How To Move Your Sims Family Tree From The Plum Tree App

The Plum Tree app, the popular online family tree maker made for The Sims players, is unfortunately closing its doors soon. Tobias, the creator of the Plum Tree, announced in a statement that due to financial and time constraints that he will close the site.

This is very sad news for the Simmer community for which Plum Tree was the go-to app to save their family trees. Saving our Sim’s family trees is an important part of gameplay for many Simmers and helps us record our Sims’ history. With the closing of the Plum Tree app, over 500.000 Sim family trees are at risk of being lost.

Backup Your Sims’ Family Trees

Luckily, Tobias is granting users a sunset period to give Simmers time to download and backup their files. The download includes all of your family’s data and portrait images as well as a tree.html file.

The backup HTML file allows you to view your tree in any browser, however none of the data included in the backup can be imported into a new genealogy program. For this you would need a GEDCOM file, the universal file format used in all genealogy software. The tree.html file can act as a blueprint to help you remember family connections when recreating your family tree in a new app.

How To Generate A GEDCOM File

With the help of mods you can generate a GEDCOM file of your families from The Sims 4 or The Sims 3. You can then import the GEDCOM file into your family tree software of choice. This way you can avoid manually adding each family member and their relationships into a new app.

Export Family Information From Your Sims 4 Savefile

For The Sims 4, you can use the MC Command Mod by Deaderpool together with their MC Gedcom module. Once the mod is installed, open your game and open the save file which includes the family whose data you’d like to export. With a family member selected, open the game’s cheat console (Ctrl + Shift + C). Then type the word gedcom followed by the target Sim’s first and last name (for example gedcom jane doe). A GEDCOM 5.5 compatible .ged file will be exported into your mod folder which includes basic familial data about that particular Sim’s family.

Genealogy And Simology Data Export For Your Entire World In The Sims 3

For The Sims 3, you can use the Master Controller Mod by Nraas to export the family tree information as well as Simology data for an entire world.
Once installed, open the save file. Then click on the town hall -> Nraas -> Master Controller -> Town -> Export genealogy.

This will generate a script log file with the genealogy for the entire town. You can find this Scripterror.xml file in your “My Documents \ EA \ The Sims 3” folder. To use the file in a family tree program, just rename the file extension from “xml” to “gedcom” or “ged”.

Best Alternative Family Tree Apps To The Plum Tree App

If you are looking for a new home for your family trees, I can’t recommend My Family Tree enough. If you’d like to learn more, check out my blog post or YouTube video on the topic.

If you prefer an web-based family tree app with the capability to share your family trees via read-only links, then Family Echo is the way to go. It’s free, super easy to use, can handle all sorts of familial relationships and has space to add Simology data as well.

I hope this helps make the move a little easier and your family tree(s) find a new home. 🌳

Where are you moving your family trees to? Let me know in the comments below. 😊