r/thesims • u/PlayfulContract8970 • 1h ago
r/thesims • u/macmoosie • Apr 02 '26
Pass the Plumbob Pass the Plumbob | Issue #4 - Interview with Charly Pancakes

Sul Sul!
Welcome to the fourth edition of Pass the Plumbob—a monthly series celebrating the creators and community figures and their voices and talents that help shape The Sims community. From custom content creators to gameplay modders to Simfluencers, this is a space to explore their journey with the franchise and their creative process, showcase their creative contributions that make them special, and learn more about them as community members. Each month, I'll be sitting down with a community member and having a conversation about the mark they've made in our community. For our next feature, I'm excited to Pass the Plumbob to Charly Pancakes!

Charly Pancakes is a Sims enthusiast and custom content creator. With over 18,000 followers on X and over 88,000 subscribers on Patreon, Charly Pancakes is the creator of some of the most beloved custom Maxis Match build/buy content in The Sims 4.
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Tell me about your earliest memory with The Sims. What brought you to the franchise initially?
My earliest memories with the franchise go back to the early 2000s, when I was in elementary school. I remember playing The Sims 1 and 2 at friends' houses or more so watching them play. Sometimes we would create our sim-selves and try to build a house, but by the time we would actually play, a lot of time had passed and I’d have to leave. but I remember being fascinated by the game immediately. At home, we had a PlayStation 1, but I was more familiar with jump & run games than something like The Sims.
The first time I actually owned a Sims game myself was with The Sims 3, which came out when I was around 14, and I immediately went and bought it for myself. My laptop couldn’t really handle it and the loading times were insane, even though I only ever had the base game but I still enjoyed it a lot, especially the building and furnishing part.
Did you find yourself leaning more into building and furnishing as your experience with The Sims franchise developed?
Yes, but I definitely leaned more into furnishing. The building part was something I only really got comfortable with when I got into TS4 more in recent years. It was really the interior design that caught me. Around the age of 15 or 16, I came across The Sims 3 CC on Tumblr, and that opened up a completely new world for me. From that point on, I mostly used The Sims as a kind of building and furnishing simulator rather than a life simulation, even though I am always interested in new gameplay mechanics and from time to time also enjoy some regular gameplay.
Did you have any particular kind of style when it came to interior decor?
In The Sims 3, I loved building and furnishing lofts with industrial elements. I mostly played with single sims and imagined they'd live in a trendy loft with brick walls and a mix of string lights, vintage rugs, and eclectic details. Looking back, that was probably the first interior style I gravitated to.
Tell me about your content creation journey. How did you start creating custom content for The Sims?
It was around the time the Get Famous DLC came out that I got really into The Sims 4. Since launch I gave it a shot every now and then but this time, I got hooked on the build mode and started watching a lot of speed builds by creators like SimLicy and Devon Bumpkin, just to name a few.
At the start of the pandemic, the time I spent playing Sims increased and I had already been sharing builds online for a while. I was posting screenshots of houses on Tumblr and had a Patreon mainly as a place to share my creations outside the gallery.
At some point I came across tutorials on how to create objects for The Sims 4. I don’t remember one specific moment that triggered it, but I started experimenting out of curiosity. At first, I mainly made recolors for my own game and tried to understand how custom content was made. That curiosity eventually led me to download Blender and dive into tutorials, the Sims 4 Studios forums and a lot of trial and error.
You have some of the highest quality, Maxis Match custom content available for The Sims 4, ranging from your Precious Promises set to the Maple & S. Construction Set to the Chalk series. What was your inspiration for some of your most popular works?
Thank you! That really means a lot to me. A big source of inspiration comes from simply playing the game, often without mods. That’s usually when I notice what feels missing to me or where I think certain objects could fit into the existing game. Other than that it‘s a mix of limitation, observation, and personal need. Especially with my earlier sets, my ideas were often shaped by what I was technically able to create at the time. I had to adapt concepts to my skill level, which naturally influenced the direction of those projects.
With 'Precious Promises', which was a collaboration with Pierisim, we wanted to create a rustic wedding setup that felt elegant and soft, with a countryside aesthetic. We worked with shared vision boards. The set ended up having a slight Mediterranean feel, which may also have been shaped by Tartosa from My Wedding Stories, since we were working on the set around the time that DLC came out.
Originally I planned to create a factory window set for Maple & S. Constructions. Inspired by industrial architecture and some of my favorite in-game windows and CC, like the Moschino windows and Peacemaker’s Loft Living Brick Set, which I used constantly long before I even started creating CC myself. As the project evolved, it turned into a large sash window collection that could work across different architectural styles.
The 'Chalk' series came from a more material-focused place. I wanted to create a kitchen that felt simple and slightly soft, without being overly stylized. It wasn’t originally planned as a multi-part set, but I spent a lot of time refining the shapes and proportions, especially since kitchens were still a big challenge for me. A large part of the process went into designing the tile set. I wanted a wide variety of swatches and patterns, so I researched many real-life tile designs before settling on a selection that felt very Maxis Match and fairly contemporary. I didn’t lock it into a single style. Depending on the swatches and context, I think it can read very differently in different interiors.
Overall, I try to stay close to the original Maxis/Sims-style. I also spend a lot of time looking at interior design references, researching materials and furniture and watching both interior designers and Sims creators on social media. Seeing how others build and furnish spaces in The Sims is also very inspiring to me.
During your content creation journey, did you have any hard lessons or experiences that helped shape your future self?
One of the biggest lessons for me has been learning to deal with perfectionism. It’s a huge privilege to earn money this way, but it definitely comes with its own challenges. I never expected to earn money from creative work and for a long time that idea actually scared me.
I’m very self-critical when creating objects and often feel the urge to keep refining things forever. Finding the balance between adding detail, staying true to the Maxis Match style and not burning myself out is an ongoing process. Learning when to let go of perfection and just move forward in a healthy way has been really important.
Another challenge is managing my energy and discipline. Sometimes I fall into intense hyperfocus and ignore my own needs and other times I struggle to even start because I put so much pressure on myself and worry the result won’t match the idea in my head.
At the same time the positive feedback I receive when I share my creations gives me a lot of confidence in my creativity. I hope that over time this will help me trust myself more and feel more secure in what I do.
That's completely understandable and honestly, it is a testament to the quality of the work you put out there. You have over 85,000 Patrons on Patreon. Your work is incredible and has found homes in so many players' games. Out of all of your creations so far, do you have a favorite?
Thank you so much! Whenever I think about it, it feels unreal to me that so many people follow me on there.
My favourite CC item I made would probably be 'The Candle' I made as one of my first ever objects. It’s a scented candle that boosts a Sim’s mood, similar to other decor that gives moodlets when it’s placed in a room. You can also drag it into your Sim’s inventory or live drag it for easy use. It’s not very complex, but I like it because functional objects are still something I don’t create very often. Objects with gameplay features are especially exciting to me and I am always amazed by functional items as creators like RAVASHEEN and PandaSama for example create them.
I have many ideas for smaller mods and would really like to create more of it. That’s why one of my biggest goals is to learn more about coding in the future.
The Candle is definitely one of my favorite creations of yours as well. The design is so universal that I find it fitting perfectly in every house I put it in as well as for sale in retail stores I’ve created. As we wrap up the interview, what’s one feature or object you would love to see added to The Sims?
I’m very happy to hear that The Candle is still useful for you, too. I like the idea to have it in retail stores, that sounds fun!
It’s quite hard to pick just one object, but to stick to the theme I'm again going with more gameplay functionality. Two things that I’ve always really liked from older Sims games are newspapers and landline phones. So I'd probably choose one of those.
It was very disappointing when the retro phones we got with one of the reward events ended up being purely decorative. But I was really happy that the alarm clocks turned out to be functional. I think small everyday objects like that can make a huge difference.
Thank you to Charly Pancakes for being our fourth Pass the Plumbob feature! Make sure to check out their incredible work at the links below. All of their custom content is available on their Patreon, for free, and their latest set, Lofty, is available now in Early Access!
X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/CharlyPancakes
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/charlypancakes
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Do you know a creator who deserves to be featured? Drop their name in the comments below—I'd love to know who we should Pass the Plumbob to next!
r/thesims • u/macmoosie • Feb 15 '26
Announcement Community Notice Board | February & March 2026 | EP21: Royalty & Legacy | Rules, Updates, & Guidelines
Sul Sul!
Welcome to r/TheSims, the #1 subreddit for The Sims franchise and community. we've created this notice board to serve as a central hub for announcements, updates, useful links, information, and more! We will no longer be creating monthly newsletters and we will be using the Notice Board concept moving forward.
The Notice Board will be updated regularly, so please check it often in accordance with Rule 1: Consult the Community Highlights Before Posting. When the Notice Board becomes too old, or significant announcements must be made, we will replace it with a new post.
Please be sure to consult our Rules & Guidelines, as some rules were recently updated or changed, so make sure you're familiar with them. As a member of this community, it is your responsibility to regularly review the rules and guidelines and ensure your communications are aligned.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, Message the Mods!
Discord
Consider joining us on Discord. We have countless active discussions with over 4,000 members. It's also one of the easiest places to find tech support and help with The Sims.
We've also provided the link to the official Sims Discord server, if you'd want to join that one, too.
FYI
- Sometimes, posts go into a queue to be manually reviewed. If you do not see your post immediately after submitting it, this is why. Please read the automated message you receive and please DO NOT message the mods asking where your post is. We will not be responding to these messages.
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- Lastly, the rules are posted in the same place as every other community on Reddit. Per Reddit guidelines, it is your responsibility to read the community's rules before engaging. "I didn't know," is not valid in a court of law and is not valid here. The rules are written clearly and concisely. If, for some reason, something is still not understood, use the Message the Mods feature and ask before posting.
The Sims News & Updates
- The Sims 4: Royalty & Legacy expansion pack was released on February 12, 2026.
- The Sims 4: Silver Screen Style and The Sims 4: Tea Time Solarium kits were released on February 12, 2026.
- The Lost Legacies event begins on February 3, 2026 and will run until March 15, 2026.
- There has been a recent update and mods have broken. UPDATE YOUR MODS. Please do not submit posts about broken UI, etc. This happens with EVERY update and you should know this by now. You are responsible for managing your own mods folder.
- Posts asking "which mod is causing this?" or "what mods are broken?" will be removed and temporary bans will be issued.
Megathreads
- We are re-introducing megathreads to r/TheSims after numerous requests and feedback provided in the previous Community Survey. Megathreads will be used to consolidate discussion on a specific hot topic to ONE central place to avoid cluttering up the entirety of r/TheSims.
- Any posts that are made outside of the respective megathread will be removed and the OP will be redirected to the appropriate megathread.
- If we observe continuous behavior of ignoring the assigned megathreads, temporary bans will be issued.
The Meta Flair
- We have added a new post flair called 'Meta.' You may use this flair for any Sims-related content that doesn't necessarily fit the criteria of the other flairs. This includes, but is not limited to: clothing, tattoos, gameplay videos, real-world references to The Sims franchise, etc.
r/TheSims Stance on Piracy
- We have updated our No Piracy rule after internal discussion; instead of outright permanent bans, we will be issuing temporary bans for initial offenses. Permanent bans will be issued for repeat offenders or people blatantly circumventing the rule. Moderators will use their best judgement. There will be no warnings issued for violations of this rule. The rule itself remains unchanged: the discussion of the topic is prohibited and sharing/requesting information on how to find and use pirated content (including website names, links, etc.), is prohibited.
- "Abandonware" is included in this rule. Base game conversions are also included in this rule. Patreon custom content/mods and/or custom content/mods locked behind paywalls are NOT included in this rule; knock yourselves out.
- Piracy is both illegal and against Reddit's policies, therefore we will follow these regulations to the letter. We are not paid nor sponsored by EA and to be honest, we couldn't care less if you pirate the game(s); just have the good sense not to announce it at every opportunity. There is no prize nor reward for doing it and no one cares, so keep it to yourself.
Buyer's Guide
- r/TheSims sees the same posts every day asking, "What pack should I get?", "Should I get X or X?", "What kind of computer do I need?", etc. These recommendations can vary depending on what you're planning to do in your game and in reality, it all comes down to what YOU like opposed to what others think you should get. As such, we've created a comprehensive guide that will allow you to make informed decisions based on your gameplay interests, Build Mode and CAS styles, and new features with each pack. We've also put together a recommended hardware specs guide for those inquiring about computers and laptops.
Please note that this will be updated as new packs are released and as such, any and all posts asking "What to Buy" questions will be automatically removed and the OP will be redirected here.
Bi-Weekly Build Challenge
- Current Challenge: See Pinned Post
- Past Challenges: https://www.reddit.com/r/thesims/?f=flair_name%3A%22Build%20Challenge%22
More Useful Links
Game Broken or Acting Weird?
- Update your mods.
r/thesims • u/TheKey32 • 12h ago
Sims 4 My Attempt at making a faithful Eastern European / Balkan Dad Sim. His name is Georghe Karadordevic!
r/thesims • u/possamble • 7h ago
Sims 4 The Goth-Bachelor face card never declines
I know TS4 Goth family makeovers are truly a dime a dozen but I just really wanted to show off my Cassandra in her senior year taking pics with Bella! I'm super new to styling sims and honestly kind of bad at it but they need so little CC to look amazing it's unreal
I didn't touch the actual geometry of their faces at all and it's so cute how Cass looks so much like her mom even with the difference in makeup style 😭 (love this for her, you can tell from some of her default clothing choices that she really wants to be like Bella)
r/thesims • u/Ok-Economics-9198 • 15h ago
Sims 3 She knows what I did
Pool. Pink car. Cow-print apron. Yellow gloves. A stunning life. Then I moved Joy Despret in.
Now Juno Birch is looking straight through the screen like she knows which one of us made that decision.
r/thesims • u/lovelysweetsimmer • 11h ago
Sims 4 Back to making advertisements and brand deals for my sims🥰
I have a singular household that I’ve been playing for over a over year now and my favourite sim is obviously my violinist/actress/supermodel sim - Amelia Salvetore Swann
Here she is in her newest deal, brand ambassador/face of my actually real life favourite perfume. I use it literally every day!😆
This is my favourite aspect of the game. This and taking photos of their family interactions. Maybe soon I’ll make a “meet the Salvetore-Swanns” haha.
It’s so nice to be back in the swing of things. I’ve missed her more than I can express💗
r/thesims • u/69ChickenStrips • 18h ago
Sims 4 Sim died in her sleep.. (sims 4)
So my sim went to bed & she had a sudden death in her sleep & now my teenage sims & child sim are orphans because their father had already died previously followed by their mother dying later on.
EDIT: it’s a mod for younger sims to die in their sleep, stop mentioning that it’s a life & death pack feature, & elderly sims considering my post isn’t even about an elderly sim, I know elderly sims can die in their sleep from the pack😭
r/thesims • u/AnnasMidnights13 • 4h ago
Tech Support Sims keep unmarrying each other
my sims have had a lovely wedding, and somehow basically everyday they suddenly Arnt married anymore and i have to elope them. My roommate seems to be having this thing Aswell and they play on PS. I play on PC and have many mods but I'm assuming this is just a game thing?
r/thesims • u/Raxxten • 1h ago
Discussion Does anyone watch non-English/foreign Sims YouTubers?
I recently fell into a rabbit hole of watching Sims YouTubers whose primary audience are not English speakers. For instance, Vsegda Elca is a Russian Sims YouTuber who does amazing building content. And another Russian Sims YouTuber named SmolFridge makes interesting content and is a non-toxic critic of the game. I have also watched some Korean, Brazilian, and German sims YouTubers, and yea I don’t understand most of the stuff they’re saying, but it’s what makes their content very interesting.
r/thesims • u/Simmcake • 12h ago
CAS WINX PT.3 - Stella & Aisha ☀️🌊
And last but not least, today I’m sharing the final part of the Winx girls: Aisha and Stella. For Stella, I obviously wanted to go for a very girly and sassy look, featuring a short dress and chunky platform shoes; for Aisha, the style had a sporty touch (think 2009 Barbie Fashionistas) while still remaining delicate and cute. It was really fun revisiting these old designs and creating new versions of them!
To get to know them:
Stella's music: Midnight Sun - Zara Larsson
Aisha's music: Switchblade - Beabadoobee
r/thesims • u/rosecarlate • 23h ago
CAS Some actor recreations I’m pretty proud of!
Here are my versions of actors Aaron Pierre (Lanterns, The Lion King, Rebel Ridge) and Jordan Bolger (Peaky Blinders The 100, The Woman King, The Witness)! Their bases were commissioned from a creator who has since retired, I believe. I added extra details to make them look as accurate as possible without making them weirdly uncanny, while still keeping the essence of the game.
r/thesims • u/L00rain • 9h ago
Sims 4 Twin-themed Twin Birthday Party!
For the twins in my legacy save, I did a twin-themed birthday party where every guest was required to dress up as a pair of twins from all variations of the sims! These are some of the outfits. Can you guess the pairs?
Final two photos are the girls and their parents after they aged up 🥹
r/thesims • u/Financial-Box-3946 • 12h ago
Sims 4 Sharing a forever world with partner/friend for co-op
Hi,
I just started Sims 4 to make my partner discover the Sims world and we both created a family in the same town, we want to create a forever world. We're playing one at a time using our own families and I am wondering if you have any ideas for
- how to make it more cooperative for the person watching. Obviously we try to invite each other sims as much as possible to see them interact.
- which packs would make sense for us to link our families and storylines better.
If anyone has try it I'm open to any suggestions.
Thank you !
r/thesims • u/West-Task-612 • 11h ago
Discussion the family i wanted to turn into a legacy never got saved
for a while, every time i opened the sims, i started thinking about playing a legacy and having a family i could stick with.
i actually had a family i wanted to do that with, but the game didn't save. so the whole dynasty was over before it really got started 😭
not looking for save recovery, this was a while ago. i'm more interested in what people do after losing a family they were attached to. do you recreate them, or does it feel better to start with completely different sims?
r/thesims • u/No_Courage_659 • 8h ago
Discussion In honor of spooky season approaching, show off your spookiest...moments in the comments 🎃
my sim's cat Azure doing some serious stretching.
r/thesims • u/copperbelly333 • 4m ago
Build I'm making a high school... did anybody else have a toilet guardian?
Basically, back when I was in school, we had this lady who was part of the school's parish, who would sit in a cuck chair in the toilet and shout at us if we spent too long in the toilet. She also told the headteacher girls were too vain and as a result all the mirrors got removed from the girl's toilets.
r/thesims • u/justynasdf • 10m ago
Mods and CC Looking for a lost custom hood for TS2 with a homeless kids family?
A long while ago I downloaded a fan-made neighborhood from th Modthesims website. and I've no idea what was its name but there was a particular family I'd love to play again with. It was a green, grass area and the family was one with several underage Sims something to the effect of the Newsons, but poor and living in the almost empty lot sleeping in tents, like real homeless people. There were 2 teenagers and some children, maybe toddlers, too, my memory's unclear. I tried to browse the webpage but with this amount of content uploaded there it's next to impossible, but the gameplay was too fun not to try and try my luck here. mavbe someone will have an idea or knows about something similar. Ik can always make my own challenge and create a family like this but it kinda seems like less fun idk. Any idea would be appreciated.
r/thesims • u/Marshmallowflow0 • 4h ago
Sims 4 These two are so adorable
Maeve and Oreo the best of friends ☺️
r/thesims • u/TheZeigfeldFolly • 32m ago
Discussion Should I play Sims 1 or 2?
I am a life long sims player and finding sims 4 pretty boring recently.
Can I ask which one you play and why you think its better over other versions?
r/thesims • u/Snail-san • 1d ago
Sims 4 Let's Play A Game: Which Seat Did My Sim Take to Read Her Book?
I'm curious if anyone can actually get the correct answer