Sims4News

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!