I haven’t played for a while, but as soon as I read about the January 31, 2013 base game update, I was back. In addition to bug fixes, this patch adds inclusive options for your Sims:
- Medical wearables
- Hearing aids (15 color variations, choice of left/right/both ears).
- Glucose monitor (choice of right arm, left arm, right lower abdomen, or left lower abdomen).
- Top surgery scars
- Teens and adult male Sims (masculine or feminine frame) have a top surgery scar option.
- Chest binders and shapewear
- Chest binders are in Tops > Tanks. Shapewear is in Bottoms > Underwear.
As soon as I logged in, I raced to Create-A-Sim to add top surgery scars to Morgan. Alas, I can’t. Principal Designer Matthew Fahey confirmed on Twitter, you can only add top surgery scars to new Sims for now. Existing Sims will have to wait for a bug fix.
I was sad about this. Then I put together a fresh new outfit for Joaquin Le Chien. It cheered me up. Everyone agrees, I am the best at dressing my Sims.
I’m looking forward to the upcoming Growing Together expansion pack, release date March 16. How to occupy myself until then?
Well, I can start with the house. Oh, the house. I worked so damn hard to build this house, and I hate it.
I decided to tear it down and start over. Then my friend Erin sensibly suggested I build something on a new lot, so I did that instead.
But what to build?
I based the barn house on the idea that Morgan, who loves plants and the outdoors and animals, would love to move to a renovated barn in the country. How chic, right? Turns out the logistics of renovating an imaginary barn in a video game are more complicated than I anticipated.
I still liked the basic idea, so I decided to riff on it. What if, instead of moving into a renovated barn, Morgan and Joaquin found an old farmhouse.
Sidebar: Whenever I move somewhere new, I become entranced with the local (a.k.a. “vernacular”) architectural styles. When I moved to Southern California I fell in love with California bungalows, and built several cute ones from scratch.
After I moved here to southern Oregon, I started noticing the cute little vintage houses. In particular, the big square farmhouses caught my eye. You see them standing alone at the edge of a field, like a big sugar cube with a roof and some ramshackle details.
In looking for this style (it’s called “foursquare”) I fell down another tangent (that’s three in a row), which is the topic of Sears Modern Homes.
In the early 1900s, you could order everything from Sears Roebuck, including whole entire houses. Sears Modern Homes shipped by rail as flat pack kits, and every one of them is – pardon my language but it must be said – charming as FUCK.
I decided to start with the Sears Roebuck Silverdale.
I picked a lot in Willow Creek and got to work.
Five real-world hours later, and this is what I had:
It’s slow going, is what I’m saying.
Will I make the Silverdale work? Will I upload it to the Sims 4 Gallery and embarrass myself? Will I give up and start something new? Stay tuned!