Why Can‘t I Change Household Relationships in The Sims 4?

The short answer is that The Sims 4 does not allow directly editing the family relationships of pre-made or "pre-existing" Sim households that come with the game. This is to prevent breaking lineage connections or causing conflicts in the save file.

Without mods or cheats, the only way to update relationships is to fully replace the household, which resets the family tree while keeping the same Sims.

Below I‘ll provide more details on why this restriction exists, along with key workarounds for modifying relationships, as an avid Sims gamer and content creator.

Overview of Sims 4 Relationship System

Before explaining why pre-made Sims can‘t have their family relationships edited, it helps to understand how the relationship system works in The Sims 4:

• Relationships are based on an underlying "relationship tree" that connects all Sims
• This tracks family connections like siblings, parents, grandparents etc.
• Other relationships like romantic links or friendships branch off the family tree
• The game uses the tree to determine available social options between Sims
• Existing relationships can gain or lose sentiment, but can‘t be deleted without mods/cheats
• New relationships like marriages merge onto the base family tree

So essentially, every Sim household has interconnected relationships that can‘t be separated without undoing the fundamental family ties first.

Why Editing is Limited for Pre-Made Sims

When you make your own custom Sims and households, you have full control over setting up relationships from scratch.

But for pre-made Sims that come with the game, their relationships and family connections are hardcoded based on background stories and lineages across expansion packs.

This serves narrative purposes on establishing canon relationships that shape those Sims‘ characteristics and inform future events or content.

As a gameplay limitation, the game simply does not allow players to freely edit these kinds of relationships to prevent:

• Breaking pre-defined lineage connections
• Causing conflicting relationship data with expansions
• Introducing plot holes in existing narratives
• Potentially corrupting the save file

Essentially, pre-made Sims have "static" relationships within the rules of their reality, while player-made Sims are fully customizable blanks slates.

Workarounds: Replace Households, Cheats and Mods

While pre-defined relationships cannot be directly edited, there are a few workarounds for players wanting to control familial links between pre-made Sims:

Use CAS to Replace the Household

This involves fully replacing the Sim household with an identical edited copy:

1. In Manage Households, create new household with same pre-made Sims
2. Edit relationships and family tree from scratch
3. Save this to your Library
4. Replace original household in game with edited one

• Downside is losing any pre-existing memories or relationships with other Sims

Use Mods like MCCC

Powerful mods like MC Command Center (MCCC) give players extra relationship controls including deleting relationships entirely.

This works by removing pre-existing connections before they can be remade from scratch within the mod.

Use Cheats like TestingCheats

Similar to mods, the official TestingCheats also unlocks hidden familial customization options:

1. Open cheat console with Ctrl + Shift + C
2. Type in testingcheats on
3. Shift + click on Sims
4. Select Modify in CAS
5. Edit relationships freely in CAS

• Downside is relationships reset if cheats get disabled

So in summary, while the game itself blocks editing canon relationships between pre-made characters, players do have options like mods or cheats that can override those restrictions.

Presumptive Data on Edit Limitations

Based on my experience modding and researching The Sims franchise, there‘s a few presumptive speculations on why editing pre-made relationships got restricted:

• Technical Limitations: Hardcoded relationships are simpler to track lineage across expansions
• Narrative Consistency: Defines consistent backgrounds that inform character behaviors
• Discouraging Exploits: Stops players abusing pre-made Sim statuses for gameplay advantages
• Protecting Save Files: Avoids bugs from corrupting complex relationship data

Ultimately it comes down to hardcoding relationships being more technically practical while allowing the developers to tightly shape narrative experiences.

But mods prove the game can support relationship editing, so perhaps future updates may unlock more customization.

My Take as a Passionate Gamer

As a long-time Sims player with a preference for storytelling gameplay, this restriction used to frustrate me creatively.

I disliked being unable to reshape pre-made Sims‘ lineages to better suit my narrative visions.

However once I discovered the power of mods and cheats, a whole new realm of customization opened up.

Now I can remix the game‘s canonical relationships into unique storylines – like merging rival families together!

So while counter-intuitive, the base restriction actually pushed me to dive deeper into modifying The Sims 4 for unlimited relationship creativity.

At the end of the day gameplay mods are all about empowering players with more choice. So I‘m glad the tracking limitations got solved by the incredible modding community!

Final Summary

1. Why are pre-made relationships locked? To preserve canonical lineages and prevent technical issues.
2. Can players edit those relationships? No – without using mods or cheats for workarounds.
3. What are the workaround options? Replace households, MCCC mod, TestingCheats.
4. Why impose that limitation? Likely technical reasons and narrative control.
5. Does this matter for gameplay? Relationships can still be customized via mods/cheats!

So in closing, while counter-intuitive, The Sims 4‘s relationship editing restrictions ultimately pushed me as a passionate gamer to discover incredible mods that took my storytelling potential to new heights – thanks to the remarkable community continually innovating new ways to play!