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The Sims 4 World Creation
Zerbu
Posts: 3,457 Member
Nobody knows how worlds (or whatever they'll be called) in The Sims 4 will work, but whatever you do EA, please give us something easier than CAW. I've came up with some ways that CAW could be changed to make it a lot easier.
More Pre-made Heightmaps + Flat Areas
There were only a few heightmaps that came with CAW, and they're difficult to sculpt to create flat areas for lots. There should be more pre-made heightmaps, and they should contain flat areas.
Improved Autopaint
This feature is an absolute must for a user-friendly world creation system! In both SimCity 4, and neighborhoods in The Sims 2 that are made from SC4 files, the terrain is painted in a more complex way. The TS4 world creator's autopaint tool should paint the terrain in a similar way that SC4 and TS2 do (and use more than two textures), and adding details yourself shouldn't be mandatory to create a good world.
To complement this, selecting the terrain type (lush or desert) should change more than just the first texture.
If this is used in combination with pre-made heightmaps, it would be almost as easy to make a world as it was in The Sims 2.
Updates
The program should be updated with new textures, and possibly new heightmaps and terrain type templates. They could even require expansion packs containing the textures to work. That would encourage people to buy more packs and surely you can't resist the lure of more money, EA?
World Types
We should be able to make downtown, university, holiday/vacation worlds, etc... without modding the game, not just main worlds. It would be even better if we could attach worlds to the base world, similar to the TS2 subhoods system.
Bridge Tool (new suggestion)
Rather than having to place bridge objects and align them, there should be a tool that lets you create your own bridges easily. You should be able to choose the bridge style, and it should automatically scale to the amount of space needed.
Also, suggested by Cinderellimouse, there should also be footbridges that work like sidewalks, that sims can go across but not vehicles.
More Pre-made Heightmaps + Flat Areas
There were only a few heightmaps that came with CAW, and they're difficult to sculpt to create flat areas for lots. There should be more pre-made heightmaps, and they should contain flat areas.
Improved Autopaint
This feature is an absolute must for a user-friendly world creation system! In both SimCity 4, and neighborhoods in The Sims 2 that are made from SC4 files, the terrain is painted in a more complex way. The TS4 world creator's autopaint tool should paint the terrain in a similar way that SC4 and TS2 do (and use more than two textures), and adding details yourself shouldn't be mandatory to create a good world.
To complement this, selecting the terrain type (lush or desert) should change more than just the first texture.
If this is used in combination with pre-made heightmaps, it would be almost as easy to make a world as it was in The Sims 2.
Updates
The program should be updated with new textures, and possibly new heightmaps and terrain type templates. They could even require expansion packs containing the textures to work. That would encourage people to buy more packs and surely you can't resist the lure of more money, EA?
World Types
We should be able to make downtown, university, holiday/vacation worlds, etc... without modding the game, not just main worlds. It would be even better if we could attach worlds to the base world, similar to the TS2 subhoods system.
Bridge Tool (new suggestion)
Rather than having to place bridge objects and align them, there should be a tool that lets you create your own bridges easily. You should be able to choose the bridge style, and it should automatically scale to the amount of space needed.
Also, suggested by Cinderellimouse, there should also be footbridges that work like sidewalks, that sims can go across but not vehicles.
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Comments
+1
Whoa, that was a quick response. :shock:
And thanks!
I'd also like different shaped intersection to stop the roads looking so grid-y. All the effects from different worlds to show (like the lighthouse effect). I'd also like footbridges that connect to sidewalks.
The CAW tool was a great idea. To me, it feels like releasing it for TS3 was almost an experiment on EA's part. And it was successful. Now I'm ready for a big improvement.
For TS4 it shouldn't just be a like developer feature they released to the public. "Here's our world tool, go see what you can do with it". It should be much more refined, have much more features, it should be constantly updated with whatever new features an EP brings, rather than only updating it so that it's compatible with the game. Maybe some more in-depth instructions and tutorials to give it an easier learning curve.
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if they did away with the tool completely for TS4 so that there's no competition for store worlds :? IMO, I think that's why they started doing the world-specific Premium Content items, so that CAW worlds were never on the same level as Store worlds.
Since I started using CAW I've been MORE excited about store worlds because I know they'll be full of new goodies to play with like new rabbithole styles, new trees, and new unique world objects.
I think CAW means more people purchase the store worlds because the world creators use the new unique features in their worlds, and the players have to buy the store worlds anyway!
For me CAW means the gurus are pushed to produce better quality worlds with more content. I think it's actually quite a good thing! I would love for store worlds to become mini-expansions with more premium content and additional gameplay to create a fuller experience. I hope that's what we're getting with dragon valley!
If they take away these kind of features that allow us to customise the game in our own way I think they are taking away much of the appeal of the game overall. I'd get so bored if I couldn't go off and start faffing around with things like this! More creativity = happier players! Happy players = more money spent on the game.
Since you've brought up bridges, I thought it would be a good idea to have a tool that lets you create bridges without placing objects.
You can place items either on the ot or in the world but they don't really overlap. Sometimes I want to make a lot that includes part of a world item. For example, a lot that crosses over the train track so I can build a platform or have a train station or rail bridge. I wish we could build a bit more freely in that respect.
Something else I desperately want in caw is steps. Like how you can place steps on lots and they sort-of hug the terrain. I'd love something like that in caw so I could make things like this:
Distracted... how nice are these steps?!
Yes! Great point!!! We should just be able to place an occupied lot! I think I remember a guru tweeting about this though, I think they have trouble with it too.
I agree with being able to add pre-made households too.
Hopefully they actually plan ahead this time so they won't have bugs that prevent adding features. Same with the travel system, I heard that one of the reasons subhoods are so rare in TS3 is that the system came out buggy.
Yeah that would be best!
There's a description?
I wish I hadn't stopped to take a break, now I'm behind on all the information. :? :?
"The Sims 4 encourages players to personalize their world with new and intuitive tools while offering them the ability to effortlessly share their creativity with friends and fans."
I sure hope they really mean WORLD, not game in general
How about a forest painter - like the terrain painter but with trees (easier than placing individual ones if you want a large area of them); it would place them randomly sized & oriented; we could pick from a list which species to include; a tree density slider would be useful; and the forested area would be automatically unroutable.
It would also be nice if terrain changes on lots affected the terrain beneath & around them - so no breaks at the edges of lots.
Do lots have to be rectangular?
Please, please, PLEASE let us build right to the edges of lots - maybe not doors & windows, but why not plain walls & foundations? And is there any way to let lots touch? I want to make a terrace of houses on a sloping street - they could touch without being physically connected. And it might be nice to be able to buy the lot next door and merge it with your original lot, as your sims get richer.
Sorry, got a bit carried away - only meant to agree with you!!
I too want to be able to move roads and change the worlds in game instead of CAW. It would be so nice to be able to delete roads or add roads while you play and move a mountain or add a lake etc.