About those pets files...

gummybear0724

So I have a question about those supposed pet files that were found. Why would they appear in a game that didn't have that particular pack installed? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, but I'm no computer whiz, and I know nothing about game files. So, this was something I'd been thinking about and I finally decided to ask. Any explanation would be lots of help!

Goddessqueenb

Someone also said they found seasons file too! Back in January 2017.

x_Always_Heart_x

It's the same way we learned that vampires were the next pack to come out. We don't really have an explanation, but I don't mind since it like a sneak peak for what's next.

EmmaVane

Some things are patched into basegame if they are related to multiple packs.

Some of the code was about pets climbing on various types of furniture/appliances. As furniture and appliances are added with every pack, this means that particular code needs to be basegame to be compatible.

E.G. The gold coins used when making wishes in the Romantic Garden well were patched into BG debug. this is because coins will probably be used again at some point, and they are already available in the code this way.

Simfan923

Basically what @EmmaVane said. It's all about the ground work for future use so they have to patch in these code strings so that if or when they choose to use that specific code it's at the ready down the line.

Triplis

I believe it's part of a general practice to trim down the amount of stuff that needs to be patched in at once when new content (free or pack) is ready for release. Less to patch means faster to download means less wait to play means happier customer? That's what I would assume part of the reasoning is. That and if there's less to patch in at once, I would guess that cuts down on the number of things that need to go through rounds of testing near release time, thereby cutting down on factors that contribute to "crunch time" (something that game companies used to be known for, having to rush / put in more hours near a release... not sure how common it is now).

DeservedCriticism

Let's imagine for a moment that we're back in time and City Living is 5 months away from release. City Living is going to introduce a new lot traits sytem, and this system needs to extend to the base game and be patched in. What do you do?

If you wait to patch directly before the game releases, you're inviting potential problems. One patch issue and people can't play their new product, then you have upset customers, then you have refunds and loads of work. Not good.

At the very least, you begin patching a bit in advance to pave the way for a new system to be implemented. This might happen 2 days before release, 2 weeks or 2 months. Point is you do it in advance. The more complicated or potentially problematic a change is, the earlier it's likely to pop up in patches as small, tiny elements.

In the case of Pets, as it's been mentioned they need to be able to interact with furniture by jumping on it, for example, and this demands new coding. This is a pretty fundamental change to the way furniture works, so it's understandable they'd want to probably get the ball rolling on making sure it works. Dataminers within the Sims community who are then curious to see what's being added exactly are likely to find this if for example the file name is something like "pet_countertop_sit" or the like.

It's also possible they do this purposefully to generate hype. They have a rather strict rule about not leaking info beforehand, but this can be bad both from a developer perspective and a marketing one. As such, perhaps some workers are opting to "accidently" forget to change the names of files to be more covert, specifically because they know dataminers will find it and act as a makeshift teaser for us.

gummybear0724

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks to you all!

plopppo2

We are deffo getting Pets.

stilljustme2

Triplis wrote: »

I believe it's part of a general practice to trim down the amount of stuff that needs to be patched in at once when new content (free or pack) is ready for release. Less to patch means faster to download means less wait to play means happier customer? That's what I would assume part of the reasoning is. That and if there's less to patch in at once, I would guess that cuts down on the number of things that need to go through rounds of testing near release time, thereby cutting down on factors that contribute to "crunch time" (something that game companies used to be known for, having to rush / put in more hours near a release... not sure how common it is now).

They patched in some of the code for vampires in the December patch, but we didn't get them until January. Since all packs are now delivered digitally, it makes sense to send some of the code early to reduce the amount that needs to be downloaded when the pack releases, especially for people who have slow Internet or they have to pay monthly for the amount of bandwidth used. Plus, some of the code might be linked with other interactions as @EmmaVane suggested -- for example, carrying a toddler up and downstairs could be related in a way to carrying pets up and down stairs, or maybe puppies and kittens learning to climb stairs is related to toddlers learning to climb stairs so it would make sense to add that code along with Toddlers.

drake_mccarty

As others have said frontloading code helps reduce the download size for the pack, and ensures changes to the base game coding are compatible before anything in the pack is installed. In the case of pets they have to update lots of basegame code to be compatible with actions included in the pets pack.

Stormsview

EmmaVane wrote: »

Some things are patched into basegame if they are related to multiple packs.

Some of the code was about pets climbing on various types of furniture/appliances. As furniture and appliances are added with every pack, this means that particular code needs to be basegame to be compatible.

E.G. The gold coins used when making wishes in the Romantic Garden well were patched into BG debug. this is because coins will probably be used again at some point, and they are already available in the code this way.

So are you saying they knew already what they plan to give us in the game. That would be like Toddlers, pools, pets, laundry, Just everything they add. So did they already know they would add pools and laundry.? (of course they would, big business would know their plans even 5, 10, 15 years down the road. they would not let it be so easy to fail. So they are on point even if we do not know they are on point?)

In that case, then they must also know at some point when they will add, like more building tools,?
Am I understanding you wrong, or is it so? They knew for years what will happen next. Just they release it to us one step at a time.?
(or is it that base game to you have a different meaning, like just the base game of being the sims game. and they can update it and make even Sims 5 from an open base game?) in that case, if they use an open base Sims game we can have anything any other sims game have far as gameplay or the world?
(I have noticed they kind of lead us to what we can choose and pick, it's not like they say for us to come up with something, we only can do multiple choice of whats already plan?) Could be the reason we do not get anything outside of the box?

Simsfan99111

Ive always assumed it to kind of prep the game for the pack. by implementing small bits of code into the engine.

Triplis

Stormsview wrote: »

EmmaVane wrote: »

Some things are patched into basegame if they are related to multiple packs.

Some of the code was about pets climbing on various types of furniture/appliances. As furniture and appliances are added with every pack, this means that particular code needs to be basegame to be compatible.

E.G. The gold coins used when making wishes in the Romantic Garden well were patched into BG debug. this is because coins will probably be used again at some point, and they are already available in the code this way.

So are you saying they knew already what they plan to give us in the game. That would be like Toddlers, pools, pets, laundry, Just everything they add. So did they already know they would add pools and laundry.? (of course they would, big business would know their plans even 5, 10, 15 years down the road. they would not let it be so easy to fail. So they are on point even if we do not know they are on point?)

In that case, then they must also know at some point when they will add, like more building tools,?
Am I understanding you wrong, or is it so? They knew for years what will happen next. Just they release it to us one step at a time.?
(or is it that base game to you have a different meaning, like just the base game of being the sims game. and they can update it and make even Sims 5 from an open base game?) in that case, if they use an open base Sims game we can have anything any other sims game have far as gameplay or the world?
(I have noticed they kind of lead us to what we can choose and pick, it's not like they say for us to come up with something, we only can do multiple choice of whats already plan?) Could be the reason we do not get anything outside of the box?

I think the best way to clarify on this is to quote/link to a recent post of Graham's about Stuff Packs:

https://forums.thesims.com/en_US/discussion/comment/15949620/#Comment_15949620

SimGuruGraham wrote: »

agent_bev wrote: »

SimGuruGraham wrote: »

This project is really starting to ramp up next week. We'll be holding a bunch of design review meetings all week. Now that work on the toddler themed pack is winding down, I can start to throw my attention towards this one and share more soon.

@SimGuruGraham Do some SPs take much longer to plan and make than others? Just curious why sometimes we get several SPs in one quarter and sometimes we only get 1

Not in particular. You can think of pack development in two major chunks... there's Pre-Production, and Production. Please keep in mind that what I'm describing below is specific to Stuff Pack development. Not all of these practices scale up well to larger packs, so adjustments are made in the way they develop things.

Pre-Production is when we're creating all of our concept art, sending mimic objects and CAS assets to be built by external partners, writing designs, and holding meetings to review those designs and our planned implementation. The start time of this phase of the project fluctuates a bit from pack to pack depending on the timeline of those aforementioned partners. Because most of this work doesn't impact the same people that are implementing features in-game, we're able to do pre-production for an upcoming pack at the same time that we're in production on a different pack.

Production is when the various disciplines actually start to work on building the features for the pack in-game, all the way through to going gold - aka, approving our final build candidate. Our production timeline is rigid, and has essentially been the same length since the first Sims 4 Stuff Pack. On rare occasions we'll run into complex issues late in development that necessitate adding time to allow us to make additional bug fixes on the new features included in the pack. Thankfully this doesn't typically impact the ship date of a Stuff Pack, as there's usually a cushion of time between going gold and shipping the game, which we can compact to get us the extra time we need. When this occurs it does have a ripple effect on dates for the next pack though, as we obviously can't move on until we've finished the previous one.

As to the original question... why do some SPs come out so soon after each other, and others have long gaps between them... Quite simply, some Stuff Packs go gold months in advance of their ship date. Kids Room Stuff was the largest gap between finishing a pack and when it actually shipped. We were actually already in production for Vintage Glamour by the time Kids Room shipped. Other Stuff Packs have literally gone gold the week before the pack was released. Our SP team is capable of building four Stuff Packs a year, but our actual release dates are determined by other factors that take our entire pack lineup into consideration. I should reiterate that Stuff Packs are the only type of pack we do this with - Game Packs and Expansion Packs are scheduled such that they ship soon after they're finished.