Sims 3 Active Household and Edit Town
Switching Families, Finding Create A Sim, and Moving in New Families
Jun 8, 2009
The Sims 3 has come complete with a new neighborhood, Sunset Valley, that even has a different interface than the other two games had. In the Sims 2 for instance, players chose households from the map at any time by leaving one household and going to the neighborhood. Now it’s a bit different. Players may feel overwhelmed by the changes, but fear not! This article is here to help.
Navigating The Sims 3: Edit Town
Perhaps the household that the player started out with is getting boring. In the Sims 2 players just saved their game in the household and then exited to the neighborhood. Once there they clicked on another household to play them or entered Create A Sim mode from that same neighborhood view. In the Sims 3 players in this situation may look at their shiny new interface and scream, “What do I do now?” There is no obvious button to switch back to the neighborhood view for the Sims 3.
Here is the answer. First click on the options menu. This appears as a “…” symbol at the bottom left of the screen. There are many choices under the options menu, including “Edit Town.” Click on Edit Town. This will bring the player out into the neighborhood viewer. However, not only was this name slightly confusing, it doesn’t necessarily take the player where he or she wants to go. If the player wants to select another household or get to Create A Sim mode to build a new family, there’s another step.
Switching Households in The Sims 3
On the Edit Town screen, which is a view of Sunset Valley, players should see the options menu, a choice to “Return To Game” at the top of the screen, and a clipboard of families that the player can place in Sunset Valley. There are also bulldozer and hand symbols. This is the Edit Town screen after all, and that’s what it’s for. If the player enjoys making houses he or she can enter empty lots from this screen and build on them as desired. However, the Edit Town screen also has the button to lead the player back to Create A Sim or to allow them to choose a different household.
A button near the bottom, above the “…” options menu should be clearly visible. The symbol on the button is of two houses, one smaller than the other. This is the “Change Active Households” button. If the player clicks it he or she will be able to make new sims and choose new families and houses to play! However, doing this prompts a warning from the game. Leaving the current household will disrupt their wishes and if Story Progression and Aging are on, the family might have changed significantly the next time the player enters that household again. Be aware of this when changing the household.
Back to Create A Sim
Once the player has clicked the “Change Active Household” button and ignored the warning prompts from the game, the bubbles over Sunset Valley will disappear. Now the player will have an empty, bird’s eye view of the neighborhood and three main choices on the interface. Create A Sim where new sims can be made, Choose Household where the player can play sims already moved into Sunset Valley, and finally Move In Household which allows players to move a family from the clipboard into Sunset Valley. Make a selection and start playing!
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