A new Sims 4 update for May of 2023 is here! This update was primarily focused on bug fixes and small tweaks; however, there is some new content to go over that you might have missed! Masculine skin details, improvements to the Build/Buy controls on console, a functional trunk for the Basem*nt Treasures kit, and some changes to the Galley have been implemented into the game. Let’s take a look at everything new in The Sims 4 today!
Table of Contents
Masculine Skin Detail
In a previous base game update, numerous scars and birthmarks were added to the skin details section. Masculine framed Sims had top surgery scars and feminine framed Sims had c-section scars. Today’s Sims 4 update enables the c-section scar for masculine frames as well to be more inclusive of all gender identities and life circ*mstances.
Functional Basem*nt Treasures Trunk
For players who own the Basem*nt Treasures Kit, The Traveller’s Trunk object that was purely for decorative purposes is now a functional storage chest! Sims can keep a variety of items inside the chest now; however, we still don’t recommend keeping family photos in any kind of storage. For more information on why that is, check out our article on the photo storage bug.
Honestly, we’re not sure why this trunk wasn’t functional to begin with but in any case, we’re happy to see that it is usable now.
Console Build/Buy Improvements
Back in January of 2023, The Sims Team decided to streamline build/buy controls between PC/Mac and consoles. This turned out to be a terrible decision. Rather than making it easier to navigate Build/Buy on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, console players were frustrated by how difficult it became to use Build/Buy mode. The changes made Build/Buy virtually unusable for console players unless they plugged in a mouse and keyboard to use the PC controls on their console.
This Sims 4 update aims to fix what they broke almost six months ago. The button control overlay is now easier to toggle on and off and does not overlap with other parts of the UI. Console players can resize objects again, and many other general UI improvements have been made to menus, Live Mode, and Build/Buy with the controller controls in mind. Hopefully console players will have an easier time navigating and using Build/Buy again after these changes.
UPDATE: Reports are coming in from console players that this Sims 4 update did not fix any of the problems they were having previously. In fact, it has made things even worse. Not only is Build/Buy still as much of a nightmare to navigate as ever but now Live Mode is negatively affected by these changes. Console players cannot capture screenshots of important moments in their gameplay anymore. When they zoom in to take their screenshot, the game unpauses, causing them to lose the moment they wanted to capture.
https://twitter.com/theyorkshirejo/status/1663654436483235840
As of right now, SimGurus have not responded to these issues being reported but we will keep you updated if and when that changes.
New and Improved Gallery???
You might have noticed that this Sims 4 update took away the News tab as well as the trending hashtags. This isn’t a glitch. It was done deliberately. The Sims Team is currently transferring the Gallery to new backend systems that should make the game’s servers more stable. In the meantime, certain portions of the Gallery will not be available to players while the Gallery is under construction.
The ability to comment on Gallery uploads through the website has been disabled; however, players can still comment on creations while using the Gallery in-game.
The Gallery will temporarily be disabled on Macs running El Capitan (10.11) and Sierra (10.12) but will return to these OS’s as soon as possible. Mac users running El Capitan and Sierra will still have access to their offline Library.
When the Gallery returns, new and improved, Simmers will once again be automatically connected to the Gallery at launch rather than having to manually connect every time they want to use the Gallery. This is great news for creators who have noticed sharp declines in download numbers since this change was implemented. With less Simmers connected to the Gallery, less Simmers were seeing new creations being uploaded and were not being notified when creators they follow uploaded something new.
Players will need to update their games to today’s version in order to use the Gallery when it returns. The Gallery will no longer be available to Simmers playing an outdated version of The Sims 4 so make sure you update!
Gallery Overhaul Speculation?
This Sims 4 update gives us a sneaking suspicion that the Gallery is getting more than just some backend stability tweaks. This seems like a whole lot of upheaval for some relatively small improvements. While this is not confirmed in any way whatsoever, we wouldn’t be surprised if a future Sims 4 update brought new features to the Gallery to make it more like its own social media platform where Simmers can properly tag each other, reply to comments, and overall just connect on a personal level better through the Gallery.
Again, that’s just speculation but Simmers have been asking for those kinds of changes for a long time now. This Sims 4 update gives us the impression that maybe that’s that’s the planned direction for The Gallery. If we’re correct about that, it will certainly be an interesting Sims 4 update to see!
In addition to the above content and improvements, this Sims 4 update also brings a handful of bug fixes.
