Okay I just started playing and this has happened already (it hasn't even been five minutes real time!). This is what everyone is complaining about...
I woke my sim up and immediately assigned him to go to the bathroom. He gets all the way to the bathroom, stands there, then the "put down" interaction queues and he immediately goes to do it (even though he is not even carrying the toddler!!
This has happened to be more than once. What happens is they randomly queue up to put down tot they're not holding. They go and pick up tot, then immediately put the kid down... Its so random
Yep, sims cancelling commands is very annoying. In the new save I'm playing I didn't really see it for a while, but then today it was acting up again. My sim decides that she wants to nap in the bush because her energy is just getting to be yellow. I cancel it several times to tell her to take care of a toddler instead, but next thing I know I find her going to nap in the bush. And at one point when her hygiene is low, I tell her to take a shower, but she immediately drops that task and decides that she'd rather waste time by taking a bubble bath.
One thing they should really do is make it so that the autonomy can't queue up a task that a player has cancelled until some time has passed.
Yeah...It doesn't happen to me as often as it is to OP, but I run into this, too. Toddlers have made it worse, LOL.
On rare occasions, I've also noticed that, even after I've directed someone to do something, they go all the way to where a person was standing before (even if they're gone now), wave at them with that plum grin on their face, say, "Sul-sul!" to NOTHING, and THEN go off to do what I told them to. Takes up to half an hour sometimes. It's ridiculous.
Yes OP i agree, at first I found it adorable but now T^T
The one that annoys me is when they go to check on the toddler and I think "Oh finally she can feed the toddler so no need to ask her to do that" she goes there and takes the toddler to potty. Its always to potty every single time!!!.
At this point I just drag a meal from the fridge and ask the toddler to grab serving because I am tired.
Some of the responses in this thread are completely absurd and the reason why I don't bother commenting here as often as I used to.
The weighting is completely out of whack. It is not someone's imagjnation simply because it doesn't happen to another in the limited confines in which they play. The game is borked. End of story.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
Some of the responses in this thread are completely absurd and the reason why I don't bother commenting here as often as I used to.
The weighting is completely out of whack. It is not someone's imagjnation simply because it doesn't happen to another in the limited confines in which they play. The game is borked. End of story.
That's been the way since The Sims 3, if 100 people have the same problem and 1 person doesn't, then it must be a flaw in the computers of the 100, not a game problem.
Logic seems to play very little part in the posting on this forum.
EDIT - It seems I must explain that I meant the remarks above sarcastically as some don't seem to get it, or don't remember the 'logic' applied during The Sims 3 era with regards to bugs.
Some of the responses in this thread are completely absurd and the reason why I don't bother commenting here as often as I used to.
The weighting is completely out of whack. It is not someone's imagjnation simply because it doesn't happen to another in the limited confines in which they play. The game is borked. End of story.
That's been the way since The Sims 3, if 100 people have the same problem and 1 person doesn't, then it must be a flaw in the computers of the 100, not a game problem.
Logic seems to play very little part in the posting on this forum.
Exhibit A
if 100 people have the same problem and 1 person doesn't, then it must be a flaw in the computers of the 100,
What kind of fuzzy logic is that?
If 99 out of 100 people had the same problem with the game we would most definitely know about it.
I've experienced some of what the OP is on about here...but I suspect there may be other factors involved either directly or indirectly influencing his experience/ perception here. That's all it is.
I've experienced some of what the OP is on about here...but I suspect there may be other factors involved either directly or indirectly influencing his experience/ perception here. That's all it is.
That you will conveniently keep super top secret sssshhhhh from everyone in this thread who would love to have a solution to this problem.
To be honest the conclusion I came to won't help your game very much, but here it is for what it's worth.
I came to the conclusion that many of the things you see as bothersome and need fixing don't bother me.
Hence we percieve the game differently on a fundamental level.
What totally baffles me when some players like that their sims fight back of what the user's/player's imput/command assign them to do. Like, these are playable sims.... not npc (non-playable characters). I get understand If a sim would be starving or burning to death, I get that - Sims in that situation shouldn't comply with idiotic wishes such as using a treadmill, but these are MUNDANE tasks we are talking about! Like in one of players addressed examples, it appears sims would rather perfer to pee themselves,especally when their Bladder is critically red and be embarrashed while INSISTING to put down a toddler, instead of using their 🐸🐸🐸🐸 common sense to use the toilet (regardless whenever player prompts them or not). If you want them to pee themselves, simmer can just lock the door at the accesible rooms where a toilet is presented. That's better than having to fight your sims childisly over what they should do by repetedly but annoyingly cancelling their foolish desires.
I noticed this problem recently. I've been trying to get my Sim's baking skill up because she owns a bakery and she never finishes her book. She will read for a few moments, then put it down to go dance in front of the stereo or get a drink of water. It's annoying, but I will do as others have suggested and que her to read the book a couple of times.
I've switched recently from playing single or at the most two sim families to larger ones with children. Today I decided to let a large family run around autonomously mostly because I was in the mood to watch them but then the micromanaging monkey on my back got the better of me when one of the kids was near red. She needed to sleep and the parents were not helping with the monster under the bed... and it was like 330 in the morning. Anyway, I tried to queue them up to help but they weren't doing what I told them too and they were canceling out the action. Then it just wasn't showing up(the action). So I switched back to playing full autonomy but autonomy off for the selected (played) sim. It really does make a difference especially for those players that need to micromanage more.
By the way I'm not saying there isn't a problem at all. It's just that there are game tools that you can use that make your household work better depending on your play style. (Like if you have to micromanage). I actually thought playing this way meant all the sims in the household would just stand there but they don't they remain autonomous otherwise. Even the sim with autonomy off will interact with others if the autonomous sims queue it up, they just aren't calling their own shots. Normally though the one I'm playing is the one I'm performing needed actions on to get their needs up or do something that they have to do before work ect.. then I might queue up another action before switching to another family member.
This particular game fault in general never bothered me very much before, I rarely noticed it. However I think it was because I played such small sim households prior to trying out the Parenthood pack.
I've switched recently from playing single or at the most two sim families to larger ones with children. Today I decided to let a large family run around autonomously mostly because I was in the mood to watch them but then the micromanaging monkey on my back got the better of me when one of the kids was near red. She needed to sleep and the parents were not helping with the monster under the bed... and it was like 330 in the morning. Anyway, I tried to queue them up to help but they weren't doing what I told them too and they were canceling out the action. Then it just wasn't showing up(the action). So I switched back to playing full autonomy but autonomy off for the selected (played) sim. It really does make a difference especially for those players that need to micromanage more.
By the way I'm not saying there isn't a problem at all. It's just that there are game tools that you can use that make your household work better depending on your play style. (Like if you have to micromanage). I actually thought playing this way meant all the sims in the household would just stand there but they don't they remain autonomous otherwise. Even the sim with autonomy off will interact with others if the autonomous sims queue it up, they just aren't calling their own shots. Normally though the one I'm playing is the one I'm performing needed actions on to get their needs up or do something that they have to do before work ect.. then I might queue up another action before switching to another family member.
This particular game fault in general never bothered me very much before, I rarely noticed it. However I think it was because I played such small sim households prior to trying out the Parenthood pack.
I have a hard time playing with autonomy off. I like my sims to do things on their own while I focus on others, but I also like it when my sims stick with a task I assigned them if there's a reason for it. I play households ranging from 2-8 sims. Curious. When you play the way you outlined, does the Active Sim stick with their player-assigned task if you switch to another sim? Or is it back to square one? Previous sims games don't make me feel like I'm micromanaging as I have a tendency to frequently forget about them if I'm in a large household. They take care of themselves and stick to assigned tasks. I find I can't ignore surplus members of a household in this particular iteration and I find it very frustrating unless I'm only playing with 1 or 2 sim-households. They are constantly doing things I really don't want them to do.
I have particular personalities in mind when I'm playing and it bothers me when sims go 'out of script' for lack of a better word simply because the game feels my sim would rather do something I would never imagine them doing in the first place.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
I've switched recently from playing single or at the most two sim families to larger ones with children. Today I decided to let a large family run around autonomously mostly because I was in the mood to watch them but then the micromanaging monkey on my back got the better of me when one of the kids was near red. She needed to sleep and the parents were not helping with the monster under the bed... and it was like 330 in the morning. Anyway, I tried to queue them up to help but they weren't doing what I told them too and they were canceling out the action. Then it just wasn't showing up(the action). So I switched back to playing full autonomy but autonomy off for the selected (played) sim. It really does make a difference especially for those players that need to micromanage more.
By the way I'm not saying there isn't a problem at all. It's just that there are game tools that you can use that make your household work better depending on your play style. (Like if you have to micromanage). I actually thought playing this way meant all the sims in the household would just stand there but they don't they remain autonomous otherwise. Even the sim with autonomy off will interact with others if the autonomous sims queue it up, they just aren't calling their own shots. Normally though the one I'm playing is the one I'm performing needed actions on to get their needs up or do something that they have to do before work ect.. then I might queue up another action before switching to another family member.
This particular game fault in general never bothered me very much before, I rarely noticed it. However I think it was because I played such small sim households prior to trying out the Parenthood pack.
I have a hard time playing with autonomy off. I like my sims to do things on their own while I focus on others, but I also like it when my sims stick with a task I assigned them if there's a reason for it. I play households ranging from 2-8 sims. Curious. When you play the way you outlined, does the Active Sim stick with their player-assigned task if you switch to another sim? Or is it back to square one? Previous sims games don't make me feel like I'm micromanaging as I have a tendency to frequently forget about them if I'm in a large household. They take care of themselves and stick to assigned tasks. I find I can't ignore surplus members of a household in this particular iteration and I find it very frustrating unless I'm only playing with 1 or 2 sim-households. They are constantly doing things I really don't want them to do.
I have particular personalities in mind when I'm playing and it bothers me when sims go 'out of script' for lack of a better word simply because the game feels my sim would rather do something I would never imagine them doing in the first place.
Okay do they stick to the assigned task? The one they are doing sure. But I don't try to queue them up for a bunch of other tasks with autonomy on. I imagine (although this probably doesn't help you) that they will do the same things do some actions and might cancel some so yes maybe back to square one. My sims do tend to fill their needs and take care of their children pretty well (no one is dying regularly) though so I don't worry past the sim I'm playing. I also play on slow so I can flip back and guide them to do what I really want them to if they deviate. Well except for water drinking.. they need a 12 step for that.
I've switched recently from playing single or at the most two sim families to larger ones with children. Today I decided to let a large family run around autonomously mostly because I was in the mood to watch them but then the micromanaging monkey on my back got the better of me when one of the kids was near red. She needed to sleep and the parents were not helping with the monster under the bed... and it was like 330 in the morning. Anyway, I tried to queue them up to help but they weren't doing what I told them too and they were canceling out the action. Then it just wasn't showing up(the action). So I switched back to playing full autonomy but autonomy off for the selected (played) sim. It really does make a difference especially for those players that need to micromanage more.
By the way I'm not saying there isn't a problem at all. It's just that there are game tools that you can use that make your household work better depending on your play style. (Like if you have to micromanage). I actually thought playing this way meant all the sims in the household would just stand there but they don't they remain autonomous otherwise. Even the sim with autonomy off will interact with others if the autonomous sims queue it up, they just aren't calling their own shots. Normally though the one I'm playing is the one I'm performing needed actions on to get their needs up or do something that they have to do before work ect.. then I might queue up another action before switching to another family member.
This particular game fault in general never bothered me very much before, I rarely noticed it. However I think it was because I played such small sim households prior to trying out the Parenthood pack.
I have a hard time playing with autonomy off. I like my sims to do things on their own while I focus on others, but I also like it when my sims stick with a task I assigned them if there's a reason for it. I play households ranging from 2-8 sims. Curious. When you play the way you outlined, does the Active Sim stick with their player-assigned task if you switch to another sim? Or is it back to square one? Previous sims games don't make me feel like I'm micromanaging as I have a tendency to frequently forget about them if I'm in a large household. They take care of themselves and stick to assigned tasks. I find I can't ignore surplus members of a household in this particular iteration and I find it very frustrating unless I'm only playing with 1 or 2 sim-households. They are constantly doing things I really don't want them to do.
I have particular personalities in mind when I'm playing and it bothers me when sims go 'out of script' for lack of a better word simply because the game feels my sim would rather do something I would never imagine them doing in the first place.
Okay do they stick to the assigned task? The one they are doing sure. But I don't try to queue them up for a bunch of other tasks with autonomy on. I imagine (although this probably doesn't help you) that they will do the same things do some actions and might cancel some so yes maybe back to square one. My sims do tend to fill their needs and take care of their children pretty well (no one is dying regularly) though so I don't worry past the sim I'm playing. I also play on slow so I can flip back and guide them to do what I really want them to if they deviate. Well except for water drinking.. they need a 12 step for that.
I appreciate your honest answer. I don't generally queue tasks up unless I have an agenda. I do use tasks as placeholders quite often though. Not really sure how to explain what I mean by that. I assign a task I know a sim will be tied to unless I direct them to stop to keep them from doing things I don't want them to do or to hold them over for a specified amount of time to stop them from going to bed too early or waking up too early--I guess is the best way to explain that with an example.
I generally use such tasks for sims I'm not interested in controlling in the household. Hope that makes sense.
Dissatisfied with Sims 4 and hoping for a better Sims 5
I've switched recently from playing single or at the most two sim families to larger ones with children. Today I decided to let a large family run around autonomously mostly because I was in the mood to watch them but then the micromanaging monkey on my back got the better of me when one of the kids was near red. She needed to sleep and the parents were not helping with the monster under the bed... and it was like 330 in the morning. Anyway, I tried to queue them up to help but they weren't doing what I told them too and they were canceling out the action. Then it just wasn't showing up(the action). So I switched back to playing full autonomy but autonomy off for the selected (played) sim. It really does make a difference especially for those players that need to micromanage more.
By the way I'm not saying there isn't a problem at all. It's just that there are game tools that you can use that make your household work better depending on your play style. (Like if you have to micromanage). I actually thought playing this way meant all the sims in the household would just stand there but they don't they remain autonomous otherwise. Even the sim with autonomy off will interact with others if the autonomous sims queue it up, they just aren't calling their own shots. Normally though the one I'm playing is the one I'm performing needed actions on to get their needs up or do something that they have to do before work ect.. then I might queue up another action before switching to another family member.
This particular game fault in general never bothered me very much before, I rarely noticed it. However I think it was because I played such small sim households prior to trying out the Parenthood pack.
I have a hard time playing with autonomy off. I like my sims to do things on their own while I focus on others, but I also like it when my sims stick with a task I assigned them if there's a reason for it. I play households ranging from 2-8 sims. Curious. When you play the way you outlined, does the Active Sim stick with their player-assigned task if you switch to another sim? Or is it back to square one? Previous sims games don't make me feel like I'm micromanaging as I have a tendency to frequently forget about them if I'm in a large household. They take care of themselves and stick to assigned tasks. I find I can't ignore surplus members of a household in this particular iteration and I find it very frustrating unless I'm only playing with 1 or 2 sim-households. They are constantly doing things I really don't want them to do.
I have particular personalities in mind when I'm playing and it bothers me when sims go 'out of script' for lack of a better word simply because the game feels my sim would rather do something I would never imagine them doing in the first place.
Okay do they stick to the assigned task? The one they are doing sure. But I don't try to queue them up for a bunch of other tasks with autonomy on. I imagine (although this probably doesn't help you) that they will do the same things do some actions and might cancel some so yes maybe back to square one. My sims do tend to fill their needs and take care of their children pretty well (no one is dying regularly) though so I don't worry past the sim I'm playing. I also play on slow so I can flip back and guide them to do what I really want them to if they deviate. Well except for water drinking.. they need a 12 step for that.
I appreciate your honest answer. I don't generally queue tasks up unless I have an agenda. I do use tasks as placeholders quite often though. Not really sure how to explain what I mean by that. I assign a task I know a sim will be tied to unless I direct them to stop to keep them from doing things I don't want them to do or to hold them over for a specified amount of time to stop them from going to bed too early or waking up too early--I guess is the best way to explain that with an example.
I generally use such tasks for sims I'm not interested in controlling in the household. Hope that makes sense.
No it does. I do think that trying full autonomy and autonomy off for played sim will help you some.. It won't end your frustration though but might alleviate it some. I do know that if you play on a faster speed than slow.. again I don't like doing this because I truly enjoy playing slow except for sleep mode that they will also at times seem to freeze up. I've just been very lucky that this game suits my particular play styles again and again but I understand that it doesn't cover all the bases.
The excessive socializing does get mildly irritating. I've begun to subconsciously think of the social actions as garbage cluttering up the queue. I believe there is an option to turn of autonomy for the currently controlled sim. Though it doesn't completely erase the 'I'm Not Gonna Follow The Watcher's Every Command' thing, it does save some time as far as working with one sim.
*Though now I see that a bunch of people already know that exists.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are," -Teddy Roosevelt
I'm reading the Infernal Devices. I haven't ever read the Mortal Instruments. I hope that's alright...
I've switched recently from playing single or at the most two sim families to larger ones with children. Today I decided to let a large family run around autonomously mostly because I was in the mood to watch them but then the micromanaging monkey on my back got the better of me when one of the kids was near red. She needed to sleep and the parents were not helping with the monster under the bed... and it was like 330 in the morning. Anyway, I tried to queue them up to help but they weren't doing what I told them too and they were canceling out the action. Then it just wasn't showing up(the action). So I switched back to playing full autonomy but autonomy off for the selected (played) sim. It really does make a difference especially for those players that need to micromanage more.
By the way I'm not saying there isn't a problem at all. It's just that there are game tools that you can use that make your household work better depending on your play style. (Like if you have to micromanage). I actually thought playing this way meant all the sims in the household would just stand there but they don't they remain autonomous otherwise. Even the sim with autonomy off will interact with others if the autonomous sims queue it up, they just aren't calling their own shots. Normally though the one I'm playing is the one I'm performing needed actions on to get their needs up or do something that they have to do before work ect.. then I might queue up another action before switching to another family member.
This particular game fault in general never bothered me very much before, I rarely noticed it. However I think it was because I played such small sim households prior to trying out the Parenthood pack.
Hmm, I might try this and see if it helps some. My sims cancelling their actions that I chose never actually really annoyed me all that much or I never really noticed it until toddlers came around. This is because they are constantly trying to "put down" the toddler (meaning they go and pick up the toddler then set them right back down) and constantly trying to "check on" toddler, both of which interrupt/cancel already queued actions. If they didn't do those two things so frequently, I probably wouldn't have such a problem with it.
It doesn't help that the toddlers are pretty independent. They can learn their skills themselves, they can feed themselves as long as there is food that is easily accessible to them, and they can put themselves to bed. I don't need my sims checking on them every hour.
"The one you confide in the most. The one who understands you best. The one you'll miss more than any other. When he dies..." - Batman/Superman 018
SuperBat ruined my life!<3
actually i came to complain and provide feedback about this very issue. i can't send my sim to the gym and have him use the weight machine without him self-cancelling my request in order to go "dream big" on the basketball hoop.
another thing that is frustrating and needs to be corrected ASAP: the need/requirement to be near a sim ALWAYS. i had one sim using computer. other sim i had grab a plate and a drink. because it's mandatory that sims congregate next to one another, the eating sim goes and sits in a chair in the same room as the sim that is on the computer. however, since their is no table, the order to eat and drink is now cancelled and the sim puts both items on the floor. then when re-directed to do both again AND sit at table in other room, again the eating sim gets up carrying drink and plate to back in the room with the other sim and sits in a chair with no table and the process repeats itself. this has to stop. i find it extremely aggrevating and breaks immerson.
also, parenthood parenting skill actions cannot be qued up. like why not!?
If you ever had sprinklers on a lot in TS3 every sim would suddenly become magnetised to them, it was like the whole world revolved around playing with the sprinklers.
EA when we said to make it in TS4 that the sprinklers had the same attraction rating as everything else, we DIDN'T mean make sims obsessed with everything as if they're all sprinklers!
actually i came to complain and provide feedback about this very issue. i can't send my sim to the gym and have him use the weight machine without him self-cancelling my request in order to go "dream big" on the basketball hoop.
another thing that is frustrating and needs to be corrected ASAP: the need/requirement to be near a sim ALWAYS. i had one sim using computer. other sim i had grab a plate and a drink. because it's mandatory that sims congregate next to one another, the eating sim goes and sits in a chair in the same room as the sim that is on the computer. however, since their is no table, the order to eat and drink is now cancelled and the sim puts both items on the floor. then when re-directed to do both again AND sit at table in other room, again the eating sim gets up carrying drink and plate to back in the room with the other sim and sits in a chair with no table and the process repeats itself. this has to stop. i find it extremely aggrevating and breaks immerson.
also, parenthood parenting skill actions cannot be qued up. like why not!?
LOL omg yes!! These issues are the most annoying.
I had to remove the basketball hoops from most places because active Sims have to "dream Big." As for food and drink, I literally have to direct Sims to a chair and sometimes they will still do what you described. I also am so tired of Sims grabbing food out of the fridge and just standing there eating in front of the refrigerator blocking all other Sims from getting food.
To be honest the conclusion I came to won't help your game very much, but here it is for what it's worth.
I came to the conclusion that many of the things you see as bothersome and need fixing don't bother me.
Hence we percieve the game differently on a fundamental level.
What a crock. Just because something doesn't bother you as much as it might somebody else doesn't make it any less of a fault. The game has issues. Fact. How you perceive those issues is totally up to you, but they are still issues.
If my sim is reading a book, skilling, they shouldn't be getting up every 5 bloody seconds to wash their hand or drink water when their hunger and hygiene bars are FULL. That's a bloody issue. Whether it bothers *you* or not. The game is not supposed to work like that. If I want my sim to skill until every need is red, then they should.
To be honest the conclusion I came to won't help your game very much, but here it is for what it's worth.
I came to the conclusion that many of the things you see as bothersome and need fixing don't bother me.
Hence we percieve the game differently on a fundamental level.
What a crock. Just because something doesn't bother you as much as it might somebody else doesn't make it any less of a fault. The game has issues. Fact. How you perceive those issues is totally up to you, but they are still issues.
If my sim is reading a book, skilling, they shouldn't be getting up every 5 bloody seconds to wash their hand or drink water when their hunger and hygiene bars are FULL. That's a bloody issue. Whether it bothers *you* or not. The game is not supposed to work like that. If I want my sim to skill until every need is red, then they should.
--T
All the sims games had issues not just TS4 so its not any different then the other games in the franchise. Yes some people might use things to fix the annoyances but it still doesn't say any game is perfect. TS3 had tons of issues and things were never fixed but is it a perfect game far from it.
Sims 3 may not be perfect (and I have my own problems with it), but at least it follows the sims tradition of having proper Sims reaction AI and the sims don't try to cancel my own commands constantly. It feels like regresssion to me.
ETA: Thanks for pointing this out, everyone. I thought it may have been a weird bug on my side, lol. It had been happening quite a bit lately.
These Sims are just becoming the worst and most annoying of the entire sims series, for me, personally.
I would love this game more if the sims actually reacted to stuff around them as advertised in Sims 4 marketing and like in all of the previous Sims games...
WOW! OP posts a legitimate observation on the borked AI in this game and is attacked within minutes. Unbelievable. @DeservedCriticism I applaud you for sticking around this forum and putting up with the ignorance certain people are constantly throwing at you. I hope you know a lot of people do enjoy your posts and discussions.
Comments
This has happened to be more than once. What happens is they randomly queue up to put down tot they're not holding. They go and pick up tot, then immediately put the kid down... Its so random
One thing they should really do is make it so that the autonomy can't queue up a task that a player has cancelled until some time has passed.
On rare occasions, I've also noticed that, even after I've directed someone to do something, they go all the way to where a person was standing before (even if they're gone now), wave at them with that plum grin on their face, say, "Sul-sul!" to NOTHING, and THEN go off to do what I told them to. Takes up to half an hour sometimes. It's ridiculous.
The one that annoys me is when they go to check on the toddler and I think "Oh finally she can feed the toddler so no need to ask her to do that" she goes there and takes the toddler to potty. Its always to potty every single time!!!.
At this point I just drag a meal from the fridge and ask the toddler to grab serving because I am tired.
The weighting is completely out of whack. It is not someone's imagjnation simply because it doesn't happen to another in the limited confines in which they play. The game is borked. End of story.
That's been the way since The Sims 3, if 100 people have the same problem and 1 person doesn't, then it must be a flaw in the computers of the 100, not a game problem.
Logic seems to play very little part in the posting on this forum.
EDIT - It seems I must explain that I meant the remarks above sarcastically as some don't seem to get it, or don't remember the 'logic' applied during The Sims 3 era with regards to bugs.
Exhibit A
What kind of fuzzy logic is that?
If 99 out of 100 people had the same problem with the game we would most definitely know about it.
I've experienced some of what the OP is on about here...but I suspect there may be other factors involved either directly or indirectly influencing his experience/ perception here. That's all it is.
That you will conveniently keep super top secret sssshhhhh from everyone in this thread who would love to have a solution to this problem.
I came to the conclusion that many of the things you see as bothersome and need fixing don't bother me.
Hence we percieve the game differently on a fundamental level.
By the way I'm not saying there isn't a problem at all. It's just that there are game tools that you can use that make your household work better depending on your play style. (Like if you have to micromanage). I actually thought playing this way meant all the sims in the household would just stand there but they don't they remain autonomous otherwise. Even the sim with autonomy off will interact with others if the autonomous sims queue it up, they just aren't calling their own shots. Normally though the one I'm playing is the one I'm performing needed actions on to get their needs up or do something that they have to do before work ect.. then I might queue up another action before switching to another family member.
This particular game fault in general never bothered me very much before, I rarely noticed it. However I think it was because I played such small sim households prior to trying out the Parenthood pack.
I have a hard time playing with autonomy off. I like my sims to do things on their own while I focus on others, but I also like it when my sims stick with a task I assigned them if there's a reason for it. I play households ranging from 2-8 sims. Curious. When you play the way you outlined, does the Active Sim stick with their player-assigned task if you switch to another sim? Or is it back to square one? Previous sims games don't make me feel like I'm micromanaging as I have a tendency to frequently forget about them if I'm in a large household. They take care of themselves and stick to assigned tasks. I find I can't ignore surplus members of a household in this particular iteration and I find it very frustrating unless I'm only playing with 1 or 2 sim-households. They are constantly doing things I really don't want them to do.
I have particular personalities in mind when I'm playing and it bothers me when sims go 'out of script' for lack of a better word simply because the game feels my sim would rather do something I would never imagine them doing in the first place.
Okay do they stick to the assigned task? The one they are doing sure. But I don't try to queue them up for a bunch of other tasks with autonomy on. I imagine (although this probably doesn't help you) that they will do the same things do some actions and might cancel some so yes maybe back to square one. My sims do tend to fill their needs and take care of their children pretty well (no one is dying regularly) though so I don't worry past the sim I'm playing. I also play on slow so I can flip back and guide them to do what I really want them to if they deviate. Well except for water drinking.. they need a 12 step for that.
I appreciate your honest answer. I don't generally queue tasks up unless I have an agenda. I do use tasks as placeholders quite often though. Not really sure how to explain what I mean by that. I assign a task I know a sim will be tied to unless I direct them to stop to keep them from doing things I don't want them to do or to hold them over for a specified amount of time to stop them from going to bed too early or waking up too early--I guess is the best way to explain that with an example.
I generally use such tasks for sims I'm not interested in controlling in the household. Hope that makes sense.
No it does. I do think that trying full autonomy and autonomy off for played sim will help you some.. It won't end your frustration though but might alleviate it some. I do know that if you play on a faster speed than slow.. again I don't like doing this because I truly enjoy playing slow except for sleep mode that they will also at times seem to freeze up. I've just been very lucky that this game suits my particular play styles again and again but I understand that it doesn't cover all the bases.
*Though now I see that a bunch of people already know that exists.
I'm reading the Infernal Devices. I haven't ever read the Mortal Instruments. I hope that's alright...
Hmm, I might try this and see if it helps some. My sims cancelling their actions that I chose never actually really annoyed me all that much or I never really noticed it until toddlers came around. This is because they are constantly trying to "put down" the toddler (meaning they go and pick up the toddler then set them right back down) and constantly trying to "check on" toddler, both of which interrupt/cancel already queued actions. If they didn't do those two things so frequently, I probably wouldn't have such a problem with it.
It doesn't help that the toddlers are pretty independent. They can learn their skills themselves, they can feed themselves as long as there is food that is easily accessible to them, and they can put themselves to bed. I don't need my sims checking on them every hour.
"The one you confide in the most. The one who understands you best. The one you'll miss more than any other. When he dies..." - Batman/Superman 018
SuperBat ruined my life!<3
another thing that is frustrating and needs to be corrected ASAP: the need/requirement to be near a sim ALWAYS. i had one sim using computer. other sim i had grab a plate and a drink. because it's mandatory that sims congregate next to one another, the eating sim goes and sits in a chair in the same room as the sim that is on the computer. however, since their is no table, the order to eat and drink is now cancelled and the sim puts both items on the floor. then when re-directed to do both again AND sit at table in other room, again the eating sim gets up carrying drink and plate to back in the room with the other sim and sits in a chair with no table and the process repeats itself. this has to stop. i find it extremely aggrevating and breaks immerson.
also, parenthood parenting skill actions cannot be qued up. like why not!?
If you ever had sprinklers on a lot in TS3 every sim would suddenly become magnetised to them, it was like the whole world revolved around playing with the sprinklers.
EA when we said to make it in TS4 that the sprinklers had the same attraction rating as everything else, we DIDN'T mean make sims obsessed with everything as if they're all sprinklers!
LOL omg yes!! These issues are the most annoying.
I had to remove the basketball hoops from most places because active Sims have to "dream Big." As for food and drink, I literally have to direct Sims to a chair and sometimes they will still do what you described. I also am so tired of Sims grabbing food out of the fridge and just standing there eating in front of the refrigerator blocking all other Sims from getting food.
What a crock. Just because something doesn't bother you as much as it might somebody else doesn't make it any less of a fault. The game has issues. Fact. How you perceive those issues is totally up to you, but they are still issues.
If my sim is reading a book, skilling, they shouldn't be getting up every 5 bloody seconds to wash their hand or drink water when their hunger and hygiene bars are FULL. That's a bloody issue. Whether it bothers *you* or not. The game is not supposed to work like that. If I want my sim to skill until every need is red, then they should.
--T
ETA: Thanks for pointing this out, everyone. I thought it may have been a weird bug on my side, lol. It had been happening quite a bit lately.
These Sims are just becoming the worst and most annoying of the entire sims series, for me, personally.
I would love this game more if the sims actually reacted to stuff around them as advertised in Sims 4 marketing and like in all of the previous Sims games...
(She/her)