This guide was originally published on SimGoodie.no on January 28, 2015, and is restored here from the site's legacy archive. It covers The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat, the game's first game pack.
Granite Falls hides 21 collectible insects across three neighborhoods. Finding them all takes patience, timing, and a willingness to let your Sim get bitten, stung, and occasionally nauseated. This guide covers where to search in each of the three Granite Falls areas, how to track down the harder species, and what you can do with your haul once it is safely stored in a terrarium, from cooking and herbalism to completing the Critter Catcher achievement.
You need The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat installed. Send your Sim on a vacation to Granite Falls through the phone or computer travel menu to begin.
Three neighborhoods, three sets of insects
Granite Falls splits into three distinct areas, and each one has its own pool of insect species. You will need to visit all three to finish the collection.
The campgrounds are where every Granite Falls vacation starts. Insect species here tend to be common varieties, making this a comfortable warm-up area. You can start catching bugs as soon as you arrive, so get into the habit of scanning your surroundings early.
The forest opens up once you leave the campgrounds and head into the national park. This is where the diversity really picks up. Monarch butterflies drift between the trees while ladybugs and other crawlers move along the forest floor. One species that trips up a lot of players here is the stick insect. Its thin body matches the color of the fallen pine needles almost perfectly, so unless you zoom in and look carefully at ground level, you will walk right past it.
The third area is a hidden mountain neighborhood that does not show up on the map when you first arrive. You need to explore the deeper parts of the forest to discover the path leading to this isolated spot. The rarest insects in Granite Falls spawn here, so make this a priority once you have swept through the campgrounds and forest. Spending time wandering the forest and interacting with overgrown paths and natural features is the way to eventually reach it.
Every insect you find can be sold for Simoleons regardless of species, so even duplicates are worth grabbing.
How to spot and catch insects
Finding insects in Granite Falls takes more attention than gathering collectibles elsewhere in The Sims 4. A few techniques make a real difference in how quickly you fill out the collection.
Rotate the camera often. Many insects are small and easy to miss from a single angle. As your Sim walks through an area, sweep the camera in a full circle at regular intervals. Bugs tucked against rocks or hidden behind tree trunks will pop into view that you would otherwise never notice.
Check at night for rare species. Most of the 21 insects appear during the daytime, but two types only spawn after dark: fireflies and the mysterious will-o'-the-wisps (called "lyktemenn" in the original Norwegian guide). If your collection still has gaps after thorough daytime searching, wait for nightfall and head back out. These glowing creatures are actually easier to spot at night than many daytime insects, since they stand out against the dark forest.
Watch both the air and the ground. Flying insects like the monarch butterfly catch your eye with their movement, but ground-level crawlers require you to zoom in much closer. The stick insect, as mentioned, is the most extreme case. Its thin body and pine-needle coloring make it nearly invisible from the default camera height. When you are in the forest, periodically drop the camera down to ground level and scan around tree bases and clearings.
Keep catching duplicates. Sometimes catching one insect causes additional specimens to spawn nearby. Even if you already have that species in your collection, the act of grabbing one can trigger new spawns that include something you are still missing. When you see a cluster, keep collecting.
What to do with collected insects
Outdoor Retreat gives you several ways to put your catch to work beyond just ticking off a collection list.
Terrariums for decoration
Every insect you collect is automatically placed in a terrarium object. These work as home decorations on your regular lot. You can watch the creatures crawl and move around inside their enclosures. A shelf or table filled with terrariums makes a good focal point for a naturalist-themed room, and they are one of the few decorative objects in The Sims 4 that have visible movement.
Campfire and grill recipes
Outdoor Retreat added insect-based cooking recipes to both the campfire and the outdoor grill. You can roast a beetle directly over an open campfire for a quick, crunchy snack. For more filling meals, the grill lets you prepare insect shish kebab and insect gumbo. These dishes fill the hunger bar and provide a positive mood boost lasting several in-game hours, which makes them especially valuable on camping trips where your Sim may not have access to a full kitchen or refrigerator.
Herbalism mixtures
The herbalism skill, introduced with Outdoor Retreat, lets your Sim combine insects with foraged plants to create herbal remedies that have actual gameplay effects. This is one of the most rewarding reasons to keep a healthy stock of insects.
One of the first recipes you can learn is the Grief Relief Salve. It requires two elderberries and one firefly. Apply it to a Sim in a sad or melancholic mood, and it will help pull them back toward a positive emotional state. This is particularly useful after a death in the household or a difficult breakup.
For something more chaotic, Fire Leaf Extract uses fire ants as its key ingredient. Applying it to another Sim makes them break out in uncontrollable itching. It has no practical benefit, but if you enjoy a little mischief in your game, it is one of the more entertaining herbalism outputs.
As your Sim's herbalism skill grows, more complex recipes become available, and many of them call for specific insect types. This creates a natural reason to keep collecting multiples of certain bugs even after you have all 21 unique species catalogued.
Selling for Simoleons
If you are not interested in crafting or decorating, you can sell insects directly from your Sim's inventory. Rarer species tend to fetch higher prices, and selling off excess common insects is an easy way to fund the rest of your camping trip.
Hazards and the squeamish trait
Some insects fight back. Catching certain species gives your Sim negative moodlets. The two most common are Bad Smell, which drags down social interactions, and Insect Bite, which creates a lingering uncomfortable feeling that takes time to fade.
Sims with the Squeamish personality trait have a much harder time with insect collecting. They feel uneasy around dirty or gross things, and many of Granite Falls' crawlers qualify. A Squeamish Sim can become nauseous from handling bugs, which forces you to cut collecting sessions short while they recover. If you are planning a dedicated insect-hunting vacation, pick a different trait for your primary collector, or at least bring along a less sensitive household member who can handle the grosser specimens while your Squeamish Sim focuses on the butterflies.
Completing the Critter Catcher achievement
Track your insect progress through the Household Collections panel. Open it and look for the insect tab. It shows silhouettes for all 21 species, and each new catch fills in the corresponding image, so you always know exactly what you are missing and how close you are to a complete set.
The Critter Catcher achievement goes beyond insects. You also need to catch the five fish species found in Granite Falls' waterways. Pack a fishing rod and visit the fishing spots across all three neighborhoods. The fish are generally easier to locate than the rarest insects, so if you have been thorough with your bug hunting, the fishing portion should wrap up quickly.
Once you have all 21 insects and all five fish, the achievement completes and you have officially catalogued every small creature Granite Falls has to offer.
Reference checklist
- Rotate the camera regularly to spot hidden insects
- Explore all three neighborhoods, including the hidden mountain area
- Return to Granite Falls at night to find fireflies and will-o'-the-wisps
- Zoom in near the ground to find camouflaged species like the stick insect
- Keep catching duplicates, since it can trigger nearby spawns
- Use insects in campfire cooking, grill recipes, and herbalism mixtures
- Avoid the Squeamish trait on your primary collector
- Check the insect tab in Household Collections to track progress
- Catch all five Granite Falls fish alongside 21 insects for the Critter Catcher achievement
Granite Falls remains one of the most atmospheric vacation destinations in The Sims 4, and insect collecting is a big part of what gives the trip its own rhythm. Whether you are filling terrariums, experimenting with herbalism, or sweeping the camera along the forest floor trying to spot a stick insect hiding in the pine needles, the collecting loop rewards the kind of unhurried, observant play that Outdoor Retreat was built around.
This article is restored from the SimGoodie legacy archive (simgoodie.no), originally published on January 28, 2015.