In the latest Sims 4 patch (June 2018), the Sims team added six new roof patterns that allow you to create glass roofs in your game.
The Basics
Although all of the new roofs are made from glass, they each have a different pattern. There are various styles to choose from including diamond and hexagonal panels and an ornate, more traditional design. If the more intricate designs are not to your liking, there is also the option to select a solid sheet of glass.
These patterns work in exactly the same way as the existing roof recolours in Game. Making a glass roof is as simple as selecting the swatch in the Build Catalogue and clicking on the roof you want to change. This also means, however, that you cannot place the design on anything other than a roof. It is, for example, impossible to create a completely flat glass ceiling. The closest you can to a flat glass ceiling is by using the Half-Gabled roof and making it as short as possible.
A flat glass ceiling can, however, be created using the glass dancefloors that came with Get Together. As you cannot alter the size of the dancefloors in the same way as a roof, however, this option does have its limitations.
It is possible to make every type of roof in the game glass including the octagonal, hexagonal, pentagonal, and circular roofs.
All of the roof manipulation tools will also work on glass roofs. You will be able to change the size of the eaves, change the shape of the roofs and even use the advanced manipulation tools (check our Roofing Guide for information on using these options in your Game).
Building Ideas
Skylights
Although it requires a little bit of experimentation and manipulation, we now have the ability to create a something that, at the very least, resembles a skylight in The Sims 4.
I achieved this by starting with a simple, symmetrical shape – a 6×9 rectangle – and adding a equally basic Gabled Roof across the entire structure.
After swapping the Gabled Roof’s tiles for glass panels, I grabbed a Half-Gabled Roof from the Build Catalogue and placed it on one of the corners of the rectangular structure. I adjusted this new roof’s height until it sat flush with the glass roof beneath. I also changed the size and shape of this roof piece so that it was 3×3 (half of width of the building, and a third of the length). This exact sizing meant that the roof piece would mimic the shape of the original Gabled Roof exactly, leaving only part of the glass visible.
Once I had made my adjustments, I was able to use the Copy Tool to add identical roof pieces to the remaining three corners of the structure. These roof pieces join together seamlessly to create something that looks exactly like a Gabled Roof with windows.
If you only want a skylight on one side of the roof, add a fifth Half-Gabled Roof to one side of the centre of the structure and adjust its size and shape until it sits flush with the rest of the roof.
This method will also work using the Hipped and Half-Hipped Roofs. Instead of 4 additional roof pieces, however, you will only need 2.
Of course this is only the basic principles of building a skylight, feel free to experiment with different shapes, sizes, and roof styles to see what you can create!
Greenhouses
One of the best things about glass roofs in the Sims 4 is that builders are finally able to create realistic greenhouses. The perfect addition to your green thumbed Sim’s backyard, greenhouses are extremely simple to create and can look really effective.
When building a greenhouse it is important to select the right kind of roof. As you can see here, this entire structure is made from glass but this has only been possible because the roof style I selected was Hipped.
When making an all-glass structure be sure to use either the Hipped, Octagonal, Hexagonal, Pentagonal or Circular Roofs. Gabled and Half-Gabled Roofs leave you with a section of exposed wall that cannot be covered entirely by a window.
There are plenty of full-length windows and glass doors in the Game that are perfect for a greenhouse build. I had no trouble selecting something useful from the options available. Unfortunately, however, even these full-length windows and doors will leave a small amount of wall visible at the very top of the building. To combat this, I added a Roof Trim to the structure. This enabled me to mask the visible section of the wall, helping to make the greenhouse look like it was made from glass panels and strips of metal rather than bricks and mortar.
This Game Patch also came with a new Gardening Sort in the Outdoor section of the Build Catalogue. I used this new tool to quickly separate gardening related items from the rest of the Outdoor Activities available. This made it much easier to fill my greenhouse with everything a budding gardener could possibly need.
Conservatories
Conservatories are another great way to make use of glass roofs in the Sims 4 and are, like greenhouses, really simple to create.
To build this structure I simply used 2 Half-Hipped Roofs and placed them next to one another on top of the section of the house where I wanted the conservatory to be. 2 Half-Hipped Roofs will, naturally, come together to form one Hipped Roof but because they are separate pieces you are able to use a different roof pattern on each. I used tiles over the top of the section of the building that the kitchen was in, and glass over the conservatory.
In this build, I used a more traditional window style than the greenhouse build. It isn’t only the modern windows that are full-length. You’re sure to find a window in a style that suits the rest of your build so don’t be afraid to update some of your old houses with a new conservatory!
DomesÂ
Glass Roofs also allow you to create glass domes. These look really impressive but are actually super simple to build! With this trick you could create a biotope full of exotic plants in the middle of Willow Creek, an alien laboratory, or just somewhere for your more eclectic Sims to hang out!
To create this dome all I did was place a circular roof on the ground, replace the tiles with glass and enlarge it to the size I wanted.
All of the items you see inside this dome (including the building itself) were placed in their positions before I added the dome over the top of them. The game will not let you place items through the roof so it is essential that you build in this order.
If you want your Sims to be able to access the items you place inside of a glass dome like this one, you need to play with Walls Down. This will remove the glass roof from your sight and allow you to access everything that is inside.
