Moving Households in the Sims 3
Changing Residency from Sunset Valley to Riverview
Download and Install Riverview
Riverview is located on this page of the Official Sims 3 site. You'll require an account with Electronic Arts to do this. If you haven't already, sign up but note that you'll need a legit code proving you own the game. Opening the link will automatically give you the option to open the Sims 3 game launcher, where Riverview will be downloaded. It should automatically install, but if it doesn't select the box and choose install. It will take a moment to update the game.
With Riverview installed, you'll now have the option to start all your new games there on the town selection screen. But what if you want to move an existing Sim to Riverview? Worse yet, you hate Riverview and want to move back -- read on.
Moving Sims within the Same Town
To move a Sim from one household to another part of town is a cinch. Do this if your Sim has become wealthy and wants a new home, or to remove a Sim like a teen who'se reached adulthood out of the household.
- First, use your Sim's cell phone to select the move option. The Sims who will be moving should be placed in the right box. You'll be given the option to sell the home and whether or not to pack or sell the family's assets. The change active household button is important as well because you may want to kick a Sim out, or leave some behind during the move.
- Choose whether you want them to move to an existing house in the neighborhood or start with an empty lot. The game will then transfer any Sims and any funding to the new family and you'll be able to play as usual.
Switching Neighborhoods - Moving From Sunset Valley to Riverview and Vice Versa
This process is done entirely differently, and is not as intuitive as one might hope. There are three ways this can be done, but all begin the same way: Save the game and enter edit town mode. From there, click the household you want to move to another neighborhood. There are multiple options here, but the one you want is save household to library. Select the option you desire then move on to the final step.
Option 1: Moving the Entire House
Selecting to save the Household with house will save an exact copy of that entire famiy and its belongings, including the very home they live in. If it's a big lot, your options will be limited when placing the building in the new town.
Option 2: Moving the Household
Saving the household only will save a perfect copy of all family members. What's more, the family inventory will be preserved. If you only have a few lavish items your Sims would like to keep, move them into the family inventory and bring them along. The rest will be sold and go toward the family's starting cash balance in the new town.
Option 3: Saving every Possession but the Home
If you want to save everything your Sim owns without placing it all into the family inventory manually, consider using the cell phone to move them to an empty lot before beginning the process. The house will be sold but their valuables can be automatically placed into the family inventory where they can be accessed later. You can then repeat the steps and use Option 2.
Settling In
Finishing the process is simple: Head to the main menu and create a new game, then choose Sunset Valley or Riverview as your Sim's starting neighborhood. Once at the move-in screen, choose Move-in Household. Your family should appear in the list in the right hand corner of the screen, under their family name. The lot size required for their home (if applicable) and wealth will be displayed so you can differentiate them. Once done, pick your lot and start playing in the new 'hood. The family inventory is found in buy mode for those confused as to the location of their household items.
If you don't want to start a new game but would rather move your saved household in with another family in yet another saved game, that's simple. Do the above process to get the family saved then load the saved file where you'd want them to move in. Head to edit town and from there, you'll be able to move in the saved household and take over control or resume your game by choosing your normal active household.