Inventory

Inventory is a feature that enables Sims to store and carry a number of items. It was introduced in The Sims: Hot Date, re-introduced in The Sims 2: Nightlife, and is a base-game feature in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4. It is also available in The Urbz: Sims in the City, The Sims 2 Pets for Consoles, and The Sims 2 Castaway.

The inventory can be a space-saving feature, as it allows items to be stored until they are needed, without taking up space on the lot. Most games do not limit the number of items that can be placed in inventory, but some, such as The Sims 2 Pets for console, do.

In The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories, items cannot be added to or removed from a Sim's inventory while on a community lot, unless the Sim or a member of the Sim's household owns the lot. In The Sims 3 and The Sims 4, items can be removed from a Sim's inventory while on a community lot.

The Sims: Hot Date
The inventory feature was introduced in Hot Date, and was carried forward into later expansion packs.

Some items can be placed in a Sim's inventory by interacting with the item, but most cannot be. Items which a Sim obtains on community lots are directly placed into their inventory, and items received from other characters may be. Makin' Magic added categories to keep track of the spells in a Sim's wand and the magic ingredients they have.

Items cannot be manually removed from inventory. Many can only be given as gifts. Some will automatically be taken out of inventory when the Sim returns home from a community area. Small pets can be removed from inventory by interacting with an appropriate cage or tank. Vegetables from Unleashed will remain in inventory until they're either sold at market or stored in a pantry. Seeds and plant tonic from Unleashed, and ingredients and wand charges from Makin' Magic are used directly from inventory.

The Urbz: Sims in the City
The Urbz: Sims in the City includes an inventory feature that is divided into 3 sections (first for objects, second for build items, and third for Power Socials). The Urbz: Sims in the City only allows 12 different objects in each section of the inventory, and up to 99 of the same item. Having two different colors of the same object will count as two objects instead of one.

Objects in the district (including the Cheat Gnome) are Public Property and cannot be stored in the inventory except for walls, wallpaper. and floor titles.

The Sims 2: Nightlife
Inventory is a feature introduced in Nightlife, and carried forward into later expansion and stuff packs. Some items (such as cell phones, handheld games, magazines, etc.) are immediately placed in inventory upon purchasing them, while others must be manually moved into a Sim's inventory. The inventory feature allows Sims to carry items with them when they move, and is the only way for Sims to keep career rewards when moving. In The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories a Sim's inventory does not have an object limit.

A Sim's inventory can be accessed in the Rewards panel. The inventory button is at the top, and looks like a backpack.

When objects are in Sim's inventory, they are effectively "in limbo"; they will not depreciate (or appreciate) in value, and food placed in inventory will not spoil.

Prior to Seasons, multiple copies of items appeared individually. Seasons introduced grouping, which grouped identical objects regardless of their color scheme. Bringing up the item tooltip allows the player to select a specific object in the group. Players should note that it also groups all serving platters together, regardless of what's on them, and does the same for individual plates. Likewise, when dealing with garden crops from Seasons, it does not take quality into account.

Placing objects
When a Sim's inventory is open, objects on the lot can be grabbed with the hand tool, as in Buy mode and Build mode. Grabbing an object and dragging it to the inventory panel will place it in inventory. With Pets or later, pressing the I key will automatically place the grabbed object in inventory.

Items that are "in use" cannot be placed in a Sim's inventory. This includes electronic items such as televisions, stereos, and computers that are turned on, and food that is being prepared. Most Build mode items cannot be placed in inventory. Bills, old newspapers, and homework cannot be placed in inventory.

When using use the "Make Many..." interaction when making food or craftables, the object will be placed in the Sim's inventory once completed. In FreeTime, drawings made on the SIM series Drafting Table and items made on the sewing bench will automatically be placed in inventory.

Very large objects, such as cars and helicopters, ice and roller rinks, and even the pirate ship, can be placed in inventory.

Objects cannot be added to or removed from a Sim's inventory when Buy and Build modes are unavailable, though the player will be able to view the selected Sim's inventory. This normally occurs on community lots and in hotels, but also occurs when a burglar appears or a fire occurs. However, when a young adult Sim visits the college's secret society, his or her inventory can be accessed, and objects can be taken from or added to the secret society lot. When members of the lot owner's household visit an owned community lot, their inventories can be accessed. However, they cannot place community-lot-only objects in inventory.

Inventory and Businesses
The inventory has some special features on owned community lots and in home businesses. If the owner is on the lot, crafted items and food that employees have been assigned to make will appear in the owner's inventory. Likewise, crafted objects and food that household members make with the "Make Many..." interaction will appear in the owner's inventory, if the owner is on the lot.

Caught fish, harvested products, and magic reagents will appear in the inventory of Sims who catch, harvest, or brew them.

In order to restock crafted objects, food, fish, products, and reagents, they must be present in the business owner's inventory. Otherwise, the items will remain out of stock. Retail items that can be purchased in Buy mode, however, will not be taken even if the owner has them in their inventory.

To avoid confusion, the following terms "Purchase" and "Pay" have the different meaning. "Purchasing" means taking any objects marked for sale, while "Paying" means handing over money to the cashier in order to possess the purchased items.

Sims who travel to a business lot can purchase items for sale. The items will appear in their shopping cart, which is below the inventory tab. Players can only view or remove the purchased items in the shopping cart, because the items don't belong to them yet. Sims still need to pay for the items at the cash register. Once they pay for them, the objects appear in their inventory. Customers or visiting Sims who purchase any items in a business lot will have them in their inventory. Because objects do not depreciate in inventory, they will be fully refunded if they are removed from inventory and sold.

Sims who purchase items but do not pay for them will not possess the items when they get home. The items will stay in their shopping cart instead. When they return to the business lot, they can still can pay for the items they purchase. When customers appear as visitors, some objects aren't actually bought. Clothes (not sewn outfits), video games, personal electronics, and magazines don't appear in the inventories of Sims who purchase them.

Other notes
With University, Sims can give their handheld to children with the "Give Handheld" special interaction. This interaction is removed if any later expansion or stuff packs are installed, as the handheld can be taken from one Sim's inventory and placed in the inventory of another household member.

The game does not allow the player to access some Sims' inventories. If a family brings other Sims along on a vacation, the inventories of those Sims cannot be accessed, so the player cannot see what they have with them. Also, roommates' inventories are replaced by the Roommate Satisfaction Meter, so the player cannot see what they have.

Some special objects will appear, or already appear, in some Sims inventories. Townies, NPCs, CAS Sims, and pre-Nightlife Sims will have a bottle of ReNuYu Porta-Chug, as well as children who grow up to teenagers. Bigfoot, the Witch Doctor, and the Wise Old Man have 5 maps to their secret vacation lot, and the latter two have voodoo dolls and Dragon Scrolls, respectively. All hobby instructors have their own hobby plaque. High witches and Sims who are turned into one have a cauldron and a spellbook.

Some objects do not, or do not always, travel well when taken to a new lot in a Sim's inventory. An easel with a partially-completed painting will "forget" which Sim started that painting, even if that Sim moves to the new lot. Occasionally, a bed may be unclickable after being taken out of a Sim's inventory on a new lot. When a dresser is taken out of a Sim's inventory on a new lot, it may not allow its back to be placed against a wall.

The Sims 3
In The Sims 3, a Sim's personal inventory is where books and collectibles are stored. It is more limited than in The Sims 2: it can only contain objects that a person could realistically carry (excluding cars). Certain objects, such as guitars and laptops, are portable; placing them in a Sim's inventory allows that Sim to use them wherever they are.

Opening the inventory panel does not pause the game, unlike in The Sims 2. There is also no Hand tool; instead, players can simply drag objects into the inventory. It is also possible for the player to simply move objects around without placing them into the inventory.

In the Windows and Mac OS X versions of the game, each Sim has a separate inventory; in the PS3 and Xbox 360, the Sims' inventories are shared.

Unlike The Sims 2 and The Sims Stories, food placed in the inventory in The Sims 3 (and The Sims Medieval) will eventually spoil. Sims will get the Disgusted moodlet when this happens.

Family inventory
Each household has a family inventory, which can be accessed in buy mode by clicking the cardboard box icon. When moving house, if the player decides to 'pack furniture' from their previous dwelling, the furniture is placed in the family inventory. Unlike the individual Sims' inventories, it can store practically any object in the game.

If the Food Replicator or Teleportation Pad are purchased as lifetime rewards, they will be placed in the family inventory. The same applies when buying large furniture (e.g. tents, Sheng Hai Training Dummy, Board Breaker) in markets in Shang Simla, Al Simhara, or Champs Les Sims.

The Sims 4
In The Sims 4, the personal inventory of a Sim can be found in the bottom right corner of the user interface. It is where collectibles, books, food and other small objects are stored. A Sim can carry as many objects as they wish and same types of objects will stack. Certain objects such as instruments are portable and can be used anywhere. The Sims 4: City Living also introduces portable street tables and galleries, which Sims can carry anywhere in their inventory to sell various small objects.

Like in The Sims 3, players can drag objects in and out of inventories. Players can also move objects without placing them into an inventory, and can sort objects within a Sim's inventory.

All Sims have their own personal inventories and objects can be transferred between them. Like in The Sims 3, food placed in an inventory will eventually spoil.

Family inventory
Each household has their own family inventory, which can be accessed in build mode. It is where career rewards are automatically placed, along with objects transferred through moving, if the player decides to keep the furniture from their previous house. Unlike the individual Sims' inventories, family inventories can store practically any object in the game.

Inventario