Most of my best memories of playing The Sims have been when I’ve been left totally to my own devices — quite literally. Pushing my almost-melting laptop to its absolute limits with as much custom content as possible crammed onto my hard drive is a solitary activity. Given the franchise’s long list of single-player titles, I can’t imagine that I’m alone in this experience.
A group of modders are out to change how we experience The Sims, however.
Enter S4MP: a community-made mod that transforms The Sims 4 into a real-time multiplayer game for up to 12 simmers at a time. It works online for Patreon subscribers, with memberships starting at £8 per month. Or, you can use it for free if you connect with your pals using a Local Area Network. Anyone up for a LAN party comeback?
Ahead of the curve
Although there have been a few multiplayer options for The Sims on console throughout the years, multiplayer simming has never really made its way to any of the series’ mainline PC or Mac-based titles. Despite that, it’s a feature that loads of fans want, and has recently become a point of conversation when it comes to the next generation of The Sims.
There isn’t currently any scope for a multiplayer mode to make its way into The Sims 4 officially. And with The Sims 5 not set to come anytime soon, it’s hard to say exactly when we might get any kind of co-op simming in a straightforward Sims title. So, we can be grateful that the team behind S4MP has stepped in to make simming a little more social.
It’s relatively easy to use once you’ve loaded the mod into your game, while adding a massive amount of new gameplay options. Want to start a legacy challenge with friends? You can give it a shot (so long as you don’t mind bending the ‘you can only start with one Sim’ rule). Want to race to kill off your Sim before your friends? Weird, but totally an option.
The choices are pretty much infinite. You can even use most other mods in tandem with S4MP, expanding your options even further.
Is it safe to use S4MP?
Yes! S4MP is completely above board. It’s actually even a part of an EA-curated collection of mods and custom content, alongside other popular mods like MC Command Centre and Wonderful Whims. It works in a similar way to other mods.
The mod also doesn’t turn The Sims 4 into an MMO or link you up with any unknown players or networks online. No need to worry about a random simmer stealing your rare Selvadoradan golden frogs, or giving grandma a death flower bouquet before her time.
It just works by connecting up each person’s copy of the game to one host player. If you’re hosting, then you’ll need to grab some invite codes and send them to your friends, and then you’re all set.
