Is there any way it could be made so that when you load a family, and it's the middle of the night, they're in bed when the lot finishes loading, or those of them who should be at work or school are at work or school? I always find them on the sidewalk no matter what time of day and they're all flashing red for missing school or work.
That should be happening already. Were they in bed/at work when you saved the game?
@SimGuruEugi hi! First of all I wanted to thank you for taking the time to answer our questions.
I'd like to know something: do you think it would be possible (at least in theory) to give us more options for "away actions" (i.e. What our sims do off screen while another sim is visiting a community lot)? I think one of the biggest problems with loading screens is not the loading screens themselves but the fact that if eg you have a family of 4 (parents and 2 children) and decide to visit a community lot with the parents, the children who are left behind can't do anything meaningful such as homework or sleep. I know they can skill up and work on some of their relationships, and they can sleep if they are tending to their needs but it would be nice to have more control over what they do, so that when the other sims come back home they find them sleeping or doing whatever we chose to.
The thing that bothers me most about loading screens, and I will keep bringing it up, is that you can't have your off-lot sims do anything meaningful.
If you want your kids to do homework, your novelist to write a novel, your rocket scientist to keep building, etc. etc. etc. you have to be on the same lot. These things are boring to watch, and it makes more sense if your spouse, say, wants to do something like write their book, that you go out and do other things. Even if you couldn't reset what they were doing when done, at least letting them continue would make me feel I could leave those sims alone and still do fun things with other sims in the household.
I've always wanted a "Do Homework" away action. I'll pass on this feedback.
Is there any way it could be made so that when you load a family, and it's the middle of the night, they're in bed when the lot finishes loading, or those of them who should be at work or school are at work or school? I always find them on the sidewalk no matter what time of day and they're all flashing red for missing school or work.
That should be happening already. Were they in bed/at work when you saved the game?
This is usually after switching households, or going in and out of household management or build mode from map. I do switch households a lot, as I am a kind of rotational player. I know it would be unreasonable to expect for them to be doing particular interactions, but I felt the game would know at least if it was work hours or typical sleeping hours and be able to set them up in a vaguely suitable way upon load.
@SimGuruEugi Can you please explain about Sim creation in reference to Sim culling? We have population caps and once reached Sims start to disappear.
I was in the process of bulldozing and creating lots so I wasn't actually even playing. I would go to household management and find that over the course of an hour or two there could be anywhere from 5 to 15 new households created. Would it be possible to have the option to stop new Sims being created by the game so we could actually have only the Sims we want in the game?
"People really love to explore 'failure states. In fact, the failure states are really much more interesting than the success states." ~ Will Wright
Is there any way it could be made so that when you load a family, and it's the middle of the night, they're in bed when the lot finishes loading, or those of them who should be at work or school are at work or school? I always find them on the sidewalk no matter what time of day and they're all flashing red for missing school or work.
That should be happening already. Were they in bed/at work when you saved the game?
This is usually after switching households, or going in and out of household management or build mode from map. I do switch households a lot, as I am a kind of rotational player. I know it would be unreasonable to expect for them to be doing particular interactions, but I felt the game would know at least if it was work hours or typical sleeping hours and be able to set them up in a vaguely suitable way upon load.
Yeah. This happens to me all the time too.
Intel i7-6700HQ; nvidia gtx970m 3 gb; 1tb HHD and 256gb SSD; my drivers are always up to date.
Are the public space objects also part of what's copied/included in our saves ? Would adding a basketball hoop in a public space be one of those save-destroying-things for example ?
If you had a save game, we couldn't "patch" an object and have it show up at a specific location in the world when you load up.
@SimGuruEugi To build upon this, and to clarify my previous question, this is an instance where neighborhood editing tools would be really really great for us. Just to add content from new EPs to the old worlds' public spaces, so that they can evolve with the game and not stay stagnant. I know we aren't getting any new tools with EP3, but is it possible we might ever get neighborhood editing tools in the future? (Please, pretty please with a cherry on top! lol!)
I always, without fail, have that "on the sidewalk" issue whenever I switch to a different household. I've even had it after loading a save game, just not as often.
Is there any way it could be made so that when you load a family, and it's the middle of the night, they're in bed when the lot finishes loading, or those of them who should be at work or school are at work or school? I always find them on the sidewalk no matter what time of day and they're all flashing red for missing school or work.
That should be happening already. Were they in bed/at work when you saved the game?
This is usually after switching households, or going in and out of household management or build mode from map. I do switch households a lot, as I am a kind of rotational player. I know it would be unreasonable to expect for them to be doing particular interactions, but I felt the game would know at least if it was work hours or typical sleeping hours and be able to set them up in a vaguely suitable way upon load.
I have the same behavior too, with Sims being outside when I switch families. As long as I'm not reloading the same neighborhood I was in when I saved the game, they reset and are on the sidewalk. Going into CAS or Build mode in another neigborhood does it too.
I also have my Sims being up at night if I come back home from a venue. Let's say one parent going out during the evening and coming home around 4am and all the other Sims are doing various interactions when they should most likely be asleep.
Is there any way it could be made so that when you load a family, and it's the middle of the night, they're in bed when the lot finishes loading, or those of them who should be at work or school are at work or school? I always find them on the sidewalk no matter what time of day and they're all flashing red for missing school or work.
That should be happening already. Were they in bed/at work when you saved the game?
This is usually after switching households, or going in and out of household management or build mode from map. I do switch households a lot, as I am a kind of rotational player. I know it would be unreasonable to expect for them to be doing particular interactions, but I felt the game would know at least if it was work hours or typical sleeping hours and be able to set them up in a vaguely suitable way upon load.
Yeah. This happens to me all the time too.
Yes, me too (rotational player). I may also say that almost the entire household has to use the restroom too - they are all about to lose their bladder on the sidewalk - doing that potty dance
I also have my Sims being up at night if I come back home from a venue. Let's say one parent going out during the evening and coming home around 4am and all the other Sims are doing various interactions when they should most likely be asleep.
I would love for "go to sleep" to be an away action, and when we return, they should actually be in their beds.
Are the public space objects also part of what's copied/included in our saves ? Would adding a basketball hoop in a public space be one of those save-destroying-things for example ?
If you had a save game, we couldn't "patch" an object and have it show up at a specific location in the world when you load up.
How is this different from the patches you guys added to the game to include missing trash bins from some of the common areas (even next to sidewalk) into our saved games? Because in a few places trash cans were over too far and later patched in, to be in the correct place so Sims could use it and in other cases patched in missing ones. And they showed up in my saved games.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
The limitation I was talking about was about our ability to patch exiting lots by adding/removing objects and build buy structures. That data is defined in what you download, but only matters the first time you play. After you save your game, objects, walls, etc. become part of your save game. That's why we don't patch *those aspects* of worlds.
As for retrofitting worlds, it's partly a matter of fiction. We wanted San Myshuno to feel very unique, and we put all our world creation efforts there, rather than diving our attention and adding apartments to our suburban worlds.
So you could definitely have added a type of apartment we could add to any world? I just feel like this is a design choice, and has nothing to do with what is actually possible. It just makes the reasoning seem more convoluted imo. As a design choice it's just really weird. Wouldn't it be easier to make a longer lasting change technically that upgrades all lots in all worlds? That way you would save time later in future packs, and you could actually focus on creating things that simmers can use to be creative instead of being creative for us? It just seems that you shoot yourselves in the foot with the way you develop features. You'll most likely have to find a way to upgrade lots and for them to work with existing lots for future features anyway, so why not do it with this pack? In a time constraint way it make sense short term, but in the long run, you'll just keep shooting yourselves in the foot with this ad hoc way of doing it. What happens when you want to add seasons? Or any other feature that requires lots to be upgraded and changed? Are we not going to get any new build tools for this iteration? I'm confused to be honest.
Edited to add: the more I think about this I find it very confusing that you hadn't thought about changing saves with new features when you made this engine in the first place. It sounds to me like you're stuck creatively because of technical limitations either for time or the engine or both.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
One more question, totally different from what everyone else is asking about.
The pee walk animation is slower now than it used to be and sims start walking normally not even reaching the toilet. It's also less wiggly. Was it intentional?
Intel i7-6700HQ; nvidia gtx970m 3 gb; 1tb HHD and 256gb SSD; my drivers are always up to date.
The limitation I was talking about was about our ability to patch exiting lots by adding/removing objects and build buy structures. That data is defined in what you download, but only matters the first time you play. After you save your game, objects, walls, etc. become part of your save game. That's why we don't patch *those aspects* of worlds.
As for retrofitting worlds, it's partly a matter of fiction. We wanted San Myshuno to feel very unique, and we put all our world creation efforts there, rather than diving our attention and adding apartments to our suburban worlds.
So you could definitely have added a type of apartment we could add to any world? I just feel like this is a design choice, and has nothing to do with what is actually possible.
Well it was a design choice to make each apartment a seperate lot, instead of a fake apartment which is just a hollow inside a shell occupied by an NPC that only spawns briefly outside its door. But since they did, I can quite think through just how huge a task it would be to let us build out own multi-lot neighborhoods that look like one building.
The limitation I was talking about was about our ability to patch exiting lots by adding/removing objects and build buy structures. That data is defined in what you download, but only matters the first time you play. After you save your game, objects, walls, etc. become part of your save game. That's why we don't patch *those aspects* of worlds.
As for retrofitting worlds, it's partly a matter of fiction. We wanted San Myshuno to feel very unique, and we put all our world creation efforts there, rather than diving our attention and adding apartments to our suburban worlds.
So you could definitely have added a type of apartment we could add to any world? I just feel like this is a design choice, and has nothing to do with what is actually possible.
Well it was a design choice to make each apartment a seperate lot, instead of a fake apartment which is just a hollow inside a shell occupied by an NPC that only spawns briefly outside its door. But since they did, I can quite think through just how huge a task it would be to let us build out own multi-lot neighborhoods that look like one building.
Could they possibly patch to allow us to placed those shells in any world or are they truly connected to the 'landscape' of the new world? Built in to terrain, or whatever, and not possible to be placed in any other world?
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
The limitation I was talking about was about our ability to patch exiting lots by adding/removing objects and build buy structures. That data is defined in what you download, but only matters the first time you play. After you save your game, objects, walls, etc. become part of your save game. That's why we don't patch *those aspects* of worlds.
As for retrofitting worlds, it's partly a matter of fiction. We wanted San Myshuno to feel very unique, and we put all our world creation efforts there, rather than diving our attention and adding apartments to our suburban worlds.
So you could definitely have added a type of apartment we could add to any world? I just feel like this is a design choice, and has nothing to do with what is actually possible.
Well it was a design choice to make each apartment a seperate lot, instead of a fake apartment which is just a hollow inside a shell occupied by an NPC that only spawns briefly outside its door. But since they did, I can quite think through just how huge a task it would be to let us build out own multi-lot neighborhoods that look like one building.
Well, I understand the thinking, but it doesn't make sense. They made it so hard for themselves to actually make the feature this way, that it would actually be easier to just expand it instead. They traded the build tools that nobody can use for a feature that is less than anyone wanted? Doesn't. make. sense.
Allons-y!
---> Afterlife Game Pack Idea - improved ghosts, cemeteries and funerals, psychics, new skills, new career and more! <---
The limitation I was talking about was about our ability to patch exiting lots by adding/removing objects and build buy structures. That data is defined in what you download, but only matters the first time you play. After you save your game, objects, walls, etc. become part of your save game. That's why we don't patch *those aspects* of worlds.
As for retrofitting worlds, it's partly a matter of fiction. We wanted San Myshuno to feel very unique, and we put all our world creation efforts there, rather than diving our attention and adding apartments to our suburban worlds.
So you could definitely have added a type of apartment we could add to any world? I just feel like this is a design choice, and has nothing to do with what is actually possible.
Well it was a design choice to make each apartment a seperate lot, instead of a fake apartment which is just a hollow inside a shell occupied by an NPC that only spawns briefly outside its door. But since they did, I can quite think through just how huge a task it would be to let us build out own multi-lot neighborhoods that look like one building.
Could they possibly patch to allow us to placed those shells in any world or are they truly connected to the 'landscape' of the new world? Built in to terrain, or whatever, and not possible to be placed in any other world?
But we can't move the lots inside of the shell ourselves. I am sure they could let us place the shells, but would we be able to straddle two or more lots, and having done so, lift the floor level of those lots up a couple hundred feet? Thats what we'd have to do to make more than one apartment to a shell.
The limitation I was talking about was about our ability to patch exiting lots by adding/removing objects and build buy structures. That data is defined in what you download, but only matters the first time you play. After you save your game, objects, walls, etc. become part of your save game. That's why we don't patch *those aspects* of worlds.
As for retrofitting worlds, it's partly a matter of fiction. We wanted San Myshuno to feel very unique, and we put all our world creation efforts there, rather than diving our attention and adding apartments to our suburban worlds.
So you could definitely have added a type of apartment we could add to any world? I just feel like this is a design choice, and has nothing to do with what is actually possible.
Well it was a design choice to make each apartment a seperate lot, instead of a fake apartment which is just a hollow inside a shell occupied by an NPC that only spawns briefly outside its door. But since they did, I can quite think through just how huge a task it would be to let us build out own multi-lot neighborhoods that look like one building.
Could they possibly patch to allow us to placed those shells in any world or are they truly connected to the 'landscape' of the new world? Built in to terrain, or whatever, and not possible to be placed in any other world?
But we can't move the lots inside of the shell ourselves. I am sure they could let us place the shells, but would we be able to straddle two or more lots, and having done so, lift the floor level of those lots up a couple hundred feet? Thats what we'd have to do to make more than one apartment to a shell.
Thank you. I'm just looking for some versatility to solve some of the short comings I feel and know other sandbox/builders feel, too. Didn't know that.
"Games Are Not The Place To Tell Stories, Games Are Meant To Let People Tell Their Own Stories"...Will Wright.
What it *does* give hope for that is more reachable as a furtherance is to be able to set any residential lot to rental. Because that must be basically at least one of the things that is involved in making these apartments - each lot has a household that is renting.
Is there any way it could be made so that when you load a family, and it's the middle of the night, they're in bed when the lot finishes loading, or those of them who should be at work or school are at work or school? I always find them on the sidewalk no matter what time of day and they're all flashing red for missing school or work.
That should be happening already. Were they in bed/at work when you saved the game?
This is usually after switching households, or going in and out of household management or build mode from map. I do switch households a lot, as I am a kind of rotational player. I know it would be unreasonable to expect for them to be doing particular interactions, but I felt the game would know at least if it was work hours or typical sleeping hours and be able to set them up in a vaguely suitable way upon load.
Got it. Sounds like something we should investigate. Can @SimGuruNick take note of it?
How difficult would it be to add separate funds for household members? Similar to individual inventories and household inventories. Sims sharing a house would each have their own accounts. Sims with jobs would have their salary added to their individual accounts. Any type of expense would come out of the household funds, like build/buy mode purchases, cooking supplies, etc. There could also be a way to transfer funds from an individual sims' account to the household account. Thus allowing us to charge rent for roommates, buy mode purchases for a specific sim, etc. Allowance for teens and kids that would come out of the household account. Is this something that could be possible? I look at the transfers between household funds and business funds and it seems feasible.
I have a couple of questions for the SimGurus about time:
Would it be possible to have the game keep track of what week a player is on within a save? I can't remember if the game did that in TS2 (if you switched around lots, they weren't in phase so it probably didn't), but it did in TS3. I suppose the festivals might help with that (if it's GeekCon again, it must be Week 10), depending on how regular they are.
The game keeps track of weeks, but I guess the UI doesn't show it. Interesting idea on exposing that.
It would be wonderful if you could get the UI to show that. I'm part of a challenge team on another forum. We used to have challenges last 12 sim weeks or 7 sim weeks in TS3, but we've had to tie the ending time to when a Sim ages up to elder or remind our players to keep track of how many times their Sims have paid bills.
Thanks so much for the answers to both questions -- I hadn't realized the one about clocks had been asked before.
Comments
That should be happening already. Were they in bed/at work when you saved the game?
at least this ty
This is usually after switching households, or going in and out of household management or build mode from map. I do switch households a lot, as I am a kind of rotational player. I know it would be unreasonable to expect for them to be doing particular interactions, but I felt the game would know at least if it was work hours or typical sleeping hours and be able to set them up in a vaguely suitable way upon load.
I was in the process of bulldozing and creating lots so I wasn't actually even playing. I would go to household management and find that over the course of an hour or two there could be anywhere from 5 to 15 new households created. Would it be possible to have the option to stop new Sims being created by the game so we could actually have only the Sims we want in the game?
Yeah. This happens to me all the time too.
@SimGuruEugi To build upon this, and to clarify my previous question, this is an instance where neighborhood editing tools would be really really great for us. Just to add content from new EPs to the old worlds' public spaces, so that they can evolve with the game and not stay stagnant. I know we aren't getting any new tools with EP3, but is it possible we might ever get neighborhood editing tools in the future? (Please, pretty please with a cherry on top! lol!)
I have the same behavior too, with Sims being outside when I switch families. As long as I'm not reloading the same neighborhood I was in when I saved the game, they reset and are on the sidewalk. Going into CAS or Build mode in another neigborhood does it too.
I also have my Sims being up at night if I come back home from a venue. Let's say one parent going out during the evening and coming home around 4am and all the other Sims are doing various interactions when they should most likely be asleep.
Yes, me too (rotational player). I may also say that almost the entire household has to use the restroom too - they are all about to lose their bladder on the sidewalk - doing that potty dance
I would love for "go to sleep" to be an away action, and when we return, they should actually be in their beds.
How is this different from the patches you guys added to the game to include missing trash bins from some of the common areas (even next to sidewalk) into our saved games? Because in a few places trash cans were over too far and later patched in, to be in the correct place so Sims could use it and in other cases patched in missing ones. And they showed up in my saved games.
So you could definitely have added a type of apartment we could add to any world? I just feel like this is a design choice, and has nothing to do with what is actually possible. It just makes the reasoning seem more convoluted imo. As a design choice it's just really weird. Wouldn't it be easier to make a longer lasting change technically that upgrades all lots in all worlds? That way you would save time later in future packs, and you could actually focus on creating things that simmers can use to be creative instead of being creative for us? It just seems that you shoot yourselves in the foot with the way you develop features. You'll most likely have to find a way to upgrade lots and for them to work with existing lots for future features anyway, so why not do it with this pack? In a time constraint way it make sense short term, but in the long run, you'll just keep shooting yourselves in the foot with this ad hoc way of doing it. What happens when you want to add seasons? Or any other feature that requires lots to be upgraded and changed? Are we not going to get any new build tools for this iteration? I'm confused to be honest.
Edited to add: the more I think about this I find it very confusing that you hadn't thought about changing saves with new features when you made this engine in the first place. It sounds to me like you're stuck creatively because of technical limitations either for time or the engine or both.
The pee walk animation is slower now than it used to be and sims start walking normally not even reaching the toilet. It's also less wiggly. Was it intentional?
Well it was a design choice to make each apartment a seperate lot, instead of a fake apartment which is just a hollow inside a shell occupied by an NPC that only spawns briefly outside its door. But since they did, I can quite think through just how huge a task it would be to let us build out own multi-lot neighborhoods that look like one building.
Could they possibly patch to allow us to placed those shells in any world or are they truly connected to the 'landscape' of the new world? Built in to terrain, or whatever, and not possible to be placed in any other world?
But we can't move the lots inside of the shell ourselves. I am sure they could let us place the shells, but would we be able to straddle two or more lots, and having done so, lift the floor level of those lots up a couple hundred feet? Thats what we'd have to do to make more than one apartment to a shell.
Thank you. I'm just looking for some versatility to solve some of the short comings I feel and know other sandbox/builders feel, too. Didn't know that.
Got it. Sounds like something we should investigate. Can @SimGuruNick take note of it?
It would be wonderful if you could get the UI to show that. I'm part of a challenge team on another forum. We used to have challenges last 12 sim weeks or 7 sim weeks in TS3, but we've had to tie the ending time to when a Sim ages up to elder or remind our players to keep track of how many times their Sims have paid bills.
Thanks so much for the answers to both questions -- I hadn't realized the one about clocks had been asked before.