How I Prevent (Desktop) Crashes on The Sims 4

I use 2 computers and both are of 8GB each. Here are my tips to preventing (desktop) crashes in The Sims 4, and that's what most of you can do when you are experiencing a crash.

• Update your game frequently. Everytime you launch Origin and you want to play Sims 4, you may see your game is "unplayable" at that moment you've felt ready to play. It's because a new update has been released and if you are stuck on that previous update because your computer has issues, it may crash. So try to update automatically through Origin.
• Windowed mode: the easier, the better! Full screen mode can run you into lots of problems, from crashes to BSOD's and much more! You can access whatever you want even the task manager by right clicking on the taskbar!
• Data Execution Prevention? The app through the Program Files is hard to be found so that you can add it to the DEP. Origin does the job right; you can run it on background and play for as long as you can until you experience a crash. You can run the game as many times as you can after the crash!
• Antivirus. It has to do with antivirus too; trying to disable notifications and running it on Silent mode will do the job right. How about disabling the firewall? This way you won't get important notifications. And of course depends on the antivirus program.
• ALWAYS SAVE BEFORE THE CRASH! Re-write the save file as MANY times as you can! Or try to save as a new file! If you don't save your progress you are obliged to start again!
• ATTENTION CC USERS! If you have lots of CC you can try to merge your CC into different .package files! If you do NOT have CC but poses for the gallery move them to a folder you created! (same thing with mods)
• ***Windows Update messes everything up! Keep in mind because your game may crash on Windows 10's latest update!

Sims 4 is a demanding game, but you can prevent anything doing the ones above! They'll help you out - happy simming and watch out unexpected crashes! Anything can happen!

~Joanne AKA mikrolactaki3

Ideal Empty Lots for Experimenting with Rooms, Houses & MOO (Part 1)

This tutorial is a little different from the others. It's about the way I create & design my rooms in The Sims 4. From all these rooms I've shared most of them have the "bb.moveobjects on" cheat. So it's mandatory for you to activate it.

So let's get to the point!

I often use empty lots to design my rooms & houses. Some of them may be small, some large, I don't even mind the size of the lot. I care about the size of the room the most, the price & how many objects from different packs I will use. The fewer the packs the more the creativity! Or maybe the opposite?

Even newbies who have already bought the game can follow this tutorial. You will of course need an empty lot (do not try to experiment with the pre-created Maxis buildings let's say Magnolia Blossom in Willow Creek) don't mind the size. Pick whatever world you want. I mostly use Windenburg & "The Summer Home" which is 40x30 for my room designs.

What if you, basegame users, try to experiment on this hard work? You have 3 worlds to choose from, Willow Creek, Oasis Springs & Newcrest.

First comes Willow Creek. I have never designed rooms in Willow Creek, just built houses. On these houses I didn't use the "9" & "0" keyboard keys because when you hit them you will be teleported to another location in the lot you're working in. You need to hit the mouse (when Sims 4 camera) or the arrows (Sims 3 camera) to go back to your lot. For me the best option is the Bargain Bend empty lot, near the river, yes, love this cute 30x20! It teleports you on the street. Then comes "Hallow Slough". If you hit the "9" key there you'll be teleported near Umbrage Manor. Finally, Potters Splay. You're teleported behind the tree.

Oasis Springs. Pick one of the three empty lots; Arid Ridge, Dusty Turf or Pebble Burrow. If you use the "9" and "0" keyboard keys you will feel a camera move. For me the best option is Pebble Burrow. I LOVE this lot because I mostly use it for building modern houses. Also because of a weird dinosaur decor behind! Doesn't it make the lot look cool? Kinda. I also love Arid Ridge, because it's a good option to build mission-style homes or similar rooms. When you use these two keys you're teleported behind the lot, at a small garden as far as I know.

Newcrest. There are a LOT of empty lots for you to use. The whole world is empty lots. Don't mind the size. All of them are good options but the best option is definitely Twin Oracle Point. It's 50x40, a large lot & it's perfect for large houses & rooms! I love it. I love it. No need to judge anything, but also good options are Midtown Meadows, Oak Alcove (a small one but lovely choice for small houses & rooms - 20x15), Hillside Highlands, Optimists Outlook & Fern Park! No matter what you choose Newcrest is full of empty lots for your creativity. I recommend you use it!

Then come the expansion pack worlds. I sadly do not own Island Living to check the empty lots of Sulani. What if some users own ONE expansion or more & want to experiment in raising objects/MOO?

Magnolia Promenade. This world comes with the Get to Work expansion pack. It's small but there's only one empty lot, Preeminent Domain. The rest is just... retail stores. I have never built in this world but it's perfect for building a retail store/restaurant if you own the Dine Out game pack. (I personally as of now don't own it)

Windenburg. OH YES I love this world. It's from Get Together. I use it for my builds. For better results in creating rooms use The Summer Home. It's a good lot for experimenting with the "9" & "0" keyboard keys. Because it doesn't teleport you to a different location. It's a good option & I use it for my room designs. I recommend you use it. Also Mid-Nowhere on its island. It's a small but lovely lot for small houses to be built. I built some of my houses there but the bad thing is that it teleports you to the tree when using these two keys. After all, small houses are hard to build. According to my experience. The largest lots in this world are "Dresden House" aka the Fyres residential & the "Von-Windenburg Estate" aka the Villareal Residential. Both are 64x64. Good options for MOO & demolishing the pre-made Maxis houses.

San Myshuno. Comes with the City Living pack. It's just apartments. Never use these two keys on an apartment. I don't know where you're being teleported. Maybe to Space? Sixam? Shrek's swamp? Whatever the answer, I'm not gonna sit here & contemplate. If you manage to demolish Planet Honey Pop, Casbah Gallery, The Old Salt House or Waterside Warble you will get a splendid empty lot & a lot of possibilities for a room size. If you use any of the pre-created apartments in one of the districts & don't like the furniture or wallpaper give it a reno only if you use free build mode. Why? Because all the locked items are unlocked, in live mode you should enter the "bb.ignoregameplayunlocksentitlement" cheat. When you experiment on these two ("9" & "0") keys on an apartment, you will be teleported in a different block of flats/skyscraper. I tried this on the Feng house in Uptown on my desktop PC (IX Landgraab). On laptop is way different because you use these keys on the same location you are located in Build Mode.

Brindleton Bay. Comes with Cats & Dogs. I love this world, but there are just three empty lots. Dachshund's Creek, Tail's End & Hindquarter Hideaway. For me the best option is Tail's End. I love this lot because it's large & dockside. If you use these keys you will be teleported near the tree. I mean... far from the docks. I love this adorable 40x30, it's good for building large houses. Hindquarter Hideaway is also good, because it's 30x20 & you will be teleported near the tree zoomed. I don't know if this feature with the "9" & "0" keys is available on laptops but on my PC it's available without the "bb.moveobjects on" cheat.

Del Sol Valley: YES. I got Get Famous in August. There's one empty lot "Vacuous Green". It's 50x40. So what's the deal? I hit the "9" key and you're teleported behind the tree (Inner Circle). I was wondering if you're teleported to hell, but no. I don't know why I chose "Hell".

As of Sulani, Britechester, Strangerville, Forgotten Hollow or Glimmerbrook I don't know what will happen if you hit these TWO keys on an empty lot while the object is selected. It's because I don't own the packs for these worlds.

On my laptop I have ONLY one hard drive and this teleporting/zooming in Build Mode or whatever it's called depends on the number of hard drives you have on your computer, I suppose.

Hope I helped!

Happy Simming! ~Joanne

Please read!

I have taken a break from the gallery because university has started and I have moved to Corfu. I'll have no internet at home so that I'd continue my uploading on the gallery and it'll take approximately few days to get a device. Also I won't be using much my desktop PC but my laptop instead. I'll use my desktop PC only when I visit my parents at home.

University courses keep me busy that's why I have limited my shares. I don't share this much as I used to. Not because there's a lot of bullying on the gallery going on. And some people leave because of other players not playing fair and re-uploading other people's work. I have made my choice. I'm not leaving the game for that one specific reason. I'm leaving the gallery for university as it's made me busy enough for the game!

I can occasionally play the game and do some CAS/building/room design offline till I get an internet connection.

Peace out!

Joanne

Stonework Barracuda

I've been totes inactive these days. Um... weeks. Too much work, vacation and again work, vacation... I've got great news to tell you all! My exams results have been announced and I'm more than happy! I'm going to study in the department of Information Technology in Corfu. Get ready for this.

The design of the following house took me just minutes. Very easy to design and decorate. Also test in game. Affordable for a family of four with medium income. Price is about 39k (probably above 39.500)

Only basegame used.

Lot I used: Fern Park in Newcrest

Please do not reupload!!!

Enjoy!

Joanne aka mikrolactaki3

Louise (Pregnant)

Hey guys, I'm back with another Sim! I've reached 8000 DL's and for that reason I have come back after the so-called "Policy of Truth" about the gallery. I listen to Depeche Mode a lot that's why I got inspired by them.

Name: Louise Kemp
Age: Young Adult
Traits: Romantic / Hot Headed / Self Assured
Aspiration: Serial Romantic
Career: Lvl 8 Secret Agent / Villain branch as Double Agent
Skilled: YES!
Gallery Bio: Don't be fooled by Louise's innocent face. She's a hot-tempered young girl who knows how to set the perfect flirty mood on men. An unexpected pregnancy changed her life forever, but doesn't know the father of her unborn baby. She can't wait for her baby to be born.

In-game screenshots:

Her snap from the gallery w/ SakuraLeon pose:

That orange small mark means that Louise is showcased on my gallery. (ignore that)

Packs used: Seasons / Get Famous / Get Together / City Living / Get to Work

In my game the father is a Sim I shared for 5000 downloads on my gallery page (I remember), Trevor Burkhart.

The inspiration behind her was a Sim I designed in The Sims 3 looking like a tattooed fashion model. Last year of course.

Please enjoy her, but don't reupload her :)

Joanne aka Mikrolactaki3

Policy of Truth

Please me to say it. This post *coughs* is different than the others. You know what I mean. Lately there has been some gallery drama that I'm not -yet- aware of. But from some creations I saw it became known to me. They refer to the drama that's been going on these weeks. So sad, but I have two (2) options. Either stay on the gallery or leave it for short (or long).

My choice has been made. Since I don't get stolen this much like experienced creators in there (I've been stolen 7 times) I'm lucky to have not survived the terrific July 2019 bullying. But also lucky to tell you I'm staying on the gallery to share my creations. Some are leaving, some aren't. I'm with the second option I was given. Continue my work and my uploading. I don't care if it's stolen but I try to warn the thieves strictly and politely about re-uploading my work. Like "Can you please stop re-uploading other people's work (including mine)? It's disrespectful towards the original uploader and how many hours they spent creating.". This seems so polite for me. But I don't want to report stolen items, nor attack people by words.

Attacking other people is called bullying. Either verbal, or physical. On the gallery there's the verbal one. You can see A LOT of random people bullying good creators. Somebody asked me about an elevated bedroom I made for the gallery (for sure it took me long). He asked "they can't get to the bed???". I warned him on his profile that they need to be tested in game with the "testingcheats on" cheat. Of course politely. I don't have time to test them in game, respected for that!

But there's a lot of random, irrelevant (and again random, irrelevant) re-uploading. It was supposed to be stopped through the "creators4fairplay" group on Facebook. I was about to join it, but I instead thought it'd need forums. Then the group was disbanded. So, I carried on with school some time and I couldn't get to the gallery for my uploading. It's been going on for years. 4 years as of 2019. I wasn't a Sims 4 active gallery user back in the day. After September 2018 I was. Made ALL my creations myself. Never thought it'd take many hours, but I shared them no matter what. Even if they had something to be fixed I stated it on the descriptions ALWAYS!

That random re-uploading starts from a CHILD. Remember that all re-uploaders are children up to 14 years old. When I was 14 I was a happy middle school student. Now 14 year olds have TONS of problems and don't know how to get rid of them. They sometimes act like 18 year olds or something. I mean, drink, go partying till late in the morning... Nothing like this is similar to the Sims 4. If there's one playing The Sims 4 they'll for sure re-upload others' work just to brag about how good they are! Imagine seeing something like this on the gallery: "Hey guys, I'm 13 and I'm better than most of the good creators on here!". This is rude. This is rude. REPEAT? This is rude. Well, I can tell they brag about their skills... why don't they get some talent? It doesn't cost this much, it's free. How many times have some creators stated on their descriptions "be creative"? MANY.

But they instead don't care. I have over 500 items on my catalog... but I don't steal, copy, claim or re-upload others' work! In January I had a disagreement with another player because of the #stopstealing. Here's what happened. I shared a Rottweiler dog, made him out of the norm (the majority is aggressive etc etc.) but he/she attacked me about the #stopstealing. Because he/she wasn't rude to me (at first I thought he/she was rude) but in the end he/she thought I didn't know much about dogs. I should've told him/her "creators4fairplay? Did you miss that bit??? If only YOU stopped lurking on my catalog and warned me, I don't care. I'm not 9 years old or whatever! If so I'll report you to Maxis" (kinda childish here).

I took the item down. This user stopped lurking on my catalog. I share ONLY my original work! ONLY original items under hard work. I will have to repeat but anyways. Since then I shared ONLY original items by ME. No matter if they have glitches I state them on the comments myself!

One of the cases that was brought to me in February was the Glass4Swan (now PurplePuffster) scandal. She was a common thief there. Even received a MAXIS FAV for a kitchen she DIDN'T make herself (March 2017). That time I was coping with high school. Should I report her for the stolen kitchen? I didn't have the game at all. ALL her items were stolen, including paintings that are spent a ridiculously long time by some creators! She stopped using the game in September 2018. There were times other creators reported to EA on the phone about her behavior; knock yourselves out, because she disabled comments regarding her childish behavior on the gallery!

I didn't catch her in the act back in the day (2017-2018) because of MANY things: In March 2017 I was coping with 10th grade. In the summer of 2017 I was an avid Stardoll addict. In November 2017 I bought The Sims 4 with Get Together. In 2018 up to early October I was a Sims 3 addict (with Sims 4 in the summer). After October 2018 I was a Sims 4 addict up to now. Duh. I forgot school OMG! It was my final high school year and I wanted to study. What's more? She was brought to me in February, while I was searching for gallery items under the query "stolen by"...

Also in February it was the time when the first gallery thief for me was brought in the act. Simsfamily68. She's been stealing paintings, households and rooms quite a lot. Mostly last year. NONE of my creations were stolen back in the day, by absolutely anyone....

Back to the main topic! A random re-uploader is a CHILD. Always a child. I rarely see it on adults. But, as I mentioned adults here I can tell you that I'm turning 18 in October. I've NEVER EVER EVER attacked anyone on the gallery. Just warned them politely, there were times that I was a little abrupt because of exams. Stress. I apologized for that every time! Even if you're a little rude you apologize for that. And when I uploaded "Pure & Humble Fixed!" again (this was a re-upload) I stated the minor change. The roof clipping and the frieze part missing. The "Original By:" part was not missing - it was by mikrolactaki3 (me). THIS meant the change I made.

I always state the change I make on my shared items; prior to you is reading descriptions before uploading items. THINK right before you upload, especially with households that are base Sims. E.G. "the original base sim was made by #X (X is a random gallery user) and it was styled by me" or "this house was originally built by #Y (Y is yet another random gallery user) and it was renovated by me" or stuff like that. REMEMBER you can give credit before uploading if you use others' work as yours when it comes to renovating or styling Sims.

My choice has been made. It's time to say it. I am staying in the gallery to share my items. Despite the terrific bullying. And, in the words of Depeche Mode "never again, is what you swore the time before". This line was a part of their song "Policy of Truth" in which this article was named after.

Stop bullying / public shaming now! It's bad and stupid to harass other people no matter how different. God made us the way he did, no matter if we're light-skinned, dark-skinned, disabled or anything else that's a matter of DNA or experience or age. The gallery will always be a peaceful and fun place for every Sims 4 player!

Be creative with your own design no matter how good you are. Have integrity and play fair no matter how old or experienced you are! Do not re-upload other people's work or claim them as yours! Respect their work and talent!

Happy simming!

Joanne

Please Read My Friends (+ New Sim)

This week I'll be absent for a few days. Which means: NO Sims for the days. I'll be on a vacation in the islands of Syros, Tinos & Mykonos. Probably with my mom, as part of a group trip. It's the final year of going on vacation with my parents. By next year I'll do the job on my own as I'll be independent.

THAT doesn't mean I'll stop playing The Sims. Means that I'll take a break from reality this week. I have other personal matters to take care of. The whole week from Monday 22nd to Sunday 28th of July. The Sims will always be there for me whenever I have time. Though it's also work that's putting pressure on my uploading and my routine. I work for this season, not as a waitress, but as a secretary helper.

I have limited the number of uploads on my catalog - see. I run out of bio ideas for my Sims and it's hard setting them skills and careers. That happens every day! Whenever I set them skills & stuff I feel like I've run out of inspiration so what. But the stories I give them take hours to be produced in my head. Only for challenges. Or just a few lines. E.G. "John is an outgoing & cheerful guy who recently found a job as a chef. He loves to hang out with friends & cook for them as well as set up parties for his guests." Then drop a "Please don't reupload" and that's it.

I also thought of the other one. Write the name of the Sim, age, career level, skilled or not, poses in brackets and packs used. E.G. "John Smith" Sim by: #mikrolactaki3. Age: Young Adult. Career: Culinary, level 3. #skilled. Poses by: #SakuraLeon (random pose maker) Packs used: (well I have few so I'm practicing about when I get more packs, I'm not gonna drop it xD) #bowlingnightstuff#gettogether#seasons#spaday#fitnessstuff#getfamous#gettowork#vintageglamourstuff. Also drop a "Please don't reupload" at the end. That's it.

I'm thinking of what's best for me. Even if I use more packs both are a good alternative. So the thing is that I'll keep you all updated even on my IG where I don't post the most ;)

New female sim; her name's Scarlett Noel. I got inspired by a TV bumper & made her look like the character I saw. She has no skills nor completed aspiration. Love the way she turned out. Equipped with the "Sweet" female voice. Age: Young Adult. Traits: Creative / Romantic / Family-Oriented. Aspiration: Serial Romantic.

 Please don't reupload her as yours, enjoy her!

Until next time, Joanne AKA mikrolactaki3