🌍🛠️ WORLD EDIT 3 WIP + NEWS + UPCOMING POLL!

Hey friends!

I’ve got lots of exciting news today!! Some work-in-progress updates on World Edit 3, info about the latest patch, and a sneak peek at a special Patreon poll launching next week! Let’s get started!

🧚 NEW PATCH UPDATE / EXPANSION PACK

There's a new Sims 4 Expansion Pack coming out today called "Enchanted by Nature" and it's bringing fairies and fantasy nature vibes to the game! With this pack, a major patch update dropped last week, and it seems like my mods were not affected by this patch! Yay!! If you spot any issues or unexpected behaviour, please use the new 2025 Bug Reports form by clicking here! 🐞

Also, to keep things organized and accessible for everyone, I’ll soon publish a post that will serve as a hub where you can easily find all my mods and check their update status right here on Patreon. This will go live once all my mods have been updated and remade (a few are still missing, they’ll make a comeback later this year!). Thank you again for your patience while I rebuild my work and make it better and more stable than ever before! Now let's talk about the big mod pack that will make a comeback soon: World Edit 3!

🌍🛠️ WORLD EDIT 3 - Work-In-Progress

As you already know from my last post, I'm still working full time on World Edit 3, which I'm remaking completely from scratch! It’s slowly becoming one of the biggest mod packs I’ve ever created, and it still needs a lot of work before it’s finished!

I’m spending so much time and energy on this project for a few of reasons:

• First, I want to provide a tool that’s as simple as possible to install AND use, but packed with as many world customization features as possible, available to all! My goal is to help you make the worlds in the Sims 4 feel alive and really your own by being able to customize, create and explore your own semi-open worlds, made completely in-game at runtime, with no coding knowledge required!

• The second reason is more personal: I want to build as many features as I can, and make them as detailed as possible, so that World Edit 3 becomes my main tool for creating (and re-creating!) custom worlds directly in-game. I’ll be using it myself to bring back Brookheights and Eden Hills for the return of the Farmland and Brookheights mod packs later this year, as well as to create new custom worlds for you to explore and play with! (My dream is to turn the Sims 4 into a kind of little game engine, so I can create my own worlds and adventures right inside the game, at least partially, since there’s still plenty of work that happens behind the scenes outside of the game.)

All of this has to fit into a simple .package/.ts4script mod, because I really don’t want to go back to the heavy modifications I used to do (like replacing world or core files in the game directory) which were too difficult for players to install and very unstable with patch updates. I want my mods and worlds to be super easy to install AND use, and as stable as possible for patch updates (no more reinstalling files or updating the mod after every big patch!) It’s definitely a challenge, but I’m always looking for new workarounds, and I’m figuring it out more and more now that I’ve started learning advanced script modding!

Now, let’s take a look at what I’ve been working on these past few weeks, and what’s coming up next!

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🏡 Partially Empty Base Game Worlds

First, let’s talk about how worlds actually work in The Sims 4, so you can see what we’re dealing with! Sims 4 worlds are tricky to mod because they’re core files, which usually cannot be modified with a simple .package file in your Mods folder.

These core files make the game load things like terrain and water, swimming areas, world lighting, lots, roads, decor, and other world objects right at launch, and none of that can be modded the usual way or edited in-game! That’s why it will never be possible to add new lots or new swimming areas at runtime, or with a simple .package mod, and why some decor or world objects just can’t be deleted while playing, they’re tied to the world file and loaded independently from mods.

So, I had to find a workaround for these limitations to give you blank-ish worlds, letting you add your own buildings, objects, and decor to truly make the worlds your own! For this, I’ve replaced some decor objects with blank ones in base game worlds. But don’t worry, it’s totally reversible: you'd just need to remove the .package/.ts4script file from your Mods folder, and the worlds will go back to their original state. No invasive modding, so this mod pack is more stable than ever, and just as easy to install as it is to uninstall! Plus, you’ll get lots of new open areas to play with, customize, and explore!

The Desert Bloom Park world/neighborhood, located in the middle of Oasis Springs, has been almost completely emptied and expanded, giving you a blank canvas to create your own world from scratch!

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🌍Expanded Playable Areas

With World Edit 3, all the base game worlds get expanded playable areas! (There's also an optional mod to expand all the other worlds too.) But what does that mean? When your Sim is out in the street around your active lot, there’s a pre-defined area you can explore, called the “Open Street” by the developers, and you can’t go beyond those world boundaries. With this mod pack, those boundaries are pushed to the max, so your sims can explore freely in areas that YOU get to customize.

(My Sim exploring new areas, outside the world boundaries)

This creates a semi-open world vibe, because you’ll be able to roam around huge areas (up to 768x768 squares, that’s the equivalent of 144 of the largest 64x64 lots!!). Desert Bloom Park is the perfect example: there’s just a single 50x50 lot in the center, and with no other lots around, you get this massive 768x768 open area to play with, with no extra loading screens needed to explore the world!

(Testing World Edit 3 by creating an alien-like planet in the new blank world from Desert Bloom Park - in Oasis Springs)

The expanded playable areas is a feature I already provided in my previous projects (Brookheights, Farmland, World Edit 1 & 2), and I'm expanding it to all worlds now! This also comes with some limitations (more about that later, in a gameplay walkthrough video!)

BONUS: the worlds that have a swimmable area will also get an expanded swim zones, and the ones that don't will still allow you to wade in shallow water (but not swim in deep water unfortunately, this requires hard modifications to core files).

Turning the Ridgeline Drive neighbourhood from Newcrest into a semi-open world, with a new 768x768 playable area, with 4 regular lots to load, but also lots of new open areas and interactive buildings to visit and interract with!

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📍New World Tags

As you can see in the video linked above, I’ve created new world tags for World Edit 3, to help you find the areas and lots around these new huge worlds! Combined with my World Camera Mod (which will be returning with World Edit 3), this lets you zoom out super far and get a full overview of your world. The tags I’ve added in the video show locations, lots, open areas, and interactive buildings and objects around the current world, giving Sims 3 vibes!

You’ll also be able to fully edit the World Tags, their icon, name, description, height, size, and even hide them if you want!

A lot of people have already asked if this means the game has open worlds now, the simple answer is: no! (well... not really, let me explain😅) The worlds are still the same, there are still regular lots that need to be loaded with a loading screen (these are marked by blue tags in the video attached to this post), either from the 2D World Maps, or by clicking on the lots directly in-world. This remains unchanged, and it cannot be modded ever.

But yes, the World Camera Mod, the World Tags, and the Expanded Playable Areas do give off a semi-open world vibe, because there are many spaces, outdoor activities, interactive buildings/rabbitholes, and open venues to explore, with a 3D overview of the world you're in. Everything inside the “Open Street” area (outside of lots) can be explored without a loading screen. We’ve seen this a little bit in recent expansion packs with little shops, markets, festivals, or even interactive buildings like the cinema in Growing Together EP or haunted houses in Life and Death EP, and it’s also something I’ve already explored in the past with my biggest mod packs!

World Tags Test: adding world tags manually around a customized world to match with the lots, open areas, and interactive buildings! Zooming out and clicking on a World Tag will bring options to go to the location, but also edit the tag's icon, name, and more! - (The world here is Strangerville, and it has been emptied only for playtesting, it won't be for the final mod! Only Base Game worlds will be partially emptied.)

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🎨 DESIGN: A little Adobe Illustrator behind the scenes

I’ve been designing the icons for the World Edit menus and the new World Tags! Each feature I create takes a lot of work, not just coding or 3D modeling the gizmos, objects, buildings, and tags, but also designing all the UI elements, organising them into menus, and even managing the 3D shaders (which is some code behind a 3D object, so that the tags always face the camera and light up for example, or so the World Cursor shows through the objects and terrain like build/buy gizmos). It’s all very much time-consuming, but I want this mod pack to feel as polished as possible, following my art style (similar to my other mods' aesthetics for continuity), and make it fun to use and good looking!

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🌐 NEW World Cursor (and World Grid)

You're probably wondering how you will be able to edit the worlds with objects outisde of the lot boundaries, since build/buy mode won't allow us to place objects off-lot. Well let me introduce the new World Cursor !

I've shown in my last post the new World Grid, and it comes with a new companion: the World Cursor.

This is a new gizmo object you can place anywhere, just left-click on the World Grid, or use shift+click on the terrain with the “Put World Cursor Here” interaction! This will display a circular gizmo on the ground with a little "move" cross in the middle, which you can click to reveal lots of new interactions and options!

With this new World Cursor, you can:

• 🌐 Move Objects: use shift+click on any object to move it to the World Cursor location (more about that below!)

• 📦 Create Objects: like 'World Decor Objects' (unlocking new decor objects that are not available in build/buy mode), Park Items, Outdoor Lights, Outdoor Activities, and much more! The objects will be created in the middle of the World Cursor, and can then be moved, resized, rotated, and more!

• 🏠Create Venues: create interactive buildings (like the university, cinema, city hall, haunted house, etc.), or even Open Venues (open areas with several objects added at once, that are similar to lots but don't require a loading screen. Example: a park, an outdoor cinema, a graveyard, etc.)

• 📍Create World Tags: add world tags around the world to easily find the buildings and zones you'd like to visit!

• 🚹 Spawners: spawn sims (by age, gender, etc.), animals (from the various expansion packs), or even craftables (like foods, collectibles, etc.)

• ⛰️Landscaping: add a decorative ocean, river, moutains, nature objects, trees, backdrops, etc.

• 👣🚫Footptint Boundaries: add boundaries and forbidden zones so your sims cannot walk in these areas, or use them to create paths you'd like your sims to walk through (or avoid). It comes with a feature to show/hide these invisible forbidden walls!

• 🔍 Find: use this feature to find the world cursor, your sim, or the active lot by focusing the camera on them! Very useful in such large open areas!

• 🌍🛠️ + Much more... I'm still working on much more features, which will be revealed when the mod comes out through a detailed gameplay walkthrough video.

The World Cursor menu will show all the categories and options for world editing and object transformations!

Example: the 'Create World Object' interaction will show a Ui picker, so you can create world objects on the World Cursor location, unlocking new decor objects/buildings that don't even appear in Build/Buy mode (even with cheats like bb.showliveeditobjects!)

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🛠️ Move, Rotate & Resize any Object (and more!)

I’ve already talked about this in my last post, but now I can show you even more: there are brand new features to move, rotate, and resize objects (and even more options like clone, delete or hide!)

This works kind of like a plugin integrated into World Edit 3 (I personally call it “Gizmove,” even if it doesn’t really have an official in-game name). Basically, when you shift+click on ANY object (except for the permanent decor items), you’ll get options to move the selected object to the World Cursor’s location, pull it towards it, move it along the X, Y, or Z axes, change its scale (either by a fixed value or by increments of ±10%), and even rotate it (by 1, 5, 10, 45, 90, or 180 degrees). You can also reset its rotation, or even randomize it, which is super useful for things like trees, rocks, and other landscaping decor items!

Here's a little demo:

Combined with the interactive World Grid and its easy 'one click' to move the World Cursor to the desired location, these features will allow you to create, move, scale, rotate and transform objects and buildings on AND off-lot very easily! If you have other ideas for features for this Gizmove plugin, let me know in the comments down below!

Here's another demo with the Clone, Scale, and Hide features used on an interactive building:

There will also be options to move an entire area at once with several objects, so you can build an open area with many objects in build/buy mode on your active lot, and then export it to another place anywhere in the world! Please note that only objects can be moved off lot, not building blocks like walls, roofs, pools, or terrain! More about that next time!

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🏠 Interactive Buildings + Exclusive Poll (next week)!

One of the key features from World Edit 3 that will help you create lively and interesting worlds are the Interactive Buildings, and I need your help with this!

There are already several interactive venues from different expansion packs in the Sims 4, they are like rabbitholes with interactions inside, like the City Hall from Life and Death EP, the University Buildings from the University EP, or the Movie Theatre from Growing Together EP - see down below)

For example, one of the already existing Interactive Buildings is the Movie Theatre from the Growing Together expansion pack.

But I want to create more! I'd like to provide new Base Game compatible interactive buildings, that you will be able to place anywhere thanks to the World Cursor and Gizmove features, like a Grocery Shop for example, or maybe a new City Hall where your sim can do paperwork or maybe vote? That's why i need YOUR help!

Next week, I will post an exclusive poll for Patreon Paid Members, so that YOU get to decide the interactive buildings that you want to see in-game, and the ones collecting the most votes will be added to this brand new World Edit 3 mod pack!

✦ RELOAD THIS PAGE NEXT WEEK TO VOTE FOR THE INTERACTIVE BUILDINGS YOU'D LIKE TO SEE IN WORLD EDIT 3! ✦

You can now share with me the Interactive Buildings and Rabbitholes you'd like to see in the Sims 4! Tell me in the comments down below, I'll be taking notes and adding my favourite and the most popular ones to the poll next week! ⬇️💬

Using the “Create Interactive Building” interaction on the World Cursor opens a picker menu where you can choose which interactive venue to spawn.

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⏭️ What's next for this project?

There’s still LOTS OF WORK ahead for me, like creating all the transportation features (roads, subways, etc.), designing the new base game interactive buildings (3D modeling, coding, design, writing), making new landscaping items (mountains, 3D backdrops, nature objects), and expanding on the features I’ve already built. I’m also working on the best way for players to share and import custom worlds (still figuring out how to make that easy, but I can already tell you that World Edit will be required to share or play with custom worlds made by the community).

I’m also considering turning World Edit into a full mod collection, similar to the Plumfruit Collection, so I can keep expanding it after launch with new themed packs, each with their own interactive buildings, rabbitholes, or custom worlds. For example, there could be a future pack in the World Edit Collection all about Alien Life, with new decor objects, interactive buildings, world tags, rabbitholes, and more around that theme! That’s just one idea, it could be any theme really! What do you think? Please let me know in the comments below!

📰 When will World Edit 3 come out?

It’s going to take me several more weeks to finish all these features and polish this big mod pack. I also want to launch it with a new custom world, a cinematic trailer on my YouTube channel, and a full gameplay walkthrough video to show you how everything works in details!

Thank you so much for your continued support throughout this long development! If you can, consider supporting the project by joining my Patreon as a member, you’ll be able to vote for the interactive buildings you’d like to see the most in this mod pack, and it really helps me keep working on this huge project, which will become the foundation for even bigger things to come!

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That's it for today friends!

I hope you enjoyed this little deep dive into what’s coming up for World Edit 3! Your feedback, your ideas, and just seeing your excitement genuinely keeps me going so thank you for being here, reading, and sharing this journey with me!! 🥹🫶

As always, let me know in the comments what you think, what you’re dreaming of seeing in your Sims worlds, or if you have any questions about the upcoming features. I read every message, and some of your ideas really do inspire me!

And for the members, don’t forget to come back next week to vote in the exclusive poll if you want to help shape the future of this project! Thank you for supporting my work, it means the world to me and helps keep all of this possible!

Thank you all so much for your support, your patience, and your creativity. Can’t wait to share more with you soon! 🌍🛠️

Happy 'Enchanted by Nature' release day! Sending love!!

Arnie 💜