The Sims 4/Patch 17

The seventeenth update to The Sims 4 was released on May 4, 2015. This patch updated the game to PC Version 1.6.69.1020 and Mac Version 1.6.69.1220.

Official patch notes
Hey Simmers,

It’s May, and we’ve got a bag full of fixes… wait that’s more of a December reference. I’ve got a shower of fixes for… that’s April.

May is Autumn and Spring (depending on where you live). It’s the beginning of the end of another school year. It’s the end of an egg-citing challenge. It’s May the 4th be with you! And it’s when we have a whole bunch of updates to share with you in this release!

I’m really sorry about the egg pun. It’s best if we both could just forget it ever happened and move along…

What’s on the New side of things?

 * We have replaced the loading screen with a lighter and more lively loading screen.
 * “Going with the loading screen right out of the gate on the notes, huh?”
 * “Yep.”
 * The Bunny Egg Hunt is no longer available in game. Your logs will once again contain no eggs, but frogs. Your mailboxes, the home of drab and eggless bills. And collectible confection creations will no longer be found beneath the weeds of your gardens.
 * All of the object rewards (eggs and bunny) are yours!
 * And, all of the object rewards can be found in the Build catalog (unlocked or behind the hidden objects cheat).
 * Thank you for your participation!
 * Sims can now influence the gender of their offspring!
 * Strawberries and Pop music (one, the other, or both) seem to lead to more baby girls.
 * Carrots and Alternative music seem to lead to more baby boys.
 * A new “?” icon is available in the Plan a Social Event interface. Hover over it to learn about the requirements that a particular Role has for the event being planned.
 * Some new outfits are in Create a Sim. Open up Styled Looks to quickly find Boba Fett, Darth Maul, and Aayla Secura!
 * And May the 4th be with you!
 * Aliens have adapted to the Sim-ish ways and are now have access to the full Create a Sim catalog!
 * And by full we mean everything except skin details, because they are aliens after all.

Issues (Crash / Freeze)

 * Fixed a crash that could occur when using the wall block tool in Build Mode.
 * We fixed an issue stated that "Normal gameplay cannot be resumed if user Exits to Main Menu while aging up an infant."
 * Fixed a memory leak that was keeping too many audio resources loaded in memory which could have caused crashes during extended game sessions.
 * Fixed a freeze that could occur if two transitions were set to occur on top of one another, such as one Sim is about to travel, while the other Sim is about to enter Create a Sim to plan an outfit.
 * I know that part of my responsibility is to interpret the issues for you in a way that makes sense but sometimes… We fixed an issue that could "… cause the client to enter a hang when trying to move a not currently-in-the-world household that was previously transferred into a new household via household management onto an already occupied lot via the Move In option." You're welcome.

Issues (General)

 * Dragging an Activity Table drawing from the table to a wall, will properly display the drawing against the wall.
 * Cancelling an interaction will now properly satisfy the tutorial request to cancel an interaction.
 * Testing cheats are now saved per household.
 * This means that once you turn on ‘testingcheats true’ they will remain enabled until you decide to turn them off with the 'testingcheats false' command.
 * This includes through travel, save, quit, restart, a weekend at your grandmothers, an afternoon at the beach, or just because you needed some space. Because you were tired of always having to come up with new answers when your Sims would look at you and ask “What are you thinking about?”
 * Child labor laws have required that we remove the ability for children to throw away food from the grill.
 * Turns out that the current labor laws have difficulty with children working with potentially dangerous outdoor open flame grilling appliances… even if it just makes sense for little Billy who is right next to the grill to clean it, rather than dad having to put down his beverage, get up from his comfortable chair... oh for the…
 * Sims with the Fresh Chef trait will no longer make food that spoils, just like the trait says… turns out they have all just been lying to us!
 * Maids should be more responsive while on the job, and no longer stand around doing nothing while they charge you an hourly wage.
 * You will no longer be required to watch your hired maid perform their duties in order to ensure you are getting the service you paid for. Maids will now properly clean your home, even if you aren't there! It's like a whole new world out there folks…
 * Maids will no longer appear at work in their everyday outfit, but will be dressed appropriately.
 * Be aware that Maids have long wanted to clean up those salvage piles left everywhere, and have decided to forgo your desire to "get around to it" and will now just throw it all away.
 * Tend Garden will no longer bully its way to the front of your action queue, but instead will wait its turn like all the other actions… except for that pesky death one, and the fire one, oh oh and the bladder fail one. And maybe a few others. But other than those, it will wait its turn like all the rest.
 * Treadworthy stairs that are placed indoors will no longer have a missing bottom step.
 * Pool lights will now consistently illuminate nearby Sims, rather than blinking them in and out of shadow.
 * Sims that you invited to play chess with you will no longer remain stuck at the chess table for an unusually long period of time after you leave.
 * Using the fence tool to place a fence, will now properly preview when hovered over a wall that has a counter against it.
 * Sims will no longer think of an empty thought bubble upon returning from adoption.
 * While we understand the adoption process can be mentally draining, emotionally challenging, and physically tiring, we felt that the Sim would still have a thought to express upon returning.

On a side note, does anyone know if the rule of three is still in effect when expressing an idea? I only recently learned of the Oxford comma change, and the single space vs double space debate, that I feel the need for a refresher course.


 * It is now possible to re-enable super speed 3 when your Sim is at work, if you had previously slowed the speed.
 * Hosting a dinner party will now allow you to hire a caterer.
 * The hidden achievement (which I can neither verify nor deny the existence of), Problem Child, will now properly be rewarded to teen Sims who have reached level 10 in the Mischief skill… assuming this is a real achievement.
 * The Mod Pod Twin Sleeper will no longer re-energize the sleeping Sim as quickly.
 * The uncomfortable craftsmanship was only recently discovered beneath the mattress.
 * The eyedropper now properly highlights floor tiles within a block.
 * Child Sims who are already “A”student’s will no longer be required to slack off at school in order to successfully satisfy the Achieve a Grade of "A" at School aspiration goal.
 * Fixed an issue where switching from low graphic settings to higher graphic settings without restarting was causing shadows to become blocky.
 * We fixed an issue where a Sim, who was on their way to take a bath, that encountered a pool in their way, would decide to skinny dip their way to the bathtub. This will no longer occur.
 * The Cutlass of Light color choices now properly reflect the objects color when placed in world.
 * Professional Athletes using the Study Opponents interaction will no longer build random skills while doing so.
 * All trash cans in Willow Creek should now allow Sims to place trash within their waiting maw.
 * Fixed an issue that was loading the incorrect save file after all the Sims had died in a household, and the player chose to save their game.
 * Be aware that we fixed an issue with relationship decay between household Sims.
 * Sims in the same household were not showing any relationship decay between one another unless one of them traveled. We fixed this issue, and now relationship decay will occur as intended.
 * Fixed an issue with the male jaw tagging that prevented randomly generated Sims from having diversity in their jaw shape.
 * Fixed an issue that would cause the Sims arm to become stuck, if they were told to throw away the same bag of trash they were already throwing away.
 * We fixed an issue in Create a Sim that was causing one particular female asset (a sweatshirt wrapped around the Sims waist) to appear graphically corrupt when paired with some boot assets.
 * You will no longer have the option to throw away everything on a salvage pile, if it is the only salvage pile available. It turns out throw away and throw away everything are the same thing when there is only one thing. Things you learn.
 * The whim to "Write a Jingle" can now also be completed by using the "Write a Jingle" interaction on the violin.
 * Fixed an issue that was causing mirrors to lose their reflectivity when they were too close to the camera position. This was easily seen when using the Take Photo option, but could also occur in 1st person mode.
 * Sims will now become jealous if the target of the jealousy was not the initiating Sim, as well as if they were.
 * Meaning Sims will become jealous if the Sim they are jealous of is the kissee or the kisser.
 * Fixed an issue with the selection tool in build mode that would create invalid pick options when the camera was zoomed all the way out.
 * Fixed an issue that could result in your lot becoming zebra stripped if you attempted to move the lot after changing the wall height of a selected basement room.
 * Fixed an issue that was pushing corner columns out of the corners if the block they were attached to was divided by the wall tool.
 * OK, we fixed an issue where if a room is placed on the second sub-basement floor beneath a fountain on the ground floor, and a Sim is standing on the sub-basement floor, and then you remove that floor, the Sim would become stuck inside the fountain. The Sim will no longer become stuck in the fountain.
 * Fixed an issue that was resetting Sims seated at the bar if the player modified the lot via Build Mode.
 * The Photo Studio will now properly appear charred if it has been or is currently on fire. But not if it will be on fire.
 * Fixed an issue that could result in the Sim route failing when told to Dig a rock collectible.
 * Placing a lot from the Gallery on a lot larger than the originally uploaded lot, while the Move Objects cheat is active, will no longer cause the objects inside of rooms to shift out of place.
 * The Watch Fireplace Channel whim can now be properly completed.
 * Fixed an issue that could fail to load to a Gallery Room when clicking on a Spotlight Banner for that room.
 * We fixed an invalid romantic relationship issue
 * The Kiss Quick action is what is referred to as a "quick" social that occurs autonomously between Sims in a relationship, and between family members. The social was mistakenly tagged with a romantic relationship bump, which resulted in the incorrect behavior. The romance bump has been removed.
 * Fixed a Gallery connection issue that could occur as a result of the interface getting into a bad state. Pretty vague, huh? Yep.
 * Fixed an issue that would cause pools to attempt to place on the basement level, if you picked one up and rotated it.
 * Fixed an issue that was preventing you from changing the hair or eyebrow color if the "Match Hair" option was on.
 * Fixed an issue that could result in a bill being delivered to a household but no notification appearing.
 * You should no longer see the "Visit My Packs to learn more about The Sims 4 packs." tutorial if you have already seen it. By the way, did you know you can Visit My Packs to learn more about The Sims 4 packs?
 * Cook books can now be published.

Issues (Interface)

 * Fixed an issue with the Sim Inventory scrollbar that would cause the inventory to become inaccessible in certain circumstances. You should now be able to scroll up and down.
 * Text and name fields in the Gallery can now be copied, pasted, and cut.
 * Notifications that end in punctuation will now properly fit in the chat bubble, rather than the punctuation appearing ostracized outside of the bubble.
 * The relationship panel will sort the most recently interacted with Sim to the front of the panel.
 * The Sim Aged Up dialog that appears when… um, Sims age up, will no longer be four times as large as it needs to be.
 * Now when a child or teen is missing school, we no longer show a briefcase icon… because apparently not every school child carries a briefcase to work, despite the fashionable appearance and ease of accessibility that make them perfect for just about any occasion.
 * Chess interactions that are not available when the Sim is very uncomfortable will now properly grey out in the pie menu. Or... will now properly gray out in the pie menu. Your choice really.
 * Tooltips for actions your Sim can take while at school will now properly reference school in their descriptions.
 * Hovering over a Sim in the relationship panel will now change the background color to indicate that there is a clickable action available.
 * We removed the tooltips from the painting interactions that all said the same thing
 * The purpose of a tooltip is to provide additional information about a thing that you could not already get from the original expression of the thing.
 * In this case the tooltip essentially said Thing? Thing.
 * Opening the load game dialog will no longer default to the auto save, it will now default to your last explicitly saved game.
 * The ‘Include Custom Content’ filter will now remember its setting when the gallery is closed and reopened.
 * The career information that appears in the relationship panel for Sims who do not have jobs, will not show that they are working 24/7.
 * Career and Miscellaneous Styled Rooms now have their own sort in the Styled Rooms catalog.

I was reading to my child the other night and he looked up to me confused after this one part I had read, and I realized… he had no idea what a record was.
 * A random pause…

Issues (Get to Work)

 * Fixed an issue where parts of a basement ceiling placed beneath a pool or fountain would disappear.
 * We added a “flair” to the Perks button in the Retail Panel to indicate that you have enough points to spend on your first perk purchase.
 * I think this finally puts us above the 15 pieces of flair requirement.
 * Customers will now browse more often when they come to your retail establishment, rather than using it as the new socialization hot spot.
 * Retail perks that you can't afford will now explain to why you can't afford them.
 * Selling photos using the Sell Photo interaction will now sell the photos for the same value as listed in their hover tip.
 * Perhaps you noticed that when you apply a filter to your photography the image would shift by half a pixel. Fear not friends, you can no longer notice that half pixel shift, for it has been removed.
 * The Sim taking the picture will no longer leave floating objects in front of the camera lens.
 * Fixed an issue that could result in S.O.U.P’s (Sims of Unusual Proportions) if a child Sim was aged up while it was a patient at the hospital.
 * Cancelling the Get Confession action will no longer prevent the Interrogate a Suspect goal from properly completing.
 * Fixed an issue that could result in duplicate options appearing under the "Assign Task…" menu for employee Sims.
 * Employees who run out of work tasks to perform will no longer behave in ways that make it confusing to know if they are still working, or just hanging out at work.
 * Employees and customers are now less chatty and more like to buy.
 * Sims at their careers will no longer be abducted by aliens.
 * Fixed an issue that could prevent a new advertising campaign from being purchased when the previous one ended.
 * Your Sims can now use their purchases immediately upon purchase.
 * Sims will no longer be allowed to set a Cupcake Factory for sale that is currently in use.
 * Fixed an issue that could prevent Sims from decorating their baked goods when they want to do so.
 * Employees will now proactively clean any object that can get dirty, take out trash, and mop when they have been instructed to Clean the Store.
 * The ability to purchase new advertising was appearing while the old advertising was still active, thus allowing the Sim to purchase an indefinite number of times without any added benefit. This is issue is now fixed.
 * Objects that are set for a sale price of zero Simoleons will now have customers showing up to purchase them.
 * Oddly enough, customers were under the impression it was a marketing ploy, and that the bait and switch was going to have them signing up for a time share in some far off land, after sitting through a seven-hour presentation on the up-and-coming Arctic opportunities.
 * Fixed an issue that could result in no suspects being shown with some clue combinations.
 * Customers will no longer swipe twice when making a purchase from a retail shop, or shoppe, or … well I guess it really depends on the presence you were hoping to create. Perhaps what you were really going for was an emporium of sorts. Ah, now that's the way to go.
 * You will no longer be able to buy a retail lot while on an active career lot.
 * Sims will no longer buy lots autonomously. They just don’t have those kind of privileges yet, not until they can prove that they understand how to manage their finances, and not just frivolously spend all their money on candy, video games, and three story retail business parks.
 * Aliens are now possible to hear when audio settings are set to Headphone, 5.1, or 7.1 Speaker settings. "Understanding Alien 1.0" is only available for a limited time however, so please call now, operators are standing by.
 * Changing the lot type of any lot will no longer invalidate the employment of all employees at owned retail lots.
 * “The library is now a museum? Great… there go all the jobs in the neighborhood.”

Issues (Outdoor Retreat)

 * Sims will no longer roast a large yellow blocky looking object when roasting veggie dogs at the campfire.Adding a campfire to a lot will no longer break auto lights.
 * Child Sims will no longer electric slide backwards 1/2 a foot after exiting the tent.
 * Fixed an issue that could result in an odd looking visual FX ribbon following children after performing the Tell Adventure Story interaction.
 * Sims playing with the Campfire, will now place the stick in the fire, rather than just wave it nearby in a semi-threatening fashion, “I’ll get you fire! You and your little embers too!”

Issues (MAC)

 * Fixed an issue on where zooming in on medium quality graphic settings would cause shadows to disappear.
 * Fixed an issue that could occur on some configurations that resulted in a crash after changing graphic quality to high.
 * You will now be able to scroll with the mouse wheel when in the game options on the Mac.

And as always, you have our deepest gratitude and appreciation, -SimGuruGnome