How to Have Multiple Households in the Same Neighborhood in The Sims 3

While The Sims 3 has added a ton of new functions, features and other goodies, one thing that has gotten a bit more complicated with the new neighborhood format is the addition of multiple user-created families to the same town. If you have several families you want to be neighbors, here’s what you need to do.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Make your multiple families in the Create-A-Sim station. To save time, create all the families you’ll want to live together at once. You can go back and make more later, but making them all now will save you some headache later.

2. Choose one family to be the “Active Household.” This is the first family you will play. Don’t worry, you can always choose another later. Note that changing Active Households will clear your Sim’s Promised Wishes (previously known as Aspirations.) While most Wishes tend to be recurring, try not to change the Active Household if you have an unfulfilled Wish you want to keep.

3. Click on the “. . .” to view the menu. Click on “Edit Town.” This will take you to the town menu and allow you to bring in multiple families.

4. Click on the family/Sim you want to add. Click “Place Copy” and select a home for them (either a house or an empty lot.) Place all the families you want to have living in the same town.

5. Select your new Active Household and begin playing. All the families you just put into the town will be available to interact with. They will appear at community lots, be available for visits (simply find their house, walk up and knock on the front door) and other interactions. Enjoy!

Tips & Warnings

• Having multiple user-created families in the same town can cause complications if “Story Progression” is enabled. With this on, your families can grow old, die, move away or simply disappear without warning. To prevent this, go into the Options Menu, find Story Progression and disable it.