LifeSim
Play

How do you die of cuckoo malfunction in The Sims 4?

Death by Cuckoo Malfunction

Inspecting a cuckoo clock secret passageway that someone tampered with can kill the Sim. The chance is 35% per inspection. With every condition that raises it, it reaches 47.25%. Safe: Servo, pregnant Sims.

To cause Death by Cuckoo Malfunction in The Sims 4, your Sim must inspect a tampered cuckoo clock secret passageway. This death comes with the Royalty & Legacy expansion pack, known in the game files as EP21. It is a chance death with a tuning ID of 475,485.

You do not get a warning moodlet or a timer before this death happens. Each inspection carries a 35% base chance of killing your Sim. You can avoid it by skipping the inspection or using a cheat.

  • 35%Chance, per inspection
  • 47.25%With every condition that raises it
  • Random rollRoyalty & Legacy

The odds of death by cuckoo malfunction

Inspecting a cuckoo clock passageway that someone tampered with, per inspection. Conditions stack: the game multiplies them, and caps the chance at 100%.
ConditionMultiplierChance
No condition×135%
The Sim is pregnant×00%
The Sim is a ghost×00%
The Sim has the This Is Your Final Warning... moodlet (Chased by Death trait)×1.3547.25%

Try your own Sim's traits and mood in the death odds calculator.

How to make it happen

  1. Inspect a cuckoo clock passageway (Royalty & Legacy) that was tampered with.

How to avoid it

  1. Don't inspect a tampered cuckoo clock.
  2. Ghosts and pregnant Sims can't die this way.
  3. Type death.toggle false to switch death off.

The game never lets this death happen to: Servo, pregnant Sims.

These moodlets stop it before the end: Death-Proof, Total Immortal, Feeling Grim, Grimness Intensifies, Grim Overload, Grimbucha'd.

The ghost

A Sim who dies this way becomes a ghost with the trait Death by Cuckoo Malfunction. The game gives each death type its own ghost trait.

Every ghost type and its powers are on the ghosts page.

To bring the ghost back to life with a cheat, type traits.remove_trait trait_Ghost_SecretPassageway. Removing its last ghost trait makes the Sim alive again.

To stop your Sims from dying at all, type death.toggle false (what death.toggle does).

How the cuckoo clock passageway kills your Sim

First, someone must tamper with a cuckoo clock secret passageway from the Royalty & Legacy pack. Next, you direct your Sim to inspect that tampered passageway. The game checks the odds per inspection, so a single action can trigger the death.

The base chance of dying is 35% each time your Sim inspects the tampered clock. Because there is no warning first, your Sim can die on the very first try. If your Sim survives, inspecting the clock again runs the same 35% risk.

Who is safe and what changes the odds

Some Sims face higher odds when they inspect the tampered clock. If your Sim has the Chased by Death trait and the This Is Your Final Warning... moodlet, the multiplier is 1.35. This raises the death chance to 47.25% per inspection.

Other Sims cannot die from a cuckoo malfunction at all. Pregnant Sims and ghosts have a 0 multiplier, which gives them a 0% chance of dying this way. Servo Sims are also immune to this death.

Specific states can also save your Sim from dying. These include Death-Proof, Total Immortal, Feeling Grim, Grimness Intensifies, Grim Overload, and Grimbucha'd. You can also open the cheat console in Live mode and type death.toggle false to stop every death that runs through a death interaction.

The ghost trait and how to resurrect your Sim

When a Sim dies from this clock, they become a ghost with the Death by Cuckoo Malfunction trait. In the game files, this is called trait_Ghost_SecretPassageway. You can bring a ghost in your household back to life by removing this trait.

To do this, open the cheat console in Live mode. Press Ctrl + Shift + C on PC, Cmd + Shift + C on Mac, or all four shoulder buttons on console. Enter traits.remove_trait trait_Ghost_SecretPassageway to restore your Sim to life.

Questions

Which pack adds Death by Cuckoo Malfunction in The Sims 4?

This death comes with the Royalty & Legacy pack, which is EP21. It uses the cuckoo clock secret passageway from that expansion.

What is the chance of dying from a tampered cuckoo clock?

The base chance is 35% per inspection. If your Sim has the This Is Your Final Warning... moodlet from the Chased by Death trait, the chance increases to 47.25%.

Can pregnant Sims or Servos die from a cuckoo malfunction?

No, Servo Sims are immune to this death. Pregnant Sims and ghosts have a 0% chance of dying when they inspect the tampered passageway.

How do you revive a Sim who died from a cuckoo malfunction?

Add the ghost to your household and open the cheat console in Live mode. Type traits.remove_trait trait_Ghost_SecretPassageway to remove the ghost trait and bring the Sim back to life.

How do you prevent Death by Cuckoo Malfunction?

Do not direct your Sim to inspect a cuckoo clock passageway that someone tampered with. You can also enter the cheat death.toggle false to turn off deaths that run through death interactions.

Other ways to die