Players are saddling up for the launch of The Sims 4’s Horse Ranch expansion pack on July 20, but the base game update that launched today might be even more exciting than the arrival of horses. Since the game first launched on Sept. 2, 2014, players have regularly requested one key gameplay feature be changed, and after eight years, EA finally answered players’ wishes with an update that launched on July 18, 2023.
Before this update, all ceilings in any building would be painted plain white and players had no way to change them. Now, The Sims 4 players can finally freely change the color and pattern of any ceiling to any of the available floorings in the Build catalog.
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If you’ve ever tried to build anything in The Sims 4 that didn’t fit with the plain ceiling color, it likely impeded your building process. But luckily, this is now a problem of the past as all players have access to this free update ahead of The Sims 4 Horse Ranch launch.
The addition of horses in the Horse Ranch expansion pack is certainly exciting, but this new free base game feature is much more versatile since it will apply to any build players create while horses likely won’t be part of every Sims household players create. Finally being able to change the color of the ceiling is truly a game changer for The Sims 4 overall and will drastically alter how all Sims builds look moving forward.
While the new painted ceiling feature is the most exciting feature to come in the July 18 base game update, it also featured fairly lengthy patch notes that included a variety of other new features players may also enjoy.
When in Build Mode, players can now use the Free Camera mode that was previously only useable in Live Mode. This is a great tool for viewing your newly painted ceilings or for simply getting a better look at your creation overall.
The devs added three new base game hairs to implement better representation of Indigenous People in America plus a new dish players can cook up at the grill called Three Sisters Chili, a Native American dish. They also released new eye presets and brows focused on adding representation for East Asian Sims.
To match with many assets included in The Sims 4 Horse Ranch expansion pack, EA added tons of new swatches on base game assets that all players now have access to regardless of whether they obtain the new pack or not. This includes new swatches for many wallpapers, wooden floors, brick floors, fences, and doors.
Outside of these additions, the July 18 update also implemented a ton of bug fixes across many of The Sims 4’s packs.
Players can begin horsin’ around with the Horse Ranch expansion pack when it launches on July 20, but the free base game update is already available for players to delve into so you can start painting the ceilings of every build you’ve ever made now.