How to make Sims have nightmares?

[Swiftgold]

I have a question... how many bad memories does it take for a Sim to start having nightmares at night? I've heard of it happening but I've never seen it, and I have a "Cinderella" Sim in a story that ought to be having them. (Or, well, because I'm sadistic and I want them to, heh.)

I've heard it's bad memories and growing up badly and the like that make them have nightmares, but every time they meet someone it's a good one, every time they learn to make a new food, etc... do you have to keep them from cooking, keep them from meeting people, and keep their aspiration in the red to see nightmares? If anyone knows the "secret" I'd appreciate it!

[Emma]

I am sure their aspiration has to be in the red for them to have nightmares

[simmiecal]

You're in luck...right at this site:

http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/smf/index.php?topic=1228.0


Edited because I can't spppeeellll.

[Swiftgold]

Thanks for the link... I'm still curious as to how bad they have to be to have it naturally, though! I'll have to observe this Sim, then, who's been in the red aspirationally for a long time now, but she is still in a green mood all the time...

[cwykes]

I thought disturbed sleep was from cheap beds....  Is that rubbish?

[wishy-washy]

I'm pretty sure my sims only have nightmares when their needs are in the red. Usually when their fun meter and bladder are bottomed out since those aren't changed by sleep. I'm not sure about aspiration level since I almost never have sims in red aspiration level.

[baratron]

Hrm, and that reminds me that TwoJeffs never answered my question about nightmares. All I noticed was the sim tossing and turning a lot and the mood plunging into the red - he didn't wake up abruptly looking panicked, or anything like that.

I'll prod him next time we're both in chat at the same time.

[Renatus]

I thought disturbed sleep was from cheap beds....  Is that rubbish?

I'm fairly sure it's rubbish because I've never noticed my sims having disturbed sleep when they are in Uni and thus sleeping on cheap dorm beds, or are just starting out - and I do tend to keep them in at least green aspiration at all times.

[cwykes]

I don't know cos  I only ever buy expensive beds even in starter homes (20k to spend!)  Kids always toss and turn in cheap beds.

[radiophonic]

Just make sure they are in the red. I commonly see this when their needs are in the red. Hygene is a good one to shoot for.

[nectere]

I typically have nightmares occur when the sims have (orange/red) low needs, not neccessarily low aspiration or red aspiration.

[BlueSoup]

I typically have nightmares occur when the sims have (orange/red) low needs, not neccessarily low aspiration or red aspiration.

I've noticed that....in my first E-Mail lot, Sim Pescado was always having nightmares, even though he wasn't red aspirationally. But he was really low in bladder (go figure, huh) and something else.

[Oddysey]

Just make sure they are in the red. I commonly see this when their needs are in the red. Hygene is a good one to shoot for.

Yeah. Hygeine is the #1 cause of nightmares in my game. Kind of makes me wonder about my sims and their phobias.

Hygiene is good because it's the only "physical" need that doesn't either wake the sim up (hunger, bladder) or get replenished by sleep (comfort, energy). So it has the most potential to negatively influence a sims mood. So remember, kids. Take showers before bed, or the monsters will be able to find you!

[baratron]

But what HAPPENS in the nightmares? That's what I want to know! IS it just tossing and turning a lot?

I wanted my sim to wake up with a start and hyperventilating. Like I do. Yay.

[nectere]

They do wake up, almost exactly as you wish

[Oddysey]

Tossing and turning, funny noises, jagged thought bubbles, waking up hyperventilating, looking around. The whole bit. It's actually a really interesting animation.

[Swiftgold]

Tossing and turning, funny noises, jagged thought bubbles, waking up hyperventilating, looking around. The whole bit. It's actually a really interesting animation.

Hah, that's awesome. Shall have to try that - my Sims shower an awful lot, I haven't seen the teenagers get zits since the base game was all there was...

[twojeffs]

Sleeping in cheap beds causing nigtmares is rubbish. Aspiration level is rubbish. The only factor is the sim's overall mood score. If it's less than -20 on the scale from -100 to 100, the sim can ramdomly have a nightmare (and almost certainly will sometime during the night).

[Oddysey]

Sleeping in cheap beds causing nigtmares is rubbish. Aspiration level is rubbish. The only factor is the sim's overall mood score. If it's less than -20 on the scale from -100 to 100, the sim can ramdomly have a nightmare (and almost certainly will sometime during the night).

Although cheap beds and aspiration level do have an indirect effect on mood, and thus nightmares, by causing the sim to spend more time sleeping or engaging in time wasting behaviors. I can see how someone would get the impression that aspiration and bed value have an effect, in that a sim with a cheap bed is likely to have cheap other stuff, and aspiration level and mood tend to be low at the same time.

[twojeffs]

Yes, if you want to split hairs, but the same thing could be said for any object in the game. That's the point of any object, they all affect mood in some way.

[Oddysey]

I do kind of tend to overdo it on the analysis . . .

[nocomment]

For anyone who's curious, here's a picture of a sim having a nightmare:



Generally a sims tosses and turns, then sits up and pants with the jagged thought bubble.  Then they go back to sleep.  However, a very long time ago, I had sims wake up from nightmares, get out of bed, and cry.  However, this was after a bad breakup and may have been two seperate actions that simply looked like they belonged together.

[Swiftgold]

I was able to induce a nightmare too playing with the Insiminator's motive monitor. I found that they have to have their mood bad enough that the plumbob is red, not yellow or orange, for the nightmares to occur. Other than that, they occured as shown before. Quite neat, I love seeing things in this game I haven't seen before...

[J. M. Pescado]

Hygiene is good because it's the only "physical" need that doesn't either wake the sim up (hunger, bladder) or get replenished by sleep (comfort, energy). So it has the most potential to negatively influence a sims mood. So remember, kids. Take showers before bed, or the monsters will be able to find you!

In my case, it's usually a combination of hunger and social. Hunger, because I kinda resist giving them food if there's free food that will be upcoming before they die of starvation, and social because with some sims, even maxing out every relationship via autoyak STILL doesn't have them satisfied yet. Fun used to be common also, but with the Sport Of Kings, that never happens anymore.

[Inge]

I find my sims get nightmares when they had a bladder accident during the day.