How to See Your Family Tree in The Sims 4

By Daniel Hidalgo | 2025-09-03 09:52:47
For generations of players, the Legacy Challenge is the ultimate Sims 4 experience. There’s nothing quite like guiding a single family through a sprawling saga of love, drama, and growth. But as your family expands over decades, with cousins moving out and heirs being chosen, it’s incredibly easy to lose track of your sprawling lineage. Who is that distant cousin living in Sulani? How are these two townies related to your main heir?
Thankfully, The Sims 4 includes a powerful, though sometimes hidden, genealogy tool to help you map out your Sim’s entire bloodline. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know about finding, reading, and utilizing the family tree to become the ultimate historian of your virtual dynasty.

Locating the Family Tree in The Sims 4


Finding the family tree is your first step to genealogical mastery. The process is simple but requires knowing where to look.
  • Select Your Sim: First, click on the Sim whose family history you want to explore.
  • Open the Simology Panel: This is the circle in the bottom-left corner of your screen that displays your Sim's portrait, needs, traits, and age. You can also open it instantly by pressing the 'Y' key on your keyboard.
  • Click the Genealogy Tab: Inside the Simology panel, navigate through the small icons until you find one that depicts a silhouette of a family tree. It is typically located between your Sim’s skill/stat information and their age bar. Click this icon.


  • The family tree will now populate on your screen. Be patient! If you have a large, multi-generational save file, it may take a few moments for allthe portraits and connection lines to fully load.

    How to Read and Navigate Your Sim's Genealogy


    The Sims 4 family tree is a visual web of relationships, and understanding its symbols is key to deciphering your Sim's history.


    • Generational Structure: Your active Sim will be prominently positioned in the center of the tree. Above them, you will find their parents, grandparents, and earlier ancestors. Below them, you will see their children, grandchildren, and all subsequent descendants.
    • Understanding the Lines: The color of the connecting lines tells you the nature of the relationship.

      • White Lines: These indicate a direct blood relation. This includes parent-child, sibling, and grandparent connections.
      • Pink Lines: These signify a relationship by marriage or partnership, such as a spouse or son/daughter-in-law.
    • Gathering Information: Hover your cursor over any Sim on the tree to see a tooltip with theirfull name and their specific relation to your active Sim (e.g.,"Cousin," "Great-Grandmother," "Nephew").
    • Exploring Other Branches: One of the most useful features is the ability to jump to any Sim’s perspective. Simply click on any relative on the tree, and the entire view will recenter to show the family connections from their point of view. This is the perfect way to investigate distant cousinsor in-laws without having to track them down in the live mode world.


    Mastering your family tree is essential for any long-term player. It transformsyour gameplay from managing individual households to overseeing a rich,interconnected legacy, ensuring no Sim's story is ever truly forgotten.

    Tags: Life simulation game, EA Games, Sims 4 expansion packs, Create-a-Sim, Sims 4 mods, Sims 4 cheats, Sims 4 gameplay, Sims
    Platform(s): Microsoft Windows , macOS , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One
    Genre(s): Simulation
    Developer(s): Maxis
    Publisher(s): Electronic Arts
    Mode:
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