Builders How Important Is TerraForming To You? «12...Next Go

Cinebar

This is not a poll about other build type tools or materials such as spiral staircases etc. This is strictly a poll and discussion about what many call terrain tools, but that is way too broad, this is about terraforming the land and what is limited by not having this ability and or what would be possible if this game had that ability. Note this is not about separate foundations. Rate how important this is to you. Feel free to discuss what type buildings or options you could do with terraforming and what you have not been able to do (famous buidings etc.) without it.

king_of_simcity7

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

I do not play TS4 but this is one of the reasons why, I need direct control not just when I play but also when I build. Not being able to edit the terrain is a step back before TS1 as even then you could edit the terrain. We need more build tools, not less.

Evil_One

It'd certainly be a nice addition, but it still wouldn't make me buy more of TS4... TS4 is too flawed for me to buy it now.

Also, due to the way they've done the maps, it's impossible to add terrain tools at this point.

KatieSim

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

When I first started playing TS4 I was so confused because I couldn’t find the terraforming option. I just expected it to be a feature. I still have times where I try to add a pond in (although I’ve found there are pre made ponds I can add with the hidden objects cheat). I’ve gotten used to the limitations and Sims 4 does do a lot of other things better than previous Sims games tbh.

Hermitgirl

1-5 I'm not bothered by not being able to raise or lower land for building purposes

Okay before I'm tarred and feathered. I'm not much of a builder. I didn't build in 3 particularly and I always flattened my plot area in prior games to build my house on when I did attempt it myself. I think I dabbled in huge excavations though, like a kid at the wheel of a car going "vroom, vroom". I wouldn't mind if the tool came but I wouldn't hands on use it. It would have to take a skilled hand to have me download those few areas where I feel it could be used well also. I'm not against them bringing it into the game though if that's a possible.
The backdrops in the game raise areas for me enough to feel (especially in the last few worlds) like I'm in a region that is hilly or even in area that might be set in a mountainous region.. like Windenburg.. it has a higher elevation feel to me. I'm not against the backdrops also, it makes me feel like I'm in a distinctive area with some life.
I wouldn't be overexcited if it came to game. I'd just be happy others got it. I'd worry if them implementing it would go against the engine or if it would be more taxing on our computers for us to utilize areas that have been terraformed. I'd like to know that, epecially before downloading others creations for sure.

Cinebar

6-9 I would like and buy more of TS4 if we had terraforming.

If anyone is not bothered by these options not being in the game then I understand and won't hold against them any hard feelings for not caring as much about it as I do or others do.

I often speak about cookie cutter Sims, you know, family, 2.5 kids and a dog or cat etc. with a white picket fence. I have played that way too, but sometimes (more often than not) I have to try building something that isn't part of the scenery or wouldn't fit in with the current worlds. Things like the Colosseum, or let's take my DS obsession with that Collinwood house I built. I can't tell you how many times I have built that house in all the games, and in TS4 it was impossible for me to build it correctly to have the landing visible (inside) with the stairs not very tall. All most sort of like split level but not exactly. With terraforming this would have been possible and I wouldn't have to resort to a sunken drawing room etc. Because I'm a stickler for stuff like that. The house doesn't have a sunken drawing room in the old show.

That stuff matters to me. True the house was never used for the TV show, only the outside a stage in a studio in New York, lol, but if I built the entrance as it looks on the old show I would have to sink the drawing room to be able to show the landing leading from the staircase. Which would not be a true replica. That means I would have to add step down stairs, too, to the living/drawing room. That annoyed me so much when I had to add a foundation (which it doesn't have on the old show) so I could sink the rooms by deleting the floors. That sort of stuff insults my sense of virtual truth. That is just a tiny example of things I can't build in this game and represent a true replica.

You never know what inspires a person and when we run into a brick wall some of us are so particular with detail that stairs going down into the drawing room would make us just give up and say forget about it. And something I know I won't be able to build is something like the Hanging Gardens...I hope developers think about how imagination is stumped when we can't build what is in our mind's eye. It's all very unfortunate for some of us. ETA: And as far as someone else downloading something that I have built, I have never built to please other people, I build my imagination and or other blue prints, and it's for me, and has always been for me. ETA: Terraforming is one reason I could build things like Gondor or The Keep etc. in older games. Don't keep squashing possibilities, because a lot of us don't play cookie cutter Sims.

@Hermitgirl, I would not be able to build where I live now, because my land and house is not flat. My land has several landings and not just rolling hills. Some of my house is back underground which is part of the basement. Details matter. ETA: And I might as well forget about building an old run down castle high on a cliff overlooking the town below. That winding path leading up to the gate is not going to happen.

SimmerNickYT

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

To me it's very important. After a while all the flat lots just kind of started to bore me. So I tried to create a house in the dunes with roofs, but it looked absolutely terrible! It's just really sad that we have to use roofs to make a hill. Why can't we just have the real deal? Same goes for ponds. People make fountains and have to put all these rocks around them to make them look like ponds. I just hate how much this game has gone 100 steps backwards with certain features.

simlotte

6-9 I would like and buy more of TS4 if we had terraforming.

For me it's not life changing important, but if! we get seasons anytime soon, it will become more and more important for me. I want snow covered hills on my lot and not only in the distance. I think having a flat lot is just getting more and more boring, even for someone like me that's not too big on building.
I would looove to have the option to build a real pond I could even fish in. Kind of like in the Sims 2.

Bluefairy286

6-9 I would like and buy more of TS4 if we had terraforming.

I think being able to customize lots and the sims world anyway you like is the most important. If you look at Planet Coaster terraforming it is amazing and most players can spend hours just playing around with the terrain tools.

I would like to be able to make my own beach, waterfalls, mountains, a park or forest with a river running through it with a bridge built over the river. The possibilities are endless.

I think terrain tools are very important and a big part of a game where you can play God.

Cabelle1863

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

I've never been that great at building, I tend to use the beautiful lots made by others. But even with my very rudimentary building skills, I feel that terraforming is essential.

Love4Fluffy

1-5 I'm not bothered by not being able to raise or lower land for building purposes

While I don't personally use it in my builds- even in Sims 2 I tended to get the lots as flat as possible- I'd rate my wish for it at a 5. I would want it for L-Stairs if nothing else and I believe that for many other builders it is a must.

Chazzzy

1-5 I'm not bothered by not being able to raise or lower land for building purposes

I need a better explanation of what terraforming is.

But as of right now, this is my answer.

TheGoodOldGamer

1-5 I'm not bothered by not being able to raise or lower land for building purposes

It's more trouble than it's worth.

Terra

6-9 I would like and buy more of TS4 if we had terraforming.

I can live without it but feel on principle it should be in the game.

BMSO

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

I miss it as much as I miss laying down a different lot on the map.

PeculiarPlumbob

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

I don't even consider myself a builder since I can't build anything but I do find the lack of terraforming tools bit tedious... I even tried downloading some terraforming objects/Build mode CC so I could have my Sims' lots look more realistic :'D

Shadowmarked

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

Chazzzy wrote: »

I need a better explanation of what terraforming is.

But as of right now, this is my answer.

@Chazzzy

The ability to change the land of a lot ie: ponds, or raising or lowering sections of a lot

The word terraforming basically means earth sculpting/shaping. It was originally used in Science fiction to describe the process of changing a plant so it better resembles earth and is inhabitable. But on here it is basically means landscaping tools.

Did that help clarify?

Chazzzy

1-5 I'm not bothered by not being able to raise or lower land for building purposes

BeJaWa wrote: »

Chazzzy wrote: »

I need a better explanation of what terraforming is.

But as of right now, this is my answer.

@Chazzzy

The ability to change the land of a lot ie: ponds, or raising or lowering sections of a lot

The word terraforming basically means earth sculpting/shaping. It was originally used in Science fiction to describe the process of changing a plant so it better resembles earth and is inhabitable. But on here it is basically means landscaping tools.

Did that help clarify?

Thanks.

My answer remains.

SimTresa

6-9 I would like and buy more of TS4 if we had terraforming.

I can do without terraforming, but there are times I really wish it was available. I have ideas that would work best if I could change the terrain level.

auroraael14

1-5 I'm not bothered by not being able to raise or lower land for building purposes

I love building but I wouldn't use this feature. I wouldn't mind if they added it for the people who do want it though. The only thing I miss from this type of feature would be the ability to make ponds.

LoversHovel

6-9 I would like and buy more of TS4 if we had terraforming.

Terraforming would be great. I would be worried as to the limit of terraforming because the maps I see and play on are usually flat all around. Would be odd to have sharp, tall hills outlining a rectangle lot to kill the flow of the hills.

JoAnne65

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

I love playing around with that tool so yeah, on a similar level as I miss some TS4 tools in Sims 3 I must add (like the different heights of walls and windows). No CASt is a greater loss to me. For those who don’t know what it is (and as such sort of bear witness they aren’t builders I presume ?), I love being able to do this:



That sure was some trouble to make, but that’s part of the fun for me somehow.

Shadowmarked

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

JoAnne65 wrote: »

I love playing around with that tool so yeah, on a similar level as I miss some TS4 tools in Sims 3 I must add (like the different heights of walls and windows). No CASt is a greater loss to me. For those who don’t know what it is (and as such sort of bear witness they aren’t builders I presume ?), I love being able to do this:



That sure was some trouble to make, but that’s part of the fun for me somehow.

I love that house

I personally find landscaping tools help make my builds more unique. Yards, I think, show a lot about who lives in a house and landscaping does a lot to turn a piece of land into a nice place to live, play, and relax.

jackjack_k

1-5 I'm not bothered by not being able to raise or lower land for building purposes

@JoAnne65 wrote: »

I love playing around with that tool so yeah, on a similar level as I miss some TS4 tools in Sims 3 I must add (like the different heights of walls and windows). No CASt is a greater loss to me. For those who don’t know what it is (and as such sort of bear witness they aren’t builders I presume ?), I love being able to do this:



That sure was some trouble to make, but that’s part of the fun for me somehow.

The more challenging houses are the most fun!

JoAnne65

It's as important to me as toddlers were to family players, It's a much needed option on scale 10.

@BeJaWa Thank you
@jackjack_k Exactly!

jackjack_k

1-5 I'm not bothered by not being able to raise or lower land for building purposes

For me, terraforming brought a lot of issues within the game itself, and I notice that areas that have a lot of terraforming, have huge lag spikes in TS3. (One example is the back of Starlight Shores, a lag fest near all the terraformed areas).

I WOULD however appreciate more interesting lot designs.
Example:

http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/File:Cliffside_Retreat.png