The Sims 4 just dropped one of its most substantial patch updates in recent memory, and if you've been frustrated by Sims randomly flirting with strangers, pets vanishing from premade households, or eyelids that never quite closed all the way, this one's for you. The March 17, 2026 update (PC and Mac first, consoles to follow later) delivers over 50 individual fixes, with five headline changes the team specifically spotlighted.
What Are the 5 Biggest Fixes in This Patch?
The Maxis team highlighted five top-voted community issues addressed in this update. These aren't minor tweaks either. Each one touches a system that's caused real frustration across thousands of saves.
Full blink animation restored
1. Sims Finally Blink Properly
This sounds like a small cosmetic fix, but the behind-the-scenes work was anything but minor. The QA team, Tech Art artists, animators, and CAS designers all collaborated to resolve the issue where Sims' eyelids wouldn't fully close during blinks.
The fix involved three separate layers of work:
- A custom Maya script scanned every animation file across the base game and all expansion packs, automatically correcting upper eyelid rotation values that blocked full closure.
- An individual rotation multiplier was applied to each eye shape preset in CAS, since every eye shape requires a slightly different angle to close completely without lash clipping.
- Over 280 animation files were manually refined by animators for the most problematic interactions.
Additional changes included replacing the old "half-blink" in CAS (previously an intentional stylistic choice) with a full blink, smoothing mood-based sleep cycle transitions, removing duplicate facial overlays, and reskinning lower lashes for more accurate eyelid movement.
The developers acknowledge that rare edge-case eye shapes may still show slight over-blinking. That's a deliberate tradeoff, prioritizing widespread improvement over perfection in outlier cases. Custom poses and animations weren't individually adjusted, but they'll still benefit from the global changes.
Console players will receive this patch at a later, unspecified date. Until then, Gallery version mismatches may occur between PC and console users.
2. Prom Returns to the Calendar
The graduation ceremony from High School Years had gone missing from in-game calendars entirely. This patch restores Prom to both new and existing saves, and also resolves a separate bug that prevented Prom goals from being completable. If you've been holding off on a high school storyline, now's the time.
3. Pets and Horses No Longer Vanish from Premade Households
A critical data-loss bug was wiping cat, dog, and horse data from premade families. This is fixed for all new saves going forward. Unfortunately, if your current save was already affected, the animals won't be restored in that specific file.
4. Smarter Social Behavior on Lots
This is arguably the most impactful quality-of-life change for anyone who plays on community lots or sets up dates and events. Previously, random Sims would barge into your conversations unprompted. Now, Sims prioritize speaking with familiar Sims they already have rapport with, and are far less likely to initiate contact with strangers spontaneously.
If you've ever had a date interrupted by a rogue townie walking up and derailing the whole interaction, this fix is specifically for you.
5. Farm Animals No Longer Get Stuck in Inventory
Chickens, mini goats, and sheep from Cottage Living would sometimes get permanently trapped in household or Sim inventory after moving lots. That's now resolved for both new saves and existing ones. Animals can once again be assigned to an Animal Shed after relocating your household.
Assign animals after moving lots
How Does the New Autonomy System Work?
Autonomy improvements make up the largest single section of this patch. The Maxis team specifically called out three top community complaints: Sims socializing with strangers, excessive flirting, and obsessive object use. Here's a full breakdown.
New Phone and Computer Preferences
Four new preferences have been added to the base game:
- Likes Phones
- Dislikes Phones
- Likes Computers
- Dislikes Computers
Assigning "Dislikes Phones" or "Dislikes Computers" to a Sim will stop them from autonomously reaching for those devices entirely. The opposite preferences increase how often they do. This gives players direct control without needing a third-party mod.
What Objects Now Have Autonomy Cooldowns?
The patch introduces cooldowns across a wide range of autonomous actions. Here's the full picture:
If you use mods specifically to fix Sim autonomy, check whether this patch makes them redundant. Some popular autonomy-fixing mods may now conflict with base game behavior.
A few additional social behavior changes round out this section:
- Excessive flirting between Sims has been addressed directly.
- Sims with the Unflirty trait will no longer get the ick when hugged.
- Sims using Lovestruck will no longer interrupt book-writing on the computer to play Thumbs Up or the WooHoo Card Game.
New phone and computer preferences
What Other Bugs Got Fixed?
Pet and Animal Breeding Glitch
Animals in the Animal Shed, Chicken Coop, and mini goat or sheep pens were duplicating when placed into a Sim's inventory and then returned to the world before a household move. That duplication bug is now patched for Cottage Living and Horse Ranch.
General Fixes Worth Noting
- Placing a painting on a wall and returning it to inventory no longer triggers a Simulation error.
- Seasons: Flowers no longer float mid-air during Flower Arrangement crafting.
- For Rent: The "Do Inspection and Maintenance" interaction now appears on broken objects in tenant households for Landlord Sims.
- Royalty and Legacy: The updated Family Tree no longer creates wrong connections or overlapping branches. A crash caused by deleting the Capp Household in Ondarion has also been resolved, and the Verdemar lot map display is no longer reversed.
- Parenthood: Unrelated children who grew up in the same household could previously earn the "Super Sibling" relationship and later romance each other. The relationship has been renamed to Childhood Besties or Childhood Frenemy to avoid that issue while preserving story flexibility.
- StrangerVille: Script Call Fail errors when the Plant Containment Cell is on a lot no longer block object placement.
Pet and horse data lost in existing saves due to the premade household bug cannot be recovered by this patch. The fix only prevents the issue from occurring in new saves going forward.
What's Been Fixed in CAS and Build Mode?
Tagging and sorting accuracy in both Create a Sim and Build Mode received a significant overhaul. Over 43 items were moved to the correct Kids Decoration category alone. Here are the most notable changes:
- All Everyday makeup now appears in Hot and Cold Weather outfit categories.
- 43 items properly sorted under Kids Room Decor.
- Various wall lights reclassified as Outdoor Lights.
- "Martian Soil" wall pattern moved from Paneling to Misc.
- Several wall patterns correctly sorted into Masonry and Siding.
- Gnomes and butler sculptures moved to Decorations > Sculptures.
- Lovestruck beard swatches now display in the correct order.
- Life and Death: "Perilous Paneling" sorted into Paneling; "Lunar Reverie" sorted into Wallpaper.
- Free Holiday Stuff: Kinara and Menorah now sort under Lighting > Table Lamp; Holiday Snowman and Pre-Strung Tree of Lights under Outdoor Lighting.
- Kitchen Clutter: All pack items now visible under Misc Decorations in Build Mode's room view.
- Color filter fixes applied to several clothing items, including a pink top that was incorrectly tagging as yellow.
CAS and Build Mode sorting fixed
What Issues Are Still Being Worked On?
Maxis also gave a progress update on longer-term fixes that didn't make this patch:
- Corrupted saves: Moving save files from Documents to AppData has reduced infinite loading occurrences. Results are described as encouraging.
- Save recovery: Work is ongoing to let the "Recover Save" function restore to a greater number of previous versions.
- Black photos and textures: Acknowledged as a known issue and listed as a top priority.
- Infant bugs: Issues like Sims removing infants from cribs and placing them on the floor, or constantly checking on sleeping infants, are under active investigation. The fix is described as complex.
- Sleep issues: A series of fixes is being prepared so Sims can sleep without constant interruption.
If your Sims are experiencing the black texture or photo bug, the team is actively working on it. No ETA has been given, but it's confirmed as a high-priority item.
Is This Patch Worth Getting Excited About?
Absolutely. The autonomy overhaul alone touches nearly every playstyle, from casual storytellers to hardcore legacy players. The social behavior changes make public lots and event gameplay meaningfully better, and the new Phone and Computer preferences give players a direct dial on one of the most complained-about Sim behaviors without requiring any mods.
The blinking fix is a genuinely impressive technical effort, with over 280 manually revised animation files and a completely reworked per-eye-shape rotation system. It's the kind of polish work that often goes unnoticed until it's finally done right.
Patch arrives March 17 on PC and Mac. Console players will need to wait a bit longer for their version to roll out.