Hi everyone! I've been playing VF for a few weeks now and have discovered some interesting things about it. Here they are!

Tiny boxes tend to contain ants. Don't open them.

Small boxes usually contain medicine, which you can resell at the store if it's not needed.

Sealed green bags contain organic food, which cannot be resold but can be fed to your family.

Brown bags contain standard food. See above.

Anything that bounces off a truck usually contains paintings, which happened to me once saving me major $$$.

Once in a while you'll get a benevolent neighbor who'll give you a hammock. The notice will arrive by email. (On a related note, the same neighbor will occasionally send you emails that rare collectibles are in your yard. But don't rely on this all the time.)

Occasionally, your peeps will win hot dog eating contests. I don't think this affects their hunger, though.

You have to have at least 3 (preferably 4 or 5) mature people in the house to be able to use wall compound before it dries up.

DON'T move your peeps when they're bringing a new collectible
to the collectible cabinet, but you can move them when they are selling one. The money will be automatically credited to you.

Not all lottery tickets are winners, but it's worth a shot.

The rule of kid beauty contests: if you think the kid's ugly, they probably won't win. But if they're pretty/handsome they probably will. (This is learned solely from experience. One of my virtual kids came in 8th out of 7... ouch) But, this could just be random. I don't really know yet.

Once in a while the "family fun magazine" will drop by to say your photo is featured in their magazine. There's nothing you can do to make this happen more often... it just happens.

Sometimes, the old male peeps will grow beards. They may also say they're shaving. But, the beard will not vanish. Don't worry about this... the beard is pretty much permanent, but it may disappear when they lift their head. That's a small error but it can be fixed by a mod (look around in the mod section).

Peeps picking up a wrapper/sock, if interrupted, will drop it where they last were. But, peeps interrupted while picking up the remote will drop it back where it originally was.

If you have trouble getting the salty candy trophy, try having your peeps have a couple kids. They will do misbehaving things, facilitating the need for salty candy.

Twins/triplets are random. I got a few sets of them without a baby boost for either parent.

I know this is obvious... but kids tend to look like their parents. So much so that one of my families was made solely of girls that looked exactly like their mom and boys that looked exactly like their dad.

The pets don't do anything but walk around the house and look cute, although they may help morale.

Profession magazines don't provide a visible boost in the career progress bar, but they will eventually help. They got one of my peeps to a level 8 career.

If you have the choice between buying a house upgrade that will net you a trophy and one that won't, get the one that will.

If a stranger comes to the door and will sell you career tips for $5, reject him. He will eat all your food.

If a kid comes to your door, adopt him/her if you want, but I've found that some adoptees can be more troublesome (drawing on walls, banging dishes) than the couple's natural kids.

If there's a power outage, don't throw out your food if you have a lot, but beware... it can increase the rate of sickness in the household.

If someone gets sick a lot, try the penicillin first, then the vancomycin. Both will get you trophies if matched with the correct illness. But, if you have enough money, go with the doctor consultation to be sure.

If you buy your peeps a different outfit, the new clothes won't show up in the family tree. They'll look like they did pre-clothing change.

Get the house fixed as soon as you can. It helps morale.

Sometimes, buying only one kind of organics can net you the "4 food groups of organics" trophy. I think it's a bug.

Buy lots of food before leaving the game overnight. I mean LOTS. They'll starve otherwise.. they eat overnight.

Yes, there are only 4 plates on the table. No, it's not a bug. Yes, they have to eat in shifts. Oh well.

If your peeps are weak, hand sanitizer is most effective if they were/are sick; vitamins are most effective if they are old; and fruit is most effective if they were/are hungry.

Peeps tend to die at 65. You can try to get them to reach that goal by a) keeping them happy and fed and b) buying them vitamins/food/hand sanitizer.

You can't go outside the gate. The domain of the peeps is limited to the house and yard.

Mothers don't like to swim while they're carrying a baby.

Most of the actions that are linked to trophies are random.. you cannot make your peeps do them. You have to have a little kid to chase the gophers, though. All others can be done by anyone.

If you can't pull a weed, drop a kid on it (don't know why this works, but it does). Kids can help clean up the house too.

If your elderly peeps are slow picking up weeds, you can buy the weed bomb (very helpful), although you may have to wait a while.

If you see an item in the store you may need in the future that you don't see often, BUY IT! You can always resell it if you need cash later.

Finally, take good care of your peeps!


Virtual Families is a fun game and I hope these hints will help players! If you have any other hints, post them on this thread please!

Wow! Thanks so much for all of the hints VFMF, this will help a lot of people that try to look in various places for more than one problem. Just thought I'd make some additions from my experience


I do move my peeps and it has always put the new item in my collection automatically. Just make sure you only move them after they are already carrying the collectible, otherwise they'll drop it and it can disappear.


I'd hope it's random since there's a different idea of beauty for each player! I know sometimes my taste is definitely out of the ordinary, but I'd love to know all children have an equal chance of winning.


You can pick up and drop a child multiple times until you see a naughty action such as "Banging Dishes", "Jumping on Bed" or "Drawing on the wall". I do feel guilty because I'm trying to get them to misbehave, but I always pick up and drop them until they do something good for their health such as wash their face and then praise them twice.


The profession magazines pretend your peep has done one work cycle (from what I've seen) so this will have a greater visual impact on the lower levels of your peep's career.



From what I've seen, all of the upgrades will get you a trophy except for the first office/kitchen/workshop upgrades for $5000.. although you do need these to reach the final upgrade and trophies.


The Family Tree will not show any updates besides name changes whether you take away a dislike, or add new likes to add onto the clothing changes.


I never understood why they only put in 4 plates, although you can feed 5 at a time. That's why I put a plate of fruit in my kitchen mod .

Thanks again for this topic! I saw at least a few things I didn't know about yet.

Nice work! I hope newer players find it helpful.
I (like Lyssa,) have a few things to add:


Ants, the cheap trainer and power outages are all very nice for cleaning out the fridge so you can change to organics. They are useful first when you finally have enough money to begin purchasing all organics, then after the beginning of each new generation to clean out old food and avoid the "we need some different kind of groceries" email.


The rare collectible from the email ALWAYS appears immediately upon your closing the email. Rares seem to not stay on screen as long as commons, so I suggest you pick up the person who read the email and immediately start around the yard with them to find the rare. If you have difficulty seeing collectibles and do not have a mod installed to make them more visible, you can immediately pause the game and the rare will remain on the screen as long as that window remains active (for windows users.)


I've repaired the wall quite a few times with only the first two adults of a family. You just have to watch them continually and not let them wander off, as they will only complete one round of repairing, then try to do another action.


You can move them as soon as they stand up with the collectible "in hand." Regardless of whether it should go in the chest or be sold, it is yours once they stand up with it and will be immediately credited when/if you pick them up. Just don't open another family or close the game until it is sold or put in the chest.


I have one entire windows user in which I have entered the contest every single time the event has come up for all families. They have NEVER won and have received the "8th place" notification every single time. I can't say it isn't possible, but I have never heard of anyone winning the contest.


You are given a monetary reward for the photo and the amount of money you receive is random.


Weeds will also be dropped where they were interrupted. Several people like to praise them for picking up trash/socks/weeds and collectibles in the belief that it affects happiness levels. (No matter how much you praise,they can never "learn" to do these actions on their own.) The remote seems to be affected by different programming. If you praise a peep who is returning the remote, you are actually praising a "hidden" action that they are doing "underneath" carrying the remote. Therefore, praising them for returning the remote is not recommended.


There is an entire thread devoted to studying the "genetics" of VF. Children will most often fall within a certain distance of their parents on the "head" image file, although occasionally a child outside of that range will be born.


I cannot give an exact amount because the bar does not give us numerical measurements, but I am almost certain the magazines give a random amount of career experience. I have most definitely had one take a brand new adoptee from Beginner to Novice (which is a lot more than one work cycle) and I had a newly married couple at almost the exact same level that had both magazines appear in the store. I gave each of them a magazine - one acquired a promotion plus experience for the next level, and the other remained a small bit away from a promotion.


Again, getting rid of food is only a bad thing in early generations when you are poor. If you have plenty of money for groceries, it is actually a good thing to clear the old food out of the fridge. This is actually the BEST way to completely clear out the food and start over, as this event empties the fridge more than any of the others. (See above.)

If the trainer charges $250, he is a professional trainer and your lil peep will get a promotion if you pay him.


See above.


You can actually tell which antibiotic they need by how fast they get sick again, so there is no need to guess and buy both. If the symptom IMMEDIATELY returns after you give them the correct medicine for it, they need vanco. If they get sick again a short time after being sick and receiving the correct medicine from the store, they need penicillin.


Actually the new clothes will appear on the family tree, as will the changes in like and dislikes, if (and only if) that child is chosen to begin the new generation. Their picture and description at the beginning of the new generation will have the updates.


Even though there are only 4 plates, 5 can eat at the table at once (so if you have more than 5 in the home, they have to eat in shifts.) The "missing plate" is the reason I (personally) choose to see the dishes as "serving dishes" rather than plates. I decided a long time ago that they must eat on plates so small I can't see them. It's better than thinking one person gets left out.


My average age at death is 68 (as best as I can calculate, since the game does not tell us how old they were when they died.) It fluctuates depending on how many families I am playing and how much time I am actually able to spend playing. If I am here enough to give them 3 meals a day and continue training them to exercise, they live to 70 easy enough. I think it has a lot to do with how and what you train them to do, as well as organics (for getting a couple of extra years) and the things you mention.


Just keep in mind that if you still need to weed trophies, weeds killed with a bomb are not counted.

Edit: Here are a couple of others that I haven't put into any guides (or guides in progress) yet:

If you want to get someone to take a nap when they are exhausted, drop them on the treadmill. (Naps restore energy faster than "Going to Bed", especially during the day.)

Perfumes, colognes and professional magazines are great for restoring happiness after the loss of a spouse. (Even if your peep is maxed in career, the magazine seems to restore more happiness than anything else I have tried, including candy.)

Keep energy drinks on hand to restore energy after giving antibiotics. There's no need to make your lil peep miss out on working on their career because the antibiotic took all their energy. The drink is a quick fix. If you don't have a drink, don't let them go to bed unless it's night. Make them nap instead - it's faster.

Thanks for the tips!

I'd like to add to the one below; The magazines only add one work cycle if they've already begun their career. However if you give one to a peep when the very first time you set them at their work station it will bring them up an entire level.

Originally Posted By: Lyssaria

[quote=vfmacfan]Profession magazines don't provide a visible boost in the career progress bar, but they will eventually help. They got one of my peeps to a level 8 career.

Thanks everyone!
As to the beauty contests: two of my little kids won $100 each once. Winning is possible.
When my peeps are bringing the collectible to the collectible cabinet, if I pick them up, it vanishes and is not credited to me.
Anyway, I will post more hints if I figure out anything else.

My kids are all ugly, I guess. *laughs*

Only got 8th place among 7 other boys. Not good for their self-esteem at all. *lol*

yeah, that's the stock message when they lose. I had 1 girl and 1 boy win, and 1 boy lose. (I've only had 3 contests so far.)

Maybe the new collectibles vanish after you pick the person up in the Mac version or something.. that's too bad though I try to hurry them up to get back to more collectible hunting!

Grats on all the beauty contest wins VFMF I did have one win in one of my earlier generations.

about the adoption thing ur right THE FIRST THING my adopted child did was run in the house BANGING DISHES ugh

Mine are too!! loolol Winning that one must be more rare than the lottery. Too funny!