10 Best Changes In The Sims 4s New Update (Lovestruck Pre-Patch)

The Sims 4 received a shockingly large patch in preparation for Lovestruck, the latest expansion. As a result, the base game now has more content that can be accessed without purchasing Lovestruck, and several other pieces of DLC have gotten fixes for an improvement in quality of life. After experiencing these features in The Sims 4, it feels like they should’ve been included from the beginning, and hopefully, that will be the case with The Sims 5.

It’s not unusual for The Sims 4 to have a large patch released before the launch of a new expansion. Yet, the pre-patch for Lovestruck feels like it adds more than most patches, and many of the additions seem like they should’ve been put into the game much earlier. However, these features and fixes are here now, so it’s time to take a look at the best among them.

10 Sims Can Ask Anybody On A Date, Even Ghosts

Now, Without The Need For Mods

At a glance, this doesn’t seem like much of a change. Sims are already able to ask other Sims on a date, even if that Sim’s orientation doesn’t match, or they’re in a relationship with a different Sim, and the Sim asking them out will simply be rejected. However, Sims wouldn’t even have the option to ask another Sim out on a date if their relationship level wasn’t high enough with their intended dating target.

With the Lovestruck pre-patch, the relationship level required to ask a Sim out on a date has been removed. This means that a Sim can ask out another Sim they just met. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’ll be successful, but they’re able to give it a try. Additionally, Sims is now officially able to ask ghosts on a date. Mods have allowed for similar actions before, but with love in the air for Lovestruck’s release, the team made it an official option.

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9 Partners In Relationships Can Be Referred To With Neutral Terms

More Options To Call Your Significant Other

This is a change that would’ve fit in well with the earlier inclusivity updates that were being added to The Sims 4 to include options like vitiligo and hearing aids in Create a Sim. Until the Lovestruck pre-patch, a Sim’s partner was referred to by the typical gendered option, such as wife or husband. Now, that’s no longer the case, and gender-neutral terms can be chosen to replace the gendered options.

Changing to use neutral terms can be done in the Create a Sim menu through the Identity tab, then in the Household Relationships Panel. While this isn’t the only way to change which terms are used, it’s certainly a convenient and easy option. This way, terms such as “spouse” can be used to replace husband and wife or simply use “partner” in place of boyfriend and girlfriend.

8 Partner Statuses Can Be Chosen In Creation

You Now Have This Option While Creating Your Household

Without reading the patch notes, this might be a change that ends up being easy to miss since it’s a rather subtle adjustment. While “partner” can refer to different states of a relationship in general, in The Sims 4, it usually refers to the boyfriend or girlfriend state of a relationship, as shown by the neutral term update, allowing the term to replace boyfriend and girlfriend. Traditionally, partner statuses could only be gained through playing the game, meaning that they weren’t available as a choice when creating a new household.

With the latest patch, The Sims 4 adds partner statuses as an option that can be decided while creating a household. Previously, relationship options in Create a Sim were limited to family relationships, marriages, roommates, and engagements. Now, there are more options for more dynamic choices that can be picked without having to build that specific relationship through gameplay.

7 Options Can Be Applied To All Outfits

No Longer Need To Be Looking For The Same Items Over And Over

In the past, Create a Sim required choices to be made repeatedly if there was a particular item or hairstyle that the player wanted to have as part of every outfit, or just multiple outfits. This meant that they’d have to search for the same item over and over for each outfit selection, as it was rare for it to be part of the randomized outfit that Sim had. It’s easy to see how this could get frustrating, especially when creating a large household.

Now, when in Create a Sim, there’s a new option to apply a choice to all outfits. This can be used for any outfit aspect, and it’s particularly useful for hairstyles, make-up, and accessories, which can be difficult to keep finding repeatedly for each new outfit. Overall, this is a much-needed quality-of-life feature that should be part of every base game for The Sims moving forward.

6 Pools Can Now Be Curved

A Design Choice That Can Save SIms Lives

Pools in The Sims have a bit of an infamous reputation, given the popularity of using them to kill Sims by removing ladders while the Sim is swimming. The Sims 4 prevents this by giving Sims the ability to climb out of a pool that doesn’t have a ladder. While this patch doesn’t bring back the ability to kill Sims in a pool, it does add a new option that makes pools more stylish.

Now, pool corners can be rounded to make curved pools. This opens up new aesthetic options that are perfect for anybody that loves to build meticulous properties, especially with the addition of a new pool light as well. Considering the boundless creativity of the Sims community, it’s a matter of time until these new additions to outdoor spaces are put to good use.

5 Social Interactions Receive Two Subtle Changes

Know Your Relationship Status Even Mid-Conversation

These changes revolve around relationships between Sims, but they both focus on making information easier to access regarding where Sims stand in relationships with each other. The first change is that “Relationships” is now its own option on the Sim Social Wheel. Instead of hunting for options like “Become Best Friends,” they’ve been consolidated in this new category on the wheel, making them much easier to find.

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The second change for social interactions brings some adjustments to conversation panels, which show the Sims involved in a conversation and their moods. Now, the panel has been revamped so that it’s possible to see a Sim’s sentiments toward their discussion partners and the normal and romantic relationship levels the Sims have. While this isn’t a huge change to how the panels were before, it provides more information that adds convenience for trying to improve relationships without switching through menus.

4 Neighborhood Stories Keep Sims Up-To-Date On Gossip

Check Your Mailbox To Know What’s Up With Everyone

When a neighborhood is full of households and time keeps moving, it can be tough to track changes in relationships between Sims outside the current household. Now, Sims are able to keep up with changes in both friendships and romantic relationships as part of Neighborhood Stories. This adds new information options to currently existing options that Sims can use the mailbox to check, such as which Sims have had a baby, adopted a child, or died.

Adding friendship and romantic relationship changes actually has an interesting impact on what choices Sims in households that aren’t currently being played can make. Previously, Sims in households that aren’t currently being played wouldn’t be able to start or end relationships. The result is that the neighborhood feels more alive and independent, with Sims being able to make more decisions on their own.

3 Sims Are Able To Hide Relationships

Now You Can Keep It Private

At a glance, this sounds like a feature that would be perfect for Romeo and Juliet or the characters who reference them in The Sims 2. However, the new feature that allows Sim relationships to be hidden isn’t exclusive to romantic relationships. Instead, this feature makes it easier to keep unwanted Sims from continuing to contact other Sims by showing up at their house or calling them to hang out repeatedly.

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By going into the Relationship Panel, there’s now an option to hide relationships with Sims that the Sim has met previously. This helps clean up the Sim’s relationships, so they receive fewer unwanted interactions with the unwanted Sims. Like the new apply to all outfits ability, this option needs to be part of every base game in The Sims moving forward since it’s a nice quality-of-life improvement to not be spammed by calls from random Sims.

2 The Sims 4 Partnership With Dark And Lovely Arrives With New Hairstyles

Variety, Diversity And Customization

The second part of The Sims 4‘s partnership with Dark and Lovely finally arrives with this patch. While this patch doesn’t bring more hairstyles, it brings new options to the loc braids that were added as part of the partnership. Since Dark and Lovely is running a campaign to champion diversity and inclusion in games, it’s a perfect match for The Sims 4, which has been making a push towards being increasingly inclusive recently.

Considering that a lot of hairstyles feel similar in The Sims 4, partnerships with brands like Dark and Lovely open up the potential for actual variety. Not only that, but the new options that come from partnerships offer the chance to create options for Sims that are much more unique. Plus, these new hairstyles are part of the base game, so purchasing DLC to access them isn’t needed.

1 Sims Now Have Romantic Boundaries

Even Virtually, No Means No

Part of the Identity menu in Create a Sim, there are now options for romantic boundaries. These are the circumstances where a Sim becomes jealous if their partner participates in certain actions. The main options for romantic boundaries are divided into non-physical romance, physical romance, WooHoo, and open to change.

The options for romantic boundaries can each be given a yes or no answer. If a Sim gets jealous from non-physical romance, then they’d be upset seeing their partner flirt with others. If they get jealous from physical romance or WooHoo, then a Sim would be upset to see their partner do actions that range from holding hands to WooHoo with others. Finally, the last option is if the Sim is open to change, which means that they can be spoken with during gameplay to reconsider their feelings about what makes them jealous.

After a decade, The Sims 4 continues to evolve through both patches and new pack releases. While the amount of content can feel overwhelming at times when looking at the store page and seeing the staggering price tag required to buy all the extra content, it also makes this the most expansive entry in the series. Luckily, some content is added for free through patches for the base game, such as the Lovestruckp pre-patch for The Sims 4.

The Sims 4

Released

September 2, 2014

Developer(s)

Maxis

Publisher(s)

Electronic Arts

ESRB

T for Teen: Crude Humor, Sexual Themes, Violence

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