Key points
- Support for 32-bit Windows systems, as well as OpenGL support in macOS (OS X) was retired on November 12, 2019[1]
- A special Legacy Edition has been made available for users of affected systems. It can be freely downloaded using the Origin client.
- Built-in modding support.
General information
- Official forums
- Answer HQ for The Sims 4 at EA.com
- Answer HQ for The Sims series at EA.com (OS X)
- The Sims 4 Legacy Edition FAQ
Availability
Source |
DRM |
Notes |
Keys |
OS |
Retail |
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Expansions were provided on DVDs until the first expansion in the United States and at least the third expansion in Europe. After that, all retail copies came with download codes.
Only the Windows version was available on the game install DVD, the Mac version required a download code.
Retail copies are no longer produced as of the Snowy Escape expansion. |
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Amazon.com |
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Origin |
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Digital Deluxe Edition also available, included with EA Play. |
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Steam |
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Included with EA Play (Steam). |
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(unavailable) |
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Digital Deluxe Edition also available. |
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Green Man Gaming (unavailable) |
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Humble Store (unavailable) |
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- All versions require Origin DRM.
- A Sims 4 Create A Sim Demo is available.
Version differences
- List of all different versions and regions can be found on Wikipedia.
- Legacy Edition has disabled online features and does not support any downloadable content released after September 2019.[2]
Monetization
DLC and expansion packs
Name |
Notes |
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The Sims 4 Legacy Edition |
Free compatibility update for users of 32-bit Windows systems and non-Metal macOS (OS X) systems. |
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Life of the Party |
Included in all but the Standard editions. Cannot be purchased separately. |
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Awesome Animal Hats |
Included in all but the Standard and Limited Editions. Cannot be purchased separately. |
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Up All Night |
Included in all but the Standard and Limited Editions. Cannot be purchased separately. |
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Digital Soundtrack |
Included in all but the Standard and Limited Editions. Cannot be purchased separately. |
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Digital Deluxe Upgrade |
Includes the above free DLC and the soundtrack. Available with EA Play. |
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Rewards |
Bonus content for the owners of The Sims 3 expansion packs. |
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Grim's Ghoulish Guitar |
Bonus content. Can be obtained by signing up for the newsletter. |
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Family Portrait |
Bonus content. Could be obtained by signing up for The Sims Mobile at launch. |
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Holiday Celebration Pack |
Free Stuff Pack. |
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Get to Work |
Expansion pack (EP01). |
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Get Together |
Expansion pack (EP02). |
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City Living |
Expansion pack (EP03). |
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Cats & Dogs |
Expansion pack (EP04). |
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Seasons |
Expansion pack (EP05). |
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Get Famous |
Expansion pack (EP06). |
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Island Living |
Expansion pack (EP07). |
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Discover University |
Expansion pack (EP08). Not supported in Legacy Edition. |
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Eco Lifestyle |
Expansion pack (EP09). Not supported in Legacy Edition. |
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Snowy Escape |
Expansion pack (EP10). Not supported in Legacy Edition. |
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Cottage Living Expansion Pack |
Expansion pack (EP11). Not supported in Legacy Edition. |
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Outdoor Retreat |
Game pack (GP01). |
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Spa Day |
Game pack (GP02). |
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Dine Out |
Game pack (GP03). Included with EA Play Pro. |
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Vampires |
Game pack (GP04). |
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Parenthood |
Game pack (GP05). |
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Jungle Adventure |
Game pack (GP06). |
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StrangerVille |
Game pack (GP07). |
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Realm of Magic |
Game pack (GP08). |
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Journey to Batuu |
Game pack (GP09). Not supported in Legacy Edition. |
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Dream Home Decorator |
Game pack (GP10). Not supported in Legacy Edition. |
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My Wedding Stories |
Game pack (GP11). |
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Werewolves |
Game pack (GP12). |
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Luxury Party Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP01). |
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Perfect Patio Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP02). |
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Cool Kitchen Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP03). |
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Spooky Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP04). |
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Movie Hangout Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP05). |
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Romantic Garden Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP06). |
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Kids Room Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP07). Included with EA Play Pro. |
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Backyard Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP08). |
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Vintage Glamour Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP09). |
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Bowling Night Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP10). |
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Fitness Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP11). |
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Toddler Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP12). |
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Laundry Day Stuff[3] |
Stuff pack (SP13. |
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My First Pet Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP14). |
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Moschino Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP15). |
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Tiny Living Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP16). Not supported in Legacy Edition. |
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Nifty Knitting Stuff |
Stuff pack (SP17). All DLCs below are not supported in Legacy Edition. |
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Paranormal Stuff Pack |
Stuff pack (SP18). |
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Throwback Fit Kit |
Kit 1 (SP20). |
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Country Kitchen Kit |
Kit 2 (SP21). |
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Bust the Dust Kit |
Kit 3 (SP22). |
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Courtyard Oasis Kit |
Kit 4 (SP23). |
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Industrial Loft Kit |
Kit 5 (SP25). |
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Fashion Street Kit |
Kit 6 (SP24). |
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Incheon Arrivals Kit |
Kit 7 (SP26). |
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Blooming Rooms Kit |
Kit 8 (SP29). |
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Modern Menswear Kit |
Kit 9 (SP28). |
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Carnival Streetwear Kit |
Kit 10 (SP30). |
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Decor to the Max Kit |
Kit 11 (SP31). |
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Moonlight Chic Kit |
Kit 12 (SP32). |
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Little Campers Kit |
Kit 13 (SP33). |
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The Sims 4 Bundle: Get to Work |
Includes Get to Work, Outdoor Retreat, and Luxury Party Stuff. |
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The Sims 4 Bundle: Get Together |
Includes Get Together, Spa Day, and Movie Hangout Stuff. |
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The Sims 4 Bundle: City Living |
Includes City Living, Dine Out, and Bowling Night Stuff. |
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Microtransactions
Type |
Notes |
Cosmetic
| Stuff Packs are sold which consist of additional clothing and furniture. |
Unlock
| Game Packs are sold which consist of additional clothing and furniture and extra game elements. |
Essential improvements
Skip intro videos
Add -nointro parameter in Origin
Game data
Configuration file(s) location
System |
Location |
Windows |
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\ |
macOS (OS X) |
~/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/Options.ini |
Steam Play (Linux) |
<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1222670/pfx/[Note 1] |
Save game data location
System |
Location |
Windows |
%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 4\saves\ |
macOS (OS X) |
~/Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 4/saves/ |
Steam Play (Linux) |
<SteamLibrary-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1222670/pfx/[Note 1] |
System |
Native |
Notes |
Origin |
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OneDrive |
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Requires enabling backup of the Documents folder in OneDrive on all computers. |
Steam Cloud |
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Video
Modify Options.ini[4]
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- Go to the configuration file(s) location.
- Open
Options.ini .
- Find the key
frameratelimit and set the value to your preferred max fps.
- Save your changes.
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Modifying UI Scaling manually
- UI scale can be changed under the accessibility options.
Input
Audio
Audio feature |
State |
Notes |
Separate volume controls |
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Master Volume, Object Music, Music, Voices, Sound Effects, UI Sound |
Surround sound |
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Subtitles |
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No intelligible dialog. All in-game dialog uses the fictional Simlish language. |
Closed captions |
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Mute on focus lost |
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Can be turned on or off via the "Audio Focus" option in the Audio section of the options menu. |
Localizations
Language |
UI |
Audio |
Sub |
Notes |
English |
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Simplified Chinese |
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Traditional Chinese |
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Czech |
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Danish |
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Dutch |
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Finnish |
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French |
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German |
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Italian |
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Japanese |
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Korean |
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Norwegian |
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Polish |
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Brazilian Portuguese |
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Russian |
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Spanish |
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Swedish |
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Issues fixed
Unresponsive and stuck sim
RivaTuner OSD does not display on Windows 10
Instructions[citation needed]
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Run the game in Windows 8 compatibility mode.
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Game does not launch
- The game will not launch on 32-bit Windows systems and macOS (OS X) systems without Metal support after the 1.58.63.1010 (PC) / 1.58.63.1210 (Mac) update, released on November 12, 2019.
Instructions[2]
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Install the free Legacy Edition update, available in the Extra Content tab of the Origin client.
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Game keeps minimizing on launch
- The game will minimize a few seconds after a black screen appears, any subsequent attempts to restore it will lead to the same problem.
- The issue appears to happen when the game resolution mismatches the desktop resolution.
Instructions[6]
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- Go to the configuration file(s) location.
- Open the file
Options.ini .
- Set the options
resolutionwidth and resolutionheight to your desktop resolution, e.g. for a 2560x1080 resolution you'd use resolutionwidth = 2560 and resolutionheight = 1080 .
- Save the file.
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Oversensitive/unresponsive camera rotation
Disable Origin and/or Discord overlay for the game[7]
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The Origin and Discord overlays have been sighted to have an interference with the Sims 4 game, where the mouse becomes oversensitive (especially when rotating the camera) or unresponsive.
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VR support
Other information
API
Technical specs |
Supported |
Notes |
Direct3D |
9 |
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OpenGL |
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Only macOS (OS X) in Legacy Edition. |
Metal support |
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Shader Model support |
3.0 |
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Executable |
32-bit |
64-bit |
Notes |
Windows |
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32-bit support only in Legacy Edition. |
macOS (OS X) | |
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32-bit support only in Legacy Edition. |
System requirements
Windows |
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Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
7 SP1 |
7 SP1, 8, 8.1, 10 |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 2.1 GHz |
Intel Core i5 series AMD Athlon X4 series |
System memory (RAM) |
4 GB |
4 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
15 GB and 1 GB for saved games 22 GB for Legacy Edition |
18 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
Nvidia GeForce 6600 ATI Radeon X1300 Intel GMA X4500 128 MB of VRAM DirectX 9 compatible Shader model 3.0 support |
Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 DirectX 10, 11 compatible |
macOS (OS X) |
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Minimum |
Recommended |
Operating system (OS) |
10.11 (El Capitan) |
10.11 (El Capitan) |
Processor (CPU) |
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz
| Intel Core i5 series |
System memory (RAM) |
4 GB |
8 GB |
Hard disk drive (HDD) |
15 GB and 1 GB for saved games 22 GB for Legacy Edition |
22 GB |
Video card (GPU) |
AMD Radeon RX 560 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 256 MB of VRAM
| Nvidia GeForce GTX 680 |
- A 64-bit system is required.
- For laptops with integrated graphics, a minimum of Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 2.0 GHz or AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 2.1 GHz CPU is required.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Notes regarding Steam Play (Linux) data:
References