Update: 11/25/2014 – Version 1.2.24.20

Hey Simmers,

Just a small update for the end of November! Hopefully you have kept healthy this past month. It feels as though a minor plague has swept through the Studio, knocking folks down one after another. But that aside, we have fixed some crashes, addressed some community concerns, and sorted out a few other fixes that just happened to sneak their way into this release.

As always, the community has been doing an excellent job of keeping us on our toes. A new batch of fixes is on its way out with this release, including the un-breaking of the Add to Family cheat, a Sim pruning issue, and some water opacity issues. Thank you for your feedback, keep it up!

Crashes / Performance

• Fixed a crash that was the result of long term gameplay instability in the UI framework that only occurred after moving, traveling, creating new families, and building for some time. Also known as playing the game.
• We fixed a crash reported on the modding forums where custom content clones of hats and hairs could cause a crash on Intel graphics cards due to an issue with the skinning code.
• Fixed a crash wherein should you click on an underwater light and change the dimness setting, and you do that again, and you do it again, and then again, again, again, again, again… the game would crash. The waters are safe again.
• The game was freezing under some circumstances when a swimming Sim attempted to use an object found outside the pool. We have fixed all issues that we have found resulting in this freeze, and prevented the freeze from occurring in those cases we have not found. It’s magic.

Community Feedback

• We fixed a bug where close family relationships were still getting pruned if they lived in different households. Previously, we were looking at each household individually, which was incorrect. For example, say you have a Sim with two children and one of them moves out. The second child then has a kid who also has a kid who also has a kid. Then the original Sim dies, but the child who moved out is still alive. That dead Sim should not be culled because he/she still has a living child.
• The Vidame Hostess Station was causing Sims to freeze if objects that the Sim wanted to interact with were placed on top of it. We contemplated renaming the surface to the Vidame Hostess Station of Mesmerizing Never-endedness but opted to fix the issue instead.
• Casual “if you were swimming before you went to work” Workdays have been cancelled, and Sims will once again spin into their work outfit before going to work.
  • On a side note, folks are happy that Casual “if you were swimming before you went to work” Workdays have been cancelled, because it was just too much to say.
• Children and Teens can no longer be modified with the sims.add_buff Buff_Pregnancy_Trimester3 cheat.
• The release of Pools introduced an issue with visitation that hid the Visit interaction when clicking on the door of a neighbor’s home. You can now click on your neighbor’s door to visit them once again!
• In addition, there was an issue with being able to set which door was the front door on your home lot. That too has been fixed.
• The Add to Family cheat has been re-enabled.
• We fixed water opacity issues where the water was turning opaque on some graphic configurations.

Tuning / Graphics

• Fixed an issue that was preventing live drag from functioning when dragging from a Sims Inventory to an Object Inventory (such as a fridge or bookshelf).
• The game will no longer fail to save if you have over (Step 1: Face computer. Step 2: Place fingertip marked A next to lip corner marked B. Step 3: Say clearly but elongate the quoted phrase) “1 million” satisfaction points.
• Ambrosia will no longer be eaten autonomously by your Sims.
• We fixed an animation issue that can best be described as “we fixed an issue that caused Sims to scratch their back with their elbows when they chose to sit at the edge of a pool with a drink in their hand.” It wasn’t pretty. Thankfully no Sims were permanently scarred by the experience.
• Sims who sat at the edge of a pool during the moment of bladder failure found they were unable to satisfy their bladder. Whereas had they been in the pool…
• Pregnant Sims have temporary immunity from drowning per a previously agreed upon pact with the Reaper. However, if the pregnant Sim found that they “should” have died while in the pool, their buffs would get all wonky (actual technical term as used by the production team). The buff wonkiness has been fixed.
• Death by drowning will now count towards the Vengeful Deity Achievement.
• Swimming Laps will now help to alleviate the Not Enough Exercise buff that Active Sims can get.
• Pool ladders have an interaction “Get In” that you can choose when clicking on them. Now, when you choose that action, it will do something.
• If a Sim decided to cancel their adventure in the Forgotten Grotto to go swimming, the Forgotten Grotto would forget that Sim existed, preventing them from adventuring within her forgotten realm. We have spoken to the Forgotten Grotto, explaining that the pool is just another place that Sims want to go, that they have not forgotten the Grotto, they will return once again, but that the Forgotten Grotto can’t forget them, and they must be allowed once again to enter the Forgotten Grotto, lest they be forgotten and thusly forget the Forgotten Grotto. The Forgotten Grotto, jealous… yes. But also forgiving.

Thank you,
-SimGuruGnome

In response to a thread on the official forums about EA’s apparent lack of interest in improving family gameplay in The Sims 4, SimGuruBChicknoted that, while “we are watching this thread and taking your comments and feedback very seriously … you can’t make everything for everyone.” Doesn’t sound too promising.

Here are some other highlights:

"The reason behind not commenting is that we have nothing to say yet. We are working on the game constantly. We are improving and enhancing content every day."

"The vision for The Sims 4 was to refocus attention on the Sims. … How to make them feel more alive? Not all the decisions the studio make will be popular with all the players. That’s a universal truth."

"This is just the beginning. A Sims game is a massive undertaking. … The game will continue to evolve over time."

SimGuruBChick’s response suggests that, while EA understands that some players want toddlers and improved generational gameplay in TS4, it does not align with their vision of the game, and is therefore not a priority. The fact that they “have nothing to say yet” all but confirms that they haven’t even begun to think about implementing such content.

This is quite disappointing to hear. I’m sure family gameplay will be much improved in four to five years, but it is a shame that we have to wait that long for the fourth generation of The Sims to be a competent life simulation game.

What do you guys think? Do you have hope that TS4 will be improved, or are you already tired of waiting?

Maxis is looking for a Technical Designer for a “brand new Sims title.”

Here is the description in full:

As a Technical Designer, you’ll be working with a large (but tight-knit) team of enthusiastic industry professionals from all walks of life. Your job will be to design and create user-facing content in a brand new Sims title using our internal scripting tools.

Hopefully we’re getting something good!

As always, we’ll keep you posted if any news appears. It’s been a slow month!

Check out these handy game guides published by Graham Nardone!

Whims, Aspirations, and Goals

World Customization and Lot Editing

Career Guide

I hope you find these guides helpful!

How have you guys been liking the game so far?

Live RIGHT NOW is the first of three major game updates coming to The Sims 4 over the next three months, each with new features, new content and more. The updates will be free for everyone playing The Sims 4 who downloads the latest patch.

October brings the spoooooky addition of Ghosts to The Sims 4. Your dead Sims can now rejoin the world of the living, where they maintain all the attributes they had a as a Sim, but with special new behaviors based on how they died. Invite them to join your Sims’ household and they can be playable characters; if you dare, you might even find a way to bring your ghosts back to life.

Did you feel that disturbance in The Force? It was probably our new Star Wars Costume Set. Outfit your Sims in Luke Skywalker’s X-wing pilot suit, Leia’s white robes and awesome cinnamon buns, Darth Vader’s suit and, yes, even Yoda. I mean, who out there hasn’t dressed as Yoda for Halloween, right? Now you can in The Sims 4, too!

Community requests like new eye colors are in there, too. I have personally just given all my Sims purple eyes. Because I can. We’ve also fixed a few minor bugs as well.

Next come two more major updates:

• In November, get your Sim-suits ready (too much pun? Sorry!) because pools will make their triumphant debut in The Sims 4.

• December is Put-Your-Sims-To-Work Month, as we introduce new Career paths and rewards.

All of these updates will be free for our players in The Sims 4. Just log in to Origin and download the patches as we release them. Each update will be full of great content and some surprises. Think that gnomes only live in gardens? Clearly, you’re not playing enough of The Sims 4.

• Gamespot - 6/10
• USGamer - 3.5/5
• Polygon - 6.5/10
• Joystiq - 3.5/5
• Eurogamer - 7/10
• IGN - 7.5/10

Despite the lukewarm reviews, The Sims 4 has debuted at the top of the UK all-format chart, from physical sales alone.

The Sims 4 has been out for less than a week and Maxis has made it clear they’re entirely focused on the success of The Sims 4, before even thinking about the next game. On The Sims official forums, producer Grant Rodiek quelled suggestions for the next Sims game from fans with some definitive statements.

“We’re not working on Sims 5. We’re not thinking about Sims 5. If Sims 4 isn’t successful, there won’t be a Sims 5.”

The Sims 4 released only a few days ago; our Steve is going to play it until his “eyes fall out”. While some passionate fans were giving suggestions to what could be added or changed in the next game, producer Grant Rodiek stepped in to remind them not to get ahead of themselves. “We’re not working on Sims 5. We’re not thinking about Sims 5. If Sims 4 isn’t successful, there won’t be a Sims 5.” said Rodiek.

When later challenged by fans, Rodiek clarified that it’s “not all or nothing”, but that “something has to pay for 5”. Seems like how game development usually works to me, but it’s strange to think of a world without The Sims.

Is The Sims safe for now, or could this be the end of the iconic life simulator as we know it?

Shoutout to my lovers at ONTD for posting this article! (Original Source)

Prior to the release of The Sims 4 there was a lot of talk about the plethora of features EA and developer Maxis had cut from the game. Ranging from pools to toddlers, the more cynical Sims fan suggested that EA was planning to save this content for a later expansion pack, but whatever the reasoning behind it, a lot of people weren’t happy. 

The Sims 4 has now released in the US, and while advance copies were not sent out to reviewers therefore meaning that critiques from publications are few and far between, users have been taking to the likes of Amazon and Metacritic to offer their opinions. Unfortunately for EA and Maxis, those opinions are mostly negative.

The Sims 4 currently has a rating of just two-and-a-half stars on Amazon, with the top-rated review from Angela Streiff reading: “For what it is right now, I’d rate this game somewhere around 3 stars. The high price for minimal starting content is where I was a little disappointed and it loses a star. I’m hoping once expansion packs start coming out, it will be a better game and rated more between 4 and 5 stars. The price for what you get right now is steep.”

As is typically the case with user reviews, the ratings veer wildly from five stars to one star, though its current middling rating will likely have EA sweating buckets given that this is one of the publisher’s biggest releases of the year. The previous backlash they received following the release of SimCity severely harmed the company’s image, and if The Sims 4 also fails to resonate with its target audience then it can be assumed that EA will be looking to make some drastic changes. Similar to the negative Amazon reviews, The Sims 4 currently has a Metacritic user rating of just 4.5 out of 10. While user Metascores are notoriously redundant, they too indicate that many are lashing out at EA and Maxis due to the various features that are missing from it that were featured in previous games in the series. 

Its easy to dismiss user scores as being a poor indication of the quality of the product, but Sims fans who haven’t paid much attention to the ongoing controversy surrounding the game may look at those Amazon review scores and, without knowing that many are immediately dismissing the game due to its cut content, decide that they won’t purchase it. As The Sims 4 reviews start to go online we’ll have a clearer indication of just how good/bad the game is. EA will certainly be hoping that the critics opinions will be in their favor.

(Source)

We can’t bring you a review of The Sims 4 yet, but there have been some interesting comments from players who picked it up at the US launch.

The Sims 4 launched last night in the US and eager Sims fans fired it up overnight. Critics have yet to get their hands on the game here in Europe and US critics will have just started playing like everyone else, so for the moment, these initial impressions are about the best we can go by.

We usually don’t check gamer scores on Metacritic because they tend to be all over the place, but as EA has refused to comment on when exactly press in Europe can start reviewing the game, we had to take a peek to see what initial impressions are like. Remember: these “reviews” will only be based on a few hours playing so you shouldn’t take them as full-fledged “final scores”, but we can at least get an idea of what people like and don’t like as far as features are concerned. Right now, it’s sitting on a 6.0 in Metacritic with reviews pretty split between 10/10 and 0/10, so…

I’ve played it a couple of hours yesterday. My first impressions are actually really good. - The_X_Filess [10/10]

What the hell? I bought this being really excited about getting the next generation of Sims games, but it really just seems like a fancied up version of the Sims 2 with LESS features – Doctective. [0/10]

Sims 4 is not a really bad game, but not a good one either – Adrian Chan [5/10]

I played with the Create A Sim demo and felt I had a good understanding of it, but once I started in the actual game the create a sim setup has no natural path. – JarrahG [1/10]

I can not believe how did they possibly manage to destroy an amazing franchise with this God awful game. Nothing, absolute NOTHING is good about this game. – BloodChronism [o/10]

I was exciting about this game. I like the way the Sims look and I love the multitasking, but the game itself is very lacking and boring.  trixiebayn [0/10]

Played for 5 hours so far and to be honest, I don’t see much improvement over Sims 3. Yes loading times are shorter, yes there are moods now, and sim creation is slider-less, graphics little bit better, but overall it is the same game. It should be called Sims 3.5. – Hedon [3/10]

Been playing for the better half of the night and this game is alright. Not many improvements to be honest, and the sliders are cool though. The left out plenty of stuff from previous entries which i’m sure will be paid dlc down the road. Do not buy this game now, wait for a flash sale in the coming weeks. [2] – corey3612

This is just a sample of what’s popped up so far, but – again – do remember that these impressions will be after only a few hours play, so it’s a bit risky to take them as final opinions based on extensive play. It’s interesting to see a bit of conflict in there, too; ignoring the 10/10 review for a moment, there are those claiming it’s a lot like The Sims 3 and those claiming it’s The Sims 2 with less features.

Meanwhile, over in the official forums, the community appears to be split on the game’s quality. This thread is probably the most constructive and sensible one to read.

With press not being able to play the game prior to launch we do have our suspicions that the game could be lacking but we’ll reserve judgment for now.

(Source)

If you want to play TS4 as soon as it’s released, you can now pre-load the game on your PC.

The option to download the game and have it ready to launch as soon as it’s released is currently rolling out to everyone who pre-ordered a copy through Origin. When it’s available in your area, simply launch Origin and hover your cursor over the game tile in your Game Library to check if it’s available.

Once The Sims 4 is pre-loaded, your game will unlock when it launches in your region. If you live in the United Stated, that means 12 AM EDT on September 2, or 9 PM PDT on September 1.

Fans in other regions can find their local release schedule below:

• September 2: North America, Central Asia, and Russia.
• September 4: Australia, Japan, and Europe (excluding the UK).
• September 5: New Zealand, India, South Africa, and the UK.

I’m excited to hear your thoughts about the game! While there has been an incredible amount of disappointing news in the past year, I’m still excited to give TS4 a spin!

What are your thoughts? Are you excited to try out the game? Did you even bother with a pre-order?