Find out here how to play a different household in the same neighborhood in The Sims 3. Have you made that perfect boyfriend for your sim? When you play him to see if he likes your sim, do you find out he is in a completely different neighborhood? This is the page for you! Come see how to change households in Sims 3 without changing neighborhoods, so you can play matchmaker.

These opening paragraphs explain the problem. If you are sure you understand the problem and you are anxious to get to the solution, then scroll on down the page to Step 1. You might want to check out the tips up here to the right once you understand the solution. See you later!

Unlike previous versions of the game, The Sims 3 allows players to enter every house in a neighborhood from the point of view of the active household. For example, I can visit every house in a Sims 3 neighborhood by just playing Bob Jones, who is in my sim family The Jones Family. I can make Bob walk out of his house, down the street, and knock on a neighbor's door. If the neighbor is home, then Bob can enter the neighbor's house if I make Bob chat the neighbor up enough.

Because the whole neighborhood is in play at all times, in The Sims 3 (TS3) a player has to completely leave the neighborhood in order to control a different household in that neighborhood. The game documentation calls this process changing the active household. Steps 1, 2 and 3 below spell out how to change households in TS3.

By far the best scenario for playing multiple households in the same neighborhood in The Sims 3 is if the player creates all the households before starting to play any household in the neighborhood. If you have not started playing any households in your neighborhood yet, then move on to Step 2 below. Come back up here to Step 1 before you decide to change from one household to the next, though.

If you have already started playing one household, and you want to move on and play different sims that these sims will be able to interact with, then save this household. There are glitches sometimes when players use the save option that is part of the quit option in TS3. For that reason, it is a good idea to always save first, and then quit the household.

Before saving the current household to run off and play a different household, remember though that all lifetime wishes and all inventory items will be lost. They won't be there when the player returns to play this household again.

Lifetime wishes often come up again and can be chosen again. Inventory is lost forever. Place inventory items in the house, and they have a better chance of being there when the player returns to this house. The chance is not absolute, however, because the sims can pick up items on their own and walk off with them!

OK, so if you are bound and determined to leave this household and go play another in this same neighborhood, then:

• Realize that lifetime wishes will be lost.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWxIW3t8FBI
• Realize that promises will be lost.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWxIW3t8FBI
• Realize that opportunities will be lost.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWxIW3t8FBI
• Put all inventory items into the house.
• Save the game by hitting control-S.
• Leave the household to the main menu.

After saving and leaving the household that was being played, it is possible to choose or create a different household to play in the same neighborhood. In The Sims 3 this is started in the Options menu. Locate the options menu in the bottom left corner of the screen. The Sims 3 options menu is labeled with three dots, like this ...

• Click on the options menu (...)
• Locate the option that is labeled Edit Town.
• Click on the option Edit Town.
• The edit town menu comes up.

The edit town menu is intended for actually changing the way the town looks. There is a bulldozer so that buildings can be removed. Players can click on an empty lot here and build an empty house for sims to move into. Players can choose premade families here and move them into the neighborhood as non player characters (NPCs). Players can use the hand symbols to move trees and other objects around, from the Edit Town menu.

The edit town menu is also how to play a different household in the same neighborhood in The Sims 3:

• Near the options menu on the Edit Town screen:
• Locate a button labeled with a big house and a little house.
• The name of this button is Change Active Household.
• Press the button Change Active Household.

The player can now choose any household in the neighborhood to play, or enter Creat a Sim and create new sims to play in the same neighborhood.

• WARNING!
• The sims in the household you leave will:
• Lose their lifetime wishes.
• Lose their promises.
• Lose their opportunities.
• Lose their inventories.
• Grow older and possibly die or move away before you return to the household you left, if story progression is on.http://darthbunnywabbit.blogspot.com/2009/06/sims-3-tips-changing-active-household.htmlhttp://videoonlinegames.suite101.com/article.cfm/sims_3_active_household_and_edit_town

After saving and leaving the household they had been playing, Sims 3 players can play another household in the same neighborhood by choosing edit town from the options menu, and then choosingchange active household in the edit town menu. This will bring up the options to choose an existing household to play, or to go into create a sim and make another household to play.

To add a created household to the neighborhood, choose "Place Copy" in the create a sim menu, and then choose a house or empty lot and place them in the game.

Each time the player wishes to control a different family in the same neighborhood, this can be done through the edit town and change active household menus. A player could go around the whole town and control every household in town, if the player wished.

Just remember that in The Sims 3 if story progression and aging are turned on, the sims that are not being controlled are still wandering around the neighborhood, making friends, having babies, getting older, and sometimes even dying or moving out of the neighborhood -- all by themselves. The risk in changing the active household is that a return to the original household may find it absolutely changed, with completely different sims living there.

There are a few ways to avoid this:

1. Don't change the active household.
2. Turn off story progression and aging before changing the active household.
3. Choose save as each time the active household is changed. This way, the original household will still be there in its own save, to return to anytime.