Working hard isn’t the only way to make a living in Sunset Valley. Actually, you can pull in a pretty solid income without punching a time clock.
There are many, many valuable things to collect in Sunset Valley in addition to the bounty pulled out of the water or from your personal garden.
You can collect butterflies and beetles to sell to the Science Facility (or keep for yourself ). Precious gems and metals can be located and refined into brilliant treasures. Space rocks hurtling down from the heavens have smashed into the ground all around Sunset Valley, too. Seek out these collectibles to both make money and beautify your lot.
SimHenge is a wonderful place to look for collectibles like butterflies, meteorites, and gems.
Insects
There are two types of insects to collect in Sunset Valley: butterflies and beetles. These insects can be sold to the Science Facility for a few Simoleons (although, the rarest butterflies are really worth some dough) or kept on your lot in terrariums.
It’s fun to have a collection of pretty bugs around the homestead, so consider your lot environment before going straight for the cash. Having an attractive butterfly in a terrarium could be the difference between an okay room and one that gives your Sim the Nicely Decorated moodlet upon walking into the immediate area.
Butterflies
Beautiful butterflies love to flutter about in special areas of Sunset Valley. Use this map to find the exact spots to look for certain types of butterflies. Now, if the map says you will find a variety of butterflies in a specific spot, it’s likely you will only discover one or two from the list.
When you collect a butterfly, your Sim closes in on a single insect from the bunch and gently takes it in his hands. Then, the rest of the butterflies vanish until the next day. Once collected, the butterfly goes into your personal inventory. You can now either take it to the Science Facility and collect your bounty or take it home and place it in a terrarium.
| Butterfly | Rarity | Base Value |
|---|---|---|
| Moth | Common | 5 |
| Monarch | Common | 10 |
| Zephyr Metalmark | Common | 25 |
| Red Admiral | Common | 35 |
| Mission Blue | Uncommon | 50 |
| Green Swallowtail | Uncommon | 90 |
| Royal Purple Butterfly | Uncommon | 150 |
| Silver-Spotted Skipper | Rare | 325 |
| Zebra Butterfly | Rare | 650 |
| Rainbow Butterfly | Extraordinarily Rare | 1,080 |
The Rainbow Butterfly is the rarest of the butterflies. It’s worth a lot of Simoleons, but it also really beautifies a room on your lot. Consider taking this treasure home instead of selling it!
Beetles
Is the ground moving? Or is there something alive down there? You may have to squint, but there are tiny bugs and beetles squirming around the ground that can be picked up and collected just like butterflies. Beetles are another excellent source of income, but they can also be kept on a lot to boost the environmental bonus of a room.
When you drag a beetle out of your personal inventory and place it in your house, it is automatically stored in a terrarium.
| Beetle | Rarity | Base Value |
|---|---|---|
| Ladybug | Common | 10 |
| Cockroach | Common | 1 |
| Japanese | Common | 15 |
| Water | Common | 30 |
| Light | Uncommon | 40 |
| Rhino | Uncommon | 90 |
| Stag | Uncommon | 175 |
| Spotted | Rare | 400 |
| Trilobite | Rare | 750 |
| Rainbow | Extraordinarily Rare | 1,400 |
Gems, Metals and Rocks
Precious metals and sparkling gems are yours for the taking—but first you have to find them. And once they are in your personal inventory, you must send them away to have a professional process them.
Once they’re processed, you can either sell metals and gems for profit or place them on your lot for environmental bonuses.
To have ore or rocks processed, you must send them off via your mailbox. (Left-click on the ore or rock in your personal inventory to send it off.) It costs Simoleons to get them processed. The cost of smelting ore into an ingot is §50 flat. The cost of getting a gem cut depends on the kind of cut you desire. The full list of cuts and cut costs is listed in the gem section of this chapter.
Gems
Keep an eye open for rocks on the ground—there are treasures inside them. When you swipe a rock from the ground, you are immediately told what you have found. Here are the best places to locate valuable gems:
| Gem | Min. Weight | Max. Weight | Value of Min. Weight | Value of Max. Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aqua | 1 | 105 | 9 | 21 |
| Emerald | 1 | 105 | 15 | 25 |
| Smoky | 1 | 105 | 20 | 30 |
| Ruby | 1 | 105 | 25 | 35 |
| Yellow | 1 | 105 | 35 | 60 |
| Tanzanite | 1 | 105 | 65 | 95 |
| Diamond | 1 | 105 | 100 | 200 |
| Rainbow | 1 | 105 | 450 | 700 |
| Special | 1 | 105 | 150 | 350 |
| Pink | 1 | 105 | 1,200 | 1,650 |
Having a gem cut increases its value, but this comes at a cost. You must pay to have a gem cut, which occurs when you send it away via the mailbox out front of your lot. Now, when you first start collecting gems, there is only one cut available: Emerald.
The next available cut is Oval, but to unlock this cut, you need to send off four previously collected gems to be cut by the professional jeweller. After that fourth cut, you get a note saying the Oval cut is now available. So, while it does cost to get these gems cut, the more you do it, better cuts you get—and the more money you can make from selling. The best cut is the Heart cut, which multiplies the value of the gem five-fold.
There are three ways to display a gem on your lot: on the ground, on a pillow, and on a pedestal. Left-click on the gem when it is on your lot to select your preferred display.
Gem Cuts
| Gem Cut | Available After # Cuts | Value Multiplier | Cost of Cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emerald | 0 | 1.25 | 10 |
| Oval | 4 | 1.5 | 20 |
| Pear | 8 | 1.75 | 35 |
| Plumbbob | 16 | 2 | 50 |
| Marquis | 30 | 2.3 | 75 |
| Crystalball | 45 | 2.6 | 100 |
| Brilliant | 60 | 3.5 | 250 |
| Heart | 5 | 1,000 |
Metals
| Metal Ore | Min. Weight | Max. Weight | Value of Min. Weight | Value of Max. Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron | 1 | 52 | 7 | 20 |
| Silver | 1 | 52 | 25 | 35 |
| Gold | 1 | 52 | 40 | 120 |
| Palladium | 80 | 300 | 300 | 500 |
| Plutonium | 0.1 | 5 | 1,000 | 1,800 |
Meteorites
Space rocks streak through the atmosphere over Sunset Valley all of the time. Some of them actually crash down and can be recovered by Sims.
There are three sizes: small, large, and huge. Use this map to find places to look for meteorites v Sunset Valley:
| Meteor | Min. Weight | Max. Weight | Value of Min. Weight | Value of Max. Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 1 | 65 | 10 | 30 |
| Large | 100 | 1,050 | 50 | 200 |
| Huge | 50,000 | 1,001,000 | 2,000 | 4,500 |
Huge meteorites are as big as a couch!
Like gems and metals, meteorites can be worth quite a bit of money once analyzed. But unlike those other treasures, there is a degree of risk when you analyze a meteorite to find out exactly what it is. Sometimes the raw value of a meteorite is greater than its worth once it has been identified. For example, if analysis reveals your meteorite is Ordinary Chondrite, the meteorite is now only worth half of its previous value.
After analyzing it, there is no way to reverse the process, so you might be stuck with a less valuable space rock. Here is a list of all of the possible results of analysis and the value multipliers of such discoveries:
| Meteorite | Value Multiplier |
|---|---|
| Acapulcoite | 0.7 |
| Angrite | 1 |
| Ataxite | 1.5 |
| Aubrite | 1.4 |
| Brachinite | 1.2 |
| Carbonaceous Chondrite | 5 |
| Chassignite | 1.2 |
| Diogenite | 0.9 |
| Enstatite Chondrite | 6 |
| Eucrite | 0.8 |
| Hexahedrite | 1.6 |
| Howardite | 0.7 |
| Kamasite | 1.75 |
| Lodranite | 0.8 |
| Lunar | 1.3 |
| Mesosiderite | 10 |
| Nakhlite | 1.1 |
| Octahedrite | 1.8 |
| Ordinary Chondrite | 0.5 |
| Pallasite | 4 |
| Rumurutite | 3 |
| Shergottite | 1 |
| Unusual Bellacite | 1.6 |
| Unusual Custerous Gossticite | 1.9 |
| Unusual Dukeadite | 2.2 |
| Unusual Holmberic | 1.8 |
| Unusual Llamatite | 2 |
| Unusual Mazzadrayte | 2.1 |
| Unusual Pearsonite | 2.1 |
| Unusual Rodiekceous | 2 |
| Unusual Sporecite | 1.7 |
| Ureilite | 0.9 |
| Winonaite | 1.3 |
When in Edit Town, click on a lot to open a menu of options, such as turning a private lot into a community lot or bulldozing a lot so you can use it for something other than its original purpose.
Within Buy Mode, you can add trees and objects to lots, both private and community.
Move lots around Sunset Valley to completely reconfigure the town to your liking.