The Sims 4 is gearing up for one of its most substantial base game updates in recent memory, with more than 150 bug fixes and feature improvements arriving on May 12. This patch doesn’t just target long-standing technical frustrations—it also introduces meaningful quality-of-life upgrades shaped directly by community feedback.

Earlier this month, the development team shared a detailed “Laundry List” outlining what players can expect. Many of the priorities were determined by community voting, ensuring that some of the most frequently reported issues finally rise to the top. The result is a sweeping update that touches everything from Infant behavior to Create a Sim customization and overall autonomy tuning.

A Stability Boost and Smarter Saves

One of the headline improvements is an increase in how often the game generates automatic backup saves. For players who’ve ever worried about corrupted files or lost progress, this adjustment adds a welcome layer of protection.

The update also expands Create a Sim with a brand-new layering system, offering more flexibility for outfit building while continuing to provide deeper technical support for modders and custom content creators. It’s a change that enhances both creativity and customization under the hood.

Community-Voted Fixes Finally Addressed

Several high-profile bugs that players repeatedly flagged have now been resolved:

• “Black Photos” bug: Multiple fixes targeting texture loss have been implemented, alongside extra testing for paintings and photos. All known instances of the issue have been addressed.
• Infant pickup loop: Sims will no longer repeatedly put infants down only to pick them back up moments later.
• “Secret Witness” Sentiment: Married or engaged Sims won’t gain this sentiment when seen WooHooing with their own partner.
• “Can’t place item” error: Fixed across both new and existing saves.
• Scandal visual effects: New cases of Sims becoming stuck with Scandal have been resolved, and lingering effects will be cleared from affected saves.

Create a Sim Gets Base Layers

A new Base Layers category is coming to Create a Sim, expanding wardrobe flexibility and inclusivity. These layers are designed to sit beneath Tops or Full Body outfits, opening up more styling possibilities and supporting broader gender expression options, including a layerable binder.

The rollout includes:

• Eight Base Layer options for Adults
• Four for Children
• Two for Toddlers

With over 380 variants and swatches that can be combined with existing CAS pieces, outfit combinations are set to grow significantly.

Major Infant and Toddler Improvements

Infants and Toddlers receive a particularly strong focus in this update, driven by frequent feedback from EA Forums, Discord, and Reddit.

• Infant Playmat: Sims will now prioritize placing infants on a playmat rather than directly on the floor.
• Caregiver Autonomy Toggle: A new option allows players to disable caregiver autonomy for infants, making care fully manual. Social interactions like “Check Infant” remain available, but neglect can still result in social services stepping in.
• Loud noise reactions: Infants will respond to disruptive sounds with appropriate buffs and thought bubbles, along with a one-time tutorial explaining why they wake.
• Clearer hovertips: Feeding preferences and milestone requirements are now easier to understand.

Several tuning adjustments refine day-to-day care. Diapers will be cleaned up automatically if a trash can is nearby, diaper changes at changing tables are quicker, Hunger decreases slightly more slowly, and feeding takes around fifteen Sim minutes. Care interactions are also easier to access when an Infant’s Needs are low.

For players with Growing Together, Tummy Time milestones will unlock at twice the previous rate. Beyond that, more than 25 additional fixes tackle issues such as caregiver conflicts, freezing during care routines, toddlers ignoring food, broken reading interactions, and Infant Milestones failing to trigger or disappearing.

Autonomy and Sleep Behave More Naturally

General autonomy has been adjusted to reduce odd behaviors. Sims will dance far less frequently—roughly once per day—and will no longer grab glasses of water on their own. NPCs barging into homes for a drink should also be a thing of the past in new cases.

Other autonomy-related fixes include:

• Children won’t be taken away unless they are actively failing (F).
• Sims with the Jealous trait won’t become upset when their partner interacts with their own children.

Sleep logic has been refined as well. Sims disturbed by a nearby TV or radio will now turn it off and return to bed. A clarified Nap hovertip explains its shorter duration, and exhausted Sims who fall asleep in bed will stay there instead of collapsing elsewhere. Bed-sharing has also been tuned so that only Sims with sufficiently high relationships will share a bed.

Lovestruck: Better Bedtime Romance

For players using Lovestruck, a new “Sleep and Cuddle” interaction allows romantic partners to settle in together without awkwardly getting out of bed. Canceling a cuddle will no longer wake both Sims or interrupt one who has already fallen asleep.

Royalty & Legacy Polishing

The Royalty and Legacy systems receive targeted fixes as well. Adjustments resolve cases where the “Poor Leadership” sentiment was incorrectly assigned to the Dynasty Head, ensure offspring from pre-made Dynasties are registered properly, and correct issues with pre-patch babies being treated as secret births.

The Grand Ball event also sees improvements:

• Sims will attend wearing the chosen dress code.
• The Mask option remains available after editing the Host in Create a Sim.
• The mask icon in the event UI now displays correctly.

Broader Base Game Fixes

Beyond these highlights, the update addresses inventory issues involving photos, improves Family Tree accuracy, and continues work on preventing unintended relationship changes within Create a Sim. The Gallery’s default sorting will once again display “Newest” first.

Additional fixes span gameplay blockers, UI inconsistencies, disappearing animals, aging issues, event and trait bugs, and improved tagging and sorting in both Create a Sim and Build Mode.

Still Under Investigation

Not everything is wrapped up just yet. The team is continuing to investigate community-reported problems, including windows and doors clipping into walls under certain graphics settings, console crashes after update 2.13, performance lag over long sessions, time freezing while the environment continues moving, save file corruption, unintended family ties forming in Create a Sim, and reports of autonomous mean interactions.

The full patch notes will be released on May 12, but even from this preview, it’s clear the upcoming update aims to make The Sims 4 more stable, more expressive, and far less frustrating in everyday play.