded and left unchecked will move a crowded family into a tiny trailer (no offense to those who actually live in a reasonably sized for the household trailer, there's nothing wrong with that) and somehow expect six sims to share a single bed or something like that while meanwhile across town Crazy Cat Person living alone with her six cats will move into an 8 bedroom, 12 bathroom mansion that she cannot possibly afford. You may even find a family that includes horses trying to live in a highrise apartment building (Hint: despite what one might think, horses and elevators are not the best of friends).

Having said all of that, probably too much already, I have seen lots apparently deemed as undesirable even though they have access and technically meet the minimum SP requirements for a household to live there. Sims will just avoid them like the plague no matter what I do unless it involves bulldozing and rebuilding, possibly even replacing the lot itself.

Just a fridge? I can handle that. I'd be using NRAAS for this.

I'm fan of when you get into details. You can never say too much. I always learn something and appreciate the time and effort.

I should have mentioned this in my other post, but the sims for this "project" I won't be playing, nor will they be staying. The sims that move in are for set dressing and to make the world look lived in. Once I'm done with said project, everything related to said project will go away unless I decide to make it a seasonal-type thing.

As always, thanks for the help.

That is interesting as I thought they needed some beds or at least one and I usually put some cribs in the houses also. I use the EA story progression. And I always put in the stove and fridge and sink. And usually some bath fixtures. I pretty much do houses as real rental unfurnished ones are done.

NRaas SP imposes more restrictions by way of its Lot Inspection options. There will need to be a single or double bed slot for each YA or older, single beds will attract families with children and teens, one crib will be required for each baby, toddler, or pre-existing pregnancy, plus one pet bed for each pet even if they prefer to sleep on the floor or on other pieces of furniture. If the sims/households in question do not exist (as opposed to them already being residents somewhere else in town and moving as a household or splitting off from one), then the nature of the households immigrating in will depend in part on the furnishings of the lots available to house them. and in part on Immigration options.

At its most strict settings (I don't choose to play this way myself), career objects will also be required for sims in certain careers. Check NRaas > SP > General Options > Options:Lots > Options:Inspection to examine the criteria and make adjustments.

Can anybody think of a way I can have two sims, living on the same lot, shake hands as though greeting each other for the first time, without my having to reset their relationship to stranger first. It would make things a lot simpler for story telling. I know there used to be a mod here on MTS that let you do this, but it was broken by a patch and has long since been deleted.

I own all the Sims 3 EPs and a couple of stuff packs on discs. I registered all my Sims 3 discs at The Sims 3 official site. I believe most of them were showing in Origin. At least the base game. I'm planning to purchase a new laptop and would like to install Sims 3 on it. Newer laptops do not have DVD drives anymore. I understood I could download my games from Origin or the dreaded EA app. Origin does not appear to be working anymore so I downloaded the EA app. None of my games are showing in the app -- even the other games I registered in Origin. I can't find a way to email anyone at EA -- just the help forum. How can I fix this? Uninstall the EA App? Reinstall Origin, if possible, and register my games there? Or, would I be better off to copy the game files as ISO files and put them on the laptop that way? (Obviously, I have a DVD drive in my desktop.) I'd appreciate any assistance. Thanks!

IF you have disks, and the base game disk does NOT say "Origin" anywhere on it (original EA), buy an external dvd drive and install the game. Then use the super patch, and never look at Origin or EA app ever again!

I bought an external dvd from Best Buy to install my disks. The EA app doesn't recognize the limited edition Showtime I had registered or Sweet Treats that I got because I have mild I need everything issues.

I just got lucky. Somewhere along the way, I ended up with a base game disk that is pre-Origin. That is the key, as you do not need anything online to install the game. All other disks can be Origin, but install to that base game disk. Perhaps why EA made TS4 EPs as download keys only???

Yes very happy I have a pre-Origin base game disk. Otherwise I am pretty sure it forces the app. I did register my stuff back in the day and could DL it if I want but I really wouldn't want to.

Update: Well, I feel a bit silly. I appears that the EA app has connectivity issues. It took several tries before I was “online”. My games are listed but no way to download which makes sense because I did not purchase them as downloads. If I open the game from the app it takes me to the launcher. I play directly from the .exe file and bypass the launcher unless I need it to download something into the game. However, it looks like I can play the game from the app. My base game disc is pre-Origin and I currently use the 67 super patch. My ITF disc is in my pc. Does this mean, if I install the discs from an external DVD, I’ll have to keep the external drive connected and the ITF disc in it all the time or not? Thank you for your replies!

No, you won't need the external drive, once everything is in your computer. Just continue to launch from the .exe. I made a short cut and placed it on desktop.

Thanks! I made a shortcut too. Does that mean I don’t have to have the ITF disc in my PCP DVD drive either? I just assumed I had to. I appreciate your assistance!

You either will have to have the disc in a connected drive, be it internal or external. Or you use NRAAS No CD mod which makes the game skip the disc check. I used it for years as it is very annoying to have that drive requirement, especially on laptops.

You can find it here: https://www.nraas.net/community/NoCD

EUREKA! @SimmyRN sorry, another of those things I have had for so long that I totally forgot. Yes, you need "No CD"!