Granite Falls

Granite Falls is a sub-world introduced in The Sims 4: Outdoor Retreat game pack. Sims can vacation in Granite Falls for up to seven days, but cannot live there as in normal residential worlds. Sims with the Outdoor Enthusiast aspiration or loves outdoors trait will often want to go on vacation to Granite Falls.

Sims can access Granite Falls only through their phone or computer's "Take a Vacation" function. For some reason, children can also initiate vacations through the computer. Like visits to other lots or worlds, Sims can invite up to seven other Sims. However, Sims who are not part of the household will later leave the vacation lot if they have school/work that falls in the middle of vacation and will not be able to return to the vacation lot once their school/work day is over. While Sims cannot live in Granite Falls, they can technically reside there forever if the player keeps extending the vacation time indefinitely. However, this would require a constant income of money in large amounts. Sims may also get a sad moodlet from being homesick while on vacation in Granite Falls.

When Sims first arrive to Granite Falls and have settled down in their rental lot, they will be greeted by a park ranger NPC who can provide basic information about Granite Falls, if Sims ask for camping information, which is one of the better ways to learn about the world the Sims are vacationing in. Park rangers will roam around the world all the time, so they are not hard to track down and are available for questioning all the time.

Granite Falls is a nature oriented location, surrounded by pine trees, lakes and sprawling valleys. It is heavily oriented around camping and the activities related to it, but Sims can also rent pre-built lots with roofs for a much more comfier experience. Once Sims have settled down, they can start exploring the bug infested woods with a special self-interaction that allows them to go hiking. Many campfires are located throughout the woods, allowing Sims to have a nice place to grill food or tell stories to each other. Ranger stations are also present and offer Sims a way to buy objects necessary for camping and can also provide general information about the campgrounds. Various bears, who will make Sims tense, will also roam around the world, mostly in the campground area.

While Sims vacationing in Granite Falls cannot normally visit residential worlds, they can still receive calls inviting them to events in the 'main' worlds and accept them. Once those events are over, Sims will not be able to return to the vacation lot automatically and will instead have to make their way home. However, the player can switch control to one of the Sims still on the vacation and have the Sim who attended the event rejoin the vacation.

Granite Falls is also not a fully isolated and empty, as other randomly chosen Sims from the save game will appear in the world, usually hiking around the campground neighborhood. If there are any empty rental lots available as the player's Sims are vacationing, the game will randomly choose a family from the save game's worlds and populate the empty rental lots with those chosen families. However, in order for currently unplayed Sims to appear in Granite Falls they do not need to be in a rental lot, and can appear in the world in a similar fashion to townies. Some families vacationing in rental lots may also sometimes not appear with the rest of their household.

Neighborhoods
Granite Falls consists of two neighborhoods and one secret lot.
 * Campground
 * Granite Falls Forest

Secret lot

 * Hermit's House

Lots
There are a total of 5 rental lots in Granite Falls and 1 community lot. The player is also capable of editing these lots how they like without using cheats, such as changing lot assignments or editing the build itself, as long as Sims are not vacationing in them.

Accommodation

 * Campground (§111 per day)
 * Forest Hideaway (§635 per day, 2 bed 2 bath)
 * Green Getaway (§397 per day, 1 bed 1 bath)
 * Lakeside Retreat (§893 per day, 4 bed 3 bath)
 * Riverside Retreat (§282 per day, 1 bed 1 bath)

National park

 * Granite Falls Forest

Climate
Granite Falls experiences 4 distinct seasons if Seasons is installed. Summer temperatures are generally hot to heat wave with mostly sunny skies. Winters are characterized by snow and blizzards and cold to freezing temperatures. Fall temperatures range from warm to cool with occassional snow and rain. Springs are wet and cool to warm.

Trivia

 * Granite Falls was originally going to be named Misty Pines.
 * There's two cities in the US named Granite Falls, one in Minnesota and one in Washington.
 * The name may be a reference to the Gravity Falls TV series.