Roommates in Sims 4

Benefits of Having a Roommate in Your Residence

• Rent:

  Roommates pay rent. From what I can tell if your home is nice and if you make improvements/upgrades the rent will raise.

• Companionship:

  A good roommate can be good company… or the opposite, or somewhere in-between. Rather like in RL…

• Pushback:

  A roommate will change things up a bit. Add some personality to the game. You do not control them, and they can be a bit quirky, which can be entertaining and add challenge.

• Pitching In:

  If things go well with your roommate, you may find they pitch in more than just rent. I’ve had roommates who spontaneously repaired broken items, tended toddlers, socialized with pets and family members, cooked and baked, cleaned, and did many helpful things around the house.

Preparing for a Roommate

• Have Enough Beds:

  You will need to add a bed for each roommate. You will also need to add enough beds to account all household Sims and butlers, in order to run the ad for a roommate. Also, some people have mentioned issues with double beds not counting for two Sims. (I have not seen this issue, but am mentioning it just in case.) In some cases adding extra beds has helped to open the option to run the ad. It’s not necessary to keep all of those beds once the roommate(s) have a bed assigned to them. You can even stick the extra beds in a basement storage room, the back yard, etc. while running the ad.

• A Nice Room:

  Remember, you want the roommates comfortable and happy. They will come with some ‘stuff’ and won’t be happy if they cannot lay out their items in their bedroom. I would recommend their bedroom have a bed, a bedside table, a dresser, a comfortable lounge chair, and a desk with a chair. If you add any decorative items to these surfaces, just stick to one item. They will come with and accumulate at least 1-4 items that they will want to put on the surfaces in their bedroom.

• Assign Beds:

  All adults, teens, children, & butlers should have a bed assigned to them. Double and triple check that all bed assignments ‘took’. You can see if they have been successfully assigned the bed if you hover over the bed. If it is assigned, each sim assigned to the bed will show in the hover pop-up. Check them again after making any new assignments or household member changes. The game can act a bit like musical chairs after a change of household members, new roommate addition, etc. You may suddenly find that some or all of the bed assignments have reset or are not assigned any longer.

• Extra Unassigned Beds:

  Have the extra, unassigned beds mentioned in the first point above.

• Helpful Items:

  Plenty of bathrooms, easy access to kitchen surfaces, and I find having a second refrigerator or a mini-fridges from Discover University extremely helpful. Having a TV and comfy seating, bookshelf, a coffee maker, a stereo or speaker, and exercise equipment is also helpful. My roommates loved the gamepad I added, and they will likely want to cook and make coffee.

There Are Two Ways to Get a Roommate:

1. Ask an Acquaintance to Be the New Roommate

To ask an acquaintance to be the new roommate, click on the other Sim & go to “Roommate” > “Ask to be New Roommate”…
[Note: If the acquaintance turns your Sim down it could be for a number of reasons. They may not like your Sim, they may already have a home and family that depend on them, or there may be other reasons. If you really, really want a certain Sim for the roommate you can increase your chances by going into “Manage Households”, find the Sim, move the Sim into their own household, and make sure they don’t live in a home.]

…OR

2. Place an Advertisement (Ad) for a Roommate

On their computer, have your Sim go to “Household” then “Place Advertisement for Roommates”…
[Note: If this option is greyed out, please see “Preparing for a Roommate” above.]

Once the ad has been placed you can wait for potential roommates to show up at the door.

• Within 1-3 days of placing your ad you should begin to have ‘potential roommates’ show up at the door. You can identify them as a “Potential Roommate” by hovering over them and you should see this popup with their name that identifies them as a “Potential Roommate”:
[Unlike asking acquaintances, the “Potential Roommates” that come to the door are on board and would love to be your Sim’s roommate if they accept them!]

• Have your Sim introduce themselves to the “Potential Roommate”. After introducing themselves they should be able to chat with them and get to know them a bit.
• TIP: It’s super handy to have a Sim with the “Observant” reward meet the potential roommate(s). This Sim will be able to tell at introduction the traits of the potential roommate.

Click the Sim for the option to “Accept as New Roommate”.

Keeping Your Roommate Happy

• Have your Sim socialize with their roommate. Nobody’s very happy living with someone they barely know or don’t like.
• Make meals, place them out, and do ‘Call to Meal’.
• Keep extra leftovers in the refrigerator at all times so they can ‘grab a plate’.
• Keep the home tidy.
• Make repairs quickly.
• Keep checking interactions with roommates. If they help, have your Sim thank and encourage them. If they flirt inappropriately, are messy, or do other unwanted behaviors, check interactions right away – your Sim will likely have the option to tell them not to do that. A good roommate will respond well to these corrections and encouragements. A bad roommate may not, and may need to go.
• If they make or bring a food, drag it to the refrigerator. They will eat leftovers from it far more readily.
• Keep spoiled food cleared out.
• Upgrade items, especially in the bathrooms. Roommates like this.

Roommate Is Bugging Out

Occasionally you may need to reset/debug your roommate. It’s a thing. If the roommate is all dirty and miserable, not moving/frozen, not taking care of their needs, has something stuck in their hands, etc., you may need to resort to cheats to help them out.

• Before resorting to cheats you can try exiting the lot and re-entering it. This in-and-of itself oftentimes resets glitchy Sims.
• You can reset/debug the roommate.
• You can try the  ‘make happy‘ cheat on your roommate. This can be very helpful in getting them back in their right mind – and hopefully taking care of their needs. Keep an eye on them and see if they start behaving normally and take care of themselves.

Roommate Bug Reports

• Troubles getting/keeping roommates
• Room Mate Ad: Available Beds not properly counting
• ALL Current Bug Reports on Roommates on Answers HQ

Roommate Traits

Why They Do What They Do…

• If you’re wondering why your roommate seems to have some behavior that doesn’t fit with their known traits, you might not be imagining things. I hear rumors that roommates are randomly assigned some ‘hidden traits’ upon becoming your Sim’s roommate.
• Click here to read a helpful comment about this by RandomBuzziness on Answers HQ. (Please also see her previous comment on the thread, #5.)

TIPS

• Are random Sims showing up and making themselves at home? Roommates will sometimes have ‘parties’ where a bunch of friends show up and mill around the home, pretty much making themselves at home. I have also seen some roommates that frequently invite a boyfriend/girlfriend over – sometimes for the night. Your Sim should be able to ask the boyfriend/girlfriend/friends to leave, though their roommate may not be too pleased.
• Sims getting fat from roommates cooking cakes? The Cool Kitchen Stuff Pack includes the ice cream maker. With it you can make “Taste of Diet” ice cream. After a Sim eats 2-3 servings of this ice cream they will lose weight. This is very handy since some roommates love to make a lot of food and cake. If you make ice cream and put it in the refrigerator roommates and household Sims alike absolutely love helping themselves to portions of it.
• Hire a maid, a gardener, a butler. Get some help. They will offer your Sim (and you) relief, the rent should help offset the expense, and they will likely catch issues you didn’t know about sometimes.