Game guide:Creating a hidden island

This is a tutorial of how to create a hidden island in The Sims 3: Island Paradise. Isla Paradiso is the only premade world that features the hidden islands, one of the main features in Island Paradise. There are 8 hidden islands to unlock, and each of them has different ways to be unlocked. One problem of this feature is that the discovering the hidden islands is the main objective of Grand Explorer lifetime wish. Because hidden islands are only available in Isla Paradiso, there's no other way to fulfill this lifetime wish than to move to that world with patch 55 moving feature.

Preparation
Requirements:
 * 1) Enable
 * 2) Enable
 * 3) Uncharted Island Marker unlocker

Technically, a "hidden island" is a lot that has an Uncharted Island Marker and surrounded by dense fog to make the lot inaccessible or viewable. Once the player unlocks a lot, the fog will fade, the marker will vanish, and the lot will immediately become a private residential lot, owned by the Sim who discovered it. It's not the whole island that's hidden or owned by the Sim, but instead, just a regular lot.

The Uncharted Island Marker works a bit similar to the Tomb Room Marker from World Adventures, which is used to mark a room as a tomb. The Uncharted Island Marker is hidden in the game and cannot be found in the buydebug in normal means. It requires this mod [click to download ] to unlock the marker in the buydebug under misc. section. This mod is essential in order to begin the tutorial.

Steps

 * First, set up a regular residential lot that the player intends to "hide". It could be furnished or just an empty lot.


 * Enable the  and   cheats. Find the Uncharted Island Marker at the misc. section of buydebug. Place the marker anywhere on the lot.


 * Ctrl + Shift + Click the marker, and it will show up these options.


 * Use the "Set Discovery Type" to set how the lot can be unlocked. There are 8 ways to unlock the islands. Choose one that best suits how to unlock it:
 * CayToCity: Unlocked by rescuing 35 Sims as a Lifeguard.
 * ResortMogul: Unlocked by owning a 5-star resort.
 * PlumbobIsland: Unlocked by finding a PlumbBob map in a treasure chest or a message in a bottle.
 * LocalsRefuge: Unlocked by completing an opportunity chain by asking the resort desk clerk for an adventure.
 * ExplorersReward: Unlocked by swimming / going right to the island / lot.
 * TreasureHunt: Unlocked by finding 5 pieces of map and reconstructing it into a full map.
 * ScubaSurprise: Unlocked by exploring a certain underwater cave with level 10 Scuba Diving skill.
 * MermaidSecret: Unlocked by befriending an townie mermaid.


 * It is important to consider how to unlock the islands, because not all features might be available in other worlds, unless the players have provided them. For example, there's no way to unlock a hidden lot by using LocalsRefuge, ResortMogul, or MermaidSecret ways if the world doesn't have a resort or diving area.


 * Use the "Set Effect" to set the fog visual effect to hide the lot, like the ones in Isla Paradiso. Use just one of the effects, and leave it be. Don't repeat the selection more than once.


 * When the steps are done, the lot will start fogging, and when viewed in the map view or edit town, the lot will not generate a map tag. It means the lot is successfully hidden.

Testing
It is important to check if the lot is properly hidden. If the player is certain that he/she has done the methods properly, there's no need to actually test it. However, we can always double-check if the methods were done right. In order to do this, make a Sim with the Grand Explorer lifetime wish. After that, move them into the world. Open up the cheat menu and enter  cheat. If the lifetime wish is fulfilled, it means the lot is successfully hidden, ready to be discovered properly.